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Canal du Midi : Cruising in Detail
Information about the 241km of canal from the Etang de Thau to Toulouse. There are 65 ecluses (locks) all oval in shape, many of them double or triple chambered. From PK241 les Onglous (at the etang) the canal rises 190m from sea-level through 50 ecluses to the watershed at la Segala, then falls 56m through 15 ecluses to the port de l'Embouchure at Toulouse. The Canal du Midi together with the Canal de Garonne (the renamed Canal lateral a la Garonne), forms the 'canal des deux mers' (the canal of the two seas – the Mediterranean and the Atlantic).
The Midi is one of the world's wonders, commenced in 1665 thanks to the initiative and skill of Pierre-Paul Riquet, the most significant ingredient of which was his strategy for keeping the canal's summit supplied with water, from the Black Mountain 20km away, via a feeder canal. This had been the fatal problem for a scheme that had been discussed with Leonardo da Vinci 150 years earlier. Riquet is an honoured hero to this day, in Languedoc. Riquet had the essential enthusiastic support of the King's chief military engineer de Clerville and the abilities of his own engineer Andreossy but he also had the surprisingly significant expertise of a group of 1,000 peasant women labourers from the Pyrenees with a centuries old tradition of practical water management. The omni-present oval-shaped ecluses themselves are testament – their arched shape is inherently strong against the sideways force from the excavated or built-up ground. The total workforce peaked at 12,000; it was the 17th century's biggest construction engineering project.
This delightful canal's green waters twist and turn through the countryside, following the contours, bordered by an avenue of thousands of plane trees whose exposed roots interlock at the water's edge, reinforcing the banks. The canal passes through a great number of wine growing areas, including the Herault, the Aude, Minervois and Corbieres. You will also see many fields of sunflowers.
The Midi has just cause to be popular and it is. During the season hundreds of hire boats travel to and fro, not always completely sure of what they're doing, particularly in the ecluses (tricky enough for more experienced boaters) that are subject to a perpetual overflow waterfall noisily cascading over the upper gates. It pays to be somewhat 'on guard' when sharing a lock with hire boats. The quantity of hirers naturally increases during the 'grandes vacances' in July and August. Thefts from this tempting array of targets are not unusual – lock up!
See also general notes (foot of page).
Basic Information
- Approximate minimum depth 1.4m-1.50m, headroom 3.3m, width 5.45m. These are the 'book' values and may vary according to conditions. The 'real' depth of the Midi is the subject of seemingly constant debate because it varies according to season (governing the amount of water available to feed into the canal), nature and location. Some stretches are highly prone to either silting or to falling leaves forming a 'soft bed' that can be ploughed through but which certainly reduces the actual water depth. As in most other waterways, the given depth is the middle of the channel; the sides may be noticeably less deep and this may affect 'coming alongside' especially if one has twin bilge keels or twin propellors. The final factor is that on the 'down' side of an ecluse the outgoing water scours a depression immediately outside the gate but then deposits that silt a short way beyond as a 'bar'.
- The canal carries virtually no commercial traffic. It does, however, have a number of converted peniche hotel-barges travelling along it. Naturally, they are big and if you meet one coming round a bend on a 'tight' section you will need to be careful. We've never had a problem, they are all skippered very responsibly. Hire boats that go too fast and/or on the wrong side are another matter.
- The speed limit is 8kph, 3kph past moored boats.
- Most, if perhaps not all, simple ecluses are now (2011) user-operated. There is a control panel at the lock-side with buttons. Crew must be let off in advance of the lock in order to press the appropriate button actually to prepare and open the lock-gates before a boat can enter. Once moored, a button is pressed once more to empty/fill the chamber, etc. Reports indicate queues of boats waiting to pass through ecluses, where once eclusiers would 'encourage' (sometimes vigorously) boats in so as to fill them as well as managing the actual operation.
- The Canal du Midi is part of the south-west region of the VNF, one of the most energetic and go-ahead.
- Using a pilot-guide book is strongly recommended: Breil Guides or Fluviacarte (Navicarte) Guides.
PK241 les Onglous
Primarily a Glenans sailing school base (04 67 77 22 73), located in the former stable and other buildings for the teams that hauled boats through the canal. There are a few areas of quayside available for visitors. It's a very interesting and peaceful spot to stay for a day or so, by the etang but also quite near the big beaches to the south at Marseillan-plage.
PK235 Bagnas – First/last lock on the Midi. Eclusier.
PK233 River Herault crossing - It is necessary to take a 1km voyage along and across the river between the 8km Bagnas section and the remainder of the canal. Exiting from Bagnas, turn south and go downstream (past possible bank-side river moorings) until within sight of the Agde weir, then turn right into the canal – high grassy banks but a timber waiting pontoon outside Adge's 'round lock'.
It is also possible to travel about 5km up the river to Bessan; Quiet and pretty, with pontoons at la Guinguette.
PK231 Agde – Round Lock
It's not truly round since it was altered to accommodate longer peniches. For example, the passenger boat 'le Capitain' that we often seem to meet in, or coming out of, the lock. Prudence is the watchword if you also see it, not a pleasant experience. In fact, the round lock seems harmless enough but it is more difficult than it looks – it is easy (especially if the wind is blowing) to get 'trapped' on one quadrant or another, unable to get off and make the turn out through the gate. Bear this in mind when you choose your place to tie up. Some places are subject to quite a lot of turbulence as the lock fills. The ecluse is manned (04 67 94 10 99).
Above the lock (through the bridge in the pic above) there is a somewhat tatty Nautic hire boat base (04 67 94 78 93). Public quayside mooring to the left, possible bankside on the right before the long series of hire boats starts.
To the left of the lock lies a spur canal that also connects with the River Herault, below the weir, that provides a route to the sea. And to Chantier Allemand – an important boatyard and chandlery.
For information about Agde as a Mediterranean access port, click here.
Agde is a picturesque and historic town, well worth visiting – about 15mins walk south from the ecluse. Airport nearby.
PK227 Vias – PK222 Cassafieres
PK227 – Vias Quayside mooring by the bridge (04 99 47 48 49), very close to the big sandy beaches at la Tamarissiere.
PK225 – (left) the River Libron crossing flood control gates.
PK222 – Port Cassafieres. (right) A major hire boat base (04 67 90 91 70) with facilities potentially available for outside use – repairs, crane, etc. Fuel. Some spaces available for visitors (harbour off the river), or moor bankside nearby, plenty of scope. Big sandy beaches of la Redoute very close by.
PK214 Villeneuve-les-Beziers
A good place to moor for a day or two, nice village, excellent wine co-operative. Most moorings are bank-side but there is a public quayside with water (south bank just below the ecluse – 'jeton' tokens from the tourist office adjacent) and also other moorings by the restaurant, north bank by the ecluse. The best place is outside the friendly and very well run camp-site 'les Berges du Canal' 04 67 39 36 09 (small restaurant, bar, showers, etc), which has electricity as well as water available. Phoning ahead to reserve a mooring is advised.
PK208 Beziers
Beziers is a very historic place, dating back beyond Roman times to the Neolithic. It became a stronghold of the Cathar sect, forcibly surpressed in 1209 when the population (15-20,000) was massacred in its entirety by Catholic forces. The town is very pleasant to walk up to, from the port, to sit in the main square by the statue of Paul Riquet, born in Beziers.
The port (local VNF office 04 67 11 81 30) is spacious and modern, but in our experience the water and electricity points have never worked.
PK208.5 – below the port – Timber waiting pontoons.
Short canal spur off to the left once provided access to the River Orb via an ecluse. Excellent possible bank-side mooring (check depths).
The manned ecluse at PK208.5 "Beziers" is straight-sided and deep (4m+) – there are vertical poles to moor to and slide up (or down). You will only be able to loop round one pole (take both stern and bow lines through); they are spaced for peniches, not plaisanciers.
PK208 – above the port – The manned ecluse at PK208 "l'Orb" is straight-sided and very deep (6m+) – again, there are vertical poles to moor to.
Beyond the ecluse there is a canal aqueduct that takes the canal over the River Orb. Before this was built in 1858 river craft had to descend to the river, travel along, and then come back up to canal level. Conditions often meant this was not possible. The photo above (top right) shows the canal-Orb ecluse "Notre Dame" (below Foncerannes), unused since then, slowly sinking into picturesque decay. It is to the credit of the original builders that it is still so well preserved.
PK206 Fonserannes (les 7 ecluses)
Going down is quite fun; going up is An Experience. There were once 8 ecluses, plus 'Notre Dame', to get up from the river; now there are just 7 in operation (= 6 rises or falls) to get up from the aqueduct level. Quite enough.
The ascents and descents are according to a timetable – Up 10:00-11:45 and 16:00-18:45. Down 8:00-9:30 and 13:30-15:30. An ascent takes about 1hr – 3/4hr. It is always beer-o-clock at the top and one is entitled to expect appreciative applause.
Beside the staircase of locks is an inclined plane, to slide large peniches between the upper and lower levels without their needing to use the staircase. Following the almost total decline in commercial traffic traversing the Midi, it has been out of use for some years.
You will almost certainly be in the ecluses with other boats, of differing sizes and crew abilities, probably quite tightly packed in. It is best to be at the back, but beware the gates closing on your stern. If you're at the front your bow may be nearer to the rushing water than you might want, but a secure line taken to the upper bollard, top or foot of the steps (see pic) will keep you safe. The controlling lock-keepers do this stuff all day, every day, so they know what they're doing; but they tend to want to take things at a gallop, so don't get rushed. There are usually lots of spectators enjoying what they see as fun, tending to crowd forward and get in the way of one trying to get lines round bollards, or 'helping'.
Going up (the trickiest) 'a deux', the basic technique is to have crew on the lock-side with the bow line. Moving between lock-chambers, they 'lead' the boat with the line, walking up the steps whilst the skipper attempts to keep the boat under control, go through the gates and then tuck into the curved lock-wall. Crew takes a couple of turns of the bow line around the forward bollard and then darts back to take the stern line from the skipper, around the aft bollard, back to the skipper and then forward to pick up the bow line and control the bow.
There are two situations where this doesn't work. Going into the first (lowest) chamber the configuration means that the crew won't be able to walk in, bow line already in hand. It may be difficult to lasso the necessary bollards from the boat. Secondly, half-way up there is a footbridge that means crew also can't lead the boat. The skipper may have to throw the bow line to the crew, as well as the stern. All good fun.
From here, heading west, there are no ecluses for 53km.
PK201 Colombiers
Hire boat base (travelift and yard) and PdP, in a harbour off the river. Apparently, free water and electricity for the first night. We've met a few people who like Colombiers and who have left their boat there for the winter. Even though there was space, we were chased off mooring 'inside' then an officious jobsworth came and berated us for mooring on the river-bank. The port was very noisy, too.As a result we don't like Colombiers. |
PK199 Malpas / Enserune
Malpasis the oldest canal tunnel in the world; quite short but the tunnel and the approaches are narrow (single passage) so hooting loudly to scare oncoming traffic is a good idea.Above, the Oppidum d'Enserune is an ancient hill settlement, occupied for 500 years up to 100AD – magical, but a very stiff walk up from the canal. It overlooks the Etang de Montady, once a swamp but drained in 1247, with spectacular radial fields and ditches. |
PK194 Poilhes
We don't like Colombiers but we really like Poilhes, a gorgeous little village that spans the canal with two bridges connecting the halves. Short stretch of quayside downstream of the road bridge. Bankside (with bollards) for 0.5km from that bridge upstream, plus mooring off the old washing-place opposite. Small shop/boulangerie, restaurants, superb Mairie overlooking the canal. A great place. |
PK188 Capestang
Capestang is a good village, with facilities including supermarkets. There are plenty of bank-side moorings either side of the bridge, as well as a hire boat base. Tel: 04 67 11 81 35 The bridge has the reputation of being the lowest on the canal; it isn't*, but it is the most awkward because of its shape.*(the two ecluse bridges leading up to and including Carcassonne are the lowest, in our experience) Click for dimensioned drawing of the arch, measured by Mike Hoffman. [opens in new window] |
PK178-PK177 – this stretch is wide and an excellent place to moor bank-side; far-reaching views to the south.
PK172 Argeliers – good, popular, bankside moorings with a pleasant small village nearby.
PK168 Canal-de-la-Robine [Canal-de-Jonction]
Click here for separate information about the Robine/Jonction canals to Narbonne.
PK168 Port-la-Robine
A small harbour (04 68 46 11 46, speak to Eric) off the canal (behind a sliding passarelle, so very secure), bankside moorings with water and electricity. Slipway at the far end. Some noise and dust from the works adjacent. Fuel from the pontoon outside the passarelle.A very nice walk or bike ride down the side canal (towards Narbonne) to pretty Salleles village for provisions. |
PK168 – The little Halte beside the bridge over the River Cesse seems to have closed – the quayside remains. The river is worth a look at, or even to scramble down and paddle in. A fairly thin stream running betwen gravel banks, you will surely be taken aback by the plaques on the south side of the bridge recording winter flood heights – ten metres above the current level.
PK166 – The pretty village (and bridge) of le Somail. Close by, a stunning, very large antiquarian bookshop and an equally extraordinary hat museum.
PK161 – Ventenac – Good quaysides immediately outside a huge wine 'cave'.
PK159 – Bridge over the River Repudre (1676), the oldest canal bridge in France, probably the world.
PK151 Argens-Minervois
A very attractive village, with an ancient and seemingly untouched chateau set on the hill above. Down at canal level things have moved on a bit – there is a hire boat base ('Port Occitanie' 04 68 27 03 33, no private plaisanciers, possibly fuel, crane) and bank-side moorings alongside the path where the locals play petanque. |
PK152 – the ecluse at the end of the 'long bief'.
PK145 Homps
PK147 – Just below Homps, by the Ecluse d'Ognon, a nice little restaurant/cafe.
PK145 – We like Homps. The village itself has nice buildings including the Knights Tower – in the Middle Ages Homps was one of the most important sites of the Templar Order of Jerusalem. On the edge of the village is an excellent service station and convenience store. There are long expanses of quayside with water and electricity (showers in the capitainerie – 04 68 91 18 98 – not always manned). Big hire boat base (04 68 91 24 00) with craned lift-out, possibly fuel (?).
A bike ride away is the much larger village of Olonzac (banks, etc.).
PK144 Jouarres-le-Vieux
By the bridge, a romanesque arch and colonnade fronts a vineyard estate.Closer to Homps, what was obviously intended to be a boat harbour. Two entrances (chains across) with an island between that would make an excellent, very safe overnight mooring.We are intrigued to know the background to this . . please contact us if you know the story. |
PK140 – La Redorte – Good quayside moorings (with services), restaurants; a new pontoon west of the bridge at PK139. Tel: 04 68 27 80 80
PK133 Ecluse l'Aiguille
A brilliant collection of very witty sculptures made from bits of wood and 'objets trouvé'. The lady on the bike pedals if you approach. Down by the ecluse weir is a wooden alligator. They are for sale . . !
PK127 Marseillette – A number of bank-side moorings, also a timber pontoon with water. 04 68 79 01 53
PK118 Trebes
A busy place. Hire boat base, lots of bank-side moorings, shops and restaurants.PK117 North side – pretty feeder canal. Suggested quiet mooring, but looks narrow and depth uncertain to us. |
PK105 Carcassonne
Utterly spectacular, world-renowned and unmissable, Carcassonne comprises a very large, complete and intact ancient fortified town (the 'Cité') and a 13thC 'new' town. In 1849 the Cité was in such a state of dereliction that the government proposed to demolish it; this caused a national outcry and comprehensive – somewhat inauthentic in places – restoration began. In a more modern vein, there are plenty of facilities within an easy and pleasant stroll from the PdP, as well as a main-line station.
Navigationally, in general moorings are divided between the bows-to port and the alongside quay (see aerial photo above right). Both have water and electricity; the capitainerie (also the local VNF office) is by the port. It is advisable to make contact in advance of arrival, this is a popular place as might be imagined. Speak to Mathieu, Stephanie or Francoise (04 68 25 10 48). In between the two there is an ecluse – the bridge headroom here (and at the ecluse downstream 'Saint-Jean') is at the 3.3m canal minimum.
PK101 – l'Epanchoir de Foucaud – quayside outside an old canal building. When first built, the Canal du Midi by-passed Carcassonne (the cost of going though the town was more than the town, impoverished by plague, could bear) and this is where that old canal emerged. Later on, soldiers captured from the Franco-Prussian war were used to dig the revised 'through' route, in particular the extremely deep cutting immediately above the PdP. There is now practically nothing to show of the old canal, nor its ecluses.
PK91 Villesquelande
Excellent grassy bank moorings under the trees, pretty bridge and lovely village nearby. |
PK81 Bram
Bank-side and quay moorings (being extended – shallow area half-way along), hire boat base and cafe/restaurant. 06 81 95 07 97. Expensive water point. Bram village is a short distance away, based on a fortified medieval circular plan. |
PK77 Villepinte
A number of good moorings near the small village; a lovely location albeit with some background traffic noise from the road a few kilometres away.- PK78 below the ecluse, very nice bankside- PK77 above the lock, one of our favourite places
- PK76.5 pumping station concrete quay under the trees - PK76 by the bridge - PK75 wooden quay, mooring posts |
PK65 Castelnaudary
PK66 – a 4-chamber staircase ecluse, closes 20 minutes early.PK65 – the 'Grand Bassin', a 5Ha reservoir lake feeding the ecluse. Moorings on the south side of the lake. Hire boat base (04 68 94 52 94) with showers and moorings available to plaisanciers. Dry dock. Fuel point (call ahead 04 68 94 31 57) on the north side, but not as cheap as it once was.New quaysides west of the bridge closer to the village centre. Capitainerie (Sylvie Chmielowiec 04 68 23 69 09 or 04 68 23 69 22). Good large village with all facilities. The home of Cassoulet. | |
PK54 la Segala – The Watershed. Quayside moorings by the small village. 04 67 37 14 60
PK52 l'Océan / Col de Naurouze
A beautiful place; this is where Riquet's feeder canal enters, but it does so in a wonderful octagonal parkland setting and around an avenue of plane trees. The avenue leads up to a small hill, on top of which is an obelisk commemorating the canal's plateau 'between the two seas' and celebrating Riquet. Everyone should stop here; to enjoy and to pay their respects to the great man!
PK50 Port Lauragais
Between the rail bridge and the autoroute bridge (above left), a delightful bank-side mooring complete with sculptural concrete recliner chairs, next to a lake. The trains are quite frequent, but easily ignored. Immediately west of the autoroute (right pic), a PdP that is part of its spacious parkland rest area. Much more pleasant than that sounds, quieter and more peaceful than you might expect. 05 62 71 71 38
The adjacent A61 autoroute is an inescapable factor for the next 35km. Most of the time there is merely a background buzz, sometimes it is lost entirely, in a couple of places it is very noticeable.
PK40 south bank – a good, quiet, bankside mooring.
PK37 + PK35.5 + PK33 north bank – further good, quiet, bankside moorings.
PK28 Ayguesvives The ecluse here has been modernised into a single (oval shape) from the old double; it is quite deep (4m+). Coming down (towards Toulouse) you will need long ropes if you use the bollards, or you will need to find the inset bollards – their position is not obvious. Going up (towards Castelnaudary) the inset bollards can be seen but you will need to use bow and stern lines on the same one. There are 'slidey poles' but they are positioned at the extreme ends of the ecluse, close to the gates.
PK25 Montgiscard
Similar ecluse comments at Ayguesvives, but not as tricky or deep.Short length of quay above the ecluse, good for lunch or overnight. Boulangerie in the village, up the hill. |
PK16 Castanet Comments as Ayguesvives, deeper (5m). Cute cafe by the ecluse.
PK12 Toulouse Ramonville
(left) Port Sud – a full service PdP, including fuel. West bank. (05 61 75 07 64). The port has recently (late 2011) been taken over by the municipality of Ramonville and there are plans to rehabilitate and enhance facilities.
(right) Port Technique – a large maintenance and repair yard, including a peniche-size dry dock. No crane. East bank. (05 62 88 32 89)
PK10 – Aérospatial space research centre. Science areas. University of Toulouse.
PK8 – Aqueduct; the canal crosses over the motorway. One way traffic (on the canal).
PK5 Toulouse Saint-Sauveur
A great place to stay – Toulouse and the PdP Saint-Sauveur (left in the photo, capitainerie is the curved roof building), run by the deservedly respected Sylvianne: very friendly and also very much in charge. Excellent, spotless, services and complete security. WiFi. The PdP is very popular – phoning ahead is advised (05 61 14 17 25 or 06 83 29 13 24) port-saintsauveur©mairie-toulouse,fr.
Toulouse is one of France's leading cities; there's a great deal to see and do, good shops and all facilities, including a big park just by the PdP. If you walk back along the canal beware the cyclists that you'll share the path with. Some of them go at breakneck speed.
PK4 – PK1 Three Ecluses
Bayard (6m+) and Minimes (4m+) have been converted from double locks and are deep. They have 'slidey poles' (near the ends) to which you'll need to attach both bow and stern lines. All three ecluses are automated but there will normally also be an eclusier at Béarnais, the nearest to PK0. Coming up from the port de l'Embouchure (junction with the Canal de Garonne) you may need to tie up at the downstream wooden pontoon and go and announce your presence. Coming from the other direction, Bayard is operated via a 'perche'.
PK0 Port de l'Embouchure – The basin (a) off which runs the short Canal de Brienne, down to the Garonne and (b) into which connects the Canal de Garonne. Terrific white marble bas-relief plaque – the Mediterranean and the Atlantic personnified together with canal building cherubs busy with picks and shovels. The turn between the two canals is quite tight; you might want to go further into the basin and take a wider approach. There are quayside moorings here, but it is bounded by busy roads.


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Archive for the 'automatic transmissions' tag
Oldsmobile's Hydra-Matic, first mass-produced fully automatic transmission, turns 75
No clutching, no shifting, no problem, right? Automatic transmissions have become more than just ubiquitous in recent decades – they've become all but the only transmission available in newer cars. But it took decades of development and a number of missteps and half-steps before the first mass-produced fully automatic transmission appeared – Oldsmobile's Hydra-Matic, which entered production 75 years ago this month.
The challenge of getting the output from any motivational source – be it steam, electric, or internal-combustion power – to the ground had, at times early in the twentieth century, seemed the central predicament within the larger issue of getting the masses to warm up to the automobile. Shifting a manual transmission – no less, an unsynchronized manual transmission – involved a complicated dance of clutching, double-clutching, rev-matching, and shifting, repeated over and over and often involving heavy and intractable gear levers. Some even pointed out how unsafe the system was, noting that shifting a manual transmission takes a hand off the steering wheel, where it could be better used controlling the car's direction in the days before power steering. And it seemed a common refrain in literature from the time – whether correct or not – that women would generally not own or operate cars with manual transmissions.
Thus ease of operation became one of the main selling aspects for electric vehicles in the 1900s and 1910s: Many, if not all, electrics at the time dispensed with a transmission, requiring only a throttle and brake. Pre-selector transmissions and freewheeling took a bit of the chore out of driving. And many gas-electric hybrids of the day – take, for instance, the Woods Dual Power, the Owen Magnetic, the Walker Dynamotive milk truck, or the Stearns-Knight that Colonel "Ned" Green had built for him – combined internal-combustion engines with generators and electric motors not in an effort to save on fuel, but to dispense with the third pedal to make the vehicles simpler (or in Green's case, simply possible) to drive.
While those attempts to make gasoline-powered automobiles simple to master didn't work out or faded away for various reasons, the two-speed planetary transmission that Henry Ford used in his Model T unquestionably did. Planetary – or epicyclic – gearing had been in use since ancient times, and planetary transmissions had been in use long before Ford first used one on his Model K, long enough for some to consider the design outdated when he chose it for the Model T. Ford believed, however, that the planetary transmission's ease of use (as well as its simplicity and ruggedness) was key to making the Model T a car of the masses; so much, in fact, that he placed the completion of the transmission design at the top of the priority list during the development of the Model T.
Without a doubt, the planetary transmission helped ensure the Model T's success – children could and often did drive the cars – but it still proved tricky to learn, especially for those used to more conventional sliding-gear transmissions, and it still couldn't be considered a true automatic, what with three pedals in addition to a throttle lever and a brake lever that doubled as a gear selector. By the late 1920s and early 1930s, the car-buying public, already familiar with motoring, wanted something even easier to drive. A number of developments would soon come along with the promise of smoother shifting, including Reo's early 1930s Self-Shifter and Chrysler's late 1930s Fluid-Drive, both of which still required a clutch pedal for certain operations, but fully automatic shifting wouldn't come along until the 1940s model year, thanks mostly to a man named Earl A. Thompson.
Thompson, an engineer and inventor from Portland, Oregon, got his foot in the door with General Motors in 1924 with his invention of manual transmission gear synchronizers, a design that finally promised an end to clashing gears and double-clutching and that Cadillac adopted in 1928. He didn't stop there, however. In about 1932 he gathered a group of GM engineers and – initially under the aegis of Cadillac, but later funded by Oldsmobile – began work on what Oldsmobile would eventually release in June 1937 as the optional Automatic Safety Transmission, which used hydraulic pistons to activate two sets of planetary gears for four forward gears. Considered a semi-automatic, the AST still used a clutch for starting, stopping, and shifting into reverse; Thompson's team hadn't yet developed a fluid coupling that would eliminate the clutch.
The true breakthrough of the AST – which ultimately led to the development of the Hydra-Matic – was the hydraulic system that activated the gear changes. Others had developed automatic gear-change mechanisms as well, but used differing means of actuation, whether mechanical (Sturtevant brothers, 1904) or pneumatic (Munro, 1923). Some accounts give credit for the development of hydraulic gear-change actuation to two Brazilian engineers, José Braz Araripe and Fernando Iehly de Lemos. Araripe claimed that he traveled to Detroit at about the time that Thompson began work on the AST and that GM paid him $10,000 for his invention; indeed, Thompson habitually bought up the patents of inventions related to work he pursued, so the work of Araripe and de Lemos could very well have set Thompson on course for developing the Hydra-Matic as it appeared.
Combining a Fluid-Drive-style fluid coupling (not yet a torque converter) to the AST almost seemed a no-brainer after working out the bugs with the latter, and indeed, Thompson's team followed the project through until they had their fully automatic transmission, the Hydra-Matic, which GM's Detroit Transmission Division began to produce in May 1939 and then to ship to Oldsmobile that October for use as an option to the standard three-speed manual transmission in 1940 Oldsmobiles.
For the first time in the history of gasoline automobiles, no clutching or manual gear changing was necessary to operate the vehicle. "(Hydra-Matic) is an entirely new development that makes driving so infinitely simple and easy as to be almost unbelievable," Oldsmobile announced in its brochures, which touted no stalling, no bucking when starting, instant acceleration on tap, improved getaway from stops, even flow of power at all speeds, better traction on snow and ice, and less fatigue from driving.
As Aaron Severson of Ate Up With Motor pointed out in his history of the Hydra-Matic, the transmission used a shifter quadrant with just four positions: Neutral, Drive, Low, and Reverse. In Low, the transmission would use only its first two gears, while Drive would use only first, third, and fourth gears; the only way to use all four gears would be to start out in Low and then shift to Drive after winding out second.
The Hydra-Matic did have its problems – perhaps most noteworthy a jerky shift from second to third that earned it the nickname "Hydra-Jerk" – but it also proved itself well over the following years. Cadillac began to offer it as an option for the 1941 model year and then adapted it for use in M-5 tanks during World War II. After the war, Pontiac began offering the Hydra-Matic (Buick and Chevrolet preferred to forego the Hydra-Matic for their respective automatic transmissions, the Dynaflow and the Powerglide), followed by a number of other companies: Nash, Hudson, Kaiser-Frazer, Willys, Rolls-Royce and Bentley, and even Lincoln. It was the increasing popularity of the Hydra-Matic that led General Motors to act swiftly to lease and later purchase the Willow Run assembly plant from Kaiser following the devastating 1953 fire that swept through the plant in Livonia, Michigan, that built the transmissions.
More importantly, though, the Hydra-Matic introduced the car-buying public to the automatic transmission, paving the way not only for future refinements of the technology, but also for more people to take the wheel and discover the independence and mobility that comes with owning a car.
SIA Flashback – Half-Hour History of MoPar's Fluid Drive
The astute among you will notice that, even though we're reprinting Pat Tobin's Half-Hour History of Fluid Drive from SIA #116, April 1990, in today's SIA Flashback, that's an exploded Chevrolet Powerglide torque converter in the image above. What do Fluid Drive and a Powerglide's torque converter have to do with each other? And why did one work better than the other? Read on to find out.
SIA Flashback – Out Front Again! 1950 Chevrolet Bel Air
Considering Chevrolet celebrated its centennial this past week, it's only appropriate that today's SIA story, reprinted from SIA #108, December 1988, focuses on a bowtie. Specifically, Arch Brown took a look at the 1950 Chevrolet, examining in particular the Powerglide automatic transmission new to Chevrolets that year as well as the Bel Air, another 1950 introduction that would eventually become one of the marque's most famous nameplates.
Four-Links – first Cobra, first production Cobra, stolen Camaro recovered, marketing the automatic transmission
* As Terry Shea mentioned recently, there aren't too many one-owner Shelby Cobras still around. There's Herbie Hancock's (CSX2006), and then there's CSX2000, the very first Cobra, still in Carroll Shelby's hands. It recently made an appearance at SEMA, where Rob at Autoholics snapped some photos of it.
* Speaking of early Cobras, Mike Gulett over at My Car Quest recently spent some time with Bruce Meyer, who owns the first production Cobra, CSX2001, along with, well, every car that every car enthusiast has ever dreamed of owning.
* Along with the story of the recovered Porsche 930, this week we also ran across the story of Edward Neeley of Jefferson City, Missouri, who recently recovered his own stolen car, a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro that was nabbed in 1995, after seeing it in a Google search.
* Whatever your position on gender politics, the recent story on Jalopnik regarding the female-centric marketing of automatic transmissions during the 1950s makes for interesting reading, especially the comments on the post.
* Finally, we've been seeing quite a few RC off-road videos on YouTube lately, and Tachoblog just supplied us with several more, all featuring one of our favorite off-roaders, the Unimog. One could argue RC off-roading is rather pointless, but it does offer at least a couple advantages over the real thing: Damage is much more easily fixed, and you don't have to look far and wide for a place to off-road – any suburban backyard should have enough obstacles. Plus, if you get really stuck, no need to call in a tow truck and face an expensive recovery bill.

subset: commoncrawl


text: PHOENIX, Ore. — Flying together, it's a mother-son date. Just days before Mother's Day, Angie Whitman and her 5-year old son Antonio headed to Phoenix High School's Mr. PHS event. The young men showed off their moves and answered random questions, "What would you do if you had a million dollars?" "I would donate it … Continue reading »


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As Gov. Rick Scott's communications director, Melissa Sellers, shifts to managing his campaign for re-election, changes are underway in his communications shop.Replacing Sellers as communications director will be her deputy, Frank Collins III. Collins, like Sellers, was part of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's press operation before coming to Florida. The 29-year-old Collins held a variety of posts under Jindal including campaign field director, transition press assistant, assistant press secretary and press secretary before following Sellers to Tallahassee.Collins is a native of Stonewall, LA and has a bachelor's degree in international studies from LSU.Also joining Scott's revamped election-year press shop as deputy communications director is Monica Russell, who has been director of communications at the Department of Economic Opportunity. A University of Florida graduate, she previously was a partner in North Public Relations, a Tallahassee firm.-- Steve Bousquet
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Changes in Gov. Scott's communications shop
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So the 29 year old wonder kid is supposed to navigate Florida media in an election year... this should prove interesting. Almost feel sorry for Monica, or anyone else with Florida experience having to work in that environment.
FC3 is wicked smart and he's fierce with political know-how. FC3 got it locked down like a bottle a Crown! Hello!
Is this the same Frank Collins who was promoted to Deputy Director in Jindal's administration when Sellers was forced err resigned? The same Frank Collins who made it a month before he was cast out to a no name department? The same Frank Collins who got married last year and his new wife received a Deputy Communications position with Department of Juvenile Justice. No, couldn't be.
But it is the same Monica Russell who threw a birthday party for Melissa Sellers. A party that your paper reported when the Chief of Staff attended.
Yep. Bousquet, in full lap-dog mode, dutifully reports the story these clowns want because he can't function without getting handouts.
Come on, Steve. You're farting dust. Monica Russell is the WIFE of the lobbyist who threw the birthday party for Sellers...a story that blew up in Adam Hollingsworth's face. But yet you don't mention it???
The comments to this entry are closed.


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A Spatially Explicit Environmental Health Surveillance Framework for Tick-Borne Diseases
Date: August 2010
Creator: Aviña, Aldo
Description: In this paper, I will show how applying a spatially explicit context to an existing environmental health surveillance framework is vital for more complete surveillance of disease, and for disease prevention and intervention strategies. As a case study to test the viability of a spatial approach to this existing framework, the risk of human exposure to Lyme disease will be estimated. This spatially explicit framework divides the surveillance process into three components: hazard surveillance, exposure surveillance, and outcome surveillance. The components will be used both collectively and individually, to assess exposure risk to infected ticks. By utilizing all surveillance components, I will identify different areas of risk which would not have been identified otherwise. Hazard surveillance uses maximum entropy modeling and geographically weighted regression analysis to create spatial models that predict the geographic distribution of ticks in Texas. Exposure surveillance uses GIS methods to estimate the risk of human exposures to infected ticks, resulting in a map that predicts the likelihood of human-tick interactions across Texas, using LandScan 2008TM population data. Lastly, outcome surveillance uses kernel density estimation-based methods to describe and analyze the spatial patterns of tick-borne diseases, which results in a continuous map that reflects disease rates based ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Archaeological Proteomics: Method Development and Analysis of Protein-Ceramic Binding
Date: May 2010
Creator: Barker, Andrew L.
Description: The analysis of protein residues recovered from archaeological artifacts provides a unique opportunity to reveal new information about past societies. However, many scientists are currently unwilling to accept protein-based results due to problems in method development and a basic lack of agreement regarding the ability of proteins to bind to, and preserve within, artifacts such as pottery. In this paper, I address these challenges by conducting a two-phase experiment. First, I quantitatively evaluate the tendency of proteins to sorb to ceramic matrices by using total organic carbon analysis and spectrophotometric assays to analyze samples of experimentally cooked ceramic. I then test a series of solvent and physical parameters in order to develop an optimized method for extracting and preparing protein residues for identification via mass spectrometry. Results demonstrate that protein strongly sorbs to ceramic and is not easily removed, despite repeated washing, unless an appropriate extraction strategy is used. This has implications for the future of paleodietary, conservation ecology and forensic research in that it suggests the potential for recovery of aged or even ancient proteins from ceramic matrices.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Hyperspectral and Multispectral Image Analysis for Vegetation Study in the Greenbelt Corridor near Denton, Texas
Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community.
Date: August 2006
Creator: Bhattacharjee, Nilanjana
Description: In this research, hyperspectral and multispectral images were utilized for vegetation studies in the greenbelt corridor near Denton. EO-1 Hyperion was the hyperspectral image and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) was the multispectral image used for this research. In the first part of the research, both the images were classified for land cover mapping (after necessary atmospheric correction and geometric registration) using supervised classification method with maximum likelihood algorithm and accuracy of the classification was also assessed for comparison. Hyperspectral image was preprocessed for classification through principal component analysis (PCA), segmented principal component analysis and minimum noise fraction (MNF) transform. Three different images were achieved after these pre-processing of the hyperspectral image. Therefore, a total of four images were classified and assessed the accuracy. In the second part, a more precise and improved land cover study was done on hyperspectral image using linear spectral unmixing method. Finally, several vegetation constituents like chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, caroteoids were distinguished from the hyperspectral image using feature-oriented principal component analysis (FOPCA) method and which component dominates which type of land cover particularly vegetation were correlated.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Assessment of transportation emissions for ferrous scrap exports from the United States: Activity-based maritime emissions model and theoretical inland transportation model.
Date: December 2011
Creator: Caldwell, Amanda
Description: Industrial ecology is a field of study that encourages the use of closed-loop material cycles to achieve sustainability. Loop closing requires the movement of materials over space, and has long been practiced in the iron and steel industry. Iron and steel (ferrous) scrap generated in the U.S. is increasingly exported to countries in Asia, lengthening the transportation distance associated with closing the loop on the iron and steel life cycle. In order to understand the environmental cost of transporting this commodity, an activity-based maritime transportation model and a theoretical in-land transportation model are used to estimate emissions generated. Results indicate that 10.4 mmt of total emissions were generated, and emissions increased by 136 percent from 2004 to 2009. Increases in the amount of emissions generated are due to increases in the amount of scrap exported and distance it is transported.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
A Geoarchaeological Investigation of Site Formation in the Animas River Valley at Aztec Ruins National Monument, NM
Date: August 2010
Creator: Caster, Joshua
Description: This paper presents an investigation of sedimentary deposition, soil formation, and pedoturbation in the Animas River Valley to determine the provenience of archaeological deposits in an open field at Aztec Ruins National Monument, NM outside of the Greathouse complex. Four stratigraphic pedounits correlated with active fan deposition have been proposed for the lower terrace in the project area with only one of these units retaining strong potential for buried archaeological deposits from the Anasazi late Pueblo II/Pueblo III period. The distal fan on the lower terrace and the Animas River floodplain appear to show poor potential for archaeological deposits either due to shallow sediment overburden with historic disturbance or alluvial activity during or after occupation. Based on these findings, four other zones of similar fan development have been identified throughout the Animas Valley and are recommended for subsurface testing during future cultural resource investigations.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Lone Star Booster: The Life of Amon G. Carter
Date: December 2011
Creator: Cervantez, Brian
Description: Abstract Though a very influential Texan during the first half of the twentieth century, Amon Carter has yet to receive a full scholarly treatment, a problem which this dissertation attempts to rectify by investigating the narrative of Carter's life to see how and why he was able to rise from humble beginnings to become a powerful publisher who symbolized boosterish trends within Texas and the New South. Publisher of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, philanthropist, oilman, and aviation supporter, Carter used his power and influence to become a leading booster of his city and region seamlessly making the transition from being a business progressive to New Deal supporter to an Eisenhower Democrat. His connections with corporations like American Airlines and General Motors helped bring aviation and industry to his region, and his ability to work with public and private entities helped inspire his failed attempt to make the Trinity River navigable up to Fort Worth. His own success at building the Star-Telegram into the largest circulating newspaper in Texas encouraged him to expand his media empire into radio and television, while the wealth he gained from his oil activities enabled him to form a philanthropic foundation that would provide support for ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Developing a wildlife tracking extension for ArcGIS
Date: May 2009
Creator: Chen, Cai
Description: Wildlife tracking is an essential task to gain better understanding of the migration pattern and use of space of the wildlife. Advances in computer technology and global positioning systems (GPS) have lowered costs, reduced processing time, and improved accuracy for tracking wild animals. In this thesis, a wildlife tracking extension is developed for ArcGIS 9.x, which allows biologists and ecologists to effectively track, visualize and analyze the movement patterns of wild animals. The extension has four major components: (1) data import; (2) tracking; (3) spatial and temporal analysis; and (4) data export. Compared with existing software tools for wildlife tracking, the major features of the extension include: (1) wildlife tracking capabilities using a dynamic data layer supported by a file geodatabase with 1 TB storage limit; (2) spatial clustering of wildlife locations; (3) lacunarity analysis of one-dimensional individual animal trajectories and two-dimensional animal locations for better understanding of animal movement patterns; and (4) herds evolvement modeling and graphic representation. The application of the extension is demonstrated using simulated data, test data collected by a GPS collar, and a real dataset collected by ARGOS satellite telemetry for albatrosses in the Pacific Ocean.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Soil Characteristics Estimation and Its Application in Water Balance Dynamics
Date: December 2008
Creator: Chen, Liping
Description: This thesis is a contribution to the work of the Texas Environmental Observatory (TEO), which provides environmental information from the Greenbelt Corridor (GBC) of the Elm Fork of the Trinity River. The motivation of this research is to analyze the short-term water dynamic of soil in response to the substantial rainfall events that occurred in North Texas in 2007. Data collected during that year by a TEO soil and weather station located at the GBC includes precipitation, and soil moisture levels at various depths. In addition to these field measurements there is soil texture data obtained from lab experiments. By comparing existing water dynamic models, water balance equations were selected for the study as they reflect the water movement of the soil without complicated interrelation between parameters. Estimations of water flow between soil layers, infiltration rate, runoff, evapotranspiration, water potential, hydraulic conductivity, and field capacity are all obtained by direct and indirect methods. The response of the soil at field scale to rainfall event is interpreted in form of flow and change of soil moisture at each layer. Additionally, the analysis demonstrates that the accuracy of soil characteristic measurement is the main factor that effect physical description. Suggestions for model ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Spatial Patterns in Development Regulation: Tree Preservation Ordinances of the DFW Metropolitan Area
Date: August 2011
Creator: Cox, Carissa
Description: Land use regulations are typically established as a response to development activity. For effective growth management and habitat preservation, the opposite should occur. This study considers tree preservation ordinances of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area as a means of evaluating development regulation in a metropolitan context. It documents the impact urban cores have on regulations and policies throughout their region, demonstrating that the same urban-rural gradient used to describe physical components of our metropolitan areas also holds true in terms of policy formation. Although sophistication of land use regulation generally dissipates as one moves away from an urban core, native habitat is more pristine at the outer edges. To more effectively protect native habitat, regional preservation measures are recommended.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Examining the Role of Latitude and Differential Insolation in Asymmetrical Valley Development
Date: August 2013
Creator: Curran, Lorna L.
Description: Valley development through erosional processes typically tends to create symmetrical valleys. Over time, water cuts through the substrate to create valleys, gorges, and canyons for which the sides are the valley are evenly sloped. However, there are anomalies to this process. Asymmetrical valleys have been well-documented even in areas of uniform substrate or little tectonic uplift. One proposed explanation for the asymmetry of these valleys is differential insolation. This may lead to different microclimates from one slope to another which alter the rate and extent of erosion. Since the differences in received insolation vary with latitude (especially in streams that flow along an east/west axis), it follows that the degree of asymmetry should also vary with latitude if differential insolation is a primary driving factor in the development of these valleys. To evaluate if insolation plays a role in the development of asymmetrical valleys, this study examines variability in asymmetry across 447 valleys in nine study areas located at different latitudes. The degree of asymmetry for each valley was measured by using 30 meter resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) to determine the slope angle of each side of the valley. Asymmetry was measured by computing a ratio of the average ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries


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There is a misconception among us fantasy hoopsters – we who between fall and spring each year live vicariously through the drama that is basketball, and who are students of the game more than participants (except in the remotest sense) – that defense and rebounding are a matter of effort, foremost. There is an implied duality between offense and defense among us, in that the former requires imagination, skill, talent, whereas the latter is founded on energy and motivation, predominantly. While such notions may hold in the dream-world of spectator hoopsterism, I have reason to suspect that it isn't quite this way at the actual level, and certainly not when the game is professionally played.
Knowing when to switch, how to avoid mismatches, to run through screens, to anticipate ball movement, to establish position – I take the liberty to jot down my thoughts in amateur hoopsterish, for which I apologize to innocent bystanders – these are very much mental aspects of defense, or rather, good defense, and energy alone in this realm is just not enough. The same is true of rebounding: If Dennis Rodman, for example, was able to pull down boards (again, I'm sorry) like an industrial vacuum cleaner, at a rate unmatched by any of his generation, this was due to much more than athleticism. There was that also, yes, but combined with an uncanny ability to position at the right place around the basket so that the rebound would be within reach. The basket area being a wide arc, with a wide variety of angular alternatives, it isn't an easy mental exercise to pick well and know how to navigate there through crowds.
I am sometimes reminded about these and related issues in the context of entrepreneurship. There has been a tendency, in public discussions and often as well in private, to confuse high energy and torrential activity with execution. "Just do, and do quickly," is the abbreviated version of a common business-building thesis, (and all theses require abbreviation in an atmosphere of breathless activity and much doing). The subsequent step, tangential to the stated concept, is this: When frantic doing is deemed inconsequential, "pivot." (Basketball word, by the way… I'm just saying.) For those unfamiliar with the lingo, to pivot is to change course – into a new product area or new market, using as much of the previously established platform as possible. Once the pivot is in place, return to the original theme again and do.
I exaggerate in order to make a point, but the exaggeration is not entirely unfounded, and the parallel with vicarious hoopsterism is not entirely inappropriate. To continue with this admittedly imperfect analogy, business-building in an atmosphere of extreme doing and pivoting is akin to playing defense, but playing it without the skillful anticipation and maneuvering characteristic of the task well performed. On the basis of energy and passion alone – that is, without the patience for continuing reflection, long-term thought, and careful strategic positioning in a dynamic field – any business-building can only really be defensive -Â even when rooted in an initial spark of inspiration, even when the enterprise is more mature. Which is to say, execution is in this scenario based on reaction rather than plan, and loss of control is a risk.
Granted, planning in a prolonged era of almost unprecedented change – by historical standards in matters of technology, economics, finance, marketing, consumption – can be a daunting task, and there is much that recommends reaction and fast activity in such an era. There is nothing wrong with reaction, there is nothing wrong with speed, these are both good and important qualities for entrepreneurship. But there is a place as well for calm, for strategic outlook, and for thinking several steps ahead of the game. In hoopster speak, it's called seeing the court. There have been at least a few enterprise-building case studies lately about how and why this matters. Here is one.


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Talking With the First Lady: How to Eat Better As a Family
by Michelle Buffardi in Food News, February 26, 2013Family dinners can be a challenge, more so when the food is healthy–even at the White House. "Yes, I'm the First Lady," Mrs. Obama said. "But, yes, my kids make dinnertime miserable because they like three things: pasta, pasta with cheese and pizza." So, to mark the third birthday of Let's Move!, her initiative to fight childhood obesity, and today's announcement of a massive virtual recipe swap with FoodNetwork.com and other media outlets on Pinterest, the First Lady shared her strategies as a mother for eating well as a family. Along with the Partnership for a Healthier America and Let's Move!, the First Lady's office is partnering to pin hundreds of family-friendly recipes from favorite Food Network chefs and others that fit the USDA's MyPlate guidelines. The goal for the partnership is to help lower obesity rates, and to bring together food brands and recipe websites with a common theme: to make it easier for families to make the healthiest choices. "We're all busy parents," said the First Lady. "I'm busy in a different way, but before being a First Lady, I was one of those moms out there trying to figure out how to feed my kids, hold down a job, get to the grocery store, then what to buy, how to cook it, how to get through a week and how to make lunch that the kids won't whine about."
Mrs. Obama talked through the challenges of getting a healthy meal on the table each night, described ways to convince kids that vegetables are important parts of everyone's diet, explained how to keep dinner simple (and delicious), and shared her own go-to baked chicken dish.
Make healthy changes early and they'll stick:
Mrs. Obama: "The sooner you start this stuff, the more it will be their norm. They just won't know any different. So if you start out by making your macaroni and cheese with a little cauliflower puree, so they get the taste of the cauliflower, the taste of too much cheese will be too much for them. If you start out diluting their juices so that they're never getting that 100 percent concentrated stuff, then once you put it in, it will be too sweet for them. Kids' palates are just so adaptable, and I think that's the point we're trying to make to parents — it just doesn't take much, and the sooner you start, the easier it will be to transition. You can still transition. I mean, my kids were 10 and 8 when I started making the changes, and then complained for a while; they still do. But they make the changes themselves now because they can't drink purely concentrated juices, and it's too sweet. It doesn't taste good to them."
Make small changes to food your family already likes:
Mrs. Obama: "Take the things you like and figure out how to tweak them. Oven-fried chicken is just as good as fried chicken; it really is. Whole-wheat pasta in a good sauce, a fresh tomato sauce, is better than the canned stuff. Fresh salsa — chop up some tomatoes — it actually is really good. It's just the same stuff. Just try this."
Healthy eating takes planning, and that planning can be tough:
Mrs. Obama: "I thought that my weekly schedule of eating was right — I had it planned out — I'd cook a dinner on Sunday that would last through Monday. By Tuesday, we were eating out. Then Wednesday, you would cobble together the eat-out food. And then that would get you to Friday, where you'd eat out again. So you looked up and you found yourself eating out a lot simply because just figuring out how to make that meal was a challenge, and how to do the shopping, and what actually works and tastes good."
Keep it simple:
Mrs. Obama: "The other day they were reminiscing about one of the meals I used to make all the time, which was this baked chicken. And I actually had this conversation with my sister-in-law, who's Barack's youngest sister who has two little girls, and she doesn't cook. She is a teacher and doesn't have much time to cook. I was trying to tell her that you can cook a simple meal. Well, what she's trying to cook is these complicated Asian dishes that require many pans and chopping. And I was like, no, no, you only do that if you have a sous chef. And we don't have any of that.
My simple meal was taking some chicken legs, seasoning them in the morning, coming back, popping them in the broiler or the oven to let them cook and get a little crispy outside because it made it seem like fried chicken. It was tasty because the seasoning flavored the skin of the leg, and the legs are good — kids like legs. They're easy and they're controllable. Serve it with couscous or rice. And broccoli, steamed broccoli. I could do that in 15 minutes, and then we'd have leftovers. Now my family is sick of that meal!"
Vegetables should be a part of our diets:
Mrs. Obama: "I think as parents we have to realize, as I tell my kids, vegetables are something that has to be a part of your diet so we'll find a few that you like, but there has to be a vegetable, and you have to finish it. You can skip the pasta, but you've got to eat the vegetables."
But kids don't have to love every vegetable:
Mrs. Obama: "In my household, when it comes to vegetables — and I encourage this with kids that I meet because I always say, do you eat your vegetables? They say no. So I say, just pick one, find one you like and own it. Broccoli is a winner in our household. So we do a lot of broccoli. And it works. Malia doesn't like snowpeas, but they will appear because I like them."
Master some easy sides:
Mrs. Obama: "One option is the baked sweet potato, because you can do a sweet potato in a microwave; my kids like sweet potatoes, too. So that's another quick side, with the broccoli. Or frozen peas — frozen peas were big in my house. The kids were talking about, hey, remember how you'd make those frozen peas? Frozen peas were great because you get them and you cut the bag open, dump them in. In seconds, they're done. So peas, broccoli — I had two vegetables."
Cook at home and bond over a family meal:
Mrs. Obama: "You do want to cook, because it's affordable, and it's healthier, and it gives you more control, and you can control portion sizes. It's a good way to bond. It's a good way to have those conversations with your family. It's a good way to teach rules and lessons. I mean, all of our major conversations in our family about rules and life, and ups and downs, happen at dinner. It happens at mealtime. It's the only time we're all together where the kids — if they're slow over their vegetables, they'll find a way to get into a good conversation about school, hoping that you won't notice that they haven't eaten the snap peas."
Make a game out of the healthy foods conversation:
Mrs. Obama: "Over Christmas we did a bracketing of foods — 'food bracketology.' This was the President's idea, and he's quite pleased with it — like March Madness. We were with a bunch of other families, and this was an evening activity where the fathers bracketed foods — like what would be the winner. And you'd have the top brackets — so you had your pizza and your fried chicken, but you had sushi and you had vegetables — broccoli, kale, salads. And everybody got to vote. The foods would go head to head. Bacon against pie, right? Everybody had to vote, and the kids could make an argument. You could make one argument per category when they got down to the final eight. This was an intense conversation. We were surprised at many of the kids, how many vegetables stayed in for a long time. They got to the top eight — beyond the Sweet 16."
Learn more about our partnership with First Lady Michelle Obama and Let's Move! and find hundreds of MyPlate-approved recipes on our Pinterest boards.
Photo by Adam Garber
This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.
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UPDATE: you get to learn Cales and Te's real names!!! look to my journal on 10/16!!! (the names are totally different b/c we have a huge secret code thing they started waaaayyy back in 5th grade, I'm Wesley... i think XD.. )
I have a project to finish, but I kinda don't wanna :-\
I decided to try recording using my super-dooper audio recorder today. Worked pretty well.
Have you ever had one of those indecisive moments? For example, I have more homework to complete tonight than I care to mention, but now I am in the process of not only updating on Oasis, but trying to convince myself that seeing a movie (Julie and Julia) is a grand idea. So what am I indecisive about? Well should I stay or should I go? Ha, I'll probably go see the movie because I know myself well enough to know that even if it means I'm pulling an all nighter, I will not have late school work…no way, no how. So has anyone see Julie and Julia?
This has been a horrible week so far! I have so much homework I feel like I'm drowning it. We have to give a a 40 min to hour long intense presentation on Stalin, which is far from done and portfolio's, english final, 2 tests. On top of that I just found out my grandma has to continue with chemo even though they told her today was the last session. Overall I have just been feeling off for the last month. I have been seriously clinically depressed three times in my life once in 4th grade, once in sixth grade, and once at the beginning of last year.
Yay! today was my first day of driver's ed...had to wake up at like 7 and be there at 8...sigh it sucks 'cause it's spring break and imma be waking up early, what a drag lol...but it's for a good reason so yeah.


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See other Buenos Aires properties
Hostel Sol
Real Reviews
Real reviews from fellow travellers
These are trusted reviews from guests who have actually stayed here. We hope you find them helpful.
Note: we only give a property a rating once it has received a minimum of 3 reviews.
- Page:1/1
- " You get what you pay for. I have stayed in Hostels on 6 continents and this one takes the prize for the worst one ever. There is no air conditioning so it's unbearably hot and humid. You wake up on sweat soaked sheets in addition to being covered in insect bites. The place is in a rough looking neighbourhood along the main road. The building is in poor condition and very dirty, especially the bathroom and the kitchen. The fridge was absolutely revolting. Worst hostel experience ever. "
- 10 Jan 2015 Joel Canada
- " Just an FYI, the bunk beds are really creaky. It maybe because they appear to be two beds fixed together. So they wobble and creak and there are no ladders to get to the top bunk. "
- 06 Nov 2014 Kelty Canada
- " Really good hostel, only a couple of members of staff speak English-but that'll teach me to learn more Spanish! "
- 16 Mar 2014 Anonymous England
- " Really good hostel, only a couple of members of staff speak English-but that'll teach me to learn more Spanish! "
- 15 Mar 2014 Anonymous England


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Where Is Jason Molina?
Posted: September 19th, 2011 by Theodora
All of us here at Secretly Canadian have been eagerly anticipating Record Store Day for weeks now, and this year we're excited to have Magnolia Electric Co. and Damien Jurado appear on a special LP formulated in heart of southern Indiana. Both artists contributed tracks to It Happened Here, a Record Store Day exclusive vinyl LP + 7″ compilation of live and exclusive studio recordings made in Bloomington, IN in 2009.
A live take of Magnolia Electric Co.'s "Rider. Shadow. Wolf.," performed July 10, 2009 at local recording studio Russian Recording appears on the LP, along with Damien's "Kansas City," performed April 11, 2009 at the same location.
This LP + 7″ is a collaboration between three Bloomington enterprises who represent three distinct spheres of the music world: Russian Recording (recording studio), St. Ives (Secretly Canadian's boutique record label) and Landlocked Music (retail store). Together they give you not just a snapshot of the Indiana scene but also the influence of the times. Each LP + 7″ possesses lovingly handmade artwork from Woodruff & Sons and In Case of Emergency Press and is strictly limited to a one-time pressing of 750 copies. A digital download of the tracks comes with purchase. Check out the full track listing after the jump.
Magnolia Electric Co.'s 4 CD + 1 DVD Sojourner boxset may be out of print, but that doesn't mean you can't hear this full collection of Jason Molina songs in one place. On March 2nd, discs 3 and 4 of the boxset became available through digital retailers, making the full Sojourner track list available online for the first time. Previously, only discs 1 and 2 were available for digital purchase.
Visit iTunes, Emusic or your favorite digital retailer to make your set complete.
It's sort of unbelievable, but after all Magnolia Electric Co.'s time spent crisscrossing the country, the stars (and moons?) were never quite aligned right to get them into Daytrotter's Rock Island, Il. studio. Until now.
The band's first-ever Daytrotter session, recorded during the MECo.'s summer tour, was posted to the Daytrotter site earlier this week and features tunes from their most recent release, Josephine, as well a blazing cover of the Warren Zevon classic "Lawyers, Guns and Money" and a lovely, as-yet-unreleased tune called "Devil Wings."
Daytrotter's Sean Moeller had these lovely words to say about Jason Molina and company: "It's as if we're hearing songs that were written in Nashville in the 50s and 60s, digging into the saddest aspects of love and life that any man would ever have the privilege of dealing with, though he smothers them not with aw shucks humor or faux defiance – as if some effort was being made to defray the pain and sorrow by spinning the story to seem more like a blessing or a valuable lesson learned by a young, foolish hayseed – but with real, salt in the wounds, dirt in the eye rub."
Listen to, and download, tracks from the session HERE.
Also, below is a wonderful MECo. interview and performance clip from their recent show in Rome, from our friends at Sound36 magazine.
Uncle Booking - Erik
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Belmont Bookings - Bas Flesseman
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Sing (And Drink) Yourself Silly At Ultimate Power Ballads Nights!
Come on, admit it; at some point in your life, you will have screamed "I wanna know what love is" at the top of your voice, on your knees, arms outstretched, pining for the hot girl at the school disco who's slow-dancing with your sworn enemy.
So, imagine a club where you can feel The Power Of Love and bless the rains in Africa, and no one will judge. Where you're guaranteed to have the "Best Night Of Your Life" in the presence of hundreds of other power ballad aficionados who'll go Wherever You Will Go and won't Think Twice about it. Come on, admit it: you just can't Fight This Feeling Anymore, can you? And you know what? Ultimate Power is here to help.
Ultimate Power nights sell out, and they sell out fast. So if you fancy a club that's a little different, check out ultimatepowerclub.com for details of their nights in Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, London and Manchester and you'll be pulling down the moon, Meat Loaf-style, before you know it. And finally – finally – you'll know what love is!
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Conflicts in Countries & the Security Council
On behalf of the Anglican Communion, the Office of the Anglican Observer has advocated for peace in numerous areas around the world: in the Middle East; Africa; and in the Pacific. Under the aegis of the Anglican Observer's ministry, roundtable discussions in several regions of the United States and England are being established with lay Muslims to explore the problems of civil society in addressing the growth of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights. The Observer accomplishes this work through strategic discussions with personnel from the UN Department of Political Affairs, members of the Security Council, ambassadors and permanent mission staff, through news releases and news conference statements, and panel discussions involving government, UN and NGO personnel.
When the Anglican Communion addresses issues of global importance or discovers a critical unmet humanitarian need in one of its Provinces, the Office of the Anglican Observer at the United Nations is uniquely positioned to inform, to advocate, to motivate, and to make the vital connections needed to relieve suffering and save lives anywhere on the planet.


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I just bought a synth, a juno DI, and I want to play the synth sounds in FL Studio ( automation ). I connected midi cable from synth to computer, and I started a VST in FL Studio called "Midi out", but when I play, C for example, some other note is playing. Also I can't record with multiple synth sounds, how to do that?
Thx in advance.


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Penguin Thermometer Magnet Craft Kit. Check the chilly temps outside or in with this flock of foam penguins! Friends and family will love how easy it is to make these magnetic thermometer Christmas craft kits! Keep warm on snow days by putting together this activity for your own home décor or gift giving! Includes plastic thermometers and foam pieces. 5 1/2" x 9" All craft kit pieces are pre-packaged for individual use. Kits include instructions and extra pieces. © OTC
Age Recommendation:
Stackable Snowman Pencils
Per Dozen
4.2 out of 5
Waving Snowman Notepads
24 Piece(s)
4.0 out of 5
Glitter Polar Bear Craft Kit
Makes 12
$12.00 Now $7.98
3.2 out of 5
Magic Color Scratch Winter Christmas Ornaments
Makes 24
4.6 out of 5
Self-Adhesive Jewels
500 Piece(s)
4.4 out of 5
Penguin Party Beverage Napkins
16 Piece(s)
5.0 out of 5
Penguin Christmas Ornament Craft Kit
3.9 out of 5
Color Your Own Bundled Up Kid Fuzzy Christmas Magnets
$4.25 Now $3.38
Magic Color Scratch Penguin Christmas Ornaments
Happy Snowmen Picture Frame Magnet Christmas Craft Kit
$7.25 Now $5.78
Easter Egg Magnet Craft Kit
4.5 out of 5
Inflatable Penguin Beach Balls
Mosaic Easter Egg Ornament Craft Kit
$5.00 Now $4.18
3.0 out of 5
Winter Penguin Swirl Pops
$5.75 Now $2.88
3.7 out of 5


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--------DFC IX Official Discussion Thread-------
Discussion in 'Anime' started by Coldstone320, Sep 4, 2012.
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Democracy Now! (6 am), for August 20, 2012 - 6:00am
Download this clip (mp3, 10.27 megabytes)
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End the WikiLeaks Witch Hunt: Julian Assange's Full Address from the Ecuadorean Embassy; Tariq Ali, Ex-U.K. Ambassador Craig Murray Praise Ecuador for Granting Asylum to Julian Assange; Solidarity Protests Held Worldwide After Russian Court Sentences Pussy Riot Members to 2-Year Term; "Nonprofits" Tied to Karl Rove, Koch Brothers Spend Millions on Elections and Call it Public Welfare.
August 20, 2012
Julian Assange Calls on U.S. to End "War on Whistleblowers"
U.S. Drone Strikes Kill 13 in Pakistan
Last U.N. Monitors Withdraw from Syria
Obama, Ryan Trade Barbs on Medicare Plans
Ryan Backed Stimulus Spending in 2002
GOP Senate Candidate Says Women Can Avoid Pregnancy in "Legitimate Rape"
Kansas Prosecutors Drop Planned Parenthood Case
Striking Miners Face Deadline Days After Mass Slaying
Afghan Officer Kills 2 U.S. Soldiers
Gov't Forces Kill Young Protester in Bahrain
More from this show: About the Show | Archives of this Show | Playlists from this Show


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Baron ISR - Beechcraft The Beechcraft G58 Baron ISR provides the unique combination of a...
The police and fire departments of Melbourne, Fla., had been seeking funding for a mobile command center for the past four years with no luck. That's when NACS Vehicles stepped in to assist their hometown and made their dream a reality by donating a custom-built 30-foot Unified Command Center.
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Tags: Mobile Command Centers, NACS Vehicles


text: | MHS softball recognizes deep crop of seniorsJuly 6, 2013 - Andy HeintzThe Marshalltown softball team honored and recognized a large group of seniors last Wednesday in its home finale against state-ranked Benton. Seven of the eight seniors are regulars in the starting lineup and the other -- Eisha Oden -- had never played softball before this year. Here are a list of the seniors and their future plans in regards to college and what they plan to study. Taylor Wagner The Bobcats' first all-stater in a decade will play softball for Division I Eastern Michigan next season. She plans on major in secondary education. She also played basketball during her career at Marshalltown. Lauren Mazour Mazour is a three-sport athlete at the MHS and will move on to play two sports at Central College. She will not play basketball but will join the Dutch volleyball and softball programs. She plans to major in elementary education and also has aspirations to be a coach. Eisha Oden Oden provided this year's softball team with comic relief and leadership and was a joy to have around, according to Jeff Lamb. She also will play two sports at the collegiate level, moving on to Division II Southwest Minnesota State to play volleyball and run track and field. She will major in sports management. Madi Bellile and Morgan Bellile These set of twins are Northern Iowa bound next year. Athletics will be put in their rear-view mirror as they move forward into athletic training (Madi) and business (Morgan). The Belliles also played volleyball and basketball during their high school careers. Quinn Goodman This Bobcat second baseman also played volleyball during her time at MHS. She will be heading to Iowa State next year to study graphic design. Emily DeVenney Another volleyball and softball player for the Bobcats, DeVenney has really emerged at the plate and in the field this year on the softball team. She will move on to Iowa State in the fall to study business Megan Major Major played volleyball and was an all-conference soccer player this year as well. She also will study business in college but will head West instead of East to the University of Iowa. Article CommentsNo comments posted for this article. Post a Comment | |


text: Had my Ford Fiesta 1.4 Zetec 1 week today great wee car have had a Focus, Escort, drove a Galaxy at work and not had many problems over the years. However the other night some fool stole the wing mirror cover from the passenger side door. I got a replacement part to cover in the meantime but have to get the right colour match( Vision Blue) have looked at all types of sites and the best I can see is ebay so I will just go for that it's £30 plus the p&p so it looks a great deal. I would like any feedback in regards to the post if you can source another cover Thanks Folks.


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Found the same room at a different price? Tell us, and we'll offer to match it.
Bewleys Hotel Leeds
3 | AA Assessed Hotel | Ratings explained |
All bedrooms are soundproofed and boast 'dive into bed' duvets and fluffy hypoallergenic pillows to ensure you awake refreshed. For added convenience free WiFi is available to all guests, along with complimentary use of the mini gym open 7 days a week, to all residents over the age of 16.
For a light bite, leisurely lunch or dinner, the Brasserie Restaurant offers a menu guaranteed to suit the most discerning of palettes meanwhile the Inkwell Bar is an ideal venue for informal business meetings, a light bite, pre-dinner drinks or simply getting away from it all.
The hotel offers excellent meeting and conference facilities with 9 meeting rooms and one larger conference facility as well as a car park available to guests of the hotel at an additional charge of £1.50 per hour or £11 per 24h.
Bewley's Hotel Leeds is helping to reduce it's eco foot print by implementing procedures including, resource efficiency, biodiversity, green purchasing, EMS – Environmental Management System (Waste / Water / Energy) and social responsibility.


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Strolling the beach in south Broward used to be a really short walk. Hurricanes, high winds, and old-fashioned erosion had turned much of Dania, Hollywood, and Hallandale beaches into little more than narrow ribbons of seaweed-strewn sand. There was hardly enough room to stretch out and catch some rays, much less play a spirited game of paddleball.
Now comes the Broward County Beach Renourishment project. This $41 million undertaking involves dredging sand from offshore onto 38 miles of Broward beaches, making many of them wide enough for the Dolphins -- those guys who play football -- to use as a scrimmage field. According to Broward county officials and Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co., the outfit that's doing the dredging, the biggest benefit is protection for our beaches during hurricanes.
A few days after Katrina had passed us by, the 'Pipe put on his flip-flops and rolled along the beach with Dr. Hal Wanless, the chair of geological sciences at the University of Miami, to scope out the damage done to the newly restored beach in Hallandale Beach. How did refurbished Broward hold up?
In some places, the impact was obvious. Parts of the beach had eroded by ten feet or more, giving the shoreline a jagged, hacked-up look. The good-natured professor immediately got down on his knees and began scooping up handfuls of the recently dredged sand.
"It doesn't look too fine at first," says Wanless, an expert on beach formation. "You think, 'Hey, this is real nice sand. '" Then he brings a handful close to his face. The sand is still dark gray from its days on the floor of the briny deep. "The problem is that much of this sand is too fine to stay on the beach -- which is why it was offshore in the first place."
Swirling tides turn the beachfront into a giant prospector's pan, washing away the finer stuff and leaving the gnarlier grains on the beach. The refurbished areas now have sand that came from the relative calm of offshore. "A lot of these bigger pieces have never seen surf action before," Wanless says. "So what happens when they get pinged around on the beach?"
He presses one of the bigger shell fragments between two fingers to demonstrate surf action. It disintegrates like sugar in water. "In a storm, this is just going to blow away," he says.
It was obvious last week that a good chunk of it already had.
"The real problem is that this sand is not of the right quality," Wanless says. "It's like anything else you buy. If you buy a crappy appliance, it's going to break and you're going to end up spending more in the long run. It's the same thing with sand." So where do you shop for the good stuff? Try the Bahamas, Wanless says, or topsoil in Florida wildernesses.
Why didn't the 'Pipe think of that?
Immortal Fritters
Art Teele may be dead, but his Bahamian conch fritters are destined to live on. The Miami city commissioner's suicide came too late to prevent Real Men Cook, a collection of lip-smackin' recipes culled from prominent African-American alpha males across the nation, from including his contribution. While Teele may have died under a dark cloud, his culinary legacy is preserved, along with scores of Real Men's kitchen concoctions, so that, says editor K. Kogi Moyo, we may continue to "look up to them as role models for generations to come." Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the keynote speaker at last year's Democratic National Convention, lauds the book as "not only a collection of great recipes but a chance to meet the hearts of the great men behind them."
Teele's method for frittering the gastropod mollusk -- involving diced celery, Scotch bonnet peppers, and a tablespoon of fresh thyme -- is the second recipe in the 180-page tome, just after Andrew J. Williams' instructions for braised beef tenderloin. Teele's conch recipe makes 50 golden-brown fritters.
Someone's over in the kitchen right now, frying up a batch. That you, Jim DeFede?
Red-light District
In the late '90s, British entrepreneur and "virtual prospector" Stuart Lawley made millions providing services that allowed small companies in Europe to set up websites. Then, in 2001, Lawley did what every other self-made millionaire seems to do: He bought a mansion in South Florida.
After settling into his new $5.9 million digs in northern Palm Beach County, Lawley became president and chairman of Jupiter-based ICM Registry. The company's sole focus was to create and manage an .xxx extension on the Internet. Instead of using the .com or .net extension, adult companies could voluntarily use the .xxx label, making it easier for consumers (and concerned parents) to know when the computer was heading toward X-rated content. The tag would take the ambiguity right out of sites like, say, bigjugs.xxx.
"The .xxx extension allows for the development of responsible business practices [in the adult industry] and steps up the battle on child pornography," Lawley's business partner, Jason Hendeles, tells the 'Pipe. (Lawley was out of the country and unavailable for comment.)


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Microsoft tweaks antipiracy tech for Windows 7
Software maker is making a couple of changes to the activation process for the operating system as it works to find the balance between preventing piracy and limiting annoyance.
With Windows 7, Microsoft is making some subtle changes to the ways it tries to thwart piracy.
As has been the case for some time, Microsoft's strategy hinges on requiring a user to electronically verify their copy of the software, a process known as activation, and then the software also periodically validates that a copy of Windows is genuine.
In Windows Vista, if a user does not activate their software immediately, they get a warning that they still need to do so. The dialog box offers two options, to activate immediately or to do so later. However, the activate later box cannot be checked for 15 seconds.
Microsoft decided this was a bit too annoying. With Windows 7, users can click activate later immediately, but then get a dialog box touting the benefits of activation.
It's the latest effort by Microsoft to scale back the intrusiveness of its technology while still aiming to deter piracy. With the first service pack to Vista, Microsoft made the software significantly more usable to those whose versions of Windows are determined not to be genuine. Before that, Vista systems entered a nearly unusable "reduced functionality mode" once they were deemed to be non-genuine.
"We think we've gotten it to a pretty good place where it strikes an effective balance," said Alex Kochis, director of product management for Microsoft's Genuine Windows unit. "We're committed to the program for the long term because it works."
Microsoft said in December 2007 that it was seeing Windows Vista pirated at only half the rate of Windows XP . Kochis said that general trend has continued.
With Windows 7, Microsoft is also changing the name of its antipiracy technology, from Windows Genuine Advantage to Windows Activation Technologies. The Windows Genuine name took some beatings in the Windows XP time frame, so probably a good move from a PR standpoint.
The software maker is also adding technology designed to make it easier for businesses to activate multiple machines as well as manage activation for virtual machines.


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How to prepare for the fiscal cliff
Time is running out in Washington for the country to avoid the fiscal cliff. If that happens, 8 or 9 percent budget cuts would hit the majority of the federal government and could throw the country back into a recession.
So what do you do?
We talked with J. Christopher Boyd, a leader in the Financial Planning Association of Massachusetts and the founder and chief investment officer of Asset Management Resources, LLC. He is a contributor to Boston.com's Managing Your Money blog and the host of a financial radio show on WXTK 95.1
First things first, he said, "Don't lose your head. It's most likely that there will be some legislation after the New Year that will discount some of the tax increases."
But it is unclear how long it will take for that legislation to go into place.
So Boyd advises people to revisit their W-4 document.
"Most people that work are going to have an increase e in payroll tax," he said. "Make sure you're not paying too much."
He said that capital gains rates and dividends will both see increased rates, so "consider where you hold which investments."
If a deal is not reached and the economy heads back into a recession an estimated 3.4 million people are expected to lose their jobs. With that in mind, it is a good idea to build up your savings, Boyd said.
Lastly, "You've got to be attentive to what's going on," he said. "It could affect your whole financial plan."
But even with the fear of another recession, Boyd said that going through your finances around the new year is a good practice to be in the habit of anyways.
"It's a good time to take a fresh look at what's coming next year," he said.
The author is solely responsible for the content.


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X Factor: Enrique, Pharrell, Rihanna, Mariah to show up
Musicians Enrique Iglesias and Pharrell Williams will join Mariah Carey and Rihanna on tonight's episode of "The X Factor."
The 32 remaining contestants, divided into four groups, will be at the judges' houses tonight. The groups will be at Paula's, the girls at Simon's, the boy's at L.A.'s and the Over 30s at Nicole's. Joining each judge will be on of the music superstars mentioned above. We know Mariah will be at Simon's and Rihanna at L.A.'s, but we're not sure of the others.
"The acts were totally blown away meeting their mentors at these amazing homes – then it was even more nerve-racking performing for a guest judge," a source tells People Magazine. "Some of the girls especially were delighted when they saw Enrique and Pharrell. The acts who met Rihanna were totally speechless – who knows how they managed to sing!"
After tonight, there will only be 16 contestants moving on to the live performance shows. The guest stars will help the judges make their final cuts.


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Price: FREE
Version Reviewed: 2.1.2
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 5
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Immediately familiar to Facebook gamers, although a self-contained title in its own right, Backyard Monsters: Unleashed is a quite enjoyable combat strategy/village building game, albeit one that will eventually require a fair amount of grinding and patience.
Offering similar gameplay to other titles in the genre, players are expected to run a village; gradually accruing more resources while building and expanding existing structures in a bid to become the strongest village out there. It's a fairly typical concept with plenty of different resources to keep an eye on. Sticks and stones, along with putty, help build new buildings or develop existing ones, while goo is used to spawn new monsters and enter battles. This is where things get more interesting.
There are numerous different monsters to train and develop, each with their own strengths and weaknesses to be aware of. As one plays more of Backyard Monsters: Unleashed things open up more so, adding more of a tactical edge to proceedings. It's fortunate then that there are plenty of ways to fight it out. There's a campaign mode with 27 missions to tackle, as well as an invasion mode which enables players to compete with other players. That's where Backyard Monsters: Unleashed comes more alive and is more satisfying to play.
There's a fair amount to sink one's teeth into here, with more than just the typical city building way of doing things. An extensive array of achievements give structure to the routes that one pursues and the only slow down comes from the grinding that's expected of the player. Much of this can be circumvented, predictably, by in-app purchases, but at least the game is fairly generous early on so players have plenty of time to figure out if this is the game for them. It further boosts the fun factor that Backyard Monsters: Unleashed achieves well.
Tagged with: Backyard Monsters: Unleashed, Combat Strategy, free, free to play, Freemium, Kixeye, monsters, Village Building


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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to revise the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), permitting requirements (Section 122) and Effluent Limitations Guidelines (Section 412) for Consolidated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) in response to the order issued by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Waterkeeper Alliance et al. v. EPA, 399 F.3d 486 (2nd Cir. 2005). This proposed rule responds to the court order while furthering the statutory goal of restoring and maintaining the nation's water quality and effectively ensuring that CAFOs properly manage manure generated by their operations.
Back to Manure & Nutrient Management Home Page


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Lady Pirates looking for another playoff run
For more than a decade playing volleyball at Granbury High was simply a way to pass the time in the fall until basketball season arrived.
Not any more.
The Lady Pirates and their faithful now make plans to be busy past the regular season.
For a fourth consecutive year the Lady Pirates will be playing in the postseason. They qualified once again by finishing second in District 7-4A to Aledo.
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Category: Granbury Sports Archived, Sports Archived