text:
News Release 609
Grant applications are available for outdoor recreation and motorized trail projects
Volume 38-609 (For Immediate Release)
For more information:
JEFFERSON CITY, MO., OCT. 18, 2010-- The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has announced that applications are available for federal grants to assist in financing outdoor recreation projects and motorized trail projects.
"These Land and Water Conservation Fund and Recreational Trails Program grants provide ways for organizations to create or enhance projects for the public to get outside and enjoy Missouri. They can provide healthy recreational options and I urge all organizations who are eligible to take advantage of this opportunity," said Bill Bryan, director of the department's Division of State Parks.
The federally funded Land and Water Conservation Fund grants, which assist in financing outdoor recreation projects, are available to all local governments and public school districts. The grants are made available through the U.S. Department of the Interior's National Park Service and a 55 percent match is required. Projects can be for the development or renovation of outdoor recreational facilities, or for acquisition of park land.
Applications for the Land and Water Conservation Fund grants must be postmarked by Dec. 15, 2010. An estimated $500,000 is expected to be awarded in the fiscal year 2011 cycle.
Applications are also available for grants for motorized trail projects through the Recreational Trails Program. These federal grants are funded through the Federal Highway Administration as part of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users. Private organizations and municipal, state and federal agencies can apply for grant money for trails from this program. Eligible project categories are limited only to motorized projects for the development of new trails, or trail-related construction, maintenance and restoration. All grants are awarded on a reimbursement basis; a minimum 20 percent match is required for projects.
Applications must be postmarked by Nov. 15, 2010. An estimated $400,000 is available for motorized projects in fiscal year 2010 cycle.
To assist organizations interested in applying for either the Land and Water Conservation Fund grants or the Recreational Trail Program grants, the department has scheduled five workshops around the state. At the workshops, staff will provide basic information about both grant programs and the grant application process and be available to answer questions. Attendance is not required to apply for a grant. Following are the dates and times for the workshops:
- Jefferson City – Nov. 1, 10 a.m. to noon, Department of Natural Resources Conference Center, 1730 E. Elm St.
- St. Louis – Nov. 2, 10 a.m. to noon, Location to be announced
- Perryville – Nov. 3, 10 a.m. to noon, Southeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission, 1 W St. Joseph St.
- Springfield – Nov. 4, 10 a.m. to noon, The Library Station (Frisco Room), 2535 N. Kansas Expressway
- Kansas City – Nov. 5, 10 a.m. to noon, Mid-America Regional Council, 600 Broadway, Suite 200
Electronic versions of the applications are available on the department's website at mostateparks.com/grantinfo.htm. Applications can also be requested by writing to the Department of Natural Resources, Division of State Parks, Grants Management Section, PO Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102, by phone at 800-334-6946 (voice) or 800-379-2419 (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf), or by emailing email@example.com.


text:
Jeffrey S. Chapman: First Place, 2006 Utah Writers' Contest
Wainwright Exceeds Expectations, Becomes a God
These things are true. These are the stories the storytellers still
tell us, to this day, about Anna and Wainwright: they met for the first time at
lunch, when they both bought the same soup at the Soup Shop; the soup was good;
their love grew strong; for six years Anna and Wainwright lived together in a
small apartment up a tall, narrow flight of stairs; before that they had lived
in adjacent apartments for two years without ever meeting, as though drawn
together like magnets just out of reach. Their love was like the first love.
Their love was known sometimes to scorch small objectslike butterflies that
got too close. Their love, it is said, broke dishes and then glued them together
again better than they were before.
Often they lay outside under the dark desert sky, her arm under his head
but not getting tired, both of them feeling vaguely sexy. She knew the stars and
was teaching him; she would always try to point, and he would try to learn, but
there were too many stars in the desert sky and she would have to navigate, in
words, from the North Star, the one star he could always find. He remembered the
Scorpion and also the Swan, flying straight into the Milky Way.
She showed
him that there were stars that had prophesied their love and while lying in the
western desert they could see all those stars. She showed him where it foretold
they should get married. He loved the idea of marrying her.
But your
parents, Wainwright said.
Yes, Anna said and chewed on her lower lip. My
parents have high expectations.
Wainwright was not a doctor, not an
architect, not money; he had little going for him except a fine heart and
healthy skin. Her parents felt he had yet to prove himself.
What can you
do? her mother asked, when they finally met.
He didnt know what to say. He
couldnt do much.
Theres only one way to tell for sure, her father said.
Theres only one way to measure talent. Hell have to perform twelve
Twelve tasks, her mother said, slowly nodding. Yes.
fine, Wainwright said.
Each one will be more difficult than the last, the
mother said, warningly.
They could last twelve years, the father said and
turned his head so he was looking out only the left eye at Wainwright. You will
likely die, he said.
Whatever it takes, Wainwright said, although he
admitted to himself twelve years seemed like a long time.
The tasks started out slowly.
(1) First, he had to show that he could spell his own name.
Thats easy enough, he thought. (He was insulted, frankly.)
(2) Then he had to demonstrate that he could take care of himself.
The parents said: A man who cannot, to a large degree, take
care of himself will be a burden to our daughter, who is a person of great
As it was, Wainwright took exceptional care of himself. He ironed
things regularly. He trimmed nose hairs. His hair was often neat and when not it
was tousled expertly. His shoes were Italian.
He showed the parents his best
I cut my toenails every fortnight, he said. To prove it he
removed his shoes and pointed at his nails. They were well-groomed with a touch
of growth. And then he demonstrated his technique with a pair of gold clippers.
Word spread. A crowd gathered. Confronted with abilities that were, truly,
superior to all abilities they had ever seensuch accuracy! such grace!the
crowd had to sigh and swoon and weep. It was too beautiful, too beautiful. Even
the parents had to admit they were moved. The mother wiped away a tear.
(3) Then they demanded that he prove himself as a cook.
We cook before we love, the father said.
Yes, the mother
said. We eat to love, and we love to eat.
Yes, the father said. First
the pudding. . . .
Not knowing what to cook, Wainwright went to the blind
man and asked the blind mans advice. And the blind man said to him, You
should, to impress those above you in station, cook bouillabaisse. It is
delicate and trenchant. Beware, however: it is the most treacherous of all
dishes. He pointed at his eyes.
These are the things Wainwright knew:
knew there were as many ways of preparing bouillabaisse as there were pebbles on
certain beaches in southern France, but he settled on Bouillabaisse à la
Marseillaise because it was endorsed by the legendary Escoffier.
He knew
that a whitefish was requisite to thicken the soup properly. The fish that
Escoffier gives as the most suitable and authentic: rascasse (some argue that
there is no bouillabaisse without rascasses (also called scorpionfish by some
(generally more violent) people)), chapon, john dory, whiting, fielas,
boudreuil, red mullet, rouquiers, crawfish or langoustines. None of those were
available, so he used monkfish, a fine alternative. And large shrimp. And
He knew bouillabaisse had to be boiled fiercely in order to make
the proper bond between the olive oil and the broth: the most important romance
in a dish of many affairs. He knew it was key to get threads of the best
saffron. More expensive than gold. But of course, hed spend all his money on
saffron and then ransom his own body for more if it would impress Annas
He cooked hard. And he was sweating. And in the heat he was a
hero, the heat molded him, the heat hardened him, the sweat ran down his
forehead, down his nose, down his arms and knuckles.
The result was
beautiful. A giant bowl of sunset colors: amber and russet. Indeed. Everyone
felt new things in the mouth. Tongues were introduced to new emotions and with
every bite worlds opened up. Oh, people said.
(4) Then he had to demonstrate his athletic prowess.
He had always been middle-of-the-road, athletically. He was
never the superstar, but he was not the last kid chosen in elementary school for
games of kickball or fishsticks. He was never the best runner or diver or
swimmer in high school, but he still was on the teams for the entire four years.
He exercised irregularly, but wasnt fat; nor was he slender, having sported a
bit of weight around his middle for years now. He believed he was about ten
pounds off his target weight. Could he not jog two more times a week? No, he
couldnt. It was too boring for him to be exactly disciplined. Nonetheless, he
held his own at games of pick-up soccer in the parks and he felt he could excel
if he put his mind to it and if the stakes were high enough. Which, of course,
they were.
He told Annas parents that he needed three months time to
train. Then he gave Anna a kiss (with tongue), told her hed miss her, and went
out into the desert with nothing but a canteen and a bedroll. The storytellers
dont say what he did out there, alone in the desert. Its shrouded in a cloud
of secrecy. However, we do know that he returned having lost something of
himself: his extra pounds. He was within two ounces of his ideal weight. He came
back trim and sleek, with a slightly haunted, sunken look in his eyes.
with little fanfare and much professionalism, he got to work.
football. He rushed for 2,659 yards and accounted for 3,122 yards from
scrimmage, both single-season recordsfar exceeding the low expectations created
by his late position in the professional football draft. Then basketball.
Despite playing undersized point guard, he scored one hundred-and-one points in
one game. All season long he set picks so rock-hard they induced raptures in the
faithful. In baseball, he hit close to .420, without a single defensive error,
and he won 58 consecutive wrestling matches, irritating some purists, who felt
he no longer had high-school eligibility.
No onenot even Annaknew he had
all that in him.
For his final athletic feat, he struck a yoga pose so
exquisitely difficult and so minutely contorted, they say that every muscle in
his body, including the heart, had to be flexed individually. He balanced upside
down on the point that was the precise mathematical midpoint between his navel
and his left scapula; his right arm and left leg pointed due west, his left arm
reached to the suns zenith, and his head was oriented back towards his
ancestral home; his right leg tied them all together, literally. Annas parents
had the vague sense they had seen something similar in their childhood, when
yoga was more widely practiced competitively, when the masters like Chuck and
Rosenschantz were still at their peak.
Wainwright held the pose for a week.
Is it not an ultimate expression of athletic willpower to form a human sculpture
with your body and to hold it for exactly one week, without eating?
Yes. Yes,
it is.
(5) Then he had to distinguish between their daughter and her impostors.
Because they had heard of a princess who once proved her
legitimacy by being sensitive enough to detect a pea through a stack of
mattresses, Annas parents were convinced that mattresses were the true test of
sensitivity. So they stood a mattress on its end and, with a blindfold on,
Wainwright had to kiss ten women through the mattress, all of whom were named
Anna but only one of whom was the true Anna. If he couldnt tell which was the
true Anna, he would fail the test and be sent packing.
When he heard of this
task, he wailed and gnashed his teeth. He covered his eyes with his forearm and
fell into a swoon. He begged, he pleaded, but the parentspleased with their
ingenuitystood by their guns.
They put the blindfold on him and lined up
the Annas.
What he knew and what Anna True knew, but what the parents nor no
one else knew, was that this was in fact the easiest of tests for him. For the
two years he and Anna lived in adjacent apartments, their rooms lay back to
back, separated by a concrete wall. By the end of the two years they would both
inevitably roll over and end the night pressed up against the wall, pulled
together by their fate lots. When they finally met and slept together they both
knew the other persons body already because they had pressed into each other
through the fabric of the concrete. He knew her body, even when it was
translated into the smallest waves and signals.
And if you can know a body
through concrete, you can know it through five mattresses. Six even. Maybe.
There was never, not for one second, any doubt. Nonetheless, he made a big
show of deliberating.
(6) Then he had to prove he could satisfy their daughter.
Its not enough just to recognize her, her mother said. You
have to please her.
Do they mean what they seem to mean? Wainwright asked
They did. Three aunts would watch to verify.
Doesnt that bother
you? Wainwright asked.
Anna shrugged.
The aunts led them into a back
room. They closed the door and the door remained closed for six hours. Then the
aunts came out of the room biting their lips, a little shaken. Such
creativity, the aunts said.
For a year Wainwright had been eating two
yogurts a day without using his hands at all, only using his tongue. His tongue
had subtle strength and dexterity.
(7) Then he had to track down and slay a wild beast.
Theres a wild creature running around the country, said
Annas mother. Hes been destroying people like hes a carnivore.
hes a cannibal, said Annas father.
Like hes at a carnival.
We want
you to stop him. We want you to vanquish him.
So, he set out into the
heartland of the country, the area most ravaged by the monster. He didnt have
much of a plan; he thought maybe he could reason with it. Everyone, he firmly
believed, could be reasoned with if you found the right terms.
In the
heartland of the country he found a valley the tones of amber and grey, as
though it were perpetually one hour before sunset, when the sun lay flat on the
horizon and betrayed the colors things would be when they died and passed into
Hades. A din grew as he drew closer. A dry wind slipped over the edge of the
valley, carrying the smell of sandalwood. The valley was filled with dusty
people, a cult of followers who alternated between rapt attention and scratching
at their neighbors eyes. At the center of the empty-mouthed admirers, in a
clearing, an ogre rushed about, frantic as a wild boar. He screamed and fumed;
and the crowd grumbled and mumbled in response, adding to the ruckus. He stomped
around with both feet, jumped up and down to shake the firmament, pounded the
ground with two fists and then jabbed with a finger at the heavens. He tore into
whatever he could reach with his bloody maw. Corpses of his admirers littered
the ground.
Wainwright pushed through the crowd into the center. Wide eyes
turned to him as he passed. When he got to the middle he stood calmly until the
ogre stopped feasting on a dead topic, sniffed at the air, and swung around on
all fours. His muscles were tense and quivering. Wainwright could see the whites
of his eyes under his irises. His tie was loosened at the neck and his white,
button-up shirt was unstarched and unironed. His cheeks and forehead were
I know you! the ogre bellowed. He leaned forward into the yell, so
it would be louder. He pounded on his thighs. Ive heard about you and I know
your type. Faggot!
He leaped forward and swiped his meaty paw at Wainwright,
who hopped back.
The ogre blustered. Youre the problem, he screamed. You
are the problem with this country. Dont you see what youre doing to this
country! Youre the problem.
Youre a masturbator. And a baby.
The ogre
inched closer and closer to Wainwright. His breath smelled like old lamb chops
and onions. The ogre stood eye-to-eye with him for ten seconds and then spun
around and started stomping around the circle, knees kicking high.
got to make Armenia Armenian again! he bellowed. Weve got to make Hibernia
Hibernian again!
Weve got to make Helvetia Helvetian again!
The crowd
murmured yes yes yes. Helvetia Helvetian again, they mimicked. It was so true,
they said. Theres never been such a great truth.
The ogre, bull-like,
charged Wainwright again and pulled up just short. Do you agree?! he yelled.
You have to agree or disagree. There is only right and there is only wrong.
There is only good and there is only evil. There is only ever white and there is
only ever black. There is only glass and there is only stone. There is only curd
and there is only whey. There is only pancakes and there is only French toast.
Do you agree?
Wainwright blinked. The ogre paced circles around Wainwright
as he talked. Do you see what Im saying? There is only agreement and there is
only disagreement! You have to take a side! Tell us, are you
A gasp and a shiver ran through the crowd. Somewhere a baby
and an old man started crying. Wainwright trained a disinterested eye on some
point along the horizon. He was, in fact, becoming less and less interested by
the minute. He was utterly opinionless.
Tell us! Are you against
The ogre had been bristling, frothing, jabbing; he calmed down
suddenly and leaned, looking over his glasses, toward Wainwright: Its all very
simple. Theres right and wrong. The world is simple.
It was then that
Wainwright lost all interest; he didnt know many thingshe knew nothing about
Helvetiabut he was fairly certain that the world wasnt simple. He knew at
least five things that werent simple. And that wasnt including the things he
just didnt understand but some people did, like quantum physics and
super-string theory, Latin, organic chemistry, computer programming, poetry,
bonsai trimming: small, good, difficult things. But there were, more than that,
things in the world that couldnt be explained or comprehended. Not by him. In
fact, he was often boggled by the convolutions of the world and would fall quiet
for days; Anna called it his complexity coma. Now his mind wandered again and he
disappeared into the deep pan of his brain. His jaw set hard.
The ogre saw
the change and realized he was losing Wainwright as an audience. Hed never lost
an audience before. Its simple! he yelled. Its simple!
The crowd leaned
forward to catch what was happening. The ogre tore at his hair. He tore his hair
out of his head to get Wainwrights attention.
Its simple! Its
The ogre slapped his own arms and belly. Its simple! He started
clawing at his own eyeballs but Wainwright gazed into the distance. Its simple!
The ogre wrestled himself to the ground and threw himself in the mud. Its
simple! Its simple! He shoved his foot into his mouth and bit down on his
patent-leather Italians. Its simple! He tore off his muddy suit-coat, rolled up
his sleeve and gnawed at his own arm. Its simple! He tore up his own flesh with
his teeth. Its simple! He fit his entire fist in his huge mouth and swallowed
the wrist, then the elbow, up to the shoulder. He continued eating until all of
him was gone but the frenzied teeth, chattering away in the mud. The ogre had
destroyed himself.
When Wainwright came out of his complexity coma two hours
later, people were still milling about, dazed and lost. The teeth had finally
died, so Wainwright shook himself out and headed home.
(8) Then he had to sort one thing from another.
You have to sort the wheat from the chaff, the father said.
The mother nodded. And by wheat, she said, we mean the fragiles and
colors, and by the chaff we mean the white cottons.
Wainwright shrugged.
Blindfolded, she added.
Oh, Wainwright said.
They took Wainwright to a cavernous hall with a virtual mountain
of laundry in the center. They folded a bandanna twice and tied it over his
eyes, then left him alone in the room with one vigilant guard from the Laundry
Guild to make sure he didnt cheat by taking off the blindfold. Wainwright
approached the heap and stood there for a long time, picking up one piece of
clothing at a time and holding it in his hand for minutes. He was trying to get
a blind feel for the clothes. Many things were easy, and could be separated out
with simple reason: the fabrics with textures, silks and furs, underwear and
bras. But it took a more subtle genius to separate colors with no resignation to
eyesight. But, ultimately, Annas parents had underestimated his domestic
endowments, his genius with fabric. After two hours of patiently lifting one
T-shirt after another, he felt he could detect a difference in weight, that when
taken independently from the variation in quality in the clothesa difference he
could easily isolate by rubbing the clothes between his thumb and
forefingermust indicate discrete dye types. After he realized this, the sorting
went fast. Annas parents had hardly sat down to supper when Wainwright entered,
followed by the laundry guildsman, who shrugged in wonderment.
When he
returned so quickly Annas parents glanced at each other. Theyd forgotten
Wainwrights domestic genius. It was all too easy for their tastes.
been, the father said, a mistake,
Yes, said the mother. Yes, theres
been a, how do you say, mistranslation?
We checked the ancient texts. We
got it wrong. Were very sorry. By wheat we actually mean a nail, and by chaff
we actually mean alfalfa. What we mean by sorting the wheat from the chaff is
that you have to separate one ten-penny lost-head nail from a stack of alfalfa.
Many alfalfa stacks. A field of alfalfa stacks. Again, blindfolded.
Wainwright had no skills which could help him find a nail in
multiple alfalfa stacks. Hed once done a puzzle that showed an egg, sunny side
up, on a white table. Almost every piece was the same exact white. It was the
hardest puzzle hed ever done. This task was harder. He kneeled in the field
next to the first alfalfa stacks and, one by one, started moving alfalfa stalks
into a new pile, feeling each one for a metallic rigidity. This was the only way
he could see to do it: methodically feel each individual piece of alfalfa until
he found one that wasnt. But there were hundreds of thousandsmillions,
perhaps, or billionsof pieces of alfalfa in this stack. And there were so many
stacks. It could easily take him one hundred days to feel each piece, if he
didnt sleep; a year, if he only worked nine to five without a lunch break.
After the first ten hours his fingertips were so numb, he might not have been
able to distinguish between a banana and alfalfa.
He heard thunder in the
distance and soon rain began to patter around him. In minutes he was soaked and
cold. He threw himself, weeping, on the alfalfa stack, which seemed completely
unchanged from when he first started. This was it then, he thought. He turned
his face up to the rain, and threw his hands to the heavens in supplication.
Whether the gods took pity and intervened that day is the subject of intense
speculation. Some argue that the world is a surprisingly complicated place and
theres no way to anticipate when and where goats will wander. Others argue that
goats only wander here and there pushed by the winds of divine will. All we know
for certain is that a herd wandered into the pasture at that moment and flowed
around Wainwright, while he kneeled with his face to the firmaments. They ate
all the alfalfa and drifted on their way, and all Wainwright felt was a light
rustle of goats brushing past his arms, and all he heard was relentless chewing.
When the goats had finally wandered away to other pastures, when the sun had
long since set and the moon was high and bright, Wainwright lowered his hands
and placed them on the ground by his knees, right on a ten-penny nail. There was
the nail, right in front of his knees.
(9) Then he had to prove that he was bold and warlike.
At times of duress we must become warriors. We must protect
what is ours, the mother said. For your next task you must enlist in the army
and go fight in the wars on our northern and southern borders.
Fight fight
fight. A low chant rose up in the crowd. Fight fight fight.
Wainwright sat
still for a while. Then he stood up and said, No.
No? the father said.
No, he said. A murmur threaded its way back through the crowd, as one
whispered to another, He said no.
Im sorry. Id do almost anything for
Anna, I really would. But I wont kill people for her. Not like that. There will
always just be another war and another war and what change do we make for going
back into war with enemies with no end? Its all just death.
He shrugged.
Sorry. Its just death.
And with that he turned and walked away from
everything he wanted.
And Anna stood there with her nose twitching. And her
parents stood there in disbelief. And the crowd stood there. And at first there
was a silence that people thought would give way to confused muttering and
outcry, but the silence never broke and instead it settled into the little nooks
and corners of the valley until even mice felt uncomfortable making sounds.
On the northern and southern borders, night covered battlefields and fires
sprang to life, and around every fire fifty men sat silent, looking into the
fire, or into the sky at the stars, or across the fields at a thousand other
fires. And the world around themgulleys, forests, deserts, peaksshone red with
the shaky firelight and they were dumb contemplating the morning to come when
they would again take to the field. The furious war-god corpse-stealer stood at
the edge of the circles of firelight, never invited in, dreaming of the treasure
in fleshgold to be made on the morn, and licking his fingernails in
anticipation. The night was cold and everyone drew their blankets closer.
his apartment, stretched out on his couch, Wainwright stayed awake through the
night eating small pints of ice cream in the static blue from late- night
television reruns and wondered if he had made entirely the wrong decision. He
covered his head with a towel when the thought became too much for him.
the streets around his building, people gathered in support, holding up candles
in a vigil of support. For three days the crowds grew until the hotdog vendors
had difficulty getting anywhere near the apartment to keep the people fed.
At six oclock in the morning of the fourth day, the crowd
murmured and rustled and then parted. Anna was approaching, followed by her
parents. The parents stopped at the front door, but Anna came up the several
flights of stairs to find Wainwright still on the couch. He sat up when she
entered, desperate in his love for her.
She kissed him on the lips and
mouth. He pushed the loose hair out of her eyes. They stood silent for fourteen
You were right, she said finally.
I know, he said.
Just so you know, she said. Im proud of you and your convictions.
knew you would be.
Weve been thinking about it, my parents and I. Theyre
okay with your conscientious objection; they realize its a kind of strength
too. But they also want to know that youd kill for me, if need be. Thats what
they want. Just some killing.
Would you kill for me? he asked her.
Tell them youd kill for me, she said. Just tell them
And so he did. He walked down the stairs and out the front door and
told them that, if it came down to it, he would break peoples necks off if they
tried to hurt her. Hed break their necks with his teeth if he had to. But he
wouldnt invade other countries for no reason.
To prove that he could kill
things for her he set three mousetraps around his apartment because he knew she
hated mice.
(10) Then he had to perform seven miracles.
1. He grew a watermelon the size of six ordinary watermelons.
2. He whistled in three-part harmony.
3. He invented porcelain that
couldnt break.
4. He lit candles by looking at them very hard.
5. He
turned water into origami.
6. He healed the asthmatics.
7. He saved a
village from imminent destruction by eating a massive mudslide.
(11) Then he had to defy time.
So he stopped aging.
(12) Then he had to become a god.
It wasnt necessarily what the parents wanted but what else
could they still ask for?
People organized, full of awe. Theyd seen his
miracles. Theyd seen him stop aging. People wanted to make him a god. At first
they thought they could vote, give him a mandate, but that didnt seem enough.
So they built a temple and filled the temple with belief. Once the belief was so
thick that it became palpable, one corner of it got ignited (accident:
cigarette) and the flame fed outwards as in a room full of gas. That did the
trick. Hot, fervent belief.
Wainwright, as a god, found he had little desire to meddle
with human affairs, their wars, their religions, their governments, their
idolatry. That wasnt the kind of god he was. He was a more casual god. He
didnt want to be worshipped, and together with Anna he withdrew from the
public. Even then, after he left the public eye, after he had no longer been
seen among mortals for decades, his name was still invoked to explain phenomena:
lightning, wind, the sun rising and falling, death.

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Research Interests
He began research on detector dogs in 1982, developing new and rapid techniques to determine olfactory thresholds in the dog, as well as measures of visual and gustatory function. In 1989 he founded the Institute for Biological Detection Systems (IBDS) at Auburn. The three major prongs for the research program were: 1) detector dog-handler team programs- study, protection and improvement 2) study of basic sensory functions to feed information to #1 and to #3, and 3) development of artificial biosensor systems. Some of this and later work included study of odors, odor movement, and methods to deliver odors reliably and accurately. Of particular interest, 24 different disease conditions in the dog were found that cause loss of the sense of smell in the dog. In addition, he began training dogs to detect novel targets (estrus in cows termites, off-flavor chemicals), including determination of the odor signatures the dog used to recognize the targets.
Teaching Responsibilities: Dr. Myers currently assists in teaching Veterinary Neuroscience and is the course coordinator for a course in Ethology for first year veterinary students In addition he sees clients for animal behavior problems in Birmingham and in Auburn. He is also active as an expert witness in legal cases in state, federal, and Supreme Court cases involving detector dog-handler teams.


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About the Author
Hello and welcome to Kittencal's Kitchen!
I'm a 50 something wife, mother and recipe developer, I also have an extreme love for cats, not to mention food also…
My motto is if you can eat it, you can make it!…
Many of you know me as Kittencal from Food.com and Recipezazz.com.
Just in case you haven't quite got enough of me yet, this is where you will find the best of the best such as my apple pie...flaky pie pastry… lasagna and cheescake and many more of my self developed recipes, also my all-time favorite recipes many going back over 35 years.
This is not a fancy site filled with lots of ads and color and you will not find any fancy photos of me or a run-down of what I have done in the past week this is a cooking site with only recipes, my blog was developed because of hundreds of requests over the years and only features my favorite tried and true recipes.
My site is dedicated to recipes with ingredients that are easily found in your grocery store, no fancy ingredients, just basic everyday cooking recipes that are easy to follow even for the beginner cook!
KittencalsKitchen is a blog or personal website created and maintained by me, unlike most of the large sites that feature thousands of submitted recipes this is my own personal web site with only my recipes all tested and made by me first, I do not post any recipes here before I feel they are worthy to be posted.
Thank you to the hundreds of wonderful people who have taken the time to post their wonderful comments on the site not to mention the hundreds of emails I have received, I have read each and every post and truly appreciate your comments and compliments, you can be certain that I will continue with only the very best recipes for everyone to enjoy!
For those who are interested in receiving a copy of my cookbook that is currently still in development stage I have filed your names and will contact you when all if finalized….
*** Due the the sudden death of my husband my cookbook has been put on hold, so completion time will be delayed.
Thanks for stopping by…
Carol Amos/Editor and host
"Until one has loved an animal, part of their soul remains unawakened."


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Surfing, camping and intimate dinners! Get all the romantic details on Rob & Kristen's international trip this fall.
If you thought Edward and Bella's honeymoon in Breaking Dawn Part 1 was romantic, just wait until you hear what Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart reportedly have planned for their post-nuptial celebration. OK! magazine reports that Rob, 26, and Kristen, 22, will follow up their fall wedding with a worldwide tour, starting in Europe. "Rob hasn't told Kristen every detail about what he wants to do in Europe, but she's totally excited," reveals a source close to the couple.
But even though Kristen's in the dark about the honeymoon, we've got every last detail for you:
PARIS, FRANCE: Rob wants to rent the couple's favorite restaurant, Sardegna a Tavola, and actually cook a meal with the chefs!
ISLE OF WIGHT: Rob is planning on taking Kristen back to their trademark vacation spot "because they've had so many romantic moments there."
BALI & AUSTRALIA: Believe it or not, Kristen really wants to go surfing! The couple will reportedly "rent an RV, throw their surfboards in the back and experience the place like locals." They're also reportedly planning a camping trip!
FLORENCE, ITALY: Rob and Kristen haven't spent time there together, so Rob is reportedly "planning on creating romantic memories."
And when it's all over, Rob and Kristen are reportedly settling down with homes in London and L.A. (Talk about a fairy tale ending!)
More Rob & Kristen News:
- Kristen Stewart Reveals She's Reading '50 Shades Of Grey'
- Robert Pattinson Reveals Why 'Twilight' Is So 'Romantic'
- Kristen Stewart Is 'Forbes' Highest-Paid Actress
View Comment
Ruchika dubey
Posted at 11:58 AM on June 21, 2012
Posted at 11:38 AM on June 21, 2012
If it was real i would be happy it doesn't very much seem real like really rob and Kristen have always been secretive about their relationship and all of a sudden they are giving out every detail and we still haven't seen a picture of Kristen with the ring that rob gave her soo yeah if it was real i would be really happy but for know i think they are simply just going out
Posted at 1:06 PM on June 21, 2012
I think the same. Becouse they always been like living in a secret for the paparaazzi and all, I don´t think that the shy Rob will tell some magazine about their relasionship (sorry for my bad english). Yeah but like they even haven´t comfirm that they are even together really sooo….
But that would be nice, but I think that this is fake.
Posted at 11:07 AM on June 22, 2012
Posted at 10:07 PM on June 22, 2012
Yeya Gutierrez
Posted at 10:54 AM on June 21, 2012
Posted at 9:03 AM on June 21, 2012
They will have a busy fall season!
She mentioned in an interview in Australia promoting Snow White that she is set to start filming on her new movie Cali in August.
He is suppose to be starting filming on his new movie… that war/solider one around then too.
They will start promoting BD2, and do a/a few premieres for that.
According to you all a wedding with a honeymoon of touring many many sites.
I do think they will marry (And I wish them the best of luck.), and I don't think it will be this soon.
Posted at 5:25 AM on June 21, 2012
Posted at 9:04 AM on June 21, 2012
Alora Mills
Posted at 9:09 AM on June 21, 2012
Alora Mills
Posted at 9:10 AM on June 21, 2012
Posted at 12:01 AM on June 23, 2012
Posted at 10:40 AM on June 21, 2012
Posted at 4:55 AM on June 21, 2012
Posted at 10:40 AM on June 21, 2012
Posted at 4:08 AM on June 21, 2012
Posted at 4:06 AM on June 21, 2012
Posted at 2:43 AM on June 21, 2012
Posted at 2:38 AM on June 21, 2012
Posted at 2:14 AM on June 21, 2012
ana cabana
Posted at 1:10 AM on June 21, 2012
Posted at 1:06 AM on June 21, 2012
Posted at 12:47 AM on June 21, 2012
Posted at 12:16 AM on June 21, 2012
Posted at 10:54 PM on June 20, 2012
Posted at 8:58 PM on June 20, 2012
This just really grosses me out. Ok, you were both on Twilight and got in the teen spirit of romantic excursions and being swept off your feet to dive into the eternally soulful pool of love. Good for you. But is it totally necessary to go THAT overboard on romance? If Kristen is as laid back and easy-going as the media says she is, why not just go grab a cheeseburger and say I do?
Posted at 7:20 PM on June 20, 2012
Posted at 7:13 PM on June 20, 2012
Posted at 6:22 PM on June 20, 2012


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Area Organizations
If you are with an organization in the Cole Camp Area (Benton County R-1 School District) and are not listed here but would like to be, please contact the Chamber of Commerce for information on how to get your organization included.
Organizations in the Cole Camp Area
Photo credit: Larry Fowler/Cole Camp Courier
American Legion - Post 305American Legion Post 305 and Post Auxilary [web page]
201 North Maple
PO Box 141
Cole Camp, MO 65325Antique Steam and Tractor Club [web page]
Boys & Girls Clubs of West Central Missouri [web page]
Meet at: Cole Camp R-I School
314 S. Washington
PO Box 805
Sedalia, MO 65302-0805
660-826-8331 or 877-242-9260
email: email@example.com The Boys & Girls Clubs of West Central Missouri's Cole Camp site meet at the Cole Camp R-I School. The hours of operation are 3 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. for the elementary students and 3 p.m. until 7 p.m. for the teens. The Club is closed when the R-I school is closed. Kids from all schools in the Cole Camp Area are welcome to attend.
Cole Camp Community Center [web page]
Please refer to the above website for contact information and further information about the Community Center.
Cole Camp Chamber of Commerce [web page]
P.O. Box 94
Cole Camp, MO 65325
660-668-2295Cole Camp Community Betterment Association [web page]
P.O. Box 94
Cole Camp, MO 65325
660-668-2295Cole Camp Jaycees
208 East Main
Route 3, Box 00
Cole Camp, MO 65325
660-221-2043Cole Camp Lions Club
206 East Junge
P.O. Box 15
Cole Camp, MO 65325Cole Camp Museum [web page]
108 South Maple
Cole Camp, MO 65325Cole Camp Senior Center
208 East Junge
Cole Camp, MO 65325
660-668-2352Hi Lonesome Chapter, Missouri Master Naturalists [web page]
City Hall
Cole Camp, MO 65325
email: email@example.com
The Missouri Master Naturalist is a community based, adult natural resource education and volunteer service program. Become a certified Master Naturalist and be a part of a team and develop your skills as a naturalist, resource scientist, botanist, or recrecation.
Mid-Mo Print & Slide Club [web page]
The Plattdütscher Vereen von Cole Camp [web page]
P.O. Box 65
Cole Camp, MO 65325See calendar for meeting times


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ROGUE RIVER, Ore. — The governor says no, now Native American mascots have to go.
At Rogue River High School, that's going to mean a lot of areas scrubbed clean of its Chieftain mascot.
"It goes from the totem pole at the football field to all the signage around the school, the gym floor, the gym wall," principal Jesse Pershin explained. "We're the Chieftains, and we're proud of being the Chieftains, just like other schools are proud of who they are."
Since the Oregon Board of Education ruled that schools remove tribal imagery by 2017, Rogue River already took steps, changing their mascot from a Native American face to a spear, and getting rid of a Chieftain mascot at games. But before they start removing things now, they're going to see what options come out of the legislature.
"All those things are somewhat waiting to see what the legislation and the governor, and the lawmakers have to say," Pershin explained.
The biggest issue is the cost of replacing every logo, sign and painting, and who will pay for all of it.
"It's thousands and thousands of dollars right now when we're in an economic shortfall," Pershin added. "We can't provide significant funding to schools, but we're going to mandate a change. What is the funding stream going to look like to support schools in this transition and this overhaul?"
They just want to take steps that help its community keep school pride.
"Regardless of where you go to school, whether you're a Black Tornado or a Panther or a Chieftain, you want your kids to be proud of that, and you want to celebrate it and move forward with it."
A representative from the Cow Creek Tribe said the tribe plans to stay out of the debate over tribal mascots, and has always taken a stance that schools should do "what they think is right."


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MLB Baseball - Preview
Washington Nationals vs. Atlanta Braves | |
The Washington Nationals and the Atlanta Braves will both be trying to pick up a win on Saturday when they battle at Turner Field. Lefthander Gio Gonzalez will take the mound for the Nationals to start this game. Gonzalez is 3-3 this season with a 3.90 ERA. Gonzalez's opponent in this one will be Tim Hudson. The Braves righthander has a 5.37 ERA to go along with a 4-4 record this season. Washington won its last outing, a 3-2 result against the Braves on May 31. Bettors who backed the Nationals at -103 on the moneyline won on the day, and the total score (5) sent UNDER bettors to the payout window. Team records:Washington: 28-27 SU Atlanta: 32-22 SU Washington most recently: When playing on Saturday are 5-5 Before playing Atlanta are 2-8 After playing Atlanta are 4-6 After a win are 4-6 Atlanta most recently: When playing on Saturday are 3-7 Before playing Washington are 8-2 After playing Washington are 7-3 After a loss are 6-4 A few trends to consider: Atlanta home to Washington, Sunday, June 2 |


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Machines of yore will take over the roads on January 19 when the fourth edition of The Hindu Chennai-Pondy Heritage Rally is flagged off
Once a year, vintage and classic machines from the Madras Heritage Motoring Club are spruced up to their glittering best and lined up for a scrutiny by experts of the calibre of Raja Mookherjee and Partha Banik. For those who don't know these men, Raja can be brutally honest and look an owner straight in the face and tell him his vehicle is simply no good. Partha tries to sugar-coat his criticism, but the effect on the owners is just as devastating. Given this, owners dread these inspections. They find only one thing more dreadful: the annual Chennai to Pondy heritage rally. To call this rally a gruelling journey for these old machines is a striking understatement. Making matters worse for their owners, Raja and Partha are joining this edition of the rally, 'The Hindu Chennai-Pondy Heritage Rally 2013', January 19 to 20!
In its fourth year, the rally has registered notable improvements, one of which is the participation of bike owners. Sumanth Chaganti, a colossus among the bike collectors of Chennai, and S. Srivardhan are among those expected to bring an impressive set of vintage two-wheelers to 'the motorcade'. Considering the rally was seen as the preserve of car owners, this is a significant development.
"The fact that the rally has become an annual feature on Chennai's calendar speaks for its success. Only those privy to the challenges of organising this event can fully appreciate its uniqueness. It's a struggle to find good drivers for these machines. These cars require hands trained to handle them," says Kylas Swaminathan, founder-secretary, Madras Heritage Motoring Club.
Another challenge is finding mechanics to accompany the group. Again, not any mechanic, only the ones attuned to the peculiarities of these machines, will do. The problem looks more formidable when you factor in the widely varying characters of these machines. Putting a number to the issue, Balraj Vasudevan, says, "The cars cover a period stretching from the 1920s to the 1970s." Fortunately, a bunch of mechanics with a reputation for building a wide range of such machines from the ground-up — Pitambaram, Veerabadhran, Vernon Miller, 'Chikki' and Ramachandran, to name a few — have agreed to go on this trip.
As usual, Ranjit Pratap and M.S. Guhan, known as all-weather men for their ability to produce a fleet of cars at short notice, play a pivotal role in the rally. This year, the roll-call, which routinely precedes the flag-off, will be marked by a few new names, including Capt. Vernon Saldhana who brings his 1946 Ford Anglia to the party.
Kylas places geographical advantage among factors believed to have contributed to the success of this motoring initiative.
"A great number of these machines are air-cooled and were originally made for regions that often experience freezing temperatures. They are unequal to the challenge posed by extremely hot conditions. The East Coast Road, with its cool breeze, affords a slightly better condition than any other road in our part of the world. Not just for the machines, even the owners and drivers of these vehicles, most of which lack air-conditioning, will not feel the heat," says Kylas.
But, the heat will come, from another quarter: when their performance will be judged on the run.


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Busy cops in Sebastopol
The week of Jan. 16-22 Sebastopol Police Department was kept hopping. The blotter reveals 170 items logged. Three cars were towed for violating the 72 hour limit, 11 citizens received fingerprint services, and seven people were arrested. Police investigated 13 reports of suspicious vehicles and seven suspicious persons. They responded to three false alarms, one of which was such a chronic false alarm they woke the owner of Weeks Drilling and Pumps at 5 a.m. to tell him to get it fixed. The big surprise was that they handed out a whopping 35 parking tickets. Either lots of people are being lax about parking or officers are cutting no one any slack. Mind where you put your wheels – they are on the job. Here are some of the details.
On Jan. 21 at 1:28 a.m. vandalism was discovered at Safeway Market. At 3:39 p.m. police assisted the fire department at a Springdale St. residence where there was smoke and alarms sounding. At 3:49 p.m. the scolded kids who had put themselves in danger playing in a manhole on S. Main St. At 3:57 p.m. at the Community Skate Park they chased away someone with a bike in the bowl (no possums in the bowl lately, though). AT 4:14 p.m. a man with two husky dogs was verbally assaulting customers at Coffee Catz until police resolved things. At 7:24 p.m. there was a warrant arrest at the Police Station. At 7:29 p.m. they took a report at Rite Aid Pharmacy after a woman came in, stole $200-$300 worth of cosmetics and when confronted ran into the bathroom to flush them away. She then ran out, jumped in a car a drove off. At 10:19 p.m. someone broke into a car at Aubergine and committed grand theft when they stole performers' guitars. At 10:51 p.m. officers assisted an ambulance crew on Sequoia Lane when a 50 year old had heart problems.
On Jan 17 at 12:08 a.m. cops arrested someone for being drunk in public at McDonalds Restaurant. At 6:43 a.m. someone on Bodega Ave. lost their 17 year old yellow lab named Bammer. At 9:34 a.m. someone reported losing their Transition lens glasses on the Joe Rodota Trail. At 2:35 p.m. a baby with croup got an ambulance and police responding to Valley View Court.
On Jan 18 at 7:16 a.m. a woman on Healdsburg Ave. had seizures and police assisted. At 3:07 p.m. officers calmed down a verbal disturbance outside Safeway Market. At 3:54 police assisted when a car caught fire at Tidal Wave Car Wash. At 11:38 p.m. officers made a warrant arrest on Sebastopol Ave.
On Jan. 19 at 2:07 a.m. police arrested a drunk driver at Highway 12 and Stony Point Rd. At 9:56 a.m. they got a call about loose goats at Burbank Heights. They investigated, but apparently the goats belonged there. At 11:55 a.m. they talked to a Frankel Lane resident about a possible stalker. At 12:05 p.m. someone reported losing a wallet at an Analy High School basketball game. At 3:53 p.m. someone on Anthony St. complained that the neighbor let her dog run loose all the time, simply using a whistle to summon it home. Officers informed the lady about the town leash laws. At 4:28 p.m. a loose bearing in a condenser at Fircrest Market was screeching driving a neighbor nuts so he called the cops because the manager wasn't fixing it fast enough. At 4:44 p.m. someone near Laguna High School reported that an older man was stealing soil. AT 11:53 p.m. police assisted medical personnel at Parquet St. because an elderly man had heart problems.
On Jan. 20 at 12:45 a.m. police made a warrant arrest at Rotten Robbies Gas Station. At 5:20 a.m. they quieted a noise that was disturbing neighbors on Bately Court. At 5:41 a.m. Safeway employees were concerned a couple possibly under some kind of influence was shoplifting and asked for help. At 7:48 a.m. police made another warrant arrest, this time at McDonalds Restaurant. At 11:13 a.m. there was an accident with no injuries but that left glass on the road on Gravenstein Hwy. S so they cleaned it up. At 11:54 a.m. police ticketed a driver without a license on Petaluma Ave. and at 12:39 p.m. ticketed another one without a license on Gravenstein Hwy. S. At 5:25 p.m. police made a warrant arrest at Hurlbut Ave. At 8:08 p.m. they ticketed a driver without a license on Petaluma Ave.– is leaving your license at home becoming a fad?
On Jan. 21 at 12:03 a.m. someone on West Hills Circle called for police help because their upstairs neighbors were running too loud. At 12:58 a.m. police arrested someone at Safeway for probation violations. At 1:43 p.m. police took a report of dog bite on N. Main outside the Gypsie Café. No medical attention was needed. At 1:44 p.m. police arrested a drunk driver outside 7-11 Store on Pleasant Hill Ave. At 3:48 p.m. they took a misdemeanor hit and run report at Rialto Theater. AT 9:37 p.m. vandalism was reported at Thunder Struck Motors. Someone cut the chain on the gate and made off with it.
On Jan. 22 at 12:33 a.m. police ticketed a driver without a license – yep, a fad. At 1:48 a.m. cops arrested a drunk driver on Petaluma Ave. At 3:34 a.m. a driver with a suspended license was ticketed. At 8:30 a.m. a woman with heart problems needed the ambulance crew and police on Redwood Ave. At 9:21 a.m. police made a warrant arrest on the Joe Rodota Trail. At 1:40 p.m. a drunk driver was hauled off S. Main ST and off to the slammer. At 3:19 p.m. someone discovered a bike had been stolen from Bodega Ave. At 3:55 p.m. police got a call from a therapist concerned about a client that might be in danger from an ex-partner who had been spotted stalking at more than one location.


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Posted: Monday, July 28th 2014 at 4:05pm
GSP promotions, transfers affect several northeast Georgia personnelBy Rob Moore Editor ATLANTA - Promotions and transfers of Georgia State Patrol employees from around the region currently are taking place.
Capt. Tommy Waldrop, commander of Troop B in northeast Georgia, has been appointed to the rank of major effective Aug. 1. Waldrop will transfer to GSP Headquarters as commanding officer of GSP. Capt. Keith Canup will transfer from the DPS Garage to Troop B commander on Aug. 1. Lt. Mark Perry was promoted to the rank of captain on July 16, and transferred to GSP Headquarters as public information director. Lt. Dean Allen was transferred from Troop C Command in Atlanta to replace Perry as assistant Troop B commander. Other transfers and promotions effective Aug. 1 include: * Sgt. 1st Class Al Whitworth, who will transfer from post commander at Post 7 in Toccoa to post commander of the new Post 52 in Hartwell. * Sgt. 1st Class Chad Johnson, who will transfer from commander of Post 6 in Gainesville to post commander of Post 7 in Toccoa; * Trooper 1st Class Casey Coffee of Post 7 in Toccoa, who has been promoted to corporal of Post 49, the GSP Motorcycle Unit in Atlanta. These promotions and transfers create a post commander opening at Post 7 in Gainesville. A promotional meeting is forthcoming, with a new post commander to be in place on Aug. 16, Perry said. © Copyright 2015 AccessNorthGa.com
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.


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Both comScore and Compete have released their June numbers, and to many people's surprise Microsoft actually gained some ground in June. Of all the search engines, Microsoft was the only one to see any gain, both Yahoo! and Google saw a drop in their market share while Ask stayed steady in both measurements.
Compete does give you a little better picture when it reports the numbers in that they give you the previous month plus they also show you the previous year's data. comScore only give you a comparison to the previous month. Without the third piece pf data, you might think the Microsoft might be ready to "break free" and start going on a run, however looking at Compete's data, sure it grew over last month in market share, but it's not above it's last year's June numbers.
One thing I've learned in this business is that you can present numbers like these in any way, especially with only 2 data points. The more data points you have to present, the more sound or more speculative your conclusions become. It would probably behoove companies like comScore and Compete to show a 3 month (1 rolling quarter) view with the previous year's data, but we'll just have keep waiting on that (i.e. don't hold your breath).
I think the most surprising thing of the data being reported isn't that Microsoft gained ground, it's that ASK remained steady in spite of Microsoft gaining. Google and Yahoo! lost, so now one ponders about those commercials Ask is doing, could they be having some affect on their market share?
See the other discussions about the data at Techmeme.


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About / Contact
Kate is an Artist and Director based in Brighton, UK.
Kate's art projects use moving image, sound and the human body to create immersive environments for audiences that explore the interaction between embodiment and perception. Her art practice brings together research in contemporary science and technology with performance and phenomenological methodologies. Her current research is outlined here.
Kate founded C H R Θ M A in 2010 – a group of artists, animators, performers and programmers specialising in interdisciplinary and interactive work – and directs animation performances, trans-media projects and large-scale projections.
Kate lectures on digital arts and creative media on MA courses at the Universities of Sussex and Brighton and during 2011-2013 was the Artist in Residence at the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. She has a background in digital production and during her time working with Plug-In Media worked on two BAFTA winning interactive projects.
Kate holds a BA Hons in Literature (University of Oxford) and an MA in Creative Media Practice (University of Sussex). Currently she is working on an art practice based PHD working at the Media School and the Sackler Centre at Sussex exploring the relationship of art and science, virtual reality and embodiment and non-verbal means of communication.
TEDxBrighton Talk
For inquires and more info:


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Mark Mortensen
Mark Mortensen
Lakewood, CO USA
Setup and basic post-production:
- Large Ramose Murex shell (about the size of football) shot in a light tent with 2 AlienBee B800 strobes providing light. Shell placed on clear plexi-glass sheet with white foam core underneath to get the reflection.
- Adjusted horizon to lower third of frame from original capture
- Cropped square
Totally Rad Actions Recipe:
- Good vs Evil Dodge! from TRA1. Linear gradient mask to blend reflection of shell to white. Opacity 100%
- Yin/Yang from TRA1. Only Yang (Lighter) layer kept. Painted mask to remove the light tent remnants and punch surroundings to pure white. Opacity 100%
- Good Vs. Evil of TRA1. Only Burrrnnn! layer kept. Tried the Yin layer but it didn't look right to my eye. Painted mask to darken the almost white shell to give it some contrast. Opacity 100%
- Oh Snap! of TRA1. No changes to the defaults opacities or masks. Applied to give the image some extra contrast and punch. Opacity 100%.
Ta Da! pretty shell picture!


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Documentation |
Find minimum of single-variable function on fixed interval
x = fminbnd(fun,x1,x2)
x = fminbnd(fun,x1,x2,options)
x = fminbnd(problem)
[x,fval] = fminbnd(...)
[x,fval,exitflag] = fminbnd(...)
[x,fval,exitflag,output] = fminbnd(...)
fminbnd finds the minimum of a function of one variable within a fixed interval.
x = fminbnd(fun,x1,x2) returns a value x that is a local minimizer of the function that is described in fun in the interval x1 < x < x2. fun is a function_handle.
Parameterizing Functions in the MATLAB® Mathematics documentation, explains how to pass additional parameters to your objective function fun.
x = fminbnd(fun,x1,x2,options) minimizes with the optimization parameters specified in the structure options. You can define these parameters using the optimset function. fminbnd uses these options structure fields:
Display | Level of display. 'off' displays no output; 'iter' displays output at each iteration; 'final' displays just the final output; 'notify' (default) displays output only if the function does not converge. See Iterative Display in MATLAB Mathematics for more information. |
Check whether objective function values are valid. 'on' displays an error when the objective function returns a value that is complex or NaN. 'off' displays no error. | |
MaxFunEvals | Maximum number of function evaluations allowed. |
MaxIter | Maximum number of iterations allowed. |
User-defined function that is called at each iteration. See Output Functions in MATLAB Mathematics for more information. | |
Plots various measures of progress while the algorithm executes, select from predefined plots or write your own. Pass a function handle or a cell array of function handles. The default is none ([]).
See Plot Functions in MATLAB Mathematics for more information. | |
TolX | Termination tolerance on x. |
x = fminbnd(problem) finds the minimum for problem, where problem is a structure with the following fields:
objective | Objective function |
x1 | Left endpoint |
x2 | Right endpoint |
solver | 'fminbnd' |
options | Options structure created using optimset |
[x,fval] = fminbnd(...) returns the value of the objective function computed in fun at x.
[x,fval,exitflag] = fminbnd(...) returns a value exitflag that describes the exit condition of fminbnd:
fminbnd converged to a solution x based on options.TolX. | |
Maximum number of function evaluations or iterations was reached. | |
Algorithm was terminated by the output function. | |
Bounds are inconsistent (x1 > x2). |
[x,fval,exitflag,output] = fminbnd(...) returns a structure output that contains information about the optimization in the following fields:
'golden section search, parabolic interpolation' | |
Number of function evaluations | |
Number of iterations | |
Exit message |
fun is the function to be minimized. fun accepts a scalar x and returns a scalar f, the objective function evaluated at x. The function fun can be specified as a function handle for a function file
x = fminbnd(@myfun,x1,x2);
where myfun.m is a function file such as
function f = myfun(x) f = ... % Compute function value at x.
or as a function handle for an anonymous function:
x = fminbnd(@(x) sin(x*x),x1,x2);
Other arguments are described in the syntax descriptions above.
x = fminbnd(@cos,3,4) computes π to a few decimal places and gives a message on termination.
[x,fval,exitflag] = ... fminbnd(@cos,3,4,optimset('TolX',1e-12,'Display','off'))
computes π to about 12 decimal places, suppresses output, returns the function value at x, and returns an exitflag of 1.
The argument fun can also be a function handle for an anonymous function. For example, to find the minimum of the function f(x) = x3 – 2x – 5 on the interval (0,2), create an anonymous function f
f = @(x)x.^3-2*x-5;
Then invoke fminbnd with
x = fminbnd(f, 0, 2)
The result is
x = 0.8165
The value of the function at the minimum is
y = f(x) y = -6.0887
If fun is parameterized, you can use anonymous functions to capture the problem-dependent parameters. For example, suppose you want to minimize the objective function myfun defined by the following function file:
function f = myfun(x,a) f = (x - a)^2;
Note that myfun has an extra parameter a, so you cannot pass it directly to fminbind. To optimize for a specific value of a, such as a = 1.5.
The function to be minimized must be continuous. fminbnd may only give local solutions.
fminbnd often exhibits slow convergence when the solution is on a boundary of the interval.
fminbnd only handles real variables.
[1] Forsythe, G. E., M. A. Malcolm, and C. B. Moler, Computer Methods for Mathematical Computations, Prentice-Hall, 1976.
[2] Brent, Richard. P., Algorithms for Minimization without Derivatives, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1973


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Click To See Flyer, Conference Schedule, and Registration & Reservation Instructions
FotoClave 2014 - November 7-9, 2014
Sponsored by the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs (N4C) with the support of the San Joaquin Valley Council of Camera Clubs (SJVCCC) and clubs from the former Central California Counties Council of Camera Clubs (6C), FotoClave is an annual weekend conference begun in 1957 that offers extraordinary speakers for an entire weekend. Traditionally, it has two keynote speakers of national renown and a full day of educational talks by well-versed local photographers. In addition, FotoClave continues the practice of an annual photographic competition among the three councils in both prints and electronic images. Information about the competition can be found on this website.
This year FotoClave will be held at the Concord Hilton hotel beginning Friday evening, November 7 with Canon Explorer of Light Rick Sammon. Saturday will host speakers Michael Frye, Gary Crabbe, Gail Pierce, Eric Harness, Pat Toth-Smith, John Ballou, Lisa Rigge, Joe Hearst and Michael Maloney covering a wide-range of photographic topics, among them how to take unique images in Yosemite, iphonography, using the Photographer's Ephemeris, creating extraordinary images from ordinary objects, and hand coloring digital prints.
Saturday evening directly following the banquet, we will hear a presentation byf Tony Sweet, a Nikon "Legent Behind the Lens." who will also give us instruction on Sunday morning. Tony specializes in flower photography, in-camera techniques and uses a wide variety of post-processing software.
Click To See Final Flyer and Registration Instructions
FotoClave is an annual conference and competition held by three regional groups: Northern California Council of Camera Clubs (N4C), Central Coast Counties Camera Club Council (6C), and San Joaquin Valley Camera Club Council (SJVCCC).
The competition works in phases. Each person submits images to their own club. Those clubs forward the submissions to their council. Each council judges and selects 20 images from each division to be forwarded to the FotoClave competitions.
The normal competition rules for your Division competitions apply with, possibly, some minor changes. No image sequences are allowed. Images cannot exceed 4 MB and will be automatically reduced to 1600 pixels wide by 1200 pixels high. Try to make your images as large as possible to fit within these dimensions. Titles are limited to 200 characters. No more than the Council-set limit may be submitted by a person for the same division, regardless of the number of clubs they belong to. (For example, this limit is 5 for N4C clubs.) You may not submit any image that was previously "accepted" into a FotoClave competition.
Any prints must be matted or mounted. The mat or mount must be no larger than 16" x 20" and no smaller than 11" x 14". Be sure to also submit a digital version via your club website so that any winning image can be displayed on this website and at the conference.
Councils will not select more than two images from each person per division to forward to the FotoClave competitions.
Prints and Projected Images are handled in the same manner for entry. An image file must be uploaded for a print so that it can be projected if the print is selected. The print is used for judging, not the digital image.
Councils make their own rules as to how their clubs enter images, but N4C & the South Bay clubs will all be using the Image Competition Manager. The final 20 images per Division sent to FotoClave for final judging must be sent via the Image Competition Manager.
Links to more detailed instructions and samples will be entered here when they are ready.
Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) support is turned off on your browser. This is controlled by Accessibility options on your browser and Display Properties. Your viewing experience will be severely degraded without this support.
This website is hosted by Visual Pursuits, a service provided by Software Pursuits, Inc.


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Coal Spill Puts Spotlight on Colombia's Labor and Environmental Struggles
12:40 pm in Uncategorized by Michelle Chen
Originally published at In These Times
The Alabama-based Drummond Company's recent coal spill in Colombia has combined with its record of labor abuse to place the coal giant at the intersection of the country's political struggles and environmental crises.
In 2007, Colombia issued a mandate for coal exporters requiring Drummond Company to update its loading facilities at a key port in Cienaga by installing closed conveyor belts, a cleaner system than the traditional barges and cranes used to load coal. But Drummond has continuously failed to retool its operations. After a wrecked barge spilled hundreds of tons of coal into the port waters in 2013, Colombia imposed a $3.6 million fine on the company—and now, in a rare regulatory confrontation from the usually business-oriented regime, the government has suspended its port license to induce Drummond's compliance.
The move seems aimed at demonstrating President Juan Manuel Santos's commitment to environmental protection—perhaps as part of a broader campaign to strengthen ecological protections for politically tumultuous, resource-rich areas. Colombia has for years courted energy companies to use its mineral resources, and Drummond, a major exporter to Europe, is an established foreign investor.
Though the coal spill reportedly did not result in major long-term environmental damage, it became a sensation when a watchdog photographer, local attorney Alejandro Arias, widely publicized images of a crane hauling up coal and water from the barge and dropping it into the sea. In an interview with Bloomberg, Arias stated, "I want people in Europe to know that they're heating themselves with coal that has caused pollution [in Colombia] … Royalties paid by mining companies here don't nearly cover the costs of all this."
Drummond vehemently defended the environmental soundness of its operations in an official statement, blaming its compliance failure in part on construction delays tied to last year's mineworker strike. But the unrest that led to that labor action arguably stems from the same situation environmentalists blame for the dumping: the notorious impunity of many multinationals in the Global South, particularly in the energy sectors, which exploit poor countries' resources and workers to feed carbon-burning industries abroad.
Colombia ranks among the world's deadliest places to be a trade unionist, with thousands of union members murdered and brutalized over the past two decades. In 2013, union slayings did decline somewhat while the number of strikes increased—potentially suggesting a less oppressive climate for labor in the future. Whatever this year's body count, however, violence continues to stalk workers who dare to organize. Last week, United Steel Workers and the international labor group IndustriALL issued letters condemning Colombia for its repeated failure to address anti-union assaults, citing the recent murder of Ever Luis Marin Rolong, an electrician and local leader of the SINALTRACEBA union.
And Drummond's union workers have remained defiant despite the risks. Though it was hardly the first labor clash Drummond has had to deal with, the strike that started last summer made waves in global energy markets because it lasted for months and forced a partial suspension of Drummond's export contracts. In a dispute over wages and layoffs, workers struck for more than 50 days. Eventually, the Labor Ministry intervened, and workers voted to end the strike under pressure (though one of the largest unions, Sintramienergetica, remained opposed).
But Drummond reportedly has a more sinister history when it comes to worker repression. Human rights groups have long accused the company of complicity in vicious anti-union hostilities, citing evidence gathered from union sources and Wikileaks documents. A major civil lawsuit in the U.S. courts was denied last year, but volumes of potentially damning testimony remain part of the public record.
In one testimony issued in October 2011, a witness who worked with Drummond in the 1990s and early 2000s claimed to have aided Drummond in brutalizing unionists:


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this wiki
Millennia ago a race of humanoid reptiles called the Skrulls came upon prehistoric Hala. At that time the Skrulls were a largely peaceful space-faring race, and they set about educating the natives to the point where they could join their trading empire. However, Hala was home to two equally intelligent races, the Kree and the Cotati.[citation needed]
The Skrulls proposed a test to determine the worthier race between the Kree and the Cotati. Taking members of both races to a distant planetoid in another galaxy, Earth's moon, the Skrulls created an arena, the Blue Area, and bid the two races to use the resources they had to create something of worth. The Skrulls then left. The Kree constructed a magnificent city, while the Cotati created a beautiful garden.[citation needed]
A year later the Skrulls returned to judge the two races and found the Cotati's accomplishment the worthier. Enraged, the Kree killed the Skrulls and the Cotati and seized the Skrulls' star-ship. They used the ship to return to their native planet, then set about deciphering the technology of the star-ship.[citation needed] Within a hundred years of acquiring interstellar technology from the Skrulls, the Kree empire began to spread throughout the Greater Magellanic Cloud. The Kree launched an attack upon the Skrull empire and the peaceful Skrulls were again forced to become war-like to defend themselves. The Kree-Skrull War would continue for hundreds of thousands of years.[citation needed]
At the same time the Cotati on Hala were almost driven to extinction by the Kree. However, a small handful of Kree, the pacifist priests of Pama, hid and kept safe a group of Cotati. Eventually these Kree began worshiping the Cotati that they had kept sheltered. To further hide and keep them safe, the priests relocated the surviving Cotati throughout the universe.[citation needed]
About 250 years later the Kree Science Council, aware that the Skrulls had once created an incredibly powerful weapon called the Cosmic Cube, designed a cybernetic/organic supercomputer called the Supreme Intelligence (sometimes referred to by the honorific "Supremor") to help them in creating a Cube. When the computer became functional, it determined that a Cosmic Cube would be too dangerous to construct and refused the Science Council's request. The computer was then used simply in an advisory capacity.[citation needed]
At the beginning of the Kree-Skrull War, millions of years ago in Earth time, the Kree established a station on the planet Uranus, a strategic position between the Kree and Skrull empires. Through their work at this station, they discovered that sentient life on nearby Earth had had genetic potential invested in it by the alien Celestials. Intrigued, the Kree began to experiment on Earth's then-primitive Homo sapiens.[citation needed]
Their goal was apparently twofold — to investigate possible ways of circumventing their own evolutionary stagnation, and to create a powerful mutant race of soldiers for use against the Skrulls. However, although their experiments were successful in creating a strain of humanity with extraordinary and diverse abilities, the Kree abandoned their experiment for reasons which are not yet clear.[citation needed]
Their test subjects, eventually dubbed the Inhumans, went on to form a society of their own, which thrived in seclusion from the rest of humanity. Their city Attilan has frequently been relocated and as of 2005 stories rests in the Blue Area of the Moon. The Kree abandoned the project eventually, but stationed a giant surveillance robot, Sentry 459, on a small South Pacific island. The Fantastic Four's unwary awakening of the long-dormant Sentry, alerted the Kree to Earth's advanced state of evolution. The Sentry's destruction brought the Kree official Ronan the Accuser the following issue, with the intent of passing judgment on those who "murdered" the outpost guard; his own defeat increased Kree scrutiny of Earth, setting off a chain of events that continues to reverberate.[citation needed]
Over time, and as the war with the Skrull dragged on, the Supreme Intelligence gradually accrued more and more political power and responsibility until finally it was elected as absolute ruler of the Kree. Eventually, the Supreme Intelligence came to be worshiped and an organized religion built up around.[citation needed]
The Earth's importance as a strategic beachhead became apparent when the Avengers became involved in the latest round of Kree-Skrull hostilities. The Skrull were revealed to have been infiltrating human society in an effort to control America's political infrastructure, using their shape-shifting abilities to replace key political figures. In the meantime, the Kree were reestablishing cultural ties with the Inhumans, ostensibly for the purpose of technological exchange, although their true intentions turned out to be far more sinister.[citation needed]
At this point, Captain Marvel, former hero of the Kree Empire, approached the Avengers with evidence that renegade elements within the Kree Hierarchy (led by Ronan the Accuser) were planning to 'erase' humanity through the use of exotic technology. This particular scheme was foiled by Marvel and the Avengers (comprised, at that time, of Goliath, Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, Yellowjacket, the Wasp, and eternal side-kick Rick Jones) but it proved to be only the tip of the iceberg.
As the war escalated and Earth's position became increasingly precarious, the original Avengers (including Thor, Iron Man and Captain America) were recalled to active service after a Skrull scouting party (led by interstellar menace The Super-Skrull) managed to abduct Marvel, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. The Skrull also attempted to destroy the Inhumans' Great Refuge with a nuclear-level incendiary device, but failed when the Avengers intervened. This was the group's first inkling that an interplanetary war was being fought over possession of the Earth. During the ensuing conflict, the Skrull took his prisoners back to the Skrull home-world, leaving the remaining Avengers to pick up the pieces and reform their tattered forces.[citation needed]
The conflict worsened when the Avengers began to understand the scale of the war erupting all around them. Setting off in pursuit of their kidnapped allies, they discovered a vast 'Skrull' armada en route to devastate the planet Earth; an equivalent Kree fleet poised to annihilate the Skrulls; and a full-scale insurrection breaking out between the Supreme Intelligence and Ronan the Accuser. All sides were determined to either invade or decimate the Earth in order to prevent it falling into the 'wrong' hands. Led by Thor, Iron Man and The Vision, the Avengers launched an attack on the Skrull flagship, somehow managing to turn back the fleet after a desperate battle (during which Goliath 2 was deemed to be MIA and presumed dead).[citation needed]
The war came to a close when the Supreme Intelligence managed to bring Rick Jones into his presence. The Supreme Intelligence had been usurped by Ronan the Accuser, but (as he explained to Rick in retrospect), he was still capable of channelling his powers through an agent. While the Supreme Intelligence cared little for the fate of Earth and its inhabitants, he recognized that the Kree-Skrull war was futile, and temporarily altered Rick's DNA to release his 'full evolutionary potential.' Armed with godlike powers, Rick literally froze both Kree and Skrull forces in mid-stride, allowing the Supreme Intelligence to re-establish control over his people and bring the war to a halt.[citation needed]
The effort proved too much for Rick's fragile human physiology; as he collapsed lifeless to the floor, the Supreme Intelligence teleported the remaining Avengers to his side to witness his grim sacrifice. The irony was not lost on the assembled heroes, who reflected that a frail teen-aged boy had succeeded where all of their collective might had failed. The final act in the cosmic tragedy was played out by Captain Marvel, who - understanding the debt owed by all of them - agreed to merge his life-force with Rick's body, bringing the boy back from the brink of death: at the cost of his own existence.[citation needed]
At several points in the years after the end of the first Kree-Skrull War hostilities were said to have broken out again between the two empires. It is unclear how serious these conflicts were though they were often referred to as "wars".[citation needed]
The most significant of these instances came when the Skrulls lost their ability to shape-shift, and a Skrull Warlord provoked new hostilities. During this war, the Supreme Intelligence was incapacitated by the Silver Surfer who removed the Soul Gem which the creature used to maintain peaceful balance between its blue and pink Kree components. Afterwards, Nenora, a Skrull spy in the guise of a high ranking Kree official, took command of the Kree empire. The war ended with Nenora being exposed as a Skrull. Leadership of the Kree was assumed for a time by an alien named Clumsy Foulup.[citation needed]
Another significant conflict arose during the Infinity Gauntlet crossover when the machinations of Thanos led to the sudden elimination of half the universes lifeforms. Unaware of Thanos' role in the disappearance, the Kree and the Skrull blamed each other and temporarily renewed fighting.[citation needed]
Not long after the conflicts with the Skrull ended, the Kree again found themselves embroiled in a war, this time with the Shi'ar Empire. This war was much shorter, and was possibly engineered by the Skrull and the Supreme Intelligence.[citation needed]
The Avengers of Earth became involved in the conflict and their involvement inadvertently set off a chain of events which led to a Nega-Bomb being detonated in Kree space. The bomb explosion, in which negative energy was released into space causing an extremely powerful explosive and radioactive reaction, devastated the Kree empire, and led to its surrender to the Shi'ar. The Supreme Intelligence was eventually revealed as being ultimately responsible for the bomb's detonation, the whole thing being a bid to kick-start the Kree race's genetic development.[citation needed]
A Kree territory was then annexed by the Sh'iar, with Majestrix Lilandra naming her sister Deathbird as the territories' administrator. Deathbird has since abandoned this post and it appears that the Kree Empire has, at least in some part, been reestablished.[citation needed]
The remaining Kree were evolved into the Ruul through the machinations of the Supreme Intelligence.[1][citation needed]
The Kree have since returned to prior form.[2][citation needed] The consensus is that when Captain Marvel convinced Entropy (son of Eternity) to destroy the universe, but then to recreate it almost exactly alike, it caused some 'discrepancies' (such as Genis-Vell's mother being still alive, and having a grown-up daughter).[citation needed]
Kree philology originally developed through heavier gravity, higher nitrogen-to-oxygen air content, and a form of dependency centered around the Cotati (a highly intelligent and extremely mature species of telepaths in-tune with nature). Though as intelligent the Kree's were ignorant eventually ignoring nature, forging towards technology advancement then millennia of War.[citation needed]
Outwardly the Kree resemble humans, with little exception through skin color or modified genetics. Denser skin with increase muscles flexibility give the Kree endurance, durability, and stamina-- twice the level of humans. They also have "duplicates" of several internal organs,[3] and usually require more nitrogen to breathe comfortably on earth.[citation needed]
Evolutive stagnation
The Kree were an evolutionary stagnant race. This was due to a single member of the Kree race attempting to gain control of The Crystal of Ultimate Vision.[4] This unnamed Kree found the crystal, but attempted to use it to become akin to a god, with powers as of those of the Phoenix Force. As punishment, the crystal "genetically froze their evolution in place" allowing the rest of creation to pass them by.[citation needed]
Humans and Eternals
The Kree have shown to be reproductive via cross-breeding with humans normals and Eternals (Race).
Deathbird's and Vulcan's child was infused with Kree genes.[5][verification needed]
Hulkling is also a Skrull-Kree hybrid, conceive via natural ways.[citation needed]
Noh-Varr from Earth-200080 was bio-engineered with cockroackses DNA.[citation needed]
The Blue-skinned Kree represent the Archetype and the base of the Kree species.[citation needed]
Succubus Kree
Some Kree women can reach into the mind of male-sex species to manipulate there desires with 1 in 100,000 able to drain another's life force completely. Kree Technology has since been created to discover and remove the powers surgically.[citation needed]
In an attempt to further their development, some Kree bred with other species, producing the "pink-skinned" Kree, who are similar in appearance to Caucasian humans. These pinks (also called "whites") eventually outnumbered the blue-skin Kree.[citation needed]
The Supreme Intelligence arranged for further advancement of the Kree. Through a series of events,[6] he arranged for a large number of his people to be irradiated with a Nega-Bomb (killing 90% of the Kree), and then artificially sped up their evolution by means of an artifact called the Forever Crystal.[citation needed]
This new brand of evolved Kree, called Ruul, have a grayish skin tone and many shoulder-length tentacles atop their heads. Individuals possess the ability to "will" adaptation to different environments, spontaneously developing the ability to breathe underwater, fly, or whatever their circumstances require.[citation needed]
The Kree have at some point, as many others species (among them the humans and the Skrulls) visited and modified the Kree genetics. The presumed last,[citation needed] and only known Eternal Kree, is Ard-Con. He battled into Kree,[citation needed] earthling[citation needed] and Shi'ar squads[citation needed] under the name of Ultimus, but his current whereabouts are unknown.
Somehow, a group of pink-skinned Kree managed to produce a mutant Kree, Tsu-Zana, in order to overthrown the domination of both Shi'ar and blue-skinned Kree, as the savior. She rejected that destiny and is still residing on Earth under the code-name Ultra-Girl.[7]
Mutant Cataracts
On Earth-9591, Mar-Vell and his Kree contingent were irradiated by a nuke. Mar-Vell subsequently developed a mutant cataract.[8]
Alternate Realities
For Millennia the Kree have tracked and studied a mysterious planet-eating creature they called Gah Lak Tus. The Supreme Intelligence restricted this knowledge to specially trained high-level Kree, fearing that if the true nature of Gah Lak Tus became common knowledge, it would drive their race insane. Several years before Gah Lak Tus was due to arrive in the Sol system, the Kree staged a covert observation mission on Earth and Pluskommander Mahr Vehl underwent massive nanosurgery to appear human, going undercover as physicist Dr. Philip Lawson to investigate the human race.
In the Earth-9591 reality, the Supreme Intelligence ordered on assault launched on Earth. Nearing the planet, the assault fleet, led by Mar-Vell, came across the corpse of the Silver Surfer. Still releasing a low level Power Cosmic, this force disrupted the cloaking technology of the Kree long enough for a nuclear assault to be launched at the Kree fleet from Earth. 90% of the Kree in the fleet were killed, but the remaining 10% made their way to Earth in dropboxes. Captured on Earth, they were imprisoned in Nevada at the former location of one of America's nuclear testing sites.
Riddled with radiation, most of the children born to the refugees died shortly after birth, and the remaining children grew up in the irradiated area as their fellow Kree slowly died of cancer. Still their leader, Mar-Vell had never wanted to invade Earth, but was still blamed by his fellows for the tragedy that befell them.
Notable Kree's on this reality are Captain Marvel who was bonded to that realities Rick Jones, and the Supreme Intelligence, who would manipulate Jones into putting an end to the Kree/Skrull War. Rick would succeed in much the same way as he did on Earth-616, however it would require that Mar-Vell bond with Rick again. Rick would be less than impressed with being bonded to Mar-Vell as he already had a double life due to the fact that in this reality he was also the Hulk. Ultimately, Rick would be freed from his curse of being the Hulk, and separated from his bond to Mar-Vell thanks to the combined efforts of Bruce Banner and Reed Richards, Mar-Vell would then leave Earth to find his destiny among the stars[9].
In this reality, Mar-Vell would be sent to Earth to collect the Sentry #459 from NASA custody. Ronan the Accuser would not overlook Colonel Yon-Rogg's vendetta against Captain Mar-Vell and attempt to have him arrested. Yon-Rogg would attempt to escape to Earth and kill Mar-Vell who had just succeeded in destroying the Sentry. Yon-Rogg would make the mistake of not inhaling the special gas that Kree needed to breath on Earth and would soon suffocate. With Yon-Rogg disposed of, Imperial Minister Zarek would promote Mar-Vell to the position of Colonel and order him to continue monitoring the Earth. Mar-Vell would continue to faithfully serve the Kree empire, with Nurse Una by his side[10].
During the Kree-Skrull War, Ronan the Accuser would slay Rick Jones, prolonging the war. The Supreme Intelligence would attempt to access the Destiny Force through Rick's corpse, but to no avail. Meanwhile Mar-Vell would learn of Rick's death and destroy the Omni-Wave projector and attack his Skrull captors. As the Kree invaded the Earth, Earth's heroes defended their planet. Ultimately, the Supreme Intelligence would merge with Rick Jones and slay Ronan and order the Kree invasion fleet to stand down. By this point Mar-Vell would have aided in killing Dorrek VII and his daughter Anelle would succeed him as Skrull ruler. The Supreme Intelligence would leave Captain Marvel in charge of the Kree empire to forge everlasting peace with the Skrulls[11].
When an ancient spacecraft is found deep in the Louisiana Bayou, the Avengers and Fantastic Four are brought in to investigate. Taking the ship back to Avengers Tower the two groups open it to discover a Kree scouting party who had been sent to earth centuries ago to await battle with the Skrulls[12].
The Kree are a primarily blue-skinned alien race whose empire frequently comes into conflict with the Xandarians. Although a peace treaty ended the most recent conflict between the two empires, a fanatical Kree Accuser named Ronan refused to stand down until Xandar was annihilated. Ronan struck a deal with the Chitauri warlord Thanos, who agreed to destroy Xandar for Ronan should he recover an object known as the Orb for him. However, Ronan discovered the Orb was actually one of the Infinity Stones, and used its power to attack Xandar himself. Ronan was stopped by the combined forces of the Nova Corps, pirates known as the Ravagers, and a new, ragtag group of criminals-turned-heroes who called themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Sakaarans are among the Kree's client races.[13]
The Guest Host whose body was used for Project T.A.H.I.T.I. by extracting its body fluid for the GH.325 formula is confirmed to be a Kree. [14] The corpse is of unknown origin, estimated to be thousands of years old, and heavily scarred. It has lost the lower half of his body, making some of its organs visible, missing its eyes and part of its mouth, exposing some of its teeth. Those with the GH.325 in their system sought this hidden city by being constantly bombarded with its structure through mysterious round and straight symbol - even to the point of madness, despite not confirmed being Inhuman, such as Phil Coulson and Sebastian Derik. [15]
It was revealed that the Kree were the ones that responsible for the arrival of the Diviner(s) in the ancient city in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Their arrival has long since faded into legend, referring to by locals as "Blue Angels" as well as the temple that only let the people that it deemed "worthy" to enter in order to unlock their "potential". The temple that their worshippers built is the location that took control Mack, killed Antoine Triplett and unlocked Skye and Raina's power. [16]
Powers and Abilities
Superhuman Strength: A Kree warrior has twice the strength of a human of a similar age, height, and build.
Superhuman Durability: Kree are very durable, while not bulletproof they are still fully capable of shrugging of hits from beings as powerful as Captain America effortlessly and are presumed to be capable of surviving much stronger hits.
Superhuman Endurance: A Kree warrior has twice the endurance of a human with similar training.
Superhuman Stamina: A Kree warrior has twice the stamina of a human with similar training.
None Known
Average Strength level
Their denser bodies afford them about twice the average human being's strength and endurance.
None known
Habitat: Kree-Lar, Turunal system, Large Magellanic Cloud
Gravity: Gravity of this race is unknown.
Atmosphere: Atmosphere of this race is unknown.
Population: 30 billion (prior to Nega-Bomb detonation); currently 300 million.
Type of Government: Military-Technocratic Dictatorship Empire.
Level of Technology: Advanced: Advanced warp-drive starships, robots, cyborg, and cybernetic technology, genetic engineering, psionic technology, and energy weaponry.
Cultural Traits: Cultural traits unknown.
Representatives: Supreme Intelligence, Ronan the Accuser, Captain Marvel, List of known Kree
Kree soldiers appeared during Avengers Disassembled when they attacked the Earth and were driven off by the Avengers. In the process, Hawkeye was killed. But this may not have been the real Kree, as the entire incident was later discovered to be a product of the Scarlet Witch's reality-altering powers.
- No trivia.
See Also
- Discuss Kree on the forums
- Appearances of Kree
- Media Kree was Mentioned in
- Race Gallery: Kree
- Images of Kree
Links and References
- None.
- ↑ Maximum Security #
- ↑ Peter David's Captain Marvel run
- ↑ Marvel Fact Files #6
- ↑ Giant Sized X-Men Annual #11
- ↑ X-Men Vol 4 #19
- ↑ Discussed below during Operation: Galactic Storm and the Destiny War
- ↑ Ultragirl #2
- ↑ Ruins #1
- ↑ What If? #12
- ↑ What If? #17
- ↑ What If? #20
- ↑ New Avengers Marvel Salutes the U.S. Military #1
- ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (film)
- ↑ Jeffrey Bell interveiw
- ↑ Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2 7
- ↑ Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2 10
- Articles Needing Citation
- Project T.A.H.I.T.I. members (Earth-199999)
- Races
- Races with Public Identities
- Races with Various Eyes
- Races with Various Hair
- Races with Blue Skin
- Races with 4 Limbs
- Races with 5 Fingers
- Races with 5 Toes
- Hala
- Living Races
- Races of Aliens
- Stan Lee/Creator
- Jack Kirby/Creator
- Templated Articles
- Avengers Villains
- Fantastic Four Villains
- Guardians of the Galaxy Villains
- Young Avengers Villains
- Ultimates Villains
- Inhumans Villains


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Miguel SolanaDecember 1997 |
Well, sorry for not writing last month, but as you can see I'm up and coming this month.
One of the things that I did lately was watching the movie Jeffrey, I thought it would be so difficult to get it over here, but I did, so as soon as I knew where it was, I aimed myself to it, and surely I wasn't disappointed. So this time my thing is going to be dedicated to "The Jeffrey in all of us", I think even if it sounds a bit weird, it's true that we all have something of that character inside of us.
The plot of the movie mainly is based in a man that after having sex and not finding himself satisfied at it -- not because of sex, I put this reason on the relationships held by him -- so as he find sex the most wonderful thing on earth, he decides not to have sex anymore; in a few words the main plot is this, and the movie is going to tell us how is this fight for him, and what means finding love.
Certainly the movie even if is a comedy I think criticizes in a very smooth way some of the not that positive things of what is considered gay stereotypes, and that really shows that being gay doesn't mean to fit in all those actings. Something that I find in all of us as persons is looking to a real relationship, not just going for being gay to look for man, it is trying to find "love", that would be the greatest description of Jeffrey "the man who looks for himself, going for something more than sex, in the search of love", may be in the movie this isn't showed that clear, but at least all the points on him are quite expressive of how a man can feel, when there is a missing of love.
Then so, when Jeffrey finds love, there comes one of the hardest things, it doesn't come on the form we would like to -- or even think -- so that brings one of the biggest dilemmas in Jeffrey -- and I think in everybody-- "how to cope with our feelings?" That's when I suppose the total blend between all men comes, when we have to accept that love comes in forms we never wondered, but as it is something from the deep sorrow, there's going to come the time when we deal with it. When we realize we can't fight against it, or against us, is something about the things that we carry inside, so we can't change that, that is the greatest struggle in Jeffrey's character, that made him as human as all of us, how sometimes the physical won't mean that much, and our real feeling is going to come to light our way.
The movie is truly amazing, it's just a way to present the feelings, that actings, of any man, in a very satirical way, taking all the knowledge on it through laughs and jokes, but in the back something that we all have "The struggle to find ourselves in love."
So if by chance you come across it, just grab it, take it to home, and watch it, you will be amazed on how good this movie is.


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GDC 09: In the ring with the Punch-Out!! producerDestructoid's own Ben PerLee got the chance to sit down with Ken Yeeloy, producer with Next Level Games, to talk about their newest remake targeted at the Wii: Punch-Out!!. Discussing everything from what's changed in the series to whether or not they'll be including a multiplayer feature, Ken gave us a big-picture rundown of the game and what Nintendo was trying to accomplish with this release. Check out the video after the jump for the full interview, as well as some hands-on gameplay, and let us know what you think! Also, be sure to check out Reverend Anthony's hands-on impressions. Comments not appearing? Anti-virus apps like Avast or some browser extensions can cause this. Easy fix: Add [*].disqus.com to your software's white list. Tada! Happy comments time again.
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Valve: Steam Link game-streaming device, controller, free Source 2, and VR in 2015 7:45 PM on 03.03.2015 |