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Manhunt was swift, successful
An amazing piece of detective work occurred this week following the bombing Monday at the finish of the Boston Marathon. It involved the efforts of local police, federal officers and civilians, sometimes using shreds of evidence from the scene. Within days, the FBI released photos of the alleged suspects; within hours, one was dead and the other was being hunted.
We tip our hat to those who contributed to the success of this manhunt, and then cover our hearts in memory of the victims.
Cash mobs aim to boost area economy
A tip of the cap to all those who organized and participated in the cash mob Wednesday at Tiffin Ace Hardware. Seneca Regional Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Services plans to stage a series of these events to draw attention to area businesses and encourage people to shop locally. While the one-day boost in sales helps, the success of the effort really depends on reinforcing or changing the behavior of shoppers. The community they support is their own.


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I do want to share some wonderful news though. Sonya of the amazing Kanelstrand blog has asked me to join her team of contributing authors. I was honored to say yes! So, on the first Friday, of the month you will find me at Sonya's! Today is my first day. I've started with an Easter knitting DIY that anyone can do. Please stop by!
I tried to find a cute Easter video on Youtube to share with you. But nothing was the right one. I leave you instead with these pictures of our menagerie that my daughter Jackie took today!
|Sapphire our oldest
|Spot (Star Trek the Next Generation fans will understand the name!)
|Ficelle (string, it's cuter in French!) She's our Ragdoll princess!
|And, Rusty, our latest addition. He's only four months old, but his points will be red!

subset: commoncrawl


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Top Definition
Waiting for Nebenzahl, a term of affection for a shoe repairman in Haifa, people waited for so long (decades) that they began to form first social and the art socities based on Waiting for Nebenzahl (there is still an orchestra in Haifa called "Waiting for Nebenzahl")
He'll be here! It's not like we're Waiting for Nebenzahl.
dari nebnez Senin, 25 April 2005
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Can you define these popular missing words?


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Heterogeneous Morphology Found in Organic Solar Cells
The DOE Office of Science has published a new brochure touting Advanced Technologies for Biology, and it features the ALS Structurally Integrated Biology for the Life Sciences (SIBYLS) beamline, the National Center for X-Ray Tomography (NCXT), and the Berkeley Synchrotron Infrared Structural Biology Program (BSISB). You can read about the featured programs, and download a copy of the brochure on the DOE Web site.
All users are welcome to contact their UEC representatives to raise issues of concern relating to their own research, or to alert us to issues facing our whole community.
Contact: David Osborn
Jerry Kekos, ALS Sr. Business Manager, oversees finance, logistics, and administration; learn about the people and operations that make the ALS run smoothly everyday. Read the Article
A quick switch for magnetic needles Simple molecules mimic double slitsSecrets of a Precision Protein Machine One "Cool Tool" That's Helping Repair Your DNA AFRD's Leemans Surfs the Ether in a Scientists' Soccer Match


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zaeya, on 07 November 2012 - 01:09 PM, said:
its not the same if the amount of points gained per win is still the same. no, it's not the end of the world, but for people with multiple alts or stuff to do outside of wow it is more time consuming then before, especially if you are doing rbgs. and of course, the fact that rbgs give such a higher point cap is still ridiculous


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The Pams range of products is the exclusive brand of the Foodstuffs group of companies, New Zealand's largest food retailers. The Pams product range of around 1,000 lines includes most of the volume selling grocery product groups in supermarkets.
The brand has a long history. It was launched in 1937 to enable the Four Square organisation to compete on equal terms with the dominant chain store groups of the day. The chain stores enjoyed excellent trading relationships with manufacturers and were able to buy on terms that members of the fledgling Four Square group were unable to match.
By introducing their own brand, Pams, the Four Square organisation was able to consolidate their individual members' orders and negotiate bulk buys for key product groups, and pass these savings on to consumers in the form of competitive retail prices. Unfortunately the origin of the name Pams is unrecorded, though legend has it that it is an acronym of the names of two early Foodstuffs senior executives. The first products were baking powder and custard powder, which no doubt reflects the importance of home baking in those early years.
As the Foodstuffs group grew in size its negotiating power increased until it was able to buy on the same terms as its competitors. This equalisation of purchasing power occurred in the early 1950s, at about the same time that mass advertising began to drive consumer interest and trust in branded goods. The increasing consumer interest in national brands, coupled with the strong weekly promotional programmes in store, reduced the need for retailer-owned brands. The introduction of import controls and the rise in monopoly manufacturing/supply arrangements also impacted on the ability of retailers to negotiate competitive supply arrangements for their own brands. Through the 60s and 70s these constraints saw the Pams range shrink to a small number of basic commodity food products.
The relaxation of import controls in the 1980s, along with the growth in retailer power as grocery stores became fewer and larger, saw a renaissance in retailer-owned brands. They now play an important role in the marketing plans of all retail grocery groups, as they allow retailers to reward their customers with exceptional value, while building strong partnerships with their manufacturer suppliers.
Over the last few years the Pams range has expanded to include a number of innovative product lines, sourced both locally and internationally. As well a comprehensive fresh food offering under Pams reflects the changing market dynamics.
The Pams brand has come a long way since 1937, and we are proud and delighted that it is now the largest selling brand in the New Zealand grocery market.
You can call us any time on 0800 245 114. Ask about our products, where you can find them, or who our favourite Shortland Street character is at the moment.


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quote: the way Apple prices things
quote: LOL, so you think Apple will reverse the trend of declining marketshare over the past 10 years and triple growth? Even Steve Jobs doent think that, and he's totally insane.
quote: the value proposition for Vista is not really understood yet by consumers
quote: Could you please elaborate more on that "value proposition"?
quote: so you think Apple will reverse the trend of declining marketshare over the past 10 years and triple growth?
quote: They now have less than 3% global market share of all personal computers sold.
quote: And they achieved this near oblivion how?
quote: By continuing to launch superior products at a competitive price points?
quote: you MAC clones crack me up
quote: 2 roughly equally specced laptops
quote: Apple are going to start hitting the point where, although they are selling more laptops, and possibly the real number of people buying them is growing as fast as before, it certainly won't continue doubling each year.
quote: Seriously, who buys a computer with a base cost of $3200USD that only has 250GB HD, 512MB of RAM, and a 6600 video card
quote: It is arguably more secure because, IMO OSX has a very small market share compared to the likes of MS, so they arent target as much
quote: I do agree the Jorbs and his crew do a good job of keeping us on the edge of our seat sometimes, at somepoint that will get old.
quote: Theres nothing like spending $1000+ on a computer that gets a whole new redesign every other year, or sooner. That will get old, albiet down the road.
quote: Not to mention, later this year they are likely to have a dual quad... which is just nutsy *drools*, and SUPER insanely expensive.
quote: Their is validity to both sides, but ultimately I feel that Apple users are due for a VERY rude awakening within the next year or so
quote: sherman, you're getting in the same old trap again and again - you compare modern desktop Wintels with ancient PowerPC Macs. When are you going to stop falling in the same manhole? Can't you see current Intel iMacs are VERY different both price-wise and feature-wise from old museum PPC PowerMacs? I don't even understand why you bother posting here comparing some museum Apple computers with modern Intel PCs - yeah, I CAN TOO compare Win 3.1 with Mac OS X 10.4.7 and you know what? Win 3.1 SUCKS! You don't buy my argument of comparing old technology to new one? THEN PLEASE DON'T USE SAME ARGUMENT YOURSELF, would you pleeaase??!
quote: Those specs were still for shit when the Quad was released. Not enough hardware for the price, thats all im saying.


text: Each season in Vermont offers a unique beauty that is very special. If you are a fan of the out of doors there is a new delight with each of the four seasons. In the current season the trails throughout the Green Mountains are scatted with a tapestry of leaves and the air is fresh with poignant smells of autumn. Since this is a blog for and from the Waybury Inn I would be remiss (and crazy) not to mention that this is also the time of the year that traffic to Vermont and our Inn is less hectic than the summer months – so, in addition to all of the season's virtues the cost of staying with us is discounted but our service is as quality driven as any time of the year. Please visit our Specials Page to check on our fall rates and set sail for a divine Vermont experience.


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Hoard's Dairyman Webinar Archives
January 14, 2013:
"Today's perspective on grouping strategies"
presented by Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois
Brought to you by Digi-Star, LLC (www.digi-star.com)
"Today's perspective on grouping strategies" was presented by Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois. With today's feed costs, grouping cows is an economic decision and can improve body condition scores. Content includes grouping approaches, feed ingredient selection, strategic placement of feed additives, moving cows between groups, social effects and factors that can limit grouping cows.


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Tomblin's Medicaid decision a gamble
May 7, 2013
West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's recommendation to expand the state's Medicaid program probably represents a political point of no return. Once an entitlement is established, it is here to sta....
In other words...WHAT wants a 100 mile head start because even 'he' knows he's incompetent and that liberals just can't 'compete' fairly and win anything, right WHAT?
Hilarious listening to liberals 'tell on themselves.' You just keep telling us how uneducated you are WHAT. It wouldn't matter if we gave you losers on the left a head start.......you'd still LOSE and then you'd still WHINE. Bwahahaha......Can't compete? Try SCHOOLING and a better or a repeat of your eduation level. Gotta smarten up if you want to be a WINNER!
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Just listen to all that liberal losers whining because they can't succeed at anything so they like to blame others for their own lack of ambition and willingness to WORK and earn their way. Ignorance is bliss....at least to them. ENjoy your poverty.........being poor isn't a sin.........but staying there is because you DO NOT HAVE TO STAY that way if......IF you choose to get up and stop complaining like a 5 year old and DO SOMETHING with you miserable lives. What a group of total useless individuals. Boo hoo.
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The gap between rich and poor has grown widely over the past 10 or more years and Obama had zero to do with that the Bush tax cuts were said to let Rich people aka:Job Creators have more money to produce more jobs instead they took the money and ran and put their extra cash in the Camen Islands off shore nobody is agaist the well off have more money but don't say you want people to get off of welfare and medicaid and other programs but give them no means to do so. Try living off of $7.25 an hour, if you destroy the unions and all of good paying jobs people cannot make it on their own. it's impossible so The GOP and hate mongers on Fox, Rush, Hannity etc, can continue to vilify the poor and lesser of us but they will not scare them away from voting. It's everyone's right.
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Amen "Whatmeworry" Amen to that just because someone voted for Obama does'nt mean they are for welfare, it means that the republicans have become so hateful and angry and all they want to do is talk smack on anyone who disagrees with them are somehow not american is so stupid! People are not going to vote for someone wha says they don't care about them or their interest! Keep standing up for the rich and the poor will keep voting agaist you!
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The republicans complain about people getting off of welfare etc, but they won't increase the min wage, hate unions who get people higher paying jobs, You have Corpaorations sitting on 5 Trillion dollars , but they want more and more tax cuts for people who continue to hoard their millions and billions, Then they run a Guy for President (ROmney) who is so out of touch that he lies so much he forgets people have video and audio of everything he says, but somehow thats Obama fault, You can't constantly talk smack to people and cut people down and expect them to vote for you. as long as they keep listening to ,Rush, Palin,Trump they will continue to lose because there are good hard working americans who disagree with their hate speech and do vote, and they will continue to lose!!! There only shot in 2016 is Chris Chritie and they hate him because he actually said the President did a good job during Sandy and of course he was killed by the so called good christian folks on the right.
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All one has to do is read or listen to insane twisted logic of any liberal democrat and their 'socialism is good' nonsense to see just how brain dead these individuals truly are. Their brains have been so unused for so long, they speak as a child (without even understanding themselves, what they just said.) Don't believe me? Just ask them to 'be specific' and 'explain' what they meant and they stare at you like they just went into a deep coma.
These democrats NEVER think before passing stupid legislation; and it's the taxpayers that get hurt. Democrats are NOT the party that CARES about the less fortunate or the less fortunate would NOT be the most helpless and needy after FIVE years of democrat socialists control now would they?????????????????????
Of course you liberals posting here will ignorantly and stupidly disagree as you collect your few food stamps each month and have no job, right? How you DO prove your own foolishness.
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If the republicans were such a wonderful party they would have won the last two Presidential Elections but instead they were crushed by Obama they think by insulting people and cutting down everyone somehow those same people are going to vote for them if you are out to destroy women minorites and all you spew is hate no one hears you. And in 2016 they will lose again to a Clinton, the republican party has turned into a non factor in the national perspective because of there narrow minded bigotry they continue rely on the hate mongers on Fox News and Rush Limbaugh etc. Keep up the good work Boys!!!
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it's aweful funny that so called conservatives hate goverment unless it's to Bomb other countries or start wars or any other cherry picked itmes they rely on the goverment to fund but if it's to help the poor or disadvantage it must be wrong I don't understand how they try to hide behind the bible but forget the parts about loving one another and being our brother's keeper!
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When a stupid liberal "consults" with another stupid liberal....you get another stupid liberal mandate. Get ready for higher taxes in WV. And don't expect jobs to come here now.
Just another TYPICAL TAX AND SPEND democrat; it's the ONLY answer they ever have to any problem!
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TOKYO (Standard & Poor's) Feb. 21, 2008--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today assigned its preliminary 'AAA' rating to Japan Housing Finance Agency's (JHF) ¥250 billion Series S-7 fixed-rate residential mortgage-secured pass-through notes. The notes are ultimately secured by a pool of existing residential mortgage loans with a certain period of seasoning directly extended by JHF (AA/Stable/--). The preliminary rating is based on information as of Feb. 21, 2008. Subsequent information may result in the assignment of a final rating that differs from the preliminary rating. A final rating will be assigned after the amount and exact terms of the notes are finalized and a full rating analysis is completed, including a satisfactory review of the final pool, cash flow modeling,...
Companies mentioned in this report are:
- Japan Housing Finance Agency
Action: Preliminary Rating
Standard and Poors RatingsXpress Credit Research provides in-depth coverage of international corporates, financial institutions, insurance companies, utilities, sovereigns and structured finance programs. RatingsXpress Credit Research lets users determine the credit rating of holdings and identify key factors underlying an issuer's creditworthiness, distinguishes the different risk exposures for new and existing deals, and provides an understanding of how their analysts interpret key regulatory, political and environmental events and their economic impact.
Research type: News
This product is a is a brief one-page announcement of no more than 500 words with a quote from the analyst. It is media and investor focused with no accompanying commentary article.
- Japan Housing Finance Agency


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REPUBLIC - Republic council discussed final plans for their Christmas holiday celebration Monday evening.
After forming at the fire station, the parade starts at 6 p.m. Dec. 2. Participants are to be greeted by Santa and treats after arriving at the American Legion post.
Council members plan to gather Dec. 1 to assemble the treats.
Seneca East Show Choir is to perform at Trinity United Methodist Church at 7 p.m. following the parade.
Village Administrator Crystal Hoepf said Charlie's Tree Service has been working in the village trimming trees. She has been taking an inventory of stored transformers after consulting with Utility Transformers Brokers. They quoted values and agreed to sell half the transformers.
Council discussed winter snowplowing and authorized Hoepf to accept the best bid offered. She said letters soon will be sent to village residents and business owners reminding them of the snow shoveling ordinance.
Fiscal officer Monique Delaney presented the cash summary by fund report. As of Nov. 15, all accounts totaled $522,000. She received council's approval to move a supplemental appropriation of $35.84 from the Mayor's Court Fund to the council Social Security Fund.
Police Chief Don Holmer announced two weapons are being transferred to other Ohio police departments.
In other matters, council:
Discussed village Christmas decorations.
Discussed sign placement for alleys.
Discussed streetlights.
Questioned utility bill payments at Republic Bank.
Expressed appreciation for recycling bins in village.
Questioned improvements in FSI Inc. services.
Council meets next at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 3 with a utility committee meeting to follow.


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Description & Highlights
UniFlame Stainless Steel Propane Outdoor Heater
The UniFlame Stainless Steel Propane Outdoor Heater (model: 235000) offers 40,000 BTUs of heating capacity, with the power to heat up to a 20 foot diameter. Use this practical outdoor heater on your patio or deck to provide longer periods of warmth in colder seasons. Its durable satinless steel exterior is resistant to weather and built to last. Safety feature include a safety tilt-switch and 100% burner shut-off feature. This heater includes an IPP E3 model engine that runs on liquid propane gas, a sliding tank shroud, pilot ignition, and room for a 20 lb cylinder of fuel.
- Model: 235000UniFlame Stainless Steel Propane Outdoor Heater
- Heats up to 20' diameter40,000 BTU capacity
- Uses liquid propane gasIPP E3 model engine
- FIts 20 lb propane cylinder100% burner shut-off
- Pilot ignitionTilt switch
- Sliding tank shroudWeight: 129 pounds
- Weather resistant hardware93" H x 20" W (base) x 34" W (dome)
- Warranty: 2 years limited
- Height: 93"
- Width: 20" (base)
- Width: 34" (dome)


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Stratford vs. Cane Bay Wrestling in Region 7-AAAA matchJanuary 08, 2014
Description: The Stratford Knights took on Cane Bay in a Region 7-AAAA wrestling match on Wednesday, Jan. 8. Stratford scored the final 33 points of the match to win 46-18.
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Category: Orthopedic Supplies
Qualifies for Free Shipping with coupon
"I have ordered twice from your company and I can honestly say never have I dealt with a company that is so fast at getting out the orders and getting them to the customer. I will always order my product needs from your company. Thanks for your help."
"Customer service was excellent. Delivery unbelievable - next day! Product as advertised at a good price. Thank you."— R.G.
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Video of my last Backpacking Trip with the Troop. Great Weekend trip, had lots of fun. A fantastic weekend of Scouting!
Have A Great Scouting Day!
Cutting Pounds One Ounce at a Time
See you outdoors
Be Outstanding Through Personal Accountability
It's Not Just For Boys...
Camping and Events
Planning and completing a 2014 Appalachian Trail thru-hike
Just another WordPress.com weblog
Life, Camp, and Scouting


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Maryland Department of Labor Leads Successful Efforts to Provide a Safety Net for Victims of Domestic Violence and Address Critical Foreclosure Issues
Secretary Sanchez applauds Governor OMalleys leadership during 2012 Legislative Session
BALTIMORE, MD (April 12, 2012) The Maryland General Assembly passed important measures during the 2012 Legislative Session, strengthening the States ability to protect consumers, provide a safety net for Marylanders who must leave their jobs to escape domestic violence, and combat ongoing foreclosure issues. The Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR) also worked closely with a bipartisan coalition of legislators and stakeholders to provide a more predictable and streamlined path to compliance with the Workplace Fraud Act while maintaining the laws ability to protect workers and insure a level playing field for business owners.
I thank Governor OMalley and the Maryland General Assembly for a productive and collaborative session. Instead of allowing partisan politics to delay progress and using political divisions to weaken consumer protections and safety nets for working families, Marylands elected leaders showed leadership and stood up for our families, Labor Secretary Alexander M. Sanchez said. I am proud of the DLLR legislative team for building on the success of past years and continuing our Departments commitment to serving the people of Maryland.
The Departments legislative successes include:
DLLR oversees the OMalley-Brown administrations efforts to prevent foreclosure and protect homeowners from fraud; develop and train a dynamic and skilled workforce to compete in the new economy; enforce wage and safety laws that protect workers in the workplace; provide occupational and professional licensing to protect consumers against incompetent and unscrupulous practitioners; and provide a safety net for unemployed Marylanders while they find new work in a recovering economy.
The Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation protects and empowers Marylanders by safeguarding workers, protecting consumers, providing a safety net and cultivating a thriving workforce that can meet the demands of Marylands dynamic economy. Follow DLLR on Twitter (@MD_DLLR) and Facebook.


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|Class Title:
|Prenatal breastfeeding - Bryn Mawr Hospital
|Selected Date:
|Wednesday, October 12, 2016, from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
|Upcoming Dates:
During this program you will learn breast-feeding techniques to get you off to a good start, steps for successful breast-feeding, and information for coping with common situations or problems that can occur in the early weeks. The father of the baby or a supportive family member is encouraged to attend. We recommend that you take this class approximately two to three months before delivery. Childbirth Education Classes are offered to clients delivering their baby at a Main Line Health Hospital: Lankenau, Bryn Mawr, Paoli and Riddle Hospitals. Some classes are not offered at all locations. For a full list of class offerings (including registration dates) please be sure to include all locations in your search for classes
Please bring with you a life sized doll to practice holding and positioning
|Pennypacker Auditorium: Enter via Warden Lobby (main entrance) off Old Lancaster Road. There is a garage next to this entrance. Once in Warden Lobby make a left at gift shop follow hallway down and around to the right. At the end of the hallway make a left and take the AC elevator (on the left) to 1st floor. Hallway in front of you for "Floor 1 A" (green sign). Follow the hallway to Rotunda - Pennypacker Auditorium is to the left.
Bryn Mawr Hospital
830 Old Lancaster Road
Bryn Mawr , PA , 19010
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Study: Fracking chemicals didn't pollute aquifers
July 20, 2013
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A landmark federal study on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, shows no evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up to contaminate drinking water aquifer......
nowheretogo-"The trailer park in question would have stayed had it not been sold to the gas/water withdrawl industry."
Actually, the truth is that the mobile home park could no longer add homes to the park. The zoning changed due to it being a flood zone. The park had been for sale for quite some time.
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The trailer park was for sale for better then three years. It just so happens that a gas vendor bought it. I believe that the general public has no clue how much trk traffic that place eliminated. We're talking thousands of trips eliminated.
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The trailer park in question would have stayed had it not been sold to the gas/water withdrawl industry.
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BornHere, yes Kaiser was the gas well; Parson's was the water well. There were 4 old improperly abandoned wells nearby.
"There are four old natural gas wells dating to the 1940s within 1,700 feet of the gas well drilled on Parsons' property in 1982 – well within range of hydraulic fractures, according to modern industry and government studies.
In its 1987 report, the EPA noted the risk of contamination via old wells, citing Illinois' investigation of drilling pollution. "To avoid degradation of ground water and surface water, it is vital that abandoned wells be properly plugged," the EPA noted. "Plugging involves the placement of cement over portions of a wellbore to permanently block or seal formations containing hydrocarbons or high-chloride waters (native brines). Lack of plugging or improper plugging of a well may allow native brines or injected wastes [from a waste fluid disposal well] to migrate to freshwater aquifers or to come to the surface through the wellbore."
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I assume that you are talking about the Kaiser gas well right Texas?
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protects the fresh water intervals. This is the general procedure and may vary for deep wells with multiple strings of casing.
The West Virginia well that was the conduit from the fracked well to the fresh water zone was not plugged with this technique.nor do I think the old wells in Tioga Co. that were alleged to allow the same thing on a SWEPI well. Then the well pipe is cut off and capped. In New Mexico a approx 6 ft. pipe with the well name and operator, welded in the pipe, is left standing where the well was. Texas does not require this. Even in New Mexico, on Bureau of Land Management property, they approve the abandonment procedure.
Both service companies and operators are required to file paperwork accurately attesting, at penalty of prison, concerning the abandonment. The states send inspectors the majority of the time to witness the events that they are done properly.
I hope this helps.
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State abandonment regulation have to be followed. I don't know what PA's are but in Texas and New Mexico generally they will set a cast iron bridge plug, a special plug that is several feet long and cylindrical in shape almost the full inside diameter of the casing, that presses some "metal teeth" into the casing to hold it static. It also has special elastomer that are expanded and seal off any flow upward or downward. It is set approx 50 to 100 ft above the depleted zone. Then a hundred feet of cement are place on top of the bridge plug, using tubing to accurately place it. Then cement plugs, a hundred feet or more thick, are placed inside the casing every several thousand feet +- up to the to of the point where cement is on the outside of the production casing. Many times they will cut the production casing and remove it from the well. Additional cement plugs are then placed in the hole. They always spot a cement plug across the casing shoe that protec
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OMG another steaming pile of lies from the lying liers who are only a mouthpiece for the evil gas industry... The EPA, wait, WHAT?!
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The same vertical borehole can be re-used to drill a horizontal in another direction. You can get up to 8 horizontal wells from one vertical.
If the well is out of service, it is capped.
Like the millions of water wells and conventional oil/gas wells, they sit. At that point, it is a dry hole, so there is nothing to cause water problems.
Old oil wells are many times re-used as the infrastructure (separators, etc) are already on-site.
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Now rick stop being so picky!!
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so what happens when the well finished its useful life. Is there still a hole in the ground. Are there going to be orphan wells all over the place for future generations to figure out what to do with. Do they fill it up or so they just not care. Steel and concrete only last so long.
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Yes, they drill through the aquifer, but the wellbore is not exposed. It is multiple layers of steel and concrete in the first 800 feet, ensuring the aquifer is separated from the well.
Wells are not just dirt holes.
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Folks they drill through the aquifer in some cases and the results may be seen miles down stream(Underground) if the water is still flowing if not the dye just stays put...Aquifers have always cleansed themselves but when you take a 500 million gallon underground lake and reduce it to 10,000 gallons well...
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I guess I will have to accept this and move on. Just seems odd that when one of these things comes to the neighborhood someone loses their water. Let us just hope that in the future I am not the one to say I told you so. Get your base line done and if something happens good luck.
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Since it was removed, I will repost. We'll see how long this lasts.
I told you so.
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Texas is correct. The small explosion are in the perforating process, not in the hydraulic fracturing process.
BornHere is correct. Get your well water tested.
Most people have no clue what is in their water right now.
PS: It's not always pretty.
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There is an error in the article. The statement "the fracking process, which involves setting off small explosions to break the rock apart." is not true. There are no explosions to break the rock. The hydraulic pressure the the frac fluid generates causes the rock formations to split apart, much like driving an axe or wedge into a piece of wood.
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Bio, before you opine maybe you should do some research first. For one thing we only import 40% of our oil and 100% of the gasoline you burn is manufactured right here in the good old United states. Secondly the trailer court in question was going to disappear whether anyone bought it or not because of zoning.
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I've said this for 2 years on here and I'm going to say it again.
The only way you will know what is in your water is to have a "Baseline Water Testing" done BEFORE any drilling happens around your property.
This is all the proof you will need in case something goes wrong with your water.
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Don't confuse me with the facts!
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just like the people that decide its okay to shut down a mobile home park just to build a water removal thing for the gas industry, resulting in so many people, including people with limited resources, losing their homes. homes they could afford to own. just like no matter how much we the people fight to keep it off of state game lands, MONEY LINING THE POCKETS of decision makers,, makes the final decision. HOGWASH.. any CHEMICAL that goes into the water anywhere, eventually gets into the drinking water basin.. RAIN water has chemicals in it, it falls into the resevoir.. its all hogwash. i dont believe it for a minute. and STICK IT UP YOUR hind parts those that want to say OH thats what powers your cars. NO, it doesnt. gas and oil from foriegn countries do. not that i agree with that, but thats wehre it comes from NOT underground here in central pa
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I read this on Huffington post and one of the commenters said it's all lies and that thousands of people in northwest PA have natural gas in all their organs.
We can blame that on fracking or as in my case it would be blamed on that potato salad I had last night.
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"A landmark federal study" should bring everyone pause.
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This is going to stir up the masses and create huge controversy.
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It won't be long now ...
Alex Shibutani @AlexShibutani
Uploading a new #ShibSibs video today! #bloopers
12:59 PM - 23 Sep 12
Maia Shibutani @MaiaShibutani
Rumour has it that there is another lip sync cover in our newest blooper video. #ShibSibs
1:39 PM - 23 Sep 12
[Toni, I hope this is worthy of a new thread. ]


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BANGOR, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- The Bangor Police Department is investigating a case in which a human fetus was found downtown Friday afternoon.
In a news release from the Criminal Investigation Division, Lt. Timothy Reid said police received a report of a woman possibly carrying a dead baby in a bag walking through Pickering Square Friday afternoon just after 2 p.m.
When police arrived on scene, they identified the woman and recovered the fetus.
The State Medical Examiner's office has been contacted, and police said there will be no further information released until an autopsy is conducted on the fetus next week.
No charges have been filed yet in the case.


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Cancer Stem Cells
Most cells in the body, such as those that make up the outermost layer of the skin, red cells, and neutrophils in the blood, and the neurons within the brain are terminally differentiated like normal plasma cells. As these cells are lost or used up they need to be replaced by new cells, but terminally differentiated cells cannot normally divide. Instead, they are formed by less mature cells known as stem cells. Stem cells are distinct from differentiated cells because they are capable of dividing many times. When a stem cell divides, two new cells are formed. One of the daughter cells goes on to produce differentiated cells by dividing a specific number of times, and with each division the resulting cells gradually mature and expand in number. Importantly, these maturing cells also lose their ability to divide an unlimited number of times. The other cell remains an exact copy of the original stem cell. This process is known as self-renewal, and it ensures that an adequate number of stem cells will be available to form new differentiated cells as needed. Thus, the vast majority of cells that make up most tissues and organs in the body are terminally differentiated and cannot replicate long-term. In contrast, stem cells are rare but have the capacity to divide an unlimited number of times.
Like normal tissues, human cancers also appear to consist of both differentiated cells and stem cells. Several groups have examined the growth of human cancers, either in the laboratory or in animals, and have found that the majority of cells within an individual tumor lack the ability to form new cancer cells. These results may be explained by two possibilities.1 The first is that all the cancer cells have an equal ability to form new tumors, but only a minority is able to do so at any point in time. The second is that the cells are not identical, and the ability to divide and grow is limited to only a few specialized cells (i.e., cancer stem cells). For many years, there was speculation that cancer stem cells existed, but they were not identified until the early 1990s when they were isolated in chronic myeloid leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia.2-3 Because of the rarity of stem cells, they were not found in any other cancer until just a few years ago when they were identified in breast cancer and brain tumors.4-6
Studies examining cancer stem cells in a variety of unrelated tumor types have provided several important gener-alities regarding their behavior. First, the methods used to study normal stem cells that form blood cells (hematopoietic stem cells) and nerve cells (neural stem cells) can also be used to isolate myeloid leukemia and brain cancer stem cells. Thus, cancer stem cells highly resemble their normal counterparts. Furthermore, when cancer stem cells are propagated in the laboratory or injected into mice, they form cancers consisting of mature cells that are identical to the original tumor. These findings suggest that cancer stem cells can also undergo some degree of differentiation in addition to self-renewal. Therefore, cancer stem cells appear to be very similar to normal stem cells.
Multiple Myeloma Stem Cells
In multiple myeloma, the accumulation of abnormal plasma cells within the bone marrow is responsible for the main symptoms associated with the disease, namely bone disease, kidney failure, anemia, and a susceptibility to infections. Although the myeloma plasma cells are abnormal, several studies have suggested that they are terminally differentiated like normal plasma cells and rarely divide. One study found that the majority of the plasma cells located within the bone marrow of myeloma patients did not undergo cell division.7 Likewise, several other studies examining the growth of myeloma patient samples in the laboratory demonstrated that only 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 100,000 were able to form new plasma cells.8-9 It is well known that plasma cells are normally produced by B cells which play an important role in the immune sys-tem. Therefore, several studies examined whether B cells related to the myeloma plasma cells could be found within patients. In these studies, B cells with the same DNA sequences used to produce the abnormal immunoglobulin by myeloma plasma cells were found within the blood and bone marrow of myeloma patients.10-12 Furthermore, mice injected with B cells from a patient with myeloma developed the disease.13 Taken together, these studies sug-gest that myeloma plasma cells may be formed by B cells rather than plasma cells.
We studied whether plasma cells or B cells represent the cancer stem cell in myeloma, and initially developed a special assay based on previous work that allowed us to grow patient myeloma samples in the laboratory.14-15 In this assay, bone marrow cells are collected from myeloma patients, and then placed in a specialized culture medium. This medium is very viscous so that cells cannot move freely, and as cells divide they form clusters, termed colonies, that can be easily identified and counted with a microsope. In order to determine whether myeloma plasma cells were able to form colonies, we specifically isolated plasma cells using a specific antibody which recognizes a protein called syndecan-1, or CD138, that is expressed only by plasma cells in the normal immune system. Plasma cells that expressed CD138 (CD138+) did not form colonies, whereas cells that lacked CD138 (CD138neg) could form myeloma colonies in our assay. We also injected CD138+ or CD138neg cells into mice and found that only the mice receiving CD138neg cells developed myeloma. Taken together, these results suggested that CD138+ myeloma plasma cells lack the ability to divide and form new cells, but that the stem cell was CD138neg. Since cancer stem cells resemble their normal counterparts in myeloid leukemias and normal plasma cells come from B cells, we next examined whether the cells able to form colonies in our assay resembled B cells. We took CD138neg bone marrow cells, removed B cells using specific antibodies against B cell proteins (CD45, CD19, CD20, and CD22), then evaluated colony formation in our laboratory assay. The removal of cells expressing any of these proteins from the starting pool of CD138neg cells markedly decreased colony growth, indicating that myeloma stem cells were likely B cells.
Because of the difficulties obtaining repeated bone marrow samples, we also examined a number of myeloma cell lines. These were originally derived from myeloma patients, but unlike most patient samples, these cell lines can be easily and indefinitely propagated in the laboratory. Similar to myeloma patient samples, we found that the majority of cells within these cell lines were CD138+ plasma cells. However, a small population of CD138neg cells that expressed B cell, rather than plasma cell, markers could be reliably found. We also found that these CD138neg cells had much greater potential to form colonies than the cor-responding CD138+ cells. These studies suggested that we could use these cell lines in addition to patient samples to study myeloma stem cells.
Strategies to Inhibit Multiple Myeloma Stem Cells
Our studies demonstrating that myeloma stem cells are B cells suggested that therapies that directly target B cells could inhibit their ability to form new cells. In addition to myeloma, B cells are the origin of several other cancers, such as certain lymphomas and leukemias.16 Since a number of therapies specifically designed to inhibit cancerous B cells are currently used to treat patients with lymphoma, we examined whether one such drug, rituximab, could affect the growth of myeloma stem cells. Rituximab is a monoclonal antibody against CD20, a protein expressed on the surface of B cells and present on myeloma stem cells. We treated CD138neg cells from patient samples with rituximab, then evaluated them for colony formation. We found that after only 24 hours, rituximab was able to inhibit the growth of myeloma colonies in our assay by 65%.15
Testing This Approach in a Clinical Trial
If myeloma were analogous to a dandelion, the visible part of the weed would represent the plasma cells, whereas the root would symbolize the stem cells. Many available thera-pies significantly decrease the burden of plasma cells and improve symptoms in patients with myeloma, but relapse following treatment suggests that they are inactive against myeloma stem cells. This might be similar to cutting a dandelion off at ground level and eliminating the visible portion of the weed, but leaving the root untouched would allow it to grow back. Conversely, treatments like rituximab that selectively attack myeloma stem cells would not appear to work immediately since the plasma cells are not targeted. However, the inhibition of myeloma stem cells may lead to long-term remissions. An ideal strategy may be to combine therapies that target both myeloma plasma cells and stem cells. This would allow rapid improvement in symptoms caused by the plasma cells as well prevent the growth of new tumor cells.
Based on our laboratory studies, we have begun a phase II clinical trial to study the activity of rituximab against cancer stem cells in patients with myeloma. One of the challenges in studying agents that are designed to target cancer stem cells, like rituximab, is determining how best to measure the effectiveness of the treatment. Cancer stem cells represent a very small percentage of the tumor cells that are present in patients with cancer. Since standard response criteria measure changes in tumor bulk, they are not likely to reflect changes in the stem cell population, even if they are significant. That is, serum and urine pro-tein electrophoreses and bone marrow aspirates which are standard measures to assess response in myeloma are likely not helpful in measuring the effectiveness of rituximab against myeloma stem cells.
If these are the sole criteria used, an approach that is effective against stem cells might be discarded prematurely because it appeared to be ineffective. This may explain why a prior trial of rituximab in myeloma concluded that it was not effective in treating myeloma.17 In this trial, 19 patients with myeloma were treated with rituximab for 4 weeks, and responses, using standard response criteria, were measured at 3 months. Six of the 19 patients had responses (one partial remission and five with stable disease) with at least one patient with a response extending beyond two years. Thus, if the myeloma stem cells could be measured directly, it is possible that response rates might be higher. An alternative approach is to measure survival, and in particular progression-free survival, in looking at the effective-ness of treatment directed at rare populations of cells, as this may be a better reflection of efficacy.
Rituximab is being used to treat the myeloma stem cells. Although rituximab is active in vitro against the myeloma stem cell, it does not appear to have much activity against the mature plasma cells that make up the bulk of the tumor.15 Thus, patients in this trial are being treated with a combination of cyclophosphamide, a drug with known activity against plasma cells, and rituximab in an effort to target the myeloma stem cell.
Cyclophosphamide is a chemotherapeutic agent that works by crosslinking DNA and interfering with cell division. It is a drug with known activity against plasma cells. Thus, it is being given in high doses to reduce the number of plasma cells in patients with myeloma and facilitate rituximab's ability to reach the myeloma stem cells. Cyclophosphamide has a unique pharmacology. It is a prodrug and must be metabolized in the body before it is active. Further, it does not kill all cells that are growing and dividing. Cells with high concentrations of the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase are resistant to cyclophosphamide. One population of cells that are not affected by cyclophosphamide are normal hematopoeitic progenitors, as they have a high concentration of this enzyme. Thus, even though high doses are given, the normal hemato-poietic progenitors are unaffected by this and thus, fol-lowing a relatively limited duration of low blood counts, all patients recover their normal hemoglobin, neutrophils, and platelets without the need for a stem cell transplant.
The primary objective of the trial is to measure progression-free survival one year after treatment. While standard responses will also be measured, we believe that assessing survival will be a better reflection of activity against the myeloma stem cell than the determination of partial and complete remissions. Equally important in this trial are the secondary objectives of using our laboratory assay to measure myeloma stem cells throughout the course of treatment and follow-up. At specified points in the treat-ment schema, clonogenic assays will be done to measure the effects of treatment on the myeloma stem cells.
We will then use statistical models to correlate the results of the laboratory assays with the clinical outcomes and in so doing, hope to develop a model for measuring disease response with in vitro assays prior to the determination of a survival benefit. If this can be done, it will enable us to speed the process of developing new therapies and develop more efficient ways to assess the efficacy of novel treatments.
As curing myeloma is the ultimate goal of everyone's efforts to understand and treat myeloma, we believe that novel approaches such as this offer the potential to better target the myeloma stem cell, giving us insight into better treatments for this disease.
Who Is Eligible?
Patients are eligible to participate if they have high-risk myeloma in first remission, either partial or complete. High-risk disease in this trial is defined as chromosome 13 deletion by FISH or cytogenetics, or beta-2 microglobulin > 5 mg/dL. Patients are also eligible: a) if they have relapsed myeloma that is responding to treatment, or b) immediately after their initial therapy if the treatment led to less than a partial remission.
Treatment Schema
Patients will undergo all screening tests to ensure that they meet the eligibility requirements and have adequate cardiac and pulmonary function to proceed. Once con-firmed, patients will receive two doses of rituximab four days apart, followed by four daily doses of cyclophosphamide the following week. Approximately three weeks after completion of the cyclophosphamide, when blood counts have recovered, patients will be given rituximab once a week for four weeks. Rituximab will also be given on a maintenance schedule every 3 months beginning with month 3 from the start of treatment.
Safety, Tolerability, and Monitoring
Both rituximab and cyclophosphamide have been given to thousands of patients with hemtologic malignancies and their safety and tolerability are well known. Rituximab has been used predominantly in the treatment of lymphomas, either alone or in combination with chemotherapy, including cyclophosphamide. Cyclophosphamide is an active agent in the treatment of myeloma both in combination with corticosteroids and as a part of the chemotherapeutic preparative regimens used in bone marrow transplantation. Patients will be monitored closely with serial assessments both of tolerance and of disease status by means of serum and urine protein electrophoresis and through bone marrow analyses. Secondary studies will be done in the laboratory to measure the effectiveness of treatment using measurements of myeloma colony formation and assessments of the mechanism of rituximab's action.
Future Directions
The results of this trial and our laboratory studies will allow us to examine the efficacy of combining agents with activity against both myeloma stem cells and mature plasma cells. We expect that the results of both these endeavors will allow us to design and develop future clinical trials with the ultimate goal of producing long-term remissions.
1. Reya T, Morrison SJ, Clarke MF and Weissman IL. 2001. Stem cells, cancer, and cancer stem cells. Nature. 414: 105-111.
2. Bedi A, Zehnbauer BA, Collector MI, Barber JP, Zicha MS, Sharkis SJ and Jones RJ. 1993. BCR-ABL gene rearrange-ment and expression of primitive hematopoietic progenitors in chronic myeloid leukemia. Blood. 81: 2898-2902.
3. Lapidot T, Sirard C, Vormoor J, Murdoch B, Hoang TC-CJ, Minden M, Paterson B, Caligiuri MA and Dick JE. 1994. A cell initiating human acute myeloid leukaemia after transplantation into SCID mice. Nature. 367: 645-648.
4. Al Hajj M, Wicha MS, Benito-Hernandez A, Morrison SJ and Clarke MF. 2003. Prospective identification of tumori-genic breast cancer cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 100: 3983-3988.
5. Hemmati HD, Nakano I, Lazareff JA, Masterman-Smith M, Geschwind DH, Bronner-Fraser M and Kornblum HI. 2003. Cancerous stem cells can arise from pediatric brain tumors. PNAS. 100: 15178-15183.
6. Singh SK, Hawkins C, Clarke ID, Squire JA, Bayani J, Hide T, Henkelman RM, Cusimano MD and Dirks PB. 2004. Identification of human brain tumour initiating cells. Nature. 432: 396-401.
7. Drewinko B, Alexanian R, Boyer H, Barlogie B and Rubinow SI. 1981. The growth fraction of human myeloma cells. Blood. 57: 333-338.
8. Hamburger A and Salmon SE. 1977. Primary bioassay of human myeloma stem cells. J Clin Invest. 60: 846-854.
9. Takahashi T, Lim B, Jamal N, Tritchler D, Lockwood G, McKinney S, Bergsagel DE and Messner HA. 1985. Colony growth and self renewal of plasma cell precursors in multiple myeloma. J Clin Oncol. 3: 1613-1623.
10. Bakkus MH, Van R, I, Van Camp B and Thielemans K. 1994. Evidence that the clonogenic cell in multiple myeloma originates from a pre-switched but somatically mutated B cell. Br J Haematol. 87: 68-74.
11. Billadeau D, Ahmann G, Greipp P and Van Ness B. 1993. The bone marrow of multiple myeloma patients contains B cell populations at different stages of differentiation that are clonally related to the malignant plasma cell. J Exp Med. 178: 1023-1031.
12. Jensen GS, Mant MJ and Pilarski LM. 1992. Sequential maturation stages of monoclonal B lineage cells from blood, spleen, lymph node, and bone marrow from a terminal myelo-ma patient. Am J Hematol. 41: 199-208.
13. Pilarski LM, Seeberger K, Coupland RW, Eshpeter A, Keats JJ, Taylor BJ and Belch AR. 2002. Leukemic B cells clonally identical to myeloma plasma cells are myelomagenic in NOD/SCID mice. Exp Hematol. 30: 221-228.
14. Matsui W, Huff CA, Vala M, Barber J, Smith BD and Jones RJ. 2003. Anti-tumour activity of interferon-alpha in multiple myeloma: role of interleukin 6 and tumor cell differentiation. Br J Haematol. 121: 251-258.
15. Matsui W, Huff CA, Wang Q, Malehorn MT, Barber J, Tanhehco Y, Smith BD, Civin CI and Jones RJ. 2004. Characterization of clonogenic multiple myeloma cells. Blood. 103: 2332-2336.
16. Kuppers R, Klein U, Hansmann ML and Rajewsky K. 1999. Cellular origin of human B-cell lymphomas. N Engl J Med. 341: 1520-1529.
17. Treon SP, Pilarski LM, Belch AR, Kelliher A, Preffer FI, Shima Y, Mitsiades CS, Mitsiades NS, Szczepek AJ, Ellman L, Harmon D, Grossbard ML and Anderson KC. 2002. CD20-directed serotherapy in patients with multiple myeloma: biologic considerations and therapeutic applications. J Immunother. 25: 72-81.
NOTE: This clinical trial is open at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins and is actively accruing patients. If you would like more information or are interested in participating, please contact either Carol Ann Huff, MD, at 443-287-7104 or Kathryn Rogers, RN, at 410-614-1766.


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INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. - It didn't take long for the newest board of trustees for the Incline Village General Improvement District to make a significant change.
Beginning the second Wednesday in March, the board will hold its regular twice-monthly meetings at The Chateau, a venue officials agree is more suited to host the growing crowd of people in attendance.
Trustees voted 5-0 for the venue change last Wednesday during their first meeting of 2013 at the district's administration building at 893 Southwood Blvd.
For years, the IVGID board has met at the Southwood site - officially known as the IVGID Anne Vorderbruggen Administration Building - save for a few meetings at the much larger Chateau when a controversial issue such as beach access was discussed. In recent months, however, attendance at board meetings has increased to the point where standing-room-only crowds of residents and staff filter into the building's hallway.
Trustee Jim Smith proposed the venue change as part of a discussion among the board about potential cost-saving opportunities with a different meeting schedule and location.
While the board agreed to change venues, trustees disagreed on other ideas, including proposing meeting days be changed to Friday evenings to better accommodate the working class, and to perhaps hold meetings once a month.
Trustee Joe Wolfe disagreed with both, saying a change in meeting time could exclude the large crowd that already attends, a crowd that plans on twice-monthly meetings.
"To accommodate people who don't show, it isn't a good idea," Wolfe said.
Trustee Bill Devine agreed, saying that residents voted for trustees to trust them to attend all the meetings and do their job of overseeing the district.
"It's not incumbent of the public to attend all the meetings," he said. "If it's important to you, you'll attend."
Considering the larger-than-normal agenda last Wednesday, the meeting lasted roughly four hours, something Simonian pointed to when weighing the possibility of meeting once a month.
"That's too many hours for one meeting to cram it all in," he said.
During public comment, some residents scoffed at the idea of changing the meeting schedule, one of whom was Art Berliner.
"It's always been twice a month ... we elected trustees knowing there would be two meetings a month - now right away you want to automatically change it?" Berliner said.
Smith said he brought up the discussion because he sees the potential for as much as $60,000 in annual savings if the board were to meet on a monthly basis, by way of less paper being needed to print agendas, less staff devoted to meetings and other costs.
Wolfe disputed the $60,000 figure, however, saying it's not entirely accurate considering meeting once a month with a larger agenda could sap a good deal of staff time and resources.
In the end, the board voted to revisit timing of board meetings this summer.


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Tonight, 1st Congressional District candidates Republican Mark Sanford and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch will debate for the first and only time before their May 7 election.
1st District debate viewing
Tonight's debate begins at 7 p.m. Tickets to see it at The Citadel are all gone, but voters can still watch online.We are live-blogging the debate here.Webcasts are being streamed live on counton2.com and scetv.org. A rebroadcast is set for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday on ETV World, and it will be archived at scetv.org.Follow our live debate coverage on Twitter using the hash tag #sc1.
Their lack of debates up to now has become an issue in and of itself, but that talking point likely will fade after the two spend 75 minutes answering questions on The Citadel's Alumni Center stage.
It's unclear if tonight will be a game changer: The debate won't be televised, and most of the tickets probably have been snapped up by those who already know how they plan to vote.
There are no tickets left, though interested voters may hear it on the radio or watch it streamed live over the Internet. We will live-blog it here.
Here is a list of what local political science professors say are the main tasks facing each candidate as they take the stage tonight.
SanfordFocus on issues
The 1st District is heavy Republican territory, and Sanford can benefit by focusing on issues such as the national debt, federal spending and health care — issues where most voters lean toward his views.
Doing that tonight may represent his best chance to swing momentum back to his side after news broke two weeks ago that his ex-wife, Jenny, had filed a complaint against him in Family Court.
Stay composed
During the past week on the campaign trail, Sanford has expressed varying degrees of frustration over his inability — and the media's inability —to draw out his opponent on the issues.
How much of that frustration will he vent tonight? Given that candidates can choose how to run their own race, will further venting score political points or come across as whiny?
Address shortcomings, move on
It would be surprising if the 75-minute debate did not touch on Sanford's rocky personal life, from his infamous trip to Argentina in 2009 to last month's Family Court filing that indicates the drama is not completely in the past.
During his campaign so far, Sanford has managed deftly to admit his shortcomings and speak of how his lessons learned have made him a better person.
Colbert BuschAvoid gaffes
Candidates often can declare victory after debates if they state their positions and avoid making a blooper that they must explain later or that might cast doubts on their readiness for office.
While this applies to both candidates tonight, Sanford has extensive debate experience and has had largely gaffe-free performances in the past, so this looms as a larger challenge for her.
Appear independent
Colbert Busch already has criticized Democratic President Barack Obama's budget, a signal that she doesn't intend to be a rubber stamp for her party.
Still, she has a fine line to walk between not alienating her Democratic base — a base that voted for Obama — while appealing to moderates who have voted for Republicans such as Mitt Romney and Tim Scott.
Talk specifics
Colbert Busch is a political newcomer whose experience lies in business, not public speaking or articulating policy. Many consider her a blank slate — with no voting record as a public official.
On the campaign trail, she has given mostly brief public speeches with few details. Tonight, she can reassure and fire up her supporters by giving substantive answers to how she would create jobs — her main issue — as well as other topics that have received little airing in the campaign so far, such as gun control and social issues.
Elizabeth Colbert Busch, Democratic 1st Congressional District candidate. (provided photo 2/2013)×
Former governor Mark Sanford visited the former Tellis pharmacy space in downtown Charleston on Thursday January 10, 2013. The space is large enough to host a campaign headquarters for a possible run for Congress. (Schuyler Kropf/postandcourier.com)×
Elizabeth Colbert Busch (left) and Mark Sanford traded jabs Monday over Boeing, arguing about who is the bigger supporter of one of the Lowcountry's greatest sources of new jobs.×


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The drummers don't need disguises — they'll sneak in through a service entrance where mall employees dump their refuse. The pipers, entering through a main door, have to get more creative. A teenager has telescoped his instrument into a lawn chair case and slings it over one shoulder. A man with a Sam Elliott moustache totes a holiday shopping bag with a strategically placed tube of wrapping paper. A third has stolen his grandson's baby stroller and tucked the instrument inside, under a blanket. Having tuned up in a nearby parking lot, the 22 musicians stream toward the mall, their faces full of purpose.
A few years ago — around the time footage of dancers performing The Sound of Music in a Belgian train station went viral — Rick Freed got hooked watching flash mobs on YouTube. The former Newbury Park High School physics teacher, who once worked in Navy intelligence, was fascinated by the premise: Apparent strangers materialize in a public place for a brief, spontaneous performance, then disperse.
Rick has been a piper with the PCH band for 25 years. His son Doug, a history teacher at Westlake High School, is the drum sergeant. (Full disclosure: My sister joined the band as a drummer 18 months ago before going on hiatus to enter graduate school. I've been friends with the Freeds ever since.) The bagpipe, they note, barely outranks the recorder and tin whistle in respectability.
"It's frumpy," says Doug. "Americans see bagpipes the same as a kazoo band."
But the flash mob idea looked too fun to resist. Rick pitched it to his bandmates, a mix of mostly male, kilt-owning adults and teens who regularly perform throughout California. The place and time were no-brainers for the SoCal holiday season: the Thousand Oaks Mall, five days before Christmas.
Two weeks until kickoff, and Rick is doing reconnaissance. After much hand wringing, the band has opted to request clearance from the mall, rather than rely on a guerilla-style approach and risk getting thrown out. "We want to be good guests," he says.
It was a wise move. Tish Cabezas, the senior marketing manager who grants permission, says, "These unplanned performances can really disrupt the flow of traffic. With the bagpipers, we weren't in danger of somebody trying to copy them. It wasn't going to grow."
The band has selected the hub outside the Macy's Home store. Here, as throughout the shopping center, the bare floors and walls offer little to soak up sound waves. Once years ago when they were playing an outdoor gig with a petting zoo, the music got so loud the animals started stampeding. For this show, PCH has teamed up with Gold Coast Pipe Band of Camarillo, doubling their numbers.
"We're used to people covering their ears," says Rick. "We like to think it's because of the volume."
T minus two days, and the final participant tally still isn't pinned down. The two bands haven't practiced much together, or onsite, but everyone seems unconcerned. Bagpipers internationally share a "culture of organization," explains Doug. For the brief set list, they've chosen three massed band tunes — standardized songs that any piper, anywhere in the world, knows how to play — which should make the execution a breeze. They're like an entire fleet of flash mobbers, ready to deploy at a moment's notice.
That is, says Rick, provided anyone cares to watch. "My fear is that everyone will be very blasé and go on their merry way."
PCH pipe major Mike Reynolds stays on his cell phone with the drummers while they dart through the back alley, confirming that they make it through unchallenged. Finally, everyone is in place.
At 6:30 sharp, he pauses amid the throng of shoppers outside Macy's. He opens a guitar case, tucks the bagpipe under his left arm and begins playing "Jingle Bells." Curious shoppers stop to watch. After a few bars, he launches into "The Green Hills of Tyrol." Within seconds, two more pipers join.
Bagpipers are entering from each direction, joining Reynolds in an ever-widening circle. The sound has drawn out shoppers and vendors from nearby stores. They line the upper railing, and downstairs a crowd has gathered. People watch the action through the windows of their cell phone cameras.
Suddenly, the rat-a-tat of the snares and the ponderous thud of the bass rumble above the wail of the bagpipes, and the drum corps bursts from an authorized personnel door near Macy's. A cry that won't be captured on camera erupts from the crowd. When the players finish the first song, the cheers are so loud they can't hear Doug tapping his sticks together, calling off the final drum roll.
"At first, I thought it was kind of random," says Rebecca Del Sesto, 20. She and her sister had only ever heard recorded bagpipes in a school talent show.
Alyssa, 21, is more emphatic. "It was one of the most amazing things I've ever heard. It was so unexpected."
Susan Deems of Camarillo was inside Macy's when the music started, but she hurried off the escalator to watch. The drum entrance gave her chills, she says. "It was a nice holiday pick-me-up."
Not everyone is enthusiastic. Some vendors anxious to maximize pre-holiday sales brush me off when I inquire about the music. Jose Lacayo, a Godiva associate speaking from behind a glass display case, probably speaks for many when he complains, "That was annoying. It was beautiful, but it was too loud."
Mall Guest Services representative John Kourounis filmed the event from the second floor. Bagpipes "can be kind of an overwhelming sound," he acknowledges, "but it's still a public place. And it's all in good spirit." He grins. "I give them an A-plus."
At the after-party, pizza and beer abound and spirits are high. There were missteps, of course: Eager family and friends hovered before the performance began. The drummers debuted a couple beats late and scrambled to catch up. As the Reporter's theater critic, I couldn't help longing for a bit more stagecraft. And in the days ahead, the advantages of nominating an official videographer next time around will become apparent. The first video posted to YouTube becomes the authoritative version by default, racking up hits and complicating any post-production editing.
But serendipity came through. The drummers' thunderous entrance — an eleventh-hour addition because smuggling their instruments proved impossible — created the exponential-increase effect that distinguishes the best flash mobs. Ever the physics teacher, Rick is pleased that with 15 pipers, they ended up with an "acoustically optimum number."
"The best-laid plans," he jokes. "You have to improvise. It's part of the adventure."
For more information about PCH and Gold Coast, www.pchpipeband.org and www.goldcoastpipeband.com.


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Open music - open source beat making software
Open Beats rock Brazil
Last week, #RioPlusSocial was one of the top trending global topics on Twitter. Part of the United Nations conference on sustainable development (called Rio+20), Rio+Social welcomed throngs of activists, politicians, moguls, and artists to Brazil, to discuss solutions for a growing list of global problems. Sponsored by the United Nations Foundation and several partners, the conference featured lectures and roundtable discussions with icons such as Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, the first woman President of Ireland Mary Robinson, billionaires Ted Turner and Richard Branson, and innovators such as Alnoor Ladha, a founding partner of Purpose, and Mashable founder Pete Cashmore.
Somehow, the UN Foundation let two humble musician/professors from North Carolina sneak in through the back door. Apple Juice Kid (Stephen Levitin) and I had been dreaming up an open source beat making software, and were invited to perform at the conference and talk about our project. It's part of a broader initiative we co-founded called ARTVSM (pronounced artivism) - which pairs artists with activists (communities/non-profits/NGOs) to create innovative social impact.
We were definitely the odd couple at Rio+Social. We arrived in Rio on the day before the conference with backpacks and briefcases full of laptops, loop pedals, and headphones, trying to navigate the city without a word of Portuguese at our disposal. Juice was booked to DJ a pre Rio+Social VIP dinner with a live Brazilian drummer. It was nice to get our feet wet at the dinner, but nothing could have prepared us for the main event.
The schedule was intense, with dozens of handlers facilitating back-to-back Ted Talks-styled lectures from world leaders in a myriad of fields. We found ourselves amongst heavyweight activists, entrepreneurs, and innovators and were honored to be counted among them. Our idea was simple: everyone should be able to make beats and create music--and open source technology is the way to do it.
The idea was born in the Music Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where Apple Juice Kid and I co-teach a class called Beat Making Lab. In Beat Making Lab we use both the open source software Audacity and a very expensive software called Reason 6, to teach students how to make beats. One obstacle has been our software of choice, Reason 6. Not only is it prohibitively expensive, but it is difficult to order, impossible to share between computers, and is anchored by obnoxious security provisions.
This summer, we're taking the Beat Making Lab curriculum to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to build a studio in Goma and teach 16 Congolese youth how to make beats and share their music with the world. Reason 6's shortcomings are compounded by our aspirations of making the Beat Making Lab a global phenomenon. We raised the money to buy a laptop, speakers, hard drive and Reason 6, but don't have the flexibility to expand with the software.
So I had the idea: why don't we develop our own software?
When I learned that the ridiculously expensive, ever-updating word processing giant Microsoft Word had an open source alternative, I switched over to Open Office. When I realized that purchasing Photoshop was going to set me back hundreds of dollars, I invested in GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). I was initially drawn to these alternatives solely because they saved me money, but when I learned more about the principles of open source and how it is developed and nurtured by a community of codativists (coder/activists - I just made this up), I fell in love. It fit perfectly with the aspirations of ARTVSM. The reason (no pun intended) that there is not yet an open source alternative to Reason 6, is because the open source community hasn't rallied to create one, yet. I want to change that.
Apple Juice and I put in our bid on one of the biggest stages for innovation and sustainability in the world. How do you create change in your community? By empowering artists, and encouraging innovation. We believe that making beats can empower youth, build relationships, broadcast important stories, and heal communities. What better way to nurture innovation than to rally the open source community, to provide folks with the tools they need to improvise and inspire. It's not just a good idea - it's an obligation.
So who's with me? We need coders, artists, writers, beat makers, marketers, and many others to help make Open Beats successful. If you are interested helping out or you would like more information, register for an opensource.com account (if you haven't already), login, and then add your name in the comments, indicating that you'd like to contribute in some fashion. Otherwise, stay tuned, we plan to have a mailing list up and running soon that interested parties can subscribe to.
Update, June 27: We now have the mailing list set-up. If you'd like to join, sign-up at www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/openbeats.
21 Comments
So, you want others to develop software so you can use it for free. Good luck with that.
Most successful OSS project require a lead dev that puts in a lot of time to get to a first useable release, at which point the community takes interest and the project becomes self-sustaining.
If you took the time to at least write up a functional specification or a graphical layout, you may spark some interest, but even then, it's hard to convince would-be developers "out there in the internets" to take up your cause as their own.
why not contribute to one of the many projects already underway?! see linuxaudio.org. have fun!
Sounds great except there is already so much software out there that is open source. Hydrogen, rosegarden, not to mention how easy it is to generate custom midi beats with JACK and Fluidsynth.
Why not use tracking software, such as Milkytracker or Renoise. Alot of beats in the background of rap songs are patterns of repeated notes played either for a chorus, verse, or break in the song. Amiga mods and C64 SIDs are like this. The programs seem to have a steep learning curve but at least they are already developed.
We already HAVE open-source projects like Psycle and Buzé, and many of the wonderful plugins used with Jeskola Buzz (which is freeware, or its open-source counterpart Buzé) are freeware or open-source.
If you need more than that, check out FL Studio as a cheaper but no less powerful alternative. Reason is not only overkill and overpriced, it's by no means the only or the best player in its game.
There are a lot of misconceptions in this article.
Reason hard to order? Any music store has it, and they sell it from the website itself; what's hard about that?
Don't like Reason? Don't use it. DAWs grow on you - they're what you used to. People stick with them out of habit, not out of objective quality. There's no reason to pick up Reason as a first piece of music production software, other than having some kind of uniformity.
http://reaper.fm/purchase.php - Reaper is $60 which is anything but expensive, and better - it's not crippled or limited in any way. KVRAudio is filled with plugins - many superior to the stock Reason ones. Spend a week assembling a reasonably complete package of free as in beer plugins, and you're done.
Of course, you're stuck with Windows. If you insist on Linux, you also insist on a fairly heavy lack of compatibility with other plugins, or you have to think of something really clever to get everything to work. If you thought writing a DAW from scratch was hard, wait until you also have to build basic plugins.
What's expensive is the audio interface and the controller keyboard, and even that is relative; synthesizers and tape recorders of the 80s and 90s were far more pricy.
Making music has never been cheaper and the prices are *still* dropping. If you want everyone to make music, you should also realize that not everyone needs the biggest, most bad-ass industry standard music production package rightaway, so dump Reason and switch.
There's also the open source DAW Ardour, which I use. I've never used the pricey proprietary stuff, so I can't compare features, but Ardour seems pretty robust.
Others have mentioned the many open source sequencer based stuff out there like Hydrogen. Seems like open source has this pretty well covered already.
I understand that there are others out there but after reading this, I am all for it. I could help market this or even make beats. Lets get this thing rollin'
Hey Matt, please join the mailing list. We appreciate your enthusiasm: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/openbeats
Not yet mentioned, LMMS which is very similar to FruityLoops. Also SuperCollider and PureData if you're some kind of super genius. There are also a few Linux distributions like Ubuntu Studio. I like the idea but it would be better to build upon an existing project rather then start from scratch. Frankly, you should have Google'd it first. Then you would see that there are tons of options out there.
Yeah but why not try to make the best. With everything all the other sites are doing, why not hop on board and make a better product?
Like the author said, it's incredibly expensive to develop this software. Why would you want to start from scratch? Chances are one of the other projects is 80% of what you want. Talk to the people there and see if you have the same vision, or fork it.
I use LMMS. It's very good, and probably a better start for an open-source beat-making app than anything else I've used. If you can program a TR-808 or a TB-303, you can use LMMS.
It sort of drives me nuts when people want to start a new open source project without even investigating whether there's already one they can use. It just diverts talent from projects that could be really good if people got involved.
and yet no open source hardware
what makes the MPC the standard of the beat making community is the Digital Audio Converters the OS is always secondary, and usually a bit of and afterthought to the hardware DACs
this software definitely wont "sound" hip hop
It's been a year or so since I've worked on an audio project, but Ardour or lmms seem like the best options (or course you have to be on Linux for those). In general, my experience is that you can find most functionality in some open source program (except the ever-popular auto-tune). I'm not very familiar with Reason (I've used all open source, all-the-time for all my audio/video production needs for about 6 years) or what they use it for specifically so I don't know the exact functionality they're hoping for, but I think there are lots of options out there to piece together the features. For a one-stop-shop, Ardour and lmms cover quite a bit of functionality already and probably are among the best starting points to add functionality to.
It is a bit disappointing that they didn't seem to look around more at what was already out there. Of course, the best open source multimedia software is Linux-only so if they haven't made that plunge, they should.
This already exists -
Ardour, seq24, rosegarden, snd, bristol, buzztard, lmms, pd, and the list goes on..
See also:
Though clearly this is not as widely known as it could be - esp. with a trade press devoted to ads which sell the commercial apps..
Was producing full hip-hop albums in 2006 with the above. It works.
Teach kids to grow food, not make beats. Making beats is a waste of their time. Read a book instead. Learn martial arts. Reject the capitalist American entertainment system.
Uummm yeah, kind of a worthless comment. Thanks world activist for your unrelated comment activism!!
~music feeds the soul
If Linux is the chosen platform, and if open source is a priority or is desirable then Linux would be the best choice of OS, due to the BSDs not supporting Firewire audio devices like Linux dies with FFADO, then you can use:
qtractor or Ardour 3 as DAW
noisemaker LV2 or VST (from DISTRHO) as synth
samplv1 or qsampler for sampler
With just 3 of those fully free and open source apps and maybe as few plugins you can already create beats and electronic music to a very high standard.
AV Linux 6 will be out soon and will most likely include all of the above (except maybe Ardour 3) as standard on its free downloadable DVD.
Another good up and coming DAW that promises to become available for Windows and OSX too eventually is OpenOctave which can also be used with the same samplers and synths etc. as qtractor and Ardour.
There is no open source DAW for Windows that can compete with Ardour and qtractor but Windows (and Mac users) can still use the free (if not open source) Reaper.
LMMS is OK but lacks automation and even undo. If qtractor and Ardour are overkill then maybe Hydrogen would be sufficient.
We now have the mailing list set-up. If you'd like to join, sign-up at www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/openbeats.
We're on our way to the Congo to set up our first international Beat Making Lab.
Thanks for the feedback! We've gotten so much interest, constructive criticism, and support. We are in the process of building a team to help us develop Open Beats. Please join our mailing list (firstname.lastname@example.com) and let's keep the momentum going!
Subscribe here: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/openbeats
And stay connected via our website: https://www.beatmakinglab.com


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MINNEAPOLIS - Penn State's motto is "One Team," and with everything the Nittany Lions have going against them dealing with the NCAA sanctions, the only way they're going to beat quality opponents is if all aspects of the team are clicking at the same time.
That's what coach Bill O'Brien means when he talks about complementary football, which he frequently mentions.
The problem for O'Brien, though, is that for all his talk about complementary football, the team has failed to walk the walk against good competition, and especially on the road.
Saturday's 24-10 loss at Minnesota was the latest example for the Lions.
Their defense got shredded in the first half, taking the team out of the game, while the offense played well in trying to keep things close.
Things reversed in the second half as the defense figured things out and played the team right back in the game, only to have the offense fizzle.
Neither team scored after halftime, and Penn State scored the fewest points of O'Brien's 21-game tenure.
How did the coach feel about the complementary football aspect?
"Not very good. Not very good. Nope. Uncomplementary," he said.
The vastly improved Golden Gophers (8-2, 4-2 Big Ten) won their fourth consecutive conference game for the first time since 1973. They did so with clutch offensive plays in the first half to take advantage of PSU's poor pass defense, then held on in the second half as the Lions failed time and again to come up with the big plays they needed.
"We never threw in the towel, even after we lost our first two conference games," said Tracy Claeys, the Gophers' acting head coach with Jerry Kill out on medical leave. "We were disappointed at the time, but we could still see ourselves getting better."
Penn State's defense got better in the second half Saturday, but by then all the damage had been done as Minnesota's 24 first-half points held up. The defense couldn't get off the field on several big third- and fourth-down plays, and again the secondary looked confused and out of position numerous times as the Gopher passing game effectively worked the middle of the field.
"We made a call, they had the right call for it, and we didn't stop them on third down in the first half," O'Brien said of all the key conversions.
Minnesota came in averaging only 145 yards passing per game, but they had 165 by halftime alone. Quarterback Philip Nelson guided a ball-control offense that converted 7-of-10 third downs and both fourth-down attempts in the first half, picking up big chunks of yardage over the middle.
Penn State gave Minnesota a gift of three points as running back Bill Belton fumbled on the game's first play from scrimmage, leading to a field goal. The Gophers then went on two long scoring drives 96 yards in 8:10 and 70 yards in 6:54 to build a 17-7 lead.
The Lions' defense had no answers as the Gophers piled up 241 yards and 13 first downs while winning the time of possession 19:20 to PSU's 10:40.
Penn State's offense, on the other hand, had a solid first half, led by Zach Zwinak on the ground. He gained 99 yards on 14 carries, including a 38-yard burst that helped set up a TD.
The game's biggest sequence came in the closing minutes of the first half when PSU, trailing 17-7, drove deep in Gopher territory and faced fourth-and-1 from the 9. O'Brien lined up to go for it but changed his mind after a Minnesota timeout.
A touchdown there would have made it 17-14, but instead Sam Ficken kicked a 27-yard field goal.
Penn State lost a little momentum having to settle for three points, then it lost a ton of momentum when the Gophers quickly marched right downfield for a 74-yard TD drive right before the half.
On third-and-10 from the Lions' 24, Nelson hit wide-open tight end Maxx Williams for a TD that made it 24-10.
As poorly as PSU's defense played in the first half, that unit stepped up over the final 30 minutes and came up with plenty of stops to keep giving the offense chances to come back. But it never happened.
The Lions moved the ball well, keyed by Zwinak's 150 yards on 26 carries, but O'Brien made a curious decision going away from the running game on one key possession in the fourth quarter.
Penn State had first down at the Gopher 16 with 10 minutes left after a 30-yard pass to Belton. Rather than continuing to pound Zwinak at the Minnesota defense, O'Brien had Christian Hackenberg throw four straight times.
All incomplete.
It was a windy day at TCF Bank Stadium, with gusts up to 31 mph, and O'Brien decided early on that his offense's best attack was running the ball. Hackenberg threw only six passes in the first half and just 10 through three quarters, yet in that key sequence late, O'Brien went solely to the air.
"I thought the wind was a factor," O'Brien said. "Obviously they threw the ball pretty well, but I just felt like we could run the ball. We ran the ball. We ran the ball but couldn't make any plays down in the red area. That's what it came down to."
There was still enough time for the Lions to get back in the game the next time the offense got the ball, and Hackenberg moved the team down to first-and-goal at the 2. But on second down, the quarterback pulled away from center Ty Howle too early and fumbled, and Minnesota recovered with 6:40 remaining.
"[The defense] came out and played well in the second half, made some good adjustments at halftime and did a nice job," O'Brien said. "Offensively we didn't pick up our end of the bargain in the second half, so it's disappointing."


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A field of wine glasses across the entire top of a grand piano twinkled against the black of night just outside the window. Indeed, the entire evening was defined by things that sparkled, from the champagne presented to guests on arrival to the women's glittery spiked heels.
The most expensive event of the BB&T Charleston Wine + Food Festival, which ended its eighth run Sunday, is a dinner for 65 people in a private penthouse.
The dinner was conceived in the festival's second year by longtime Charleston event planner Denise Barto. She says she dreamed of an exclusive, ultra-elegant affair that would be headlined by nationally known chefs. Barto proposed it to the festival's board and staff. She says they were highly skeptical at first.
The event debuted in 2006 at $500 a ticket. Cooking that night were Tom Colicchio of Gramercy Tavern in New York, Paul Kahan of Blackbird in Chicago and Norman Van Aken of Norman's in Florida and California.
The dinner sold out. And it has every year since, even when the price rose to $750 and then to $1,000 two years ago.
So what makes a dinner worth $1,000?
Barto is biased, but she calls the event one of the "best buys" of the festival for the "quality of the wine, the food and the experience."
For 2013, the dinner was designed as a "A Tribute to Frank Stitt." He is an acclaimed chef and restaurateur in Birmingham, Ala., whose flagship is the Highlands Bar and Grill. Stitt is considered by many chefs, locals included, as the father of French-influenced fine Southern dining starting more than 30 years ago. Stitt also has been part of the festival since its beginning.
Food, wine and a view
Terri Henning's penthouse view of the city and the harbor may be better than any other residential setting in Charleston. A wide terrace wraps around her condo at the top of the eight-story People's Building built in 1910, Charleston's first "skyscraper."
The spectacular, 360- degree vista sweeps from the rooftops and church spires of downtown to the Yorktown and then to the "sails" of the Ravenel Bridge. At night, the length of Broad Street is illuminated to the Ashley River, where bobbing orbs of headlights can be seen crossing the James Island connector. To the east lies the inky darkness of Charleston Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean beyond.
"It's quite the view," remarked Hugh Acheson, one the chefs, as he looked out the kitchen window at the steeple of St. Michael's Church. "We're not slumming it tonight."
No, everything was made ready for this occasion with fine attention to detail. The tables were exquisitely set with all the glasses and silverware necessary for a five-course dinner. On each plate rested a menu card, tucked into a sleeve, that detailed each of the courses and the wine pairings, as well as the names of all the chefs, the wine team and the servers.
Orchid blooms were wound inside glass ball vases placed at each table. "No other flower is as luxurious as an orchid," Barto said.
The roster of chefs was a who's who of Southern toques. All of the chefs — Acheson and Linton Hopkins of Atlanta and Athens, Ga.; Ben and Karen Barker of Durham, N.C.; Stitt of Birmingham; and Mike Lata and Sean Brock of Charleston — have earned top James Beard awards.
The parade of food began grandly. Passed hors d'oeuvres included pimiento cheese macaroons, a scallop ceviche with Brussels sprouts kimchee, a rice puff with boiled peanut hummus.
Each of the five out-of-town chefs was responsible for a course. Among the dishes were king mackerel escabeche, guinea hen with truffled hominy and mascarpone panna cotta with sundried plums.
Hopkins prepared what he named "Crabe Stitt," with chunks of blue crab, sunchoke puree and English peas, sauced with rendered bacon fat steeped with cayenne.
Wine flowed throughout. Save for dessert, two wines were paired with every course, usually one older vintage with one newer one. A 1993 Volnay from Burgundy was pulled from the importer's private collection.
Behind the kitchen doors, a choreography of perfect timing and presentation unfolded. The cadre of chefs, who are colleagues and old friends, lined up side-by-side along a long island. One by one, plates were passed steadily and swiftly down the line, with each chef adding a component of the dish: a smear of sauce here, a spoonful of vegetables there, a careful placement of the protein.
Acheson served as the expediter, the last person ensuring everything was just so before handing off the plates to the wait staff.
Those servers, all dressed tuxedo-style in white jackets and bow ties, moved to their own choreography.
They balanced the plates on their arms, checking proper position, and waited until the whole group was ready. On cue, they exited in unison to the tables of animated and appreciative guests.
It was an extraordinary display of professionalism and hospitality.
Because the names and faces change, every year will be a different experience for this dinner, Food + Wine With a View.
But almost certainly, there will be two constants: On that night, the dinner will be the classiest act in town. The view will be thrilling.
And $1,000 for the ticket? Only a wallet, and the mind's eye, can answer that question.