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: [Pokémon]
Cracked, or How the Love of Seafood Saved Unova
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February 3rd, 2013 (3:09 PM).
Gone. May or may not return.
Join Date:
Mar 2010
The Misspelled Cyrpt
Chapter Ten: Felidae
1983. The year Sytec went bankrupt.
The year the nightmares came.
Speculative weapons research was big business in the years of the Cold War, and Unovan labour at the time came cheap; glutinous chemical artillery, egg-bullets that hatched into flesh-eating larvae, arachnid mind control – the aims of the companies that opened factories in the country were as varied and bizarre as the abstruse machinery they imported.
Sytec was in the psychic missile business.
The idea was simple enough. Plenty of technology was available to track and destroy a conventional missile before it hit its target – but the only way to detect a psychic blast at long range was to ask a Kadabra if there was a disturbance in the hive mind, and the chances of the Kadabra choosing to cooperate were so slim as to be virtually nonexistent. The technology to guard against such a blast simply didn't yet exist.
It seemed a prime research opportunity, and Sytec was not willing to let the competition get there ahead of it. The company rushed an experiment into new and devastating forms of psychic 'mind-flaying' into production, eager to secure lucrative US contracts.
Unfortunately, 'devastating', 'experiment' and 'rush' are three words that should never be found in the same sentence.
No one could reasonably claim that they hadn't seen the disaster coming, but they did so anyway; the government didn't buy it, and Sytec was forced to dissolve and sell its assets to repay Unova for the horrors it had unleashed.
Now, thirty years later, the wounds had faded but the scar was still there, a ragged concrete nightmare embedded in Unova's verdant flank. The Dreamyard.
The home of the Musharna, and the monsters.
"I think it's time to put the gimp masks on."
"They're not gimp masks, Halley, they're psy radiation helmets."
"Jared, you can argue with me or you can put your gimp mask on. It's your choice."
I glowered and got them out of the bag. I hated to admit it, but Halley had a point. They
look unnervingly like—
Stop thinking about it, Jared.
Formed of soft black neoprene with dark-tinted bands of reinforced glass across the eyes and at apparently random points on the cranium, they were capable of soaking up 98% of any psychic fields we might encounter, Fennel had assured us. I'd asked about the remaining 2%, and she told me that if we came across any of
we'd be dead anyway, so it wouldn't matter.
This, and the matter of the mutant cats, was weighing fairly heavily on my mind as I fastened the helmet with the zip at the back.
a gi—"
"Shut the f*ck up, Halley," I snapped, voice faintly muffled. The world was slightly grey through the glass, but I could see surprisingly well.
"I'm just saying," she said. "They're tight, black, cover the whole head..." She shrugged – a manoeuvre that looked very peculiar indeed when executed by a cat. "What is it that Zed says in
Pulp Fiction?
'Bring out the—'"
"Halley, you do know that you've got to wear one too, right?" asked Bianca.
"Yeah, but mocking myself is no fun," sighed Halley. "Self-deprecation is so not my style."
"If you don't shut up," I told her, "I won't put your mask on you and you'll turn into a mutant monster like the other wildcats that come here."
Halley clamped her jaws shut, and I smiled a secret victorious smile.
Her mask had caused Fennel some difficulty. She'd suggested we leave her outside, and we'd had to explain that due to very important but unmentionable reasons she had to come with us. Apparently that sort of cloak-and-dagger business wasn't that uncommon in the scientific world, and with the aid of a pair of scissors she'd sliced up one of her other helmets to create a makeshift one for Halley.
"Doesn't matter," she said when I asked if that was all right. "I just got £750,000. I could cut up hundreds of these and still be in the black."
At the thought of her new funding, her hands started shaking and she almost chopped her thumb off, and Amanita took over so she could breathe into the paper bag again. Twelve badly-punched holes and one makeshift lace later, she'd made a makeshift cat-sized helmet. Evidently she was as practically gifted as she was smart.
Now, I knelt down and laced the helmet onto Halley's head. It fitted as well as could be expected of something made in fifteen minutes, and by that I mean it didn't, but it would have to do; I didn't know if the tightness was important for keeping out the psychic radiation, but I guessed we'd find out once we got into the factory: if Halley keeled over or mutated, the helmet was obviously too loose.
Candy's head, of course, was nowhere near round enough to accommodate the curved glass panels of even a modified helmet, and she'd have quickly chewed her way out of it anyway – so Bianca had given me a Poké Ball, and reluctantly I'd enclosed her in it, where no radiation could get to her.
I was surprised at how strongly I was opposed to the idea of 'capturing' Candy; she was my pet, not my slave, and she belonged on my shoulder, not in stasis in some fist-sized metal prison. I could see the advantages of the Poké Ball – she'd be much easier to hide when I needed to hide her, for instance – but still, I promised myself I wouldn't leave her in there any more than I had to.
Munny, naturally, had no such problems: in fact, when Bianca had released it, it started bouncing with excitement when it saw the wreck of the Sytec plant. While the rest of us shivered at the sight of it, the Munna displayed every sign of actually wanting to live there.
"Ick," said Halley with distaste once I'd finished with her helmet. "This thing is horrible. I didn't realise how much I valued the sensory input from my whiskers til you squished them like this. And my ears are all squashed," she added petulantly.
"Tough," I replied, straightening up. "You can't get it off without me, anyway."
"Bastard opposable thumbs—!"
"Come on, guys, stop arguing," pleaded Bianca. "Can we go now?"
As one, Halley and I looked through the fence at the Sytec plant – at the crumbling concrete, the twisted vegetation, and the awful shadow of the mind-flayer hanging over everything – and blanched.
"OK," I said hesitantly. "Let's – let's go."
None of us moved.
"You first," said Bianca. "You're the fighter."
the Trainer."
We paused.
"Go together?" she suggested tentatively.
"All right," I agreed, and simultaneously we stepped over a section of collapsed fence, and into the heart of the Unovan Chernobyl.
Beyond the fence were the remnants of the car park, its surface rucked and twisted by invading roots; the asphalt had held back all but the strongest of the plants, and it was much less dense than in the surrounding forest. It might even have made a pleasant walk, if not for the vague sense of mental discomfort that I felt, even through the helmet. The roving psychic fields were evidently out in force.
"Munny," said Bianca, "can you sense any other Munna or Musharna around?"
It seemed to have some difficulty with this question, which surprised me; from everything Fennel had said, I'd almost assumed Munna were as intelligent as I was. In actual fact, as I later found out, they were closer to monkeys in terms of intellect, and had difficulty with spoken language owing to their poor hearing (a result of over-reliance on their psychic senses). Wikipedia is a
"Anything else like you?" she asked, rephrasing it to see if it made any more sense. Munny seemed to get the idea now, and drifted off towards the large square building ahead of us.
"We're going to the Musharna to find where the dust is, right?" I asked.
"Yeah," replied Bianca. "I don't know... Do you have any other ideas?"
I shook my head.
"No, sounds good."
"How utterly banal," said Halley acidly, but no one acknowledged her.
We followed Munny through the sparse woods and through a doorway that lacked a door; beyond was a vast, shadowy space that bore signs of the walls that had once divided into rooms and corridors in the lines of crumbling rubble on the floor. Shafts of light streamed from holes in the walls and roof, but made no real impact on the gloom and were swiftly swallowed up amid the tangles of brambles and creepers that grew towards them hungrily.
All in all, it was pretty damn ominous, and that was
the monsters lunged out of the shadows.
They came at us in a pair: twisted things that could have started life as either Purrloin or wildcats but which were now unrecognisable, eyes shrivelled, legs stretched, backs distorted with soft fleshy jags of meat—
I kicked one in the face reflexively, and it backed away, letting loose an baleful shriek; Munny dived towards the other, blue waves streaming from its forehead, but the cat-thing was unaffected, rearing up and swatting the Munna out of the air with one distended paw. Munny hit the ground, bounced and swung away dizzily, whirling on its axis like a top.
The first monster rejoined the second and both jumped at me at once; the world tipped crazily around me and my head hit the concrete floor with a sharp
of pain. Almost automatically, I rolled onto my side, trying to dislodge them, but their claws were long and sinuous, and wound through my shirt like corkscrews as they fought to get their jaws to my throat—
A gout of fire shot past my ear and set one cat-thing's fur ablaze; it let go of me with a shriek, slashing the other's leg in its haste to escape, and shot off towards the shadows in a trail of sparks. I seized the opportunity and grabbed two of the beast's three ears, pulling its head back and slamming it into the floor.
It let go of me then, and I scrambled to my feet, looking around frantically for something to hit it with; by the time I'd found a rock, it was up too, and had shot between my legs in search of some other target. I turned, saw Smoky spouting cinders from his nostrils, and almost relaxed; he was about to nail the monster with another blast of fire, I could see.
His nose flexed and flames spewed forth – but suddenly the beast's grotesque outlines blurred, and somehow it swept around and behind him in a dark flicker of light before sinking its claws deep into his back.
Smoky squealed in agony and bucked hard; Bianca cried out; Munny heard her distress and started emitting bluish waves that distorted the air like heat haze; I hurled my rock and missed, narrowly missing Bianca—
—and something knocked the monster off its feet with a
It flew off Smoky's back, rolled over on the ground and tried to crawl away, one of its legs apparently no longer working; there was another report, and it lay still with a despairing gurgle.
A sudden calm seemed to fall over the old building then. Smoky's screams died down to a whimper, and then ceased as Bianca recalled him with trembling fingers; the only sound that was left was that of footsteps – two pairs – coming towards us from across the room.
"Are you two OK?" I heard someone shouting. "Hey, you! You OK?"
I looked up from where Smoky had been to Bianca. I couldn't see her face, but she was gripping Smoky's ball so hard her knuckles almost glowed white in the dark. Uncertain of what to do, I patted her arm tentatively, and was surprised (and slightly alarmed) when she pressed her head against my shoulder.
"I changed my mind," she said, voice shaking. "Let's go. I don't like it here—"
"I said, are you two OK?"
I looked up, saw the two people approaching us and nodded.
"Yeah, I think so."
They both wore dark clothes – I thought maybe they were suits, but I couldn't be sure in the gloom, and suits would be ridiculously inappropriate for this place anyway – and had psy rad helmets of their own on; they also carried what looked alarmingly like handguns – alarming since possession of a gun was entirely illegal in Unova with the exception of police officers, soldiers and druids. I couldn't exactly say I wasn't grateful for them right now, though, given that they'd just saved us.
"Good," said the one on the left – a man by his voice. "Those things are lethal... we ran into five on the way here. Every one different but just as f*cked-up."
"What are you doing here, anyway?" asked the other, a woman. "'Sraven, are you
This place is too dangerous for that, you know—"
"We were looking for Musharna dust," I told them. "But I think..." I looked at Bianca. "I think we might leave now," I said quietly.
"Good idea," said the woman. They were now close enough for me to see that yes, they were wearing suits – which had clearly suffered during their trip through the Sytec plant. "You were following Fennel's advert?"
"So're we," the man said. "F*ck me if we can find a single Musharna nest, though."
"I see," I said slowly. These two seemed infinitely better-qualified to search this place than we did – for a start, they had guns, and I wasn't sure how much use Bianca would be now either, after the shock she'd had. "I guess we'll leave you two to it, then."
Abruptly, Bianca peeled herself away from me.
"No, we'll come too," she said, voice surprisingly strong. "I said I'd do this and I will."
I looked at her in astonishment.
Guess she was just startled, then
, I thought.
Well, she is a Trainer, after all... I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised.
"Hey, look," said the man, "this is serious business, and we don't have the time or ammunition to worry about looking after two kids—"
"We've got Pokémon," Bianca said. "One of which is a Munna." She indicated Munny, now recovered and in a more or less stable hover. "Munny can sense the Musharna and other Munna. It'll lead us right to them."
The woman glanced at the man.
"What do you say, Steve?" she asked. "I mean, we've been poking around this dump for two hours now – and I really don't want to be here when night falls and the rest of the monsters come out."
Steve stroked his neoprene-coated chin.
"All right, fine," he said reluctantly. "You can come with us. Just don't get in our way, all right?"
"Fair enough," I replied. "Deal."
"Enough talking," said the woman. "Get that Munna moving. We don't have all day."
"Actually, Donna, that's all we
have," pointed out Steve. Perhaps he thought he was being witty, but no one laughed.
We followed Munny through the eternal twilight of the ruin, keeping silent and watching out for any sign of attacking Purrloin or wildcats. Perhaps the fire and gunshots had driven them away for now, but I didn't expect it would last long; if Donna and Steve had been attacked multiple times already, I guessed the monsters didn't learn from the fate of their fellows.
Halley followed at a short distance, slinking along behind us and keeping to the shadows; I couldn't ask her why, but I supposed she thought Donna or Steve might shoot her if they saw her.
Munny wound its way slowly across the room, occasionally pausing to check whatever internal force was guiding it, and headed hesitantly for a small aperture in one wall that led into what looked like an unending void of darkness.
"Through here?" asked Bianca, pointing.
Munny bobbed as though nodding.
"We can't fit through that," she told it. "Is there another way?"
"Don't need it," said Steve. "Stand aside."
She did, with some trepidation, and Steve tossed a Poké Ball through the gap. A flash of light illuminated part of a corridor beyond for a brief second, and then the darkness descended once more, leaving a bright after-image dancing on my eyes.
"Take down the wall," he instructed, and took a few hurried steps back. Bianca and I copied him, and a moment later the little gap expanded into a very large gap by the simple means of exploding.
In the distance, something roared in response.
We froze for a moment – that something had sounded big – but nothing happened; Steve recalled his Pokémon, whatever it had been, and we hurried through the gap, eager to get away from whatever had heard the blast.
"Where the f*ck is this?" wondered Steve, as we made our way down a pitch-black corridor.
"If that last building was the main office, this is probably an access passage to the assembly line," replied Donna. Evidently they'd bothered to check a map or two before coming – further evidence of how abominably badly-prepared we'd been. "Where they put together the components for the mind-flayer. The psychic fields will be strongest there; it figures that that's where the Musharna will be." She paused. "We can't stay there long, though. The radiation will eat through the helmets in about thirty minutes."
"I don't plan on being there any longer than it takes to fill those damn vials with dust," replied Steve. (I found myself wondering what we'd been planning to put the dust in. Damn. We really hadn't thought this through, had we?) "We'll get in there, get the dust, and get out."
"All right, all right," said Donna. "I'm just saying."
We continued onwards through the dark – no longer as total as it had first seemed; there was just enough sunlight filtering down the passage that we could see our way – and, a few minutes later, came to a doorway leading into a small room full of shrivelled, dry things that crunched unpleasantly underfoot and which I
didn't want to think about.
"The cats have been trying hard to get in here, haven't they?" observed Steve mildly. "Something's stopped 'em pretty f*cking conclusively, though."
I swallowed, and Bianca's fingers suddenly dug into my arm like the teeth of a man-trap.
"It's the Musharna," replied Donna, poking a mummified monstrosity with her gun. "This close to the source, they're a bit tougher than usual. Doesn't matter if you're Dark-type or not, they'll tear your mind out and leave you for the psy fields to desiccate."
Bianca's grip tightened – something that I thought would have pushed her finger bones beyond the limits of their tensile strength. I winced and patted her hand.
"Bianca? That... really hurts."
"Sorry," she whispered, but didn't let go. I sighed, and tried to ignore the pain.
Donna and Steve straightened up and looked towards the door.
"I guess that's it, then," said Steve unenthusiastically. "The factory floor."
"Yes." Donna turned to Bianca. "You've got the Munna, you go through first. They won't attack you, and hopefully not us either."
Bianca was silent for a moment, then half a minute, and I could tell she was wavering, about to say she couldn't do it—
"OK," she said eventually, voice surprisingly steely. "Let's go."
She took a deep breath, and pushed open the door to the factory floor.
hang 'em
," I breathed, staring up and out at the vast space beyond. "It's
The factory level stretched away for the length of a football pitch, the other end shrouded in darkness; the concrete walls soared upwards to an invisible ceiling, apparently interminable pipes running up their colossal flanks. Giant girders crisscrossed the shadowy heights, disappearing and reappearing in the gloom as if playing with each other.
Half-constructed pylons lay toppled amid pyramids of barrels; tools lay abandoned on benches and huge wheels reclined on beds of cracked stone where they had fallen from the conveyor belts that hung in tatters everywhere you looked, like grimy industrial tinsel. Once, catwalks had serviced the uppermost belts; now only a few remained, the rest hanging at drunken angles from snapped moorings or lying like fallen trees on the floor.
Then there were the Musharna.
They hung in the air like pink clouds, drifting slowly from pylon to barrel to catwalk in an aimless sort of way; rolls of fat drooped from their bellies, and I realised that most of them were hugely overweight – the psychic-radiation-rich atmosphere there must have been a continual feast for them. One suckled three tiny Munna, pouring bluish waves from its flank into their staring eyes; other Munna darted around in the air, livelier than their bloated elders, chasing each other and playing amid the wreckage.
I stared, spellbound, until I heard crackling and realised with horror that the helmet was beginning to dissolve, the surface coming apart like smouldering paper.
"Let me revise my estimate," said Donna quietly. "We've got ten minutes in here before the helmets burn out – five if we want to have enough protection left to make it back to the fence."
"Let's move," said Steve decisively, pulling the vials from his pockets and handing them out. "Start scooping, kids."
I looked down, and realised for the first time that part of the darkness in the room was due to the thick layer of dark purple dust that lay over everything; experimentally, I scooped a handful into the vial and watched as gravity effortlessly erased the gap I'd made. The stuff was deep; it would have taken years to harvest it all, even if the Musharna had stopped making more.
At the thought of the Musharna, I looked up at them, just to make sure they weren't looking aggressive; they seemed almost oblivious to our presence, carrying on with their sluggish, incurious lives. The only clue they were alive at all was the spicy flavour of the air, testament to their chemical language. I wondered if they would have been so placid without Munny here. Given the carpet of corpses next door, I thought probably not.
Munny itself had drifted a little way from us, twirling with two of its wild brethren in what looked like a game of tag; I hoped it wasn't having
much fun – we didn't want it staying here.
"Forty-five seconds," said Donna urgently. "Time to go.
Bianca and I handed our vials to Steve, and that should have been the end of it. The danger was over; we should have walked out and gone back to Fennel's lab.
Unfortunately, things didn't quite work out like that.
You see, in the dark, Steve trod on Halley's tail, and Halley swore at the top of her lungs – and Donna noticed, and uttered four very ominous words:
"It's her! It's Halley!"
," I breathed. "You're Green Party."
My first instinct was to whack one of them over the head, but they had
, and that changed things; uttering a brief prayer to Córmi for our continued existence, I snatched up Halley with one hand and Bianca's wrist with the other and ran for it.
"Sh*t, that must be Black!" I heard Steve cry out, slow on the uptake, and then a moment later, as we burst into the corridor, I heard their footsteps crunching on the dead things behind us.
"What the hell?" yelled Bianca helplessly. "Why would they— the
I saw it now as well: the suits, the guns, the fact that they just happened to be here the same day that Harmonia sent the grant to Fennel's lab... The clues had all been there, if only I'd been smart enough to spot them—
," I growled to myself. "I'm such an idiot!"
"You can say that again," said Halley. "Also: wheeeeee! Despite the goons with guns, being carried along this fast is actually pretty fun."
"Shut up," I snapped, and for once she actually did.
I could see the main building ahead of us now, the aperture in the ruined wall looming grey against the black – but there were footsteps close behind us, and Steve was shouting:
"Stop running! You'll make it worse for yourself – if you stop, we won't have to shoot!"
"Frige save us," cried Bianca. "Munny! Do something!"
All at once I became aware of the pink ball zooming along beside us; it wheeled around abruptly and blasted a rippling circle of blue light in the direction of our pursuers. The lack of screams seemed a decent indicator of its ineffectiveness, and I remembered too late the damn helmets—
"The helmets would have to be more badly damaged than this for
to get through them," Donna called disdainfully. "Give up. There's nothing you can—
I heard a blood-chilling yowl from behind us and a flurry of gunshots, deafening in the narrow space; it seemed one of the cats had inadvertently bought us some time, and a moment later we were bursting out into the shell of the first building and sprinting across to the exit—
Suddenly, there was a huge flash of light, and a terrible hulking
materialised in the doorway.
It looked like it had been hewn from stone by the most ham-fisted sculptor imaginable; its body bulged out in crazed lumps between deep cracks and rifts in its skin, and its lopsided eyes squinted balefully out from under a brow broad enough to be used as an anvil. Squat and solid, it might have been a malformed, hairless chimpanzee – but I knew better. I'd seen one before, on TV; there, it had been tamer, dressed in a martial artist's outfit, but it had the same indolent savagery in its eyes, the same knuckle-dragging gait.
It was a Throh, and as we stopped dead in our tracks I suddenly realised exactly how it was that Steve had broken the wall down so easily.
"Nice to see you have
sense," said Steve from behind us, drawing closer. I didn't turn around and look; I didn't dare to take my eyes off the Throh. "Rush at him and you'd all be dead right now."
"You can't keep him out long," Bianca said. "The psychic fields..."
"He'll be fine for long enough to bring you two under control," Donna replied. "Now, you two – or three, I guess – come over here. We'll take you back to Castelia, Harmonia will do whatever it is he needs you for, your memories will be wiped, and all this will be over. Nice and easy."
So it
go all the way up to Harmonia, then, I thought. But why? What was he after? I pushed the thought away and tried to concentrate on finding a way out of the situation, which seemed to be getting worse by the second.
"I don't think so," I said, working up the courage to look away from the Throh and face the two Party members. "We're not going anywhere."
"You have two guns and a
pointed at you," observed Donna. "What more persuasion do you actually need? 'Sraven, are you really that stupid?"
"You won't shoot us if you need us—"
"Technically, we only want you and Halley," she said. "We could shoot her" – she indicated Bianca – "and leave her to be eaten by the cats. No one would question it."
"Nice ploy," said Steve admiringly.
"Thank you. I thought of it while we were running."
I looked at Bianca.
"Any ideas?"
She shook her head silently.
I looked back at Donna and Steve, who were still watching us expectantly. Behind me, I heard the Throth cough, an explosive rattle like a backfiring car, and punch the wall out of boredom. From the sound of it, that brought down rather more masonry than I was entirely comfortable with.
"Halley?" I asked desperately. "Ideas?"
"Please hurry up with this little charade," called Steve. "My Throh is losing IQ points by the second, and he didn't have many to start with."
"Yeah, just the one," said Halley. "Munny! Zap the Throh!"
Everyone looked up abruptly: we'd completely forgotten the little Munna, still floating loyally above Bianca's head – and now, as the light began to bend and flex around it, I felt myself begin to smile. I wasn't a Trainer, but even I knew what happened when Psychic moves hit a Fighting-type.
"No—!" cried Steve, but it was too late: the air rippled and distorted in a shimmering wave, the latent psychic radiation in the air feeding the Psywave and magnifying it once, twice, fifty times, a maelstrom of energy funnelling directly into the Throh—
—which promptly lobbed a brick at Munny.
If there's one thing a Throh can do, it's throw: the brick flew straight and true, and smashed Munny out of the air with the sound of cracking bone. It hit the ground, painted eyes closed, and did not move.
At the same time, the Psywave reached the Throh, and twin fountains of grey fluid spouted from its ears as its tiny brain was shaken from its moorings; a moment later, it keeled over as if poleaxed.
"Munny!" screamed Bianca, running to her Pokémon's side. "Munny, Munny—!"
"Sh*t," muttered Halley. "That definitely didn't go as planned."
"Any more bright ideas?" asked Donna, ignoring Bianca and walking over to Halley and me. "You want to get anyone else killed today?"
I felt my nails digging into my palms, and realised my fists were clenched so tightly they were almost drawing blood. Those damn guns, I thought bitterly. Take them away and I could do this, I
I could...
"Come on, then," said Steve, stepping forwards to join Donna. "It's over. You lost. Give me—"
A long, bass note like the song of a church organ resounded through the room.
We all froze.
"What was that?" asked Donna cautiously.
"I don't," began Steve, but he never finished – for then he saw the things gathering in the corners of the room, and his voice died in his throat.
I never saw them clearly, and it's probably a blessing that I did. But I could catch glimpses as they passed: of transparent limbs and bulging eyes, of jagged prongs and ragged fins, claws and twisted toes and the horrid wet slap of webbed feet on stone—
—and the terrible, awful knowledge, creeping over me like cold water seeping through fabric, that all of these things, these eldritch abominations whose horrendous shapes I could only catch the merest glimpse of – that all these things had once been
It didn't take long. The things swarmed in close, and Donna and Steve broke and fled, their eyes rolling with fright, and a horde of half-seen terrors close at their heels—
Then the bass note rang out again, and all was calm.
I blinked and looked around. No Donna. No Steve. No Throh. Just Bianca and Munny, Halley and myself, all alone here.
No, wait. Not alone.
From the corridor came the Musharna, one by one, filing out and into the huge space like some curious ceremonial guard. They swept forwards to Bianca, nudging her gently away from Munny and moving down towards the little Pokémon, uttering strange spiced sighs that were all I could perceive of their psychochemical language.
All at once, I understood. They'd sensed Munny was in trouble – in their eyes, one of their own, a baby. And they had come to defend it.
"They made dreams real," I said softly. "They made their nightmares into reality."
"Childhood nightmares," corrected Halley. "The fear of the monster under the bed and in the wardrobe. The fear of what the dark might conceal. The strongest fears we have." She shifted and slithered out of my arms, still staring at the Musharna. "Munny screamed very loudly, and they heard."
"I didn't hear anything—"
"Because of the psy rad helmet," she said, stalking over to where the Musharna were gathered around Bianca and Munny. "But
heard, and they reacted as you would if you heard a toddler having his fingernails pulled out."
I winced.
"Thanks for that image."
"My pleasure."
The air was so thick with chemicals now that I could almost see them, a kind of heat haze centred on Munny.
"Painkillers," Halley said to Bianca, sitting down by her side. "They think it'll die, so they're numbing the pain for it."
Bianca looked at her sharply.
"Munny's alive?"
"Of course," said Halley, tasting the air with her tongue and grimacing. "It's pretty much one big skull. It'll take more than a brick to break through
. Bring it along to the Pokémon Centre and it'll be—
what the f*ck are you doing?"
Bianca had swept her up into a crushing hug, and I had to smile at Halley's wild and ineffectual attempts to get free; she'd gone, as only cats can, from elegant and collected to ridiculous and pathetic in less than a second.
"Oh, thank you thank you—"
"Thank the f*cking Musharna, not me!" yowled Halley. "And put me down while you're at it!"
Bianca dropped her, and was on the verge of hugging the nearest Musharna when she realised that its fur was crawling with centimetre-long ticks; shuddering, she settled instead for thanking them as loudly as she could.
"Thank you thank you
thank you!"
she cried. "Thank you so much!"
One Musharna blew a large bubble of spit, which she seemed to interpret as understanding, and Bianca nodded happily.
"I don't want to interrupt," I called, "but we should really be getting the hell out of this place. Like,
." I pointed to my helmet. "These things are falling apart," I said. "I can see your hair through the back of yours.
"Oh!" Bianca got to her feet hurriedly and fumbled for Munny's ball. "Yeah, of course." She recalled Munny and the Musharna stared at the spot where it had been in stunned silence; then they turned to look at her, blew out a few clouds of scented gas, and began to make their slow way back to the factory floor. "Thanks again!" she called out after them, and was answered by a strong smell of cinnamon.
She turned, and actually
over to join me in her joy.
"Christ," murmured Halley. "Skipping? The girl's mad."
"OK," said Bianca. "Let's go."
"About bloody time," I muttered under my breath. Then, aloud: "Come on, then. Time to move."
So saying, we took our leave of the Sytec plant, relieved, exhausted and not a little disturbed.
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Old 03-22-2012, 07:32 AM
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The answer is "it depends". Chances are the answer will be no. OTOH, chances are the defect will appear long before the warranty runs out.
Mayvbe you shouldn't buy a new set. You seem to be worried that out of millions of sets sold you will get one of the 2-5% that will be defective. If that's the case, then don't buy any electronics as that is the "risk" you take.
I recommend hand puppets. They have the lowest failure rate of any form of entertainment (.00001%) and with a little imagination you can watch whatever you want without worry. I'm watching Star Wars Episode IV tonight!
Old 03-22-2012, 08:29 AM
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I don't know how things are in Denmark but here in the US we can buy extended warranties to alleviate fears about premature failure.
Steve S.
Old 03-23-2012, 01:06 PM
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I own three Samsungs(2 plasma, 1 LCD), and a Sony LCD. The oldest set is my biggest, a Samsung PN50A400 is 4 years old. It has seen some heavy usage, gaming, movies etc. Have zero issues with it, and the picture is great. I stopped worrying about failure after a couple of years. My warranty expires after this year(extended) and I am confident that it will perform well beyond the five year mark.
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Beware of toxins in Great Lakes
How are the toxic chemicals accumulating in the Great Lakes ecosystem affecting wildlife and humans?
Widespread effects on fish and wildlife prompt fish consumption advisories and concern for drinking water safety.
Economies that depend on tourism, fishing and other water-related activities also suffer when water quality and ecosystem health declines.
Even with the progress in reducing active discharges of toxic chemicals from industrial and municipal sources, many chemicals from the past continue to persist in lake sediments, sometimes in high concentrations.
Furthermore, known toxins like mercury that have not been banned and contaminants of emerging awareness like plastics, pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are added to this toxic brew on a regular basis.
Coal-powered energy plants are responsible for the majority of mercury emissions that contaminate bodies of water.
Bacteria in soils and sediments convert mercury into a more toxic form called methylmercury, which can easily move up the food chain from small plants and animals to people.
Mercury is toxic to humans and wildlife because it can harm neurological and reproductive systems, especially in children and developing fetuses.
Exposure at high levels can also harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs and immune systems of all ages; that's why many states issue fish-consumption warnings.
Old pollutants in buried sediments can be resuspended by storms, ship propellers, dredging and bottom-dwelling organisms and then they re-enter food webs. PCBs, which were chemicals used as coolants and insulating fluids in transformers and electric motors, have been banned for decades but they still persist in the environment.
They are known to cause reproductive disruption, neurobehavioral and developmental deficits in children, and liver disease, diabetes, thyroid and immune-system problems, and increased cancer risks.
Contamination from the metals lead, nickel, copper, zinc and cadmium can also harm organisms at low concentrations. Aquatic organisms typically accumulate copper through their food.
Bottom-feeding invertebrates exhibit the highest concentrations of copper, which can be highly toxic at low concentrations to invertebrates and to fish in early life stages and can result in disruption of the food web.
Even small concentrations of some chemicals such as mercury, PCBs and other biomagnifying toxins can have enormous impacts, because they can be magnified by 1 million to 10 million times from small plants and animals to fish and shellfish that feed on them and then by animals that eat fish, like loons or people.
Toxic metals like copper, agricultural pesticides like Atrazine, and toxins like mercury and PCBs often exceed water quality and sediment guidelines.
To make matters worse, there are no recommended water quality and sediment guidelines for PPCPs or plastics.
Yet these contaminants are accumulating in the environment and some, like Triclosan, an antibacterial agent used in soaps and other personal care products, also bioaccumulate in the food web.
Many are endocrine disruptors and evidence is mounting that these chemicals are responsible for changing male fish into female or intersex fish and causing other problems.
What can you do to limit anthropogenic (human-added) toxins in your environment?
Use less energy, insist on replacing fossil fuels with clean energy sources (see story with details about Wednesday's "Beyond Coal" presentation at Penn State-Behrend) and learn more about your food and products you use on a daily basis, including PPCPs.
Choosing organic foods and products that do not introduce toxic ingredients into the environment will go a long way to limiting these toxins in our food and water.
ANNA MCCARTNEY, a communications and education specialist for Pennsylvania Sea Grant, can be reached by e-mail at email@example.com. Be sure to like the NIE pages on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PennsylvaniaSeaGrant.


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On the Map: Average Farm Size Grows Most Rapidly in Mountain States
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Average farm size in the U.S. has increased fairly steadily over the last century, but growth patterns vary by region and time periods. Snapshots of regional average farm size at five points in time (see "Milestones in U.S. Farming and Farm Policy" in this issue) illustrate a more complex picture of changing farm size in the U.S. than is apparent in national averages.
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is a comprehensive resource for the investigation of film color technology and aesthetics, analysis and restoration, developed and curated by Barbara Flueckiger since 2012.
Please access detailed information on over 230 individual film color processes via the classification system on this page, display the Timeline of Historical Film Colors in chronological order, search via the tag cloud at the end of this page or directly on the search page.
Tinting was one of the earliest and most widespread techniques to apply colors to film. Each individual black-and-white film positive had to be submerged in dye baths.
Toning, like tinting, was one of the earliest film color techniques. It required a complex chemical procedure to replace the silver with colored compounds or dyes for each individual exhibition print.
Before the introduction of film, hand coloring had long been applied to lantern slides. Colors were applied with tiny brushes to each individual frame of the film.
Stencils were cut out from a positive print to color selected areas of the film frames by the use of brushes or velvet strips.
Two or three images were exposed through colored filters in succession. In projection, the black and white images were filtered again accordingly. The processes required double or triple frame rates.
Two or three images were captured simultaneously through multiple lenses or beam-splitter prisms. The images were either dyed or projected through colored filters.
Regular or irregular patterns of colored stripes or dots in red, blue and green provide a color sensation by additive mixture. Many of the screen processes were introduced in still photography before their redevelopment for film applications.
Printing processes add one to three layers of colors onto the emulsion of a film, most famously in the Technicolor dye-transfer process. The principle had been introduced in photography before the advent of motion pictures.
Direct links to the most famous dye-transfer processes:
For many two color and a few three color processes emulsion was applied to both sides of the film and colored independently. The technique was widespread in the early days of subtractive color films from the mid-1910s to the mid-1940s. Often the negatives were bi-packs, two strips of black-and-white film sensitized for different spectra.
In chromogenic monopacks the color-forming substances are either present in several layers in the emulsion or added during film developing later. The basic principle was discovered in 1911 by Rudolf Fischer. Unfortunately the dyes used in these processes proved to be unstable, thus leading to color-fading of the films.
In chromolytic multilayer films the dyes in the emulsion are destroyed at the locus of exposure of the silver halide. The colors are very brilliant and stable. The most famous chromolytic process was Gasparcolor.
You will find here bibliographical information to a variety of topics related to film colors, such as color theory, analysis, aesthetics, narration, culture etc.
Contributions are very welcome.
The category starts with a bibliography about color and animation.
Display the Timeline of Historical Film Colors in chronological order ›


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Another fantastic Horribly Hilly Hundreds is in the books! Congratulations to everyone for conquering the hills and the heat! We hope to see you back in 2017!
We also want to thank Focal Flame Photography for the great photos!
This event is a fundraiser for the Friends of Blue Mound State Park (FBMSP), which is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. This year's funds will support bike trail improvements including a beginner bike loop, shelter landscaping, and continued support of the new pool and splash pad.
The Friends thank you for your support.
EVENT INTRODUCTIONThree routes, two counties, one result: a painfully fun, must-do biking experience destined to find its way onto your calendar for years to come.
Once voted the "Sufferfest of the Year" by Madison weekly newspaper Isthmus, "The Toughest One-Day Challenge Ride in the Midwest" is not to be missed by serious riders anywhere.
Since 2003, Horribly Hilly participants have enjoyed a day of riding that results in an awe-inspiring accumulation of 10,000 feet of elevation gain in the Driftless Area** of Wisconsin. Growing in popularity each year, the Horribly Hilly registration has moved to an annual lottery system to accommodate the swelling number of interested riders. A second and third route option beyond the original course were added in 2005 and 2011. How hard do you want to push it? Choose between the 100K, 150K, and 200K routes. The day is capped with a meal featuring quality local food and beer.
Approximately 1,300 riders test their mettle on southwestern Wisconsin's scenic byways each year in the Horribly Hilly. Join the ranks of an inspired community of riders for the premier cycling event in the Badger State and beyond.
** Driftless refers to the unglaciated areas of Wisconsin and Iowa from the last glacial period, occurring approximately 10,000 years ago. As a result, dramatic landscapes of repeated hills and valleys create the terrain for more than 100 miles. The hills are steep, limestone-based, and mostly wooded.
Produced by Race Day Events
In addition to the sponsors listed above, we would like to say "thank you" to these other organizations and businesses who have donated time and/or resources to our event. We couldn't do this without their support!
© 2016 Horribly Hilly Hundreds — All Rights Reserved — Development by Zumavi Design


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Halosulfuron-methyl; Pesticide Tolerances
This Rule document was issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
For related information, Open Docket Folder
40 CFR Part 180
Halosulfuron-Methyl; Pesticide Tolerances
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Final rule.
This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of halosulfuron-methyl in or on multiple commodities which are identified and discussed later in this document. Canyon Group L.L.C., c/o Gowan Company requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).
This regulation is effective December 3, 2012. Objections and requests for hearings must be received on or before February 1, 2013, and must be filed in accordance with the instructions provided in 40 CFR part 178 (see also Unit I.C. of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION).
The docket for this action, identified by docket identification (ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2011-0781, is available at or at the Office of Pesticide Programs Regulatory Public Docket (OPP Docket) in the Environmental Protection Agency Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West Bldg., Rm. 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001. The Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the OPP Docket is (703) 305-5805. Please review the visitor instructions and additional information about the docket available at .
For Further Information Contact
Maggie Rudick, Registration Division (7505P), Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (703) 347-0257; email address: .
Supplementary Information
I. General Information
A. Does this action apply to me?
You may be potentially affected by this action if you are an agricultural producer, food manufacturer, or pesticide manufacturer. The following list of North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) codes is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather provides a guide to help readers determine whether this document applies to them. Potentially affected entities may include:
B. How can I get electronic access to other related information?
You may access a frequently updated electronic version of EPA's tolerance regulations at 40 CFR part 180 through the Government Printing Office's e-CFR site at . To access the OCSPP test guidelines referenced in this document electronically, please go to and select "Test Methods and Guidelines."
C. How can I file an objection or hearing request?
Under FFDCA section 408(g), 21 U.S.C. 346a, any person may file an objection to any aspect of this regulation and may also request a hearing on those objections. You must file your objection or request a hearing on this regulation in accordance with the instructions provided in 40 CFR part 178. To ensure proper receipt by EPA, you must identify docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2011-0781 in the subject line on the first page of your submission. All objections and requests for a hearing must be in writing, and must be received by the Hearing Clerk on or before February 1, 2013. Addresses for mail and hand delivery of objections and hearing requests are provided in 40 CFR 178.25(b).
In addition to filing an objection or hearing request with the Hearing Clerk as described in 40 CFR part 178, please submit a copy of the filing (excluding any Confidential Business Information (CBI)) for inclusion in the public docket. Information not marked confidential pursuant to 40 CFR part 2 may be disclosed publicly by EPA without prior notice. Submit the non-CBI copy of your objection or hearing request, identified by docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2011-0781, by one of the following methods:
Additional instructions on commenting or visiting the docket, along with more information about dockets generally, is available at .
II. Summary of Petitioned-for Tolerance
In the Federal Register of December 8, 2011 (75 FR 76676) (FRL-9328-8), EPA issued a document pursuant to FFDCA section 408(d)(3), 21 U.S.C. 346a(d)(3), announcing the filing of a pesticide petition (PP 1F7916) by Canyon Group L.L.C., c/o Gowan Company, 370 South Main St., Yuma, AZ 85364. The petition requested that 40 CFR 180.479 be amended by establishing tolerances for residues of the herbicide halosulfuron-methyl, methyl 5-[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]carbonylaminosulfonyl]-3-chloro-1-methyl-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxylate, in or on millet, proso, forage at 7.0 parts per million (ppm); millet, proso, hay at 0.02 ppm; millet, proso, grain at 0.01 ppm; millet, proso, straw at 0.01 ppm; grass, forage, fodder, and hay, group 17, forage at 17 ppm; and grass, forage, fodder, and hay, group 17, hay at 0.90 ppm. That document referenced a summary of the petition prepared by Canyon Group, L.L.C., the registrant, which is available in the docket, . Comments were received on the notice of filing. EPA's response to these comments is discussed in Unit IV.C.
Based upon review of the data supporting the petition, EPA has revised the proposed tolerance levels, determined that established tolerances for certain livestock commodities should be increased and multiple new livestock commodity tolerances should be established. The reasons for these changes are explained in Unit IV.D.
III. Aggregate Risk Assessment and Determination of Safety
Section 408(b)(2)(A)(i) of FFDCA allows EPA to establish a tolerance (the legal limit for a pesticide chemical residue in or on a food) only if EPA determines that the tolerance is "safe." Section 408(b)(2)(A)(ii) of FFDCA defines "safe" to mean that "there is a reasonable certainty that no harm will result from aggregate exposure to the pesticide chemical residue, including all anticipated dietary exposures and all other exposures for which there is reliable information." This includes exposure through drinking water and in residential settings, but does not include occupational exposure. Section 408(b)(2)(C) of FFDCA requires EPA to give special consideration to exposure of infants and children to the pesticide chemical residue in establishing a tolerance and to "ensure that there is a reasonable certainty that no harm will result to infants and children from aggregate exposure to the pesticide chemical residue * * *."
Consistent with FFDCA section 408(b)(2)(D), and the factors specified in FFDCA section 408(b)(2)(D), EPA has reviewed the available scientific data and other relevant information in support of this action. EPA has sufficient data to assess the hazards of and to make a determination on aggregate exposure for halosulfuron-methyl including exposure resulting from the tolerances established by this action. EPA's assessment of exposures and risks associated with halosulfuron-methyl follows.
A. Toxicological Profile
EPA has evaluated the available toxicity data and considered its validity, completeness, and reliability as well as the relationship of the results of the studies to human risk. EPA has also considered available information concerning the variability of the sensitivities of major identifiable subgroups of consumers, including infants and children.
Halosulfuron-methyl has a low acute toxicity via the oral, dermal, and inhalation routes of exposure. Halosulfuron-methyl is a non-irritant for skin and eyes and is not a dermal sensitizer.
With repeated dosing, halosulfuron-methyl produces non-specific effects, which are frequently characterized by reduced body weight/body weight gain in the test animals. The available data show that the dog is the most sensitive mammalian species. In the dog, decreased body weight was seen in the chronic oral toxicity study and decreased body weight gain was observed in females in the subchronic oral toxicity study. In the rat and mouse, there was a decrease in body weight gains at high dose levels in short- and long-term oral and dermal studies.
In the prenatal developmental toxicity study in rats, increases in resorptions, soft tissue (dilation of the lateral ventricles) and skeletal variations, and decreases in body weights were seen in the fetuses compared to clinical signs and decreases in body weights and food consumption in the maternal animals at similar dose level.
In the rabbit developmental toxicity study, increases in resorptions and post-implantation losses and decrease in mean litter size was seen in the presence of decreases in body weight and food consumption in maternal animals were observed. However, a clear no-observed-adverse-effect-level (NOAEL) for these effects was established in both rat and rabbit developmental toxicity studies.
Halosulfuron-methyl did not produce reproductive effects. No neurotoxic effects were observed in the acute or subchronic neurotoxicity studies. Halosulfuron-methyl is classified as "not likely to be carcinogenic to humans" because in both rat and mouse carcinogenicity studies halosulfuron-methyl does not cause; compound-related increases in tumor incidence. It is negative for mutagenicity in a battery of genotoxicity studies. Specific information on the studies received and the nature of the adverse effects caused by halosulfuron-methyl as well as the NOAEL and the lowest-observed-adverse-effect-level (LOAEL) from the toxicity studies can be found at in the document Halosulfuron-methyl: "Human Health Risk Assessment for Proposed New Uses on Proso Millet and Crop Group 17 (Grass, Forage, Fodder, and Hay)" at p. 19 in docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2011-0781.
B. Toxicological Points of Departure/Levels of Concern
Once a pesticide's toxicological profile is determined, EPA identifies toxicological points of departure (POD) and levels of concern (LOC) to use in evaluating the risk posed by human exposure to the pesticide. For hazards that have a threshold below which there is no appreciable risk, the toxicological POD is used as the basis for derivation of reference values for risk assessment. PODs are developed based on a careful analysis of the doses in each toxicological study to determine the dose at which the NOAEL and the lowest dose at which adverse effects of concern are identified (the LOAEL). Uncertainty/safety factors are used in conjunction with the POD to calculate a safe exposure level—generally referred to as a population adjusted dose (PAD) or a reference dose (RfD)—and a safe margin of exposure (MOE). For non-threshold risks, the Agency assumes that any amount of exposure will lead to some degree of risk. Thus, the Agency estimates risk in terms of the probability of an occurrence of the adverse effect expected in a lifetime. For more information on the general principles EPA uses in risk characterization and a complete description of the risk assessment process, see . A summary of the toxicological endpoints for halosulfuron-methyl used for human risk assessment is shown in the following Table.
C. Exposure Assessment
1. Dietary exposure from food and feed uses. In evaluating dietary exposure to halosulfuron-methyl, EPA considered exposure under the petitioned-for tolerances as well as all existing halosulfuron-methyl tolerances in 40 CFR 180.479. EPA assessed dietary exposures from halosulfuron-methyl in food as follows:
i. Acute exposure. Quantitative acute dietary exposure and risk assessments are performed for a food-use pesticide, if a toxicological study has indicated the possibility of an effect of concern occurring as a result of a 1-day or single exposure. Such effects were identified for halosulfuron-methyl. In estimating acute dietary exposure, EPA used food consumption information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 1994-1996 and 1998 Nationwide Continuing Surveys of Food Intake by Individuals (CSFII). As to residue levels in food, EPA conducted an unrefined assessment that assumed 100 percent crop treated (PCT), dietary exposure evaluation model (DEEM TM) 7.81 default concentration factors, and tolerance-level residues for all existing and proposed uses. There was no indication of an adverse effect attributable to a single dose for the general U.S. population. Therefore, an acute dietary assessment was not conducted for the general U.S. population.
ii. Chronic exposure. In conducting the chronic dietary exposure assessment, EPA used the food consumption data from the USDA 1994-1996 and 1998 CSFII. As to residue levels in food, EPA conducted a chronic dietary assessment that utilized the same food residue assumptions as in the acute dietary exposure assessment discussed in Unit III.C.1.i.
iii. Cancer. In both rat and mouse carcinogenicity studies, halosulfuron-methyl does not produce compound related increases in tumor incidence; EPA has concluded that halosulfuron-methyl does not pose a cancer risk to humans. Therefore, a dietary exposure assessment for the purpose of assessing cancer risk is unnecessary.
iv. Anticipated residue and PCT information. EPA did not use anticipated residue and/or PCT information in the dietary assessment for halosulfuron-methyl. Tolerance level residues and/or 100 PCT were assumed for all food commodities.
2. Dietary exposure from drinking water. The Agency used screening level water exposure models in the dietary exposure analysis and risk assessment for halosulfuron-methyl in drinking water. These simulation models take into account data on the physical, chemical, and fate/transport characteristics of halosulfuron-methyl. Further information regarding EPA drinking water models used in pesticide exposure assessment can be found at .
Based on the Tier 1 Rice Model and Screening Concentration in Ground Water (SCI-GROW) models, the estimated drinking water concentrations (EDWCs) of halosulfuron-methyl for acute and chronic exposures are estimated to be 59.2 parts per billion (ppb) for surface water and 0.065 ppb for ground water.
Modeled estimates of drinking water concentrations were directly entered into the dietary exposure model. For both acute and chronic dietary risk assessments, the water concentration value of 59.2 ppb was used to assess the contribution to drinking water.
3. From non-dietary exposure. The term "residential exposure" is used in this document to refer to non-occupational, non-dietary exposure (e.g., for lawn and garden pest control, indoor pest control, termiticides, and flea and tick control on pets). Halosulfuron-methyl is currently registered for the following uses that could result in residential exposures: Residential turf. EPA assessed residential exposure using the default assumptions of the 2012 Residential Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Residential handler short-term (1-30 days) dermal and inhalation exposures, and residential post-application short-term dermal and incidental oral (hand-to-mouth, object-to-mouth, and soil ingestion) exposures are expected from activities associated with the existing uses. Intermediate-term exposures are not likely because of the intermittent nature of applications by homeowners. Further information regarding EPA standard assumptions and generic inputs for residential exposures may be found at .
4. Cumulative effects from substances with a common mechanism of toxicity. Section 408(b)(2)(D)(v) of FFDCA requires that, when considering whether to establish, modify, or revoke a tolerance, the Agency consider "available information" concerning the cumulative effects of a particular pesticide's residues and "other substances that have a common mechanism of toxicity." EPA has not found halosulfuron-methyl to share a common mechanism of toxicity with any other substances, and halosulfuron-methyl does not appear to produce a toxic metabolite produced by other substances. For the purposes of this tolerance action, therefore, EPA has assumed that halosulfuron-methyl does not have a common mechanism of toxicity with other substances. For information regarding EPA's efforts to determine which chemicals have a common mechanism of toxicity and to evaluate the cumulative effects of such chemicals, see EPA's Web site at .
D. Safety Factor for Infants and Children
1. In general. Section 408(b)(2)(C) of FFDCA provides that EPA shall apply an additional tenfold (10X) margin of safety for infants and children in the case of threshold effects to account for prenatal and postnatal toxicity and the completeness of the database on toxicity and exposure unless EPA determines based on reliable data that a different margin of safety will be safe for infants and children. This additional margin of safety is commonly referred to as the FQPA Safety Factor (SF). In applying this provision, EPA either retains the default value of 10X, or uses a different additional safety factor when reliable data available to EPA support the choice of a different factor.
2. Prenatal and postnatal sensitivity. The pre-natal and postnatal toxicity database for halosulfuron-methyl includes rat and rabbit developmental toxicity studies and a 2-generation reproduction toxicity study in rats. As discussed in Unit III.A, there was qualitative evidence of increased susceptibility of fetuses in the rat and rabbit developmental studies. Fetal effects e.g., increased incidences of soft tissue and skeletal variations, decreased mean fetal body weight and mean litter size in the rat study; increases in resorptions and post-implantation losses and a decrease in mean litter size in the rabbit study, occurred at doses resulting in less severe maternal toxicity e.g., increased incidence of clinical observations, reduced body weight gains, reduced food consumption and food efficiency in the rat study; decreases in body weight and food consumption in the rabbit study. The degree of concern for these effects is low, and there are no residual uncertainties for prenatal toxicity in rats and rabbits for the following reasons: In both studies, there are clear NOAELs/LOAELs for developmental and maternal toxicities; developmental effects were seen in the presence of maternal toxicity; and effects were seen only at the high dose. Additionally, in rats, developmental effects were seen at a dose which is approaching the limit-dose.
3. Conclusion. EPA has determined that reliable data show the safety of infants and children would be adequately protected if the FQPA SF were reduced to 1X. That decision is based on the following findings:
i. The toxicity database for halosulfuron-methyl is complete except for an immunotoxicity study. In accordance with 40 CFR part 158, Toxicology Data Requirements, an immunotoxicity study is required for halosulfuron-methyl. In the absence of specific immunotoxicity studies, EPA has evaluated the available halosulfuron-methyl toxicity data to determine whether an additional uncertainty factor is needed to account for potential immunotoxicity. The toxicology database for halosulfuron-methyl does not show any evidence of biologically relevant effects on the immune system following exposure to this chemical. The overall weight of evidence suggests that this chemical does not directly target the immune system. Based on these considerations, EPA does not believe that conducting immunotoxicity testing will result in a POD lower than those already selected for halosulfuron-methyl risk assessment, and an additional database uncertainty factor is not needed to account for the lack of this study.
ii. There is no indication that halosulfuron-methyl is a neurotoxic chemical and there is no need for a developmental neurotoxicity study or additional UFs to account for neurotoxicity.
iii. Although there is evidence of increased qualitative susceptibility in in utero rats and rabbits in the prenatal developmental studies, the degree of concern for developmental effects is low, and EPA did not identify any residual uncertainties after establishing toxicity endpoints and traditional UFs to be used in the risk assessment of halosulfuron-methyl.
iv. There are no residual uncertainties identified in the exposure databases. The dietary food exposure assessments were performed based on 100 PCT and tolerance-level residues. EPA made conservative (protective) assumptions in the ground and surface water modeling used to assess exposure to halosulfuron-methyl in drinking water. EPA used similarly conservative assumptions to assess post application exposure of children as well as incidental oral exposure of toddlers. These assessments will not underestimate the exposure and risks posed by halosulfuron-methyl.
E. Aggregate Risks and Determination of Safety
EPA determines whether acute and chronic dietary pesticide exposures are safe by comparing aggregate exposure estimates to the acute PAD (aPAD) and chronic PAD (cPAD). For linear cancer risks, EPA calculates the lifetime probability of acquiring cancer given the estimated aggregate exposure. Short-, intermediate-, and chronic-term risks are evaluated by comparing the estimated aggregate food, water, and residential exposure to the appropriate PODs to ensure that an adequate MOE exists.
1. Acute risk. Using the exposure assumptions discussed in this unit for acute exposure, the acute dietary exposure from food and water to halosulfuron-methyl will occupy <1% of the aPAD for females 13-49 years old, the population group receiving the greatest exposure.
2. Chronic risk. Using the exposure assumptions described in this unit for chronic exposure, EPA has concluded that chronic exposure to halosulfuron-methyl from food and water will utilize 6% of the cPAD for all infants, the population group receiving the greatest exposure. Based on the explanation in Unit III.C.3., regarding residential use patterns, chronic residential exposure to residues of halosulfuron-methyl is not expected.
3. Short-term risk. Short-term aggregate exposure takes into account short-term residential exposure plus chronic exposure to food and water (considered to be a background exposure level). Halosulfuron-methyl is currently registered for uses that could result in short-term residential exposure, and the Agency has determined that it is appropriate to aggregate chronic exposure through food and water with short-term residential exposures to halosulfuron-methyl.
Using the exposure assumptions described in this unit for short-term exposures, EPA has concluded the combined short-term food, water, and residential exposures result in aggregate MOEs of 1,800 for adults and 840 for children. For adults, potential pathways of exposure include oral (background) and dermal (post-application primary) routes, while for children, potential pathways of exposure include oral (background) and incidental oral and dermal (primary) routes. Because EPA's level of concern for halosulfuron-methyl is a MOE of 100 or below, these MOEs are not of concern.
4. Intermediate-term risk. Intermediate-term aggregate exposure takes into account intermediate-term residential exposure plus chronic exposure to food and water (considered to be a background exposure level). An intermediate-term adverse effect was identified; however, halosulfuron-methyl is not registered for any use patterns that would result in intermediate-term residential exposure. Intermediate-term risk is assessed based on intermediate-term residential exposure plus chronic dietary exposure. Because there is no intermediate-term residential exposure and chronic dietary exposure has already been assessed under the appropriately protective cPAD (which is at least as protective as the POD used to assess intermediate-term risk), no further assessment of intermediate-term risk is necessary, and EPA relies on the chronic dietary risk assessment for evaluating intermediate-term risk for halosulfuron-methyl.
5. Aggregate cancer risk for U.S. population. Based on the lack of evidence of carcinogenicity in two adequate rodent carcinogenicity studies, halosulfuron-methyl is not expected to pose a cancer risk to humans.
6. Determination of safety. Based on these risk assessments, EPA concludes that there is a reasonable certainty that no harm will result to the general population, or to infants and children from aggregate exposure to halosulfuron-methyl residues.
IV. Other Considerations
A. Analytical Enforcement Methodology
Adequate enforcement methodologies are available to enforce the tolerance expression: A gas chromatography with nitrogen phosphorus detection; GC/NPD method for crop commodities and a gas chromotagraphy with electron capture detection (GC/ECD) method for livestock commodities. The methods may be requested from: Chief, Analytical Chemistry Branch, Environmental Science Center, 701 Mapes Rd., Ft. Meade, MD 20755-5350; telephone number: (410) 305-2905; email address: .
B. International Residue Limits
In making its tolerance decisions, EPA seeks to harmonize U.S. tolerances with international standards whenever possible, consistent with U.S. food safety standards and agricultural practices. EPA considers the international maximum residue limits (MRLs) established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), as required by FFDCA section 408(b)(4). The Codex Alimentarius is a joint United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization food standards program, and it is recognized as an international food safety standards-setting organization in trade agreements to which the United States is a party. EPA may establish a tolerance that is different from a Codex MRL; however, FFDCA section 408(b)(4) requires that EPA explain the reasons for departing from the Codex level. There are no Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) established by Codex, Canada, or Mexico for any crop or livestock commodities for halosulfuron-methyl.
C. Response to Comments
An anonymous citizen objected to the presence of any pesticide residues on food. The Agency understands the commenter's concerns and recognizes that some individuals believe that pesticides should be banned completely. However, the existing legal framework provided by section 408 of the FFDCA contemplates that tolerances greater than zero may be set when persons seeking such tolerances or exemptions have demonstrated that the pesticide meets the safety standard imposed by that statute. This citizen's comment appears to be directed at the underlying statute and not EPA's implementation of it; the citizen has made no contention that EPA has acted in violation of the statutory framework.
D. Revisions to Petitioned-for Tolerances
EPA has revised the requested tolerances by increasing the tolerance values for millet, proso, forage and grass, forage, fodder, and hay, group 17, forage and reducing the tolerance values for millet, proso, hay and grass, forage, fodder, and hay, group 17, hay. Differences in proposed and recommended tolerances may be attributed to the petitioner having used the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) tolerance calculation procedures for determining the tolerance and EPA's use of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) tolerance calculation procedures. Recently, EPA has adopted use of the OECD tolerance calculation procedures to increase international harmonization of tolerance levels. For grass hay, the petitioner used values below the level of quantitation (LOQ) in the tolerance calculation whereas EPA used LOQ values. In addition, already established tolerances for cattle, goat, horse, and sheep meat byproducts are being increased and multiple new livestock commodity tolerances are being established. Livestock tolerances are derived from reevaluation of the dairy/beef cattle diet with new feed items (millet and grass).
V. Conclusion
Therefore, tolerances are established for residues of halosulfuron-methyl, including its metabolites and degradates, as set forth in the regulatory text.
VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
This final rule establishes tolerances under FFDCA section 408(d) in response to a petition submitted to the Agency. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has exempted these types of actions from review under Executive Order 12866, entitled "Regulatory Planning and Review" (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993). Because this final rule has been exempted from review under Executive Order 12866, this final rule is not subject to Executive Order 13211, entitled "Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use" (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001) or Executive Order 13045, entitled "Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks" (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997). This final rule does not contain any information collections subject to OMB approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), nor does it require any special considerations under Executive Order 12898, entitled "Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations" (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
Since tolerances and exemptions that are established on the basis of a petition under FFDCA section 408(d), such as the tolerance in this final rule, do not require the issuance of a proposed rule, the requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.), do not apply.
This final rule directly regulates growers, food processors, food handlers, and food retailers, not States or tribes, nor does this action alter the relationships or distribution of power and responsibilities established by Congress in the preemption provisions of FFDCA section 408(n)(4). As such, the Agency has determined that this action will not have a substantial direct effect on States or tribal governments, on the relationship between the national government and the States or tribal governments, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government or between the Federal Government and Indian tribes. Thus, the Agency has determined that Executive Order 13132, entitled "Federalism" (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999) and Executive Order 13175, entitled "Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments" (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000) do not apply to this final rule. In addition, this final rule does not impose any enforceable duty or contain any unfunded mandate as described under Title II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA) (2 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.).
This action does not involve any technical standards that would require Agency consideration of voluntary consensus standards pursuant to section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (NTTAA) (15 U.S.C. 272 note).
VII. Congressional Review Act
Pursuant to the Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), EPA will submit a report containing this rule and other required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United States prior to publication of the rule in the Federal Register. This action is not a "major rule" as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).
List of Subjects In
Environmental protection, Administrative practice and procedure, Agricultural commodities, Pesticides and pests, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: November 21, 2012.
Lois Rossi,
Director, Registration Division, Office of Pesticide Programs.
Therefore, 40 CFR chapter I is amended as follows:
Regulatory Text
Part 180 Amended
1. The authority citation for part 180 continues to read as follows:
21 U.S.C. 321(q), 346a and 371.
2. In § 180.479 revise the table in paragraph (a)(1) and add alphabetically the following new entries to the table in paragraph (a)(2).
The revised and added text read as follows:
§ 180.479 Halosulfuron-methyl; tolerances for residues.
(a) * * *
(1) * * *
(2) * * *
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2012-29105 Filed 11-30-12; 8:45 am]
No documents available.
Comment Period Closed
Feb 1 2013, at 11:59 PM ET
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Date Posted: Dec 3, 2012
RIN: Not Assigned
CFR: 40 CFR Part 180
Federal Register Number: 2012-29105
Comments Received*
We do not need more tolerance for pesticides. While it may make life a bit easier, each time you raise the tolerance level on these things, you are making more...
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The Spencer County Lady Bears got their season off to a good start with an impressive 7-1 victory over Henry County at home last Tuesday. The Lady Bears were scheduled to host CAL on Tuesday and will travel to Marion County next Monday.
The Spencer County High School Cross Country team has hit the ground running this season and hopes to reach new milestones in 2016.
Last year, the boys qualified for their second consecutive state meet and the girls have a couple of quality runners returning and some promising newcomers.
SCHS Cross Country Coach Billy Talley assigned sophomore Shaylee Scott with providing the preseason report this year, and she's one of the new girls who will be lacing up the shoes for the team.
Have you ever watched America's Funniest Home Videos? We used to watch it a lot, just because it is funny, lighthearted, and our grandchildren would laugh their heads off.
Rehearsals to begin for annual Community Tree of Life
It's time to start working on the 2016 Christmas Musical production presented by the Community Tree of Life under the direction of Joy Thompson. The first meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 30 at 6:30 p.m. in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church in Taylorsville.
Everyone is invited to come and participate in this event. For more details, call Janet Barnett at 502-299-8543 or Sarah Hickman at 502-249-6425.
Many animal shelters in Kentucky are well below the state's minimal standards, and a recent study by students at the University of Kentucky and Lincoln Memorial University ranked Spencer County's among the worst.
The group submitted their report to the Kentucky Animal Control Advisory Board after they toured shelters across the state. It ranked Spencer County's as number six among those needing the most help.
Taylorsville Police will be looking for a new boss following the resignation of Chief Phil Crumpton, which is effective at the end of this month.
Crumpton, who has served as chief for two years, has accepted a position with the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice in which he will be training other law enforcement officers. He said he's looking forward to the new job, but leaving was not a decision he made easily.
Two teens were injured Saturday night in a one-vehicle accident on Little Union Road as they made their way back from a high school football game in Bardstown.
Taylorsville-Spencer County Fire Chief Nathan Nation confirmed that two girls were transported by ambulance to the University of Louisville Hospital following the accident that occurred shortly before 11 p.m.
The number of college and career ready graduates from Spencer County High School continues to increase each year, according to Principal Curt Hahn, who shared relevant stats with members of the board of education at Monday night's meeting.
Haun said there were 64 students classified as college ready and 22 as career ready among the class of 2013. Last year, those numbers rose to 119 college ready students and 100 career ready students.
The Spencer County FFA competed in various contests at the Kentucky State Fair August 18-19th.
The Dairy Evaluation team consisting of Michael Bentley, John Brumley, Max Dippel, and Luke Williamson placed 1st in the state. Williamson was the overall high individual in the contest. The Meats Judging team also placed 1st with members Zack Herndon, Jackson Shelley, Noah Dunning, and Ian Robinson competing in the event. Herndon was the high individual overall in the contest with all 4 members placing in the top 4.
Copyright © 2016
The Spencer Magnet is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Spencer County, KY and the surrounding area.


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Advertising Sales
- Employer
- Haute Living Inc.
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- Beverly Hills
- Posted
- Aug 23, 2013
- Closes
- Sep 22, 2013
- Contact
- Mr. Daniel Golan
- Category
- Digital Media, Publishing, Sales & Business Development
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Looking for a very good advertising sales rep that can sell to luxury brands in Southern California. Looking for applicants that can sell print and online. Must have prior experience in luxury advertising, and have a good database of relationships. Looking for a sales rep that has prior experience selling in design, real estate, jewelry, fashion, and more. Able to sell in our Twenty-Six Magazines, along with 10 websites. Great long term opportunity, for the right fit.


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13 September 2014 - 07:14 PM
Also, at 30s into the video, you catch a glimpse of the most important bit of equipment on the right.
The dishwasher?
09 January 2014 - 08:48 PM
Thank you, everyone, for your replies.
Thank you for the time you took to outline a sequential set of exercises that build one on top of the other. That's fantastic (and there is a lot of work there to keep me busy)!
Thanks for the inspirational anecdote of your own learning experience. I do find I learn better when I am exploring my own interests, so I will take this on board.
08 January 2014 - 04:11 PM
07 January 2014 - 03:16 PM
Thanks for your reply.
I understand the advantages of utilising a framework such as ThreeJS. However, in this case, I am not trying to make a game. Rather I am learning Graphics Programming. To this end I want to go closer to the metal.
13 April 2013 - 05:30 AM
Thanks for the further explanation.
I assumed that depth testing would usually be performed on graphics hardware. However, the skill set and tools I have immediately at my disposal wont allow me to program for it (I planned to play around with the idea in Javascript and my graphics card isn't supported by WebGL). Hence the inefficient CPU rendering of the image. Essentially my plan was to overlay the water image onto the environment by comparing the two depth buffers (rendered as images). I understand this is not what really happens when a scene is rendered to the screen.
However, your comment has helped me further understand the concept and for that I am grateful. Your description of how they would not clear the depth buffer before drawing the water but instead copy in the depth buffer of the environment for comparison against those of the water plane drove it home for me.
Your insights into the rendering process have given me a great appreciation of how a scene is rendered. I find it hard to believe how many calculations must be going on under the hood to do a raycast for each pixel on the screen against each triangle in the scene each frame and every frame. It does all this and runs at 60fps!
Mind = Blown
Obviously there must be optimisation strategies to only do tests that make sense (like spatial partitioning?), and maybe not recalculating depths for an object that has not moved if the camera is static (Though this wouldn't help keep a solid framerate whilst the camera is moving). And many other things I wouldn't even think of.
Thank you for all your time in trying to make sure I understand the concept. It has been very valuable. But I feel as if I am only becoming more and more curious ;P
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44 years of experience
149 13th St
Charlestown, MA 02129 Phone number & directions
A medical license is required for a doctor to practice medicine in a particular state. Requirements vary by state but most require, at a minimum, post-graduate training in the doctor's specific specialty. An NPI number is a national identifier unique to an individual health care provider and is managed by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Learn more about Dr. Michael Moskowitz:
View the full profile to get information on:
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Specialties & Research
Dr. Michael Moskowitz, MD is board certified in Internal Medicine and Neurology.
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- Alzheimer's Disease
- Brain Injuries
- Brain Ischemia
- Cerebrovascular Disorders
- Epilepsy
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- Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
- Stroke
- Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA)
Education & Awards
Dr. Moskowitz graduated from Tufts University, Boston. He has 6 awards.
Dr. Moskowitz has 1 hospital affiliations:
- Massachusetts General Hospital
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- Additional Information
- Dr. Michael Arthur Moskowitz MD is a male Internist, has 44 years of experience and practices in Internal Medicine and Neurology.
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- Dr. Michael Moskowitz has 2 office locations.
Dr. Michael Moskowitz practices Internal Medicine and Neurology near Charlestown, MA.
Additional practice locations include: Boston, MA.
See Charlestown Internists and Charlestown Neurologists.


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When you fill out a health insurance application and use some tools on this website, you'll need to estimate your expected income for 2016. Two important things to know:
Step 1. Start with your household's adjusted gross income (AGI) from your most recent federal income tax return.
Don't have recent AGI? See another way to estimate your income.
Step 2. Add the following kinds of income, if you have any, to your AGI:
Don't include Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
Step 3. Adjust your estimate for any changes you expect for 2016.
Consider things like these for all members of your household:
Now you have an estimate of your expected income for 2016. Use this figure when asked to estimate your expected income for 2016.
It's hard to predict your income if you're unemployed, self-employed, on commission, or on a work schedule that changes regularly.
If your income for 2016 is hard to predict, base your estimate on your past experience, recent trends, what you know about possible changes at your workplace, and similar information. If the job is new to you, ask people in the same field or in the same company about their experiences.
Just do your best to make a realistic estimate for 2016 — and be prepared to update it when it changes.
Learn more about how to estimate your expected income if you're:
After finding out your final income when you file your 2016 tax return, you'll compare (or "reconcile") any difference between the premium tax credit you used to reduce your monthly costs during the year and what you actually qualify for based on your final 2016 income.
You can reduce the chance of a big tax bill (or big refund of money you could have used all year) by updating your application as soon as your income changes.
IMPORTANT Update your Marketplace application as soon as possible when your income or household members change during the year. Learn how to update your information during the year.
If the Marketplace tells you to provide pay stubs, self-employment records, or other information to verify your income, follow these directions to upload documents.
The Heath Insurance Marketplace uses an income figure called Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) to determine the programs and savings you qualify for. For most people, it's identical or very close to Adjusted Gross Income (AGI). MAGI is not a line on your federal tax return.
Start with "federal taxable wages" for each income earner in your household.
Marketplace savings are based on income for all household members, not just the ones who need insurance.
Report income and household changes on your Marketplace insurance application as soon as possible. If you don't, you could wind up with the wrong amount of savings or even the wrong insurance plan. Learn how to update your income during the year.
There are some differences, depending on your state and other factors. The Marketplace application may ask you specific questions to see if you're eligible for Medicaid. If it looks like anyone in your household qualifies for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), we'll send your application to your state agency. They may ask you for more information. If it turns out you're eligible, they'll help you enroll.


text: JEFF POVEY was born in England, grew up in Scotland, and returned to England to seek fame and fortune. After working at various ill-suited jobs, he turned to writing and has since turned out more than a hundred hours of mainly primetime television, and was a lead writer for the hit BBC TV show EastEnders. This is his first novel, but more wait patiently in the wings. Povey lives in England with his wife, four children, and his gambling habit.


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