text:
My name is Giraffatitan, king of kings
April 30, 2015
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
[Giraffatitan brancai paralectotype MB.R.2181 (formerly HMN S II), mounted skeleton in left anteroventrolateral view. Presacral vertebrae sculpted, skull scaled and 3d-printed from specimen T1. Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.]
How big was 'Huanghetitan' ruyangensis? I mean, really?
March 3, 2015
I've been taking a long-overdue look at some of the recently-described giant sauropods from China, trying to sort out just how big they were. Not a new pursuit for me, just one I hadn't been back to in a while. Also, I'm not trying to debunk anything about this animal – as far as I know, there was no bunk to begin with – I'm just trying to get a handle on how big it might have been, for my own obscure purposes.
'Huanghetitan' ruyangensis was named by Lu et al. (2007) on the basis of a sacrum, the first 10 caudal vertebrae, some dorsal ribs and haemal arches, and a partial ischium. The holotype is 41HIII-0001 in the Henan Geological Museum. Lu et al. (2007) referred the new animal to the genus Huanghetitan, which was already known from the type species H. liujiaxiaensis (You et al., 2006). However, Mannion et al. (2013) found that the two species are not sister taxa and therefore 'H.' ruyangensis probably belongs to another genus, which has yet to be erected. Hence my use of scare quotes around the genus name.
Here's the sacrum of 'H.' ruyangensis from Lu et al. (2007: fig. 2). The original small scale bar is supposed to be 10cm. You know how I feel about scale bars (or maybe you don't, in which case read this and this), but in this case the scale seems pretty legit based on limited measurements that are also given in the paper. I comped in the sacrum of Brachiosaurus altithorax FMNH P25107 from this post (many thanks to Phil Mannion for the photos!), and scaled it according to the max width across the second pair of sacral ribs, which Riggs (1904: p. 236) gives as 105 cm. The sacrum of 'H.' ruyangensis is a little bigger, but not vastly bigger. 'H.' ruyangensis had six sacrals to Brachiosaurus's five, so extra length is mostly illusory, whereas the extra width is mostly legit.
According to Lu et al. (2007), the anterior face of the first caudal vertebra in 'H.' ruyangensis measures 26.9 cm tall by 32 cm wide, and the centrum is 18.2 cm long. The same measurements in Brachiosaurus are 28 x 33 cm for the anterior face and 16 cm for the centrum length. It's basically a tie.
What about the big rib? Lu et al. (2007) show a complete dorsal rib of 'H.' ruyangensis that is 293 cm long. That's nothing to sniff at – the longest rib of Brachiosaurus, and the cause for the specific name altithorax ('tall-bodied'), measures 274.5 cm, so the 'H.' ruyangensis rib is about 7% longer. But it's not the longest rib known for any sauropod. As far as I know, that honor goes to a Supersaurus dorsal rib measuring 305 cm (Lovelace et al., 2008). The biggest Supersaurus caudal also blows away the caudals of both 'H.' ruyangensis and Brachiosaurus, with a anterior face 39 cm tall by 46 cm wide. But then diplodocids were all about that bass, so there's not much point in comparing tail size with a titanosauriform if you're trying to get a handle on overall body size. Still, the 35-40 ton Supersaurus shows that you can have 3-meter ribs without being anywhere near Argentinosaurus territory, mass-wise.
So what's the verdict? 'H.' ruyangensis was a little bigger than the holotype of Brachiosaurus altithorax, but only by a few percent. It might have been about the same size as the XV2 specimen of Giraffatitan brancai. Or, who knows, it could have had completely different proportions and massed considerably more (or less). But on the current evidence, it doesn't seem to have been one of the biggest sauropods of all time. I hope we get some more of it one of these days.
- Lovelace, David M., Scott A. Hartman and William R. Wahl. 2008. Morphology of a specimen of Supersaurus (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Morrison Formation of Wyoming, and a re-evaluation of diplodocid phylogeny. Arquivos do Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, 65 (4): 527-544.
- Lu J., Xu, L., Zhang, X., Hu, W., Wu, Y., Jia, S., and Ji, Q. 2007. A new gigantic sauropod dinosaur with the deepest known body cavity from the Cretaceous of Asia. Acta Geologica Sinica, 81: 167-176.
- Mannion, P.D., Upchurch, P., Barnes, R.N., and Mateus, O. 2013. Osteology of the Late Jurassic Portuguese sauropod dinosaur Lusotitan atalaiensis (Macronaria) and the evolutionary history of basal titanosauriforms. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 168(1): 98-206.
- Riggs, E.S. 1904. Structure and relationships of opisthocoelian dinosaurs. Part II, the Brachiosauridae. Field Columbian Museum, Geological Series 2, 6, 229-247.
- You, H., Li, D., Zhou, L., and Ji, Q. 2006. Huanghetitan liujiaxiaensis. a new sauropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Hekou Group of Lanzhou Basin, Gansu Province, China. Geological Review, 52 (5): 668-674.
The epipophyses of Qijianglong and other sauropods
February 2, 2015
Introduction and Background
I have three goals with this post:
- To document the range of variation in epipophyses in the cervical vertebrae of sauropods.
- To show that the "finger-like processes" overhanging the cervical postzygapophyses in the newly described Qijianglong are not novel or mysterious structures, just very well developed epipophyses.
- Finally, to show that similar long, overhanging epipophyses are present in other mamenchisaurids, although as far as I can tell no-one has noted them previously.
Epipophyses are muscle attachment points dorsal to the postzygapophyses, for the insertion of long, multi-segment epaxial (dorsal) neck muscles in birds and other dinosaurs. I know that they turn up occasionally in non-dinosaurian archosaurs, and possibly in other amniotes, but for the purposes of this post I'm only considering their distribution in sauropods. For some quick background info on epipophyses and the muscles that attach to them, see the second half of this post, and see Wedel and Sanders (2002) and Taylor and Wedel (2013a) for further discussion and more pictures.
Before we start with the pictures, a fiddly nomenclatural point: this muscle attachment point dorsal to the postzyg has traded under at least six names to date.
- The 'Owenian' term, used by virtually all non-avian theropod workers, by Sereno et al. (1999) for Jobaria, and probably by loads of other sauropod workers (including myself, lately) is epipophysis.
- Beddard (1898) referred to this feature in birds as the hyperapophysis; this term seems to have fallen completely out of use.
- Boas (1929), again referring to birds, called it the processus dorsalis. Zweers et al. (1987: page 138 and table 1) followed this terminology, which is how I learned of it when I was an undergrad at OU.
- Baumel and Witmer (1993) called this feature in birds the torus dorsalis (note 125 on page 87), which some authors have informalized to dorsal torus (e.g., Harris 2004: page 1243 and fig. 1). Baumel and Witmer (1993: page 87) note that, "the use of 'Torus' is preferable since it avoids confusion with the spinous [dorsal] process of the neural arch".
- In my own early papers (e.g., Wedel et al. 2000b) and blog posts I called this feature the dorsal tubercle, which was my own attempt at an informal term matching 'processus dorsalis' or 'torus dorsalis'. That was unfortunate, since there are already several other anatomical features in vertebrates that go by the same name, including the dorsal-facing bump on the dorsal arch of the atlas in many vertebrates, and a bump on the humerus in birds and some other taxa. In more recent papers (e.g., Taylor and Wedel 2013a) I've switched over to 'epipophysis'.
- In the last post, Mike coined the term parapostzygapophysis for this feature in Qijianglong. [Note: he now regrets this.]
As usual, if you know of more terms for this feature, or additional history on the ones listed above, please let us know in the comments.
Now, on to the survey.
I haven't seen very many prominent epipophyses in basal sauropodomorphs. Probably the best are these in the near-sauropod Leonerasaurus, which is very sauropod-like in other ways as well. Modifed from Pol et al. (2011: fig. 5).
This combination of photograph and interpretive drawing neatly shows why it's often difficult to spot epipophyses in photos: unless you can make out the postzygapophyseal facet, which is often located more anteriorly than you might guess, you can't tell when the epipophysis projects further posteriorly, as in the last of these vertebrae. In this case you can make it out, but only because the interpretive drawing shows the facet much more clearly than the photo.
Basal sauropods
The most basal sauropod in which I have seen clear evidence of epipophyses is Tazoudasaurus. They're not very apparent in lateral view, but in posterior view the epipophyses are clearly visible as bumps in the spinopostzygapophyeal laminae (SPOLs). Modified from Allain and Aquesbi (2008: fig. 9).
In addition to Qijianglong, some other basal eusauropods have prominent epipophyses. Probably the best known is Jobaria; Sereno et al. (1999: fig. 3) figured and labeled the epipophysis in one of the cervical vertebrae. The vertebra image in that figure is tiny (nice work, glam-magz!), so here are some sketches of Jobaria mid-cervicals (from two different individuals) that I made back in the day when I was doing the research for Gary Staab's Jobaria neck sculpture (see Sanders et al. 2000 for our SVP abstract about that project).
Turiasaurus also has prominent, overhanging epipophyses in at least some of its cervical vertebrae. You can just make one out as a tiny spike a few pixels long in Royo-Torres et al. (2006: fig. 1K). I have seen that cervical firsthand and I can confirm that the epipophyses in Turiasaurus are virtually identical to those in Jobaria.
Other mamenchisaurids
It's not air-tight, but there is suggestive evidence of projecting epipophyses in some other mamenchisaurids besides Qijianglong.
If you're really hardcore, you may remember that back in 2005, Mike got to go up on a lift at the Field Museum of Natural History to get acquainted with a cast skeleton of Mamenchisaurus hochuanensis that was mounted there temporarily. During that adventure he took some photos that seem to show projecting epipophyses in at least two of the mid-cervicals. At least, if they're not epipophyses, I don't know what they might be.
Here they are again in medial view. My only reservation is that these vertebrae were distorted to begin with, and some features of the cast are very difficult to interpret. So, probably epipophyses, but it would be nice to check the original material at some point.
Something similar may be present in some posterior cervical vertebrae of Mamenchisaurus youngi. Here's Figure 17 from Ouyang and Ye (2002). The "poz" label does not not seem to be pointing to the articular facet of the postzygapophysis, which looks to be a little more anterior and ventral, below the margin of the PODL. If that's the case, then C15 has long, overhanging epipophyses like those of Jobaria. C16 has a more conservative bump, which is to be expected – the epipophyses typically disappear through the cervico-dorsal transition.
Finally, here's a cervical vertebra of Omeisaurus junghsiensis from Young (1939: fig. 2). I don't want to hang very much on just a few pixels, but my best guess at the extent of the postzygapophyseal articular facet is shown in the interpretation above. If that's correct, then this specimen of Omeisaurus had really long epipophyses, rivaling those of Qijianglong. Unfortunately that's impossible to check, because this specimen has been lost (pers. comm. from Dave Hone, cited in Taylor and Wedel 2013).
Haplocanthosaurus nicely shows that the epipophyses can be large in terms of potential muscle attachment area without projecting beyond the posterior margins of the postzygapophyses. Here is C14 of H. priscus, CM 572, in posterior and lateral views, modified from Hatcher (1903: plate 1).
Epipophyses that actually overhang the postzygapophyses are not common in Diplodocidae but they do occasionally occur. Here are prominent, spike-like epipophyses in Diplodocus (upper left, from Hatcher 1901: plate 3), Barosaurus (upper right), Kaatedocus (lower left, Tschopp and Mateus 2012: fig. 10), and Leinkupal (lower right, Gallina et al. 2014: fig. 1).
Of course, the champion epiphysis-bearer among diplodocoids is the weird little rebbachisaurid Nigersaurus. Here's a Nigersaurus mid-cervical, from Sereno et al. (2007: fig. 3). Note that the projecting portions of the epipophysis is roughly as long as the articular surface of the postzygapophysis.
The epipophysis in this cervical of Australodocus just barely projects beyond the posterior margin of the postzygapophysis.
In Giraffatitan, epipophyses are absent or small in anterior cervicals but they are prominent in C6-C8. Here's a posterolateral view of C8, showing very large epipophyses that are elevated several centimeters above the postzygapophyses. You can also see clearly in this view that the spinopostzygapophyseal lamina (SPOL) and postzygodiapophyseal lamina (PODL) converge at the epipophysis, not the postzygapophysis itself.
The holotype of Sauroposeidon, OMNH 53062, is similar to Giraffatitan in that the two anterior cervical vertebrae (possibly C5 and C6) have no visible epipophyses, but epipophyses are prominent in the two more posterior vertebrae (possibly C7 and C8). Click to enlarge – I traced the articular facet of the postzygapophysis in ?C8 to more clearly separate it from the epipophysis. For a high resolution photograph of that same vertebra that clearly shows the postzyg facet and the epipophysis dorsal to it, see this post.
Oddly enough, I've never seen prominent epipophyses in a titanosaur. In Malawisaurus, Trigonosaurus, Futalognkosaurus, Rapetosaurus, Alamosaurus, and Saltasaurus, the SPOLs (such as they are – inflated-looking titanosaur cervicals do not have the same crisply-defined laminae seen in most other sauropods) merge into the postzygapophyseal rami and there are no bumps sticking up above or out beyond the articular facets of the postzygs. I don't know what to make of that, except to note that several of the animals just mentioned have mediolaterally wide, almost balloon-shaped cervical neural spines. In our 2013 PeerJ paper, Mike and I argued that the combination of tall neural spines and tall epipophyses in the cervical vertebrae of sauropods made them functionally intermediate between crocs (huge neural spines, no epipophyses) and birds (small or nearly nonexistent neural spines, big epipophyses). Perhaps most titanosaurs reverted to a more croc-like arrangement with most of the long epaxial neck muscles inserting on the neural spine instead of the postzygapophyseal ramus. I've never seen that possibility discussed anywhere, nor the apparent absence of epipophyses in most titanosaurs. As usual, if you know otherwise, please let me know in the comments!
And as long as we're discussing the phylogenetic distribution of epipophyses, it is interesting that long, overhanging epipophyses are so broadly but sporadically distributed. They turn up in some non-neosauropods (Jobaria, Turiasaurus, Omeisaurus) and some diplodocoids (Nigersaurus, the occasional vertebra in Diplodocus and Leinkupal), but not in all members of either assemblage, and they seem to be absent in Macronaria (although many non-titanosaurs have shorter epipophyses that don't overhang the postzygs). I strongly suspect that a lot of this is actually individual variation that we're not perceiving as such because our sample sizes of almost all sauropods are tiny, usually just one individual. Epipophyses are definitely muscle attachment sites in birds and no better hypothesis has been advanced to explain their presence in other archosaurs. Muscle attachment scars are notoriously variable in terms of their relative development and expression among individuals, and it would be odd if epipophyses were somehow exempt from that inherent variability.
It also seems more than likely that ontogeny plays a role: progressive ossification of tendons attached at the epipophyses would have the effect of elongating the preserved projection. And since for some aspects of sauropod vertebral morphology, serial position recapitulates ontogeny (Wedel and Taylor 2013b), it shouldn't be surprising that we see differences in the prominence of the epipophyses along the neck.
Back to Qijianglong
By now it should be clear that the "finger-like processes" in Qijianglong are indeed epipophyses, and although they are quite long, they aren't fundamentally different from what we see in many other sauropods. I haven't gone to the trouble, but one could line up all of the vertebrae figured above in terms of epipophysis size or length, and Qijianglong would sit comfortably at one end with Omeisaurus and Mamenchisaurus, just beyond Nigersaurus and Jobaria.
The strangest thing about the epipophyses in Qijianglong is that they seem to be bent or broken downward in two of the vertebrae (B and H in the figure above). I assume that's just taphonomic distortion – the cervical shown in H wouldn't even be able to articulate with the vertebra behind it if the epipophysis really drooped down like that. The epipophyses in Qijianglong seem to mostly manifest as thin spikes of bone (or maybe plates, as shown in B and I), so it's not surprising that they would get distorted – most of the vertebrae shown above have cervical ribs that are incomplete or missing as well.
One more noodle-y thought about big epipophyses. I wrote in the last section that I've never seen them in titanosaurs, possibly because titanosaurs have big neural spines for their epaxial muscles to attach to. Maybe long, overhanging epipophyses are so common in mamenchisaurids because their neural spines are so small and low. Although we tend to think of them as a basal group somewhat removed from the "big show" in sauropod evolution – the neosauropods – mamenchisaurids did a lot of weird stuff. At least in terms of their neck muscles, they may have been the most birdlike of all sauropods. Food for thought.
- Allain, R., & Aquesbi, N. (2008). Anatomy and phylogenetic relationships of Tazoudasaurus naimi (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the late Early Jurassic of Morocco. Geodiversitas, 30(2), 345-424.
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- Ouyang Hui and Ye Yong. 2002. The first mamenchisaurian skeleton with complete skull: Mamenchisaurus youngi. 111 pages + 20 plates. Sichuan Science and Technology Press, Chengdu.
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- Royo-Torres, R., Cobos, A., & Alcalá, L. (2006). A giant European dinosaur and a new sauropod clade. Science, 314(5807), 1925-1927.
- Sanders, R.K., Wedel, M.J., Sereno, P.C., and Staab, G. 2000. A restoration of the cranio-cervical system in Jobaria. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20, Supplement to Issue 3: 67A.
- Sereno, Paul C., Allison L. Beck, Didier. B. Dutheil, Hans C. E. Larsson, Gabrielle. H. Lyon, Bourahima Moussa, Rudyard W. Sadleir, Christian A. Sidor, David J. Varricchio, Gregory P. Wilson and Jeffrey A. Wilson. 1999. Cretaceous Sauropods from the Sahara and the Uneven Rate of Skeletal Evolution Among Dinosaurs. Science 282:1342-1347.
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- Taylor, Michael P., and Mathew J. Wedel. 2013a. Why sauropods had long necks; and why giraffes have short necks. PeerJ 1:e36. 41 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables. doi:10.7717/peerj.36
- Tschopp, Emanuel, and Octávio Mateus. 2012. The skull and neck of a new flagellicaudatan sauropod from the Morrison Formation and its implication for the evolution and ontogeny of diplodocid dinosaurs. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. doi:10.1080/14772019.2012.746589
- Wedel, M.J., and Sanders, R.K. 2002. Osteological correlates of cervical musculature in Aves and Sauropoda (Dinosauria: Saurischia), with comments on the cervical ribs of Apatosaurus. PaleoBios 22(3):1-6.
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Wheelbarrow handles for vertebrae? The cervical rib bundles of Sauroposeidon and other sauropods
September 22, 2014
We have good descriptions of the proximal parts of the cervical ribs for lots of sauropods. We also have histological cross-sections of a few, mostly thanks to the work of Nicole Klein and colleagues (Klein et al. 2012, Preuschoft and Klein 2013), although histological cross-sections of ribs were also figured as long ago as 1999, by Dalla Vecchia (1999: figs. 29 and 30), and as recently as this month, by Lacovara et al. (2014: supplementary figure 4).
What we have very, very few of is series of cross-sections that show how the cr0ss-section of a cervical rib changes along its length. There may be more out there (and if I have forgotten any, please remind me!), but at the moment I can only think of three such figures: two in Janensch (1950: figs. 83 and 85), both on Giraffatitan, and one in Klein et al. (2012: fig. 1), with cross-sections from Mamenchisaurus, Giraffatitan, and Diplodocus (shown at the top of the post).
Rarer still are images that show cross-sections of overlapped cervical ribs, stacked in situ. You could use the information in Janensch (1950: figs. 83 and 85) to generate the stacked cross-sections, but you wouldn't know the spacing between the ribs as they were in the ground. I think the image just above, of the cervical rib bundles in the Sauroposeidon holotype, OMNH 53062, may be the first of its kind–again, if you know of any others, please let me know. I took the notes for this figure back in 2004, sitting down with the holotype and some digital calipers to make sure I could scale everything correctly, I just hadn't ever put it into a presentable form until now. The first C6 section (blue V-shape) is from right at the root where the capitulum and tuberculum meet and the posterior shaft of the rib begins.
It is by now well-understood that the long cervical ribs of sauropods and other dinosaurs are ossified tendons of the long hypaxial neck muscles, specifically the longus colli ventralis and flexor colli lateralis. We argued this back in 200o on comparative anatomical grounds (Wedel et al. 2000b: pp. 378-379), and it has now been demonstrated histologically (Klein et al. 2012, Lacovara et al. 2014). The system of stacked tendons is also found in most birds. Here's the bundle of stacked tendons in a rhea neck, only slightly fanned out:
And the same neck, with both the epaxial and hypaxial muscles more fully separated:
What I'd really like is an MRI of a rhea or ostrich neck, showing the stacked tendons and their associated belts of muscle, to compare with the stacked cervical ribs of Sauroposeidon and other sauropods. Anyone know of any?
Incidentally, I think the cervical ribs and cervical rib bundles of sauropods are one line of evidence for sauropod necks having been rather slenderly-muscled. The long, multi-segment muscles like the longus colli ventralis are the outermost components of the muscular envelope that surrounds the vertebrae, as you can see in the rhea dissection photos. In sauropod specimens with articulated cervical ribs, the ribs do not deviate from one another or fan out. Rather, they lie in vertically stacked bundles that run from one capitulum-tuberculum intersection to the next. So the depth of that intersection–the "root" of the cervical rib of any given vertebra–plus the thickness of the ribs stacked underneath it, is pretty much the thickness of the muscular envelope around the neck, or at least around the ventral half. And the cervical ribs are typically pretty close to the vertebral centra–only weirdos like Apatosaurus and Erketu displace them very far ventrally (see Taylor and Wedel 2013a: fig. 7 and this post). So, thin jackets of muscle around proportionally large vertebrae–or, if you like, corn-on-the-cob rather than shish-kebabs.
As for why sauropods have long cervical ribs, Mike and I discussed some possibilities in our 2013 PeerJ paper (Taylor and Wedel 2013a), and Preuschoft and Klein addressed the issue last fall in PLOS ONE (Preuschoft and Klein 2013). My favorite hypothesis is that long tendons allow an animal to shift the bulk of the muscle–and therefore the center of gravity–toward the base of the neck, but that long unossified tendons can be distorted through stretching, which wastes muscular energy. Ossifying those long tendons is like putting bony wheelbarrow handles on each vertebra, allowing the muscles to move the vertebra from a distance without so much wasted energy, and probably with finer positional control.
That's a nifty hypothesis in need of testing, anyway. In fact, cervical ribs and their associated muscles could stand a lot more attention on both the descriptive and analytical fronts. I know that Liguo Li has some research in the works on different conformations of hypaxial muscles, tendons, and cervical ribs in birds (you know, when she's not describing bizarre new titanosaurs like Yongjinglong — see Li et al. 2014). If you saw Peter Dodson give their talk at SVP last fall, you probably remember some stunning images of dissected bird necks. As a famous legislator once said, we shall watch her career with great interest.
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- Janensch, Werner. 1950. Die Wirbelsaule von Brachiosaurus brancai. Palaeontographica (Suppl. 7) 3: 27-93.
- Klein, N., Christian, A., & Sander, P. M. (2012). Histology shows that elongated neck ribs in sauropod dinosaurs are ossified tendons. Biology letters, 8(6), 1032-1035.
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- Preuschoft, H., & Klein, N. (2013). Torsion and Bending in the Neck and Tail of Sauropod Dinosaurs and the Function of Cervical Ribs: Insights from Functional Morphology and Biomechanics. PloS one, 8(10), e78574.
- Taylor, Michael P., and Mathew J. Wedel. 2013a. Why sauropods had long necks; and why giraffes have short necks. PeerJ 1:e36. 41 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables. doi:10.7717/peerj.36
- Wedel, M.J., Cifelli, R.L., and Sanders, R.K. 2000b. Osteology, paleobiology, and relationships of the sauropod dinosaurSauroposeidon. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 45(4): 343-388.
This was inspired by an email Mike sent a couple of days ago:
Remind yourself of the awesomeness of Giraffatitan:
Now think of this. Its neck is 8.5m long. Knock of one measly meter — for example, by removing one vertebra from the middle of the neck — and you have 7.5 m.
Supersaurus's neck was probably TWICE that long.
Holy poo.
I replied that I was indeed freaked out, and that it had given me an idea for a post, which you are now reading. I didn't have a Giraffatitan that was sufficiently distortion-free, so I used my old trusty Brachiosaurus. The vertebra you see there next to Mike and next to the neck of Brachiosaurus is BYU 9024, the longest vertebra that has ever been found from anything, ever.
Regarding the neck length of Supersaurus, and how BYU 9024 came to be referred to Supersaurus, here's the relevant chunk of my dissertation (Wedel 2007: pp. 208-209):
Supersaurus is without question the longest-necked animal with preserved cervical material. Jim Jensen recovered a single cervical vertebra of Supersaurus from Dry Mesa Quarry in western Colorado. The vertebra, BYU 9024, was originally referred to "Ultrasauros". Later, both the cervical and the holotype dorsal of "Ultrasauros" were shown to belong to a diplodocid, and they were separately referred to Supersaurus by Jensen (1987) and Curtice et al. (1996), respectively.
BYU 9024 has a centrum length of 1378 mm, and a functional length of 1203 mm (Figure 4-3). At 1400 mm, the longest vertebra of Sauroposeidon is marginally longer in total length [see this post for a visual comparison]. However, that length includes the prezygapophyses, which overhang the condyle, and which are missing from BYU 9024. The centrum length of the largest Sauroposeidon vertebra is about 1250 mm, and the functional length is 1190 mm. BYU 9024 therefore has the largest centrum length and functional length of any vertebra that has ever been discovered for any animal. Furthermore, the Supersaurus vertebra is much larger than the Sauroposeidon vertebrae in diameter, and it is a much more massive element overall.
Neck length estimates for Supersaurus vary depending on the taxon chosen for comparison and the serial position assumed for BYU 9024. The vertebra shares many similarities with Barosaurus that are not found in other diplodocines, including a proportionally long centrum, dual posterior centrodiapophyseal laminae, a low neural spine, and ventrolateral flanges that connect to the parapophyses (and thus might be considered posterior centroparapophyseal laminae, similar to those of Sauroposeidon). The neural spine of BYU 9024 is very low and only very slightly bifurcated at its apex. In these characters, it is most similar to C9 of Barosaurus. However, theproportions of the centrum of BYU 9024 are more similar to those of C14 of Barosaurus, which is the longest vertebra of the neck in AMNH 6341. BYU 9024 is 1.6 times as long as C14 of AMNH 6341 and 1.9 times as long as C9. If it was built like that of Barosaurus, the neck of Supersaurus was at least 13.7 meters (44.8 feet) long, and may have been as long as 16.2 meters (53.2 feet).
Based on new material from Wyoming, Lovelace et al. (2005 [published as Lovelace et al. 2008]) noted potential synapomorphies shared by Supersaurus and Apatosaurus. BYU 9024 does not closely resemble any of the cervical vertebrae of Apatosaurus. Instead of trying to assign its serial position based on morphology, I conservatively assume that it is the longest vertebra in the series if it is from an Apatosaurus-like neck. At 2.7 times longer than C11 of CM 3018, BYU 9024 implies an Apatosaurus-like neck about 13.3 meters
(43.6 feet) long.
Bonus comparo: BYU 9024 vs USNM 10865, the mounted Diplodocus longus at the Smithsonian, modified from Gilmore 1932 (plate 6). For this I scaled BYU 9024 against the 1.6-meter femur of this specimen.
If you'd like to gaze upon BYU 9024 without distraction, or put it into a composite of your own, here you go:
- Gilmore, C. W. 1932. On a newly mounted skeleton of Diplodocus in the United States National Museum. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 81, 1-21.
- Lovelace, David M., Scott A. Hartman and William R. Wahl. 2008. Morphology of a specimen of Supersaurus (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Morrison Formation of Wyoming, and a re-evaluation of diplodocid phylogeny. Arquivos do Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, 65 (4): 527-544.
- Wedel, M.J. 2007. Postcranial pneumaticity in dinosaurs and the origin of the avian lung. PhD dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Integrative Biology, 303 pp.
How heavy was Giraffatitan brancai? I mean, really?
June 9, 2014
We've touched on this several times in various posts and comment threads, but it's worth taking a moment to think in detail about the various published mass estimates for the single specimen MB.R.2181 (formerly known as HMN SII), the paralectotype of Giraffatitan brancai, which is the basis of the awesome mounted skeleton in Berlin.
Here is the table of published estimates from my 2010 sauropod-history paper, augmented with the two more recent estimates extrapolated from limb-bone measurements:
|Author and date
|Volume (l)
|Density (kg/l)
|Mass (kg)
|Janensch (1938)
|Not specified
|`40 t'
|Colbert (1962)
|Displacement of sand
|Russell et al. (1980)
|Limb-bone allometry
|Anderson et al. (1985)
|Limb-bone allometry
|Paul (1988)
|Displacement of water
|Alexander (1989)
|Weighing in air and water
|Gunga et al. (1995)
|Computer model
|Christiansen (1997)
|Weighing in air and water
|Henderson (2004)
|Computer model
|Henderson (2006)
|Computer model
|Gunga et al. (2008)
|Computer model
|Taylor (2009)
|Graphic double integration
|Campione and Evans (2012)
|Limb-bone allometry
|Benson et al. (2014)
|Limb-bone allometry
(The estimate of Russell et al. (1980) is sometimes reported as 14900 kg. However, they report their estimate only as "14.9 t"; and since they also cite "the generally accepted figure of 85 tons", which can only be a reference to Colbert (1962)", we must assume that Russell et al. were using US tons throughout.)
The first thing to notice is that there is no very clear trend through time, either upwards or downwards. Here's a plot of mass (y-axis) against year of estimate (x-axis):
I've not even tried to put a regression line through this: the outliers are so extreme they'd render it pretty much useless.
In fact, the lowest and highest estimates differ by a factor of 5.75, which is plainly absurd.
But we can go some way to fixing this by discarding the outliers. We can dump Colbert (1962) and Alexander (1989) as they used overweight toys as their references. We more or less have to dump Russell et al. (1980) simply because it's impossible to take seriously. (Yes, this is the argument from personal incredulity, and I don't feel good about it; but as Pual (1988) put it, "so little flesh simply cannot be stretched over the animal's great frame".) And we can ignore Gunga et al. (1995) because it used circular conic sections — a bug fixed by Gunga et al. (2008) by using elliptical sections.
With these four unpalatable outliers discarded, our highest and lowest estimates are those of Gunga et al. (2008) at 38,000 kg and Taylor (2009)at 23,337. The former should be taken seriously as it was done using photogrammetrical measurements of the actual skeletal mount. And so should the latter because Hurlburt (1999) showed that GDI is generally the least inaccurate of our mass-estimation techniques. That still gives us a factor of 1.63. That's the difference between a lightweight 66 kg man and and overweight 108 kg.
Here's another way of thinking about that 1.63 factor. Assuming two people are the same height, one of them weighing 1.62 times as much as the other means he has to be 1.28 times as wide and deep as the first (1.28^2 = 1.63). Here is a man next to his 1.28-times-as-wide equivalent:
I would call that a very noticeable difference. You wouldn't expect someone estimating the mass of one of these men to come up with that of the other.
So what's going on here? I truly don't know. We are, let's not forget, dealing with a complete skeletal mount here, one of the very best sauropod specimens in the world, which has been extensively studied for a century. Yet even within the last six years, we're getting masses that vary by as much as the two dudes above.
Dry Mesa Brachiosaurus cervical in dorsal view
June 8, 2014
This is BYU 12867–you've seen it here before–in dorsal view. It's not a brilliant shot–I took it through the glass of the display case while filming a documentary at the North American Museum of Ancient Life in Lehi, Utah, in 2008. Centrum length is 94 cm, total length with the overhanging prezygapophyses is over a meter.


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Nice one Dove! Now I'm smiling!
Morning all. Sneezles have hit here now. Can you catch them from posting on a forum?
Still no weather, waiting in for rat man as a new lot appear to have moved in after the first lot were dispatched. Fed up cos didn't put dustbin out in time and it's a fortnight to wait now.
Sounding a bit gloomy, aren't I?
Looking forward to pics of the Easter Bonnet, Becks
Jean needs feeding ...
Sasha, great to have you around - good on yer, digging
Woodgreen - are they native English bluebells? I would love some of those. My garden is home to Spanish Bluebells which are pretty but I like to support native plants where I can.
Nice to be doing planty stuff, Jean. No doubt you're wrapped up warm
S'ok Becks, I don't easily take a fence
Afties all. Nothing to report, just getting my afternoon mark
Cold, overcast, not much weather at all really but too cold to do anything Sorry to hear of those still suffering under snow and/or power cuts. Mind you, if the latter, you're unlikely to be seeing this!
I love my Clematis Armandii and it's been covered in flowers for a few weeks now - against a west facing wall in balmy Dorset (!!) Unfortunately as we have had no sun, the fabulous fragance is not wafting about as it did last year. After it's finished flowering I will have to chop off all the bits that have strayed into the gutters of my bungalow!
MORNING FORKERS. Oops, sorry, didn't mean to shout - some are possibly still embedded, as it were. Well, one is for sure.
Same old same old weatherwise, ie cold and grey. Have a meeting this morning and hairdresser this afty so at least don't have to be out in it much.
Stay warm, keep hoping for Spring

subset: commoncrawl


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Special Education Coursework - Required for CI candidates who DO NOT hold a special education endorsement.
EDS 652 Foundations of Special Education (Take first)
Preteaching Coursework - Required for CI candidates who DO NOT hold a special education endorsement. (Application required*)
EDS 550 Preteaching and Methods of Teaching Special Education
(Candidates with approved special education experiences may seek a waiver of EDS 550 requirement.)
Elective Coursework - Required for ALL CI candidates who DO hold a special education endorsement.
Elective (Take anytime with advisor approval)
Cognitive Impairment Coursework - Required for ALL CI candidates.
EDS 618 Studies in Cognitive Impairment
EDS 619 Programs for Mild Cognitive Impairment
EDS 620 Programs for Severe Cognitive Impairment
EDS 621 Assistive Technology in Education
EDS 622 Assessment Procedures for Placement and Program
EDS 623 Collaboration in Special Education
EDS 629 Transition Practices
Practicum Coursework - Required for ALL CI candidates. (Application required*)
EDS 685 E Practicum/Graduate Field Experience (Take last)
*Application deadlines (Practicum/Thesis/Project): February 15 for spring/summer, May 15 for fall, September 15 for winter semester. Application form required. Apply in advance. Advisor approval required.
Candidates adding the CI endorsement must pass the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification (CI) and maintain a 3.0 G.P.A.
May be viewed on the College of Education's Course List page.


text: Career Center Employers? Post Jobs and More Job Seeker Sign In Home Jobs Your Profile Resources Your Account Job Seekers Sign In New Job Seeker? Sign Up Overview Your Saved Jobs Your Job Alerts Your Profile Your Documents Your Applications Help Welcome to Aging Services Career Center Search Browse Explore Your Job Alerts Your Saved Jobs 0 Return to Search Results Registered Nurse - RN - ICU SCL Health System savedJobs Apply Now Continue To Application The application opened in a new tab. By using this feature you agree to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. Details Posted: April 30, 2017 Location: Miles City, Montana Salary: Unpaid Type: Full Time - Experienced Unit DescriptionJoin a great team! We are offering a $7500 incentive to all RNs hired for full time positions. Care Site DescriptionHoly Rosary Healthcare is part of SCL Health System, a faith-based, nonprofit health care organization.Interested in making a difference? Then check us out. Our rich heritage and mission, and our focus on health care delivery that values person-centered care excellence and accountability are a winning combination as we bring health â?? and hope â?? to our patients.Fast Facts Miles City, Mont. (estab. 1910) Regionâ??s largest integrated healthcare provider & private employer 500 associates, volunteers & medical staff members 25-bed acute care critical access hospital, physician clinics & senior livingServices & Expertise Family Health & Wellness Womenâ??s Health Imaging & Ancillary Services Therapy Services Senior Living Surgery & Emergency CenterHoly Rosary Healthcare is eastern Montanaâ??s healthcare destination providing person-centered care. We are People Healing People through the communities we serve, especially the poor and vulnerable. Visit: www.holyrosaryhealthcare.org DescriptionThe Registered Nurse will provide direct patient care, meeting both psychological and physical needs of the patients in accordance with physiciansâ?? orders, Joint Commission, OSHA, nursing and department guidelines. The RN fulfills these duties to contribute to the continuity and quality of care which fosters the best interest and well-being of all patients and their families. Conduct and document a thorough assessment of each patientâ??s medical status upon admission and throughout the patientâ??s course of treatment. Assist in the development and implementation of an individualized treatment plan for each assigned patient. Comply with evaluation, treatment and documentation guidelines described. Complete required documentation in an accurate and timely manner. Oversee care delivered by Licensed Practical Nurses and Certified Nursing Assistants. Attend and participate in clinical team conferences regarding patient progress, problems and needs. Act in compliance with hospital, regulatory and professional standards and guidelines. Access continuing education opportunities appropriate to discipline and responsibilities in order to maintain clinical currency. Adheres to facility policies and procedures and participates in facility quality improvement and safety programs. Perform other duties, as assigned. · The information above is for summary purposes, and is not intended to be a comprehensive list of essential functions. Qualifications Associate's degree in nursing, required Bachelor's degree in nursing, preferred Valid license as a Registered Nurse in the State of practice, required Possess a current Basic Life Support Certification, required Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, required One (1) year of experience in a setting serving the same age/type of patient population served by this facility or department, preferred Internal Number: 17001498 Send Me Similar Jobs By Email About SCL Health System SCL Health is a faith-based, nonprofit healthcare organization that operates eight hospitals, four safety net clinics, one children's mental health center and more than 190 ambulatory service centers in three states – Colorado, Kansas and Montana. The health system includes 15,000 full-time associates and more than 500 employed providers. View All SCL Health System Jobs More Jobs Like This MDS Coordinator Piedmont Crossing Thomasville, North Carolina 2 Days Ago Physician Assistant (Emergency Medicine) Department of Veterans Affairs New Orleans, Louisiana Today Physician Assistant Department of Veterans Affairs New Orleans, Louisiana Today Back to top Help is on the way! We're sorry you are having trouble applying for this job. Please try loading this job using the following link before submitting your help request: Name: Email: Please provide details: Submit Help Request Error Close Continue


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Opposition Leader Tony Abbott knows he has little to lose by casting slurs against public servants in Canberra, especially in an election year. It panders to a stubbornly popular stereotype: that of the ineffectual, unnecessary bureaucrat wasting public money. Few political leaders have ever lost votes by appealing to Australians' envy; in this case, by making voters feel that someone undeserving (a relatively well-off Canberran) is taking what they believe is rightfully theirs (taxes).
This is not solely a Coalition foible. Three days before the 2007 poll, then Labor leader Kevin Rudd criticised the Howard government's failure to apply ''the meat axe to its own administrative bloating for the better part of a decade''. It's a rite of opposition that has become so familiar it's difficult to take seriously. Ultimately, such rhetoric says little about how oppositions actually govern after they win office. Despite the Howard government's steep spending cuts in its first term, the Australian Public Service grew under both Coalition and Labor governments at about the same rate.
This week, while campaigning in Geelong, Mr Abbott took a slightly different tack. Instead of hinting, as some of his frontbenchers do regularly, that the Coalition will shed thousands of APS jobs, he suggested moving them out of the ACT. ''Why not try to locate as many of them as we can reasonably locate outside of Canberra? … I'm all in favour of trying to ensure that at least some government agencies aren't in the national capital because I think it's important - particularly when they are service-delivery agencies - for them to be amongst the people they are seeking to help.''
It's a touch ironic that Mr Abbott is championing a decentralised public service when he is also the chief opponent of the national broadband network, which might make it easier to manage a dispersed workforce. Nonetheless, his proposal - if it was anything more than a thought bubble - has some points in its favour. The ACT's low jobless rate has already forced some agencies, notably the Australian Bureau of Statistics, to shift parts of their workforces to other cities that have a larger supply of skilled workers. At the same time, the proportion of APS employees based in Canberra has crept slowly upwards during the Rudd and Gillard years, from 36.5 per cent in 2007 to 40.1 per cent at the beginning of this year. This was mostly due to the expansion of central policy agencies, which grew more rapidly than service departments. If a Coalition government was to reverse this slight trend away from service-delivery agencies, it may improve, rather than undermine, the work of government.
Yet Mr Abbott seems not to grasp that most federal public servants - especially those in frontline roles - already live outside of the ACT: in Melbourne, Western Sydney, Albury-Wodonga and dozens of other communities across Australia. Indeed, it's important that government agencies remain free to base their staff where they are needed, where they can work most effectively and, in cases of severe skill shortages, where the workforce actually lives.
The real problem with Mr Abbott's proposal is that it introduces the dangerous influence of politics to decisions that should be guided by what is best for the agency. In some cases, the right decision will be to keep most staff in the ACT; at other times, it will be to base parts of the workforce interstate. Canberra is the centre of federal public administration for good reason. Basing the bureaucracy in the national capital offers the efficiency of a workforce in close proximity with the decision makers that guide it. More importantly, however, it guards against pork barrelling. The prospect of an Abbott government shifting divisions, or even entire agencies and departments, of the public service to towns in marginal seats is deeply troubling.
Mr Abbott would do well to heed the lessons of the now-abandoned regional partnerships program. The Howard government's dubious use of that fund, which was strongly criticised by the Auditor-General for favouring Coalition-held electorates, is a stain that still mars Mr Abbott's party. If he is to govern well, he will keep his ministers' biases well away from the APS' workforce planning.


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50 Cent is to star in a movie about an orphan who becomes a drug dealer before making it as a famous rapper, directed by Jim Sheridan.
The story mirrors the real life of 50 Cent - real name Curtis Jackson - who was jailed for selling crack before finding fame.
Jones was nominated for two music Oscars for The Color Purple in 1985.
He was also nominated for the film scores for In the Heat of the Night, In Cold Blood, The Italian Job and The Wiz.
Get Rich or Die Tryin' is named after 50 Cent's first hit album, which since its release in 2002 has made him one of the biggest stars in the rap world.
Irish director Jim Sheridan's previous credits include My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father and In America, which all received Oscar nominations.
Get Rich or Die Tryin' is due for release in the US in December, and in the UK in January.
The script has been written by Terence Winter, who wrote many of the episodes of gritty TV drama The Sopranos.


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ECO-STRUCTURE recently caught up with Sarah Miller, project architect for INhome, the Purdue University's entry for the U.S. Department of Energy's 2011 Solar Decathlon.
How is your solar paneling unique?
Although the INhome's solar system is a commercially available product, the system is unique because it's a photovoltaic system with no evacuated tubes for producing hot water. Our home uses a heat-pump water heater to produce hot water run-off of electricity. The main reasoning behind this decision was cost. During the competition, we had few sunny days. This worked in our favor, because a solar hot water system cannot produce hot water in cloudy weather, while our all-electric system was able to produce plenty.
What other sustainable features have you incorporated into your design?
The exterior of the INhome is composed of Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs). Instead of building with traditional wood-stud framing, which allows for increased thermal bridging, pre-manufactured SIPs allowed us to construct the exterior shell of the INhome in two days.
Passive design was incorporated in the INhome as well. Vaulted ceilings allowed for a feeling of grandeur but also contributed to passive ventilation. A series of operable clerestory windows sit at the peak of the vault and when both clerestory windows and front façade windows are open, the chimney effect occurs allowing hot air to escape through the peak and cool air to enter the home. Natural day lighting is utilized in the home as well. With 73 percent of the home's glazing facing south, solar heat gain reduces the reliance on mechanical systems in Indiana's cold winter months. A 2-foot overhang creates shading however, when the sun is higher in the sky, preventing unwanted solar heat gain in Indiana's humid summer months.
What was the inspiration for your design, and does it display any regional influences?
The inspiration for the INhome's design was to combine practicality with innovation. Many technologies and efficient systems behind the walls enable this home to be net-zero energy, however it is our belief that in order to see solar living more mainstream, home still has to feel like home. Purdue intentionally designed a conventional and comfortable home with products right off the shelf. You could take the INhome and place it in any neighborhood in America. We want people to see themselves living in the INhome and understand that solar living is accessible to the masses. We want to show people that the transition from traditional living to solar living is simple and that you don't have to sacrifice the comforts and amenities you're used to in order to be net-zero.
How has the new affordability criteria affected the design of your house?
The affordability contest was a welcomed addition to the competition by our team. The goal was to show that net-zero homes are possible right now, and that they can be done in a way that is familiar to the public. We believe that if there is broad appeal for our design, it will be more likely to be adopted by a wider audience and therefore have more of an impact on energy usage in the future. Affordability seems to be one of the major reasons why homeowners are not adopting solar technology into their homes. We maintained a detailed budget broken down into different sections for the home, and we had to make sacrifices at times. The affordability contest made the design process more realistic and more of a challenge.
What will happen to the house after the Solar Decathlon?
The house has already been placed in a neighborhood in Lafayette, Ind., that is going through redevelopment. The home is scheduled to be finished in the next month and then will be open for tours. Early next year, a subsidized homeowner will move in and our team will be able to remotely monitor its technical performance for further research. This is exciting for the team because we're able to share something we put our hearts into with an actual family. We'll continue to monitor the home's performance for five years gathering a realistic depiction of how the INhome's design lives up to the use of a family.


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Well, looks like Osi Umenyiora is at it again. Only this time, he's bringing his case to court.
The recent publication by ESPN of an affidavit to be filed next month as part of the players' antitrust suit against the NFL shows that Umenyiora remains vehemently unhappy about his contract status. In the legal paper, Umenyiora claims the Giants lied to him when GM Jerry Reese told him early in 2008 that he would renegotiate his deal in two years if he continued to play at a high level.
"After about an hour of discussing my current contract, as well as the contracts of other defensive ends currently playing in the National Football League, Mr. Reese told me that two years from the start of the 2008 league year, if I was currently playing at a high level, we'd either renegotiate my current contract so that it would be equal to that of the top five defensive ends playing or I would be traded to a team that would do that," Umenyiora stated.
He went on to say, under signed oath, that "Before leaving the meeting, I asked Mr. Reese twice if he was absolutely sure that would be the case. He then told me that he was an honest and church-going man and that he would not lie, which I believed to be the case. Under the penalty of perjury these statements are true and accurate."
Of course, Umenyiora's contract was not renegotiated, and he registered his anger after the 2009 season by staging a Super Bowl radio tour in which he demanded a trade. Obviously, the Giants paid him little mind, and he went on to rebound from an injury-and-demotion-plagued 2009 to have a standout 2010.
Whether one thinks this is simply a case of Umenyiora getting back at the team through his presence as a named litigant in the anti-trust suit, or a true renewal of his trade demand, the fact is he's still tied to the Giants for two more years. This year, he's due to get paid $3.5 million, well under market value. And given that he's had surgery to removed some bone in the troublesome hip that caused irritation (a stabbing pain on every play), the level he'll play at this year is again a question mark.
So, it appears Umenyiora again doesn't have a lot of leverage, save for his carping. The labor issues that have eliminated any possibility of contract discussions until their resolution appear to be heading toward a conclusion. But until that happens, nothing on the Umenyiora front can occur.
And even after a new CBA is in place, how will the Giants handle their fast pass rusher? The guess here is that they'll do the same thing they did when Umenyiora went on his tour, utterly displeased with the $41 million deal he seemed so happy with when he signed it in 2005 -- ignore him.
They'll let him play this year, whether he holds out or not. If he plays well, then they can come to him after the season. If he holds out and his level goes down, or if the surgery decreases his productivity, they can make a decision on whether Jason Pierre-Paul is ready to take over there and either trade him or force him to play out the last year of his contract.
Either way, no matter how many affidavits Umenyiora files, the Giants have the hammer. And they'll be in no rush to placate a guy who ran his mouth one entire offseason and now stands as a star plaintiff in a case that will be rendered moot once a new CBA is reached.
Umenyiora simply doesn't have the pull he thinks he has.
Never did.


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by Staff Writers
Luxembourg (AFP) Sept 15, 2011
Europe's top court has rejected a bid by Inuit seal hunters and fur traders to strike down an EU ban on products derived from the Arctic animals.
The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice refused to hear the challenge brought by 17 organisations, including Canada's largest Inuit group, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), according to a 12-page decision dated September 6.
"Inuit are disappointed that the EU did not see fit to rule on the merits of this case, and have dismissed it, on technical grounds as inadmissible without a hearing," ITK leader Mary Simon said in a statement.
The organisation has filed a second challenge to the European Union ban, which is also opposed by Norway.
The ban, approved bn 2009 under pressure from animal rights groups, includes an exemption for seal products derived from hunts traditionally conducted by Inuit and indigenous communities for subsistence.
But Canada's indigenous groups fear it will severely damage their traditional seal hunt.
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Arctic Ice Nears Record Low In 2011
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Model Mayhem Admin
TainaModel Female Chicago, Illinois, US
My MM URL: http://www.modelmayhem.com/shataina
Mayhem # 4680
About Me
I'm only available intermittently, and I'm very busy. Modeling isn't my main line. But for the right photographer, I'm still willing to shoot.
I want to do shoots where I get to make really INTERESTING images ... I like goth makeup and clothes, but I get really excited about themed shoots.
Here's some images I like the idea of:
* "Sin City"-themed, with strong makeup and few colors
* Cyberpunk assassin
* 1920-30s elegance, with a hat and a short fringed dress and dark red lipstick and a cigarette holder
* Romantic princess with a bowl full of water, floating candles and rose petals
Way back when, I convinced StMarc to photograph me dressed up like Alex from "A Clockwork Orange" -- some of those images are my favorites! I love science fiction and fantasy and awesome costumes and I love doing crazy makeup on myself (or having other people do crazy makeup on me). So if that's what you're into, message me and maybe we can work something out.
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June 5, 2014, 3:07 am
I was watching the A's-Yankees game on ESPN when I learned that Don Zimmer passed away at the age of 83 following complications from open heart surgery.
ESPN color commentator Rick Sutcliffe, who played under Zimmer with the Cubs, was visibly upset upon hearing the news.
Zimmer was quite literally a baseball lifer. He spent 66 years in the game as a player, coach and manager. Drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949, his career nearly ended before it began. During a minor league game in 1953, Zimmer was beaned, rendered unconscious for two weeks and had to have a steel plate inserted in his forehead.
However, Zimmer would make his big league debut with the Dodgers late the following season as a utility player. He would earn a World Series ring with The Bums in 1955. Zimmer would follow the team to Los Angeles in 1958 and earn another World Series ring with them in 1959. Prior to the 1960 season, Zimmer was traded to the Chicago Cubs for future big league manager Johnny Goryl and relief pitcher Ron Perranoski. While with the Cubs, Zimmer would be named to his only All-Star Game in 1961.
Zimmer was an original member of the New York Mets, but only played 14 games with them before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds. In 1963, Zimmer would return to the Dodgers, only to be sold to the Washington Senators where he remained through 1965. Zimmer was among the first American players to play in Japan which he did in 1966. Zimmer also played in Latin America.
But Zimmer is best known as a manager and coach. After coaching under Gene Mauch in Montreal in 1971, Zim moved onto San Diego to coach under Preston Gomez. But early in 1972, the Padres fired Gomez and named Zimmer manager. The Padres fared no better under Zimmer and he was dismissed following the 1973 season.
In 1974, Zimmer would become the third base coach for the Boston Red Sox. In Game 6 of the '75 World Series, Red Sox second baseman Denny Doyle thought Zim said "Go!", but he actually said "No!" Doyle ended up getting thrown out at home by George Foster. If not for that miscommunication we would not have had Carlton Fisk's heroics.
In the middle of the 1976 season, the Red Sox abruptly fired manager Darrell Johnson and replaced him with Zimmer. Despite guiding the Sox to 97, 99 and 91 wins from 1977-1979, Zimmer had nothing to show for it. Of course, in July 1978, the Sox had a 14 1/2 game lead in the AL East only to have Bucky Dent hit a pop fly over the Green Monster one October afternoon. Zimmer was widely criticized for pitching the likes of Bobby Sprowl over veterans like Bill "Spaceman" Lee. Late in 1980, Zimmer would be fired.
Zimmer moved south to manage the Texas Rangers in 1981, but was dismissed in the middle of the 1982 season and replaced, ironically enough, by Darrell Johnson. The next few years were spent as a coach with the New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants before getting his final opportunity to manage in the big leagues when he was hired by the Cubs in 1988. In 1989, Zimmer would finally reach the post-season guiding the Cubs to a NL East title. He would remain with the Cubs through the 1991 season.
In 1992, Zimmer would return to Boston to coach on Butch Hobson's staff. Hobson had played third base when Zimmer managed the Sox. In 1993, Zimmer joined the expansion Colorado Rockies and became Don Baylor's bench coach through 1995. In 1996, Zimmer moved back east and returned to the Yankees to become Joe Torre's right hand man and become part of four World Series championship teams. During his tenure with the Yankees, he became known for wearing an Army helmet after being plunked by a foul ball hit by Chuck Knoblauch. He would also become known for trying to start a fight with Pedro Martinez during the 2003 ALCS against the Red Sox. Deeply chagrined, Zimmer tearfully apologized the following day.
From 2004 until the very end, Zimmer served as the bench coach for the Tampa Bay Rays. He would see his final World Series in 2008 when the Rays went from worst to first before falling short against the Phillies.
After Zimmer underwent open heart surgery, Rays third base coach Tom Foley paid tribute to Zim by wearing his uniform during Rays games. Zimmer's number was 66 signifying the years he spent in professional baseball.
Zimmer and his high school sweetheart Jean (affectionately known as Soot) were married before a minor league ballgame in 1951 and remained married for 62 1/2 years until death did they part.


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3 Recommendations
marycatherineoconnor's recommendation
Itâs like a mobile office, which is the best kind of office to have if you ask me.
My Collections:
zentropic's recommendation
I have the messenger bag version of this pack. It's great, but I wish I'd gotten the backpack model instead. It looks unique and modern, it's very sturdy and reinforced, and it has a zillion pockets. Unfortunately it's no longer manufactured, and the new line of Merrell packs are no where near as interesting.
Dooha's recommendation
I love this, But I couldn't find it anywhere. Does anybody who can help me?
have one. Found it. Bit of stickiness to one of the zippers, but managable. Well made and great design,, but I have no use for it. Don't see it on eBay. Wife wants it out of house. Don't know this system, but if you still want it and find a way to contact me before I put it out, I could send it to you.
- haarvi


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In keeping with court directives, danseuse Mallika Sarabhai Saturday presented herself at the Naranpura police station, where a case of alleged cheating has been registered against her.
Sarabhai surrendered her passport to the police, as per the court order.
The district and sessions court on October 29 had granted her anticipatory bail and directed her to remain present at the police station November 1 between 10 am and noon.
"She surrendered her passport and is co-operating with the police," the investigating official at the police station, M K Kataria, told media persons.
But he refused to divulge details pertaining to investigations in the case.


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I am a teacher and researcher working in the field of security and privacy. Find out more about me on the About page or see my research output on the Publications page.
Machine Learning Video Lectures
I taught an introductory Machine Learning course to BS students at FAST Peshawar in Fall 2015. The feedback was quite positive so I decided to offer another course to the MS/PhD students in the next semester. The mode of teaching was also a bit different: we tried doing the pen-tablet-augmented-multimedia-slides model. The semester is still in progress but we have the core of the basics done now.
The lectures are in Urdu so might be easier to follow for those who understand the language. I will be uploading the future videos as they come up inshaallah. You can see the first video below and follow the complete collection on Vimeo here: https://vimeo.com/album/3770825
Machine Learning – Lecture 01-A (Spring 2016) from recluze on Vimeo.
Machine Learning Self-Study Track
I started with Machine Learning a while back and had a slightly hard time getting help from the local community. The reason was mostly because the Machine Learning community in general is way behind the state-of-the-art in industry and research. This is true for almost all fields nowadays but with Machine Learning, the issues are more pronounced due to the recent fast-paced developments in the industry.
On the other hand, once you know what to study, things are much easier than many other fields such as security. Here I would outline the plan I followed to get to where I am (which isn't too far ahead but still a little better than what most people know, IMHO).
So, here's my guide for getting started with Machine Learning self-study.
- Start with Andrew Ng's Coursera course — Machine Learning. That's the advice almost everyone seems to give — and it's a great advice. The Coursera course is completely basic and eases you in the field with little pre-reqs and not much depth. Be careful though: do not think after completing the course that you are an expert in Machine Learning. It misses quite a few areas and the skills needed to be above average. It does get you started with practicals so you are likely to think you're already done after finishing the course.
- So, after you complete the courser in its entirety — including the assignments — I suggest you start with Prof. Nando de Freitas' undergrad course. This is a much more detailed course and would get you a very different view of ML than traditional outlines. Of course, you might have to brush up on your Probability, Calculus and Linear Algebra. You can't really do anything without these three.
- For the above three, I suggest the following courses:
- Probability: Probability for Life Sciences by UCLA's Math Department. You can find videos for this easily.
- Calculus: I strongly suggest you go with Virtual University Pakistan's Calculus-I course by Dr. Faisal Shah Khan. It's a great course but it's in Urdu. If you don't know Urdu, you can find your own series. Please let me know in the comments about great resources for this.
- Linear Algebra: Of course, this can only be done with Gilbert Strang's Linear Algebra course from OCW.
- After that, you can start with the grad course and the second grad course by Prof. Nando de Freitas. Both have very detailed video lectures.
Of course, you also need to work with tools other than Matlab. I strongly suggest the python PyData stack. The full list would be:
That's what I have till now. I might add more when I know more inshaallah.
Learning How to Learn
I've just started with another Coursera course — this one about learning in general. The course is called Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects. It's actually a fairly easy going course, as far as I can see. The assignments and quizzes are fairly straight forward for the most part but the important bit is that the instructors share their life experiences about learning. I hope to be able to get through this course — I have enough ambition that I've even signed up for the paid "Signature Track" version of the course.
One important mental tool that I found really interesting is how to use the diffused thought model to get new ideas regarding difficult to solve problems. It's best explained in the videos through Edison's example: He would sit on his chair and let his hand hang on a side — while holding a few ball bearings in it. He would then relax and let his mind wander, drifting off towards sleep. The mind would shift to diffused thinking and would eventually find some new avenue to explore to help solve the issue at hand. This usually happens when you're about to fall asleep — and that is where the ball bearings come into play. They would fall down creating a bit of a racket pulling him back from sleep so that he could grasp the fledging ideas and put them on paper. Cool trick!
Backup Using rsync
Here's a mini howto on backing up files on a remote machine using
rsync. It shows the progress while it does its thing and updates any remote files while keeping files on the remote end that were deleted from your local folder.
rsync -v -r --update --progress -e ssh /media/nam/Documents/ email@example.com:/media/nam/backup/documents/
/media/nam/Documents/ is the local folder and
/media/nam/backup/documents/ is the backup folder on the machine with IP
How to Access Google Adsense Reports
So, Admob was acquired a while ago by Google and it was recently announced that the publisher reports by Admob would no longer be available through the old APIs. Instead, they now have to be retrieved through the AdSense API — which is based on OAuth 2.0 and thus a real pain for those just getting started.
Turns out, the process is quite straight-forward but extremely poorly documented. You can go through the AdSense reporting docs, the Google API library and the OAuth 2.0 specs but you would soon be lost. After spending a couple of days decoding the requirements, I found out the bare-metal approach to accessing the stats. And here is how.
Back to WordPress
Well, that was short-lived. I moved away from WordPress — only to come back after around 6 months and one post. Seems like Octopress is too much of a hassle for someone as unstable as me. Maybe another time when I'm more focused.


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Dec 26 2013
A Hull of a comeback
Amid the festive mood that has embraced us all in recent days, it would have been easy to forget that, even at Christmas, United simply don't do things the easy way.
And why would they? After two days spent eating and drinking, they probably thought we ought to experience some less enjoyable feelings but, in the end, they took a long hard look at themselves and delivered a belated present.


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Couple Alert? Emma Roberts Caught Making Out with 'Glee' Star Chord Overstreet
Taylor Swift and his Glee co-star Naya Rivera, and now a rumor is going around that Chord Overstreet was smooching Scream 4 star Emma Roberts.He's been romantically connected to
The two were reportedly spotted at the A|X Armani Exchange and 944 Magazine carnival in Indio, Calif. during the Coachella music festival over the weekend when things started to get hot and heavy between the young Hollywood stars, a source for Us Weekly reveals. According to the source, Emma, 20, and Chord, 22, were "making out" and "couldn't keep their hands off each other."
However, things seemed to be cooling down as the festival weekend went on…
The source tells Us that by Sunday, Emma was "leaning into him, but he seemed way more interested in his food."
Prior to her alleged canoodle with Chord, Emma was Alex Pettyfer, 21, who also was rumored to be dating another Glee star early this year, Dianna Agron.


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Here are my thoughts on farm-to-table eating in Vermont: http://collegecritic.wordpress.com/20...
Vermont is where farm-to-table kitsch comes to die.
In New York City, restaurants oftentimes emphasize their connection to local markets; they are "market restaurants," "farm-to-table," or participate in "sustainable foodways." Still, eating fresh produce sequestered in a metropolitan fortress of steel and concrete feels disingenuous. Knowing the name of the farm that grew those ramps or raised that rabbit means little without context. A name is only a name when stripped of the named object. So we go to the farms, the creameries, the foragers, and the fishermen, seeking the intrinsic narratives of the food we consume. So we go to Vermont.
Unlike in the East Village, in Vermont one gains the opportunity to look out a restaurant's window and see the land, the crops, to meet the people who work those fields and learn their stories. At Hen of the Wood, Chef-Owner Eric Warnstedt, one of Food & Wine's Best New Chefs of 2008, attempts to fulfill that fantasy. Located in a venerable grist mill, Hen of the Wood offers a menu that gestures towards the farm-to-table experience. Many of the vegetables hail from nearby farms, but on this past Wednesday's menu only the rabbit clearly came from the Green Mountain State. Gazing over the waterfall, one might pretend that a silky salmon fillet powered a fish up those rocks hours before. Such fictions contribute to the "farm-to-table" kitsch so evident in the big city; a theme park of sustainability that sacrifices local vision for price point, quality, convenience, practicality, and the bounds of mere possibility.
Where then does Vermont meet or even generate a real farm-to-table ethos? At Cabot Creamery, a dairy cooperative sources milk from Vermont cows and pumps out thousands of pounds of cheese. Gloriously rubbery and indistinct, Cabot's factory product tastes of, well, the mechanized and futurized factory: devoid of soul. Yet, Cabot's clothbound cheddar feels authentically Vermont: twangy, crumbly, and tinged with caramel and walnut flavors that resonate insistently on the tongue in a slowly diffusing golden glow. Cave aged at Jasper Hill Farm, Cabot's clothbound cheddar represents a fusion of mass production and local production, a global-local cooperative that seems satisfying on pragmatic, ethical, and gustatory levels.
After Cabot, I craved a nonindustrial food experience though, a gastronomic landscape without sales figures or marketing or automation. Stumbling into a hidden town in the Vermont hills, somewhere between Cabot and Stowe, I found lunch at the Buffalo Mountain Coop, a funky grocery store and cafe. Hardwick, Vermont exists humbly, quietly, an amateur boxing club, two grocery stores, a gas station with old-fashioned pumps. Buffalo Mountain Coop serves "food for people not for profit."
Following a simple lunch of turkey on wheat with mesclun and mustard, I perused the grocery. Strange legumes and esoteric dietary supplements line the walls. There's a grind your own peanut butter machine. For dinner, I picked a loaf from Bohemian Bread, locally grown cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes, and figured a sizable chunk of that clothbound cheddar would round out the meal nicely.
Of course, the local foods manifesto has been discussed and spread thin across internet and print media. I have little of particular note to add beyond a finger wag towards pragmatics. I will, however, emphasize how delicious that cheddar tasted on that bread. Bubbly, airy, yeasty, and soft on the interior and suitably crunchy along the crust, the Bohemian Bread took well to its cheesy companion, allowing the almost crunchy, crystalline cheddar to burrow into its most intimate pockets. It would be a good life to eat such bread and such cheese.
Ultimately, I believe that the difference between farm-to-table kitsch and farm-to-table authenticity lies in the distinctions between fantasy and reality. Kitsch relies on the customer's desire to engage in an imaginative game that simultaneously comforts the ethical self and transports the childlike self. Eating cheese from Jasper Hill Farm, or Cabot Creamery for that matter, means little in New York City, removed from any original context. Other than the bare knowledge that one supports a particular farm, understanding the provenance of a product holds no inherent value. Comprehending the reality of the land, watching fields turn into pine-covered mountains that arch unbearably into fog and clouds, and then eating that cheese on bread and knowing the people that live in the hills and drive beyond the sky—that learning possesses an inherent value. Vermont, its food, its people: these can only be known here, in this place. A fantasy of the local gone global denies the very existence of an underlying reality, commodifying a hyperreality for consumption.
For a post on the Cabot factory with pictures: http://collegecritic.wordpress.com/20...
Jasper Hill Farm
Greensboro, VT, Greensboro, VT
Hen of the Wood
92 Stowe St Ste 1, Waterbury, VT 05676


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Environmental services contract consultation report and responses
In July 2015, we asked residents to share their views as we look to save up to £1.4million per year from our environmental service contract which includes bin collections, recycling, street cleaning and grounds maintenance.
Less money from selling recycled materials, and the end of recycling incentives from the county council, as well as reduced Government funding to local authorities, has resulted in the need to make major savings.
Consultation forms on the future of the environmental services were sent to every home in the district and also completed by the public online via the council's website.
Over 8,000 responses were received, equating to 21 per cent of all households in Harborough district.
Report and responses
You can read the environmental service contract consultation report and responses (PDF, 416KB). These will be considered by the Council's Executive on Monday 7 September 2015. The Executive will use this information to help inform their decision on service changes to be taken at this meeting.
The Executive will be considering service changes to deliver the required savings in the period up to 2022/23.
Harborough District Council presently provides its environmental service in partnership with its private contractor FCC Environmental Services.


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Having had a recent break-up, and wrote about my feelings on my website, I got an interesting email from a guy wanting to know how I can seem so confident and cool in the face of it. As he said, if he had "been with someone for three months, and then had to walk away" he would be "devastated". I thought I would expand on my response given to him below and share it publicly, because it is a very important question, with an equally important response.
This was part of my response:
"I wouldn't, because the main reason people get hurt, especially after short relationships, is because they don't love themselves enough. They expect the other person to love them instead, and end up putting that person above themselves. Sadly, when the person walks away they are even more devastated, because, having no internal source of love, the only source would have left them alone, confirming the low unworthy feelings they already had about themselves."
I am human too and do feel naturally upset immediately after a break up. However, it doesn't last for long. As I tend to be very expressive, I am also very trusting, I fall deeply and I love equally passionately, which make me even more vulnerable to being hurt. Yet break-ups hardly affect me emotionally, no matter how much I love the person. It got me thinking why I don't suffer the usual angst of people who are really hurt by it, and I have gradually worked it out.
What most people don't realise is that every relationship has three crucial elements at the heart of it:
1. Self Love
2. The capacity to love another
3. The capacity to be loved
The Power of Self Love
Most people go into relationships armed with just the desire to be loved. That's the easy bit. But what is even more important is to have the other two elements, which are often missing. In fact, the most important aspect of a relationship is SELF LOVE (which acts as a protective barrier to pain). But loving the self unconditionally, without expecting perfection, is not an easy thing to do after a history of not being valued or affirmed by the people who matter in our lives, like parents and past lovers.
Yet self love is like having money or riches. If we have no love for ourselves, we cannot give away any either. That partner will never be able to do enough for us simply because we will always feel inadequate. The irony is that a love of the self frees us to be more loving and understanding towards another. For example, though I do miss him very much - because we had grown pretty close very quickly, my self love makes me smile and remember our awesome moments together, when he comes to mind, rather than any anger, recrimination or blame; to give thanks for what we shared rather than what we might have lost.
Sadly, most relationships consist of two people without any self love or capacity to love. In effect, there are two TAKERS instead of givers in the relationship, wanting to be loved, and looking after their own corner, while being unable to truly love themselves or each other. It means when the relationship breaks it would be doubly painful for one person because he/she would have been entirely emotionally dependent on the one who took that love away. That partner would have been living in constant fear of the relationship not working, and would then be pretty shaken when it does break and the love stops.
Loving the self reminds us that we matter the most in any relationship. We are the cake, the other person is the icing, and icing is never mandatory. Icing might go beautifully well with a cake but it is a CHOICE, just like having a partner is a choice. It means that once the partner-icing goes, we would have enjoyed it, enhanced that icing with our presence, but, in the end, we stand independently of it, because we are all on our individual journey of life. With that knowledge, we can appreciate ourselves more, and will also have more to GIVE a partner than merely expecting them to give us what we seek. We can take them or leave them, as they are, and, best of all, if they should leave us, our self love will keep us intact - more aware, confident and positive - and better prepared for the next encounter.
©Elaine Sihera (Ms CYPRAH) 2012
Emotional Health and People Management Consultant
"Happiness is a state of being. We are the ones who decide whether we wish to be happy or not, by the script we use inside our heads."


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Conway, S.C. – Aaron Burke picked up a win after tossing 3.2 innings of relief during Game 1 and then recording the final out of Game 2 with the bases loaded in a one run game to pick up the save as #24 Coastal Carolina (32-13, 14-3 Big South) swept a doubleheader from Campbell (33-14, 9-8 Big South) on Saturday at Watson Stadium.
Campbell led 4-3 in the eighth inning of Game 1 before surrendering eight runs in Coastal's final at bat and falling 11-4. The Fighting Camels rallied late in Game 2, scoring three runs over the final two innings, but left the bases loaded in the ninth to drop a tight 6-5 decision.
Campbell and Coastal will play the series finale on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. The two losses are the first time Campbell has been swept in a doubleheader this season after the Camels completed their 13th double dip.
Game 1: Coastal Carolina 11, Campbell 4
CCU used an eight-run eighth inning in which eleven consecutive Chanticleers reached base as Coastal rallied past Campbell 11-4. The Fighting Camels had scored three runs in the second inning to gain early control of the game and led throughout until the CCU rally in Coastal's final at bat.
After Nick Ray led off the second inning with a walk, Ben Fish recorded his second home run of the season with a two-run blast to left field to put Campbell in front early. Erick Gaylord then singled for one of his two hits during the game and later scored on a squeeze bunt from Ben McQuown to put CU in front 3-0 after two innings.
Coastal Carolina chipped away, scoring once in the third and fifth innings before Nick Ray hit his second homer of the year in the sixth inning to put CU up 4-2. The Chanticleers again quickly climbed back within a run, taking advantage of two Camel errors in the bottom of the sixth to score Tucker Frawley.
Matt Sergey went 5.1 innings in the start, scattering five hits and three runs (one earned) over that time. Coastal starter Tyler Herb allowed four runs on five hits over 5.1 innings of work, allowing four walks. Aaron Burke relieved Herb and tossed 3.2 innings of one-hit baseball for the Chanticleers, holding Campbell at bay.
Ryan Mattes entered in the sixth for Campbell and had retired six consecutive batters after recording one out in the eighth inning. CCU tallied three consecutive singles off Mattes with one out, the final one being Brian Pruett's RBI single to tie the game before Matt Marksberry entered. Marksberry allowed three singles and two walks as the Chanticleers captured the lead for the time in the game.
Ryan Koopman recorded the final two outs of the frame, but CCU had taken an 11-4 advantage. Jacob May, Ted Blackman and Sloan Gilliam all tallied two hits for the Chanticleers, while Erick Gaylord's 2-for-3 performance led the Camels offensive attack.
Mattes (4-2) took the loss for CU, while Burke (8-3) picked up the win for Coastal.
Game 2: Coastal Carolina 6, Campbell 5
David Olson's two-out, two-RBI single in the ninth pulled Campbell within one run, but Aaron Burke again entered out of the Coastal Carolina bullpen and recorded the final out of the game to preserve the 6-5 CCU victory and pick up his seventh save of the season.
Coastal Carolina was the team to jump in front during the second game of the doubleheader, scoring once in the third and three times in the fifth to take a 4-0 advantage. Daniel Bowman's three-run homer off CU starter Frank Zier in the fifth inning sent Bowman into third place on the Big South charts for most RBI in a career.
CU scored twice in the sixth to cut the Chanticleer lead in half. Michael Felton and Jake Kirkland recorded back-to-back singles to begin the frame, and when David Olson's line drive up the middle got past the second baseman, Felton came around to score. Olson later came around to score on a passed ball as part of his 4-for-5 game in which he set a new season high for hits.
The Chanticleers extended their lead back out to four runs in the seventh inning, scoring twice to take a 6-2 advantage. The Camels would not go quietly, however, getting a single run on Bryce Grady's RBI groundout in the eighth to climb within three runs.
The dramatic ninth inning began with a fly-out to start the frame. Jimmy Brenneman then coaxed a one-out walk, followed by McQuown's single through the right side. Felton then singled to load the bases before CCU recorded the second out of the inning on a fly-out to left field. Olson responded with a two-RBI double that brought the visitors within one run, and Ray drew a walk to load the bases before CCU brough Burke in out of the bullpen.
Burke induced a soft chopper down the third base line from Ben Fish and made an athletic play to just throw Fish out at first base to end the game and keep the tying run from crossing the plate.


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Committees Home
Delivery Advisory Home
Delivery Advisory Committee Minutes
October 27, 2004
Present: Jennifer Endres (PDS), Heidi Oliverson (SCL), Brinnan Shaffer (ZZZ),
Peter Hamon (SCA), Diane Jaroch (MOO), Susan Lee & Bruce Smith (ZZZ)
Jennifer called the meeting to order. Bruce volunteered as recorder. There were no additions to the agenda.
The minutes from the August 26, 2004 were approved after a motion by Susan and Diane.
A. Bruce handed out statistics of total number of baskets dropped off and picked up at each LINK library. These statistics indicate that the total number of delivery baskets has dropped off the last 2 months. There could be many reasons for this, but it may be an indication that the automation change that has the system check the pick up location for an available copy first may have helped reduce delivery volume. Peter noted that system ILL's will increase in 2004 to about 2 million, up from 1.8 million in 2003.
B. The use of Post It notes as routing slips was discussed. Most feedback that delivery has received has been very positive. The committee recommended that Post It notes become a permanent replacement for routing slips. Susan and Diane motioned the recommendation.
C. In order to provide future direction to this committee and delivery the idea of a survey was discussed. The committee recommended that delivery do a survey. Susan and Diane motioned the recommendation.
D. Bob Blitzke forwarded an article to the committee about Floating Collections. There was discussion about the pros and cons of this idea in a system like ours. It was discussed that SCIDS and SCILLS already fit the concept for in-demand items. MPL is discussing this idea further and will bring any ideas they have about it to the committee in the future.
Committee Reports: There were no reports from the committees.
Next Meeting: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 at 9:30 a.m. at SCA and STP.
Meeting Evaluation: It was a fine meeting. Attendance was low. We will need new members for next year and will check with current members to measure their ability to serve on this committee.
Meeting adjourned after a motion by Susan and Diane.
Home | Committees Home | Delivery
Advisory Committee Home
Page created 04/03.
South Central Library System
4610 South Biltmore Lane
Madison, WI 53718
(608) 246-7970
Toll-free: (855) 516-7257


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