text:
What is the order in which two low-mass main-sequence stars orbit each other?
a. A white dwarf orbits a more massive main sequence star. b. Star 1(the more massive star) begins to evolve off the main sequence. c. Star 1 fills its Roche lobe and begins transferring mass to the white dwarf d. The white dwarf either becomes a nova or a supernova e. Star 2 gains mass, becoming hotter and more luminous f. Star 2 fills its Roche lobe and begins transferring mass to the white dwarf I think there is a problem with the test, because I'm almost positive I know the answer. I just want to see what everyone else says it is so I can back up my own prediction.http://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=20121127005050AAFrH1y

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Make Reservation
Current Special Offers
Avis Fyshwick Car Rental Information
- Rental vehicle must be returned during office hours.
NOTE: Some locations may have a key drop available. If customer chooses to leave the vehicle, the customer is responsible for the vehicle & all charges (including any damages the vehicle may have incurred during after hours) until the contract can be closed out on the following business day.
Avis Fyshwick offers a wide variety of late model rental cars to suit your travel needs, including the economical Nissan Micra, the standard Holden Cruze or the eight seater Hyundai iMax. So, whatever your travel plans are we have the right rental car for you. Alternatively, you can hire an Avis rental car from Canberra Airport located near Fyshwick.
Avis operates in over 240 locations across Australia, including popular downtown locations such as Sydney car rental, Melbourne car rental, Brisbane car rental. And with 3 car rental locations in Australian Capital Territory you can always find an Avis car rental location close by.
In addition, at many locations Avis Australia offers a free book of Holiday Vouchers (valued at up to $300) offering discounts at some of Australia's major tourist attractions, so your holiday can be even more pleasant. And remember if you are a Qantas Frequent Flyer member, you can get Qantas Frequent Flyer points with Avis, so renting a hire car with Avis can help you get your reward flights sooner. Car Rental Locations near Fyshwick
- Canberra Airport - (2 km)
- Braddon - (7 km)
- Goulburn - (80 km)
- Tumut - (87 km)
- Ulladulla - (115 km)


text:
As Microsoft (MSFT) looks for a new CEO, one candidate may be contemplating a sea change for the software giant.
Sources tell Bloomberg that former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop — who is rumored to be on the short list of possible successors to outgoing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer — would refocus the company towards promoting its popular Office productivity suite on a wider range of mobile devices and away from using the programs to boost usage of its Windows operating system.
In order to reorient the company, Elop might consider shuttering Microsoft's Bing search engine, which competes with Google (GOOG). He is also open to possibly selling its Xbox gaming console business.
A number of other candidates, including Ford's (F) Alan Mulally are in the running to replace Ballmer.
Microsoft will launch the latest version of its Xbox console, which is geared as both a gaming platform and entertainment hub, this month.
Shares of Microsoft rose modestly in Friday morning trading.


text:
Transit Is the Only Love
by Dan
Please note: MP3s are only kept online for a short time, and if this entry is from more than a couple of weeks ago, the music probably won't be available to download any more.
The Doozies - "Independence Day"
"Edmund, you're a witch." Tate was a bright 3, his child from Jen, by whom he was divorced the previous year. "A witch?! But witches are women!" He sat on the arm of the armchair, his long belted coat draped like a flag over his shoulders; he couldn't stay long. "I don't care," said Tate, he had a way of not looking at you when he talked to you, which implied an intelligence, a rudeness, and also nothing at at all. "What makes you think I'm a witch?" said Edmund. "You move around really fast." There was only so much reasoning to expect from a 3-year-old, and one did a lot filling in the blanks, often too much. Edmund thought of how he might call and say he's somewhere and then quickly arrive. He thought of himself moving quickly around the house, picking Tate up and spinning him in the air. He thought about the last time he was on a plane, and how he had to piss worse than any other time in his life. He thought about the way traveling shakes the juices out of you. All the chemicals get shaken loose, and you could cry or shove somebody or just look at nothing and feel nothing. He looked at Tate, standing by an empty box, humming. "Hey, Tate?" Tate didn't look over, but Edmund could tell he was listening, as could he tell was Jen, moving silently in the kitchen round the corner, "Call me Dad."
[5$]Posted by Dan at January 13, 2012 4:44 PM
Post a comment
This is a daily sampler of really good songs. All tracks are posted out of love. Please go out and buy the records.
To hear a song in your browser, click the and it will begin playing. All songs are also available to download: just right-click the link and choose 'Save as...'
All songs are removed within a few weeks of posting.
Said the Gramophone launched in March 2003, and added songs in November of that year. It was one of the world's first mp3blogs.
If you would like to say hello, find out our mailing addresses or invite us to shows, please get in touch:
Montreal, Canada: Sean
Toronto, Canada: Emma
Montreal, Canada: Jeff
Montreal, Canada: Mitz
Please don't send us emails with tons of huge attachments; if emailing a bunch of mp3s etc, send us a link to download them. We are not interested in streaming widgets like soundcloud: Said the Gramophone posts are always accompanied by MP3s.
If you are the copyright holder of any song posted here, please contact us if you would like the song taken down early. Please do not direct link to any of these tracks. Please love and wonder.
"And I shall watch the ferry-boats / and they'll get high on a bluer ocean / against tomorrow's sky / and I will never grow so old again."
about the authors
Sean Michaels is the founder of Said the Gramophone. He is a writer, critic and author of the theremin novel Us Conductors. Follow him on Twitter or reach him by email here. Click here to browse his posts.
Emma Healey writes poems and essays in Toronto. She joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. This is her website and email her here.
Jeff Miller is a Montreal-based writer and zinemaker. He is the author of Ghost Pine: All Stories True and a bunch of other stories. He joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. Say hello on Twitter or email.
Mitz Takahashi is originally from Osaka, Japan who now lives and works as a furniture designer/maker in Montreal. English is not his first language so please forgive his glamour grammar mistakes. He is trying. He joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. Reach him by email here.
Site design and header typography by Neale McDavitt-Van Fleet. The header graphic is randomized: this one is by .
Dan Beirne wrote regularly for Said the Gramophone from August 2004 to December 2014. He is an actor and writer living in Toronto. Any claim he makes about his life on here is probably untrue. Click here to browse his posts. Email him here.
Jordan Himelfarb wrote for Said the Gramophone from November 2004 to March 2012. He lives in Toronto. He is an opinion editor at the Toronto Star. Click here to browse his posts. Email him here.
our patrons
Said the Gramophone does not take advertising. We are supported by the incredible generosity of our readers. These were our donors in 2013.
our favourite blogs
(◊ means they write about music)
Back to the World
La Blogothèque ◊
Weird Canada ◊
Destination: Out ◊
Endless Banquet
A Grammar (Nitsuh Abebe) ◊
Ill Doctrine ◊
A London Salmagundi
Dau.pe ◊
Words and Music ◊
Petites planétes ◊
Gorilla vs Bear ◊
Herohill ◊
Silent Shout ◊
Clouds of Evil ◊
The Dolby Apposition ◊
Awesome Tapes from Africa ◊
Molars ◊
Daytrotter ◊
Matana Roberts ◊
Pitchfork Reviews Reviews ◊
i like you [podcast]
Musicophilia ◊
Nicola Meighan ◊
Fluxblog ◊
radiolab [podcast]
CKUT Music ◊
plethoric pundrigrions
Wattled Smoky Honeyeater ◊
The Clear-Minded Creative
Torture Garden ◊
Passion of the Weiss ◊
Juan and Only ◊
Horses Think
White Hotel
Then Play Long (Marcello Carlin) ◊
Uno Moralez
Coming Up For Air (Matt Forsythe)
my love for you is a stampede of horses
It's Nice That
Marathonpacks ◊
Song, by Toad ◊
In Focus
WTF [podcast]
Masalacism ◊
The Rest is Noise (Alex Ross) ◊
Goldkicks ◊
My Daguerreotype Boyfriend
The Hood Internet ◊
things we like in Montreal
st-viateur bagel
café olimpico
Euro-Deli Batory
le pick up
kem coba
le couteau
au pied de cochon
mamie clafoutis
tourtière australienne
chez boris
alati caserta
vices & versa
+ paltoquet, cocoa locale, idée fixe, patati patata, the sparrow, pho tay ho, qin hua dumplings, caffé italia, hung phat banh mi, caffé san simeon, meu-meu, pho lien, romodos, patisserie guillaume, patisserie rhubarbe, kazu, lallouz, maison du nord, cuisine szechuan &c
drawn + quarterly
+ bottines &c
casa + sala + the hotel
blue skies turn black
montreal improv theatre
passovah productions
le cagibi
cinema du parc
pop pmontreal
yoga teacher Thea Metcalfe
Cult Montreal
The Believer
The Morning News
The Skinny


text:
Today, my friend told me she turned down a job as a babysitter because she didn't want to be secretly videotaped, as she knew the people had a nanny cam. I wasn't aware of this when I took that same job a few nights ago and asked my boyfriend to come by. We had sex on their couch. FML
My life is sports, music and wrestling. Not much else to it. (Y)
BeginnerYou have looked through 5 pages of the website. That's a start.
Up and coming moderatorIt's nice of you to help us sort out the submissions, using FML's moderate feature.
I moderated this!In "Moderate the FMLs", you voted Yes on a story that was subsequently published. Well done!
SocialiteYou used FML's private messaging service for the first time. Will they reply? Wait and see…
Back from the partyAn FML submitted between 5 and 6 a.m. can't be very good.
MobilityYou are connected to FML via the mobile site or an app. How modern.
The rules are the rulesReading the comment rules is a really good idea. This badge is sponsored by Alan, our moderator.
Checking you outYou checked out the profile page belonging to one of the last people to have a look at your profile.
Keen reader – Level: student ninjaYou have voted for 15% of the entire collection of FMLs to date.
Keen reader – Level: master ninjaYou have voted for 50% of the entire collection of FMLs to date.
Night owlYou commented on an FML between 1 and 3 a.m.
PerfectionistEditing your comments can help you avoid embarrassment, and it might make you seem smarter.
Who's the fairest of them all?This is now the third time you've changed your profile pic.
I agree, my mouse works.200 "I agree" votes is a good start.
100 kick-ass comments100 of your comments are neither buried or moderated. Popular is your middle name!
It's in the can!Hey, you uploaded your photo, and you're cute as a kitten!
Profile completedYou've filled out the necessary details. Having done so will be much appreciated.
50 quality commentsClicking to reply to a comment is a worthy thing to do. To do so without getting buried afterwards is even worthier.
Consolation prizeYour FML was denied. We had to at least give you a badge to cheer you up a bit.
50 favoritesLove knows no boundaries. You've already added 50 FMLs to your favourites list!
JudgmentalYou have voted "You deserved it" over 100 times.
YDI MasterYou made your 500th "You deserved it" vote.
42See, son, moderating FMLs is like a marathon.0%
Keen reader – Level: godlike ninjaYou have voted for 100% of the entire collection of FMLs to date.6%
Happy endingBrandon may have an FML, but he ended up marrying Jessica. You found this out by reading "FML, the follow up."0%
The return of the thumbYou have thumbed 5000 comments.8%
The thumb strikes backYou have left your thumbprint on 2500 comments.16%
I'm your new creative directorYou had to give your opinion on this new "piece" that the whole world is talking about.0%
Picture this FMLYou left your mark on an illustrated FML's presentation blog article.0%
I liked to the power of 20You've liked 20 FMLs, and your Facebook friends are going to like the FMLs you liked.0%
My diary is a collector's itemThere were only 100 numbered VDM diaries for 2011/2012. I've got one.0%
Tell us what happened nextYou've commented on an FML that you sent in0%
A new thumbYou've used your thumb on 1000 comments.41%
Work is a 4-letter wordVoting on an FML in the "Work" category on a Monday morning between 8 and 9 a.m. How ironic.0%
Tweet, tweetYou have shared 20 FMLs on Twitter, your followers love you and we understand why.0%
One more and it's business timeYou've received 68 Hugs on your profile. Kinky.4%
By happyturtle - / Sunday 1 September 2013 09:57 / Croatia
Today, while I was sleeping, apparently I rolled over towards my fiancé and told him "We gotta save the turtles!" and had a five seconds long fart. Now he won't stop making fun of me. FML
By fartz - / Saturday 31 August 2013 06:04 / United States
Today, I told my boyfriend that, due to my low self-confidence, all my bras are push-ups. He yelled, "EVERYTHING I KNEW IS A LIE" and stormed out. FML
By Anonymous - / Friday 23 August 2013 14:29 / United States
Today, I actually had to explain to my husband why his habit of wiping his boogers off into our baby's hair has to stop. FML
By grossedout - / Thursday 29 August 2013 16:26 / United States - Endicott
Today, I asked my boss for a raise, explaining that another shop offered me a job at a higher rate, but I would stay if he would offer me the same. Instead, he fired me then called the other shop and said I was fired for failing a drug test. FML
By nowork / Wednesday 28 August 2013 03:21 / United States - Liverpool


text:
Great Neck Farmers Market: Open For Business - Village Green
Hours: 9am-1pm Thursdays
Ages: All
Middle Neck Road between Beach Road and Arrandale Avenue - 516-487-2975
Great Neck, NY 11024
Description: Looking for some fresh produce or eggs? For some pasta, tomato sauce, fresh baked breads and pies? Or maybe some locally made pickles or cheese? The Great Neck Farmers Market has a wide range of high-quality, locally-produced offerings. You can even purchase freshly made doggie treats. Call 516-487-2975, x 123 for more information.


text:
Somers New York Schools
Somers New York Schools
Alumni Information (Recently Updated)
Where are they now? Who married whom? Who is still single?Go
Select a School Type
- Private High Schools
- John F Kennedy Catholic High S
- Public Middle and Jr High Schools
- Somers Ms
- Public Elementary and Middle Schools
- Somers Is


text:
Each month, Rated People connects over 50,000 homeowners with quality tradesmen - simply enter your job details in the form above to get started.
We'll match your job to the relevant tradesmen in your area - those interested will pay to see your contact details and call you to quote.
As each tradesman expresses interest in quoting on your job, we'll send you their profile and ratings to help you choose the right one for you.
After the work is complete, return to the site and rate your tradesman based on their quality of work, reliability and value for money.
Added 23/11/2016
Need to take out existing kitchen tap and install new one + fix dripping bath tap
Added 05/06/2016
Repair toilet Bottom inlet flush in ensuite leaks The item to be repaired is easily acce...
Added 24/03/2016
Small leak coming from loft and staining bathroom ceiling Believe it to me an intermittent...
Added 28/05/2015
Install tap(s) Kitchen tap drips and is leaking under sink. Has also caused connection to...
Added 30/01/2013
I need a new Kitchen Tap, Bathroom basin tap and a new Electric shower fitted.
Added 27/01/2013
Dripping tap. Probably needs replacement washer (ceramic). Timing: ASAP
Punctual, Professional and good value, will use HEating again and recommend rated people for finding quality tradespeople.
Right from getting a quote from Matt he was the only choice. The detail he gave when pricing up the job was first rate. He answered all questions I had and offered great advice throughout the quote and the job itself. Weather hampered the job but he still turned up and patiently waited in the van until the rain cleared. Great communication when he was unable to turn up due to persistant rain and gales blowing. I advise all users to use Matt. The cheapest quote and excellent workmanship. Thanks Matt .
Very impressed with work - finally I got someone who was able to diagnose & fix long-standing problem with overflow. Would definitely recommend!!
Managing your job is easier with the Rated People Homes App, download it today.


text:
Whales Guaranteed Tour! - 1 day tour from Panama City to the Pearl Islands on a new 60 person fast motor catamaran. Spend a relaxing day out with the whales and dolphins on our stable and spacious boat with ample seating, visibility, shade and bathrooms. The most comfortable whale watching tour in all of Panama!
$150 Adults $85 Kids 5-12 years Kids under 5 are free
Lunch on Contadora Island included in price.
To book our Whales Guaranteed tour
Whales Guaranteed Tour
Join us February 16-19, 2016 for a trip to meet the friendly Gray whales in San Ignacio Lagoon in Baja Mexico. Plus an optional 1-2 day Blue whale watching tour from Loreto, Mexico, February, 13-14, 2016. Led by Anne Gordon de Barrigón and Laurie Reyon. Group meditations and animal communications will be held daily to share the wisdom from the whales.
Panama is the only place in the world where Humpback whales from both the Northern and Southern hemispheres come to breed and give birth. In our peak season July-October we have over 2,000 whales with a 99% chance to see them. Panama is so much more than a canal with rainforests, rich biodiversity, culture and history.
We are dedicated to offering Educational, Respectful, Responsible, and Fun whale and dolphin tours. We interact with Whale and Dolphin Watch operators around internationally to promote responsible whale and dolphin watching worldwide.
Sign up for our newsletter and receive a free downloadable video of our 2013 whale watching season, including Humpback whale songs, video and photos.
Here in Panama we have resident pods of Pantropical spotted dolphins, Pacific bottlenose dolphins, Short-beaked common dolphins and Spinner dolphins and more.
Full day tours from Panama City and Contadora Island, 3 hour tours from Isla Contadora, Multiple day tours and 5 day spiritual Whale and Dolphin Wisdom Retreats.
Did you know that Panama is the only place in the world where Humpback whales from both the Northern and Southern hemispheres come to breed and give birth?
watch Whales with Experts


text:
Engineering (Mechanical) MEng
4 Year MEng Honours Degree
UCAS Codes
Institution: U80
Course: H301
Short title: MEng/MechE
We aim to take students who are qualified to a high A-level standard or equivalent and to equip them with skills of analysis and design such that they can be employed as professional engineers in virtually any sector of the mechanical engineering industry.
Interwoven with the engineering teaching are subjects such as 'Management and Mastering Entrepreneurship' which will give students the broader skills required to progress rapidly to positions of technical and managerial responsibility once they leave university.
Obtaining Chartered Status
This degree programme is accredited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE). The MEng Engineering (Mechanical) degree fully meets the exemplifying academic benchmark requirements, for registration as a Chartered Engineer (CEng).
Features of the Degree Programme
Mechanical Engineering courses at different universities have many subjects in common, and so we think that it is helpful if we point out some of the distinctive features of our degree programme.
- Design is taught in all four years to give students plenty of experience in applying engineering knowledge, but while it occupies a relatively small proportion of the first year, design becomes a major part, one quarter in fact, of third and fourth-year studies.
The optional subjects of the third and fourth years have been arranged into the following three groupings:
- Applied Mechanics and Control
- Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics
- Management and Production Engineering
We chose the approach to forming subjects and subject groupings in terms of their academic content (e.g. materials or thermodynamics or mechanics) rather than in terms of applications (e.g. automotive, aeronautical or marine engineering) as we believe that it offers broader job opportunities because it does not focus on one particular industry.
First and second-year Mathematics subjects concentrate on
the applications of mathematical techniques, just as much as on the techniques
themselves. This makes the subject more interesting and relevant, but it is no
less demanding. The subject has been renamed 'Modelling and
Analysis' to reflect this change of emphasis.
Our degree classification is made on the basis of marks obtained from all four years of the course, with more weight given to marks in the later years.
Further information
Please see our FAQs page.
If you require further information please contact our Undergraduate Administrator:
Jonathan Howard
UCL Mechanical Engineering
University College London
Torrington Place
Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 7178
Fax: +44 (0)20 7388 0180
This shows the degree structure confirmed for 2014-15. We are continually updating and improving our programmes so the content for 2015 onwards may differ. The degree programmes are organised on a course-unit basis, with 4 units taken in each year. These 4 units are achieved by a combination of lectures, tutorials, seminars, project work, design studies, practical computer work and laboratory experiments.
All first and second year subjects are compulsory
* Preferred options - all other third and fourth year subjects are compulsory
At the end of the second year, students on the MEng programmes are required to select one of the three routes below to follow through their 3rd and 4th years.
Click on the subject links to view Module Descriptors.
|First Year
|Second Year Options
Students must select one minor.
For more information about minors available to students please visit the Engineering Sciences website:
- Link to Engineering Sciences website
|Third Year
|MECH304P Elasticity and Plasticity
|MECH302P Vibrations and Control
|MECH303P Advanced Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics
MSIN3001 Project Management
|MECH3002 Individual Project
|Please note that MSIN3001 Project Management will be taking place in Term 2.
|Third Year Options
Students must select two minors.
For more information about minors available to students please visit the Engineering Sciences website:
- Link to Engineering Sciences website
Fourth Year Engineering (Mechanical)
|MECHM013 Group Design Project
|CEGEM013 Financial Aspects of Project Engineering and Contracting
|Fourth Year Options
|Students must choose 1.5 course units' worth of optional modules. All modules are worth 0.5 course units unless stated otherwise. No more than one module (0.5 course units) may be at Level 6.
|MECHM01P Engineering in Extreme Environments
|MECHM02P Health Assessment of Engineered Structures
|MECHM004 Materials and Fatigue/Fracture Analysis
|MECHM007 Heat Transfer and Heat Systems
|MECHM009 Electrical Machines and Power Electronic Systems
|MECHM020 New and Renewable Energy Systems
|MECHGB04 Applications of Biomedical Engineering
|MECHGB08 Medical Imaging
|MSIN3002 Marketing Communications (Level 6 module)
|MSINM703 Organisational Change
|MECHGN01 Ship Dynamics (worth 1.0 course units)
|An elective module worth 0.5 course units at Level 6 or 7
Students must take at least one of the MEng-only optional modules, MECHM01P and MECH02P.
Due to timetabling limitations the following restrictions apply on particular combinations of modules:
· Students may only take ONE module out of: MECHM004, MECHGB08, MSIN3002
· Students may only take ONE module out of: MECHM007, MECHM009
Please note: The choice of modules maybe constrained by availability and timetabling.
Programme Summary
A key feature of the fourth year is the Group Design Project in which you undertake a single major design assignment under the guidance of a member of academic staff. This course has been arranged to develop your skills in working as part of a team. This is necessary because most projects in industry are so complex that they involve teams of engineers working together to achieve an overall objective. The task that you will be undertaking is one set by an industrial company as this makes it as near as possible to the kind of work you will be undertaking in industry. For the fourth year the examination period is moved forward to the end of the second term, leaving you free to concentrate on your assignment during the final term. It allows you to draw on knowledge gained in earlier years in order to tackle a really challenging assignment. The second core subject is Advanced Computer Applications in Engineering in which you learn about some of the latest computer software applications in such fields as finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics. These topics are introduced in earlier years but only studied in some depth during this fourth-year subject. As with the third year, the remaining subjects will not be discussed in detail as they are mainly areas of study that were started earlier in the course.
For comprehensive details on UCL's application procedures and sources of funding please click here - How to apply
Page last modified on 21 aug 15 16:59


text:
Dear Frontline Community,I have been using Frontlime for almost exactly one year now. In that time, I have received about 35,000 messages and sent about 8,000. Thanks for providing such a usable…Continue
Started this discussion. Last reply by Morgan Belkadi Apr 16, 2010.
Hi!Is it possible to put the contact name in the message? I'm not seeing this as an options, and neither <Name> nor $(Name) work. Or should I be using clickatell for this?Thanks!RyanContinue
Started this discussion. Last reply by kiwanja Apr 14, 2010.
Hi All,I am wondering what the difference is between a message in the "Outbox", a "Pending" message, a "Sent" message and a "Delivered" message. In a moment of little foresight, I sent ~1900 messages…Continue
Started this discussion. Last reply by kiwanja Apr 22, 2010.
Ryan Knight has not received any gifts yet
© 2017 Created by FrontlineSMS Admin. Powered by


text:
About "Lemon or Blueberry?" by Leroy_Hornblower
Lemon or Blueberry?
Design by Leroy_Hornblower
awesome! 5$
Love it on black! :D
cute.....def black
better on black for sure
Yay, I knew exactly who drew this the second I saw it! $5
love it!
hahaha fun :D
black! 4$
I want this as a print!
sweet! Great use of the tee color! Brown is way better in my opinion! It integrates a little easier.
so cute. i just love your style.
zackOlantern on Jul 22 '09
Yay, I knew exactly who drew this the second I saw it! $5
Yes. And this is called STYLE. And he has a lot and I really love it! Great stuff
Prefer the black, Awesome!
Gimme a vote? http://www.threadless.com/submission/222160/It_s_a_beautiful_judgment_day
i choose chocolate
haha aw pretty pretty


text:
The Nature
Home | Our Education Programs | Our Publications | Content Areas | Writings Ordered by Author | Resources and Links | Contact Us | Search
In Context #16 (Fall, 2006, pp. 13-17); copyright 2006 by The Nature Institute
The Other End of the Cow
Judith Madey was a student in the Institute's eleven-week-long spring course on the Goethean approach to science. Each student had an independent observation project. Judith, who worked with the cows at Hawthorne Valley Farm for ten years, chose to observe cows. This essay and the accompanying sketches are among the results of her studies. CH
Ever since I started working with cows ten years ago, I have been fascinated, intrigued, scared, upset, and amazed by these animals. My relationship to them changed over the years. It went from being frustrated about my inability to have any impact on them, such as when I was trying to convince them to walk out of the barn on cold winter days, to enjoying the quickness and lightness with which they charged down a particular hill if weather and air were just right. Mostly, though, I am filled with wonder every time I see how playfully, yet methodically they feed on grass. Seeing cows graze on a good piece of pasture gives me great joy and satisfaction, and watching them chew their cud has a calming effect on me.
One struggle in my project at The Nature Institute course was to observe an animal that I had worked with so closely for quite some time. Where do you start when it seems like you have seen it all? Luckily, it is quite easy to figure this out when you deal with cows: eating. Once I finally sat down for the first time to watch my young steer (a castrated bull) graze, I was immediately humbled. I realized how much I had superficially assumed and how much I had only read about, but never observed myself. After that initial observation, it was not hard anymore to figure out what to observe, and as I went along, there were more and more questions, not fewer.
The group I was observing consisted of two young animals of my own and ten that came from the farm I had bought mine from. I tried to go out to my little herd almost every day for at least ten minutes. I often took my sketchbook along to make some simple line drawings. Back home, I would at some point during the day take the time to remember what I had seen, painting as clear an inner picture of it as I could. This proved to be a crucial step to gaining any insights and was a fundamental aspect of the goethean approach as taught to us by Craig Holdrege. I then would return the next day to attend to what I had not been able to picture clearly. Often, I would also just soak in the animals in their surroundings and try to do some simple line drawings.
In the whole process of observation and repicturing, I realized that actual insights can't be forced. Instead, they show themselves to us in unexpected moments and are a gift. They appear much like drops of dew on a crisp morning, easily overlooked, but each containing a little gem.
The Grazing Cow
Cows are not particularly elegant animals. They have nothing of the grace that cats display. They are not affectionate and loyal like dogs. Nor do they have the expressiveness of pigs. They definitely are not nervous like mice scurrying around, nor are they smart like goats. Just looking at them, one would not call them beautiful, at least not compared to a lion or a horse. Everything about them shows weight, heaviness, and downwardness. "A big box on sticks" somebody told me, and in that context, "they are easy to draw." Well, that latter statement made me look twice - cows are actually very hard to draw, as other people have confirmed.
After giving the cows a new piece of pasture (which I did about every four days), they usually were very eager to eat. They would put their head down as soon as they were on the new grass and focus their entire attention toward the activity of carefully selecting the best grasses. Superficially it looks like they are just chomping down the grass indiscriminately, their head moving each time they take a bite. However, I was surprised to see how carefully their tongue wraps around what they want to eat. If anything they do not like enters the mouth, they immediately work it back out, although this reverse movement is not so easy. The cow usually looks as though she is making funny faces.
The tongue is very active during grazing. It moves out of the mouth, wraps around the grass, and rips it off. The grass enters the mouth and gets swallowed without much chewing. Watching cows eat hay in a barn setting, it looks like a continuous stream of hay is entering the mouth. On pasture, this stream is a bit more interrupted since the cows need to rip off the grass. A quick and subtle, but very clear upward movement of the head assists this movement of ripping. The cows also move along as they graze. They take about three to five bites for every step.
The activity of the nose becomes more pronounced as the grazing continues. As the cow gets less hungry, she spends more time just sniffing. The eyes are directed forward, the ears point to the ground, and the legs move the body along in a rhythm determined by the activity of the tongue. Even the legs seem to "point" forward. On a certain level, the whole cow takes part in the grazing.
Cows make many passes across a field, grazing one area multiple times. It is hard to see a feeding trace after just one pass; it looks as if they have not eaten anything. The cows seem to just bite the tops off for a while. But at some point the whole pasture looks grazed down. I was fascinated by the intricate movement pattern the cows engage in while eating. They hardly ever stand still during grazing and rarely move in a straight line for very long.
The herd moves together to the watering place unless the water is very close. There is a moment in which all of a sudden movement comes into the herd, directed less by the grass than by the need to drink. The grazing continues, but there are more steps between bites. Often salt is taken in at this time.
The Resting Cow
Often, when I arrived mid-morning or at noon, the cows were lying down. They were usually all near one another - little clusters of two or three animals in close proximity, with bigger distances between clusters. These little clusters often consisted of animals that had been raised together in small groups as calves, while they were still being fed milk.
Resting, the cows still express a heaviness. The head is up, but it leans toward the earth; it is heavy. Smaller animals often curl their heads in toward their bodies or lie stretched out on their sides. Older cows usually lie with their head up. Finding an older cow stretched out or with her head curled in is usually a sign of illness.
When a cow lies down, it is not a graceful movement. She goes down on her front limbs first, one after the other. Then she folds in her rear legs. About six inches above the ground, she lets herself fall, giving herself over to gravity. It always looks very awkward to me, as if a cow's legs were not really suited for lying down or getting up.
In pathological conditions, for example after a hard birth, cows may be unable to get up. This is a worrisome time for the farmer because he or she knows only too well that if that cow does not get up soon, she will never get up again. The heavy weight of the body crushes the muscle in the legs. It is quite a job to deal with these animals, since it is not so easy to turn them from side to side to avoid tissue destruction (necroses).
While lying, cows are usually quite alert, which shows in their ear movement. The ears will turn to where a noise comes from. But occasionally, when I found them lying down, I had to call on them a few times to get any reaction. They seemed to be deeply asleep. They seemed a bit embarrassed once they realized how close I had gotten.
They usually chew their cud while lying. One piece is propelled up from the rumen through the throat to the mouth, moving against gravity. Once there, it is subject to sideways chewing. The cow will rechew a bite fifty to sixty times before it goes back down. The next one comes up in no time, and again gets chewed fifty to sixty times.
To get up, a cow pushes up with both its hind legs. Then it puts one front leg down, and then the other. It looks to me as if it is not as much a pushing up of the body as a pushing away of the ground.
Social Interactions
Working with older cows, I had often observed fighting whenever I joined new cows into an existing group, even if earlier the new animals had been part of the herd. There is a clear sequence to the fighting: first two animals approach each other sideways, with heads down. Next they lock heads and push against each other with tremendous force until one gives way and turns around to run away. The other animal chases her for a period of time, never very long. Often, the strongest animal of the existing group picks the first fight, followed by the next strongest one. The weaker ones usually fight the longest.
When I introduced my two steers to the group of heifers that became my little herd, I expected to see this kind of behavior. Some animals definitely fought, but I also watched a lot of mutual licking and moving around together. It took me a while to figure out what was going on. Since both my steers had spent their first four weeks on the farm the heifers came from, they had spent that time together with some of the animals now present. These animals did not fight with each other. Instead they went right back to the formerly established order. They had recognized each other, despite the separation spanning weeks.
The bond of calves that grow up together is a strong one. They tend to graze in close proximity and like to move close together when the whole herd is moving. I have noticed cows getting lost when they came into the barn the first few days after I had shipped off a cow they grew up with.
Once the relationships in my little herd were established and all the animals were used to eating grass as opposed to hay, they became one group, a herd. There is something magical about a herd. Each individual animal moves along its own path or occupies its own space lying down, yet it does not fall out of the context of the herd. Seeing a cow by itself apart from the herd is unusual. In fact as a herdswoman, as soon as I would see an animal by itself, I knew there was trouble. The "trouble" of finding a cow calving was usually a pleasure, finding a cow sick not.
Watching the herd graze, I observed a few times in their movement something similar to what we had studied about the growth of plants: expansion and contraction. The leading animals would walk ahead while the last ones still stayed behind, and the group would become strung out. Then the back ones would start to close in, bringing everybody along until the group had become much tighter, at which point the leaders started to spread out again.
Much of the interaction between the individual animals happens through mutual licking. In fact, the tongue is part of everything a cow does: she eats by ripping the grass off with her tongue; the tongue moves the cud back and forth during the resting time. A cow licks her calf as soon as it is borne. Older animals interact with each other by licking each other. The bull licks the rear end of a cow to make her urinate so he can smell whether she is in heat. He will lick her around the shoulder blades to settle her down so he can breed her. The rhythm of the cow moving as she grazes is determined by the activity of the tongue.
Relations to Qualities in the Environment
The cow stands on the ground with its four feet. It feeds from the ground; its head is directed toward the earth when grazing. Its body is big; I often wondered how these thin legs could ever carry such a heavy weight. The rump hangs down; it is wider at the bottom than the top. Even the tail hardly ever goes higher than the back. If it does it is merely in annoyance at the flies. Every thing speaks of weight.
One morning I came early and just knew I had to go watch even though I had a lot of pressing things to do. As I approached the pasture I became aware of two deer grazing in the paddock adjacent to the heifers. As they saw me, their heads went up - way up! How little effort it took those deer to lift their heads! And when they bent back down to graze, it looked like they had to actively put their head down, much more actively than the cows.
For all the heaviness that the cow shows in her body, there is also an expression of a force going the other way: for one, the horns grow up. Then, whenever the cow swallows, the food is brought into the rumen against gravity. And when the cow chews her cud, again the food moves against gravity from the rumen to the mouth.
Cows that are not fed minerals and especially salt become lethargic and unresponsive. There was another group of heifers across the road from the ones I was primarily observing. For a while this spring, they seemed to graze aimlessly, there was no coherence to their behavior. I asked the woman who took care of them if they had salt, which prompted her to go get some. When I came back the next morning, I had forgotten about my conversation with her. I was struck by the difference in behavior of the animals, though, and then remembered what we had talked about. The heifers were much more alert, moved more purposefully, and looked up when I came close and interacted with each other again. Salt seems to be important for other ruminants, too, more so than for other species of animals. I do not really worry about feeding my cat or dog any salt, but I definitely think about it when it comes to cows.
The cow takes the salt in with her tongue, carefully licking up small amounts. In between, she licks all around her mouth and will extend her tongue into her nostrils and clean any salt away that might have collected there.
Cows do not like to have wet feet. They would much rather stand on dry ground. In rain, they all turn away from the direction of the rain, arch their backs, huddle together, and wait for better times. A clean water source for the cows to drink from is a very crucial part of keeping them healthy. Lactating cows drink up to thirty gallons of water a day. Cows also develop a tremendous amount of saliva every day, and they circulate many pints of blood to produce one pint of milk.
On hot days, the cow needs to drink water to cool down. She takes the water in through her mouth by suction. The tongue is not as active while drinking as while eating. The water moves through the body and is excreted at the other end. The cow perspires some, but she mainly cools down by drinking and excreting.
>From what I have observed, breathing is not developed as strongly in the cow as in a dog, for example. It's something that more or less happens to the cow, not something she takes up as an activity. The big digestive system can easily put weight on the lungs. For this reason, cows would rather stand facing uphill than downhill. In that position, the weight of the digestive organs pushes toward the tail, away from the lungs, and makes breathing easier. Again, the cow lives strongly in gravity.
Cows are also very sensitive to the quality of the air. If the air gets stuffy in a barn, too humid, too warm, the cows will very quickly get sick. I had a barn full of cows with diarrhea once, and another time I had a pneumonia outbreak, just because the temperature went up over night when I thought it was too cold to leave the fan on. I would rather deal with frozen pipes than sick animals, and so I started running fans more often.
Cows get pneumonia easily if some water gets into their windpipe. They cannot really cough, and they show general distress most strongly in their breathing. They are also very sensitive to wind.
Cows see, but a visual impression usually gets verified by sniffing, or even licking, the object. Depth perception is minimal. Sometimes a cow refuses to go under a fence held high or step over a wire put on the ground. To them, the fence seems to be a vertical plane; as soon as it is out of the way completely, the cow walks through without hesitation.
A change overnight in a visual appearance can affect cows strongly. I have experienced the whole herd being turned around by the lead cow because the neighbor put a tablecloth on a table where there had been no tablecloth for weeks before. The same neighbor hung out some laundry after the cows went out. On their way in, some of them spooked and I literally had to take down the pants hanging there to get them to the barn. Anything dark, especially black, makes them hesitate to walk by. The sense of sight is not as refined as the sense of smell and taste. The fact that anything new takes a long time to get used to again suggests heaviness. Dealing with cows, I really learned to slow down. It just does not help to hurry and force them.
Cows have another, more indirect but essential relation to air and light: I mean their relation to grasses. The short description of grasses that follows does not do justice to them, but may at least hint at the relation to air and light I sense.
Grass has long, narrow, blade-like leaves that do not really unfold. Looking at them, one can see that at least half the leaf stays rolled up around the stem. Grasses show amazing strength in holding their stem upright. The flower emerges through the stem. One can find it fully formed early on if one carefully slits the stem open in the middle of May. The flower is nothing spectacular at first sight. There is not much color, the flowers are small and inconspicuous. The plant seems to be all about stem.
Grasses rarely grow alone; they form a strong community and cover a lot of ground. By the way they grow, they allow other plants to grow alongside them: They do not create much shade and often help support other more vine-like plants. Often we find clovers alongside them, but also many other flowering plants.
Grasses grow up straight to the sun and bloom just before and around St. John's Day (June 24) when the days are longest and the light is strongest. Their pollination happens by the wind, unlike many other plants that are pollinated by insects. It is an amazing sight to see the wind move across a meadow and see the ripples it creates on the many, many grass plants. To me, grasses live in light and air.
When the cow eats grass, she takes into herself the light and air as the grass expresses it. Looked at in this way, the cow takes in air and light through the activity of her tongue and mouth in a manner similar to how she takes in earth and water.
I don't think I will ever look at a cow the same way as before. We farmers often deal with the rear end of the cow - probably eighty percent of our time is spent milking the udder, scraping manure off the floor of the barn, and taking the manure out. We do feed them, but often the cows are not in the barn when that happens. Often we know a cow better when we see her udder than her face. When I look at cows now, fully knowing the importance of milk and manure, I also see "tongue" - the other end of the cow - as a place where the cow intensively meets the world.
|About Us | Become a Friend | Bookstore | Contact Us | Search | Calendar of Events | Our Education Programs | Our Publications | Content Areas | Writings Ordered by Author | Resources and Links | Home


text:
"Nissan CABSTAR drivers found car parts cheaper and faster with PartsGateway in the last 12 months"
At PartsGateway, our mission is simple - to save you time and money on your CABSTAR Parts. Whether you are looking for a better deal on your car parts, need spares quickly to get your Nissan back on the road or are struggling to locate some hard to find bits, we are your perfect parts partner.
Why spend hours trawling auction sites, endless calls to motor factors or the shock of your local Nissan main dealer quote when PartsGateway can do the legwork for you.
So how much can you save today? Enter you vehicle reg and let's find out.
"drive down the cost of your Nissan CABSTAR Repairs"
- SAVE TIME - why spend hours contacting car parts suppliers when we can do it for you - for FREE
- SAVE MONEY - 93% of Nissan drivers could save on their car parts compared to the main dealer.
- THE EXPERTS - our network of Nissan specialists have unrivalled expertise in the CABSTAR model.
- PEACE OF MIND - Read 1000's of independent reviews from satisfied Nissan CABSTAR drivers
Find your perfect parts partner for FREE in under 2 minutes & solve your parts headache!


text:
Jetboy's DXM Chronicles
The following DXM trip reports are from Jetboy, a dedicated Delsym tripper. Most of them are from DXM polystirex, and a high amount of it. Enjoy
First Report
Date: Friday June 27, 1997
Dose: 510mg 7:10pm, 510mg 11:00pm
Brand: Delsym DM - dextromethorphan polistirex
Other: Cannabis
Showed up at at Daphne's party at five-something. After sitting around listening to music for a bit we went off to get some flashing keychains a friend had at his house. Played with some waterguns there, then Erin suggested cough syrup. Went to PharmaPlus with Erin and Showball and Erin bought a bottle for herself and I. We sat down on steps near the drugstore, and within sight of the police station. Erin downed her bottle and a cop walked by. We went away from the police station back towards Daphne's place and I downed my bottle over the subway tracks - "Trespassers may be electrocuted" - and we continued back to Daphne's. Twenty minutes and Erin started feeling the effects. It took me over ninety minutes. Took a five-dollar bet and french kissed Jon. It was fun. Went back to get more with Erin, Dave and Luis, but PharmaPlus was closed. Went back to the party. Was told that Shoppers Drug Mart was 24 hours. Went there with Erin and Snowball. Snowball bought a bottle for himself and I. Back at Daphne's we drank them. Then Daphne wanted some. Went back to Shoppers Drug Mart yet again. Daphne and Erin bought a 150ml/900mg bottle and split it. Walked around the streets a bunch. Went to a parky-thing and started to feel really good. Ease of physical movement and wicked feelings while looking at the sky. Went back to Daphne's. Saw the last of the party ppl off. Sat on the porch while time slowed down. Daphne's sister Sonya returned with her bf Dave and brought out some industrial-strength bud. One toke and I was gone. So, apparently, were Erin, Snowball and Daphne. Time stopped. Got down on the grass and *became* Jackie Chan. Kept saying "I am Jackie Chan" and doing martial arts moves that I could _never_ get my body to do while not on dex. Someone brought out blankets and I "slept" (not a wink) on the grass with the other three. Rubbed my leg up against Erin, being horny, but she covered her face with her hands which was a clear sign she didn't like it. I stopped. We lay there on the blanket outside all night. Got kicked out at eight o'clock. Went home.
Second Report
Date: Sunday June 29, 1997
Dose: 510mg 9:10pm
Brand: Delsym DM - dextromethorphan polistirex
Other: Alcohol
Showed up at Nic's, hung around for a while, drank the bottle and then a Snapple iced tea. Drank some beer and stuff. Was buzzed. Was tormented over drinking cough syrup by my bitch of an ex-gf and her loser of a new bf. Got Leor to drive me to the "24 hour Shoppers Drug Mart" which closed at 12. Fuck. Went back, was teased more. Slept a little bit. Got up with the rest of the ppl. Was teased more. Went home. I'm never taking just one bottle again, it'd have been better to just drink a few beers if that's all I'm getting, with the addition of ppl bugging me for drinking cough syrup.
Third Report
Date: Friday July 4, 1997
Dose: 900mg 10:00pm
Brand: Delsym DM - dextromethorphan polistirex
Other: Alcohol, Nicotine
Showed up at Matt's and drank the bottle at ten o'clock. Took quite a while to get the bottle down, I almost puked a few times while drinking it (the other two times it was very easy to drink the syrup). Had a couple beers. Smoked a couple cigarettes (I'm not a smoker). Took two hours for the effects to start, then they really got strong. Drank a bit more. The being stoned was really fun. I was so incredibly stoned, I couldn't stop saying "I'm so fucked up" and could hardly hear my own speech. Time got really slow (I asked ppl what time it was every two minutes), I got really energetic. I kept forgetting ppls' names. When I moved to another room in the house, a few minutes later I'd forget there was a world outside of it. Apparently, so I was told, I was actually quite good at climbing stairs. I was so amazed when I went up some stairs and realised the house had an upstairs part with bedrooms and such. Then things got fucked up. I thought I was going to be stoned forever. Not in the sense that the trip was lasting a long time and I wanted it to end, but I *really* thought I'd be stoned for life... I thought that I'd never get to university. I thought I'd be completely fucked up forever. That I'd be a druggie who never became anything, that I was the epitome of dysfunctionality. Then, this is what really scared me--I forgot what a family was. The idea of parents became *so* abstract. I lost the idea of living with parents. I thought that parents were like God--that they existed but I couldn't grasp them, that they weren't physical. I knew that I used to have real parents but couldn't remember what it was like, and was immensely upset I couldn't do so. I was nothing. I thought I might die. My heart was racing. Far after my peak I remembered to get someone to check my heartrate and it was 140 bpm then (around 80 is my regular). I can't imagine what my heartrate would have been when I was at the peak. But I didn't have a single hallucination. I don't think I'm going to take any DXM polistirex again. Time to try a new HBr syrup. Prolly Vicks Formula 44.
Fourth Report
Date: Tuesday, July 15, 1997
Dose: Approx 250mg 7:30pm
Brand: PharmaPlus store brand - dextromethorphan hydrobromide
Other: None
Alright, you may have noticed the small dosage of today's trip. I'll explain why. Snowball and I each brought two bottles which each contained 300mg of DXM HBr to trip on while watching Men in Black today with a bunch of friends. We went to the cinema washroom just before the movie to down the bottles. Snowball managed to get both bottles down, but I couldn't even finish one of them because it was so horrible to drink and I had nothing to wash it down with (grape flavoured and with the minty taste not in Delsym). I came very near to hurling there in the washroom while downing (most of) the bottle. We went back to watch the movie. I felt a little buzz like drinking a couple beers, and Snowball, who had done 600mg, got into it good. He got very itchy (neither of us got the itchies before, although I have a sunburn-like feeling for a half a day or so after the trip). And of course he got pretty fucked up mentally. He got the catch-up eye thingy I think is mentioned in the DXM FAQ, and just felt pretty awesome. After the movie I helped him walk the stairs out of the movie where he went to the alley next to the movie and threw up big-time [ I'll leave out the description of the hurling ] ... He had a lot of pain due to gas buildup, and I hurt a good bit too... Oh, I'd like to mention, no guaifenesin in this syrup, but the sweetening agents were sorbitol and sodium cyclamate and, well, they don't seem to be very good on the stomach in both the keeping-it-down and digestion departments. Anyway, we walked around a bunch with some friends, with me helping Snowball to keep on the sidewalk and eventually Snowball and I went to his place. Just the thought of cough syrup made me sick so before we went to sleep I made a vow never to drink it again. But I did still have a whole bottle and a bit of the stuff left...
Fifth Report
Date: Wednesday, July 16, 1997
Dose: Approx 350mg 2:00pm
Brand: PharmaPlus store brand - dextromethorphan hydrobromide
Other: None
I drank the bottle-and-a-bit down by mixing it with cola after waking up. We called Daphne over to dye her hair blue with the blue left from the bleach/dye job I did on my hair the week before. My stomach hurt for a while and then, after about forty-five minutes I began feeling pretty good and would have gotten into a nice mini-trip if I didn't get it into my head to jump on the stationary bike Snowball had in his basement with a little pulse-thingy you clip on your ear and see how high I could get my pulse up by pedalling as fast as I could. Anyway, I did that, I can't remember what I got my pulse up to, but when I got off the bike I had to go walk slowly to the washroom and throw up. After that the high feeling came down pretty quickly, seeing as most of the syrup was now in the sewer system, not my body. After a fun day of hair dying and other such things I finally went home and wrote these here last two chronicles in Jetboy's Dexperiences. Hopefully I'll get some better chronicles in the future. I think I'm gonna go back to Delsym until Snowball and I can get enough money together to get a good scale, capsules and some DXM HBr from WANMAN.
Sixth Report
Date: Friday, July 18, 1997
Dose: Approx 900mg 11:59pm
Brand: Delsym DM - dextromethorphan polistirex
Other: None
Damn. I think I've already got tolerance. I bought a 150ml bottle of Delsym instead of the Vicks 44 I kept telling myself (and others) that I'd get next because I just couldn't get over having to pay three times as much to get the same amount of DXM and drinking all that crap! I arrived with the rest of the crew at Karen's summer house at around ten o'clock. We set up the tents and stuff and got settled in. Finally, I convinced Karen to let me drink the syrup, having to let her have my share of the night's beer to do so. I drank the bottle down losing one mouthful due to gagging reflex. Effects started in earlier than the last time I drank Delsym (one hour instead of two). I got high and felt wicked but nowhere near as strongly as the last 900mg experience. It may have been due to the fact that I walked around far more the last time. I did have some fun with flips and things again, though. I also had some fun with Danielle (but we won't get graphic here =). All in all, it was a fun night but I didn't get any hallucinations or cool mental effects. I was functioning almost completely normal mentally and for most of the night you couldn't even tell I was high. I'm prolly *still* going to do Delsym again even though I didn't get the effects I wanted because I can't get over how much it'll cost to get 600-900mg of Vicks, and more importantly, the idea of drinking so much icky cough syrup. Maybe I'll do two small bottles for a total of 1020mg next time. I'm still going to look for other higher DXM content syrups whenever I can cos I do want some cool experiences to write up for these chronicles. Hey, there's a party this coming Friday.
Seventh Report
Date: Wednesday, July 30, 1997
Dose: 900mg 10:30pm
Brand: Delsym DM - dextromethorphan polistirex
Other: None
Screw that tolerance theory I had last time I took DXM. This night was amazing! Alright... I was contemplating doing DXM at home while my parents were sleeping but I was really afraid I'd get caught. I went on #dxm and talked about it a bit and figured I'd do it. I went out and got the syrup and went back on #dxm until 10:30 when I finally got myself to drink the stuff down with some Sprite as a chaser. I felt nauseous for a couple minutes, but it passed without incident. The effects started at around 11:50. I went onto a local BBS at midnight and talked to a few friends, only telling one of them that I was on cough syrup, Daphne, who had shared in my first DXM experience. When I was high enough to think it would make it cool, I went outside and lied down on the roof of the car and stared at the stars. I kept thinking about life and God and all sorts of deep philosophical stuff. I came to the conclusion that God really rocks. I guess it's cos I just felt so happy with my life and blame/give credit for things that happen to me to God, so if my life's going great, it must be cos God likes me or something... Anyway, I was really thankful for DXM, a great family, a girl who I just recently started seeing (met her at a party I was supposed to do DXM at but couldn't get the syrup down--thank God, I'd prolly have been too caught up in the trip to pay attention to her). Anyway, I felt awesome and at peace with the universe. I had a walkman on and the music sounded tinny--not very pleasing. That was to change, tho. I went to the park behind my house and sat around and smiled at the word "pot" which was spelled out in these letter things at the park which you turn to spell different three letter words. I went back inside and talked more on #dxm and watched as my typing skills (which aren't too sharp in the first place) deteriorated. I was pissed at the keyboard which had a stuck "r" key due to my spilling Sprite on it earlier. I checked the mirror and I was really pink (my face felt really hot too). I decided to go back outside... I walked around the neighbourhood with the music playing in my ears. The music was completely different now. When walking around, the music felt like it was inside me. And it felt like it fit so well... like the music was the soundtrack to my life. I looked around to see if I could find any kids smoking pot to join them, but the world seemed abandoned. I thought about going to the corner store and buying a popsicle or something but thought better of it. I just went around jumping and twirling around in the streets feeling amazing. Then I went back home and sat on the bumper of the car. Some guy drove up to the house, shoved his hand in our blue box, rifled around, got back into his car and drove off. I was puzzled. I went back inside. I went back on #dxm again (on a different computer, one without a fucked up keyboard). I wondered if there was a "sing" command on irc (I'm new to irc, so I didn't know much about it). Since I wanted one, I went to a talker. I used my girl account, as I do sometimes. It's fun being a girl online--ppl talk to you more, and guys are so friendly. Anyway, I talked to this guy and told him all about DXM. I felt like a midget. And I felt like the keyboard was really far down and I was stretching for it. I was *really* high at this time, and wish I'd closed my eyes cos I know I'd have seen stuff. Anyway, after talking to him for a while, I went back to my room (I never actually used the "sing" command =). I accidentally turned the computer on--it's a Mac and you turn it on by the keyboard and it was on the floor and I was playing with the keys with my feet. I went back on #dxm for a minute or two and then lied down in my bed. I turned the light off and saw black waves and gray/black checker-like patterns--with my eyes open. Sometimes I could see the outlines of stuff in the room and when I shut my eyes I could still see it. Music still felt like it was inside of me (I had the walkman on through the whole experience--it would have been boring without it, I think). Eventually I turned the walkman off and lied down, trying to sleep, even though I knew it was hopeless. Eventually everyone in my house got up and left for work, leaving me all alone. I got up and felt *amazing*. Honestly, I think I felt happier than I have ever felt in my life before. I was so content. Everything was perfect. I ran around the house talking to myself, doing impersonations, making silly noises, acting like a complete child. I was so completely in ecstasy with life. I'm still amazingly happy. And my parents didn't suspect a thing. Definitely the trip.
Eighth Report
Date: Saturday, August 2, 1997
Dose: 900mg 10:45pm
Brand: Delsym DM - dextromethorphan polistirex
Other: None
Okay, this entry is included just because I wanted every trip documented. The reason why it's "just" this is because the trip was about the same as last Wednesday's trip. Except there was no guy who shoved his hand in my recycling box and there were no hallucinations in the dark. There was, however, more going to a talker and teaching someone about the joys of DXM thing and more wandering around the neighbourhood looking for kids smoking pot in parks while feeling cool listening to headphones. This time, a bunch of ppl who were hanging around a car were laughing and talking about "how high this guy walking by" was. =) Again, I felt amazing in the morning. Very talkative (this time my parents were home in the morning and I talked to them). Tomorrow (August 5) I'm probably going to a party and if I can get the money, I'm going to do a pack of Dimetapp Cough and Cold (the only capsules available here with DXM and without acetaminophen and/or guaifenesin) and ten Dramamine (Gravol). This will be my first Dram trip, and my first time on Dimetapp. The DXM will be to help keep me awake since Dram makes you sleepy (y'know, as well as because I wanna be on a DXM high as well). If I do go to the party and take the Dram/DXM, this should be interesting.
Ninth Report
Date: Saturday, August 16, 1997
Dose: 1020mg 11:10pm
Brand: Delsym DM - dextromethorphan polistirex
Other: None
Okay, to follow up, I didn't do DXM with the dram that I mentioned in the last chronicle, so that experience isn't going to be included. Anyway...
I got myself to down two small (85mL, 510mg) bottles of Delsym, and went on #dxm to talk. What followed was *something*...
It's *really* hard to describe. Someone once said "To those who believe, no explanation is necessary. To those who do not believe, no explanation is possible." If you've had this experience, I think you know exactly what I'm talking about, but if you haven't, I don't think I can explain it... but I'll try. I didn't feel like I was God, as some people have said DXM at high doses does, but _damn_! I felt like God was my best friend... Like I knew him intimately. Physically, I was like... well, I've never felt like that before, it was just amazing... No hallucinations as such, but who cares, this was amazing. I sat there and typed *horribly* on #DXM, relating a few things about what was happening to those online, but just being too out of it to say most things. Then... I saw my future! I *saw* it. Fuck... I mean, I know it wasn't actually my future, I don't believe in prescience or any of that crap, but it felt like my future--it felt *so* right... And the weird thing was that I was married to one of the girls on #DXM (we'll leave her nameless, but pretty much all the #DXM ppl know who I'm talking about =) Anyway, I saw my future with her, and we all had a good laugh about it. I really saw it. Well... like, I didn't visually see it, but I didn't just think it. It was like in between the two. Things get really cloudy after this, like time stopped flowing in a linear fashion and I was like jumping back and forth thru the trip, time, everything. I dunno. I got off #DXM and just lied there in my bed. I started pondering everything of importance, and the importance of everything. My future, my past, the universe's future, the universe's past. God, Satan, life, death, heaven, hell, sex, drugs, (no rock 'n' roll, tho =)... I listened to music thru all of this, and the music seemed to bring all these things into my mind... each song would conjure up a new image, a new thought, a new way to look at life, the universe and everything. But none of these words even begin to convey what I really felt. After that I just lost it... The trip lasted _forever_, and I felt so great after that.
Tenth Report
Date: Monday, October 6, 1997
Dose: 270mg 5:15pm
Brand: Sucrets Wild Cherry Cough Drops - dextromethorphan hydrobromide
Other: None
It's an hour or so before I have to leave for night school. I want to try getting high off Sucrets (since I realised that we actually have the DXM-containing ones here) and getting high in school (at least a little), so I decide to go out and get some Sucrets. I had just gone out for a bike ride a couple minutes before, so I'm wondering how to say "mom, I'm going for a walk" without her going "hey, you just went for a bike ride" when she says "why don't you do for a long walk each day so you'll get used to standing on your feet all day?" (I just recently got a job at a warehouse and my feet kill every day). I say "okay" and jet. I check the drug store at the top of my street and find millions of packs of mint Sucrets, but no wild cherry (someone must be like me =). I hate mint (and hear they'll make you puke), so I try to walk fast to a far away drug store (so I get back in time to get to school), but my legs start to kill me cos I'm walking so fast. So I come home, tell my mom my legs are killing cos I was walking too fast, then grab my bike and ride up to the other drug store. I find a bank machine card while at the mall. I get the Sucrets home, tell my mom I found the card and give it to her, eat dinner, then get the Sucrets down. Ick. My jaw hurts from all that chomping. Anyway, off to school. Takes like an hour and a half to kick in, and it's not all that good. We listen to Hamlet on tape while reading along in our books. I keep losing my place, and this dork behind me asks me questions about my brother and what music I like. He asks what I've been listening to while pointing to my walkman and I say "I've been lisnin to the radio". I have to repeat myself cos he doesn't hear me and again I say "lisnin", as if I can't speak properly. It gets better when I go out for my 15 minute break and listen to my walkman thru it. A friend asks me if I smoke and I say "nope, but I do other things". He says "what?" and I reply "I don't smoke, but I'm high". I tell him it's nothing he's heard of when he asks "on what, shrooms?" I come back and we watch the Mel Gibson Halmet and I'm really restless. I can't decide what to do with my arms and legs while sitting at my desk. I get home, talk on #dxm while the dxm fades away and then write this up. Anyway, that's it--come on, it was only 270mg.
Eleventh Report
Date: Sunday, October 12, 1997
Dose: approx 650/700mg
Brand: Delsym DM and cherry Sucrets
Other: None
Okay, so I'm checking out Queen and Yonge streets, Toronto's "cool shopping streets" with my girlfriend Daphne, and we decide to do some DXM. We get to the Eaton's Centre, a big-ass shopping mall and get a 900mg bottle of Delsym and a pack of cherry Sucrets. We also get some Sprite to wash the syrup down with and some Pringles, for salt, because I hear salt sometimes helps hallucinations on DXM. Anyway, we sidle on over to an alley where we drink the syrup and eat the chips (and watch some guy smoke up in a doorway) and I start in on the Sucrets. We go back to the Eaton's Centre to do a little looking around. I get a couple tapes--Chumbawamba's Tubthumper and a double tape of retro. We decide to go to Eglinton Park, a park near where Daphne lives, so we take the subway there and I start feeling the effects of the DXM while on the train. We get to the park and lie down on a hill and I try to listen to the tapes I just bought in my walkman, but it breaks on me. So I listen to the radio instead. Daphne does as well. After a while of sitting there my eyes are fuct and I go running around jumping on rocks and shit. Then we go to this wall and lay on it listening to the same station in both of our walkmans, looking at the sky and shit. I run up and down this little hill near the wall and twirl around and do all sorts of cool shit. Then we had to use the washroom, so we went to some bar and asked the bartender where the washrooms were and then stumbled around getting to them. We walked around a bit until the DXM was nearly all worn off for me and then I went home.
�1998 The Third Plateau
Back to the main page
To Next Trip Story


text:
Politico, please define "walked into"
Blog ››› ››› ERIC BOEHLERT
I want to write headlines for Politico. I really do. Because when you write headlines for Politico you can literally create any "news" story that catches your fancy. You're imagination is free to run wild and you don't have to be bothered with any of the traditional restraints (re: guidelines) that generations of journalists have adhered. Why? Because headlines don't have to match the story and they don't have reflect the actual content. Editors don't mind. In fact, they seem to encourage the misinformation.
The latest comes in the form of this headline: "Obama walks into window," complete with the the caption "D'oh!" The item itself references a New York Daily News piece about the supposed blunder. Here's what the NYDN actually wrote [emphasis added]:
On the way back to the Oval Office Tuesday, the President approached a paned window, instead of the actual door -- located a few feet to his right.
Did Obama walk into a window? No. Does Politico let the facts get in the way of the story it wants to tell? Almost never.
Instructions for signing up and claiming your comment history are located here.
Updated rules for commenting are here.


text:
Terry Peiper has been specializing in "Helping Horses with Their People" for over 25 years as a riding instructor, trainer and clinician. She is certified and was recognized for being one of the Top 50 Riding Instructors in America by the American Riding Instructors Association (ARIA). She is an accredited Richard Shrake Resistance Free ® Trainer/Instructor and a Biomechanics Coach certified by the International Society of Rider Biomechanics.
Terry has more than 40 years horse showing experience at 4-H, A rated, Appaloosa regional, national and world level shows, barrel racing, dressage and side-saddle shows. She also fox hunted and hunter paced regularly for 10 years and was a certified Open Show Judge for over 10 years.
Recognizing the huge need for proper saddle fit not only for her horses but for her students as well, Terry has started the Fit Right Saddle Solutions business. "Helping Horses with Their People and Their Saddles" through personalized saddle fit evaluations. Other services offered include demos and lectures, private and group riding lessons and clinics.
To learn more about Terry, Fit Right Saddle Solutions & Buck N Horse Hollow please visit www.FitRightSaddleSolutions.com
Terry Peiper
Fit Right Saddle Solutions
Buck N Horse Hollow
Website: www.FitRightSaddleSolutions.com
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Phone: (717) 240-0723
6 Buck Dr.
Carlisle PA 17015