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Geeky Girl We Love: Kate of Apartment Therapy
CasaSugar and I share an appreciation for Apartment Therapy, a network of sites that's all about making small spaces more livable, hip and beautiful. In the past few months, I've fallen in love with the network's Home Tech section, which features great tips, tricks and gizmos that will enhance your tech life without costing you a bundle or taking up too much space (we don't all live in homes that can fit giant home theaters, right!).
Home Tech's editor, Kate Mulinix, is just as lovable as the site. She claims she has appreciated good design in small spaces ever since the Barbie bus of her childhood. From her appreciation and understanding of good design, as well as the ability to articulate why it was so, came work in the advertising business when she was six-years-old, writing copy and designing the ads. Technology and the newest tools to increase productivity must run in her blood, as her father had one of the first portable computers that eventually became her first computer, one of the first cell phones (heavy enough to be a boat anchor), and GPS long before it became mainstream.
Kate has been the editor on Apartment Therapy's Home Tech site since it launched in March. I recently tracked her down to interview her about all things geeky. To check out the full interview,
Geeksugar: What element of Home Tech or technology in general interests you the most?
Kate: The best part about my AT:HT gig is being able to connect people with meaningful things that are well-designed and improve the quality of their lives. That's the entire premise of what we do, and though we occasionally divert from that premise to bring news like the Mobile Phone Throwing Competition to our readers, or the coolest, oddest, or most expensive prototype out there, our sweet spot is where technology, design, usefulness and home intersect.
Geeksugar: Do you use a PC or Mac?
Kate: PC, but my next one will likely be a Mac
Geeksugar: How many hours are you online everyday?
Kate: About six, spread out over the course of the day; one-half to two-thirds is for researching and writing for AT:HT. I have a full-time, non-internet-based job besides AT:HT, so I can't be as involved as I would like in all things Apartment Therapy.
Geeksugar: Your first computer was a ...
Kate: Corona PPC-440, billed as a "portable" computer…weighing in at 40 pounds!
Geeksugar: How many gadgets do you carry in your purse? What are they?
Kate: Cell, Compaq iPaq (old PDA, until I upgrade), red iPod Nano, Olympus FE-190 digital camera
Geeksugar: What's a practical home tech or computer tip you use all the time?
Kate: If you have a laptop, stash multiple wireless, laser mice in multiple locations so you don't have to worry about carting around one more thing.
Geeksugar: What are some of your favorite websites/websites that inspire you?
Kate: All of the Apartment Therapy sites, but especially NY and Green. Plus, MoCo Loco, Danny Seo's blog and Dooce.
Geeksugar: How many blog feeds are in your RSS reader?
Kate: I'm old-fashioned when it comes to my RSS reader and don't use it because I like the visual piece of the blogs I read that doesn't come through on the RSS reader. Instead, I use the links on AT:HT's homepage, and my other favorites are planted under the address bar and above the tabs within Firefox. I read about 10 with regularity (usually daily or every-other-day), and another 10-15 semi-regularly (once a week), though I'm also not afraid to go from site to site to site as I'm linked through.
Geeksugar: Who do you think are the top 3 sexiest male geeks in the world?
Kate: My husband, Jonathan; Jon Armstrong, husband of Dooce; and Ryan Opina, a fellow AT:HT editor.
Geeksugar: And sexiest female geeks?
Kate: Heather Armstrong, aka Dooce (her humor kills me every time), Angelina Jolie in Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Kelly Goodman, a fellow AT:HT editor.
Geeksugar: How do you feel about being called a "geek" or "techie"?
Kate: Geek=cool, in the tech blog world, so I'm all over that one! However, in the rest of the world, they still haven't picked up that geek=cool, so they don't yet know how cool I am. I'm just waiting for the inevitable throngs of fans to pick up on this.
Geeksugar: What is your main goal for Home Tech? What do you want your readers to get when they visit?
Kate: I want readers to be able to integrate technology in a way that will improve the quality of their lives, not just have a gadget for the sake of having it. Technology for the home has too much potential, especially when combined with great design, to miss out on the opportunities arriving all the time.
Geeksugar: What is one item you've featured that you had to purchase?
Kate: Haven't purchased it yet, but will when it becomes available I want the Solarjo "Power Purse". It's a handbag with the ability to recharge your gadgets via solar power (the panels are the pattern on the outside of the handbag) feeding the USB port inside. Next phone and camera will definitely have to be USB-rechargeable.
Geeksugar: What's the most useless thing you've featured?
Kate: It's probably useful to someone (see the comment on the post), but I don't want to be talking to someone through my pillow as I'm drifting off to sleep except if I were in a long-distance relationship while in college: perCushion Cell Phone Cushion.
Geeksugar: Did you buy an iPhone?
Kate: Nope. 97 percent of my calls are on the Verizon network, so I'm sticking with that, for now, because then they're "free." If someone hacks it for the Verizon network, then I'd seriously consider.


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bodom_bad_boy wrote:How necessary is Abhidhamma study to ones practice? Specifically to a householders practice? Personally for me it seems excessive. It seems to be for the scholars. Maybe i am completely wrong though? I have studied the Nikayas and have really come to the conclusion that book knowledge does not equal wisdom. If book knowledge was all that was needed for enlightenment i would have been there already. Ajahn Chah reiterates this fact over and over in his teachings. For myself i want to experience the peace that the Buddhas path leads to and not just read about it. Is the Abhidhamma for the scholars only? Is there something to be found in it that i have not already learned from the Sutta Pitaka? Will it show me the way to enlightenment anymore than the Suttas will? Should i add more to my already full hands with the Sutta Pitaka? Thanks.
Elohim said: Apparently it's not all that necessary seeing as how the Buddha didn't bother to teach it to human beings. As the story goes, the Buddha originally taught the "higher Dhamma" to his mother and the other devas in Tavatimsa heaven. After each day of teaching, however, the Buddha would return to the human realm for alms (I guess the food wasn't that good in Tavatimsa heaven). The explanation of how we came to have it is that after his meal, the Buddha would give Sariputta a synopsis of the teaching given that day, which he would, in turn, would teach to his 500 hundred disciples. Of course, opinions vary as to whether the Abhidhamma is necessary. Some people feel that since we are in "degenerate times," the study of Abhidhamma is absolutely essential. There are others, however, who feel differently. As for myself, I think that the Abhidhamma is interesting and worth studying, but I would not go so far as to say that it is necessary.
bodom_bad_boy wrote:How necessary is Abhidhamma study to ones practice?
Element wrote:bodom_bad_boy wrote:How necessary is Abhidhamma study to ones practice?
Offering my opinion, studying Abidhamma is a total waste of time. Ajahn Chah did not study it nor Ajahn Buddhadasa.
If you wish to experience the peace of the Buddhist path, it is important to be grounded in sila. Second, is to develop samadhi. Samadhi is rooted in letting go and abandoning and being free from defiled mind states. This unified consciousness, is the foundation for practise. As Buddha instructed Bahiya in a few sentences: "When seeing, just see; when hearing, just hear; when knowing, just know. There will be no here, there, this, that, coming or going. Just this is the cessation of dukkha". This is the foundation for deeping practise.
Best wishes
Element wrote:Offering my opinion, studying Abidhamma is a total waste of time. Ajahn Chah did not study it nor Ajahn Buddhadasa.
piotr wrote:Hi,
Here is a quote from Ajahn Chah's Key to the Liberation,
Studying the Abhidhamma can be beneficial, but you have to do it without getting attached to the books. The correct way to study is to make it clear in the mind that you are studying for the realisation of truth and to transcend suffering. These days there are many different teachers of vipassana and many different methods to choose from, but actually, the practice of vipassana isn't such an easy thing to do. You can't go and do it just like that; it has to develop out of a strong foundation in sila. Try it out. Moral line, training rules and guidelines for behaviour are a necessary part of the practice – if your actions and speech are untrained and undisciplined, it's like skipping over part of magga and you won't meet with success. Some people say you don't need to practise samatha, you can go straight into vipassana, but people who speak like that tend to be lazy and want to get results without expanding any effort. They say that keeping sila isn't important to practice, but really, practising sila in itself is already quite difficult and not something you can do casually. If you were to skip the sila, then of course the whole practice would seem comfortable and convenient. It would be nice if whenever the practice involved a bit of difficulty you could just skip over it – everybody likes to avoid the difficult bits.
dumb bonbu wrote:i find it useful for mindfulness in day to day life. i was, and still am to tell the truth, a bit daunted by it but i think if you take it steadily then it's not quite as intimidating as you may initially believe.
One day, a famous woman lecturer on Buddhist metaphysics came to see Achaan Chah. This woman gave periodic teachings in Bangkok on the abhidharma and complex Buddhist psychology. In talking to Achaan Chah, she detailed how important it was for people to understand Buddhist psychology and how much her students benefited from their study with her. She asked him whether he agreed with the importance of such understanding.
"Yes, very important", he agreed.
Delighted, she further questioned whether he had his own students learn abhidharma.
"Oh, yes, of course."
And where, she asked, did he recommend they start, which books and studies were best?
"Only here," he said, pointing to his heart, "only here."
The question is also raised whether the Abhidhamma is essential for Dhamma practice. The answer to this will depend on the individual who undertakes the practice. People vary in their levels of understanding, their temperaments and spiritual development. Ideally, all the different spiritual faculties should be harmonized, but some people are quite contented with devotional practices based on faith, while others are keen on developing penetrative insight. The Abhidhamma is most useful to those who want to understand the Dhamma in greater depth and detail. It aids the development of insight into the three characteristics of existence -- impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and non-self. It is useful not only for the periods devoted to formal meditation, but also during the rest of the day when we are engaged in various mundane chores. We derive great benefit from the study of the Abhidhamma when we experience absolute reality. In addition, a comprehensive knowledge of the Abhidhamma is useful for those engaged in teaching and explaining the Dhamma. In fact the real meaning of the most important Buddhist terminologies such as Dhamma, Kamma, Samsara, Sankhara, Paticca Samuppada and Nibbana cannot be understood without a knowledge of Abhidhamma.


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" Address: Church Road / Reedham / Norfolk / NR13 3UA "
Take your kids here if you want them to get cancer and want to re-mortgage your house in the process. The entrance fee is astronomic (not sure why I was surprised by this as it is excluded from their leaflets) particularly given the attractions inside. To be fair, the main play area is one of the better around; but at over £35 for 2 adults and a child one would expect more animals in larger compounds and a larger selection of other attractions.
Don't take a buggy as although this is aimed at young families they gravel the entire site making it extremely hard work to push this around.
Also make sure you bring a packed lunch as you will then not need to eat at the café, where staff are allowed to smoke in the external dining areas. So your children can have their intake of tar and nicotine along with their (deep fried) fish fingers. And the prices here are more exorbitant than the entrance fee! But if you forget your lunch then you should know that Maxi Snaks is inexplicably 50p cheaper than the café on all items.
The rides are not staffed all the time meaning unnecessary waiting times, as well as unnecessary waiting as they forgot to put the fish fingers in the deep fat fryer. And when the staff return to the unmanned rides, they feel it acceptable to amble along and stop for a chat with colleagues en route.
My partner complained to Sue, who was lovely and very understanding and didn't disagree with any of our views. She asked that she complain to Graham, who runs the café and snack bar. He was extremely rude, glared at her, called her "luv" repeatedly and saw no problem with his staff smoking in the family dining areas as it was "outside".
I am somewhat surprised by the number of positive views as the attraction represents to my mind extremely poor value for money. That said, my daughter had an great time but then she, a 4 year old, has no concept of either the entry fee or the damage to her health caused by nicotine and deep fried food.
We went on a boating holiday in the Norfolk Broads. For a trip ashore, we thought we would visit Pettits Animal Adventure Park near Reedham. It was me, my Mum and the children who decided to go, leaving the men behind doing boaty things (and then the pub).
The Park was about a mile away from where we moored in Reedham, a walk that took us along a pleasant country path and across a train-track. First to come into view was the flying elephant ride and the strains of fairground music.
At the entrance, we paid £9.95 per person (child or adult), with a couple of quid off for my Mum as a pensioner. It was cheaper to pay individually with my Mum getting the concession than to buy a family ticket. I wasn't sure about their pricing structure at all: it seemed a bit odd.
We went straight in and bought 4 soft drinks at the Palms cafe, for around £7. It was embarrassing as I had no cash left and the cafe didn't accept cards, so my Mum ended up paying. I went into the gift shop to use the cashpoint afterwards, which was one of those incredibly slow ones that charge you £1.75 for the pleasure of using them. The gift shop was what you'd expect, filled with the usual sort of souvenirs and toys. The cafe was quite nicely set out, with some tables outside as well, but we'd brought sandwiches so ate in the picnic area nearby.
This was right beside the adventure playground, which the children were dying to get to, so they stuffed down their sandwiches. There was a nice little fuzzy guinea pig in a hen-coop in the picnic area. I did wonder if he/she could actually get up to the shelter part as the ramp up was quite steep and thin, and guineas aren't the most gifted tight-rope walkers in my experience (not that I've tried mine, but they just don't seem built for it!) After briefly missing their own guinea pigs, the children raced off to the adventure playground. This had some excellent equipment, some of it fairly challenging, and the pair had great fun.
Once Mum and I had finished our food, we got them out of the play area, and set out around the rest of the park. First we walked around some of the animal enclosures: the Monkey House, which had Tamarins and Marmosets, and aviaries with parrots and storks. From there we came to various oddments, a speaking Humpty Dumpty, wishing well, Santa's Grotto and a miniature train-set (the train had just broken down).
We walked back down again, where we found a pay-to-play remote control car attraction, which took £1 coins. The children enjoyed this but it didn't seem a very long play for a pound. The cars just ran out of charge as the train-ride came into the nearby station, which was handy. The train driver was a bit grumpy-looking (face like a Lurgan spade, the Other Half would've said), but we went on a lengthy circuit of the park. The ride was fun, and especially over bridges made authentic clickety-clack train noises. The plank seats of the carriages could accommodate a single adult per seat.
The children were eager to try some more rides, so we headed there next. On the way, there was a wooden bridge and a wildlife area, where a sign asked you to stop in the middle and imagine you were in the marshlands and see what wildlife you could spot. The answer was none, as all the ducks and moorhens were busy elsewhere in the park - this was the least populated by wildlife area we found! We did see some beautiful moorhen chicks and their mothers later on and got followed for ages by a duckling.
The first ride we tried was the Rocky Roller Coaster. This was quite a bumpy, small roller-coaster and I was glad Mum had decided against joining us on it as her back was hurting - it would definitely have made it worse. It was great fun for the children, who had never really been on a roller-coaster before. The children also went on the Toad of Toad Hall, Alice in Wonderland and Pirate Ship rides. Staff numbers were limited, so it was one operator to two rides, which meant having to wait until they were free to come to the ride you wanted. As it was a quiet mid-week day during term-time, these waits were very short and most of the staff were very pleasant. Presumably during peak times they have more staff on, as I can see wait times becoming too long otherwise. All the rides at Pettits are fairly tame, suitable for younger, say, primary school aged children: older children and teenagers would be bored silly.
The adults wanted to do something else after a few rides, so we dragged the children to look at the lemurs and owls and the petting area, which had ponies, goats and the like. You can buy feed for 70p to give the animals, but we didn't on this occasion. When we passed the Snowy owls again later, they had just been fed: day-old chicks which were lying gorily across the bottom of the aviary, all a bit gross. The birds were in great condition, but none of the animal enclosures seemed all that large.
It was getting towards the time we had to leave, so we missed out on some of the attractions, such as crazy golf, clown show and reptile house. We did let the children have one last go on the slides and the £1 a go Karts in the Driving School as we left. We were disappointed to have to go before we'd got around everything properly: we didn't spend enough time in the petting area and there were other rides we would probably have tried had we the time. I think we spent nearly 3 hours there, and could have easily spent another hour.
The last thing we did was feed the Koi Carp in their pond, with food from the dispensing machine at 20p a pop. These fish were huge, easily the same size as the ducks which were competing with them for the fish-food. The water quality of the pond didn't look that great, having a sort of bubbly scum on the surface, but the fish looked very healthy.
Everything seemed wheelchair accessible with well laid out paths and fairly even surfaces. The toilet facilities were clean and easy to find. We managed to bypass the gift shop entirely, for once, which made me happy and saved money!
Over all we had a great time at Pettits. Some of it seems a bit dated and tired, but the children didn't notice. I'd say it was a nice day out for families with children under twelve, with more than enough to do for a full afternoon or even whole day out.
The Boy (6) says "It was really fun!"
The Girl (11) says "It had quite fun rides and the animals were really cute."
Hello I went to pettits Today and i am so angry the staff were terrible the day was lovely i thought. the staff if i was the manger fire them all and hire all brand new staff.Very Impolite angry did'nt enjoy they jobs rude snobby horrible urggh. im going back when There all fired i would explain what they did but ive ran out of words many Thanks Erika.x
We just spent the day here to celebrate my daughters 2nd Birthday and thought it was a good choice. She certainly enjoyed her day and so did the two sisters and their parents who joined us. The entrance fee is acceptable but would advise you need to be in the park for the majority of the day to get your monies worth, I wouldnt want to pay any more. We didnt have time to see the animals in the petting area and owing to the weather/ time of day some of the other animals/birds were sleeping but if you had time to go round each enclosure you could easily loose a couple of hours. The main rides are free eg mini train, cars, pirate ship, roller coaster, tea cups, flying elepants and lots of different slides not to mention a huge play area too and there is no restriction as to how many times you go on a ride. However, as mentioned by some, there are quite a few of the pay per ride attractions but we just avoided these, especially as some of these were the tired looking ones.
There were a few wasps around but nothing more than anywhere else and I couldnt see anything the park could have done to avoid the problem, no litter bins were overflowing. I can't coment on the food as we took our own however the pic-nic areas are nicely spaced out with plenty of benches, parasols, and bins.
The one bad thing I would say is the toilets! A seperate building that is in serious need of an update and quite frankly just smelt and felt un clean. Only the ladies toilest have baby change unless you walk to the train station toilets so Mum's dont expect a day off, although quite frankly I wouldnt use the baby change because it looked so dirty. My husband ended up changing our daughter's nappy whilst she was standing on the floor in the disabled loo.
We will be visiting this attraction again, especially as return visits are half price during the same season.
It's very expensive and dissapointing for what and where it is. Entrance prices are £9.95 for ALL unless you're under 3! A family of four costs £39...ouch oh but they knock 80p of the individual entry fee phew thank goodness for that!!!! Not sure why they bother as no incentive there..Very few animals if they are out and not that exotic but EVERYTHING else will cost you more once thay have fleeced you for your entry fee. As a local I'd advise going to Wroxham barns instead if you want to pet animals or if you have to, go early and stay all day to get your £40 worth, take your own food, drinks and wasp swatter and just keep telling the kids you've run out of pound coins for the rides...However Bewilderwood is the best day out EVER.....
We live quite close to this attraction and so have been on a number of occassions.
You pay one price per person to get in (a small discount is given for children over 3 and oaps from the adult price and under 3's are free) and then the majority of the things inside are free. Be warned though there does seem to be a growing number of attractions within the site which require a further payment such as the mini bikes, water boats and amusements so don't think that you will only have the entrance cost to pay for.
There are not that many animals but there are a nice mix of birds such as owls and parrots and my kids loved the new gerbil exhibit where you can see them burrowing under the piles of sawdust. The reptile house is also nice (particulalry if the weather turns bad) and being able to feed the goats is also a bonus. We were slightly disappointed that you can no longer go into the field with the goats anymore but you can still feed them through the wooden barriers although more often than not they are never interested in the food.
With regard to the rides there is a nice mix although several of them are looking quite tired and dated and need a lick of paint or maintenance but the bonus is that all the big funfair type rides such as the pirate ship, teacups and merrygoround are included in the price.
We have always found the majority of staff to be friendly and kind to the children although I do understand some other reviewers comments about some not being child friendly.
Don't miss the Bingo the Clown shows and also the crazy golf which are suitable for all ages.
All in all, although this adventure park could do with a bit of updating, it is a nice place to go with small children (probably 7 and under is ideally suited).
Plus if you keep your receipt and bring it next time you visit you get in for half price in the same season you first visited.
In August 09, me, my wife and our two children took a day trip to pettitts. My honest conclusion to our day was I felt rather disappointed. The park requires both redecoration and modernization. The staff although very friendly did not look very enthusiastic about their jobs, very few animals with tired rides for the kids..... The overall entrance price (£10 adults/£10 children, Under 3 go free) was bad value for money, AVOID!
i went to pettitts park today with friend and my 3 year old son and was very dissapointed...After paying the same price for my 3 year old as an adult ticket i then decovered all the rides were not free, you need plenty of pound coins for the little rides (driving school & tractors etc)the wasps are a massive problem maybe if the bins were emptyed a bit more often that might help a little. the toilets are dated and not very clean. Most of the staff didn't look like they enjoyed there job and not child frendly.Saying that my 3 year old enjoyed himself, but i would say not good value for money park needs some TLC and to get rid of all the pound machines, and you should not pay the same for a child & adult ticket....Wouldn't go again ...wendy
Last summer myself, my hubby and two children went on holiday with eight of our family members to the Norfolk Broads , we stayed in a beautiful barn conversation and upon looking through their welcome pack there was a dozen or so leaflets advertising places to go for family's and children. One of these leaflets was advertising Pettitts Animal Adventure Park in Reedham.
The leaflet explained a little of what we were to expect and also had some great vouchers for 5 pound off the tickets, which was great, so I would recommend that you visit the tourist attraction office firstly and see if you can get any of these type leaflets with the coupons on, we saved a lot of money throughout our holiday thanks to these leaflets.
Anyway we arrived at 10 am and all I can say is from that moment until we left at 5 pm, we had the most fantastic day and every single one of us thoroughly enjoyed it.
The park is separated into all different parts and upon arriving and paying for your tickets they provide you with a site map to help guide you around.
Once through the entrance to the left of you is robin hood adventure playground which is great, my children absolutely loved it, my six year old son especially loved the zip line, and went on it about a dozen times, but our three year old girl whom likes to think she is a boy sometimes and loves copying her brother, well she tried the zip line, and although its was hilarious to watch, she nearly did a number two in her pants she was so scared!!! So I would recommend that little princess do not attempt the zip line as it does go rather fast and if quite high for a three year old.
We then went and checked out a lot of the animals, for e.g., the moneys and alpacas and the owls, which were absolutely gorgeous.
We had a bit of lunch at one of the picnic areas, as we made pack lunches throughout our holiday, not just because it was cheaper but also myself and my sister in law both like to know what we are putting into our children, and with all the excitement they were getting from the park itself, they had no need for any other extra e numbers etc.
There were lots of takeaways and food available to purchase although, we did not see many healthy options so we were happy that we had took a picnic, but would still be ok, its not like a hotdog once in a while is going to kill you. My husband however is not very healthy all the time and is also a right pig, and although he had eaten his picnic he sneaked off for a slice of pizza from there takeaway pizza hut and he said it was gorgeous.
After lunch we then attempted all the other rides, there was lots to choose from a pirate ship, the teacups, the tractors, the train, the cars, bumpy slides, bouncy castle etc etc and we hardly had to queue at all, I think the biggest queue we had was for the train and we waited less than ten mins, which to be honest in comparison with other parks like this, I think it was brilliant.
I think that was one of the best things from the day was the fact that our children went on lots of rides without having long queues as we do at other adventure places we have visited in our area, and they got value for money.
They had some great things for all ages in my opinion but I think mainly children under ten would enjoy this place the most.
There is a lovely gift shop and has many things at great prices, my children had there holiday spending money and they brought some great things at 50p-£1 like little wooden whistle, a ballerina story book, some sweeties etc etc and they got little pressies for there friends.
There was some other lovely animals to see in their petting areas, such as goats and miniature ponies but the best thing without a doubt was the reindeers, they were so stunning and my children adored them, my little girl was amazed to discover that they can run as fast as 40 miles an hour, they were so gorgeous and the children loved feeding them.
There is also a nice little area where there is a little house which inside has Santa Claus inside and a little toad stall village around it, we got some great photos round this area.
We also attended the bingo the clown and maxi mouse show which was shown four times throughout the day, was great, bingo the clown was really funny and he got the kids up on the stage and through lollies into the crowd etc, was a great laugh.
The only little thing I could say disappointed me slightly was the fact there were lots of bees and wasps around, the bins and my poor hubby got stung in the neck when we had just arrived, it blew up like a golf ball, but thankfully we had some stuff on us and he was ok in the end, but to begin with when it first happened we could not find any first aid facilities, im sure they do have some, but was not easy to find.
The toilets were really clean and very conveniently located round the park.
Was a great place and we all had a brilliant time.
Prices are as follows
2 years and under free
Children and adults 9.95
Senior citizen 7.85
Disabled 7.85
Family ticket for five 38.00
Addition to a family ticket 8.95
I would recommend if anyone is near or even going on holiday in that area then give this place a try, you will not regret it.
Pettits is located in a rural location south of Acle and close to the Broads, it can be relatively hard to find and involves the use of "B" roads. Visitors coming from the South can include a crossing on the Reedham ferry en route. Theres an attractive pub on the North side of the crossing. The crossing is about £4 (2008) for a typical car which is costly but a novel experience.
The park itself is small, clean and aimed at young families. I've been going there for the last 8 years as my children have grown up. My 11 year old has only this year finaly grown out of this park but she is a genteel kid. In reality, few children of 10 or older would find much of interest here as there is nothing that even approaches white nuckle here.
There are about 8 actual sit on rides and these are all suitable for very young children. I would just warn you that the mini roller coaster is increadibly bumpy and a rough ride for tiny tots who find their faces at about banging height on the safety bars. I had to hang on to my youngest to prevent him getting tossed about on what is still a very tame ride.
The staff are largely seniors who are considerate and keep a good watch over the children. In many ways they come over as grandfatherly figures and are quick to stop any rides if the children are in any way unhappy. Common sense prevails but you need to be aware that at some times of the day one operative will be looking after 2 rides (though only 1 will be going at any time)
Besides the rides there are a number of static playground facilities, slides, tabogans, climbing frames, ball pit and a really good fort like adventure playground.
The park is liberally populated with animals of the cuddly type. Rabbits, peacocks, pigs, Lamas, ponies, chipmunks etc. There are also a range of zoo cages housing owls and raccoons. Feeding time should be avolded for little ones as the owls are fed on dead chicken chicks and these remained on view for quite a while as the owls did not appear underfed.
The park provided on stage entertainment from Bingo the clown or his helper 3 times during the day. The show is fine for little children but watch out for Bingos attempt to fleece you of £3 for a bit of paper at the end. Its an attempt at humour the kids wont understand and he uses it every time. Having said that, my children would pester me to attend all 3 shows.
Sadly there is the obligatory range of fruit machines and overpriced souvenir shops but these are out on a limb and can be easily avoided by prepared parents.
There are many attractive picnic facilities all around Pettits but the car park is a good 200yds from the park entrance. There is no formal re-entry facility so you just have to tell the entrance staff your popping back to the car to get your picnic and hope they remember you on your return.
Pettits has a petting area with rumbunctuous goats that you can feed or pat. The goats get very excited and I always see little children in tears having been attacked by a gang of greedy goats, jumped on and robbed of the feed (less brave kiddies can feed coi carp or ducks instead). The park provides a "safe" area where children can feed goats who pop their heads through holes in a fence to be fed which is useful provided the goats dont escape into that area, which they do. Be careful! Washing facilities are provided by the goat stall.
Toilet facilities are excellent, always clean and available at various points around what it a very compact site anyway.
The park provides a good range of in house catering (no franchises) offering burgers, pizza etc at reasonable if high end of the market prices. The park has never been full enough during my visits to warrant all the possibe eateries being open!
There appears to be no such thing as a queue at Pettits, the park is not that well known and never becomes too full, which is possibly why it is quite expensive at £38 (2008) for a family of up to 5. For that you get around 6 hours in the park and we've always stayed for the full 6 hours opening and needed chucking out, though its more a case that everything gets turned off than there being any actual chucking involved!
Pettits is a definite No for families with teenagers, they will be bores stiff. For young kiddies, say 4-9, its a little gem.
Compared to premier league football its a bargain but it does not compare to bigger parks in terms of how much you get for your £
One negative with Pettits is that there are some pay again rides, the little bumper cars or the model boat racing for instance which require another £1. Having paid nearly £40 to get in, I dont want to have to pay anything more and the kids dont understand about that, they just jump on the ride on tractor and want to drive it around the circuit. This could add a fair bit if you have 3 kids so get them prepared to avoid anything with a slot in it, in all thats about 5 things if I remember correctly.
Overall I feel very positive towards Pettits but my children have now moved on to bigger things like Pleasurewood Hills and Alton Towers. If you are looking for a nice day out with really tame gentle rides, some cuddly animals and a kid friendly clown show then this could well be a good choice for you. Pick a nice day as there really isnt anything to do in the rain here and precious little shelter.
The theme park offers rides and attractions, animals, special events and also hosts kids parties.


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Information Wants to Be Everywhere
How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down at the Plant Now That They Got an iPad for Christmas?
Okay, people, take out your notebooks and write down this phrase: "The consumerization of workplace tools." Everyone from the CEO to the technician is seeing the ease, benefits and, yes, fun of using mobile tools in their personal lives, and they're wondering why, when they can carry around a phone, a camera and hundreds of tunes, videos, games and books all in one device in their pockets, they have to slog through a 3-inch stack of spreadsheets, lug around a 5-pound laptop or be tethered to a desktop computer or a control room console to get to the data they need at work.
It's a question that isn't going to go away. Research group International Data Corp (IDC) predicts that the global mobile workforce will increase to over 1 billion workers in 2011, totaling 30% of the workforce worldwide. In the United States, numbers are higher still. A total of 70% of the American workforce will be mobile by 2012. If that sounds like a lot, remember that the survey defines "mobile worker"as everyone from the iconic "road warrior" to the contract worker on another company's site to mobile field workers.
Chris Stearns, senior product manager at Honeywell Process Solutions, says, "We're still in the early adopter phase, but there's momentum here, and it's not going to slow down."
Mobility Drivers
The fact is, says Paul Brooks, business development manager for the networking business at Rockwell Automation (www.rockwellautomation.com), during a phone interview conducted, by the way, on a VoIP connection between Chicago and Brussels, "We are all mobile workers—both the CEO and the technician. You can't constrain where individual workers are going to want information and what information they want to get. And the most important thing is that they want information where they are rather than move to where the information is."
It's not just the perennial attraction to the new and shiny pushing these tools into the process automation workspace. The usual suspects are all there: the drive to do more with fewer workers; the aging workforce and the correlative need to transfer its years of hard-won knowledge to less experienced workers and get them up to speed quickly; globalization that spreads facilities around the world; vital assets and operations in remote locations; and, above all, the demand for greater efficiency and productivity.
"If we have non-productive time, and the workers are supposed to be putting us back in business, they need access to information," says Mark Miller, director of solution sales for Cisco's Energy Operation Division (www.cisco.com). Ideally, technicians will have access to that information where they are—in front of the machine—not back in the control room or buried in a stack spreadsheets somewhere.
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ByMichael Howard Saul
UPDATED | New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is pursuing a resolution to an impasse with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in the city's attempt to secure access to state funds to launch a new program to help the homeless move out of shelters, an aide to the governor said Wednesday.
Mr. Cuomo "is trying to actively resolve the homeless issue," the governor's aide said. "He has worked on homeless issues nationwide and is exploring different ways to resolve this problem."
The state budget, as proposed by Mr. Cuomo, specifically bars the city from receiving state funds to create a new rental-subsidy program to move the homeless to permanent housing, one of Mr. de Blasio's campaign promises. Mr. de Blasio – along with the City Council and advocates for the homeless — are asking that the language that bars the city from tapping state funds for this type of program be eliminated from the state budget.
Maibe Ponet, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said, "We know Gov. Cuomo deeply cares about addressing the homelessness crisis, and we look forward to continuing our work together for an immediate plan to help working families exit shelter and into private housing."
Earlier this week, Mr. Cuomo accused Mr. de Blasio and his administration of failing to present the governor's staff with a formal proposal for a new rental-subsidy program. The governor said Tuesday that it was "too late" in the budget process to move forward on a significant issue such as this one. The state budget is due next week.
In the 1990s during former Mayor David Dinkins's administration, Mr. Cuomo headed a commission that urged a major overhaul of the city's shelter system, including rent subsidies to help the homeless pay for housing.
On Wednesday, the New York City Council voted 50-0 to approve a resolution calling on the state to approve a budget that permits the city to use state funds to launch a new rental-subsidy program.
"Homelessness is at a record high here in New York City and if we don't take action now it will only get worse," said Councilman Stephen Levin, who heads the council's Committee on General Welfare. "We stated unequivocally today that it is crucial that the state remove this restrictive language from its budget."
On Tuesday, Mr. de Blasio attributed the impasse to a "miscommunication" and vowed to "fix it" quickly.
In 2011, as state officials were scrambling to balance a $10 billion deficit, Albany cut funding for the city's existing rental-subsidy program, known as Advantage, leading the city to cancel the program altogether. The program's cancellation resulted in an influx of more than 10,000 people into city shelters; there are currently more than 52,000 people, including more than 22,000 children, sleeping each night in a city shelter.
Started in 2007, Advantage offered help with two years of rent to move people from shelter to permanent housing. Mr. de Blasio has said he intends to develop a similar program and hopes to get state and federal funds to support it.
"We obviously know that we have a really serious homeless crisis in the city and we need to all put our attention to it and find solutions to help people transition to permanent (housing)," said City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who has testified in Albany on this subject.


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Beirut, LB
At the Mansion House on Tuesday, architect Lee Polisano asked an audience of 150 - who were there to learn how the City might look in 25 years - if they had heard of the Chinese city of Ningbo. One hand hesitantly rose.
Hands up anyone who has heard of this seaport metropolis of 7.6 million souls, which sits south across the bay from Shanghai? Anyone outside the fashion industry that is: for Ningbo is the epicentre of the gigantic Chinese rag trade. The purpose behind the question from the American-born architect - who designed the Heron Tower in Bishopsgate for Gerald Ronson - was that his London practice, PLP Architecture, is designing a fashion centre of staggering size in Ningbo. A scheme worth examining, if only to contrast with the Corporation's crimped vision.
"I see the present cluster of towers being completed," said City planning chief Peter Rees, who chaired the evening event. "That'll do for a while. Refurbishment is the challenge."
PLP's challenge is to define and design a global fashion hub for Ningbo which is half the size of Canary Wharf and a fifth the size of the Square Mile. N+ is the brand name of the seven million-square-foot quarter, due to rocket up over three years.
The 14-acre site will hold three million square feet of high-rise offices for fashion manufacturers. A 1000-metre long suspended "catwalk" will encircle three million feet of low-rise buildings and one million feet of education and cultural space.
At the heart of N+ will be Polisano's latest fashion concept - the "brand embassy". The world's most familiar brands are even now being courted to set up in own-design embassies, housing idea-hatching incubators, showrooms and offices.
"This is a project of unprecedented scale and ambition and answers the challenge of designing something that is relatively permanent, for fashion, which is quintessentially ephemeral," says Polisano.
Wow! Now, back to boring old London. The morning after Polisano spoke, I got to chair a similar future-gazing event for the City Property Association, also at the Mansion House.
This time a more exciting but contentious vision emerged.
The higher residential prices soar in the West End, the higher the pressure on the Square Mile to embrace the conversion of offices to flats. The City Corporation hates the idea, fearing incoming residents will object to fresh office development.
The debate has rumbled along for years, with developers afraid to criticise the policy openly in front of those who influence planning decisions. On Wednesday, one finally spoke out in front of aghast Corporation officials.
"The City is missing out on the global private wealth pouring into the West End," said Mike Hussey of Almacantar, which is looking to turn Centre Point into flats. "Why can't the City encourage mixed use development?"
"The Far East is a direct competitor," warned Hussey, who was head of development at both Land Securities and - before that - Canary Wharf. "We cannot sit around and watch the City decline. The policy must change."
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Los Altos resident Bill Shine has been named the 2000 West Region Girls Tennis Coach of the Year by the National Federation of State High School Associations.
Shine coaches both the boys and girls varsity tennis teams at Menlo School in Atherton. Last fall, Shine coached the girls team to the Northern California championship and a top-five national ranking. Last season's boys team was ranked second in the nation.
Shine's "contributions to high school athletics are truly deserving of our recognition and thanks," said Tim Flannery, assistant director of the National Federation Coaches Association.
Shine is the first Menlo coach to earn West Region honors. The region includes the states of California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah.
This marks the second coaching honor Shine has received in a year. Last April, he received the California Coaches Association High School Tennis Coach of the Year award.
"Bill Shine exemplifies all the best qualities of a great coach," said Norm Colb, head of school at Menlo. "He's passionate about the sport and is committed to giving his athletes a superb experience. His winning teams and successful and self-assured team members are the clearest possible tribute to his genius. We're enormously lucky to have him at Menlo School."
Shine coordinates Menlo's entire tennis program and also works with Menlo Middle School tennis hopefuls.


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Pizza Trends There are approximately 62,000 pizzerias in the U.S. according to research firm Packaged Facts, with thousands of additional convenience stores and restaurants serving up fresh pizzas every day. And with good reason. Approximately 94% of the U.S. population eats pizza. More than three billion pizzas are sold in the U.S. each year,
Versatility Drives Pizza's Popularity
September 1, 2010 CSD Staff : 0 Comments


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Topic: Another set back
Well more bad news this week or at least a set back. I had posted that my one year scan post resection now showed a 2cm tumor in my liver and spots in both lungs. Had a clear scan a little over 3 months before that. Given 3 choices, do nothing and scan in 2 months, take one of chemo drugs I was on before, or go back on both. I opted to go back on both (Gemcitabine/Xeloda)to really fight this demon. I had my first round a week ago Monday. Went back this Monday and got pulled into a room and told the Dr would need to talk to me. Never had this happen before. Well, my WBC and neutrophils were really low, lower than they had ever been even after 7 months of straight treatments. I havent been on chemo for 9 months. He now has me off all chemo this week and next week I will get Gemcitabine if counts are better but will not put me back on the Xeloda. The day after the chemo I will get a shot of Newlasta. We'll have to see how that works to determine next step. If it helps, then he says I'll get Gemcitabine once a week for 3 weeks like I used to, but no Xeloda, and the 2-4th days after chemo I'll give myself injections of Neuporgen (sp?). I am really mad that my body isn't doing what it needs to. I hate not being able to take the chemo that worked before. On the other hand, this week I really got my fight back. I hadn't talked to the Dr since we got scan results. I felt that he was maybe writing me off somewhat. Well, after he told me about blood work and his plan I decided to speak up. I told him that I had heard of other patients with cc with mets to lungs that still were around and that had even had radiation for liver tumors, etc. I said that I want to treat this aggresively and not to write me off. That I know he rolls his eyes when I talk about beating this, but that even if it is unlikely, improbable or unrealistic that I believe that it is not impossible. All things are possible with God and that is what guides me. I was surprised that he said he was sorry if I ever felt that he was "rolling his eyes". That all options are still on the table for me (not what I thought I heard the last visit) but that he was just looking at the first choice option and not looking beyond that until needed. So I felt better about that but still bummed that I can't tolerate our first choice. I guess I just have to change my armor to go into this battle now. Sorry I'm long winded. I just needed to share what's going on and get your opinions about current option. Thanks a bunch guys for being here. You'll never know how much you and this site mean to me.
God Bless,


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MLB.com Columnist
Bill Ladson
After injury, Nats without player in All-Star Game
PHILADELPHIA -- With Jordan Zimmermann not playing in the All-Star Game, the Nationals will not have any representatives playing in Minnesota.
Closer Rafael Soriano, who was hoping Zimmermann's replacement would come from within the clubhouse, had said that if he were invited, he would turn it down to visit his mother in the Dominican Republic. He can't wait to have her home cooking, which includes goat, chicken and soup.
"I'll go home [on Sunday] to see my mom. I'll spend a couple of days with her, throw a bullpen over there, come back and be ready for the second half of the season," Soriano said.
Soriano said he should have been considered when the National League team was put together last Sunday. After all, he is having one of the best seasons of his 13-year big league career. Entering Saturday's action, Soriano had a 1.00 ERA and 21 saves.
However, Soriano had hoped that some other members of the Nationals would go to the All-Star Game in Zimmermann's place. Soriano said Tyler Clippard, Drew Storen and Anthony Rendon in particular should be considered. But it was not to be, as Major League Baseball on Saturday announced that Zimmermann would be replaced by Marlins right-hander Henderson Alvarez.
Bill Ladson is a reporter for MLB.com and writes an MLBlog, All Nats All the time. He also could be found on Twitter @WashingNats. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Mail: Southern statues symbolize suppession
Mail: Thanks for helping Aiden
More opinion
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Robertson and Delsing re-elected chair, vice chair of NWB
More Ag News
The Subway Invitational all-tournament team was announced Monday morning for the tournament held Friday-Saturday.
North Platte Community College went 4-0 in the tournament. Sandrina Hallahan and Shannon Liewer were named to the all-tournament team.
In the tournament, Hallahan led the Lady Knights in kills with 36 for an average of 2.4 per set. She also led in blocks with nine for 0.6 per set.
Liewer led the team in digs with 93 for 6.2 per set and service aces with seven for 0.47 per set.
The Lady Knights continue their season Wednesday as they travel to Seward to take on Concordia University JV at 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN Radio 1410.
Other members of the Subway Invite All-Tournament Team include: Kati Kuntz and Amanda Wronkoski of the 4-0 Northeastern Junior College Plainswomen; Maisy Munson and Lorena Rosario of the 2-2 Colby Community College Lady Trojans; Jaden Lynch and Steph Quintus of the 1-3 Williston State College Lady Tetons; Tyler Chrisman and Carley Gerving of the 1-3 Sheridan College Lady Generals; and Brittany Belt and Jacey Holst of the 0-4 Eastern Wyoming College Lady Lancers.
Flatrock Publishing, Inc.
1300 E 4th St., Suite F
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GOATACRE have been given a second free pass in the National Village Knockout Cup after Lechlade failed to raise a side for their Sunday clash.
After being handed a walkover by Shroton in the first round of the competition, Goatacre skipper Brad Dawson is starting to wonder whether his team can make it all the way to Lord's without playing a match.
He told the Advertiser: "I was pretty surprised by it. In a way it would have been nice to play them, win and go through but if they are struggling to put out a team and we get to go through without having to play then perfect because Lechlade are a good club.
"They have been quite successful the last two years and they are a team that could easily beat you on a day.
"If it's this easy all the way to Lord's then so be it. We've got through the first two rounds without having to play. Obviously it's a shame if clubs are struggling to get players.
"We've always been alright in it because of our history in it and Goatacre are quite well known to play in the Knockout. Others just play in it in a Sunday game."
Instead, Goatacre's cricketing appetites will have to be satiated by their WEPL Premier Two meeting with Ilminster on Saturday.
After opening-day defeat to Potterne, during which they were bowled out for just 66, tomorrow represents a second chance for Dawson & Co to properly launch their season.
"I know they lost at lot of games last year in Prem One but between that league and ours there's quite a big jump," Dawson said of Goatacre's opponents.
"I think they'll be alright. From what I've heard they've got a couple of decent players - their overseas and their captain.
"We'll be alright. As I said before we just laugh about it. When you're 60-something all out you can't say much about it. We'll be alright. We started quite slowly last year and finished quite well. The forecast isn't great, it will depend on how dry it is on Friday."
Liam Dawson and Matt Coles are unavailable as they are set to feature in Hampshire's County Championship match against Glamorgan at Southampton, which starts on Sunday, while Jif Wilkins is set for an extended spell out of action with a suspected broken thumb. Kevin Iles, Matt House and Toby Horton take their places in the Goatacre side.


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We can laser etch your logo, a custom design, text or a combination on the entire surface of the iPod in any font you choose!Custom Engraved iPod Ideas and Examples by lazerdesigns


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Scientists are preparing ambitious plans to resurrect long-dead animals from passenger pigeons to woolly mammoths. But can they succeed?
A century ago, vast flocks of passenger pigeons covered the North American skies. Hundreds of millions, even billions, stretched across the horizon in every direction. A flyover could last an entire day. "It was this beautiful super-organism, like a dragon going through the skies," says Harvard Medical School geneticist George Church.
And then European settlers arrived. Mass hunting and habitat loss rapidly reduced their numbers until on 1 September 1914, Martha, the last known passenger pigeon, died in Cincinnati Zoo.
But if Church has his way, this majestic sight could one day return to our skies. Armed with new reproductive biology and genome engineering technologies, he and other scientists are dreaming up ambitious plans to resurrect long-dead animals from pigeons to Tasmanian tigers and wooly mammoths. The same technologies could also prevent endangered species from going the way of the dodo – or the passenger pigeon.
A key part of this grand ambition lies in the lines of test tubes frozen in liquid nitrogen in a Californian zoo. In 1972, Oliver Ryder, a geneticist at the San Diego Zoo, had the visionary idea of freezing skin samples from endangered animals in the hope they might help protect these species in the future. Many captive animals suffer from genetic abnormalities and inbreeding, and Ryder imagined that his repository of animal cells could be used long after their donors died to help zoo veterinarians manage captive populations.
He never viewed his "Frozen Zoo" – which now stores cells from 9,000 individual vertebrates belonging to more than 1,000 different species – as a way of producing new animals. As far as he and other scientists knew, only stem cells found in embryos had the ability to transform into the building blocks of any part of the body, whether a cell in the liver or the eye. Ryder's collection of skin cells were just that, thought scientists - they could not possibly switch identity.
"I believed like the vast majority of the scientific community that cells made commitments and those commitments were irrevocable," says Ryder. "Then Dolly happened."
'Cloning stunts'
On 22 February 1997, Ian Wilmut and his team at the University of Edinburgh's Roslin Institute unveiled a 7-month-old baby to a stunned world – Dolly the sheep. The team had found a way of replacing the nucleus of a sheep's egg cell with a nucleus from an adult ewe's cell, and yet still trick the egg into dividing as normal. After the hybrid egg cell began dividing, it was implanted into the uterus of another animal, which carried the clone to birth. "Dolly is derived from a mammary gland cell and we couldn't think of a more impressive pair of glands than Dolly Parton's," said Wilmut at the time.
From dogs to cows, scientists rushed to clone a menagerie of animals using Wilmut's technique, known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Within a few years, attempts to clone endangered species began to surface. The first, Noah, a threatened species of ox from Southeast Asia called a guar, was born seemingly healthy on 8 January 2001. Scientists at the American biotechnology company Advanced Cell Technologies who had helped pioneer cloning in cattle, shuttled nuclei from gaur skin cells into cow eggs and then implanted the embryos into cows.
However, Noah died two days later of an infection unrelated to the cloning process. And like the guar, other attempts to clone endangered species through somatic cell nuclear transfer tended to be one-offs. Many animals were born unhealthy, and the cloning process was inefficient, with success rates of around 1%.
Less charitable critics still call these efforts stunts, designed to attract attention but doing nothing to conserve species teetering on the brink of extinction. "Producing the odd animal here and there, which may be sick, didn't seem a very sensible thing to do," says William Holt, a reproductive biologist at the Zoological Society of London, who in a 2004 review paper called the prospect of cloning highly endangered species "hopelessly optimistic".
Reverse switch
But another scientific breakthrough, on par with the cloning of Dolly 15 years ago, might force sceptics like Holt to someday reconsider. In 2007 Japanese scientists reported, first in mice and later in humans, that an adult cell could be reverted to an embryo-like stem cell. These so-called "induced pluripotent stem cells" (otherwise known as iPS cells) are in turn capable of making every cell in the body. All of which suddenly made Oliver Ryder's frozen repository of skin samples a cellular gold mine.
"That made us realize that we had probably the largest repository of potential stem cells," says Ryder. Skin cells could be converted into sperm that could create an animal through in vitro fertilisation (IVF), or even transformed into whole animals. Both feats have been accomplished in mice and they should be possible in other animals, scientists say.
As a first step, Ryder and a team of stem cell scientists have reprogrammed the skin cells from a northern white rhinoceroses named Fatu, one of seven still alive, and from a drill, a monkey species that lives in tiny, dwindling pockets of west Africa. And recently, scientists said they have created iPS cells from a snow leopard. These cells are a long way from saving species, but "it would be the only chance that I can think of that would prevent the extinction of the northern white rhino," Ryder says.
Ryder shrugs off the suggestion that money devoted towards such ambitious cloning projects would be better spent on preventing habitat destruction and other, simpler conservation measures. Fighting over the best way to save species instead of saving them will, to future generations, look like "fiddling while Rome was burning," he replies.
Back from the dead?
If this seems like a daunting challenge, scientists face a much tougher task resurrecting extinct species whose cells were not banked before they vanished from the planet. But this is not stopping scientists like George Church from trying, though he does not underestimate the effort required to bring the passenger pigeon back to the skies.
With extinct animals, scientists need to take more involved measures to recover the complete DNA sequence – its genome. Armed with this code, they then need to find a way of engineering a regular pigeon's stem cells into behaving like a passenger pigeon's stem cells by mutating the genome. Church says the complete genome of the passenger pigeon from museum specimens will soon be published, and researchers are beginning to alter the genetic make-up of a more familiar bird – the chicken – to practice their techniques. "What you can do for chicken you should be able to do for pigeon, and that can include creating DNA that you haven't seen alive for a 100 years," he says.
But even if Church has the passenger pigeon's full genetic code, which he expects to recreate within a decade, Church admits that bringing it back to life requires a significant improvement in existing genome engineering technologies. To test his idea works, his team is using a similar approach to engineer mice with traits of naked mole rats. The odd-looking rodents live dozens of years instead of a handful like mice. They are impervious to cancer and do not feel pain from acids. To endow ordinary lab mice with these traits, Church will try to partially rewrite the genomes of mouse stem cells. However, he admits that creating a passenger pigeon from the stem cells of an ordinary pigeon would involve a massive scale-up of the same technologies.
Mammoth goal
The favourite candidate for resurrection, though, might lie in nature's version of Ryder's Frozen Zoo. Flash-frozen remains of wooly mammoths have been found preserved under the Siberian permafrost, and scientists hope their bones could be a source of DNA-containing marrow cells for cloning.
Last year, Japanese and Russian scientists announced they had found just such a bone and predicted they would be able to clone a mammoth within 5 years. They hope to insert nuclei from the mammoth cells into egg cells from its closest living relative, the elephant, and carry the mammoth embryo in an elephant's womb.
However, some scientists have cast doubt about whether this is possible. Hendrik Poinar, a palaeo-geneticist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, and his team have uncovered similarly well-preserved mammoth bones and never found viable cells or nuclei. "The likelihood of finding an intact cell that can be rejigged to life – it's not that it's an impossibility – but the chances are very, very slim," he says. "The other hope has been to find frozen testicles and use that for insemination, which is a complete pipe dream."
Poinar says that genome engineering offers a more realistic shot at resurrecting woolly mammoths and other long-extinct species. Ten-thousand-year-old cells and their nuclei may be too degraded to be used in cloning, but they still contain the animal's genetic code. This genome is shredded into short fragments, but DNA sequencing machines can read these shards and powerful computers can stitch them into a genome sequence.
Scientists published a 80% complete version of the mammoth genome in 2008, and more ancient animal genomes are on the way, such as the Tasmanian tiger.
These genomes exist in the form of computerised data, but they could serve as a blueprint for altering the DNA of a cell from a closely related species. For instance, the code of a woolly mammoth's genome differs from an African elephant's by roughly 240,000 DNA letters out of a total of 4 billion, though most of these changes are not likely to have a biological effect. An elephant iPS cell engineered to contain those mutations would theoretically be capable of producing woolly mammoth sperm.
Better yet, the woolly mammoth stem cells could be implanted besides an elephant embryo early in development, producing a chimera animal with some tissues made from elephant cells and others from mammoths. In some individuals the mammoth cells would contribute to sperm or eggs, and these cells be used to create a genuine mammoth through IVF.
In the absence of a living mammoth, scientists are reconstructing some of its most vital components from DNA fragments to discover how it adapted to life at subzero temperatures. Scientists have already recreated haemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells, and found that it is optimised to catch and release oxygen molecules in the cold. Scientists could go one step further and test woolly mammoth red blood cells made from iPS cells, Poinar says.
Reality check
If the idea of mammoths roaming the Earth still sounds a bit far-fetched, it should. Resurrecting a mammoth or indeed any extinct species would require a dizzying list of technological leaps in genome engineering, reproductive biology, and veterinary medicine, and that is just to surmount the challenges that scientists know about.
What is more, the technologies that scientists are hoping to use have mostly been developed for use in laboratory animals and valuable livestock only.
Basic genetic principles may carry over to more exotic animals, but many steps will not, particularly those involving reproduction and development. For instance, a recent study found that making a chimeric rhesus monkey – a process needed to resurrect a monkey species from frozen cells – is much trickier than a mouse. "I think we are going to encounter numerous problems as we try to figure this out for different species," says Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer for Advanced Cell Technology, the firm that has tried to clone endangered species.
But Hendrik Poinar believes it will be a matter of when, not if, humans resurrect an extinct animal. A wealthy American investor approached him several years ago and asked Poinar to quit his academic job and work full time on bringing back woolly mammoths. Poinar declined, but he expects someone will eventually take on a similar project. "The technology clearly moves at lighting speed and faster than we can predict. Saying it won't happen is silly."
Harvard's Church says his goal is not necessarily to fill the planet with mammoths or provide an easy solution to the global extinction crisis. Rather, he wants to give conservationists the option to save species this way. There could even be an upside for other animals on the brink of extinction.
"If there's enough people enthusiastic about bringing an extinct species like a mammoth or passenger pigeon," says Church, "maybe there will be interest in maintaining the species we still have."
Ewen Callaway writes about biology and medicine for Nature News
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AutomationDirect's Rotary Style Hand Lever Operated Valves
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The Milwaukee Brewers' bullpen is still in disarray, and Michael Morse and his Washington teammates took advantage.
Morse hit a tying, two-run homer in the ninth inning, then delivered a two-run double in the 11th that sent the Nationals over the Brewers 11-10 Sunday.
The Brewers have lost nine of 10. Their bullpen allowed nine runs in the final five innings in the latest defeat.
Milwaukee's duo of Francisco Rodriguez and John Axford each allowed three runs in failing to protect another late lead. Jose Veras (3-4), another late-inning reliever, allowed the two-run homer to Morse in the 11th.
"The word I used earlier was `inexplicable,'" Axford said. "It's tough to describe what's happening, especially after the run we had last year."
Axford, who was removed as the team's closer after blowing several save chances this month, said the struggles appear to be contagious.
"In all honesty that's what it kind of seems like," he said.
"Maybe it's kind of a domino effect right now," he said. "It's not really working out."
Bryce Harper drew a leadoff walk from Veras in the 11th and Ryan Zimmerman singled. One out later, Morse doubled down the left-field line for an 11-9 lead.
Morse's homer with one out in the ninth off Axford made it 9-all. The opposite-field shot barely made it over the wall in right.
"It seemed like it was a boxing match," Morse said. "It kept going back and forth, back and forth. We just hung in there and came through on top."
The NL East-leading Nationals rallied for four runs in the eighth to tie it at 7.
Craig Stammen (4-1) pitched 2 1-3 hitless innings for the victory. Tyler Clippard allowed a solo home run to Corey Hart to open the bottom of the 11th, but earned his 20th save in 22 chances.
Washington reliever Ryan Mattheus gave up four runs in just 1 2-3 innings, including home runs to Rickie Weeks, Norichika Aoki and Carlos Gomez.
Milwaukee opened a 7-3 lead on Weeks' 11th home run of the year in the seventh, but Rodriguez gave up three runs in the eighth and was removed for Axford. Corey Brown then scored the tying run on a wild pitch in the dirt from Axford that went to the backstop.
Aoki and Gomez hit back to back solo home runs in the bottom of the eighth to give the Brewers a 9-7 lead.
Axford struck out Zimmerman to open the ninth. He then walked Mark DeRosa before giving up the home run to Morse, his eighth of the year.
Milwaukee starter Mark Rogers, starting in place of Zack Greinke, pitched 5 2-3 solid innings in his first major league appearance since 2010. The right-hander was the fifth pick in the June 2004 free agent draft, but had pitched only 10 innings in the majors before replacing Greinke in the Brewers' rotation.
Rogers gave up a home run to Steve Lombardozzi to lead off the game, but settled in to keep the Nationals off-balance. He gave up two runs on six hits and struck out seven.
"I felt good but obviously it didn't start the way I wanted it to," he said.
Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke said after the game that Rogers would remain in the rotation.
NOTES: Greinke was traded to the Los Angeles Angels on Friday and made his first start for his new team on Sunday. ... Before the game, the Brewers traded C George Kottaras to the Oakland Athletics for RHP Fautino De Los Santos. He was optioned to Triple-A Nashville. The Brewers also optioned RHP Tyler Thornburg to Nashville after the game. ... Aramis Ramirez was held out of Milwaukee's starting lineup to rest his sore left wrist. He pinch hit in the sixth and was intentionally walked.


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Werth exhibiting regained power homer by homer
CINCINNATI -- In Saturday's 7-6 victory over the Reds, Nationals right fielder Jayson Werth hit his second homer of the season off right-hander Sam LeCure. In fact, hitting coach Rick Eckstein called it a "pure" home run because the ball traveled 419 feet.
It's another indication that Werth's power is back and that his left wrist has fully recovered. Last season, Werth broke the wrist in early May while catching a fly ball.
After coming off the disabled list in early August, Werth hit just two home runs. He had that many home runs in four games this season.
"He looks great. He has really worked hard on his positioning in the batter's box," Eckstein said. "He feels like he is in position that he can drive the baseball. On Saturday, he hit a line drive that just kept carrying. He feeling good about what he is doing and where he is. He is continuing to grow in that process. It's looks like his wrist is doing great. I just like where he is at."
Bill Ladson is a reporter for MLB.com and writes an MLBlog, All Nats All the time. He also could be found on Twitter @WashingNats. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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The quiet life on an unspoiled Georgia isle
I love wild, quiet places, places where I'm more likely to see a herd of whitetail deer, rattlesnakes or a rare kind of bird than a McDonald's or a mall.
That's why I've come to Sapelo Island, one of the pearls in the necklace of barrier islands that protect the Georgia coast from the tumultuous Atlantic.
It's late summer, warm and humid, just as August in Georgia is supposed to be. But the salt-saturated winds whipping off the ocean temper the heat, making it bearable.
The ride from the mainland to the island takes about a half-hour, and as I step off the ferry with my tour group, I realize that it has been more than 10 years since I was last here. I wonder how much it has changed.
Turns out, not much. That's the way of Sapelo. Only the shifting of the continents moves faster than life on this remote island.
The fourth-largest of the barrier islands, Sapelo is about 11 miles (17 km) long, four miles (6.4km) wide and about 16,500 acres. It probably hasn't changed much in a thousand years - it's still unspoiled and uncrowded.
And that's Sapelo's appeal - its sheer isolation and remoteness.
There's only one way onto the island and one way off, by ferry or private watercraft, which leaves you completely at its mercy once you're there.
Don't even think about cell and Internet service.
Carved out of estuaries of fresh water and the Atlantic, the island is deeply forested in canopies of pine and gnarled oaks so immense that they must have been growing since the beginning of time.
Mazes of paved and unpaved roads, trails and tidal creeks curl through the island, so that from the air, it looks like a watercolour painting.
The first known residents, more than 4,000 years ago, were the Guale, a Native American tribe. The Spanish missionaries and explorers arrived in the 16th century, and the British and French came next.
They were dominant until the 1800s, when most of Sapelo was purchased by Thomas Spalding, a Georgia politician and cotton and sugar-cane planter who brought in the island's first slaves.
Howard Coffin, one of the founders of Hudson Motor Car Co., bought most of the island in 1912, except for a few scattered African American communities.
Then in 1934, North Carolina tobacco heir RJ Reynolds Jr. purchased Sapelo, living there for part of the year for 30 years.
After his death, his widow sold the island - or about 97 percent of it, with the exception of a chunk of land known as Hog Hammock, where the slaves' descendants lived - to the state of Georgia.
Seeing Hog Hammock was high on my list, but so was experiencing nature at its rawest and most splendid. Just a few minutes into our sojourn on Sapelo, I was marvelling at a trio of whitetail deer.
They stared at me. I stared at them. And then off into the woods they leapt, their flaglike tails waving goodbye.
Our tour bus - it's an old school bus, really - passes by great stands of salt marsh teeming with unseen critters and birds of every sort, and I was thrilled to see a pair of wood storks startled into flight, their wings, with an amazing five-foot span, sounding pfoof-pfoof, like the blades of a slow-moving helicopter.
During the drive around the island, to learn about its marine ecosystems and natural splendours, I caught glimpses of a lone bald eagle, ospreys, possums and plenty more deer.
But I was always on the lookout for the elusive chachalaca, a game bird that looks like a cross between a chicken and a turkey and was originally imported from Central America for hunting.
"You have a one in a thousand chance of seeing one," says our guide as we meander along the dirt roads.
Today wasn't that day, nor was it the day to find Butthead.
There are about 200 wild cattle on Sapelo, descendants of those left over from the plantation era. The best-known is a solid black bull named Butthead.
Turns out, though, the cattle are as furtive as the chachalaca.
"Butthead has been here for many years, but we hardly ever see him," our guide intones as he points to hoof tracks and poo.
"He leaves his calling card. He lives here in Hog Hammock but hides during the day. They all hide by wading into the palmetto jungles and only come out at night."
Sapelo's long, undisturbed stretches of beach, scattered with shells, call like sultry sirens.
On the strand, I walk alone ahead of the group. In front of me is a sandbar flush with dozens of pelicans, some corkscrew-diving into the Atlantic in search of fresh fish. Behind me, sea oats sway on the sand dunes in rhythm with the ocean. With a contented sigh, I realize that at least for a little while, I don't see another human footprint.
We visit the iconic, candy-cane-striped Sapelo Island Lighthouse, standing sentinel over the island, and eventually arrive at Chocolate Plantation.
The bones of the plantation's manor house, long decayed, are bleached nearly white by the sun. Slave-tended Sea Island cotton and sugar cane were once grown here. Sapelo's history is what it is and can't be changed.
At Shell Ring, a six-foot-high circle of mainly oyster shells left by the Indians centuries ago, I take a pass on walking the entire circumference in the heat but marvel at the primitive architecture.
In the huge RJ Reynolds Mansion, which is partially constructed of tabby - a coastal concrete made of oyster shells and lime - you can contemplate a series of eclectic murals by Italian-born artist Athos Menaboni.
The University of Georgia Marine Institute, also launched by Reynolds, highlights the island's plentiful ecological resources for scientific research.
We also visit Raccoon Bluff and Hog Hammock, veritable treasures of African American culture. The island's 60 to 70 permanent residents, almost all descendants of Spalding's 19th-century slaves, live in 434-acre Hog Hammock.
Named for slave Sampson Hog, it's one of the few remaining Gullah - also called Geechee - communities on the Atlantic coast, and a place where the colourful Gullah language, a Creole-like melange of English and West African dialects, is still spoken.
I find Cornelia Walker Bailey at the back of her small general store, shelling red peas. A ninth-generation descendant of those first slaves, she has the distinct privilege of having been born on Sapelo.
"People come to the island because it's very special," she says. "They come for the peace and quiet, and there's no crime. Everybody knows everybody here."
The well-travelled Bailey has taken trips to Sierra Leone to find her ancestral roots and is the author of several books, including "God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man: A Saltwater Geechee Talks About Life on Sapelo Island, Georgia."
She speaks of Sapelo in a slow, lilting voice. "You can't save the culture if you can't save the land," she says. "Culture and land go together. You can't have one without the other."
As we ride back to the ferry landing, I think that I could stay in Hog Hammock, learning the old African ways of cooking, weaving sweetgrass baskets, dancing and storytelling.
But the setting sun is signalling the end of the day, as the alchemy of the soft summer light seems to set the marsh afire in a golden glow.
Blue Heron Inn, 1346 Blue Heron Lane SE, Darien. An upscale bed-and-breakfast offering rooms and cottages from US$125 *$153.4) per night.
Reynolds Mansion, 1766 Landing Rd., Sapelo Island. Group reservations only; 16-person minimum. All-inclusive rates begin at US$160 ($196) per person per night, with a two-night minimum.
Cabretta Island, Camping for groups only; 15-person minimum. Rates begin at US$15 ($18.4) per person per night, with a two-night minimum.
Hog Hammock. Individuals, couples or small groups can stay in Hog Hammock at privately owned lodges, homes or cottages. List of accommodations and contact information available through Sapelo Island Visitors Center.
Lula's Kitchen, Hog Hammock. The only restaurant on Sapelo is part time, with no set days, hours or prices, but will serve Southern-style seafood and ribs to groups with advance notice.
Clay's Sapelo Station and Crabshed, Highway 17, Eulonia. Features steak and locally caught seafood. Dinner only, Wednesday-Sunday.
Skippers Fish Camp, 85 Screven St., Darien. A coastal institution known for fresh seafood and ribs.
Sapelo Island Visitors Center, Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve. 1766 Landing Rd. SE, Darien. Half-day tours of the island offered by the Department of Natural Resources through the visitors centre are US$15 ($18.4) for adults, US$10 ($12.3) for ages 6-12. Age 5 and younger free.
- The Washington Post


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Jon Gosselin 'Angry' Over Kate's 'Dancing' Gig?
Did anyone really think Jon Gosselin would be burning up the phone lines to vote for ex-wife Kate during her upcoming stint on "Dancing With the Stars"?
Us Weekly (via MSNBC) reports the repellant and ruthlessly ridiculed dad of eight is upset that he's not getting more face-time with his tots while his former spouse is hoofing it up in Los Angeles.
"Jon's angry because doing 'Dancing With the Stars' will keep her away from the kids for days, and she still won't let him have any extra custody," a snitch grumbles to the mag. "Nannies will watch them instead of Jon."
RELATED VIDEO: Kate dishes on "DWTS"
Snipes another insider, "[Kate is] obsessed with being a celebrity [and] doesn't stop to think about whether or not the kids will miss her."
Jon's rep, however, insists he's sending nothing but hearts and rainbows Kate's way: "He's happy for her. She's still part of his family, and he supports her 100 percent."
On Tuesday, the newly blond-extension-garnished mom told "Good Morning America" that she planned to work on her rug-cutting skills in the basement of the family's Pennsylvania home or at a nearby studio in order to spend as much time as possible with her clan.
RELATED: See more photos of Jon and Kate
"The kids come first," she insisted, adding that her "Dancing" experience "definitely is a message to my kids: 'Do your best, never quit.'"
And while she admitted to Jimmy Kimmel that she "can't dance," Kate, who is partnered with hoofer Tony Dovolani, predicts, "I am gonna win."
One victory she can already claim: making friends on the "DWTS" set.
"Kate was so nice," a source tells Us. "Everyone loved her. She was funny and cordial and accommodating ... It was a surprise!"
Read more Hot Gossip


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Worlds in Collusion
- When:
- Location:
- Student Center - Wright Theater
- http://www.artscape.org
- Description:
As part of Artscape, High Zero Foundation, BOPA and Spotlight UB present Worlds in Collusion, a three day free festival of experimental music, poetry and comedy. For the scheduel, visit Artscape's site.
- Contact Name:
- Kimberley Lynne
- Contact Email:
- firstname.lastname@example.com
- Contact Phone:
- 410.837.4053
If you need accommodations to participate in this event, please contact the person listed above at least 10 days prior to the event.


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- PIO Number: 13-8-8
- BSO Case Number: LL13-08-00389
- Date: August 5, 2013
- Time: 3:53 p.m.
- Place of Occurrence: 3760 NW 27 St., Lauderdale Lakes
- Jurisdiction: Lauderdale Lakes
- Steven Rutty, 18, male, 12/31/94, 3760 NW 27 St., Lauderdale Lakes (DECEASED)
- Unknown at this time
Description of Incident:
A Lauderdale Lakes 18-year-old was discovered dead by his stepfather late Monday afternoon.
At 3:53 p.m. Monday, Broward Sheriff's Office deputies and Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue responded to a single-family home at 3760 NW 27 St. where Steven Rutty, 18, was found deceased by his stepfather who had just returned home from work. Rutty was last seen alive Monday morning by his mother before she left for work. An uncle of the victim's also lives at the address.
Crime Scene Unit detectives worked late into Monday night processing the scene and homicide detectives took statements from relatives and associates of the victim.
BSO Homicide Unit detectives are releasing few details about the case other than Mr. Rutty was found inside the home, murdered. Anyone with information about this case should call the Broward Sheriff's Office at 954-765-4321 or Broward Crime Stoppers, anonymously, at 954-493-TIPS (8477), or online at www.BrowardCrimeStoppers.org.
- INVESTIGATORS: CID, Homicide, D-4,Crime Scene, BSFR, Sgt. Ellwood, Det. Ilarraza
- THIS REPORT BY: Mike Jachles/PIO 08/05/13 2300
Posted At: 08/05/2013 11:16 PM
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