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IRVINE – Half a world away from where the best of the best play in the most prestigious of tournaments, tennis pro Chris Lewis grabs his racket and begins his day's work.
He starts with volleys. It's a standard tennis warm-up drill, and one of Lewis' many star pupils – Mayo Hibi, a 17-year-old ranked 304th on the women's pro tour – returns each shot with ease. Soon, teacher and student back away from the net, toward their respective baselines, to practice ground strokes.
This is where today's real lesson begins. For the better part of his 7 a.m. hour on this Monday, as a tournament of particular significance to Lewis kicks off across the Atlantic, the coach helps Hibi hone the fine art of the backhand slice.
"He's been to the top of the world," Hibi says of Lewis. "You usually don't get those coaches."
It's hard to see it now. Lewis is a well-regarded coach, but he's also 56. The players at Wimbledon are hyper-fit specimens half that age or younger, with foot speed and reflexes only a few humans ever possess and, when they do, for only a few years at most.
Still, it's a fact: 30 years ago July 3, Chris Lewis spent a few hours as one of the two best tennis players on the planet.
He wasn't seeded.
That's the first thing you read about when you look up how Lewis, in 1983, reached the men's singles finals at Wimbledon.
You also learn that Lewis was something of a pioneer, the first man to use an oversize racquet in a Grand Slam final.
But for Lewis, a native New Zealander who has lived in Irvine since 2006, that particular Wimbledon run – six straight victories – wasn't about gizmos. And, in his mind, it doesn't feel at all distant.
"It literally feels as though it were yesterday," Lewis says.
London's perfect weather in '83; the hard-fought five-setters against ninth-seeded Steve Denton, unseeded Mike Bauer and 12th-seeded Kevin Curren; the sleepless night before a fourth-round match against Nduka Odizor – Lewis remembers it all and can recount it with ease.
"I just cannot believe how vivid those two weeks are in my memory," he says.
It's no coincidence that he played the best tennis of his life at Wimbledon.
Growing up in Auckland, New Zealand, Lewis revered the All England Club tournament, reading news accounts of the grass-court spectacle and listening to championships on radio. His backyard was home to regular, imaginary Wimbledon finals against his brothers, Mark and David.
"I lived it," Lewis says of his Wimbledon dreams.
He also played it.
In 1975, as a teenager, Lewis won Wimbledon's junior boys singles title, a prestigious tournament in its own right and sometimes a signal of future greatness. Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl and Roger Federer are among those who won Wimbledon as boys and later went on to win multiple Grand Slam championships.
But Lewis' professional career didn't rise to those heights. By 1983, he was a journeyman, ranked 91st in the world; good enough to earn a solid living but not a serious threat to the sport's upper echelon.
Lewis says now that he started 1983 playing the worst tennis of his career. And, he says, his chances going into Wimbledon were dimmed further by the fact that he'd suffered food poisoning during the French Open, a few weeks earlier.
The illness left Lewis with plenty of time to think.
With Wimbledon as catalyst, Lewis was driven to turn his play around.
And he did.
Two of his first three matches at Wimbledon lasted five sets and the fourth tested him physically and mentally.
With the rare prospect of a quarterfinal appearance looming, Lewis failed to sleep the night before his match against Odizor, a Nigerian with a big serve.
Despite playing on just an hourlong, prematch nap on the locker-room floor, Lewis bounced back from a slow start and won, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.
"(Lewis) was just a real tenacious player," says Denton, his first-round opponent, who now coaches the men's team at Texas A&M.
"He was one of the kinds of players that if you're going to beat, you had to finish points well against him. He made you work for everything."
After a come-from-behind triumph over Mel Purcell in the quarters, Lewis negated a 0-3 fifth-set deficit to edge Curren. That win presented Lewis with a scenario he merely dreamed of as a kid – a Wimbledon final.
There was just one problem.
In 1983, John McEnroe was at the peak of a career that probably ranks among the five best careers in the history of men's tennis.
He'd finished 1981 and 1982 ranked No. 1 in the world during an era when Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg and Ivan Lendl, among others, were serious threats to beat him in any tournament.
By mid-1983 he'd won four of the seven Grand Slam singles titles he'd eventually win in his career.
Heading into the '83 Wimbledon, McEnroe was 24, uninjured and starting to mature (at least a little) beyond the outburst prone player the British tabloid press once dubbed "Superbrat."
Johnny Mac, as he was sometimes known, was a god in men's tennis.
Chris Lewis, by contrast, looked good in tennis whites.
Their pairing would have no Hollywood ending. In the final, McEnroe dispatched Lewis in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.
"He was at the peak of his game," Lewis now says of McEnroe. "He just had too much weaponry."
Turns out Lewis had some too.
For about a year after losing to McEnroe at Wimbledon, Lewis played the best tennis of his career. He didn't rise to the top 10, but within a year of Wimbledon he was ranked 19th in the world.
By the time he retired, in 1986, he'd been a touring pro for 12 years, with three singles championships and eight doubles titles to his credit.
"Looking back on my career, I can look back honestly with no regrets and say that I gave it my best shot," says Lewis, his long brown hair of 1983 now a shiny gray buzz.
"I like giving kids the same opportunity," he adds. "I just like seeing talent flourish."
It's misty as Lewis hits with Hibi at the Woodbridge Tennis Club, where Lewis is director of player development.
Lewis watches more than the ball; he notes minute details of Hibi's game. It's a skill that makes Lewis a highly sought after coach.
Near the end of their session, Hibi hits a particularly effective backhand slice, prompting Lewis to lightly clap his racquet, mimicking applause.
"Can't hit a slice any better than that," he calls out.
He knows. He's done it.
Contact the writer: email@example.com


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Richard Ben Cramer: An appreciation
Richard Ben Cramer, a legendary journalist who died all too young yesterday at 62, wrote a book about presidential candidates that will endure for generations. Read it. You'll be amazed how fast 1000 pages can fly. Put simply, What It Takes is the Citizen Kane of political writing.
Just as Citizen Kane shattered all the conventions of filmmaking, Cramer's book throws out the political reporters' rulebook. Just as Orson Welles indulged his wildest cinematic ambitions, Cramer reported deeply and wrote boldy, in a style best described as iconoclastic grandeur. Just as Citizen Kane was often reviled or ignored after its 1941 release, What It Takes was widely attacked by campaign-trail journalists after its 1992 release. The book sold poorly, and Cramer barely saw a dime. But just as Citizen Kane came to be viewed as a classic, What It Takes during the past two decades has similarly cemented its timeless status. (And how fitting it was that when PBS aired its 1996 documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane, it was narrated and co-written by Cramer.)
Cramer broke all the political coverage rules because he was never beholden to them in the first place. He had never been a journalistic grunt on the campaign trail. He had previously worked as a foreign correspondent for The Philadelphia Inquirer (back when the paper had money for such things), and as a general-assignment magazine freelancer with an abiding interest in sports figures. Indeed, shortly before embarking on his political book, he profiled baseball great Ted Williams for Esquire magazine, capturing the ornery guy as nobody else ever had or would. (I teach the Williams profile at the University of Pennsylvania.) So when he turned his attention to politics, he was able to approach the topic as an outsider, freed of its journalistic conventions.
Nobody today would be able to write about politics the way he did. The contemporary news cycle spins too quickly, and it's too hooked on buzz and heat. Cramer, back in the pre-Internet days of 1987 and 1988, didn't care a whit about speed - an editor once joked that Cramer took a year and a half just to write his name - and he wasn't interested in that era's buzz and heat. He wanted to know what the '88 candidates were really like deep down - where they came from, what their families were like, what drove them to believe they should be president, "what it takes" to pursue the dream. And he wasn't cynical about the candidates. He had empathy for all of them - just as a novelist has empathy for his characters, warts and all.
In 2010, I decided that Cramer should visit Penn to talk about his unusual process, and about how the book had risen from dud to classic. He was tough to reach. He lived quietly in rural Maryland. He didn't have a cellphone, and he didn't have an email account. But with the help of his wife Joan, and a year's effort on my part, he finally came. During his hour-long talk, on November 9, 2011, he told listeners that he didn't even hit the 1988 campaign trail until he had first exhausted every possible source in the candidates' home towns. That process alone took nearly a year. He wanted to know the candidates as people, not as news-coverage caricatures. And when he finally met the candidates, they were stunned - and appreciative - of his efforts.
"I wasn't just another guy with a notebook that gets his 15-minute interview," he said at Penn. "I was the guy that their Aunt Sarah was calling them about. In fact, I was their only link to Aunt Sarah anymore....I knew more about their lives than they did at that point. Which led me to an important truth of the book - which is that, when you run for president, your life is gone. (Your previous life) is completely wiped out by the process of getting that job."
Cramer had disdain for conventional reporters who never try to humanize the candidates. In a forum at New York University a decade ago, he said that his stints in the home towns had been "incredibly valuable. What amazes me is that most journalists won't bother talking to the people who love these guys. They only want to talk to the critics, or at the very least, people who have political reservations about him. Journalists think, 'What the hell is his sister going to say? She's going to say that he's wonderful. Big deal!' But they are missing the point. The important question is how is he wonderful! If you want to understand how someone got to the point where he is a credible candidate for president of a nation of 250 million people, you'd better damn well know how he is wonderful. But most journalists don't care about that."
You can see why most journalists panned or ignored What It Takes, when it finally appeared after four years' gestation. An outsider was presuming to tell them how to cover politics. And his conversational neo-Tom Wolfe style turned them off. Maureen Dowd wrote at the time that this prose style was "more annoying than entertaining." But you be the judge. Here's just one small passage, about the Scranton misadventures of gutsy "Joey" Biden, three decades before he first ran for president in 1988:
"There was nothing he wouldn't do. There are still guys in Scranton today who talk about the feats of Joey Biden. There was, for example, the Feat of the Culm Dump. Culm is the stuff they pile next to the mine after they've taken out the coal. Every mine shaft in Scranton had a mountain of culm, and in the fifties, when people weren't so picky about the air, the stuff was aways on fire. There was just enough coal carbon left in the soot to cause spontaneous combustion; pile would burn for 20, 30 years. So what you had for instance, at the Marvin Colliery, down the hill from Green Ridge, three or four blocks from Joey's house, was a mountain on fire, lava-hot on the surface, except where it burned out underneath, and then there'd be a pocket of ash where you could fall right into the mountain, if you stepped on it...but, of course, no one was going to step on it...until Charlie Roth bet Biden five bucks that Joey couldn't climb the culm dump."
One paragraph later: "To this day, Joe Biden has never seen the five bucks. Of course, by the time he got to the top, the five bucks wasn't the point anymore. It was more like...immortality."
Vice President Biden, reacting today to Cramer's death, remembers well how the author portrayed him. He said, "It is a powerful thing to read a book someone has written about you, and to find both the observations and criticisms so sharp and insightful that you learn something new and meaningful about yourself."
Cramer got that Scranton material because he had the job he loved. As he said at Penn in 2011, "There's nothing like it in the world. That notebook in your hands gives you license to ask questions." He said this, hoping that the students in the audience would follow his lead and keep the flame burning. That would be a fitting legacy.
Follow me on Twitter, @dickpolman1
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The dish on Long Island's restaurant and food scene.
Call it basilico.
In its latest life, this cozy establishment is The Basil Leaf Cafe Ristorante. Owner Vito Patronelli has transformed the place.
In appearance, it's similar to what any visitor over the years remembers. Basil Leaf still looks like a handsome, local gathering spot, with two separate dining rooms, one more rustic, the other more refined.
Very good Italian food defines each one, starting with the house's thin-crust, little pizzas. Share a pie and proceed from there. Baked eggplant is fine starter, and the sliced sirloin atop arugula salad, a satisfying main course.
You'll enjoy reacquainting yourself.
The Basil Leaf Cafe Ristorante, 7b Birch Hill Rd. (The Plaza), Locust Valley; 516-676-6252.
Sliced sirloin with arugula.


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Moderators: Timko, Fritz, Solty, Booter, Blake_T, Frank Delicious
twmccoy wrote: I My pros are also not beating up too badly. .
Smyith wrote:ok so i got my pro wraith 171g today and first impressions im not impressed. weather conditons were not any real factor - light cross breeze.
the fade at the end of the flight is more of a dive into the ground rather than glide type fade. this happened any style that i threw it. i tried 3 different grips with it too.
although it did have great distance even with my bad throws.
this thursday im going to go back out with my friends pro starfire 173g, i tried it again the other day and could wip it far and straight, and compare the 2 and see which one i like best, but will probably keep the wraith in my bag even if i dont end up liking in case i eventually figure how to throw it.
twmccoy wrote:I urge you to not give up on the wraith. Keep throwing it and eventually your arm will adjust to it and it will soar. When I first threw them I was unimpressed, but after lots of practice throws I learned the disc and it has blown past every other driver I've ever thrown. Try to turn it over when you throw it. The disc will start out right and glide forever.
Blake_T wrote:the wraith must be turned over and very nose down to get decent glide during the low speed portion of flight.
Blake_T wrote:i guess the other part of it is that i don't really like the 40-60' of fade for golf purposes as fade compensation with the wraith forces you to throw a longer shot to land an accurate drive. e.g. throwing 50' to the right + bringing it 50' back to the left on a 350' hole = 450' of distance covered.
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10 years
I have a passion for teaching and creating things. I like to incorporate hands on activities that are meaningful and engaging. Students should be able to explore, discover, and ask questions while learning.
ESOL certified TESOL certified
Master's Degree
Yet to be added
PreK, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th
English Language Arts, Creative Writing, Writing-Expository, Reading, Grammar, Vocabulary, Specialty, Math, Basic Operations, Measurement, Science, Environment, Arts & Music, Other (Arts), Other (Specialty), Other (ELA), For All Subject Areas, Classroom Management, Cooking, Writing, Reading Strategies, Holidays/Seasonal, Back to School, Thanksgiving, Mental Math, Winter, Valentine's Day, Easter


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School of Fine Arts Stakeholders' Meeting
June 4, 2013
The School of Fine Arts invites faculty, students, area teachers and community members to participate in a Stakeholders' Meeting on July 7, from 2-4pm. Special guest Maria Gonzalez will present a lecture about the history and significance of the Brooks Jones Collection. Recent additions to the Greer Museum's Permanent Collection will be exhibited. Recent and upcoming inititatives will be discussed, including Cantate!, the Little River Print Project, Songwriting Workshops, Little River Short Shorts Film Fest, Visiting Artist workshops and more!
Most importantly, all students, faculty, area teachers, and community members interested in the fine and performing arts will be given the opportunity to give their input into how the School of Fine Arts can best meet the needs of our community and stakeholders.
Refreshments will be served.


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This is the last of three pieces brought to you by Distance Minnesota about some of today's hottest career fields. Be sure to check out our piece on the IT workforce and the Health industry.
Distance Minnesota is offering a free Online Career Workshop starting March 31 that will assist you in gaining more knowledge about your values, personality, skills and interests and how they relate to possible careers. Register today. Space may be limited.
With the economy improving, more job opportunities are appearing, giving today's students openings to show prospective employers their skills and professional talents. However, the job market is still competitive, and students need to know – and then acquire – the skills prospective employers want.
In the law enforcement industry, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts demand for police officers and detectives will increase 5 percent through the year 2022. This growth will make jobs available, but applicants must expect competition for these jobs.
Having knowledge of what traits and skills law enforcement agencies across the country want in candidates will help students strongly compete for open positions. Some background information and skills to know about in advance are:
Writing and communication skills for law enforcement
Report writing is an important part of the job for law enforcement officers, and departments are looking for officers who can communicate well in those reports. They have the potential for being reviewed by other officers, by the media, involved in court cases, and reviewed by many other professionals, which is why good communication skills are so important. What may surprise some applicants is that these writing skills are exactly that – often handwritten. Many departments don't have the high-tech computer systems found in the detective shows on TV, making computer skills less important than effective communication skills, both written and oral.
Police officers may face many ethical issues on a daily or weekly basis, and how an officer behaves in these situations could affect an individual, business or even the community as a whole. All criminal justice students should complete an ethics course to ensure they're prepared for the law enforcement working environment.
Community involvement
Many police departments require their officers to live within the community. Officers involved in the community are more effective in their careers.
Physical fitness for law enforcement applicants
Applicants shouldn't be surprised that physical fitness is a requirement for most positions. Physical fitness prior to and during the testing process is critical if you want to get the career of your choice. Students wanting to be competitive for those open positions should begin additional physical training on their own.
These helpful hints about the law enforcement market, and what's expected of candidates for jobs, were designed to help candidates have an edge when applying for those open positions. And even with the job market improving, that edge is important to getting the best position possible.
Whether you are seeking to advance in your current career or embark on a new one, career opportunities in the Health industry are many. And now, obtaining the skills you need to be successful are more accessible and affordable than ever. To learn more about the Distance Minnesota Law Enforcement programs, visit distanceminnesota.org.


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Canberra Raiders prop David Shillington has endorsed Josh McCrone and Shaun Fensom as potential future captains after the duo were included in the club's leadership group.
Shillington assumed the captaincy last year in place of injured skipper Terry Campese and credits McCrone with helping him fill the leadership void. McCrone and Fensom were part of the Raiders' junior leadership group last year and Shillington views their ascent as ''a natural progression''.
Shillington and fellow prop Brett White will remain vice-captains under returning five-eighth Campese, with Shaun Berrigan, Dane Tilse and Tom Learoyd-Lahrs also voted into the leadership group via a player ballot.
McCrone has developed into one of the game's more damaging five-eighths in Campese's absence, and has been rewarded with selection in the NSW Blues emerging squad, which goes into camp for three days at Coogee from Friday.
''I've played a bit of a leadership role since Campo's been out, it's been thrust on me, so it's exciting I've got recognised for that [by my peers] and obviously they think I've been doing an all right job if they've put me in the leadership group,'' McCrone said.
''We've lost a lot of leaders the last couple of years, not just Campo but Josh Miller and 'Tonguey' [former captain Alan Tongue] and Troy Thompson. There was a fair void there and people had to stand up.'' Shillington has no doubt the 24-year-old could handle the job, while Fensom has already proven himself as a skipper, having led the Raiders to the inaugural Toyota Cup premiership in 2008.
''Obviously if Campo's fully fit and wants to the captain, which I'm sure is the case, that'd be great because we all have so much respect for Campo as a leader,'' Shillington said.
''If that's not the case, I'd definitely endorse giving those guys [McCrone and Fensom] a run at it next year.
''Josh helped me out a lot last year and that's what you need. There's a lot of pressure on the captain and the people around you helping you out are just as important.
''Hopefully their involvement in this [leadership group] pushes them through into maybe having the 'C' next to their name, depending on what Campo's doing.''
Shillington rates McCrone's on-field talk one of his best traits.
''He's a great talker, he's working on keeping a level head and leading the team around like Campo does, and I thought last year he developed that really well,'' Shillington said.
Raiders coach David Furner has challenged the players to assume more leadership responsibility as Campese and White work their way back from knee reconstructions.
''I just want Campo to worry about his football. He's a natural leader anyway, so we're looking at that added responsibility on our vice-captains,'' Furner said.
''Shaun Fensom's been a captain before and he's got plenty of great qualities, he's someone I see who could turn into a very good leader.
''Joshy McCrone has that popularity among the players and he's shown his leadership on the field.''
Fensom, said the inclusion of two younger players in the leadership group was a wise move, as the Raiders have one of the youngest squads in the NRL. ''You need a bit of diversity in there. There's a lot of young guys in the side and you need that in any group,'' he said.
Fensom, Josh Dugan and Blake Ferguson will join McCrone in the Blues' emerging squad on Friday.


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I found a lot of electronic equipment that other stores do not have, the information on your website is very comprehensive and the prices are very convenient.


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2008 Chevy Silverado 2500HD - Fire And Brimstone
Burning A Hole In The Show Scene
Pyrotechnic shows attract an audience eager to see how close they can come to getting burned without the pain and suffering attached to the flames' mysterious and unpredictable behavior. Pyros love the unbridled power of nature's most intimidating element and like moths to a flame, they can't resist the urge to get close to it. We suffered a pyro-like tendency when we first came upon Austin O'Krinsky's lifted and flamed '08 Chevy 2500HD. Using his first big truck project as a springboard to promote his family's business, Extreme Off-Road, in Katy, Texas, Austin got a little carried away and the end result is blazing a path across the show scene in the Lone Star State.
Starting with a powerful truck straight from the dealer lot, Austin and his team at Extreme Off-Road quickly got to work making the truck much, much bigger. Bolted to the Chevy, a 3rd Coast Suspension 19-inch lift kit allows plenty of clearance for the 22x10.5-inch BMF Novakane wheels wrapped in 40-inch Toyo M/T tires. While they were at it, the frame was smoothed and painted gloss black, chrome-plated Fox Racing Shox were added at each corner, and Atlas leaf springs were bolted onto the rear axle. A big brake kit from SSBC brings the 3/4-ton beast to a halt and detailing such as powdercoated suspension pieces and painted Mag-Hytec diff cover and axle add to the undercarriage's combustible appearance.
A big truck with a nice chassis is cool, but that won't turn any heads in a state flooded with big rides. Taking the 2500HD to the custom furnace, S&T Autobody, also in Katy, smoothed and painted the front bumper, mirrors, door handles, and side tube steps for a streamlined appearance. The guys then busted out the airbrush gun and forever set the truck ablaze with a set of real-fire flames. Add to that the black Recon Halo headlights, Recon LED taillights, and solid-billet BMF mesh grille, and this Chevy truck was snapping necks every time the rubber hit the pavement. Not wanting just a shiny outside with no custom interior accoutrements, Extreme Off-Road opened the doors and got to work.
Inside the crew cab, the boring factory black leather was removed and upgraded with Katzkin real leather seat covers featuring red suede inserts and contrasting red stitching. Each pillar and the headliner were wrapped in black suede and several plastic trim pieces were smoothed and painted red to match. This Chevy HD sounds as good as it looks thanks to a Kenwood head unit controlling JL Audio components in each door and two 13.5-inch JL Audio subs under the back seat. Powering all of the high-end speakers are three JL Audio HD-series amplifiers and all the audio juice flows through Stinger cables.
Seat time is reserved for Austin only, however, as the Duramax diesel has received a bevy of performance enhancements. Turning up the diesel's wick is as easy as dialing in the Quadzilla tuner and adding power on the fly. The Chevy HD now sports a BD Diesel turbo upgrade, aFe air intake, and MBRP DPF-delete 4-inch exhaust system. Spinning the tires is a set of 4.88 gears from G2 Axle, which are protected by a Mag-Hytec diff cover. To accommodate the massive lift, Houston Drivetrain lengthened the driveshaft and eliminated any vibrations.


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Art of War is expanding their Berserk product line beyond fine art statues to include a wide range of functional collectible goods. Available for order now through art-of-war.co.jp/english, new items featured are a Berserk FRISK Mint Tablet Case Cover (approx. US$25), Berserk Leather Mouse Pad (US$25), Berserk Card Type USB Flash Drive 4GB (US$47), Berserk Original Manga Cover Art Acrylic Panel (US$100) and a Berserk Guts in Armor Dress Wall Scroll (US$250).


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Over at BCC today implications of the Fall were vigorously debated on Mark Brown's post Women, Men, and the Fall. Mark invited readers to consider a quote by Elder Packer extolling the superior divine attributes of woman and whether her natural virtue mitigates the effects of fall and her proclivity to sin.
As might have been expected, women bloggers took issue with the notion. I have already discussed here on this blog the authoritative support which exists for the doctrine that women are more spiritual than men. But I don't think I adequately expressed the danger that might ensue were the female portion of humankind were to receive the Priesthood. I will leave it to (then-current) LDS General Authority Hartman Rector, Jr. to do so:
"In order to attempt to get the male somewhere near even, the Heavenly Father gave him the Priesthood, or directing authority for the Church and home. Without this bequeath, the male would be so far below the female in power and influence that there would be little or no purpose for his existence. In fact, [he] would probably be eaten by the female as is the case with the black widow Spider."
Monday, February 1, 2010
Female Priesthood and The Black Widow Spider
Over at BCC today implications of the Fall were vigorously debated on Mark Brown's post Women, Men, and the Fall. Mark invited readers to consider a quote by Elder Packer extolling the superior divine attributes of woman and whether her natural virtue mitigates the effects of fall and her proclivity to sin.
19 comments:
- Joseph Smidt said...
Look, men and woman are equal. Men don't need the priesthood to stand in the presence of women and women don't have to do anything special to be able to stand side by side with men.
Statements like the ones you refereed to do more harm than good in my opinion.
I'll tell you who did it right. I saw Maria Shriver get asked "Who wears the pants in your home, you or your husband Arnold Schwarzenegger". She said, "Actually we both do because we work as a team."
That is the correct way to describe the relationship between man and women.
- February 1, 2010 at 11:11 PM
Of course men deny women the priesthood. This bull about women being "virtuous" is just as insulting as the generations before who insisted that women weren't good enough. Men do not receive priesthood ecause they are good or evil, but because they have male genitalia ad women allow men to control things. Ridiculous. Women should not receive (or be barred from) priesthood because they are good, but rather because they are women and fuctioning compassionate persons capable of doing good!
- February 1, 2010 at 11:45 PM
- Bored in Vernal said...
Joseph, if that's the "correct" way to describe the relationship between men & women, then why are the GA's describing it differently?
Anon, I agree that both reasons for denying women the priesthood are insulting. I'd almost (ALMOST!) rather just be told, "because I am God and I said so!"
- February 2, 2010 at 12:00 AM
- Joseph Smidt said...
I don't know that GAs are describing it differently.
*These* quotes describe it differently. The truth is there are quotes from GAs that cover the whole spectrum. Some elevating men over women, some treating man and women as equals and many elevating woman over men in some way. (Such as these.)
Bored in Vernal, I'm just curious. Do you have something against the idea that men and women are equal and both are just as virtuous, special, wonderful, holy, etc... as the other?
Is there some cosmic catastrophe that will take place if men and women turn out to be equal in these ways?
- February 2, 2010 at 12:26 AM
- Joseph Smidt said...
I'm interested in knowing Hartman Rector Jr.'s explanation to how men weren't destroyed by women when the priesthood was lost from the earth due to apostasy. :)
I mean, history isn't exactly chalked full of stories where women overcame men with their superior power because the priesthood was nowhere to be found. :)
My point is there is zero evidence to show that women overcome men by their power when men don't have the priesthood.
My money is on Hartman Rector Jr.'s quote being just as false as quotes by GAs in the past where women were told their husbands were to rule over them.
- February 2, 2010 at 12:37 AM
Thanks, BinV, for reminding me of one of my favorite GA quotations of all time. ;)
ZD Eve
- February 2, 2010 at 12:39 AM
- Joseph Smidt said...
BinV, despite the tone my comments may convey, I am glad you shared that Hartman Rector, Jr.
I obviously think it is on the same level as when Joseph Fielding Smith said man would never make it to the moon because that is not our kingdom, however, it is a fun quote to read.
- February 2, 2010 at 12:47 AM
- Bored in Vernal said...
Joseph, I'm afraid you just don't get me. Thanks for trying, though.
- February 2, 2010 at 12:48 AM
- stacer said...
"I mean, history isn't exactly chalked full of stories where women overcame men with their superior power because the priesthood was nowhere to be found. :)"
But oooo, great fantasy story idea! *wanders off scribbling*
- February 2, 2010 at 1:05 AM
- Joseph Smidt said...
BinV, no problem. I'm always willing to try.
Keep up the blogging, you do great work.
stacer, yeah, history may have been more interesting if that way. :)
- February 2, 2010 at 1:06 AM
- denebug said...
This quote seems to be in the same category as the bizarre justifications for withholding the priesthood from blacks. The difference is that we now see this quote as ridiculous but nothing has changed.
-reader rachel
- February 2, 2010 at 8:32 AM
- J G-W said...
Thanks for the great belly laugh...!
Not having the priesthood, now I know why I've played it safe and married a man.
But on a more serious note... Our spiritual power as men AND as women comes from our righteousness. From our love, our faith and our hope, our patience, our service, etc.
I suspect that the severe inequality women have been forced to live under in most modern cultures of this fallen world has forced women to develop some of the traits that make for true spiritual and moral power.
I wonder what the world might look like, though, what we as a human race might be like, when all the lasts are truly first (and there are no "lasts")?
- February 2, 2010 at 10:04 AM
- Chelsea said...
I've never heard that quote before, how fascinating. Not only is it really, really funny, it reveals what I've long suspected: there exists among some members a visceral reaction of fear about the idea of women holding the priesthood - just like seeing a spider.
- February 2, 2010 at 11:54 AM
- Bookslinger said...
BiV: I don't know if you got my email, so please excuse the announcement here. Mike Ellis, former SP in Muncie, had cancer, and his wife was keeping a blog of their medical journey.
Brother Ellis passed away Thursday Feb 4, 2010, as announced on their blog. (It's public.)
I believe one of his counselors was Dr. John Chipman, who is now a Mission President in Peru. He and his wife Karen are blogging at:
- February 9, 2010 at 12:14 AM
- Bookslinger said...
I don't have the Ellis's mailing address or email, but if you want to send them a note, I'm guessing Mike's company will forward to the family:
GEA Architects
Muncie, IN 47305
They're in the phone book, http://www.yellowpages.com/ so that's public too.
- February 9, 2010 at 12:18 AM
- Bored in Vernal said...
Bookslinger, got your email, and Dr. B. and I appreciated that you thought to let us know. He was a wonderful Stake President and will be missed by our family.
- February 9, 2010 at 8:27 AM
- annegb said...
Women aren't equal in my ward. They aren't allowed to give the opening prayer in sacrament. I will never stop resenting that.
- February 14, 2010 at 1:49 PM
I don't know how anyone can possibly say that men and women are equal. They are not equal--they are different. It's like comparing apples to oranges. Are apples and oranges equal? If you are going to say that men and women are equal, then you must explain in what way they are equal.
Are they equal in height? No. Generally speaking, most men are taller than most women. There are exceptions, of course, but generally speaking, it is nevertheless true, that most men are taller than most women.
Are they equal in physical strength? No. Generally speaking, most men are physically stronger than most women. Again, there are exceptions to the general rule, but it is nevertheless a fact that most men are physically stronger than most women.
Do men and women enjoy the same length of life? No. Most women live longer than most men. There are exceptions to the general rule, of course, but the fact remains that most women outlive most men.
Are they equal intellectually? I see no evidence that men are smarter than women, nor that women are smarter than men, but I just don't know how you could ever prove either side of the issue, since there is no reliable I.Q. test in existence.
Are they equal spiritually? No. IMO, generally speaking most women are more spiritual than most men. Again, there are exceptions to the rule. How many women would claim to be more spiritual than Thomas S. Monson, for example? And there are some women who are about as spiritual as rocks. But those are the exceptions to the rule. Walk into any LDS chapel in the world, and I will bet you dollars to donuts that you will find more women than men at the services. It is a regrettable fact that most women are more in tune with the spirit than most men, who are out drinking and playing soccer, while their wives are at church.
Why do men hold the priesthood and not women? Because God said so, that's why--pure and simple. But IMO, it's because He knew that if He gave the priesthood to women, the men would be content to let the women do all the home teaching, while they sat home and watched football.
--Tragula (an honest man)
- July 1, 2010 at 6:50 PM
Thanks Tragula, men are to cover their wives and Christ covers the man. This is presithood, Christ died and now interceeds. Men need to die to their own flesh and start praying for their wives, to interceed means to stand in the way of the evil. God gave out responsibilites both to man and to woman. Both men and woman need to submit who is over them, for men it it Christ and for woman it is their husbands. This is why it is important to be very picky before you marry. Marry a godly man who has already submitted to Christ, these men are humble, meek with their use of authority and loving. In counseling I have found that woman don't mind submitting to that kind of man, and once mens eyes are open to just what Christ did for them, they do have no problem submitting. Best wished to us all in this area.
- September 6, 2010 at 5:38 AM


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Bears fire Ron Turner
Bears fire offensive coordinator Ron Turner
January 5, 2010 11:11 AM | 62 Comments | UPDATED STORY
The bubble burst Tuesday for Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner, who was dismissed. (Chris Sweda/Tribune)
By Vaughn McClure
The Bears have fired offensive coordinator Ron Turner, as well as offensive line coach Harry Hiestand, quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton and tight ends coach Rob Boras, according to a league source.
The Bears will keep receivers coach Darryl Drake and running backs coach Tim Spencer. Drake's receivers were the most criticized group coming into the 2009 season, but performed much better than expected. Spencer had to deal with Matt Forte running on a bad knee and inconsistent play from the offensive line.
Also, the Bears are expected to name assistant Rod Marinelli the defensive coordinator, according to a source. He will relieve head coach Lovie Smith of those duties.
Turner's dismissal was expected in light of the team's offensive struggles during a 7-9 season. He still will be regarded as one of the most productive offensive coordinators in the team's history after helping the Bears reach Super Bowl XLI. But Turner's fifth consecutive year as the team's offensive coordinator (and ninth total) went south despite the addition of quarterback Jay Cutler.
Turner was one of the first assistants the team met with Tuesday morning. Turner's offense finished 23rd in the NFL (310.3 yards per game) and 29th in rushing offense (93.3 yards per game) this season. During the Super Bowl season, the Bears were tied for 15th in yards per game (324.9) and tied for second with 26.7 points per game.
The cold relationship between Turner and Cutler did not help Turner's situation
Hiestand, who declined to comment about his dismissal, figured to be gone if Turner was no longer in the mix. The offensive line didn't make much improvement from last season despite the additions of Orlando Pace, Frank Omiyale, and Kevin Shaffer, although Omiyale, Shaffer, and Chris Williams showed progress at the end of the season.
Meanwhile, Joe Cullen, Marinell's defensive line coach when Marinelli was the head coach of the Detroit Lions, was spotted at Halas Hall last week and could take over the Bears' defensive line from Marinelli.
In 2006, the Lions suspended Cullen after he was arrested twice, once on a drunk-driving charge and the other on a charge of driving naked through a fast-food drive-through lane.


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The James Randi Educational Foundation offers $1 000 000 to anyone who proves to posess any psychic power.
The Buddha prohibited his monks of showing psychic powers to lay people. But what about lay people showing psychic powers? A lay man could get the prize and offer a great part of it to charities or to the Sangha. What would you do?


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The R-C Morning Report for Aug. 21
August 21, 2014
Consolidation of the county's three Lake Tahoe water systems along with their new rates are before Douglas County commissioners' at their regular meeting today. They've set aside an hour for the discussion.
The ice bucket challenge comes to Gardnerville tonight during the Thirsty Third Thursday Wine Walk. Taking the challenge is KBUL DJ Bob Richards and Gardnerville Town Manager Tom Dallaire at the KBUL remote at the Country Carousel 5:30-6 p.m.
A fire weather watch goes into effect Friday morning due to gusty winds and low humidity across northwest Nevada. If the forecast holds, expect the red flag to go up 11 a.m. Friday.
Today will be sunny with a high of 87 degrees. The wind will be out of the west at 5-10 mph.


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Ebee and Barsby vs. Hellrad and I.....
Cheers Mat
Moderators: Timko, Fritz, Solty, Booter, Blake_T, Frank Delicious
keltik wrote:i've watched some of your other vids with Barsby, great stuff......and it's also nice to see ladies playing well.....what is the name of the second song that is playing in this vid?
keltik wrote:i watched your vids again.....great stuff.....but i have to ask if the dark haired (right handed) young lady from the golf vids is the same young lady that was laying fat grooves and tearin ass on the drums in the other video you have......that was a very good jam session in that vid btw
Mark Ellis wrote:Most sins can be erased with a blunt edged disc.
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Sikorsky has won the $3.5 billion Turkish Utility Helicopter Program (TUHP), with a version of the Black Hawk designated T-70. Detailed negotiations for assembly of an initial 109 T-70s by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) will now begin. TAI will produce some parts for the T-70s, while local company Alp Aviation, which is 50-percent owned by Sikorsky, will produce dynamic components.
The T-70s will be operated by eight different Turkish military and government organizations, whose total requirement is expected to be more than 300. But total production of the T-70 could reach 600, since Sikorsky has agreed to offer the Turkish-produced helicopter to international customers.
The T-70 is similar to the S-70i version that Sikorsky has planned to offer internationally from its wholly-owned production facility in Poland. Sikorsky noted that the TUHP would expand existing collaboration on aerostructures and dynamic components. The Turkish Army, Gendarmes and Police have operated S-70A Black Hawks since the 1990s.
The losing contender was the AgustaWestland A149, which was launched in 2006 and offered to Turkey in a co-development deal as the TUHP-149 the following year. Turkey has bought the A129 Mangusta attack helicopter, which gave the Anglo-Italian company some hope of securing the TUHP deal. But commenting on the adverse TUHP decision, AgustaWestland said that Turkey "had lost a unique opportunity to become a major player in the helicopter industry through the co-development of a new-generation helicopter."
AgustaWestland said that it would continue development of the A149, since there are 8,000 aging helicopters in the same class that would need to be replaced over the next 35 years. The company has flown two prototypes of the A149 since the model's November 2009 maiden flight, but no orders have yet been announced.


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Nailgun: Insanely Fast Java
Last Updated November 25, 2012
Thinnest. Client. Ever?
Nailgun is a client, protocol, and server for running Java programs from the command line without incurring the JVM startup overhead. Programs run in the server (which is implemented in Java), and are triggered by the client (written in C), which handles all I/O.
What's New?
See the Changelog.
How does it work?
See the project background.
How do I get it?
From GitHub.
Before you download it, be aware that *it's not secure*. Not even close. Although there are means to ensure that the client is connected to the server from the local machine, there is not yet any concept of a "user". Any programs that run in Nailgun are run with the same permissions as the server itself. You have been warned.
How do I use it?
See the Quick Start guide.


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By Matt Pillar, Business Solutions magazine
Chris Pace helped a pal who owns a coffee shop set up mobile POS. Next thing he knew, he was a POS VAR. Congruity Solutions is now the go-to provider of mobile POS for more than a dozen shops in Phoenix.
Chris Pace didn't expect success selling mobile POS systems. He wasn't even looking for it. By trade, Pace is a business analyst specializing in healthcare who — almost reluctantly — calls himself a POS VAR now.
In the summer of 2011, Pace had some time to kill in the midst of a career change. A friend of his, who operates a hip coffee shop in Gilbert, AZ, needed a new POS system. Pace offered to help and, after conducting some research, convinced the coffee shop owner to try ShopKeepPOS, an iOS POS application, on an iPad. Pace was the application's first reseller, and he plugged it in for the first time in beta.
The coffee shop owner liked it. His customers, many of them independent business owners themselves, liked it too. Within days of helping his friend deploy the iPad POS application, Pace was taking calls from independent retailers and restaurants from around the Phoenix area.
That was about 20 months ago. Today, the healthcare business analyst-turned-POS VAR serves a dozen retail, hospitality, and small business customers under the Congruity Solutions moniker.
"This is an interesting and sort of weird path that I never planned for or counted on," says Pace. With an MBA under his belt, he is well aware that the way his new business developed is a bit nontraditional. "Most new businesses develop a product and a sales model, then go out and create demand. We found ourselves faced with huge demand, so we built a product and sales model to meet it."
The approach is turning out quite lucrative for him, thanks in no small part to the recurring revenue he's making on the payment processing services he resells. It's also opened a lot of doors to another facet of this techno-renaissance man's skillset: Web and social media development.
Pace's willingness to offer services that most VARs don't — or can't — puts him in a good competitive position that appeals to the independents he serves. "Start-up and independent restaurants and retailers often don't have rich websites and SEO [search engine optimization] and social media presences, nor do they have the time or expertise to tackle these things in-house and integrate them with the POS," explains Pace. "But those two sides of the business — what they're doing online and what they're doing in stores — are complementary. One drives the other." That's a synergy that's been lost on the great VAR community, and there's no exception in Phoenix. No other tech business in the city is offering this combination of goods and services. And surely no one else is doing it for a single up-front fee, with no monthly charge and free support service for the life of the install.
Mobile POS Drives Volume, E-Commerce Drives Loyalty
The interest in mobile POS, particularly on the iPad, has business booming. Pace says 70% of the calls he receives from retail and service businesses are mobile POS inquiries. "I anticipate the 'cool factor' for mobile POS will fade a bit, but for right now, small businesses are clamoring for it." He finds that a bit ironic, given that he considers ShopKeep more "widget" than software program. "The POS part is pretty simple — it's setting up the application and showing the customer how to use it. People are afraid of that stuff, and I'm not, which creates a great consultative business opportunity," he says. And, because ShopKeep nurtured the relationship in its beta stage, it quickly became lucrative for Pace to align with them. "ShopKeep extended its one-month trial to six months for my initial clients, which gave me an incredible value proposition. If they chose me and ShopKeep, they'd get it free for the first six months, with support."
That support, he says, proves a minimal effort. A lot of the issues his customers encounter are rectified by a reboot of the iPad, which works out well for Pace, given that he charges nothing for the support he offers. If heavier lifting is required, he goes to ShopKeep, but he's careful to maintain the first degree of contact. "The POS sale might be my first foot in the door. The support we give customers on POS issues causes them to think of Congruity Solutions for other things — like Web design, SEO, and e-commerce integration," he says.
Those services, as well as payment processing residuals, are where Congruity Solutions makes its money. And make money it does. The bootstrapping company forecasts 100% growth in 2013, and Pace recently hired a full-time employee to support growth on the Web and social/SEO services side of the business. That employee is a graphic designer and Web developer, a position that requires equal parts artistic and technical ability. "When you start a business and try to grow it, your biggest obstacle is often yourself. You can get in your own way if you're not realistic about your capabilities." For his part, Pace was able to admit that while he considers himself a better-than-average coder and technician, problem solving is his greatest strength.
"Having a qualified Web architect and designer on board allows me to focus on lead generation, sales, and problem solving for our new clients."
The New Opportunity: Residual Revenue
To be clear, the aforementioned payment processing residuals that supplant service fees for Congruity Solutions are no mere afterthought. When ShopKeep developed an integrated relationship with merchant processor Payment Revolution a little more than a year ago, Pace became a certified reseller of Payment Revolution as well. "This relationship allowed me to sell seamless payment processing application with the ShopKeep platform, which both serves customers well and adds card payment residuals to our consulting income," says Pace. "The ability to sell cross-channel, Internet-based payment systems from companies like First Data and Mercury dovetails with our e-commerce and Web development efforts, creating a stream of revenue that continues long after the project is complete," he says.
Payment processing residual income can average between $100 and $200 per month, per customer, money that comes in with negligible overhead. Now, Pace is constantly on the lookout to sell solutions from providers that offer similar revenue-share models. Congruity Solutions recently began offering its hospitality customers a Web, mobile, and social mediaintegrated ordering application for restaurants called Open Dining. "With Open Dining, we get up to a 20% share of revenue for the life of the customer. Unique revenue streams like this that can keep our visible cost to the client low, making it easier for me to sell." Pace says low, up-front pricing on service-rich solutions gives Congruity Solutions competitive advantage in the event other providers come in and try to invade its market space.
Minimal Start-Up Costs For VARs And Merchants Alike
In the age of the iPad, established POS VARs getting into the mobile retail game have struggled with a significant reduction in already slim hardware margins. But for start-up POS VARs, that curse turns out a blessing. "One of the beautiful things about falling into the mobile POS business is that there's no investment to speak of but time and expertise. With a good network of business connections locally, our biggest investment was simply the time we put into investigating the solutions we sell, researching the opportunity for mobile POS, and becoming resellers of the technology," says Pace. Because ShopKeep is a cloud-based application, there's no server and network overhead required of resellers or their customers. "The initial hardware investment we made was little more than an iPad to demonstrate the solution." That minimal hardware and software investment lowers the barrier to entry for merchants, too, which removes a huge potential sales objection.


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Home improvement
ACE discounts to mark 7 years of Dubai ops
ACE, a global home improvement store brand, is offering special rates to marks its seven years of operations in Dubai Festival City. On May 17 and 18, the store will offer a wide range of products at 25 per cent discounts, specialMore…
350 for home improvement expo
A total of 350 exhibitors from 14 countries will exhibit their tools, machinery and hardware in an upcoming event dedicated to the home improvement and do-it-yourself sectors in Dubai. This year's Hardware + Tools Middle East exhibition wiMore…


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There is an interesting festival called Grauzone coming up early next year at the Melkweg in Amsterdam. It's a synth pop, electro, cold/darkwave, post-punk party which will happen on February 1, 2013. So far the line up has Echo & The Bunnymen, Iceage, Chameleons Vox, Fehlfarben, Lebanon Hanover and Linea Aspera. Expect more acts to be added over the next few months.
"Multi-disciplinary festival that will take place on Friday the 1st of February 2013, in the Melkweg in Amsterdam. The festival will present the best in 'new wave' music and art: with a musical spectrum spanning synth pop, electro, cold/darkwave, post-punk, death/goth rock and more; while featuring films, exhibitions and DJ's." – facebook.com/Grauzonefestival
For more info: grauzonefestival.com
via postpunkproject


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Volcom has spent more than two decades as a leading streetwear and accessories brand for women and men. Richard Woolcott and Tucker Hall established the riding company in 1991 after a snowboarding trip to Lake Tahoe, when they realized they could turn three of their passions—snowboarding, skateboarding, and surfing—into a new career. Armed with a bold idea and $5,000 dollars from Richard's dad, they started the business process and soon Volcom was born. Volcom embraced the popular philosophy of "youth against establishment" and aimed to change the perception that snowboarding and skateboarding were somehow lesser sports. Richard and Tucker took a stand to prove that times were changing, and that riding sports did not deserve to be looked down upon. Today, Volcom offers a broad collection of products including pants, boardshorts, tees, hoodies, socks, hats, belts, and wallets. Whether your preferred boarding terrain is fresh powder or fresh asphalt, Volcom is for you.
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text:
|Sharp Elite Black 70Inch Pro-70X5FD Flat Panel 3D LED HDTV
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Sharp Elite Black 70Inch Pro-70X5FD Flat Panel 3D LED HDTV
Description: Product Features
69-1/2" screen measured diagonally from corner to corner
For optimal viewing in large rooms.
Ultraslim design (3" deep)
Comes with a stand or can be mounted on a wall (with optional mounting kit, not included). VESA 400mm x 400mm compliant.
Smart capable
Features access to Skype, Netflix, CinemaNow, YouTube, Pandora and more.
3D technology
Delivers stunning visuals for a new dimension of entertainment.
Intelligent Variable Contrast technology
Automatically adjusts the brightness and LED backlight to enhance color depth, brilliance and detail in dark and light areas.
RGB+Y color enhancement
Adds a yellow sub-pixel to enable high brightness with reduced power and accurate reproduction of a variety of colors.
Fluid Motion
Improves picture clarity and smoothness in fast-motion movie and sports scenes by minimizing motion blur and jitter.
1080p display
Provides the highest quality progressive-scan picture possible from a high-definition source.
Two 10W speakers
Provide immersive audio for your movies, television, music and games.
Include 5 HDMI, 1 PC, 2 composite video, 1 component, 3 RCA audio and 1 Ethernet.
Include optical digital audio.
5 HDMI inputs
HDMI cable not included. High-speed HDMI cable is the only connection that can deliver a full HDTV experience with a full 1080p picture and digital surround sound.
PC video input
Lets you connect your computer to experience high-resolution images.
Built-in Ethernet port
Lets you connect your TV to your home network.
2 USB ports
For quick connection of a digital camera or other USB device.


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Letter Juggle 9Language brain teasers are those that involve the English language. You need to think about and manipulate words and letters.
Take the given words, and by moving a single letter from one word to the other, make a pair of synonyms, or near synonyms. For example, given: Boast - Hip, move the 's' from 'Boast' to 'Hip' creating two synonyms: Boat - Ship.
1. Our - Start
2. Strip - Tumble
3. Clause - Idea
4. Cash - Broom
5. Plight - Lam
Hint1. Sharp taste
2. Lurch
3. Movement; belief
4. Noise
5. Beacon
Answer1. Sour - Tart
2. Trip - Stumble
3. Cause - Ideal
4. Crash - Boom
5. Light - Lamp
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Note: This item is more than nine years old. Please take the publication date into consideration for any date references.
Print – Plain Text – Permalink
News Release
Media Contact: TPWD News, firstname.lastname@example.com, 512-389-8030
March 21, 2008
Wildlife, Infrastructure Spared by Massive Fire on Chaparral WMA
AUSTIN, Texas — A massive wildfire that torched 95 percent of the 15,200-acre Chaparral Wildlife Management Area spared much of the wildlife on the state's premier public hunting site, according to initial findings during aerial surveys by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists.
Biologists flew the area on Thursday, March 20, aboard TPWD's law enforcement helicopter counting deer and other animals and will compare those findings with recent annual aerial survey results, which should provide an estimate of wildlife loss from the fire.
"I am amazed how adaptive wildlife can be during a natural disaster; we found very few carcasses and have observed a lot of live animals — horned lizards, whitetail deer, javelina and quail," said David Synatzske, Chaparral WMA manager. "We have between 20 and 25 wildlife biologists and technicians on the site assessing damage and fixing fences and they are not finding dead animals. We discovered about 30 dead animals in one location, but have not found concentrations elsewhere. I drove the entire 30-mile perimeter fence line and found only two carcasses. Considering 95 percent of the area burned, that's incredible."
Synatzske said the fire, which started Friday, March 14, and was extinguished the following Monday, consumed about 50,000 acres in Dimmit and LaSalle counties, including portions of some of the state's most celebrated trophy whitetail hunting ranches. Yet, the blaze left some pockets untouched throughout the Chaparral WMA and he believes those areas likely provided refuge for wildlife.
As far as infrastructure, Synatzske said their research building and some trailers were destroyed and they will have to replace the game proof fencing around the perimeter. That's 30 miles of fence, which he said is going to be their biggest expense. The area also has 23 miles of PVC pipe feeding watering stations and irrigating pastures and have begun work repairing those water supply lines, too.
"While we hate seeing this type of devastation, we are thankful there were no injuries and that wildlife loss was not as bad as might be expected with a fire of this magnitude," said Mike Berger, TPWD wildlife director.
"Obviously, we are concerned about the short term impacts at the Chap from this wildfire, and we should be," noted Carter Smith, TPWD executive director. "But, the bigger story I think is whether these sorts of intense wildfires will be a growing pattern throughout South Texas."
Smith recalled that fire used to be a major part of the South Texas landscape, when it was more of a savannah like system. Now, because of the longtime build-up of brush and exotic grasses, such as buffel grass and guinea grass, as well as changes in land use practices, he believes there will be a heightened frequency and intensity of wildfires in the future.
"The tremendous amount of brush that we see now in South Texas was not historically present there, but has built up over time as a result of overgrazing, changing land use patterns, and suppression of fire," Smith explained. "The exotic grasses that are now a major part of the understory are very flammable, and candidly, not adversely impacted by fire."
Research into how this ecosystem recovers from a large scale fire will begin immediately on the Chaparral WMA, according to Synatzske, who noted the area has now become a 15,000-acre research laboratory. "Our folks are identifying research sites and projects," he said. We're already seeing signs of green-up, so the process has begun."
"It should be interesting to see how the Chap responds, as well as what happens in the future on the wildfire front," Smith summed up. "That is going to impact the ecology and landscape of South Texas."
On the Net:
- http://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/news_images/?g=chaparral_wma_fire_2008
- http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/wma/find_a_wma/list/?id=45
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Soil Association: 25/43 of 43
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How to campaign for better school food
Laura Sevier
25th March, 2010All you need to know to get fresher, healthier and greener food into your child's school - from nurseries to primary and secondary schools more...
How to decode food labels and shop with a conscience
Pat Thomas
16th March, 2010Is it healthy? Is it organic? Is it fairly traded? How far has it travelled? At times, making informed choices can feel like a full-time job. Here is a pocket guide to buying food from the new book Stuffed more...
How to green your school
10th February, 2010School buildings, food, waste - even the curriculum itself should all support a connection to, and appreciation for, the environment. Here are some resources to get you started more...
The Soup Book
Sophie Grigson, Jeanette Orrey, Eric Treuille
29th December, 2009Wholesome, seasonal, frugal, simple, fresh, homegrown and hardy...The Soil Association Soup Book's recipes are sure to delight all. Read on for some tasty recipes more...
Agriculture: Copenhagen's blind spot
Peter Melchett
7th December, 2009By not properly discussing agriculture at national or international climate negotiations, we are avoiding tackling not just a huge source of emissions, but also a potential carbon sink more...
How to get community investment in green projects
Ed Hamer
11th November, 2009Many a good idea has floundered for lack of funds, but with today's models for community finance this need no longer be so... more...
10 resources for better food growing
19th June, 2009Food and farming is in crisis but there is hope for the future - from organics and Slow Food to permaculture and land share schemes more...
The Do Lectures: a Glastonbury for the mind
Jaswinder Kaur
27th August, 2009Once a year in rural Wales twenty 'doers' assemble in a small tent and tell their stories. The aim is to inspire the rest of us to go and do something positive. more...
CASE STUDY: the Slow Food revolution
Matilda Lee
20th July, 2009Can the delicious revolution reach out to the uncommitted? more...
The Organic Food Festival, Bristol
Emma Bocking
17th September, 2009The largest festival of its kind in Europe was smaller this year but still a food lover's dream. Emma Bocking reports more...
Can Defra deliver its 2030 food vision?
11th August, 2009Pressure groups question whether Defra has the power to drive reforms in the food sector more...
Organic food: FSA study leaves bad taste in the mouth
Tom Levitt
1st August, 2009The findings from the FSA's organic food review have added little to our knowledge but left consumers short-changed on real benefits of organic food. more...
Soil Association: 25/43 of 43
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What if... Government bought green?
Maria Cross
14th July, 2009Ask those involved in public food procurement if they would like to see fresh, local ingredients on menus and they will say yes. Then they will list all the reasons why it wouldn't work. Not so, argues Maria Cross - and here's how more...
Change farming to cut CO2 emissions by 25 per cent
Eifion Rees
3rd July, 2009A new report has revealed that a change in the way we manage agricultural land could help sequester a quarter of the world's carbon dioxide emissions every year more...
'Natural' and 'organic' beauty to be standardised
Matilda Lee
26th June, 2009The Soil Association hopes that Cosmos, the new natural cosmetics standard, will lead to cleaner, greener ingredients in mainstream beauty products more...
EU claim cloned food is safe
14th January, 2008European food safety officials have given their public backing to cloned food, claiming it is safe to eat. more...
Supermarkets caught up in GM label row
19th November, 2007Supermarkets have been accused of misleading consumers by not labelling food produced from genetically modified crops. more...
The trouble with organics
Joanna Blythman
17th June, 2005Organic food is not necessarily the automatic choice for the ethical consumer more...
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It's a sign of the fiscal times: There are 106 public school bond propositions in 33 counties on California's November ballot.
They range from a low of $830,000 for Pacific Elementary School in Santa Cruz County to $2.8 billion in San Diego Unified, according to Ballotpedia.
In Monterey County, three school districts will be asked to approve nearly $200 million in bonds for school upgrades.
Measure L at the Pajaro Valley Unified School District, which covers part of North Monterey County, would issue $150 million in bonds for classroom upgrades that range from fixing leaky roofs to rewiring classrooms for technology upgrades to removing mold and asbestos from classrooms.
"Ninety percent of all the schools in the district would get some portion of the bond," said Brett McFadden, chief business officer at the district. "It may seem like a lot, but we're in the top 100 districts in the state.
"There's a lot of need," McFadden said. "The average age of our schools in the district is 50 years, and just like a house or a car, after so many years of use there's wear and tear."
Pajaro Valley Unified has nearly 20,000 students and 34 schools. The measure would cost $38 per $100,000 assessed value. About 20 percent of Pajaro Valley Unified's territory is in Monterey County, although only about 12 percent of the voters in the district live in that area.
A group of residents oppose the bond on a slew of issues: because there are a lot of taxes already imposed on residents in the area, because the tax would be distributed "unfairly" — the richest region of the district has fewer school-age children — and because the economy is still limping and this is not the time to impose more taxes.
Voters in the Spreckels Union School District will be asked to support a $7 million bond for upgrades as mundane as "roofs" and as sophisticated as technology.
Property owners would be charged $26 a year per $100,000 of assessed value — or about $125 a year, given the area's home values.
"Like many districts we're dealing with the impacts of the state budget crisis," said Superintendent Eric Tarallo. "This is our way of saying we want to maintain the quality of education for our kids."
Although much of the bond would go to maintenance and repairs, the biggest need is to upgrade technology, Tarallo said.
"Our technology labs may have four or five different operating systems," Tarallo said. "Teachers and students get so frustrated. There's no way our technology's addressing the needs of 21st century learners."
No formal opposition to the bond appears to have emerged.
In the Salinas Valley, voters in the Soledad Union School District will be asked to approve $40 million in bonds, or about $120 a year per home. Unlike the Spreckels and Pajaro Valley bonds, this one would require two-thirds of the vote to be approved because of the amount being sought.
Projects would be distributed among the district's 10 schools and would include wiring upgrades for technology, handicap accessibility upgrades such as restroom improvements and ramps, renovating playgrounds and roofs, and safety upgrades such as new fencing.
"The main things for us is we only have one middle school," said Gloria Ledesma, vice president of the board of trustees. "We don't have the land, and the cost of building is not going down."
The Soledad City Council last week approved a resolution approving Measure C, and several residents spoke on its behalf. There appears to be no organized effort to defeat it.
Claudia Meléndez Salinas can be reached at 753-6755 or email@example.com.


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The Southern Great Plains Dairy Consortium has kicked off a fundraising effort to establish a $6 million endowment with a $150,000 multi-year commitment from CoBank and Farm Credit of New Mexico. CoBank has committed $25,000 a year over a four-year period with an additional $12,500 per year provided by Farm Credit of NM.
Professor Michael Tomaszewski, Consortium director and Extension specialist emeritus at Texas A&M University, announced the contribution at a recent Consortium board meeting hosted by Farm Credit of NM in Albuquerque. In addition, Tomaszewski announced the renaming of the group, which will now be know as the U.S. Dairy Education & Training Consortium as the six-week summer program to train animal and dairy science students moves beyond its original regional concept to a national stage.
"CoBank and Farm Credit of NM's contributions are the first large commitments toward our endowment goal. When completed, the Consortium will have the financial stability needed to move beyond the regional effort to a national concept," Tomaszewski said. "This is a logical next step. Consortium students come from all regions of the country and internationally. The large herd best management practices taught at the Consortium are comparable to those used in all dairy regions."
"As a cooperative, Farm Credit of New Mexico is thrilled to be able to support the U.S. Dairy Education and Training Consortium," said Al Porter, chief executive officer, Farm Credit of New Mexico. "The Consortium is built upon the cooperative spirit to provide leadership, support and resources to dairy research and education through academia, government and industry partnership. The dairy industry is a crucial part of New Mexico's economy and Farm Credit of New Mexico's business; building and sustaining the industry will have long-term impacts. We are proud to support this Consortium that is dedicated to enhancing the dairy industry and our future operators."
"The future of the dairy industry depends importantly upon educating and engaging the next generation of dairy farmers," said Robert E. Engel, chief executive officer, CoBank. "By providing a dynamic program, expert instructors and real-world experience, the U.S. Dairy Education and Training Consortium will play a major role in ensuring the industry's long-term success. CoBank is proud to offer its support to this worthwhile initiative."
In addition to the gifts from CoBank and Farm Credit of NM, the Consortium also has gained significant support from the dairy industry at large to help sponsor the courses, which provides academic credits to participants through their home universities. Allied industry has contributed generously from the very beginning of the Consortium program in 2008, ranging from $50,000 to $65,000 per year.
In its sixth year the Consortium reached capacity at 52 students, and some 20 applicants had to be turned away because of a lack of space. Over the years, animal and dairy science majors have accounted for 72 percent of enrollees. The next largest groups are agribusiness majors with 10 percent, and pre-veterinarian majors at 8 percent.
The Consortium has been hosted by Clovis Community College, Clovis, NM. The two-year school has provided critical laboratory and classroom space for Consortium participants. Consortium member universities include: Abilene Christian University, University of Arizona, Colorado State University, New Mexico State University, Oklahoma State University, Tarleton State University, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, University of Florida, Washington State University, and West Texas A&M University.
Consortium program coordinators are Dr. Tomaszewski, Dr. Robert Collier, professor, University of Arizona; and Dr. Robert Hagevoort, Extension Dairy Specialist, New Mexico State University and NMSU Endowed Dairy Chair.
For more information on the U.S. Dairy Education & Training Consortium, visit http://sgpdct.tamu.edu/


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Honda Unveils Stout Lineup to Defend IRL Titles Torrance, CA (January 19, 2004) -- Ten drivers and four teams -- the largest effort yet fielded by Honda in premier open-wheel competition -- will take to the track in the 2005 Indy Racing...
Honda Unveils Stout Lineup to Defend IRL Titles
Torrance, CA (January 19, 2004) -- Ten drivers and four teams -- the largest effort yet fielded by Honda in premier open-wheel competition -- will take to the track in the 2005 Indy Racing League IndyCar Series as the manufacturer seeks to defend its "Triple Crown" of IRL titles won last year.
In just its second season of Indy Racing League competition, Honda drivers and teams swept the competition in the 2004 IndyCar Series, winning 14 of 16 races and claiming three major IRL titles: the Manufacturers' Championship, Drivers' Championship and Rookie of the Year Award.
It was an incredible season for Honda and its Honda Performance Development subsidiary, but the company is determined to defend all three titles with an expanded lineup, a continuation of the successful technical partnership with Ilmor Engineering, Inc., of Plymouth, Michigan, and the opening of HPD's new, state-of-the-art headquarters in Santa Clarita, California.
The results speak for themselves: Honda won 14 consecutive races in 2004, including the final two events run under the "old" 3.5-liter engine formula (at Phoenix and Honda-owned Twin Ring Motegi, Japan); the Indianapolis 500 (first race run with the new 3.0-liter engines) and the next 11 IndyCar Series races, continuing through the California Indy 400 in October.
IndyCar Series Champion Tony Kanaan, a three-race winner last year, will lead an unchanged four-car lineup from Andretti Green Racing. He again will be partnered with 2004-championship runner-up Dan Wheldon, another three-race victor, highlighted by an important win for Honda at the company's "home" circuit, Twin Ring Motegi in Japan. Dario Franchitti, twice a winner in 2004, and veteran Bryan Herta complete the team. All will continue to drive Honda-powered Dallara chassis.
Rahal Letterman Racing has expanded to field a trio of entries, led by defending Indianapolis 500 Champion Buddy Rice. Vitor Meira returns for his first full season with the Columbus, Ohio-based team, in search of his first IndyCar victory, after coming close on several occasions last year. They will be joined by Formula Atlantic graduate Danica Patrick, who will seek rookie honors in her first year of IndyCar racing. Rahal Letterman will again utilize chassis supplied by Georgia-based Panoz [formerly known as G-Force].
Fernandez Racing will campaign a pair of one-car Panoz-Honda teams this year from its home in Indianapolis. Kosuke Matsuura, who gathered both IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500 rookie honors, returns with Super Aguri Fernandez Racing. IndyCar veteran Scott Sharp, owner of eight career victories in nine seasons of IRL competition, will lead the companion Delphi Fernandez Racing effort.
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing completes the 2005 Honda IndyCar line-up, running a single full-time Dallara entry for Roger Yasukawa. Yasukawa finished second [to fellow Honda driver Wheldon] in the chase for the 2003 IndyCar Rookie of the Year Award, and finished 10th at Indianapolis last year, one of only two starts for the popular Californian.
"Last season was a fantastic result for Honda," said Robert Clarke, vice president and general manager of HPD. "But we know our competitors will redouble their efforts in 2005, and we need to be ready to meet that challenge through hard work and dedication. With our expanded lineup of four teams and 10 full-time efforts, 2005 is shaping up to be an exciting year for Honda and the IRL."
HPD, Honda's wholly-owned racing subsidiary, is the technical operations center for Honda's IndyCar engine program, and coordinates American Honda's participation in the Indy Racing League. HPD and its technical partner, Ilmor Engineering Inc. of Plymouth, Michigan, work together to design, develop and produce engines for the 2005 season.
HPD and Ilmor also provide trackside support and engine rebuilding services to all teams using the Honda HI5R engine, an evolution of the 3.0-liter HI4R-A Indy V-8 engine introduced at last year's Indianapolis 500
In addition, HPD has now opened its new 123,000-square-foot headquarters building in Santa Clarita, California. The two-story structure houses comprehensive engine Research & Development operations including design, development engineering, prototype and production parts manufacturing, engine preparation, rebuilding, material analysis, quality control inspection, dyno/test cells, machining and administrative offices. Honda Performance Development now employs 120, the largest workforce in its 12-year history.
<pre> Honda 2005 IndyCar Series Lineup:
Andretti Green Racing Bryan Herta #7 XM Radio Dallara Honda Tony Kanaan #11 7-Eleven Dallara Honda Dan Wheldon #26 Klein Tools/Jim Beam Dallara Honda Dario Franchitti #27 Arca/Ex Dallara Honda
Rahal Letterman Racing Buddy Rice #15 Pioneer/Argent Panoz Honda Vitor Meira #16 Menards Panoz Honda Danica Patrick #17 Argent/Pioneer Panoz Honda
Delphi Fernandez Racing Scott Sharp #8 Delphi/AT&T Panoz Honda
Super Aguri Fernandez Racing Kosuke Matsuura #55 Panasonic/Autobacs/ARTA Panoz Honda
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Roger Yasukawa #24 Aventis/Racing for Kids Dallara Honda
-honda racing-


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Topic: having to deal with people
My Wayne passed away on Feb. 17, 2010. I have been told by a few people to get over it. I'm like the nice southern lady, that her upbringing made her not attack the person that said that. The first time it was said to me was in May my boss told me this three months after he went to heaven. Yesterday I received a letter from someone, that told me that she had been patient with my, that I needed to step up to the plate. I was surprised at that one because last year she lost her brother to a head on collison. I guess some of these people are so harsh even though they have had southern upbringing, hateful comes from all locations, colors, sizes and age.
They believe not knowing any better is a excuse for being mean, no not even ignorance is.
I will be the first to admit I have been having a difficult time, I go to the counselor once a week. Sometimes a feel like I need to go everyday just to keep me feeling good about myself. I have a small family locally, Wayne had a large family, but he made a choice to not tell anyone. They are mad at me for not telling them, even though Wayne didn't want them to know. I haven't heard from any of his family since the funeral, but you know we had only been married for 36 years.
I'm not a widow, I am a wife
We are only apart for heaven's sake
You are waiting for me at heaven's gate


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Big weekend on the Monterey Peninsula, what with the start of the Next Generation Jazz Festival on Friday night at the Monterey Conference Center and the food, wine and celebrity chef extravaganza Pebble Beach Food & Wine kicking off Thursday night at the Inn at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach.
Check out the full stories on each, first PBFW in this week's GO! and the NextGen fest in Friday's Herald. There's no musical angle to PBFW, but one of my favorite DJs, DJ Hanif Wondir, plays all weekend at the event's off-the-charts after-parties.
The NextGen fest, of course, features more than 1,200 student musicians, 56 groups from 11 states as well as 19 special guest groups not part of the competition and performances by the all-star judges and clinicians, including Grammy-nominated keyboardist Patrice Rushen, drummer Jeff Hamilton and guitarist Russell Malone.
And, as luck would have it, there are any number of genres of music available all over Monterey County, too many genres to mention, but including Hawaiian, country, funk and metal, to name just a few. For example, there are 10 rock, metal and punk bands playing at East Village Coffee Lounge and Jose's Underground Lounge, alone. I would need to double the size of my column to get everyone in, and nobody wants that.
One of Monterey's most favorite band of the 2000s, a band that played the old Monterey Live in downtown Monterey (now My Attic) almost 50 times, The Suborbitals, is back, or as they put it, "re-launched," and playing a show Friday night at 8:30 at Pierce Ranch Vineyards Tasting Room on Cannery Row.
The band, lead vocalist/guitarist Ryan Masters (Goatfish Johnson), drummer Gordon Stokes (Fendel Yonkers), bassist Heath Proskin (Aloysius J. Pheatherbotham III) and saxophonist Ben Herod (Petonciano de Fiasco), made its debut in 2003 and played a variety of venues in addition to its home base of Monterey Live, including Ocean Thunder, Henry Miller Library, Fernwood, The Black Box, the Red Vic (in San Franciso) and Moe's Alley (in Santa Cruz).
Band members also play (or played) in bands such as Super Lucky Elephant, Sarah McCoy and the Zippity Yeahs, Kangarooster, The Tree Top Trio and Aporia. Cover is $8 and this is a full-electric show for the rock band, although Masters said they would be in jazz/cocktail sound mode so as not to blow out the patrons in the intimate venue.
Jazz pianist Eddie Mendenhall will celebrate his birthday on Saturday with pretty much what a lot of jazz musicians do, he'll play the piano at a gig.
Mendenhall will play with Bob Basa and drummer David Morwood starting at 7 p.m. Friday night, then on Saturday night at 7, he will celebrate with his teenage daughter Kanoa Mendenhall, who happens to be an excellent stand-up bass player. Morwood will be behind the traps that night, too.
Expect a lot of guests to drop by and sit in with Mendenhall, who is highly regarded in the world of jazz. Also, join him as well as Barry Manilow guitarist Mike Lent, singer Lee Durley and Morwood for the twice-monthly jazz jam at Cibo in downtown Monterey. That's from 3:30-6:30, bring your own instrument (except drums and keys, of course) and join in.
Santa Cruz classic rock band The Blackouts returns after a long absence on the Monterey Peninsula for a no-cover show at 9 p.m., Friday night at the new Carmel Bar & Grill in The Barnyard in Carmel. The Blackouts, one of the longest-running rock bands on the Central Coast, are booked to play there once a month for the next three months, so they're hoping their Peninsula fans will turn out to support them (and the venue, which is still flying under the radar and is just trying to get its footing in the live music arena).
Author, poet, pianist and former teacher Bill Minor is at it again. He is performing
"Reading and Booksigning: with Live Music" for his latest book, "The Inherited Heart: An American Memoir" Saturday afternoon at 2:30 at Old Capitol Books, 559 Tyler St., in Monterey.
He'll be joined by singer Jaqui Hope and bassist Heath Proskin for what Minor describes as, "not a dry, church-like rendering of text, but a musical presentation of playful and purposeful prose."
Former radio DJ, concert promoter and all-around nice guy Gary Hamada passed away Tuesday at Hospice's Westland House after a long battle with cancer.
Hamada did an afternoon drive-time show on Carmel's iconic KRML radio station for several years and booked and promoted shows at The Jazz & Blues Company, which was an adjunct to the radio station, first in The Crossroads shopping village then in the Eastwood Building next to the Hog's Breath.
Hamada was also a concert promoter in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he worked with, among others, the legendary rock promoter Bill Graham.
My impression of Gary was that he was very knowledgable of all genres of music even though he played jazz on his show, and that he was a very genial and gracious man who saw the good in everybody. He will be missed.
New Orleans all-star funk/R&B group Dumpstaphunk, which features keyboardist Ivan Neville, plays Moe's Alley in Santa Cruz on Thursday night at 9. Doors open 8 p.m., $20 advance, $25 day of show. Opening will be a new all-star funk band featuring members of P-Funk, Mars Volta and Fishbone. www.moesalley.com.


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LEED Projects Doubled in 2008
If you use LEED numbers as a gauge, 2008 was a success for green building. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) confirmed that numbers of both LEED-registered and LEED-certified projects doubled in 2008—ťfrom about 10,000 registered projects at the end of 2007 up to more than 20,000 by the end of January 2009, while square footage of LEED-certified construction rose 92%, from 148 million to 284 million square feet.
USGBC is optimistic that the growth in LEED projects will continue in spite of the recent economic upheaval. "We're feeling confident that this truly represents a shift in the market," said Rachel Gutter, senior manager for the education sector at USGBC. Gutter noted that despite, or even because of, the slowdown in new construction, property owners are looking for ways to upgrade existing facilities.
With the LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance program recently revamped and the launch of a LEED portfolio program on the horizon in late 2009, USGBC is ready to manage a surge in greening existing facilities, Gutter said. "We could double registration overnight if a few key retailers signed on" to the portfolio program, she said.
It remains to be seen whether USGBC will meet its goal, announced at the 2006 Greenbuild conference, of 100,000 LEED-certified commercial buildings and one million certified homes by 2010 (see EBN Dec. 2006). "Like many goals dealing with climate change, it's an ambitious one," Gutter acknowledged, "but not out of reach."
This article is reproduced with the kind permission of the www.buildinggreen.com


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Let me start this post by stating I really like the band Fischerspooner. Their album titled "#1" (iTunes link) was not only brilliant but it arrived on the scene at the exact right time. The lyrics were smart and the production was wicked creative. All that said it was clear to everyone I knew that this was going to be a one album band. I know they have released other material but the concensus of my friends was, "Once they live in the hyped zone a bit they won't be able to do anything else all that worthwhile music wise.". You know how it goes right? The followup album is always the most difficult to write. Add drugs and sex into the deal (the other ingredients to Rock n Roll) who has time to sit in the studio?
"Do you know them? They were a gay performance band from New York and they were the hottest thing of the time and a bidding war erupted around them, which was taken to ridiculous levels by an East Coast Jewish American lawyer…" – James Palumbo
What amazes me is that Ministry of Sound's cofounder James Palumbo was so blind. Apparently they decided to plunk down 2 million to get the exclusive on Fischerspooner. My friend, UK music journalist Jonty Skrufff (skrufff.com) has a juicy interview with Palumbo well worth reading just for the laugh. Check it out: click here
Is that quote above by James a bit offensive? My favorite FS song? Their Wire cover of The 15th: iTunes
photo credit: José Goulão


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The Manoel Theatre is an architectural gem. Discover its history by taking a guided tour of the auditorium, backstage and museum.
The Beheading of St. John the Baptist is considered by many as Caravaggio's masterpiece.
Somebody once said that an island can only be called such when viewed from the sea. A cruise will show you Malta from a different angle.
This re-enactment of an authentic historical event takes place in Valletta almost every Sunday. Check it out...
Gozo, meaning 'joy' in Castilian, is the second largest Island of the Maltese archipelago. With its relaxed pace of life, Gozo is the ideal getaway.
The Hypogeum is a unique monument recognised with an individual listing on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.
Fort Rinella, built between 1878 and 1886, houses what was at the time the largest gun in the world.
Marsaxlokk Bay is Malta's second largest natural harbour. It is the best place to see the colourful, traditional Maltese fishing boats - the Luzzus.
Olives, capers, sundried tomatoes, cheese, onions...the flavours of the season. An image from our Media Gallery at www.viewingmalta.com
Valletta 2018 is about a date, a place and one eventful year. But that's just part of the story…
Tell us who helped make your stay an unforgettable one, and win a holiday. Nominate on www.starawardsmalta.com
The Quality Assured seal is awarded to restaurants, visitor attractions and DMCs offering the highest standards.
Did you know ...that the Maltese Cross was adopted by the Knights of St. John as their official emblem in 1126?
With year-round sunshine, crystal waters and luxurious resorts, Malta offers the perfect backdrop to a wedding or honeymoon.
Welcome to VisitMalta dot com.
In this website you will find all you need to know about the Maltese Islands . What to see, what to do, where to go, and many other things that make Malta, Gozo and Comino the ideal holiday destination.
And don't forget to like us on Facebook.