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Disappearing polar bear dens on Svalbard
In research supported by WWF, scientists from the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) found that the number of dens on Kongsøya, a particularly important denning area in Norway's Svalbard islands, has fallen sharply in the past few years.
Three years ago, winter sea ice arrived at Kongsøya in mid-October, and researchers found 25 dens. But this year, the ice didn't come until early December -- and the dens numbered only five.
Female bears can travel vast distances across the ice from their hunting grounds to mountain slopes to find a perfect denning spot. When sea ice appears by early November, says NPI researcher Jon Aars, most bears will succeed.
"In years when sea ice appears late, bears may have trouble getting there in time."
A similar reduction in dens was found in a study on Hopen Island, to the south.
The full impact of later ice arrival on polar bear denning isn't yet clear, says Aars. Bears that can't reach Hopen or Kongsøya could be waiting a year to raise cubs, or just finding an alternative place to den.
NPI is monitoring a number of Svalbard polar bears with radio collars. This data will help the researchers understand the potential cost of sea ice changes, from added energy expenditure to disruption of the bears' timing and success in raising cubs.


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VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday praised his predecessor, Benedict XVI, for courageously following his conscience in deciding to retire.
Benedict became the first pontiff in 600 years to quit the post when he resigned in February, paving the way for Francis' election as pope two weeks later.
By lauding Benedict's surprise choice to step down, Francis put his papacy on record as supporting the move and leaving himself and future popes a possible way to leave what is traditionally an office held until death.
Francis told pilgrims, tourists and Romans in St. Peter's Square on Sunday that God made Benedict understand through prayer the step he had to take.
Benedict, then 85, explained when announcing his intention to resign that he felt he didn't have the mental and physical strength to continue as pontiff. The rare resignation dismayed some traditionalists in the Catholic church. But Francis praised Benedict for following his conscience "with a great sense of discernment and courage."
"We must learn to listen more to our conscience," said Francis, speaking from a window of the Apostolic Palace to the crowd in the square below.
"This doesn't mean following one's own ego, doing whatever interests us, whatever suits us, whatever pleases us," the pope said. Instead, "conscience is an interior space for listening to the truth, to good" and to God who "speaks to my heart and helps me to discern, to understand the path I must follow, and once the decision is taken, to go forward, to remain faithful."
"We have had a recent marvelous example of this relationship with God in our conscience," Francis said, citing his predecessor's resignation. "Pope Benedict XVI has given us a great example in this sense, when the Lord made him understand , in prayer, what step he had to take. He followed, with a great sense of discernment and courage, his conscience, that is, the will of God who was speaking to his heart."
Francis described this as an "example to follow" for everyone. He also stressed that the faithful should not be "weak" or "remote-controlled Christians, incapable of creativity."
Benedict is now living in a Vatican monastery. A theologian, Benedict has said he wants to dedicate the rest of his life to prayer and meditation.
Benedict was a longtime Vatican-based German cardinal and already elderly when elected in 2005 to succeed Pope John Paul II.
Benedict had worked closely with John Paul, who began his long papacy in 1978 as a vigorous, athletic middle-aged man but who later was slowed by Parkinson's disease, which increasingly enfeebled him in his last years before death.

subset: commoncrawl


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Like so many other knitters, my knitting touchstone is Elizabeth Zimmermann. For the past 25 years, I have relied on her sensible advice, been entertained by her writing, and have been inspired by her to "knit on through all crises."
Still, nothing in the world prepared me for these words spoken by a new customer at Stix-n-Stitches in Montclair, New Jersey:
"My godmother, Elizabeth Zimmermann, knit a sweater for me years ago that is really falling apart. Do you know anyone who could repair it?" READ FULL ARTICLE


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© ® The Nobel Foundation
IPCC honoured with the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize
Phone: +41-22-730-8208/84 e-mail:
The adaptive capacity of a resource system or a human society depends on the
resilience of these systems. Resilience in the face of climate change, as with
resilience to present-day hazards such as floods and droughts, therefore depends
on the scale, intensity, and rate of change of the climate system, as well as
the inherent ability of ecosystems or communities to adjust to new circumstances
(Riebsame et al., 1995). Resilience is the ability of a system to return to
a predisturbed state without incurring any lasting fundamental change. Resilient
resource systems recover to some normal range of operation after a perturbation.
The processes of short-term adjustment to changes in land productivity and food
scarcity in traditional societies of Asian countries are resilient to perturbations.
This resilience has been demonstrated in a range of resource systems throughout
Asia, including highland agriculture, large-scale irrigated agriculture, and
fishery-dependent communities (e.g., Bray, 1986; Bayliss-Smith, 1991; Tang 1992;
Grove et al., 1998; Ruddle, 1998; Adger, 1999a). Long-term adaptation to climate
change requires anticipatory actions, which would require considerable investment
of capital, labor, and time hence diversion from scarce available resources,
existing services, and infrastructure. Constraints on such resources clearly
are more acute in the developing countries of Asia. The three crucial sectors
of land resources, water resources, and food productivity are of highest priority
for planned adaptation, particularly for the poorer resource-dependent countries.
Adaptation to climate change in Asian countries depends on the real cost of
adaptive measures, the existence and engagement of appropriate institutions,
access to technology, and biophysical constraints such as land and water resource
availability, soil characteristics, genetic diversity for crop breeding (e.g.,
development of heat-resistant rice cultivars), and topography. Demand for land
and water already is increasing to support growing populations, increased agricultural
activities, and expanding modern urban infrastructure. Most developing countries
in Asia face significant impacts from present-day climatic hazards. Faced with
impending floods, the economic insecurity of communities and rural households,
lack of timely warnings, ignorance of the severity of danger from flood, and
lack of efficient transport systems, some developing countries of Asia often
choose not to evacuate homes to avoid climate-related disasters. Such circumstances
also act as constraints for the alleviation of poverty and hence reinforce social
vulnerability. For many developing countries in Asia, climate change is only
one of a host of environmental problems; these countries have to individually
and collectively evaluate the tradeoffs between climate change actions and nearer
term needs (such as food security, air and water pollution, and energy demand).
Adaptation measures designed to anticipate the potential effects of climate
change can help to offset many of the negative effects (Burton, 1997). Adaptation
measures that ameliorate the impacts of present-day climate variability include
sea defenses, institutional adaptations, plant breeding, and adoption of new
technologies in agriculture. Many countries in Asia already commit significant
resources to ameliorating climate-related hazards (e.g., Golubtsov et al., 1996;
Nishioka and Harasawa, 1998; Ali, 1999; Huq et al., 1999).
Development and broad application of integrated modeling efforts (those that
consider interactions of biophysical and socioeconomic factors) and modeling
approaches that are particularly applicable at the regional scale warrant increased
attention. For example, mountain systems in Asia are vulnerable with respect
to ecological and social systems, for reasons of high heterogeneity. Management
of Asia's mountain landscape therefore demands diversified strategies that
link ecological and social components for location-specific solutions (Ehrenfeld,
1991; Ramakrishnan, 1992). Inclusion of complex feedbacks between systems may
change significantly the current "mean" estimate of impacts.
Sustainable development within Asia's agroecosystems is crucial to provide
adequate food security for traditional farming communities in the lowlands and
the uplands in developing countries and to ensure in situ conservation of crop
biodiversity for sustaining high-input modern agriculture itself. However, conserving
biodiversity with concerns for higher production from these complex agroecosystems
is a challenging task, for which novel development alternatives are required
(Ramakrishnan, 1992; Ramakrishnan et al., 1996; Swift et al., 1996). Traditional
societies have always manipulated biodiversity to ensure ecosystem resilience
and to cope with uncertainties in the environment, rather than to increase production
on a short-term basis. There is increasing evidence now to suggest that we could
learn from their traditional ecological knowledge base (Gadgil et al., 1993)
for coping with uncertainties associated with global change.
The resilience of agricultural practices in the face of climate change depends
on the nature and magnitude of region-specific climate change, regional sensitivity,
or the threshold and social resilience and adaptive capacity of agricultural
communities. Adjustment of planting dates to minimize the effect of temperature
increase-induced spikelet sterility can be used to reduce yield instability,
for example, by avoiding having the flowering period to coincide with the hottest
period. Adaptation measures to reduce the negative effects of increased climatic
variability may include changing the cropping calendar to take advantage of
the wet period and to avoid extreme weather events (e.g., typhoons and storms)
during the growing season. Crop varieties that are resistant to lodging (e.g.,
short rice cultivars) may withstand strong winds during the sensitive stage
of crop growth. A combination of farm-level adaptations and economic adjustments
such as increased investment in agriculture infrastructure and reallocation
of existing land and water resources would be desired in the agriculture sector.
Increasing demand for water by competing sectors may limit the viability of
irrigation as a sustainable adaptation to climate change. Expansion of irrigation
as a response to climate change will be difficult and costly in many of the
countries in Asia even under favorable circumstances. Mounting societal pressures
to reduce environmental degradation will likely foster an increase in protective
regulatory policies, further complicating adaptations to climate change (Easterling,
A commonly prescribed adaptation to climate change in the water sector is to
enhance characteristics that offer flexibility hence enhancing resilience. Flexibility
issues are particularly important with regard to the development of water resources
for industry or agriculture. Major projects such as dams actually may limit
flexibility if they lose effectiveness as regional hydrological water balances
undergo major changes. With likely changes in climate variability, dams and
sea defenses built to withstand a 100-year extreme event may not be adequate
thus leading to a risk of major catastrophe. If hydrological patterns change
markedly and irrigated agriculture is required to relocate in response, prior
investments may be lost as existing infrastructures become obsolete, and additional
investments will be needed. This necessitates critical scrutiny of a range of
available choices that incorporate economic and environmental concerns. The
potential for adaptation should not lead to complacency (Rosenzweig and Hillel,
1995). Some adaptive measures may have detrimental impacts of their own.
The issue of natural resource management in Asia has a highly complex set of
interconnections between natural and social systems. Natural resource management
in largely rural tropical environments must reconcile ecological and social
processes that operate at a range of scales, from species up to the landscape
level. Studies have shown that ecologically important keystone species often
are socially selected by many rural societies (Jodha, 1996). The possibility
for species selection for rehabilitating a degraded ecosystem should be based
on a value system that the local people understand and appreciate; therefore,
their participation in the process of developmental activity is important. Community
perceptions of soil and water management can be a powerful agent for sustainable
management of natural resources (e.g., in the case of highly fragile and vulnerable
Himalayan mountain systems) (Ramakrishnan et al., 1994). In other words, natural
resource management in tropical Asia must be sensitive to social and even cultural
perceptions (Ramakrishnan, 1998), as well as traditional resource management
Major fishery-related environmental issues include the effects of trawling
on sea-bottom habitats and the detrimental effects of catches of nontarget species
on populations and ecosystems. Fishery resources also are threatened by activities
other than commercial fishing. Loss of inshore fish nursery habitats from coastal
development and pollution from land-based activities cause significant change
to ecosystems that support fisheries. Effective conservation and sustainable
management of marine and inland fisheries are needed at the regional level so
that living aquatic resources can continue to meet regional and national nutritional
needs. Asian economic growth has failed to alleviate poverty for a large share
of Asian people to date. Achieving economic and industrial growth in Asia that
is sustainableboth ecologically and economically viable over the long
termwould require more than just cleaner, more efficient industrial processes;
it demands a reorientation toward becoming less material-intensive and attempting
to contribute toward protecting our environment and ecosystem.
Table of contents
IPCC Homepage


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A few months ago Daily Booth CEO Brian Pokorny told me that most of his team was working on a second product. "What is it?" I asked, "A mobile photo sharing app?"
I was joking, because everyone and their mother seemed to launch a mobile photo sharing app in the last year or so, to the point that we groaned whenever we saw a new one.
"Yes. And it's going to liberate the countless photos that everyone has stuck in their phones."
"Ha ha. Seriously?"
"No, you're not serious."
And so the conversation went. I didn't believe him until he pulled out his iPhone and showed me an early internal version of Batch, his new mobile photo sharing app.
Batch is now in the iPhone app store.
And it is absolutely amazing.
Batch allows people to create albums, called "Batches," with photos from an event or whatever. Yeah, not so exciting. But it lets you auto upload them as you take them from the app, and you can mass select photos already stuck on your iPhone as well.
That last sentence is the important one. We all have hundreds or thousands of photos on our phones that we've never bothered to upload to Facebook or Flickr. Batch makes it exceptionally easy to do that, dozens at a time.
You sign in via Facebook, so it already knows your friends. Tagging them into Batches is really easy as well. They've taken a lot of time with the interface and it's both beautiful, fast and functional.
It's the perfect app to add to my new iPhone (with Google Voice!). Android users will have to wait a bit to use it.
Photos can be kept private or shared with others. It's amazing seeing notifications pop up in real time as new photos are added to a Batch while you're still at an event.
There are some features I'd like to see them add to Batch soon. Multiple people can't contribute to a single Batch, they have to create their own. So there will be multiple Batches at a single event when all your friends start using this.
I'd also like to have the ability to tag photos, not just batches. And I'd like to be able to download or bookmark individual photos as well. Right now you can only see a list of all Batches you've been tagged in. That's great, but over time that list will become unmanageable.
But the app as it is today is absolutely great, and I'll be using it constantly. As I tag friends at events they'll get notifications on Facebook, so they can see the photos. This will spread fast.
As for Daily Booth – Pokorny says it's still growing nicely (they just passed 1 million users), and the team will continue to develop both products. The company has raised about $7 million to date. It was originally part of Y Combinator.
Try this. You'll love it.


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Before I moved down to Melbourne from Brisbane, my wonderful friend Chris and I took a morning to browse the shops along Latrobe Tce, Paddington. We saw lots of lovely items but I was quite content to look and not buy until we popped into the Paddington Antique Centre which had three beautiful lace dresses hanging on an old armoire in the foyer. One, in particular, caught my eye, and I wanted it badly! The lace was just so fine and the details was exquisite. I knew it was most definitely a 'want' and not a 'need' though, so I resisted temptation and left it behind (although I did keep popping back in between coffees to check it was still there!).
Late the next day I walked into my bedroom to find the dress spread over the bed - I had told my husband about my strength of will power the night before, and shown him the photo I had snapped on my phone, and he had gone out and bought it for me as a surprise! So, now this gorgeous 1920's dress is hanging on my wardrobe door and I love to wonder about its history - who wore it, where to, and where has it been hiding for the last 90 years?


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Database Results for Your Selections
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Keesing's Record of World Events Online (Keesings.com)
Keesing's is an authoritative monthly digest of worldwide political, diplomatic and economic affairs. Keesing's Online offers online access to over 70 years of complete, objective coverage of international events.Expand
For help using this resource, contact Chris Palazzolo, Political Science and International Documents Librarian.
Subjects: African Studies Sub-Saharan, Area Studies, Current Events, Economics, History Modern 1800-, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Reference Sources, Political Science


text:
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Sheils Advances to Stage III at Q-School
Former Husker Madeleine Sheils advanced to Stage III qualifying at LPGA Q-School for the second straight year, after tying for 37th in Stage II at Venice, Fla., Oct. 8-11.
Sheils, a four-year standout (2009-12) and an All-Big Ten performer as a senior at Nebraska, advanced to the third stage of qualifying for her LPGA Tour card with a four-round total of 290 on the Panther and Bobcat courses at the Plantation Golf & Country Club.
Sheils secured her spot in the top half of the 80 qualifiers who advanced to Stage III with a one-under-par, final-round 71. She opened the second stage of qualifying with a one-over 73, before firing a two-under-par 70 in the second round. She added a 76 in the third round, before climbing 20 spots on the leaderboard with her 71 over the final 18 holes. Stage II qualifying began with a field of 195 golfers.
With her strong performance, the native of Boise, Idaho, will be among 80 competitors battling for a spot on the LPGA Tour during Stage III qualifying at the LPGA International Golf Course (Champions & Legends Courses) in Daytona Beach, Fla., Dec. 4-8.
Stage III will include 90 holes of competition, and the field will be cut to 70 players after the first 72 holes. The total number of golfers to earn spots on the LPGA Tour will be determined prior to the start of Stage III.
Following her Husker career, Sheils competed in the 2012 LPGA Q-School, earning a spot in the final stage (Stage III) by tying for 50th in a 139-player field in Stage II qualifying. She secured her Symetra Tour card. Sheils, who carried approximately a 3.9 GPA as a philosophy major at Nebraska, chose to pass on the final stage of Q-School competition so she could focus on final projects and exams in order to graduate from Nebraska in December of 2012.
Sheils played on the Cactus Tour in Arizona before the 2013 Symetra Tour season began. Sheils competed in 15 Symetra Tour events in 2013, finishing No. 62 (36th American) on the tour's money list with $7,969. Sheils also finished 17th on the Cactus Tour money list, despite playing in just five events in 2013. She picked up a victory in her first tournament as a professional on the tour, and finished with $3,750 in winnings.


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Sienna Miller Is Running On Empty
Sienna Miller breaks down and almost starts to cry when the paparazzi question her in Malibu, Calif., on Monday.
The 26-year-old actress was trying to fill up her Lexus at a Malibu gas station, when one of the paparazzo questioned Sienna about her alleged homewrecking.
"Can you leave me alone, I'm trying to get gas and this is really harassment. Please leave me alone," Sienna said. "Please I'm asking you. I can't live like this, please give me a little bit of respect. I'm just trying to f***** fill up my car."
After she left the gas station Sienna pulled into the Police Department's Emergency Safety Zone to ask for an escort home.
10+ more pics inside of Sienna Miller running on empty…


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Did a New Taliban Weapon Kill a Chopper Full of Navy SEALs?
The US suffered a tremendous loss Saturday in Afganistan when the downing of a Chinook helicopter took the lives of 31 special forces troops. As Danger Room reports, it may have been an entirely new Taliban weapon that did it:


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Farmers Trying to Understand Farm Bill
PULLMAN, Wash. (AP)-- Farmers in the Palouse region of Washington and Idaho are waiting for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to figure out what the recently passed Farm Bill actually means for them.
Tory Bye, director of the Whitman County Farm Service Agency, says there is much to be determined about what the new programs in the bill will actually do.
The Moscow-Pullman Daily News reports the Farm Bill has many growers frustrated as spring planting is fast approaching.
The most significant change in the new bill for farmers is the elimination of direct payments and counter-cyclical payments, a program long criticized for paying farmers not to farm. Bye says those payment made up about two-thirds of the payments in Whitman County.


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AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The surprise victory of 37 Islamist and other government critics despite an election boycott injects a degree of dissent into Jordan's newly empowered parliament. The king has portrayed the assembly as a centerpiece of his reform package, but the opposition says it's not enough and vowed Thursday to stage more street protests.
Initial results released Thursday showed the Islamists — who are not linked to the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood — and other opposition figures winning more than 25 percent of the 150-seat parliament, in sharp contrast to the outgoing legislature, which was almost entirely composed of the king's supporters.
Loyalists of King Abdullah II, however, will remain in control of the new legislature, claiming a majority of the seats up for grabs in Wednesday's parliamentary election — touted as the start of a democratization process that will see the monarch, a close U.S.-ally, gradually hand over some of his absolute powers to lawmakers.
The new parliament will choose the prime minister and be responsible for running much of the country's day-to-day affairs, powers that previously resided with the king. Foreign policy and security matters — for now, at least — remain in the hands of Abdullah.
The 2011 Arab Spring uprisings in the region set off a wave of demonstrations in Jordan, prompting Abdullah to introduce the reforms at home to try to prevent the simmering dissent — which has included unprecedented calls for the king to step down — from erupting into a full blown revolt. But Abdullah has attempted to implement the reforms in a measured manner, trying to manage the pace of change.
Critics charge that the reforms are too mild and the election does nothing more than provide political cover for the king's continued rule.
Julien Barnes-Dacey, Jordan analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said if a quarter of the lawmakers are indeed independent opposition figures, it could be a "positive step."
However, he said the absence of the Brotherhood, which is Jordan's largest and best organized opposition group, "leaves an important void" and perhaps a lack of legitimacy needed to "push through hard decisions" to be taken in the legislature.
Jordan's economy is ailing, and one of the most pressing issues to be addressed is rising energy costs. The government will likely have to tackle the problem by lifting subsidies on electricity, which is bound to trigger a public backlash. A similar price hike in gas and fuel in November sparked unusually violent protests in which three people killed.
According to unofficial full results released Thursday by Jordan's Independent Electoral Commission, 18 opposition Islamists, including two well-known independents, won seats in the new parliament. They are not members of the Brotherhood, which boycotted the polls to protest an election law it says favors the king's supporters.
About a dozen leftists affiliated with pan-Arab nationalist groups, who are vocal government critics, also won seats, as did 14 candidates from the moderate Islamic Centrist Party, comprising devout but somewhat liberal Muslim figures — who ran on their party banner. They are expected to lean toward the opposition rather than the government in the legislature because their known public stances often differ with those of the state.
Two Brotherhood members who broke ranks with their party to contest the elections also captured spots in parliament.
Abdullah loyalists claimed the majority of the seats, but their haul fell far short of their 2010 parliamentary election performance.
Official results were expected soon, but no date has been announced.
The Brotherhood, which has led the public opposition to the king over the past two years, rejected the vote and its outcome, and vowed to more street protests and public gatherings in defiance of repeated appeals by the king to join the political process.
"The polls were rigged," said Hamza Mansour, a member of the Brotherhood's political arm, the Islamic Action Front. "Suddenly, the turnout jumped 20 percent in nearly the last three hours of voting, which is impossible by all means."
Mansour rejected suggestions that the group has been politically sidelined, saying "we are part of the people and we will remain in the street to press our demands for real reforms."
Despite the Brotherhood's allegations, observers from the Washington-based National Democratic Institute said there was "marked improvement in procedures and administration from past polls."
However, the group which had 50 observers from 29 countries stationed throughout Jordan, said there were shortcomings related to gerrymandering and that tribalism is encouraged over political party formation. It urged the king to work toward consolidating political parties along ideological lines so that future elections would veer from voting along tribal lines.
It cited a few examples of voters announcing publicly their candidate choice and where some polling officials gave over their authority to candidates and their agents.
The new parliament will for the first time in Jordan's history elect a prime minister — a major power-ceding concession by the king in the wake of street protests over the past two years, inspired by Arab Spring uprisings. The protesters, initially led by youth activists and later spearheaded by the Brotherhood, have demanded more people power and a greater say in politics.
The election commission said 1.3 million Jordanians, or 56.7 percent of nearly 2.3 million people who were registered to vote, had cast their ballots.
Later Thursday, eyewitnesses and police reported three violent incidents related to the elections. The worst violence was reported in the southern city of Maan, where a dozen masked men attacked government institutions, banks and police cars during a dispute between followers of two rival tribal candidates.
In the southwestern city of Karak, followers of rival tribal contestants beat each other when the results were announced, while in the northern town of Mafraq, tribal followers burned tires and hurled stones at policemen to protest the election tally.


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The Washington Post notes that 65% of President Bush's supporters say they are "very enthusiastic" about their candidate, while only 42% of John Kerry's supporters describe themselves as "very enthusiastic":
That's a 23-point difference in relative excitement. Although the polling record is incomplete for earlier elections, the available data suggest that the enthusiasm gap in the 2000 presidential campaign was negligible, at best.
In an election in which turnout is key, keeping the faithful energized is one of the most critical challenges facing Kerry as he approaches the first presidential debate tonight.


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Rating: 0.0/5 (Total votes: 0)
Sant Tukaram is a Saint from Maharashtra, whose teaching help in day to day life challenges.. The app involves Sant Tukaram Teachings, Sant Tukaram Stories, Sant Tukaram Gathas, Sant Tukaram Wallpapers and more.
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The App is completely free , download the app today!
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FreewareAndroid - Free Downloads Android Market Apps, Applications, Games, APK, WiFi, Sync, GPS for Google Android OS


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Alright... here's the scenario... There's this guy, and I know he's a terrorist, he's with Al-Quaida, and he's getting his orders through email.
Can you guys teach me how to hack hotmail so I can stop the terrorist?
I mean... It's for a good cause. I promise I'll give everything to the feds when I'm done.


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Discover a place that CNN ranked as a top ten world destination for 2012.
Enforce codes such as lot cleaning, junk vehicles and housing.
The zoning code defines what type of activities can take place on residential, commercial, professional office, industrial and agriculturally zoned properties. Some activities require permits or special approval from the Zoning Division. Code Enforcement typically deals with violations of the zoning code that include operating a business in a residential area, operating a business without a land use permit, and improper outside storage.
Vehicles which are abandoned, inoperative, discarded or in an evident state of disuse are not allowed and subject to towing by Orange County.
Violations might include:
Parking vehicles inside a garage or under a carport with a car cover is allowed.
Violations include accumulations of junk and debris of any kind on residential or commercial property and excessive growth of grass and weeds (18" or higher).
If property owners do not comply with the code violation notice within 15 days, Orange County directs a contractor to clean the lot and passes the bill on to the owner. Failure to pay the bill results in a lien against the property, and enforced collection.
Natural state properties, i.e., unimproved tracts of land, are not covered by the ordinance.
A repeat lot cleaning penalty can be assessed if the county cleans a property more than once within a 12-month period. The penalty can be as much as $200 per violation.
Houses and accessory structures are required to have functioning:
This regulation is designed to prevent the parking of large trucks in residential areas. Chapter 38 of the county code defines vehicles subject to the regulation as motor truck, trailer, semitrailer or tractor/trailer combination and used as a means of transporting persons or property and propelled by power other than muscular power which have more than or are designed to have more than four (4) weight-bearing wheels, except that a dual rear wheel pick-up truck not used for commercial purposes shall not be deemed to constitute a dual rear wheel vehicle. A public service vehicle used for emergencies shall not be deemed to constitute a dual rear wheel vehicle when approved by the zoning manager.
Unoccupied recreational vehicles may be stored within any residential district, after the owner obtains a permit from the Zoning Division. RV's may be parked 10' from side property line and at least 5' from rear property line.
The code allows storage of boats on residential property.
No building or structure may be erected, altered or enlarged without first obtaining the necessary building permit and approval of the Zoning Division.
Garage sales are allowed in residential zoning districts with the proper zoning permit. Sales are limited to 2 per year.
Private signs may never be placed within the public right-of-ways unless approved by Orange County. Signs may be removed without warning by County workers and those placing such signs are subject to fines. The county picks up over 100,000 signs each year.
Temporary weekend directional signs may only be placed within public rights-of-way or upon any public property with a permit from the Zoning Division.
Property owners must ensure that buildings and structures are maintained in a safe and sanitary condition. The code has standards pertaining to structural soundness, swimming pools, plumbing, electrical systems, fire hazards and ventilation.
An unsafe house or building is one that is severely dilapidated, improperly maintained, or has electrical, structural, or plumbing problems.
If the owner does not repair or demolish an unsafe structure, the county may be ordered by the CEB or SM to perform the demolition. The owner must reimburse the county for the demolition's cost or the county pursues enforced collection.
The Nuisance Abatement Unit of the OCSO exists to promote, protect, and improve the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the county by imposing administrative fines and other non-criminal penalties as a method of abating drug, prostitution, dealing in stolen property and criminal street gang activities constituting public nuisances in the county.
Citizens of Orange County want to live in clean, attractive places. The Code Enforcement Division does its best work when neighborhoods are organized and educated about the code enforcement process. This is why the Division places a big emphasis on attending community meetings, and producing content for the Orange TV and this web site.
Orange County Code Enforcement
2450 W. 33rd Street, Second Floor
Orlando, FL 32839
Phone: (407) 836-3111
Fax: (407) 836-4240


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(GDP) A Resurgent America
Exports have been an American success story lately. This is corroborated by the U.S. trade deficit falling from 6% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2006 to the neighborhood of 4% lately. A weaker dollar, in conjunction with stagnant wages at home, has improved American competitiveness vis a vis China where pay scales have moved up.
More recently, in September 2012, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis revealed that American exports stood at $187 billion and imports at $228.5 billion, yielding a monthly trade deficit of $41.5 billion, down from $43.8 billion in August. Stronger exports led to the narrowest trade deficit in a while. Both merchandise and service exports have been on the upswing.
Not only have exports boomed but the basket of exports has evolved over time. Formerly, the export limelight went to the big corporations such as The Boeing Company (BA) and Microsoft Corporation (MSFT). Today, a multitude of small and large companies are enjoying success in overseas markets. The services sector, a traditional American strong point, is doing even better. We believe that companies operating in global markets enjoy diversified revenue streams which may cushion them from shocks.
Of late, U.S. engineering companies have staged a dramatic comeback. Several companies based in the Mid West, such as Timken Co. (TKR), Cummins (CMI) and Toro Co. (TTC), are building Asian and other economies. In the process, they are creating jobs back home. In conjunction with cheap shale gas from fracking, this export- led boom may be a second chance towards industrialization for the Rust Belt of the U.S.A.
Based in Canton, Ohio, Timken uses its understanding of management of friction, materials and transmission of power to enhance the performance of machinery used in industrial settings. The company operates in four segments, namely, steel, aerospace and defense, mobile industries and process industries. It had sales of about $5,200 million in 2011. At Timken, almost one-third of sales were outside the U.S. Emerging markets accounting for close to $900 million of the company's revenues. Its sales in Asia climbed 21% year over year.
Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana, Cummins designs, produces and sells engines. It had sales of $18,048 million in 2011, up 36% year over year, and generated 54% of its revenues outside U.S. in the most recent four quarters. Its far-flung operations across China, Brazil and India partly insulate it from a slowdown across industries or geographies.
Toro, based in Bloomington, Minnesota, has its centennial coming up in 2014. It is a provider of landscape maintenance and turf equipment as well as irrigation systems. The company has a solid following among golf courses through out the world. Toro had sales of $1,884 million in fiscal 2011 and derived about one-third of its revenues from international markets. Most of its export-driven production takes place in America.
The services line item is showing buoyancy and not just in traditional plain vanilla activity such as travel and tourism. Instead, we see broad-based, value-added exports, in such spheres such as consultancy, design, engineering and financial services. Many of these knowledge-based companies may be unlisted. Two prominent service providers doing well overseas are Omnicom Group (OMC) and Wal-Mart Stores (WMT).
Advertising and public relations major Omnicom Group has benefited from the boom times in Asia. The company reported sales of $13,873 million in 2011 of which it derived 49% from ex-U.S. markets. It generated revenues of $3,017 million outside the U.S. and Europe, up 30.7% year over year.
The success of Walmart International, a part of Wal-Mart Stores, in China is well known. The company is now a major retailer in that country and able to take on well- entrenched competitors despite allegations regarding the lack of a level playing field for foreign retailers. Walmart International's net sales, including foreign exchange and takeovers, rose 15.2% to $125.9 billion in fiscal 2012 (ended January 31, 2012). During the fiscal, the company opened (including acquisitions) 1,094 stores and added 42.2 million square feet of space. It is slated to add 30 to 33 million square feet of area in fiscal 2013.
Prominent education and financial data company, The McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP) with leading brands such as Standard & Poor's Rating Services reported flattish sales of $4,248 million in the U.S. in 2011. Its revenues from Asia jumped 11.6% to $557 million with Europe also doing well, up 11.5%, at $1,101 million.
We may be witnessing a resurgent America with broad-based success in the critical export markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China and South Africa aka BRICS. However, many battles lie ahead for U.S. exporters. Proprietary technologies in bio tech are expected to play an increasingly greater role. We watch Apple's (AAPL) effort to shore up growth with greater penetration in the vast Chinese market. In the end, the U.S. trade deficit is expected to remain high partly on account of dependence on imported oil.
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List your event for free!
13 July 2014 08:00 AM till 10:30 AM
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MiceChat Pacific Ocean Park Book Event
Panel Discussions | Breakfast | Author meet and greet | Book Sales | Signing
Date: Sunday, July 13th
Time: 8am until 10:30pm (Due to the schedule of the authors this will be an early event)
Location: ESPN Zone Downtown Disney
Tickets: This is a special ticketed event, walk-ups will not be admitted. Buy your tickets today!
Meet the amazing authors behind Pacific Ocean Park: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles' Space Age Nautical Pleasure Pier and hear all about this one of a kind Los Angeles destination which has been all but lost to history. The authors will lead us through a colorful presentation about the park, followed by a book signing. As with all of our ESPN Zone events, there will be a fabulous breakfast (yes, there will be plenty of awesome maple pepper bacon).
Pacific Ocean Park was extraordinary in both its glamorous rise and spectacular fall. The park was so popular at one time that attendance briefly surpassed that of Disneyland. Christopher Merritt and Domenic Priore's book includes hundreds of images, most of them unseen elsewhere, including original ride designs and illustrations, including Tiki-rich, space age, and nautical rides. P.O.P. was often widely seen in movies and television shows throughout the '60s. Its Cheetah auditorium hosted important early rock shows, including those by Ritchie Valens, The Doors, and Pink Floyd.
Chris Merrit (You may recognize Chris as one half of the Knott's Preserved team as well as his notable contributions to the theme park industry.)
Domenic Priore (Domenic is a writer and television producer specializing in pop culture and music. He is the author of Riot on Sunset Strip: Rock 'n' Roll's Last Stand in Hollywood, Beatsville, Pop Surf Culture: Music, Design, Film and Fashion From the Bohemian Surf Boom, and Smile: The Story of Brian Wilson's Lost Masterpiece.)
Don't miss this fabulous one of a kind history event.
Special Book Offer: Event attendees can purchase an event ticket PLUS one copy of the book, Pacific Ocean Park: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles' Space Age Nautical Pleasure Pier for just $25 more than the breakfast only ticket (a $15 savings off of the retail price of the book). If all books are sold prior to the event, we may not have additional copies available at the event. PLEASE SECURE YOUR BOOK TODAY. Books are available for pick-up at the event only and cannot be shipped.
Book Signing: Those with copies of the book will be able to get them signed by the authors at the event. Due to the limited time we have available with the authors (the event must end at 10:30am), we ask that only those with a copy of the book enter the receiving line after the presentation.
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13 July 2014
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ESPN ZONE 1545 Disneyland Dr. Downtown Disney CA United States 92802
MiceChatA spectacular breakfast, meet and greet, panel discussion and signing event that you will NOT want to miss.
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I have been heavily involved in a Solomon Kane setting campaign and the simplicity of the Savage Worlds system allows for more character development and role playing. I do agree that with Shooting covering everything, that it is an oversimplification in real world terms, but I've yet to stop and think "Wow sure would be cool if there were more combat skills." The primary differences between weapons in hand to hand combat is the damage the weapons do, as you are right, Fighting skill allows you to use them all. It would only take a simple house rule of -2 to hit unfamiliarity penalty to represent learning to use a weapon, but I'm not sure that adds anything to the game. Regardless of using the same skill for all weapons, I know I put thought into the weapons any PC takes as some do more damage or give a bonus to Parry and those decisions can be very important in combat.
The true balancing mechanic in Savage Worlds is not diversity of skills, but Edge selection. You give a character Florentine, Wall of Steel. Improved Sweep, Improved Frenzy, and Improved Counterattack and this character is a walking combine that will slice through Extras all day long. Give the character Steady Hands, Marksman, Rock and Roll, Improved Trademark Weapon, and Dead Shot and they will be as deadly with firearms as the first character is with melee weapons. The use of Edges allows the player to gravitate in whichever way the campaign needs or to change direction as the player desires. I personally find the streamlined rules to take the mechanics out of the characters and the game and gives both the GM and the players more time for the role playing. I am however, extremely biased in favor of the rules lite theory of game design, so Savage Worlds fits my style of play very well, so my opinions must be viewed through that lens. If you are into GURPS level crunch, Savage Worlds will almost certainly never be suitable for you.


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A sugar that's not
so sweet for insect pests
Posted June 22, 2005, ARS
News Service: A newly introduced class of insecticidal
compounds developed by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and
cooperators offers safe and effective alternatives to conventional
chemical insecticides.
The active ingredients are based on sugar esters that are natural
chemicals secreted by wild tobacco plants to protect themselves
against insect predators. When certain insects rub up against and
chew on the plants' leaf hairs, the insects become contaminated
with the compound and die.
ARS entomologist Gary J. Puterka, working with industry cooperators,
developed synthetic analogs, or look-alikes, of the natural sugar
esters. He and colleagues then screened various synthetic sugar
esters to find the most potent among them. While working at the
ARS Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, W.Va.,
Puterka identified several of the new chemical forms that kill test
insects instantly.
Puterka has been named a co-inventor on two patents that define
the chemical structures of the compounds, as well as an environmentally
sound process for their manufacture. One of the compounds, sorbitol
octanoate, has proved less costly to produce than earlier forms
patented, and is now undergoing the process of registration with
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The analogs kill by breaking down the insect pests' outer waxy
coating. Then the insects lose water and die from dehydration. The
new class of compounds is unique among insecticides because their
active ingredients do not leave a detrimental residue on surfaces
to which they are applied. What's left over after application becomes
inactive upon drying and rapidly degrades.
The latest synthetic sugar esters, if licensed, could be a boon
to the home and garden market, according to Puterka. Licensing information
with the ARS Office of Technology Transfer can be found on the World
Wide Web at: http://www.ars.usda.gov/business/docs.htm?docid=768
Read more about the research in the June 2005 issue of Agricultural
Research magazine: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jun05/insect0605.htm


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Celebrated faces. Celebrated photographers.
Grace your projects with portraiture of the world's most famous faces, exclusively captured by top international photographers.
Contour features
Guillaume Bonn's powerful long term project, Silent Lives, focuses on domestic life in Kenya. His work provides an insightful examination of the relationships between members of the Kenyan elite and their servants.See all images
High impact. High quality.
Discover beauty, fashion and lifestyle imagery perfect for your articles, book covers, decor and advertising.


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ouo.press is a free URL shortening service, all links generated by ouo.press are publicly available.
All links are thoroughly verified for viruses, malware, phishing, malicious content, session stealing, cross-site scripting attacks, etc.Read more
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DENVER (AP) — A Denver couple accused of starving their four young sons and keeping them in a filthy apartment will not enter pleas to child abuse charges until next week after a judge postponed their plea hearing on Friday.
No reason was given for the delay, which was announced after a brief discussion among the judge and attorneys. Their comments weren't audible to others.
The boys were taken from their parents, Wayne Sperling, 66, and Lorinda Bailey, 35, nearly two months ago. Hospital examinations showed the boys could communicate only in grunts, were malnourished and were not toilet trained, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Authorities said they were living in an apartment full of cat feces and flies.
Sperling and Bailey left the courtroom separately Friday, and neither they nor their attorneys would comment. A spokeswoman for prosecutors said she was looking into the reason for the delay.
Sperling and Bailey each face four counts of felony child abuse. They are now scheduled to enter their pleas on Thursday.
The boys are 2, 4, 5 and 6. All have been placed in protective care, but the Department of Human Services declined to release any details.
Police and social services began investigating when Bailey took her youngest son to St. Joseph's Children's Hospital on Sept. 29 for a cut on his forehead, which she said happened after a fall.
An emergency room doctor informed authorities that the child was unwashed and smelled like cigarette smoke, prompting a welfare check by a Denver Human Services case worker. Bruising behind the child's right ear appeared consistent with pinching, the doctor said.
The welfare check revealed the squalid conditions.
A doctor with the Family Crisis Center told police that it did not appear that the children regularly visited the doctor and the 5-year-old had no medical records whatsoever.
The couple pleaded guilty in June 2007 to misdemeanor child abuse in a case involving other children, according to court documents.
Jeff and Megan Hillman of the eastern Colorado town of Lamar told The Denver Post they adopted two of those children.
When they took the children in five years ago, they did not speak and were not toilet-trained, and they ate ravenously whenever they saw food, the couple said.
Now ages 7 and 9, the children are catching up to their grade level in school, help with chores and play around the house, the couple said.
It "just took them longer to get normal," Jeff Hillman said.


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December 2009
New Positions:
Sustainability Fellow
CSB/SJU hired sustainability fellow Theo Eggermont in August. Theo will be collaborating with different departments and parts of campus to fulfill our commitments to carbon neutrality, saving money, and creating a more equitable CSB/SJU. Five interns will be joining the office this spring.
Student Sustainability Positions:
Both Senates have approved sustainability positions. Saint Ben's went a step further and created a permanent representative position by amending their constitution; over 90% of student voters approved of the position. Elections were held on December 8th. Congratulations to Kelsey Minten.
Recommissioning Study
St. Ben's Facilities Management will be working with DLR Group, Siemens, and Xcel to do a recommisioning study. It will analyze our energy systems, identifying how they can operate at maximum efficiency and look into alternative energy options. More to come as the study progresses.
New Buildings
St. Ben's is working on creating two new buildings. HGA will be designing the new academic building and was selected in part because of their background in sustainability. At a meeting with students, staff, faculty, and alumni, all parties included sustainability in their vision for the building. Pay attention for an update on the athletic facility in the spring.
Energy Efficiency for the Refectory
SJU power plant installed a new hoods and an efficient air exchanger outside the reef. The new system will be allow for greater controllability and comfort. It will save 270,000 kWh a year, equaling almost half of what the new solar array will produce annually. This will reduce our purchased electricity by about 2%.
Solar Power at St. John's
The groundbreaking for the solar field took place on Oct. 7th. When fully operation, it will be the largest array in Minnesota and produce 4% of St. John's electricity needs. When a final meter is installed in the very near future, it will be connected and start producing power.
Metering at St. John's
St. John's now has electricity meters on its buildings. You can check the real-time energy consumption of a building. The information will allow benchmarking of information, enable energy reducing technologies to be quantified, and residence hall verses residence hall competitions for Campus Energy Competitions. You can access this page through the sustainability website.
A group of 5 faculty and staff went to "The Greening of the Campus VIII" in Indianapolis. The interdisciplinary conference focused on embracing change in order to promote sustainability across the various departments of campus.
Battery Recycling:
You can now recycle any rechargeable battery at work: cell phone, laptop, cameras, etc. We'll even pick it up for you. Simply go to the CSB or SJU recycling page.
Recycling at Football Games
A pilot project is currently being tested by using large beverage receptacles at athletic events and McKeown Center.


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The Very Tasty Liberation of Paris
Five years ago, a 29-year-old chef from Chicago opened a tiny, instantly beloved restaurant in Paris called Spring, and that made it official: An unstoppable food revolution was under way. While generations of chefs had fretted about living up to the stifling dictates of French cuisine and earning Michelin stars, a new generation has turned its back on stuffiness and is creating vital, vibrant—sometimes American-influenced—restaurants. In Paris today, the customer and not the chef comes first. Alan Richman tastes the revolution
Can't speak for the citizens of Paris—for that matter, who can even speak to the citizens of Paris?—but for somebody like me, who's been traveling there for forty years and in recent decades has found it almost impossible to stumble on a satisfying meal, bistronomy may be the savior of the city. It's a totally irresistible and entirely revolutionary restaurant movement that deserves a slogan: Liberté, Égalité, Frugalité.
Perhaps you are unaware of the difficulty of eating well in Paris. The city remains beloved by those who shop for cheeses, breads, macarons, a terrine or two, but dining out has regressed. The well-prepared, well-priced meal is becoming extinct, due mostly to the gastronomic shadow government known as the Michelin Guide, which unilaterally created arbitrary dining standards that few dared resist. The result, which I expect Michelin couldn't foresee, is that the price of a lavish meal for two at the grandest restaurants of Paris is about the same as a round-trip plane ticket for two to Paris. In other words, once you get there, you can't afford to eat there. One of the most prominent of the new bistronomy (bistro + gastronomy) chefs, Gregory Marchand of Frenchie, told me that he proposed to his wife before taking her to the Michelin three-star restaurant L'Ambroisie last December and that the dinner went for 1,400 euros, which is about $2,000. He said it was good. (I've had dinner at L'Ambroisie. I find that unlikely.)
The new restaurants are markedly different from what classic French dining has become—regimented, often stultified. The bistronomy chefs repeatedly use the word freedom, practically a battle cry, to describe how creative and unrestrained they feel. Still, the economics of operating fairly priced restaurants in a highly regulated, highly tad environment require that they impose cost savings, and they do so in similar ways. "If we are Robuchon, this meal you are having will be 120 euros," Chantal Colliot, wife of the chef Claude Colliot, told me while I was eating a four-course, fifty-four-euro dinner at the restaurant named for her husband. "And," she added, "we don't make any money." Prices are consistently reasonable, although little in Europe is truly inexpensive today, not with the euro so overblown.
Nothing is rejected as a sin against convention. In fact, so unfettered is this informal alliance that a young American, Daniel Rose, has been welcomed into it. He comes from Chicago and, oddly enough, seems to be one of the most classic of these cooks, his food spun in a style I think of as Nouvelle Old, inasmuch as he is likely to pull out a cookbook from Escoffier, then dress up the chosen recipe with colorful veggies. He surely goes to the greenmarket a lot more than old Auguste did. The menus at most of these restaurants are fid, three or four courses for a set price, which makes food delivery easier on chefs. "Tasting menus are the go-to solution for those of us starting out and not a lot of experience at what we do," Rose said. "An ideal restaurant is one where the customer can eat what he wants." Other characteristics are open kitchens, barely adequate serving staffs, no pastry chefs, tables without cloths, surprisingly pleasant flatware and glassware, and meals that move ever so slowly, although what Americans would consider slow seems perfectly acceptable to the French, who expect to spend two or three hours dining. Some restaurants, such as La Cantine du Troquet, have communal tables, although the experience is more private than a visitor from America might expect. The French do not feel obliged to strike up conversations with strangers who happen to sit beside them.
The restaurants tend to be undersized, often with thirty to forty seats, although Yam'Tcha, a Chinese-French spot where every dish is tailored to the beverage selections of the guests, serves fewer than twenty-five meals per sitting. Friends and I ordered the tea pairings for which the restaurant is famous, and that was the end of our decision-making. Every aspect of our meal was decided by chef Adeline Grattard, beginning with a first course of wontons stuffed with shrimp accompanied by organic green tea from Fujian; then stunning watercress velouté with razor clams and chunks of foie gras as rich as bone marrow, paired with black tea from Yunnan; and finally steamed sandre, a river fish, over Cantonese rice with white tea from Yunnan. Say what you will about wine pairings, which I love, I can't imagine a food-and-beverage combination more striking than green soup with black tea.
Architectural details vary, depending on the fame and finances of the chef. Inaki Aizpitarte, who became inordinately renowned when one influential survey decided that his restaurant Le Chateaubriand was the best in France—yes, the best in the entire nation—opened a second place next door, Le Dauphin. Designed by Rem Koolhaas of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, it's mostly marble, mirrors, and glass, what the chef told me was "an obsession in white." Marchand's Frenchie would do well in New York: brick wall, Edison-style bulbs, industrial lamps hanging over the bar. He described it as a "today bistro," one that could be found in Brooklyn or the East End of London. Giovanni Passerini's Rino is primal: It has all the amenities of a beatnik coffee bar, the kind found in Greenwich Village in the 1950s.
The restaurants are scattered throughout Paris, many of them in arrondissements rarely sought out by visitors. They are destination restaurants masquerading as neighborhood restaurants. Should you dine at Christophe Beaufront's L'Avant Got and order his remarkable fourteen-euro prix fi lunch—I loved my main course, which appeared to be a variation on lamb strudel—you might think less of the bargain after paying fourteen euros to get there by taxi. Almost every Métro ride, should you choose that option, involves a transfer or two and a nice walk once the rail journey is done.
There also seems to be a quirky thread of Basque culture running through the restaurants—chefs from the Basque region, dishes from the Basque region, or in the peculiar case of the remarkable Chez l'Ami Jean, virtually nothing Basque, although patrons still think of it as Basque because it is reputed to be the oldest Basque restaurant in Paris. Basque chefs are held in great esteem in France, the way Philadelphia lawyers used to be admired in America.
The movement has embraced an organization, Le Fooding, which puts out an annual paperback listing its favorite restaurants. It also announces, online, a new restaurant discovery each week. Le Fooding has been in the business of rating restaurants for almost eleven years, compared with the Michelin Guide, which has been giving stars to restaurants since 1926. Explains the founder of Le Fooding, Alexandre Cammas, "We want the food to stay French, but we want the liberty of writing a new identity for French food. We don't want to say it was bullshit before. We feel that everyone in France should be allowed to eat, cook, and write what it means to be French today, and that includes foreigners. We are all fighting to be free, to create future traditions." What is being prepared in these avant-gourmet kitchens is, for the most part, French food unbound. Sometimes it is barely French, as at Yam'Tcha. The undersized kitchen of Ze Kitchen Galerie is crammed with cooks from all over the world: Japan, Korea, the Philippines, America, Portugal, and Italy. (The owner-chef, William Ledeuil, and his sous-chef are French.)
Several of my acquaintances in Paris and New York insisted that bistronomy, despite the slick name, isn't as radical as it appears. They say there have always been chefs, some acclaimed, who have opened downscale spots that attempted to make upscale food available to all. Michel Guérard began his career at a neighborhood restaurant in suburban Paris, Le Pot-au-Feu, getting a Michelin star in 1967 and a second in 1971, before moving to Eugénie-les-Bains, in southwest France, where he invented cuisine minceur. Almost as illustrious is Alain Senderens, who opened L'Archestrate as a rather plain eating spot in the late '60s, then starred at Lucas Carton for twenty years before transforming the property into a relatively modest (but still expensive) bistro-style restaurant. Still, both of these men reached their pinnacle as three-star chefs; they didn't set out to rebel, change cuisine, defy Michelin. They did not have the mind-set that became the catchphrase of these new chefs: The desires of the customer come first. In fact, The New York Times wrote of L'Archestrate in 1982 that "the restaurant exists as a showcase for the chef and his staff, not for the pleasure of those dining." Both men, and for that matter virtually every chef with talent and ego who has worked in France, accepted Michelin as the one pathway to glory.
Nearly as entertaining as Stéphane Jégo's food is his fuming, providing you know the word that unleashes his rage. I do. It is "Michelin." Jégo, one of the most prominent of the bistronomy chefs, combines the artistry of a rustic maestro with the passion of an Italian grandmother. At his restaurant, Chez l'Ami Jean, he sends out dish after dish to the lucky few able to reserve the one table per seating dedicated to his tasting menu, priced at about eighty euros per person. From the start it evokes sighs, followed several courses later by groans. The meal is presented under a chandelier, the only one in a restaurant otherwise given over to painted cartoons and Basque bric-a-brac. Absurdity is among Jégo's virtues.
His unequaled game terrine, which has the depth of a forest primeval, contains boar, red and gray partridge, duck foie gras, figs, pistachios, and Armagnac. The Old Parmesan Soup, uncharacteristically lightweight and brimming with colors, is accented with grated Parmesan, horseradish, chives, and baby croutons. It is so soulful I now believe Parmesan is wasted atop pasta, the way Italians use it. By the time I reached course four of his eight-course extravaganza, I was staggering. By the main course, sweetbreads so massive they might have been sourced from Jurassic Island, I could no more than wave my fork in feeble surrender. I did rally at the appearance of his fabled rice pudding, so spectacular that our waiter, who had previously not spoken a word of English, was moved to announce, in my language, "Here you have the best, best, best, best rice pudding all over the world." I could not dispute the point.
After lunch—yes, that was lunch—I asked Jégo what I had been told by his friends not to ask him. "Stéphane is crazy," warned Yves Camdeborde, the chef credited with inspiring bistronomy with his restaurant, La Régalade, which opened in 1992. "You shouldn't mention Michelin. He gets insane."
When I first asked Jégo how he and Michelin were getting along, he told me he had recently tossed out representatives of the guide who insisted on taking photographs of dishes he did not believe were representative of his cuisine—a piece of ham, a breast of duck. "I threatened to beat them up," he said. "They lacked respect for me, my purity of approach. I am not capable of entering into the pigeonhole of Michelin." On my next visit, I gently asked if he and Michelin were getting along better, and he told me he had figured out a new form of protest, which consisted of taking his 3-year-old daughter to the most glorious of the Michelin restaurants because "it gets on their nerves." Another of Jégo's friends, Christian Etchebest, chef-owner of the approachable, generous, and homey La Cantine du Troquet, tried to explain Jégo's dilemma to me: "He always wants to prove that his bistro does belong in Michelin, but it is not for himself. It is to show that this new generation of chefs deserves to be there."
Despite the triumphs of this grassroots resistance, the presence of Michelin still hovers over Paris. Not every chef I spoke to is contemptuous or, for that matter, conflicted, about Michelin. Rose, the American, says he hopes to get a star, and Marchand of Frenchie adds, "You can say what you want about Michelin, I don't think any chef says he doesn't want a star." In 1992, when Camdeborde, the Jeanne d'Arc of the movement, left the two-star kitchen of the Hôtel de Crillon, where he had been sous-chef since the age of 23, his dream was to someday have a three-star Michelin restaurant. "That was a goal for us French, something exceptional," he says. Certainly he seemed to be on the path. His La Régalade was at once the most exciting and desirable restaurant in Paris. It was always booked, even though it was located in the obscure Fourteenth Arrondissement, offered no parking, and had sardines on the menu. And Michelin, for unknown reasons, failed to recognize its importance, a mistake rather like the old railway companies in America failing to notice that air travel was becoming popular. I suspect La Régalade was ignored because it didn't follow Michelin's bewildering rules. As the French food writer Fabien Nègre explained to me, "Michelin is impossible to understand. It built its reputation on mystery."
Camdeborde, who subsequently sold La Régalade and now operates Le Comptoir in the Hôtel Relais Saint Germain, which he owns, said of those days, "I wanted to create a location with the same gastronomic quality of the Crillon but where the people could relax. We had bookings one year in advance. And every year Michelin came out, I expected a star. I waited one year, three, five. Then I made a decision that a star is not important."
At Marchand's Frenchie—Frenchie is the nickname he got cooking in London—I ate a sixty-euro eight-course dinner of unanticipated and unwavering stylishness that included foie gras torchon with quince paste, gravlax-style trout with cauliflower cream and shaved cauliflower, sweetbreads with Japanese pear, hake with a matchless black-rice puree, duck breast, as well as the most enthralling of the desserts I tried, cheesecake made from triple-crème Brillat-Savarin, more intense and mysteriously lighter than one made New York–style. Frenchie, despite its size, even has a sommelier, Laura Vidal, a young woman from Montreal who brilliantly paired Canadian ice wine made from apples with Saint-Nectaire cheese. This meal was Michelin two-star food, but it was decidedly not offered in a Michelin two-star setting. Frenchie is located on Rue du Nil, which is not much more than an alley, one so obscure that the two times I went there my taxi drivers denied it existed. It was also forbidding, my first impression being that anything dining there had to be eating its young. When I told Marchand how creepy his street appeared, he replied, "Not now, but 200 years ago, this was one of the most dangerous streets in Paris."
While the restaurants have the goal of democratizing the dining experience, both in price and in comfort, there does exist within them an unofficial hierarchy, established partly by supply and demand and partly by fame. The four most difficult to book are Yam'Tcha, Frenchie, Spring, and in particular Le Comptoir—Camdeborde is a legend, and hotel guests get priority. Every night, winter included, those without reservations can be found huddling at the few outdoor tables, under heat lamps if necessary. They look like refugees, but they believe themselves privileged to be eating Camdeborde's food. His fifty-euro meal was among the most lavish I sampled while visiting fourteen of these uplifted bistros. The moment you're seated, waiters reach over the heads of guests to offer baskets of gougères, and those are followed by an amuse-bouche of foie gras on toast. The set menu includes a plate of ten exquisitely ripe cheeses, not commonplace even in France. The room is bustling, the waiters are charmingly pushy, and the overall feeling is welcoming. When one of my friends told Camdeborde that several items on his set menu weren't to her taste, he leaned over and whispered to her. She later revealed the secret message: "He told me he had a daughter like me and wanted me to feel at home here." The dishes were altered to please.
Spring is run by Rose, who in 2006 opened a minuscule spot in the Ninth Arrondissement, a long way up from the Napoleonic shrines that glorify the Right Bank of the Seine and a few blocks down from the beefy prostitutes who beautify the windows of the Pigalle bars. He soon found a new location, in the more convenient First, a few blocks from the Louvre, and embarked on a two-year renovation that ended up costing, by his precise count, 1,347,256.34 euros. His staff has increased from three to fourteen, and the capacity of the main dining area is up from sixteen to twenty-six. When I mentioned that profits seemed unlikely under such a business plan, he replied, "I wish you'd told me earlier." Yet he has reason for optimism: As a chef, Rose seems to have perfect pitch, and his exquisitely accessible food is becoming more multifaceted. His unexpected combinations included red mullet paired with an oyster in veal jus, and fried sole alongside blood pudding. When I asked him if he intended to introduce surf and turf to Paris, he claimed the latter combination was purely geographic. "The sole is from Saint-Jean-de-Luz, in the Pays Basque. The boudin came up on the same truck." They were perfect together, as I would not have expected. The second reason why he is likely to survive: He gets as many as 850 requests for reservations a day.
The career paths of French cooks are usually preordained, and in the most mundane way: Academic incompetence leads to a culinary apprenticeship, which leads to a grinding existence. Only in the past half-century has glamour been associated with cooking, a very few chefs rising to prominence because they are uncommonly good-looking or remarkably talented. Nothing so predictable occurs when bistronomy chefs are involved. Cédric Casanova, a Parisian by birth, operates what must be the smallest and most cramped restaurant in France, located inside his 150-square-foot grocery, La Tête dans les Olives, which specializes in olives, you will not be surprised to learn. Here you will sample all manner of olives and olive oils imported from Sicily, and what you see on the shelves that happens not to be about olives from Sicily is about something else from Sicily. Twice a day he sets up a table that he constructed himself, one that he can assemble and disassemble in seconds. He unfolds chairs, then prepares lunch or dinner. The table seats five, only one party of five is accepted for each seating, and the individual who made the reservation is expected to show up with four others, although Casanova allows fewer as long as someone pays for those who are not there.
The food isn't much. Casanova says of himself, "I am a farmer. I am not a cook." What you will eat for thirty euros per person are olives and eggplant and sun-dried tomatoes of unusual intensity, plus variations on the theme of dried tuna, because, he says, "in Sicily we use tuna like a pig. We throw nothing away." Casanova's culinary stylings, mostly snacks, really don't add up to thirty euros per person on a cost-analysis basis, even when you include his amusing dessert of apples, rum, lemon peel, fennel seeds, and crumbled almond cake, inspired trail food. Casanova is the luminary here. He stands at the far end of his shop, which is not far from the front end of his shop, before a trinket-laden depiction of Santa Maria dell'Olio, whom he reverently describes as the patron saint of olive oil. Behind him, hanging lariat-fashion from a hook, is a thick wire. It is what he used for fourteen years while he was a wire-walker—more precisely, a slack-rope dancer—for more than a few circuses, including Cirque du Soleil. He is 40, not terribly old for the circus, but he says he gave up his career because "my bones are tired and also my knees." Stories like his you do not get when you dine at Alain Ducasse.
His fascination with the circus began when he was a university student, he explains, because "the university is very slow, but the circus is very fast." He started out as an acrobat, but he hit his head on a diving board while showing off for pretty girls, and after that he couldn't twirl through the air without pain. So he switched to wire-walking, not the kind with a wire high up and a net underneath, but the kind eight feet up with a hard floor underneath. In this act, the wire-walker ecutes feats of agility and balance, and too often falls. "I had a very nice fall in 1996 at Caesars Palace," he recalls, smiling at the memory. "The noise was huge."
The most honored of the new chefs is Aizpitarte—a Basque with a Basque name. Each year San Pellegrino, the bubbly-water company, creates a list of the world's fifty best restaurants, and in 2010, Le Chateaubriand was the top restaurant in France and number eleven in the world. (Incidentally, chateaubriand is not on the menu at Le Chateaubriand.) When I told him that made him the most famous chef in France, he replied, deadpan, "If you say so." His culinary training was unlike that of any other renowned French chef: Shortly after his relationship with a tango dancer ended—"My tango is not so good," he admitted—he headed off to Israel, broke and brokenhearted. He took a job cooking, and when he returned to France, he decided to continue cooking. He couldn't afford cooking school, so his only recourse was to knock on doors of not-so-good restaurants, the only ones that would welcome a novice. About this time he began reading about food, little else. "When one wants to, one can learn fast," he says. "That's all there was to it. I learned I could cook my way, in my universe."
I ate at Le Chateaubriand last year, anonymously, and didn't enjoy it. The room is wonderfully old and almost totally untouched, the sort of ancient ambience that gladdens the heart of a tourist. The food was ambitious, too much so, the service chaotic, and my flatware unchanged throughout a five-course meal; it's not fun looking at a spoon caked with the residue of a celery-root soup eaten an hour earlier. Typical of Aizpitarte's dishes was an assemblage that included a chunk of boiled beef, a thin slice of black truffle, what seemed to be slivers of raw nuts, a few slices of uncooked champignons de Paris, and a white foamy topping that I swear our waitress said was made from hay. (Although Paris has been shaken to its reactionary roots by bistronomy, an occasional foam was about as far into the depths of molecular gastronomy or any other form of cerebral cooking that these chefs have ventured.)
I subsequently asked at least a half-dozen friends who had eaten at Le Chateaubriand if they liked their meal, and none of them said they did. The Paris food writer Sébastien Demorand defended the restaurant in an extraordinary manner when I told him I hadn't had a good meal there. "We've all had that experience," he replied, warming up to the challenge of making this appear to be a virtue and not a flaw. "He's challenging you. His food is different. Sometimes strange. He's kind of self-taught, and sometimes it comes out of nowhere. If you want something that always works, go to McDonald's." (Note: Parisians, including the friendly ones, are always telling unhappy Americans who don't like what they're eating to go to McDonald's. It's a bad practice that replaces rational discourse.)
Weeks before I arrived in Paris, Aizpitarte opened Le Dauphin, which everybody was describing as a tapas restaurant but he said was merely a casual spot offering half portions. I rather liked the decor, although I would have appreciated somewhere to put my overcoat instead of having to sit on it while perched on a stool. Le Dauphin was crowded and it was loud, marble and glass tending to have that effect. What I ate was orders of magnitude more coherent than the food at Le Chateaubriand, no more than two or three elements to each dish: raw oysters, small, sweet, and plump, with slices of marinated carrots, a clever way to deliver vinegar without resorting to mignonette sauce; tandoori octopus, bright red and perfectly tender; milk-fed lamb, perhaps cooked sous vide, with mostarda; thickly cut beef tartare enlivened with sweet spices; and my favorite, black-ink risotto, as good as any I've had in Italy. Giovanni Passerini's Rino—named for a trio of inspirations, including the singer Rino Gaetano—is entirely dissimilar to the glittery Le Dauphin. It is located on Rue Trousseau, another of those drab-approaching-desolate streets that will fill you with either the thrill of exploration or a frisson of dread. One of my guests found the interior of the restaurant so spare she said it reminded her of a pop-up restaurant. Passerini has a degree in economics, earned at a Rome university, which entitles him to be addressed by the honorific dottore. He did not seem offended when I declined to do so. He is astonishingly gaunt, Gandhi-like, although the women at my table thought him handsome and were moved by his devotion to food and family. "My girlfriend is patient," he said. "When I go out in the morning, she is sleeping. When I come home at night, she is sleeping." He seemed desperately dreamy to them.
His is a life devoid of indulgences, which is precisely what he wishes. He speaks with pride of his tiny kitchen with its multitude of miniature refrigerators, welcoming the challenge of finding space in them for the abundance of fresh food he requires, four lambs the day I was there. "It is a difficult place to work but romantic, because everything passes through my hands, and when it passes through the hands of the chef, that is romantic," he said. During the meal the music was Sam Cooke, so soft it was barely discernible. Service concluded with John Fogerty, loud and rousing. Passerini prepares four-course meals that sell for thirty-eight euros, and his inexpensive wine list comes smartly folded in an envelope. (Having tasted two of his selections, I would recommend marking the envelope RETURN TO SENDER.) His food isn't generally Italian, because he believes Italian food should be made only with Italian products, which are too expensive for him to import.
My first course was nonetheless somewhat Italian, tortelli stuffed with light, rich whipped potatoes in a bowl of smoky consommé. Other dishes were entirely creative—sophisticated, colorful, and wonderfully prepared, especially considering the limitations of a kitchen that barely exists. I did complain to Passerini about his duck breast after it came well seared on the skin side but essentially raw on the other. (It was similar at Frenchie, making me fear I was in Paris at the beginning of a worrisome trend.) I've had fish that way and loved it, but I found it less appealing with duck, where the almost raw parts are tough. His response to my complaint: "Sometimes you have to chew a little bit. We have forgotten how to chew."
Claude Colliot, of the restaurant named for him, has been cooking since the age of 14, which isn't unusual in France, but he has always worked for himself. That's unusual, since French technique is more about ritual than instinct. "I have been the same way as this for twenty-five years," he says. "No schools, only learning by myself. I never worked for any famous chefs. That's why it has taken longer for me to succeed." His main dining room is so dark it appears colorless, and guests eating in it seem to dress to match the decor. On the evening I dined there, everybody except the people at my table was in gray and black. Let me tell you, it's been a long time since I lit up a room. Colliot's cuisine, fitting the mood, is austere. It's also strikingly healthy, all his dishes accompanied by a mélange of barely cooked, decidedly crunchy vegetables that his wife, who is the hostess, collects twice a week, riding thirty miles on a Vespa to a farm to gather crops. The food is unusual and original: a soup of foie gras cream (indeed, even that seemed restrained and wholesome), cold and briny oyster sorbet, and a wonderful dessert named All White, which consists of fromage blanc topped with lychee sorbet topped with soft meringue. I was convinced of the freshness of the products when his wife told me the lychees had shown up that morning, and when she tried to eat a few, her husband yelled and chased her out of the kitchen.
Michelin and Le Fooding appear to be of two worlds, one setting standards, the other encouraging free will. Yet they do not always disagree. In 2009, Adeline Grattard of Yam'Tcha was selected as Le Fooding's best female chef. The next year, she received a Michelin star. In fact, the organizations function in similar ways. Both are marketing machines, Michelin far vaster in scope. Both appear to have responsible restaurant-reviewing ethics, which means paying for meals. That cannot be said of the majority of critics operating in France.
Michelin sells tires, promotes its brand relentlessly, and demands the presence of its three-star chefs at vital events, such as the unveiling of a restaurant guide in a new country. Few have the courage to refuse. In addition to its print and online reviews, Le Fooding is in business to create partnerships with companies, organize meetings, and put on food events at which star chefs appear. The young founder, Alexandre Cammas, is a funny, friendly, untroubled amalgam of idealism and commercialism, eager to change the world of French food and to make a nice living while doing so. He calls the events he produces "big parties where people have fun."
What's remarkable about both these organizations is that they thrive despite apparent conflicts of interest, possibly because neither seems fatally corrupt. Michelin inspectors are mythic. They're envisioned as honorable and frugal culinary crusaders, trudging from town to town, eating alone and drinking sparingly, ordering a half-bottle of wine and a half-bottle of mineral water. Says Rose, "I have great respect for those individuals. Those guys are on the road endlessly. Maybe the Michelin company is run by an appointee with an agenda and a sales objective, but do I want to gain the respect of those inspectors? Absolutely." Then, abruptly, he sounds like a devotee of the Le Fooding philosophy when he adds, "Is it more important to have a restaurant full of real customers who enjoy their meal and want to reserve a table for the next time? I think so."
Paris is now a city with a populace longing for restaurants it can embrace. It's important to remember that in France, until now, the customer has never been right. As Camdeborde put it, "With Michelin, it is the restaurant and the chef thinking whether or not the client deserves them. The basis of eating should be whether the restaurant deserves the client." The new restaurants seem to have whatever customers need, unless they require shimmering brocade curtains, a selection of artisanal butters, and a half-dozen waiters hovering tableside. The cuisine is enviable, and if it might not always be what Jégo of L'Ami Jean claims it is—"the same food others are doing in their Michelin-starred restaurants"—it's close enough to bring intense joy and a sense that nothing vital is lacking. You want inspiration? There's plenty of it, even if these harried chefs have only a day to create a new dish, not a month, as in the three-star operations. If it's black truffles and foie gras you require, try Franck Marchesi-Grandi's L'Agrume for the foie gras and smoked eel in a nori wrapper, followed by the roasted pears and black-truffle ice cream topped with julienned black truffles. The new restaurants may lack amenities, but if you're comfortable with a dining experience that is more like an informal dinner party than an evening out, you'll feel as though you haven't missed a thing.
The one near-traumatic problem with these restaurants is getting in. Should you manage to acquire a reservation, you will feel like an insider, which is always unexpected in Paris. The real flaw in bistronomy is that a movement with the ultimate goal of making food more accessible has been a stunning failure in that regard. It has put fine dining out of reach in an entirely different way. A Parisian friend of mine who made the reservations for every one of my meals said to me, "I had to beg. I didn't know I could beg like that."
Alan Richman is a GQ correspondent.


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Diary of a Mad Old Man
Seventy-seven-year-old Utsugi, a retired businessman, is the protagonist and diarist of this book. Various aches and pains plague him, but his spirits are buoyed by a growing erotic obsession with his daughter-in-law, Satsuko, a former nightclub dancer married to his workaholic son. She carelessly flirts with Utsugi off and on. This short novel alternates between descriptions of our hero's haggling with the medical establishment and various medicines, fi...


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Lindsay Lohan's new bankroller
His name is Mohammed Al Turki. He's very wealthy. I met him last year in Cannes. Or I should say I was brought to him in Cannes. We were invited to a yacht party on press credentials and part of that agreement involved paying our respects to the person who was funding the event. My colleague and I were led into a private enclosed area of the boat where he was surrounded by hot skinny girls, and Michelle Rodriguez who'd been hired to DJ. We listened to him talk at us about his film interests and how he was producing a movie with Zac Efron. Needless to say, he was making a play for Hollywood. Not really sure how Lindsay Lohan is helping with that, but OK.
Here they are, Lindsay and Mohammed, last night in New York arriving 45 minutes late to see Orphans, the Broadway play that was supposed to star Shia LaBeouf before he and Alec Baldwin got into a dick fight. According to E! News she and Avi Snow, her musician boyfriend for about 5 minutes, broke up a couple of weeks ago...
Lohan, as you know, is in a lot of debt. And now she's spending a lot of time with a rich dude who finances movies...?
That sounds about right.


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