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While 2013 will go down as the year gold lost its glitter, 2014 may be remembered as the era it recovered some sparkle, yet it remained dull — analysts.
Record Gold Prices Mining News
Higher gold prices expected for next week —survey
Half of the experts interviewed see gold moving slightly up next week to $1,230.
Gold headed for worst performance since 1981
Prices improved 1.3% in the previous two sessions, but the metal is still set to drop for the fourth consecutive month.
Gold price comes roaring back as Iran sabre-rattling intensifies
Gold's recent move higher to within sight of $1,800 an ounce for the first time since September is tracking that of oil which is trading at a nine-month high on tensions between the West and Iran. Gold futures have gained $185/oz so far this year.
Panicked traders send gold, silver and copper into 'downward spiral'
December gold suffered another day of steep losses, dropping $82 an ounce, or 4.7%, to $1,659.50 in New York in noon trade on Friday, as investors were forced to raise cash to cover losses suffered on global stock markets this week. Copper extended its sharp declines on the London Metal Exchange falling as much as 7.3% to $7,115.75 a metric ton. Prices declined for a sixth day in a row losing 14% this week and have now slumped 26% from the record high of $10,190 set in February. Silver was hardest hit on Friday, plummeting 11.2% to $32.48. One metals analyst summed up the day this way: "We're in a downward spiral, and no one knows when it's going to end."
Precious metals 'shot to pieces' as losses continue to mount
Gold failed to capitalize on the stock market rout and December futures tumbled 4% or $74/oz to $1,734/oz by early Thursday afternoon as the Fed warned of "significant downside risks" and pessimistic economic data from China further damaged sentiment. Silver was hardest hit and platinum and palladium prices came under pressure as well. December silver slid -9.8% or almost $4 to $36.50 an ounce while October platinum lost -4.9% or $87 and palladium for December delivery traded down -8.1% to $655. One trader summed up the day this way: "The textbook ideas, the things we follow, the things we believe to be so are being shot to pieces for the moment and it's very difficult to trade other than for a long-term view."
Gold surge vexes Asian officials as inflation numbers go awry
The surging price of gold is fueling inflation from India to Indonesia and forcing statisticians to decide whether jewelry made of the metal still belongs in consumer-price indexes.
Gold declines on speculation Fed's measures will curb demand
Gold declined in New York on speculation further stimulus measures by the Federal Reserve will cut demand for the metal as a protection of wealth.
Record $8.5 billion likely spent in 2011 exploring for gold
Research firm Metals Economics Group reports gold continues to be top exploration target accounting for more than 50% of global exploration of non-ferrous metals for the second consecutive year in 2011. Latin America is set continue to be the industry's favorite regional exploration destination in 2011, while Canada will remain the top overall country. Copper will account for roughly a fifth of 2011 nonferrous exploration budgets that is expected to exceed US$17 billion for expenditures related to precious and base metals, diamonds, uranium, and some industrial minerals. It represents an increase of about 50% from the 2010 total and a new all time high.
Gold gains in India on Saturday but charts point to $1,700
Both gold and silver gained on the bullion market on Saturday as bargain hunters returned to the market. While gold surged by Rs 420 to Rs 28,160 per 10 grams, silver went up by Rs 1,100 to Rs 64,400 per kg. Trading sentiment in Mumbai improved after gold rose the most in a week on Friday in New York. However, many analysts say the gold price could continue to weaken into next week possibly going as low as $1,700/oz as indicated by technical chart patterns that have turned bearish, investors turning to riskier assets like shares, the dollar gains further and concerted efforts to shore up Europe's banks may begin to show fruit. Volatility in the gold market is increasing and the gap between gold's highs and lows this year, have reached more than $600, the largest since the 1960s.
Strong stomach needed as gold's wild gyrations continue
Gold futures returned to above $1,800 an ounce Friday as investors sought the perceived safety of the precious metal ahead of the weekend and news emanating from Europe injected a dose of uncertainty back into markets. Gold for December delivery added $33, or just under 2%, to settle at $1,815 an ounce in afternoon trade. Reuters reports between gold's highs and lows this year, there is a more than $600 gap, the largest since the 1960s, though its 32% range is below the 42% range seen in 1980.
Gold: slim slow slider
Gold for December delivery declined $15.00, or just under 1% to $1,815.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange in late afternoon trade on Wednesday after the EU said it would soon present options on how it might issue bonds jointly and that Greece would remain in the euro zone. Gold is heading for its second weekly fall, its longest since early July although on Monday it struck an all-time high of 1,373.92/oz when measured in euros. December silver, down more than 1.5% on Wednesday managed to stay above the psychologically important $40/oz level.
Analysts see gold falling below $1,700 in September
Bloomberg reports gold may decline to below $1,700 an ounce in September before climbing to an all-time high of $2,000 in October as the metal extends its longest rally in at least nine decades, according to technical analysts. The Wall Street Journal reports market participants expect volatile trading in gold to continue this week, as traders look to what may be contentious debate on US President Barack Obama's proposed jobs and infrastructure program and as traders take positions ahead of the meeting of the Federal Reserve's policy-making committee next week.
Gold tumbles as Greece says will run out of cash by October
Gold for December delivery – the most actively traded contract – fell 2.4% or $45, to $1,815 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange by lunchtime on Monday failing to capitalize on its safe-haven status as investors were forced to raise cash to cover losses on equity markets. The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered another day of heavy selling, declining more than 120 points in volatile trade while European and Asian markets were battered after the deputy finance minister of Greece said the debt-laden country has cash to operate only until next month. Germany was readying measure to protect its banks against a Greek default while France's financial institutions were downgraded because of its exposure.
Gold falls 1 percent on dollar, jewellers shop around
Gold fell more than 1 percent on Monday after ending at its lowest level since June last week but bargain hunters could cushion the fall, while escalating worries about Europe's debt crisis sent bullion priced in euro to a record high.
Gold surges on heavy buying; silver recovers
Gold prices continued to surge at the domestic bullion market here today on heavy speculative and investment buying amidst firm global market. Silver recovered moderately on fresh stockist as well as industrial demand. Standard gold (99.5 purity) spurted
Gold dragged down by dollar spike, profit-taking
Gold slid on Friday, closing its worst week since June, as profit-taking by investors and a spike in the U.S. dollar outweighed the desire for a safer haven. Gold tumbled in early U.S. hours on apparent investor liquidation, but clawed back much of its
Is the gold market getting overheated
Gold has turned into an attractive investment option in the aftermath of delivering a spectacular rate of return last year. The investment demand for the yellow metal has been growing at a fast clip in countries like India and China. So, is the gold
Gold dragged down by dollar spike, profit-taking
Gold slid on Friday, closing its worst week since June, as profit-taking by investors and a spike in the U.S. dollar outweighed the desire for a safer haven. Gold tumbled in early U.S. hours on apparent investor liquidation, but clawed back much of its loss by mid-afternoon as the resignation of European Central Bank policymaker Juergen Stark reignited aversion to riskier assets. But even as US stocks fell nearly 3 percent and other commodities tumbled, gold came under renewed pressure as two weeks of extreme volatility for bullion rattled some confidence in its bull run -- despite the prospect of a second recession.
Bulls regain footing as gold adds $50
The price of December gold added $52.50 or 2.9% to trade at $1,870.30 an ounce in afternoon dealings on Thursday regaining much of the ground lost since hitting an intraday record of $1,923.10 an ounce on Tuesday. During August the metal added 12% as investors sought a safe haven from the slumping US economy and the continuing debt crisis in Europe. The ECB on Thursday decided to keep interest rates at 1.5% and cut forecasts for growth in the euro area while in the US jobless claims came in worse than expected. Bullion was also boosted by comments from the US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke who all but confirmed a new round of stimulus will be announced at a meeting later this month.
Hot money sinks gold one day after all-time high
The price of December gold – the most actively traded contract – dropped by almost $80 to trade below $1,800 an ounce on Wednesday morning. By midday bullion had regained some of its footing but was still down just over 3% or $56.60, at 1,816/oz in New York as traders banked profits. Gold has declined $120 in less than 24 hours after setting an intraday record of $1,923.10 an ounce on Tuesday. During August the metal added 12% as investors sought a safe haven from the slumping US economy and the continuing debt crisis in Europe. Despite the losses many analysts believe gold will hit $2,000 an ounce soon as talk of another round of monetary stimulus or a direct injection into the economy as part of a jobs programme lead to more cheap money entering the financial markets.
Gold falls sharply, suddenly in Asia
SYDNEY: Spot gold prices suddenly fell over $30 an ounce on Wednesday to as low as $1,826.18, though it then quickly steadied around $1,840. The move down from $1,864 seemed not to be driven by any particular news event and might have been due to a
Gold falls back after hitting all-time high
Gold futures fell slightly to settle at $1,873 as spot gold jumped to a record high Tuesday after Switzerland pegged its currency to the euro, then the precious metal retreated 2 percent from that level as investors took profits. The spot price of gold—which tracks global trades in bullion—and U.S. gold futures set all-time highs above $1,920 an ounce after the Swiss National Bank set a minimum exchange-rate target on the soaring franc to stave off a recession. Analysts said they still expect gold to chart new peaks on worsening euro zone troubles.
Gold falls from record after Swiss peg franc
Gold fell from record highs on Tuesday, after Switzerland's decision to peg its currency to the euro shook financial markets and battered the franc, putting the price of bullion in Swiss francs on track for its largest daily gain in three years.
Gold to trade above $2000 by year end: Standard Bank
Precious metal gold is trading low since quite some time as investors have turned away from safe-havens, expecting the US Federal Reserve to announce further monetary easing (QE3) when it meets on September 20. However, some experts still believe that this is the best time to go for gold as it may become more expensive later.


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Monster Jam Part two
When we got into the stadium we went straight to the section where Grave Digger was waiting for us. He looked better in person than I could have ever imagined. We waited in a short line to get to meet the driver and have our picture taken with him. There are 7 different Grave Digger trucks and 7 different drivers. I only wish I had gotten Ben to take my picture with just Grave Digger. We walked around him an admired him in all his glory. We decided to walk around and get a look at the competition. It was nice getting there so early as we could wander around with ease. There were alot of nice trucks there but only one other truck caught our eye like Grave Digger did. It's name was Son Uva Digger. It turned out to be the truck to watch. The driver is the son of one of Grave Diggers drivers.
They had lots of other things going on with the monster trucks. They had small kids in miniature dirt track racers, they had a bunch of stripped down cars that raced in a crash to pass kinda race and they had some quad races. One of the most exciting things they had was after the intermission. They set up a ramp and had 2 snowmobiles come out and do some stunts. The one guy did a complete back flip which was amazing considering they were doing this over a pile of dirt on concrete.
The best part of the whole thing was the freestyle. The drivers gave it their all doing a bunch of stunts for a judging panel of 3. They had a minute and a half and if they did at least one jump on each of the five obstacles they got another 30 seconds to pick up points from a 4th judge. There were lots of spills and thrills and as much as I was there to cheer on Grave Digger he spent most of the time with his wheels in the air and his roof on the dirt. Now Son Uva Digger who had lost out in the races only to come back in with the fastest heat time and get a bye and then win the championship trophy, came out with all wheels blazing and tore up the track. By the time he was done he was sitting on top of the biggest pile of dirt with a blown engine and everyone in the house standing and screaming including Ben and yours truly. He won both events and was awarded a double down trophy.
After the show was over we walked down by the water as we were going to take a sea bus over to try and get a good night shot of the city. Problem was there was lots of fog on the ocean so we didnt think we would get a good shot. We decided to go get A&W and go back to the room and watch tv.
All in all it was a good weekend and Ben and I got to do some good bonding. He was hardly a pain in the ass at all. To finish it off I let him drive home from Nanaimo.

subset: commoncrawl


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Rawr: Erin Roof reviews Kitten Forever and friends at the Triple Rock
"Woah, that bacon does a number on your throat. Blow It Out Your Ass Fest is coooool!" The lead singer of Hangun Man is howling into the mic, while the crowd waits with bated bacon breath for the next hormone-inducing boom ch-ch boom from the jacked-up drum kit. It is what you would expect from an event named "Blow It Out Your Ass Fest": the asses of some bands blow and others shit out pure rock n' roll turd gems. It is a night in need of Ritalin, blasting through seven bands in 20-minute bits of lovin'. But why waste precious interweb space on the undeserving? Here are the best butts of BIOYAF:
Hangun Man
Hangun Man by Tony Nelson. See more photos of the evening in Tony's slideshow.
This easy-breezy trio is worth its weight in the night's free Triple Rock bacon. The band's twangy, whisky-drenched warbling sounds like a southern fried Stephen Malkmus and is equally as charming. At times sounding like a cyclone in need of a strait jacket, the stripped-down fuzz is spiraling out of control much like the dry-humping orgy going down inside a beaten-up hula-hoop in the audience. Hangun Man does a powerful one-two stomp straight to the craw. The tunes are wildly unkempt, but massively pleasuring.
Kitten Forever
"This song's about a cat who's really sick. He ate something and it stuck in him. He probably ate bacon." Liz Elton, the barefoot and yelping singer of Kitten Forever, is, of course, talking about the mighty Scout Growing Mountain. Scout is the band's mascot and Elton is a little obsessed with him.
"He is not fat, but he's 19.25 lbs and he is like a fucking linebacker," she explains later through a choking cloud of American Sprit smoke. "He is like pure muscle. He is literally the size of a small beagle."
Kitten Forever: badass feline enthusiasts
The band sings about equal parts felines, love, love of felines and vomit. It's the kind of gnarly punk that steals your breath and makes you want to pass out, in an entirely good way. Kitten Forever is a surprisingly simple beast, with just bass, drums and vocals and lyrics that usually include the term "AAAAAAHHHHH." But the trio has the magic to produce throbbing waves of whump that hit you right between the thighs before they make you smile, and leaves the audience dancing manic and uncoordinated jitterbugs.
Unicorn Basement
I think this dude ate wolves. Max Clark of Unicorn Basement is dancing like a bloody wolf claw is going to liberate itself from his stomach at any moment. It is only halfway through 11 when Unicorn Basement takes the stage in front of a now scantily crowded floor. But, who gets drunk on a Wednesday except the scours of humanity? That's BIOYAF's draw: the very fashionable dregs of society; the prettiest scumbags in the city. And the duo fits right in.
They may have awkward haircuts, but they've got lots of spirit. Free of instruments, except for one well-timed keytar appearance, Clark and Deanna Steege lunge and pounce in beatless formation to their programmed and croaking drum machine. They sound like electronic wonderlings Adult., only with less drugs and more sex, or a demon possessed radio that can't choose a station, the songs shifting crassly eight times a minute.
Clark, posing in gold lamé tights, aptly sums up the evening. "This is a party for the souls of a horrific universe where only terrible things happen," he says. If "terrible" means awesome, then well said. --Erin Roof


text: Tony Brannon Company Developing Hemp Hardwood Flooring Pilot With Murray State By Nicole Erwin • Jul 23, 2018 Nicole Erwin / WKMS A Maryland-based HempWood flooring company is developing a pilot plant in west Kentucky. Murray State Starts Hemp Harvest with Combine, Studies Chickens on Hemp Diets By Matt Markgraf • Aug 17, 2017 Matt Markgraf, WKMS Murray State University began its 2017 hemp harvest with the roar of a combine on Wednesday afternoon at the West Farm. A study is also underway at the university testing hemp as feed for poultry and its effects on broilers and egg-laying hens. MSU Agriculture Dean Tony Brannon on State Hunger Task Force By Rob Canning • Jun 3, 2016 Murray State University The Kentucky Department of Agriculture has assembled the state's first Hunger Task Force to allow farmers, businesses, charitable organizations and government agencies to coordinate efforts against food insecurity. Dean of the Hutson School of Agriculture at Murray State University Dr. Tony Brannon is on the task force and attended the inaugural meeting Thursday in Shelbyville. MSU's Tony Brannon to Receive Award for Contribution to Agriculture Education By Rob Canning • Oct 9, 2014 Murray State University The dean of the Murray State University Hutson School of Agriculture is being recognized by the National Association of Agricultural Educators. MSU's Tony Brannon will receive the Outstanding Service Citation award at the 2014 NAAE convention in Nashville next month. Murray State Hemp Crop Ready for Harvest in October By Whitney Jones • Sep 1, 2014 Whitney Jones / WKMS Murray State University School of Agriculture Dean Tony Brannon says the school's first industrial hemp crop should be ready for harvest in mid-October. He says they have begun bringing in seed, some of it for research purposes, and that the agriculture school already has plans for the harvested crop. MSU School of Agriculture: Record Enrollment, Hemp Crop Update By Kate Lochte & Matt Markgraf • Aug 27, 2014 "It's a good time for agriculture and an even better time to be at Murray State in agriculture," says the Hutson School of Agriculture Dean Tony Brannon. He joins Kate Lochte on Sounds Good to talk about another record year of enrollment, a new high profile crop approaching harvest and a fundraising gala for The Arboretum. Farm Bill Moves to Senate with No Direct Payments, Crop Insurance Increases By Whitney Jones • Jan 30, 2014 kyagr.com Area farmers are waiting for more details on the farm bill that passed in the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday to see how it will affect their operations. Murray State University Hutson School of Agriculture Dean Tony Brannon says the new bill gets rid of the base farmers have received for growing certain major crops, which will save $5 billion a year. MSU Hutson School of Agriculture Dean on Technology, Education, and More By Kate Lochte • Jul 25, 2013 Listen Listening... / 18:51 Murray State's Hutson School of Agriculture Dean Tony Brannon joins Kate Lochte on Sounds Good. They take a look at agriculture in the region and across the state, how technology has changed the course of agriculture and education, and work at the Breathitt Veterinary Center. See more about the Hutson School of Agriculture.


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A frequent event when working with a SQL database is adding a column. Ideally, you'd want to add this column before or after another one that makes sense rather than all the way at the end. MySQL makes this straightforward since you can use the AFTER keyword when adding a column to specify exactly where it should be added. PostgreSQL and Redshift make this difficult since all new columns are automatically added at the end.
Normally, this isn't a problem in most cases since you just write a query to specify the desired column order but it makes doing a simple "SELECT *" more annoying and will break naive jobs that rely on a particular column order.
The accepted solution is to create a new table with the proper structure, migrate the data from the original table while using a default value for the new column, drop or rename the original table, and then rename the new table with the original name. It's a lot easier to see this in code:
One issue with this approach is that if the table is very large, it will take a long time to migrate the data from the original to the new table. In this case a possible approach is to do it piecemeal - if you know you only need recent data you can migrate a subset of the data first to get the table ready, do the rename, and then migrate the rest. In code again:
If you know for a fact that it's not important to have the old data immediately available you can opt to rename the original table, create the new table, and only then migrate the data. This allows queries that need to write data to this table to complete immediately. The risk is that the legacy data will only be available after the migration completes. The last code block:
The first scenario handles having columns in the right order but the other two can be useful on MySQL as well when tables are large and performance is critical. For high load databases, transactions can be used to make sure that the renames are done atomically - this will avoid an intermittent query writing to a non existent database. It's surprising how a task as simple as adding a column can evolve into a large problem with a variety of solutions when running into a variety of constraints.


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You ask yourself: how do I get motivated to workout? I know….We all have days where doing a work out feels like the least appealing thing in the world. You've got too much to do, you woke up feeling cranky, you feel exhausted, you don't feel like you will have a good exercise session anyway. I get it!
It's time to switch up your attitude and try these tips and tricks to get motivated to exercise. After all, you know deep down that you've never regretted a workout, don't you?
Shake your routine up: Perhaps all you need is a new running route, new gym exercise or a brand-new exercise class. You're in this for the long-haul, and I know you love working out, so keep things fresh and treat yourself from time to time by trying something different. You might find a new love in your fitness life!
Create a playlist: It is proven that music is a great way to get motivated to exercise. Studies show that listening to upbeat music can improve your mood and help you get through even the toughest workout. Why not put together a new playlist – either use some of your favorite songs, tunes you've forgotten about or even buy some brand-new tracks. Or put your MP3 on "shuffle" and see what surprises come up!
Try a cute outfit: My favorite! On the rare occasion I really don't feel like working out, I'll open up my closet and pick my brightest and cutest workout clothes. Reward yourself with a new cute outfit from Fit Activewear. Or try wearing something you haven't tried on for a while, or pairing a new combination of shorts and top. Everyone feels better with a great outfit!
Get a caffeine fix: Unless you're really sensitive to caffeine, sometimes an espresso shot or cup of green tea is the perfect way to give you that extra boost before you hit the gym. Caffeine has been proven to help with focus, mood and drive, and can even help out when it comes to burning body fat.
Make a date: Why no arrange to train with a friend? If you know someone is waiting for you, you're much less likely to skip your workout. Plus, exercising with a training friend is fun and sociable, and you can push each other to work even harder.


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Many people have asked me what the property market holds in store for the residential buyers in this year. My first instinct was to say God Only Knows. And I am not being sarcastic. The Indian property market is unique in that it is surviving despite policy-makers and not because of them. Should our property markets have cooled to the extent that they did in late 2011? I think not. Certainly not when we have the figure of 26 million homes shortage hanging like the sword of Damocles over our heads. Why then did it tank? Demand is robust, right? Yes demand is robust and supply could also be so. But the minute the market starts selling, we have a host of doomsday predictors clamping down on interest rates to "cool the market". The sector is declared high-risk and all project finance too is slowly squeezed out.
So what would I recommend? Why not incentivise the kind of housing that there is demand for, so that the demand remains robust and starts getting met and supply is forced to follow the demand, thanks to creative policy incentives. Let me give a small example. When the housing markets were opened up in 1998 to formal finance, a whole generation of buyers who could not even dream of buying, started hoping to own a house. The lowering interest rates started a flood that eventually turned the Indian property market into the Wind West with investors, punting in the market and making big hauls, like in stock markets. So the investor is the one to be blamed? I don't think so. When the government gave the Section 80 IB (10) incentive to developers to build smaller units, a large number of developers did bite and created a rung of housing that matched what today is fashionably known as affordable housing.
In a study for CREDAI in 2006-2007 where we interviewed over 120 developers across the country, we arrived at the conclusion that low-cost and affordable housing needs to be incentivised,the rest of the segments can take care of itself. Clearly we need to evolve a differential policy structure for low-cost and lifestyle and luxury. I think 2012 could be that watershed year when India may see this change happening. Do you agree? Please comment and discuss because that alone can force the change. The Indian consumer is already in the process of forcing change.


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Chelan, WA
Park Pointe B101 is a pleasant two-bedroom ground floor corner unit . From the patio of this unit you can enjoy the grass lawn and a short walk to the pool, hot tub and clubhouse. This unit features an open space kitchen, dining and living area with park and territorial views. The comfortable furnishings include a queen sleeper sofa, a fireplace for seasonal use, DVD, CD and cassette player, and a washer and dryer. The proximity of this unit to the park, waterfront and historic downtown area make it a perfect location for groups of all ages.


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This is our first post please blur face, due to professional career. We had just reunited when the sparks flew and the tops blew! This was a spontaneous private shoot just for me, I love you so much!!!!!!! And now glad to share my goddess. Thanks! She... more
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The DLT 300 Transceiver features full-duplex capability, supporting up to six simultaneous talkers in two-way mode. Slim, lightweight, and simple to set up and use. One- or two-way operation offers flexibility in an array of applications. With the push of a button, users can access two-way communication for immediate interaction or Q&A.
NOTE: Due to enhancements in the DLT 300, the new Digi-Wave 300 Series is not compatible for use with Digi-Wave 2.0 products.
The DLT 300 has an internal rechargeable battery. Each DLT 300 is packaged with an individual charger.
The transceiver shall be a digital transceiver operating on the 2.4 GHz ISM band utilizing FSK modulation with patented frequency-hopping software to reduce interference potential. It shall be compatible with the DLR 360 Receiver. It shall be housed in plastic enclosure 4.07" H x 2.43" W x 0.44" D (103.3 x 61.8 x 11.3 mm), have an internal rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery with smart charge built into the transceiver and an LCD on the front panel displaying, battery level, mode, time, channel number, group number, and number of other DLT's with the talk button on (up to 6). It shall have a built-in microphone and speaker for users opting not to use a headset.
The transceiver shall have a battery life up to 14 hrs per charge and take approximately 5 hrs to reach full charge. Power will automatically shut off after approximately five minutes when no RF signal is detected from any compatible devices.
The transceiver shall operate in one-way or two-way mode (up to six speakers in a group at any given time) and have a range of up to 300 ft in two-way mode indoors and up to 200ft outdoors.
The transceiver shall have power, vol +, vol -, talk, CH +, CH -, v, GRP and ^ buttons. It shall have an illuminated talk button with a tactile braille dot.
The transceiver shall have a menu setup mode via front panel buttons configurable for (1 or 2-way operation), (master or guest operation) and (floor + 14 language portable interpretation where common floor language is used).
The transceiver shall have 3.5mm mono/stereo microphone and headphone jacks, all controls are on the front of the unit and a multi-pin style jack on the bottom provides battery charging access.
The transceiver shall operate 15 simultaneous channels in interpretation mode, support 4 simultaneous groups in two-way mode, allow a maximum of 4 simultaneous talkers in 2-way mode, and a maximum of 6 simultaneous talkers in Intercom Mode. It shall have a repeater mode to increase the range of the system.
The transceiver shall have a 74 dB (A weighted) SNR with a frequency response of 140 Hz to 11.5 kHz in Conference and Interpreter Modes and 140 Hz - 7.6 kHz in Intercom Mode.
The transceiver shall have FCC, Industry Canada, CE approvals and be RoHS, WEEE and RCM compliant.
The transceiver shall have a two year parts and labor warranty (90 days on headphones, battery, charger and earphones).
This transceiver shall be the Williams Sound model DLT 300.
|4.07"W x 2.43"H x 0.44"D (103.3 mm x 61.8 mm x 11.3 mm)
|2.9 oz (82 g) including battery
|Black/Silver (Front/Back)
|Case Material
|Black ABS plastic
|Battery type
|Lithium Polymer with smart charge built into transceiver; 2000 mAH
|Battery life
|Up to 14 hrs talk time per charge Current consumption range: 39 mA @ idle to 94 mA w/1 Ch Tx and 3 Ch Rx
|Power Save
|Auto Sleep Mode after 5 minutes of no RF signal from compatible devices
|Charge time
|5 hrs. TFP 045 with cable and international adapters
|Optional Chargers
|2-bay CHG 102, 12-bay CHG 1012, TFP 045
|Simultaneous Channels/Groups/Talkers
|Up to 15 simultaneous channels (0-14) (Interpretation mode) Up to 4 simultaneous groups (2 way mode) Up to 4 simultaneous talkers per group (2-way mode) Up to 6 simultaneous talkers per group (2-way Intercom mode)
|Operating frequencies
|2.4 GHz (ISM band); 2402 – 2476 MHz FHSS
|Audio Frequency response (-3dB Knee Level)
|Conference Mode, Interpreter Mode: 140 – 11.5 KHz Intercom Mode: 140 – 7.6 KHz
|74 dB (A-weighted, Maximum output)
|0.33 %
|Microphone input
|Internal microphone (disabled when MIC jack engaged) and 3.5 mm phone jack (tip/sleeve) with electret microphone bias, adjustable gain with 63dB range.
|Headphone output
|3.5 mm phone jack; 33 Ω load
|Audio output
|Max SSPL 90 111.8dB (EAR 013), 116.8dB (EAR 041) Internal speaker (disabled when haedphone jack in use) <20mW @ 10% THD/RL = 33Ω
|Up to 200 ft outdoors and 300 ft indoors (depending upon environmental conditions)
|RF output
|14 dBm Typical
|87 bit encryption, Secure Key Code, Setup Lock (SLOC)
|Front panel push buttons for volume up/down, group select, menu access and selection, timer, time, MIC on/off, power on/off, tone control SLOC access and Secure Key access. System reset button (rear panel)
|3.5 mm stereo/mono headphone jack; 30 pin charging jack with audio out to base stations
|Side tone
|-12 dB below volume, tone variation [ST:0 = Off, ST:1 = -6 dB, ST:2 = -12 dB]
|LCD (Group, channel, volume level, battery status, mode, number of people with talk button on)
|(charge status) Red LED around talk button when enabled.
|Docking Connector
|30-pin Connector for charging and audio in/out
|Compatible Receiver
|DLR 360 only
|FCC, Industry Canada, CE, RoHS, WEEE, RCM
|2 years parts and labor (90 days on accessories); 6 months on internal battery
|Digital Brochure - High Res
|Digi-wave™ Dock 1-page Brochure - Low Res
|Digi-wave 300 Series Specifications
|Digi-wave™ 300 Series 8-Page Brochure - High Res
|White Paper - Digi-Wave™ Technology
|White Papers
|Digi-wave 300 Series Manual
|DLT 300 Quick Setup Guide
|Digi-wave 300 Series Manual - Portuguese
|Digi-wave™ Dock 1-page Brochure - High Res
|Digi-wave™ 300 Series 4-Page Brochure - German
|Digital Brochure - Low Res
|Williams Sound: Digi-Wave 3.0 Programming 1 Way Mode
Digi-Wave DLT 300 Programming 1 Way Mode
|Williams Sound: Digi-Wave 3.0 Programming 2 Way Mode
Digi-Wave DLT 300 Programming 2 Way Mode
|Williams Sound: Digi-Wave 3.0 Programming InterComm Mode
Digi-Wave DLT 300 Programming InterComm mode


text:
Please stop by between 8:30 and 10:30am (unless otherwise noted) for a cup of coffee and a phrase of Torah. We will continue our collective discussion, taking time to hear all points of view before moving on to the next verse. A delicious breakfast is included!
You are welcome to come and go if you can't stay; just bring your insights on this most fascinating and central text in Judaism.
As always, all are welcome.


text:
My logged dives #1088-1100
Eid Al Adha was fast approaching. Nicki was going to the Andaman Islands http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andaman_Islands and had booked her trip long ago and sent Bobbi and I her details, but there was nagging uncertainty over whether and when I'd be employed (interview Sept 11), and once employed (not until Oct 16, at which time I needed to apply for a UAE visa sponsored by HCT, my new employer), when my vacation would be, and whether we'd have passports back in time to travel at that time. As that seemed increasingly unlikely before the Eid, our passports were simply returned to us without UAE visas, and some Eid trip was now required for us to renew our tourist visas to UAE. We were told to present our passports for residence visas after the holiday and it was touch and go then whether the Indian embassy could issue their visas in time for us to go there.
Meanwhile we had booked flights and committed money to the trip in the form of a non-refundable down payment to DiveIndia, the outfit that would organize our diving http://www.islandvinnie.com/. It was incredibly reasonable, and we could probably have even done it cheaper, but Nicki had organized a package for about $100 a night per person, and this included airport to airport transfers, which meant we got ourselves by plane to Port Blair, and the dive center would pick us up there and get us to the port for the 2 hour ferry ride to Havelock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havelock_Island, then pick us up there and take us the few km to the resort, and reverse the process in a week's time. Plus they would take us on two dives each day we were there, plus a night dive, plus let us eat three meals a day at will from the incredibly varied menu at their island-reknowned Half Moon Cafe, plus sleep on a nice double bed in a luxury tent with attached bath and electrical lights and extension cords. What more could you want? (short of Internet - there were some satellite dish possibilities just off the beach we were on, but they cost 5 rupees a minute, almost $10 an hour; I ended up checking my mail, occasionally, at the "Activity Center" store in town over a dialup for 2 rupees a minute)
We arrived at this laid back place after an all-night flight and a 2-hour ferry ride on the evening of Nov 4 and were shown our accommodation, a very comfortable tent with mosquito netted windows and door, plus a net for the bed which we never needed. With the fan there it made a pleasant place to sleep, open through window flaps to the night breezes out of doors. Temperatures there were ideal. We could wear tee shirts day and night, maybe long sleeves at sundown when the mosquitoes might nip, though they were never a nuisance. Even the water temperatures were a pleasant 28-29 degrees Celsius. I wore a 3 mm suit when diving but others wore less. No one complained of cold (and diving related, I discovered that I was fine with 3 kg weight wearing nothing but my 3 mm wetsuit).
One of the great perks of Vinnie's Cabanas was the open air Half Moon Cafe there. Divers on the package could have three meals a day of whatever they liked from the menu. There were traveler's, American and Indian breakfasts. My companions favored the lemon and honey or Nutella pancakes, easily carried onto a dive boat in case of hurry, but I settled after a while on just a bowl of fruit, since there were always samosas on the dive boat for after the first dive. The boat would get back from the morning's dives around 2 pm and there was nothing to do then but shower and order lunch. The choices were phenomenal: succulent curries and tikkas of fish or chicken, kabobs in various marinades, veggie dishes to die for like capsicum in roasted eggplant, aubergine and yogurt salad. We ordered lots of foods we'd never heard of just to try them, and we were never disappointed. We munched it down with garlic nan or coriander parota, washed down with fresh lemon or fruit juice with ginger and honey. Vinnie's was unlicensed (served no alchohol), which was probably a good thing. The tables outside under the palms seemed appealing at first until we noticed that coconuts would sometimes land with a thud nearby, and also the flies were considerably diminished when we stuck to the tables indoors.
This would carry us through to almost sundown, which came early in the islands, around 5 pm. By that time we might have made our way to a beach, or into town to the friendly, active market, or to a bar for sundowners. Nicki, Andy, and Bobbi and I would generally hang out socially till we were bloated on frothy liquids and could think of nothing better to do than go back to the Half Moon Cafe where we could order dishes we hadn't tried yet from the menu, of something one of us had tried earlier that day and swore to the others it was not to be missed. We were never actually hungry before dinner but we ate as connoisseurs and because it was 'included' and always with an eye on the clock, so we could be early to bed, because mornings started early.
Vinnie's compound was dead quiet at night until things would get started at 6 a.m., maybe a dog bark, or tanks banging at the dive center. This was not a place for late sleepers, but perfect for divers! We'd get up eventually and go order breakfast, then go to the dive center to organize our kit. It was always organized for us. They took better care of our gear than we did! Our BCDs and regs always ended up on tanks already on the boat and at around 7:30 we'd just carry our other stuff out to the boats wallowing off the sandy beach, climb aboard, and be transported through the channels to wherever we were diving that day. The islands are forested with low hills, so the trips were always scenic.
There is a downside to diving anywhere this day and age. Reefs worldwide are deteriorating. The Andamans is not exempt. Probably the best days of diving here have passed already. The dive guides speak of the old days when mantas were seen on every dive and the coral was colorful everywhere, before tsunamis and corals bleaching, so that the number of viable sites has diminished to just a handful within an hour or two of Havelock. It's that way around the world. If you can find a site with thriving corals and lots of sharks, the surest sign of a healthy reef, go there. Fast. (And leave a comment about it in my blog please, so we can go there too :-)
This is not to say we were disappointed. November 5, 2011, our first day of diving, was a mind boggler. We arrived on a day of clear vis and were taken to one of the best sites, Dixon Pinnacle. Dixon, Jackson, and Johnny are three dive leaders who pioneered the modern era of diving here and whose names are attached to three of the best dive site in the area. They all worked for DiveIndia, and Johnny Poayasay was to be our dive leader throughout our stay.
The routine was the same for almost every dive. We rolled off the water from the local sampan-style boat with a solid wood prow, essential for protection from scrapes on shallow reefs. We grabbed the tag line to keep from being shot downcurrent and hauled ourselves to the mooring line. Usually, there were mooring lines with plastic water bottles tied to them to make them visible. The islands are on a campaign against plastic water bottles, mainly encouraging their recycling through being refilled with filtered water, but this was an obviously appropriate use for them. Once we were all in the vicinity of the line, we started our descent, pulling ourselves down a rope sloped 30 degrees in the prevailing currents, and toward the bottom the current became less pronounced below 18-20 meters, and we finned toward the reef, whose sand bottom was usually between 25 and 30 meters.
Dixon Pinnacle was beautiful in the clear visibility, reminiscent of Egypt or diving in the Caribbean in the 1970s. The coral was colorful and varied, and the fish life abundant. Schools of fish were all about, and little mantis shrimps and nudibranchs and other small creatures could be found in the rocky substrate. Tiny crabs were living in the anemones, much less obvious than the clownfish always present there. Cleaner shrimp and tiny wrasse flitted about the mouths of moray eels. There were all kinds of trigger fish there, blue ones, fanciful clown triggers, and the hulking titans. On our second dive there, we saw a pair of eagle rays and in the same tableau, our first glimpse of napoleon humphead wrasse, which we saw on almost every dive in the area thereafter:
We didn't mind at all doing a second dive on that spot. The top of the reef was at about 16 meters but the real show, the thing that made this such an eye-opening introduction to Andaman diving, was in the open water between the reef heads. Here we could swim through huge schools of barracuda and then make our way over to clouds of batfish. Between the large relatively stably drifting schools, dog tooth tunas and giant trevally roamed. The trevally were particularly interesting, large, easily a meter long, dozens of them, swimming right up to us. In clear water, where we could see the different schools of fish as part of a larger complexity, this was the most fascinating part of the dive. And these fish were present midwater on almost all our dives near Havelock, which contributed to making this always an interesting place to dive.
We revisited Dixon a few days later and found a completely different scene. By now a red tide had drifted through obscuring the large schools, if they were still there. The current kept us closer to the reef and allowed us only north – south compass swims to find the bommies. On the second dive we saw a large green turtle at the top of the reef, and a number of humphead wrasse, but perhaps we'd seen too many pelagics by then to fully appreciate them our second time. So Dixon turned out to be almost our best but also our most disappointing dive of the trip.
After coming up from our second dive we settled in for the long ride home. Sometimes there was a fine spray that would blow in off the bow and disturb our sleep but normally the trip back took over an hour and we four would usually use the time for napping. Even our valiant dive guide Johnny would sometimes succumb to the call.
We would then collect our kit in the burlap bags they gave us and wade in from the boat up the beach and wash it in the fresh water barrels, hang it out to dry, and then forget about it till next day when we would find our kit all dried and back in its bag. The staff there had remarkable memories of who belonged to what.
The restaurant was a stone's throw from the dive-shop area and it was best to walk over there and order before making the equally short walk to our lanais, unzip the mosquito flap, and wash the salt off in the shower mandi in the back. Then it was back to the restaurant, refreshed and chuffed from the morning dive, to join Andy and Nicki for a prolonged lunch, a journey of culinary fantasy through the various provinces of India, with succulent chicken and fish tandooris and kabobs, which would again take us almost to sundown, and the cycle repeated itself day after day for a week. Not all that stressful, really.
On November 6, our diving day two, the cycle repeated itself more or less, getting up at 6:30 to double-check our gear and have breakfast from 7 a.m., with 7:30 departure in the slow boat with blue canvas shade for tag line descent into two dives on Johnny Gorge, not all that different from Dixon, except that the coral was not as colorful and there was a red mist obscuring the shapes that were just on the edge of where we could see that Johnny knew there were sharks. I was a bit disappointed after the first dive when I only saw a couple of these ghost shapes, but I was first down on the second dive, the visibility had improved, and as I hauled down level with the top of the reef I saw a white-tip move over it and off to one side. I tried to follow where it had gone and somehow missed that it had returned and was passing just beneath me, but I soon got the picture when my dive buddies were all pointing at it, just below me and clearly visible.
We saw more white-tips there. Johnny was able to spot sharks quite well, even when they were obscure slivers of silhouettes resting on the bottom as seen from 15 meters above them. There was much to see on these dives on the reef and midwater, the big and small animals that were characteristic of the area. I managed to find where DiveIndia and others have posted some videos of some of their dive sites on YouTube; e.g. this one:
The following day, November 7, was again quite remarkable. We did our first dive on Jackson Reef , a similar spot to the others, but also home to dozens of blue spotted rays http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluespotted_stingray. I've seen this kind often before, they are not the most attractive of rays, but they were a great surprise in just their sheer numbers. Often we would be looking at one when another nearer one would bolt because we were swimming over it unawares. The visibility here was again not bad, and we finished the dive in the company of couple of large humpheads before ascending slowly amid the trevally and barracuda.
We moved the boat to the second dive site of the day, called Broken Ridge. Today the sea was like glass and we could see there were dolphins in the area. Nicki decided to enter the water to snorkel down her surface interval, and when Johnny entered, Bobbi and I joined him. The water temperatures were comfortably tepid, so snorkeling there was delightfully pleasant. We kept moving toward the dolphins, and then suddenly they were swimming below us, 4 of them, moving swiftly side by side. We kept above them and they didn't seem to mind us until they wanted to surface, and then they looked at us in some confusion, as they started their ascent, noticed us, and then swam off together looking for an escape to somewhere we weren't.
That was exciting but it got better as we began our dive. Coming down the rope we saw they were still there. One went upright on its tail and pirouetted in midwater. Another danced nearer the surface and checked us out in the depths below in reverse of the position we'd all been in when it was we observing from the surface. And then they disappeared and let us get on with out dive, which proceeded pretty much like the others, a litany of creatures large and small, then ascend, ride home, long lunch, and enjoying some cold ones before yet another fine meal at the Half Moon Cafe, the place where when you die that's where you want to spend eternity in heaven.
That was exciting but it got better as we began our dive. Coming down the rope we saw they were still there. One went upright on its tail and pirouetted in midwater. Another danced nearer the surface and checked us out in the depths below in reverse of the position we'd all been in when it was we observing from the surface. And then they disappeared and let us get on with out dive, which proceeded pretty much like the others, a litany of creatures large and small, then ascend, ride home, long lunch, and enjoying some cold ones before yet another fine meal at the Half Moon Cafe, the place where when you die that's where you want to spend eternity in heaven.
The next day, November 8, was the day of our return to Dixon reef, which we found less attractive than on our first day. But our evening routine was broken after lunch with a night dive. We were having lunch from around 2 to 4, and the night dive was a perfectly timed 4:30, and just steps away to the dive center to get our gear, not quite dry from morning, then back out on the boat and moving toward the Wall just off the ferry harbor as the sunset to the west was turning the clouds orange and purple.
The night dive was relatively devoid of fish life, except when we came on sleeping puffers, a large scorpion fish that refused to acknowledge our lights, and at one point, a sleeping Napoleon wrasse lodged in a rocky niche. But the macro life was thriving there. When I shined my light in rocks I might see glowing eyes and find the body behind, and there were lots of tiny shrimp, and miniature crabs in the coral fans, and little legs crawling on coral stems, all somehow more evident when attention is focused on a light beam. Also, it was easier in lamplight to see the tiny seahorse faces on the pipefish, the size and thickness of a needle. We had seen pipefish already on our dives, as they freeze in position and then move abruptly, so it's hard to get close enough to make out their features. One of the more interesting finds was a pair of dimsum nudibranchs that Nicki somehow distinguished from other blobs on the reef. They were orange and glutenous, looking almost exactly like a pair of dimsums with the feather-like processes characteristic of nudibranchs.
On November 9, our next to last day diving, we were grouped with other divers we had met at their table at the restaurant and put on a speedboat for sites that would have taken 2 hours in the putt putt local boats. Our first dive was on White House Rock, a small table rising up from the ocean floor. Our group I suppose was considered the most experienced, or at least the most efficient, and we were pretty much ready to jump when we arrived at the spot and were given permission to enter the water first. So it proceeded pretty much like all our other dives, the 4 of us pulling down a mooring line against a current, all the usual fish making the reef interesting, but vis not ideal, with haze starting at around 20 meters, plus a cool thermocline sapping our enthusiasm for diving deeper, so we essentially circled the rock. Johnny called our attention to the black corals there, which ironically appeared as white feathers reaching out from the rock. There were also some nice gorgonion corals here, and some of the corals were crawling with purple worms with crowned heads which they waved in the current whenever they lifted them off the rock.
We found 2 octopuses on this dive. The first had gone in a hole when I got to him. I shined my light in on him to find two eyes or blowholes blinking back at me from a body crimson in the light. We thought this one would stay where he was for a while so we left him, but we found the second one sitting exposed against a rock, looking like a grey blob that shimmered translucent whenever we hovered too near. Octopuses are amazing creatures. They can look like silly putty but suddenly stretch and look like an entirely different animal when they decide to move, as this one did, to reach the safety of a rock, where again, he took on a different form still while Nicki poked her camera at him, and at one point, she says, he reached out and poked back.
Having a light is handy. When we saw white antenae protruding from under a rock I was able to shine my light in and find not one but three huge crayfish hiding there, and illuminate them as they tried to crowd deeper in their hole.
The second dive on the nearby Inchkett Wreck was even more interesting for all of the small animals that inhabited it. This was a Japanese freighter that had come to grief and strewn a cargo of coal over the surrounding seabed. Johnny said that it had been upright before the tsunami but now it was lying on its side, more shattered than before. Still it was a substantial pile of rubble that started with a hunk of metal just meters from where we went in off the boat. Hanging on the mooring line, on snorkel preparing to descend, I saw a pair of white antennae protruding from the shallow top of the wreck, and on descent examined further to find these attached to a blue crayfish ensconced in a chink in the encrusted metal.
Exploring the superstructure, we circled the wreck in the sand and found an interesting crocodile fish there. There were tableaux of lion fish in the metal, and again using my light in the dark places, I found a huge hulking fish under the stern hull, at least a meter long and half as bulky. We couldn't identify it but it had a jutting lower jaw with prominent teeth, and it seemed dark purple in my torch beam. There were various nudibranchs and one niche was hopping with at least 3 different types of crustaceans: small grasshopper shrimp, a more elegant leggy daddy longlegs one, and some of the finely picturesque red and white striped crabs. A salient feature of this wreck were its propellers, impressive indications of what must have been the size of the ship itself to require that sized propeller.
Exploring the superstructure, we circled the wreck in the sand and found an interesting crocodile fish there. There were tableaux of lion fish in the metal, and again using my light in the dark places, I found a huge hulking fish under the stern hull, at least a meter long and half as bulky. We couldn't identify it but it had a jutting lower jaw with prominent teeth, and it seemed dark purple in my torch beam. There were various nudibranchs and one niche was hopping with at least 3 different types of crustaceans: small grasshopper shrimp, a more elegant leggy daddy longlegs one, and some of the finely picturesque red and white striped crabs. A salient feature of this wreck were its propellers, impressive indications of what must have been the size of the ship itself to require that sized propeller.
Back aboard the boat a couple of the ladies were talking about how they had seen a manta, or maybe it was a devil ray, they weren't sure. The dive guides were saying that mantas were never found there, and if you're not sure, it's not a manta, then. You have to see one to understand that.
November 10, 2011, our last day of diving, dawned cool and overcast. We had our breakfast and set out under grey skies, just the four of us again on one boat: Nicki, Andy, Bobbi, and I with Johnny our gentle dive guide. We were heading for Johnny's Gorge where we'd seen sharks on a previous dive, and then planning to move over to Broken Ridge where we'd seen dolphins a few days back. We were expecting nothing special, though each day so far had presented something new. Johnny had joked earlier that if you want to see something badly you don't see that, but you see something else. There was an invertebrate on the fish charts called "boring clam" and we decided that was a good choice for something we should ask to be shown, rather than articulate what we really wanted to see, which every diver who comes to Andaman wants to see, but few do.
By then it was looking like we were going to depart there without seeing manta. We were told this wasn't the season for them. There were two months of the year where they could be seen on almost every dive, we were told, but I'm sure if we came back then, we would be told, well, sometimes they are here at this time, but not this year. It's kind of like predicting whalesharks in Oman.
I realized as we were kitting up that my computer and small dive light were back in Havelock on my bed where I had stupidly left them, so Bobbi and I agreed I should stay above her and dive on her computer. It wasn't a kosher plan, but Johnny always entered the water first and waited for us, and he didn't notice I was diving without my computer. It wasn't a big deal, but these were taxing dives, 24 meters deep minimum, and with current almost always present.
The reef was beautiful as we descended on it. Vis was almost clear, maybe 25 meters before turning into a milky haze. We descended near a school of barracuda and pulled ourselves along to near the bottom of the line, Bobbi and I diving as a team, leaving the line at about 18 meters, approaching the reef at the level of its top. Johnny wanted us to descend out of the current and in the sand near a large bommie we saw a big marble ray covered in sand. Johnny kicked current its way till it moved and shook the sand free, and settled into an alcove. Nicki took lots of pictures but Bobbi and I, at Johnny's suggestion, started pulling ourselves over coral towards to the top of the reef. This gave us a view of the other side, a classic blue water reef terrain of boulders full of tropical fish and coral. We knew that anything could be here. Johnny started pointing excitedly at sharks that only he could see, until finally we saw one sleeping in the sand. There was also a huge cod / grouper, that Johnny pointed at, causing us to think he'd spotted something much more exotic. Nearing deco, we rose a bit off the coral bed finning against the current in free water at about 16 meters. This was taxing, and 37 minutes into the dive Andy was at 50 and was at around 70. I was uncomfortable without my computer unable to calibrate my own depth and air consumption against remaining deco time. Johnny set us into a drift and of course we drifted right onto the line and headed up it, thanks to Johnny's excellent guidance.
The DiveIndia speed boat we'd been on the day before was a little ahead of our slow sampan and the boat was just bringing divers up from their first dive on Broken Ridge, our second planned dive of the day. They had dived in two groups and one group had just seen a manta and three sharks. They were preparing to do a second dive on that spot, but we were due to enter the water first as we were already a half hour into our surface interval. Our group didn't mess around with kitting up. Bobbi and I were in the water and on the anchor line before the 1 hour was up and when Nicki and Andy looked to be ready Johnny sent us down the line to wait for them at 5 meters. There was no mooring line and the boats had anchored separately just off the reef, pulling hard on a strong current so that we descended over coral splotches only to come on the reef rising up ahead of us as we pulled on the line to overcome the current.
Once we were near the coral reef and could hide behind it the current slackened at depth and we were able to fin ourselves over the tabletop reef. It was small, about the size of a couple of football pitches side by side, and dropped away on all sides to the sand a few meters below. We were skimming the top of it to minimize current impact when we saw what looked like an airplane approaching out of clouds, clearly a large manta. It turned and flapped its wings, easily three meters across, and headed away from us. We tried to follow but it easily escaped us in the milk-mist. So we slowed up and looked for it wherever it might have gone. Since I was calibrating my deco on Bobbi's computer I elected to rise above her to about 16 meters where the water was clearer and where I could get a better overview of the reef on all sides. Within minutes I saw it approach at my level, coming directly at me. I don't carry a camera but I like to describe what I see. It's mouth was wide open, I was staring down it, and the flaps at either side of its jaws were still. Sometimes mantas like to curl those around This one came straight at me but when it realized I was in the way it changed course to move around me, so it slipped off to the side, where I could see it was almost solid white on top. Often there is dark coloring there, though they are white on the bottom. I exhaled to descend slightly and saw its gill slits there as it passed away above me now. We all got a great view of him, but he didn't linger long and never returned. This video, found on YouTube, gives you an idea of what seeing a manta is like in the places we were diving:
Soon another diver diving alone with a divemaster from another company descended and made their way around the rock, nothing much there. And as we ascended the large group from the other DiveIndia boat were descending but they didn't see it again either, on that dive.
Soon another diver diving alone with a divemaster from another company descended and made their way around the rock, nothing much there. And as we ascended the large group from the other DiveIndia boat were descending but they didn't see it again either, on that dive.
Meanwhile we burned out air bobbing about with the napoleon wrasse there, and admiring the barracuda and trevally and whatnot midwater, as we burned off our air feeling chuffed we had seen all we had come to see in the Anamans. A manta! And what luck, on our last dive, and such a clear encounter. I hope Nicki posts photos I can borrow for my blog.
In a what-next gesture I wrote on my slate and showed it to Johnny, "Boring clam"? Johnny laughed through his regulator, as wed been kidding him about showing us boring clams to avoid articulating what we really wanted him to show us, a manta. But on the trip back, as we were coming into Havelock harbor for our last time, he pointed out the boring clams in the reef we were passing over. They are actually interesting, as they bore into the coral and become essentially a blue mouth sucking up nutrients at the same level as the coral. Not much was boring on this dive trip, not even the boring clams.
DiveIndia's descriptions of their dive sites:
DiveIndia's descriptions of their dive sites:


text:
A ratepayer lobby group is concerned about Auckland Council's spiralling debt, but the council says its balance sheet is actually improving.
Debt rose to $7.6 billion in the year ended June 30, up more than 4 percent, and Jo Holmes from the Ratepayers' Alliance says it's got to stop.
"As soon as they get debt under control, they can probably get rates under control. But what they're doing at the moment is spending, spending, spending."
The council says it expects debt to continue rising over the coming years, as it steps up infrastructure investment to cope with a rapid increase in the city's population.
Ms Holmes says it won't end well for ratepayers.
"Higher debt per household than Christchurch, which is what we have now in Auckland, can only translate in the future into higher rates."
But while debt is up $486 million, Auckland Council says its asset base has grown by $2.5 billion over the same time period.
"The value of these assets puts us in a very strong financial position," says Kevin Ramsay, acting group chief financial officer.
"The council always ensures we use debt sustainably and that it is affordable for both current and future ratepayers."
Leading mayoral candidate Phil Goff has promised to keep rates increases to below 2.5 percent, while his right-leaning rival Vic Crone wants them kept below 2 percent.
Ms Crone has also promised to reduce staff costs by capping numbers and "delivering back office efficiencies".
The Ratepayers' Alliance was set up by the Taxpayers' Union in 2015.


text:
I love your little games, but this one is especially well made. Nice work.
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I love your little games, but this one is especially well made. Nice work.
Always love your art style. This one was completely different than the ones that I have played in the past. I kind of would have rather just watched your artwork then have to press buttons which distracted me from the artwork but oh well. Still really good.
Can u do my ideas?
Bug parodies
Movie parodies
Different! :D Love the nose puns, and the variation between each levels, how the arrows start overlapping, coming from different directions etc. Especially the WASD part was pretty difficult, co-ordinating between a set of letters rather than arrows - where each key is a pre-determined direction already. It was fun though, and fun cutscenes between and in the levels, something going on all the time - if you have the time to watch it! Nice work.
i cant even go through the first level ive tried forever and im pressing all the buttons even the arrow keys


text:
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures rallied Thursday, a day after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke emphasized that the central bank won't be in a hurry to raise rates.
Stock futures retained the bulk of their gains after economic reports had the price of U.S. imports falling 0.2% in June and weekly jobless claims rising by 16,000 to 360,000.
A sharp tumble for the dollar after the Bank of Japan cut its growth forecast also drove stock futures higher.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average US:DJU3 jumped 117 points, or 0.8%, to 15,360, while those for the Standard & Poor's 500 index US:SPU3 gained 15.1 points, or 0.9%, to 1,664.10. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index US:NDU3 surged 26 points, or 0.9%, to 3,022.25.
The S&P 500 SPX, -0.28% ended Wednesday little changed but within less than a percentage point of its all-time high.
Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist at ETX Capital, said in a note that Bernanke's comments caught markets by surprise, as they were a "sharp contrast to the taper talk of recent weeks which prompted a rout across global risk assets."
In a question-and-answer session after a speech to economists after the close of Wall Street's regular session, Bernanke said there wouldn't be an "automatic increase in interest rate when unemployment hits 6.5%."
Given the weak labor market and low inflation, "it may be well sometime after we hit 6.5% before rates reach any significant level," he said.
"I think he's reassured markets that tapering of QE3 [quantitative easing] very likely beginning in September doesn't mean he's beginning to tighten monetary policy," said Henrik Drusebjerg, senior strategist at Nordea Bank. "He will be stimulating less, but that's not the same as tightening. The Fed will be there, holding our hand for quite some time."
Bernanke's remarks came just a few hours after the release of Federal Open Market Committee minutes from the June 18-19 meeting, which showed multiple members looking for improved job-market statistics before cutting back on bond-buying purchases.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond US:10_YEAR fell 6 basis points to 2.587%.
Wall Street stocks had closed mostly flat after the Fed minutes and ahead of Bernanke's speech. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.39% fell 8.68 points, or less than 0.1%, Wednesday to end at 15,291.66.
Later in the day, the federal government is projected to record a $115 billion budget surplus in June, a sharp reversal from last year's $60 billion deficit in the same month. That data are due at 2 p.m. Eastern time.
The dollar moved dramatically lower across the board, but in particular against the Japanese yen, falling further below 100 yen. The pair last traded at ¥99.43. The dollar had been weakening ahead of Bernanke's comments, but took a bigger hit after he spoke. It then moved further south after the Bank of Japan cut its outlooks for growth and inflation.
Asia stocks rallied, with the exception of Japan stocks, which were volatile in the wake of the Bank of Japan comments and finished up around 0.4%. The biggest gain was for the Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, -0.49% which surged 3.2% after a 2.2% rise on Wednesday.
Mining stocks and oil producers led the charge in Asia, moving in step with surging commodity prices. European stocks also jumped.
Crude oil CLQ23, -49.92% pulled back below $106 a barrel after the International Energy Agency predicted a large increase in production next year, while gold US:GCQ3 soared 3.1% to $1,286.70 an ounce.
U.S. retailers are scheduled to report same-store sales data for June. First out of the gate, Costco Wholesale Corp. COST, -0.17% reported same-store sales for the five-week period to July 7 rose 6%, which beat Thomson Reuters estimates for a rise of 5.4%.
Shares of Rockwell Medical Inc. RMTI, -0.82% jumped in premarket trade after a drug used for treating kidney disease performed well in a study.
Shares of Yum Brands Inc. YUM, -0.31% could draw attention. After Wednesday's close, the food company reported second-quarter adjusted earnings fell to 56 cents a share from 67 cents a share a year ago, but still beat analysts' estimates of 54 cents a share. Read: Yum, Costco, Gap are Thursday's stocks to watch.
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A home-style menu featuring America's favorite combination - a hearty tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich - is topped off with George's classic brownie cookies. At the Mulford Farm Antiques Show in East Hampton, George learns tips on searching for antiques and later by a local antiques dealer in search of a vintage piece for his kitchen. Recipes: - Tomato Soup - Grilled Cheese Sandwich - George's Classic Brownie Cookies.
There are no upcoming air times for this episode.
Funding for George Hirsch Lifestyle is provided in part by:


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a little bit of me
Jan 13, 2011
3 comments:
I love this! I need to make something like this!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 13, 2011 at 9:37 AM
wise saying goes, "we really are as beautiful, as truly our very thoughts... (i.e., what we think 'bout from the time we awaken at morn, til' asleep at nite --- so surely shapes our very world & experience...)ReplyDelete
well, allow me to jus' share some "lil bit of me, :D" via some lovely thoughts of one of my most fave & beloved writers:
"Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life. Meaning does not lie in things. Meaning lies in us." :) xoxo
- Marianne Williamson, author & speaker.
They're the perfect way to display jewelry. In fact, now you have me seeking out something similar. BTW, I love the way the black and brown of your pieces mesh. Saving for inspiration :)ReplyDelete
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Engineer / BCS with experience of 5-8 years in Developer role.
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Tuesday, April 30, 2013
You bought what??!!...... :)
12 comments:
She is totally Mrs.Doubtfire! Love it- and I adore peach crisp. Summer Yum!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 30, 2013 at 6:18 AM
That is hysterical! I love her! I love Sweet too, I always find the most random things there. This month was a wooden pig bowl that I totally didn't need but totally had to have. Can't wait til the next event. ~RosanneReplyDelete
Ok, you won! I was not expecting that....I got a good chuckle.ReplyDelete
I loooove her. She reminds me of the Wii Dance song (my grandkids know it's my fav) "Big Girls Are Beautiful"!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 30, 2013 at 11:25 AM
She would look great wearing a vintage apron.ReplyDelete
Oh, she's sweet! I have her sister and after I unwrapped her extra padding (added at a later date) she became so svelte. Mine does wear an apron along with some old Christmas mercury beads as a necklace. My husband doesn't like her and my boys were afraid of her when they were little. Have fun with her!ReplyDelete
She might be a good reminder to keep your calories in check if you keep her near the kitchen! LOL! Thanks for sharing the peach crisp recipe. I often eat peaches at night as a healthy snack. Of course, a little whipped cream never hurt anything either. Although, don't ask your new mannequin that question.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 30, 2013 at 10:15 PM
I saw your lovely lady at Sweet. Glad she found a good home. :)ReplyDelete
OK WOW!!! I love her, I'm not sure I could pull her off in my home but she is fantastic. That peach crisp looks delicious. I may have to pick up some peaches from the farmers market this weekend.ReplyDelete
Have a great week!
So FUN! Don't ya love it when you find something that you just have to have, but no one else can understand exactly why?! That is one large dress form...and quite the conversation starter! Enjoy your treasure!ReplyDelete
Hi DorieReplyDelete
She really is too cute. The peach crumble is making me hungry
OH- I LOVE HER!!! I think her beautiful 'roundness' is what makes her so perfect... wouldn't change a thing. This is what a REAL woman looks like! Treasure her.ReplyDelete


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No. It's not Megan Fox.
Shia LaBeouf has an as-yet-unrevealed role in the pornographic drama "Nymphomaniac," and The Huffington Post notes that filming begins Thursday in Germany.
The film stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, as the nympho, and Stellan Skarsgard as the man who finds her beaten in an alley.
"Billy Elliot" star Jamie Bell and Danish actress Connie Nielsen are the latest to join the cast. HuffPost says other big names linked to the project include Nicolas Bro of "Warhorse" fame, Jesper Christensen from "Quantum of Solice" and Jens Albinus from "Idiots."
Nicole Kidman and Willem Dafoe have also been linked to the film, but there has been no confirmation as to their roles.
Director Lars von Trier, known for a number of similar flicks, plans to release two versions of the film in 2013 — one reportedly showing on-screen sex scenes.
HuffPost earlier reported that LaBeouf made headlines when he declared he's willing to do unsimulated on-screen sex.
"I don't know what's going to be asked of me," LaBeouf told "Extra TV" during an interview. "But I'm willing to do whatever is asked of me to get closer to the truth that's on the page."