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Is Stephen Hawking wrong?
Posted 13 September 2015 - 11:49 PM
Posted 14 September 2015 - 12:23 AM
1. The universe has survived for that long without collapsing because the expansion is increasing at an exponential rate. The energy produced during the big bang is still being used in expansion.
2. Where are you getting your information that the older galaxies are in the outer rim? How could we even know where the outer rim is when we don't even know where the centre of the expansion is?
3.Hawking is a scientist, I don't care what his religion is.
Because I can...
Posted 14 September 2015 - 03:41 AM
Ginger, is the spice of life
Posted 14 September 2015 - 04:32 AM
I know nothing about science, but are there really scientist with religion ? How can they co-mingle them together
Yeah, there are scientists who believe in a god and that the universe is created by that god. Usually to fit those two things together, they have to warp the entire history of the universe, for example saying that humans lived peacefully alongside the dinosaurs.
Posted 14 September 2015 - 07:46 AM
I'm spiritualistic and a scientist. I don't think there's an issue with being both.
Energy changes constantly, it is never created nor destroyed, it's not beyond the possibility for energies to interact and have weird shit happen (quantum physics guys!)
So being a Buddhist or Hinduist isn't beyond reproach while being a scientist... also some aspects of paganism or wicca.
Because I can...
Posted 14 September 2015 - 08:59 AM
Stephen Hawking is wrong all the damn time.
Which is exactly the nature of science.
We are right until we or someone else proves us wrong, and from there we narrow the scope of understanding until we are as close to an actual truth as we can possibly get.
Until some new information comes to light and we start all over again.
Science is the art of being perpetually almost right.
As for religious scientists, why the hell not.
As long as actual science is performed who gives a shit what the scientist believes in the back of their mind.
Good, useful science has been accomplished by men who loathed Jews after all.
It is perfectly acceptable to fear and admire a being you could not possibly understand.
Posted 14 September 2015 - 09:18 AM
Posted 14 September 2015 - 03:49 PM
I mean, he's not wrong all the damn time, most of his theories form our fundamental understanding of space-time. I also believe religion has no place in science and that any scientist who believes in God, especially physicists and biologists, are going to have a warped belief of the universe, and that it makes them much less credible. All religion is a load of utter wank, every last shred of it.
Where are you getting your information that the older galaxies are in the outer rim? How could we even know where the outer rim is when we don't even know where the centre of the expansion is?
I thought there was no centre? The whole thing about the expansion of the universe is that it isn't expanding from any one 'point', yes?
Ask for my discord/Insta/Tumblr if you want.
Posted 14 September 2015 - 04:21 PM
I thought there was no centre? The whole thing about the expansion of the universe is that it isn't expanding from any one 'point', yes?
No... From all the theories that I've read universes begin at a crucial point in space as quantum universes (unless you subscribe to a particular multiverse theory that gets pretty freaky with quantum universes expanding in universes that were once quantum universes). There are and have been many scientists that have been looking for the nexus point in the beginning of the expansion because the centre point would tell cosmologists so much about the beginning of the universe.
There is a lot of speculation about this and it's so hard to pinpoint it down that it almost seems pointless at times. The biggest point to stress is that the universe is still expanding and the leading theory as to why the expansion is still happening is because of dark energy fueling the expansion.
Because I can...
Posted 14 September 2015 - 07:06 PM
Posted 14 September 2015 - 10:13 PM
Birth, technically. He has Lou Gehrig's disease, which he was born with (I think?) though symptoms didn't show up until his 20s.
"Shimatta! Bare… nan no koto kashira?"
Posted 15 September 2015 - 10:51 AM
Posted 16 September 2015 - 03:01 PM
To get back on the subject of the man himself, what year did he become paralyzed?
Ask for my discord/Insta/Tumblr if you want.
Posted 17 September 2015 - 08:07 PM
Posted 18 September 2015 - 12:29 AM
I'm sorry. That has to be wrong. That year hasn't HAPPENED YET! Did you mean 1969?
He is definitely a time traveler sent back to right some catastrophic wrong that we will do.
Unless he can fix it before we doom ourselves.
It is perfectly acceptable to fear and admire a being you could not possibly understand.
Posted 28 September 2015 - 12:35 AM
Posted 03 August 2016 - 07:58 AM
The universe has survived long enough thanks to just the right amount of dark energy it contains, not less to let the gravity make it collapse inside, and not more to prevent the formation of galaxies, therefore life.
I assume he is an agnostic, but I might be wrong.
Posted 17 March 2018 - 12:52 PM
May his Scientific soul continue pressing people's toes with his chair in the Heavens...
And yes, at 14th of March, he died in the United Kingdom at his 76s...
Posted 19 March 2018 - 10:55 PM


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Columbia Police Officers' Association supports Proposition 1
The 3/8 cent sales tax would fund Joint Communications/ Emergency Management.
Mar. 15, 2013
The Columbia Police Officers' Association endorsed a sales tax proposal at a public forum held by Keep Columbia Safe on Monday night.
The sales tax, also known as the Joint Communications 911 Initiative, will appear as Proposition #1 on the April 2 ballot. It would impose a new 3/8 cent county-wide sales tax for funding a county-wide joint communications and dispatch center and for the funding of emergency management services.
Proposition #1 would fund updates for the Boone County Public Service Joint Communications Task Force call center and emergency management services. These upgrades would include adding staff members to meet current demand, information technology, equipment upgrades and constructing a new Joint Communications/911 Dispatch Center and Emergency Management Center in one location.
More than 50 Missouri counties already have 911 sales taxes in place.
"We believe the proposed tax is necessary," said Karen Taylor, the board president of Keep Columbia Safe, in a news release. "It will allow public safety officials to hire personnel to adequately staff the 911 call center and improve facilities and technologies that will enhance emergency response for all Boone County residents."
Joint Communications/911 and Emergency Management answer all 911 and non-emergency calls in Boone County, provide direct support to 13 law enforcement, fire and EMS response agencies, provide outdoor warning sirens and other emergency notification tools, and provide coordination of responses and ensuring necessary public services are provided when catastrophic events occur.
According to a Columbia Police Officers' Association news release, there is only one 911 call-taker on duty at any given time to assist with emergency response to the citizens of Columbia and Boone County under current staffing and funding levels.
Joint Communications would begin hiring employees to fill four new operator positions immediately after the ballot passes, according to the news release, and would eventually increase hiring with up to 20 additional full-time positions.
According to a report from the 911/Emergency Management Advisory Board was filed in January 2013, Joint Communications has not kept pace with the demand created by Boone County's growth. Population growth and the increased use of cellphones has resulted in significantly greater call volume, according to the report, which overwhelms call takers and may result in delayed response, disconnects and other problems. Information technology and telecommunication equipment are also outdated.
According to the report, Emergency Management Operations Center's facility, located in the old armory, appears to lack the capacity to serve the community in a severe natural or man-made disaster or other critical emergency. According to the report, the building is not rated to withstand a major storm event.
Mark Flakne, president of Keep Columbia Free, opposes the 911 sales tax.
"The tax is a terrible idea," Flakne said. "They want to build a $11.3 million fortress and triple the budget. These government rubes have squandered our tax dollars on silly pet projects instead of this basic service. I don't want to bail them out. They need to adjust their spending priorities."
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subset: commoncrawl


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Cooking for One: Soup and Fall, a Reprise
DISH: Asian Broth with Shredded Veggies and Noodles
TYPE: Nourishing, warming, etc.
MAIN INGREDIENTS: Veggies
I left the Northern Hemisphere a couple days before Labor Day this year. The weather had cooled a bit since the peak of summer, but it was still definitely warm out—salad and sandwich weather, if you will, not yet time for soup. I spent ten days in Mozambique visiting my dear friend Essie, in the Southern Hemisphere where the seasons are, of course, reversed, and they were coming out of winter. Though I'd brought a dorky sunhat and an even dorkier button-up shirt with built-in sunscreen, in fact the daytime heat gave way to these crisp evenings and mornings, and I had to wear a fleece and wool socks to sleep. The weather was also cool enough to be hospitable to a bit of soup eating, and I won't easily forget the amazingly flavorful fish soup that Essie's boyfriend, Chris, served us at Essie's birthday party as an appetizer. He also warmed some up for me later that night when we got home from the bars and I was busy making pancakes for Essie, who'd momentarily rejected the soup for something sweeter.
By the time I returned to Brooklyn, after more than 24 hours of straight travel, I was craving soup again. It wasn't just that the city I had returned home to was suddenly autumnal, the days short and the breeze chilly, but also that I needed to recover from the carb-heavy diet of my trip. Much to the embarrassment of my laid-back, acclimated hosts, I refused to eat any vegetables that hadn't been thoroughly cooked, and I limited myself to meals of fresh local fish and French fries (I mean, I was pretty happy with this choice, admittedly). For the remainder of my menu, what I ate the most of were fluffy white Portuguese rolls spread thickly with margarine and guava jelly.
So on that first afternoon back in my apartment, while I fought to stay awake to a normal New York bedtime hour, I put a bunch of pots on my stove and made soup. Soup making was partly a response to the new season and partly an effort to detox from my trip. The second reason is why I added nourishing, purifying ingredients, like chopped garlic, ginger, and scallions. But the second reason is also what led me to make a slight—mainly aesthetic—gaffe:
Cara, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOK
Asian Broth with Shredded Veggies and Noodles
Serves 4
1 onion, thinly sliced
4 scallions, white and green parts, sliced
1/2 yellow pepper, julienned
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 lime
For serving:
1-2 teaspoons sesame oil
Fresh cilantro


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- Integrity
- Teamwork
- Transparency
- Innovation
- Respect
- Trust
- Ethical and Honest Practices
To be a national, branded hospital system dedicated to the management of profitable healthcare facilities that deliver ethical, honest, and high quality healthcare services to patients thereby earning their trust and respect. Additionally ensuring that all patients are treated with dignity and fairness regardless of their origins.
At AHMC we believe in creating a culture in which all employees take their jobs as a responsibility and not as an obligation. Employees are valued for their competencies, ideas and creativity. We promote and encourage teamwork, achievement, accountability, open flow of information and candid communication with an open door policy. We believe that people are self motivated and personal development creates exceptional ideas to grow the organization and improve the community.
Advisory Board
Dr. S.K. Sama
DM Gastroenterology, MDDr. S.K. Sama is of the most renowned physicians and medical administrators in India. During the course of his illlustrious career, he has been bestowed numerous awards in recognition for his excellence in administrative and professional work: The Padma Shri, awarded in 2004 by President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in recognition of his contribution in the field of medical science; Dr. B.C.Roy National Award in the highest category of Medicalman-cum-Statesman, and several other prestigious awards including Punjabi Rattan Award, DMA Ratna Award, Bharat Jyoti Award, Bhaskar Award, Human Care Award of Excellence, Delhi Rattan Award, to name a few.
He was appointed Personal Physician to the President of India (2001). He joined Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in 1974, and served as Chairman of the hospital from 1995–2006. He was responsible for development of the hospital into the premier healthcare institution of Northern India. Dr. Sama is a Trustee and Gen. Secretary of the Executive Committee of Sir Gangaram Hospital.
Dr. Devinder Singh Rana
Chairman of The Managing Committee
Dr. D.S. Rana is the current Chairman of The Managing Committee, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, as well as the Chairman of the Department of Nephrology.
David C. Henry
FACHE, MHAMr. Henry has been involved with the healthcare industry for over 30 years. He began his healthcare career in 1975 at Kadlec Medical Center in the state of Washington, where in addition to being the CEO for that facility, he also had oversight responsibilities for six rural facilities in the surrounding area. In 1983, Mr. Henry joined the St. Luke's Hospital Corporation as President and CEO where he implemented the merger of three hospital organizations into one regional organization identified as Empire Health Services. Prior to joining Northern Montana Health Care in 1994, Mr. Henry also provided corporate consulting services in the areas of restructuring, acquisition and litigation support.
Executive Team
Dr. Vivek Sama, MBBS, MS, MBA
Founder and Managing Director
Dr. Vivek Sama is an Orthopedic Surgeon trained at the Royal Orthopedic Hospital, Birmingham, U.K. He has practiced at the Wycombe & Amersham Hospitals in the U.K.
Randall D. Arlett
Mr. Arlett is one of the founders of the American Hospital Management Company. He is an experienced international healthcare executive with more than fifteen years
Craig Morrissey, MBA
Vice President
Mr. Morrissey holds a degree from Babson College with a major in Investments/Entrepreneurial Studies, a a Master of Finance from Tulane University as well as a MBA from Florida International University.
Gayatri Singh, MBA
Vice President Operations
Gayatri has over 13 years of experience as of leading & managing large tertiary multi-specialty hospitals at CXO leadership positions. Her vast experience includes 5 years as Chief Operating Officer of the Sterling Group of Hospitals, a leading chain of multi-specialty hospitals under the majority ownership of Actis private equity.
Why AHMC-I
Higher Profits
Contact Form
American Hospital Management Company (India) Private Limited
8 - Siri Fort Road, New Delhi - 110049
+91 - 11 - 43111892
+91- 95605-99999
Fax: +91 - 11 - 46767740
- firstname.lastname@example.com


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Komal Deokule
Komal Deokule PT, MSc.PT, CCS, MCSP, MPNZ, MIAP
Komal Deokuleis a Board Certified Cardiovascular andPulmonary Clinical Specialist and the founder of VitalPhysical Therapy out-patient practice specializing in cardiovascular and pulmonary out-patients. She is also anadjunct faculty at the University of St. Augustine, CAteaching the cardiopulmonary course in the DPT program. She was recently featured in a local Newspaper in SanDiego for her entrepreneurship by opening a niche outpatient PT clinic, the only one of its kind in San Diego. Shewas also interviewed by the PT Talker and highlighted inthe Cardiovascular and Pulmonary section Newsletter of
Komal has a keen interest in research and has presentedher work at international conferences. She served as areviewer for the journal for the Association of CharteredPhysiotherapists in Respiratory Care (ACPRC). Her academic achievements include a survey on rehabilitation ofventilated patients in ICU looking into rehabilitation techniques used at different stages of weaning. Her work has
Carmel Valley physical therapist helps people with heart and breathing problems improve quality of life- an Article form the Carmel Valley News June 2013
Komal Deokuleshares how her clinic caters to the special needs of cardiac and pulmonary patients:
Komal's Courses:
Management of Acutely Ill Patients: An Evidence Based Approach from a Cardiopulmonary Perspective. An Intensive Lab
What others are saying:
"Komal Deokule was very knowledgeable. She was able to go in great details regarding the pulmonary system and physiology. Review of the case studies was very helpful. She was able to help me connect lab values, presentation of the patient to therapy treatment and intervention." - S Soriano, PT
"Komal was exceptional. She presented the information in a very digestible manner and was so excited for the content! It was great!" - PT


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In the last two articles we talked about how Explicit Fencing can help the graphics pipeline in general and what happened on the effort to upstream the Android Sync Framework. Now on the third post of this series we will go through the Explicit Fencing implementation on DRM and other elements of the graphics stack.
The DRM implementation lays down on top of two kernel infrastructures, struct dma_fence, which represents the fence and struct sync file that provides the file descriptors to be shared with userspace (as it was discussed in the previous articles). With fencing the display infrastructure needs to wait for a signal on that fence before displaying the buffer on the screen. On a Explicit Fencing implementation that fence is sent from userspace to the kernel. The display infrastructure also sends back to userspace a fence, encapsulated in a struct sync_file, that will be signalled when the buffer is scanned out on the screen. The same process happens on the rendering side.
It is mandatory to use of Atomic Modesetting and here is not plan to support legacy APIs. The fence that DRM will wait on needs to be passed via the IN_FENCE_FD property for each DRM plane, that means it will receive one sync_file fd containing one or more dma_fence per plane. Remember that in DRM a plane directly relates to a framebuffer so one can also say that there is one sync_file per framebuffer.
On the other hand for the fences created by the kernel that are sent back to userspace the OUT_FENCE_PTR property is used. It is a DRM CRTC property because we only create one dma_fence per CRTC as all the buffers on it will be scanned out at the same time. The kernel sends this fence back to userspace by writing the fd number to the pointer provided in the OUT_FENCE_PTR property. Note that, unlike from what Android did, when the fence signals it means the previous buffer – the buffer removed from the screen – is free for reuse. On Android when the signal was raised it meant the current buffer was freed. However, the Android folks have patched SurfaceFlinger already to support the Mainline semantics when using Explicit Fencing!
Nonetheless, that is only one side of the equation and to have the full graphics pipeline running with Explicit Fencing we need to support it on the rendering side as well. As every rendering driver has its own userspace API we need to add Explicit Fencing support to every single driver there. The freedreno driver already has its Explicit Fencing support mainline and there is work in progress to add support to i915 and virtio_gpu.
On the userspace side Mesa already has support for the EGL_ANDROID_native_fence_sync needed to use Explicit Fencing on Android. Libdrm incorporated the headers to access the sync file IOCTL wrappers. On Android, libsync now has support for both the old Android Sync and Mainline Sinc File APIs. And finally, on drm_hwcomposer, patches to use Atomic Modesetting and Explicit Fencing are available but they are not upstream yet.
Validation tests for both Sync Files and fences on the Atomic API were written and added to IGT.


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Hardy bulbs can give us a gorgeous spring show, bountiful bouquets and years of pleasure. At The Growing Place, we strive to offer rare and unusual varieties in addition to the typical crocus, tulips, and daffodils. As you browse, choose a variety of bulbs to ensure weeks of blossoms. Each package of bulbs is clearly labeled with planting depth, bloom time, and plant dimensions. Bulbs are one of the easiest plants to grow!
Flower bulbs are special plants designed for survival. Most evolved in regions with harsh growing conditions. They are food storage units surrounding a flower bud that is ready to burst forth and grow. Spring flowering bulbs do need a cooling period, but basically, if you plant them, they will grow. Plant a wide variety of bulbs and you will have flowers early spring, summer and even into early fall.
Bulbs don't like 'wet feet'. Most adapt to many soil types but nearly all prefer a loose, well-drained soil. Avoid areas where water collects, such as the base of a hill. Heavy soils can be improved by mixing 3 to 4″ of a variety of organic materials like our Growingplace Choice Garden Mix, mushroom or garden compost into the existing soil. (A few bulbs are the exception to this rule—Galanthus, Puschkinia, Leucojum, and Camassia are tolerant of a wet site.) Spring flowering bulbs prefer bright sun but will tolerate partial shade. They provide the best display when planted in clusters or groups, not like toy soldiers in a row.
Spring flowering bulbs should be planted in the fall after nighttime temperatures drop into the 40s or low 50s for two weeks. In this area, it is usually October. Care should be taken to store unplanted bulbs in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. Some bulbs, however, are best planted immediately, including Colchicum and fall-blooming Crocus. These bulbs may even flower the same year you plant them! This also applies to spring blooming Galanthus, Erythronium, and Fritillaria, which tend to dry out if left unplanted. Bulbs can be planted until the ground freezes.
As a general rule, plant bulbs at a depth three times their height and two to three bulb widths apart (example: A bulb 2″ in height should be planted at a depth of 6″). Plant with the point up, flat side down. If it is impossible to identify the top of the bulb, plant it on its side. Cover with loose soil and press down lightly. Water in well after planting to help roots establish.
Fertilizing encourages the production of blooms and increases longevity. Mix a low-nitrogen, high-potassium fertilizer, we recommend Espoma Bulb-tone, into the soil when planting. Ideally, fertilizing should be repeated every year in the spring when the foliage begins to emerge and in the fall to help the bulbs build strength for flowering the following spring. (Planting a few Muscari, Grape Hyacinths, near your other bulbs will remind you where they are planted since the Muscari produce foliage in the fall.)
Water thoroughly after planting. During active growth, bulbs need regular watering. Spring weather usually provides enough rain, but during dry spells, water thoroughly since bulb roots grow deep.
After the blooms fade, clip flower heads, especially on tulips. This channels energy back to the bulb and not used for producing seeds. The leaves need to be left to wither for six weeks or so, allowing photosynthesis to recharge the bulb. Do not braid the foliage or cover with mulch. You may want to consider companion plants such as daylilies or hosta to help disguise the foliage. After yellowing, cut leaves back to ground level. Naturalizing bulbs such as Narcissus and Scilla multiply and can be dug up and divided when they start to get crowded. This can be done in the fall or after they flower in the spring. Replant at the same depth, and if moving in spring, leave any foliage that is still green to die back naturally.
Posted on 10/07/2013 at 12:15 AM


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Marcelle Klein | Sensual Shapes | July 28.10
I can say with out a doubt that Marcelle is my clay idol! It looks like she dances with the material. Her work intrigues me and makes me want to start experience with clay. She makes it look so much fun! www.marcelleklein.com


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Cal Ben Soap Company
Since 1947, Cal Ben Soap Company has been making natural soaps from white tallow, pure cocoa butter oils, and natural extracts of almond, coconut, and citrus. Their products are not tested on animals and they are packaged with concern for the environment. The Cal Ben Soap Company is family owned and operated in California. Their products are available online and include bar soap, shampoo, body lotion, crystal deodorant, dish soap, laundry soap, and glass cleaner.


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Torture can happen to anyone. Just ask Juan Méndez.
In 1975, while representing political prisoners as a human rights lawyer in Argentina, Méndez was arrested, tortured, and eventually expelled from the country. Today, he is the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, investigating human rights violations.
"Under certain conditions," he says, "any country, any state can decide to use extreme measures, and a lot of us can be the victims."
But in a post–September 11 world, isn't torture necessary to keep us safe? To the contrary. "Torture only breeds more crime and more terrorism," says Méndez.
But torture doesn't happen only in interrogation rooms. Sometimes, it happens where you might least expect it. In the above video, Méndez explains.
14 Comments
Very interesting and enlightening way to think of torture, as it is prevalent even in free democratic societies.
Torture is desparation for information. Its an extortion of information using brutal force and must not be condoned. Our security forces and protectors must be above board in their quest for information. We must trust them.
As a human right activist, I am supporting Mendez in his fight against torture. In many countries of the world, people are been tortured when they raise their voices against the evil that is happening in the society. There is police brutality, political depression even it happen in families among couples. This ugly trend must be checked. UN should recruit human right activists like us, to fight against this ugly trend that destroy the dignity of man. Thank you.
Let's stop silence and act against torture!
Жить в России - уже пытка
Oh yes, torture does exist everywhere, in "very" advanced as well as in not so advanced societies, contrary to numerous legal texts and political undertakings. So the challenge to all of us is this: what means do we have left to overcome it when all great leaders of thought, religions, philosophies and the vast majority of their ordinary followers have been powerless against it - when not manipulated to support it in the name of the protection of freedom, democracy, and what not?
When will the world grow up?
Torture is a means of getting information based on mistrust by perpetrators because they themselves feel the practice can be used on them too at a later time! Only trust and confidence in systems can secure us all everywhere at all times.
Thank you, Juan Mendez, for including the denial of drug addiction treatment and mass incarceration as a form of torture.
Torture is still rife around the world, which entails with different methods of punishment.
Public knowledge is key in understanding what, when and where torture is actually happening....
sociological and economic torture stemming from western economic policies in the philippines deprive our poor community for a sound family living.
Marcos Calvez' comment is so general that it is impossible to know if it makes any sense for any particular case. Filipinos have greatly gained from globalization, which provides many employment opportunities to those that otherwise would not enjoy them, often at the cost incidentally of jobs in the developed world. There is still alas an active communist party that resists this sort of common-sense analysis, and Calvez' comment sounds as if it comes from that direction. If so, it is worth pointing out that the communist party has to its name the shame of carrying out the only large-scale massacres that have taken place in Philippine history since the US invasion.
Thank you Lauren and Juan. I hope I can meet you someday Juan and shake your hand to thank you in person.


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About The Bloggers
« Friday's Three Burning Legal Questions |
| After Years of Page Limit Chicanery, Texas Switches to Word Limits for Briefs »
'Parking Douche', Vol. 2: Self-Help Edition
In the quickly growing field of citizens ratting out and trying to shame their neighbors for their crappy and illegal parking, I now see (via commenter Creightonclark78 here) that yet another option exists beyond going to the police or going to the local newspaper:
"I Park Like a D-Bag" bumper magnets!
Yes, for those who do not want to mess with a "parking deputy app" or who are simply more into self-help, the yougottagged.com website sells these magnets. The site explains that, "we feel that in this crazy, crazy world, we have done something to fix the little selfish actions that are such a nuisance." It suggests that people who spot "douchebaggery" in the parking world should tag the offending car with a magnet, and also take a picture and post it to the yougottagged.com site.
For those who get tagged for their inadequate parking, the website recommends viewing it as a "badge of honor to even get tagged, so quit your whining and welcome and pay it forward with the next D-Bag."
There are not many photos on the yougottagged.com site, but there is one amusing trend in the world of shaming bad parkers that may cause you to bring a piece of chalk with you when you head out to work or to the mall today:
Posted by Bruce Carton on December 3, 2012 at 04:16 PM | Permalink
| Comments (6)


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Chesterton Tribune
Charles August Cross dies at 87
Charles August Cross "Deutch", Age 87, of Chesterton,
formerly of Chicago, passed away at home Tuesday, January 6, 2009.
Charles was born March 16, 1921 in Chicago, the son of Carl
and Anna (Melcic) Cross, both of whom preceded him in death.
On October 15, 1949 in Benton Harbor, Mich., Charles married
Dorothy Kirby his wife of nearly 60 years.
Mr. Cross is survived by his wife, Dorothy Cross of
Chesterton; daughters, Kathleen (Michael) Marciniak of Lansing, Ill. and
Carol (Anthony) Piazza of Chesterton; son, Gary (Nancy) Cross of Chesterton;
sister, Lillian (Frank) Hankosky of Arizona; nine grandchildren, Todd
Marciniak of Chicago, Amy (Bill) Sparkowski of Lake Zurich, Ill., Laura
(Brian) Dekker of Cedar Lake, , Carly (Bill) Troy of LaPorte, Marc Piazza,
Daniel Piazza, Jacob Cross, Charlie Cross, and Nicholas Cross, all of
Chesterton; six great-grandchildren, Augustus and Alyssa Sparkowski of Lake
Zurich, Ill., Tyler and Kendall Troy of LaPorte, Andrew and Benjamin Dekker
of Cedar Lake.
He was also preceded in death by sisters, Marie Carlson and
Arlene Cross and brothers, Eugene, Gerald, Robert and Walter Cross.
He attended Bowan High School in Chicago. He served four
years in the US Army and C.C. Camp at age 16. Mr. Cross worked as an
electrician for Valley Mould & Iron for 37 years retiring in 1976. He was an
active member of St. Petri Church for 55 years and a charter member of the
New Troy American Legion in New Troy, Mich. Charles enjoyed his family,
traveling, helping others, music, dancing and all kids. He had a great sense
of humor.
Funeral Services, Pastor Chris Newman-Jacobs and Pastor
Robert Hempel officiating, will be at 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 9 at Chesterton
First United Methodist Church, 434 S. 2nd St. in Chesterton.
Visitation will be from 3-8 p.m. Thursday, January 8, at
Edmonds & Evans Funeral Home, 517 Broadway, Chesterton and 10 a.m. until the
time of service on Friday at the church. Cremation will follow services.
may be made to the VNA Hospice of Porter County.
Posted 1/7/2009


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Belted Ammo
Full Service Props Catalog. Fast, Reliable, Flexible. We ship everywhere.
Belted ammunition is ideal for carrying and firing multiple rounds from a fully-automatic weapon. The most typical form of belted ammo is seen here; disintegrating links. This system allows the operator to link together as many rounds as desired. Upon request, belted ammunition can be fashioned in a variety of calibers.


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MAP Check 3 Pressure Online Gas Analyser – Gas Feed
Dansensor MAP Check 3 Pressure Online Gas Analyser – Gas Feed
The Dansensor MAP Check 3 Pressure is a specifically designed for the continuous monitoring of a gas mix from a pressured source, including buffer tanks and gas mixers. Part of the highly successful Dansensor MAP Check 3 family
Incorporating sensitive & accurate oxygen & carbon dioxide sensors, the analyser monitors the input gas continuously, displaying the results on a 5″ touchscreen display. The data can also be exported in realtime via a LAN or RS232 ports and there are USB connectons for the easy up & downloading of settings & test data. Access to the settings menu is via a changeable password.
The Dansensor MAP Check 3 Pressure is capable of operating at input pressures between 2 – 10 bar and so suitable for a wide range of applications. If the gas measured is outside the user pre-set range, the Dansensor MAP Check 3 Pressure can send a current or voltage signal and has 24VDC logic for start/stop of the process and for alarms.
|Technical Specifications
|O2 Sensor
|CO2 Sensor
|Key Features
|Fastest and most accurate oxygen sensor
0-100% range
|Temperature controlled dual beam infrared carbon dioxide sensor
0-100% range
|± 0.01% absolute range below 1% O2 ± 1% relative
in range above 1% O2
|± 0.5% absolute ± 1.5% relative to reading
|Heating Time
|10 minutes
|8 minutes
|General Standard Features
|Oxygen only, carbon dioxide only, or combined oxygen and carbon dioxide
|x2 RS232C, LAN 10/100 Mbit (Modbus TCP), USB, current or voltage output,
24 VDC logic for start/stop process of alarms
|Power Supply
|103-132 / 207-246 VAC (auto ranging), 47-63Hz
|192 x 230 x 375 mm (H x W x D)
|8.5 – 11.5 kg (depending on model)
|Gas Inlet Pressure
|2 to 10 bar (30 – 145 psi)
|Gas Media
|Dry, clean and non-corrosive gasses
|Accessories (Optional)
|Protection Kit
|IP45 protection (better than NEMA 3S)
|Bracket Assembly
|2 brackets, 8 screws
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Dashiell Codd went to Disneyland with his family Monday.
It was part of the 5-year-old's dream that was being fulfilled through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
He started off bashful and nervous in the park, his mother, Pam, said. He's always been that way, even before he was diagnosed in March with a rare liver cancer and had to endure almost contestant prodding, procedures and needles.
But then he met Winnie the Pooh.
"I think this was the first time he understood that this was a place just for kids," Pam said. "The rest of the day was just cotton candy and giant corn dogs."
"…and Star Tours," Dashiell's father, Brian, interrupted.
"Dashiell, how did you fight Darth Vader?" Brian asked.
Dashiell put down his cereal and stretched out his arm to demonstrate:
"The Force," he said.
The Codds, who make their home in Iowa, are spending the week in a house on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach. Burr White Realty temporarily donated the home to the Make-A-Wish Foundation to help fulfill the Codds' wish to stay in a beachfront property, go to a theme park and see family in California.
On Thursday they headed to Knott's Berry Farm.
Dashiell has endured repeated rounds of chemotherapy and surgery to battle nodules on his liver.
Each time his parents are amazed by his rapid recovery.
But they're as much in the dark about a prognosis for Dashiell as doctors are because of the oddity of his disease.
"There's almost nothing known about how to effectively treat it," Brian said.
Even after a transplant, the cancer continually returns, and doctors have begun walking a fine line between treatment and maintaining quality of life, he added.
During this break in Dashiell's treatment, Pam and Brian, took the chance to take him and his two brothers to California and live out a dream.
"I want this time spent being as happy as we could possibly be," Pam said. "I will regret if I spent my time crying and whining and saying, 'Why me?' but I'll never regret having been happy," Pam said. "I can crash and burn later. Right now in this time while we have him, we have the luxury of time with him."
That attitude has spawned on online following, Dashiell's "Mahna Mahna" Page, where hundreds of people can post messages or videos supporting Dashiell.
After a procedure in a Cincinnati hospital around Christmas, Dashiell insisted his family go to the zoo and see Santa.
On the way home, he asked if they family could stop by White Castle, and, as he waited for his food, he watched an episode of "The Muppet Show."
As furry, pink buffalo-esque aliens sang nonsensical "Mahna Mahna" lyrics, Dashiell emphatically joined them.
His mother was flabbergasted, she said.
"So you've been going through all these surgeries and all this chemo, yet you still have this happiness and all this joy in your heart to sing?" she asked in the moment.
From that night, Dashiell's "Mahna Mahna" Page was born on Facebook to pool his happiness with anyone else who wanted to share theirs.
"That's the whole point," Pam said. "Yes, there are these things going on, but you can't let it dictate your spirit. You can't let it knock you down."
Twitter: @jeremiahdobruck


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Dumbocracy: Adventures with the Loony Left, the Rabid Right, and Other American Idiots
Published September 1, 2008
224 pp.
Reviewed November 17, 2008
Unless you have been living in a commune for the blind/deaf/mute with neither basic cable nor Internet access, you know that America recently concluded the most excruciating presidential election in its history. It was a novel-worthy affair loaded with grand promises, ancient history and truly absurd moments – Hillary Clinton's sniper snafu and Sarah Palin's shopping spree are personal favorites – but regularly distinguished by an extremist tone. Barack Obama painted the Republicans as irrevocably shackled to the single-minded Bush doctrine, while John McCain's campaign came just short of calling Obama a pinko commie.
This is nothing new in the political climate, but it's yet another reflection of the fact that our society loves to split itself apart. Left and right, red and blue – all with an "I'm better than you are" attitude disguising the fact that in virtually all cases they're not. Few books illustrate this as well as Marty Beckerman's "Dumbocracy: Adventures with the Loony Left, the Rabid Right, and Other American Idiots," a breath of fresh air to clear out some of the smoke regularly blown up our asses.
In the spirit of gonzo journalism, Beckerman inserts himself directly into the poles of America. He walks through the March for Women's Lives in Washington D.C. to confront marchers and protestors, watches right-wing preachers on New York streets before ducking into a gay bar, receives placid stares from college kids who support Palestine and weathers "righteous" indignation at a conservative conference. He looks at the effort to regulate our vices – pornography, cigarettes, marijuana, fast food and alcohol – and takes a trip to Jerusalem in an effort to understand what makes believers tick.
With an introduction titled "Douche Bag Nation," "Dumbocracy" makes it clear from the start this search takes neither sides nor prisoners. Beckerman argues that the majority of those who hold zealous views on a subject turn out to be selfish morons, using both the implausibility of their arguments and the bile of their tone to leave readers wishing he'd made these points up. Magazine editors, talk show hosts, student activists and government officials are all seen taking matters into their own hands, and the resulting emotion is a desire to slap those hands with a ruler.
Its direct tone may make "Dumbocracy" appear little more than a diatribe against die-hards, but Beckerman gets past the jingoism of his subjects with two strengths. First is impressive research – he cites dozens of books, articles, interviews and broadcasts, from sources ranging from Fox News to "Fast Food Nation." The research mostly serves to prove his point rather than open up debate, but it proves he's not basing his point on isolated incidents the way his subjects do.
His second strength is his "smartass pipsqueak Jew" personality, which is refreshingly amusing when placed next to narrow-minded zealots. He regularly poses direct questions to his subjects but never attacks their beliefs, only offering a rational point that causes a fuse to pop in their heads when they see their rhetoric ignored. And while the writing does try too hard in some places – particularly with sarcastic replies interjecting fact lists – it's never in a manner too grating to remove observer status or earn him a punch in the face.
Additional gonzo credit is also awarded for a drunken postscript to the prohibition section and downing hallucinogenic liquor during his Jerusalem visit.
To paraphrase Voltaire, Beckerman's argument can be boiled into: "I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death my right to call you a jackass for saying it." And that's an argument desperately needed in today's partisan culture, one that points out the common denominator of extreme left and extreme right is being extremely wrong. "Dumbocracy" is a compelling case for being a moderate in today's world, and yet another reason to hope our new president means what he says about restoring America's common purpose.
(Political disclaimer: The political beliefs of the reviewer played no role in the above article, and the review was based solely on quality of writing, depth of research and author arguments.)


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"My photo taken in Amsterdam a couple of years ago brings me great comfort. God is present even when things are bad. Beauty amid the rubbish gives me hope. This beautiful swan made a nest out of rubbish that surrounded it."
Submitted by Helen Brennan.
Where have you found God in an unlikely place? Send us a photo for possible inclusion on Picturing God.


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New Year, new ranges! A big positive about the start of 2018 is that we can finally share some of our new 2018 products with you!
Over the last year, our design team has been hard at work researching, planning, producing and testing new ideas just for you, and the fruits of their hard work are now ready to be unveiled.
Alongside fresh designs from our partners, new and old, which we'll be able to introduce to you very soon, these are our very own designs, available to add a splash of colour into any home this year.
Everyone at Ulster Weavers loves dogs, in fact many of us love nothing more than spending time with our four-legged friends. It's this relationship that takes centre stage in the new Walkies design for 2018. Featuring a stylised depiction of a bustling dog park, the design showcases the many different walks of life and breeds of dog that accompany them.
Predominantly soft grey, this dog homeware design is one of the most varied and colourful we offer; bringing in cherry red and apple green tones that are perfect for bringing joy and light-heartedness into your kitchen.
Spring is right around the corner, and with it comes the return of the bees. These little guys bring so much life to the world by helping to pollinate and rejuvenate millions of plants with their buzzing around.
We look to celebrate this with our new Beekeeper range! The bright oatmeal-coloured background features busy bees buzzing by beautiful buttercups (and other flowers not beginning with b).
Cat Nap
We've celebrated dogs and bees already, it's only right that felines join the mix! Joining Cats in Waiting and Cat Walk in the Ulster Weavers' cat homeware family is the new Cat Nap range.
The striking design, created for cat lovers by a cat lover, uses traditional Japanese ink and brushes and captures the varying poses of our feline friends, relaxed, stylish and adorable. The charcoal coloured moggies sit on a soft blue floral background and their complimentary yellow collars give a flash of unexpected vibrant colour and cheer that will look at home in any classic or modern kitchen.
Bountiful Floral
Inspired by the William Morris wallpapers of the arts and crafts movement, as well as our love for everything beautiful and natural, the new Bountiful Floral print is a clean and colourful addition to our range. The design looks particularly at home in flat coloured kitchens, such as predominantly white or grey designs, as the bold modern colours, such as pinks and yellows, will really stand out and add a lot of vibrancy.


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Happy Monday, chickadees! Hope everyone's week is off to a great start. I'm spending my last day at our family beach house getting organized before heading back to LA tomorrow…I love it down here but can't wait to get back. Everyday LA feels more and more like home. Speaking of home, I want to share a look that Hanna and I shot a few weeks ago in SoCal, featuring a fair trade footwear brand called Inkkas!
Inkkas has the cutest sneakers and slip ons made by local South American artisans. If that wasn't cool enough, Inkkas is also helping combat another major issue facing our planet…deforestation! In the last 60 years alone, we [ humans, ugh ] have cut down over half of the world's forests. So sad, I know.
But, as always, the scary, awful facts I sometimes bring you guys are followed by a silver lining. In this case, it's Inkkas OneShoeOneTree project! For every single pair of shoes sold, Inkkas works with Trees For The Future to plant one tree to be used for reforestation, food for humans + animals, etc. Imagine getting that familiar satisfaction of your online shopping order showing up at your front door, PLUS the satisfaction of knowing your purchase planted a tree halfway across the world [ in one of 19 countries that Trees For The Future works with ]. Good for you + your feet, good for local communities of artisans + textile weavers, good for the environment. Did I say good enough times?! Yeah? Okay, good 🙂
If you want to learn more about Inkkas and their mission, click here. Aaaaand if you want to check out Trees For The Future, click here!
"Agate" High Top Sneaker by Inkkas
"Carla" Dolman Top by Silence + Noise


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Good ideas are always valuable but their good description can be even priceless. IT-SEA will help you to brainstorm your needs, provide new concepts and propose the best way to obtain your goals.
Before you start spending your money check first if the idea is worth a penny. A good study summarizing all pros and cons will save your time and nerves. IT-SEA can do the job.
"Win-win" games designed to benefit all participants are possible only if rules are clear. IT-SEA uses Testlink tool in order to collect and execute all requirements.
A voyage is successful with a reliable route and its "Shipmaster". IT-SEA applies Prince2 and IPMA best practices in order to bring each project precisely to the successful end.
IT-SEA supports RIS implementation
IT-sea has awarded a contract to work with the Inland Navigation Office in Szczecin on the implementation of the River Information Services on the Odra river. The contract is valid until the end of 2015. The scope of duties includes: project management, IT consulting and technical support coordination.


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CRMWhat Antifraud Software Can, And Can't, DoBy Baselinemag | Posted 2005-09-07 Print
The most fail-safe computerized system is still no match for a review and audit by someone who cares.
Antifraud software and services can help make the mortgage industry more honest, according to the people who market such things. But Michael Boraks isn't so sure.
Boraks runs a branch office of First Financial Equities in the Trump International Sonesta Beach Resort, a condominium hotel that's one of several Trump beachfront properties in the Miami Beach area. From there, his firm brokers loans to many Trump buyers and competes in the hot South Florida housing market.
He knows as well as anyone the pressures and temptations that lead some mortgage brokers and agents to cheat in an effort to close more deals and drive up their commissions. What makes it easy is that many consumers come into the process eager to believe in offers that are too good to be true.
"You can open any paper today or listen to ads on the radio and hear all kind of lenders offering 0.95% or 1% interest," Boraks says. But behind those teaser rates is invariably a more complex adjustable rate loan with risks that consumers may not understand if the broker doesn't take the time to explain them, he says.
While computer systems may not be able to make all mortgage lenders honest and all home buyers rational, they can govern some of the background processes related to pricing loans, evaluating appraisals, generating paperwork and achieving regulatory compliance.
For example, systems can support the process of printing disclosure documents to be mailed to consumers so they have loan terms spelled out in black and white.
And where the mortgage agent's behavior veers into active fraudactivities like inflating appraisals or falsifying income documents to win approval for a loansoftware products and information services can help a lender's loan underwriters and internal auditors detect patterns of abuse. Among the tools:
Scoring applications. DISSCO (Data Integrity Search and Score) from Interthinx is an information service aimed at comprehensive analysis of application data. It checks whether the applicant's address, phone number and employer can be verified, and performs multiple tests on whether the stated property value is consistent with comparable sales in the area. The application boils down this analysis to a score that loan underwriters use to decide whether to grant a loan.
Statistical fraud detection tools. Past examples of fraud can be fed into statistical analysis software from vendors such as Fair Isaac Corp. and SAS Institute. The tools' analysis can be used to identify other possible cases of fraud, based on similar patterns of loan data that might betray a data manipulation tactic that a dishonest broker or appraiser is using repeatedly.
Regulatory compliance software. Vendors such as Bankers Systems and the Clayton Group offer software aimed at helping lenders comply with laws, such as the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, that are designed to ensure accurate disclosure of loan terms and prevent predatory lending practices. Compliance software can help track loan data and trigger the printing of required disclosure documents, for example.
Craig Focardi, research director for consumer lending at the TowerGroup, a financial services industry research and consulting firm, is seeing a surge of interest in software to ensure compliance and fight fraud. After several years of booming refinancing business and soaring home prices, when lenders could get away with relatively slipshod control over the quality of their loans, the industry is now starting to contract, he says.
According to Focardi, Wall Street mortgage investors who perceive their money as being at greater risk will insist on greater scrutiny. And with investors looking over their shoulders, lenders will be forced to tighten up processes for verifying the value of properties and the ability of borrowers to repay loans, he says.
This should help discourage mortgage brokers and agents from coaching customers into telling "little white lies" on their mortgage applications, or blatantly falsifying data, to help win loan approval, Focardi says.
Still, Boraks says much of the dishonesty in the industry never gets recorded in any computer system, such as the broker who conveniently "forgets" to mention little details like the expiration of the "lock" on the interest rate the customer expected to get. Consumers who get unpleasant surprises at the closing table typically "curse the broker or the lender and sign anyway," he points out.
A computer system can ensure that those details are disclosed in the loan paperwork, Boraks says, "but the problem is people get so many papers, they don't know what to look for."
The answer to that problem doesn't come in a software box. It requires a patient, honest broker who will take the time to help customers navigate the paperwork and understand the real costs and risks of their loan.
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An account of common crustose coralline algae (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) from macrophyte communities at Rottnest Island, Western Australia
Sim, C. and Townsend, R.A. (1999) An account of common crustose coralline algae (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) from macrophyte communities at Rottnest Island, Western Australia. In: Ninth International Marine Biological Workshop, January 1996, Rottnest Island, Western Australia pp. 395-408.
Download (1MB)
Meaningful interpretation of ecological experimentation can only be made after knowledge of the floral composition of an area is known. Crustose coralline algae have a reputation among phycologists as being a difficult group of organisms to identify to species level. Crustose coralline algae (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) cover the substratum in most macrophyte communities; their ecology is poorly understood. The aim of this work was to develop a species list and generic key for crustose coralline algae found in macrophyte communities around Rottnest Island, Western Australia. Eleven species belonging to seven genera were identified from limestone substrata in kelp and mixed macroalgal communities. A key to the common genera of crustose coralline algae found in these communities is also provided. The key, aimed at ecologists with limited knowledge of coralline taxonomy and anatomy, uses gross external and easily recognisable internal characters. The crustose coralline algal flora of Rottnest Island is a mixture of Indo-West Pacific and southern temperate species. Species such as Hydrolithon onkodes which has an extensive tropical and subtropical range were found at most sites sampled.
|Publication Type:
|Conference Paper
|Murdoch Affiliation:
|School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology
|Western Australian Museum
|(c) Western Australian Museum
|In: The seagrass flora and fauna of Rottnest Island, Western Australia : proceedings of the ninth International Marine Biological Workshop, held at Rottnest Island, Western Australia, January 1996 / edited by Diana I. Walker and Fred E. Wells, pp 395-408
|Item Control Page
Downloads per month over past year


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I'm beginning to get a bit of a backlog here of knitting I haven't shown you! First, as promised, the fuzzy mittens. These were a trial to find a pair of mittens that would fit me. All the other patterns I've tried just seemed way too big but these fit just right. Guess my hands must be 'baby bear', as daddy and mummy seem just too big. Although they are mainly black, they have lovely magenta and tuquoise flecks that are shimmery.
The yarn looked lovely too and I've been saving it as it never looked as nice knitted as in the ball. I have that problem a lot. I tend to buy yarn on the look of the ball rather than thinking how it knits up. I am a bit of a sucker for that then I keep it for just the right project..... hence a large stash of yarn.
But this knitting for christmas is actually making a dent in the hand knit supplies. Gasp! I may even have to consider 'buying' more to get everything done!
But these mittens are a real stash buster. 2 x 50gm balls of yarn and away you go. A very simple pattern to follow and warm, fuzzy mittens to finish. I thought a 4" rib band was a bit too big so I made it 2.5" instead but feel it's a bit too short. Next time I'll go for 3". I wasn't sure how much yarn this would eat up so I was playing cautious but I had quite a bit of each ball left so I can go generous on the rib band now!
I would describe these as 'fuzzy' as mohair doesn't have as soft a snuggle factor but they are incredibly warm and I feel I may have trouble parting with these when the present wrapping comes along.
I would describe these as 'fuzzy' as mohair doesn't have as soft a snuggle factor but they are incredibly warm and I feel I may have trouble parting with these when the present wrapping comes along.
The next mittens are going to be stripey, I've decided. Just got to go stash hunting to mix and match colours with personalities now!
Back soon with the star berets I was telling you about. The photos are poor - poor light last week - so I'll take some more tomorrow and you can also get a sneak peek at the new stripey scarf I'm knitting, and knitting, and knitting...... Bye for now.


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Before Tabata. Before Spinning. And definitely before pole dance classes.
"If you take everything away," says David Siik of Equinox Fitness, "every barbell and dumbbell and even the building this club is in, all you have left at the end is the run."
Even though running is the most natural thing in the world, Siik says it's gotten lost in the fitness shuffle and is underrepresented in most gym offerings. There are exceptions — including Barry's Bootcamp, which has workouts based on treadmill routines, and Crunch's Tread N' Shed classes.
"On the professional side, we have all this pressure from the media to create the next new craze, the coolest thing that people will tweet about, will Instagram about," he says. And in the process of trying to find the shortcut — the most exciting, fun, electrifying way — so many times we forget to put the 'work' into workout.
But Siik, who reveres the "Prefontaine black-and-white days" of the sport, is on a quest to bring running back to the fore, rooted in his own days as a champion middle-distance runner, as a coach and as author of "The Ultimate Treadmill Workout," due out in December. Steve Prefontaine, the record-breaking American runner, is credited with helping to inspire the 1970s running boom. He died in a car accident at age 24.
"I'm a super-sentimental person, I wasn't a popular kid, I didn't have a lot of friends, but I was good at running," Siik says. "It was the one thing no one could take from me as a kid. It changed my whole life."
Running seems ripe for a comeback considering the current discussion in fitness circles on how hard you really need to work out. Though all exercise has benefits, studies like a recent one from the Scripps Research Institute in Florida indicate that the release of biochemicals such as adrenaline and norepinephrine that affect muscle development and endurance only happens when you ramp up the intensity.
"The thing about running is that it's work," Siik says. "People say, 'Oh, I hate running. Oh, I hate running.' That's because it's hard. It's one the hardest things. It requires so much energy. You have to use everything — your neck, your shoulders, your arms, your core, your legs. There's no shortcuts. Running is going to be work, and the people that don't avoid that, that don't look for that shortcut, those are the people who can have whatever they want."
Siik's vehicle is a treadmill interval class he developed for Equinox called Precision Running, born out of frustration with fitness class preoccupations with calorie counts.
"I see it in people's eyes, when someone's been obsessing about calorie counting in their Spinning classes and any other classes for a decade now and they're counting, 'I've got to burn 600 calories in this class' and to tell them we don't do any calorie counting," he says.
It's a given that a one-hour interval class will burn a lot of calories, but Siik wants to discourage people from focusing solely on that.
"When you base a treadmill class on 'the burn,' you have gutted it," he says. "You've gutted it of everything that makes running great, that makes it enjoyable, that makes it inspiring, even electrifying. The calorie burn is a side effect. That's all it is."
Siik reached back to his own experience as a half-miler to fashion his interval program.
"You have to run fast but not as fast as a sprinter. You have to endure, but not as much as a distance runner. You have to combine speed and endurance, and you have to smash it together. What that creates is less impact on the body and an elevated burn. That's what this program is."
So a class might begin with a series of intervals on an incline that increases after a certain amount of time, then a series of runs that increase in speed and then putting the two together for an increase in speed and incline for each interval.
In contrast to the flat-out sprinting and slow-walking recovery intervals of many high-intensity training classes, Siik, who teaches in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, calls his approach "cushioning": bringing down the maximum speed and bringing up the recovery speed.
"What that does, well, my knees don't hurt. My back doesn't hurt. I'm tired, maybe. I burn a lot calories. I'm lean and tight. But I'm not putting that impact on my body."
"You should finish the class feeling the electricity in your body, and that's the endorphins," he says. "Running releases so many endorphins, and they've done studies about the 'runner's high.' People don't talk about the stair-stepper high."


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Customer Reviews
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August 06, 2013Reviewer: betsy in Ohio* Good energy. Fast acting. A little jittery and shaky but nothing I cant deal with. Seems to last fairly well. Feel the effects well after my work out is over. Flavor is strong though. I've used Fruit punch and lemonade. Both good.This review is specific to White Flood Reborn, Electric Lemonade


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Other voices: Apology is due
So it turns out that Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and, before a group of leading Senate Republicans decided that she was evil incarnate, a top contender to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, had nothing to do with formulating the White House's response to the fatal attacks last year at the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and John McCain, among others, argued for weeks that Rice was a crucial cog in a huge conspiracy to hide the facts of Benghazi from the American people.
The truth, as they saw it, was that the administration was desperate to blame the tragedy on rioters angered about an anti-Muslim video, rather than a terrorist attack by extremists with links to al-Qaida, because the president saw his anti- terrorism accomplishments as an important advantage in his reelection bid.
The talking points were a product of the intelligence community; they originated in a request by members of Congress to David Petraeus, then the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, for an unclassified version of the summary of events he had presented to them on Sept. 14. The talking points were edited and re-edited, then sent to the State Department, whose spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, read them. In his New York Times column, David Brooks noted that the talking points -- each iteration of them, in fact -- stated that the attacks were inspired by protests in Cairo, and that al-Qaida-linked radicals had participated in the attacks. The day before Rice's fateful talk-show appearances, there was more haggling over the talking points, and they were watered down further.
Rice's crime was simply to lean on a document that was produced in a chaotic atmosphere by bureaucrats working with imperfect information and perhaps some turf to protect.


text: Jack Irving is a designer based in London, originally from Blackpool town. Irving graduated from Central St Martins College of Art in London in 2014. He specialises in production design for theatre, live installation and set design for photography. He also designs costumes and props for festivals and large-scale spectacle performance.


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Another Day another Topic
It is rare a day or week when I am working with clients that something doesn't give rise to a topic for my blog. This week didn't disappoint.
I was working with wonderful clients and their puppy and we were proofing leash skills. My client's dog and a dog I brought were both walking nicely next to us. Both of us were using a 6 foot leash as were most people we saw walking dogs without one issue . I was very proud of my client's handling skills and the pup's behavior as we could walk right by other dogs and their people who were also in control of their dogs. Everyone was enjoying a sunny, spring day.
c Diane Rich 2013
We were enjoying an area called a walk bridge that is approximately 30 feet wide. This area serves walkers, joggers, bikers, roller bladers and everyone normally shares the real estate well. We were on one side of this walk bridge walking our direction and noticed a woman being walked by her dog on the other side of this area coming in our direction. Her dog was a cute, white dog on a flexi or retractable leash. I don't have any problem with flexi leashes as long as people are polite enough to retract the leash when they see people coming and their dog is under control.
We initially thought nothing of it even though the dog was only allowed about half the 20 feet of line. Her dog was allowed to zig zag from one side to the center of the bridge giving people little room to pass without an interaction.
Example of an average retractable leash
This particular flexi's length is a little over 20 feet
c Diane Rich 2013
But, then as she got closer to us she allows her dog the full length of the 20 feet of line and it made its way toward us.
We moved over as far over as possible while we were trying to continue our walk. One would think it was obvious we were trying to avoid her dog. Our avoidance was not because anything was wrong with our dogs or her dog other than her dog was on the other end of a rude dog owner allowing it to encroach in our space. We were not interested in a meet and greet with her dog at that time although that didn't seem to matter to this entitled dog walker.
I nicely called out to the owner to please retract the leash. My request went unanswered and she actually started walking closer to us with her dog 20 feet ahead of her. I asked again, nicely would you please retract your leash to no avail.
As her dog closed in on us, the dog I was walking barked twice at her dog. The next words we heard was her yelling at us about the aggressive, barking dog and how nice everyone's dog is at this location and we had no business with "that" dog in this area. I reminded her that the area is to be shared by everyone and all I was asking her to do was retract the leash and give us space. More words were exchanged as we both went on our separate ways.
Yes, another day.
Diane Rich Dog Training, LLC


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Here is a pithy summary of what worries me about Hillary Clinton (from Fareed Zakaria in the Feb. 11 Newsweek):
She is highly intelligent, has real experience and is an attractive candidate. But she is terrified to act on her beliefs. In fact, she seems so conditioned by what she sees as political constraints that one can barely tell where her beliefs begin and where those constraints end.
Here is a pithy summary of what worries me about Barack Obama (from James Wolcott's Vanity Fair blog):
I can picture President Hillary in the White House dealing with a recalcitrant Republican faction; I can't picture President Obama in the same role because his summons to history and call to hope seems to transcend legislative maneuvers and horse-trading; his charisma is on a more ethereal plane, and I don't look to politics for transcendence and self-certification.
These are both caricatures, and one can argue with each.
The caricature of Clinton's self-defeating pragmatism isn't easy to reconcile with the competing caricature of Clinton's self-defeating rigidity. You can argue that the exaggerated pragmatism is an overreaction to the Hillarycare debacle, in which Clinton, arguably, was undone by her rigidity. But David Brooks offers Clinton's petty (and wrongheaded) argument with Obama about his health-care plan's failure to include "individual mandates" as evidence that Clinton is still imposing "Manichean categories on a technical issue, just as she did a decade and a half ago." Perhaps the resolution of this seeming contradiction is that once Hillary is done eliminating everything brave or original from a policy proposal, she defends it to the death.
The caricature of Obama's ethereality shortchanges the bold intelligence inherent in many of his public utterances. Obama has said he favors a single-payer (i.e., government) solution to the health-insurance crisis and elimination or modification of the regressive cap on wages subject to the Social Security tax. He also opposed U.S. entry in the Iraq war. But Obama has hedged on single-payer, he's kept mentions of the Social Security fix out of his Web site's policy pages on taxes and the elderly, and he wasn't in the Senate when the war resolution was voted on. To some extent, Obama's hedging on many of his more controversial stands is smart politics. But an unfortunate result is that he often ends up hiding behind airy generalities and vague-but-uplifting rhetoric, and I can understand why Wolcott would conclude that Obama is too saintly for the Oval Office.
Perhaps the decision between these two candidates comes down to how you like to see your political candidate hedge. Do you like the candidate pre-hedged, like Clinton, or post-hedged, like Obama? The virtue of the first approach is that it leaves nothing to hide. The virtue of the second approach is that the candidate may think, if not speak.


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No, not a satisfying fit for your pants!
FiT in this context is Feed in Tariff, or what you get paid for exporting the excess electricity generated by your solar panels.
If you click on that image, you'll see sample rates currently provided in Australia. A couple of them might be out of date, for example with Diamond Energy, a company based in Victoria, I now receive 12 cents per kWh. I'm in NSW but that offer is wherever they can service my account.
Note that in many cases this is a net tariff i.e. excess solar only, not a gross tariff. You can read about the difference here.
There are people still on gross FiT tariffs, getting upwards of 40 cents per kWh. These were incentives for getting the solar industry moving in Australia, and did their job. Some of them were planned out for over a decade, and have given their owners fantastic service.
Governments attached rules they thought would be broken easily, like losing the gross FiT if there was a change of owner, or if you altered the system. Consumers got around this by buying the system they could afford and never moving house.
As a result, we've got a LOT of systems out there under 2kW that need updating to give a net tariff of under 20 cents a fighting chance. A lot of these people are looking at batteries.
I suppose, if you're somewhere like the USA, some of those figures look pretty sweet. Keep in mind that the average import tariff right now in Australia is around 30 cents, after recent price hikes.
As a result of this visible mismatch, many people wonder why FiT isn't much higher. After all, those of us with Solar PV on our roof help lower everybody's bills!
How rooftop #solar is saving billions on #energy bills for all consumers https://t.co/BzmEFojXyu
— RenewEconomy (@renew_economy) October 16, 2017
Why do I get paid "only" 12 c / kWh* for my export, when I pay somewhere between 18 cents (off-peak) to 35 cents (peak) for import?
* BTW if you like the look of that 12 cents action, get in contact with me via Twitter – if you sign up with Diamond using my details, we both get an account credit.
There are several reasons, and for this discussion we're ONLY talking about the east coast grid (the NEM). That's where the facts and figures are coming from.
Profits Matter
First: I don't work for a big energy company. I get accused of it regularly when I tweet about energy, but I just don't.
I do understand that people need to make money. No business profitability = no jobs = no cashflow for other businesses. That's simple economics. Of course, maybe companies don't need to make quite as much money as they do, I suppose.
Another truth of our energy market is we have generators and retailers in the delivery chain. This has been the way of things for years, and decouples the generation (industry) from customer service aspect.
Speaking for the eastern half of Australia (not Western Australia or the Northern Territory who aren't on the NEM), this means competition is supposed to happen at two levels: wholesale and retail.
The National Electricity Market (NEM) connects the 5 southeastern States of Australia, as well as the Australian Capital Territory.
It is the wholesale market. Spot prices are generated to deliver value to generators, so they can pay their staff to manage the backbone of the grid. Additionally, there is the cost of network maintenance as a big line item.
There are instances where generators have held back supply until the spot price gets to ridiculous levels. This behaviour is not illegal, but not exactly ethical, and affects pricing. It is being cracked down upon.
Retailers operate as clients of this market, and have their own battleground.
They need to account for the variation in spot prices in their retail offering, and look at best- and worst-case scenarios.
How do they keep the lights on, pay for staff, and ensure they're getting a slice of the pie?
Keep the offering as low as they can manage. This not only means trying to keep prices down to attract customers, but also the FiT paid to those customers with solar.
Retailers may have other ways to sell e.g. percentage discount for paying on time. Maybe a few more percent discount for debiting a bank account, which has slightly lower fees than processing a credit card.
Wholesale Pricing Matters
What do the electricity generators actually make? This is important to understand, if we consider the panels on my rooftop to hold a value similar to the big boys.
Check out the second chart here from the knowledgeable @simonahac (and give him a follow because he knows his stuff).
three charts i made this week and an explanation of why they're significant in today's @renew_economyhttps://t.co/Kve8DMSgxp pic.twitter.com/GLfERUmGQh
— simon holmes à court (@simonahac) October 20, 2017
The dollar values above those green bars represent the average spot price per Megawatt hour of electricity in the NEM. In his words: "the average of each day's volume-weighted average price received by the entire generation fleet's delivery into the NEM."
The average* of those five dollar values is a tick over $90.00 / MWh. Dividing by 1000 gives us a price of around $0.09 / kWh.
If that is what I get paid as a generator, I need to make profit on that, so I need to find the best way to deliver appropriate volume.
That is important when we consider the next major leg of the argument.
* Yes I'm fully aware that averaging a set of averages is not accurate because of volumes in each primary set. Just go with it.
Reliability Matters
OK, so let's assume for a second the "power companies" are all money-hungry, price-gouging fat cats swimming through a pool of cash.
I group generators and retailers together in that statement, because most people don't understand the difference.
BUT its significant to get your head around the concept, because of the way the NEM operates. Read about that here, without worrying about ancillary services just at this point.
In summary: retailers bid for large volumes (MWh) of generator output, which is based on a forecast. In doing so, retailers expose themselves to financial risk. They need to find that sweet spot to on-sell smaller volumes (at a higher rate) to their customers.
Market volatility can be huge, and as a retail you've got competitors. This is not as simple as selling widgets down the Sunday markets.
You can read the details if you like about wholesale pricing in the NEM.
As a random dude/dudette with solar panels on my roof, I'm already getting paid a fairly competitive rate compared to wholesale market spot price. If the big boys get around 9 cents, my 12 cents is pretty sweet.
There is no way I can enter the market with promised volumes like a big generator. Similarly, I can't guarantee exactly when I'll be able to provide my paltry 0-20kWh per day.
Is 8 to 12 cents per kWh a fair price, given I don't meet a lot of the criteria for market supply? I'd say its in the ballpark. I'm around where the wholesale price is, after all.
A side point here that the average person doesn't understand: small consumers pay their electricity rates differently to big consumers.
A big consumer will pay what looks like a very small rate – often under 10 cents per kWh. Its a volume discount, effectively.
The catch is that the number of kWh they are charged for is based on the peak number of kWh consumed in a half-hour period that month.
If a business has one bad day in summer where all the air conditioners and machinery are running, they'll get stung, and hard. The retailer may only look like making a couple of cents on each kWh, but if they're charging on the peak consumption, a lot of kWh are empty space. They never arrived.
As big consumers become more savvy, and introduce measures to monitor and control those peaks, they can pare back these costs. Retailers might lose margin. Its a game of chess.
A FiT Analogy
Disclaimer: I am not wired to provide good analogies, so let's get this over with…
Let's say you run a taxi service, and for argument's sake we'll call it Wholesale Taxis. Your taxi will run any time of day, turn up on time to bookings, and take the most effective route to the destination. You charge $10 per trip for this service.
Let's say I've got a taxi service, and I'll call it Rooftop Taxis. My taxi only runs during the day – and goes at half pace (or not at all) when its raining. If a cloud comes over, my taxi will slow right down, and you might miss that meeting you booked me for.
Would you pay the same $10 for that trip? Not likely. I'd have to cut my rates to reflect what I am likely to deliver.
I can still be useful, but I'm not going to get business ahead of Wholesale Taxis, because of the risks my service presents.
Bad analogy over.
Hold Up There, Haters …
Before you conservative types go using that analogy as an argument against the reliability of renewables, keep in mind I'm only talking about small scale producers here i.e. rooftop solar PV, or those rare beasts with domestic wind operations.
This isn't a reliability problem; its an issue around intermittent behaviour for the market to manage.
And if you want to talk about "baseload", read this instead, and get back if you gain understanding.
Increasing FiT Value
I don't think FiT should increase. I think things are fairly good the way they are, with prices in the ballpark of the wholesale market.
I'm of the opinion that FiT in either gross or net guises is probably on the way out.
Introducing generation capacity that doesn't operate through the NEM needs management. That requires a lot of systems to be able to handle abrupt changes in the network.
A link I provided above to the NEM wholesale pricing talks about ancillary services. One of these services is Frequency Control Ancillary Services, or FCAS. It is extremely important from two perspectives:
- Introduction of supply that can be intermittent (mostly renewables)
- Evolution of the grid from metronomic consumption to demand response
The first point has been done to death. The second point is key.
While a few of our politicians would like to pretend its still 1950, the Australian grid has moved on. Coal stations are reaching end of life, or are well past it. Generators are exiting the coal market in Australia, and with good reason.
In the race to build new energy#wind fast#solar faster
& #batteries will be faster again#Coal has started a fast exit#auspol pic.twitter.com/izsVxNTiYi
— Prof Ray Wills (@ProfRayWills) October 22, 2017
(Also follow Prof Willis – he is another bloke who knows his stuff).
At the same time, consumption patterns of users are changing, which render slow-response systems like coal and nuclear of limited value.
It takes hours for a coal or nuclear power station to respond to demand changes. Even gas stations take minutes to vary output, and the new grid needs it in seconds.
Technology is moving to address this, in order to better integrate renewables and other sources into the wider grid in Australia.
Schemes to control demand, including those backed at the highest levels, will assist the grid in coping with peaks.
A measure of stability will still be required, though, particularly from multiple, small generators. What is needed is a way to buffer power and hold it back for peaks.
Storage FTW!
Yes, as a Powerwall owner, with Reposit Power GridCredits hooked up, I was always going this way. But it makes a whole lot of sense.
As solar and battery prices continue to fall, a new resource is growing in the market: the Virtual Power Plant (VPP). I've covered this before, and have not yet seen any convincing argument against it.
Besides Reposit Power, companies like GreenSync, PowerLedger, and even inverter manufacturers like SolarEdge are looking at multi-site power trading and optimisation for solar PV and batteries.
Would the market continue to purchase intermittent solar PV from small producers, where enough battery storage exists in the NEM?
I believe the market players would tend toward the reliability of supply that storage offers. Importantly, batteries can report back how much they've got, and how much they can deliver.
Consumers would leverage their investment in battery technology, and participate in the market, at better rates than they get now. Perhaps a pure solar FiT would still exist, but not at the levels we have today.
It may not be enough, though. That's where the big boys step in, and start using hydroelectric power as the world's biggest battery (sorry, Elon).
While hydro power is not perfectly green, as some believe, it represents a step forward to a lower-carbon future.
In Australia, several people in the know are looking at pumped hydro, which is a form of large-scale storage that doesn't require a natural river source.
Excess solar or wind during the day can be used to pump water uphill. At night, or on demand, the turbines can spin the other way to send electricity out.
Even on the driest inhabited continent, there are enough pumped hydro options to help our grid to 100% renewable energy within two decades. Using wind, solar, and pumped hydro together could be a very feasible answer.
Financing them in the face of fossil-fuelled opposition is the road block. Particularly when our federal government cannot formulate energy policy.
Storing electricity is going to be critical as the grid evolves. The role of a standard FiT for small energy producers is, in my opinion, up for review.


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Interview date: 12.03.15
Sally Asher is an author, historian, and photographer. In this podcast, Sally talks about her latest book, Stories from the St. Louis Cemeteries of New Orleans. Sally began her research into New Orleans cemeteries following a lecture engagement on a cruise ship. During the lecture about New Orleans, she realized that her audience was more interested in cemeteries than any other topic. Once Sally began her research, she learned how difficult finding specific people in cemeteries can be, in part because cemeteries often have no street signs as points of reference. In this interview, Sally recounts how she discovered a fascinating story about a skydiver who is buried in St. Louis No. 2 cemetery.
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Thanks to the properties of jasmine tea we can reduce cholesterol, promote blood circulation and prevent the appearance of clots that can promote strokes. Jasmine tea is a variety of tea that has been consumed for generations in Southeast Asia. Jasmine tea is produced by infusing green tea with the fragrance of jasmine flowers. It is also possible to use other varieties of tea, although green tends to be the most common. We have always heard about the jasmine as a flower, without knowing the wonderful benefits that this plant hides. For this reason, drinking jasmine tea on a regular basis helps us avoid many conditions.
Jasmine tea can cause a sedative effect helping the mood, reducing stress and preserving emotional health. Its astringent and analgesic properties help in the relief of the annoying symptoms of menopause and menstrual pains. Having jasmine tea is a good option, especially nowadays, to avoid diseases that may affect our work performance, studies and our daily life. Consuming jasmine tea has been passed down from generation to generation in the world. The benefits of drinking jasmine tea are very favourable for our body, eliminating stress, anxiety and cholesterol problems. Ingesting it is appropriate for those people with weak spirits and who are in situations that require physical and mental effort.
Different types of jasmine tea may have varying fragrance levels. To produce teas with strong flavours, the tea leaves are mixed with jasmine flowers repeatedly until the desired result is achieved. In addition to flavour and fragrance, drinking jasmine tea offers several health benefits.
- Stress-and-tension
The soothing effect of green tea, combined with the scent of jasmine, is very beneficial in relieving stress. This helps fight anxiety and tension. It can also reduce pain symptoms, such as those with headaches and muscle aches. Some studies have shown that the scent of jasmine can lower the heart rate and produce a calming effect that calms the senses.
- It decreases the risk of cancer
Jasmine tea is high in antioxidants and fights free radicals that are formed in the body. Free radicals are harmful to man and can accelerate the ageing process. It has also been shown that free radicals have a relationship with the development of cancer. By reducing it in the body you also get to effectively reduce the chances of developing cancer. Antioxidants also play an important role in delaying the ageing process.
- Reduce cholesterol
Cholesterol is a sterol that is found in the body tissues and in the blood plasma of vertebrates. It occurs in high concentrations in the liver, spinal cord, pancreas and brain. It has been proven that jasmine tea reduces the accumulation of cholesterol and unhealthy fats in our body. It also prevents the formation of bad cholesterol. This reduces the risk of heart disease, as well as stroke.
- Reduces the chances of getting colds and flu
Drinking jasmine tea has antiviral and antibacterial properties that help in the prevention of colds and flu. The general opinion is that gargling with this infusion can prevent such diseases. Its consumption can also help to have an earlier recovery of such ailments.
- Jasmine tea helps you lose weight
Jasmine tea for years has been used for the treatment of many diseases. Currently, its consumption has increased due to its multiple benefits. Recent studies have shown that taking jasmine tea helps reduce fat cells in the body. This is a benefit for individuals who want to lose weight quickly. At the same time, it helps you maintain your body weight if you always accompany it with an adequate diet. You can drink jasmine tea after meals as it helps you improve digestion and stimulates gastric secretions. It is also recommended to speed up the metabolism, helping to eliminate body fluids.
Some studies have shown a relationship between the consumption of jasmine tea and the reduction of fat cells in the body. This can help people achieve their weight loss goals more quickly. In addition, it helps maintain body weight, provided it is accompanied by a proper diet.
- Promotes the development of beneficial bacteria
In addition to the fight against bacteria, jasmine tea is beneficial for the formation of good bacteria, which help the body in several important tasks such as digestion. Because of this, drinking this drink improves intestinal resistance and also helps in the prevention of diseases such as diarrhoea, gastric diseases, cholera and ulcers, among others.
- Regulates the circulation
Drinking jasmine tea is beneficial for the improvement of blood circulation. It helps prevent some diseases such as blood clots, arterial plaques, brain damage, thrombosis, high blood pressure and strokes.
- Regulates insulin production
It is believed that the consumption of jasmine tea reduces the chances of developing diabetes. Drinking jasmine tea regulates sugar levels and the formation of insulin in the body. This infusion can also be beneficial for reducing blood sugar levels even in diabetics.
Benefits of drinking jasmine tea during pregnancy
During pregnancy, ingesting jasmine tea is very appropriate since it contains beneficial antioxidants. However, it should be taken into account that it contains caffeine, so you should consult your doctor, as it is possible that you recommend dispensing with caffeine in your diet.
Jasmine tea for sleeping
Drinking jasmine tea to sleep relaxes us and frees us from tensions, thanks to its properties to calm anxiety and nerves. This type of tea is very desirable thanks to its sweet flavour. You can prepare it combined with green tea and take it 3 times a day.
The benefits of jasmine tea are many, and then we will mention the properties and benefits when consuming it:
- It has analgesic properties: consuming jasmine tea can help relieve headaches, menstrual, etc, thanks to its contribution in salicylic acid that acts as an analgesic for our body.
- For aromatherapy: adding some dried flowers to an infusion of tea, will give a unique flavour and aroma.


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Friday, December 25, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Trogan nest
The remains of a black-tailed trogan egg down in the dark cavern of a termite nest. I used the flash for light.
Labels: Amazon River, Animals, Birds, Bosque Santa Lucia, Forest, Nature photography, Santarém, Termites, Woods
Wasp nest
I found this wasp nest on the ground. I assume the stem to which it was attached up in a tree must have broken off in the wind. There were a lot of ants on the paper-like nest, so I assume there were still remains of some edible inside.
Ants on Capparidaceae
I posted an image of this plant with flowers and fruit recently and marked it as an unidentified tree or shrub. I thank Giovanni Signorini for identifying it as a member of the Capparidaceae family. Mostly ants on the fruit, but notice the other small insect on the bottom left.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Dryness, continued
Labels: Amazon River, Animals, Bosque Santa Lucia, Butterflies, Forest, Insects, Santarém
This past week I was "shooting the bull" with some of our woodsmen under the shade of an old jack fruit tree, when I spotted José Garcia passing by with a string of horses. About fifteen minutes later he passed us again and headed off on another trail. "What's he up to?", I asked one of the woodsmen. "He looking for grass" he responded. I guess there was none around. It's been very dry in this part of the Amazon. Only one good rain in the last two months, which occurred at the end of October. Prior to that we had gone a full two months without rain. Although we got a light rain last night, the weatherman says it's going to be the middle of January before we get wet.
Labels: Amazon River, Animals, Bosque Santa Lucia, Community, Foods, Nature photography, People, Rain, Santarém, Weather
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Wild passion fruit, continued
I've included this image to show the leaves on this wild passion fruit vine. I don't know the species, unfortunately. I know that there are at least four different ones at Bosque Santa Lúcia.
Wild passion fruit, continued
I forgot that I had taken a picture of the wild passion fruit vine from another angle. If my eyes are playing tricks on me, all three stages of development are on the same vine. Click on the image for an enlargement.
Wild passion fruit
This scene was a bit unusual. Passion fruit in three different stages of development, the bud, the flower and the fruit. All on the same vine? I thought so at the time I took the picture, but it's possible that there's more than one vine. I'll have another look.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Ground orchid
I can't find the name of this ground orchid in my files, but I remember it was given to me by a neighbor, who brought it from a tropical savanna environment near the Tapajos River. This is the first time that it's bloomed. It'll be producing better flowers in the future, I think. Dust is a major factor right now.
Bloom and fruit
Friday, December 11, 2009
Last Saturday I received a busload of passengers from a cruise ship moored in Alter do Chão, some 33 kilometers from Santarém. As the bus came to a halt at the entrance to the Bosque, I heard the sounds of a guide speaking over a load speaker system, but at a higher pitch than normal. Suddenly, Nelis, the English speaking guide, jumped off the bus with his 16 passengers and they all headed across the road, a route never taken on our tours. From a distance I saw everyone looking up into the trees. "Hum, monkeys", I thought. As it turned out, Nelis had spotted a sloth, right from the bus. Some of the woodsmen took the animal from the tree and brought it over to the reception center, as seen in the image. A beautiful sloth. Look at those nails!
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Young parrot, continued
Here's another look at our young friend. She's standing on a barbecue pit next to the back porch of the Bosque reception center. Later she climbed down and then up a relatively high hibiscus plant. At some point I looked over in that direction to see the parrot being dive-bombed by a family of social flycatchers. It was quite a show and I'm sorry to say that I didn't get a picture of the event. The poor parrot didn't stand a chance, so she flew down to brush some meters away.
Young parrot
One of our neighbor's kids brought his new pet over for me to see yesterday, a young parrot. At first I thought it might be a festive parrot, but now I have my doubts. I'll have to do some research. Interesting that the kid's nickname is "Pagagaio", which means parrot. He came by that name because when he was younger he was never much for talking, but he was attentive like a parrot, moving his head from side to side as he watched others. That's Papagaio in the background.
Labels: Amazon River, Animals, Birds, Bosque Santa Lucia, Forest, Nature photography, People, Santarém, Woods
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Brazil nuts, continued
Brazil nuts
That's Paulinho, one of the local guides assigned to the cruise ship, showing off Brazil nuts. Down below in the red shirt with a machete is Carlos, one of our woodsmen. Hew doesn't talk much, but it's not an easy job opening those pods.
Labels: Amazon River, Bosque Santa Lucia, Foods, Forest, Nature photography, Nuts, People, Santarém, Seeds, Tapajós River, Woods
Visitors from a cruise ship following their guide over to my "getaway house" to see some young tarantulas which have made their home behind a painting.
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Milk En Train
Such a sweet photoshoot from Milk Magazine photographer, Elisabeth Toll. The kids are on a trompe-l'oeil painted train headed for a Versailles Christmas. Beautiful! Some of the styling reminds me of Wes Anderson in a big way. More HERE.
Images courtesy of Milk. Photography by Elisabeth Toll.
Photos: Elisabeth Toll
Style: Melanie Hoepffner
Still Life photos: Claire Israel