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Supersonic SC-259 9 TFT Portable DVD/CD/MP3 Player with TV Tuner, USB &am
9 TFT Color Display Built-in ATSC Digital/NTSC TV Tuner Built-in USB Input Built-in SD Card Slot Play DVD/Film CD, Inter-Dynamic Full Motion Video DVD/CD, Music CD and MP3 Built-in Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery Built-in Speaker AC Adapter For Home Use 12 Volts DC Adapter For Car Use Screen Mode 16:9 and 4:3 Headphone Jack Rod Antenna Fast Forward, Backward, Slow Motion Play, Search and Repeat Functions Driving Active Matrix ESP (Electronic Shock-Proof) for DVD/VCD/CD/MP3 Standard Audio And Video Line Output, Connects to TV or Any Audio Amplifier Full Function Remote Control. Visit my website for more great deals! The item "Supersonic SC-259 9 TFT Portable DVD/CD/MP3 Player with TV Tuner, USB &am" is in sale since Thursday, December 08, 2016. This item is in the category "Consumer Electronics\TV, Video & Home Audio\DVD & Blu-ray Players". The seller is "mrh7286" and is located in Santa Clarita, California. This item can be shipped to United States.
- Brand: Not specified
- MPN: Does not apply


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Introduction: Motorized System for Raising and Lowering Hanging Plants
Hanging plants are a great way to add some green around your house. But there are a lot of great locations for hanging plants that are just too inconvenient to utilize. For instance if you have really high ceilings, you don't want to have to get up on a ladder every day to water them.
So I designed a simple system for raising and lowering hanging plants with an electric motor. That way you can raise them up to the desired height. Then whenever you want to water them, just press the button to lower them down to a convenient working height.
Step 1: Watch the Video
Here is a video walkthrough of the project.
Step 2: Materials
Here are the materials and tools that you will need for this project.
Hanging Plant
DC Motor
DC Power Supply (that matches the power requirements of your motor)
Aluminum Tubing (inner diameter should be slightly bigger than the motor shaft)
Machine Screws that match the holes on the motor housing
Small Box for the Winch Housing
Small Box for the Switches
DPDT (double pole double throw) switches
Momentary Push Button Switch
Heat Shrink Tubing
Insulated Copper Wire
Small Piece of Transparent Plastic
Wood Screws
Skateboard Bearing
7/8" hole saw
Screw Driver
Wire Cutters
Wire Strippers
Soldering Iron and Solder
Drill and Bit Set
Step 3: Select a Motor
The first thing that you need to do is select a DC motor. I recommend using a gearhead motor. This is a DC motor that has a gearbox already built onto it. This greatly increases the amount of torque that the motor can output. All the gearing also makes it much harder to manually turn the shaft of the motor. This is very good when you want to hang something from the shaft because you don't want the plant to pull itself back down as soon as you turn off the motor.
The most important feature to consider is the torque rating of the motor. This will determine how heavy of a plant it will be able to raise. Torque ratings are usually listed in either in-lbs or cm-g or N-m. This is the force that it can apply at a certain distance from the center of the shaft. For instance a 10 in-lb torque can apply 10 pounds of force at a distance or 1 inch or a force of 1 pound at a distance of 10 inches from the center of the shaft. So figure out how much your plant weighs with the soil wet. Then measure the radius of the shaft. Multiply these two together. This will tell you the minimum torque that your motor would need in order to raise your plant. But I recommend getting a motor that is much stronger than this so that it won't stall in operation. Remember to match the units of your calculation to the units of the motor's rating.
Step 4: Build or Purchase a Small Box for a Winch Housing
Next we need a small box to serve as the housing of the winch. You can purchase small plastic boxes at most hardware stores or electrical supply stores.
You can also build a box out of wood or metal. Here is a simple tutorial on how to make a basic wooden box:
Step 5: Drill Holes in the Winch Housing for the Motor
In order to mount the motor to the winch housing, we need to drill a few holes. We need one large hole for the shaft of the motor and we need 4 small holes for the mounting screws. All of these holes need to have exactly the right spacing between them so that they will line up with the motor.
The easiest way to mark the locations for the holes is with a piece of clear plastic. Start by cutting a large hole in the plastic for the the shaft. Then fit the piece of plastic onto the motor so that it sits on the front face where he mounting screw holes are. Then firm hold the plastic onto the face of the motor. Using a needle or a drill bit poke a hole in the plastic at the center of each screw hole. When you are done you will have a template of the holes that you can use to mark the hole locations onto the side of the winch housing.
Hold the plastic template up to the side of the winch housing and use a pencil to mark the location of each hole. Then use your drill to drill the appropriate size hole in each location.
Step 6: Make the Winch Shaft
In most cases, the shaft of your motor will not be long enough to act as the shaft of the winch. So you will need to extend it by adding a piece of aluminum tubing.
Start by using a saw or Dremel to cut the tube so that it is the same width as the winch housing. Then line one end up with the shaft of the motor and mark where the pin hole will line up. Drill a small hole through the tube in this location. If you have trouble getting the hole started, you can first dent to tube with a nail. This will create a small recess where the drill bit can sit and bite into the side of the tube. Insert a small machine screw through this hole a tighten a nut on the other side.
If you motor doesn't have a pin hole on the drive shaft you may need to attach the tube with glue.
Step 7: Mount the Motor Onto the Winch Housing
Now we need to make one last hole in the winch housing so that we can mount the motor and the shaft. The shaft of the winch needs to be supported on both ends. One end will be supported by the motor. To support the other end, we will drill a hole in the housing opposite the motor so that the wall can support it. To reduce friction, I also added a skateboard bearing.
Start by measuring the location of the motor shaft hole. Then in the same location the opposite side, drill a small guide hole. Then using a 7/8 hole saw, cut a 7/8 hole centered on the first hole. Before drilling, I put a piece of masking tape over the wood. This helps to reduce how much the wood splinters when drilled. Then take the skateboard bearing and glue it into the hole that you just made.
Once the glue is dry, insert the shaft through the center of the bearing. Then secure the motor in place with the mounting screws.
Step 8: Cut a Hole in the Winch Housing for the Rope
Now you need to cut a hole in the winch housing for the rope. Because I was using bass wood, I just cut a rectangular hole with a knife.
Step 9: Connect the Motor to the Switch
Now you are ready to connect the motor to the switch. In order for the switch to be able to make the motor go in both directions, we need to use a DPDT (double pole double throw) switch. The center pins are connected to the terminals of the motor and the outer pins are connected to the power supply. But the outer pins are wired in the opposite polarity from each other. That way the switch will change the polarity of the motor when it is flipped.
The best kind of switch to use is a three position switch where the center position is off (not connected to any of the outer pins). If you have a two position switch, then you will need to add a momentary switch that will act as the on/off button. This is what I had to do.
Step 10: Assemble the Control Panel
The last part that needs to be constructed is the control panel. To make this, mount all the switches onto the front of a plastic housing. Then cut slots in the sides for the power cords and wires.
You can set up as many switches as you want. Each switch will control a different plant winch. I set up three sets of switches because I wanted to control three hanging plants.
Step 11: Mount the Winch to the Ceiling
To attach the winch to the ceiling, I used two drywall screws. To prevent the wood from cracking of slitting I drilled pilot holes in the winch housing and the ceiling. Then I put the screws through the winch housing and into the ceiling.
Step 12: Mount the Control Panel to the Wall
How you mount the control panel will depend on the kind of wall that you want to mount it to. If the surface is wood or drywall, you can use plane wood screws. If the wall is brick or cement you can use masonry screws. You can also use glue.
There are a number of glues that you can use. Hot glue will bond to brick but you need to use a lot of it. Other glues such as guerrilla glue will have a stronger bond but it takes a while to set. To hold it in place, you can tape the control panel to the wall while the glue sets. You can also use a combination of hot glue and other glues. Hot glue can hold it in place while the stronger glue sets.
Step 13: Use Your Motorized Plant Hanger to Raise and Lower Your Plants
Now just attach your plant to the string and your motorized plant hanger is ready to use. Press the down button. Then press the momentary switch if you are using a two position switch. Your plant will lower until it is at a good working height. You can then easily water it.
To raise the plant back up, just press the up button. Press the momentary switch (if you are using a two position rocker switch). Then the motor will pull the plant back up. You can that up as many plant as you want. You just need a switch for each one.
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6 Discussions
The wireing diagram is for a 3 position switch, how did you wire it with a button and a two position switch?
The second picture has the diagram for a two position switch.
Nice. However, I would've have used gears (perhaps from a salvaged DVD / CD reader) to be able to increase the torque, rather than just using the shaft directly.
The gearhead motor has the gears built into it.
Why isn't this on YouTube?
It is. When they first post the video on YouTube it is set to "Unlisted" and doesn't appear on the channels public video feed. They do this to check for problems and get all the links set up before making the video "Public." But I had access to the direct URL so I was still able to embed it in the Instructable even though it wasn't yet visible on their channel.

subset: commoncrawl


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Here at Movista, our office hours officially start at 8:00 A.M. Now, here's the advice I was given: "Leaders get here at 7:00 A.M."
Impactful, right?! Now go and be fruitful, my friends! Tattoo that advice on your body, get to work by 7 in the morning, and prosper to the fullest while we raise a drink to your new-found success.
All joking aside, there is a lot more to this than just an expectation. What Stan was telling me is: leaders will do more than what's expected.
What was expected of me and everyone else who just wants to achieve mediocrity are things like:
- get to work by 8:00 A.M.
- do your daily work routine
- be a good employee (read: be a good human being)
But here is where the impact comes into play. As a reminder, the advice is "Leaders get here at 7:00 AM."
- Be at work earlier than expected and stay later than expected!
- Don't look at work as a routine. Make it fun and exciting - and oh by the way, do it with excellence!
- Go above and beyond with your customers and co-workers. Start with smiling and converse with them!
- Help out other teams in the office - you are capable of more than what you were hired to do!
- Clean up after yourself and sometimes, you'll get to serve others by cleaning up after them!
- Be encouraging! We all know work is stressful - be a light amidst the chaos!
- Jump into the trenches and dig - be present!
To do all of the above requires you to be more, to do more and to expect more of yourself. You'll have to make some changes to your process to make it happen. You'll even have to change some things at home to become this leader at work and vice versa. I promise you, the effort is worth it. It will improve your work and home life. The people around you will be thankful for your new found leadership qualities. Don't believe me? Please, be my guest and prove me wrong by trying it out.
I'll leave you with this: you will not become a leader simply because you are physically "here" at 7:00 AM. You get "here" at 7:00 AM because you are a leader!
Lead well, my friends!


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Hybrid Minds Perfect The Vocal Roller With Elements
Posted by Ben on 7th July 2017
The vocally-driven, sumptuous side of drum n bass is an area that's thriving. Partly due to its commercial success which can sometimes be a bad thing, but also because there's just so much out there, with lots of it sounding incredible. Take GLXY's new single, for example.
Hybrid Minds, whilst obviously not just making vocal music, have always been better than most at producing it. Tracks like New Orleans and Trauma from their debut album exemplify that well enough, whilst their feature on Cut Me Loose by Bcee remains a long-term favourite of mine. Simply put, these two are adept at combining the human passion of voice with the gritty forcefulness of 170 bpm music.
Their second album has been in the pipeline for a while, and seeing it come out on their new imprint Hybrid Music has made its release all the sweeter. What's it like, then? As good as Mountains? That's a tough ask and whilst I'm not sure they've accomplished it unequivocally, Elements is certainly an album that shines brighter in many respects.
Some of its innards have been available for a little while, with one of the choicest being Touch which dropped as a single in May last year. Touch is one of four featuring Tiffani Juno who's voice encapsulates the vibe aimed for throughout, possessing melancholia and joyous energy in equal measure. She's fantastic in Touch, but even more so in Secret Place. Nervous, skittery percussion keeps it rhythmically engaging, fitting the vocals like a glove and ensuring they're not overpowered, whilst bass inserts provide that needed underbelly. Sonically divine is a fairly disingenuous term, but it applies here, as Secret Place folds in delicate instrumentation to create a truly rich texture of sounds.
There a few vocalists I'm always excited to see listed on a track, and Rocky Nti is most definitely one of them. There's no way he couldn't be after his work with the likes of Bcee or Etherwood and his talent is on full display in Pretend, an echo chamber of emotion driven by Rocky, a soaring but subtle string section and mamba guitar flicks that wouldn't be out of place in an insurance advert, but somehow tie Pretend up together perfectly.
As we've said on numerous occasions, albums with rhythmic diversity always make for more interesting listening. Hybrid Minds have pulled this off here as Home demonstrates, featuring Linguistics off his Tea Break and on an atmospheric run of verbal sparring over another impossibly rich sonic weave. Almost veering into spoken word territory, Home makes up for its lack of speed with purist emotive force, a showcase of how going downtempo should be done. Skin & Bones is the other 'slow' track, a shimmering lounger, precisely relaxed and swirling with featherweight adjustments. More excellent vocals from Grimm along with a production credit to Laurence Baker, it's not the most exciting or daring, yet conjures up feelings you feel uncomfortable sharing. A pair of tear-jerkers, for sure.
This album is 15 tracks long, so there's plenty more for you to get your teeth into that I haven't covered here. As said at the beginning, it's clear from Elements that no one does emotive, vocal rollers quite like Hybrid Minds, as they masterfully combine piercingly strong voice with organic instrumentation and full-on basslines. Demons, Inside and Brighter Days are just three more highlights, let alone their ever-growing back catalogue. I'm also extremely excited for the day that Hybrid Music begins to release music from other, unknown artists who occupy the same lane considering the ear the duo must have for the style.
However, I really do think Elements would've benefited from a wider range, stylistically speaking. I can't help but compare it to Nu:Logic's Somewhere Between The Light, which covered many bases but more specifically, came up with a string of incredibly original instrumental tunes. We know Hybrid Minds are more than capable of doing the same, so it's slightly disappointing they chose to bring vocalists in on every single one of the tracks on Elements. Still, what they have decided to include is undoubtedly fantastic and a testament to the sheer musicality present in drum n bass at the moment.
Elements is out now on Hybrid Music, it's a gorgeous piece and definitely worth your time. Grab it from iTunes here.


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When is it worthwhile to have your property assessed? What makes an assessment good from a professional perspective? If youâve found yourself pondering these questions as either a property owner or a potential buyer, then you may find a few of points of interests in the following short synopsis.
Experiences with property assessment
Nowadays, most corporations only have an assessment prepared when necessitated by external reasons or compelling circumstances. A compelling factor can be, for instance, the bank in the case of a loan application, or the auditor in the case of a revaluation for accounting purposes. It is far less common to request an assessment in order to be aware of a propertyâs exact value. This is despite the fact that the value of properties constitute a decisive portion of most companiesâ assets. It should be obvious that strategic decisions made on the basis of an inaccurate asset value figure can result in substantial damages. For instance, property sold below its value not only generates lower proceeds, but it can also limit the opportunity to fund investments from sales proceeds. At the same time, in the case of a property offered for sale at prices well above a realistic market value, a failure to sell or a delay in the process can also have a negative impact on the planned investment.
It is a commonly held belief that the reason there is no demand for valuation expertise is that many companies have their own property experts, who are expected to be aware of the property values in question. At the same time, real estate professionals that are also employees are mostly unable to determine a realistic market value of a companyâs properties, since they are not independent. Such individuals estimate a propertyâs value primarily on the basis of the technical parameters or the value represented by using these. Furthermore, they rarely have the market awareness, data, or sales experience necessary for setting an accurate market value. Professionally reliable valuators hold a value database consisting of several hundred property items each, and their work is repeatedly supported by the sales activities of their client companies. On the basis of the above, it becomes understandable why there are differences in the property value expected by an owner and the value determined by a professional property valuator.
Therefore, it is worthwhile to assign an independent valuator (perhaps even within the framework of a long-term contract) to make assessments of the companyâs assets and keep a continuous record of these values. In addition to all these advantages, specific valuation needs at any given moment (such as the determination of collateral for loans) can be addressed quickly and at lower costs.
When we already have an assessment, the next task is to find out whether the valuation obtained is professionally acceptable.
Pick two
An old joke describes a consultant's advertisement that reads: âOur company is accurate, fast, and cheap. Out of these three features, our esteemed clients can pick two.â? Due to market competition, those seeking an assessment emphasize the need to have it prepared within the shortest time, at the lowest possible costs. These two expectations, however, deteriorate the level of professionalism and the reliability of the "mass produced" assessments thus prepared.
In addition to client requirements, legal constraints must of course also be met. In general terms, assessments must comply with regulation 25/1997.(VIII.1.)PM, and in the case of arable land, with regulation 54/1997.(VIII.1.)FM. Even though these regulations are mandatory only in the case of mortgage lending, it is worthwhile to rely on these in each assessment in the absence of other provisions, with the addition of any other necessary elements. The regulations make an attempt to localise existing international standards (e.g. EVS â European Valuation Standards) more or less successfully into Hungarian practice.
The types of valuations available (according to their content elements) are:
- Fully detailed.
- Data sheets, fixed format.
- Poor âvaluationsâ? on a few pages that do not comply with the PM (FM) regulations (mainly used at banks where the list of eligible valuators is long and thus the possibilities of filtering for quality are limited).
These are the assessments that best comply with the PM (FM) regulations and other provisions (e.g. TEGOVA), the calculations and the explanatory notes are communicated in textual and/or tabular format.
Data sheet valuations, also known as abbreviated valuations, enabling the fast implementation of large-volume valuations. These are prepared for special purposes (primarily in determining collateral for loans) or according to individual needs, their use is respectively limited.
Currently, the issue of property assessment is essentially not settled. Often, clients pick their valuators not on the basis of professional recognition (quality), but based on price or the foreknowledge that the valuator will indicate the value required for a given loan. As a result, there are many âvaluatorsâ? on the market (and also listed at banks) who prepare valuations that do not meet genuine professional standards. Unfortunately, this means that the selection process at banks does not always guarantee the professional quality of the assessments that are carried out. The main reasons for this are assignment fees established below the market rate and deadlines that are too short, both of which ignore the resources and time required for a proper valuation.
In addition, setting a value always carries certain subjective elements that cannot be replaced by any data, calculation method, or prescribed format. That is, those who do not have a clear understanding of the market situation and have no adequate experience might comply 100% with the requirements regarding form and substance, and the documentation thus prepared may be perfect from a formal point of view, but the valuation could still not be adequate for the purpose for which it was created. The trickiest thing, of course, is to determine where these insufficiencies lie.
In the continuation of our article, we will give an overview of the content elements and calculation methods applicable to property assessments, on the basis of which clients can begin to âassess the assessmentsâ?, as it were.
Ferenc Martonosi, Head of Valuation Division


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Date(s) - 14/12/2013
11:00 am - 3:00 pm
Local & international craftsmanship, gifts, food and drinks
Georgia Crook (paper & willow) – Charlotte Flower (chocolates) - Anne Gilchrist (prints & cards) – Dave & Gill Hunt (photography) – Andrew Hunter (paintings, prints & portable fowl) – Sue McGhie (paper lampshades) – Nausika Raes (porcelain jewellery) – Susanne Sporleder (Christmas wreaths & herbs) – Tombreck Farm Shop (farm produces) – Gabriella Varda (aloe vera products & massages) – Kate West (original jewellery & cards) – and more
FREE entry
The Big shed is on the north side of Loch Tay at Tombreck Farm. Coming from Killin, it's 6 miles east of Killin. Coming from Kenmore, it's 2 miles beyond Lawers village. Access is signposted from the main road.
More information on www.bigshed.org.uk


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THE Deparment of Agriculture (DA) 7 has warned local hog farmers not to practice swill feeding or feeding pigs food scraps from canned meat products.
This, as the DA alerted its Crisis Management Team (CMT) of a reported suspected animal disease that has been causing the death of backyard-grown pigs.
The DA couldn't immediately say if the cause was the contagious African Swine Fever (ASF).
"We are intensifying the campaign to stop the swill feeding. This is when we feed our swine canned meat products because we don't know if these meat products are from the affected countries. We don't know if those are contaminated," Melquiades Ibarra, DA 7 chief information officer, told SunStar Cebu Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019.
According to the DA, Central Visayas is the fifth biggest swine producer in the country while the Philippines is the eighth biggest swine producer in the world.
Ibarra said they were tasked by DA Manila to strengthen the preventive measures at entry ports like seaports, terminals and airports as the ASF virus can get carried by humans and things.
"According to our ASF coordinator, we have to continue our efforts in monitoring the entry ports in the region. We are also strengthening our efforts to regulate or stop swill feeding, especially at this time that we are not certain," he added.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar assured that they "are on top of the situation" and that they are "doing everything possible" to protect the animal industry, including the imposition of stricter quarantine measures at all ports of entry, airports and seaports.
He also called on all hog raisers to implement bio-security measures.
"We call on all hog raisers—commercial players and particularly those engaged in backyard operations—to strictly observe and practice good livestock practices, including the needed bio-security measures," he said in a statement on Aug. 20.
Dar said they received an incident report on Aug. 16 from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) about an "increased mortality of pigs raised by farmers in their backyards."
Dar said he has directed the BAI to send blood samples from the affected pigs to foreign laboratories and conduct further laboratory tests to determine the cause of animal death.
He said the crisis team will oversee the planning and implementation of appropriate measures to manage, contain and control the suspected animal disease or diseases.
The team has been ordered to work closely with key industry players and local government officials to manage the incident and carry out ground-level operations.
"We will institutionalize the active participation of the private sector and the local government units, and they will be part of the CMT from hereon to gain their full involvement and commitment, including other technical teams that will monitor and evaluate said recent events," he added. (with Sun Star Philippines)
SunStar website welcomes friendly debate, but comments posted on this site do not necessarily reflect the views of the SunStar management and its affiliates. SunStar reserves the right to delete, reproduce or modify comments posted here without notice. Posts that are inappropriate will automatically be deleted.
Do not use obscenity. Some words have been banned. Stick to the topic. Do not veer away from the discussion. Be coherent. Do not shout or use CAPITAL LETTERS!


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Alliance Photo Battle #3 Round 2 by VonZipper: Coffey vs Ezh
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and bloggers, commenters and trollers… welcome to the third Alliance Photo Battle. Here before your e-viewing eyeballs are the first two competitors in this digital gauntlet, both hoping to continue on for a shot at the grand prize from VonZipper. In case you need a refresher, here's how things are going to work.
– Two photos battle each week.
– Online viewers vote for the picture they think is best.
– Winning photo from each battle will be automatically entered into the final tournament.
– Losing photo will be forced to suffer in e-purgatory.
Start your MyBook/FaceSpace engines, 'cause the battling begins NOW!
This week we bring you round 2 of the 3rd Alliance Photo Battle. You make the choice of who captured the moment better. Leave a comment if you like the photos or if you think you could do better….
Photo #1 by Jordan Coffey
Photo #2 by Lesha Ezh
Which Photographer Deserves Moves on?
- Photo #2 by Lesha Ezh (73%, 275 Votes)
- Photo #1 by Jordan Coffey (27%, 100 Votes)
Total Voters: 375
Grand Prize provided by VonZipper


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United States
Mexico tariffs might energize Trump voters for 2020, but they won't reduce immigration
Trump's tariffs-for-crackdown tradeoff punishes Americans and Mexicans and doesn't fix the border. It's hard to imagine a more misdirected plan.
As Bolsonaro and Trump Target the Amazon, Indigenous Peoples Seek to Unite to Defend the Earth
In March, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro visited U.S President Donald Trump to discuss deepening relations between their countries. In their joint statement, the two presidents agreed to "catalyze investment in the Amazon region".
The OAS and Democracy
Almagro, who took office in 2015, has been one of the most aggressive leaders of the OAS in representing U.S. interests, often violating the OAS charter in the process. But the perverse violation of the organization's commitment to democracy in the name of democracy is not new.
"What does the program 'Remain in Mexico' mean and how does it differ from 'Mexico as safe third country'"
The Washington Post reports that the Trump administration has the support of the upcoming Mexican administration headed by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to drive a plan entitled "Remain in Mexico". This plan would consist of the applicants for exile who arrive to the Southern Border being returned to Mexico to wait for a resolution in their case in the United States' courts.


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Holiday Bazaar at McMinnville High School
Come check out the Holiday CTE Bazaar at McMinnville High School, December 10th through December 12th.
There will be something for everyone!
The McMinnville High School CTE programs are planning the first annual Holiday Bazaar to be held in CTE Building and the Main Entrance of the High School Monday through Wednesday, December, 10th – 12th, from 5 – 8 PM. If you'd like to come find some unique, hand-made gifts and complete some holiday shopping, pencil it in on your calendar now. All items at the bazaar are those that the CTE (Career Technical Education) students have created while in one of the pathways. You will find wonderful items such as handmade ceramics, crafts, artwork, interior décor, woodwork, baked holiday goods, textiles and laser cut items. Eight of our career pathways will be represented with their handcrafted goods at this first ever Holiday Bazaar. This Holiday Bazaar serves as a fundraiser that will benefit the students and Career Technical Programs at McMinnville High School. Not only will you find incredible gifts, you will be amazed by the craftsmanship. See you at the Holiday Bazaar!


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COVID-19: Please click here for updates related to temporary closures and Waves Hotel reopening.
We are excited to announce Elegant Hotels is now part of the Marriott portfolio. Please note Marriott Bonvoy earning & redemption will not be available until early 2021.
Kýma coffee bar and deli offers a rich selection of barista-brewed coffees, lattes, teas, and freshly-baked sweets. Our outlet also features a fresh selection of grab and go items such as pressed sandwiches, our signature Waves House salad and snacks.
Open daily 10:30am – 6pm
Sample Menu Here


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I think each of us knows this wise proverb, "Don't judge a book by its cover." In this case, this saying will have its full justification. Will this duel decide the winner? The result can be surprising ...
|(Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss No 6)
Calvin and you wizard ...
An additional advantage is the ease of use and full control over the amount of product applied. The whole is characterized by what I like the most, pure minimalism in a beautiful performance.
Price: 55 PLN, 250 ml
Hugo Boss No 6
The gel is slightly less efficient than Ck. It is due to the fact that the composition contains less active substances responsible for the formation of foam.
The main aroma is composed of citruses, apple, cinnamon, bergamot. In addition, we can find the smell of m, among others: sandalwood and cedar. The gel is very refreshing and the scent is obtained for a long time on the skin.
Important information that you will also find on the packaging - avoid contact with eyes. We return to the heart of the problem of both products. There is simply too much preserving or foaming agent in them.
A few words at the end
In addition, we have a lot of substances that improve the consistency and durability of the product. On the plus side, an ingredient such as Coco-Glucoside. This substance is very mild to the skin and mucous membranes. It soothes any irritant effects caused by surfactants.
Certainly the smell and performance speak for a plus of Ck gel. I personally used it to wash my hair. Washed off previously used for styling hair spray and styling paste which could not be successfully removed with other shampoos. All thanks to the substance (Polyquaternium-7). It is such an active substance that it will easily wash everything from our hair and give it shine.
If we follow other priorities, Ck wins. 10 is ok PLN more expensive, but it has 100 ml more than Hugo Boss. In addition, its packaging is simply nicer and more practical to use.


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Pinterest is awesome and everything, but there's something to be said about physically making the board and having it in a place where you'll see it every day. I truly believe that if we're constantly reminded of our goals, we'll be more mindful to make little steps along the way to accomplish them.
Something about that really clicked with me and I decided to do a little arts and craft project with some leftover magazines and poster board we had. Here's my finished inspiration board for 2012.
My mom and sister joined in the fun and Jules and Josh even made one of their own. I was quite pleased with the finished product and now I just need to figure out where to put it.
|I love how Julianna titled hers "What Jules will do in 2012"
Have you made an inspiration board before?
What are your hopes and plans for 2012?


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Panicky progressives are hyperventilating over their own false claim that Hobby Lobby is declaring 'war on women' by barring employees' access to birth control. Libs fear that the voters will eventually decide to put Obamacare out of its misery.
* Richard Viguerie on Twitter* ConservativeHQ on Facebook* Conservative TAKEOVER on Facebook
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Low FODMAP Mackerel Pate
This low FODMAP Mackerel pate is quick & easy to prepare and makes a delicious lunch.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 4 Servings 1x
- Category: Lunch
- Cuisine: British
- 2 small smoked mackerel fillets (212g)
- 60ml low-fat crème Fraiche
- 1 tsp low FODMAP horseradish
- Juice ½ lemon
- Pepper
- Using your hands, gently flake the mackerel fillets into a bowl and fold in the crème Fraiche.
- Add the lemon juice and some black pepper.
- Spoon into 4 small ramekins and cover with cling film. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.
Serve with vegetable sticks, fingers of wheat-free toast or pitta bread.
- Calories: 313Kcals
Keywords: Low FODMAP


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Page Title
I Chose Hunt Regional to Help Me Walk
Page Content
When Anthony Runnels had back surgery on July 1, he was certain it was going to improve his quality of life. After years of living with lower back pain, Runnels underwent lumbar spinal fusion at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Plano. Following a successful recovery from his back surgery, Runnels moved forward with another surgery in October—this time on his neck. He quickly realized that his recovery from the second surgery would not be as easy as the first.
On October 26, Runnels felt a burning sensation in his legs. His wife immediately called his surgeon in Plano who set up an appointment. Although it was difficult to move, Runnels remembers being able to get in the car by himself. But when they arrived in Plano, Runnels had trouble getting out of the car. By the time his appointment was over, he had lost all feeling in his legs.
Runnels was admitted to the hospital once again. Even as his doctors ran tests, they were unsure what was causing his sudden regression. He began receiving therapy in Plano, but it was difficult for his wife to travel back and forth from their home in Greenville. It was then that he decided to seek treatment at Hunt Regional Medical Center in Greenville.
"When I got there I couldn't walk or do anything on my own," said Runnels, adding that while in Plano, he fell and fractured his wrist, making his treatment even more difficult and limiting his ability to grip.
"I couldn't even move the wheelchair with my hands," he said.
Runnels began his stay as a patient in the acute rehabilitation unit at HRMC in November 2015. To his surprise, Dr. William Winn, rehab medical director, didn't think he needed surgery. While his previous medical team felt that surgery was his best option at recovery, Dr. Winn thought that an invasive surgery would only lead to more setbacks. Instead, a treatment plan was developed to include multiple intensive therapy protocols.
"At first, they had me use a regular walker and I could only go about 25-50 feet. Then I used the platform walker and could go 300 feet a day," said Runnels.
"With their help, I began to walk," he said.
His therapy included hand and leg exercises, weight-shifting, knee raises, marching, stair therapy, and learning to properly regain his balance. However, he says the best part of his patient experience was his interaction with the therapy staff.
"I appreciate the motivation they gave me and their determination to help me recover," he said, naming therapists Clarissa, Christopher, Clara, and Joe by their first name as if they were old friends.
"Joe helped me a lot. A whole lot. And so did my faith in the Lord," he said.
After a 42-day stay at Hunt Regional, Runnels was discharged not in a wheelchair, but on his own two feet. Now at home, Runnels is walking on his own and continuing his recovery through the help of home health therapists.
"I'm so happy to be mobile and am determined to keep getting better," said Runnels.
"I would have stayed 35 more days if they would have let me," he said.


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By Channel 5 Published: 09 Apr 2018 Audio: English
31-year-old Naomi started her hawker career in 2014 and since then, hasn't earned enough to take home a monthly salary. Even after roping in her 24-year-old brother to help her out, the stall is still struggling to survive. Can Chef Anthony Yeoh help their hawker dreams take off ? Address: SALT 51 Old Airport Road, Old Airport Road Food Centre #01-168
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Climate-vegetation feedbacks
While the climate affects vegetation, the reverse is also true. In some parts of the world this effect may be large enough to create positive feedback loops that lead to alternative stable states. Likely examples include the western Sahara and parts of the Amazon. At the same time small scale feedbacks can create local alternative stable states in vegetation.
We work with Victor Brovkin, Max Rietkerk and others on understanding how the interaction of such feedbacks at different scales affect the overall stability properties of the system.


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Ecosystem services, though vital for the future of U.S. agricultural production and profitability (Daily et al., 1997; Losey and Vaughan, 2006), are severely threatened by agricultural intensification (Butler et al., 2007; Power, 2010). Pollinator declines, persistent crop losses from pests, increases in crop and water contamination, and variable climate effects on projected food production have prompted major research and policy initiatives in the U.S. and Europe targeting sustainable crop production and biodiversity conservation (Balvanera et al., 2001; Bianchi et al., 2006; Tai et al., 2014). Introducing crop diversification schemes and maintaining or restoring vegetational diversity in agricultural landscapes are key elements for transformation in agricultural practices designed to mitigate negative trends set in place through intensification (Letourneau et al., 2011; Nicholls and Altieri, 2013; Andersson et al., 2014). Multiple benefits accrue from diversification and restorative practices; maximizing biological control of insect pests in agriculture requires stable habitat for beneficial insects and restricted use of insecticides, both of which in turn contribute to improved water quality, increased biodiversity, and elevated carbon sequestration (Nicholls and Altieri, 2007; Landis et al., 2008; Zhang et al., 2010; Meehan et al., 2011; Asbjornsen et al., 2014).
Habitat stability for natural enemies of insect pests increases biological control services in perennial crops (Southwood, 1977; Geiger et al., 2009), such as orchards and agroforestry systems (Alam et al., 2014), yet annual and short-cycle cropping systems remain particularly vulnerable to insect pest outbreaks (Wiedenmann and Smith, 1997; Letourneau and Altieri, 1999). Habitat disturbance (soil fumigation, tillage, bare fallow, rapid harvests) disrupts community development (Landis and Menalled, 1998; Letourneau, 1998), thus forcing beneficial insects into patterns of 'cyclic colonization' from refuge habitats (Wissinger, 1997). If these refugia are unavailable within a suitable distance from emerging pest irruptions, the abundance and diversity of beneficial insects is reduced along with the pest control services they provide in crop fields (Barbosa and Benrey, 1998). With annual vegetables being among the most highly disturbed (more frequent tillage and harvests than corn, wheat and soy) and pesticide-intensive production systems, potential benefits of enhancing parasitoid diversity, biological control services and reduced pesticide dependence are considerable. Clearly, the conservation, restoration, or establishment of on-farm or surrounding vegetation is a promising area of research and policy development (Ehler, 1998; Thies et al., 2003; Landis et al., 2005; Chaplin-Kramer et al., 2011; Thies et al., 2011).
Although the Monterey Bay region has not experienced the levels of intensification seen with crops in California's central valley or in the corn belt of the Mid-West, there have been pressures on growers in recent years to create 'sterile farming conditions' as a way to reduce the probability of pre-harvest microbial contamination in fresh produce. We call attention here to the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2014 and other policies enacted in response to the 2006 disease outbreak caused by enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (Migula) Castellani and Chalmers O157-H7 in California spinach. One measure that was implemented on the Central Coast region was the removal of non-crop vegetation around agricultural fields in an attempt to reduce wildlife movement into leafy greens production areas. Sutherland et al. (2012) recognized these measures as among the top emerging issues for biodiversity conservation. Furthermore, loss of associated ecosystem services is of concern if non-crop vegetation surrounding fields increases natural enemies of pests and other beneficial insects in ephemeral crops (Marino et al., 2006; Tscharntke et al., 2008; Chaplin-Kramer et al., 2011). We reported previously a positive association between non-crop habitat in farm landscapes and parasitoid fly diversity in organic crop fields (Letourneau et al., 2012).
Here, we examine more broadly the associations between non-crop vegetation surrounding central coast vegetable fields, parasitoid diversity and parasitism rates of pest insects. We combined specific vegetation types into categories that match those used by Karp et al. (2015) in their study of microbial contamination and landscape vegetation composition. Given their documented decrease in non-crop vegetation and increase in cropland after the 2006 E. coli contamination event, we asked the following specific questions about parasitoids we captured in fields in 2005: (1) Was there a relationship between the number of species of parasitoids visiting vegetable crops and the amount of cropland versus non-crop vegetation surrounding those fields? (2) If so, is there evidence that riparian habitat or other natural vegetation around farm fields increased the diversity of different types of parasitoids in farm fields? (3) Were the habitats around the farms associated with parasitoid diversity for different kinds of insect herbivore hosts? (4) Was the relative amount of insect pest mortality due to parasitoids associated with landscape vegetation characteristics? Our results complement the study by Karp et al. (2015) of non-crop vegetation removal for food safety by examining the implications of such interventions for beneficial insects and pest control services.
Parasitoid fly and wasp richness and parasitism levels were measured in California certified organic crop fields located on coastal terraces and valleys within a 1,500 Km2 area near the Monterey Bay. Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito counties are highly productive agriculturally and have a disproportionately high number of organic growers farming ∼40% of the acreage in vegetable production (Nicoletti, 2014). The region also supports a high diversity of native plant species in wetlands, chaparral, oak woodlands and coastal prairies (Press et al., 1996). Our sample fields represented land under production by 25 growers listed in the directory of California Certified Organic Farmers as producers of cole crops and/or lettuce. Crop fields had vegetable rotations, including up to 10 varieties of broccoli, cabbage, kale, arugula or other cole crops, lettuces, and some mixed cropping of melon, squash, cucumbers, carrots, beets, tomato and strawberry.
Fields exist within landscapes encompassing a diverse array of vegetation types and other land uses ranging from primarily homogenous cover of annual crops to primarily forest trees and native shrubs (Fig. 1). Using color-infrared and black-and-white digital aerial orthophotos (courtesy of the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments) in a GIS, ranging from six-inch to two-foot resolution, we manually digitized, characterized, and then measured the percent cover of each type of vegetation within a 1500m radius circle around the center (geometric mean center from crop field perimeters) of each of 35 fields. We also calculated percentage cover for the areas within the inner 500m radius (Fig. 1). Each polygon in the GIS was designated by hand (trained digital scanning software was not used) with one of nine land-use (e.g., annual or perennial cropland, paved or gravel roads, industrial and residential areas) or forty-one vegetation classes, determined ad hoc, based on our ability to characterize them by interpreting hue/tone, texture, and shape (e.g., the vegetation class 'conifers' was made up of genera such as Sequoia, Pinus, and Pseudotsuga, which were not reliably distinguishable from each other). Groundtruthing for these categorizations of vegetation, which comprised field visit checks of 300 stratified-randomly selected points within the 34 digitized landscapes, showed a >89% accuracy rate (see Bothwell, 2012). In this paper, we analyzed only the vegetation within a 500m radius of the field center to minimize the number of comparisons. This scale has been used in previous studies to test for effects of landscape elements on the abundance, composition and diversity of insects visiting crop fields, for example by Letourneau and Goldstein (2001) for herbivores, predators and parasitoids; Thies et al. (2003) for herbivores and parasitoids; and Kremen et al. (2004) for native bees. Most parasitoids can disperse across several kilometers (e.g., Munro, 1998), and trivial movement distances are likely to cover hundreds of meters and vary among species in such large and diverse families (Brodmann et al., 1997; Roth et al., 2006; Rader et al., 2011). Thus, landscape characteristics within 0.5 km may be the most relevant scale for frequented refugia, but both the 500m and 1500m scales quantified in our vegetation analysis are likely within the potential dispersal range of many of these parasitoids.
We described vegetative cover by combining plant taxa and categories into three habitat types based on Karp et al. (2015): cropland (including annual crops, vineyards, orchards, cane berries), riparian (Salix, Alnus, and Acer) and other natural vegetation (such as trees in the genera Umbullaria, Quercus, Lithocarpus, Acer and conifers, shrubs like Baccharis, Toyon, Salvia, Artemisia and other chaparral genera, Manzanita, Rubus, and native shrub hedgerows, and annual forbs and grasses within coastal prairies). To be consistent with their habitat designations, exotic trees (Eucalyptus and Acacia) were not included in any of these categories. We tested for associations with specific non-crop plants that were prominent in the landscapes by combining or selecting from the original 41 types of vegetation, and then using a principal components analysis (PCA), which further reduces the number of variables, but retains the character of the vegetation. Vegetation mixes that we combined within the PCA (Table 1) were denoted by dominant taxa in order of their prominence, such as oak-conifer, considering all taxa with greater than 10 percent coverage within the polygon; this yielded several 3-taxa vegetation classes, combined in our analyses according to the dominant species. For example, Toyon-Artemisia-Baccharis mixtures were counted as Toyon.
|Plant typeb
|Poison Oak
Flying insects were collected in Malaise traps (BioQuip model 2875AG, 1.2 m wide x 2.13 m tall, with forest green netting) placed for 48 hours in the center of each of the 35 crop fields in July and September 2005 and May 2006. Parasitoid wasps and flies were extracted from the samples and identified to subfamily and species (Tachinidae) or subfamily and morphospecies (Ichneumonidae and Braconidae). Tachinidae were identified to species with the aid of published keys (e.g.,Wood, 1987) and by direct comparison to reliably identified specimens in the Canadian National Collection of Insects Ottawa, Ontario. Morphospecies determinations were necessary because some groups require revision, well-illustrated keys are not available for some groups, and because authoritatively identified specimens were often not available for comparison. We required accurate species delimitation but for the analyses we did not need the identities of the species that were delimited. For several specimens in poor condition, designations were inferred from the most likely taxon to which the species belonged or they were excluded from the analysis.
Each individual parasitoid captured in Malaise traps was categorized as a specialist on Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, Aphididae or other orders or as a generalist, with hosts in >1 order, based on host records for its genus or species (Tachinidae), or for its genus or subfamily (Braconidae), or by subfamily (Ichneumonidae). Host taxa for ichneumonid subfamilies were assigned according to the identification guide (Wahl and Sharkey, 1993) and braconid and tachinid hosts were categorized based on the host records in Arnaud (1978), as well as more recent catalogs (Yu et al., 2012) and taxonomic literature (e.g., O'Hara, 1992, 1996, 2002). For example, lepidopteran specialists included the morphospecies within the braconid subfamilies Braconinae, Microgastrinae, Agathidinae and genus Meteorus, and the ichneumonid subfamilies Campogleginae, Metopiinae and Banchinae and tachinid species such as Madremya saundersii Williston.
To investigate potential effects of landscape vegetation types on pest parasitism levels, we placed unparasitized aphids and moth larvae into the farm fields, using sentinel species that are ubiquitous pests of cole crops and host several species of specialist and generalist parasitoids.
Aphids: In May and August of 2006, three unparasitized adult aphids (Brevicoryne brassicae L., Hemiptera:Aphidae), reared in protective cages in a greenhouse, were placed on each of 5 small collard plants in 5cm x 5cm pots and allowed to establish small colonies for 48 hours in the cages. These growing colonies were exposed in the field for an additional 48 hours, and then brought back to the greenhouse and counted. The number of parasitized aphids developing mummies after five days was divided by the number of total aphids present when the plant was recovered from the field. Parasitism rates per farm were the average of the proportion parasitized per plant. This method confounds the abundance of parasitoids with the activity of parasitoids (how many aphids a single wasp parasitizes) more than taking a per-colony (per-plant) presence/absence of parasitism approach, but represents actual mortality, makes use of all of the data, and returns continuous estimates.
Moth larvae: In fall 2005, six unparasitized, 3rd instar larvae of Trichoplusia ni (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) purchased from Bio-ServTM were placed on each of 10 potted collards plants. Each pot was placed into a large, water-filled tray to supply water and prevent larval escape, covered with 1cm2 bird-netting to deter insectivorous birds, and set out among the crop plants, but distant enough that sentinel larvae could not disperse to crop foliage. After seven days of field exposure, collard plants were collected and all recovered larvae, usually 5th instars, were reared singly in Bio-ServTM trays on generalized lepidopteran diet and a 16:8 hour light-dark cycle. We recorded the fate of each of the 60 larvae per farm field and estimated mortality of T. ni due to parasitism by Tachinidae as the proportion of live pupae producing flies. This experiment was repeated in fall of 2007 with first instar larvae, which are preferred as hosts by hymenopteran parasitoids. Bird-netting may have deterred an unknown amount of parasitism, but was deemed necessary after a pilot trial sustained heavy losses of larvae in several fields coincident with farmer observations of foraging flocks of insectivorous birds. Birds, predatory insects, spiders, and other animals were responsible for much larval mortality in organic vegetable fields, as indicated by casual observations and the common disappearance of individual sentinels placed on potted plants.
Specimens reared from T. ni larvae were identified to species using keys and comparisons with known specimens. The reared specimen of the ichneumonid wasp Therion californicum (Cresson) was identified via comparison with authoritatively determined specimens of its junior synonym Heteropelma longipes Provancher (i.e., by C. F. Dasch as Therionlongipes) in the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC (USNM). The reared specimens of the ichneumonid wasp Hyposoter exiguae (Viereck) were determined via comparison with specimens in the USNM mostly determined by R. A. Cushman but also one paratype male.
We used Pearson's correlation coefficients with PC-SAS version 9.2 (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, North Carolina, USA) to test for associations between parasitoids captured in July 2005 and for parasitism of sentinel pests exposed in the field and landscape parameters within 500m. We calculated species richness (S) and Jost's effective species richness (ES) for each of 35 farm fields (Jost, 2006) for all parasitoids, each family of parasitoids and host-based groupings of specialist and generalist parasitoids. Because richness was unlikely to be independent of abundance (or trap sample size) despite our equal sampling effort, the effective number of species (eH) (MacArthur, 1965; Jost, 2006) represents the effects of landscape variables on true species diversity. Plant groups were numerous, and sometimes correlated with each another, so we examined the combined influence of frequently present plant groups as principal component axes (PC-SAS Princomp procedure). To reduce the potentially large number of comparisons, and thus the chance of Type I error, we tested basic hypotheses with three habitats (cropland, riparian and other natural), and in other cases, added the first four principal components (explaining 10% or more of the variance in plant parameters) to isolate which specific plant groups within non-crop habitats were most strongly associating with parasitoid-based parameters. None of the habitats, indices, or principal components are the same as reported in a previous analysis of tachinid parasitism rates of sentinel moth larvae and cover of annual crops, semi-wild perennials and annuals in landscapes (Letourneau et al., 2012).
We captured a total of 6,215 individual parasitoids in Malaise traps, with 5,440 ( individuals/sample/field) of these individuals identified as Ichneumonidae, Braconidae or Tachinidae. These three key families yielded 3,258 individuals captured in July 2005, 889 in September 2005 and 1,293 in May 2006. These 5,440 individuals comprised 241 species/morphospecies. The additional 775 wasps in our samples belonged to other families such as Encyrtidae and Chalcididae, and represented an additional 0–24 morphospecies per sample. Although the vast majority of these parasitoids use herbivorous insects as hosts, some of the ichneumonid and braconid morphospecies were likely to be hyperparasitoids or attack predacious insects, and one or more chalcidoid morphospecies may have been gall wasps, feeding on plants.
The cover of cropland within 500m of the field center (n=35 fields) varied from 1 to 97%; riparian vegetation varied from 1–25%; and other natural vegetation varied from 0–73%. Forest, shrub and grassland cover within 500m ranged from 0.6–76%, 0–43% and 0.4–58%, respectively; and the number of semi-wild vegetation types present (vegetation richness) varied from 0 to 13 (1–14 for 1500m scale) (Fig. 1). The first six principal components explained 80% of the variation in landscape cover within 500m of the sampled fields (Table 1). The first axis (PC1) has large positive loadings for conifers, alder and maple trees and has a large negative loading associated with grassland cover (Table 1). PC 2 has high positive loadings for riparian and marsh vegetation and may indicate habitats that remain mesic in summer and fall. PC3, with high, positive eigenvalues for grasses and shrubs indicates more xeric chaparral and meadow vegetation. PC4 is strongly positively associated with oak woodlands. Subsequent PCA axes are less easily interpreted, and individually contribute little to explaining the overall variance.
Parasitoid species richness overall was negatively associated with the amount of cropland cover within 500m of crop fields (i.e., total of braconids, ichneumonids and tachinids captured, Fig. 2A), which supports our hypothesized negative influence of landscape-level intensification (widespread conversion of semi-wild vegetation to cropland, thus lower complexity and greater disturbance) on natural enemy communities. Furthermore, both riparian and other natural vegetation was significantly and positively associated with parasitoid species richness (total of ichneumonids, braconids and tachinids, Fig. 2B, C), supporting our concern about negative effects of non-crop vegetation eradication around crop fields for biodiversity. The negative association between species richness and cropland cover was consistent and strong for species richness in Tachinidae, Ichneumonidae and Braconidae (Table 2), but the three families differed with respect to positive relationships among different habitats and vegetation types in the landscape. Tachinid parasitoids exhibited positive associations with natural and riparian habitat (Table 2), especially the plant groups with high loadings in PC1 (trees) and PC3 (grasses, chaparral shrubs). Tachinid fly diversity (eH) was only associated (positively) with riparian vegetation cover and PC2, the vegetation restricted to wetlands. Ichneumonid wasp richness and diversity were negatively associated with cropland cover, and had positive or marginally positive relationships with riparian and natural vegetation (Table 2). Positive associations between natural vegetation cover and ichneumonid wasp richness and diversity appeared to be influenced by the presence of chaparral shrubs and/or grasses (PC3) and with oak woodlands (PC4). Braconids were most strongly associated with riparian habitats, with positive correlations for both richness and diversity. Additional significant positive associations with PC 2, 3 and 4, along with no relationship with PC1, suggest that the inclusion of forest vegetation as natural habitat weakened the positive effect of this variable on braconid richness and diversity (Table 2).
|Vegetation variables & statistics
|% Cropland
|% Natural
|% Riparian
The number of species represented by the 3–353 parasitoids per farm that specialize on butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) ranged from 3–26 in July 2005 48 hour samples, with diversity as much as six times higher in the most diverse sample (eH = 9.2) as the least diverse sample (eH = 1.4). Abundance, species richness, and diversity ranges for the other host-based groups were 0–10 individuals, 1–5 species and eH = 0–5 for specialists on beetles, 0–135 individuals, 0–11 species and a range in eH of 0–7.6 for specialists on flies, and 0–11 individuals, 0–5 species and eH range from 0–4.6 for specialists on aphids. Generalist parasitoids ranged from 0–34 individuals, 0–16 species and eH ranged from 0–14.7 per 48-hour trap sample. With a few exceptions, species richness and diversity patterns again supported our hypothesized negative relationship with cropland cover and positive association with natural and/or riparian habitat cover (Table 3). Typically, when trends with species richness (S) diverge from diversity (eH) trends in terms of their relationship with surrounding vegetation, it means that the relative distribution of individuals among species was not even, because there were many rare species or a few species were dominant in terms of their abundance in the sample. A rare species in a 48-hr sample may still be an important member of the enemy community, so it is difficult to speculate about which parameter might hold more importance for biological control potential.
|% Cropland
|% Natural
|% Riparian
|Pearson's R
|Pearson's R
|Pearson's R
We used lepidopterans and aphids as sentinel pests, which, according to the host-based analyses shown in Table 3, should be associated with higher parasitoid richness on farms that have more land in natural and/or riparian vegetation, whether the parasitoids are specialists on those groups or generalists. Overall, parasitism of B. brassicae aphids as sentinel pests exposed for two days on five plants per field ranged from zero to 44%, with an average of 8.5% parasitism rate on recovered aphids in May and 8.6% parasitism in August 2006. The braconid Diaretiella rapae (M'Intosh) was most commonly reared from sentinel cabbage aphids. Spring parasitism of B. brassicae was positively correlated with natural vegetation cover (Fig. 3A, Table 4). None of the broad habitat variables was associated with percent parasitism in the August 2006 sentinel aphid trials, but parasitism rate was positively associated with PC4, which has a high positive loading for the percent cover of oak woodland (which includes stands of oak trees, mixed oak forest with bay trees, mixed oak and conifer, and oak dominated grassland).
Of 2040 late instar (large) T. ni larvae exposed in farm fields, 828 (41%) were not recovered, presumably due to predation (except for a few found in moats) because isolation reduced the chances of larval escape. Parasitism averaged 18.1%, ranged from zero to 93% per field, and was due to six tachinid species (Madremya saundersii Williston, Voria ruralis (Fallén), Lespesia archippivora Riley, Compsilura concinnata (Meigen), Siphona plusiae (Coquillett), and Eucelatoria armigera (Coquillett)). We detected a non-linear, step-wise increase in mean parasitism rates of these larvae (significant threshold effect) as the percent cover of natural vegetation within 500m exceeded 30%. Mean parasitism in fields with less than 30% natural habitat was 4.3% compared to 27.5% parasitism in fields with greater than 30% natural vegetation in the landscape (Kruskall-Wallis, X=6.77, P=0.0093). Also, the percentage of recovered larval mortality due to tachinid parasitism, for these late instar T. ni was positively associated with PC4 (Fig. 3B, Table 4), which has a very high positive loading on oak-dominated woodlands.
|Vegetation variables & stats
|Aphids May
|Aphids Aug
|Large T. ni
|Small T. ni
|Small T. ni
|ichs + bracs
|M. alaskensis
In contrast to the dominance of tachinid parasitoids on large larvae, the small T. ni larvae exposed in farm fields were primarily parasitized by wasps. Of 3480 first and second instar T. ni larvae placed on potted plants in September 2007, 1088 (31%) were not recovered. Parasitism rates on recovered larvae were low, averaging 5.2% of reared larvae per farm, ranging from zero to 24%. Reared parasitoids included two braconids (Microplitis alaskensis Ashmead and Cotesia sp.) and three ichneumonids (Hyposoter exiguae (Viereck), subfamily Campopleginae, Therion californicum Cresson in the subfamily Anomaloninae, and an unidentified species in the subfamily Ichneumoninae). This was the first record of T. californicum reared from T. ni. In contrast to the positive associations with natural habitat or elements of natural habitat (PC4) shown with T. ni parasitism by tachinids, aphid parasitism, and the general diversity of parasitoids collected in these fields, the parasitism rate of early instar T. ni showed a positive relationship with cropland cover (Fig. 3C) and a strong negative association with the cover of natural vegetation (Table 4). These associations were likely driven by a braconid wasp M. alaskensis, which was reared from the majority (58%) of parasitized sentinel larvae exposed as 1st or 2nd instars (Table 4).
An impressive number of parasitoid species are associated with California organic vegetable fields, with ca. 300 species captured during our study, and we reared 13 species of parasitoids from a single pest species (cabbage looper) exposed to parasitoids in these fields. We call attention to the potential loss of biodiversity in this group of mostly beneficial insects with the removal of non-crop vegetation or with future intensification, based on a robust and repetitive pattern of higher parasitoid richness and diversity in farm fields that had a greater percentage of surrounding landscape in riparian or other natural habitats, and lower parasitoid richness and diversity in farm fields within more intensified farming areas, with higher percentages of cropland cover. This pattern for parasitoids captured in July 2005 held true for all parasitoids together, for different parasitoid families, and for specialists and generalists on different types of host arthropods, some of which include major crop pests. Our results are consistent with abundance and richness patterns for natural enemies in other studies of farmland intensification (Chaplin-Kramer et al., 2011; Inclán et al., 2015). They support our prediction that landscapes with persistent vegetation can augment the biodiversity of beneficial insects and potential for biological control services, and bolstered our concerns about a cost to vegetation eradication and cropland expansion. That is, conservation biological control depends on having enough individuals of enough species of naturally occurring enemies of crop pests to regulate pest populations, yet most species of parasitoids require resources beyond those provided in the crop field or nearby constellation of similar crops.
Less frequently disturbed, non-crop habitat is likely to provide a refuge in terms of alternate hosts, a variety of food resources for adults (e.g. flowers (Tooker et al., 2006), and undisturbed pupation sites (Landis et al., 2000; Olson and Wackers, 2007)). For example, the tachinid S. plusiae, which attacks noctuid moth larvae that include crop pests, uses Phryganidia californica Packard as an alternate host, a common and occasionally outbreaking lepidopteran that feeds on coastal oak foliage. Indeed, we found a significant positive association between the cover of oak woodlands in the landscape and parasitism rates of sentinel T. ni cabbage loopers placed in these fields. The ichneumonid Diadegma insulare (Cresson), an important biological control agent of diamondback moth larvae Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) in cole crops, would likely find enough hosts in annual crop fields most of the year, but may also rely on cruciferous weeds in coastal grasslands or nectar sources in semi-natural woody vegetation. Parasitism rates for both of these pests were shown to be positively related to forest cover and forest perimeter in the landscape (Bianchi et al., 2008). The aphidiine D. rapae, a prominent parasitoid of B. brevicoryne cabbage aphids, commonly attacks aphids associated with cultivated crucifers, and may build up over the winter on wild radish and wild mustards within and along the edges of coastal prairie vegetation. If so, these plants may also be a source pool for pestiferous aphids. However, D. rapae attacks aphid hosts not only on non-crop Brassicaceae, but on Chenopodiaceae, Solanaceae, Liliaceae and Asteraceae (Pike et al., 1999). Although the majority of parasitoid species captured in organic crop fields are likely to encounter at least some suitable host taxa in the farm environment, some portion of the increased richness associated with natural habitat was likely due to transient parasitoids passing through crop fields between their nearby non-crop habitats. For example, the tachinid Protodejeaniaechinata Thomson, oviposits in hosts that do not feed on cole crops, like the western tussock moth Orgyia vetusta Boisduval (Lymantriidae), which feeds on oaks, lupines and fruit trees in coastal California.
A meta-analysis by Chaplin-Kramer et al. (2011) showed a dearth of studies demonstrating that prominent landscape effects on parasitoid abundance and richness result in enhanced biological pest control. Sentinel pest trials are useful for comparing parasitism frequency in the field under different conditions, but they are laborious and limited in scope. By necessity, these trials are snapshots of parasitoid activity associated with a few hosts deployed at a certain density in crop fields that may differ in their background host densities. Although they provide relative measures of parasitism rates in fields with different levels of resident parasitoid diversity, they can be confounded by the timing of the test, overall host densities, and the composition of the resident parasitoid community. Wholesale collection and rearing of naturally occurring pests is a better measure of absolute levels of biological control, but comparisons among farms are not possible when pest densities vary widely. We recognize that while percent parasitism is a reasonable measure of ecosystem services, determining the impact of increased parasitism on maintaining pests below an economic threshold was beyond the scope of this study.
The frequency of parasitism on our sentinel pests was relatively low on average, but over 90% of sentinels were parasitized in some fields, despite short exposure times of two (aphids) or five (loopers) days. Significant relationships among sentinel parasitism rates and landscape vegetation were present in all cases, but they were not necessarily consistent with summer parasitoid richness patterns. Aphidiine parasitism of aphids in spring was positively correlated with natural habitat, as was species richness and diversity of that parasitoid group. Parasitism of late instar T. ni also showed a positive relationship with natural vegetation, but it was non-linear, such that tachinid parasitism rates were high, on average, when natural vegetation cover exceeded 30% (also see Letourneau et al., 2012). Aphidiine parasitism of sentinel aphids in August did not match richness or landscape - diversity patterns for those taxa as measured earlier that season, and the opposite trend occurred for mortality of early T. ni sentinels caused by parasitoids. Both the ichneumonid H. exiguae and the braconid M. alaskensis tended to be more active in landscapes with annual crops (Bothwell, 2012), possibly because crop fields offered a higher concentration of preferred hosts. A range of outcomes is not surprising if parasitism of each host or host stage is largely due to one or a few species that may have specific habitat and/or resource requirements (e.g., for alternative hosts).
We might expect parasitism to parallel the relationships between landscape factors and parasitoid richness if the frequency of parasitism were integrated across all potential hosts in the organic field. Incidentally, the prevailing trends of higher parasitoid richness with more non-crop habitat in our study were likely to hold for hyperparasitoids that attack parasitoids of crop pests and parasitoids of important predatory insects, such as syrphid flies that feed on aphids. Any intraguild predation would have been integrated into the relative parasitism rates we found in different fields. Overall, a higher percentage of natural or riparian habitat nearby may provide better "insurance" for the delivery of ecosystem services under environmental variability (Hooper et al. 2005, Letourneau et al., 2009). That is, when some level of functional redundancy is retained among the natural enemy community, conditions adverse to a dominant parasitoid species may be less detrimental to other species that can suppress crop pests in their absence (Menalled et al., 2003). For example, the maintenance of natural and riparian vegetation with its associated diversity of aphidiines, could increase the chance of other parasitoids contributing to aphid parasitism should the common D. rapae undergo interannual variations in density, changing climatic effects (Gillespie et al., 2012; Klaiber et al., 2013), unusual pressure from hyperparasitoids or disruption from insecticides or other materials applied to vegetable fields (Prado and Frank, 2013).
Whereas the central coast of California provides a model of agricultural production within a diverse landscape mosaic, the 2006 discovery of a deadly strain of E. coli in spinach caused a shock to farm conservation practices. Pressure was brought by processors and retailers to keep wildlife out of production fields by removing non-crop vegetation around farm fields. Between 2005 and 2012, the amount of natural vegetation within 50m of the edge of crop fields had decreased by up to 30%, riparian vegetation coverage had fallen by up to 6% and cropland had increased in the 50m surrounding fields by up to 30% in the Salinas valley region (Karp, 2015). Despite these measures carried out by growers in hopes of reducing microbial food contamination events, Karp et al. (2015) found an increase in the incidence of enterohemorrhagic E. coli on leafy greens with the removal of natural vegetation. Furthermore, enterohemorrhagic E. coli was not influenced by the removal of riparian vegetation, and increased with an increase in cropland around the farm field compared with the levels in 2005. We used the same habitat categories in our study to provide parallel information on the losses to biodiversity conservation predicted by Sutherland et al. (2012) from 'sterile farming' policies, specifically parasitoids, that deliver ecosystem services. Our demonstration of positive relationships between parasitoid diversity and natural or riparian vegetation around farms and a negative relationship with increased cropland suggest that vegetation removal and cropland intensification had additional costs to farmers, and support the conclusions of Marino et al. (2006) about the key role of the maintenance or restoration of late successional habitats for the conservation of native parasitoids. Ecological research in agriculture is foundational for the integrated science and policy needed to transform food production systems for improved food security, public and environmental health.
A reference collection of ichneumonid wasps is curated by the University of California, Santa Cruz Natural History Museum, and data on parasitoid richness and abundances used in this publication are part of a larger database housed at the Environmental Interactions Lab at UCSC. Contact D.K. Letourneau to discuss and/or arrange to access these resources.
© 2015 Letourneau et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Contributed to conception and design: DKL, SGBA
Contributed to acquisition of data: SGBA, DKL, RRK, MJS, JOS
Contributed to analysis and interpretation of data: DKL, JOS
Drafted and/or revised the article for intellectual content: DKL
Approved the submitted version for publication: DKL, SGBA, RRK, MJS, JOS
The primary author was invited to submit original research for a forum on agroecology solutions; none of the authors have professional, financial, personal or other conflicts of interest that would bias the collection or interpretation of data for this publication.
Funding from USDA-NRI grant 2005-55302-16345 to Letourneau and C. Shennan supported Dr. Bothwell-Allen's dissertation research and this project, with added funds from UC Santa Cruz Faculty Research Grants to DKL, and 25 organic vegetable growers/cooperators made this study possible.
We thank Brian Fulfrost for GIS training and support, Wendi Tipton for technical support, and Emily Musgrave, Joann Heraty and Hilary Devlin for specimen sorting and preliminary morphospecies determinations. Daniel Karp kindly shared information from his research on microbial contamination. Mention of trade names or commercial products in this publication is solely for the purpose of providing specific information and does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the USDA. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
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Hampstead Heath dams project to be 'significantly' scaled down
PUBLISHED: 15:00 15 March 2013
Polly Hancock
The controversial Hampstead Heath dams project will be scaled down after claims that up to 1,000 people could be killed in the event of a freak storm were found to be inaccurate.
Experts have found that the scale of flooding into Hampstead, Dartmouth Park and Gospel Oak would be "significantly lower" than first thought.
The report comes after the City of London Corporation, which manages the Heath, ordered an overhaul of the £15million dams project and bowed to calls from conservationists for a review of the risk assessment for the scheme.
Project engineer Dr Andy Hughes, from design firm Atkins, said: "The scope of the work will be significantly less.
Welcome news
"It gives us more options to find a solution that all the stakeholders will be happy with and that's sympathetic to the Heath.
"The impact at any particular dam site will be less and I am hoping that we won't actually have to touch very sensitive sites like the Bird Sanctuary Pond at all, whereas the (previous) Haycock report suggested it should be obliterated."
Ian Harrison, chairman of a group of Heath users which will help shape the design of the project, said: "I think this is very encouraging news.
"I am increasingly optimistic that we will be able to find solutions which enable the City to meet its obligations without significant adverse impact on the Heath."
This is the latest move by Heath bosses to distance themselves from previous plans for "municipal" dams on the larger ponds on the Hampstead and Highgate chains.
The plans were ditched last year amid widespread criticism.
New project leader Peter Wilder, a strategic landscape architect, has pledged to soften the design of the scheme.
Jeremy Simons, chairman of the City's Hampstead Heath Management Committee, said: "The results of the study are welcome news for Hampstead Heath and for the communities who live around it.
"The corporation has always been determined to carry out the minimum amount of work required in a way that is sympathetic to the Heath, while ensuring the risk to people who live downstream is reduced.
"This new study is a first step in achieving these goals and we must now look at potential solutions."
The City claims it is bound by law to carry out the work to safeguard against flooding from a tropical storm – the risk of which is calculated at once every 10,000 years. The Heath and Hampstead Society is questioning the project's legal premise and has enlisted the services of one of the country's top QCs to review the case.
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Reese is the word: From Mullum to training with the boys
FROM Mullumbimby to being invited to train with the boys, Reese Donnelly's rise through Palm Beach Currumbin State High's ranks has been meteoric.
Forbidden from playing football growing up due to her dad's affection with rugby, the 16-year-old only started playing football three years ago following a successful junior baseball career.
Now, she's regarded as one of the key forces in Palm Beach Currumbin's Queensland Schools Premier League (SPL) tilt since joining the sports excellence program last year in Year 10.
After showing her wares for the women in her maiden SPL campaign, Donnelly was invited to start training with the senior boys side and feels as though she can now match it with anyone.
"It's helped improve my football and has given me a lot more opportunity as well," she said. "It was really scary at the start because some people have a mentality that girls aren't as good as boys but I've managed to prove a point.
"It was hard to show I could match it at the start but now they all encourage me and the coaches full support me."
And despite pursuing football on the Gold Coast, including an emerging career with Gold Coast United's National Premier League Women's side which has seen her named on the bench as a teenager, Donnelly still lives and commutes daily from Mullumbimby.
"At the start, it took around two hours but you get used to it but it's worth it," she said.
"It's really hard and a lot of work and organisation between me and Mum but I'm used to it now.
"It was a bit scary because I didn't know anyone and I've come from NSW so being new to soccer and a new school was a bit daunting but the coaches and girls were very welcoming."
Beyond high school and PBC's SPL campaign which kicks off today against Aspley, Donnelly hopes to continue her pursuit of football overseas.
"It's been my goal since I was younger to go to college in America to play but I just want to follow soccer and see where it takes me," she said.
"I've already started applying for colleges through an agent but you have to do certain subjects and make a highlights video."
BEING bestowed as captain in her final year of high school has proven the ultimate confidence boost for Palm Beach Currumbin senior footballer Pyper Lochead.
Since joining PBC's sporting excellence program in year seven, the 17-year-old has self-admittedly struggled for form and a starting spot in the reds' staring 11.
But with PBC losing a trio of star players to injury, Lochead has stepped up to field the void and will now have the opportunity to captain the side she's seen flourish over the past six years when the Queensland Schools Premier League kicks off on Wednesday.
"Stepping up as captain has given me the confidence to step on the field," Lochead said.
"I never used to believe in myself playing football but I've hit a point where I do.
"I get very nervous before games.
"I'm prepared physically but I find it hard to prepare mentally.
"It's my last year in high school so I'd love to win the final and take out a title for PBC.
"This team has grown so much like we've gone from 11 players and now we've got a squad of 20 so it's been amazing watching the program step up and be noticed."
Lochead, who is originally from just outside Hamilton in New Zealand, grew up watching her dad play football and is currently a member of the Logan Lightning NPL squad but hopes to play overseas in either England, the United States or home in New Zealand.
Meanwhile, Palm Beach Currumbin senior boys' outfit will enter the competition starting on with the nucleus of the 2019 side which claimed the coveted trophy in 2019.
Palm Beach Currumbin SHS, a founding member of the SPL in 2009, claimed its fourth senior SPL boys title last year while the PBC girls have won the tournament twice.
"The senior boys team has seven members that won the competition in 2019 and the senior girls team is a relatively new squad for 2020,'' said PBC football excellence coach Shane Robinson.
Finn Tewson will lead the PBC open boys while Robinson expected Eli Hughes from the senior boys to impress because of his ability to create goal scoring chances.


text:
The weekend was a whole lot of happenings. Almost too much. Swear I was dead tired. It was perfect that we had the first Beats and Brunch at the Theatrecafeen on Sunday. It's a concept for the traditional and very well known Norwegian cafe. Taking they're classic venue, pimping up the menu a bit, and combining it with nice beats. Basically showing the younger generation that it's good times for them too at the cafe.
The first event was a great success. All the tables were booked, the music was dope and the food was bomb. The menu's turned out pretty dope too. We, AlsoKnownAs, got the opportunity to do the menus and make them especially for these Sunday events. S/o to all the good people that swung by. Can't wait till next time!
Cozy Sundays.
Ooooooh. Mona Berntsen posing with our work.
Mr. Designer documenting our work.
Aon ze mayn.
Kozy Koala!
Beats and Brunch vol.1
David Bowie. Hah.
Hahah. S/O the cucumber water.
Hahaha. S/O Tom Ford.
Money mayn!
DJ TailorBear, aka DJ Filly Smalls.
The Legend Babak.
Oueff win.
Be sure to get this book.
S/O Aon for the pages you did for Nora Collective.
Oueff. Shining.
The best couple. Matching with our work.
See you next Sunday!
Ok bye.


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Started this discussion. Last reply by Tim Bullock Jan 16, 2010.
Hi Michael, Contact Log Home Companies on the web and apply for a Dealership.If they need a Dealer/Builder in your area you might have a chance. You live in log home country and it's very competitive. Good luck. Jim and Pam Katahdin Cedar Log Homes
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