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A Real Toy Story
This story appears in the September 1997 issue of Business Start-Ups magazine. Subscribe »
Russ Berrie is still swinging. That's how he knows he's successful--not because his Oakland, New Jersey, gift and novelty firm, Russ Berrie and Co. Inc., posts more than$375 million in annual sales. And not because he's masterminded some of the best-selling gift items in popular memory, ranging from that little plastic statuette from the '60s who, with his arms outstretched, proclaimed "I love you this much!" to, more recently, the troll doll, which enjoyed a formidable comeback in the early '90s. With its top-rated line of baby gifts and accessories, its nostalgic "Bears From the Past" teddy bear series, and a menagerie of other familiar gift items, Russ Berrie and Co. enjoys more than its share of major hits.
Berrie, 64, is understandably pleased with these accomplishments. But it's the longevity of his 34-year-old company that pleases him most. "There are not many companies around today that were here in 1963," Berrie says. "In this business, things are always changing, but we're still around. And it's been fun every step of the way," even though it hasn't always been easy.
In a consumer environment where entertainment tie-ins and mammoth advertising campaigns seem to dominate, Russ Berrie and Co. rides trends the old-fashioned way--by tracking customer interests and responding to them. It is not an exact science. "I'm not going to say to you that every product we've made has done well," Berrie admits. "But batting average is really not the question. It's making sure you get the right hits at the right time and, of course, whether or not you win the game."
The Early Days
Above all else, Berrie seems to love the entrepreneurial game. His career began at age 10. A middle-class kid from the Bronx, Berrie loved baseball--and found a way to profit from it. "I'd go to Yankee Stadium after the games and pick up discarded score cards," Berrie explains. "I'd clean them up [by erasing the pencil marks and smoothing the wrinkles] and take them back the next day and sell them for 10 cents."
Humble beginnings, yes, but he was profitable at it. In fact, jokes Berrie, "I've been trying to match that gross profit margin ever since."
At 11, he developed his own newspaper delivery route, distributing his papers from a borrowed baby carriage. He did odd jobs, worked as a delivery boy, and was even an amateur bookie for a brief time. After high school, he attended college and did a stint in the military. But he never had the patience to finish his degree. "I was eager to make an honest man of myself," Berrie says.
His first job after college, at age 23, was selling toys for a now-defunct Chicago toy company. Here, Berrie found his calling. Within a year, he branched out to become a manufacturer's representative, working for five toy and novelty firms on straight commission.
The entrepreneurial structure of being a manufacturer's rep suited Berrie, but in the end, it wasn't entrepreneurial enough. "I would bring [the manufacturers] certain suggestions as to products I thought would sell, and I was frustrated that they didn't really show an interest," he says. "By 1963, I'd been doing this for about seven years. I had experience, and I knew people who could make products for me. So I continued to work as a manufacturer's rep, but I also invested $500 in some products and rented a converted garage." Russ Berrie and Co. was born.
Berrie's first products were primarily basic toys and impulse gift items such as wind-up gadgets and Indian dolls he purchased from various manufacturers.
Early sales didn't require much extra effort. "I would see my customers and sell them the lines I was representing. Then I'd take out the half-dozen or so different items I had [in my line]," Berrie recalls. With a local teenager's help, Berrie would pack orders and type invoices in the evenings. Orders may have only averaged between $70 and $100, but they added up: Between August and December 1963, Berrie generated a healthy $60,000 worth of sales.
Get The Message
Over the next two years, sales mushroomed to $250,000 in 1964 and $750,000 in 1965. By then, Berrie was ready to give up his rep job and become a full-time enterprise, moving out of the garage and into a tiny bedroom office in his apartment. He had a part-time secretary, a bookkeeper, a handful of independent reps and a stable of products with potential.
Like what? Berrie's goods were largely novelties sporting cute messages. "We developed a product called Fuzzy Wuzzies. They were little sheepskin characters on a wooden base, and they said `Happy Birthday' or `I Love You,' or [a variety of other messages]," Berrie recalls. "We also did Loving Cup trophies that said `World's Greatest Lover' and `World's Greatest Wife,' and so on."
Message novelties proved to be a lucrative niche in the not-yet-liberated '60s. "They were like three-dimensional greeting cards," says Berrie. "Only these were items you would keep." In an era when self-expression was fairly subdued, sweet little novelties that could convey love or appreciation were real commodities.
As times changed, so did Berrie's messages. Although birthday greetings and messages of love never went out of style, by 1968 Americans were ready for something a little bolder. Russ Berrie and Co. introduced Sillisculpts, plastic message figurines with a little more attitude. Two of the most memorable are the "I love you this much!" statuette and another of an old barrister crying "Sue the bastards!" "I think every lawyer in America had one," Berrie laughs.
During the company's formative years, messages, styles and product lines came and went. But the basic formula for success that Berrie originally devised continued strong. He remained active in developing and acquiring gift products with wide-ranging appeal. And he didn't venture into extraneous areas like manufacturing.
"I like to say that manufacturers should manufacture, accountants should account, and salespeople should sell," says Berrie. "We're a sales and marketing organization; we're a product- design organization. That's what we do best." By outsourcing its manufacturing operations, Russ Berrie and Co. has kept itself nimble--a vital attribute in the trend-dominated world of gifts.
Growing Organized
Managing the ebb and flow of product popularity has been key to Russ Berrie's success. But so has managing growth. If the '60s and early '70s were Russ Berrie's era of establishment, the mid-'70s and '80s were the era of expansion. Realizing that a global approach was critical to future success, Berrie set up offices in Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong in 1977 to help the company's product development efforts and establish good relationships with Far East manufacturers. Russ Berrie and Co. U.K. followed in 1979.
Domestically, Russ Berrie added regional distribution centers across the country and set up warehouses in New Jersey and California. The company's in-house sales force, which began with Berrie and one full-time salesperson in 1968, numbered 600 worldwide in 1985--one year after Berrie took the company public on the New York Stock Exchange.
With growth came wholesale changes for Berrie. The man who once packed his own boxes and typed his own invoices found himself heading a company with hundreds of employees and hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. "I've had to go from being a doer to being a manager and a leader," says Berrie. And though he says his greatest joy now is seeing his employees excel beyond his own abilities, Berrie admits that reaching this plateau has been a challenge.
"When I was younger, I had a different ego," says Berrie. "I had to prove myself to myself. But as you get older, the ego starts to find its own place. I'm certainly dealing better with people today than I did 34 years ago."
Talk Shows
Berrie considers the ability to read people his key business skill--whether that means motivating his employees, negotiating with suppliers, or zeroing in on the needs of the marketplace. Indeed, nothing could be more critical to the company's success than its CEO's ability to predict, gauge and follow consumer demand.
From the beginning, Berrie understood the value of tracking customer response. "For instance, early on we became aware that certain messages would sell really well," he says. "Anything that said `I love you this much!' would sell. `Happy Birthday' or `Get Well Soon' were other good sellers. So whenever we created new [message] products, we'd use these basic messages. In essence, we watched the marketplace, watched what customers were buying, watched our own product line, and expanded on what was selling."
The same principle applies today--only the company's product line is now so vast that the process is nearly scientific. When your company sells 7,000 products in more than 50,000 retail outlets, your internal sales figures alone can give you a pretty accurate read of market trends.
Still, Berrie relies on old-fashioned fact gathering. "One of the most important things an entrepreneur can do is get out and talk to customers--speak to people so you can understand what's going on in the marketplace," he says. "To this day, I go to all the trade shows to really [tap into] the pulse of the public. It's the only way to know the direction they're going."
Berrie says that experience has grounded him. He's witnessed the coming and going of so many trends that it's harder now to surprise him. This doesn't mean he's catatonic, though. Berrie is still capable of being amused, beguiled and carried away. Or at least he was in the early '90s, when a stumpy character with a gentle smile and the scariest hair ever stepped up to the plate--and hit the ball out of the park.
A Troll Tale
Back in Berrie's manufacturing rep days, one of the companies he represented made impish little plastic dolls called trolls. They met with moderate success, but they weren't successful enough to keep their manufacturer from going out of business in the mid-'60s.
That should have been the end, but Berrie had a soft spot for the little creatures. "I tried bringing them back in 1967 with very minor success," Berrie says. "Then, every five, six, seven years, I'd try bringing them back again. Finally, in 1989, the trolls showed some pretty good sell-through, so we expanded the sales force in 1990. By the time 1992 rolled around, we were doing $250 million just in trolls."
This was not bad for a character with no motion picture deal, no giant ad campaign and, frankly, not much in the way of conventional good looks. Troll mania seized the country, and Russ Berrie had a major stake in the action. There were big trolls and small ones, crawling troll babies, trolls in cars and troll mugs.
"It became phenomenal," says Berrie. "I could not have predicted what happened. All I did was recognize the demand and expand to meet it."
And what demand! Veteran that he was, even Berrie was thrilled to see his fortunes rise higher and brighter than a troll's coiffure. "We just got carried away," he admits. "We were not really watching the marketplace."
Then the inevitable happened. "On April 12, 1993, at 1:32 p.m., everyone in the world decided they didn't want any more trolls," Berrie laments. "The bottom just fell out."
Back To Basics
Between 1992 and 1993, sales at Russ Berrie and Co. dropped more than $165 million--from $444 million to $279 million. And it wasn't just lost sales that hurt: The company had also lost momentum.
Berrie was understandably disappointed with the course of events, but he wasn't defeated. This is where experience helped. For one thing, even in the headiest moments of troll fever, Berrie had expanded the company conservatively. "We added a number of salespeople and a few people in shipping and administration, but we had been able to control growth without overburdening the company," Berrie says. "Again, the fact that we don't own any factories helped."
Furthermore, Berrie had been through enough product cycles in his career to know that the next necessary step was development. "We simply started changing the line," he says. "We saw a trend in home décor accessories [and jumped on it]. We developed our line of `Bears From the Past.' They're stuffed bears that have a nostalgic look. We expanded our baby line. We expanded our holiday offerings. We made more themed products. We came out with new products toward the end of 1994, and by 1995 we had a good year," with sales of more than $348 million.
What did Berrie learn from the troll episode? Certainly, that meteoric spikes in sales aren't all bad: Both revenues and profits hit record levels in 1992. But knowing the fundamentals of your business and having the good sense to return to them in times of crisis is the surest recipe for longevity.
"It isn't that complicated," says Berrie. "You need to be able to take the risk, to take your best shot. You run with the winners and bail out on the losers."
He's Got The Gift
Thirty-four years ago, Russ Berrie put together a little collection of products and took it to stores to see what might sell. He kept the winners, ditched the losers, and then he regrouped. Thirty-four years and billions of dollars later, he's still at it.
The players have changed, of course. Even today, Berrie's traditional base of greeting card stores, florists, gift shops and pharmacies is expanding to include home décor shops, department stores, craft shops and garden stores. The company's mix of products is in constant flux. Employees come and go. Opportunities arise, run their course, and give way to new opportunities.
But Berrie just keeps swinging. Though he tries to spend as much time as possible with his six children and his wife, Angelica, he usually works seven days a week. "I take time off on Sundays to watch the Giants lose," he says. But work is his major source of fun. And Berrie wants to keep playing.
"I hope when I'm 92 years old, I'll be on the floor of the Jacob Javits Convention Center doing a trade show and writing orders for customers," Berrie says. As long as there's a market, Russ Berrie will have the gift.
Russ Berrie
BIRTH DATE:March 18, 1933
FAMILY:Married to Angelica, 42; six children: Brett, 38; Richard, 35; Leslie, 34; Scott, 31; Nicole, 15; and David, 11
RESIDENCE:Englewood, New Jersey
BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY:"Running a business is not just products and pricing; it's the whole gamut of human experience. You have to motivate people all the time, and you have to understand what their needs are, whether they be customers or employees or suppliers."
Toying With Success
Russ Berrie and Co.'s annual sales:
1996 - $377 million
1995 - $348.5 million
1994 - $278.1 million
1993 - $279.1 million
1992 - $444.4 million
1991 - $267.9 million
1990 - $250.6 million
1985 - $204.7 million
1984 - $162.4 million
1983 - $112.7 million
1982 - $71.4 million
1981 - $54.5 million
1965 - $750,000
1964 - $250,000
1963 - $60,000
Contact Sources
Russ Berrie and Co. Inc., 111 Bauer Dr., Oakland, NJ 07436.


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Snapshots from Mexico: Elote and Esquite
Ah, corn on the cob. Nothing like a buttery ear—so simple, so delicious. While in Veracruz, Mexico, recently*, I passed carts in Coatepec Square hawking cups of kernels and fresh ears covered in not just butter but lime juice, chile powder, cheese, and mayo too. Sound familiar? I'm talking about elote and esquites.
Elote vs. Esquites
Corn in Mexico is commonly found in two forms: elote and esquites.
Elote is straight-up corn on the cob, slathered in assorted accoutrements: the messier, the better.
As I was traveling with people I'd met a mere ten hours earlier, I was glad to find the esquites: small, layered cups of the coated corn kernels that we could share with spoons to preserve dignity.
How to Make Elote
Preparing elote is pretty simple. First, the corn gets either grilled or boiled in husks. After peeling the husks back to form insta-handles, the fun begins: toppings time.
Paint the ear with a layer of lime juice-tinged mayonnaise. (For the mayo-squeamish like me: don't fret, it's not mandatory. It's also acceptable to request cream instead.)
Then, sprinkle a healthy dousing of grated cotija cheese and spice to taste. Carts typically have at least two chile powder options, from the spicy picante to the milder suave; some offer more gourmet selections, such as chile de arbol con cacahuate (peanut).
Think of Them Like Leggings...
Eating elote is like wearing gold lamé leggings: you might as well go big. Don't be surprised when someone tells you've got a half-dozen corn kernels on your face! Meanwhile, esquites align more with black leggings: sure, they go with almost everything, but are way more subtle. Either way, it's time to embrace the comfort of this trend.
Finding Elote Stateside
Where have you found good elote? Please post other favorite spots in the comments.
If you're in NYC, try Cafe Habana ($4.25/ear), Pinche Taqueria ($3/ear), and La Superior in Williamsburg (the world capital of gold lamé, if we're still talking leggings). If you're looking for esquites from a truck, head to The Esquites Man ($2/cup) in Sunset Park.
In Boston, it's on the menu as "Maiz Asado" at Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette's Toro Restaurant for $6/plate.
Make It Yourself
TV personality and cookbook author Sara Moulton has a basic recipe with a fancy twist: she slathers homemade jalapeno mayonnaise and guajillo chile powder on top. Elotes Asados con Chile, anyone?
Check out the slideshow for more photos of the cart-to-cup process »
* Special thanks to our friends at Kahlúa who sponsored this trip to Mexico. Stay tuned next week for our bean-to-bottle tour.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Brooklyn Botanic Garden, entering its second century, is hardly a novice at branding, but at the new Visitor Center it is exercised with comprehensive aplomb. … the green roof is no small engineering feat. With a pitch of up to 27 degrees, it requires complicated networks of special soils held in place with cleats and geo-nets involving drip irrigation systems woven into capillary fabrics, and other impressive techniques with specialized vocabularies known only to au courant gardeners… — Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal embraces eco-technical gardening while finding a way to point out traditional marriage. View full entry
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Toshiba revises financial outlook on quake, tsunami impact
- 19 April, 2011 17:25
Toshiba won't be able to meet its full-year revenue and profit forecasts due to the impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the company said Tuesday.
The company shaved ¥200 billion (US$2.4 billion) off its sales forecast, which now stands at ¥6.4 trillion for the year to the end of March, and ¥10 billion off its operating income forecast.
The revisions represent respective drops of 3 percent and 4 percent to the previous forecasts that were made on January 31. Then, the company also cut its sales forecast, citing factors including the strength of the Japanese yen and the merger of its mobile phone business with that of Fujitsu to form a joint venture.
There is some good news in the new forecast. Toshiba expects net profit for the year will be ¥135 billion, a jump of ¥35 billion on its January forecast, thanks to lower-than-expected non-operating expenses.
The earthquake and tsunami struck three weeks before the end of Japan's financial year. Toshiba is about halfway through calculating full-year financial results, which are due to be announced on May 9.
The pair of natural disasters left more than 27,000 people dead or missing and wrecked buildings and other infrastructure along hundreds of kilometers of Japan's eastern coast. A subsequent crisis at a nuclear power plant and electricity shortages left the nation in shock and led to many people staying at home and putting off big-ticket purchases such as the televisions and laptop PCs for which Toshiba is known.
The company also sustained damage to some of its factories and halted some production lines. Affected factories have restarted operations, but some won't be back to full capacity until the end of April.
Martyn Williams covers Japan and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Martyn on Twitter at @martyn_williams. Martyn's e-mail address is email@example.com


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Conditions InDepth: Eczema (Atopic Dermatitis)
Main Page | ]]>Risk Factors]]> | ]]>Symptoms]]> | ]]>Diagnosis]]> | ]]>Treatment]]> | ]]>Screening]]> | ]]>Reducing Your Risk]]> | ]]>Talking to Your Doctor]]> | ]]>Living With Eczema]]> | ]]>Resource Guide]]>
Eczema is actually just another word for dermatitis, which is an inflammation of the skin. There are many types of dermatitis, but the term eczema has come to be associated with a specific type of dermatitis, called atopic dermatitis. Atopic dermatitis is a chronic, noncontagious condition that causes itchy, inflamed skin. Atopic dermatitis (eczema) most commonly affects the insides of the elbows, the backs of the knees, and the face, but it can affect any area of the body and in rare cases may cover most of the body.
Although eczema can develop at any age, it is most common in infants and children. It is estimated that 65% of people with eczema develop symptoms in the first year of life, and 90% develop symptoms before age five. The condition often improves in adulthood, but 50% of those affected as children are affected throughout life.
A Baby With Eczema
In the United States, it is estimated that 15 million people have eczema.
The exact cause of eczema is still unknown, but current theories suggest that it is related to an abnormal immune response and genetic factors. Eczema is often associated with other hereditary allergic disorders such as ]]>hay fever]]> and ]]>asthma]]> .
Eczema flare-ups may be triggered by:
- Extremes in temperature and climate
- Emotional stress
- Skin irritants
- Airborne and contact allergens
- Viral, bacterial, and possibly fungal infections of the skin
- Dry skin
]]>What are the risk factors for eczema?]]>
]]>What are the symptoms of eczema?]]>
]]>How is eczema diagnosed?]]>
]]>What are the treatments for eczema?]]>
]]>Are there screening tests for eczema?]]>
]]>How can I reduce my risk of eczema?]]>
]]>What questions should I ask my doctor?]]>
]]>What is it like to live with eczema?]]>
]]>Where can I get more information about eczema?]]>
Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine . McGraw-Hill; 2001.
Lipozencić J, Wolf R. Atopic dermatitis: an update and review of the literature. Dermatol Clin . 2007 Oct;25(4):605-12
National Eczema Association for Science and Education website. Available at: http://www.nationaleczema.org/ .
Last reviewed July 2008 by ]]>Ross Zeltser, MD, FAAD]]>
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Copyright © 2007 EBSCO Publishing All rights reserved.


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Enraged Pakistan Says NATO Attack Threatens War On Terror
Pakistan, enraged by a NATO cross-border attack that killed 24 soldiers, could end support for the U.S.-led war on militancy if its sovereignty is violated again, the foreign minister said, warning "enough is enough."
The South Asian nation has already shown its anger over the weekend strike by pulling out of an international conference in Germany next week on Afghanistan, depriving the talks of a central player in efforts to bring peace to its neighbor.
"Enough is enough. The government will not tolerate any incident of spilling even a single drop of any civilian or soldier's blood," The News newspaper on Thursday quoted Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar as telling a Senate committee on foreign affairs.
"Pakistan's role in the war on terror must not be overlooked," Khar said, suggesting Pakistan could end its support for the U.S. war on militancy. Despite opposition at home, Islamabad backed Washington after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
The U.S. Embassy released a video statement on YouTube by Ambassador Cameron Munter in which he expressed regret for the attack. (link.reuters.com/cyz35s)
"I would like to extend my most sincere condolences to the people and government of Pakistan, and especially to Pakistan's men and women in uniform, for the tragic incident that took place on Nov 26 in Mohmand Agency," he said, standing in front of U.S. and Pakistani flags.
"We regret it very much," he added in Urdu.
He said the United States took the attack "very seriously" and pledged a "a full, in-depth investigation."
"Pakistan and the U.S. have stood together for over 60 years," he said. "We have weathered previous crises together. I'm certain we will weather this one too, and emerge, together, as stronger partners."
But events seemed to be working against lowering tensions. Two Pakistani men were killed in Afghanistan early on Thursday and Pakistani border guards said NATO may have been responsible.
The officials said the two men, who were from the town of Chagai in the Pakistani province of Baluchistan, were gathering wood 30 km (18.6 miles) inside Afghanistan. They said NATO helicopters fired on their vehicle.
"I can confirm that the bodies of two residents of Chagai have arrived from Afghanistan," said Chagai Assistant Commissioner Tufail Baloch. "But I do not have any information on how they were killed. It happened on Afghan soil so we don't have many details yet."
NATO officials had no immediate comment.
NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military border posts in northwest Pakistan on Saturday in the worst incident of its kind since 2001.
The top U.S. military officer denied allegations by a senior Pakistani army official that the NATO attack was a deliberate act of aggression.
General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Reuters in an interview: "The one thing I will say publicly and categorically is that this was not a deliberate attack.
The incident has given the army, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its history and sets security and foreign policy, some breathing room after facing strong criticism from both the Pakistani public and the United States after Osama bin Laden was killed in a secret raid by U.S. special forces in May.
The al Qaeda leader had apparently been living in a Pakistani garrison town for years.
Pakistanis criticized the military for failing to protect their sovereignty and U.S. officials wondered whether some members of military intelligence had sheltered him. Pakistan's government and military said they had no idea bin Laden was in the country.
Protests have taken place in several cities every day since the NATO strike along the poorly-defined border, where militants often plan and stage attacks.
Pakistan military sources said Islamabad had cancelled a visit by a 15-member delegation, led by the Director General of the Joint Staff, Lieutenant-General Mohammad Asif, to the United States that was to have taken place this week.
In an apparently unrelated attack, a bomb blew out a wall of a government official's office in Peshawar, the last big city on the route to Afghanistan, early on Thursday, police said. There were no reports of casualties.
Also in the eastern Afghan province of Logar, unknown gunmen abducted seven Pakistani engineers in Pul-e Alam, said provincial police chief Gulam Sakhi Rogh Lewanai.
The United States has long wanted Pakistan, whose military and economy depend heavily on billions of dollars in American aid, to crack down on militant groups that cross its unruly border to attack Western forces in Afghanistan.
More recently, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked Pakistan to bring all militant groups to the negotiating table in order to stabilize Afghanistan.
The NATO attack makes Pakistani cooperation less likely.
NATO hopes an investigation it promised will defuse the crisis and that confidence-building measures can repair ties.
Critics say Pakistan has created a deadly regional mess by supporting militants like the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network to act as proxies in Afghanistan and other groups to fight Indian forces in the disputed Kashmir region.
Pakistan says it has paid the highest price in the war on militancy. Thousands of soldiers and police have been killed.
"The sacrifices rendered by Pakistan in the war on terror are more than any other country," Khar was quoted as saying. "But that does not mean we will compromise on our sovereignty."


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In a study funded by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Utah State University graduate student Lisa Winters is investigating ways to keep the prolific Utah Chub, a freshwater member of the minnow family, from crowding out native trout in central Utah's Scofield Reservoir. Here, Winter shares insights from her research.
How do you stop an exploding population of an unwanted fish, quickly and effectively, without ruining the native trout fishery so popular with Utah anglers?
This is the basis of my graduate research work as a member of USU's Fish Ecology Lab. For the past two years, I've made periodic trips to Scofield Reservoir, a 2,815-acre man-made lake on the Price River in the heart of the Manti-La Sal National Forest. With guidance from professor Phaedra Budy, my advisor in the Department of Watershed Sciences, I've spent nearly every daylight hour catching fish, measuring their length and weight and extracting valuable body parts to determine how fish in the reservoir are performing.
I work with Bear Lake cutthroat trout, rainbow trout and tiger trout, along with vast numbers of Utah Chub. The chub, a carp-like fish not native to the Colorado River drainage where Scofield is located, is where the problem lies. The introduced fish reproduces often and exhibits exceptionally fast growth.
Since the chub's 2005 appearance in the reservoir, anglers have observed a substantial decrease in the rainbow trout fishery as well as an exponential increase in the chub population. Needless to say, the fishermen are not thrilled.
Tasked with managing Utah's fishing opportunities, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has worked to mitigate the chub problem with the use of 'biological control agents.' This process involves use of top predators that consume vast amounts of unwelcome prey. In Scofield Reservoir, the UDWR has stocked Bear Lake cutthroat trout, a popular native fish of the state, along with tiger trout, a hybrid species known for its fast growth and aggressive nature, as potential biological control agents to curb the chub.
After seven years of efforts, the UDWR is beginning to see an impact. Working with the agency, I'm trying to determine what and how much the biological control agents are consuming. With this knowledge, I can simulate the Utah chub consumption potential for each species. My findings show each individual adult cutthroat or tiger trout may consume 20 chub in a single year. Multiply that by 100,000 of each species in the reservoir, and you can see a lot of Utah chub are being eaten.
Unfortunately, rainbow trout, which once made Scofield a great fishery, have not fared as well. Rainbow trout are not known to be fish-eaters and, in fact, I've found they consume many of the same aquatic organisms as Utah chub. Thus, the iconic rainbows are disappearing from the lake — they simply can't compete with the voracious chub.
Our work has broad implications for the many reservoir systems throughout the West. Like Scofield, many of these waters have unique and artificial assemblages of fish which make them vulnerable to unwanted invaders capable of altering the species composition. My hope is that, by informing the management decision-making process, I will help find the delicate balance between predators and prey and, for Scofield Reservoir, return it to the thriving blue-ribbon fishery it once was.
An aspiring science writer, Winters shares research activities of members of the USU student subunit of the American Fisheries Society in the chapter's blog. Her research is featured in Utah State Today as part of Natural Resources Week at USU March 25-29.
Related links:
Writer/Contact: Lisa Winters, firstname.lastname@example.com


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With the C7 Corvette likely a long way off, GM is trying to keep the 'Vette bug alive by releasing a new version based on the championship-winning Corvette C6R. It's the Corvette GT-1 Competition Edition.
The new Corvette GT-1 "Competition" Edition was announced at the NCRS meet in Florida last week by Tom Hill, the Quality Engineering Manager at the Corvette Bowling Green Assembly Plant. He revealed that the limited edition package would be named GT-1 Competition Edition and would start to roll off the line in the Spring.
The GT-1 Competition Edition will reportedly be available on the Coupe, Convertible and Z06 models and will include everyone's favorite Corvette racing mascot, "Jake." For those of you who don't know "Jake," shame on you, but take a peak at the 2007 Laguna Seca-winning Corvette C6R for the most prominent view, or just lift up the hood on a ZR1 to find him hiding on the embossed intake runner.
The package will be available in either 45U Velocity Yellow with black stripes or 41U Black with yellow stripes with "Jake" set within the stripe graphic. Of course, "Jake" won't be the only thing displayed on the GT-1 edition. Additional Corvette Racing-inspired graphics will include a yellow windshield banner, C6R driver's names on the roof, a list of won championships on the lower door, and black headlamps on the Velocity Yellow models. Also included are Genuine Corvette Accessories like body-colored door handles, carbon fiber-patterned engine covers, ZR1 full width spoiler in body color and five-spoke Q9V forged chrome wheels.
The Z51 Performance Package will be included with the Coupe and Convertible models as well as the NPP Performance Exhaust. The already high performance Z06 will carry on as is.
It won't matter which model you choose because each GT-1 Edition interior will feature exclusive GT-1 embroidered seats and console lid. If you select the Ebony 4LT package on the Coupe and Convertible or the 3LZ package on the Z06, you'll receive interiors and a shifter accentuated with yellow stitching. If your neighbors couldn't already tell, GM wants to make sure that everyone knows that you've got something special by giving each car a console trim plate with specific VIN sequencing and a numbered certificate of authenticity.
Does this sound a lot like the recently revealed 2009 Corvette Competition Sport Package? It should because this is basically just another stickered up, special edition Corvette meant to bolster sales. Sounds to us like GM is taking a chapter out of the recent Mustang history books. What's next, a Corvette Thanks-For-The-Bailout-Money Edition? Geez, just give us a C7 already.
Corvette GT-1 Competition Edition pricing and availability will be revealed in February.
[via Corvetteblogger]


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Wii U Game Pad supports Inficolour 3D imagery – report
Assassin's Creed 3 on Wii U reportedly supports 3D imagery on the Game Pad.
IMGMR claims to have been tipped off by an Ubisoft Montreal staffer as to the Game Pad's capacity.
The site has screens showing a menu with a 3D Settings category. According to directions given, you can switch between side-by-side and top-bottom stereoscopy, using Inficolour glasses – that is, green and magenta 3D glasses. The 3D effect can be scaled from zero to ten.
The feature means the game can be experienced in 3D whether using the Game Pad or a 3D-equipped TV, as Assassin's Creed 3 can apparently be played entirely from the Game Pad.
The Wii U, like the Xbox 360, doesn't advertise itself as a 3D-capable console, but developers can build in support for 3D-enabled TVs as they can with PC games; Crysis 2 is one example of a 3D-enabled multi-platform game.
Assassin's Creed 3 arrives with the Wii U at launch; it's available now in the US and hits Europe and Australia on November 30.
Thanks, Kotaku.


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Opera House holding auditions
ROCHESTER — Rochester Opera House Productions will hold auditions for both "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "Glengarry Glen Ross" on Saturday, Nov. 10, from 1-4 p.m. and on Sunday, Nov. 11, from 1-4 p.m. at the Governor's Inn, 78 Wakefield St. in Rochester. The call back date is Tuesday, Nov. 13, at 6:30 p.m. at the Rochester Opera House, 31 Wakefield St. Performance dates are Feb. 28-March 9, 2013 (To Kill A Mockingbird) and April 25-May 4, 2013 (Glengarry Glen Ross).
For questions about the auditions, contact Jonathan Hoar at: firstname.lastname@example.com.
Genealogy workshop in Barrington
BARRINGTON — The Barrington Genealogy Club is hosting a workshop presented by members of the Mary Torr Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR). They will meet at the Barrington Public Library on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. Have you wondered what information is needed to become a member of the NSDAR? The genealogy workshop will concentrate on the present – through the American Revolution with time allowed for questions. Space is limited – Registration is required. Call 664-9715 or email firstname.lastname@example.com for more information or to register.
Retired educators to meet
ROCHESTER — The Retired Educators of Strafford County which includes teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, nurses, and paraprofessionals will have their last fall meeting on Thursday, Nov. 8 at the Elks, located at 41 Columbus Ave. Registration begins at 10 a.m.
Spaulding High School music students under the direction of Joanne Houston will provide the entertainment. There will be a business meeting with legislative updates before the buffet at noon. For reservations or more information, contact one of the following members by Thursday, Nov. 1: Mary Lane at 743-6940 or Priscilla Bowlen at 332-4689 or at email@example.com.
Library presenting the Avengers
ROCHESTER — The Rochester Public Library presents "The Avengers" on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. Join them for this very fun and action-packed comic book blockbuster. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. That team includes superheroes Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye and the Hulk.
This event is free. The Rochester Public Library is located at 65 South Main St. and no registration is necessary. For more information call (603) 335-7550 or visit www.rpl.lib.nh.us.
Free student ice skating
ROCHESTER — Rochester Arena is hosting free ice skating for students and their families. Everyone skates free. Rentals are a discounted rate of $3.
Middle schoolers and their families skate free Saturday, Nov. 10, from 6-7:50 p.m.
High schoolers and their families skate free Friday, Dec. 14, from 8-9:50 p.m.
Walkers will be available for the beginners. Warm room and bleacher heaters will be available to stay warm and the snack bar will be open.
Rochester Arena is located at 63 Lowell Street. Visit www.rochesterrec.com.
Toybank dance slated
ROCHESTER — Rochester Firefighters will hold a Toybank Benefit Dance on Friday, Nov. 9. Doors open at 7 p.m. and there will be music from 8 p.m.-12 a.m., featuring radio personality Mike Pomp and Music on Wheels.
The event takes place at the American Legion on Eastern Avenue. The night includes a raffle and auction items. Wear red to show your support of our veterans. For tickets call Cindi Potts at (603) 335-7545.
Lebanon Historical to meet
LEBANON, Maine — The Lebanon Historical Society will meet Monday, Nov. 5, 7 p.m. at the Martha Sawyer Library, Upper Guinea Road. The discussion for the evening will be a review of the many chapters and books on the history of Lebanon that the Society has printed and sold. They will review what should be reprinted and offered for sale. Input on this will be appreciated by all. The December meeting will be Saturday, Dec. 9 at 1 p.m. at the home of Nancy Wyman on Shapleigh Road. It will be a pot luck with a $5 gift to exchange. The meeting is set for the afternoon so some of the older members will find it easier to attend. Any questions, call Nancy at (207) 658 4259.
Boys are born bad
LEE — On Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m., the N.H. Humanities Council, hosted by the Lee Library and the Lee Historical Society will present "Lively Boys, Lively Boys. The Origin of Bad Boy Books," at the Lee Public Safety Complex.
The program will be presented by J. Dennis Robinson.
"Bad boy" genre in American literature dates back to two Portsmouth, N.H. authors, B.P. Shillaber and Thomas Adrich, who both wrote in the mid-18th century. The theory goes that boys are born to be bad; they must fight and fail their way to manhood. Parents who overprotect and direct their sons endanger their futures.
This program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served following the meeting.
Community briefs
Opera House holding auditions


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Dangerous Goods
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Dangerous Goods Resources
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Dangerous Goods are commodities that, when transported, pose some form of danger to people, animals, the environment, or the carrier. Dangerous goods can be either acceptable or unacceptable for shipping. The latest list of Dangerous Goods can be accessed at www.iata.org
There are nine classifications of Dangerous Goods that identify the type of danger each possesses. These are grouped into categories called accessible and inaccessible which determine the FedEx Service you can ship with.
Certain Dangerous Goods shipments must be accessible to the flight crew in-flight. These are categorized as Accessible Dangerous Goods (ADG). Inaccessible Dangerous Goods (IDG) do not need to be loaded so they are accessible to the flight crew in-flight.
Depending upon the Dangerous Goods category, FedEx Express offers a number of shipping options. For a list of Accessible and Inaccessible Dangerous Goods, see OverviewAccessible Dangerous Goods may be shipped via:


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The Flames carded a three-over par 291 to open the 2013 Rees Jones Invitational and remain in contention to defend their title from last year's event.
In 2012, Liberty recorded the program's 22nd team tournament title, winning by 24 strokes over East Carolina and 26 strokes over tournament host South Carolina.
This year's event, once again being contested at the Haig Point Golf Course (par 72, 7,380 yards), is led after the opening round by USF, the tournament's lone team in red figures.
The Bulls opened the three-day, 54-hole event with a two-under par 286 and hold a four-stroke lead over Kennesaw State, who posted a two-over par 290.
Liberty shares third place with Charlotte, who also carded a three-over par 291. UNCW rounds out the top five teams in the 12-team field following an eight-over par 296. East Carolina and South Carolina share sixth place after a 10-over par 298.
Eight players in the 69-man field managed to break par on Sunday, led by USF's Chase Koepka, who erased an early bogey with five birdies during his closing 11 holes to post a four-under par 68.
East Carolina's Al Dickens, Kennesaw State's Chris Guglielmo and Charlotte's Raoul Menard each share second place following a two-under par 70 opening round.
Liberty does have one of the four golfers who carded a one-under par 71 in Michael Hocker, but the sophomore is competing in the event as an individual and does not count toward the team score. The sophomore used back-to-back birdies on holes No. 13 and 14 to get to two-under, but gave a shot back on the closing No. 18 hole to card his fourth career sup-par round.
As a team, the Flames are paced by Niklas Lindstrom and Mathieu Fenasse, who both opened the event with even par rounds of 72 and share ninth place overall.
Lindstrom, who individually won last year's event, quickly regained his winning form to open the day with three front nine birdies to make the turn at three-under par. However, he had four bogeys and a birdie on the closing nine to finish at level par.
Fenasse, playing in his first collegiate round of the season, opened his year with a birdie on the par-4, 410-yard No. 1 hole. The junior dropped back to one-over after bogey at No. 13, but was able to birdie the closing No. 18 hole to get back to a par 72 on the day.
Chase Marinell is one shot behind his teammates and shares 16th place overall with a one-over par 73. The senior was one-under after 10 holes, but went double bogey-birdie-bogey following by five-straight pars to close out the round.
After a tough opening seven holes, Ian McConnell was able to grind his way back to finish just one shot behind Marinell with a two-over par 74. The senior found himself five-over after seven holes, but was able to close with five birdies and two bogeys to climb back up the leaderboard.
Liberty's final golfer in the field is Harrison Winger, who is tied for 55th place following a seven-over 79. The sophomore started the day with a birdie on No. 1, but closed with six bogeys, a double bogey and 10 pars.
Liberty will begin its second round action on the par-4, 454-yard No. 10 hole tomorrow, along with golfers from South Carolina and USF beginning at 9:40 a.m. Live stats via Golfstat will continue to be available for the final two rounds of the 2013 Rees Jones Invitational.


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Smartphone owners are crying foul over AT&T and Verizon's new shared data pricing structures that let you share one bucket of data with up to 10 devices. PCWorld readers commenting on AT&T's new Mobile Share plans described the news as "atrocious," "insane," and "ridiculous." Verizon introduced its Share Everything plans in June.
Harry Thomas, T-Mobile's director of public marketing, also got in on the shared data bashing, saying in a statement to PCWorld that the new plans were costly, complicated, and punitive for consumers. "T-Mobile does not plan on introducing shared family data plans and believes consumers will not benefit from that model," Thomas said.
But are the shared data plans from AT&T and Verizon really that bad? It all depends on your needs. If you're just one person using one smartphone and a tablet, then shared data plans could be a bit pricey. But if you've got an army of mobile device users at home, then you may actually benefit from the new plans.
Here are a few things to consider about the new trend of shared data plans.
Who Needs Unlimited Talk?
One of the big tradeoffs with the new shared data plans from AT&T and Verizon is that you get unlimited calling minutes. This sounds like a great deal, but does it justify the added expense of a shared data plan? How often do you exceed the average basic monthly calling allotment of 450 minutes? Especially when you have other communication options such as text messages, e-mail, and Facebook. Unless you are a big talker or are supporting multiple phones on one plan, the shared data option may not be for you.
Know Your Data
One thing you want to watch out for on either the shared or tiered data plans is your overage charges for using extra data. On Mobile Share and Verizon's Share Everything plan, you pay $15 for every extra gigabyte you use -- AT&T's tiered data plans from 3GB and up charge $10 per extra gigabyte. Those charges may not seem like much, but it adds up if you're not careful.
Tiered Data vs. AT&T Mobile Share
Let's say you want to connect a smartphone and an iPad to AT&T. A current AT&T customer with a basic tiered data plan would be paying $40 per month for 450 calling minutes, an extra $20 per month for unlimited messaging, and another $30 for 3GB of data. So for $90 you have your smartphone covered, and you can pay another $30 for 3GB for your iPad for a total of $120 per month.
Now, if you go with Mobile Share to get a similar deal, you would pay $125 for a smartphone with 6GB of data and an extra $10 to add your iPad for $135 total, $15 more than on the tiered plan. On Verizon, a similar Share Everything plan would set you back $130.
On AT&T if you decide 6GB was too much data, you can drop down to the 4GB plan but then you're paying $120 a month, the same as you were before, but with 2GB less data. And if 4GB isn't enough for you and you end up going over your monthly limit, AT&T will tack on $15 for every extra gigabyte, meaning you could pay $150 if you hit 6GB of data usage in a given month.
Another added benefit of a mobile share plan is that you don't have to pay a convenience fee or sign-up for a larger amount of data to use your smartphone or tablet as a Wi-Fi hotspot. AT&T requires tiered data users to pay $50 per month for a 5GB tethering plan. Using the tethering option on a shared data plan will use up your monthly allotment of bits, but you save some money by losing the tethering fee.
The More the Merrier
Single users paying for just two devices may not see a lot of upside in the new trend of shared mobile data, but for families the new plans could really pay off. If your family is using two smartphones, two feature phones and one iPad, AT&T's tiered data plan will set you back about $250 per month for 2,100 shared calling minutes, unlimited text message, and three gigabytes of data each for your smartphones and the iPad. For that same price on AT&T's Mobile Share you get unlimited calling and texts, and 10GB of shared data. So you get unlimited calling minutes in case you need them, and you get an extra gigabyte of shared data for free. If you went with Verizon Share Everything, you'd also pay $250 for two smartphones, two feature phones, and an iPad using 10GB of data and unlimited calling and texts.
Connect with Ian Paul (@ianpaul) on Twitter andGoogle+, and with Today@PCWorld on Twitter for the latest tech news and analysis.


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I saw the poster for the Day of Archaeology (DoA) in our lift and thought I'd join in, looking at the importance of archives to the documentation and re-interpretation of older excavations. I planned to focus on archives related to the first century of excavations by a fairly eccentric cast of characters from the British School at Athens, at Knossos in Crete, where I am currently working. But in the event, I've been side-tracked in quite different directions, digging into the archives of John Evans, allowing me to dip into archaeology in five countries in one day, all without leaving an overcast London.
Last July, one of the former Directors of the Institute here in London, Professor John Davies Evans, died at the age of 86. I didn't know John well, we had only met a few times, but we had a good talk at a workshop held at Sheffield in 2006, organised in honour of John and his excavations at Knossos in 1958-60 and 1969-70, which provide the entire framework for, and our most comprehensive evidence supporting, our understanding of the four millennia of the Neolithic period on Crete (see V. Isaakidou and P. Tomkins (eds) 2008. Escaping the Labyrinth. The Cretan Neolithic in Context. Oxford: Oxbow Books). As we talked, it was clear John was extremely pleased that his work at the site was still considered so fundamental, and he was also immensely relieved to be able to hand over the completion of its publication to others.
I was working at Knossos on a current project when I learned of John's death. I knew that while he had handed over much of his Knossos excavation archive, a large amount of the original documentation had not yet been collected from him. This was needed for the full publication of his excavations, and would eventually be archived in the British School at Athens.
Via e-mail, I contacted his family, and we agreed that on my return from Crete in September, I would collect his academic papers, sort them, and determine how and where it would be most appropriate to archive them. With my Institute colleague Andrew Reynolds, and with help from John Lewis of the Society of Antiquaries, we collected all of John's academic papers, and they have been taking up about half of my office ever since. (On the plus side, any meeting involving more than one other person has had to take place elsewhere – fa'coffee.)
My original hope of sorting the papers over the Christmas or Easter breaks disappeared behind mountains of marking, and it was only last week, when I finished that and could take over one of our vacant teaching rooms to unpack it all, that I had a chance to find out what's there. Now having consolidated it into some 40 boxes, in place of the odd assortment of boxes, suitcases, a filing cabinet, card and slide chests and a full chest of drawers, I now don't have to slam my door whenever our fire safety officer walks by.
One of our recent PhD graduates who specialises in the history of archaeology, Amara Thornton, very kindly gave up her week to help me, and we've done a first sort of everything. So we now have an overview of the material, which allows us to approach others who we suspect may be interested in particular elements of the archive, and gives us an idea of the scale of the further detailed cataloguing which will be involved. I have no idea when we will be able to do this, and we will have to find some funding, as there will be a couple of months worth of work involved. But particularly relevant to today, are John's excavation records, so let's go digging in the archives, working, as archaeology usually does, from the known to the unknown.
I was familiar with John's excavations on the tiny Greek Cycladic islet of Saliagos, co-directed with Colin Renfrew in 1964-65 and published in 1968 as Excavations at Saliagos Near Antiparos. [Figs 1-2 above] I talked a local boatman into taking me to the tiny offshore islet about 20 years ago to see the over-grown ruins, so seeing colour slides of the site under excavation was a treat. Colin handed over the bulk of the excavation archive to the British School some years ago, but John kept his correspondence and many slides, so I'll copy a few for teaching, before I pack them off to Athens.
I was also very familiar with John's Knossos excavations (Fig. 3 above and Fig. 4 below) from 1958-60 and 1969-70, through my own work at the site (our current project was the subject of a post for last year's DoA by my colleague Andrew Shapland at the British Museum). The eight boxes of notebooks, finds lists, photos, and numerous rolls of plans and sections will be absolutely essential to complete the full publication of this major excavation. I've scanned and sent a couple of documents to Peter Tomkins in Leuven, which I know will help his current work on reconstructing the development of the Neolithic community.
John is particularly well known for sorting out the sequence of prehistoric occupation on Malta, documented in his 1959 Malta in the classic Thames and Hudson 'Peoples and Places' series, and in more detail in his monumental survey of Maltese prehistory, The Prehistoric Antiquities of the Maltese Islands, published in 1971. [Fig. 5 below] Tucked away in the latter are extremely succinct accounts of small but strategic stratigraphic tests he did in 1953-55 in eight Maltese monuments, which enabled him to establish the cultural sequence used in his publications (and still valid) to organise the results from all previous investigations. I have found about 100 photographic negatives and some section sketches from these excavations, but so far, no detailed excavation notes, nor any plans; it is just possible he archived these in Malta, and any plans may be hiding among the many rolls of drawings which I have yet to sort through individually [Fig. 6 below].
An exciting surprise was recognising several original excavation notebooks by other investigators on Malta, from 1911 to 1930, which John must have brought back to the UK to draw on for his synthesis, and over 300 early photos of sites and excavations, which should go to the archive of the National Museum in Malta. Some of these seem to have come to John from the Palestine Exploration Fund, and a note says ominously 'Harris Colt Malta orig: throw away if not wanted 20s or 30s' – thankfully he didn't!
I've e-mailed a former student, Anthony Pace, now the superintendent for cultural heritage on Malta, to work out how best to return this material. I hope we can locate John's excavation notes, and link these with his abundant photographic documentation. As well as photos documenting his own tests, there are some 600 negatives of pottery and other finds, only some of which were used in his 1971 volume. More significant are some 300 negatives representing site visits he made in the early 1950s, only a few of which were eventually published, which document the condition of many monuments half a century ago. Altogether, this might just be the spur for a busman's holiday to Malta, which I've wanted to visit for over 30 years.
What I wasn't at all familiar with, were John's unpublished excavations, and I spent the week dashing off to the library, doing web-searches or sending e-mails to colleagues and former students, each time I stumbled across a new paper trail. With some follow-ups this week, I think I've now got the outlines, and since none of them are in my own field of specialisation, they generate some of the excitement of discovery, without having to say au revoir to decent coffee.
The first surprise was an excavation John conducted jointly with Francisco Jordá Cerdá of the Seminario de Historia Primitiva del Hombre, in 1950, at the earlier Bronze Age Argaric site of La Bastida de Totana in south-east Spain. This was the last in a series of campaigns in a settlement with abundant intra-mural burials. [Fig. 7 below] I haven't yet discovered any correspondence to indicate why John got involved, but he spent much of that year in Spain researching his PhD dissertation on the possible relations between Argaric Spain and Early Bronze Age Anatolia. The specifics of how he got involved in the project may eventually emerge from his papers, though I've found no clues so far.
An e-mail to a Spanish former PhD student, Borja Legarra Herrero, now working in both the Aegean and Spain, pointed me to the web-site of the recently resumed excavations at the site, now one of the largest field projects in Spai. There, and in interim publications, the directors indicate that in 2009 John had sent them the original excavation notebooks of his Spanish collaborator, which had been bequeathed to him in 1960, along with a photocopy of his own 1950 excavation notebook (still among his papers). [Fig. 8 below] Seemingly over-looked by John at that time, are 78 cards mounted with excavation photographs, primarily of burials in situ, identified by burial and context. These relate to the 1944-45 seasons of excavations, before John became involved in the project; there must be an interesting story of personalities and politics behind why these were sent to John, but whether we can piece it together from surviving clues at either end remains to be seen.
By chance, I had taught Roberto Risch, a co-director of the new project, during his MA nearly 20 years ago, and an e-mail out of the blue from me received a reply within a couple of hours (though he cut it short because the Portugal vs Czech Republic Euro 2012 game was starting – I guess we all have priorities).
While the notebooks John sent them have allowed members of the current project to restudy the original material for publication, they had not come across these photographs in any archive in Spain, and they have had difficulty reconstructing the contexts of individual burials. (Purely coincidentally, Borja and Roberto met at a conference in Denmark a few weeks ago, and had arranged to meet for dinner while the former is working with me, and the latter is on holiday, on Crete in August; Borja planned to bring me along, though hadn't yet mentioned it to me – I think I'd better go via the cashpoint, just to play it safe.)
So the first of today's tasks has been to finish scanning these photographs. Ultimately, I hope the originals will be returned to Spain for archiving with the other dig records and the finds in the newly built museum at the site. In the meantime, the scans should assist the study of the old material, which has been going on for several years, and Roberto is going to get back to me for higher resolution scans of some of the photos, for incorporation into the new museum displays.
The second surprise was a series of small notebooks, a few photographs, more negatives, a few small bags with potsherds, and a box with 1/3 of a skull, from John's 1956 excavation of three Bronze Age barrows at Earl's Farm Down, just east of Amesbury, ca. 6 kilometres south-east of Stonehenge. [Fig. 9 below]
Amara had her laptop with her, and a Google led to the Wiltshire sites and monuments record, which, while not seemingly aware of John's excavation, noted the excavation of four nearby barrows by Paul Ashbee in 1956. A quick run up to the library to consult Ashbee's 1983 publication in the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine confirms which barrows were excavated by John, so we can put them on the map. A contemporary report (by John – uncredited, but the typescript is among his papers), included in N. Thomas 1958, 'Excavation and field-work in Wiltshire: 1956' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 56:238-40) provides information on each barrow, and indicates that these, as well as Ashbee's excavations, were undertaken for the Department of the Environment, so this seems to have been fill-in employment just before John took up his appointment as Professor of Prehistoric European Archaeology at the Institute, to succeed Gordon Childe. [Fig. 10 below]
A much later letter mentions in passing that John thought the finds were all stored in the Institute. On the off chance that there were more than the few sherds he had kept with the notebooks, I fired off an e-mail to my colleague Rachel Sparks, who manages our collections, only to get her out of office message – jury duty! However, that evening I got a message back that a search of the records suggests we have material from Earl's Farm Down which wasn't identified as John's excavation in our records, so has been in that special limbo all collections have for under-documented material.
So the second of today's tasks has been to see whether this material is from the barrows, and to get an idea of the potential size of a publication project. The writing on the bags is John's, and the recording system matches that on the few bags he kept with his notes, so that's confirmed (see Rachel's DoA entry). There is a fair collection of material, and with it in the box were a few more negatives, as well as a few finds from other sites which had been mis-filed in the same box. So confirmation for me, a few mysteries back to limbo for Rachel to try to sort out – but fewer than she started her DoA with, so I'd say we're winning.
Writing-up this excavation should be suitable as a student dissertation project, possibly for publication in WAM (I mentioned it in passing to Andrew Reynolds, the editor, and he's interested), after which the finds and records should probably be archived with other local material in the Salisbury Museum.
A third surprise was that John conducted a single season of trial tests in 1972 in collaboration with local archaeologists at the Iron Age hillfort of Segovia in southern Portugal. John's principal academic interests were in the Mediterranean Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, so what led him to get involved in a major Iron Age and Roman site? [Fig. 11 below] Hopefully there will be some hint when I can work through the documentation and correspondence systematically.
Again, purely coincidentally, his Portuguese collaborator, José Morais Arnaud, was completing his PhD at Cambridge when I began mine in 1980, and Teresa Judice Gamito expanded the 1972 trenches in connection with her own doctoral research in the early 1980s, publishing her thesis with BAR (Social Complexity in Southwest Iberia 800-300 B.C.), which we have upstairs, though we don't have the Portuguese journal where she reported her excavations. Her summary indicates the importance of the excavation, providing the principal regional stratified sequence from the Late Bronze Age through the Roman conquest.
The documentation for this excavation is more extensive, involving several trench notebooks, photos, plans, sections and finds drawings, which I will need more time to sort through. Because the trenches were subsequently extended, I expect John gave his collaborators copies of everything, but I'm chasing this up with José to see if we can supply whatever may be needed for their archives, to facilitate future study.
Following this trial field season, John became Director of the Institute, and administration seems to have taken over his life (a feeling all of us are now experiencing) and he stopped fieldwork; he was only able to return to working on his excavations after his retirement, as several boxes of transcribed notebooks, finds and photo lists for Knossos, along with a large box of computer disks testify (now I have to find a working Amstrad computer, to read the disks, to make sure we have copies of all the relevant files).
Sorting the Segovia records, along with more detailed cataloguing of all of John's papers, will have to wait until sometime in the winter at earliest, when I may get another chance to unpack the boxes. So I've just had to figuratively back-fill my excavation in the archives, until the next season.
But as a final surprise, my query to Rachel about Earl's Farm Down, has turned-up other materials in our storerooms, brought in by John, and checking these with Rachel is my third task for the DoA, which she has noted in her own DoA account. As well as various small bits of pottery useful for teaching purposes, given to John by excavators during his early travels in Spain, which we may be able to document more fully (presently simply catalogued by site name), two more significant collections exist. We have the human and animal skeletal material from his excavation of six communal rock-cut tombs at Xemxija on Malta. Summary reports on this material were included as appendices in John's 1971 volume, but more could now be done to study the human remains in terms of community demography, the health and life history of individuals, and the social and ritual contexts of burial; the much smaller collection of animal bones holds much less potential. The former would repay new study, particularly in comparison with more recently excavated material, and could make an excellent dissertation project for a student on our MSc in skeletal and dental bioarchaeology.
The second collection consists of two boxes of carbonised plant remains and soil samples (to which I can add another box John had at home) from Knossos. The site is one of half a dozen representing the earliest Neolithic communities in Europe, established ca. 7000 BC. The plant remains were originally studied as part of the British Academy's Major Research Project on the Early History of Agriculture, with John taking enthusiastic advantage of the newly developed flotation recovery technique and fine sieving in his 1969-70 excavations. The botanical samples from the two different campaigns were distributed among different specialists in the UK and Denmark.
I had hoped we could track down all of these through the paper trail of John's administrative correspondence for the project – I wasn't expecting to find any still in London. Checking them, they are still in bags with their context labels (Rachel and I took the opportunity to replace a few fragile bags) so their study should contribute to our understanding of early agriculture in the Aegean. I've notified Valasia Isaakidou of Sheffield University of this material, as she is co-ordinating the study and publication of the environmental and bioarchaeological material recovered by John at Knossos.
Finally, still completely unexplored, are some rolls of plans and a box with the documentation and a few finds from several small excavations conducted by John's wife, Evelyn Sladdin, before she started her undergraduate degree in Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge and met John. She published one, but the others, small Roman and Medieval digs, apparently not. I may have to pencil-in the 'excavation' of that multi-site box for the DoA next year.
So what's next? My priority for the autumn and winter, to fit in around teaching, will be to catalogue the Knossos documentation, about five times as much as all the rest together, as this major excavation is actively being worked up for publication by a number of colleagues, and the full documentation is eagerly awaited. Peter Tomkins, who is writing-up the stratigraphy and pottery from John's excavations, and synthesising this with his own extensive work with Sir Arthur Evans' tests below the Bronze Age palace, is coming to London in September for a meeting at the Society of Antiquaries being organised to commemorate John's career, so I hope we can start going through this material together then.
It's frustrating to have started this 'excavation', but have to leave it – but then most real excavations are like that too. This has turned into a far larger, but also much more interesting task than I anticipated nearly a year ago when I contacted John's family. From my conversation with John in 2006, when he was both pleased that his excavations at Knossos were still important, and relieved that their publication would be completed, I'm sure he would approve our excavating his archive, to make the material available to other researchers.
This Day of Archaeology marks the last attention I can give to it for some time, but has clarified what we have, and what we need to do next. Realistically, considering the job ahead (and there is a lot more to his papers than just his excavation documentation), I think it may be some time before I'll see the floor on that half of my office again. It's been busy but intriguing – and it isn't often that one can dig into archaeology in five different countries in one day.
Today has also brought home forcefully three things that confront me every time I work on Knossian material: how productive and cost effective re-examining older material can be, despite the constant push to recover new evidence with up-to-date techniques; that we have a responsibility to squeeze as much information as we can out of what we dig up – it is a non-renewable resource; and how crucial it is to understand our own disciplinary history – who collected what, when and why – to understand that evidence most effectively.
I'd like to thank Judith and Mike Conway, John Lewis, Andrew Reynolds, Kelly Trifilo, Stephen Shennan, Cathy Morgan, Peter Warren, Sandra Bond, Katie Meheux and Gabe Moshenska who helped arrange for and assisted the transfer of the material to the Institute of Archaeology; Lisa Fentress, Reuben Grima, Borja Legarra Herrero, José Morais Arnaud, Anthony Pace, Colin Renfrew, Artur Ribeiro, Roberto Risch and Tim Schadla-Hall for responding to my queries; Stuart Laidlaw for scanning slides and negatives; Amara Thornton for helping me sort John's papers and providing details about some of the colourful characters who dug on the then colonial 'circuit'; Rachel Sparks for chasing Institute collections records, digging out John's material from the Institute storerooms, and helping me look through it; and the DoA folks for coping with this submission.
All images from J. D. Evans archive.


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I'd better make a confession at the start of this column.
I'm going to be talking about whisky, so anyone fed up to the back teeth of hearing me bang on about the king of spirits should probably just turn the page and check out which restaurant Peter Calder has eviscerated this week.
Still here? Right, then let us begin.
The thing I love most about whisky (apart from the taste, obviously) is the sheer breadth of styles and flavours you can get. Coming close behind that is its heritage and tradition. Of all the major spirits, whisky has the thickest web of lore, legend and lies spun around it.
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Did you know that whisky (or whiskey, if you prefer) can cure worms? Neither did I and neither does medical science, but it's just one of the legends that have grown up around this sovereign liquor. It's all rubbish, of course. Anyone who tells you a legend about whisky is not to be believed, unless it's the one that says "what can't be cured by butter or whisky, there is no cure for", which is something we can all live by.
But amid all the antiquity and artifice around whisky, remember that whisky is an ever-changing spirit. While distilleries trumpet their age and pedigree on their labels, they are also furiously bringing out new versions of their product. With about 100 single malt distilleries in Scotland alone and more in the US, Canada, Japan, India, Australia and Ireland, it's a wonder anyone can bring out a new whisky at all. However, they do and they're always interesting, and often exceptional. I've tried a few recently and I've been impressed by the quality.
The first of these is the most unlikely. Amrut Fusion is an Indian whisky of some polish and style, which is quite an improvement on previous incarnations. I've never been sold on the quality of Indian whisky, ever since I was once served a glass of something called King Anne (the label boasted that it was made with "genuine Scottish berries"). But the Fusion, made from Indian and Scottish barley, has a sense of style about it and shows a promising future for the Amrut label.
On a more traditional note, Abhainn Dearg, from Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, is a lovely wee dram and one I was lucky to try, thanks to the good offices of someone who is now a very special friend. It was a 3-year-old cask-strength malt and while it had all the fire of youth, it also had an unexpected maturity.
The third - and, if I'm honest , most enjoyable - whisky I've tried recently is the oddly named Norval's Sensible Scotch. It's a blended whisky - a mixture of malt whisky with unmalted grain spirit - and has a character and style all of its own. It's from Kirkcaldy, a Fife town more famous for the aphrodisiac qualities of its sea wall than its fields of golden barley. It's available from www.thewhiskyboutique.co.nz and you'll be pleasantly surprised by the cost; I've bought bottles of wine that cost more and haven't given half as much pleasure as this little gem.


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Tradition Corner Module / 1.549 eur
Designed by Povl B. Eskildsen
Tradition is a series of non-traditional outdoor furnitures that can be adapted to your own needs without compromising on aesthetic, comfort or quality. The Tradition Corner Module is easy to combine with the other Tradition furnitures.
- Details
- Outdoor Textile / Charcoal
Quickdry Outdoor Foam / Dark Grey
WxDxH: 85x85x75 cm / Seat H: 39 cm
Item no. 1505932
- Packaging
- WxDxH: 90x90x80 cm
Weight: 23 kg
- Material and care
Proper usage and maintenance
Proper usage and maintenance is vital for getting the most out of the valuable resources we have. Our designs are made to last for generations, but just like everything else, they need a little care to get there.
Powder coated aluminum
Powder coating is a high-quality and dry finishing process which makes it possible to create a thicker and more streamlined surface than with conventional liquid paint. The coating is applied on the super light-weight aluminum in order to reduce the risk of impact from moisture, UV, scratches and corrosion.
Use a soft brush with soapy water and wipe with a dry cloth. Note: Do not use abrasive pads or abrasive cleaning agents as this may harm the surface.
Although sturdy and resistant, powder coated aluminum is not invincible, be careful not to make scratches in the surface as it will make the material vulnerable to corrosion.
Winter storage
The product is usable in all types of wind and weather, all year round. However, during wintertime, it is advisable to store the furniture in an unheated room such as a garage or cellar.
Outdoor Textile
Agora Panama is Oeko-Tex certified and solution-dyed acrylic fabrics used for upholstering our cushions and pillows. The acrylic fibre we use is a synthetic but cotton-like fabric with world-class features for outdoor usage, making it:
- Extremely colour and lightfast
- Water and dirt repellent
- Free from harmful substances
- Mildew-resistant
Washing instructions
Wipe the fabric with a firmly wrung cloth. In case of more obstinate stains, remove the upholstery and machine wash it at 30° C. If the upholstery is not removable, the textile must only be washed with a wrung cloth.
Quickdry Outdoor Foam
Quickdry Outdoor Foam has an open cell structure which allows both water and air to pass through freely. This makes the cushion dry exceptionally quickly – even after being soaking wet – with little to no need of maintenance. Moreover, the foam provides a firm and comfortable texture which remains the same year after year.
If the cushion is exposed to heavy rain, we recommend placing the cushions upright for quick drainage. Soon after, the cushion will be dry and the cushion can be used again.
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About the designer / Povl B. Eskildsen
Form does not follow function. Form and function go together. That is how Povl B. Eskildsen describes the essence of designing. And he is a man who knows what he's talking about, for he has created a long line of strong designs for both Danish and international companies. He was born in Jebjerg, Denmark, close to the Limfjord and qualified as an architect from the School of Architecture in Aarhus, Denmark, in 1986. Since then he has worked as an independent designer on creating designs that reflect the present-day age and lifestyle.


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With just two associate advisors available to replace every three lead advisors; creeping compensation costs for advisory positions; and woefully low levels of succession planning (just 34% of firms reported having an effective succession plan), the demand for top talent is outstripping supply. Combined with a dramatic experience gap between today's most senior lead advisors relative to other advisory firm positions, our survey data provide strong justification for enhanced development of homegrown talent.
The industry's talent shortage is an old phenomenon that is re-emerging as a central issue. As independent advisory firms recover from the 2008–2009 security market downturn, ensuring a steady supply of qualified labor is once again a critical factor for business sustainability. The good news for advisory firms is that a solution is close at hand, but with one key proviso: Firms must create an environment where talented people can flourish.
These findings and conclusions stem from "The 2011 FA Insight Study of Advisory Firms: People and Pay," our second examination of this topic since 2009. FA Insight, in partnership with Investment Advisor, released the study in the fall of last year. The current "People and Pay" study provides concise recommendations for addressing human capital-related challenges that are fundamental for growing a firm, building value and preparing for succession. In this third article of the 2011 "People and Pay" series, we share excerpts of the study as they relate to effective organizational design, career path planning and people development—all critical components for bridging a rapidly widening talent gap.
Lewis Carroll said it best: "If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there." Organizational design is an obvious but often overlooked foundation for growing talent. Only 14% of advisory firms surveyed have developed a plan for how their organizational structure will change as they grow (see Figure 1, right). Why does this matter? The organizational structure is the blueprint dictating which positions will be required at what points in the firm's growth. The structure also defines how responsibilities will be divided between positions, how each position will interact to deliver the client experience and to whom each role will be accountable. Moreover, the structure provides the framework for advancing team members along a career path. Despite delivering several advantages, organizational design is a relative weakness for firms of all sizes.
It's Just That Simple and It's Just That Hard
As always, nothing worth having comes easily. To effectively set a firm's organizational structure in order to take the guesswork out of recruitment and internal people development requires an investment of management time and effort. The process involves mapping a transition plan from the current organizational structure to a targeted future structure based on the achievement of predetermined key financial milestones.
Position descriptions will further serve to support implementation of the structure by clarifying expectations for individual roles and defining required skills and experience for each position. Just 38% of firms surveyed have documented and up-to-date position descriptions. Nearly 30% of firms indicated that staff members are unaware or unclear of their role responsibilities. The implications for this are significant. With individual accountabilities unclear, productivity will be hampered and structured progression from junior to more senior positions will raise challenges regarding levels of accountability.
Movement of personnel into progressively more senior positions to support retention and growth is a desired outcome that eludes many advisory firms. An inability to progress staff may reflect poor hiring for some firms. For others, limited attention to the long-term aspirations of team members may be the cause. To facilitate upward movement, a career path acts as a guide for where an individual will have the opportunity to progress and the skills and experience that will need to be developed in order to advance. Formal career path planning is limited, however. Almost one-third of firms surveyed are yet to implement career paths for any position type within the firm (see Figure 2, above). This represents a large opportunity for advisory firms to better engage their people regarding their future career aspirations by setting a plan for their advancement.
Irrespective of firm size, firms must be able to demonstrate to their staff the opportunities for advancement that will come with future growth. All position types benefit from having a career path, but the need for an internal career path for each advisory role is most vital for sustainable growth. A key indicator of a firm's ability to progress talent is the existence of all three advisory positions. These include the support, associate and lead advisors as defined by FA Insight in the "People and Pay" study. Even among the industry's largest firms, internal progression of advisors requires attention, with less than half of these firms reporting that they employ all three advisor level positions.
Sustained People Development
Advancing team members internally along a defined career path will be impeded without enhancing individual capabilities. On average, firms spend less than 1% of revenue on personnel development. This is relatively consistent across all firm stages. Similar levels of investment in personnel development were observed in 2009. The level of expenditure on development is likely not as important as the quality of the training provided, however. For example, firms may be utilizing internal training delivered by senior team members and avoiding more expensive external training costs.
Once the career path is set, an individual development plan must bring the career path to life to coordinate training in the areas where the largest skill gaps have been identified. Approximately half of all firms surveyed create individual development plans. An effective development plan requires that managers hold routine development discussions with team members. These discussions should ensure progress is being made in key areas, new training priorities are identified and training is completed. This investment in individual development demonstrates the firm's commitment to the longer-term retention and progression of talent while enabling team members to contribute additional value to the firm.
Well Within Reach
Creating an environment that encourages homegrown talent to thrive and advance is an obvious solution for firms seeking sustainable growth in a climate where talent is in short supply. Representing 80% of an advisory firm's costs, people are at the core of every successful advisory firm. Implementation of the practices outlined across organizational design, career paths and formal professional development will ensure that a firm gets the highest return possible on its most important resource.
More to Come
In the months ahead, Investment Advisor readers can look forward to a fourth and final article in the current "People and Pay" series that will examine challenges related to the transition of equity and standards for ownership.
For further human capital guidance, including detailed compensation and financial benchmarking data, readers are encouraged to order the complete "2011 FA Insight Study of Advisory Firms: People and Pay" at www.fainsight.com. For firms seeking advanced support on human-capital-related challenges, please contact FA Insight directly.
Read the first article in the People and Pay series, "Endangered Supply," about how to attract and retain the right employees.
Read the second article in the People and Pay series, "Sounding the Alarm," about the critical role team management plays in succession planning.


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Taylor Swift, America's Sweetheart and cold-blooded killer, released the video for "22" yesterday and it's very Taylor Swift-y — a description that on some days could come off as a mondo burn, but today just means that it's playful, brightly colored and, as many have pointed out before me, seemingly shot through the twee-est of Instagram filters.
I don't know, it's cute. It seems like they're having a good time, Vanessa from Gossip Girl is there, Taylor Swift wears cat ears. According to her GMA exclusive, Swift says the video was shot at a house with all of her real life friends. Seems like fun, but of course they edited out the parts of the party where Swift put a cigar out on the neck of someone who scuffed her Keds and held a girl out of a second-story window "just so she could feel something."


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Corporates help their staff look good.
New Zealand companies are paying up to $2000 to spruce up their staff and give them a look suitable for their brand.
It's an international trend as businesses realise the value of attractive hair and makeup on staff.
At the London Olympics, even volunteers were given free makeup with a tutorial card. Makeup artist Caroline Barnes developed an opening ceremony look known as "sports chic" and dressed volunteers.
Hair and makeup style educators Simmy and Ness recently opened in Auckland and have already worked with the sales team at beauty products company QVS. Ray White real estate agents are next.
"We didn't do it because we had an issue with the way they looked, but because the way people look is such an important part of how they feel," Tim Cunningham, managing director of QVS, said. "Staff feedback has been great."
Fiona Fenwick, a coach of executives and communication strategist, said the strongest thing a company could do was to use staff as ambassadors.
She said at Air New Zealand, the uniform, including hair and makeup, was a huge part in showing the brand's values.
The value of looking great is well researched. Each year the Look Good Feel Better charity provides makeover workshops for up to 3000 New Zealand women with cancer.
Simone "Simmy"' Lawry said a business could not tell staff how to look. "But a session with us offers a fun way, often over a glass of bubbles, to boost a team's morale while offering industry secrets about how people can look their best."
Partner Ness Warne said personal grooming standards had slipped in the past 10 years.
"You wouldn't go to a job interview with undone hair and just a bit of lip gloss, so why turn up for work like that?" Warne said makeovers boosted confidence, increased productivity and improved corporate brand image.
By Danielle Wright
Read article here:


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Virtual Unrealities: The Short Fiction of Alfred Bester
Vintage Books, 1997 - Short stories - 366 pages
A collection of science fiction stories, most of them reprints from the 1950s. In Hobson's Choice, tourists from the future visit our age to experience a nuclear war, while Adam and No Eve is on the world's last surviving male.
What people are saying - Write a review
LibraryThing ReviewUser Review - Cheryl_in_CC_NV - LibraryThing
Not a definitive collection, but much overlap w/ Starburst, which I just read. ? Kind of overwhelming to read that much Bester in such a short span of time. ? He really is much more modern than most ... Read full review
VIRTUAL UNREALITIES: The Short Fiction of Alfred BesterUser Review - Kirkus
A major retrospective, comprising 15 tales from 194179 (mostly from the '50s and '60s), together with two previously unpublished pieces, though readers should note that the word ``selected'' has been ... Read full review
Will You Wait?
The Flowered Thundermug
Adam and No Eve
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The young Brazilian Felipe Passos moved the hearts of three million World Youth Day participants, including Pope Francis himself, when he told the story of how he became bound to a wheelchair and discovered "the Cross."
Felipe, 23, spoke at the World Youth Day prayer vigil July 27 at Copacabana Beach.
He told how at the end of the past World Youth Day, held in Madrid in 2011, he made two spiritual promises. He promised to stay chaste until marriage and to work hard so his prayer group of Ponta Grossa, in Brazil's southern state of Paraná, could participate in this year's World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro.
With few resources, Felipe and his friends began saving money by working several hard jobs at the same time that they prepared themselves spiritually: praying, adoring the Blessed Sacrament, fasting and doing works of solidarity.
Then a horrible thing happened.
"In January of this year, two days before turning 23, two youths entered my house, armed, to rob the money we had gathered with so much sacrifice," said Felipe.
"I thought of the months of great efforts, of my family's sacrificing, of my friends and colleagues… in what would have been snatched from us and I decided I would not give it," he added July 27.
Felipe saved the savings of the group, but received a gunshot wound that almost ended his life.
"I was clinically dead, I had several cardiac arrests, and the doctor told my parents in the hospital 'this boy has no hope,' but I'm here and my community is here because of God's mercy," remarked Felipe.
In front of a shocked crowd and in front of Pope Francis, who looked at him attentively, the Brazilian told how he was in coma, breathing through a tube, while his community offered prayer intentions and sacrifices so he would heal.
Finally, when he became conscience, the first thing he did was ask for the Eucharist and after receiving it, he recovered rapidly.
But Felipe, who was then bound to a wheelchair, stated "this is my cross, the cross the Lord sent me to come closer to him, to live more openly his grace and love."
When the three million youths broke out clapping, Felipe interrupted them.
"Silence!" he said. "Let's listen to the Holy Spirit!"
The 23-year-old then asked each of the youths present to take the cross they had hung around their neck, to hold it and look at it.
Felipe invited them to meditate in silence on the questions: "What is the cross that the Lord has given me? What is the cross that he wants me to carry for his love?"
Everyone present, including bishops and cardinals, contemplated their own cross around their neck. The wheelchair-bound young man's words created a unique moment of profound silence along the entire Copacabana beach.
Felipe finished his testimony asking for prayers as well as for Pope Francis' blessing.


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Disclaimer: Although we make every effort to keep this list updated, we cannot guarantee the availability of any of the plants listed. Please call before making a special trip.
Daylily 'Tigerling'
Hemerocallis hybrid
Unavailable in 2020
Hemerocallis hybrid
What's My Zone?
Zone: 3 to 9Plant Type: Perennial
|Blooms mid-summer
Cultivar Notes - 'Tigerling'
3¾", fragrant, light orange petals with a large, bright red eye and yellow-green throat. Blooms in midsummer; rebloomer. Very distinctive with attractive foliage.
Genus Notes - Hemerocallis
Using two Greek words, lemera ("day") and kellos ("beautiful"), Hemerocallis were aptly named in reference to the one-day duration of each flower's opening. While these Daylilies are botanically disparate from true Lilies--due to bloom behavior and the evidence of roots rather than bulbs--both types of plants belong to the broad and very diverse Lily family (Lilaceae). Hemerocallis, traditionally "collector" plants, were infused with vast color and form improvements by American hybridists following World War II. Because of this, today we enjoy Hemerocallis' amazing hues and tones, and forms are now available in the original funnel shape, as well as undulating, incurred, or even crisped. Overall, Hemerocallis are generally regarded to be easygoing and accommodating, rugged and long-lived. They are garden standards tolerant of full sun or shade, can thrive in nearly any soil, and are resistant to the attacks of disease and insect pests.
Daylilies belong in every garden. Their trumpet-shaped flowers, which are borne on leafless stalks above grasslike foliage in midsummer, last just a day, but it always seems there are more on the way.
Daylilies can survive many harsh conditions that other plants cannot including: polluted city environments, slopes, poor and dry soils, near pavement that is salted in winter, and under Black Walnut trees (not affected by juglone).