text:
Israel has a fundamental right to exist and defend itself, a speaker at a pro-Israeli demonstration in Dublin has proclaimed.
Cllr Richard Humphreys, the Labour Party Councillor for the Stillorgan Ward, has said that there needs to be a wider recognition of the right of Israel to exist, and its consequential right to defend itself against the rocket attacks on its citizens launched by Hamas's terrorist regime in Gaza.
Humphreys was speaking at the historic first major rally in solidarity with Israel, held at the GPO on Sunday 25 November.
"This is a day when we stand in solidarity, friendship and dialogue with Israel. Israel's right to exist must be acknowledged, as the only Jewish state in the world and the only liberal secular democracy in the Middle East." Humphreys said.
Read More:Irish citizens in Gaza give firsthand account of Israeli air strikes – VIDEO
"Any state that has a right to exist must also have a right to defend itself. There is no country in the world that could tolerate hundreds of rocket attacks launched on its territory, bringing hardship, fear, disruption, injury and death to its people."
"This rally for peace in Israel is also a moment of optimism." Humphreys said. "This first major rally for peace in Israel is a historic moment and a sign that the tide of opinion is turning. There are many signs that Irish society is becoming more balanced and realistic in addressing issues relating to the Middle East. Anti-Semitic attitudes are increasingly being challenged – and the most insidious form of anti-Semitism is the systematic attempt to impose a standard to judgeIsrael which is not used to judge any other country. Many Irish champions of human rights are surprisingly silent about the brutal outrages perpetrated by the terrorist Hamas regime against women, gay people, or political opponents, and about many vicious attacks on human rights in some of Israel's near neighbours. This double standard is now being challenged, which I find very encouraging."
"The inherent fascism of the attempt to impose a cultural boycott on Israel is also being named and exposed. As a Labour Party councillor I especially welcome the presence of the Tánaiste and Labour Party Leader Eamon Gilmore at the Israel Film Days, organised by the Embassy of Israel, in November 2011."
"It is hard to talk about solidarity with Israel without also acknowledging the enormously positive contribution that the Jewish people have made to society, not just in Israel but in Ireland and across the world. On a personal note I come to this issue with an enormous sense of gratitude for the opportunity I had to work for Ireland's first Jewish cabinet Minister, the Labour Party's Mervyn Taylor. I am also profoundly grateful for the insights that so many Jewish writers and thinkers have shared with the world. Intellectuals of Jewish heritage such as Jacob Bronowski, Viktor Frankl, Irvin Yalom, Carl Sagan, Alain de Botton and many others are among the most inspiring figures of modern civilization."
"As well as solidarity and optimism, I think it is also important to emphasise the need for compassion." Humphreys said. "Each death or injury of an innocent civilian in Gaza is a tragedy which must primarily be lain at the door of Hamas, but which also calls for restraint and for the path of peace. It is essential to recognise that there is a Palestinian perspective and there is Palestinian suffering. Many Arab commentators have taken the lead in pointing out that a great deal of that suffering is self-inflicted but it is real nonetheless. A lasting peace must be founded on dialogue between enemies and on a historic effort to accommodate both sets of identities."
frankie...excellent point. But why did Israel try to sink the Liberty? There are those who would tell you that the Liberty, being an intelligence ship, heard the radio transmissions of Israeli forces marching through the Sinai toward Cairo asking what to do with the 1,000 Egyptian troops that had surrendered to them. They also heard the reply: kill them. That begs the question, what number of murders constitutes the necessary limit to qualify as genocide or, if you will, a Holocaust? The intentional murder of defenseless people just might make it hard for you to play your "Holocaust Card" whenever you felt like it. But maybe not.
with even more respect, the only ones who destablised the region were the israelis,and attacked anyone who got in their way, tell that to the familys and survivors of the U.S.S liberty,? the israelis created terrorism before it was heard off, and are using ( what only can be described as) nazi tactics against the people of palestine! wake up and smell the coffee
Frankieblo. With respect they will just ask the people right back if being honest. "do you want the cheap oil or not" ? The region is not allowed to become destabalised under any circumstances.
hello, my congratulations to the people of palestine on their victory at the U.N.! shame on the U.S.A for not showing the courage and humanity to vote YES! the jewish lobby on capital hill got their demands?, to the people of america who are having hard times to make ends meet, have no jobs,facing cutbacks in welfare,and having a long way to recovery!HAVE to ask the questions! while we do without! why is the U.S.A bankrolling billions in aid every year to the israelis, sending billions of dollars in military aid every year ,WHILE americans find it hard to survive! would these billions of dollars not be better off in american pockets? would it not create jobs ,better infrastructure etc? so ask the white house to explain this ! and demand an end to conflict in the middle east thank you frankie dutton
Eamon you're exacerbating you condone the slaughter by your own very words. "I stand by Israel" therefore you agree with their illegal murders and land stealing.
Smyrnian. I can find no reason for the indiscriminate targetting of young children by a any country who posess weapons of the calibre Isreal hold via the USA and others. But hey, perhaps their parents danced the streets in celebration of 9/11
Seán, Have some pride, man! Please don't become as pillocky as the guys on the site who will twist anything to have a go. Where on earth have you seen me say that I "condone the slaughter of the innocent". I won't bother to address the pillocks on here, they're just pathetic. Éamonn.
So you do condone the slaugter of the innocent by the Terrorist IDF Eamonn. As for Egypt I will delay ansewering on that point. I have a sneeking suspicion that the Army and the pro Murbarak forces are behind this charade, all will be clear as soon as the propoganda machines loses traction. A fine disertation pcon.
Eamonn- You must do something about your temper son.
"Wounded Knee" - You missed the important piece once again. "Whenever I debated for a point WHICH I KNEW WAS A LOSER"! Normally, you can be possibly excused for missing the nuance, but this time it's not just nuance, it's hitting you straight in the face and you still don't get it. Did you hurt your head as well? This board should be closed down, it's full of brute force ignorant, lower orders personnel, peasant attitudes, racism, sneering, domineering, pathetic, infantile, gormless, hobos - and that's just me. The rest are even worse. Éamonn.
EamonDublin: " I spoke total rubbish in a meaningless fashion"... You haven't changed much.
"Pcon" - Whenever I debated for a point which I knew was a loser in college, I spoke total rubbish in a meaningless fashion, in order that the opposition could not possibly comprehend - for the simple reason that it was both incomprehensible and gibberish. Your piece below brings back many happy memories. Thank you! Éamonn, Dublin.
What authority bestows rights upon nations? Are we talking about something like the Divine Right of Kings? The US Declaration of Independence states that, "...Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..." Clearly, the Palestinians do not consent to Israeli occupation, or "Jewish"-supremacist rule. Israel has no right to exist, any more than did the Third Reich. All the people in the territory occupied by Israel do have inalienable rights, which Israel transgresses as it transgresses international law. A thief may have a right to exist, but deserves incarceration. A murderer has no right to exist, having negated that very right for some other person(s).
Who decides whether a nation has a right to exist and consequently defend itself? What happens when two such states claim the same geographical territory? Who gets to decide? While you can't have one semitic tribe wandering in the Negev desert for 40 yrs or more, you can't have another semitic tribe being forced to do so consequently. Just as 64% of ROI citizens hope for a united Ireland, so too do many of us hope to see a united Palesrael/Israstine!
Hi Seán, I was responding to your accusation against me, which did not include any question! I provide a copy of your accusation below, for your attention: seanomelb | Nov 27, 2012, 06:09 PM EST Eamonn "stands with Israel" and condones the murder of Palestinian children by the terrorist IDF." See, no question! Just an accusation. As for my being "lonely", who on earth would want to be on the side of some of those countries who voted for the motion? Certainly not me! (BTW, your "Do Chara" ending reminded me of the old (very old!!) story of British intelligence finding a very pro-Republican letter in Dublin during the "Troubles" - the original ones! The British were delighted with their discovery of two top Republican names on the letter. They spent many months searching for "A.Chara" and "Mise Le Meas" ("Mize Lemass"). The old ones are still the best!) Oh, nearly forgot, Seán, I trust you are enjoying the great success of the "Arab Spring" in Egypt. Some "student rebellion", what?
No, "Wounded Knee", I am afraid you are wrong there. The opinions voiced by the Hamas supporters were restricted to obscene, vile, vicious anti-Jewish slurs. I did not hear Irish passports being mentioned at all by the Jew-haters. Éamonn.
EamonnDublin: One reason why the folks in Dublin objected to Israel backers singing the Irish national Anthem could be that it's only a few months since the Israelis used an Irish passport in a plot--sadly successful--to murder someone.
No Strongbow: Your appeal is analogous to that of the Israelis.
Israel will fight and Israel will be right. Seano will all the anglo-saxons and picts and vikings and huegonots and Scots and central-european celtsthose from the Iberian penninsula who forcefully settled Ireland please go home now and leave Ireland for those who originally lived here. Oops- my appeal is analogous to that of the Palestinians.
Hamas are a promblem
You know it's wrong to answer a question with a question Eamonn,it's a doging tactic and you know it. 138 countries representing most of the worlsd people voted to give observer status to Palestine. You must feel lonely with the 9 who voted against the motion. U.S. Canada,Panama, Marshall Islands,etc. AS usual you're on the wrong side of justice (and history). Please answer my question below before asking another it's the proper course to take "Eamonn an Cnuic", I hope the hill is not to high or to slippery a slope. Do Chara Sean.
Smyrnian. With the lack of any other logical reason for the targetting of young inocent children. Can we asume they are being targetted for dancing in the streets.
Hi Seán(OMelb) - I was in O'Connell Street last Sunday, in support of the Israeli rally. I was disgusted to witness Irish and non-Irish,flag waving Palestinian and Hamas supporters, booing, jeering and mocking the IRISH national anthem when it was sung by the Israelis and Israeli-supporting people at the end of the rally. Do YOU support such behaviour? Whilst we are at it, in response to your statement that I "condone the murder of Palestinian children", may I therefore assume that YOU support the murder of innocent Israelis by Palestinians sending indiscriminate, non-targetting rockets into Israel? I AM PROUD TO STAND WITH ISRAEL - one of the very few defenders of Western civilization. Best Wishes, Sean (sincerely meant, not being facetious) Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.
Israel and Palestine should study the 800 years of oppression Ireland suffered due to the British empire. We hated Britain Religiously and in effect it was a religious war. Christians hating Christians. Irish Catholics were the victims of ethnic cleansing where the faith, customs and language were anihilated by an evil warmongering regime. Go to any Mass Rock and learn why worshipping the Lord and Our Lady was such a heinous crime punishable by death.
Smrnian!! then it should be returned to the Palestinian people Israel and Jordon.
Palestine and Israel have the right to exist side-by-side with each having defensible borders and non-interference by the other. Those who post one side or the other, do not understand the conflict or the participants to the conflict. There is no difference between killing people with rockets and killing people with missiles (from jets). Both are acts of terror aimed at the civilian population and both sides employ that military tactic. Finally, the most telling point to all of this is the little known fact that Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial (the second most visited place in Israel) was built on the ruins of Deir Yassin Massacre (1948), a Palestinian village where 107 villagers, men, women and children were exterminated by the Jewish terror organization, Irgun. The massacre was condemned by the Jewish Agency and by the Haganah which later became the core of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).
If Israel wants peace adn to stop rocket attacks it needs to sit down and talk to teh leaders elected by teh palestinian people! It needs to accord human rights to all peoples not just jewish peoples. It must not allow jewish people to continue to build homes in palestinian areas and prohibit palestinians access to materials to live a peaceful life. Further Israel should treat others how it wishes to be treated - It is claiming to be a government - the people will treat you as you treat them - Look at the Irish situation. It may not be prefect but it is improving from what it was because people voted and their elected representatives were allowed to join the discussions!
Strongbow. The false ethos you mention doesn`t need to manifestation. As for giving credit for a big chunk of it to ex provies, the Isreali`s are doing a much better job of that themselves. I can`t believe a whole ten people turned up.
Eamonn "stands with Israel" and condones the murder of Palestinian children by the terrorist IDF. What is now israel was once Palestine Smyrnian.
Just had my posts pulled from Israel in Ireland facebook page which is run by the Israeli Embassy.They had a photo with a big arrow pointing at a child who was holding a rock behind his back looking at an Israeli soldier. all I said was....yeah the child is holding a rock and what is the israeli soldier holding...an assault rifle.....SO MUCH FOR FREE SPEECH
Wonunded Knee,you are correct ,of course. If this is the best argument twoeagles can put forth one doesn't have too much to fear from him, particularly as it seems he can't quantify. Such a boorish screed doesn't have a single redeeming feature. Does he have anything to say about the rights of Native Americans ?, bet not
It's a disingenuous statement. Israel started it by occupying Palestine.
I have reported the racist language of the fool styling himself twoeagles, tho I doubt that Irish Central will do what they ought to do--ban this creep.
Jews are indigenous to the region going back past 800 years to the time of Roman occupation , Palestine has never existed as a nation and these people claiming to be Palestinian are actually Jordanian. If you don't want horrific injuries then don't fire rockets at Israel, isn't that simple enough for you camel jockeys to understand?
A country who willing handed over twenty percent of its land to an 800 year-old occupying force can hardly be expected to show any morality,decency or intelligence toward a people who are been genocided out of existence, An honorable politician in Ireland last week had his email account closed down because he was forwarding pictures of the horrific injuries and of dead children received from Gaza Your unwillingness to stand up for your own country cancels any right you think you might have to set forth your opinions on a honorable people who object to having their land stolen and their people murdered , all funded by foreign governments
I recommend people should look up Israel in Ireland facebook page which is run by the Israeli Embassy which is full of propganda rubbish. By the way most of the commentators on it are either Israeli or Americans
NO it doesn't. Why is suppose to have a right to exist. Americans can't go back to Europe and claim a piece a land because their ancestors lived there so why should the Jews. They pushed the palestinians off their land in the 40s to make it and the plaestinians have been there for thousands of years too. That caused a problem in dislocation and we've had nothing but problems with it ever since and America is automatically drafted into the problem because it was the big player in setting up. I don't want soldiers sent over there to handle friction from setting up that state. Israel is an arrogant idea.
At the end of the day, it really does not matter who is right or wrong in this whole sordid mess. Basically, what the Palestinians have to realize is that Israel is not going anywhere. If they had pushed for a two state solution through constitutional means after being losers in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973, then they might have their own peaceful, prosperous country alongside Israel. Instead, they have backed losers like the PLO for decades and now today the even more radical Hamas.
When the ira effectively ended their terrot campaign there were many supporters and groupies who became psychologically unhinged and actually went through withdrawal symptoms because their psyche was built around and shored up by naive assumptions and romantic illusions about Irish "exceptionalism" and anything resembling an underdog. Unfortunately this false ethos manifests itself in the virulent anti-semitism evident in Irish society today.
I STAND WITH ISRAEL. Éamonn, Dublin.
Smymian, actually from the Jordan Rift valley, part of Syria and all of what is called Israel and Palestine today was Palestine dating back to 800 BCE according to ancient writings by the Greek's, Egyptian,s and the Assyrians. There borders have changed many times over the Century's. When British Mandated Palestine was carved out of Ottoman southern Syria in 1920, the population was 90% Arab,10% Christian and 56,000 Jews. Regardless of what its called now the people that lived there for century's were driven off there land by brute force from 1940's on. Its called Ethnic cleansing.
The small Zionist rent a crowd fortunately are not representative of the people. The terrorist Israeli state needs to be brought to the international court for crimes against humanity. The slaughter of Palestinian children must stop.
It's the Palestinians that say the Israelis have no right to exist and therefore must be eliminated. The Jews have never said this about the Arabs. Just who is the aggressor here?
CiaranGR,you say the international media blames Israel as the aggressor,I recommened you watch FOX news,you would enjoy it
PS. Should have said the Video is on YouTube.
[1] Gene1961, Native Irish and Catholic watch the video named below and test your Christian believes, better still question your humanity .CiaranGR, The way the international media operate is overwhelming in Israel's favor. The Palestinian's are branded terrorist for trying to defend themselves & hold onto there last 20% of land while Israel with 80% of the land are never called what they truly are, a very powerful Terrorist State. "There Killing Children in Palestine 1" uploaded from the west this week.
[2] Do you not know the full history of that land. Imagine for a moment that we were the Palestinian's and from 1930's onward refugees from around the world arrived on our shores. At first we welcomed them, and more and more arrived especially after WW2. Then in the 40's bands of Israeli Terrorists started attacking us and our institutions and in 1948 the UN granted the terrorists Statehood ?. Since then they ignore 68 UN resolutions with impunity and keep taking more land until the natives are corralled into an area smaller than Kerry, blockaded and all our human dignity obliterated. The sooner the western world stops supporting Israel the sooner they will be forced to meaningful peace talks.
Humphrey's and his Labour party got elected on a mandate from the Irish people. They lied and betrayed there Irish voters so the Irish people will not heed anything he or his party says. There in it for the money we know that now and one wonders if its for the same monetary reasons he is siding with Israeli war-criminals.
Timmyo: You were right to raise the question of the use of Irish passports by the Israelis as part of a murder conspiracy. I notice none of the apologists for murder has replied to you!
CiaranGR: What you say is ignorant nonsense. For every missile fired from palestine there are a hundred fired from Israel. Stop defending the Israeli bombing campoaign.
shuvonn: "Palestinians in Gaza have NO army". That's ignorant nonsense. The Palestinians have an army in Gaza. The Palestinians are a nation, they have a right to defend themselves.
Barry: Because there were only 10 people at the pro-Israel rally?
how about the right of the Palestinians to defend themselves
Well I'm a "Native Irish" and catholic and I support Israels right to exsist and more importantly the right to defend themselves against terrorism!
Just a quick question. Why did the Irish Central use an old image of a IPSC protest and not one of the Israel rally ?
Timmyo, how many people do you know who support the Hamas strikes on Israel? I don't blame people for thinking that Israel is the aggressor. That's the way the international media operate. There could be days and days of Gazan strikes on Israel. The media don't notice. There's nothing interesting or dramatic about shops and offices and schools being closed in southern Israel. There's nothing hugely of interest to the media when people are sheltering in bunkers. The media want bodies, injured babies. Then, the Israelis say "Feck this" and hit back, killing a couple of Gazan militants. You get some headline like the following in the international papers: TWO KILLED IN ISRAELI STRIKE ON GAZA If you're really lucky, you might get some context. But realistically, not many will bother clicking on such a headline. They'll already have made their judgment and it won't be pro-Israel.
Pilib04, I haven't the faintest idea what you mean by your second post. You seem to be saying the Loyalist terrorists have used Israeli missiles to attack Irish border towns.
where in being critical of some israeli policies questions israels right to exist? And EVERY country in the world has the right to defend itself, NOT just israel. Palestinians in Gaza have NO army, NO navy, NO airforce, and most importantly NO bomb shelters. And with all of these *surgical strikes* so much *COLLATORAL DAMAGE* has taken place, so yes the PR campaign to make israelis aggression towards the people who lived on the land BEFORE they all immigrated or chose their aliyah has to be justified..And lets not forget Since Israel's creation in 1948, Israeli political and military leaders have demonstrated a pattern of repeatedly violating ceasefires with their enemies in order to gain military advantage, for territorial aggrandizement, or to provoke their opponents into carrying out acts of violence that Israel can then exploit politically and/or use to justify military operations already planned.
CiaranGR, if you check your history book you will see that if "Loyalist terrorists" were targeting towns like Cavan, Monaghan, Dundalk or Letterkenny they would be using rockets from the IDF.
I agree with Israel's right to exist, what I disagree with is Israel's right to destroy human life any time they choose!
You say more and more of us, I don,t know one person who supports the Gaza blockade and what about using forged Irish passports to murder someone why did they not use American forged passports
More and more of us are fed up with this endless banging on about Big Bad Israel. There'd be no blockade on Gaza and no conflict if Gazans weren't firing missiles at towns and villages in Israel. If Loyalist terrorists were targeting towns like Cavan, Monaghan, Dundalk or Letterkenny, wouldn't we expect the Irish government to take action?
This is the same guy that said the murdered Turkish activists on board the flotilla were Turkish terrorists
The Planted NIRs see themselves as Israelis and view the native irish as palestinians - what we have here are scared quislings who fear the Master Race.


text:
Xanthomendoza fallax
(Hepp ex Arn.) Soechting, KSrnefelt & S. Kondratyuk
Go to
Encyclopedia of Life
Xanthoria fallax
(Hepp) Arnold
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Xanthoria fallax f. cinerascens
(C.A. Berg) H. Magn.,
Xanthoria fallax f. dolomitica
Xanthoria fallax f. fallax
Xanthoria fallax var. fallax
Xanthoria fallax var. lychneoides
(Mereschk.) Erichsen,
Xanthoria fallax var. subsorediosa
(Räsänen) D.D. Awasthi
Stephen Sharnoff
Greater Sonoran Desert Lichen Flora
Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bugartz, F., (eds.) 2001. Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 2. Tempe, AZ
: foliose, forming small to medium sized rosettes up to 3 cm wide, sometimes coalescing, adnate to loosely adnate, lobate
: dorsiventral, flattened to convex, 0.8-2 mm wide; tips: truncate to rotund, 0.3-0.9 mm wide
upper surface
: yellow to orange, smooth to shiny, sorediate
: powdery, marginal in horizontal crescent-shaped slits ('bird nests')
: white, reticulate, with short to elongate hyphae
lower surface
: white to yellow, somewhat wrinkled, rarely with short, white hapters
: rare, laminal, stipitate, up to 2.5 mm in diam.; margin: initially smooth but often becoming sorediate and with cilia; disc: orange; epihymenium: brown, c. 10 µm thick
: hyaline below, 50-110 µm tall; paraphyses: simple or branched, cylindrical, septate; hypothecium: hyaline to pale brown, 30-90 µm thick
: clavate, 8-spored
: ellipsoid, polarilocular, hyaline, 11.5-17 x 6-9 µm; septum: 2-5 µm wide
: common, immersed to protruding, darker than upper surface
: bacilliform, 2-3.6(-4.5) x 1-1.5 µm
Spot tests
: upper surface K+ purple, C-, KC-, P-
Secondary metabolites
: parietin (major), fallacinal (major), emodin, teloschistin (major) and parietinic acid.
Habitat and ecology
: on bark, rarely rock or detritus, in rather humid (to dry, but not very dry) microclimates
World distribution
: widespread in temperate regions around the globe
Sonoran distribution
: widespread except for extremely dry areas.
: Xanthomendoza fallax is characterized by the 'bird nest' soralia, which are formed when the upper and lower cortex split and separate. Crescent shaped openings then expose the soredia produced from the medullary layer (see Poelt and Petutschnig 1992). Xanthomendoza ulophyllodes is similar to X. fallax in many respects, but instead of soredia it produces blastidia directly from lobe margins, and frequently also on the upper surface of the thallus. In addition, the thallus of X. fallax is flatter and more adnate to the substrate, while a higher proportion of especially the central lobes of X. ulophyllodes are semi-erect, giving the thallus a more loosely adnate appearance. Xanthomendoza fulva is smaller, has narrower lobes, less frequent rhizines, and is mostly deeper orange pigmented. The upper cortex around the soralia sometimes persists, and makes them resemble the 'bird nest' soralia of X. fallax. In X. fulva, they are much smaller, however, and usually occur at the tips of slightly raised lobes.
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text:
Bamboo points way to green construction in Indonesia's Bali
by Staff Writers
Sibang Kaja, Indonesia (AFP)
Strong, light and cheaper than steel poles, bamboo is ubiquitous across Asia as scaffolding.
So much so that in recognition of the material's versatility, the Indonesian island of Bali has made it an emblem of sustainable construction, replacing buildings of concrete and steel with far greener alternatives.
An entire school, luxury villas and even a chocolate factory are the latest structures to rise from bamboo skeletons as the plant's green credentials and strength are hailed.
The factory, which opened last year and produces organic drinking chocolate and cocoa butter, is the latest in a string of buildings on the island, including homes and businesses, to be built of bamboo.
Erected in the village of Sibang Kaja between the resort island's smoggy capital Denpasar and the forests of Ubud, the factory is the initiative of specialty food firm Big Tree Farms, which claims the 2,550-square-metre (27,500-square-foot) facility is the biggest commercial bamboo building in the world.
"Bamboo is unmatched as a sustainable building material. What it can do is remarkable," Big Tree Farms co-founder Ben Ripple, 37, told AFP.
"It grows far more quickly than timber and doesn't destroy the land it's grown on," said Ripple, an American from Connecticut. "Our factory can be packed up and moved in days, so if we decided to shut it down one day, we're not going to damage the rice paddies we sit on."
The 100 hectares (247 acres) of paddies sit inside a so-called "bamboo triangle," with the factory, school and villas standing at each of the three points.
Such ambitious bamboo projects in Bali are mostly driven by eco-conscious foreigners.
With studies showing construction to be one of the world's least sustainable industries — eating up around half of the globe's non-renewable resources — sustainable construction is slowly taking root around the world.
It is among the key topics for discussion at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, which opens June 20 in Rio de Janeiro.
In Sibang, the tawny brown bamboo buildings with their grass thatched roofs appear to be rising from the earth.
The three-storey chocolate factory is pieced together using a complex system of scissor trusses and bolts, thanks to clever architecture.
It resembles the traditional longhouses found on Borneo island and was made with more than 18,000 metres (59,000 feet) of bamboo from Bali and Java.
At Sibang's nearby Green School, the 240 students — most of them children of expatriates — learn in semi-outdoor classrooms decked with bamboo furniture.
The school, which opened in 2008 and was the magnet for the other two projects, has 25 bamboo buildings, the main one being a stilt-structure constructed with 2,500 bamboo poles, or culms.
"In Hong Kong and China, they make new skyscrapers of concrete and glass using bamboo scaffolding. But here, the workmen stood on steel scaffolding to build this bamboo building. That's always seemed funny to me," said Green School admissions head Ben Macrory, from New York.
"In most parts of Asia, bamboo is seen as the poor man's timber."
Not, however, in Sibang, where the bamboo villas that nestle between the palm trees are worth $350,000 to $700,000 each.
Like decadent treehouses for adults, they have semi-outdoor areas and include innovative bamboo flooring that resembles smooth timber and jellybean-shaped coffee tables made from thin bamboo slats.
Bamboo — technically a grass — has been used in building for centuries because of its impressive strength-to-weight ratio.
Jules Janssen, an authority on bamboo in the Netherlands, says that the weight of a 5,000-kilogram (11,000-pound) elephant can be supported by a short bamboo stub with a surface area of just 10 square centimetres (1.5 square inches).
One reason bamboo is so environmentally-friendly is the speed at which it grows, according to Terry Sunderland, a scientist at the Centre for International Forestry Research in Indonesia.
"In China, eucalyptus can grow at three to four metres (10-13 feet) a year, which is very impressive for timber. But building-quality bamboo will grow between six and 10 metres (20-33 feet) in that time," he said.
And unlike trees that rarely grow back once felled, bamboo will continue to produce new shoots even after cutting.
But even bamboo has its drawbacks.
Without intensive treatment, it is prone to rotting after exposure to water. It also catches fire relatively easily, which is why many countries limit bamboo structures to just a few storeys.
Ripple acknowledged that building with bamboo was not foolproof, but expressed optimism that the technology to protect it from the elements will improve.
"A friend we work with here always says bamboo needs a hat, rain jacket and boots," he said. "We're lacking on the rain jacket a bit, but we're looking at non-toxic materials to give it some protection."
Ecologists Call for Preservation of Planet's Remaining Biological Diversity
by Staff Writers
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (SPX)
A grassland biodiversity study at NSF's Cedar Creek Long-Term Ecological Research site. Credit: David Tilman. |
Twenty years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, 17 ecologists are calling for renewed international efforts to curb the loss of Earth's biological diversity. The loss is compromising nature's ability to provide goods and services essential for human well-being, the scientists say. Over the past two decades, strong scientific evidence has emerged showing that decline of the world's biological diversity reduces the productivity and sustainability of ecosystems, according to an international team led by the University of Michigan's Bradley Cardinale.
It also decreases ecosystems' ability to provide society with goods and services like food, wood, fodder, fertile soils and protection from pests and disease.
"Water purity, food production and air quality are easy to take for granted, but all are largely provided by communities of organisms," said George Gilchrist, program director in the National Science Foundation's Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research.
"This paper demonstrates that it is not simply the quantity of living things, but their species, genetic and trait biodiversity, that influences the delivery of many essential 'ecosystem services."'
Human actions are dismantling ecosystems, resulting in species extinctions at rates several orders of magnitude faster than observed in the fossil record.
If the nations of the world make biodiversity an international priority, the scientists say, there's still time to conserve much of the remaining variety of life–and possibly to restore much of what's been lost.
The researchers present their findings in this week's issue of the journal Nature.
The paper is a scientific consensus statement that summarizes evidence from more than 1,000 ecological studies over the last two decades.
"Much as consensus statements by doctors led to public warnings that tobacco use is harmful to your health, this is a consensus statement that loss of Earth's wild species will be harmful to the world's ecosystems and may harm society by reducing ecosystem services that are essential to human health and prosperity," said Cardinale.
"We need to take biodiversity loss far more seriously–from individuals to international governing bodies–and take greater action to prevent further losses of species."
An estimated nine million species of plants, animals, protists and fungi inhabit the Earth, sharing it with some seven billion people.
The call to action comes as international leaders prepare to gather in Rio de Janeiro on June 20-22 for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, known as the Rio+20 Conference.
The upcoming conference marks the 20th anniversary of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, which resulted in 193 nations supporting the Convention on Biological Diversity's goals of biodiversity conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources.
The 1992 Earth Summit caused an explosion of interest in understanding how biodiversity loss might affect the dynamics and functioning of ecosystems, as well as the supply of goods and services of value to society.
In the Nature paper, the scientists review published studies on the topic and list six consensus statements, four emerging trends, and four "balance of evidence" statements.
The balance of evidence shows, for example, that genetic diversity increases the yield of commercial crops, enhances the production of wood in tree plantations, improves the production of fodder in grasslands, and increases the stability of yields in fisheries.
Increased plant diversity results in greater resistance to invasion by exotic plants, inhibits plant pathogens such as fungal and viral infections, increases above-ground carbon sequestration through enhanced biomass, and increases nutrient remineralization and soil organic matter.
"No one can agree on what exactly will happen when an ecosystem loses a species, but most of us agree that it's not going to be good," said Shahid Naeem of Columbia University, a co-author of the paper. "And we agree that if ecosystems lose most of their species, it will be a disaster."
"Twenty years and a thousand studies later, what the world thought was true in Rio in 1992 has finally been proven: biodiversity underpins our ability to achieve sustainable development," Naeem said.
Despite far-reaching support for the Convention on Biological Diversity, biodiversity loss has continued over the last two decades, often at increasing rates.
In response, a new set of diversity-preservation goals for 2020, known as the Aichi targets, was recently formulated.
And a new international body called the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services was formed in April 2012 to guide a global response toward sustainable management of the world's biodiversity and ecosystems.
Significant gaps in the science behind biological diversity remain and must be addressed if the Aichi targets are to be met, the scientists write in their paper.
"This paper is important both because of what it shows we know, and what it shows we don't know," said David Hooper of Western Washington University, one of the co-authors.
"Several of the key questions we outline help point the way for the next generation of research on how changing biodiversity affects human well-being."
Without an understanding of the fundamental ecological processes that link biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services, attempts to forecast the societal consequences of diversity loss, and to meet policy objectives, are likely to fail, the ecologists write.
"But with that fundamental understanding in hand, we may yet bring the modern era of biodiversity loss to a safe end for humanity," they conclude.
In addition to Cardinale, Naeem and Hooper, co-authors of the Nature paper are: J. Emmett Duffy of The College of William and Mary; Andrew Gonzalez of McGill University; Charles Perrings and Ann P. Kinzig of Arizona State University; Patrick Venail and Anita Narwani of the University of Michigan; Georgina M. Mace of Imperial College London; David Tilman of the University of Minnesota; David A. Wardle of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Gretchen C. Daily of Stanford University; Michel Loreau of the National Centre for Scientific Research in Moulis, France; James B. Grace of the U.S. Geological Survey; Anne Larigauderie of the National Museum of Natural History in Rue Cuvier, France; and Diane Srivastava of the University of British Columbia.
Related Links
Darwin Today At TerraDaily.com
Cyber Space
Anonymous comments to be banned from the Internet?
Published on Jun 11, 2012 by RTAmerica
The Internet is known for its seductive allure of anonymity, giving the individual the encouragement to speak one's mind. In New York, a couple of lawmakers are planning on banning unidentified comments online. Anastasia Churkina brings us more from the streets of New York.
New York wants to ban online anonymity
Published on Jun 11, 2012 by RTAmerica
Many Internet users love the fact that they can speak out about certain issues under the blanket of Anonymity. Being able to secretively leave remarks online may soon be a thing of the past if New York lawmakers get their way and the notion is supposed to help thwart cyber-bullying going on online.So should we have the right to say what we want on the web without disclosing our personal information? News commentator T.J. Walker joins us to help answer that question.
Survival / Sustainability
Recycling Old Gasoline
Published on Jun 6, 2012 by homesteadprepper
I was given @17 gallons of 4 year old gas from a friend when we changed out his fuel pump. I filtered the gas for later use. I found some gasoline from 2004 that was forgotten about and I added it to my mower for testing at 10%..http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rM6JJUxQlyQ
Homemade Florida Adobe Bricks DIY
Published on May 9, 2012 by homesteadprepper
I show the basics of making adobe bricks with sand/dirt right out of my own back yard here in sunny Florida. I was able to make a strong brick using portland cement and sand/dirt. I also had sucess with mixing yard grass/weeds into the bricks. I failed making good bricks using horse manure and wood ashes, but I did suceed in proving that was not the right way on how to make 'em.http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=7k-5lmHNS38
Hundreds march in Hong Kong over dissident's death
by Staff Writers
Hong Kong (AFP)
At least 1,000 people marched through Hong Kong on Sunday over the death of Chinese dissident Li Wangyang, who was jailed for more than 22 years after the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests.
The demonstrators shouted slogans calling for justice for Li and condemning the "butcher regime" in Beijing, after the 62-year-old dissident died at a hospital in central China.
The protesters marched from central Hong Kong to the Chinese government's liaison office, where they laid flowers and made insulting gestures.
According to the New York-based Human Rights in China, two of Li's relatives found him on Wednesday morning strung up to a ward windowsill by a bandage wrapped around his neck, with his feet on the ground.
Li was under round-the-clock police surveillance in the hospital at the time, the group said.
He had been sentenced to 13 years in prison for "counter-revolutionary" crimes for organising workers in Shaoyang into an autonomous union during the 1989 Tiananmen protests, HRIC said.
He served 11 years and was released, but was given another 10 years' jail in 2001 for "inciting subversion" after he tried to sue the authorities over prison mistreatment that left him disabled.
Thousands of people from China and around the world have signed an online petition calling on China to launch a public investigation into Li's death.
University starts fund to honor slain Chinese student
Montreal (AFP) June 8, 2012 – Montreal's Concordia University set up a fund Friday to honor a Chinese student whose appalling murder has sent shock waves across Canada and the world.
Lin Jun, a 33-year-old Chinese national studying in Montreal, was allegedly murdered, dismembered and filmed by Luka Rocco Magnotta, who was arrested this week in Germany and awaits extradition.
"This has been a very emotional and heartbreaking journey for the Lin family," the university said.
The fund, which is open to the public for donations, would help Chinese students at Concordia as well as defray the expenses of the victim's family, who have traveled from China to Montreal.
"Concordia is pleased to announce that we are establishing the Jun Lin Family Fund to provide financial assistance for the immediate needs of the Lin family. We are also creating the Jun Lin Award to benefit Chinese students studying at the university," the administration said.
Concordia's Chinese Students Association, which had already been collecting money to help the family, was pleased with the announcement.
"The university has good ways to help people donate. We're happy about this," Yan Shi, head of Concordia's Chinese Students Association told AFP.
Yan Shi was part of a delegation that met Lin's mother, father, sister and at the airport when they arrived late Tuesday.
Lin's mother was stricken with grief and could barely contain her emotion upon her arrival, Yan Shi said.
"We have come to take you home," his mother said of her son, sobbing.
Yan Shi told AFP that "the family is strong but his mother is still very emotional."
"We don't know how they feel inside. We can only imagine," adding that the mother stayed in the hotel yesterday while the father and uncle met with authorities.
Donations to the fund can be made at http://www.concordia.ca/alumni-giving/giving/areas-to-support/in-memory-of-jun-lin/
Related Links
China News from SinoDaily.com
International Aid Convoy Arrives In Gaza Strip
Published on Jun 11, 2012 by alexhiggins732
Full Story: http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/
A delegation of about a hundred pro-Palestine activists from several countries has arrived in the Gaza Strip in support of the besieged Palestinian people.
Stay up to date with the latest news:
Articles of Interest
Brazilian slum's green oasis a boon to recycling
by Staff Writers
Rio De Janeiro (AFP)
Monkeys swinging from branch to branch, a special gardening section for children and stunning sea views.
This green oasis finds its home in an unlikely place: a former landfill for a Rio de Janeiro slum that has been turned into a park thanks to a group of dedicated volunteers.
The six-year-old project will be showcased at this month's Rio+20 development conference, expected to draw thousands of delegates from around the world, including government officials and representatives from civil society, to this bustling Brazilian metropolis.
"People came here to get rid of old refrigerators, stoves, tires and even their dead dogs," said Mauro Quintanilha, a musician and craftsman who started the initiative at the Vidigal favela. "There was a lot of trash and it stank."
The 52-year-old recounted how, 300 years ago, three houses were built in this forested area that was technically considered a protected zone. At one point, city officials expelled the inhabitants.
But that did little to diminish the mountain of garbage that had a tendency of spreading to nearby residential areas. As in other Brazilian slums, dumpsters don't do the rounds in Vidigal. And the area lacks other public services.
That's when Quintanilha, who lived close by, stepped in.
Together with a group of 20 volunteers, he spent a year cleaning up the area, picking up each and every discarded scrap that could be recycled or repaired.
"With the help of friends, we started cleaning up until we got a garden with flowers and a kitchen garden," Quintanilha said proudly.
"It was tough convincing people that this was no longer a dump," he told AFP. "We really had to talk to them about it but now they're helping us."
The effort certainly paid off.
Today, monkeys swing from trees in the park where milk bottles serve as flower pots.
A special section nearby is dedicated to teaching children how to garden — although it hasn't made six-year-old Joao Vitor reconsider his dream of becoming a soccer star.
International delegations to the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development are expected to visit the park, reachable via a narrow staircase of old tires filled with rubble, on June 18.
Volunteers, such as Manoel Silvestre de Jesus, hope the attention will turn into funding that will help the group keep up the endeavor — and entice others to follow in their footsteps.
"I hope that Rio+20 will bring us partnerships to continue the work we started six years ago," he said. "The favelas have so much hope in Rio+20… I hope the delegations who come will support us."
The 58-year-old has converted 120,000 plastic bottles fished from the tons of trash that once rotted here.
Working out of his recycling studio, he has used some to decorate benches in the park. He turned others into an array of creations that he sells to slum residents for a little extra cash.
Vitor Alves de Souza shares the same passion for transforming trash into treasures.
"There's wealth in our waste," said the volunteer, 38.
There is certainly a lot of trash to sift through — and it is unlikely to dwindle any time soon.
In Brazil, less than 26 percent of the population recycle, although 86 percent consider it a personal duty, according to the IBOPE public opinion institute.
Related Links
Our Polluted World and Cleaning It Up
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January 17, 2010
Chris Nee Warchant.com
Florida State hosted nine official visitors this past weekend, and from all indications, the visits went very well. Warchant.com caught up with a trio of commitments - Damien Jacobs, De'Joshua Johnson, and Greg Dent - to find out about their visits. They talk about their time in Tallahassee, and the immediate future, here. ...More... To continue reading this article you must be a member. Sign Up Now for a FREE Trial
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We are the people, in one nation under God, the land of liberty and home of the brave.
If that was so, our relationships with others would be genuine in the spirit of truth and brotherly love.
We live in a complicated, messy world. We forget who we are and from where we came, before all these events happened. Each and every one of us has dreams in life and, because of modern civilization, we're often misled and misguided as to which direction to start. We are bombarded with many problems: our nation's economy, jobs, taxes, leaders, good or bad reports, slandering one another, violence and more. These never stop.
Which of them are real important? People, goals, money, position, authority, power, nation? We know they are all important, but give God first place in every area of our lives.
We easily judge one another, criticize one another, talk against one another - too much talk, and little do we do right. The Bible says, "Be kind, one to another," "Do not judge, or you will be judged," "do not condemn and you will not be condemned," and "forgive and you will be forgiven." Romans 8:14 says those who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God.
We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. We have to trust God and show we believe in him. God bless us and God bless the country.
I know that President Obama cares. In 2008, I voted for him. Without a doubt in my mind, what Obama has said he would do, he has done. He hasn't lied to anyone. He said he would have problems, that it would be slow in the first four years.
He took over a mess. A lot of things have changed for the good of our country; many things haven't.
Everybody in Congress, Republican and Democrat, needs to work together. No one wants to give Obama credit for the many good things he has done. There are too many to mention. I was so happy when he won in 2008. It was a blessing for America.
I completely agree with Troy Williams' Oct. 1 column. Obama is being lied about on many topics. I say he is a good Christian man and a good family man. He has set a good example. I think a lot of the problem is racism. I am white. I consider myself a human being. I see no color. We are all equal in the eyes of God. We should love one another the same.
We should pray for this president instead of cutting him down. I am voting this year for Obama, a man we can trust to be our president for four more years. Make the right choice.
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Hot Topics
What's new in the world of tax and business? Here we feature advice and information on the latest hot topics. To view our full archive of articles, please click here.
Expansion - is your business ready?
Recent research shows that micro businesses have grown in number by 40% since 2000, but less than a quarter of these businesses have managed to grow in size. However, around 80% of SME owner managers would reportedly like to expand their business, so this low growth rate cannot be blamed on a lack of ambition.
There are many situations where a business would benefit from expansion. Whether it is because of increased demand for a service or product, adapting to your customers' changing needs, or branching out into a new area, it is important to weigh up both the advantages and disadvantages of growing your business.
Should I grow my business?
Research is key in making an informed decision as to whether your business should expand. Study the demand for your product, your potential market place, your competitors and your customer base as well as the impact expansion may have on your internal processes. It is important to explore every eventuality before making a decision.
You should only consider expanding if your business is healthy. If it is not profitable, expanding may cause bigger problems which have the potential to be disastrous. Assess your current business performance thoroughly, to ensure that you have a solid base that can take the inevitable pressure and upheaval that expansion will present.
Think about why you would like to expand, and whether doing so would result in cost advantages for your business. Expansion often means using more resources and employing more staff. Would the increased business make sufficient profits to comfortably bear the weight of these extra costs?
Funding an expansion
Then there is the issue of financing your expansion. Funding remains a challenging area for small businesses, but there are other options you could consider instead of the traditional bank loan. Invoice factoring, overdraft facilities or leasing equipment could provide you with more funds and reduce the amount you need for expansion. You could also consider investment finance, which would mean that an investor would share some of your business risk, although if you are unwilling to relinquish some ownership of the business, or are a sole trader or partnership, this option will not be suitable. If you do decide to apply for a business loan, remember to make sure your business plan is water tight before presenting your application to the bank.
Growing a business is challenging and it is important to consider the risks associated with expansion. There is potential for financial loss and you will have to navigate through unfamiliar territory and face numerous other issues along the way. It is therefore important to make sure you feel capable of taking on such obstacles. If all of these issues have been duly considered, the benefits of business expansion can be numerous and extremely rewarding.
Making it manageable
Managing a business expansion, like any other business project, will mean you need to plan extensively in order to make sure the task in hand does not become overwhelming. Of course, you will not be able to plan for every eventuality, but the more planning you do, the more likely it is that your expansion will run smoothly.
Some tips to help:
Consider expanding in stages, according to demand. Staged expansion means that you will have to keep a close eye on how much demand there is for your increased business and will therefore not expand beyond your obtainable market.
Set yourself goals and deadlines. Meeting your goals will help to build and sustain momentum, as well as giving you a sense of achievement and maintaining the enthusiasm of all those involved in the process.
Look at your marketing plan. Because your business is changing, you will need to change your marketing plan so that it promotes your expanded business, attracts new customers and retains current ones.
Set up your systems first. Organising efficient systems beforehand means that you will be able to cope when business levels start to increase.
Delegate. Remember that you will not be able to do everything yourself. Involve your staff and ensure that you make the best use of their particular skill sets.
Manage your customers' expectations. If you think that the growth of your business may affect your current customers, it would be a good idea to let them know. Remember to keep customers aware of any changes to their service and highlight any improvements that have been made. Making them aware of why their service may be interrupted will minimise frustrations and help to prevent any potential loss of business.
Remember: growing a business can be stressful! Make sure you take care of yourself - if you are not on top form, your business won't be either.
We can help you with all aspects of business planning. Please contact us for further advice and assistance.
Previous Articles
- October 2013: Is your business adequately insured?
- September 2013: Charities update: changes for 2013
- August 2103: The new flat-rate state pension: winners and losers
- July 2013: An inspector calls� coping with an HMRC investigation
- June 2013: Raising finance for your business
- May 2013: Ten top tips for reducing your tax bill
- April 2013: The new pension auto-enrolment scheme
- April 2013: The new cash basis: 'simpler' income and expenses?
- January 2013: Saving tax ahead of the year end
- November 2012: Child's play? The new rules on child benefit
- October 2012: Real Time Information: are you ready?
- September 2012: Are you up-to-date on pension auto-enrolment?
- May 2012: After the Budget: planning strategies to implement now
- April 2012: Making your business an Olympic success
- January 2012: The 5 April Year End - plan to save tax now
- November 2011: Autumn Statement 2011
- November 2011: Furnished Holiday Lettings
- October 2011: The Agency Workers Directive
- September 2011: Capital Allowances Are Changing: Make Sure You're Prepared
- June 2011: The Bribery Act: What your business needs to know
- May 2011: Don't get caught out by the taxman!


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Prometheus: Bringing Alien into the 21st Century
Prometheus marks Ridley Scott's return to sci-fi after three decades and comprises a whole new take on the Alien franchise. In fact, the quasi Alien prequel represents the director's full embrace of CG and his first foray into 3-D. Richard Stammers of MPC served as production visual effects supervisor, and was proud to help usher Scott into the 21st century of VFX and 3-D.
"Ridley wanted to shoot it like a 2-D film and still rely on all the regular depth cues that he's used to using over the years with lots of atmosphere and smoke and haze," Stammers explains. As for the approach to CG, Scott only relied on it when necessary and to enhance the facial performances of the various alien creatures.
Stammers divided the VFX between various studios. MPC, the lead company, created the planet environments, space shots and space ships. I spoke with Weta Digital, which worked on the alien creatures, and Rising Sun Pictures, which primarily pitched in with some comp work on a key sequence, the Storm Rescue sequence.
Weta created four aliens: the Engineer, a tiny trilobite, a 14-foot squid-like creature, and the iconic alien from the earlier movies. However, the Engineer, by far was the most interesting and challenging. He's the catalyst that sets the story in motion, turning out to be the mysterious Space Jockey from Alien, and the key to the whole evolutionary cycle that binds humans to the aliens.
"We ran some tests [on the Engineer] to basically convince Ridley that we could do better than prosthetics," suggests Martin Hill, Weta Digital's VFX supervisor. "He's like an Adonis, the perfect humanoid with white skin. They had a maquette built, which Ridley shot and lit. So we built the same bust from scratch and replicated the lighting and the skin quality and the translucency, but we made him move and made him articulate with blinks and expressions. On the basis of that Ridley decided to go digital.
"Ridley wanted to get as much in camera as possible, so it was very much the antithesis of a virtual studio in a way. On set, he had an actor completely made up with silicon over his whole body, which he shot for non-visual effects. And that presented a bit of a challenge for us because, if we want to make a visual creature, we add musculature and make it as physically correct as possible. But, of course, we have this slight dilemma here. We need to match the onset Engineer as well as other creatures later on and make something convincing and compelling and obviously very real. And so we built this digital Engineer and there are some interesting compromises. What we're actually representing is an actor and what we found straight away was that we can make a digital humanoid with pretty convincing skin. We've advanced the technique since Avatar for our subsurface algorithms. But trying to replicate the human with the extra silicon on it was a completely different situation."
They actually carved vein patterns into slabs of silicon to get it right. And that presented a whole new series of challenges involving new subsurface algorithms. "To represent a very translucent piece of silicon, you want to increase the depth of all your subsurface," Hill continues. "And the problem is that you lose any sense of internal structure. The light bleeding the Engineer was so deep that he started to look waxy, so we had to advance all our technology to be able to put inner structures within our subsurface. This way we got a sense of the bone or cartilage inside the nose and the bones in the fingers that would actually block internal light. We added extensions to the quantized-diffusion model for rendering translucent materials that was presented last year at SIGGRAPH by Eugene d'Eon and Geoffrey Irving."
Er... Yeah. Both these images are of the guy in prosthetics. The cg thing is very different I could spot it a mile off. Even with their fancy subsurface algorithms. You have to face it. There is something about computer imagery that just looks fake. It never really looks like its there. Give me real stuff any day.
check out
crestures inc ltd on Facebook to see what's real and what's CG


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Bracket Save the Date - Elena & AaronThis pretty looped bracket accented by a lovely script font perfectly frames your save the date information. Available in a variety of colors.
Size - A6 flat (4.5" x 6.25")
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Release Date: December 19, 2012
DOE's Carbon Utilization and Storage Atlas Estimates at Least 2,400 Billion Metric Tons of U.S. CO2 Storage Resource
Enhanced Oil and Gas Recovery Offers Key Near Term Strategy for Storage
Washington, D.C.— The United States has at least 2,400 billion metric tons of possible carbon dioxide (CO2) storage resource in saline formations, oil and gas reservoirs, and unmineable coal seams, according to a new U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) publication.
Of particular importance is that over 225 billion metric tons of storage capacity has been identified in depleted oil and gas fields which could accommodate storage of several decades of emission from stationary sources while simultaneously improving the energy security of the United States by enhancing oil and gas recovery.
Atlas IV was created by the Office of Fossil Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) with input from DOE's seven Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships and ten Site Characterization projects. Comprising more than 400 organizations in 43 states and four Canadian provinces, the regional partnerships are testing CO2 storage potential and investigating best practices for CO2 storage in a variety of geologic formations. The Site Characterization projects, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, are furthering DOE efforts to assess the nation's CO2 storage resource by developing additional characterization data for possible storage reservoirs.
The primary purpose of Atlas IV is to provide an update on the CO2 storage potential in the United States and to showcase updated information about the partnerships' field activities and new information from the site characterization projects. Atlas IV outlines DOE's Carbon Storage Program and its carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) collaborations, along with worldwide CCUS projects and CCUS regulatory issues. The atlas also presents updated information on the location of CO2 stationary source emissions and the locations and storage potential of various geologic storage sites, and it provides information about the commercialization opportunities for CCUS technologies from the regional partnerships.
The data used to create the resource estimates in Atlas IV is available in interactive form on the National Carbon Sequestration Database and Geographic Information System (NATCARB) website.


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ALM Properties, Inc.
Page printed from: Corporate Counsel
Select 'Print' in your browser menu to print this document.
Apple Pays $21M to License Swiss Clock Design for iPadCorporate Counsel 2012-11-14 00:00:00.0 Apple Inc.s appropriation of an iconic clock design whose copyright and trademark are owned by the Swiss Federal Railway has reportedly cost the company $21 million. See also: "Swiss Railway Says Apple Copied Clock Design for iOS 6 App," CorpCounsel, September 2012. |


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With a flexible outsole and lightweight design, you're sure to run farther and faster in these New Balance 590 High-Performance running shoes. In coral/lime/blue.
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Hirscher fulfils expectations with slalom win
- Published: 17 Feb 2013 at 20.44
- Online news: Sports
Austrian tyro Marcel Hirscher lived up to the expectations of the medal-hungry public in this ski-mad country by winning the men's world slalom in dramatic fashion on Sunday.
Marcel Hirscher celebrates after winning the men's slalom at the 2013 Ski World Championships in Schladming, Austria on February 17, 2013. The Austrian lived up to the expectations of the medal-hungry public by winning the race in dramatic fashion
In what was a perfectly choreographed finish to the two-week World Ski Championships, Hirscher followed up his leading first run with a dramatic dash down the second in a tightly-fought competition.
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Dots experimental sushi
For all of the sushi-lovers and adventurers
The Japanese restaurant Dots is located at Mariahilferstraße. It looks rather unspectacular from the outside, but you are convinced otherwise once you enter the restaurant. A modern and elegant atmosphere as well as the white furniture create a special flair.


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Lego Star Wars advent calendar 2013
By Beekeeper
from Fort Knox, KY
See all my reviews
Comments about LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar 2013 (75023):
This is our second year using a Star Wars advent calendar. My son is 7 and he loved it last year. Not only did he get to pop a little window and build the mini figure but also go online to a link provided on the box where he could see the mini figure he just built in action on a mini clip. We will definitely keep buying these every year until he's no longer interested. The sale price was great.
Comment on this review
Legos AND Star Wars
By Abuela
from Frederick, MD
About Me Grandparent
For those who love both Legos and Star Wars and Advent Calendars without sugar!
i buy again
By rich
from pa.
got it time for x-mas,
Lego Star Wars advent
By mom
from Rohnert Park, Ca
About Me Parent Of Two Or More Children
My son loves getting this every year! Great build up to Christmas and a wonderful addition to his Lego Star Wars collection.
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You're watching...
Congressman slams WH for misquoting student loan remarks
Rep. Todd Akin responds
May 11, 2012
Rep. Todd Akin
You're watching...
Rep. Todd Akin responds
May 11, 2012
Rep. Todd Akin
Also in this playlist...
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Auto-advanceThis transcript is automatically generated
We're not once but twice -- public and Todd -- claiming the White House has misquoted him once again.
Two weeks after claims -- congressman says student loans where cancer by the president yesterday the vice president saying.
He compared federal student loans to quote.
Stage three.
Of socialist.
The stage three cancer of socialist.
We all realize.
You're spreading socialist and with that.
Which is cancerous.
I'm very long time and -- -- -- taken on a new dimension.
Part of what the congress -- -- of all of that and this latest statement -- as of right now congress until we give your do.
Well you know the administration's persistence and -- quoting what I said.
Once again underlines the fact that they're great at attacking people but lousy and attacking problem what is -- president explain what you said.
Bye -- quote was a stage three cancer socialism.
I said that America's threatened by that -- -- -- -- -- -- it all kinds of stuff and has no business tampering and that seems very clear exactly right very clear to me that's exactly right out.
And so essentially what they're doing is attacking got -- person but they can't attack a problem because they only got one solution and that's more government and bored bored bored debt.
And not you know it isn't that good enough just take over 16 of the economy -- Obama here now they're gonna chase out the private -- -- Out of the this student loan business and create the Freddie and Fannie.
Of student loans.
But do you have any that's a strong language like that and I -- you're saying because you're arguing that we keep going like this it will.
It will -- says it will kill laws -- -- can't exist at the rate they're going all right isn't quite well what you're -- That you use words that were so inflammatory you would -- bulls expect Joseph Biden.
Where the president for that matter to pick up on and the president has done in the past would not -- but other.
The folks.
That you you would have hurt your cause with that Woody's.
Well I don't think it hurts the cause if you take a look at where the federal budget is worried one big mess and -- -- a mess because of the fact that the president all he wants to do.
As to take things over and spend more money that we don't have.
Are the harder taxpayers' money.
And -- That's a pretty serious problem when the entire federal.
All of federal functions of the government that we think of is normally what the federal government does.
Is all being financed by debt that's a pretty serious problem I think it is staged three socialism of cancer.
And when we get addicted.
That everything has to be done by the government.
The money is not gonna work and the whole system's gonna come down so I feel strongly about and anybody who takes a good look.
It where the numbers are like I do in the Budget Committee this is pretty serious stuff.
So now you've Monica's got Joseph Biden on you know all right congressman thank you very very much.
Place to join you.
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Swissotel Merchant Court Hotel Singapore
4 Stars20 Merchant Road Singapore SG-058281
Swissotel Hotel is along the banks of Singapore River across Clarke Quay, near Clarke Quay MRT station and Singapore Changi Airport. While in the area, holidaymakers explore Singapore Botanic Gardens or catch sporting events at Singapore Indoor Stadium.
All 476 elegant and contemporary non-smoking rooms and suites have cable TV, Internet access (fees apply), mini bar, coffee/tea maker, safe deposit box and hairdryer. Suites with balcony and separate living area are available.
Diners at Hotel Swissotel can have tasty Chinese cuisines, Western food, local favourites and global dishes at the hotel restaurants. Sample fine wines at Crossroads Bar.
Swissotel Merchant Court Hotel Singapore has events facilities for up to 600 guests, business centre, secretarial/fax/copy services and 24-hour fitness centre. Vacationers can unwind in the resort-style free-form pool, outdoor Jacuzzi and Amrita Spa & Wellness centre on site.
Additional Information
- 20 min drive to the International Airport (Changi)
- NOTICE: From 31 March 2012 onwards, Smoking is not permitted in all guest rooms at Swissotel The Stamford, Singapore. A penalty fee of S$250++ per incident will be charged if guests smoke in the rooms.
Hotel Facilities
- Baby Sitting Service
- Conference Facilities
- Gym / Fitness Facilities
- Laundry Facilities
- Spa / Wellness Centre
- Banquet Facilities
- Faxing Facilities
- Internet Access - High Speed
- Parking Facilities
- Swimming Pool - Outdoor
- Business Centre
- Garden
- Jacuzzi / Whirlpool
- Photocopying Facilities
Room Facilities
- Cable / Satellite TV
- Internet Access
- Tea and Coffee Making Facilities
- Ensuite / Private Bathroom
- Mini Bar
- Telephone
- Hairdryer
- Safe
Swissotel Merchant Court Hotel Singapore Guest Reviews (356)
Location was perfect. It was worth to stay in the otel.
KMMJ wrote on December 29, 2012
The best thing about the hotel is it's location and it's friendly staff
Moohado wrote on December 17, 2012
On our first visit my wife had not been well on the flight over from the UK and the staff and manager became aware of this and from then on the help and service we received was amazing. We even received a get well card on our departure signed by twelve staff members. Beautiful people.
BNAP wrote on December 6, 2012
Great spot, nice hotel, friendly and helpful staff, nice room ann facilities
Martin the muncher wrote on December 3, 2012
Very nice hotel with fantastic facilities. The pool and gym were great to use and lots of other guests were using them as well. Definitely would stay again.
ben257 wrote on October 27, 2012
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Kitchen Confidence
De-Cluttering Your Kitchen
Inspired by conversations on the Food52 hotline, we're sharing tips and tricks that make navigating all of our kitchens easier and more fun. For Resolution Week, we've already covered organizing your pantry and deep-cleaning your kitchen. Today, we're helping you rid your kitchen of unnecessary tools.
January is time for a fresh start. It's a time for new resolutions, healthy habits, and clearing out your clutter. Don't save spring cleaning until the spring: start your year off right by clearing your kitchen of all the unnecessary tools and appliances that you never use.
Seven different melon ballers? Probably too many. And when will you use that bread machine that's been collecting dust for years? Probably never. One cook's trash is another cook's treasure, and many tools that are useless to one person are essential to another -- just look at the spirited discussion on this topic on our hotline. However, in an effort to help you organize and simplify, we've rounded up a few recommendations to streamline your kitchen and de-clutter your life.
And remember -- if something is in good condition, don't throw it away! Find a local organization that accepts kitchen-related donations, and start your year off on a do-gooder note. Because we all like to pay it forward, even in the kitchen.
Single-Use Appliances and Tools
Appliances and tools with just one (often obscure) use may not be worthy of counter space. How often do you really use your panini press? Your quesadilla maker? Unless you're a serious grilled sandwich afficionado, get rid of them. Never use your bread machine? Let it go. Giving up large or expensive appliances can be difficult -- but if you're not going to use it, you should pull the plug.
Examples: avocado slicer, lemon reamer, panini press, ice bucket
Unnecessary Multiples
There are some things that you need more than one of: mixing bowls, measuring cups, and knives may all be used simultaneously, and it's therefore good to have a few of each. However, most of us have multiples in our kitchens that are simply redundant. Pare down your paring knives, and give your drawers room to breathe.
Examples: bottle openers, peelers, ladles, pots and pans, spatulas, colanders, tongs
The One Year Rule
Some people use their garlic press every day; some people think that owning one is useless. Kitchen tools and their necessity are quite the divisive topic! But in general, there's just one cardinal rule: if you haven't used it in a year, get rid of it. Exceptions should be made, of course, for what Amanda calls "big feast" cookware that you use every few years -- like a Paella pan or a turkey frying pot. Family heirlooms fall into this category as well.
A Little Vanity is Okay
Another tip from Amanda? "Gadgets go, beautiful objects stay." You may have one too many wooden spoons, but do they make your kitchen more beautiful? Do you smile every time you see their smooth finish? If it's something that's not taking up too much space, and you really love them, don't feel bad about hanging on to them. Being emotionally tied to kitchen objects is certainly something that we can all relate to.
It's All Subjective
As we've already mentioned, you may think that an avocado slicer is a necessity for the perfect piece of avocado toast. You might think that having an apple corer is silly, or you might bring yours out each fall to get started on a batch of applesauce. What's important is assessing what works in your kitchen, and getting rid of the things you simply don't need. Remember the old adage: if you love something, set it free. We promise: this applies to humans and saucepans alike.
Tell us: what are your rules for cleaning out the kitchen?
Get $10 off your first purchase of $50 or more.
Visit Provisions.
Tags: kitchen confidence, kitchen tools, organizing, cleaning, unnecessary, how-to & diy
Comments (9)
11 months ago Francesca Cucina Povera
This article is great. I am a firm believer in buying multifunctional items, especially since I live in Holland and my kitchen is pea-sized. Why have a lemon zester when a cheese grater can zest any fruit - and - grate cheese? And I was able to use that one year rule with my boyfriend's wok pan that he swore we'd use.
Thanks for the read!
11 months ago The Library Lady
Think of how you can use a "single use" tool. My apple slicer does pears, potatoes and more. Even if we didn't slice apples in it on a regular basis all fall and winter, I'd still keep it.
The 1 year rule though is good. This year, for the second time in 10 years, we had a kitchen renovation (this time because of flooding) and most of my stuff had to be packed away for a while. It really reminds you of what you use and what you don't use.
11 months ago Herschelian
Years ago I was given a pasta maker (roller gadget for pasta) together with this wooden drying rack to hang the pasta over prior after making - complete waste of time and space for me so Craigslist sent them to the happy home of a young student chef.
11 months ago Zootertoot
If it was part of a set (i.e. glassware/dinnerware) and there's only 1 or 2 of them left, it's time to go.
11 months ago ksherk
I've lived in small city apartments for so long, I have few extraneous objects in my kitchen -- I took Alton's "no single-use tools" to heart! Now that I have a little more storage space, I have another rule: if you don't use it more than twice a year, stash it in the attic. This applies to my big roasting pan and braising pot.
11 months ago Burnt Offerings
I solved this problem earlier this year when my college age niece was moving into her first apartment. Hand me downs were plentiful. She had everything she needed to get started, and I got to replace a few things with upgrades. :-)
11 months ago Joerf48
You know, the minute you get rid of something you're going to need it. I have a way of removing clutter. If I don't use it often, I have a couple of shelving units in the basement where I store things. I have an annual night before Christmas party and that has its own storage shelves for platters, trays, ramekins, soufflé dishes, etc. If I need them during the year, I bring them up.
11 months ago Panfusine
Maybe we shd do a collective post on what unnecessary stuff we rid our kitchens of and compare notes..
11 months ago
Kenzi Wilbur
Kenzi is an Assistant Editor of Food52.
Or a gadget swap? One person's unused avocado slicer is another person's treasure, as they say.


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Hey guys, buying new computer parts tommorow to build a new desktop from scratch in order to have a new editing rig. All I care about are the following items
1. CS5 (all parts of it need to run fast and smooth)
2. Starcraft II/Diablo III
3. Team Fortress 2
Other than that most things are negotiable but this needs to be kept in mind. It has been way too long since I've built a computer so my knowledge is too antiquated to rely on. Suggestion of specs based on the above are fine. Will I NEED Quad core or will dual core suffice? And more importantly processing power.


text:
If you're like me, you have tons of Halloween candy in the house. I think I'm one of the lucky ones though, because my kids are definitely more about the collecting (who has more big bars, who has more pieces, etc.) than the actual eating. I actually dumped all of my kids candy into 1 big bowl and they didn't even flinch...I think most kids would freak, especially as I remember counting my pieces daily as a kid to make sure that neither my siblings nor my parents had secretly taken some of my stash while I wasn't guarding it.
Despite their not really caring or noticing the candy very much, I still don't want it in the house...not only because my self-control isn't always the greatest and I'm a huge sucker for a plain ol' Hershey's chocolate bar, but because the candy is just loaded with white sugar and useless calories and there's absolutely no nutritional benefit to your body or your kids from eating all that junk.
MY ADVICE: Eat 1 piece of candy (preferably mini or bite size) for 1 week and get this candy thing out of your system. It's important to not totally deprive yourself of candy, because that will just set you up for a major Reese's Peanut Butter Cup bender, and that's definitely not the direction I want you to go in. Everything in moderation, right? And if you do accidentally go overboard with the candy, just forget about it, wipe your slate clean, and start off fresh. Don't beat yourself up about it, and just move on.
The same should go for your kids. Candy certainly doesn't provide them with the much needed "fuel" their brains and muscles need to work most efficiently. The more sugar they eat, the more they crave, the more sluggish they get, the less exercise they do, the more pounds they gain, the less focused they are at school, and the cycle goes on and on....
If you can't wait 1 week to get rid of your candy, here are a couple options:
1. Drop it off at Wayland Dental TODAY ONLY, 131 Main Street in Wayland, and they will give you $1/lb of candy, up to 5lbs. They will ship the candy off to the troops who will really appreciate this sweet surprise. They are open until 5PM today.
2. Bribe your kids. Tell them they can keep 7 pieces, dump the rest, and tell them you'll take them to the toy store. It's amazing how a little $10 toy can work wonders and all candy will be magically forgotten.
I'm going to share with you a sweet alternative to eat for dessert this time of year that doesn't come in a wrapper, and has amazing nutritional and health benefits. My pumpkin mousse is loaded with calcium and protein from the Greek yogurt, and vitamins A & C, beta carotene, and a variety of antioxidants from the pumpkin.
PUMPKIN MOUSSE (serves 6)
Mix all together and enjoy this very light and delicious seasonal dessert!
Of course, if you do eat too much candy this Halloween, you better get your body moving and burn off some of those calories. Try this quick Bonnie's Bootcamp Workout:
I promise you will feel 1000x better once this workout is done! The only workouts you will ever regret are the ones you DON'T DO!!!!
Love & Lunges,


text:
You're watching...
New battle brewing over government spending
Lawmakers speak out on Capitol Hill
Jan 3, 2013
You're watching...
Lawmakers speak out on Capitol Hill
Jan 3, 2013
Also in this playlist...
Auto-advance: ON
Auto-advanceThis transcript is automatically generated
Good evening I'm -- -- A new congress warning today is getting ready for a familiar fired up against a new deadline it's the way dividing government in Washington has work to work.
Not worked in recent months.
A reelected house speaker said today the American dream is in -- because of growing deficits and the national debt the senate majority leader talked about.
Thoughtful spending reductions balanced with revenue from the wealthiest in the country.
The messages could not be different today the divide is great but the fight.
It's really of the same.
Senior White House correspondent Wendell Goler has our lead story.
States against all Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell welcomed the new congress and presented the lawmakers with an old problem that we tackle our -- spending problem.
Or it's going to tackle.
If -- couple hours before President Obama electronically signed the tax deal -- -- keeping the nation from sliding all the fiscal cliff.
McConnell says the agreement settles the revenue debate for good with the rich now paying their fair share.
And the expiration of the payroll tax cut will mean higher taxes for three quarters of the country.
But with no significant spending cuts in the fiscal -- deal.
McConnell made clear the coming fight over raising the nation's debt ceiling is where Republicans will make their stand -- We cannot agree to increase that borrowing limit without agreeing to reforms that lower the avalanche of spending.
That's creating this debt.
In the first bush but mr.
Obama has already warned lawmakers that's a fight he doesn't intend to have -- negotiated over many things.
I -- not have another debate with this congress over whether or not they should pay the bills.
That if they've already racked up through the -- that they passed.
The last debt ceiling debate flirted with the first ever US government default that cost us a slightly lower credit rating.
Today Moody's the rating agency said it expects congress will take measures to reduce budget deficits in the next debt ceiling debate and warned quote.
The debt trajectory resulting from this process is likely to determine whether the AAA rating is returned to a stable outlook or downgraded to -- one.
Former Obama budget director Peter Orszag admits Republicans will have more leverage in the debt ceiling debate than they did in the fight over the fiscal cliff.
Ironically the government's rising debt problem comes as families are reducing consumer debt but while there's widespread agreement entitlement programs like Medicare are driving the debt.
There's less agreement on who's to blame for not fixing it.
The president but everyone in the room and looking at -- this was part of the big deal I would call Eric Cantor walked down.
And -- John Boehner walked down.
Speaker Boehner majority leader cantor say they gave up trying to negotiate with the president because he moved the goalposts on them.
We'll have all the same players and mr.
-- second term.
-- undergo -- traveling with the president in Hawaii Wendell thank you.
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The leaves have turned red, the pumpkins to turkeys, and before you know it will be time for sled rides and snowmen. It's the season of change, except for the Retro-X. This versatile jacket, made of thick 1/4" 100% polyester fleece (78% recycled), has a windproof nylon lining that handles seasonal transformations with ease. A sturdy front zip (with a reflective zipper pull) backed by a wind flap provides chill-stopping protection. It also has Y-Joint™ sleeves for mobility, zippered handwarmers with moisture-wicking polyester mesh, and a Supplex® nylon contrast that reinforces the collar and vertical chest pocket. With a hand-me-down ID label.
- Soft, quarter-inch pile fleece, internal wind flap, and nylon lining provide wind protection
- Stand-up collar with roll-out fleece lining adds warmth and prevents chafe; Y-Joint™ sleeves
- Vertical zipper chest pocket with Supplex® nylon
- Two zippered handwarmer pockets lined with moisture-wicking polyester mesh; reflective zipper pulls on pockets
- Slight drop-tail hem; non-chafing flat seams throughout
- Retro-style logo on chest
- Hand-me-down ID label
- Fleece: 100% polyester (78% recycled) 1/4"-pile. Lining: 2-oz 100% nylon
- 391 g (13.8 oz)
- Made in Costa Rica.
Recycled Polyester
We recycle used soda bottles, unusable second quality fabrics and worn out garments into polyester fibers to produce many of our clothes.


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With over 70 wineries and tasting rooms, the Santa Cruz Mountains Appellation is one of the oldest wine regions in the United States, known for award-winning pinot noir and other wines. In fact, the wine scene in Santa Cruz County is as diverse as the region's sights and as inspired as its culture. Many local wineries celebrate the County's varietals with an eclectic mix of fun and entertaining events as well. Art and wine festivals in Scotts Valley, Boulder Creek and Capitola attract wine lovers ready to celebrate the crush as well as a number of year-round wine-related events paired with delicious cuisine. Read more...
Offering uniquely hand crafted wines since 1998. Visit our sunny Corralitos Tasting Room overlooking the vines - picnic spots available, child and dog friendly.
Locally handcrafted glassware, exquisite gifts, and jewelry. Wine bar and studio tours, Fri., Sat., Sun. Pouring the finest regional wines from 12:00 pm - 4:30 pm. Free studio tours 11:30 am and 2:00 pm.
Bargetto Winery has produced hand-crafted wines in the Santa Cruz Mountains since 1933. When you are in Monterey, visit us on Cannery Row 11am - 6pm daily. Free Wi-Fi.
Family run operation focused on luscious, hand-crafted Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon & Zinfandel.
Named for an iconic 1890's one-room red schoolhouse, ridgetop Burrell School Vineyards offers a picnic-perfect panorama of the estate vineyards. All wines have school-themed names.
Nicholson Vineyards, Alfaro Family Vineyards, Windy Oaks Estate & Pleasant Valley Vineyards. Local treasures where family owned wineries welcome you to sample their estate vintages. Discover picturesque Corralitos and wander through our vineyards and olive groves.
Hunter Hill Vineyard & Winery is family owned and operated. Vann & Christine Slatter and family opened the winery in 1998 on the farm that has been in the family for 100 years.
Located at 2,300 feet in the Santa Cruz Mountains, our winery offers handcrafted wines & spectacular views of Santa Cruz & Monterey. Picnic facilities and bocce court available on first-come basis.
Enjoy unhurried wine tasting at tranquil Poetic Cellars where you'll experience well-versed wines for the romantic at heart. Winemaker Katy Lovell weaves exotic blends with a master's hand: partner Joeseph Naegele pens a poem for each beautiful wine.
Since 1975, we produce food-friendly, European-style wines, with a focus on locally grown Pinot Noir. Sister brand, Quinta Cruz, features the varieties of Portugal & Spain that are now grown in CA.
They are there to meet, greet, entertain, guard and very often to work