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Fractal Design Define Mini Case Reviewby Dustin Sklavos on 4/22/2013 12:01 AM EST
- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- MicroATX
- Fractal Design
- Case
57 Comments
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Sleepingforest - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkDustin, how would you say this compares to the TJ08e? They have essentially identical price points and both promise quiet performance. Reply
smellykaka - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkI have a TJ08e and I can't imagine how it could be called quiet. Its single fan on low setting is very audible. My main PC (in a Fractal Design R3) with 6 case fans (and a water pump, and four GPU fans) is considerably quieter at idle. Reply
EnzoFX - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkIt can be quiet. It's loud just like any open? case with direct airflow. So it's up to your components. The big 180mm? fan on the TJ08e can be undervolted and be set quiet, it's 180mm! so it'll still pump out good air. After that it's up to your components, so pick a good cpu hs/f, quiet gpu, HDD's that don't vibrate too much, etc, etc.
But yes, if you don't want to approach it this way, a case like this will be the best bet in terms of quiet potential, without having to try too hard. Reply
Sleepingforest - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkWeird. Even in games, mine is totally silent. Maybe you're pushing your hardware harder? Reply
serrin - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkThat's probably because the noise of your games is masking the noise of your case. The TJ-08E is great* quiet case, with the caveat being that you need to undervolt that sucker of a 180mm fan. Although that's not too hard given that you can buy them from fleaBay for a couple of bucks if you don't want to weld some resistors to a bit of wire.
The Define Mini also is easier to assemble than the TJ-08E, but it's also 10cm longer and thus, heavier.
Six of one, half a dozen of the other. Reply
Sleepingforest - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkThe TJ08e is definitely a pain to muck around in because of the cramped space. My hands are pretty big, so squeezing them into case to mess with fan headers is pretty close to impossible. I wish it was just an inch bigger in each dimension.
I have the fan undervolted pretty considerably, so even with the game sounds off, I don't really hear what's happening. Or being under a fume hood for too long has desensitized me to fan noise... Reply
JPForums - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkI agree. The loudest component in the most recent TJ08e based build I've put together is the Zalman 9900CNPS and that's not particularly loud. However, the case is seriously a pain to work in for someone with big hands. I'm actually putting together two builds based on the Define R4 and Define Mini this weekend. I don't know how the noise will compare, but I've opened up the chassis and I'm fairly certain the Mini will be easier to build in than the TJ08e. I can't imagine its thermal performance will be quite as good though. Reply
Metaluna - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkThe hard drive cage in the TJ08e also has major interference issues with many full-sized tower coolers. It's virtually impossible to mount a 3.5" HD in this cage with anything but a smallish (90mm) tower cooler, or maybe a 120 with the fan flipped to the other side (which in my situation had other interference issues on the other side of the board).
On the plus side, it does have more height clearance for taller coolers. But overall I agree it's a PITA case to work in. Reply
Death666Angel - Tuesday, April 23, 2013 - linkI have big hands (1.95m here) and no problem with the TJ08-E. But then again, I don't use 3.5" drives. All my drives are in the 5.25" trays (2.5" ones, 7 total). That's all I need. And the space freed up is great for water cooling (pump and controls). :) The front intake fan is loud even in lowered setting though. It runs at ~700rpm on the low setting, but I have my fan control throttle the fan to ~500rpm to be inaudible. :) Reply
Dustin Sklavos - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkI don't want to be a jerk, but have you tried changing the fan's setting? There's a switch on the side of the case, I believe, that's easy to miss, but on the low setting the TJ08-E is borderline inaudible. Reply
wzrds3 - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkMy TJ08-E is still quite loud, even on the fan's low setting. Reply
flipmode - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkI've done 6 builds with the TJ08-e. For every one of them I have found the front intake fan to be too loud even on the low setting. Plugging into a motherboard with fan speed control helps, but can also cause the front fan to stop spinning at times.
At home, it is an extremely audible case.
At work, I can't hear the thing at all even sitting right next to me.
That is the extent to which ambient noise is a factor. People that call this case quiet may be dealing with higher ambient noise.
I think after 6 builds I feel pretty confident that I know the typical acoustic character of the TJ08-e Reply
flipmode - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkAlso, the drive cage in the TJ08-e is a serious drawback. None the less, it remains my go-to mATX case. Reply
JPForums - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkI've done 4 builds with the TJ08e. I agree they aren't silent, but none of my builds turned out particularly loud either. While ambient noise can be a factor in the perception of what is quiet, I think this may be a difference in standards of quiet. In my most recent build with the TJ08e, the Zalman 9900CNPS is the loudest component. By my standards, the 9900CNPS while not silent, is quiet. The ambient noise environment shouldn't make a difference as to which component is loudest in the build, so if you find the 9900CNPS comfortable, then the TJ08e has the potential to work for you. Just don't expect it to mute louder internal components given it has no acoustic padding. Reply
JPForums - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkI should mention that I forgo the HDD cage all together and mount a single SSD in the bottom bracket that the HDD cage mounts on top of. It makes a difference to airflow. Might make a difference acoustically as well. Reply
cragAT - Tuesday, April 23, 2013 - linkThat is exactly what I did with my build, with my secondary HDD up in the 5.25 bay. No sound/temp issues at all. Reply
madwolfa - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkI have a TJ-08E, it's nearly silent in my very quiet home environment. I use the "full speed" setting of the switch (so it has enough voltage to start), and then put it down to 400-500 RPM with FanXpert control of my Maximus V Gene. Still plenty of airflow and totally silent. Reply
EnzoFX - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkI'm pretty sure Dustin's tolerance for noise is a bit higher. I wouldn't call the low setting quiet at all. As for undervolting, you don't need to weld or use a resistor, all you do is the 5v,7v,12v trick of swapping molex wires cables. Reply
smellykaka - Tuesday, April 23, 2013 - linkYes, I have the fan on the low setting, it is still way more audible than a Fractal Design case. Reply
MadMan007 - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkMeh. I know they had to do it to fit in the drive racks the way they have them but once again this is a micro ATX case that's a scant few inches smaller in one dimension than mid-tower ATX cases. I just don't see the point. If you really want a compact case there *will* be real compromises, tight fits, and less easy assembly than wide open ATX cases. But any 'micro' ATX case that's got a dimension of around 20" is just missing the point of micro ATX. Reply
marc1000 - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkagreed. cases this size are definitively not small. Reply
geniekid - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkI respectfully disagree. The "point of micro ATX" is to have a system smaller than ATX but without all the trade-offs of mini ITX. There's a lot of ground between these two extremes and there's definitely a market of people who want a large micro ATX case. I imagine it overlaps with the market of people who buy Galaxy Notes ;) Reply
antef - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkYes, but as a few people have mentioned, this ISN'T really much (or any) smaller than many ATX cases. So why bother? You can put a MicroATX board in an ATX case if you want. If manufacturers want to produce several sizes and variations then that's fine, but they shouldn't even bother with the MicroATX form factor if they aren't going to try to build something smaller. Reply
darkfalz - Tuesday, April 23, 2013 - linkLooks great in my home theatre setup. It's squat but long, so you don't notice the size from the front. Reply
lwatcdr - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - linkThat is kind of an issue with this case. The R4 ATX case is actually cheaper than the Define Mini on Newegg and it supports 140mm fans. Reply
antef - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkI agree completely. If you want more room to work in then get a normal ATX case. MicroATX is for those who want compact. My SilverStone PS07 (sibling of the TJ08-E) is 14.7" tall and 15.7" deep (vs. 15.55" tall and over 19" deep for the Fractal) and I wouldn't want it any bigger. It's also only 11.46 lbs vs. 21! It's actually compact, light, and still plenty of space for my needs. I don't know why these MicroATX cases try to cater to users who need multiple optical drives and a half dozen internal drives. This is not typical and extreme overkill for the majority of users. Those who need that can buy an ATX case that's practically the same size as this Define Mini. Reply
anactoraaron - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkTrue the majority of users don't need multiple optical drives or half a dozen internal drives, but I DID. This lil' bad boy is containing my WHS 2011 with 5.5TB (5 1TB Raid 5 + 1.5TB pc backup drive)+ 40GB SSD (OS drive). I have it hidden away and needed a quiet case that could hold 6 internal drives.
Not for everyone, sure. But for anyone needing a small & quiet case for a WHS box or other file sharing box it's perfect.
I don't know why it wasn't mentioned but when I was running the cables in mine the rubber pieces that you run the cables through kept popping out and it was a major PITA putting them back in. Reply
marc1000 - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkif you use WHS you are already on some niche market. don't get me wrong, I'd love to have one box with it on my house, but because of all changes MS is making on the OS with win8 I gave up on the idea of buying a dated Server OS.
but yes, 6 internal drives is one good use of this case. I have only 2 drives on my main rig, so my needs are different. most people even have only 1 drive, for them the space would be better used on the desk than on the computer case. Reply
otherwise - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkConsidering this case is perfect for a 6-drive NAS, I really wish fractal design would start designing their cases so you could screw in backplanes like some other vendors. Reply
piroroadkill - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkUnless you need a full size board, you should get micro ATX and this. Built a machine for my girlfriend with this, a giant Noctua cooler, 3570k overclocked, Seasonic X-660, and so on and so on. So .. damn.. quiet. Looks great, has tons of drive bays. Highly recommended. Reply
tzhu07 - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkI own this case. It's the perfect balance between size and workability. It's also very quiet and looks beautiful. Reply
TrackSmart - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkI'm confused. Is this a typical size for a micro-ATX case? It is LARGER than my Antec Sonata III, which is a standard-size ATX case.
Fractal Define Mini: 8.3" x 15.6" x 19.3" = 2499 cubic inches
Antec Sonata III 500: 8.1" (W) x 16.7" (H) x 18.2" (D) = 2462 cubic inches
I like the case. If it had existed 3.5 years ago, I would have strongly considered it for its quiet operation and nice design (assuming I was going micro-ATX). But it just doesn't fit the "mini" description very well, given that its the same size as many standard ATX cases. Reply
A5 - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkThe (now discontinued) Antec P180 Mini was the same way.
What this design style does is let you have the bottom-mounted PSU in a case that is the size of a normal mid-tower, as opposed to the super-tall cases that have that feature and take full-size ATX boards. Reply
DanNeely - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkThe spots where it's bigger than old cases are all cases where changing design requirements have triggered growth to meet. Making it slightly wider is needed to route cables behind the mobo tray. The increased depth is mostly used putting fans in the front and to give them side intakes for noise control; with a removable drive cage (to allow really big GPUs and make connecting sata cables easier) taking a bit as well. It could have been made another Inch shorter but that would have precluded space for a top fan.
The Define mini is a MiniATX case designed for building a high performance system and keeping it cool. The Sonata III 500's design was optimized for making a full ATX system as small as possible; having used other cases with just enough clearance from the drive cages to stuff the mobo in connecting sata cables with the board screwed down is a PITA and full length GPUs are difficult to impossible to fit.. Reply
DanNeely - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkAlso, putting the PSU at the bottom instead of the top means you no longer have a big space at the top for optical drives to extend past the front edge of the motherboard without obstructing anything. Even without the fans and removable drive cage that would probably limit the case from getting any shallower. Reply
TrackSmart - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkThank you to DanNeely and A5 for the insights about case size and design. I can see the niche for this case based on your description. Basically, by shrinking the motherboard area you can better utilize the remaining space to allow for a higher performance machine in a (relatively) small package. If you are building something with modest power requirements (all of my builds), it probably doesn't matter, but for someone who is going to stuff an overclocked i7 and high-end GPU into the case, I can see where this would make a world of difference. Reply
DanNeely - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkBroadly speaking I think the main target customer for this case is people who have historically built relatively high end desktops; but who have realized they don't need a full ATX board for a single GPU but who don't want the overclocking, etc limitations imposed by mITX. Reply
A5 - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkYeah, that's me exactly. Reply
antef - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkI disagree that modern design goals necessitate these sorts of dimensions. My SilverStone PS07 is significantly smaller and still meets all the needs of a high performance system while keeping it cool. I'll go through each of your points:
1) Width is the same between the Define Mini and PS07, so nothing to say there.
2) The SilverStone is only 15.7" deep and fits front fans, an HDD cage, and the biggest GPU you want just fine. There is no top fan mount but there is a top exhaust that you can direct the PSU's exhaust through. It's able to accomplish this since the GPU sits on top of the drive bay instead of trying to fit behind it. SATA cable access is fine but is especially easy when you remove the drive cage. If the case you used couldn't fit large GPUs then that was a fault of that particular case's design.
3) The SilverStone's PSU is top mounted which I don't see as a problem. This permits space for optical drives, and below that space for the motherboard, large GPU, front fants, and drive cage all in 15.7" of depth as mentioned above. You can also choose to not bother with optical drives at all, and remove the drive cage entirely and still be able to have 1 SSD and 1 HDD in the case.
Yes, it's a little tighter to work in, but today's systems can get away with a lot less components than in the past, giving you the ability to still keep the internals very clean and uncluttered. If you need more space, ATX is there for you. Reply
mherbst55 - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkWas interested in this article until I got to the case dimensions. Why not just go with a standard full-sized ATX case and stuff a uATX board into it? At 8.3 x 15.6 x 19.3 isn't that what's being done here?
Frankly, the best uATX case ever made was the SG03 by SilverStone. Dimensions are a svelte 12.28 x 7.87 x 14.17. Moreover, if SilverStone had been forward thinking and dropped the legacy 3.5" form factor HDD drive bays from the design (stuffed in the bottom of the case) they could've shaved an inch from the height. Interestingly in spite its diminutive size, because the SG03 can be stripped almost to the frame, building a clean system is actually quite simple. I discovered that a little pre-planning of the layout produced a build that was almost a work of art. Also, the flow-through design made cooling the interior a snap. For the life of me I can't figure out why SilverStone didn't continue to refine the design (add a removable motherboard tray, dual 3.5" cutouts for 2.5" form factor mobile racks for a total of 4 HDD drive bays, etc). It would have become the preferred uATX case for the vast majority of systems builders. Reply
antef - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkAgreed, dimensions are the first thing I check for any MicroATX case now, if it's no smaller than most ATX cases then why would I even consider it? I hope manufacturers are reading this. Many of us don't have that many components and don't require these dimensions. Reply
takeship - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkI can vouch for this. It's FAR too large a case for what it offers. I've built twice with this case, once for myself and once for a friend - in retrospect the thermals vs noise don't justify this over a full Define R4, or one of the recent NZXT Phantoms. Mostly high quality, though the motherboard cut out is the wrong size for virtually any backplate, and the included fan controller was junk, and well, I replaced every fan anyways. Further, there is *barely* enough space to fit a Crossfire/Sli dual slot setup in the case with the tight clearance above the PSU standoff. I only have a single card, so it's less of an issue, but there is very little airflow from the front case fans through the non-removable lower HDD bay into the GFX card space. Living with it for now, and the heft makes it feel secure, but I wouldn't recommend it for a real enthusiast. Reply
dave_the_nerd - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkQuote: "It's a weird situation when the micro-ATX form factor seems to be ideal for the majority of end users."
Umm... what?
The majority of PC end users buy laptops. (Laptops outsell desktops by about 2:1.) Most of those desktops are sold to businesses, and it's literally been years since I saw an ATX or mATX minitower in use in somebody's home. (Mostly SFF desktop designs and iMacs.)
Today, mATX is the answer to a question anybody asked. The BYO "enthusiast" crowd will continue buying ATX towers with room for all their cooling hardware, and the BYO "best fit for my needs" crowd will continue snatching up SFF. Reply
marc1000 - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkHi Dustin! you say you have a terrible time to manage cables on every case you test, but how do you feel about cabling a custom-case made by hp?
I'm living with it because it is mATX and is much smaller than the average cases on stores. I don't have the exact dimensions now, but I managed to change all internals, add one SSD, a scythe Ninja Mini cooler, and even a Radeon 5770 in there. with all fans being PWM this thing is pretty quiet, at iddle you can hear it but it's not annoying. at load however the GPU fan makes a bunch of noise :(
here are some images from a similar case from the HP site.
outside: bit.ly/ZE9Bge
inside: bit.ly/ZEaQMr
how would you feel about doing cabling this one? lol Reply
marc1000 - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkshort url corrected:
http://goo.gl/PhBJZ Reply
ZoeAnderson24 - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkIf you think Ronald`s story is surprising..., a month back my cousins best friend basically recieved a check for $8905 working a 40 hours month at home and they're friend's mother-in-law`s neighbour has been doing this for 7-months and made over $8905 in there spare time on there labtop. follow the instructions from this web-site. All29.comCHECK IT OUT Reply
jrs77 - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkTesting cases is really a hard thing to do I'm afraid.
I've got the Define Mini on my desk behind my screen, where it hides itself due to it's little height.
Anyways... for the watercooling. A 240mm rad in the front is possible without modding. Just remove the two drivebays and install your 3.5" HDD + 2.5" SSD in one of the 5.1/4" bays. Another 120mm rad is possible in the back, so you have one 240mm rad for the GPU and one 120mm rad for the CPU, and voilá... even lower temps and the same low level of noise. Install a Scythe S-Flex @ 800RPM in the bottom behind the PSU and one in the top for that little additional ventilation and you can even use powerful components.
I'm running a GTX660 and an i5-3450 in my Define Mini, and temps are no issue at all, and the case is still dead-silent there behind my screen. The one thing I did tho was to cutout the grill covering the fan in the back, as these hex-grills produce a very annoying noise when air is pushed through.
A TJ08-E with a 200mm rad in the front and a 120mm in the back is deadsilent aswell, but a little bit trickier to assemble and crammed. Reply
bsix - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkDustin,
You seem down on the Define cases except for the Xl r2. What separated that case was a bottom fan. I feel this design really needs that airflow with low impedance to help even out flows, otherwise there is a bit of a dead zone in the bottom half of the case.
Also have we seen a comparison of an air cooled vs water cooled case at Anandtech? I'm not sure I have seen one with some of the later packaged water coolers.. Reply
barry spock - Monday, April 22, 2013 - linkIt must've been out for more than a year because I got this in Sept(?) of '11. I used it in my first real build for more than 10 years and all up I like it, although I don't know how it compares to others.
The aim for me was to build a silent PC. I went for a Noctua fan as well (as someone else in the comments mentioned). It's pretty quiet but in hindsight I think what I should've done is make a no-fan HTPC. Reply
rvdbos - Monday, April 22, 2013 - link$99 for an empty box? wtf, is it year 1995? nowadays I could get TWO bluray players with remote, ethernet, buildin wifi and DLNA for this much dough. why even bother bringing such a ripoff to the market? Reply
Icehawk - Tuesday, April 23, 2013 - linkI have this case, it has a high build quality and very quiet - not the best cooling in stock form, true, and I think that is due to weak intake design and the damping material acting as insulation. I get little airflow even without the middle drive cage installed, my RAM gets pretty toasty - definitely been the source of a few crashes. I have a Corsair H70 (blowing out), a triple fan GTX670, and fanless 500W PSU which all run within comfortable temps. My system is just about silent under the desk which was my goal, I think with one more fan the system would run plenty cool but as you will see in my next comment the spot where a fan would do the most good for me is unusable.
One design flaw, at least for me, is the location of the side panel fan cutout - it's too far towards the back of the case and because of this I cannot put a fan here as it interferes with my H70 radiator. If it was a little farther forward this would not be a problem and would also put it in a better location to cool the mobo.
Two comments about the review - first, do you REALLY care about built-in standoffs? IMO it's a tiny "upgrade", it saves about 2 minutes max the first time you build a machine. Second, I was able to route all of my cable behind the mobo from the included fans & controller... barely. It IS doable but you may need to cut some wiring sheaths and get creative with routing.
At $100 I think it's great value in terms of build quality, materials, etc - I can't believe I've been buying $50 junk boxes all of these years when for not a lot more the boxes are way nicer. Would love to see a revised model that improves cooling and cleans up the front design with a more minimal drive setup. Reply
Peroxyde - Tuesday, April 23, 2013 - linkBought a Fractal Design R4 Mid Tower 2 days ago. This case is a jewel. Heavy, less sensitive to vibration. Everything in this case has been thought carefully: cable management, filter, noise reduction, paint job, even down to the screws and the metal rulers hiding expansion card slots. It is way better than more expensive case from Antec and Cooler Master. This company should make more marketing. Even better, it look nice! Even my wife finds that it looks beautiful. Reply
darkfalz - Tuesday, April 23, 2013 - linkI have the Define Mini. It's a nice case. It's heavy (sturdy) and very quiet. Having to manually adjust the fan is a bit annoying (and believe me, you will want it on max for gaming and min for anything else). It takes a stock 680 GTX so it handles a longer card than the specs specify. I added a second front fan as I have 5 HDDs inside (4 in RAID 5). LED is too bright (lights up the room in standby with blinking blue) and no HDD LED unfortunately. Reply
cpupro - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - linkIt is for mATX motherboards but it is not small case, my other mini tower case with ATX board inside is only about 1 cm taller than Define Mini, including standoffs. Only cons with this case is irritating bright blue LED (I assume also red LED in white cases), it burn eyes, nothing minimal here as article suggest. Don't need to mention LED suspend mode blinking or bright blue LED when watching films in dark room.
Overall, well built, quality case. Reply
freedom4556 - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - linkMy big problem with my Fractal Define Mini is that I bought it hoping to go to a 'smaller' computer, but I didn't really check the dimensions before I did it versus what I had. I was coming from an Antec 300 and I wanted a bottom power supply intake, some sound deadening, and a few tool-less amenities along with downsizing from an ATX board in that build to an mATX board in the current build. It only cut two inches off the height, but got an inch wider and over an inch deeper in the process. So while I can understand that these builds are "small" in comparison to things like 800D and HAF X, they still aren't 'small' when you compare them with more 'budget' full-ATX offerings. I feel like all I lost in the transition was the flexibility of three extra slots while gaining some noise reduction at almost twice the cost. I also wish the door opened wider, and my front intake fan has starting buzzing against the frame after only a few removals for cleaning. Reply
stanwood - Friday, April 26, 2013 - linkI used a Define Mini for my most recent build. Totally silent under my desk. Very sturdy and looks good. I have been very happy with it. Only pet peeve is I wish the front door swing were reversible (PC sits to my right but door swings open to the left).
Dustin, it would be nice if you'd make sure to include a picture of the final rig as tested, with GPU, so we're clear how you set it up. I have left the middle drive cage in rotated to funnel air flow over my CPU. Did you try that out and see any difference? Reply
Sladeofdark - Monday, April 29, 2013 - linkI was just talking about how good this case was. I got it for my girlfriend in White because the Corsair case is still too pricey right now. This case was all sold out and i had to order the one with a window kit because i liked it so much. I have used it in 3 builds just this year. Great Case. The front door likes to act up, but if you are a veteran builder you will have the parts on hand to reinforce the mechanism that catches the door and makes it stay closed with a click. Reply


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Black Magic Elephant Ears http://scienceray.com/biology/elephant-ears/
Unlike most bulbs & tubers, Elephant Ears enjoy warm, humid and oftentimes wet conditions. In very hot areas of the U.S., such as south Texas and Florida, Elephant Ears do best if planted in full to almost full shade. Areas north of these states can plant the bulbs in mostly sunny to partly sunny locations. My Elephant Ears are planted in a corner of my backyard that is mostly shaded and stays a bit damp. They thrive in this (relatively) cool, damp locale, although they do get a burst of sunlight for a couple of hours in the late afternoon - amazingly from the reflections of a couple of my neighbors western facing windows! Sometimes the sun is so intense bouncing off the windows in the Texas heat, I will find the leaves of my plants will have temporarily wilted and dipped to the ground. However, after a quick spray of the water hose they usually perk up by the next morning.
Once you have located the perfect location in your landscape for your Elephant Ears, you will need to plant the bulbs, pointed end up (or sideways if you have a bulb that is hard to differentiate), at about 2 inches under the soil. Typically, the bigger the bulb, the bigger the plant, thus, depending on the size of your bulbs you may wish to leave about 1.5 to 2 feet between each one accordingly.
As I mentioned earlier, in the ornamental sense, Elephant Ears are grown specifically for their large and beautiful leaves. However they do flower on rare occasions. The flowers remind me of those of peace lilies (although about 10 times larger!).
Frog in Elephant Ear Flower www.emilycompost.com
Another interesting fact about Elephant Ears (also called Taro) is their bulbs have been cultivated for many centuries in the tropical areas of Oceanic, Asian and African countries, and still are today an important part of the Hawaiian diet. In fact, Taro is considered a "tropical potato". Different cultures utilize the bulb (and sometimes the stalk and leaves) in different ways, but it is always cooked thoroughly. If not, the plant can cause quite an upset stomach, among other problems, as it contains calcium oxalate crystals which can produce gout and kidney stones in humans. Since pests are hardly a problem with Elephant Ears, it is thought the spiny calcium oxalate crystals within the raw plant actually deter insects from eating the plant as well.
Elephant Ear (Taro) Bulbs
Well, at the close of this post, I'd like to point you to a few Web sites that provided me a wealth of information - but the main reason I'd like you to visit them is to gaze upon the photos to see just how huge an Elephant Ear leaf can get. Truly amazing.
I hope you find the perfect place to create your tropical paradise this year!
Until next time, Cindy
References: http://www.emilycompost.com/elephant_ear.htm http://www.elephantearsplants.com/elephantearsgrowing.htm http://www.tarofestival.org/ http://www.tropical-plants-flowers-and-decor.com/elephant-ear-plant...
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Thanks, all, for your comments. I am very interested in seeing pics of the Taro and Bonnie - of your Black Magic ones! Mayn . . . keeping my fingers crossed yours come back. Mine have been mushy, too, in the past and amazingly they sprouted despite!
Beautiful Elephant ears i just love them!
Hi Cindy love your post. I planted them the first time last year have always love them. Was afraid it got too cold but they are about 2 inches out of the ground so I am so excited. I have the black magic and the green. I thought my one green one was dead when I touched it last week it broke in half with real white mush in the center.I am leaving it alone and keeping my fingers crossed:)
Oh, and I've been pairing the Black Magic with fuscia coleus in the front/underneath and red canns behind....it's pretty stunning. I will post some pics later this summer when they've grown. No nubs showing yet......
Cindy, thanks so much for the info! Elephant ears are among my favorites and are definitely a "staple" in my gardens just as rice and potatoes are in the house!! ;) Can't live without 'em! I just started growing the Black Magic a few years ago and have been getting some new corms from the originals, so am hopeful that they become as beautiful as the clump in the photo you shared!
Lyn, I'll be waiting to see that paddock picture you'll be sharing, I can only imagine how stunning that must have looked!!!! I can't believe you went off without your trusty camera!!! :)
Hi Lyn & Denise: Lyn - No, the Black Magic isn't mine. I agree it is stunning! I did see a few black ones in the garden centers this weekend here in North Texas. I may give them a try. The area I have mine (green ones) planted is in a corner, so I think the black ones may not look at stunning in my yard. Bet they'd look really nice up against Coleus. though. Thanks for the interesting info about the Taro in your part of the world. The article was truly an eye-opening research piece for me. I'd heard of Taro before, but I did not associate it with the Elephant Ears I grew for ornamental purposes! Always learn something with gardening!
Denise - I do not fertilize my Elephant Ears much at all and it could be that I am just fortunate that they are planted in a fertile area. I've never been one that is much on granular fertilizer - but when I do supplement my plants, it is usually with liquid seaweed. A bonus is it keeps spider mites away too! You may wish to plant your Ears in a tad more sun than I give mine in Zone 7b (almost 8). Give them a try again and let me know how they grow. Good Luck!
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Why Michigan Tech is Awesome in Autumn
Last Modified 11:02 AM on Tue Aug 8, 2017
October 9, 2013—
Fall is the golden season at Michigan Tech (literally). Here's eight reasons why Michigan Tech is awesome in the autumn.
1. Fall colors.
The leaves, they are a-changin'. Each September, our lush green campus begins its autumnal transformation. Leaves shrivel and crisp, trees bloom with color, monochromatic foliage explodes into sun-drenched reds, oranges and yellows.
It's like attending school inside a postcard, and it's epic. Plus, don't forget the greatest benefit of them all: leaf piles. Lots and lots of leaf piles. Go ahead, jump in. We're not judging.
2. About a million reasons to get out and do stuff.
Summer may be over but Michigan Tech students are just getting warmed up. Rush a sorority or fraternity; cheer on the football Huskies; check out student orgs; carve pumpkins; join an intramural sports team; hike and bike the Tech Trails; go camping or kayaking in the crisp fall air—it's the best time of year to get outside and be active. Except for winter, when skiing, boarding and snowshoeing hits… Okay, there's always stuff to do. We're actually not sure how we get any sleep.
3. Pumpkin spice lattes.
It's the stuff of legends, a beverage with such rampant popularity that it's inspired Facebook groups, its own hashtag (#PSL), and feature articles in news outlets ranging from People to Huffington Post. The toasty Starbucks specialty has become ubiquitous with fall, and thankfully it's served up at Michigan Tech's Library Café. Which is good, because we're not sure how we'd survive without it. #NoExaggeration
4. Cardboard boats.
Most schools have parades. Most schools have football games. But only at Michigan Tech will you find a Homecoming tradition like cardboard boat races. Students build boats from cardboard, then hit the chilly waters to test their designs. Crowds cheer. Homecoming festivity ensues. It's exactly as cool as it sounds.
5. That sweet spot between summer and fall.
It's the golden time when fall has arrived but the summer gardens are still in bloom. There's a little bit of magic in crunching on leaves while you stop to smell the roses (and tulips and daisies). So take some time to do it. Like, now—those flowers won't be around for long.
6. The Michigan Tech Muck Run.
If there's anything more fun than a pre-Halloween trail run, we're not sure what it is. The Muck Run is the only race in the area where Angry Birds, apes, bananas, superheroes, princesses and zombies are not just welcome to participate—they're encouraged. Compete, have fun and look good doing it… isn't that the unofficial Michigan Tech motto?
7. This view of Mont Ripley from campus.
The image, by Mary Schwenk Chopp, says it all. Those Ripley runs will be abuzz with activity soon enough—stash your skis and snowboard for a little bit longer and take a moment to enjoy the fragile beauty of a fall afternoon in the Keweenaw.
8. And this view of campus from Mont Ripley.
The air is sweet and cool, the trees are awash with color and the water glimmers in the rising sun. Stop and take a moment to breathe it in. Michigan Tech rocks!
Michigan Technological University (www.mtu.edu) is a leading public research university developing new technologies and preparing students to create the future for a prosperous and sustainable world. Michigan Tech offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in engineering; forest resources; computing; technology; business; economics; natural, physical and environmental sciences; arts; humanities; and social sciences.


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In partnership with the Brain Injury Alliance of Arizona, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts will present An Evening with Captain Mark Kelly and Gabrielle Giffords: Endeavor to Succeed, on Friday, Nov. 22, at 8 p.m.
Tickets are available for $89, $69 and $59 online at www.ScottsdalePerformingArts.org or through (480) 499-TKTS (8587).
On Jan. 8, 2011, Capt. Mark Kelly would face the toughest challenge of his life when an assassination attempt was made on his wife, former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. His dedication to family and Giffords' road to recovery would captivate the nation. For Kelly, focus equals success – even in the face of adversity.
Personifying the best of the American spirit, Kelly is a homegrown hero who was a combat pilot in Iraq, an astronaut on four space shuttle missions and commander of the final flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour. He has combined teamwork, leadership, communication and family in an unwavering commitment to succeed.
Kelly will show audiences how to accomplish their mission while maintaining the love and devotion to family that is the foundation of true success. A book signing will follow. Proceeds from this event will benefit the Brain Injury Alliance of Arizona.


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BP Comment Quick Links
February 11, 2014
Baseball Therapy
When Sabermetrics Gets Personal
Let's try something.
In the recently released 2014 edition of the Baseball Prospectus annual, I wrote an essay calling for a new kind of analysis. The field of sabermetrics, as a whole, has spent a lot of time trying to figure out larger truths about baseball players in general. There's nothing wrong with that. We've found some good ones. But just about every study begins with finding every single player who fits some criteria and has a big enough sample size to produce reliable data. That allows us to say things about baseball players as a group. In the annual essay, I tried to make the case that it's a little strange that there is no parallel track of research for the study of individual players. It's time we got a little more personal.
One topic that I've done some research on is the question of how big a sample size we need for a stat before we can stop saying "small sample size." The answer varies from stat to stat, both for pitchers and hitters. But the idea is that there comes a point—for example, 60 plate appearances for strikeout rate—where you can believe that a hitter's strikeout rate over those 60 PA really is an adequate reflection of what his talent was at the time. That's the base rate for hitters in general, but does that hold for this particular hitter?
People often misinterpret the thresholds for various metrics to stabilize, believing that 60 PA means, "Now that we're past 60 PA, from this point forward, we can believe that Smith will maintain this new strikeout rate." It's not a bad assumption, but it doesn't always work like that. Maybe he will, maybe he won't. Smith might make some sort of adjustment mid-season, maybe a radical one. Baseball players are human, and many of them make changes in their lives. Some maintain a fairly consistent approach all year. (Which one is better is an empirical question.)
In some sense, when a player makes a change, he's become different player. Maybe it's just a slightly different player, but so far we have lacked the vocabulary, statistical or otherwise, to describe those differences within a season. Baseball statistics come in many flavors, but they are almost always denoted in whole-season format. A .300 hitter may have been a true talent .300 hitter all year, or perhaps was a .290 hitter for half the year and a .310 for the rest of it. How can we tell who's who?
Today, we're going to look at the decision over which a hitter has the most control, whether or not to swing the bat. We can certainly look at his swing percentage for the year and try to get some idea of whether he's a free swinger or a guy who just prefers to keep it on his shoulder, thank you very much. But does that change over the course of the year? (If you're playing along at home or the office, you can do this with any rate stat.)
To test that, I used a methodology that I've used in a slightly different context before. I looked at every pitch that a batter faced from 2009-2013 and coded it simply as swing/no swing. I used only player-seasons that included at least 250 PA and 1200 pitches seen. I did take the batter's overall swing percentage for the year, but I also took a series of prior moving averages. For example, I looked at what the batter's swing percentage was on the 50 pitches immediately preceding this one. And the 100 pitches immediate preceding this one. And the last 150 pitches, all the way up to 1000, in increments of 50. All of those swing rates were converted to the natural log of the odds ratio. We now have 21 contenders for the title of "most predictive indicator." If one of the moving averages is the best predictor, we can assume that the hitter might be given to swings in…well, how often he swings.
I then split the data set into individual data sets for each player (there were 475 such players). I set up a binary logistic regression predicting whether the batter would swing at each pitch he saw (starting with pitch no. 1,001 of his season) and—using a stepwise regression—asked my computer to pick out which of the 21 variables best predicted whether or not the batter would swing at each pitch. If we're going to test predictive power of a variable, let's see how well it predicts this next pitch.
If the last 100 pitches are the best predictor, then that tells us something interesting, especially given that we are allowing the player's seasonal swing rate to compete for the honor of most predictive. A hundred pitches might be a week's worth of games, and the player could have a completely new swing percentage from one week to the next. He might not, but if you wanted the best predictor of his tendency to swing, you'd look over the last 100 pitches, rather than his whole body of work. (Note, for the initiated: it's important to note that the best predictor of his swinging tendency is an equation containing his swing rate over the last 100 pitches. But still, we can map that.)
You could make the case that hitters who are best described by their seasonal averages (or by a moving average containing a lot of pitches) are those who maintain the same approach in most situations. Those who are best described by 50 or 100 pitches in the past are more given to wild variations in their approach at the plate. What's interesting is that of the 475 players I was able to study, 60 percent (288) were best described by that seasonal average. No one was best described by the last 50 pitches. However, there were 19 players who were best described by the last 100 pitches they saw, and it was a mix of the good (Carlos Beltran, Prince Fielder, Adrian Gonzalez, Evan Longoria) and the flawed (Ryan Howard, Drew Stubbs, Dan Uggla). At 150, we find eight players, including both Nick Franklin and Mike Trout. And Scott Podsednik. There doesn't seem to be much of a pattern forming.
There were 29 players who were best described by either the past 200 or 250 pitches (again, a couple weeks' worth of PA), 21 in the 300 or 350 range, and 18 in the 400 or 450 bracket. It isn't very common to have a player who is on the inconsistent side, but it happens. And some of them are doing rather well for themselves, so it isn't necessarily toxic, either.
Steady or Stubborn? Adaptive or Clueless?
More importantly, we have a method for looking at when a statistic becomes meaningful for an individual hitter, rather than just relying on benchmarks derived from a whole bunch of other guys. There are things that we might say about Ian Kinsler that do not apply to Prince Fielder. If we wanted to do a deep dive into studying Ian Kinsler, we now have a method for doing that. Who would want to study Ian Kinsler? Maybe a pitcher who is facing the Tigers in his next start.
Next week, we'll see what we can do with this newfound tool in the belt.
Russell A. Carleton is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @pizzacutter4
15 comments have been left for this article.
BP Comment Quick Links
Peter Benedict
I am not sure I understand how/whether swing rate can be separated from pitch type and game situation. A pitcher will pitch to Prince Fielder differently if there's a guy on base and he's facing a team pushing for a playoff game, while that same pitcher might approach Scott Podsednik identically to a bases empty situation.
Feb 11, 2014 06:04 AM
Yes it does and yes there are ways to control for that. I made a conscious decision not to get too deep into those weeds yet. Right now, we've got a nascent model, and little idea of where it's going to end up. Best not to over-complicate something if you don't need to.
Feb 11, 2014 07:00 AM
Robert Arthur
I understand Russell's desire to keep it simple, but I too wonder whether and how context might be an important factor.
Feb 11, 2014 08:28 AM
If I'm reading this right, and I like to think I am, this is just the beginning, the ground floor. Models don't come forth fully formed; there is work to be done before you know where you're going. To lay out the whole thing in one article would make it the length of an academic research paper.
Feb 11, 2014 07:57 AM
In thinking about this, the questions posed by Peter and Robert, to my thinking, are what make this article a successful exercise. The questions are as important as the answers. I seem to recall Russell espousing the sentiment that, at this point in sabermetrics, we should be as creative with our questions as with our answers. This is a great way to further exploration in the field. I think it would be helpful if more of the people with interesting questions had the tools to provide their own answers. Maybe there could be a tutorial series on this site showing how to reproduce some of the studies.
Feb 11, 2014 09:04 AM
I agree with this idea a lot. Immediately upon finishing this article rather than considering whether I agree or disagree or coming to some other conclusion I found myself projecting this model into a bunch of applications. Patterns may not be immediately obvious from the breakdown here, but can we correlate these results with other measures of batter tendencies to find a pattern? Can we correlate them with historical knowledge about those batter seasons to answer the questions posed in the penultimate paragraph? Obviously this is a skeleton, but the figure that could be built on it could be very interesting indeed.
Feb 11, 2014 18:15 PM
Russell, did you account for multiplicity? How often would a player's preceding 100 pitches be more predictive than the swing rate for the previous 1000 just by chance?
Feb 11, 2014 11:07 AM
Are the results consistent season-to-season for a given player? E.g., has Beltran *always* been best-described by the last 100 pitches?
Feb 11, 2014 15:59 PM
Nathan Aderhold
Awesome start. Really looking forward to you diving headlong into this stuff.
Feb 12, 2014 12:14 PM
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CLAY COUNTY, Fla. - Nearly 100 people gathered along the side of a Middleburg road Saturday night for a candlelight vigil to support the family of a teen who was killed in a hit-and-run crash.
Brien Alvezios, 13, was riding along Branan Field Road near Trail Ridge Road on Nov. 26th when an SUV struck him and took off. Alvezios died at the scene.
Since the crash, the Alvezios family has been dealing with turmoil and heartache.
"My mom wakes up every day thinking that he's going to show up at the house," said Katie Alvezios, Brien's sister. "I have to tell her he's not coming back."
Family and friends who gathered at the vigil joined the family in their plea for someone to come forward with information about the driver who hit the teen.
"I'm a mother, I have two children. I don't understand how somebody could hit somebody's baby and just leave them on the side of the road. I don't understand that," said Becca Crockett, a family friend.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Alvezios was hit by someone driving a 2005-2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Troopers do not know the color of the SUV, but said it should have right front end damage. Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call the Florida Highway Patrol at (904) 301-3700.
The Justice Coalition has set up an account to help the Alvezios family pay for his funeral. Donations can be made at Ameris Bank to the account numbered 2048540948.
A fundraiser will also be held Saturday, Dec. 10 at the All Star Sports Bar & Grill in Fleming Island, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ten percent of the proceeds from the restaurant will go to the family. There will also be live music and a silent auction. The restaurant is located at 2223 County Road 220.
Copyright 2011 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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George T Lee
1919 — Norwood, Norfolk, Mass.
An AMAZING Life!
George T. Lee, who would fly 258 combat missions over North Africa and Europe in 1943.
Fifty-four years after the death of Colonel George T. Lee, the heroic Norwood fighter pilot who flew hundreds of combat missions during World War II is the star of a documentary debuting today inspired by forgotten film footage shot from the nose of his P-47 Thunderbolt.
The grainy, 13-minute films at the heart of this historic tale were stacked in canisters in a Norwood High School audio-visual closet, overlooked for more than four decades, until Jack Tolman, the station manager for Norwood Public Access Television, found them in 2001.
It would be three years, though, before the faint labels on the dark-green canisters - "Lee," "Pisa, Italy" and "1945" - would begin to mean something for Tolman, and another three years before the film would be finished.
"It started as a fluke and just kind of snowballed," said Tolman. "When I learned about [Lee's] accomplishments and realized I had the film, my background kicked in. I wanted to tell the story."
The 75-minute film premieres today during a special screening for Veterans Day at 1 p.m. in the high school auditorium. Admission is free.
Tolman had looked at the films briefly as he was looking for old football footage for a show he was doing. He watched just a few seconds, assumed they were part of an old social studies project, and promptly forgot them. But when he happened to watch them a second time, he realized he was onto something special.
The films capture battle scenes from the fighter pilot's point of view: chasing down a Nazi plane; blasting supply trains in the Italian countryside; shooting trucks and other vehicles crawling along rural roads. The documentary intersperses the battle footage with interviews and photos.
In making the film, Tolman called on town veterans agent Ted Mulvehill, an Air Force veteran and the son of a WWII aviator, for expert advice. The two assembled information, old photos, and remembrances from Lee's relatives and surviving friends.
But it wasn't until Tolman was seated in a Brimfield living room listening to Lee family members tell stories about "Uncle Georgie" that the saga became real. "What struck me is that every town in the country has a World War II hero," he said. "This is Norwood's, but it could be Anywhere, USA."
George Lee was one of seven children of Thomas and Mary Lee, of Rock Street. A member of Norwood High's Class of 1937, Lee was working as a butcher at the Walpole A&P on Dec. 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked. When he tried to enlist, though, he was too skinny, recalled his nephew, Alan Lee, now a Foxborough dentist. "So he ate seven pounds of bananas and cream and bulk-loaded," he said. "And when he weighed in, he made it by a pound."
A natural aviator, George Lee rose rapidly up the ranks in the Army Air Corps and made full colonel by age 25, eventually becoming commander of the 86th Fighter Group. He flew a remarkable 258 combat missions over North Africa and Europe, targeting enemy supply lines. He earned the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the British Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Croix de Guerre, among others, but no one knows where they are, Alan Lee said.
After the war ended, George Lee opened up a nightclub with his brother Tom, but he was called back to active duty in 1948. He took part in the Berlin Airlift in 1949. In 1954, he was inspector general of the Air Force Central Air Defense Command and had been recommended for promotion to brigadier general when he died while on a training exercise in Missouri, officials and family members said.
In assembling the film, Tolman tracked down people across the country who had known Lee. In Fort Walton Beach, Fla., he found Lee's best friend and fellow pilot Bill Colgan.
Now almost 88, Colgan wrote "World War II Fighter-Bomber Pilot" in 1985. The cover features a group shot - Lee included - of pilots who flew a total of 1,000 missions.
Lee and Colgan met in Sicily in August 1943 and grew close as war raged in Italy, France, and into Germany. "I stayed the rest of the war with him," Colgan said. "We flew the same missions. And I came home [to Norwood] on a short leave with him."
That visit is captured in a photo taken on May 18, 1944, which will be on display at today's screening. The two pilots are surrounded by well-wishers of all ages during a festive parade. Colgan joked that Lee had a whole town come out for him when he returned home, while Colgan only had his wife.
"He was the closest individual friend I've had in my life," said Colgan. "On the surface you would think George was quiet. He was really anything but."
Alan Lee attests to that, describing his uncle as a fun-loving daredevil who didn't drive his yellow Cadillac El Dorado convertible around town, "he flew it. . . . And he'd fly his plane upside down along Washington Street to let Ma Lee know he was home," Lee said. "Let's face it, he was the pride and joy of the family."
On a stormy Labor Day in 1954, after a visit to the family's Dennisport summer home, Colonel Lee was being driven back to his plane at Otis Air Force Base when family members asked him if the fierce wind and rain were a concern. The pilot's response was no, Alan Lee recounted: "It's the lightning he said he didn't like."
Weeks later, George Lee, 35, lost his life when his plane crashed after being struck by lightning.
"I was in seventh grade," Alan Lee recalled. "And an altar boy. I was to serve at Mass that day, and I remember when the priest came over and knocked on the door."
During today's screening, the original films will be returned to the Lee family.
Mulvehill wonders where Lee's career could have gone had he lived. "He had achieved a high level of respect," he said. "For someone to fly 258 missions in a one-seater when most people did 70, well, this is history. He relied on his own talent, his skill, and his nerve. It provides a glimpse into a way of life that has come and gone."
Although most of George Lee's contemporaries are dead, there are many older town residents who remember him, and who will be thrilled to see the film, Mulvehill said.
"Here's a kid who did Norwood proud. Believe me, he hasn't been forgotten."
Story by Michele Morgan Bolton
**************************************************************************************** Born in Norwood Massachusetts to Thomas M Lee and Mary Jean (Tierney), George Theodore Lee was the youngest (at the age of 25) to be promoted to full Colonel in the USAAF during WWII. By all accounts he was a "pilot's pilot", an "Ironman". He was friendly, yet he was as demanding on his men as he was on himself. He impressed his superiors and, before his death, one such superior suggested that he was on track to being promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.
He died during a routine jet training mission over Missouri. He was not the pilot during this flight.
Many articles were written on him before and after his death, some of which the author of this biography has in her posession. One of his nephews is in the progress of writing a screenplay about this "Hometown Hero".
On November 9, 2008, in his hometown of Norwood, Massachusetts, Jack Tolman released a documentary on George to a crowd that filled the Norwood High School Auditorium.
Thanks to the sales of the documentary and to a donation by his nephew, Alan Lee, the Nahatan Street Bridge was rededicated to George on October 4, 2009 with new signs. The old signs were previously to small to be read from the street. It was originally dedicated to George in 1988.
There is an extensive file on George at the Norwood Historical Society. It includes the film footage of his aircraft cameras.
Links to a few of the online newspaper articles/biographies about this person (for all other articles, contact Balthazar):


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THE Labour opposition on Bromsgrove District Council is calling for an independent public enquiry into the Marlbrook tip.
The former tip and reservoir, in Marlbrook Lane, initially received planning permission to become a golf course but Lickey residents complained too much material was being dumped at the site, over several years.
In December 2011 the authority's chief executive promised the council would learn the lessons after a highly critical report, carried out by Worcestershire Internal Audit, which focused on how significantly more material than had been allowed in planning permission, came to be brought onto the site.
In 2012, Labour produced a minority scrutiny report that said alarm bells were ringing but the authority was "deaf and blind to what was happening".
Last month the Advertiser reported that the owner of the site had been told to add a 300mm layer of restoration soils, then recontouring the finished surface which will then need to be seeded to grass.
Now the leader of the opposition Labour group, Councillor Luke Mallett, has called for the enquiry as the authority, he says, is preparing to tell residents: "that they will be forced to allow the company that overtipped in the first place, to bring thousands more lorry loads of soil onto the site."
A motion calling for the inquiry is be heard at the next full meeting of Bromsgrove District Council, being held on Wednesday, February 19.
It will follow a public meeting held at Lickey Parish Hall yesterday, (February 10).
Coun Mallett said: "This is an absolute travesty for the local community.
"The council has failed in its fundamental duties to local taxpayers and spent tens of thousands of pounds as a result.
"The Conservative leadership of the council and the senior officers responsible for this mess are clearly not capable of carrying out an impartial investigation into what has happened on their watch.
"The problems at the Marlbrook tip are not going to go away and we urgently need a full independent enquiry to establish responsibilities, in order that local people can have any confidence in their council leadership."
A Bromsgrove District Council spokesman said: "The Environment Agency has been involved in this for many years and have attended previous public meetings.
"They were also present at the public meeting along with the council's head of planning and principal solicitor to discuss again the concerns and issues around the site."


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Two New Posters For Ang Lee's Life Of Pi
Giant floating tiger's head, anyone?
Fans of Empire's poster analysis features will be well aware of the 'floating head' trope, but the latest two posters for Ang Lee's Life Of Pi go one better with not a human floating head... but a tiger's.
As anyone who's read Yann Martel's much-loved fantasy adventure will tell you, the name of said tiger is Richard Parker (so-called after a character in Edgar Allan Poe's 1838 nautical novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket) and he can talk. Rather eloquently, in fact.
Following on from the trailer released back at the end of July, the posters feel like a still shot from Lee's imagination let loose, all perfect sunsets and piercing eyes.
What's more, as well as a floating head, you also get a floating boat - which makes more sense, considering the film sees the lead, Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel (newcomer Suraj Sharma), forced to take 227-day journey in a lifeboat when his ship sinks in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It's a journey he shares with his feline friend... and some other characters besides.
For more details on Life Of Pi, be sure to pick up the latest issue of Empire, out on Thursday, August 30. L**ife Of Pi** itself is out in the UK on September 21.


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Christina Aguilera: 10 Best And Worst Looks
The star of 'Burlesque' isn't afraid to experiment with style.
-PJ Gach
Christina looks absolutely slinky in this still from Burlesque! The singer/actress/perfumer/designer's muse (Versace to just name one) has come a long way from her start with the Mickey Mouse Club.
Read Lucky 13 Black Friday Beauty Deals!
In honor of her new movie, let's take a look at her 10 best and worst looks.


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Welcome to the FT View From the Top 'Future of Finance' conference in New York. We will have live updates throughout the day from speeches and discussions featuring Larry Summers, Gerald Corrigan, George Soros, Joseph Stiglitz, Mohamed El-Erian and Robert Rubin. Posts will roll from the bottom up and all times are Eastern Standard.
The sixth session of the day is a keynote debate focusing on "The outlook for the world economy" with Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive of PIMCO, and Robert Rubin, co-chairman of the council on foreign relations. The debate is moderated by Martin Wolf.
5:00pm – Mr Wolf is making his concluding remarks, so that will conclude this blog. Thanks for following along.
4:58pm – Looking at the double-edged sword of the US savings rate, Mr Rubin calls a low savings rate a "deeply embedded cultural phenomenon" and says that unless the financial crisis had a deep and long-lasting impact on the culture of the US it will fall back to its historically low level.
4:53pm – Mr Rubin suggests it is in China's interests to revalue its currency while its economy is doing so well because it will be best able to absorb any unintended shocks to its economy. Read more


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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 7/11/2012 (1750 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My parents, married for 28 years, are going through a nasty separation. My mother decided that she finally had enough of my dad's pulling away and closing himself off from the family, so she packed her bags and left my 17-year-old sister and my father. My mom accused my father of cheating on her at some point during their marriage, though there is no evidence. My mother just informed me of this since she moved out, and also told me that she's been seeing another man. They have a physical relationship. All of this happened a week after she moved. She states that she doesn't believe in her heart she's married to my father anymore, so therefore she isn't having an affair. Is this just a way to justify adultery? I don't know how I should respond, as I love her, but I love my father as well. He is hurt by her leaving. He doesn't know she's seeing anyone else, and my mother is planning on suing Dad for alimony since "he did this to them." I'm caught in the middle. I'm the eldest, married, and moved away. Is there anything I can do, or tell my mother? -- Caught in the Middle, Outside Winnipeg
Dear Caught: Adult children of any age should not be keeping secrets like this. If your mother really didn't want you to tell your father, she would have kept silent. At some level she wants him to know, so don't disappoint. Your dad needs to know the whole truth of his situation so he can make decision to get on with his life, his healing, his new path and his legal situation. You can bet your mom didn't just find this guy she's seeing one week after she left the marriage. But in this modern world, seeing another person once you have moved out is not considered infidelity unless the couple is living in two residences and dating each other exclusively, with a view to reconciliation. You need a counsellor, even though you're not in Winnipeg anymore -- an adult outside the situation to help you sort and process your upset feelings. Your sister needs help, too. Tell your dad to help her get that, but ask her first. If you find she wants to go secretly and alone, tell her Klinic's free walk-in counselling is open six days a week. She should phone 204-784-4067 for times and locations.
Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I'm sad to find out my wife will not let me come out of the closet about my cross-dressing to our first child and those to come. It has been a part of my life since I was in my teens. She married me, knowing that I would be doing this fairly regularly and now she has stated: "No child of mine is going to see her father in a dress." (We have a little girl now). I said, "Well what happens to the other part of my identity?" She said, "You can go out somewhere and dress up, but you have to get your clothes and wigs and shoes out of here." I don't know what to do. I am at a total loss. I love her and our baby girl. Why didn't she tell me before we had any children? -- Totally Crushed, Winnipeg
Dear Crushed: She probably didn't know how protective (and conservative) moms become when a child is born. No one has experience with this until it happens. It's understandable that your wife doesn't want your child to experience anything she perceives might be harmful. One might argue the little girl is so small now, you could cross-dress after she's asleep, and who would be the wiser? But kids wander at night. Your wife may worry your innocent child might mention it at school and get teased and bullied. Is it too much to ask that you get very discreet about this and hide it from the child? Perhaps it is. Maybe you will need two residences close together in order for you to experience both identities as freely as you wish. Or, maybe your child would be OK with having two mommies some of the time, and a mom and a dad other times. But, would she pay for it in the cruel outside world?


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John Muir Wilderness > Mount Whitney > Climber's Log
Mount Whitney Climber's Log
[ Sign the Climber's Log ]
|Route Climbed: Mountianeer's Route Date Climbed: July, 1998
|Whitney was my first of many peaks in the spectacular Sierra. Myself and three others climbed the Mountaineer's Route on a summer trip. Since then I have returned to the Sierra every summer to backcountry trek and peakbag along the way.
|Posted Dec 22, 2004 8:23 am
|Route Climbed: Trail Date Climbed: August 1979
|Me too!
|Posted Dec 20, 2004 4:04 am
|Route Climbed: Whitney Portal, Whitney Trail Date Climbed: August, 1973
|Had a great trip with my friends after graduating from High School. We all made it to the top. Some stayed too long at the top and ended up hiking the last few miles in the dark on the way down. My kids today would not believe that their old dad made it to the top if I did not have the pictures to prove it.
|Posted Dec 9, 2004 9:58 pm
|Route Climbed: Whitney Trail Date Climbed: September 9, 2003
|First time, just drove up from SoCal and camped at the Portal the night before. We made good time and only got a little sick. Nothing in this world tastes better than one of Doug's cheeseburgers after a long day on the trail!
|Posted Dec 8, 2004 6:29 pm
|Route Climbed: main route Date Climbed: feb 2001
|six very cold days but made the summit and had a great time.
|Posted Dec 1, 2004 9:17 pm
|Route Climbed: Whitney Portal, Mountaineers Route. Date Climbed: August 21, 2000
|What an awesome experience. We came in from Whitney portal, and during our first summit attempt my Dad came down with a pretty advanced case of HAPE, which was really horrifying. I was only 18 at the time, but the thought of your dad dying on the mountain, right in front of you is pretty motivating. We sent our 3rd party member ahead to get help while I acted as surrogate legs for dad. We all made it out OK. I'm glad it was August.
|Posted Nov 30, 2004 8:29 pm
|Route Climbed: Normal Date Climbed: June 6th, 2003
|First hike ever. Done it a few times since, and in all seasons.
|Posted Nov 10, 2004 3:59 pm
|Steve Larson
|Route Climbed: East Buttress Date Climbed: October 4, 2003
|Great weather, awesome climbing, and stunning views all day long. Who could ask for more? Okay, well maybe an escalator back down to the portal (never let it be said that wouldn't opt for the easy way down...). My partner didn't tell me this before the climb, but apparently he had been dreaming of an east face route for years. He had walked up the trail, noticed climbers popping up from the east, peered over the edge, and said, "Wow!" That was the start of his climbing career.
|Posted Nov 5, 2004 9:23 pm
|Route Climbed: Main Whitney Trail Date Climbed: 29 May, 2004
|This was a killer day. We decided to try to hike Mt. Whitney in one day this time. There was a lot of snow after the Trail Camp, it was very hard. The weather was perfect, we just didn't have enough energy (after sleeping only for 3hrs). Two guys from our group made it to the summit at 7PM, which was very very late and the conditions coming back were icy, windy and dangerous. They made it back to Portal safely, but extremely exhausted. I descended by myself after 5PM, so I was toasty in my sleeping bag, but made some fresh brew for the brave ones as they came back . Very good trip with lots of memories.
|Posted Nov 3, 2004 7:01 pm
|Route Climbed: Whitney Trail Date Climbed: 1962, 1988, 1992, 1996,
|Most memorable climb was with my sister when we hiked with an approaching summer storm. We had a sleepless night at Outpost Camp with the wind howling. The next day we bucked the wind and summited just in time, but it snowed going down and turned to rain at Mirror Lake. What an adventure and challenge fighting the weather. The other three summer hikes were pleasant.
|Posted Oct 30, 2004 9:32 am
|Route Climbed: Mountaineer's Route Date Climbed: October 24, 2004
|climbed with akullar. ~ Left on Friday morning at 8:45 AM; after walking through 3-4 feet of fresh powder snow, reached Upper Boy Scout Lake at around 5:45 PM and camped; left Saturday morning after getting up at 6:45 AM for Whitney, it was very cold, winds above 30 MPH, and ~300 feet visibility; reached base of Whitney and continued up route with 4-6 feet of snow to summit which took 5:30. Camped 10 feet below the summit Saturday night and then summitted first think Sunday morning after being totally worn out; walked down the walk-up route. good climb
|Posted Oct 26, 2004 7:29 pm
|Route Climbed: Mountaineers Route Date Climbed: September 2001
|We camped at Iceberg Lake and summited on a Saturday. Was a beautiful blue skied day. Developed a loathing for chutes on this trip, not only because the chute up from Iceberg is a nigtmare, but due to a 4-5ft. diameter boulder that came careening past us as we ducked to the side.
|Posted Oct 15, 2004 12:04 pm
|Route Climbed: standard Date Climbed: jul 2002
|Overnight schedule. I carried only light bivy gear for the sleep over at high camp.
|Posted Oct 12, 2004 10:45 pm
|Route Climbed: standard Date Climbed: sep 1998
|Great time. 13 hour round trip.
|Posted Oct 12, 2004 10:44 pm
|Route Climbed: East Face Date Climbed: October 9, 2004
|Climbed with Bill - beautiful route, just a little trouble route finding (we did the Fresh Air without knowing it). Somehow we skipped the class 3 to the summit, veered too much to the right (I think) but the benefit is that you top out directly on the summit...
|Posted Oct 11, 2004 10:59 pm
|Michael Crofford
|Route Climbed: Walk-Up Date Climbed: August, 16 2002
|A long long long walk. Started at 12am when our permits became valid. But well worth it. I encourage everybody to start at night...you'll get a good start and hiking at night is truly underrated.
|Posted Oct 7, 2004 12:18 pm
|Route Climbed: Main Trail from Whitney Portal Date Climbed: 9/30/2004
|My husband and I are 62 and 65. We climbed Whitney as a 3 day backpack trip. We were the last people to summit in September. We summited at 3:30 p.m. in a snowstorm. We were the only ones on the peak and saw no one on our trip back to Trail Camp. There was about 4 inches of snow on the trail all the way back to Trail Crest. While we missed the summit veiws because of the weather, it was a fantastic experienceto be on top. The day after we made the summit we woke up to 6 degree temperatures at Trail Camp. On our trip we saw many people who were much younger than us who turned around. Most of them were totally unprepared for the cold weather.
|Posted Oct 6, 2004 10:56 am
|Route Climbed: Main Whitney Trail Date Climbed: June 13, 2003
|Set out at rush hour (4am) to dayhike Whitney. I was not aware at the time of the madness of this, especially considering the fact that I was about 15 pounds overweight at the time. This is an amazing climb, and however many trip reports and photos you see, nothing compares with being there, especially in the silent, cobweb hours before sunrise. After losing all 15 of those overweight pounds (it must have been water weight!)we turned around a few switchbacks before Trail Crest, a mix of my bad knee, my brother's growing altitude sickness, and our being badly out-of-shape at the time. I would go there again in a heartbeat. In fact, it's easy to find myself fantasizing about being there. I did see much of the mountaineer's route this year on the way to Russell, but can't wait to go with our group next year on the Main Trail...(but probably won't try dayhiking!!)
|Posted Oct 3, 2004 9:45 pm
|Route Climbed: Whitney Trail Date Climbed: 01 Oct 04
|Two fourteeners down ... and a lot more to go.
|Posted Oct 3, 2004 12:37 pm
|Route Climbed: Mountaineer's Route Date Climbed: Sept 20, 2004
|Descended via the trail. Up in 6 hours from Portal.
|Posted Oct 2, 2004 11:15 pm


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You won't be able to dismiss this by usual means (escape or click button), but you can close it programatically based on user choices or actions.
"The invitation turned out prettier than I imagined. The text and colors were amazing. The gold shimmer envelopes were the perfect touch - high quality/rich looking."
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A ten-year-old Addingham girl is celebrating after returning from the Dwarf Sports Association UK competition with a haul of medals.
Savannah Troughton-Webb, a pupil at Addingham Primary School, received a gold for athletics (throwing a cricket ball), and bronze for hockey, basketball and football. She also swam 25 metres, coming fourth in her heat, completing a full length of the pool without help for the first time.
The games, held in Birmingham, are organised by The Dwarf Sports Association UK, whose aim is to make sports accessible and fun for all people of restricted growth. The charity's patrons are famous British Paralympian swimmers Ellie Simmonds and Matthew Whorwood.
Savannah has a condition called Achondroplasia, which is one of the most common forms of short limb dwarfism and means she will grow to around four foot tall.
When she is doing sports at school she struggles to keep up with her peers, because she tires easily and suffers pain, which means she uses a wheelchair, but at the games she is competing on a level playing field.
Her late mum Louise Troughton-Webb, her grandma and granddad, all had the condition, and her late mum passed away from spinal stenosis aged just 27 in 2008.
Since then Savannah, and her brother Harvey, aged seven, have been brought up by their mum Michelle Troughton-Webb, who was in a relationship with Louise. Michelle also has an older daughter, Natalie, 23.
Michelle said: "Savannah started attending the games when she was just two, as her mum Louise had taken part. She absolutely loves competing with people at her own level. She has loads of friends and meets up with them every year and it is a chance for me to meet other parents, so it is a really lovely weekend.
"Ellie Simmonds stayed for the whole weekend. Louise had known Ellie since she was a little girl and I met Ellie in 2004 and the children really look up to her, and the other paralympians."
Savannah said: "My favourite sport is swimming because I like being in water and want to be a paralympic swimmer like Ellie Simmonds who I meet every year. It is really special because I get to meet other people with dwarfism and I meet lots of friends and make new friends.
"I think I am doing really well, especially in my swimming."
Savannah now plans to start training hard as she graduates to the throwing disciplines of javelin and discus.


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WINTER PARK, Fla.—Saint Leo senior relief pitcher Adam Albers (Valrico, Fla.) did not allow a single runner to reach base in two appearances. In a 5-3 regional win versus West Alabama, Albers struck out four batters over 1.2 innings and earned a save. He also picked up a save in 0.2 innings of a 2-1 Lions' win over UWA in the second half of the doubleheader. Saint Leo has won nine games in a row.
"Adam Albers had a very good weekend for us," Head Coach Sean O'Connor said. "He came into ballgames in tough situations and bailed us out. His role has been set to do that, and he stepped up and got it done."
For more than half a century, VALIC has served as a leading retirement plan provider for higher education, as well as for K-12 schools and school districts, healthcare, government and other not-for-profit institutions. VALIC has more than $65 billion in total assets under management and manages plans for nearly 25,000 groups serving nearly two million plan participants. VALIC represents The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company and its subsidiaries, VALIC Financial Advisors, Inc., and VALIC Retirement Services Company.
The Lions baseball team gets back in action next Tuesday when the team travels to Melbourne, Fla. to take on Florida Tech in a regional contest.


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WASHINGTON Paula Deen needs to give the self-pity a rest. The damage to her carefully built image is self-inflicted nobody threw a rock and her desperate search for approval and vindication is just making things worse.
Sorry to be so harsh, but come on. Deen is tough and savvy enough to have built a culinary empire from scratch, in the process becoming the most famous Southern cook in creation. She incarnates the whole "steel magnolia" archetype, with razor-sharp toughness beneath the flutter and the filigree.
"I is what I is," she said in her weepy exculpation on the "Today" show.


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'Two-headed monster' leads Bentworth to section title
Talented and senior-laden heading into the season, the Bentworth boys soccer team had some high expectations — if it could fill a couple of crucial holes.
Enter a slick sophomore — and a two-headed monster.
Nick Liermann is having one of the best statistical seasons for a goalkeeper in school history, and the dynamic scoring tandem of Nick McCann and Cody Levine have erased any doubts the Bearcats had about offense.
The result has been a season to remember for Bentworth.
"We feel really good about the way things have gone," senior defender Jim Liermann said. "At the beginning of the season, everybody was doubting how well we were going to do. It's been great to show them all what's up."
What's up is the Bearcats' scoring — from 2.5 goals per game by last season's 10-8-1 team to 3.6 per contest this season.
What's down is the team's goals-against average — from 1.9 last year to 1.4 this season.
Considering Bentworth lost its top striker and goalkeeper from last season's playoff team to graduation, those figures have been a pleasant surprise.
"Even with all the senior starters, I had questions," coach Gary Amos said. "Our leading goal scorer the last few years (J.T. Paterini) was all-WPIAL and the section player of the year as a senior, so I was worried about scoring. And we also lost our goalkeeper, who was a four-year starter. So that was goalkeeping and scoring — both ends were concerns. We've been very happy with the kids who have filled in there."
The scoring slack has been picked up by seniors McCann and Levine, who have combined for more than 40 goals this season.
"They're our two-headed monster," Jim Liermann said.
McCann has already matched Paterini's production on his own with 25 goals.
"(Levine) and I have good chemistry," McCann said. "He just has a way of sending me the ball and setting me up, and I put them in the back of the net."
Nick Liermann, Jim's brother, has seven shutouts and has a chance to break the school record in that category.
"I'm really psyched about him," McCann said. "He's been great."
What has helped a young goalie is the bevy of experience in front of him. The Bearcats have four senior fullbacks — two of whom are team captains and multiple-year starters.
Chris Moyer is a co-captain who has been out for two weeks due to injury but figures to return in time for the playoffs. Chris Brandl and Jesse Martin are two other reliable senior starters at fullback, but it's three-year all-section performer Jim Liermann whom Amos calls "one of the best leaders I've had in my eight years here."
Other senior starters include midfielders Adam Bell and Ian Zaccone. Sophomore Joe Gaso and freshman Chad Gurdish also start in the midfield.
Bentworth (11-3, 10-0 Section 4-A) has clinched its second section championship. Two more wins this week would give it an undefeated season in section play.
This is the fourth consecutive season the Bearcats have made the playoffs — but they have yet to win a playoff game.
"We have some big goals this year, and that, for sure, is one of them," Jim Liermann said.
So, what are the other goals?
"WPIALs would be nice," Liermann said. "A WPIAL championship.
"We all think that's something that's possible and not out of our reach."
Chris Adamski is a freelance writer.


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Teacher resources and professional development across the curriculum
Teacher professional development and classroom resources across the curriculum
[Channel-talkcivics] Making Civics Real
From: Jim Malanowski <email@example.com>
Date: Wed Aug 15 2007 - 16:33:52 EDT
I'd be glad to talk with you, but I don't know how "regular" I'll be.
Jim Malanowski
In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but
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A founding member and past president of a local Lions Club, and a hardworking community volunteer, has died at the age of 79.
Tony Ackroyd, described as a true gentleman who will be sorely missed, died on March 5 with his family at his side.
Born on St James's Road, Ilkley, in 1934, Mr Ackroyd is known to many in the area as a founder member of Wharfedale/Ilkley Moor Lions Club.
He was president of the Lions in 1971, 1996 and 2004 to 2006. The Lions club, which disbanded in 2010, held many community fundraising events within Ilkley, including the annual bonfire and fireworks displays and the May Day duck races.
Mr Ackroyd could also be found manning 'Bat the Rat' stalls at various local charity fairs up and down the Wharfe and Aire valleys.
All the money raised was used for both local and worldwide charities. One of Mr Ackroyd's favourite cases was the ever-popular Lions Christmas party for elderly people, where he could see first-hand the enjoyment their work gave to others.
He also led a local Spanish language group for Ilkley U3A, and was an avid volunteer for Ilkley Literature Festivals, Ilkley Playhouse and the Ilkley Talking Newspaper.
Following his death, his family has received many notes of condolence from the Ilkley community.