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Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed, potshots taken, or scientific views articulated are mine, and need not represent the opinions, potshots, or scientific views of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, or the Federal Reserve System.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Fiscal Policy: Addendum to "Christina Romer..."
4 comments:
I think the problem is just one: Keynesian solutions are...good for people (you know, fiscal stymulus = more jobs blablabla)...good for people so good for elections....so if you wanna be popular, you have to be Keynesian -.-" that's all...ReplyDelete
Have you heard anyone say "there is no free lunch?"ReplyDelete
- AnonymousOctober 25, 2010 at 2:59 PM
Alesina and Drazen had a paper about 20 years ago, called "Why Are Fiscal Stabilizations Delayed"? Roughly, the nature of political institutions is a key determinant in their model. So Britain, with its relatively unified parliamentary system and first-past-the-post elections can act more like a social welfare maximizer. But the US with its more fragmented system and gridlock cannot agree how to share the pain of fiscal stabilization.ReplyDelete
Also, countries with greater fragmentation are more likely to resort to inflation tax.
Yes, Canada did a major fiscal reform in the 1990s with a majority government, which is certainly consistent with that.


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'Tis the season to announce the winners of our first Holiday Fan Art Calendar Contest!After receiving many creative and inspired submissions from around the world, we've chosen the very best of the best works of art that captured the spirit of Azeroth's various and sundry seasonal events. Congrats to our grand-prize winner, Sumeet Lall, and to our eleven runners-up. Sumeet will receive a Wacom Cintiq 12WX pen input tablet, and all of the winners' artwork will be featured in the 2011 World of Warcraft Daily Calendar.
"Hallow's Eve"
Sumeet Lall - Leicester, United Kingdom
"The Headless (Sore Loser) Horseman has lost another pumpkin carving contest and, with the help of some funky graveyard magic, is raising minions to carry out his revenge..."
Honorable Mention
"Hallow's End"
Chiara - Sunny Isles, Florida
"Lunar Festival"
Kelly Aarons - Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
"My two comic characters, Cadistra and Kissless, getting an 'Omen-ious' feeling during the Lunar Festival."
"Pirate's Day"
Alice Columbia - Brooklyn, NY
"Duke Falrevere of the Bloodsail Buccaneers and Dread Captain DeMeza's crew join forces to make every day in Booty Bay Pirate's Day."
"Midsummer Fire Festival"
Rob Carlos - Auburn, WA
"Horde characters dancing during the Fire Festival"
"Midsummer Fire Festival"
Christina Marie Yen - Rancho Palos Verdes, California
"Ragnaros exalts the festivities with a barbequed Gigantic Feast! Battle rouge elemental spirits blazon in a energizing dance upon his sizzling grill. Toasting Fresh Smorc's upon Ragnaros fire are welcome, but keep safe distance to reduce chance of taking burn damage. Ahune tries to steal the spotlight to this occasion! He commemorates by bringing his grand Ice Chest full of alluring frosty loots, which are generously Ice Stone cold. Frozen drinks of the Lord of Frost's Private Label are available until limited time, or until the Ice Stone has melted. Flame and Frost decorate the atmosphere as visitors enjoy the various festivities on the beach, from fire walking, torch throwing, blazing pole break-dancing, to huge snowball tossing, fiery horseshoe tossing, and flaming kite flying! Festive clothing, foods, toys, and Scorched stones are available for purchase with Burning Blossoms as well. "
Dubuis Marianne - Ixelles, Belgium
Dwarfs don't like bath? Of course they like it!
"Hallow's Eve"
Samuel Deats - Austin, TX
"Hallow's End"
moolcup - South Korea
"The Day of the Dead"
Francisco Javier Mendez Escobar - Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico
"Lady in the lake"
Wang, Tsai-Pin
Chiu, Fan-Yun

subset: commoncrawl


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Wearable computing might be tech's latest buzzword today, but implants are next. At the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) companies from a wide range of sectors showcased the latest and greatest wearable gadgets; everything from advanced baby monitoring systems to high-tech mood ring-esque clothing. Intel evenn announced a competition offered up $1.4 million in prize money to developers that bring them the best wearable tech. So, in the typical Silicon Valley fashion of hype-heavy proclamations, the future of tech has officially been announced: Wearable technology shall be the future.
|Rich Lee will be discussing "The Weird World of DIY Implants" at MD&M West, Feb. 11.
|An ear implant designed to augment sensoy input


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Over the past several years, we have been designing and developing our systems in preparation of getting them up "into the cloud". Whether this means Microsoft, Amazon, or whomever was unimportant as the architecture needed to allow for high-availability and load-balanced deployments of our systems – the cloud-specific issues could be figured out later. About 1 1/2 years ago, we deployed some minor systems to Azure and consumed some of their services (most importantly queueing and blob storage). Over the past month and a half, we've been making changes specific to Azure. And last weekend, a co-worker of mine (who I can't express enough gratitude towards) and I spent a grueling 72 hours beginning Friday morning migrating all of our databases and systems to Azure. We learned a lot through our various successes and failures during this migration, and in the time leading up to it.
For our system, we have a single set of internal WCF services hitting the database and half a dozen internal applications hitting those internal services. One of those internal applications is a set of externally-accessible WCF services, and on our customers' behalf, we have some custom applications consuming those "public" services. Technologies/systems that we employ include the following:
- SQL Server (50GB database where 23GB exists in a single table)
- SQL Server Reporting Services
- SQL Server Analysis Services
- SQL Server Integration Services
- .NET 4.0/MVC 2.0/Visual Studio 2010
- Claims-Based Authentication (via ADFS)
- Active Directory
- Probably some more that I'm forgetting. If they're important, I'll add them back here.
By the end of the weekend, we had successfully migrated all critical systems to Azure (that we planned to) and only a couple non-critical apps still needed migration. We (temporarily) pulled the plug on one of our non-critical applications, in part due to migration difficulties and in part due to a pre-existing bug that needs fixed in it ASAP, so we decided to just tackle both at once the following week after getting some sleep. I can't say the migration went without a hitch. While we had some unexpected major victories on some high-risk areas, we also had some unexpected major problems in some low-risk areas.
I'll go over some specific experiences in some follow-up posts, but here were some major key points we took away from this experience that might help others. Some of these we knew about in advance and were prepared to deal with them. Others caught us by surprise and caused problems for our migration
- If you have a large database (anything more than 5GB), do a LOT of testing before you start migration! Backups, dropping/recreating indexes on large tables, etc! For instance, we have one table that we can't drop and recreate an index on and the default ways to create backups take 8-10 hours for our database!
- When migrating your database to Azure, don't do it with your "base system" being locally. Upload a .bak backup file to Azure blob storage using a tool like Cerabata's Cloud Storage Studio (which allows you to upload in small chunks to easily recover from errors and improve bandwidth speeds) and create a medium-sized Azure Virtual Machine with a SQL Server Evaluation image, and base all of your data migration work from there. You'll save so much time doing it this way unless you get everything working perfectly your very first try (unlikely). Otherwise, for just a couple bucks (it literally cost us ~$2 for the entire weekend's worth of VMs we used), it's totally worth it!
- AUTOMATION!! Automation, automation, AUTOMATION! You do the same thing over and over and over so many times, really, have a solid build server with automated build scripts for doing this! Do NOT use Visual Studio or any manual process! The ROI on investing in a build server will pay off before your 5th deployment, most likely, regardless of how complex or simple your system is!
- No heaps! You must have a primary key/clustered index on every single table. No exceptions! Period! Exclamation mark!
- Getting Data Sync up and running is a major pain in the ass! Azure's Data Sync has stricter limitations than SQL Server's Data Sync (for instance, computed columns don't play nicely at all in Azure but SQL Server has no problem with them). There are just enough nuances and so much time that it takes to find them that this you can spend quite a bit of time just figuring this out. And then figuring how to automate these nuances is yet another topic of discussion since the tools are so poor right now.
- Use the SQL Database Migration Wizard to migrate your data from your "base system" to an Azure database. But be gentle with it, it likes to crash and that's painful when it happens 3 hours into the process! Also, realize that it turns nullable booleans with a NULL value into FALSE and doesn't play nicely with some special characters, so be prepared to deal with these nuances!
- Red Gate SQL Compare and SQL Data Compare are GREAT tools to help you make sure your database is properly migrated! SQL Data Compare fixes up the problems from the SQL Database Migration Wizard very nicely and SQL Compare gives you reassurance that indexes, foreign keys, etc. are all migrated nicely.
- As I said before, test test test with your database! For us, 8-10 hour database backups were unacceptable. Our current solution for this problem is to use Red Gate's Cloud Services Azure Backup service. With the non-transactionally-consistent backup option, we can get it to run in ~2 hours. Since we can have nightly maintenance windows, this works for us.
- Plan on migrating to MVC 3.0 if you want to run in Server 2012 instances.
- If you're changing opened endpoints in the Azure configuration (i.e. opening/closing holes in firewalls), you have to delete the entire deployment (not service) and deploy again. Deploying over an existing deployment won't work but also won't give you any errors. Several hours were wasted here!
- MiniProfiler is pretty awesome! But the awesomeness stops and becomes very confusing if you have more than 1 instance of anything! Perhaps there's a fix for this but we haven't yet found one.
- If you have more than just one production environment, it's very handy to have different subscriptions to help you keep things organized! Use one subscription for Dev/QA/etc, one for Production, one for Demo, one for that really big customer who wants their own dedicated servers, etc. Your business folks will also appreciate this as it breaks billing up into those same groups. Money people like that.
- Extra Small instances are dirt cheap and can be quite handy! But don't force things in there that won't fit. We found that, with our SOA, Extra Small instances were sufficient for everything except for two of our roles. Except for those two roles, we actually get much better performance with 7 (or fewer) Extra Small instances than 2 Small instances for a cheaper price (1 Small costs the same as 6 Extra Small).
In the next post, we'll go over the things that we did leading up to this migration to prepare for everything. From system architecture to avoiding SessionState like the plague and retry logic in our DAL, we'll cover the things that we did to help (or we thought would help) make this an easier migration. And I will also highlight the things we didn't do that I wish we had done!


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This part includes the two greenest regions of Madagascar : the SAVA region and the Antongil Bay.
Arriving in the SAVA region is like arriving on an island The Vohémar – Ambilobe road access, its only link with « the other side » of Madagascar is difficult, especially in the rainy season. Therefore, Air Madagascar's regular flights remain necessary to visit this beautiful region, rich in hotel infrastructure.
Nestling in the mouth of three rivers, Sambava also lies at the heart of the « Green Triangle », consisting of Vohémar in the North (150 kilometers away), Antalaha in the South (80 kilometers away) and Andapa in the West (110 kilometers away). Its name is associated with vanilla, but also with wide coconut tree plantations stretching over 4761 hectares on each side of the town along 60 kilometers on the coast. The Soavoanio Company created hybrid varieties for which the production delay for the first fruit is reduced by half, from 7 to 10 years originally. Sambava's beaches, among which that of Ampandrozonana, 3 kilometers South are beautiful; however, tourists come to the SAVA region mainly for ecotourism and agrotourism. Trekkers have the choice between the Bemarivo valleys, the Andohabe and Andamory, but most of all the Marojejy National Park.
Antalaha is a former fishermen's village; everyday, before crossing the reefs, these fishermen would pray (mi-talaho). Antalaha became an attractive town and its main attractions are the dhow-building yards and its semi-precious stones cutting workshops. The weather station provides a panoramic view of Antalaha. Trekkers can devote as much as their tile to their favorite sport in the steep-sided valleys of the Ankavanana river. The Antalaha-Cap Est trip is 40 kilometers long and takes 3 hours by taxi-brousse. The road is dotted with small traditional hostels for trekkers' convenience. The 3 to 5-day hike from Antalaha to Maroantsetra should be considered only by the fittest!
Established in the 10th or 11th century by Arab immigrants, Vohémar was originally an ancient Islamic city as confirmed by archeological searches. Its main wealth is the zebu, which until recently was exported from there. 7 kilometers to the South, the Andranotsara is sacred, for it is believed that its crocodiles were the former inhabitants of the site. In Vohémar lies the whole region's hope for the rehabilitation of the road leading to Ambilobe. Such a road would at long last allow easy access to the touristic Great North, namely the Nosy Be – Diégo Suarez – Sava triangle, which could easily compete with the Deep South.
Andapa rests in a green basin bordered by Marojejy and Anjanaharibe. It constitutes the SAVA's granary and produces more than 70% of the region's rice. The hill of Anjiabe constitutes the best viewpoint over the rice plots' set up and the scale.. A nice mountain road linking Andapa and Sambava stretches over 110 kilometers; it elegantly winds between the forests of Marojejy and the Lokoho River.
- Anjanaharibe, located 40 South West of Andapa, is the northern geographic limit of the biggest Malagasy lemur, the Indri ; it also shelters species specific to the area. This nature reserve became famous thanks to the discovery of the Tahhtajania Perrieri plant in 1994. This flower plant already existed 120 million years ago.
Between Andapa and Sambava, the « Good Old Mountain" of Marojejy was qualified by a distinguished Professor at the Paris Museum, as the most majestic in Madagascar. With its 60000 hectares of forests and moorland, its park is the guardian of a mountain ecosystem which has remained unchanged for several millennia. Its fauna is spread out according to the altitude. In this grandiose décor, trekking itineraries start at 50 meters in altitude, to culminate in the clouds…
The event in the SAVA is the end of the vanilla production process: 7 to 8 months for the pod to come to full maturity, then 6 to 9 additional months and 5 fundamental stages (scalding, sterilizing, drying, refining, grading) before the final packaging. Then starts the big celebrations in the SAVA (vanilla supports the livelihood of 80000 growers in Madagascar!), especially if the world prices are favorable.
The Bay of Antongil suffers from remoteness and challenging access to . To get to the Region's Chef Lieu, Fénérive–Est some people took the habit of flying or dhow-sailing to Tamatave to come back up by road. Everybody is impatiently waiting for the rehabilitation of the 275 kilometers of national highway RN5 between Maroantsetra and Soanierana Ivongo via Mananara Nord. It has been started with art works. Air Madagascar flights remain necessary for the time being.
Nestled deep in the Antongil Bay, Maroantsetra and its 3500 millimeters of rain is one of the wettest towns in Madagascar. What first jumps to the visitor's eyes is the green color of the rice fields, the scent of vanilla and clove and the omnipresence of water. A local saying describes the natives of the region as follows: « Antimaroa tsy mandeha tsy an-dàkana » Antimaroa do not get around without a pirogue. No matter how wealthy, Maroantsetra is not willing to depend entirely on cash crops. The linchpin role of ecotourism in this sanctuary region is yet to be developed extensively. Turning isolation into an asset is neither a utopia nor a senseless idea.
Described as a real cathedral of life, the Masoala National Park stretches from the Ocean up to 1300 meters in altitude, over 240000 hectares, making it the largest national park in Madagascar. The fauna and flora are as diverse as they are atypical. Examples include the Vari lemur with its bright fur, the tomato frog, the red owl. Masoala's three marine parks, Tampolo, Ambodialitry and Ifaho are priviledged sites for kayaking and diving. Hikers will forever remember walking from East to West or all around the peninsula. As the park is deprived of accommodation infrastructure, bringing camping equipment is necessary.
Masoala has a distinguished ambassador in the « Ecosystem » section of the Zurich Zoo, as a natural replica of the Park has been established over 12000 square meters.
Nosy Mangabe island can be reached within 30 by boat, south of Maroantsetra. Thanks to its 520 hectares and its altitude varying between sea level and 332 meters, it constitutes a privileged place for nature trekking and fauna observation. To save it from extinction, the famous Aye aye was reintroduced on this island in 1967.
The Dutch used the island as a supply base in the 17th Century. Several writings engraved on the rocks of the "Dutch's Beach" prove such transits, which took place between 1600 and 1657. One of the writings describes the arrival of the Middelburg ship, on April 10th, 1625 into the Antongil Bay, after loosing its mast. Other messages end with « Hier leyt een Brief », indicating that letters to the attention of other ship crews or families have been buried near the rocks…
Mananara Nord is unquestionably, the Malagasy capital city of clove, for it contributes to 40% of national production. Tourism wise, "Nature here is one of the most beautiful on earth! » as asserts one French tourism operator who has extensively travelled. Giant lagoons create real natural swimming pools such as that of the Ambitsika peek, covering 8 square kilometers. Tourists can also devote their time to fishing, boat cruising from one island to another, as well as diving around Antafana, an island inhabited by sea birds and fruit bats. Hikes on the island are equally diverse and examples include Ivontaka Sud, a low altitude forest located some thirty kilometers South of Mananara. All these sites are located within the periphery of the Biosphere Nature Reserve, created in 1989 and stretching over 140000 hectares.
Individuals with a passion for sailing can enjoy a nice loop in the Antongil Bay, departing from Sainte Marie.
- Sail for 4 hours a day; the loop starts at Cap Masoala and the eastern coast of the Bay, overhung by high forested mountains abruptly sloping down into the sea.
- Stop over on the golden or Antalaviana beach and at the Tampolo marine park. This is where the Research Mission Radeaux des Cimes established itself for two months in 2001.
- Head for Nosy Mangabe and anchorage in a cove in the South West. Supply in Maroantsetra
- Sail down the more deforested West coast, and stop over on the Rantabe beach, formerly used by pirates.
- Final anchorage in Mananara, close to Seagulls Island, (Ile aux Mouettes) before discovering the beauties of Nosy Antafana
Antongil Bayis one of the most important whales breeding sites in the western part of the Indian Ocean. From July to September, humpback whales from Antarctica are the stars. They break the usual silence in the bay with their heavy breathing sounds, their tale hits, their fins on the surface of the water, their spectacular breachings or the males' calls. This is when the Whale Festival celebrates the event.
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James S.A. Corey's best-selling hit Leviathan Wakes earned Hugo and Locus Award nominations. In Caliban's War, the second chapter of Corey's Expanse series, a desperate Earth politician works tirelessly to prevent war from reigniting. Meanwhile, upheaval takes root on Venus and Ganymede. And amidst this tumult, James Holden and his crew on the Rocinante are charged with the impossible task of saving humanity from a terrifying fate.
©2012 Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (P)2012 Recorded Books
On Audible since the late 1990s, mostly science fiction, fantasy, history & science. I rarely review 1-2 star books that I can't get through
"No sophmore slump as both plot and writing improve"
Leviathan Wakes was a really solid example of modern hard SF space opera - Caliban's War is better. Corey (actually two authors, but they generally do a good job of writing as a team) pays attention to the nice hard SF details (ship acceleration, radiation exposure, transit times between Jovian moons, etc.), but the love is clearly for the opera part of space opera. The main set of characters are a winning team that excel at narrow escapes and being at the right place at the right time, while engaging in both banter and emotional asides. And, even though the book takes time to develop the emotional states of the characters, plot elements zip along, tension is ratcheted ever upward as chapters quickly switch from viewpoint to viewpoint (and maybe author to author).
The new main characters are less blue collar than the first book, but also more well-written and unexpected - this is the first SF novel I have read with a foulmouthed 72 year old Indian grandmother, let alone one where that foulmouthed grandmother is genuinely intimidating. Similarly, the writing has improved, with less awkward passages and some genuinely moving descriptions. Reading is very solid, with accents being handled without too much exaggeration.
If you liked the first novel, this is a no-brainer. If you like Peter Hamilton-style space opera, this is also a clear winner. There is a lot of questions still to answer in the final book, but I am clearly along for the ride.
Indiscriminate Reader
"Expanse series heads into the black"
In the second book in pseudonymous authorial duo James S.A. Corey's Expanse series, the Rocinante, captained by James Holden, takes on a much stronger Firefly vibe. Holden and his crew begin the book still working for the Outer Planets Alliance, hunting pirates. The alien protomolecule that crashed into Venus last book is still doing....something down there. And a giant Polynesian space marine encounters monsters on Ganymede.
After that, the book alternates between the viewpoints of Holden, angsty idealistic captain who has a knack for getting himself twisted over moral dilemmas where the usual answer is "Shoot the SOB," Bobbie, Martian marine who increasingly finds it hard to tell what side she's on, and is happiest when the solution is "Shoot the SOB," Avasarala, a foul-mouthed grandmotherly UN official who will convince you that politicians aren't always useless, and Prax, whose quest to rescue his daughter, abducted by Evil Scientists for Evil Science, humanizes the Rocinante's political/action space shoot'em-up quest.
Basically, you have a small group of people trying to chase clues and bad guys around the solar system to stop an all-out interplanetary war from breaking out over an alien biological superweapon.
I found Caliban's War to be better than the first book, as the scope is expanded somewhat (and clearly by the end, it's going to expand a lot more) and there isn't so much time spent with "vomit zombies" in space, though the alien horror does still seem to borrow a lot from Alien and other cinematic precursors.
It's not very hard science fiction — it's high adventure, bad marine chicks, alien monsters, space combat, and Firefly-esque banter. A fine series; I'm going straight into the third book.
Fantasy/Sci-Fi Fan
"Join the crew of the Rocinante for more adventure"
The duo of authors that are "James S. A. Corey" (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) continue their excellent space opera with Caliban's War, which picks up shortly after the events of Leviathan Wakes. The solar system is still a powder keg waiting to explode and James Holden & crew once again find themselves in the thick of it. Earth, Mars, and the Outer Planets still don't get along and the threat of the Protomolecule on Venus only divides the factions further.
Jefferson Mays does another excellent narration so if you listened to the first book then you will feel like you are back among old friends. Amos is as entertaining as ever, and some new favorites are introduced including Avasarala, a sharp-tongued earth politician, and Roberta Draper, a career Martian Soldier who finds herself unsure which side she is on in the brewing war. Although it takes a little while to come up to speed on the new characters it all comes together nicely before the end.
If you haven't listened to the first book then I would highly recommend you do so before starting on this one. This book is as good as the first and the ending will leave you eager to find out what happens next so it makes for an excellent middle book of a trilogy.
Geological engineer and unabashed science fiction nut.
"An improvement on the first book, more complex"
This book is worth the listen purely for Jefferson Mays' reading of Avisarila, the aging Indian politician grandma who curses like a sailor. Add in more starship battles, evil alien plots, political intrigue and the search for a little lost girl, and it's popcorn sci-fi at its best.
While the first book swapped perspectives between two key characters, this book covers four perspectives, more widely variant. The way the stories are woven together keeps the book moving along while more convincingly delving into the ethics and motivations of each character.
Also mad props to Corey for writing convincing, engaging female characters, something I've found sorely lacking in many other sci-fi authors like Alastair Reynolds or Orson Scott Card. Gone is the cheesy manic-pixie-dream-girl-in-his-head from the first book of the series, and in her place there's a gigantic kickass curvaceous Polynesian marine wearing mechanized body armor. Yes please!
I'm eager for the next installment!
Gen-Xer, software engineer, and lifelong avid reader. Soft spots for sci-fi, fantasy, and history, but I'll read anything good.
"Solid popcorn sci-fi"
I divide science fiction into two basic (but not totally separate) categories: books that are more about speculation and cerebral ideas, and books that are more about entertaining you. The Expanse series, of which this is the second entry, falls firmly into the latter camp. Don't look for writing that's much more than workmanlike or characters colored much outside the usual "type" lines, but it's a perfectly enjoyable get-through-the-commute series, with brisk action, well-imagined mechanisms/spaceships/stations, and some humor.
The setting is a middle-future in which humanity has spread out from an overpopulated/overtaxed Earth to colonies elsewhere in the solar system, with Mars being its own independent world. As in the first book, there's an alien virus/monster on the loose, sought as a weapon by some parties, but also having an unknown agenda programmed by the original creators millions of years ago. By itself, this would be a pretty rote idea, but the authors mix in enough space combat and political thriller elements to keep the story from becoming flat.
If you were a fan of that Leviathan Wakes, you'll probably enjoy this outing just as much. The authors add a few new characters, who are a touch more original than the old crew. There's Bobbie, the plus-sized female marine, who's tough without being too much of a caricature. And I had fun with the chapters devoted to Avisarala, the shrewd, foul-mouthed Indian grandmother who's the undersecretary of the UN (which seems to be the primary governing body of Earth now). Though I've played too many computer games to find the monsters interesting, the authors seem to have put some thought into the science aspects of the story. There's plenty of nuts-and-bolts stuff about acceleration, airlocks, moving around in low gravity, and so on. Jefferson Mays, the audiobook narrator, is a capable reader and does an especially good job with Avisarala (cover your kids' ears).
In sum: I liked it. I'll probably read the next book in the series.
"Avasarala: One of the best SF characters, ever!"
Avasarala is a marvelous character. Evey time she shows up, interest level soars.
Mays's characterization of Avasarala is one of the best performances available at Audible. (I've listened to many, and not just SF.) Understated, but powerful.
Thirty-something geek who loves sci fi and fantasy.
"The Expanse Expands!"
I read the first book in this series, "Leviathan Wakes," on Kindle so I was excited to hear an audio treatment of the second. The performance is solid, if unremarkable. Mr. Mays uses several accents for some of the characters, but does not fall into the trap of gross exaggeration the way many audio narrators often do. I'd say his best character is Avisarila, who is also my favorite character in the book.
But onto the parts that actually matter! This series, so far, has been a truly refreshing experience in sci fi for me. None of the concepts presented in The Expanse are mind-blowing for anyone who's read even a smattering of sci fi. As a disciple of Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter, and Alastair Reynolds, I love hard sci fi that relies on actual scientific concepts and their extrapolation, speculation, and application into a fictional world. However, these authors, and many others, can be a bit hard to get into and aren't necessarily the greatest storytellers or character-builders; this is a common complaint of the genre. Happily, The Expanse strikes a wonderful balance between these two ideas: you get to have your hard sci fi cake, and eat it too. These novels are crowd-pleasers, full of big setpieces and cinematic-style cliffhangers, red herrings and fake outs. Yet, they pay at least lip service to believable science. Things like g-forces and acceleration are major issues in space flight, as is radiation. Ships behave in a realistic fashion; battles are fought at great distances with sweating crew members watching the proceedings on computer screens. Accessible is the word I would use to sum up this series. Even a non-sci fi geek can find something to enjoy about them.
This book in particular is an improvement over Leviathan Wakes. In that book, we only had two "viewpoint" characters (Corey, who is in reality two men, one of whom is a student of George RR Martin's, uses a chapter structure very similar to his mentor's). In Caliban's War, we have four. This gives the story more breadth as well as depth. We see, for the first time, what Earth is like in this universe, where we had only had hints in the previous book. Hint: not that great. We also are brought along on a father's hopeless, desperate search for his missing daughter, as well as a battle-scarred marine's fight to regain her sense of herself. My favorite new character, as mentioned above, is the potty-mouthed, tea-drinking Indian grandmother Avisarila, who is a major "behind the scenes" player in the politics of Earth. Fantastic character, who completely subverts expectations. Finally there's Holden, the main character from the first book. Ironically, he is my least favorite character in the series, even though he is clearly intended to be the main protagonist. I find him to be bland, predictable, and cliched. Fortunately, he is surrounded by a crew of memorable outcasts that bring to mind characters out of Firefly.
The story raises the stakes set up in the first book, and we see a lot more of the political dealings going on in the solar system and how those in power are reacting to the protomolecule. The villains are still not terribly fleshed out, and are a little cliche, but there are enough loose ends left that you're not really sure of anything by the book's end. And speaking of endings, there's a bit of a surprise waiting for you there. To say anymore would spoil it, but you might see it coming if you read the first book closely. I was pleased, to say the least.
Overall, this is fantastically well-written sci fi. Not necessarily mold-breaking in terms of its originality but certainly original in how it presents many tired tropes in a breathless, always-moving-forward momentum that reads more like a movie than a book. All while giving us sci fi geeks the sciency goodness we crave. "Mr. Corey" studied from one of the modern masters of speculative fiction, George RR Martin, and The Grey Bearded Glacier's influence is all over these books. Happily, Corey seems to be able to actually finish what "he" sets out to do, so perhaps we'll see an end to this series in the near future. Hopefully that's a long way off, though, because right now, it's too good to stop.
"Suspenseful, funny, imaginative. Awesome."
While I loved the first novel in the series, it did have its slow bits. This, though, exceeded the first in every way. I couldn't put it down - it's fast paced yet suspenseful. I already loved the setting, and this book gives a lot more development to the inner planets. All the new major characters are great, but Jefferson Mays's performance of Avasarala blew me away - I found myself looking forward to her generally slower-moving chapters just for his performance of the foul-mouthed Indian grandmother/diplomat.
If you're insisting on treating it with more scrutiny than you would a thriller in any other genre, you'll notice a few contrivances - even noticing them, though, these aren't enough to have detracted from my enjoyment of the novel.
5 stars from me, and I'm eagerly awaiting the conclusion (though I'd be happy to see the series, or at least the setting, outlast a trilogy).
I prefer 3rd person point-of-view, and books with fewer than 500 pages.
"Better than TV series"
Excellent narration. Very good story, even though the protomolecule is sooooo amazing that it feels more like magic than science. In my opinion, the books are better than the Sci-Fy channel television series, even though we enjoy watching it. The characters are more likable and believable in the books. The television series takes liberties with James Holden and Naomi Nagata, in particular.
"Excellent follow-on to Leviathan Wakes"
Caliban's War is less a sequel; rather simply the next installment in Corey's Expanse series. Many "volume 2" entries suffer from a both a letdown in intensity relative to the 1st as well as too much time and effort devoted to explaining the science and philosophical orientation of the particular universe. Fortunately Caliban's War is not plagued with either. Corey has managed to up his game with a compelling and engaging 2nd act while adding depth and granularity to many of the recurring characters. In this installment, Ganymede, food production capacity for the Belters and Outer Planets becomes the source of an Earth / Mars shooting incident with evidence (that no one wants to believe) of an evolved proto-molecule. With open solar system wide warfare hanging in the balance, James Holden enters the fray and ends up searching for a kidnapped little girl with a genetic immune disorder. Along the way, a Martian marine Amazon and a potty mouth grandmother eventually join up with Holden to pound some sense into the rest of solar system.
In Leviathan Wakes, Corey told the tale from the viewpoints of Holden and Miller. This time around, there are more viewpoints, including a martian, a botanist, and UN official. Corey also provides more background on the main characters including Holden, Naomi, and Amos that is both revealing and adds depth to the characters. Geopolitics as well as governmental gamesmanship are prominent and well executed. All the while, Venus continues to threaten menacingly. At the very end, Corey gives a nod to 2001 that provides a clue as to the nature of the next installment.
The narration is excellent with a great range of voices, very much appreciated due to the expanded cast and personal viewpoints offered.
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Welcome to the ineedhits Search Engine Marketing blog, where we share the latest search engine and online marketing news, releases, industry trends and great DIY tips and advice.
Google Acquires Metaweb For Smarter Search Results
Google has acquired Metaweb (for an undisclosed amount) in an effort to improve its algorithm smarter. It's Metaweb's "freebase" that's at the core of this move. Watch this space to see how Google integrates Metawebs smarts.
Local Merchants Utilizing Social Media More as Confidence Remains Flat
New report out by Merchantcircle highlights that local merchants are turning …
Keep up to date with the latest from our blogs.


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V-Tann Side Effects
Generic Name: phenylephrine / pyrilamine
Note: This page contains side effects data for the generic drug phenylephrine / pyrilamine. It is possible that some of the dosage forms included below may not apply to the brand name V-Tann.
For the Consumer
Applies to phenylephrine / pyrilamine: suspension, tablets
Other dosage forms:
Check with your doctor if any of these most COMMON side effects persist or become bothersome:
Seek medical attention right away if any of these SEVERE side effects occur while taking phenylephrine / pyrilamine:
Constipation; diarrhea; dizziness; drowsiness; excitability; headache; loss of appetite; nausea; nervousness or anxiety; trouble sleeping; upset stomach; vomiting; weakness.
Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue); difficulty urinating or inability to urinate; fast or irregular heartbeat; hallucinations; seizures; severe dizziness, lightheadedness, or headache; tremor; vision changes.
For Healthcare Professionals
Applies to phenylephrine / pyrilamine: oral liquid, oral suspension, oral suspension extended release, oral tablet, oral tablet chewable, oral tablet chewable extended release
Cardiovascular side effects have included hypotension, hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias and palpitations.[Ref]
Dermatologic side effects have included urticaria, drug rash, photosensitivity and pruritus.[Ref]
Gastrointestinal side effects have included epigastric discomfort, anorexia, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation.[Ref]
Genitourinary side effects have included urinary frequency and difficult urination.[Ref]
Nervous system
Nervous system side effects have included drowsiness, sedation, disturbed coordination, tremor, irritability, insomnia, nervousness, convulsions, headache, euphoria, and dysphoria.[Ref]
Ocular side effects have included visual disturbances.[Ref]
Hematologic side effects have included hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and agranulocytosis.[Ref]
Respiratory side effects have included tightness of chest, wheezing, and shortness of breath.[Ref]
General side effects have included dryness of mucous membranes.[Ref]
1. "Product Information. Ryna-12 (phenylephrine-pyrilamine)." Wallace Laboratories, Cranbury, NJ.
It is possible that some side effects of V-Tann may not have been reported. These can be reported to the FDA here. Always consult a healthcare professional for medical advice.
More about V-Tann (phenylephrine / pyrilamine)
- Side Effects
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- Drug class: upper respiratory combinations
Consumer resources
Other brands: Deconsal CT, Poly Hist Forte (old formulation), Aldex D, K-Tan, More... (6)
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Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is accurate, up-to-date and complete, but no guarantee is made to that effect. In addition, the drug information contained herein may be time sensitive and should not be utilized as a reference resource beyond the date hereof. This material does not endorse drugs, diagnose patients, or recommend therapy. This information is a reference resource designed as supplement to, and not a substitute for, the expertise, skill , knowledge, and judgement of healthcare practitioners in patient care. The absence of a warning for a given drug or combination thereof in no way should be construed to indicate safety, effectiveness, or appropriateness for any given patient. Drugs.com does not assume any responsibility for any aspect of healthcare administered with the aid of materials provided. The information contained herein is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, warnings, drug interactions, allergic reactions, or adverse effects. If you have questions about the substances you are taking, check with your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist.


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A BLACKBURN high school which moved into a new state-of-the art building in September is considering becoming an academy.
School bosses at Witton Park High School, in Buncer Lane, met on Monday night to discuss the possibility of breaking free from Blackburn with Darwen control and becoming a publicly funded independent school.
Academies have more freedom than other state schools over their finances, the curriculum, and teachers' pay and conditions.
They are funded directly by central government, instead of receiving their funds via a local authority.
Witton Park headteacher Dean Logan said: "Many policies and agenda items are reviewed periodically as good practice, as part of this process governors review all aspects of the school. Status is part of that review.
"Governors have scheduled meetings throughout the school year. Monday night's governors' sub group is one that is focussed on staffing and curriculum matters.
"Staffing and curriculum issues are very important in planning for school improvement. Discussions on and around academy status are common place in schools and with Governors.
"Academies make up more than 50 per cent of secondary schools nationally and is one of the Governments key policies."
Coun David Hollings, chair of governors at the school, did not attended the meeting but said he was aware of the discussions. He said: "We always look at a wide range of things at the school. There are no decisions being taken but we are looking at all possibilities.
"The government is perpetually changing education policies and we have to discuss how all these changes may or may not affect us.
"Last night's meeting was the first of the new year in which the topic could have been discussed. It's in the very early stages of discussion."
Simon Jones, executive member for the NUT union slammed the idea.
He said: "The school has been rebuilt as part of the BSF scheme and now they are looking at doing their own thing.
"We are working with our school representatives and teacher members. The members are very worried because they have seen the problems other members are having in academies in relation to pay and working conditions."


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Intimacy Issues
Stephanie Seymour landed her first U.S. ELLE cover in March 1992. Three months later, she appeared alongside then boyfriend Axl Rose in Guns N' Roses' iconic "November Rain" music video wearing a mini-crini wedding dress—establishing herself as the proto-rockbabe of her generation. Two decades, one impassioned marriage (to publishing magnate Peter Brant), and four children on, Seymour, at 43, has racked up literally hundreds of pages of fashion shoots in ELLE around the world. From the looks of things, she can still work a sheer, skintight bodysuit. Supermodel, indeed. —Seth Plattner
Shearling and wool cape, DKNY, $2,400, at select DKNY locations nationwide. Point d'esprit body stocking, Ruffian, $995. Nylon-blend swimsuit, OMO Norma Kamali, $185. Cashmere briefs, Louis Vuitton, price on request. Silk jacquard booties, Oscar de la Renta, $995.
Beauty Secret: For the look of wet hair without the drip, apply a quarter-size amount of Davines No. 1 Finest Oil Non Oil For Wizards to strands before combing through Bumble and bumble Bb.Gel.
Leather jacket, BLK DNM, $700, visit blkdnm.com. Silk blouse with gold zipper detail, Escada, $795. Silk-blend tank top, Kain Label, $85.
ELLE & The Coveteur: Liberty Ross


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Stereotactic Radiation Therapy With or Without Whole-Brain Radiation Therapy in Treating Patients With Brain Metastases
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
RATIONALE: Stereotactic radiation therapy can send x-rays directly to the tumor and cause less damage to normal tissue. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells. It is not yet known whether stereotactic radiation therapy is more effective with or without whole-brain radiation therapy in treating patients with brain metastases.
PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying stereotactic radiation therapy and whole-brain radiation therapy to see how well they work compared with stereotactic radiation therapy alone in treating patients with brain metastases.
|Breast Cancer Cognitive/Functional Effects Lung Cancer Metastatic Cancer Prostate Cancer
|Radiation: radiation therapy Radiation: stereotactic radiosurgery
|Phase 3
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose: Treatment
|Official Title:
|Phase III Randomized Trial of the Role of Whole Brain Radiation Therapy in Addition to Radiosurgery in Patients With One to Three Cerebral Metastases
- Neurocognitive progression [ Time Frame: 3 months post radiosurgery ]
- Time to CNS failure [ Time Frame: Up to 5 years ]
- Quality of life, assessed by FACT-BR questionnaire, physician assessed neurological signs and symptoms, and treatment-related adverse events [ Time Frame: Up to 5 years ]
- Neurocognitive status [ Time Frame: Up to 5 years ]
- Overall survival [ Time Frame: Up to 5 years ]
|Estimated Enrollment:
|Study Start Date:
|July 2006
|Primary Completion Date:
|October 2014 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
|Assigned Interventions
Active Comparator: Arm I
Patients undergo stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS)
|Radiation: stereotactic radiosurgery
Experimental: Arm II
Patients undergo SRS as in arm I. Within 14 days, patients then undergo whole-brain radiotherapy 5 days a week for 2.5 weeks.
Radiation: radiation therapy
Patients undergo radiation therapy 5 days a week for 2.5 weeksRadiation: stereotactic radiosurgery
Detailed Description:
- Compare the overall survival of patients with 1 to 3 cerebral metastases treated with stereotactic radiosurgery with vs without whole-brain radiotherapy.
- Compare time to CNS (brain) failure in patients treated with these regimens.
- Compare quality of life, duration of functional independence, and long-term neurocognitive status of patients treated with these regimens.
- Compare post-treatment toxicity in these patients.
OUTLINE: This is a randomized, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to age (18 to 59 vs 60 and over), extracranial disease (controlled for ≤ 3 months vs controlled for > 3 months), and number of brain metastases (1 vs 2 vs 3). Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.
- Arm I: Patients undergo stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS).
- Arm II: Patients undergo SRS as in arm I. Within 14 days, patients then undergo whole-brain radiotherapy 5 days a week for 2.5 weeks.
Quality of life, functional independence, and neurocognitive status are assessed at baseline, at the beginning of each treatment, at weeks 6 and 12, and then at 6, 9, 12, 16, 24 , 36, 48, and 60 months.
PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 238 patients will be accrued for this protocol.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Senior)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Diagnosis of cerebral metastases meeting the following criteria:
- One to three presumed brain metastases
Metastases must be from a histologically confirmed extracerebral site (e.g., lung, breast, prostate)
- Histologic confirmation may have been from the primary tumor site, from another metastatic site (e.g., osseous metastasis, adrenal metastasis), or from the metastatic brain lesion(s)
- Each lesion must measure less than 3.0 cm by contrast MRI of the brain performed within the past 21 days
- Lesions must not be within 5 mm of the optic chiasm or within the brainstem
- Eligibility for treatment with gamma knife or linear accelerator-based radiosurgery confirmed by a radiation oncologist
- No primary germ cell tumor, small cell carcinoma, or lymphoma
- No leptomeningeal metastases
- Hormone receptor status not specified
- Male or female
- Menopausal status not specified
- ECOG performance status 0-2
- Not pregnant
- Negative pregnancy test
Fertile patients must use effective contraception
- Male patients must continue to use contraception for 3 months after the completion of radiotherapy
- No pacemaker or other MRI-incompatible metal in the body
- No known allergy to gadolinium
- More than 7 days since prior and no concurrent chemotherapy
- No prior cranial radiotherapy
- No prior resection of cerebral metastases
- Concurrent hormonal agents, steroids, and/or anticonvulsants allowed
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00377156
Show 65 Study Locations
|Study Chair:
|Paul D. Brown, MD
|Mayo Clinic
Publications automatically indexed to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number):
|Responsible Party:
|Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00377156 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
CDR0000499633 ( Registry Identifier: PDQ (Physician Data Query) )
NCI-2009-00653 ( Registry Identifier: CTRP (Clinical Trials Reporting System) )
|Study First Received:
|September 13, 2006
|Last Updated:
|August 11, 2016
Keywords provided by Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology:
cognitive/functional effects
tumors metastatic to brain
stage IV breast cancer
stage IV prostate cancer
stage IV non-small cell lung cancer
male breast cancer
recurrent breast cancer
recurrent prostate cancer
recurrent non-small cell lung cancer
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Breast Neoplasms
Lung Neoplasms
Prostatic Neoplasms
Neoplasm Metastasis
Neoplasms by Site
Breast Diseases
Skin Diseases
Respiratory Tract Neoplasms
Thoracic Neoplasms
Lung Diseases
Respiratory Tract Diseases
Genital Neoplasms, Male
Urogenital Neoplasms
Genital Diseases, Male
Prostatic Diseases
Neoplastic Processes
Pathologic Processes
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on August 18, 2017


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A MURDER investigation has been launched after a woman's body was found at her home in Adlington.
Police were called to the semi-detached house in Harrison Road just after 5pm yesterday after someone reported concerns about the safety of a woman.
They smashed a living room window to get into the house, where they found the body of the woman, aged in her 50s, and pronounced her dead at the scene.
A 54-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is in police custody.
Neighbours have spoken of their shock about the death of the woman, who is believed to have lived at the house with her husband.
Derek Scott, aged 39, who lived next door to the couple, said: "I thought it must be a murder investigation when I saw the police.
"I never heard them inside the house other than the doors shutting.
"They always seemed really nice to each other.
"They were always trying to argue with me and my brother, who I live with.
"The people who lived in my house before me left because of them."
He added: "I gave my dog, a cross breed whippet, away as he would taunt it through the window. The couple were elusive - I never saw them much."
- PICTURES: £500,000 revamp of town's 'jewel in the crown'
- 200+ friends, family and Wanderers legends turn out to remember 'Pud' who died from brain tumour
- Driver flees after car overturns 'while racing'
- SOLAR ECLIPSE: What time can I see the moon take a 'bite' out of the sun?
- Water main repairs completed - but work set to continue
He said the arrested man would spend hours cleaning his green Toyota Yaris car and the woman would tend to the garden.
People would often see him washing his car, several times a week, in his dressing gown.
Audra Ashton, aged 47, a resident of Harrison Road, said: "I saw an ambulance and two police cars and the window being smashed.
"It was horrible. He wasn't there when police broke in. Children on the road were playing and saw the body brought out.
"The couple did not associate with anybody.
"We had a party for the Royal Wedding and she wasn't allowed to come.
"She was a lovely woman but stopped talking to everybody.
"She took pride in her house and was always cleaning. I felt sorry for her."
Hazel Baxendale, of Oxford Road, Adlington, said: "My stomach is still turning about what's happened.
"People have been phoning me to ask me what has happened as I live on the road behind the house.
"You read about these things but you don't expect it to be on your doorstep. I have never known anything like this to happen in the area."
Nancy Price, aged 76, who lives opposite the suspected murder scene, said: "The man was always outside tinkering with his car in his dressing gown.
"I had only spoken to the woman once before she moved in. It's tragic."
Neighbours said they did not think the couple had children and believed they used to live in Coppull, near Chorley, before moving to Adlington about three years ago.
The man's car was not on the drive when police arrived. It is believed the couple were unemployed and lived in a housing association property.
Police said the investigation is "in the early stages".
A Home Office post mortem examination is due to be carried out today to establish the cause of the woman's death.


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Real World article
(written from a Production point of view)
(written from a Production point of view)
Len Wein (born 12 June 1948; age 69) is a well-known comic book author.
He worked for Marvel Comics for a number of years and is best known for being a co-creator of DC Comics Swamp Thing and helping revive X-Men for Marvel. He authored eight issues of the Gold Key Star Trek comics in 1971 and 1972:
- #9: "The Legacy of Lazarus"
- #10: "Sceptre of the Sun"
- #11: "The Brain Shockers"
- #12: "The Flight of the Buccaneer"
- #13: "Dark Traveler"
- #14: "The Enterprise Mutiny"
- #15: "Museum at the End of Time"
- #16: "Day of the Inquisitors"
These issues were reprinted in the second and third installments of Star Trek: The Enterprise Logs, in turn reprinted in the Star Trek: The Key Collection.


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Check Mate
Call Brenda Walsh and Kelly Taylor—the crop top is taking over the catwalks faster than you can yell "Donna Martin graduates!" But this isn't your Tiffany Theissen brand of belly baring: At Balenciaga and Miu Miu, skin was exposed in a tight strip that only showed the rib cage—no baby tees or belly jewels allowed.
If your parents never let you dress like Courtney Love in high school, there's still time thanks to Hedi Slimane. The new creative director of Saint Laurent Paris showed a provocative Fall 2013 collection where shredded black nylons, oversize cardigans, and iconic plaid flannels were de rigeur. (Besides being the apparent muse, Love is now the face of the collection's campaigns.) Grab your Manic Panic and get to work building "My So Called Wardrobe."
36 Reasons to Give Your Heels a Break


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Morocco has much to offer: modern cities, medieval mountain villages, green woods, scorching deserts, skiing and magnificent pearl-white beaches. Situated in the extreme north west of Africa, Morocco is very close to Europe. Spain and Morocco are separated by the Strait of Gibraltar, which is barely 12 kilometres wide. Morocco has a coastline of 2,500 kilometres on the Atlantic and 450 kilometres on the Mediterranean.
With its large bustling boulevards and tall white buildings, Casablanca is a symbol of modern Morocco that looks to the future.
Welcome to the city after which the Kingdom of Morocco was named. The beautiful and mysterious "red city", is the preferred leisure destination in Morocco.


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Originally written on Pro Boxing Fans | Last updated 11/13/14
LAS VEGAS - NOVEMBER 14: Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico looks on before taking on Manny Pacquiao during their WBO welterweight title fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on November 14, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
How Miguel Cotto can Defeat Floyd Mayweather "There's no blueprint on how to beat me." -Floyd Mayweather, Jr., on March 27, 2012 Developing a strategy for facing an undefeated fighter is both a blessing and curse. On the downside, footage does not exist over which to pour over and pick apart, looking frame by frame to find where he has stumbled in the past. A writer's job is made infinitely easier when actual analysis is possible. When you cover a guy who has yet to lose in his professional career—save for a round here or there—a great deal of supposition and hypothetical prognostication is required. On the upside, tens of thousands of dollars of legal training has provided me with the ability to do just that. Love or hate the man, Floyd Mayweather Jr. enters his May 5th bout with Miguel Cotto as the easy-money favorite to prevail and keep his oh-so-important blemish free record intact. Yet, when I sit back and think about it, it's hard to recall a time where an underdog, wi...
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Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's Keeper of Keys and Grounds, Rubeus Hagrid, is commonly known for owning dangerous pets. Hagrid has been a caretaker to the following animals:
Fang the Boarhound is introduced during Harry's first year at Hogwarts. Like Hagrid himself, Fang is not nearly as fierce as he looks. Fang has been referred to as a "coward."[1][2]
Fang accompanied Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and Draco Malfoy into the Forbidden Forest, along with Hagrid, during a detention in their first year.
Fang also accompanied Harry Potter and Ron Weasley in their second year, who were following Hagrid's words to "follow the spiders" to Aragog's lair.
In 1996, Fang was stunned by Ministry of Magic workers as he protected Hagrid from being abducted by Dolores Umbridge and her companions, including John Dawlish.
Fang was also trapped in Hagrid's burning cabin during the Death Eaters' assault on Hogwarts in 1997. After Hagrid went on the run, Fang went with him.
Before the Battle of Hogwarts started he was pushed through a window into the castle with Hagrid, then ran off when a nearby vase was blasted off its plinth. It is presently unknown if he survived.
A giant three-headed dog. Purchased from a "Greek chappie" in a pub, Hagrid lent Fluffy to Professor Dumbledore in 1991 to help protect the Philosopher's Stone. Hagrid reveals that Fluffy can be calmed and put to sleep by music, a reference to the mythical Greek story of Orpheus, a minstrel who married a nymph named Eurydice. When she died, Orpheus journeyed to the underworld, where he lulled the hell-hound Cerberus to sleep with his beautiful music in his quest to be reunited with his wife. It is this slip of the lip that allows Professor Quirrell, Harry, Hermione and Ron to all get past Fluffy and into the hall where the Philosopher's Stone is hidden. [1][2]
A Norwegian Ridgeback dragon. Hagrid won Norbert's egg from a hooded man (Professor Quirrell/Lord Voldemort) at the Hog's Head during a card game. As dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, Hagrid could not legally keep Norbert. Draco Malfoy spotted Norbert, and tattled on Hagrid, who was forced to send him to Romania.
Norwegian Ridgebacks breathe fire. Nesting mothers breathe on them to keep them warm, explaining why Hagrid kept the egg in a pot over the fireplace in his home, even in warm weather. A pet dragon such as this one, once it hatches, should be fed brandy mixed with chicken's blood.
After Norbert is taken into Charles Weasley's care, the dragon is mentioned only in passing. In 1997, Charlie reveals to Hagrid that Norbert is actually a female [3], and has been renamed "Norberta".
Flitterby MothsEdit
Hagrid once owned a flock of Flitterby Moths which escaped his garden and flew into the Training Grounds. Harry Potter was given the challenge by Rolanda Hooch to catch them.
An enormous talking Acromantula with a taste for human flesh. Aragog's egg came into Hagrid's possession when Hagrid was a student at Hogwarts, he bought it from a traveller. The spider hatched and was hidden at the school in a cupboard; he never saw any other part of the castle. [4] Hagrid was eventually forced to set Aragog free when his presence in the school became worrisome and Aragog was framed for causing Moaning Myrtle's death. Even then, Hagrid was expelled, and Aragog made a den deep in the Forbidden Forest. He lived there with a large community of Acromantulas until his death.[4]
Aragog met Harry and Ron in 1992, when Hagrid was briefly taken into custody at Azkaban for allegedly opening the Chamber of Secrets. It was through Aragog's explanation of events that Harry and Ron learned Hagrid was innocent of those charges.
Aragog died in the spring of 1997 of old age. The Acromantulas living in Aragog's den tried to prevent Hagrid from removing the body from the Forbidden Forest; Hagrid managed to escape, intent upon giving the Acromantula a proper burial. Professor Horace Slughorn attended the funeral for the sole purpose of procuring some of Aragog's venom, which he felt he could sell for a hundred Galleons a pint. It was because of these events leading up to Aragog's funeral that Harry, under the influence of Felix Felicis, managed to secure Slughorn's memory regarding Voldemort and Horcruxes.
Buckbeak (Witherwings)Edit
A steel-grey-coloured Hippogriff. Buckbeak is introduced to the Hogwarts community for the first time in 1993, in Hagrid's first Care of Magical Creatures teaching assignment as one of thirteen Hippogriffs.
It is during this class that Buckbeak injures Draco Malfoy. Through the influence of Lucius Malfoy, Buckbeak is sentenced to death by the Ministry of Magic, to be carried out in the coming Spring. However, he is rescued by Harry and Hermione, through the use of the Time-Turner.
Buckbeak then joined Sirius Black, aiding his escape from custody at Hogwarts. The two of them relocated to an unknown country.
When Sirius returned in 1994, during the events surrounding the Triwizard Tournament, he brought Buckbeak with him. Buckbeak stayed with Sirius in a cave in the mountains around Hogsmeade.
Buckbeak appeared again at 12 Grimmauld Place in the spring of 1995. At some point, Buckbeak was injured by Sirius' house-elf Kreacher; when Harry attempted to contact Sirius through the Floo Network, Sirius was tending to Buckbeak's injuries.
After Sirius' death, Harry inherited Buckbeak's companionship, along with Sirius' material possessions. Harry, in turn, returned Buckbeak (rechristened "Witherwings" to protect his identity; Buckbeak was supposed to be a fugitive of the law) to Hagrid's care. During the First Battle of Hogwarts, Buckbeak saved Harry from the harm of Snape.
During the second Battle, Buckbeak and a congregation of Thestrals attacked Voldemort's giants, pecking at their eyes.
Other HippogriffsEdit
In 1993, Hagrid showed thirteen other Hippogriffs to the Third years.
Mosag was a female acromantula that Hagrid brought to Aragog as a potential mate. Aragog and Mosag founded a large acromantula colony in the Forbidden Forest.
Unidentified creatureEdit
This thing was owned by Hagrid during 1994; he hid it under a tea towel when the Minister for Magic came.
Behind the scenesEdit
- This notion of a three-headed dog guarding the doorway to unknown doom is most likely a reference to Cerberus, the hellhound that guards the entrance to the Underworld in Greek mythology.
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First appearance)
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Possible appearance)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (Possible appearance)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (video game) (Possible appearance)
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
Notes and referencesEdit
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
- ↑ Chapter Seven, "The Will of Albus Dumbledore." Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter Fifteen, "Aragog." Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets


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You hear about them everywhere -- superfoods. They are natural and nutrient dense, packing a punch and promising health and wellness in a tiny pill.
"I have been taking supplements for years," Suzette Lang said.
Elizabeth Long agreed, "Probably for about 15 years I've been taking them."
"I start my morning with an array of supplements and I take some with breakfast and I take some at lunch and then with dinner and if I don't take them, I immediately notice a difference and I hear that from my customers all the time," said Amrita Menon, who owns a vitamin store in Houston.
Kimberly Olson is a certified nutritionist, personal trainer, and author of The FitKim Lifestyle and revealed some of her favorite slimming superfoods.
She said, "Look at me! I have so much energy and I swear it's because of all these superfoods I take."
You've probably heard of one -- green coffee bean extract.
Olson said, "That is absolutely hands down out of all of them my favorite."
The craze over green coffee bean extract took off after getting a stamp of approval from Dr. Oz. "It'll help you lose about a pound a week faster than you would've lost (without it)," he said.
Dr. Oz said you should buy green coffee bean extract containing 45 percent chlorogenic acid, the key ingredient.
Olson added, "When you take it before a meal, the chlorogenic acid inhibits your body from using your food as fuel and forces your liver to metabolize your stored fat and use that as your energy source."
Dietician Carol Wolin-Riklin said before you jump on the bandwagon, read the label carefully.
"Everybody's looking for hope in a bottle. The one thing you have to be careful of is every brand of green coffee bean is different. Some have fillers such as caffeine and other products added to it, so it's not always the same product in the bottle," she said.
Another superfood to add to the mix -- raspberry keytone. Olson refers to as the "triple threat."
"It's going to help your body burn more calories at rest. It inhibits how much fat it stored in your body and it breaks down fat cells," she explained.
Suzette Lang swears by it.
"It's really picked up my metabolism. I have energy (and it) really helps suppress those urges to kind of pig out," Lang said.
Another superfood has been around for generations. It's called moringa tree. Known around the world as the miracle tree, it's believed to reduce cravings, curb the appetite and more.
Olson said, "It has over 45 different types of antioxidants. Ounce for ounce, it has 25 times the amount of iron found in spinach, 15 times the amount of calcium found in milk and nine times the amount of protein found in yogurt."
Another superfood may be hard to pronounce -- garcinia cambrogia, but fans of it believe in what Dr. Oz has called the Holy Grail of weight loss supplements.
Olson said, "It's been found to be three times more effective than diet and exercise alone."
No matter which supplements and vitamins you decide to take, it's recommended you discuss each and every one of them with your doctor to make sure that they're right for you.
Wolin-Riklin explained, "Sometimes they do interact with blood pressure medications, cholesterol medications, heart medications."
Copyright 2013 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Another entry has been received by The Review in the "Take Your Hometown Newspaper on Vacation" contest. Pictured above are Brian and Melinda Kinser at Orient Beach in St. Marteen. You can enter by snapping a picture at your destination of choice with a copy of The Alliance Review. Entries will be run throughout the summer as they are received. You can mail entries to The Review, 40 S. Linden Ave., Alliance, OH 44601, or by email to firstname.lastname@example.com. Prizes will be provided by Motts Old Mill Bulk Foods & Greenhouse in Louisville.


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About the Center
The Center for Sustainability is the focal point for Santa Clara University's Justice and Sustainability Strategic Priority and contributes to creating a more just, humane, and sustainable world.
The Center for Sustainability advances academic and public understanding of the ways in which social justice and sustainability intersect by integrating principles of social, environmental, and economic sustainability into campus operations, academic and student life, and outreach programs.
The Center for Sustainability aims to help the University:
This goal consists of the reduction of the University's use of electricity and natural gas, as well as single-occumpany vehicles on campus.
Example metrics: annual greenhouse gas emissions inventory, local offset initiatives
This means we help improve the University's impacts on the local and global community associated with procurement (extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal).
Example metrics: local/ organic/ sustainable food procurement rates, sustainable purchasing policies, and water diversion rates.
We strive to expand the campus community's ability and desire to partake in sustainable behaviors as well as their understanding of how they can contribute to developing a sustainable world.
Example metrics: number of individuals involved in sustainability-related co-curricular and employee programs, assessments of the campus community's perceived value and intrinsic motivations for sustainable behaviors.
We support solutions-based coursework and research to solve local and global problems using the campus as a demonstration test-bed.
Example metrics: number of sustainability-related and focused courses, number of students and faculty engaged in sustainability-related research, number of students engaged with community members at BUG sites.
Awards & Recognition
Santa Clara University has been awarded and recognized for many of its sustainability projects and initiatives.
The Center for Sustainability was once a small office located on the outskirts of campus. Here is how we evolved.
Read the latest news about the faces of sustainability and recent projects on campus.
Our Team
Our awesome team members work on the Center for Sustainability's pillars through their specific focus areas of campus life.
The Center for Sustainability collaborates with stakeholders on and off campus in order to acccomplish University goals.
Support Sustainability
You can make a gift to any of the Center for Sustainability programs, including the Forge Garden and the Bronco Urban Garden (BUG) programs.
Social Media
Stay in the loop and help us create more buzz about #sustainablescu.


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A MAN has been arrested over a break-in at a North Yorkshire industrial site which sparked a police helicopter search.
Officers were called to Landing Lane in Riccall, near Selby, at 1.15am on Monday, when a Subaru was seen leaving the site and heading away from Riccall.
Although police followed the vehicle along King Rudding Lane, it went through flood water and off the road, then people were seen running from it.
Officers called for air support from West Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire Police's dog section also attended, a police spokesman said.
The vehicle was seized by police.
A 21-year-old man from Escrick was arrested later that day, on suspicion of going equipped for theft, dangerous driving and failing to stop for police.
He had been released on bail while inquiries continue, a police spokesman said.


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White Rock chemical-seizure suspect remains in custody
A White Rock man arrested last week after an anonymous tip led police to a cache of chemicals will remain in custody until at least Thursday.
Following three brief video appearances in Surrey Provincial Court (Jan. 31, Feb. 1 and 4), a bail hearing for Hamish Norman Sutherland, 34, was set for Feb. 7.
Sutherland was arrested just after 11 a.m. Jan. 24 as he left out of the back door of an apartment building in the 15100-block of Prospect Avenue.
The chemicals were found during a search executed that day on a third-floor suite by White Rock police, members of the Explosive Disposal and Chemical/Biological/Radiological/Nuclear Response Unit, the Lower Mainland Integrated Forensic Identification Services, Emergency Response Team and White Rock firefighters.
The suite was deemed uninhabitable.
Const. Janelle Shoihet said last week that the accused "doesn't want to tell us" what the chemicals were for.
Sutherland is charged with breach of probation in connection with the incident, and Shoihet said further charges are possible pending analysis of the chemicals.
Shoihet said Sutherland was on probation in connection with an incident in New Westminster, in which he was charged with possession of chemicals for dangerous purposes.
Court records show he pleaded guilty in October 2011 to a charge of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm in connection with an incident July 15, 2011 in Surrey.


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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.
"very good quality! not much customization needed, cards are beautiful as is. Customer service was amazing! I ordered a few too many and realized it right after I placed the order.... But I emailed customer service and they fix it right away and refunded me. Very happy with the product!"
"We are having a destination beach wedding, that will be both intimate and relaxed. We wanted a card that represented our style more than the location, but we chose the blue and gold design to also play on the beach theme. We purchased the Save the Date, Invitation, RSVP, and Thank you cards in this style all at once. It was all very easy to do online and was returned to us quickly for review prior to print. We love them all, but there is a difference between the gold color - what I would call a true yellow gold color - on the Thank You card and the "gold" - what I would call more of a sand color on all the other cards. This is fine for our wedding in that it lends itself to a beach theme, and I doubt anyone will be holding all of the cards up to each other to match color (other than me). If your looking for the color to match across the board, this may not be for you. Overall we couldn't be happier with the total product and experience"
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"I am so very happy with how our save the date turned out. High quality paper and printing. We have gotten a lot of positive feedback and compliments from our family/friends. I highly recommend this card!!!!"


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A luxury yarn developed specifically for babies. A machine washable blend of merino wool and silk that has a wonderful soft handle for your little treasures.
76% cotton, 15% yak and 9% nylon means Softyak DK has a stunning soft handle and is a perfect transeasonal yarn.


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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.
"I would recommend this site to anyone! Their site was easy to navigate and find the perfect Save the Date for us and their costumer service was extremely helpful in creating a unique product."
"I was looking for something different because we are having a cocktail party as a reception. I thought it was a great idea and they were super cute coasters"
"As always, wedding paper divas NEVER disappoints! These cards were absolutely perfect! I cant wait to send them out for everyone to see!!"
"These Save The Dates are absolutely gorgeous. We ordered them in blaze, and the colors are just lovely. My fiance and I couldn't be happier with the design and the quality of the paper. Special shout-out to the Design Team for taking the time to proof my prints, and to Heldana at Customer Service for changing the quantity to my order. WPD is wonderful!"
"Recently purchased in Cream. I really love it! The only thing that is disappointing is the gold part is not metallic but just printed gold. Still looks good but would be better with actual foil. But Overall we love it!"


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An island hood is a great ventilating unit for your island cooktop. Our Island Hoods clear the air quickly and keep ventilation noise to a minimum all while being extremely efficient. Abt carries a great selection of kitchen hoods with features including multiple power levels, built-in lighting, dishwasher-safe baffle filters, designer colors, and more. Choose from manufacturers like Jenn-Air and Electrolux to add a little class and style to your kitchen experience.
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ZEPHYR Happy Hour Cruise - Circle Line Downtown
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Description: Experience Happy Hour in glittering style! Cruise along New York Harbor aboard the luxurious ZEPHYR yacht and enjoy a Happy Hour like never before. Straight up or on the rocks, every drink is on the water! It's the hottest way to cool down! Enjoy: 90-Minute Harbor Cruise; Live DJs; 2 Cash Bars; Drink Specials; Sun Deck; Two Fully Enclosed, Climate-Controlled Decks; Breathtaking Views of the Skyline at Sunset. Thursdays & Fridays, departs 6:30pm. $30. Must be 21 or older, with valid ID.


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Vancouver looks at expanding food carts to off-street sites
Parking lot pods of food trucks could be coming to Vancouver, if the city moves forward with a potential expansion of its street food program to off-street sites.
Vision Vancouver councillor Heather Deal said the city is considering allowing sites with a cluster of food carts, similar to the model used in cities like Portland.
"For this next phase of the food cart program, we're actually looking for applications in the city where we can have a conglomeration of food carts, perhaps in a parking lot…it has to work for them business-wise, but it's an opportunity that we're looking at right now," Deal told the Straight by phone.
"It's an idea that's often called the Portland model, which says that privately owned land-so it would be zoned for some kind of activity as opposed to the public realm-could be used to have something akin to what the Waldorf parking lot was," she noted.
Deputy city manager Sadhu Johnston said the city is planning to launch a consultation process next month to determine interest in off-street food vending sites, and to identify potential locations where pods of food trucks could be set up.
The city will also start accepting applications for the next phase of the food cart program, including potential off-street carts, in March. Johnston noted the next phase will consist of sites outside the downtown core.
"We're going to consult with the public to get a sense of where they might want a pod, do they like the pod concept, so we'll probably launch that concurrently with having the next round of applications come in," he said in a phone interview.
"I think there are probably areas where there are a concentration of workers that maybe don't have a lot of restaurant options or vacant spaces that the community knows might be an active spot for this… so we're going to leave it a little bit open, and see what we hear from the public."
In January 2011, Vancouver city council approved a phased-in expansion of the food truck program over four years to allow about 15 new carts a year.
Some downtown business owners brought concerns to council last month about the proximity of food vendors to their restaurants. Deal noted the expansion to sites outside downtown has always been part of the street food program.
"We've always intended to push out around the city and in fact we've worked with the Downtown Business Improvement Association very closely, as well as the food carts, to determine when the time came to start pushing out into the neighbourhoods, and this is the time," she said.
Johnston noted there is no timeline for adding off-street sites pending the results of the consultation process, but he said a pilot project could potentially be set up within a year.
17 Comments
Feb 8, 2013 at 9:06pm
Maybe City Council should move to Portland.
Feb 9, 2013 at 5:59am
I remember watching the Food Network... watching overweight people in line at a park, going from food truck to food truck, and raving how great it is to find food everywhere you look. Essentially, this allows a food court in every park, and any large expanse of land. I really do not see a need to increase food consumption. When I go to the outdoors, I usually do not have the intent to pig out.
Feb 9, 2013 at 10:57am
about time....how about food carts in east van...or burnaby...or north and west vancouver
Feb 9, 2013 at 11:06am
RealityCheck: Oh, of course. Heaven forbid our Council look to other cities and adopt their best practices. Why would we want to do that when we have critics who clearly know more than anyone else in the world?
Feb 9, 2013 at 11:40am
City Council is fucking ridiculous. Why would they need to consult people. Just let people open food carts, if they succeed then it will be great. If they fail, someone else will try elsewhere. Vancouver is so damn uptight. Let us eat that street meat already!
Feb 9, 2013 at 1:46pm
My fella and I had a wonderful time visiting Portland a couple years ago. The food truck set-up that they have is fantastic and is one of the many reasons we'll be making a return visit. We still visited several pubs and restaurants for breakfast and dinner (and drinks!), but we really enjoyed our lunches at the food carts as we meandered around the city. Hence, I'm really pleased to read that city council is planning to expand this program. I think it makes our city more attractive to both residents and visitors alike.
Steve v.
Feb 9, 2013 at 3:27pm
Our last trip to Portland we ate at street carts for 4 consecutive lunches. It is actually a draw for us as tourists but unlike here the street carts have decent prices.
My gripe about Vancouver, and maybe Portland only has overcome due to volume,.. is if you don't work near the downtown core, only a small handful,... and the crappiest, can be found outside of the core. I'd like to see more license open up further out like Granville and Broadway,... or even just over a bridge or 2.
Feb 10, 2013 at 12:08am
As a Portlander I think I should point out one problem that is showing up, in an otherwise positive situation:
Criminals noticing that the carts do a cash business, have less "security" (like doors & counters, and large staffs) than building based businesses, and are convenient to get-away routes, have started targeting them.
I suggest giving that some thought when planning / regulating. I still think they're great, but having cash drop safes, visible police, and other such could keep them happier from the start.
Feb 10, 2013 at 11:23pm
Portland is stuck in the 1990s. We'd be better off looking at 21st Century cities for inspiration...like Dubai or Shanghai.
Feb 11, 2013 at 8:18am
I know...put them in the bike lanes. No one uses them these days.


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I fell for the ABC joke once in junior high, and I swore to never do it again! But these are funny, and lighthearted for those holiday get togethers that can sometimes seem too serious.
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Pure Insurance Caters to High Value Homeowners
November 16, 2011 by in Finance
Insurance has a new name and it's PURE. PURE insurance is a young and expanding company that doesn't model itself after standard insurance companies; it carefully selects its policy holders to keep premiums low and customer response high. PURE Insurance PURE insurance was created on three principles: expertise, alignment of interest and the green field. "As experts… Read More →


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HOUSTON - A man has been accused of breaking into a woman's southeast Houston apartment.
According to court documents, the victim said she was awakened by the sound of breaking glass at her home in the 7900 block of Bellfort about 11 p.m. on Dec. 20.
Two men walked into the room. She recognized one of them, Gregory Salazar, as her son's friend, investigators said.
The victim said Salazar told her, "Look at me and I'll hit you."
The other man put a blanket over her head, making it difficult for her to breathe, and held her down on the bed, detectives said.
The suspects stole several items, including prescription medications, a laptop, a television and a cellphone, investigators said.
Salazar has been charged with aggravated robbery. As of Friday afternoon, he had not been arrested.
Copyright 2013 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Oil retreated for the third time in four days as data showed US economic growth weakened and crude inventories rose to a three-month high.
Prices fell as much as 1.9 percent as more Americans than forecast submitted claims for unemployment insurance last week and manufacturing in the New York and Philadelphia regions showed contraction. Oil stockpiles increased to 375.9 million barrels last week as production grew to an 18-year high.
"The jobless claims were very high and the economic news was bearish," said Bill O'Grady, chief market strategist at Confluence Investment Management in St. Louis, which oversees $US1.4 billion. "Demand will remain soft given how the economy is and production has been very high."
Crude oil for December delivery slid $US1.33, or 1.5 percent, to $US84.99 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:28 p.m. Prices are down 14 percent this year.
Brent crude for January settlement declined 95 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $US107.53 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The January contract was more active than the December contract, which expires today and gained $US1.09, or 1 percent, to $US110.70.
US jobless claims climbed to 439,000 in the week ended Nov. 10, the most since April 2011, the Labor Department reported. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected the claims to reach 375,000. Several states said the increase was due to Hurricane Sandy, which hit the northeastern part of the US in late October, according to the department.
'Weak Economy'
"Prices are reflecting the bad economic news," said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts. "The weak economy is the biggest overall factor in the oil market."
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's general economic index was minus 5.2 this month after minus 6.2 in October. Manufacturing contracted as Sandy knocked out electrical power and limited activity.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's general economic index decreased to minus 10.7 in November from 5.7 a month earlier.
"I still think economic uncertainty is the primary driver of the market," said Gene McGillian, an analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.
The US is the world's biggest oil consumer, using 18.8 million barrels a day in 2011, according to BP Plc's Statistical Review of World Energy.
Europe Recession
In Europe, the euro-area economy succumbed to a recession for the second time in four years. Gross domestic product in the 17-nation bloc slipped 0.1 percent in the third quarter after a 0.2 percent decline in the previous three months, the European Union's statistics office in Luxembourg said today.
Crude inventories grew 1.09 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 9, the Energy Department reported. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected a gain of 2.65 million. US oil production rose for a 10th week to 6.71 million barrels a day, the most since May 1994.
Gasoline stockpiles slid 440,000 barrels to 201.9 million and distillate fuels, which include heating oil and diesel, dropped 2.54 million to 115.5 million barrels, department data showed.
Gasoline demand averaged 8.64 million barrels a day in the four weeks ended Nov. 9, department data showed. That's down from as high as 9.16 million reached on Aug. 31.
'Bearish' Numbers
"The strong production and inventory numbers are bearish," said Rich Ilczyszyn, chief market strategist and founder of Iitrader.com in Chicago. "Oil followed the equities."
US stocks fell as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. forecast earnings that missed estimates. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined as much as 0.6 percent.
Oil rose earlier on concern escalating Middle East tension will disrupt supplies. Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip exchanged rocket fire and airstrikes a day after Israel killed Hamas's military leader. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel may carry out a ground operation in Gaza if needed.
Electronic trading volume on the Nymex was 384,818 contracts as of 1:26 p.m. Volume totaled 700,161 contracts yesterday, 32 percent above the three-month average. Open interest was 1.54 million.


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Psych Ward Alert: Carsyn Has Developed an Imaginary Friend!
Anyone close to the family knew. Yes. We all had a notion. We watched through the glass like outsiders window shopping at the asylum. We all had a sixth sense that this was coming. But I don't think anyone realized the impact that Jaclyn would have on young Carsyn would be THIS severe, THIS fast. And, then, the bombshell admission. Jaclyn looked me square in the eyes recently and broke the devastating news to Uncle Tad. Yes. To paraphrase the 80's song, she dropped a bomb on me. Dropped on a bomb on Uncle Tad. Carsyn has an imaginary friend. Cue the Psycho theme. Prep the straight jacket. Get a Sharpie and let Carsyn autograph the Girl Interrupted movie poster! Little Carsyn is off her rocker like Betty Crocker.