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Why buy property in bodrum Turkey
Property buying and investment go hand in hand in Bodrum, with the peninsula being popular for many years with a variety of international visitors from across the globe, arriving by air, land and sea.
By far the current hotspot property investment area in Bodrum is the elite area of Yalikavak with the exclusive Palmarina attracting the rich and famous, therefore, commanding extremely high rental yields for any investors money.
The peninsula offers many other resorts, peaceful fishing village like Gundogan to highly popular lively area such as Gumbet all within a short drive from the airport and Bodrum town, also making Bodrum an ideal area for anyone thinking of relocating to Turkey for a complete lifestyle change, with ample local amenities of international schools, shopping centres and hospitals etc.
Whatever your reason for buying a new home in Bodrum, investment, personal holiday home or a permanent home for all year living. the area offers everything, nightlife, beaches, excellent restaurants, nature, history, diverse culture and of course a wonderful Mediterranean climate.
Property for sale in BODRUM Turkey
Turgutreis sits on the western side of the Bodrum peninsula and is the second largest town, located approximately 20km from Bodrum's centre in southwestern Turkey.
The town boasts dozens of sandy beaches dotted along its 17km coastline many lined with lovely waterfront bars and great restaurants, all set in a perfect location to enjoy a cool glass of wine whilst watching some of the most amazing sunsets you will ever see.
Turgutreis also offers a multitude of shopping experiences with its Saturday street market, chic boutiques around its marina, plenty of supermarkets and a host of gift shops near the beach all offering traditional Turkish gifts to take back home to remind you of your time in Turgutreis.
Real Estate in Turgutreis
As an established holiday resort, property in Turgutreis often comes with premium prices, some luxury homes having their own stretch of private beach and moorings with fabulous views over the sea and the local islands that seem to mysteriously float on the sea.
Anyone looking to buy property in Turgutreis, Turkey for pure investment will be awarded with high rental yields especially for private villa accommodation for sale in Turgutreis that sits on the waterfront as most holiday makers will always be willing to pay that little extra for a sunning seafront location in this popular resort.
Apartment accommodation in Turgutreis , Turkey is also available often in luxury 5* complexes near the sea with excellent hotel like facilities for all residents and guests.
Turkey Homes will direct you to your ideal Turgutreis property for sale, taking into consideration your lifestyle requirements and budget.
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DSM customers share one thing: Trust
As the world's leading supplier of vitamins, we define trust as not compromising on Quality, Reliability, Traceability and Sustainability.
With our plant in the green hills of Scotland, we are the only western vitamin C manufacturer and we offer the world's premium range of pure vitamin C forms.
Buying Quali®-C fulfills your needs by protecting your business interests and your brand value. In short, it gives you the guarantees and peace of mind that you can only get from the best vitamin manufacturer.
The world's top food, beverage and dietary supplement companies buy Quali®-C from DSM, relying on our brand promise: Bright Science. Brighter Living™.

subset: commoncrawl


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This Model Pack contains 12 Meshes which can be arranged and slotted together in an infinite number of ways to create bridges of all varieties! It also includes a prebuilt sample bridge along with 2 LOD levels! Along with PBR textures (Albedo, Normal, Roughness, Metalness & Alpha Mask) this bridge will allow your environments to become even more beautiful and realistic!
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text: (W) Eric Trautmann (A) Fabiano Neves (C) Fabiano Neves (25%), Paul Renaud (25%), Ale Garza (25%), Wagner Reis (25%) The Kerasu Shimei: three demonic assassins, escaped from the depths of Hell and intent on building a vile monument to murder. All that stands in their way? Vampirella. It's the final bloody showdown in Vampirella's toughest fight yet. Written by Eric Trautmann and illustrated by Fabiano Neves (Queen Sonja, Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness)..


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"A meaningful scientific hypothesis or theory typically asserts that certain forces are, and other forces are not, important in understanding a particular class of phenomena. It is frequently convenient to present such a hypothesis by stating that the phenomena it is desired to predict behave in the world of observation as if they occurred in a hypothetical and highly simplified world containing only the forces that the hypothesis asserts to be important…. Such a theory cannot be tested by comparing its "assumptions" directly with "reality." Indeed, there is no meaningful way in which this can be done."
– Friedman
" 'reality' [is] one of the few words that means nothing without quotes"
"'Literature was not born the day when a boy crying "wolf, wolf" came running out of the Neanderthal valley with a big gray wolf at his heels; literature was born on the day when a boy came crying "wolf, wolf" and there was no wolf behind him."
– Nabokov


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Patrick Randall necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 231 diseños de 60 diseñadores freelance.
Onicol combines two strengths, (1) unique and sophisticated systems and operating experience with (2) robust healthcare and insurance knowledge overseen by a network of Medical Advisory Board Members. Onicol combines these strengths and applies it to a wide range of products and services that cover the healthcare, finance and insurance industries. The result is improved medical outcomes for patients while reducing payor costs with Onicol Healthcare; more accurate and expeditious resolution of malpractice claims with Onicol Malpractice Services; and more timely, in-depth and accurate information that improves investment decisions and returns for clients with Onicol Market Research.
Onicol Healthcare
We are targeting an existing market of both national and regional healthcare payers (i.e. United Healthcare Group, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna etc…), as well as the ever-evolving and growing self-insured Employer groups (i.e. McDonalds, Coke a Cola, Caterpillar, IBM etc..). In addition, healthcare consultants would often times promote the types of services that we are offering (i.e. Mercer or Hewitt Associates etc…).
Onicol Malpractice Services
Onicol Malpractice Services targets medium to large size law firms representing both plaintiffs and defendants in medical malpractice cases. In addition the company targets regional mutuals, large malpractice insurers (i.e. The Doctors Company, General Insurance Company of America) or reinsurers (Zurich Re, Gen Re etc..).
Onicol Market Research
Onicol Market Research is primarily targeting institutional investment funds (i.e. Fidelity). In addition Onicol is seeks to partner with brokerage firms (Goldman Sachs), hedge funds (i.e. Citadel Investment Group, Renaissance Technologies, Fortress Investment Group etc…) and other independent research groups that provide this type of value added service. The company's services also target large corporations with interest in healthcare (Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer etc…)
The Company currently has a simple and basic website up and running (http://www.onicol.com). My partner and founder, CEO and President is quite particular in that he wants a simple but bold design and logo. A simple logo with the name, or have the name itself be the logo. We purposely chose the name because it had no real meaning - though parts of the word col - "a pass between two mountain peaks or a gap in a ridge" or "a calm between two storms" - was the root we used to conceive the name. We would like the logo to convey our ability to solve complex business problems (puzzle solving) with simple yet sophisticated solutions. We "connect the dots", synthesize data and bring disparate systems/data/processes together (interlocking). Are customers are very aware of our medical expertise so it is not necessary for the logo to be an obvious healthcare or medical symbol. In addition, we are applying our expertise and systems to various industries (Healthcare, Finance and Insurance) while focusing specifically on healthcare within those respective industries. We want the logo to represent our strengths in technology, analytics and healthcare and still be inviting to patients who may be seeking and/or receiving healthcare services.
The "Main" corporate name and logo should somehow represent each of the products (Healthcare, Market Research and Malpractice Services). We would like to subtly distinguish the separate products by simply using the same name and logo but changing color. In other words the corporate logo should integrate something (a color for example) from each of the products and the products in turn can use the corporate logo and name but only in the color specific to that line of business. So, in summary there are the following names and logos (http://onicol.com/products/):
1. Onicol (Parent Company) – integrating parts of the products
2. Onicol Healthcare (Primary Product) – would suggest blue or green as color
3. Onicol Market Research (Other Product) – complementary color
4. Onicol Malpractice Services (Other Product) – complementary color
This is the first step in a long process. As mentioned above, Onicol designs and develops its own systems so in addition to the logo there will be web page design, print collateral, and software design (screen, graph and icon) opportunities going forward.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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442 members15 Likes
994 members27 Likes
Started this discussion. Last reply by Mark / The Mayor Dec 13, 2013. 4 Replies 0 Likes
Just wondering if there is a standard scale that people are using. It would be good to post it somewhere prominently on the site (or maybe it is and I can't find it) so everyone is using the same…Continue
Jim Becker has not received any gifts yet
Hi Jim! Found you here. I live in Berkeley now and was wondering if you would like to meet up? Suzanne
Hey Jim, yes I could certainly meet up for some rallying. I can head up to Berkeley tomorrow. I've played up at the Rose Garden courts. What court works for you?
© 2020 Created by Mark / The Mayor. Powered by


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Once downloaded, the file will contain a Silhouette Studio Print and Cut file and a jpeg for printing and cutting with scissors.
Please do NOT share the actual file or download file link.....send your friends here or to my FB page, thanks.
You will find all my other Free Printables under the Blog post headings on the right sidebar.
Please Pin :)
Sorry, this printable is no longer available.
The following clip art product is available for purchase in my TpT store for $1 and is commercial and personal use friendly.


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View all hotels
El Cid la Ceiba Cozumel
- EP European Plan -
Our El Cid Cozumel hotel, could be described in song, it would have a relaxed Caribbean rhythm and a soothing Mexican melody. This inspiring oceanfront resort is a paradise where an easygoing attitude blends with supreme relaxation. Escape to our refreshing Cozumel hotel resort, where you will always find a friendly face and warm welcome .
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Brainy Entertainment Tease your Brain #Question_11
Some months have 31 days, some others have 30 days.
How many months have 28 days?
Brainy Entertainment
Brainy Entertainment is a "Tease your Brain" section with puzzles, games introduced with a new set of mind-boggling questions.
we will provide a collection of brain teasers, puzzles, riddles and optical illusions. We have thousands of puzzles and brain teasers, with something for every day, including optical illusions.
Hona Radio will make sure this will be the place to spend your boring time training your brain with excitement.
so let's start!


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Finding A Voice: The Lions of Little Rock by Kriistin Levine
I talk a lot. Just not out loud where anyone can hear. At least, I used to be that way. I guess I've learned it's not enough to just think things. You have to say them, too.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. To understand me, and how I've changed, I need to go back to 1958.
Kristin Levine's historical novel takes place in the fall of 1958, in Little Rock. The Little Rock Nine have integrated Central High School in 1957-58, under Federal order and with the National Guard standing watch. But now the school year begins again, and Governor Faubus has closed all of the high schools in Little Rock, for public safety, he says.
Marlee is only in seventh grade, so her school will open as usual, but her big sister Judy, the one who always does the talking for her, is sent off to Pine Bluff to live with their grandmother to go to high school. Marlee can speak at home, but anywhere else, her shyness limits her to one-word answers and nods and shakes of the head. Even in math class, which she loves, she never volunteers an answer and if called on, can only stammer out a number in answer.
Then, a new girl, turns up in her class. Liz has a quick smile, a ready laugh, and no problem talking to anyone, and she quickly asks Marlee to pair with her on an oral report in history.
"You seem like a hard worker. At my old school, I was the one who
always ended up doing all the work," Liz shrugged.
I knew what that was like. I'd worked with Sally on every project since third grade.
"Okay," I said.
Liz seems fearless and yet friendly, and soon she persuades Marlee to promise to help present the oral report, promising her a book of math squares puzzles if she does. Gradually, Marlee finds it less of a struggle to get words and then sentences out, and she and Liz become best friends, meeting at the library and then at the zoo at their favorite place, the lion exhibit.
But then, Liz disappears suddenly from school. Sally triumphantly reports that Liz had been found out, discovered to be "passing" as white, and although Marlee is startled, she soon realizes that she misses her friend regardless of her race.
In her attempts to find a way to continue her friendship, Marlee gradually finds her voice, joining with her church school teacher in the WEC, the Women's Education Committee, working for the re-opening of all Little Rock schools. Lines are quickly drawn among whites, and although her junior high principal dad quickly adds his name to the petitions to open the schools, her mother is too fearful of loss of her job and the threats of the segregationist majority.
As lines are quickly drawn between those who want their high schools open regardless of race and those who say never, Marlee begins to speak out and even draws her mother into the effort. Still shy, she finds the courage to locate her friend, who is working in the same organization with the Negro community, and although Liz's pastor's house is bombed and their parents forbid them to be together because of the danger, the two find ways to meet.
The shy, mute girl who just that summer was afraid to jump off the high dive suddenly finds herself hiding in the trunk of a car with sticks of dynamite belonging to a would-be bomber, and at last finds her full voice in helping prevent a race war in her own hometown.
Kristin Levine said she wanted to write a book about what came next, after 1957 and the Little Rock Nine, and Lester's first-person narrative details how Marlee and other citizens of Little Rock found their voices, the voices of reason and justice, in the year that followed.
"Talking," I said. I'm going to try talking... to everyone.
And if I change, maybe other things will change, too. Maybe the schools will
"Maybe," said Liz, laughing, and then it was time to hang up.
I knew my talking wouldn't change all that. But I thought about what Daddy said, how things could be different in Little Rock, if only the right people could find their voice.
I wanted to be one of those people.
Just published in a new paperback edition, Levine's The Lions of Little Rock (Penguin, 2012, 2013) brings a poignant new voice to the body of nonfiction and historical fiction dealing with the civil rights movement in the 1950s. Publishers Weekly writes, "Successfully weaving historical events with a dynamic personal narrative, Levine (The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had) offers a riveting, frequently tense portrait."
Labels: Arkansas--Fiction (Grades 5-8), Civil Rights in the United States--Little Rock, Friendship Stories, Race Relations--Fiction


text: Friday, November 04, 2011 RC3-11 Task Force Member Information Posted At its June 2011 meeting, the House of Delegates adopted a motion charging APTA's Board of Directors (Board) to review the current model of the physical therapist, physical therapist assistant, and physical therapy aide as the only participants involved in the delivery of physical therapist services and to identify other potential models for delivery of these services. This work is being conducted by a Board-appointed task force. During its July 26 meeting, the Board appointed individuals to serve on this task force by reviewing the skills and expertise needed to fulfill the task force's charge and identifying persons from the volunteer applicant pool with the skills and expertise needed. This task force is now formally named the Health Care Professionals and Personnel Involved in the Delivery of Physical Therapy Task Force. In response to inquiries from members about the experience and background of task force members, biographical information about the 11 task force members now is available. Direct any questions to firstname.lastname@example.com. Comments Physical Therapy has been for years working hard to secure he term Physical Therapy for Physical therapists. Once we give away this term to anyone with a degree it opens the profession up to anyone who wants to bill physical therapy treatment. Why work so long to withhold the term physical therapy for physical therapists then allow anyone to use it? What can physical therapist do to help retain this solid alliance between physical therapist and physical therapist assistances? Thanks Brandie Tomme DPT Posted by Brandie Tomme on 11/4/2011 2:08 PM Anyone who cares about the integrity of our profession really should be working against this bill. Care standards will be reduced patients will suffer. This bill should be called the "cheap labor before patients" act. All red herrings about PT autonomy aside, everyone knows exactly what this bill is about. Saving money. We are at a crossroads as a profession in terms of reimbursement. But it should be clear that tossing half the profession off the boat while subjecting patients to unprofessional care is not the answer. Call the APTA and make your voice heard. PT's and PTA's alike can work together to stop a minority of private practice owners from forcing a major unwanted and unwarranted change on the entire profession. Posted by Jon Elder on 11/6/2011 1:05 AM From the moment I read these RCs prior to the House, I felt very uncomfortable. My biggest concern was that I no longer saw my professional title, PTA, anywhere in the documents. It was as if we were being "written out" of the profession of Physical Therapy. Though there is some crossover, ATCs, exercise physiologists, etc, do not receive a Physical Therapy education. They are also not mentioned in our Code of Ethics. My hope is that this task force finds the current delivery system satisfactory. Sincerely, Melanie Cain, PTA, BS Posted by Melanie Cain -> >FUZBK on 11/7/2011 1:26 PM Being that I am both a licensed PT and an ATC (and have been a PT aide in the past), I know what each practice knows, and I know that handing over the ability to bill for PT practices to those not formally educated and licensed in the practice of physical therapy could be a potential danger to those seeking physical therapy services. Our knowledge through education in physical therapy is specific to our profession and should not be looked at that anyone with a similar degree can do what we do (and do it safely and ethically). I went to PT school because I knew that my knowledge from my ATC education was very limited, and if I wanted to provide PT services I needed to get the correct education. I found that there was indeed a large gap between the two professions and the type of knowledge they encompass. I urge that we protect the physical therapy practice to be provided by only those specifically educated and licensed in physical therapy. Posted by Lisa Kolesar, DPT, ATC/L on 11/8/2011 1:24 AM As a future PTA student currently enrolled in pre-requisite courses at my local state college, I find this information to be VERY disturbing. Posted by Rachel on 11/8/2011 7:30 PM As a director of PT services I find it very troublesome that our own professional board would consider allowing the term physical therapy to be used by anyone other than an invidivdual licensed and trained in the art and science of Physical Therapy. Our state practice act here in Oklahoma does not allow anyone that is not a PT or PTA to hold themselves out as practicing physical therapy in order to keep other professionals from enroaching upon our turf and confusing the public. I am sure Oklahoma is not the only state that has this built into their practice act. Posted by David Haynes MS, PT, SCS, OCS, ATC, Cert.MDT on 11/17/2011 9:47 PM As a student currently enrolled in a physical therapist assistant program, I am disheartened to hear that my profession could essentially be eliminated because of costs. There is a need for physical therapist assistants in rehabilitation and I certainly hope physical therapists and physical therapist assistants band together to express to the APTA why RC3-11 is a liability to the future of physical therapy. Posted by Courtney on 12/15/2011 11:37 AM I certainly believe that as a profession we need to consistently examine our standards of care and delivery of service, but any initiatives by physical therapists to discredit or devalue the PTA in my opinion is initiated by those that may be having difficulties with their own inadequacies because their own patients can't tell who is the PT and who is the PTA by the level of care being provided. Being in the profession 25 years there have been countless times that I've observed PTAs that were clearly more proficient in the delivery of care than the "supervising PT." Why? Because the PTA probably came from a previous environment where the PT provided earned autonomy, education, direction, trust and support as opposed to restricting task delegation and opportunity for egotistical reasons. Now, the same PTA is working with a PT that thinks just because they completed the academic components and obtained a license they automatically qualify for a higher level of recognition or entitlement. That privilege is earned in the clinic…..over years! In my experience that is where conflict and perceived "infringement" arises. Do PTs really believe that they are going to be exposed to lower levels of opportunity at the hands of PTAs? My recommendation is that physical therapists concentrate on deterring their "fellow PTs" from prostituting their profession by going to work for physicians and catalyzing the attrition of independent physical therapy practice, entrepreneurial opportunity. The term "autonomy" as applied to PT was born within the vision of independent practice and business opportunity. Now that context of autonomy is dying a rapid death and it's the PTs that are about to take it off the ventilator….not the PTA. Posted by Keith on 12/30/2011 10:35 PM dowm with rc-311 i have been practicing as a pta for fifteen years in a variety of settings. Ifeel thatpatients will suffer under tese changes. I want to help in this fight!!! health care is about making the patient better, not how much profit we can make! Posted by wendyrose on 2/12/2012 2:12 PM I have to decide whether to go forward or not with a PTA program. Should I go forward or not in the light of RC-311? Posted by dennis on 2/21/2012 2:11 AM You are going to eliminate the PTA role and have others "trained" to do this work? Hey companies have fun getting sued by lawyers who are ready to swarm all over this idea where people aren't even licensed or trained to practice. Wait until all the liabilities set in. What are people thinking? Seriously. With the DPT program hard to obtain at 100k the field is already in demand. For business it is smarter to hire a PTA who is LICENSED. There is a bond for patient care between PTs and PTAs. They understand each other. There is no discrepancy here. Insurance companies need to realize the PT degree was once a bachelors. Instead of destroying the field why don't you make PTA a Four year degree???!!! Hellooooo???? Why is there such a big gap here? You grandfather the PTAs now and by 2015 you change it to a courtesy degree. Simple. Patients receive the same care from a PTA. If you were a patient which would you rather have? A person "trained" by a PT or an actual licensed individual with the right training AND trained by a PT? Posted by Jason on 6/3/2012 10:26 PM Ps - for companies to pay less qualified individuals 15-20 an hour rather than 24-28 an hour for a licensed.... A licensed... A state licensed individual we are talking about here.... Does not make ANY sense for the care of our patients and future of the field. Bad... Bad...bad idea to eliminate PTA role. Posted by Jason on 6/3/2012 10:48 PM As a BSN who had worked mainly in hospital but also in a variety of settings, I wish to thank the PTAs who provided therapy at the bedside. They were professional in demeanor, knowledge, safety and collaboration. I can see that if the PTAs are eliminated from hospital, therapy might fall to nurses and nurse aides who do not have the same level of training and rely on the PTAs for all the above reasons. No on RC 3-11!! Posted by Claire on 7/11/2012 7:22 PM yikes. seems like a lot of fear of the future implications of this bill. here are my thoughts as a 3rd year DPT student: (1) PTA's are mentioned in RC-3 (2) PTA's provide tremendous value and will continue to do so, but that isn't to say that others may not be able to provide value as well (3) Physical Therapy cannot be practiced by anyone as was suggested. Elements of physical therapy can be carried out by a variety of individuals, but physical therapists are the ones ultimately responsible and attributed for that care. Again, it only counts if a PT is supervising, which isn't that different than the current landscape, except with a more flexible overarching policy regarding extenders (4) Trust our extensive training, including ethics classes to do what is in the best interest of the patient. Even private practioners know better than to just hire the cheapest staff...that is a recipe for failure qualitatively, ethically and financially (since many folks in our profession seem to think that private practioners are only about money) (5) At the end of the day the PT is the one responsible both in today's landscape and under the language of RC-3. Posted by Christopher Wilson -> AIP[CH on 9/2/2012 8:11 PM Thank you APTA PT's for throwing my 20 years of education, knowledge and expertise under the bus. By doing this they have shot themselves in the foot. In the effort to save money they will bring in people who do not have the proper education or knowledge to work under their license. This will intern discredit the occupation of Physical therapy altogether in the eyes of physicians and other clinician, not to mention our patients and clients. I think the better option would have been to have a BS requirement by PTAs than to take this path. Posted by Gwin Benjamin on 7/8/2018 5:20 PM


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A Federal Accounting Standards Board (FASB) proposal to change the way companies account for life insurance contracts is gathering steam and may change the way companies reserve for and value policies internally. The FASB reform proposal is primarily designed to coordinate the way insurance policies are valued on financial statements worldwide. While there may be value in this coordination effort, some see the possibility of increasingly volatile profits for insurance companies on the horizon if the proposal is implemented in its current form. This has many in the industry wondering: Are today's permanent life insurance premiums as cheap as they will ever be?
FASB Proposal Vs. Current GAAP Rules
The FASB proposal would essentially change the way insurance companies and other companies that issue contracts meeting the definition of "insurance contract" report revenue and liabilities on their financial statements. Under the FASB proposal, any contract that transfers significant insurance risk would be impacted—not just traditional insurance contracts issued by insurance companies. For example, the standards will apply to banks, guarantors and service providers who issue insurance-like contracts, as well as traditional insurance companies.
Currently, GAAP allows a company issuing insurance contracts to report income from premiums when the company receives those premiums. Under the proposed FASB rules, a company would be required to revalue policies each quarter and recognize income from premiums as coverage is provided, over time, rather than when those premiums are actually received.
Further, the assumptions that companies use in setting up required reserves with respect to insurance contracts they issue—such as life expectancy data and the probability that a policy will lapse—will need to be revised on a quarterly basis, as well. Industry experts also anticipate that more assumptions will be added into the mix under the new FASB rules.
Property and casualty insurers will be subject to new rules, too. While they currently use the "most likely" result to calculate their reserves, under the FASB proposal they will be required to take an average of the possible results based on the probability that each of those results will occur.
Possible Impact of the FASB Proposal
Because premiums will be recognized more slowly under the FASB approach (as coverage is deemed provided, rather than as premiums are received), some companies may see a corresponding slowing of growth in their reported revenues.
Further, many companies anticipate that such frequent revisions to the assumptions used in connection with life insurance contracts will lead to greater volatility in reporting, and adding even more assumptions into the mix will only exacerbate the volatility issue.
Importantly, these changes are likely to make accounting for insurance contracts more expensive for the companies that issue the contracts, and the increased costs may be passed along to customers in the form of higher premiums.
Though the methods in the FASB proposal would not become effective until 2018, such a significant change in the way companies account for insurance contracts will require extensive preparation. This type of preparation means that the current cost of issuing these contracts is about to rise, and your clients may begin seeing higher premium costs as a result.
For additional coverage of this issue and similar ones, we invite you to sign up with AdvisorOne's Summit Business Media partner, National Underwriter Advanced Markets, for a free trial.
You may also be interested in signing up for a free trial with another Summit Business Media partner, Tax Facts Online.


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From the edge of space a tiny camera captures the dramatic curvature of the Earth, during a test flight that is one small step for Cambridge University students aiming to launch a rocket into space for under £1,000. – The Guardian
Cambridge University Spaceflight is a student run society founded in 2006 comprising undergraduates and postgraduates from many disciplines. We design, build and test high altitude balloons, high powered rockets, and other related experiments. Our main aims are to inspire and provide practical experience to Cambridge University students.


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Zac MacMath played the role of hero in stoppage time parrying away and covering up a Mike Magee penalty kick to help the Union preserve a 2-2 draw against the Chicago Fire.
On a blustery day at Toyota Park, a see-saw of a match resulted in the Union coming away with a road point, but feeling the sting of not securing three due to a late goal in the 86th minute from Chicago's Juan Luis Anangono.
"As a coach these kinds of games are really hard to participate in," said Union manager John Hackworth, postgame. "Clearly Chicago threw everything they could to get back into this game and full credit to them, but I am not pleased with our team at all and the way we dealt with that."
A frustrating affair considering the Union (1-1-3, six points) fought their way back following a goal from Chicago's Mike Magee in the 16th minute. Union midfielder Maurice Edu would strike first in 32nd, when he thumped a low driver to the far post of Chicago's (0-1-4, four points) Sean Johnson. Seven minutes later, Leo Fernandes would notch his second of the season with a delicious in-swinging free kick that again duped Johnson. It would be the first time in 14 matches dating back to last season in which the Union scored more than a goal or fewer.
A testament to chances created not just in this match, but all season – followed by the woe of letting three points once again slip away.
"Right now it's a problem," said defender Sheanon Williams, who returned to the field for the first time this season coming off a nagging leg injury. "It's something that we have addressed and will continue to address. But it comes down to guys buckling down at the end of matches and just not giving up a goal. That starts with the defense and moves forward. We are going to figure this out; we have to figure this out to get to where we want to be at the end of the season."
- View: Full match highlights
What was figured out was that as MacMath continues to mature in his role, his ability to remain cool under intense pressure is also apparent. In his sprawling dive to deny Magee, MacMath said it was all about remembering what he observed watching game film in addition to not getting swept up in the moment that ensured the Union would not leave Toyota Park empty handed.
"We scout all the PKs in the league and I had a good feeling that he was going to go low and to the right," MacMath said. "Thankfully, I was able to get enough on it. [On the rebound], I just threw my body [at the ball] hoping that it would hit me before him. Thankfully, it did."
The final stat sheet showed MacMath with five saves, none more important than his final of the afternoon.
"It was a difficult match, the field conditions were rough and Chicago played well, but I think it's a game where we all know we deserved three points," MacMath continued. "Obviously, we are fortunate to get away with a point, but we don't feel fortunate because again in our eyes we came up short."
The Union will have a week to prepare and figure out how to effective close out its second Western Conference opponent of the season when Real Salt Lake visits PPL Park next Saturday, April 12 (4 p.m., purchase tickets). That game will kick start a run of three in a week span as the Union face an April 16 showdown with bitter rival New York Red Bulls (7:30 p.m., The Comcast Network) followed by a return to PPL Park to host the Houston Dynamo (4 p.m., purchase tickets).
What were your thoughts of this match? Leave a comment below.
Contact Union digital editor Kerith Gabriel at firstname.lastname@example.com


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New posts are available each week over at www.jonathanbardzik.com. Check out the Asian Pear and Pork dumplings I posted today!
It's a little quiet here.
Hi. Sorry I haven't been around lately. I moved. Not too far, just over to http://www.jonathanbardzik.com under the "recipes" tab. Come check me out.
I am truly grateful for each and every one of you who have built the community and traffic on this site. I'd love to have you be a part of the new one. Same bad jokes, same good food. See you there!
The hallmarks of greatness.
"Mom," I texted, "would you please send me your recipe for sweet and sour pork chops?"
"Will try," she replied. "Not sure what condition it's in."
Four hours later, three photos arrived, each a yellowed sheets of paper, splattered with more than 40 years of food, the hallmarks of a good recipe. The top of the first page reads, "McCall's 1969."
This is the recipe that defines sweet and sour pork for me. Far from small scraps of pork hidden in thick, doughy breading, choked in a gelatinous blend of corn syrup and Red Dye #40, Mom's recipe is a simple but elegant balance of vinegar and brown sugar, tied together by sweet, acidic pineapple. Earthy soy and the underlying bitterness of green pepper ground the dish, whose flavors are mellowed and bound by rich pork.
A online scan of 15 sweet and sour pork chop recipes revealed few changes from McCall's 1969 masterpiece. I dove in, eliminating bottled ketchup and canned stock. Mild, sweet, white balsamic vinegar and light Temari soy sauce let thick, porterhouse pork chops, fresh pineapple and vegetables shine through. Tapioca starch gently thickens the sauce.
It's a good recipe. Really good. The kind you want to print out and start splattering with food. It should be nicely yellowed in 40 years or so.
Sweet And Sour Porterhouse Pork Chops
Serves 4
- 4 porterhouse or loin pork chops, about 1″ thick and bone-in
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup White Balsamic or Peach Vinegar*
- 1/4 cup cup Tamari soy sauce
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1 tbs peanut oil
- 1/2 large red onion cut in 1" chunks
- 1 red pepper cut in 1" chunks
- 1 green pepper cut in 1" chunks
- 1/2 pineapple cut in 1" chunks
- 1" ginger, peeled and minced
- 1 tbs tapioca or corn starch**
*Sapore's Peach vinegar was delicious in this dish! White Balsamic would deliver similar mild acidity with light sweetness.
**What's up with tapioca starch? If you can find, it is a very neutral tasting thickener, not dulling the flavors of the other ingredients. I use it exclusively for fruit and berry pies. Corn starch is a perfectly acceptable substitute.
- Pat pork chops dry with paper towels. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
- Whisk together brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce and chicken stock. Reserve.
- Heat peanut oil in a large sauté pan over med-high heat. Brown pork chops, about 3 minutes per side. Reserve pork chops.
- Return pan to medium heat and add onions. Cook 2 minutes until softened. Add red and green peppers and cook 2 minutes longer.
- Add pineapple and ginger. Cook an additional two minutes.
- Return pork chops to pan, along with any liquid that has accumulated on the plate, nestling them in the vegetables. Add the sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 50 minutes.
- Remove pork chops and vegetables with a slotted spoon. Whisk together tapioca starch with 2 tbs warm water. Add to pan and cook, on med-high, stirring, until sauce thickens. Serve over pork chops, pineapple and vegetables.
One step closer to my ultimate goal.
Five years ago, standing in a Fort Lauderdale swimming pool on the last day of vacation, I made a commitment. I would go an entire year without eating any takeout or delivered food.
That commitment, so easily made watching the Florida sunset while sipping a cocktail. was just as easily broken when I returned home. In fairness, I think I made it about a month before Moo Shi chicken and pork dumplings were delivered at the end of a long and stressful day.
Wherefore the failure? My entire plan hinged on learning to make the Asian favorites I couldn't live without. While I've mastered light, vegetable filled Egg Foo Yung, Thai stir-fried eggplant and near-legendary dumplings, the rest of the cannon has eluded me. Until now.
Last Saturday, carrying home a beautiful cold-crop of broccoli from the market, I was bound and determined to stir-fry it with beef, bright with ginger and the salty-earthy taste of soy. My first attempt, however, was an abject failure. Sharp onions turned sweet, broccoli browned before turning tender, and the beef was insipid.
Fixing those mistakes turned out as delicious as it was simple. Quick-steaming broccoli in rice wine (thanks for the tip Chris Brush!) produced bright-green, tender florets. Sautéing the beef in batches produced a crisp sear surrounding silky meat, and replacing onions with scallions kept the flavor sharp and green.
I have yet to master Moo Shi, but I am one step close to another attempt at my ultimate goal of eliminating takeout. And we do have another vacation scheduled in that pool…
Stir Fried Beef, Broccoli And Scallions
READ THIS! No wok needed for this stove-top, skillet friendly version. There are, however, two things to keep in mind. First, prep all of your ingredients first. Secondly, there are several steps beginning with marinating the beef. The broccoli is cooked first, followed by the beef, which is cooked in three batches. Finally, you stir-fry the scallions and return the beef and broccoli to the pan, adding the sauce at the end. It feels like a lot of steps until you do it the first time, but I promise the process is simple and the outcome delicious!
Serves 6-8
- 1 egg white
- 5 tbs tamari soy sauce
- 1/3 cup plus 4 tbs rice wine or dry sherry
- 1 1/2 lbs skirt steak
- 2 tbs tapioca or corn starch
- 2 tbs Wasabi Sesame Oil* or toasted sesame oil
- 6 tbs plus 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 4 cups broccoli florets
- 2 bunches scallions, whites and greens trimmed and cut in 2" pieces
- 1" ginger, cut in thin matchsticks
*Where do you get yummy Wasabi Sesame Oil? Stop in or order online from Sapore Oil and Vinegar in Washington, DC. I drizzle it over fresh, steamed veggie and use it as a sauce for fish, chicken and beef.
- Cut the skirt steak into long, 2-3″ wide strips. Place in the freezer for 20 minutes.
- Remove steak from the freezer and slice thinly, on the bias – that's a diagonal toward the cutting board. The goal is to increase the surface are you are searing.
- Whisk together the egg white, 2 tbs soy sauce, and 2 tbs rice wine in a medium bowl. Mix in steak. Add 1 tbs tapioca starch and mix in with your hands to coat. Add 1 tablespoon Wasabi Sesame Oil and toss with your hands, separating the meat. Let marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- In a 12" skillet over medium heat, warm 1 tbs vegetable oil. Add garlic and cook, turning until browned. Remove garlic and discard.
- Add broccoli to pan and stir fry 1 minute, add 1/3 cup rice wine and cover. Cook until wine evaporates, about 3-5 minutes. Remove broccoli from skillet and reserve.
- Return pan to medium-high heat. Add 2 tbs vegetable oil. Cook beef to medium rare in 3 batches, being careful not to crowd. Add an additional tablespoon of oil between batches. Reserve beef.
- Whisk together sauce ingredients: 3 tbs soy sauce, 1 tbs starch, and 1/4 cup warm water. Reserve.
- Return pan to heat with 1 tbs vegetable oil. Add garlic and cook, turning until browned. Remove garlic and discard.
- Add scallions to skillet and stir-fry for 1 minute. Return broccoli to skillet with scallions and cook 1 minute longer. Return reserved beef to skillet and heat through, 1 minute.
- Move ingredients to the edge of the skillet, opening up the center of the pan. Heat 1 tsp oil in pan and add ginger, stir-frying for 30 seconds.
- Re-whisk sauce. The starch may have settled on the bottom of the bowl. Add the sauce to the middle of the pan and cook, tossing with beef and broccoli to coat.
- Add 2 tbs rice wine, and toss ingredients, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze.
- Drizzle the remaining 1 tbs Wasabi Sesame Oil over the dish and toss, cooking 1 minute longer to glaze the ingredients.
I ate a taco.
Every recipe has a backstory. Here's how pork chops cooked on a bed of mushrooms with cotija cheese came to be:
Like most great dishes, inspiration didn't manifest, it accumulated, beginning, innocuously, with the purchase of two, thick-cut, bone-in pork chops. Something to have on-hand for dinner. But, rather than cook the pork chops, my husband Jason and I went out to dinner at DC's newly-opened El Rey taqueria. The queso con hongos tacos, filled with rich, earthy mushrooms and crumbly cotija cheese were delicious. We ordered a second round.
The next day I thought, "I really should cook those pork chops before they go bad. I wonder how they'd taste with cotija and mushrooms?" Remembering a Silver Palate cookbook recipe for chicken cooked on a bed of mushrooms, I scanned it briefly for technique and roasting temperature.
The first attempt: since I planned to cover the roasting dish with foil, I browned the pork chops first in a pan. Then promptly ignored my own fabulous advice about cooking mushrooms in batches to avoid crowding the pan. The result? A baking dish filled with a soupy layer of wilted mushrooms topped with seared pork chops . We agreed the dish was worth repeating, but that most of the flavor ended up in the liquid in the bottom of the baking dish. We also thought the thick-cut chops got a little thin on flavor toward the center.
The second attempt: A quick and painless brine for the pork chops added all the flavor we needed. Cooking the mushrooms in batches until golden-brown on the edges minimized the broth in the baking dish. Increasing the scallion greens and cilantro from a garnish to a solid sprinkling provided a welcome fresh balance to the earthy mushrooms, sweet, mild pork and the light tang of the cheese.
It's a winner. I wonder if it would make a good taco?
Baked Pork Chops And Mushrooms With Cotija
Serves 4
- 1/2 cup kosher or sea salt
- 4 thick-cut, bone-in pork chops
- 2 cups chicken stock, boiling
- 1/2 oz dried porcini mushrooms
- 3-5 tbs olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 scallions, white and green parts chopped separately
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1.5 lbs crimini mushrooms, sliced
- 2 tbs dried epazote or oregano
- 2 tbs chili powder, like guajillo
- 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 cup crumbled cotija cheese, or feta
- Dissolve salt in 8-10 cups cold water. Add pork chops to brine and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes, up to 2 hours.
- Pour boiling stock over mushrooms. Let sit for 20 minutes. When reconstituted, strain liquid through a paper-towel lined sieve, reserving the liquid. Rinse mushrooms clean and chop finely.
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Drain and rinse pork chops. Pat dry and season both sides with salt and pepper.
- Warm 1 tbs oil in a 12" skillet over med-high heat. Brown pork in two batches, about 3 minutes per side. Add an additional tablespoon of oil for second batch if needed. Reserve, tented with foil.
- Add 2 tbs more oil to pan, reduce heat to medium. Add onion and scallion whites. Cook until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer.
- Add mushrooms to pan in a single, thin layer, about half of them. Cook until mushrooms begin to brown on edges. Reserve mushrooms.
- Return pan to heat, and add an additional tablespoon of oil. Add remaining mushrooms and cook until edges are golden brown. Return reserved mushrooms, along with chopped porcinis to pan. Add reserved porcini liquid and cook until reduced and thickly coating mushrooms.
- Season mushroom mixture with epazote, chile powder, and 1/4 cup cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Place mushrooms in bottom of 9" square or 9 x 11″ baking dish. Top with pork chops and cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 375 until done, about 20 minutes.
- Serve topped with scallion greens and remaining cilantro.
Putting the pumpkin back in pumpkin spice.
I got riled up the other morning.
This does not happen often. I am typically pretty happy-go-lucky, but Facebook took me over the edge.
It wasn't a political statement, first-world problems or one of the uglier -isms, no it was pumpkin spice. In a world where we increasingly vilify real food in favor of weird, processed and extracted things like the powders, bars and Big Macs that are slowly killing us, I hit my wall at this autumn's onslaught of pumpkin spice.
The aforementioned lattes, scones and pancakes are delicious, I'm sure, but they owe their flavor to pumpkin as much as a green Jolly Rancher gains its tart/sweet bite from apple juice. Rather than stew, I stood up and entered the kitchen, pulling a container of freshly roasted Galeux d'Eysines pumpkin out of the fridge. I combined it with oatmeal and baking spices, two tablespoons of maple sugar and a pinch of salt.
And…? Success! Pumpkin spice that tasted like pumpkin. A breakfast with enough fibre to make every dietary organization in America faint with delight. Most importantly, it was hearty and delicious, the perfect start to a crisp fall or brisk winter day. You could even enjoy it with a latte.
Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal
Serves 4
Fresh pumpkin makes his extra special. Roast a peanut pumpkin, Speckled Hound, Long Island Cheese or Hubbard. Or open up a can. Just make sure there's real pumpkin.
- 1 cup fresh pumpkin purée
- 1 cup oatmeal
- 3 tbs maple or brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ginger
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/8 tsp ground all spice
- Pinch of salt
- 3 cups water
- Mix together all ingredients in a small saucepan.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring as oatmeal thickens.
- Cook to desired thickness, remove from heat and serve.
Let's talk turkey.
My friend Sam, the guy who takes all these stunning food photos, is cooking his first Thanksgiving dinner this year. Last night as we talked turkey, Sam said something profound: "I don't even know where to start." Even the few lucky enough to learn from mom are often reenacting kitchen rituals last updated a couple of generations ago.
Here then is my Thanksgiving gift to Sam, a quick and simple guide to a straight forward turkey, no special ingredients, no crazy techniques, but it will put a delicious and respectable bird on the table so you can get back to sharing a special day with those you love.
1. Buying your turkey: You'll need 1 pound of bird per person. That may sound like a lot, but it takes into account the weight of the bones. Turkeys typically range from 8-24 pounds. If you're serving less than 8 people, congrats! you've got leftovers for late night sandwiches. If you are serving more than 16 people, I'd consider buying and cooking two turkeys.
When choosing your turkey, be just fussy enough. If what you can afford to feed your family is a $.98 per-pound bird from the grocery store, go for it. If you can afford a free-range organic bird for $4 a pound, it's probably worth the expense. You don't need to spend $10 a pound, period.
If at all possible, buy a fresh turkey. Frozen birds can take more than two days to thaw safely in the fridge (about 24 hours per 5 pounds). Remember that the neck and gizzards are usually placed in the cavity of the bird, often wrapped in paper or plastic. Remove them and save them for stock.
2. Brining: Brining, at its simplest, means soaking your turkey in heavily salted water, about 1 cup per two gallons. Coarse kosher salt gets the job done at a reasonable price. If you want to chop up and add one onion, one apple., 3 ribs of celery, 3 bay leaves and a tablespoon of peppercorns, go for it, but a simple salt brine works wonders all on its own. Any time in the brine helps, but 24 to 36 hours is ideal.
3. Use the right pan: If you are going to drop some money, do it here. Get ready to spend $100-120 on a roasting pan. Buy a multi-ply, stainless pan with a better heat conducting metal like aluminum or copper in the middle. This is the one place that All-Clad falls down. Check out Calphalon or Mauviel.
The reason for the heavy pan is so that you can take it out of the oven and put it over a burner or two to make the gravy. Do not buy non-stick, it reduces browning, which means less flavor.
4. Getting it ready to roast: There are four things to remember for a great turkey:
- Rub your bird with butter: Rub the turkey inside and out with a cup or so of softened butter. Then salt and pepper the cavity.
- Stuff it: I'm a stuffing-inside-the-bird guy. If you want to stuff your bird, nuke it first, as hot as you can get it, then stuff the bird right before putting it in the oven. This reduces the time needed to get the center of the bird to a safe 165 degrees, reducing the likelihood of drying out the lean white meat. If you don't want to stuff it, add some aromatics to the cavity, try a halved lemon and a few sprigs each of parsley, thyme and rosemary.
- Tie it up: My Mom uses a magic, ancient system of cruel-looking, metal skewers to hold her turkey together. This is easier. Tuck the wings into the body, and, using kitchen twine, tie them in place, running the string once around the thickest part of the bird. Using a second piece of string, overlap the legs and the big meaty piece at the butt, and tie those together, sealing the cavity.
- Lay it on a bed of aromatics: This is the secret to great gravy. Cut an onion into thick slices. Cut a carrot in half the short way and the long way. Cut three celery ribs in half. Lay these in a single layer on the bottom of your roasting pan with a couple sprigs of parsley and thyme, and two bay leaves. Add 3-4 of cups of dry white wine, about 1/2″ deep. Place the bird directly on the bed of vegetables.
5. Roasting: There are a million right answers here, but I'll give you two.
- 350 degrees for 13 minutes per pound. Place the oven rack in the bottom position in your over and pre-heat it to 450.When you put the turkey in reduce the temperature to 350. Baste it every 45 minutes with the pan juices. Starting at 2 hours, check the temperature inside the thigh and the breast, with a quick read thermometer. Make sure the thermometer isn't touching bone. The turkey is done when both the breast and thigh have reached 165 degrees.
- 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes per pound. This method is for unstuffed turkeys weighing no more than 16 pounds. Larger or stuffed birds just need more time for the heat to penetrate. Baste every 20 minutes with pan juices. Check the temperature with a meat thermometer starting at 1 hour. The turkey is done at 165 degrees.
- Tenting and turning. I'm a fan of turning my turkey halfway through cooking. I think it gives you moister breast meat. To do this, simply start your bird, breast side down in the pan, and flip it breast side up halfway through your projected cooking time. This isn't a must, but it's worth the work. If your turkey is browning too early, tent it with foil. This will prevent the skin from burning.
6. Resting: This may be the most important thing you do all day. When you take your cooked turkey out of the oven, place it on a platter and cover it in foil. Let is rest for at least 15 minutes. But let's be realistic, you've got a gratin to pop in the oven and some squash purée to reheat, so your bird's got a good 30-40 minutes to rest, and it will be juicier for it.
7. Great gravy: You will be remembered forever for bringing rich, flavorful, thick gravy to the table. Once the turkey is out, tip your pan toward one corner and skim off the fat, or use a gravy separator. Return the liquid to the pan over medium-high heat and reduce to about 1/2 a cup, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom. Add 6-8 cups of homemade turkey stock (which you've made ahead of time) and reduce by half. Strain the stock, reserving the solids.
Take one cup of stock and whisk in 1/4 cup of flour to make a slurry. Return the remaining stock to the pan over medium heat. Chop about 2 cups of the vegetables and add those to the pan as well. Once the stock is simmering again, whisk in the flour mixture. Let this cook for 10 minutes longer to thicken.
Remove the gravy from the heat and whisk in 2 tbs of cold butter, along with a splash of brandy. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Now, bring your gravy to the table and prepare to be revered.
8. Carving: There's no way around it, this is going to be awkward. Even the best YouTube video won't prepare you for feeling your way around the leg and wing joints, as you separate them from the body. But don't worry about it.
First, remove the legs and wings, feeling for the joints. Next, remove the thigh from the drumstick. A pair of sharp kitchen shears will make this much easier than a knife.
Next, remove the breasts, slicing down from the top along the breast bone. Continue, pulling the breast away from the bone and slicing out horizontally to remove the meat.
Now carve the breast and the thighs, cutting the short way across the pieces of meat. It will kind of be a mess the first few times. Just heap it on a platter and then watch no one care, as they load up with turkey and slather it with gravy.
Well, that wasn't so bad, was it? Remember, if you want to do this like a pro, you'll have to cook a turkey more than once a year. Otherwise, just eat that delicious turkey and toast to the many blessings in your life. Happy Thanksgiving!


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Movies We Like
The Blues Brothers
There was a time in 1978 when John Belushi had the number one movie in theaters— National Lampoon's Animal House. He also starred on the massively popular Saturday Night Live and his band The Blues Brothers, a group he co-fronted along with SNL co-star Dan Aykroyd, had the number one album in the country. The success of their album Briefcase Full of Blues led to a film adaptation, The Blues Brothers—the first and still the best of many films to originate from SNL skits. It's a loud musical-action-comedy film that works in all three genres while boasting some great car chases, stellar music, and staying very funny throughout.
Fresh from a stint in prison Jake (Belushi) reunites with his brother Elwood (Aykroyd). Spurred on by an old friend, Curtis (Cab Calloway) they visit their childhood orphanage and learn that it's on the verge of being shut down for owing back taxes. After a vision "from God" in church they decide to reform their old blues band and raise money with a large charity concert. Most of their bandmates have contempt for them and need convincing to reunite. Along the way they tend to wreak havoc and leave large swaths of destruction wherever they go which leads the police after them. They also create foes with a country/western band, The Good Ol' Boys (led by Charles Napier), when The Blues Brothers steal their bar gig. They disrupt a Nazi rally and manage to put a carload of uniformed Nazis on their trail (led by the hilarious Henry Gibson of Nashville). Oh, and Jake's jilted lover ( played by Carrie Fisher) attacks them with machine guns and flame torches whenever she is able to catch up with them.
Eventually the band does put on a massive concert where you can see what made The Blue Brothers such a popular (though short lived) musical act. Belushi and Aykroyd may be spoofing a rhythm n' blues act, but their voices are passable and their (cocaine fueled) spastic dancing is a joy to behold. Escaping from their concert they lead hundreds of cops and other enemies on a huge high speed chase to downtown Chicago—the film included the most car crashes in film history up to that point—as they race to pay the IRS the money owed. The stunts and stunt driving in a pre-CGI era are incredibly impressive and they just keep coming.
James Brown, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and John Lee Hooker fill the movie with musical performances. As previously mentioned The Blues Brothers started out as a skit on SNL so their tight backing band is composed of top musicians mostly from the SNL house band (a pre-Letterman Paul Shaffer was the musical arranger). Aside from musicians the film is also filled with a number of oddball cameos including John Candy, Twiggy, Steven Spielberg, Steve Lawrence, Frank Oz, and Paul Ruebens. (Keep your eyes peeled for an ever-so-brief Mr. T cameo as an extra on the street filmed before he was famous.)
Coming off of the enormous hit National Lampoon's Animal House director John Landis and Belushi were hot and went all out on scope and budget. The film, with its bigger-is-funnier approach to action, usually works. The same approach didn't work as well a year earlier when Belushi and Aykroyd worked with Spielberg on the misfire, 1941. Like the end of Animal House (where the town is destroyed) the pure spectacle of The Blues Brothers helps to give the film different tones which, when meshed together, create most of the humor. (After being chased by hundreds of cops and firemen Jake and Elwood get stuck in a long elevator ride—mayhem outside, "muzak" inside.)
Belushi's run as a top comic talent was sadly short-lived. After The Blues Brothers he made only two more mostly forgotten films including the dull romantic comedy Continental Divide and the strange black comedy Neighbors (also co-starring Aykroyd). He died of a drug overdose at the age of 33, though like many icons who die premature deaths there are a lot of questions about whether it was actually an accident. It's too bad he couldn't have gone further because beyond his self-destructive lifestyle the guy was a real actor. His comedy was rooted in reality, and though he was overweight and not the typical star he also had a sex appeal that you don't usually find in his types.
Director Landis had some more hits (An American Werewolf in London, Trading Places) but mostly misses (Innocent Blood, Beverly Hills Cop III). He also helmed the inevitable, horrible sequel, Blues Brothers 2000 with John Goodman trying to stuff his feet into Belushi's old shoes. Landis's career really took a nosedive after his negligence put him on trial for the onset death of actor Vic Morrow and a child during the making of Twilight Zone: The Movie.
The Blues Brothers was a major film for me when I was 10-years old. I'm not sure how generations since will react to it. Is the scene where Belushi harasses a guy in a fancy restaurant by saying he wants to buy his daughter as funny to others as it was and still is to me? It's definitely a kind of time capsule, inspired by It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World but with an edgier "SNL in the '70s" druggie sort of approach. It's big and gaudy such as you might associate with over-produced blockbusters of the '80s, but it still has the personal and dark feel of a '70s film. It's a crazy hodgepodge of ideas but unlike most of today's half-assed comedies that play like a first draft of the script The Blues Brothers does read like Belushi and Aykroyd did hammer out at least a couple drafts of the script and were clear on their goals. It's too bad that Belushi died and Aykroyd became a bloated bore because it would have been interesting to see where their work together might have gone. There has definitely never been anything like The Blues Brothers since. It's a funny and odd little treasure on a big, big canvas.


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This girl knows how to get dirty.
ESPN reporter Erin Andrews is slathered in mud and sporting shoulder pads and eye black alongside jocks from the Columbia University football team in a sizzling locker room photo shoot for GQ.
The blonde bombshell appears in a thigh-high skirt and black heels atop a Gatorade cooler in a second photo for the magazine.
U.S. & World
The sexy sideline reporter -- voted "America's Sexiest Sportscaster" by Playboy -- posed for the shoot in April before it was revealed that she had been secretly taped walking around naked in her hotel room by a peephole perv, the New York Post reported.
Clips of the incident went virual on the Web.
The 31-year-old college football reporter told GQ for its September issue that beer-swilling college kids often propose to her as she struts down the sidelines. So far, she's declined the offers.
"I've always looked out for my career first," she said. "That's not to say I don't want to have kids and get married."
"But the guys I've dated are happy I'm not calling them 24-7. They've got their own stuff going on -- that's a good fit for me."
The stunner also said she has "no doubt" she wants eventually to cover pro football in the NFL. "But right now, the college game, I'm enamored with it. i grew up in the South. It's a religion," she said.
The sportscaster said she hopes to move from the South and relocate to New York.
"I have no ties to Atlanta, so ideally, I'll get there ASAP and start playing," she said.
The issue of GQ is on stands this week.


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My advice… Quit waiting and do something about your situation. The more you wait the more time you lose the many years you waste thinking about hair loss the more stress you cause the more hairs you lose the more you miss out on on the good things in life.
– Sean, Visit My Blog
I've have some tough times with my insecurities and feeling depressed, but now that I've hit the 8th month mark, I finally feel more confident and am truly thankful to you for your work. I have received a lot of positive feedback and that has made me feel GREAT! You are the BEST in your field.
– David, Applications Engineer
After much consideration I decided to proceed with Rahal, by far the best clinic, their service was amazing, the results even better. I was treated so well from my initial inquiry right through to the after care. I would describe my experience as PERFECT.
– Mike, Automotive Technician
Very few in the field even come close to Dr. Rahal's artistry and technical ability. He's one of the most skilled and ethical hair transplant surgeons in the business.
– Spencer Kobren, American Hair Loss Association
It's now been 3 years and 5 months since I did my session. And these have been the best 3 years and 5 months of my life! I wake up in the morning looking in the mirror and don't get depressed cause I look 15 years older than my real age.
– Perry, Food & Warehouse Foreman
Perhaps the most important improvement is with my self-esteem and confidence. You would not believe how my confidence level is back to where I was in my early 20's. I no longer dread getting up in the morning and fighting my hair for 1 hour. In fact, I literally get out of the shower, towel dry my hair, comb it back a little and I'm off to work! It takes me less than 1 minute.
– Leo, Human Resources Manager


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Customer Information Management
Unlocking Data with Knowledge Graphs: The Gateway to Better Customer Experiences
Learn how to discover relationships across multiple categories of data to gain a better understanding of customer behaviour.
Recently, I watched an athletics track meet and one of the races prompted a thought about customer experience:
Middle distance sprinters will start at different points on the track, follow their own lane, but ultimately end up in the same place. That's a lot like customers taking their own journeys – and it's making a difference in the way we need to organise information.
When the customer journey was largely predictable, brands could target a marketing campaign to a segment of prospects on a certain day after showing interest, or have sales get in touch after a certain number of emails had gone out. But that experience is no longer a straight line (or a single lane) – it's a maze with multiple entrances. Now, customers are approximately 57 percent through a purchase decision before they even contact a supplier. They're better informed and doing a lot more research before committing to any big purchases.
It used to be ok to have customer information stored by department, captured and managed by each as a prospect progressed through their journey to become a valued customer. Often, the data did not travel outside the team using it – resulting in siloes of campaign data, product information, purchasing history, and other customer data. Siloed systems keep data locked in place, making it difficult to tell where customers have been and where they're going next.
With the advent of the connected customer, that rigid system of data management is coming under heavy pressure to change. Customers drop in an out of buying cycles at different points using different channels, and occasionally in different countries. In a race, this would be like watching the 800 meter with some athletes joining at the 400-meter mark and others at the 200-meter mark.
To reinvent the customer experience by using data in new ways, organisations need to rethink how information is stored and used. For customer data, master data management solutions also need to evolve and organise information into a new model: a knowledge graph.
A New Kind of Journey
The more-informed, more-connected consumer is constantly on the move and quickly develops opinions about products and services. For companies to craft a message that hits home, the message has to be sent at the right time, through the right channel, and with the right context. A knowledge graph breaks down departmental siloes, taking all the information about customers, transactions, and products and integrating it, building a model that's enriched with new, unstructured information from third parties such as social media networks. With this broader understanding of the customer, communications can be far more focused and relevant.
For example, if a company is looking to target prospects based on previous purchases, it's possible to add the context of sentiment, available from social media posts. Someone who is already discussing the topic on Twitter could be a better qualified lead for a sales call, while someone who has been searching key terms around the topic could be better qualified for an early stage marketing campaign.
The Future of Customer Experience
With customers more informed than ever before and joining the race at different times, the future of customer experience is context. In a world where customers can take so many different paths to a purchase, businesses need to create a knowledge graph data model that allows for a more complete view of complex customer needs.
Revamping data management practices and solutions to fit this new model may sound complicated, but, in the end, it will drastically simplify customer information management by creating a consolidated, reliable source of data that can viewed at any angle and used by any department.
Want to learn more about knowledge graphs? Read our article, "Using Knowledge Graphs to Unlock Consumer Data."
- See more at: http://blogs.pb.com/digital-insights/2014/08/05/unlocking-data-with-knowledge-graphs-the-gateway-to-better-customer-experiences/#sthash.baMgJglY.dpuf


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Tony Hsieh's downtown Las Vegas penthouse has commanding views of all of downtown, as well as the Strip, a few miles to the south, plus the Spring Mountains, a dozen or more miles to the west. On this evening the city is draped in angry rain clouds.
Inside his spacious digs there's a large, framed satellite image of the central city on one wall, and lots of multicolored Post-it notes on the other. Both hint at the new role the 38-year-old CEO of Zappos, the online shoe retailer, is trying on: city builder.
Boosters of downtown Las Vegas that sketchy collection of crappy buildings, empty lots, dowdy old casinos and one tourist draw, the Fremont Street Experience are waiting anxiously to see what Hsieh can do. Having sold Zappos to Amazon in 2009 for $1.2 billion, Hsieh is kind of like the big-name free agent a scrappy team hopes will put it over the top. The city is trying to diversify its economy, and symbolically, downtown is an important symbol of that effort, to let residents and prospective new businesses know there's more to this city than showgirls, poker rooms and Cirque du Soleil. Indeed, as Las Vegas slowly gains its footing and confidence in the economic recovery, downtown has emerged as a new driver for the reinvention of Las Vegas and is aiming to reclaim its place as the true heart of the city.
Hsieh moved Zappos from San Francisco to the suburban city of Henderson, Nev., in 2004, eventually caught the urban bug and now plans to relocate his company downtown into the old Las Vegas City Hall building, a move expected to take place in about 18 months. But he is dreaming much bigger than merely a vanilla HQ move. When he was thinking of building a dream campus for Zappos, he initially thought of modeling it after Nike or Apple or Google. "We realized those campuses were actually really insular and didn't contribute or interact with the community around them," he says. "We decided to turn it inside out, and rather than invest in the campus solely, let's invest in the community ecosystem, which will then feed upon itself and become a win-win-win for employees, for Zappos, for local businesses, for the city."
There's a certain Field of Dreams quality to Hsieh's presence downtown when he builds it everyone will come but the scale of his ambition makes this understandable. He plans to invest $350 million of his own fortune in a comprehensive, if still somewhat vaguely defined program: $50 million to nurture tech start-ups; $50 million for 100-200 small businesses to help build community; $50 million on education, including a proposed partnership with Teach for America. The remainder $200 million will go toward developing real estate to provide Zappos employees a place to live, work and play in one neat urban district.
Hsieh and the employees he's assembled to help shape a better downtown don't exactly have backgrounds in planning cities. Then again, he didn't know much about shoes or call centers or customer service when he took over Zappos, and that's turned out pretty well the company continues to grow, and its fun, social culture routinely ranks among the country's best companies to work for.
Hsieh says his approach with Zappos, learning as he went, "gave us a little bit more freedom to do what we felt was right, rather than what everyone else was doing. The way Zappos is run it's really a lot more organic and bottom-up and culture driven." He likens a company's culture to a city's sense of community: "You can't really dictate it top-down." "How do we make the company behave more like a city?" Hsieh asks. "As cities get bigger, they get increases in productivity and innovation." Usually as companies get bigger they don't, he adds. "Part of the reason is the mayor can't tell the people what to do or where to live, so people are naturally more entrepreneurial or flexible. We want to try to figure out how to create this hybrid between the company and a city."
To understand the allure downtown Las Vegas has for Hsieh, it's best to hang out at the Beat a coffee shop and restaurant tucked inside an old medical office building on East Fremont Street. It has enormous windows, good ambiance, good food, good music. It sits in a building that has been converted into a plethora of small and cheap gallery and studio spaces. Tech start-ups meet upstairs once a week. This is one of Vegas' few stabs at real authentic placemaking, a real local joint to hang out and meet your friends, take a date and Vegas' urban cool crowd is holding on tight.
Hsieh likes that the bar owners on East Fremont hang out in each others' bars, that on any given visit to a place like the Beat he's bound to run into a friend (which is common occurrence for many who stop by). He loves turning people onto downtown by giving them the tour. "We talk about trying to maximize the number of serendipitous reactions, accelerating serendipity," he says, upstairs. "I think when you have those conditions, it just happens automatically, statistically."


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Immigration Law & Policy ClinicSLN #: 13934
Course Prefix: LAW-778
Course Section: 001
Credit Hours: 6
Instructor(s): Cruz
Course Description:
The Immigration Law & Policy Clinic is a live-client clinic where students represent immigrants, particularly children, in immigration proceedings before the Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly INS), state dependency court, and the immigration courts. The clinic classroom component exposes students to traditional trial techniques (witness examination, brief writing, closing arguments, etc) and training on representation of diverse populations, including units on working with translators, cross-cultural representation, and multi-cultural sensitivities. The clinic's litigation component requires students to work with statutes, cases, and international sources. Students also collaborate with psychologists, social workers, translators, and experts to develop their motions, briefs, and witness examinations. Finally, students engage in community lawyering projects such as community education and policy research. Students should be available either Monday or Friday mornings for court.
This course fulfills the professional skills requirement for graduation.
NOTE: Please see the Clinical Program website for more details. http://law.asu.edu/clinics
Additional Information:
Credit Hours: 6
Grading Option: Letter Grade Only
Written Assignment: As needed for case
Graduation Writing Requirement: No
Flexible Writing Requirement: No
Skills Requirement: Yes
Experiential Learning: No
Prerequisite: There are no class pre-requisites and Spanish is NOT required
Special Withdrawal Course: Yes. Because of administrative considerations and professional obligations to courts and clients, no student pre-registered for a clinical offering shall be allowed to drop the clinic later than one month preceding the first day of classes, or to add the clinic, unless approval is obtained from the Director of the Clinical Program.
Limited Enrollment Number: 6 - Must fill out questioner available at clinic webpage prior to enrollment
Final Exam Given: No
Attendance Policy: Per Statement Of Student Policies
Additional Attendance Policy: Mandatory
* The law school has a policy that Is used To calculate credit hours. Please see the Statement of Student Policies.


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Polar Circus, V, WI 5 Climber's Log
Seth Maciejowski - Mar 17, 2010 3:38 pm Date Climbed: Mar 8, 2010Awesome
Great route. Many classic pitches stacked on top of one another. Good snow conditions made turning the pencil easy...
MichaelJ - Feb 19, 2009 1:03 pm Date Climbed: Feb 18, 2009Circus indeed
Climbed with Seth in six pitches. Left the car around dawn, found another party head of us, one behind us. So much for climbing during the middle of the week. Lost about an hour waiting for the team ahead but it was nice to soak in the impressive views. All the climbing was fun but the final two pitches really made the day. Back at the car well before dark.
GCutforth - Mar 27, 2008 7:10 pm Date Climbed: Mar 16, 2008Amazing Climb
Atmosphere, ambiance, intensity, reputation...
A true classic.
AJones - Mar 18, 2008 12:37 pm Date Climbed: Mar 16, 2008Finally
We'd been working on getting this climbed for 3 years, but due to circumstances beyond our control, hadn't. Finally, we got it climbed, and what an awesome climb it was. Don't take this one lightly.
brutus of wyde - Feb 2, 2008 4:47 pm Date Climbed: Mar 9, 1998Polar Circus
Trip Report:
The Day at the Circus, a Recreational Therapy Excursion
by Brutus of Wyde
Old Climbers Home,
Oakland, California
As the Boeing 737 stretch house slammed to a stop in the Munchkinland of Calgary, (inadvertently crushing a Customs agent) Nurse Dorothy and Toto blinked at a world of endless color and strange people.
It was late winter, 1998, and Nurse Dorothy was taking Toto for a walk. Toto was in search of a brain, a heart, and courage. Not to mention improved ice technique and good 6.2% Canadian brewski. Dorothy just wanted to tick some great routes and get back to Kansas in one piece.
The helpful Calgarians pointed the pair in the direction of Polar Circus with the useful advice "Follow the yellow-pit road, eh?"
[Polar Circus is a popular and classic ice climb located in the Canadian Rockies off the Icefields Parkway. Climbers from throughout the world come to Canada to test their skills (and empty their bladders, sometimes unintentionally) on this incredible, 700 meter tiered frozen waterfall. Originally rated Grade VI, the first ascent of this route required eight days, fixed ropes, and substantial aid on the steepest sections.
In what was to become a typical situation on this beautiful wall, the climb was crowded even during the first ascent, with two parties competing for the prize. The second ascent party, narrowly missing being the first to bag this great line, eliminated all but five meters of aid from the route.
With the evolution of modern tools and techniques, "Circus" has since been downgraded to Grade V, W5, and is typically climbed by competent teams in a long day from the Icefields
So it was that, with a party of British climbers bivied above, and a party of Slovenian climbers in hot pursuit, Dorothy and Toto started up the approach to Polar Circus in the predawn of March 9, 1998.
Scrambling and teetering up the ice-crusted approach slopes to where they had cached one of their packs (The Tienneman Squarecrow) and one of their ropes the day before, Dorothy glanced down nervously at the Slovenian Roller Derby headlamps gaining rapidly on their heels.
"Be careful Toto, but hurry..." By the time Dorothy clipped in the leash and Toto started up the first pitch, dawn was breaking and the steely eyes of the Slovenians were greedily scanning the ice below Toto's heels.
As Toto barked "Off Belay," both Dorothy and the Slovenian team started up the pitch, the Slovenian male-witch leader climbing over Dorothy's top-rope. It became apparent that there were too many climbers in too small an area of the climb.
The Slovenians exchanged unintelligible comments while the leader warlock glanced at Dorothy and Toto. "Sie sint Toad, meinek Liebscheg, unt deiner kleinek Hund Buick auk!!!" Likely the Slovenian equivalent of "I'll get you, my pretty. And your little dog, too!"
As Dorothy arrived at the belay, a volley of curses was heard from the Slovenian second below. Seemed that one of his tools somehow broke a pick.
"Ve're done." said the Slovenian leader craftily. "Ve vill hust go up and look at the rest of the klimb." With those words, the pair of aerobic monsters hopped on their broomsticks and flew up the easy snow slope above, leaving Dorothy and Toto to follow close behind.
At the next ice wall, the heavy-footed Slovenian spikes were already gouging their way up when Toto and Dorothy arrived.The pair hunkered down and cooled their heels to the side of the gully, out of range of the flying monkey-sized blocks of ice raining down from above. When the fusilade finished, Dorothy quickly skipped up the pitch, with Toto scampering obediently behind.
After another slow-motion sprint up easy snow slopes, Toto bypassed shattered remains of the ice formation known as the Pencil without bothering to stop and place protection. His playful barking echoed off the towering walls of the canyon. Soon the pair were simul-climbing a waist-deep trench through the long, avalanche-prone traverse to the base of the upper head wall.
Far above, the British team could be heard whooping and hollering news that the top of the climb was theirs.
More waiting: The first two pitches of the wall at the head of Polar Circus could be linked as a 70-meter simul-climb, with relatively easy territory at the beginning and the end. But with another flock of flying ice-monkeys sent by the Slovenians gouging huge craters in the slope, Dorothy and Toto found a sheltered location and sat down for an hour-long picnic lunch, the better to watch the huge chunks of mountain falling from the circus above.
Momentum slowed. Toto's eyelids drooped. Sleep stalked the pair. Suddenly, snow sent by the Good Witch of the North began drifting down from the sky, accompanied by small spindrift avalanches, jerking them back to frightened alertness. It was time to move. Caching one of their two packs, "The Goose" at the base of the head wall, they started up.
Still risking bombardment, Toto led the long pitch as quickly as possible, sniffing out the trail of yellow snow and ice, nearly nipping at the heels of the Slovenians in spite of the delay.
Dorothy followed, and eyed the next pitch. Still shaking off the soporific effects of the lunch, she wisely declined the lead, arranged Toto's leash, and sent him ahead. Two pitches of easy ice landed them at the large platform below the final, crux section.
More waiting. The British Lion team rappelled past, commenting on the cavalcade of ice being jack-hammered out of the climb by the Slovenians. "Looks like they're cleaning off the crux section for you anyway, mates.
Good Luck!"
More gutteral curses plummeted from above, accompanied by chunks travelling at interplanetary velocities. A Slovenian had just broken another of their picks while negotiating the curtain of ice off the penultimate belay.
"PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT MAN BEHIND THE CURTAINCurtainurtain!!!"
More waiting: Ever so slowly, the last Slovenian pulled over the top. Time to move.
Within the few minutes it took the Slovs to rappel the top pitch, Toto had led up to the ice-curtained alcove, hooking his entire lead, placing only cursory protection. As the Slovenians clipped the anchors in the alcove, they exchanged a few words, mostly amiable, then the Slovenians vanished into the mist below.
Dorothy arrived for a quick changeover. Growling, Toto hooked around the curtain and up through the steepest section, carefully protecting the 15-meter, shattered vertical crux out of respect for his dwindling energy. Wicked Slovenians dispatched, they now had the climb all to themselves. As the ice eased off, Toto's tail wagged furiously. He could smell the top, and was eager to mark the topmost anchors as his own.
Toto scampered up the finish and gazed into the vast upper bowl and distant craggy towers of Mt. Cirrus playing hide-and-seek in the clouds. The climb was below. The yipping of the little black dog echoed off the vast walls. Nurse Dorothy left "Squarecrow" at the last belay, and quickly joined Toto.
With the day drawing to a close, the two spent a scant few minutes at the top before beginning the rappels. Dereka, the Good Witch of the North, floated up in a bubble, and congratulated them.
"But how do we get down?" asked Dorothy.
"Why, you've always had the ability to go home" the Good Witch replied. "Just close your eyes, tap the snow off your Switchblades three times, thread the ropes through the Ablakovs, and begin the rappels, saying "There's no place like Rampart, there's no place like Rampart..."
"Toto too?" Asked Dorothy
"Toto too!" she nodded.
As the pair sWitched on headlamps and descended into the darkening gully, heading toward Rampart Creek Hostel, the steaming sauna, soft pillows and down comforters, the Good Witch smiled beatifically, waved her wand, and vanished into the spindrift.
pvalchev - Mar 8, 2007 8:06 pm Date Climbed: Mar 7, 2007Polar Circus
What an amazing climb! Definitely deserves its reputation as one of Canada's premier ice climbs. According to guides, it has never been in easier shape than this year - grade 4/4+. We had warm temperatures which was concerning, and we considered bailing had the sun been out due to the avalanche danger. Thankfully we had cloud cover and it remained cold up high (snowed on us) which made it perfect! Ice was in plastic but dry shape.
We, too, had a spooky experience and a loud bang as we were rappelling in the early afternoon. Sounded like a huge cornice collapse and we were running for the anchor (between tiers). Nothing came or was heard, and the bang repeated itself a few times until we realized that Parks Canada were bombing slopes a few kilometers up the road. The highway was closed for a couple of hours and we could see the warden truck and line of cars on the highway - phew!
Dow Williams - Mar 5, 2007 5:28 pm Date Climbed: Mar 1, 2007Polar Circus
A classic with Adam. Thanks to Kevin Craig for his notes. We had planned it and just happened upon his trip report on the Vision the day before. As of March 1, pretty much same as Kevin reported, including the huge thundering noice on the first tier (I combined those two pitches by simul climbing on 60's) of the upper pitches. I actually yelled avalanche to my belayer as I tried to pound a screw in. Weird deal, same as Kevin, we heard it, I felt it on the ice, we saw nothing. My theory goes like this. As I was bringing up my partner to the top of the first tier of the upper pitches, I witnessed some small ice starting falling when the sun hit the Ribbon. The Ribbon is adequately steep that small chunks of ice fall unobstructed right on the top of the base of the first tier formation. I believe if you are below or climbing on the ice, the echo and vibrations from this effect, due to the huge walls on both sides, are quite magnified. Or at least that was the excuse I was looking for to proceed. All ice was good, snow trails fast. The free air rap over what's left of the pencil, should be a paid ride at Disney. Of cousre since I was with Adam, I got to enjoy it in the dark. He likes his beauty sleep and needs it. Cheers.


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Yes, you read that right. According to a recent study of oyster habitats around the world, these mollusks are disappearing, and 85 percent of their reefs have been lost due to over-harvesting and disease. Most of the remaining oysters in the world can be found in five locations in North America.
The study involved an international team of researchers led by Michael Beck of the Nature Conservancy and the University of California, Santa Cruz. They examined the condition of oyster reefs in 40 ecoregions and found that they are at less than 10 percent of their prior abundance in most places.
While they are not officially extinct, the researchers claim that they are "functionally extinct", meaning they lack any significant ecosystem role. What does that mean for us? Well, besides the fact that they provide food and employment to people living in coastal areas, oysters are important to ecosystems because they are some of nature's best water filters. Known as "filter feeders", they consume harmful pollutants while feeding. As we have mentioned before, an adult oyster can filter up to 60 gallons of water a day, which is more than most reverse osmosis filters can do. In addition to the mollusks, themselves, oyster reefs are also constructed to naturally purify contaminated waters.
In order to avoid complete extinction, any reefs with less than 10 percent of former abundance should close to further harvesting until the numbers rise again.