text:
"Dikes versus Living Water," Ensign, Nov. 1976, 27
Dikes versus Living Water
I too feel highly honored to be a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, and sustain all that has occurred on this sacred occasion.
Sister Wirthlin and I are thankful to be here at home with you again and to tell you how wonderfully the Lord is blessing the work in the European area; three new stakes have been organized in Germany during the past two weeks. It is also our pleasure to report that in the German Federal Republic, where we live, and in most of Europe, America's bicentennial has not gone unnoticed. Many occasions have arisen in which respect and love have been shown to our great country, and the precious principles of freedom and dignity which we accord the individual have been honored.
The sentiments of these nations may be portrayed in the words of one distinguished ambassador, General Carlos Romulo, as he left our shores after serving his government here for nearly a score of years. He said, "I admire and love America. … What I have to say in parting is both a tribute and a warning. Never forget, Americans, that yours is a spiritual country. Yes, I know that you are a practical people. Like others, I have marveled at your factories, your skyscrapers, and your arsenals. But underlying everything else is the fact that America began as a God-loving, God-fearing, God-worshiping people, knowing that there is a spark of the divine in each of us. It is this respect for the dignity of the human spirit which makes America invincible."
And this, too, is my tribute to America. We all know that material and physical things are not the source and substance of safety, strength, and freedom of our beloved country.
In August our divinely inspired prophet, President Spencer W. Kimball, and several of our General Authorities held five area conferences in Europe. And what stirring, inspiring, testimony-generating experiences they were for all of us. Those attending will never forget how magnificently they were uplifted and spiritually fed and how wonderfully their testimonies were fortified.
In Amsterdam, during the several days we were together, we visited with some of our members, and our conversation turned to one thing that is unique about the country, the dikes. Much of the Netherlands lies considerably below sea level, as you well know. Through the process of building dikes to wall out the salty sea and through pumping the water into canals, the country of the ingenious, resourceful, and doughty Dutch has literally been born of the sea.
The process of wresting the good and precious earth from the bitter ocean waters has been going on for over 700 years, and there is no abatement of the struggle in sight. The gigantic dikes, or sea walls, may rise as high as sixty feet and are often broad enough on the top for a road over which a regular flow of traffic may be driven. The other side of the dike usually slopes down to green meadows. Thus, those on the dike can see down the chimneys of the houses nestling below; the fish on the one side are higher than the birds in the trees on the other.
Then our discussion turned to the question of safety, and it was agreed that there are no dikes tall enough, wide enough, deep enough, or strong enough to give man the security for which his soul cries out, for which he instinctively yearns, and for which he often frantically searches.
At this point, what was said is best described in Time magazine of February 9, 1953, in these words: "[Last week] a mournful tolling of church bells and the scream of sirens awakened the Netherlanders at 4:00 a.m.; it was already too late. Waves chewed like bulldozers at the historic dikes of Holland, breaking through in at least 70 places, to reclaim what centuries of Dutch ingenuity has taken from the sea. … To the north, the flood crest went as high as 30 feet. … In a matter of hours, roughly a sixth of the Netherlands' 13,000 square miles—an area where 1,000,000 Dutchmen make their homes—was devastated." The desolation here and in nearby countries had taken a toll of over 1,500 known dead.
During this very year, in America's Mountain West in the Teton Valley (Idaho) and the Big Thompson River Canyon, we have been shocked and saddened at the suddenness and unpredictability of tragedy and the realization that mortal life, at best, is surely a fragile and uncertain spark. The globe is constantly threatened by forces, both man-made and inherent in our dwelling places, so devastating and capricious as to stun and stagger us. And when I speak of forces, I mean the innumerable threats to life of every type and kind that abound on the earth, in the earth, and around the earth, whether it be here, in the Netherlands, or elsewhere in the broad universe.
Bookstore operators tell us that the books which head the best-seller list are books on peace and happiness. And since we as a church have the sure answer to mankind's emotional and psychological problems in the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is most urgent that we continue to "lengthen our stride" to reach forlorn, lonely, hungry, and thirsty hearts, and those whose quest is for the truth.
Perhaps I can best emphasize what I feel by recounting the story of a young man by the name of Jack Robertson, an American paralyzed from the waist down, the result of an automobile accident seven years before. He had been a teacher at an elementary school in Scottsdale, Arizona. He had developed a burning desire to swim the English Channel and had trained for two long, grueling years, swimming great distances every day under all kinds of weather conditions in order to build up his strength and endurance. He was the first paraplegic ever to attempt the twenty-one-mile swim across the Channel. The strong, treacherous currents, however, require the swimmer to cover a far greater distance than that in order to reach the opposite shore.
The day finally came when he was to make his heroic attempt. Wearing a wet suit, flippers, and snorkel, he was carried to the beach at Dover by his cousins, Tom and Don Philabaum, where he crawled into the sea. Tom and Don, in the boat that accompanied him, fed him every hour. Jack had hoped to reach the French coast in fifteen hours. "For twelve hours the swim went well," he said. "Then I found myself swimming against the tide." The coast was near, but conditions had decidedly changed. "I gave it all I had," he declared. "Tom was urging me from the boat, saying, 'You've got to do it.' We were so close to France, and yet so far. It was the last few miles that completely drained me. The tides defeated me!" the swimmer exclaimed. His strength ebbed away as he tried to cope with the formidable obstacles in his path. (From Stars and Stripes.)
Life was made for struggle; and exaltation, success, and victory were never meant to be cheap or to come easily. The tides of life often challenge us. To understand why it has to be this way, we should maintain our understanding, our faith, and our courage by a constant rereading of Second Nephi, chapter two, the substance of which is set forth in this excerpt: "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things." (2 Ne. 2:11.)
Now let me make a suggestion that will enable us to maintain our spiritual strength and keep our testimonies vitally alive so that the trials, the storms, and the tides of life will not defeat us. This suggestion is that, above all, we should heed the words of Jesus to the woman at Jacob's well in Samaria when he said, "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:14.)
How could one's strength ebb or falter when it may be so dependably and continuously nourished and restored? Here it is made clear that life, at its best and most vigorous, is spiritual and, as such, is the sincere expression of the soul to God. The spiritual self of each of us is that part of us that will never grow old, or ill, or die, but it must be nurtured and invigorated! Drinking of the living water is the unique recipe, the only way! My testimony is that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, who stands at the head of our church, and that President Spencer W. Kimball is our prophet, seer, and revelator, who is guiding the destiny of the true church of our Savior. To this, I testify with all the strength I possess, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.


text:
Domino Effect
Race is one of the more disputed of life's undisputed facts. But what kind of fact is race? Discredited as the source of any substantive biological difference, race has been reduced to formal visible differences that are no differences at all. In that regard, there is only a human race still troubled by categories of our own making; categories that have taken on a socio-political life of their own. Rather than an immutable framework belonging to a natural order, race, as a modernist construct par excellence, would depend on institutions and their ideological underpinnings for its form and content. Which is to say race is a concept of all too human proportion, one that arguably does not exist outside the dark and dubious ends towards which it has been put to use. Although a biological fiction, it remains a social fact whose history more than compensates for all that science disavows.
With respect to African-Americans, the public discourse on race is hardly suffering for want of incidence. A constellation of arbitrary events from recent memory includes the Don Imus affair; the trial of the Jena Six; the NAACP's staged burial of the "N" word; the questionable distribution of hurricane Katrina relief funds; "Straight Thuggin" Ghetto Parties at The University of Chicago (where fun purportedly comes to die, a 187, no doubt); the ironic revelation that Barack Obama and Dick Cheney are eighth cousins; the not so ironic revelation that Al Sharpton is the descendant of slaves owned by the family of the late senator Strom Thurmond; the Supreme Court's striking down of school integration plans in Louisville and Seattle; and last but not least, Obama's presidential candidacy. Our so-called "obsession" with race reflects an anxious optimism insofar as race relations are a monitor of social progress. The dream bequeathed us by the Civil Rights Movement of being able to disregard an individual's race entirely is as cherished as any constitutional ideal. As Obama eloquently noted in what is now referred to simply as "The Speech," this dream makes the pursuit of a more perfect union anything but an abstraction. Transcending race, however, has proven a somewhat paradoxical task, one fraught with contention as our efforts to become less race conscious serve to make us more race conscious.
Yet, claims to racial identity have become suspect as the concept of race is irrevocably steeped in the rhetoric of biological difference. Critics such as Kwame Anthony Appiah instead favor the passage of race into culture, a notion which aligns itself with a Civil Rights era struggle for a group's right to self-definition under cultural auspices. The reduction of "cultural self-determination" to the now pervasive term "blackness," however, is antithetical to Appiah's concept, as the "ness" implies that culture is an extension of skin color. Under these circumstances, "black culture" would represent the reification of race, in which case anything black people do is the precipitation of race. But more importantly, "blackness," as an uncritical yet willful conflation of race and culture, stands in stark contrast to current efforts to make race socially and politically irrelevant. If the dismantling of affirmative action is any indication, then calling attention to race as the means to address inequality is considered at odds with the formal equality undergirding liberalism. To borrow a phrase from Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man, "Black Is, Black Ain't." Using that as its title, this exhibition surveys a moment in which race is retained yet is simultaneously rejected.
Given that an exhibition of all African-American artists no longer passes for one about race, the discourse of race, as it resides in the visual arts in the broadest sense, is a very diffuse affair. Race is no less mercurial and complex as an organizing principle for an exhibition than it is a tricky issue in general. Just as one might ask what, one might also ask where is race.
Needless to say, figuration remains a staple for the representation of race as it is unimaginable without the body. Rather than projecting a secure sense of racialized identity, however, several of the artists in the exhibition problematize the skin's ability to signify, resorting to disfiguration to deny easy recourse to the body as the locus of an essentialized self (Gray, McKenzie, Serrano). Conceived in terms of difference, race is not the province of a single group or individual. A notable shift since the watershed years of multiculturalism has been the emergent discourse of "whiteness," which finds conspicuous expression in monologue-based performance/video work of a deeply psychological order (Jackson, Johnson, Rytel).
The reification of race is most apparent in the stereotype, a subject the likes of Kara Walker took up with a vengeance over a decade ago. Black is, Black Ain't examines the stereotype in all the discrete objecthood of negrobilia (Levinthal) and at the conceptual level through text-based works of absurdist humor (Pope.L). This last description also applies to the other side of this poster designed by Carl Pope as his contribution to the exhibition.
Along with class and gender, race forms a triad in which it is unable to be seen as an autonomous characteristic. The demolition of almost all of Chicago's high-rise housing projects, including the infamous Cabrini Green and Robert Taylor homes (Good Times no more), serves as an extended meditation on the inextricable link between race and class. As icons of inner city poverty, these structures reflect race as dependent on if not produced through the structure of inequality (Calm, D'Amato, McMillian, Mosley, Pruitt, Roth). With respect to gender, the chief strategy to derail entrenched theories of biological determinism was to emphasize gender's performative dimension. Staged photography and role-playing remain central to an investigation into the tropes of beauty, desire, and resistance (Nimarkoh, M. Thomas), with the upshot in one instance being the delightful reduction of race to camp melodrama courtesy of Hollywood's use of passing as a plot device (Axtman).
There are also works that, for want of a better term, are just plain old soulful in their merger of style and content, as well as wit and poetry, where it is not only what you say but how you say it (Ligon, Pope, Arceneaux, Pruitt). Those works that partake of what might be called a "black aesthetic" find their ironic corollary in a strand of appropriation whose object is a black romanticism eternally frozen in the 1970s (Nimarkoh, Pang, H. Thomas, M. Thomas).
Last but not least, there is history. The reopening of the Emmett Till case in 2005 would question whatever closure the Civil Rights Movement achieved through its legislative victories. Rather than an exercise in nostalgia, several works in the exhibition portray the era of the Civil Rights Movement, and the Till case in particular, as sites of unresolved soul searching at the level of national identity (Adkins, Grant, Lazarus, Oliver, Regier).
By inseparably linking race and culture, the term "blackness" counters a notion of culture divorced from race as that split might downplay the extent to which race was institutionally formalized and the very real role race continues to play in shaping our society. Moreover, "blackness" bluntly begs that a distinction be made between race as the basis of discrimin-ation on the one hand, and solidarity as it is sought by a group already racially defined on the other. The latter might sound like a mise en abyme of sorts, in which the category creates the group that in turn creates the category etc., but it is more a domino effect, where a socially reproducible pattern acquires an inertia resulting in a concept that becomes its own cause, and effect, for that matter. As for transcending race, here we are, still somewhere under the rainbow where none of us is absolved from history. To put that in a positive light, we should take stock of where the discourse was sixteen years ago following the video-taped beating of Rodney King. Regardless of how you vote, you have to admit, watching history being made is better than watching it repeat itself.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
This app can control the helicopter after you connect the transmitter to the audio jack
This application has 5 parts:
1. On the left screen: This is helicopter's throttle, it can fly the helicopter in the air by move forward and land the helicopter when you move backward of it.
2. On the right screen: This function can control helicopter's direction, you just need to move it to up, down, left or right.
3. On the center of the bottom screen: You can use this trimmer to adjust the helicopter to left or right when the helicopter is keep rotating in the air.
4. On the center of the screen: Press "On" to start the controller; press "off" to turn off the controller.
5. On the upper right corner: You may turn on/off the g-sensor to control your helicopter.


text:
Read To Be Ready Promotes Better Literacy Teaching in TN
The Tennessee Department of Education has joined with roughly 90 districts in the state to create a network that trains teachers in the best ways to teach children literacy skills.
The goal is to get more students reading on grade level, and the Read to be Ready coaching network will train and retrain to support over 200 reading coaches on how to assist teachers in efforts toward literacy education. The initiative is part of a $9 million investment made last year to build student reading skills, reports Jason Gonzales for The Tennessean.
The training sessions kicked off this week in Knoxville, and the coaches now will be taking their lessons back to their school districts.
The network was established to lead Tennessee school districts into methods that have been identified to increase positive results in reading instruction, particularly in the early grades. Currently, the education department is seeking to bring 75% of all third-grade students up to grade level by 2025.
On Wednesday, Education Commissioner Candice McQueen said that the state had not done enough to instruct teachers in how to teach children to read. The methods are different throughout the state, and there are many deficiencies to be corrected. McQueen added that so much time had been spent on teaching reading that not enough instruction has occurred in the area of comprehension.
"You learn about the world in one of two ways," McQueen said. "One is through the experiences that you have and the other is reading. Reading is a critical component of making sure all kids are learning and that the learning is moving them to success in the next stage."
The coaches in the network are obligated to spend a minimum of 60% of their time assisting teachers and giving specialized training to small groups of educators annually. Coaches must also agree to teaching six practices that have been proven to help young people learn skills needed to read and comprehend text.
Over the summer in Tennessee, 20 summer programs were chosen from over 200 proposals to receive funding. The funding was donated by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation and the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
The Chattanoogan reports that 95% percent of the programs saw an increase in student confidence and interest in reading. Almost 24,000 hours were spent writing and reading over the summer months. McQueen said:
"Reading is foundational to a student's academic success and by cultivating the skills and desire to read we can develop them into deeper thinkers, problem-solvers, lifelong learners, and future leaders of Tennessee."
And on the Tennessee Government website, the education department has posted the Read to be Ready guidelines that explain the principles and practices of the program.
The education department will use information from coach and teacher knowledge surveys, coach training satisfaction surveys, teacher satisfaction surveys of coach support, classroom observations, and assessments of student achievement and learning to track progress.
From this data, the state will make ongoing improvements to ensure that the Read to be Ready Coaching Network is increasing student learning and literacy achievement statewide.


text:
(a) Establishment
The Administrator shall establish an Office of Environmental Education within the Environmental Protection Agency.
(b) Duties and functions
The Office of Environmental Education shall—
(1) develop and support programs and related efforts, in consultation and coordination with other Federal agencies, to improve understanding of the natural and built environment, and the relationships between humans and their environment, including the global aspects of environmental problems;
(2) support development and the widest possible dissemination of model curricula, educational materials, and training programs for elementary and secondary students and other interested groups, including senior Americans;
(3) develop and disseminate, in cooperation with other Federal agencies, not-for-profit educational and environmental organizations, State agencies, and noncommercial educational broadcasting entities, environmental education publications and audio/visual and other media materials;
(4) develop and support environmental education seminars, training programs, teleconferences, and workshops for environmental education professionals, as provided for in section 5504 of this title;
(5) manage Federal grant assistance provided to local education agencies, institutions of higher education, other not-for-profit organizations, and noncommercial education broadcasting entities, under section 5505 of this title;
(6) administer the environmental internship and fellowship programs provided for in section 5506 of this title;
(7) administer the environmental awards program provided for in section 5507 of this title;
(8) provide staff support to the Advisory Council and Task Force provided for in section 5508 of this title;
(9) assess, in coordination with other Federal agencies, the demand for professional skills and training needed to respond to current and anticipated environmental problems and cooperate with appropriate institutions, organizations, and agencies to develop training programs, curricula, and continuing education programs for teachers, school administrators, and related professionals;
(10) assure the coordination of Federal statutes and programs administered by the Agency relating to environmental education, consistent with the provisions and purposes of those programs, and work to reduce duplication or inconsistencies within these programs;
(11) work with the Department of Education, the Federal Interagency Committee on Education, and with other Federal agencies, including Federal natural resource management agencies, to assure the effective coordination of programs related to environmental education, including environmental education programs relating to national parks, national forests, and wildlife refuges;
(12) provide information on environmental education and training programs to local education agencies, State education and natural resource agencies, and others; and
(13) otherwise provide for the implementation of this chapter.
(c) Director and staff
The Office of Environmental Education shall—
(1) be directed by a Director who shall be a member of the Senior Executive Service;
(2) include a headquarters staff of not less than six and not more than ten full-time equivalent employees; and
(3) be supported by one full-time equivalent employee in each Agency regional office.


text:
Bucket-Wheel Excavators
Thursday, 19th April 2007 by James Turnbull
Continuing this week's theme of mining, today we're visiting Germany's lignite mining area to find some of the largest land vehicles on Earth!
Lignite (or "brown coal") is found in 3 nearby open cast mines in the Rhineland; Hambach, Bergheim and Garzweiler. Collectively they extract over 100 million tons of lignite every year. Extracting such massive amounts of coal requires massive machines -- hence the development of these descriptively named "Bucket-Wheel Excavators".
Their operation is simple; a large rotating wheel has numerous buckets around the rim - which scoop up the lignite (or soil), and then drop it onto a conveyer belt which runs along to the centre of the machine. A typical Bucket-Wheel Excavator could extract the area of a football field, 30m deep, in a single day's work.
Although the current World record for "largest land vehicle" is held by the RB293 bucket wheel excavator, the former title holder's story is much more interesting.
The story goes that Bagger 288 was the reigning champ in the large vehicle stakes, and operated at the most southerly Mine, Hambach. Here Bagger 288 worked away, happily removing the soil which covered the lignite, until 2001 when it had exposed all the coal and was to be re-located to the Garzweiler mine to the North.
However, rather than dismantling the $100 million machine and moving it in pieces, it was deemed cheaper to just drive the 200m long, 100m tall vehicle, 22 kilometres up the road to its new home!
Unfortunately that route happened to cross Autobahn 61, the River Erft, a railroad line and several roads... The whole process cost the equivalent of $10 million and took three weeks! This absolutely incredible photo taken during the operation gives you pretty good idea of Bagger 288's scale.
More pictures here and here. Wikipedia links for Bucket-Wheel Excavator & Bagger 288.
Thanks to Stefan, Graeme Wilkinson, Paul Burkitt-Gray, Chris, Darby & many other people!


text:
If there is one person who has sustained Sybrina Fulton through her son Trayvon Martin's death, it has, without question, been Jesus Christ. Tragedy tends to have a polarizing effect on a person's faith—people often run from God or cling to God when their worlds shatter—and Fulton has used her undesired position in the public spotlight to witness to the God she serves. Her Christian testimony started before George Zimmerman was even arrested. Last March she turned Travyon's hoodie, a sign of protest, into a spiritual symbol. "He's in heaven with God—and he has on a hoodie. He has on a heavenly hoodie," she told TIME. That was just the beginning.
Fulton, an active member of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Miami Gardens, tweeted a miniature prayer almost every day of Zimmerman's trial. It was a profound choice given the extreme attention surrounding the case and the platform for political activism she was suddenly given. She openly prayed "the blood of Jesus over this courtroom," a Christian expression for asking for God's grace and healing presence in difficult circumstances. She shared her favorite Bible verses, and multiple times pointed followers to her favorite passage from the Old Testament book of Proverbs: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." Fulton made sure everyone knew that Christ was the center of her focus, and that she would trust him even though it meant walking through the valley of the shadow of death.
When the court revealed the not-guilty verdict, Fulton's profile picture went black. It could have been a simple sign of solidarity with the social media profile "black out" protests over the verdict. But the brief message she tweeted suggests something even deeper—for Fulton, protest for justice and hope amidst grief, ultimately gains true strength from God. "Lord during my darkest hour I lean on you. You are all that I have," she wrote. "At the end of the day, GOD is still in control." Her message of hope was retweeted over 12,700 times.
Here's a look at her Christian witness in 12 tweets:
Day 1 – We are looking forward to the pursuit of justice for my Angel Trayvon..Plz continue to pray 4 strength for us pic.twitter.com/eymd4M4Z62
— Sybrina Fulton (@SybrinaFulton) June 10, 2013
Day 3 – I want you to know that GOD is keeping me.
— Sybrina Fulton (@SybrinaFulton) June 12, 2013
Day 7 – I still have a praise inside of me.
— Sybrina Fulton (@SybrinaFulton) June 18, 2013
Day 10 – We walk by Faith, not by sight 2 Corinthians 5:7. Yes, the jury was selected yesterday & I still (cont) http://t.co/y6rLU1XYXX
— Sybrina Fulton (@SybrinaFulton) June 21, 2013
Day 11 – He'll never leave nor forsake me. Thank you for covering my family & I. I please the blood of Jesus over this courtroom.
— Sybrina Fulton (@SybrinaFulton) June 24, 2013
Day 12 – When Christ is the center of your focus, all else will come into proper perspective.
— Sybrina Fulton (@SybrinaFulton) June 25, 2013
Day 14 – As I sit here in the courtroom, I know beyond a shadow of a reasonable doubt, that God is truly in control.
— Sybrina Fulton (@SybrinaFulton) June 27, 2013
Day 16 – STRENGTH: Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the (cont) http://t.co/S3ctUlKjIK
— Sybrina Fulton (@SybrinaFulton) July 1, 2013
Day 17 – Remember God gives His toughest battles to His strongest soldiers. Please know I can't give up now, (cont) http://t.co/GeZqsoImUk
— Sybrina Fulton (@SybrinaFulton) July 2, 2013
Day 22 – Good Morning Jesus! Knowing that you are beside me is all I need to begin my day. 🙂
— Sybrina Fulton (@SybrinaFulton) July 10, 2013
Day 24 – As I sit in the courtroom I'm realizing that God is using me to stand up for my son, your son and (cont) http://t.co/eBcRUkMPiB
— Sybrina Fulton (@SybrinaFulton) July 12, 2013
Lord during my darkest hour I lean on you. You are all that I have. At the end of the day, GOD is still in (cont) http://t.co/enQjZ3bZk2
— Sybrina Fulton (@SybrinaFulton) July 14, 2013


text:
Monday, March 9, 2009
All the Ways You Can't Make People Behave
The problem, of course, is that a bunch of the world has intellectual cooties.
As proven by QueryFail and the subsequent rancor over at Nathan's place.
If you didn't follow the twitter event last week, it was a few agents twittering in real time as they read queries and rejected them.
Some people felt it was educational and hilarious.
Some people felt it was unprofessional and an outrage.
But here's the thing: then some of them tried to talk to each other.
Honestly, people. When (a) two diametrically opposed factions meet and (b) at least one of them is really angry and (c) neither of them has weapons, you're really only going to end up with (d) name-calling.
You're all poopy-heads.
36 comments:
- Editorial Anonymous said...
I feel so adult.
- March 10, 2009 at 12:25 AM
- Miriam Forster said...
Harharhar... I have rarely seen a productive discussion on the internet when emotions were running high.
One of the posters on Nathan's blog said something very revealing about the tendency to forget that people on the internet are real. Perhaps that's part of the problem.
And I'll completely accept my status as poopy-head if it means I don't have to grow up. :-) - March 10, 2009 at 12:43 AM
- Editorial Anonymous said...
FYI, while I, like Nathan, don't post things people send me at work, I like Colleen and support her in her work to enclue the clueless.
Some people (for instance my Anonymati) need nothing more than a quick sketch on a napkin or a word of advice in their ears.
And some people need the clue-by-four. - March 10, 2009 at 12:43 AM
- Kimbra Kasch said...
Just thought you might like to read this over at "GalleyCat"
I too am a poopy head - I guess. ;) - March 10, 2009 at 1:01 AM
- Steve Brezenoff said...
I'm on the fence when it comes to #queryfail, though I did watch it breathlessly. So whatever that says about me.
Mainly commenting because "enclue" is the greatest word, and thank you for showing it to me. - March 10, 2009 at 5:47 AM
- gael lynch said...
The whispered word or the scribbled napkin approach still works, because we are real out here in cyberspace. Last week's QueryFail sounded quite a bit like those nippy/yappy dogs that used to get loose in my neighborhood at least once a week. If you've ever been bitten...you never forget it! Thanks, EA, for yanking on the leash.
- March 10, 2009 at 6:40 AM
- MAGolla said...
Ah, where is Miss Snark when you need her?!
Perhaps you could fill her stilettos, EA? - March 10, 2009 at 9:07 AM
You really made me laugh out loud! I'm trying so hard not to be a poopy-head.
- March 10, 2009 at 9:12 AM
- Literaticat said...
The best thing to come out of this whole silly business?
Agentquery's "Agents on a Desert Island Submission Guidelines":
http://tinyurl.com/c2tcl6 - March 10, 2009 at 10:10 AM
- Sarah Laurenson said...
Hah! I always tell people that if they want me to know something they need to hit me upside the head with a 2x4. Now I know the real term.
I looked at some of #queryfail. I think I came in where the outrage was beginning to be expressed. Seems a bit odd to me. In this business, you really need to develop a thick skin. I mean, we're putting our hearts and souls on paper and we will get rejected - by editors, agents, publishers, critics, readers. It happens. Plus, I would love to know what went wrong and why with my own queries.
On the flip side, I would also like to know that this was a possibility with my submission before I sent it in. That way I would be able to be present for it and maybe a little more prepared.
Gotta love The Onion - March 10, 2009 at 11:01 AM
- Becky Fyfe said...
I missed all of it, so now you've got my nosey, poopy-headed self going to check it out! (I won't be commenting on any of it though. I find Internet confrontations a ridiculous waste of time.)
- March 10, 2009 at 11:26 AM
- Jo Treggiari said...
It did deteriorate into a Lord of the Flies scenario pretty quick.
- March 10, 2009 at 11:37 AM
- Criss L. Cox said...
I am one of the poopy-heads!!!
I tried to be more stinky than poopy. (Except when dealing with people who were pooping on #queryfail but hadn't even followed it!)
Now, the Internet may make it easier to poop on a faceless screen name, but it also does build relationships. There's a writer in the UK whose Twitters I follow and whose blog I read. I blogged in favor of #queryfail, she blogged against it. When I commented on her blog, my tone was completely different than it was when I was ranting on my blog or commenting on a stranger's. The Internet may make it easier to forget those screen names are real people, but all of our social media might be starting to remind us. - March 10, 2009 at 1:15 PM
Good call, EA. Good call. Personally I thought Nathan Bransford handled things pretty dang well over on his blog.
- March 10, 2009 at 1:18 PM
- Marissa Doyle said...
I love it when you bandy about those technical book industry terms, EA.
- March 10, 2009 at 1:20 PM
- Sheila JG said...
"enclue the clueless"
So funny. The thing is, the clueless probably didn't see it. Because they're clueless.
But I think everyone who read the comments felt a sigh of relief - "well, at least mine wasn't that bad!" - March 10, 2009 at 1:27 PM
I only read educational, uplifting, inspirational, motivational,enlightening,and sweetly snarked internet offerenings. Like this one and the Big, Bountiful Blue.
The vortex of mean spirited/defensive dribble IS a complete waste of my time (which is limited), productivity and energy.
My word verification is COPING...how appropriate. Sigh. - March 10, 2009 at 2:33 PM
- Sara J. Henry said...
It's a shame the two factions couldn't realize that #queryfail could be two things at the same time:
1. educational (to those who didn't already know most of this stuff from various blogs and other sources) and hilarious (to those not being quoted).
2. unprofessional and an outrage (just a smidgen, or at least it could be perceived that way) - regardless of the purest of intentions. - March 10, 2009 at 3:54 PM
- Sam Hranac said...
I feel so left out, with no poopy on my head. Maybe if I were more tech savy...
- March 10, 2009 at 5:47 PM
- Kiersten White said...
HA! Oh, the last line. Perfect.
- March 10, 2009 at 5:53 PM
I've always seen every query I send out as public writing. After all, I'm HOPING a query letter will get off the slush pile and be seen by dozens of eyeballs on its way upstairs to the person I REALLY want to see it. To keep a query letter private is the LAST thing I want, as that means it's failed to fulfill its sole purpose of BEING critiqued.
I've always assumed every sentence of my query letter would be judged to the highest standards of each person who read it. I should HOPE it would be or else I wouldn't want to end up with that agency. To be dismayed or upset by the public sharing of something that was really already public, and the critiquing of something that was meant to be critiqued from conception seems counterproductive. If you're not ready to handle the public critique of one paragraph, are you ready to handle the public judgment of an entire work?
Oh hell yes, criticism hurts -- and if a writer doesn't get over it, they'll never live past the first negative review of their work on Amazon.com. At least with an agent on #queryfail, the criticism you receive stands a chance of being useful (and coherent).
Now here's a challenge I'd like to see bloggers meet: post your OWN failed query letters. The ones that got your work rejected. Post them, take a deep breath, and show yourself you can survive the resulting comment critiques. Or, potentially, the total silence of indifference.
#queryfailing yourself is a good test of nerves; the more you test yourself, the more resistant your nerve ends will grow. - March 10, 2009 at 11:04 PM
- The Swivet said...
I try to wear Pampers on my head for just such occasions! =)
Actually, I totally respect Nathan, love his blog and think he did his best to reign in the crazy on that comment thread. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion.
I read back through the whole #queryfail stream this evening and, aside from one agent who did break the rules that Lauren and I laid down at the beginning (no personal identifiers, no character/place names, no titles and paraphrase instead of direct quotes), I'm pleased with how it went.
We got so much positive feedback from writers that we'll probably host another #queryfail in late April. (Queryfail 2: Queries Never Die).
All the best,
Colleen - March 11, 2009 at 1:40 AM
- Criss L. Cox said...
@talshannon: "the total silence of indifference" gave me chills! That IS scarier than snarky comments!
- March 11, 2009 at 9:22 AM
- Editorial Anonymous said...
That was my impression, Colleen, but I'm new to twitter and wasn't sure I was able to read the whole thing.
I'm glad you'll keep it going.
And while I can't help agreeing it's a bad idea to be specific, the cat-hair potholder proposal was CLASSIC. - March 11, 2009 at 9:50 AM
- clindsay said...
The cat hair pot holder came with samples. I asked the editor involved if she called a Hazmat team to remove them. ;-)
- March 11, 2009 at 10:29 AM
Gee, clindsay, what comments were you reading? The ones I read on Nathan's pretty much skewered you. I get the feeling you like being the center of controversy.
Janet Reid denounced it. Nathan didn't participate for what I assume were the same reasons. Rachelle Gardener apologized on her blog and said she wouldn't use unsuspecting queries anymore. And you still think it's a swell idea?
I would hope you'd at least give those that query you the option of not participating. It just feels like a breach of trust. Writers weren't seeking to be mocked online but were sending you private communications concerning a book they'd probably spent a year writing.
There's nothing wrong with snark. Snarky comments are great if you sign up for them (Query Shark, or EA's own first pages clinic) but these people didn't sign on for that.
Yes, I'm posting as Anon, lest I become twitter fodder. - March 11, 2009 at 1:22 PM
- Criss L. Cox said...
The Internetz is so confusing!
So, it's okay to attack someone when YOU remain anonymous and the attacked party is clearly identified?
But when you identify yourself and post an anonymous example that's "mean" and unprofessional?
Golly gee, my poopy head hurts now. - March 11, 2009 at 3:31 PM
Some people take all the fun out of being immature.
- March 11, 2009 at 4:47 PM
I guess to me the thing is I dont mind if *I* know the query being ripped apart is mine...that's part of the writing game...
but if I thought anyone ELSE would know that was me, I might get my feelings hurt...
sorry -- this was anonymous because googleid is STILL not recognising me... - March 11, 2009 at 5:31 PM
erm and how do I GET to this mysterious #queryfail on twitter??
I signed up and joined twitter but can't work out how the heck to get to ANYTHING useful!
CJ - March 11, 2009 at 5:40 PM
- none said...
Just goes to show how much dislike of agents is simmering out there, waiting for a chance to be unleashed.
- March 12, 2009 at 8:20 PM
The most fascinating part of all this to me, in regard to Ms. Lindsey, is that she seems to fight for the rights of those who share her lifestyle (a lifestyle many believe to be punishable by death)yet she attacks vulnerable writers. You'd think someone of this nature would never do anything to hurt another person, especially a vulnerable person. Hey, Skinheads, when they kill those "breaking the rules," say their actions are for the better good. Hate is hate is hate is hate. And nothing that Queryfail did will turn any of those writers into published writers. In fact, Ms. Lindsey, on her blog when referring to another agent who was doing this very same thing, used the term "mocking writers". So very sad.... George W. Bush, when asked about the tragedy of the war, said it was his job to educate us . . . .
- March 16, 2009 at 3:07 PM
- Criss L. Cox said...
Anon 3:07,
You disgust me.
Yes, you know what? That's what this is all about. It's about Colleen being gay.
Can you please explain to me exactly HOW you manage to draw any sort of parallel or similarity between #queryfail and the gay rights movement? Seriously, I need to know. I've always been sickly fascinated by how brains like yours work.
Being frustrated with lazy people who can't be bothered to read submission guidelines... denying a group of people basic rights of personhood, and (in the case of nutjobs like you) trying to kill them. Yeah, I really don't see the connection.
In fact, Ms. Lindsey, on her blog when referring to another agent who was doing this very same thing, used the term "mocking writers".
Uh... did you even read her blog? Or did you skin through quickly, lest you got gay cooties on you? Because I read her blog. And I have no idea what in 'tarnation you think you're talking about.
And nothing that Queryfail did will turn any of those writers into published writers.
It turned me into a better writer. And I'll bet many people will agree with me -- certainly more people that will agree with you that homosexuality is "a lifestyle many believe to be punishable by death."
Look, if you got your panties in a bunch over #queryfail, then express yourself intelligently and state your objections to it.
DO. NOT. bring your homophobic hate and idiocy into it.
(EA, sorry to bring the ugly to your blog. I know people like this don't generally think or listen, so I'm writing to a wall, but I also couldn't just sit here and say nothing.) - March 17, 2009 at 1:25 AM
- Editorial Anonymous said...
I totally missed the "lifestyle" comment.
- March 17, 2009 at 1:41 AM
Did someone seriously just compare having a 140-character query summary posted on the internet to being beaten to death for your sexuality?
Yowza. - March 20, 2009 at 9:50 PM
- Unknown said...
Banned complain !! Complaining only causes life and mind become more severe. Enjoy the rhythm of the problems faced. No matter ga life, not a problem not learn, so enjoy it :)
Cara Menghilangkan Penyakit Kanker Vulva
Menghilangkan Kanker Prostat Secara Alami
Cara Mengobati Penyakit
Obat Tradisional Benjolan Di Ketiak
Cara Mencegah Penyakit Ambeien - August 25, 2015 at 10:43 PM


text:
Show All Answers
In addition to a regular license to do business within the City there is a Contractor Business License and a Special Events Business License. Business License Application
Fees vary depending on type of business. For many retail and services businesses, the annual fee is based on the amount of Gross Receipts. A Home Occupation Permit is required if the business is conducted from a home in Pismo Beach. The fee for the Home Occupation Permit is $125.00.
Pick up an Application in person at the Community Development Department, Planning Division at City Hall, 760 Mattie Road, download an application from the Document Center at the City Website, request one to be emailed or mailed to you by calling (805) 773-4658. The fee for the Home Occupation Permit is $125.00.
In addition to a regular license to do business within the City there is a Special Events Business License. This application is for use by vendors with no permanent place of business in the City of Pismo Beach, and includes vendors who may do business only on selected days. Fees vary depending on one-time use, 6- or 12-month application.


text:
Editor's Note: Are you there? If you witnessed the explosion, send your photos and video to CNN iReport.
(CNN) -- Six people, including one minor, were killed Sunday in a natural gas explosion at a resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, authorities and state media reported.
Another 15 or so were injured, according to the local attorney general's office, with the injured including employees of the hotel and tourists from Canada and the United States. The U.S. State Department said two of those injured were Americans.
One of the Canadian victims was a minor, Notimex, Mexico's state news agency reported.
Earlier, authorities had said that as many as 20 people could have been injured in the blast.
The explosion was likely caused by a buildup of natural gas that somehow ignited, but the official cause is under investigation, the attorney general's office said.
Police Commander Arturo Guillermo had said earlier that a gas line or stove exploded at the Grand Riviera Princess.
Video from the scene on Mexico's east coast showed debris spilled into a grassy area in front of an area covered by thatched roofs where the restaurant presumably sits.
The explosion happened around 9 a.m. Sunday morning in the lobby of the hotel. Emergency personnel responded and transferred the injured people to an area hospital for treatment.
"Right now we have personnel on site," said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Gini Staab.
The two injured Americans were taken to a hospital, she said. Authorities, including consular agents and a consular officer, were on site at the hotel assisting U.S. citizens staying there, according to Staab.
CNN's Nick Valencia contributed to this report.


text:
A film purporting to show the beheading of James Foley was probably staged, according to a forensic science company, which suggests the American journalist's execution may have been carried out off-camera.
A blip in the footage, released on social media last week by Islamic State militants, indicated that Foley may have had to repeat a line as he read a script to camera while kneeling in the sand with his hands tied.
There was also no blood on Foley's neck as the masked militant appeared to drew a knife across his neck.
The analysis suggested that the militant, who speaks with a London accent and is believed to be British rapper Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, may have been a frontman for the execution, and not necessarily the killer.
"I think it has been staged," one of the forensic experts told the news organisation.
"My feeling is that the execution may have happened after the camera was stopped."
The Times said that the company did not question that Foley had been beheaded, but rather pointed out that camera trickery appeared to have been used.
Foley's words, which ran for one minute and 26 seconds, appeared to have been scripted, according to the analysis.
The militant was wearing a full-face mask, but the analysis concluded he was speaking the words in the footage.
The company also analysed the start of the supposed beheading.
"After enhancements, the knife can be seen to be drawn across the upper neck at least six times, with no blood evidence to the point the picture fades to black," the analysis said, noting that sounds allegedly made by Foley did not appear consistent with what would be expected.
The next shot is of Foley's decapitated body, with his severed and blood-covered head resting on his body.
The clip was released on YouTube last week as a "warning" to the US to stop its military involvement in Iraq.
The US recently began a bombing campaign in the north of Iraq to help turn back an advance of Islamic State fighters who had made advances against Kurdish-controlled areas and threatened to massacre religious minorities.


text:
The National Science Digital Library is the nation's online library for education and research in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. This is a great resource for students and teachers alike. | The HPC University (HPCU) is a virtual organization whose primary goal is to provide an online environment to share educational and training materials in high performance computing topics. | The Computational Science Education Reference Desk (CSERD) is a Pathways portal of the National Science Digital Library, funded by the National Science Foundation. CSERD aims help students learn about computational science and help faculty and teachers incorporate computational science into the classroom. |
SHODOR is a nonprofit organization serving students and educators by providing materials and instruction relating to computational science (scientific, interactive computing). | The Cyberinfrastructure Tutor (CI-Tutor) is an online training environment aimed at the high performance computing community and is hosted by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. | The Virtual School of Computational Science and Engineering (VSCSE) is is a national virtual organization whose goal is to develop and deliver a computational science curriculum that accelerates the ability of faculty, staff, and students to use emerging computational resources to advance science and engineering. |


text: As our heroes and their Pokémon enjoy another fine meal prepared by Brock, Golbat begins to act strangely and flies away. Brock, Ash and Misty chase after the Flying-type and end up at an archaeological dig. When they meet the intelligent and beautif... (more)ul archeologist, Tierra she explains her ultra-sonic equipment had just been destroyed and perhaps its errant waves attracted Golbat. She also tells our heroes of an ancient golden mask and scepter, once belonging to a queen who had the power to control all Pokémon. She is now looking for a buried temple said to contain these two priceless artifacts and asks Brock if his Golbat will use it's Sonic attack to help her locate the exact placement of the temple. Overhearing our heroes, Team Rocket employs their latest mechanical menace, the Dig-a-Tron to beat the gang to the temple. When Jessie dons the mask and scepter she has the power to control all Pokémon, even Pikachu! What will become of the Pokémon under Jesse's rule?


text:
Grumman Imax Theatre
1 Davis Avenue,
Garden City,
4 people favorited this theater
Modern IMAX theatre built as part of the Cradle of Aviation Museum.
Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
I see that "Beowulf" is booked at this theatre – albeit in the only 2D IMAX presentation I know of for the release. Per the theatre's website, "I Am Legend" will be opening here on December 14th. I didn't realize that mainstream movies were being booked in addition to the usual "Museum" IMAX specialty fare. When was that policy instituted? And why, I wonder, is the theatre not equipped for 3D?
This place is so awesome. I am a pilot, so I really fell in love with this place. It is located on what used to be the Army/Air Force Mitchel Field. The museum is fabulous. Airplanes on the ground and hanging from the ceiling. They even have a real lunar orbiter.
This is the large IMAX, not the same kind of IMAX you see in a movie theater. When you walk in, you will see the huge clear windows. On the other side is the IMAX projection room. You can see everything that goes on in there. The guy inside is Jack.
Tell Jack hello for me. HAVE FUN!
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.


text:
Global Theory
Global Theory is an alternative way of understanding Tolkien's legendarium suggested by David Giraudeau after a concept by Edouard Kloczko.
According to this theory, all of Tolkien's work can be understood as a single continuity, no matter the inconsistencies or alterations, having in mind both his early mythological works (eg. The Book of Lost Tales Part One) and the later (The Lord of the Rings).
For example the theory suggests that the Book of Lost Tales should be understood to have happened in the Middle Ages, long after the prehistorical happenings of the books; the Qenya and Goldogrin words and names are medieval evolution of the "earlier" Quenya and Sindarin of the Elder Days.
All inconsistencies can be dismissed by crediting them to errors or misunderstandings of the copyists, including Eriol.
External links[edit | edit source]
- Essay by David Giraudeau


text:
Ablation catheter with selectively deployable electrodes
A RF ablation catheter for removing athero-stenotic lesions or modifying the tissue characteristics of the interior walls of selected blood vessels is described. The catheter is characterized in having a tip member which during the initial placement of the catheter within the vascular system so that the distal tip member is disposed in a working relation with the lesion to be removed, means are provided for increasing the cross-sectional profile of the tip members to thereby cause it to move into engagement with the lesion to be excised. The application of an RF voltage across a pair of bipolar electrodes is used to create an electric arc for effecting the cutting action, or alternatively, just sufficient RF energy to sear or otherwise alter the tissue surfaces engaged by the distal tip member.
Latest Everest Medical Corporation Patents:
I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to electrosurgical apparatus and more specifically to bipolar electrosurgical devices for use in intravascular surgery for ablating stenotic deposits adhering to the inner walls of the blood vessel.
The use of radio frequency powered instruments for cutting tissue and/or coagulating blood at a bleeding site is well known in the art. For example, reference is made to the Herczog et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,231 describing a scalpel having a blade in the form of an insulating substrate on which closely spaced conductive electrodes are affixed. When radio frequency energy of a sufficient potential is applied between the electrodes and the blade is made to cut into tissue, a current flow develops through the tissue bridging the two electrodes resulting in coagulation. In the Stasz U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,498 and entitled "ELECTRO-CAUTERY SURGICAL BLADE", there is disclosed a scalpel arrangement in which the blade also has conductive traces thereon and which are insulated from one another forming a bipolar electrode pair. When RF energy of a predetermined level is applied across the electrodes and the scalpel blade is brought near to the tissue, cutting occurs due to the creation of a arc discharge which creates such high heat energy that the cells comprising the tissue adjacent the instrument desiccate and are severed.
In treating calcified tissue deposits, an rf spark discharge has been used to create a shock wave which, when coupled through a fluid medium to the tissue deposit, results in a breakup thereof (lithotripsy).
II. Discussion of the Prior Art
The buildup of atheromas or the formation of thrombi in a blood vessel can cause serious circulatory problems and when complete blockage occurs, distal tissues may be deprived of oxygen and nutrients, leading to damage or destruction of cell tissue distally of the blockage. As the blockage grows, distal tissue may become more ischemic unless, of course, channelization occurs whereby blood bypasses the constriction. With a narrowed blood vessel, a point may be reached where even a tiny thrombus becomes lodged creating an infarct.
The treatment of diseased blood vessels depends to a large extent on the location of the blockage. In the case of a blocked or partially blocked coronary artery, it has been the practice to perform coronary bypass surgery. In a like fashion, blood vessel shunts have been installed in other body areas as well. The surgery involved in those procedures tends to be quite traumatic, involving, in the case of coronary-bypass surgery, the opening of the patient's chest and pericardium. In treating deep vein thrombosis or other blockages in the peripheral vasculature, extensive excision and vessel replacement is often required.
More recently, following the technique credited to A. Grunzig, a balloon catheter has been used to restore patency to blood vessels without extensive surgery. In carrying out this technique, a catheter having a small inflatable balloon on its distal end is routed through the vascular system to the site of the restriction to be treated. The deflated balloon is appropriately positioned to span the blockage in question and then a fluid is introduced into the proximal end of the catheter to inflate the balloon to a sufficiently high pressure whereby the blockage is spread open and patency is restored.
As is pointed out in U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,509 to Auth, there are some deficiencies in the Grunzig procedure which renders it ineffective in certain applications. For example, the blockage may be such that it is not possible to safely force the distal tip of the catheter through the blockage prior to the inflation of the balloon. The Auth patent also cites a number of other U.S. patents relating to catheter-mounted cutting devices intended to "tunnel" through a blockage but without doing damage to the healthy blood vessel tissue. The invention of the Auth patent is in the design of a rotatably driven cutting tool which will preferentially abrade hard or calcified lesions while not significantly abrading the endothelial lining of the blood vessel.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn accordance with the present invention, there is provided an RF ablation catheter especially designed for removing stenotic lesions from seriously blocked blood vessels. The device comprises an elongated, plastic, flexible, tubular member which is dimensioned so as to pass through a guide catheter to the site of the lesion to be treated. Disposed on the distal end of the catheter body is a tip member which includes first and second spaced electrodes, with the tip member being configured to present a relatively low profile as the catheter is being advanced through the vascular system to the site of the lesion but then expandable to an increased cross-sectional profile such that the electrodes will be brought into touching relation relative to the stenotic lesion to be ablated. By operating at sub-burning temperatures, it is also possible to use the implement to modify the cell structure of the vessel wall as by searing.
In accordance with a first embodiment, the enlargement is achieved through the inflation of a balloon-like expander member forming a part of the tip member. In a first alternative arrangement, the bipolar electrodes are formed on an umbrella-like member which, when collapsed may reside within the lumen of a tubular guide catheter. When the umbrella-like tip member is displaced distally relative to the catheter body, it opens up to present the electrode pair to the lesion to be removed.
In still another arrangement, the first and second electrodes are wrapped as coils around an insulating frame comprising plural thin flat strips which are secured at one end to the tubular member and whose other ends are secured to a further tube or wire running through the lumen of the first tubular member. When the inner tube is extended out from the distal end of the outer tubular member, the turns of the coils lie in planes which are inclined at a relatively small acute angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the catheter assembly. When the inner tubular member is drawn in the proximal direction while the outer tubular member is held fixed, the thin flexible strips bow outward, causing the electrode coils to stand up in a more perpendicular relationship relative to the longitudinal axis of the catheter.
In yet another embodiment, the electrodes themselves form a plurality of strips bonded at one end to the exterior surface of the outer tubular member and to the outer surface of a coaxially positioned inner tubular member. Again, by drawing back on the inner tubular member, the conductive electrode strips are made to bow outwardly, increasing the cross-sectional profile of the catheter's tip member.
In still another embodiment, the tip member includes a rotatable segment which, by manipulation of a guide wire extending through the lumen of the tubular member, can be made to rotate out of coaxial alignment with the catheter body to expose a pair of bipolar electrodes formed on the rotatable segment.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe foregoing features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of several embodiments of the present invention in which like numerals in the several views refer to corresponding parts.
FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of an intravascular catheter;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the distal tip portion of the catheter of FIG. 1 in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the tip member of FIG. 2 taken along the line 3--3;
FIG. 4 illustrates the tip member of FIG. 2 in its low profile condition juxtaposed with a stenotic lesion to be treated;
FIG. 5 is a view of the tip member in its large profile condition;
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a tip member in accordance with FIG. 2 but including a second electrode set;
FIG. 7 is a right end view of the embodiment of FIG. 6;
FIG. 8 is a side cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the invention with the tip member in its low profile state;
FIG. 9 is a side cross-sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 8 but with the tip member in its expanded state;
FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 10--10 in FIG. 9;
FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of yet another embodiment of the invention showing the electrodes in their low profile state;
FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 11 with the electrodes shown in their extended state;
FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of yet another embodiment of the invention with the electrodes shown in their low profile state;
FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 13 with the electrodes shown in their extended state;
FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view of a yet further embodiment of the invention with the electrodes in their low profile orientation;
FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 15 with the electrodes being deployed in their extended state; and
FIG. 17 is a view taken along lines 17--17 in FIG. 16.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTReferring first to FIG. 1, there is depicted a side elevational view showing the general configuration of an RF intravascular ablation catheter. It is seen to include an elongated, flexible plastic tubular member 12 having a proximal end 14 and a distal end 16. Affixed to the proximal end 14 of the catheter body 12 is an electrical connector 18 having first and second terminal pins 20 and 22 which are adapted to be plugged into the output jacks of a suitable RF voltage generator (not shown). A fluid port 19 communicating with the lumen of tube 12 is integrally molded with the connector 18 and includes a Luer fitting to facilitate its coupling to either a fluid source or to a vacuum. A pair of electrical wires 24 and 26 run the entire length of the catheter body 12 and are joined at the distal end to bipolar electrodes E.sub.1 and E.sub.2 disposed on a tip member 28. The intravascular RF ablation catheter may also include a fixed guidewire 30 attached to the distal end of the tip member 28. It is found that such a fixed guidewire greatly facilitates the threading of the catheter through the vascular system to a designed treatment site.
The tubular body member 12 can be fabricated from a variety of medical grade plastics including silicon rubber, polyethylene, polyurethane, or other polyesters. The tip member 28 is preferably formed from a suitable ceramic capable of withstanding the temperatures encountered during the course of an ablation procedure. Silicon nitride and aluminum nitride are preferred. Similarly, the electrodes E.sub.1 and E.sub.2 may be formed from platinum, tungsten or other conductive metal capable of being exposed to an arc discharge without significant deterioration.
As will be explained in greater detail hereinbelow, an important aspect of the ablation catheter of the present invention is that as the catheter is being routed through the vascular system, its tip member exhibits a low cross-sectional profile. Upon reaching the site in the blood vessel where ablation of a stenotic lesion is to take place, means are provided in the tip member for effectively increasing its cross-sectional profile and thus bringing the electrodes E.sub.1 and E.sub.2 into engagement with the tissue to be excised.
Referring next to FIG. 2, there is shown one type of tip member 28 embodying the foregoing features of the present invention. It is seen to include a tubular segment 32 on which is wound first and second helical coils 31 and 33 with the turns being interlaced with one another. The turns are conveniently held in place on the ceramic core by virtue of a coating of a Teflon.RTM. plastic layer 34. Teflon.RTM. has been found to be well suited to this particular application because it is a high temperature plastic/elastomer capable of withstanding the range of temperatures through which the electrodes must undergo. Besides Teflon.RTM., a ceramic epoxy can be used to bond the electrode coils to the ceramic base. Layer 34 covers a majority of the surface of the conductive windings 31 and 33, except that during the coating process, the assembly is masked to create a window 36 through which the bare metal of the turns is exposed to form electrode surfaces E.sub.1 and E.sub.2. The conductor 24 passing from the proximal connector pin 20 and through the lumen of the tube 12 is connected at its distal end to the helical conductor on which electrode E.sub.1 is exposed and, likewise, the conductor 26 connected to pin 22 at its proximal end is connected to the winding on which the electrode surface E.sub.2 is exposed (through the window 36).
Hidden from view in FIG. 2 but visible in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 3 are fluid ports 38 extending through the wall of the ceramic tubular substrate 32 and the covering of plastic 34 coated thereon. A thin plastic membrane 40 attached to the underside of the tip member is bonded longitudinally to the plastic coating 34 along a seam line 42 and transversely about the proximal and distal ends of the ceramic member 32 as identified by numerals 44 and 46 in FIGS. 4 and 5. Thus, the membrane 40 is sealed along all of its edges and surrounds the undersurface of the tip member as best illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 forming an inflatable expander. It is also to be noted that the fluid ports 38 lie beneath the membrane 40 and thus the interior of the membrane 40 is in fluid communication with the interior of the ceramic substrate 32 and the lumen of the elongated plastic tubular member 12. The membrane preferably comprises a biaxially oriented polyethylene terathalate (PET) material but polyvinyl chloride or polyethylene can be used as well.
With reference to FIG. 4, in use, the catheter with the tip member 28 on its distal end is snaked through the vascular system until the exposed electrodes E.sub.1 and E.sub.2 are juxtaposed relative to the stenotic lesion to be ablated. Once this is done, an inflation fluid may be injected through the proximal inflation port 19 which then flows through the lumen of the tube 12, the hollow interior of the ceramic member 32 and through the ports 38 to inflate the expander. Doing so causes the electrodes to be brought into contact with a predetermined area of the stenotic lesion. Now, when RF energy is applied from the generator (not shown) and across the terminal pins 20 and 22, the conductors 24 and 26 cause that potential to be impressed across the spaced electrodes E.sub.1 and E.sub.2. The spacing of the electrodes is such that at the RF voltage employed, an arc discharge will result to excise the material comprising the stenotic lesion. By rotating the catheter body, the electrodes can be brought into contact with the entire surface of the lesion.
Referring next to FIGS. 6 and 7 there is shown an alternative embodiment of the tip member for an ablation catheter to be used in situations where the plaque in a particular blood vessel substantially occludes the vessel to the extent that the tip member cannot be passed through the blood vessel to the extent shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The tip member of the embodiment of FIGS. 6 and 7 includes a further pair of bipolar electrodes labeled E.sub.3 and E.sub.4 and located on the distal end surface of the tip member 28. Electrode E.sub.3 is formed from an appropriate metal and is generally annular in shape and has a stem portion fitting within a longitudinal bore 48 formed through the ceramic core portion 32. A ceramic plug 50 is dimensioned to fit within the distal end of the bore 48 and carried on the external side surface of the plug 50 is a ring-shaped electrode E.sub.4. As can best be seen in the end view of FIG. 7, a gap, typically approximately 0.005 inches exists between the electrodes E.sub.3 and E.sub.4 such that they are normally insulated from one another.
To avoid confusion in the view of FIG. 6, the wire or ribbon conductors used to couple the RF voltage generator at the proximal end of the catheter to the electrode pairs E.sub.1 -E.sub.2 and E.sub.3 -E.sub.4 are not depicted. In a typical fashion, they would be made to traverse the lumen of the catheter body 12 or, alternatively, may be embedded in the wall of the tube 12 and then the distal end portion of these elongated conductors are appropriately joined to the four electrodes.
As with the embodiment of FIGS. 2 through 4, an inflatable expander member 40 is bonded to the Teflon.RTM. layer 34 which covers the helical windings on which the electrodes E.sub.1 and E.sub.2 are exposed and generally encompasses the lower half of the tip member when viewed as in FIG. 6. The tubular body member 12 in the embodiment of FIG. 6 includes an inflation lumen 52 which joins to a bore 54 formed in the ceramic body 32. By injecting a fluid, such as saline solution, into the inflation lumen 52, it perfuses therealong and through the bore 54 to fill the expander member 40 to a pressure sufficient to inflate it and effectively increase the cross-sectional profile of the tip member to the point where the electrode surfaces E.sub.1 and E.sub.2 are brought into engagement with the plaque deposit to be ablated. Now, when an appropriate RF potential is developed across the electrodes E.sub.1 and E.sub.2, an arc is created which is effective to cut through the athero-stenotic lesion. By simultaneously rotating the catheter, the tip member, and especially the electrodes E.sub.1 and E.sub.2 disposed on a defined surface thereof, can be made to wipe across the lesion occupying an internal circumference of a blood vessel.
As previously mentioned, if the lumen through the lesion is so constricted that the tip member 28 cannot be forced therethrough, a tunnel-like opening can be created by connecting RF energy across the distal electrodes E.sub.3 and E.sub.4 to again create an arc discharge as the distal end is pushed up against the lesion.
The tip member 28 shown in FIG. 6 also includes means for either flushing or aspirating at the wound site. When flushing, a saline solution may be injected through the flush lumen 56 from the proximal end of the catheter and thence through the bore 48 and out the transverse ports 58. Alternatively, by coupling a source of vacuum to the proximal end of the catheter so as to communicate with the lumen 56, a previously injected flushing liquid mixed with blood, and possibly particles of the lesion being ablated, can be drawn through the ports 58, the longitudinal bore 48 and the lumen 56.
Referring next to FIGS. 8-10, a further embodiment of the ablation catheter with means for deploying electrodes following the positioning of the distal end of the ablation catheter at the treatment site is shown. In this arrangement, an elongated flexible plastic tubular member 60 of a predetermined diameter has fitted within the lumen thereof an inner tube 62 through which a pair of elongated insulated conductors 64 and 66 extend. The tube 60 may typically be a guide catheter. As will be later described, conductors 64 and 66 join to spaced-apart electrodes affixed to a radially expandable carrier 68 which in FIG. 8 is shown in its collapsed form within the lumen of the tube 60. As shown in that Figure, the catheter 60 is first routed through the vascular system until its distal end 70 has passed beyond the site of the stenotic lesion 41 to be removed. Next, and as illustrated in FIG. 9, when the catheter body 60 is retracted in the proximal direction while holding the inner tubular member 62 stationary, the carrier member 68 is freed from the confines of the lumen of the tube 60 and is free to expand.
With reference to FIG. 10, it can be seen that there is formed on the proximal side of the carrier 68 a pair of annular electrodes 72 and 74 which are connected by radial traces 76 and 78 to the conductors 64 and 66 extending through the inner tube 62. The carrier member 68 is preferably formed from a material exhibiting a memory property and capable of operating at the temperatures encountered during the RF ablation process. For example, but without limitation, the carrier 68 may be formed from a thin wafer of phosphor bronze alloy whose surface 80 is coated with a layer of insulation, for example, a ceramic. Then, deposited on the insulating layer are the spaced annular electrodes 72 and 74. Moreover, a suitable masking technique can be used to create the conductor patterns on the surface 80, such processes being well known in the hybrid circuitry field.
When the carrier member 68 is popped free of the lumen of the tube 60, it opens like an umbrella and presents the electrodes 72 and 74 to the distal side of the lesion 41. Now, by retracting the inner tubular member 62, the electrodes 72 and 74 are made to engage the plaque deposit. With a suitably high RF current provided, an arc is created across the gap 82 separating the conductors 72 and 74 from one another. This arc is effective to excise the lesion as it is pulled in the proximal direction through the lesion. At the same time, a vacuum may be applied to the proximal end of the catheter 60 to draw blood and any entrained debris created during the RF ablation out of the blood vessel.
FIGS. 11 and 12 depict yet another embodiment of an RF ablation catheter in which the distal tip member is at a relatively low cross-sectional profile during the initial placement of the catheter in the vascular system with the tip member at the treatment site, yet allowing the tip member to be expanded to a relatively larger profile at the time the RF cutting is to take place. This arrangement is seen to include an outer tubular member 60 and inner tubular member 62 which freely passes through the lumen of the tube 60. The tube 62 extends beyond the distal end of the tube 60 and bonded to the distal end portion of each of the tubes 60 and 62 are a series of flexible strips as at 84. Typically, four such strips are used and are spaced at 90.degree. intervals around the cylindrical body of the catheter assembly.
First and second helical wires 86 and 88 wound around the strips in non-contacting relationship creating a predetermined size gap therebetween. The conductors 86 and 88 are preferably coated with an insulation over the majority of the surface thereof, but as in the embodiment of FIG. 2 an electrode area is created by grinding away the insulation over a predetermined segment of those conductors. A fixed guidewire 30 may again be connected to the distal end of the tip member to facilitate routing the catheter through the vascular system to the desired treatment location.
Upon reaching the treatment site and juxtaposing the tip member 28 with the lesion to be excised, the physician may pull back on the inner tube 62 while holding the outer tube 60 fixed. This results in the straps 84 bowing radially outwardly as shown in FIG. 12, causing the turns 86 and 88 to assume a more vertical disposition. This increases the cross-sectional profile of the tip member. This maneuver is intended to cause the electrodes E.sub.1 and E.sub.2 to engage the lesion to be treated. Then, RF current is fed through the conductors 64 and 66 leading to the tip electrodes. The energy supplied may be sufficient to create an electric arc between adjacent electrode pairs. This arc or electrical transmission, being close to or in contact with the tissue of the lesion, causes an electrosurgical cutting action or an electrical searing or fixation effect to take place. That is, by applying lesser energy, a sustained arc may not result, but sufficient heating can be produced to alter the cells comprising the lining of the vessel and to sear the tissue structures. Again, a source of negative pressure may be coupled to the proximal end of the catheter so that blood and possibly other debris may be aspirated through the lumen of the tubular catheter 60.
The embodiment shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 is somewhat closely related to that shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. However, in the later instance, the tip member comprises a plurality of closely-spaced, thin, flexible, conductive strips 90 which are attached at their proximal end to the distal end of the outer tubular member 60. The distal end of the strips 90 are joined to a generally circular insulating disk 92 to which the distal end of the inner tubular member 62 connects. The wires 64 and 66 extend through the lumen of the inner tubular member 62 and respectively join to alternate conductive strips 90 forming a bipolar electrode pair.
The ablation catheter, and especially its distal tip member, is then routed through the vascular system with the tip member in its low profile state as shown in FIG. 13. Upon being juxtaposed relative to the lesion to be excised, the physician retracts the inner tubular member 62, again creating a bowing action of the flexible conductive strip 90 as illustrated in FIG. 14. This brings the bipolar electrodes 90 into engagement with the stenotic lesion to be removed.
FIGS. 15 through 17 illustrate yet another embodiment of the present invention. Here, an outer tubular member 59 has fitted into its distal end a circular ceramic plug 61 having a longitudinal bore 63 extending therethrough. The plug 61 is bonded to the outer tube 59 along a circumferential seam 65 and thus remains stationary relative to the tube 59. Passing through the bore 63 are a pair of conductors 67. They are insulated from one another but wound together in such a fashion that a torque applied to the proximal end of the wound conductors 67, i.e., at the proximal end of the elongated tubular catheter 59, will be transmitted to rotate a circular disk 69 to which the twisted conductors 67 are joined. The disk 69 is illustrated as being in its rotated disposition in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 16. FIG. 17 illustrates the pattern of metallization comprising the bipolar electrodes which are formed on the proximal surface of the disk 69. Again, two generally circular arcs spaced from one another by a predetermined gap create a bipolar electrode pair E.sub.1 and E.sub.2.
As those skilled in the art will appreciate from the description of the prior embodiments, in the case of the present embodiment, in use, the catheter 59 of FIG. 16 will be routed through the vascular system to the treatment site and somewhat distal thereof. During this phase, the disk 69 is generally concentric with the catheter body 59. Once ablation is to be performed, the physician will rotate the coiled wires 67 and, in doing so, will also rotate the disk 69 in the fashion illustrated in FIG. 16. With an appropriate RF voltage applied across the electrodes E.sub.1 and E.sub.2, an arc condition can be created and when the catheter is pulled rearward, i.e., in its proximal direction, the electrodes E.sub.1 and E.sub.2 formed on the disk 69 will engage the lesion and cut through it. It is also contemplated that a torque applying member other than the coiled wires 67 may be used to rotate the disc carrying the electrodes.
The pieces 61 and 69 are preferably fabricated from ceramic such as silicon nitride or aluminum nitride and the electrodes E.sub.1 and E.sub.2 are plated, screened or otherwise formed on the surface of the disk 69 in any of a number of available and well-known processes.
This invention has been described herein in considerable detail in order to comply with the Patent Statutes and to provide those skilled in the art with the information needed to apply the novel principles and to construct and use such specialized components as are required. However, it is to be understood that the invention can be carried out by specifically different equipment and devices, and that various modifications, both as to the equipment details and operating procedures, can be accomplished without departing from the scope of the invention itself.
1. An RF ablation catheter for electrosurgically removing tissue deposits from the interior of a blood vessel, comprising:
- (a) an elongated, flexible, plastic tubular member having a distal end and a proximal end and an outside diameter which is less than the diameter of the lumen of the blood vessel to be treated;
- (b) means for mounting at least two conductive electrodes in non-contacting relation near said distal end of said tubular member to normally present a relatively small cross-sectional profile within said blood vessel prior to the placement of said two electrodes adjacent said tissue deposits;
- (c) means for rotating said electrodes out of longitudinal alignment with respect to said tubular member coupled to said means for mounting which when manually actuated increases said cross-sectional profile to the point where said two electrodes contact said tissue deposits; and
- (d) conductor means extending through said tubular member from said proximal end and connected to said two electrodes for applying an RF voltage across said two electrodes sufficient to cut said tissue deposits, said two electrodes being sufficiently closely spaced to allow electrical breakdown therebetween when bridged by said tissue deposits.
2. An RF ablation catheter for electrosurgically removing tissue deposits from the interior of a blood vessel, comprising:
- (a) an elongated, flexible, plastic tubular member having a distal end and a proximal end and an outside diameter which is less than the diameter of the lumen of the blood vessel to be treated;
- (b) a plug of generally circular cross-section disposed in said distal end of said tubular member, said plug having an aperture therethrough which is radially offset from the center thereof;
- (c) a conductor extending from said proximal end of said tubular member through said aperture; and
- (d) an insulating circular disk having a diameter which is no larger than the diameter of said plug, said insulating disk having first and second separated electrode patterns formed on one major surface thereof, said insulating disk being affixed to the portion of said conductor extending through said aperture so as to be rotatably disposed relative to said plug, said conductor being electrically joined to said first and second electrode patterns, whereby rotation of said conductor selectively displaces said disk from alignment with said plug to expose said electrode patters to said tissue deposits.
3. The RF ablation catheter as in claim 2 wherein said plug is non-rotatable relative to said plastic tubular member.
4. The RF ablation catheter as in claim 3 wherein said plug is formed from a ceramic selected from the group comprising silicon nitride and aluminum nitride.
5. The RF ablation catheter as in claim 2 wherein said insulating circular disk comprises a ceramic selected from the group including silicon nitride and aluminum nitride.
Type: Grant
Filed: Feb 19, 1991
Date of Patent: Oct 15, 1991
Assignee: Everest Medical Corporation (Minneapolis, MN)
Inventors: David J. Parins (White Bear Lake, MN), Mark A. Rydell (Golden Valley, MN), Peter Stasz (Moundsview, MN)
Primary Examiner: Lee S. Cohen
Law Firm: Haugen and Nikolai
Application Number: 7/656,744


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No matter how much President Obama protests, the simple fact is that he continues to oppose and mock and disparage oil and gas drilling. He is a prisoner of the environmental left, and he remains on the wrong side of energy history.
And that's exactly why he has a 59 percent negative rating on the economy, according to a recent poll, even though jobs and other indicators have actually picked up. It's about $4 or higher gas at the pump. Polls overwhelmingly show that Americans want drilling in ANWR and offshore, and that they want hydraulic fracturing of shale for oil and gas. They also overwhelmingly want the Keystone Pipeline (by roughly 70 percent). And they believe the government can act quickly to lower gas prices in the short run.
But the president scoffs at all this. In his energy speech this week, he suggested that the drill, drill, drill crowd (of which I have long been a member) would have founded the Flat Earth Society. He says we might even have sided with 19th-century President Rutherford B. Hayes.
Ha, ha, ha. Very funny.
But the reality is oil, gas and coal — not wind, solar, geothermal and algae — are going to be crucial to America's transportation, electricity and economic growth for many decades to come.
What's particularly galling about Obama's riff is his constant use of a false statistic. The president argues that America uses more than 20 percent of the world's oil, although "even if we drill in every square inch of this country, we still only have 2 percent of the world's known oil reserves."
This is just patently untrue. According to the Institute for Energy Research, when you include oil shale, the U.S. has 1.4 trillion barrels of technically recoverable oil. That is enough to meet all U.S. oil needs for about the next 200 years, without any imports.
With the technology revolution in the energy business, including horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking, the old idea of proved oil reserves that Obama keeps using is replaced with the new concept of recoverable resources. Many thanks to Investor's Business Daily for its story that the U.S. now has 60 times more recoverable oil reserves than Obama claims. And that doesn't even include the natural-gas shale revolution, which has already slashed electricity prices for homes and businesses and will eventually be used more and more in transportation.
And then there's the EPA, which is holding up oil and gas exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf, Alaska's North Slope, ANWR, Utah tar sands, and the whole Green River Formation in Wyoming and neighboring states. Energy development on private lands is leading to greater development and production. But the Obama administration is still way behind on permits for drilling on federal land or offshore.
Steps could in fact be taken to lower gas prices in the short run. EPA mandates for boutique gasoline supplies and ethanol mixtures could be eased, perhaps saving 50 cents a gallon — without sacrificing clean air.
But the best idea I've heard to ease gasoline prices comes from Joint Economic Committee Vice Chairman Kevin Brady, a Texas Republican. He has proposed the Sound Dollar Act, which would require the Fed to monitor gold and the foreign-exchange value of the dollar. He would also replace the Fed's dual mandate with a single mandate for price stability.
A stronger dollar is key. The Joint Economic Committee just put out a study showing that a 10 to 15 percent appreciation of the greenback to pre-recession levels (before the Fed launched its massive dollar-creation, pump-priming campaign) would lower gasoline prices by 43 cents. So if the Treasury and the Federal Reserve strengthened the value of the dollar, oil and gasoline prices would decline.
It's an excellent idea. The best one out there. A return to King Dollar would boost consumer real incomes, attract capital from all over the world and grow the economy at a faster rate.
So there is an action plan on energy. The laws of supply and demand will work to hold back prices. So will a strong dollar. So will easier regulatory mandates. And if market forces generate clean-energy alternatives, then fine. But a true all-of-the-above strategy would take the handcuffs and the sarcasm off of fossil-fuel drilling.
Rutherford B. Hayes can't do it because he's dead. But Obama could. Or more likely, a new White House occupant will.
King Dollar will cut oil prices


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Nas has just released a new music video to the song "Cherry Wine" featuring his friend, the late Amy Winehouse.
The dapper rapper plays a bartender pouring a glass of cherry wine for his love interest. Amy's image is projected on the wall, as if she is the bar's evening entertainment. The late singer provides the chorus for the song. At the end of the video, Nas pays tribute to the British singer by including an endcard that read "In Memory Amy Winehouse."
"Cherry Wine" isn't the first single where the two collaborated. Nas was featured on Amy's song "Like Smoke," which was featured on her posthumous album "Lioness: Hidden Treasures."
"Amy and I share a birthday, so she was my sister," Nas told NME of their relationship. "And she was just so much fun to be around. She would say things about well-known people in the industry that she didn't like and it would just crack me up ... We were all hoping she would pull through and come back."
"Cherry Wines" comes off Nas' latest album "Life is Good," which debuted this past July.


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One of the best things I did all week was see and try to get photos of an endangered shore bird, the Western snowy plover. It's a tiny little thing, about the size of a sparrow, the chick's impossibly small and cute. The snowy plovers habitat is disappearing and they won't survive without our help. The most important thing is to be aware of breeding areas and be respectful of their space. These are the best photos I could get, so I tried painting them on this sand colored rock to show them better.
The number of snowy plovers on our beaches who reside, nest and fledge their young is an indicator of the health of our sandy beaches and coastal ecosystem. Western snowy plovers will survive as a species as long as they have small, protected nesting islands and habitat. The snowy plover is an important part of the interconnected web of life on the shore. Plovers have lived on California beaches for thousands of years, but today human use of their remaining beach habitat seriously threatens their survival.
I hope you nest in peace little snowy. And I hope you have a great week where ever it is you call home.
♥ lori


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Invasive Plants of Wisconsin
Lepidium latifolium L. perennial pepperweed Family: Brassicaceae |
Lepidium latifolium is a new invasive species in Wisconsin (June 2007) and we have a lot to learn about how it will behave in our area. It is a relatively large herbaceous plant, reported to reach 2 meters in height, though the plants of the single Wisconsin site are mostly in the 1 - 1.3 meter range. Leaves are simple, alternate and usually toothed, but some leaves may be entire, according to the available literature. Lower leaves tend to be broader (up to 4 cm wide) and may be longer petioled than the narrower upper leaves. Flowers are very small (4-5 mm wide in full flower) and white with 4 petals, and many flowers are borne close together in a panicled inflorescence which may be 30 cm or more in length. Fruits are flattened in one plane and only slightly longer than wide in the other 2 dimensions, therefore nearly circular in side-view (see above). They are about 2 mm in length. The below-ground structure appears superficially to be a rhizome, but the literature indicates that it is a root and careful examination suggests that it is so. In any event, the plants are perennial and spread vigorously from the below-ground structures to form large populations. There are not many large members of this family (the Brassicaceae or mustard family) in flower at this time of year. The large size of Lepidium latifolium (3-4 feet tall or more), small white flowers with four petals and six stamens, glabrous (smooth) stems and short flattened fruits should separate them from other mustards in mid-summer. The above photos may help in identification. The first Wisconsin record of Lepidium latifolium of which I am aware is in Green Bay, growing in disturbed soils at and near a complex of warehouses and storage yards, and spreading out to a nearby road. The distance between sites occupied suggests that the plants have spread both vegetatively and by seed. This population was discovered on about June 30 and is being treated by the invasive species team of the Brown County Extension Horticulture office. You can find more information at the Brown County UW-extension web site The literature indicates that pulling or digging the plants is not very effective, because if the roots are left in the soil they will simple resprout, even if broken into relatively small pieces. Some success has been achieved with herbicides, and readers are advised to check reliable web sites for specific herbicides, methods and safety precautions. |


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Dependable Comfort
Enjoy perks like free light breakfast and WiFi
Start your day off with a free light breakfast item together with your choice of coffee, tea and juice and enjoy amenities like free WiFi, 24-hour reception desk service, and free large-vehicle parking. Remember to grab a free cup of coffee before you head out the door. Our pet-friendly hotel offers accessible rooms for your convenience.
Things to Do
Enjoy casinos, golf, theaters, and easy access to several universities
Check out the annual Travelers PGA Golf Championship in the summer, or play golf at one of the nearby golf clubs like Lyman Orchards Golf Course. Catch a live performance at the Comcast or Chevrolet Music Theatres. For family fun, head to Dinosaur State Park, or the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods casinos. Our hotel offers easy access to Wesleyan University, Yale University, Trinity College, or Central Connecticut State University.