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"Journal of Sport Behavior"
03/01/1990 to present
Four times yearly
Exercise Intensity and Body Fat Loss
Susan M. Puhl and Kristine Clark (1992)
Aerobic exercise is often added to a weight loss program as a means to both increase caloric expenditure and improve muscle tone and fitness. Many individuals who include aerobic exercise in a weight loss program believe that in order for exercise to aid in fat loss, the exercise must be performed at low intensity.
Anyone who watches a 10K run, marathon, triathlon or other endurance sports event will realize the fallacy of this belief. The top finishers in such events are invariably lean individuals. Yet these athletes train at very high intensities. Why, then, does the myth persist that exercise must be of low intensity if it is to lead to fat loss? The question might be answered by identifying the type of fuel substrate (fat vs. carbohydrate) the body uses during exercise.
During prolonged exercise at low intensity (for example, a young healthy adult walking three miles in one hour), exercising muscles derive the majority of their energy from the aerobic use of fats. However, a significant amount of carbohydrates are also being used. As exercise intensity increases, the proportional use of carbohydrates as a fuel source increases, while the proportional use of fat decreases. Hence, during high intensity exercise, the muscles are deriving more of their energy from carbohydrates than from fat. This is advantageous, since the body gets more usable energy from the oxygen in uses when it burns carbohydrates.
Identification of the major fuel substrate used during exercise of varying intensities provides the basis for the belief that only low intensity exercise is beneficial to fat loss. Since the body derives a greater percentage of energy from fat during low intensity compared to high intensity exercise, many individuals believe that low intensity exercise is better for fat loss than high intensity exercise.
This seemingly simple explanation fails to consider two important factors. First, an exercise bout is a single event occurring during the day. During an average day, a person will participate in many activities and ingest quantities of various foods. The activities will draw from both the carbohydrate and fat fuel stores, while the ingested food will act to resupply both stores. Withdrawals and replenishments are continually occurring throughout the day. However, it is the balance between total calories consumed and total calories used, NOT the source of the calories used, which determines whether a person actually loses body fat. Second, while the body does indeed derive a greater percent of its energy from fat during low intensity exercise, the total amount of energy derived from fat may, in fact, be greater during high intensity exercise.
During low intensity exercise a large portion of the fuel is from fat stores, and relatively little it taken from the carbohydrate stores. The food ingested at the next meal is used to replenish these stores. Some of the fat in the meal will be used in essential body functions, but most of it will not be used immediately. Instead, it will be put into fat storage for use when needed. The carbohydrates in the meal will be used to refill the carbohydrate stores, but since relatively few carbohydrates were used during the exercise, only a small amount of carbohydrates will be used to replenish the stores.
Over the course of the day, if the body burns the same amount of carbohydrates and fat as was taken in through the food ingested, then no weight is lost or gained. The fact that an exercise bout may have used a greater percentage of fat than carbohydrates during the event will not affect the overall fat stores, if there is a balance between caloric intake and caloric expenditure. If, however, over the course of the day, the body withdraws more from its stores than it deposited (burns more calories than consumed), then there well be a weight loss. Since stored energy in the body is in the form of fat, the excess energy used must have been withdrawn from the fat stores, regardless of the fuel source used during the exercise.
Consider the exercise sessions below, completed by a typical 35-year-old woman, weighing 140 pounds:
- Distance 4 miles
- Speed 4 mph
- Duration 60 minutes
- Total Calories 270 kcal
- Calories from Fat 60%, 160 kcal
- Distance 4 miles
- Speed 6 mph
- Duration 40 minutes
- Total Calories 450 kcal
- Calories from Fat 40%, 180 kcal
- Distance 6 miles
- Speed 6 mph
- Duration 60 minutes
- Total Calories 680 kcal
- Calories from Fat 40%, 270 kcal
During the four-mile walk she will indeed derive much of her energy from fat stores, but it results in only a 270 kcal expenditure. Completing the same distance (four miles), but increasing the intensity of the exercise to a jog, increases the caloric expenditure to 450 kcal. If the exerciser increases the intensity and jogs six miles in one hour, there is a further increase in caloric expenditure to 680 kcal - more than double the caloric expenditure of the one-hour walk. High intensity exercise (in this case the jogging) burns more calories than low intensity exercise (the walking) when both are done for the same distance (four miles) or the same time (one hour). Additionally, the total calories from fat are greater for both examples of high intensity exercise than for the low intensity exercise. If weight loss is a major goal, high intensity exercise (jogging) will lead to quicker weight loss.
A 40-minute session of jogging will result in more calories burned and faster body fat loss than a 40-minute session of walking; however, low intensity exercise does provide other health benefits, including improved blood cholesterol, reduced hypertension and improved ability to manage stress. Additionally, low intensity exercise programs are often easier to fit into daily life and to continue over time than high intensity programs. Because of that, greater long term weight loss may occur through a low intensity program, since the exerciser is more likely to continue a low intensity program as a normal part of his or her lifestyle. For example, much more fat can be lost through six months of daily four-mile walks than through two months of daily four-mile jogs.
As discussed above, weight loss or gain is determined by the balance of caloric expenditure and intake. If weight loss is a primary goal, and low intensity exercise seems most appropriate based on lifestyle and interests, then managing caloric intake may provide an alternative method to higher intensity exercise for more rapid, safe fat loss. Several key elements described below will assist in successful management of food intake in a weight management and exercise program:
1.) The fat (or carbohydrates) burned during exercise (whether high or low intensity) will be replaced if enough calories are consumed. Consequently, an overall reduction in food intake - with special emphasis on reducing fat-rich foods owing to their high caloric counts - will assist in weight loss. A loss of one pound of body fat requires a 3,500 calorie deficit - either through additional expenditure (movement) or a reduction in food intake, or both. As discussed above, low intensity exercise does not make a large contribution to a caloric deficit. Reduction of caloric intake by up to 700 calories per day (provided total caloric intake does not fall below 1200 calories per day) may help in speeding weight loss safely.
2.) A greater volume of food, with fewer calories, can be eaten if the fat content of the food is low. For example, two cups of cooked carrots provide about 100 calories (8 grams of protein, 16 grams of carbohydrates, and 0 grams of fat), whereas one cup of potatoes fired in one tablespoon of corn oil provides approximately 235 calories (14 grams of carbohydrates, 15 grams of fat). Be eating the carrots rather than the fried potatoes, not only can a larger portion be eaten, but more vitamins and minerals are consumed.
3.) Water is an essential nutrient often overlooked by individuals interested in weight control. Low intensity exercise typically does not result in sufficient water loss through perspiration to significantly stimulate the thirst mechanism. Drinking 64 ounces of water (8 cups) each day will help maintain both proper hydration and a level of fullness that may help reduce caloric intake. Since many people choose to eat when they are actually thirsty, careful attention to fluids consumed may help reduce caloric intake.
Practical Application
The choice of exercise intensity in a weight-management program should be based on a clear evaluation of goals.
If relatively rapid, safe weight loss is the primary goal of the exercise program, higher intensity exercise may be preferable to to low intensity exercise, provided the exercise is not so stressful that it is discontinued after only a few weeks or months.
If, on the other hand, reduction of coronary risk factors, an improved outlook on life and socialization are significant goals, then low intensity exercise can provide these benefit (along with fat loss) as much or more than higher intensity exercise.
Individuals who choose a low intensity exercise program, yet want a more rapid weight loss than is possible with exercise alone, can increase the rate of fat loss through diet manipulation which emphasizes low-fat foods and plenty of fluids.


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"About 120 protesters outside Mullingar station Ming Flanagan, Maura Harrington, etc. Supporting McCabe. M" - Ex-Garda Commissioner Callinan
"You can judge a man by his friends" Brian Purcell - SG of Dept of Justice
"Some shower Brian" Callinan
Comment piece by William Hederman published in today's Irish Daily Mail (10 September 2012)
The dogs in the street now understand that Ireland's share of revenue from our oil and gas fields is set to be pitifully small, thanks to terms handed down by Ray Burke. It's no longer just campaigners who want change. In May an Oireachtas committee with a majority of Government TDs issued a report calling for the terms to be radically overhauled.
The oil companies are desperate to maintain the status quo. They defend their corner mainly by portraying our offshore as a lonely wasteland, where exploration is almost non-existent and where finding oil or gas is but a remote possibility. Our "attractive" terms (the world's most generous to the oil companies) must be maintained until Ireland is a "proven territory", they insist.
Research to be published today tells a very different story. Campaigners trawled through oil companies' estimates for how much oil or gas is under their respective blocks of Ireland's vast seabed. The intriguing result is a map showing Ireland surrounded by 69 prospects, discoveries and other licensed areas. The combined total estimated to be in these areas – according to the relevant companies' own geologists – is a staggering 21 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
Obviously this figure comes with disclaimers: exploration companies do talk up their prospects to attract investors; and it is generally not possible to extract all of the reserves in a given field. (On the other hand, the figure is conservative insofar as it only includes areas for which estimates have been provided.) But this research tells us something important: that while oil companies have been telling us our waters could well have nothing to offer and that Pat Rabbitte had better keep giving out licences on the old terms, they have been saying something very different to shareholders and investors: namely that there are huge quantities of oil and gas here and they confidently expect to laugh all the way to the bank.
The research is contained in 'Liquid Assets', a report to be released today by the Shell to Sea campaign. The report debunks numerous myths used to defend our giveaway terms, for example the idea that more discoveries will create a thriving industry here and give us our own supply of oil and gas. The reality is that the companies don't plan to bring the resources ashore here. In fact, almost no benefits are guaranteed under our current regime.
Let's look at the Barryroe field as an example of what oil and gas discoveries will mean for the Irish economy. Providence Resources announced in July that Barryroe, 50km off Cork, contains up to 1.6 billion barrels of oil. The company will own every drop it extracts, paying no royalties to the State. Not only that, Ireland has no say over what happens to the oil. Providence can choose to export directly from the rig to a refinery overseas: there is no obligation to bring it ashore in Ireland or use Irish services or personnel. Crew on rigs are flown in from overseas. In the case of its Dalkey Prospect (estimate: 870 million barrels), Providence plans to export directly from the field. It has not yet confirmed where oil from Barryroe will go.
So, as well as having no guarantee of economic spin-offs, Ireland also has no guarantee of a domestic supply. And if Providence does choose to bring the oil ashore here, it will sell to Irish consumers at the current market rate. In other words, having oil or gas under our waters will not protect us against international price rises. Our oil fields might as well be off the coast of Brazil.
The only guaranteed return to the Irish exchequer is a tax on profits of 25% (in exceptional cases, where a field is highly profitable, a further post-tax levy of up to 15% may apply). The State will not receive a guaranteed share of revenue: this is the crux of the problem. For the purposes of tax, when Providence is calculating the profits from Barryroe, it can avail of extremely liberal tax write-offs. Incredibly, it can write off the cost of all its exploration activity anywhere in Irish waters in the previous 25 years.
I discovered the existence of a 2003 consultants' study for Shell that reveals just how small the State's share is likely to be: it projected that the Corrib project would pay just €340 million in tax over its lifetime, or roughly 7% of total field revenue. That's the tax return from what "profits" would be left after Shell's accountants had availed of the tax breaks written into the terms by Ray Burke 25 years ago.
Pat Rabbitte argues that low revenue is better than no revenue: if giving it away with minimal returns is the only way to get at it, then give it away we must. This is short-sighted nonsense, a mentality born of the same pro-corporate, light regulation approach that caused our economic crisis. The fact is that allowing companies to extract our oil and gas involves great costs.
The most obvious costs are environmental: a spill at the Dalkey Prospect could reach the shores of Dublin in one hour, according to the company's Oil Spill Contingency Plan. Then there are the social costs, as witnessed by those resisting Shell in north Mayo. The environmental and social cost of fracking, if it is allowed in Ireland, can barely be imagined. But there is also an economic cost: extraction means the depletion of resources that would be vital in decades to come, when security of supply is a real issue (currently there is no threat to our security of supply, that's another industry myth).
The starting point for this debate should be: why should we extract these resources at all? Considering the various costs associated with extraction, if Ireland is to allow private companies remove our valuable assets, the Government needs to be able to point to significant benefits to Ireland in order to justify that extraction. Under our current terms, it cannot.
William Hederman is a freelance journalist and campaigner. He blogs at www.irishoilandgas.com. He is one of the authors of the report being launched today by Shell to Sea

subset: commoncrawl


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Sunday, January 27, 2008
Make an Easy Wine Bottle Scarf
Cut a piece of felt to 12" by 3/8". Cut fringe at each end. Fold around neck and decide where the scarf will cross. Cut a slit where the scarf crosses. Wrap around neck bottle and pull scarf through slit(refer to picture below). This will set you back about 20 cents and takes about two minutes to make.
14 comments:
cute! you always have such imaginative tutorials!
- January 27, 2008 at 9:26 PM
- HomeMadeOriginals said...
so simple, but soooo cute!
- January 27, 2008 at 10:24 PM
Simple and nice.
I can do that easily!
It will be nice to have that as a decoration on Valentine's Day as well. :P
Thanks for the idea!
Alex's World! - http://www.kakinan.com/alex
P.S. What will you do with the chairs if you were to decorate them? - January 28, 2008 at 6:13 AM
- Yuko said...
Thank you so much for your visit and thanks for the comment!
I red through your blog and found many Japanese stuffs!
I also love "Zakka" very much!
How did you find Mizuhiki in the US??? :D
I'm happy to "meet" a person who loves Japan!
You are so creative and it was fun to see your works! - January 28, 2008 at 6:34 AM
- zakkalife said...
thanks Jocelan and homemadeoriginals!
Yuko, I get the Mizuhiki cord at the San Francisco Japan Town, they have a couple of great stationary stores there. - January 28, 2008 at 7:18 AM
- Melissa said...
I love it! I'll have to go out and get a bottle of wine to give it a try.
- January 28, 2008 at 9:23 AM
- Beki - TheRustedChain said...
That is so cute!! You always have the best ideas.
- January 29, 2008 at 8:34 AM
- Pea said...
Such a great idea.. Thanks ! will definately try it..!
- January 29, 2008 at 2:55 PM
- Oiyi said...
It really fancies up the bottle.
- January 29, 2008 at 4:24 PM
- mushroommeadows said...
hehe so cute!
- January 29, 2008 at 9:27 PM
- jen v said...
so adorable. i love it!
- February 1, 2008 at 1:36 AM
- Feltland said...
Loved this idea - it's so easy but so chic ... really cute ... thanks for sharing it ... :D
- February 1, 2008 at 3:43 PM
- jennwa said...
That looks like something I could do and it is cute.
- February 2, 2008 at 4:18 PM
- Amy Rohl said...
I have to tell you that my sister alerted me to your wonderful blog, specifically these wine scarves--they are incredibly quick, cute and have endless possibilities.
My sister and I made a few over Thanksgiving. Here's a link to my blog if you're interested:
Thanks so much for you idea and inspiration!
Amy - November 29, 2009 at 11:38 AM


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The Cost of Responding to Immigration Detainers in California
In our criminal justice system, detainers to hold individuals wanted by law enforcement agencies are issued by judges after they have reviewed the underlying circumstances leading to the request. Immigration detainers, or "ICE holds" are issued by ICE administrative officials without the benefit of judicial review. In this preliminary report, based on data from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, Justice Strategies finds that the cost to Los Angeles of complying with these administrative requests is more than $26 million annually.


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Self Assessments
Copyright: © RWTH AachenRWTH Aachen Self Assessment: a tool for deciding the right course of study - how does it work? It's easy! Complete the online questions and exercises from specific disciplines. You will need 90-120 minutes. Afterwards, your results will be individually evaluated and made available to you online. Participation is free and anonymous.
Participating in the Self Assessment is Worth It
The RWTH Aachen Self Assessment gives you informative and helpful feedback on your strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, you will also find out where to get advising for choosing a course of study and where you can attain specific information on your chosen major.
We recommend being focused while completing the Self Assessment and to do so in a quiet environment.
Prospective students from abroad should contact the International Office to find out about enrollment prerequisites.
After the Self Assessment
The Self Assessment results have no effect on the allocation of university placements. After you have participated in the Subject Specific Self Assessment, you will receive a participation certificate online. You must present this for enrollment in the Bachelor or Teacher Training degree program at RWTH. You do not yet need the certificate for application to a course of study with restricted admission, but we recommend completing the Self Assessment as soon as possible.
We'd be excited if you joined us here at RWTH Aachen!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Self Assessment?
Simply said, a Self Assessment is an orientation test. If should help you to realistically assess your own abilities. The individual test results offer you a good opportunity to orient yourself on the choice of your course of study. In addition to your aptitude and interests, you will become more familiar with the challenges of certain subject fields through our Self Assessment, since the tests were created through close collaboration from representatives of the individual disciplines.
How do I participate in the Self Assessment?
Register online and then start a Self Assessment. There, you will anonymously answer a few questions and solve subject specific exercises. Afterwards you will automatically receive detailed feedback.
Which Self Assessment is right for me?
Are you still unsure what subject you'd like to study? Or you have no idea, if a course of study is right for you? Our Orientation Self Assessment will help you. We recommend starting with the Orientation Self Assessment in the 11th grade as a helpful guide to your course of study.
If you already know exactly what you would like to study, you can become more familiar with the demands of a particular discipline in the Subject Specific Self Assessment. We recommend completing the Subject Specific Self Assessment in the 12th grade.
Note: If you would like to enroll for a Bachelor or Teacher Training degree program at RWTH Aachen, you must have already participated in a Subject Specific Self Assessment. The single exception to this is the medicine course of study. In this case, you do not have to provide evidence of your participation in a Self Assessment.
What happens to my answers?
While you are participating in the Self Assessment, your answers are anonymously saved. Later this information will be used for your personal feedback. Only you can view the feedback.
The RWTH Self Assessment Team uses the anonymous data to rework the questions and exercises and to further improve the service.
The Self Assessment result has no effect on the allocation of university placements.
Is participation in the Self Assessment mandatory?
Generally, yes. If you would like to apply for a Bachelor or Teacher Training degree program, you have to provide proof that you have participated in the Subject Specific Self Assessment. Submit the participation certificate that you automatically received at the end of the Self Assessment.
The Orientation Self Assessments are not required yet. They should help you figure out, which subjects could suit your interests and abilities.
I didn't perform as successfully in the Self Assessment as I expected. What do I do now?
We recommend an advising session with the Student Advice Centre or the respective departmental advising. Together with an advisor, you will determine how you can fill in your knowledge gaps and prepare for your desired course of study. There you'll also find out, if you should possible rethink your own expectations of the subject or if another discipline would possibly better suit your expectations and abilities.
Whom are the Self Assessments targeted towards?
The RWTH Aachen Self Assessments are targeted towards anyone, who is interested in a course of study, especially students in the 11th and 12th grades.
What is covered in the Self Assessments?
The Orientation Self Assessment helps you to recognize your own strengths and interests. With the Orientation Self Assessment, you'll additionally find out which disciplines best suit you. You will solve problems, in which there is logical reasoning. You will, for example, finish numerical series or solve riddles. Your visual thinking will also be tested. For this, you will have to solve exercises with logical reasoning using numbers, as well linguistic or graphic exercises. Furthermore, typical situations from everyday student life will be depicted. You will be given possible courses of action, from which you will have to pick the best one. At the end, you will find out which solution is best.
The Subject Specific Self Assessments impart information on the content and demands of courses of study. The exercises you have to complete here correspond to the demands and challenges of tasks that await you at the beginning of a specific course of study.
The Self Assessments also look into your motivation and willingness to perform. Furthermore, the Self Assessments evaluate your mathematical abilities and text comprehension.
How are the Subject Specific Self Assessments and further advising processes at RWTH Aachen related?
The subject oriented Self Assessments are a part of the student orientation at RWTH Aachen. A few RWTH Aachen institutes offer their own subject oriented assessments and advising process. For subject specific questions, the departmental advisors will gladly help you. If you have general questions about the course of study offerings, please contact the Student Advice Center (Link). You can also contact the Self Assessment Team at any time, if you have any questions about our offerings.
How long does a Self Assessment take?
The Orientation Self Assessment takes about 60 minutes, and the Subject Specific Self Assessment anywhere from 90-120 minutes.
How much does it cost to participate in a Self Assessment?
It doesn't cost anything. This service is free of charge for prospective students. You will also receive your results free of charge, albeit at the end of your Self Assessment. Additionally, you can save your results online.
How can I participate in a Self Assessment?
Start the RWTH Aachen Self Assessment and register with a username and password. With this access information, you are able to log in later, e.g. if you interrupt the Self Assessment and would like to resume later, or if you want to access your results again at a later time.
The subject oriented advising process and subject assessment of the individual course of study likewise show what challenges and material are in store for you in the respective course of study.
Who develops the Self Assessments?
The team from the Chair for Pesonnel and Organizational Psychology developed the first Self Assessment in 2002, under the leadership of Professor Lutz Hornke. Since then, the service has been continually expanded. The researchers have asked teachers and students, how they would assess the aptitudes and interests of the subject fields. Since 2010, Professor Marold Wosnitza, from the Institute for Educational Research, has been responsible for the further development of the Self Assessments.
What does an evaluation of the results look like?
You will receive a written evaluation of your results. Within it, you will find explanations for the individual exercises and question types. For example, here you learn what meaning an exercise area has for the respective course of study.


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This medium-sized notebook is characterized by a saffiano leather cover, which is resistant to scratches, abrasions, and external stress. With hand-painted gold edges, this sophisticated accessory is essential for gathering travel memories, holding on to your personal thoughts, and makes for a singular gift. The note pages are smooth, made from natural pure cellulose paper, using an environmentally friendly process; furthermore, the notebook is completely biodegradable and recyclable. The natural white hue was obtained without the use of optical brighteners.
• Dimensions: 14.5 x 21 cm – 5.71 x 8.27 inches
• Grams per page: 90 g/sq. m
• Acid-free paper, from sustainable forestry
• 192 pages
• Made in Italy
Leather cover
Shipping and returns
Shipping is always free over a minimum threshold. We offer various shipping options to best meet your needs. Any shipping costs will vary by shipping type and destination and will be automatically calculated at checkout. For more information on shipping costs and times, please check our dedicated area
Customized items and limited-edition sneakers are shipped within 3 weeks of order confirmation.
Returns are always free of charge within 15 days of receipt by completing the Return Authorization request that you can find online in the relevant area or by contacting our Customer Care team. Please remember that this information does not apply in the case of customized items, limited-edition sneakers and Food&Beverage products. Furthermore, for reasons of hygiene and safety, Beauty products cannot be refunded once opened.
Medium Blank Notebook Leather Cover
Medium Blank Notebook Leather Cover
Art. Nr. TCC025TCAE9UL003
Personalized with the Leopardo print, ever-present in the DNA of Dolce&Gabbana, this blank notebook with a classic, biting soul expresses strong personality and timeless charm.
Other colors
Available Size
Available Size


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Ugh. Animal-rights activists. A bunch of them break into a lab and release all the animals - including the Big Giant Mystery Animal that promptly kills the irate owner of the lab and one of the unfortunate tree-huggers.
The other three escape in their vehicle but the Big Giant Mystery Animal follows them, tips their car, and butchers them at its leisure.
The Fringe Buddies show up for damage control. Judging by the state of the bodies, the animal is enormous but seems to possess traits from a variety of species - the fangs of a snake, the talons of an eagle, etc. They also note that despite the evidence of four passengers in the car, there are only three bodies. As the evidence piles up, Walter starts acting very twitchy and weird.
So far, no one's able to track the monster, and it kills two Animal Control employees and attacks Charlie when he shows up to investigate - although he manages to escape with only a scratch.
Finally, Walter spills the beans: at one point, he attempted to combine species into a FrankenMonster much like this one, although his attempts all failed. It seems someone must have built on his existing research to create this monster, and for the first time, Walter feels actual guilt for the repercussions of his irresponsible Mad Science Shenanigans.
Things worsen when the ravaged corpses start to swell and explode with growing, wriggling larva - apparently, FrankenMonster's a FrankenMama who impregnates her victims with her scorpion's tail. Victims like Charlie, who gets an ultrasound and discovers he's due to require a FrankenMonster Baby Shower in a matter of hours.
Apparently, the only thing that will save Charlie is an infusion of FrankenMonster's blood, which would cause the FrankenBabies to stop eating him from the inside out. Of course, one would have to find the FrankenMonster to achieve this, and Walter becomes even more frantic to find the monster and reverse the suffering he believes he's caused.
Meanwhile, Olivia tracks down the original lab from which the monster came. Its manager, Robert Swift, insists they only test medications and beauty products on animals. However, eventually he breaks down and admits they created the FrankenMonster, and that the fourth animal rights activist who died at the beginning of the episode was his son, Jonathan. One good thing? The monster's creator (Cameron Delgman) used his own original research to create the beast - he had nothing to do with Walter at all.
Walter, Peter, and Olivia take some Huge Ass Guns and go down into the sewers to lure the highly maternal FrankenMonster with some of her larva. However, Walter locks Peter and Olivia in a nook and decides to kill the monster himself - even though his research wasn't responsible for the FrankenMonster's creation, it could have been. He also swallows a vial of poison so that he might still kill the monster if it decides to eat his Crazy Ass.
Peter and Olivia manage to escape in time to watch Walter shoot the monster down and kill it. Well done, Walter! Walter and Charlie are soon given antidotes for their respective Mad Science Ailments and all is well with the world. Except, well, Walter still feels a bit of a twinge of guilt, but that's hardly a bad thing.
Mad Science:
- Animal Testing
- Multi-Species Genetic Creations
- Monster Babies
Best Death Scene: Jonathan Swift being sucked into the doorway (and presumably, the gaping maw of the FrankenMonster)!
Mad Science Questions:
- Walter does not like feeling guilt over the repercussions of his experiments - why is that?
- What's up with Charlie's Buffy-extra wife?


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Eight reasons cleantech investors go wrong
I drafted this memo in early 2003 for a venture capitalist friend of mine, well before the bubble in cleantech. In light of the back and forth on the recent SolarCity IPO, I thought it was worth revisiting. Some of the points were pretty prescient, calling out many of the challenges cleantech investors and exits have faced, nearly a decade before they faced them.
Risk Economics in Energy Technology Investing
We believe there is substantial economics to be made from venture capital investment in energy technology, especially focused on clean energy and high efficiency or environmentally friendly applications.
However, investors unfamiliar with the sector tend to under-price risk and overestimate stage in technology development and commercialization in energy technology.
Much of this miscalculation can be boiled down to the fact that adoption rates of new technology in the energy sector generally tend to be slower than more traditional venture capital industry sectors. This tends to be true for a couple of reasons, and has a number of implications for venture capital investment in the sector. We have tried to lay out a few thoughts for potential investors in the space, which though they by no means constitute an all-encompassing investment model, should be helpful in decision-making.
Integration / Customer Hurdle Issues – This is a sector that tends to be very risk averse in new product and technology acceptance, and does not tend to pay for technology before the product stage, with an attitude of "we as the customer are already taking a huge risk by simply changing our operating procedures or letting you have access to our mission critical, extremely expensive infrastructure, why would we pay you, too?" This situation is often characterized by very entrenched channels and customers, with multiple levels capable of "saying no", and a long process to "yes". As result the level of product testing is substantially longer than other sectors as well. One implication (also see "Cheap" Technology below) is that technology businesses that have access to customers or are in integration areas tend to be under-priced by investors relative to technology developers. This under-pricing can be especially true if the business has a vision to acquire technology or IPRs from developers as a price of admission to a customer base. This set of issues also raises a second set of implications in the engine industry, where the major engine manufacturers, while they are often under pressure for change, are not exactly adept at handling new technology adoption, in part since they sell almost entirely through low-tech dealer networks, and only partially touch the end customer themselves. Another risk issue here is that investors in technology development have tended to underestimate the power of entrenchment in both customers and channels, and as discussed below, run a risk of being caught in a bind as a one-product wonder without the depth or breadth of solution to protect market share.
R&D vs. Product /Market Development Investments – Because of the slowness of adoption rates, the relative risk of R&D investment bets to product /market development investment bets tends to be substantially higher than in many other sectors. The implication is that early stage investment (pre-purchase orders) should be done at lower valuations than the same stage in other sectors, while later stage (post purchase order) investment can potentially be done at higher valuations, while achieving the same risk adjusted IRR. Another implication is that investors often should expect some level of public funding support for technology development as a prerequisite for investment, not as a driver of additional valuation.
"Eternal Pilots" – This industry tends to be under significant environmental and PR pressures and as a result companies in the space tend to make limited investment of resources and capital in numerous pilot programs and "evaluations" that do not have significant likelihood of moving forward in a major way, but may run for years. This has been especially true of regulated utilities that could often in effect price through some of the cost, or were expecting to bear the cost anyway as part of a PR or ongoing market vision program, as well as major energy companies, who have huge margins, and tend to have massive and far-flung R&D programs. This tends to obscure the vision of VC investors looking to bet on strategic relationship "traction" as a way to proxy potential product adoption. In other words, one can easily overestimate "traction", and investors often tend to overestimate the life cycle stage of a new technology. The newer the technology, the higher the over-estimation risk would tend to be.
Political Process – This industry tends to be very politically sensitive. And the entrenched leaders tend to be much better than the startups at managing this process. One thing this means is that significant public/government backed or public/private capital is available to fund R&D in the area, and that government/military business can often be viewed as core customer base. It also means that technology development requiring regulatory or legislative drivers can be much riskier than in other sectors.
"Cheap" Technology – Given the above, existing technology tends to be "cheap" on the venture capital scale, and contracted or visible business tends to be the driver of value. Part of this is because the technology is often developed with "cheap" public dollars. The other way to think about it is that if you have the market and access to customers, attractive, proven technology at the product development stage can often be acquired for essentially pure upside. While this may not call into question a particular technology development investment program, it again does have implications for the value of that technology as opposed to the value of a going concern.
Make One Bet, Not Two – To follow on that point, one implication is that an effective investment strategy may be to accept either technology development risk, or market risk, but not both. In that, an investment in technology development not be made unless there was a near certainty of obtaining public funding to offset substantial portions of the cost or customer purchase orders once product development is completed, or that investment in customer ramp or market development not be made unless the technology is proven and has extremely limited risk of failure. Betting on early stage companies that neither have a "locked-in" customer or completed technology may tend to be an extremely risky bet, and should perhaps be done only at quite low valuations relative to other industries.
Gross Margin Ramp – Another area of typical miscalculation is in profitability of new technology. The sector tends to be a bit more "custom" in its product demands than some industries, and one major bet that has caught investors is cost structure/timing of volume orders. This is an area where it has proven extremely difficult for many companies to develop enough business to move gross margin positive, let alone operating profit. A common mistake is to over build manufacturing capacity in an often desperate race to get a marginally cost effective technology to an acceptable cost point to achieve venture like growth projections, when a more effective strategy often might have been to build low volume, higher cost point premium solutions for a smaller market in order to maintain the business during the often long process of technology adoption. Such a strategy, which tends to be ignored by venture backed startups until too late, can be a key element in reducing the timing risk in this sector. Part of the issue also stems from technology companies misunderstanding the price point potential and impact on their net price to manufacturer from channel and integration costs, a particularly sore point now to many companies betting on distributed generation technology, as is the point below.
One Product Wonders – Unlike other sectors where large companies are quite adept at acquiring in new products and technology lines, this is a sector where major competitors tend to be more likely to make a build vs. buy decision. This tends to be more true for high margin components of an overall solution, exactly where technology investors tend to play. Often investors have found that their supposed channel is in fact their most successful competitor, even despite the fact that the channel may not very good at the solution. The result is that investors often overestimate how far a single product company can go, and overestimate how badly a potential strategic partner or exit will view that they need a particular technology solution.
While none of these points are meant to invalidate particular investment strategies, they are meant to be points to consider when risk adjusting and developing pricing / valuation strategies for energy technology investments. At the end of the day, we tend to feel that technology companies in this sector, when compared to many other venture capital investment sectors, should be priced much more closely on visible cashflows than value of technology or market potential, or by "stage", where the risked economics may not be as easy for an investor to define.


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San Diego, Calif. (April 18, 2014) ― A new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine analyzing weekly patterns in health-related Google searches reveals a recurring pattern that could be leveraged to improve public health strategies.
Investigators from San Diego State University, the Santa Fe Institute, Johns Hopkins University, and the Monday Campaigns, analyzed "healthy" Google searches (searches that included the term healthy and were indeed health-related, e.g., "healthy diet") originating in the U.S. from 2005 to 2012. They found that on average, searches for health topics were 30 percent more frequent at the beginning of the week than on days later in the week, with the lowest average number of searches on Saturday.
This pattern was consistent year after year, week after week, using a daily measure to represent the proportion of healthy searches to the total number of searches each day.
"Many illnesses have a weekly clock with spikes early in the week," said SDSU's John W. Ayers, lead author of the study. "This research indicates that a similar rhythm exists for positive health behaviors, motivating a new research agenda to understand why this pattern exists and how such a pattern can be utilized to improve the public's health."
Joanna Cohen, PhD, a co-author of the study and professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, added, "We could be seeing this effect because of the perception that Monday is a fresh start, akin to a mini New Year's Day. People tend to indulge in less healthy behaviors on the weekend, so Monday can serve as a 'health reset' to get back on track with their health regimens."
"It's interesting to see such a consistent and similar rhythm emerging from search data," added Benjamin Althouse, study co-author and Omidyar Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute. "These consistent rhythms in healthy searches likely reflect something about our collective mindset, and understanding these rhythms could lead to insights about the nature of health behavior change."
Results showed that search volumes on Monday and Tuesday were three percent greater relative to Wednesday, 15 percent greater than Thursday, 49 percent greater than Friday, 80 percent greater than Saturday, and 29 percent greater than Sunday.
The team also examined whether media exposure could be driving this weekly pattern. Co-author Mark Dredze from Johns Hopkins said, "We tested this hypothesis by monitoring the daily frequency of news stories encouraging healthy lifestyles, but those stories actually peaked on Wednesdays and were statistically independent of healthy searches."
According to the published paper, "Understanding circaseptan rhythms around health behaviors can yield critical public health gains. For instance, government-funded health promotion programs spend $76.2 billion annually and their cost-effectiveness can be improved by targeting the population on weekday(s) when more individuals are contemplating health habits."
Morgan Johnson, MPH, from The Monday Campaigns and study co-author, noted that leveraging Monday is a simple, cost-effective way to nudge people towards healthier behavior. "The challenge we face in public health is to help people sustain healthy behaviors over time. Since Monday comes around every seven days when people are 'open to buy' health, it can be used as a cue to help create healthy habits for life."


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Berlin Officials Laud Departing Administrator
BERLIN — Tony Carson, town administrator for Berlin, sat in on his last Mayor and Council meeting this week, triggering an outpouring of praise from the council.
"We were extremely fortunate with the years that you've been here," Mayor Gee Williams said Monday. "You are leaving the town in a much better position to take advantage of the potential for its future than when you first got here and I thank you very much for your dedication and for your professionalism and for your efficiency."
Carson has been with Berlin for four years and is leaving to take a similar administrator position in Painesville, Ohio beginning next month.
"I just want to echo, publically, the mayor's sentiment related to Tony Carson's performance here in Berlin," said Councilman Dean Burrell. "I've seen people come and go and Tony, I'm actually sorry to see you go. Your leadership and vision for the town has been right on and I don't say this about many people, but it has been a pleasure working with you. I find you to be an upstanding and forthright young man and I wish you very much success in your new position."
The compliment was one that Carson said he held in high regard, as was Burrell's opinion. He said, "One of the nicest things Dean told me once was that, 'you're a good guy.'"
Councilman Elroy Brittingham described Carson as "personable" while Councilman Troy Purnell called him a "breath of fresh air."
"He's brought this town a long way and I'm glad that we've had him while we have," said Brittingham.
Caron's tenure in Berlin, which saw the formation of a new stormwater utility and the negotiation of a new purchase power agreement for electricity, did feature some disagreements, according to Councilwoman Paula Lynch. But even when Caron's vision for Berlin conflicted in some way with her own, Lynch complimented the town administrator's professional courtesy and willingness to talk out problems.
"We haven't always agreed but when we've disagreed it has always been very pleasant," she told Carson.
Williams announced that Carson will be given a brief send-off Friday, June 28 at noon in Town Hall and that the public and "the greater family of Berlin" are welcome to stop by.
Carson's replacement, Laura Allen, will not start with the town until after Labor Day. In the interim, Deputy Town Administrator Mary Bohlen will fill the position.


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Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Lion's Head Meatballs
There is discussion, sometimes contentious, about the origins of this dish. I favor Shanghai, but the beautiful city of Yangzhou is also a contender. Children love this dish and it's whimsy. For some, the four large meatballs represent the cardinal points of north, south, east and west. For others, they represent the blessings of felicity, prosperity, longevity and happiness. The meatballs are braised with a mild Asian cabbage in a delicious brown sauce. The finished meatballs, festooned with shreds of cabbage, do resemble a lion's head. When there are no children at the table, I opt for smaller meatballs. There are hundreds of recipes for Lion's Head; this version is based on one developed by Jacki Passmore. If you do not eat pork, or abstain from meat, you might like to try this recipe using a product called Gimmee Lean. In Shanghai these meatballs are served as an appetizer. They're also great for church suppers and other potlucks.
Lion's Head Meatballs
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/2 cup finely chopped water chestnuts
1-1/2 tablespoons minced ginger
1-1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 pound ground pork
1/2 pound ground turkey (not breast meat)
8 tablespoons cornstarch, divided use
8 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce, divided use
1 pound Napa cabbage or bok choy, cut in 1/4-inch slices
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 (14.5-oz.) can reduced-sodium chicken stock
1/4 cup rice wine (mirin or shaoxing)
Salt and pepper to taste
1) Combine scallions, water chestnuts, ginger and garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to form small pieces. Add pork, turkey, 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 4 tablespoons soy sauce. Pulse to combine. Form into meatballs of desired size.
2) Mix 2 tablespoons of soy sauce with reserved cornstarch to form a creamy paste. Add water if needed.
3) Heat oil in a heavy bottomed nonstick saute pan. Coat meatballs with soy paste. Reserve extra soy paste. Place meatballs in pan and cook over medium-high heat, turning once until lightly browned, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.
4) Add cabbage and stir-fry just until wilted. Return meatballs to pan; add chicken stock, rice wine and 2 tablespoons soy sauce. Add water to bring liquid almost to top of meatballs. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and braise for 10 minutes. Turn meatballs, cover, and braise for another 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer meatballs to a serving plate. Top with cabbage shreds. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of reserved soy paste to pan; bring to a boil over high heat and stir until sauce thickens, about 2 minutes. Spoon sauce over meatballs. Yield: 4 large or 8 to 12 small meatballs.
5 comments :
- Martha said...
Mary -- these look delicious and I love the whimsy of the name!
Martha - October 8, 2008 at 7:38 AM
- Allie said...
I like the color of them. I too like the smaller meatballs something about the big ones turns me away.
- October 8, 2008 at 1:52 PM
- Veronica said...
Mary, What a great sounding recipe...I always love when there are little stories to go with different foods.
- October 8, 2008 at 2:38 PM
- Jenny said...
Ahhh, I LOVE meatballs. These look so good!
- October 8, 2008 at 8:57 PM
- Pauline said...
Oh wow, Asian meatballs! These look so tasty!
- June 25, 2009 at 9:36 PM
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Symfony Documentation
Getting Started
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Get trained with official courses from the creator of the Symfony framework:
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Certify your skills to become a Symfony expert and boost your career:
Learn Symfony, PHP and JavaScript with these video tutorials:
Symfony: The Fast Track
The official Symfony book that gives you a quick overview of the process of building a real application, from Symfony installation to production deployment.
Contributing to Symfony
Contribute ideas and bug fixes to the one of the most important Open Source projects. Both experts and newcomers are welcome.
Contribute Code Contribute DocsSymfony Best Practices
These practices are optional but show how to develop web applications as envisioned by the original Symfony creators.
Create Your Own Framework
Learn how to build a custom framework using Symfony components. Ideal to dive deep into Symfony internals.
Reference Documents
Reference documents, including all Symfony configuration options.
Symfony Components
Stand-alone libraries that you can use in any PHP project.
Symfony Bundles
Third-party packages that add features to your applications.


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A former hedge fund portfolio manager was arrested Tuesday on charges that he helped deliver what a prosecutor said "what might be the most lucrative inside tip of all time," enabling investment advisers and their hedge funds to make more than $276 million in illegal profits.
Mathew Martoma was charged in U.S. District Court in Manhattan with using confidential information about an Alzheimer's disease drug trial to help his firm avoid losses and instead reap a hefty profit in a scheme that stretched from 2006 through July 2008 while he worked for CR Intrinsic Investors LLC of Stamford, Conn. He's charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud and two counts of securities fraud.
"The charges unsealed today describe cheating coming and going — specifically, insider trading first on the long side, and then on the short side, on a scale that has no historical precedent," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
The FBI said the scheme developed after Martoma met a doctor in Manhattan involved in an Alzheimer's disease drug trial in October 2006. The FBI said in a criminal complaint that he later obtained confidential information related to the final results of a drug trial.
Martoma's attorney, Charles Stillman, called Martoma "an exceptional portfolio manager who succeeded through hard work and the dogged pursuit of information in the public domain. What happened today is only the beginning of a process that we are confident will lead to Mr. Martoma's full exoneration."
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil papers in the case against CR Intrinsic Investors, Mathew Martoma and Dr. Sidney Gilman. The civil complaint said the illegal money was earned in July 2008 when various hedge funds traded ahead of a negative public announcement involving the clinical trial results of an Alzheimer drug being jointly developed by Elan Corp. and Wyeth.
The SEC complaint said that Martoma, then a portfolio manager at CR Intrinsic, carried out the scheme with Gilman, a professor of neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School. The SEC said Gilman served as chairman of the Safety Monitoring Committee overseeing the clinical trial and was selected by Elan and Wyeth to present the final clinical trial results at a July 29, 2008 medical conference. Messages left with the University of Michigan Medical School were not immediately returned.
Gilman's lawyer, Marc Mukasey, said his client is cooperating with the SEC and the U.S. Attorney's Office, and has entered into a non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors.
The SEC said that leaks by Martoma caused hedge fund portfolios managed by CR Intrinsic as well as hedge fund portfolios managed by an affiliated investment adviser to liquidate their combined long positions in Elan and Wyeth, worth more than $700 million. It said he also caused them to take substantial short positions and to sell more than $960 million in Elan and Wyeth securities in just over a week.
The massive repositioning, the SEC said, allowed CR Intrinsic and various hedge funds to collective reap illicit profits and avoid losses of over $276 million.
"As alleged, by cultivating and corrupting a doctor with access to secret drug data, Mathew Martoma and his hedge fund benefited from what might be the most lucrative inside tip of all time," Bharara said. "As Martoma allegedly got sneak peeks at drug data, he first recommended that the hedge fund build up a massive position in Elan and Wyeth stock, and then caused the fund to shed those shares after getting a secret look at the unexpectedly bad results of a clinical drug trial. And so, overnight, Martoma went from bull to bear."


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Here is the link to our Slack Channel: https://forgejs.slack.com/
We will later set up an more direct method to join, but until then each user has to be invited individually.
Follow these steps to join our Slack Channel:
- Post on this topic that you would like an invite (do not post your e-mail).
- An invitation will be sent to your forum e-mail address (if you need to change or update your e-mail you can do so from the User Control Panel)
- Click on "Join Team" in the invitation e-mail
- You will be taken to a sign up page where you can create your account and set up your username and password
- Once that is done you will be taken directly to the Slack channel where you can chat!
Thanks for reading,


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SOLD – Acrylic & collage on stretched canvas, including hand crafted frame 24″x 24″
This entry was posted on Saturday, November 14th, 2020 at 6:35 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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The Last Towns to Get Dial Telephones
Before dial telephones, we made phone calls through an operator. You picked up the phone, there was no dial tone, and you talked to an operator who placed the call for you. This was the only way to initiate a call; if the operator wasn't there, or was busy, tough luck. You didn't have any way to "dial" a number because you didn't have a dial on your phone.
The dial telephone was introduced in 1919 in the US, and spread until it was nearly universal in the 1950s. The dial tone, coupled with phones featuring rotary number dials, allowed callers to dial phone numbers themselves. It was a really handy system to deal with the growing number of telephones and telephone calls. In the 1960s touch-tone phones (those with buttons) began to take over from the rotary dial models.
But some towns held out long past the near-universal dial telephone system. If the call volume was low enough, or the city remote enough, it just didn't make economic sense to replace a working operator system with an expensive dial system. In this 1978 film from the AT&T Archives called "Good-Bye, Central," we see the last few cities in the United States that operated without dial telephone services. It's fascinating to see operators working the central switchboard in the late '70s. Looks like a repetitive, thankless job to me. Settle in and enjoy the tale of how telephones used to be:
If you liked that, check out this 1978 newspaper article entitled "Dial phones reach island," confirming in print that the 1,800 residents of Santa Catalina Island got dial service. You may also enjoy the '70s-riffic Simmons mattress ad to the right of the newspaper story.
Note: the dial tone and rotary dial telephone are two sounds your kids probably haven't heard.


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Ted Williams' service in Korean conflict described in his letters
Published 12:00 am Thursday, December 28, 2017
BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) — Thirty-eight letters penned by Hall of Fame baseball player Ted Williams, including one in which he described crash-landing a fighter jet with "holes all over" it, are going up for auction.
The letters written to his mistress show another side to Williams, who played for the Boston Red Sox, describing his second hiatus from baseball for military service, his bombing missions in Korea and his feelings on war and his father's death.
"They're his innermost thoughts during the Korean conflict," said Troy Thibodeau, of Saco River Auction, which is putting the letters up for auction.
The letters were written to Evelyn Turner, a flight attendant, from 1952 to 1954, a period in which Williams trained in the U.S. and served in Korea as a Marine combat pilot. During the time, Williams served as wing man for future NASA astronaut and U.S. Sen. John Glenn.
He wrote to Turner the day after he crash-landed his burning F9F Panther after a mission. He only sprained an ankle, but it could've been far worse.
"I had holes all over the plane and I was riding on all the prayers people say for me 'cause I was awfully lucky. My plane was burning like hell when I crash landed. Everybody around here now is calling me lucky. Anyway, I'm missing you," he wrote .
Another letter written after his father's death described Williams' anguish and regret over having not spent more time with him.
Yet another alluded to a military radioman sabotaging his plane to keep it grounded for repairs in Florida so he could spend extra time with Turner.
The letters and other items from Turner's estate will be auctioned Jan. 3 along with other baseball and celebrity memorabilia. Included are photos of Williams in Turner's home, along with newspaper clippings and Turner's writings about Williams.
Williams was married to his first wife, Doris Soule, during the romance with Turner. Their affair lasted a decade, said Turner's son, Al Christiano. Williams and Soule divorced in 1954.
Turner and Williams broke up after he told her that she'd take third place — behind baseball and fishing — if they were to marry, Christiano said.
"She wishes every day that she'd said yes. But that was a decision she made at the time, and she had to live with it," he said.
Their relationship is recounted in Ben Bradlee's book, "The Kid." Williams met her on a flight when she worked for the now-defunct National Airlines.
Williams' flings come as no surprise, said Dick Johnson from the New England Sports Museum. "Ted was a lady's man, certainly," he said.
This isn't the first auction of Williams' love letters. Six letters to another mistress, Norma Williamson, fetched several thousand dollars in 2011, according to Chris Ivy, director of sports collectibles at Dallas-based Heritage Auction.


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Clean Pro Colorado Springs is the best provider of gutter cleaning services in Colorado Springs CO. Our unique qualities are our years of experience, prompt service, attention to detail and concern for safety. We offer gutter cleaning services that are affordable near you.
Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous city and the most extensive city in the state of Colorado, and the 40th-most populous city in the United States. It is the principal city of the Colorado Springs metropolitan area and the second-most prominent city of the Front Range Urban Corridor. It is located in east-central Colorado, on Fountain Creek, 70 miles (113 km) south of Denver.
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Bill Withers (born July 4, 1938 in Slab Fork, West Virginia) is an American singer-songwriter who performed and recorded from the late 1960s until the mid 1980s. Bill's father died when he was thirteen. He joined the US Navy at seventeen, and stayed there for nine years, before he moved to Los Angeles in 1967. While in Los Angeles, he worked full-time in a Lockheed assembly plant in the day, making toilets for Boeing 747 airliners, then recorded demo tapes and performed in juke joints during the night.
Bill's father died when he was thirteen. He joined the US Navy at seventeen, and stayed there for nine years, before he moved to Los Angeles in 1967. While in Los Angeles, he worked full-time in a Lockheed assembly plant in the day, making toilets for Boeing 747 airliners, then recorded demo tapes and performed in juke joints during the night. When he debuted on the music scene with "Ain't No Sunshine," he refused to give up his job at Lockheed because of his belief that the music business was a fickle industry and that he was still a novice compared to other working acts like The Temptations or Sammy Davis, Jr.
His first success was with the company Sussex Records in 1971 with his debut hit single Ain't No Sunshine on the album Just As I Am. He assembled a touring band made up of: drummer James Gadson, guitarist Bernoce Blackmon, keyboardist Ray jackson, and bassist Melvin Dunlap.
His second album Still Bill also did well on the charts. It was recorded during a break in the "Just As I Am" tour and included the well-known single "Lean On Me," which went to #1 on the charts on July 8, 1972. His live album, "Bill Withers, Live at Carnegie Hall," released in 1973, was one of the best live albums to be released during the 1970s. Other popular songs he sings are "Use Me" and "Lovely Day," as well as "Just The Two Of Us," which he performed with jazz saxophonist Grover Washington Jr.
His songs have been covered by many singers and rappers. Club Nouveau's 1986 cover of "Lean On Me," which is now often used in many churches, earned Withers his third Grammy as a songwriter. Ten years earlier, the British glam rock band Mud took the song to No. 7 in the UK pop charts. Grace Jones covered his song "Use Me." Fiona Apple has also covered "Use Me" and "Kissing My Love" on her 1998 tour. Me'Shell Ndegeocello sang "Who Is He (And What Is He to You)?" on her 1996 album "Peace Beyond Passion." Will Smith samples Bill's "Just The Two Of Us" in his 1997 song of the same name, and "Lovely Day" with the song "Lovely Daze," (a collaboration with DJ Jazzy Jeff released in 1998).
The country singer Kenny Rogers covered "Ain't No Sunshine" in 1999. Kanye West sampled his song "Rosie" in the song Roses". Twista sampled "Lovely Day" in the hit single "Sunshine" featuring Anthony Hamilton. Over the Rhine toured a cover of Ain't No Sunshine" during 2004 and recorded this on their album "Changes Come." When playing live, the band Eskimo Joe often begins their song "A Song Is a City" with KAV singing "Ain't No Sunshine" as a prelude. Bill's song "Use Me" is also featured in the film "Anchorman." The start of the Blackstreet hit "No Diggity" features a sample of Bill's poem-turned-song "Grandma's Hands."
To this day, his most popular songs, including "Lovely Day," "Lean On Me" and "Ain't No Sunshine," have been used in countless television advertisements, thereby increasing his popularity as a well-respected artist. He remains one of the most significant and respected singer-songwriters of the 20th Century. Some of his songs, particularly "Lean On Me" and "Use Me", have been performed in churches because of their lyrics covering spirituality and unity.


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Hey Mr. Green,
My friend refuses to recycle because he says the amount of energy it requires is enormous and the effect on the planet is negligible. Is he right? If not, how can I convince him to start recycling?--George in Santa Monica, California
Tell your friend that recycling does save energy, and lots of it--the equivalent of 10.2 billion gallons of gasoline per year from recycled U.S. municipal waste alone. And we still recycle only about a third of our staggering annual total of 250 million tons of waste, according to the EPA.
The savings do depend on the material. Recycling aluminum cans, for example, saves a high percentage of energy per pound, yet we Americans recycle only about half of our cans.
If your pal claims that recycling has its roots in tree hugger hysteria, point out that U.S. aluminum companies import more than 7 billion used cans per year--90,000 tons--to reduce their energy expenses and other costs.
Even if recycling didn't spare a crumb of coal or a drop of oil, its effect on the planet is far from "negligible." It averts some of the collateral damage from our material excess. A ton of recycled steel prevents 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone from getting gouged out of the earth, says the Steel Recycling Institute.
Recycling also slows the spread of dumps, keeps plastic out of the food chain, and prevents hundreds of millions of gallons of used motor oil from fouling our streams and lakes.


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REUTERS Wednesday, 14 November 2012 06:10 PM EST
The battle over avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff is the first of a likely series of partisan confrontations in Washington in the coming year that, if not resolved, could cause more downgrades of the U.S. credit rating.
"The rating is in the hands of policymakers," said John Chambers, chairman of Standard & Poor's sovereign rating committee, the agency that downgraded the United States in August 2011.
In interviews with Reuters since the Nov. 6 election, all three major rating agencies said cutting the U.S. debt rating - still among the world's strongest - is highly likely if next year's budget process replays 2011's debt ceiling debacle or if the seemingly simple goal of cutting deficits goes unmet.
Should that happen, it could have a detrimental effect on the country's cost of borrowing and could also shift some investment away from the United States, though the country's big markets and attractiveness as a safe haven are likely to limit those effects.
In the absence of a sustainable, coherent medium-term vision for the U.S. federal budget, which has produced deficits above $1 trillion in each of the last four years, the rating will fall. The fiscal cliff is one step in that process, but the possibility of a downgrade will still loom over Washington throughout the year.
"If no budget deal is reached in the early part of next year and the debt trajectory just continues to rise ... then we'd be looking at a downgrade of a notch to Aa1," said Bart Oosterveld, managing director at Moody's sovereign risk group.
Automatic spending cuts in January coupled with significant tax increases could take an estimated $600 billion out of the U.S. economy and push it into recession, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office's assessment of the fiscal cliff.
The effects will be gradual, but significant, with the unemployment rate possibly rising to 9 percent.
If Congress goes over the cliff, Moody's said it will watch how the economy deals with the abrupt shock and will maintain the current negative outlook it holds on the United States.
Ultimately, if Congress and the president can't reach a deal to stabilize and eventually reduce the debt, now at $16 trillion, Moody's will probably cut the United States' current Aaa rating.
Fitch, meanwhile, said even a deal to avert the cliff might not be enough to save the country's AAA rating.
Temporary measures to stave off the budget shock without a credible strategy for the years beyond could earn the country a downgrade, said David Riley, managing director for sovereign ratings at Fitch.
"We're going to find out over the coming months if that (a compromise) will be the case or not," Riley said. "There isn't that much time."
The country needs a combination of increased revenue and reduced spending, Riley said. That plan needs to be bipartisan and credible over the medium-term, he added, calling a cliff-induced recession "wholly unnecessary."
Rating agencies will also be watching talks on raising the debt ceiling next year. S&P cut the United States to AA-plus from AAA on Aug. 5, 2011, blaming bitter debt debates that threatened to plunge the country into default and Republican obstruction during a process that was for years a formality.
If the same happens this time, Riley said, Fitch could slash its rating during the first half of the year.
That could cause more turmoil for uncertain markets.
"The last time we faced this and the politicians played shenanigans with the debt ceiling and we were downgraded, it mattered in the sense that it led to a lot of volatility and a loss of confidence," said Julia Coronado, chief North America economist at BNP Paribas in New York.
When S&P cut the United States last year, markets reacted badly. The benchmark S&P 500 index slumped the Monday following, falling 6.7 percent to an 11-month low.
Paradoxically, U.S. Treasury yields plunged as spooked investors stampeded to safe havens. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note fell to 2.32 percent on Aug. 8 from 2.56 percent on Aug. 5 - and is now around 1.6 percent.
That same knee-jerk response could be repeated.
"Investors need to hold billions and billions of dollars," said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. "Where else are they going to go? Noise out of a rating agency is not going to change that."
That's particularly the case with the euro zone in continued turmoil. The area's three-years-and-counting debt crisis is still far from resolution.
"Certainly the dollar has no challenger as the key international reserve currency," Chambers said. S&P, having cut the rating last year, now could wait until the end of 2014 for another cut, Chambers said.
Investors will likely have plenty of time to digest a downgrade. Notably, countries that lose their AAA status typically take years to claw their way back to the top rating.
S&P downgraded Australia in December 1986, and it took until February 2003 for its triple-A to be restored. Canada took from 1992 to 2002. Denmark was cut to AA-plus in 1983 and didn't get upgraded back to AAA until 2001.
There's because sovereign cuts at the AAA level are relatively rare, coming on issues that take years to resolve.
"It's not really about the downgrade," said Jeff Rosenberg, BlackRock's chief market strategist for fixed income. It's about "what's occurring in the environment around that time period that's creating the momentum for the analysts to downgrade."
Still, there's a reason why countries lose top ratings only with difficulty. If the United States does indeed hold onto its AAA from Fitch and its Aaa from Moody's - and its one-notch lower rating of AA-plus from S&P - it could happen because the world's biggest economy proves its resilience once again.
"When you're looking at the U.S. from this side of the Atlantic, you say the outlook looks quite good compared to the UK and the rest of Europe," Fitch's Riley said.
U.S. gross domestic product is expected to rise at a 2.2 percent annual rate in 2013, compared with 0.3 percent annual growth in the euro zone and 1.1 percent in the United Kingdom, according to Thomson Reuters.
"If you can resolve this gridlock in Congress and provide some clarity, there's probably upside to the U.S. economy," Riley added.
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I want to download Apps from the US for researching purposes. A co-worker of mine could do that by installing an alternative Market. He did not have a rooted phone and probably got that app from the original market.
The icon of this app was similiar to the original market's one but blue instead of green as far as I can remember.


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City Clerk Skip Bradshaw
WELCOME to the Jacksonville City Clerk's Website! We are constantly updating the website to include all of the important information you've come to expect from us. City Council Agendas, Minutes, and access to Ordinances are right at your fingertips. Simply click on the City Government tab to the left and a menu will guide you through. The Jacksonville City Clerk's Office serves as a link between the citizens of this community and your municipal officials. We're here to serve you. If you require a service from us, please try one of the links provided below. -Skip Bradshaw, City Clerk |
Other services and information available:


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For information on when to stop for a school bus go to NC Bus Safety.
Show All Answers
You should call 911 for emergencies only. An emergency is when immediate police, fire, or ambulance assistance is necessary. When you call, be prepared to state the location of your emergency, type of emergency, your name, and your phone number.
Stay calm and be prepared to answer a list of questions concerning your emergency.
If you accidentally dial 911, please do not hang up. Stay on the line and let the telecommunicator know it was an accident.
Fingerprinting and criminal background checks are done at:
City County Bureau of Identification
3301 Hammond Road
Raleigh, NC
Phone: (919) 856-6300
You can contact the Apex Fire Department at (919) 362-4001 and speak with a car seat installation technician about installing your car seat.
Parking tickets can be paid at the Apex Town Hall 73 Hunter Street and placed in the night drop box or inside in the Finance Department. If paid inside, they must be paid between 8 am and 5 pm, Monday through Friday. State citations (not parking tickets) can be paid online here.
If you wish to appeal a parking ticket you can complete the parking ticket appeal form at https://weblink.apexnc.org/Forms/parkingticket . Your request will be reviewed and someone will be back in touch with you.
If you see an animal that appears to be rabid call (919) 362-8661 and report the location of the animal. Do not attempt to capture the animal. Animals with rabies will show behavioral changes, they can be excited, aggressive, depressed or lethargic. They may be uncoordinated and unfocused on the activity or presence of humans around them.
Some animals that carry rabies are raccoons, foxes, and bats. These animals, which normally avoid humans, are nocturnal and it is unusual for them to be out in daylight hours.
If you are bitten by a domestic animal, North Carolina state law requires that it be reported to the police department.
Wake County Animal Control is dispatched by the Wake County Sheriff's Office. Please call (919) 856-6911 if you need to report a stray animal.
Please go to the Town of Apex Job Opportunities page to check current openings.
Please go to our records section for information on how to obtain a copy of a police report.
No, the Apex Police Department does not require alarm registry.
You will need to contact the Wake County Clerk of Court at (919) 792-4000.
For information on navigating roundabouts go to NC DOT.


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Scientists present new insights on climate change and species interactions
(Phys.org) —UCLA life scientists provide important new details on how climate change will affect interactions between species in research published online May 21 in the Journal of Animal Ecology. This knowledge, they say, is critical to making accurate predictions and informing policymakers of how species are likely to be impacted by rising temperatures.
"There is a growing recognition among biologists that climate change is affecting how species interact with one another, and that this is going to have very important consequences for the stability and functioning of ecosystems," said the senior author of the research, Van Savage, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and of biomathematics at UCLA. "However, there is still a very limited understanding of exactly what these changes will be. Our paper makes progress on this very important question."
Climate change is causing global increases in mean temperature, as well as more fluctuations and greater variability in temperature. Growing evidence suggests these changes are altering when and how species interact, and even which species are able to interact without going extinct, Savage said.
Already, climatic warming is rapidly altering the timing and rate of flowering in plants, as well as breeding and migration in animals—changes that are likely to disrupt interactions between species.
"These changes may bring about novel and potentially unstable species interactions by causing warm-adapted species to seek out geographic regions and to experience seasonal periods that have historically been too cold for them until temperatures begin to rise," said lead author Anthony Dell, a former UCLA postdoctoral researcher now at Germany's University of Gottingen.
Such changes could destabilize entire ecosystems, such as rainforests or coral reefs, said co-author Samraat Pawar, a former UCLA postdoctoral researcher currently at the University of Chicago, who noted that although biologists are becoming increasingly aware that changes in species interactions are likely to be one of most important biological impacts of climate change, they have found it challenging to understand and predict.
Savage's research team has recently made significant progress on this front by developing a biotraits database. This massive dataset has been compiled from the literature and has been standardized and organized so that data can be combined and compared. This group has already used statistical analysis and mechanistic mathematical models to provide information on how various biological traits of organisms respond to changes in temperature and other environmental factors.
In particular, Savage and his team have looked at the impact temperature changes can have on the rate at which an organism uses energy, known as the metabolic rate. This fundamental process governs many aspects of an organism's life, including how much food it will eat, how fast it can move, how much it sleeps and how fast its heart beats. The team makes predictions about how an organism's activity—and thus the broader ecology—are affected by temperature.
In the current research, Savage and his colleagues examined how organisms' different physiological responses to rising temperatures could impact what are known as consumer–resource interactions. These are interactions between two organisms that lead to a "feeding" event—a prime example being a predator (consumer) and its prey (resource). Taken as a whole, a collection of consumer–resource interactions constitutes the food chain or food web that drives the diversity, dynamics and stability of particular communities and ecosystems.
Their model accounts for the fact that a change in temperature is likely to result in some predators becoming better at capturing prey while some prey animals become more efficient at evading capture, leading to imbalances in the food chain and potential repercussions for ecosystems.
A key biological trait driving different responses to temperature change among consumers and resources is body velocity—the speed at which an animal moves. Cold-blooded animals, for example, tend to move faster as their body temperature increases. The biologists predict that one of the primary impacts of global warming will be increasing the amount of time and speed with which organisms move around a landscape and thus encounter and interact with one another.
Specifically, the researchers say, the effects of climatic warming will be determined by the ways in which predators seek their prey—by moving around the landscape in search of mobile prey (active-capture), by remaining stationary and waiting for moving prey (sit-and-wait) or by moving around in search of immobile prey (grazing)—as well as by whether interacting predator–prey species are both cold-blooded, both warm-blooded or one of each.
Because of the effect of temperature on body velocity, biologists predict that encounter rates between predators and prey will increase with rising temperatures if the foraging strategy is active-capture (both predator and prey moving through the landscape), as with an eagle hunting a fish. However, if both species respond to temperature in identical ways, these changes may not lead to significant shifts in their interactions.
With a sit-and-wait strategy, often used by snakes and lizards, the effects of temperature change would arise primarily via the moving prey species, potentially creating a very strong asymmetry between predator and prey. In this case, the asymmetry may profoundly alter the nature of the interaction, so that the two species have much higher or lower abundances and may no longer be able to coexist in the feeding relationship without one or both going extinct.
Similarly, increasing temperatures are likely to have significant impacts on interactions between warm-blooded and a cold-blooded animals, such as warm-blooded birds that feed on cold-blooded lizards, or snakes that feed on squirrels. In these cases, the internal body temperature of the cold-blooded animal—the lizard or snake—will vary when the climate changes. As a result, the organism's physiology will change and, in turn, influence its body velocity, activity and reaction rates. In contrast, warm-blooded animals, whose body temperature is largely independent of external climate, will not experience much change, again creating an asymmetry between species.
Using the biotraits database, the authors show that trait-specific asymmetries exist in organisms' responses to temperature change and are likely to be a major factor in determining the effects of climate change on species interactions.
Naturally, the researchers say, it is impossible to study all the species on the planet, but with their new mathematical model, predictions can be made about effects of warming on different types of consumer–resource interactions.
"The large diversity of species that make up natural ecosystems mean it is logistically infeasible to study every species interaction in a community and make predictions about how these interactions will be affected by climate warming," Savage noted. "However, models that assume all species respond to temperature in the same way will both miss the large diversity in ecological systems and therefore miss the most important consequences that arise from differential and asymmetric responses to temperature among species."
"In this paper we forge a middle ground between these two extremes," Dell said. "We allow different species to have different thermal responses and show this is essential for predicting species responses to climate change, while also having our categories be much broader than every species on the planet. This new model can help form the foundation for a more predictive framework for understanding the effects of climate change on communities and ecosystems."
More information: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10 … -2656.12081/abstract
Journal information: Journal of Animal Ecology
Provided by University of California, Los Angeles


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Change of miles accrual conditions in terms of Panorama Club Corporate program starting from 01.09.2019
Dear Members,
Please, take into consideration the changes in the list of opportunities of miles accrual in terms of Panorama Club CORPORATE loyalty program.
Starting from 01 September 2019 miles on the Company's Corporate account are credited only for the flights that are performed by Company's – member employees for:
- UIA own regular scheduled flights;
- UIA code-share flights (jointly-operated by two or more companies) on condition that the flight is booked under the PS code.
Detailed information on earning miles is available in Panorama Club CORPORATE section "Earn miles", as well as in Panorama Club CORPORATE program terms and conditions on UIA website.


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Morrissey Bashes Jimmy Kimmel, Accuses Host of Ridiculing Depression, Promoting Guns
Whose side are you on? In one corner, you have Morrissey, the staunch vegetarian who bowed out of his scheduled performance on last night's (Feb. 26) episode of 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' because he refused to appear on the same show as certain other guests. The guests? The cast of the A&E reality show 'Duck Dynasty,' which documents a Louisiana family that owns a business making duck decoys for hunters.
Kimmel and the 'Dynasty' cast mocked Moz's protest with a skit that aired last night about a fictional vegan duck call substitute dubbed the "Carrot Call," and now Morrissey has issued a statement regarding the skit and other jokes Kimmel made at his expense during the broadcast. His statement reads:
I was disappointed with last night's Jimmy Kimmel Show wherein our smiling host managed to ridicule depression (70% of Americans suffer from depression according to the National Institute of Mental Health). He then found time to ridicule healthy eating (the obesity epidemic in the U.S. costs $147 billion per year in medical expenditure), and he also ridiculed the notion that animals should be entitled to the possession of their own lives. Furthermore, he found time to jokingly promote gun-ownership - hugely amusing for the parents at Sandy Hook, no doubt. He also promoted his special guests Duck Dynasty – who kill beings for fun. None of the above issues are, of course, as important as Jimmy Kimmel himself, who has finally revealed his show to have an overwhelming loss of meaning. Tune in and relive the intellectual fog of the 1950s.
So, there you have it: Apparently, making fun of vegans, depression and gun control is not funny. Good to know.
Morrissey's recently rescheduled North American tour resumes tonight is San Diego.


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Cromartie High SchoolSynopsisMild-mannered Takashi Kamiyama somehow ended up in Cromartie High School, a place where delinquents rule the roost. Somehow, he ended up as the "strongest man in class", so he must now find a way to unite the various factions of punks into a cohesive force against rival high schools. But he finds out that not all is as it seems at this wacky school. Is Takenouchi really a tough-faced badass? What's with that rock-singer-looking guy? And there's something strange about Mechazawa and his constant ... maintenance. Can Kamiyama dodge the mohawks and pompadours and survive to become the biggest badass of them all, even while still being a "perfectly normal high schooler"? Shouldn't we just dispense with the drama and enjoy the ride? ReviewOver the last ten to twelve years, there has been a trend of slapping together as many silly things as possible to create a parody. First, there was Dragon Half. Then there was Elf Princess Rane. Then it was Excel Saga and Puni Puni Poemy. This light-speed acceleration has led to a lot of laughs, but lately, it's seemed like too much of a good thing. Works like Trouble Chocolate prove conclusively that humor can not be measured simply be calculating the number of jokes per minute. Thankfully, Cromartie High School is NOT one of those anime. Cromartie High is a gloriously skewed and self-aware collage of sight gags, with remarkably intelligent deadpan humor that delivers a humorous slant on numerous facets of Japanese culture. In a sense, it's the tough-guy version of Azumanga Daioh, but it involves a lot more of the surreal, and the tone is utterly different, since unlike the slice-of-life randomness of Azumanga, Cromartie is a very obvious parody with large streaks of satire. It is also a damn good show. Takashi Kamiyama (played equally well by Ben Pronsky and Takahiro Sakurai) is a riot as the downtrodden "normal guy" who somehow ends up being every bit as stupid as everyone else around him. His deadpan affect when talking to people who eat pencils for breakfast is just great. (How did he get here? Read the manga, he says.) The "school badasses" are an assortment of weirdoes and misfits that will linger long past the end of the DVD, like the hapless Takenouchi, who looks tough, but only because he has ... a problem with vehicles. Or Maeda, who no one will take seriously because he didn't have a nickname in junior high. Or Hayashida, the tough-as-nails advisor with a mohawk that seems to have a life of its own. And, of course, the sweet-talking punk robot Shinichi Mechazawa, who manages to be even stranger than the 400-pound gorilla in Class 1-3. And then there's that rock-singer-looking guy, who everyone simply calls "Freddie". If you recognize the album cover being parodied in the first DVD of Cromartie High, then you know who I'm talking about, and yes, he's a major character. If that's not badass, I don't know what is. Galileo, Figaro, Magnifico-oh-oh! The storyline is fairly simple -- it follows the everyday existence of Kamiyama and his crazy delinquent classmates, who somehow, never seem to be too different, or any smarter, than any other group of teenagers. It's understated, and largely a basis for the pervasive, but well-executed visual humor in this series. However, it should be noted that a lot of the humor is based on the tough-guy "delinquent" genre of boys comics, which is very sparsely represented in North American releases. primarily by GTO and the significantly more obscure Bomber Bikers of Shonan and Bite Me! Chameleon. More recently, another comedy, Gokusen, takes on the same topic from a somewhat different angle. Some people will find fault with the simplistic animation, but consider the following: shows of the "delinquent" genre have been notorious for poor animation quality, which is part of the reason very few of these titles are ever licensed. It's purposely terrible, with unattractive art, excessive and heavy hash lines, and lots of still frames, and it's even referenced numerous times as a joke in its own right. The eclectic music isn't much "better" per se, though one episode revolves around the whole cast trying to remember the title of a 90s hit song by humming it (and largely failing). Technically speaking, this simply isn't a show to take seriously. I mean, why would you? It's a comedy! Much kudos goes to the ADR team (especially Ben Pronsky) for giving the dub exactly the amount of silliness and energy needed to pull off such a cracked show. Choosing between dub and sub is a hard decision, because the Japanese cast of all-star tough-guys rocks my casbah, particularly Norio Wakamoto (Coach from Gunbuster), a wonderful casting choice as Shinichi Mechazawa. There is going to be a good portion of anime fans who simply won't "get" Cromartie High School. With its plethora of obscure references, endless in-jokes, and its basis on the "delinquent" subculture of Japanese youth, a lot of Westerners may look at this, and wonder what the big deal is. As for me, I'm going to be popping this series into my DVD player over and over again and laughing myself off my seat. Cromartie High School is a brilliantly stupid comedy primarily intended for well-versed anime veterans who appreciate dry wit and parody. It is not recommended for beginners or those who hate 'comedies about nothing'. Such viewers can take this rating down up to three stars, but in return, I get to call them curmudgeons. — Carlos/Giancarla Ross Recommended Audience: Teens and up. About the only thing to worry about here is some violence (mostly implied) and harsh language, though frankly, the humor is aimed at an audience that is high-school age or older. Version(s) Viewed: R1 DVD; digital source Review Status: Partial (15/26) Cromartie High School © 2003 Nonaka Eiji / Kodansha / TV Tokyo / CPTA |
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