text:
International Space Station Expedition Six Crew Interviews with
Commander Kenneth Bowersox.
Ken, you're getting set to begin a nearly four-month-long mission
in space; tell me, what is the goal of this expedition to ISS?
A: Our number
one goal is to have a positive experience for the crew and for the
people on the ground. There's a lot of things that come under that
sub-goal: The … number one being come back alive, for it to be a
safe flight; number two, to show people that Americans and Russians
can work together in space and accomplish something meaningful;
and then, the last thing is to accomplish some of our science objectives
for the mission.
you, this will be your fifth trip to space. How has the experience
of having been through training before helped you prepare to fly
this mission?
Almost none
at all, if you want to know the truth. Training for the long-duration
flight, every time I tried to build off of my past experience, people
told me, well you've never flown long-duration flight before so
you just need to do it our way. So, in fact, it was probably a hindrance
more than anything else.
you have trained for a long-duration flight, as the backup for the
first Expedition.
Yeah, but
I've never flown long-duration flights so, the, nobody wanted to
take me very seriously about anything when I would make a comment
about training. At least, that's the way it felt. But I think as
far as knowing what to expect when I get on orbit, I know what the
first two weeks is going to feel like; what month one, month two,
month three, month four are going to feel like, I don't know yet.
as you say, this will be a brand-new experience for you as an astronaut.
Tell me why it is you wanted to be an astronaut in the first place?
Well, when
I was about seven years old I was driving around in a car with my
father, listening to the radio, and on the radio was a broadcast,
describing John Glenn orbiting the Earth. And I talked to my father about that, that sounded like a pretty neat thing to do and back
then I decided that maybe someday to be…[I] need to be an astronaut.
And from that point on I've just wanted to be an astronaut.
me how you accomplished it then-what was the path that you traveled
that ended up with bringing you to NASA?
Well as I
got older and started studying, I remember in junior high school
they had these little reading assignment sheets, that had every
single career you could think of, and one of them was astronaut,
and it would list the salary and the education requirements and
all those sort of things. So the one that was written up for astronaut
said you need to go to a military academy or a school with a strong
engineering specialty, it would really help to become a military
pilot and to become a test pilot, and then apply to NASA. And so
I said, well, that's what I'm going to do, and I took that path.
Of course, there's a lot of other paths now open to people; you
can become a science astronaut, a medical astronaut. A lot of other
it wasn't the attraction of the money?
One of the
things that some, my friends pointed out to me was, it was not the
highest-paying job in the list that we had to study from.
… as you did all of those things and went to university and through
your career in the Navy, who would you say have been the people
who were, or maybe still are, the ones who had the biggest influences
on your life?
Well, my parents
were a huge influence, because growing up, they always told me,
well, if that's what you want to do, you should give it a try. I,
there are probably a lot of people that could've said, well, gosh,
do you know how many people apply to be astronauts and how few get
selected -- why don't you lower your sights a little bit to something
more realistic. They never said that. They said, well, give it a
shot; maybe you'll get it. I think they were a little surprised
when I got selected, like I was, but they were a tremendous encouragement.
My teachers in school were the same way, they had a huge influence
on me … sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes it was the example
they'd set, sometimes it was me trying to not be like them, but
they had great influence over how I lived my life growing up. And
then, I think the early astronauts were a big influence, too, seeing
what they did and how the country responded to their actions was
important for me growing up.
you had a chance to meet many of those early astronauts since you've
been here?
I've met a
lot of them, and what's impressed me about each one of them is how
human they are. They're not perfect. When I was young, they seemed
like superheroes, and then when I met them they were just regular
been around the Johnson Space Center for about 15 years now. You've trained with astronauts from the ISS partner nations. You have your
own experiences in the International Space Station Program as backup
on the first crew. From your point of view, how have the partner
nations done in trying to achieve the goal of learning how to work
I think we're
making progress every day. If we're learning anything it's how to
work together. The little changes that we have here and there, the
big changes, the disagreements, are just as important as the tremendous
successes that we've got. If we're learning how to do anything it's
work together with a disparate group of nations and people.
talked about your training a couple of minutes ago, and how the
people that you were working with had a certain attitude toward
it. Tell me about the, your, just your training overall: Have you
enjoyed the experience of traveling around the world and preparing
for this flight?
It's been very
rewarding in certain aspects. Some, you know, you probably detected
some frustration early on, in the fact that I felt like we did some
things we didn't really need to be doing in training, and that I
think some of the, especially early on, the people who were in the
training weren't really given credit for having any knowledge of
what the long-duration experience might be like. But the tremendously
rewarding part has been to learn a different language, to try to
learn the Russian language, to be able to read Russian literature
in the language that it was written to be able to converse with
different people, in different countries, and, I guess to me one
of the most exciting moments in the last five years was when I was
sitting in a class and a teacher was speaking to me in Russian,
and I wasn't thinking about what they were saying in English, I
was just taking the words in in Russian and understanding and getting
a picture in my mind. It was a wonderful feeling something I think
everybody should get a chance to experience.
late in your training flow for this flight, you had the unusual
situation of having a change in your crew roster that occurred back
in July. How did everyone respond to this, to this new challenge?
Well, we're
still in the process of responding but I think the consensus is
the program is bigger than any one of us, that what we're doing
is important, and because of that, we just need to keep pressing
ahead, one foot in front of the other, and make things work. And
that's what we're going to do with the challenge that's been handed
to us with the late crew swap.
would seem that this is a pretty good example of the value of training
backup crews.
Yeah, I think
that's true. Every backup should train as if they might fly. But
I think, truthfully, most backups train thinking that they're never
going to fly 'cause if they spent every minute worrying that they
were going to fly, they'd go nuts. But, it's worth the money that
we spend because it gives us a lot of flexibility if things go wrong
at the last minute. And the other good thing about the way we do
backups is our backups don't just train in their individual crew,
they also spend time with us. So, when Don Thomas was removed from
our crew and Don Pettit took his place, I already knew a lot about
Don Pettit because he lived in the cottage next door to me, we walked
to class every day, we spent some time in classes together, we had
meals together; it wasn't just a complete, cold switch to a new
person on the crew. And on a long-duration flight, that's really
important because we're going to be spending a lot of time together
in very close quarters on orbit.
of any flight crew have to possess a range of talents in order to
do all the things that need to get done during a mission. Tell me
what are your responsibilities as commander of the International
Space Station?
Well, I mean
on paper it says I'm supposed to make sure that the mission is safe
from a local perspective. But as far as determining what our day-to-day
goals and tasks are, the ground does most of that. The other big
thing that a commander does besides ensuring overall safety is trying
to make sure that there's a good working environment and a good
working relationship amongst the crew. That's one of the things
that, it's hard to get formal preparation for-you have to learn,
I think, through the "school of hard knocks," but it's something
that I've tried to study from other crew Commanders, and take some
of the best and learn from some of the mistakes that have been made,
and, hopefully, people after me will be able to learn from my mistakes
and from what I've done right.
are also going to have the opportunity, or responsibility, of operating
the space station's robot arm.
Right. Each
American member of the crew is going to spend some time operating
the robot arm, Don Pettit and I both are, and we're looking forward
to that. The Canadian arm is a unique piece of gear; it's a lot
different than the shuttle robot arm, which I've had a chance to
operate on a previous flight. And, it's going to be very rewarding
technically to see how it performs in comparison with our simulators
and all the devices we've trained with.
your space flight begins when Jim Wetherbee and his shuttle crew
deliver you to the International Space Station, and during the first
full day of docked operations the combined crews are going to install
the P1 Truss onto the space station, using both of the Canadian
robot arms. Tell me about the role you're going to play and if you
would, talk me through the process of installing that new truss
Sure. Well,
I'm sort of the resident backup for all the tasks. My job is going
to be to monitor the displays and controls and help Jim Wetherbee
use the shuttle arm to reach into the payload bay and pull the P1
Truss out and position it so that Peggy Whitson will be able to
reach out with the station arm, grapple, and then maneuver it into
position. At the point where Peggy is grappling the P1, I'll switch
positions from the space shuttle flight deck, move over to the U.S.
Laboratory and move in beside Peggy, and help her with moving TV
displays and setting up all of the data devices that we have onboard
so that she can do a successful berthing of the truss.
that, the two truss segments are attached, two shuttle crewmembers
are going out for a spacewalk. The robot arm's still involved with
that activity.
Yes, but on
EVA 1 there's not that much we'll be doing. The, Mike L.A. [Lopez-Alegria]
and John Herrington will come out of the Airlock, and they'll translate over to the truss and start making all the critical connections,
releasing the launch locks that have to be released and attaching
all the cables so that the truss could stay alive if they had to
leave the next day. And we'll mostly be setting up the arm so that
it will be in the right position to work the next EVA.
Before that second EVA comes up, the schedule calls for a … the,
the schedule calls for you to be transferred onto the space station.
Tell me what has to happen to finalize that exchange and make you
and Nikolai and Don the station crew.
Well, it just
depends on who you talk to. On paper we're supposed to go across,
we're supposed to put our seat liners in the Soyuz, we're supposed
to put on our Russian entry suits, the Sokol entry suit, try them
on, make sure that they're leak-free, and then we're supposed to
do a test, all three of us together, to make sure that we're ready
to take over the Soyuz. Once we've done that, then officially we
can be left on orbit. But if you talk to the guys who are there
now, as soon as we show up, they're going home … and our job is
to figure out how we're going to get back.
a number of days from that point on, though, where they will still
be there along with the three of you, a time that is referred to
as handover. What is it, not having been there or done it before,
but what is it that you're going to do and talk about during this
period? Is it really necessary to get you off to a good start?
There's a
lot of things that we just can't cover in training because the actual
configuration of the station is too fluid and too complex to track
on the ground and to reflect in our ground simulators. So there's
a lot that we'll pick up during the docked time frame that will
help us early in the mission. It's things that we just can't train
for: where the cameras really are, where items are located, where
cables have been arranged, where people are sleeping, a lot of small
things that you just don't have time to cover in training, and we'll
cover in the first week either by working together with the Increment
5 crew, or by them giving us little lectures and training sessions.
show you how things really work …
in space.
We call it
"on-the-job training."
and Peggy and Sergei will go home with the shuttle crew and leave
you three to settle in on orbit. Is it possible to say what a normal
day in space is going to be like?
Well …
there such a thing as a normal day in space?
It just depends
on who you talk to how normal a day would be. But, the typical days
without a Soyuz visit or without [an] EVA on board, or without a
Progress arrival, you wake up, you have an hour-and-a-half or so
to do your morning cleanup and have some breakfast. Then there's
a half-hour conference, or fifteen-minute conference, with the ground,
the daily planning conference. Then you start into the work time.
There's about eight hours booked for work but part of that is also
booked for exercise, so we only consider about six-and-a-half hours
as work time. And then in the end of the day it's the same sort
of wind down-we have another conference, then a couple of hours
to put things away and get ready for bed, relax a little bit. And
then an eight-and-a-half-hour sleep period, and the whole day starts
that six-and-a-half hours or whatever … ends up being the real work
time, a lot of time is dedicated to a variety of science that goes
on on board the station. At this point, looking ahead, how do you
see that the station's scientific mission is going to be advanced
during Expedition Six?
in two ways. We're going to be doing some new science and we're
going to be trying to exploit the glovebox more. That's a major
step in the interactive science, where humans actually make a difference.
In addition to just turning things on, we're setting up experiments
and there's an opportunity to possibly make some observations about
what's going on. That's one place where we're moving forward. The
experiments are small, but there's a lot of time required with them.
The second area is with life science. Each new mission allows us
an opportunity to do new types of long-duration life science experiments,
where we study the crew before they launch, we study them on orbit
to see what changes are going on in their bodies, and then we study
them again when they come back to see how quickly they recuperate
and how the body changes as it readapts to gravity. And we have
two investigations that we'll be doing, that do a lot of that. One
is the Biopsy experiment, where we will, we're studying the muscles
in the leg and a small piece of our leg muscle will actually be
extracted right before we launch and right after we land. The other
experiment is the Foot experiment where we, I'll be wearing a special
suit that monitors the activity of my lower body, the positions
of my joints, and, hopefully there will be some correlation with
how much bone loss there is in my legs, and the guys who study that
will learn something new.
is … for this Foot experiment you've just referred to, is this over
like the course of a whole day or, are you, you said that they were
monitoring the position of your body, but, if, you must be staying
No. The way
it works is there's a suit that the subject wears, and it's got
sensors on it that measure the angles of the ankle and the knee
and the hip, in addition to electrodes on different muscles on the
leg and some on the arm. And that senses the electrical activity
in the muscles and all that's being recorded as you'd do, sort of,
normal daily tasks. There's also some sensors that are on the bottom
of shoes so that if you're running on a treadmill or standing on
the platform doing resistive exercise, those pads will measure the
amount of force on your feet. And we'll do, collect seven or eight
hours of data in that suit three, four times during the mission,
about one month apart, are the intervals that we'll be doing data
couple of experiments that you've used as examples there, the Human
Life Sciences area … can you explain why it's important to know
those things? Why do we need to see how your muscles react? Why
do we need to see how you, how that, the measurements that that
suit will give them?
Well, I sort
of lump it into two categories. One is just pure knowledge. Whenever
we take a known system, or a relatively known system like the human
body, and move it into a new environment, we learn new things. So
when we take somebody from Earth and into space, their body changes,
and we learn a lot about the body based on the changes that occur.
Sometimes we can't predict what those changes will be, and we learn
a lot when we try to go back and explain why they happen. But there's
also a, for me, a more important aspect, and that is if we ever
want to go outside of low-Earth orbit and go on to live in, living
on the moon, sending people to Mars, or on to the stars someday,
we're going to have to understand more about how the body adapts
to the conditions in microgravity. There's a lot of cost with creating,
what might be called artificial gravity, environments aboard ships
and right now it's, I think, cheaper to study what we might, what
the response of the body would be if we had long-term microgravity
than it is to design complicated ships that would spin and create
synthetic gravity fields for people. But what we may find out of
all this is that we have to do that, that we have to build these
types of ships when we go on. But the only way to find out for sure
is to do the research, and we do that close to Earth so that people
are close to home if something doesn't go right.
are a handful of investigations during your increment under the
category of Space Product Development. In these cases, what are
the products that are being researched, and what advantage do you
see that there is in trying to develop them in space?
Well, theoretically,
someday if we found that there were substances that could be made
only on orbit, we might have huge, floating factories, up, going
around the Earth, building these products and sending them back
home. Now, that all depends on the value of the products, but at
this point, we have a couple that are good candidates. One is zeolites,
which are used in the petroleum industry as catalysts. They have
a lot of different uses in the chemical processing industries. Another
type might be protein crystals, where we grow protein crystals,
bring them back to study, or even better, would be to study them
on orbit. Now, what we're actually getting right now by growing
protein crystals and growing zeolites in space is we're becoming
smarter about the processes that are important in the growth of
those crystals and zeolites and that helps us do a better job of
making them on the ground, which might be cheaper. And so that might
be the most important thing that we get, commercially, out of the
space station -- not that someday we'd be building and building
these large factories in space but that by making these substances
in a different environment we learn more about them and are better
able to control the processes here on Earth. And we'll get that
in the next few years from space station -- five, 10 years-without
having to build huge new, orbiting structures that have to stay
up in space.
another category of research for your mission that's known as Microgravity
science. Tell me about the research in this area.
Well, the two
things I just mentioned are microgravity science, really … everything
we do, from a science point of view up there, is…science in microgravity.
But if you take out the life science studies that are done in microgravity,
there's also, materials-type science that we do in microgravity:
protein crystal growth, studying material changes, and biological
changes with different, different small payloads. But we have so
many on the flight it's hard to keep track of them all.
you give me a sense of what it is that you do in, you and your crewmates,
all of you, will do for these experiments? They sound like, a lot
of them, things that run almost by themselves.
Well, they
do. Our biggest job is to keep the platform running, keep the humans
in good shape, and then do the things that can't be done from the
ground. The ground doesn't have equipment to take payloads from
their rack and move them to another rack, they don't have equipment
to take switches and turn them from the O-F-F position to the O-N
position, which we do. But as I alluded to for the glovebox, the
best thing humans can do is be very flexible in how they assemble
components, find problems that maybe weren't considered preflight,
and increase the probability of success of experiments. And that's
the biggest thing we'll be doing. Our job, in addition to being
test subjects, is to go up there and just try to make sure that
the science that's on our mission is carried through successfully.
also a plan for one spacewalk for your crew during your time onboard.
Can you tell me what's in the plan that's being developed for the
Well, what
we're discussing right now is, it's, proof of concept as much as
anything. We're trying to show that a station crew, with just three
people, really can get suited up, go outside, and do simultaneous
EVA-arm ops with the Canadian robot arm, and a mixed-nationality
EVA. It's a lot to take on, if you think about it, and there's only
three of us there when we do these things during the docked time
frame, with a shuttle crew there, there's a whole, whole lot more
support, there's more cameras from the orbiter, there's an extra
airlock, an extra door to go in and out and a lot more people to
help you get things done. It's quite the challenge to do it with
just three people, and so what we're going to be doing mostly is
proving that it is possible.
is this an EVA that would be done out of the American segment or
the Russian segment?
This would
be an American segment EVA.
as the commander, you'd actually get to go outside.
Yes. I think
I'll be going outside, with Nikolai Budarin, and Don Pettit will
be inside running the robot arm for us; Nikolai will probably be
on the end of the robot arm.
Budarin has got more time spent spacewalking than almost anybody
in the world.
He has quite
a few EVAs under his belt.
tips for you?
His biggest
tip is just to relax, don't worry [laughs]. I'm sure I'll be listening
to that a lot when we first go outside.
your opinion, by the time your four-plus-month mission onboard ISS
is over, it's time for you three to come home, what will have had
to have happened for you to have considered the expedition to have
been a success?
I guess the
most important thing will have been the unity of the crew at the
end of the flight. To be successful we have to come back as a crew
that was able to support each other, able to forgive each other
when we made mistakes or when we accidentally offended someone,
when we didn't mean to, that we were able to get past all those,
human frailties, and stay united as a supportive crew. And that's
not just the three of us on board but also with our team on the
ground, because there will be tons of frustrations that will come
down upon us as we're going through our mission. We'll be in a high-stress
environment, and typically when people are stressed and they have
more stress being dumped on them, their teams can break down. And
what we want to do instead is to support each other so that we become
stronger with that stress. And if we can do that, we'll be successful;
everything else will work out and take care of itself.
you're scheduled to arrive onboard the space station a short time
after the second anniversary of the start of its continuous habitation.
Finally, tell me in your opinion, what's the best thing that's come
out of the International Space Station program during these two
years of human habitation in orbit?
The best thing
is we've got Americans and Russians and international crews, they're
not just working together they're actually getting along, making
friends, building relationships. That's the visible part. The part
that's much more important and not visible is the relationships
being built on the ground. I tell people that 95 percent of what's
important about space station happens on the ground: when American
engineers and Russian engineers get together; when a Canadian meets
a Russian and they talk about what life is like in their countries;
when we send somebody from Houston over to Japan, and he talks to
somebody at dinner. The relationships that we're building are building
a stronger world, and that's just as important as building our space
Curator: Kim
Dismukes | Responsible NASA Official: John Ira Petty | Updated: 04/01/2003Web Accessibility and Policy Notices


text:
Safeco Field abuzz as Mariners induct Piniella
Retired skipper expresses gratitude for 10-year run in pregame ceremony
SEATTLE -- With a near sellout crowd at Safeco Field serenading him with chants of "Louuuu," former Mariners manager Lou Piniella was inducted into the team's Hall of Fame on Saturday night in an emotional ceremony capped by his 21-minute speech.
The club's eight-member Hall of Fame now has a skipper, with Piniella joining a group that includes five of his former players -- Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Dan Wilson, Edgar Martinez and Jay Buhner -- as well as his good friend, Hall of Fame broadcaster Dave Niehaus, and original Mariner star Alvin Davis.
Piniella said he took great pride in joining that group and thanked every player who put on the uniform during his tenure, as well as everyone in the organization from ownership to trainers to traveling secretaries.
And in the end, his voice cracked as he got to his concluding words.
"I've thanked everyone, except for the most wonderful fans in baseball," he said as the crowd rose again to a huge chorus of 'Louuuu.' "Thank you for all the love you bestowed on me, my family and our teams while I was here. From the bottom of my heart, I say thank you, I salute you and I'll never forget you."
Piniella is the only manager in Mariners history to have led the club to the playoffs, having done so four times during his decade-long tenure from 1993-2002.
"I loved my 10 years here," Piniella said, noting he had two favorite seasons in particular.
"In 1995, that was the defining season in Seattle Mariners baseball," he said. "Refuse to lose, I remember it like yesterday. And 2001, a magical season ... 116 wins, I don't think that'll ever be done in baseball again. That does pretty good for a manager's record.
"I'm very proud of the things we accomplished here, the playoffs, the division titles, the record attendance, this beautiful ballpark. But truthfully, a manager is only as good as the people he works with and the people he works for and I have so many people to thank for my success."
Piniella and current manager Lloyd McClendon are the only Seattle skippers with winning records during their Mariners time. Piniella went 840-711, while McClendon entered Saturday at 61-54 in his first year at the helm.
Piniella sees a little of himself in McClendon, who has brought a firm hand and fiery nature to the current club.
"I managed against Lloyd when he was with the Pirates and I was with the Cubs," Piniella said earlier. "I enjoy watching him. He's doing a heckuva job. He's got passion for the game, he's got fire, he's a player's guy. I like Mac. I used to love watching him go off at umpires a little bit."
Mariners fans used to love Piniella's own run-in with umpires, of course. His red-faced tirades and hat-kicking, base-throwing tantrums are the stuff of legend in Seattle. Piniella, now 70, managed with a passion that always ran close to the surface.
Asked earlier what one word he'd use to best describe his time in Seattle, Piniella pondered for a bit before answering.
"I'd probably say 'appreciative,'" he said. "That would be the best word to describe it. When they hire you to manage a baseball team, these organizations place a lot of trust in you and you have a lot of responsibility. It's not easy to manage a Major League team if you want to do it the right way. You have to work at it and be prepared.
"So yeah, for these people to entrust their franchise on a guy's shoulders, 'appreciative' is a good word."
Piniella takes great pride in his part in awakening Seattle's love for baseball. When he arrived in the Northwest, the Mariners were coming off a 64-98 season and had gone through seven managers in the previous 12 years.
"I remember my first year when I came here, we used to have breakfast at this place by the Kingdome, myself and the coaches, a late breakfast and then we'd go to the park to get prepared for a game," Piniella said. "We went into this place three or four days in a row and finally the proprietor came over and said, 'Boy, I'm really excited about your team this year. When does the season start?' And I said, 'Heck, we've been playing 15 days already.'
"When I came here, baseball was on the third or fourth page of the sports pages," he said. "To see that transition from small crowds to better crowds to more interest, it was really nice to see."
By Piniella's last two years, the Mariners were leading the Majors in attendance at 3.5 million a season. Those numbers have dwindled as the club hasn't made the postseason since his departure.
But with the team in playoff contention this season and Piniella returning Saturday, Safeco Field was abuzz Saturday. He was joined at the ceremony by Anita, his wife of 47 years, as well as their three children and other family members.
Wilson, Martinez, Buhner and Davis were in attendance, as was Niehaus' wife, Marilyn. Griffey and Johnson were not present as Griffey is in Cincinnati this weekend being inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame, while Johnson has been traveling. But both those players and numerous others had comments played on the big screen and Piniella talked fondly of them all.
Piniella also took time to encourage the current group of players, who were lining the rail of the Mariners dugout in rapt attention throughout his speech.
"Lloyd, you and your staff are doing an outstanding job," he said. "I'm so happy that you guys are playing good baseball. I'll tell you what, let's have some fun the rest of the year. Let's get this team in the playoffs and make Seattle proud of all of you. You guys are good. Believe in yourselves."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Coffee in South India
Posted by TheShot on 03 Feb 2012 | Tagged as: Add Milk, Beans, Café Society, Consumer Trends, Foreign Brew, Home Brew, Quality Issues, Restaurant Coffee
If you were to read it in the current Roast magazine article (from the Jan-Feb 2012 issue), India is a coffee consumer desert. This week TIME magazine wrote about the entrance of Starbucks in the Indian market almost as if to dismiss any prior coffee consumption there. But after spending three weeks in South India's coffee-growing state of Karnataka last month, these articles read like front-line trip reports from Christopher Columbus to Queen Isabella suggesting that the New World he just discovered is "uninhabited".
India accurately gets the label of a tea-loving nation. But South India has a coffee-happy culture that arguably rivals most of the places we've visited in Europe. In fact, we found far more coffee fanatics in South India than tea lovers. And when we say "fanatics", we mean people whose eyes light up with delight when you offer the suggestion, "Coffee?"
When we reported from Northern India four years ago, much of the coffee culture was a relatively new, youthful, cosmopolitan import of the modern global café culture. South India also has ample evidence of the modern "third place." After all this is where Café Coffee Day, India's largest modern coffee chain, got its start in 1996.
But South India is steeped in coffee houses and coffee culture that goes back to the fading memories of Old Bangalore — from long before the British moved out, "road widening" programs blighted the city with horrendous traffic in place of groves of majestic trees, and global high tech campuses moved in. You can somewhat neatly divide South India between its old and new coffee cultures.
Old South India Coffee
Starting from the lore of the seven Yemenese coffee beans introduced by Baba Budan to the hills of Chikmagalur (a region within the state of Karnataka) in 1670, India has been a coffee producing nation. But traditionally only in the southern states of Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. These lush, fertile states represent much of India's agriculture and the world's spices.
In South Indian cities, you can still find old school bean-and-leaf stores (Peet's Coffee & Tea's original model, i.e. as opposed to retail coffee beverage sales) where local customers ask for coffee from their favorite Coorg farm by name. But despite this terroir-like awareness among some of South India's older coffee fans, they typically do not buy their coffee in a whole bean format. As ground coffee, it is often purchased as "coffee powder". And as a matter of history, economics, and/or taste preferences, coffee powder for traditional South Indian filter coffee is frequently cut with chicory.
In fact, if you were to describe the typical South Indian filter coffee preparation, it is also served with a lot of attention given to hot, manually frothed milk. New Orleans may lay claim to the chicory cafe au lait, but South India has predated that claim with a very similar traditional coffee drink by a century or more. One significant difference being that South India likes to aerate their hot milk by distributing it between metal vessels from side-to-side. Some purveyors even take this form of milk frothing to the level of theatrics, providing their customers with a version of latte art rooted more performance art than design.
This form of South Indian coffee consumption takes place in homes, offices, and in the old school restaurants typically called "hotels" that you will find throughout South India. They may be called "hotels", but you won't find a place to lay down — let alone private rooms. Many are vegetarian restaurants, and you'll even find the occasional "military hotel" — which is shorthand for a diner on the cheap, typically with stand-up self service and a cafeteria-like counter for ordering. South Indians very much look forward to their coffee breaks throughout the day for both the enjoyment of the drink and to briefly discuss family, work, events, etc.
In other words, when it comes to coffee, they're a lot like Europeans.
New South India Coffee
India is a dance in contradictions, however. Someone we met near Delhi a few years ago put it best when he told us, "everything you find to be true in India, you will also find the exact opposite to also be true." And that includes South India's coffee culture.
The local presses have stated, "India is low on coffee knowledge." That is as apparent in South India as anywhere else in the country. There is a decent proliferation of modern coffee shops — including even a Caffè Pascucci in downtown Bengaluru and an Illy espressamente in its airport. However, the coffee "language" used by many of these coffee shops seemed dumbed down for a more coffee-naïve public.
For example, a very popular, local coffeehouse for the young Bengaluru professional set called Matteo Coffea outwardly brands itself as a place for consumer coffee education. However, most of this is in the form of basic historical coffee trivia and quotes you might otherwise find on a souvenir coffee mug: e.g., "Did you know that coffee was discovered by Ethiopian goat herders called kaldi?"
A non-chain place like Matteo Coffea is also a good example of the modern South Indian coffeehouse. It has all the hallmarks of a great "Third Wave" coffeehouse in the West: an outward dedication to consumer coffee education, a shiny red La Marzocco FB/70, and selective bean sourcing and roasting operations. However, the resulting espresso shots look a lot better than they taste. India is going through a lot of the motions on quality coffee, but the coffee quality itself has yet to live up to the show. Other modern coffee shops and chains in the region put a modern spin on coffee quality while still sticking to the area tradition of pre-ground coffee mixed with chicory.
High-end restaurants in the area — those guardians of gourmand tastes — seem to know enough about quality coffee to dissuade customers from ordering the traditional South Indian filter coffee, which is often made with the aforementioned "coffee powder." It's almost as if they are embarrassed by it. Instead they steer customers towards "black coffee," which is barely acceptable straight espresso served in very long, but yet not diluted, pours.
And yet our experiences with traditional South Indian filter coffee there were all very positive — even if it doesn't bow down to the gods of single origin elitism, handling attuned to maximum freshness, nor even the avoidance of milk adulteration. Perhaps the most humbling aspect was when I returned to the U.S. and tried to reproduce South Indian filter coffee at home. Using a South Indian brew pot I bought at a Bengaluru housewares store for $8 — a contraption not unlike the Neapolitan flip coffee pot — I got out my best beans, technique, and milk to ultimately produce one of the three most undrinkable cups of coffee I have ever made in my life. This is harder than it looks, folks.
The South Indian Business of Coffee
Bengaluru is also home to the national Coffee Board of India, a large, multistory complex that we decided to visit on a whim. Expecting a closed-door government agency with security guards and suspicious eyes intent on keeping foreigners and trespassers out, we were surprised at how open and welcoming they were.
Showing up on their doorstep and merely expressing our love of good Indian coffee, we were directed to the offices of Dr. K. Basavaraj, who is head of the Quality Control Division. There we received an all-access tour of his lab, test batch roasters, and cupping facilities: all the trappings any Western coffee fanatic would feel right at home with.
Out at "origin," in the coffee-growing lands of the Kodagu (aka Coorg) district of Karnataka, we visited a few coffee farms. Most were modest agricultural operations, some associated with so-called "coffee curing works" that often seemed in the general business of trading commodities. Collectively they supply the majority of India's domestic coffee consumption — in no small part because India imposes steep tariffs on just about any imported consumable. (They impose a 100% import tariff on beer and wine, with spirits typically topping 150%.)
You could fault India for growing a lot of "cheap" robusta here — it is half the crop relative to arabica by some counts. However, India grows some of the best quality, best cared-for robusta in the world. And in typical Indian contradictory fashion, one of the more memorable modern coffeehouses we experienced in South India was a roadside hut in rural Nisargadhama, Kodagu that served, among other drinks, decorative Spanish cortados.
No matter what, there is something to be said about a coffee culture where, when you ask a restaurant or café who supplies or roasts their coffee, you invariably get the name of an individual — often with an honorary "Dr." title — rather than the name of a business. It's not unlike parts of Hawaii where some restaurant menus list the name of the fisherman along with the fish.
India is such a complex, diverse place it's next to impossible to try to sum up what it is and what it isn't, as the answer tends to be "all of the above." We can only hope that with all the forces of modernization and globalization at play here, coffee doesn't lose some of its cultural diversity.
3 Comments »
3 Responses to "Coffee in South India"
Nice write up Greg! Would have been funny to ask the barista at the cafe that was serving cortados if they could make you a gibraltar instead 🙂 . But then again, he probably wouldn't find it funny, he'd probably just be confused.
Excellent article. I came here searching for "origins of south indian filter coffee". But I must say, coming from Madras, we Tamils can't tolerate any other filter coffee other than what we make. Karnataka filter coffee is one of the tolerable compared to say a Kerala.
Next time, don't miss having filter coffee in Madras (Chennai) at a Saravana Bhavan or Adyar Ananda Bhavan. Though the best filter coffee for me was at one Darling Residency Hotel in Vellore town.


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!! History Commons Alert, Exciting News
A distant shot of the Freemen compound. Reporters were not given much access to the area, and photographs of the area and the participants in the standoff are limited. [Source: CNN]The besieged Montana Freemen (see March 25, 1996) surrender peacefully to federal authorities. Officials credit Freemen leader Edwin Clark (see June 11, 1996) with playing a key role in negotiating the surrender. [Billings Gazette, 3/25/2006] The New York Times writes that the siege ends "so peacefully that the surrender [does] not even disturb the cows grazing at the group's remote Montana ranch." Local postal carrier and rancher Ruth Coulter exclaims after the surrender: "My God, it's finally over! And nobody got killed! Wonderful. Wonderful!" [New York Times, 6/14/1996] 16 Freemen Surrender - CNN identifies 16 people still inside the compound: Ralph Clark (see 1980s-1994), the elderly leader of the Clark family and one of the group's leaders; Clark's wife Kay; Clark's brother Emmett Clark, the actual former owner of the 960-acre wheat farm occupied by the Freemen and dubbed "Justus Township" (see September 28, 1995 and After); Emmett Clark's wife Rosie; Ralph Clark's son Edwin; Edwin Clark's son Casey Clark; Rodney Skurdal, a founder of the group (see 1983-1995); Russell Dean Landers, one of the leaders of the group and a member of a North Carolina anti-government, anti-tax group called "Civil Rights Task Force"; Dana Dudley Landers, Landers's common-law wife, a fugitive from federal and state charges, and a member of the "Civil Rights Task Force"; Dale Jacobi, a former Canadian policemen; Steven Hance, who faces state charges from North Carolina; Hance's sons John Hance and James Hance; Cherlyn Petersen, the wife of arrested Freemen member Daniel Petersen; Casey Valheimer; and Barry Nelson, who with another man entered the ranch after eluding blockades (see March 25 - April 1, 1996). [CNN, 6/12/1996] The surrender is peaceful; the Freemen drive to the ranch gates in cars, trucks, and a Winnebago motor home. They gather in a quiet circle for a final prayer. Then Edwin Clark approaches an agent and shakes hands. Finally, in pairs escorted by Clark, they surrender to waiting agents, who ease them into passenger vans. Clark is the last one to enter custody. Fourteen of the Freemen are taken to the Yellowstone County jail in Billings, 175 miles away from Jordan. Two, Kay Clark and Rosie Clark, face no charges and are not jailed, though the FBI says they will not be allowed to return to the compound. After hearing of the surrender, President Clinton tells guests at a state dinner, "We will all say a little prayer tonight for this peaceful settlement." [Los Angeles Times, 6/14/1996] FBI Director 'Obviously Relieved' - FBI Director Louis Freeh, described by the Los Angeles Times as "obviously relieved," says the FBI "put patience above the risk of bloodshed" to end the standoff. He says the bureau "made no deals to drop or lessen the federal charges" against any of the Freemen in order to precipitate the surrender. Of critics who called for quicker and perhaps more "tactical" solutions, Freeh says: "I understand their impatience. But it was essential that we followed our established crisis management procedures." He says the standoff proves the worth of the new crisis response plans implemented after the tragedies in Ruby Ridge, Idaho (see August 31, 1992), and Waco, Texas (see April 19, 1993). This time, the bureau used "a fundamentally different approach" that "may not always work, but it worked here." Giving negotiators more influence during the standoff did cause some "disagreements" and "friction" within the FBI, Freeh acknowledges, but it was the right decision to make. Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick says "[t]he tactical option was always on the table." Freeh notes that as the standoff wore on, the Freemen gained a certain level of reluctant trust in the bureau. "We never broke a promise to them," he says, and "we told them before things happened," such as cutting off electrical power (see June 3, 1996). [Los Angeles Times, 6/15/1996] Outreach to Rightist Figures, Low-Key Techniques Brought Successful Resolution - FBI agents credit help they received from militia members in helping to resolve the standoff, along with the new, more low-key techniques of handling such confrontations now being used by the bureau. "Overall, our approach was to find a balance between negotiations and other lawful means," says FBI agent Ron VanVranken, who took part in the final settlement negotiations. "We recognized it would be prudent and beneficial to use the services of third-party intermediaries and to be constantly soliciting the advice of outside experts." Freeh says he was supportive of the decision to use third-party negotiators who hold similar anti-government views to those of the Freemen: "I think that, given all the other cumulative steps over the last 81 days, that that helped persuade the remaining subjects to finally come out of the compound." The Los Angeles Times says that the FBI's strategy of reaching out to far-right figures may have had an added benefit of creating dissension among rightist groups (see March 25 - April 1, 1996) and avoiding a "united front" of opposition that might have helped strengthen the Freemen's resolve to continue holding out. "It was probably a wise move that the Freemen came out, as opposed to being burned out or shot," says Clay Douglas, publisher of the far-right Free American newspaper and a leading member of the "Patriot" movement. "And it's an election year, so the FBI had to be good." However, the FBI's decision to use "Patriot" negotiators "was pretty smart on their part. It has divided a lot of patriots. A lot of people thought they were being traitors for going in and trying to talk them out. Some people side with the Freemen. Some people side with the 'Patriot' leaders. So it's just another small part of how the government keeps America divided. It's called gradualism. They keep gradually encroaching on our freedoms." The FBI brought in militia leaders James "Bo" Gritz and Jack McLamb (see April 27, 1996), Colorado State Senator Charles Duke, a rightist sympathizer (see May 15-21, 1996), and white supremacist lawyer Kirk Lyons (see June 11, 1996); even though most of their attempts at negotiations failed, it served to build a "bridge" between the FBI and the Freemen. Another technique was to promote Edwin Clark, the Freeman the FBI considered the most likely to leave the compound, as a leader in the absence of arrested Freemen LeRoy Schweitzer and Daniel Petersen (see March 25, 1996). The final element was the introduction of Lyons, who was contacted three weeks ago by FBI agents and asked for a plan to negotiate with the Freemen. Lyons's colleague Neill Payne says somewhat incredulously, "It is to Director Freeh's credit that he was broad-minded enough to go along with a crazy scheme like ours." [Los Angeles Times, 6/15/1996]
Entity Tags: Cherlyn Bronson Petersen, Ralph Clark, New York Times, Neill Payne, Montana Freemen, Charles Duke, Ron VanVranken, Rosie Clark, Russell Dean Landers, Barry Nelson, Louis J. Freeh, Casey Clark, Ruth Coulter, Steven Hance, Casey Valheimer, Rodney Owen Skurdal, Kay Clark, Dana Dudley Landers, Kirk Lyons, Dale Jacobi, Clay Douglas, Civil Rights Task Force, Daniel Petersen, Edwin Clark, LeRoy Schweitzer, Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Hance, Jamie Gorelick, James ("Bo") Gritz, Emmett Clark, Jack McLamb, John Hance
Timeline Tags: US Domestic Terrorism
The Yellowstone County Courthouse in Billings, Montana, where the 14 Freemen are arraigned. [Source: Civic Images (.com)]A group of 14 Montana Freemen make their first court appearance after surrending to federal authorities (see June 13, 1996). The 14 Freemen being processed are: Casey Clark, Edwin Clark, Emmett Clark, Ralph Clark, James Hance, John Hance, Steven Hance, Dale Jacobi, Dana Dudley Landers, Russell Dean Landers, Barry Nelson, Cherlyn Petersen, Rodney Skurdal, and Casey Valheimer. The elderly wives of two of the Freemen, Kay Clark and Rosie Clark, face no criminal charges. The Freemen in court are defiant and disruptive. Most of them object to the proceedings and refuse to acknowledge the charges being brought against them. Some of them refuse to acknowledge their names; when Magistrate Robert Holter asks Skurdal his name and explains that he wants to ensure that he is the right person, Skurdal retorts, "I object to your calling me a person, your honor." Dana Landers responds to a similar question by reciting: "I am a Christian. My flag is red, white, and blue; it's an American flag. The Holy Scriptures are my law. I'm not familiar with your tribunals." Each demands their right to "effective counsel," meaning that they should be able to choose their own lawyers but the court must pay for them. Many object to their names being spelled with all capital letters, as is common in legal briefs. One male Freeman requires physical restraint. Holter refuses to hear their arguments that their own alternative government's rules must apply over those of the federal legal system. Working through a barrage of shouts, imprecations, and recitations, Holter assigns them lawyers over their objections, and sets arraignment and bond hearings. [CNN, 6/12/1996; New York Times, 6/14/1996; Los Angeles Times, 6/15/1996] New York Times reporter Carey Goldberg writes: "When they appeared in court on Friday, and rejected everything from the American flag to the capital letters in their names, the 14 newly surrendered Freemen laid bare, in word and posture, the central spirit of the anti-government group that held off federal agents for 81 days. It was a culture of collective denial. Each member came from a different set of circumstances, but the freedom they sought was freedom from American reality.… [W]hat united them was the ideological structure they built, in which the debts they owed were nullified, the criminal charges against them were invalid, and their position in society was considered supreme." [New York Times, 6/15/1996]
Entity Tags: Dale Jacobi, Cherlyn Bronson Petersen, Steven Hance, Casey Clark, Carey Goldberg, Barry Nelson, Rosie Clark, Rodney Owen Skurdal, Russell Dean Landers, Ralph Clark, Emmett Clark, Edwin Clark, Dana Dudley Landers, James Hance, Robert Holter, Montana Freemen, John Hance, Casey Valheimer, Kay Clark
The New York Times publishes an overview of the ongoing criminal trials of the Montana Freemen (see 1993-1994, March 25, 1996, June 13, 1996, and March 16, 1998 and After), and calls the proceedings "an absurdist drama that could be called Alice in Wonderland on the Yellowstone River." Freemen leader LeRoy Schweitzer, indicted for multiple counts of civil fraud and threatening federal officials (see March 26, 1996), recently announced himself as "Supreme Court Justice LeRoy Michael" in a court hearing, and told the judge: "Supreme court is in session. You are removed from the bench under impeachment." Most of the Freemen are refusing to cooperate with either the court officials or their own defense lawyers; some of them had to be compelled to give fingerprints and be photographed for booking. Defendant Daniel Petersen, indicted along with Schweitzer and a third Freeman, Rodney Skurdal, disrupted a recent proceeding by shouting that the "Supreme Court of Yellowstone County" was now in session, and yelled at the judge and prosecution, "I'm charging all of you with misprison of treason and misprison of felony." Defendant Steven Hance (see June 14, 1996) told one judge, "I am above the Constitution," called the judge "an outlaw," and informed him, "You are out of order." Hance's two sons, James Hance and John Hance, answered their indictments by belching at the judge; James Hance told the judge: "You're going to be impeached. How are you going to feel about that?" and his brother added: "You'd better start obeying the law, sir. You're incompetent." Another defendant, Dale Jacobi, accused the judge of holding "blood sacrifices." During a North Carolina trial of one Freeman, Russell Landers, the judge at that trial ordered Landers—defending himself—to cease his rambling opening statement, threw him out of the courtroom, and had him watch his trial by closed-circuit television; in his turn, Landers claimed he was being held hostage by a foreign power and accused the judge of wearing a black robe to disguise his real identity as "a Roman tribunal." One judge, Charles Lovell, recently said that Schweitzer has "no business in the courtroom unless he is chained and taped," and banned him from the courtroom. The defendants are routinely expelled from the courtroom for their antics. They call themselves "white Christian men" who are, by definition, "sovereign American naturals" and therefore not subject to United States laws and courts. They hold that their system of "common law" (see Fall 2010) places them above the "ordinary" American judicial system. The judges have uniformly ignored the Freemen's arcane legal claims, which the New York Times calls "a salad of the Uniform Commercial Code, the Magna Carta, biblical admonitions, and meaningless Latin phrases." Lovell called Schweitzer's legal defense "nonsensical" and added, "This is preposterous, absolutely preposterous—it has no more bearing in law than an ounce of sand." The Montana Supreme Court threw out 37 pages of Freemen court documents as "nonsensical filings," and another judge called a Freeman's legal arguments "bunkum." While similar trials of right-wing militia figures have drawn numerous protesters agitating on behalf of the defendants, the Freemen are drawing a vanishingly small number of supporters; "sympathizers are rare, and protest placards have not been seen in more than nine months," the Times observes. [New York Times, 3/25/1997]
Entity Tags: Montana Freemen, Dale Jacobi, Charles C. Lovell, James Hance, LeRoy Schweitzer, Montana Supreme Court, New York Times, Steven Hance, Rodney Owen Skurdal, Russell Dean Landers, John Hance
Five Montana Freemen (see 1993-1994, March 25, 1996, and June 13, 1996) are convicted of serving as accessories to helping other Freemen escape arrest during the 81-day standoff (see March 16, 1998 and After). Steven Hance and his two sons, James and John Hance, are convicted of being accessories and for being fugitives in possession of firearms. Barry Nelson, who joined the Freemen during the standoff (see March 25 - April 1, 1996), is convicted of being an accessory. Elwin Ward is acquitted of accessory charges, but found guilty of submitting a false claim to the Internal Revenue Service. Edwin Clark is acquitted of all charges. [New York Times, 4/1/1998; Billings Gazette, 3/25/2006] The Hances and Nelson will receive lengthy jail sentences (see June 6, 1998).
Entity Tags: Elwin Ward, Barry Nelson, Edwin Clark, James Hance, John Hance, Steven Hance, Montana Freemen
Four members of the Montana Freemen (see 1993-1994) are forcibly wheeled into court in wheelchairs after refusing to come to court under their own power, and are sentenced to prison for their part in the group's standoff with the FBI (see March 25, 1996 and March 31, 1998). US District Judge John C. Coughenour sentences Steven Hance to 78 months in jail. Hance interrupts the proceedings with shouts that he is not a US citizen and not subject to the jurisdiction of the court. Barry Nelson receives 71 months. John Hance receives 63 months. James Hance receives 67 months. Fellow Freeman Elwin Ward, who does not resist being brought to court, is released for time served. [Associated Press, 6/6/1998]
Entity Tags: John Hance, Barry Nelson, Elwin Ward, John C. Coughenour, Montana Freemen, Steven Hance, James Hance
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Cal football player Ted Agu dies after training run
A 21-year-old UC Berkeley football player who collapsed and died Friday morning after participating in a supervised training run with teammates had noticeable trouble during the workout and was escorted away by medical staff just before he lost consciousness.
A defensive lineman, Ted Agu of Bakersfield was a junior majoring in public health who planned to go to medical school.
Campus officials said Agu had no prior medical incidents with the team and declined to say whether he had any health problems, citing privacy rules.
They said Agu had been on an all-team training run about 7 a.m. Friday and was about 150 yards from the stadium when medical staff noticed he was "having some difficulty completing the workout," said Casey Batten, the athletes' doctor.
The staff put Agu on a golf cart, gave him water, and drove back to the stadium, said Batten, who described Agu as alert and talking. As the cart entered the North tunnel, Agu lost consciousness. Medical staff immediately began "high-quality CPR" and administered an automatic external defibrillator, Batten said.
He said paramedics took Agu to the emergency room at Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley, where he died.
Head football coach Sonny Dykes said he then called an emotional team meeting and gave the players the news.
"As a coach, you have the opportunity to be around a lot of special kids, day in and day out, and he was a very special young man," Dykes said later. "He just had a passion and energy for life that was deeply contagious. Our players loved him dearly and he was a big part of our family."
An emotional Sandy Barbour, Cal's athletics director, said, "There is not a greater tragedy than for us to lose one of our incredibly bright and passionate young people far too soon."
Agu stood 6-feet-1 and weighed 240 pounds. He was not among the high school athletic stars recruited with full scholarships by major universities more for their athletic prowess than their academic skills.
Rather, he was a "walk-on," who earned his way into Cal and loved football so much that he tried out for the team as a freshman in 2010 and made it, though he warmed the bench through many games. In 2013, he played in seven games and had six total tackles as a junior.
Agu's feelings for football were apparent in a description of the game he posted two weeks ago on Instagram beside an action photo of himself on the field:
"It's like your mother, it guides you, shapes you, and is the reason for the man you are today. Although you may get frustrated with it from time to time, you will always love it. THE GAME! Can't wait to get back at it."
Last spring, Agu finally got his full scholarship.
In an interview for Cal TV, water polo player Emily Turner asked Agu (pronounced uh-GOO) to tell about it.
He said he'd had no idea that he and other athletes were in store for an award when they walked into what they thought was a regular meeting - then heard their names called.
"It was an unbelievable experience," Agu said. "Wow, it was a shocker. I had to call my family.
"What I've been told is that we received those because (we) worked hard on the field and off the field. It was a really blessed event."
Agu's sudden death stunned his teammates and friends, who quickly turned to social media to express their grief.
"I am deeply saddened by the news of my old locker mate, Ted Agu's passing," wrote former Cal wide receiver Marvin Jones Jr. on Instagram, one of dozens of messages of condolence and shock. "He had one of the biggest hearts and was one of the most ambitious young men around."
Volleyball player Christina Renae tweeted: "RIP to my neighbor and friend Ted Agu. Gonna miss seeing that smile."
On campus, the gym at the football team's training center was empty, and a steady rain fell as a handful of athletes walked in and out.
One athlete with puffy eyes and wearing a football sweatshirt was too upset to speak.
As he walked out a back door of the stadium, he said, "Now is not the time, man, now is not the time."
Chronicle Staff Writers Jill Tucker and Ann Killion contributed to this report. Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: email@example.com, email@example.com, email@example.com


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Ok guys so I broke down and got this set. For the measly sum of $15. How you ask? Well I got a gift card from work for going above and beyond and I was recognized by the management team. They gave me a $15 gift card to target so I figured it was time, an blew it on some Lego.
My first impressions of the set is that it is a very good builder for pre-teens an teens. There are some advanced techniques, such as some SNOT work that were never used in sets when we were kids just 20 years ago. The main Build is a fairly solid build and heavy in the hand. My Only qualm is that the pods are a little flimsy as they only attach Via a cross shaped Technic post.
The secondary build of the Gate is so so. It is a little unstable, an a bit flimsy. I do Like the cart however. If built into a larger display piece I am sure this would hold up better. I am still tired of the flick fire, and the small catapults, though as the box states 8-14 we are not the age group that TLG is focusing on.
That said this is a great set for parts!!! When I first picked up the set and looked at the Pictures I thought there would be more panels to simplify the build. but when I dumped out the box I was greeted by 2 bags of nothing but small parts.
This set has which I find very desirable;
24- 1x1 modified with stud on side in Dark Bley
1- Light Bley Lion head
8- Bley Masonry Bricks
2- Green Vine Pieces
21- Dark Bley Cheese slopes
As well as a smattering of other useful parts.
So as a parts pack you get 424 pieces, at $30. This is AWESOME! As Emmit would say. It comes to about .07 cents per part. There are only 2 panels in this set, if you don't count the gate pieces. All in all this is a good buy. I will be getting another set in a couple months just for the parts I listed above. This is a great set/ Parts pack and a worthy addition to my parts bins.
I hope you all find this useful.


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If you've been here before and need quick navigation:
Culinarian Leveling Guide – Navigation: [0-15] | [15-35] | [35-50]
[50-60] | [60-64] | [64-70] | [70-80]
So you're gonna Ramsey it up and be a Culinarian, ey? Get your inventory space ready!
Before you begin…
Where is the Culinarian Guild? How to become a Culinarian? You can become a Culinarian by visiting the Culinarians' Guild in Limsa. If you have at least L10 in any combat class – you're good to start cookin'!
Updating your Cooking Gear is quite important if you're going to be crafting your own leve items. We have a Crafting Gear Guide to help you out on that.
Culinarian Class Quest Item Reference:
CUL 01: Maple Syrup
CUL 05: Grilled Trout
CUL 10: 2x Grilled Dodo
CUL 15: Meat Miq'abob
CUL 20: Dried Plums
CUL 25: Aldgoat Steak
CUL 30: (HQ) Smoked Raptor
CUL 35: (HQ) Ratatouille
CUL 40: (All HQ) Blood Currant Tart, Pastry Fish, Chamomile Tea
CUL 45: (HQ) Dzemael Gratin
CUL 50: (All HQ) Eft Steak, Beef Stew, Trapper's Quiche, Crowned Pie
Just use the above as a quick reference if completing multiple Culinarian class quests at once.
Levequest Items Discussion?
For Culinarian: Repeatable Leves are extremely worth it! (Save inventory space)
Every tier has 3 kinds of Leves:
- [1]Single Submit Leves: Levemete & submission are just a short walk from each other.
- [C]ourier Leves: Levemete is from the [H]ometown, to be submitted to the [L]ocal Levemete.
- [RC] or Reverse Courier Leves are from the [L]ocal, submitted to [H]ometown.
- [R]epeatable Leves.
- [1]Single and [3]Repeatable Leves (1 each) are from the [H]ometown, and [L]ocal levemete.
- [C]ourier leves will always give the Highest EXP per craft, but require a lot of time and travel costs.
- [3]Repeatable leves will always give the Highest EXP per Leve. If you value your leves a lot or don't have many left, these are good. But, they are MORE expensive. We will recommend the best [1] and [3] levequest(s) for every tier. Note that this depends on server prices and might not apply to you (Unlikely). We will comment on every tiers [C] levequest but will likely never recommend it. Use [C] levequests at your own discretion!
- A Precursor item means it requires a fully crafted item AS A MATERIAL.
Useful links to have open: Crafting Gear Guide | Culinarian Leves Guide
Culinarian Level 1-15: The early levels
We DO NOT advise using Leves for these low levels. If you really feel like using leves for these tiers:
CUL 1 Leve Recommendation: [H][1] – Grilled Trout
CUL 5 Leve Recommendation: [H][1] – Jack-o'-lantern
CUL 10 Leve Recommendation: [H][1] – Grilled Carp
You can get to CUL 15 in less than an hour if you buy a Company-issued Engineering Scroll. The GC Scrolls can be bought from your GC's supplier NPC. Culinarian is a bit different. While you "can" complete your early crafting log for fast EXP, we suggest stocking up on important "Ingots" you will need in the future:
Buy the following items:
- 32x Rocksalt
- 32x Distilled Water
- 16x Mineral Water
- 33x Rye
- 99x Beehive Chip
- 49x Maple Sap
- 132x Sunset Wheat
- 38x Buffalo Milk
The above Items can be found in the CUL Guild Supplier.
Then Craft these in order (+GC Scroll):
- 32x Table Salt (Yields almost 2 stacks of Table Salt)
- 49x Maple Syrup (You'll be using some for the next step…)
- 45x Maple Sugar (Made from 15 of the Maple Syrups.. Yields one stack)
- 33x Rye Flour (Yields 1 stack Rye Flour)
- 33x Honey (Yields one stack of Honey)
- 19x Smooth Butter (Yields almost a stack of Smooth Butter)
- 33x Sunset Wheat Flour (Yields one stack of Sunset Wheat Flour)
- 16x Pie Dough (Yields nearly one stack of Pie Dough)
It's up to you on how you want to do this: Quick Synthesis loses a lot of EXP, so you wanna manually craft maybe 5-15 of each item then Quick Synth the rest. The reason for this is to make use of these low level crafts to gain EXP while they're still relevant. You'll be using any number of these for as long as you'll be cooking. Yes, you can buy a few of these from other NPC's, but might as well maximize the exp now.
With Pie Dough, You might want to craft all of it manually.
While completing the Crafting Log might be "better" in terms of leveling, this is a low-impact, AFK friendly (and inventory space friendly) way. Again, you'll be using all this stuff anyway.
After completing the shopping list above, activate your scroll and be 15++ quick!
Culinarian Leveling Guide – Navigation: [0-15] | [15-35] | [35-50]
[50-60] | [60-64] | [64-70] | [70-80]


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|Date of Build
|Port of Regestry
|Special Purpose Vessel
|Apr 1 1974 12:00AM
|Republic of Vanuatu
|IMO Number
|Official Number
|Call Sign
|Gross tonnage
|Net tonnage
|Deadweight tonnage
DISCOVERY Owner, Manager, Shipyard
Marine Chemist and Testing
Marine Chemist
Maritime News
Opinion: Renewable Energy Wins Over Oil and Gas in Post-Coronavirus World:
Imagine waking up one morning with a deadly tiger snake in your bed. To make matters worse out of the window you notice an approaching bushfire.Both are a threat to your life, but you are going to deal with the imminent danger of the snake first, and then tackle the more distant but still serious fire. It's the same with the new coronavirus and climate change.Since the rapid spread of the coronavirus beyond its origin in China and the social and economic havoc it's wreaking across the globe, it may seem that climate change has dropped off the radar screen.
Acting Navy Head Blasts Fired USS Theodore Roosevelt Captain
The acting head of the U.S. Navy, in a surprise speech to the crew of a coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier, castigated their former commander for writing a leaked letter that demanded the Navy take stronger action to halt the spread of the illness.Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly stood by his decision to relieve Captain Brett Crozier of his command in a speech to crew members of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt while it was docked in Guam early on Monday."If he didn't think that information was going to get out into the public in this information age that we live in, then he was A, too naive or too stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this," he said.
US Says No Requests Yet to Waive Jones Act to Help Oil Companies
The U.S. government said on Monday it has not yet received requests to waive a 100-year-old law on shipping goods between domestic ports, despite some interested parties who say temporarily lifting the regulation would help energy companies hurt by the oil price plunge.Kelly Cahalan, a spokesperson at the U.S Customs and Border Protection agency of the Department of Homeland Security, said no requests to waive the Merchant Marine Act, better known as the Jones Act, have been received.U.S. oil companies are struggling with plummeting prices for crude resulting from the coronavirus pandemic that is crushing demand and a war over market share between major producers Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Vietnam Protests Beijing's Sinking of South China Sea Boat
Vietnam has lodged an official protest with China following the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat it said had been rammed by a Chinese maritime surveillance vessel near islands in the disputed South China Sea.The Vietnamese fishing vessel, with eight fishermen onboard, was fishing near the Paracel Islands on Thursday when it was rammed and sunk by the Chinese vessel, Vietnam's foreign ministry said in a statement posted on a government website on Saturday.All the fishermen were picked up by the Chinese vessel alive and were transferred to two other Vietnamese fishing vessels operating nearby, the Vietnam Fisheries Society said in a statement posted to its website.
New Campaign Aims to Raise Emergency Funds for Seafarers
A new crowdfunding campaign aims to raise funds for developing world seafarers and their families that have been severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.The world's seafarers, especially those from poorer countries, are facing a number of challlenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Many are in lockdown with casual contracts and unable to work; others are facing difficulties due to lockdowns when they leave ships and are unable to return to their families with costs and little income coming in; and there are even some reports of seafarers being shunned on their return to their homes for fears of the virus.


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Rookies Come Through
There's little doubt that the starting trio of Doc, Cliff and Cole have played a major role in the team's success. After all, they have combined for 28 of the team's 51 wins.
But, a trio of rookie pitchers have come up big, really big—Vance, Michael and Antonio. Wednesday night, this trio beat the Red Sox, 2-1, giving the Phillies their first series win against Boston since 2003. Red Sox had won eight straight series.
Vance has stepped into the rotation for the injured Blanton/Roy-O, winning three of his four decisions. Since being recalled from Lehigh Valley on June 16, he has allowed just two earned runs in 18 innings. In eight of his nine major league starts, he has given up three earned runs or less.
Michael and Antonio have been lights out in the pen, saving the club as Brad, Jose and Ryan have been on the DL and J. C. was let go.
In two games now, the high-powered Boston offense has scored one run and that came on a double by a pitcher.
Raul has had a strange first half of the season, cold in April, hot in May (club-high 19 RBI) and cold again this month….until last night. In seven previous games, he was batting .045 with one hit. Wednesday night he went 3-for-3 (needing a triple for a cycle) and drove in both runs. The RBI was his first since June 12 and his homer, the first since May 30.
Phillies are 13-1 on Wednesdays . . . Lefties Cole and Jon Lester hook up in the series finale on Thursday afternoon. After the game, the Phillies head for Toronto and three 1:07 p.m. games this weekend . . . Phillies are 15-3 in last 19 home games . . . Win was Charlie's 595th, putting him in third place behind Harry Wright (636) and Gene Mauch (645) . . . Phillies are 17-9 this month; starting pitchers, 13-7, with a 2.01 ERA.
Game Times
Rob Brooks, manager of broadcasting, sent the following e-mail to the front office:
"ESPN has opted not to pick up the Phillies on Sunday July 24th (vs. San Diego) and Sunday August 7th (at SF). The game on Sunday 7/24 will be played at 1:35. The game on 8/7 will be played at 4:05 (EDT). Both games will be televised by PHL 17."
Down On The Farm
SS Brian Bocock hit two homers in a 7-5 Lehigh Valley loss at Buffalo . . . RHS Austin Hyatt (7-5) allowed 1 run in 6 innings as Reading edged Altoona, 2-1 . . . RHS Julio Rodriguez (8-6) allowed a two-out grand slam in the seventh inning and Clearwater lost, 4-2, to Brevard County. Until that inning, he had allowed just two hits; he finished with 11 strikeouts . . . LHR Mario Hollands (6-4) fanned 6 in 4.1 scoreless innings for the 7-2 win for Lakewood at Hagerstown . . . LHS Lino Martinez struck out 6 in 5 innings (1 unearned run) in earning his first win of the season, a 7-3 decision for Williamsport over Auburn . . . Gulf Coast League Phillies beat the Blue Jays, 5-4. LH Jim Birmingham (1-0) fanned 5 of the 6 batters he fanned and picked up the win.
All-Stars: Hyatt and 1B Matt Rizzotti have been selected to the Eastern Division team for the July 13 Eastern League All-Star Game in New Hampshire.


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We're all for embracing the unexpected—who doesn't enjoy a surprise party? But, when it comes to your skin, consistency is paramount. This hydrating cream smooths out wrinkles and shrinks oversized-looking pores down to size. The upshot: You're consistently handsome for all those spontaneous deviations that make life interesting.
This lotion is amazing. I have tried many different face lotions and I have never been as satisfied as with the Arcona Consistency. I'm 26 years old so I don't have any issues with wrinkles yet, but I have noticed that my skin obviously doesn't feel or look as firm as it did in my early 20's.
I've seen people write about the tightening feeling of this lotion being "odd" or even "bothersome" but honestly it's so small it's barely noticeable. What is noticeable is how over time it actually makes your complexion more even and definitely has smoothed out some of the smile lines around my eyes.
I have super sensitive skin and have never had an issue while using this lotion; I'm on my third bottle. If you care about keeping your skin healthy and preventing not only skin damage but fine lines and wrinkles this is the lotion you've been looking for.
Used the sample, but as others say it leaves the face feeling a bit greasy and wet (but dries fairly quick). Others mention this "tightening" sensation and to me this was pretty uncomfortable. Face cleared up a little bit during the period I used the sample, so it does work, but I did not just enjoy the feeling of applying it and the period shortly after.3
I think this product serves its purpose but does a young man really need it? I do like the feeling of putting this on my face, even though it doesnt completely absorb into my skin. The only thing is I am not worried about my skin becoming wrinkled. Maybe in 20 years but for now its not a concern of mine. Also this product has no scent. Maybe some people like that but i would prefer it smelling nice.3


text: I never noticed until this week that the Bible ends where it began: at a tree. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the… Read More ›


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Don't just see the sites, hit the open road of the Meeting of the Great Rivers Scenic Byway all around Alton and experience it all firsthand. Escape in time to be a part of history as you embark on the journey westward with Lewis & Clark. Shop Alton's "Antique Row" and the surrounding communities for one-of-a-kind finds. Let the river lure you into an outdoor adventure of canoeing, kayaking, boating or fishing. Lace up your hiking boots or mount your bike to escape down the path less travelled on the numerous trails found throughout the region. Sneak away to tee off on the greens at some of St. Louis' best golf courses. You don't need to escape to the big city for a night out on the town. Live music, performing arts, cultural centers, casino gaming and legendary nightlife are calling you.
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Cozy cabins high upon the bluffs, luxurious award-winning bed and breakfast inns, full-service hotels ... we have the perfect pillow to lay down your weary head. With approximately 600 rooms available, you'll find the perfect place to stay as you make your escape all around Alton.
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With almost 200 restaurants throughout the Alton region, there is something to please every palette and pocketbook. Authentic Italian, Mexican, Chinese and hearty home-cooked meals are just a few of the area's specialties. Mark some of your favorites and add them to your trip planner!
Click here to download our dining guide to find your way to all of our delicious eats all around Alton!
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Concerts at Riverfront Amphitheater, Haunted Alton Tours, Lewis & Clark Departure Days, Riverside Flea Markets and Alton Little Theater plays ... the calendar is packed year-round with great events. Check your travel dates to see what's happening while you're here.
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In my routine reading session this weekend, I quite honestly learned very little about the current market -- which only led to me spending additional time trying to find potential "gotcha" events. Here's what I did manage to unearth:
First, in February, sit back and be prepared to absorb wacky S&P 500 calls, both up and down. It will be your job to decode if these have any validity. As an example, on Sunday I read about one prediction of a slide to 800, but the problem is that the thesis was disgustingly outdated.
Second, market-top predictions are being tossed into popular debate, underlined by horrendous reasoning -- because there is no fresh insight. When I rang the alarm bells late last week, at least I had viable data to back it up. The market rally has yet to win over the masses, that's for sure. That suggests the market is not at its peak, even in spite of less-than-inspiring factors -- such as the jobs-market headlines, and silly robust earnings projections for this year that likely will soften over the course of 2013.
Third, the bulls sound too supercharged in their defense of the rally. It makes me wonder if these fee-collectors are pumping the hype and preparing their teams to dump a little.
Another read: Keep an eye on the Shanghai Composite, as the index is reacting negatively to positive data on China's recovery. The fear is that valuations are not as attractive amid the transition to a new government. The stock-market reaction here has me on alert regarding what could happen to the U.S. market in February as we ingest data that's supposedly set to re-accelerate. (I say "supposedly" since the market rally implies this will occur, yet the actual reads on the data are mixed at best.)
Finally, I still lack a solid feel on whether January business treads are sustainable, or if they're a sort of post-fiscal-cliff sigh of relief. For instance, for January, Starbucks (SBUX) reported core U.S. retail-sales momentum that was consistent with that of December. Elsewhere, W.W. Grainger's (GWW) sales trend has rebounded, and Tempur-Pedic (TPX) has experienced no further deterioration in its operating environment vs. the third quarter.
It's unfortunate that the bears can't find anything new that is of even mild interest for their case. The average price-to-earnings multiple for S&P 500 stocks is nearing its average from 1954, and the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) is currently chilling in no-man's land. There just has to be a series of minor negatives bubbling beneath the surface. But I don't see them, and that simplicity says market roadblocks are missing, at least in the very near term. That is, there are lurking, building structural risks that I don't believe are "priced in" -- but they aren't yet identifiable in corporate financial statements and in the macroeconomic picture.
Risk Factor List
Given the market's elevated levels, I have begun to build one of these risk lists -- items to which I will be paying careful attention in the week ahead. Specifically, I'll be watching how stocks react and the direction of the prints vs. the prior month. In other words, will the good December news continue?
- Expectations component in the consumer confidence report: Given the market's appreciation and rise in home values, a transition has to start sentiment moving back to more positivity on the part of consumers. If there's no rebuilding of confidence, the market could grow impatient and fears will spread that stock are overvalued -- notably as it regards small-caps and the consumer discretionary sector.
- Sustained increase in U.S. Treasury yields: This would serve to choke off the housing recovery; sentiment is for yields to trade in a range, and top out around 2.05%.
- Federal Open Market Committee release: This would be a risk if it contained even the smallest upgrade in economic conditions
- Chicago Purchasing Managers Index: If this continued to log weak numbers in new orders, it would feed into already-subpar employment indicators.
If I Had to Make Some Stock Picks Today
I would take gain some long exposure to Yahoo! (YHOO) and Harley Davidson (HOG) into earnings.


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Does ECOWAS have the will and muscle for military intervention?
Issued on: Modified:
The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, has threatened to use force to oust incumbent Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo. But the military option could have dramatic and unforeseen consequences for the country and the region.
The West African regional bloc ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) has threatened an armed intervention if mediation efforts to resolve the political crisis in Ivory Coast fail. But while ECOWAS has intervened in much smaller countries in the past, the situation in Ivory Coast poses new challenges not just for the regional grouping, but for the entire continent.
The current political crisis in the world's leading cocoa producing nation broke out after the Nov. 28, 2010, presidential runoff, when the international community recognised Alassane Ouattara as the winner, a result incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo has refused to acknowledge.
At an extraordinary session on Christmas Eve, ECOWAS issued a communiqué stating that if Gbagbo refused to relinquish power, it would have "no other option but to take all the necessary measures, including the use of legitimate force, to realize the aspirations of the Ivorian people."
But does ECOWAS have the means to carry out its threat?
"A military intervention is feasible," said Rinaldo Depagne, a Senegal-based analyst at the International Crisis Group, in an interview with FRANCE 24. "ECOWAS has quite significant resources in terms of men and material."
ECOMOG (Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group) – which is the multilateral armed force established by ECOWAS – has intervened in regional crises in the past.
Established in 1990 to intervene in the civil war in Sierra Leone, ECOMOG has numbered up to 20,000 troops at its maximum. Besides the Sierra Leonean mission, ECOWAS has also intervened in the 1989-1996 Liberian Civil War.
Deployment within a relatively short period
To launch a military operation in Ivory Coast, ECOWAS should get the green light from the African Union and UN.
For ECOWAS, this would be an unprecedented intervention.
Not only were Sierra Leone and Liberia much smaller countries, they were also nations where the governments in place requested the help of foreign troops.
The organization could deploy troops to the main Ivorian city of Abidjan within a relatively short period, said Henry Boshoff of the Institute of Security Studies in Pretoria in an interview with the BBC.
"When the political decision is made, it will go to the chief of staff of ECOWAS – that is the military command," said Boshoff. "They will then do the planning, they will ask then for troop-contributing countries to contribute the force, they will decide on the concept operation – how many troops – and then the readiness of the troops."
This could be done as in three to four weeks, Boshoff told the BBC.
The likelihood of military intervention in the near future remains subject to many other factors. While Senegal, Nigeria and Burkina Faso are more amenable to troop deployments, other West African nations are more reluctant.
Selling a foreign intervention to a sceptical home crowd
Traditionally neutral Ghana, for instance, has already said it would not send troops to Ivory Coast.
The Gambia, a tiny nation geographically surrounded by Senegal, is also opposed to the idea of military action – but it has only minor weight within ECOWAS.
As a West African economic powerhouse, Ivory Coast is home to a number of immigrants from neighbouring nations and Mali, Guinea and Benin, which have many citizens in Ivory Coast, fear a retaliation against their citizens in the case of an intervention.
Gbagbo himself has repeatedly warned that a military intervention would destablize the region.
But in an interview with FRANCE 24, his rival, Ouattara, dismissed such fears. "Military intervention does not mean that the Ivory Coast will ignite," said Ouattara, before adding: "All that needs to be done, as has been done in other African countries, is to come and get Gbagbo and remove him from the presidential palace."
Nigeria, the most populous state in the West African regional grouping, is widely expected to supply the bulk of the forces for an Ivorian mission since it has the largest and most powerful army in the region.
But Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who is also the current ECOWAS chairman, has domestic problems ahead of the country's critical April general election.
Nigerians are keenly aware of the lack of infrastructure and development besetting their own country and returning body bags is always a tricky issue for candidates on the campaign trail.
While there has been a broad trend toward democratic elections in the region, some member states still have longstanding "Big Men" leaders with questionable democratic credentials. The hypocrisy of dispatching troops to defend a dubiously elected African leader is not lost on local citizens.
'A well organized military machine'
If ECOWAS does agree to dispatch troops to Abidjan, a teeming, skyscraper-lined city of six million, it will invariably be a high-risk operation.
During the ECOMOG missions in Sierra Leone and Liberia, the governments were besieged by rebels, but they had control of sea and airports, where ECOWAS military units could land.
In an interview with the AFP, Retired Gen. Ishola Williams, executive secretary of the Pan-African Strategic and Policy Research Group, categorically maintained that it "will not work".
An intervention would be "dangerous because Laurent Gbagbo is not hanging by a thin thread," says Depagne. "He has access to a well organized military machine. He also has a substantial portion of the population supporting him."
In December, the Ivorian chief of staff, Gen. Philippe Mangou, accompanied by a group of generals, pledged their allegiance to Gbagbo.
If the unity of the Ivorian armed forces were to waver in case of a conflict, Gbagbo could always count on the unwavering support of elite units, which include several thousand troops.
In 2005, Gbagbo created the Command Centre for Security Operations, which goes by the French acronym Cecos, which has 600 men who are officially responsible for fighting crime. But in reality, their only mission is to protect the regime.
For his part, Gbagbo's controversial Youth Minister Charles Blé Goudé, also known as Gbagbo's "Street General," controls the Young Patriots, which is comprised of thousands of mostly young Gbagbo supporters who played a critical role in the anti-foreigner riots during the 2004-2006 Ivorian Civil War. In the event of a military intervention, Blé Goudé is very likely to mobilize the Young Patriots, which has turned into an armed militia infamous for violence and looting.
'The nightmare scenario'
For Depagne, "the nightmare scenario" would be if an ECOWAS military intervention sparked a war between the New Forces rebel group led by Ouattara's Prime Minister Guillaume Soro and the Ivorian armed forces with thousands of Liberian mercenaries joining whichever side best pays them.
During the 2002-2004 crisis, more than 10,000 Liberians participated in the Ivorian conflict. "This scenario would result in many refugees fleeing northward," warns Depagne.
Because of Ivory Coast's economic and political weight, a war could have considerable repercussions on neighbouring countries – including Liberia and Guinea – and could result in a game of dominoes throughout the region.
"The intervention could also lead to the emergence of micro rebellions in some parts of the country and the destruction of the economy. If Alassane Ouattara's goal is to be able to observe the legality of the vote, he must also take into consideration the fact that the country must be governable," concludes Depagne.
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Former Ravens safety Ed Reed is an apparent victim of a crime.
Reed was had $50,000 stolen from him in Houston, according to Local 2 News in Houston.
According to the report, Houston police are looking for someone who broke the window of the former NFL Defensive Player of the Year's car and stole a bag of cash containing $50,000 from the front seat.
Reed withdrew the cash from a bank and had stopped at a Bank of America.
Police reportedly believe Reed was followed.
Reed left the Ravens in free agency and signed with the Houston Texans last March.
He struggled with the Texans and was released after being critical of interim coach and defensive coordinator Wade Phillips.
He then signed with the New York Jets, where he played for former Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan.
Reed intercepted three passes for the Jets, but he was also beaten on deep passes.
That included allowing a touchdown to Jacoby Jones during a Ravens win at M&T Bank Stadium.
Reed, 35, is a pending unrestricted free agent. It's unclear if he intends to continue playing or retire.


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Bill Blair is an Astrophysicist and Research Professor
in the Department of Physics and
Astronomy at The Johns Hopkins University . He has been at Johns Hopkins
since 1984, and was involved previously in the support
of the Astro-1 (December 1990) and Astro-2 (March
1995) space shuttle missions that carried the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope into space. Bill's current
position is with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) project
at Johns Hopkins, where he is Chief of Observatory
Operations. (FUSE is a satellite developed by JHU
for NASA, and launched June 24, 1999, for a three-year
mission. It has recently been granted an extension
of mission operations.) In 2002, Bill was appointed
as a FUSE Co-Investigator by NASA, and was made
Deputy Principal Investigator at JHU. Bill's main
scientific interests lie in the areas of gaseous
nebulae, supernova remnants and the interstellar
medium (the "stuff" out there between the stars).
Bill grew up west of Detroit, Michigan, "back
when the skies were still dark at night," he says.
The picture above was taken in the back yard where
he grew up, about 20 feet away from where he used
to set up his 4-inch Newtonian telescope to scan
the southern Milky Way on warm, summer nights. Growing
up in the 1960's during the heyday of the Apollo
missions had an indelible effect on Bill, who was
an active model rocketeer. "Not quite October
Sky," he says, "but I have some old home movies
that are pretty good!"
Bill always liked physics and math, but never
really thought of astronomy as something you did
for a career. After graduating from Olivet College,
a small liberal arts college in Michigan, Bill applied
to the University of Michigan for graduate school
in astronomy, and the rest, as they say, is history.
To date, Bill has authored or co-authored over 175
papers, primarily on supernova remnants, using a
wide range of ground-based and space-based telescopes.
Believe it or not, Bill also has a life outside
astronomy! He enjoys gardening, photography, coin
collecting, and spending time with his family. He
is a long-time member of Babcock Presbyterian Church in Towson, MD. Bill is married,
and he and his wife, Jean, have two children, Amy
(16) from Seoul, South Korea, and Jeremy (13) from
Calcutta, India.