text:
Rendering Everything as Text
by Philip Hollenback
Originally Published May 26, 2005 on LinuxDevCenter.
You can display any computer data as text. For many types of data, this is obvious: we've all seen HTML converted to text right in our web browsers. However, this idea can extend much further. Although the notion of converting all data to text may not sound immediately useful, it can be surprisingly powerful. Why wait for graphical web browsers or image editors to load before you find out what's in a file? With a few helper applications and scripts, you can quickly display textual information about any type of data.
Why Go to All This Work?
You might wonder why anyone would go through the trouble of figuring out how to display all files as text, especially in this day of 21-inch LCD screens. One big reason is a uniformity of experience: you never have to leave your mail reader to evaluate a file. Suppose that someone sends you a Word document. To learn anything at all about this file, you have to first save it and then run OpenOffice (or maybe even Microsoft Word). Then you have to sit around and wait for Word to load, wait for the file to load, and so forth. Finally, you find out that the attachment is just a copy of this month's TPS report with a note that you forgot the cover sheet.
If you have your text-based mail reader and the helper tools configured properly, you can bypass those extra steps. With the file immediately converted into text right inside your mail program, you can easily see that there's no need to run OpenOffice - you just need to send a reply email.
Another big advantage of the anything-to-text approach is that it helps you avoid viruses and other Internet shenanigans. Spammers often send bizarrely formatted HTML mail to disguise their actions. If you convert everything to text before viewing it, you can clearly see what is going on. You have also avoided your GUI and web browser, where viruses often attack.
The Tools
This technique revolves around the command line. In particular, converting files to text is most useful in command-line mail clients such as mutt. Of course, there's no reason you can't convert an attachment to text in a graphical mail program and then display it in an Xterm. Remember also that you have just the command line when you SSH into a remote system, unless you take additional steps such as forwarding X over SSH.
Additionally, while these ideas are oriented toward Unix and Linux in particular, with modifications they apply to other systems. In particular, all of this works on Mac OS X, which I use on a daily basis.
It's important to understand how mail clients process attachments. The
determination of how to process an attachment is controlled by the
mailcap file (first your private ~/.mailcap and then the shared
/etc/mailcap). Every email attachment has a MIME type, which is
assigned by the sending mail program. Whenever a MIME-aware program
encounters a MIME type (such as
text/html), it consults
the mailcap to find a matching entry. Each line in the mailcap file
constitutes one entry. If the MIME attachment is of type
text/html, the matching mailcap entry might be:
text/html;view-html %s; copiousoutput; +nametemplate=%s.html
which instructs the calling program (mutt) to use the
program on all
text/html attachments.
That's just a quick overview of the mailcap mechanism. An excellent resource for more details is the mutt manual.
A Basic Example
Let's start with the HTML attachment. This is easy to convert to text
since it already is text with additional markup. You could send the
raw HTML out to the console as a start. However, you can do
better. Sending the HTML through a text-based web browser can preserve
some of the original formatting such as paragraphs and tables. Either
the standard Lynx text web browser or a more sophisticated text
browser such as w3m will work fine. The
view-html script
from the previous section might look like:
if type w3m >/dev/null 2>&1; then w3m -T text/html -cols 80 -dump $1 | tr
240 elif type lynx >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then lynx -dump -force_html /dev/fd/0 <$1 else echo $0: can't find w3m or lynx >&2 exit 1 fi
The idea is to call either w3m or Lynx and tell that program to dump
the rendered output to stdout as text. That odd
file in the Lynx command line is necessary to trick Lynx into
accepting data on standard input - it says to open file descriptor 0,
which is stdin.
Now using the mailcap entry from the last section and the script
above, mutt can display any HTML as text. Were you wondering what that
copiousoutput thing in the mailcap is about? That flag
tells the calling program that the results from the mailcap entry will
be text output, with no interaction necessary. Entries without that
flag may require user interaction; for example, if you sent an image
to a graphical image viewer. Mutt can use this information to display
the text inline while you are viewing a message, instead of making you
go to a separate screen. To enable this, add
entries to your ~/.muttrc config file for each MIME type you wish to
view as inline text, like this:
auto_view text/html application/msword
Keep in mind that many data formats are easy to convert into HTML, so this recipe is a useful building block for other conversions.
Extracting Text from Microsoft Files
The closed nature of the Microsoft programs and their associated data
files makes it highly challenging to extract text from them. However,
plenty of people have worked diligently on these data files to achieve
a large measure of success. It is possible to extract the text from
Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files, thanks to
xlhtml, and
ppthtml. The
program is part of the wvWare
suite. The other two programs are part of the
xlhtml utility.
I said previously that the HTML-to-text conversion is a useful
stepping-stone. Here is an example of that; the tools for the
Microsoft files all convert to HTML. By piping the output of (for
xlhtml through a text-mode HTML viewer, you can
obtain often very readable text. Here's the sample script, similar to
the one above for HTML to text:
if type w3m >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then xlHtml $1 2>/dev/null| w3m -T text/html -cols 80 -dump | tr \\240 elif type lynx >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then xlHtml $1 2>/dev/null| lynx -dump -force_html /dev/fd/0 else echo $0: can't find w3m or lynx >&2 exit 1 fi
Again, it's good to use w3m if you have it. This is particularly true with Excel files, as the table rendering in w3m is so much better than the rendering in Lynx.
The process is much the same for Microsoft Word files, but you have to play some tricks with wvHtml to make it send the file to stdout:
if type w3m >/dev/null 2>&1 then wvHtml $1 /dev/fd/1 2>/dev/null| w3m -T text/html -cols 80 -dump |\ tr \\240 elif type lynx >/dev/null 2>&1 then wvHtml $1 /dev/fd/1 2>/dev/null| lynx -dump -force_html /dev/fd/0 else echo $0: can't find w3m or lynx >&2 exit 1 fi
The basic approach for data files that are mostly text based is pretty simple: find a utility to convert the file to HTML and convert that HTML to text. Again, the mailcap file determines how to process a file (or MIME attachment). Here are the entries for the Microsoft file formats:
application/msexcel;view-excel %s;copiousoutput; +nametemplate=%s.xls application/msword;view-msword %s; copiousoutput; +nametemplate=%s.doc
nametemplate= entry ensures that the file goes to the
conversion program with a proper file extension. Some programs insist
on the correct extensions for files.
One big annoyance you will see quite often with Microsoft file formats
is a MIME attachment with type
application/octet-stream. Basically, that is the default
MIME type. If the sending program can't (or won't) figure out what
kind of file it is sending, it can just throw up its hands and say
Hey, here's a stream of bytes - you figure it out.
Using the power of Unix/Linux on the receiving end, you can fix that
problem. The
script uses the file extension and calls the
file utility
to reconstruct the proper MIME type. Then it hands the file off to the
right helper. The proper mailcap entry is:
application/octet-stream; octet-filter %s;copiousoutput
Several other Microsoft formats worth mentioning are RTF files and TNEF attachments. RTF (Rich Text Format) is a simple text-based markup language, and TNEF is a mechanism that Microsoft servers use to encapsulate MIME data for Microsoft clients. Again, there are utilities to handle both of these, such as TNEF, the TNEF decoder, and rtfreader, an RTF-to-text converter. The mailcap entries are:
application/ms-rtf; rtfreader %s; copiousoutput application/ms-tnef; tnef2txt %s; copiousoutput
Falling Back to File Manifests
What is the textual representation of a ZIP file? The best answer I have come up with is a file manifest. This is the answer for any MIME attachment that is a collection of files. Examples include .zip, .tar, and .jar files. In each case, you can run the corresponding command on the attachment to list the files within. This is certainly better than doing nothing, because it gives the user a chance to see what he's downloaded before opening it up. Here's the mailcap entry to generate a manifest for a .tar file:
application/x-tar; tar -tf - ; copiousoutput;
The manifest idea also applies for images (although there's a much
more creative approach in the next section). At the very least, you
can extract some basic data from the image and display it. Typically
this includes the file size, number of colors, and embedded
comments. The
identify program (which comes with the
ImageMagick collection of image tools) prints the following
information about a jpeg file:
Format: JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group JFIF format) Geometry: 195x195 Class: DirectClass Type: true color Depth: 8 bits-per-pixel component Colors: 25594 Resolution: 28x28 pixels/centimeter Filesize: 12.1k Interlace: None Background Color: grey100 Border Color: #DFDFDF Matte Color: grey74 Dispose: Undefined Iterations: 0 Compression: JPEG comment: Test Image signature: 7e546210e516fd2e870ee9df47f0bfc15a9ec0d431c5abeb5a92cf0e811f9f2a Tainted: False User Time: 0.0u Elapsed Time: 0:01
Again, that's better than nothing, right? Here's the mailcap entry:
image/*;identify -verbose %s;copiousoutput
You can turn MP3 files into text in a similar way. The ID3 standard defines a set of text tags such as artist and title that can be embedded into an MP3 file. A utility such as id3v2 can extract this information and display it as text:
$ id3v2 -l Yeah_Yeah_Yeahs-Machine.mp3 TT2 (Title/songname/content description): Machine TP1 (Lead performer(s)/Soloist(s)): Yeah Yeah Yeahs TAL (Album/Movie/Show title): Machine TYE (Year): 2002 TCO (Content type): Rock (17)
With a little formatting, that makes a great text representation of the file.
A More Complicated Technique: Images to Text
A summary of an image is pretty interesting. Wouldn't it be even better if you could see some sort of textual representation of the image itself? This final conversion does just that. It's more a cute hack than a real tool, but it does illustrate my mantra of anything-to-text.
The trick here is to use the aalib ASCII-art library. aalib is a graphics driver that displays images using only ASCII characters, in the style of the old line-printer art. The aalib algorithms are smart enough that the result is something that looks vaguely like the original image from a few feet away.
The viewer that uses aalib to convert images to text is
asciiview. Unfortunately, it doesn't work exactly like a
filter, so a bit of scripting is necessary. This Perl script:
#!/usr/bin/perl $ARGV[0] || die must supply image file; open(ASCII, echo q | asciiview -driver stdout -kbddriver stdin $ARGV[0] 2>/dev/null |) or die failed to open $ARGV[0]; while(<ASCII>) { last if /\x0C/; } while(<ASCII>) { last if /\x0C/; print; } close ASCII;
takes any image and displays it as text. Figure 1 shows the original image.
Here's the result from
|=+=|==++)SZZZZZXXXd#Z211YSYSZ####qpoZX#mqmXA2+:.:-:S2XXX( =%vxliliii|=*UZXmX##Zexl*???Tqgu*S1dX#ZmZ#XXZXma::..::::!S( )xXa%|||++|=a3XXmZ#UXvissaauSixYWmApdXmX#Z#mXZXXXoi,..:==||; =xuXXi====<xuSXYXmZXoIl*?SouyXmau3ZZm2XXXZdXZS2nnXn>-.=+|=+` =vnoov+=;:<xX1x1wdZX2nxlss%xi?X##mXqon22SnZXXXoxnvnn=::|;==; <lv1i|=;:=sxlx3Sx2XXXXXXnoX1XonaoXZ#ZZZoox12SonnxYnnn>;=+=: )=;:-=++|iiiiIiixXXZ#Z#Z#ZXXXXXXXXSXS2oXnx%{inxS1x1nxli===;. :==<=xi|i||||iivXXZUZ###UUZ#ZUZZZZZXXXZXooxxivIliiIIxIxi;::. :||xnns<n|||||xnXXZZ#Z#Z#U##Z#########Z#ZZXXonlii|||iino>==. :|+}IoodXo==+ioXXZZ#Z################Z##Z#ZZZoi||||>+<XSoc:. :+auXXZZXX===|oSXZZZZUZUZZZUZ#ZZZZXXSSX#ZZ#ZUXi|+=+||a1XXoc: =XSnXoXSXXcii|*l*!!++++IXSXXXX2I|=+++!!!YSXZZl=iii1o2onS2o; )2noXXonxXXss:===...:....-+S1::;:..:.:==+|=suai|xXoZX2o2S2( =nnInSXXoxxXo==|+=;;:.:===d#mmc;::-:::=||||xXZXnxoXZ22ooSnS( )Ioox*noXXsIS%oaaa>||><saX##m##qa%|=|=|<aau#ZZZXd#ZXn2nzxxS( )lv2on%InSoIl1XXXXZ#ZZXXXX##m#Z#ZXXZ#Z#UZZ#ZUZZUZXZSnnos++<; )lvxISosiI1n||2XXZXX2noXYSSXXXSYSXXoX1ZXZZZZZZUZZZSzvxni:=<; )xx}xI1ns<||{io22onvuXZXooxxxnuXZ#ZZXonnSXXXZZZX1nn1xvni:=+; =nnncxlx%i|;:;3o2SoXX????Y!?Y??YY?YYY3XoXXXXZZZXoviun1li=;=: )vosi1|x%l=::=)n2SXXXoc|YISXXZ#X2nlisuXZZXZXXXXonn21Iil>::;. =vnonx%s<ii>||<i12SSSXXaaxx12121XXXZZZZXZXZXXXZZ2IllvIx(..:. =vvnnvvxiii==+|||{1XSXXSSXXoXXXXXXZZZZZZZXS2SXZZm,:.-.:<;::. -{nxvx1%i|i=;++==+|i*XXXZZZ##Z#U#Z#ZZZZS11ndXZ#ZZ#a;:.=x|+=, .:+1nIx1ii|=.==|+|||i|*S2XXXXXXXXXXYY1IxxSSXZUZZ#U##a=unl%%; .:;=*|l*i|==||=:;==+==|iI1IIIIIIIllIvvooSXXZZZUZ#ZZ(x1svno(
As you can see, the converted image won't win any awards for fidelity, but it is vaguely similar to the original. The key point here is that you could quickly evaluate the text image and decide whether it was worth it to open the original in a graphical viewer. For example, some people send email with tiled background images. When you are using a text-based mail reader, you can never tell what this image is until you open it in a viewer. When you see that it's a piece of notebook paper with pink flowers on it, you realize what a waste of effort it was to open it. Maybe if you could take a quick look at the ASCII version of the image you could save some time.
I should emphasize that it takes way too much processing power to create the ASCII image. This makes the conversion of images into ASCII more of a technology demonstration than a useful tool, unless you have a lot of cycles to burn.
There's no reason to limit yourself to the GUI world! The console screen may at first seem like a step backward in technology. However, you may find (as I have) that you can perform many tasks more efficiently without the graphical distraction. If you're a mutt user, you may find my mutt scripts useful.
As I said in the introduction, you can convert any computer data to text in some way. With text-based data such as HTML or Word documents, the conversion is quite faithful to the original. However, even with completely nontext data, some text representation is always possible. You can check file manifests and text tags for text descriptions. Finally, images can become surprisingly realistic ASCII art (for some definitions of realistic).
The quest then becomes the search for the best text representation of each type of data. For example, is there a way to describe music as text? We already do that with scores. Perhaps it will be possible to use some pattern matching and web search to find the lyrics for a song.
With a little clever application of mailcap entries and helper scripts, you can convert any data into some form of textual representation. The end result is a more efficient work environment as you avoid the overhead of the GUI. As an added benefit, you might even be a little more secure as you reduce your exposure to mail viruses.


text:
"An interesting film, but spiteful and speculative." Read on for the verdict on last night's TV.
Queen Victoria's Children, BBC2
"Fascinating, in part because of the emotional candour of both Victoria and Albert in their letters, and also because of their early embrace of that Pandora's Box for the mystery of monarchy – the photographic camera."
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent
"There's not a massive amount to go on, visually, to fill three hours of television – a Landseer painting to pan slowly over, a few very early family photos, a wander round the grounds of Osborne House. There is a little light reconstruction, but it's very unobtrusive, props more than people. That's my kind of reconstruction, the sort you hardly notice, not the sort you laugh at."
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian
"It was an interesting film, but spiteful and speculative, unworthy, if not of its channel, then of three nights at prime time."
Andrew Billen, The Times
"Knowledgeable but engaging documentary."
Matt Baylis, Daily Express
Miranda, BBC1
"The second episode contained one heck of a lot of writing, more discrete scenes than most sitcoms feature in a series, a gag rate to compare with Fawlty Towers, and some wonderfully energetic physical comedy… [But ] halfway through yesterday's instalment, I realised I had not laughed so little since Channel 5's repeat of the 1994 An Audience with Kenn Dodd on Sunday."
Andrew Billen, The Times
"Perhaps I have to accept that, just as I lack the genes to be a matinee idol, an athlete or a figurative painter, so I also lack the genes necessary to appreciate this sitcom."
Matt Baylis, Daily Express
Fifties British War Films, BBC4
"One of the reasons his [Simon Heffer's] film was so delicious was the combination of a genuinely good subject with a presenter of almost satirical appropriateness. Looking at Heffer, you would assume him to be a man who thinks the rot set in when they introduced colour to movies and people stopped standing for the National Anthem… If you wanted a more nuanced reading of the success of these films at the time, you had to supply it yourself – and settle for the fact that the programme offered fascinating interviews with veteran film-makers and clips that repeatedly brought a lump to the throat."
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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|Outdoor Quads Discussions about outdoor quad skates and any discussion relatd to skating on quad roller skatse outdoors.
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|September 18th, 2009, 08:15 PM
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 28
Packaged outdoor skates
Hello Folks,
I'm new to the forums but have been kicking around the archives for about a week. I made my first post in the intro section, http://www.skatelogforum.com/forums/...p?t=81&page=51. Hopefully the link works.
I spent a lot of time digging in the archives and there are some great posts in the new outdoor quad section. I have a question about purchasing outdoor quads. The outdoor quad setups seem to be indoor quad boots and plates that have outdoor wheels on them. I understand the concept of moving the plate forward or mounting a larger plate on the boot so that more weight is behind the front wheel.
My question, what manufacturers (and model numbers, please) make outdoor skates with the 'proper' plate placement?
Here is more info about me and my potential skating areas.
I cracked over 200 lbs recently. This gets carried by size 8's. The neighborhood is flat and has concrete sidewalks and concrete streets that are in very good shape and don't have heavy traffic. I have access to asphalt trails and school parking lots. I like the low cut boots. Having my ankles locked in the inline boots was something I always disliked. I'd like to keep the purchase under $200, if possible.
Any help is appreciated.
riding silver and black Labeda G80's indoors
Sterling Heights, MI
|September 18th, 2009, 11:26 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Chicago, Near the Lake
Posts: 5,719
Here is my only "off-the-shelf" suggestion
If you are not willing to assemble your own skate, there are few off-the-shelf choices out there. This is the only one I know of.
This skate looks strange, but is actually rather strong and well engineered for outdoor skating, since the front axle can be adjusted through a 1" range.
It also has Twister wheels - the best wheels I have ever skated outdoors. They are a Hi/Lo (70mm/65mm) scheme though, and it rolls better with the 70mm up front (not the 65mm as they build it).
With front axle in full forward position the "traction control" bar may need to be removed, as it only lines up right in one of the many possible front axle positions, but it really doesn't do much anyway.
The proprietary toe stop sucks and has to be filed a bit if the 70mm wheels are in front, but since they don't work well outside anyway, I would scrap them in favor of a clamp-on heel brake (2nd PIC), as seen in this Aerial high top version of the same skate.
The trucks are aluminum and axles are 8mm solid with ends tapped for button head wheel retainer screw.
On sale online here:
Rollin' on AIR
Last edited by Armadillo; September 19th, 2009 at 03:19 AM. Reason: spell
|September 18th, 2009, 11:44 PM
SWM So Cal
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Lancaster, CA
Posts: 760
Also, it will not take a normal toe stop?
session - speed - derby - aggressive - hockey - street
|September 19th, 2009, 12:08 AM
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Chicago, Near the Lake
Posts: 5,719
Above these serrations is a slot with a flat "slot nut" captured inside.
Behind the urethane-kingpin the hanger has a single screw that engages the slot nut.
There are mating serrations on the top of the truck hanger. After loosening the adjustment screw a few turns the serrations separate enough to slide hanger to front or rear & then you re-tighten screw until serrations re-engage.. Travel is limited to about 1", and the hokey "traction control" bar is NOT adjustable, so it only lines up at a single position - which depends on what size you buy too. It could fit in the full forward for outdoor or full rear for indoor. Where it fits is a crap shoot. the size 11W/10M bar fits with full forward, which was good for me, but size 10W/9M bar worked only with hanger near all the way back. It skates fine without the bar anyway.
As for the toe stop, notice how close it is to the inside edges of the front wheels? It is sculpted to have clearance from wheels rubbing. It is so close that just swapping the 70mm wheels to the front demands more rubber be removed.
Rollin' on AIR
|September 19th, 2009, 01:48 AM
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 28
Thanks for the reply. $60 skates and an $18 heel stop (sure grip back break http://www.skates.com/Roller-Skate-T...s-s/244489.htm), thats a fairly low risk adventure. Ive seen pictures of the grey and white boot in the forum before. Is it available too? I like the shoe style, but figured that Id ask.
Great description on the plate sub assemblies. I have a pretty clear idea of whats going on.
Kind Regards,
|September 19th, 2009, 02:56 AM
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Chicago, Near the Lake
Posts: 5,719
Not sure on other colors for the boot - you can dye it though
BTW, the boot is RIVETED to the plate and the zone of contact is fully contoured, not flat. Plus there is at least 3/4" heel elevation.
One BIG concern is that the SINGLE screw holding the front truck hanger onto the skate. You really do not want this screw to be coming loose while you are skating.
I am not so sure how well this scheme can handle all the shock and vibration without it gradually working loose. I would be checking that screw EVERY TIME I skate!
Rollin' on AIR
Last edited by Armadillo; September 19th, 2009 at 03:02 AM. Reason: added thought
|September 20th, 2009, 10:32 PM
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 28
Thanks for the reply.
|September 25th, 2009, 01:56 AM
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 28
Hey Armadillo,
The alphas are coming next week. I want to ride them at the rink before I introduce them to sweet smooth, concrete in the neighborhood. Then I'll introduce them to the acorns. I need some indoor skating reference points wrt wheel hardness, front truck placement, etc. These will help.
Just some comments. I looked around and your link had the best price that I found. But, oddly enough, when I ordered the back brake, the shipping went way up. Rather than opening the corner of the skate box and tossing in the brake, the brake was shipped by a different carrier, obviously separately. I did search and found a coupon link that saved me 15% on the skate. The store facebook homepage had an outdated coupon. Again, just comments, not complaints. I await the skates with baited breath.
I found a posting by you under another thread about 'how fast do you skate outdoors'.
"Interesting observation. This confirms my theory of training - that the WARM-UP lasts until you start to feel tired, and the workout is when your primary muscle groups (that get over used) start to be pooped out.
This is when you start to better coordinate your secondary muscle groups into more balanced & efficient integration of effort with your primaries. Often your style improves and seems more relaxed too, and because the overall muscle recruitment is better, you feel like you get a second wind. "
Oh, yes. I've noticed this several times. I'd add that my right lower leg would cramp on the outside, halfway down from knee to heel - from this point to the ankle. It was during the workout before the primary muscle groups got pooped. As far as I can tell, this was from the turning left crossovers in addition to the scissors workout from the enjoying the funk of the music... Ouch!!! I found how to stretch this after the fact, and tried to stretch the same muscle group prior to skating several times but have the problem frequently. I skate thru it, sometimes with several brief stops, and it fades, but I'd like to figure out how to avoid the cramp altogether.
Thanks for your informative posts.
Kind Regards,
|September 25th, 2009, 04:33 AM
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Chicago, Near the Lake
Posts: 5,719
Wheel Info
As to the wheels TWISTERS are firm enough to skate OK indoors, but you will need to work a bit more to hold some speed. If you shift the front axle back under the ball of your foot, you may want to leave the 70mm wheels at the rear too, as this will let you lean back more and reduce the chances of front wheel squish/bog effect that soft wheels often give when too much weight goes onto the front ones.
Hope they work well and you enjoy them BOTH Indoors & Outdoors.
Rollin' on AIR
|September 25th, 2009, 02:30 PM
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 28
The rink I skated at as a kid had a policy against outdoor skates. They wouldn't allow any skate that was skated outdoors to come in the rink. They said outdoor skates would bring grit onto the floor. They would check the wheels on the way in and they were serious about it.
My thought was to skate a couple times indoors and then take them outside. I guess that I'll have to ask at the rink if outdoor skates are ok.
|September 26th, 2009, 02:03 AM
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Chicago, Near the Lake
Posts: 5,719
They ARE indoor wheels until you've skated the wheels outdoors
Why bother asking if you haven't skated the wheels outdoors yet?
It's not the SKATES that are the issue - it's the wheels.
You really should look at having two sets of wheels anyway, but with the Twisters being black, they are not going to show much of their outdoor history.
Rollin' on AIR
|September 26th, 2009, 03:29 AM
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 28
Hello Armadillo,
Because I may not wait to skate them indoors first
I have a pair of Labeda G80's that I ride at the rink, occasionally I might want to bring the Alphas inside too. So, I'll ask.
I'll let you know how I make out with the Alphas.
|September 26th, 2009, 03:50 AM
"Fear No Evil"
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Houston/Heights
Posts: 4,284
"Skate Or Die"
|September 26th, 2009, 05:29 AM
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Chicago, Near the Lake
Posts: 5,719
Know any other skates with adjustable front axle position?
Considering what this skate delivers for its price, the positives outweigh the negatives.
Rollin' on AIR
|October 1st, 2009, 11:45 PM
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 28
Hello Armadillo,
I tried the Alphas outside today. They are pretty rough on the wide sidewalk cracks, but should be very skatable on the roads in the sub division. It was a bit of an adventure learning to use the back brake after having problems with the plastic toe 'stop'. I didn't swap the wheels back to front yet. I didn't have enough daylight to rework the skates entirely AND skate.
There are two screws holding the front truck. The screw that's easy to see and an additional one under the truck. The adjustable front truck isn't very adjustable using both screws - it's about 1/4 inch additional from where the trucks are set at the factory. Again, I didn't have enough time to fiddle too much with them tonight. I wonder if both screws are necessary.
I did ask at the rink about outdoor skates. They said that if the toe stops are in good shape and there isn't noticeable grit and dirt, it's no problem to skate them inside.
Overall, I like the Alphas. The boot is a little cheapish, but they seem skatable. It will take me some time to get used to them.
|October 2nd, 2009, 08:29 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Chicago, Near the Lake
Posts: 5,719
I assumed Alpha1 and Aerial were same plate design
If the Alpha1 has TWO screws for adjusting the front truck location, then it is different. What is the point of an adjustment design if will only move 1/4"??
Rollin' on AIR
Last edited by Armadillo; October 3rd, 2009 at 01:54 AM.
|April 29th, 2010, 07:46 PM
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 22
Armadillo, I am considering picking these up for outdoor trail endurance practice. I know I am dragging this out of the depths a year later but I was hoping you could answer a few questions.
1) You mention putting the 70mm wheels up front. Are you saying to buy an extra set so that you have 70mm front and back? Or are you saying to just swap and have 70mm front, 65mm back? If you meant the latter, would it be better to have 70mm/70mm instead?
2) Would I notice a big difference between moving the front truck into the fullest forward position and ditching the traction control bar versus just leaving it where it comes right out of the box? If yes, what would the difference be?
My friend just bought outdoor wheels for his indoor skates and he said the trail was vibrating his feet to death. I was thinking that these would cost about the same as outdoor wheels and might be more cushioned. I also wouldn't have to mess with changing out my wheels. I wish I were more mechanically inclined, you guys have made some killer looking outdoor skates from the posts I have seen.
|April 29th, 2010, 07:54 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Fayetteville, NC
Posts: 116
You don't have to make them yourself
There are people on this site that are great at mounting plates. It is well worth the money to buy the correct plate and the boot/shoe that works best for you and pay them to mount it properly.
|April 29th, 2010, 09:03 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Chicago, Near the Lake
Posts: 5,719
I doubt these outdoor skates are still availabe
You are correct that these skates come with a Hi/Lo wheel setup with 70mm in the rear and 65mm up front. The suggestion to swap wheels however demands that you either remove the toe stops or file them away where the 70mm wheels will rub against them (not a simple task).
Yes, for outdoor skating, dumping the bar and moving front truck full forward is the way to go. You will notice a big reduction in the tendency of your front wheels to stick in cracks or on surface debris. This is also why the 70mm wheels belong in the front.
BTW, I am also offering to do custom outdoor skate builds mounting any style of shoe/boot to any suitable plates (preferably NYLON), at any position that is workable for outdoor use (preferably reversed for heel stop). I especially advise people to find their ultimately comfortable well cushioned sport shoe, and then have it glue mounted to the nylon plate of their choice (screws can work - just not as well).
Rollin' on AIR
|April 29th, 2010, 11:20 PM
rusty bones
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Wallburg, NC
Posts: 732
That Alpha 1 sure is one crazy looking skate.
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This document describes the OwnOptimizer feature in the Polar RS800CX and CS600X.
Successful training requires temporary overloading: longer exercise duration, higher intensity, or higher total volume. In order to avoid severe overtraining, overloading must always be followed by an adequate recovery period. With an inadequate recovery period, you may experience a decrease in performance as a result of high training volumes, instead of improvement. Polar OwnOptimizer is an easy and reliable way to determine whether your training program is optimally developing your performance. Polar OwnOptimizer is developed for use by healthy adults.
Polar OwnOptimizer is a modification of a traditional orthostatic overtraining test. It is a perfect tool, embedded in the training computer, for everyone training regularly, at least three times a week, for fitness improvement or to reach competitive targets. This feature is based on heart rate and heart rate variability measurements taken during an orthostatic test (standing up from relaxed resting). OwnOptimizer helps you to optimize your training load during a training program so that you experience an increase in performance and do not undertrain or overtrain in the long run. Polar OwnOptimizer is based on regular long-term measurements of five heart rate parameters. Two of these five values are calculated at rest, one while standing up, and two while standing. Each time you perform the test, the wrist unit saves the heart rate values and compares them to the previous values registered.
Baseline tests
When you use OwnOptimizer for the first time, six baseline tests should be conducted over a period of two weeks to determine your personal baseline value. These baseline measurements should be taken during two typical basic training weeks, not during heavy training weeks. The baseline measurements should include tests taken after a training day and after recovery days.
Monitoring your OwnOptimizer values
After the baseline recordings, you should continue to perform the test 2-3 times a week. Test yourself weekly in the morning following both a recovery day and a heavy training day (or a series of heavy training days). An optional third test can be performed after a normal training day. OwnOptimizer may not provide reliable information during detraining or in a very irregular training period. If you take a break from exercise for 14 days or longer, the baseline tests should be performed again.


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Studies have shown that human growth hormone (HGH) therapy may offer a wide range of benefits
You can feel vibrant and youthful again. And you can do this simply by raising your HGH via our HGH therapy program.
There are no clinical studies which support a direct connection between HGH therapy and an increased libido.
HGH therapy for brain function provides benefits that include focus, memory, learning, and cognitive functions.
We prodive the best HGH therapy in Fort Wayne
Get HGH prescription online in Fort Wayne and get HGH legally with the assistance of our professional physicians and consultants.
A human growth hormone level test is used to determine the amount of human growth hormone level in your blood.
Doctor-prescribed human growth hormonee therapy can reverse the symptoms of human growth hormone deficiency
Our doctors and administrative team is dedicated to offering you a high level of help. Use our contact form to get a FREE qualified consultation with one of our medical experts based on the data you provide and the services you are requesting.
Here you can find some testimonials of our patients whos get HGH therapy in Fort Wayne
The biggest impact that HGH has had on our lives is helping our sleep patterns.
After using HGH for just a few weeks there was a drastic change in my retaining and building muscle mass.
I have been taking HGH for one year now. I have lost 42 pounds and improve sex drive.


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Joe Nickell
Joe Nickell, Ph.D., is Senior Research Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) and "Investigative Files" Columnist for Skeptical Inquirer. A former stage magician, private investigator, and teacher, he is author of numerous books, including Inquest on the Shroud of Turin (1998), Pen, Ink and Evidence (2003), Unsolved History (2005) and Adventures in Paranormal Investigation (2007). He has appeared in many television documentaries and has been profiled in The New Yorker and on NBC's Today Show. His personal website is at joenickell.com.


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Who will go home in this week's episode of Sony's The Tester 2? Who cares? We've got a picture of War Princess and guest panelist Adrianne Curry kissing. What were we talking about again?
Kawaiizilla passed along this picture of Tester 2 contestant War Princess and this season's guest pretty person Adrianne Curry sharing a smooch late last week, which would bring up questions of favoritism amongst the judges of the show if what happened last episode hadn't happened. See? I'm keeping things spoiler free!
This week's challenge is trivia, so you can imagine how action-packed the live blog will be. I'm on the edge of my seat.


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Price: $11.98
Quantity: 1 available
Defects not visible in scan[s] are described. We did not consult recent grading or price guides for this listing. It looks pretty nice. If you like to READ comics, then this is for you. It is complete. It has no folds, tears, writing, stains, spots or other cosmetic flaws. It might grade out to a high level, but we have not invested in that.
Title: ATHENA INC The Manhunter Project #6 Image comic book 4 2003 1st printing
Categories: Comics,
Item: 1.00 Item
Seller ID: 1466348


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Every week, we here at the Bohemian take delight in letting readers know about everything that's brand-new. The restaurant that's just opened; the pioneering green company; the just-formed band; the fresh event on the horizon; the forward-thinking ideas being put into action. As the North Bay's weekly, this is our specialty in the community.
But a community is not built primarily upon the young. Many came before us, doing things smartly and correctly. Some have been so smart and correct that they've lasted 40, 50, 60 years. Some have lasted a hundred years, or even more.
To these landmarks of the community, these legends, we dedicate this issue.
The legends you'll read about in these pages, apart from the readers poll results, are all local businesses that have survived for 40 years or more. In the past few years, we've been heartbroken when some of our favorites have closed down—Sawyer's News, Heller's for Children and Traverso's come to mind, or, going further back, Yardbirds, Village Music, the Old Adobe. But why wait for a funeral to sing the praises of these types of businesses, when there are so many still open, providing local character and deserving of support?
Those singing praises in this issue, identified by their initials, are Leilani Clark, Suzanne Daly, Rachel Dovey, Nick Grizzle, Stett Holbrook, Christina Julian, James Knight, Gabe Meline, Jacquelynne Ocaña, Bruce Robinson, David Sason and Michael Shufro.
Of course, there are too many noteworthy places that have been around for 40 years or more to fit into these pages, places like G&G Supermarket, Marin Joe's, Stanroy Music Center, Hawley's Paints . . . The list goes on and on. You know these places when you see them. They have a vibe. They're rooted in the community. To us, they are legends.
—Gabe Meline, Editor
Culture | Recreation | Food & Drink | Romance | Family | Everyday
Culture | Recreation | Food & Drink | Romance | Family | Everyday
North Bay Bohemian "Best of the Northbay 2012" from jon lohne on Vimeo.
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New medications failing those with mental illness
What happened to all the drug breakthroughs? Whenever Americans complain about the high cost of prescription medicines, they are told that their "investment" in brand-name drugs will lead to crucial advances in hard-to-treat diseases. This promise remains largely unfulfilled.
During the past few decades, pharmaceutical manufacturers have consolidated. Giant firms swallowed smaller corporations. Bigger was supposed to be better and lead to innovative compounds on pharmacy shelves.
Nowhere is the disappointment greater than in the dearth of effective treatments for mental illness. There are dozens of drugs on the market for schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorders and Alzheimer's disease. Americans spent more than $25 billion on such medications last year. None of the available medications is a clear breakthrough, and most have serious side effects.
Second-generation anti-psychotics were launched with great fanfare roughly 20 years ago. Drugs such as clozapine (Clozaril) and risperidone (Risperdal) were supposed to be much better than older drugs such as chlorpromazine (Thorazine), haloperidol (Haldol) and thioridazine (Mellaril).
The side effects from these older medications were unbearable for many patients. Some people felt like zombies because of the sedation, or experienced confusion and extreme restlessness. These drugs could produce uncontrollable muscle tics that would make people grimace or stick out their tongues. Such movements were frequently irreversible, even after the drug was stopped.
Side effects of dizziness, dry mouth, constipation, urinary retention, blurred vision, fainting, heart palpitations, seizures and sexual problems added to the patients' woes.
Clozaril, Risperdal and the medications that followed them, such as aripiprazole (Abilify), olanzapine (Zyprexa), quetiapine (Seroquel) and ziprasidone (Geodon), were supposed to be much easier to tolerate. Many patients and physicians also expected that they would be more effective.
But even these new "atypical" antipsychotics have serious side effects, such as weight gain that may trigger diabetes and heart disease. Sadly, these pricey medicines don't seem to work any better than older drugs (Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, October 2012).
As disappointing as the antipsychotics have been, drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease are worse. Recent studies have produced dismal results when it comes to improving memory and ability to function.
Even antidepressants have come under scrutiny. Although millions swallow pills such as citalopram (Celexa), duloxetine (Cymbalta), escitalopram (Lexapro), fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft) and venlafaxine (Effexor), many find that the drugs are only moderately effective or lose their antidepressant power after a time.
Side effects of such antidepressants can include nausea, dizziness, fatigue, dry mouth, insomnia, anxiety, sweating, blurred vision, headache and sexual difficulties, to name just a few. Stopping such drugs can be challenging because of "discontinuation syndrome," also known as withdrawal.
Americans with mental illness deserve better. It's time drug manufacturers became more creative in their search for new treatments.
Joe Graedon is a pharmacologist. Teresa Graedon holds a doctorate in medical anthropology and is a nutrition expert. In their column, they answer letters from readers. Email them via their Web site: www.Peoples
King Features Syndicate


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Photo Credit: David Dodd
Michael Ramos, Dallas, TX: Michael Ramos is the reigning Big Squeeze champion having won in 2013. He hails from Dallas, Texas where he is currently a senior at Gilliam Collegiate Academy. After he graduates this year, he will pursue a college education and aim to form his own conjunto.
As a child, he had picked up the accordion a few times. His uncle first introduced him to the accordion. When he was about 13, he began to take the accordion seriously. While his uncle's accordion was not in the best shape, Ramos made do. When his parents noticed he took to the instrument enthusiastically by learning rancheras and polkas, they bought him his first Hohner accordion. Ramos is versatile on other instruments as well. Not long after he began learning the accordion, he turned his attention to the bajo sexto, a 12-string rhythmic guitar prevalent in conjunto and norteño. In the past year, he picked up the bass. He plays with a local conjunto in Dallas. Ramos has been profoundly influenced by late legendary conjunto accordionists such as Angel Flores, Ruben Vela and Tony De La Rosa. He also cites norteño influences from groups such as Los Cachorros de Juan Villarreal. Video clip
Most Notable Performances
October 5, 2013 Trinity River Audobon Center Lecture-Dallas
August 4, 2013 Accordion Kings and Queens CD Release Party-Antone's
June 1, 2013 Accordion Kings and Queens-Miller Outdoor Theatre (Winner)
April 20, 2013 Big Squeeze Semi-Finals-Bob Bullock Museum (Finalist)
April 19, 2013 Big Squeeze Backyard Bash-Austin
March 24, 2013 Big Squeeze-Latino Cultural Center
June 2, 2012 Accordion Kings and Queens-Miller Outdoor Theatre (Finalist)
April 28, 2012 Big Squeeze Semi-Finals-Bob Bullock Museum


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Officials warn of airline phishing scam
On one of the busiest travel weeks of the year, a few major airlines are warning travelers about a new cyber scam.
Hackers are flooding email inboxes with phony airline ticket confirmations.
Southwest, Delta and US Airways have warned customers of the scam.
The email looks just like a ticket confirmation and includes a link, but authorities said don't click it.
"From what we can see, the links that were included were linked to fabricated websites so they could download malicious software onto a computer," said Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Brandy King.
Anyone who gets an email that looks suspicious should delete it and definitely not click the link. If the link wasn't clicked, then no personal information was compromised.
Southwest Airlines said it has deactivated the scam.


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Article content
BELO HORIZONTE - Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez does not know when forward Luis Suarez, working hard on his fitness after knee cartilage surgery, will be ready to play again, he said on Tuesday.
"He's responding very well and his spirits couldn't be better. He's working full out on his physical fitness," Tabarez told a news conference after Uruguay's first practice at their training base near Belo Horizonte.
"As we have no set deadlines, I don't know if we'll have him for the first match, for the second, for the third. If it were up to me, Suarez would play tomorrow."
Uruguay kick off their World Cup Group D campaign against Costa Rica followed by matches against England and Italy.
Suarez told his Twitter followers on the squad's arrival in Brazil that his left knee is recovering well from his keyhole surgery on May 22 and he is in a good frame of mind.
"I wanted to tell you the knee is going very well, I feel very good, this depends on the day to day (work) but it's on the right track," Suarez said in a 32-second video on his Twitter account (@luis16suarez).
"I also wanted to thank you all for your support this week and, well, it goes without saying my mind's on the World Cup."
tap here to see other videos from our team.


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Road to Bali (1952)
CategoriesComedy Free Classic Movies
Road to Bali is a 1952 comedy film starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. It was released by Paramount Pictures and is the sixth of the seven Road to… movies. It was the only such movie filmed in color and was the first to feature surprise cameo appearances from other well-known stars of the day.
Having to leave Melbourne in a hurry to avoid various marriage proposals, two song-and-dance men sign-on to work as divers. This takes them to an idyllic island on the way to Bali where they vie with each other for the favours of Princess Lala. The hazardous dive produces a chest of priceless jewels which arouses the less romantic interest of some shady locals.


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The Informed Makeup Maven raves about Stila's #5 brush, Covergirl Smoothers Pressed Powder and Bobbi Brown's Custom Palettes.
Visit The Beauty Couch to enter the Softlips PURE Giveaway for a chance to win one of four Softlips PURE organic lip balms. Contest expires May 12th at 12am EST.
Beauty Anonymous takes a look at Lavshuca's new Lip Gloss.
Beauty Strokes was so pleased with the success of the previous giveaway of its brush collection at More Than a Pretty Face that it's provided a complete set of its Mineral Optics brushes for a new giveaway! Mineral Optics brushes are great for applying loose mineral powders. The prize consists of six brushes, including three optic brushes with natural and synthetic bristles, and a nylon brush roll. Enter now!
Meilily reviews and swatches Gabriel Cosmetics Lipstick with 100% natural ingredients.
Monique at Beauty Girl Musings is giving away 15 (yes, fifteen) Beautyfix 2 kits! Click here to enter!
Hurry on over to The Makeup Divas blog and enter to win Barielle Sugar Rush Nail Polish Collection.
Fabulous Over Forty talks with dermatologist Dr. Doris Day about what we really need for skincare.
Check out Beauty in Real Life for a fabulous neuLash and Anastasia giveaway!
Head on Over to A Little More Beautiful to check out the Great Skin for Spring/Summer series as well as Tips to Prevent and reduce the signs of aging!
Beauty Banter is doing a brow kit GIVEAWAY! Enter to win!!!
Boutique Flair reviews the Sunsilk Captivating Curls line.
Alex McCord, Luanne Delesseps, Ramona Singer and Jill Zarin from the Real Houseives of NYC, Mario Cantone, Simon Doonan, and Allure's Linda Wells are all in the Advice Sisters Post of the Cosmetics Executive Women (CEW) Awards with links to all the winning products.
eye4style is giving away a gorgeous pair of Current Elliott Boyfriend Jeans. Enter now to win!
Beautè Noire Blog gives Halle Berry's new haircut two thumbs up!
image and style news dishes on all the 2009 summer makeup collection
Addicted to Lipstick Shows us swatches from the Mac A Rose Romance Collection.
Beauty Junkies Unite shares supermodel Alek Wek's look by Lancome from the Met Ball!
Beauty411 shares the details on the new Guerlain Terracotta Mineral Collection for summer bronze beauty!
LA Pretty is giving away a pair of lucy activewear short shorts. Pants are so 2008!
Beauty Blogging Junkie scored an exclusive interview with Star Trek Makeup Department Head Mindy Hall. Click here to read it!
Spoiled Pretty is partnering with Bath & Body Works for a giveaway - to protect you from Swine Flu. Three winners will receive Anti-Bacterial Gentle Foaming Soap, Foaming Sanitizer, and PocketBac Deep Cleansing Hand Gel.
Butterflydiary is giving away a bottle of Lancome's Genifique and Charla Krupp's book "How Not to Look Old" to one incredibly lucky winner.
Hot Beauty Health is sharing the best beauty products from Self Magazine's Healthy Beauty Awards.
makeup loves me gives you a preview of the hot summer makeup by MAX factor.
Beauty Am Eye shares a Root Awakening experience.


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Recipe from Anthony LaMarr of HI
4 boneless chicken breast
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons of basil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup of sliced almonds
3 cloves of fresh diced garlic
1/2 stick of butter
1/3 cup of olive oil
Mix all DRIED items except the almonds in a large bowl, then lightly dust chicken breast in flour mixture.
Add oil to frying pan and lay in the chicken breast. Cover and cook for twenty minutes over medium heat until it is throughly cooked through.
Once chicken is cooked, add butter, then garlic, and almonds last. Stir it up.
Serve over rice or potatoes.
*DISCLAIMER*: The information contained in or provided through this site section is intended for general consumer understanding and education only and is not intended to be and is not a substitute for professional advice. Use of this site section and any information contained on or provided through this site section is at your own risk and any information contained on or provided through this site section is provided on an "as is" basis without any representations or warranties.


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There is an online government surplus auction that carries a lot of school buses nationwide, but I cannot think of the name. Search and ye shall find! I would still start with the local school districts. Ask for the Transportation Manager. Remember to always be cheerful and upbeat when approaching people with such a request -- works much better than the sad-sack I-need-your-help look.
Say, Toolmaker, any chance you can find time to chronicle a roof raise for educational purposes?
To be clear... Millicent's roof raise is fairly well detailed, with photos, on the skoolie forum.
Funny you should mention that....just look at the sexy grills folks are adding to change the look.
That's Millicent's new look as of a few months ago! Genooine Peterbilt, yes. Just wait until I paint her!


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Colorful farmstands and farmers markets all over the East End have caught our fancy. "Locally grown" and "eating local" are trends that are here to stay. We are all becoming more and more aware that homegrown food tastes better than food from distant locales, and it's better for our health – and better for the planet. Farmstands and farmers markets today are not only offering a variety of produce – for you will surely find a host of hand-crafted cheeses from local artisans, locally baked breads, a delicious array of jams, jellies and honey, fresh fish, wine and flowers and even fresh eggs from hens happily running about in their pens at Babinski's farmstand in Bridgehampton and of course at the legendary Iacono Chicken Farm in East Hampton. [expand]
I had the pleasure of doing a book signing for Savoring the Hamptons: Discovering the Food and Wine of Long Island's East End at the Sag Harbor Farmers Market held on Saturday mornings, and I look forward to a book signing at the Hayground Market (Fridays) in Bridgehampton, where I will be on Friday, July 8, from 3 to 6 p.m. Inspired by so many of the merchants at the market, I will be prepared with tastings from my book and look forward to your visit.
This inspired salad is topped with tender mushrooms and toasted pignoli nuts.
Serves 4-6
For the mushrooms
1/2 pound mushrooms, shiitake, oyster mix
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large leek, trimmed, washed well and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons water
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
For the greens and vinaigrette
4 cups mesclun or mixed salad greens, washed and spin-dried
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup toasted pignoli nuts for garnish
1. Cut off and discard mushroom stems. Rinse mushrooms in a colander, tossing them gently under a spray of cool water. Transfer to paper towels and pat dry. Cut shiitake into 1/4-inch slices and separate oyster mushrooms at the stem end. Set aside.
2. Warm the olive oil in a large 10-12-inch non-stick skillet. Add the leeks and garlic and sauté, stirring for a minute or so. Add the prepared mushrooms, toss to mix and cook, stirring occasionally for 3-4 minutes until mushrooms are slightly tender. Add balsamic vinegar and water, cover the pan and simmer for 6-8 minutes over low heat. To serve the mushrooms warm leave in the skillet to reheat later. Can be prepared up to a couple of hours ahead to this point.
3. To serve, place the prepared greens in a large mixing bowl. Add olive oil and salt and toss to coat. Add the vinegar and several grinds of freshly ground pepper. Toss with abandon to distribute the dressing. Taste to adjust seasoning if necessary. Divide greens on 4 to 6 plates, top with mushrooms and a sprinkle of pignoli nuts. Serve at once.
Reprinted from Silvia Lehrer's Savoring the Hamptons: Discovering the Food and Wine of Long Island's East End (Running Press, 2011)
Fluke, or summer flounder, is currently running in our local waters.
Serves 4-6
4-6 fluke fillets with skin removed, about 6-8 ounces each
2-3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or melted butter
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Grated rind of one lemon
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
2-3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons plain breadcrumbs
Preheat oven to 375° F.
1. Rinse fillets and pat dry with paper towel. Drizzle oil or butter on the fillets and smooth it down with the back of a spoon. Season with salt and pepper. Place fillets in a shallow baking pan (a 10" x 15" Pyrex lasagna pan works well) just large enough to hold the fish in a single layer and set aside.
2. Mix the remaining ingredients and, with a rubber spatula, pat down equal amounts over the top of each fillet. At this point the fish can be covered lightly with plastic wrap and refrigerated for an hour or two until ready to bake. If refrigerated, bring fish back to room temperature before baking. Bake about 7-8 minutes or until fish is opaque and springy to the touch. Serve with hot boiled new potatoes dressed with melted butter and parsley, if desired.
For more recipes, cooking news and Silvia's Blog, check out my new website, www.savoringthehamptons.com. [/expand]


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Humanitarian Updates
Surfing For Life Foundation names funding recipients for Q1
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 26 March, 2014 - The Surfing for Life Foundation continues its efforts in spreading cancer awareness to the surfing community and has just released its list of charity recipients for the first quarter of 2014. Four times a year the Santa Barbara-California based non-profit organization donates money to various cancer organizations around the country.
"We are thrilled to have assisted 13 different charities during the past 2 years of operation. These charities share a similar philosophy to ours in bringing cancer awareness to the surfing community", states founder Tom Brown. "Cancer continues to affect everyone. It is our mission to help raise awareness about being proactive against the disease".
Through the generosity of surf shops around the country the Surfing for Life Foundation is able to offer assistance to other cancer charities. The Surfing for Life Foundation is pleased to announce the following distribution for the 1st quarter ending March 31, 2014. Each of these organizations will receive a donation made possible by surfers, surf shops, and individuals supporting our mission:
Boarding for Breast Cancer
Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation
Santa Barbara Cancer Center
First Descents
The Surfing for Life Foundation was started in 2008 following Tom Brown's diagnosis of stage IV colon cancer. He is a firm believer in taking action on the front end. "Many people do not know that 90% of cancers are curable if caught in the early stages. If we are proactive we can help control our own outcome", states Brown.
"This is why we do what we do". Over the past two years, the Surfing for Life Foundation has raised more than $20,000.00 in the fight against cancer. There are currently 18,000 surfers wearing blue Surfing for Life wristbands. The wristbands are distributed in 220 surf shops in 26 countries around the world.
Support for the foundation continues to grow. A partial list of surf shops distributing the wristbands include; (California) E.T, Spyder, Surf Concepts, Dive N' Surf, ZJ's Boarding House, Encinitas Surf Shop, Bird's Surf Shed, Patagonia, O'Neills, Mollusk, Dewey Weber, Hansens, Surf Ride, Surf N' Wear, Aqua, and Channel Islands. (Hawaii) distributors include Quiksilver (Haleiwa), Turtle Bay Resort, Ola'a Banana Company, and North Shore Surf Shed.
"To every one of you who is making a difference, who is daily delivering the message of checkups, nutrition, well-being and love: to all of you, a heartfelt thanks," concludes Brown. "Without you, Surfing for Life Foundation could not have accomplished what we did. I pledge to make 2014 an even bigger year for spreading awareness about cancer ONE WRISTBAND AT A TIME…"
For more information regarding the Surfing for Life Foundation and how you can help, contact Tom Brown at surfingforlifefoundation @ gmail.com or visit their website at surfingforlife.org


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I could have sworn this already happened but apparently "Screen Gems" has acquired the rights to the big screen adaptation to the much loved video game "Devil May Cry". For those of your not familiar with the games there's a guy named Dante, a giant sword and some demons. That about covers it I think. Wait, no! There's a gun too.
Chris Sparling wrote "Buried", the best Ryan Reynolds trapped in a box movie of 2010, and now he's stepping behind the camera with a little ditty titled "Falling Slow". The film will focus on a couple, played by Mandy Moore and Rodrigo Santoro, who move into a haunted apartment. If I was a betting man I'd say any movie with someone named Rodrigo in a starring roll is going to be 100% caliente.
Tobe Hooper, who I believe created a low budget rip off of that chainsaw flick that came out a few years back, has been confirmed to direct a new supernatural thriller titled "Djinn". Djinn is apparently some sort of Arabian demon and I guess in this movie that demon does some nasty crap to a couple's apartment after they return from their trip to the US. I'm not positive but it sounds like this movie might not be patriotic.
What's more prestigious than making a crappy Syfy flick? Making the 200th crappiest Syfy flick of all time! Well the new After Dark opus "Scream of the Banshee" will have the honor on March 26th. That's all really need to know but if you're looking for plot just think banshee scream, then you die. That about covers it.


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University Archives and Records Center [Contact Us]
(Bulk: 1891-1927)
University of Pennsylvania. Office of the Provost.,
Extent: 5.5 cubic feet
Charles Custis Harrison was Provost at the University of Pennsylvania 1894-1910, a time of expansive growth for the University, especially in the number of buildings added to the campus. Using his extensive personal contacts from his business and political associates, Harrison raised funds (making large contributions himself) for dormitories as well as Houston Hall, the University Museum, the Medical Laboratory, the Law, Engineering, and Dental School buildings from the wealthy of Philadelphia society. The Charles Custis Harrison Files of the Office of the Provost Records document his activities as Provost of the University of Pennsylvania and as Vice President and President of the Board of Directors of the University Museum. This collection though part of the Office of the Provost Records, includes material from almost all aspects of Harrison's career with the University of Pennsylvania.


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The American Legion – October 15, 2013
As America enters its third week of a government shutdown, The American Legion's national website features a clock that is counting down to the day when millions of America's veterans will stop receiving about $6 billion in benefits — Nov. 1. During his press conference Tuesday at the Indiana War Memorial in Indianapolis, American Legion National Commander Daniel Dellinger announced that the world is watching the clock tick.
"The clock is ticking toward a crisis for America's veterans and for our national security," Dellinger said. "Government officials have stated that if a solution is not achieved by Nov. 1, veterans will not receive their VA benefits. Health care and disability payments for veterans is a long-term cost of war.
"Consider the message we are sending to young people thinking of joining the Armed Forces if our nation stops paying for education benefits under the GI Bill. Consider the message we are sending to our enemies in the Global War on Terrorism. Washington must not let the clock at the top of The American Legion's website tick down to zero."
Dellinger shared the words of a young veteran who expressed her dismay over the shutdown by saying, "I wouldn't have agreed to go to Afghanistan to help repair someone else's government if I knew that when I got back that I would return to a dysfunctional and broken one of my own." Several other veterans wrote to the Legion about the personal impact of the shutdown, and Dellinger shared a few of their stories. One was from a disabled veteran who wrote that her husband, also a disabled veteran, is a furloughed civilian employee of the U.S. Army. The couple faces losing all income if VA disability benefits disappear on Nov. 1. Another was from a National Guardsman whose orders were suspended until the shutdown ends; he has no other source of income.
"It is inexcusable that this failure to govern has disproportionately impacted U.S. military veterans and their families," Dellinger said. "I implore Congress to fund the government and end this shutdown now. It is an embarrassment to our nation; it is a cruelty to veterans and their families.
"I am calling upon American Legion members nationwide and patriotic Americans everywhere to step forward and hold their elected officials accountable for this failure. The clock ticks toward Nov. 1 for all of us."


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Mayan Wrap- Red
Soft and cozy poncho wrap in colorful Aztec print. Add a little flair with this fun print. One size
All orders where the subtotal equals $75 or more, before taxes and shipping fees, qualify for free shipping within the contiguous United States! Simply add your favorites to your cart & when you hit $75 or more, we will ship it you for free! All orders using standard shipping, ship for a flat rate of $6.95 (this excludes international and express packages, AK and HI shipping is additional).
At this time we do not offer international shipping. AK and HI shipping is available, but for an additional charge.
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Orders with Standard Shipping can take up to 1-3 business days to be processed and shipped. Expedited orders placed before 11:00 a.m. EST will be shipped the same day. Weekends and holidays are excluded from processing and shipping times, so please account for non-business days when choosing your shipping method. You will receive an email with tracking information once your order has been shipped.
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Yes! We offer Expedited Shipping options to ensure you receive your order when you need it. All expedited orders confirmed before 11:00 a.m. EST will be processed the same day pending credit card verification. Please note the day your order is packed and shipped is not counted as a day in transit.
Expedited Shipping is only valid for orders shipped within the contiguous United States. Please note that expedited shipping is not currently offered for international shipping.Once I've placed my order, how long will it take to arrive?
Orders are typically shipped within 1-3 business days, and Standard Shipping orders arrive in 1-5 business days after your order is shipped. We will email tracking information once your order has been shipped. For orders shipped outside of the contiguous United States, please allow approximately 8-21 business days for delivery.
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Return Shipping Address


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Professional Community for Car Dealers, Marketing, Advertising and Sales Leaders
When it comes to our data and how it affects our business, to how we can and must make money with it, we in retail automotive need to wake up! We need an "Internet Moment"--but, first, what the heck is that? Understand that the "Internet Moment" was birthed this way at a very famous company: The mid 90's were a crazy time at Microsoft. The Internet was taking off, and it had actually left without Microsoft—and that was Bill Gate's mistake, as he had written quite a bit internally at Microsoft about how the Internet was not going to be big. I worked there back then, and he had led the whole company in that "anti-Internet" direction. To put it in our perspective for automotive, that would be like Henry Ford and his descendants deciding way back that larger engines and eventually automatic transmissions were not important. But worse.
And what would have happened in Ford's case when he realized not having those was going to lose his market? Thankfully, for Microsoft, Bill Gates had that realization, that "Internet Moment", because he finally listened to the people who worked for him—and the rest of the world—that the Internet was going to be huge. Bill Gates turned Microsoft around overnight to match the market, and the strategy extended Microsoft's dominance another ten years—not forever, but to be part of that certainly changed me forever.
In retail automotive, I feel that we are at our own "Internet Moment", but it's not about the Internet alone any longer: It's about our data. I have recently seen, with my own eyes, just a small business wave on what is an enormous ocean of data. The immense size of it is hard to grasp, and so some have suggested we can stop the data sharing and lock it back up. We cannot. Absolutely, we cannot. First, the size of what is already happening with the data is thousands of points of data on every shopper in the USA, regardless of what they are shopping for. Billions of data points. The size of that d ike in just automotive alone is far past the number of our fingers, and far past the amount of time it would take to even try: By the instant we achieved even a fraction of "stopping the leak", we would already be drowned by the other data sources. We cannot stop it.
We have to decide, in our retail ships that ride this giant sea of data, whether we will sink in it or do business on it. And it's not because of TrueCar. It's not because of Google Cars. It's not because of Yahoo. It's not because of anybody else, in fact: As Pogo once famously said, "We have met the enemy, and he is US!" (Google it if you don't get the reference, as ironic at is is to suggest you do that while writing THIS article!).
This is the mantra I look for and measure companies and partners by: I support companies that protect and use this data to help dealers close deals and make more profit. Nobody is perfect, but are you a partner to build business or a parasite taking profits?
We are having our "Internet Moment", and it is about our data. It won't matter what we want to happen, it will only matter what the consumer wants to happen. If someone like Bill Gates can't control the consumer, do we think we can?
Of course not. We cannot fight it, because for sales we must follow where consumers go. And the data (including OUR data) is how we will get there fastest and strongest.
The 2010's will be remembered as the "Data Decade", but you don't need to end up a memory, yourself. You can do great business with your data for profit, with all the data, and you should.
In fact, it's no longer an option whether to do that: In our "Internet Moment" for Data, you must.
P.S. ""Big Data is the new definitive source of competitive advantage across all industries,"… "For those organizations that understand and embrace the new reality of Big Data, the possibilities for new innovation, improved agility, and increased profitability are nearly endless." - Forbes, 2/18/2012"
by Keith Shetterly, Copyright 2012
All Rights Reserved www.keithshetterly.com
Like this article? Register and attend www.AutoCon2012.com for more great information just like this!
Views: 886
Thanks Brian, Tom, and Ralph! Like I said . . . Dealers Wake UP! :)
This just in:
Warren Buffett Is Buying This for the First Time in 40 Years
By Frank Curzio, editor, Small Stock Specialist
Friday, August 17, 2012
The world's greatest investor, Warren Buffett, gets a lot of press for avoiding technology stocks…
You see, Warren is famous for buying the "basics," companies that make everyday products like soda or razors. He's always steered clear of early-stage investments in tech companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook. It's difficult to successfully pick technology stocks. One day, a company is on top… the next day, it's toast because a competitor has invented a better technology.
But there's a trend taking place in technology that is so big, even Warren can't ignore it. In fact, he just invested $10 billion into it. It's an unusual move, given that the legendary investor has avoided the sector for the past four decades.
The trend is called Big Data.
Three disturbing facts about America…
Why will 50% of the U.S. population be on food stamps at some point in their life? Why are the percentage workers who collect "disability checks" up 400%? Why do we have 25% of the ENTIRE WORLD'S prison population? The answer is simple, but something no one wants to admit.
And it has nothing to do with politics, immigration, or religion. Get the facts and the answers here…
Over the past 12 months, tech giants IBM, Microsoft, Intel, EMC, and Oracle have been on an acquisition spree… They've spent billions of dollars acquiring companies with Big Data technology.
"Big Data" refers to the volume of digital data being collected around the world. Companies right now are analyzing this data using algorithms to predict future behavior patterns. For industries like health care and retail, it could save companies hundreds of billions of dollars each year.
You see, over the past two years, we've seen an explosion in data with the massive growth in social networking, smartphone, and tablet use. Billions of people every day are posting new information to their Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter accounts.
To put this in perspective, more than 750 million photos were uploaded to Facebook on New Year's Eve alone. About 300 million people post on Twitter each day. In the past 60 seconds, over 700,000 people just searched for something on Google.
The "offline" world is also full of useful data. Cameras on traffic lights, highway tollbooths, and security systems capture pictures and video constantly. Most delivery companies (including transportation giants UPS and FedEx) have GPS systems on their trucks that transmit data back to the company's tech department.
Because of this trend, data is piling up at an unbelievable rate. According to tech giant IBM, 90% of all data is less than two years old. Put another way, 10 times as much data is in storage today as existed two years ago. That's a 900% surge!
Even more shocking, IBM expects data to grow by another 800% over the next five years.
This data is constantly being analyzed, which could lead to more sales for retailers who will be able to predict future spending patterns. It could also mean huge cost savings for utility companies tracking energy usage during peak hours.
Tens of thousands of companies all over the world are making Big Data their top priority for 2012 and beyond. Venture capitalists are also pouring huge money into tech start-ups trying to get an edge on this megatrend.
IBM is on the forefront. That's probably one of the reasons Warren Buffett made the company one of his three largest stock positions nine months ago.
Other large players in the Big Data trend – like Teradata and Oracle – are trading near 52-week highs.
Despite strong performances this year, I see these three stocks trading much higher over the long term as this trend grows stronger. I suggest buying these stocks on any pullbacks.
Good investing,
Frank Curzio
P.S. I just recommended two small-cap names in the Big Data sector in my Phase 1 Investor newsletter. These companies have huge stakes in this long-term trend… And I believe they could double in the next 12 to 24 months. To learn more about a subscription – and gain access to these picks immediately – click here.
Great article Keith and great comments. As I said in my post "The Next Big Thing", it's not about gadgets (such as mobile devices). Although I spoke about being permanently connected, it's Big Data that assists and is the natural outcome of that total connection. Big Data flows naturally beyond industry boundaries and can be harnessed and utilized in ways that are non-industry specific. At this time, Google and Facebook may have the largest pool of data available on the planet. How they choose to utilize and share that information will probably dictate the manner in which smaller companies can utilize it.
Great timely article. Dealers who are making changes to their dealership technology platform need to think about the companies they chose as partners in light of their ability to leverage Big Data. This is especially true for single rooftop dealers that want to compete with larger automotive groups that have bigger budgets and can afford to hire data analysts to guide their marketing decisions.
For example, there are over 50 automotive website companies and over 20 CRM companies on the market for dealers to choose. When dealers are considering an upgrade/change to these two tools they must ask themselves which companies are best positioned to integrate consumer shopping behavior and third party data into these platforms to sell more cars.
It also means that dealers need to think of which small fish, regardless of how good their "single" product is, will be swallowed whole and pit out by the big data machine.
The integration of "Big Data" will give dealers and BDC agents an advantage over systems that are stand-alone silos of one dimensional data. I wrote about this topic last September when Dataium hit the marketplace and when Autotrader purchased Kelly Blue Book and VinSolutions on DealerRefresh. It's a good read about the potential of "Big Data" on dealer operations.
Cobalt has the most impressive "Big Data" warehouse of automotive consumer shopping behavior because of their unique position of seeing all interactions on Tier 1, 2, and 3 for GM franchises. The potential uses of this data to significantly improve the consumer shopping experience on Cobalt websites as well as improving customer communications in their CRM system is breathtaking.
Dealers need to look at their technology and marketing partners in light of the massive change that is coming. Other industries have already been leveraging Big Data and soon it will be hear. Dealers will start to see this reality next year in working products.
This move will force another vendor consolidation because small companies that don't have data integration partnerships to work into their product mix will start to be seen as "dated" technology and underperform the marketplace.
Change is coming. Time to sharpen those data and analytical skills.
Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Consulting
Thanks Ralph! :)
As far as "who else is talking about it", outside of America's showroom floors and service drives... well, maybe in service drives too, anyways, the discussions amongst IT and Marketing professionals around "Big Data" are so prolific, that the term itself is one of the most competitive key word phrases from amongst millions within Google Adwords. Check out this screen shot and please notice the sponsored link saturation. This tells those in the know about such things that whatever "Big Data" is, there is a heck of a lot of money being made around it:
Just tell Brian that *I* told you first.
Well, you could email Brian Pasch about it. HE would tell you about it.
seriously... who else is talking about it. ; )
© 2020 Created by Ralph Paglia. Powered by


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Book – Family is everything in small towns, but Lucy Dane has a hole in hers. Her mother Lila disappeared when Lucy was just a baby, and people in town still gossip about her, suggesting witchcraft or something worse was behind her sudden appearance and disappearance in their small Ozark town. Then Lucy's friend Cheri disappears, and her body is found in horrifying condition near the edge of town, and Lucy finds herself investigating the web of secrets surrounding these two women's disappearances.
It's not just the setting that The Weight of Blood has in common with Daniel Woodrell's Winter's Bone, it's a whole atmosphere, a paradoxical sense of claustrophobia in the wide-open, tight-knit rural world of the Ozarks. This is McHugh's first novel, but you wouldn't know it from the way she writes, as smooth and confident as any more seasoned writer, and with an excellent grip on her readers' emotions. Set some time aside when you start this one – I ended up canceling my weekend plans to finish it!


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JULY 28th is NATIONAL DANCE DAY!!!!
Dance is such a huge part of my life, hopefully it will be part of Biscuit's as well. Dance brings me so much joy and I swear it is therapy for me. No LMFT needed her, just a hardwood floor and enough space to spin around. ;)
I spent a good part of my life on stage and a true love of mine was lyrical, contemporary dance. So in honor of National Dance Day approaching, I thought I would share some of my FAVORITE choreography in this genre.
Although he is relatively new to the choreography scene, Travis Wall has become one of my faves. This kid has such an amazing gift. LOVE the musicality of his work. These pieces are simply gorgeous.
And now you all know what a hopeless romantic I am.....
I mean, swoooooooning over here.
Get out and dance on July 28th!!


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|« CAC Open House for the BOLT Residency today!
|The North Plan - Are You On The List? »
Dance Wed Feb 29 2012
"Winter Fire" & "Spring Desire" Breathe New Art into Joffrey Ballet
Watching the US premiere of Infra by Wayne McGregor was more like walking into a living, breathing art installation at the MCA and less of what we traditionally perceive as "ballet" -- a term that stereotypically evokes images of pink tutus and satin pointe shoes.
The work was chaotic, minimalist, and aggressive. Limbs popped, straining to make gestures, but then surprisingly achieved release in an almost sexual burst of physicality. Max Richter's score wailed longingly in the background, violin strings pulled out in handfuls, and Julian Opie's digital pedestrian-themed animation scrolled along, setting the tempo visually for the entire piece.
This was no ordinary ballet -- Infra, as well as the other pieces included in the Joffrey Ballet's presentation of "Winter Fire", were works of contemporary art. William Forsythe's In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated and Christopher Wheeldon's After the Rain both proceeded Infra on the bill. Together, the three pieces challenged dancers and audience alike to push the boundaries of ballet physically and conceptually.
"I want to change how we think about ballet," Ashley C. Wheater, Artistic Director of the Joffrey, replied when asked what motivated him to select the pieces that he did for the "New Generation" 2011-2012 season. "It's important to understand that there are certain boundaries to what we define as ballet. And, it's very important that dancers today have really started to explore more and more the possibilities of dance. The possibilities are really endless."
"Winter Fire" will be followed by "Spring Desire" (aptly rhymed), opening April 25 and running through May 6. The program also includes three works: Jerome Robbins' In The Night, music by the romantic Frederic Chopin; Edwaard Liang's Age of Innocence, music by legends Philip Glass and Thomas Newman; and a world premiere by Val Caniparoli.
"'Winter Fire,' and 'Spring Desire,' will make the audience understand the depth of this company," mused Wheater at the end of our interview. "Something's changed over the last five years. I have a really beautiful company, and it's a company that has a point of view, a thought process, and a freedom of communication...We want to show that to our audiences...showing people the value of the art form of dance. I think that the program visually, choreographically, musically, artistically has so much to offer."
Tickets for "Spring Desire" and other Joffrey performances are on sale here.


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Paul Simon: Under African Skies
It is probably fair to say that Paul Simon's best known work as a solo artist is the album Graceland. In fact, it may even be better known now than his albums as half of Simon and Garfunkle. And for once, an artist's best known work is also some of his best. I remember when Graceland first came out, and there had never been anything like it. The album inspired me to explore the music of South Africa as best I could without leaving home. Graceland made a little more sense then in some ways, but it still sounded unique. Amazingly, it still does. Of course, there were the hits. But the song that grabbed me from the first was Under African Skies, and this too has not changed for me.
Under African Skies is a pulsating ballad. It's lyric contains a mystery: who is Joseph? My first thought was the Joseph of the bible, he of the dreamcoat. But the song says that he navigated "by the stars of the Southern hemisphere", and the biblical Joseph never saw those stars. I don't think Paul Simon is the kind of writer who would miss that sort of detail. So, that left a puzzle. I made my peace with it by deciding that maybe it doesn't really matter. Maybe Joseph is just supposed to be an African everyman. Indeed, the song as a whole seems to be about an idealized version of African, viewed from a distance. But lately, another thought has come to me. Maybe Joseph is Joseph Shabalala of Ladysmith Black Mombazo. They appear throughout the album, and I remember reading that Shabalala also served as Paul Simon's first tour guide through South African music. Whatever the case, I think I'm happy not knowing the answer. The sense of mystery is part of the song's appeal to me.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
For a Song: Under African Skies
Posted by Darius at 2:16 AM
Labels: For a Song, Paul Simon
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Maine State Chamber to pay tribute to Olympia Snowe at annual dinner
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) � The Maine State Chamber of Commerce is paying tribute to U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe.
The chamber is commemorating Snowe's 34 years in Congress at its annual dinner on Friday at the Augusta Civic Center.
The program will feature an award presentation and remarks by Snowe and her husband, former Maine Gov. John McKernan.
Snowe announced last winter she is not seeking re-election to a fourth term in the Senate because of what she called political polarization in Washington.


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First day back from mid-term vacation. I ask my Irish Drama class how their break went. "Well," said a student brightly, "I'm no longer a 22-year-old virgin!".
I blinked at her with roughly the expression my cat used to get when he jumped into the bathtub and found the shower was still on.
She let the other shoe drop: "I'm now a 23-year-old virgin!!!". This may be the only time in my teaching career that I have been left entirely without words.


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Scientists Agree On Climate Change, Why Doesn't The Public?
Scientists Agree On Climate Change, Why Doesn't The Public?
A new study confirms that the vast majority of scientists who research the climate accept that the planet is warming and human beings are largely responsible. Yet a large slice of the American public believes that scientists are deeply split about global warming.
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.
And I'm Melissa Block. Yesterday, President Obama sent out a tweet drawing attention to a study about climate change. The study found that scientists who say climate change is largely caused by human activities vastly outnumber the skeptics. NPR's Richard Harris has more on the study that caught the White House's attention.
RICHARD HARRIS, BYLINE: Academies of science around the world agree that climate change is real and caused largely by burning fossil fuels. So do many professional scientific organizations. Polls of scientists point to the same conclusion and so, now, does a review of the scientific literature. It shows that 97 percent of the time, scientists who express a view say that human activity is warming the planet.
ED MAIBACH: It's not a surprise at all. But it is the best, the most ambitious and biggest study done on this point, to date.
HARRIS: Ed Maibach heads the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University. He wasn't involved in the study, but one of his students was. Volunteers combed through 12,000 studies from around the world. In about a third of the cases, the authors took a position about climate change. In that group, only 2 percent of those papers rejected the idea that human activities cause climate change. This is published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. And although this consensus isn't news to anybody who studies the climate, Maibach's opinion surveys show the public isn't aware of it.
MAIBACH: Less than half of the public understands that there's widespread scientific agreement about climate change. About 40 percent believe that there's a lot of disagreement among the scientists.
HARRIS: And it's easy to see why that might be the case if you looked at the blogosphere, where skeptics abound. But it's not true in scientific publications, which are vetted by peer view. Maibach says part of this is human nature. People naturally tend to give undue weight to minority opinions.
MAIBACH: This is a particular foible of the human mind that makes us so susceptible to outlier opinions and as a counterweight to what otherwise would be overwhelming proof from - you know, based on the scientific consensus.
HARRIS: But even with this degree of doubt, most Americans Maibach surveys agree that climate change is happening. That's a pretty volatile number, though.
MAIBACH: People's assessments of climate change are very susceptible to what they've recently experienced in the weather.
HARRIS: And after this past cold winter, American opinion about the existence of climate change dropped seven percentage points, to 63 percent. Richard Harris, NPR News.
Copyright © 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
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There is a house by a river by a village by the foot of the South Wiltshire downs in which North Sea Radio Orchestra's Craig and Sharron Fortnam live. A wheezing dog and a crackling fire were the backdrop to the creation of 'King of the Down', which was written, recorded and performed by Craig with additional vocals by Sharron, and features songs about the Mighty Thames, Roman Roads, ditches and mounds, vapour trails and mental un-health.
Fans of North Sea Radio Orchestra have come to expect beautiful melodies, quality arrangements and chord progressions that make your insides go funny. These elements are all in abundance in Arch Garrison but this is a much sparser sound, with Craig's instantly recognisable nylon and steel string guitar playing combining with his trusty Philicorda organ, some synths and percussion providing the backdrop to his folk tales.
'King of the Down' is an album full of melodic, harmonic and lyrical invention that, along with his NSRO accomplishments and ongoing collaborations, shows Craig Fortnam to be one of the UK's most original and distinctive talents.