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In This Issue..
* Chinese stocks rise 5%!
* Risk Assets follow!
* OECD forecasts faster global growth...
* Gold & Silver kicking sand again!
Good day... And a Tub Thumpin' Thursday to you! Let's hope it remains a Tub Thumpin' Thursday later today, as I head downtown to watch my beloved Cardinals play a day game! For those of you who are baseball fans, you know what I mean when I carry on about how baseball should only be played during the day!
OK... Before I get to the currencies, economies and the dolts in the world, I wanted to briefly talk about the SEC, who made an announcement yesterday that they had done an investigation of the Madoff audits, and did not find any fraud... Just mistakes... Really? Mistakes? That's what they call them? Even Bernie Madoff himself says that he was "astonished" that the SEC failed to shut him down after interviewing him in 2006!


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Bortezomib, Paclitaxel, and Carboplatin in Treating Patients With Metastatic Melanoma
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00288041
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : February 7, 2006
Last Update Posted : March 5, 2013
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
|Condition or disease
|Ciliary Body and Choroid Melanoma, Medium/Large Size Extraocular Extension Melanoma Iris Melanoma Recurrent Intraocular Melanoma Recurrent Melanoma Stage IV Melanoma
|Drug: carboplatin Drug: paclitaxel Drug: bortezomib
|Phase 2
I. Determine the confirmed tumor response rate and adverse event profile of bortezomib, carboplatin, and paclitaxel as first-line therapy for patients with metastatic melanoma.
I. Evaluate time to tumor progression, overall survival, and duration of response.
OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.
Patients receive bortezomib intravenously (IV) over 3-5 seconds on days 1, 4, and 8 and paclitaxel IV over 3 hours and carboplatin IV over 30 minutes on day 2. Treatment repeats every 3 weeks in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
After completion of study treatment, patients are followed periodically for up to 3 years.
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Estimated Enrollment :
|36 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Single Group Assignment
|None (Open Label)
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|A Phase II Trial of PS-341 in Combination With Paclitaxel and Carboplatin for the Treatment of Metastatic Melanoma
|Study Start Date :
|October 2005
|Actual Primary Completion Date :
|September 2007
Experimental: Treatment (bortezomib, paclitaxel, carboplatin)
Patients will receive an infusion of bortezomib twice in week 1 and once in week 2. They will also receive a 3-hour infusion of paclitaxel and an infusion of carboplatin once in week 1. Treatment may repeat every 3 weeks for as long as benefit is shown.
Drug: carboplatin
Given IV
Other Names:
Drug: paclitaxel
Given IV
Other Names:
Drug: bortezomib
Given IV
Other Names:
- Confirmed tumor response rate defined as the total number of evaluable patients whose objective tumor status is either a complete or partial response according to the RECIST criteria [ Time Frame: Assessed up to 3 years ]If at most 3 of the first 19 eligible patients enrolled achieved a partial or complete response by the RECIST criteria, then enrollment would be terminated and the regimen would be considered inactive in this patient population. A 90% confidence interval will be constructed using the Duffy-Santer approach.
- Adverse event profile as measured by NCI-CAE version 3.0 [ Time Frame: Assessed up to 3 years ]The maximum grade for each type of toxicity will be recorded for each patient at each evaluation. The frequency and severity of each type of toxicity will be determined overall and by course.
- Time to disease progression [ Time Frame: From registration to documentation of disease progression, assessed up to 3 years ]Estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.
- Duration of response [ Time Frame: From the date at which the patient's objective status is first noted to be either a CR or PR to the date progression is documented, assessed up to 3 years ]Estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.
- Survival time [ Time Frame: From registration to death due to any cause, assessed up to 3 years ]Estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
- No uncontrolled intercurrent illness including any of the following: ongoing or active infection; symptomatic congestive heart failure; unstable angina pectoris; cardiac arrhythmia
- No psychiatric illness that would limit compliance with study requirements
- No other uncontrolled serious medical conditions (e.g., diabetes)
- No more than 1 prior cytotoxic chemotherapy regimen
- No more than 2 prior immunotherapy regimens either in adjuvant or metastatic setting
- At least 4 weeks since prior major radiotherapy or chemotherapy
- At least 8 weeks since prior monoclonal antibody therapy
- At least 4 weeks since prior immunotherapy or biologic therapy
- At least 3 weeks since prior surgery
- Recovered from prior therapies
- No prior therapy with bortezomib, paclitaxel, or carboplatin
- No other prior or concurrent chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiotherapy, or any other therapy or supportive care considered investigational
- No concurrent combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients
- No concurrent prophylactic colony-stimulating factors
- Histologically confirmed malignant melanoma
- Patients with significant fluid retention, including ascites or pleural effusion, may be allowed at the discretion of the principal investigator
- No known brain metastases by brain imaging with contrast
- Absolute neutrophil count >= 1,500/mm^3
- Platelet count >= 100,000/mm^3
- Routine urine analysis with predicted 24-hour urine protein < 500 mg OR 1+ proteinuria by urine dipstick with 24-hour urine protein < 500 mg
- Total bilirubin < 1.5 mg/dL
- AST =< 3 times ULN
- Creatinine =< 1.5 times ULN
- ECOG performance status (PS) 0, 1, or 2 (Karnofsky PS >= 60%)
- Life expectancy by physician estimate > 12 weeks
- Not pregnant or nursing
- Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for 6 months after completion of study treatment
- Negative pregnancy test
- No history of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to bortezomib
- No peripheral neuropathy >= grade 2
- Manifestations of stage IV disease (e.g., cutaneous, uveal)
- All melanomas, regardless of origin, allowed
- Measurable disease, defined as at least one lesion whose longest diameter can be accurately measured as >= 2.0 cm with conventional techniques or as >= 1.0 cm with spiral CT scan
- No nonmeasurable disease only, including any of the following: bone lesions, leptomeningeal disease, ascites, pleural/pericardial effusion, inflammatory breast disease, lymphangitis cutis/pulmonis, abdominal masses that are not confirmed and followed by imaging techniques, cystic lesions
- Hemoglobin >= 9.0 g/dL
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT00288041
|United States, Minnesota
|Mayo Clinic
|Rochester, Minnesota, United States, 55905
|Principal Investigator:
|Gary Croghan
|Mayo Clinic
|Responsible Party:
|National Cancer Institute (NCI)
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|Other Study ID Numbers:
N01CM62205 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract )
|First Posted:
|February 7, 2006 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|March 5, 2013
|Last Verified:
|March 2013
Neuroendocrine Tumors
Neuroectodermal Tumors
Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal
Neoplasms by Histologic Type
Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue
Nevi and Melanomas
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic
Antineoplastic Agents
Tubulin Modulators
Antimitotic Agents
Mitosis Modulators
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action

subset: commoncrawl


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- Nonstick vegetable oil spray
- 1
- 4 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
- 2 cups cake flour
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled
- 2 6-ounce baskets fresh raspberries
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups chilled whipping cream
Recipe Preparation
For cake
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides with nonstick vegetable oil spray. Line bottom of pans with parchment paper; spray again.
Whisk eggs, yolks, milk, lemon juice and lemon peel in medium bowl to blend. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl to blend. Whisk oil and butter into flour mixture. Add egg mixture and whisk until smooth. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool cakes on racks 10 minutes. Run knife around edge of pans to loosen cakes. Turn cakes out onto racks. Cool completely. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap with plastic. Let stand at room temperature.
For filling
Stir 1 basket raspberries, 3/4 cup sugar, eggs, lemon juice, butter and salt in medium saucepan over medium heat until thickened and beginning to bubble at edges, about 5 minutes. Strain raspberry curd into medium bowl, pressing on solids in strainer. Refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.
Whip cream and 1/2 cup sugar until peaks form. Fold 1 1/2 cups whipped cream into raspberry curd. Reserve remaining whipped cream.
Cut each cake horizontally into 2 layers. Place 1 layer, cut side down, on platter. Spread 1/3 of raspberry filling over. Repeat with 2 more cake layers and filling. Top with remaining cake layer.
Spread all but 1 cup plain whipped cream over top and sides of cake. Place remaining whipped cream in pastry bag fitted with star tip. Pipe design around bottom edge of cake. Arrange remaining berries atop cake. Chill until cold, about 2 hours. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and keep refrigerated.


text: Istar 140mm F12 APO Triplets - Save $1000 Dec 26, 2012 12:16:23 GMT -5 Select PostDeselect PostLink to PostMemberGive GiftBack to Top Post by Mike on Dec 26, 2012 12:16:23 GMT -5 These scopes are now sold out. Why wait? We have two (2) 140mm F12 Apochromatic Triplets on sale for $2950. The regular price as listed on our web site is $3990. Save $1000! The first scope sold will include a set of black tube rings I have in stock. Scopes are located in our South Florida warehouse and can ship immediately. Tired of companies calling everything a "Planet Killer?" Nothing beats a long focal length APO triplet for planets. 140mm (5.5") F12 Super Apochromatic Triplet 1680 mm focal length - fully multicoated - 144mm 3 element Complete OTA is baffled, black powder coated with dew shield and lens cover 3rd Generation US made CNC machined focuser with dual speed large knobs, locking drawtube and 360 degree fully rotatable. Interferometer lens report - Visual report - 5 year warranty Free shipping in the continental US Hurry we only have two in stock! Attachments:


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Danica Patrick is no stranger to the front cover of magazines, having spent some time with Sports Illustrated photographers. However, this time it's for SHAPE Magazine. Semi-work safe Danica+bikini+pool photo shoot within.
This clip shows off Danica in ways we've seen before, but this time, instead of straddling a Shelby Cobra, she's waist-deep in a gorgeous ocean-front pool with an extra creepy dose of light diffuser-holding goodness. Seriously, what's up with that guy?
Oh, and yes, you better believe if there were a similar video of A.J. Foyt, we'd damn well be running it. [YouTube via IndyCar.com]


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Six Years Under the Masthead: Farewell to Ed Week
This post marks my last appearance at Education Week, after six eventful years. The summer of 2008 was the beginning of Living in Dialogue,
This post marks my last appearance at Education Week, after six eventful years. The summer of 2008 was the beginning of Living in Dialogue,
Therefore, the Common Core project itself is also an exercise in fear-mongering about the future of our children, and has its own version of Professor Hill in its chief promoter, Bill Gates.
My experience this week helps explain why I believe we must take more time to celebrate our victories. If we can win in Oklahoma, victory is achievable anywhere and everywhere.
Public schools and public teachers have been subjected to a relentless barrage of negative propaganda for almost thirty years. Many corporations want to force open education markets, Microsoft and Pearson Education to name two of the largest, demand "free markets," "choice," and "free enterprise."
My three decades of experiences dealing with the crack and gangs era of the 1980s, and then teaching in inner city schools, taught me to have an even keel.
When Lyndsey Layton interviewed Bill Gates a few months ago, she violated one of the major taboos of the education reform discourse.
Laura Waters says that Camden, N.J., is finally addressing the needs of a school system that has failed families for decades.
Teachers need to wake up and understand that the country's biggest corporations are coming after their jobs. They have little respect for teachers because they want to market products that they think will do a better job than teachers.
Last week, while many of us were busy making plans for the summer, something much more sinister was happening in the halls of the State Capital in Trenton, N. J..
I am trying to make sense of the education reform project, which seems a mass of contradictions. On the one hand, we have a seemingly utopian project with bold pronouncements about the boundless capacity of all students


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The global markets will be watching Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday morning when he gives his annual speech at the Fed's retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyo., on the state of the U.S. economy. His speech is highly anticipated because whether the Fed goes for another round of quantitative easing in this presidential election year is viewed as a vote on whether Barack Obama should remain in office.
Indeed, Bernanke's speech will follow Mitt Romney's Thursday night acceptance speech as the Republican candidate for president. As a result, the language the Fed chairman uses on Friday is sure to be analyzed even more closely than usual by market watchers.
So far, the consensus is that before the election, the Federal Open Market Committee will announce a third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, either at the FOMC's Sept. 12-13 or Oct. 23-24 meeting.
"Tomorrow, Bernanke will go over more of the rewards than the risks of doing more quantitative easing, and that sets the stage for another rigorous debate at the Sept. 13 meeting," said John Canally, investment strategist at LPL Financial, in a phone interview on Thursday. "I wouldn't be surprised to see the Fed actually announces a new round of quantitative easing on Sept. 13."
Expect to Hear the Words 'Sluggish' and 'Slow'
However, Canally noted, the FOMC still has its Operation Twist Treasury program in place until the end of the year. In addition, the upcoming election might make the Fed think twice before making any big decisions, he said, but added that the Fed has raised or lowered rates in every single election year since 1968.
Canally expects to hear words such as "sluggish," "slow" and "soft" in Bernanke's speech.
"There's been little if any sign of a sustainable or substantial improvement in the economy since Aug. 1," he said. "It's gotten better, but it's not substantial. You can sustain 2.2% GDP growth, that's fine, but the Fed's looking more toward 3.0%."
Similarly, the economics team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch views Bernanke's Jackson Hole speech as a reliable signal of future Fed policy. This time around, the economists write in a comment, "Limited action at Jackson," the FOMC will likely be inflation doves and look for more stimulus in September.
"We anticipate a relatively dovish speech, signaling a high probability of additional Fed easing at their Sept. 12-13 meeting," the BofA-ML economists write. "However, keep in mind that 'easing' and QE3 are not synonymous. While a change in the Fed's rate guidance is very likely, Bernanke is probably not ready to preannounce QE3. Hence his remarks could disappoint the markets."
Zero to 25 BP Fed Funds Rate Into 2015?
Meanwhile, Sharon Stark, chief market strategist of Sterne Agee, expects the Fed to announce another round of asset purchases and to extend the forward guidance for a zero to 25 basis point fed funds rate through the middle of 2015.
"I do not expect Bernanke to launch another round of quantitative easing at the [Jackson Hole] meeting, but do anticipate strong rhetoric on coordination with fellow central bankers and policy makers to provide ample stimuli and liquidity to the financial system to encourage job creation and maintain stable prices," Stark said in a statement.
Due to heightened risk of default in Europe and sluggish growth in the U.S., Stark expects a QE3 announcement from the FOMC in either September or October.
"I expect a QE3 of $400 billion to $600 billion to be evenly distributed to Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities, and believe the Fed may also pursue an additional $300 billion in MBS purchases under QE3, that would suggest another $25 to $30 billion of investments over nine months," she wrote.
Read PIMCO's Gross Says Fed Easing Will Happen Despite Upward Revision of Q2 Growth at AdvisorOne.


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Not content with baiting Australia's television manufacturers, JB Hi-Fi and Gerry Harvey, controversial cut-price online retailer Kogan has claimed the Federal Government's $308.8million Household Assistance Scheme to provide digital TV set-top boxes to pensioners around Australia is too expensive and that it could provide a better deal.
Read our explanation of the Government's Household Assistance Scheme, and look at the 'talking' set-top box that the Government has been developing for blind citizens.
A post on Kogan's blog says that "as technology experts," Kogan "know[s] the Government is proposing to spend far too much by allocating $350+ to each installation of a set-top box."
Kogan says that its $49 HD digital set-top box "goes far above and beyond what the Government needs to meet the minimum requirements of pensioners." Kogan claims that "thousands" of what it calls its "mature-age customers" are able to install these devices without assistance, and says that it also has unlimited phone, email and Web support services available. Kogan also suggests that pensioners could instead buy a 16in LCD TV from its online store for $129 plus delivery.
Digital Switchover Taskforce public affairs manager Matt Francis told GoodGearGuide that the set-top boxes already distributed as part of the Household Assistance Scheme were chosen for their accessibility, and were "simpler to use" than many set-top boxes currently available, including "large buttons" for ease of use.
Kogan says that the scheme is wasteful: "Even in the small percentage of cases where a technician may be required to fix an old antenna, the total cost should not be anywhere near the $350+ the Government is proposing to spend." Kogan's blog posts suggests that friends and family assisting with setting up set-top boxes would be a suitable alternative to professional installation that would cut costs.
The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy called for tenders for the Household Assistance Package at the end of April. The tender "encourages proposals from suitable organisations" to provide services as part of the Scheme. A spokesman for the Digital Switchover Taskforce said he "would simply point [Kogan] in this direction."
"Most people don't need official government help to install Set-Top Boxes - they can do it themselves, get unlimited assistance from a company like Kogan, or get help from tech-savvy family and friends." Kogan suggests that its method could cut the cost of the Household Assistance Scheme to $50million, and says that "if the Government is serious about this program", it "honestly believe[s]" that it could offer a superior service.
The Government's digital TV switchover Household Assistance Scheme aims to provide eligible pensioners with a free set-top box, installation including tuning and the cabling and professional connection of a free external antenna if necessary, education and ongoing support services. According to the Government's Budget papers released last night, the Budget allocation includes in-home assistance and an information campaign with digital TV manufacturers and retailers to drive digital TV adoption.


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Events Calendar
Fisher Swingbirds Concert
Enjoy Fisher's first and only jazz band in their fall concert!
Date: December 7, 2019 - December 7, 2019
Time: 3 p.m.
Location: Basil 135
Hosted by Fisher Swingbirds
Fisher Swingbirds plays a variety of music ranging from jazz standards to modern pop hits. We always welcome new musicians, including flutes, clarinets, saxophones, trumpets, trombones, guitar, piano, bass, and drums, as well as featured vocalists!


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HI, I need help, the instrument panel on my car has stopped working. As I need my car for work I am trying to find out if it is a common fault or just a one-off. Don't know how to repair it but my friends will do it for me if something needs changing. Any helpers out there I would be very grateful.
My car is a VW Passat, 1995 and a 1.9 engine, diesel fuel.
Doubt it's a common fault. My first port of call would be to check the fuse box and hopefully a simple replacement, however if it is a blown fuse, something has caused it and it would be worth getting a Bosch electrician to check it out
2014 Golf GTD 2.0 TDI-CR, 6 speed manual
Ordered: Skoda Yeti Outdoor 4x4 2.0 TDI-CR


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Commercial, Products, Services
By By Robert Moorman | March 1, 2012
Send Feedback
2011 was supposed to be the year of recovery for rotorcraft manufacturing, but volatility in the financial markets plus ongoing debt woes for some European countries prompted buyers of all stripes to wait and forecasters to rethink their initial prognostications. Even with noteworthy orders and deliveries in certain segments in 2011, such as the offshore oil and gas business, euphoria was replaced with cautious optimism, prompting a more sober assessment for 2012.
"We think the worst is over, but it will take a while for rotorcraft manufacturers to be in the same position they were before the global financial crisis," said Douglas Royce, aerospace analyst for Forecast International, who writes an annual report on the Light Commercial Rotorcraft market. [Forecast defines the light commercial rotorcraft segment as helicopters with a maximum gross weight under 15,000 lbs./6,800 kg.]
Forecast International projects that makers of light commercial rotorcraft will ship 16,857 light helicopters worth around $59 billion between 2011 and 2020. The total includes production of more than 5,925 piston-powered and 10,932 turbine-powered rotorcraft. OEMs are forecast to ship 5,959 single-engine turbine and 4,973 twins in the light commercial category over the next decade.
Manufacturers and operators remain hopeful for 2012, but some officials caution readers not to pop the Champagne cork just yet. "It all depends on how you define recovery," offered Larry Roberts, vice president of the Commercial division for Bell Helicopter, a Textron company. "I don't think we will ever get back to the 2007 sales level, but we have started to see positive movement in the market."
Roberts said Bell's commercial bookings more than doubled in 2011 compared to 2010 and he thinks 2012 will show a further increase in sales.
Heli-Expo will have occurred by the time this article is published, but the show is a good barometer to gauge the health and future direction of the industry. "The major OEMs have indicated to us that they would have major unveilings of new product lines," said HAI President Matt Zucccaro. "And they have made the largest commitment (in terms of dollars) to the show in years."
If the recovery for much of the rotorcraft industry occurs during the later half of 2012, it would be due mainly to the oil and gas industry, analysts contend. This market segment threw the OEMs a lifeline in 2011 and is expected to be a major factor in this year's turnaround.
"The commercial rotorcraft market was hugely cushioned by resource extraction demand for oil and gas," said Richard Aboulafia, vice president analysis for the Teal Group. The situation runs counter to the history of economic downturns. When the economy sours, resource prices typically drop. Not this time. "This is the first economic downturn where oil and gas have stayed stubbornly expensive," he said. "This is totally counter-intuitive, but that is the silver lining" for commercial rotorcraft manufacturing.
Another problem: timidity on the part of corporations particularly. "Corporate profits are excellent," Aboulafia added. "They just need the confidence to start spending money."
Cash, as a percentage of total corporate assets, has reached a high "of over 7 percent," Aboulafia said, referring to data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. "Corporations are just sitting on gobs of cash."
Not everyone believes that 2011 was a bad year for rotorcraft sales. Eurocopter delivered 503 helicopters in 2011 and posted orders for 457, compared with the 346 helicopters sold in 2010. The 2011 orders included initial firm orders for the new EC175 as well as big bookings for the EC225 from CHC Helicopter, CITIC Offshore Helicopter Co., Bristow Helicopters and RTE. The company also received orders for 25 EC145T2s from German air rescue organization, DRF Luftrettung. Eurocopter also delivered its 1,000th Dauphin, 1,000th EC135 and 100th EC225 in 2011.
Dominique Maudet, executive vice president for business and sales, said Eurocopter too thought 2011 would be a flat year for sales, "but the end of the year was much better. We sold 100 helicopters in December alone." Eurocopter's share of the civil market has risen to 45 percent, he added.
American Eurocopter confirmed the sale of 26 helicopters to nine customers in October 2011. From the single-engine product lines, the U.S. subsidiary announced sales of 10 aircraft to operators, which included emergency medical services (HEMS) operators. These included one AS350B3 for EagleMed LLc, four AS350B3s for Air Medical Resource Group and five EC130s for Milestone Aviation.
Robinson Helicopters of Torrance, Calif. is another manufacturer that continues to grow, despite the continued market challenges.
Sales of the R44 and R66 "continue to come in at a steady rate," said Kurt Robinson, president and chairman.
In 2011, the company produced 356 helicopters—212 R44s, 88 R66s and 56 R22s, more than double 2010's production of 162. Because of rising demand, the company continues to increase production.
"Last year, we went from less than one R66 per week to three per week," Robinson said. "And now we're trying to produce six per week. We've got a little over a year backlog and are trying to reduce that by increasing production."
With corporations trying to reign in spending, they're opting for the R66 as opposed to the higher-priced turbine equipment, explained Robinson, when asked about the growing popularity of the R66. "If you compare the R66's operating costs to the other turbines on the market, it is substantially lower," he said.
But the real surprise in 2011 was the "tremendous success" in sales of the 15-seat, medium-sized twin-engine AgustaWestland AW139, said Forecast's Royce.
Weststar Aviation Services of Malaysia signed a contract for 10 AgustaWestland helicopters last year, five AW139s configured for offshore transport and one AW139 for VIP transport, as well as two AW169s and two AW189s. SFS Aviation of Thailand ordered one AW139, while Blueway AS took delivery of the first of five AW139s for offshore transport operations in Nigeria. More sales to offshore operators are expected soon.
At Sikorsky Aircraft, the talk centers on the new S-76D, a variant of the ubiquitous S-76, but with a lot more features.
The S-76D has two more powerful Pratt & Whitney PW210S engines, which received FAA certification in early December 2011. This certification follows the issuance of another on the engines by Transport Canada on Oct. 14. Sikorsky expects to receive European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) validation of the Canadian type certificate soon.
Other features of the D model include all-composite rotor blades; Thales integrated avionics system and autopilot; health and usage monitoring system (HUMS); and an active vibration control system. An optional Rotor Ice Protection System (RIPS) for all-weather capability is offered.
Delivery of the first aircraft to the launch customer is slated for 2012.
Sikorsky officials said the company is testing three prototype S-76Ds and two others will join the program this year. The S-76D is expected to meet a variety of civil roles, including executive transport, HEMS, and offshore oil and gas.
Sales of the twin-engine medium sized S-92 continue. Sikorsky has delivered 151 S-92s to operators worldwide since 2004, of which 25 are engaged in search and rescue (SAR) operations. In late December 2011, Sikorsky completed production of an S-92 for operations by CHC Helicopter on behalf of the Irish Coast Guard for SAR missions.
Fort Worth, Texas-based Bell's civil business continues to improve. In 2011, Bell delivered 125 commercial rotorcraft. Among them were 55 Bell 407s and 28 were 429s, according to Textron spokesman David Sylvestre.
In January 2012, Bell announced that the 429 was selected from a field of competitors by the Turkish National Police to enter final negotiations for an award for 15 429s with an option for five additional aircraft.
Also that month, Bell announced that it received Transport Canada approval for a 500-pound weight increase for its Bell 429 that will bring its maximum gross weight to 7,500 pounds. The increased gross weight means greater range and loiter times and should translate into more sales of the 429 to law enforcement and air ambulance operators, which wanted better performance from the 429.
Industry observers were anxious to see whether Bell would launch new rotorcraft to better compete in the civil arena. The company provided additional details about the much-publicized new long-range, 16-passenger 525 Relentless super medium transport, which was revealed at this year's Heli-Expo in Dallas. Relentless, formerly known as Magellan in the development stages, could help Bell regain some of the commercial market it lost to competitors. While the Relentless launch looks promising, Bell is not expected to announce a replacement for the JetRanger anytime soon.
"We're trying to determine whether to use existing Bell technology or develop new technology," Roberts noted. He said the company would want a new helicopter that could exist "reasonably isolated from competition to make it worth the investment."
Meantime, Bell continues strengthen its operations worldwide. "We have not been as aggressive in the European market, so we're reestablishing our presence there," Roberts said.
Bell continues to expand its support facility in Prague by obtaining a Part 145 certificate and training rotorcraft maintenance technicians on various Bell products. The Prague center would soon add completions work.
Later this year, Bell will open its new sales and support facility in Singapore. It's already opened a new business office in New Delhi and increased the size of its South American sales force.
Asked what is Bell's current share of the market, Roberts said it depends. If one considers the "installed base"—all Bell helicopters operating worldwide today—the manufacturer has 40 percent of the market. If one considers new sales, Bell is close to 30 percent globally. If one considers deliveries, Bell has between 18 and 20 percent of the market, he said.
As for western-made heavy lift equipment, there's not much on which to report. Erickson Air-Crane did not sell any heavy lift equipment in 2011 and declined to talk about 2012 orders because the company is in the process of going public.
Russian Helicopters JSC, a holding company of the Russian rotorcraft industry, was forthcoming about recent news. The subsidiary of UIC Oboronprom opened an office in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Ka-32A11BC helicopter received a type certificate in Brazil. The company also appointed Emirates Corporation Trading Agencies to provide sales, marketing and technical support for the Mi-34C1 light single-engine helicopter. The company is actively marketing the Mi-34C1, Ka-226T, Ka-32A11Bc, Mi-171A2 and Mi-38 helicopters for rescue and firefighting roles in the Middle East and North Africa.
Russian Helicopters produced 260 rotorcraft in 2011, of which 130 are civil models intended for commercial use, according to company spokesman Roman Kirillov.
Details on the modernization of its bestseller Mi-171A2 were scheduled to be divulged during Heli-Expo. The company also intends to soon market for commercial use the Mi-38, Ka-62 and light Ansat.
Traditional markets for Russian made helicopters are India, China, South America, Africa and South Asia. "We hope to broaden activities in Europe, where the Ka-32A11BC was certified in 2009 for commercial use," Kirillov said.
The energy markets remain strong. Consequently, the offshore oil and gas business will continue to be the leading market segment for rotorcraft sales in 2012, according to several industry experts. But the experts also contend that aerial law enforcement/surveillance will see a resurgence in sales in 2012. This market suffered last year due to declining local, state and federal budgets. But budgets are expected to improve and the need for EMS equipment remains strong.
"We are in the midst of a very strong sales trend for the S-92 for offshore oil," said Sikorsky's Bob Kokorda, vice president of sales and marketing. "We saw a significant increase last year over the prior year. We saw an increase not only in volume but also in the number of aircraft ordered in each sale. And we are seeing new fleet buyers ordering the aircraft."
Sikorsky declined to provide exact sales figures for 2011 and orders for 2012, but Kokorda said there has been "more than a three-fold increase in 2011 versus 2010. And we're seeing that trend continue in 2012."
Helicopters such as the S-92 are becoming more popular with the energy companies because rigs are being built further out into the ocean and they need transport that can carry several rig workers as far out as 200 nautical miles, he said.
Sikorsky has frequently updated the S-92 since it was first introduced into service in November 2007. The S-92 rotor protection system, which is very popular with North Sea operators, is now operating with over 98 percent reliability, Kokorda reports. The manufacturer also continues to improve the aircraft's HUMS onboard the aircraft.
As for new opportunities, Sikorsky is tapping into the Brazilian offshore oil industry market. The Gulf of Thailand, which is opening up to oil exploration because of soon-to-be-signed treaties, and the Arctic are two other regions in which the S-92 will do well, he said.
One trend worth noting: state and local governments are buying helicopters to augment federal border patrol efforts. The U.S. government is now using unmanned aerial vehicles to patrol the southern border with Mexico and helicopters will augment those efforts, according to Foley.
The same story of need-versus-available-funding also applies to the HEMS market, which has stabilized, analysts contend. EMS grew quickly between 2000 and 2008, in part, because of changes in insurance regulations that made it easier to get into the EMS business. The market suffered during the recession, but has since stabilized, which should prompt additional sales in 2012, Royce said.
As for geographic opportunities for rotorcraft, it depends on whom you ask. North America, Europe and Latin America had 30, 30 and 20 percent, respectively, of the civil rotorcraft market, according to Honeywell's 2011 rotorcraft forecast. But those percentages are likely to change (see page 18).
Eurocopter's Maudet believes that sales of rotorcraft in North America and Europe will remain flat in 2012, while the biggest growth for Eurocopter will occur in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia and Australia.
For Bell, "we see much more aggressive movement in the Asia Pacific region, which includes India and China," noted Roberts. Latin America will remain a good market for Bell helicopters.
Several analysts queried believe China will be good for helicopter sales, in part, because of the Chinese government announced plans to liberalize the low-altitude restrictions. But the lack of maintenance and service capabilities throughout China remains an impediment to increased sales.
"I don't think you're going to see large orders for rotorcraft in China coming in the next five years," said Royce.
"Everyone keeps saying that China is open" to sales and operations of western made helicopters, said Robinson. But the operating altitudes and areas in which to operate rotorcraft "is still very restricted," he said. "China is expected to go through another 'evolution' in 2015. We will see," he added.
Robinson Helicopters sold several helicopters to Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, South Africa and Russia, and the company expects these countries will continue to buy its equipment, said the president.
Pent up demand in the corporate world, continued need for offshore transport by the very profitable oil and gas business, and the slow recovery of EMS, law enforcement and other sectors will most likely make 2012 a better year for makers of commercial rotorcraft. But we've heard that message before. For now, the safest prognosis is cautious optimism.


text:
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Syria has sent the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons an "initial declaration" outlining its weapons program, the organization said Friday.
Spokesman Michael Luhan told The Associated Press that the declaration is "being reviewed by our verification division." The organization will not release details of what is in the declaration.
The OPCW, which polices the treaty outlawing chemical weapons, is looking at ways to fast-track moves to secure and destroy Syria's arsenal of poison gas and nerve agents as well as its production facilities.
However, diplomatic efforts to speed up the process are moving slowly. A meeting initially scheduled for Sunday at which the organization's 41-nation executive council was to have discussed a US-Russian plan to swiftly rid Syria of chemical weapons was postponed Friday and no new date was immediately set.
No reason was given for the postponement.
Under a US-Russia agreement brokered last weekend in Geneva, inspectors are to be on the ground in Syria by November. During that month, they are to complete their initial assessment and all mixing and filling equipment for chemical weapons is to be destroyed.
All components of the chemical weapons program are to be removed from the country or destroyed by mid-2014.


text: The ADF4153 is a fractional-N frequency synthesizer that implements local oscillators in the upconversion and downconversion sections of wireless receivers and transmitters. It consists of a low noise digital phase frequency detector (PFD), a precision charge pump, and a programmable reference divider. There is a - based fractional interpolator to allow programmable fractional-N division. The INT, FRAC, and MOD registers define an overall N divider (N = (INT + (FRAC/MOD))). In addition, the 4-bit reference counter (R counter) allows selectable REFIN frequencies at the PFD input. A complete phase-locked loop (PLL) can be implemented if the synthesizer is used with an external loop filter and a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO).


text:
World race yields salinity data for ESA's SMOS mission
A new initiative sees world-class sport and science merge as a yacht competing in the Barcelona World Race gathers information on ocean salinity to help validate data from ESA's SMOS water mission.
Competitors are about half way through the race, which takes them around the world from Barcelona in Spain and back.
The yachts left Barcelona on 31 December and, on reaching the Atlantic, headed south to circle Earth via the capes of Good Hope (South Africa) Leeuwin, (Australia) and Horn (Chile), with Antarctica to starboard.
Since this 46 300-km route takes the competitors through some of the most remote parts of the Southern Ocean, the Spanish Institute of Marine Sciences in collaboration with the race organisers, the Fundació Navegació Oceànica de Barcelona, have looked beyond mere sport and sought to offer opportunities to benefit science.
With this objective in mind, the Spanish Institute for Marine Science arranged for the Fòrum Marítim Català 60-foot yacht to be equipped with a sensor to collect data on sea-surface temperature and salinity throughout the three-month race.
This information is being relayed by satellite back to the institute automatically in almost real time.
Dr Jordi Font, Lead Investigator for ocean salinity for ESA's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS), mission said, "The data we are receiving from ESA's SMOS mission is improving our understanding of the variations in the salinity of the surface waters of the oceans.
"The measurements, currently being acquired by the yacht, now in the Southern Ocean, contribute to the bank of data we are building from other in situ instruments in other parts of the world to help validate the accuracy of the data from SMOS."
Launched in November 2009, the Earth Explorer SMOS mission is dedicated to providing global measurements of soil moisture and ocean salinity for a better understanding of the water cycle and to improve weather and climate models.
Along with temperature, ocean salinity is a key variable that drives global ocean circulation patterns, which in turn play a role in moderating the climate.
Accurate data on ocean salinity will provide a better insight into the processes influencing ocean currents.
An important part of any Earth observation mission is to check the accuracy of the data acquired from space by comparing them with measurements taken in situ.
The Southern Ocean, however, is sparsely sampled.
The yacht race circumnavigates the Southern Ocean at around 50°S, so provides an excellent opportunity to gather data in this region.
The instrument system, which weighs less than 3 kg, is autonomous and does not interfere with the task of the two skippers, Gerard Marín and Ludovic Aglaor, of sailing around the world as fast as they can.
The southern hemisphere has also been the focus for SMOS recently – but to monitor changes in soil moisture before, during and after the floods that devastated Queensland and Victoria in Australia.
In addition, data from SMOS showed that soils were fairly dry in the northern part of Queensland before cyclone Yasi hit on 2 February, so that runoff was not enough to cause major flooding in this region.


text:
NEA President calls for commission on teachers and teaching
Van Roekel urges educators to take charge of the profession, take the lead in reform
NEW ORLEANS - July 03, 2010 -
Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, says it's time for educators to take the lead—both in creating sound education policies and in taking charge of the teaching profession.
In a fiery speech to 9,000 educators gathered for NEA's Representative Assembly (RA) in New Orleans, he said, "Let's throw open the doors to every school and every classroom and tell everyone they are welcome to come in and see what extraordinary miracles we perform every day." He specifically offered an invitation to those who see the Association as an obstructionist or defender of the status quo.
NEA president calls for special commission on teaching
Van Roekel believes it is time for teachers to step up and take charge of their own profession. He called for NEA to create a Commission on Effective Teachers and Teaching. Accountants, nurses, doctors and lawyers all have a say in the professional standards, processes and procedures that govern their practice. Educators should have the same influence over their profession.
"I am calling for this Commission to wrestle with the critical issues facing our profession," Van Roekel said. "I want its members to focus on the professional practices that make a difference in student learning. The Commission should tackle the questions that have been avoided for far too long. How can we better lead our own profession?"
The Commission will offer recommendations on how teachers can exert greater authority over their profession and on the quality of public schools. Those recommendations will be presented to the 2011 RA, the top decision-making body for the 3.2 million-member NEA.
NEA president calls for policies that work for all students
Van Roekel criticized the Department of Education's focus on grant competitions that reward just a handful of states or districts. He specifically mentioned Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants. "While we applaud the administration for its commitment to fund education, our members are frustrated by the disconnect between what they need each day to support their students and schools and the federal policies that hold up struggling students as products to be tested."
Van Roekel urged members to speak up for sound educational policies that would benefit all students. He urged delegates at the RA to write down the specific provisions they want to see in a revised Elementary and Secondary Education Act, currently known as No Child Left Behind. Their messages will be delivered to Education Secretary Arne Duncan before the debate over ESEA heats up in Congress.
Van Roekel pressed delegates in every state to use their creativity and political might to reach out to every member of Congress. "Tell Congress that the reauthorization of ESEA should include real funding and not require us to compete for resources. Tell them that ESEA should be based on good policies for students and educators…policies that meet the needs of every student and that close achievement gaps. Tell them that ESEA should scrap AYP and instead actually support student learning! Tell them to replace NCLB's mind-numbing, high-stakes, pass-fail testing system with a system of multiple measures and focus on student growth."
NEA president highlights innovative work, partnerships and teacher-led transformation
Van Roekel urged educators to create school-transformation models that can be shared and adapted to fit the unique communities across the country. He highlighted NEA's Priority Schools Campaign, a national grassroots effort to help students in low-performing schools. The Campaign's website includes ideas the educators can implement immediately.
He pointed to examples where NEA affiliates and educators are already making a difference. At Putnam City West High School in Oklahoma City, Okla., graduation rates for Hispanic students are up by nearly 70 percent because of a combination of targeted academic programs, parental involvement and professional development. In Evansville, Ind., administrators and union officials launched an equity schools project to transform schools through professional development for teachers and extended learning time for students. In Denver, Colo., teachers, the union and parents have teamed up to build the Math and Science Leadership Academy, where teachers emphasize collaboration that focuses on student learning.
The challenges facing public schools are complex, Van Roekel said, and meeting them requires community commitment and collaboration. He urged delegates to develop new partnerships that can energize school communities and support struggling students.
"If we work together, we can open opportunities for tens of thousands of students, day by day, one building at a time, one student at a time. We can seize the moment. We can transform schools. We can turn hope into action."
Get photos of President Van Roekel's delivering his keynote address:
For more on NEA's ESEA priorities: www.nea.org/home/13193.htm
For more on NEA's Priority School's Campaign: http://neapriorityschools.org/
# # #
The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing 3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers.
CONTACT: Ramona Parks-Kirby (202) 368-0575, firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Posts Tagged 'UFE'
Uterine Fibroids: Freedom to Wear WhiteThursday, June 16, 2011 15:55 1 Comment
By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA and
John C. Lipman, MD
Ladies imagine planning your daily events based around the timing of you menstrual cycle.
Some women suffering from uterine fibroids have a menstrual flow so heavy that it can impede their life.
"Everything must be planned around their menstrual, and it can be very draining physically (from the […]


text:
Job Information
CIOX Health Talent Acquisition Area Client Service Representative in North Charleston, South Carolina
Full-Time: Monday-Friday 8:00-5:00 PM
Full Benefits: PTO, Health, Vision, and Dental Insurance and 401k Savings Plan & Tuition Reimbursement
Location: This role will be performed at one location (North Charleston, South Carolina 29405)
Must have Release of Information, Medical Terminology
Completes release of information requests including retrieving patient's medical chart and returning chart, scanning medical record accurately and correctly and transmitting daily, according to requests, established procedures, and established standards of quality and productivity.
Date stamps all requests and highlights pertinent data to facilitate processing.
Validates requests and authorizations for release of medical information according to established procedures.
Performs quality checks on all work to assure accuracy of the release, confidentiality, and proper invoicing.
Maintain equipment in excellent operating condition (inside and out) and troubleshoot equipment issues with assistance from the Help Desk department.
Provides excellent customer service by being attentive and respectful; insures understanding of customer request and follows-through as promised; and being proactive in identifying client concerns, or problems.
May receive incoming requests including opening mail, assisting walk-ins and telephone inquiries, and retrieving facsimile inquiries, depending on the needs to the client.
Maintains a neat, clean, and professional personal appearance and observes the dress code established.
Maintains a clean and orderly work area, insures that records and files are properly stored before leaving area, insures adequate supplies to meet customer requests.
Maintains working knowledge of the existing state laws and fee structure
Complete and send in SWAR weekly activity reports at the end of each payroll cutoff
Notify Manager if unable to adhere to daily schedule
Works within scope of position and direction; willingly accepts assignments and is available to take on additional facilities or help out during backlogs
Carries out responsibilities in accordance with Company and client/site policies and procedures, including HIPAA, state/federal regulations related to operations, and labor regulations.
Maintains confidentiality, security and standards of ethics with all Company and medical records information including during transport, storage and disposal.
Work with privileged information in a conscientious manner while releasing medical records in an efficient, effective, and accurate manner.
Performs other tasks as assigned including but not limited to the requirement to work at facilities in close proximity to your principal place of business as directed by the Manager when business needs dictate.
A High School Diploma or GED is required.
Must be able to communicate effectively in the English language.
Must have valid driver's license
Prior experience in a medical office or medical records department
Must have strong computer software experience – general working knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel required
Must be willing to travel to various client sites throughout the day
Excellent organizational skills a must
Must be able to type 50 wpm
Must be able to use fax, copier, microfilm machine
Must be willing to learn new equipment and processes quickly
Must be self-motivated, a team player
Must have proven customer satisfaction skills
Must be able to multi-task
Requisition ID: 2020-14551
External Company Name: CIOX Health
External Company URL: careers-cioxhealth.icims.com


text:
Domain Name: btcrich.biz Registry Domain ID: D71750828-BIZ Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.enom.com Registrar URL: whois.enom.com Updated Date: 2019-12-30T13:15:17Z Creation Date: 2016-09-20T02:52:48Z Registry Expiry Date: 2020-09-19T23:59:59Z Registrar: eNom, LLC Registrar IANA ID: 48 Registrar Abuse Contact Email: Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited Domain Status: autoRenewPeriod https://icann.org/epp#autoRenewPeriod Registry Registrant ID: Registrant Name: Registrant Organization: Data Protected Registrant Street: Registrant Street: Registrant Street: Registrant City: Registrant State/Province: WA Registrant Postal Code: Registrant Country: US Registrant Phone: Registrant Phone Ext: Registrant Fax: Registrant Fax Ext: Registrant Email: Please query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name. Registry Admin ID: Admin Name: Admin Organization: Admin Street: Admin Street: Admin Street: Admin City: Admin State/Province: Admin Postal Code: Admin Country: Admin Phone: Admin Phone Ext: Admin Fax: Admin Fax Ext: Admin Email: Please query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name. Registry Tech ID: Tech Name: Tech Organization: Tech Street: Tech Street: Tech Street: Tech City: Tech State/Province: Tech Postal Code: Tech Country: Tech Phone: Tech Phone Ext: Tech Fax: Tech Fax Ext: Tech Email: Please query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name. Name Server: dns1.name-services.com Name Server: dns2.name-services.com Name Server: dns5.name-services.com Name Server: dns4.name-services.com Name Server: dns3.name-services.com DNSSEC: unsigned URL of the ICANN Whois Inaccuracy Complaint Form: https://www.icann.org/wicf/ >>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2020-10-21T13:09:53Z <<< For more information on Whois status codes, please visit https://icann.org/epp The above WHOIS results have been redacted to remove potential personal data. The full WHOIS output may be available to individuals and organisations with a legitimate interest in accessing this data not outweighed by the fundamental privacy rights of the data subject. To find out more, or to make a request for access, please visit: RDDSrequest.nic.biz. Registry Services, LLC ("Registry Services"), the Registry Operator for .BIZ, has collected this information for the WHOIS database through an ICANN-Accredited Registrar. This information is provided to you for informational purposes only and is designed to assist persons in determining contents of a domain name registration record in the registry database. Registry Services makes this information available to you ""as is"" and does not guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a WHOIS query, you agree that you will use this data only for lawful purposes and that, under no circumstances will you use this data: (1) to allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via direct mail, electronic mail, or by telephone; (2) in contravention of any applicable data and privacy protection acts; or (3) to enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that apply to the registry (or its systems). Compilation, repackaging, dissemination, or other use of the WHOIS database in its entirety, or of a substantial portion thereof, is not allowed without our prior written permission. We reserve the right to modify or change these conditions at any time without prior or subsequent notification of any kind. By executing this query, in any manner whatsoever, you agree to abide by these terms.
% This is the RIPE Database query service. % The objects are in RPSL format. % % The RIPE Database is subject to Terms and Conditions. % See http://www.ripe.net/db/support/db-terms-conditions.pdf % Note: this output has been filtered. % To receive output for a database update, use the "-B" flag. % Information related to '184.108.40.206 - 220.127.116.11' % Abuse contact for '18.104.22.168 - 184.108.40.206' is 'email@example.com' inetnum: 220.127.116.11 - 220.127.116.11 netname: SEDO-NET descr: Sedo Domain Parking descr: Im Mediapark 6b descr: 50670 Koeln country: DE org: ORG-SA551-RIPE sponsoring-org: ORG-IG16-RIPE admin-c: JD10473-RIPE admin-c: IXCW-RIPE tech-c: IXCW-RIPE status: ASSIGNED PI mnt-by: RIPE-NCC-END-MNT mnt-by: IX1-MNT mnt-routes: IX1-MNT mnt-domains: IX1-MNT created: 2007-10-25T09:36:24Z last-modified: 2020-05-19T11:55:18Z source: RIPE organisation: ORG-SA551-RIPE org-name: SEDO GmbH remarks: SEDO-ORG org-type: OTHER address: Sedo GmbH address: Im Mediapark 6 address: 50670 Koeln abuse-c: IX26-RIPE mnt-ref: IX1-MNT mnt-by: IX1-MNT created: 2007-10-08T16:10:11Z last-modified: 2019-06-17T05:46:43Z source: RIPE # Filtered role: InterNetX Network Crew address: InterNetX GmbH address: Johanna-Dachs-Str. 55 address: D-93055 Regensburg nic-hdl: IXCW-RIPE phone: +49 941 59559 0 fax-no: +49 941 59579 051 abuse-mailbox: firstname.lastname@example.com admin-c: MS4404-RIPE admin-c: CS5299-RIPE tech-c: MS4404-RIPE tech-c: CS5299-RIPE mnt-by: IX1-MNT created: 2006-12-06T15:39:30Z last-modified: 2018-02-14T09:53:42Z source: RIPE # Filtered person: Jaenecke Daniel address: SEDO GmbH address: Im Mediapark 6 address: 50670 Koeln address: Deutschland phone: +49 221 340 30-0 fax-no: +49 221 340 30 5280 nic-hdl: JD10473-RIPE mnt-by: IX1-MNT created: 2019-01-23T13:05:37Z last-modified: 2020-07-02T06:07:48Z source: RIPE # Filtered % Information related to '184.108.40.206/23AS47846' route: 126.96.36.199/23 descr: SEDO-NET-PI origin: AS47846 mnt-by: IX1-MNT created: 2019-01-29T12:43:05Z last-modified: 2020-05-19T12:52:52Z source: RIPE # Filtered % This query was served by the RIPE Database Query Service version 1.98 (BLAARKOP)


text: Crookers are an Italian DJ/production duo (Bot and Phra) who have worked together since 2003. When the two artists met, both were trying to branch out of their genre and explore dance music. Their first collaboration worked. Phra said "It felt natural to team up, seeing that we had the same musical tastes… which isn't that easy here in Milan"… Leer Más


text:
Friday, October 16, 2009
Here come the old generation artists
Interesting to see Simon Rattle's newly released cycle of the Brahms symphonies with the Berlin Philharmonic selling today in leading independent retailer Prelude Records, who are not known for their discounting, for £19.99. Presumably because the recordings were made at live concerts, EMI released the four symphonies on 3 CDs with no fillers, which gives a playing time of just 42 minutes for the CD of the Fourth Symphony on its own, which is short measure even for an LP! At £19.99 the price per Berlin Phil CD is just 80 pence more than a Naxos disc in the same store featuring the Camerata Transylvanica. I am trying to work out whether that is an example of reputation inflation or deflation.
Talking of LPs, my header image is my 3 LP box of Bruno Walter's Brahms stereo cycle from the 1960s (He made an earlier mono cycle with the New York Philharmonic). My set contains Dutch pressings from the early 1980s, and, unlike the American Columbia pressings of the same period, they still sound magnificent today. Both of Walter's cycles are available on CD if you must. Other 'old school' Brahms that I return to often is George Szell's cycle with the Cleveland Orchestra, again from the 1960s but available on silver disc. Karajan should also receive an honourable mention; he was a truly strange individual, but his Brahms was quite superlative.For 'new school' Brahms, it is hard to beat the venerable Charles Mackerras' account of the symphonies with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra on Teldec.
With so many exemplary recordings from 'old generation artists' in the catalogue (and often in outstanding analogue sound to boot) is it surprising that EMI are forced to discount Rattle and the Berlin Phil's interpretations so heavily from day one? - over on amazon.co.uk the 3 CD set is just £16.98 post free. More on the frustrations of the classical recording industry here.
My headline will probably only be appreciated by those who have to suffer listening to BBC Radio 3. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
13 comments:
- Pliable said...
Email received:
I grew up (although that's debateable) with the Szell-Brahms. I also had both Walters. Kertesz doing Brahms was astounding, but one of the best modern sets of all times was Solti's, one of the first to use all the repeats.
Other great individual performances: Horenstein's Brahms 1st, and Fritz Reiner's Brahms 4th, both done originally for Reader's Digest. The Reiner turned out to be his last recording session.
David Cavlovic
- 1:36 pm
- Pliable said...
David, to that list I would add Sir Adrian Boult's Brahms. There is discussion of his recordings of the symphonies for EMI in the comments here -
They are reviewed here, but the CDs are, surprise surprise, no longer available -
And talking of growing up with Brahms I should mention my first LPs of the symphonies in the late 60s/early 70s. They were on EMI's Classics for Pleasure label with, a forgotten name, the Scottish conductor James Loughran and the Hallé Orchestra. They must have done their job as they sent me down a long path ...
- 1:38 pm
- JMW said...
It's difficult to understand why anyone would record these (or a Mahler or Beethoven cycle) anew with the prospect for any significant sales virtually nil, and such time-tested riches ubiquitously available. What we could use: a few more goes at a Sibelius and Bax series, but perhaps the same ego gratification is not to be had from these starker cycles.
To your Brahms list I would submit Kurt Sanderling's with Staatskepelle Dresden.
- 3:05 pm
- Pliable said...
Email received:
Sir Adrian Boult doing ANYTHING is worth while.
Interestingly, his Reader's Digest recordings (originally appearing in the box set Festival of Light Classical Music, another great childhood memory) were re-issued on CD.
There is a mono recording of The Planets by Boult, as well as Elgar's 2nd (one of Boult's many), that were issued on EMI's Great Recordings of the Century which are unparalleled in drama and even violence.
David Cavlovic
- 3:10 pm
- Pliable said...
My first LP of Elgar 2 was a Classics for Pleasure disc Sir Adrian recorded with what was then the Scottish National Orchestra in 1962.
- 3:13 pm
- Pliable said...
John, you mentioned the Bax symphonies. Another composer whose symphonies should be available in more versions is Michael Tippett.
Colin Davis' pioneering recordings for Philips with the LSO were quite superb, I have them both on vinyl and CD. But, alas, their CD transfers only had a short catalogue life.
Richard Hickox's cycle for Chandos from the 1990s are very good, as are the composer's own accounts for the BBC of the quite magnificent second and the 'what was he smoking?' fourth symphonies (both now on NMC). But surely there is room for more versions?
Yes, Tippett's symphonies are variable in quality. But that hasn't stopped those of Mahler and Shostakovich being grossly over-recorded.
- 3:31 pm
- Pliable said...
Email received:
Re: Tippett's 4th and "'what was he smoking":
I don't find this symphony so "out there". In fact, as he was getting older, I found Tippett getting more conservative, "respiration-sound-loops" notwithstanding.
The argument as to whether or not provide ANOTHER Symphony cycle by the big composers is complex. If we went by the "no more big cycles" aegis, then we wouldn't have John Eliot Gardiner's Beethoven Cycle or Jaap ter Linden's Mozart Cycle.
On the other hand, cycles by the lesser-appreciated composers are a good idea, but we tend to, rightly or wrongly, want to stick with the specialists. For example, a Dvorak cycle by Kertesz or Kubelik, or Talich .
How about another complete cycle of Havergal Brian Symphonies? Or, while we're at it, how about more esoterica with promise such as Symphonies and Sacre music of Franz von Suppé? Surely, it's time to "rehabilitate" certain potboiler composers as well.
David Cavlovic
- 5:03 pm
- Pliable said...
David, you are right. I have just listened to Tippett's Fourth again (and yes, I did sweep the leaves in the garden as well this afternoon) and I was being unfair. Although the coupling of the Suite from 'New Year' on the Richard Hickox recording is definitely 'wacky backy' music.
I also have the LP of Solti's conducting Tippett's Fourth Symphony with the Chicago Symphony who commissioned it. There is a lovely photo of Solti and Tippett on the cover.
That recording seems to have disappeared from the catalogue a long time ago. The coupling is Tippett's Suite for the Birthday of Prince Charles which, I am told by someone who tried to programme it in the royal presence, Charles hated. Which must make it a very good piece of music.
- 5:57 pm
- Unknown said...
Re Tippett's 4th:
When I was in college I spent a semester in London in 1979 and, unless my memory has completely failed me, heard the 4th at a Proms concert that fall. (This was back when the Proms still seemed a very special event, at least for a visiting American student like me.) I believe the symphony was fairly new then, yes? Anyway, I responded favorably to the live performance (can't remember who) and to the "organic" concept behind the work. I remember the breathing....
Dave Harmon
- 6:02 pm
- Pliable said...
'This was back when the Proms still seemed a very special event' ....
Dave, you are a man after my own heart.
- 6:12 pm
- Pliable said...
Email received:
Re: "I am told by someone who tried to programme it in the royal presence, Charles hated. Which must make it a very good piece of music."
BWA-HA-HA-HAH! That's hilarious!
I'll take Tippett over anything the Prince likes anytime!
I shall always cherish my own personal full-score autographed copy of Crown of the Year, which deals with a far more interesting topic than the Crown Prince that's for sure!
David Cavlovic
- 6:54 pm
- Garth Trinkl said...
Pliable, my eye is caught in the discussion above by the mention of the Sir George Solti LP coupling of Tippett's Symphony #4 and his 'Suite for the Birthday of Prince Charles'. Interestly, the [later] CD coupling features the Tippett Symphony #4 and the world premiere recording of Tippett's late song cycle 'Byzantium' -- with Faye Robinson (although apparently initially intended for Jessye Norman). Both the Chicago Symphony and Carnegie Hall commissioned this late, major song cycle for their joint 100th anniversaries.
(I remember once trying to track down the score to Tippett's 'Byzantium', but in the pre-internet day being forced to settle for Tippett's African ecological-inspired score to 'The Rose Lake', which I found a bit disappointing, incorporating as it did passages from the great 'Mask of Time' oratorio (commissioned, I believe, for a very significant Boston Symphony orchestra 125th anniversary commissioning project).
I'm also a puzzled by the above discussion, because I thought that I saw my Richard Hickox CD recording of Tippett's "Suite from the New Year" backed by the Second Symphony, rather than the fourth symphony. (I was planning to listen to both works as soon as I have a free moment.)
(Speaking of American orchestral commissions and major European music [which could be the subject of a large book], your readers will likely remember that the Chicago and L.A. Symphonies commissioned Lutoslawski's Symphonies #3 and 4 back in the dark European 1970s and 1980s.)
- 2:57 pm
- Pliable said...
Garth, the discussion referred to the Solti Decca recording of Tippett's Fourth Symphony, which is coupled with the Prince Charles birthday suite.
And talking of our heir and his links to classical music, here is a topical story -
- 10:32 pm


text:
The current debates about God's existence hardly lift us up to transcendence. Karen Armstrong shares a vision of faith that is less about proofs than practice.
Karen Armstrong has met atheist Richard Dawkins a number of times. "He doesn't like me, and I don't like him much, but we are British, so we smile politely and exchange pleasantries," she says. "We have been on panels together, but it's absolutely pointless."
Indeed it's difficult to argue with the ideas she's put forth in her new book, The Case for God. While her critics may say that she never "proved" her case, this is her point-God isn't a concept to be proved.
She's come to her understanding-or acknowledgment of her lack of understanding-of God over a lifetime of religious experiences. As a young Catholic desiring to experience God, she joined the Society of the Holy Child Jesus and spent seven years in the convent. She left disappointed and sick, and rejected faith. "I never thought I'd come back to religion, but what brought me back was the study of other faith traditions," she says.
The author of more than 20 books, Armstrong says her spiritual practice is now study, which she likens to the practices of Benedictine monks. "When I'm sitting at my desk, I will get moments of awe and wonder and transcendence," she says.
But that experience doesn't stop at her desk. Her study led her to launch The Charter for Compassion in November. Her goal, she says, is "to restore compassion to the central place of religious life."
How do people understand God in Western culture today?
The idea of God is treated as fact today. A lot of people see God as a discrete personality; God is a creator in the same way as you or I create something.
In the 17th century in the West and during the Enlightenment, scientists and philosophers such as Isaac Newton and René Descartes believed that they could prove God's existence scientifically. They said science was the best path to all truth. The other ways of coming to truth, such as art or mysticism or ritual, were downplayed. God became a fact, pure and simple.
What's wrong with seeing God as fact?
Theologians like St. Thomas Aquinas have said that God doesn't exist like you or me or this chair. They said you couldn't say God exists because exist is too limited a word.
That wasn't meant to just put the kibosh on all discussion, but to acknowledge the inadequacy of speech about God and to make room for a sense of transcendence. One Catholic British theologian has defined theology as speech that's segues into silence, rather than worthy statements and definitions.
The scientific "proofs" of God are being disproved. That could be a good thing because it could shock people out of this literal thinking, but they don't always get much help from clergy on this. Clergy fell in love with science, too. We have developed a kind of lust for unsustainable certainty.
Science and religion are often cast as opponents today. How has the relationship between them changed?
Science and religion once were best friends. Seeking absolute certainty, churchmen and theologians made Newton's God-the original cause and all-powerful being that controlled creation through Newton's theory of universal mechanics-central to their mission, later adding naturalist William Paley's understanding of God as an "intelligent designer." In the 19th century the one Enlightenment thought that evangelicals seized upon was Newton's scientific proof of God.
Then Charles Darwin found a natural explanation for life itself, and this threw religious people for a loop. They had no other resource to understand God except as creator so they developed defensive fundamentalism with a growing antagonism toward science that hadn't been there before.
In the fourth century St. Augustine said that if a biblical text contradicted science, believers had to find a new interpretation of that text. That was the practice right through to the 17th century. Even at the dawn of the scientific revolution, a witty Vatican cardinal said that in the Bible the Holy Spirit is telling us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go.
In the past people knew that science and religion had different goals; they were complementary. Science can help you diagnose and treat your cancer, but it cannot touch the despair and dismay and terror you feel when you get the diagnosis, nor can it help you die well. For that people turn to religion, or more broadly speaking, to myth, the stories and beliefs that, when put into practice, answer our deeper questions about the more elusive, puzzling, and tragic aspects of our human predicament.
What happens to religion when you mix science and faith?
People thought that science would absolutely refute atheism, but once you have domesticated God and reduced God to a mere fact, atheism is only a matter of time. Religious language must always point beyond itself into the silence of transcendence. If it becomes an end in itself, religion becomes idolatry.
You can see that in the early modern scientists. Newton says he found proof for an omniscient, all-powerful, dominant force, who is, Newton claims, "very well skilled in mechanics and geometry." This is clearly a projection of Newton himself.
Mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler is said to have cried aloud in joy while doing his research, "O God, I think thy thoughts after thee." That's idolatry.
What was the Catholic reaction to this perspective?
Catholic theology goes for the modern, scientific God, too. The 16th century was a time of turmoil. Society was changing so much that people couldn't be religious as they were before the Middle Ages. The Reformation split Europe just as the first modern nation-states were forming. The so-called wars of religion were tremendously aggressive on all sides. Italy was overtaken by Spain, and Rome got sacked.
It was a jolly bad century, and the Council of Trent and especially the Vatican reflect a very defensive, hard-line church. Everything becomes more streamlined than it was before, more hierarchical and more hard-valued. They took Thomas Aquinas and turned his theology into a rigid system of thought that he would have found absolutely repugnant.
How were Aquinas' ideas changed?
In his Summa Theologica, Aquinas starts out by saying we cannot define God. Then he gives five ways, as he calls them, to think about God, all variations on the fact that nothing can come out of nothing: the intelligent designer, the first cause that must have started the universe, and so forth. He ends each way by saying this is what everybody means when they say "God."
Then he immediately pulls the rug out from under our feet, saying that we have no idea what such a being is or how it can exist. We can't even say it exists. All we've proved is the existence of a mystery.
If he were here today, Aquinas would be asking us to try and think of life before the big bang. He was doing cutting-edge science in his day, pushing reason as far as it could go.
But the Vatican later presented his ways as factual proofs and made people believe that you had to sign on the dotted line. It was a new hard-line orthodoxy. People were put to death over this.
How did this development in theology affect people's belief?
Belief started to be about ideas instead of practice after the scientific revolution, the Protestant Reformation, and the Council of Trent. Catholics never went quite as far as the Protestants in this because Trent was still very concerned with ritual-tidying up the liturgy and telling people to go to Mass.
Religion is a practical form of knowledge. You learn by doing it, like dancing or driving or swimming. You can't learn to swim by reading a text; you just have to get into the pool and flap around until you acquire the knack. It takes years of disciplined, dedicated hard work before a dancer can move with grace, but if she works at it, she can take human movement into a new sphere.
Religion does the same, and in all the traditions you adopt a disciplined way of life and take part in rituals that teach the mind to go deeper than the rational level. Praying five times a day helps Muslims get beyond the preening, prancing ego. When you interrupt your work and point yourself in the orientation of Mecca, you're reminding yourself of your true priorities.
In the ancient Benedictine tradition, you don't just get it all in one go. It requires a monk to develop very slowly over years of practice. St. Ignatius, on the other hand, embraced the new efficiency of modernity. Ignatian spirituality is a crash course in mysticism. One 30-day retreat, and you're set.
Religion is hard work. Above all it demands a compassionate lifestyle. This is the test of religiosity in every single one of the major world traditions. Most of our doctrines were originally calls to action.
How so?
Incarnation is a call to action. St. Paul says that Jesus was in the image of God, but he didn't cling to that; he emptied himself of ego and took on the likeness of a servant and even accepted death on the cross, for which reason God exalted him. Paul introduces this concept by saying you must have the same mind as Christ Jesus: "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves" (Phil. 2:3).
Religious truth makes no sense unless you put it into action. It remains as dry and abstract as the rules of a board game, which sound incredibly dull and incomprehensible until you pick up the dice and play.
Are there other doctrines that could help us recover the sense of religion as practice?
We never really got Trinity in the West, but it was also a spiritual practice.
In the early Greek church, the Trinity would be imparted not just as a jingle–"Three in one and one in three, oh, the noble Trinity"–but as a meditation after the transformative initiation of Baptism.
You swing your mind back from the three manifestations of God that we can sense, to the ousia of God, the one that we can never know, backward and forward. The doctrine is simply the end of the meditation.
You have to go through the meditation and keep doing it all your life to understand Trinity. It's described very much as a transcendent experience. Ancient theologians were trying to remind Christians that it was impossible to think about God as a simple personality.
But Christians do think of God as having distinct personalities, including that Jesus is God.
To say Jesus is God is a partial expression of the divine. God is unnamable. You can never know the essence of the divine. But God has adapted this ineffable transcendence to our limited understanding and has come to meet us. So Christians have experienced God as Father, a sort of brooding, sort of caring presence; as Spirit immanent within us; and as Word, which is spoken in Jesus and in creation.
These are the external, like my gestures and my clothes and my words are me. But they don't exactly define what "me" is. We know God's external qualities, but we can never know his ousia or inner nature.
How is the experience of transcendence connected to compassionate action?
You won't get transcendence unless you are compassionate. To be compassionate is to dethrone yourself from the center of your world and put another there, to transcend yourself. You go beyond the selfishness and hatred that imprisons us and limits our vision.
Today we concentrate so much on defining what we're transcending to–God–whereas in the past they concentrated more what we're transcending from: selfishness, greed, hatred, all of which springs from ego.
But isn't the goal of faith to get to heaven, "to meet our Maker"?
I'm not interested in the afterlife. When Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven, he means something very earthbound. The kingdom, the reign of God on earth, is a Jewish concept, and Jews don't go much for afterlife.
Paul says, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor. 2:9). That is, he doesn't know. If that's good enough for St. Paul, it's good enough for me.
If all religious life is reduced to getting into heaven, and all your good deeds are about getting up there, as it was for me as a child, this is no more religious than paying into a retirement annuity. Heaven is supposed to be about the loss of ego, not about preoccupation with its eternal survival in optimum conditions.
Also, if we do not experience a bit of the eternal now by hard, dedicated practice, it's no good thinking we'll get anything like that after we die.
The Case for God responds to today's militant atheism, like that of Richard Dawkins, but you also say in the book that you would welcome "an informed atheistic critique."
I would, but Dawkins' critique is not informed. Richard Dawkins on theology is frankly painful to read. As British literary critic Terry Eagleton said in his review, "Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology."
I don't like the regression of the dialogue on either side. It is uncompassionate, counterproductive, and all about ego. But an informed critique could help us rid religion of idolatry and see the ineffability of the divine.
But now people are defensively hanging on to a concrete image of God, and once people get defensive, they can get aggressive, too.
How should we respond to atheism?
We need a rethink. We can't reproduce the spiritualities of the past because we are 21st-century people, but we can learn from history and make the huge creative effort to translate its wisdom into our own time.
That's going to be hard work, and people have gotten lazy about religion. They think it should be easy. They go in and sing a couple of hymns once a week at Mass and then return to their normal lives unscathed by the demands of the tradition. I think we need to reinstate the idea of religion as primarily practice.
What do you think of Pope Benedict XVI's attempt to respond to the wider culture where Catholicism and religion in general is losing influence?
If he thinks all Europeans are going to become Catholic, this is just not going to happen. He has not been good with other faiths, either.
I'd tell him, let's go into dialogue prepared to be changed. That's the only way dialogue works. Go into dialogue as you did in Socrates' day, prepared in the end to realize that you knew nothing, to realize transcendence. No one can have the last word on God, and we can learn so much from other people's insights.
What about the fear that this will lead to relativism? Is there value in each community pursuing its own path?
I think that's the best way, even though I can't do it.
Catholics in England have been so vile to me over the years that I don't feel like I can go back to the church. I can't become Anglican, though, because in England Catholics never feel quite English, and Anglicanism is a celebration of being English as far as I can see. Islam and Buddhism are out of my culture, too.
I don't recommend my course to anybody else. This is just the result of my own personal, troubled religious history, and I healed myself by studying other faiths.
I think it's best to stay with your own because all the religions teach the same thing-compassion. Stress those aspects of tradition that speak of compassion and practice and humility and openness.
I was with the Dalai Lama at an interfaith conference once when he told a woman that converting from Christianity to Buddhism was a complete waste of her time. All faiths teach kindness. My religion is kindness, he said, and as for the highest states of meditation, he said, don't even go there.
The religions are not all the same. They each have their distinct genius, each their distinctive flavor, and each their particular flaws and failings. It's best, I think, if you can, to remain with one but learn from others.
What do you make of those who say they are "spiritual, but not religious"?
I can't stand that. Spiritual often just means some kind of wishy-washy me-ism, where I'm having a lovely experience without much discipline. You know, designer Kabbalah in Hollywood or designer yoga.
Yoga is not about aerobic exercise or finding the lovely oceanic peacefulness about yourself; it's about dismantling the ego. It demands hours of practice every day, not just a yoga class once a week. We've watered it down to be some kind of feel-good thing.
Some of the late medieval, early modern mystics who threw out all intellect in favor of spirituality were criticized for sitting around looking as if they had a bug in their ear because they only looked within themselves.
Spiritual can mean, "I feel very spiritual when I look at the sunset, but I'm quite happy to slag off Islam and not to give any money to charity. I'm quite OK with the fact that we've messed up the Middle East and people are dying every day in Iraq-not just our soldiers but others who are dying as a result of our mistakes. I'm quite happy with the inequality of our social system." That is not proper spirituality.
Feeling is neither here nor there. You've got to get deeper than feeling. We know in our own lives that feelings come and go. Like Aquinas said, you can't feel God any more than you can know God.
If believe, feel, and know are out, what verb do you think best captures your relationship with God?
Seek. I seek and will seek forever without possibility of finding the clinching moment.
This interview appeared in the January 2010 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 75. No. 1, pages 24-28).
Image: Photo of Karen Armstrong by Megan Sweas
Read about Karen Armstrong's Charter for Compassion.


text:
Again, slipping out. Taking the stairs down the four floors so as not to disturb any family with the sound of the ancient elevator. The man guarding the entrance to the family compound on Via Roma sleeps in his chair by the gate.
The 45 minutes it took me to walk filled up one roll of film. I had two more left. I would need them as I descended down into underground Palermo, looking for cool peace and silence. Dead quiet.
Paying my 300 Lira (about 40 cents) I went into the Catacombe dei Cappuccini.
Not that they, or any society, should look behind or below. Who really knows what those who came before did to prepare the way for us, or if they simply lived their life with the same disregard for the future that the Palermo of 1971 had for 1211, or the Palermo of 1871 had for 2011?
At the end of WWII in Sicily, the gods of wine awoke and began their journey from the far reaches of the island to the cities, to Palermo, Catania, Siracusa, Marsala, Trapani, Milazzo, Messina, making their way in a march slower than Garibaldi and his marauders. Grillo joined Catarratto and Inzolia, Carricante, Malvasia, Nerello, Zibibbo, Frappato, followed by Perricone, Calabrese, Nocera and Grecanico. At first they mingled among their indigenous selves. And then they would be joined by another set of invaders, Chardonnay, Syrah, Cabernet, Merlot, Viognier, Pinot Noir. A giant pot of minestrone, filled with all manner of stuff, into the primal slime of Sicily, once again chafing the palimpsest the ancients called Trinacria.
Since that first time I have lived another two lifetimes of my youthful years. But Palermo, on that hot and muggy day in August in the caverns of the dead, called me to awaken and live and love and feel. And eat and drink it all up. And all here in (and under) one of the greatest gardens on earth.
to be continued...
written and photographed by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy


text:
The highly anticipated 10th episode of "The Ultimate Fighter 11" opens up with Chuck Liddell still processing the news that his opposing "TUF" coach, Tito Ortiz, was dropping out the pair's planned UFC 115 matchup.
Liddell is furious, and he tells UFC president Dana White that he predicted that Ortiz would pull out. Liddell says Ortiz shouldn't be allowed to fight in the UFC again, though with a smile, he does say "Unless I get to fight him. Then it's a different story."
Liddell is assured he'll still have a fight against someone after the show wraps, but it appears to be of little consolation. Liddell alerts his team to the change, while Ortiz listens to the rant from a few feet away. Ortiz tells us that the issue goes back to his 2009 matchup with Forrest Griffin, and that he's dealing with numbness and tingling on a daily basis and must now undergo surgery.
Nevertheless, the show must go on, and Team Liddell's Josh Bryant and Team Ortiz's Jamie Yager hit the scales in preparation for their quarterfinal matchup. Liddell states the obvious gameplan for Bryant: push in past Yager's massive reach advantage.
Ortiz is confident enough in his fighter to predict a potential first-round finish, but Yager's teammate (and sometimes rival) Kyacey Uscola warns that there's more to fighting that just talent and speed.
Back at the house, Yager is preparing himself for the next morning's house. Yager knows that he must be ready for the takedown, but he believes the work that Ortiz has been putting him through on a daily basis will have him prepared to perfection. Yager says he doesn't believe that Bryant will simply quit, but "There's no cardio in the chin."
Meanwhile, Bryant knows he's facing a talented fighter, but he plans on exploiting Yager's weaknesses. While Bryant is certainly the underdog, he's undefeated, and he says his competitive nature drives him. Bryant is also concerned about the height deficiency because he enjoys scrapping on the inside. And while it seems logical that Bryant will be looking for the ground, he says the gameplan calls for some striking first, then the takedown.
JOSH BRYANT (Team Liddell) VS. JAMIE YAGER (Team Ortiz)
Despite the size difference between the two fighters the "Tale of the Tape" surprisingly shows that each sports a matching 73″ reach. Referee Steve Mazzagatti calls the action after some last-minute advice to the fighters from both coaches.
As expected, Yager tries to keep his distance and speed early. Bouncing in and out, Yager is actually caught on the chin from a crisp Bryant right hand. As the shorter fighter rushes in, Yager fires a leaping kick that flies over his opponent's head. Bryant pushes in and moves into the clinch.
Ortiz calls for underhooks, but Yager maintains control with overhooks while firing off a few knees before breaking about one minute into the contest.
Yager resets in the center, and the pace slows while he looks for range. Yager kicks to the body but is nearly caught again from Bryant counterpunch. Yager starts to open up a bit, but a front kick forces a brief stoppage after catching Bryant below the belt. Bryant rests just briefly before the restart.
Yager works inside leg kicks on the restart, and Bryant struggles to close the gap. Another Bryant attack sees a leaping counter from Yager, though it misses. Bryant catches a high kick, but Yager maintains his balance and remains upright even after being driven backward.
Both are a bit tentative in the final minute of the frame, though Yager lands additional inside leg kicks. With 20 seconds left, Bryant drops Yager with a pair of hooks. Yager recovers quickly and pulls guard as Bryant follows, and the round ends in the position. It's a round that saw Yager serve as the busier fighter, but Bryant unquestionably delivered the more effective shots.
As the second round open both corners appear pleased with their fighter's performance. Yager immediately opens with kicks to the leg and body to open the second, and he leaps in with punches, as well. Yager takes a brief break after a low blow, but opens with leg kicks again on the restart.
Bryant starts to stalk a bit and land another powerful punch as he chases, though Yager fires back with a few knee strikes. Bryant then catches a Yager kick, shoves him to the ground and sets up in side control. Yager works back to his feet without taking too much damage, and Bryant tries to lock in a guillotine choke. Yager pops free and lands a few punches before backing away and having some hanging tape removed from his glove.
With a little less than three minutes, Yager starts again with kicks. Bryant pushes in returns fire with heavy hooks. The two are trading back and forth, and a wide camera shot shows UFC president Dana White on his feet and watching the fights with real interest.
Yager fires another series of knees, but Bryant stays in the pocket and returns fire before working into another clinch against the cage. They break and restart, and Yager hits the deck after a Bryant hook that appears to miss.
Bryant sets up on top and nets a crucifix from side control. Bryant lands a few short elbows and punches, but Yager is flat on his back and appears uninterested in moving. Ortiz yells for him not to quit, but even with his feet on the cage, Yager looks content to remain on his back.
Yager is very slow to get off the canvas between rounds, and White enters the cage to announce the fight is a draw through two frames and will need a "sudden victory" third frame.
Yager's body language is not good in the corner, and as he slumps on his stool, he tells his corner that he can't see. Bryant looks ready to capitalize in the final round, but Yager refuses to get off his chair. Mazzagatti waves off the fight, and Ortiz looks beside himself.
Liddell comes in to celebrate and can't refrain from drawing the connection between Yager's refusal to continue and Ortiz's withdrawal from the coaches' fight.
- Josh Bryant def. Jamie Yager via TKO (refused to answer bell) – Round 2, 5:00
Yager is helped from the cage, while White apologizes to Liddell for doubting his team selection at the beginning of the season. White is thrilled at the action in the cage. Ortiz isn't, and he suggests Yager is heartless.
Yager heads off to the hospital for assessment, and White pulls Ortiz from the locker room for a chat. The UFC exec tells Ortiz he's got a doctor's appointment set up for the former champ the following day. Ortiz seems on board with the call, and he says he appreciates the recommendation.
He disagrees with what comes next: White lets Ortiz know his time on the show is done.
Ortiz appears truly shocked by the decision, but White says he had little choice in the matter. With the unique situation of a coach pulling out of the fight, White felt he had to make another matchup for Liddell. Ortiz is visibly shaken, but he doesn't protest too much.
Ortiz avoids a potential discussion with Liddell, and he's obviously emotional as he leaves the UFC Training Center. He walks right by his team's van, and the fighters are left to wonder exactly what is going on as Ortiz hops in his car and drives away.
The fighters stay in the van for a bit, and White eventually brings the fighters back into the locker room. Whit had assumed Ortiz would handle the issue with his team, but that was not the case. It's left to White to explain why Ortiz is gone, and the fighters are "shocked and awed" that their coach didn't offer and words before leaving with just six days remaining in filming.
The fighters are told a new coach is on his way to Las Vegas, though the identity of the new team head isn't revealed. Team Ortiz fighter James Hammortree is the first to stand up and suggest that Ortiz's behavior isn't typical of what they've seen during their time in the house, though he admits it would be painful if Ortiz does indeed bail without an explanation. Teammate Seth Baczynski also says he still feels loyal to Ortiz, and the crew heads back to the house.
Yager makes his way home from the hospital, and he doesn't appear to have any serious injuries. Kris McCray tells him about Ortiz's departure, and he also lets his friend know that the team is shocked that Yager didn't answer the bell in the final frame. McCray doesn't pull any punches as he explains the reality of the team's disdain for Yager and his efforts.
Shortly after, Ortiz enters the front door.
Ortiz tells the team he's been fired due to his injury. As the team listens, Ortiz explains the pain he's in and why he has to undergo surgery on his neck. With McCray as the lone Team Ortiz fighter remain, the coach says he feels bad he now has to abandon his pupil. McCray appears to be OK with the change, and the team appears supportive of their coach as they raise a few glasses in celebration of the five weeks Ortiz did offer the team.
Despite the drama, there's still some business to tend to at the gym, and the semifinal matchups are announced the following morning. In semifinal No. 1, Team Liddell partners Brad Tavares and Court McGee are matched up, while the second fight sees McCray face Bryant.
There's some history in the second matchup, as Bryant defeated McCray via three-round unanimous decision in episode No. 5, though "Savage" was eventually brought back as a wild card. Now all that's left is to determine who will coach McCray.
The answer comes shortly after, and the former Team Ortiz is introduced to their new head coach: former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin.
Behind the door are the assistant coaches that will also be in charge of the team now that White wants to "over-compensate" for the loss of Ortiz. Unfortunately, the reveal will have to wait until next week – as will the Tavares and McGee matchup.
Catch new episodes of "The Ultimate Fighter: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz" every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Spike TV. MMAjunkie.com will recap each episode of the reality series, and full series coverage can be found on "The Ultimate Fighter 11" page.