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COVER- It's Wendel's world: We just work out in it
There are 12,000 members walking among us. Their charismatic leader has a plan for their lives, but the gospel he preaches isn't fire and brimstone; it's life everlasting– or almost. Health and happiness, he says, are available to anyone who joins him, but he's not demanding that his followers drink the Kool-Aid– in fact, he'd much rather they drink water... and lots of it.
On a recent afternoon in his tucked away, light-filled office behind the Carmike Cinema on 29 North, that leader, Phil Wendel, expounds on his vision– and his dreams of even more conversions.
"I want to find the uninitiated believers," says the founder and owner of the Atlantic Coast Athletic Club, which has infiltrated almost every aspect of Charlottesville life, from health to education to socializing. "Those are the people who go to bed saying, 'I know I should weigh 20 pounds less.'"
Since opening his first location in 1984, Wendel, now a grandfather– and a very fit one at that– has expanded his fitness company to include exercise classes, swimming pools, basketball courts, physical therapy, spa services, even childcare at its Albemarle Square, downtown, and Adventure Central locations. And that's just the tip of the ACAC iceberg.
Over the past eight years– since the flagship location opened inside the former Best Products store at Albemarle Square in 1998– ACAC has steadily broadened its offerings. The 64,000 square-foot Albemarle Square club wows with a sunken full basketball court surrounded by an indoor track and a suspended mezzanine featuring a variety of cardio equipment. In addition to two large group-exercise rooms, the club has also made "mind/body" classes a priority with dedicated yoga studios and a Pilates room. Now the company is setting its sights on expanding its downtown market.
Today, ACAC downtown operates out of a 10,000-square-foot gym on the ground floor of the Water Street parking garage. This fall, that club will close, and downtown exercisers will finally get to check out Wendel's latest: a $6 million, 40,000-square-foot facility just south of the CSX train tracks in the former Ivy Industries picture frame factory.
Replete with squash courts, yoga studios, Pilates rooms, and indoor pools in addition to the traditional exercise equipment and classes, the new club will anchor a mixed-use complex that includes retail space and three phases of condos, some actually in the same building as ACAC. Ads on the bulletin board in the downtown facility tout the benefits of living at the health club!
Wendel's partner in the development, music mogul Coran Capshaw, credits Wendel's vision and says the new ACAC club "will be a catalyst for spreading the success and energy of the Downtown Mall across the tracks."
But in his relentless pursuit of converts, is Wendel indirectly dooming other businesses? Some parents couldn't help but notice when the Berkmar Drive business long known as Planet Fun closed its batting cages, climbing gyms, and bumper boats last fall. All of a sudden, elementary school kids' birthday parties seemed to shift to ACAC Adventure Central, which debuted "The Arena," a $2.2 million sports expansion, around that time.
Yet Susanna Nicholson, owner of Union Yoga in the Martha Jefferson Outpatient Care Center on Pantops mountain, says that while ACAC's downtown expansion will undoubtedly affect smaller area businesses, it won't necessarily harm them.
"It's forced all of us to refine our vision of what makes our teaching special and unique," says Nicholson. For instance, she says she has narrowed her focus almost entirely to therapeutic yoga, geared to helping people work through physical or psychological problems. Her location within Martha Jefferson's Outpatient Care Center, she says, has helped cement her niche. Other studios may decide to leave downtown and head for areas like Crozet, she predicts, where they can draw from a different demographic.
Another small downtown business takes the "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach.
"I think it's great for downtown," says Kate Nesbit, owner of Pilates VA on Second Street. Nesbit teaches classes in her own space– but she also teaches Pilates at ACAC, something that allows her to reach greater numbers. "It works really well," she says.
Yoga and Pilates are hardly the only areas of ACAC expansion. In the fall, school bells will ring at Adventure Central as the Charlottesville Day School opens on Four Seasons Drive. A new arena and huge pool complex already host summer camp and after-school programs at the site of the club's very first location.
In 2007 ACAC plans to open a Lynchburg club to join existing branches in Richmond, Baltimore, and Chester, Pennsylvania. In the more distant future, Wendel says, the club may open "satellite locations" in far-flung places like Crozet, and will likely team with Martha Jefferson Hospital to open a facility on Pantops.
Indeed, ACAC's relationship with the medical profession is already well established. Using a creative form of marketing, the company has developed a program in which area doctors prescribe ACAC to their patients.
In what Wendel calls a "win-win situation," the program, called "60/60," offers a two-month membership and several sessions with a personal trainer for $60, a steep discount from the club's usual fees. ACAC reaches potential new members, and neophyte exercisers learn the basics of fitness safely. Doctors say they like the program because they know their patients are being supervised as they begin their exercise program.
"They do an outstanding job," says Dr. William Maloney of Downtown Family Health Care on Second Street, who estimates he's sent 50 patients to ACAC on the 60/60 program. "It's a great way to introduce people to exercise," he adds.
With physical therapy and nutrition services, a full day spa, swimming pools, and team sports, social events, childcare, and outdoor adventures in addition to the 60/60 program, it's hard to say what niche Wendel and his ACAC team of nearly 90 full-timers don't– or won't soon– fill.
Wendel didn't set out to build a fitness empire. In fact, for nearly 30 years he worked in the travel industry as founder of school trip biz Lakeland Tours, a company he started as a public school teacher in Chicago.
After leading a group of eighth graders on a trip to Washington, D.C. in the late 1960s, Wendel, says he realized he could do a better job, and the following year, he organized the trip himself. "I had $1,000 in my pocket," he says, "but even when I was dirt poor, I knew what good service is and what it isn't."
Wendel moved Lakeland to Charlottesville in 1979. But in the meantime, he was drawn to another growing field. In 1984, he opened ACAC's first small location at Four Seasons, where it remained for 14 years. By the early 1990s, Wendel was employing grad students in a then-new field, exercise physiology. Soon after, Wendel says, he had "this entrepreneurial 'a-ha'" when he realized just how huge the market for health clubs could be.
"I learned in the mid-'90s that maybe 1/6 of Americans were active," he says. "Four times as many people go to bed saying, 'I'm ready'" as actually work out. Having watched Lakeland grow from one to 100 employees over 27 years, and seeing the company take 100,000 junior high students to D.C. each year, Wendel sold the company to Worldstrides in 1998 and made ACAC his prime focus by opening the Albemarle Square location– a move he calls a big investment and "a leap of faith."
Since then, between that location, the new downtown club, the Adventure Central location, and various other projects, Wendel says, the company has invested $22 million in and around Charlottesville.
The secret to his success, he says, is his three-pronged philosophy: "Render to the customer a first-class service experience; want everyone who works for you to want to stay for life– which means paying higher-than-industry standards; and operate the business in a way that affords investors an acceptable return."
While the last prong obviously puts money in his own pocket, sole-owner Wendel says the pleasure he takes from work is not about getting rich.
"I wanted to be in a business where people really do matter," he says.
Those who work with Wendel say he delivers just what he promises.
"The company motto is 'We change lives,'" says Doug Wanamaker, who joined ACAC as a piano teacher in 2001 and now serves as operations manager at Adventure Central. There he oversees the after-school program and the summer camp, which combined serve more than 500 area children throughout the year.
"There's a lot of encouragement to expand on your interests," says Wanamaker, who was once the keyboardist for local band Indecision. "I expressed that I was interested in getting involved in front desk work," he says. "They'll put you in where your interest is."
Stacey Bruns also credits Wendel with unusual support.
As director of the new Charlottesville Day School, which will open this fall for pre-schoolers through second grade, Bruns has teamed with ACAC to create an environment focused on academics and total wellness.
While the school is an independent entity simply leasing space at ACAC's Adventure Central location, the partnership, Bruns says, "allows me to put all my dreams on paper and actually get them going on the first day of school."
Wendel, she says, is "someone who likes people who have a vision. If he believes in your vision and believes it's good for the Charlottesville-Albemarle community, he's extremely supportive."
Indeed, Wendel is known for his contributions– both of money and time. He created an exercise program for seniors eight years ago while his mother was in an assisted living center. There he met Roxann Critzer, a nurse who was caring for his mother, and whom he later married.
At his home in northern Albemarle county, Wendel has hosted a black-tie fundraiser to benefit the SPCA, and he's generous with political contributions as well. In 2004, he and Critzer donated a combined $50,000 to George W. Bush's re-election effort, according to website fundrace.org.
But though Wendel is politically active and a sponsor of a variety of local events, the biggest part of ACAC's future, it seems, is in its collaboration with health practitioners. For several years, Martha Jefferson Hospital's cardiac rehab program was located in the Albemarle Square location. The program moved to Pantops when the hospital's new outpatient care center opened, says Ron Cottrell, Martha Jefferson's vice president of development, but the hospital now offers physical therapy services at the club.
In the future, both Wendel and Cottrell say, the two will coordinate programs even more closely with a new ACAC location at Pantops. Wendel envisions creating specific workouts for every type of disease or condition– the diabetes workout, the cancer workout, the menopause workout. Such health problems may be bad for people, but fixing them can be good for business.
"Rising healthcare costs," Wendel says, "are the 'perfect storm' for our industry."
Partnership with Wendel has been a success "because there's a great cultural fit," says Cottrell. "We both cherish good health. We can take care of folks when they're sick, and Phil can help maintain their health."
Good health, customer service, diverse programming– what's not to like? Well, for some, it's the high cost– at about $80 per month, an individual membership at ACAC is nearly double the cost at Gold's Gym or New Fitness for Ladies. Tack on a $150 initiation fee, and ACAC soars out of the price range of many people– even those who'd love to join.
Jennifer Perkins is one. At 28, Perkins is participating in the 60/60 program, ordered by her doctor. But with her two-month temporary membership about to expire, Perkins says, she'll be unable to continue despite her desire to lose more weight.
"It's been awesome," she says. "It helps you get into a routine and a habit of going to the gym. I've seen results, and I'm definitely feeling better. You can talk to the staff about anything; they teach you and have really good advice."
But once her 60/60 program ends, Perkins– a medical assistant– won't be back.
"I'm a single mom, I have four kids, I live in public housing," she says, wondering whether the club would ever offer a "fitness scholarship" or some other kind of financial aid for people like her.
"It would be really nice if they did something like that," she says, acknowledging that other clubs would be no more affordable for her once she adds in the extra cost for childcare.
Wendel says he's interested in making fitness accessible to people in all income levels, but he says the price reflects his desire to retain top employees and maintain state-of-the-art facilities. "As a business person, I have to cover those costs somehow," he says.
Just giving people the basics of wellness, he says, can allow them to be more active even at home through things like walking and understanding proper nutrition– things that don't cost any money.
Wendel– who declines to reveal his age– says he practices what he preaches, working out "350 days a year," including lifting weights four to five times a week, doing two hours a week of cardio, and playing basketball once a week.
And though some people his age are considering retirement, Wendel says he has no such plans.
"I'll keep working as long as I'm continuing to have fun," he says.
And, one might imagine, as long as there are "uninitiated believers" to convert.
Phil Wendel lays one up at the Albemarle Square b-ball courts.
Believe it or not, this used to be a Best Products showroom – now it's ACAC's pool at Albemarle Square
ACAC Albemarle Square
ACAC's new downtown location
Charlottesville Day School
Martha Jefferson Hospital, Pantops
Adventure Central
Fit for a king: ACAC's Charlottesville fiefdom
The newest location in the ACAC empire, the $6 million downtown facility will comprise nearly 40,000 square feet– the size of a football field– when it opens in the fall. Studio and rooftop yoga classes, Pilates, and spinning are among the group exercise offerings, and the downtown club will have squash courts to balance out the basketball courts at Albemarle Square. The downtown facility will also offer physical therapy, childcare, and a day spa, as well as a rooftop pool. "We're trying to offer everything we can," says ACAC's Grant Gamble, who's overseeing the project.
ACAC Albemarle Square
Albemarle Square
After ACAC operated for 14 years in a small location on Four Seasons Drive, the flagship location opened in 1998 with a 64,000-square-foot facility. In addition to extensive cardio machines and weights, the facility includes an indoor track, basketball courts, three indoor pools, large group exercise rooms, Pilates, nutrition counseling, a full day spa, and a Kid Zone with mini-basketball court and climbing wall for older kids and indoor climbing tubes for tots. ACAC owner Phil Wendel says future expansions will not mean letting the flagship flag.
"You don't want to abandon the mothership," he says.
Charlottesville Day School
Stacey Bruns (above)
While the Charlottesville Day School is under the ACAC umbrella and will be housed at ACAC's Adventure Central location on Four Seasons Drive, head of school Stacey Bruns says the board of the school is made up of UVA Curry School educators– not exercisers. The private school will start its first year with seven full-time teachers, five teaching assistants, and approximately 85 students ranging from two-year-old preschoolers to second graders. The school will expand to fifth grade in the next couple of years, and, Bruns hopes, eventually to eighth grade. ACAC founder Phil Wendel supported the idea of the school, Bruns says, because "We're going to educate the whole child."
Adventure Central
Adventure Central
With a three-pool water park complete with slides, fountains, and a huge floating crocodile, classrooms, indoor playstructures, tennis courts, and a new $2.2 million arena for indoor sports, Adventure Central is home to summer camp, an after-school program, birthday parties, and now the Charlottesville Day School. The after-school program serves approximately 250 children throughout the year, and ACAC provides transportation from certain county schools. For an extra fee, kids can take specialized classes including dance, yoga, music lessons or be tutored. Older kids can take part in personal training or have physical therapy for injuries, says Doug Wanamaker, director of operations at Adventure Central. And in what may be the most alluring offering for working parents, even most snow days and holidays are covered. "Throughout the Christmas break, spring break, 362 days of the year, we have something going on for children," says Wanamaker.
Martha Jefferson Hospital, Pantops
Martha Jefferson Hospital, Pantops
When Martha Jefferson Hospital moves to Pantops in 2012, ACAC will likely have a presence. "Teaming with ACAC is a concept we want to pursue," says Ron Cottrell, Martha Jefferson's vice president of planning. "We're involved in planning at this stage of the game, trying to understand how the demographics are going to change in our community, and what facility requirements we'll have to have to meet those demographic changes."


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Not surprisingly, you get the nerdiest surfboard ever. The "Shredder" surfboard was designed by a computer programmer named Mike Sheldrake after he decided to replace his old board. Since he did not possess the skills necessary to make a board the traditional way, he decided to use 3-D modelling software to design a snap-together deck built out of 400 pieces of computer cut corrugated cardboard then shellac it with fiberglass and epoxy resin. Thanks to a mathematically sound triangular pattern, force is evenly dispersed throughout the board—making it incredibly strong.
Sheldrake has already sold one of his creations to a pro surfer and he plans on improving his technique to develop boards that are stronger, lighter and more flexible. To that end, he hopes to have a product site launched in the near future where customers can custom design their own boards. And, since they are made from inexpensive materials, it should make a day of surfing at the beach a lot more affordable. [Popsci]

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|0. lpSolveAPI - An R interface for lp_solve, a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) solver with support for pure linear, (mixed) integer/binary, semi-continuous and special ordered sets (SOS) models.
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Leatherette Bottle Opener. Design is laser engraved onto only one side of the leatherette. This richly textured, synthetic Faux Leather material is water resistant, easy to clean and durable enough for the rigors of daily use.
📐1 1/2" x 7"
❌ Some items in picture may be there for scale and display purpose, if you are unsure of what you are purchasing please contact us prior to ordering.
📜 Source Models are copyright GriffonCo, provided as an officially licensed seller. Please visit our Partners Page for links to all of our partners' library of designs. We are capable of printing nearly ALL of designs offered by GriffonCo, please contact us for requests of any of their files and we would be happy to add the product for you!


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Depending on which way I'm facing when I place a door, it will either be on one side of a cube border or another. Are there any game mechanics that make use of the door's alignment which I should be aware of, or is it purely cosmetic?
Door placed from this side
Door placed from opposite side


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Machine Head visited Finland supporting the newest album UNTO THE LOCUST by playing two sold out gigs in a row. Before the four-piece got on the stage at the Circus club in Helsinki I had a pleasant interview session with the band's guitarist Phil Demmel who was gearing up for the gig. The sixth album UNTO THE LOCUST once again proves the band's ability to create a murderous groove whipping songs. Phil Demmel tells more about the making process of the album and finally both the interviewer and guitarist try to calculate how many times he has visited Finland.
Interview and pictures by Arto Lehtinen
How's it going?
I slept about 13 hours last night.
13 hours?
Yeah, pretty good.
So you're tired of playing after in Tampere?
It was a good show.
It was sold out?
Yeah, sold out. It's good. Tonight is too.
It's pretty much sold out. And this is going to be your bus during the whole tour? You're sleeping up there?
I'm up here yeah.
It's like a coffin you know.
Not too bad. A coffin with a door on it, yeah.
When viewing the front cover of the album UNTO THE LOCUST, I was scratching my head when looking at it. It's some kind of mutant version of the alien grasshopper or what's the point of this? Is it a grasshopper or something like that?
Yeah, I mean locusts and grasshoppers are very similar. They're the same I believe, I don't know the exact biology of it or…. But the metaphor for locusts I came up with based on some people that I've encountered in my life, of people that just come into your life under false pretences and they just act like one thing and they're after with hidden agendas. They end up taking everything from you, not just material things but your, what happened to me it was basically my faith in humanity that people are just really this bad and just this evil. They can take everything from you and then just when they're discovered, how can you do this they just stop and go on to the next person and just eat and consume and devour everything they can from them. The cover is just kind of this bug that has these human features to it too so it's not a figurative of, it's not a song about bugs, it's about people like that.
Does it reflect on the video, as in my opinion it looks like a horror movie because they are coming out from the sky and destroying everything and people running away?
Yeah the video is not very, it doesn't really follow the lyric line of anything, it's more visual than anything. It's just, it doesn't have much of a story behind it. It looks cool I think.
Yeah, it's like a horror movie.
It is, people are running and then there's blood at the end.
They're just coming out of the chest.
Yeah, they're coming out of us and stuff so it's more visual than anything, not really much of a story line there.
When you started working on the new album you did everything in Jingletown Studio in Oakland owned by Green Day?
Was it an option for you that you're going to Jingletown or did you check out other studios or how did this happen?
Yeah, we looked all over the place. I mean we looked at recording in L.A., in Chicago and New York, and it was, it came down to liking to be at home, you know. We like to be there and it was between this and another studio in Alameda that we kind of looked at. We were going to do drums in one place and track at the other place and it just came down to "hey" we want to get the drums set up just in case we're still writing, we still want to record some stuff. So it's just a great vibe at Jingletown and good, it's run by a good crew there. It was the way it's just set up you feel like being creative and you feel like you're in a recording studio instead of some corporate office with snobs you know, so it came down to just wanted to be there and the vibe of it also.
You put posters on the wall like Slayer and Rush stuff like that – Is it about trying to create the climate, mood or atmosphere in the studio like having old inspirations there?
It was definitely about the inspiration. I got out my old tour programs from the Number of the Beast Tour, from the Piece of Mind Tour, and from the Screaming for Vengeance Tour, and Rob would put up," okay today's going to be Bruce" or whatever and they had these awesome metal-looking pictures of Steve Harris and we just… We really drew off the classical, the classic old Kill 'Em All pictures you know, with Cliff and I put up a bunch of AC/DC stuff too and some Randy Rhodes and some Thin Lizzy with Phil and really trying to get inspired by these people that we really looked up too.
Not Journey?
No Journey pictures, no. And I love Journey but not – it's hard to get inspired for writing heavy metal music from looking at Journey.
When THE BLACKENING came out you got a lot of awards and a lot of prizes. The album was considered one of the great Machine Head albums, I think it may give some kind of pressure or was it some of the mellow feeling in the studio when you're writing and creating new songs there or in your rehearsal room?
Yeah I mean there was the idea of wow we got this big record to follow up, but we felt that after Ashes we had a big record to follow up too. So we remembered what worked for us, the formula that we had, and that we just want to write stuff that we enjoy playing and listening too. So we just took it from there. I mean we really expanded on our performance level, I mean Rob really pushed himself as far as taking classical lessons and wanted to really push himself and re-learn a lot of stuff. Dave is just an animal on the drums. He's so meticulous and really into, he's just got great ideas and pushes himself that way. So I mean we really wanted to push ourselves as far as the riffs and we've done the pummelling, grinding, groovy stuff, so we just wanted to get more intricate writing and these songs are the hardest songs to play that Machine Head has done, so it's. I still struggle with them.
Whenever you hear the Machine Head songs you immediately recognize the guitar sound of Machine Head with the groove thrash metal sound. Do you think you'll always have a Machine Head trademark on your sound?
I think so. I think Rob has everything to do with that as far as our tones and writing and there's always that harmonic or the bend or there's always something that's going to retain that trademark that it's in DNA, it's part of the music. That's good that you recognize it so it's like we're doing something right.
Since BURN MY EYES and up to now you immediately know that okay this is Machine Head because there's certain sounds there.
Good, yeah, that's what we were shooting for, it's good you picked up on it.
Because nowadays it's really hard to recognize the band because they usually sound, basically the same formula, because back in the day when you heard bands like Forbidden or Overkill or Kreator you would immediately know the band, okay, that's the band.
Sure. Yeah that can be good, that can be bad. I mean you don't want to always sound the same, I mean like the early Slayer records they always had that little, they had that little chord, the notes that piece together, you go Slayer riff, and it screwed every other thrash band after that because you can't use those notes together otherwise you sound like Slayer. So as long as you still mix things up and the stuff around that signature kind of.
I checked out the old interview that we did a couple of years ago and you told me that Judas Priest was a gateway for you into the heavy metal. Was it your choice to have Judas Priest as a cover song on the new album?
No, Dave and then I think Rob were, I think Dave brought that song into, of course the Rush song too, and Dave and Rob were really into doing this – no that record was kind of like I love Screaming for Vengeance and then that record came out, it seemed like it was too much of the same thing for me. So I didn't really get into it that much. So I had to re-learn it. I tracked all the guitars on that, I ended up playing all the guitars on that song, so I had to really learn it and figure out some weird, it was like so much weird timing. So Dave brought that one to the fold.
Was it some kind of tribute to Priest now because they are slowing down piece by piece and going someway, retiring the whole playing and the touring schedule?
Yeah, I don't, I'm not buying that retiring shit at all. I don't know, I don't know what was going on but I think that they changed their mind and they've got Richie in the band who's awesome, he's a bro of mine and I think that they've been rejuvenated by him and like we can do this, let's go out. So I bet you're not going to see Priest slow down at all. But yeah it's a tribute to them. I mean shit, they were a gateway band for me back going from like AC/DC and Journey and Ted Nugent and Aerosmith into, then it got into Priest, then it got into Maiden, then it got Metallica, Slayer, you know, so it was. They were that in between, it's like oh this is heavier, oh hey then it kept going from there. It's definitely a tribute to Priest, we love Priest.
And it's practically the same thing for everyone, if you start to listen to traditional metal then you get more and more extreme stuff like Metallica, Slayer, even Venom, stuff like that, and going up till now, what you listen to nowadays.
Yeah, I mean I didn't get much heavier than Slayer, you know the satanic part for me was like fuck they were so good that I overlooked that part, it was just part of it and it was just part of the drill. Mercyful Fate too it's just like they were so fucking great that it's just like you know, that's just part of the, exactly. But I really didn't get into much of the more extreme metal bands, death metal bands like grind or anything like that, Slayer was just about as heavy as I got.
Rob produced the album from the beginning to end, but he did have any kind of outsider helping with the recording or producing the album or was it Rob basically?
Producing-wise, no. I mean he had Juan Orteiga engineer and they were partners through this whole thing and Colin Richardson, he was brought in to mix a little bit, but he had an emergency, something happened with his family so he had to pull out. But it was pretty much Rob and Juan for the whole thing. So nobody knows what this band should sound like better than Rob so we're comfortable with him in that, he's got great ideas and fucking the records sound amazing, so you can't argue with what's going on.
Did you have to rush a little bit with the Unlocust song to get it out, as a sampler in iTunes for the Rock Star Mayhem thing?
Yeah we had to rush the mix for that, that was a different mix on that that there is for, there was an advanced mix made because we were still going to use Colin at that time and so Rob and Juan did an advanced mix. And then, so we remixed it for the record but yeah there was a big rush for that definitely. It was a good thing though, I mean it was good having that out and having a good buzz about it.
Yeah, it brought more attention and interest from the big crowd toward the new Machine Head.
For sure. I mean those are Disturbed and Godsmack and in America those are huge bands.
I just read what Rob wrote in his blog regarding the 20 anniversary of Machine Head. He wrote something like that that – I came to rehearsal with song having the Godflesh vibes like "Blood For Blood" and "Death Church", but other guys were not excited about songs" – then he went on his own but do you think this Godflesh thing was a little bit extreme for you because you're more traditional thrash metal and classic metal thing?
Yeah, I don't remember him bringing "Death Church" to practice, I don't remember that happening and he later on told me that I had a riff that he took for "Blood for Blood", I had written a riff that we didn't end up using so he ended up using it later for "Blood for Blood". So that story doesn't quite match up, that he brought Blood for Blood to the fold but then we rejected it so I just, yeah, that's not jiving, revision is history I guess.
You have different kind of memories.
Yeah, for sure, yeah I remember that happening for sure.
The album got on the billboard chart, 22 or something, and how many copies were sold ? 17,000?
17 almost 18,000 yeah.
Do you think this is a huge selling numbers or do you think it sucks because 17,000 is quite little in the American market?
I think it's okay, I mean it was 22, that's the highest that we've ever charted, and it's hard to say. I wish it would have sold more for sure, I'm stoked that it did what it did, but through the tours and through seeing what we're capable of and we'll sell more on the next one.
I just read Scott Not Ian's interview that he said it sucks that the people think that 22,000 is really good but when going back to the 10 years ago or 20 years ago selling numbers would be different. Do you think that, okay, if I go to buy the new CD, it costs like 20-25 Euros and if you order the CD from the Internet like play.com, it's only 9 Euros, and someone is taking big win ?
I'm not sure what's going on with that, I mean buying the record off of iTunes or whatever, 25 Euros is way too much to spend on a fucking record though, I'll tell you that.
It is.
That's too much.
When the new Maiden album came out the price was 25 Euros, then if you had a patience to wait two or three months the price dropped to 9 Euros.
Wow, yeah, wait for sure.
I guess that's why people are downloading the stuff on the Internet because that's one of reasons.
Well sure, I mean and that's definitely the alternative. I mean back in the day I was a kid who would dub cassettes or borrow somebody's record and record it onto a cassette, you know, it's the same idea, it's not paying for the music, but it's just a lot easier now with the Internet, so it's just the nature of the beast, it's just part of the industry. Is it right, is it morally right, no, but I was still the kid back in the day doing it too so I can't say oh it's fucked and you're stealing or whatever, so I did it, I do it.
But do you still have old cassettes from the '80s?
No I got rid of them.
A couple of years ago I had about 600 of them and they took….
600, I still have 1000.
Yeah, that's awesome. I had some good stuff too but it was just like you know I had everything on my hard drive and it's just a matter of space and it's just, I just got rid of them.
Did you have original tapes from Bay area bands in your collection?
Yeah. I had the first Forbidden, I had the first Death Angel, I had the Biohazard demo, I had like The Heathen demo, some obscure bands too, Warfare D.C.
Going to back to the thrash thing because I've noticed that the Bay Area metal scene is for obvious reason glorified as there's the Get Thrashed DVD, and you know DRI guy who publicized the "Murder In The Front Row" photo book. Do you think this is a great thing that all metal scene veterans are bringing their memories to books, telling the next generation how it was?
Yeah, for sure. I think it's great. I'm looking forward to seeing Harold's book too, because I just read, I read Joel McIver's book on "Cliff, To Live Is To Die", and it's great, take me back to those early '80s shows, just reminding me of all that stuff. So it's good to have that snapshot of time recorded and visible for people to see to see how it was, because it was really a special time, it was really fucking cool to be able to go to shows three or four times a week and see people hanging out, seeing the Metallica guys coming to shows and just hanging out and just going to see Savatage and I remember going to see Savatage on, I think it was "The Power of Night" Tour, and James and Lars were down there and just you know, it was a good family kind of deal, it was a scene. I don't know if it could happen now because people would just get too crazy. It was just a weird family tight vibe back then.
When can we expect a book from you going back to remembering the day, because you have a really long career from the '80s up till now ?
I'm still writing it man, I'm still living it so. I probably would, probably write something about my memoirs or whatever of the things that I've seen and the things that I've done, but I'm still in it you know, fuck this is, still living it, so once things start to slow down in that regard I'll start thinking about something like that. I got a lot of stuff on video and a lot of the early stuff I was looking at it, a video of when we played Rock on Broadway and during one of our songs James and Fred Cotton came and they did like they were in the pit for a second and James Hetfield in a pit for, that's awesome.
Last time you toured three and a half years, that's a pretty long time actually. But what about now, are you going to have as massive tours as before or are you going to do them more in blocks and take a break and then going out for tour?
You can't really, well we can't really do that, we have to tour when we can. So I mean the whole Blackening thing we would have never guessed that we were going to be on tour that long. We can't say hey we're going to be on tour for three and a half years, because in two years Metallica is going to want to take us out or Slipknot is going to want to take us out so we to just kind of see how it goes. We're building this up three or four months in advance so we're booked up through next summer as of now and I'm sure it's going to keep building. So that's a year that we've got out of the block so it's like okay we got our first year done, it's going to cover just about the whole world, and then we'll see who comes around and wants to take us out.
So basically you're going to visit every corner of the world like Australia, Middle East, and the Far East countries ?
Yeah, the ones that we can, I mean I don't know if we're going to go to the Middle East or Russia again but I mean we'd like to if the opportunity is there. We've been to South America already. So we're going to Australia in February, we're doing the States in January, we're going to do the States and Canada in, well whatever, probably in April or so, and then we're going to do festivals all of June and July, so after that we're going to try to mix Japan in there somewhere, maybe go back and do a headliner in Australia, so we'll figure it out.
Last time you told me that China is a really strange place, that you are not willing to go there and play because of language barriers, stuff like that, but Children Of Bodom, Arch Enemy, other bands have played there, so have you changed your mind?
Well I got that vibe from Arch Enemy. When they went over they're like man, you know, it was weird, language barrier, like the gear wasn't all that good, and so I mean I'm willing to play anywhere as long as it's deemed safe for us to go there and if it's worth going, then yeah I'll go wherever.
But how do you keep your body in good shape?
I don't, look at me. I'm in the worst shape of my life right now. On the Mayhem tour I was running, getting in good shape, and then I had these bad back spasms to where I couldn't, I couldn't change out of my sandals. I had to play shows in my flip flops, because I couldn't change and get into my stage gear. So I could barely walk for a good month or so. It lasted about two and a half months. I had a surgery done and so it's been about three and a half months since I could really exercise, and so I'm just now, yesterday started running again, I'll run tonight, and so it's a matter of eating good, it's easy to fall in to like on the Mayhem tour, there's a lot of partying going on so you have to really keep it in check. I haven't, as of now I haven't had a drink in about three months, probably going to keep that going for just because, no real reason other than I'm a human being and it's my choice not to so. I'm just going to just, probably a couple nights on this thing where I drink a little bit, but just try to get healthy. My body doesn't rebound how it was when I was a kid. I'm finding out.
You're 44?
I'm 44 years old, 44 and a half.
But do you still go out to play hockey and ice skating?
No, you know, I haven't.
Or snowboarding?
I haven't been snowboarding in a while. I went last year only one time. I'll probably go, my girl is, she's from Idaho, so there's a nice mountain up there, Mount Baldy and I'll probably take my snowboard with me and probably go for Christmas this year. I want to get back into it. Man I used to play basketball three or four times a week and I used to go golfing all the time and snowboarding all the time so I need to get my body back in shape.
Because of the touring activities and touring life is really demanding?
Yeah. I mean it's not like there's a lot going on. But I mean the travel isn't easy, I mean the hours, you don't really have to, you get up, you have to eat your lunch or whatever, then you go into press, then you got sound check, then you got more press after that, then you eat. So there's not a lot of time. You have to pick your spots to really find your stuff to do, so unless you're Metallica and other bands like that that fly to every show where you have your days available for you.
Does your inner clock get fucked up because you have to fly from Finland to other countries because of the huge time difference and you get the jetlag?
Yeah. I mean it does. When I came over here to Oslo, I didn't sleep the night before and we went right into rehearsal. So it's like I get sleep deprived and then I sleep too much and then like I got up at 2:00 in the morning the night before last and then did the show, then I was up until about 1:00. So I didn't sleep in 24 hours and so then I slept from 1:00 last night until 2:00 today. So it's like I'm not going to be able to go to bed until early this morning. But we are staying in a hotel. We're going to fly to Denmark tomorrow. And it's part of it, you play the game, you try to sleep when you can. I'm pretty good at being able to sleep. Some of these other guys are just like, I think Rob and Dave get really screwed up because they have to be on a set schedule.
The reason why I mentioned your age because when you started playing Machine Head 10 years ago, 2002 actually, you were 34, and you got albums out every four year, and now it's calculated that if we wait…
Right, I'd be in my 50s.
Exactly. Okay Dave Mustaine is doing fine, he's 50 now.
Dave Mustaine is doing fine huh? Okay. If you say so.
It was in the Guitar magazine. But are you somehow scared of getting old and some parts are getting slow because I remember reading the interview of Pete Sandoval from Morbid Angel he said it really sucks getting old because he's not playing the same tempo anymore?
Sure. Yeah I think that I've noticed a lot of things going. I mean my eyesight for one, which was, I got to wear reading glasses now. I mean my body doesn't react like it was before. I feel all these aches and pains and my time has come, so I don't practice as much as I should. So my playing has suffered because of that. Yeah it sucks getting old. It does. I was fearless before, I would do shit now it's just like I might fall down and break a hip or something.
If I remember that you took one and a half year break from the touring activities and meanwhile you were recharging your batteries and did you take all time off from Machine Head and focus on your family life things?
Yeah, I did. My entire time off was focusing on stuff that was going on at home, starting a relationship and figuring out things with my family, with my son and everything. So it took up the whole time that I was off.
And you didn't touch your guitar and you didn't start making riffs on your free time?
Not for a little while, not for about a good six or seven months, I didn't play for a little while so it took, Rob and David got together and started writing but I was still taking care of stuff I had going on at home. So it took me a little while to start writing after.
Do you feel the same kind of energy and passion that you had 10 years ago or do you feel the touring almost like a day job like "okay let's go tour, make an album, take a break" and stuff like that?
Well I mean I've settled into a routine more than I was before. It was a lot newer back then and it was a lot more exciting to go on tour because we've toured so much, you know, there's been so much going on. But it's still writing for Unto the Locust was very exciting just like it always is, the same feeling was there for the writing of it. Still got, more emotion got poured into what I was writing on to this record more than ever, other than a song I wrote for my dad when I did, but other than that there's been so much emotion from me poured into this. The touring has gotten to be a little routine, more than it was in the beginning. Like when I met you in 2002 in Tuska it was a lot more exciting then. I mean I still get a charge out of it, especially what we're doing now, we're playing our biggest shows and get to play, done some cool stuff with Metallica and so that's pretty exciting. Yeah man, I'm settling into it.
You have been to Finland how many times, six or seven times, Tuska, Tavastia Sonisphere and..?
Yeah Sonisphere. We played at Tuska. Then we played with HIM, we played with Flogging Molly, it was called Ilosaarirock in 2002, it was the last show on that tour. I think it was further north. We played with Mnemic in Nosturi, a small club. We played two nights with God Forbid, but we played here before with Mnemic, so that's 4 times.
Yeah 2004 you played two nights in Tavastia?
Yeah, Tavastia, and then we played Nosturi, yeah. So those are those 2 times, so that's 4 times. We played on the Black Crusade.
That was in the Ice Hall.
Yeah that was fucked up. Then we played with Slipknot. And then we did Sonisphere. Now this time. So 8 times.
Have you seen the growing fan base of Machine Head here in Finland during these years and is it basically the same?
No it's gotten bigger. It has. I don't know big this club is, but I mean we did two shows.
Okay. We did two shows at Tavastia, and so it's gotten bigger, it's been pretty solid. I mean we've played our biggest show and our best show in Tampere last night so we'll see how tonight goes.
So basically you enjoy being here in Finland all the time but have you other countries when you visit and played, have you noticed the same kind of trend that you have got bigger and bigger fan base like you have in Finland?
Sure. Sweden's gotten better, Norway got better for us, I mean the Norway show we did was definitely better, it's gotten bigger and bigger. Shit, the UK's gotten for us. I mean it was always pretty big but I mean we're playing Wembley arena now. Portugal has gotten bigger, Germany has gotten bigger, everywhere has gotten bigger since I joined the band, I mean, don't take me out of context there, but I've noticed everything get bigger.
Yeah, but have you noticed some places have the same or even lower success?
We haven't played Spain in a little while, so there it had been about the same but we haven't headlined there since 2004, I think it's been seven years since we played there, so we'll see. The States has been slowly getting better.
Which gigs have been the most scariest that you have played?
There was an early show that I played that people were getting out of hand for the earlier bands and they started rioting, not really rioting but started fucking things up, so it was just like okay, I need to find a safe place to go to, and they ended up shutting the show down. So that was early.
Alright. I thank you for your time.
Sure man.
It's always a pleasure to talk to you.
You too, yeah, for sure


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While regular physical activity has long been regarded as an important component of healthy aging, its impact on mental health has remained less explored -- until now. Several new studies on the role of exercise for the prevention of mental decline in older adults have been presented at this year's Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) in Vancouver, Canada.
For these studies, researchers from the United States, Canada and Japan conducted six to 12 month clinical trials with focus on potential benefits of different types of exercising, including weight lifting, aerobics and balance-stretching training, for maintaining cognitive abilities at old age.
The results showed that even low-impact activities such as walking can help improve memory and other mental functions. What's most striking is that the human brain seems to be able to grow and develop even late in life if sufficiently stimulated, not only by staying mentally active but physically as well.
Strength training, in particular, had positive effects on attention and memory and other higher brain functions. One of the studies from the University of British Columbia, Canada, found that participants with higher levels of intellect, and perhaps education, reaped the most benefits.
The scientists involved in the respective studies agreed that their findings are preliminary at best at this point in time. "Very little is understood regarding the molecular processes that contribute to enhanced brain health with exercise, or the impact that greater brain volume has on cognitive function," said Dr. Kirk Erickson of the University of Pittsburgh, who worked on one of the studies. But he also pointed to some immediate implications. "Our findings suggest that the aging brain remains modifiable, and that sedentary older adults can benefit from starting a moderate walking regimen," he said.
Walking, not for the purpose of exercising but as a normal daily function, was the subject of another study presented at the conference. It found that older people's slower gait could also be a symptom for mental decline. A reduced pace has always been considered as a natural part of aging. But the results of this study seem to indicate that being less swift and steady on one's feet may be a sign that cognitive functions are suffering as well.
This is potentially a new perspective for health care professionals who treat older patients with mental health issues. "People who are focused on cognition largely never watch people move," said Dr. Stephanie Studenski, a geriatrician at the University of Pittsburgh who did not take part in the study, in an interview with the New York Times. "The tests are all done sitting down."
Simply by observing how older people walk could provide doctors with an additional tool for diagnosing impairments such as Alzheimer's disease.
Although the studies reported at the conference have yet to undergo peer reviews before being released for publication, they have already generated a considerable buzz in the medical community and beyond. The AAIC is the world's largest of its kind and is sponsored by the Alzheimer's Association, the world's leading health organization in Alzheimer care, support and research.
Timi Gustafson R.D. is a clinical dietitian and author of the book "The Healthy Diner - How to Eat Right and Still Have Fun"®, which is available on her blog, "Food and Health with Timi Gustafson R.D." (http://www.timigustafson.com), and at amazon.com. You can follow Timi on Twitter and on Facebook.


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Catching up to Reality on Blood Donations by Gay Men
When Obama was seeking the Presidency, the GLBT community had a well-defined punch list of action items, and he promised big things on all of them: repeal of DADT; repeal of DOMA (although he doesn't support marriage equality); passing ENDA; passing inclusive hate crimes law (the only hole punched so far). A few others, notably the administrative implementation of the-then recent repeal of the insane prohibition against HIV-positive immigrants, were perhaps further down on the list, but also up for discussion. Conspicuously absent from the mainstream agenda has been an item of interest to the public health community: lifting of the ban on gay blood donors.
So I was buoyed to see that just a few days ago, a group of sixteen U.S. Senators sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, urging the agency to reconsider its twenty-seven-year-old lifetime ban ("deferral" is the quaint term used, but it's politely Orwellian in this case) on blood donations for men who have had even one sexual encounter with another man.
The policy is long overdue for an overhaul. As the letter notes, the policy is inconsistent with various other exclusions, and is an artifact of a time when all that was really known of HIV infection — and we weren't even calling it that, in 1983 — is that it disproportionately struck gay men. Even today, MSM ("men who have sex with men," which is the term used by the CDC because it focuses on sexual behavior, rather than on orientation) are prohibited, forever, from donating blood if they have had sex, even once, with another man, at any time since 1977. The Senators' letter points out the many inconsistencies in the policy, including the fact that there's no exclusion of those who have had high-risk, unprotected heterosexual sex, no matter how recently. Even more absurdly, those who have had heterosexual sex with those known to have HIV are only deferred for one year; not for 33! And "sex" isn't defined when it comes to MSM: the safest kind of protected sexual acts are, in theory, treated the same as the riskiest.
It should go without saying that none of this can be justified from a public health perspective.
These inconsistencies should be enough to sink the policy which, as the letter notes, has lately been repudiated by the major blood banking organizations, most significantly including the Red Cross. But the problems are much deeper and more serious than even the letter recognizes. A few years ago, I discussed the issue in detail in this law review article. Here, I'll summarize the arguments I made there that weren't explicitly raised in the letter.
First, while the CDC is careful to distinguish behavior — men having sex with men — from identity, the FDA policy undermines this sound epidemiological distinction by effectively collapsing the two. By excluding any man who's had any kind of "sex" (not defined!) with even one other man during the past thirty-plus years, the FDA has created a policy that isn't about relevant behavior, but about some weirdly expansive view of (gay) sexual orientation. Because if it were about behavior, the line would have been drawn in an entirely different place; say, for a year after specifically identified, high-risk behavior.
Second, the policy undermines trust in public health in a few related ways. Obviously, as a practical matter the policy isn't enforceable, and the sheer breadth of it has doubtless caused many to ignore it. People aren't stupid: Gay men who know they have an HIV-negative serostatus might give blood, understanding that they pose no threat. (According to this very unscientific poll over at 365gay.com, almost 200 of 800 respondents admitted to having lied about their sexual practices on the questionnaire.) But by attempting to fence them out, the FDA has sent gay men an unwelcome message that could undermine the community's trust in other ways. One important public health principle is that it recognizes the long-term value of respecting the dignity of all populations.
Why has the policy persisted for so long? One argument seems sensible, at first blush: If the exclusion were changed to, say, one year, there would be some infinitesimal increase in the number of HIV-positive blood transfusions (well less than one in a million, it's estimated), so why do anything to increase the risk? But the "let's not do anything if there's a tiny risk of harm" canard — which, by the way, is also prevalent in arguments against marriage equality — wouldn't be, and hasn't been, applied to any other category of people, or of conduct. Of course there will be some tiny uptick, not because of the three-week window period between infection and ability to identify it, which any contemplated new rule would easily accommodate, but because of the irreducible human error associated with the process: If you add more people, some will get through who should not. But this could be said of any proposal to add donors; it's just that "MSM" have had such a draconian policy applied to them for so long that the donor baseline is essentially zero for this group.
It seems that uprooting this policy is fairly far down on the priority list for the LGBT community. Indeed, this story seems to have attracted but little attention. But messages matter. The radical, embarrassingly outdated FDA policy sends a terrible signal that ought to concern us. It's good to see that someone is finally suggesting action. Will Obama back them up?


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SAMJ: South African Medical Journal
versión On-line ISSN 2078-5135
versión impresa ISSN 0256-9574
SAMJ, S. Afr. med. j. vol.101 no.4 Cape Town abr. 2011
Cryptococcal meningitis - a neglected killer
In this issue of the SAMJ, Lessells et al.1 highlight the unacceptably high mortality due to HIV-associated cryptococcal meningitis (CM) in routine clinical practice in South Africa. CM is now the most common cause of adult meningitis in much of central and southern Africa, accounting for 63% of all microbiologically confirmed cases in the largest published series.2 There are an estimated 720 000 cases annually in sub-Saharan Africa, leading to 504 000 deaths;3 expanding access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) has not yet led to a decline in these numbers.4
In research settings in South Africa, utilising optimal amphotericin B-based treatments, acute mortality of CM is between 24 and 37%.5,6 Lessells et al. suggest that, in routine care settings, mortality rates are higher.1 From their study conducted at Hlabisa Hospital in rural Kwazulu-Natal, they report 41% in-hospital mortality (all of which deaths occurred within 30 days of admission), which is in keeping with data from Johannesburg, where only 33% of CM patients were known to be alive and under follow-up at 12 weeks (Govender N, unpublished). Of even greater concern is their finding that only 11% of CM patients were alive and taking ART at 2 years. Although high early mortality rates are reported in African ART programmes, data from research settings in Cape Town show that, provided patients survive the acute illness, long-term survival of CM patients can be good once they have been established on ART.6
The excessive CM mortality in routine care compared with research settings is probably owing in part to patients' difficulties accessing overloaded health care services. This issue almost certainly leads to delays in diagnosis when patients develop CM symptoms, resulting in advanced disease at presentation - a factor consistently identified as a risk for mortality. A further contributor is the lack of availability of amphotericin B (the optimal initial treatment for CM) in many hospitals. Outcomes with the alternative, fluconazole monotherapy as initial CM treatment, are poor.7 Lessells et al. report that only 35% of patients in their cohort received any amphotericin B, and only 8% received what is considered the optimal 2-week course. Unfortunately, this situation appears to be the norm in South Africa, where surveillance data suggest that less than half of patients are receiving optimal initial treatment for CM (even when optimal therapy is defined as a minimum of 1 week of amphotericin or fluconazole 800 mg daily).8 An additional critical aspect of the management of CM is correcting elevated CSF pressure (which is present in approximately 75% of CM cases at presentation9) with serial lumbar punctures. Guidance for therapeutic lumbar punctures is laid out in the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society CM treatment guidelines,10 and requires only basic equipment. But Lessells et al. demonstrate that this simple and important aspect of management is rarely carried out, which corroborates our anecdotal experience.
As Lessells and colleagues highlight, even given these inadequacies in initial treatment, the primary factor accounting for the exceptionally poor long-term outcomes was the loss of almost 50% of patients to follow-up on discharge from hospital. Only 20% of patients collected fluconazole secondary prophylaxis, and the majority did not initiate ART. The poor linkage from hospitals to outpatient services - and particularly linkage into ART care - is a major problem in South Africa, with many patients lost after inpatient treatment of opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis and CM. This clearly has serious implications, both in terms of short-term outcomes, with high rates of relapse of CM in patients not receiving adequate secondary fluconazole prophylaxis,11,12 and also preventing many lives being saved by timely initiation of ART.13 Patients with CM and other opportunistic infections involving the CNS represent a particularly vulnerable group in this regard. CNS disease is associated with high mortality and loss to follow-up from ART programmes, which is thought to result from impaired insight, cognition, mobility or volition.14 Thirty-four per cent of patients in the Lessells study had a depressed level of consciousness at the time of admission and, even though this may improve during CM treatment, many patients still have impaired cognition during their hospital stay. This impairs patients' ability to comprehend counselling regarding the need for ongoing fluconazole, ART and outpatient follow-up. In addition, our experience suggests that insufficient time is spent counselling patients in this regard in their own language during an admission for CM.
What needs to be done? The good news is that, despite the poor outcomes described in the Kwazulu-Natal cohort, a series of straightforward steps could markedly improve outcomes, even with the currently available treatment options. Clinicians need to have a low threshold for suspecting CM, and all known or suspected HIV-infected patients with a new headache should have a diagnostic lumbar puncture. Amphotericin B should be made available to all clinicians treating such patients, and these clinicians should be educated about the importance of its role in initial therapy, and about the steps needed to monitor for and prevent its adverse effects. Manometers should be available, and clinicians must routinely measure CSF opening pressure in CM patients and manage it according to established guidelines. Importantly, in addition to improving inpatient treatment, subsequent linkage into outpatient ART services must be strengthened. This requires both a streamlining of the referral process with improved communication between inpatient and primary care providers, and specific counselling for patients, emphasising the importance of ongoing fluconazole treatment, the need for ART, and details about where to attend for outpatient care. Involving relatives or friends as treatment supporters during the admission, who could assist with ensuring that such vulnerable patients get to their outpatient appointments, assist with adherence to ART and fluconazole, and bring patients for medical attention if they deteriorate, could make an important difference to outcomes. Health care services must recognise and make provision for the fact that patients who have had an acute opportunistic infection (particularly those that involve the CNS) are vulnerable and need special attention in order to get them onto ART and specifically support them through the first months of treatment. Additional input, both medically and socially, during this early treatment period would pay dividends in terms of long-term survival.
More work is needed to develop simple to use, point-of-care diagnostic tests for CM, to develop improved initial treatments and to define the optimal timing of ART initiation. There is also the exciting possibility that much CM-related morbidity and mortality could be prevented by routine cryptococcal antigen screening of asymptomatic patients entering ART programmes.15 But, as Lessells and colleagues clearly demonstrate, CM is exacting a high toll in South African patients now. We can and must do better with the tools we already have.
The Southern African HIV Clinicians Society Guidelines for the Prevention, Diagnosis and Management of Cryptococcal Meningitis are accessible online at: http://sahivsoc.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=18&dir=DESC&order=date&Itemid=67& limit=5&limitstart=5
JNJ and GM are supported by the Wellcome Trust, London, UK (WT081794 and WT081667).
Joseph Jarvis
Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, and Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town
Infectious Diseases Unit, G F Jooste Hospital, Cape Town
Centre for Infection, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, St George's
University of London
Graeme Meintjes
Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine, Department of Medicine, and
Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine,University of Cape Town
Infectious Diseases Unit, G F Jooste Hospital, Cape Town
Department of Medicine, Imperial College, London
1. Lessells RJ, Mutevedzi PC, Heller T, Newell ML. Poor long-term outcomes from cryptococcal meningitis in rural South Africa. S Afr Med J 2011;101:251-252 (this issue). [ Links ]
2. Jarvis JN, Meintjes G, Williams A, Brown Y, Crede T, Harrison TS. Adult meningitis in a setting of high HIV and TB prevalence: findings from 4961 suspected cases. BMC Infect Dis 2010;10(1):67. [ Links ]
3. Park BJ, Wannemuehler KA, Marston BJ, Govender N, Pappas PG, Chiller TM. Estimation of the current global burden of cryptococcal meningitis among persons living with HIV/AIDS. AIDS 2009;23(4):525-530. [ Links ]
4. Jarvis JN, Boulle A, Loyse A, et al. High ongoing burden of cryptococcal disease in Africa despite antiretroviral roll out. AIDS 2009;23:1181-1185. [ Links ]
5. Bicanic T, Meintjes G, Wood R, et al. Fungal burden, early fungicidal activity, and outcome in cryptococcal meningitis in antiretroviral-naive or antiretroviral-experienced patients treated with amphotericin B or fluconazole. Clin Infect Dis 2007;45(1):76-80. [ Links ]
6. Bicanic T, Wood R, Meintjes G, et al. High-dose amphotericin B with flucytosine for the treatment of cryptococcal meningitis in HIV-infected patients: a randomized trial. Clin Infect Dis 2008;47(1):123-130. [ Links ]
7. Jarvis JN, Bicanic T, Harrison TS. Treatment of HIV-associated cryptococcal meningitis in South Africa: the case for amphotericin B over conventional dose fluconazole for initial therapy Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine 2007;28:36-39. [ Links ]
8. Govender N, Cohen C, Meiring S, et al. Trends in Treatment of Adults with Incident Cryptococcosis, South Africa, 2005 to 2008. 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, San Francisco; 6 - 19 February, 2010 (abstract 800). [ Links ]
9. Graybill JR, Sobel J, Saag M, et al. Diagnosis and management of increased intracranial pressure in patients with AIDS and cryptococcal meningitis. The NIAID Mycoses Study Group and AIDS Cooperative Treatment Groups. Clin Infect Dis 2000;30(1):47-54. [ Links ]
10. Southern African HIV Clinicians Society. Guidelines for the Prevention, Diagnosis and Management of Cryptococcal Meningitis and Disseminated Cryptococcosis in HIV-infected Patients. Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine 2007;28:25-35. [ Links ]
11. Jarvis JN, Meintjes G, Williams z, Rebe K, Harrison T. Symptomatic relapse of HIV-associated cryptococcal meningitis in South Africa: the role of inadequate secondary prophylaxis. S Afr Med J 2010;100(6):378-382. [ Links ]
12. Collett G, Parrish A. Fluconazole donation and outcomes assessment in cryptococcal meningitis. S Afr Med J 2007;97(3):175-176. [ Links ]
13. Jarvis JN, Meintjes G, Wood R, Harrison TS. Testing but not treating: missed opportunities and lost lives in the South African antiretroviral therapy programme. AIDS (London, England) 2010;24(8):1233-1235. [ Links ]
14. Asselman V, Thienemann F, Pepper DJ, et al. Central nervous system disorders after starting antiretroviral therapy in South Africa. AIDS 2010;24(18):2871-2876. [ Links ]
15. Jarvis JN, Harrison TS, Govender N, et al. Routine cryptococcal antigen screening for HIV-infected patients with low CD4+ T-lymphocyte counts: time to implement in South Africa? S Afr Med J 2011;101:232-234 (this issue). [ Links ]
Corresponding author: J Jarvis (firstname.lastname@example.com)


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Our delicious recipes extract the most tantalizing spices from these regions to create an entirely new adventure for your discriminating palate.
We are located on railroad tracks, situated in an old train car, featuring three different rooms, each with its own distinctive atmosphere and cuisine: Chinese, Sushi, and Hibachi.
Come join us for an unforgettable and unique dining experience!


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Feds funnel $28M to New Mexico water projects
Several water projects in New Mexico will be getting a funding boost.
Several water projects in New Mexico will be getting a funding boost.
Members of New Mexico's congressional delegation say the Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to fund eight projects that will bring more than $28 million to the state.
Lawmakers say the projects will help prevent potentially dangerous and costly flooding.
The projects include work along the Middle Rio Grande Valley and in Alamogordo and San Miguel County.
Money is also earmarked to study the flood risks and other environmental and recreational issues in the Espanola Valley.
Another study aimed at reducing the salinity along the Rio Grande and Pecos River is planned.
U.S. Sen. Tom Udall says last year's flooding was a reminder of how important it is to shore up dams and levees and maintain river habitat.


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This issue will hopefully wet your appetite with some painting tips, tricks, and features. Nothing grabs your attention more than a shiny, flawless paint job on the contest table or at your model club meeting. Unfortunately, there is no resin column this month. Things just got out of hand, and I didn't want to rush getting the article together. I do have some new resin products to feature; I will try to post them on the web site soon.
Speaking of the web site, I was racking my brain (what's left of those two remaining brain cells) trying to learn Drupal, the Content Management System (CMS), and I just hit an impasse. So, I did the next best thing; I switched over to the other easier CMS, WordPress. This has been a lot easier for me to learn, and I will have everything migrated over soon. Sorry, David, I tried…
This year iHobby will be held for the first time in Cleveland, which is close to the Toledo NNL, also in October. Thanks to my friend Doc Maydak, I may be close to getting some help at the Cleveland Clinic, but that is still being worked on as I write this. Yes, the troubles are not going away, and if anything, it's getting worse. Simple things that we all take for granted like sitting, standing, and walking are next to impossible for anything longer than a few minutes. But heh, I get free parking, yeah?
The only thing I am really able to do comfortably is read. I read about a book a day, and that's no joke. In my online pursuits of authors who pen the novels I like, such as who-dunnits, detective stories, and murder mysteries, I met Marshall Karp, a best-selling and incredibly gifted (and phunny) guy who types out the Lomax and Biggs detective stories (www.lomaxandbiggs.com). He has inspired me, and hopefully push me, to get some of my own stories down on paper, which is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I think most of us have aspired to be a writer at one time or another. With the way I am now, it may be the only thing I can do and be physically comfortable at. I am able to work on models every day, but it's usually during a ten minute or so spurt of energy and that's it. Laying over the edge of the bed and building kind of makes my head hurt, if you know what I mean!
Enough of the sad sob stories; on to the good news! I have been working with a forum member, Joe Phillips, and along with Dave Pye and others are really pushing to get younger builders back in our hobby. I used to see a lot of great young builders at the shows that I went to, and the work they do now blows away everything we did when we were younger, without a doubt! The paint jobs, detailing, scratchbuilding, it's like a builder with decades of experience built the model, not some 15-year old! I like to think that we here at MCM had something to do with that. We try and share what we know with everyone, young or old. We have nothing to hide, and everything to gain by sharing our love of our hobby with the younger generation. Look what our friend Oscar Koveleski is doing with his KidRacers.com site and youth racing program.
On a sad note, we lost a dear friend recently. Many of you may have met Bill Lastovich at shows across the country, and if you didn't know him, you were definately touched by him if you ever purchased a Revell/Monogram kit. Please see Ed Sexton's tribute to Bill on page 12. Bill, my friend, you will be missed. Yes, you can tell everyone up there that Pepermill story, you have my permission 🙂 Aloha for now, it's time to lay down… again.


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In this Friday, July 20, 2012 photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Food Network personality Paula Deen, left, tugs at her husband Michael Groover's beard outside Sloppy Joe's Bar in Key West, Fla. Groover participated in the "Papa" Hemingway Look-Alike Contest during Key West's Hemingway Days festival that each year honors the late author Ernest Hemingway. Groover is among 25 finalists, culled from 140 entrants, who competed in the final round on Saturday night. (AP Photo/Florida Keys News Bureau, Andy Newman)
More from Jezebel
Why do some famous people get those horribly perfect teeth. Capped to death. They are just so perfect and so big and so white and they stick out so far. It's just too much.


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This article is from the archive of our partner .
The Hill reports that a once-controversial provision of the Affordable Care Act that adds a ten percent tax to indoor tanning sessions will soon become permanent. That's good news for Obamacare, which will garner an estimate $2.7 billion in revenue every ten years from the move. And it's bad news for people who don't want to pay slightly more for a tanning session.
We were curious about how many tanning sessions resulted in that $2.7 billion. No one at The Atlantic Wire appears to be a tanning salon customer (the rainy spring would probably betray anyone who was). So we decided to look at costs for the most famous tanner in the world: the New Jersey Tan Mom.
Patricia Krentcil lives in Nutley, New Jersey. In Nutley, one finds City Tropics Tanning. City Tropics offers a range of services, ranging in cost from $16 for a session to a $99 30-day unlimited pass, which certain local mothers might have found economical. Averaging the one-time costs, we get $25.50 per session. Ten percent of $25.50 is $2.55. So how many $25.50 sessions would generate $2.7 billion in taxes?
That's 1.058 billion. 1.058 billion tanning sessions each decade. Over 100 million a year. It's enough to give a dermatologist an arrhythmia.
Earlier this month, The New York Times reported on the vastly different prices around the country for various medical procedures. We were curious how many tanning sessions it would take to offset those costs. And so:
The president would probably argue that part of the point of his healthcare plan is to reduce the costs of those procedures. But if he isn't successful, tanning salon patrons will need 527 single sessions in order to off-set someone's colonoscopy. The Hippocratic oath: First, do no harm; second, lay down a base tan.
There is one tanning-like procedure that the IRS exempts from paying the tax: phototherapy service. From its FAQ:
What is phototherapy service?
A. Phototherapy service is a service which exposes an individual to specific wavelengths of light for the treatment of dermatological conditions, sleep disorders, seasonal affective disorder or other psychiatric disorder, neonatal jaundice, wound healing, or other medical condition determined by a licensed medical professional to be treatable by exposing the individual to specific wavelengths of light.
Is phototherapy service exempt from the indoor tanning services tax?
A. It is exempt from the indoor tanning services tax if performed by a licensed medical professional on the medical professional's premises.
Some day, in the not-too-distant-future, a number of medicinal phototherapy stores will open around Oakland, California, offering discounts on sessions and flagrantly violating the spirit of the law. Patricia Krentcil has probably already called her doctor for a diagnosis.
Correction: This article originally stated that the $2.7 billion was an annual figure. Happily for America, it is not.
This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.
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Anthony Van den Pol, PhD
Research & Publications
Dr. Anthony van den Pol is a Professor of Neurosurgery. After completing his graduate education at Yale University, Dr. van den Pol did postdoctoral work at Oxford, Semmelweis, and Stanford Universities in the areas of neuropharmacology, neuroanatomy, and neurophysiology. Dr. van den Pol has two overlapping research interests, related to basic cellular mechanisms and approaches to understanding the normal and diseased brain, and the treatment of brain disorders.
One focus is on the organization and mechanisms of action of hypothalamic neuropeptides and amino acid transmitters, using a combination of patch clamp electrophysiology, ultrastructural cytochemistry, digital imaging, molecular biology, optogenetics and behavioral analysis. The other interest is in neurovirology, including how viruses alter normal function in the developing and mature brain, and the use of viral vectors to study normal brain or treat the diseased brain, or utilization of replication-competent oncolytic viruses to treat brain cancer. Dr. van den Pol's research is supported by the National Institute of Health.
Education & Training
- PhDYale University (1977)
- Postdoctoral FellowOxford University
Honors & Recognition
|American Physiology Society Travel Award
|Charles Ohse Research Award
|International Research Exchange Organization Award


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Revelations is Volume 30 from Gospel & Acts, the New Testament, from the Unabridged Contemporary English Version Translation of the Holy Bible.
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Alexander Dmitrievich Samarin
Alexander Dmitrievich Samarin was Ober-Procurator of the Apostolic Governing Synod, the Imperial government governing agency over the Church of Russia, for three months in 1915, succeeding Vladimir Karlovich Sabler.
Before he became ober-procurator, Alexander Dmitrievich was a Zemstvo leader, leader of the nobility for Bogorodsky, and for Moscow Province from 1908 to 1915. He also held a position with the Russian Red Cross during World War II.
He held the office of ober procurator only from July 15 to September 26, 1915.
Alexander Dmitrievich Samarin
|Preceded by:
Vladimir Karlovich Sabler
|Succeeded by:
Alexander Nikolayevich Volzhin


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Commission approval of time period extension: The Commission has approved a fourth extension of a time period concerning a matter involving Baxter International, Inc. (Baxter). Under the order in Docket No. C-3726, which concerned Baxter's acquisition of Immuno International AG, Baxter was required to contract manufacture the Autoplex Factor VIII Inhibitor Treatments for NABI (the acquiring company) for a period not-to-exceed three years from the date the company's divestiture application was approved, unless extended by the FTC. The divestiture approval was granted on May 8, 1997, and the divestiture was completed on May 16, 1997. The Commission's approval in the current matter, which was requested by the trustee overseeing the divestiture process, extends by 12 months, until May 8, 2004, the time that NABI has to obtain all FDA approvals to manufacture Baxter's Factor VIII Inhibitor Treatments. The vote to approve the time period extension was 5-0. (FTC Docket No. C-3726; staff contact is Elizabeth A. Piotrowski, 202-326-2623; see press releases dated December 19, 1996; February 21, March 28, and May 13, 1997; May 9, 2000; April 30, 2001; and May 7, 2002.)
Commission approval of final consent order: Following a public comment period, the Commission has approved the issuance of a final consent order in the matter concerning Educational Research Center of America, Inc. and Student Marketing Group, Inc. and issued a response to the commenter of record. The Commission vote to approve the final consent order was 5-0. (FTC File No. 022-3249; staff contact is Laura Mazzarella, Bureau of Consumer Protection, 202-326-3424; see press release dated January 29, 2003.)
Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC's Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC's Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.
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WWII Online: Battleground Europe 1.34.9
Set in World War II Western Europe, WWII Online: Battleground Europe is a brutally realistic MMO featuring hundreds of towns and cities in a huge, zone-less map where battles rage for days and campaigns for weeks.
When it comes to the world of massive multi-player games, fans of genres outside of RPGs have had to be jealous and pretend they didn't care. Although many action-oriented gamers may have barked, "Bah, those are crap!" --Greebus, I know deep down they have been wishing they could bring a couple thousand people into their Tribes 2 universes.
Throughout the decent amount of hype that World War II Online generated in the months preceding its release, I have often wondered if this would be the game that provides a multi-player environment for my intractable friends. It is finally here and has been for several weeks, but the launch left much to be desired, giving the developers ample time to fix some of the bigger bugs while also giving me time to get deep into the opening part of the war.
Let me explain.
The developers of World War II Online had a wonderful concept: take the massive multi-player sides of Everquest, Ultima Online and Asheron's Call and place them into an environment that is familiar to anyone, anywhere. Completing such a difficult task would take an extraordinary amount of skill. They would have to blend a technologically advanced game engine with addictive play mechanics to keep gamers happy.
Everquest and Asheron's Call had to tone down the graphics a bit in order to accommodate for the large number of people that would be traversing the server. World War II Online, although offering many instances of graphical prowess, won't shine quite as bright as games with a limited number of multi-player outlets.
Although my initial response to the game was fairly lukewarm, the longer I put myself into the role of a soldier at war, the more I began to conform to the engine. I started noticing how gunfire and explosions look intimidating in the distance. Structures and vehicles, after a hard assault, will be left smoking in the rubble. The transition from day to night is subtle, and it can be quite beautiful. The tanks and gunners are quite detailed and offer a look at the last bit of scenery many soldiers might have been able to see.
On the downside, some of the environments are quite unsightly. The infantry, from when they are in front of you or when you can only see their hands, are extremely low on polygons. Thankfully, the vehicles and aircrafts don't seem to have that same issue, but that doesn't save the buildings. While they take damage and offer a way to identify war-torn towns, they often look like cardboard boxes, resulting in bland textures. In addition, the game has such profound aliasing problems that running without aliasing resulted in a plethora of staircases.
On the plus side, the game ran quite amazingly. Although I heard complaints from the mouths of my teammates from time to time, I was able to run at 1600X1200 at 32-bit color with QuinAA, using the GeForce 3 rig. I easily averaged 50 fps. When you consider the large number of players, the seemingly never-ending world and the different types of vehicles, it is easy to justify the trade-off.
Also, there were a couple of situations where I was quite amazed at the engine. I was heading toward a town in which I had no business, and I decided to try to tough it out. Flooring the accelerator, I flew past the opening bridge and the Nazi flag. Reaching the end of the town, I breathed a sigh of relief as a bullet threw a cloud of dust a foot in front of my Bedford. The air pierced by the bullet didn't sound too shabby either.
In order to portray realism, WW2O doesn't offer a soundtrack. Instead, it relies on the matter-of-fact depiction of what it may have sounded like. They did a great job.
Although there are a couple of instances of repetitive sounds, most of the time you will enjoy everything coming out of your speakers. Traveling from one town to the next is often a little nerve racking when the faint taps of ground fire grow into pounding warfare. These not only provide a way to identify where you shouldn't be, but they add to the tension of the moment.
Ambient and non-combat sounds offer a helping hand to the realism factor. Like the rest of the MMORPGs, you will often find yourself waiting for something, whether it is daybreak or a ride, just listening to the sounds of night. Hey, it happened in Saving Private Ryan.
The only thing I found lacking were the screams of friendly and enemy wounded. While I don't want to be morbid, screaming soldiers are a part of war would have added to the realism.
I must say that I would have preferred the Tribes 2 approach to controlling infantry and vehicles to the more strategic approach that WW2O presents. Instead of just walking like you would in any first-person shooter, aiming and firing, you have five different walk positions, and ready, aim and fire controls. The same thing happens when you jump into a vehicle. Nothing is ever simple enough to allow the casual gamer to jump in and play. Instead, as I learned, the gameplay manual will have to be open until you master the intensive and often confusing control interface. That, coupled with the fact that the vehicles switch to joystick control, is two hairs lower than frustrating.
All is not lost, though, thanks to a keymapper option that can change these settings. After you get used to them, they become a little more ... understandable. While they never feel as fluid as more simple configurations (I would much rather just point and shoot), the controls mimic the painstaking tasks it takes to attack in war. So it is hard to say that the control is extremely difficult because more times than not, I was pretty satisfied with the handling. Aside from the infantry control, I am extremely happy that the controls for tanks aren't as complex as they were in Steel Beasts, and the aircraft isn't as difficult as MS Train Simulator.
A HUD will be present to offer a little help with the interface. While not as informative as many others, it barely takes up any space on your screen. Situated in the lower-right corner, you have a view of your compass, health meters and physical status. While it may seem a little lacking at first, rest assured; it displays the information that you need.
Maybe one of the most glorious things about World War II Online is the fact that throughout weeks and months of gaming, the things you do will affect the end result of the war. The game begins, and the time after the initial assault of the Nazi forces has already passed. Now you can either assist the Allied forces or help the continuing onslaught of German forces.
You begin the game with the World Screen, viewing a globe that presents the available theater, which is represented by a yellow rectangle. This will take you into the Theater Screen. With varying levels of zoom, you can focus in on the different nations of Europe and see by whom they are occupied. From here you can also join and set up missions (if you are high enough rank) for others to take.
After you decide where you want to go, you will be presented with the vehicle screen and a list of every role you can assume. Usually every position you would want, aside from the aircraft, will be listed. Certain information is listed about the available types of armor and weaponry will be accessible as you go up in rank.
When you join, you will surely find that unless you work as a team, you will not enjoy your experience. Traveling from a tranquil Allied town into a place where a little action can be found will often take over fifteen minutes. Therefore, you often will be screaming out for a friendly transport, and that isn't always easy to find. This is a serious problem with WW2O. Without thousands of people to play on one server, it is easy to get lost in the hundreds of miles that the developer has included. However, if good missions are mapped out by someone with a high rank, you should be able to have a number of enemies on your hands. The ranking system should offer fans of RPGs a little sweetness since the longer you play, the less restrictions you will have. You will be able to command other players, pilot new vehicles and become a more valuable asset to your "country."
World War II Online is, without a doubt, a military game fanatic's dream come true. It offers an unprecedented virtual battlefield that I can only see getting better. However, if you aren't ready to wade through the various troubles that have plagued that game, the depiction of realistic warfare or the trade-off for many people with lowered graphics, you might not want to rush out for this one until it gets cleaned up a bit. I will update this review shortly to reflect this and add details that I may have left out.
No local download file is associated with this listing. Clicking the Download link will redirect your browser to a page from which the application can be obtained.


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Newtown students waived from taking Connecticut Mastery Tests
HARTFORD -- Connecticut and federal education officials are allowing Newtown students to skip standardized testing because of the school shootings that killed 20 first-graders and six educators in December.
The state Board of Education and state lawmakers voted Wednesday to approve measures allowing Newtown children in grades 3 through 8 to skip the Connecticut Mastery Tests that are being administered statewide this month.
Newtown officials had requested the unprecedented, one-time waiver, citing the trauma suffered by students and staff from the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
State officials say the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday granted Newtown a one-year waiver of federal student assessment requirements.
State Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor says the waiver is a way to provide some relief from the tragedy.


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Wallet-Friendly Wine: Schloss Schönborn 2007 Riesling Kabinett
Our hunt for great-tasting affordable wine.
Editor's Note: In this series, we'll share the best deals we find in wine.
I have a new habit. I'm not sure it's a bad habit, exactly, though it adds up. On my lunch break, or as the day quiets down, I find myself trolling the interwebs for wine to buy. My method of choice: sorting by vintage.
Once upon a time, you were limited to the wine store nearest you, and you went there, and chatted them up, and maybe bought a bottle. If they had something special, or some good deal, you'd happen upon it, and that's nice. But now, there's the internet, and if you live in a state that allows shipping, wine shopping is a whole new ballgame. And even if you don't order wine to be sent in the mail (those shipping costs add up), the internet is a handy tool for discovering wine you simply must have, and spotting good deals from the comfort of your laptop.
So I open the webpages of the wine stores near me, and I sort the list of what's available by vintage. Often, you can limit the price, and say, hey, don't show me awesome older wines that cost $50. I don't want to see them, I just can't buy them. (Yes, this is how I talk to websites.) So I set it on under $20 or so, and have it show me the oldest bottles first.
Of course, there's some amount of risk: the wine won't taste good if it wasn't stored well. Unless you know exactly how the wine was stored, there's a chance you get a bad bottle.
But sometimes there are treasures, wines that have developed over time in a cellar somewhere, shed their baby fat or unfolded into something new and delicious. For people who don't have much storage space to age the wine themselves, sortable shop websites can be a boon. I bought a bottle of Heitz Cellar Napa Valley Zinfandel from 1981 this way, and we opened it on New Year's Eve. It was a cold night, a small gathering, and the wine was earthy and murmury, the kind of sip that makes everything go hushed for a moment.
This week, the vintage-sorting process turned up a bottle of riesling from 2007. Now, that's not super-old, but it's enough time for the wine to develop a bit, and I was curious. Especially at the price of $13.99.
The winery, Schloss Schönborn, has been around awhile: it dates back to 1349. Twenty seven generations of the von Schönborn family have made these wines. They have parcels in 38 different vineyards in the Rheingau, where the slopes above the Rhine river face south, bathing in the warm sunlight. And the winery recently released this bottling: they've been storing it since '07.
My curiosity paid off: Schloss Schönborn 2007 Riesling Kabinett is a great deal. Equal parts stony and rich and tart, the wine is part river rocks, part lemon bars. It's delicious on its own, though it'll play nice with a cheese plate or roast chicken or pad thai with shrimp.
If you're looking for me, I'll be back online buying some more...
Wine: Schloss Schönborn 2007 Riesling Kabinett
Price: $13.99 (prices vary by region)
Importer: Rudi Wiest, David Bowler
Spotted online: at K&L, Green Jug, Pasanella & Son, Chelsea Wine Vault
About the Author: Maggie Hoffman is a Senior Editor at Serious Eats, based in San Francisco. She founded Serious Eats: Drinks in 2011. You can follow her on Twitter @maggiejane.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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