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5 Ridiculous Myths People Use to Trash Local Food -- And Why They're Wrong
It's become predictable. At nearly regular intervals, someone, somewhere, will decide it's time to write another article "debunking" the local food movement. The latest installment is by Steve Sexton, posted on the Freakonomics blog (which also treated us to a previous post called "Do We Really Need a Few Billion Locavores?") And we must not forget the leading anti-locavore, James McWilliams, who gave us "The Locavore Myth" and many other, similar articles.
The arguments are stale, shallow and often incorrect. But if you enjoy the flavor of organic heirloom tomatoes, fresh picked from the farm, here's how to read these articles without filling with guilt that your love of local food is doing the planet in and starving people in the Global South.
Myth #1: People who eat local eat the same diet as those who don't.
A favorite anti-locavore argument is that eating local does not reduce oil usage or carbon emissions. Now, if locavores were munching on locally produced Big Macs and other highly processed foods as the rest of the mainstream food system does, this argument might be correct. But that's not the case.
James McWilliams likes to use the example of a study on lamb which shows that eating New Zealand lamb in London actually has a smaller carbon footprint than lamb from the U.K. The New Zealand lamb is raised on pasture, and even when you factor in the carbon emissions from shipping, it is still friendlier to the environment than grain-fed factory farmed U.K. lamb. Well, sure. Only no self-respecting London locavore would dream of eating grain-fed, factory farmed lamb. He or she would find a local farmer raising lamb on pasture instead. Now compare the carbon footprint of that to the New Zealand lamb. With similar production methods and a correspondingly similar carbon footprint, the major difference between the two would be the oil required to ship the New Zealand lamb halfway across the world.
Myth #2: The only reason for eating local is reducing 'food miles.'
Often anti-locavore arguments, such as the one above from McWilliams, are predicated on the notion that locavores only eat local to reduce food miles -- the number of miles the food traveled from farm to fork -- and the reason they do that is to reduce carbon emissions. Since modern shipping methods are relatively efficient, it is then easy to prove that it's very efficient to transport a truckload or train car full of fresh peaches from California around the rest of the U.S., compared to the efficiency of driving a relatively small quantity of peaches to and from a farmers' market. No doubt one can come up with numbers showing that, per pound of peach, transporting large quantities of peaches across the country uses less oil than transporting smaller quantities shorter distances.
But that assumes this is the only benefit to eating local, and it isn't. For one thing, who picked the California peaches? Probably migrant labor. How were they treated? How were they paid? Probably poorly. What was sprayed on those peaches? In 2004, more than 100 different pesticides were used in California peaches, including highly toxic ones like methyl bromide, paraquat, chlorpyrifos, and carbaryl. This amounted to a total of 468,804 pounds of pesticides used on peaches in California alone that year. And how about water usage? What is the rationale of growing the majority of the nation's fruit in a state that does not have enough water without heavy irrigation (and also lacks the necessary abundance of water to accomplish all that irrigation)?
Then consider your own enjoyment and nutrition. Wouldn't you rather eat a fresh fruit or vegetable that was just picked? And wouldn't it be nicer to eat a variety that was selected for flavor and not for its ability to withstand shipping and storage? These are not merely hedonistic considerations, as nutrients can degrade over time once produce is harvested. What's more, nutrients that were never in the soil to begin with cannot possibly be present in the food. A farm with healthy soil will also produce healthier -- and more flavorful -- food. Your body is wired up to desire flavorful fruits and vegetables because they are better for you. And when you eat out at a restaurant that serves local food, often the chef can work together with local farms so that the farmers plant the specific varieties of fruits and vegetables that the chef wants to serve.
One last reason for eating local are the relationships that one forms within one's community, and the economic multiplier effect that occurs within the community when one buys local. This extends beyond just food to other goods as well. When you spend your money locally, it enriches your community. When you buy from a large grocery chain, some of your money goes to pay the clerk who checked you out and the manager who oversees that clerk, but the rest goes to the grocery store's corporate headquarters, to the truckers, the warehouses, and to the farm that grew your food, far away from where you live. What's more, when you buy from the same local farmers each week, you build relationships with those who grew your food. Thus, your weekly food shopping nourishes your soul as well as your body.
Myth #3: Growing food locally is inefficient.
This is the subject of the latest tirade against eating local. The piece sings the praises of "comparative advantage," noting that it makes the most sense to grow Alabama's potatoes in Idaho, where potato yields far exceed yields in Alabama. Alabama should grow whatever it grows best and then it should ship that to Idaho, right?
This depends on your idea of efficiency. Idaho is no doubt growing Russet Burbank potatoes, the kind used in French fries. These are large, high-yielding potatoes, especially when -- as described by Michael Pollan -- they "have been doused with so much pesticide that their leaves wear a dull white chemical bloom and the soil they're rooted in is a lifeless gray powder." In The Botany of Desire, Pollan describes how an Idaho farmer with 3,000 acres grows potatoes (and nothing but potatoes!). He begins with a soil fumigant, then herbicide. Then he plants his potatoes, using an insecticide as he does. Next, another herbicide -- and so on. For "efficiency" he applies these pesticides by adding them to the water in his irrigation system, water that is then returned to its source, a local river. He also has a crop-dusting plane spray the plants every two weeks, and he applies 10 doses of chemical fertilizer. (With all of these chemicals, the farmer told Pollan he won't eat his own potatoes. He grows a special, chemical-free plot of spuds near his house for his own consumption.) Altogether, in a good year, an Idaho potato farmer will spend $1,950 per acre in order to net $2,000 per acre. Efficient?
Perhaps the Alabama potato farmers who are achieving much lower yields than they might in Idaho are using the same business model. If so, they are bad businessmen, as it would require a lot of costly inputs to produce less of a commodity that is sold by the pound, and they would make rather little money for their trouble. But if any of them subscribe to the locavore model of farming and eating, then this will not be the case.
Hopefully, the Alabama farmers forgo the costly inputs, so that the money earned from the potatoes after their harvest is their own. Potatoes, after all, require little soil fertility. In the Andes, where potatoes were first domesticated, a farmer named Juan Cayo grows potatoes at the end of a four year rotation on his fields near Lake Titicaca. First, he grow fava beans, which infuse the soil with nitrogen. For the next two years, he grows grains (barley and oats), which use up most of the nitrogen in the soil. Last, he grows potatoes, which are happy enough to grow using whatever fertility is leftover.
Crop rotation also serves to deal with the nematodes and insects that the Idaho farmer sprayed for. If any pests find the potato crop and begin to breed, they will have a bad surprise when, the next year, a different crop is sown in that field and they suddenly have no food. Some of them might find where the farmer is now growing this year's potatoes, but it will take them time to get there. For the bugs that do arrive, there are a number of organic strategies. Least efficient, but always an option, is picking the bugs off by hand. Better yet, a farmer can provide habitat for predatory insects or birds that prey on the pest or spray Bacillus thuringiensis, a bacteria that naturally kills insects.
Weeds can be suppressed by a heavy layer of mulch, removed via tilling, or pulled by hand if necessary. A common strategy is to allow the weed seeds in the field to germinate before planting your crop, then kill the weeds via tilling, and subsequently plant the crop. You might even be able to convince your chickens to kill the weeds for you. Additionally, some weeds in your field are actually a good thing. Not so many that they choke out your crop, of course, but there are edible weeds, weeds that can be used as medicinal plants, and even weeds that, when allowed to grow sparingly in your field, can boost production of your crop. For example, garden guru John Jeavons recommends dandelion, purslane, stinging nettle and lamb's quarters as edible (and nutritious!) weeds that will help your crops, too.
Last, an organic farmer growing for a local market will plant a number of potato varieties, not just one. The reasons for growing several varieties are many. Some varieties may be best for baking, others for mashed potatoes, and still others for frying. One variety might taste the best or yield the most but lacks natural resistance to a fungal disease, whereas another variety with mediocre yields does naturally resist the disease. Some varieties mature faster than others, allowing the farmer to harvest and sell potatoes all season long. And if all of the potatoes fail, the farmer is also growing a number of other crops in addition to potatoes. In short, agrobiodiversity -- growing diverse varieties and diverse species -- provides insurance.
Myth #4: We can't feed a growing population on local (organic) food.
This is the biggest whopper of all. The recent Freakonomics article says it as follows:
"From roughly 1940 to 1990, the world's farmers doubled their output to accommodate a doubling of the world population. And they did it on a shrinking base of cropland. Agricultural productivity can continue to grow, but not by turning back the clock. Local foods may have a place in the market. But they should stand on their own, and local food consumers should understand that they aren't necessarily buying something that helps the planet, and it may hurt the poor."
For an American who has never traveled outside the country -- or perhaps has traveled but not to agricultural areas, observing both peasant subsistence agriculture and industrial agriculture -- Sexton's argument might seem logical. But his argument ignores the vast expanses of land planted with entirely unnecessary crops for feeding the world: cotton, sugarcane, palm oil, soybeans, corn, rubber, tobacco, and fast growing trees like eucalyptus for paper production, to name a few. No doubt we need some cotton, sugar, and corn, etc. But the amount of land under these crops, which are then used to produce biofuels, processed foods, factory-farmed meat, paper, clothing, and industrial inputs, is immense, wasteful, and largely (although not entirely) unnecessary.
Prior to the European conquest of the Americas, sugar was reserved for the very wealthy. By the height of the Industrial Revolution, sugar made up a significant percent of calories in the British diet. And it is hardly controversial to note that Americans eat an unhealthy amount of sugar in their diets today. Palm oil, which is now found in 50 percent of processed foods and other items like cleaning products in the United States, was once a local, traditional West African food. Today, palm oil production is ravaging the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia and expanding to other areas like Papua New Guinea and Latin America.
Both of these crops, as well as corn, soy and jatropha are also grown for biofuels, which do not feed people. Neither does paper, which we in the United States use as a cheap renewable resource, unaware of enormous areas covered in fast growing trees that are often quite disruptive to the ecosystem around them in order to meet our needs. And grain-fed meat, as pointed out so many years ago by Frances Moore Lappe in Diet for a Small Planet, is a wasteful use of calories compared to feeding grain directly to people. If we care about feeding the world while using fewer resources, switching to pasture-raised meat -- and less of it per person in the developed world -- is a must. Doing so would likely improve our health as a nation at the same time.
There is much more to say in response to Sexton's claims. As productivity doubled during the 20th century, it did so based on the nonrenewable resources of oil and natural gas. These agricultural methods are, thus, not sustainable. That means they cannot be continued indefinitely into the future even without considering an expanding global population. We in the United States and other wealthy countries must find a new way to feed ourselves no matter what. The "gains" of the 20th century are temporary, and defending them by attacking local food will not create the needed oil or freeze the clock on the climate crisis in order to continue growing food like we do now.
To understand how to feed a growing world population, we must travel outside our bubble, into the Global South, to see how the areas of the world where the population is growing the fastest live. Here, where the people that writers like Sexton worry about feeding, live, the economics and efficiency of local, organic food are completely different from how they are in the United States. These people who live in adobe huts, grow their food with manual or animal labor, saved seeds, few inputs, and often no irrigation, are not endangering our ability to support our global population with the Earth's resources. Those who bathe and do laundry in the local stream, who store dried grains and beans because they lack refrigerators, and who never go shopping as a leisure activity as we do in the United States will not make or break the planet's ability to provide enough food, fuel, and fiber for human needs. It's we in the United States and other developed countries who will do so.
Myth #5: Eating local (organic) food is elitist.
In the United States, where processed food is artificially cheap and where many people eat what they can afford to buy at the expense of their health, local food is a luxury. For those who do not grow their own food, and especially for those who want to eat in restaurants or buy from a grocery store, local and organic food is expensive. But let's reframe the issue. Instead of asking for cheaper (but unhealthy and environmentally destructive) food, let's ask for living wages so that anyone who works full time can support their family and feed them well. Let's ask for an expanded middle class instead of a growing gap between rich and poor.
We must also note that outside of the United States and Europe, this equation is different. For peasants, local, organic food is cheap and low-risk. Going back to the example of potatoes, in the Andes, a farmer might grow 50 varieties of potatoes. Some varieties cannot be eaten directly because they are bitter or spicy, and they are instead freeze-dried using traditional methods and stored for years as a hedge against years with a bad crop. Likewise, the Andes are home to more than 3,000 varieties of quinoa. A few animals are kept to eat items that humans cannot eat and to serve as a sort of insurance -- a literal "piggy bank." When income is needed, the farmer can sell a pig or a cow. Farmers grow different varieties and different crops at different altitudes: llamas (for meat) and alpacas (for fiber) in the highest areas, then potatoes, quinoa, and other tubers and grains a little lower, then corn, and citrus and vegetables at lower altitudes. They have done this since pre-Incan times. Farmers from the lowlands trade crops with farmers from the highlands.
This sort of agriculture is not unique to the Andes (although the crops and the use of different altitudes is). Using these methods, farmers can avoid going into debt and can protect their families against bad years. Hopefully, if one variety of a crop fails, another does not. Rare is the year when every single crop fails -- and should that happen, farmers have stores of preserved food from years past and can even subsist on weeds and wild plants and animals. This does not conform to the capitalist model of maximizing yield and profits, but it serves as a low risk strategy to prevent hunger without exhausting the soil or other local resources. For the many billion peasants in the world, purchased, processed foods are elitist, not local, organic foods.
Therefore, next time you read a column that tells you your love of fresh, flavorful, healthy local foods is elitist, inefficient, or contributing to world hunger, feel free to shred that article and put it in your compost pile and then continue enjoying your delicious Green Zebra and Brandywine tomatoes with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil, homegrown basil, and sea salt without the slightest bit of guilt.


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However unless sealed the whole process begins again – clear sealing is one option especially if the floor or surface is natural stone.
Another option is colour sealing. This process should not be confused with inferior products such as grout paints – the process not only colours the grout but seals it permanently!
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Porcelain and ceramic tiles are often used throughout the ground floor of properties. Pale colours such as ivory creams and off whites are often used to increase the feeling of lightness and space. They look stunning initially when the grout is clean, sharp and crisp but can very quickly with day to day living start to discolour in the grout lines. Left long enough the grout will eventually go black.
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- Colour Sealing eliminates variations in grout colour caused by stains, uneven colour lots, curing, fading or damage.
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Call 020 8687 1711 quote ref 150/503, email email@example.com or go to http://www.directcleaners.com/hardfloor.php to arrange a free consultation and quotation.Thanks
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subset: commoncrawl


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Does a Router's WAN Port Have to Be Connected to a Computer?
A router's wide area network (WAN) port acts as its gateway to other networks, providing an interface for the router to send outgoing traffic over. Computers should not be connected to a router's WAN port, as this would prevent data from entering or exiting the network. Instead, a computer should be connected to a router's local area network (LAN) port, as these ports are specifically intended to handle local network traffic.
Computers should not be connected to a router's WAN port, as this would prevent data from entering or exiting the network. Instead, a computer should be connected to a router's local area network (LAN) port, as these ports are specifically intended to handle local network traffic.
Router Functions
Routers allow client computers on a local network to communicate with clients on other networks. When a client wishes to send data to a different network, it forwards that data to its router. The router examines the data's destination IP address, and forwards it on to another router that it knows is closer to that destination.
A packet of data may need to be forwarded several times over the course of its journey. The data eventually reaches the destination network's router and is forwarded to the correct local client.
Router Ports
Router network ports fall into two main categories: WAN and LAN. The WAN port is always used by a router to forward traffic to other routers, while LAN ports are used to communicate with internal clients.
If a computer was connected to a router's external WAN port rather than one of its LAN ports, the router would forward traffic to that computer thinking that the traffic was leaving the network. With no way for the computer to forward data on, the traffic would never reach its destination.
WAN Port Types
The shape of a WAN port and what should be connected to it largely depend on the type of router in question. Some routers require an external modem in order to communicate over public infrastructure such as phone or cable lines. In this case, the WAN port will likely take an Ethernet cable.
However, some routers feature onboard modems, allowing them to connect to external lines directly. These routers usually have WAN ports that are the same size and shape as a regular phone plug or cable TV port.
Multiple WAN Ports
Most home or small office routers have a single WAN port. However, some router models have two or more WAN connections. These WAN connections can be used together to improve either the performance or robustness of a network. For example, most dual WAN routers support failover, where one WAN port is connected to a working external line and the other is connected to a different WAN connection as a redundant spare.
Photo Credits
- Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images


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When I read back on what I wrote for 2009, I seem to be struck at that point. But let me now talk about things that didn't happen. It is going to happen, but let me talk about things that did happen and left a mark on my memory.
On the food blogging front, I have posted about 82 recipes, some classics and some new. And yes this year has been good in many Food related fronts, including being part of this blogging community.
January saw me hosting my favorite recap of MLLA event. I started and ended Year 2009 with this event. I am happy to have good friends like Susan.
February saw me Basic dishes. I did a diet Program
In March I met bloggers from Chennai through IndiBloggers and was awarded Best Culinary Post – Avant Garde Bloggies Awards for Gulab Jamun. Then of course it was the festival occasion of Ugadi.
April celebrated 3 years of blogging and I had Thanda Mela on the occasion.
May saw me preparing some traditional breakfasts for my sils. And I also released a Kindle version of my e-Book.
June saw me getting more involved into Microwave Cooking, where I announced of 365 days of Microwave Cooking.
July saw me posting on How to make Rasam in 5 minutes which by the way seems to be the most asked question. What followed in this month were a series of Microwave dishes.
August saw One Million Visits to the blog and some yummy treats to celebrate too.
September celebrated Vinayaka Chavithi special, while Ganesh is the remover of bad doings, it seems very fitting.
October had me flying to SFO to attend the BlogHer Food 10 conference. I was a panel speaker on Food Diplomats and Cuisine Ambassadors. It was a trip of a lifetime, very memorable for a Food blogger to meet and represent India on an international level.
November celebrated Deepavali.
Indian Cooking Challenge members grew and we did many interesting challenges
Each and every post lingers leaving a lasting impression in mind. I so look forward to the year that is coming and hoping to blog more.
A very happy new year to all my readers who take time to read my blog and get me going. If there is anything that you feel should be done in the coming year, leave a comment will try to target it.


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Tue, 6 November 2018
This week we're back to talk about Black Lightning 2x04 the final chapter of The Book of Consequences titled Translucent Freak. As The Doctor speculated, Tobias was exactly where he wanted to be. Having eliminated all the witnesses to his crimes, Tobias uses his time in custody to verbally spar with Henderson before being let go. The only living witness to any of his crimes is Jefferson and because Gambi erased any evidence that Jefferson was present at his father's murder, Tobias is free to roam the streets of Freeland now with the backing of The Hundred. And he still has the mystery briefcase of doom.
Jefferson is also dealing with guilt on all sides. Henderson is mad Jefferson didn't tell him about witnessing his dad's death, he's holding residual guilt from Lynn having to kill a man (and once he finds out the slippery slope Lynn is about to fall down, I'm sure he'll blame himself for that too) and now Anissa is playing Robin Hood in the name of Jesus and superhero-ing. Watching his daughter follow in his footsteps actually makes Jefferson mad and he offers her an ultimatum: stop stealing or leave the house ... so now she's bunking with Gambi. Can't wait for those shenanigans.
Jennifer's therapy continues and it seems like a huge trigger is her relationship with Khalil, who is still calling and texting. Since Jennifer can't control her powers and Massa Lowry has implemented a zero-tolerance policy at Garfield High, her house arrest isn't coming to an end anytime soon.
We talk about all this as well as this week's director, the inimitable Salli Richardson-Whitfield on this week's Super Tuesday Recap.
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Direct download: Black_Lightning_Review_2x04_-_Fried_Chicken_Watermelon_and_Kool-Aid.m4a
Category:TV & Film -- posted at: 6:34am EDT


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A tad bit of a cliché title post but I'm ok with that.
Amman is a place where I go to eat. Hanging out with my family is an endless sea of lunches (if you can call it lunch if it's at 5pm), great aunties pinching your cheeks and force-feeding baba-ganoush down your throat. Then asking if you've put on weight and when are you getting married.
Here's a few samples of what I ate during the week:
Lamb, rice and almonds. Simple, but oh so good! I love lamb and we definitely have a lot of it there.
Dessert. There's always so many things to choose from that I take a little bit of each.
Clockwise from top: Pumpkin jam and flat bread, sweet syrup cake with almonds on top, cherries, flat peach and apricot. Yum!
One night, my cousins took me and my brother to Sugar Daddy's; a sweet treat haven. Cupcakes and cakes galore.
I went for a slice of red velvet cake. They all came with two spoons. Ha, I'm not sharing. Though I have to say that I couldn't finish it! Wow, that was good.
Apple cinnamon waffles, courtesy of The Bake House, found in downtown Amman. My cousin insisted on taking us and I'm glad she did as these waffles were amazing. My parent's had the pancake version and that also looked awesome. I really struggled to finish as it was a generous portion but it was so worth it.
This lemon juice was beyond amazing. They add mint and sugar so it tastes really nice. I'm definitely going to be re-creating this at home!


text: cannabisnews.com: Schweitzer Says MMJ Bill is Unconstitutional function share_this(num) { tit=encodeURIComponent('Schweitzer Says MMJ Bill is Unconstitutional'); url=encodeURIComponent('http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/26/thread26509.shtml'); site = new Array(5); site[0]='http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+url+'&title='+tit; site[1]='http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit.php?url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[2]='http://digg.com/submit?topic=political_opinion&media=video&url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[3]='http://reddit.com/submit?url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[4]='http://del.icio.us/post?v=4&noui&jump=close&url='+url+'&title='+tit; window.open(site[num],'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=620,height=500'); return false; } Schweitzer Says MMJ Bill is Unconstitutional Posted by CN Staff on April 28, 2011 at 07:18:40 PT By Charles S. Johnson, Gazette State Bureauť Source: Billings Gazette Montana -- Calling the newly passed bill overhauling the state's medical marijuana law "unconstitutional on its face," Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Wednesday that he wants to issue an amendatory veto to fix the parts he considers legally defective."I'd like to amend it, that's what I would like to do, and we'll see what it looks like when it gets here," Schweitzer said. "The bill as written is not going to survive the courts." His comments came after the Senate approved Senate Bill 423, by Sen. Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, by 33-17. The House approved it 70-30. SB423 now will be sent to Schweitzer, who earlier vetoed House Bill 161, by Speaker Mike Milburn, R-Cascade, that would have repealed the 2004 voter-passed medical marijuana law.Montana voters approved a 2004 ballot initiative by 62 percent to 38 percent to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes.Montana now has nearly 30,000 medical marijuana users. Many patients are supplied by large-scale growing operations with storefronts, and some were registered en masse by traveling cannabis caravans, where doctors prescribed the drug to hundreds of patients after brief screenings.SB423 prohibits any sale of marijuana by asking for the drug to be given to patients free of charge, on compassionate grounds. It severely limits the number of people growers can provide to, from unlimited to just three.Doctors would be required to establish lasting relationships with patients before prescribing use and would be put under supervision if they suggest the treatment to more than 15 patients a year.Applicants who claim to have chronic pain would have to present objective proof, such as an X-ray, or a second doctor's opinion confirming that person's condition.Schweitzer criticized the House for tabling in committee House Bill 68, by Sen. Diane Sands, D-Missoula. The bill was proposed by a bipartisan interim committee after much study and many hearings last year."They threw that in the garbage and now they're going to send me this (SB) 423, which everybody's who's read it says, 'Oh yeah, it's unconstitutional,' " he said. Schweitzer said he doesn't believe the bill will survive a legal challenge. "I'm kind of disgusted right now," he said.If Schweitzer receives the bill before lawmakers adjourn, possibly Thursday, he can make an amendatory veto suggesting changes to the bill that the House and Senate would vote on.If he gets the bill after they leave, Schweitzer has three choices: sign it into law, veto it or let it become law without his signature.Schweitzer said he hopes he has a chance to suggest changes to SB423."Unfortunately, if they don't allow us to get our amendments up to them, it's likely to not survive legal challenges," he said. "It seems to us unconstitutional on its face."Essmann said later that he received a series of amendments from Schweitzer's staff that the governor wants to make to SB423. He said he agreed with House leaders to review the suggested amendments together and decide what they want to do.Essmann said all three branches of government get to offer their opinions on the constitutionality of legislation.Schweitzer questioned the provision that says that if people receive medical marijuana cards, they must have them on their possession at all times, regardless of whether they have marijuana on them. In addition, cardholders' names and addresses are provided to local law enforcement officials, who have the right to search their homes at any time."That violates your constitutional rights (against) illegal search," he said.Essmann defended this provision, saying it's similar to implied consent in driving while intoxicated laws in which people suspected of drunken driving are asked to blow into a breath machine.If patients are growing their own medical marijuana, Essmann said, "I don't think law enforcement is going to be coming in in the middle of the night."Schweitzer also said he believes the bill violates the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA."If you're taking oxycontin or penicillin or, for God's sake, even aspirin, that is your own personal health care records," he said. But HB423 is "demanding" that the fact that someone is using medical marijuana and "be turned over to law enforcement in every town.""There's another problem with it, and I think it's a fundamental problem," Schweitzer said. "Under this bill, I will guar-an-dang-tee you that there will be more illegal marijuana (that) makes it to the alley under this proposal than we currently have because now you're going to have 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 people growing their own. It's not possible to monitor all of them."Schweitzer said the bill would be better off allowing a few centralized growers that are "heavily regulated and heavily taxed, bonded and insured, so that none of this stuff makes it to the illegal chains.""I mean, does someone with a straight face think you can have 5,000 people growing their own and none of it makes it to high schools or to college dorm rooms?" he said.Essmann, however, said a new letter from the U.S. attorney for Colorado makes it clear that the U.S. Justice Department has legal problems with states using centralized marijuana growing operations. He said the Senate had proposed larger growing operations, but the House opposed the idea.Schweitzer criticized the Legislature for managing to "squander away" most of the 90-day legislative session before sending him the bill. He said lawmakers already know it's unconstitutional, which is why they put a "severability clause" in it saying if a court strikes down part of the bill, the rest stands. Severability clauses are common in complex bills."Why don't you just pass something that works, that's constitutional and that can survive the test of time?" he asked.The Associated Press contributed to this report.Source: Billings Gazette, The (MT)Author: Charles S. Johnson, Gazette State BureauťPublished: April 27, 2011Copyright: 2011 The Billings GazetteContact: speakup billingsgazette.comWebsite: http://www.billingsgazette.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/bAxCUlTLCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #6 posted by disvet13 on April 28, 2011 at 18:07:08 PT: Constitutional? the criminalization of marijuana was obtained by deceit and manipulation. it continues to be propagandized and demonized by individuals and special interests following their own agendas. there is nothing Constitutional about any of it. it's all smoke and mirrors, diversionary tactics to keep cannabis illegal and taxed to death. vote for complete legalization or suffer the quagmire. it was given freely by the Almighty, and its the free part lawyers and politicians can't stand, they want a piece of your Life, Liberty, and Happiness. guaranteed by the original Constitution. stand up for the original Constitution or sit down and shut up. vote for complete legalization and be done with blood sucking lawyers who know whats best for you. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by josephlacerenza on April 28, 2011 at 11:54:27 PT Burn Baby, Burn!!! VETO VETO VETO VETO!!!!! Tell your Governor Schweitzer "Thanks" for SAYING SB423 is UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!! That was HUGE!!! I think this Bill will BURN if he can not get the amendatory vetoes in place be for the session ends!!!VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO!!!!! UN-F*CKING-CONSTITUTIONAL!!!!! [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Hope on April 28, 2011 at 10:51:24 PT Gov. Schweitzer is a sane, decent man. I can't say the same for Essmann. He is an insane and cruel zealot in his hatred and fear of an herb and the people who would use it. "In addition, cardholders' names and addresses are provided to local law enforcement officials, who have the right to search their homes at any time."I also sense some sort of delight in Essmann's run-away plundering and bullying of the lives of a large group of citizens.The bill is laced with tyrannical idiocy. It's just unbelievable. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by runruff on April 28, 2011 at 10:51:24 PT Update: Dear jerry,"The times, they are a-changin'." With polls showing that nearly half of Americans support legalizing marijuana and budget woes causing lawmakers to explore alternatives to wasteful drug war spending, we're in a great position to make marijuana legalization a reality. But keep in mind: marijuana is not going to legalize itself. Our opponents are better funded and well entrenched in positions of power. They're working hard to roll back the progress we've made in legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, and they're even more determined to keep the marijuana prohibition laws on the books.Proposition 19, which would have legalized marijuana in California, didn't win last year – but it did get 46.5 percent of the popular vote, and prompted a serious and thoughtful national debate. Next time, with your help, we'll do even better – in California, Colorado and eventually all around the country.Take a look at my video to learn more. In the coming weeks, I'll continue to provide video updates to let you know about what we're doing to end the war on drugs – and how you can help.Sincerely,Ethan Nadelmann Executive Director Drug Policy Alliance [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by dongenero on April 28, 2011 at 08:12:00 PT How about Star of David tattoos for "cardholders&q ".....if people receive medical marijuana cards, they must have them on their possession at all times, regardless of whether they have marijuana on them. In addition, cardholders' names and addresses are provided to local law enforcement officials, who have the right to search their homes at any time."How about big star tatoos on the chest of every MMJ patient? Then they can be identified in the shower, the pool or standing nude in lines once they are all rounded up. Bunch of nut-ball legislators.Just veto this un-American, garbage of a bill the republicans are shoving down voters' throats. Let Freedom ring. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on April 28, 2011 at 07:20:47 PT Thank You Governor For caring for your people and their rights. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment


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Nash, a CIA agent, will do everything in his power to keep anything like 9-11 from happening again. Ayden, a librarian and the sister of a CIA agent, Leigh, one of Nash's partners, steps up. The team needs help in the form of someone that no one will suspect of carrying top secret information. Ace, Nash's other partner, inserts a microchip in Ayden's mouth. She meets Nash at a seedy biker bar. All hell breaks loose. A mole has infiltrated the ranks of CIA. The race to stop the bombs from being placed in several schools full of rich kids of important American people begins.
Tension sparks and sexual passion flares. Danger looms around every corner, but Nash and Ayden find time to fall in lust and love. They'll fight to the last man – or woman – to protect their people. Nash refuses to lose anything, especially her.


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Since we've started back this term I've had a few challenges with the school library computers, they are showing their age and I've lost a fair bit of session time getting everyone working, some PCs don't have working sound from one week to the next, and the flash plugin has been temperamental so we've had to use Scratch 3 which means (for now) saving to the students' network location and they can't then continue at home or show their parents. I've already lost one student who said it was 'boring' as a result of the problems. So I ordered a 10 pack of USB keys and created bootable Debian Raspberry Pi Desktop images, these have breathed new life into the old machines, they are so much easier to get up and running, and come with Scratch 2 pre-installed. I've not sorted internet access yet so we are saving to the USB keys but it's made my life so much easier and improved the experience for the students, my last session I had lots of happier faces !
Debian Raspberry Pi Desktop image can be downloaded from raspberrypi.org https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/r ... i-desktop/
and burned to USB keys using https://www.balena.io/etcher/ or to DVD directly from Windows Explorer on a PC.
Hopefully as we go forward we'll get onto the SonicPi and Sense HAT projects (all of which have emulators in the desktop image). The only shame is that the image doesn't include the Minecraft Pi edition, but hopefully I can talk the school into picking up some education licences, or better still some Pis!


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Being Agile: Identifying the right opportunities to act
A police officer found a perfect hiding place for watching speeding motorists. One day, the officer was amazed when everyone was under the speed limit, so he investigated and found the problem. A 10-year-old boy was standing on the side of the road with a huge hand-painted sign which said: "Radar Trap Ahead." A little more investigative work led the officer to the boy's accomplice: another boy about 100 yards beyond the radar trap with a sign reading "TIPS" and a bucket at his feet full of change.
All problems are opportunities in disguise. Having said that, not all problems are well understood and therefore not all right opportunities are identified to act upon. One of the main incentives seen of Agile adoption across organizations is in identifying & acting upon the opportunities in a disruptive & fast-changing new world.
Below are a few tips in identifying the right opportunities to act upon and successfully delivering the results using the Agile philosophy:
Define clear problem statement(s) mapped with customer(s)
Define clearly problem statement(s) mapped with customer(s) and what matters to them the most. This can be accomplished by engaging, observing and working closely with your key customers in identifying the opportunities with their changing demands. It seems very obvious, but if the upfront effort is not put into defining customer needs and they are not aligned with the key problem statements, which need to be solved, there will be an immense waste of time, effort and organizational resources.
For defining goals iterate enough to identify milestones
While identifying the problem statements, it's important to clearly define the criteria for success. Plan to break down the success into a journey and not necessarily a destination. This should be achieved by identifying the milestones and iterating through the milestones in achieving the goals. In my earlier post Be Too Agile To Be Governed By Fear Of Change, I shared how Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.
Design org. strategy for maximizing learning to manage risks
Design your organization strategy in identifying and defining internal processes, tools & technologies, which creates an environment that maximizes learning to manage risks. It's important to anticipate changes, which may affect achieving your goals but with the right environment, problems can be converted into opportunities. Encourage experimenting, then reinforce and build on what works. Enlist and inspire your organization around a compelling purpose and grant project team(s) the autonomy and resources to continuously adapt and adjust course.
Start small, think big & scale fast
It's important to focus on developing a minimum viable product (MVP) for early validation of the product. Formulate the philosophy of starting small, thinking big and scaling fast. In my earlier post Minimum Marketable Features: An Agile Essential, I shared how product innovation is tied to change and often the need for change appears midstream in a project, so decomposing the requirements into Minimum Marketable Features (MMF) is key for the successful execution of solutions for the right opportunities.
If you have to fail, fail fast
In the fast-paced changing trends, ideas for product innovation needs constant nourishing. For the success of pursuing the right opportunities, it's important to generate alternatives and make fast, fact-based decisions about which to pursue. So if you have to fail, fail fast. Iterate to build new capabilities shed what doesn't fit and take the first steps in a new direction as needed. In my earlier post, Every (failed) project has a 'success' story to tell, I shared how it's important to identify & share the 'success' value of a project even if it failed to meet its main strategic goals.
In the past, organizations very diligently use to spend quality time in formulating a strategy and then sticking with it through the thick & thin. Today we are in the Fourth Industrial Revolution in which we are talking about Cyber-Physical systems and in these interesting times, organizations rapidly surge ahead, rapidly fall behind, or even rapidly disappear. So in these interesting times for an organization to survive, it needs to continuously evolve, change and stay a step ahead of its competition. And for that survival, organizations need to be in an advantageous position of identifying the right opportunities to act upon.
Share your thoughts in the comments section on how you normally ensure identifying the right opportunities to act upon while practicing Agile.
Read more ruminations on the philosophy of being Agile.Tags: Agile, Best Practices, Change Management, Organizational Strategy, Project Management


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So I just finished up In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin the other night. His was probably the only collection of short stories I've ever read. For some reason, short stories don't sounds like a good idea to me. I'm glad I took the chance on this one.
His stories are set in a modern yet feudal Pakistan. They center on the Harouni family and their servants, drivers, cooks & so on. The stories are delicately linked together so that you happen upon tiny nuggets of connection in each story.
The stories reminded me a bit of The Good Earth since they are both about feudal societies where women are without power and must use sex as their only tool to climb their way to the top. And because of this, these stories once again made me grateful for the society in which I live and rights and powers I have.
The stories offer an understanding of modern Pakistan, how corruption still reigns and how connected everyone is. I think this is probably why Mueenuddin decided to frame the book in these loosely connected stories so show how everyone in Pakistan is loosely connected and never really alone.
I really enjoyed this book, the stories were engaging and I really felt like I learned a lot about Pakistan and the people which is really why we read, to learn and understand.
Since it's the Holidays, I won't be starting my next book until everything settles down. So I'll let you know what it is soon!


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LIKE SOME 24 MILLION OTHER AMERICANS, I have diabetes -- the Type 2 variety, which is common in older, overweight and under-exercised people. So, along with a regime of pills, I received orders to start exercising, curb my eating and test my blood-sugar levels regularly. In an attempt to make this grim routine more interesting, I have tested nearly two dozen of the roughly 100 glucose meters available.
Most recently, I have been playing with the new GM100 Slim Series from privately owned, Taiwan-based Bionime, a device that David Mendosa, the insightful author of a monthly diabetes newsletter (www.mendosa.com), has called "the most beautiful...ever made." He was talking about not only its smart, iPod-like looks, but its ease of use and accuracy.
The GM100 works much like its rivals. Prick the end of your finger with a supplied lancet, put a drop of blood on a disposable test strip, plug it into the meter and look at the digital reading. Accuracy is impossible to test definitively outside a medical lab. But to get an idea, I tried the GM100 and 14 other devices in quick succession. (Yes, my finger hurt for hours.)
Results from the 15 meters ranged from a low of 78 milligrams of glucose per deciliter of blood to a high of 191. The GM100 fell in the middle, close to the readings from two meters rated highly by Consumer Reports -- one from Bayer, one from Johnson & Johnson. But the larger, more rigid Bionime test-strip was much easier to use than the others.
As the GM100 and its test strips go into wider distribution, Bionime very well could play with the majors in this $25 billion-plus market.


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Dave and I would like to thank you for organizing our trip of a lfetime to help us celebrate our 40th Wedding Anniversary. After more than a year of planning and reading the ADS newsletter and testimonials our expectations were high but thanks to you Dawn, ADS and Raphael Mollel they were highly exceeded. The Maasai necklace and warrior club were a pleasant surprise and one that we were honored to receive and will treasure always. The cake at the Mbuzi Mawe Tented Lodge and Plantation Lodge was very much appreciated and a special thank you for the upgrade to the Eucalyptus Suite at the Plantation Lodge.
We throughly enjoyed all of our accommodations but the private luxury camp at Naabi Hill was outstanding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The staff was so attentive, friendly and welcoming. The meals were fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't believe the freshness and the variety that was prepared in the bush. David had his dream come true on the first night there. We heard the lions roar about 20 times and were told that there were 3 of them conversing about 100 yards away. Talk about your heart beating.
Visiting in the green season was incredible so lush and the animals were active. Being in the middle of the Great Migration was an experience we will never forget. We did have a few showers every day but nothing to spoil our safari. Saw 92 lions 2 leopards (one up close and personal) and 18 cheetahs and of course all of the beautiful birds hippos, giraffes, grazers and monkies.
The best experience was while we were in Ndutu. Raphael came across a mother cheetah and 3 cubs. They were chasing each other around a tree and then stopped and came toward us. OMG next thing one jumped on our hood then two were on our back tire and the fourth on the hood. This was the icing on the cake and my dreams came true. We were the only vehicle for about 20 minutes so we had them all to ourselves. I cannot say enough about Raphael. We hit it off the minute he met us at the airstrip. He was always friendly, courteous, professional and attentive to our expectations, needs and desires to see the animals. A skillful driver who always maneuvered us to the best position in viewing the animals. Most of the time we didn't need to use our zoom. His eyesight was phenomenal in spotting the animals. Also his knowledge of the Serengeti, Crater, floral, fauna and Maasai was superior. ADS should be proud to have him as an employee and we highly recommend him as a driver/guide. We throughly enjoyed our hot air balloon ride. What a thrill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, better end as I can go on and on and on. We would recommend Africa Dream Safaris to anyone. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making this dream come true.
Margaret and Dave F.
Westland, Michigan
Safari Dates: April 4, 2013 to April 14, 2013


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Guest Blog - 'Hampers to your holiday cottage'
Today's guest blog is from Sue Howells, of Authentically Welsh. Authentically Welsh source and select the finest foods from across Wales to produce the most delightful, bespoke luxury Welsh Food Hampers. Delicious, local fare, delivered to your holiday cottage - what could be better!
Authentically Welsh, a local online business based in the Brecon Beacons, sources and selects the finest Welsh foods to bring you a true taste of Wales.
We pride ourselves on sourcing flavoursome foods that have been made from the freshest ingredients across Wales. Most of our suppliers are cottage or small farm artisan producers dedicated to delivering the best foods they can produce with assured guaranteed provenance.
We would love visitors to Wales and in particular to the Brecon Beacons area to sample these rich culinary delights. So for ease, let us do the work sourcing and selecting to bring together these yummy Welsh goodies in a range of hampers to suit your tastes.
Once you have booked your holiday cottage you can order a Welsh food hamper to be delivered to your cottage either for your arrival or during your stay – it couldn't be easier as you can book online www.authenticallywelsh.co.uk or telephone your order through by calling 01874 730189.
There is a range of hampers on offer and if you want to add or change an item just let us know.
The current popular hampers are:
Welsh Welcome Hamper is a superb introduction to Welsh traditional tasty foods including the Welsh delicacy of Laverbread (seaweed), Bara Brith (tea loaf which has the fruit soaked in Welsh Brew tea overnight to give its' distinct taste) and Halen Mon sea salt which has been combined with creamy chocolate – Nomnom!
Welsh Cheese Board is irresistible for any cheese lovers. Local cheeses offered are Pwll Mawr Oak smoked cheddar which has been matured in the depth of the Big Pit mineshaft and then smoked over oak chippings to give a distinct flavorsome edge; Dragons Breath a rich fiery cheese with mustard and Cymru Crunch laced with pickled onions, onion relish and chives. Enjoy these with local hand stirred chutneys and vegetable cocktail biscuits. After the savoury comes the sweet with four handmade truffles with fillings such as champagne, strawberries & halen mon sea salt.
Deluxe Welsh Hamper is ideal for sharing and a few keepsakes to take home with you such as the beautiful handcrafted wicker 20" hamper with anodized aluminium branded Authentically Welsh tag – truly original and ideal for any summer picnic. And the Blaenau Ffestiniog Welsh slate round cheese board to serve your cheese.
There is something for everyone in this Deluxe Welsh hamper brimming with delicious goodies from seaweed & dulce savoury biscuits, irresistible toffee butter waffles, Halen Mon (sea salt) chocolate, cheeses chutney, cake, Welsh whiskys, Brecon Gin, vodka, elderflower cordial and Welsh water from Ty Nant.
Authentically Welsh looks forward to delivering delicious flavoursome foods to your holiday cottage, to make your holiday complete.


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The BellRays, Architects, The Knew, The Dicky Jaguar Band Thursday, May 15, 2008 Larimer Lounge Better Than: Bothering to get any sleep last night.
So, you say you want to be a rock star, eh? Well, think twice. As the members of the BellRays can attest, the rock star lifestyle isn't always what it's cracked up to be...
Well, that is, unless you consider it glamorous having your bass player's wallet, cell phone and camera swiped in Berlin; disembarking from your flight home to California only to learn that your bags are sixty miles away -- thanks so much nameless-soon-to-be-bankrupt-airline; driving all day and night into the mountains of Colorado only to discover that your beloved tour van just coughed up that integral part of the vehicle that makes it move and you end up being stranded with your equipment in an idyllic little mountain town. It takes more than that to stop the BellRays, though. True rock stars, they rented a car, drove to Denver, borrowed equipment of from the Architects, their Anodyne labelmates, and played a transcendent show at the Larimer Lounge last night. Je t'aime rock & roll!
The Dicky Jaguar Band opened up the evening with a raucous set that set the tone for the evening. This band is a must see. Period. Word to the wise: If you go see these guys keep your jaw low and remember to stick and move, because chances are Dicky will find his way into the crowd and cause trouble — in the best way possible, of course. Guitarists Dave Schutz and Drew Zackery do their best to keep Dicky reined in, while drummer Nathan Byrne and bassist Ridge Zackery follow through with their truth in rhythm, keeping Dicky preoccupied enough to avoid the long arm of the law.
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The Knew followed with a worthy set. Given the praise that I'd heard in the local byways, though, I must admit that I was expecting a lot more. The songs I'd heard from the band's latest EP Holladay led me to believe that its live show would be more compelling. But the music, although far from bad, just seemed to be missing many of the distinguishing flourishes from the album, and the band's showmanship was a little lackluster. Perhaps following Dicky Jaguar -- who flung himself about in front of the stage during the Knew's set -- was a little daunting.
Next up was Kansas City's Architects, who proceeded to blow the shit out of the lounge. I'd been led to believe that the Architects would play Good-Charlottesque-quasi-pop-punk all night long. Wrong. These three brothers can play! By the time Brandon went hoarse on "Don't Call It a Ghetto," I'd changed my mind and accepted Architects as a solid punk-rock outfit.
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Which brings us back to the BellRays. These cats truly wail. Lisa Kekaula stalked the stage in a sexy pair of hot pink boots owning the crowd with each step. Bob Vennum moved from bass to guitar after the departure of Tony Fate and made his departure, lamentable as it may be, seem less profound. Bob V. plays guitar every bit as well as he rips on bass. And new bassist Justin Andres is an incredible, augmenting Craig Walters furious beats (Walters played like a madman and was soaked to the skin after the set).
The BellRays gave everything they had last night, dishing out the finest rock, roll and soul I've seen in a good long time. The set mixed the old with the new, including tracks like "Snake City" and "Pinball City," in which Kekaula held the crowd in her lovely hands. By the end, both the crowd and the band were ecstatic. The encore, "Voodoo Train," left everyone hard, sweet and a little sticky.
-- Matt Scheidler
Critic's Notebook Personal Bias: Sexy women who sing with more power than a nuclear reaction always captivate me. Random Detail: The Lounge can get funky in more ways than one. (What was that smell?) By the Way: Dicky Jaguar Band bassist Ridge Zackery is leaving the band to join the Peace Corps this summer for a twenty-seven month stint in Mongolia. Damn.


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Nikolai Braun and Keira Havens, the two entrepreneurial scientists behind the Fort Collins, Colorado-based company Revolution Bioengineering, are in pursuit of a flower that changes color, from pink to blue and back again. While it does not exist yet, they are calling the bloom "Petunia Circadia," because they intend to link the expression of pigment molecules called anthocyanins to the plant's circadian rhythm. This way, the flower will change color every 12 hours.
So far, the duo has successfully engineered a petunia that changes color on demand. Instead of transforming on its own, this early version is activated by ethanol.
Braun and Havens have their own message in mind. "For almost everyone outside of the farming world, it will be the first time they will have interacted with a genetically modified organism, and by engineering traits for consumers—flower colors, shapes, smells—we hope to normalize that technology to eventually fully realize the promise of plant biotech to provide food, fuels, and fibers in a sustainable way," says Braun.
"It can be hard to connect to the reality of people struggling in far-away places," plant geneticist Pam Ronald told UC Davis Today. "So when you tell people that genetic engineering can be used to fight hunger by increasing vitamin content and reducing crop loss to insects, sometimes it just doesn't register. Maybe seeing this technology at work in your own backyard can make the science more accessible."
Read full, original article: Would You Like to Grow Color-Changing Flowers?


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Bay-Area Business Group Hosts Robotics Event
The San Francisco Business Alumni Group hosted 36 alumni, parents, new students, and friends at a recent event at the headquarters of WillowGarage.com, a "research park" setting in Menlo Park, Calif. Gil Jones '01 of WillowGarage and Nathaniel Fairfield '01 of Google were the key presenters.
The day before the event, Gil had some especially good news for us—his CEO had decided to throw a party for his employees, to which we were invited. We arrived to live music and a fabulous Southwestern meal laid out in the cafeteria. Our large group was split into two sessions for up-close and live demonstrations of personal robot PR2 and all of the knowledge and history behind the development and funding of the research tools.
After the demonstrations, Gil and Nathaniel spoke. Gil talked about the "reality" of robotics and the future that robotics holds for scientists, industry, investor, and game-changing lifestyles, and Nathaniel described the experimentation and creation of the Google driverless car—how its programs and functionality were developed and where it is headed. Many excited and probing questions followed from an audience that—in typical Swarthmore style—felt compelled to analyze everything. The event sparked lots of connections, happy faces, shrieks of delight at meeting old friends and making new ones.
—Sohail Bengali '79


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|The Solar Physics Division of the Space Research Centre won PAS-NASU competition!
|Thursday, 08 January 2015 18:01
The research work: "Dynamic structure of energetic particles in the near Earth space" won special competition organized by the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS) and President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU). This research was performed using meas-urements from Polish X-ray spectrophotometer SphinX and the Ukrainian Satellite Telescope of Electrons and Protons STEP-F. Both SphinX, and STEP-F instruments were operating onboard CORONAS - PHOTON satellite. Awarded also were joint works on development of further scientific experiment for interplanetary spacecraft "Interhelioprobe".
The award was granted to scientist: Prof. Janusz Sylwester, PhD Szymon Gburek, dr. Mirosław Kowaliński, and Msc.Eng. Piotr Podgórski from the Solar Physics Division of the Space Research Centre PAN, and PhD Oleksiy Dudnik, and MSc Evgen Kurbatov from the Radio Astronomy Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
The award was handed out in the Embassy of Poland on December 5th, during official opening ceremony of the Polish Academy of Sciences representation office in Ukraine. Ambassador of RP Henryk Litwin, President of the Polish Academy of Sciences Prof. Michał Kleiber, and other high level members of NASU and PAS attended this solemnity.
|Last Updated on Thursday, 08 January 2015 18:06


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(Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) November 2, 2005) -- GroveSite (www.grovesite.com), the leading provider of
easy-to-use collaboration software for cross-company project teams, has announced strong growth through the
first three quarters of 2005. GroveSite's collaboration service has been selected by large and small firms,
based in the US, Canada, and the UK, including: Financial Times, Environmental Consulting and Technology,
Test Advantage, SUMCO USA, the Battelle Institute, Dartmouth Medical School, Texas A&M Cooperative Extension,
the AARP Foundation, EMM Group, Red Wing Technologies, the Texas Education Agency, Collaborative Group
Architects, Rachel Ashwell Designs, Zaicom International, MediaBridge PR, and Summit Publishing.
"Love the software," says David Newcorn, VP/New Media, Summit Publishing. "Kudos for making the web
the easy collaboration tool it should have been all along."
"We're experiencing 300% growth this year," says Jane Hagen, co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer
of GroveSite. "We are getting attention not only from SMBs, but also from large firms looking for a
secure way to share documents and project information outside their firewall."
GroveSite's new release, GroveSite 4.0, targeted to the non-technical project leader, has the perfect
combination of wiki ease-of-use and powerful functionality to manage complex projects. Responding to requests
from customers, this new version adds task dependencies, date re-calculators, late alerts, Gantt charts, and
Excel file upload capability.
About GroveSite
GroveSite provides easy online collaboration workspaces for distributed, cross-company teams.
Set up in minutes, GroveSite enables teams to share documents, manage projects and track discussions
in a secure hosted workspace on the Internet. GroveSite was founded in 2002 and has offices in Phoenix
and Boston. For more information, visit www.grovesite.com or contact
Jane Hagen at 866-952-9880.


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Re: Is a For loop always a no-no?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg50330] Re: Is a For loop always a no-no?
- From: "Kezhao Zhang" <kezhao.zhang at gmail.com>
- Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 02:57:53 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
One way to do it without the For loop: yd=ListCorrelate[{-1,1},#]&/@yd; K. Z. 1.156 wrote: > I realize that many times some form of Mathematica built in array function will > do the needed job. Here I have a matrix containing individual data > traces in rows y[[i]]. I want to make matrix containing the corresponding > derivative signals in rows yd[[i]]. I get this done using the following > For loop. Matrix yd has been initialized (it wouldn't work with out it). > > For[i = 1, i < n, i++, yd[[i]] = Drop[RotateLeft[y[[i]]] - y[[i]], -1]]; > > I tried the obvious (to me): > yd = Drop[RotateLeft[y] -y, -1]; > > But I get garbage. It seems the whole matrix has been flattened to a > single list and the whole list is rotated --instead of doing it row > by row as I need. > > Wizzards all: is there some slick way to do this without the For loop? > If so, it's probably faster and sure would look better in the code. > Suggestions appreciated as usual. > > Rob


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runs off swiftly and gallantly. It might have been tuned to the trumpet; or tempered (as himself expresses it) to 6 trampling horses' feet." They abound in felicitous phrases
-Sweet pillows, sweetest bed ; A chamber deaf to noise, and blind to light; A rosy garland, and a weary head.
2nd Sonnet.
_That sweet enemy,-France
5th Sonnet.
But they are not rich in words only, in vague and unlocalised feelings—the failing too much of some poetry of the present day—they are full, material, and circumstantiated. Time and place . appropriates every one of them. It is not a fever of passion wasting itself upon a thin diet of dainty words, but a transcendent passion pervading and illuminating action, pursuits, studies, feats of arms, the opinions of contemporaries and his judgment of them. An historical thread runs through them, which almost affixes a date to them; marks the when and where they were written.
I have dwelt the longer upon what I conceive the merit of these poems, because I have been hurt by the wantonness (I wish I could treat it by a gentler name) with which W. H. takes every occasion of insulting the memory of Sir Philip Sydney. But the decisions of the Author of Table Talk, &c., (most profound and subtle where they are, as for the most part, just) are more safely to be relied upon, on subjects and authors he has a partiality for, than on such as he has conceived an accidental prejudice against. Milton wrote Sonnets, and was a king-hater; and it was congenial perhaps to sacrifice a courtier to a patriot. But I was unwilling to lose a fine idea from my mind. The noble images, passions, sentiments, and poetical delicacies of character, scattered all over the Arcadia (spite of some stiffness and encumberment), justify to me the character which his contemporaries have left us of the writer. I cannot think with the Critic, that Sir Philip Sydney was that opprobrious thing which a foolish nobleman in his insolent hostility chose to term him. I call to mind the epitaph made on him, to guide me to juster thoughts of him; and I repose upon the beautiful lines in the " Friend's Passion for his Astrophel," printed with the Elegies of Spenser and others.
You knew—who knew not Astrophel ?
Of him you know his merit such,
Within these woods of Arcady
The Muses met him every day,
When he descended down the mount,
To hear him speak, and sweetly smile,
A sweet attractive kind of grace ;
I trow that count'nance cannot lye,
Above all others this is he,
Sweet saints, it is no sin or blame
Did never Love so sweetly breathe
He wrote of Love with high conceit,
Or let any one read the deeper sorrows (grief running into rage) in the Poem,- the last in the collection accompanying the above,—which from internal testimony I believe to be Lord Brooke's, -beginning with " Silence augmenteth grief," — and then seriously ask himself, whether the subject of such absorbing and confounding regrets could have been that thing which Lord Oxford termed him.
DAN STUART once told us, that he did not remember that he ever deliberately walked into the Exhibition at Somerset House in his life. He might occasionally have escorted a party of ladies across the way that were going in; but he never went in of his own head. Yet the office of the Morning Post newspaper stood then just where it does now-we are carrying you back, Reader, some thirty years or more-with its gilt-globe-topt front facing that emporium of our artists' grand Annual Exposure. We sometimes wish, that we had observed the same abstinence with Daniel.
A word or two of D. S. He ever appeared to us one of the finest tempered of Editors. Perry, of the Morning Chronicle, was equally pleasant, with a dash, no slight one either, of the courtier.


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!http://nfpa.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8351b9f3453ef017ee8839fe9970d-120wi|src=http://nfpa.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8351b9f3453ef017ee8839fe9970d-120wi|alt=NM%20Logo_Blue%20Cross_Final|style=margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px;|title=NM%20Logo_Blue%20Cross_Final|class=asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8351b9f3453ef017ee8839fe9970d!The National Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System includes several reports  during fires in homes constructed with lightweight/engineered wood. The system is a voluntary, confidential, non-punitive and secure reporting system with the goal of improving fire fighter safety.
New methods of construction negatively impact firefighter safety under fire conditions. Studies  point to the failure of lightweight engineered wood systems routinely used in floors and roofs of new homes, as early as six minutes from the onset of fire. Fire sprinklers could help mitigate these dangers and improve safety for firefighters and home occupants. http://nfpa.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8351b9f3453ef017d410fb422970c-pi
Firefighters have come very close to being killed, or severely injured, fighting a home fire in homes built with engineered wood. Firefighter fatalities in residential structures are documented* in*
"death in the line of duty" reports from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) , and listed in the firefighters' resource page of this site. These incidents provide evidence of the threats of lightweight construction methods and its impact on firefighter
!http://nfpa.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8351b9f3453ef017d410fb6c8970c-120wi|src=http://nfpa.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8351b9f3453ef017d410fb6c8970c-120wi|alt=LWPresentation|width=114|style=margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px;|title=LWPresentation|class=asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8351b9f3453ef017d410fb6c8970c|height=94!NFPA has created a Powerpoint® presentation that you can use to help educate your community's decision-makers and the public about the dangers of lightweight construction materials under fire conditions. http://nfpa.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8351b9f3453ef017d410fb422970c-pi
For a *free *copy of this presentation, please e-mail NFPA's Maria Figueroa.
!http://i.zemanta.com/133305977_80_80.jpg|src=http://i.zemanta.com/133305977_80_80.jpg|alt=|style=margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px currentColor; width: 80px; display: block; max-width: 100%;!


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Friday 12 June 2020
As the North Norfolk Coast begins to move out of Covid-19 lockdown, and tourism businesses re-open, more planned events are taking place. These are just listings, so please follow links and check with organisers of events before assuming events are running.
Have you ever wondered how a Beewolf devours its prey? Would you like to experience the exquisite beauty of our native Bee Orchids? Maybe you would like to come face to face with a Natterjack Toad and find out why they make their homes here on the Holkham
During this extensive guided trek around the Holkham National Nature Reserve, you will get a fantastic insight into the rare, and often unique, flora and fauna that live within its diverse range of habitats.
Price: Ł25
Location: Holkham Estate, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, NR23 1RH
Nature, Wildlife, Birds, avian, walk, trek, ramble, tour
Why not stay at Deepdale Backpackers & Camping for 'Half Day Wildlife Trek'
Other Dates For Your Diary
|Anish Kapoor Exhibition
|12/07/2020 to 01/11/2020
|Brancaster Mussels in Season
|01/10/2020 to 28/02/2021
|Flights of Geese
|15/10/2020 to 14/02/2021
|A Grimm Halloween
|28/10/2020 to 31/10/2020
|Pop Up Shops
|29/10/2020 to 03/11/2020
|Autumn Family Break Offer
|05/11/2020 to 07/12/2020
|Deepdale Pizza Night
|Pre Christmas Pop Up Shops
|06/11/2020 to 08/11/2020
|Deepdale Christmas Shopping
|06/11/2020 to 24/12/2020
|Deepdale Pizza Night
|Pre Christmas Pop Up Shops
|13/11/2020 to 15/11/2020
|Norfolk's Virtual Christmas Market
|13/11/2020 to 24/12/2020
|Deepdale Pizza Night
|Christmas Pop Up Shops
|20/11/2020 to 22/11/2020
|Luminate Sandringham
|20/11/2020 to 20/12/2020


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Best Portable Battery Powered & Hand Pump Pressure Washers
With all of our muddy adventures, we needed a portable pressure washer with a tank that we could pump up the pressure ourselve's or use a battery powered portable pressure washer to clean ourselve's and our toys, car, outdoor equipment and other things like our dive and underwater photography gear. The last thing you want to do is leave salt or mud all over your beloved things. You will help them last longer and keep things cleaner for future use.
Another reason for looking in to these, is that we park our car in front of our house in a car park and we have no access to an outdoor tap, so a portable pressure washer is a tool we could use for many different jobs.
There are also eco positives with using a portable version of a pressure washer, they save water and use less electricity compared to their electric and plug-in options.Back to top
Different Types of Portable Pressure Washer
There are a couple of different types, compared to normal pressure washers which have a water line in and are powered by plugging in to a wall socket, the portable version can be pressurised manually by hand and also powered by a lithium battery. Both of them require that you fill their tank first, a couple of recommendations;
- Fill them with warm/hot water so that when you are cleaning your bike, clothes, car or even yourself, you help get the grease off
- Use a small amount of soap in your pressure washer tank so that helps degrease your dirty and muddy things
- Carry a spare 5L bottle of clear tap water so you can rinse off any soap you use during the cleaning process
What Can You Use Portable Power Washers For
There are probably hundreds of applications for a portable power washer, we'll go through some of the things we have tested and what we could use them for in our day to day life as well as other things that people could utilise the portability of a water power washer.
Surfing, Diving and Wearing Wetsuits
Returning from a dive, snorkel, kayaking or surfing, you'll have salt all over you, one of the best things you can do to prolong the life of your wetsuit or drysuit is to rinse it off with fresh water, especially warm fresh water. Filling any of the portable options with warm water means that you can even use the hose on yourself after a dive and you won't need to go for a shower straight away. Kill two birds with one stone and rinse your wesuit and other water gear off and yourself too before getting dressed.
Underwater Photography
We usually take action cameras, waterproof housings and our underwater camera setups when we go surfing or diving to capture the best moments and underwater sealife. It is imperative that you rinse off this type of photography gear as soon as you come in from the sea and rinse any salt water off of the equipment. Again, this will make sure that you are prolonging the life of your underwater housings and cameras and means they wont erode with all the salt water they'll be covered in.
Mountain Biking and Cycling
If you have used your bike at a race event, on a downhill track at an uplift day or even out in the woods with friends, the chance of getting muddy is high, it's to be expected here in the UK. Whether you keep your bike inside your car or on the back on a bike rack, you'll want to remove some of that dirt and a portable power washer is perfect for this, they don't take up much space and you can rinse your bike off and yourself before you head home after your day out on two wheels.
One of the best things about a portable option with bikes and cycling equipment is that you won't brake anything, the power isn't too much for it to break seals, get in to your cranks or bottom bracket and remove any vital grease from moving parts, this is an overlooked part of cleaning a bicycle and something the portable versions do well with.
Running, Hiking and Tough Events
Out for the day with your partner doing a fell or even taking on a tough mudder or similar event, a quick shower and wash down will definitely be needed for your gear or even yourself before you pack up and head home, another reason for a portable solution that keeps your gear and you clean and fresh for future adventures.
Cleaning Your Car and Outdoor Areas
This is a tough role for portable washers, none that we have reviewed have the power to wash and clean stubborn dirt, dried in dirt, cars and stone flooring or wood panels on their own, they just aren't made for that. That is where they get their bad reviews online, people expecting small batteries to power smaller motors or a hand pump which creates water pressure to clean as hard and create as much pressure out the hose as the electric pressure washers do.
You can still use a portable power washer to aid you in cleaning your car, it can soak it, it can wash it down with soap and a soft brush and can even rinse it off, so they are capable, just in a different way. They also give you the option of cleaning your car away from your home, which is what we really liked when testing. Our car is 15m away from our front door in a car park and we have no access to an outdoor tap, so with a portable sprayer we can still get water and a hose (in a sense) to our car via a portable power washer and clean our car.
Washing Your Dog Outside
Another great reason we're totally sold on these portable versions is that they are so versatile! A lot of the time when we walk our dog, he will return salty after being in the sea, will have ran around in muddy puddles or even rolled in fox poo. With one of these, we can rinse him, wash him and re-rinse before he has even got in the car. This is an absolute life saver for us, as it means he isn't getting in to the car smelling of fox poo, he isn't getting that on any of his bedding or towels and means our shower at home stays clean as we have washed him outdoors.Back to top
One of the first thing that you'll want to know is, are portable pressure washers powerful enough? Well that question is different for everyone and the applications they wish to use them for, for everything we have tried, our answer is just about, but we're not looking at cleaning stone work, removing weeds or anything industrial that needs pressures of more than 5000psi which you'll find plug in and hose fed pressure washes will easily reach and more.Back to top
Portable Pressure Washer Pressure Comparison
The hand pump Rhays and Streetwize portable power washers have a pressure of around 40-50psi out of the nozzle and the Aqua2go has 80-120psi and the Karcher comes in 2nd with about 75psi output.
The most powerful out of the 4 reviews is the Aqua2go, which also has a variable power output which we liked. The karcher has more power than the 2 manual hand pump options which is nice but not as much as the Aqua2go. Don't expect any more than 50psi out of a hand pump model, no matter what brand you choose, they all use the same technology and the materials used can only handle so much.Back to top
Amount of Water a Portable Power Washer Tank Can Hold
Every portable power washer comes with a tank, they range from 4L through to 17L, the Karcher has the smallest tank of the four with 4litre capacity. Second is the Streetwize at 8L tank capacity and the Rhays and Aqua2go both have a 16 and 17L water reservoir tank for extra long cleaning jobs.Back to top
Which is the Best Portable Power Washer
Out of the four, we are super excited about the Aqua2Go, it's easily the most versatile, has the best pressure output at 120psi and can hold the most amount of water. You can even find other accessories for it on Amazon UK and elsewhere so you can take it camping and use as a portable electric shower on camping trips and can be used for pretty much anything, as long as you're ready to get your hands dirty. Thats the thing wit the portable options, you can't just spray and everything will be perfect, you also have to get your hands dirty to clean any really thick or bad parts/sections of gear, but the likes of the Aqua2go certainly will help you with that and will be more than a positive impact when it comes to keeping many outdoor items you own clean and fresh ready to use again.
We're going to put all the others on the same level, the Karcher, being electric but more expensive, does offer more power than the 2 hand pump versions, but it holds less water than both as well. If you want a named brand we would reccomend it highly for smaller tasks.
If you want something you can chuck in your boot with few moving parts, less parts to break and dont mind hand pumping every few minutes, the Streetwize and the Rhays will both be adequate for minor tasks. Coming back from a day out on the trails, with both of these they will get 95%+ of the dirt and grime off of my Trek mountain bike and ready to put inside my car and drive home without ruining the cars interior. It will take longer to clean certain things with these two as they have less power, but they help you soak things, clean muck off when needed with the brush accessory and will rinse items well too.
We have factored in the price, what accessories they come with and how powerful they are in our decisions as well as checking out online reviews from other people elsewhere online.
Back to top
|Review of Aqua2go Pro Portable Pressure Washer
|Review of Streetwize SWPW Portable Pressure Washer
|Review of Karcher OC3 Pressure Washer
|Review of Rhyas Eco Portable Pressure Washer
Review of Aqua2go Pro Portable Pressure Washer
This is a review of the Aqua2go Pro Portable Pressure Washer
The Aqua2go pressure washer on first glance looks fun and a piece of kit that has been practically designed to do its job. It comes provided with a 6m length hose, a shower head and brush with soap reservoir. It also has the option to plug it in if you so desire, so you can run it from your cars 12v cigarette lighter if the battery is low.
Weighing in at 7kg it is not the heaviest nor the lightest pressure washer available however it is easy to move with its four wheels at its base and the option of a trolley handle or a canvas shoulder strap to carry it around, meaning its a viable portable option for your cleaning duties. It does sit fairly inconspiciously in the boot with only its bright green colour to draw the eye, they also have bright orange options too.
We have used this in the garden as well as from our car as we do not have an outside water tap outlet. As it can hold 17-20 litres (depending on which of the two sizes you choose) it provides a good amount of cleaning or watering, giving about 12 minutes (17 litre tank) or 30 minutes (20 litre tank) of use.
Providing 3-8 bar in water pressure it doesn't provide a great deal of power , however this is perfect for small cleaning jobs that you'll need to do when being an outdoor lover as well as being a "keeping your car clean" lover. Muddy boots, bikes, coats, wetsuits, water gear and more can all be cleaned using this device at home or out in nature. The pressure is also gentle enough to clean muddy paws! Especially if you have a spaniel who loves muddy puddles, this is a very good purchase if you have multiple things to keep clean and make last longer.
Again, like the others, you could use this on your car but really that is where you need a higher pressure wash ability. Unless you are happy with rinsing, washing by hand and using it to re-rinse then this isn't for dirtier applications and environments. Just like with cleaning walls, stone floors and removing weeds, this just doesn't have the punch it needs to do those type of pressure washer jobs.
The Aqua2 go pressure washer also provides you with a portable battery back which can be USB charged and also charge other devices such as phones, tablets. The battery itself also has a torch/flashlight option. Therefore with these extra features makes it a worthy car travel companion. Something which we didn't expect with this purchase was this extra feature, it sure has come in to its own, everything gets cleaned after a day out whilst on the road and dirty gear doesn't have to travel in the car any more. Incase of emergencies as well, even with a little bit of power left in the battery after you have used it you can charge extra devices in your car, battery powered head torches and more.
One of my main critiques with the Aqua2go model is that is not the most robust package, some of the connection points can being a little loose and have the potential to leak if you are not careful with it. You can however purchase spares and new parts online on Amazon UK so not all is lost.
It also has the option to run as a cordless power washer shower system, which is perfect for your camping trips or if you yourself need a rinse down after being in the sea or getting dirty whilst out on a trail run or cycle, this really is a well thought out package, if you can deal with the lack of pressure (120psi is max) then you're on to a winner.
- Portable
- Fun stylish design
- Trolley handle and wheels for easy moving
- Canvas shoulder strap for easy carrying
- No power or water connection needed
- Adjustable spray
- Comes with showerhead, brush with soap resevoir
- 6M water hose
- Has separate mutifunctional power outlet
- Can be USB charged
- Battery can also be used as a torch/flashlight
- The 20 litre version can work for 30 minutes of continuous use
- Can be plugged in to 12v car cigarette lighter to run from the cars battery
- Heavier than other portable pressure washers available
- Quite expensive
- Care is required with the hose and also in cold weather
- The connectors are not the most robust
The Aqua2go Pressure Washer is a bright green multi-purpose car companion device, it is the most expensive pressure washer we have tried, providing a large amount of water for pressure washing as well providing a phone charging back up and torch light for breakdown emergencies. It provides more pressure than the hand pump manual versions and has a bigger tank. We love this item and only time will tell with how long it will last, hopefully for years to come.
Review of Streetwize SWPW Portable Pressure Washer
This is a review of the Streetwize Portable Pressure Washer
The Streetwize SWPW Portable Pressure Washer is very lightweight at 1.6kg and at a very small cost its silly not to have one of these for your car if you find you, your dog or you gear gets regularly dirty or muddy.
In all honesty it doesn't really live up to the "power" pressure washer of its name, but instead providing a portable option to wash muddy boots, rinse of your tent or coat. If you use the large brush attachment provided this will be able to help get off stubborn mud or dirt that would otherwise require better water pressure.
There is also the benefit of a trigger lock to save your finger from holding the trigger down. You can tighten or loosen the end of the nozzle to control the amount that comes out.
To open the tank you will need to first unlock by clicking it unlocked and then twisting it anti-clockwise. You will be able to fill it with 8 litres of water. Once you put the handle back on and lock it. You'll be required to pump the handle about 25 times to provide it with the pressure needed for the water to come out. It isn't the largest amount of water so this really is for small muddy jobs and for light tasks.
Expect this portable power washer to moisten up very dirty sections of bicycle or car, you can then wash it with the brush attachment and then rinse off afterwards. Unlike with a plug-in and hose fed pressure washer, which will clean up a car or bike in no time with just water pressure alone.
- Very cheap
- Very lightweight
- Easy to use
- Easy to transport and carry
- Very little water pressure
- Manual pump
- Small size water tank
This isn't really a "power" pressure washer even with the manual pumping involved but it provides good ability rinsing at a cheap and cheerful price. If you are after a portable option that will rinse wetsuits, dirty clothing and get most of the mud and grime off of a bicycle after riding in muddy conditions then this will suit you and your tasks perfectly without breaking the bank. If you want a powerful pressure washer that will also clean your flooring, remove weeds, clean a dirty car through pressure alone, then this is not for you.
Review of Karcher OC3 Pressure Washer
This is a review of the Karcher OC3 Portable Battery Powered Pressure Washer
Looking like a small cute robot you may find on Star Wars the Karcher OC3 Pressure Washer comes in a neat little package. With a small 4 little water tank it makes it very convenient for any outdoor enthusiast to quickly fill up with water and pop in the car awaiting a potential muddy return from your adventures.
It is all very very light even with a full tank of water inside. It takes very little space when transporting in your car boot, there is a very convenient hard plastic handle to the top of the washer which you can use to lift and move it. You'll then notice you have two handles there one on top of the other. You have a handle on just the water tank which is the grey part to the top and then the larger handle attaches to the pressure washer. Once you lift the water tank off , underneath you will find a storage space that is sat on top of the pressure washer itself. This holds the nozzle and hosing, it is all nicely concealed and means essential parts aren't going to go missing. There is also a much larger storage box (that can be bought separately) which fits underneath the pressure washer that contains further accessories such as a brush, cloth and charging adaptor for mains use.
The pressure of the water is 5 bar (75psi) which is rated as a low pressure. This is safe for use against skin, so if you are partaking in any challenges such as the tough mudder it can be used as a portable shower as well, this is one of the advantages of lower pressures, you aren't going to hurt yourself when using it. At this pressure level it is also safe to use to help clean up furry friends who like to are quite partial to rolling in anything dirty and muddy puddles when out on walks.
On full battery you have 15 mins of use from your Karcher OC3 Pressure Washer. To use fill up your tank, press the on button on the front, lift out the nozzle and hose and place the tank back down making sure the hose fits through the little gap in the plastic and away you go. Bear in mind the pressure is quite low, you will still be able to clean many items with the Karcher OC3 Pressure Washer even your bike. Now with 15 minutes available and this is on full power I would say you have plenty of time to give the dirtiest or muddiest mountain bike a good clean, you may have to pull of tough bits of mud yourself due to the pressure level unless you purchase the accessory box also which means you can use the brush to scrub along stubborn sections with it. The brush to the end nozzle also works well on fabrics such as when cleaning your boots or even a tent if you enjoy camping in all weathers.
- Easy to use
- Lightweight
- Easy to carry with handle
- Can be charged from the car
- Portable, ideal for cleaning small items
- Comes with 3 year warranty
- Pricey
- No next day delivery
- small tank for bigger jobs
- Requires in car charger
- Useful accessories are available but are purchased seperately.
The Karcher OC3 Pressure Washer is a great compact device that is portable and can be used on most muddy adventures. If you don't require a lot of water pressure and are happy to pay a little more for a good quality purchase this is the pressure washer is what you are after.
Review of Rhyas Eco Portable Pressure Washer
This is a review of the Rhyas Eco Portable Pressure Washer
The Rhyas Eco Pressure Washer is slim and lightweight, it is very simple in design with two sturdy wheels to its base, and easy grip handle to the the top and a 2.55m hose. There are 4 interchangable nozzles. Do not expect to get a huge amount of water out as each nozzle is quite narrow as well with only providing a maximum of 3 bar water pressure, a gentle tickle on the skin is what your going to get. This however is all that is really needed to clean a lot of small items that may get dirty when doing outdoor activities. Another positive of this is that you can rinse off yourself and most of your gear without worrying about hurting or breaking your skin and equipment as some of the plug in power washers can be very powerful and dangerous.
To fill the tank you will need to unscrew the orange handle anti-clockwise, you will be able to fill it to 16 litres of water. With the tank providing 16 litres of water this does mean it does last a good while making it quite eco friendly. There is no battery power to this portable washer, you just need to pump the water with the orange handle which requires a little more manual labour than battery powered options and then its just a case of pressing and holding the trigger.
The Rhyas Eco Portable Pressure Washer can be stowed away easily in the boot or if empty in the foot well of the passenger seats. There is also a shoulder strap to carry it quickly meaning you can walk around your car or bike and rinse it off easily, it is a real portable solution to cleaning muddy gear.
- Portable
- Lightweight
- Cheap
- Comes with 4 interchangeable nozzles
- Small nozzle size
- Very little water pressure
- Manual pump not battery powered
This is a very simple portable car pressure washer, cheap to buy and eco friendly to use as it will use less water than the plug in type. If you are after something that holds a bit more water than the Streetwize and also saves on water because of its lower pressure then this is for you. It will be more than adequate for rinsing gear down, and getting mud off things. If you want to also wash your car or large object, you may need a big hand sponge with its own soap supply as the pressure in this device is not strong enough to remove the thickest or dirtiest of cars.


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Mmmm, nothing like a little charcoal in the morning. Just like Ma used to make when I was a kid. Fingers crossed this free Mocafe Charcoal Mocha coffee has less ash in it then hers.
Or am I thinking about this all wrong? Perhaps we want more charcoal in our coffee so we can finally start breathing fire!


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Hemoglobin-Beborn Beton
Fan video (via media clips) of Beborn Beton's Hemoglobin.
Hemoglobin-Beborn Beton
Fan video (via media clips) of Beborn Beton's Hemoglobin.
Love this tune. Related to vampires?
Anyone else still have a copy of the *Music From The Succubus Club*
soundtrack? :)
when baked beans attack!!!!
I still have my Assamite Antitribu pin. :|
«you sit like this so you don't spill any»
Gnihi, love the song and the video is great, too
Great memories dancing to this at Leland City club in Detroit!
thath rocks
Tnx for sharing been quite some time since I last heard it …
I love you… you have Vampire Princess Miyu… you are awesome.
Luv Ya Malfeitor
not that bad… I don't like the anime stuff… but, great work ;)
@Silverfox999999 Try searching «Music From The Succubus Club». It's on that
cd…put out by Dancing Ferret Records….good luck!
oh man youtube is starting to sux
ha, that was actually pretty good, usually i dont like homemade music
videos. Esp awesome was the nightmare stuff and the red dwarf!
does anyone know where i can get this song? i had it for like 5 years and i
wiped my comp. I tried itunes, and they do not have it. any suggestions??