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I could live without a Babycakes® cupcake maker, but now that I've used mine a few times, I wouldn't want to. In fact, the more I use it, the more I fall in love. Here's why.
First, with a price tag of just $30, Babycakes is affordable. Second, it's extremely fast — a batch of cupcakes will bake in less than 10 minutes. And, third, with its non-stick finish, the machine is a breeze to clean.
Babycakes comes with several items, including an icing bag with decorating tips, pie crust tools (yes, the cupcake maker makes mini pies) and a recipe booklet written by industry experts, Kathy Moore and Roxanne Wyss.
Although the booklet contains more than 25 recipes, it serves as merely a nibble to the full course of recipes found in Moore's and Wyss' newly released "175 Best Babycakes Cupcake Maker Recipes: Easy Recipes for Bite-Size Cupcakes, Cheesecakes, Mini Pies and More!"
Intentionally written for the Babycakes appliance, the companion cookbook's recipes are size, portion and baking-time specific. You will also find that with some adjusting, many of your favorite recipes will work well in the Babycakes, too.
Babycakes and the Babycakes cookbook are worth a look and a good, long one, at that. Check them both out at the Babycakes website at thebabycakesshop.com.
Sue Ade, a Lowcountry resident since 1985, is a gourmet baker and collector of vintage cooking utensils and cookbooks. She can be reached at Kitchenade@
yahoo.com or 683-0375.
Paper liners
1 cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup light (unsulphured) molasses
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup boiling water
2½ cups all-purpose flour (to measure, dip measuring cup into flour, then level off with the flat end of a knife)
2 large eggs, beaten
Stabilized Whipped Cream Frosting and Filling, optional (recipe follows)
Combine the sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg in the mixing bowl of an electric mixer. With the speed set to low, blend in the oil and molasses until combined.
Place the soda in a glass measuring cup, cover with the boiling water, then immediately add to molasses mixture. With the mixer still set on low, add the flour in several increments, beating until combined. Mix in the eggs until well blended.
Pour mixture into paper-lined Babycakes cupcake maker wells, filling about two-thirds to three-quarters full.
Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, or until tester inserted in center of cupcakes tests done.
Remove cupcakes to a wire rack to cool. Makes about 48 (maybe more) babycake size cupcakes. If desired, frost and fill cooled cupcakes with whipped cream frosting, storing leftover cupcakes in the refrigerator for up to 1 day.
*Kitchen Ade Note: To bake mini cupcakes in a regular mini muffin tin, fill a paper-lined tin two-thirds to three-fourths full and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until done. If you wish to make 24 regular sized cupcakes, bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Recipe may be halved. In addition, gingerbread can be baked in a 9 x 13-inch pan for 35 minutes, or until cake tests done.
Whipped Cream stabilized with gelatin will stay stiff for an extended period of time making it ideal for cupcake fillings and frostings. Store cupcakes filled or frosted with whipped cream in the refrigerator for up to one day.
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
4 teaspoons cold water
8 ounces very cold heavy cream
2 to 3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
Place mixing bowl and beaters in the refrigerator to chill for about 15 minutes. While they are chilling, sprinkle gelatin over cold water in a small saucepan; let stand for 1 minute. Cook over low heat for 3 minutes or until it is completely dissolved, stirring constantly.
Remove pan from heat and cool to room temperature. Remove the bowl and beaters from the refrigerator.
With mixer set to low speed, begin to beat cream. Gradually add gelatin beating until gelatin is well mixed. Raise speed to medium and beat until thickened, about 3 to 5 minutes; add sugar.
Once all the sugar is added, beat on high speed for another 3 to 5 minutes or until stiff enough to retain swirls. Do not overbeat. Makes about 2 cups whipped cream.
16 wonton wrappers (about 3½ inches)*
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon grated gingerroot
½ teaspoon curry powder
3 tablespoons whipped cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 green onion, chopped
1 cup chopped cooked chicken
3 tablespoons sweetened dried cranberries or golden raisins
2 tablespoons dry-roasted peanuts
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dry-roasted peanuts, garnish (optional)
Minced fresh cilantro, optional
Crusts: Place 1 wonton wrapper on top of each well and gently press into well with the pie forming tool, making a cup. Filling: In a medium bowl, combine garlic, ginger, curry powder, cream cheese, sour cream and lemon juice. Stir in green onion, chicken, cranberries and peanuts. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon about 1½ tablespoons filling into each wonton cup.
Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until wontons are golden and filling is hot. Carefully transfer cups to a wire rack to cool slightly. Repeat with the remaining wontons and filling.
Garnish: Sprinkle with additional peanuts (if using) and cilantro. Serve immediately.
*Tip: We like to leave the wonton wrappers whole (square) for this recipe, so that the filled cup has rustic, browned edges. Kitchen Ade Note: You may also make baked wontons in a regular non-stick muffin tin that has been lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Fit wontons into the muffin wells and bake in a preheated 375-oven until lightly browned, about 6 to 8 minutes.
Paper liners, optional
1½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 large egg
½ cup milk
1⁄3 cup butter, melted
¼ cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
¼ cup sliced almonds
1 tablespoon butter, melted
Muffins: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and baking powder. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together egg, milk and butter. Stir into flour mixture until just blended. Gently stir in raspberries.
Topping: In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, almonds and butter. If desired, place paper liners in wells. Fill each well with about 1½ tablespoons batter. Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon topping over the batter in each well.
Bake for 5 to 7 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining batter and topping. Makes 22 to 24 muffins.
*Tips: Fresh raspberries freeze very well. Wash them gently so that they maintain their delicate shape, then pat dry with a paper towel. Arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in the freezer. Once frozen, transfer the berries to a freezer bag, seal and date the bag. Return them to the freezer where they will keep for up to 1 year. There's no need to thaw frozen raspberries before stirring them into the batter. Store leftover muffins in an airtight container and plan to serve within a day or two. Or store in the freezer for up to three months.


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Eastern Tennessee
Eastern Tennessee a recreation destination. At Wilderness, we're working to protect more of this magnificent forest so that visitors can continue to enjoy outstanding recreation and wildlife can continue to thrive.
Why Eastern Tennessee
The forests and wildlands in eastern Tennessee are among the wildest lands east of the Mississippi River. They provide recreation opportunities for millions of visitors each year and help support the local economies. They also help provide clean drinking water for local communities. Despite their incredible value, the eastern Tennessee forests are threatened by logging — and much of them remains unprotected.
Work We Are Doing
Our work in eastern Tennessee is focused on keeping the forests and wildlands of the region — like the Cherokee National Forest — as wild as they can be.
Our Partners
We can't protect the forests of eastern Tennessee without help from local communities, businesses, decision makers and residents.
Wilderness is a precious resource with many human, natural and economic benefits that we need to protect.
Advocates for Wilderness Donations of $1,000 or more are tax-deductible leadership gifts protecting our public lands. Join, renew or upgrade today.
Be the first to hear about important campaigns, victories and features related to enjoying and protecting wilderness by joining our email and mobile WildAlert network.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Charges upgraded as hunt for Plaistow mother, boyfriend in beating case continuesBy JASON SCHREIBER
Union Leader Correspondent
November 21. 2012 1:03PM
PLAISTOW - Details of the alleged physical abuse against a 3-year-old Plaistow boy fighting for his life emerged Wednesday as the manhunt continued for his mother and her boyfriend.
At a press conference outside Rockingham County Superior Court, County Attorney James Reams said he was confident that Jessica M. Linscott and Roland H. Dow III would be found. Reams delivered a stern warning to the couple: "No matter where you go we're going to find you, so surrender yourself and let's do this the easy way," he said.
Reams also announced that assault charges were filed against Dow, 27, who lived with Linscott, 23, at 197 Main St., Plaistow. Dow now faces one felony count of first-degree assault for allegedly striking Linscott's son, James Nicholson, in the head on Nov. 1 and causing a brain injury.
He is also charged with felony second-degree assault for allegedly burning the boy's wrist and fingers. Dow was charged with five counts of endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly failing to seek medical care for James on Nov. 12 and Nov. 14 when he suffered seizures and other symptoms from the head injury on five occasions, according to the complaints.
Linscott faces six similar misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child. She is also accused of not seeking treatment for James on six occasions when he was having seizures and other symptoms.
James remains hospitalized at Children's Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon in serious but stable condition, Reams said.
The alleged abused was discovered by workers at Exeter Hospital when police said Linscott and Dow brought James in for treatment on Nov. 14. Concerned about his condition, hospital staff contacted Plaistow police, who then launched an investigation.
Arrest warrants were issued Friday for the couple, but they haven't been found.
Contrary to earlier reports, Reams said he believes Linscott and Dow have a car and are likely still in the area of southern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts.
"There's no asset available to law enforcement that's not being used. We will locate them, it's just a matter of how long will it take and where will we catch them," Reams said.
As the search continues, Reams said the young boy is now in the custody of the state's Division of Children, Youth and Families.
Reams also warned that anyone assisting the couple would face felony hindering apprehension charges if they're caught.


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North Lawndale saw three homicides in two days this last week, a RedEye analysis of preliminary police data found.
On Monday, a woman was found shot to death in the 1500 block of South Sawyer Avenue, police said. The same day, a 19-year-old man was fatally shot in the 1500 block of South Spaulding Avenue, officials said. On Saturday, a 17-year-old boy was shot to death in the 1600 block of South Millard Avenue, police said.
North Lawndale has recorded 12 homicides so far this year, RedEye data shows. The West Side community area logged 14 homicides last year.
Meanwhile, Woodlawn recorded a double homicide on Friday. A 48-year-old woman and a 69-year-old man were shot to death in the 6500 block of South Kenwood Avenue, police said.
Woodlawn has logged 12 homicides so far this year, according to RedEye data. The South Side community area recorded 13 homicides last year.
Citywide, gunshot homicides were recorded in the last week in Chatham, Grand Boulevard, the Near West Side, New City, Roseland, South Lawndale, South Shore and Uptown, according to police information.
This past weekend, Chicago passed 200 homicides for the year. As of Wednesday afternoon, 207 homicides have been recorded so far this year, a 48 percent jump compared to 140 homicides the same period in 2011, according to RedEye data.
Forty-nine homicides have been recorded so far this month. Thirty-nine homicides were logged in May 2011, according to RedEye data.


text:
24 prints in the finest Quilting/Fashion Cotton
Cameo is a whimsical collection of story rich prints that capture the romance of an imagined discovery of best
loved fabrics and memorabilia from a family's treasured history. Generations of charming prints mingle together
creating a fanciful portrait with a warm hearted, quirky narrative.
Cameo quilting/fashion fabrics come 44" wide.
cap 1. Tall Stories (click on each swatch for a larger look)
Inspiration Images (click to enlarge)


text:
Not that there's a lot of us or anything, but here's a fine little place for us to get started.
Location: Sioux Falls
Members: 30
Latest Activity: Jun 27, 2013
Started by Josh Nankivel. Last reply by Josh Jun 27, 2013. 1 Reply 0 Likes
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text:
October 26 – Sunday – Melbourne – Film: Fight For Country: the story of the Jabiluka Blockade
NSW approves 1,000MW Liverpool Range wind farm in New England — RenewEconomy
The New South Wales state government has given planning approval for the Liverpool Range wind farm, which at more than 1,000MW could be the biggest in the country.
via NSW approves 1,000MW Liverpool Range wind farm in New England — RenewEconomy
April 4, 2018 - Posted by Christina MacPherson | Uncategorized
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1.This month
For international news go to https://nuclear-news.net/
Gender and Radiation Impact Project
Radio Adelaide 15th October 2018 Start Thinking
Clean Energy Australia 2018
Honest Government Advert | Visit Australia!
Honest Government Ad | The Great Australian Bight
The Senate Committee has now released its Report . It is a wishy washy support for the process– quotes extensively from the submissions, but has little idea of its own. Greens Dissenting Submission packs a punch, as does Senator Rex Patrick's Additional Comments.
Read summaries of submissions to the Senate, re the Selection process for a national radioactive waste management facility in South Australia. Each summary has a link to the full submission. Obviously the Department of Industry Innovation and Science (DIIS) was not happy with the majority of submissions opposing the process, so now are trying to get a better (for them) result
NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP – Senate Committee of Inquiry
The Senate Inquiry on Selection process for a national radioactive waste management facility in South Australia. has now 112 submissions published
Read the brief summaries of submissions – 55 anti-nuclear, 41 pro nuclear (13 confidential) , with links to each full submission published on this Antinuclear website.
More info on these at Action Australia
See our page: Submissions on Radioactive Waste Code 2018/ Submissions published by ARPANSA are overwhelmingly critical, and in opposition to the Federal nuclear dump plan for rural South Australia. [not to be confused with the current SENATE INQUIRY Selection process for a national radioactive waste management facility in South Australia.]
Online Open letter requesting ACTION to enforce South Australia's law against nuclear waste dumping. http://petition.dyndns.org/
Say no to the federal plan to dump and store nuclear waste in SA.
Don't Let Frydenberg approve Yeelirrie uranium mine or extinction!
No Nuclear Bundabunda at Brewarrina – bad poison [SIGN THE PETITION]
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Life Cycle: Web Exclusive
Life at its most beautiful
A conversation with Susan Middleton '70 about discovery, delight, patience, and paying attention—and the place where art and science meet in her photographs.
By Steven Boyd Saum
Learning to love photography
SCM: In the spring issue of Santa Clara Magazine and, much more so, in the show Life Cycle at the de Saisset Museum this spring, people have the chance to see work from two of your recent projects, Evidence of Evolution and Spineless. Each takes the viewer to a place that's startling and beautiful. So how did you find yourself exploring these places visually?
Susan Middleton: The first drive that I had to make photographs that led to these comes from when I was working at the California Academy of Sciences. I was doing a lot of different kinds of photography before then, in the anthropological collections, in the aquarium. I was very interested in portraiture, but portraiture of people. And I was doing portraits, in my studio. I was enthralled with Richard Avedon and Irving Penn. I liked kind of that style. But I also loved Irving Penn's still lifes.
I wanted to learn how to make photographs that I thought were strong. So I apprenticed myself to some people who could teach me. I brought them into the Academy of Sciences and I said, "I'm photographing all these Hopi kachinas for this catalog. They're carved wooden dolls, but I want them to look like they're alive. I want to do them all black-and-white, and then I want to do them in color. How do I get them to look like that?"
I really taught myself photography from photographing in those collections—first, from the anthropological collections. I consider those things empowered objects. They're not just street material. The kachinas have great significance in the culture that they come from. I wanted to do right by them.
Then I saw some Irving Penn photographs I hadn't before: a cigarette butt, an old, smashed paper cup. And he made these beautiful prints out of that. I thought, This is like magic. It convinced me of the transformative power of photography.
Photography was not my favorite medium at all when I was working at the de Saisset Museum after college. My favorite media were painting and sculptures—and conceptual art, video. And the museum Director then, Lydia Modi Vitale, was a huge influence and inspiration for me artistically. But I began to open myself up to photographs, and how powerful they could be. I thought, Wow, this is something I really want to pursue. After I worked for Richard Avedon for a year, I became obsessed with the kind of strange drive and work ethic he possessed. A little of that rubbed off. But I wasn't interested in photographing people. People—we're so full of ourselves. Everywhere we look, it's people, people, people. What about the rest of life? There's so much out there.
I grew up in the Northwest. My dad was not a scientist, but he loved nature. So I was out in nature a lot; I had an appreciation and love for it. Working at the Academy of Sciences, I started learning about what I was photographing. I met a man named Tom Eisner, who still teaches at Cornell. He's best friends with biologist E.O. Wilson. He introduced me to Wilson. He is an entomologist, as is Wilson, and he's a recipient of the National Medal of Science. I worked with Eisner in an intact ecosystem in Florida called the Archbold Biological Station. It's Florida scrub; photographing there started opening my eyes to all these different critters and plants out there, and how they all worked together. And, I realized, most people don't have a clue. Because I'm interested, and I didn't have a clue.
So I thought, This is where I want my attention to go—to the underdog. Once these pictures from Florida started coming out, people did respond. You know who responded the strongest? The conservation community. Especially the scientists who were passionate conservationists. They've been the most avid supporters, because they know what's going on here, and they know that there's a communication power here. They know that there's also an artistry here. They totally get it. There's never been any question in that community about the usefulness or the value of these pictures.
But sometimes in the art community, it's been kind of like: Are these really art? And then, in other parts of the science community: Well, they're not really science. They ride the line.
That's what gives them their kind of special place. But my primary impulse is an artistic one when I'm making a photograph. I can talk to you about the life—what I know about. But none of that is what I'm thinking about when I'm trying to compose an image.
SCM: And yet somehow, truth and beauty become wound up in the whole big picture. As much as you isolate the creatures and plants you photograph, they don't become removed from the greater sense of creation.
Middleton: They are the exemplars of creation, to me.
I love reading a well-written book, but I'm very visual. And our culture is so visual; we've been trained to be visual. That also presents a challenge, because we're inundated with images continuously. That's not lost on why I work the way I do. I want images that are graphically strong. I want images that have a variety of feelings.
SCM: You mentioned that you grew up in the Northwest.
Middleton: In Seattle. My dad loved to fish, so we were oftentimes out on the Olympic Peninsula, salmon fishing. He had an incredible garden, and we had a creek in the back yard with a salmon run. That's why it's nice, now, to go up to Friday Harbor: I get out of the car, and I breathe in, and it's like a second childhood. Some of the marine creatures, like the jellyfish, I remember seeing when I was a kid. Most of these that I'm photographing now are all new to me. I'm learning that you couldn't see them.
We need to see some of what's out there, better understand our oceans. For example, working in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, I learned about marine debris firsthand; it's not neatly cleaned up and put out of sight. It's there—on every single one of those atolls, there's tons of junk on the beach: plastic, TV sets, big pieces of plastic cushiony stuff from producing flip-flops. When they cut the foot form out, there are big pieces of plastic with all these foot forms cut out. You see those on the beach.
You see the junk coming from the floating gyres. The lesson there for me was, first: Nowhere in the world is remote anymore. The Hawaiian Archipelago is, geographically, the most remote archipelago on the planet; there are no continents anywhere nearby. One would think that it would be more pristine. You go out to the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, which is an amazing sanctuary for wildlife, yet there's so much debris out there, and it's human debris. Way out there, and nobody even lives out there.
Sometimes I'll show pictures of the beaches strewn with all this junk, and people say, "Wow, how many people live out there?" Nobody. It's all coming from the oceans.
The oceans are so key to our own survival. For a long time, we thought they were places where we could just dump stuff and that they were inexhaustible: Out of sight, out of mind. That's not the case.
On some of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) vessels that I've been on, there have been scientists who are studying ocean acidification and taking water samples up and down the water column. They're terrified because of how acidified the oceans already are. Acidic water melts anything that's calcium-based—a hermit crab's house, another invertebrate's shell.
Most invertebrates depend on calcium for their exoskeleton, or even for their skeleton inside, in the case of cuttlefish. All the urchins. That's what I say in the hermit crab film I produced. I don't like the idea of a world without hermit crabs. What a great, resilient adaptation they exhibit, and how beautiful they are, and how diverse. Everybody's kind of intrigued with hermit crabs. But they're threatened by ocean acidification.
Part of my hope is that revealing some of the inhabitants of the world under the waves will help people understand that there's a lot of life there—and we're really connected to it. We're part of this. We're connected to these creatures. I think of them as next of kin. We don't have to just think of ourselves as the evil, bad, nasty demons. We're the protectors, too, and we're the appreciators. We're the only ones who can actually turn this around.
But it's hard. People need to feel inspired. And the way to feel inspired is to feel connected to life itself. Life is what's inspiring, and life is inherently divine. There's so many forms of life, and so many ways that it reveals itself. And they're all like God-given manifestations, exemplars: life at its most beautiful.
And fun. Some of them are kind of amusing.
We're all in this together, on the planet. If they go, it's not going to be a very happy situation for us. But if we don't know about them, then we end up being impoverished. Because they bring a great deal of delight.
SCM: Delight was the first word that came to mind for me, actually, when I sat down with my son to look at the marine invertebrates. There is that delight of discovery, as well as the humor, the beauty, the unexpectedness.
Middleton: Really unexpected. And that's inherent in the world of invertebrates—terrestrially, too. We don't see them much, especially the marine ones—we don't really see them at all. So there's much more potential for discovery as a photographer, photographing these kinds of animals, than beautiful reef fish; those fish are very impressive, I love seeing them—but I'm not really interested in them as a photographer. A lot of photographers have photographed them. We did quite a bit of it in Archipelago, but that's been covered. This realm is so different; I'm the only one who has photographed a number of these species, and certainly with the attention.
SCM: And the patience.
Middleton: And the kind of ridiculous, obsessive thing that I bring to it. The series Spineless is not just a collection of individual photographs. It's really representative of the biodiversity in the marine environment: these spineless creatures, that most people are less aware of, but that are so absolutely crucial to how life works—not just in the sea but in the world. They're just as important as anything else.
It's kind of an exciting thing, as a photographer, to be able to reveal that. People are used to seeing seals or beautiful tropical fish. They're much less used to seeing an image of a marine plant—or a delicate, pink nudibranch—or a flatworm.
I'm very passionate about octopuses, because they're the smartest marine invertebrate. They're extremely intelligent. They can move really quickly, they can change color, they can change texture—talk about resilience and brilliant adaptation for survival. They're one of the most successful marine animals. And they also have eyes that look right back at you. Someone's home there.
They're also brilliant escape artists—hence the "octopus crossing" sign in my studio. Because the one that I was photographing on one of the NOAA vessels kept getting out of its five-gallon bucket, crawling across the floor. A crewman would come out and say, "Susan, your octopus got loose again!" So we had to wrangle it back. They made the sign for me.
Working in the French Frigate Shoals in the Hawaiian Archipelago, one of the things that gets driven home is how little is known. You'd think that more would be known than is about marine animals, especially when you get into this realm of the invertebrates. But it's more often that a new species to science is discovered when you look closely—and how small you go is where the new species start revealing themselves.
How she shoots
SCM: So how do you actually photograph them—for example, the white background with the deepwater crab. Is that a technique, or is it done afterward?
Middleton: No, no, no, no, it's not done afterward. Believe me, if you could do it afterward and it would really work, it would be easier. But if you do it that way, the edges look very cut out. Because the light wraps around the creatures. There are actually little portrait studios that are set up for each and every one of these. For example, with the deepwater crab, you can see the shadow underneath. He's standing on a piece of white plex inside an aquarium that's lit from above. There's also a piece of white plex behind in the aquarium, which is lit from behind, which creates the white background. That way you don't see any shadows anywhere, except for underneath, because he looks like he's standing on something, which he is. I don't want him to be totally floating.
But the thing that's tricky with the white plex background is that you're lighting it from behind to get it to be white. Otherwise, it would just be gray. But if you over-light it, it'll blow out the detail and the contrast. So it has to be just to the point where it's white and not an ounce over. And that's what's cool about digital, because white is 255; you just keep going until it gets there. Then you also have to have it a distance from the actual subject. Because otherwise, the flare will wrap around, which I don't want.
One of the things that I like about photography is that you can't tell in a photograph how big things are. So you can play tricks. Most of the marine invertebrates are small. What I'm trying to do is make everything look heroic and monumental.
One thing that I do in terms of my work is I attach myself to experts. That's where the science comes in. They help guide me in terms of not only my knowledge but in terms of what I photograph. They provide access, they make recommendations.
When I'm in the field, I attach myself to a field biologist, a botanist, or a marine biologist who kind of paves my way. But then when I'm photographing, it's not scientific documentation that I'm doing. It's something different.
You get the best cooperation when you're working with invertebrate biologists. They're so thrilled that you love their creatures. Mostly, people just pass these kind of plants and animals by; even if you went snorkeling or diving, you wouldn't be able to see them. They're too small, they're cryptic, they're excellent at camouflage. So these scientists get pretty excited about trying to help me make it happen.
SCM: One of your photographs is on the cover of the spring Santa Clara Magazine, with the word that defines the theme: resilience. I'm wondering, from your perspective, how that word and concept applies—or doesn't apply—to the show Life Cycle.
Middleton: Resilience to me conjures up adaptation—an ability to bend and move. Adaptation is the name of the game in evolution. I love the word resilience. It's a more beautiful word than adaptation. The ways that these creatures survive in their ecosystems has everything to do with resilience; think of a lyrical bending: The piece of grass that stays stiff will crack, but the one that can bend with the wind will survive.
When we get stiff in our ideas, when we get stiff in terms of our ability to adapt physically, we are threatened. So resilience is very key to organic survival of life and to biodiversity.
And in relationships, resilience is so important. In conversation, resilience is so important. In driving in traffic, resilience is so important. And in making a photograph, it has a lot to do with it. Because I might have an idea for the kind of photograph I want to take when I see an animal. And then I watch the animal for a while, and I realize, no …
French Frigate Shoals
SCM: Many of the photos in Spineless come from your expedition to the French Frigate Shoals backed by NOAA. What was a typical day like on board the ship there?
Middleton: There was an incredible work ethic on that trip, because it was three and a half weeks long. Every day there were divers who were going out, collecting things in various little containers to bring back into five-gallon buckets. They were using a variety of techniques to collect, including deepwater lobster traps, so they could bring up stuff from very, very deep. Also, there were suction devices they would use to get critters that lived in the sand and the sediment.
They were really exploring a whole variety of habitats in all levels of the water column. That was going on during the day.
Occasionally, I'd be diving—but only occasionally. That was for me to be able to understand what the marine environment was like and to take some contextual photographs. But mostly, what my day would involve is standing in a very small space, where I had my studio setup.
I have different sizes of little Plexiglas and glass trays, little aquariums in different sizes, my tripod, my camera, lighting. I'm usually handholding the light, because I don't want it to be direct-flash; I'm very fussy about that. These are portraits. You can't do a direct-flash for a portrait. It has to be beautiful.
So I'm there working with the animals as they're being brought to me. There's a lot of pressure, because typically, the animals have to go back to where they came from. And if the ship is moving to another location, the animals have to be returned before the ship moves.
In the case of many of the things that were brought in at French Frigate Shoals, the scientists were preparing collections. They needed to do that in order to identify and get the DNA samples and do the sequencing.
Even with that, there was a lot of pressure on me. I'll never forget Gustav Paulay. He's a brilliant guy. He kept coming up and going, "Well, Sue, what happened to that octopus? I don't want it to be pickled in anything but pristine condition." I was working with it for a couple of days, it was so beautiful. As I mentioned, it kept getting loose. I really wanted to set it free, actually. So did a number of the other divers—women, especially—because it was so beautiful, and we became very fond of it. It was heartbreaking to think about it going into a jar with alcohol.
So my day usually would feel by turns pressured, then ecstatic—because once I would start photographing, amazing things often happened, like with one of the shrimp. It was kind of all hunkered down in the bottom of the aquarium for the first 45 minutes. And then suddenly, it stood up. And I moved the angle of my camera even lower, so I was kind of looking up at it, and it just was so beautiful. It arranged itself.
These animals don't respond to direction, whereas a person does. You can say, "Would you please put your hand here, or fold your arms? Smile." But with this kind of photography, you have to wait and observe, and get a sense of what the range of gestures can be, then be ready.
Sometimes people would come by and say, "How did you get that shrimp to do that?" I said, "You know better than that. I can't do that, I'm just patient." Because the scientists do a different kind of photography. They're interested in recording for informational purposes. They like to make it quick. None of these pictures are quick.
So my day is long. And the scientists were under the same kind of pressure—self-imposed, by the way. But it's such an incredible opportunity to be there. It's an expensive journey to finance. It's not going to happen anytime again soon. It may be another 10 years before they do something like this.
So everyone wants to maximize the opportunity while they're there. There's food being prepared on the ship, three meals a day at specific times. It's a little militaristic, in that way. But it's good, because I would go in, have a quick breakfast at seven, then I would be working all day. I would work as long as I could; when I was younger, I could pull all-nighters. I've realized that I'm not very efficient if I do; I kind of am at half-speed the next day. So you learn how much sleep you need. I would need at least six hours. So I'd try and just keep working and working. And then, at a certain point—at 11 or 12 at night, maybe—I'd go, "I think I have to shut it down." Sometimes it would be contingent on the animals. If there were some really important animals that came in, I would stay up.
The scientists were doing the same thing. I remember asking Gustav, "How long can you work like this?" He said, "You mean, at this level of intensity? About three weeks. After that, I'm burnt."
So it's pretty intense. But it's an incredible privilege. And how else could you have access to these animals and observe them with this extent of intimacy, without that kind of a situation?
Each one of the places where I've been working has been a fantastic situation to work—with experts, collectors, and people who are super knowledgeable about the creatures and what's going to keep them happy. And the conditions have been good conditions, with fresh water, being close to their habitat, really rich habitats. These are not deprived areas in terms of the biodiversity. They're hotspots.
So I'm eavesdropping on this profusion of life that's capable of being really resilient, which is not always the case—if you're in a place that's a dead zone, for example, or a place that's plagued by some kind of toxic influence.
SCM: When you personally were diving, how deep would you go?
Middleton: Typically, about 30 to 40 feet. The deepest dive I ever did doing this work was about 85 feet; overall, the deepest dive I've ever done was 120. The thing is, things get less interesting.
People think, Oh, it's so great to go deep. For one thing, you get a little loopy, and it's a lot harder once you're down that deep. So if you don't have a real reason to go, I don't quite see the point. Though we did see some pretty interesting things at 80 feet—huge lobsters and things like that.
My whole reason to dive was so that I could stay down for longer than a minute, or 30 seconds, even—just to go down there and look. Not even to traverse a big area, but just go down and look for 20 minutes in one place, to get a sense of the environment, how cryptic these things are.
SCM: So, what did that teach you? How do you see the invertebrates differently than you might, had you not?
Middleton: I have a great deal of respect for them. More and more and more. The more I observe them, the more I learn about them.
You know what it is? It's being exposed to the sort of brilliance of the evolutionary process. You can see it in these—what many people might think of as sort of lowlife creatures. Their adaptations to the conditions that they live in are extraordinary. I'm interested in the structures and the forms, and the things that I can show photographically. That alone is very impressive. But then there are all these other levels that you can't see, that scientists get very excited about—how species are related to each other, for example. A lot can be determined now with DNA sequencing.
It opened my eyes to a whole other realm of life. When I was photographing the endangered species throughout America for Witness, I didn't know about the extent of the biodiversity in the marine invertebrate realm. It's somewhat analogous to the invertebrates terrestrially; E.O. Wilson opened my eyes to those with his book about ants, and his stories—what he calls the Magellanic voyage around the trunk of a tree. There's so much that hasn't been described, when you get to the tinier things and the lesser-known things. I'd been exposed to that, particularly through his writing and through conversations with him. So that opened me up to how important the invertebrate world is, and plants of course. Without the plants and the inverts, we wouldn't be here. Nothing else would be here. It's part of the foundation.
In the marine environment, what I particularly love is that the forms, colors, shapes are—I don't even know how to describe it—you can't really say "outlandish," because they're part of Earth. But they really are shockingly amazing. And the hardest thing was to get the color as intense as it really is. I was thinking, I don't know if the camera's going to be able to get how iridescent that plant is. We don't have that kind of iridescence in terrestrial plants.
I've been very surprised by the myriad forms, textures, colors, behaviors, strategies for survival, the complexity. It is intelligent design—but it's not intelligent design the way it's popularly understood.
By the way, while this is kind of off-track, I don't see any conflict between the theory of evolution and the presence of the divine. I feel like evolution is the greatest story ever told, and it exemplifies the divine. The divine is expressed in every one of these creatures. And the relationships between them are fascinating to learn about, the connectedness of all of life.
Attaching myself to these scientific experts has been a revelation for me. It helps me know what to photograph, too. I couldn't go collect all these. How would I find a flatworm? They're tiny little things; they hide. So it's a collaborative thing.
What's difficult?
SCM: You mentioned getting the color as intense as it really is one of the hardest things. What else is hard?
Middleton: How small they are. They aren't all really small, but some of them are. Then there's movement—octopus, oh, my God. Then, for a photograph, I'll want the eye of the octopus open, and he's saying, "Nope, not going to open my eye." A lot of these guys move really fast; they didn't adopt the gestures I caught for more than a split second.
The fact that you're shooting in an aquarium is difficult. The graphic simplicity of the images belies the technical complexity involved in making them. Because you have to shoot through glass. The white background is another thing: I don't want any shadows, but I don't want to cut the contrast in the subject itself. So I have to be careful how far the subject is from the background. And then I want a shadow in places where there's an animal sitting on something.
A lot of these are sort of diaphanous, so the light transmits through, which is so beautiful. But the biggest challenge is really trying to do right by them—to render them in a photograph in a way that does justice to what I see.
SCM: What's the most important thing that you bring to this work?
Middleton: Patience is the single most important element. Being willing to wait. That's been a life lesson for me.
There's a certain amount that you need to control as much as you can, especially technically. Then, at a certain point, I have to pull back and observe. Sometimes I'll watch for quite a long time before I ever take even one picture. Sometimes I'll have to relight it. I'll think, I don't know, the idea I had for lighting this is not really the best way of lighting this. Sometimes I'll have a session with an animal, and I'll look at the pictures afterward, and I'll think, I want to do this a different way. If I'm lucky, I'll have a second opportunity; I don't always.
It's a huge exercise in seeing. Especially when you're dealing with things that are normally not seen: They're under the surface of the water, they're hiding in the marine environment, they tend to be small, they try to protect themselves. So it trains your eyes, and it trains your sensibility about pulling back and allowing the subject to reveal itself, and then trying to kind of catch that. It's more of a collaboration.
It's that way when you do a portrait of a person, too. With a good portrait of a person, that always has to be part of what goes on.
That's another thing I learned working for Richard Avedon. He did think of it as a collaboration. You know, he's observing.
With people, we all have an idea of how we want to look, right? With these marine animals, they don't come in with an attitude—though they are going through a trauma at first. That's an aspect of the photography: You have to wait long enough so that the response that you're getting from the animal isn't totally defensive. These are all animals from the wild, none of them are zoo creatures. Suddenly they're put in this tank. Usually, they hunker down; often they are hiding in their shell. And I have to wait for sometimes 45 minutes for them to even poke a little tiny bit out.
They have to get to the point where they feel less threatened in the environment: Okay, I guess I can come out now and check it out. That could be because of curiosity, or it could be: I'm hungry. It could be, Nothing's happened so far, so maybe it's okay. They will then begin to adopt more natural behaviors. And I'm happy to wait for that, because I don't want a photograph of a freaked-out animal.
SCM: How long?
Middleton: The hermit crabs are just terrible. Their lifestyle is in a shell. So their attitude is, Hey, I'm willing to stay inside my shell for a really long time, you know? But then, eventually, you'll see a little claw. And I think: Okay, he's going to come out now. The longest: 45 minutes. Then, if there's a shadow, somebody walks by, or I put my hand over the tank—they'll go right back in. Then you have to wait and wait and wait and wait, until they feel comfortable enough.
An octopus can take a very long time, to get to a place where you can actually photograph them. They're the hardest, by far. I have the most pictures of octopuses of any kind of animal. I find them the most fascinating.
Sobering and reverent
SCM: When you were photographing the collections for Evidence of Evolution, how did that feel at the end of the day?
Middleton: Really sobering, and sad. It was important to me to also have in the exhibition at the de Saisset the portraits of death—but only in juxtaposition with life. Because it's all part of the life cycle.
The extinct species—it's very poignant to look at them. First of all, when you go into a museum's natural history collections, and you're going for the extinct specimens—at the California Academy of Sciences, for example—they're very highly prized. All the specimens are, and there are 26 million of them there.
The most valuable ones are the extinct species and the type specimens, the holotypes. For every species, there's one particular specimen that's selected, usually by the scientist who does the official species description. That one particular specimen is delineated as a holotype, and that is forever and ever the physical representation of that species. What distinguishes them in the images are blue ribbons.
For example, there are the Carolina parakeets. They have these beautiful tags that tell who collected where, when—1885, 1905. And you know the fate. Also, you know the fate of the passenger pigeons. With this beautiful bird, you can see a hint of its original beauty, because the feathers don't lose their shimmering iridescence, its reflected structural color.
But these specimens are all there is left. They are all we have. They will never come back. What is the wonderful quote by William Beebee? Heaven and earth will have to go by before anything like this would come back again. Gone is gone. And it didn't have to happen.
People will always say to me, when I do a presentation, "Well, isn't extinction part of the natural evolutionary process?" Yes, it is. And people like E.O. Wilson write about this far more eloquently than I can speak about it: But it's known scientifically what the background rate of extinction is—in other words, what the natural rate of extinction has been in terms of the fossil record. New species are being created, but it takes a long, long time. With the background extinction rate, there used to be a kind of balance. There have been some mass extinctions historically caused by weather events or meteor strikes. But this is the first mass extinction—and we are undergoing a mass extinction right now—that's generated by one species: our own.
To be with these specimens, it's a deep kind of contemplative, poignant, spiritual sadness for me. But then, there's all this beauty. That's why the poet William Merwin said, "I think a good title for your Hawaiian book would be Remains of a Rainbow—because the rainbow is still there, but it's not in its full spectrum."
On the one hand, we're responsible for a lot of extinctions mostly from altering and destroying habitats that animals and plants need to survive; they're losing their homes. On the other hand, look at the precision and care that went into preserving these specimens. We also have a great deal of love and sort of obsession about understanding life, and collecting and categorizing, and organizing, and trying to make sense of all these relationships. That care is really shown in the way that the specimens are preserved and prepared.
I do a lot of presentations, a lot of public speaking. I like working more and more with students. Students are really receptive, even kids, and that's a lot of the reason why I've kept doing what I'm doing: because there seems to be a place for these images in the world.
When I started doing this kind of photography, some people thought it was sort of manipulated. It wasn't like traditional nature photography. David Liittschwager and I asked writer Barry Lopez to do the foreword for our first book. He said, "I don't have time right now, because I'm on a book deadline. But what I really think would be more useful to you, and what I want to do, is go out in the field with you, because I want to write about your process. I want people to understand how you do this." Some people were assuming that we were torturing these animals, or that there was something cruel about it, or manipulative in a way that was not ethical.
He came out in the field with us several times and wrote a piece in Orion magazine. And it was beautiful, what he wrote. He used the word "reverential." He said, "These are two people—David and Susan—who were in attendance, bearing witness." I was really involved in photographing endangered species then: plants and animals that are losing ground, disappearing. I still feel like I'm trying to show something heroic and memorable; these animals and plants are as important as anything to me.
I do have this artistic thing that won't stop. That's where kind of the resilience came in; it was realizing, This is what I'm supposed to be doing. And it had to do with the response to the imagery in the early years, in the first times I gave presentations in schools and elsewhere. I thought, I have to keep doing this.
There's obviously a place in the world for this, even though it's kind of difficult in terms of finding financial support to do it sometimes. I knew I wasn't going to get rich doing this, but I at least wanted to be able to do it, and to survive doing it.
TestimonySCM: You mentioned Orion—your photograph of a Florida panther provided the cover for Orion some years ago, and there's a copy of that issue of the magazine here in your studio. Writers you've worked with include W.S. Merwin and Barry Lopez. Are there other writers who have offered inspiration or collaboration?
Middleton: I've had more in Orion recently. But that was the cover. It's a good magazine. Barry Lopez was the one who connected me with Orion initially.
A great inspiration has been Edward O. Wilson, from Harvard. He wrote the introduction to our book Witness. I'm hoping and wanting him to write the introduction for the book that will ultimately be made from the marine inverts, which is tentatively called Spineless, and then the subtitle would be Marine Invertebrates: The Backbone of Life in the Sea. Because they are: The marine invertebrates comprise about 98 percent of the known species in the marine environment, much to most people's surprise.
E.O. Wilson has been very influential, particularly his book Biophilia. I've been with him several times face-to-face. And I told him, "You know, you're a scientist who writes like an artist, especially in that book." He's such a passionate conservationist. And he can write very clearly, for nonscientists to understand. He's a brilliant scientist. And he wants to see our biosphere preserved. He knows how important it is to our own survival.
What drew him to my work is what he says about David's and my pictures: "Maybe their kind of testimony will mean more than all the annals of science, because it speaks directly to the heart." That's a reflection of him. He sees it as another way of communicating the beauty and wonder of life itself, and then the importance of trying to convey something about biodiversity, the variety of life.
And of course there is Wendell Berry, who wrote the Foreword for our book Here Today: Portraits of Our Vanishing Species, he really wrote perceptively about the significance of visually isolating a plant or animal in our photographs. He understood what we were doing, and he even stretched my own understanding about what I was doing.
SCM: There's the element of discovery and newness in so much of your work.
Middleton: The whole process of discovery that drives artists is exactly the same impulse that drives scientists. This is like some kind of primal drive.
There's a great similarity between art and science, actually. So I find scientists to be natural collaborators. I eavesdrop on these people; I've wanted to understand more about what I was photographing, to know about the back-story—because I want to communicate to the public. And I'm the perfect person to communicate with the public—if you don't mind me saying so—because I'm not a scientist. I don't have to adhere to all of those protocols, and I think I have a grasp of what's understood by the general public.
Though it is a little scary when I give a presentation at Friday Harbor Marine Lab, which the scientists always ask me to do. They're the experts. But they're very generous. Because they care about the critters. But I tell them, I want to be corrected if I'm saying something that isn't quite bang-on.
Back to the eggs
SCM: Let's go back to the eggs: the image that begins your photo essay in our spring magazine.
Middleton: Here's the deal with the eggs. They look like little Jackson Pollocks. Why would that be? There are probably 1,000 of these in the collections at the California Academy of Sciences. I went through and looked at every single one, and selected these. They are all patterned and interesting in their own right. There's not an ugly egg there. But, you know, being rather obsessive, I needed to look at them all.
The eggs in th epicture do represent the range of color. You also notice that they're shaped kind of in this conical shape; pyrform is the term. They're laid by Murre birds. There's a picture of a taxidermied female Murre bird in Evidence of Evolution. She's really beautiful. And she likes to lay her eggs out on the Farallon Islands, right off the coast here. That's one of their favorite breeding grounds.
She likes to lay her eggs on precipitous sea cliffs. They don't really build nests; their eggs are exposed. Hence the patterning, so it's not so obvious that there's an egg there. The coloring kind of camouflages it, within the environment.
Because of the really steep ledges where they're laid, the ones that have been shaped more conically have survived better. If they're nudged, they tend to roll in a circle. That's why I photographed them in a circle, with the conical end pointing inward—to reinforce the fact that, when an egg is shaped like that, it's less likely to roll off the edge. So they had a better survival rate with both the patterning and the shape. It just so happens that it's beautiful.
Spring 2011
See all articles from this issue
Life cycle
Luminous beauty and the delight of discovery in a photo essay by Susan Middleton '70.
The Pause for Coz
A much-beloved Jesuit, Fr. Richard Coz touched the lives of generations of Broncos—who established a scholarship in his honor with the goal of raising $1 million.
Mission Matters
Here's the plan.
It's a new strategic vision for Santa Clara University. And a road map for the years ahead.
Taking innovations to scale
An inaugural conference on the Mission Campus draws the best of the Tech Awards. The goal: Take brilliant ideas, then replicate.
Bronco Profile
Man in motion
Rich McGuinness '89 is a football force to be reckoned with. He's the man behind The Ride and the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.


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Photograph by Zade Rosenthal
UPPER AND DOWNEY: Gwyneth Paltrow plays perky Pepper Potts to Robert Downey Jr.'s 'Iron Man.'
The Right Stuff
Robert Downey Jr. takes off in 'Iron Man'
By Richard von Busack
THERE MUST have been some children out there who could think of nothing but Ol' Shellhead. But he was (let's face it) basically just one member of the Avengers. Good-looking, yes, and interestingly flawed by alcoholism and a bad ticker. Certainly your point man when faced with the similarly armor-clad Dr. Victor Von Doom. Eventually, even the slow kids caught a Commando Cody serial on late-night TV and figured out where the deadline-wracked duo of Stan Lee and Don Heck got the idea. An unlikely subject for a film, then, but Jon Favreau's smashing adventure Iron Man contrasts the tender flesh with the crunchy shell. The hero's scarlet and gold armor (designed by Stan Winston) is gorgeous, like a wrathful Art Deco statue come to life.
As Errol Flynn did, Downey's Tony Stark sometimes reflects scroungy misdeeds offscreen; the black-dyed beard and mustache recall past-their-prime swashbucklers. Crawling on the floor, half-dead, trying to retrieve his machine-made heart, he evokes the Downey of the mug shots. When discovered in mid–costume change, he explains suavely, "Let's face it, this isn't the worse thing you've caught me doing." In midflight, Favreau gives us a tight close-up of the computer lights flickering on Stark's face, like Bowman the astronaut in 2001. The idea conveyed is of great speed and exhilaration renewing a man jaded by everything.
Co-written by Art Marcum, the son of a UC–Santa Cruz political science professor, Iron Man doesn't celebrate the arms trade. Stark, a happy, slick and amoral billionaire munitions maker, is literally hoist by his own petard. He gets a shocked glimpse at the Stark Enterprises logo on one of his bombs before it goes off. He is carried away by Afghan insurgents and saved by a jerry-built prosthetic, powered by a car battery. His surgeon is a doctor (Shaun Toub) enslaved by the guerrillas. In captivity, Stark heals and hammers together a suit of armor. Thus begins his career as a supersonic "raketemensch" (vide Thomas Pynchon and Gravity's Rainbow) on a mission to destroy the weapons he once made. (Since it's Downey, there's a little mensch to a lot of rocket.)
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The film suffers from a paucity of villains. Jeff Bridges plays a bald-headed, bushy-bearded warmonger named Obadiah Stane, meant to suggest to the aforementioned slower kids that this man might not be on the up and up. As Stark's life-saving secretary, "Pepper" Potts, Gwyneth Paltrow settles right into her comfort zone as an actress. She looks good, too—sleek and smart, with her hair dyed to a gentle but persuasive red. Stark and Pepper have a unique bonding scene: she is asked to do some mechanical tuning, putting her hands inside the coffee-cup-wide pipe protruding from Stark's chest. ("It's like the game of Operation," Stark says.) When he asks her to trash his obsolete heart, Pepper blurts, "Don't you want to keep it?" This moment of off-hand feminine compassion comes across as more piercing than most of Paltrow's efforts at serious tragedy. As for the man himself, he is a nonchalant, streamlined superhero ("OK, I can fly"). The suaveness lasts right to the last moment, where in four words Stark eliminates the most predicable parts of the superhero lore and comes out in favor of honesty. Downey, like this film, has the right stuff.
IRON MAN (PG-13; 126 min.), directed by Jon Favreau, written by Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, photographed by Matthew Libatique and starring Robert Downey Jr., Jeff Bridges and Gwyneth Paltrow, plays valleywide.
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News & Events
For the Media
Clarkson Business Students to Run Day Camp for Local Children During K-12 Breaks
By Laurel Moczydlowski '11 (The Clarkson School '08)
A few months ago, 95 first-year students in Clarkson University's School of Business were assigned the task of forming a company and convincing four investors to invest in it. Twenty-two of those students formed a company known as GEO (Golden Entrepreneurs Organization), which created two businesses: the Clarkson Cinema, a student-run movie theater on campus, and the Golden Bears Activities Camp.
The day camp will kick off during the local K-12 schools' winter break next month and the Clarkson students are hoping to get a good response from local parents who would like something for their children to do over the break.
The first camp session will be held February 18-22 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in SUNY Potsdam's Maxcy Hall, with extended hour options for working parents from 8-9 a.m. and 3-5 p.m. A second session will be held April 14-18. Children must be 8 to 13 years of age to attend the camp.
The days' activities will range from sports-related games to team building exercises -- all provided by Dan Davis, Clarkson's wellness director. The camp will be supervised by the Clarkson students with assistance from Davis and Mike Britton, Potsdam Elementary School gym teacher.
This project is a great reflection of the Clarkson approach to educating the next generation of business leaders, says Michael E. Wasserman, associate dean of the School of Business and one of the faculty teaching the course. "The community benefits from a much-needed service at a reasonable price, during what can be a challenging time for working families. And of course, the students running this project are getting great hands-on managerial experience -- they are learning about the entire process of creating a business, including managing finances, marketing, understanding legal responsibilities, negotiating with suppliers, and managing risk. I hope the community rallies around this project and supports this great idea!"
After the two camp sessions are complete, the Clarkson students will donate all profits to the Potsdam Neighborhood Center. The center is dedicated to helping out individuals and families that don't have the means to survive. Its services include a food pantry, helping to pay for shelter and utility bills, providing shelter for those in need of it, and more. The students felt that donating all proceeds to this organization was the best way to support the community, along with spending time with the local children.
Having active children myself, I am aware of the need for a safe place to send your children for a few hours to burn off some energy, says Marc S. Compeau, the other faculty member teaching the course. "It has been amazing to watch these young business leaders uncover all of the details that most experienced entrepreneurs would have overlooked. I am confident this business venture will be a huge success and make a lasting impact on the Potsdam Neighborhood Center."
Clarkson University crosses the boundaries of disciplines, nations and cultures in order for discovery, engineering innovation and enterprise to come together. As a result, faculty and graduates grasp the full impact of their calling, direct their research to the world's pressing issues and lead with confidence and distinction. One in seven alumni is already a CEO or other senior executive. Located in Potsdam, N.Y., just outside the six-million-acre Adirondack Park, Clarkson is home to 3,000 students preparing for rewarding careers through 50 rigorous programs of study in engineering, business, arts, science, and health sciences, as well as unparalleled outdoor recreation and life experiences beyond the classroom.


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Hachette Book Group hit back at Amazon.com Inc. on Wednesday, rebuffing the retailer's suggestion that the two jointly compensate authors affected by a dispute between the companies.
In recent weeks Amazon has delayed shipments of some Hachette titles and since last week stopped allowing its customers to preorder upcoming titles from the publisher, whose writers include James Patterson and Michael Connelly. The two companies are in a dispute over Amazon's efforts to improve its split on e-book prices.
On Tuesday evening, Amazon issued a statement saying it didn't expect the dispute to be resolved quickly. In the statement it said it had offered to fund half of a pool of money "to mitigate the impact of this dispute on author royalties, if Hachette funds the other 50%."
In response, Hachette said on Wednesday that "once we have reached such an agreement, we will be happy to discuss with Amazon its ideas about compensating authors for the damage its demand for improved terms may have done them, and to pass along any payments it considers appropriate."
Hachette, a unit of France's Lagardere SCA MMB, -1.89% also noted in its statement on Wednesday that it would "spare no effort to resume normal business relations with Amazon" although "under terms that value appropriately for the years ahead the author's unique role in creating books, and the publisher's role in editing, marketing, and distributing them."
A spokeswoman for Amazon AMZN, -0.38% declined to comment.
An expanded version of this report appears at WSJ.com.
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posted by Thom Holwerda on Tue 1st Apr 2008 15:47 UTC, submitted by RJop
Epiphany, GNOME's web browser, will drop support for the Gecko engine, focusing on WebKit instead. "we will choose only one web engine back-end to support and concentrate our efforts on it instead of spreading our efforts to multiple back-ends and restricting us to the common features all back-ends support. This single back-end will be WebKit." Assuming this is not an April Fool's joke, that is. Seriously, we ought to just shut down teh intertubes every April 1st. It's getting out of hand.


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Another week, another five Tumblrs for you to check out. This week's picks range from the official Tumblr of New Balance Classics to a very literal collection of hot girls in beanies. Let us know what you think of this week's selection and as always, feel free to leave your Tumblr in the comments section below and with a bit of luck, you'll see yours here next week.
Desillusion Magazine's official blog, the Death of Cool gathers interesting images and videos from around the web. Special attention is of course given to skateboarding, surfing and babes resulting in a Tumblr that rivals the actual publication.
Updated daily, Movies in Color analyzes classic films and some of the amazing color palettes used throughout. Along with introducing the author of these lines to plenty of before-now unheard of films, the Tumblr also provides a deeper appreciation of the subtle art of cinematography.
New Balance Classics delivers on their own blog with outfits and images featuring, you guessed it, New Balance sneakers. Somehow the blog doesn't come off as cocky and gives a nice insight into a sneaker brand whose products look great in radically different situations.
Easily one of the most literal and intuitive Tumblrs we've come across, Hot Girls in Beanies features exactly what you'd think it would. The collection is impressive and covers everything from stock photos and selfies to street snaps and high-fashion. Submit your own pic and watch the reblogs roll in.


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Tyson DeVreeFree Agent
Tight End
Ht: | Wt:
News | Stats | Stat vs. Team | Targets | Injury | Depth Chart | Roster
|Rec Yds
|Rec Avg
|Rec TD
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|Colts | Make moves to get to final roster
Sat, 03 Sep 2011 15:18:51 -0700
The Indianapolis Colts have announced they have waived S Al Afalava, WR Chris Brooks, LB Chris Colasanti, TE Tyson DeVree, DT John Gill, WR David Gilreath, CB Michael Hamlin, S Brandon King, OL Jake Kirkpatrick, OG Jacques McClendon, WR Larrone Moore, LB Kerry Neal, DT Ollie Ogbu, OT Mike Tepper, OT Michael Toudouze, LB Nate Triplett, LB Vuna Tuihalamaka, and WR Marshall Williams. The team has also activated WR Blair White (back) from the Physically Unable to Perform list.
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|| Source: KFFL.com
|Colts | Tyson DeVree claimed off waivers
Sun, 31 Jul 2011 11:06:23 -0700
The Indianapolis Colts claimed TE Tyson DeVree off waivers from the Cleveland Browns Sunday, July 31.
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|| Source: KFFL.com
|Browns | Three released
Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:16:51 -0700
The Cleveland Browns released QB Jake Delhomme, LB Eric Alexander and TE Tyson DeVree Thursday, July 28.
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|| Source: ESPN.com
|Bills | Announce roster moves
Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:56:23 -0700
Chris Brown, of BuffaloBills.com, reports the Buffalo Bills have waived OG Kirk Chambers, QB Matt Baker, LB Alvin Bowen, DE Copeland Bryan, TE Tyson DeVree, DE Ataefiok Etukeren, OG Christian Gaddis, RB Bruce Hall, CB Cary Harris, WR C.J. Hawthorne, OT Nick Hennessey, WR Felton Huggins, DT Derrick Jones, DT Corey Mace, LB Ryan Manalac and TE Jonathan Stupar. The Bills have also waived injured OL Brandon Rodd (shoulder).
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|Bills | DeVree signed
Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:45:38 -0700
CBSSports.com reports the Buffalo Bills have signed unrestricted free-agent TE Tyson DeVree (Patriots). Terms of the contract were not disclosed.
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|Patriots | DeVree released
Sun, 23 Aug 2009 21:09:14 -0700
The Associated Press reports New England Patriots TE Tyson DeVree has been released from the team.
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|Patriots | Rounding out the tight ends
Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:35:56 -0700
Mike Reiss, of The Boston Globe, reports New England Patriots TEs Chris Baker and Alex Smith are locks to make the team in 2009. The Patriots signed Baker to a multi-year deal as a free agent during the offseason, and they traded a fifth-round draft pick in 2010 to acquire Smith from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Baker figures to work more as a blocker and run underneath routes, while Smith and TE David Thomas could move around at the position. Smith and Thomas, who are both in the final year of their contracts, could serve in a fullback-type role, too. Baker is under contract through 2013, but he is due a significant bonus after two years so it's essentially a deal through the 2010 season. TE Tyson DeVree, signed through 2010, is projected as the No. 5 tight end right now.
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|Patriots | Crowded at tight end
Fri, 15 May 2009 06:38:44 -0700
Karen Guregian, of The Boston Herald, reports the New England Patriots are crowded at the tight end position with TEs Benjamin Watson, Alex Smith, Chris Baker, David Thomas, Tyson DeVree and Brad Listorti on roster.
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|Patriots | DeVree promoted to active roster
Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:26:17 -0800
New England Patriots TE Tyson DeVree has been signed from the team's practice squad to their active roster.
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|Patriots | DeVree re-signed to practice squad
Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:49:32 -0700
Shalise Manza Young, of The Providence Journal, reports the New England Patriots have re-signed free-agent TE Tyson DeVree to their practice squad.
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Charles' Hungry Caterpillar Room
Name: Charles (1 month)
Location: Lake Zurich, IL
We were inspired by Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar book. My mother made baby Charlie the hungry caterpillar quilt, and I made matching curtains. We wanted to create a bright and bold nursery that wasn't too dark.
So we painted navy on one of the walls and kept the rest of the room white. I found this gorgeous yellow and white zig-zag rug at Urban Outfitters for a splash of color. I made the banner with Charlie's name out of paper and ribbon and the alphabet mobile out of felt. I also painted a custom painting of our dog for the dresser. I wanted the traditional Jenny Lind crib and changing table and found Hungry Caterpillar sheets from Pottery Barn.
Charlie just loves his room!
Thanks, Elizabeth! Well done!
(Images: Melissa K.)


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Cleveland's business and residential communities continue to demonstrate an appetite for food trucks, with the addition this year of three lunchtime events serving as the latest examples of that demand. The July 11 debut of Lunch by the Lake, for example, drew about 500 patrons to the East 9th Street Pier at North Coast Harbor, said Gina Morris, spokeswoman for Downtown Cleveland Alliance, which organizes the event. Organizers of The Chomp in Cleveland's Midtown neighborhood, which debuted in May, expected around 100 people, but that weekly lunch event attracts about 350 area employees, said Marilyn Mosinski, manager of planning and development for Midtown Cleveland Inc. "People love the chance to get outside, try something different for lunch and network," she said. The City of Cleveland expanded upon Beats & Eats at Public Square with a new food truck function at City Hall. Between 600 and 700 foodies have been assembling each week for Food Truck Fridays since its launch in June, according to the city's event organizers. Beats & Eats -- the weekly Tuesday jubilee that celebrates food, music and local art --returns to Public Square beginning Aug. 6 through Sept. 24. The events augment Walnut Wednesdays, where attendance and food truck participation continues to surge since its launch in 2011, Ms. Morris said. Attendance at the popular Wednesday function averages about 2,500, up 150% two years later from about 1,000, she said. Food truck participation has grown from about eight to between 12 and 16. "The area was a food desert when Walnut Wednesdays first started," Ms. Morris said. "1100 Superior was struggling with office tenants. Today, they're 100% leased, and there are a slew of new restaurants opening up." Walnut Wednesdays has garnered press coverage from Columbus and Cincinnati, and most recently ABC 2020, which filmed there last week as part of a documentary on particular eaters. "It's becoming a tourist destination," Ms. Morris said. "But it's not just about food trucks. The entire environment is connecting people with these downtown spaces." Discussions now are turning to new events next year. "There's been a lot of discussion around the Flats as its residential base is expected to grow," Ms. Morris said. Food truck lunch events
Clevelanders are driven to seek out food trucks to satisfy their taste for something different
Mason's Creamery, one of Cleveland's latest mobile businesses, has quickly developed a fan base since the ice cream maker introduced in May its small-batch artisan products to the local market. Jesse Mason and Helen Qin craft each week a repertoire of unique ice cream flavors, such as sage agave, Vietnamese coffee with sweetened and condensed milk, vegan curry cashew with sriracha candy and maple vanilla with pork floss topping, from their home base at The Cleveland Culinary Launch & Kitchen in Midtown. They're on the move daily, selling their handmade ice cream at local farmers markets and food truck events, and have been pleasantly surprised by customer demand, Mr. Mason said. "We've doubled production since May. We're nearing about 30 gallons a week now," said Mr. Mason, whose foray into frozen dessert making began two years ago with an ice cream maker he gave to Ms. Qin as a present. "Now we're starting to look at permanent retail space." The couple draw inspiration from their travels abroad -- from New York City, China and Los Angeles – the latter from which they relocated earlier this year to Cleveland – and the region's seasonal bounty. Ingredients are sourced from local farmers markets and other local purveyors, including Rising Star Coffee Roasters, Malley's Chocolates and Cleveland Whiskey. "The alcohol flavors do really well," Ms. Qin said. "People like to have a little fun away from the office during the lunch hour."


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Jeremy Kay talks to the Argentinian director about her Sundance World Cinema Dramatic entry.
Argentinian director Natalia Smirnoff got the idea for World Cinema Dramatic entry Lock Charmer (El Cerrajero) after she locked herself out of her house.
"[The door] was completely locked with a second lock I hadn't locked the night before," says Smirnoff, who fell into a kind of reverie as she sat for three hours one Sunday afternoon while the locksmith worked his magic.
Indeed there is magic in Lock Charmer. The locksmith of the film, averse to commitment and mortified to learn his girlfriend is pregnant, begins to see into people's lives when he fixes their locks.
"Some would call it a gift," says Smirnoff, "but for Sebastián it feels more like a curse. With the help of Daisy, an unlikely assistant who very much wants to believe in his gift, Sebastián reluctantly sets out to use his talent for his own good."
Lock Charmer received funding from Argentina's national film board INCAA and there was a minimum guarantee from Memento Films.
Smirnoff studied film at Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires and has worked as AD and casting director for Lucrecia Martel and Pablo Trapero, among others. This is her second feature after Berlin 2010 entry The Puzzle.
Smirnoff acquired her taste for storytelling during childhood summers in Uruguay, when her grandmother would read aloud Agatha Christie books at night and lead the family on adventures.
"These moments of pure imagination were so beautiful. Making films revives these memories. Also, with my films, I try to understand something deeper and new about human relationships."


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Faculty Biographical Sketches
Jeffrey Schlicht, Department of Physical Education
Dr. Jeff Schlicht is an Assistant Professor of Health Promotion and Exercise Sciences. He completed his BA degree in Psychology at the University of California in San Diego, his MA degree in Physical Education at San Diego State University, and his Ph.D. degree in Exercise Science at the University of Connecticut.
His areas of interest and research include the health benefits associated with physical activity, exercise & gerontology, and exercise & people with disabilities. His past research projects have examined the effect of high- and moderate-intensity strength training programs for older adults, and the risks and benefits of stability ball training for older adult populations. He has published several articles in the physical education field, contributesd for several years as an editorial review board member for the American College of Sports Medicine's Health and Fitness Journal, is a regular columnist for The Bulletin (the journal of the Connecticut Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance), and has presented twice at the national Health & Fitness Summit hosted by the American College of Sports Medicine.
Dr. Schlicht is the creator and director of the Practical Strength Training for Older Adults program, part of the Institute for Holistic Health Studies Western Connecticut State University. He also works with the non-profit agency Ability Beyond Disabilities, providing exercise programs for their consumers.


text: My one month old has dropped from the 33rd percentile to the 22nd percentile. We've been dealing with a bad latch from birth, but I can't seem to get her to latch correctly and maintain a strong suck at the same time. My supply is plummeting at this point, and I'm extremely overwhelmed about it. I've been working with an LC, but I'm still experiencing these issues. A couple of questions: 1) When should I worry about the weight issue? 2) What can I do about the latch and plummeting supply?


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Steve Hansen
Steve Hansen is an adjunct professor teaching undergraduate students how to find various sources of funds for business ventures within the Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Steve has almost thirty years of experience in all aspects of the banking industry and a strong background in small business lending. He received his MBA from the University of Oklahoma and his BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.
Contact Info
- Phone:
- 713-743-4752
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- firstname.lastname@example.com
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- 398
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See also
Bauer Directory Profile Management


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Video Demonstrates "Mind-Blowing" U.S. Wealth Inequality
This blog post originally appeared at Sojourners.
This week's viral video is a must-see. The six-minute "Wealth Inequality in America," released last Friday, presents the shocking, true size of the wealth gap in the country.
In a series of animated infographics, the video lends a visual punch to numbers that are hard to wrap one's head around. The top 1 percent of Americans hold 50 percent of all investments in stocks and bonds, for example—while 80 percent of Americans share a paltry 7 percent of the nation's wealth.
But most interesting are the gaps between where Americans think we are and where we really we are when it comes to wealth. A full 92 percent of Americans agree on what a healthy, ideal wealth distribution curve would look like—one that is far more equitable than what we think is the case. ("That is telling, admittedly," says the narrator. "The fact that most Americans know that the system is already skewed unfairly.")
But this perceived gap between ideal and reality is pocket change compared with the true state of inequality—an ugly curve in which the poorest and middle class are a barely indistinguishable line while the top 1 percent is, quite literally, off the charts.
What's encouraging is how united Americans are on how wealth should look in our country. But this video is proving to be a real wake-up call to how far we are from that goal. Take a few moments to watch the sobering video below. If you've seen it, it bears watching again and sharing.
An interview with epidemiologist Richard Wilkinson, whose research shows that what the healthiest and happiest societies have in common is not that they have more, but that what they have is more equitably shared.
A new study suggests Americans' happiness declines when there's a wider gap between rich and poor.
The problem isn't "competitiveness"—it's inequality.