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The debt, alcoholism and the eventual sleeping rough all happened by degrees. It was thousands and thousands of small, subconscious bad decisions, influenced mostly by alcohol. Getting sacked from the business news channel CNBC meant I'd gone from £80,000 a year to zero and I'd been juggling what must have been 25 credit cards to keep things going.
How did you get to 25 cards?
I had an extremely good credit rating and the various companies kept offering new cards with bigger limits. When I lost my job the only way I could pay my minimum payments, which were about £2,000 per month, was by using other credit cards. Towards the end I got it into my head, possibly under the influence of alcohol, that I could turn this situation around by gambling - a typical addict's response. To begin with it was just horses, then it became the crack cocaine of gambling - virtual roulette.
How fast was your decline?
I was drinking socially and happily for 30 of the 40 years that I was drinking. The slide steepened and accelerated when I lost my job.
How did you end up on the streets?
I got a series of mundane jobs to keep my wife happy, to make her think I had things under control. But in the end she effectively threw me out and filed for divorce on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour. I had nowhere to go but friends' sofas, or briefly my mother's spare bedroom, then a garage, then council shelters, which I got moved on from. I began to sleep in a walled garden near my old home, underneath bushes.
It's been implied in the press that at first you weren't entirely truthful about the role alcohol played in your situation.
That's true. I was just being economical with the truth.
Why?
I was ashamed. I didn't want anyone to see that I was effectively a tramp.
Was there any way in which you enjoyed the notoriety of being middle class and on the streets?
Being middle class, well-spoken and still having fairly clean clothes was a hindrance as a rough sleeper, certainly to begin with. I was shunned by the others - they thought I was a fraud, that maybe I was an undercover journalist. But as time went by and they began to realise I was one of them, they accepted me.
You say in your book that you don't consider alcoholism a disease.
It's not a good or constructive way to look at it because that's very depressing. But if you see it as something that begins with a wrong perception that develops into a habit that forms a very firm grip and then becomes a chemical dependency, all those stages can be reversed. You can break the chemical dependency by simply locking yourself away. Not necessarily in expensive rehab.
You went to the Priory. What was your experience of rehab?
Very intense, very emotional. There's a great deal of talking, a great deal of crying but also a great deal of laughter. It is relentless - and outrageously expensive.
You must be aware that it would be a huge story if you drank again?
That's a massive incentive. Don't you think I'm lucky in having that? There are people going through recovery who know they could slip off for a private drink and no one would ever know. Well, they would know in my case - a bit like George Best, it would get reported immediately, and that helps me to stay on track.
But it didn't help George Best.
Well no, maybe that was a very bad example. If I was to go out and knock back a bottle of vodka that would let people down terribly. I couldn't live with myself. I actually think it would be curtains if I were to do that.
How do you spend your days?
Talking about myself. After the book launch and second documentary, I face up to the brute reality of a world deep in recession as a 55-year-old looking for a job. One-in-three men over 50 is unemployed. But I'd like to put all this behind me. I don't want to become a professional recovering alcoholic, a teetotal tart - that's not my route forward.
Cynics might say that what you have now is a very good story.
But I want to show people that I'm no longer, as they described it, "a hopeless drunk and a loser". I hope that happens. If it doesn't, if I don't get a job, I won't be able to pay the rent and I'll lose my flat. Then I'll be sleeping rough again, and the danger of course is: could I sleep rough again without resorting to alcohol?
• From Headlines to Hard Times by Ed Mitchell is published by John Blake Publishing at £17.99. Saving Ed Mitchell is on Monday 26th January at 8pm | {
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Researchers must cope with two normative forces pulling them in opposite directions: social engagement and autonomy of science. This tension summarises the foundations of a scientist’s professional life ethics. | {
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Posts: 22
Topic: What do you ask for when you pray?
Hello.
To begin, I'd like to thank everyone for sharing such personal experiences that in normal everyday life is so hard to do. All the stories, whether they be good news, introductions, in remembrances, helpful hints, etc. - they all help someone out there. Truth be told, I usually come visit the site when things are on a downturn for my dad (72, diagnosed Jan 06). I usually end up crying after reading but it is helpful. This disease is such that many times you feel alone. It's so difficult to find a support group for this disease. It seems like everyone knows someone who has cancer, but very few know someone with cc.
Recently, I started praying again for the first time in 20+ years. I know it's a cliche to turn to God when the chips are down and we want to ask for something. But the weird part was that I found myself not asking God, but thanking. Thanking for:
- spending more quality time with my family over the last 20 months than the last 20 years- my dad being around to see his son get married when the doctors first said he was going to be gone about a year earlier- my mom being the strongest, most caring, most unselfish person I've ever known in my life- my new wife being so supportive and caring for my parents and understanding for me (skipped our honeymoon)- dad's doctors and nurses being more than just medical practitioners but human beings with hearts- the family trips we took together that we never did growing up- my cat and his fuzz therapy for me- my business partner allowing me to take care of what really matters - not the business- coming to the realization that "it's only money"- finally seeing what life is all about- that there are people out there who genuinely care for and want to help perfect strangers with their words, experiences, and presence (even if not physical)
But now I find myself sitting in front of this computer, crying more with each line I type. I have been praying to God to ask for help. It is clear that dad is doing poorly and the trend is going downward. The problem is I don't even know what to ask for anymore. Do I ask God for dad to go quickly and peacefully with the least pain/suffering? Do I ask God to give us as much time with dad as possible, fully knowing that he will experience extreme physical pain and my Mom emotional pain? Do I ask God for the miracle cure for dad even though there are so many people with a loved one that are equally or more deserving? One day I ask for one, the next day another, and switch again the next day.
I feel horrible asking God for any one of those things and feel so lost right now. What makes it even worse is that as bad as i feel, it can't be even a tenth of how my mom feels since she spends every waking hour taking care of dad and every sleeping moment worrying in her dreams. And then my dad is struggling so hard to deal with things physically, and possibly more emotionally as he keeps all his thoughts inside.
I don't know what to pray for anymore....but I need something to believe in.
Is there anyone else who feels the same? If we don't know what to ask God for ourselves, maybe we can pray for each other.
Maybe we could arrange a set day/time where we all pray simultaneously for each other. We may have different religions and different names for what we call our higher power...but we all share the love and care for someone with cc.
Please let me know if you would like me to pray for you and your loved ones.
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
I won't hesitate a second. Please pray for Charlie, Carol, Sarah and Ben. Charlie is my husband, age 52 diagnosed end of May this year with cc. I'm 49, Sarah is 19 and Ben is 16. I ask anybody and everybody to pray for Charlie if they will. I would be glad to pray for your Dad, you and your family. As long as you're praying from your heart, God hears you. So don't worry that you don't know exactly what to pray for. I pray for miracles for us all and also know that God is in control and has a plan for all of us so I know that His Will will be done.
Thank you for sharing your story. I'm so sorry about your Dad. I too have seen so many "silver linings" come out of this experience. I'm glad you have so many things to be thankful for.
I'm the main support for my husband. I pray to be more like your Mom. I started out doing pretty good, seeing the good coming out of it, being positive, etc., but lately I've had more trouble with depression (a chronic lifetime problem). I feel that the disease has swallowed me up too. Every friend or family member (bless them) wants to talk non stop about every detail. I just want to scream sometimes and say, "Please, can we talk about something else for 5 minutes?" I know I sound selfish, but cc is like a monster that is enveloping everything in a black cloud right now. It is so overwhelming worrying about Charlie, our kids, finances, etc. I should be on top of the world because next week Charlie is having one of the lobes of his liver taken out. That's great that a surgeon wanted to take a chance on him. If I can't pull out of this depression by then, I'll put on a happy face and move forward as best I can. I'm so tired of being strong for everybody. Thanks for listening. I'm Carol and I'd like to have you and your Dad's name if possible.
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
Carol,
Thank you for your reply. I know that you are stronger than you know. I'm in my 30s and am at least able to help my mom out with finances and being the caretaker for all medical affairs. Sarah and Ben are at an age where they are too old to not be affected but not old enough to do much to help with respect to the mundane adult concerns. Charlie is fortunate to have you. Something that gives me a little solace is that when my grandmother passed last year, my mother was more at peace with it because she did everything she could while grandma was alive. The worst feeling is when the one you love is gone and you say to yourself why couldn't I have been there or done that for him/her. I know that my aunt feels that way.
I am putting together a list for my prayers and will definitely have you, Charlie, Sarah, and Ben in my prayers. Thank you for having Bill, Amy, Charlie, Linda, and Richard in yours.
Carol, my thoughts are with you and your family for next week - Richard
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
Peace and kindness to othersCourageThat I be present in each moment whatever it bringsThat my body will rid itself of this cancerMy bile ducts flow freelyMy liver be able to heal and grow.That I will be wellThat I be grateful and truly present in each day that I am givenThat I will love and give back for all that has been given to me.That we will gain the wisdom and courage to heal our planet.and specific prayers for friends, loved ones, and others suffering from this disease and other hardships.
----------------------------------This is a very personal thing for each of us. Group prayer is a part of many cultures and religions and gives strength to many.
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
Hi I will pray for you and your father and the rest of your family, also for all of Carol's family. I will also send all the good and positive thoughts I can your way. I ask that you also pray for my husband, Rand. When we were told that Rand had CC I felt so lost and still do at times but I'm learning to live in the moment, to be present in all my thoughts specially when when Rand is up and around. Carol, I have finally started telling friends and family that I don't want to talk about every detail and even don't want them to stop by or go over to their houses for dinner, etc. Those I have told say they are so glad I told them. Family and friends have nothing but good intensions you just have to let them know, they will understand.This site is a wonderful place to go to share feeling and thoughts and I appreciate all of you. Thanks
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
What a wonderful subject. For those who are tired of answering all the questions, you might consider a blog. I started that when Joe was diagnosed 15 months ago (Coburn). I couldn't possible email everyone and keep them up to date. I wanted to spend my time with Joe and the kids who are grown and out of the house but they are always your kids. Joe is 67, he has had a wonderful life and having God in our lives is the only way we could get through this disease. Everything was going smoothly until about a week and a half ago and then he got his queasy stomach back again. We had finally gotten to the point where we didn't think death was just around the corner but you never know and we just try to live each day to the fullest. Currently we are in Ohio helping out our daughter in law who was just diagnosed with Stage 4 carcinoid tumor. We thought that maybe this is why Joe went through this so he could relate to Heidi and her fears etc. We pray daily for all the people with cc and their families. We have up and down days but we know we have a lot of people praying for us and we count on the grace that comes to us to face each day and use each day to God's glory. Joe has been able to talk to so many people about God because of this disease that normally he wouldn't have had the opportunity. He has said many times. Having cancer isn't so bad. Having cancer without God is impossible.Thanks to all of you who reply. Just when we need to hear something good or encourageing or hear someone else is down, it helps. Thanks to all of you God Bless. Mary Anne
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
Fatherson -
When we don't know what to pray, or cannot put our thoughts into words, the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf, and offers up our prayers to the Lord. The Lord hears our groans, which is sometimes all we can get out. From the experience of my husband's diagnosis and battle with cholangiocarcinoma, my faith was strengthened, and it was strong prior to his illness. Your faith WILL sustain you during this difficult time, and we are all praying for you and your family.
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
Oh Maryanne,
I'm so sorry to hear about Heidi. We've followed your blog all along. I'm sad to hear that Joe is feeling queasy again, but I hope that this will subside as well. Please know that you are in our thoughts and prayers.
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
Thank you to everyone for your messages. I wanted you to know that all of you have been specifically mentioned in my prayers at night, and especially Carol and Charlie for God's helping hand this week.
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
Richard, thank you so much for your prayers. You and your family are in mine. I wrote down all your names and put them in my Bible. Surprise, we're off to Chapel Hill Tues. a.m. instead of Thurs. so keep the prayers coming. Charlie will be undergoing his liver resection probably about noon tomorrow. I pray for healing and comfort for your Dad.
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
Val, thank you for including us in your prayers. You and Rand are in mine too. You're so right about just telling friends and family what we need. I took your advice so that every minute isn't taken up talking about cancer. I hope Rand is having a good week and wish you all the best.
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
Richard, we're doing well. Charlie's just very very sore, but doing well. How is your Dad? I hope you'll have a blessed Thanksgiving with him and your family. You all are always in my prayers. Thanks so much for praying for Sarah and Ben too. They've been a little lost, but much better now that we're home.
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
So glad to hear Charlie is doing well. I'm very happy that you guys can spend a nice Thanksgiving together. The holiday is very timely ain't it. Hopefully Sarah and Ben can enjoy it and not be sad.
We're going to have a tough week. Actually the last week has been pretty hard. It's so difficult because the preceding 2 weeks dad started to feel much better. He suddenly had more energy, distension and swelling in feet pretty much went away, and even his labs showed bili coming down from 4.8 to 3.8 to 3.2 and then to 2.9.
With the improving liver function, onc gave clearance to start new round of chemo (gemzar) but dad literally started to get worse within 36 hours. First he noticed urine was darker and then mom noticed feet and belly swelling. Labs confirmed all this with big drop in cbc's and nutrition (which both had been going up) and increase in bili from 2.9 to 4.6. To add insult to injury he started hiccuping that same night as the first gemzar/deca and it's been pretty unbearable for him. This wasn't a problem in previous treatment rounds.
An interesting thing happened this past week. It was actually my birthday and we spent it together as a family. Dad put on a good face and was a real trooper. However, that night he slept very poorly due to the hiccups. So at 3 am he just lay there and mom woke up as well. They started talking and out of the blue dad asked what's the point of living life like this. On the one hand it's really sad to hear something like that, but on the other hand it was actually good to hear him express some sort of emotion because up to this point he pretty much hasn't said anything. Although the message itself is not the most positive, it at least gives mom an opportunity to have a dialogue with dad about what he really wants to do.
Anyway, this coming week is going to be a bear. Ultrasound on Monday. Possible parasentesis and platelet transfusion on Tuesday. And only if ascites go down then ERCP on Wednesday. The hiccuping will definitely make the procedure more difficult. Thursday will likely be hospital cafeteria turkey for us and clear broth and jello for dad. It sure isn't carving by the tableside along with all the fixings, but at least we'll be together.
We can definitely use the prayers this coming week. Thanks for keeping us in yours.
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
Dear Richard, what a week ahead for you and your family. I know that must be scary for all of you when your Dad started feeling bad after having some good weeks. A late Happy Birthday to you. I'm sorry you're having to go through all of this. I hope that you all get some comfort from your Dad talking to your Mom about what he wants.
Bill, Amy, Charlie, Linda and you Richard are in my prayers this week and every day. You all have a lot to go through this week. I'll pray for strength and comfort for you and God's healing hand for your Dad. Like you said, I'm glad you're all together. Let us know how things go this week when you can.
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
I pray for myself and others that I know that have cancer.
I also like the St. Francis Prayer.
Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi
Lord, make us instrumentsof your peace.Where there is hatredlet us sow love;Where there is injury, pardon;Where there is discord, union;Where there is doubt, faith;Where there is despair, hope;Where there is darkness, light;Where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that we may notso much seekTo be consoled as to console;To be understoodas to understand;To be loved as to love.
For it is in givingthat we receive;It is in pardoningthat we are pardoned;And it is in dying that we areborn to eternal life.
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
I am not a believer in a higher power...never have been, and Dave's situation has not changed that. I send everyone who has shared their story on this board all the good energy and love I can muster from my heart. Though that doesn't jive with most people's religious belief's, I am a true believer in the power of positive thought, so I don't think it matters what you call it, but what the intention is, and I hope you will all continue to keep Dave and me in your thoughts, prayers or whatever you want to call them, and I will all of you. I cannot be honest with most people about this as they judge me for my beliefs, but I know the folks here will not. Love to you all-Patrice
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
Patrice, Like you said, we all believe in something. whether it's energy, a higher power, or the lord above the heart of someone caring for another is a tremendous power of loving, giving and sharing. You and Dave will certainly remain in my thoughts and prayers, wishing the most positive good energy to flow your way. I have many beliefs and one of them is without a doubt positive thought. Patrice , you and Dave are in my prayers, thoughts, and other beliefs in the most positive way possible.God Bless,Jeff G.
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
Patrice,
Thanks for your honesty. We all believe in something, whatever we want to call it or even if we call it anything. CC is truly a non-discriminatory disease. It judges not on religion, race, gender, nor apparently even age. The least that we can do is the same.
Patrice and Dave - you are most definitely in my thoughts and prayers.
Re: What do you ask for when you pray?
Thank you Richard and Jeff. I knew I could count on my CC friends to stick by me no matter what my beliefs are. Positive thoughts coming your way too. Dave is not doing well right now. His calcium has gone back into the dangerous levels and we are doing IV saline at home and Zometa (a drug to lower the calcium) from what I have read this is not a good sign. We are hoping he can keep fighting hard until the first of the year when our insurance will pay for him to go to the Cancer Treatment Center of America.Patrice
The information expressed is not medical advice. The discussion boards are not intended to replace the services of a trained health professional or to be a substitute for the medical advice of physicians or other healthcare providers. Read the full disclaimer. | {
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Al-Qaida South Asia Chief Killed in Afghanistan Raid
Al-Qaida’s South Asia region chief, Asim Omar, was killed in a raid in southern Afghanistan last month, according to a statement released by Afghanistan’s intelligence agency.
The Afghan National Directorate of Security said Tuesday a joint operation — a term usually used to describe an operation that involves NATO forces — in the Musa Qala district of Helmand province also killed or captured several other members of the group al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), including some Pakistani nationals.
A U.S. official confirmed Omar's death Tuesday and told VOA the September 23 operation was "Afghan-led, U.S. supported."
Omar was an Indian national born in Uttar Pradesh between 1974 and 1976, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. The U.S. added him to a list of designated terrorists in 2016.
Last month's raid was followed by allegations of large-scale civilian casualties and conflicting reports from U.S. officials, the Afghan government, and local officials.
A provincial council member from Helmand alleged that 40 members of a wedding party, including women and children, were killed in an airstrike.
Haji Abdul Majed Akhund told VOA at the time that the residents of Musa Qala district, the site of the attack, had informed provincial authorities of the wedding ceremony in advance.
“We brought 13 members of our family to the emergency hospital in Lashkargah city last night,” a man named Abdullah told VOA after the raid, which was followed by an airstrike. Local health officials confirmed that 13 wounded people were shifted to the hospital.
“[T]he operation was aimed at al-Qaida targets in the Musa Qala district in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province, a U.S. official in Kabul told The Washington Post at the time, on the condition of anonymity. The official acknowledged the possibility of civilian casualties.
A separate statement from the office of the governor of neighboring Kandahar province at the time said the target was al-Qaida.
“Last night, Afghan special forces conducted an air and ground operation in Takht Put village in Musa Qala district of Helmand province, killing five key members of the al-Qaida network and arresting three key female members,” the statement read, adding that all the members were from Karachi, Pakistan. | {
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I've only made it to two games this year (one in June and today's), but they're undefeated. I usually make three or four games a year and have only seen one loss (last year's home finale vs. the dreaded Phillies).
Finally picked up the old ticket stubs and figured out I was 2 - 6 this year. I was well above .500 the past 2 years. I think my 2009 (about 11 games and only one or 2 losses) was weirder than my 2011.
3-1 at games. I was undefeated until I decided to go to the game against San Diego this year where Strasburg had the bad start and the "Icy Hot" fiasco. Hell, if it wasn't for Harper I would have seen a blank for the Nats.
Coincidentally, last time I went to a game that Strasburg started, it was when he got pulled for elbow problems against the Braves and (I believe) Batista started in his stead. Still beat the Braves 3-0, but I think that was his last intended start before he was out for a long time.
Someone will have to fact check my memory, but the moral of the story is I should not attend games where Strasburg pitches. Bad things happen. | {
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Andrew Sullivan's 'The Dish' Is Leaving 'The Daily Beast,' Going Solo Again : The Two-WayThe widely read political blog, which began as in independent forum for Sullivan's voice, is going to try charging for its content. "Getting readers to pay a small amount for content," Sullivan writes, is "the only truly solid future for online journalism."
With the blog's contract with The Daily Beast expiring at the end of 2012, Sullivan writes, "we debated and discussed that unknowable future." The team, says Sullivan, "felt more and more that getting readers to pay a small amount for content was the only truly solid future for online journalism. And since the Dish has, from its beginnings, attempted to pioneer exactly such a solid future for web journalism, we also felt we almost had a duty to try and see if we could help break some new ground.
"The only completely clear and transparent way to do this, we concluded, was to become totally independent of other media entities and rely entirely on you for our salaries, health insurance, and legal, technological and accounting expenses."
Starting Feb. 1, The Dish will be back at www.andrewsullivan.com. The plan is to charge $19.99 a year for full access. "To be honest," writes Sullivan, "we didn't know where to set the price — we have almost no precedents for where we want to go — but $19.99 seemed the lowest compatible with a serious venture. We wanted to make this as affordable as possible, while maximizing revenues."
There will be a "limited number of free read-ons a month before we hit you up for $19.99," Sullivan adds, and "no link from another blog to us will ever be counted for the meter — so no blogger or writer need ever worry that a link to us will push their readers into a paywall. It won't. Ever. There is no paywall." | {
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It goes without saying, but Jimi Hendrix rocks. Earlier today I was
listening to King
Crimson and was sadly thinking "was all 60s music this awful and
pretentious?". Then I queued up Are You
Experienced? and on came the sublime "May This Be Love" (aka
Waterfall) and my faith was restored.
Blues
influenced rock? Good. Progressive rock? Bad.
Next up: Little Wing. | {
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Three New Clark School-Affiliated NAE Members
The NAE has more than 2,000 peer-elected members and foreign associates. These are senior professionals in business, academia and government who are among the world’s most accomplished engineers. They provide leadership and expertise for numerous academy projects focused on the interconnection of engineering, technology and our quality of life.
The A. James Clark School-affiliated inductees are:
1. John Anderson, professor emeritus, Clark School Department of Aerospace Engineering, and curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Inducted for aerospace engineering and history textbooks and for contributions to hypersonic gas dynamics.
2. Ali Mosleh, Jeong H. Kim Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Clark School Department of Mechanical Engineering. Inducted for contributions to the development of Bayesian methods and computational tools in probabilistic risk assessment and reliability engineering.
3. Ben Shneiderman, professor of computer science, College of Computer, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and Clark School Institute for Systems Research. Inducted for research, software development and scholarly texts concerning human-computer interaction and information visualization.
"Induction is a great honor to the individuals elected and to the organizations with which they are affiliated," said Clark School Dean Darryll Pines. "Their induction is a testament to the quality of our faculty members and our contributions to the engineering profession."
Their induction ranks as the greatest number of Clark School-affiliated faculty members ever elected in one year. Only about 70 people are recognized with this honor; the Clark School represents nearly 5 percent of U.S. inductees for 2010. | {
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TwinLab's Alpha Lipoic Acid 50mg 60Caps
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Directions As a dietary supplement, take one capsule daily, preferably with a meal, or as directed by a physician.
Disclaimer Statements contained herein have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat and cure or prevent disease. Always consult with your professional health care provider before changing any medication.
Other Popular Products
The products and the claims made about specific products on or through this site have not been evaluated by The House of Nutrition Online or the United States Food and Drug Administration and are not approved to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease. The information provided on this site is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for advice from your physician or other health care professional or any information contained on or in any product label or packaging. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosis or treatment of any health problem or for prescription of any medication or other treatment. You should consult with a healthcare professional before starting any diet, exercise or supplementation program, before taking any medication, or if you have or suspect you might have a health problem. | {
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While prosecuting the three Italian teens who murdered a 15-year-old blind Puerto Rican boy from a rival gang in East Harlem, Assistant D.A. Hank Bell (Burt Lancaster) learns that there's is more to... More | {
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Refugee camps spring up around the world in response to the needs of displaced populations. Always intended to be temporary, these camps often become long term homes for their residents. From the outside, they're seen as a humanitarian crisis by aid workers and a security challenge by host governments. What does life look like for those who call a refugee camp home?
Journalist Ben Rawlence spent years documenting life in Dadaab, a group of refugee camps in northern Kenya. The camps make up a small city of almost half a million people, mostly Somalis who fled civil war and violence. How does this population address the challenges of education, employment, healthcare and meeting other basic needs? Why has this camp, and others like it, become a more permanent settlement for so many? Rawlence will share the stories of a few of Dadaab’s citizens, exploring both individual lives and the wider political forces that have kept them from returning home. | {
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Portland Thunder WR/KR Duane Brooks (5-10, 185, Stephen F. Austin) has broken the Arena Football League record for kickoff return touchdowns in a season with his eighth runback, a 56 yard return coming at the 14:46 mark of the third quarter against the Las Vegas Outlaws Saturday evening.
Last week was one of the most unusual weeks in the history of the Arena Football League. One third of the teams were scheduled to be out on a bye when the league also cancelled the Las Vegas-New Orleans game and declared it a tie. It made for a bizarre week in Quickplay where successful teams had to put two players from the East Division into their lineups despite the fact none of them played in Week 18.
The Sharks savaged Tampa Bay and moved to the grownups table this week, entering just 0.02 points behind Philadelphia in the latest weighted rankings. Arizona also saw a nice uptick, and the Shock didn’t go up much, but jumped from 12th to ninth in the rankings.
Tim Capper and Adam Markowitz are back with the 18th episode of AFL Tonight for the 2015 season. We discuss the aftermath of the Outlaws-VooDoo cancellation, playoff race, Tampa Bay rant and much more. Our interview this week is AFL Commissioner Scott Butera.
PORTLAND – The Portland Thunder host the expansion Las Vegas Outlaws in their 2015 home finale this Saturday at Moda Center. Kickoff is set for 7:00PM. Fans can listen on 750 AM The GAME starting at 6:30pm, and also watch live on CSNNW, or stream via ESPN3 and the WatchESPN.com app.
PORTLAND – The Portland Thunder are set to host ‘Fan Appreciation Night, presented by Aaron’s’ at their final home game of the 2015 AFL schedule, this Saturday night against the Las Vegas Outlaws, from Moda Center. Kickoff is set for 7:00pm.
Despite a light schedule in Week 18 of the Arena Football League schedule, the postseason lineup came into sharper focus with Jacksonville locking up an appearance in the American Conference while Spokane doing the same in the National Conference. | {
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Online casinos are the best places to have fun while earning money at the same time. Gambling is entertaining and addictive. With the busy life, it is becoming extremely difficult for Australians to take some time out and enjoy playing casinos. The online casino websites bring the entertainment to wherever you are. Modern free pokies can be played using a mobile device and you can really have fun on the go. When you play the casino online games with real money and beat the machine, you can earn real cash that can be withdrawn to your bank account.
Choose a licensed casino
If you plan on spending your money on casino games, you should always choose a casino with an appropriate license. Due to the popularity of online games and pokies, numerous websites on the internet claim to provide the best casino experience. You should always choose a legal casino to ensure that you do business only with the right type of people.
Play multiple games
Australians enjoy playing blackjack, roulette, craps, and other live dealer tables. If you enjoy card games, play video poker to maximize the fun. You just can’t get enough of pokies and the casino website should allow you to play as many slots as you want. Even though you enjoy a couple of casino games, you should always choose a casino website that provides multiple gaming options because you will never know what game will spike your interest.
Easy deposit and withdrawal options
The free casino games are enjoyable, but they fail to provide the thrill of betting your money. Before playing a game with your money, you should try the game for free. Once you learn the art of winning the machine, you can make a deposit and play with real cash. The casino website you choose must provide you multiple deposit options. You must also check out the withdrawal options to ensure that you can withdraw your winnings easily to your bank account. Gambling is highly addictive and it is your responsibility to exercise control when you play with real money.
Playing options
The casino online games offer a well deserving relaxation when you are stressed out at your job. Many casino websites require you to download a software to play the games. Browser based casinos are ideal if you are looking for some quick pokies refreshment. Many casino games can now be played on the mobile devices which enable you to play the games during your commute to and from work. It is better to choose online casinos that provide multiple playing options using a single account.
Welcome bonus and member benefits
Almost all the casino websites offer a welcome bonus in the form of real cash that you can use to play pokies for real. This will encourage the players to play for money instead of just playing for fun. The winnings can be either withdrawn or used for subsequent plays. Members will also get deals and discounts that are useful to lower the cost of play while maximizing benefits. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Nissan launches new Micra Active
Nissan launches Micra refresh
Nissan launched a new version of its premium hatchback Micra at a significantly low starting price of Rs. 3.5 lakh in Mumbai on Wednesday.
The new version called Micra Active, powered by a 1.2-litre petrol engine, comes without the push start button feature that is available in its higher end variants. The company said the new car is 30 kilograms lighter and clocks a mileage of 19.3 kilometres per litre.
Nissan, working towards tripling its domestic sales to 100,000 units this financial year and increasing its market share from 1.5% to 10% by 2016, will later launch its low-cost Datsun brand under which it would sell casr priced below Rs. 4 lakh.
However Kenichiro Yomura, Nissan India's president was non-committal when asked if the upcoming Datsun car would be significantly cheaper than the Micra Active.
Yomura added that Nissan does not plan to increase prices as 88-90% localisation in its cars helps shield the company from the rupee's depreciation. | {
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10d. Mount Pleasant Road, Repton. Located on a rather
rural section of this road is a somewhat out-of-place installation: an 8 m
column supporting a
Thorn Alpha 9 90 W SOX lantern on an otherwise
column-free road. The fact that the column does not carry a local authority
maintenance number perhaps gives you an idea that all is not quite what it seems
with this installation...in fact, the truth is that the column is in private
ownership - it was originally installed as a means of providing illumination to
the car park for a nearby public house; however, this car park later fell into
disuse (and indeed, is nowadays unrecognisable as such; the land having reverted
to nature after being closed), with the column's bracket being rotated in order that
the lantern was instead positioned over the carriageway, allowing it to continue
serving a purpose, and being maintained by a contractor as and when required.
Despite not being in the best of conditions, and the fact that it is somewhat
surplus to requirements, the lantern is (at the time of writing), still
operational at night.
The detector for the
Royce Thompson P42 two-part photocell can
be seen attached to the lantern's canopy; the control gear for the lamp
being situated in the column base.
This close-up reveals the damage that has occurred to the front of the
bowl, resulting in dirt forming within the inside of the luminaire.
This damage can be more clearly seen directly below the lantern.
When viewing the installation from the other side, evidence of the former
car park's existence is limited at best; the only sign of the land's
previous use being the (barely visible) wooden bollards just behind the
grass verge.
The column is believed to have been installed by the East Midlands
Electricity Board (as was) in the 1980s; given the extensive growth of the
bushes and trees within the area, the column cannot have served its intended
purpose for long before the car park was abandoned in favour of a more
convenient piece of land located adjacent the pub - these pictures were
taken in April 2015. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Testing by DHS in late 2017 showed all eight prototypes, including the steel slats, were vulnerable to breaching, according to an internal February 2018 U.S. Customs and Border Protection report
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A test of a steel prototype for the proposed border wall showed it could be sawed through.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly advocated for a steel slat design for his border wall. But Department of Homeland Security testing of a steel slat prototype proved it could be cut through with a saw, according to a government report.
A photo exclusively obtained by NBC News shows the results of the test after experts from the Marine Corps were instructed to attempt to destroy the barriers with common tools.
Testing by DHS in late 2017 showed all eight prototypes, including the steel slats, were vulnerable to breaching, according to an internal February 2018 U.S. Customs and Border Protection report.
Photos of the breaches were not included in a redacted version of the CBP report, which was first obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request by San Diego public radio station KPBS. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
PICTURES: Celebrating the creatures that keep Cornish town alive
Crowds line the harbour at the Newlyn Fish Festival yesterday. Below left, MP Sheryll Murray at the blessing of the fleet, and right, fishmonger John Bernasconi and daughter Erin, 5 Pictures: Colin Higgs
Near-perfect weather saw the number of visitors to the historic Newlyn Fish Festival in Cornwall almost double yesterday, with the event organisers delighted as it aimed to re-engage with its fishing roots.
The annual fundraiser for the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen celebrates the fishing industry at its location dotted around Newlyn Harbour on the edge of Penzance.
Guests of honour in the past have included celebrity chef Rick Stein, and last year actress Caroline Quentin in pouring rain. However, this year's event saw a change of tone with Brittany fishing expert Yan Giron opening the festival. Yet, despite the change in approach the festival retained many of its popular events, including cooking demonstrations and its Fish Monger of the Year competition and on Sunday night, the traditional blessing of the fleet took place in the fishing port.
Steve Ryman, festival secretary, said: "It's been pretty good. I suppose with the good weather, the car park filled up very early on. It's been a massive turn around on last year, the weather has been just perfect, almost too perfect at times, but as a consequence, we have probably got double the amount of people as last year. It's back to what the festival has always been like, we don't know the numbers yet but we think they are very high. I think what's happened over the years is that it's become a really fun family event but perhaps that engagement with the fishing industry has been lost so it's crucial that we turned that around and do our best to reengage with the fishing industry. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
“It’s come to my attention that women are having their accounts banned for showing menstrual blood (and no nudity),” Louelle Denor wrote on Instagram recently. “This is very seriously fucked up.” If a picture features “blood from a finger laceration, there’d be no issue,” she wrote.
Commenters were not pleased. She received disturbing messages telling her to kill herself, among things.
“Feminazis should be put in a shower dispersing male semen onto their faces,” another commented.
These startling reactions, she later wrote, ultimately prove her point.
“We see blood all the time,” she wrote in a Medium post about the experience. “It is socially acceptable to show blood shooting out of the human body on the news and in every form of media we consume.” In fact, the average American child sees more than 200,000 acts of violence and 16,000 simulated murders on TV before they turn 18, according to the American Psychiatric Association.
But should that blood be “associated with the vagina, even when the vagina is not shown,” Denor wrote, then we “don’t tolerate” it and even, as she found out, threaten women’s lives over it.
This intolerance was recently evident in March, when Instagram twice removed a photo series titled “Period,” created by poet-artist Rupi Kaur in collaboration with her sister.
“I will not apologize for not feeding the ego and pride of misogynist society that will have my body in an underwear but not be okay with a small leak,” Kaur wrote on Tumblr in response to this ban.
Denor similarly refused to bow to haters. “Look, you don’t have to like my picture,” Denor wrote on Medium. “But am I wrong in hoping that I can post a picture of some bloody fingers and a weird disk without the threat of being sprayed with sperm and set on fire?”
Ultimately, Denor wrote, the entire incident reveals that the period double standard is about so much more than irrational disgust. It indicates the way society is seemingly unable to view a woman “as more than a sex object” and, furthermore, resorts to drastic, misogynistic measures when that is called into question.
“Violence is not merely physical,” Denor wrote. “Violence against women online is as ubiquitous as blood is in entertainment. And I suppose, I’ll leave you with that.” | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Valentine's day, my boyfriend got me a 66 Chevy for my own rebuild project from an elderly gentleman that road the fields in it. Just yesterday, we got to back 'him' into the shop to begin my project. I've searched the truck over and can't find the vin plate. We have removed hood, front cap, and doors - I thought some numbers stamped on front frame could have been it, but it's only 8 digits. We are removing the bed tonight. Could the vin be stamped on the back section of frame? It's not on dash, under dash by fuse box, or inside door frame. HELP!!
We've looked in all the "obvious" places - but with no luck. No plate in dash, drivers door jamb, under dash beside fuse box, etc. We are hoping that somewhere on this truck it's stamped in metal cause there is no plate...
I'm on hold with Chevrolet now. Been here over 30 minutes - since the truck is so old, they don't have info in their database any longer so they are having to call out to a different 'information station' to ask them. Surely they will come up with something!
Did you get a title?
If so, you could start backwards. See if the engine still has the partial VIN stamped into it, the last six digits should match the last six on the title if it hasn't been changed out.
Thank you all for your great advice. We've found the plate on the driver's side door 'roof'. Turns out the 8 digits I found on the frame where the last 8 of the vin. From your replies, I not only found the plate, I learned where it was assembled and what number it came off production line! Very cool.
Thanks again - dee
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"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
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Broncos bag Wales international
London Broncos have continued preparing for life in the Kingstone Press Championship by signing Wales international centre/wing Rhys Williams on a two-year deal for the 2015 season.
The 24-year-old played 29 games for Warrington having made his Wolves debut 2010 while he has also played for Crusaders, Castleford Tigers and Salford.
Williams, who has 13 caps for Wales, has been playing for Central Queensland Capras in the Intrust Super Cup in Australia and is looking forward to moving to the capital.
"I'm very excited to be joining the Broncos next season,\" he said. "Living in London, where my brother and sister won't be too far away, is a big advantage after being in Australia for a year.
"The challenge of getting back into Super League is one I'm looking forward to as well as playing under Joey. His enthusiasm certainly shines through and his plans for changing the culture at the club are exciting.
"I'm looking forward to playing alongside Josh Cordoba. He's played under Joey before and is an experienced player who will know the standards that Joey will set in order for the culture to change to make this team successful. He could be very instrumental in doing this.\"
Head coach Joey Grima is delighted to add Williams to his squad saying: "I'm really pleased that Rhys will join us next season. He will add some pace to our back line and has the versatility, strength and speed to play at centre and wing.
"Rhys will move from Australia to London in time for our pre-season which begins at the start of November as we prepare for the season ahead in the Championship.\" | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
I don't know if anyone would accuse you of being pro anorexia. That girl seems to be at a normalish weight (at least lower bodywise) and could be considered overweight by ridiculous Korean idol standards. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
ISSUE:
Axle assemblies having 10.25 inch ring gears are not being identified as having either a Ford or Dana design limited slip differential.
ACTION:
Identify the differential design for correct repair service procedure and part ordering. Refer to the following Service Tip for details.
SERVICE TIP
If after road or other test it is determined the limited slip differential may require service, check axle build date located on embossed metal identification tag bolted to rear axle cover. Prior to approximately 5/1/96, limited slip differentials used in the manufacture of 10.25 inch ring gear axle assemblies were of Dana design. Beginning approximately 5/1/96, Ford integrated the new Ford design limited slip differential concurrent with the Dana design in the manufacture of 10.25 inch ring gear axles. Identify as follows:
Raise the vehicle on a hoist.
Clean all dirt from the area of the rear axle cover. Refer to the 1996 F-Series Powertrain, Drivetrain Service Manual, Section 05-2A, for rear axle cover removal and installation.
Place a drain pan under the axle and remove the axle housing cover bolts.
Refer to the 1996 F-Series Powertrain, Drivetrain Service Manual, Section 05-02-C, for service details. Refer to the Parts Catalog if other parts are required for the Dana design differential. The Dana design limited slip differential assembly part number is E7TZ-4026-B.
If the differential is of Ford design and new clutch packs are required, order Clutch Pack Kit F75Z-4947-AB. Refer to the Parts Catalog if other parts are required for servicing the Ford design differential. The Ford design limited slip differential assembly part number is F75Z-4026-DA.
The 1997 F-Series Powertrain, Drivetrain Service Manual, Section 05-02B, shows disassembly/assembly procedures for the Ford design limited slip differential. While the procedures shown are correct, the illustrations show the Dana differential case which has radial ribs between the ring gear bolt holes. The Ford case (which should have been shown) flange is flat, and has a cast (raised) “10.25” and “Ford” oval insignia. In addition, the Traction-lok Clutch Gauge Tool (T97T-4946-AH) shown on Pages 05-02B-7 and 05-02B-10 is incorrect. The correct part number is T97T-4946-B. Refer to Figures 1 and 2 for Ford vs. Dana differential case identification and clutch gauge tool with correct part number. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Right now DS is using K12 for pre algebra. It is mostly review for him at this point but I worry about when new topics come up I won't be much help for him. I'm looking for a program that will explain the concepts to him and give him time to practice then review the answers if necessary. I also want it to be self paced so he can move on to the next lesson if he understands it quick or can spend extra time if needed.
We're trying Life of Fred at theTrigonometry level this year with my oldest. It is supposed to be self-teaching and fun. They have books for elementary, middle school, high school, and college. I'll let you know how it goes._________________Many blessings,
Susan
Self-teaching will give positive result when it goes in right direction. Regular exercise and followup of subject required in self-teaching. But lack of attention distract the whole thing. So plz let us know the result how it is working. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Vegans needed to taste test new vegan Quorn products
We’ve just received an interesting email from Solent Vegetarians and Vegans….
“All Quorn products currently available aren’t vegan since they contains eggs and sometimes milk, but Quorn Foods tell us that they have made a vegan version and they want vegans to try it and give their opinion on two different vegan quorn products.
They’ve arranged with Allsorts Psychic Cafe (fully veggie cafe at 22 Carlton Place, Southampton, SO15 2DY) to provide a free food tasting next Saturday 21st June. You will be given a free meal, including some vegan quorn (nuggets I think) and a free drink. They will ask you questions about what you think of it, etc. Also, they will give you a small amount of money as a thankyou, around £5 I think.
Ruth from Allsorts will be doing the cooking, and a few people from the market research organisation that Quorn have appointed will be there to quiz the people who take part in the trial.
If you’re vegan and you’re sure you can make it, please email [email protected] saying roughly what time-slot you can be there for (10am – noon, noon – 2pm, or 2pm – 4pm). Allsorts is a small cafe which is why they’re trying to spread people out throughout the day, hence the time slots.
Here’s a few facts and figures we’ve been told
- They say that they’ve been working on a vegan version for the last three years, but have struggled to get the taste and texture right. They’ve recently had a breakthrough using potato protein, amongst other things, to replace the egg and milk.
- They will have the full ingredients list at the tasting.
- The vegan quorn will be made in the same factory as standard quorn, but will use a different production line and equipment, so the risk of contamination with eggs and milk is minimal.”
Can you help us expand our Community Corner info library? We are seeking leaflets and posters on relevant issues, and donations of books to help us create our 'Rice Up Borrow Library'. Contact us or pop in to the shop for more information. Thank you!
Check out our freezer section to see Amy's Kitchen Blackbean Enchiladas, the all new and improved Good Life Nut Burgers. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
News & blog
Video Conferencing For Business: A Beginner's Guide
Thanks to technology, events don’t have to be held in just one geographical location any more. People can gather virtually, using screens, video cameras and phones to experience an engaging conference or meeting without having to shell out for costly plane, train or taxi fares or worry about where they are going to stay the night before. From conference calls to sales seminars; award ceremonies to product launches, video-conferencing sessions can replace the more traditional business get together very successfully indeed.
What are the benefits?
Once the initial outlay for equipment has been accounted for, video conferencing is much cheaper than arranging meetings in person. It can spread the message to more people, more quickly and efficiently too. It allows people to log in wherever is most convenient to them and to have all their paperwork and files to hand without needing to lug them halfway across the world. Video conferencing also opens up huge possibilities in terms of accessibility and helping colleagues with restricted mobility or other additional needs participate fully in proceedings.
What are the downfalls?
Capturing and maintaining peoples’ attention and interest can be harder when attempted virtually, as they will have other distractions around them, instead of being contained in one meeting room as a group. It can feel easier to pull out of attending the event at the last minute if no effort has been made to physically get there. Content must therefore be doubly compelling to keep people engaged and logged on. The equipment must be carefully checked too, as technological hiccups are more prone to happen during video conferencing, and it is most off-putting to be cut off, or have interference on the screen disturb the quality of the conference delivery.
How to plan a video conference event
When it comes to the pre-event admin, video conferences should be handled the same way as a traditional meeting with lots of notice given, invitations and agendas issued and reminders sent. Use all appropriate methods of contact open to you, such as email, phone, social media and ‘hard copy’ letters. You could offer incentives for delegates who agree to take part, such as prizes, preview clips or competitions on LinkedIn or via the company’s web page. Keep track of replies and chase up any outstanding ones. Don’t forget to send step-by-step instructions for how to join the video conference on the day.
How to run things on the day
First and foremost, you must ensure that the equipment works smoothly throughout. It is worth employing someone with the right level of expertise to focus solely on this element of the day. Try to have a back-up plan ready for the worst-case scenario of transmission failure. Keep people’s expectations realistic – make sure delegates know what they can simply listen to or watch, and how they can interact, e.g. via webcam, phone or via an internet chat facility. Make sure speakers are both loud and clear enough, and tell them to speak slightly slower than they would to a traditional meeting to allow time for the message to be transmitted and digested by their virtual audience. Try to have some eye contact with the camera so as not to alienate those not in the room. Schedule in regular comfort breaks, with clear instructions for when (and how) to return. Make sure the microphone and camera is switched off if you want to say or do something that you don’t want to be transmitted as part of the event.
What happens afterwards?
Another advantage of video conferencing is that you will normally have access to everything that took place in the form of a video recording. This can be edited and sent out to delegates and interested parties, such as the media, government policy makers or other key stakeholders. Don’t forget to thank people for participating and to seek feedback, both on the content and the technology involved. You could fix a time to hold a follow-up session for people to discuss the content of the video conference and make plans for future events. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
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"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Kristen Stewart on the People Who Critique Her Red Carpet Poses: “I Don’t Care About the Voracious, Starving Shit Eaters”
“I
have been criticized a lot for not looking perfect in every
photograph,” Kristen Stewart tells Vanity Fair contributing editor
Ingrid Sischy in July’s cover story. “I get some serious shit about it.
I’m not embarrassed about it. I’m proud of it. If I took perfect
pictures all the time, the people standing in the room with me, or on
the carpet, would think, What an actress! What a faker! That thought
embarrasses me so much that I look like shit in half my photos, and I
don’t give a fuck. What matters to me is that the people in the room
leave and say, ‘She was cool. She had a good time. She was honest.’ I
don’t care about the voracious, starving shit eaters who want to turn
truth into shit. Not that you can say that in Vanity Fair!”
On
top of battling personal reluctance, Stewart also struggles with the
public’s preconceived notions about her personality. “People have
decided how they are going to perceive her,” Robert Pattinson tells V.F.
of Stewart. “No matter how many times she smiles, they’ll put in the
one picture where she’s not smiling.”
But for all her
nose-thumbing at critics who demand perfection, she looks pretty perfect
in the photographs from July’s Vanity Fair, in which she poses at
locations across Paris in spring’s couture for contributing photographer
Mario Testino. In some of the most glamorous photographs, Stewart wears
haute couture at the ballet, posing with dancer Jérémie Bélingard in a
pantless Jean Gaultier corset and dripping in Fabergé diamonds and
emeralds, at right. Of her personal style, she tells us she’s evolved
into loving wearing “some cool shit” from the world’s most respected and
avant-garde designers, although she wasn’t always attuned to the power
of fashion. “Look at a picture of me before I was 15. I am a boy. I wore
my brother’s clothes, dude! Not like I cared that much, but I remember
being made fun of because I wasn’t wearing Juicy jeans. I didn’t even
think about it. I wore my gym clothes. But it’s not like I didn’t care
that they made fun of me. It really bothered me. I remember this girl in
sixth grade looked at me in gym and was like, ‘Oh my God! That’s
disgusting—you don’t shave your legs!”
Now past the initial sting
of her harsh childhood critics, Stewart has developed into a wry and
at-ease adult, and Sischy caught her in the mood for modest
adventures—like when she takes the actress to a quiet, tucked-away table
in the back of a Parisian seafood restaurant, where they are offered
escargot, a dish that Stewart has never tried. After warily eyeing the
snails, she dives right in—washing them down with white wine and
bread—and says with a grin, “Pretty good. Though I just don’t want to
eat a whole plate of them.”
Of her life as a major star, she
reflects on the moment when she realized that Twilight had changed her
life. “You can Google my name and one of the first things that comes up
is images of me sitting on my front porch smoking a pipe with my
ex-boyfriend and my dog. It was [taken] the day the movie came out. I
was no one. I was a kid. I had just turned 18. In [the tabloids] the
next day it was like I was a delinquent slimy idiot, whereas I’m kind of
a weirdo, creative Valley Girl who smokes pot. Big deal. But that
changed my daily life instantly. I didn’t go out in my underwear
anymore.”
For her part, author Sischy sees “something so
endearing, so human, about [Stewart’s] combination of bravado, kindness,
self-preservation, self-assertion, and revved-up fierceness that I
found her cheering. Of course, her idealism and drive to tell it as she
sees it—the voracious, starving shit eaters be damned!–could be just a
product of her youth. She could grow up to be another narcissistic
snore, but my sense is that’s not in the cards here.” | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Jason's Bus Ride
Written
by Harriet Ziefert Illustrated by Simms Taback
Reviewed by Colin C. (age 8)
This story is about a boy named Jason that went on a bus ride and the bus goes through town. The dog got in the way of the bus and it did not move. Everybody on the bus tried to move the dog but it would not move. Jason got out of the bus and patted the dog on the head and the dog moved.
I like this book because there a colorful pictures and it was funny because the dog didn't move. Everybody tried to move the dog but the dog didn't move until Jason patted it on the head.
My favorite part was when the dog didn't move and when Jason patted the dog on the head and it moved. It was my favorite part because the dog wagged its tail and moved.
This story reminded me about when five deer crossed the road in front of our truck. The fifth deer came and we didn't know it was coming and we ran into it. We stopped and we got out and the deer was still moving and we had to move it out of our way.
I would recommend this book because people on the bus worked together to solve a silly problem. I think that kindergarten students would enjoy this book. I think they would like the pictures and the story. | {
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Body cameras implemented at county jail
Monday
Nov 26, 2018 at 12:01 AMNov 26, 2018 at 9:00 PM
ASHEBORO — Body cameras for on-duty detention officers have officially been implemented at the Randolph County Jail.
The detention center is the first division of the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office to receive the body cameras, and the second law enforcement agency in the county. The Liberty Police Department is the only other agency to arm its officers with the technology.
“It’s a big topic in law enforcement now — the body cameras,” Major Chris Toriello, who oversees the jail, said.
According to Toriello, through research and talking with other detention centers that have introduced body cameras, the Sheriff’s Office decided to contact Axon Enterprise Inc., the company through which their tasers are provided, in order to conduct a trial run with the body cameras in April.
“They left them with us for a month and we put it on two of our officers that are actively working,” Toriello said, “and immediately the officers came back after using and said that just the mere presence of it was having a more secure effect for the officer.”
Following the success of the trial run, officials at the jail knew they wanted to continue to have access to the cameras. Sheriff Robert Graves went before the county commissioners in July in order to request approval for the purchase of 20 body cameras and the necessary storage.
The memo from the July 9 County Commissioners meeting states:
“I am here today to request the expenditure of $74,009 in law enforcement restricted funds. The funds will be used to lease body cameras for our Detention Officers.”
The sheriff’s request was approved, and on Nov. 8, a representative from Axon visited the jail in order to train staff. The detention officers were taught how to use the cameras, and the administrative staff learned how to log in and access the system in order to review and document evidence.
How do they work?
“A full shift has 13 personnel on the shift,” Toriello explained. “That’s a lieutenant, sergeant, corporal and then the detention officers. So all 10 detention officers will have (a body camera) on the day shift and then when they come in to report, or to check out, the incoming shift takes the extra 10 that are in the loading docks and uses those.
“The other cameras — as soon as they’re put in the docking station — automatically download all the content to our system … and then they’re fully charged.”
When an officer is wearing a body camera, the camera is constantly buffering, but recordings aren’t saved unless the camera is turned on. The previous 30 seconds of buffering are automatically saved with the video, allowing an officer to add to the video 30 seconds of what led to an event. Thirty seconds are also recorded after the officer manually stops the device from recording.
“So, besides the added cameras that we have hard-mounted in our pods and around the facility, these are audio and video and it gives a different perspective. It gives the perspective of the officer,” Toriello said.
The footage downloaded from the cameras at the end of each shift can be used as evidence if an incident warrants charges be filed, or if clarification of what happened is needed.
“We — as administrators — will go in and dismiss what we don’t need to keep, that way we keep the storage free. If there’s an incident and an incident report has happened, we get those reports, so we’ll know about the date and time that something may have happened, and was recorded, and we can go back and capture it and put it in an actual case file.
“When things happen, you might not see or hear everything,” Toriello said, “… but you can go back and reflect upon what you heard and saw to refresh your memory. … When things are happening, sometimes we can get focused on one and the camera can pick up other things.”
Reaction from inmates
The impact that the presence of the recording devices have on the attitude of the inmates is one reason for the decision to go through with the purchase of the body cameras.
“The inmates will pick up on anything new or different and immediately the inmates knew that this was a recording device,” Toriello said.
“The positive response we like to hear is that they don’t really like to talk to the officers because they feel like they’re constantly being recorded. So that’s kind of two-fold.”
According to Toriello, interaction between the inmates and the detention officers is important. There needs to be a communication between the two parties for a successful working relationship.
The inmates who stay quiet in the presence of the body cameras are inmates who were saying things they shouldn’t have.
“For the ones who choose not to talk as much, maybe they were using vulgarities, maybe they weren’t treating others with respect,” Toriello said.
He says affrays and arguments will always still happen in jails, but that the cameras are instrumental is either putting a stop to conflict or capturing it so that the incident is well documented.
The future
The contract between Axon and the Randolph County Jail lasts for three years. After that, the contract will need to be renewed in order to continue the use of the cloud memory storage system.
Though the full impact of the implentation of the body cameras has likely yet to be realized, Toriello hopes that the jail’s success with the body cameras will be influential and result in greater access to the cameras within Randolph County law enforcement.
The body cameras have proved their value at the jail, and Toriello thinks they could prove to be just as useful for patrol officers.
“My hope is that the cameras do so well here that other divisions and agencies can get them,” he said.
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General Information
The Midwest Partners in Preparedness Conference will bring together emergency management and disability stakeholders from states throughout the Midwest to discuss the latest issues in preparing and responding to disability communities during emergencies and disasters.
This day and a half conference is hosted by enableUS and the Community Emergency Preparedness Information Network (CEPIN) and will examine some of the greatest challenges that emergency management and disability communities face when responding to disasters and emergencies. The conference will focus on new FEMA sheltering guidelines, regional issues such as ice storms, flooding and tornados as well as the effectiveness of special needs registries, information sharing networks and accessible communications. Speakers from national, state and local government agencies and organizations will focus on programs that have worked in their communities as well as continued shortfalls and challenges that they experience.
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Interested in showcasing your products and solutions to an audience of government agency decision makers? Budget-conscious sponsorship packages are available for this conference. Click here for a sponsorship package or contact Brian Lake 703-894-7414 for further information. | {
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Thursday, 15 January 2009
TORIES ABSTAIN ON EQUAL TREATMENT AT WORK
MEPs today voted on a Report on the implementation of Directive 2002/73/EC, a Directive on putting into practice the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions.
Written by Spanish Socialist Teresa Riera Madurell, the report concerns the implementation of the Directive rather than any policy change. The UK has, in fact, done all it should and fully implemented the terms of the Directive.
Strange indeed then that nearly all Tories voted as a bloc and abstained on the final vote to accept the Report. Those who abstained were:
By abstaining, the Tories have again broken with the EPP (the centre-right group in the European Parliament to which the Tories loosely belong). The first draft of Theresa Madurell's Report was objected to by the EPP who tabled many amendments which watered it down. However, in the end, true to the spirit of European compromise the EPP, PSE (Socialists), ALDE (Liberals) and the Greens came together to propose a jointly amended text. All of these parties therefore voted in favour of the report - with the not so honourable exception of the British Tories.
It will, of course, come as no surprise that UKIP Members Bloom, Clark and Farage together with the far right, including father and daughter Le Pen, voted against the Madurell Report. The Tories are certainly keeping interesting company these days. | {
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"God comes to us in a thousand different forms, each one perfectly adapted to the individual."
3
"Woudst thou know my meaning? Lie down in the Fire….See and taste the flowing godhead through thy being." Mechtild of Magdeburg
4
"All living forms – an angel created, witnessed, gone; a dog, a horse, a tree, an old man or a little child, births and deaths, creation and dissolution, the rivers and the ocean beds, Christ and Krishna, volcanos and earthquakes, an absence and a fullness, saints and devils – All are composed of the fire of love. God taking form."
5
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is." Albert Einstein
6
"If you love a being for his beauty you love none other than God, for he is the Beautiful Being." Ibn Al-Arabi
7
"I saw that everything was perfect, and all was composed of love."
8
"All types of meditation…lead to the same golden center, for at the mystical level all religions have more in common than they differ, and all derive from the same source and long for the same goal."
9
"All is divine, every atom, every particle of light, singing wildly in its joy….Everything is alive with praise!"
10
"I have come around full circle and think I didn't need to look for God; He was staring me in the face….I was looking everywhere but in the right place. The face of God. It swims in the heat of a summer day. It glistens in the icy rainbows glittering off the frozen limbs of winter trees. In the rain. In the sky. In a clod of dirt."
11
"The Divine Mother revealed to me that…it was she who had become everything…that everything was full of consciousness. The image was consciousness, the altar was consciousness…the door-sills were consciousness… I found everything in the room soaked as it were in bliss – the bliss of God… That was why I fed a cat with the food that was to be offered to the Divine Mother. I clearly perceived that all this WAS the Divine Mother – even the cat." Sri Ramakrishna, 19th century Hindu saint
12
"The son of Pandu (Arjuna) beheld the entire universe in all its multitudinous diversity, lodged as one being within the body of the God of gods." Bhagavad Gita 11:11
13
"This urge to see God must run deep in us. 'What I have been striving and pining to achieve these thirty years', wrote Mahatma Gandhi, 'is to see God face to face.'" | {
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The open wounds of Iran’s Khuzestan
The ancient city of Susa in Khuzestan
Known as one of Iran’s most polluted provinces, southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan, bordering with Iraq and the Persian Gulf, encompasses a collection of contrasting social mores, different ethnic minorities and an appetizing wealth of natural resources, especially oil, making it one of the provinces on which the national economy largely depends on.
Having mainly visited tourist places such as Isfahan, Yazd or Tehran itself, as soon as we crossed the imaginary line dividing Khuzestan province from Lorestan I felt it was a different world. Home to a large Arab Iranian community (its previous name was Arabestan), this was the only place where I saw women fully covering their face, even though in Iran it’s illegal.
With the earliest settlements believed to date back to 6000 BC and the first urban centers to 4000 BC, Khuzestan was the heart of the Elamite empire that established its capital in Susa, ancient city today enlisted among the UNESCO world heritage sites. As it often happens when I explore places that are new to me, an ancient historical site defined my first form of communication with the province of Khuzestan, relation that I’m still processing as it has by all means been the most difficult region of my Iranian journey so far.
Chogha Zanbil
An expansive panorama of distinctive historical layers offers the best introduction to a province that locals like to describe as the cradle of Iranian civilization where it all started, even though this is a record every Iranian province claims. Bearing the relics and vibe of the country’s different periods and cultures including the Parthians and the Persians, Susa consists of archaeological remains of urban structures and buildings, some of which have been identified as the palaces of Achaemenid kings Darius and Artaxerxes, and the Ardeshir’s palace.
Susa is not the only UNESCO-listed site Khuzestan boasts, and the nearby ancient city of Chogha Zanbil, originally Dur Untashi, built in 1250 BC under Elamite ruler Untash-Gal is another claim to fame locals cling onto to defend their status of regional founders and creators.
A stormy past of conquests, mutual invasions, wars and countless battles outlines the history of the region, and in Khuzestan probably more than other provinces, you can sense the flavor of turbulence. Truth be said, the proximity to Iraq, referred to as Karbala (کربلا) on the road signs for the not-so-remote Iraq Iran war, very much alive in people’s memories and talks, does play a role in forging this obstreperous character.
“I can never forget the times of war,” told me Zohreh, a tour guide in Khuzestan, still cringing with anxiety at the mere thoughts of it. “I was in high school and one morning, Iraqi shelling on my village blocked the door of my classroom preventing us from leaving. I thought this was the end, we hid behind a wall and waited for a miracle. When the miracle arrived and someone opened the door we rushed outside just to see the mangled bodies of kindergarten children, main victims of that tragic morning, their bodies in pieces scattered all around the playground. I still have nightmares.”
Barbed wire at the border with Iraq
“My uncle is a martyr of the Iraq Iran war,” added Ali, young Arab Iranian who welcomed us in his family’s mozif in Bardiyeh village, a traditional hut-like structure where families receive their guests with the inevitable cup of tea.
When Saddam invaded Iran in 1980, he was hoping he could count on tribal solidarity to push the Arab Iranians to join the fight by his side and turn their back to the regime of the newly established Islamic Republic. It didn’t take long, though, for him to understand that he had counted his chickens before they were hatched. The Arabs on this side of the border showed unequivocally their position, defending their own country from the Iraqis, become foreign all of a sudden, by volunteering with a makeshift war strategy even before the Iranian army recruited them.
Similarly, Saddam showed little to no ethnic sympathy, and in less than no time, the Iraqi army started bulldozing flat entire cities in Khuzestan to allow a better further view, and bombing and contaminating the area with mines and deadly chemical weapons. The outcome was twofold: a soaring resentment against the neighboring Arab country and a tighter consent of Iranians around the fatherly figure of Imam Khomeini.
Every family in Khuzestan counts one or more relatives among the war casualties, their wounds far from being healed.
Having tea at an Arab mozif in Bardiyeh village
Proudly speaking Arabic, women ambling about in their abayah (loose full-length garment usually black) or sometimes niqab (abayah but with face covered), men with a keffiyeh, typical Arabs’ head cover, both Shushtar and Ahvaz gave me a different vibe than what I had previously experienced in other Iranian cities.
From a rumor of hostility towards tourists that during our stay didn’t prove to be true, to an almost exclusive men’s presence in day and night open markets, to being quite stared at especially after they realized I wasn’t Iranian, our adventure did feel more challenging than the usual tourist trail.
At Shushtar local market
Although I hadn’t planned it, I happened there right before Arbaeen, the ceremony Shia Muslims attend in Karbala to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Husayn grandson of Prophet Muhammad in 680 AD, after forty days of mourning and grief celebrations started with Ashura, the tenth day of Muharram.
Iranian pilgrims reach Karbala on foot every year, and the closer we got to the border, the more pilgrims we ran across, the more cups of tea we were offered at the several temporary mozifs arranged on the side of the road to provide refreshment and rest for the travelers.
Decorations at the makeshift service station for pilgrims going to Karbala
Iranian pilgrims going to Karbala for Arbaeen
An intriguing sequence of mourning ceremonies, songs, prayers, whimsical plays even, were the main features that welcomed me in Khuzestan, one of the most conservative areas I’ve been to while journeying an already pretty conservative Iran.
A sense of roots and belonging, a strong religious spirit that permeates the air wherever you are, a plethora of conflicting microcosms and layers of social expectations make this a challenging province, not really for me that I was quickly passing by but especially for the Iranian leadership whose duty is to meet the country’s diverse needs and demands.
Tea, music and plays reproducing the martyrdom of Imam Husayn in Karbala
“We are all Arabs, we are all brothers,” was Ali’s response when I asked him if they felt resentful towards the Iraqis living just a stone’s throw away and that not so long ago waged war to the same people today share tea and prayers with. Some don’t understand him, others do, it’s hard for sure to chit-chat with the same people whose bombs twenty years ago killed your little brother, but “what can we do?” they retort.
This is one of those moments when whatever you say is wrong, so the best thing you can do is limit yourself to listen, whether you understand or not, you approve or not. The only thought everyone shares and agrees on is always the same, the absurdity of war that no one likes and no one wants.
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Pages
Jun 19, 2012
I will not grow weary.....
I will not grow weary....I will not grow weary....I will NOT grow weary...
These are the words I repeat over and over....
Every minute,every second.....
Breathe.................
It's in the waiting I tend to go from one extreme to the other. It's in the waiting I find at times I am unbalanced.
I want the happy medium, the place where I see my natural circumstances but walk so strong in faith that I see the other side before I even reach it.
I find that I stand strong in the beginning, push harder than I ever had before, run like no tomorrow......
And then it happens....
I allow my flesh to get weary and spill over to my spiritual....
So glad my daddy God understands me....... ~sigh~
Galatians 6:9 :
"So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up"
We all have walls to climb, hurdles to jump and mountains to conquer in life.
I can remember when my youngest daughter ran track. There she was on the last leg of the race, her counter part hands her the baton , and off she goes. Her team was a little behind and it appeared they were going to place second, however when she turned the corner, there we moms were, yelling and cheering her on.
"Kick it up!" .......
"Turn it on Chels!!"
"Push hard Chels, You got this!!"
And many, many more cheers came from the stands.
She was tired, this was her fourth event, and she had grown "weary". However with arms pumping, legs pushing, and a look of victory on her face, she pushed her way to the finish line and her team took first place!
She and the rest of her team conquered their mountain on that track that day.
Whether our mountain is a financial crisis, healing for a loved one, restoration for a relationship, our children walking a path not intended for them, a job, a spouse, a new project, a new season, or a new ministry.
Do not grow weary....Do no give up!!!
Time for us all to "Kick it up!!"
Our blessings and break through are coming, God's word tells us to continue to do good....("Press in and press forward") We will reap a harvest of blessings :)
As I remind myself to continue to press in and not grow weary, I encourage you all to continue to push, climb, run, jump, or walk to get to your intend blessing your Daddy God has waiting.
2 comments:
I needed to read this too! Thank you for the encouragement. I go from one extreme to the next as well, pushing hard one minute then tired and weary the next, I wish I could stay balanced from beginning to end :) So glad He understands me too
About Us
Best friends since the age of 11 and soul sisters for life. A kindred spirit that God knitted together to bring hope and love to those who feel unworthy and unlovable. To share our life stories and the grace of God in each and every season we have walked. | {
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Penang Prawn Noodle at Kent’s Garden
Talking about prawn Mee or Har Mee, it’s a popular food in Penang. This dish is what I used to eat as my dinner during weekends when I was on the way to Lutong in Miri. In Kent’s Garden Miri, you can find it. What really makes this a great bowl of hot & spicy soup instead of the noodles is the combinations of ingredients, inside there are hard boiled egg slices, spinach or Ong Choi, juicy prawns, fried toufu fish and of course with chilli sprinkled on top! The taste is just like Ibumie Har Mee product you will find in the market. | {
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NOTICE: Pre-applications submitted in response to this
Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for Federal assistance must be submitted
electronically through Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov) using
the SF424 Research and Related (R&R) forms and the SF424 (R&R)
Application Guide.
APPLICATIONS MAY NOT
BE SUBMITTED IN PAPER FORMAT.
This FOA must be read
in conjunction with the application guidelines included with this announcement
in Grants.gov/Apply
for Grants (hereafter called Grants.gov/Apply).
A registration process
is necessary before submission and applicants are highly encouraged to start
the process at least four (4) weeks prior to the grant submission date. See Section IV.
Purpose.The NIH Director’s
New Innovator Awards Program (http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/newinnovator/)
was created in 2007 to support a small number of new investigators of
exceptional creativity who propose bold and highly innovative new research
approaches that have the potential to produce a major impact on broad,
important problems in biomedical and behavioral research. The research proposed
need not be in a conventional biomedical or behavioral discipline but must be
relevant to the mission of NIH. The New Innovator Awards complement ongoing
efforts by NIH and its Institutes and Centers to fund new investigators through
R01 grants, which continue to be the major source of NIH support for new
investigators. The purpose of this FOA is to solicit pre-applications for the
NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. Pre-applications are a necessary first step in applying
for a 2009 New Innovator Award. Pre-applications will be evaluated by a group
of external reviewers. Those investigators whose submissions are judged to be
the most outstanding will be notified of the opportunity to submit full (DP2)
applications under RFA-RM-09-003.
All awards will be made under RFA-RM-09-003.
No awards will be made under this announcement. For additional information,
consult the FAQs at http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/newinnovator/faq.aspx.
Mechanism
of Support. This FOA utilizes the X02 grant mechanism for submission of
pre-applications.
Funds Available and Anticipated Number of Awards.No
awards will be made in response to this FOA. Through the associated FOA (RFA-RM-09-003),
NIH expects to commit approximately $55.7 million for the five-year
period. It is anticipated that up to 24 awards will be made in 2009.
Budget and Project Period.No awards will be made under this
announcement. Awards through RFA-RM-09-003 will be for up to $300,000 in direct costs each year for five years, plus
applicable Facilities and Administrative costs, which will be determined
at the time of award.
Eligible
Project Directors/Principal Investigators (PDs/PIs). Individuals with the skills, knowledge, and resources
necessary to carry out the proposed research are invited to work with
their institution/organization to develop a pre-application for support. Women and individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups as well
as individuals with disabilities are always encouraged to apply for NIH
support. Investigators (PD/PIs)
must hold an independent research position at a domestic (U.S.)
institution as of September 19, 2009 and must have received their most
recent doctoral degree (e.g., Ph.D., M.D., D.D.S., D.V.M., PharmD, or
equivalent) or completed their medical internship and residency no earlier
than 1999 and no later than the due date for pre-applications. For the
purpose of this FOA, “independent research position” means a position that
automatically confers eligibility by the researcher’s institutional policy
for an investigator to apply for R01 grants, with an appropriate
commitment of facilities to be used for the conduct of the proposed
research. Investigators still in training or mentored status (postdoctoral
fellows) are not eligible to apply unless they have a written commitment
of an independent faculty position as of September 19, 2009; submission of
the pre-application from that institution serves as the written commitment
of an independent faculty position.
PDs/PIs must meet the
definition of “new investigator.” For the purpose of this FOA, “new
investigators” are defined as those PDs/PIs who have never been awarded an R01
or equivalent NIH grant (e.g., R23, R29, R33, R37, DP1, DP2, U01, P01 or center
grant) or been the leader of a P01 or center grant peer-reviewed project.
Individuals who are PDs/PIs on multi-PI R01 or equivalent NIH grants are not
eligible to apply for the New Innovator Award. Current or past recipients of K
awards are eligible except for the following: K99/R00 or other Independent
Scientist and other non-mentored career awards (K02, K04, K05, K24, and K26).
Investigators may submit or have an R01 (or equivalent) grant application
pending concurrently with their New Innovator Award pre-application or
application. However, if that pending grant is awarded in Fiscal Year 2009 with
a start date of September 30 or earlier, the applicant is no longer eligible to
receive the New Innovator Award. Awardees are required to commit at least 25%
of their research effort each year to activities supported by the New Innovator
Award. Applicants who were not selected for an award in prior years may submit
pre-applications this year if the applicant still meets all the eligibility
criteria. There are no citizenship or residency requirements.
Number
of PDs/PIs.Only one PD/PI may be
designated on the pre-application.
Number
of Pre-Applications. An individual may
submit no more than one pre-application. There
is no limit to the number of pre-applications that institutions may
submit.
Resubmissions. Resubmissions are not
allowed. All
pre-applications must be submitted as “new,” regardless of any previous
submissions to the New Innovator Award Program.
The NIH Director’s New Innovator Award is designed to
support new investigators of exceptional creativity who propose bold and highly
innovative new research approaches that have the potential to produce a major
impact on broad, important problems in biomedical and behavioral research. The
term “award” is used to mean a grant for conducting research, rather than a
reward for past achievements. Biomedical and behavioral research is defined
broadly in this announcement as encompassing scientific investigations in the
biological, behavioral, clinical, social, physical, chemical, computational,
engineering, and mathematical sciences.
The research proposed for a New Innovator Award may be in
any scientific area relevant to the mission of NIH (biological, behavioral,
clinical, social, physical, chemical, computational, engineering, and
mathematical sciences) but need not be in a conventional biomedical or
behavioral discipline. The focus is on innovation and potential impact.
This FOA announces the 2009 New Innovator Award competition
for fiscal year 2009 and solicits pre-applications.
This
announcement utilizes the X02 mechanism for submission of pre-applications.
Pre-applications are a necessary first step in applying for a 2009 New
Innovator Award. Pre-applications will be evaluated by a group of external
reviewers. Those investigators whose submissions are judged to be the
most outstanding will be notified of the opportunity to submit full (DP2)
applications under RFA-RM-09-003. The Project Director/Principal
Investigator (PD/PI) will be solely responsible for planning, directing, and
executing the proposed project.
2.
Funds Available
Not applicable. No awards will be made under this FOA. All
awards will be made under RFA-RM-09-003.
Any individual
with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed
research as the PD/PI is invited to work with his/her organization to develop a
pre-application. Women and individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic
groups as well as individuals with disabilities are always encouraged to apply
for NIH support. Only one PD/PI (i.e., no multiple PDs/PIs) may be designated
on the pre-application. NIH intramural
investigators are not eligible for support under this program.
PDs/PIs must hold
an independent research position at a domestic (U.S.) institution as of
September 19, 2009 and must have received their most recent doctoral degree
(e.g., Ph.D., M.D., D.D.S., D.V.M., PharmD, or equivalent) or completed their
medical internship and residency no earlier than 1999 and no later than the due
date for pre-applications. Any request for an exception to the eligibility
requirement of time from last doctoral degree must be based upon additional
medical training (e.g., clinical fellowship) or unusual circumstances. For
requests based on clinical fellowship training, only the time spent in clinical
training, not in research training, will be considered. Requests must be
specifically justified in the Biographical Sketch in the pre-application and
will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Investigators who do not meet these
eligibility requirements and whose pre-applications lack an explicit and
justified request for an exception in the Biographical Sketch will be
considered ineligible.
For the purpose of
this FOA, “independent research position” means a position that automatically
confers eligibility, by the researcher’s institutional policy, for an
investigator to apply for R01 grants, with an appropriate commitment of
facilities to be used for the conduct of the proposed research. Investigators
still in training or mentored status (postdoctoral fellows) are not eligible to
apply unless they have a written commitment of an independent faculty position
as of September 19, 2009; submission of the pre-application from that
institution will serve as the written commitment of an independent faculty
position.
PDs/PIs must meet
the definition of “new investigator.” For the purpose of this FOA, “new
investigators” are defined as those applicants who have never been the PI on an
R01 or equivalent grant (e.g., R23, R29, R33, R37, DP1, DP2, U01, P01 or center
grant) or leader of a P01 or center grant peer-reviewed project that was
reviewed in the investigator’s name. Multiple PIs have the same leadership
status on grants as individual PIs; therefore, researchers who have served as
one of multiple PIs on any ineligible grant are no longer considered new
investigators and are not eligible to apply for a New Innovator Award. Current
or past recipients of K awards are eligible except for the following: K99/R00
or other Independent Scientist and other non-mentored career awards (K02, K04,
K05, K24, and K26). Investigators may submit or have an R01 (or equivalent)
grant application pending concurrently with their New Innovator Award
pre-application. However, if that pending grant is awarded in Fiscal Year 2009
with a start date of September 30 or earlier, the applicant is no longer
eligible to receive the New Innovator Award. Awardees are required to commit at
least 25% of their research effort each year to activities supported by the New
Innovator Award. An applicant
who was not selected for an award in prior years may submit a pre-application
this year if the applicant still meets all the eligibility criteria; however,
all pre-applications must be submitted as “new” regardless of any previous
submissions to the New Innovator Award program. There are no citizenship or
residency requirements.
The proposed
research need not be in a conventional biomedical or behavioral discipline but
must be relevant to the mission of NIH. This initiative is to support new
investigators proposing new and innovative research with potential for
exceptionally high impact on biomedical problems.
An individual may not submit more than one pre-application.
There is no limit to the number of pre-applications an institution may submit.
All pre-applications will be considered “new,” regardless of any previous
submissions to the New Innovator Award Program
Section IV. Application and Submission Information
To
download a SF424 (R&R) Application Package and SF424 (R&R) Application
Guide for completing the SF424 (R&R) forms for this FOA, use the “Apply for
Grant Electronically” button in this FOA or link to http://www.grants.gov/Apply/ and follow
the directions provided on that Web site. See the detailed instructions below
regarding choosing a pre-application package (Section 1- Request Application
Information).
A one-time registration is required for institutions/organizations at both:
The individual designated as PD/PI
on the pre-application must be registered also in the NIH eRA Commons.
The PD/PI must
hold a PD/PI account in the Commons. Applicants should not share a Commons account for both an Authorized Organization
Representative/Signing Official (AOR/SO) role and a PD/PI role; however, if they have both a
PD/PI role and an NIH Internet Assisted Review (IAR) role, both roles should
exist under one Commons account.
This registration/affiliation must
be done by the AOR/SO or his/her designee who is already registered in the Commons.
Both the PD/PI and
AOR/SO need separate accounts in the NIH eRA Commons since both are authorized
to view the application image.
Note that if a PD/PI is
also an NIH peer reviewer with an Individual DUNS and CCR registration, that
particular DUNS number and CCR registration are for the individual reviewer
only. These are different than any DUNS number and CCR registration used by an
applicant organization. Individual DUNS and CCR registration should be used
only for the purposes of personal reimbursement and should not be used on any
grant applications submitted to the Federal Government.
Several of the steps of
the registration process could take four weeks or more. Therefore, applicants
should immediately check with their business official to determine whether their
organization/institution is already registered in both Grants.gov and the Commons. The NIH will accept
electronic applications only from organizations that have completed all
necessary registrations.
1. Request Application Information
Individuals submitting
a pre-application must download the SF424 (R&R) application forms and the
SF424 (R&R) Application Guide for this FOA through Grants.gov/Apply. After clicking “Apply for Grant
Electronically,” individuals will be presented with a list of ten
pre-application packages corresponding to ten scientific areas, as described in
the Special Instructions in Section 2 below. The
selection of scientific area by investigators is solely to aid in selection of
the most appropriate group of peer reviewers. The pre-application requirements
and instructions below are identical for all ten packages. All ten scientific areas are considered as a single competition, are
reviewed in the same time period, and compete for a single source of funds.
Note:
Only the forms package directly attached to a specific FOA can be used. You
will not be able to use any other SF424 (R&R) forms (e.g., sample forms,
forms from another FOA), although some of the "Attachment" files may
be useable for more than one FOA.
Prepare all
pre-applications using the SF424 (R&R) application forms and in accordance
with the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide for this
FOA through Grants.gov/Apply.
The SF424 (R&R)
Application Guide is critical to submitting a complete and accurate
pre-application to NIH. Some fields within the SF424 (R&R) application
components, although not marked as mandatory, are required by NIH (e.g., the
“Credential” log-in field of the “Research & Related Senior/Key Person
Profile” component must contain the PD/PI’s assigned eRA Commons User ID).
Agency-specific instructions for such fields are clearly identified in the
Application Guide. For additional information, see “Frequently Asked Questions
– Application Guide, Electronic
Submission of Grant Applications.”
The SF424 (R&R)
pre-application has several components. Some components are required, others
are optional. The forms package associated with this FOA in Grants.gov/APPLYincludes all applicable components, required and optional. A completed
pre-application in response to this FOA includes the data in the following
components:
Optional Components: PHS 398 Cover Letter File
Note: Cover letters should be submitted only when submitting a
Changed/Corrected Pre-application after the submission date and should include
an explanation for the late submission.
SPECIAL
INSTRUCTIONS
Pre-applications with multiple PDs/PIs are not allowed.
ADDITIONAL
PRE-APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
The following instructionsare
specific to the New Innovator Award X02 pre-applications and are exceptions to
the general SF424 instructions. Pre-applications that do not conform to the
specific instructions detailed below will not be reviewed. There are significant changes to
the instructions from previous years, so please review all instructions
carefully.
All of the following must be submitted for the
pre-application to be considered complete:
I. Area
of Science Designation: Individuals must designate one of the following ten areas of science for their pre-application:
The
areas of science are used by NIH staff to assist in assigning pre-applications
to the most appropriate reviewers. To designate a science area, the
investigator must do the following:
1. Download and submit the pre-application with the Grants.gov
application package for the chosen science area. There are 10 separate pre-application packages
(Competition IDs) in Grants.gov for this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), one for each of the above areas of science.
Individuals must download and submit the pre-application package for their
chosen area of science. The pre-application requirements and instructions are
identical for all ten packages. The only difference between
the packages istheindicated category of scientific research. The selection of
scientific area by the PD/PI is solely to aid in selection of the most
appropriate group of peer reviewers and does not in itself affect the PD’s/PI’s
funding potential. All ten scientific areas are
considered as a single competition and are reviewed by the same process, in the
same time period, and compete for a single source of funds. PDs/PIs may
download and submit only one of the ten pre-application packages.
2. Include the area of science and
the project title at the top of the abstract page. The area of science and project title will not be included
in the 300 word limit.
3. Verify that the pre-application has been submitted to the
appropriate science area.
The PD/PI must check the Competition ID field on the
first page of their pre-application (the transmittal sheet) in the Commons. If
the pre-application has been submitted to the wrong science area, the PD/PI
must notify program staff immediately by e-mail to [email protected]. Failure to correct the science area of the pre-application may adversely affect
the pre-application’s review as it may not be reviewed by the most appropriate
group of external reviewers.
II. Abstract: An abstract of no more than 300 words and not to exceed
one page, describing the goals of the project. Include the Project Title and
Area of Science at the top of the abstract page; these do not count toward the
300 word limit. The abstract must contain text only –
no figures, animations, or web links to provide further information. The Abstract is uploaded as an attachment for item 6,
Project Summary/Abstract, on the Other Project Information component of the
pre-application.
III. Public
Health Relevance Statement: A brief statement written in plain language about how the
proposed research can positively impact public health. This statement is uploaded for Item 7, Project Narrative,
on the Other Project Information component of the pre-application.
IV. Essay: An essay of no more than 10 pages that addresses (1) the
significance and potential impact of the project, (2) what makes the approaches
exceptionally innovative and how the PD/PI will address risks and challenges,
and (3) the applicant’s qualifications for this
award. A scientific plan should be provided, written with a level of detail
appropriate for reviewers who are broadly knowledgeable but who may not be
directly involved in the proposed area of research. To focus the essay on the
goals of the New Innovator Award program and the
review criteria for pre-applications, presentation of the proposed research as
a series of specific aims is discouraged. The essay should include the
following sections within the 10-page limit, in the following order, with the headings shown:
Project description: Describe the scientific problem that you propose to
address, its importance, and how solving this problem would have a major impact
on a broad area of biomedical/behavioral science. Why is the planned research uniquely suited to the New Innovator Award program, rather
than a traditional grant mechanism? How is this project distinct from other
research that may be supported in your laboratory?
Innovativeness: State clearly and concisely what makes your project unusually innovative. If the approaches entail a high degree
of risk, what will you do if these approaches are not successful?
Investigator
qualifications:
Provide evidence to support your claim of innovativeness and creativity in your
research. For example, which personal qualities and
experiences demonstrate your inclination to challenge paradigms and take
intellectual risks, develop unique collaborations, integrate diverse sources of
information, or develop novel approaches when new challenges or opportunities arise?
Preliminary data are
allowed but not required. Bibliographic citations (references), figures, and
illustrations may be included, but must fit within the 10-page limit. Do not
include links to websites to provide further information. No animations (movies) are allowed in any documents. The Essay is uploaded in the Research Design and Methods
attachment of the Research Plan Component. Omit the Specific Aims, Background
and Significance, and Preliminary Studies Sections.
V. Biographical
sketch: A two-page biographical sketch for the PD/PI only. (Use
the format for biographical sketches shown in Section 4.5.2 of the Application
Guide, omitting Section C, Research Support.) Biographical sketches for other key personnel should not
be submitted and will not be accepted. A request for
an exception to the eligibility requirement of time from last doctoral degree
must be specifically justified in this section of the pre-application and must
be based upon additional medical training, such as a clinical fellowship, or unusual circumstances, such as time away from
research for care of young children or for military service. Requests will be
considered on a case-by-case basis when the pre-application is received.
Pre-applications from investigators who exceed the
time from last doctoral degree or completion of medical internship/residency
and who fail to provide a well-justified request for an exception to this
eligibility requirement will not be reviewed. The Biographical Sketch is uploaded on the Research & Related Senior/Key Person Component form.
VI. List
of Current and Pending Research Support: A list of current and pending research support from all
sources, including current year direct costs and percent effort devoted to each
project. (Use the format shown in the Application
Guide, Part III, Section 3.1.8). The PD/PI must include an Effort Commitment
statement, described below. Applicants must also include in this section a
brief statement of the facilities to be used for the conduct of the research. This document is uploaded on the
Research & Related Senior/Key Person Component form.
VII. Effort
Commitment:
Awardees are required to commit at least 25% of their research effort to the
project supported by the New Innovator Award. In the list of current and pending support, the PD/PI must include a statement
that, if chosen to receive an award under RFA-RM-09-003, the PD/PI will commit
a minimum of 25% of his/her research effort to the project supported by the New
Innovator Award.
Special requirements
for completing the SF424 (R&R) pre-application
are specified below. In addition:
For Budget request, enter zero for all categories. No awards will be made in
response to the pre-application FOA.
No other documentation,
such as letters of collaboration or biographical
sketches of other personnel will be accepted. Information about personnel other
than the PD/PI is not required, but may be included within the 10-page essay.
All instructions outlined in the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/SF424_RR_Guide_General_Ver2.pdf) are to be followed, incorporating “Just-in-Time” information concepts, with the following
exceptions, which are specific requirements for New Innovator Award
pre-applications. Pre-applications that do not conform to the specific
instructions detailed below will not be reviewed.
1. SF424 (R&R) COVER COMPONENT
Item Number and Title
Instructions
1. Type of Submission
Must be “Pre-Application”
8. Type of Application
Must be “New”
13. Proposed Project
Enter start date: 09/30/2009; Enter end date: 08/31/2014
Estimated Project Funding
Enter $0
2. RESEARCH &
RELATED PROJECT/PERFORMANCE SITE LOCATIONS
Complete as appropriate
3. RESEARCH &
RELATED OTHER PROJECT INFORMATION COMPONENT:
Item Number and Title
Instructions
1. Are Human Subjects Involved?
Check “No” – Detailed plans regarding protection of human subjects,
inclusion of women and minorities, targeted/planned enrollment, and inclusion
of children are not required and should not be submitted with this
pre-application. This information will be required from only those
individuals who submit full applications in response to RFA-RM-09-003.
2. Are Vertebrate Animals Used?
Check “No” – Detailed information regarding the use of vertebrate
animals is not required at the time of submission. This information will be
required only from those individuals who submit full applications in response
to RFA-RM-09-003.
6. Project Summary/Abstract
Attach Abstract (maximum of 300 words and not to exceed one page).
Include Project Title and Science Area at top of page. PDF format; text only
– no figures, animations, or web links.
7. Project Narrative
Attach Public Health Relevance Statement (2-3 sentences), explaining
the relevance of the research to public health); PDF format
8. Bibliography & References Cited
Do not use. If you choose to include figures or reference citations,
they must be included in the Essay, subject to the 10-page limit.
9. Facilities & Other Resources
Do not use.
10. Equipment
Do not use.
11. Other Attachments
Do not use.
Note: Pre-applications found not to
comply with the page limit requirements or that contain attachments other than
those specified will be rejected during the agency validation process.
4. SF424 (R&R)
SENIOR/KEY PERSON PROFILE COMPONENT:
Complete items only for
Project Director/Principal Investigator. Do not
submit profiles for other senior/key personnel.
Item Title
Instructions
Profile- PD/PI – Attach Biographical Sketch
Attach biographical sketch here (two-page maximum; PDF
format). Use the form shown in the URL in Section 4.5.2 of the Application
Guide, omitting Section C, Research Support (see below). Any request for an
exception to the eligibility requirement of time from last doctoral degree or
medical internship/residency must be specifically justified in this section
of the application, as described in Section IV.2.
Profile- PD/PI – Attach Current & Pending Support
Attach a list of Current and Pending Support here (no page
limit; PDF format). Use the format shown in Part III, Section 3.1.8 of the
Application Guide. Be sure to include a statement affirming that you will
devote at least 25% of research effort to New Innovator Award project. Also,
include in this section a brief statement of the facilities to be used for
the conduct of the research.
Profile – Senior Key Person 1
Do not use. Submit information only
for PD/PI. Information on collaborators may be included in the essay.
Note: Pre-applications found not to comply with the page limit
requirements will not be reviewed.
No other documentation,
such as letters of reference or collaboration or
other biographical sketches will be accepted. Information about personnel other
than the PD/PI is not required but may be included within the 10-page essay.
4. PHS398 COVER PAGE
SUPPLEMENT
Item Title
Instructions
2. Human Subjects
Omit.
4. Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Omit.
5. PHS398 Research Plan
Component Sections
Item Number and Title
Instructions
1. Introduction to Application (for Resubmission or Revision only)
Omit
2. Specific Aims
Omit
3. Background and Significance
Omit
4. Preliminary Studies/Progress Report
Omit
5. Research Design and Methods
Attach 10- page essay (PDF format). Include the area of science
(e.g., (01 – Behavioral and Social Sciences) and project title on the first
page of essay. Literature references are not required but if included must
fit within the 10-page limit. Figures and illustrations may be included but
must also fit within the 10-page limit. Do not include links to websites for
further information. Do not include animations.
6. PHS 398 Cover Letter File (Optional):
Cover letters should be
included only when submitting late pre-applications or Changed/Corrected
pre-applications after the submission deadline. Do not submit cover letters for
initial submissions or for changed/corrected
pre-applications submitted before the submission deadline. The cover letter
should contain only the following information:
To submit a
pre-application in response to this FOA, PDs/PIs should access this FOA via http://www.grants.gov/applicants/apply_for_grants.jsp
and follow Steps 1-4. Note: Pre-applications must only be submitted
electronically. PAPER APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
3.C.
Application Processing
Pre-applications may be submitted on or after the
opening date and must be successfully received by Grants.gov no later
than 5:00
p.m. local time (of the
PDs/Pis institution/organization) on the pre-application due date. (See Section IV.3.A. for all dates.) If an pre-application is not submitted by the due date
and time, the pre-application may be delayed in the review process or not
reviewed.
Once a pre-application package has been
successfully submitted through Grants.gov, any errors have been addressed, and
the assembled pre-application has been created in the eRA Commons, the PD/PI and
the Authorized Organization Representative/Signing Official (AOR/SO) have two
weekdays (Monday – Friday, excluding Federal holidays) to view the
pre-application image to determine if any further action is necessary.
If everything is
acceptable, no further action is necessary. The
pre-application will automatically move forward to the Division of Receipt
and Referral in the Center for Scientific Review for processing after two weekdays,
excluding Federal holidays.
Prior to the submission
deadline, the AOR/SO can “Reject” the assembled pre-application and submit
a changed/corrected pre-application within the two-day viewing window.
This option should be used if it is determined that some part of the
pre-application was lost or did not transfer correctly during the
submission process, the AOR/SO will have the option to “Reject” the
pre-application and submit a Changed/Corrected pre-application. In these cases, please contact the eRA
Help Desk to ensure that the issues are addressed and corrected. Once
rejected, PDs/PIs should follow the instructions for correcting errors in
Section 2.12, including the requirement for cover letters on late
applications. The “Reject” feature should
also be used if you determine that warnings are applicable to your
pre-application and need to be addressed now. Remember, warnings do not
stop further pre-application processing. If a pre-application submission
results in warnings (but no errors), it will automatically move forward
after two weekdays if no action is taken. Some warnings may need to be addressed later in the process.
If
the two-day window falls after the submission deadline, the AOR/SO will have
the option to “Reject” the pre-application if, due to an eRA Commons or Grants.gov system issue, the pre-application does not correctly reflect the submitted
pre-application package (e.g., some part of the application was lost or didn’t
transfer correctly during the submission process). The AOR/SO should first
contact the eRA Commons Helpdesk to confirm the system error, document the issue, and determine the best course
of action. NIH will not penalize the applicant for an eRA Commons or Grants.gov system issue.
If
the AOR/SO chooses to “Reject” the image after the submission deadline for a
reason other than an eRA Commons or Grants.gov system failure, a
changed/corrected pre-application still can be submitted, but it will be
subject to the NIH late
policy guidelines and may not be accepted. The reason for this delay should
be explained in the cover letter attachment.
Both
the AOR/SO and PD/PI will receive e-mail notifications when the pre-application
is rejected or the pre-application automatically moves forward in the process
after two weekdays.
Upon receipt, pre-applications will be evaluated for
completeness by the Center for Scientific Review, NIH. Incomplete pre-applications
will not be reviewed.
There
will be an acknowledgement of receipt of pre-applications from Grants.gov and
the Commons. The submitting AOR/SO
receives the Grants.gov acknowledgments. The AOR/SO and the PI receive Commons acknowledgments. Information related to the assignment of a pre-application to a
Scientific Review Group is also in the Commons.
Note: Since email can be
unreliable, it is the responsibility of the applicant to check periodically on
their pre-application status in the Commons.
The NIH will not
accept any pre-application in response to this FOA that is essentially the same
as one currently pending initial review, unless the applicant
withdraws the pending application. When a previously unfunded application,
originally submitted as an investigator-initiated application, is to be
submitted in response to a funding opportunity, it is to be prepared as a NEW
application. That is, the application for the FOA
must not include an “Introduction” describing the changes and improvements
made, and the text must not be marked to indicate the changes from the previous
unfunded version of the application.
The
PI/PD organization must include its DUNS number in its Organization Profile in
the eRA Commons. This DUNS number must match the DUNS number provided at CCR
registration with Grants.gov. For
additional information, see “Frequently Asked Questions – Application Guide, Electronic
Submission of Grant Applications.”
Appendix
Materials
Appendices are not allowed and will not
be accepted. Pre-applications that contain
attachments other than those specified may be rejected during the agency
validation process.
Resource
Sharing Plan(s)
The following resource sharing policies
do not apply to this FOA:
Data Sharing Plan. Not Applicable
Sharing Model Organisms. Not Applicable
Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS).
Not Applicable
Section V. Application Review Information
1.
Criteria (Update: Enhanced review criteria have been issued for the evaluation of research applications received for potential FY2010 funding and thereafter - see NOT-OD-09-025).
Only
the review criteria described below will be considered in the review process.
2. Review and Selection Process
Pre-applications that are complete and responsive will be evaluated by a group of
external reviewers, which will include eminent scientists with expertise in the
ten science areas designated in the “Additional Pre-Application Instructions”
section above. Those investigators whose submissions
are judged to be the most outstanding will be notified of the opportunity to
submit full (DP2) applications under RFA-RM-09-003. Given the nature of the review, no summary statement or other written critique will
be provided to the submitting individual.
The review criteria will emphasize the importance and
potential impact of the scientific problem in biomedical and behavioral
research, the novelty and innovativeness of the
approach, and evidence of the PD’s/PI’s potential for creative and innovative
research as a “new investigator.” Specifically, reviewers will evaluate:
The scientific problem to be addressed: The importance of the scientific
problem and the likelihood that, if successful,
the project will have a major impact on a broad area of biomedical or
behavioral research.
Innovativeness of the research proposed: Evidence that the proposed
scientific problem and/or the approaches are significantly more innovative and creative than would normally be
expected, especially for a new investigator, and evidence that the
investigator has considered and addressed the potential risks and
challenges.
Investigator qualifications: Evidence of the investigator’s creativity and potential for innovation and the
commitment of the investigator to devote 25% or more of his/her research
effort on the New Innovator Award project.
2.A.
Additional Review Criteria
None.
2.B. Additional Review
Considerations
For this FOA,
no specific budget information is to be submitted either with the application
or just-in-time.
2.C. Sharing Research Data
The
following resource sharing policies do not apply to this FOA:
Data Sharing Plan. Not Applicable
Sharing Model Organisms. Not
Applicable
Genome Wide Association Studies
(GWAS). Not Applicable
3.
Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates
Those
investigators whose submissions are judged to be the most outstanding will be
notified in April 2009 of the opportunity to submit full (DP2) applications
under RFA-RM-09-003. Awards will be made under RFA-RM-09-003. Awards under
RFA-RM-09-003 will be announced in September 2009 and will begin September 30,
2009.
Section
VI. Award Administration Information
1.
Award Notices
Not Applicable
2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements
Not Applicable
3.
Reporting
Not Applicable
Section
VII. Agency Contacts
Many
questions are addressed in the FAQs on the New Innovator web site at http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/newinnovator/. We encourage your inquiries concerning
this funding opportunity and welcome the opportunity to answer questions from
potential applicants. Inquiries may fall into three areas: scientific/research
(program), peer review, and financial or grants
management issues:
NOTE: Information responsive to the following federal citations should not be submitted with the X02 New Innovator
Award pre-application. Applicants who are invited to submit DP2 applications
will be asked to submit the following information as part of the DP2
application.
Human Subjects
Protection:Federal regulations (45 CFR 46) require that
applications and proposals involving human subjects must be evaluated with
reference to the risks to the subjects, the adequacy of protection against
these risks, the potential benefits of the research to the subjects and others,
and the importance of the knowledge gained or to be gained (http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/guidance/45cfr46.htm).
Data and Safety
Monitoring Plan:Data and safety monitoring is required for all types
of clinical trials, including physiologic toxicity and dose-finding studies
(Phase I); efficacy studies (Phase II); efficacy, effectiveness and comparative
trials (Phase III). Monitoring should be commensurate with risk. The
establishment of data and safety monitoring boards (DSMBs) is required for
multi-site clinical trials involving interventions that entail potential risks
to the participants (“NIH Policy for Data and Safety Monitoring,” NIH Guide
for Grants and Contracts, http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not98-084.html).
Access to Research Data through the Freedom of Information Act:The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular
A-110 has been revised to provide access to research data through the Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA) under some circumstances. Data that are: (1) first
produced in a project that is supported in whole or in part with Federal funds;
and (2) cited publicly and officially by a Federal agency in support of an action
that has the force and effect of law (i.e., a regulation) may be accessed
through FOIA. It is important for applicants to understand the basic scope of
this amendment. NIH has provided guidance at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/a110/a110_guidance_dec1999.htm.
Applicants may wish to place data collected under this funding opportunity in a
public archive, which can provide protections for the data and manage the
distribution for an indefinite period of time. If so, the application should
include a description of the archiving plan in the study design and include
information about this in the budget justification section of the application.
In addition, applicants should think about how to structure informed consent
statements and other human subjects procedures given the potential for wider
use of data collected under this award.
Inclusion of
Women And Minorities in Clinical Research:It is the policy of the NIH that women and members of
minority groups and their sub-populations must be included in all NIH-supported
clinical research projects unless a clear and compelling justification is
provided indicating that inclusion is inappropriate with respect to the health
of the subjects or the purpose of the research. This policy results from the
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a complete copy of the updated Guidelines is available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/women_min/guidelines_amended_10_2001.htm.
The amended policy incorporates: the use of an NIH definition of clinical
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trials consistent with the SF424 (R&R) application; and updated roles and
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Inclusion of Children as Participants in Clinical Research:The NIH maintains a policy that children (i.e.,
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Only research using hESC lines that are registered in the NIH Human Embryonic
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In accordance with the NIH Public Access Policy, investigators
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Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information:The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
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of individually identifiable health information, and is administered and
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Decisions about applicability and implementation of
the Privacy Rule reside with the researcher and his/her institution. The OCR
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provides information on the Privacy Rule, including a complete Regulation Text
and a set of decision tools on "Am I a covered entity?" Information
on the impact of the HIPAA Privacy Rule on NIH processes involving the review,
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that are directly relevant to the project may be included only as URLs or PMC submission identification numbers accompanying the full reference
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program is described in the Catalog of Federal
Domestic Assistance at http://www.cfda.gov/ and is not
subject to the intergovernmental review requirements of Executive Order 12372.
Awards are made under the authorization of Sections
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and under Federal Regulations 42 CFR Part 52 and 45 CFR Parts 74 and 92. All
awards are subject to the terms and conditions, cost principles, and other
considerations described in the NIH Grants
Policy Statement.
The PHS strongly encourages all grant recipients to
provide a smoke-free workplace and discourage the use of all tobacco products.
In addition, Public Law 103-227, the Pro-Children Act of 1994, prohibits
smoking in certain facilities (or in some cases, any portion of a facility) in
which regular or routine education, library, day care, health care, or early
childhood development services are provided to children. This is consistent
with the PHS mission to protect and advance the physical and mental health of
the American people.
Loan Repayment Programs:NIH encourages applications for educational loan
repayment from qualified health professionals who have made a commitment to
pursue a research career involving clinical, pediatric, contraception,
infertility, and health disparities related areas. The LRP is an important
component of NIH's efforts to recruit and retain the next generation of
researchers by providing the means for developing a research career unfettered
by the burden of student loan debt. Note that an NIH grant is not required for
eligibility and concurrent career award and LRP applications are encouraged.
The periods of career award and LRP award may overlap providing the LRP
recipient with the required commitment of time and effort, as LRP awardees must
commit at least 50% of their time (at least 20 hours per week based on a 40
hour week) for two years to the research. For further information, please see: http://www.lrp.nih.gov/. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Economic and Environmental Role of Wetlands
Interview with Nick Davidson, Ramsar Convention’s Deputy Secretary General at CBD, COP11. The key role that rapidly diminishing wetlands play in supporting human life and biodiversity needs to be recognized and integrated into decision-making as a vital component of the transition to a resource-efficient, sustainable world economy, according to a new TEEB report released today.
How cleaner stoves can save lives and tackle climate change
Kenya unveils new plans to tackle rising problem of e-waste
WHO estimates indoor air pollution was linked to 4.3 million deaths in 2012 in households cooking over coal, wood and biomass stoves
GENEVA, 25 March 2014 - In new estimates released today, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that in 2012 around 7 million people died - one in eight of total global deaths as a result of air pollution exposure. This finding more than doubles previous estimates and confirms that air pollution is now the world's largest single environmental health risk. Reducing air pollution could save millions of lives.
Further Resources
In particular, the new data reveal a stronger link between both indoor and outdoor air pollution exposure and cardiovascular diseases, such as strokes and ischaemic heart disease, as well as between air pollution and cancer. This is in addition to air pollution's role in the development of respiratory diseases, including acute respiratory infections and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.
The new estimates are not only based on more knowledge about the diseases caused by air pollution, but also upon better assessment of human exposure to air pollutants through the use of improved measurements and technology. This has enabled scientists to make a more detailed analysis of health risks from a wider demographic spread that now includes rural as well as urban areas.
Regionally, low- and middle-income countries in the WHO South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions had the largest air pollution-related burden in 2012, with a total of 3.3 million deaths linked to indoor air pollution and 2.6 million deaths related to outdoor air pollution.
"Cleaning up the air we breathe prevents noncommunicable diseases as well as reduces disease risks among women and vulnerable groups, including children and the elderly," says Dr Flavia Bustreo, WHO Assistant Director-General Family, Women and Children's Health. "Poor women and children pay a heavy price from indoor air pollution since they spend more time at home breathing in smoke and soot from leaky coal and wood cook stoves."
Included in the assessment is a breakdown of deaths attributed to specific diseases, underlining that the vast majority of air pollution deaths are due to cardiovascular diseases as follows:
Outdoor air pollution-caused deaths breakdown by disease:
40% - ischaemic heart disease;
40% - stroke;
11% - chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
6% - lung cancer;
3% - acute lower respiratory infections in children.
Indoor air pollution-caused deaths breakdown by disease:
34% - stroke;
26% - ischaemic heart disease;
22% - COPD;
12% - acute lower respiratory infections in children;
6% - lung cancer.
The new estimates are based on the latest WHO mortality data from 2012 as well as evidence of health risks from air pollution exposures. Estimates of people's exposure to outdoor air pollution in different parts of the world were formulated through a new global data mapping. This incorporated satellite data, ground-level monitoring measurements and data on pollution emissions from key sources, as well as modelling of how pollution drifts in the air.
"The risks from air pollution are now far greater than previously thought or understood, particularly for heart disease and strokes," says Dr Maria Neira, Director of WHO's Department for Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health. "Few risks have a greater impact on global health today than air pollution; the evidence signals the need for concerted action to clean up the air we all breathe."
After analysing the risk factors and taking into account revisions in methodology, WHO estimates indoor air pollution was linked to 4.3 million deaths in 2012 in households cooking over coal, wood and biomass stoves. The new estimate is explained by better information about pollution exposures among the estimated 2.9 billion people living in homes using wood, coal or dung as their primary cooking fuel, as well as evidence about air pollution's role in the development of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and cancers.
In the case of outdoor air pollution, WHO estimates there were 3.7 million deaths in 2012 from urban and rural sources worldwide.
Many people are exposed to both indoor and outdoor air pollution. Due to this overlap, mortality attributed to the two sources cannot simply be added together, hence the total estimate of around 7 million deaths in 2012.
"Excessive air pollution is often a by-product of unsustainable policies in sectors such as transport, energy, waste management and industry. In most cases, healthier strategies will also be more economical in the long term due to health-care cost savings as well as climate gains," says Dr Carlos Dora, WHO Coordinator for Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health. "WHO and health sectors have a unique role in translating scientific evidence on air pollution into policies that can deliver impact and improvements that will save lives."
The release of today's data is a significant step in advancing a WHO roadmap for preventing diseases related to air pollution. This involves the development of a WHO-hosted global platform on air quality and health to generate better data on air pollution-related diseases and strengthened support to countries and cities through guidance, information and evidence about health gains from key interventions.
Later this year, WHO will release indoor air quality guidelines on household fuel combustion, as well as country data on outdoor and indoor air pollution exposures and related mortality, plus an update of air quality measurements in 1600 cities from all regions of the world. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
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A 21-year-old man was hospitalized in intensive care in Murdoch, Australia (near Perth), in December following a barroom stunt in which he put on a helmet connected to a beer jug, with a hose that ran between the jug and a pump powered by an electric drill. The idea was to facilitate drinking a large quantity of beer without the laborious tasks of lifting a glass and swallowing, but the flow was so powerful that he had to be rushed to the hospital with a 10-centimeter tear in his stomach. [The West Australian, 12-15-04]
Wellard takes off his hat bows his head and offers the man involved a moment’s respectful silence. Is there any greater sacrifice than to risk your life for the potential benefit of you’re fellow beer drinker? When he gets out of hospital I suggest we award him a medal (made from bottle tops of course)
What should we call the medal?
__________________
fossils - natures way of laughing at creationists for over 3 billion years
__________________Too set in his ways to ever relate
If he could set that aside, there'd be heaven to pay
But weathered and aged, time swept him to grave
Love conquers all? Damn, I'd say that area's gray | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Company Matches
Trump threatens China with new $100 billion tariff plan
President Donald Trump ratcheted up the trade war rhetoric with China on Thursday evening, saying he was considering another wave of steep tariffs on the country's exports to the United States.
"In light of China's unfair retaliation, I have instructed the [United States Trade Representative] to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate," the president said in a statement.
Earlier this week, the United States announced new tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, claiming that China is stealing US intellectual property. China responded within hours by announcing $50 billion worth of tariffs on US goods.
The moves follow US tariffs that were imposed earlier this year on Chinese steel and aluminum, which also prompted retaliatory measures from China.
Trump's announcement late Thursday that his administration could target another $100 billion of Chinese goods rattled markets and drew criticism from businesses and from within his own party.
The Chinese government responded by reiterating that it doesn't want "to fight a trade war, but we are not afraid of fighting it."
"If the United States disregards the opposition of China and the international community, and insists on unilateralist and protectionist trade practices, the Chinese side will follow through to the end and will not hesitate to fight back at any cost," the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement Friday.
"We are prepared and have already formulated very detailed countermeasures," Gao Feng, a ministry spokesman, told reporters at a hastily arranged press conference later on Friday.
The Dow fell sharply at the open on Friday, but recovered some lost ground to trade 0.5% lower. US stocks had gained on Thursday as investors appeared to warm to the idea that the barbs between Washington and Beijing were all talk.
Investors were reassured by Larry Kudlow, the director of the White House National Economic Council, who also characterized the tariffs as just proposals in remarks on Thursday.
He told reporters there is "nothing around the corner" regarding any concrete tariff plans.
Asian stock markets showed little sign of alarm over Trump's latest announcement, with most indexes posting moderate gains or losses on Friday. Stocks in Hong Kong, where the market had been closed Thursday, gained more than 1%. Exchanges in mainland China were shut Friday for a public holiday.
Trump's latest tariff threat was met with criticism from members of his own Republican party. Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse called the move "the dumbest possible way to do this."
"Hopefully the President is just blowing off steam again but, if he's even half-serious, this is nuts," he said in a statement.
"China is guilty of many things, but the President has no actual plan to win right now. He's threatening to light American agriculture on fire," Sasse added.
Richard Quest: The US-China trade war has begun
US retailers also slammed Trump's announcement, accusing him of "playing a game of chicken with the nation's economy."
The National Retail Federation, an industry group, said in a statement that while it agreed on the need to address China's unfair trade practices, "these tit-for-tat trade actions could ... make it harder for Americans across the country to afford everyday products and basic necessities."
The US government on Tuesday threatened to levy import taxes on more than 1,300 Chinese products, including TVs, dishwashers and printers. In turn, China vowed to target key US exports, including soybeans.
"Rather than remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers," Trump said in his statement Thursday.
Trump said he instructed the US Trade Representative to "identify the products upon which to impose" the additional tariffs he suggested.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in a statement late Thursday called Trump's request "appropriate."
"China has chosen to respond thus far with threats to impose unjustified tariffs on billions of dollars in US exports, including our agricultural products," Lighthizer said. "Such measures would undoubtedly cause further harm to American workers, farmers, and businesses. Under these circumstances, the president is right to ask for additional appropriate action to obtain the elimination of the unfair acts, policies, and practices identified in USTR's report."
Trump said he had also instructed the Secretary of Agriculture "to use his broad authority to implement a plan to protect our farmers and agricultural interests."
He also left the door open for further discussion with the Chinese government.
"The United States is still prepared to have discussions in further support of our commitment to achieving free, fair, and reciprocal trade and to protect the technology and intellectual property of American companies and American people," he said.
Chinese officials this week also said they were eager to engage, but the tone had changed by Friday.
Gao, the spokesperson for the Commerce Ministry, told reporters that China and the United States were not currently engaged in trade negotiations, and Trump's latest comments made talks even more unlikely.
"The US-China trade rhetoric fluctuates between escalation and negotiation," said Kerry Craig, global market strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management. He warned that talks "could be complex and various factors such as [intellectual property] and technology will linger beyond a single trade dispute." | {
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Sounds stadium financing unclear, but taxpayers likely to play a part
Dean wants to limit public payments
5:46 AM,
Sep. 8, 2013
Loading Photo Galleries ...
Written by
Michael Cass
| The Tennessean
If the Nashville Sounds build a new ballpark north of downtown, taxpayers almost certainly will play a role in financing the facility, just as they have in other cities around the country.
But Mayor Karl Dean and his top aides say they're working to limit public participation as much as they can.
"The mayor has made it really clear: A baseball stadium would be a nice thing to do, but it's not a must," Metro Finance Director Rich Riebeling said Friday. "To do that, we've got to put together a financing plan that shows that it has minimal impact on the taxpayers of Davidson County. ... | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
My first date idea is to go to a shopping mall with my partner and spend a couple of hours with him and get to know him better. My other first date idea is meet up at a park, have a picnic, play his or my favorite sport more>>
My first date idea is to go to a shopping mall with my partner and spend a couple of hours with him and get to know him better. My other first date idea is meet up at a park, have a picnic, play his or my favorite sport, and just talk and enjoy my time with him less<< | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Goal Setting for Freelancers: How to Focus on What Matters Most in 2019
What Really Happens When You Follow Up with Clients
With just a few minutes of follow up per client, freelance writer and editor Joy Drohan got 6 new clients. Freelance writer Brandon May did the same thing—and got 3 new clients. Joy and Brandon have found a simple way to…
Why Clients Need Freelancers They Can Trust
It’s been 11 years since Keith D’Oria and I worked together. But when Keith was looking for freelance help for his new company, he contacted me—because he trusted me. “Having worked with Lori in the past with much success, I decided to ‘go back to the well’ and work with someone who…
How Professional Associations Make it Easy for Freelancers to Get High-Paying Clients
Do you belong to professional associations? If you do, are you active in your professional associations? The answer to both of these questions should be Yes!—because professional associations make it easy… | {
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Palo Alto University professor Christine Blasey Ford, who came forward with accusations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, said in a letter on Monday to Senate Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley that she felt “agony yet urgency” to tell her story.
Ford wrote the letter to Grassley on Sept. 22, while she was still in ongoing negotiations with the Republican-led committee to testify against Kavanaugh. Grassley released the letter on Monday, along with a letter from Kavanaugh himself in which he flatly denies Ford’s allegations.
In the letter, Ford explains her motive for coming forward, and the timing of her allegations — which, being just ahead of the Senate vote on Kavanaugh, Republicans including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have called into question. Ford has accused Kavanaugh of attempting to rape her when both were in high school and at a party in the early 1980s; she came forward in an article published Sept. 16.
“Mr. Kavanaugh’s actions, while many years ago, were serious and have had a lasting impact on my life,” Ford wrote in the letter. “I thought that knowledge of his actions could be useful for you and those in charge of choosing among the various candidates. My original intent was first and foremost to be a helpful citizen — in a confidential way that would minimize collateral damage to all families and friends involved.”
Ford goes on to say that since coming forward, she has faced threats and media intrusion into her life.
“While I am frightened, please know, my fear will not hold me back from testifying and you will be provided with answers to all of your questions,” Ford wrote. “I ask for fair and respectful treatment.” | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
New York-based Rialto Pictures will release John Carpenter’s horror movie “The Fog” on Oct. 26 in its first-ever major restoration, (via Variety)
“The Fog,” which has received a full 4K restoration from StudioCanal, will open for limited runs at the Metrograph in New York, Landmark’s Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles, and the Music Box Theatre in Chicago. Additional screenings will occur during Halloween week throughout the Alamo Drafthouse circuit and other specialty theaters.
“The Fog” was released in 1980 as Carpenter’s first title after “Halloween.” He directed, co-wrote the screenplay, and created the music for the film.
“The Fog” tells the story of a strange, glowing fog that sweeps over a small coastal town in California, bringing with it the vengeful ghosts of mariners who were killed in a shipwreck 100 years before. The pic was remade in 2005.
HorrorFan is a non profit FANSITE created to provide information and up to date news about horror movies. We are in no way affiliated with any actor, family or management of the movies we share. The material used in the fansite is not owned by us, unless explicitly stated. If you own any images or resources present on this site, please contact us immediately to take it down. We take cases like this very seriously. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Government To Pay You $3,000 To Get Flu
As part of an effort to create a better flu vaccine, the National Institutes of Health announced it will pay 100 individuals up to $3,000 each to volunteer to have the flu virus sprayed into their nostrils so that they become sick and then observe them over the next nine days in a hospital. What do you think?
“Could they make it so I can eat the flu like a hamburger?”
Mary Pinza
– Unemployed
“If you truly love getting sick like I do, you don’t do it for the money.” | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
I am 63 years old. As long as I can remember this was in my grandfathers basement in Baltimore. I've heard of American Beer. What I want to know is how old it is and is there any value in it. It measures 13" X 19". Thanks for any help.
Comments
You don't say what it is made of -- and look to see if there is a mark on it that says who made it. Might have a date too. Looks like plaster/chalk. Looks to be in excellent condition. A similar one sold on ebay for $33, but yours is much nicer. I'd estimate $75-$100 value.
History of American Brewery:
Built in 1887 by John Frederick Wiessner, a German immigrant, the American Brewery in East Baltimore was one of the largest breweries in the state of Maryland. At its peak, the brewery employed 61 workers; 16 in brewery work, 17 drivers, 14 bottling house, 8 garage men, and 6 office workers.[3] The central tower of the building housed a 10,000 bushel grain elevator.[4] Prohibition forced the shut down of the facility in 1920. The Weissner family sold the brewery to the American Malt Company in 1931,[5] who modernized the interior equipment and operated the brewery until 1973. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Epp & AssociatesLand Surveying
Epp & Associates is a Land Surveying firm located in Craig, Colorado with over 55 years of surveying experience. We are licensed in Colorado and New Mexico, and provide a wide range of surveying services using state of the art equipment. Contact us today to ask how we can help with your next project. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes – Sun Block
GFA’s Nikki Silvestri joins Chris Hayes to talk about attempts to kill solar power, the single biggest threat to the fossil fuel industry and those who profit from it — including ALEC and the Koch brothers. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Growing up I ate the peppery root once a year, when a scoop of white or beet-stained prepared horseradish played a starring role as the "bitter herb" at my family's Passover seder.
Today, the pungent, nose-tickling condiment immediately conjures up thoughts of springtime, my parents' dining room table, and how my brother and I would compete to see who could eat the most horseradish without crying.
Recently though, while having brunch with friends, I discovered horseradish being used in an entirely unfamiliar context: as a mix-in to scrambled eggs. Was it a life changing meal? Not particularly. But it was delicious, and the experience got me thinking that maybe horseradish deserved year-round attention.
With other fiery condiments like wasabi increasingly gaining favor in American kitchens, now seems like a perfect time for a horseradish renaissance.
Native to Eastern Europe, horseradish is relative to mustard greens, broccoli rabe and, yes, radishes. It is a particularly ugly thing — not much more than a dry and gnarled brown root — and for centuries it was used only in medicinal contexts before catching on as a culinary ingredient.
My Lithuanian ancestors likely ate it as a topping on fish, cold meat, and kugel. And by the late 1600s, horseradish had traveled to central and western Europe, where Englanders favored it as a pairing for beef and oysters.
They knew then what I'm learning now: despite its fierce bite, horseradish is a surprisingly versatile ingredient. Particularly when left raw (heat mellows the spiciness), it makes a natural companion to red meat and creamy root vegetable soups, where its heat cuts through the dishes' richness.
It also perks up lighter fare from springtime salad dressings to pickled beets and eggs, adds a little kick to certain sweet dishes like applesauce, and is a classic mix-in to drinks like the bloody Mary.
*DISCLAIMER*: The information contained in or provided through this site section is intended for general consumer understanding and education only and is not intended to be and is not a substitute for professional advice. Use of this site section and any information contained on or provided through this site section is at your own risk and any information contained on or provided through this site section is provided on an "as is" basis without any representations or warranties. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Memories of War
Memories of War: So powerful yet often so fragmentary
W.J. Astore
Memories of war are powerful and fragmentary. At a national level, we do best at remembering our own war dead while scarcely recognizing the damage to others. This is one cost of nationalism. Nationalism is violent, bigoted, and discriminatory. It elevates a few at the expense of the many. It fails fully to recognize common human experience, even one as shattering as war.
One example. I’ve visited the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. In seeing all those names of American dead on the wall, I was moved to tears. It’s a remarkable memorial, but what it fails to capture is any sense of the magnitude of death from that war visited upon Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. As I wrote for Alternet, to visualize the extent of death from America’s war in Southeast Asia, the Vietnamese would need a wall that would be roughly 20 to 50 times as long as ours.
Think about that for a moment. A wall perhaps 50 times as long as our Vietnam memorial wall. It’s a staggering mental image. Sadly, today in America the only wall garnering much media interest is Trump’s wall along our border with Mexico, yet another manifestation of nationalist bigotry and bias.
John Dower challenges us to think differently. To explore our common humanity. To remember the war dead of other nations and peoples, and to record the true cost of America’s wars, both to others and to ourselves. His latest article at TomDispatch.com explores how Americans both remember and forget their wars. Here’s an excerpt:
While it is natural for people and nations to focus on their own sacrifice and suffering rather than the death and destruction they themselves inflict, in the case of the United States such cognitive astigmatism is backlighted by the country’s abiding sense of being exceptional, not just in power but also in virtue. In paeans to “American exceptionalism,” it is an article of faith that the highest values of Western and Judeo-Christian civilization guide the nation’s conduct — to which Americans add their country’s purportedly unique embrace of democracy, respect for each and every individual, and stalwart defense of a “rules-based” international order.
Such self-congratulation requires and reinforces selective memory. “Terror,” for instance, has become a word applied to others, never to oneself. And yet during World War II, U.S. and British strategic-bombing planners explicitly regarded their firebombing of enemy cities as terror bombing, and identified destroying the morale of noncombatants in enemy territory as necessary and morally acceptable. Shortly after the Allied devastation of the German city of Dresden in February 1945, Winston Churchill, whose bust circulates in and out of the presidential Oval Office in Washington (it is currently in), referred to the “bombing of German cities simply for the sake of increasing the terror, though under other pretexts.”
Too often, Americans believe they’re waging a war on terror, forgetting that war itself is terror. That war itself is evil. That doesn’t mean that war is never justified, as it was, I believe, in the struggle against Nazi tyranny in World War II. Even in justifiable wars, however, we need to recognize that war breeds corruption; that war, in essence, is corruption, a corruption of the human spirit, of a humanity which should be held in common and nourished, but which during war is degraded if not destroyed.
John Dower recognizes this. It’s a theme he explores in his new book, The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War Two. Consider it a primer on war’s many corruptions, and a precis of America’s tendency toward a nationalism of callous indifference when it comes to the damages we inflict on others. It’s not happy reading, but then again wars shouldn’t be a subject for happiness.
A remarkable primer and meditation on America’s endless wars
Wars and rumors of war seem always to be with us. Some would say they’re an inevitable part of the human condition. Our historical record seems to support that grim conclusion. Yet there is another way, a more pacific path, a path toward peace. But to walk that path, we must first fully recognize the tangled undergrowth of war that imperils our every footstep. Dower’s latest book helps us to do just that.
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11 thoughts on “Memories of War”
Although I agree with most everything written above, something you posited before, about “..people not having a reason to care…,” leaves me continually dispirited. That is to say, that meaningful, intraspective writing, does little more than ‘sing to the choir,’ as it were. How can we break through the strengthening forces of hyper partisanship? If citizens are unwilling to care about the ongoing wars, what will words do? I ask only rhetorically. By no means do I condone giving up.
If only we could somehow get people to care as much about their country as they do their favorite sports team or television programs? And if people did pay attention? Would we have less war, or more? Once upon a time I believed the answer was clear. Today, not so much.
Yes. I’d say first that the choir needs to hear preaching too. Why go to church every week if we’re already “saved”? Because there’s meaning to the repetition.
Second, I’d say that even in our hyper-partisan times, you never know when and where your seeds might take root and grow. We need to keep scattering our “seeds,” hoping they’ll take root, even among the thistle.
Finally, I’m amazed at how the parables of Christ have stayed with me, but that’s because I learned them when I was young. So maybe that’s the way forward: educate our children in the ways of peace, and perhaps as adults they’ll do better than us at avoiding war. Thanks.
I don’t know if I mentioned to you that I have been teaching history for the first time this year. I’m
Currently on a bus returning from Washington with 250 8th graders. We also spent a day in Gettysburg. This is my 6th trip and each time I grow more conflicted about traipsing 14 year olds through monuments and cemeteries with insufficient context and a tour guide who solemnly intones, “and all these people died for your freedom.” Well, no. A lot of them died for imperialism and wrong-headed notions of whatAmerica means. A lot of them were young and poor and died to defend the money of rich, old white guys. I, too, am moved to tears at these places where the sheer waste of life can barely be conveyed. It’s hard to get them to look up from their phones to think about any of this.
I noticed that what Wilfred Owen called “the old lie” is inscribed on the amphitheater near the tomb of the unknown soldier: “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.” I’ll teach that poem in the coming week and encourage them to question, as I always do.
For right now, the rain, the Trump hats, the New Jersey turnpike, and the memory of the fatuous tour guide have all got me feeling more than a little discouraged.
In 2008, I wrote about my own experience visiting Gettysburg. Here it is:
Visiting Gettysburg
Last week, I finally made it to Gettysburg, site of the great three-day battle between Union and Confederate forces in July 1863 that ended with the defeat of General Robert E. Lee’s army. Walking the battlefield was a sobering experience. I found myself on Little Round Top at 5:00 PM, just about the time of day that Union generals rushed men to reinforce the hill against a determined Confederate assault at the close of the battle’s second day. Earlier, I was at the Angle, just when, almost a century and a half ago, Pickett’s Charge failed to pierce the Union center, sealing Lee’s fate on the third day.
As these events played through my mind, I marveled that I had the battlefield largely to myself. Not that I was alone, mind you. Tour buses circled; cars, trucks, and SUVs whizzed about, but many, perhaps most, Americans who visit Gettysburg get surprisingly little tactile or sensory experience of its difficult topography. Yes, a few kids (and fewer adults) joined me in clambering about the huge, claustrophobically placed boulders of Devil’s Den, and I did spy a couple of guided tour groups on foot. But at the site of a bloodcurdling, distinctly septic nineteenth century battle, most visitors were clearly having a distinctly bloodless, even antiseptic, twenty-first century experience.
That day, I learned a lot about Gettysburg the battle — and maybe a little about us as well. As surely as my fellow tourists were staying in their cars and buses, we, as a people, are distancing ourselves from the realities of war. As we seal ourselves away from war’s horrors, we’re correspondingly finding it easier to speak of “warfighters” and to boast of having the world’s best military.
As we catch a glimpse, from the comfort of our living rooms, of a suicide bombing in Iraq or an American outpost attacked, then abandoned, in Afghanistan, are we not like those tourists in buses at Gettysburg, listening to sanitized recordings telling us what to see and think about the (expurgated) reality in front of us? And who dares challenge the “expert” commentary? Who dares turn off the canned talking heads and stare into the face of war?
But if we are to end our militaristic, yet curiously sanitized, “warfighter” moment, if we are ever to return to our citizen-soldier ethos and heritage, this is just what we must do.
Perfect — thank you. I had just read This a Republic of Suffering– which definitely help banish any “curiously sanitized” notions from my head. I guess you can’t really blame anybody for making a living, but the stores full of tchotchkes and fudge are distasteful to me. The battlefield guides used to be pretty good about getting the kids out of the bus and moving over the landscape, but this year we mostly stayed in the bus– don’t know why. Thanks for giving me a place to process all this as we ride home.
Perfect — thank you. I had just read This a Republic of Suffering– which definitely help banish any “curiously sanitized” notions from my head. I guess you can’t really blame anybody for making a living, but the stores full of tchotchkes and fudge are distasteful to me. The battlefield guides used to be pretty good about getting the kids out of the bus and moving over the landscape, but this year we mostly stayed in the bus– don’t know why. Thanks for giving me a place to process all this as we ride home.
I once took a group of high-school freshmen to visit the Huntington Library in San Marino (near Pasadena), California. I can’t say what the kids got out of the trip, but for me, I happened to take notice of a decorative plaque prominently displayed on a wall of the room in which we found ourselves. It read:
“Tis the good reader that makes the good book; in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakenly meant for his ear; the profit of books is according to the sensibility of the reader; the profoundest thought or passion sleeps as in a mine, until it is discovered by an equal mind and heart.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
How timeless and approprate that observation. I especially recall Emerson’s words whenever I think of memory and memorials. Memory exists in living biology, especially human animal consciousness, whereas memorials consist of dead rock and wood fashioned by human hands into something deliberately suggestive of something else. But what the memorial — or any material artifact — suggests to us depends critically upon what individual human memory and experience we bring to the viewing of it. In our books and memorials we read something reflected — much or little — of ourselves.
For years I put off visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial because I had so many mixed emotions about my own “war” and what I remember of it. I kept thinking that I would go see it once a sane and competent American administration took power and brought our many serial Vietnams to an end. But then I realized that this would probably never happen in my lifetime. So I finally made the pilgrimage along with my wife, two sons, and a high-school classmate and her husband (also in D.C. at the time). I could tell that everyone expected me to feel sad, and I tried to put on the appropriate mask for their benefit, but the whole scene really only made me angry. They brought themselves to the wall and thought they heard it say something about sorrow and weeping; but I brought me, and I heard nothing but lies, screams, and curses. The good memory makes the good memorial, and I have a pretty good memory.
Really well put, Mike. I didn’t have your sense of anger at the wall; I was far too young to have served in Vietnam, and knew no one who had died. What I did get from the wall was a sense of loss, a sense of waste, a sense of sorrow.
I recall a scene from “The Empire Strikes Back,” as Luke prepares to enter the cave where the Dark Side is strong. He asks Yoda, What’s in there?, and the Jedi Master replies, Only that which you take with you.
And so it proves, as Luke confronts the shadows of his own dark destiny, a destiny he barely averts by refusing to submit to hate and anger.
Speaking of memorials and America’s War on Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos),
I remember once coming out of the front gate of Tan Son Nhut Airbase on my way into downtown Saigon. While waiting to catch a xyclo (motorscooter taxi) ride, I noticed a little plot of ground off to one side of the road, overgrown with weeds and coated with the choking dust kicked up by all the passing traffic. Upon closer inspection, I realized that I had stumbled upon a tiny graveyard, with tombstones tilted or falling over amidst the rank tropical vegetation. Then I saw a rusted sign, itself leaning over at a crazy angle which proclaimed (in English): “The Vietnamese people will never forget the sacrifices of the brave French legionaires,” or words to that effect. Yeah. Sure.
In later years, when I read Barbara Tuchman’s fine book, Stilwell and the American Experience in China, I had the perfect image in mind as I read her summary sentence: “In the end, China went her own way as if the Americans had never come.” I realized then that, like the French in Southeast Asia before us, we Americans had some weed-choked, long neglected memorials of our own in store for us in many a forgotten corner of our rotting, collapsing “empire.” And who knows, but perhaps — after the sacking of Washington D.C. that surely lies not too far down the road — our surviving descendants will see such ruined memorials in our own “homeland” as well, with no one alive who can read the rusting words or remember what all the delapidated junk once represented. I can see this all as plain as day. I have seen it. I can hear it whisper, too: the empty echoes of a great desolation, as Shelley once spoke of it in “Ozymandias”:
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
We hear it said that “Time waits for no man.” Yes, but its vast forgetfullness does lie in store for us all. In the meantime, while we live and breathe and can think anything at all, our own little minds and memories will have to tell us what to make of our memorials. | {
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Why did the US stock market crash on Monday? Blame the central banks — RT Op-ed
The crash itself was significant—Donald Trump’s favorite index, the Dow Jones Industrial (DJIA) fell 4.6 percent in one day. This is about four times the standard range of the index—and so according to conventional economics, it should almost never happen.
Of course, mainstream economists are wildly wrong about this, as they have been about almost everything else for some time now. In fact, a four percent fall in the market is unusual, but far from rare: there are well over 100 days in the last century that the Dow Jones tumbled by this much.
Crashes this big tend to happen when the market is massively overvalued, and on that front this crash is no different. It’s like a long-overdue earthquake. Though everyone from Donald Trump down (or should that be “up”?) had regarded Monday’s level and the previous day’s tranquillity as normal, these were in fact the truly unprecedented events. In particular, the ratio of stock prices to corporate earnings is almost higher than it has ever been.
There is only one time that it’s been higher: during the DotCom Bubble, when Robert Shiller’s “cyclically adjusted price to earnings” ratio hit the all-time record of 44 to one. That means that the average price of a share on the S&P500 was 44 times the average earnings per share over the previous 10 years (Shiller uses this long time-lag to minimize the effect of Ponzi Scheme firms like Enron).
The S&P500 fell more than 11 percent that day, so Monday’s fall is minor by comparison. And the market remains seriously overvalued: even if shares fell by 50 percent from today’s level, they’d still be twice as expensive as they have been, on average, for the last 140 years.
After the 2000 crash, standard market dynamics led to stocks falling by 50 percent over the following two years, until the rise of the Subprime Bubble pushed them up about 25 percent (from 22 times earnings to 28 times). Then the Subprime Bubble burst in 2007, and shares fell another 50 percent, from 28 times earnings to 14 times.
This was when central banks thought The End of the World Is Nigh, and that they’d be blamed for it. But in fact, when the market bottomed in early 2009, it was only just below the pre-1990 average of 14.5 times earnings.
Safe Havens
That valuation level, before central banks (staffed and run by people with PhDs in mainstream economics) decided that they knew how to manage capitalism, is where the market really should be. It implies a dividend yield of about six percent in real terms, which is about twice what you used to get on a safe asset like government bonds—which are safe, not because the governments and the politicians and the bureaucrats that run them are saints, but because a government issuing bonds in its own currency can always pay whatever interest level it promises. There’s no risk that it can’t pay, and it can’t go bankrupt, whereas a company might not pay dividends, and it can go bankrupt.
Now shares are trading at a valuation that implies a three percent return, as if they’re as safe as government bonds issued by a government which owns the bank that pays interest on those bonds. That’s nonsense.
And it’s a nonsense for which, ironically, central banks are responsible. The smooth rise in stock market prices which led to the levels that preceded Monday’s crash began when central banks decided to rescue the economy by “Quantitative Easing (QE).” They promised to do “whatever it takes” to drive shares up from the entirely reasonable values they reached in late 2009, and did so by buying huge amounts of government bonds back from private banks and other financial institutions (pension funds, insurance companies, etc.). In the USA’s case, this amounted to $1 trillion per year—equal to about seven percent of America’s annual output of goods and services (GDP or “gross domestic product”). The Bank of England brought about £200 billion worth, which was an even larger percentage of GDP.
With central banks buying that volume of bonds, private financial institutions found themselves awash with money, and spent it buying other assets to get yields—which meant that QE drove up share prices as banks, pension funds and the like bought them with money created by QE.
Blind Oversight
So this is the first central bank-created stock market bubble in history, and central banks have just had the first stock market crash where the blame is entirely theirs.
Were this a standard, private hysteria and leverage driven bubble, we could well be facing a further 50 percent fall in the market—like what happened after the DotCom crash. This would bring shares back to the long-term average of 17 times earnings.
Instead, what I believe will happen is that central banks, having recently announced that they intend to end QE, will restart it and try to drive shares back to what think are “normal” levels, but which are at least twice what they should be.
As I said in my last book ‘Can we avoid another financial crisis?’ QE was like Faust’s pact with the Devil: once you signed the contract, you could never get out of it. They’ll turn on their infinite money printing machine, buy bonds off financial institutions once more, and give them liquidity to pour back into the markets, pushing them once more to levels that they should never rightly have reached.
This, of course, will help to make the rich richer and the poor poorer by further increasing inequality. Which is arguably the biggest social problem of the modern era. So, as well as being incompetent economists these mainstreamers are today’s Marie Antoinette. Let them eat cake, indeed.
Everyone who’s asking “why did the stock market crash Monday?” is asking the wrong question. The real poser is “why did it take so long for this crash to happen?”
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT. | {
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Seventy-nine sets of human remains dating to the seventh century were discovered inside a stone wall at the remote Kuelap fortress in northern Peru, which was built around 1000 A.D. Archaeologist Alfredo Narvaez explained that the people building the fortress brought their dead with them for reburial. A genetic study of mitochondrial DNA taken from […]
There’s more information on the HMS Investigator, discovered by Parks Canada archaeologists in the icy Arctic waters near Bank’s Island. “It’s in surprisingly good condition. The reason we were so lucky in a way was because the ship had not moved too much from the place it was abandoned,” said Marc-Andre Bernier, head of underwater […] | {
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News
Next show opens October 24th.
Park Life presents FUNHOUSE, a group exhibition exploring the work of 7 emerging artists that work primarily in figuration.
Artist portrayal of the figure has varied from generation to generation, with each new generation establishing its own fresh voice. This group of artists leans heavily on pop culture, comics, bright colors, grotesque humor, low-fi representation and unapologetic irony. Each artist in this exhibition has created a unique vision to animate the narrative that follows.
This group of New York based artists will be showing new works that include paintings, drawings and sculpture. | {
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idTech editing hints & tips
Below is a list of essential editing hints and tips for idTech4 powered games (formally known as the 'Doom 3' engine); currently Quake Wars, Quake 4, Prey and Doom 3, but future idTech games may be support. For full list click here ».
The better way to change the name of the *.exe produced by compiling doom3.gpl is to modify the compiler output so it writes the name(space) correctly - changing the program executable or shortcut is possible but not the correct approach to use, neither is renaming any part of the project Visual Studio's Solution Explorer (in relation to naming the *.exe this does nothing, it only changes the name of the Solution project).
Changing the name of 'projects' in the Solution Explorer don't effect the name of the executable
To correctly change the exe name, in the Solution Explorer;
Step 1
Under "exes" right-click "DoomDLL" to open "DoomDLL Properties Pages".
To the right of "Command" (not "Commend Arguments") click "$(OutDir)DOOM3.exe" to highlight for editing, replace "DOOM3" with the name of choice, e.g. "Catacombs" - string should read "$(OutDir)[custom name].exe", i.e. "$(OutDir)Catacombs.exe".
Click "Apply", then optionally if not continuing to 'Step 2', click "OK" to exit the Properties Page manage.
To the right of "Output File" select "$(OutDir)DOOM3.exe" to highlight for editing, replace "DOOM3" with the name of choice, e.g. "Catacombs" - string should read "$(OutDir)[custom name].exe", i.e. "$(OutDir)Catacombs.exe".
Click "Apply", then "OK" to exit the Properties Page manage.
Change "Linker" properties to reflect the name of the executable to be compiled
The doom3.gpl source code uses a standard 'icon' bitmap image to illustrate the compiled exe. To change this replace the respective 'icon' files, i.e. *.ico/Win, *.icns/OSx, *.png/Linux, in the following locations;
Images can be 24bit or 32 bit, the latter being required if the icon is to appear shaped or 'masked' in some way, a function that requires the use of image based alpha mask/channels, or where black (0,0,0) represents 0% opaque (100% transparent) pixels.
Instructions below relate to using Windows 7 to compile Doom3.gpl using Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 Community edition (not tested or checked on Windows 8/8.1 or Windows 10 - modified code as per below DOES NOT build with Visual Studio 2015). Code is extracted and used with minor modification (explained below).
How to installThe installation process for Visual Studio 2013 differs slightly to that of Visual Studio 2010 in that a number of components previously requiring separate download are now included by default during install (although still optional so need to be selected for inclusion), i.e. Microsoft Visual C++ library.
Install Visual Studio Community 2013, Multibyte MFC Library and the DirectX SDK to the suggested location(s) - typically "C:\Program Files (x86)\[path to install]" which allows the software to set up default system paths for reference within the project.
Create a separate project/development folder and in to it unpack/extract the contents of Doom3.gpl.zip (this should be a completely separate folder/location to the Visual Studio 2013 installation files/directories, the location the eventual game/project is to be worked upon).
How to useThe source code likely won't compile without error by default but it shouldn't need any modification itself, all necessary changes are typically simple edits to the projects properties and settings.
Step 1: project updateThe below loads the *.sln file into Visual Studio (may need to be opened from the application if more than one version of Visual Studio is available) and updates the data to be fully compatible with 2013.
Browse the 'doom3' project/development folder just created and find "\neo".
Double-click "doom.sln" (.solution file).
Visual Studio 2013 will open the project asking if it's OK to update to latest version. Click "Yes/Agree" (this is necessary for the files to be compiled with VS2013, without it build fails).
When the *.sln project file opens in Visual Studio the program will want to update the selected files
Files are displayed in the status bar as they are parsed and updated
Step 2: project propertiesSetting up the projects environment, settings and properties. Once the project is loaded and updated, next;
In the Solution Explorer (panel on the right) right-click "Game" (under "dlls") and select "Properties" from the menu, then;
- In "Configuration Properties" expand "C/C++" properties and left-click "Preprocessor".- To the right, click "Preprocessor Definitions" - currently displaying "DEBUG;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)".- Type "_XKEYCHECK_H;" between "DEBUG;" and "%(PreprocessorDefinitions)", i.e. "DEBUG;_XKEYCHECK_H;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)" (important note: "DEBUG;" may display as "_DEBUG;", "DEBUG;", "_NDEBUG;" or "NDEBUG;" et al if the project has been previously built and/or cleaned, or depending upon the build type selected [see below]).- Click "Apply" then "OK".
Ensure Visual Studio 2013 lists the correct 'version' data in 'debug' settings, the "VC" (Visual C/C++) version used should be shown as "12" for Visual Studio 2013 (optional may not be required). To access, in the Solution Explorer right-click "Solution 'doom3' (7 projects)" and select "Properties" from the menu that appears. Expand "Common Properties" and select "Debug Source Files".
Make sure the correct "VC" is listed, for 2013 it should be "12"
Step 3: modify snd_system.cpp
In the Solution Explorer, expand "DoomDLL", then "Sound". Double-click "snd_system.cpp" to edit and scroll down to line 167;
Step 4: BuildIf the code is to be used as is without modifying anything, before compiling the 'build type' should be set to "Release" or "Dedicated Release" to ensure all the files and data are included in the appropriate *.exe, *.dll and other core files.
Successful compileIf successful a series of files are produced and saved to "build\Win32\Dedicated Release" in the project directory (where the source files were unpacked and the *.sln was double-clicked - note: a separate folder is created per build type within which output is saved). These are;
DOOM3.exe
Game.exp
Game.lib
gamex86.dll
idLib.lib
TypeInfo.exe
Once available copy to actual development folder (should contain folder/directory structure replicating that of Doom 3).
How to compile doom 3 with visual studio 2010 [Obsolete: Visual Studio 2010 is no longer supported/provided by Microsoft directly (2012 is the last archive available). In addition, some of the 'Properties' management requirements, i.e. providing path information, may not be required as Visual Studio should pull that data in from Windows Systems paths defined during component installation].
ProblemAlthough 'volume' based levels can be made using 3DS Max, because the eventual format used needs to be specially compiled, it's not possible to export content from Max directly to *.bsp. BSP is a data structure rather than just a file-dump. This means the contents of a working file are analysed and broken down into a series of structures that are optimised in a way that removes some material. This isn't possible through a simple 'export' mechanism, so content has to exported to another format. However, it's not possible to simply export the contents of a Scene to a single model because the way those are handled in game would result in an unusable level (models are processes and culled based on bounding-box not surfaces). That being said models can still be used...
SolutionThe general solution to exporting volume based content from 3DS Max is essentially two-fold;
use a *.map export script.
section the level and export a series of models.
If a *.map export script exists divide the level into simple 'convex' shapes and complex molded structures, i.e. flat walls, floors and other architectural features that describe the level versus statues, shaped fittings and features. Export the former group to *.map and the latter to a supported mesh format such as *.ase, *.obj etc. Both can then be opened in a level-editor like GtkRadiant and once rebuilt as the content was originally in Max, can then be properly compiled to BSP using a MAP2BSP compiler (dmap, q3map2 etc.).
An alternative to the above is to export content from Max to *.3ds which can then be opened and processed in Gmax before being compiled using the BSP compiler included with the Tempest Gamepack. This approach woul typically mean rebuilding certain elements of the level and retagging content so the Tempest gamepack knows what to do with certain structures.
KatsBits provides freely available game and content making tutorials and resources, helping Visitors build their own games, or go further, Game Design Studios!. At KatsBits we strive to bring relevant material to our Readers and forefront Blender as a general game development tool. | {
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what's best for a one acre garden
veggievicki(7b)November 24, 2012
Hubby and I are trying to figure out what to do for a large garden that we might eventually enlarge enough to do some farmer's market sales with. We have a brand new John Deere 110. There is a different brand tiller you can get for it, but not much else you can do with it. Those kubota's have the pto that would let me run some different attachments, but they seem awfully pricey. Appreciate the input.
My opinion is that your acre is a lot of area for a lawn tractor with aftermarket tiller. More of a toy than a useable setup. Not really designed for that much of a garden. I went with a used Japanese compact tractor and 3-pt tiller, cost about $3500 for the pair. The combo is perfect for getting the work done in a reasonable time. And if you look around there are low prices on used equipment. I used to have a walk-behind tiller but it wore me out. Check the link below for an example of what's available.
Thanks. That's what I've been looking toward. I'm regularly surfing eBay. Kubotas run very high here. John deere slightly lower. Massey seems to havE some subcomPacts that are more in my budget but not sure of the quality
Don't know if this plan would work for you, but-
Maybe hire out the initial tilling to someone with the proper sized equipment.
Use your own smaller equipment on a "staggered" timeline as different crops are harvested to "maintain" tillage.
You need a good garden tractor or even a CUT. You will be better off buying a used 10-year-old good tractor at the same cost as a new lesser tractor. If you are serious about making a go of the farmer's market, the Kubota can be written off as an investment and, amortized over its lifetime, will come out cheaper than a lawn tractor. I don't know anything about the new Massey tractors, but in the old days, they were good machines and the same tractor as Ford.
My brother runs a 15-acre garden for farmer's market sales. He uses 1950's-era Allis Chalmers tractors to do all the work.
To get an idea of what these fellows are telling you--take a spade and a pick, and a long-handled shovel out to where you are intending to put a garden, and get to work! You will soon see why they tell you to have somebody plow and till it first! And why a small lawn tractor won't be able to handle the work! First time ground breaking takes lots of muscle, not contained in most all lawn and light duty garden tractors, as foisted off on the average home-owner. You need a machine that uses a hard steel drive-line, not an el-cheapo with belts! JMHO: Rustyj
I market garden, have for years. My main power is an Massey ferguson 35 w a 60 inch tiller. But I also use 3 cub cadet 12-14 hp tractors. I pull a plow, cultivators and peg tooth drags with them. These are 60s and 70s made by international Harvestor, real tractotrs in small size. The older john deeres and other makes are slo good tools. You can find them for 200 and up depending on condition and area of the country. I collect and restore them, and use em.
Riding mowers which look like a ractor or only mowers.The wheels are held on by only 3-4 bolts or even just a split ring. Garden tractors should have a 5 bolt system to hold the tires to the axles, rearends should be cast iron, you should be able to change the trans oil, not a sealed rear. Hydraulics are nice but a spring assited lift works fine. All small tractors are made overseas, the Massey, Fords, and others are all made for AGCO, deetres todays larger Cubs are Yanmars, Kubotas is made by>>>KUbota!! Actually, most all of the sub compacts and really all tractor colors are pretty well made today; ergonomics might be a factor for some tho, usere friendly can mean different things to different folks. The problem with most small garden tractors, like the Cubs, is only around 6 inches of ground clearance, I get around that by using wide rows where the tractor isnt required to straddle the ros for cultivating.
When I think of all the work required to plow, prep, and plant a one acre garden, and then add the time to weed and hoe and spray; and then comes the harvesting, Whew! I get tired. And I suppose you want to do this and actually make money too. If so do not sink a lot of money in equipment that will take forever to pay for out of a one acre garden.
I have neighbors living all around me who own tractors, and not one of them get enough use out of them to justify the cost. But it's handy to have them. If I want a garden cultivated, or a field mowed, I just give them a call, and they are happy to help me out. I do pay them a little something.
i have also had a market garden ( 5-7 acres) and just lately bought a kubota 46 hp, but for years,(and i mean 30+) i did just fine with hiring the big stuff. please do not try to do too much with to little a mach. what you break will end up costing more than hiring it done and 3-4 years from now you will still have a machine that isn't worth much no matter how many new parts it has.
I have Case Garden Tractors with tiller, turn plow they pull 12 inch turn plow you find deals on package on craiglist by using search tempest. There online help at coltcaseIngersoll dot com all ever need. It take serval hours to get know these tractors, but help you on any Garden tractor you pick I have 7 Case Ingersoll tractors oldest 1974 446 with 3 pt category 0 hitch sleeve adapter and 41" hydraulic tiller reverse-able rotating tines. If buy wisely it sell next Gardner. Come out best buying package.
IMHO you can't go wrong with an old, but ugly, good running Ford or AC tractor from the 50's. You can buy one with several attachments for around $1,000 here in SC.
The reason for adding ugly is if it has been restored and it is pretty it will cost a lot more but will not necessarily be a better tractor.
The old Ford 8N or 9N would be a better choice on availability of attachments. The old AC's seem to have less mechanical and starting problems than the Fords. But attachments are harder to come by because they use a different hitch system than the Fords. The Ford system is still in use today, while the old AC system isn't.
I have a 1954 AC-CA and it starts right away after sitting all winter. My Dad and my neighbor both had Fords and I had to help them get them started every spring. My Dad had an AC-B also and it would start up right away after sitting all winter.
I also had to do a lot of repairs on the Fords, nothing major. I rebuilt the hydraulic pumps on both of them and replaced and/or repaired many starters and generators on the Fords.
But hardly any repairs on the AC's. The only thing that I have had to do to my AC-CA is repack the lift cylinders when they started leaking. My Dads AC-B had problems with the magneto a couple of times and I converted it to a coil and solved that problem. | {
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Former New Orleans Saints player Norman Hand's death has shaken some former players
At 6 feet 3 and 270 pounds, there are not many things that put fear into former New Orleans Saints Pro Bowl offensive guard Steve Korte.
But with each passing obituary, he begins to grow increasingly nervous, if not downright scared.
Ellis Lucia/The Times-PicayuneFormer New Orleans Saints defensive lineman Norman Hand's death has shook up some former players.
In the wake of the death of former Saints defensive tackle Norman Hand, who died May 14 of heart disease at the age of 37 in South Carolina, Korte said he's concerned about the life expectancy of not just himself but of current and former NFL linemen, who typically are larger than 300 pounds.
"If you think about it there are not very many great big old men," Korte said.
While Hand's death may have sounded the latest alarm, there has been warning signs for years, as the list of former NFL linemen who have died because of heart conditions or undetermined causes is growing.
The Saints certainly have had their share of tragedies.
In recent years several former Saints lineman have died from heart or weight-related issues, including Steve Trapilo, who was 39; Frank Warren, who was 39; and Tony Elliot, who was 48.
According to several studies, football linemen, who are typically classified as obese, have higher risks of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
"It is alarming in general when you realize what the consequences are to a lot of guys who played the game," said former Saints guard Brad Edelman, who has dropped nearly 40 pounds from his playing days and weighs 245 pounds. "On a personal level I'm not aware of having any conditions like that and my weight has not been an issue. But certainly it's an issue that a lot of guys need to be concerned about.
Former Saints lineman Frank Warren also died from heart disease.
"But it's very difficult when you have stopped playing the game and you are working in your profession to find the time to exercise. But for as many guys who are not exercising and can't find the time to exercise there are just as many who are keeping themselves in shape. It's really on an individual basis, but yes I am concerned about it for all my former players."
Local fitness guru Mackie Shilstone, who trained Hand in the early 2000s and helped the defensive tackle shed more than 30 pounds when Hand played for the Saints, said he believes that many more linemen could face a similar fate as Hand once their playing careers have ended.
Shilstone pointed to studies that showed linemen had greater instances of medical disorders, including hypertension, diabetes and heart disease to back up his assertion.
"I've been doing this for 30 years and I classify the O- and D-line with waist measurements of greater than 40 as the land of the walking dead," said Shilstone, the executive director of The Fitness Principle at East Jefferson General Hospital. "They just don't know they are dead."
Risk debated
Just as word of Hand's death was beginning to spread last weekend, doctors at Tulane Medical Center were putting the finishing touches on their planned health screening of former NFL players. The event was in partnership with a national program sponsored by the NFL Player Care Foundation and supported by the Living Heart Foundation and the American Urological Association Foundation.
Dr. Patrice Delafontaine, who led the study that screened 28 former NFL players for heart disease and prostate cancer, acknowledged that NFL linemen are at greater risk than other NFL players for future heart problems.
"In some players, particularly the linemen who are the bigger players it is a significant issue, yes," said Delafontaine, the director of the Tulane Heart and Vascular Institute. "In these linemen, compared to even other football players that are non-linemen, the incidence is really quite a lot higher. So they have an increased risk of cardiac events such as strokes, heart attacks and etc."
Still, the NFL isn't convinced that its players are at greater health risk.
As evidence, the league pointed to a study done last year by Dr. Andrew M. Tucker, a cardiologist at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore.
Tucker's study said that despite being larger in size and heavier in weight, an analysis of the cardiovascular disease risk factors of about 500 NFL players found that overall, they have a similar cardiovascular risk profile compared to the general population.
The study also showed that the NFL population was found to have a lower incidence of impaired fasting glucose, and similar prevalence of abnormal cholesterol and triglyceride levels as compared to a sample of healthy young-adult men, but have an increased prevalence of high blood pressure.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello reissued a statement to The Times-Picayune that was released last May when Tucker's study was released.
"This study confirms that, despite their generally larger size, NFL players are at no greater overall risk for developing cardiovascular risk factors than men of the same age in the general population. The research underscores the importance of exercise and fitness given the favorable cholesterol and glucose levels of our players. We will share this information with our team medical staffs so that they can take appropriate steps to monitor blood pressure among our players.
"In addition, we will do more specific research on the blood pressure of our players under the guidance of our cardiovascular medical committee. We appreciate the work of our cardiovascular medical committee in providing our players and medical staffs with important information to help them better understand and address their risk factors for heart disease."
Staying healthy
While Hand's death is the latest among massive former NFL linemen, it's not the one Delafontaine is most familiar with.
His brother-in-law was Trapilo, the former Saints offensive guard who played for the Black and Gold from 1987-1990 and again in 1992.
Delafontaine said Trapilo struggled with staying fit after his playing days and eventually died of a heart attack while on vacation in New Hampshire in 2004.
"When he stopped playing his diet wasn't the best," Delafontaine said. "He continued to put on weight and eat, and he died of the same condition (as Hand). He died of sudden cardiac arrest at 39 years old. That clearly illustrates some of the problems that these players have, particularly after they retire and they are exercising a lot less."
In a league that almost mandates that its linemen weigh at least 300 pounds, life after football can be more dangerous than the violent hits that the players take on the gridiron.
According to the Saints roster, of the 20 offensive linemen and interior defensive linemen, only four players are listed as weighing less than 300 pounds.
But the problem isn't simply with weight, Delafontaine said, it's the type of weight an athlete carries.
"Personally, there is no problem putting on weight if it is muscle, but I would be against this idea of putting on weight and it being fat," Delafontaine said. "That's bad. And that clearly should be avoided. I'm not sure that a lineman that is 250 or 260 pounds that has a lower fat content can't be successful. I would say that they probably could be as successful as a 300-pounder."
Shilstone, who has offered to consult the NFL Players Association on health and fitness issues, agreed. But ultimately he said it is up to the players to take care of their bodies after they leave the NFL.
"The first thing that has got to happen is that the player, himself, has got to quit renting his health and take ownership of it," Shilstone said. "He needs to get counseling and help and he's going to have to do ultimate training from what's done in football because the type of training you do in football is not the type of training you can spend 15 years doing and not do something else.
"They are going to have to pay emphasis to their cardio-respiratory system which, ironically, is not really that important to playing football."
But the rigors of a long football career aren't always conducive to training and exercising after the playing days have finished, formers players said.
Knee injuries and other ailments often keep former players from running and doing other cardiovascular workouts.
Korte, though, said he isn't taking any chances. He said his weight has dropped about 10 pounds from his playing days and he talks to and visits regularly with a cardiologist.
"Who knows, I could not be here tomorrow," Korte said. "But hopefully with the stuff that I have done as far as me being very involved in the cardiovascular field, it's helped me with my diet. I've never really been heavy or overweight. I don't have diabetes. My cholesterol is really good. I watch those things all the time. It is important to me to be healthy. "Am I prolonging my life? Maybe, maybe not. You just don't know."
•••••••
Nakia Hogan can be reached at [email protected] or 504.826.3405. | {
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Audrina Patridge Covers Maxim October 2009
‘Sorority Row’ star Audrina Patridge strips down to her bikini on the October 2009 cover of Maxim magazine.
“As the college killfest Sorority Row hits theaters and her final season of The Hills takes over your TV, the time has come for Audrina Patridge to come clean about her plans to dominate your world.” (Maxim) | {
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GLOBAL (with Printed Access Card)
Why Rent from Knetbooks?
Because Knetbooks knows college students. Our rental program is designed to save you time and money. Whether you need a textbook for a semester, quarter or even a summer session, we have an option for you. Simply select a rental period, enter your information and your book will be on its way!
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Great book. Used it for my international business course. Easy to understand. Reads kind of like a magazine. The chapters are short, but has all the main points. Review cards that you can tear out of the back of the book for each chapter. Best part is the price. Even new, it was about half the cost of some of my other books that were used.
Probably one of the best textbooks Iíve had to purchase it was an easy read to study for exams. The Textbook is also extremely affordable so I was expecting a raggidy textbook, but it was in good condition and it even included review cards for every chapter at the back of the textbook. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Roger Emery, a space scientist with the Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory
in England, and who helped build the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO)
satellite for the European Space Agency (ESA), responded.
Satellites are made of lots of materials.
Each has to be tested to make sure it does not change in the high
vacuum of space and can withstand the temperatures which can be very cold.
Space agencies keep long lists of materials and
components which they have tested for use in space, to help the engineers.
These are often materials which combine strength with lightness, such as
aluminium alloys or carbon fibre for the structure, since the cost of
launching the satellite is mainly determined by its weight.
Apart from the structure of the satellite, there are many other parts, much
of which involve electronics and the use of semiconductors, like silicon.
These are needed for the satellite to receive command signals from the Earth
and to send signals back, all controlled by a computer. This electronics
looks much like the insides you find in a radio or television, but made
using components selected for space, and specifically components that are
not easily affected by the radiation in space. To provide the power for all
this, photocells are used in the form of large panels to convert sunlight
into electricity, and batteries are also used to store this power.
With these basic parts of the satellite sorted out, it also needs to include
instruments so that it can perform its special jobs. Examples are cameras
to look down at the Earth for weather satellites (Meteosat) or telescopes to
look up for astronomy (Hubble Space Telescope). Some of these need the
satellite to be controlled very carefully in position. For this, small gas
jets are used, often with the actual position being measured by a camera
designed to look at the stars.
So you can see, metals, special plastics and glasses are used to make
satellites - with great care being taken in their selection and testing -
and sometimes even gas or liquids in special containers. | {
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Stocks dipped on Wall Street on Monday as a drop in Apple partly offset gains in energy and financial stocks, some of the market's worst-performing sectors so far this year.
Banks are expected to perform better in a steepening-yield curve environment, in which bonds with longer maturities need higher rates to attract investors. (Reuters)
Stocks dipped on Wall Street on Monday as a drop in Apple partly offset gains in energy and financial stocks, some of the market’s worst-performing sectors so far this year. Energy, the worst-performing S&P 500 sector so far in 2017, and banks, widely underperforming the benchmark year-to-date, attracted bids despite a drop in crude prices and a yield curve that is near its flattest in eight months.
Banks are expected to perform better in a steepening-yield curve environment, in which bonds with longer maturities need higher rates to attract investors.
Monday’s data showed services sector activity slowed in May as new orders tumbled. Together with an April fall in orders for manufactured goods and worker productivity unchanged in the first quarter, data suggest limited scope for faster economic growth.
Despite the softening economic numbers, traders still bet the Federal Reserve will raise rates at its June 13-14 meeting. Reuters data points to a 93.6-percent chance of a quarter-point hike.
With the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield near its lowest in seven months, traders are looking for an upward spike and looking at which sectors could benefit from higher rates, said Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.
“With people starting to bottom-fish the 10-year (yield), you bet on financials,” he said. Utilities, expected to underperform as yields rise, fell 0.48 percent.
Watch this also:
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.25 points, or 0.1 percent, to 21,184.04, the S&P 500 lost 2.97 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,436.1 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 10.11 points, or 0.16 percent, to 6,295.68.
Energy stocks rose despite a decline in crude prices. Oil fell on concerns that Saudi Arabia cutting off ties with Qatar over its alleged support of extremist views inside Islam could hamper a global deal to reduce oil production.
Traders are keeping an eye on other political developments coming up including a British election, testimony from former FBI director James Comey regarding the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russia, and the French legislative vote.
UK opinion polls in the past week have put Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives ahead, though with a narrowing lead over the Labour opposition. Apple shares fell 1.0 percent to $153.93 as the iPhone maker unveiled products and services in its annual developers conference.
Alphabet’s A-class shares edged above the $1,000 mark for the first time and were among the biggest boosts to the S&P and the Nasdaq.
Bristol-Myers Squibb shares fell 4.7 percent to $52.36 after an underwhelming presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago over the weekend.
Herbalife was down 6.7 percent to $68.99 after the nutritional supplement maker lowered its sales outlook for the current quarter a month after a rosy guidance followed results.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.64-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.83-to-1 ratio favored decliners. The S&P 500 posted 28 new 52-week highs and 11 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 82 new highs and 70 new lows.
Volume on US exchanges was about 5.52 billion shares, among the lowest of the year, below the 6.6 billion average over the last 20 trading days. | {
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“Author of the Declaration of American Independence[,] of the
Statute of Virginia for religious freedom & Father of the
University of Virginia”: when Thomas Jefferson composed the epitaph
for his tombstone, these were the three achievements which he
listed, as he put it, “as testimonials that I have lived”
(Jefferson, Writings 706). Instead of enumerating, for
instance, his various political offices – secretary of state, vice
president, and president of the United States among them –
Jefferson chose to present himself to posterity as a man of the
Enlightenment committed to the ideas of political and religious
liberty, member of a generation who had given, as he claimed in his
last political statement, “the …
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2354Thomas Jefferson1Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.
The Literary Encyclopedia is supplied without charge to higher education institutions in countries where per capita income is below the world average. If you are in a relatively wealthy country, reading The Literary Encyclopedia and recommending it to others helps us to afford these free supplies. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Kanchan’s Story, “I’ll serve you, but you sort the rest out.”
“My earliest memories are of primary school singing hymns and hearing stories about Jesus from a supply teacher. A little later I heard the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. A classmate said it was from the Bible, quoting chapter and verse. I was really impressed. I found the story in the public library and another friend told me where I could get a free Bible. I went to Sunday school and learned the weekly memory verses to get a Bible of my own. I was fascinated with the idea of knowing God, but who Jesus was felt like a dangerous challenge. So I focused on the Old Testament stories about Moses, David and Samson.
Eventually my parents became concerned so they took my Bible away and I no longer went to church. During this time a Sunday school teacher met me occasionally and gave me Bible lesson material. My friends would tell me stories and teach me songs like I Have Decided to Follow Jesus. I heard about a church summer camp, but I knew I would never be allowed to go. Then someone from the church visited my parents and miraculously I was allowed to attend.
One day when I was about 15 I was walking up the hill to my house thinking about the claims of Jesus- the cross, the sin and how to be clean. I distinctly said to God: “If this true, if you are real, I will serve you, but you sort the rest out.”
At that stage I was not a good Christ follower, but God was a good keeper. I saved up my dinner money and bought a Bible from the OM bookshop. As a secret believer there were classmates and school teachers who became light bearers in my life.
At 17 I refused to participate in arti – a Hindu worship ritual. My parents were very upset and sought many ways to draw me back to Hindu practices and beliefs.
My late teens and early 20s were fraught with identity struggles leading to depression and a suicide attempt. The shame of being a failure to my family and failing with my higher education and not being able to attend church was just overwhelming.
Years later I met other South Asian Christ followers. I have learned the difference between the cultural Western Christianity that my parents feared would cause us to live immoral lives and being a British Gujarati Christ follower. As I learn how compatible following Christ is to my Indian values and morals, I am restoring and building relationships with the South Asian community, including my family. I understand that Christ and my Indian culture are my places of belonging.
These experiences have made it possible for me to reach out to Asian single, divorced women and struggling mums of toddlers many of whom bear some sort of shame and limits their acceptance as part of the respectable Asian community. I journey with them through hardships. My life continues to be a constant reminder of what Jesus brought me through.
I often have dreams of being 15 and a never ending walk up that hill. It is a poignant reminder that God is still sorting out the rest. | {
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Healthliterature
Almost everyone receives much less magnesium in their diets than people have in the past. This has lead to deterioration in the condition of asthmatics. Nevertheless, this problem has not been well investigated.
The less magnesium you get, the larger is the risk of colon cancer - plus asthma and imbalances in the muscle- and nerve function. Diuretic pills and empty calories is the major cause of magnesium deficiency.
Even though researchers mutually disagree on how old we may become, it is still worth making sure that the time that we do have on this earth is as good as possible. This could give us more good years.
A study of more than 1000 HIV-infected, pregnant, African women has shown that a daily multivitamin supplement not only causes fewer symptoms and thereby improves the quality of life. It also reduces the risk of developing AIDS. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Menu
About me
My name is Vasco Ferreira, i'm a young Portuguese investor who likes to share and receive constructive feedback on his stock analysis.
I first graduated in Business Administration, worked for a couple of years at PricewaterhouseCoopers on financial report auditing and i'm currently doing a Master in Finance at Faculdade de Economia do Porto, University of Porto.
During my first degree I was seduced by financial markets! Its complexity was a big challenge at first and everytime I learn some more it just gets more challenging.
I started investing (mostly in company stocks) in 2009, but I have to admit experience came with a price. It was until I lost some money, that I started to understand a bit more about the dinamics of the stock market. Obviously I still have a long way ahead until I can say I'm a professional analyst, but my results improved a lot since I started to actually read the full reports and know the story of the company, analyse its fundamentals and graph patterns before I take a decision.
This Blog serves my intention of sharing my analysis to those who like me in 2009 don't know how to start investing and at the same time allows me to improve my analysis with the feedback from the internet community. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
All About STEM NEWS
All About STEM are proud to be the returning sponsor of the STEM Project of the Year Award at the 2018 Educate Awards. The awards are now open for entries, could you be our 2018 winner?
The Educate Awards is an annual awards ceremony celebrating education in Merseyside, Cheshire and Lancashire. Now in its 7th year, the amount of nominations submitted for the awards year upon year continues to grow at an exponential rate.
A total of 21 awards are contended for via nominations which are then shortlisted by a panel of judges. The shortlist is released 4 weeks prior to the event with the winner being told of their success during a prestigious and glamorous event in one of Liverpool’s finest venues, Liverpool Cathedral.
The All About STEM, STEM Project of the Year Award recognises schools that have developed a STEM based project during the academic year of 2017-18 providing an opportunity to develop an innovative and effective approach to encouraging pupils to engage with science, technology, engineering or maths. It can be a project that has a focus on one element of STEM or can be a project that covers all four areas.
In 2017, Mosslands School took the top spot and the sought-after translucent-tick trophy: “The energy and excitement of the evening was an experience in itself, however before the night was over Mosslands was to reach the top step. Generously sponsored by All About STEM, Mosslands was thrilled to be awarded the prestigious STEM Project of the Year Award. We would firstly like to thank Educate Awards for hosting an unforgettable night of anxious waiting, kind words and long red carpet walks from a cathedral full of hard working and dedicated individuals. Mosslands would also like to thank the judges for their recognition and encouraging words about STEAM at Mosslands.” Mosslands School
Have you been working on a STEM-sational project?
You could be walking down the red carpet in November!
We have loads of brilliant stuff to share with people – don’t miss out! Tick to receive our fabulous comms!
Please send me the Educator mails (to receive comms related to events, resources, funding etc for young people, provided directly by All About STEM or promoted by All About STEM on behalf of relevant organisations)
Please send me the Business/Organisation mails (to receive comms related to opportunities to support activities for children and young people, CSR activities, staff development etc) | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
I don't think that in 6 days, any one is going to bid on it. Not $50,000, at least. In these economic times, there's no one but no one who can afford to spend $50k on a luxury item which is, for all practical purposes, completely useless.
I mean, for that amount of money, one can buy an entire house; a much smarter and more useful property.
"Useful" and "useless" is completely immaterial, and you certainly wouldn't want to try to make it useful. You wouldn't want to put any electricity into it at all. This would be an investment in a museum piece, and if not a private collector, then a museum would certainly be the most likely party interested. I can see the Smithsonian investing $50,000 for this. It would be a draw to the museum and worth the money for that and it's investment worth. I'd go to the Smithsonian specifically to see it the next time I'm there. We watched one get snatched up with a Buy it Now a month or two ago for around $16,000, but it was not in this condition and did not have any original papers. This probably is as good an actual artifact as you're going to find, so you might as well start high. I think he's probably going to get it, although yeah, 6 days is a bit short, but $50,000 might even be low. A complete, excellent condition first consumer personal computer in history. Imagine what it'll be worth in 50 or 100 years if it's well preserved. It might even be up there with the Van Gogh's.
I tell you the truth, I have to give it to the seller to start that high. Although with the provenance, the other items with it, and Steve Jobs signature on the sales slip it makes it almost impossible to impeach.
I say again....Whew!!
What's really cool is that this guy still has the original box.
There are 2 or 3 pictures floating around with Woz and Jobs sitting at a coffee table with a stack of these white boxes.
There is another image floating around from "the garage" showing what appears to be a large stack of these on a table.
People spend $100M+ on a single piece of art work, some Russian guy spent $750M on a house in the French Riviera, I can see this going for $100K someday in the near future only it will be at some big name auction house and not ebay.
Give it some time, and the stuff we play with will be worth some money (in choice condition and complete).
Yes, why go to eBay at all? Sotheby's with a starting bid of $500,000. Place it where it belongs. The original catalyst of the present new age. The original device which has brought about the most major development in human evolution--both technological and biological--since the iron age. At $500,000, too, it would actually be way underpriced. It should be, at a bare minimum, up there with a Navajo blanket.
As far as the box and other material goes, it is awesome. Keep in mind that there must have been an additional shipping carton, as well as other boxes for the transformers, that are now missing. I wonder what the condition of the motherboard really is, though. If I was going to buy one at what appears to be a record price, I would ask some questions.
1) Does it currently function? - I suspect not
2) What are the date codes on the chips? - this may give some kind of clue about how many have been replaced through the years.
3) Are the original transformers included? - they are not present in any photos.
4) Was there a keyboard?
5) How much hacking really went on to add that additional socket in the proto area - we'll see if the owner actually puts a picture of the back up on the auction site. In my opinion, any cut traces would drastically reduce value. If additional wires were just soldered on, that could be undone.
Only seventeen hours to go and no bidders, but there are people asking him questions, so it might be fun to be there at the close. It looks likes there's going to be some bites. What I would do if I were him is see if the top hotel in Roseville, California would offer a discount on finest accommodations to the winner, with the stipulation that there would be a photo by the local press and Apple-related magazines of the handover in the lobby of the hotel. That is, of course, unless the buyer wants it all to be secret.
Hmm, maybe he could talk Steve or someone from Apple into coming down and playing a part. How far is Roseville from Cupertino?
There's one thing I find a little curious about this auction--not necessarily suspicious, but curious. The seller's eBay ID is "apple1sale." According to his ID history that's the only ID he has used since he opened his account back in August of 2007. You would think he chose that ID specifically because he was going to put up this auction. What's with the 2 year wait? Second thoughts? Or maybe he did put it up back then but got no bids?
Actually, I have no suspicions about this seller. The fact that he's trying very hard to get the buyer to pick it up in person says this is all up and up. Just bring your payment in person too, buyer.
Holy &h^#!! As of right now, he's got 19,200 page hits to his auction! Looks like the word has gone out.
We should place bets on how much it's going to sell for. Something inside me is saying $83K. Something else is saying $124K. Here's what's going to happen: it's going to sell for $143K, the buyer's going to go pick it up, but instead of flying home with it, he or she is going to stop in New York to have it cataloged by Sotheby's and then it's going to sell at auction there in a year for $875K. You heard it here first!
We should place bets on how much it's going to sell for. Something inside me is saying $83K. Something else is saying $124K. Here's what's going to happen: it's going to sell for $143K, the buyer's going to go pick it up, but instead of flying home with it, he or she is going to stop in New York to have it cataloged by Sotheby's and then it's going to sell at auction there in a year for $875K. You heard it here first!
One of these things sold for a "Buy it Now" of $17,950 a month ago. Based on that alone someone I'd think you would of have to be a complete and utter idiot to spend $50k on this one. Allegedly one sold for that much in 1999, I guess, but on items like this it's almost impossible to really set a "fair market price". As everyone knows, from a practical standpoint it's completely worthless, and as a semi-rational person I find it difficult to stomach the idea that a 30 year old piece of fiberglass could fetch anything in the same ballpark as a decent Ming Vase.
Of course, given enough hype a burnt piece of toast can sell for $28,000, so what do I know? Still, the fact that the last one traded for so much less then $50k, let alone eight-tenths-of-a-million-bucks, argues pretty heavily against Sotheby's setting an action reserve price much over the 20-30K ballpark. As much as I'd love finding an Apple I in the basement myself I think it's fair to say that such a find would be in the "Yay, free car!" category, not "Yay, free mansion!".
I was just having fun. I was going to say he should give me a cut if it went over $100K. I did a lot of work here for him. But definitely, it's worth $50K, and sooner or later he's going to get at least that much if he keeps his nerve. We're not talking about just a computer here anymore. We're talking about an artifact. "Completely worthless" in the way you mean it is completely besides the point. A Ming vase is just some clay and glaze. A Van Gogh is just some canvas, various pigments, and hardened linseed oil.
What makes value in the art and rare artifact world are various factors. First you start with rarity. There were 50 of these Apple I's made, correct? Out of that 50 how many survive? Out of those survivors how many have the original documents. Out of those with documents, how many have the original packaging? Out of those with documents, how many have the signature of the famous artist? So how many other examples of this artifact with these attributes remain in the world? Do you know of any other examples so complete? That's rarity. This one leaves those other examples way behind in the dust. Differences like these can make a difference in value in factors of 10x, 100x, 1000x when appraising an artifact. The price another fetched on the market may have little to do with the value of a more complete version, or a version which has certain other factors the other does not have. And comparing it to a Buy-it-now purchase is really absurd because you will never know how much it would have sold for in a true auction. That Buy-it-now option was, in my opinion, probably foolish, but how will you ever know? An appraiser is looking for what they sell at open auction as the best determinant.
Another factor is emotional appeal. How much is the world attached to their personal computers? How many Apple faithful are there out there and how many are there amongst the world of collectors? How many people know the legend of the two Steves and their little garage beginnings? How many will know that legend in the future and attach significance to it? How much will the legend form in the heart of the culture?
Significance is another factor. How significant is this artifact in history? How will that significance develop in the future? How significant will the artifact be appraised by the intellectuals?
Another factor is fad. What's the current fad amongst collectors? Collectors are scooping up more than Van Gogh's and Ming vases, and increasingly so, they are snatching up items outside of the world of art. Technology is one of the hot items.
Another factor is the prestige of owning an item. What prestige is there when, in fifty years, you pull out the first personal computer with a signature of the Steve when he was an unknown? Steve will forever be a legend in the history of American business, and his legend may increase with time and his passing. The things legends touch become valuable. What will it mean to a businessman in the future to own the beginnings of one of the most famous businessmen in history? Businesswomen too, of course. Prestige and emotional appeal being a couple of participants in an open auction.
Yes, I'd say it's a little more than a 30 year old piece of fiberglass. One man's mansion is another man's outhouse, and three quarters of a million does not buy a mansion where I live. The house I'm sitting in right now is worth more than that, and let me assure you, it's no mansion. I'm having a problem keeping the little inflatable pool in the front yard inflated. Is a 30 year old piece of fiberglass worth more than this plot of land and frame of sticks? You and I are not the ones in the position to determine that. And I don't think the vintage systems sub-category in the Apple computers section of eBay is the greatest place to determine value on an object of significant rarity, either.
Well, not this time around. 50 grand to you is comparatively 5 dollars to some others, and that 5 dollars when invested correctly can bring high yields. Because it sounds absurd to you, doesn't make it so. There are other worlds within this world. Sometimes it takes a little while for them to intersect.
There are other "wild card" factors, too, which you might put in the obsessive or eccentric category. Someone needs to fill a gap in his collection or his soul identifies with a particular object. They will pay a premium. Intersecting with them could take quite awhile. I'd say there's high potential for that kind of sale here, too.
Still, like I say, who I'd like to see buy it is the Smithsonian. I'd love to go see a display with a recreation of the garage with wax figures of Steve and Steve and that other guy standing around this thing. That would be a fun sight.
Significance is another factor. How significant is this artifact in history? How will that significance develop in the future? How significant will the artifact be appraised by the intellectuals?
To be bluntly honest, I think the "significance factor" is being overplayed here. In the grand scheme of things the Apple I *wasn't* a particularly significant computer. Yes, it was the first product churned out by the "Two Steves", but it was just one of many single-board hobby computers on the market at the time, and compared to some of its rivals it wasn't even a particularly good seller. As a technological relic it's a dud. (If you're looking for "first", look at the Altair. If you're looking at "First for the Masses", look at the Apple ][/Commodore PET/TRS-80 Model I trifecta for your museum.) The only thing that makes it special is the Apple name.
Which is why frankly I think it compares well to the Virgin Mary Toast. It's a religious icon, not a technological milestone. If Apple had shriveled up and died like Commodore or Processor Tech it'd be worth a lot less the $50,000. ;^)
Nope, if that were the case, it wouldn't be worth $50,000 (maybe). But that wasn't the case, and they weren't the machines that went on to significantly revolutionize the world. The revolution was not only in technology, it was in the culture in many of the most profound ways. Like Steve said, do you want to keep selling sugar water, or do you want to change the world--or whatever the line was. You keep looking at it with your computer engineer eyes. When I say intellectuals, I mean partly engineers, etc., but more importantly, anthropologists, sociologists, historians, and other such ilk. How important was Steve's determination and vision? Wallace came up with the theory of evolution too, and was an instigator for Darwin's ideas, but who knows who he was? What do you think is more valuable, Wallace's notes, or Darwin's notes from the Beagle? Wallace may have been the better scientist, but that doesn't make his artifacts more valuable. Darwin's reputation survived. That makes what remains of him more "valuable" than what survives of Wallace. The Virgin Mary Toast was a product of hysteria and hysterical, not much like the Apple I, but you could certainly argue a case of religious icon for the Apple I as well, but it would only be one factor--maybe an important factor to the buyer--amongst a lot of factors, the primary being the place in history of the development of the human race as a whole. I don't think anyone's going to think an Apple II is more valuable than an Apple I even though it was possibly more instrumental in the great change. They're both part of the Apple legend and the Apple I is more rare and closer to the Big Bang.
But Eudi, I consider you an important intellectual and your opinion certainly has significance in the evaluation, but it probably doesn't have much in the sale. It's all a game, after all. Value is all a magic trick, much like the value of the dollar. In the world of fiat currency and Fractional Reserve Lending all is based on nothing except what you can convince others what nothing is worth. Smoke and mirrors--that's how value is actually determined in the modern world and what people finally buy into. The world of collection is the same. Yes, it's just a piece of fiberglass. Isn't that funny? The Liberty Bell is just a hunk of metal that sits there doing nothing, and it's not a great example of good manufacturing. It's got that big crack, after all.
It is significant not so much because of it's technology, but because it was the first of a breed, the same way that a Ford Model A 1903 is significant. Rarity contributes to value also. Note that there were far fewer Apple 1's made than 1903 model A's. Those model A's go for hundreds of thousands of dollars these days.
I expect that autos will always have more widespread appeal than computers, so I don't expect to see 5 figure Apple 1's anytime soon.
I never thought that my little Sunday morning eBay report would spark such controversy. lol
Personally, I think that the Apple I was the culmination of the "Dream" of the two Steves. The Apple II was the "Reality".
You have to remember that Woz had been working the hardware design angle for years before they decided to finally build one.
I'm just glad that folks are still interested in the dream and the reality after all these years.
.... How important was Steve's determination and vision? Wallace came up with the theory of evolution too, and was an instigator for Darwin's ideas, but who knows who he was? What do you think is more valuable, Wallace's notes, or Darwin's notes from the Beagle? Wallace may have been the better scientist, but that doesn't make his artifacts more valuable. Darwin's reputation survived. That makes what remains of him more "valuable" than what survives of Wallace...
Honestly, I think you're running off the rails here.
Outside of the little circle of aging fanatics who really *love* Apple computers Steve Jobs just isn't that important. There's a powerful mythic story surrounding him inside that group but outside of it nobody cares. I'm willing to grant that, say, 100 years from now, when historians are writing the history books there's probably a fair chance that his name will come up... historians love finding "personalities" to work into their sepia-tinted fairy tales to give them life. But he's no Charles Darwin. If anything he's more of an Andrew Carnegie or John Pierpont Morgan. Not to say that "Captains of Industry" and railway tycoons and other such characters aren't "interesting", but there will have been a serious miscarriage of historical justice if a greedy, self-centered twit like Steve Jobs is the name parroted as "Father of the Computer Age" by our great, great grandchildren in history class. For crying out loud, I'd rather have it be Bill Gates. For all the damage he's done at least he's akin to Carnegie when it comes to making charitable donations to atone for his cutthroat capitalistic indiscretions.
(Perhaps the fact that Steve Jobs is such a profoundly *unlikable* person might actually up his chances of making the history books, but can't help hoping that his true nature is accurately reflected in the accounts. Maybe he'll make it "all right" by donating all his billions of bucks to charity when his new liver wears out, but so far we're not seeing much "nice" from that guy.)
And with that said, I'd also make the argument that (assuming our culture lasts that long) an Apple ][ or, even better, an original toaster-shaped Macintosh, would be a wiser museum purchase in 100 years than an Apple I, assuming the "museum" in question here is an educational institution and not someone obsessive personal collection. Either of those is a thing that would be recognized by a visiting child's great grandparents, grandparents, or possibly even parents (depending on how quickly and in what direction user interface technology eventually evolves) as a "computer". Primitive but recognizable in the same sense that a Curved Dash Oldsmobile is still a "Car" to modern eyes, albeit a strange and alien one with obvious ties to a previous technology. (aka, horse-drawn carriages.) A bare Apple I is just a circuit board, indistinguishable to untrained eyes from one ripped from a stereo or television set or any number of other things. It makes a *lousy* public display. No one can relate to that.
(That well-known example of an Apple I housed in a wooden console complete with keyboard and crude woodburned/routed "APPLE COMPUTER" sign affixed to the top of it would be an *excellent* display, on the other hand. And for the record, that one is *already* in the Smithsonian. So no, they don't need to buy this guy's.)
Anyway. My personal opinion certainly doesn't count for anything, and I'm sure some more Apple I's are going to change hands for ridiculous prices before I'm dead and gone. But I do think there's a lid on just how high they'll go. As noted on the web pages of the creator of the "Rev 0 Apple II replica" motherboard, the prices of good condition early Apple II's are already lapping the "multi-thousand dollar" waterlines. Will they ever sell for "as much" as an Apple I? I'll grant not, but they will trade hands much more often, and thus it will eventually be "predictable" about how much a given one is worth. (Similar to how it's roughly possible to predict how much a given Model T or 1956 Bel Air Chevy can fetch, based on rarity and condition.) Something as rare as an Apple I, and with such limited appeal is almost impossible to price accurately. To make another analogy to car collecting, a bare Apple I isn't a "whole car". It's not even like having a (1903) Model A Ford... it's almost like having the engine from one of Ford's early racing cars or one of the vehicles he built for the failed "Detroit Automobile Company" venture in 1899. Certainly rare, certainly interesting, but something that sort of depends on the viewer having a personal interest in Henry Ford's life and career, not a general interest in automobiles. Find the right guy it's a gold mine, but the total population of people lusting for this object is going to be small. I'm sure it's rough having something "worth" a zillion bucks that you can't find a buyer for. My heart breaks for him.
In the end, is it worth $50,000? Sure, whatever. If you want it that bad, go nuts. (And chances are that, yes, someday some obsessive collector with more money than sense will want it that bad.) It's simply my personal opinion that the curator of public institution would have no business wasting that much money on it. Spend it on a fossil or Grecian mural or something else genuinely worthwhile instead. The Smithsonian has one already, one's enough.
I don't understand the anger that you seem to have towards this guy.
It belongs to him. He can do with it what he wants. You make it sound like it's yours and he is trying to sell your stuff for more than what you paid for it.
But no! He's just a greedy little grubber who wants to make a quick $53,000 dollars off of it so he can spend the money on God knows what.
I really don't think it's fair to insult the seller because he/she doesn't place the same emotional value to an Apple 1 as others may, and not everyone's in the same financial boat.
Heck, if it came to "pay off the majority of my mortgage" or "have a historically interesting 30+ year old computer around the house", believe me, I'd soon have a much smaller mortgage. If I could only get $5K rather than $50K, I'd still sell it.
__________________
"Give a man a fire, he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life."
(Terry Pratchett)
Heck, if it came to "pay off the majority of my mortgage" or "have a historically interesting 30+ year old computer around the house", believe me, I'd soon have a much smaller mortgage. If I could only get $5K rather than $50K, I'd still sell it.
Dang, I wished I lived somewhere where $50,000 was the better part of a mortgage... ;^b
Eudi, I wasn't trying to imply there were any similarities between Jobs and Darwin. I was only trying to point out that the history of invention is replete with examples of two independent characters coming up with the same "invention" contemporaneously, but only one of the two becomes famous in popular history as the inventor, and so it went with Apple Computer. Apple Computer gets the crown for inventing the personal computer even though that's not the accurate truth, and the main reason it gets that crown is because the Apple story is a good story. It's something that people can remember after they've been told it. Legend becomes myth. The story enters the cultural mythology up there with Graham Bell, Henry Ford, Elvis, and Marilyn. When the American masses conceive of the development of the computer, it'll pretty much go something like, huge military mainframes, punch cards flying through a conveyor system, the HAL 9000 singing "Daisy," the Apple Computer garage, and the internet. Something like that is the popular history of the American computer in people's minds. It's what the mind grasps and carries around. Apple is entrenched there in the mythology. You might say the two Steves, but the truth is, the amount of people who know who Woz is is probably 1% of those who know who Steve Jobs is, so whether he deserves it or not, Steve, and Bill, are the poster boys for the invention of the computer, since in popular conception, the computer means the personal computer. If Andy Warhol was still alive he might be making large prints of multi-colored portraits of Steve and Bill.
It's very interesting to hear you dissing Steve so vehemently. I've heard he's difficult, but this is the first time I've heard he's despicable. Columbus and Captain Cook come to mind. Evidently, despite their popular depiction, both of them were actually real creeps. Captains of ships, captains of industry--they've both got total command, so some form a tyranny is available. Somebody fairly recently--Time magazine?--called Jobs the most important leader in American business. I'll keep your depiction under consideration until I stumble on other first-hand experiences. I don't know what he does with his money. You'd have to have the details to try to pass judgment on that, and frankly, I wouldn't myself, bother spending any time trying to pass judgment on Steve Jobs. I really don't care so much, and that kind of judgment is so often based on hearsay. Fire an employee because he was unproductive or not part of the plan, and you immediately have a tyrant at the helm.
The wood frame for the Apple I. Where did that come from? Are those all custom made by the buyer?
I think the documents this guy's got is probably the most fascinating part of his collection. That letter from Steve typed out on lined binder paper is pretty funny. It just plays right into the mythology. A garage business on the brink of huge success. A character playing the part of a businessman but not yet capable of realizing the need for the proper trappings, or also, someone so determined for success, he doesn't stop to attend to niceties like the correct stationary, but just keeps moving along despite what others may think. This is the kind of stuff that makes a good story and an entertaining sight. The other fact that all there is in hardware is that circuit board plays well, too. People will say, is that all it was? But then you look at the documents and the shipping box and you realize, it's not just the board, the packaging is as important as the board, because that's what the personal computer is, it's a packaging concept. And also, even though it's all packaged, it's not complete in our preconception of complete. There isn't a housing for the board. That's fascinating too. The package requires the buyer to complete the setup--another aspect of the message, "don't worry about EVERYTHING--just get it out there!" You see in that garage, clear as day, the popular conception of the American formula for success. That's why Apple is firmly entrenched in the mythology. It's an easily understandable example with rich characters. I'd rather see that than simply the board in a custom made frame in a glass museum box. The fact that this guy's got the whole picture in his collection is what makes it so valuable, because the board alone says very little except, this is all there was, unless of course, you're a computer engineer and know what you're looking at, and 99.999% of the people out there, aren't.
I also really love seeing on the actual receipt the $666.66 price. That'll get the Apocalypse fanatics gasping. That was intentional by Jobs, so yeah, maybe he is the devil, or couldn't help himself from pricking people with the idea.
When the American masses conceive of the development of the computer, it'll pretty much go something like, huge military mainframes, punch cards flying through a conveyor system, the HAL 9000 singing "Daisy," the Apple Computer garage, and the internet. Something like that is the popular history of the American computer in people's minds.
You're making an incredibly broad assumption regarding what pieces of the story will end up winning the popular imagination. All I'll say is even now if you pick up a book the early era goes:
1971 Federico Faggin and Ted Hoff "invent" the microprocessor
1975 Altair makes the cover of Popular Electronics. Some kid destined to own the universe named Bill Gates writes BASIC for it. The "Homebrew Computer Club" is founded in Silicon Valley, including a couple guys named Steve who were later involved in launching one of...
1977 "The Trifecta", the "first *real* personal computers".
1981 IBM introduces the "PC", asks that Bill Gates kid for an OS, thus spawning the biggest software monopoly in history
1984 Apple and Steve Jobs introduces the first "affordable" example of a GUI operating system, which employed ideas stolen from the Xerox Parc research center.
1985 Microsoft introduces Windows based on stolen goods stolen from Apple, thus marking the beginning of the end of history.
There are a whole slew of colorful names that turn up in that 1971-1985 timeslot, such as Gary Kildall, Paul Allen, Dan Bricklin... Steve Jobs isn't actually that important until you get to 1984, and my guess is *that* is what he'll be remembered for. In any case, in a hundred years I doubt he'll exactly be a household name. How many people remember names like Lee De Forest, Edwin Armstrong, or David Sarnoff? Or how about Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, John Logie Baird, or Philo Farnsworth?
(For that matter, exactly how much would an original 1927 Farnsworth "Image Dissector" tube be worth on eBay? A thousand bucks? A million? Absolutely nothing or absolutely priceless? The answer of course is "If you think it's priceless eBay would be a stupid place to sell it." And of course, whatever you might think it's worth now, what do you think it was worth in 1957? That's how removed we are from the Apple I. It's *way* too early to be judging its place in history.)
Anyway, I'm not going to argue the point anymore. If you think it's such a fabulous buy then why not take out a second mortgage and buy it yourself?
Quote:
It's very interesting to hear you dissing Steve so vehemently. I've heard he's difficult, but this is the first time I've heard he's despicable.
It's only a three day auction, so he probably has very good reason to believe someone overseas might have been ready to bid. More power to him.
Eudi, I said I think it's worth $50,000. I didn't say it was necessarily a good deal. It might be a good deal. A good deal would be less than it's worth, and enough less than it's worth that the profit from eventually reselling it would justify the purchase and all the cost and hassle that purchasing and preserving would entail. There are people who do this regularly and are able to weigh all those factors. There are collectors who specialize in technology and know what they're doing and what they're buying and the financial risks involved. If you want to sit at the table, you should know how to play poker.
And yeah, it's way out of my price range. I'd have a really hard time buying a collectable Apple II.
And you were talking about people in the history books. I'm talking about the people we carry around in our heads, and more importantly, the people the general public carries around in their head. Someone has to get credit for inventing the computer--Bill Gates isn't really associated with any computer, but I wouldn't doubt that a lot of people think he was in that garage too. Collecting is definitely a gamble. Jobs may be remembered more for inventing the iPhone. It's a calculated guess.
Now I'm kind of curious what the sellers motivation is. Since he seems to have been planning this for some time, why would he choose now to sell it? Maybe he needs $50000 and this is the only thing he has of value? And now he follows up the unbid auction with a 3 day listing?
The only rationale I can think of is he is trying to tempt foreign bidders due to the low dollar valuation. Still it comes to 33000 Euros or 30000 GBPs, and that's shooting quite high in my opinion. It's kind of fun to speculate, but I suppose we'll never really know. And I noticed it doesn't have the power supply. Maybe I should offer the power switch and transformers from my Obtronix for $10000.
"Please accept my apology to those outside the United States, who were
accidentally excluded from bidding when this item was first listed."
This is obviously the reason for the three day auction. Maybe he needs the money for the hospital bill for his suffering child. Maybe to keep the banks from foreclosing on his house. Maybe because he's found the most beautiful hooker of all time. Maybe he's been putting it up on eBay for the past two years and for some reason no one here has noticed it before.
Yes, it's NOT necessarily greed when you put a high price ON SOMETHING NO ONE HAS TO BUY. If it sells, that's the new going price. If you can't handle it, and realize you're out of the game, then here's some advice:http://new.wavlist.com/movies/028/lkg-pain.wav
If a little girl comes up to your popsickle stand and wants to buy a popsickle and you charge her $5, that's greed. If someone prices his very rare, one of a kind, historically significant computer at $50,000, that's intelligence.
Your anger is misplaced. There's plenty of genuine "greedy little grubbers" in the world that your anger would be appropriately directed at. For example, you might consider those who gamble hundreds of billions on derivatives, and when their bets all go bust, they extort the government to sign off their losses onto YOU the taxpayer, and your children, and your grandchildren. These people might deserve your contempt in relation to the topic of greed. Then there are others (or maybe not others) who might, um...control a Congressman from North Carolina and get him to enter into committee a bill that would have, if it had passed, undermined the Paul/Grayson bill to audit the Federal Reserve. These too, might be people to get really really angry at for the greed in the world, but of course, these are just examples, and I in no way intend to enter politics into the discussion, but yeah, get really really angry at the greedy, but realize who you should actually be really really angry at.
And you were talking about people in the history books. I'm talking about the people we carry around in our heads, and more importantly, the people the general public carries around in their head. Someone has to get credit for inventing the computer...
There probably is someone out there with $50,000 who has the wrong idea in his head that Steve Jobs invented in the computer, sure. That doesn't mean he's right. ;^)
Anyway. I still think you're too close to the Steve Jobs story to judge it accurately, but again, that's just my opinion. It would be interesting to conduct a random poll asking shmoes on the street "Who is Bill Gates?" and "Who is Steve Jobs?". My gut tells me Bill Gates is going to win the name recognition award.
If nothing else consider the fact that, to be blunt, Steve Jobs is on borrowed time. He's living on someone else's liver *and* he's a cancer survivor. If it was *just* the liver transplant statistics say he has roughly a 75% chance of living long enough to see Apple Computer's 40th anniversary. Liver transplant patents *have* survived 25 years, but frankly the odds suggest there's just not that much time left for him to secure his legacy, whatever it is. Unless his will has a great "just one more thing" paragraph in it there's a distinct chance that no one is going to miss that man when he's gone. (Other then the board of directors at Apple, Inc., of course. I do worry what will happen to Pixar without him, but that's another story.)
On the other hand, unless there's something wrong with him we don't know about there's a really good chance that Bill Gates is going to be kicking around for another third of a century. Furthermore, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation will probably be around long after that. (Andrew Carnegie has been dead for ninety years and yet his name still turns up as a sponsor for *all sorts of things*.) Bill Gates' obituary is going to name him as "one of the" fathers of the personal computer, and he's going to be listed that way on the books of his foundation for perpetuity. There's going to be a *strong lobby* for Bill Gates' case that's likely to last well beyond our lifetimes.
And if someone has to be erroneously named "Father of the PC", history points to Bill Gates having a *much* better claim anyway. Two out of three of the 1977 PC introductions came with a variant of Microsoft Basic (three out of three if you count Applesoft), meaning that Mr. Gates' software was the first thing most people who bought a computer ever saw. Gates porting BASIC to the Altair set *the standard* for what an early personal computer was. The Apple I was an evolutionary copy of that template, a stepping stone that *many feet* were hitting at the same time on the path toward real PCs for the masses. And Steve Jobs didn't even build it, he promoted it. Sorry, he loses.
Anyway. All that said, best of luck to the seller. The only thing I might suggest (coldly and brutally) is unless you simply *must* sell it maybe you should sit on it for a few years and, uhm... wait for the "Michael Jackson" moment to put it up for auction. That's the window in history where someone might give you a million bucks for it. ;^b
(Other then the board of directors at Apple, Inc., of course. I do worry what will happen to Pixar without him, but that's another story.)
Pixar will likely be fine.
Apple, on the other hand, will crash and burn. Not because it would have lost Jobs' supposed "technological vision" (which is a crock; he's a salesman who simply says "yes" and "no" to ideas that his employees present him), but because Apple shareholders would dump their investments as quickly as they could. Apple shareholders aren't computer experts; they're fat cats (and a few Joe Schmoes too) whose only expertise is how to make money; the only knowledge of Apple they have is what they get from CNN. They hold onto the false belief (as do many ignorant Apple fanboys) that Jobs is the lifeblood of Apple, and without him, Apple will stop innovating.
Assuming that article is legit, I hope he did find his sucker for real. A guy in Sacramento selling off everything he has of value... he's probably desperately trying to stave off the inevitable foreclosure of his stupidly over-mortgaged dream McMansion. (Heck, it was probably the HELOC-ed bubble "equity" from said McMansion that bought him the Apple 1 in the first place, back when America suffered from this mass delusion that 1/8th of an acre of grass-covered landfill and a pile of sticks would appreciate 20% a year simply because it existed.)
The real question is what profile fits the buyer: "obsessive computer collector", "insane Apple/Steve Jobs zealot", or "Shrewed/Stupid Investor". It had better darn well not have been a museum curator, at least not the curator of a museum funded by public money. :^b
From the product description:
"It's hard to believe that one man revolutionized computers in the 1970s and '80s (with the Apple II and the Mac), animated movies in the 1990s (with Pixar), and digital music in the 2000s (with the iPod and iTunes). No wonder some people worship Steve Jobs like a god."
It makes the mind boggle to think that there are actually folks who think that Jobs came up with the ideas and schematics for the Apple I,the Apple II, and the Mac.
He was a salesman for cripes sake. Woz did all the thinking when it came to the actual building of the I and II, and several other folks for the Mac, but Jobs gets all the credit. It's kinda like the vikings getting to the new world first and Columbus getting all the glory and a national holiday.
Ooops. I shouldn't say that. Someone will want to have a Steve Jobs Day and make it a national holiday. lol
The real question is what profile fits the buyer: "obsessive computer collector", "insane Apple/Steve Jobs zealot", or "Shrewed/Stupid Investor". It had better darn well not have been a museum curator, at least not the curator of a museum funded by public money. :^b
I calculate a final value fee of $771. That would be a pretty expensive shill. They could mutually cancel the transaction to avoid the final value fee, but that would put them back at square one, so I don't see any purpose in a shill.
Actually, I guess it could have been a shill, if he knew someone were very seriously interested and he wanted to stimulate that person with the idea of not letting it get away. If he did that, that was a big mistake, because now, if he does put it back up for auction after canceling it, then everyone is going to suspect it was a shill, and then everyone is indeed going to be screaming fowl.
But as of right now, I'm a little mystified at all the strong urges here to crucify this guy. Where's it all coming from?
There's some aspect of a high tide raises all boats, after all. If the Apple I's start selling high, then that might raise the value of all your Apple II's, so you might want to be cheering this guy on.
But as of right now, I'm a little mystified at all the strong urges here to crucify this guy. Where's it all coming from?
I'm not seeing that at all. In fact, most of the sentiment I'm getting from this thread is that the buyer of a $50k Apple I is an idiot, not the seller. Plenty of people sell crap for much too high of a price (e.g. Bose, Sharper Image, and some even argue Apple) but how is it the seller's fault for wanting to make as much money as they can? Caveat emptor, after all.
Remember the immortal words of P.T. Barnum -- this guy can relist the auction as many times as he wants, but ultimately the sucker will be the person who falls for it. I fail to see how the saga of this particular computer is so captivating.
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Although presented as one of the local classics, it's not a route I would quickly recommend. We experienced quite a lot of rockfall and the rock quality, while good in the more difficult sections, was often quite poor elsewhere. The route is not as aesthetically pleasing up close as it appears from afar but the biggest challenge is route finding. Climbed the 6a finish which turned out to be not that difficult. Take care on last abseil not to get your ropes stuck.
Climbed the Barre Noire South Pillar and descended the normal route. We did the climb in day from the parking in Pré de Madame Carle which was pretty long but doable. The rock quality is good at the difficult parts of the climb. Be sure to traverse left towards the final wall at bolted belay. A nice alpine climb. | {
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strict pbp creationists
I liked Damian Conway's book Perl Best Practices. It had a lot of sound advice
that can help a programmer or programming group decide on a set of house rules.
For those who aren't interested in making a lot of decisions, it can even be
used as a pre-built set of standards (although a few of its suggestions,
generally those involving modules releaed by Damian for the book, are
untenable).
Perl::Critic provided a fantastic way to check your code gains the rules in
PBP, or against many other kinds of rules, and it became quite popular.
What has begun to really drive me nuts is the application of these rules
without regard to how they affect the program. More than once, now, I've seen
code changed to comply with PBP, only to be completely broken as a result. To
paraphrase Mark Jason Dominus, apparently it is important to these programmers
to get the wrong answer as maintainably as possible.
Sure, tests would solve this problem, but Perl::Critic can't tell you that you
have uncovered branches. It can just tell you that you separated statements
with a comma, or that you named a method after a builtin.
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I've had to fix enough code where the original programmer's intent wasn't clear, or is lost in the mists of time.In the absence of some explicit documentation that says the example function doesn't return anything, the change you show seems reasonable.
And if you have explicit documentation that says the example function doesn't return anything, the change also seems reasonable -- it guarantees that someone using your interface can't ignore the documentation, depend on undocumented functionality, and force y
Mindlessly putting it one place is just as wrong as mindlessly putting it in another. If you don’t know where it goes, you don’t put it anywhere – you go and look at the docs and the rest of the codebase. If that’s not in the cards, for whatever reason, then you leave damn well alone – even if that means Perl::Critic continues moaning about it. Because it should. Filling in the paperwork just to make it happy without knowing what you’re doing is just self-deception.
Well, first of all, there *were* explicit docs that said that text was returned.Beyond that, though, this change caused the entire module to become completely useless, which means that it wasn't desk checked. Why not? Because the module wasn't undergoing any actual maintenance. In the course of other work, someone saw Perl::Critic complain about "no explicit return" and added one, without further testing.
Sure, automated testing would've caught this, but if there are no automated tests, you don't make cha
The original code doesn’t make it obvious whether anything should be returned or not. Putting in an explicit return – assuming, of course, that you put it in the right place – definitely improves the code.
Perhaps that argument might be true for a longer, more complicated subroutine. I agree that implicit returns can be confusing. Perhaps a better standard would be to ban them instead of requiring unnecessary return statements. Then it would be clear that a this function doesn't return anything useful.
I'll also note that rjbs didn't say what the subroutine's documentation says. Maybe it reads "Prepares a report and saves it in $file. Doesn't return a damn thing."
Euhm. How are you going to ban implicit returns without requiring return statements?
What I meant was having a standard that if the function returns a useable value, there should be an explicit return statement. If not, then it's OK to leave it out. This way there are fewer returns cluttering up your code, and the syntax is similar to languages like C and Java that have void functions.
The reason that requiring an explicit return is a good idea is that it prevents people from relying on accidental return values. Say I have a method "optimize." It exists only to alter the object, but it happens to end with:
My favorite PBP worst practice is adding/xsm to every regular expression. All of a sudden, regexes start to behave oddly, and when asked about this in code reviews, people can only say "Damian says to do that" but can't explain why they should or even what the options do (but hey, that's why I get paid to do code reviews:).It might be good to write new regexes with/x, but unless you want the features that/sm provides (that is, want to change the meaning of., ^, or $), you need to stay away from them.
I'm torn. That's a good one, and more likely to be sort of insidious. I really take exception to some of the blanket "use wacky modules!" suggestions. version.pm tends, in my experience, to lead to heartbreak, or at least needlessly-inflated prereqs. The best case I saw was someone who'd uploaded a VERY simple, pure-core module to the CPAN, but then required version.pm and Smart::Comments. I mean, the beauty of Smart::Comments is that it won't be a prereq, isn't it?And then there's... well, other modu
I've personally hated the/xsm recommendation because it means I then have to hunt through the expression to find if there are any uses of ^, $,., or whitespace that are being modified. It's far easier to look at an expression and see that its flags are only set when meaningful.
Not quite that egregiously, but I did just get bit by such a critter. P::C griped about my "open(FILE, '>filename')" bits, not without justification, so I finally got around to remembering how they were supposed to work.So okay, I changed a bit of code that piped to sendmail (exim, actually).
But then, and here's where I ran into trouble, before I tested it I made some other cleanups, one of which involved deciding to replace the hardcoded sendmail with Email::Send. | {
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California Science Center
Two decades after the NFL abandoned L.A. and Orange counties, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum could once again come into play as an interim home for an NFL team. The San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders have announced that they are pursuing a proposed $1.7 billion stadium in Carson. The owner of the St. Louis Rams has purchased property for a stadium in Inglewood. If any of those teams move to Los Angeles, they will need a place to play while the stadium is erected. USC has played football games at the Coliseum since 1923. In September 2013, the California Science Center gave final approval to a deal that granted USC, a private university, control over the...
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Space shuttle Endeavour's final 12-mile journey through the streets of South Los Angeles already promises to be a meticulously planned spectacle: a two-day parade, an overnight slumber party in Inglewood and enough hoopla to create a giant traffic...
In its 25 missions spanning nearly two decades, the space shuttle Endeavour circled the Earth more than 4,600 times, spending a total of 299 days in space.It carried the crews that assembled the first U.S. component of the International Space Station, and... | {
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About the Louisville Be Trash SMART Program
Are you a proud resident of Louisville?
Is your home part of the city’s residential trash program?
Do you currently use one or more 64- or 96-gallon trash carts?
If you answered YES to these questions, you can save at least $5 per month on your monthly trash bill AND you can enter to win a $100 gift card to Alfalfa’s Market. You will be conserving natural resources, reducing your climate impact and helping our local economy!
If you already use a small trash cart (32 gallons) you can still enter to win.
Tips for reducing waste at home
In the Kitchen
Get a compost pail or bucket at your local hardware store for your food and paper scraps. Take it out to your compost cart every day to reduce odors.
Use durable plates and utensils for all your dining needs. Even outdoor eating is easy with washable, reusable plastic ware. If you are expecting a large party, you can use certified compostable plates, utensils, and cups. (Make sure the products say “certified compostable” before putting them in your curbside compost bin.)
In the Bathroom
Stick a small compost bin in each bathroom to collect paper towels and tissues.
Recycle your shampoo bottles.
In the Office
Use a small recycle bin to collect office paper, newspapers, mail and magazines.
While Shopping
Buy products that are minimally packaged. Examples include cereal in plastic bags only instead of boxes, and items that have only one packaging like a box and no outer plastic packaging.
Buy products that have packaging that can be reused or recycled. Cardboard can be recycled at the curb, and white block foam packaging and bubble wrap can be recycled at the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM) in Boulder. Fees may apply. Learn more at www.ecocycle.org/charm.
Buy in bulk when you can. Grocery stores have bulk dispensers that allow you to purchase the quantity of nuts, grains, beans or rice you need without a lot of extra packaging.
When cleaning out the garage or basement
Take items like old electronics, white block foam packaging, appliances, yoga mats and much more can be recycled (fees may apply) at the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM) in Boulder. Learn more at www.ecocycle.org/charm.
Tips for reducing odors and pests in your compost
To reduce odors in your kitchen, take food scraps out to your compost cart every day.
Put your food scraps in either a certified compostable bag (available at grocery stores) or paper bag before placing it in your compost cart
Cover food waste with newspapers or yard clippings to deter flies
Sprinkle baking soda in the bottom of your cart to reduce odors
Freeze your stinky items until pick up to prevent both maggots and odors | {
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} |
Slayer is devastated to inform that their bandmate and brother, Jeff Hanneman, passed away at about 11AM this morning near his Southern California home. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy and his brothers Michael and Larry, and will be sorely missed. | {
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I notice that some companies(like the San Jose Ballet Azlan!)cast their adult female dancers in this role;I like the ideal esp in fufilling the dream of a ballerina who may have always wanted to play her-what do yous think?(the Joffrey does the same thing by the way).
I agree with the decision to make Clara/Marie an adult role. Not only does it take care of the messy business of casting the part (think lots of crying children), but it also gives the role maturity. I have seen way too many young girls play the role with utter indifference - it can completely ruin the story!<P>I would love to see a production with an adult Clara/Marie!
Baryshnikov's Nutcracker had an adult Clara. On the video tape, it was Gelsey Kirkland. As I recall, Gelsey was not able to dance the premiere in New York, and we saw, I believe, Marianna Tcherkassky do a wonderful job with it. (I hope I am telling the truth; it was a long time ago!...). Baryshnikov had adult corps dancers playing the other children's roles as well.<P>Didn't Pacific Northwest also have an adult in that role? I think I saw that production on video tape, too.<P>I got to do the role of Clara when the Boston Ballet came to my college, and had an extensive injury roster. What a thrill that was for me! They only took the Suite on tour, not the whole production, so I didn't have to do much. But it was a great experience (way back in the Dark Ages...). So, at least at some time in the past, Boston cast adults as well.
At the RWB [Stuart adds: Royal Winnipeg Ballet]in John Neumier's production of the Nutcracker Maria was danced by Marina Eglevsky and the children were danced by adults. Violet Verdy danced the role of the big sister, and it was filmed for the BBC. Wonder if it is still shown, as I do not get residuals anymore...hmmm? <p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited July 08, 2001).]
I was Maria's friend and partner to Fritz in Act 1, and Chinese tea pas de deux with Drosselmeyer danced by Max Midenet from John's company in Frankfurt. They changed some stuff to make it better for TV, such as adding a 15 pound wig for me to wear. Your turns are vastly different with that much weight on your head, let me tell you.
Well, I'm only somebody that buys a ticket, but I'd have to disagree with most of you.<P>Kirkland might have been enchanting on stage, but on video an adult playing a child is kind of sickening. They simply can't be subtle ENOUGH. A grown man trying to "act a kid" is downright silly.<P>They just can't DO it. They are clownish looking.<P>To DATE, the ONLY adult that I have ever seen pull off playing a kid is Martin Short in Clifford. He was as impish as any "real kid" I've ever seen. And that required camera tricks, and him walking on his knees.<P>Most ballets are "adult theme". So let the kids have Nut. It's more "believable" that way. And anyhow, when a kid dances Marie, it means that Snow Queen and Plum get to dance more. 'Cause Marie is usually cast as a character part.<P>I also find it annoying when Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella, or Juliet are danced by some aging Diva with some young guy trying his BEST to look "longingly" at them.<P>It's hard to get caught up in a "fake" moment.
_________________'God grant you all your desires and accept my own hearty thanks for all your attention to me. Although indeed, those attentions have tried me more than death can now terrify me.'<P>Lady Jane Grey<BR>Wife of Guildford, Lord Dudley King Consort<BR>Daughter of Henry Grey Marquis of Dorset, Duke of Suffolk
The new Sir Peter Wright production for the Royal Ballet has Clara and the Nutcracker played by adults. This was deliberate so that the two lead dancing roles could be enhanced. The production was very well recieved and even I, not a great Nutcracker fan, had lots of fun.<P>I saw Alina Cojacoro and Ivan Petrov, both in their late teens or thereabouts and they were superb. WE don't expect to see a child playing Juliet, so i really don't see why we can't have an adult play Clara, albeit that she stays in the childlike personna unlike Juliet.<P>I can understand that others may prefer to see children in these roles and that's fine as well. I wouldn't try to prescribe for people which version they should prefer.
I wouldn't prescribe, either, and I think both approaches are valid. It depends on the concept of the production.<P>JaneGrey, I agree with you that, at times, adults playing children can backfire. I remember in Baryshnikov's Nutcracker, feeling uncomfortable with some of the antics of Fritz and Friends. But some of the women did well with the kids' parts. And I thought both Gelsey (even in the video) and Marianna were wonderful. In this production, Clara is a child on the brink of young womanhood, and I didn't sense a false impulse from either of these ballerinas. It worked completely for me.<P>Re: old Divas, the first thing that came to mind for me was Fonteyn and Nureyev in R&J. She was much older than he. But during that performance, they were both teen-agers. No question about it.<P>Azlan, it was a thrill for me to do that brief stint with Boston. I don't think I was paid. If I was, it wasn't much, I'm sure. There might have been some type of honorarium, but it was a long time ago, and I honestly don't remember. I do remember walking into the Land of the Sweets on the arm of the Prince, being greeted by the Sugar Plum Fairy, and genuinely feeling awe. I didn't have to act it. The dancers were very kind, and the company director Sam Kurkijian (or something like that?) was extremely complimentary. I glowed for weeks. That was better than money.
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No sooner has Giles Clarke arrived back from draining discussions about Zimbabwe with the ICC in Dubai than he is having to revert to dealing with all issues Twenty20 this week, as well as the little matter of a Lord's Test match. As if the fiasco at Durham is not enough for one week, the ECB chairman and David Collier, his chief executive, are meeting the county chief executives at Edgbaston to appraise them of their thoughts on an English Premier League. The discussions will also focus on whether the format of the domestic Twenty20 group matches can be expanded from two-and-a-half weeks to five weeks.
The ECB is receiving any number of proposals and ideas about restructuring the county programme - from the suggestion by Essex that the championship be split into three conferences, to the desire of Jack Simmons, the chairman of the Board's cricket committee, that three-day matches of 120 overs a day would enable a window to be found for an expansion of the Twenty20 game. The simplest answer to finding more space in a cluttered English summer might well be to extend the season into October, which conceivably has been made possible through the effects of global warming, but the chief executives discounted this at their initial meeting last week.
Ironically, given the unwitting status of Yorkshire's man of the moment, Azeem Rafiq, there was general agreement on the introduction of more overseas players into Twenty20 cricket and ensuring that when the competition is expanded, the counties themselves receive a fair chunk of the proceeds. That would appear an axiomatic ambition, except that the expectations in terms of salaries of cricketers from overseas have risen dramatically with the advent of the IPL and the sums of monies involved.
"IPL has changed the landscape," Mark Newton, the chief executive of Worcestershire, said, "and it has become extremely difficult to bring in players because of that. We can't do this unless the income of county clubs improves and television coverage will play a major part from 2010. There is more and more airtime during June and July when there is no football on. I have never been to a meeting of chief executives at which there has been such consensus."
Agreement in particular was reached over expanding the Twenty20 group matches programme from its present two-and-a-half weeks to five weeks' duration. If this means lopping two championship fixtures off the 16 that each county plays, then so be it, although there is no imminent plan to do so. Five home matches in the space of eight days, which was the lot of Warwickshire, were considered too many, not least at a time of so-called credit crunch. Fridays and Sundays proved to be the most popular days for spectators, for obvious reasons, and there was a natural concern that, although gate receipts were higher this year for five home matches than for four in 2007, the formula should not be over-egged.
It is conceivable that fixtures against the university centres of excellence in the early part of the season will be squeezed, so as to bring other competitions forward. The ECB is already sufficiently concerned about the coverage of championship cricket in national newspapers to be contemplating writing to sports editors. This has fallen away considerably in recent years, particularly this season, although that, of course, has in part resulted from the best, centrally contracted, players not taking part, as well as an increasing trend by papers to indulge in watching briefs on the likes of Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen. There is an increasing desire for news and exclusive stories. The football agenda has caught up with cricket. University matches are hardly reported at all, even though centres of excellence, financially supported by MCC, are thriving.
Even in the recent past, the Cambridge Evening News, the Oxford Mail, the Daily Telegraph and the Press Association would all have covered the Varsity match, not least because it was staged at Lord's. This was held in the Parks last week and I was the only journalist in attendance. Then again, not all the cricket played in the fixture these days is deserving of first-class status and sports editors could understandably point to the fact that the crowd on each day amounted to around 80, including a fair number of bankers on a jolly in the one marquee, with, insofar as one could tell, old Blues represented only by the two Smiths, M.J.K. and A.C., those ever-loyal supporters of Oxford University. Just as well E.W. Swanton is not still alive.
A reduction in one-day competitions and the championship programme was not specifically discussed last week, although no doubt both topics will be aired this week at Edgbaston, informally or otherwise. The ECB's research into what the general public desires to watch is on-going, but Richard Gould, the chief executive of Somerset, reckons it will be able to give the counties notice of how 75-80% of the future domestic programme is to be structured. | {
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Jesus came not to be served, but to serve.
We strive to make a difference in the lives
of people beyond the walls of the church.1441 NE Englewood Rd.Kansas City, MO 64118(816) [email protected]
VBS was AWESOME!
We had a super surfin’ good time at VBS this year. Thanks to everyone who participated, we couldn’t have done it without you.
VBS is special to Northminster, it’s time for all of us to come together to have fun, play games and learn new songs.
But VBS is also dedicated to children, from inside and outside our church. VBS shows our kids that we care about them and their relationship to God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. We break down the normal adult/kid walls that we often don’t realize are there and talk to them on their level, with love and with fun. They realize we’re not just off-limits adults but adults who are there just for them! And for us, it’s a chance to embrace our inner VBS kid and run amok, get soaked, get silly and spend time with our friends. | {
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Gold is Poised for Liftoff
It looks the yellow metal is preparing for another increase. Tonight it is moving above the key $1000 level to $1008 USD. Based upon the inverted Head & Shoulders formation on the medium-term chart, the target on this move is approximately $1379. If this indeed occurs, it means a tremendous selloff in the US Dollar; because gold almost always acts in inverse of the US dollar.
The extent to which the dollar falls relative to the other currencies depends on how much gold increases relative to those currencies. As has been predicted for years, we are moving from a confidence based economy into a hard asset based economy.
Over then coming weeks, I expect we will see some shocking dollar corrections in the currency markets; which will begin to wreak havoc over the daily lives of billions of people. We are likely to see civil unrest, rapid increases in prices for everyday items and shortages.
Elliott Wave Formation in Gold as it Reacts off of its all-time high at $1037.
Gold broke out of the recent consolidation wedge, confirming some recent bullish activity. | {
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Developed to Advance The Finest in Visual Art, Four Points Contemporary Is Holding Its 1st Biannual Juried International Competition and 1st Annual All Media Juried Online Exhibition to Recognize The Best in Undiscovered Talents.
Does Your Work Pus
developed to advance the finest in visual art, four points contemporary is holding its 1st biannual juried international competition and 1st annual all media juried online exhibition to recognize the best in undiscovered talents.
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More Bonds of FMO-Nederlandse Financierings-Maatscap is voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V.
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maturity date of 12/20/2017 I18N_bonds#descriptiontext#couponpart#undefinedcoupon The FMO-Nederlandse Financierings-Maatscap is voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V.-Bond was issued on the 6/25/2013 with a volume of 9.2 M. . | {
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Balfour has surgery, hopeful for Opening Day
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Outlook: Balfour, RP, OAK 0:36
Grant Balfour started and wrapped up 2012 as a closer, tallying elite numbers if not totals and enters '13 as the well-deserved front-runner
By Jane Lee
PHOENIX -- A's right-hander Grant Balfour underwent successful right knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus on Thursday afternoon, leaving Oakland without its closer for approximately four to six weeks.
Given that timeline, the A's are hopeful Balfour could still be ready by the start of the regular season, set to begin in a little over the six-week mark.
"I'm kind of a glass-half-full guy, so I'm looking at it as, if there was ever a time to have it done, it would be now," manager Bob Melvin said.
Balfour, 35, who is entering his third season with Oakland, echoed those sentiments in a statement released by the team.
"I feel good about getting it done now," Balfour said. "It will allow me to get ready for Game 1 of the season. I knew the way I was feeling I wouldn't have been able to pitch through it all season long."
Melvin said Balfour felt some knee tenderness toward the end of last season, but went about his normal offseason routine without any pain before experiencing some on Wednesday prior to his scheduled bullpen session. Balfour proceeded with his side session, after which the A's opted to be proactive and send him for an MRI that revealed the tear.
The operation was performed by local orthopedist Dr. Douglas Freedberg, who also operated on Scott Sizemore last spring, when the A's infielder suffered a torn ACL on the first day of workouts.
"He's a grinder," Melvin said of Balfour, "and he feels like he'll be able to rehab very quickly. He keeps himself in great shape."
"He'll be ready," reliever Ryan Cook said. "I fully believe he will be. I don't expect him not to be."
In the meantime, the A's are more than comfortable with their bountiful bullpen depth. Should Balfour end up missing time during the regular season, Cook and Sean Doolittle are options to close.
"Those are the obvious choices, but we'll see how it goes," Melvin said. "Again, depth comes into play. We're not ruling Grant out to start the season, but this is the reason you accumulate as many guys as you can."
Balfour compiled 24 saves in 2012, posting a 2.53 ERA and 0.92 WHIP in a career-high 74 2/3 innings spanning 75 games. He also pitched 1 2/3 innings during the postseason, making for a large workload in total. That was why the A's planned to bring the veteran along slowly in camp, and they're now assured his arm will get the needed rest while he rehabs his knee.
"That might be a little underlying positive," Melvin said. "We were going to take it easy on him from the start."
Jane Lee is a reporter for MLB.com. Read her blog, Major Lee-ague, and follow her on Twitter @JaneMLB. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. | {
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The Eternal womens wedding ring is aptly named; the row of beautiful diamonds symbolising a long future of love and romance. Paired with the matching engagement ring - a three stone ring to represent the past, present and future of your love - there is a fairytale magic to this bridal jewellery.
As well as the romantic symbolism, there is no denying that the Eternal womens wedding ring simply looks fabulous. With the combined sparkle of several diamonds, multi-stone rings are meant to turn heads. The Eternal womens wedding ring showcases round brilliant diamonds, a shape designed to optimise sparkle, so the effect is all the more stunning. Round brilliant diamonds are also used in the matching Eternal engagement ring.
A slender ring band enhances the femininity of the design while also ensuring that the main focus is on the beautiful diamonds. Since the womens wedding ring is designed to be worn together with the engagement ring, a slim band feels more comfortable on the finger. | {
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Barnaby Rudge
by Charles Dickens
'No offence I hope?' said the little man.
Again John waited leisurely until the observation had thoroughly
penetrated to his brain, and then replying, 'No offence as YET,' applied
a light to his pipe and smoked in placid silence; now and then casting
a sidelong look at a man wrapped in a loose riding-coat with huge cuffs
ornamented with tarnished silver lace and large metal buttons, who
sat apart from the regular frequenters of the house, and wearing a hat
flapped over his face, which was still further shaded by the hand on
which his forehead rested, looked unsociable enough.
There was another guest, who sat, booted and spurred, at some distance
from the fire also, and whose thoughts--to judge from his folded
arms and knitted brows, and from the untasted liquor before him--were
occupied with other matters than the topics under discussion or
the persons who discussed them. This was a young man of about
eight-and-twenty, rather above the middle height, and though of somewhat
slight figure, gracefully and strongly made. He wore his own dark hair,
and was accoutred in a riding dress, which together with his large boots
(resembling in shape and fashion those worn by our Life Guardsmen at
the present day), showed indisputable traces of the bad condition of
the roads. But travel-stained though he was, he was well and even richly
attired, and without being overdressed looked a gallant gentleman.
Lying upon the table beside him, as he had carelessly thrown them down,
were a heavy riding-whip and a slouched hat, the latter worn no doubt as
being best suited to the inclemency of the weather. There, too, were a
pair of pistols in a holster-case, and a short riding-cloak. Little of
his face was visible, except the long dark lashes which concealed his
downcast eyes, but an air of careless ease and natural gracefulness
of demeanour pervaded the figure, and seemed to comprehend even those
slight accessories, which were all handsome, and in good keeping.
Towards this young gentleman the eyes of Mr Willet wandered but once,
and then as if in mute inquiry whether he had observed his silent
neighbour. It was plain that John and the young gentleman had often met
before. Finding that his look was not returned, or indeed observed by
the person to whom it was addressed, John gradually concentrated the
whole power of his eyes into one focus, and brought it to bear upon the
man in the flapped hat, at whom he came to stare in course of time with
an intensity so remarkable, that it affected his fireside cronies, who
all, as with one accord, took their pipes from their lips, and stared
with open mouths at the stranger likewise.
The sturdy landlord had a large pair of dull fish-like eyes, and the
little man who had hazarded the remark about the moon (and who was the
parish-clerk and bell-ringer of Chigwell, a village hard by) had little
round black shiny eyes like beads; moreover this little man wore at the
knees of his rusty black breeches, and on his rusty black coat, and
all down his long flapped waistcoat, little queer buttons like nothing
except his eyes; but so like them, that as they twinkled and glistened
in the light of the fire, which shone too in his bright shoe-buckles,
he seemed all eyes from head to foot, and to be gazing with every one of
them at the unknown customer. | {
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The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an application by Destra Investment Limited, a company belonging to Olisa Metuh, challenging the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court in a case of N400 million fraud involving the former spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Metuh is standing trial on a seven-count charge of money laundering alongside his company, over the N400million he allegedly collected from the Office of the former National Security Adviser, ONSA, in 2014 to campaign for former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The offence breaches Section 15(2), (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended in 2012 and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act”.
Destra Investment had through its counsel, Tochukwu Onwugbufor, SAN, challenged the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court to entertain counts one and two of the charge.
According to Onwugbufor, “The court lacks jurisdiction to try allegations of corruption emanating from a contractual agreement”.
The application had earlier been dismissed by the Appeal Court, resulting in the further appeal to the Supreme Court.
In a well considered judgment of a five-member panel of Justices led by Justice Dattijo Mohammed, the court berated Onwugbufor for presenting the said application before the apex court, despite constitutional provisions.
The apex court also condemned the counsel’s action for insisting on his application despite constitutional provisions against his method of argument.
According to Justice Sumai Akaahs who read out the judgment, the application by Onwugbufor amounted to an attempt to frustrate the ongoing trial.
The judge held that, “Whether a person or company or person has been accused of an infraction of the law, the duty that a senior counsel owes by the privileges bestowed on him is to help the accused person or company clear their name through due legal process and not to create the impression that his duty is to erect roadblocks to frustrate justice from running its course”.
Justice Akaahs consequently dismissed the appeal which he described as “a storm in a teacup” and consequently referred it back to the trial court for continuation of trail | {
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Let's get some fatties all up in this kitchen . . .
Tag Archives: latkes
Sometimes it’s fun to pretend I’m still in my vegetarian phase – I look back on that short period and laugh at myself, it was NEVER going to be sustainable for me to have a diet consisting of things that aren’t ever going to be bacon. This recipe (and many variations of it) appeared in that time and keeps appearing even though I am solidly an omnivore once more.
It all came about recently when we conveniently arrived at S-J’s house just at the right time to see the magical Thornbury produce ute making it’s way down her street. Much excited exclaiming occured, and we tried to think of something delicious to be made for dinner from it’s contents, we came up with potato pancakes and taking inspiration from various web recipes we made a dinner fit for queens.
Potatoes are delicious. It’s an actual fact. I feel it’s pretty safe to say that the potato is the most universally loved vegetable. Fried up into pancakes, as they are in this recipe, with a delicious crunch and soft starchy interior, brings a simple ingredient to an almost heavenly place. So grab your grater, a frying pan and all the condiments you can think of and make yourself a batch of potato pancakes!
They are excellent for a light supper (if you make big ones like we did), or as a canape base if you make smaller ones, or as part of any decent brunch and any size!
Note: you will need either a bit of cheesecloth/muslin, or a spare not-too-thick tea towel. A food processor also makes this recipe much easier.
First the vegetables
Fit your food processor with the larger grater blade (or using your hand grater, prepare for a bit of work). Grate all the potatoes and onion together.
In a large bowl, spread out the tea towel with the excess fabric hanging over the bowl. Remove blade and bits from the food processor, and pour/spoon the contents into the fabric. Once the potato and onion mixture is all in the fabric, gather up the sides and begin to wring the liquid out. Do this until no more liquid runs out into the bowl. Discard the liquid and leave the mixture, as is, for about 2 – 5 minutes. Wring out again. Discard liquid.
Batter up
In the bowl that was catching the liquid from the onions and potatoes, stir together the eggs, flour, sage, salt and pepper. It’ll be quite thick, resist the urge to loosen it up with any more liquid.
Assemble
Add the well-wrung and hopefully no longer dripping onion and potato mixture to the batter. Using your hands (or S-J’s hands because I am sneaky and really don’t like getting messy) mix together really well for a few minutes. The last bit of moisture left in the potatoes will help to loosen up the batter and it will become a delightfully sticky mixture.
Into the frying pan
If you have a heavy based frying pan or cast iron skillet, use it now, if not, any large frying pan will be fine!
Pour in enough vegetable oil as to coat the bottom of your pan. On a medium heat let it get nice and hot.
Form your latkes into even sized blobs ready to drop into the oil, as you put then in the pan, flatten them out to the size that you are happy with (cook larger ones longer, canape size ones for less time. Also, if making latkes thicker than 1/2 cm, you will need to lower the heat slightly and cook them for longer).
Fry for 2 – 2 1/2 minutes or until a deep golden brown, flipping over gently and frying for a further 2 minutes on the other side. Remove cooked latkes to a plate covered in paper towel to drain off the oil. Keep plate and cooked latkes in a warm oven, repeating the paper towel and latke layers as they cook.
Once all the latkes have been fried, serve with your chosen toppings, and crunch away!
p.s. Q) How do you know if it’s a Katie-post? A) The photos are terrible! Sorry readers! | {
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The President's Club Makes a Strong Hart County
Does your business already sponsor several Chamber events and projects throughout the year? Would it be helpful to consolidate those requests? Do you want to see the Chamber grow and achieve more in the county? If you answered "yes" to these questions, then consider joining our President's Club. By voluntarily choosing this higher level of membership, you help the Chamber to become a stronger, more financially sound organization, which in turn makes it possible to contribute more to the economic development and quality of life efforts in Hart County. In return, you'll eliminate the frequent requests for support, while gaining additional recognition and exposure for your business or organization. Contact the Chamber office for full details. | {
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Hello, Mr. Perez
On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 5:42 AM, Fernando Perez <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi all,
> So, if you have used IPython and it has made a significant
> contribution to your project, work, research, company, whatever, I'd
> be very grateful if you let me know. A short paragraph on what this
> benefit has been is all I ask. Once I gather any information I get, I
> would contact directly some of the responders to ask for your
> authorization before quoting you.
My name is Tom Grydeland, I am PhD of physics, working in a small
petroleum exploration company in Norway called Discover Petroleum. As
part of expanding our collection of exploration tools, we have a
significant research and development effort, and the majority of our
in-house development uses Python with NumPy and SciPy. Without the
availability of a convenient cross-platform interactive environment
such as that provided by IPython, the choice of Python as a language
would have been less obvious. While there are alternatives, they
typically are much more expensive, or inconvenient, or both. Thank
you so much for your efforts, they are much appreciated.
> Best regards,
>> Fernando Perez.
Thanks, and best of luck with your application.
--
Tom Grydeland
<Tom.Grydeland@(gmail.com)> | {
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Flickrness
I’m sure if you read my interests you noticed that I have exotic cars listed. When I was in 6th grade my interests peaked into cars and not just everyday cars but Ferrari’s and Lamborghini’s.
A friend showed me this video a couple months ago of the Bugatti Veyron and it blew my mind. If you haven’t, it’s a must. In the video it explains what exactly the Veyron can do and what it’s equipped with. Towards the end of the video the car is actually driven to the maximum speed. What’s the magic number? 253mph, no lie. Watch for yourself:
Get a little more in depth on the Bugatti-Configurator, where you can choose what the exterior color and interior colors are, then view the car to your specifications. | {
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Clad in black with their faces covered, protesters threw rocks, bottles and incendiary devices at banks and Rome police in riot gear. With clubs and hammers, they destroyed bank ATMs, set trash bins on fire and assaulted at least two news crews from Sky Italia.
"What you hear is that the price will go through the floor," dairy farmer Margarita Maria Jaramillo said as she and her husband milked their 12 cows recently in a dew-laden pasture in this dairy town just north of Bogota.
If the prices drop, "we'll have to sell the cows," she said. "What else can you do?"
THIS IS AS MUCH A PART OF THE SUPERPOWER'S DECLARATION OF WORLD $LAVERY AS LANDING MARINES IN UGANDA.
The network mentioned that the value of the amounts received ranged from $ 20 to 50 thousand annually for a person. The amount was given according to the position and activity of the opposition figure.
The statement indicated that Elizabeth Cheney is the main financer at the U.S. administration, and Rita Katz is the General Coordinator of funding at the Middle East Department at the U.S. administration.
According to the network a new list of agents' names recruited after 2009-2010 will be issued later.
The Obama administration has infuriated environmentalists by giving BP the green light to bid for new drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico.
The move – seen as a major step in the company's political rehabilitation as an offshore driller following the Deepwater Horizon accident – was revealed by the head of the US safety regulator after a congressional hearing in Washington.
THIS MIGHT LEAD TO OCCUPIED WASHINGTON
Day of 'Global Revolution' comes to London as thousands of demonstrators take over the City
Wikileaks' Julian Assange, who turned up at the protest wearing a mask, was asked to take it off by police. Human rights lawyer Jen Robinson, who came to his aid, tweeted: '#assange not under arrest. Says we can't wear masks and be anonymous but swiss banks accounts can be #occupylsx
Farrakhan served notice to leaders still selling the failed promise of America and warned Black people to accept responsibility for their own destiny or face chastisement from God—and ultimately complete elimination.
“Whether you know it or not, we are at war!
Our survival as a people is at stake and no weak kneed cowardly leaders need to stand in front of Black people today!
This is a time for real men! Men that understand that in order for people to be free, sacrifice has to be made, the loss of life has to take place, blood must flow in order for people who are enslaved to be free!” declared Min. Farrakhan almost at the start of the passionate address.
NOBLAMA MAY ORDER THE ASSASINATION OF FARRAKHAN AND BLAME IT ON MONACO
Early on Saturday morning, at about 5:00 am, a team of five martyrdom-seeking Mujahideen,
Muhammad Sohail,
Mustafa,
Abd-us-Salaam,
Bilal and Khalid,
residents of Panjshir armed with explosive vests, hand grenades and heavy and small arms stormed the US [Superpower] PRT branch in Rukah district of Panjshir province, fighting a three-hour long battle after a heroic Mujahid of the Islamic Emirate,
Abdus Salam slammed his Surf vehicle filled with some 600 kg explosives at the gate of PRT removing all the defensive barriers and taking out a number of security guards, letting the other four of the Mujahideen combatants get into PRT.
Several dozen of the US [Superpower] invaders have been killed and more than 8 [of the] enemy’s vehicles destroyed during the fighting
“Had not nine of our nationals been murdered, there could be major developments in the energy distribution in the Mediterranean Sea. [Then] we would not have rejected the demand by private firms,” he said on Friday.
Yildiz was referring to an Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound flotilla on May 30, 2010 that killed nine Turkish nationals. | {
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Russell Letson Reviews The Final Frontier, edited by Neil Clarke
Last month I recommended Jonathan Strahan’s original anthology, Infinity’s End, as a window into what SF is up to Right This Minute (or up to the minutes the stories were completed, anyway). At the same time I was also reading Neil Clarke’s recent-retrospective The Final Frontier, which samples work that first appeared between 2004 and 2016. The 21 stories gathered there also take a long-futureward view, though the book’s subtitle emphasizes broad topical categories rather than temporal expanse: “Stories of Exploring Space, Colonizing the Universe, and First Contact.”
Is there something for everyone here? A genuinely representative sample of current SF? The contents page shows a mix of veterans (Michael Bishop, Greg Egan, James Patrick Kelly, Nancy Kress, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Michael Swanwick) and writers who have emerged over the last decade or less (Seth Dickinson, Ken Liu, Julie Novakova, An Owomoyela, Genevieve Valentine). There is certainly a decent range of material, including iterations of classic – or at least persistent – modes, tropes, themes, treatments, ideas, and implementations-of-possibilities for star travel and associated topics: First Contact and other alien encounters, virtualized and/or post-human crews, seedships, shipwrecks, spaceborne disasters, maroonings, rescue missions, escapes, and salvations in a variety of exotic environments.
The variety of motifs tempts me to start drawing a map of the 21st-century-SF genre space, but the topology is all folds and wrinkles and overlaps and odd contiguities, and the territory is not flat but n-dimensional, so I keep running into myself coming around corners. (There’s a Venn diagram metaphor that might apply, but it requires spheres and tesseracts and gives me a headache when I try to visualize it.) If the following account is disjointed, it’s because the stories don’t fall into a tidy order – they mix and match and bounce off each other, in a miniature version of the many-voiced conversation that is the SF genre. (Ah, there’s the metaphor I was scrabbling after!)
Seven of the selections run to novelette or novella length, and two of those are parts of larger projects. Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s “Diving into the Wreck” is the first section of what became a multivolume book series set in a future so distant that it has forgotten (or hidden) huge swathes of its own history. Here, however, that is background to a foreground emphasizing the very physical dangers of crawling around ruined spacecraft in vacuum and zero gee (“the sharp edges are everywhere”) filled with lethally enigmatic ancient technologies. Peter Watts’s “The Island” is the introductory entry to his Sunflowers sequence, set millions of years into a project to thread the galaxy with a faster-than-light freeway of wormholes, and featuring encounters with beings right out of Olaf Stapledon (or maybe Lovecraft), if sometimes with longer, sharper teeth. Some aspects of this episode – the strained relationship between the crew and the ship’s guiding intelligence – snap into better focus when fitted together with its series-mates, but its particular problems – physical, metaphysical, moral, and alien-diplomatic – are pretty compelling all by themselves.
Speaking of really long voyages in starships with minds of their own, James Patrick Kelly’s “The Wreck of the Godspeed” could be a second cousin of the Watts and distant kin to Nancy Kress’s “Shiva in Shadow,” but then I’d have to figure where to fit in its treatment of metaphysics and its transmogrified amateur adaptation of The Tempest. The Kress is as much about relationships, personal and organizational, as the astrophysics that provides the hazardous hard-SF environment for its exploratory expedition to the neighborhood of the galaxy’s central black hole. But the external hazards are not the most dangerous ones.
Greg Egan’s “Glory” is a common-background companion to his earlier “Riding the Crocodile” but, more significantly, it’s also part of a larger family of Eaganian motifs and tropes dealing with the explorations of intelligences, embodied or virtualized as needed, driven by curiosity and love of knowledge for its own sake as much as by any other urge or desire. It has a distant cousin in Julie Novakova’s “The Symphony of Ice and Dust,” which packs two stories of exploration and alien discovery, eleven thousand years apart, into one frame.
Despite the volume’s ringing title, it’s hardly all triumphalism Out There, and sometimes we’re not exploring so much as fleeing. In Carter Scholz’s somber “Gypsy”, despite the heroic efforts of desperate visionaries, the final frontier is actually a closed door, and not so very far off, either. In Genevieve Valentine’s “Seeing” and Ken Liu’s “Mono no aware”, humans have taken to space as refugees, with breakdown and self-sacrifice as central features. Star-travel can take a toll on pilots or navigators in Carrie Vaughn’s “The Mind is Its Own Place” and An Owomoyela’s “Travelling into Nothing”. The compelling story of Gwyneth Jones’ “The Voyage Out” lurks in the glimpses of the nightmarish Earth society that is exiling its involuntary colonists to a maybe-fictional First Landfall planet. Tobias S. Buckell’s “A Jar of Goodwill” puts humankind in the subaltern position of a people dominated by interstellar bullies that are not only commercial imperialists but, in a kind of 1950s-Galaxy comic-inferno scenario, patent trolls – “No one had expected aliens to demand royalty payments for technology usage that had been independently discovered by us….”
And so it goes, with motifs and ideas and associations twining and recombining and interacting in interesting ways. In “Three Bodies at Mitanni”, Seth Dickinson presents a classic dramatized debate or thought experiment as a crew of three judge-and-jury colony evaluators face a moral dilemma: what to do about colonists who have re-engineered themselves for utter altruism in a way that would allow them to outperform standard humankind, should they spread through the galaxy. Are they a malignancy whose cure is genocide? There are also variations on the get-out-of-a-pickle problem story: Jack Skillingstead’s “Rescue Mission” (rescue from aliens); Elizabeth Bear’s “The Deeps of the Sky” (rescue by aliens); Michael Swanwick’s “Slow Life” (rescue by aliens, with some nifty exotic chemistry thrown in). Michael Bishop’s novelette “Twenty Lights to ‘The Land of Snow”‘ piles on the mix-and-match elements: a compressed coming-of-age story about a girl Dalai Lama-designate on a Tibetan Buddhist colony starship. It has one of my favorite lines, which also suggests its tone: “One of the Brandenburg Concertos swells, its sitars and yak bells flourishing.”
“Permanent Fatal Errors” by Jay Lake is full of sly digs at Heinleinian hyperindividualists. Sean McMullen’s part-puzzle, part-courtroom-drama “The Firewall and the Door” had me thinking of Jack McDevitt, both for its familiar future domesticity and its portrait of a culture that has turned away from space exploration for half-ethical and half-budgetary reasons. Vandana Singh’s “Sailing the Antarsa”, with its notions of cross-species kinship and “altmatter” wings catching interstellar currents, had me thinking of Le Guin, Nancy Kress, and David Lindsay’s A Voyage to Arcturus, though whether that last one represents an actual intersection or some idiosyncratic neurological accident I can’t say.
I end pretty much where I did with Infinity’s End, with a sense that there is as much continuity as novelty in this century’s science fiction, and that familiarity is breeding not contempt but ingenuity and second looks worth taking. There’s life in the old genre yet.
Russell Letson, Contributing Editor, is a not-quite-retired freelance writer living in St. Cloud, Minnesota. He has been loitering around the SF world since childhood and been writing about it since his long-ago grad school days. In between, he published a good bit of business-technology and music journalism. He is still working on a book about Hawaiian slack key guitar.
While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or recurring donation. We rely on reader donations to keep the magazine and site going, and would like to keep the site paywall free, but WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT to continue quality coverage of the science fiction and fantasy field.
Locus relies on your support to survive! THANK YOU SO MUCH to those that are already supporting us!
If each of our readers donated just $3, our annual shortfall due to shrinking ad revenue would be covered and our magazine, website, and other SF-related projects could continue. Please take a minute to donate to our nonprofit today (tax-deductible) or support us on Patreon to keep Locus afloat! | {
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123 HP OJPro 8730 – Cartridge Install
123 HP OJ Pro Printer is one of the trending Printers in the Printer market. The Printer is highly known for its printing technology. To get a high quality Printing with your 123 HP OJPro 8730 Printer all you need to do is print the document with an efficient cartridge that is capable of printing more number of copies. 123 HP has also introduced 123 HP instant ink for its printers through which you can safe upto 50% on ink. Do the following to get your 123 HP instant ink installed to your computer.
How to install 123 HP ink cartridge:
Installing the ink cartridge to your 123 HP Printer is more simple than other parts of the Printer.
To install the ink cartridge to your Printer setup all you need to do is,
Open the ink cartridge access door.
Wait until the carriage of the cartridge is aligned correctly to the center.
Once the carriage is aligned to the center of the printer,
Remove the existing cartridge from the carriage of your 123 HP Printer.
Now, remove the new 123 HP ink cartridge from the packing.
Make sure you hold the cartridge by the sides of the Printer.
Do not hold the cartridge on the strips of the cartridge.
Place the cartridge on the carriage and push the cartridge until it snaps the end.
Now remove the existing color cartridge from the carriage.
Uncover the color cartridge from the packing.
Place the cartridge in the color carriage.
Push the cartridge until it snaps the end of the carriage.
Once the cartridge is fixed, close the cartridge access door.
Wait until the cartridges get positioned or aligned.
Now print a test page and check whether the Printer Prints clearly.
After installing the ink cartridge to the printer make sure you print the test page and then proceed with printing of your documents. Then make sure you do not shake the cartridges and also do touch the gold strips of the cartridge. After the cartridge is done with fixing then proceed further. Also you will be intimated about the ink levels when ever your running out of ink. Your Printer automatically intimates the Printer store about the ink level. Once the ink cartridge runs out of ink your new cartridge will be delivered.
DISCLAIMER
All the information in this site is published in good faith and for general information purpose only. We do not make any warranty about the reliability and accuracy of this information. We provide help and support to those who need advice in taking their own websites to the next level.User are requested to go through our policies for website usage.123.hp.com or 123.hp.com/setup | {
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Andrew Schneider – Food Safety Newshttp://www.foodsafetynews.com
Breaking news for everyone's consumptionMon, 19 Mar 2018 05:40:42 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.4Reported in Juice, Now in Rice; Arsenic is Everywherehttp://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/12/first-reported-in-juice-now-in-rice-arsenic-is-everywhere/
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/12/first-reported-in-juice-now-in-rice-arsenic-is-everywhere/#commentsFri, 09 Dec 2011 01:59:07 +0000http://foodsafetynews.default.wp.marler.lexblog.com/2011/12/09/first_reported_in_juice_now_in_rice_arsenic_is_everywhere/Continue Reading]]>Information on arsenic exposure has been all over the news this year and the latest study to be released says that eating rice may lead to potentially harmful exposure to the toxic heavy metal.
Lots of rice is eaten in the U.S., report researchers from Dartmouth College’s Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Center. The average American consumes about a half cup of rice daily. Asian Americans eat about two cups and Hispanic Americans somewhere in between. But, according to the Dartmouth investigation, much of that rice is tainted with arsenic.
The study, funded by the government and published in the current Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, collected urine samples from 229 women six months into their pregnancy.
The results of that testing, according to an analysis of the research by Consumer Reports, indicated that consuming slightly more than half a cup of cooked rice per day resulted in a total urinary arsenic concentrations pretty much equal to consuming a liter of water containing the maximum amount of arsenic allowable in public drinking water.
The consumer group says “exposure to arsenic in the womb has been linked to problems ranging from low birth weight and infant mortality to hampered immune function and increased death rates from lung cancer later in life.”
The USDA’s Agricultural Research Service says the structure of rice plants and the way they grow — submerged in water — leads to absorption of arsenic at a far higher rate than other plants.
The Dartmouth researchers are among many public health experts who say that stringent limits must be established by government regulators for levels of arsenic considered acceptable in food.
Consumption of arsenic, which is often naturally occurring, has long been a public health problem, but studies are now showing that more and more consumers are being exposed to the poisonous heavy metal.
This fall alone, the Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization warned again that tens of millions of people are being exposed to dangerous levels of arsenic from their municipal water supply or private wells.
In September, TV physician Dr. Mehmet Oz commissioned an analysis of apple and grape juice and found alarming levels of arsenic. The television star said that some samples had total arsenic levels above the EPA drinking water standard of 10 parts per billion.
The reaction to Oz’s assertion was instantaneous, loud and brutal, even within the medical community. His findings were first sloughed off as a phony publicity gambit. The FDA discredited it. Dr. Richard Besser, the medical editor for ABC News, called Oz’s claims “extremely irresponsible” and said it was like “yelling fire in a movie theater.”
However, last week there was widespread crow-eating going on when a Consumer Reports investigation, which included additional laboratory testing, found the findings reported by the daytime TV star were accurate. FDA promised to reexamine the arsenic levels in juice and Oz appeared live on the ABC evening news with Besser on the ABC, who apologized for his criticism.
Since September, agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection have seized more than 5 million pounds of intentionally mislabeled Chinese honey at customs warehouses near 11 U.S. ports or being shipped to honey packing operations.
According to U.S. Attorney Robert O’Neill, of the Central District of Florida, the lengthy investigation of the honey smuggling resulted in a grand jury issuing indictments against three individuals for smuggling honey from China into the U.S.
The illicit honey came from more than 120 large ocean-going shipping containers unloaded at large and small ports throughout the country. Each metal box was packed with 64 steel drums each holding 644 pounds of honey.
Investigators told Food Safety News that field agents expect to seize additional shipping containers of honey, which could result in additional indictments.
The indictment detailed precise instructions for personnel at shipping warehouses to cover or remove labels on the drums and shipping documents, which fraudulently claimed the contents were Rice Fructose Syrup or other similar products. The bogus labels were replaced with new labels saying “amber honey.” The switch, according to investigators, was to avoid paying about $2.5 million in anti-dumping duties.
The duty or tariff of an extra $1.20 a pound was assessed against Chinese honey by the U.S. Commerce Department in December 2001 to stem the flood of cheap, government- subsidized honey being dumped on the U.S. market to the detriment of American beekeepers.
O’Neill says the three men – Chin Shih Chou, 48, from Taiwan; Qiao Chu, 25, from China, and Wei Tang Lo, 48, from Hacienda Heights, Calif. – were arrested after a grand jury charged the trio with smuggling honey from China. If found guilty, each could face a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.
Investigators say the illicit honey was consigned to several major packers, but the indictment named only Groeb Farm in Belleview, FL, and Glorybee Foods in Eugene, OR.
In previous stories by Food Safety News, all the U.S. honey packers interviewed said they never buy Chinese honey. They loudly insisted that that the hundreds of million pounds of sweet nectar from bees being shipped into the U.S. each year is pure and natural and originates any place but China.
Federal investigators say their arrest record proves that’s not the case and the dozen or more criminal indictments that have been made in the last five years all involved Chinese honey.
The largest of the busts happened in Sept. 2010 when 11 individuals and six corporations were indicted on federal charges for allegedly participating in an international conspiracy to illegally import honey from China that was mislabeled as coming from other countries to avoid antidumping duties.
The safety concerns raised by this rapidly evolving technology have yet to be fully understood, said a report issued today by As You Sow, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing environmental and social corporate responsibility in publicly held companies.
As “food and food packaging companies explore the use of nanomaterials to enhance products, they need also attend to potential risks introduced,” the study said.
The organization said the study can help food companies develop safeguards on how to identify the presence of nanomaterials in products.
As Food Safety News reported in June, the highly competitive food industry is disinclined to talk too much about its interest in using nanomaterials. However, it’s vividly apparent at technical gatherings and conferences that food producers and processors are hiring scientists and engineers to craft the manmade nanoparticles to make food more flavorful, longer lasting on store shelves, bacteria resistant and easier to track, trace and monitor for spoilage.
As You Sow says the guidelines were created with food companies including Kraft, McDonald’s, Whole Foods, Yum! Brands, and Pepsi.
Evaluating nano safety
Some of the industrial and consumer-product applications using nanoparticles border on the magical. But a growing number of solid scientific studies have, in the minds of many public health experts, justified hoisting caution flags as they repeatedly show that many nanoparticles are small enough to penetrate the skin, lungs and pass through the vital blood-brain barrier. The potential for lung cancer – especially from the inhalation of carbon nanotubes – has also surfaced in some studies.
Nano is from the Greek word for dwarf and a nanometer is a billionth of a meter, or a total of one sliver if you were to cut the period at the end of this sentence into 50,000 slices.
“Consumers should be concerned that these tiny chemicals may already be in foods and food contact materials, without being publicly disclosed,” says Jennifer Sass, senior scientist and nano authority for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“Consumers can’t even make informed choices when they don’t know where these chemicals are, what they are, or how toxic they are. It’s an outrageous violation of the public trust that companies are refusing to identify on the label the ingredients or food contact materials that are nano-sized, and FDA is letting them get away with it,” Sass said.
The report said that because of their small size, the “intentionally engineered” nanomaterials are able to go places in the body that larger particles cannot, and it warned:
•New “nanofood” products should only be used if safety testing ensures that there are no negative impacts on human health or the environment.
•Current regulatory controls are inadequate to assess or ensure safety.
•The scientific consensus is that there is a lack of knowledge regarding how nanomaterials interact at the molecular or physiological levels and their potential impacts on health and the environment.
Is FDA doing enough?
Michael Passoff, senior strategist and co-author of the study, said the uncertainty and lack of transparency on the application of nanomaterial poses unnecessary risks for consumers, workers, companies, and investors.
“The FDA is not doing nearly enough,” Passoff told Food Safety News, and added that federal regulators have so far ignored nano-food despite calls for reform by the Government Accountability Office.
The FDA allows too much control over the use of nanomaterial to remain with the food manufacturers, the report said.
The agency permits food producers using nanoparticles “to determine what safety testing they should be conducting and how transparent they should be in disclosing the results of safety tests, and if they should inform consumers that they are eating these products,” Passoff said.
Many in the industry express frustration at FDA’s failure to even establish an official regulatory definition of “nanotechnology,” “nanoscale,” “nanoparticles,” or other related terms.
FDA also has not weighed in on the other parameters that health experts believe can affect the toxicity of nanoparticles. They include shape, electrical charge, the ratio of surface area to volume, or other physical or chemical properties.
“Because GRAS notification is voluntary and companies are not required to identify nanomaterials in their GRAS substances, FDA has no way of knowing the full extent to which engineered nanomaterials have entered the U.S. food supply as part of GRAS substances,” Passoff told the daily news safety online publication.
“In contrast to FDA’s approach, all food ingredients that incorporate engineered nanomaterials must be submitted to regulators in Canada and the European Union before they can be marketed.”
Thank you for reading Food Safety News. Have a happy and food-safe Thanksgiving.
Andy’s Gorgonzola and Celery Soup
This gorgonzola and celery soup is a favorite on Capitol Hill that food historians say goes back at least a half-century. I usually serve it warm but the French physician from whom this recipe was adapted served it chilled during Washington’s scalding summers. Because of the egg yolks used in this recipe, it must be cooked thoroughly before chilling. If you’re planning to serve it chilled, reduce the amount of cheese by a little less than half.
Gorgonzola and Celery Soup
Serves 8
Ingredients:
– 3 med. shallots, roasted
– 2 heads garlic, roasted
– 4 tbsp olive oil, extra virgin
– 4 cups celery, chopped fine
– ½ cup onion, sweet, minced
– 1 large leek (white part only), chopped fine
– 8 cups chicken or vegetable stock
– 2 1/2 cups whole milk or cream
– 3 tbsp fine flour (thickening agent)
– 1 tsp celery salt
– 1/4 tsp pepper, white
– 1 tsp nutmeg, ground
– 5 each egg yolks
– 1 tbsp Maggie seasoning
– 10 ounces gorgonzola, crumbled in 1/2-inch pieces
optional:
– ¼ cup prosciutto, ribboned, crisped
Instructions:
Cut the tops off garlic heads and shallots, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil and bake at 400-degrees for 45 minutes.
Add olive oil to a heavy pot over medium heat. When hot, add garlic squeezed from heads and shallots removed from skins and (add slivered prosciutto)
In a bowl, whisk egg yolks with milk; add two ladles of hot soup, add crumbled cheese and mix well and whisk egg mixture into pot. Heat, but do not allow to boil again.
When soup thickens slightly, serve garnished with a few celery leaves or prosciutto baked until crisp.
When reheating leftover soup, do not boil again.
Source:
A friend from Vietnam who was living in Washington.
]]>http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-potluck-gorgonzola-and-celery-soup/feed/0Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn’t Honeyhttp://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honey/
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honey/#commentsMon, 07 Nov 2011 01:59:07 +0000http://foodsafetynews.default.wp.marler.lexblog.com/2011/11/07/tests_show_most_store_honey_isnt_honey/Continue Reading]]>More than three-fourths of the honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn’t exactly what the bees produce, according to testing done exclusively for Food Safety News.
The results show that the pollen frequently has been filtered out of products labeled “honey.”
The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world’s food safety agencies.
The food safety divisions of the World Health Organization, the European Commission and dozens of others also have ruled that without pollen there is no way to determine whether the honey came from legitimate and safe sources.
In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration says that any product that’s been ultra-filtered and no longer contains pollen isn’t honey. However, the FDA isn’t checking honey sold here to see if it contains pollen.
Ultra filtering is a high-tech procedure where honey is heated, sometimes watered down and then forced at high pressure through extremely small filters to remove pollen, which is the only foolproof sign identifying the source of the honey. It is a spin-off of a technique refined by the Chinese, who have illegally dumped tons of their honey – some containing illegal antibiotics – on the U.S. market for years.
Food Safety News decided to test honey sold in various outlets after its earlier investigation found U.S. groceries flooded with Indian honey banned in Europe as unsafe because of contamination with antibiotics, heavy metal and a total lack of pollen which prevented tracking its origin.
Food Safety News purchased more than 60 jars, jugs and plastic bears of honey in 10 states and the District of Columbia.
Bryant, who is director of the Palynology Research Laboratory, found that among the containers of honey provided by Food Safety News:
•76 percent of samples bought at groceries had all the pollen removed, These were stores like TOP Food, Safeway, Giant Eagle, QFC, Kroger, Metro Market, Harris Teeter, A&P, Stop & Shop and King Soopers.
•100 percent of the honey sampled from drugstores like Walgreens, Rite-Aid and CVS Pharmacy had no pollen.
•77 percent of the honey sampled from big box stores like Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart, Target and H-E-B had the pollen filtered out.
•100 percent of the honey packaged in the small individual service portions from Smucker, McDonald’s and KFC had the pollen removed.
•Bryant found that every one of the samples Food Safety News bought at farmers markets, co-ops and “natural” stores like PCC and Trader Joe’s had the full, anticipated, amount of pollen.
And if you have to buy at major grocery chains, the analysis found that your odds are somewhat better of getting honey that wasn’t ultra-filtered if you buy brands labeled as organic. Out of seven samples tested, five (71 percent) were heavy with pollen. All of the organic honey was produced in Brazil, according to the labels.
The National Honey Board, a federal research and promotion organization under USDA oversight, says the bulk of foreign honey (at least 60 percent or more) is sold to the food industry for use in baked goods, beverages, sauces and processed foods. Food Safety News did not examine these products for this story.
Some U.S. honey packers didn’t want to talk about how they process their merchandise.
One who did was Bob Olney, of Honey Tree Inc., in Michigan, who sells its Winnie the Pooh honey in Walmart stores. Bryant’s analysis of the contents of the container made in Winnie’s image found that the pollen had been removed.
Olney says that his honey came from suppliers in Montana, North Dakota and Alberta. “It was filtered in processing because North American shoppers want their honey crystal clear,” he said.
The packers of Silverbow Honey added: “The grocery stores want processed honey as it lasts longer on the shelves.”
However, most beekeepers say traditional filtering used by most will catch bee parts, wax, debris from the hives and other visible contaminants but will leave the pollen in place.
Ernie Groeb, the president and CEO of Groeb Farms Inc., which calls itself “the world’s largest packer of honey,” says he makes no specific requirement to the pollen content of the 85 million pounds of honey his company buys.
Groeb sells retail under the Miller’s brand and says he buys 100 percent pure honey, but does not “specify nor do we require that the pollen be left in or be removed.”
He says that there are many different filtering methods used by beekeepers and honey packers.
“We buy basically what’s considered raw honey. We trust good suppliers. That’s what we rely on,” said Groeb, whose headquarters is in Onsted, Mich.
Why Remove the Pollen?
Removal of all pollen from honey “makes no sense” and is completely contrary to marketing the highest quality product possible, Mark Jensen, president of the American Honey Producers Association, told Food Safety News.
“I don’t know of any U.S. producer that would want to do that. Elimination of all pollen can only be achieved by ultra-filtering and this filtration process does nothing but cost money and diminish the quality of the honey,” Jensen said.
“In my judgment, it is pretty safe to assume that any ultra-filtered honey on store shelves is Chinese honey and it’s even safer to assume that it entered the country uninspected and in violation of federal law,” he added.
Richard Adee, whose 80,000 hives in multiple states produce 7 million pounds of honey each year, told Food Safety News that “honey has been valued by millions for centuries for its flavor and nutritional value and that is precisely what is completely removed by the ultra-filtration process.”
“There is only one reason to ultra-filter honey and there’s nothing good about it,” he says.
“It’s no secret to anyone in the business that the only reason all the pollen is filtered out is to hide where it initially came from and the fact is that in almost all cases, that is China,” Adee added.
The Sioux Honey Association, who says it’s America’s largest supplier, declined repeated requests for comments on ultra-filtration, what Sue Bee does with its foreign honey and whether it’s u
ltra-filtered when they buy it. The co-op markets retail under Sue Bee, Clover Maid, Aunt Sue, Natural Pure and many store brands.
Eric Wenger, director of quality services for Golden Heritage Foods, the nation’s third largest packer, said his company takes every precaution not to buy laundered Chinese honey.
“We are well aware of the tricks being used by some brokers to sell honey that originated in China and laundering it in a second country by filtering out the pollen and other adulterants,” said Wenger, whose firm markets 55 million pounds of honey annually under its Busy Bee brand, store brands, club stores and food service.
“The brokers know that if there’s an absence of all pollen in the raw honey we won’t buy it, we won’t touch it, because without pollen we have no way to verify its origin.”
He said his company uses “extreme care” including pollen analysis when purchasing foreign honey, especially from countries like India, Vietnam and others that have or have had “business arrangements” with Chinese honey producers.
Golden Heritage, Wenger said, then carefully removes all pollen from the raw honey when it’s processed to extend shelf life, but says, “as we see it, that is not ultra-filtration.
“There is a significant difference between filtration, which is a standard industry practice intended to create a shelf-stable honey, and ultra-filtration, which is a deceptive, illegal, unethical practice.”
Some of the foreign and state standards that are being instituted can be read to mean different things, Wenger said “but the confusion can be eliminated and we can all be held to the same appropriate standards for quality if FDA finally establishes the standards we’ve all wanted for so long.”
Groeb says he has urged FDA to take action as he also “totally supports a standard of Identity for honey. It will help everyone have common ground as to what pure honey truly is!”
What’s Wrong With Chinese Honey?
Chinese honey has long had a poor reputation in the U.S., where – in 2001 – the Federal Trade Commission imposed stiff import tariffs or taxes to stop the Chinese from flooding the marketplace with dirt-cheap, heavily subsidized honey, which was forcing American beekeepers out of business.
To avoid the dumping tariffs, the Chinese quickly began transshipping honey to several other countries, then laundering it by switching the color of the shipping drums, the documents and labels to indicate a bogus but tariff-free country of origin for the honey.
Most U.S. honey buyers knew about the Chinese actions because of the sudden availability of lower cost honey, and little was said.
The FDA — either because of lack of interest or resources — devoted little effort to inspecting imported honey. Nevertheless, the agency had occasionally either been told of, or had stumbled upon, Chinese honey contaminated with chloramphenicol and other illegal animal antibiotics which are dangerous, even fatal, to a very small percentage of the population.
Mostly, the adulteration went undetected. Sometimes FDA caught it.
In one instance 10 years ago, contaminated Chinese honey was shipped to Canada and then on to a warehouse in Houston where it was sold to jelly maker J.M. Smuckers and the national baker Sara Lee.
By the time the FDA said it realized the Chinese honey was tainted, Smuckers had sold 12,040 cases of individually packed honey to Ritz-Carlton Hotels and Sara Lee said it may have been used in a half-million loaves of bread that were on store shelves.
Eventually, some honey packers became worried about what they were pumping into the plastic bears and jars they were selling. They began using in-house or private labs to test for honey diluted with inexpensive high fructose corn syrup or 13 other illegal sweeteners or for the presence of illegal antibiotics. But even the most sophisticated of these tests would not pinpoint the geographic source of the honey.
Food scientists and honey specialists say pollen is the only foolproof fingerprint to a honey’s source.
Federal investigators working on criminal indictments and a very few conscientious packers were willing to pay stiff fees to have the pollen in their honey analyzed for country of origin. That complex, multi-step analysis is done by fewer than five commercial laboratories in the world.
But, Customs and Justice Department investigators told Food Safety News that whenever U.S. food safety or criminal experts verify a method to identify potentially illegal honey – such as analyzing the pollen – the laundering operators find a way to thwart it, such as ultra-filtration.
The U.S. imported 208 million pounds of honey over the past 18 months. Almost 60 percent came from Asian countries – traditional laundering points for Chinese honey. This included 45 million pounds from India alone.
And websites still openly offer brokers who will illegally transship honey and scores of other tariff-protected goods from China to the U.S.
FDA’s Lack of Action
The Food and Drug Administration weighed into the filtration issue years ago.
“The FDA has sent a letter to industry stating that the FDA does not consider ‘ultra-filtered’ honey to be honey,” agency press officer Tamara Ward told Food Safety News.
She went on to explain: “We have not halted any importation of honey because we have yet to detect ‘ultra-filtered’ honey. If we do detect ‘ultra-filtered’ honey we will refuse entry.”
Many in the honey industry and some in FDA’s import office say they doubt that FDA checks more than 5 percent of all foreign honey shipments.
For three months, the FDA promised Food Safety News to make its “honey expert” available to explain what that statement meant. It never happened. Further, the federal food safety authorities refused offers to examine Bryant’s analysis and explain what it plans to do about the selling of honey it says is adulterated because of the removal of pollen, a key ingredient.
Major food safety standard-setting organizations such as the United Nations’ Codex Alimentarius, the European Union and the European Food Safety Authority say the intentional removal of pollen is dangerous because it eliminates the ability of consumers and law enforcement to determine the actual origin of the honey.
“The removal of pollen will make the determination of botanical and geographic origin of honey impossible and circumvents the ability to trace and identify the actual source of the honey,” says the European Union Directive on Honey.
The Codex commission’s Standard for Honey, which sets principles for the international trade in food, has ruled that “No pollen or constituent particular to honey may be removed except where this is unavoidable in the removal of foreign matter. . .” It even suggested what size mesh to use (not smaller than 0.2mm or 200 micron) to filter out unwanted debris — bits of wax and wood from the frames, and parts of bees — but retain 95 percent of all the pollen.
Food Safety News asked Bryant to analyze foreign honey packaged in Italy, Hungary, Greece, Tasmania and New Zealand to try to get a feeling for whether the Codex standards for pollen were being heeded overseas. The samples from every country but Greece were loaded with various types and amounts of pollen. Honey from Greece had none.
You’ll Never Know
In many cases, consumers would have an easier time deciphering state secrets than pinning down where the honey they’re buying in groceries actually came from.
The majority of the honey that Bryant’s analysis found to have no pollen was packaged as store brands by outside companies but carried a label unique to the food chain. For example, Giant Eagle has a ValuTime label on some of its honey. In Target it’s called Market Pantry, Naturally Preferred and others. Walmart uses Great Value and Safeway just says Safeway. Wegmans also uses its own name.
Who actually bottled these store brands is often a mystery.
A noteworthy exception is Golden Heritage of Hillsboro, Kan. The company either puts its name or decipherable initials on the back of store brands it fills.
“We’re never bashful about discussing the products we put out” said Wenger, the company’s quality director. “We want people to know who to contact if they have questions.”
The big grocery chains were no help in identifying the sources of the honey they package in their store brands.
For example, when Food Safety News was hunting the source of nine samples that came back as ultra-filtered from QFC, Fred Myer and King Sooper, the various customer service numbers all led to representatives of Kroger, which owns them all. The replies were identical: “We can’t release that information. It is proprietary.”
One of the customer service representatives said the contact address on two of the honeys being questioned was in Sioux City, Iowa, which is where Sioux Bee’s corporate office is located.
Jessica Carlson, a public relations person for Target, waved the proprietary banner and also refused to say whether it was Target management or the honey suppliers that wanted the source of the honey kept from the public.
Similar non-answers came from representatives of Safeway, Walmart and Giant Eagle.
The drugstores weren’t any more open with the sources of their house brands of honey. A Rite Aid representative said “if it’s not marked made in China, than it’s made in the United States.” She didn’t know who made it but said “I’ll ask someone.”
Rite Aid, Walgreen and CVS have yet to supply the information.
Only two smaller Pacific Northwest grocery chains – Haggen and Metropolitan Market – both selling honey without pollen, weren’t bashful about the source of their honey. Haggen said right off that its brand comes from Golden Heritage. Metropolitan Market said its honey – Western Family – is packed by Bee Maid Honey, a co-op of beekeepers from the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.
Pollen? Who Cares?
Why should consumers care if their honey has had its pollen removed?
“Raw honey is thought to have many medicinal properties,” says Kathy Egan, dietitian at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. “Stomach ailments, anemia and allergies are just a few of the conditions that may be improved by consumption of unprocessed honey.”
But beyond pollen’s reported enzymes, antioxidants and well documented anti-allergenic benefits, a growing population of natural food advocates just don’t want their honey messed with.
There is enormous variety among honeys. They range in color from glass-clear to a dark mahogany and in consistency from watery to chunky to a crystallized solid. It’s the plants and flowers where the bees forage for nectar that will determine the significant difference in the taste, aroma and color of what the bees produce. It is the processing that controls the texture.
Food historians say that in the 1950s the typical grocery might have offered three or four different brands of honey. Today, a fair-sized store will offer 40 to 50 different types, flavors and sources of honey out of the estimated 300 different honeys made in the U.S.. And with the attractiveness of natural food and the locavore movement, honey’s popularity is burgeoning. Unfortunately, with it comes the potential for fraud.
Concocting a sweet-tasting syrup out of cane, corn or beet sugar, rice syrup or any of more than a dozen sweetening agents is a great deal easier, quicker and far less expensive than dealing with the natural brew of bees.
However, even the most dedicated beekeeper can unknowingly put incorrect information on a honey jar’s label.
Bryant has examined nearly 2,000 samples of honey sent in by beekeepers, honey importers, and ag officials checking commercial brands off store shelves. Types include premium honey such as “buckwheat, tupelo, sage, orange blossom, and sourwood” produced in Florida, North Carolina, California, New York and Virginia and “fireweed” from Alaska.
“Almost all were incorrectly labeled based on their pollen and nectar contents,” he said.
Out of the 60 plus samples that Bryant tested for Food Safety News, the absolute most flavorful said “blackberry” on the label. When Bryant concluded his examination of the pollen in this sample he found clover and wildflowers clearly outnumbering a smattering of grains of blackberry pollen.
For the most part we are not talking about intentional fraud here. Contrary to their most fervent wishes, beekeepers can’t control where their bees actually forage any more than they can keep the tides from changing. They offer their best guess on the predominant foliage within flying distance of the hives.
“I think we need a truth in labeling law in the U.S. as they have in other countries,” Bryant added.
FDA Ignores Pleas
No one can say for sure why the FDA has ignored repeated pleas from Congress, beekeepers and the honey industry to develop a U.S. standard for identification for honey.
Nancy Gentry owns the small Cross Creek Honey Company in Interlachen, Fla., and she isn’t worried about the quality of the honey she sells.
“I harvest my own honey. We put the frames in an extractor, spin it out, strain it, and it goes into a jar. It’s honey the way bees intended,” Gentry said.
But the negative stories on the discovery of tainted and bogus honey raised her fears for the public’s perception of honey.
She spent months of studying what the rest of the world was doing to protect consumers from tainted honey and questioning beekeepers and industry on what was needed here. Gentry became the leading force in crafting language for Florida to develop the nation’s first standard for identification for honey.
In July 2009, Florida adopted the standard and placed its Division of Food Safety in the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in charge of enforcing it. It’s since been followed by California, Wisconsin and North Carolina and is somewhere in the state legislative or regulatory maze in Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, New York, Texas, Kansas, Oregon, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia and others.
John Ambrose’s battle for a national definition goes back 36 years. He said the issue is of great importance to North Carolina because it has more beekeepers than any other state in the country.
He and others tried to convince FDA that a single national standard for honey to help prevent adulterated honey from being sold was needed. The agency promised him it would be on the books within two years.
“But that never happened,” said Ambrose, a professor and entomologist at North Carolina State University and apiculturist, or bee expert. North Carolina followed Florida’s lead and passed its own identification standards last year.
Ambrose, who was co-chair of the team that drafted the state beekeeper association’s honey standards says the language is very simple, “Our standard says that nothing can be added or removed from the honey. So in other words, if somebody removes the pollen, or adds moisture or corn syrup or table sugar, that’s adulteration,” Ambrose told Food Safety News.
But still, he says he’s asked all the time how to ensure that you’re buying quality honey. “The fact is, unless you’re buying from a beekeeper, you’re at risk,” was his uncomfortably blunt reply.
Eric Silva, counsel for the American Honey Producers Association said the standard is a simple but essential tool in ensuring the quality and safety of honey consumed by millions of Americans each year.
“Without it, the FDA and their trade enforcement counterparts are severely limited in their ability to combat the flow of illicit and potentially dangerous honey into this country,” Silva told Food Safety News.
It’s not just beekeepers, consumers and the industry that FDA officials either ignore or slough off with comments that they’re too busy.
New York Sen. Charles Schumer is one of more than 20 U.S. senators and members of Congress of both parties who have asked the FDA repeatedly to create a federal “pure honey” standard, similar to what the rest of the world has established.
The results of Bryant’s analysis, which Food Safety News paid for, found that more than 75 percent of honey sold in the U.S. has had its pollen filtered out.
The food safety divisions of the World Health Organization, the European Commission and dozens of others have ruled that without pollen there is no way to determine whether the honey came from legitimate and safe sources.
Food Safety News asked Bryant to look for pollen because that’s what palynologists do. But Bryant is also a melissopalynologist, which means he also specializes in the study of pollen in honey.
The professor entered the sticky world of honey in 1976, when he was asked by the Office of Inspector General of the U.S.Department of Agriculture to examine domestic honey purchased by the federal government as part of its farm subsidy program, so U.S. beekeepers would have a stable outlet for their honey.
He refined the analytical protocol he would use as he went along, diluting small amounts of honey, then washing them in various acids, some very volatile. Then he heated, washed, centrifuged, rewashed, treated with more acid, heated and centrifuged them one last time. The acids destroys everything in the honey but pollen.
He inspected a wide range of government-supplied samples and, in 94 percent of the cases, found pollen that was linked to nectar sources from the U.S. But 6 percent of the samples showed that foreign honey, mostly from Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, was being sold back to the government fraudulently.
There are 250,000 different plants just in the United States that can be used by a honey bee, Bryant said. He can easily identify hundreds of the more common pollens on sight. In his lab, two walls are covered with huge charts of enlarged grains of pollen. In the next room, another wall holds cabinets that contain a $2 million collection of slide-out trays cataloguing 20,000 modern pollen samples from around the world, mostly donated by oil companies.
Since much of his work may involve honey products transshipped from China he has worked hard to get samples and reference material on Asia honey and pollen.
“So I’ve got every Chinese pollen book that I can get my hands on that shows me the pollen types that exist in China and neighboring countries, such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Taiwan,” he said.
This type of pollen analysis at the few labs in Europe that offer it can run $1,200 per sample or more according to honey packers who use the service. Bryant often charges far less than $100 for his basic pollen identification. That’s “barely enough to cover chemicals and supplies,” especially when he’s doing it as a service for mom-and-pop-sized beekeepers and honey packers, he said.
His customers are honey importers who want to know whether they’re really getting what they’re paying for from foreign suppliers and beekeepers who send him samples, so they can track what their bees are harvesting and what they can accurately say on their honey’s labels.
The 71-year-old professor also does forensic work for several federal investigatory agencies mostly involved with anti-terrorism and anti-smuggling efforts. He refuses to discuss any of this work for those clients.
“I am concerned about the import of unsafe products and about the government’s apparent apathy towards trying to put a stop to the illegal importation of honey,” Bryant said.
“I feel my efforts are helping to fight this battle.”
Sometimes his pollen analyses are just fun.
Bryant was asked to analyze the honey produced and served by the White House to determine where the bees are sourcing their pollen. Bryant concluded that the White House honey is classified as a unifloral clover honey, but also contains minor amounts of nectar from other nearby sources, including dogwoods, honeysuckles and magnolia.
Pollen and history
About 70 years ago, before radio-carbon dating, Bryant explained, archaeologists were originally using pollen collected from their artifacts to attempt to confirm the age of their discoveries. Geologists started collecting fossil pollen from deep underground looking for sediment in various strata, dried up lake beds and other geological sites that have repeatedly been shown to be likely sites of oil and gas reserves.
Pollen specialists have been recruited by leading museums and art galleries to authenticate the source of furniture, painting and sculptures.
One of the earliest well-publicized studies was of the microscopic grains of pollen collected from the Shroud of Turin in the mid-70s by botanist and Swiss criminologist Max Frei. Frei’s analysis had identified pollen spores of 58 different plants, many that originated only in and around the site of the crucifixion.
Forensic palynology – the identification of ancient and modern pollen to solve crimes – developed slowly.
One of the earliest cases of using technology to catch a criminal was in 1959, when Austrian police tried to tie a suspect to a man reported missing while on a trip along the Danube River, Bryant said.
The missing man’s body had not been recovered but police believed the suspect had a motive for the crime. Mud found on the suspect’s boots was analyzed by a palynologist from the University of Vienna. He identified several common tree pollens but also a unique fossil grain of hickory — a precise mixture of pollen that was only found in one small area along the Danube. The revelation of this information by police so spooked the suspect that he confessed and showed police where he had buried the body.
Scientific and criminology journals show that detection and identification of pollen has been used in cases ranging from kidnapping, rape, homicide, smuggling, counterfeiting, wildlife violations, terrorism and a litany of other themes in waiting-to-be-written crime novels.
Bryant continues to run his mostly one-person CSI operation but he says the government needs to do more.
“We must get our government to test samples — not just the paperwork on imported honey – but actually look at the honey itself,” he said.
He also believes the government must impose “truth in labeling” for honey.
“Most other countries do this, so why don’t we?” he asked.
“If people were certain they were buying what is on the
label, I suspect they might be willing to pay premium prices. Right now it is a crap shoot.You may or may not get what it says on the label and that’s wrong.”
]]>http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/top-pollen-detective-finds-honey-a-sticky-business/feed/19Potluck: Shrimp Roasted with Fresh Herbshttp://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/09/potluck-shrimp-roasted-with-fresh-herbs/
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/09/potluck-shrimp-roasted-with-fresh-herbs/#respondMon, 05 Sep 2011 01:59:02 +0000http://foodsafetynews.default.wp.marler.lexblog.com/2011/09/05/potluck_shrimp_roasted_with_fresh_herbs/Continue Reading]]>Roasting is a novel way of cooking shrimp, which can then be used as an appetizer, or in a salad or on pasta, rice or grains.
Shrimp, like chicken, can be considered a blank canvas to the would-be culinary artist and any palette of spices, sauces or seasonings can be used. I sometimes marinate the shrimp in some preserved lemons and lots of garlic. The fresh herbs in this recipe offer a favorable taste. Use large shrimp, at least 26 to 30 count. Serve over rice, orzo, Israeli couscous, Italian Farro or other grains.
The Food Safety News crew is taking a day off from writing about food to take time to simply enjoy it. In keeping with our holiday tradition, we’re sharing some of our recipes in another virtual potluck: from Suz’s cabbage salsa to Cookson’s squash salad, from Dan’s pasta to Andy’s prawns, from Helena’s ciabatta to Gretchen’s cookie bars. Have a restful Labor Day.
]]>http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/09/potluck-shrimp-roasted-with-fresh-herbs/feed/0Asian Honey, Banned in Europe, Is Flooding U.S. Grocery Shelveshttp://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/08/honey-laundering/
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/08/honey-laundering/#commentsMon, 15 Aug 2011 01:59:09 +0000http://foodsafetynews.default.wp.marler.lexblog.com/2011/08/15/honey_laundering/Continue Reading]]>A third or more of all the honey consumed in the U.S. is likely to have been smuggled in from China and may be tainted with illegal antibiotics and heavy metals. A Food Safety News investigation has documented that millions of pounds of honey banned as unsafe in dozens of countries are being imported and sold here in record quantities.
And the flow of Chinese honey continues despite assurances from the Food and Drug Administration and other federal officials that the hundreds of millions of pounds reaching store shelves were authentic and safe following the widespread arrests and convictions of major smugglers over the last two years.
Experts interviewed by Food Safety News say some of the largest and most long-established U.S. honey packers are knowingly buying mislabeled, transshipped or possibly altered honey so they can sell it cheaper than those companies who demand safety, quality and rigorously inspected honey.
“It’s no secret that the honey smuggling is being driven by money, the desire to save a couple of pennies a pound,” said Richard Adee, who is the Washington Legislative Chairman of the American Honey Producers Association.
“These big packers are still using imported honey of uncertain safety that they know is illegal because they know their chances of getting caught are slim,” Adee said.
Food safety investigators from the European Union barred all shipments of honey from India because of the presence of lead and illegal animal antibiotics. Further, they found an even larger amount of honey apparently had been concocted without the help of bees, made from artificial sweeteners and then extensively filtered to remove any proof of contaminants or adulteration or indications of precisely where the honey actually originated.
An examination of international and government shipping tallies, customs documents and interviews with some of North America’s top honey importers and brokers documented the rampant honey laundering and that a record amount of the Chinese honey was being purchased by major U.S. packers.
Food Safety News contacted Suebee Co-Op, the nation’s oldest and largest honey packer and seller, for a response to these allegations and to learn where it gets its honey. The co-op did not respond to repeated calls and emails for comment. Calls and emails to other major honey sellers also were unreturned.
EU Won’t Accept Honey from India
Much of this questionable honey was officially banned beginning June 2010 by the 27 countries of the European Union and others. But on this side of the ocean, the FDA checks few of the thousands of shipments arriving through 22 American ports each year.
According to FDA data, between January and June, just 24 honey shipments were stopped from entering the country. The agency declined to say how many loads are inspected and by whom.
However, during that same period, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that almost 43 million pounds of honey entered the U.S. Of that, the Department of Commerce said 37.7 million pounds came from India, the same honey that is banned in the EU because it contained animal medicine and lead and lacked the proper paperwork to prove it didn’t come from China.
“There are still millions of pounds of transshipped Chinese honey coming in the U.S. and it’s all coming now from India and Vietnam and everybody in the industry knows that,” said Elise Gagnon, president of Odem International, a worldwide trading house that specializes in bulk raw honey.
The FDA says it has regulations prohibiting foods banned in other countries from entering the U.S. However, the agency said last month that it “would not know about honey that has been banned from other countries …”
Adee called the FDA’s response “absurd.” He said the European ban against Indian honey is far from a secret.
“Why are we the dumping ground of the world for something that’s banned in all these other countries?” asked Adee, who, with 80,000 bee colonies in five states, is the country’s largest honey producer.
“We’re supposed to have the world’s safest food supply but we’re letting in boatloads of this adulterated honey that all these other countries know is contaminated and FDA does nothing.”
The food safety agency said it’s doing the best it can with existing resources and will do more when the newly passed Food Safety Modernization Act is up and running.
Where Is Our Honey Coming From?
The U.S. consumes about 400 million pounds of honey a year – about 1.3 pounds a person. About 35 percent is consumed in homes, restaurants and institutions. The remaining 65 percent is bought by industry for use in cereals, baked goods, sauces, beverages and hundreds of different processed foods.
However, the USDA says U.S. beekeepers can only supply about a 48 percent of what’s needed here. The remaining 52 percent comes from 41 other countries.
Import Genius, a private shipping intelligence service, searched its databases of all U.S. Customs import data for Food Safety News and provided a telling breakdown:
– The U.S. imported 208 million pounds of honey over the past 18 months.
– About 48 million pounds came from trusted and usually reliable suppliers in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Uruguay and Mexico.
– Almost 60 percent of what was imported – 123 million pounds – came from Asian countries – traditional laundering points for Chinese honey. This included 45 million pounds from India alone.
“This should be a red flag to FDA and the federal investigators. India doesn’t have anywhere near the capacity – enough bees – to produce 45 million pounds of honey. It has to come from China,” said Adee, who also is a past president of the American Honey Producers Association.
Why Is Chinese Honey Considered Dangerous?
Chinese honeymakers began using various illegal methods to conceal the origin of their honey beginning in about 2001. That’s when the U.S. Commerce Department imposed a stiff tariff – as much as $1.20 a pound — on Chinese honey to dissuade that country from dumping its dirt-cheap product on the American market and forcing hundreds of U.S. beekeepers out of the business.
About the same time, Chinese beekeepers saw a bacterial epidemic of foulbrood disease race through their hives at wildfire speed, killing tens of millions of bees. They fought the disease with several Indian-made animal antibiotics, including chloramphenicol. Medical researchers found that children given chloramphenicol as an antibiotic are susceptible to DNA damage and carcinogenicity. Soon after, the FDA banned its presence in food.
“We need imported honey in this country. But, what we don’t need is circumvented honey, honey that is mislabeled as to country of origin, honey that is contaminated with antibiotics or heavy metal,” said Ronald Phipps, co-chairman of the International Committee for Promotion of Honey and Health and head of the major honey brokerage firm CPNA International.
Heavy Metal Contamination
The Chinese have many state-of-the-art processing plants but their beekeepers don’t have the sophi
stication to match. There are tens of thousands of tiny operators spread from the Yangtze River and coastal Guangdong and Changbai to deep inland Qinghai province. The lead contamination in some honey has been attributed to these mom-and-pop vendors who use small, unlined, lead-soldered drums to collect and store the honey before it is collected by the brokers for processing.
The amount of chloramphenicol found in honey is miniscule. Nevertheless, public health experts say it can cause a severe, even fatal reaction — aplastic anemia — in about one out of 30,000 people.
European health authorities found lead in honey bought from India in early 2010. A year later, the Indian Export Inspection Council tested 362 samples of honey being exported and reported finding lead and at least two antibiotics in almost 23 percent of the test samples.
The discovery of lead in the honey presents a more serious health threat.
“The presence of heavy metals is a totally different story, because heavy metals are accumulative, they are absorbed by organs and are retained. This is especially hazardous for children,” Phipps said.
All the bans, health concerns and criticism of Indian honey hasn’t slowed the country’s shipping of honey to the U.S. and elsewhere. In February, India’s beekeepers and its government agricultural experts said that because of weather and disease in some colonies, India’s honey crop would be late and reduced by up to 40 percent.
Yet two months later, on April 15 in Ludhiana, officials of Kashmir Apiaries Exports and Little Bee Group, India’s largest honey exporters, posed for newspaper photographers in front of “two full honey trains” carrying 180 20-foot cargo carriers with a record 8.8 million pounds of honey headed for the export ports.
“They’re clearly transshipping honey from China and I can’t believe that they are so brazen about it to put it right on the front page of a newspaper,” honey producer Adee said.
Data received by FSN from an international broker in India on Friday showed that within the last month 16 shipments – more than 688,000 pounds – of honey went from the Chinese port of Nansha in Guangzhou China to Little Bee Honey in India. The U.S. gurus of international shipping documents – Import Genius – scanned its database and found that just last week six shipments of the honey went from Little Bee to the port of Los Angeles. The honey had the same identification numbers of the honey shipped from China.
Government investigators in the U.S. and Europe and customs brokers in India told FSN that previous successful criminal investigations had proven that the Chinese honey suppliers and their brokers are masterful at falsifying shipping documents.
Each of the shipments – whether from China or India – bore an identical FDA inspection number. However, FDA’s Division of Import Operations did not respond to requests for information on how and where it issued that FDA number.
Food Safety News left several messages for the Little Bee Group to discuss the source of their honey and how they were breaking records when the rest of India’s honey producers were months behind schedule. None of the phone messages or emails were returned.
Other major Indian honey exporters insist that India gets no honey from China. However, Liu Peng-fei and Li Hai-yan of the prestigious Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences disagree. In a scientific study of the impact the global financial crisis is having on China’s honey industry, the apiculture scientists wrote that to avoid the “punitive import tariffs” Chinese enterprises “had to export to the United States via India or Malaysia in order to avoid high tariffs…”
Why Hasn’t Smuggling Stopped?
The massive honey laundering scams that plagued the U.S. for more than a decade – the transshipment of Chinese honey to a second country before being reshipped to the U.S. — were presumably given a deathblow over the past two years.
During that period, Justice Department lawyers and Department of Homeland Security and FDA investigators launched a series of indictments and arrests of 23 German, Chinese, Taiwanese and American corporate officials and their nine international companies.
They were charged with conspiracy to smuggle more than $70 million worth of Chinese honey into the U.S. by falsely declaring that the honey originated from countries other than China. That allowed them to avoid paying stiff anti-dumping charges imposed on China.
It was an impressive series of complex busts spanning three continents, and instant fodder for a great whodunit novel. But, according to some of North America’s largest producers and importers of honey, the arrests bombed as a deterrent.
“There are still millions of pounds of transshipped Chinese honey coming into the U.S.A. and it’s all coming now from India and Vietnam. Everybody in the industry knows that,” said Odem International’s Gagnon.
How Do They Get Away With It?
When it comes to honey laundering, the crooks are always trying to stay one step ahead of the criminal investigators.
For example, when customs agents discovered that China usually shipped its honey in blue steel drums, the exporters quickly painted the drums green.
It took investigators a while to learn that often — while the drums were in port or en route at sea — the Chinese shuffled drum labels and phony paperwork showing country of origin as places that didn’t have an onerous anti-dumping tariff. The Russian Honey Federation blew the whistle on the Chinese relabeling millions of pounds as coming from Russia.
After that scam became known, the felons then shipped Chinese honey to countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and even Australia. There the honey was repacked, authentic local documents were issued and the honey was shipped on to the U.S. or elsewhere.
Another favorite con among Chinese brokers was to mix sugar water, malt sweeteners, corn or rice syrup, jaggery, barley malt sweetener or other additives with a bit of actual honey. In recent years, many shippers have eliminated the honey completely and just use thickened, colored, natural or chemical sweeteners labeled as honey.
However, sophisticated analysis that will match the pollen in honey to flowers from a specific geographic region is available at just two or three laboratories around the world. There are also simpler, less expensive tests to detect the telltale presence of commercial sweeteners and other adulterants that are more readily available.
A laboratory in Bremen, Germany, founded a half century ago by German beekeepers, can accurately scan honey samples for flower pollen. There is only one expert in the U.S. known to analyze pollen in honey to determine where it was actually grown and that would be at the Palygnology Laboratory at Texas A&M. The lab was created and is run by Vaughn Bryant, a forensic palynologist and Professor of Anthropology.
Melissopalynology, or pollen analysis, has been used for years by geologists seeking evidence of ancient coastal areas – often sites of major oil deposits. Scientists tracing the origins of the Shroud of Turin have identified 61 different pollens on the cloth that could only have come from around Jerusalem.
Forensic scientists have used pollen identification to help solve murder, rapes, kidnapping and at least one espionage case. Now, at least in the labs in Texas and Germany, melissopalynologists use pollen to determine – with great accuracy – the geographic area where the bees foraged for the nectar.
“If they find, for example, pollen from flowers that grow in northern latitudes – like China – but it’s found in honey ostensibly produced in tropical countries – like India, Vietnam, Malaysia and the like – you know something’s rotten or illegal,” said CPNA International’s Phipps, who also produces a quarterly, international intelligence report that monitors the country-by-country supply of honey and everyone’s exports.
To avoid detection by concerned purchasers or criminal investigators, some Chinese producers in state-of-the-art processing plants pump the alleged honey, heated and under high pressure, through elaborate ceramic filters. This ultra-filtration removes or conceals all floral fingerprints and indicators of added sweeteners or contaminants.
“The Chinese have refined methods of masking their contaminated product by ultra-filtration so their honey seems perfect. But it’s not honey anymore. There’s no color. There’s no flavor. There’s nothing. So you take this perfect product, which could be confused with honey, and you blend it with real Indian honey,” Gagnon said.
“Everyone avoids tariffs because government agents cannot test to prove it’s from China.”
The FDA says it has sent a letter to industry stating that the agency does not consider ultra-filtered honey to be honey.
“We have not halted any importation of honey because we have yet to detect ultra-filtered honey. If we do detect ultra-filtered honey we will refuse entry,” said FDA press officer Tamara Ward.
“FDA is just not looking” was the answer that most honey brokers offered. They added that the FDA doesn’t want to find it because then the agency would have to test for it, something it is incapable of doing in its existing laboratories.
Honey experts worry that new technologies will make detection of adulterants even more difficult.
At June’s conference of the Institute of Food Technologists in New Orleans, there were hundreds of Chinese vendors working in small clusters beneath bright red banners. They offered for sale almost any spice, food-processing substance or additives a food processor might want and promises of concocting anything else they could dream of. “All FDA approved,” they emphasized to potential clients.
One salesman quickly jerked back his business card when a reporter pulled out a tape recorder to capture the man’s promises offering a “nanoparticle sweetener for honey that cannot be detected.”
Does the FDA Care?
The U.S. Departments of Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have dollar and cents issues to worry about because hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes and anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese imports are circumvented by the honey laundering.
“These honey crimes are not a Republican or Democratic, Liberal or Conservative issue. The country is being ripped off of millions and millions,” Phipps said.
Recent news releases by the border patrol and the FDA say they have developed an anti-smuggling strategy to identify and prevent smuggled foods from entering the United States and posing a threat to national security and consumer safety.
But at the field level, investigators with the two agencies and an agent with ICE’s Commercial Fraud Unit said the cooperation is more on paper then in practice and that the FDA continues to be the weak link. They say the FDA either doesn’t have the resources to properly do the job or is unwilling to commit them.
ICE and the border patrol can and do go after the honey launderers by enforcing the anti-dumping and tariff violation laws. But protecting consumers from dangerous honey, identifying it as adulterated and therefore illegal for importation, falls to the FDA. And many of its enforcement colleagues say the food safety agency doesn’t see this as a priority.
A Justice Department lawyer told Food Safety News that the FDA has all the legal authority and obligation it needs to halt the importation of tainted honey. He cited two sections of the agency’s regulations defining when food products are considered “adulterated.”
The regulations say: “Food is adulterated if it bears or contains a poisonous or deleterious substance which may render it injurious to health” and “damage or inferiority has been concealed.”
Those two factors pretty much sum up the health concerns that many have with the smuggled honey. But the honey industry and Congress can’t get the FDA to even come up with a legal definition of what honey is.
Eight years ago, America’s beekeepers and some honey packers petitioned FDA to issue an official definition of honey. Their concern was how to determine whether honey is bogus if there is no official standard to measure it against. The FDA did nothing.
Last Nov. 15, senators asked the food safety agency for the same thing. Again, nothing.
On Aug. 10, two members of the Senate Committee on Appropriations tried once more.
Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and John Hoeven (R-ND) urged the FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to issue the official definition.
Calling the lack of regulations “a food safety concern,” Gillibrand said a national standard of identity for honey is needed “to prevent unscrupulous importers from flooding the market with misbranded honey products…”
An investigator in FDA’s import section explained the agency’s refusal to develop an official definition to FSN. “If we had an official description of honey then FDA would have to inspect everything we’re importing to ensure it’s legal. That’s the last thing we want to do,” he said, but would not allow his name to be used because he wasn’t authorized to make public statements.
How Do You Stop The Illegal Flow?
Gagnon and four other major players in the honey industry have formed a voluntary group called True Source Honey. They hope it will eventually expand into an international, industry-wide program to certify the origin and quality of honey.
“We need an origin traceability program, a professional audit of both the exporters and the packers so those buying and selling honey can ensure its authenticity and quality,” said Gagnon, who is the group’s vice chairman.
Meanwhile, it’s rumored that the feds are increasing their surveillance of the large U.S. importers and not too soon, Adee and others say.
Adee likens the honey laundering to a huge auto chop shop, where the police occasionally arrest the low-level car thieves but others pop up to continue supplying the criminal operation, which authorities never go after.
“That’s what’s happening here,” Adee explained. “ICE and the other investigators have arrested a handful of the middle men, the brokers who supply the honey packers, but haven’t gone after the big operators buying the phony foreign honey.”
Adee and others interviewed by Food Safety News say there are 12 major honey packers in the U.S. and four or five that are involved with the bulk of illegal trade.
“We know who they are,” he said. “Everyone in the indu
stry knows. If these packers are allowed to continue buying this possibly tainted but clearly illegal smuggled honey, the importers will always find a way to get it to them.”
]]>http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/08/honey-laundering/feed/134Crawfish? Crayfish? Mud bugs? Call Them Anything But Lobsterhttp://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/08/crawfish-crayfish-mud-bugs-call-them-anything-but-lobster/
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/08/crawfish-crayfish-mud-bugs-call-them-anything-but-lobster/#commentsMon, 15 Aug 2011 01:59:05 +0000http://foodsafetynews.default.wp.marler.lexblog.com/2011/08/15/crawfish_crayfish_mud_bugs_call_them_anything_but_lobster/Continue Reading]]>It wasn’t New York City inspectors nor the Food and Drug Administration that found that the nation’s best-known deli was selling lobster salad without the lobster, but a reporter from Cajun country.
I’m not the only one who has traveled hundreds of miles to get to Zabar’s, the Manhattan Mecca for all deli lovers.
The aromas from its corned beef and pastrami; smoked salmon, sturgeon and whitefish; fish salads and pickles; and some of New York’s finest bagels, breads and pastries permeate the 20,000 square-foot edifice on Broadway and justify repeated visits.
This store is so well known that when owner Saul Zabar finally broke with tradition in the all-male bastion and permitted a woman to slice the precious Nova lox, it made national newspapers and network TV news.
But now they’ve gotten caught trying to pass off crayfish, a Cajun staple, for lobster in their popular salad. In fact, it turns out that Zabar’s has been selling the misidentified crustacean salad for about 20 years, perhaps more, Zabar told reporters.
Zabar insisted he wasn’t being dishonest and directed the multitude of journalists laying siege to the Upper West End deli to Wikipedia where, as he told the New York Times, “you will find that crawfish in many parts of the country is referred to as lobster.”
This culinary conundrum can be credited to or blamed on Doug MacCash, a vacationing reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
In his blog earlier this month, MacCash wrote: “In New York City a lucky crayfish can become lobster,” and tells of standing in the checkout line at Zabar’s where “tiny tubs of lobster salad in the refrigerator case caught my eye.”
Lobster salad on a bagel — why not? he thought. “It was delicious, but the pink-orange tails seemed small and somehow familiar,” he wrote.
He was neither an investigative reporter nor a food writer but a sharp enough journalist to know how to read the ingredients on the label: “wild freshwater crayfish, mayonnaise, celery, salt and sugar.” It read.
“Wild freshwater crayfish? Really? At $16.95 per pound?” he wrote.
The only other place you might see the humble freshwater crustacean at a similar price would be at a high-end French restaurant, where it’s called écrevisse.
The Louisiana Crawfish Co. will sell you a pound boiled for $6.95.
When I was in New Orleans in June, I took a friend – a food safety investigator – out for dinner. While I went for Ya Ya Gumbo, he ordered an overflowing platter of smoking hot crayfish and spent the next hour sucking the heads off the miniture lobster-looking creatures and loving every minute of it.
“It’s all about getting the real flavor from these,” he mumbled, waving a hot sauce-covered limp crayfish. “But my wife – who’s from Boston – would kick me out of the house if I did this at home,” he said.
The all-powerful Maine Lobster Council wasted no time getting Zabar on the phone.
Dane Somers, the council’s executive director and the chief protector of Maine’s finest told the owner that FDA regulations say that mislabeling food products is a big deal.
She told the Bangor Daily News that the FDA permits the use of the term “lobster” only for the Homarus species, which, she said, includes the European and American lobsters, not other lobster-like species such as langostino or crayfish.
Zabar says he is changing the name of the salad to be more transparent to consumers. When I called today, someone who said he was “just a manager” told The Food Watchdog that “it’s still being discussed – and way too much.” All he knows is that it won’t have lobster on the label “unless there’s lobster in the salad.”
By the way, those two separate spellings of the Louisiana crustacean are not a mistake. Turns out the small but tasty critters go by several names: crayfish, crawfish, crawdads and mud puppies, among the most popular.
We’re often asked if writing about foodborne illness makes us reluctant eaters. Far from it. We love good food and all the healthy choices available. To us, food freedom means the right to spend our grocery dollars with growers and producers who see safe food-handling practices not as an inconvenience or cost, but as a responsibility to protect their customers and the public health, and therefore an essential part of doing business. Independence Day is a good day to think about freedom from fear.
Have a food-safe Fourth of July.
The Food Safety News team
EVERYMAN’S GUMBO
Adapted by Andrew Schneider
Serves 12 as main dish and 20 as soup.
The heart of this gumbo came from an Acadian who had moved back to Canada. But in August 1992, just after Hurricane Andrew bounced off Florida and slammed into Central Louisiana, he rushed back to his family home in Atchafalaya to help his old friends living in the Delta. Those with food or live catches tossed whatever veggies, meat, seafood and spices they had left after the storm into a well-scrubbed half 55-gallon drum and made rice in the other half of the steam-cleaned drum. It may be the first time that Roux — the wonderful Cajun thickening agent — was ever blended in the bottom of a steel drum. Knowing those fine people, it probably wasn’t. This recipe is a modification of that a great gumbo — pulled from the cuisine Africa, Spain and France. It seemed to feed everyone who showed up that soggy summer week.
Ingredients
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 cups bacon fat, duck fat, lard, butter or oil
8slices smoked bacon
1.5 cupgreen pepper, cut in 1/2″ pieces
3stalks celery — cut in 1/2″ pieces
1.5 cups red pepper, cut in 1/2″ pieces
8cloves garlic, minced
2 cups onions, cut in 1/2″ pieces
2lbs chicken, boned in bite-size pieces
1lb Tasso, (Cajun smoked pork) in chunks
2lbs.shrimp, large or jumbo, shelled *
1lbs.blue crab meat — picked clean
1.5lbs.crawfish tails — shelled, cleaned **
2lbsDungeness crab, cracked and partially shelled
1lbs.Andouille or other spicy smoked sausage — cut 1/4″ thick
10 cups shrimp, fish or chicken stock
2 eabay leaf
2tbspthyme
2tbspOld Bay seafood seasoning
10each green onions, cut in 1/2″ pieces
12cups cooked rice
Instructions
•Make stock. If using shrimp or seafood shells or bones strain carefully, and set aside.
•Clean the shrimp, crab and crawfish and set aside.
•Cut vegetables and garlic and set aside
•Into a heavy, 12-quart stockpot or enameled Dutch Oven make roux to a medium brown as described below. 8 pieces of bacon and duck fat is my favorite base..
•Quickly add chopped vegetables and garlic, stir well over medium heat for 5 minutes or until soft. Add sausage and Tasso and cook for another five minute, stirring well.
•Add shrimp, stir, remove pot from heat and let it sit for at least 10 minutes.
•Garnish with chopped green onion and serve over a bunch of rice as a main dish, or just about a ½-cup in a bowl for a soup.
Notes:
Yes, for you purists, I know his recipe does not use okra, but it’s as it was made by people who grew up with gumbo.
Many, including me, prefer to use spot shrimp and cook with heads on. It adds lots of flavor.
Some don’t think using whole crawfish is worth the effort and either use picked crawfish meat or just add more crab.
Making your roux: Here is where you make or break almost every Cajun dish you create.
A roux is a one-to-one mixture of flour to equal amount of butter, duck fat, lard, bacon fat, or olive oil.
Put your oil in the bottom of a heavy pot over a medium heat which will hold the gumbo; add about ½ of the flour to the heated oil or butter, stir well with a wooden spoon or flat-edged wooden spatula for at least 30-seconds. When well mixed, slowly add another portion of flour and keep it up until all the flour is in the pan. You must stir the roux constantly, never leaving the pot, not to pee, yell at the dogs or answer the door, until the roux is a dark, rich mahogany or chocolate in color. Anticipate a wonderful aroma when the roux is nearly just perfect. The lower the heat and slower the cooking the better it will be. You could be looking at about 30 minutes depending on the heat. It seems to go faster with zydeco playing in the background.
]]>http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/07/potluck-everymans-gumbo/feed/0Many Eager to Use Nano in Food, But Few Admit Ithttp://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/06/many-eager-to-use-nano-in-food-but-wont-admit-it/
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/06/many-eager-to-use-nano-in-food-but-wont-admit-it/#commentsTue, 21 Jun 2011 01:59:01 +0000http://foodsafetynews.default.wp.marler.lexblog.com/2011/06/21/many_eager_to_use_nano_in_food_but_wont_admit_it/Continue Reading]]>NEW ORLEANS — More than 15,000 food scientists, chefs, recipe developers and purveyors of spices, flavorings and additives met here last week to examine the newest innovations in the cook’s pot and on grocery shelves.
Nanoparticles, which could revolutionize steps all along the path from the farm to the table, were discussed openly and with passion in many of the scientific sessions of the Institute of Food Technologists annual conference.
But in the huge exhibition hall, among the thousand of displays of the newest advancements in the food industry, nano was rarely being promoted as the exciting science it may well be. Its absence was perplexing.
Food Safety News patrolled the sprawling Food Expo questioning likely users of the new technology. The enthusiastic company sales reps and scientists saw the “press” tags affixed to our convention passes and suddenly had very little to say. It was akin to not talking about the crazy aunt at the family reunion.
There were few signs among the elaborate displays that even mentioned nanotechnology. One exception was the exhibit for Southwest Research Institute, which runs 2 million square feet of laboratories in San Antonio, Texas.
“There are many areas where nanomaterial can be of an immense benefit to food development, processing, safety monitoring and packaging,” James Oxley, senior research scientist in nanomaterials for Southwest Research Institute, told Food Safety News.
Many exhibitors are actively developing exciting applications for nano particles, but they’re just not talking about it, he explained.
“The ongoing concern about possible health hazards or adverse reactions from nanomaterial has people staying pretty quiet about what they’re doing,” Oxley said.
“If the FDA provides a clearer picture of what it will and won’t accept in food and packaging, the use of nanomaterial holds great promise for a wide variety of food-related applications.”
A week before the world’s top food scientists gathered for this conference, the Food and Drug Administration issued guidance that it says outlines the agency’s view on whether products it regulates involve the application of nanotechnology.
They invite public comment on the draft guidance horribly named: “Considering Whether an FDA-Regulated Product Involves the Application of Nanotechnology.” The agency says “it represents the first step toward providing regulatory clarity on the FDA’s approach to nanotechnology.”
“Nanotechnology is an emerging technology that has the potential to be used in a broad array of FDA-regulated medical products, foods, and cosmetics,” said Carlos Peña, director of FDA’s emerging technology programs. “FDA is monitoring the technology to assure such use is beneficial.”
Meanwhile, on the same day that FDA made its nano announcement, the Environmental Protection Agency said that it will seek to determine whether nanomaterials in pesticide products can “cause unreasonable adverse effects on the environment and human health.”
There is enormous industry pressure on the government to move more rapidly on approving the use of nanomaterial. Many safety regulators and much of the public health community fear that there has been insufficient testing of the health hazards from exposure to nanomaterial.
An executive order signed by President Obama on Jan. 18. pretty much illustrates the quandary presented to all players in this enormously growing world of nanoparticles.
“Our regulatory system must protect public health, welfare, safety, and our environment while promoting economic growth, innovation, competitiveness, and job creation. It must be based on the best available science.”
What are we talking about?
Nano is derived from the Greek word for dwarf, which really tells us very little, so try this: a nanometer is a billionth of a meter, a nanoparticle is tens of thousands times smaller than the period at the end of this sentence.
The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies — a partnership between the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Pew Charitable Trusts — maintains a Consumer Products Inventory that offers the best-educated guess available on the commercialization of nanomaterial. PEN’s latest tally says there are currently 1,317 products, produced by 587 companies in 30 countries, containing nanomaterial.
Other than some cooking oil and chocolate flavoring, most of the products so far are not food but food-related, and involve food storage or preparation — items such as cutting boards. But those who compile the list say it is far from comprehensive.
The food industry is no different than the rest of the commercial world and thus is using in-house scientists or contracting with outside experts to see what these manmade, subatomic structures can do to enhance what they make and sell.
The scientific presentations and many of the hundreds of posters on new research findings made it clear that some companies are devoting many R&D dollars to using nano to make food seed more bug-resistant, enhance protection against pathogens, monitor spoilage or aid in traceability with food-packaging sensors or bolster flavoring and increase shelf life.
Some are already testing engineered nanoparticles to reduce bacterial growth, maintain the freshness and longevity of baked goods; keep meat juicer; eliminate disagreeable, but benign odors and reduce the amount of sugar and salt in recipes.
The rush to regulate
Regulating the use of nanoparticles, especially in food, has become an international quagmire.
“There is actually no specific definition for nanomaterials that’s widely accepted although several countries have published their own definition,” Bernadene Magnuson, Senior Scientific and Regulatory Consultant for Cantox Health Sciences, told Food Safety News.
In a session on food law and regulation, Magnuson explained to other scientists that food safety agencies in North America and overseas may require additional safety evaluations of nanomaterials with certain characteristics.
“These include nano particles that have the likelihood to persist and bio accumulate either in the humans or in the environment; those with a high level of either chemical or biological reactivity; a complex form or structure; and/or those with the ability to undergo a complex transformation,” explained the international expert, who is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Toronto.
“For oversight and regulation, however, the critical issue is whether and how such new or altered properties and phenomena emerging at the nanoscale create or alter the risks and benefits of a specific application.”
She said that safety studies will still need to be done to demonstrate lack of any potential health or environmental issues. The White House apparently agrees with her.
“Nanomaterials should not be deemed or identified as intrinsically benign or harmful in the absence of supporting scientific evidence, and regulatory action should
be based on such scientific evidence,” the White House said earlier this month, in a lengthy update on nano policy to the heads of all agencies, including the FDA and USDA, on the oversight of all applications of nanomaterial.
Risk assessment
The use of nanotechnology in medicine and electronics, aircraft and vehicles, has been science-fiction-like and often borders on the unbelievable.
Naturally occurring nanoparticles — completely harmless — exist in many foods and spices, even chocolate, beer and dairy products. Toxicologists and other risk assessors worry that if there are devastating hazards, they may exist with the manmade or engineered nanostructures, where atom-sized or smaller chemical structures are constructed molecule-by-molecule into something with commercial value.
The U.S. safety agencies — FDA, USDA, EPA, CDC and NIOSH — have been besieged by industry, which wants nanoparticles to be immediately approved as safe because some of the chemicals — silver, titanium dioxide, copper — have been used more or less safely for decades.
But health and safety regulators are far from convinced that these same metals and chemicals reduced to nano-scale are perfectly safe, especially when it comes to inhalation or consumption.
There have been significant peer-reviewed studies by both academic and government investigators which have shown that many nano particles are small enough to penetrate the skin, lungs and pass through the all-important blood-brain barrier.
Inhalation of carbon nanotubes — which are one of the main building blocks of many nano products and packaging — has been shown to cause cancer, much like asbestos does. However, the particles can penetrate the lungs more deeply than asbestos and appear to cause often-fatal damage more rapidly in test animals.
Nano-titanium dioxide, which is used as a whitening agent in many food and cosmetic products, has been proven to cause disease in test animals that have been exposed to high doses. One study at UCLA repeatedly showed damage or destruction of the animals’ DNA and chromosomes.
Judging by the number of fresh graduates and young scientists presenting their research during days of IFT poster sessions, it’s obvious that the use of nanomaterials will have an important place in the world of food science.
Editor’s Note: This is a special report for Food Safety News by Andrew Schneider, thefoodwatchdog.com
When environmental concern for the survival of a species butts heads with food traditions centuries old, there can be no doubt the battle will be contentious. When it comes to shark fins and the celebratory soup made from them that is exactly the case.
The multi-faceted debate, argued in statehouses and on the high seas, in restaurants and in family kitchens, touches on issues of animal cruelty, vanishing species, threats to human health and the rights of people to maintain their heritage.
The Food Watchdog interviewed cooks, conservationists, shark hunters, law enforcement agents and politicians from Vancouver, B.C., to California, from Texas to Washington, D.C. Almost every one of them has a dog in this fight, but they all seem to be barking about different things.
The Food and Drug Administration, for example, is worried that imported fins and powdered shark cartilage are contaminated with insect, rodent and other animal filth and sometimes arrive “filthy, putrid or decomposed.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service is concerned that finning – a bloody and rapidly spreading trade – often violates U.S. and international fish protection laws and illegal trafficking law both on and off U.S. shores.
The agency is involved in the seizures of all sizes. NMFS intercepted three small bags of fins express mailed from Canada to Seattle as “Christmas ornaments.” But, working with the Coast Guard, they also intercepted a ship hauling millions of dollars worth of rotting fins bound for processing in South America.
Yet, some Chinese-American politicians, while sympathetic to the plight of the shark, say they are even more concerned about the threat to their culture and way of life.
The cultural implications are particularly delicate, often pitting one generation against another. Recent conversations with two young women who work as concierges in a chichi resort in the heavily Asian Vancouver suburb of Richmond illustrated the differences.
When asked last month for directions to a local fishmonger who might be selling freshly caught shark fin, one woman helpfully volunteered: “Not any more.”
She said shark fin “is very hard to find now. We all understand that it’s not right to eat shark fin in our soup now because many, many sharks are being killed. It’s really no problem to not eat the soup.”
The next morning, another woman at the same hotel information desk began giving the same politically correct answer. But she paused, looked around and then said: “The young understand why it shouldn’t be eaten, but not the old. My grandfather is very emotional, very angry and says it’s wrong to ignore traditions that have been followed forever.
“When I told him that I would not serve shark fin soup when I marry, he didn’t talk to me for days.”
Traditions are centuries oldSo why is this dish so important? Why all the angst?
Culinary historians report that shark fin soup has been a Chinese delicacy since it first appeared on the Emperor’s table around the year 1400, during the Ming Dynasty.
Shark fin has long been regarded in China and some other Asia countries as a cure-all tonic, an aphrodisiac and a weapon in the battle against aging. Once it was available to only to the wealthy. But now that China has developed a more affluent middle class, the popularity of shark fin soup is spreading to the masses. The demand for shark fin has also increased in many countries where Chinese have migrated.
The increased demand has marine biologists warning that one-third of the 360 different species of shark – mostly the 40 most abundant types — are heading towards extinction. This is why finning has the attention of the 163 special agents and officers of NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement and their foreign counterparts.
Nevertheless, many people still buy and use large amounts of the shark powder for treating osteoarthritis, other painful joint conditions and other medical problems. Natural health stores sell many brands of shark powders as does Amazon, which offers at least eight different labels.
The butchery of any animal is unpleasant to watch but the finning of the estimated 73 million sharks that are caught every year is merciless.
Videos of the slaughter have gone viral, allowing millions to watch sharks being are hauled onto the ship’s deck where large machete-style knives are used to hack off the shark’s two dorsal fins and as many as three others on its bottom, back and tail in just seconds. The bleeding but still living shark is shoved overboard where, unable to move, it will die a slow death, drowning because without fins it cannot swim and force water through its gills for oxygen.
The campaign against shark finning is increasing and spreading rapidly and many prominent Chinese and Chinese Americans are getting involved in ending the hunt.
Chinese basketball star Yao Ming has done at least three public service announcements against finning. His videos and billboards have drawn much attention to the movement with the message: “Join me, say no to shark fin soup.”
There are lawsPresident Bill Clinton signed the original Shark Finning Prohibition Act in 2000 and this January, President Barack Obama signed the stronger and more protective Shark Conservation Act. The law, irreverently called the “Save Jaws Act,” bans U.S. fishing vessels anywhere and foreign boats in U.S. waters from possessing fins unless the rest of a shark’s carcass is also on board.
On May 12, in Washington state, the governor signed a law that prohibits the sale, trade or distribution of shark fins or derivative products in the state, effectively banning fins imported from other countries. Guam had already passed a similar ban, as did Hawaii, which will dole out fines of $5,000 to $15,000 to restaurants serving the soup and to fishers supplying them.
Also last month In Oregon, the House unanimously approved a ban on the selling, trading, and possessing of shark. The state senate is holding final hearings next week.
Also last month, the California Assembly overwhelmingly approved a ban on the sale and distribution of shark fins in California. Now it’s up to the California Senate.
Opposition to the ban is strong and varied in California communities whose demand for shark fin is only second to China itself.
Two Californian lawmakers, both Chinese Americans, have come down firmly on different sides of the proposed ban.
Assemblymen Paul Fong led the effort to introduce the legislation on the House side and the legislative office produced this video.
“Shark finning is unhealthy in all regards,” Fong said. “It’s unhealthy to fin the sharks because it’s decimating their populations and it’s unhealthy to eat shark fins because of the high mercury content.”
He disputed the cultural argument by adding, “Just like it was unhealthy to bind women’s feet, this practice needs to end also.”
Also opposing the ban is State Sen. Leland Yee. He wants to stop the illegal finning but he opposes the legislation, and in explaining his position earlier this year, he reportedly served the shark fin soup to reporters covering the event.
“The proposed law ban all shark fins from consumption, regardless of species or how they were fished or harvested,” Yee said. “It is the wrong approach and an unfair attack on Asian culture and cuisine and the latest in a series of culturally insensitive actions.”
He said he has fought proposed bans on frog and turtle consumption, efforts to end live food markets, roasted pork, duck, and several other cultural staples and passed legislation to thwart food safety concerns over the traditional cooking of Asian rice noodles and Korean rice cakes.
“Rather than launch just another attack on Asian-American culture, the proponents of the ban on shark fin soup should work with us to strengthen conservation efforts,” Yee said.
The 40 to 60 commercial shark fishermen in California look at the dispute from the business side. “They’re opposed to the wasteful international practice of catching sharks solely for their fins, but they disagree with the proposed law,” said Jonathan Hardy, their lobbyist.
Big Business, enormous profits
So where the shark are fins coming from?
The Food Watchdog couldn’t find any at the seafood sections of two of Richmond’s huge Chinese groceries. A fishmonger at one stood amid dozens of huge tanks of bubbling salt water tending enormous live lobsters, eight type of live fish, trays of scallops in their shells and costly, live geoducks.
“Shark fins are much more expensive, much more,” he said pointing to the world’s largest digging clam.
Who sells them, I asked, explaining that I had questioned two large seafood stores nearby and another in Vancouver.
“You’re not Chinese and you don’t own a restaurant. The fins can be easily purchased,” he explained and added that the dried fins come mostly from Japan and China.
Fresh or frozen fins come through Texas or Mexico, frozen on dry ice packs or chilled in 40-pound cooler chests and driven north to San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and British Columbia.
Environmentalists have released videos showing thousands of sharks, laid out row after row, waiting to be finned at Japanese port-side factories.
In this hemisphere, finning is rampant off Central and South America. Coast Guard and fishery service agents and marine scientists from Texas A&M marine laboratories estimate that more than 60,000 sharks a year are hauled from the Gulf of Mexico, where, they say, illicit sharkers often fish on the more shark-populated U.S. side of the invisible border.
Big money can be made by shark finning. Look at one seizure made of a ship chartered out of Honolulu by a Chinese company. It was the King Diamond II, which was stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard 250 miles off the coast of Guatemala. The ship had no shark carcasses aboard but 64,695 pounds of fins it had collected from more than a dozen other fishing vessels. The load of shark fins would bring at least $2.6 million at dockside and more than $20 million on the retail market.
Criminal activity doesn’t stop at the U.S. border. Agents of the U.S. fisheries service and the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations, busted Mark Harrison for violating the Lacey Act, a federal fish and wildlife trafficking law, for buying and selling fins of sharks caught in Florida waters.
When Harrison pleaded guilty on August 19, 2009, he boasted that he was the “nation’s largest shark fin buyer” and had purchased “millions” of fins through his mom-and-pop operation in the Florida panhandle.
For a peek at the retail end of the business check out the dried seafood emporiums on Main Street in Vancouver’s Chinatown. There is no shortage of shark fin. In one store it’s in large candy jar-sized containers, row-after-row, on the wall, separated by size and texture and tagged with prices from $180 to $550 a pound. The neighboring store had the valuable fins in plastic bags in the glass display counter, labeled the same way with prices reaching $800 a pound.
It taste like what?The Food Watchdog first tasted shark fin soup decades ago after a funeral in Hong Kong and at the wedding of a Chinese-American journalist in Saigon. Over the years it was placed in front of him again at banquets and celebratory gatherings in Chinatown in New York City and San Francisco, a restaurant in a Pittsburgh strip mall and an Embassy in Washington, D.C.
I’d like to say that I stopped eating it years ago because of my environmental awareness and concern for the shark. The truth is that I stopped after a chef in Montreal let me watch him make it and taste it at each step.
Shark fin doesn’t seem to fit in with Chinese cuisine which values color, aroma and flavor.
The fin is almost all cartilage; the tough but pliable tissue supports the shark’s distinctive triangle-shaped dorsal fin and allows the ocean’s most over-hyped killer to make its notorious tight turns and swift maneuvers.
But cartilage is tasteless and, unless it’s spoiled, it has no discernible fragrance. Depending on its size and whether it’s purchased fresh, frozen or dried, shark fin has to be cooked eight or 10 hours.
Some cooks separate well-boiled cartilage into needle-like strands which look like clear noodles. A chef demonstrating Chinese cooking at an International Association of Culinary Professionals conference a few years ago, explained that the f
act that shark fin is without taste didn’t matter because its texture had outstanding “mouth feel.”
The flavor in the soup that’s finally served comes from ginger, garlic, spring or green onions, soy sauce, dried shiitake, shrimp, lobster, crab and or chicken all simmered with the softened fin in a rich chicken or vegetable stock.
The fin acts as a thickening agent and the soup is gelatinous, as viscous as gelatin or clear Jell-O. I’ve seen it so congealed that it wouldn’t fall out of the bowl.
Some high-end Chinese restaurants sell shark fin’s soup for as much as $500 for a large tureen, which could serve eight to ten. Sun Ya Seafood in Seattle’s International District has shark fin soup on it’s menu for $9.95 a bowl. Fifteen miles north at the T & T Seafood restaurant, a bowl goes for $36.80.
It’s not just coastal venues that offer the legendary soup.
Theresa Karasek, with the environmental group “Shark Free Saint Louis,” says at least three St. Louis eateries are selling shark fin soup at $11 a bowl.
Karasek is worried that diners in her town “are eating shark without having any idea if the species they are eating is endangered…”
Other reasons not to eat shark finWhat’s floating in that expensive bowl of soup may not be shark at all.
Scientists from the FDA’s Microanalytical Branch and the regional district laboratory in San Francisco says there are “economic incentives to counterfeit real shark fin” and they are working on a way to authenticate real from fake shark fin.
The pair determined that fake shark fin dissolves in a solution of sodium citrate and Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, while real shark fin will not.
Some companies openly admit that they’re selling faux fin because the real stuff is too expensive. A Japanese food-processing company openly advertises its artificial shark fins made out of pork gelatin.
Other companies are selling bogus fins labeled as pure shark.
The China Daily in Beijing and the Japanese language Hong Kong Post both have reported on phony fins being sold through Asia and North America. The stories says the bogus fins are made from mung starch and gelatin concocted from bones, skins, cartilage and tendons boiled into a glutinous glob that is bleached white with highly corrosive chemicals.
Another reason not to eat shark fin may be the concern about the high level of mercury sometime found in shark because the chemical damages the human central nervous system and causes birth defects in infants.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency caution consumers that sharks – with their 50-plus-year life spans – absorb and store significant amounts of mercury and this passed on to the fins, often at high levels.
Meanwhile, the battle continues to prevent or preserve shark from ending up in a soup bowl.
Sue Chen, the director of the environmental group Shark Savers, says she resents politicians and others who say passing bans on the catching, selling and cooking of shark fins is an affront to Chinese culture.
“Certainly, this is a delicacy consumed by Asian, however, this is not an Asian issue, but rather a human issue,” Chen told The Food Watchdog last month. | {
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He was out last night with his wife Anne-Marie Duff at the press night for Cause Celebre at the Old Vic Theatre. Duff, naturally, is receiving amazing reviews for her performance. It’s her first role since they became parents.
What’s this about the Original Fiona?
Many of you lately have been emailing about the US version of Shameless. I watched the first two episodes. You’re right, it doesn’t suck, though there’s not enough grit, too slick for my taste, having loved, so much, the original, it’s American counterpart seems a little… meh.
For those of you who are unaware, the original is from the UK. And Anne-Marie Duff played Fiona. And she was brilliant. So, you know, I mean… I just can’t have this conversation and stick Emmy f-cking Rossum into it. I’m sorry. As obtuse as this may sound, what the US version of the show implies is that the UK version of it wasn’t good enough for a North American audience. It’s hard to get down with that. | {
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Cop takes on daughter's eve teasers, shot dead in full public view
Amritsar: A policeman was on Wednesday murdered in full public view after an altercation with some men, allegedly including an Akali Dal activist, who were teasing his daughter.
Assistant sub-inspector Ravinderpal Singh was shot dead from point blank range in Chehertha locality in Amritsar following an argument with the assailants, who later managed to escape from the spot in a car, Police Commissioner Ram Singh said.
The key accused has been identified as Shiromani Akali Dal district urban Secretary Ranbir Singh Rana, Singh said, adding that a police team has been dispatched to arrest the accused.
Ravinderpal was rushed to the hospital with heavy bleeding where he was declared brought dead, he said.
He had reached the spot after being informed by his daughter who is a bank employee and who had earlier already complained that she was being followed and teased by these men, he said.
According to Singh, she had told her father that the group of men would regularly intercept her while on her way to office and pass lewd comments. | {
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Keeping alive the Islamic tradition of scholarship, insight, and purification...one day at a time.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
LESSON OF THE DAY 1017
Ayahs of the Day:"And you could not hide from your hearing, your seeing, and your skins testifying against you, but you supposed that God does not know much of what you do. But this supposition of yours about your Lord has brought you to the destruction, so you have become losers." So if they wait, the fire will be their abode; and if they apologize, they will not be pardoned. [41: 22,23,24]
Hadith of the Day:Verily for every nation there is a trial. And the trial of my nation is wealth! [Tirmidhi]
Wise Quote of the Day:The sign of the love and attachment to Allah Most High is to follow Muhammad, the Beloved of Allah (peace and blessings upon him), in one's morals, character, behavior, state, and actions. [Dhul-Nun al-Misri]
Guidance of the Day:When we surrender all to God, we are not failing, or being weak, or losing anything. To the contrary, we are making ourselves available to be filled with all the Love that we ever wanted. We eventually see that it is not the things that we must let go of, but our attachment to them. We can remove ourselves from things, but if we keep mental ties to them, we might as well be with them; in fact, we would probably do better to be with them, for then we could learn to let them go.
Attachment takes the form of thoughts of "mine." A mine is something that blows up when you step on it. All of our troubles are in the mind. That is where our problems start and that is where they end. There are no physical chains binding us to anything; the chains are forged in our minds and the lock is fastened with the thoughts. The key to freedom is in the thoughts, as well. If a thought can bind, a thought can free. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]
Food for Thought:A rich man without charity is a rogue; and perhaps it would be no difficult matter to prove that he is also a fool. True virtue has no limits, but goes on and on, and especially holy charity, which is the virtue of virtues, and which, being an infinite object, would become infinite if it could meet with a heart capable of infinity. | {
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You don't say: A security guard stands near signs warning of street closures due to flooding in the city of Tottori on Thursday. Heavy downpours in Tottori and neighboring prefectures caused widespread flooding and mudslides. | KYODO
Heavy rains soak Hokuriku; one dead in Niigata
NIIGATA/TOTTORI – A 61-year-old man died when his home on the Sea of Japan coast collapsed in a mudslide as heavy rain hit many parts of the nation Thursday.
According to police, Masatoshi Adachi’s home in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, was knocked down by mud sliding off the mountain behind his residence as 104.5 mm of rain fell in a 24-hour period, a record for the area in August. Responding to a neighbor’s call for assistance, police pulled Adachi from the mud but he was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
About 50 other residents took shelter in nearby facilities to escape mudslides, according to the city.
Also in Nagaoka, an 84-year-old woman suffered a minor foot injury after a mudslide hit her house.
In Tottori Prefecture, the rain-swollen Shiomi River flooded houses above the floorboards and some roads. The river rose 2.04 meters, exceeding the danger level at 6:40 a.m., prefectural officials said.
The city of Tottori issued an evacuation order to about 300 people in some 100 households. Heavy rain also triggered mudslides along a section of the JR Sanin Line, halting operations.
According to JR West, local trains services were disrupted between Aoya and Tomari stations, linking Tottori and Kurayoshi.
Weather radar data showed that 100 mm fell in one hour near Oda, Shimane Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan coast.
The Meteorological Agency called it “the most intense rainfall recorded in an hour.” The agency warned of further torrential rain in the prefecture.
At Tottori airport, a record 67 mm of rainfall was registered in the hour to 8:30 a.m., while Niigata’s Nagaoka was hit by a record 54 mm in an hour.
According to the weather agency, over 50 mm per hour of rain is also expected from the Tohoku region to Kyushu, with a chance of strong gusts, twisters and lightning.
The agency also predicts up to 120 mm of rainfall in the Kinki and Chugoku regions in the 24 hours to Friday morning. | {
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How do i ranked up for a specific keyword in 15 days
1)delivery on time
2)revenue per order
3)an awesome positive review with a tip
these are 3 things that you have to take care along with the number of orders and positive reviews.
i assure you that if you follow these things you will be at the top one day. | {
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- Manage contract processing with legal when new vendors or projects are implemented
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If you feel you are qualified for this position please send your resume (and samples if applicable) to:
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} |
Some seriously sad news: Roberts Blossom – the character actor best known for playing the wrongly-accused South Bend Shovel Slayer, a.k.a. “Old Man Marley,” in Home Alone – has passed away at the age of 87. The L.A. Times reports that Blossom died of natural causes in a nursing home in Santa Monica.
While Blossom, a three-time Obie Award winner, had an illustrious career on stage and screen that spanned 40 years (he was featured in films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Always, Christine, and the cult horror movie Deranged, and appeared in TV shows such as Moonlighting, Northern Exposure, and Chicago Hope) he’ll best be remembered by younger folk everywhere as the neighbor who saves Macaulay Culkin’s trouble-making Kevin McCallister from being murdered by the Wet Bandits. (Oh, if only he’d been there when Thomas Jay stumbled upon that beehive… )
Sure, Macaulay Culkin became the biggest star at the time in the 1990 classic, but it was “Old Man” Marley that taught him – and us – valuable lessons like not judging a book by its cover and believing everything you hear. (The rumor that the salt he spread up and down “the most boring street in the whole United States of America” turned to bodies into mummies was most certainly not true.)
I don’t know about you, PopWatchers, but Home Alone is a staple for me each holiday season, not to mention one of my all-time favorite movies, period. So I’m sure I’ll get choked up even more than usual this year during that final scene in which we find out Marley has patched things up with his estranged family. When Marley sends that final, sweet wave to Kevin, Home Alone fans will be saying goodbye to an old, reliable friend, too. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
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