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Marine Investigation Report M97W0152
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) investigated this occurrence for the purpose of advancing transportation safety. It is not the function of the Board to assign fault or determine civil or criminal liability.
Table of contents
Collision Between the Fishing Vessel Westisle and the Empty Barge IB No 1
Pushed by the Tug Coastal Destinations
In the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia
The empty barge IB No 1 was being pushed by the tug Coastal Destinations in a northerly direction in the Strait of Georgia where the fishing vessel Westisle was southbound. Visibility was good, the night was clear, and the weather calm. The vessels were in an end-on situation. The bridge watch on the fishing vessel saw but did not recognize the meaning of the navigation lights exhibited by the pusher tug and barge combination. The fishing vessel, and later the tug/barge took non-standard collision avoidance measures which led to a collision.
As both vessels were manoeuvring, the barge's ramp struck a glancing blow to the port quarter of the fishing vessel causing damage to the above-deck machinery. No one was injured and there was no pollution.
Ce rapport est également disponible en français.
Factual information
|Port of Registry
|Vancouver, British Columbia (B.C.)
|Vancouver, B.C.
|Registry Number
|Fishing seiner
|Gross Tons
|23 m
|18.7 m
|F: 2.1 m , A: 3 m
|1981 Vancouver, B.C.
|1974 Port Alberni, B.C.
|Caterpillar single-screw 425 hp
|Twin-propeller and twin-engine, each 850 hp
|Number of Crew
|Registered Owner
|British Columbia Packers Richmond, B.C.
|Inlet Fuel and Barge Co. Campbell River, B.C.
|Port of Registry
|Edmonton, Alberta
|Registry Number
|Steel barge
|Gross Tons
|61 m
|1975, Rebuilt 1995
|Number of Crew
|Registered Owner
|Inlet Fuel and Barge Co., Campbell River, B.C.
Description of the vessels
The Westisle is a steel purse seiner of carvel construction. The fibreglass-insulated fishholds are aft of the aluminium accommodation and are serviced by a swinging derrick and an aluminium net drum. A skiff is housed on the afterdeck. The vessel is equipped with two radars, a Loran and a global positioning system (GPS).
The Westisle was last inspected by Transport Canada, Marine Safety (TCMS) in June 1994. The master of the Westisle possesses a certificate of competency as Fishing Master Class IV. The rest of his crew of four fishermen/deck-hands were not certificated nor were they required to be certificated.
The Coastal Destinations is a shallow-draught, all-welded tug with a pusher bow and transom stern both suitably tire-fendered. The tug carries a radar and a GPS.
The barge IB No 1 is a flat-deck barge of welded-steel construction fitted with a heavy duty bow ramp and lumber-fendered push brackets at the stern. The barge can carry fuel oil under deck and general cargo on deck. In the pushing mode, the Coastal Destinations is connected to the IB No 1 as follows:
A wire from each quarter of the barge is made fast at the tug's stern.
The bow of the tug and the stern of the barge are heavily reinforced. Pushbars are of heavy construction and there is a bracket made of heavy steel channel at the tug's bow which fits inside a similar larger bracket at the barge's stern.
The tug and barge show the navigation lights of a non-composite unit when connected in the pushing mode. In this configuration, the barge (of 15 metres beam) displays sidelights forward located on the port and starboard ramp posts. The tug displays two masthead lights vertically disposed on a single mast as towing lights; she also displays sidelights. The tug's sidelights are about 70 metres astern of the barge's sidelights.
The Coastal Destinations was last inspected by TCMS in 1996. Both the tug and barge possess a Home Trade III trading area licence. The tug master has a certificate of competency as Home Trade Master for vessels up to 350 tons.
History of the voyage
On 29 July 1997, the fishing seiner Westisle, with a master and a crew of four experienced fishermen/deck-hands, was southbound in the Strait of Georgia on a voyage from Campbell River to the Fraser River, B.C., where general repairs were to be carried out.
The sea was calm with a light south-westerly to westerly breeze of between five and ten knots and a visibility of five to six miles.
At 2315 Pacific daylight time (PDT)Footnote 1, the master set the auto pilot on a south-south-easterly course. The vessel was proceeding at about ten knots. The radar set was operational and the very high frequency (VHF) radiotelephone was set to receive channels 16 and 78. After handing over the watch to two watchkeepers, the master left the bridge and went aft to the galley. At approximately six minutes to midnight, with the vessel about 12 miles south-east of Cape Mudge, the master heard a change in engine revolutions and he returned to the wheel-house.
Prior to the master's arrival on the bridge, the watchkeepers had observed a radar target ahead at a range of six miles. The watchkeepers had first altered course ten ° to port by auto pilot. When, at a closer range, the other vessel was seen to alter course to starboard, the watchkeepers altered the course of the Westisle to starboard, again by auto pilot. Upon his arrival on the bridge, the master, seeing the other vessel on a reciprocal course, disengaged the auto pilot and reportedly put the rudder hard-to-port until collision. The master and the watchkeepers on the Westisle did not identify the lights ahead exhibited by the other vessels.
Coastal Destinations / IB No 1
On 29 July 1997, after having discharged the barge's cargo, the Coastal Destinations commenced pushing the IB No 1 on a voyage from the Fraser River towards Menzies Bay, B.C. On board was the master and a crew of three consisting of the mate, deck-hand and engineer.
The tug was pushing the barge at about 8.4 knots on a north-westerly course in the Strait of Georgia. Both the tug master and the mate of the Coastal Destinations were on the bridge prior to a change of watch at midnight. The lights of another vessel (later identified as the Westisle) were sighted ahead, on a reciprocal course at a distance of about six to eight miles. The master altered the course of the tug/barge combination ten ° to starboard to effect a red-to red-passing.
The bridge watch then saw the lights of the Westisle showing that the fishing vessel had altered course to port. In an effort to avoid collision, the course of the Coastal Destinations was also altered to port, and the vessel's spotlight was flashed first to the starboard side and then on to the ramp, reportedly blinding the crew on the Westisle. When collision became imminent, the Coastal Destinations put her engines full astern. At about the same time, the tug sounded a continuous long blast on her whistle; a sound signal prescribed for a "vessel in distress" in the Collision Regulations. Shortly before the collision, the master of the Coastal Destinations reported observing the Westisle make a large alteration of course to starboard.
The ramp of the IB No 1 was in seagoing position, at an angle of about twenty ° above the horizontal. As the distance between the Westisle and the IB No 1 decreased, the ramp cleared the accommodation of the fishing vessel but struck and damaged the seine drum on the afterdeck. Other structures above the main deck on the port side of the Westisle, including the tilt stern, suffered damage. All damage on the Westisle was located above the waterline and confined to the afterdeck. No damage was apparent to the Coastal Destinations or the IB No 1.
The Coastal Destinations reportedly tried to contact the Westisle prior to the collision, but the calls were not heard on board the fishing vessel. Following the collision, no difficulty was encountered in establishing VHF contact between the two vessels. After exchanging information and reporting the collision to Vancouver Marine Traffic and Communications Services (MCTS), both vessels continued on their respective voyages.
The Coastal Destinations reported two close-quarters situations with unknown fishing vessels on the same night.
The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea with Canadian Modifications require that all available means, including the use of radar and taking visual bearings of approaching targets, be used to assess the risk of collision and that any action taken to avoid collision must, if the circumstances of the case admit, be positive, made in ample time, and with due regard to the observance of good seamanship.
The rules also require that when two power-driven vessels are meeting on reciprocal or nearly reciprocal courses so as to involve risk of collision, each shall alter course to starboard so that each shall pass on the port side of the other.
There is conflicting information with respect to the last minute action of the Westisle. While the Westisle maintains the helm remained on hard-to-port until collision, the Coastal Destinations reported observing the Westisle make a broad alteration to starboard. Damage to the upper deck structure of the port quarter of the Westisle is consistent with her altering course to starboard just before the collision. The Westisle was thus crossing ahead of the IB No 1 when she was struck on the port quarter by the barge's ramp. In any event, small reciprocal actions taken by each vessel resulted in the close-quarters situation. Neither vessel made a substantial course alteration nor did they stop their engines in good time to avert a collision. The non-standard collision avoidance action taken by each vessel without communicating their intent to each other culminated in the collision.
The collision avoidance action taken by both vessels suggests that neither vessel was aware of the intentions of the other. Despite this, neither vessel sounded the appropriate sound signal prescribed under the Collision Regulations. Instead, the Coastal Destinations sounded a continuous long blast on the whistle which is reserved for a "vessel in distress". At that time, the vessel's head was swinging to port. This would suggest that the need to take collision avoidance measures that are consistent with the Collision Regulations was not fully appreciated by the crew of either vessel.
The master of the Coastal Destinations reported two close-quarters situations with unknown fishing vessels on the same night during this voyage. This fact may indicate that the lights displayed by the tug/barge combination cause confusion to the watchkeepers of other vessels. However, there is insufficient information to show that the lights exhibited by the tug/barge were the only cause of the close-quarters situations.
At a "Vessel Traffic Meeting" held in June 1993, local fishermen identified the issue of lights and poor visibility of barges and various tows as a "long-standing problem on the West Coast".
In 1993, the fishing vessel Bona Vista collided with the tug/barge combination Arctic Taglu / Link 100 (TSB report No M93W1050). Since none of the six persons aboard the Bona Vista survived the collision, it could not be determined if the navigation lights exhibited by the Arctic Taglu (a similar arrangement to that of the Coastal Destinations / IB No 1) were a factor or confused the fishing vessel's operator.
In May 1994, the TSB forwarded a Marine Safety Advisory to the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) (now TCMS) concerning the importance of the navigation lights displayed by vessels such as the Arctic Taglu and Link 100 within the Canadian marine towing industry.
In response, the CCG stated that it had carried out an assessment of navigation light requirements for the Arctic Taglu and Link 100 in 1988 before the vessels first entered into service. At that time, the CCG had decided that the vessels were not "rigidly" connected to form a "composite unit" and evaluated them as a tug-pushing-barge operation. The combination was not lit as a single ship or unit.
In July 1994, the Coroner's Inquest into the Arctic Taglu / Bona Vista accident found the tug/barge combination fell within the description of a "composite unit" and recommended, inter alia, that the CCG "review the various tug boat-barge configurations so that they are licensed in a manner under which they will be required to have navigation lights that will demonstrate their size and the direction in which they are travelling".
In November 1995, in view of the continuing risk of collisions of tug-barge operations in high-traffic areas, the Board recommended that:
- The Department of Transport ensure that the navigation light requirements for tug-and-barge operations facilitate vessel detection and collision avoidance under all operating conditions, regardless of the tug-barge configuration.
(M95 -13, issued November 1995)
In response, TC indicated that international requirements for the lighting arrangements for composite units not rigidly connected have been long established, and that these arrangements are well understood by properly trained professional mariners. However, TC indicated that it would conduct a review of the navigation light arrangements for these vessel combinations operating in Canadian waters. The navigation lights of a tug-and-barge composite unit were discussed at a committee meeting held at the May 1996 Canadian Marine Advisory Council (CMAC). The committee did not find that an amendment to the current requirement was needed. TCMS has indicated that no further review is planned.
In August 1996, the passenger vessel Statendam nearly collided with the tug/barge combination Belleisle Sound / Radium 622 in Discovery Passage, B.C. The tug/barge was exhibiting navigation lights arranged similarly to those displayed by the Coastal Destinations / IB No 1. The pilot of the passenger vessel, an experienced mariner, at first believed that the lights he saw were those of two fishing vessels; however, this was not the major contributing factor to the near-collision. This would suggest that difficulty in clearly identifying the navigation lights displayed by tug/barge units on the West Coast is not limited to the crews of fishing vessels.
In August 1997, in an Action IN REM and IN PERSONAM before the Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division, a family member of those lost on the Bona Vista as a result of the collision with the Arctic Taglu / Link 100 was awarded damages. The judge found, inter alia, that "Had the tug/barge combination been lit as a composite unit, it would have been immediately recognizable by mariners, as a single vessel of large size". It is understood that TC is appealing the ruling.
Information received by the TSB and recorded in its database shows that, since 1989, the Arctic Taglu has been involved in two collisions and five near-collisions with other vessels at night. It is not known, however, if the navigation lights exhibited by the vessel were a factor in these occurrences.
- The Westisle and the Coastal Destinations / IB No 1 were headed on reciprocal courses and in sight of one another in the Strait of Georgia.
- The Coastal Destinations initially altered course only ten ° to starboard.
- The bridge watch of the Westisle did not recognize the lights on the Coastal Destinations / IB No 1 as those of a tug pushing a barge on a reciprocal course, and they altered course to port.
- Both vessels deviated from the Collision Regulations without communicating their intentions to the other.
- As the distance between the two vessels decreased, neither vessel made substantial course alterations nor did they stop their engines in sufficient time to avert collision or to allow them more time to assess the situation.
- Notwithstanding the Board's recommendation M95-13, it appears that a safety deficiency continues to exist in the regulatory provisions that apply to the installation/display of navigation lights on tug/barge combinations in the B.C. towing industry.
Causes and Contributing Factors
The Westisle collided with the Coastal Destinations / IB No 1 because the watchkeepers on the fishing vessel did not recognize the lights exhibited by the tug/barge combination and each vessel took non-standard collision avoidance action without communicating their intentions to the other. The fact that neither vessel made substantial course alterations nor did they stop their engines in sufficient time either to avert collision or to allow them more time to assess the situation contributed to the occurrence.
This report concludes the Transportation Safety Board's investigation into this occurrence. Consequently, the Board authorized the release of this report on .
- Date modified:


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Cities in Danger
It's a new era for climate adaptation: Four out of the five most concerning global risks for the next 10 years are directly linked to the need to adapt to the changing climate (World Economic Forum, 2016). Though these are global problems often discussed at the national scale, urban areas are increasingly seen as having a critical role in the adaptation agenda.
But even in this new era, decision-makers in cities face significant challenges. These include the uncertainty of urban climate hazards, lack of data to understand and track urban vulnerability to climate change, lack of measurement to prioritise adaptation actions, and difficulty integrating adaptation information into current procedures. This makes it difficult for decision-makers to prioritise resource allocations in a milieu of competing priorities. From City Council members to Chambers of Commerce to Civil Servants, without the means to measure adaptation risks, gaps and progress, cities are challenged to get ahead of their climate risks and make decisions to save lives and improve livelihoods.
To address this need, the University of Notre Dame's Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN) will assess the climate vulnerability and readiness of every U.S. city with a population over 100,000 – more than 250 in all – in an effort to help inform decisions by city officials on infrastructure, land use, water resources management, transportation and other adaptive strategies.
Importantly, the Urban Adaptation Assessment (UAA), a 24-month project funded by the Kresge Foundation, will also integrate a social equity analysis, which will investigate how vulnerable groups are disproportionately harmed by climate hazards, such as extreme heat, flooding and extreme cold.
ND-GAIN will collaborate with the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment to compile and analyse each city's data and produce assessments that focus on urban geographies' vulnerabilities and how ready cities are to successfully implement adaptation solutions. The project will also examine adaptation patterns among coastal, drought-prone and single-industry cities, among other subsets.
ND-GAIN Global Adaptation Measurement Tool
Type of Resource: Free
Published by: University of Notre Dame, USA
ND-GAIN produces a tool that measures a number of aspects of a country's vulnerability to climate change effects, and also its readiness to absorb investment that will help combat adverse effects. The tool has a long time-series, which makes it possible to see how countries have fared over time on both measures, and a wide array of visualisation options to allow data to be presented and analysed. The tool covers 181 countries.
A good starting point for understanding the uses of the ND-GAIN resource is to look at how it helps us see how the world overall has evolved over the past 20 years or so (the time series goes back to 1996).
The matrices below show vulnerability and readiness in a quadrant schema, where countries in the top left quadrant (the "red zone") are highly vulnerable and have low readiness to absorb investment, while countries in the bottom right quadrant (the "green zone") are less vulnerable and more ready for investment.
Thus in Figure 1 – and picking out some sample countries for illustrative purposes – in 1996 Haiti, Benin, Kenya, Nicaragua, Egypt and Morocco fell into the red zone; Mexico was in the "amber" zone, with middling vulnerability and readiness; Malaysia was just entering the green zone, while Korea and Singapore were already quite well established there.
20 years of focus on climate change is paying dividends at a global level
Figure 2, the matrix in 2015, shows how, globally, there has been a noticeable overall progression in a "good" direction, namely downwards and rightwards, towards the less vulnerable/more ready quadrant.
This progression indicates that 20 years of focus on climate change and investment to fight it have paid some dividends. However, the fortunes of countries are very mixed. Haiti, Benin and Kenya all remain in the red zone; Nicaragua has progressed slightly in terms of readiness, and is now in the amber zone; but Egypt, Morocco and Mexico have all moved now into the green zone. Malaysia and Korea have also made progress within that zone, but Singapore is now in a world-leading group that includes Denmark, Norway, New Zealand and the UK.
What does ND-GAIN's Country tool measure? The methodology is summarised below
The Vulnerability score measures a country's exposure, sensitivity and capacity to adapt to the negative effects of climate change. Six life-supporting sectors are assessed: food, water, health, ecosystem service, human habitat, and infrastructure. The higher the score, the more vulnerable a country is.
The Readiness score measures a country's ability to attract investments and convert them to adaptation actions. Three components of readiness are assessed: economic, governance and social. 10 economic measures include indicators such as ease of starting a business or enforcing contracts. 4 governance measures include assessments of political risk and control of corruption. 4 social indicators include levels of ICT infrastructure and education.
If we want to understand the reasons for, say, Morocco's progress over the period, we can look at the underlying factors behind its overall score. From the charts below we can see that there has been a steady reduction in the country's vulnerability since the turn of the century, while readiness, which was flat for the first decade, has improved dramatically since 2005.
Drilling down further in the data (but not charted here), we can see that while most sub-indicators of Vulnerability (such as food and water security) have improved, Morocco's ecosystems remain almost as vulnerable as 20 years ago. Similarly, under Readiness, we can see that while economic and social indicators have improved, governance indicators have actually worsened over the period.
ND-GAIN's tools should help countries and funders understand their priorities for addressing vulnerability – Patrick Regan
"ND-GAIN's tools should help countries understand their priorities for addressing vulnerability," says Dr Patrick Regan, Director of the Global Adaptation Initiative at the University of Notre Dame. "Equally, it could help funders to see that, while A, B or C vulnerability issue identified by the country is indeed a threat, before addressing it the country first needs to build capacity or improve governance. It could then create a programme with the country to work through the various steps needed, which should improve the effectiveness of the support the funder provides.
Right now, a lot of attention is being focussed on needs, but attention also has to be paid to adaptive capacity, which is where the readiness measures come in. Investing in solving for needs when there is insufficient capacity to usefully absorb that investment is not an optimal outcome."
Dr Regan says that the ND-GAIN platform is used by a range of actors, from companies, governments and consultants to academia and news media. The team is now working on getting to the next level of granularity below countries. The first manifestation of this is a study of resiliency in 250 cities in the US. This will be expanded over time to major world cities, while for larger countries like Nigeria, ND-GAIN is working on regional-level data.
NDCi.global Comment
Like the Climate Funds Update, we believe that ND-GAIN has a lot to offer in terms of peer comparison. Any country would do well to understand what Singapore has been doing right for more than 20 years to get it into a top-5 spot, but at any level of performance countries can see in this very rich data set what has and hasn't been working for their neighbours or countries elsewhere in the world that face the same issues.
The good news, as the global matrix shows in its direction of travel over the years, is that investing in effective change does produce results. There is clearly, however, a long way to go in terms of generalising best practice.

subset: commoncrawl


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cause it's been far too long since i've posted some of the cool pics i've been taking... and cupcakes i've been baking. and i'm so sick of everything on my blog being like.. wah, my house. wah, bank of america sucks donkey dick....
who cares?!
my blog depressed even me.. AND I'M NOT DEPRESSED!!! lol
there was a classic car show the other weekend and i went alone.. wandered around and took some pics just for fun. it was kinda cool! :)this is the car from the movie peggy sue got married!
and i'm super proud of the next cupcakes. my gf wanted some tiffany blue cupcakes for a birthday, and not only did i get the tiffany blue RIGHT ON.. but this was the first time i'd even attempted to make fondant bows. :)
aren't they cute?
and the boy and i bought new sunglasses the other day. this are our "look mean" faces. clearly, he does the mean face far better than i do.


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The "Plymouth Brethren" were named after the English seaside town of Plymouth, where a sizable number of Christians gathered during the early years of the movement.Early in 1825 in Dublin, Ireland, Dr. Edward Cronin and Edward Wilson began meeting together each Lord's Day morning for the breaking of bread, worship, and study of the Word. Students of the Scriptures, these godly men could not feel at home nor find spiritual food and fellowship in the Anglican Church of Ireland and, since they did not believe in church membership (already being members of the Body of Christ), were not accepted in the relatively few dissenting and independent churches of the day.
In 1830, J. N. Darby left the Anglican priesthood and devoted himself full-time to forming and feeding similar small gatherings both in Ireland and England. They were heeding the Lord's pronouncement in Matthew 18:20, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." They were not seeking to start a movement of any kind, they were not in competition with existing churches, nor did they attempt to influence others to do as they were doing. Nevertheless, in 1827 the little flock included H. Hutchinson, Wm. Stokes, Lord Congleton, J.G. Bellett, and J. N. Darby–the latter being an ex-lawyer, and at the time a cleric in the Irish National Church.
Indian Sub-continent : The early ages of the Brethren movement had the vision of reaching the world with the Gospel of Peace – Jesus Christ and sent missionaries worldwide. It is coined in the pages of history that Anthony Norris Groves, had come to Andhra Pradesh, South India from England. This was followed by many revival meetings in the south by Tamil David and Handley Bird in late nineties of the nineteenth century AD. Then J. G. Gregson, a baptist missionary visited Kerala in 1896 and conducted numerous Bible studies and meetings organized by "MARTHOMA" Church. It was in 1897, he was a speaker at the "Maramon Convention." By the power and leading of the Holy Spirit, he learned the Brethren doctrines and powered various sessions in the Marthoma Church. The Marthoma Vicar(vicar of Kumbanad and Eraviperoor parishes), Rev. P. E. Mammen was then born into God's family and in the year 1897, he (Kumbanattachen), received baptism from a Brethren missionary, Hardley Bird, at Kunnamkulam. The first Brethren assembly meeting in Travancore took place at Kumbanad on 19th March 1899 V. Nagel, the missionary from Germany was leading the flock in the Northern part of Kerala – Kunnamkulam in Thrissur Dist and observered the Lord's Supper according to the New Testament pattern.
Oct 12This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 12th, 2010 at 8:58 amand is filed under History Sketch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


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At the Mercy of the Queen: A Novel of Anne Boleyn by Anne Clinard Barnhill
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: *** (out of 5)
Recommended for: fans of Philippa Gregory and Tudor era historical fiction
Received ARC e-galley through NetGalley.
Back-cover summary:
A sweeping tale of sexual seduction and intrigue at the court of Henry VIII, At the Mercy of the Queen is a rich and dramatic debut historical about Madge Shelton, cousin and lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn.
At the innocent age of fifteen, Lady Margaret Shelton arrives at the court of Henry VIII and quickly becomes the confidante of her cousin, Queen Anne Boleyn. But she soon finds herself drawn into the perilous web of Anne's ambition.
Desperate to hold onto the king's waning affection, Anne schemes to have him take her guileless young cousin as mistress, ensuring her husband's new paramour will owe her loyalty to the queen. But Margaret has fallen deeply in love with a handsome young courtier. She is faced with a terrible dilemma: give herself to the king and betray the love of her life or refuse to become his mistress and jeopardize the life of her cousin, Queen Anne.
My review:
I was excited to read another book from the Tudor period of history, especially since the story was told from a different perspective. The main character is Margaret Shelton, the cousin of Anne Boleyn who comes to court to be one of the Queen's ladies.
Observing the changes in Queen Anne's character and her relationship with the King through the novel is a highlight of this novel. Anne Boleyn is often portrayed unsympathetically, as a scheming, manipulative, heartless woman. Here, in the eyes of a friend, she may be hardened by a political life, but she is otherwise a person who cares about her friends and religion. Still, society blames the corrupt actions of King Henry and his cohorts on the Queen. The King is a weak, spoiled, and unpredictable character, and as his behavior wears on Anne, she begins to lose her temper with him more often, and she heads on the path to her doom.
On the side, Margaret has problems of her own that eventually are entangled with the Queen's problems. However, it's a lot harder to care about her struggles. Margaret, or "Pretty Madge" from Great Snoring (sigh...), is a very flat character. She doesn't seem to have many distinguishable traits other than her beauty. The men who struggle for her affection are similarly uninteresting. Norris is the bad guy who does bad things. Arthur Brandon is the good guy who does good things, but of course, he's not good enough for her because of his illegitimate birth. Gosh, it's like a Nicholas Sparks novel, except instead of a fatal disease, Madge gets the King. The writing flows smoothly enough, but some of the dialogue sounds more awkward than it should be, even given the time period.
I haven't read as much fiction as I'd like from this time period, so at this point, I measure all of these books against The Other Boleyn Girl. I find that this one falls a bit short. What intrigues me about these stories at the royal court are all the intrigues, subtlies, and motivations. Since Madge is naïve and good-intentioned when she comes to court and only slowly learns to be more political as the story goes on, there isn't too much of this on her part or observed in the other big players, characters like Jane Seymour and her family, the Duke of Norfolk, and Cromwell. Without this, it is a light retelling of a larger story that is fun enough to read, but it doesn't linger long in the mind.


text: Fruits of the Democratic Victory Small 320×292 Medium 640×583 Large 1024×934 Download TIFF Original 2400×2188 | (2.0 MB) Description Nast depicts New York corruption under Tammany Hall Ring. Nast's shadows of forthcoming events predicts the Democratic Party victory whereas "to the victors belong the spoils." Keywords ballot-box stuffing, caricatures, cartoonist, Democratic Party victory, Harper's Weekly, kthomasnast, new york corruption, political cartoons, rum king mob, Tammany Hall Ring, thomas nast Galleries Political Cartoons, Political Cartoons of New York Source: Paine, Albert Bigelow Th. Nast: His Period and His Pictures (New York, NY: The Macmillan Company, 1904)


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Blog archive
Jul 7 2013
Vizcaya wedding with celebrity DJ Dirty South by admin in Blog
Miami weddings don't get much bigger than this! Liquid DJs and our sister company Illumene Event Lighting set the stage for Ultra Music Festival's headliner Dirty South to spin one of Vizcaya's largest weddings ever. From running the necessary power by generator to filling the DJ's technical rider to conceiving and fabricating a custom stage, this was by far the wedding of the year!


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Saturday, November 9, 2013
Moonlit Bats
I haven't meant to be m.i.a. from blogging for several weeks. We put our computer in the shop 3 weeks ago and have yet to the get green light that it has been repaired. Enter my two wonderful brothers, who generously purchased a laptop for an early birthday gift. Thanks Dave and Scott!
The day before Halloween I had my new group of K-4th graders create these Egyptian Slit-Faced Bats using charcoal. The backgrounds were created with oil pastel moons, watercolor skies and acrylic branches. To add extra fine spooky branches they could use Sharpie as well. I gave the children several options for creating a spooky watercolor backdrop for their bats, (including a yellow, orange and gray dusk/dawn effect), but it was blue/black skies all around. The last touch was to use white chalk to add moonlit highlights on their tree branches.
3 comments:
Awesome job!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSeptember 18, 2015 at 7:03 AM
What did you use to reference the bat drawing?ReplyDeleteReplies
I had a "How to Draw Cool Stuff" book by Doug Dubosque. But you can find the shorter version "Draw Desert Animals" which includes the Egyptian Slit-faced bat on Amazon. Often I just find a picture of an animal online and break it down into steps myself.Delete
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MEENA DEVI is only 10 years old, but she's the head of her household. She cooks, cleans and takes care of her 11-year-old brother, Sunil, while a 14-year-old brother, Anil, works at a faraway brick kiln in a neighboring state. The three have been orphans since their mother died of starvation three years ago. They have an aunt in their village, but the most she's ever done is send over food to their mud hut.
In June, I wrote an article that appeared in The International Herald Tribune, documenting this family's daily life in the impoverished eastern state of Bihar. E-mails started to pour in the next morning. One was from a record producer in Los Angeles. He grew up in modest circumstances, and told me that he saw himself in Meena. He offered to pay all three children's education and living expenses until they turned 18, an amount equal to $1,200 per year.
It was an opportunity of a lifetime. Why, then, did the children's relatives refuse to let them take it?
Unlike the other scruffy village children, Meena made an effort to stay presentable. She was soft-spoken and polite; she slicked down her bob with spit and kept her face clean. Perhaps this adult inclination was a natural extension of her adult responsibilities.
I'd been introduced to Meena by Mokhtarul Haque, an activist with India's Save the Childhood Movement, known by its Hindi abbreviation B.B.A. The B.B.A. has rescued and rehabilitated trafficked children for over 25 years. Mr. Haque had met with Meena's only surviving relative, her aunt Savitri Devi Manjhi, soon after Meena's mother died in 2009, and Mrs. Manjhi had then urged Mr. Haque to place the children in a government foster home. In June, following the record producer's proposal, Mr. Haque offered the children spots in a B.B.A. school.Continue reading the main story
The B.B.A., like other nonprofit groups, built its own schools partly in response to the sorry state of government foster homes, where corporal punishment is routine and abuse is common. I've met many children who attempted to run away, preferring to take their chances on the street.
But after initially accepting Mr. Haque's offer, the Manjhis quickly changed their minds, insisting they were capable of looking after the children.
Never mind that Meena and Sunil were perpetually hungry and slept without even a piece of cloth to separate their bodies from the hut's dirt floor. Or that the Manjhis trafficked him at age 11 into a dangerous brick kiln soon after his mother died. (In India, children under 14 are permitted to work, but not in hazardous environments. An amendment to India's child labor laws, proposed in August, would ban children under 14 from working anywhere.)
The Manjhis are the product of intergenerational poverty and caste-based marginalization. Like their parents, they're poor, illiterate and seasonally employed. They don't think beyond their daily survival. They're also aware that no matter how bad life gets for them, public assistance is unlikely, and change is an impossible dream. They know they have no one to depend on but themselves and their younger kin. They may have empathy for their niece and nephews, but they can't afford to act on it.
IN a society with few effective regulatory institutions, there's neither an incentive to take responsibility nor repercussions for not doing so. People don't do the right thing because it's easy not to, and there's no reward for doing it. Villagers are preoccupied with their own daily survival. And it's easier for bureaucrats to do nothing.
A lack of accountability not only kills motivation, it encourages outright malfeasance. In India's poorest districts, easily bribed police officers enable trafficking. India, according to Unicef, now has more child laborers under 14 than any other country.
What's most galling about this corrupt behavior is the fact that the current government is making an unprecedented effort to confront poverty. In 2011, according to a World Bank report, India spent over 2 percent of its gross domestic product on poverty alleviation. Over the past 11 years, India's government has sought to provide free midday school meals, a guarantee of 100 days of employment annually to the rural poor and free primary education. But endemic corruption, from the very top down to the ground level, prevents them from being implemented effectively. A lack of transparency and a leakage of subsidies to the nonpoor means that poverty isn't falling nearly as fast as it should be.
The free hot meal is the reason Meena goes to school. But her teachers routinely skip school, three days a week. When teachers don't come, the school stays shut, and there's no meal. A well-funded, well-intentioned program created to educate and feed poor children fails on both counts: Meena not only learns nothing, she also goes hungry.
But it's the Manjhis' choices that have had the greatest impact on Meena. And these, too, were influenced by government failings. The low-caste residents of Meena's village work the land of their upper-caste neighbors, who pay them in grain. To earn cash, entire families find supplemental work in one of the state's many brick kilns, but they don't earn enough to feed themselves adequately.
The government's Public Distribution System, which offers subsidized food and fuel, should cover them. But in 2011 less than 10 percent of the grain intended for Bihar's poor actually reached them. The rest was sold on the black market, bought by wealthier people with fake food ration cards or, worst of all, sold at a markup to the very people meant to receive discounted grain.
Government inefficiency has left the Manjhis poor and hungry, so they have taken control of 14-year-old Anil's earnings. His salary of less than a $1 a day is paltry even by Indian standards. But for the Manjhis, it was still too much to risk losing. And so they refused to let Anil and his siblings leave for school. Unless their economic lot improves, the Manjhis will keep sending him to work at the brick kiln. Sunil will most likely soon join him.
A worse fate awaits Meena. Traffickers masquerading as eligible grooms routinely trick poor families into parting with their daughters, often before puberty. The families succumb because there's no demand for dowry or wedding expenses. New brides are whisked away and sold into bonded labor or to brothels, where they're raped into submission. They almost never return home.
THERE are thousands of Meenas in Bihar and millions of Meenas in India. Individuals, nonprofits and charities can't be expected to step in to save them all from tragedy.
India's deafening aspirations to global power will never be realized if the potential of these millions of children continues to be squandered.
The government must move beyond merely developing ambitious policies — it must also ensure that these policies aren't corrupted. There must be stern reprisals for graft and dereliction of duty. And it must be worthwhile for poor people to do the right thing; they should be rewarded for good behavior. Prosecution of child-labor traffickers and their henchmen must be accelerated. And India needs to overhaul its system of state-run foster homes so that children don't avoid them out of fear.
Only if real change occurs at the top will those at the bottom accept a stake in their community's future. As long as Mrs. Manjhi is hungry, she'll do everything in her power to stay alive — including sending her younger relatives to work. But if she were to receive real support from the government, that wasn't funneled away by corrupt middlemen, she would not need to send Anil to work, and she would be likely to resist the temptation to earn extra cash illegally, for fear of losing state benefits.
Meena and her brothers now have a firm offer to live at a good school. This should be their happy ending. But it isn't. If a child who has so many people fighting on her behalf can't be assured justice, the millions of other children with no such allies have little hope.
The good will of 1,000 record producers in Los Angeles won't change that. Only the Indian government can.Continue reading the main story


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little piggy went to the Vatican, to get a blessing
Send a link to a friend
[January 18, 2014]
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) — With an
oink oink here and a cluck cluck there, animals arrived at the Vatican
on Friday to get a blessing.
The animals, including pigs, chickens, horses, cats and dogs,
were at St. Peter's Square to mark the feast of St. Anthony the
Abbot, the third-century holy man who is the Catholic Church's
patron of animals.
Farmers, ranchers and breeders brought their animals to the
square for a blessing by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the
archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica. Comastri also said a Mass
inside the church for the humans — the animals waited outside.
As well as the spiritual comfort, veterinarians from the Italian
animal breeders association AIA offered free check-ups to pets
brought to the square.
(Reporting by Philip Pullella; editing by Janet Lawrence)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Don't hesitate! Contact an insurance specialist at Dawson Taylor & Company today to create an insurance package that's right for you and your business.


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We have posted the following documentary videos to stimulate the Christian viewers' minds into thinking and/or re-thinking their traditional Christian beliefs, particularly those that are based on church dogma and doctrine. By no means am I endorsing the videos' messages as true or valid. In fact, there are expressed opinions and views by some of the featured resource persons, which I might find questionable or arguably disagreeable or just plain wrong. Nevertheless, take them for what they are basically—seemingly controversial alternative gospel accounts and teachings laden with a unique spiritual richness of their own.
The Secret Lives of Jesus
Jesus — The Lost 40 Days
On Gnostic Christianity
The Lost Gospel of Thomas: The Original Mystical Teachings of Yeshua
Here are some gnostic sayings of Jesus to ponder and contemplate during your quiet time (reproduced from posts originally published in our Facebook page). They are quotations from The Gospel of Thomas.
Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. [And after they have reigned they will rest.]"
Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is within you and it is outside you.
"When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty."
— The Gospel of Thomas —
[ Stephen Patterson and Marvin Meyer Translation]
Jesus addresses Truth seekers, encouraging them to continue working for the illumination of their souls until they realize it. Upon realizing the Truth, the seeker will initially be unsettled or disoriented because spiritual truth is unlike anything a human person is normally accustomed to knowing in the outer world as perceived by the bodily senses.
However, this initial "disturbance" to the human state of consciousness will give way to the transformative enlightenment of the individual, which feels like a marvelous experience of oneness, unity, increasing innate affinity, or a "divinization" (per Teilhard de Chardin) of the universe. Once the spiritual or divine state of consciousness takes root in the mind of the individual, the illumined soul assumes its "divine sonship" as the incarnate Son of God by which spiritual dominion over the world is manifested and exercised.
At this final stage, the illumined soul stays in a state of spiritual rest (the Sabbath) where the seeker is now functioning as a mere beholder of God in the world. There is no becoming or doing of humanhood anymore. There is only a continuing beingness immersed in spiritual peace and divine oneness.
Seek spiritual truth within you, but, at the same time, live your outer life in the world by the truth that is unfolding from within you. Jesus informs us that the search is essentially an inward search in consciousness, yet we are to remain open and receptive even in the outer world to seeing the presence of God everywhere. In the end, we shall realize that the inner world and the outer world are really one in God.
❤ 🙂
Jesus said, "I am the light that is over all things. I am all: from me all came forth, and to me all attained. Split a piece of wood; I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there."
Jesus said, "Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me; I myself shall become that person, and the hidden things will be revealed to him."
His disciples said to him, "When will the kingdom come?"
"It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, 'Look, here!' or 'Look, there!' Rather, the Father's kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people don't see it."
— The Gospel of Thomas —
[ Stephen Patterson and Marvin Meyer Translation]
Here Jesus is describing the nature of the God-Self and the effect of opening one's awareness to the Christ-Truth. When Christhood is realized, the individual undergoes a transformation by which the divine personality of the Godhead, the Christ, begins to express Itself in the individual as his/her mind is illumined with spiritual truth.
Consciousness or Spirit (God) is all that there is, none else apart from it nor anything separate from it. It can be realized as the essence of all form. The individual who takes in or imbibes this awareness of nondual oneness in consciousness, will come to the realization of its truth in himself/herself as his/her true Selfhood and Being. The realization will come about as the result of inner contemplation and silent meditation, not by external activity or by looking for it outside of oneself.
🙂 ❤
Jesus said, "A person cannot mount two horses or bend two bows.
And a slave cannot serve two masters, otherwise that slave will honor the one and offend the other.
"Nobody drinks aged wine and immediately wants to drink young wine. Young wine is not poured into old wineskins, or they might break, and aged wine is not poured into a new wineskin, or it might spoil.
An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment, since it would create a tear."
— The Gospel of Thomas —
[ Stephen Patterson and Marvin Meyer Translation]
There is an essential, fundamental inconsistency and incompatibility between the human state of consciousness (error, material sense, carnality, mammon, the flesh, this world, sinfulness, etc.) and the spiritual/divine state of consciousness (truth, the Spirit, God, "My kingdom," grace, etc.).
In the human condition, this duality is experienced as constant friction and apparent conflict between these states of consciousness as they seem to wrestle for dominion in the mind and in life. Eventually the individual tips the balance in favor of the paradigm shift in transformational awareness by finally awakening to the mystical truth of oneness.
Once this spiritual enlightenment of the mind begins to occur, the old human nature dissolves as (1) the mind becomes UNconditioned (not re-conditioned) and (2) the false self system of the human ego is dismantled. Thus, the individual is reborn to the Spirit and ultimately Christhood is attained.
❤ 🙂
Reference Material


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In Fortified, Alien has mastered the earth, and brief instructions describe the creation of a secret task by the government in an effort to eradicate them. This take-down is done through the completion of a series of maps, where you are tasked to defend the rockets of alien swarms. After receiving the amount of damages, the ship will fall off base and you will lose.
Each map has a number of waves of this army of alien invaders came in, giving players time between waves to form additional structures to keep the spacecraft, leaving you as - hopefully - the last line of defense for any who were able to sneak past your trap. The amount of time between waves depending on the selected difficulty - normal gives you limited time to sell unnecessary structures and new places, while hard to give 15 seconds and Insane allows only 5. When starting the map, your character is given a set amount in-game cash, which is used for the structure.
Killing the enemy during the wave of increasing cash available, which allows you to add new defenses and upgrades between waves. These resources are limited because of the difficulty in progress, so that planning and strategy is key.


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Views Over the Gap
"When I see those gaps, my heart goes out to the kids. They are
our future. I wonder what's going wrong."
—Demetra Skinner, Teacher, Hambrick Middle School, Aldine, Texas
"There is a national interest in closing the achievement gap. ...
Our collective self-interest is at stake."
—Raul Yzaguirre, President, National Council of La Raza
"Just because schools didn't cause the problem doesn't mean they can't solve it."
—Meredith Phillips, Professor, UCLA
"I don't feel a bond with other students in my class."
—Courtney Conwell, 8th Grade Honors Student, Shaker Heights Middle School
"The stakes for under-development in 2000 are much higher than they were in 1900."
—Edmund W. Gordon, Professor Emeritus, Yale University
"Black kids get twice as many of our worst teachers."
—Kati Haycock, Executive Director, The Education Trust
"I used to think white kids were smarter than me. Now I'm ashamed I ever thought that."
—John Jackson, Senior, Shaker Heights (Ohio) High School
"If seeking excellence is acting white, then what is acting black?."
—James Edward Harris, President, Montclair, N.J. Branch of the NAACP
Vol. 19, Issue 27, Pages 19-20Published in Print: March 15, 2000, as Views Over the Gap
We encourage lively debate, but please be respectful of others. Profanity and personal attacks are prohibited. By commenting, you are agreeing to abide by our user agreement.
All comments are public.


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Dear Church Family,
Both of the major political parties have concluded their national conventions. Political pundits and commentators continue analyzing and debating over the escalating ramp up to the presidential elections this coming November. To watch the news, one would think that there is only one election coming up; however, in congress, 34 of 100 seats in the senate are up for reelection, along with all 435 seats in the house of representatives.
"Opinion-formers" weigh in
Still, the big news is the presidential election. Even pastors and theologians have joined the fray. Most recently, James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, has endorsed Donald Trump; and seminary professor Wayne Grudem has written a lengthy discourse on how voting for Trump is "the morally right thing to do." Others have since sought to refute Grudem's arguments and even parodied his logic.
From a different perspective, Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile writes, "assuming Trump and Clinton are my only options, I'd vote for Clinton" and then went on to endorse the sentiment that "evangelical leaders – in particular, conservative evangelical leaders – need to use all the influence God has given them to encourage thinking Christians to vote for Hillary Clinton."
If you're interested, Christianity Today has even put together a list of "endorsements from leading evangelical pastors and opinion-formers." One wonders what one has to do to earn the moniker of "opinion-former," but alas I'm pretty sure I will never know. Frankly, the whole idea of "leading evangelical pastors" actually endorsing a particular candidate and making biblical arguments for their endorsements seems a bit like bowling in someone else's lane.
Staying in my lane
As a pastor, sometimes people will ask me for my thoughts about who to vote for. Certainly I have my own personal opinions and will make my own decision as to who I will vote for; in the right context, I may even share it with you. However, as an ordained minister of the gospel in the church, I take the responsibility and the authority of the office very seriously, such that I try for everything in my public ministry (in preaching, teaching, and writing) to be rooted and grounded on the authority of God's Word. As a confessional church which holds to the Westminster Standards, I also have these to help guide me.
Specifically, when it comes to the moral law (how to define both righteousness and sin according to Scripture), there needs to be clear biblical and confessional ground for making specific declarations about ethics and morality. Yet, many seek to make moral and ethical arguments (attempting to root them in Scripture) for voting for a particular candidate. I suppose some people feel the freedom to do that; I do not. Just because someone holds office in the church, it does not make them an expert in every field.
Politics is compromise
Certainly, the Bible does give clear witness to ethics and morality; the Bible does speak to the issues of our day; however, as someone once said, "Politics is compromise." That statement is not an argument for situational ethics, but a recognition that we live in a fallen world in which (at least, in the political arena) one must learn to do the best that he can (to give and take), while realizing that perfection will never be realized.
Therefore, because God alone is Lord of the conscience – and He has not told us in His word who to vote for, or even how to vote – individual Christians have the liberty of conscience to vote for the person that they deem to be the best for the job. As your pastor, I might give you advice, or try to help you think through some of the issues involved, but I would never presume to try and bind your conscience one way or another.
Imagine if the session of our church decided that it was a moral obligation for the members of our church to vote for a particular candidate, and a sin to vote for another. As a follow-on decision, we would probably need to come up with some kind of mechanism for finding out who voted for whom, and then discipline the "sinners" accordingly. But, you see, the Christian church is not comprised of Republicans or Democrats, but believers in Jesus Christ – sons and daughters of God saved by the grace of God – who must make difficult, and sometimes differing, decisions about political matters and voting.
Additionally, I find it perplexing, as well, when people say that it is the Christian duty of all believers to vote. Personally, I find no such command in the Scripture. Perhaps one could make a Constitutional argument, or reason on some other basis, but not from the Bible. When people say things like, "As a Christian, you have a moral obligation to vote," and then they go on to provide proof-texts that speak about God's exiled people seeking the welfare of the city (Jeremiah 29:7), I sort of scratch my head. Aren't there many different ways to seek the welfare of the city? Is voting really the only way to do that? General moral commands of Scripture may sometimes be rightfully obeyed in different ways by individual believers.
Well, in case you're still wondering and longing for what I have to say about how Christians ought to vote, I've created a document which contains all of my pastoral advice, with all of the relevant biblical proof-texts for who to vote for in the upcoming presidential election. You may view or download that document online here.
The Lord be with you!
- Pastor Peter M. Dietsch


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DJ Marfox from Lisbon in Portugal just dropped this free compilation on our Generation Bass Facebook page and it's a real tasty one featuring a range of artists, some we know and some we don't but will get to know.
In order to understand the foundations of "Zouk Bass" this is a real great start that you need.
Here's what he says:
Tarraxinha Compilation Free
Tarraxinha style is derived from the Kizomba / Semba and raised in Angola in the late 90s.


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The apparatus consists of a horizontal ladder between two goal boxes. The mouse traverses this ladder while the touch sensitive rungs allows the system to measure step time and length, missteps, back steps, and jumps, while cerebellar functioning is tested in a challenge that involves a barrier raising during the run.
ErasmusLadder is a system to study motor performance and motor learning and it is especially interesting for researchers that study the cerebellum, cerebellar disorders, and ataxia (e.g. Parkinson's models). In addition is has been proven useful in mouse models of autism.


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My husband used to be a city truck driver for YRC in St. Louis. A union guy. It was a perfect job for him because he lives in the tiny spaces between the parts of machines, and he loves to be on the road.
He was a Roadway guy. Then they merged with Yellow. Another story.
I had a lot to learn about unions, and was an elitist. Glenn wondered as to how I could be a true liberal, thinking that maybe unions had no place in the workplace anymore. It was a challenge to me.
Pretty high up in the rankings of his terminal, he usually got the bid to work in the place that he wanted. That place was "south city", and the city was St. Louis. He loved the bid because of the architecture in the area, and always carried his camera. Not just for this:
This is the way the arch looked when Glenn and I were kids. We watched the creeping cranes slide up each leg of the new arch slowly, and all of St. Louis waited for the day that the legs would be jammed together, each being built to a slightly different height. Every week pictures of the progress were featured in the Post Dispatch. The skyline from back then seems like a few simple sprouts.
But this is not really the most appealing architecture in south city. And the Gateway Arch is not in south city. But you can see it for a long way, and seeing it now brings all my childhood into view.
What is south city? Budweiser, Lemp, South Grand, "The Hill", Yogi Berra, Joe Gragiola, Stan the Man. It is red brick everywhere. It is German, Italian.
Not as a youth being able to spend much time there, I love it greedily now, and fantasize about the world when that architecture was new.
You could view much of the history of south city through the lens of the development of the Budweiser company.
And you can trace the footprint of south city with the red buildings, old and proud, where the workers worked, and also played. I don't buy any other kind of beer now, being in the diaspora.
Beautiful little red brick public houses were built all over the city to serve Budweiser beer. Most still exist with fabulous detail, a kind of craftsmanship not used today.
Another favorite: the Water Tower in south city.
We dreamed about owning a small house on "The Hill", an Italian neighborhood in south city, along with our acreage in South Carolina. It probably would not have been a good idea for us to be there. It is just as closed as is Charleston, SC in its own way. But there are amazing little brick wonders just down the street from some of the best restaurants in the world.
St. Louis could easily be the story of two beers: Budweiser, surviving, and that made by the Lemp family. Both family stories include lots of juicy details.
Gorgeous brick masses.
So, once in a while a union man with a lower number and more seniority would bid for Glenn's route. These bids took place maybe bi-monthly. Why not? If Glenn wants this bid, always asks for it, it must be good, right? After a stint with south city, the senior driver always let it go back to Glenn.
South St. Louis is a busy place. And while most deliveries of freight to companies need only smaller trucks, once in a while a 53 foot trailer would be used, and Glenn could do this.
It is a mess stopping traffic both ways while you aim the back of a 53 foot trailer, only using mirrors, into a little hole, only slightly bigger than the trailer door, down at least one level from street height. In situations scrapped together among ancient buildings, where nothing like trucks of today even existed.
One day, Glenn had to do this. It didn't happen all that often. He did his job, and a couple of times, had to jump out of the cab to make additional judgements about that tiny dock door. He noticed a coffee shop with big windows across the street, and thought it a good time to take a break while the company workers unloaded their freight.
To Glenn, upon entering the coffee shop, everybody stood up and applauded. One trucker said "I couldn't do that!" And that is why Glenn always got his bid back.


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Syracuse, SUNY-ESF Host Science Exploration Day for Regional Youth
STEM Day on the Hill attracts more than a hundred middle and high school students
Apr 8, 2015 Article by: Rob Enslin
More than a hundred middle and high school students, along with their parents and teachers, recently descended on Syracuse University for a daylong science adventure.
Chemist Mark Braiman was among the dozens of Syracuse and SUNY-ESF professors, staffers, and students who participated in STEM Day on the Hill
Called STEM Day on the Hill, the event was part of a two-day festival known as the Dr. Nelson Ying Tri Region Science and Engineering Fair (Ying TRSEF), featuring three separate competitions. Winners of the science fair portion will advance to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the world's leading pre-collegiate science competition, in May.
While STEM Day on the Hill served students from the North Country, Southern Tier, and Western New York, Ying TRSEF catered to those from 25 Upstate counties. Ying TRSEF is named for the internationally renowned Chinese-American philanthropist who, in this instance, personally matches all donations and grants of up to $15,000.
Gary Bonomo G'10, a chemistry lab supervisor and instructor in Syracuse's College of Arts and Sciences, helped organize STEM Day on the Hill. "It's important for students to explore their talents and to challenge their minds in the STEM fields," he says, referring to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. "STEM Day on the Hill provides rich experiential learning that also is a lot of fun."
Bonomo credits much of STEM Day's success to his colleagues in the Department of Chemistry, the College of Engineering & Computer Science, and Information Technology & Services at Syracuse; and in the departments of Environmental & Forest Biology and Paper & Bioprocess Engineering at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry (SUNY-ESF).
Adds Ying TRSEF Director Mary Eileen Wood G'73: "Such student experiences can ignite a passion that launches a career. Role models and mentors, alike, must pass the torch of STEM knowledge to future scientists and engineers."
Mary Eileen Wood G'73 (far left) looks on, as a student engages in a Skype conversation with Mount Holyoke president Lynn Pasquerella
Faculty, staff, and students from both Syracuse and SUNY-ESF joined volunteers from area companies to oversee various events and activities. Topics included electrical engineering, protein analysis, water hardness titration, wildlife and botanicals, scientific glassblowing, paper science, and anti-hacking.
The program also featured live Skype conversations with Tony Jimenez, founder, president, and CEO of MicroTech, a service-disabled veteran-owned business; and Lynn Pasquerella, president of Mount Holyoke College, as well as a distinguished philosopher and ethicist.
SUNY-ESF professor Gary Scott gives a demo-lecture on paper engineering
"Our goal is to encourage students to learn beyond the classroom," Bonomo adds. "We're helping develop the next generation of scientists and engineers--a rewarding experience, indeed."
Contact Information
Ron Enslin
Ron Enslin


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Isn't this just cute as a button??
Do any of you have a bunch of miscellaneous buttons lying around that you've somehow accumulated over the years but haven't a clue what to do with them all? Well, here's a great project idea to put them to good use! Over at Modge Podge Rocks! she has created this adorable button art that's super easy to recreate for yourselves. I know I will definitely be doing this very soon! Check out her awesome tutorial here!
And if you aren't a follower of Modge Podge Rocks!, I suggest you become one immediately! There are TONS of amazing craft ideas that I know I'm just dying to try! And who doesn't love Modge Podge?! :0)


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Your Next Philadelphia Computer Repair Can Cost 10% Less than Usual
DON'T PAY ANY MORE FOR REPAIRS than you have to!
Got a broken laptop, hard drive, or smartphone? Head to Scorpion Computers and get 10% OFF on the labor for any computer repair in Philadelphia!
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Areas of interest
- Research: malnutrition; environmental enteropathy; probiotics; atopy; antibiotic-associated diarrhoea; haemoglobin / red cell polymorphisms; malaria
- Capacity development: working in partnership with colleagues in low-income countries to improve children's health and well-being; eLearning
- Clinical: paediatric gastroenterology
Professor Allen joined LSTM in September 2014, with the mission to further develop global child health by creating exciting opportunities in the UK and overseas in research, clinical practice and teaching. He holds an Honorary Consultant Paediatrician post at Alder Hey Children's Hospital where the main aims are to develop the hospital's international programme and to advance clinical research in paediatric gastroenterology.
Steve is the Chair of the Joint BSPGHAN / NIHR-Children Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition Research Working Group. He was the International Officer for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) from 2011-15.
Prior to the LSTM appointment, he was Professor in Paediatrics and International Health at the College of Medicine, Swansea University and Honorary Consultant Paediatrician, Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board, UK for 12 years. In previous appointments, he has undertaken research, clinical practice and teaching with the Medical Research Council Laboratories, The Gambia and the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford and Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research.
Steve's main research interests are in paediatric gastroenterology with a specific focus on interventions to reduce the intestinal inflammation that occurs across a broad range of conditions including inflammatory bowel disease, food intolerance and malnutrition. He has undertaken clinical research in probiotics in the prevention of atopy in infants and also antibiotic-associated diarrhoea in older people, malaria and the protective effect against malaria of inherited haemoglobin and red cell variants.


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February 08, 2016
In certain high-risk countries, at first glance it may seem impossible to engage in government procurement without paying bribes. But many times there are in fact some businesses who are able to win government contracts, complete their work, and get paid, all without paying bribes. How do they do it?
To answer this question, a growing number of academics, development workers, and corruption specialists are turning to the "positive deviance theory." Originating in international public health and nutrition studies, positive deviance theory relies heavily on statistics, and it has now been applied in a myriad of contexts, including extortion situations.
When employees are faced with improper requests for a bribe, corporate compliance officers often instruct their colleagues to refuse the request, walk away from the situation, and report these demands to a supervisor or manager. The uniqueness of the positive deviance approach is that it attacks the anti-corruption problem from a different perspective – focusing on engagement with those who request bribes, rather than on withdrawal. The goal is to draw lessons from the experiences of those who are already able to ethically and successfully handle extortion and potential extortion situations.
To find out more, watch the TRACE interview of Bruce Horowitz, founder of the Center for the Study of Bribery and Extortion Situations, discussing the lessons of positive deviance for anti-bribery programs. This video, normally only available to TRACE members, will be publicly accessible on the TRACE Trends blog throughout the month of February. The video is available here.
Also this month, TRACE is sponsoring the Innovation in Anti-Bribery Compliance Award, which recognizes creative, far-reaching efforts by multinational companies to develop leading anti-bribery practices that advance transparency in business. To submit a nomination, download and complete the nomination form here. The deadline for submissions is February 12, 2016.
For more on this topic, please see the following resources:
Positive Deviance Initiative website
The Use of Positive Deviance in Government Functionary Extortion Situations
Facilitation Payments in Customs & Ports – Part 1
Click here to subscribe to TRACE Trends: A Compliance Conversation and receive email notifications as new posts are published.


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Thursday night I heard a wonderful concert by eighth blackbird, in Zankel Hall. There was a new Steve Reich piece, Double Sextet, and then an extravaganza — music plus exuberant staging — from the three Bang on a Can composers, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and Michael Gordon. Among much else, this was a real New York event, highlighting music by two generations of composers whose sound just about screams "New York." Steve Reich was New York in the 1970s and early 1980s, and Bang on a Can — not that they don't have other influences — come in a direct line from him. That was especially clear at the start of their piece, with a rippling pattern of repeated things that wouldn't have been possible without Reich showing the path.
This was a happy concert, too — pulsing music, music full of ideas and surprises, exuberant music (though it could be quiet and lyrical, too). One great (repeated moment) — big happy chords, bright major triads, in the Bang on a Can piece, played on percussion and accordion, with eighth blackbird's enthusiastically grinning pianist handling the accordion.
But the audience could have been much bigger. Thousands of people in New York would have loved this concert, and might well have turned out for them, if they'd only known. I've seen those people, at the Bang on a Can marathon a year ago, at the Wordless music orchestra concert, at Sufjan Stevens's show at BAM, and maybe at the Red Buill orchestra concert a couple of years ago, who filled Carnegie Hall, though that crowd was more club-glamorous than the people at the other three events. This also is at least in part the audience the new "Evening Music" show on WNYC means to attract.
And of course these people weren't at Zankel because nobody tried to attract them. This wonderful concert took place under the old classical paradigm, in which new music concerts have a minority place, and get presented in small, restricted circumstances, on the assumption that not many people will come. Zankel is a terrific, stylish space, but still it's part of that old paradigm and the audience for eighth blackbird was to some extent the familiar new-music in crowd.
So what could be done? Get the Wordless Music e-mail list, and promote the concert to everyone on it. That's a start. But then you have to get viral marketing started. I think you have to start working early, to get consciousness of this event circulating. One place to start would be music schools, not just because students who want to play new music would love working with eighth blackbird, but because even students — a lot of them, anyway — who don't take much interest in new music would have loved this event. So get eighth blackbird a residency at one of New York's music schools, have them work there over the course of a year, have students play these two pieces.
That last would be natural. The Reich involves two sextets, which at this concert were both eighth blackbird twice, live and on tape. So have students be the other sextet. And singing in the dead of night is modular, divided into sections that could easily be alternated by various ensembles. Or, since the piece is so exuberantly staged, players could even replace each other in the middle of a section.
Get this into music schools, get students talking about it, and hordes of them might show up for the concert.


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With prefabricated steel structure building product of form a complete set of components as the center, 3 d model of component parts and the 3 d model of digital, to component parts for the link joint production and processing factories and sales installation companies, and will be aggregated into component parts manufacturers resources platform.
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Hello :)
Today we have a super fun reveal Spread Your Wings Academy
with Finnabair CT!
Every time I want to create any type of project, the first thing to do is to choose the right Art Basics for my project. And every time I do that, I find the Soft Matte Gel on my table waiting for me to play with Mica powders. I love making custom waterproof paints, because they don't react with water and give me full control when I'm adding different layers of media. I think they are the perfect base to work with in mixed media projects, like these tiny cute jars.
These jars are so tiny that the chipboard letters look like giants on them!
I made two custom paints with Soft Matte Gel and two shades of Mica Powders (Blue Opal Magic and Pale Silver) and painted the jars inside and outside. This paint works perfectly as a glue too, so I placed the Roman Numerals directly on the paint and let it dry.
Then I added some White Gesso and Platinum Crackle Paste here and there. I spread some Silver Micro Beads and let it dry.
While I was waiting the media to dry, I altered the 2Crafty Chipboard letters and snowflakes. I used the two shades of custom paints to paint them and spread some glitter on them. This paint drys very fast, so the chipboard where pretty quickly ready to use on my project. I twisted some silver wire around them and attached the letters on the jars. Then I tied small bows with silver thread and glued the snowflakes on them.
I also altered three Pendant Cups with the Blue Opal Magic custom paint. I painted them first with Black Gesso and then painted the opal color. It really looks awesome on black surface! I spread some Silver Micro Beads and Pearl Glass Glitter and let it dry. Then I attached some fancy holiday grass I had in my stash and secured it with a brad. The cups have a little hole in the middle and the brads fit perfect in there! The cups themselves also match perfect on the holes of the jars!
Last thing to do was to paint the jars and the letters with Snowflake Paste and spread some Frosted Mica Flakes and Glitter on the paste.
***see full supplies list here
Thank you for visiting!
Have a lovely crafty day!


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MMF MediaPLUS Cash Drawers
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Available in 3 convenient sizes and your choice of printer driven, serial, or USB interfaces, the MMF MediaPLUS cash drawer can fit into virtually any location. Under counter mounting brackets or an optional peripheral platform allow you to save vital counter space. The durable powder coat finish comes in your choice of black, putty, cool white, or storm gray, and holds up against even the roughest treatment. The durable and cavernous design of the MMF MediaPLUS cash drawer means you will have many years of worry free use.


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I have a situation similar to this photo (except my "dormer" is 24 feet long), focusing on the upper gutter: I think it makes the most sense to catch rain/debris from a roof valley in the main gable dormer gutter.
To do this it looks like the end of the gutter needs to be fabricated to have a smaller angle than the (non-dormer) roof angle.
But my seamless gutter guy is saying this isn't commonly done and the lower gutter is usually the one that catches the valley rain/debris.
Do I need a new seamless guy or is he right?


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Christine Laine, MD, MPH, Editor in Chief; Kay Dickersin, PhD; Cynthia Mulrow, MD, MSc, Senior Deputy Editor
Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M15-2978.
Requests for Single Reprints: Christine Laine, MD, MPH, American College of Physicians, 190 N. Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106; e-mail, firstname.lastname@example.com.
Current Author Addresses: Dr. Laine: American College of Physicians, 190 N. Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106.
Dr. Dickersin: Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe Street, Room E6152, Baltimore, MD 21205.
Dr. Mulrow: University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, TX 78229.
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Laine C, Dickersin K, Mulrow C. Time to Douse the Firestorm Around Breast Cancer Screening. Ann Intern Med. 2016;164:303–304. [Epub ahead of print 12 January 2016]. doi: https://doi.org/10.7326/M15-2978
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Published: Ann Intern Med. 2016;164(4):303-304.
Published at www.annals.org on 12 January 2016
Breast Cancer, Cancer Screening/Prevention, Hematology/Oncology, Prevention/Screening.
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