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Armstrong's Pavilion C filled with the sound of popular Indian music, laughter and conversation. The smell of traditional Indian paneer tikka permeated the room while some ate, some played trivia games and others received henna tattoos. Some were even wearing traditional Indian clothing.
The Indian Students Association held its second-annual "A Night in India" event on Saturday night with the goal of spreading awareness and understanding of Indian culture.
The room was filled with different stations with information on the country of India and the organization's philanthropy projects, henna tattoos, a photo booth and a table of traditional Indian cuisine. Some members of ISA hosted trivia games with questions about Indian culture and history.
The Indian Students Association, or ISA, is a student-led organization consisting of roughly 70 students, Indian and non-Indian alike. They wish to both learn more about Indian culture and spread knowledge to other students on Miami's campus.
"Miami is not the most diverse school," said ISA president Shervani Patel. "We want to diversify it a little bit and bring our culture to Miami."
For the last two years, ISA has hosted the "A Night in India" event in order to spread knowledge and understanding of Indian culture, as well as to raise awareness of their annual Diwali event.
Diwali is a traditional Hindu holiday, also known as the Festival of Lights, which signifies the triumph of light over darkness. ISA hosts a dance event in Hall Auditorium in order to celebrate Diwali and teach Miami students the importance of the holiday. Each year's Diwali event has a theme. This year's, called "How I Met Your Bhabhi," is themed after the popular sitcom "How I Met Your Mother."
ISA also hosts a large event in the spring in order to celebrate Holi, another Hindu holiday, which celebrates the arrival of spring. This event takes place in central quad, where participants throw colored powder at each other.
In addition to the events ISA hosts, it completes a philanthropy project each semester. This year's project, which was advertised at Saturday's event, is raising money to donate to World Relief in order to help the victims of the three hurricanes that ravaged Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico this summer.
ISA hosts a "Bridge to Asia" dinner every year in order to raise money for its philanthropy projects. At this event, members of ISA cook lots of traditional Indian food and charge $5 attendance. All of the money raised from the event goes to the philanthropy fund, which makes it possible for ISA to complete its projects.
ISA also hosts several smaller events throughout the semester, such as blood drives and fundraisers at Chipotle.
One of the organization's main goals is to help Indian students maintain their traditions.
According to Tulsi Patel, the Diwali Co-Chair, she became involved with ISA for just that reason.
"I've always been a part of the Indian culture," Patel said. "I love dancing, and my culture means a lot to me. I was born and raised in America, but I really like having two different cultures."
Students interested in learning more about Indian culture, or becoming more in touch with their Indian roots, can email the president, Shervani Patel, to express interest.


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Hello babies!!! We are one hour away from the stage here in Paris. The Supersuckers should be going on any second now. So far so good. We got into Paris fine, easy flight then got promptly pulled over by Les Flics for driving a van painted flat black, evidently a non non en Paris. Once on our way we slept the first 12 hours easily.
Gibson has loaned us three new guitars 2 Les Paula and 1 SG. Ludwig has loaned Jeremy a flashy new kit. I'm rocking some cool new pants and we're playing at least 6 new songs. We're traveling in a smaller bus, the 'short bus' as we call it. Pretty styling, DVD players in every bunk and a hard drive with 200 glorious time wasters or movies you may call them. We have a new crew too, three Brits and a Canuck to keep me company. They all seem real hung ho.
Today we did a shitload of interviews, including Rock Hard, Extreme Guitar and Batterié, the drum magazine. We also did an TV interview that 2 million people will watch to promote our French tour in April.
Okay,hours have past, the show is over. First show on tour , SOLD OUT!!! 900 people!! What can we say, Paris fucking rocks. The audience was outstanding, totally on fire. Belgium tomorrow. I only hope they can keep up. France hit a high water mark.
Love from the road

subset: commoncrawl


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The Balance Cushion is an inflatable cushion used for core strength and balance exercises. Made from a tough non-toxic PVC they can hold up to 100kgs safely. The Balance Cushion features both a smooth and nodule side both of which can be used for any exercise. The unstable surface provides a whole new range of challenging exercises involving core muscle recruitment.
Tough Non-Toxic PVC
Holds up to 100kgs
Smooth & Nodule Side
Diameter: 34cm (13")
Weight: 1kg
The soft nodules on the unstable side are soft and durable and provide far more grip than the smooth side. By increasing or decreasing the amount of air within the cushion you can can heighten or lower the difficulty of your exercises. More air decreases the difficulty by making the cushion firmer and more stable. Likewise, less air increases the difficulty by making the disc-cushion softer and unstable.
Product comes in Coloured Cardboard Box Packaging.
Buy Balance Cushion from Fitness Market and save!
With our efficient dispatching and quick delivery throughout Australia, Balance Cushion can be yours sooner.


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MyVetStoreOnline . . . is an online store solution, designed to give you the customization you want and the convenience you need. You choose the products you offer, the prices you're charging for those products, and even who is able to shop at your store. Give your customers access to diets, medications, toys, treats and supplies; all with an intuitive system that makes ordering easy for your clients and management easy for your staff.
Easy Dose It! Also available through MyVetStoreOnline, our single-dose offering is a great way to ensure accurate, timely medication compliance for your feline and canine patients. Easy Dose It! helps your patients stay healthy, saves your clients time and hassle, and helps you build an even stronger practice, based on exceptional service and value. Each month, a single dose of preventative medication is mailed directly to your client – and shipping is free. Pet owners no longer have to remember when meds are due because the right dose arrives in the mail, right on time. Your client pays by the dose via automated credit card payment.
Scheduled Orders In addition to their monthly preventatives, your customers can easily set recurring orders of any product available on MyVetStoreOnline. From bottles of medication to bags of food, scheduled ordering allows your customers to plan in advance. Both you and your customer will clearly see the exact dates for the future orders, and both you and your customer have the ability to make changes to these orders at anytime.
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Pharmacy Operations and Privacy MyVetStoreOnline is operated by JAT Pharmacy, LLC a wholly owned subsidiary of Midwest Veterinary Supply, Inc. JAT Pharmacy LLC is a licensed pharmacy dispensing FDA, EPA and USDA approved pharmaceuticals, medications, therapeutic and wellness diets. JAT Pharmacy, LLC, does not currently ship to: Alaska or Hawaii. In addition, we do not procure, store or dispense controlled substances or regulated items. Midwest Veterinary Supply, Inc. and JAT Pharmacy, LLC respect the privacy of both you and your customers. Information you provide about your customers during prescribing and ordering processes will never be shared with anyone. This information is used solely to ensure proper processing, shipping and billing of MyVetStoreOnline orders.
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Created from premium, Japanese spring steel, these springs will allow the trouble-free use of more demanding, higher performance cams like the Hot Cams Gold Series and Builder Series camshafts.
For more information regarding spring rate, coil bind and valve lift, go to the individual product listings for specific information regarding the Gold Series springs for your application.
Hot Cams, Inc.
Copyright © 2017
All Rights Reserved
2751 Parkside Circle
Urbandale, IA 50322, USA


text:
Laying firm foundations
Is your school involved in a PFI project under Building Schools for the Future? MST's education law expert Mark Blois offers a vital guide to governors' legal responsibilities.
The scale of private finance initiatives in education is difficult to overstate. There are currently 845 schools involved in 107 PFI projects in England, and roughly half of the Government's flagship Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme will be paid for using the scheme.
There are a number of different bodies involved in any BSF PFI project and most of them will require legal advice upon various aspects of the process. The importance of one such body, and the need for it to receive legal advice, is frequently overlooked. A school's governing body plays a particularly important role in the BSF process and this means there are significant legal obligations upon it.
It is worth reminding ourselves about some of the legal responsibilities and obligations that rest upon the governing body. A range of duties and powers have been conferred on governing bodies by the various education acts down the years. Of these, the main duty is to take general responsibility for the conduct of the school with a view to educating pupils and promoting high standards of educational achievement.
In discharging this obligation governors are required to act at all times with honesty and integrity and must be ready to explain their actions and decisions to staff, pupils, parents and anyone with a legitimate interest in the school. Governing bodies are corporate bodies and have a legal identity separate from the individual governors.
Two things flow from this. Firstly, decisions that have been made properly will be binding on all the governors. Secondly, individual governors are generally protected from personal liability as a result of the governing body's decisions and actions. Provided that they act honestly, reasonably and in good faith, any liability will fall on the governing body even if it has exceeded its powers.
Specifically, by virtue of section 50(7) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, governors do not incur any personal liability in respect of anything done in good faith in exercising their power to spend a school's budget share. An example of an act not done in good faith is fraud.
The agreement of contracts relating to BSF projects is something that most governing bodies will see fit to delegate to the chair and headteacher. Individual governors have no power or right to act on behalf of the governing body, except where the whole governing body has delegated a specific function to that individual, or where regulations specify that a function is to be exercised in a particular way.
A governing body can delegate any of its statutory functions to a committee, a governor or the headteacher, subject to prescribed restrictions, but each governing body will remain accountable for any decisions taken, including those that have been delegated. Any individual or committee to whom a decision has been delegated must report to the governing body in respect of any action taken or decision they make.
In a BSF PFI project a private sector consortium, usually including a building firm, a bank and a facilities management company, establishes an independent legal company called a special purpose vehicle (SPV), which enables the organisations involved to work together under one umbrella. The SPV bids for a single contract which will be awarded by the local authority. They then proceed to design and build the project in line with the client's requirements.
Once the proposed outcomes of the project for a school have been agreed and the local authority has satisfied the school's governing body that PFI would give best value for money, the local authority must then seek support from the Department for Children, Schools and Families for the project to go ahead. If the project bid is successful and the DCSF has indicated its provisional support, the local authority then takes the lead in the project, through a partnership with the private sector consortium.
The governing body of the school that is benefiting from a BSF project will need to sign governing body agreements (GBAs) with the local authority during the process. These are critical documents which need to be considered very carefully by governors. It is sensible for governing bodies to seek legal advice in relation to GBAs.
Early on in the process there will be a GBA for design and build. This is an agreement by the governing body to allow the construction works to go ahead and that the building will be properly maintained in the future. It does not detail the construction works that will take place or include any plans for the school.
Financial support
As the process proceeds, governors will also need to sign a GBA that will deal with the funding of the project. In a BSF PFI project, the private sector consortium raises money to meet the cost initially, and then the local authority will then provide both capital and revenue funding. Grant support for the capital element of local authority PFI is available from central government. Once a PFI contract is signed, the project receives financial support from the Government to assist with the cost of building and maintaining the premises.
The promise of support is given in the form of a letter, which sets out a level of 'PFI credits' issued for that project. PFI credits are a measure of the private sector investment which will be supported, and act as a promise that PFI grant can be claimed once the project is operational. The level of grant is then based on the level of PFI credits issued.
These funds contribute the capital repayment element of the Unitary Charge paid to the private sector provider annually in return for the availability of the school building, rather like a mortgage. However, the school's governing body is also required to agree to pay the local authority an annual amount, usually the part of the
Unitary Charge that relates to the facilities management content of the contract. The PFI contract has the first call on the school's budget and so the local authority must have written approval from a governing body to use its delegated budget in any way. This means the governors will be required to sign a GBA early in the PFI process.
This will then be reflected in a revised delegated budget for the length of the contract period.
Governing bodies need to make sure that they are clear about their rights and responsibilities under the GBA and that they are involved in all stages of performance monitoring. They will have valuable input to make, particularly on the practicalities of the mechanisms agreed. They also need to agree with the local authority how changes in requirements would be dealt with and how the payment mechanism will operate.
Above all, before entering into the GBA contract, a governing body must be satisfied that the contract is in the best interests of the school. To reach that conclusion they need to consider how important the project is to the work of the school, as well as ensuring that the contract provides enough flexibility to allow future developments at the school without undue constraints. This is unlikely to be achievable without legal advice.
Managed service
The third aspect of contractual commitments that a school governing body may be required to enter into as part of a BSF scheme is a GBA relating to an ICT managed service. A significant aspect of PFI is that the private sector consortium will provide other services such as catering, cleaning, grounds maintenance and in some cases ICT. The consortium provides these services for an annual fee (just like rent), with the contract also typically lasting 25 to 30 years. This sometimes results in the school's technical and support staff being transferred under TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 to the private sector consortium. Once the scope of projects and the range of services to be provided by the PFI contractor have been determined, agreement has to be reached about which staff should be transferred and on what basis.
BSF also allows for separate ICT PFI projects which cover the management and supply of services across a whole school or whole local authority. A feature of these projects will be that practically all technical IT staff in schools will be outsourced to private companies. So even those schools who are not taking part in a new build or refurbishment may be required to take part in the part of BSF that concerns ICT provision. This follows a recommendation by Becta, the Government's education
IT agency, that to save money through economies of scale, ICT equipment and services should be bought by large organisations such as local authorities, and not by individual schools.
The ICT element is probably one of the most controversial aspects of the programme. Recent press coverage suggests that it has been causing rifts between schools and local authorities, with some schools concerned about inadequate budgets and receiving unsuitable and badly specified ICT systems. The centralised procurement method also makes it challenging for school governors to fulfil their legal obligations described above.
In summary, a school's governing body is under significant legal duties and obligations, and these need to be brought to bear in relation to all BSF-related contracts that the governing body enters into on behalf of the school. As with any contract, legal advice may be appropriate to demystify the draft contractual papers and ensure that the school provides input to them in a way that promotes their overall objectives to provide better education for pupils.
Mark Blois is an education law expert at Browne Jacobson. Please visit www.brownejacobson.com, email firstname.lastname@example.com or call 0115 976 6000.
Taken from Managing Schools Today Issue 17.6
- i-wigt - what is good teaching?
- wigl – what is good leadership?
- project-based learning resources
- creative teaching and learning
- school leadership and management
- every child
- professional development today
- learning spaces
- vulnerable children
- digital learning
- leadership briefing
- manager's briefcase
- school business


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Smart Car Vending Machine in Japan
Smart Marketing in Japan
The clever "vending machine" pictured above is located in Japan. You can't really buy a smart car from it, but you can get brochures and info about the various smart models. Yeah, it is anti-climactic.
Smart Car: Good and Bad
The smart fortwo is certainly a mixed bag. While the diesel version gets in the 60+ miles per gallon range and can be run on biodiesel, the gasoline version is only rated at a combined 36 miles per gallons by the EPA. But that doesn't take away from the smart's impact in making very small urban cars more mainstream, and making other compact cars look bigger in comparison.
Upcoming Smart-like Cars
The teacher might soon be surpassed by the students: Toyota's iQ urban microcar looks like it might be more practical with its 3+1 seating configuration, and it will probably have better performance and fuel economy than the smart car in the gasoline model. There's also the all-electric Mitsubishi's i MiEV which shares many design elements (though it is bigger).
Smart Car
Smart Car: How Smart is It?
Motorcycle Engine in smart Car
Hybrid Technologies to Produce Electric Smart Car
More about the Smart Vending Machine
SMART Car Vending Machine Only Dispenses Marketing Materials, False Hope
The Green Picture: A smart Vending Machine
Smart Car Vending Machine in Japan
Smart Car: Good and


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Mrs. CubbageConcert Band
Welcome to my Website! I hope both parents and students find it
useful. I have been teaching music in the Southeast Delco School District for
17 years. Currently I teach grades 4-12 at Darby Township School and Academy
Park High School. I am the band director at both schools, as well
as the orchestra director for the district musical.
Before working in this district, I attended West Chester University of
Pennsylvania. There, I studied Music Education and my major instrument was the
flute. I received my Bachelor's degree in 2001. I earned my Masters in Secondary
Education at WCU in 2007. In addition, I hold a certificate in Technology
If at anytime you wish to speak with me, please feel free to call.


text:
- Brienne Boortz
- Pork Green Chili
5 lbs. pork loin, diced
2 onions
¼ c. garlic
½ lb. butter
3 poblano chile peppers
2 jalapeño chile peppers
10 roasted green Anaheim chile peppers
1 c. all-purpose flour
pinch cumin
pinch garlic powder
pinch salt
pinch pepper
pinch chili powder
¼ c. lime juice
6 qts. pork or chicken stock
12 oz. tomato juice
cilantro, cheese or chips (for garnish)
Dice pork loin into ¾-inch squares. Mince onions and garlic. Put pork, onions and garlic in a pot with the butter and sauté for 5 minutes on medium heat.
While your pork is cooking, roast, peel and seed the poblano, jalapeño and Anaheim peppers. Then dice them into half-inch pieces and add to pork mixture. Let simmer for 5 more minutes. Add the flour to the pot, and let cook in butter for another 5 minutes.
Next, add all spices, lime juice, chicken or pork stock, and tomato juice, and let simmer for 20 minutes, then enjoy. Top with fresh cilantro, cheese or chips.
Our green chili at Phantom Canyon is distinct, and we use fresh local chiles when in season. The key to the flavor of our soup is in the roasting of the ingredients. It brings out a natural smoky flavor. Our green chili is served with flour tortillas for dipping.
— Submitted by Phantom Canyon Brewing Co. sous chef Matthew Brotherton and prep supervisor Jimmy Dodge


text:
The Red system of bacteriophage λ consists of three proteins that promote DNA recombination initiated at dsDNA breaks or at the overlapping ends of the linear λ chromosome (1). The exo gene (redα) encodes λ exonuclease, a 24-kDa protein with 5´→3´ exonuclease activity (2). The bet gene (redβ) encodes the 29-kDa β protein, which binds ssDNA and promotes annealing of complementary strands (3). The gam gene (redγ) encodes the 16-kDa γ protein, which binds and inhibits host nuclease enzymes (4).
• Bind to the host RecBCD protein and inhibits host nuclease enzymes
Quality Control
Quality control is performed following the production of each new lot of product to ensure that it meets the quality standards and specifications designated for the product.
Lambda gamma is free from detectable endonuclease and RNase activities.
Protein purity
The physical purity of this enzyme is ≥99% as assessed by SDS-PAGE with Coomassie® blue staining (see figure below).
E. coli cells carrying λ redγ gene.
Contents & Storage
• Lambda Gamma
• 10x Lambda Gamma reaction buffer
Store all contents at -20 °C.
10x Lambda gamma reaction buffer
670 mM Glycine-KOH 25 mM MgCl2 500 μg/ml BSA pH 9.4 @ 25°C.
Storage Buffer
50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 0.1 mM EDTA, 1 mM β-mercaptoethanol, 1 mM DTT and 50% (v/v) glycerol.
Inactivated by heating at 70°C for 20 min.
1. Poteete AR. FEMS Microbiol Lett 2001; 201:9 -14.
2. Little, J.W. (1981). Gene Ampli. Anal. 2, 135-145.
3. Kmiec E, Holloman WK. J Biol Chem 1981; 256:12636 -12639.
4. Marsic N, Roje S, Stojiljkovic I, Salaj-Smic E, Trgovcevic Z. J Bacteriol 1993;175:4738 -4743.3617 3619


text:
Our Mission
The Coastal Recovery Community Center is a safe, sober space, where staff is dedicated to helping and encouraging all pathways of recovery, while eliminating stigma and discrimination faced by recoverees.
Help Us Help You
The Center is a place where everyone is respected, appreciated, and listened to.
We will meet you wherever you are in your recovery.
All pathways of recovery are welcomed and encouraged.
While at The Center people are expected to be working toward their recovery.
All conversations at the Center are confidential. People's privacy will always be respected.
Disruptive people will be asked to leave.
Photography of anyone is prohibited without their prior permission.
Smoking is prohibited inside the center. All smoking must be done in a designated smoking area outside the building.
The use of drugs or alcohol is prohibited at the Center or on the Center property.
Weapons are prohibited inside the Center or on the Center property.
Loitering is prohibited outside the Center and on the Center property.
This is your Recovery Center, please respect it and the above guidelines.
Please call with any questions or stop by and check out our newly renovated center!


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About CETERIS Business Property
At Ceteris we provide an extensive range of business space solutions within business parks and business centres across the Clackmannanshire and Stirling area of Central Scotland. Located equidistant from Glasgow and Edinburgh (30-40 mins) it is the perfect location for any type of business.
We provide attractive fully serviced offices, industrial and business units in popular locations, with great networks of public transport routes and plenty parking. As well as providing business offices we have cost-effective options for flexible working including hot desk, shared office and virtual office options.
All of our staff at Ceteris are experienced and professional individuals who work closely with customers to find the perfect accommodation solution. We are here to discuss your requirements and find a solution, our customers are our top priority.
Whatever you need for your business premises we can find you a solution. Get in touch today or use our map below to drill into our list of available properties.
Meet the Team
Angela Ogilvie – Operations Director
As Operations Director, she manages all aspects of our buildings, tenant liaison and IT infrastructure, ensuring that the over 150 tenants who have chosen a Ceteris property are afforded the first class customer service she sets as a priority.
Joan Evans - Reception & Telecoms Manager
Eva Gardiner - Facilities Manager
Hugely experienced Eva, along with leasing flexible and cost-effective property, makes sure she obtains the best possible prices and service contracts for our all of our buildings which, in turn, provides tenants with the best possible financial package during their time with us.
Steven Dalgleish - Maintenance Manager
A perfectionist, Steven has been with Ceteris for over 20 years, is fully NEBOSH qualified and is responsible for the Health & Safety policy across the company. He is highly skilled across all trades and leads his team by example, keeping a keen eye in particular on the development of the Modern Appretices and younger members of his team.
Offices, Industrial Units & Workshops, Stirling, Alloa & Central Scotland
Use the map below to view our serviced offices to let (blue pins) and our industrial units to rent (red pins). Click any icon for a summary of that location and then click through for more details and an up to date list of currently available units at those properties.


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This theme comes with the Qantumthemes Videolove plugin, to create beautiful video galleries with filters, and is totally customizable in colors, columns and more! Check out the amazing videolove gallery here... and to create it, you just need the "videolove" shortcode!
Ready Player One Movie Trailer As Mentioned on My Parents Basement
My Parents Basement
From cinematic game changer Steven Spielberg comes Ernest Cline's holy grail of pop culture. Ready Player One - In Theaters March 30, 2018.
The Baby Driver Trailer After Being Mentioned on The Bottom Line EP6
The Bottom Line
The Bottom Line Guys John, Derek, and Special Guest Dustin agreed on something in Episode 6 of their Podcast, the must watch movie is the Baby Driver. What is the Baby Driver about well check out the trailer below and here is the sypnosis: Talented getaway driver Baby (Ansel Elgort) relies on the beat of […]
How Many Ways Are There to Listen to No Crying Radio
Station Promo
This is just a few ways to access There's No Crying in Radio!
Are They Playing 'Insert Crappy Song or Artist' AGAIN?
Station Promo
There's No Crying in Radio Going Live Online May 1st


text:
When 15-year-old Olivier Baptiste refused to hand over the video game he was playing to his 18-year-old friend William Suarez, Suarez pulled out a .32-caliber Smith and Wesson from his waistband and shot Baptiste in the head. This according to police, who have charged the alleged killer with manslaughter, illegal possession of a firearm, assault with a dangerous weapon, and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling.
Witnesses told authorities that Suarez then put the gun down on the kitchen counter and began saying, "This just didn't happen," according to court documents.
Sounds like one seriously screwed-up individual right there.
This is similar to the incident back in July, where a young boy stabbed his older brother to death for not letting him have his turn at a video game, in both situation and press reaction. Some of the headlines I have seen include:
Family: Game led to teen's murder - BostonHerald.com
Video game linked to fatal shooting in Brockton - The Patriot Ledger
Just don't be surprised if the major news outlets pick this up with accompanying inflammatory anti-video gaming headline.
Video game linked to fatal shooting of 15-year-old [Wicked Local Brockton]


text:
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Here's Kendrick Lamar's new music video, "Alright".
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Here's Kendrick Lamar's new music video, "Alright".
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Easy Plugin for AdSense.
Please go to the plugin admin page to
Paste your ad code OR
Suppress this ad slot.
These guys decided to prank their hot models during a photoshoot by having their lighting helper dude get a huge (fake) erection. 3 out of the 4 of the girls seemed pretty annoyed:
But this girl's reaction was a little different! She just went strait for it!
Last Photo – Chicago from Ivan Cash on Vimeo.
This video is from a really interesting series where people are asked what's the last picture on their phone. This is a great concept for a video series and it immediately made me look up the last photo on my phone:
Sweet! Drinking beers on my balcony last night! At least mine is better than the woman in the video that came home to her husband trashing her house with Cinnabon frosting. What is your last picture on your phone?
Here are the links to more entries in the series:
Last Photo – San Francisco
Last Photo – Los Angeles
Last Photo – New York
Last Photo – Miami
Last Photo – Alabama
Last Photo – London
Last Photo – Detroit
This guy wanted to show everyone how tough he was by taking his shirt off before the fight. Well that definitely didn't go as planned.
This person recreated Mario 64 using the Unreal Engine that was recentley released for free. This makes me excited to see what people produce with these tools within the new few years. I could only imagine how much money would be made if they recreated Mario 64 with these kinds of graphics. Here you go Nintendo…
Some of these kids have hilarious responses to being asked what gay marriage is. And that last kid knows way more than most adults.
Step by step on How To Blow Up Your Own A**hole:
Step 1: Be a complete f**king moron.
Step 2: Did I mention you have to be a complete f**king moron?
Step 3: Throw some fireworks under a toilet thing (not actually sure what that is, but it looked porcelain).
Step 4: Sit on it.
Step 5: Ice your butthole.
At least I think that's what's going on in this video. I know it has something to do with Facebook and this kid "disrespecting their daughter" on it. Well, whatever's going on this big dude is fucking terrifying, even with his bright orange shirt and purple cargo long shorts. And this woman just dropped lots of gang names on this fool and then a "Bye bye bitch".
That might be impressive, but wait till 2 Chainz checks out my 2010 Toyota Corolla with custom brown rust coloration and vintage empty redbull cans on the passenger seat.
Now that's a lot of ugly dogs.
Dollar Shave Club meets its rival.
With a beheading in France, a deadly mosque bombing in Kuwait, and people getting gunned down in a hotel in Tunisia all in the past 24 hours, it's really refreshing to hear the news not have to talk about horrible shit for a couple of minutes.
Also, Justice Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion in the 5-4 decision, is a poet.
"No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right. The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed."
College Humor nailed it with this one. Also, shout out to that Jeff Goldblum impression!
This might be sad, but I didn't know the meaning to half of these damn slag words.
Now I'm no scientist, but if you asked me what I thought would happen if you tried to cut a watermelon in half with a giant sword over a glass table it wouldn't take me long to come up with an answer. I can't tell who's dumber, the dude wielding the giant sword or the woman videotaping it whos glass table is about to be smashed. Well she is recording this vertically, so she is…she's dumber.
Chris Farley was one of the funniest humans the planet has ever seen, and his tragic too-soon death was a devastating blow to anyone that knew him personally and to everyone who got to enjoy his movies and TV. This trailer for the documentary about his life is definitely going to make people laugh and cry at the same time. The documentary will feature the likes of David Spade, Christina Applegate, Dan Aykroyd, Lorne Michaels, Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, and Molly Shannon. I Am Chris Farley is in theaters on July 31st.
CEO was a big gaming tournament that took place over the weekend in Orlando Florida. Coming from someone who plays a lot of video games, I can say that sometimes I think this whole "e-sports" thing can go a little over board. So it's good to see some people not trying to be so serious about it and have some fun. On the other hand however, as cool as the stone cold entrance was I'm just imagining the fucking mess this guy made when he cracked open two beers(maybe energy drinks?) and spilled them all over the stage which was more than likely covered in electrical wiring for the event. Thanks a lot Stone Cold…
This guy gets honorable mention with the ninja entrance.
*NSFW Language
Here's a short video of porn starts (Jesse jane, Lisa Ann, Teagan Presely, Tori Black) explaining what they will NOT do on the set. So in case you were wondering, Lisa Ann would not like "her head in a toilet".


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Take one hotel ringed by armed police. Take hundreds of politicos discussing climate change, Africa and the Middle East. Chuck in a guest appearance by the prime minister at a fringe event and what do you get? You get the Labour party conference in the snow.
At Labour's annual gathering, the hottest ticket in town, naturally, is for the Guardian and Observer party. In Davos, it was the thrash organised by Data, the development NGO set up by Bono and Bob Geldof. Rupert Murdoch turned up, as did the World Bank's Paul Wolfowitz and the Duke of York, chaperoned on his first visit to the World Economic Forum by Sir Digby Jones.
Blair, at his last Davos, said the world was divided into optimists and cynics; those who believed that seemingly intractable problems could be solved and those who could come up with a brilliant analysis of all that was wrong with the world but took the view that everything was dark and hopeless.
Not everybody would agree with that stark distinction. It could be argued, for instance, that the real divide is between idealists and pragmatists. Yet Blair caught the mood of the forum. Davos is not a place for cynics, because the whole ethos is about problem-solving and setting the agenda with can-do gusto. In a strange way, the world's increasing complexity and the dichotomy between an economic system that is increasingly global and a political system still primarily national or regional has created a desire for simple, some might say simplistic solutions among business leaders.
In the dying days of his premiership, it's not hard to see why Blair should be upbeat about a trade deal, a new global treaty on climate change and fresh impetus in the struggle for African development. Although the prime minister is by nature an optimist, he is understandably keen to go out on a high.
The Davos meeting gave him some reason for hope. The Doha trade round is to be relaunched, even though, as expected, there was no immediate breakthrough in the talks at the weekend. Climate change was the theme of the week, suggesting that following the publication of Sir Nicholas Stern's report last autumn the penny may finally have dropped. What's more, following pressure from the UK, the Germans have put Africa high on the agenda for the G8 summit in June.
As Blair often says, however, talking about something is not necessarily the same as doing something, and members of the lobby and campaign group sector expressed some concerns in Davos about the way in which the debates on crucial issues had been hijacked. The discussions on climate change were incomplete without an input from Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth, just as the debate on executive pay was somewhat one-sided without the voice of organised labour.
One perhaps cynical view of the new boardroom concern about climate change is that life is so good for big business that it needs to find something else to worry about. The state of the world economy was a sideshow - hardly surprising given that we have just been living through a period of strong growth, low inflation, cheap money and surging financial markets.
Laura Tyson, former economic adviser to Bill Clinton, said she thought the Goldilocks economy - not too hot, not too cold - would persist throughout 2007, and that's what the financial markets think too. Central bankers are a bit more cautious, with Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, warning that financial markets were priced for extraordinarily low levels of risk, and that they should assume an adjustment was in prospect. But for the last four years, anybody who had taken the cautious approach to investing would have lost money. A good working assumption is that the markets will continue to expect plenty of perfectly prepared porridge until there is a shock, and the nature of shocks is that they can't be predicted.
So, while leaving to one side the very real possibility of economic and financial market complacency, let's assume Blair is right and there are solutions to be found to the seemingly intractable problems of the world.
Given the mess in Iraq and the increasingly bellicose US rhetoric towards Iran, it's quite hard to be upbeat about the Middle East, particularly with the current leadership in the White House.
The super-optimist view of the Middle East is that Bush's "one last heave" approach will work. The optimistic view is that it probably won't, but that if Bill Clinton was still in office, US policy in the region would be more comprehensive. One approach would be to hold a regional conference on the Israeli-Palestinian question, and to come up with a way in which the petrodollar windfall for the region's oil producers would be recycled as a programme for economic reconstruction in Gaza and the West Bank. Given the dismal history of the region you would be daft to assume success, but it is pretty clear the current policy is not working either. The aim should be to boost support for moderates, not just in Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinian areas but also in Iran. Current policy is having the opposite effect.
On balance, it is a good thing business has started engaging with the issue of climate change. It is a lot easier for policymakers to act if they know they have support from the private sector. Kyoto expires in 2012, and given that the Doha round of trade liberalisation talks is still trundling on after five years, there is a strong case for starting talks on a comprehensive international treaty on carbon emissions as soon as possible. Blair wants this to start at the G8 and should be supported. In return, he should recognise this is too big a deal to be left to business alone.
Finally, there's Africa. The west needs to keep its side of the bargain by broadening the scope of debt relief, providing the aid promised at Gleneagles and ensuring that a new trade deal is not a development-lite document. At the same time, Africa must tackle corruption, improving governance and conflict resolution. This solution is, however, complicated by a lack of urgency in the west, serious concerns about governance in Africa (there is growing unhappiness within NGOs, for instance, about Thabo Mbeki's failure to put pressure on Robert Mugabe) and the scramble for Africa's resources.
China's thirst for resources has meant investment in Africa, and the no questions asked approach to human rights has suited less democratic regimes. The theme at Davos was the changing power equation. In truth, there was more than a hint of a return to the future: a scramble for Africa, a sidelining of civil society and geopolitical concerns trumping human rights. Blair is right. The problems can be solved, but not if we insist on seeing them through a cold war prism.


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Introducing The Lonetones
"The Lonetones have perfected contemporary Appalachian music" according to Blank Newspaper. But that might not mean exactly what you think. Wayne Bledsoe of the Knoxville News Sentinel notes that "it's a group that isn't hemmed in by any boundaries… the Lonetones have developed into a genre-bending group that doesn't quite fit into any niche and instead feels right almost everywhere."
They have been called Americana, Folk Rock, Indie Folk, Folk Pop, Modern Folk, Folkadelic.... Driven by the songwriting of Steph Gunnoe and Sean McCollough, the band artfully fuses urban and rural themes and musical styles. The lyrics are fueled by a search for identity in the changing Appalachian landscape. Sometimes you'll catch them playing banjo and mandolin. Other times, electric guitar and keyboards
In their early years, they were often compared to revivalists such as Iris Dement or Gillian Welch & David Rawlings. But in more recent years, they have also drawn comparisons to other bands that draw on roots music but expand well beyond it such as Wilco and the Byrds. As they have grown as artists, their sound has become a unique mix of folk, rock, pop, and old-time elements.
In ranking their fourth album, Modern Victims (which placed on the roots music charts for several weeks) in his top ten albums of the year, Wayne Bledsoe of the Knoxville News Sentinel had this to say:
Think of the Lonetones as spiritual kin to Wilco or the Byrds. Led by husband and wife team and lead singer-songwriters Sean McCollough and Steph Gunnoe, The Lonetones are folky, a little rock and are constantly finding new and gorgeous sounds and expanding their horizons. The leaders' songs and vocals are contrasts that blend into something amazing.
Both the band's lyrics and music speak to the conflicted nature of a region steeped in tradition while blighted by Walmarts and stripmines. They speak to generational conflicts and the inner struggles of those whose hearts and souls are tied to the mountains but also want to be set free.
Bradley Hanson of Knoxville Voice writes that "their music rings from the mountains of Appalachia with a reverent, enduring and, at times, conflicted spirit. The band mates shoulder their geography with craft and care."
The Band
• Steph Gunnoe: vocals, acoustic & electric guitar
• Sean McCollough: vocals, banjo, mandolin, keys, guitar
• Cecilia Wright Miller: cello, vocals
• Jamie Cook: drums, vocals
• Bryn Davies and Vince Ilagan: bass, vocals
Opened for…
• Sam Bush
• The Carolina Chocolate Drops
• The Amazing Rhythm Aces
Notable Performances
• Bristol Rhythm and Roots
• Knoxville's Rhythm and Blooms Festival
• Jamin' At Hippie Jacks Americana Music Festival
• The Atlantis Music Conference
• Americana Crossroads Live
• Tennessee Shines
• The Dogwood Arts Festival
• The Tennessee Theatre
• The Bijou Theatre
• The Bluebird Café
Compilation Credits
• Still Moving Mountains (other acts include Katy Mattea, Blue Highway, Del McCoury, and Everett Lilly)
• 23 Great Songs from East Tennessee (Knoxville News Sentinel compilation including Robinella and Scott Miller)
• The United State of Appalachia (Shut-Eye Records)
More Comments from Others
Here I was, a local music writer and I had never heard the Lonetones live. What an idiot. I'll know better next time, as my mouth dropped a mere 45-seconds in. I stopped what I was doing to soak in what was one of the best sets of the weekend.
• Rusty Odom, Blank Magazine
I expected to like this CD [Modern Victims], but not necessarily to go crazy over it, but that's what I've done. One minute I love Steph's songs and the next I'm thinking I lean more toward Sean's. Of course, the whole is greater than the parts in this case. I can't stop listening.
• Knoxville Urban Guy, Stuck Inside Knoxville With The Urban Blues Again
The tradition they tap becomes only part of the overall equation; these engaging encounters could be considered radio-ready regardless of the environs. To say this is an outstanding effort doesn't even begin to describe it.
• Lee Zimmerman, No Depression Magazine
The Lonetones are fantastic on stage with the kind of sound that takes your soul on a joy ride! Their professionalism is outstanding. Bottom line... these are fine musicians and their new CD, Modern Victims, is one of the best releases of 2012.
• Reida Hill Gillespie, General Manager, Relix Variety Theatre
If a band of 24 year olds with just the right hats and beards came out with this release [Modern Victims], we might be looking for it on the pop charts, catching a ride on the neo-Americana wave that's been recombining itself every few weeks.
• Jack Neely, Metro Pulse
More About the Band's History
Steph Gunnoe and Sean McCollough met in Knoxville, TN in 2000. They immediately discovered a shared love of Appalachian roots music. Soon they began picking out tunes together, and their complimentary musical styles quickly became apparent.
They spent many afternoons in Steph's kitchen arranging songs by traditionalists such as Hazel Dickens, Bill Monroe, and Gillian Welch along with several of Steph's early originals. Their first public performance together was at the beautiful Palace Theater in Maryville, TN for a friend's wedding. Their second public appearance was live on the radio on WDVX, and their musical career as a duo was on it's way.
A couple of years later, they met Maria Williams through friend Phil Pollard (who Sean Played with in a band called Evergreen Street). Maria soon joined them on upright bass and they started calling themselves The Lonetones. In 2003, they put out their first album, Useful. Phil played drums on the album and soon began joining the band for live gigs as well.
The band began playing regularly around Knoxville, and then also began traveling to nearby cities for gigs. They released their second album, Nature Hatin' Blues, in 2006, expanding their sound with the addition of vibraphone and glockenspiel (played by Pollard). In 2008, Pollard moved to Richmond, VA and was replaced by Steve Corrigan. As they prepared to record their next album they expanded their sound even farther by adding Lissa McLeod on accordion and keys. They released Canaries in 2009.
The band briefly stripped back down to four members with Sean adding keyboards to his arsenal of instruments. But despite having fewer members, the band's sound actually expanded with Steph switching to playing electric guitar on some tunes and Maria switching to electric bass.
As they began recording their fourth album, Modern Victims, they employed the services of Cecilia Miller on cello. She quickly became a regular guest at live shows and is now a full-time member of the band.
After Modern Victims, the band line-up changed again. With Steph and Sean at the center and Cecilia playing cello, Jamie Cooke (Black Lillies, Everybody Fields...) joined them on drums. Then, after over a decade of playing with Maria, she moved on. Replacing her is the husband-wife tag-team duo of Vince Ilagan (Justin Townes Earl, Christabel and the Jons…) and Bryn Davies (Jack White, Daryl Scott, Guy Clark…). Bryn also sometimes doubles on cello.
With this line-up, the band released their fifth album, Dumbing It All Down, in February of 2017.
The excellent song writing, vocals and instrumentation that have marked previous Lonetones releases are brought, on Dumbing It All Down, to another level. It's tighter while being more expansive, focuses on the loss of nuance while delivering it in every direction and sends the group's musical message to new heights. Here's hoping it reaches the fans it deserves.
- Alan Sims (Inside of Knoxville Blog)


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culinary canvases, recipes, kitchen design consultations
Patricia Bainter earned the coveted Le Grand Diplôme® from Le Corden Bleu, London. She's a contributor to local magazines and web sites including 303magazine.com, Edible Front Range, Indulge in Denver, Indulge in Boulder. She uses her London restaurant experience to design kitchens from a chef's perspective. She is also a food stylist, writer, and video producer. She works with Mark Woolcott Photography to produce culinary videos and artful culinary images to decorate your home, office or restaurant.
Our culinary images are also available for purchase via FineArtAmerica and GoodEarthCanvas.
Visit Mark's diverse portfolio at: WWW.MARKWOOLCOTTPHOTOGRAPHY.COM


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Scientists often discover interesting things without completely understanding cause and effect, but such unknowns are anathema to engineers. Their job is to translate basic knowledge into useful technologies and that means getting down to the nitty gritty.
That is the spirit behind a paper that a Stanford team will present when the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) brings leading researchers to San Francisco on December 5.
Led by electrical engineer H.-S. Philip Wong, the team developed a deeper understanding of a new type of data storage technology that would be ideal for smart phones and other mobile devices where energy-efficiency is vital feature.
This new technology is called resistive random-access memory, or RRAM for short.RRAM is based on a new type of semiconductor material that forms digital zeroes and ones by resisting or permitting the flow of electrons. RRAM has the potential to do things that aren't possible with silicon: for instance, being layered on top ofcomputer transistors in new three-dimensional,high-rise chips that wouldbe faster and more energy efficient than current electronics.
But while engineers can observe that RRAM does store data, they don't know exactly how these new materials work. "We need much more precise information about the fundamental behavior of RRAM before we can hope to produce reliable devices," Wong said.
Soto help engineers understand some of the unknowns, Wong's team built a tool to measure the basic forces that make RRAM chips work.
Graduate student Zizhen Jiang of the Stanford team explained the basics.
RRAM materials are insulators, which normally do not allow electricity to flow, she said. But under certain circumstances insulators can be induced to let electrons flow. Past research hadshown how: jolting RRAM materials with an electric field causesa pathway to form that permitted electron flows. This pathway is called a filament. To break the filament researchers apply another jolt and the material becomes an insulator again. So each jolt switchedthe RRAM from zero to one or back, which is what makes the material useful for data storage.
But electricity is not the only force at play in RRAM switching. Pumping electrons into any material raises its temperature. That's the principle behind electric stoves. In the case of RRAM, introducing voltage tothe materials raisedtheir temperature in ways that caused filaments to form or break. But at what voltage/temperature state? No one knew. Before the new Stanford study researchers thought short bursts of voltage, sufficient to generate temperatures of about 1,160 degrees Fahrenheit – hot enough tomeltaluminum – was the switching point. But those were estimates because there was no way to measure the heat generated by an electric jolt.
"In order to begin to answer ourquestions we had to decouple the effects of voltage and temperature on filament formation," said Ziwen Wang, another graduate student on the team.
Essentially, the Stanford researchers had to heat the RRAM material without using an electric field. So theyput an RRAM chip ona micro thermal stage (MTS) device -- a sophisticated hot plate capable of generating a wide range of temperatures inside the material. Of course the objective was not merely to heat the material, but also measurehowfilaments formed. Here they took advantage of the fact that RRAM materialsareinsulatorsin theirnatural state. That makes them digital zeroes. As soon as a filament formedelectrons wouldflow. The digital zero would become a digital one, which the researchers could detect.
Using this experimental model theteamput RRAM chipsonthe burner and cranked up the heat, starting at about 80 degrees Fahrenheit – roughly the temperature of a warm room -- all the wayup to 1,520 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to melt a silver coin. Heating the RRAM to various temperatures in between these extremes, the researchers measuredprecisely if andhowRRAM switched from its native zero to a digital one.
To their pleasant surprise the researchers observed that filaments couldform more efficiently at ambient temperatures between 80 degrees Fahrenheit and 260 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hotter than boiling water – contrary to prior expectation that hotter was better. If confirmed by subsequent research, this would be good news because in a working chip the switching temperature would be created by the voltage and duration of the electric jolt. Efficient switching at lower temperatures would require less electricity and make RRAM more energy efficient and extend battery lifewhen they wereused as the memory in mobile devices.
Much work remains to be done to make RRAM memory practical but this research provides the test bed to vary conditions systematically instead of relying on hit and miss hunches.
"Now we can use voltage and temperature as design inputs in a predictive manner and that is going to enable us to design a better memory device," Wang said.
Henry Chen, a Stanford alumnus who earned his PhD in Wong's lab gave this research a big assist and was a co-author on the paper. Chen, now with the Chinese memory chip-manufacturing firm GigaDevices Semiconductor Inc., helped develop the concepts and instruments that enabled theresearchers to make the measurements being reported at IEDM.


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Instead of making resolutions for 2009, I'm going to do my best to focus on the highlights from the year 2008:
- Shedding the stress of our last house (landlord didn't pay mortgage) and moving into a wonderful house just around the corner.
- Going camping for the first time in...6 years (?). And enjoying it!
- Attending a wonderful family reunion with Spencer's family. Then, taking the big 'ol motorhome to Yellowstone for 3 days.
- Watching gas prices come down. More like watching them FALL down.
- Getting Emma into a fabulous pre-school (after months and months of waiting-list waiting).
- Taking the kids to Disneyland and living the fun through them (being 7 1/2 months pregnant).
- Being pregnant for the greater part of the year, and enjoying the short time I had with my precious, active-in-utero little girl.
- The countless trips and events when we got to see family.
Here's to a happy and even better 2009! This is our Christmas card, for those of you who didn't get one in the mail (due to lack of addresses, etc.). Merry Christmas!


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Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Dilled Pickle Rolls
These are so yummy I can't get enough of them! Could be that I absolutely love cream cheese, might have a little part in it...I figured since I was using a dill pickle I would add a little twist to it and add some dill weed to the cream cheese, I am glad I did. I may even add some garlic powder to it next time and maybe use a different kind of meat instead of the same old ham I always use. Definitely a nice little appetizer or addition to your Christmas Dinner.
24 slices of honey ham (or your favorite deli meat)
1 (8 oz) of cream cheese, softened
6 pickles, quartered lengthwise
2 teaspoons dill weed
1. Combine the cream cheese and dill weed well.
2. Lay your meat out on a cutting board, spread 1 teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture on each slice. Place a pickle at the edge of the meat and roll up. For smaller rolls slice in half. Enjoy!
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Cheri Witmer
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Planetizen Newswire
Keep up with essential planning news and commentary, delivered to your inbox every Monday and Thursday.
More National Attention Focused on Controversial California Housing Bill
The idea behind the transit-rich housing bonus bill by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) "is to foster taller, more compact residential neighborhoods that wean people from long, gas-guzzling commutes, reducing greenhouse-gas emissions," write Dougherty and Plumer on March 16. While most all green groups support reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the primary cause of climate change, allowing high-density housing by transit stations that exceed some current residential zoning restrictions, such as height, goes too far for some.
A buzz word in the debate about SB 827, in addition to density or height, is the "preemption" of local zoning rules, though the reporters are careful to note that the bill "applies only to parcels already zoned for residential use, and city rules like historic-building protections and affordable-housing requirements would still apply [as amended March 1]. But localities would be prevented from restricting such areas to single-family homes."
[Wiener's] recent bill would pre-empt local zoning rules and allow developers to build apartment buildings up to 85 feet tall within a half-mile of train stations and a quarter-mile of high-frequency bus stops.
In Mr. Wiener's view, local activists and homeowners too often use zoning codes to prevent apartments from being built in California's cities, a dynamic that has worsened the state's housing shortage.
"Michael Brune, the executive director of the Sierra Club's national organization, said Mr. Wiener's bill went too far in overriding residents' say over neighborhood development," add Dougherty and Plumer.
"We are hopeful that this legislation could be designed in such a way that is successful at increasing urban infill but does it in a way that doesn't eliminate local voices," Mr. Brune said. "It can be challenging to get this right."
The issue of preemption and the Sierra Club's position on SB 827 also arose in a blog by Josh Stephens (also a Planetizen contributor) in California Planning & Development Report on March 6.
Sierra Club national Communications Director Maggie Kash sent me a statement saying that the club was suspicious of anything that infringed on local control. She wrote, "Our concerns are about the mechanism of state-level preemption, which removes local voices from decision-making." She cited proposed laws in Louisiana and Tennessee in which state law preempted local laws "in an effort to stop local affordable housing mandates."
But what happens when a municipality acts to exclude affordable housing – is state legislation warranted even if it preempts local voices? While not legislation, that's exactly what the Mount Laurel doctrine, a series of landmark New Jersey Supreme Court rulings, did to ensure that apartments were allowed in exclusionary suburbs.
The Sierra Club statement also mentioned, as an example of why they oppose preemption, state laws that block local fracking bans. But what about the opposite, when state laws block fracking in areas that see fracking as an economic opportunity? That's exactly the scenario that played out in New York State in Southern Tier towns near Pennsylvania after Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) banned the controversial drilling method in December 2014, a decision the Club strongly favored.
Taking a position in support of preemption, Forbes contributor, Adam Millsap, in his March 6 column, "When States Should Preempt Local Governments," doesn't mention SB 827, but makes a good case for it.
[Z]oning rules that limit the supply of housing are often demanded by residents who want to protect their home values and the character of their neighborhoods. And because only current residents, not potential residents, can vote in local elections, local politicians often fail to internalize the costs that restrictive zoning places on the broader state economy. State officials who take a broader view are more likely to overcome the exclusionary interests of local homeowners.
Times co-author, Doughtery, penned a follow-up piece for the paper's Calfornia Today newsletter on March 19: "Can Californians Drive Less?" based on a new data by Urban Footprint on how the bill would impact communities surrounding three East Bay BART stations.
Readers may be interested in listening to an hour-long discussion on the bill on KQED Forum, a call-in show for the Bay Area NPR affiliate, on March 15.


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African lions might appear invincible, but the King of the Jungle is more vulnerable than you may think. Human activity likely drove the lions in Zimbabwe's Savé Valley Conservancy to the brink of extinction before the introduction of new individuals helped to rescue the population.
Despite the growth in numbers, researchers suspected that the lions' difficult past could have left them with underlying genetic weaknesses. Bettine Jansen van Vuuren, Director of the Centre for Ecological Genomics and Wildlife Conservation at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, and Rosemary Groom, Field Projects Coordinator at the African Wildlife Conservation Fund, Zimbabwe, with colleagues, studied the genetics of this population. I interviewed Jansen van Vuuren and Groom via email to find out more about their investigation and findings.
What led you to study conservation genetics?
BJvV and RG: An increasing number of species are threatened by human activity. I was motivated by seeing firsthand how inaccurate and insufficient data can hamper conservation efforts. I find it very humbling and rewarding to be able to contribute to the field.
The African lion is an iconic species. Why is it under threat?
BJvV and RG: The African lion is mostly threatened by habitat loss and direct conflict with humans. As a top predator, the species is persecuted because it is seen as a threat to human life and to livestock. More recently, the expansion of human-occupied areas and of fenced land has eroded the lions' habitat.
Your study focused on a population in Southern Zimbabwe, the Savé Valley Conservancy lions, which is recovering after the introduction of new individuals. Given this growth, why did you have concerns about the population's genetics?
BJvV and RG: We knew that the founding population here comprised just a few individuals, and experienced a severe bottleneck. Unless genetically distinct lions had naturally entered the group, this meant that all the lions in the area were likely to be closely related, sharing a very small gene pool. We were therefore concerned about the possibility of the lions being inbred. A lack of genetic diversity can reduce the ability of the population to adapt to a changing environment, to produce healthy offspring, and in general to survive and to grow, so it was an important question to investigate.
To study the genetic diversity of the lions, you obtained DNA samples from 42 individuals. How did you manage this?!
BJvV: Rosemary Groom has dedicated much of her life to protecting wildlife including lions in the Savé Valley Conservancy. We were able to take advantage of her expertise to obtain the samples. No animal was tranquilized specifically in order to obtain genetic samples. Instead, we collected blood and tissue samples over several years from lions that had either died or that we had tranquilized with darts for fitting of tracking collars, snare removal or veterinary intervention.
Groom working with an immobilized lion
What did you find out about the Savé Valley population's genetic diversity?
BJvV and RG: We were concerned, but unsurprised, to find low levels of genetic diversity in the lion population in the Savé Valley Conservancy, as compared with other wild populations. Importantly, we also found that these lions were genetically differentiated from other lion populations. It is therefore crucial that this population receives our protection to prevent the further loss of genetic diversity.
Why do you think these lions are so genetically different from nearby populations?
BJvV and RG: When their movements are unrestricted, male lions will usually disperse and join other prides, which maintains genetic diversity. But in this region, high human population densities, fences and human-animal conflict prevent this from happening, essentially trapping a small number of related individuals in a specific region. This leads to inbreeding, and the loss of diversity. In a small population, loss of genetic diversity is accelerated because as allele frequencies randomly fluctuate over time – a process known as genetic drift – the alleles are more likely to be lost from the population.
What do you hope your study might lead to, and what are the next steps for your research?
BJvV and RG: Our work highlights some red flags for the conservation and management of these lions. The next step will be to engage with the Zimbabwean Parks and Wildlife Management Authority to try and implement some of our suggestions, perhaps including the introduction of one or two unrelated males into the Savé Valley Conservancy to supplement genetic diversity. It will also be important to continue monitoring the population to ensure that genetic diversity is maintained. This work on lions also complements our work on wild dogs in the region, as we seek to understand the dynamics of top predators in the region. Ultimately, we hope to contribute to the successful conservation of various Savé Valley Conservancy species.
Research Article: Tensen L, Groom RJ, Khuzwayo J, Jansen van Vuuren B (2018) The genetic tale of a recovering lion population (Panthera leo) in the Savé Valley region (Zimbabwe): A better understanding of the history and managing the future. PLoS ONE 13(2): e0190369. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190369
Images Credits: Ben & Gab; Rosemary Groom


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allow it to solublize in an aqueous medium. The gellation
occurs from multiple hydrations of the lattice structure
of the molecule; in layman's terms the water becomes part
of the Aqua Sorb® molecule rather than the
molecule becoming part of the water.
Aqua Sorb® is superior to many alternative methods
because Aqua Sorb® does not significantly increase
the volume of the spill and waste for disposal. It expands
in volume by less than 1%. Disposal costs are subsequently
less. Another characteristic of Aqua Sorb® is its
capacity. As Aqua Sorb® is solvated, chains unfold
and ionic repulsive forces expand its molecules, creating
large absorption capacities. Typically absorption capacity
will range from 150 to 1000 times on a weight to weight
basis. Absorption speed depends on the nature of the
aqueous solution being absorbed; it can take anywhere from
a few seconds to a few minutes for gellation to occur.
Speed of absorption is a function of surface area and the
degree and type of cross-linking. These factors also
affect Aqua Sorb®'s gel strength. After using
Aqua Sorb®, the absorbed fluid will slowly evaporate
until it reaches a relatively dry state, depending on the
humidity present. This dry material will again absorb
water to the original level. The cycling phenomena will
continue for several cycles; however, the absorbent
capability of Aqua Sorb® diminishes with each use.
Disposing of Aqua Sorb® is very simply explained.
The liquid Aqua Sorb® absorbs is the determining
factor in disposal. If the liquid is hazardous, as a good
rule of thumb the gellation of the liquid and Aqua Sorb®
is also hazardous in nature. Remember Aqua Sorb®
simply takes the liquid into a gel state, so it changes
the physical make up and not the chemical make up.
Depending on the absorbed product, Aqua Sorb® maybe
suitable for landfill purposes. If a hazardous waste is
absorbed it must be disposed of in an appropriate
hazardous waste landfill. Review of Federal, State and
Local waste disposal regulations is essential to determine
the appropriate disposal alternative.
Other advantages:
AQUA Sorb® :
General spills, industrial facilities, sludge de-watering,
medical facilities, classrooms, landfills, public
transportation vehicles, flower shops, grocery stores,
veterinary clinics and more!
Polymers present an efficient, time-saving and safe chemical solution to the problems that modern industry faces in operating under ever tightening environmental restrictions. In certain municipal and industrial waste treatment situations, they perform in tandem with bacterial formulas. Some of the possible applications follow:
More specifically:
Bio Remediation
Coastal Spills
Contact Us
Copyright © 2011 The ARK Enterprises, Inc, All rights reserved.


text:
Southern California veteran skate punks Chaser have just put out a remastered version of their 2006 classic Numb America. You can check it out below.
You'll be pleased to learn that the 12 riff-laden, rapid-as-they-come tracks have lost none of their urgency through the remastering process and it hits just as hard as it did on first release.
The previous release from Chaser was the 2016 effort Sound the Sirens.


text:
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Economy Ministry has drafted a regulation introducing import duties on Ukrainian goods, a draft document showed, in an apparent response to Kiev's trade deal with the European Union. Russia said last month it was likely to respond with trade barriers after Kiev signed an association agreement with the EU which provides for free trade between the two.
According to the text of the draft regulation, published on a government website, a wide range of Ukrainian goods - from beer to furniture and cars - will be subject to duties that Russia's Customs Union applies to "most favoured nations", ending a more favourable tariff regime.
Moscow fears that Ukraine may re-export EU products into Russia, avoiding duties that Russia imposes to protect its own output. It is also concerned that an influx of EU products into Ukraine will lead to Ukraine dumping some of its production in Russia. The new regulation has yet to be reviewed by other government bodies and pass a legal expertise before it is submitted to the government. It does not require voting in parliament and will come into force one month after its official publication.
Reporting by Maria Kiselyova, editing by Elizabeth Piper


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As we celebrate Earth Day, Zayo has dedicated April to what we're calling the "Pollution Solution"—a month of waste management education, events and engagement. It's been estimated that 90% of the items in our landfills are recyclable or compostable. With the involvement of Zayo employees in Colorado and our other offices, we're working to ensure all the right items go into the compost or recycling waste streams and stay out of our landfills.
What goes into what waste container? That's not as simple as it may seem. Zayo employees recently had the opportunity to improve their knowledge with a waste quiz. Recycling the wrong items—including paper coffee cups, plastic bags and styrofoam—can contaminate the waste stream, actually sending more trash into the landfill. Quiz takers were rewarded with an insulated travel mug to help reduce their personal non-recyclable waste.
And how about those hard-to-recycle items? The sustainability Green Teams set up collection bins this month for electronics, including computers, old mobile phones, dated devices and lots of legacy cords. They'll be taken to Boulder's Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials (CHaRM) and then on to Denver's Blue Star Recyclers where electronics can either be refurbished for re-use or disassembled and recycled properly.
Tours of Denver Blue Star Recyclers and Boulder Eco-Cycle gave Zayoites the opportunity to see single-stream recycling in action. "What a great opportunity! Not only was it very engaging, we walked away with knowledge that will help us to do our part in making a sustainable future," said Chuck Williams, junior application developer.
"It was very informational and reinforced for me how important it is for everyone to make the switch to bring your own reusable bags to the store," said Corinna Hammersley, director, People Ops. "If you DO end up with plastic bags, make sure they stay out of recycling bins! We saw firsthand how they gum up the threshers and have to be arduously removed by hand," added James Kirby, application developer.
Later this month, volunteers will support the City of Boulder, rebuilding a trail at Foothills Community Park. "It's a fun, hands-on way for our team to make a tangible difference in our community," said Jenny Gerson, senior director, Sustainability & Strategy. "We have a great group of Green Team volunteers who get involved in initiatives and advocacy, recommending tips such as composting paper towels and giving up straws."
"Individual efforts may seem small but can have a big impact in aggregate," says Gerson. After the Green Team's launch of composting and additional single-stream recycling, the Boulder office waste stream diversion rate increased from 20% to 49% by volume. With many new employees on board since that initial effort, Gerson and the Green Teams are working toward the City of Boulder diversion goal of 85% by the year 2025.
Zayo is also focused on sustainability at the operational level: purchasing office supplies that can re-used or are made from post-consumer recycled content, procuring 25% of the company's total energy consumption from renewable sources of energy and focusing on conserving energy and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions by investing in energy efficiency initiatives across our operated facilities.