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You know the heroic stand Rand Paul took against tyranny with his historic filibuster was a success not only because Eric Holder reversed course and renounced the use of drones to kill Americans on American soil without due process, but by the reaction of the dinosaurs dominating the Republican establishment. Snipes John McCain:
"If Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids in their college dorms."
Anyone who supports Tea Party values against brutish Big Government can take that as a declaration of war.
Fellow RINO and amnesty devotee Lindsey Graham praises Obama's drone policy. According to Grahamnesty, Rand Paul "has a view that I don't think is a Republican view" regarding the White House's authority to kill Americans without trial; he expressed scornful "disappointment" with those who agree with Paul.
The Republican Party has reached a fork in the road. It can follow McCain and Graham into the tar pits, or it can follow Rand Paul back to relevance and competitiveness. Under RINOs, terror of Democrats is the only reason for anyone to vote for the GOP, and Romney's defeat proved that is insufficient. You can't beat something with nothing, and nothing whatsoever is what the Old Guard stands for.
Six time US presidential candidate of the Socialist Party of America Norman Thomas was prophetic:
"The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of 'liberalism' they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened."
Having completely taken over the Democrat Party, American socialists are accomplishing what the Soviet Red Army didn't dare try.
But maybe it isn't too late to reverse them. Maybe libertarian patriots can play the same trick by taking command of the driverless vehicle of the Republican Party, infusing it with purpose, principle, and appeal to rebellious youth.
It's that or try to start over with a third party; the GOP either rids itself of McCain, Graham, et al. or it withers and dies.
More on Twitter at #StandwithRand and #DiewithMcCain.
Hat tip: YAL. On a tip from G. Fox. Debt Star graphic compliments of Joel C. Cross-posted at Moonbattery.

subset: commoncrawl


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Hurricane Preparedness for Drinking Water Utilities
Drinking water utilities need to take precautions in advance of the arrival of a hurricane. Public water suppliers in the possible path of the storm should prepare for high winds, storm surge, torrential rain, flooding and extended power outages. To help utilities provide continuity of service to its customers before, during and after the storm, the following actions are recommended:
- Prepare for Mutual Aid - Plan in advance, and sign a mutual aid agreement with neighboring utilities or communities. Better yet, join the New York Water and Wastewater Agency Response Network (NYWARN). NYWARN is a utility run mututal aid system set up specifically for water and wastewater utilities in New York State. Everything you need to join is available on-line at www.nywarn.org
- Water Storage - Fill your storage tanks to help you meet demand during a power outage and to help anchor your tanks during high winds and inundation.
- Back Up Power - Fill fuel tanks for your generators. Exercise each generator under load to be sure it is running properly and power transfer is reliable. Assume a lengthy power outage. Estimate the time that you will be able to meet demand with the back-up power, fuel and water storage you have on hand. Identify several possible locations where fuel can be procured in case your primary supplier becomes unable to deliver.
- Continuity of Operation - Contact all essential employees to place them on alert. Make sure that sufficient staff will be on duty throughout the expected storm duration. Provide enough food and clean water for staff working extended shifts. Have them bring extra dry clothes, and consider providing sleeping arrangements so that extended duty staff do not become overly tired.
- Chemical and Fuel Storage - Check tanks to be sure you have enough essential chemicals (e.g. disinfectant) to get you through the storm. Check tank anchoring to be sure they are protected from wind damage and buoyancy forces (floating or overturning) should they become inundated.
- Water Sources - Identify sources that may become inundated. Prepare to remove sources from service, prior to inundation, that may be susceptible to damage from inundation or intrusion by flood born pathogens or salt water.
- Emergency Communications - Check your emergency communications equipment to be sure it is in good working order. Charge all batteries, or replace with fresh ones. Distribute communication equipment to appropriate staff.
- Public Communications - Be prepared to provide public information as needed. Check contact information with local radio and television stations. If you do not have storage and/or dedicated backup power sufficient for 3 days, consider pre-preparing water conservation advisory notices that can be issued if needed.
- Vehicles - Fill vehicle fuel tanks to be sure they are ready for use in response to the storm. Provide essential equipment (radios, instruments, tools, safety equipment, lights, ropes, etc.).
Additional Resources
- NYWARN Mutual Aid System - Utilities Helping Utilities
- Drinking Water System Emergency Preparedness and Response Resources
- Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP)
- Preparing Emergency Response Plans - Drinking Water Systems
- Reporting Drinking Water System Emergencies and Potential Public Health Hazards
- Suggested pre-hurricane activities for water and wastewater facilities - U. S. Environmental Protection Agency


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Bathroom towels are a necessity in every bathroom and can sometimes make the bathroom look messy. So here are 11 ways to display bathroom towels beautifully! Yep here are several easy and frugal ways to hang your bathroom towels by adding to the decoration and style.
Bathroom Towels
1. How to Turn a Headboard into a Towel Rack ~ This step by step tutorial will teach you how to turn an old headboard into a gorgeous towel rack!
2. Three easy ways to display Bathroom Towels ~ There are so many ways to display towels, and these three ideas are great! Here you'll find cute, classy and cowboy!
Bathroom Decorations
3. Rope-Shaped Towel Holder ~ These rope-based decorations are super easy {everyone can tie a knot, right?}, and all that is required are a few screws and a 1/2-inch natural-fiber rope from a home-supply store!
4. How to Install a Branch Towel Bar ~ This step by step tutorial will show you how to turn an old branch into a functional and beautiful towel bar. Click on the link for full instructions.
5. Repurposed two old wooden hangers as towel bars. By anchoring a scrap piece of dowel to the wall before the hanger was attached with 2 screws, I created a simple, yet sturdy place to hang a towel!
Towel Decor Ideas
6. Use a Ladder ~ Instead of installing a typical metal rack to hold your towels, enlist a ladder made of bamboo (or some other wood that can withstand humidity) to do the job. No tools required.
7. Make a Rustic Towel Rack ~ This multi-level towel rack is made with 2×4's cut into five 12-inch sections. The wood is nailed to mounting strips, stained and fastened to the wall. It's a great way to store rolled towels and provides a great rustic look!
8. How to Turn a Suitcase into a Shelf ~ Here is a unique way to create more storage in your bathroom. Repurpose a vintage suitcase into a shelf to create hidden storage and a lovely place to store your towels.
Bath Decor
9. DIY Bath Decor Shelf with Towel Hooks ~ This beautiful bathroom decor shelf made with molding is gorgeous! This detailed tutorial will show you how to make one yourself!
10. Thrift Store Bath Decor Towel Hanger ~ Who would have thought that a $.50 find could make such a gorgeous towel holder? This simple door knob transformation will really make your bathroom stand out!
11. Use Old Door Knobs as Towel hooks ~ Believe it or not, all the door knobs used for these towel hooks were found within their house, but with a little flea market shopping, you can recreate this look with old door knobs you find!
More Bathroom Tutorials
Thanks Ladies! I just adore these ideas! Feel free to grab my I was featured on Tip Junkie blog button. You earned it! {{knuckle bumps}} Also, dont forget to check out the Tip Junkie Facebook page for even more activities for kids, creative ideas, and free tutorials.
Also, If you have an activity youd like featured, feel free to submit it to the Tip Junkie site. It just takes a second. {wink}
Creating Memories that Endure,


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Technical Paper
Benefits Assessment of More Electric Aircraft Generation II Technologies
The Air Force Research Laboratory is currently funding efforts under the More-Electric Aircraft (MEA) Generation II Study for developing a preliminary design of an electrical power generation and distribution system (EPGDS) for flight demonstration of an Internal Starter/Generator (IS/G) for the main engine on an advanced fighter-class aircraft. The MEA Initiative is a phased, goal-oriented, effort that develops technologies to enable the use of electrical power to perform aircraft functions that historically have been powered hydraulically, mechanically, or pneumatically. The use of electrical power for these functions has the potential for enhanced aircraft performance through improved efficiency, reliability, maintainability, and supportability. Today, the MEA effort is in its second phase, with an anticipated technology availability date of 2005.


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About Us
The Nelson Police Department is governed by the Nelson Police Board under the authority of the British Columbia Police Act. The Police Board, which meets monthly, consists of the Mayor and five other representative citizens of the community. The Chief Constable is directly responsible to the Police Board and thereby the citizens of Nelson.
The Department is divided into two main branches, Operations and Support Services. The Chief Constable oversees and commands both branches.
The Operations branch includes two patrol Platoons, Traffic Enforcement, Beat personnel, and the General Investigation Section (G.I.S.).
The Support Services branch includes Court Liaison, the Public Information Counter, Dispatcher/Guards, the Detention Facility, the Crime Prevention Office, Victim Services and Reserves.
The Department has a deployable strength of twenty members, eight support staff, nine reserve officers and two victim service workers.
The General Investigation Section is staffed by two Detective/Constables. The Crime Prevention Office is staffed by a Sergeant who is responsible for community services and crime prevention, in addition to providing patrol support.
The Nelson Police Department currently has three officers seconded to an integrated provincial traffic unit – the Kootenay Integrated Road Safety Unit (K-IRSU). Blended with members of the RCMP, this unit is mandated to conduct proactive traffic enforcement by targeting aggressive driving behaviors, reducing alcohol related crashes and encouraging the use of seatbelts throughout the Kootenay/Boundary region.
Nelson Police Department
Physical Address
606 Stanley Street
Nelson, BC V1L 1N4
Phone: 250-354-3919Fax: 250-354-4179Emergency Phone: 911


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The City of Napa provides Transient Occupancy Tax information on an aggregate basis. Requests for information should be submitted in writing to the City of Napa Finance Department-Revenue Division or by emailing us. You may also call 707-257-9508.
Show All Answers
TOT is an acronym for Transient Occupancy Tax. The City of Napa's TOT rate is 12% and tax remittance is due on the 10th day of the month subsequent to the month of taxable transactions.
Access the monthly forms in our Document Center.
The following persons are exempt:
Download the exemption form (PDF). Follow the instructions on the form and submit with your tax filing and payment.
Yes, returns must be filed each month.


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Camp Smalltalk is an optional extra to the ESUG conference. Not everyone who comes to the conference comes to Camp Smalltalk as well - but those who do have a great time pair-programming with experts on leading-edge open-source projects. As in past Camp Smalltalks, we also aim to have 'get started' tutorials on Smalltalk, Seaside and Agile Methods.
Camp Smalltalk runs on the Saturday and Sunday before the main conference (and, for the really keen, it continues in the intervals and evenings of the main conference). Turn up when you like and join a project or a 'get started' tutorial. The Camp shows lists of projects and people, and runs contact schemes, so newbies can get involved.
Camp Smalltalk is organized at the location of 2Rivers (Yesplan.be) in downtown Gent. The location of Camp Smalltalk (on Sat/Sun) is not near the main conference location! See the map for the address:
2Rivers Sophie Van Akenstraat 13 9000 Gent
Camp Smalltalk is free but if you plan on attending, please register beforehand via this doodle: http://www.doodle.com/dw6prz8eq8fqx4vu
Please propose a topic and send it to johan -at- yesplan.be


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Das Team >Expertise
Greenberg Traurig's Education Practice comprises attorneys who are committed to working with colleges and universities to address the increasingly complex and myriad issues they face today, including those caused by changing demographics and a shifting regulatory and economic landscape. Our Higher Education team works with institutions to think broadly and strategically about future plans and goals while also addressing discreet issues as they arise. We utilize a multidisciplinary, cross-practice approach to craft proactive strategies and provide practical advice.
Our broad base of higher education experience includes, among other things, all forms of regulatory compliance, including government investigations and auditing; advice in connection with the financing, development and construction of core and noncore college and university assets; intellectual property and technology; sports law and athletics; student life and faculty issues; labor and employment; and complex contract and other business litigation matters.
Our practice also includes the representation of secondary and elementary schools (including charter and religious schools) across the United States and around the world.


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I have a new machine with one 128GB SSD and two 1TB HDD. On the SSD is the OS and my initial thought was to put the two HDD in RAID 1 for user data.
After some more thought I came up with two other setups and now I'm in doubt :) Can someone advise what would be the best setup?
1: single SSD and HDD in RAID 1 (original thought)
2: Create 2 partitions on the HDD (128GB and 872GB). Put the two 872GB in RAID 1 and create another RAID 1 with the SSD and one 128GB HDD partition.
3: Create 2 partitions on the HDD (750/250), put the 705GB in RAID 1 and use the 2 250GB as backup and make automatic snapshots of the SSD to (one of) these partitions.
I think the 2 main questions are:
Is it advisable to create a raid array with only part of a drive and actively use the other part of that drive or should you always use the full disk?
Is it advisable to create a raid 1 array with a SSD and HDD or will that blow the whole speed advantage of the SSD?


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In his keynote at the fifth Digital Minds Conference, bestselling author and Twitter superstar Neil Gaiman kicked off the London Book Fair by likening the digital transition to being on an unruly, but exciting new frontier. "People ask me what my predictions are for publishing and how digital is changing things and I tell them my only real prediction is that is it's all changing," Gaiman said. "Amazon, Google and all of those things probably aren't the enemy. The enemy right now is simply refusing to understand that the world is changing."
Over his 30 minute talk Gaiman entertained and challenged his audience to think creatively about the future, conceding that he himself was "perfectly willing to acknowledge the possibility that the novelist may have been a blip" in our cultural history. "The model for tomorrow, and this is the model I've been using with enormous enthusiasm since I started blogging back in 2001," Gaiman said, "is to try everything. Make mistakes. Surprise ourselves. Try anything else. Fail. Fail better. And succeed in ways we never would have imagined a year or a week ago."
Gaiman's speech kicked off what conference chair Sara Lloyd, digital and communications director for U.K. publisher Pan Macmillan, said was the highest attended Digital Minds event yet, and the most diverse, with more than 32 countries represented. Since its debut in 2009, the event has served to "set the temperature" for the London Book Fair, she noted, and this year's conference, themed "the future of publishing content," was no different, with a daylong program of panels and speeches focusing on the state of publishing's digital transition.
To that end, Gaiman, whose The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Macmillan) will be released in the U.S. this spring, put a fresh, and personal spin on the persistent challenges facing the industry. He began by recounting his youth in a punk rock band ("punk rock Neil"), when he was given a yellow sticker for his instrument case that declared "home taping is killing music." He acknowledged the uneasy shift from an age of scarcity, when books were difficult to get, to one of abundance, where e-books can now can be delivered at the push of a button. And he spoke of the benefits, particularly of discovery, arguing that most readers find their favorite authors by "encountering" their books through libraries or friends, rather than buying them in a bookstore.
"People ask me if I think we should guarding the gates more carefully, and I say, sure why not, that makes as much sense as anything else," Gaiman said, adding that he didn't see that as a "long term solution" to the problems facing publishers. "We can imagine a world in which novelists no longer make money from selling books, but clean up from charging for readings. Or, a world where your buy a physical book and that automatically gives you the e-books and audiobook. The truth is, whatever we make up is likely to be right."
To that end, Gaiman also suggested he was not ready to concede the end of print books. He recalled a conversation he had years ago with Douglas Adams about the coming of e-books, long before there was an e-book market. "I asked him if he thought the inevitable e-book would mean the end of the physical book," Gaiman said. Adams replied by noting that sharks existed alongside dinosaurs, and yet sharks are still around. "That's because nothing has ever come along that was quite as good at being a shark as a shark is," Gaiman said, adding that books, too, are very good at being books.
"I suspect that one of the things we should be doing is making books that are prettier, finer, and better. We should be fetishizing objects, and giving people a reason to buy objects, and not just content, if we want to sell them objects."
Gaiman was followed by Will Atkinson, sales and marketing director at U.K. publisher Faber, and Robert Levine, author of Free Ride.
Atkinson offered a nuts and bolts presentation of where the industry stands in its digital transition: ticking off a range of topics: the continued growth of e-books, although at a slower pace; legal and government actions; the device market; the development of "chunking" and subscription models; the future of DRM (or not) and other things, such as the new skills being brought in the industry.
But while the first months of 2013 might suggest that some kind of equilibrium is returning to the publishing business, Atkinson cautioned this was a mere "respite" in an "extraordinary" period. "Nothing is sacred, everything is changing," he said. "Yes there might be some stats that say we're slowing down, but quite frankly, we're just in the dressing room at halftime having an orange, and we'll be back out for the second half soon."
Levine, meanwhile, politely disagreed in his talk with Gaiman's assessment of the digital landscape, of the music industry in particular. Levine said the music business was actually in much worse shape than it appears, with its current sales down by over half. But the real problem, Levine stressed, is that many of the companies profiting from music today, are companies that are not "investing" in the creation of music. He urged publishers not to succumb to a similar fate.
While he acknowledged copyright has its share of problems, "it is important to recognize that without copyright, Amazon would treat writers like employees," he said. "Amazon has been a good partner for me. But I wouldn't want them to treat me the way they treat the rest of their employees."


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For tennis fans in New York, this week is going to be a grand one. The time of year that used to ring in the WTA's Season Ending Championships has been frighteningly dead since the tour left early in the decade, leaving fans reeling after the excitement of the US Open.
On Monday, tennis journalist L. Jon Wertheim, author of Venus Envy and the more-recent Strokes of Genius, will be a part of a sports writers' panel at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in SoHo. The night will also feature author Jesse Katz and New York mag's Will Leitch. The three writers will each read a selection from their respective books and then take questions from the audience at the event, which starts at 7 PM at the Bookstore Cafe. Check it out for free.
Also on this week, on Tuesday, James Blake will host a tennis exhibition at Pier 94 downtown. The night will feature Andy Roddick and is rumored to also include upstart Melanie Oudin. Tickets can still be found here, along with a full list of events for the evening.
(photo by Arancia Project via Flickr.)


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For the next two weeks I'll be back in Kenya for the first time in nearly 8 years. Returning to my home away from home has always been a bittersweet thing. Some of my most awestruck and cathartic moments have occurred on the plains of East Africa. But each time I go back, I'm also struck back down by the unrelenting spread of people across the landscapes. Africa remains the homeland of humanity.
My job this time is to report on the plight of the Grevy's zebra. This symbolic and striking animal, has suffered greatly from human expansion. In 1979 there were an estimated 20,000 Grevys' in Kenya and Ethiopia. Today there are less than 2100, and they continue to dwindle even in last tiny protected pockets. We are really in danger of losing Equus grevyi.
Imagine soon having to teach our children the alphabet: "A is for Apple, in a pie it's a treat... Z is for Zebra, a horse-like creature you'll never meet."
The swahili name for zebra, is punda milia (crying donkey). One night, when I'm far from the light and hum of Nairobi, I'll record their voices and you'll be able to hear why. Serengeti nights will be quieter, and the world much lonelier without them.
Afia boro na salama punda milia. Tutaoana kidogo badai!


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Story highlights
NEW: The new fighter jets are to be built in St. Louis
Legislative timetable, not tensions in region, was deal's impetus, official says
The U.S. signs a deal to sell $30 billion in F-15 fighter jet technology to Saudi Arabia
The White House says the deal will provide a $3.5 billion boost to the U.S. economy
The U.S. government has signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia to sell nearly $30 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets, federal officials said Thursday.
The $29.4 billion deal – announced against the backdrop of rising tensions with Iran – calls for the production of up to 84 new F-15SA aircraft and the modernization of 70 current F-15s, along with "munitions, spare parts, training, maintenance and logistics," Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro told reporters.
The agreement, which was signed over the weekend by U.S. and Saudi officials, "demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a strong Saudi defense capability as a key component to regional security," Shapiro said. "This sale will send a strong message to countries in the region that the United States is committed to stability in the Gulf and broader Middle East."
Shapiro sought to allay concerns the sale could compromise Israel's military edge. "By law, all sales to the region must be evaluated for the impact on Israel's qualitative military edge," he said of the review conducted before the Saudi deal went forward. "We conducted that assessment and we are satisfied that this sale to Saudi Arabia will not (diminish) Israel's qualitative military edge," Shapiro said.
Administration officials first notified Congress of plans for a major new weapons deal with Saudi Arabia in October 2010. The deal is meant to further align the Saudi military relationship with the United States and equip the kingdom so it can better protect its security and oil structure, which "is critical to our economic interests," Shapiro said at the time.
The letters of acceptance will total some $24 billion in sales for the Boeing Company, which has produced more than 1,600 F-15s in various models since the first one was delivered in 1972, said company spokesman Dan Beck. He said the first upgraded aircraft in the Saudi Arabia package will be delivered in 2014, and the new aircraft will be delivered beginning in 2015.
Beck said he could not say how many F-15s are still in service, how long the average F-15 flies before being retired, or how much a single F-15 will cost.
Though the aircraft will be produced in St. Louis, it was not clear how many new jobs would result. "What this really does is it helps secure the 2,000-plus jobs in St. Louis right now working on F-15 fighters through the end of the decade," Beck said.
With some 600 suppliers in 44 states involved in making the aircraft, the program will support 50,000 to 60,000 U.S. jobs, he said. "It certainly certainly translates into sustaining existing jobs as well as creating new ones at Boeing and throughout the supply chain that helps produce this," he said.
CNN's Adam Levine and Alan Silverleib contributed to this report.


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The West Anchorage DDF — Drama, Debate and Forensics — Tournament at West High School in Anchorage was the spot to be for 20 Homer students on Saturday, as well as four students from the brand new Voznesenka DDF team.
Homer DDFers received the following awards:
First place, duet acting:
Brittney Bordner and Patrick Latimer;
Second place, duet acting:
Sydney Paulino and Neal Wimmerstedt;
Third place, duet acting:
Evan Boyer and Zane Boyer;
Fifth place, duet acting:
Robert Hockema and Eryn Gillam;
Sixth place, duet acting:
Hailey Nelsen and Lindsey Schneider;
Fifth place, solo acting: Hailey Nelsen;
Sixth place, solo acting: Audrey Russell;
First place, duo interpretation:
Jonas Noomah and Evan Boyer;
Second place, pantomime:
Sabina Karwowski and Neal Wimmerstedt;
Fourth place, foreign
extemporaneous speaking:
Lindsey Schneider.
The next DDF tournament will be at Bartlett High School on Nov. 8-9.


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World Agri Trade Exhibition & Conference 2009 will offers a wide spectrum of agricultural products, services on display including latest technologies, latest products, latest discoveries in agriculture, business solutions for the unique needs and requirements for sustainable growth and development for the world to feed the world.
This timely World Agri Trade Exhibition and Conference 2009 hosted in Malaysia would showcase the convergence of the Global Agriculture industry advocating a single aspiration in enhancing the ?sharing of knowledge, skills, technology and expertise to feed the world, to curb poverty and develop a strong agricultural economy worldwide?, The call to the world is to turn back to the basics, ?Agriculture? and develop it for sustained economic growth.
Visitor Registration
Agri Government Agencies, Agronomist, Animal health agencies and Organizations, Trade houses, Business & Trade Councils, Corporate Organizations, Agri consultants, Agri based Businesses, Agri Importers & Exporters, Vegetable and Fruit Farm Owners, Poultry Farms owners, Livestrock Farm owners, Research & Development organizations & Institutes.
Profile for exhibit includes Agricultural Consultants & Support Services, Agriculture Mechanization, Agro-tourism, Agri Biotechnology, Bio-Farming & biotech crops, Bio-fertilisers, bio-pesticides, Bio-Pharming Bio-Plastics, Bio-Remediation, Diary & diary products, Equipment & Tools for Forestry, Farm Equipment & Tools, Fertilisers, Field Crops, Food Products, Horticulture.
Book your accommodation now. Rentnow is located just next door to the PWTC and is the preferred Apartment option for PWTC visitors.
Accommodation Booking - Click here


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Slow Roasted Grapes |
The grapes come out of the oven with their juices just starting to ooze, anointing the roasting pan with a delicious syrup you will want to lap up. They deepen in colour, blister a little and become musky-sweet. The olive oil and salt and pepper perfectly balance the sweetness. And it couldn't be easier.
Perhaps it's because cheese is so often side-by-side with wine, but grapes always seem to be the most reliable fruit fare to throw on a cheese platter. Trouble is, a grape bunch isn't the most inspired of additions to a spread of cheese. Update your grape mojo with this elegant and seriously tasty recipe for roasted grapes. It'll take you less than 40 minutes start to finish, and the result is as equally satisfying as an accompaniment to cheese as on its own.
Sovereign Coronation Grapes |
They might have a fancy sounding name, but Sovereign Coronation grapes are now the most commonly planted variety of seedless table grapes in southern Ontario and British Columbia. A descendant of the deep-blue Concord, they have their ancestor's characteristic sweet-and-sour taste that bursts in the mouth. Virtually seedless with a deep, vibrant purple colour, these are not your average table grapes!!
One of the things I most look forward to in September is finding these grapes at the market. Their season is short lived but it means that cooler weather and the Okanagan Wine Festival cannot be far off. They are delicious on their own but I look forward to roasting them to serve with any of the local cheeses. When I think of other sweet things so often paired with cheese such as honey, membrillo, fig jam, dried fruit, and chutney roasted grapes may very well blow each of these standby accoutrements out of the park. They are seriously that good!
Roasted grapes go especially well with fresh or lightly aged goat cheese. They would also be excellent atop some nice fresh ricotta. But truly, presented in a little dish with a spoon for serving, the grapes and its juices can top just about any cheese. Use a baguette or another bread as a vehicle for your cheese or as I have here some homemade blue cheese shortbread, and you will have happened upon a pretty impressive offering.
This recipe classifies as one of those, "Why didn't I think of that?"
**Roasted Black Grapes**
recipe from Chef Suzanne Goin of Los Angeles' AOC
2 cups black seedless grapes, rinsed and dried (Coronation grapes would be perfect)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
juice of 1/2 a small lemon, or 2 tablespoons red or white wine
salt and fresh cracked pepper
fresh thyme leaves
Heat the oven to 250 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small bowl mix olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice or wine. Arrange the grapes in a single layer on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss with olive oil mixture. Roast, stirring once or twice for 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 hours, or until shrivelled and lightly caramelized.
You can refrigerate them, but bring them to room temperature before serving.
Transfer to a serving dish, making sure to get all the good sauce, and serve with cheese and plain crackers or crusty bread. Roasting grapes brings out their intense sweetness; an earthy, creamy cheese counterbalances it. The sweetness of roasted grapes is similar to that of figs or plums. Paired with salty blue cheese, roasted grapes make a unique and stunning appetizer.
You are reading this post on More Than Burnt Toast at http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author/owner of More Than Burnt Toast. All rights reserved by Valerie Harrison.


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McConkey Ferry Inn, one of the still existing buildings from 1776 Photograph courtesy of Michelle Matz, Washington Crossing Historic Park "Washington Crossing the Delaware" by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, 1851 Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
From the PA Trnpk. take 532 towards New Jersey and turn left on 32. Washington Crossing Historic Park is located at 1112 River Rd., in Washington Crossing. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 9:00am to 5:00pm, Sunday, 12:00pm to 5:00pm. Closed major holidays, except Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, and Christmas Day. Visiting hours may change on a seasonal basis. There is a fee for guided walking tours. Please call 215-493-4076, or visit the park's website for further information.
Corridor Home | Map | List of Sites | Learn More | Itineraries | NR Home | Next Site
Comments or Questions


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I wear my scars like the rings on a pimp
I live life like the captain of a sinking ship
The one thing that I can guarantee
I'm like a stepping razor, I suggest you stay fair with me
Been payin dues for a decade plus,
Before that I was just another face on the bus
Tappin my foot, to the beat on the radio
Dreamin 'bout the mic and the money and the ladies
Oh mom, I promise I'm gonna be large
Someday I'm gonna stop tryin to borrow your car
Gonna go far, with charisma and skill
Until they put my face on a million dollar bill
Atmosphere, it's just a ten letter word
Discretion is the name of my cement-feathered bird
And if you didn't hear, fuck whatevers heard
I think you got the sickness I suggest you get it cured
Caught up in the mix, of a bottle full of fix
I'm gonna hobble down the street 'til I reach knob creek
Its not that I don't like you, I just don't wanna speak
You fuckin freak
Now keep your days out my week
The world keeps a balance, through mathematics
Defined by whatever youve added and subtracted
I'm pushin on the hammer, to trigger the brain
Embrace how I live it, god loves ugly
God loves ugly...
Once upon a time in minneapolis, yo
I damn near had to steal the show
I stepped on the stage, who is it?
My names slug I've come to kill a couple minutes
What's up with the way, that everybody gathers around each other
So they can steal each others sound
If it's all about gettin down with the get down
How long I gotta wait for these fools to sit down?
Appears more clear in it's simplest form
Nobody sees tears when you're standing in a storm
Abandoning the norm, and handling the harvest
Measuring the worth by the depth of the hardships
I welcome all the hatred you can aim at my name
I held on to the sacred ways of how to play the game
When the soldiers started runnin short on rations
I began tappin the egg, to spark the hatchin
Make it happen
And take this captain to the gallows
I keep steerin us into an area that's shallow
Talkin to my shadow, he advised me not to worry
He said I should plant my tree and let it rise out of the fury
So give me some light, a little love and some liquid
I'm gonna creep through the night
And put a plug in the spigot
And when the water grows
And the dam starts to overflow
Ill float atop the flood, holding on to my ugly
Why scream, when you can lose yourself inside the wide-screen
Let life be a bowl of melted ice cream
Or be the deer that's caught in my high beams
I'm rollin with the lights on, scared stiff
Reality is just too much to bear with
Paranoid, walkin around careless
No wonder you're in love with your therapist
Go to sleep my little time bomb


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This activity doesn't just have to be for superheroes; any theme could be turned into a "school" from fairies to dog trainers, firefighter to princesses! This model is a fun way to work on basic skills that kids tend to get sloppy on during the summer when days are filled with more exuberant play. Spending a quiet time here or there still playing but working on skills at the same time helps kids stay on track while having fun. These superhero training activities for kids will delight your little hero. So turn learning activities into a super fun school with this model.
This post contains affiliate links.
- Before you gather your materials decide what skills you want to work on. Math, Letter Recognition, Sight Words, Fine Motor, Patterning... you choose. Try to make sure that you don't overwhelm your child, 2-3 options is probably enough. Remember to you aren't testing your child you are using pretend play and activities to learn and have fun.
- Gather the materials needed for the "school " of your choice. I wanted to work on my son's fine motor, writing, and counting.
- Our first lesson was "Bomb Squad." His goal was to pick out the yellow, green and blue bombs ( aka pompoms) from the container to keep the city safe! What this teaches is color recognition, counting and using the tongs is great for fine motor.
- Next up we had "Power Station" a super simple math activity that he places the correct number of stickers in the columns. Also, I again worked in fine motor with the action of peeling the sticker off. I'm so tricky yo.
- Finally, I decorated a workbook to look like a Batman journal to encourage some superhero reports. My son is not the most excited writer, so anything that will encourage it without pushing is something I look for. This did the trick.
- Do not be empty handed after the tasks are completed – I made him a super fast medal like the family medals we made a while back to congratulate him on completing his super hero training!
Super Hero Board Book
all book lists include affiliate links
My First Batman Book: Touch and Feel by David Katz.
I am just reviewing one book today because I want to really focus on it. It's a rare find. A board book, a touch and feel no less, about Batman. Trust me it's rare; I squealed when I found it at the library and could not believe what a treat it was to read with both my kids. It's not secret my son ( the one in the improvised Batman mask above) is into super heroes, he is also into books, and I want to encourage that. However some of the books are so violent, and I don't want to expose him to all that at 4.5, he is just too young for my comfort zone. For beginning readers, there are some great I Can Read books, but for even younger children pickings are super slim. Luckily there is this book. It's sturdy, it's age appropriate, and it even glows in the dark!


text:
For five weeks in a row, Robin Thicke's playful, button-pushing song "Blurred Lines" has been the No. 1 song in the country. It's a catchy piece of summertime pop, but much of the attention came after the premiere of the song's video, which features Thicke and his male collaborators — the rapper T.I. and the producer Pharrell Williams — strutting for the camera alongside a trio of models. The men are fully dressed. The women, in an "unrated" version of the video, are nearly nude (you can watch the relatively safe-for-work version here). It set off a wave of criticism, and focused attention on the song's lyrics, which feature the line "You know you want it."
Is the song misogynistic? Or simply a provocation of the sort that's been familiar since Edouard Manet painted a nude woman picnicking alongside fully dressed men in 1863? "The controversy comes really from the video, which does involve nakedness, and a lot of playful touching, and weird props and strange stuff," NPR Music's pop critic Ann Powers tells Morning Edition's Renee Montagne. "And it's funny, it's fun, but some people think that it's pushing the line toward even violence against women — at least symbolic violence against women."
This may be Thicke's first chart-topping hit, but he's been working in a female-friendly soul and R&B mode for years. When he first came out, Powers says, "he looked kind of like a member of the cast of Rent or something; he had longer hair, and he looked a little grungy. But [he] quickly realized he would do better with this smoother and kind of retro image."
That worked for him, to a point. "His usual sound is a much more sort of smooth, sexy variety of R&B that's often about true love and faithfulness," Powers says. His songs started showing up on the R&B charts in 2007, but Thicke had big plans for his new album, which comes out at the end of the month. "My last album didn't sell very well — in fact, not at all," he told Radio.com last month. So he hired hitmakers to "try to make some music everybody can enjoy instead of just my small fan base. It's less of a crossover hit than a dive into pop's deep end, Powers says. " 'Blurred Lines,' though not his first up-tempo song by far, definitely jumps over into the brighter and more confrontational world of Top 40."
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Wikiquote:Blocking policy
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If I didn't sit on a jury with a great educator like Sir Peter Cook, in USC the day before, perhaps this conversation would never materialize. Most certainly, the comments inserted during that studio review made me wanting to talk with Sir Peter Cook on the state of the architectural education and continue my own 'slide presentation' of distinguished educators, seeking 'the empirical truth' about the incredible shrinking of free thought, mainly in N. America's great white architecture schools.
In the end, if you think I am all over the place, you might be right, I am... But, then again...
OA- Yesterday you have briefly commented on the state of architectural education via student projects. What are your thoughts, as an educator, about it? You can start from United States or Europe...
PC- I think architecture education is in a predicament, which it does not want to recognize... Many people officially in architecture education as professionals do not want to recognize this predicament--because many of them are not really so dedicated to make architecture. When I start to study architecture, people teaching were primarily architects, who also were involved in education. Most schools in North America are involved in the academics side of architecture and only secondarily interested in architecture. What I couldn't bare, people who can teach architecture, are politically sidelined by the university types...
And, I think this is a tragedy...
I can't see any likely reversal of it, because in a sense, those people hold the reigns of power... It's in their interest to perpetuate a system by which you get seniority and power to decide who could come in to teach, through being 'an architecture school person...'
Unfortunately, people like John Hejduk are not there anymore. And the majority of people running the schools are career academics who found a safe haven in the university.
OA- How do you describe teaching architecture in the American university?
PC- In America, over the years, 'the theory' became the central pillar of the school system. Many architects have a sense of inferiority as intellectuals and this is rather rubbed down their throats. They're made to feel inferior, their own paranoia and frustrations as creative artists, played back to them by the intellectuals who are not architects. In a sense, this is happening all over the world. Also, some of the brightest designers are not interested in schools. They are too busy with their work. And they are also kept away from the schools, because they might inspire the students too much with their views and practical knowledge...
There seems to be a conspiracy. At least I'd like to massage the conversation with that terminology, merely to draw attention to it.
OA- Architecture schools used to be more liberal in terms of housing different ideologies and ideas. Professors and students used to argue for opposing ideals. Nowadays, they are more geared towards a safe education where only the proven ways are thought. Very specialized areas turned into departments within the school. Instead of creating buildings, people are creating departments. Even then, almost every 'fabrication' is similar to the next one. How has that happened?
PC- The architecture schools are not liberal at all... I think architects walked into the trap themselves by allowing this to happen. In order to feel more respectable, they have created this extra credibility road map by being attracted to the ambiance of the teaching position. I also think the nature of the schools has changed. Like in every field, people want to get complications... Like complicated Master's courses etcetera. When I went to school, you had one objective, which was to become an architect. A minimal diploma was sufficient. Now you hear people say, I have my first degree here and second degree there, I even know these very interesting designers in London at the age of 34-35, who are doing their PhD's. They are very good designers but in fact their architectural work slowed down in last few years. Having PhD puts them in a strong position of surviving by teaching but they are giving away the best time to do their best work. This is not atypical. Going back to what you were saying yesterday, I think you are quite right, a lot of interesting people are sidelined because they are little bit off-the-wall, suggesting different conversations frankly puts them out.
OA- What I saw being around students recently, they are very good on certain computer skills. They get this instant self-gratification from computed renderings. I saw students programming a building like shape and continuously working the 'form' by orbiting on the computer screen, round-and-round. Like a nervous tick and wierd obsession... Eventually, I had to ask them to stop turning the object and let's look at it for a minute as a building design. It took a lot of effort on their part to connect the 'piece' to real city. There is this big reality compromise for the sake of form. I really don't think architecture has a shortage of form, I also think it should be a very outdated way of designing buildings at this day and age. Computer generated or not, 'form for form' really bores me.
Do you have any comment on this area?
PC- Yes I do. On one hand, I am excited by some of digital tools, like the three-dimensionality that is made possible, but I am also bored by its instant results. It is like making an instant suit, which everybody gets an instant satisfaction. Actually, a real good suit requires some special ingredients. There is also the possibility that in five years time, everybody will suddenly get bored of these familiar forms of computer generated images. About 100 years ago plate glass became extensively used in architecture, I love plate glass but it became a main ingredient of architecture. Maybe the digital design is the plate glass of our times. I think there are some wonderfully exotic digital designs.
OA- Certainly... Like the work of Marcos Novak who was with us yesterday. I wouldn't call his work exotic or digital, but he utilizes digital technology with substantial ideas about future. If any, I'd like to learn from him... He is one of the few with the vision beyond the 'form' orbiting...
Let's talk about your work in Austria. Have you employed digital technology during early design?
PC- It didn't start out as a digital work. It got carried through as a digital work, but it is done in the same way of doing normal piece of architecture.
OA- It has a certain mediatic feel to it. With all the information systems integrated on the skin, it makes me see it as daily updated newspaper--like building as an information source.
PC- It was not digitally generated. I had the idea and I've developed it. And, the means were whatever means came to hand at the time.
OA- I like the idea that the building acts as a communicative device, in a media sense. Have you taken your students there to see it?
PC- It is funny you mentioned that. The first time it was opened, I was teaching at Bartlett and I had my Masters group and they all went to visit Graz. It was the first time I was in a position to have a building built with my students observing it. That puts you in a very funny role, which I have never been before. I have taken earlier students to a small building I did in Berlin, but that was after the building had been opened for a while, so it was less dramatic. But here, a larger group, they all went to see this freshly completed building and saw it in the beginning of their academic year. Half of them tried to do buildings just like it. "Aha this is what Professor Cook does and that's what we must do."
I found that tiresome because I don't want clones...
OA- That brings another issue to my mind. They have this portfolio day at a local architecture school here in Los Angeles. The students put their books on the tables, now that students can print books under their name. Self-publishing has become very common. You can publish your own book. Anyway, you look at these things and without reading; you recognize who the professor is. And while looking at those, I said to the director who was in charge of the graduate school, "What is going on here, you can recognize all the teachers but where is the student?" And she looked at me and said, "Yes that is a problem."
PC- This has happened recently?
OA- Yes... I have no doubt it happens in a lot of schools elsewhere.
I think going back to our conversation earlier; it is very common now for schools to hire certain name brand teachers for luring new students. It became a business. I am wondering which school will be the first one to open an architecture branch in Abu Dhabi, following the steps of NYU? I would speculate the planning of it is underway.
PC- Franchising...
OA- Architecture education has become a business. By the time a student graduates from one of these well known schools, they can be up to 150K in debt if they are not financed by their families…
PC- It makes them wanting a guaranteed product... There is this smart student culture in schools who will choose certain studios, computer software, classmates, even girlfriends and boyfriends. But they don't do anything from the gut. They do everything after certain profiling and then they go into certain unit, because it gives them good connections with certain architects or designers. And they all follow a certain path where it will eventually take them into Zaha's office. Same thing in Bartlett, they do it to get a job at Foster's...
AA is directed to Zaha and Bartlett directed to Foster. And these are rich students.
OA- What happens to a student who has some kind of agenda in his/her mind to criticize the system, question few things?
PC- Well, actually the most interesting studios do attract the oddballs and encourage and celebrate them. And, this puzzles some of the more organized students. Good teachers like and support oddball students because they are stimulating. Boring teachers want imitations of themselves. And, you have teachers walking around and saying, "Look I am good because I got thirty students I got in my class."
OA- I have also noticed that the diversity of economic backgrounds in expensive top schools is out the door. You have students flying from Los Angeles to Dubai for the two weeks research part of their studio project, coming back, designing apartheid supportive condominiums. A rounded tower with expensive units on the outer core and servant quarters in the inner core, specifically designed so there is no interaction and chance meeting between 'the master' and 'the servant,' outside the master's orders. They utilize soundproof walls to inner core and completely separated circulation systems with different entries and exits. It reminded me the awful slave ships, where the slaves kept below and separated from the deck. The students, who are designing these scenarios, and feeling zero social embarrassment.
I mean, it is good they can go to Dubai, but it would be nice to see some social consciousness in their efforts. Some of them kept saying, "Well, they are (laborers) better off making $150 per month as servants than starve in their home country." We are talking about designing a dominant situation for somebody buying a multimillion-dollar condo and feeling no remorse of paying 150 dollars-a-month to somebody to be their full time servant on call. This is now an okay mindset for developing condos for architecture students and there is no one saying, "Wait a minute guys..."
PC- I was in Russia just around the time social and political change was taking a place, and I was expecting to deal with students from the working class. To my surprise, all the students were from the ruling class, the sons and daughters of the party elite. This is nothing new.
OA- I guess not. But, really, where do you see this leading? Is this a vicious circle of architecture as an upper-class profession, eventually subservient to the same?
PC- I think so, but the interesting thing is, architecture might takeoff quite differently. Architecture might break away from the academy. It might be from elsewhere that the interesting architecture work might come. It is quite possible in the future, the architecture might come from other sources, like commercially supported research groups, from odd corners or from funny places, you know? Or it might come from people who don't call themselves architects... It is quite conceivable. And, academies remain academies. Similar to English departments, where the graduates become English teachers, but not to write books, necessarily... Sure, there are parallels. It is like being devil's advocate but I do hope this happens--would rather it did happen. The academies, sort of, pull architecture into this feeble and boring condition. Architecture is more important than the schools for architecture. Schools are at this point merely service industries.
OA- I think they are a bit disconnected right now...
PC- Maybe they have to become more disconnected.
OA- Maybe completely disconnected? (laughing)
PC- Could be, but I would rather not... Most intelligent developments in architecture are happening where there is a progressive laboratory. I am not very hopeful of American scene in this respect. There is no real feeling for invention in America anymore. There is no great feel for eccentricity or random occurrence.
OA- Maybe America became one big complying society.
PC- Europe is becoming the same way... I like certain positive aspects of the EU but there is also this unbearable aspect of the sameness. There is Starbucks in Vienna. Each time I go to Vienna, there are more Starbucks you know...
So how are the things in Turkey?
OA- You mean 'my beautiful and lonely country.' It's okay, summertime, tensions are high!! Have you been there?
PC- No, but I drew the plans and sections of Hagia Sophia when I was a student. I love to go there soon.
OA- I have never been in England, but when I was a student, I drew the elevation of Jim Sterling's University of Leicester Engineering building.
Let's meet in Istanbul and let's meet in London and compare notes...
PC- We can meet at Starbucks in Vienna to compare the notes...
A long-time contributor to Archinect as a senior editor and writing about architecture, urbanism, people, politics, arts, and culture. The featured articles, interviews, news posts, activism, and provocations are published here and on other websites and media. A licensed architect in ...
Orhan as always poignant.
I particularly like his quote;
"Maybe the digital design is the plate glass of our times."
More seriously though. I think the point made about the academy and professional disconnect is interesting. Personally i find the idea of a forced split enticing.
Much of the real fantastic architecture is private and non-academic based anyway.
By this i mean not even necessarily digital form but also via the nsta-urbanity and fantasy-Petro-dollar cities where the worlds; tallest, biggest, etc are built.
But what i mean to get at is the idea that perhaps through such a disconnect the more inclusive, humanistic and perhaps non-theoretical designers who are actually building (even if only on the small and local scale, or temporary shelters post-disaster relief) instead of postulating form get more focus.
Rural studio, Teddy Cruz, Architecture for Humanity or even just the members of the local chapter of your AIA...
Also, i recently posted on my own blog a interview i did awhile back that touched on some similar themes; specifically re: education and the connection between theory and form, You might find it interesting...
i thought that was a very provocative interview orhan, and i would like to chime in from a student's perspective. i agree with some of the statements above and am witness to a lot of these transformations on the ground, but i want to ask, how can we transform the model of education without resorting to nostalgia?
killing your master is easier said than done, meaning you cannot pursue education without taking something from the teachers you pay to teach you, but hopefully it is a two way street in that the teacher learns something as well, and uses it to propel his/her work, which leads to the discussion of democratic collaborative work vs genius-renegade designer, neither of which i think truly exists.
i also want to point out the irony in the fact that one of the institutions that you call out (indirectly) was founded on the principle of breaking away from the academy, but has evolved into another one of these worldwide commercial businesses, which leads me to question whether such a break is even possible in this day and age. Mr. Cook proposes that the change will come from places such as corporately sponsored research labs (i'm assuming as in the case of stanford's d-lab or MIT's media lab), but do you think this type of atmosphere will lead to more individual expression if most interests are commercially driven?
Mr. Cook also mentions that some of the best designers that he knows did not come from the academy, but i am curious to know who these people are as most of the influential architects i know went through the academic process. i understand from the standpoint of commercial success, it would make sense that not spending time at school would benefit you if you were someone like bill gates or steve jobs, but i don't think that school takes away a person's best design years, but provides a place to harness their skills, should they feel they need to improve them. for me personally, i don't think i would have the same rigor or have the same opportunities i have today were it not for my temporary detachment from the working world and my immersion into academia.
i don't think we should look down on schools as inferior versions of practice in the 'real world' oustide, but should recognize and even embrace them for what they are - privileged spaces of experimentation. in the end, i believe the contributions that schools provide outweigh the negatives that the system perpetuates.
Society has always been manifested in the educational systems of patriarchy and scholarship.
In our time, when you go to franchised schools and when you study under a Brand architect, you are consumming knowledge.
but few can afford this commodity.
its very contoversial how the role of the architect is subverting into a person who instigates change and order to someone who follows orders.
I really admire how fortunate it can be to have with Peter Cook a master and apprentice realtionship instead of lambs and some preacher!!!
thank you Orhan for sharing 0.1% of this experience.
dear sirs
i must examine my views to warrant to present this remark, merely because of the fact I had most fortunately been taught by Sir Peter Cook, then worked for the late Sir Ron Herron, and thereafter went on to work for Zaha Hadid after a long stint with Sir Norman Foster [almost 8 years], and also briefly helped Sir Peter [and David Dunster] with studio work at the Bartlett, this was immediately after he left the AA where I was his student together with his then partner, Christine Hawley.
Peter has inspired every student to become himself, be more aggressive more extraordinary and more different, Sir Peter never vouched for any style, in fact it was always about what we brought to the studios, nothing more and not a thing less. Sir Peter read drawings, drawings and more drawings, it was never about what he prompted to propagate as any ideology, it was and I still believe, is, always a case of looking at buildings and reading one's drawings. Such is his incredible and profound simplicity, and only political stand, there was nothing between him and your drawings. Sir Peter Cook's teaching 'style' has been truly inimitable, he 'remembers' every sketch, every building and every person like there was nothing else to focus on except the work itself.
I must agree with his statement that teaching has always been looked about as separately constituted from professional practice, from his own work, Sir Peter has finally, like Zaha and Rem Koolhaas proven that these seemingly opposing positions are indeed not mutually exclusive. For being an Architect myself, with a passion for theory and education, and having many mouths to feed and company to run, it has been mostly challenges to put forward a theory however simple in the midst of presenting commercially successful projects. One in every ten clients want to engage conversations' less theory of Architecture. i cherish to strike a balance between the two, as has been remarkably and beautifully accomplished by Sir Peter and Zaha Hadid and so many Architects of late. I believe Zaha still lectures, like many others who have attained this most desireable state. it is hardly envious, its almost necessary. Even conversations, are necessary practical means to the practice.
Sir Peter, thank you for bringing education and practice together, and perhaps for initiating and inventing the concept that 'conversations' is a necessary precursor to good Architecture.
Huat LIM
Great interview! as usual, this type of far reaching speculation is less conclusive as to potential results. I love the notion of the institution for being at fault, but I must argue the idea that it is the fault of the superinstitution/starchitect. Students with means have the ability to choose and do so with the hopes of greatest inspiration and professional opportunity as was stated so clearly. it seems the clearest notion to derive from this interesting discussion is that the grass roots universities and their noble hearted faculty have to continue to produce studio environments that foster the thoughts/ theories we find so lacking from the magazines. The young aspiring eyes who gaze on the publications and dream of their name replacing the starchitects. they are part of our society, the shallow youth will be allowed to remain shallow if we cant bring the faults of the institutions to light. We need probably to highlight smaller programs working to produce a more concious graduate. instead of the glossy names and well rendered institutions producing clones we can only hope live up. thanks for listening, great interview!
very nice orhan.
i should also say thanks to peter, but it is much harder to ask the good questions than to make the good answers. ;-)
i guess i am one of those guys in his 30's doing a phd instead of designing. maybe even talented enough that it is silly for me to be in school. i think there is an idea here that school is a retreat, a safe place to escape to from the real world. maybe. though it doesn't feel so to me. life is more of a struggle for having gone this way than if i had stayed in an office somewhere. it was a huge risk on so many levels that i can't imagine why he thinks it is so easy. maybe for the rich kids it is. personally i am here for the education, not the job at the end of the ride. i doubt i am the only one.
there are some, i think, pre-canned answers in there. it feels very familiar territory for peter at least and i guess shows some of his frustrations as an educator. which is actually very interesting to read. if a guy like him gets frustrated can you imagine how it must be for the rest of the archi-world educators?
i love the idea of having more outsider students. we have none in my school. they aren't allowed to be outsiders here. the loss of the liberal is also very interesting as observation. i wonder if that is a symptom of culture in general or really a result of an inferiority complex as peter suggests...hopefully the latter, cuz thatis easier to fix than the former.
anyway....very nicely done.
thanks for all the thoughtful responses.
its very funny reading about Peter Cook building, and worse being critical about architects that teach without practice. A new privelage one might say.
it is interesting to hear from a respecful avant-garde architect like sir peter cook about architecture school culture, which i think gets carried through the profession. personally, i would like to thank him for intersting views in the architectural review issues. i enjoy reading them very much.
the issue seems to be that of peers vs. you is not my peers attitude and/or the issue of networks whether with which one is fortunate enough to be born or which are getting conceived vs. people outside them. it is great to see that orhan is bold enough to challenge sir peter cook about digital stuffs knowing that he spent some thirty years working with imageries before getting into building stuffs. i guess as long as we can dodge choking monsters with their narrowing sentences by making new connections and ideas, i.e. the london effects, we can stay creative and make our environments better, keeping those utopian spirits alive.
i love architectural education. the crits whether you get your ass kicked or occasionally get credits for submitting interesting ideas and rigorous imagery/model productions after pulling a few all nighters suggest potentials for personal developments of students as individuals, with unique characters. i pay attention to what is going on in studios, and aa has to be one of them. recently, it seems that much has been devoted to corporate sponsorship and computer generated architectonic productions, which are very interesting and beautiful as well. at the same time, i read a book 'before object, after image: koshirakura landscape 1996-2006' documenting real experiences of building rather primitive architecture in opposition to digitally designed fabrications. nevertheless, i find myself asking a question: is this sort of realization going to be enough to offset the emptiness felt by the majority of population or are we going to be able to use that void to sustain what used to be thought to be endlessly nurturing nature which started to look damaged and to create more lively cultures through architecture and architectural education? it has to be communication and the power of media.
p.cook is always enlightening and entertaining.
but just a few side thoughts:
- was there any irony at the point where peter notes that taking students to his building in Graz is this first time in his career (in the 43rd year of a 48 year life as an architect) that he has an actual building to show to students. and his complaint is about academic architects?
- his is now, after all, a "Sir". nothing says radical outsider, like "Sir".
- in Peter's studio (certainly at the AA and then the Barlett), he had a very ingenious way of running a crit. being Peter, he was always able to have a wide array of critics for the reviews, so he would often have (for a class of 14) a row of critics that included Zaha, Nigel Coates, Peter Wilson, Bernard Tschumi, Dalibor, Ron Herron, Christine H, Will Alsop, Cedric Price, and one or two more. the students usually got a great discussion out of this this, but also, once everyone one had had their say, more often than not, the students had too many opinions, too many directions to look at, so the next day they would go back to Peter and he would set them on the way that he always intended them to follow.
From: Glen Small <______________________>
Subject: PETER COOK
To: "Orhan Ayyuce" <____________________>
Date: Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 9:44 AM
Subject: Glen's motorcycle lecture.
To: orhan
Glen's lecture was memorable. He WAS a rock star. He began his lecture crusing on stage on a motorcycle with smoke effects as Vahalla warrior or was it Zarathustra. Very spectacular entry. The crowd went wild.
I tried to out-do Glen when I hired Ant Farm's Doug Michaels to inaugrate my lecture series.
Michael's lecture THE POST MODERN HOAX includued the post-rock backup band VENOM HANTA coupled with multiple ant farm short film projections.
More than 600 people crowded SCI-ARCs small hall. Ray said this better be good or he would have to kill me.
Remember you and I sang along with Angie Pitts, as we recorded random segments.
They were edited into background electronic 'sounds' composed by 'blind' Frank G. The ambient multitrack sounds filled the hall for about an hour, echoing over the PA . The crowd was getting impatient stomping feet.
Micheal and the band jumped on the the stage, a disaster. The sound system got unplugged, no Doug Michael's vocals, no rock band sound, no audible lecture. The 300 lb massive speaker buzzing full power slid off the balcony and almost crushed some students.
Michaels went ballistic, cursing me, cursing SCI_ARC and going nuts cursing Frank G, "That the guys who fucked this up, he's the one, he's to blame".
Doug Michaels never recoved and sank into oblivion, his coming out neo-debut party turned into a sinkhole.
Don't trust Eric w/ mics.
Frank also dissolved. He was on adreniline with no sleep for and three days, with headphones taped to his ears, he never heard the screaming. He was exhausted, worn to the bone, frazzeled. We packed up the gear in the van, drifted home and collasped.
Frank had a breakdown, ended up the next day in an asylum and never fully recovered and is now a wholly schizo, talking to the radio, sending commands and instructions to the CIA, KGB and the Aliens inside his head.
Frank's last sane act was the 'electronic concert' recorded as planned on 2" recording tape! and played weeks later as a 15 min radio segment on NPR. A kinda waiting for Godot waiting for ant farm waiting for nothing to begin. The 2" multi-track tape mixed ambient crowd chatter, electronic sound effects and voice over the show, described SCI-ARC, the building, the teachers and the students. But Michaels prelude was the most memorable.
I see you got D Michaels PM Hoax piece pinned to Peter Cooks after-comments. Much thanks, I need to feel my pulse. Does looks good coupled with Glens recollect , sort of a sounds of the seventies ;; sic eighties, spectacular. Makes everday feel like an orgy.
orhan, thanks for sharing rare bootleg recordings of rock star architects for mothership connection. archinect is getting p. funked with international dance party from another feature. 'sweet chariot stop and let me ride.'
.;))) you are welcome egoist. that is a rare recording...
great questions- most are worthy of their own discussion threads.
yeah, we've discussed ... Los Angeles to Dubai for the two weeks research part of their studio project, coming back, designing apartheid supportive condominiums already. but the lack of economic diversity at the better known schools hasn't yet been probed.
man, i went to the wrong school (not really, but). in the late 80s we tried stunts like those described above a few times and were met with silence and disdain by the faculty.
i had to learn to be much more managed in what i called 'architectural work' before i could be taken seriously. and learn that architecture was form not performative.
It is a great pity that Peter has only to blame teachers to be "only" academics, with personal frustrations. As if he has never theorized, and is exempt from frustrations.
The problem with schools (higher education cannot ever be practical, in any known field) is that they have forgotten the context of building, which has always been the City. To this context each designer adds a small piece, to sustain the whole. 99% of buildings today are copied anyway, and the designer becomes redundant. The context is the main issue, its urbanity as opposed to the suburban culture the world is infested with. I proposed in a paper to the last congress in Oxford that schools be closed and reopened with a program of urban studies , building being a subtext only. My paper was rejected, and instead handed over (despite my protest) to the opening panel of famous architects, Peter Cook one of them, and they made the usual mess out of my idea.
thanks for the attention, Nahoum Cohen, educator, writer, planner.
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Decision Letter on Request to Amend Louisiana State Accountability Plan
September 14, 2004
Honorable Cecil J. Picard
Louisiana State Department of Education
626 North 4th Street, 12th Floor
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9064
Dear Superintendent Picard:
I am writing in response to Louisiana's request to amend its State accountability plan under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). Following our discussions with your staff, those changes that are aligned with NCLB are now included in an amended State accountability plan that Louisiana submitted to the Department on September 9, 2004. A list of the changes is enclosed with this letter. I am pleased to approve Louisiana's amended plan, which we will post on the Department's website.
Thank you for the information provided to me on June 18, 2004 regarding a condition of approval that was detailed in Eugene W. Hickok's June 27, 2003 letter to Louisiana. Once my staff has had a chance to review this information, we will update you on the status of this condition.
If, over time, Louisiana makes changes to the accountability plan that has been approved, Louisiana must submit information about those changes to the Department for review and approval, as required by section 1111(f)(2) of Title I. Approval of Louisiana's accountability plan is not also an approval of Louisiana's standards and assessment system. As Louisiana makes changes in its standards and assessments to meet requirements under NCLB, Louisiana must submit information about those changes to the Department for peer review through the standards and assessment process.
Please also be aware that approval of Louisiana's accountability plan for Title I, including the amendments approved above, does not indicate that the plan complies with Federal civil rights requirements, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
I hope that you have found the accountability plan amendment process effective for implementing a State accountability system that best serves the needs of Louisiana's students and schools and that will lead to improving the academic achievement of all students. As evidenced by the diversity among State accountability plans and State consolidated applications, States have great flexibility in the design of their systems and implementation of particular NCLB provisions. If, as you implement your accountability plan, you find additional elements of your plan that you believe should be refined or amended for next school year to best serve the needs of your students and schools, I encourage you to explore all the areas of flexibility available to your State.
In addition to the flexibility available to States in the design and implementation of their accountability plans, I also encourage you and your districts to utilize the additional flexibility available for the administration and operation of NCLB programs. NCLB continued the flexibility available to States and districts under the 1994 reauthorization of the ESEA, including the ability to consolidate State and local administrative funds (sections 9201 and 9203), to operate schoolwide programs (section 1114), and to participate in the Education Flexibility Partnership Program ("Ed-Flex"). Additionally, NCLB created several new flexibility options for States and districts for the operation of federal programs. These new flexibility provisions include the State Flexibility Authority (sections 6141 through 6144), the Local Flexibility Demonstration program (sections 6151 through 6156), Transferability (sections 6121 through 6123), and the Rural Education Achievement program (sections 6201 through 6234). These flexibilities truly offer States and districts the ability to target federal resources to their unique and individual needs.
I am confident that Louisiana will continue to advance its efforts to hold schools and school districts accountable for the achievement of all students. I wish you well in your school improvement efforts. If I can be of any additional assistance to Louisiana in its efforts to implement other aspects of NCLB, please do not hesitate to call.
Raymond Simon
cc: Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco
Amendments to the Louisiana Accountability Plan
These statements are summaries of the amendments. For complete details, please refer to the Louisiana Accountability plan on the Department's website: www.ed.govhttps://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/stateplans03/index.html.
Amendment with respect to same subject identification (Elements 3.2 and 8.1)
Revision: Louisiana will identify schools for improvement on the basis of not making AYP for two consecutive years in the same subject.
District identification for improvement (Element 3.2 and 4.1)
Revision: Louisiana will identify districts for improvement only when they do not make AYP in the same subject and three grade spans (i.e., elementary, middle schools and high schools) for two consecutive years. In implementing this provision, States should 1) monitor districts that have not made AYP in one or two grade spans but have not been identified for improvement to ensure they are making the necessary curricular and instructional changes to improve achievement, and 2) take steps to ensure supplemental services are available to eligible students from a variety of providers throughout the State (including in districts that have not been identified for improvement but that have schools that have been in improvement for more than one year).
Assessment and Accountability for LEP students (Element 5.4)
Revision: Louisiana will include the flexibility that the Secretary's letter of February 20, 2004 provides relative to limited English proficient students for assessment and accountability purposes.
Alternate Assessments (Elements 5.3 and 6.1)
Revision: Louisiana has ceased using its instructional level assessment, referred to in the original plan as the LAA-B. This assessment is no longer an assessment option for students.
Participation Rate (element 10.1)
Revision: Louisiana will adopt the new flexibility regarding students who have medical emergencies during the testing window and its effect on a school's participation rate. Louisiana will adopt the new flexibility regarding multi-year averaging of participation rate.


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Duties & Responsibilities
Information Technology provides computing technology strategies, as well as effective tools and services to anticipate and meet the business and information needs of the Town of Newington.
Information Technology provides strategic and policy direction for the implementation and management of technology for the Town of Newington. Core activities include development of the Town's IT strategic plan, technology support, policy formulation, and the review and revision of technology standards.
Information Technology is tasked with developing a reliable and efficient technical infrastructure to support critical town operations. The Town of Newington is committed to providing residents, businesses and visitors with efficient and excellent service and information access.
Mission Statement
Information Technology will provide leadership, policy guidance and assistance in the use of technology while offering the highest quality technology-based services, in a cost-effective manner, and maintaining a secure, robust and efficient communications network for our departments and the community we serve.
The Town's Chief Information Officer, Paul G. Boutot, oversees the department and reports directly to the Town Manager. The department provides technology leadership for the Town, developing common standards and business solutions to deliver Town services more efficiently and effectively.
The department's personnel, which include one Network Administrator/Project Leader, Mr. John Bolduc, two Network/Application Specialists, Mr. Scott Hoagland and Mr. Steve Pollock, and one Geographic Information Systems Technician, Kevin Daley, are responsible for developing town-wide strategies and plans for investing in, and operating, the Town of Newington's technological resources. The purpose of town-wide guidance is to reduce the cost of government, enhance services to our citizens, and make government services more accessible to the public.


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The multi-generational family drama of Chesapeake Shores follows Abby O'Brien, a high-powered career woman, divorcee and mother to twin daughters, who makes a trip from New York City to her hometown of Chesapeake Shores. Her visit home brings Abby face to face with her past, including her high school sweetheart Trace, her uncompromising father Mick and her esteemed grandmother Nell. Abby realizes the toll her career has taken on her ability to be a hands-on mother to her daughters, and considers a permanent move to Chesapeake Shores.
Based on the novels of the same name by New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods.


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Learning to Play
DefinitionThe steel guitar differs from a regular guitar in the way that it is played. The lap steel guitar is held in your lap facing toward you. The strings are raised above the fretboard; rather than pressing them to the fretboard, a steel bar is pressed against the strings. Typically the lap steel guitar is tuned in one of several "open" tunings rather than standard guitar tuning. OriginSteel guitars were originally invented and popularized in Hawaii. Legend has it that Joseph Kekuku, a Hawaiian schoolboy, discovered the sound while walking along a railroad track strumming his guitar. He picked up a bolt lying by the track and slid the metal along the strings of his guitar. Intrigued by the sound, he taught himself to play using the back of a knife blade. Other persons who have been credited with the invention of the steel guitar include Gabriel Davion, an Indian sailor, around 1885, and James Hoa, a Hawaiian of Portuguese ancestry. Hawaiian groups were a big hit at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. From there the sound of the Hawaiian guitar spread throughout the United States. From about 1915 to 1930, a large number of Hawaiian guitar methods and songs were published by the major music publishers. The sound of the Hawaiian guitar was picked up and incorporated into blues and country music. From there, the steel guitar slid its way into rock, pop, African and Indian music. More information about Hawaiian steel guitar may be found on the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association web site. PerformersPerformers who are well known as steel guitarists (as opposed to slide guitarists) include: Weissenborn acoustic guitarsThe forefather of the National, Dobro® and pedal steel guitars was
conceived and built by Hermann Weissenborn in the early 1920's. These guitars have experienced a revival due to their use by such artists as David Lindley and Ben Harper among others. Christiaan
Oyens has an excellent site devoted to these instruments.
There's also a good Weissenborn
site in Spain. Dobro® and resonator guitarsMany country and bluegrass players use the Dobro® (or a resonator guitar), a steel guitar which uses an internal resonator to make it louder. "Dobro®" is a registered trademark of the Original Musical Instrument Company. Other resonator-equipped guitars are made by many different companies. You will see these referred to as "resophonic" or "ampliphonic" guitars. According to Bangs Tapscott, other resophonic guitars should be referred to as a TIFKAD (The Instrument Formerly Known As Dobro). Well known modern Dobro® players include: Pedal Steel GuitarThe steel guitar eventually mutated as players sought to expand its usage. Additional strings were added, then additional necks. As the guitars got heavier, they were placed on legs, changing from lap steels to table steels. Finally pedals and knee levers were attached to the strings, allowing the player to change tunings as the guitar is played. There are many web sites devoted to the pedal steel guitar if you want more information. Carter Steel Guitars has a very good site with lots of information. They're the hosts of the Steel Guitar Information website. Bobby Lee Quasar had the first pedal steel guitar site on the internet and runs a most excellent Steel Guitar Forum with many good discussions. Another good site is run by Dave Van Allen (check out his steel guitar timeline!). Joe Wright has a great web site with lots of information on learning to play pedal steel guitar. All these sites have good information for the pedal steel guitar enthusiast- I recommend you check them all out. There will be many links on these sites which will take you to further sites. Slide GuitarThe slide guitar is typically a standard guitar, held the usual way, and fretted with a piece of metal or glass, typically a tube worn on one finger. The sound of the slide guitar can be quite similar to the steel guitar. Famous slide guitarists include (but are not limited to): Other Pages in this siteHere's a page of steel guitar tablature with contributions from several people. I've put together a list of resources for the steel guitarist, such as guitar builders, stores that specialize in steel guitars, recommended tutorials, videos, etc. Check out the index at the side of this page for a breakdown by category. There are a lot of steel guitar CDs out there. Here are some recommendations by me and other steel players. There are many ways to tune the lap steel guitar. I have a list of some of the most common tunings. Click here to see my discussion about various lap steel manufacturers, now including pictures of old instruments. (Clay Harrel's web site has lots more information on acoustic steel guitar manufacturers of the past.) Believe it or not, there are a number of Indian steel guitar players. It's country music from another country! (Check out in particular Debashish Bhattacharya) So what have I done? Here's my musical resume. Of course, no web site would be complete without a page of links. Mine are mostly guitar related. Other links you should investigateJohn Tipka has an excellent site devoted to Hawaiian Steel Guitar, with information on Fender Stringmasters, building your own steel guitar, and some songs to learn. Howard Parker has a site for Dobro® and other resophonic guitarists. Among other things, it has some good pictures of Mike Auldridge and Jerry Douglas. Howard also hosts the resophonic discussion list Resoguit. It's a great resource for those of us who play acoustic lap steel guitars. Visit his web site to subscribe. Here is a discussion of Hawaiian steel guitar from Lark In The Morning Music in Mendocino, California. A Usenet newsgroup devoted to the steel guitar has been created. It's called alt.guitar.lap-pedal. Clicking on the name may take you to it, if your service provider and internet browser allow such things. You'll find much better information on the Steel Guitar Forum, though. If you really want to find out more about steel, click here. |
If you have questions, suggestions for improvements, or additional information, please let me know.


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The County lodging tax is filed on a monthly basis by way of an Occupancy Tax Return form which is due no later than the 20th day of each month after which the tax is collected. This must be USPS postmarked (not metered) on or before the 20th of each month to be considered timely.
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Every establishment maintained, used, or held out to the public to be a hotel/motel or bed and breakfast where sleeping accommodations are offered to guest is required to file monthly on a Hotel/Motel Transient Occupancy Tax form.
No. Churches, non-profit organizations, and schools are not exempt from paying lodging tax.


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Jim Thomson was born in Edmonton, Alberta.
He left his hometown of Westview Village Winterburn at the age of 15 years old to pursue a junior career with the Markham Waxers of the OJHL and the Toronto Marlboros of the OHL.
After playing junior for 3 years, Jim's dreams began to come true when he was drafted by the NHL Washington Capitals. He went on to play ten years of professional hockey on six NHL teams: the Washington Capitals, Hartford Whalers, New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators, Los Angeles Kings, and the Anaheim Ducks.
The highlights of Jim's career were when he scored his first goal against Ed Belfour in Chicago stadium, reaching the Stanley Cup Finals with the Los Angeles Kings with his idol Wayne Gretzky, and his number one highlight in his very first NHL game when his coach Bryan Murray asked Jim to cover the great Mario Lemieux.
Today, Jim travels the country with his 'Dreams Do Come True' presentation to help change lives as he inspires both the young and old. Jim volunteers countless hours with many charities and organizations including Inn From the Cold Homeless Shelters, Stop Concussions, and The York Regional Police.
His passion mainly lies in anything related to kids and teens. He is the NHL Hockey Ambassador of the King Heights Academy, and coaches and mentors many hockey teams and players. Jim is directly involved with helping teens in troubled times, and is always available to the many who reach out to him.
Jim's life has not always been the glamorous life of a pro athlete. He has faced many adversities and has been fortunate enough to overcome them. He now dedicates his life to helping others.