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Columns Retired Columns & Blogs |
Watermarking: the Devil's Work!
I left you last month 104 miles from Santa Fe, New Mexico, heading east on I-40 accompanied by a dog and two cats, with 1946 miles to go to reach Stereophile's new editorial home, New York City. To cut a long story short, I did arrive in New York (covered in dog and cat hair). After a nerve-wracking delay, so did our furniture. We will be living out of boxes for a while chez Atkinson, but that's a mere inconvenience compared with the Great Adventure of setting up a new listening room.
I had been in the Santa Fe room 12 years. It had settled around me like a comfortable old shoe. I knew every acoustic cranny, every acoustic nuance. No, it was not a perfect room, but drop a new pair of speakers or a new amplifier into that room, and I could quickly zoom in on what was different about the sound and describe it to you.
But now I have a new room.
How bad can that be? As I write these words, I flash on the angst Michael Fremer and Shannon Dickson recently went through in dealing with new acoustic environments, even when they were definite improvements over their old rooms.
While the house we bought in Brooklyn didn't have a suitable room ready and waiting, we had two basement rooms knocked together before we arrived to create a quite nicely proportioned space. I started modeling its acoustics on my PC, but then people started telling me that, with perhaps the exception of the RPG software, the various programs are not all they're cracked up to be. So, after getting this issue off to the printer, I'm going to put some carpet down, get all the books, LPs, and CDs out their boxes and into the waiting bookshelves, and set up my system. I'll keep you posted on how the process of settling into the new listening space develops.
Elsewhere in this issue you can read reviews of products that I think signal the different directions in which high-end audio can go. Long a two-channel kind of guy, Larry Greenhill explores surround-sound for music in his report on a five-channel Bryston amplifier. I report on my experiences with a "convergence" product, the CardDeluxe PC soundcard from Digital Audio Labs, which appears to sonically sacrifice nothing compared with high-end digital audio components. And Jonathan Scull listens to the third Super Audio CD player to hit these shores, the Marantz SA-1.
Both SACD and DVD-Audio—the latter finally reached the US in July—are exciting formats. CD was intended from the outset to be the replacement for the cassette, not the LP, and was specified, at least in my opinion, with a "good enough" mindset. With these new media, consumers at last will have access to a sound source that has not been compromised, that holds the promise of being transparent to all listeners with all kinds of music under all conditions. This has been a dream of mine since the 1960s.
But even as this dream is within reach, record-industry bean counters seem determined to take it away. As I retrieved my e-mail and browsed the news stories on www.stereophile.com at the end of each day of my transcontinental drive, I read about how, with DVD-Audio in particular, the music signal will be "watermarked" so that someone can extract the copyright information from the sound. An analogy would be those translucent logos that TV channels put in the corner of the screen—so you can be reminded, for example, that it is A&E that is bringing you Poirot.
As I explained in this space several months ago, because the watermarking code needs to be retrievable after the music data have been converted to analog, and perhaps transmitted over an AM radio link, or even compressed with MP3, the code has to be robust; ie, high in level. And if it is robust, it might be audible. Now, as David Leibowitz of Verance, the developers of the watermarking scheme adopted by the recording industry for DVD-Audio, pointed out in the August Stereophile's "Manufacturer's Comments," the watermarking is not as obvious as mixing Morse code with the music. The low-bit-rate (20bps) code is disguised to resemble the analog noise already present; in addition, it is spectrally shaped to get the maximum benefit from psychoacoustic masking. (In very simplistic terms, the code is loudest when the music is loudest in both the amplitude and frequency domains.) In addition, the watermarking doesn't have to be present all the time, nor is it mandatory for content producers to use it on DVD-As. (SACD uses a different scheme that apparently doesn't affect the music data.)
In his letter, Mr. Leibowitz reminded us that in 1999 the Verance code was subjected to listening tests in which pro-audio professionals, including Stereophile's Barry Willis, took part. These experienced listeners found it very hard to detect the watermarking under blind conditions (see "Industry Update," October 1999, pp.29-33), though at last fall's AES Convention in New York, at least one engineer who had taken part in the tests said that once the audible effect of the watermarking code had been pointed out, it was possible to hear it every time.
Earlier this year, the renowned English classical engineer, Tony Faulkner, called into question the results of the 1999 blind test ("Industry Update," August 2000, pp.20-22), pointing out that the test methodology was not strictly applicable to hi-rez classical recordings. As a result of Tony's industry-wide lobbying, further tests took place at London's Whitfield Street Studios at the beginning of July, under the auspices of the UK's equivalent of the RIAA, the IFPI.
Tony was one of the listeners. In an e-mail he subsequently circulated to interested parties, he wrote, "I have no doubts in my own mind now that the Verance watermark is clever enough and effectively unobtrusive enough for noncritical low- to mid-fi...ie, up to but excluding DVD-A, SACD, and high-quality CD. The bad news is that it was audible on poor-quality, bandwidth-limited, archive analog material to a 49-year-old engineer with a cold....For audiophiles paying extra money for a new player and for new discs, judging by what I heard yesterday, the watermark could reduce the perceived quality of DVD-A to somewhere between a good MiniDisc and a below-average CD."
As the watermarking is optional, I thought that this would represent a market opportunity for small record companies concerned about quality. If a multinational conglomerate decided that all its DVD-As would be watermarked whether or not the mark was audible, a small company could use the fact that it never watermarked its releases to gain market share.
But on my long drive east, I decided that this passive approach was not enough. As Barry Willis said to me in an e-mail, purists find the notion of watermarking far more offensive than the watermarking itself.
Yes, I do object to the idea of watermarking. If the record industry wants to treat their recordings as commodities, well then, by the shades of Adam Smith and Alan Blumlein, let consumers react accordingly. I call on Stereophile readers to boycott each and every company that releases watermarked DVD-As and CDs. That'll larn 'em to mess with our music.


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Traditionally, most people think of tea bags or loose leaf tea when they think of good tea, certainly when thinking of such stalwart traditional teas as Earl Grey. Twinings Earl Grey Tea Tassimo T-Discs offer the advantages of traditional steeping with modern T-Disc brewing convenience.
The T-Disc brewing method is actually quite suited to tea steeping. The use of pressure alongside heat to accelerate steeping just as T-Discs do with coffee brewing utilizes sound scientific theories regarding water as a medium for flavor and essence absorption from tea.
Tassimo machines are so good at this that you may just be shocked that your traditional cup of Earl Great came from Twinings Earl Grey Tea Tassimo T-Discs instead of some arcane system using an odd technology rumored to have been called a "cozy."
Twinings Earl Grey Tea Tassimo T-Discs Cup Experience
Have you had a good cup of Earl Grey tea steeped by traditional means? Well, it's exactly like that. No, seriously. If you were to ask us, this cup of Earl Grey tea is identical to other cup we made by more traditional tea bag steeping methods. The difference is in how soon we were enjoying our cup of Earl Grey. Traditional methods feel like bullet time slow motion relative to the Tassimo experience. We actually had to set a timer!!!
Cup-wise and compared to other Earl Grey teas, the Twinings Earl Grey Tea Tassimo T-Discs tea has rich black tea taste and sweet, almost fruity bergamot flavor. Twinings Earl Grey Tea truly seems to take well to this medium due to its naturally distinctive flavor. It takes well to either a bit of lemon or a splash of cream, and sweetening in either instance seems to enhance the more citric tastes of the bergamot sweetness.

subset: commoncrawl


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Is it possible to create a new data type in java? My idea for how it could be done is to create an object that holds holds a boolean array of n size and translates the number you make only when necessary.
As a background to what I'm talking about, I know boolean is 1 bit and so it holds 2^0=1 or 0 info. Byte is 8 bits (1 byte) and so it holds 2^8=256 unsigned. So my object (called a halfbyte) holds a boolean array 4 in length, and so the max value would be 2^4=16 unsighned which is good if you're doing something with values in a dozen or between 1 and 10 for example.
I'm wondering if this method of making a new data type -could- be just as efficient as the built in types like int and byte or if assembly language would be required to do something like this. Also is the source code for int and byte and other basic data types made in java like any other object you can make and can you view the source code?


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Three years jail for fraudster who stole from disabled cousin
Stephen Emmett, 26, of West End Road, Morecambe, shook his head as sentence was passed.
Vulnerable victim Matthew Fernandez, also 26, is unable to read or write and trusted Emmett, whom he had viewed as a "brother", Preston Crown Court heard.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdBut Emmett exploited his vulnerabilities by launching a sophisticated fraud involving setting up new accounts with the online banking service Paypal.
Prosecuting, David Clarke revealed he pocketed £5,760.45, which he blew on gym memberships, tyres and takeaway food amongst other goods.
Emmett lied that his disabled cousin had given him the bank details and asked him to buy lingerie and sex toys for prostitutes with the cash from his accounts.
But he was found guilty by Lancaster Magistrates' Court of four counts of fraud and was committed to Preston Crown Court to be sentenced. His vulnerable victim had to be assisted to give evidence.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdRecorder Christopher Kennedy QC said: "You were convicted of four offences of fraud whereby you defrauded Matthew Fernandez of £5,760.45 - a lot of money to him. He is of a similar age to you, I accept he is a vulnerable individual, He struggles to read, struggles socially and lives alone in a caravan at his place of work.
"You took his financial details and set up a number of accounts and you used his money for goods and services.
"Your case falls in the highest degree of culpability. You abused his trust - as you said, you were like brothers.
"These were sophisticated offences which involved planning. You were careful to ensure the accounts didn't go into red thereby to stimulate contact from the bank. You waited to make your purchases until he got paid.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad"I find you deliberately targeted him because he was vulnerable."
Emmett has 12 previous offences, the majority motoring matters.
Defending, James Heyworth said Emmett lived with his partner and six year old daughter.
He added: " Back in 2011 his partner had left him alone with their child and he took a rather reckless approach to life."


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Story highlights
Gen. Keith Alexander says the NSA doesn't break into Google, Yahoo databases
But The Washington Post reports that the NSA accesses data as it moves between centers
Alexander didn't appear to address that specific claim
The NSA later denies using the technique to "collect vast quantities of U.S. persons' data"
The National Security Agency doesn't have access to servers run by Internet giants Google and Yahoo, its chief said in a pushback to a Washington Post report that the U.S. spy network taps into overseas data links to slurp up millions of text, video and audio records every day.
But Gen. Keith Alexander's comments at a cybersecurity conference Wednesday don't appear to address the substance of the newspaper's allegations – that the NSA has found a way to tap into the data as it moves between servers around the world without many of the restrictions imposed by U.S. law and court oversight.
Asked about the report by a Bloomberg Television reporter who interviewed him on stage at the conference, Alexander denied breaking into servers or databases run by Internet companies.
"Not to my knowledge," he said in response to a question about tapping into company databases.
"It would be illegal for us to do that. So, I don't know what the report is," Alexander said. "But I can tell you factually we do not have access to Google servers, Yahoo servers. We go through a court order."
However, the allegations published by The Post – based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden – aren't that the NSA has hacked into data centers or databases owned by the companies.
Instead, the newspaper – citing the Snowden documents and unnamed "knowledgeable officials" – reported that the NSA gets access to the data as it passes through vulnerable points overseas on its way to databases around the world.
According to The Post, the NSA and the British Government Communications Headquarters found a way to exploit a weakness in Internet architecture to copy data as it moves from the public Internet into data centers maintained by the companies.
The agency then uses custom-built software to decode the companies' internal data formats and filter the resulting data for information it wants to collect, the newspaper reported.
The material collected under the program – code-named MUSCULAR – includes e-mail addressing information, as well as "content such as text, audio and video," according to The Post.
The agency's Fort Meade, Maryland, headquarters received 181,280,466 such records in the 30 days preceding the top-secret January 9, 2013, accounting on which The Post's report is based, according to the newspaper.
In a statement, the NSA said "the assertion that we collect vast quantities of U.S. persons' data from this type of collection is also not true."
"NSA applies Attorney General-approved processes to protect the privacy of U.S. persons," the agency said.
It's unclear how much of the material collected involves what the NSA calls "U.S. persons," a category that includes U.S. citizens, permanent residents, groups predominantly made up of those groups and businesses incorporated in the United States.
But unlike domestic programs that fall under restrictions imposed by law and the oversight of a secret court, surveillance conducted overseas falls under an executive order with less restrictive standards, The Post reported.
The report raised concerns from Google and Yahoo, with the Internet behemoths saying they never gave the NSA permission to access communication links to their servers.
"We have strict controls in place to protect the security of our data centers, and we have not given access to our data centers to the NSA or to any other government agency," said Yahoo spokeswoman Sarah Meron.
Google has "long been concerned about the possibility of this kind of snooping, which is why we have continued to extend encryption across more and more Google services and links," said David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer.
"We do not provide any government, including the U.S. government, with access to our systems. We are outraged at the lengths to which the government seems to have gone to intercept data from our private fiber networks, and it underscores the need for urgent reform."
The newspaper report emerged a day after Alexander and James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, testified before a House committee reviewing the agency's surveillance activities.
The hearing, billed as a discussion of potential changes to the 35-year-old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, commonly known as FISA, came after a report by the German magazine Der Spiegel that the NSA monitored German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cell phone. Some reports also suggest the United States carried out surveillance on French and Spanish citizens.
Jim Sciutto reported from Washington; Chelsea J. Carter reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Jeremy Harlan contributed to this report.


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Take advantage of every breath of wind
Everyone has experienced it. You get to the spot and the wind-forecast has been a few knots too optimistic. With a Flydoor in your quiver this means having fun, instead of hanging around on the beach. The unbelievably early planing ability combined with the unexpectedly good handling is what makes the Flydoor4 stand out above the rest. Riding toe-side, jumping, cruising. The Flydoor4 just feels much smaller than it is, however still delivers unmatched upwind performance. Thanks to the centre fin there is no other twintip board, except the FlyRace, that goes upwind better.
Product video
Infinite Possibilities
The reputation of the Flydoor boards for having amazing light-wind properties is well known, but the huge wind-range of the boards allows you to have extra kite days even in extremely gusty conditions. Many of the small inland spots and lakes are now properly enjoyable.
Because of this it is not only a great board for beginners, even though there is almost no better board to learn on. From water-start to loaded tricks, it can do everything without being too much of a challenge from it's rider.
It's always a challenge to combine early planing and good agility into one board. To achieve this we had to work on a lot of small details. Key to this is the redesigned 8cm long centre fin that is an important factor for upwind performance. The wood-foam composite core allows for light weight without compromising the durability.
The new laminate layup gives the board more torsional stiffness which works together with the extremely thin flex-tips to give you an optimal combination of great control, comfort and dynamic feel.
Flysurfer Quality
It is self-evident that great riding characteristics alone are not enough. Starting with the Radical4 we moved our production to a factory in Europe that promises the highest quality and precision. Only the highest quality materials are used. For example the most high end top-sheets available. Our tried and tested footpads, G10 fins and our new comfortable and bombproof velcro foot-straps finish off the complete package.
To be extra sure in regards to the durability, we used foot-strap inserts which can withstand up to 400kg of pull each. In our opinion it has to be like this, because Everyday is a kiteday!


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In Solomon Northup's narrative of his 12 years as an abducted free man sold into slavery, decscriptions of the atrocities of the practice abound.
Get the Penguin paperback edition of Northrup's Twelve Years a Slave, edited by of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. It was orignally published in 1853. Make a contribution of $25 or more and receive it now. Just click here.
Amidst Northup's account of his years as chattel in Louisiana, a particular recollection of the generational passage of the vile mindset of buying people as property and physically abusing (and killing them) speaks volumes about the persistence of racism. For about 10 years, Northup was owned by Louisiana plantation master Edwin Epps, who received great pleasure in having his slaves, including a young woman whom he was raping, frequently whipped. Epps, according to Northup, had a son "of ten or twelve years of age" who himself lashed slaves at will:
It is pitiable, sometimes to see him chastising, for instance, the venerable Uncle Abram. He will call the old man to account, and if in his childish judgment it is necessary, sentence him to a certain number of lashes, which he proceeds to inflict with much gravity and deliberation. Mounted on his pony, he often rides into the field with his whip, playing the overseer, greatly to his father's delight. Without discrimination, at such times, he applies the rawhide, urging the slaves forward with shouts, and occasional expressions of profanity, while the old man laughs, and commends him as "a thorough-going boy."
Although the institution of slavery was ended with the resolution of the Civil War, the attitude of racism handed from one generation to the next in the South – and other areas of the nation – has been remarkably tenacious among a significant segment of the population. In particular, the notion of white male privilege and superiority to those with other skin colors has been largely fueling an incendiary political battle, i.e., whether the United States is a white patriarchal nation or one of cultural diversity and enfranchisement.
Many of the angry white males in the United States partake of the legacy of a depraved culture of slavery that Solomon Northup experienced through the eyes of a free man. One can no longer legally own another person in the United States, but one is free to regard nonwhites with vile contempt. Just listen to Rush Limbaugh. "The other," in such an inherited prejudice, is to be despised, belittled and marginalized.
Although the current popularity of Twelve Years a Slave (the movie and the original book) has much to do with the gripping drama of a free man who suddenly becomes a slave – and ultimately regains his freedom – it is also a timely reminder that slavery, economically, was about profit made from literally disposable laborers. Yes, there was an "investment" in purchasing a slave (a human life), but after that payment, it was all about maximizing productivity of labor to increase wealth on plantations (putting the other uses of slaves aside for the moment). Slaves only had value as laborers and property. The very word "slave" is a dehumanization of those who endured the institution's pain, wrath and evil.
The monetization of people in terms of their value to increase the wealth of a selected elite was epitomized in a nightmarish reality – a living hell that was incorporated into the original US Constitution – in the antebellum South.
In the end, Solomon Northup ultimately had his dignity, family and freedom restored to him. He descended into the inferno but was miraculously able to return to his home in New York state. But a society that uses the majority of its population as financially subjugated workers to create gluttonous profits for a relative miniscule minority of that society is heir to an outlook that sees workers as essentially replaceable property.
Northup observes, in describing the young "Master Epps" (not yet a teenager):
"The child is father to the man," and with such training whatever may be his natural disposition, it cannot be well otherwise than that, on arriving at maturity, the sufferings and miseries of the slave will be looked upon with entire indifference.
Replace the word slave with the majority of Americans who struggle financially and Northup's insight applies – in an altered context of economic privilege – just as well in 2013. The practice of degrading the value of labor so that the wealthy elites can increase their profits is soaring.
Simultaneously, the deluded racism of the Tea Party represents the simmering bilious violence of Southern whites, who were themselves of limited means before and after the Civil War. Instead of resenting the wealthy slave owners and subsequent Southern oligarchy, they heaped their anger and loathing on blacks.
This dynamic was unexpectedly and obliquely alluded to in a speech on December 4 that President Obama gave on growing economic inequality and shrinking economic mobility:
So if we're going to take on growing inequality and try to improve upward mobility for all people, we've got to move beyond the false notion that this is an issue exclusively of minority concern. And we have to reject a politics that suggests any effort to address it in a meaningful way somehow pits the interests of a deserving middle class against those of an undeserving poor in search of handouts.
This, too, is the legacy of the world that Solomon Northup unwillingly experienced, the toxic taint of slavery that tarnishes our democracy to this day.
Get the Penguin paperback edition of Northrup's Twelve Years a Slave, edited by of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. It was orignally published in 1853. Make a contribution of $25 or more and receive it now. Just click here.


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You may remember APS film. It came out in the 90s, and was quickly replaced by digital. The film was connected to the cannister in a clever way that allowed you to rewind mid-roll.
Are there any devices for scanning APS film?
Is it safe to break the cannisters open?


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Situated Software
| emacsLink from TerryP's blog
I think this is why I have so much fun working on PlannerMode. I have
a clearly-defined set of users in mind (mostly the mailing list) and I
love threshing out interfaces and features with them. It's not a
large-scale application and it certainly doesn't appeal to the masses,
but it can be quite powerful when you get the hang of it.
Hey, Emacs is like that too. =)
Open source supports situated software very well, as you can tweak
something existing in order to fit your needs.
By the way, the author taught a class called Social Software.
Must forward to Dr. Rodrigo. This is her kind of thing.
You can comment with Disqus or you can e-mail me at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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It took an offer to appear on a national TV show for Wade Warren to reluctantly give up what he calls his "technology" for a week.
That was the only way, his mother says, that he would ever pack his 2006 MacBook (with some recent upgrades, he'll tell you), his iPad tablet computer, and, most regretfully, his Nexus One smart phone into a cardboard box and watch them be hustled out the door of his room to a secret hiding place.
Wade, who's 14 and heading into ninth grade, survived his seven days of technological withdrawal without updating his 136 Twitter followers about "wonky math tests" and "interesting fort escapades," or posting on his photography product review blog, or texting his friends about… well, that's private. But he has returned to his screens with a vengeance, making up for lost time.
Though he's vowing that he is going to reduce his screen time, "I haven't really noticed a sharp drop in my computer usage," he concedes in a phone interview, with the faint sound of computer keys clicking as he talks. The idea behind the show, called "Nick News with Linda Ellerbee: Middle School Unplugged," was that time away from gadgets might cause young people like Wade to see the benefits of disengaging from their screens and connecting in person with friends and family.
But it seemed to have the opposite effect on Wade: "I sort of learned the magnitude of how [technology] helps me." Not carrying a phone was a factor in his getting lost on his own in downtown San Francisco, near where he lives, an experience that troubled him.
Wade is a "digital native" whose world – half in cyberspace, half on terra firma – is breeding what might be called a new species of thinkers. The early 21st century may be a watershed moment in how humans learn and communicate, a change perhaps not equaled since the invention of the printing press nearly six centuries ago.
Today's technology may be determining not just how we spend our time: It actually may be "rewiring" the way we think, how we experience the world around us.
Techno-Cassandras fret over what's happening to our attention spans, our ability to think and read deeply, to enjoy time with our own thoughts or a good book.
Techno-enthusiasts scoff that those concerns are nothing new: Socrates, it's pointed out, thought that writing itself would harm a person's ability to internalize learning, the printed word acting as a substitute for true understanding. Technologies such as printing, and in recent decades television and the pocket calculator, have all served time as villains only to become innocuous, commonplace parts of modern life. Why should helpful new technologies from Facebook and Twitter to iPhones and laptops be any different?
Those caught in the middle are aware that something significant is happening, but wary about whether they or others are grasping the big picture. Is technology making us dumb and distracted or turning us into expert information finders and magnificent multitaskers? Is being connected online 24/7 good or bad? Is there even a good way to tell?
• • •
"I think it's subtler than, 'Is [the Internet] making us smarter or making us stupid?' " says Nicholas Carr. "It's how it's making us smarter or how it's making us stupider that's interesting."
Mr. Carr's book, "The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains," is currently bearing the standard for the techno-worried. In it, he begins by telling of his own trouble in reading at length and thinking as deeply as he once could. After some research he concludes that too much time online is not only changing the way his brain works, but everyone else's, too. "The possibility that we're altering some basic things about the way we think without carefully weighing the consequences is troubling," he says. "However important it is to connect quickly with others and exchange messages, there is also a crucial role for solitary thought in our intellectual lives. And we seem to be rushing to dismiss the importance of solitary thought."
His plaintive cry: I want my old brain back.
"As we practice these very busy modes of skimming and juggling tasks, we think we're being productive and, you know, sometimes it can be quite entertaining and quite fulfilling," he says in a Monitor interview. "But what I don't think we fully realize is that we're altering in a deep way our ability to pay attention, our ability to be contemplative, to be reflective – the things that we might be losing."
Carr, a gifted writer admired for his ability to examine and explain the effects of technology on society, is hardly alone. Others, including scholars and scientists, are asking the same troubling questions, especially about the young "digital generation" whose members are growing up in their own screen-filled worlds.
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"The brain of a child who is immersed in six to seven hours of digitally dominated media daily and reads only a little off-line will have differences from a child immersed only in books and who learns to attend, concentrate, and think about what he or she reads," writes Maryanne Wolf, a professor of child development who directs the Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. "The problem with much of our digital media is that they engage attention quickly and then engage again and again. Children are constantly moving to the next piece of information…. My worry is that children are becoming wonderfully engaged with the superficial levels of information but unaware of the need to probe and think for themselves."
Nora Volkow, a brain researcher and director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, agrees: "The technology is rewiring our brains."
A two-class society may develop, with a mostly younger generation who are "the people of the screen" and a mostly older generation who are "the people of the book" – with two quite different ways of understanding the world, theorizes British neuroscientist Susan Greenfield.
"At the beginning of the 21st Century, we may be standing on the brink of a mind-makeover more cataclysmic than anything in our history," she wrote in 2006. "The science and technology that is already becoming central to our lives will soon come to transform not just the way we spend each day, but the way we think and feel."
Humor essayist Garrison Keillor recently summed up the generational difference this way. "[O]ur children are writing up a storm, often combining letters and numerals (U R 2 1derful), blogging like crazy, reading for hours off their little screens, surfing around from Henry James to Jesse James to the epistle of James to pajamas to Obama to Alabama to Alanon to non-sequiturs, sequins, penguins, penal institutions…," he mused in a New York Times essay. A young mind today won't stay focused on any one thing, "like a hummingbird in an endless meadow of flowers," he writes.
Others say they just have an innate feeling that Carr and his ilk are on to something. John Miedema, who lives in Ottawa, says that he can tell the different between reading online and in print. "The quality of the memories feels different" online, says Mr. Miedema, the author of the book "Slow Reading." "The quality of the memories is less rich than it is when I read more slowly."
His "aha" moment, Miedema says, was when he read Carr's explanation of the difference between quick skimming and scanning on the Web, which lodges in the brain's short-term memory and is quickly lost, and the long-term memories that a more thoughtful kind of slow reading provides. "I share Nicholas Carr's feeling that my brain has been rewired," he says.
Among the pet peeves of those critical of online reading are hyperlinks, those underlined words or phrases that when clicked on take the reader to another Web page. "The Web is almost built for distraction," Miedema says. "The links are designed to take you away from what you are reading." The evidence, he says, is clear. "People don't really read on the Web." They skim, he says.
Some research shows that online browsing doesn't result in learning that really sticks. "We're often not learning when we're multitasking; we're just skimming the surface," Dr. Wolf says.
Even common courtesy can be a victim of our obsession to stay online. In a widely quoted passage in Ken Auletta's book "Googled: The End of the World as We Know it," Google cofounder Larry Page is scheduled to meet with Barry Diller, a high-powered media mogul. But during their meeting, Mr. Page continues to stare into the screen of his mobile device. "[Diller] said to Larry, 'Is this boring?' 'No. I'm interested. I always do this,' Page said. 'Well, you can't do this,' Diller said. 'Choose.' 'I'll do this,' Page said matter-of-factly, not lifting his eyes from his hand-held device."
Some polls and studies seem to back up the "Internet is rewiring brains" argument. Nearly 30 percent of Americans under the age of 45 say using devices like smart phones and PCs increases their feelings of stress and makes it more difficult to concentrate, a New York Times/CBS News poll found last month.
Other polls point to the pervasive allure of being "connected" online. One found that a third of women ages 18 to 34 check their Facebook accounts as soon as they wake up in the morning, even before they visit the bathroom or brush their teeth. And while some 54 percent of teens send text messages by phone to their friends daily, just 33 percent actually talk face to face with them, a poll from the Pew Internet & American Life Project found.
Americans are living more of their lives online. A Harris Interactive poll last winter found American adults surf the Net on average 13 hours per week, not counting e-mails. The number was just seven hours per week in 2002.
And while only 23 percent of adults think they personally spend too much time on their Internet-linked gadgets, according to a Rasmussen Reports survey earlier this year, 75 percent think young children spent too much time online and playing video games.
But plenty of high-powered intellects remain skeptical that hours spent online is "rewiring our brains" or making us dumber.
"It's indisputable that the Internet has made us smarter…. The range of things you can explore in a day is just fantastic compared to 20 years ago," says David Weinberger, senior researcher at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. "There's no question that we feel the Internet has made us better researchers, better thinkers, better writers."
Steven Pinker, a professor of psychology at Harvard, points out that one kind of deep thinking – scientific research – is flourishing today as the Internet allows unprecedented levels of collaboration and cooperation. "Discoveries are multiplying like fruit flies, and progress is dizzying," he wrote last month in The New York Times.
Paul Saffo, a longtime Silicon Valley technology forecaster, says the engineering students he teaches at Stanford University in California show outstanding skills in what he calls "associative memory" – how to know what to look for. "They're fast with [making] connections," he says. "Yes, they're probably less likely to read a 500-page book than their parents were. But … I can remember when I was in college, I didn't exactly leap at the opportunity to spend a day reading a 500-page book either."
The "rewiring our brains" argument could just as easily be blamed on watching too much television, "if it's even really happening," Mr. Saffo suggests. "I've had an e-mail account since 1984. And I've got two computers running in here. But the biggest problem in my office is tripping over all the books."
What the Internet has done for him is "cut in on my time" to read books by giving him more choices and temptations, he says. "But it hasn't made me become more shallow."
Perhaps the printed book, revered by old-school scholars as the ideal vehicle for promoting deep thinking but bereft of hyperlinks and static and unchanging, is actually holding back our thinking process and intellectual endeavors, Mr. Weinberger argues.
Books "are not the shape of knowledge," he says. "They're a limitation on knowledge." The idea of a single author presenting her ideas "was born of the limitations of paper publishing. It's not necessarily the only way or the best way to think and to write."
Paper requires a writer to divide topics and to "close them off," Weinberger says. "All these are very unnatural things. The world does not consist of topics that begin on Page 1 and end on Page 256. The Internet has a better ability to reflect the structure of knowledge than books do."
On the Web, if a writer allows readers to comment he can't expect to command an argument without interruption. But his thinking may be stimulated by what others have to say. "It seems to me we're better off for that," Weinberger says. "It's going to be distracting, sure," he adds, but if they're saying interesting things, "that's also enriching…. Isn't that better?"
The world, as Internet visionary Ted Nelson has written, is "intertwingly," full of cross-connections among myriad topics that can't be neatly divided up. Those chains of relationships map neatly with hyperlinks and the "webby" online world. The discomfort being felt by those old enough to have known a world without the Internet may not persist, Weinberger says. "Now we have a generation coming up that hasn't lived through the transition" from a print world to an online world, he says.
• • •
No one, including Carr and Wolf, argues that people in the 21st century can or should stop using the Internet and gadgets that link to it. And no one really knows what the right amount of online activity should be or how individuals can best manage it.
"It has to begin with people questioning [the use of technology] in their own lives," offers Carr, who says he didn't intend his book to provide answers so much as to examine the problem. "We're all responsible for how we spend our time and the choices we make."
People addicted to being online are not going to stop using the Internet altogether, "anymore than a food addict is going to stop eating food," says Kimberly Young, a psychologist in Bradford, Pa., who is founder and director of The Center for Internet Addiction Recovery.
For children, getting them involved in real-world activities is a start, she says.
"If young people are engaged in band, swimming, extracurricular things where they're meeting other kids, I think they're OK," says Dr. Young, who notes that while Internet addiction has not been formally recognized as a mental problem in the United States, it is already being treated by professionals such as herself.
Wolf makes sure she stays off-line at specific times. "For a half hour before bedtime and a half hour in the morning I do nothing digital," she says.
Then there's the software solution. Freedom, a program developed by Fred Stutzman at the University of North Carolina, locks users' computers out of Internet access for up to eight hours at a time.
Even if we've lost our ability to read deeply, we can regain it. "Our brains are very adaptable and flexible," Carr adds. "If you change your habits, your brain is very happy to go along. The hard thing is to change your habits."
• • •
Meanwhile, Wade Warren's mom, Stephania Serena, is living on the front lines, trying to decide how to manage her son's immersion in the digital world he spends so much of his life in.
"I'm not the perfect role model necessarily for my kids. I work on the computer, I'm on a lot," says Ms. Serena, who is a designer and photographer. "It's crazy. I think we need to be more disciplined and it's really hard." She's been known to keep working on her iPhone while trying to fix dinner at the same time.
"I think it's hard enough for adults, but it's a million times harder for kids," she says.
She knows Wade is a child of the Internet. "One of his first sentences was 'on, off, peto.' 'On, off, computer.' He called it 'peto.' We have a little recording of it," she says.
It may come down to personal responsibility. "You have to be in charge. You can't let the computer be in charge," she allows.
Wade did some cooking with her during the week his gadgets were hidden away, and his mom noticed the new level of attention to others. "Since then we've been making ice cream," she says. "I wish he spent more time outdoors, but we're getting there."


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A-Z of prog rock
Anderson, Jon
A is for… Anderson, Jon
The diminutive and high-pitched singer of Yes is one of prog's best known and distinctive front men.
Anderson fronted the band through their classic 70s era and also during their 80s resurgence, as well as launching a successful solo career. He's also known for having more contemporary hits with keyboard pal Vangelis.
Currently ousted from Yes following a health scare, much to the chagrin of fans, but is back on the road to recovery. His distinctive tones were matched by his legendarily unfathomable lyrics.
A is also for… Asia
A supergroup formed of members of Yes, King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer in the early '80s, Asia's mix of AOR and prog rock rocketed them to the top of the charts for a few years at least, whilst most music critics seethed with barely concealed vitriol.
Barclay James Harvest
B is for… Barclay James Harvest
Formed in Saddleworth in 1966, Barclay James Harvest mixed their early progressive sounds with orchestral arrangements, which placed them firmly in the symphonic prog area.
This was also occupied by the likes of The Moody Blues, forcing BJH to respond to critics by penning Poor Man's Moody Blues. Still a going concern today, although like many prog bands of their era, the original members have fallen out, meaning two parties currently tour under the BJH moniker.
B is also for… Bigelf
A modern day prog quartet from Los Angeles, Bigelf formed in 1991. However it was signing to ex-Four Non Blonde singer Linda Perry's Custard label and releasing Cheat The Gallows in 2008 that really set the band, fronted by top-hatted Damon Fox, on the right road. Currently touring North America as support to Porcupine Tree.
Canterbury Scene
C is for… Canterbury Scene
The name given to a collective of bands who, somewhat unsurprisingly, mostly hailed from the Canterbury area.
Most notable bands were Soft Machine, Caravan, Camel (who didn't actually come from Canterbury) and later on National Health and Hatfield & The North.
All the bands followed a slightly jazzier, more pastoral route than some of the more bombastic and ostentatious prog bands of the 70s, and thus had more low-key success.
C is also for… Curved Air
Formed in 1970, Curved Air added classical, folk and electronic elements to their progressive sound. However they were most noticeable for having a female singer, the not unattractive Sonja Kristina, who was prog's pin-up girl du jour and helped propel their single Back Street Luv to number four in the charts in 1971. Check the reformed band out at Glastonbury later this year.
Dream Theater
D is for… Dream Theater
Immensely successful US prog metal band, indeed one of the most successful prog metal bands there's ever been. In their very early days Dream Theater sounded like a cross between Metallica and Rush, but their sound has become bolder and more progressive as the years have passed.
Unusual for a modern day prog band in as much as they've had major chart success with both a major label (Atlantic) and now with metal indie Roadrunner.
Prodigiously talented, the band notably champion prog with their international touring progfest the Prog Nation tours.
D is also for… Dark Side Of The Moon, The
Pink Floyd's legendary 1973 album which rocketed the band into the stratosphere. The sixth studio album the band released, it was a conceptual treatise on life, death and mental fragility (perhaps a nod to the band's former frontman Syd Barrett), the album spent over two years on the Billboard charts.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
E is for… Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Prog rock's original supergroup pulled in keyboard player Keith Emerson from The Nice, bassist/singer Greg Lake from King Crimson and drummer Carl Palmer from the Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
They premiered at the Isle Of Wight Festival in 1970 and became one of the biggest bands on the planet, although the late John Peel grumbled that they were a "waste of electricity". Known for their OTT stage shows, by the mid-70s they also came to embody the excesses for which prog would be slated by the punks.
This year they celebrate their 40th Anniversary and have reunited to perform at Classic Rock magazine's High Voltage Festival.
E is also for…The Enid
A quasi-classical prog rock outfit fronted by the eccentric Robert John Godfrey, a one-time member of Barclay James Harvest, The Enid are a quirky act who were once signed to EMI. Their party piece was to perform Elgar's Land Of Hope & Glory at Reading Festival during the '80s to a bemused audience of headbangers and punks.
F is for… Focus
A Dutch prog rock quartet who are best known for introducing yodelling into prog on the legendary hit Hocus Pocus on which flautist Thijs Van Leer vocalised like a maniac over Jan Akkerman's heavy metal riffing.
Focus are aso notable for supplying the theme music for Steve Coogan's Saxondale TV programme with House Of The King from their 1970 In And Out Of Focus debut.
Still going with two original members although like many bands of their era, to diminishing returns.
F is also for… Fripp, Robert
The professorial leader of King Crimson and guitar whizz, who legendarily broke up Crimson as they were reaching a commercial and creative high in the mid-70s. Fripp reformed the band with a new line-up and vastly different sound in the 80s. Married to Toyah Wilcox and notably diffident when it comes to progressive rock music.
G is for… Genesis
Arguably one of the biggest and most commercially successful of all the prog rock bands.
Formed at Charterhouse public school in 1967 and managed, for a short while by Jonathan King. Originally arty and complex and fronted by Peter Gabriel, when he quit after the epic concept album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.
Drummer Phil Collins took over as singer and the band became more of a stadium rock band as long-time fans blamed the garrulous Collins for dumbing down the progressive inclinations of the band. Reformed in 2007 for a massively successful tour, but alas, without Gabriel.
G is also for… Gong
Originally a bizarre hippie collective based in France who believed in a world of flying tea-pots and pot-headed pixies. Fronted by eccentric Australian Daevid Allen and featuring Steve Hillage on guitar, in the 70s Gong became a jazz fusion outfit, but reformed recently with their 'classic' line-up to notable success.
H is for… Hawkwind
One of prog's most enduring, and often endearing bands, Hawkwind brought their unique brand of space rock to the prog rock table.
Formed in 1969 in Ladbroke Grove, whilst many prog bands seemed most civil and quintessentially English, Hawkwind were from the counter culture, a hippie collective based in London's Ladbroke Grove.
They had a massive hit in 1972 with Silver Machine although the late 80s and 90s were something of a fallow period for the band. Have just released a brand new studio album, Blood Of The Earth.
H is also for… High Voltage
A brand new London-based rock festival inspired by Classic Rock magazine. Headlined by ZZ Top and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, High Voltage also features a prog stage backed by its sister publication Classic Rock Presents Prog (of which your humble author is the editor), featuring an array of established and new up and coming prog rock bands.
And yes - this is a plug for MusicRadar's sister magazine!
In The Court Of The Crimson King
Is is for… In The Court Of The Crimson King
The 1969 debut album from King Crimson, In The Court Of The Crimson King is largely believed to be one of the best and most influential of the prog rock genre.
The album features bona fide Crimson classics in 21st Century Schizoid Man and that epic title track and reached number three in the UK album charts.
The album also features one of the most distinctive prog rock album covers, painted by Barry Godber, who sadly died within months of the album's release.
I is also for… IQ
A quintet originally from the Southampton area, IQ rose to prominence as part of the prog revival of the 1980s, which also saw the likes of Marillion, Pallas and Pendragon gain levels of fame. Still going today, IQ were once signed to a major label, but pioneered the DIY approach to setting up their own label that became the lifeblood of the genre.
Jethro Tull
J is for… Jethro Tull
One of the longest lasting and most successful of all the great prog rock bands, Jethro Tull formed in 1967, and an early line-up included Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi.
The band, led by the enigmatic Ian Anderson (a salmon farmer and Scottish Laird no less) who is well known for playing the flute stood on one leg, remain a going concern over 40 years down the line.
With a blues base, Tull added elements of folk and hard rock to prog, notably with their mega-selling 1971 album Aqualung.
J is also for… Jean Michel Jarre
The flamboyant French keyboard maestro who is most famous for his 1976 work Oxygene and the 1978 follow-up Equinoxe, as well as for putting on enormous outdoor shows turning the likes of London's Docklands and Paris's Palace de la Concorde. JMJ is one of the first Western musicians to be allowed to play in China.
King Crimson
K is for… King Crimson
One of the most talented and eclectic of the prog's bands, King Crimson formed in 1969 and immediately made an impact with their debut album In The Court Of The Crimson King.
Led by guitar whizz Robert Fripp, the band had something of a revolving door policy concerning line-ups, and featured at various junctures such luminaries as Greg Lake, Bill Bruford and John Wetton.
Fripp disbanded the band in 1974, and reformed in the 1980s as a more experimental outfit, but has always resisted a return to the bands perceived classic line-up and sound.
K is also for… King Arthur
As in '… and the Myths And Legends Of The Knights Of The Round Table', the third solo album from keyboard maestro Rick Wakeman which is notable for the ensuing live performances on ice at Wembley Arena.
Although the album sold well - 12 million copies and counting! - the pricey concerts are regarded as an example of the excess that grounded prog after its early 70s glory years.
Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, The
L is for… Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, The
The sixth album from Genesis, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is a sprawling double concept album that was also the last to feature frontman Peter Gabriel.
Released in 1974 the album centres around the adventures of a Puerto Rican in New York named Rael. The album, which reached No. 10 in the UK, was performed in its entirety live a total of 102 times (Gabriel would cite exhaustion as one of his reasons for leaving the band), and also gave the band something of a hit when The Carpet Crawlers began to gain the band radio airplay.
L is also for… Loreley
The name of a rock formation on the banks of the Rhine in Germany is also etched into prog folklore. Not only have bands such as Wishbone Ash, Styx and Blackmore's Night penned songs entitled Lorelei (Loreley's alternative spelling), but Marillion recorded a 1987 VHS there (later a 2009 live CD) and it now hosts the successful annual Night Of The Prog festival.
Moody Blues
M is for… Moody Blues
Although they began life as an R'N'B outfit with their 1964 hit Go Now, with 1967's groundbreaking Days Of Future Passed album The Moody Blues helped invent symphonic prog.
Originally their label wanted the band to record a rock version of Dvorak's New World Symphony, but they had other ideas, recording their own concept piece featuring the smash Nights In White Satin. From there they've never moved back, and still command stadium audiences in America to this day.
M is also for… Marillion
Of all the bands who came through in the 80s prog revival, Marillion were by far the most successful, reaching number one in the UK with their third album Misplaced Childhood. The band survived the loss of original singer Fish and went on to even greater success with his replacement Steve Hogarth, who fronts the band to this day.
Nice, The
N is for… Nice, The
One of the originators of progressive rock, The Nice started life as the backing band for jazz singer P.P. Arnold.
However fired by the talent and ideas of keyboard player Keith Emerson, the band swiftly moved on from the psychedelic whimsy of The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack, taking on board classical influences melded with their bombastic rock on material like America and Rondo.
Emerson split the band in 1969 to form Emerson, Lake & Palmer, who took The Nice's original ideas to an often illogical conclusion.
N is also for… Neu!
Neu! (German for New) formed out of an early incarnation of Kraftwerk and were, alongside the likes of Can, Faust, Ash Ra Tempel and Tangerine Dream, one of the main bands in the Krautrock movement, which was Germany's take on prog. Despite a typically Germanic approach, they also released some amazingly catchy-ish singles. As for the rest - come back in a few months for an A-Z of Krautrock. A is for Amon Duul, B is for…
Oldfield, Mike
O is for… Oldfield, Mike
Multi-instrumentalist Oldfield shot to fame with his very first album, 1973's Tubular Bells and went on to carve out a very successful career, originally built around lengthy instrumental pieces that blended classical and progressive music.
By the late 70s he began to mix in shorter contemporary pieces which would eventually pay dividend with the 1981 hit Moonlight Shadow.
Oldfield returned to the Tubular Bells theme again in 1992 and 1996 and also branched into classical music and computer games.
O is also for… Opeth
Opeth began life as a Swedish death metal band. However hooking up with Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson, who produced 1991's Blackwater Park saw them allow more progressive influences to show through. Today they are one of the leading prog metal bands, recently selling out the Royal Albert Hall.
Pink Floyd
P is for… Pink Floyd
One of the most successful of all the prog rock bands, Pink Floyd started life as a psychedelic band but when main songwriter Syd Barrett left the band, replaced by David Gilmour, the band began exploring more expansive soundscapes which by 1973's The Dark Side Of The Moon paid dividends.
Floyd strode across the remainder of the decade like a colossus, peaking with the double album The Wall. Roger Waters left in 1984 but the band continued on regardless, to even greater success, and reunited for a one-off performance at 2005's Live 8.
P is also for… Project
As in Alan Parsons Project, initially a studio-based project centred around producer Alan Parsons and manager and songwriter Eric Woolfson. Utilising various musicians and singers the pair created a string of successful concept albums and even had several hit singles before going their separate ways after a disagreement in 1990.
Q is for… Quintessence
Quintessence were quote unique in the grand scheme of prog, for although musically they added a dash of jazz to the prog mix, they also added an Eastern influence of Indian music.
To enhance the new age image they all gave themselves Indian names like Shiva Shankar Jones and Raja Ram. One of the band's best known songs, Notting Hill Gate was named after the area where they rehearsed.
Raja Ram is currently involved with dance act Shpongle, who also worked with Alan Parsons in 2004.
Q is also for… Qango
A short-lived offshoot from the supergroup Asia, Qango featured Asia members John Wetton and Carl Palmer, and were also supposed to feature Geoff Downes too. However he did not join, being replaced by John Young.
Guitarist Dave Kilminster completed the line-up. The band failed to record an album but one show was recorded for a live album.
R is for… Rush
One of the most popular prog bands around, Canadian trio Rush began life as a hard rock act who mixed Led Zeppelin with Yes.
Soon fantasy and sci-fi became prevalent themes in the band's writing and the music became more complex and conceptual.
Rush have been one of the most consistent of prog's performers, both live and in the studio. The band are currently touring America, recording a new album, and are the subject of a major movie.
R is also for… Renaissance
Renaissance were a very melodic progressive act who also featured strong elements of folk and classical music. After a faltering start the band settled on a line-up that featured Bolton-born Annie Haslam on vocals, and went from strength to strength, even hitting the pop charts in 1978 with Northern Lights.
S is for… Supertramp
Named after W.H. Davies's 1908 book The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp, melodic quintet Supertramp were always at the poppier end of the prog spectrum.
After a faltering start the band hit paydirt with the 1974 album Crime Of The Century which featured the smash hit Dreamer. The band repeated the feat with 1979's Breakfast In America, establishing them as one of the most successful bands of the era.
Singer Roger Hodgson left in 1983 but co-founder Richard Davis continued the band. They celebrate their 40th Anniversary later this year at the O2 Arena.
S is also for… Soft Machine
One of the pioneering bands who epitomised the Canterbury sound, Soft Machine originally featuring Daevid Allen, who would form Gong, and Kevin Ayers, who would later work with Mike Oldfield. They also featured drummer Robert Wyatt for a while. The band became jazzier as time went on.
T is for… Tool
Tool are one of the most influential and pioneering of modern day prog bands. The band began life as very much an alt-metal act, but by the time they released 1996's Aenima, they'd become a lot more arty in sound.
Follow-ups Lateralus (2001) and 10,000 Days (2006) are full on prog metal records, and some of the finest the genre has heard. The band is fronted by the enigmatic Maynard James Keenan, who also fronted the very progressively inclined A Perfect Circle.
T is also for… Tangerine Dream
The pioneering German synthesizer wizards have been creating music since 1970's Electronic Meditation. Tangerine Dream really hit their stride in the 1970s with albums like Phaedra, Rubycon and Tangram.
Still a going concern, the band have released over 100 studio albums.
U is for… UK
UK were a late 70s progressive supergroup who featured John Wetton (King Crimson), Bill Bruford (Yes/King Crimson), Eddie Jobson (Roxy Music/Jethro Tull) and guitar legend Allan Holdsworth. This 1978 line-up was the end of a lot of inter-label and -band wrangling, with Rick Wakeman and even Robert Fripp all part of the stew.
They released the excellent self-titled debut album in 1978, after which Holdsworth and Bruford left, and ex-Zappa Band drummer Terry Bozzio joined.
A three-piece line-up recorded Danger Money in 1979 and also released a live album, Night After Night, both of which were more mainstream but the individual talents were still more than evident.
U is also for… Utopia
Utopia were Todd Rundgren's progressive rock outlet. Having tasted success with The Nazz and as a solo artist, Rundgren formed Utopia in 1973 and released a series of complex and intriguing progressive rock records. The band recorded and toured until 1986, although they briefly reunited in 1992.
Van der Graaf Generator
V is for… Van der Graaf Generator
Arguably the most eclectic and challenging of the first era of prog rock bands, like Emerson, Lake & Palmer, VdGG (it was always a small 'd') eschewed the lead guitar, in this case replacing it with the squawking saxophones of David Jackson.
Fired by the emotionally fragile vocals and fevered imagination of Peter Hammill, VdGG were often surprisingly melodic but always an intense listen.
They reformed a few years ago to some fanfare, their re-appearance as challenging as ever. Up there with King Crimson as prog's deliberately awkward buggers.
V is also for… Vangelis Odysseus Papathanassiou
You probably know him better as Vangelis, composer of the trillingly engaging Chariots Of Fire theme, or the more enthralling Blade Runner soundtrack. However he was also a member of Greek prog demi-Gods Aphrodite's Child, who also featured Demis Roussos (we kid you not), who released the excellent 666, a concept album about the Bible's Book Of Revelations. the album was released on another 'V' - Vertigo - for which we'd need another A-Z entirely…
Wakeman, Rick
W is for… Wakeman, Rick
Cape wearer, keyboard wizard, member of The Strawbs, Yes and solo star in his own right, Classic Rock Presents Prog columnist and official grumpy old man, Wakeman embodies everything that is good about prog.
A prodigious talent, a man who's ideas are grandiose but believable (even on ice!), and who also recognises the folly of both his own work and prog's more nonsensical excesses, Wakeman is something of a breath of fresh air for the genre.
Even wears a cape in the full knowledge that everyone giggles at him for it!
W is also for… Wakeman's offspring
Notably Adam and Oliver. The former is keyboard player for Ozzy Osbourne, but also a member of aspiring new prog outfit Headspace with Threshold singer Damian Wilson. Oliver has replaced his father in prog legends Yes.
X is for… Xaal
An example of French progressive music, three-piece Xaal combined the eclecticism of King Crimson with the finesse of Camel.
The band only ever released two albums in the 90s, both appealing to fans of fusion-based acts like Return To Forever and Brand X - the art rock band that also featured Phil Collins on drums.
As one might expect of a letter as troublesome as X, there is little on show on the Internet of the band, apart from this!
X is also for… XL
Another trio, this time from Finland, but a band again who are rooted in jazz. XL met at Finland's legendary Sibelius Academy and released a string of albums that played on the band's ethnicity. They even added a DJ at one point!
Y is for… Yes
One of the greatest of all prog rock bands, Yes started out as a band who sounded surprisingly melodic - they even covered Simon And Garfunkel at one point but soon opted for difficult to decipher intellectualism, quirky time changes and heavy conceptualism.
They gave the genre Roger Dean album covers, keyboard star Rick Wakeman and even had a massive international hit with Owner Of A Lonely Heart when the band re-invented themselves in the 80s with the aid of South African guitarist Trevor Rabin.
Y is also for… Yorke, Thom
Yorke is the the nu-prog wonder who fronts the enigmatic Radiohead. Although they began life as your standard indie band but when they released OK Computer in 1997 the press were quick to dub the band 'the new Genesis'.
Zappa, Frank
Z is for… Zappa, Frank
A legend who may not have made a huge commercial impact on the music world, indeed Peaches En Regalia is only one of his better known tunes, but Zappa's anti-establishment stance had a far bigger impact on rock music than any hit could have given him.
His Mothers Of Invention's Freak Out album was one of the precursors of prog rock music and Zappa's later outings into classical music are far more than worthy. Music is sadly lacking without his genius to torment it.
Z is also for… Zeuhl
A sub-genre of prog that is dedicated to French nut jobs Magma, a jazz-infused outfit who are based around a language and mythos invented by band leader Christian Vander. Harsh on the ear, the likes of protagonists Art Zoyd and Guapo are still highly regarded by intense aficionados.
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When boarding an enemy ship, are there any strategies for killing enemy crew members? Whenever my boarding party corners an enemy, the enemy always fights until they're at low health (taking a fair chunk of my guys' health at the same time) and then runs straight for Medbay. At which point, another enemy standing just outside the door runs in to replace them. I could attack them in Medbay directly, but I've found that's suicide.
Is disabling the enemy medbay with ship-mounted weapons the best case then? I usually struggle just to get their shields down. Or could I pile weapons-fire on the combatants (fire beams, anti-bio beams) - or would that harm my crew as well?
I know that Mantises have the highest combat stats, but at the minute I'm having to make do with Rocks - my only Mantis crewmember valiantly gave his life attacking a sentry bot.


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Any county-wide public health emergency will be posted on this county web site in the "Alert" category. You can also hear about it in the local media (KYGT). In the event of an immediate threat, the Sheriff's Department uses the "Code Red" calling system which you must enrolled in.
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Read more: Rosie O'Donnell revisits her Irish roots for new Oprah show
Actress, TV and radio host Rosie O'Donnell had a chance to uncover the history of her Irish ancestors on NBC's show "Who Do You Think You Are." The result was a tragic and cathartic story that uncovered the hardship that her mother's family had suffered in workhouses in Ireland before fleeing for Canada. The show also gave O'Donnell a closer connection her mother.
O'Donnell's mother died of cancer when she was just 10 years old. Her death has left a void in O'Donnell's life. Learning of her family's story of suffering in Ireland, O'Donnell was emotional but also grateful.
She said, "It doesn't diminish my own suffering, but it's not any longer the focal point of my existence. I think that's a gift."
O'Donnell's grandfather and his family had lived in poverty and dire hardship, relying on workhouses, before they eventually fled by ship to Canada.
She feels her new found family history put her life into perspective. She said, "I had a mother who died. That's all I knew. And that felt like an unlivable tragedy; like an unbearable tragedy. But now, I think to myself, her life existed because of the suffering and pain [of her ancestors]."
O'Donnell believes that the struggle her ancestors and her mother endured is what made it possible for her to live the life of success and privilege she has enjoyed.
O'Donnell had been unaware of this part of her Irish history before working with the show. She said, "This huge part of Irish history [is] almost non-existent…I think that needs to be fixed; needs to be told."
She also discovered that her great grandfather's first wife had died due to a kerosene oil lamp explosion. O'Donnell was aware of the photograph of a woman that had always been hung in the family home, but she never knew the story behind it.
This woman was her great grandfather's first wife Anna Murtagh. Her great grandfather's beloved had suffered for 20 days before she passed away in December 1881.
On the show O'Donnell said she was shocked and upset by the news. "That's a long time to suffer. I'm really upset to hear that my great-grandfather's first wife, Anna, died so tragically. I've got to find out more."
Having tracked down a newspaper clipping at the Brooklyn Historical Society, O'Donnell discovered that the woman was preparing breakfast for her grandfather when the infant pulled the lamp over the stove and set Anna alight. The clipping said that Anna had lingered in "great agony" before dying.
O'Donnell commented, "How heroic. She knew she was on fire; she probably did what every mother would do -- save the child first. What happened to that infant?"
This child was called Elizabeth and she was O'Donnell's grandfather's half-sister. This led O'Donnell to find Elizabeth's 10 grandchildren. She had lunch with them in New Jersey.
During the show O'Donnell visited Brooklyn, New Jersey and Canada, and her family's story eventually led her to Co. Kildare in Ireland. O'Donnell also visited the workhouse, the location where her relatives had lived before setting out across the Atlantic Ocean.
Read more: Rosie O'Donnell revisits her Irish roots for new Oprah show


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- Home
- Departments
- Museum
- Do & See
- Exhibits
- Historic Structures
Historic Structures
Museum Campus
The West Baton Rouge Museum sits on a 6-acre campus with historic structures, art, and artifacts for visitors to explore.
The Old Courthouse Vault (Main Museum Entrance)
The main entrance to the Museum is the vault of the third West Baton Rouge Parish courthouse, a 2-story structure built in the 1880s. Decay led to construction of a new courthouse west of this site in the 1960s, but when the old building was slated for demolition, a group of concerned citizens, including Ethel "Puffy" Claiborne Dameron, saved what they could of the historic structure to become the first parish library. When the library moved to a new location in 1968, Puffy and colleagues repurposed the structure once more as a museum and formed the West Baton Rouge Historical Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, to support it. The Museum's timeline exhibit covering 300 years of history, gift shop, and front offices are now located in this area. Through this entrance, visitors will also find the Perkins Sugar Gallery, changing exhibits, and a research library.
The Aillet House
The Aillet House (c.1830) was built for Jean Dorville Landry, a sugar farmer of Acadian descent, who lived here with his wife and four children until the 1860s. We call it the Aillet House (pronounced [ I A ]) because the Aillet family, who purchased it in 1880, lived here for over 100 years. Enslaved laborers constructed this home with locally sourced cypress, hewn and pegged, and packed with bousillage, a mud and moss mixture which, when dry, forms tough, weather tight walls. Only 10% of the antebellum sugar planters in Louisiana lived in large columned mansions. The majority lived in smaller homes like this one. This house was constructed in the typical Creole style, raised above ground on brick piers that provided a source of cooling cross ventilation. French doors on the massive front porch were opened to allow air to circulate throughout the house. The Aillet House had an eventful journey to the West Baton Rouge Museum in 1990 after Dow Chemical donated the building to the museum.
Allendale Plantation Cabins
Allendale Plantation was once located about 6 miles north of the Museum campus. Henry Watkins Allen, a sugar planter, Civil War soldier, and Governor of Louisiana (1864 - 1865), purchased land that would become Allendale in 1852. The cabins were built to house the enslaved people who worked on the plantation. Discover history spanning over 150 years, from slavery to Civil Rights, by visiting the cabins from Allendale Plantation.
Cabin 1
Cabin 2
Cabin 3
Cabins 2 and 3
Cabin 1: Freedom and Slavery
This circa 1850 cabin was the first historic structure moved to the Museum campus in 1976. About 150 people were enslaved at the Allendale Plantation in the decade leading up to the Civil War. Four to seven people would have lived in each room of this cabin. Houses like this were the only places of solitude and privacy for the enslaved people. The interior of the cabin interprets life during the antebellum period with audio recordings of ex-slave narratives from the 1930s and an exhibit that includes the names of some of the individuals and families who lived at Allendale.
Cabin 2: Reconstruction and Jim Crow
Moved to the Museum campus with Cabin 3 in 2006, this Reconstruction – Jim Crow Era cabin interprets the home life of plantation workers after the Civil War through the early 1900s. The period known as Reconstruction lasted from 1865 to 1877. Black Americans had great hope with the passing of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, but true freedom was not so easily achieved. The Jim Crow period was a time of racial backlash and terror which lasted nearly 100 years, from the 1860s to the 1950s. Yet the fight for equal civil rights began in the 1870s in Louisiana. Educated and organized people of color such as Josephine Dubuclet DeCuir and later Homer Plessy challenged the legal protections of the 14th Amendment. Jim Crow era laws limited access to education and disenfranchised Black Americans. This led to the need for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s.
Cabin 3: 1950s and 1960s
The third cabin from the Allendale Plantation interprets rural life in the 1950s and 60s, when Allendale Plantation was in full operation, and West Baton Rouge, like the rest of the region, remained racially segregated. The house was reconstructed from salvaged lumber in the 1890s. On Allendale, this house without plumbing was inhabited until 2004. Black people who lived in homes like this had little access to education and faced discrimination. In 1949, Cohn High, the only high school for Black Americans in West Baton Rouge Parish, opened as a result of years of parent effort and a donation of land from the Cohn family. Although desegregation closed the school in 1969, Cohn High served as an anchor institution in the community. Local activists, including Reverend Freddie Williams and educator Edward Searcy, worked tirelessly to ensure that civil rights and opportunities were granted to all citizens of West Baton Rouge Parish.
Arbroth Plantation Store
In the aftermath of the Civil War, Major Martin Glynn owned three plantations in West Baton Rouge and neighboring Pointe Coupee Parish, including Arbroth. Sitting on the Mississippi River near the northernmost tip of West Baton Rouge Parish, Arbroth was producing sugar cane and cotton until the 1940s when the family transitioned it to a cattle ranch. The first Arbroth Store, a brick building constructed around 1840, was lost to the Mississippi River. This cypress and pine structure was opened in 1880 and moved behind the new levee following the 1927 flood. This store building operated for 100 years before closing in 1980. The store was moved to the West Baton Rouge Museum campus in 2009. The Arbroth Store interprets rural plantation life between the two world wars (1914-1945), a time when riverboats brought travelers, goods, and entertainment to the area.
Juke Joint
Juke joints have a history deeply rooted in small towns throughout the south. West Baton Rouge was famous for its juke joints that provided relief for workers coming in from the sugar cane fields and long hard days of work on the Mississippi River. Music was heard playing all night through open windows across the canebrake.
This building was an army surplus building repurposed as the Boy Scout Hut for Troop 38 in Port Allen. In 2017, the building was donated to WBR Museum and turned into an interpretative exhibit, performance venue, and education space. Some of the local Blues musicians featured in this juke joint are Slim Harpo, Silas Hogan, Lazy Lester, Raful Neal, Sr., and the Neal family. The Neal Family donated the upright piano, the jukebox, guitars, and other memorabilia exhibited in this building. Other works of art displayed are metal sculptures of dancers and musicians by local artist Ronald Trahan.
Reed Shotgun House
Joe Reed built this shotgun house from salvaged lumber for tenant workers on his West Baton Rouge cattle ranch in 1938. The shotgun house is indigenous to Louisiana, but its origins can be traced to Haiti and Africa. Shotgun houses are typically no more than 12 feet (3.5m) wide, with rooms arranged one behind the other and doors at each end of the house. Shotgun houses purportedly got their name because the linear arrangement of the rooms meant that someone could stand on the front porch, fire a shotgun through the house, and the bullet would exit the back door without hitting any of the interior walls. (However, the back exit of this home does not line up with the front door.) This cabin's décor reflects the 1930s, when a young couple lived here with their son.
This building, constructed in 2014, features several demonstration areas including a Blacksmith Shop, a Woodworkers Shop, a Spinning, Weaving, and Textiles Room, and a Pottery Room. Sugar cane farming and milling implements, harvest tools, plows, seeders, tack equipment, tractors, and a Model A Ford are displayed in the large, open center room. Sign up for workshops offered here year-round.
Reed Barn
Constructed in 2019 from cypress salvaged from a barn on the Reed Farm, this structure also serves as a wayfinding sign as it sits on the corner of Louisiana Avenue and Sixth Street. Inside is the Julien Sugar Cane Planter, invented in 1964 by brothers Leonard and Harold Julien.


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Get groovy with us for a funky green Eco-Disco Twitter Party!
When: Tuesday, August 21st
Time: 9-10pm ET
Hashtag: #ecodisco
Hosts: @TheEcoChic, @EFFBlog, and @TheEcoChicMan
Note about our hosts: I've added Amanda from The Eco Friendly Blog as our official party partner. We've also added my groovy husband who has been a big help behind the scenes and is a hoot on Twitter! Please welcome both Amanda and Chris to the team.
Sponsors: @TushieTies, @GreenTeamDist, @ThincTHEBalm (also @THincSoap), @DolphinOrganics, @PaperlessKitch, @ThirstiesInc, @chgdiapers, and just added @grassrootsstore.
Need some tips on how to use TweetChat or TweetGrid for Twitter Parties?
Note: Twitter has decreased the API to outside applications (like TweetChat and TweetGrid) which means you may find yourself in Twitter Jail quicker than usual. If this happens during a party you won't be able to use your account for about an hour (or more). If this happens to me be sure to follow @EcoChicParties (my backup acct). How to avoid Twitter Jail? If you use Twitter without an external application your API is larger allowing you to Tweet longer. To do that put in #ecodisco in the search bar and keep refreshing your page. Not nearly as easy but it's always an option.
Prizes: Lots of eco-friendly baby, toddler and mama prizes to spoil you rotten while keeping you green.
To RSVP: Complete the Rafflecopter steps below (not visible on all mobile devices or feeds) to enter. "Liking" and following our sponsors will earn you additional entries into the door prizes for the evening.
WINNERS: In no particular order (and not listed in order in the Rafflecopter) are @cdinggirl, @kristynay, @smith_jennifer, @rumble_kitchen, @gracekisiel, @caedman, @jennafish7, @alitlmonkee, @sparkalicious, @lockwk17, and @moonglow283.
Please thank our sponsors by visiting them online at:
Prize from Paperless Kitchen is not open to Canadian residents. 🙁 Sorry!
Use coupon code ECO50 and receive 50% off any conditioner with a purchase of a D.O. shampoo. Price will be reflected if you are logged in and use the coupon code.
Save 10% off your purchase at grassroots when you purchase from their Back to School section and use coupon code BTS2012
Interested in being a sponsor? Email email@example.com for additional information on this or future parties.
Note about winners, prize distribution and all that legal stuff: In order to be eligible for the door prizes you must complete the mandatory Rafflecopter steps listed above and tweet with us using the #ecodisco hashtag at least one time during the party. Party hosts will confirm your participation before announcing you as a winner. Winners must confirm with the party hosts by Direct Message (DM) or email in order for us to obtain all the necessary contact information. Prizes will be distributed directly from the sponsors of the party. Distribution can take 2-4 weeks. Should your prize not arrive after 2-4 weeks we will contact the sponsor once to follow up. After that any correspondence should be directed to the sponsor. This is a sponsored party and compensation has been received for their participation. All opinions of the party hosts are our own and are not influenced by the sponsors. "Liking" a sponsors page is optional but will earn you extra entries into the door prizes. For any additional questions please contact email@example.com.


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GSA Inspector General Report
"GSA Inspector General Report"
April 18, 2012
Good morning Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member Inhofe, and Members of the Committee. My name is Daniel Tangherlini, and I am the Acting Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).
I appreciate the opportunity to come before the committee today. First and foremost, I want to state my agreement with the President that the waste and abuse outlined in the Inspector General's (IG) report is an outrage and completely antithetical to the goals and directives of this Administration. We have taken strong action against those officials who are responsible and will continue to do so where appropriate. We are taking steps to improve internal controls and oversight to ensure this never happens again. I look forward to working in partnership with this Committee to ensure there is full accountability for these activities so that we can begin to restore the trust of the American people.
At the same time I am committed to renewing GSA's focus on its core mission: saving taxpayers' money by efficiently procuring supplies, services, and real estate, and effectively disposing of unneeded government property. There is a powerful value proposition to a single agency dedicated to this work, especially in these fiscal times, and we need to ensure we get back to basics and conduct this work better than ever.
Promoting Efficiency and Reducing Costs –
The shocking activities and violations outlined in the IG report run counter to every goal of this Administration. The Administration makes cutting costs and improving the efficiency of the Federal government a top priority. On June 13, 2011, the President issued Executive Order (E.O.) 13576, "Delivering an Efficient, Effective, and Accountable Government." This EO emphasized the importance of eliminating waste and improving efficiency, establishing the Government Accountability and Transparency Board to enhance transparency of Federal spending and advance efforts to detect and remediate fraud, waste, and abuse.
The President further established the goals of this Administration in E.O. 13589, "Promoting Efficient Spending," which set clear reduction targets for travel, employee information technology devices, printing, executive fleets, promotional items, and other areas. The President's FY 2013 budget request for GSA would achieve $49 million in savings under this EO, including $9.7 million in travel.
Holding Officials Responsible –
It is important that those responsible for the abuses outlined in the IG's report be held accountable. We are taking aggressive action to address this issue and to ensure that such egregious actions will never occur again. We have taken a series of personnel actions, including the removal of two senior political appointees. We have also placed ten career employees on administrative leave, including five senior officials.
I intend to uphold the highest ethical standards at this agency and take any action that is necessary and appropriate. If we find any irregularities, I will immediately engage the Inspector General. As I indicated in my joint letter with GSA's Inspector General, I intend to set a standard that complacency will not be tolerated, and waste, fraud, or abuse must be reported.
I believe this commitment is critical, not only because we owe it to the American taxpayers, but also because we owe it to the many GSA employees who conform to the highest ethical standards and deserve to be proud of the agency for which they work.
Taking Action –
I have taken a number of steps since I began my tenure on April 3, 2012 to ensure this never happens again. GSA has consolidated conference oversight in the new Office of Administrative Services, which is now responsible for:
- Oversight of contracting for conference space, related activities, and amenities;
- Review and approval of proposed conferences for relation to GSA mission;
- Review and approval of any awards ceremonies where food is provided by the Federal government;
- Review and approval of conference budgets as well as changes to those budgets;
- Oversight and coordination with GSA conference/event planners and contracting officers on conference planning;
- Review of travel and accommodations related to conference planning and execution;
- Handling of procurement for all internal GSA conferences; and
- Development of mandatory annual training for all employees regarding conference planning and attendance
Additionally, we have cancelled the 2012 Western Regions Conference as well as a number of other conferences that only or primarily involved internal staff. To date, I have cancelled 35 conferences1, saving taxpayers $995,686. As we put in place greater controls and oversight, we are reviewing each event to make sure that any travel is justified by a mission requirement.
A conference is "a symposium, seminar, workshop, or other organized or formal meeting lasting portions of 1 or more days where people assemble to exchange information and views or explore or clarify a defined subject, problem or area of knowledge."
We have also begun review of employee relocations at government expense, and will require all future relocations to be approved centrally by both the Chief People Officer and the Chief Financial Officer.
To strengthen internal controls, we are bringing in all Public Buildings Service regional budgets under the direct authority of GSA's Chief Financial Officer. The autonomy of regional budget allocations is, in part, what led to this gross misuse of taxpayer funds on both the regional conference and the employee rewards program known as "Hats Off." The additional approvals and centralized oversight are intended to mitigate the risk of these problems.
In response to concerns over spending on employee rewards programs, I have eliminated the "Hats Off" store that was operating in the Pacific Rim Region, as well as all similar GSA programs.
I am moving aggressively to recapture wasted taxpayer funds. As a first step, on April 13th, I directed that letters be sent to Bob Peck, Jeff Neely, and Robert Shepard demanding reimbursement for private, in-room receptions at the Western Regions Conference. I will pursue other fund recovery opportunities.
I am engaged in a top to bottom review of this agency. I will continue to pursue every initiative necessary to ensure this never happens again and to restore the trust of American taxpayers.
Conclusion –
The unacceptable and inappropriate activities at the Western Regions Conference stand in direct contradiction to the express goals of this agency and the Administration, and I am committed to ensuring that we take whatever steps are necessary to hold
those responsible accountable and to make sure that this never happens again. At the same time, I believe that the need for a high quality GSA is more acute today than in any time in its history. We need to refocus this agency and get back to the basics: streamlining the administrative work of the Federal government to save taxpayers money.
I look forward to working with this Committee moving forward and I welcome the opportunity to answer any questions. Thank you.


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Ever since we moved to KEN Rimba, we have had to drive out for most of our meals, until very recently – the famed Ana Ikan Bakar Petai opened a branch literally right outside at our doorstep here in Shah Alam.
Update 23/12/18: This place has since closed down
Ana Ikan Bakar Petai, now in Shah Alam
For the uninitiated, Ana Ikan Bakar Petai is a "brand" originated from Kuantan which also has a rather popular branch in Bangi. This is their 3rd outlet, occupying three shop lots, including upstairs & side walkway, a pretty big set up for the this otherwise pretty sleepy commercial area.
We've been to the place quite a few times since, it certainly is legit.
squid, prawns, crab, shellfish, and a variety of fish to choose from
At Ana Ikan Bakar, you get to choose from quite a variety of seafood – squid, lala, bamboo clams, prawns, blue crabs, sting ray, cencaru, siakap (barramundi), jenahak, garupa, and more. The price is per 100 gram (RM 3.50 – RM 7.00) is clearly stated on the display as well, so you know what you going to have to pay.
There are several cooking methods as well, with the most popular being bakar petai. If bakar isn't what you want, you can have them masak cili, manis, halia, kicap, pedas, tiga rasa, asam pedas, lamprik, kerabu mangga, goreng kunyit, or steam limau, asam boi, or halia. Quite a number of permutations really.
On our first visit we had a ikan pari & sotong prepared the traditional bakar petai style. The fish was absolutely on point, super spicy with the hint of petai permeating from the sauce. As it is basically covered with the sauce, you really don't need to have a separate condiment to go with. I also particularly like the texture of the fish here that is not overly cooked like many others.
all wrapped up in banana leaf, the only way!
The sotong bakar petai was pretty good too, but to be honest if you already have a bakar petai dish, it's best to go with a different cooking method. On subsequent visits, we found out that the sotong is best deep fried, and they also serve very good ikan siakap steamed limau, with tiga rasa among their most popular orders as well.
keropok lekor, tomyam, lala, kailan ikan masin
Ana Ikan Bakar Petai serves more than just ikan bakar. There's a full menu of traditional "goreng goreng" dishes. Their vegetable dishes are among the best I've had (try their kailan ikan masin), tomyam was good as well. There's also other dishes such as various types of fried rice, meat, soup, etc.
Oh by the way, the lala is not worth ordering. Happy dining!
Ana Ikan Bakar Petai
No. 27, Jln Lengkuas B 16/B,
Ken Rimba, Seksyen 16, Â
40200 Shah Alam, Selangor
Tel:Â Â 017-791 0197, 018-321 4519


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Vergennes Police Log: Arrests made in recent break-in
VERGENNES — Vergennes police on Aug. 17 arrested two men and a woman, all with Addison County roots, and charged them in connection with an Aug. 9 burglary from a Green Mountain Power outbuilding on Mechanic Street. In that break-in, police said copper wire and two pieces of equipment used to cool turbines were stolen.
Vergennes police said they and Vermont State Police are also investigating the three — Jake Desjadon, 24, a Vergennes native now living in Brandon; Renee Nicholson, 25, now living in Middlebury but previously a Bristol resident; and Daniel Grant, 25, of Bristol — in connection with burglaries in Addison, Chittenden, Rutland and Windsor counties.
Acting on a tip, Vergennes police arrested the three on the evening of the 17th as they were leaving the city; police stopped their car near the park-and-ride lot on Route 22A. All three were lodged in the Chittenden County Correctional Center and arraigned in Chittenden County court the next day.
Police said Desjadon was charged with burglary and possession of tools used for burglary, Nicholson was charged with possession of stolen property, and Grant was charged with burglary. Vergennes police said VSP could also file additional charges.
Vergennes and VSP also acted on warrants and conducted two searches related to this case after the arrests were made. On Aug. 19, they searched a storage facility on Burpee Road in Bristol, and on Aug. 21 they searched a home on Route 7 in New Haven.
In other action between Aug. 15 and 21, Vergennes police:
• On Aug. 15 helped a motorist get into a locked car on Main Street.
• On Aug. 15 were told by a Main Street resident that his ex-girlfriend had possession of a check sent to him by the government and would not hand it over; police said the woman gave him the check when they were on the way.
• On Aug. 15 were told money had been stolen from a tip jar at a Main Street business.
• On Aug. 15 began looking into the possible theft of diamond earrings that a woman believed she had left behind in her room at a local inn.
• On Aug. 15 responded to a one-car accident on Route 22A in Panton on behalf of VSP.
• On Aug. 16 looked into vandalism to a trailer taillight on Green Street.
• On Aug. 16 handled a minor two-car accident on Main Street.
• On Aug. 16 were told a display of masks made by Vergennes Union Elementary School students was missing from the post office.
• On Aug. 16 took a report from a South Water Street resident that a number of empty whipped cream cans had been left behind a church, possibly by youths who had used the gas in them to get high.
• On Aug. 17 were told by a Main Street gas station that a patron had driven off without paying.
• On Aug. 19 began an investigation of a burglary at a Kennedy Brothers outbuilding after a maintenance man discovered a door had been forced open; police said 300 gallons of heating oil had been siphoned and nearby scrap metal had been stolen.
• On Aug. 19 handled a minor two-car accident on New Haven Road.
• On Aug. 19 helped youths clean up the city skate park.
• On Aug. 19 were told a 12-year-old had not returned to a Main Street residence the night before; the youth later returned.
• On Aug. 19 began looking into a report of possible child abuse at a Thomas Circle home.
• On Aug. 19 searched unsuccessfully for a white van with a possibly drunken driver.
• On Aug. 19 responded to verbal family fights at Hillside Drive and First Street residences, and found no real problems.
• On Aug. 20 checked out a report of a suspicious man in Falls Park and found a traveler sleeping in his car posing no problem.
• On Aug. 20 helped the Vergennes Area Rescue Squad on Meadow Lane.
• On Aug. 20 checked out vandalism to a flagpole and the theft of two flags from a Main Street home.
• On Aug. 20 responded to a two-car accident on Route 22A in Panton on behalf of VSP.
• On Aug. 20 checked out a report of an explosion at a Panton home on behalf of VSP; a woman at the home said she had thrown gas on a slow-burning bonfire, and police found no problem.
• On Aug. 20 went to Northlands Job Corps after receiving a complaint that students had picked flowers off a MacDonough Drive property; the students, who were dating, said they picked the flowers for each other and apologized, satisfying the homeowner, and police told them to be more careful of others' property.
• On Aug. 21 went to calm an argument on South Water Street near the Little City Market.
• On Aug. 21 checked out a report of a man drinking near the monument on the city green.