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Control at last or inviting trouble?
Part I: Renegade riders
For Video and Photos: http://www.startribune.com/local/283082 ... LanchO7DiU
Trail Ambassador Perry May checks an area of "trail braiding" where riders widen out a spot on the trail by trying to avoid the deep water. May flagged this area and marked the spot on his GPS for future repair by the DNR.
New laws and extra enforcement aren't keeping all-terrain vehicles from going off trails to damage fragile state lands.
By DAVID SHAFFER, TOM MEERSMAN and GLENN HOWATT , Star Tribune staff writers
Last update: September 15, 2008 - 8:12 PM
State Conservation Officer Matt Miller stopped his truck at the edge of the Rum River, just in time to see the wet joyrider.
A young man on an all-terrain vehicle was driving down the center of the shallow river, waves of mud and water pouring away from his machine. It was the kind of destructive fun that draws many ATV riders to Minnesota's public lands and waters. It's also against the law.
The thrill-seeking rider drove up on the bank. Miller followed in his truck, to the man's nearby home and wrote him tickets. Returning to the Rum River, a state wild and scenic waterway north of the Twin Cities, Miller photographed a stretch of once-green shoreline that had been scraped into black ruts by ATV wheels.
"It seems like some of them think they can ride anywhere they wish regardless of what guidelines and laws there are," Miller said.
Across Minnesota, as ATV ridership soars, the wildly popular pastime is exacting a lasting, costly toll on the state's forests and wild lands.
Fragile wetlands are being churned into mud. Wildlife habitats are being torn up. Lake and river beds are being rutted. Hillsides are being eroded.
Five years ago, Minnesota enacted laws to keep all-terrain vehicles on trails. But officers like Miller keep catching riders doing the opposite.
To the dismay of lawful riders, renegades on four-wheelers are being caught damaging forests and trespassing on nature areas and private lands across the state, a Star Tribune analysis of five years of Department of Natural Resources enforcement records shows. Some are ignoring signs or driving around barriers put up to stop them. Others are brazenly posting videos of destructive riding on YouTube.
With stepped-up enforcement, nearly 1,600 riders have been issued tickets or written warnings for off-trail lawbreaking, but that's only a fraction of the violators, most of whom are never caught.
"You see the damage, you see the aftereffect of what's been happening, so you assume there are a lot more out there than we're catching," said Colleen Adam, a DNR conservation officer assigned to ATV enforcement.
Regulating ATV riding on public land has become a dominant issue for the DNR, which at times is divided over how to respond to the go-almost-anywhere vehicles. As ATV registrations have nearly tripled in the past decade, to 264,000, there's also unrelenting conflict between four-wheeler fans and hikers, canoeists, bird watchers and others who prefer quiet in the woods.
The DNR hasn't documented the full extent of ATV damage on public lands or estimated the cost of repairing it. But recent DNR monitoring efforts found problems in 17 state forests.
A Star Tribune investigation of ATVs on state lands also reveals:
• Renegade riders caught trashing the environment usually face small fines, seldom pay restitution and never lose driving privileges. The DNR doesn't enforce a 2005 law to keep the worst violators off ATVs, saying it doesn't have the money to do so.
• Riders often use state-approved trails to illegally enter sensitive places. Nearly one in four tickets or warnings issued for riding in wetlands and public waters occurred near places where it's legal to go, the DNR's data show.
• ATVs now represent the third-biggest claim on conservation officers' patrol time. Officers spend more hours checking on ATVs than they do on waterfowl and small-game hunting or snowmobiling. Yet the DNR Enforcement Division is roughly the same size as a decade ago -- a little more than 200 officers and supervisors.
DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten said the department is trying to change the virtually unregulated riding culture of the past -- a difficult job that is far from finished.
"It is offensive to me to have people say that it is not better out there than it was pre-2003," said Holsten, referring to the year new laws took effect.
To get the problem under control, the DNR is now taking the controversial step of paying rider clubs to act as "Trail Ambassadors" who encourage riders to obey the law. The agency also is closing many trails, and mapping thousands of miles of ATV routes in a hotly debated five-year review of motor use in state forests.
Damage? Check YouTube
Anyone who wants to see what ATVs can do to the environment need not go into the woods. Riders' exploits are posted all the time on YouTube.com, the video-sharing service on the Internet.
That's what Conservation Officer Paul Kuske discovered last year. Acting on a tip, he searched YouTube, and spotted a clip from the Pine Center ATV Trail, a 23-mile network on county and state land in Whitefish Lake Memorial Forest near Brainerd, Minn.
Wetlands lie adjacent to that trail. Watching the YouTube video several times, Kuske said he was "90 percent certain" he recognized at least one site. The clip showed ATV riders repeatedly driving through muddy areas just off the trail, including protected wetland. Kuske couldn't identify the riders: They wore helmets; mud covered their license plates.
Kuske said he was too busy to seek a subpoena ordering YouTube to name the video maker. The investigation stalled, no one was arrested, and the video disappeared from YouTube.
To protect the areas, foresters placed keep-out signs at the sites. Kuske also warned many ATV riders that the trail could be closed if violations persisted. He said it has helped.
Still, this spring, someone ripped out two DNR signs at one site featured on YouTube. Fresh tracks led into the mud. So the Star Tribune placed a hidden, motion-activated video camera there in June. It recorded a man and a woman riding ATVs into the mud and getting stuck (see it on StarTribune.com).
Under state rules, it is illegal for ATV riders to cause erosion or make off-trail ruts. Kuske, after being shown the new video, said that if he caught the riders, he likely would issue a written warning, rather than a ticket, because the keep-out signs were gone and the area isn't a protected wetland.
Some officers are experimenting with hidden cameras to gather evidence of destructive off-road riding, and one even led to a prosecution in Kittson County. But the videos usually don't clearly show the license plate or riders' faces, enforcement officials say.
"Isn't hurting anything"
More often, it takes luck to catch ATV riders ripping up the landscape.
Last September, conservation officer Miller got a call from a radio dispatcher reporting that ATVs had been seen in the Rum River in Isanti County.
Miller drove to a boat landing. He was just in time to see Delorne Kluck, then 20, "riding down dead-center in the river."
The officer followed Kluck to his house near Cambridge, and confronted him. Kluck was polite, Miller said, but insisted that he did nothing wrong, though he later paid a $300 fine. Two friends also got tickets.
It was Kluck's second bust for damaging the environment on an ATV. In June 2006, he was caught by other officers patrolling the Red Top ATV Trail, just east of Mille Lacs Lake, after he drove into a wetland.
"I still don't think it was a wetland," said Kluck, who paid a $100 fine for that violation. "It was just a trail with mud on it."
Kluck said that "most riders want to do stuff that's a challenge and see if they can make it through it. " If his ATV gets dirty, he washes it off by riding in the river, he said.
"For the most part this stuff we ride in isn't hurting anything," he said. And the DNR "makes it sound worse than it is so that people won't do it anymore, " he added.
Officers write tickets or warnings to about 439 ATV riders each year for damaging the land or off-roading where they shouldn't, the DNR data show. That includes 52 riders, on average, caught in waters or wetlands. Another 386 people are stopped for driving illegally in parks and preserves, in roadside ditches during bird-nesting season, in hunting areas during restricted hours or on private lands.
The worst lawbreakers keep riding. At least 42 people have been charged with careless or reckless ATV violations since 2005, but they didn't lose riding privileges despite a state law. Nor did they have to take a class and pass a state test before riding again, as the law requires. DNR acting enforcement chief Mark Johanson said the agency did not get money from the Legislature to track the offenders and impose the extra sanctions.
Increasingly, officers are turning into woodland traffic cops. They issue, on average, 3,400 tickets and warnings each year for safety and vehicle registration violations. That work is crucial to reducing ATV accidents, injuries and deaths, but means less time protecting natural resources.
Powerful ATVs can alter the landscape in a variety of ways. If ATVs ride in grassy agricultural ditches during the April-to-August closed season, pheasants often won't nest there, said Carmelita Nelson, who coordinates a DNR Roadsides for Wildlife program. Seeds from invasive weeds can be carried on muddy ATVs, and damaged wetlands often grow back with Reed canary grass instead of native plants.
Rarely made to pay
Only in rare cases are destructive riders made to pay restitution for tearing up the land.
One is Trevor James John of Crosslake, a former snowmobile racer. He was caught four years ago with his ATV stuck in a wetland at Flanders Lake near Brainerd.
John said he and a friend were "just out enjoying nature." The DNR complaint said they drove unregistered ATVs past a sign that said, "No motorized vehicles allowed beyond this point," and then got stuck in a wetland. Conservation officer Karl Hadrits, who spotted the ATVs, slogged through thigh-deep mud to reach the two riders.
After long court delays, a judge last May ordered John to pay $400 restitution, on top of an earlier $377 in fines and fees. John said he paid the money to make the case go away.
His ATV wasn't confiscated. Although conservation officers seize firearms, fishing gear, boats or fish houses for various violations, the seizure law doesn't apply when people damage the land with a vehicle.
"Why would you buy like a 4-wheel-drive ATV if you can't even go in mud?" John said. "... It wasn't like we were the first ones riding there. There were tracks all over the place. People have ridden there for years ... I don't understand what it is we are ruining to drive an ATV there."
Hadrits has busted numerous wetland violators, including people driving giant-wheeled trucks. At trouble spots, he hides in the woods, binoculars in hand, his ATV parked and ready to roll.
"Sometimes to catch people you have to sit back and hide and watch -- and it takes time," he said. In one stakeout, he chased three riders on his ATV for nearly 4 miles after they rutted up a lakeshore and then sped away.
Riders sometimes help. While patrolling the Pine Center Trail in May 2007, conservation officers Kuske and Miller met two riders who said that two kids on ATVs were stuck in a bog down the trail. "Sure enough, they were right up to the handlebars," Kuske said. "... They had been in here for probably a good half-hour or better, ripping around and going around."
The boys had driven around a keep-out sign and barrier logs.
The clear-water bog, once the home of wood ducks, "was like a pudding. It was so churned up, completely devoid of vegetation, even around the edges, just one big soup hole," he added.
As Kuske and Miller questioned the 17-year-old boys, from Champlin and Dayton, the two riders who reported the incident returned -- angry at the kids' behavior.
"They wanted a piece of these guys," Kuske said, who intervened to prevent a violent confrontation.
Some ATV riders worry that destructive acts damage the image of their sport and will sour Minnesotans -- the vast majority of whom don't own ATVs -- on allowing motorized trails on public lands.
"If we have all these bad apples digging up the mud all over the place ... pretty soon no one is going to have a spot to ride," said Dan Scholl, president of the Eastern Morrison County 4-Wheeler Club. "And we are out for more trails. To get more trails, we have to keep everybody from making it look like a bad sport."
Fixing the scars
Environmental damage from ATVs, however, is more than bad PR. Scarred landscapes can be costly to fix and take years to heal.
Nowhere is this more visible than at Spider Lake Recreation Area in north-central Minnesota, where 26 miles of trails became a magnet for ATVs and 4-wheel-drive trucks early in the decade.
It once featured a hillside deliberately strewn with boulders and logs for trucks to scramble over. The eroded "challenge hill" has been closed, and the DNR has spent $450,000 since 2003 to deal with wetlands, lakeshores and hillsides damaged by illegal ATV riding.
Some areas at Spider Lake are recovering, yet new ATV damage is visible. Last Memorial Day weekend, conservation officers ticketed or warned 10 ATV riders for driving off the trail, including two who rode around in a wetland.
"You get, lots of times, younger groups maybe in their 20s or early 30s who think that they're on their own little private piece of property and they're going to do what they want to do," said DNR conservation officer Chad Sherack, who patrols the area.
Even minor damage, such as ATV ruts, can become a costly problem. At Sugar Hills, a cross-country ski area near Grand Rapids, Minn., almost every hillside has been damaged by illegal riding over the past 10 years, said Bruce Slinkman, president of the Minnesota Nordic Ski Association and a contractor who sometimes has been hired to smooth and regrade trails.
On hills, the ruts gradually erode into gullies after a few rainfalls. "I have encountered gullies that are 2 feet deep to a couple cases that are 4 feet deep -- the trail is impassible," he added. It costs $1,000 just to bring heavy equipment into the woods for a day, and a repair job can easily cost double that, he said.
Since 2006, when DNR established the first of two damage-monitoring programs, field workers have reported wetland damage or signs of illegal off-trail riding in 17 state forests and other scattered state land.
Yet many of the state's 58 forests have not been checked for such damage.
"I don't claim that we're doing anywhere near 100 percent monitoring," said Keith Simar, recreation coordinator for the DNR Forestry Division. "Our direction to foresters is to deal with the issues as we come across them in our normal work, not to go out and try to find unfound problem sites."
Simar said he sought $100,000 to systematically look for forest ATV damage, but the money wasn't approved.
State and county foresters have placed signs, downed logs, fences and boulders to keep out ATVs. Those efforts haven't always worked. At one spot near the Mississippi River headwaters, determined riders have repeatedly moved large rocks blocking a favored unauthorized riding area.
A few good boulders
In Beltrami County, foresters recently discovered a way to keep vehicles out of closed areas: 5,000-pound boulders.
Rocks smaller than about 3 feet in diameter can be yanked aside by a 4-wheel-drive truck, said John Winter, who heads county recreation programs. The county paid a contractor $14,000 to place about 35 boulders, other barriers and signs at eight closed access points to the Mississippi Headwaters State Forest.
Logs and branches also have been put on closed trails, and in another innovation, workers scatter soil over the piles. If anyone tries to cut the logs, grit will ruin the chainsaw.
At one spot where old keep-out signs and barriers had been ripped out, workers embedded new signposts in concrete. "We fortified that one and, by God, it worked," Winter said.
He believes it will take years, and pressure from riders who don't break the law, to change the thinking of those who do.
"I am hoping they will help to influence the ones who are raising hell," Winter said. "To say we are going to get all the resource damage under control, that is going to take a hell of a long time."
Star Tribune photographer Brian Peterson contributed to this article.
Part II: Renegade riders
A club-sponsored ride leads to an investigation of a damaged wetland, triggering a fox guarding the henhouse debate.
By DAVID SHAFFER and TOM MEERSMAN, Star Tribune staff writers
Last update: September 16, 2008 - 6:28 AM
On a sunny Saturday in June, a fleet of ATVs motored into the woods of north-central Minnesota for a day of four-wheeling fun and pig roast called the "Pork and Ride."
The procession of riders on the outing, sponsored by an ATV club called the Over the Hills Gang, stopped on their way to the Moose River Trail. Most left their machines for a short hike. But three riders reportedly steered their ATVs off the trail into a pond fringed with cattails, roaring through it until the fragile wetland was a muddy mess.
A few weeks later, members of the same club hopped on ATVs to ride the same trail, but in a much different role. They were "Trail Ambassadors," handing out brochures on safe, responsible ATV riding. The Over the Hills Gang was paid $34 an hour for its two-man patrols -- by the state.
Such payments, totaling $250,000 a year, are a new strategy that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources hopes will reduce the damage that some riders are doing to forests and wildlife habitat.
But the government aid to rider clubs also has become a flashpoint in the debate over how the DNR should confront the challenge of ATVs, which are filling Minnesota forests in larger numbers than ever before.
"It's pretty discouraging," said DNR conservation officer Cary Shoutz, who is investigating the reported wetland damage during the club-sponsored ride.
"Here we have clubs that are supposed to be promoting good things about riding ATVs responsibly, and they're actually doing different when they're out there, where nobody can see them," Shoutz added.
In July, representatives of two conservation organizations resigned as advisers to DNR's Ambassador program, saying they were frustrated with the DNR's off-road policies.
But the DNR official in charge of the Ambassador program defended it and the club, saying the fact that the agency even found out about the illegal riding was a sign of progress.
"I see this as an example of something that did happen, that shouldn't have happened, that wasn't hush-hushed," Capt. Mike Hammer, the DNR education program coordinator, said of the wetland damage. "It was brought to the attention of authorities so we can deal with it. ... People are starting to step up and take responsibility in their local areas and clean this stuff up."
Indeed, Shoutz said he got a call about the incident shortly after it happened, but not from a club member. The witness who tipped off the DNR told the Star Tribune he was simply along for the ride and didn't know the culprits. He said he was unwilling to speak publicly because it might cause him trouble in his work.
Meri Lysne, president of the Over the Hills Gang ATV Club, first denied to the newspaper she knew anything about the incident. Later in the same interview, she conceded that it happened.
"If three people go off into a wetland on a designated trail ride, what are you supposed to do? Shoot them?" she said. More recently, she added, the club has discussed the matter but "as far as I'm concerned, this subject is null and void."
In Minnesota, riders of ATVs, dirt bikes or off-road trucks seldom faced sanctions for such acts until 2003, when new state laws took effect. A Star Tribune analysis of DNR data found that officers now ticket or warn about 439 ATV riders a year for violating natural-resource laws, though that is just a fraction of the violators. Riders usually are long gone when officers discover eroded hills, illegal trails and tire-tracked wetlands.
ATV registrations tripled in the past decade to 264,000 last year. To deal with problems, the DNR has stepped up ATV enforcement, closed trails, documented damaged areas and, this year, trained 69 people sponsored by 12 rider clubs to patrol trails under the Ambassador program.
Out on the trail
Perry May squinted in the summer sunlight as he drove an ATV along the Moose River ATV trail in Land O' Lakes State Forest. He stopped, swung a leg over the seat of his Arctic Cat 500 to dismount and pulled out a GPS device.
"There's some off-trail traffic happening here," he said, referring to where tall grass, daisies and Indian paintbrush had been flattened in tire tracks leading to an old logging road.
Another rider, Ken LeVoir, marked the scene by writing down the GPS coordinates and tying orange tape to a tree branch. That would alert the DNR to a potential trouble spot.
LeVoir and May, members of the Over The Hills Gang ATV Club, are enthusiastic riders who were among the first to volunteer for weekend Trail Ambassador training. The program is modeled after a similar effort in Wisconsin that has earned praise there for improving rider behavior.
The Ambassadors can't enforce ATV laws. But they are encouraged to call a conservation officer if they witness unsafe or destructive ATV use.
May and LeVoir, who weren't along on the June ride under investigation by the DNR, spent a Sunday in July motoring down the trail as Ambassadors. Their uniforms were fluorescent yellow and orange vests, and they handed out brochures and maps, not tickets.
Where two trails met in the forest, three young dirt-bike riders pulled up and stopped at the sight of the men on the ATVs.
"This area is closed to motorcycles," LeVoir said to them.
"We didn't see the signs," came the reply.
Then May jumped in. "We are not enforcement officers," he said. "So we are just trying to explain, you know, compliance rules and that. This trail system isn't marked as well as it should be and we'll definitely report that to the DNR."
The bikers, on the other hand, wouldn't be reported to a conservation officer. They drove off.
LeVoir said he thought the three dirt-bikers made an honest mistake. The rules can be confusing, he said, and his approach is "to give people the opportunity to do it the right way" before calling an officer.
Although Ambassadors are volunteers, each of their hours on the trail earns $17 for their club. The club can then reimburse volunteers for expenses such as gasoline, according to the program rules.
One rule limits ATV Ambassadors to riders sponsored by clubs that belong to the All-Terrain Vehicle Association of Minnesota (ATVAM). It is a statewide group that has lobbied the Legislature for more trail funding and against tougher regulations and enforcement. Ambassadors also must be certified to teach ATV safety training classes under a separate DNR program.
Ken Irish of Inver Grove Heights, the group's president and a founder of another rider club in Crow Wing County, was one of the first Ambassadors to complete the DNR training program. Though he had been nabbed by a conservation officer in 2003 for illegal ATV riding, the offense didn't disqualify him from the outreach program.
"I got caught -- I'm not ashamed to say it," said Irish, who was ticketed, and paid an $80 fine, for riding on a posted non-motorized trail in the Crow Wing State Forest. He also got a ticket in 1999 for riding an unregistered dirt bike.
Irish said the 2003 ticket taught him a lesson and got him involved with the Cuyuna Iron Range Riders, an ATV/dirt bike club, to push for legal places to ride. "I took a positive approach," Irish said.
The DNR's Hammer agrees. He praised Irish, and expressed no concerns about a handful of other trail Ambassadors whose violations of fish, game or other regulations turned up in DNR background checks. Unless people have "gross violations," such as a driving while intoxicated, or patterns of less-serious offenses, they are not excluded from the program, Hammer said. So far, no one has been turned away from the Ambassador program because of a background check, he added.
"Somewhere along the line they may have screwed up," said Hammer, who believes the Ambassadors will help discourage illegal, destructive riding.
Skeptical of riders
Nobody is quite sure who screwed up at the June 7 "Pork and Ride" fundraiser and trail ride.
Before a pork barbeque, more than 100 ATV riders took off in groups for trail rides. In one group, riders parked their ATVs at a shallow pond just off the trail, and most of the group walked away to see the ruins of an abandoned homestead, according to the witness who alerted the DNR. Several riders stayed behind, including three who drove back and forth through the pond and surrounding cattails for the next half hour, the witness said.
When the others returned, the witness said, the pond had been turned into a "slough of black mud" and one ATV was stuck. The group pulled it out and rode on. The witness said he didn't know the riders who entered the wetland, or whether they were club members.
Audubon Minnesota and the Jack Pine Coalition, two groups that support more regulation of ATVs on public lands, are skeptical that rider groups are a solution to illegal, destructive driving. They say the start-up funds for the Ambassador program should be used to hire more conservation officers instead.
"There is no sense in having people who are associated with other people who are breaking the law trying to police them," said Susan Solterman, policy director for Audubon Minnesota.
Solterman and Gene Larimore of the Jack Pine Coalition, a loose collection of outdoors enthusiasts, briefly served on the DNR's advisory group for the Ambassador program. But they grew frustrated with the DNR's rules, and resigned in protest in July.
"There was no opportunity for advice," said Larimore, who believes the Ambassador program does little more than hand over public money to rider groups.
He and Solterman said they believe state law required the DNR to include non-motor groups in the program. They said conservationists, hunters and other outdoors enthusiasts should be allowed to serve as Trail Ambassadors to promote conservation and environmental protection and also bridge the gap between rider and non-rider groups.
Hammer of the DNR said the department is "not trying to include or exclude anybody." He said Larimore and Solterman quit before giving the program a chance to succeed.
Hammer and other conservation officers believe ATV rider clubs can help promote responsible behavior, just as snowmobile clubs did in that sport 25 years ago. Yet that view is not universal within the department.
Shoutz, the officer who was first contacted by the witness to the Over the Hills Gang incident, said that ATV club members are unlikely to turn in friends for illegal riding. The witness who reported the incident was not a club member or in the Ambassador program.
"I'm in one of the busiest ATV areas in the state and I have not received one complaint from an Ambassador about anybody," Shoutz said.
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Control at last or inviting trouble?
A massive DNR program to decide where ATVs may go in state forests is meant to reduce damage and resolve conflicts. But some agency experts say the plan leaves too much land open to motors.
By TOM MEERSMAN, DAVID SHAFFER and Video by BRIAN PETERSON, Star Tribune staff
Last update: September 16, 2008 - 12:07 PM
After five years of meticulous mapping, Minnesota is on the verge of ensuring that thousands of miles of backwoods trails and roads are open to all-terrain vehicles.
It will be the state's biggest step yet to gain control over ATV riding in its public forests, and it's stoking a contentious debate over what place motors have in the woods.
The immense trail project will have lasting consequences for outdoor recreation in Minnesota. It also is bitterly dividing the state Department of Natural Resources, which manages 4.2 million acres of state forests.
Some DNR experts are worried that the changes will leave forests and other wild lands vulnerable to damage from ATVs.
Others call the newly sanctioned trails, which could exceed 7,700 miles, the best way to control what had been a motorized free-for-all on public land.
In shaping the plan, top DNR officials repeatedly overruled field staff by approving motorized access near riverbanks, bogs and old-growth forest, and in areas that harbor red-shouldered hawks and rare plants, interviews with DNR staff and a review of agency records show.
The agency says riders tend to stay on marked trails. It contends there is no need to route trails away from wetlands and other critical areas that can be ravaged by the wheels of wayward ATVs.
"We're trying to give the users the benefit of the doubt, instead of the agency coming out and always saying 'No, no, no, no, no, no, no,'" said Bob Leibfried, DNR regional manager for ecological services.
But many of those who camp, fish, canoe, watch birds and ride horses on public lands are finding those pursuits less enjoyable or impossible in the presence of noisy and fast-moving off-road vehicles.
"You don't mix motorized recreation with a wild experience. You can't have it," said Matt Norton, forestry and wildlife advocate for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. "One is going to lose out. Guess which one that is going to be?"
ATV rider groups say they deserve trails in state forests because four-wheelers are excluded from wildlife management areas, most parks, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and other public lands.
Riders generally give the DNR high marks for its mapping work. Len Hardy, first vice-president of the All-Terrain Vehicle Association of Minnesota, said rider clubs in the state want a completed trail system. He sees it as a way to repair the scars, rather than cause more.
"We've been riding on these trails now for 20 years, some of them, and nothing's ever been done to them," he said. "We know there's damage out there."
Once a trail system is determined, Hardy said, clubs will be able to apply for state money to fix the problems.
'We failed as an agency'
The sweeping trail survey has its roots in a debate that flared six years ago. In 2002, the Star Tribune reported that ATVs and four-wheel drive trucks were running off trails into wetlands and gouging hillsides in many forests and wildlife management areas, including one of the first motorized trails in the state, the Spider Lake Recreation Area northwest of Brainerd.
The Legislature ordered the agency to get control of the situation at Spider Lake and elsewhere by taking inventory of roads and trails in all 58 state forests and, by the end of 2008, identifying routes where off-road enthusiasts should be allowed to drive.
"We failed as an agency in the management of ATVs," said DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten. He said the situation has improved significantly in the past five years. Holsten became deputy commissioner in 2003 and commissioner in 2007.
"My job is to bring some order to an unordered world," he said.
The trails in question are already there. Almost all were blazed over the years by loggers, hunters and, more recently, ATV riders who went wherever they wanted in the state forests.
The DNR spent $2.3 million to map all roads, trails and other corridors in state forests. Then the agency assigned teams of experts from various divisions, including trails and waterways, forestry, fish and wildlife, enforcement and ecological resources, to recommend which routes remain open in each forest. After holding public meetings and reviewing citizen comments, the commissioner makes the final trail decisions.
So far, the DNR has approved about 3,300 miles in 33 forests as open for recreational riding and closed 2,070 miles. The DNR expects to close about 1 mile of trail for every 2 miles kept open. When the remaining 25 forests are approved later this year, the state could end up with 7,700 miles of recreational routes.
Wisconsin, by contrast, has about 180 miles of ATV trails on DNR land, and its state forest system is about one-eighth Minnesota's size.
"Here in Wisconsin, our lands were designated as closed to ATVs until we decided to open some of them," said Steve Petersen, DNR superintendent of Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest in northern Wisconsin. "That's different than Minnesota where initially everything was open to ATVs and now you're trying to close some trails."
Most ATV riding in Wisconsin is on county lands, he said. Minnesota also has thousands of miles of trails and roads open to ATVs in county and federal forests.
Ideas were rejected
If it had been up to some DNR trail planning teams, many more places would be off-limits to ATVs.
Teams recommended closing areas to ATVs to protect nearby wetlands and other natural resources, but top DNR managers repeatedly ordered revisions that favored motor access.
Mike North, a DNR ecologist who reviewed motor policies in north-central Minnesota, said it only takes a few riders illegally driving off the trail and "the next thing you know you can have some pretty significant wetland damage." Other agency experts said they feared for their jobs if they spoke out publicly about such concerns.
• In Sturgeon River and Crow Wing state forests, planning teams recommended 50 areas where even hunter use of ATVs would be banned. These areas included wetlands with rare plants, pristine lakes and old-growth hardwoods. Top DNR officials have overruled 80 percent of the closures, allowing hunters to drive ATVs off-trail at certain times.
• In Mississippi Headwaters State Forest, which features 40 miles of near-wilderness riverfront, three of the five planning team members recommended that the entire forest be closed to off-trail riding because of sensitive soils and past illegal ATV riding in the river. DNR Regional Director Mike Carroll in Bemidji kept part of the forest open to ATVs.
• In Nemadji State Forest, on the Wisconsin border in Pine County, the planning team proposed to close a trail that borders an old-growth forest containing rare plants. DNR managers rejected the closure, saying someone would have to prove the trees and plants would be harmed before they took such an action.
• In Cloquet Valley State Forest, north of Duluth, DNR's team recommended that dozens of trails that dead-ended at wetlands be closed. DNR managers rejected that advice, saying riding off-trail into wetlands is already illegal, and closing trails near them would be "layering on" regulations.
Top DNR officials said it's no surprise that some ideas were challenged and overruled. Holsten, the DNR commissioner, said he wanted specific reasons to tell the public why trails needed to be closed, such as proof that unique natural features needed extra protection.
"We asked hard questions," Holsten said of his meetings with experts. "We asked them to look at it from this perspective, and none of them looked at it from that perspective."
The DNR still is considering how many areas should be limited to hunting on foot and whether all recreational trail riding should be banned during the firearms deer season, officials said.
Costs not considered
Jim Weseloh, once a Grand Rapids-based planner for DNR, said he retired last year rather than continue with a process he thought was leading the agency into trouble.
Weseloh said agency managers had a goal of keeping as many trails open as possible. When planning team members brought up costs to maintain trails or enforce rules, he said, they were told: "Don't worry about that."
Forrest Boe, director of DNR's trails and waterways division, said that the maintenance costs were not considered because the five-year planning effort focused mainly on environmental issues.
At two heavily used ATV trails -- Spider Lake and the 25-mile Red Top Trail just east of Mille Lacs Lake -- the state has spent about $650,000 to deal with erosion and other damage since 2002. Even so, both trail systems need more work.
Foresters who checked on Spider Lake in June concluded that one trail segment, "will continue to cause serious erosion, cutting, and damage to the trees themselves" without repairs. In July, parts of the Red Top trail were in such bad shape that Aitkin County, the main landowner, closed segments until they were renovated.
Boe said maintenance costs will depend on such factors as how many riders use a trail, whether it is susceptible to erosion and the frequency of storms that saturate soils and down trees. Holsten said the DNR will look closely at costs and other issues.
"This isn't a trail designation system that's locked down in granite forever," Holsten said. "It will be under constant analysis and review once it's put in place."
Off-road hunting rules are confounding at best
The DNR announced rule changes Thursday designed to avoid conflicts between recreational riders and those pursuing game. Some make sense; others do not.
By DENNIS ANDERSON, Star Tribune
Last update: September 19, 2008 - 1:56 AM
http://www.startribune.com/sports/outdo ... LanchO7DiU
Hunters, hunters who ride off-highway vehicles (OHVs) and recreational OHV riders can be forgiven if they're confused by the Department of Natural Resources announcement Thursday that OHVs will be banned from "DNR forest trails'' during most upcoming firearms deer hunting seasons.
The DNR said the action is intended to reduce conflicts and potential conflicts between firearms deer hunters and recreational OHV riders -- the latter defined, for this purpose, as OHV riders during most firearms deer seasons (the restriction won't apply during the October antlerless season or the muzzleloader season) who do not hold deer hunting licenses.
Let's break it down:
• First, if you purchased a firearms deer license last year and also have registered an OHV with the DNR, you will soon receive in the mail a brochure that clarifies and explains many regulations affecting you and use of your machine while big-game hunting.
• Details about Thursday's announcement restricting OHVs (meaning all-terrain vehicles, off-highway motorcycles and off-road vehicles such as Jeeps) during firearms deer hunting seasons is not included in the brochure, however.
• In the northeastern Minnesota 100 series deer season, the recreational riding restriction will be in effect Nov. 8-23. In the 200 series deer season, the recreational riding restriction will be in effect Nov. 8-16. For season details, go to www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/deer/index.html.
• Thursday's restriction on recreational OHV riding during firearms deer seasons applies to state-owned land within state forests. This includes mapped and designated OHV trails (listed on www.findthetrails.com, which takes you to the DNR website) on these lands, as well as tote trails and any other trails on state lands within state forests. (Private, county and federal lands often also lie in state forests -- the restriction does not apply to these.)
• Nor does the restriction apply to "grant-in-aid'' trails that lie outside state forests. These trails are on land owned by counties, among other entities. The Soo Line Trail, for instance, which is one of the state's longest, running from Onamia to Moose Lake to Cass Lake, is grant-in-aid, and Thursday's restriction does not apply to it.
• DNR trails and waterways division policy and program manager Ron Potter estimates that about 40 percent of Minnesota's designated OHV trail miles lie outside of state forests and are not covered by Thursday's restriction. The DNR website will be updated with current closures before the firearms deer seasons.
• Thursday's restriction also does not apply to what officially are known as state forest roads or minimum-maintenance state forest roads. Potter said these roads should be designated by a number or name, but might not be. All mapped and designated OHV trails are marked by signs, however,
• In all, the state owns about 4.5 million acres of forest lands, almost all of it in the 100 and 200 series deer hunting zones. By comparison, the Superior National Forest encompasses 3.85 million acres, and Chippewa National Forest is 1.6 million acres.
• Meanwhile, if you are a deer hunter -- defined as someone who holds a license -- you can ride on these and other trails during deer season provided you do so before legal shooting hours, between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., and after legal shooting hours.
• The same restricted hours of OHV use by deer hunters apply to all public lands in the state. However, hunters who own OHVs can use them on private land any time they want, provided they own the land or have been given permission to ride there by the property owner.
• Thursday's OHV restriction during firearms deer seasons should be a win-win for everyone. Most recreational OHV riders don't want to be in the woods during deer season, and most deer hunters don't want them there.
• The same can't be said for a law passed by the Legislature last session removing a restriction requiring OHV riders to be 20 yards from their machines before shooting at ruffed grouse. Now they can pop these birds as soon as they dismount and uncase their guns.
Rep. David Dill, DFL-Crane Lake, carried the bill in the House. The measure was never heard in the Senate, but won approval by a House-Senate conference committee.
What a shame that the state with the best grouse hunting in the nation, and that otherwise prides itself on a population of hunters who honor in most instances not only the spirit but the letter of fair chase, would kowtow to those for whom such a regal bird is so cheaply regarded.
Dennis Anderson • firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
PUVA Therapy (Psoralen and Ultraviolet A Therapy)
PUVA Therapy Overview
PUVA is an acronym for psoralen and ultraviolet A. PUVA refers to the interaction of long wavelength ultraviolet light (320-400 nm) with a pharmaceutical molecule of plant origin, psoralen, producing a type of "photochemotherapy." PUVA is useful in treating a number of human diseases.
Psoralens are a family of plant chemicals that are able to absorb light in the ultraviolet A (UVA) spectrum (320 nm-400 nm). Once this absorption has occurred, these chemicals become activated and can react within the body in a number of ways. Without exposure to the correct wavelengths of light, psoralens are not biologically active. Although human tissues are relatively resistant to the effects of ultraviolet A light alone, this changes dramatically when psoralens are present. The most obvious change is a marked increase in ultraviolet A sensitivity manifested as burning of the skin (the equivalent of sunburn). It is hypothesized PUVA may work by inhibiting the production of the basic genetic material, DNA, and/or by damaging receptors of skin cells (epidermal cells) and particular immune cells (T-lymphocytes).
PUVA Therapy Types
Patient Comments
Two forms of the psoralen molecule are currently medically useful: 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP) and 5-methoxypsoralen. 8-MOP is the only psoralen available in the United States by prescription. 8-MOP can be given orally or applied topically. The use of topical of 8-MOP is uncommon because of the high likelihood of severe sunburns using this technique. The oral dose of 8-MOP that is prescribed for each patient depends upon the individual's weight.
Medical Author:
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Patient Comments & Reviews
The eMedicineHealth doctors ask about PUVA:
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
All Current Offers
Solar Eclipse 2017
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FreeLifetimeTech Support
Orion SkyQuest Truss Tube Dobsonian telescopes let you enjoy big-aperture telescope performance anywhere since they can be easily broken-down into conveniently portable components. For the best performance from any truss Dobsonian, a shroud to shield the optics from peripheral light is a must. This Light Shroud, custom designed for the 16" SkyQuest XX16 Dobsonian telescope, is made of a stretchy nylon blend material that fits like a glove over the truss poles of the XX16, fastening with thick elastic bands on both ends. The water-resistant, opaque black fabric blocks stray light from entering the optical path, thus improving image contrast. It's also breathable, which minimizes unwanted vibration of the scope in breezy conditions. Use of the shroud will lessen the accumulation of dust and dirt on the mirrors during use, and will help prevent dew from forming on them. Made in the U.S.A.
WARNING! When using a truss tube Dobsonian telescope for solar observing, always use a Light Shroud and a properly sized solar filter. When you install the Light Shroud make certain there are no gaps between the Shroud and the telescope where direct sunlight can reach the telescope mirror. When a truss tube telescope (equipped with a solar filter but no Light Shroud) is pointing near (not at) the Sun, direct sunlight can hit the mirror and focus on the solar filter or other portions of the telescope. This can lead to eye injury or damage to the telescope. Using a Light Shroud protects your telescope from peripheral sunlight.
Before using any telescope for solar observing, make sure to install all dustcaps or other protective covers on all optical components such as finder scopes to keep sunlight from passing through them. Glancing through an uncovered optical system, even for an instant, can cause permanent eye damage. Always install protective caps on all optical instruments if left out during daylight hours.
Limited Warranty against defects in materials or workmanship for one year from date of purchase. This warranty is for the benefit of the original retail purchaser only. For complete warranty details contact us at 800-676-1343.
Orders received by 1pm Eastern Standard Time for in-stock item the same business day. Order received after noon will ship the next business day. When an item is not in-stock we will ship it as soon as it becomes available. Typically in-stock items will ship first and backordered items will follow as soon as they are available. You have the option in check out to request that your order ship complete, if you'd prefer.
A per-item shipping charge (in addition to the standard shipping and handling charge) applies to this product due to its size and weight. This charge varies based on the shipping method.
Standard Delivery: $0.003 Day Delivery: $14.002 Day Delivery: $14.00Next Day Delivery: $23.00
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Online or in your mailbox. Check out our colorful catalog, filled with hundreds of quality products.
Please send me email about sales, new products, and astronomy.
Since 1975 Orion Telescopes & Binoculars has been offering telescopes for sale direct to customers, with an unswerving commitment to best quality products, value and unmatched customer care. Our 100% satisfaction guarantee says it all.
Orion offers telescopes for every level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert. From our entry level beginner telescopes for amateur astronomers to our Dobsonian telescopes to our most advanced Cassegrain telescopes and accessories, you can find the best telescope for you. Because we sell direct, we can offer you tremendous value at a great price. Not sure how to choose a telescope? Orion's Telescope Buyer's Guide is a great place to start.
Orion binoculars are known for quality optics at a great price. We offer binoculars for every viewing interest, including astronomical binoculars, compact binoculars, waterproof binoculars, birding binoculars, and sport and hunting binoculars.
Orion's telescope and astrophotography accessories will enhance your telescope enjoyment without breaking the bank. Expand your viewing experience with accessories ranging from moon filters to power-boosting Barlow lenses to advanced computerized telescope mounts. Capture breathtaking photos with our affordable astrophotography cameras. And when you're stargazing, Orion's telescope cases and covers, observing gear, red LED flashlights, astronomy books and star charts will make your observing sessions more convenient, comfortable and meaningful.
At Orion, we are committed to sharing our knowledge and passion for astronomy and astrophotography with the amateur astronomy community. Visit the Orion Community Center for in-depth information on telescopes, binoculars, and astrophotography. You can find astrophotography "how to" tips and share your best astronomy pictures here. Submit astronomy articles, events, & reviews, and even become a featured Orion customer!


text:
The Spiral of the Work That Reconnects
|By Dori Midnight
Then, ever again, we go forth into the action that calls us. With others whenever and wherever possible, we set a target, lay a plan, step out. We don�t wait for a blueprint or fail-proof scheme; for each step will be our teacher, bringing new perspectives and opportunities. Even when we don�t succeed in a given venture, we can be grateful for the chance we took and the lessons we learned. And the spiral begins again.
There are hard things to face in our world today, if we want to be of use. Gratitude, when it�s real, offers no blinders. On the contrary, in the face of devastation and tragedy it can ground us, especially when we�re scared. It can hold us steady for the work to be done.
The activist�s inner journey appears to me like a�spiral, interconnecting four successive stages or movements that feed into each other. These four are:
- opening to gratitude,
- owning our pain for the world,
- seeing with new eyes,
- going forth.
The sequence repeats itself, as the spiral circles round, but ever in new ways. The spiral is fractal in nature: it can characterize a lifetime or a project, and it can also happen in a day or several times a day. The spiral begins with gratitude, because that quiets the frantic mind and brings us back to source. It reconnects us with our empathy and personal power. It helps us to be more fully present to our world. Grounded presence provides the psychic space for acknowledging the pain we carry for our world.
|By Angella Gibbons
In owning this pain, and daring to experience it, we learn that our capacity to �suffer with� is the true meaning of compassion. We begin to know the immensity of our heart-mind, and how it helps us to move beyond fear. What had isolated us in private anguish now opens outward and delivers us into wider reaches of our�world as lover, world as self.
The Spiral of the Work That Reconnects


text:
If you have never suffered from low back pain, consider yourself one of the fortunate few. Back pain is a common reason for Americans under the age of 45 to limit their activity. It is also a common reason for visits to the doctor and for surgery. There is some good news, though. Most people recover from an acute episode in a few days or weeks without much disruption to daily activities or medical treatment. For others however, low back pain becomes a chronic or recurrent condition, often resulting in considerable social and occupational disability.
Why So Common?
Many factors contribute to low back pain, such as inadequate fitness, heavy lifting, and poor posture. But our evolutionary history is to blame for our susceptibility to this pain. At some point in the distant past, some of our ancestors decided to stand on two feet, presumably so their hands would be free to fashion tools and use them efficiently. While their reasons were good, going vertical was not without its drawbacks.
Walking around on all fours distributes the force of gravity evenly over the length of the spine. Standing up, however, concentrates this force in one location—the lumbosacral region, just north of the buttocks. Our vulnerability to low back pain is the price we pay for bipedal locomotion.
Several factors can contribute to persistent back pain:
- Having a work-related injury, particularly if the work environment requires or allows use of improper body mechanics, such as bending or twisting when lifting.
- Having poor ergonomics for sedentary workers
- Having a degenerative disease, such as arthritis, of the spine
- Being overweight or obese
No Obvious Cause
Most cases of chronic back pain are idiopathic, meaning they have no clear explanation. Without a known cause, treatment is very difficult and often unsuccessful. This leads many people to alternative therapies. Below are among the most commonly used alternative therapies to treat chronic low back pain:
There is some evidence that, at least in the short-term, each of these therapies may be effective at alleviating discomfort, improving function, and/or enhancing a sense of well-being. However, it is unclear if any one of these therapies is superior to the others or to physical therapy, the standard conventional treatment. Furthermore, it is unclear that any of these approaches provides more than short-term benefit.
More Is Better
So, what then is the best treatment for chronic low back pain? According to evidence, what seems to matter is not which one, but how many treatments you use. In other words, interventions that address not only the physical aspects of the pain, but also its psychological, social, and occupational influences seem to be the most effective. An effective rehabilitation program may encompass:
- Physical therapy
- Exercise and strength training
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy—helps you adjust your behaviors to better cope with back pain
- Massage
- Relaxation
- Balneotherapy—the use of hot and cold baths and spas
- Heat and cold application
Complex Solutions for Complex Problems
This combination of therapies makes a lot of sense. It is well known that an enormously complex range of factors, affecting many aspects of life, contribute to our experience of chronic pain. It is hard to imagine, then, that any single intervention—alternative or conventional—could succeed. An alternative therapy therefore, should be part of a multi-dimensional treatment strategy.
Chronic back pain can affect your ability to keep up with your normal activities. These treatments will help you slowly increase your activity level until over time.
Where Do We Go From Here?
If you suffer from idiopathic chronic pain anywhere in your body consider the following steps:
- Recognize that your condition is a complicated problem that cannot be treated in isolation. This is the first step to gaining control over your pain and your life.
- Determine which facets of your pain have not been adequately addressed—psychological, social, occupational, and/or physical. Tackling this problem from only one perspective is unlikely to work.
- Continue working with your doctor, and consider getting a referral to a doctor who specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation, or chronic low back pain. These doctors may be in the best position to coordinate a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary treatment plan, whether or not it includes alternative therapies.
- Strive to restore your ability to function. Your goal should be to resume your normal activities, not only to reduce your pain. Although the two are closely linked, the evidence suggests that focusing on function is the key to recovery.
- Look both ways. Look ahead to visualize what it will be like to have no pain or disability. But also look back to measure your progress. It is easier to succeed when you see how far you have come.
- Reviewer: Michael Woods, MD
- Review Date: 08/2015 -
- Update Date: 08/31/2015 -


text:
Shell to Offer LNG to Power Ships, Trucks on Cheap U.S. Gas
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) is expanding plans to make liquefied natural gas a fuel for ships and trucks as Europe's largest energy producer looks to profit from the cheapness of U.S. gas compared with oil.
Shell, where gas production overtook oil for the first time this year, will increase LNG-for-transport projects to more than 5 million tons a year over the next decade, said Shell Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry. That's equivalent to about 120,000 barrels of oil a day, or 4 percent of the company's global production in the third quarter.
Shell will offer about half the volume to the trucking industry in Canada and the U.S. and the rest to shipping in the Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico and the Baltic Sea.
"This is a global opportunity," Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser said last month in New York. "The current gas equivalent price per kilometer is double-digit percentage lower than for diesel in the U.S."
Gas prices in the U.S. plunged to a decade low this year after companies ramped up output from shale deposits to make the nation the world's largest producer. Today, U.S. crude oil costs four times more than natural gas on a per barrel basis, allowing Shell to profit from LNG transport projects even after the costs of turning gas into a liquid.
"Because cost of the equipment, the engines and the liquefaction and distribution is rapidly coming down, we do see better opportunities than we've actually thought originally," Henry said. "The world is refining long, but diesel short by large because the world's refining complex is producing too much gasoline and not enough diesel," creating an opportunity for LNG to power vehicles.
Green Corridor
Shell is working on the Green Corridor project with Flying J Inc. to supply 250,000 tons of LNG a year to trucks along the 900 mile (1,600 kilometer) highway from Alberta to the Pacific coast in Canada. It's also developing a plan to provide LNG fuel to the shipping industry with the help of its Norwegian distributor Gasnor and the Gate LNG terminal in Rotterdam, Voser said.
"What we are doing is developing multiple options that would be actually probably just a little bit more than the 5 million tons," Henry said on a conference call last month. "There are also opportunities for our own drilling rigs, our own mining trucks, our own demand is quite significant."
New Regulation
The Hague-based company is targeting European Union marine customers before new environmental regulations are introduced in 2015. It's already operating an LNG-propelled barge transporting petroleum products along the Rhine River, the first time such vessels have been used on inland waterways.
In EU shipping "we see LNG playing a leading role," Voser said.
Shell plans to start fuel production at its first small- scale gas liquefaction plant at Jumping Pound near the Canadian Green Corridor route's halfway point next year. In June, it agreed with TravelCenters of America LLC (TA) to sell LNG to heavy- duty trucks in the U.S.
"We've been surprised how quickly interest has accelerated," Henry said. "We are already looking at the Great Lakes Corridor and the Gulf coast for shipping and for trucking."
China has already developed capacity to offer 6 million tons of LNG a year for transportation, Henry said.
"This has been done under the radar by Chinese companies," he said. "They found the way of giving away free buses to customers" to create demand, which "can grow quite quickly because of the price arbitrage."
LNG Demand
Shell expects the world's demand for LNG to rise five times to 500 million tons a year in 2025 from 2000. Producers will need to invest $50 billion a year in the new capacity over 15 years to meet demand for the fuel.
Gas "long-term demand growth remains firm, driven by Asia," Jefferies International Ltd. wrote in a Nov. 27 report. "In North America, projects to export low-cost gas to premium markets are now becoming a reality, which should add considerable value to the otherwise stranded resource that has been unlocked from the continent's shale."
Shell is also examining several projects in the U.S. part of its integrated marketing approach. It's reviewing plans to build a gas-to-chemicals plant in Pennsylvania to use ethane from Marcellus Shale and to export LNG from Freeport site on the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coast. In Canada, Shell is developing a project to export 12 million tons of LNG a year from Kitimat, British Columbia.
"We are probably two years at least away from a final investment decision on LNG export and chemicals," Voser said. "We've got some decisions to make on how much capital to allocate to these opportunities."
To contact the reporters on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London at email@example.com;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
OK - using that welded-in collar makes sense now for a BLOWBACK only. Gotcha!
I assume Mach3 is a CAD program of some sort? That would be cool! IF IT WERE ME, I'd make a raw bolt blank with a small diameter opening in the face so that I could build it into whatever sized face I need on the lathe at a later date.
Making my own bolts is on the menu. In fact it is one of the reasons I got the indexing head. I need more collets as it doesn't take the ones I have :( The challenge that I see is going to be drilling the small pin hole for the firing pin retainer in the hard steel. It is surely going to be a difficult task. The other things will be relatively simple tasks on the mill with a rotary table (or a lathe with a milling attachment). A slitting saw for the ejector groove. Then temper the metal to the approprate hardness for the metal in question. I have a big piece of 4340 steel but it is actually TOO BIG and I need to get a smaller piece LOL.
Wow as I'm typing this a deer just walked through the trees in my backyard! :)


text: Colorblock Cotton Sateen Sheath Style: 570084347 Out of Stock Love it? Everyone else did too. This item sold out! Use our search tool, chat online or call 1.877.948.2525 to find something equally desirable. Colorblocked panels inside princess seams construct a narrow silhouette for a cotton sateen sheath. Iconic buckle detail on the banded waist provides the final polish. Shell: 98% Cotton, 2% Spandex. Lining: 100% Polyester. Machine wash. Imported. Hourglass fit. Banded neckline. Rhodium-finish metal buckle. Back zip with hook-and-eye closure. 6" back vent. Lightweight thread-tacked lining. Length: 39" from shoulder. Read More… Share on Facebook Tweet Pin


text:
Carolina won't have to deal with Shane Larkin during the 2013-14 season, as the Miami point guard was chosen 18th overall in the recent NBA Draft and will play for the Dallas Mavericks next season.
But Larkin still had a major impact on the Tar Heels' summer workouts. A 2012 NCAA rule change allows coaches to provide two hours of basketball instruction each week. Sometimes, the coaching staff has chosen to use that time to observe offseason pickup games, like last month's basketball camp game between former players and the current team.
In July, however, they've used that time for actual skill instruction. The Tar Heels have had two team practice days, most recently Monday of this week. That's where Larkin plays a role, as one of the areas of emphasis was defending ball screens.
That's the play Larkin used to great success in averaging 19 points per game in three contests against the Tar Heels last season. "Shane Larkin picked us apart on that," Luke Davis said Wednesday afternoon.
Part of the reason for Larkin's performance is that Larkin is a very good player. But it's also true that defending ball screens seemed to be a season-long Tar Heel bugaboo.
"I can't tell you how many times the coaches got into us about ball screen defense," Davis says.
It's an incredibly simple play. But it's also incredibly effective when run well, and very difficult to defend. That's why it's become a staple at every level of basketball. If at some point a team develops a foolproof defensive strategy against it, offenses will continue to evolve, but until then, the Tar Heels have to figure out a way to cope with it.
This is how Davis describes the defensive conundrums presented by the play:
"If you're a guard, you have to deal with somebody standing in your way trying to set a screen," he says. "They're trying to create space for the guard. And it's hard to contain the guard without the help of the big man who is guarding the screener. You don't want to switch and have two mismatches. That's why so many teams do it, and why it's so effective."
Carolina wasn't totally helpless against the play last year. Most notably in a road win at Georgia Tech, they tweaked their defensive approach and had some success preventing dribble penetration.
When the play is defended well, it can lead to bad shots, which often lead to fast break opportunities, which are the perfect fuel for the Tar Heel offense. Jackson Simmons knows exactly how a ball screen would be defended in a perfect scenario.
"The big man would force the ballhandler out and change his path," Simmons says. "He'd stop the penetration. And once he shows, the big man would recover with his hands up, in case the ballhandler is trying to hit the screener with a pass. You have to be active denying that pass. The man on the ball would get over the screen and under his man and would keep his man from driving baseline. That's how it would unfold in a perfect scenario."
That's the same formula the Tar Heels used to stop the play last year, and it's the same approach they'll use this coming season. This week's summer session was devoted to introducing those principles to the freshmen, and reinforcing them for the returning players.
"Defending the screen on the ball is about communication and it's about want-to to not allow yourself to be broken down," Simmons says. "It's great to have athleticism. But if you don't have want-to and communication, that play is going to break you down."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly.


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So you want to be a star? Here's your chance!
January 8, 2012 by admin · Leave a Comment
A rare opportunity for people to learn the skills of the theatre is open right now with Theatre Ecole. Based in the Southside of Glasgow, the company has evolved from a youth and community group to a professional organisation – and registered charity – producing first class entertainment throughout the stage seasons.
The benefit to individuals is inestimable. But two of their graduates can tell their own success stories.
Garry Hogg joined the group in 2001 aged 14. Since then he has been an actor, tutor, stage manager, wardrobe assistant. Last year he took on the demanding role of Artistic Director for his first Pantomime.
Enthused by his leisure experiences, Garry gained his HND in acting and performance in 2008 and then his BA Honours in Performance for stage and film in 2010. Last summer he went global when he taught Drama and Directed numerous shows at Camp Taconic, a summer camp in Massachusetts in the United States. Garry says that: 'Without the experience, training and support gained at Theatre École, I wouldn't have the confidence or skills to be the person I am today or have had so many good experiences.' Garry plans to continue working with young people and looks forward to Theatre École's summer musical.
Michelle Gallagher joined the group in 2004 and showed great talent when cast as the Queen of Hearts in her very first Pantomime. She went on to play challenging roles such as Jinty, the Dame and Glinda the Good Witch in the Wizard of Oz. Michelle gained her B.ED in 2010 and is now a successful primary school teacher. She said: 'Being part of Ecole helped me realise that I enjoy working with children and gave me the confidence to pursue my dreams. I use a lot of what I learned at drama when teaching the children.'
Several other members who joined École have successfully gained their HND in Acting and Performance and have toured England and Scotland in various productions including Theatre in Education.
Commented Founder Isobel Barrett: 'Being part of Theatre École breeds success for the future as can be seen from Garry and Michelle's stories. The arts are a resource for overall development of the individual; fostering self-confidence, citizenship, creativity and decision-making as well as other life skills.' She emphasised that not everyone aims to become a stage professional – many enjoy the Theatre Ecole experience as a life-enhancing hobby.
She extends the invitation to anyone aged from 9 to 26 who would like to become a part of the team for the June musical, to sign up for classes starting on Wednesday 18 January. There is also a job going with the company as a drama tutor/creative assistant involved with various aspects of work including webdesign.
Theatre Ecole headquarters and performance space is at Theatre at Queen's within the Queen's Park Parish Church complex and their website is: www.theatre-ecole.org.uk or www.facebook.com/theatreecole or tel 0141 423 6037.


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Peter Andre proves what a lovely man he is - yet again! Victoria Beckham showcases her new glamorous new look on the cover of 'Business of Fashion' magazine, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult enjoy a night out with Tom Ford and Gary Barlow celebrates the end of his 'Since I Saw You Last Tour'.
The co-stars look glamorous and happy on the red carpet.
Get exclusive news, competitions and have your say on the music we play


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Home > News & Events > News > Articles > Celebrating the Remarkable Impact of the Internet and World Wide Web
Only a handful of engineering marvels have changed the world as dramatically and remarkably as the invention of the Internet and the World Wide Web. This Monday (March 18), five Internet pioneers -- Marc Andreessen, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Vinton Cerf, Robert Kahn, and Louis Pouzin -- were named winners of the inaugural Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering in London. The five winners will share the honor and the one million pound prize. The new U.K.-based award aims to be a "Nobel Prize" for engineering.
Calestous Juma, professor of the practice of international development, is a member of the selection committee, and we spoke with him about the Prize.
Q: What is it about the Internet and the World Wide Web that make them such remarkable engineering achievements?
A: The Internet and the web have become the foundation for the global information and communications revolution. They have transformed communication and created a new generation of industries. Nearly one in three people worldwide use these fundamental innovations. They have changed the way people interact with each other and conduct business. The Internet and the web have dramatically changed governance by improving transparency, accountability and communication between leaders and followers. The innovations are fundamentally expanding education opportunities through easy online access to educational content.
Q: Can you imagine a world without the Internet and the World Wide Web?
A: A world without the Internet and the web can be imagined but as history or fiction. It is the world of the 1950s in which communication was limited and information was one of the most expensive resources, especially in poor regions of the world. It is a world, fortunately, humanity will never return to because the impacts of the innovations are irreversible.
Q: What will be the next great engineering achievement(s)?
A: There are already several other unfolding and converging engineering achievements. Mobile communication, for example, is converging with the Internet and the web to deliver new benefits to humanity in areas such as education and health. The field of bioengineering will have significant impacts of human wellbeing in the coming years. Engineering advances in solar energy and new lighting technologies are transforming the way energy is generated and consumed. Many of the engineering achievements of the future are likely to focus on improving the health of human beings and of the environment.
Q: Why is this such a significant award??
A: This is the first major engineering prize that is backed by a sovereign state. The fact that the Queen of England has lent her name to a global engineering prize is a clear recognition of the urgency to raise awareness and inspire young people to consider engineering as source of solutions of the world's most pressing challenges. The prize will do for engineering what the Nobel prize has historically done for the sciences. But unlike the Nobel prize which focuses on rewarding individuals, the Queen Elizabeth Prize honors teams of engineers. This is a true reflection of how discovery and invention is done today. For this reason the prize will also change perceptions by focusing collaboration as a force in discovery, invention and deployment. More importantly, the prize is concerned with benefits to humanity and highlights the significant role that engineers have played in defining civilization as we experience it.
Professor Calestous Juma
"The Internet and the web have become the foundation for the global information and communications revolution. They have transformed communication and created a new generation of industries. Nearly one in three people worldwide use these fundamental innovations. They have changed the way people interact with each other and conduct business."


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can someone tell me lvling rates are, and how long it takes to get to 10,20, etc.
thx guys.
can someone tell me lvling rates are, and how long it takes to get to 10,20, etc.
thx guys.
~I like to think of myself as Open minded~
Currently Getting down on some Flyff
heres me and my friends ghost online open beta video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL8tUc_wgOM
[ World Of Wacraft ]
Level.74 Rogue - Gaitensu
Level.71 Druid - Saileth
Level.47 Hunter - Baidin
Well, I a freind told me he got level 30 in less than an hour. I didn't play much to RYL2( more to the first one), so i wouldn't know, but it's been said that RYl2 has easier leveling than the first.
Blank spaces are always awesome, right?
i lvled to lvl 80 in 1 day..
Maple Story
TzeRenity - Cleric - 6x - Kradia
MS08 Checklist -
Lvl 40[X]21/1-08 Lvl 50[X]24/1-08 Lvl 60[X]30/1-08 Lvl 70[ ] Priest [ ]
Rank 10k[x] Rank 1k[ ](rank 600 for mages something..)
Leveling in RYL2 is really easy, you can get to around level 25-30 in a day.
Currently playing: FFXIV (Elucifer Arclight, Leviathan server), LoL (Trash Tier Waifu, NA server), SMITE (Zacewing)
fast leveling then you can grind your tail off for gear for weeks..... or pay them money which is an even worse idea.


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Multnomah University prepares students for meaningful careers that serve Jesus whether they're called to traditional ministry or the marketplace.
Stay connected to our community and help the next generation of Christian leaders become agents of positive change, whether they're serving across the street or across an ocean.
Portland, ORE - Multnomah Biblical Seminary has set a June 2013 date for the launch of a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) program. The D.Min. has been under development for over a year and, under the supervision of Dr. Derek Chinn, is in final stages of planning now that it is approved by all of Multnomah's accrediting bodies.
The D.Min. will begin with two tracks - Cultural Engagement led by Dr. Paul Louis Metzger and Missional Leadership led by Dr. Rick McKinley. Additional tracks are being developed to launch in 2014.
The D.Min. will follow a cohort model, meaning a group of students will progress through their doctoral program together.
The Cultural Engagement track is designed to hone the skill set of ministry leaders in domains such as the local church, church planting, chaplaincy, campus ministry, relief work, and community development.
The Missional Leadership track builds on and enhances the abilities of church and ministry leaders to equip and mobilize people to proclaim the Gospel in the cultural language of their community. This new kind of proclamation demonstrates the compassion, mercy, and justice of God through tangible ministry.
"I am really looking forward to working with Dr. Chinn and Dr. McKinley as we launch these two tracks for Multnomah Biblical Seminary's new Doctor of Ministry program," Dr. Paul Metzger said. "Dr. McKinley's work in missional leadership and my work in cultural engagement complement one another well and reflect our partnership and shared commitment to biblical orthodoxy and Christ-centered witness in the twenty-first century. Exciting days ahead for Multnomah!"
"I'm excited about what we're doing because of the depth of experience and knowledge of our faculty mentors, Drs. Paul Metzger & Rick McKinley," Dr. Derek Chinn said. "A significant aspect of our program approach is that students will be a part of the ministry relationships of their faculty mentor - they will learn from people actively engaged in ministry and hear insights gleaned from frontline experience."
"As a pastor of a church that actively participates in its community for the welfare of the city, Dr. McKinley will help those in his track understand why and how the local church needs to engage her neighbors."
"Dr. Metzger's theological training and experience in various multicultural contexts through New Wine, New Wineskins and beyond will give his track's participants depth and insight into engaging those who differ from themselves across such lines as race, socioeconomics, theology, age, gender, and faith."
For more information about Multnomah Biblical Seminary's D.Min. program contact Dr. Derek Chinn at 503.251.6732 or email@example.com.
Multnomah University is a fully accredited, private, non-denominational, Christian institution of higher education, located in Portland, Oregon with teaching sites in Reno, Nevada; Seattle, Washington; and Anchorage, Alaska. Made up of an undergraduate Bible college, a biblical seminary, a graduate school, an adult degree completion program, and an online distance-learning program, Multnomah issues bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees, and professional certifications and endorsements.


text: So I'm in the Air Force and we had a little "trunk or treat" this evening for the kids of the parents in our squadron, and my buddy said hey dress up as Boba Fett and I accepted and all of course. Had a few of the parents ask how much did all that cost and the usual where do you get something like that. Had alot of that at CV but those are sometimes people that kinda understand. But how do you guys go about saying thousands? I didnt go into details of how much i spent, but do you guys?


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713-942-3461 email@example.com
In front of an audience, Dr. Livia Bornigia, assistant professor of communication, encourages students to own their space. After all, your audience is only going to notice something went wrong if you behave as if something is wrong.
View a sample class with Bornigia and hear students share the benefits of public speaking.
As the rhetorical theory expert for the University of St. Thomas Communication Department, Bornigia teaches classes on public speaking, persuasion and argumentation, and propaganda. She also brings in the study of her native Italy through a class on Italian cinema. Bornigia is a professional actor and director; she has appeared in many theater productions in the Houston area and has directed a number of shows.
"The concept of owning the space is something that comes from both my training in public speaking, but also my training as an actor and a director," Bornigia said. "If you are fully present in the space at the time of your presentation, then absolutely nothing can go wrong."
Bornigia said the ability for students to express their ideas in front of an audience in a way that is unapologetic yet respectful of diversity is essential for them to have a voice in our democratic society – the difference between being visible and invisible.
Bornigia said as a teacher, she loves to give students the practical and creative wings that will allow them to be successful in whatever their profession may be.
"I remember one student who started off very shaky and ended up being the commencement speaker at graduation, and then went on to have a career as a litigation attorney," Bornigia said. "That made me very proud."
Another student saw the benefit of her classes when he joined the seminary to become a priest.
"He wanted to thank me for the skills that he learned in both public speaking and persuasion and argumentation because he knew that they were going help him to reach out to his parishioners when the time came," Bornigia said.
For many students, the one-on-one care and personal attention that Bornigia provides creates a sense of community at UST. She, herself, was a student at St. Thomas, and that same sense of community is what drew her to attend St. Thomas.
"I didn't feel like I was just a number; I was a person with a name, and I got to know my teachers right away," she said.
As a member of the Communication Department since 1996, Bornigia's former teachers are now her colleagues. "It's really wonderful, although it was a little intimidating at first," Bornigia said.
Even timid students find a voice inside and outside of Bornigia's class.
"I have had students repeatedly tell me during the semester and after the semester that they are much more comfortable understanding that they had a voice in society and that their ability to express their ideas in front of a group of people made them both active participants in society and help them fulfill their duty in society," she said. "I think that's a great achievement."
To learn more about a degree in communication at UST, email Dr. Bornigia at email@example.com or call 713-942-5907.
Educating Leaders of Faith and Character
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How can you take advantage of feedback control for enterprise programming? With this book, author Philipp K. Janert demonstrates how the same principles that govern cruise control in your car also apply to data center management and other enterprise systems. Through case studies and hands-on simulations, you'll learn methods to solve several control issues, including mechanisms to spin up more servers automatically when web traffic spikes.
Feedback is ideal for controlling large, complex systems, but its use in software engineering raises unique issues. This book provides basic theory and lots of practical advice for programmers with no previous background in feedback control.
Philipp K. Janert was born and raised in Germany. He obtained aPh.D. in Theoretical Physics from the University of Washington in 1997and has been working in the tech industry since, including four yearsat Amazon.com, where he initiated and led several projects to improveAmazon's order fulfillment process. He is the author of two books ondata analysis, including the best-selling "Data Analysis with OpenSource Tools" (O'Reilly, 2010), and his writings have appeared onPerl.com, IBM developerWorks, IEEE Software, and in the LinuxMagazine. He has contributed to CPAN and other open-sourceprojects. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.
View Philipp K. Janert's full profile page.
The animal on the cover of Feedback Control for Computer Systems isthe pipistrelle bat (Pipistrellus pipistrellus). The pipistrelle bat, alsocalled the common pipistrelle, is found mostly in Europe, but can alsobe found in North Africa and southwestern Asia. They typically inhabitopen marshes, woodlands, and urban areas.An adult pipistrelle has a body length of 3.5 to 5 centimeters, a fullwing span length of 18 to 25 centimeters, and can weigh from 3 to 8grams. The pipistrelle has dark red or brown fur on its backs and ayellowish brown underside. It typically comes out right before sunsetand will eat small insects such as moths and gnats. It can eat up toseveral thousand insects in one night.Even though it is the most common bat in Europe, the population ofthe pipistrelle bat has been declining. The decline is believed to be dueto the impact of agricultural practices on the insects that the bats consumeas well as habitat disruption due to cleaning and building practicesin urban areas.The cover image is from Lydekker's Royal Natural History. The coverfont is Adobe ITC Garamond. The text font is Adobe Minion Pro; theheading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is DaltonMaag's Ubuntu Mono.
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(6 of 6 customers found this review helpful)
Excellent in many ways
By Mark W
from Des Moines, IA
About Me Designer, Maker
Comments about oreilly Feedback Control for Computer Systems:
As an engineer who writes and develops electro-mechanical control systems for construction equipment, I've seen my fair share of literature regarding control theory. This masterpiece by far explains control systems and strategies the best. The content and examples are engaging and presentation of content is laid out almost perfectly. What I am most impressed by is that Janert wrote this book so it doesn't take a doctorate to become versed in what others make a treacherous discipline. I appreciate the fresh examples of control systems, utilizing embedded systems, computers and the like. Janert makes a point to highlight differences of designing control systems for computer versus mechanical systems. This point is missed in almost all other texts and is extremely important in todays world of control theory.
Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
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(1 of 3 customers found this review helpful)
Awesome book
By Blaize
from Fairfax, Virginia
About Me Developer
It is a great book that teaches you how to build adaptive software systems.
(3 of 3 customers found this review helpful)
Must-read for autoscaling your servers
By Giorgio Sironi
from Como, Italy
About Me Developer, Sys Admin
The mathematical treatment is present and extensive, but is accompanied by many case studies and examples. You can reproduce simulations with Python and Gnuplot from the command line. You will probably need an engineering background.
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Career and Technical Education
The Official Website of the Arizona State Department of Education
All entities that did not apply for Carl D. Perkins or State Priority funds last year, but would like to be considered for participation during the 2017-2018 school year, must contact the Career & Technical Education unit no later than Monday, February 13, 2017. Please contact Marilyn Gardner at (602) 542-5137 in order to express interest and be considered for this grant cycle.
Copyright © 2017 Arizona Department of Education. All rights reserved.


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REPORT: Badgers to play LSU but not at Lambeau
The Wisconsin Badgers and the LSU Tigers appear ready for a showdown...but not at Lambeau Field!
Fox 26 TV in Houston reports that the Badgers and Tigers will open the 2014 season at Reliant Stadium in Houston in the Texas Kickoff Classic although officials won't confirm the story.
Read more here: http://www.myfoxhouston.com/story/22146085/2013/05/02/wisconsin-to-play-lsu-at-reliant-in-2014


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- FALL INTERNSHIP!!! - Great Internship!!! WEB DESIGNER NEEDED *SUMMER/FALL*
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Next Level Publishing
2810 Morris Ave
Union, NJ
Posted: August 12 2015
Always be on the alert for potentially fraudulent job postings online - never send money to a potential employer.
DescriptionNext Level Publishing, LLC (NLP) is a certified Independent Publishing House that was established in 2005. With a focus
on Urban Literature and the Inner-City Experience, our target audience consists of middle school, high school, college-aged and mature readers. Our creative team of intelligent writers and dedicated staff members form the foundation for our ever expanding company.
Requirements- Create and update various pages on the NLP website, facebook and twitter pages.
- Create and design promotional materials including bookmarks, postcards, banners, magazine and newspaper ads, and web graphics.
- Skills: Proficient in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Flash. (Quark not required but a plus.) Must be able to work against a deadline and accept constructive advice.
- 10-20 Hours Per Week
- Access to Computer/Internet. *FTP access will be provided.*


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Polka Dot Date Top
Out of Stock
- Pullover style; blouson waist.
- Removable shoulder tie threaded through loop on the back of left strap.
- Small pleats centered on back of neckline. Ruched banded bottom in front, smocked elastic in back.
- Georgette lining. Bra strap tabs.
- Hits at mid-hip (24" from shoulder).


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lol, do you actually think hes being serious about the paper? i think not.
lol, do you actually think hes being serious about the paper? i think not.
if he is hes still a wanker for asking.
i hate graffiti.
i never speak the truth.so nothing i say goes.
ya sry abut all thos dum wheatpaste questions, I made 1 yesterday and it cam out well.
dude those are horrible, but yet funny
"take a walk with me, we going all city, black hat, gloves, flat black's all you need, Krylon, Rusto, a pilot, a silver touch tone, my name is famous, my face is unknown."
i agree wit Ity
dud try to make a pictur thats cool instead of just text
lol that shits jokes .... K guys i injected wheat paste into my urethra and now I cant piss
wtf am i gonna do now........any tips?
Kog what you need to do is use hot sauce in your urethra. What will happen is it will eat away at the wheatpaste and you'll be able to pee again.
k 2 get bak on topic
i got some kitty litter on my shoe 2day n it got all wet n about 20 mins later it was sticky ass hell
u guyz think this would work in wheatpaste or does ne1 already use it
I wouldn't suggest it. It comes off REALLY easy. It does make a slight paste but its mega clumpy and you wouldn't be able to do your top coat of paste on the paper cause it would just phuck everything up.
ok i did what you told me to do sin....but now if feels like i have gonorrhea? is this ok?
oh and last week in class we had to decorate our class doors and i wheatpasted a drawing on it yesterday he tryed to take it off he got so pissed off
nice posters rogue!
ppl are always like i love street art it brightens up my day.
haha seeing that in public would shatter my fragile ego.
i hate graffiti.
i never speak the truth.so nothing i say goes.
i would go for inapporpriate
it makes it stand out n more ppl will talk about it
he might even get news coverage if he puts enuf up in the right spots
like put a few on sum elementary skoolz n cop stations n a bunch right downtown where the most ppl will c em
sum soccer mom wil def call the news n make a big deal outta it
idk maybe, but its when you do something too inappropriate when you take things too far and its not cool
i think its genius


text: Start your hands off right with Sabon's germ-fighting antibacterial hand cleanser. The cleaner comes in a durable plastic bottle that is easy for transportation, (even when the bottle is rolling around the bottom of your handbag) the cleaner is under 3 oz. which makes it safe for air travel as well! Enjoy the whimsical fragrance of Pink Cotton musk and be germ-free throughout the day. Sabon's Hand cream Tube is a must have on your list for essential supplies to carry in your handbag. The light and non greasy texture makes no excuse for dry and chapped hands. Gently enriched with essential oils, silicone, vitamin E and C, this luscious experience will leave your hands, nails and cuticles feeling as if you just have a manicure. Choose from fragrances such as Patchouli Lavender Vanilla, Lavender Apple and Lavender Rose scents.