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President Roger Brown's Faculty Journal (2006)
The president spends a week with Bob Pilkington.
Teaching at Berklee College of Music
Photo by Nick Balkin
I am preparing to begin my week of accompanying Bob Pilkington to all of his classes, department meetings, and ensemble rehearsals. Bob is a member of the Jazz Composition Department and began teaching at Berklee in 1982.
Bruce Thomas, one of his colleagues at Berklee, says of him, "Bob is absolutely one of the most dedicated teachers I've known in my 25 years at Berklee. He maintains a youthful enthusiasm for what he does that I've never seen wane even slightly for as long as I have known him." Bruce says Bob knows the music software Finale "better than anyone I'm aware of."
Scott Free is impressed that Bob has continued his own studies, keeping up with technology, and recounted his use of Wizard of Oz clips so that Scott's computer would shriek, "I'm melting!" like the Wicked Witch if he hit the wrong button.
Mark Harvey teaches music at MIT and is the director of the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra. "Bob has been an invaluable core member of the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra for over a quarter of a century, and is one of the two or three linchpin players who really shape our sound and sensibility," he says.
I am listening to some of Bob's compositions as I write. One tune, "Aftermath," is played by the Sanctuary Composers Forum, another by the Jazz Composers Alliance. The compositions range from straight ahead to freer, more dissonant concepts, all with, not surprisingly, a strong compositional quality.
Bob began playing trombone as an 11-year-old in Louisville, Kentucky. His father was a television producer and his mother a visual artist and painter. They both enjoyed music and Bob remembers hearing "My Fair Lady" and other show tunes playing in their home. He became enthusiastic about the trombone when he heard the bridge of the theme for the movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai," in which trombones did featured duty in bridging the Bridge. Bob's high school music teacher was a strong influence, introducing the students to everything from Bach to 12-tone concepts and Charles Ives. His teacher also took some band members to hear Stan Kenton, which made a lasting impression on the young high school horn player. He also remembers driving his family crazy transcribing the Chicago hit "Make Me Smile" during a holiday.
Bob went off to the University of Louisville and began as a math major, but a boring calculus teacher juxtaposed against an exciting music theory class made him reconsider. His knowledge from high school allowed him to place high in theory classes, which built his confidence. As he became more serious about music, he decided to try Berklee's summer program in 1973. He had met Phil Wilson from a trombone workshop and was able to study with Phil, Herb Pomeroy and many of the other legendary Berklee faculty of the 1970s. He recalls going out his first week at Berklee to catch a Buddy Rich concert in which Greg Hopkins, now a colleague in the jazz comp department, was late back to the bandstand after a break and received some of Rich's famous ribbing and harassment.
Going back to Louisville just didn't cut it after receiving this challenging and rich taste of Berklee. So like 44 percent of this year's entering class, Bob transferred to Berklee. As was common then, and still to some extent now, he left a couple of times to tour with bands—largely rock bands with big horn sections such as Subway and Aura. Needless to say, neither became the next Chicago or Blood, Sweat & Tears, but the experience of being on the road and working in bands was formative. In the late 1970s and early '80s he created a ten-piece jazz band called Excursions and polished both his playing and writing chops.
The next few years led him further out into the avant garde-jazz scene. His music became angrier and "rejectionist" in his words, rebelling against structure. Ironically, this foray into the "land of the unstructured" made him more appreciative of structure and form while enabling him to break rules if and when his vision required it.
He joined the Berklee faculty in 1982, just a few years before the faculty strike that led to the formation of the union. He recalls those two weeks in 1986 as the "worst of his life" even though he supported the strike and saw it then and now as the "right thing to do." It was divisive and he particularly laments some of what went down between those striking and those who crossed the picket line.
Pre-strike, he was teaching 30 hours in the classroom, making $8/hour. Almost no one gave homework because there wasn't time to grade it. Post-1986, teaching far fewer hours and earning more money, Bob saw the quality of his teaching improve. He was able to develop more materials for his classroom, assign and grade homework, and prepare more thoroughly for his classes.
A few years ago, Bob became interested in African drumming and immersed himself in the medium. He went to Ghana and studied extensively and now leads an Afro-Pop ensemble at Berklee. He is listening to Dave Douglas, Christian McBride, Chris Potter, and exploring techno music. He enjoys the chances he gets to write for his departmental concerts and the many groups in which he performs.
In retrospect, Bob observes with some surprise just how much he loves teaching. He explains that the typical Berklee student is energetic and motivated. The environment is one that values creativity, not the deadening, regurgitative atmosphere he and his colleagues have observed at some other music schools. And he is still growing and learning himself, excited about the next composition, the next class, the next ensemble.
Our short interview last Friday makes me eager to step into the classroom with him. Bob's CD of compositions and arrangements is coming to an end just as I finish this note. His last piece is a plaintive arrangement of Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece, "Send in the Clowns." Coincidentally, just about two weeks ago I had listened to the Judy Collins version of this song with my 17-year-old daughter, getting her to concentrate on the poignant and subtle lyrics. Now of course my challenge is to be sure that I'm no clown when I'm sent in to Bob's Harmony 4 class!
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
President Takes the Fifth in Harmony 4
Today I began attending classes with Bob Pilkington. I arrived late to Chord Scale Voicings for Arranging due to a President's Council meeting that I could not miss. Bob immediately introduced me to every student (about 15) by name as he did in all four classes today. I noticed that he not only got every name right, he had also made an effort to pronounce the names of international students correctly.
In this class, the students worked on techniques for chord choices in orchestrating various melodies. Bob repeatedly emphasized that the choices could depend on what is happening with the melody, key signature, or in relationship to other nearby chords. And the arranger has a great deal of choice over whether to go for simpler or more complicated harmonic ideas. He also stressed that another principle could outweigh any of these guiding principles if the sensibility of the arranger called for it.
I spent much of the class reflecting on the fundamental tension that exists in teaching any art form, particularly music. Obviously, much great music has been made by the untutored and unschooled and a common critique of music education and Berklee in particular is that it is filled with rules and restrictions that may deaden the artist's creativity and love of music.
If we consider an analogous art form, creative writing, it's clear that many great writers did not go to specialized schools to learn to write. Some great literature was created in the oral tradition before language was codified and without the benefit of pen and paper, typewriter, or word processor. But most of us would concede that some basic training in language, writing, vocabulary, grammar, and other tools of the trade is unlikely to hold back a writer's career.
Likewise, I spent the whole day thinking how wonderful it is that students who persevere and gain the skills that Berklee offers have these tools at their disposal. I would certainly not want to audition for a gig with my limited music education before or after someone with a polished Berklee skill set.
Clearly a place like Berklee is not right for every aspiring musician. I think the more clear we can be about who we are, the more likely we are to attract the student who seeks what we offer. As we see accelerated growth in the number of applications and a dramatic decrease in the number of students we can admit due to facility constraints, it is particularly critical that we attract students who are a good match for what we are about.
An education like Berklee's provides no guarantee of a brilliant career, but if you are hoping to scale Mount Everest, rigorous training and paying attention to the techniques of other climbers (both the ones who came back and those who did not) seems like a good idea. I was struck in all four classes today at how rigorous the education is, how demanding the expectations, particularly in the higher-level harmony (Berklee's lexicon for music theory) and ear training courses. I was also struck by how the learning weaves together in a comprehensive way. Observing Bob teaching courses in harmony, ear training, and jazz composition gave me a chance to see how students were bringing lessons learned from one domain to bear in another.
Next we went to a Jazz Composition Department faculty meeting, where, among other topics, faculty members wrestled with whether to continue requiring a course on music copying—essentially musical calligraphy. Clearly, the marketplace has shifted away from hand copying to computer-driven notation. However, many faculty believe that the lessons learned from the old school model will help students do better work even with Finale or other music software. Some faculty suggested that subjects such as music publishing or other aspects of the business might be more important for aspiring composers.
The next class was Harmony 4 and a discussion of "standard deceptive resolutions of primary and secondary dominants." Bob was particularly insightful in the way he kept bringing complicated and somewhat theoretical material back to real-world examples. He explained that the ear likes patterns, so one approach to very unfamiliar or more chromatic motion is to establish more obvious or familiar harmonic patterns. Likewise, you can break patterns in very familiar harmonic material to achieve an unexpected effect.
Throughout all the classes, Bob illustrated ideas at the piano and used standard tunes such as "Night and Day" and "Body and Soul" to illustrate ideas. In the third class of the day, Reharmonization Techniques, Bob played some examples of "structural modification," which he loosely translated as "messing with the chords" to illustrate. After a refreshing dose of Frank Sinatra, Natalie Cole, and Joni Mitchell played via a connection to his laptop, and some historical context on studio orchestras, the lesson became more rooted in the ways "messing with the chords" can sound like genius.
Ear Training 4 was the last class of the day. Like all the others, it had about a dozen attendees, so everyone got lots of attention, and even sitting in the back row, I couldn't hide from the solfege exercises. The head of a well-known conservatory told me how impressed he was with Berklee's ear training techniques, saying that our students can "solfege rings around most conservatory students." I don't know if that is true or not, but they certainly impressed me today. This class was very practice oriented, with students working on some passages possessing fairly complicated intervals and rhythms.
Bob had prepped me before the students had come in, making sure I could sing what I would suppose is the easiest of all intervals, the fifth, by using Star Wars as a mnemonic device. Having watched Bill Murray's lounge-lizard-in-the-Pocono's Star Wars skit half a dozen times, I thought I could probably nail this one. And indeed, Bob called on me and I more or less delivered—hence the title of today's installment.
The day was incredibly stimulating and bolstered my pride in Berklee, our faculty, and our students. I'm sure the pressures of learning all this rigorous material may occasionally be overwhelming. Students may wonder why they put themselves through all this when the original draw was the emotional or visceral sense of the power of music to create joy or meaning, rather than ways to deceptively resolve secondary dominants. And I witnessed some students for whom the material came very naturally and easily, and others who struggled with one technique or another. I saw a professor who never spoke of rigid rules or reduced music to a formula but rather demonstrated a deep love for the art. My advice would be to drink it all up like a cool fountain. What an opportunity to pursue what you love at the highest level!
While Berklee students of the 1970s were pursuing their craft, I was far away studying physics in college. A common critique of physics is that scientific explanations of natural phenomena take away their beauty and spirituality. I never understood this argument. Knowing how sunlight diffracts through the atmosphere at dusk to produce a red sunset and a blue sky only makes the whole tableau more dramatic and miraculous. If you really love music, if you want music to be your life's work, if you have a gift, why wouldn't you want to go as deep and as far as you can? Today I saw Berklee's students—the next movers and shakers of the music world—doing just that.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Did You Hear the One about the Stolen Trombone?
Today, my first connection with Bob was not until his 1 p.m. office hour, so I had scheduled some regular business for the morning. I met with a consulting group interested in helping us launch our first capital campaign. I was impressed—its clients range from Spelman College, in Atlanta, to the U.S. Military Academy in West Point—so they are used to specialized and distinctive institutions.
Then Dave Hornfischer, senior vice president for finance and administration, and I met for a working lunch to discuss real estate transactions and the upcoming board of trustees meeting on the budget. I arrived at Bob's office in a mode of doing and directing, only to radically shift gears to quietly observe his office hours with a couple of motivated students.
One couldn't help but notice that Bob's office, in a bay with Marti Epstein, Lucy Holstedt, Rick Applin, Beth Denisch, and George Russell, Jr., was not the most optimal physical space. Having just come from a discussion about how we could someday create state-of-the-art office, classroom, rehearsal and other spaces for the college, the reality was a reminder of how important this could be. In real terms, however, it could take many years to get there given the need to raise money (my first meeting of the day) and to design, permit and build a new facility (my second meeting of the day). Of course, amazing learning can happen in the humblest of settings, but it certainly wouldn't hurt if the physical space was on par with the talents of the students and the faculty.
Marti's area was infinitely fascinating, with photos of musicians, humorous musical scores, a picture of Marti with Leonard Bernstein during dinner at a Tanglewood retreat, ads from magazines, and an eclectic array of other hints to her tastes and personality. Bob's area is also decorated with some great material, including a comic strip that features Bob himself and Berklee. Believe it or not, just as the old joke goes, Bob's trombone was stolen and pitched into a trashcan when the thief discovered no one wanted it. A former Berklee professor turned comic strip writer—Lennie Peterson—told the story to the whole world.
Two students sought Bob's help. One was a student from the prior semester inquiring about his work in counterpoint. The other was Mathias, an Oslo, Norway, native whom I had met the day before in Harmony 4. Mathias wanted to review homework and try to better understand Bob's comments on his work. The interaction was wide ranging, from Coltrane's conception of "Giant Steps" to Bob's own lessons with Berklee faculty trombonist Hal Crook—who helped Bob explore how to play outside chord changes without crashing and burning—to a short discussion of cultural differences in swearing.
The first and only class today was a two-hour session of Jazz Counterpoint. Bob, Lucy Holstedt, and I had discussed the challenge of helping students learn techniques without feeling too "rule bound." Bob warned me that counterpoint was one of those subjects in which students often felt totally caged in by rules. In fact, the class exercises and homework felt to me like a set of sophisticated puzzles with certain logical constraints that allow latitude, but also impose strict boundaries as to what is permitted. I think I would enjoy the class a great deal.
We spent a good bit of time analyzing the homework of a willing student volunteer, David Burgler, a Swiss film scoring and contemporary writing and production dual major. We listened to two Kurt Elling tunes that demonstrated a few of the techniques covered in the class and homework (and heard some amazing singing). And Bob demonstrated real-time techniques for creating countermelodies and phrases for "Days of Wine and Roses" while allowing students to see him wrestle with dead ends and unsatisfying solutions on the fly.
Next was a rehearsal by a faculty band with a few student and staff members. The group ran through pieces composed for the upcoming "Write of Spring" concert. I was surprised that after only a few classes, I actually heard some of the concepts we were studying in the faculty compositions. I also wondered how tolerant the writing faculty are of one another's work; they all seemed cheerful and to be enjoying the chance to make music together. I must admit, having been joined at the hip all week with Bob, I felt a special pride in hearing his trombone solo in Dick Lowell's piece.
Photo by Nick Balkin
During a couple of lulls in the rehearsal, I managed to find 95 words with three or more letters from the word "counterpoint." I also reflected on the possibilities of a Most Perfect Berklee Name Contest, one that would pit faculty member John Funkhouser against staff member Kara Jamrok or music production and engineering chair Rob Jaczko. It had already occurred to me that Scott Free (see photo) is the perfect name for the person who lobbed Bob's trombone in the dumpster and was never caught.
So what were my more directed thoughts about the day? Again, what a rich learning environment Berklee offers students from all over the world! Students I met today hail from Norway, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Connecticut, and other places. I thought about how great the need is for better facilities so that Berklee can continue to provide this environment. The room where the faculty band played (101) is not worthy of the music that was being rehearsed there. I remembered how useful it is to stop doing and spend more time observing and listening. I contemplated how we can be sure to stay as progressive and future oriented as we were in 1950, even as our curriculum, faculty, and traditions carry the weight of 60 years of history. My sense is that when in doubt, we should err on the side of the future, as we have always done. And I wondered about what the college needs from me and how I can best be a catalyst for the change that needs to happen.
Tomorrow: Back at it with another round of Harmony 4 and Reharmonization Techniques.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Where Would Sade Be Without the Minor Ninth?
|Photo by Nick Balkin
Today, we had our second Harmony 4 class of the week. I suspect that I was like many Berklee students, happily minding my own business, catching up on email (including one from my wife Linda, who has been in Darfur, Sudan, for the last 10 days), digesting my tasty Berklee cafeteria turkey meatloaf, and thinking about getting a Mocha Frappuccino when I realized it was time for Harmony class. And I didn't want to go.
I did what I hope most Berklee students would do: I went anyway. The class turned out to be a very good one. We went over the homework assignment on deceptive resolutions and discussed examples from Antonio Carlos Jobim, Otis Redding, James Brown, Benny Golson, McCoy Tyner, and Duke Ellington. We heard about "ginger," the "dark chocolate interval," tasty dissonance, and I absorbed my favorite aphorism of the day: "Where Would Sade Be without the Minor Ninth?"
Bob continued to show both his complete facility with the math of music coupled with his deep love of the art and passion of making and listening to it. There is a Buddhist koan, or riddle, in which the initiates are asked to think about various concepts and meditate on their meaning. One of the most famous goes, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"
I ponder this one often and return to the idea that the sound of one hand clapping is not much of a sound at all. It is the opposing motion of the hands that makes the handclap. It is the collision of left and right, up and down, theoretical and intuitive that makes transcendent sound. That seems to be the important balance in Bob's teaching, the tidal wave of theoretical material balanced with hearing the various deceptive resolutions on the piano and letting them sink in. "Is it music?" he asked the students repeatedly. "Sure, you can do it, but is it music?"
The students were more lively today. I don't doubt that having me sit in the class, even as unobtrusive as I have tried to be, changes the dynamic. In every class I attended I have been struck by how respectful, quiet, perhaps even shy the students are with one another. There isn't a great deal of lively or irreverent chatter before class. No wise guy disrupting the classes. No musical Sartre questioning the existential purpose of every lesson. No stoned-out Sean Penn character a la Fast Times at Ridgemont High coming into consciousness at unpredictable moments.
I speculated with a few of the faculty about this phenomenon. Some believe the karma of the school changes every decade or so, and that unlike the Wild West days of the 1970s and 80s, students of the new millennium are more internal and focused. Or maybe when you reach the Harmony 4 levels of activity, you are just resolved to getting the material absorbed—like mile 23 in a marathon where you don't ask yourself why you are running anymore, you just put one foot in front of the other.
Another theory is that Berklee's writing classes are popular among international students, many from cultures in which asking lots of questions or jumping into discussions is not encouraged. Clearly, our diversity strategy should include developing a better understanding of the cultural norms of our international students and to help them acclimate to ours. I wondered to myself if the pace and volume of activity at Berklee may sometimes work against building the social dimension of the community. I am hopeful that we can find more ways to help students develop those relational skills that often may have as much to do with getting and keeping the gig as technique and knowledge. Maybe curriculum review will look at ways classes, especially those early in the Berklee experience, can build community as the learning takes place.
My day started with a meeting downtown with a prominent Boston corporation interested in forging a new partnership with Berklee. It is considering supporting our concert series, which I envision becoming a strong part of the cultural fabric of Boston and more consciously showcasing student talent in conjunction with better known professional acts, a wonderful example being last fall's Meshell Ndegeocello concert.
Then I had a discussion with another prominent Boston cultural institution eager to discuss partnering more closely with Berklee. The 60th Anniversary Concert was a grand success in many ways—wonderful, diverse music from stem to stern, a sold-out crowd of 3,600 with tickets being scalped for as much as $800, more than 70 Berklee faculty and students performing with Paul Simon, Herbie Hancock, and other luminaries. But one unexpected benefit has been the outreach to us by so many other cultural institutions who seem eager to tap into a Berklee vibe that can help Boston bridge racial, cultural, generational, and stylistic boundaries.
After class, I offered to make a Starbucks run to satisfy my Frappuccino jones, and then joined Bob for office hours. A student was running down skills requirements for Ear Training. Bob responded in Zen master fashion, encouraging him to relax, put all his concentration on the task, slow down, and keep that sense of mild panic from elbowing into the moment. "I know you have it in you," Bob counseled. The student was like a before-and-after photo in a weight-loss commercial; the improvement was immediate.
It reminded me of the clinic Victor Wooten gave earlier this year. He is one of my favorite musicians because he takes you so deep into the groove that you get the bends if you come up to the surface too fast. Victor had a bass player come on stage and play some lines. I was holding my breath, hoping this eager student would make us proud, and clearly he was a talented and proficient player, but you could tell he was little overstimulated and not really settled. Then Victor said something like, "I want you to close your eyes and listen to the way you want this to sound in your head, and when you are ready, play it again really listening to what you are playing." It felt like a parlor trick. The student, one minute later, played the same line with astonishingly more feeling.
So I suppose that today's observation for Berklee students is that after you learn all this material, you will definitely "have it in you." Then your challenge will be to listen to yourself and to what you want to sound like, and then be astonished as it all comes tumbling out in your music.
Friday, February 17, 2006
More Cowbell
|Photo by Phil Farnsworth
Friday was my last day of following Bob to all his classes, and the only one on the schedule was his Afro-pop ensemble. I brought a couple of CDs for him to listen to. One is by Kanda Bongo Man, a famous Congolese musician who was very popular in Kenya when I lived and taught there and was much imitated by Kenyan bands. The other CD is by recent Berklee alum and Thelonious Monk Institute fellow Lionel Loueke, who is from Benin in West Africa.
I had the good fortune to meet Lionel in NYC recently at the International Association of Jazz Educators Conference. His older brother taught him guitar before he found his way to study at the Ivory Coast, then Paris, then Berklee and is now playing with Herbie Hancock and Terence Blanchard and releasing CDs featuring his own band (whose members include two other Berklee alums—Massimo Biolcati, who also studied at the Monk Institute with Lionel, and Ferenc Nemeth). He is a brilliant musician and a very warm and enthusiastic person. His music definitely embraces the most advanced ideas in contemporary jazz, but has an unmistakable West African spirit. The Monk Institute has been a wonderful launching pad for Lionel's career as for many other Berklee talents. In fact, Berklee has been home to more Monk Institute winners—including last year's top guitarist, Lage Lund, from Norway—than any other college in the world.
The ensemble members began arriving. The students are from Wisconsin, South Carolina, Texas, New Jersey, Washington, Virginia, New York, Puerto Rico, Japan, France, Russia, and Austria—a representative cross-section of the college. Most ensemble members I spoke with had heard good things about the class from friends or roommates and sought it out as a result. Drummer Alex Raderman's brother had been in the ensemble before him. Saxophonist Dennison Blackette from Boston was an alumnus of the ensemble who dropped by and sat in just for fun.
Typical of Afro-pop in the outside world, this is a large ensemble, with two drummers, a percussionist, two guitar players, two keyboard players, bass, a vocalist, and six saxophonists. Bob started the session with a tune the group had been working on, and percussionist Keita Ogawa handed me a cowbell and showed me the pattern.
Guitarist Jeremy Krull was playing the coolest-looking guitar I have ever seen. It is a fretless with a brass fretboard (Is it still a fretboard if there are no frets? Perhaps this is another Buddhist koan like "the sound of one hand clapping"). Jeremy really had the Afro-pop guitar style nailed. He played very rhythmic lines that are often the hooks of the music, and they had a different sound on the fretless guitar. Bassist Ryan Butler looks like a rock star and was calmly grooving, eyes closed for much of the 20-minute tune. Alex was doing more timekeeping, while Puerto Rican drummer David Rivera de Jesus was coloring and using the drum kit to pick up accents. Keita was playing congas, shaker, bongos, and all kinds of odds and ends that percussionists like to carry around.
Bob let the horn players alternate taking solos and was working on helping them define an arc to a solo, suggesting they start out with lots of open space and some basic ideas that can then be built upon. The tune—"Sumun," by Salif Keita, from Mali, which they used as a jumping-off point—sounded just great to me and after being in the classroom all week, it was a fantastic release. Mike Roberts, aka "Juice Box," had been a master solfeger in Ear Training and of course you don't forget his nickname. He was organizing the non-soloing horn players into some nice background lines to complement the soloist.
Pianist Ayako Higuchi has very nice Latin-influenced ideas, and the other synthesizer player Marco Annau delivered a strong solo with lots of melodic lines and judicious pitch bending. Bob had the percussion section trade fours and it was a blast. By this time David had gotten out the timbales, reorganized his left-handed drum set and invited me to sit in, and we were cooking. Alex had a very tasty kick/tom/snare riff he pulled out, David was doing some very polyrhythmic timbale solos, and Keita was tearing up the congas. We were breaking a sweat, the room was full of sound, and the vibe was joyful.
Nikola Pirogov told me that his dream had been to come to Berklee from Moscow and how excited he is to be here. Will Compton shared that it is nice to hear another southern accent in the middle of a Boston winter. When we broke, everyone felt a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood that comes from making music together.
I realized what a perfect choice Bob Pilkington has been for this week's experience. He is "old school" in that he went to Berklee, has been teaching here many years, and teaches across the curriculum, a much more common occurrence 20 or 30 years ago than today. Bob's classes sit in the Harmony, Ensemble, Ear Training, and Jazz Composition departments. So not only does he teach in four different departmental areas, but in two different divisions (Writing and Performance) as well. The week gave me a very diverse sample of the Berklee curriculum.
We head off to the Writing Division convocation in a downpour and arrive drenched—a helpful if unintentional shower after the intensity of the ensemble. Kari Juusela, dean of the division, introduced me as "the Shadow" and gave an introduction that highlighted many of the initiatives of the college—curriculum review, a plan to audition and interview every single qualified applicant to Berklee, and a prototype entering-student advising system that will involve faculty, upper-semester students, and staff among many others.
These initiatives represent a very important change at Berklee and one that was proposed by a significant number of faculty, staff, and students during my introduction to the college and in every survey we conducted during our vision development process. Historically, we have admitted about three-quarters of the applicants to the college. With applications increasing dramatically (up 25 percent this year alone!), many more currently enrolled students staying through to graduation, and severe limits to the capacity of our facilities, we admitted only slightly more than half of our applicants last year, and next year the number will be down to 40 percent. So as we are forced to be more selective, interviewing and auditioning will help us be sure we are inviting the strongest students to enroll at the college. Advising will help us ensure that they decode the Berklee experience and connect with peers and faculty right out of the blocks, and curriculum review will ensure that we are teaching what our students need "to excel in music as a career" as our mission statement says.
One of the most distinctive aspects of Berklee is that unlike the typical conservatory, where the majority of graduates will not work in the music industry, around 80 percent of Berklee's alumni are working professionally as musicians, music teachers, music therapists, in record companies, as producers, etc. We certainly have plenty of students who go to law school, business school, become software engineers, investment managers, start new companies, and so on. In fact, Ken Pullig, chair of the department, was discussing one of the jazz comp majors who was just accepted to a couple of law schools, and last year, I met a Berklee alum pursuing a Ph.D. at MIT. I am pushing us to do a better job explaining to parents of prospective students that Berklee alumni have many, many options within the industry, and a strong set of analytical skills, the discipline of daily practice on an instrument, and knowledge of technology should he or she opt to pursue a different path. But Berklee has been hard-headed about guiding students into the music industry and has been remarkably successful at doing so.
I have heard many say that Berklee back in the day was "easy to get into, but hard to get out of." Some have argued that like the music industry, the college was a winnowing out process designed to see who was strong enough, talented enough, and persistent enough to make it through. While this approach has served the college well for its early history, we find ourselves in a very different place today. We simply cannot admit even most of those who would like to come to Berklee. The college leadership concluded that the student experience in the classroom and the faculty teaching experience will be better if we have a more targeted admissions process. Likewise, our new philosophy can then allow us to raise our expectations. Rather than assume many students will drop out, we can assume everyone who is at Berklee can and should make it, if they are willing to do the work. In this model, it is logical to invest more heavily in advising. It also makes sense to review the curriculum in light of the implications of this new approach to admissions.
This model of more selectivity based on aptitude, motivation, and creativity coupled with greater support for entering students doesn't mean that we dilute the rigor or expectations of the curriculum. In fact, it probably means the opposite. Many students have complained that some of their classes are not challenging enough. A more consistently capable class, chosen for the skills and aptitudes that we believe will allow success at Berklee and beyond will allow faculty to move more quickly, to set the bar higher, and perhaps to find their own teaching fresher and more exciting.
We are just launching this process, and undoubtedly, we will learn as we go and probably experience a pothole or two in the road. But I am very excited to see what will happen as we all engage more fully in selecting students, advising them early on, and comprehensively examining what and how we teach.
I had to leave early for a Trustee Executive Committee conference call, but before leaving, I heard a moving tribute to retiring former chair of the Harmony Department Barry Nettles, including a beautiful performance of his arrangement of "My One and Only Love," played by Daniel Ian Smith, Will Silvio, Mike Scott, Bruce Nifong, and Danny Harrington on alto, tenor and baritone saxes (it was a big day for saxophones). I also joined in congratulating Dan Moretti and Jakov Gaubanov as they received awards for teaching and curriculum development.
Ken Pullig somehow also ended up telling Bob, who has spent most of his Saturday nights gigging, about the Saturday Night Live skit featuring Will Ferrell as a cowbell player and Christopher Walken as a record producer that led to the famous "More Cowbell" mantra. Little did Ken know, I had been doing my best Will Ferrell, hammering that defenseless cowbell, just a few hours before.
At one point, I looked over at my partner for the week as we showed our appreciation for Barry Nettles. Bob was unconsciously clapping a clave rhythm in his applause. Clave is the essence of Afro-Cuban and much Latin music, which ensemble drummer David Rivera de Jesus explained came to the Caribbean from Africa with slavery, and emerged as a New World musical form. Later, it was picked up by African musicians and transformed into what we call Afro-pop. Clave means "key" in Spanish and opens doors to the understanding much of the rhythmic underpinnings of contemporary music. This seemed to wonderfully symbolize Bob and his dedicated teaching, which is all about giving students the keys. My fellow classmates (if only for the week), you still have to open the door, but the key is now in your hands.


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I recently paid a visit to San Francisco's Off the Grid (OTG), my first food truck rally. And in all my years being a dedicated foodie I'd never experienced anything like it.
Nothing says locavore quite like a food truck on the go. Picture it: a steel behemoth parks curbside. The hinged window opens and dinner is served, satisfying the line; palate after grub-hungry palate – food exclusively available to you, in your city and made by average Joes like yourself.

subset: commoncrawl


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Today's health care world relies heavily on guidelines, and this document is being developed with government funding under the AHMAC priority to "Ensure Australian maternity services provide high-quality, evidence-based maternity care."
If anyone has had an opportunity to read through these draft guidelines, you will find much that is accepted as good practice, presented clearly and referenced. However we need to read with our critical minds switched on: otherwise there's no point in reviewing the draft. Midwives and doctors who provide antenatal care need to ponder the impact on our practices that they might have when they are approved.
Routine weighing at each antenatal visit
Please take note of
This recommendation is rated as Grade 'A', which means "Body of evidence can be trusted to guide practice."
I put a question out about this to colleagues, via a midwives' email list. "Do you routinely weigh women at each antenatal visit?" It appears that there is a general consensus in the group that midwives do not currently weigh women at each visit.
It's clear that obesity in pregnancy is linked to poor outcomes, and the midwife's duty of care is around promoting health through good diet and weight management. Obesity is the big current focus of health promotion. However it appears to require a great leap of faith to believe that routine weighing in pregnancy will result in better weight management, and better outcomes.
As I remember being pregnant in the '70s, when everyone was weighed at every visit, women were harming themselves in an attempt to control weight gain. Some women were restricting their intake to the point were they were nutritionally unbalanced, leading to a lot of fluid retention, and pre-eclampsia. The doctors (bless them) were prescribing a diuretic (Lasix) to get rid of the excess fluid, which did actually give 'better' weight gain, but at what cost? The routine weighing potentially led to adverse effects.
The Draft Guidelines Appendix D (p138) gives the UK National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommendations, that Weight and height be measured at the first appointment, and BMI calculated. Then this second recommendation:
"Repeated weighing during pregnancy should be confined to circumstances where clinical management is likely to be influenced. [C]"
This second recommendation from NICE has been summarily dropped for the new Draft Australian guidelines, with some review discussion around 'new evidence' associated with a high or low pre-pregnancy BMI that has emerged since the NICE (2003).
It would seem wrong to impose routine weight monitoring on all women, when the new evidence, even if it is grade 'A' applies only to those at the ends of the spectrum.
It's good that maternity services seek to "provide high-quality, evidence-based maternity care." BUT, any guideline that claims to be evidence-based, with an A-grade "Body of evidence [that] can be trusted to guide practice." needs to be just that. In this case, there is no evidence that routine weighing of all women will do anything to address obesity and ill health, or under-nourishment for that matter, or improve maternity outcomes.
Comments from readers are welcome. If you refer to something in the Draft Guidelines, please quote the page.
Readers will be interested in the Science and Sensibility blog entries and discussion on maternal obesity. The writer, Pam Vireday's blog is Well Rounded Mama.


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SanDisk today announced the SanDisk Extreme microSDHC and microSDXC UHS-I memory cards, the ideal companions for users who want fast expanded memory for the newest smartphones, tablets and cameras. The microSDXC card is equipped with the fastest speeds available on the market, with up to 80MB/sec read and up to 50MB/sec write speeds, allowing faster shot-to-shot performance, rapid data transfer, fast action photography, continuous burst mode and quick file transfers. Additionally, this memory card is an ideal choice for Android-powered devices with the 64GB of capacity, providing an instant storage upgrade for capturing and keeping data. SanDisk Extreme microSDHC and microSDXC cards are available worldwide now in 16GB to 64GB capacities carrying MSRPs of $59.99 to $199.99.
"Most high-end smartphones are now driven by high-speed quad-core processors, which deliver Full HD content and applications to large, high-resolution external displays," said Stuart Robinson, director, handset component technologies service, Strategy Analytics. "Such applications require high memory bandwidth which is ideal for the SanDisk Extreme microSDXC card, the world's fastest microSDXC memory solution."
Comments are closed.


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Event Date:
Saturday, January 18, 2014 - 10:00am to Monday, January 20, 2014 - 6:00pm
Spend the long weekend at the Koshland Science Museum! Participate in hands-on science activities to find out how can small changes make a difference for your health and the environment.
Compare the amounts of sugar in some of your favorite beverages. How does the average amount of sugar consumed per day compare to recommended amounts? Then, plan a healthy meal in the Life Lab gallery.
See how switching to LED light bulbs can reduce the amount of energy used in your home. Identify other ways to mitigate the impacts of climate change in the Earth Lab gallery.
The museum is open Saturday, January 18—Monday, January 20, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.


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Setup is iMac Pro (5k Retina) & 2nd monitor is my old LED Cinema Display. I dont want to buy a 2nd 4/5K monitor right now as Im unhappy with some scaling (Adobe, etc.) on the high resolution displays. Plus Im out of $$ (as you could understand).
Any current monitor calibration advice? Thanks, Carol
Edited by seagrant, 19 January 2018 - 03:01 PM.


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This great looking Christmas Tree is super easy to make and also an inexpensive craft project. A fun preschool Christmas craft project.
Items needed:
- Two 8.5 x 11 sheets of Medium-weight Cardboard or Thick Craft Foam
- Green Paint
- Small Pom Poms
- Scissors
- Glue Stick
- Print Tree pattern and cut out.
- Trace pattern on to cardboard or foam sheets. Cut out.
- Cut a slot (one tree piece will have a bottom slot, the other a top slot) into each Tree piece, so that it is the same thickness of your Tree pieces. This will ensure that the pieces slide together easily.
- Paint tree pieces green ... unless you were fortunate enough to have green foam already. Let dry.
- Slide both tree pieces together for your free-standing Christmas Tree.
- Using a glue stick, attach the pom poms to the underside of the branches. Put a pom pom or star on top.
We suggest that adults cut the tree pieces out for young children. Also, you may cut small circles from construction paper or foam for ball to add to trees, if you do not have pom poms.


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City of Lincoln
Mayor's Office
2009 Media Releases
Public invited to WeatherFest April 4
Lancaster County Emergency Management Director Doug Ahlberg today urged all citizens to create or review their families' severe weather plans as part of Severe Weather Awareness Week Monday, April 6 through Sunday, April 12. Ahlberg also encouraged the public to attend the free severe weather symposium "WeatherFest" from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 4 at Hardin Hall, 3301 Holdrege. WeatherFest is a family event that focusing on weather-related issues.
"Those who don't already have a specific plan to deal with severe weather should establish one immediately," said Ahlberg. "For those who do have a plan, reinforcing it on an annual basis is very important." Ahlberg said plans should include a location where all family members will report in the event of severe weather activity such as a tornado. Families also should make sure they have flashlights and a battery-operated radio.
"A great gift for the entire family would be a NOAA all-hazards radio," Ahlberg said. "It can be a great tool for staying abreast of potential severe weather, and it gives your family the best possible chance of reacting and seeking shelter in a timely manner."
Ahlberg said tornados can happen anytime of the year, but April, May and June historically have the most tornado activity. He said tornados are most likely to occur between 4 and 9 p.m.
Ahlberg thanked the local media outlets whose meteorologists and weather forecasters have been providing severe weather tips in advance of Severe Weather Awareness Week. The local monthly test of the severe weather notification system was postponed from the usual first Wednesday of the month to the second Wednesday to coincide with Severe Weather Awareness Week.
For more information on severe weather preparedness, visit the City Web site at lincoln.ne.gov (keyword: emergency).


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Prodos Counseling, LLC
Licensed Professional Counselor, Licensed Social Worker
In 45069 - Nearby to Elmwood Place.
Welcome to Prodos Counseling. We have 30 years of experience providing, individual, relationship and family counseling. Feel free to reach out for a free 15 min. consultation to see if we can help you reach your goals.
Steven Ingram, Supervising Counselor
Professional Clinical Counselor
In 45069 - Nearby to Elmwood Place.
Dr. Ingram is a Pastoral Psychotherapist licensed as a Professional Clinical Counselor in the state of Ohio with 26 years of counseling experience. His clients include those with a wide range of adjustment to the transitions of life, e.g. divorce, grief, parenting, etc.
Sam Nabil, MA,LPC
Licensed Professional Counselor
In 45242 - Nearby to Elmwood Place.
Hi, I'm Sam Nabil. I provide Psychotherapy, Individual Counseling, and Marriage counseling in Cincinnati, OH for adults experiencing relationship challenges, life transitions, and anxiety.
Clare Hattemer Plattner, IMFT
Independent Marriage & Family Therapist
In 45219 - Nearby to Elmwood Place.
Renae Norton, Psy.D
Clinical Psychologist
In 45208 - Nearby to Elmwood Place.
As a clinical psychologist specializing in eating disorders and family therapy, my patients appreciate the 20+ years of experience I bring to our sessions. I believe in an individual approach. I see patients in my home office, affording them both comfort and privacy.
John Tidd, Psy.D.
In 45208 - Nearby to Elmwood Place.
I am an intimate relationship Psychologist, with more than 20 years of experience, specializing in individual and couples psychotherapy. I work to set an open, safe, and understanding place to help you connect more deeply with yourself and your partner.
You Have Found The Best Therapists in Elmwood Place, OH. Let's Get Started and Change Your Life.
Welcome to our Ohio listing of values-centered therapists in Elmwood Place OH. Counseling in Ohio with Theravive aims to be real and effective, going deep to resolve issues, heal broken relationships, and give you the right tools to move forward in a healthy and free way. Contact forms are "open" 24/7 it's free and easy to reach out, so select a Elmwood Place therapist above and start your new journey today.
Elmwood Place is located in Hamilton County, Ohio. It has a land area of 0.32 square miles and a water area of 0.00 square miles.  The population of Elmwood Place is 2,164 people with 774 households and a median annual income of $27,619. .
Therapy Affordability Meter for Elmwood Place, OH
Difficult yet possible - ask your therapist
Committing to weekly sessions of therapy without insurance coverage or low cost options is very challenging for most people in Elmwood Place. If this applies to you, please contact your counselor and ask about sliding scale options or inquire about insurance coverage. The good news is that there are options available to you to establish an effective relationship with a great therapist in Elmwood Place. Your well being and health are important enough to make the best possible effort for. Low cost counseling and affordable therapy are also sometimes offered by listed city and university level clinics, check with your local Elmwood Place public health department.


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This half-inch starlet anemone, Nematostella, lives in salt marshes, adapts to a wide range of environmental conditions, is easy to culture, and scientists have decoded all its genes. This makes it a perfect model animal for WHOI biologist Ann Tarrant, who studies animals' responses to pollutants. She is investigating what genes Nematostella activates to detoxify contaminants, including oil and dispersant from the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. (Photo by Ann Tarrant, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) [ Hide caption ]
Ann Tarrant has a soft spot for a tiny, tentacled creature. So what if starlet anemones (Nematostella vectensis) are spineless invertebrates that burrow in mud in stagnant brackish tidal marshes? To live there, they have to be remarkably adaptable to all sorts of changing conditions: big swings in temperature and salinity, for example, or sudden onslaughts of pollutants.
Tarrant's lab at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) contains a nursery of glass dishes filled with Nematostella in all stages of their life cycle. WHOI postdoctoral fellow Adam Reitzel has collected anemones from Canada to Georgia and perfected methods to grow them in the lab. He and Tarrant know the anemone inside and out. Its entire genome has been sequenced, so they know every gene in its 1-centimeter-long orange body. And they have developed a method that reveals which genes are turned on to set in motion biochemical pathways that allow Nematostella to cope with stressful environmental conditions.
Like, for example, a mammoth slug of light sweet crude oil from the blown-out Deepwater Horizon oil rig.
"Before this spill happened," Tarrant said, "we had developed a technique designed to probe responses of Nematostella to chemical stress. We had something sitting there ready to measure responses to chemical pollution in this animal."
The scientists employ a technique called a DNA microarray, a small glass slide with a systematic arrangement of applied dots containing DNA. Each dot corresponds to a separate known gene from Nematostella. The microarray, developed by Tarrant with WHOI research specialist Jed Goldstone, can detect exactly which genes are expressed, or activated, to produce enzymes that detoxify pollutants and deal with other biochemical stresses stemming from the Gulf oil spill.
With a National Science Foundation Rapid Response grant, Tarrant and Reitzel are collaborating with Matthew Jenny, a specialist in genetic sequencing and a former WHOI postdoctoral investigator who is now a molecular biologist at the University of Alabama.
"We'll be looking for a fingerprint of how gene expression changes with oil exposure," Tarrant said. "What sorts of cellular systems are affected by oil? What molecular defenses do they have to metabolize and excrete oil compounds?"
Nematostella may be low on the evolutionary tree of life, a "primitive" animal not very different from the earliest ones on Earth, but many of the genes and biochemical pathways it uses to metabolize contaminant chemicals are so fundamental that they have been retained in other invertebrates and vertebrates, including humans.
"We think of Nematostella as much simpler than humans, but it has a similar number of these detoxifying enzymes," she said. "We don't know what individual enzymes are doing and which will be activated."
Their research will test the responses of anemones under three sets of conditions, none of which have been studied before.
In the first experiments, the researchers will use two different routes of contaminant exposure, through the water and through oil-contaminated food—brine shrimp reared in the presence of oil. ("Nematostella's not picky!" said Tarrant. "They'll eat oil-laced brine shrimp.") Chemicals introduced through the skin and digestive system may activate different genes and have very different effects, she said.
Second, Tarrant thinks that the use of dispersants to help clean up the spill could magnify the oil's toxicity, so they'll study Nematostella kept in seawater containing oil alone or oil with dispersant.
"If the dispersants do their job and disperse oil in the water, they make the oil potentially much more available to organisms living on the bottom or in the water," she said. "We expect dispersants could make the actual dose to organisms much higher, and we'd see effects at much lower levels of oil."
Third, the scientists will examine synergistic effects of oil and low oxygen. "Often with oil spills, as the oil moves on shore, it is decomposed by microbes," Tarrant said, "and that can consume the oxygen in the water. Organisms might be simultaneously exposed to low oxygen and contaminants, so we're looking at those interacting effects."
"Nematostella is starting to be an exciting model," said Tarrant. "We like to think of it as a 'lab rat,' but Nematostella's also a real-world animal exposed to the stresses and challenges that other animals would face."
Nematostella is closely related to reef-building corals, but much easier to work with in the lab, Tarrant said, and this research could uncover insights that help scientists understand potential impacts to coral reefs from oil pollution. "There's a lot of concern about how corals might be affected by oil and pollutants in areas where there's a lot of traffic by oil tankers," she said.
In addition, the work could help predict the recovery of salt marshes that have been soiled by oil. "A lot of animals live in salt marshes. Those animals are really important to the functioning of the marsh, and the marsh is a really important environment as a nursery for juvenile fish and small shrimp," said Tarrant. "We have a lot to learn in predicting how shallow-water communities could be impacted by oil spills and chemical contaminants."
This research is supported by a National Science Foundation RAPID grant. Development of the Nematostella microarray was supported in part by the WHOI Ocean Life Institute


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ABS Plastic PASGT Style Helmet Tan
Availability: In Stock
Product Code:AC-APP-HELMET-T
Manufacturer:Emerson Helmets & Tactical Gear
- Add to CompareCompare
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ABS Plastic PASGT Style Helmet Tan
DetailsABS Plastic PASGT Style Airsoft Helmet Tan
- Strap Suspension System
- Adjustable Chin Strap
Patterned after the kevlar PASGT helmet issued to ground troops, this ABS plastic helmet is a great knock-around piece! It features a strap suspension system which can absorb low impact, adjustable chin strap and comes individually packaged! OD Green color helmet.
This Helmet is made of ABS like most other protective headgear. ABS is a lightweight plastic that is very rigid and durable thus making it perfect for Airsoft. What is MICH? MICH stands for "Modular Integrated Communications Helmet." That's Fancy talk saying that the inner pads separating your head from the plastic shell are movable and also removable. Why would you want that? Players use different types of headsets (Communications) for their walkie talkies, and the headset can take place of one of the pads, Which if your pads are set up correctly, should not even phase your comfort. This helmet is in no way meant to stop real firearm ammunition of any sort, but it will sure help against minor head injuries. The pads really do offer pretty decent protection on impact, but of course they are not meant for much more than the common airsoft event. I have banged my head off of just about everything possible out on the field. My helmets all look like I was attacked by a lion.
The inside of the helmet is lined with a few strips of Velcro. The pads just stick right on it, there is no right or wrong way. The only problem I have found is that with the heat, the glue seems to fail easily. The black surface in the hot sun seems to melt the glue a little, causing the Velcro strips to come undone when taking the pads out. Dependant on where you place the pads, it will either raise or sink the helmet on your head, adding to it being one of the most adjustable helmets out there for our sport.
Chin Strap:
This fine detail would be overlooked by most online viewers. The chin strap is made of a soft nylon strap. It's very smooth and comfortable. It does not burn your chin, and it stays securely in place. For all you men out there, this helmet is nice because you don't have to shave before your airsoft event, it doesn't pull on your whiskers. The straps is very adjustable, and easy to work. It fits very nicely, and when you talk, it does not stop your chin from moving. You can speak just as clear as if you didn't have a helmet on, and this is very important to me being the leader of our team. I am always yelling on the field, and this helmet allows me to do so! I'll leave that up to you as a pro or a con. haha.
Rear Neck/Head Support:
Helmets like to flop around. You can't put a bowl on someones head with a strap and tell them to run around for 8 hours and actually expect it not to move. I've saw some players resolve the issue of a helmet moving by wearing a ballcap backwards underneath the helmet. The bill keeps the back of the helmet supported. With the MICH style straps connecting to the back neck pad, it ensures that the helmet does not slide or bounce around. It locks the helmet down nice and tight, it really does to the job. Personally, I was surprised on how much that little devic


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Mayor's Office
Mayor Chris Beutler, Chair of the West Haymarket Joint Public Agency (JPA), today announced that corrective action will continue over the next two months on about half of the 52 pile caps that have been built for the new Pinnacle Bank Arena. Structural engineers have completed designs for that corrective work following the discovery in December of improperly fabricated reinforcing steel or "rebar" being used in the construction.
"The corrective work has begun and will take place over the next two months, concurrent with the overall construction schedule," Mayor Beutler said. "We also have an enhanced rebar inspection process in place that will ensure that this problem will not reoccur. The team is back on track to complete the project on time in September of 2013."
The Pinnacle Bank Arena is being built by Mortenson Construction-Hampton Enterprises.
Construction was suspended by Mortenson-Hampton December 20 when a several bars supplied by Drake-Williams of Omaha broke during installation. After close inspection of all the rebar material on site, the design and construction team determined that some bars were improperly bent in the fabrication shop. Extensive laboratory testing determined that the quality of rebar material itself met all of the specifications, and the issue was limited to improper bending of the bars. Work resumed December 27 when replacement rebar was delivered.
Pile caps are large concrete bases that are constructed above the deep pile foundations and transfer the load of the structure above to the piles The structural engineering team of DLR and Buro Happold has determined that a number of the pile caps that had been constructed with the improperly bent rebar needed corrective work.
"We've utilized a conservative approach to engineering analysis, analyzing each component, and we've determined that corrective work is required on 26 of the 52 pile caps already constructed at the time the issue was discovered," said Matt Farber, Structural Engineer at DLR Group.
"As a design and construction team, we've taken every step possible to ensure that we found the root cause of the issue and we've worked with the design team and experts to develop a conservative approach that will result in no compromise to the arena structure and no repeat of the problem," said Derek Cunz, Vice President of Mortenson's Sports Group. "This issue will not delay the completion of the arena or cause any increase in the value of our contract with the JPA."
The rebar inspection process has been enhanced to include the measuring of bend diameters to ensure that rebar has been bent in accordance with design specifications. This practice is not normally used on construction sites. Both Mortenson and Terracon, the JPA's Special Inspector, use a special template when inspecting rebar. In addition, rebar also is marked with spray paint at different intervals of the overall inspection process to insure that only inspected rebar is used on the site.


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Kiik kl159 jumper. Fabric: 100% acrylic. Care label: cold hand wash. Occasion: casual,home style: yummy mummy,everyday girl,arty chick suits shape: pear,hourglass,curvy,rectangle,apple
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Interview With Olivia Munn
Sloan is usually the consummate professional. Does she lose control on air?
I don't think she loses control. She took Will's advice-maybe too literally. What Sloan took away from his speech was, "You have a responsibility sitting behind a news desk." The reason why it was important for her to get to the truth was not to get the exclusive or for ratings, it was a timely issue that would affect many people. She felt it was completely necessary to make sure that people were aware of the huge public safety issue-"the difference between life and gruesome death."
Was Sloan out of her element hosting Elliot's show? How is it different than her usual job as a financial reporter?
With money, it's all black and white. You add, you subtract, you carry the two. She doesn't have the gracefulness to ask the question that leads into the answer she wants. When the spokesman doesn't say on air what he told he told her earlier, she doesn't have that touch to get him to say it. To her, it's not about protecting the source; it's about protecting the people.
Do you speak Japanese or did you have to learn that part for the role?
I grew up in Japan so I speak conversational Japanese, but a lot of that vocabulary was new for me. Words like, "radiation," "nuclear reactors" and "tsunami" don't come up very often in conversational Japanese. On top of that, it's not just Japanese, it's Sorkin in Japanese. The other Japanese actors in the scene told me that so many American television shows use a dumbed-down, child's version of Japanese. Our writer and producer Alan Poul actually has a master's degree in Japanese, so we made sure that it was the level of Japanese that a journalist like Sloan would be speaking.
So was that scene written specifically for you?
It was. I was speaking with the writers once and it came out that I spoke Japanese. One day Aaron said to me, "I hear you speak Japanese, I may have you say a line in a future episode." Then he said, "It might be a little more, like ten lines." Then I got the script, and it's a lot more than that. But like every episode with this show, no matter how big or small my role, I just try to bury myself in the homework of the script.
Sloan is comically bad at giving romantic advice, what is her personal life like? Does she have much of one?
Sloan knows what she's doing when it comes to money and business and doing her job. When it comes to the dynamics of people and emotions, it does get a little muddy for her. There are some people who just don't have that kind of ability. We find out she was once engaged and her boyfriend cheated on her the week of her wedding. I don't think she's jaded from the experience, she's just someone who puts what drives her and what makes her happy first. Right now, that's her work. That's what she's passionate about. What's happening in the world economy is too important. If someone comes across her way and love comes in her life, she wouldn't turn it away. But that's not what she's looking for at the moment.
This was a big episode for your character. Was there a particular moment that stood out to you?
I love the scene with Sloan going head to head with Charlie. Maybe it's the Asian in me, but I loved that she was showing this reverence for Charlie and at the same time not backing down. She shows her vulnerability, but she also believes she did the right thing and is being called out like she did something wrong.
There's been chatter online about the way female characters act on the show. Do you believe they're strong characters?
I think the female characters-Sloan, Maggie, MacKenzie-are all really strong. I just find it interesting that a man is allowed to fumble, and be silly, and have faults, and still be a man. But if a woman does those things it's somehow anti-feminist. All of the characters on this show have strengths and weaknesses and moments when they just completely lose it. Women should be allowed to be human without losing intelligence points. As a woman there's this anxiety and pressure that we put on ourselves and that society puts on us to be perfect, to never freak out, to get that great job, raise a family, and have the time and energy to go home and have great sex. If a woman on 'The Newsroom' shows any sign of cracking, it's deemed as a step backward for feminism. But for me, playing a woman who is strong, smart and a leader, and who is allowed to have human moments without giving up her credibility, it's the exact opposite.


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Home Topics Zenit FC
Zenit FC
A Russian court sentenced an Orthodox priest to 14 years in a penal colony Wednesday in a paedophilia case that dragged on over four years after he had initially fled the country.
Recent Stories
Police officer, 8 others killed in Rivers
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Labour Party candidate receives postponement news with mix feeling
The Labour Party governorship candidate in Kwara state, Issa Aremu, has said the postponement of the general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was accompanied with mixed feelings.
INEC rules out political influence in election postponement
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has ruled out political influence in the postponement of the Presidential and National Assembly elections earlier scheduled to hold on February 16 and March 2, 2019.
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Israel News - Stay Informed, Pray Informed
One of Israel's chief conditions for a genuine peace deal is that the Arabs acknowledge the Jewish people's historical connection to this land.
Arguments can be made regarding who rightly controls which areas today, but these disputes can only be resolved peacefully if the Arabs accept that the Jews are not a foreign invader. At least, that's how Israeli officials view the situation.
Last week, Israel's "partners" in the Palestinian Authority again signaled they are not prepared to move beyond this obstacle to peace.
PLO (Palestinian Authority) Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi (pictured) issued a statement harshly decrying an interview US President Barack Obama gave to The New York Times a couple weeks earlier as the Gaza war was winding down.
Obama was asked if, given the increased instability in the Middle East, he was concerned for Israel's future.
The president replied:
"It is amazing to see what Israel has become over the last several decades. You think about the dream of the early Zionists, to have scratched out of rock this incredibly vibrant, incredibly successful, wealthy and powerful country is a testament to the ingenuity, energy and vision of the Jewish people. And because Israel is so capable militarily, I don't worry about Israel's survival."
For Ashrawi, a Palestinian "moderate," Obama's implicit recognition of the Jews' right to return to this land and rebuild their ancient nation crossed a red line.
"Obama's adoption of the discourse of extremist Zionist ideology and his turning it
into a basis for political decision-making is dangerous," she said on Palestinian Authority TV.
Translation of Ashrawi's remarks was provided by Palestinian Media Watch, which has long documented the Palestinian Authority's denial of Jewish history in this region as a basis for its position that Israel has no inherent right to exist.
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Yield: Varies
Preparation Time: 4 min; Cook Time: 5 min
|Small pretzels
|ROLO Chewy Caramels in Milk Chocolate
|Pecan halves
Heat oven to 350 degrees F
Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil.
Place one pretzel for each pretzel treat desired on prepared sheet. Top each pretzel with one unwrapped ROLO Chewy Caramel in Milk Chocolate candy.
Bake 3 to 5 minutes or until caramel piece begins to soften, but not melt. Remove from oven; top with a pecan half or another pretzel. Cool completely.
Microwave Directions:
Line microwave-safe plate with wax paper.
Place up to 6 pretzels on plate and top each pretzel with one unwrapped ROLO Chewy Caramel in Milk Chocolate candy.
Microwave at MEDIUM (50%) 30 seconds or until caramel has softened slightly. If necessary, microwave at MEDIUM an additional 10 seconds.* Carefully slide wax paper and pretzels onto countertop. Top with either a pecan half or additional pretzel. Cool completely.
*Some caramels are a bit firmer and require additional heating.
Please note that some ingredients and brands may not be available in every store.


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App Design or User Experience design is a crucial step when it comes to getting your application prepped and ready to go for the app store. Designing a user interface for iPhone (also known as UI or UX design) is actually a lot different than designing a website, or doing graphic design. UI and UX designs involve lots of thought processes and brainstorming. You want to make sure that the design is easy to read and see. You also want to make sure that your design is mobile-friendly and will be something people can use on-the-go.
To start off, you must first have the following things set and ready:
1. What the main purpose of the application will be.
2. What is the most easy and simplest way to achieve that main purpose
3. Who your audience is and how will they engage
To achieve a nice, easy canvas to begin with, I would advise using sketching wireframe templates that are available online to download for free. The other thing would be to collect your assets, and the best place to start would be to download from teehanlax.com. This site offers UIs and GUIs for pretty much every iOS and Android model and give you a good foundation to start with.
One thing to consider is the functionality of your app, and its important to lay out all the functionalities on a piece of paper, and then drawing spider graphics and connecting all the functionalities of your app using pencil with one another. This will give you a good structure and you'll find out which functionalities are the most important and the least important. Having the most important functionalities appear bold and big in the app will make the app so much better.
Then in Photoshop, make sure to layer each and every element of your app and also keep the fonts and names of the fonts you use in the same folder. This way, you'll end up with a complete, clean package in the end to provide to your developer. Another very interesting feature of Photoshop is the actions button, which allows you to add all sorts of actions like gloss, glare, or shadows to your assets. All this will completely take your designs to a new level. There are also actions to easily convert your artwork to app icons that you can use to submit your app to the developer portal. Apart from actions and existing templates, you can also draw your apps on paper with pencil, then scan them or pen them back in Photoshop for a finer finish and work your way up.
Below are some examples of the application we designed. The aim was to make the design offer variety and simplicity at the same time.


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We encourage you to visit Monday through Friday in order to get the best feel for campus.
Register for a Campus Visit
Meet the Campus Visit Staff
To provide you with the best possible visit, please allow us two weeks to schedule your visit. Some of the activities you may want to experience:
- Meet one on one with a professor in your intended major.
- You can chat about everything from course offerings to career goals.
- Please note: there are some times during the year that an academic appointment may not be available. We will alert you to those dates as we schedule your visit.
- Tour our scenic campus with a student guide.
- Watch the Northern community in action. On your tour you'll visit a residence hall to see a "typical" room, view the Wildcat Den cafeteria and Marketplace dining center, walk through various academic buildings to check out our classrooms and labs, and peruse our library.
- Speak with an admissions counselor.
- Discuss your goals and learn how NMU can help you achieve them. Discover how you can apply to and afford to attend Northern Michigan University. (If you visit during the week, you can even find out about your admission status while you're here!)
- Meet with our experts regarding first generation or veteran status. NMU is "First Gen Friendly" and a "Military-Friendly Institution."
- Attend a campus or community event.
- If you have the time, sit in on a campus-wide discussion, cheer for our athletic teams, witness an NMU theater production, or participate in one of the many other NMU activities on campus.
- Find out more about our clubs, organizations and other aspects of student life.
- Along with all our natural wonders, you'll discover more than 300 clubs and organizations on campus, including academic, service, social, professional, religious and special-interest groups.
- Drop by one of our eating establishments.
- Sample the daily selections with NMU students and faculty who gather to chat, relax and satisfy their cravings.
- Hit the slopes.
- If you mention "ski free" when you call to arrange your visit, we'll give you a one-day pass to ski or snowboard free at nearby Marquette Mountain. (The pass can be used anytime throughout the year. Some restrictions apply.)
- Rest Easy.
- Participants in the Campus Visit Program can receive 50 percent off one night's regular, full-price rate at participating lodging establishments. Ask one of our staff about this discount when scheduling your visit.
To schedule a visit, go to the campus visit registration form.
In the event that NMU is closed due to inclement weather, the Admissions Office and the Campus Visit Program will also be closed in compliance with university policy (therefore, all appointments are cancelled). We will try to contact you in time to warn you of the possibility of inclement weather prior to your visit. If the weather is questionable on the day of your visit, please call the NMU Inclement Weather Line at 906-227-2777 or NMU Public Safety at 906-227-2151 to determine if the university is open. Thank you for your patience and understanding.


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From logic and teamwork to discipline and thinking outside the box, music adds a lot of skills to a person's resume.
There are many places to learn music in San Diego, but nothing is quite on the level of Rock and Roll San Diego. The music school in Point Loma also includes rehearsal rooms, recording studios, repair shops, equipment sales, a booking agency, record labels and more, with a world-class roster of instructors, including the likes of jazz/R&B vocalist, Stellita Lindgren and blues guitarist, Johnny "V" Vernazza, who has worked with the likes of Elvin Bishop and Van Morrison.
On Dec. 14, Rock and Roll San Diego is hosting a "Rockcital," showcasing its students in 183-seat capacity Jimi Hendrix Hall. Soloists and duos will open up the program, with a short break followed by group performances. Guests can expect a bit of everything in the program, from jazz to classical to rock 'n' roll.
For the students it's a chance to perform in front of an appreciative audience, with state of the art gear. For parents and music fans, it's a heartwarming chance to see an all ages group of future artists taking their first musical steps. You never know, one of those performing in Hendrix Hall this night, could actually go on to be the next Hendrix.
According to Rock and Roll San Diego owner Mark Langford, music lessons like these students are taking can be an important part of a child's development.
"Giving the gift of music helps, because what you're giving is confidence, creativity, teamwork and leadership skills to the individual that they can use, as well as mental well being," he said. "You're teaching them attention to detail. In order to play music you have to have attention to detail.
"From one note to another has to be thought and analyzed through," he said. "So these thought processes that we use are useful to any job throughout our entire lives. Learning to communicate through music helps you communicate as a person as well."
He said students have ranged in age from 2 to 80 years old.
His reasons for opening up the music school are based in his own career.
"I have skills that I have learned over many years of my life in music that I can pass on," Langford said. "And I know that I have experiences and techniques that I have learned from masters, not only in guitar, but also working with major and international talent."
He's clearly motivated by the opportunity to help musicians take their skills to the next level, while having a lot of fun.
"These are experiences that I can pass on to others that many people won't have and they won't get at a local music store," he said.
"The real-life experience you get from these people who have actually done it is so valuable. They're instructing you in what they've learned so, hopefully, you can avoid pitfalls and you can elevate yourself quicker through their experiences, becoming a better person and a better musician in the process," he said.
Rock and Roll San Diego prides itself in particular on its teaching staff.
"It's more than just being a good talent, teaching is another art in itself," Langford said. "Not all great musicians have that. It's important to find teachers who not only are great quality musicians and performers, but who also have the character to do this and people skills."
With the school now heading into its third year in business, Langford is looking forward to the school's recital, and is thrilled with progress at Rock and Roll San Diego thus far.
"I'm happy to have created an environment that people can come to and feel safe and be creative in, while learning and connecting with other musicians," he said. "I take joy in the fact that I've seen people come in, could barely do anything, and now they're doing amazing things with their music. I've found a joy in nurturing talent. That's the biggest joy for me."
• Rockcital: Saturday, Dec. 14, at Rock and Roll San Diego, 3360 Sports Arena Blvd. 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. No cover. All ages.


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it's how i roll ...
And so ... late, as always.
This here blog is kaput ~ and thanks for the times. I'd hoped to post something poetic ... meaningly hallmark'ing the occassion. But, the winds already blew away that sand painting.
if you catch my drift.
Next Toy ~
If you want to read what i'm dinking with now, it's at norcalcyclingnews.com. The site will be just as it sounds ... whatevah.
i know ... ridicule.
Anyway, there'll be more graphics and widgets and RSSfeeds and blogrolls. It'll be chock full of almost-fresh content, and bad grammar, and and spammy hernandomediacroticraticdialectimadness in hopes of stealing you away from concentration ~ and maybe pissing away some of your time at work, or occasionally flaming it up with agro-anonymous comments.
anyway ...
2007 ... Year in Review
Best Team: PROMAN
It's a woman director of a UCI Trade Team. Hello? But overall, this team competed in every discipline of the bike in '07 ... and actually didn't get burned the FRACK out and wants to get even bigger next year.
Kudos to Nikki Cranmer and her ability to gather up great riders, great support, and hot looking kits.
Best Rider: Andy Jacques-Maynes
the dude broke bones, impaled tissues, destroyed traffic furniture.
he's like, bionic.
Coming back from TWO surgeries to repair his brokenocity ...
Coming back in a matter of WEEKS to nab a National Age Title and a 6th mutha-fukkin Place at Natz in the Elites.
there is no comparison.
Best Woman: Shelley Olds
unbelievable strides made by this young rider.
track, cross, road ... destroyer.
She fulfilled obligations to Anthony over at CalGiant Strawberries by hitting the big-name Cross races this year ... even while chasing the Olympic Track Dream to Beijing.
Everyone who watches this woman race ... enjoys it. She's smart, beautiful, can flip you off without a shrug, and rides her bike like it's the last thing left in the universe.
easy call.
Best Man: Ben Jacques-Maynes
This guy is faster in '08 than last year.
"Hello Tour of California, my name is JERSEY WEARER!"
Even the boytoys at VelosNooze were cool enough to name this guy America's Road Cyclist of the Year.
hell yes, he is.
Best Race:
Kern County Women's Stage Race ~ 35+
Wonderful battle between two big women's teams and a bunch of sparky individuals. I drove behind the stages as wheel support and had my heartrate higher than most of my crits last year.
Beautiful to watch and a race I'll go to for as long as it's held.
and I make no bones about saying ... Sabine winning that road race stage that ended on a grueling 2 mile climb ... made me so proud i about cried.
It wasn't that it was a win ... it was that their entire Velo Bella team worked in pro-level tactics, kept smiling every stage (even though they were all so bloody hard), and rode for each other ... full gas.
that is the best.
Best NorCal Prosey ~
Jared Barrilleux ... hands down.
This guy foamed at more races than o'Grady. He attacked when he didn't have to, when it was right to, when the crowds asked him to.
he's a true warrior on the bike ... just flinging himself at pain and danger.
my kind of guy. And, he signed up PRO for '08 ... so, right on, right on.
Best Time ~
Thanks again for taking part in this little experiment. I'm going to have my next project up fairly soon (http://norcalcyclingnews.com/). Whether that will be worth a crap is yet to see.
but, graffiti just is, anyway ...


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Karl Pierson was typical of school shooters in at least one important way: The Arapahoe High School senior did not act on impulse.
He purchased the shotgun he would use last Friday on Dec. 6, a full week before he stormed into the school. He also bought a large quantity of ammunition, and prepared three Molotov cocktails.
This behavior meshes with what the U.S. Secret Service recounted after a major study of school shootings it conducted a decade ago. Such shootings "are rarely impulsive acts," it said after examining data from 1974 to 2000 involving 41 attackers. "Rather, they are typically thought out and planned out in advance."
Several other conclusions in that study are also worth recalling in the wake of Friday's events.
"Prior to most shootings," the Secret Service report noted, "other kids knew the shooting was to occur — but did not alert an adult … almost every attacker had engaged in behavior before the shooting that seriously concerned at least one adult — and for many had concerned three or more different adults."
It's too early to say whether this part of the typical scenario holds true at Arapahoe High. However, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson did say at a press conference Saturday that Pierson was disciplined in September by his speech and debate coach after the student made a threat against him to other students.
"Karl had threatened to kill Mr. [Tracy] Murphy," a fellow student told The Denver Post.
Whatever the nature of the threat, it was sufficiently worrisome that it was reported to authories, Robinson confirmed.
Don't get us wrong. We are not suggesting that this shooting was preventable had someone said or done something differently in the weeks and months prior to it. Who knows? But some school shootings may be preventable, the Secret Service concluded, which is why it's so important for parents, teachers and students everywhere to understand that they should not keep any apparent warning signs to themselves.
The process of delving into Pierson's motives and state of mind, as well as chronicling what he may have said to students and adults regarding his intentions, will take time. But it's an important task, not only to provide context for this case but also to help criminologists and other scholars better analyze such shootings in general.
At their most fundamental level, of course, such shootings will always defy understanding because they truly are senseless. Why would a young person with the apparent promise of Pierson — bright, articulate, engaged — throw his life away over a grudge or even an ongoing conflict, if that is what happened? Why shoot a fellow student he apparently didn't even know? No normal logic or reasoning leads to such an end. It is a plunge into the abyss.
Sheriff Robinson credited a deputy sheriff working in the school and an unarmed security guard with saving lives because of how they rushed from the cafeteria in the direction of Pierson while yelling for students to take cover.
"The shooter knew the deputy was coming," Robinson said, and presumably killed himself just 80 seconds after entering the school rather than face the likelihood of a shoot-out.
We join Robinson in praising those brave individuals, while also praising Littleton School District for the impressive safety procedures it had in place.
As bad as Friday was, after all, it could have been far worse.


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This day is in the past.
Showtimes for Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Dancin' With Disney» Dance Party
One showing at 1:00pm
Diamond Mad T Party» Psychedelic dance party
Shows at 6:00pm, 6:05pm, 7:00pm, 8:00pm, and 9:00pm
Disney Junior Dance Party» Dance party for children
Shows at 10:15am, 11:15am, 12:15pm, 1:50pm, 2:50pm, and 3:50pm
Disney's Aladdin - A Musical Spectacular» Broadway-style show
Shows at 12:40pm, 2:20pm, 4:45pm, and 6:20pm
DJ's Dance 'n Drive» Mobile Dance Party
Shows at 3:30pm, 4:30pm, 5:30pm, 7:00pm, 8:00pm, and 9:00pm
Five & Dime» Jazzy musical performers
Shows at 8:30am, 9:30am, 10:30am, 12:30pm, 1:30pm, 3:30pm, 4:30pm, 6:10pm, 7:15pm, and 8:15pm
The Happy Camper» Live Campfire Music
Shows at 10:30am, 11:30am, 12:30pm, 1:30pm, 3:00pm, and 4:00pm
Instant Concert! ...Just Add Water» Musical Fountain Show
Shows at 11:00am, 12:00pm, 1:00pm, 2:50pm, 3:50pm, and 4:35pm
Mariachi Divas» All-female Mariachi Band
Shows at 11:00am, 12:00pm, 1:00pm, and 2:00pm
Minnie's Fly Girls Charter Airline» Song and Dance Show
Shows at 11:00am, 12:00pm, 1:00pm, 2:45pm, 3:40pm, and 4:35pm
Operation: Playtime! - featuring the Green Army Men» Percussion Show
Shows at 11:05am, 12:05pm, 1:05pm, 2:30pm, 3:25pm, and 4:25pm
Paradise Garden Bandstand» International Music Acts
Shows at 11:55am, 12:55pm, 2:30pm, 3:25pm, 4:25pm, 5:45pm, and 6:30pm
Phineas and Ferb Rockin' Rollin' Dance Party» Themed Dance Party
Shows at 10:30am, 11:30am, 12:30pm, 3:00pm, and 4:00pm
Pixar Play Parade» Parade with Pixar Characters
Shows at 2:00pm, and 5:00pm
Red Car News Boys» Newsies-style singing paperboys
Shows at 10:00am, 11:00am, 12:00pm, 1:00pm, 3:00pm, and 4:00pm
Wilderness Explorer Ceremony» Show with Up characters
Shows at 11:00am, 12:00pm, 1:00pm, 2:00pm, 3:30pm, and 4:30pm
World of Color» Fountain show with special effects
Shows at 9:00pm, and 10:15pm
Note: Showtimes are updated nightly via disneyland.com and our own sources -- but schedules may change at any time.
|Opening Time
|Closing Time
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|Crowd Levels are for subscribers only. Join TouringPlans.com!
July 17, 2013:
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Inaccurate/stale schedule?
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Our case law service is only available to logged-in subscribers. This page sets out the typical format of the case law documents we provide as part of our full service.
A quick summary of the basics of the case
Case details
This section sets out further details and background relevant to the case
The court's ruling
In the opinion of the court
More details on how the court came to its decision and its reasons for doing so
Key points
Important issues to take away which might affect your practice
Court reference
We provide a link to the full court report
A list of all the barristers involved in the case


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Perhaps I should give people more credit and assume that they believe that an atheist is very likely to be a liberal, but doing even a little bit of homework will get beyond the stereotype.We would be so fortunate if only the stereotype was an inaccurate one! Inductivist may not be off the mark in describing atheists in the Steveosphere's orbit, like the scientifically-minded prodigies at GNXP. Among the general public, however, presuming most atheists to be leftists is not unreasonable, even if it's not quite precise.
The GSS shows that among atheists (N=252), 47.6% self-describe as being somewhere on the liberal end of the political spectrum. A further 29.0% are moderates, with the remaining 23.3% on the conservative side of things. So it is more sensible for one to assume, absent any other information, that there is basically a 50/50 chance that an atheist will also be a leftist.
Among the public, 26.8% self-describe as belonging on the liberal side, 38.7% say they are moderates, and 34.5% count themselves as conservatives of some stripe. Thus the odds of finding a leftist at random among atheists are nearly twice as great as they are of finding a leftist at random among the general population.
The graph on the left looks at atheists alone. The graph on the right represents the general population. Green-on-down represents those on the liberal side of the political spectrum, yellow those who consider themselves moderates, and orange-on-up those who are conservatives of some degree. (Click on either graph for greater resolution).
The stereotype of the liberal atheist becomes untenable when it is conversely assumed that because there is a good chance atheists are leftists, there is similarly a good chance that liberals are atheists. In the US, theism continues to be the dominant position across the political spectrum. Fewer than 3% of those on the liberal side of the political spectrum describe themselves as atheists. Eight percent are agnostic, while an overwhelming 89% are theistic.
As the graph below shows, the more liberal a person describes himself as, the less firm his theism becomes. But among the general population, atheism and agnosticism are rare even among those on the left. Magenta represents those who are certain God exists, red represents those who are certain God does not exist, and the colors in between represent varying degrees of confidence in the existence of God.
GSS variables used: GOD, POLVIEWS


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Is this your brand on Milled? You can claim it.
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|MasterChef Australia
Reality • 8.3/10Returning Series – episode 10x29 aired 2 days ago, episode 10x30 airs in 10 hours
Season 7(May 5, 2015 → July 27, 2015)
|MasterChef Australia is a Logie Award-winning Australian competitive cooking game show based on the original British MasterChef. It is produced by Shine Australia and screens on Network Ten. Restaurateur and chef Gary Mehigan, chef George Calombaris and food critic Matt Preston serve as the show's main judges. Journalist Sarah Wilson hosted the first series, however her role was…


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My local warehouse-style retailer (part of the mid-Atlantic's Total Wine empire) has been featuring a number of inexpensive California Cabernets lately. Although Cal-Cab at any price point isn't a category I've devoted much attention to in the past, several of these have been darn tasty and offered good QPR to boot, this bottle included.
Medium to medium-dark, mostly clear ruby-purple. An initially heady nose of port and cedar settles down somewhat but never fully disappears behind sweet dark plum and currant. Medium- to full-bodied, with a sappy mouthfeel and black fruit flavors accented with black pepper. A strong black licorise note emerges on the long finish. Slightly hot, and better on its own than with grilled lamb. I would have guessed it higher than the stated 13.5% alcohol. With all the requisite caveats for those not fond of the style, I'd have to call this a good example of the genre, even better given the $13 price tag.