text:
Content economics, part 2: payments
Apologies for the delay between part 1 and this: I wanted to wait until Amanda Palmer's TED talk appeared online, because it's an important part of the other big aspect of content economics. Part 1 was about the ability of publishers to sell readers to advertisers; part 2 is about the ability of publishers to persuade readers to pay the publisher directly.
There are basically three ways to go about this. You can put up a paywall; you can ask for donations; or you can sell non-digital things to your digital audience.
On its face, Palmer's talk is about the second strategy, but in fact it's about all three. (And yes, I'm the "financial blogger" referred to in the talk.) For instance, when it comes to online publishing, why are paywalls more common than tip jars, despite the fact that they're much more difficult to implement? Palmer does a great job of walking us through the answer to that question: there's something shameful, there's a whiff of the panhandler, in asking strangers for money.
At the beginning of the talk, Palmer talks about her early career as a living statue, and the people who would drive by, shouting "get a job!" as she waited for people to drop money into her hat. The implication, of course, was that being a living statue is not a job (its surprisingly consistent revenue stream notwithstanding), and that a living statue's income represents an entirely one-way transmission of value: spectators give money, and receive nothing in return. The rest of Palmer's talk is an attempt to explain that the value goes both ways, and that there is (or should be) nothing shameful about creators asking for money. But the attitude she's pushing against is deeply ingrained.
A couple of weeks ago, for instance, I asked Andrew Sullivan why he chose to put up a paywall rather than putting up a tip jar. His answer (at about 23:00) was unambiguous:
This is not a tip jar. And it is not a pledge drive. It is a subscription. And that makes it a different proposition. It's telling people I'm not an amateur, and I'm not a charity. I'm doing work that I'm asking people to pay for. And it seems to me that at some point, we have to say that, in new media. Or else it is not going to continue to exist…
I had two pledge drives early on, in 2002 and 2003, which netted a certain amount of money. But this is a different model. This is trying to make it sustainable, long term: don't give it money just because you like me. We are trying to create an actual site that is news and opinion that people value and pay for, and become associated with in the long run. We could have done a tip jar. We decided no. We wanted to be a business. And do it the right way.
The distinctions here are subtle ones: Sullivan still nags his readers, just as public radio does during its pledge drives, but in his mind those nags aren't part of a pledge drive, because he's a business, rather than an amateur, or a charity. And similarly, although he raised $500,000 from readers before his paywall even existed, those dollars weren't donations, for much the same reason. There's something shameful, on this view, about working for tips; there's an unpleasant neediness about asking for charity. And it was those reasons, as much as any simply financial considerations, which resulted in Sullivan plumping for a paywall model.
Truth be told, Sullivan's paywall is not much of a wall at all. 70% of his readers don't click on the read-on links at all; they just stay on the home page, which is always free. And of the 30% who do click on read-on links, 91% are still within their allocation of seven free stories. Which means that overall, just 2.7% of his readers are reaching the point at which it gets a little bit harder to read what they want to read. And the actual number is lower even than that: many of his readers use RSS readers to consume his content, or else they disable cookies, or otherwise don't get counted among the people visiting his website.
But as Sullivan would probably agree, the choice between a paywall or a tip jar is not as clear-cut as it sounds: realistically, it's more of a spectrum. Some paywalls are forbiddingly high "Berliners": if you don't cough up, you have no access. Most, however, are porous to a greater or lesser extent. The Times and Sunday Times of London will give you the first 75 words or so of any story; the New York Times will allow you a certain number of free articles per month, plus all articles arrived at from external sites; the WSJ will let you in if you're coming from Google, or from a link which has been emailed to you by a subscriber. At other sites, the wall is drawn around some content but not all: the New Yorker, for instance, puts only some of its magazine content online for free, while the Boston Globe hides all of its content behind a Berliner paywall but then allows a subset of that content onto Boston.com for free.
None of these models is obviously better than any of the others. No paywall lasts untouched for long: all publishers are making decisions to put up or take down paywalls every day, and it can be hard to keep track of which publications have which model. (Right now, for instance, without looking, I genuinely can't remember whether the Economist is paywalling any of its content or not.) Just in the past few days, we've seen one high paywall demolished, at Variety; there, the new proprietor, Jay Penske, called it the "end of an error". Meanwhile, another paywall has been erected, at Fortune: for the time being, for now, most Fortune magazine content is now behind a wall, while online-only content is free.
In an editor's letter which isn't online, Fortune's Andy Serwer says that "we consider Fortune's content valuable enough that we have decided not to give it all away online". The unfortunate implication is that the online-only content, including the excellent Term Sheet blog, is not valuable enough to be worth charging for. On the other hand, if you look at the pricing, you'll see that the cost of a digital subscription — $19.99 per year — is exactly the same as the cost of a digital subscription plus home delivery of the magazine. And the unfortunate implication of that is that all the extra value one finds in a magazine — the art direction, the layouts, the ability to read it while waiting for your airplane to take off — is also worthless. (Contrast that with the NYT paywall, which doesn't really charge for the content at all, but rather for the online ability to navigate from one story to another.)
The real reason why Fortune put up a paywall, of course, has nothing to do with how valuable Andy Serwer thinks the magazine's content is. Instead, the paywall is just another way for the Time Inc brass to try to make money and keep the magazine's rate base high, the idea being that people will be less likely to cancel their magazine subscriptions if they know that they won't be able to read that content online for free.
Which brings up a fundamental rule of online subscriptions: there is zero correlation between value and price. There are lots of incredibly expensive stock-tipping newsletters which have a negative value: you'd be much better off if you didn't subscribe to any of them at all. And of course there's an almost infinite amount of wonderfully valuable content available online for free, starting with Wikipedia and moving on through the sites of organizations like Reuters, Bloomberg, the Guardian, and the BBC.
Or look what happened when Newsweek and Sullivan parted ways: both of them started subscription products, at almost identical prices. (Sullivan wants $20 per year; Newsweek wants $25.) That doesn't mean the two products have almost-equal value; it just means that both Newsweek and Sullivan — just like Marco Arment, for that matter — came to the conclusion that the $20-a-year range was more or less the point on the supply-and-demand curve where they would maximize their income. They might be right about that; it's hard to tell. Paywalls are put together in so many different ways, at so many different price points, that trying to work out their relative merits, in terms of income generated, is almost impossible.
But there's another consideration, too: the more formidable the paywall, the more money you might generate in the short term, but the less likely it is that new readers are going to discover your content and want to subscribe to you in the future. Amazing offline resources like the Oxford English Dictionary and the Encylopedia Britannica are facing existential threats not only because their paywalls are too high for people to feel that they're worth subscribing to, but also because their audiences are not being replaced at nearly the rate at which they're dying off. The FT, for instance, has discovered that its current subscriber base is pretty price-insensitive, and has taken the opportunity to raise its subscription prices aggressively. That makes perfect sense if Pearson, the FT's parent, is looking to maximize short term cashflows, especially if it's going to sell off the FT sooner rather than later anyway. But if you're trying to build a brand which will flourish over the long term, it's important to make that brand as discoverable as possible.
And the lesson of very porous paywalls, like Sullivan's, or even of pure tip jars, like Maria Popova's, is that on the internet, people prefer carrots to sticks. That's one of the lessons of Kickstarter, too. To put it in Palmer's terms: if you want to give money, you're likely to give more, and to give more happily, than if you feel that you're being forced to spend money. If you look at the $611,000 that Sullivan has raised to date, essentially none of it has come from people who feel forced to cough up $20 per year in order to be able to read his website. To a first approximation, all of that money has come from supporters: people who want Sullivan, and the Dish, to continue.
Palmer concludes her talk by saying that "people have been obsessed with the wrong question: how do we make people pay for music. What if we started asking: how do we let people pay for music?" The same question can and should be asked about other forms of online content, too. Tomorrow Magazine raised $45,452 — more than three times its goal — from 1,779 people, none of whom felt in the slightest bit grudging about the money they were spending. A mere 296 people clubbed together to raise $24,624 for Baltimore Brew. 99% Invisible, a radio show, raised $170,477 from 5,661 people. And that's just a few of the Kickstarter journalism projects which were funded in 2012. There are lots of other models, too, like membership of Longreads, or Spot.us, which helps to fund all manner of interesting and amazing journalism. What all of these projects have in common is that they're free online even as they're asking for money: they're not going to punish anybody for not supporting them by throwing up a paywall and saying "well, in that case, we won't give you access".
As Palmer says, this kind of model involves something quite rare in the journalism community: the ability to trust that people will support you, even if they don't have to do so. And the stronger the relationship you have with your readers, the more you'll be able to trust them. This is why Palmer's Kickstarter campaign was so successful: not because she had a lot of fans (that, in itself, doesn't work), but because the connection she has with her fans was so strong. As Paul Smalera says, "digital media needs to reconnect to readers":
For all of the hype around interactivity, big media is still primarily a one-way street. And the rise of programmatic ad-buying will only reinforce that trend. Most old media revenue officers aren't going to care about connecting to their online audience, beyond understanding their aggregate profile and average value to an ad network. Yet cultivating those reader relationships on an editorial level can unlock all sorts of value, understanding, and yes, even revenue.
Twitter is great at this: readers are quite right when they feel that they know the people they follow on Twitter, in a way they never do just by reading polished content. But there's more to connecting with your audience than Twitter. Indeed, the best way of all to do it is to venture out into the real world.
Events are one obvious way of doing that, and can be significant profit drivers in their own right. Atlantic Media is fantastic at monetizing its brand by putting on conferences, as are other franchises: the tech world is a particularly good place for such things, as All Things D or Wired or TechCrunch will attest. The NYT has its Dealbook conference, the New Yorker has its festival, and of course the business press has branched out into things like the Economist's gatherings or the WSJ's whole suite of events.
Big formal expensive events like these aren't easy to put on, of course — they require large dedicated staffs, and a huge amount of effort. But non-sponsored events like Radiolab Live are a bit cheaper and easier, and anyone can cobble together a Meetup, or even just tell his readers to meet him at the Oyster Bar for an impromptu celebration.
And events are just one tiny part of the non-digital world which digital creators can put their brand on and sell. The whole Kickstarter phenomenon, for instance, is based on the idea that if you give enough money, you'll get stuff in return. Palmer was offering glossy books and LPs and CDs and even (if you ponied up $10,000) promised to come and paint your picture and have dinner with you. Tomorrow offered a phone message from a porn star. 99% Invisible offered books and shirts and all manner of other stuff. Kickstarter is no tip jar: make no mistake, it has a very large element of e-commerce to it as well. Meanwhile, Monocle has seven stores around the world, plus an elaborate e-commerce site, and Mental Floss magazine makes a good third of its revenue from selling things.
Think of this as the flipside of content marketing: if brands can bypass publishers and create their own content in order to sell the stuff they produce, then publishers can bypass advertisers and sell their own stuff — be it a $40 chemistry cocktail set or a £415 cashmere scarf — to their readers directly.
The bigger lesson here is that when it comes to persuading your readers to pay you money, it actually helps to be small. There's an exception for finance, of course, and also for the NYT, which is unique in many ways. But the lesson of Palmer's talk is that while 25,000 supporters aren't nearly enough to support a band on a record label, they're more than enough to support a band on Kickstarter — or, for that matter, to keep an iPad magazine going strong. What's more, while consumers can be very loyal to brands and to publications, in many ways it's easier to become loyal to an individual, especially when she has an idiosyncratic and unique voice.
If you want to read The Dish, you can't get there by going to thedish.com or to thedailydish.com or anything like that: you get there by going to andrewsullivan.com. The person is the site, and when that happens, the readership becomes much more willing to hand over money. Do I want to give Fortune $20 a year so that I can read its magazine articles online? No, I do not — especially when we live in a social world, where if I find a story I love, the first thing I want to do is be able to share it. On the other hand, I'm much more willing to spend $20 a year to support Andrew Sullivan, even if I rarely visit his site, precisely because I don't particularly have to do so, and can read any of his stuff whether I pay him or not.
We're not talking about micropayments here: those have never taken off, and I doubt they will, at this point. For a long time, people thought that the sheer size of the internet would enable enormous numbers of people to pay negligible sums of money, which would add up to substantial amounts in aggregate. The problem with that was that it's just too hard to spend money online: the effort involved just isn't worth it, for sums of a dollar or less.
Instead, the sheer size of the internet enabled the opposite to happen: it enabled smallish numbers of people to pay modest amounts of money, which can add up to just as much in total.
So if you're a huge publicly-listed corporation, by all means create an elaborate paywall in the hopes that people will decide that they need your content and will just have to pay for it. Every so often, that can work, as it has at the FT and the NYT. But frankly I don't think those examples are particularly replicable: they're both sui generis in many ways. Instead, it seems to me, the most promising aspect of content payments is at the other end of the spectrum. Build up a relationship with your readers, in large part by giving your content away for free; ask for money with pride and shamelessness; and place no cap on how much you let your readers spend. Give them the opportunity, and you might be very surprised at what they're willing to buy.


text:
Novagali Pharma Presents at AACO the Results of its Pivotal Phase III Clinical Trial of Vekacia(R) in Children Suffering From Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis
- Details
- Category: Small Molecules
- Published on Monday, 25 June 2007 04:00
- Hits: 1241
EVRY, France | June 25, 2007 | Novagali Pharma, an emerging pharmaceutical company specialized in ophthalmology presents positive results of its pivotal phase III clinical trial positive results from the Phase III clinical study of Vekacia(R) in children suffering from Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) at the XIV Afro-Asian Congress of ophthalmology (AACO) held from June 20 to 25 2007 in Marrakech (Morocco).
VKC is a severe form of chronic allergic conjunctivitis characterized by ocular discomfort, pain, itching and intense photophobia, which severely debilitates the patients. This rare disease affects mostly children and young adults living in warm climates worldwide. In this orphan disease, it was shown that both symptoms and signs of disease improved in patients receiving Vekacia(R). Furthermore, the tolerability of Vekacia(R) was excellent.
The study was designed as a clinical phase II/III, multicenter, randomized parallel group, double masked, dose ranging, controlled study divided in two treatment periods: (I) a four-week prospective, randomized, multicenter, double-masked, three parallel-group, vehicle-controlled treatment period; and (II) a three-month prospective, multicenter, double-masked treatment period.
The primary objective of Vekacia(R) phase III study was to assess the efficacy of Vekacia(R) 0.05 % and Vekacia(R) 0.1%, administered four times daily, versus a vehicle after a four-week treatment period for patients with VKC. The secondary objectives were to compare the safety and ocular tolerance (objective and subjective) and the long-term safety after four months.
One hundred and eighteen patients (mean age: 8.8) with active bilateral VKC (acute or chronic) were enrolled in the study at over 21 sites in Europe and Mediterranean countries from May 2006 to October 2006. Most patients were suffering from perennial VKC (90 patients, 76.3%) and were presented at study entry with a mixed form of VKC (87 patients, 73.7%).
Vekacia(R) improved both signs and ocular symptoms of VKC in children who received treatment. The superiority of Vekacia(R) over its vehicle has been demonstrated by the statistically significant improvement of both objective signs of VKC and keratitis in treated patients. Both doses were safe and well tolerated. Local tolerance at instillation was satisfactory and therefore compliance to the recommended dose regimen of four instillations per day was good. Systemic exposure to CsA was negligible in the treated patients. Compliance to the study regimen of four daily instillations of the drug was excellent.
Overall improvement of subjective symptoms (burning/stinging, tearing, itching, pain, sticky eyelids, foreign body sensation, mucus discharge and photophobia) was superior to the vehicle for both concentrations of Vekacia(R). For objective signs (conjunctival erythema/hyperhemia, conjunctival chemosis and discharge, papillae, limbal infiltrates and corneal epithelial disease), there was a statistically significant difference between both concentrations of Vekacia(R) and the vehicle treatment (p=0.0386 and 0.0208 for the Vekacia(R) 0.05% and Vekacia(R) 0.1% treatment arms, respectively). Similarly, improvement in superficial keratitis was statistically significant with Vekacia(R) 0.05% versus vehicle (p=0.0176).
At one month of study, only seven patients had withdrawn from the study, which comprised four patients using the vehicle and three patients using Vekacia(R), including one case of ocular intolerance following study drug instillation. Few treatment-emergent adverse effects (TEAEs) were reported, the most frequent being eye disorders of mild intensity. The tested formulations were rated as comfortable by 94.4% (vehicle), 79.5% (Vekacia(R) 0.05%) and 80.6% (Vekacia(R) 0.1%). Blood levels of CsA were assayed after one month of treatment in 16 patients treated with Vekacia(R) and five patients had detectable CsA levels below 0.33ng/ml, a value which is considered as negligible
These results are presented at the occasion of a Symposium chaired by Pr BenEzra, lead coordinator of the study.
About Novagali Pharma Vekacia(R)
Vekacia(R) is a Cyclosporine A ophthalmic product intended for patients suffering from vernal keratoconjunctivitis. Vekacia(R) is a proprietary cationic emulsion enabling an efficient and unmatched-level drug absorption in tissues of the eye leading to optimal therapeutic efficacy.
About Novagali Pharma
Novagali Pharma SA is an emerging ophthalmic pharmaceutical company based in the Genopole biocluster in Evry, France, that develops innovative products for all segments of the eye. Thanks to its proprietary technology platforms Novasorb(R) and Eyeject(R), the company has developed a broad pipeline of innovative products addressing main ocular conditions as well as orphan diseases. Most advanced products include Vekacia(R), an orphan product for treatment of vernal keratoconjunctivitis; Cationorm(R), a CE marking product for dry eye relief; and Nova22007, a product for the treatment of moderate-to-severe dry eye syndrome. Founded in 2000, the firm has raised a total amount of Euro 44 million in 3 series of financing and currently has 38 employees.
SOURCE: Nova Gali Pharma

subset: commoncrawl


text:
This is our word nut: word puzzle games & crossword answers. Use this word to solve any hard word in the game without losing your coins. We solve this game using android if you found different word please contact our team to fix the wrong answers, it could help other player found the right word.
Word Nut Chapter 89 Level 1681 Answers
Word nut level 1681. FIN INS SIN FINE FINS FINES


text:
The bold attitude of the Volvo XC60 R-Design radiates true driving pleasure - and the sporty chassis and direct steering ensure that the drive matches the sporty appearance.
"The R-Design model boosts the XC60's already sporty aura and gives the car an even more refined character in terms of both driving experience and design. These properties are vital for attracting the discerning buyers of this type of car," says Susanna Johansson, Product Manager R-Design at Volvo Special Vehicles.
The Volvo XC60 is a car that has already carved out a solid market share in the premium sport crossover segment. With its muscular curves and sharply contoured tail lamps, it attracts attention wherever it goes. Now, the new R-Design option pack gives the car an even more purposeful and bold appearance.
On the outside it is easy to recognise those typical R-Design attributes: door mirror housings, trim mouldings and décor trim in matte silk metal finish, skid-plates and twin chrome tailpipes. The five-spoke Cratus aluminium wheels are also unique to the R-Design models. The 18-inch version is standard, but there is also a stunning 20-inch option. This dimension is new to the Volvo XC60 and is only available with the R-Design pack.
Another new feature is that the lower section of the car is now colour-coordinated with the rest of the body on the XC60 R-Design. This creates the impression that the car sits closer to the ground and gives it a more dynamic look - even though the generous ground clearance remains unchanged.
Thrilling driving experience with excellent comfort
The R-Design chassis is stiffer, features stronger damping and has more distinct driving properties - without compromising ride comfort. All passengers can still enjoy a long and pleasant ride on any type of road surface.
The new, more direct steering gear also significantly contributes to the driving experience. The faster steering response gives the driver more alert feel and more precise communication with the road surface. This in turn builds up confidence to push the car to its limits and fully enjoy the sporty capabilities of the XC60 R-Design.
Modern and exclusive interior
Inside the car, exclusive metal finish is the dominant theme, with aluminium inserts in the steering wheel, door mouldings and in the iconic centre stack. The sports pedals are made of brushed aluminium, with rubber inserts for precise grip, feel and control.
The elegant dark centre stack features a décor with a circular pattern that expands outwards in a dynamic way. This pattern is repeated in the oblique striping of the sculpted, duo-tone seats. The seats are available with a choice of two colour combinations, with light beige or dark black as the main theme.
The front seats feature an advanced seat design with two firmness levels in both the backrest and seat cushions, thus providing a close-hugging yet comfortable seating position during inspired driving. The sports steering wheel, trimmed with perforated leather and featuring the engraved R-Design emblem, is a constant reminder to the driver of the car's special character and excellent driving properties.
Volvo XC60 R-Design - An overview
R-Design a success for Volvo Cars
R-Design was launched in 2007 to satisfy the immense interest among younger car buyers, in particular, who want to equip their cars with sporty, personalised options. R-Design offers option packages featuring exclusive design details and thrilling sports chassis.
Today R-Design is found across almost the entire Volvo product range in the C30, S40, V50, S80, V70, XC60 and XC90 models.
"R-Design has been a great success for Volvo Cars. This sporty, exclusive version has helped us attract new customer groups who would perhaps not otherwise have chosen Volvo. The introduction of the XC60 R-Design shows clearly how strongly we believe in this concept, and the the considerable market interest is very encouraging," says Susanna Johansson.
For information on how Volvo Cars process your personal data in relation to Volvo Cars Global Newsroom click here.
Volvo Cars Newsroom makes use of cookies in order to optimize your user experience on this website. The cookies on the website do not store personal information. For more information, read our Cookies Policy page.Accept


text:
It's been a while since I posted my latest purchases and I have about two months worth right now! I will try and catch up as quick as I can, my purchases always slow down as the year ends so I should have October's wrap up in early November. So here it is…..September 2010's update…..
Accept – Blood Of The Nations (2010) – $24: Buying the new Accept album is a complete no-brainer but I couldn't find a pre-order price I liked at the usual online stores so I went straight to the Nuclear Blast USA webstore. $22 is a high price for a new CD but that pre-order also got me a new camoulage Accept Blood Of The Nations t-shirt (in XXL), even the shipping was cheap! I placed my order and within a week I was wearing my Udo-styled shirt and rocking out to the new Accept CD…..before the U.S. release date! The other reason why I pre-ordered straight from the label is because I had read online that the initial U.S. pressing would be a special digipak including a bonus track.
MainEEaxe – Shout It Out (1984/2010 reissue) & Going For Gold (1985/2010 reissue)- $30: I have had both of these MainEEaxe albums on my radar since I remembered the band when I read their bio in my NWOBHM Encyclopedia. I actually posted a WANTED column for these two albums back in July 2008 and both the original German and Japanese CD pressings still top out at close to $100 on Ebay if you ever come across them. The cheaper idea has always been vinyl but even a good vinyl copy has been running upwards of $15 to $20 lately. I got a tip from former MainEEaxe drummer Nigel Harrison through an email (after he read the WANTED column) that Lemon Records (a division of Cherry Red Records) in the U.K. was re-releasing both albums on CD and including bonus tracks from the various E.P.s and singles the band released. Taking Nigel's tip, I found a seller on Ebay that had both in stock for pre-order for $15 each and free shipping…..can't beat that deal!
Newbury Comics
Pantera – Cowboys From Hell (3-CD 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (2010) – $20: I'm a sucker for these Anniversary Editions of classic Metal records but I'm very picky on which ones I buy. There has to be value, especially if I already own the original release. I look for bonus tracks, unreleased tracks, DVDs and any other extra that will make me pick up another copy of an album I already own. In the case of COWBOYS FROM HELL, I was replacing a cassette. I've been slow to replace the last few cassettes I have left but I decided to pony up the extra money for this set: the original album, a live disc and a 3rd CD of demos with deluxe packaging. Pantera is one of those bands that has a couple of holes to fill in the collection so my renewed interest in the band is sparking the hunt! Regular price was $28 so buying it the day it came out saved $8.
Pantera – Vulgar Display Of Power (1992) – $12 used: I know what you all are thinking, "You paid $12 for a used CD?". Newbury Comics was having a used CD sale for one day and it was "Buy 1 Get 1 Free"…..I was looking at Pantera discs and knew that I had this album on cassette so I figured I would spend the extra money on this disc and get a free one making the cost for both $6 each. Logical thinking in my book. I haven't listened to this album in a long time but it's still a classic…..even the cover is a classic! And to think that a fan actually subjected himself to that harsh a punch to be on the album cover (or so the story goes). I was pretty psyched to find this used CD because the store had at least six regular priced copies at $17 each, I saved $5 despite the high used price.
Pantera – Cowboys From Hell (1990) – $0: I know what you're thinking, "Didn't you just buy the 3 CD deluxe edition on the same trip?". Yes I did and I snagged the original pressing CD too! I was looking through all the used CDs and I just couldn't find one that I really wanted. There were a few that I didn't have but holes in the Pantera collection were bothering me. In my collection, the CDs are organized alphabetically by artist and chronologically within the artist so, technically, the deluxe edition would be a 2010 release. That would leave a hole even though it's the same record so I figured that the CD was free and I wouldn't be taking a big loss on the money. Here's the kicker: the CD wasn't used, it was brand new. Somehow a sealed copy was priced for $8 used while the other new sealed copies were priced at $17, I saw the bargain and snatched it. Saved $17.
Heart – Red Velvet Car (2010) – $9: Now I could have gone to Best Buy and bought this album for $8 but I like to support my local independent record stores so i gave the extra buck to Newbury Comics. I'm a big fan of '70s Rock and Classic Rock, that's the stuff that was on FM radio when I was a kid, so I have more than a few Heart albums in my collection. I didn't really know Heart was releasing a new album, I knew they were working on material but the news of this album's release date passed me by. There's been a Heart revival on VH-1 Classic and on some of the Classic Rock stations in my area so I figured I'd pick this one up and keep supporting the band. Assuming that regular price for a CD is $15 then I saved $6 even with spending the extra dollar at the smaller store.
Blind Guardian – At The Edge Of Time (2010) – $13: I love Power Metal so its a no-brainer that I'm a Blind Guardian fan. I have been following the band since 1998, the musical renaissance for me when I got a computer and Internet access, I discovered a lot of Metal bands this way and I have been a fan since. Just like Heart, I knew the band was working on new material but the album's release date got by me. I would buy a new Blind Guardian CD anyway but what made the purchase was that this was the limited edition with the bonus CD of 8 songs, different versions/demos/edits of the songs on the proper album. The other thing was that the regular single CD version was also available and it was also priced at $13…..which one to buy? Regular price for the 2 CD version was $18 so I saved $5…..I can't see why anyone would buy the single disc version.
Kamelot – Poetry For The Poisoned (2010) – $15: Just like Blind Guardian, I discovered Kamelot in the late 90s when I got Internet access and I have been a fan ever since. The last couple of Kamelot albums haven't really taken hold of me like I have wanted them to but that didn't stop me from really looking forward to this album when I received the first press release. This is another album that has a two disc limited edition, this time it's a bonus DVD, and the price compared to the regular edition was only two dollars more. What made this album even more exciting was that Kamelot was making a tour stop in Worcester, MA at The Palladium and I bought a ticket. After waiting the better part of three months with ticket in hand, Kamelot cancelled the entire U.S. tour because vocalist Roy Khan got ill. At least they didn't cancel the CD! Regular price would have been $18 so I saved $3.
Lordi – Babez For Breakfast (2010) – $10: I got into Lordi a few years back with their 2006 record THE AROCKALYPSE but I totally missed 2008's DEADACHE so I figured it would be good to check out the band's latest album. First thing, the cover is just so cheesy, it reminds me of an old '80s album cover. I have always been into visual bands like KISS, Alice Cooper, GWAR so I like the whole monster persona the band has and concept that put to the recording. When I was in the record store trolling the racks, I had totally forgotten that Lordi had released a new album and I was about to check out when one of the guys behind the counter decided to start playing the album over the store's stereo system. Of course, I went right back to the racks and picked this up…..I also stuck around the store a little longer so I could listen to the album. Regular price was $15 so I saved $5 on sale.
Megadeth – Rust In Peace Live CD & DVD – $20: RUST IN PEACE (1990) is the best Megadeth album hands down so when I heard the band was releasing a live album that included a full performance of the album, I was definitely buying! The CD and the DVD were sold separately but on sale for $10 each, there was no way I was buying the CD and not the DVD. I always like it when bands perform a classic album in it's entirety in concert and it's even better when you can see the show and then get an official release for your collection. I wish I could have seen this show live but I'll take the CD for the iPod & car and the DVD for the 52″ HDTV in the living room! The regular price on the CD was $14 and the DVD was a buck more at $15 so i saved a grand total of $9.
Tarja – What Lies Beneath (2010) – $12: I'm a loyal fan so I give artists/bands a second chance when I don't care for a first or second album…..that was the case with former Nightwish singer Tarja Turunen. I always liked Nightwish so when Tarja left the band for a solo career I figured that it would be pretty similar to the Nightwish sound. I picked up Tarja's second solo album (her first out of Nightwish), MY WINTER STORM (2007), and I never got into it. It was a bad record, it just didn't grab hold of me and I wanted it to because I paid a decent amount for the limited edition import from Europe. Fast forward to this year and Tarja has a new album but I wasn't sure if I should buy it. I decided to give tarja another shot and I was able to score the limited edition of WHAT LIES BENEATH with three bonus tracks at a decent sale price. Regular price was $16 so I saved $4.
Alabama Thunder Pussy – River City Revival (1999) – $3 used: Deal of the day! I was browsing one of the delete bins at the record store the same day I picked up the Tarja CD and I couldn't find anything worth buying, usually those bins are full of Pop and Rap. I checked every letter and then I found this CD in the "P" section…..someone filed this using Pussy as the last name! Good for me because my digging got me a $3 treasure! I know nothing about Alabama Thunder Pussy aside from the cool name and I always mean to pick up one of their albums so I can hear what they are like. Well why not pick up their second album for a cool $3? That's a good deal to check out a band! Added bonus is that this is the now rare original pressing on Man's Ruin Records and not the Relapse Records reissue from 2005. I estimate regular price to be $13 so I probably saved $9.
Halford – IV: Made Of Metal (2010) – $10: Buying the Metal God's new album is a complete no-brainer! How can you NOT buy an album from one of the most prolific voices in all of Metal? I have been looking forward to this new album for a long time…..Judas Priest is my second favorite band so Rob Halford's solo career is an imprtant off-shoot and/or continuation of Priest for me. I followed Rob from Priest to Fight to Two and on to Halford and all his albums kick ass (except for the Two record), especially his work in Halford. I was going to pre-order this album directly from Halford's webstore but I knew ahead of time that the record store was going to have a good sale price, I'd rather go to the store and pick up the album than order it online and have to pay shipping. Regular price in-store was $15, same at the Halford website, so I saved $5 but I probably saved more if you factor in shipping costs.
Alice Cooper – Theatre Of Death: Live At Hammersmith 2009 CD/DVD (2010) – $12: Just like the Halford CD, this was a no-brainer to buy because Alice Cooper is one of my favorites and I never miss an album or tour. This was another album I was thinking of pre-ordering direct from the band's website but I didn't really want to pay the shipping costs and have a possible delay to to the post office, I want the instant gratification of buying it and having it in my hands! Unlike the Megadeth release above, this live album from Alice is packaged together with the DVD so it makes for a great value to get both a CD and a DVD for 12 bucks! Regular price in the store was $18 so I saved $6 but, if you compare it to Megadeth – RUST IN PEACE LIVE at $10 each for CD & DVD, I got a huge bargain!
Rob Zombie – Hellbilly Deluxe 2 (2010) – $10 used: I've had my eye on this album since it came out in February but I never picked it up. First, I never bought it the week it came out so I missed the sale price and, once it came off sale, regular price was $17! I like Rob Zombie but not for $17 so I passed and decided I would pick it up if I found it used. Then I saw that the album was getting a re-release with a few bonus tracks and a DVD of videos and my interest renewed. Add to that the ticket I had to the upcoming concert so i figured I'd pick it up and get to know the new music. The day I bought this used was 9/28, the same day the re-release came out. I had my eye on the new release with the bonuses but it was sale priced at $20 and I figured that was too much too spend, what if I didn't like the album? Turns out I like it a lot but I'll save that for an upcoming review. Saved $7.
Yngwie Malmsteen – Attack!! (2002) – $6: Deal of the day! I picked up ATTACK!! on the 9/28 shopping spree with the Halford, Alice & Zombie CDs and this was a good bargain because there were two copies of the CD: one regular priced at $15.99 and this one regular priced at $5.99. Someone's mistake is my gain because I snatched the $5.99 CD as quick as Yngwie can shred! Right off the bat I saved $10. The problem was that I was sure I had this album in my collection already because I have this tendency to blow off new Yngwie records and then I find them cheap. I was sure I had this so I did called home to send either my wife or my daughter upstairs to check my racks…..another problem because my wife was at work and my daughter at school, it was around 11 in the morning! I think I spent about 15 mins re-browsing the shelves trying to think back to see if I had bought this already, I took the chance and I ended up being right.
Total = $206
Total (year) = $1412
Average Price (per item) = $10.46
Total CDs (year) = 123
Total DVDs (year) = 4
Total Box Sets (year) = 6
Total LPs (year) = 2


text:
Have you ever recognised someone, not from their face, or name, but by their apartment?....well, that's exactly what happened to me last month when I picked up a copy of Elle Decor. De Perno's new abode, photographed by Laura Resen for Elle Decor June 2011.
Hmmm...I thought to myself, Michael De Perno...that name kinda rings a bell, but I couldn't place it. I don't quite know what it was that jogged my memory - lord knows some days I have trouble remembering my own name...but for some reason I had an Aha! moment and pulled out my very first kept issue of Elle Decor from May 2001 (almost exactly ten years earlier), and there it was, on page 214, Michael De Perno's classic 1920's LA apartment.
At the time the article was published I was living in a tiny apartment in Tokyo and De Perno's apartment was great daydreaming fodder. It was light, airy, full of real furniture (I barely owned any at that stage) and I loved the classic details of the house. I also loved the mix of furniture, we had barely begun to buy the Japanese antiques we now own (in storage in Australia nonetheless), and I was intrigued by how he had put it all together.
Fast forward ten years down the track (where the hell did all that time go?) and De Perno's new abode is still providing me with daydream fodder, except that now I'm living in a tiny apartment in Hong Kong. His new house is much more modern, and it seems his style has evolved in a similar way that mine has. I'm glad to see he has retained much of his furniture....(I think thats partly what helped me recognise the house as his)...a Japanese tansu here, a chest of drawers there, its still a nice mix. While the architecture of the house has changed, the overal aesthetic has not. Its still light and airy and I think that - along with the fabulous sense of indoor-outdoor living - is what I'm day dreamin' about most.
Michael De Perno's previous home, photographed by Jeremy Samuelson for Elle Decor back in May 2001.
De Perno's new abode, photographed by Laura Resen for Elle Decor June 2011.


text:
OCEAN CITY – Charged with developing new strategies to better manage Maryland's valuable fishery resources, the state's Task Force on Fisheries Management last week released its 2008 legislative report offering over 30 specific recommendations on habitat preservation and restoration across the state including the waters around Worcester County.
Gov. Martin O'Malley last November established the 17-member task force comprised of scientists, recreational anglers, watermen, charter boat captains and conservationists. Last winter, the group was formally established with the General Assembly's passage of the Fisheries Management Reform Act and spent much of the last year reviewing data and examining the status of Maryland's waterways including the Chesapeake and coastal bays.
While the news was not entirely bad, the task force did make some grim determinations about distressed fish stocks, declining habitats and the erosion of the resources. In its report, the task force said the state's citizens should not settle for the current conditions and urged them to hold their representative's feet to the fire in order to affect change.
"The people of Maryland should not be content to preside over the management of a stressed and declining stock of aquatic resources due to declines in water quality, loss of habitat and a deterioration of the overall health of our streams, ponds, the Chesapeake Bay, its tributaries and our coastal waters," the report concludes.
In its report, the fisheries task force made 30 specific recommendations on habitat preservation and restoration, fisheries stock monitoring and assessment, date management, legal issues and enforcement. In the upcoming General Assembly session, the state's Department of Natural Resources is expected to ask for legislation to implement some of the task force's recommendations.
However, defining the problems is often easier than getting legislation approved to correct them, and the task force said it would likely require a concerted effort by all levels of government. For example, Worcester County is generally ahead of the curve compared to its neighbors in the state when it comes to resource conservation, but many local governments will have to up the ante if real change is to be affected.
"The effort is going to require a new political will in local subdivisions, which have such enormous responsibility for land use management decisions in our state," the report reads. "But if the will does not exist at the local level, the state must take actions to protect its natural resources."
Of course, conservation is at the heart of the task force's efforts, but fishing is big business in Maryland. According to the task force report, the commercial, charter boat and recreational fishing industries include over 700,000 participants each year, providing well in excess of $1 billion in annual economic impact for the state of Maryland. It is estimated that the fishing industry provides more than 15,000 jobs and over $30 million in sales and fuel taxes as well as millions more in state income taxes.
Preserving fisheries, and the millions of dollars fishing injects into the state's economy, is a monumental task, considering how far the resources have declined in some cases, according to the task force report released last week.
"Almost every meeting of this task force brought new stories of habitat loss and water quality deterioration," the report reads. "We have to do better. Much has been done to identify the causes of pollution and degradation to Maryland waters, and the time has come to launch redoubled efforts toward restoration commensurate with the values which are at risk for loss."
With water resources and fish habitat declining almost daily, the time to act is now. Much of the state's effort has been directed at preserving specific species in the past, but the task force is recommending taking a holistic approach in its effort to attack the source of the problems.
"We must act in concert with a greater sense of urgency than we marshaled in the past," the report reads. "Before asking how to better manage the crabs, oysters, rockfish, black bass, brook trout and other prized fish and seafood resources of our state, we must ask ourselves what we are willing to do to provide the clean water and healthy habitat needed to sustain those populations."
Fisheries Task Force chairman Thomas B. Lewis agreed with his group's assessment of the situation and called for stronger legislation to protect and preserve the resources.
"Enforcing fishing laws and regulations, and protecting and restoring habitat are critical issues facing fisheries conservation in Maryland," he said. "Without quality habitat, other efforts to improve fisheries management and protection will be of limited value."
O'Malley praised the comprehensive work of the task force and vowed to help usher some of its recommendations through the legislature in the upcoming session.
"Maryland's diverse fishery resources are irreplaceable, often serving as the center of our local economies, culture and quality of life," he said. "We appreciate the many hours volunteered by the task force members to work with our fishery managers to improve the way we manage and protect resources across the state."


text:
Recent Psychology Articles, Books, & Monographs
|Item ID
|Doc Type
|File Type
Let me start off by saying the terms psychopathy and sociopathy are non-clinical terms that are not defined within the DSM-IV. Without medically defined meanings, there really isn't any ability to define differences in between the terms.
However researchers do use the term psychopathy. The shortest, simplest definition of a psychopath is someone who is sane but amoral. It is a character defect not a mental illness.
|PDF Book
The Mask of Sanity ~An Attempt to Clarify Some Issues About the So-Called Psychopathic Personality
Fifth Edition: private printing for non-profit educational use
Hervey Cleckley's "The Mask of Sanity," (1941) is a must read for anyone wanting to or needing to have an understanding about psychopaths and how they function. The book describes the clinical interviews he had with incarcerated criminals.


text:
SEC Filings for T. Rowe Price Group Inc.Getting Started with SEC Filings
|Marketwatch could not retrieve Edgar data at this time. Please try again later.
After Hours
--Quotes are delayed by 20 min
Jul 2, 2020, 7:21 p.m.
-1.40 -1.14%
Volume 30,936
Quotes are delayed by 20 min
Previous close
$ 122.51
$ 122.73
+0.22 +0.18%
Day low
Day high
52 week low
52 week high
|Marketwatch could not retrieve Edgar data at this time. Please try again later.
Big DraftKings Investor Bought Up an Embattled Biotech Stock
Even Before His Lockdown Scruff, Our Semi-Retired Columnist Was Looking to Shave Costs
Just when it seemed safe to go back to restaurants a new coronavirus outbreak threatens U.S. jobs recovery
U.S. new coronavirus cases hit all-time high of 57,497 — as COVID-19 surges in Florida, Arizona, California and Texas
Fauci says that in his 40 years of dealing with viral outbreaks, he's never seen anything like COVID-19
Fauci says Americans must do 3 things to win the battle against COVID-19
Forget earnings season. What's the rest of 2020 going to look like?
Do these simple things to turn your retirement savings into big money
Here are your odds the stock market will be higher on Dec. 31
I have a seven-figure nest egg — am I saving too much for retirement?
I want to get out of New York state and retire to a rural location with four seasons — where should I go?
It was fair winds and following seas for small-business owners like these ship captains. Then came coronavirus
My retirement income is just $16,600 a year, but I want to retire in a beach town 'where the sky is blue and the water warm' — where should I go?
Should I tell my sister that her husband, a notorious spender, has a secret credit card?
Scientists estimate the speed and distance of coronavirus transmission when people cough, sneeze, speak — and run
My father, 93, married 4 years ago. He has dementia — my stepmother says she owns everything
Virtual Stock Exchange


text:
Hello all and happy summer to you!! First of all, thank you so very much for the lovely comments on my last post! We had a fantastic celebration this weekend and kicked off the new chapter right. What's funny is I think my husband may be almost as busy "retired" as he was teaching – he's got so many projects and organizations he'll be working with. It's already started!
It's time for the June Before and After Party, already! I'll just tell you now that June means summer (duh) and summer means I turn into a sloth. It's true. I sleep in, take lots of naps, take lots of time away from the computer…so bear with me. I'll probably go down to three posts a week, maybe even this week. We'll see.
I was SO stinking impressed with all the links last month! I was seriously in awe and it was hard to stop with the highlights. They are were all awesome, here's just a few that caught my eye!
Rachel's home was beautiful before but now it's simply stunning:
I DIE! I love it! Just lovely. Go here to see more on the transformation and the landscaping!
I have seen a lot of paint swatch art but Fabrizia's was the coolest so far:
She said it didn't take long and it makes such an impact! Art is usually so expensive – this is just the opposite!
OH my goodness, I was drooling over Courtney's bathroom redo:
Just…seriously? Awesome. They DIY'd this too! Totally impressed.
Rebecca took a cast off piece of furniture and gave it a FUN color:
I don't if I'd be brave enough for yellow but it is perfect in her home! She always rocks it.
I love how Brandi took an older sofa (that is perfectly nice and comfy) and made it look so different with modern pillows:
I love EVERY single pillow – what a great combo! She mixed patterns perfectly.
Cindy is pretty much an awesome mom – she helped her kids paint their kitchen cabinets and it turned out SO GOOD!:
I am digging the two colors – it is so modern and fresh! Want to come to my house next Cindy??
Kammy created a beautiful room for her daughter – all the details are just lovely:
That floor is especially amazing, isn't it?
And the last one, but I could have kept going! I loved the kitchen over at Create Bake Celebrate – especially this armoire and the stone backsplash:
I have an obsession with anything x'd lately. Love that cabinet!
Now it's time to see what you were up to in May! Like always, please add a link to TDC or this button (copy and paste the code) to your post to be considered for the round up post next month:

Now it's time to link up! The party will be open for a week, have fun! I'm off to take a nap!


text:
Until today, Conan O'Brien had not followed back any of his more than half a million followers on Twitter. Friday afternoon, that changed: He decided to follow one random person, Sarah Killen from Michigan.
O'Brien tweeted: "I've decided to follow someone at random. She likes peanut butter and gummy dinosaurs. Sarah Killen, your life is about to change."
The transformation has already begun -- since O'Brien followed her, her number of followers has skyrocketed. As of this post's publication, Killen has 4,824 followers. When Techcrunch posted just after O'Brien's tweet, she had just 1,300.
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
It took Coco's sole followee around 30 minutes to acknowledge her fame via Twitter, "Having a lame a** day, Russell Bigos is an idiot. And Conan O'Brien is THE SHIT."
She added an hour later, "I knew that randomness would pay off for me one day," and "OMG. this is Fantastically exciting."
This, if nothing else, should be a convincing factor for those who still don't see any use for social media. When else have celebrities been able to directly affect the life of a fan with the simple click of a mouse? No cameras at her front door, no ambushes at the office -- just a the decision to "Follow LovelyButton."
It will be interesting to see how Killen's feed changes with her new pack of followers.
Until today, her account had been typically boring, complete with zero @replies or links, but within an hour she retweeted her fiance who wrote, "sweet, i get to marry this woman, maybe i should make conan my best man...@LovelyButton."
Update: MTV News caught up with Killen via Skype:


text:
I made mango chutney a while ago, and let it sit in the refrigerator. In fact, it's still there, but I'm afraid to eat it now that it's been sitting there for a while. We didn't even get to use it! I know. Such a tragedy. And such a waste, too! Sigh. I'm still kicking myself for it. When I realized that we hadn't touched the chutney, I had an epiphany that I was lacking skills in the food preservation area. But I've been too afraid to learn with the numerous online instructions because the last thing I want is to misread the instructions (which I often do a lot of), and then die from botulism.
Luckily, a friend from work was talking about how he made a strawberry balsamic peppercorn jam (yum, right??) during his weekend off. I immediately hugged him and said that I would pay him if he could teach me how to can. We made a date, and I learned how to can just a few days ago! It was a jammin' (no pun intended; okay, maybe just a little) party. It was such an exciting, yet somewhat scary process. All I could think about while learning to can was botulism, botulism, and botulism. Ugh. But as the studious learner that I am, I took plenty of notes and transcribed them onto the computer as soon as I got home.
I was determined to can something the next day. So as I peered into my refrigerator, I immediately took notice of the mango chutney that had been sitting in the refrigerator. Unfortunately, guilt overtook my happy emotions as I poured the old chutney into the trash can. So, in honor of my first batch of mango chutney, I decided to make it again, this time to preserve it so that we can use it at the pace we want without having any pressure of eating it right away!
And it couldn't have been anymore perfect the second time around…
Mango chutney with a hint of spicy (adapted from Simply Recipes)
6 cups ripe mangoes (about 4 large mangoes), peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
2.5 cups sugar
1 cup white distilled vinegar
1 medium onion, finely diced (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup crystallized ginger, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
4 whole small dried red chilis (optional)
1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes (optional)
1 cinnamon stick
4 whole cloves
2 cardamom pods, cracked
Using a piece of thin muslin cloth, tie up the cinnamon stick, whole cloves, and cardamom pods into a bundle.
In a medium-sized stockpot over high heat, combine sugar and vinegar. Bring to a boil, while stirring occasionally.
Add mangoes, onions, raisins, crystallized ginger, garlic, whole red chiles, and the muslin-tied spices to the vinegar-sugar solution. Reduce the heat to medium-high heat and cook, uncovered, until syrupy and slightly thickened, about 45 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Pour into sterilized, hot jars leaving 1/2-inch headspace; close jars. Process in a water bath for 15 minutes.
Makes 5 (1/2 pint) jars.


text:
In Praise of Picnics
Grab a blanket and your favorite foods, and celebrate with an easy outing.
Picnics mean different things to different people. Some carefully prepare transportable recipes and pack up their wine coolers and small cheese boards. Other picnickers simply grab a few items at the market and kick back on a sun-bleached bench. Whatever your style, these movable spreads are quintessentially summer.
So relax and enjoy the following delicious recipes and food memories from coastal chefs, cookbook authors, and party planners. Let nature be your table under the big blue umbrella sky.
"The ideal spot to have a beach picnic is someplace isolated. It's great if you can be on the leeward side of a dune, where there is less wind. You'll have sun but avoid sand blowing into your food. My approach to a beach menu is something simple, and comfort food makes it special. I bring meals that are prepared in advance, chilled, and transported, or are easily prepared on site. A lot of public beaches have grills―all you have to bring is the charcoal. I like to focus not so much on the food as the overall experience."
―Chef Tim Creehan
Grilled Grouper Sandwich with Chipotle Tartar Sauce
Chipotle Tartar Sauce is an easy variation on classic tartar sauce and would also be tasty with French fries or crab cakes. Chipotle peppers (dried, smoked jalapeños) in adobo sauce add full, smoky flavor.
¾ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons diced celery
1 tablespoon minced onion
2 tablespoons dill pickle relish
1 tablespoon minced canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
4 (5-ounce) grouper fillets
4 teaspoons lemon pepper
4 Kaiser rolls, toasted on grill
1 tomato, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
4 Napa cabbage leaves
To make the tartar sauce, combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and chill 3 hours. Sprinkle grouper with lemon pepper. Grill fillets, covered with grill lid, over medium-high heat (350° to 400°) 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes with a fork. Place each fillet on a Kaiser roll. Top with Chipotle Tartar Sauce, tomato, onion, and cabbage. Makes 4 servings.
Creole Coleslaw
1 cup mayonnaise
½ cup ketchup
¼ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1⁄8 teaspoon ground red pepper
6 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup shredded carrot
Combine first 8 ingredients in a small bowl. Combine cabbage and carrot in a large bowl. Add the desired amount of dressing, tossing well to coat. Chill up to 2 hours or serve immediately. Makes 6 servings.
Chef Tim Creehan
Beach Walk Café
Destin, Florida
"I like to keep things simple for a beach picnic―no reason to be all fancy-schmancy and then have sand ruin your efforts. Besides, the beach is the definition of casual. But the drama and brilliant sunshine of a beach picnic call for food that has big, bright flavor. Don't let the simplicity of these crostini fool you: The little morsels taste lusciously complex, especially when peaches are in peak season. In fact, I only make these when the best peaches are available. I serve them with a raucous green salad with herbs, and a cold bottle of vinho verde or French rosé."
―Author Jeremy Jackson
Crostini with Peaches and Blue Cheese
For easy packing, keep the toasted crostini, peach mixture, and blue cheese in separate containers. Assemble on site. You'll skip broiling the cheese, but the flavor is equally sublime.
36 thin baguette slices
Olive oil
3 cups peeled and thinly sliced peaches (about 3 medium)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 cup (4 ounces) blue cheese, crumbled
Freshly ground black pepper (optional)
Brush baguette slices with olive oil; place on a baking sheet. Broil until toasted and crisp. Cool completely. Toss peaches gently with vinegar. Top crostini with peaches and blue cheese. Sprinkle with pepper, if desired. Broil until cheese is hot, soft, and very lightly browned. Makes 3 dozen.
From Good Day for a Picnic by Jeremy Jackson
(William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, 2005)
"One of my favorites is a chic beach picnic for 10 to 12 people on a beautiful day in early summer. I'll tote all the goods in a red wagon and red-and-white coolers. For the setting, I'll spread a large bamboo mat, scattered with canvas cushions and surrounded by red canvas umbrellas. Each couple gets a picnic basket with wet wipes, bug spray, sunscreen, food for two, red plastic cups, and utensils. I'll use Frisbees as plates, then for after-lunch fun."
―Event planner Tara Guérard
Tara' s Killer Bloody Mary
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Dash of hot sauce
Pinch of celery salt
Pinch of fresh dill
Pinch of freshly cracked black pepper
1 ½ ounces (3 tablespoons) vodka
5 ounces (about 2⁄3 cup) Clamato tomato cocktail
1 pepperoncino
Combine first 6 ingredients in a 10-ounce glass. Fill glass with ice. Pour in vodka and Clamato; stir well. Garnish with pepperoncino. Makes 1 serving.
Tara Guérard
Soirée Event Planning and Design
Charleston, South Carolina
"My wife and I drive down the coast toward Santa Cruz and stop along the way at a place called Davenport Landing, a really small beach with soft sand about one mile from Año Nuevo State Reserve. My wife likes salmon, so I bring Salmon Salad that we eat with Cucumber, Red Onion, and Basil Salad. When my daughter comes, one of her favorite things to eat is frozen grapes. We buy some Flame or Thompson seedless grapes and freeze them the night before, then toss them in the cooler with lemonade and a few beers for Dad. What a getaway!"
―Chef Phil Conde
Salmon Salad
You can use leftover grilled, baked, or sautéed salmon to make this as a sandwich filling or as a dip for crackers or bagel chips.
1 (1-pound) salmon fillet
1⁄3 cup mayonnaise
1⁄3 cup sour cream
4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon diced red onion
2 tablespoons chopped capers
2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Place salmon in a Dutch oven, and add water to cover by 1 to 1 ½ inches. Cover Dutch oven, and bring to a simmer; simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat, and let stand 5 minutes. Transfer salmon to a large bowl. Cool fish, and flake. Fold in mayonnaise, sour cream, and lemon juice. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and chill 30 minutes. Makes 3 cups.
Cucumber, Red Onion, and Basil Salad
Take this salad on the road―toss the ingredients together and let them marinate on the way. The salad will be ready when you arrive.
2 English cucumbers, thinly sliced (about 5 cups)
½ red onion, thinly sliced (about 1 ¼ cups)
½ cup basil leaves, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Cover and chill 1 hour. Makes about 4 cups.
Chef Phil Conde
Yankee Pier
Larkspur, California
"I've traveled throughout our country, and no matter where you venture―among the red cedars of the Olympic Peninsula, down the laurel-lined lanes of Santa Barbara, around the rocky crags of Maine, across Maryland's Eastern Shore, or through the Carolinas to the tropical Florida coast―you're bound to find a shaded farm stand offering local produce. You might pack a hamper with childhood-favorite tuna sandwiches, potato chips, and lemonade; or load up on lobsters, mussels, and clams for a bonfire feast. But along the way you'll want to stop for the season's best offerings: juicy peaches, succulent blueberries, golden-sweet corn, and vine-ripened tomatoes. After all, a coastal picnic is more than just a destination."
―Author Russell Cronkhite
Mussels with Fennel and Garlic
¼ cup olive oil, divided
5 dozen mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1 bay leaf
4 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup diced onion
1 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup dry white wine
Crusty French bread
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add mussels and bay leaf; sauté 1 minute. Add remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic, and next 4 ingredients, and cook 1 minute. Add wine; cover and cook 3 minutes or until mussels open. Discard any unopened mussels. Cool completely. Chill until serving. Serve with French bread. Makes 4 servings.
From A Return to Family Picnics by Russell Cronkhite
(Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 2005)
"First, I pack a bottle of Devil's Gulch Pinot Noir. Then, I prepare Cider-glazed Pork Loin Sandwiches on fresh hearth-baked bread, along with black-walnut pesto and crisp butter lettuce. With the sandwiches, I like Pleasant Ridge Reserve cheese from Wisconsin, an aged cow's-milk cheese with a washed rind. For a sweet ending, my wife loves apple coffee cake."
―Chef Matt Christianson
Cider-glazed Pork Loin Sandwich with Walnut Pesto
Matt uses black walnuts for an earthy flavor. Regular walnuts make a good substitute because black walnuts may be difficult to find. Allow the pork to stand 10 minutes after removing from the oven to ensure juicy, tender meat.
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 (2-pound) boneless pork loin
¾ cup fresh apple cider
2 tablespoons butter
¾ cup walnuts, toasted
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves
1 shallot
¾ cup (2 ounces) shredded Parmesan cheese
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
12 slices fresh whole-grain bread
1 head Bibb lettuce
Heat vegetable oil in a large ovenproof skillet over high heat. Add pork loin and cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Bake pork loin in skillet, uncovered, at 375° for 10 minutes. Add cider and butter to skillet, basting pork with pan juices. Bake 45 more minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 150°. Cover with foil; let stand 10 minutes or until a thermometer registers 160°. Cut pork into 1⁄8-inch-thick slices. Reserve drippings in skillet.
Process walnuts and next 6 ingredients in a food processor until smooth, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides. Spread pesto evenly on 1 side of each bread slice. Layer 6 bread slices, pesto side up, with pork slices, reserved drippings, and lettuce. Top with remaining 6 bread slices, pesto side down. Makes 6 servings.
Chef Matt Christianson
The Lark Creek Inn
Larkspur, California
"I always keep Spiced Fig-and-Zinfandel Compote around the house. It's perfect for picnics because it's so versatile. Spoon some over mild goat cheese on crostini, spread it on smoked turkey sandwiches, or even serve it with ham for an informal picnic with the kids. Ideally, picnics include artisan cheeses, foie gras terrine, nice country bread, perhaps some thinly sliced prosciutto, some marinated olives―all with St. Francis Old Vines Zinfandel or a white wine such as a Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling."
―Chef Mark Dommen
Spiced Fig-and-Zinfandel Compote
¾ cup diced dried Mission figs
½ cup diced dried apricots
1⁄3 cup raisins
1 ½ cups Zinfandel wine
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon black peppercorns
1 whole clove
1 (1⁄2-inch) cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons honey
¼ teaspoon salt
Combine first 5 ingredients in a nonaluminum saucepan, and let stand 30 minutes.
Place a small skillet over medium-high heat until hot; add coriander seeds and next 5 ingredients, and cook, stirring constantly, until spices are toasted. Transfer spices to a clean coffee grinder and grind until fine. Set aside 1 tablespoon spice mixture. Reserve remaining ground spices for other uses. Bring fruit mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 35 minutes or until thickened. Add lemon juice, honey, salt, and 1 tablespoon reserved ground spice mixture to fruit mixture; cool. Makes 1¾ cups.
Note: We prefer toasted and freshly ground whole spices, but you can substitute prepared ground spices in the following proportions:
¾ teaspoon coriander, ¾ teaspoon fennel, ½ teaspoon cumin, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, 1⁄8 teaspoon clove, and ½ teaspoon cinnamon.
Chef Mark Dommen
One Market
San Francisco, California
"In addition to wine and cheese, we bring Spiced Angel Cake to picnics because the blending of flavors and comforting nature of the dessert is perfect. It's light, delicious, and a great way to end the meal."
―Chef David Myers
Spiced Angel Cake
Too rich to be angel food cake, too light to be shortbread, this mildly fragrant dessert is a Coastal Living staff favorite.
½ vanilla bean
1 teaspoon lemon rind
½ cup butter, melted and cooled
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 ¼ cups sifted cake flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¾ teaspoon ground cardamom
1⁄8 teaspoon salt
Orange marmalade
Crème fraîche
Split vanilla bean lengthwise; scrape out seeds. Stir seeds and lemon rind into butter.
Beat egg whites at high speed with an electric mixer until foamy. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form and sugar dissolves (5 to 6 minutes). Fold butter mixture into the meringue.
Whisk together flour and next 4 ingredients. Gently fold dry ingredients into meringue. Carefully spoon batter into a lightly greased 15- x 10-inch jellyroll pan; spread to edges of pan. Bake at 350° for 14 minutes or until golden. Cool cake completely. Cut cake into squares. Top each piece with a dollop each of orange marmalade and crème fraîche. Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Chefs David and Michelle Myers
Los Angeles, California
"There's nothing better than a picnic at the beach on a sunny afternoon. Eating delicious food, sipping wine, and enjoying good conversation with friends is what the lazy days of summer are all about. For a perfect ending to a picnic, serve delicious brownies that are meant to be eaten with fingers―no plates, forks, or spoons. They're especially good with chilled grapes and fresh berries."
―Author Barbara Scott-Goodman
Perfect Picnic Brownies
½ cup butter
5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 large eggs
1 ¼ cups sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup chopped walnuts
Melt butter and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat. Beat eggs and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended. Gradually add chocolate mixture to egg mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Gradually add vanilla and flour, beating until blended. Stir in walnuts. Pour into a lightly greased, aluminum foil-lined 8-inch square pan. Bake at 325° for 35 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Cut into squares. Makes 6 servings.
Adapted from The Beach House Cookbook by Barbara Scott-Goodman
(Chronicle Books, 2005)


text:
Moonlighter (pc game)
0 out of 5 (not yet rated)
- Digital Download (5)
There are 5 shops proposing this game for download at an average price of $ 19.70. We found the best promotion ongoing with a discount of 2%.
No classic box available at the moment.
There is 1 downloadable content available for this game.


text:
Yell, scream, and just try to find the time to catch your breath as you hit these whitewater rapids. Read at your own peril: The A-to-Z guide to a bucket-list trip down B.C.'s Thompson River.
Awestruck: Arrive at Kumsheen Rafting Resort, peer down into what is called White Canyon for the first time, and get ready for that heart-in-throat feeling. You can see whitewater from way up on the plateau and logic tells you it must be much bigger when you're right on top of it in a raft.
British Columbia's Majestic Thompson River: This is Kumsheen founder Bernie Fandrich's newest book, published this year. It's an indispensable guide whether you're river rafting, hiking, or just a history buff. Fandrich pioneered whitewater rafting here in the early '70s and this book is an anecdotal literary trip down the river.
CP and CN railways: The tracks run along both sides of the Thompson. On the CN side particularly, workers had to blast though solid rock, and later, build rock sheds that still serve to divert the constant crumble of the rock cliffs onto the tracks below.
Devil's Gorge: Forget life as you know it as you enter the narrowing of the Thompson, the steeper gradient and the ensuing sets of rapids between Frog Rapids and Jaws of Death. The rapids are rated from Grade 1 to 5 depending on the volume of water that's being funnelled between unforgiving rock cliffs. Of note: Every rapid feels like a Grade 5.
Eagles: They're everywhere. Stoic-looking couples swooping over the river to get dinner for the family, the juveniles hanging out and trying to look cool with their blotchy feathers, even a rare golden eagle that can be mistaken for an osprey but is identified because it looks — as one guide puts it — "like an eagle on steroids."
Frog Rapids: Named for the monstrous, inky frog-shaped rock in the centre of the river. You hit this hard, and can't wait for the next one.
Gulp: The Gulp surfing wave that occurs just before the legendary Frog Rapids is formed from a below-water bedrock shelf as the water curls up to create a monster wave.
Herby's Folly: In his book, Fandrich shares the story of another experienced raft-company owner who ran these rapids during huge volume at more than 100,000 cubic feet per second. This section of the river is smooth at low levels, but at such increased volume, Herby hit hard, his motorized raft flipped and he was trapped underneath. Herby broke free and, shortly after, moved to Mexico.
Intensity: Spring run-off can double the water volume on the Thompson. As water levels subside in summer, more rocks are exposed and what might be a gentle ripple in May can be a monster in July. Or vice versa.
Jaws of Death rapids: The name refers to the stone canyon bridge where many workers died more than a century ago during construction of this railway arch. The stones are held together without mortar and rafting along this stretch takes you almost right under this feat of stonemasonry. The rapids are also named Jaws of Death due to the six-metre waves that can form here.
Kumsheen: This First Nations word describes the confluence of the Fraser and Thompson rivers at Lytton as the blue-green Thompson waters meet those of the muddy Fraser.
Lytton: On a typical summer day Lytton could also double as a gigantic outdoor pizza oven, routinely scoring the hottest temperature in B.C. or battling it out with nearby Lillooet.
Mother-in-law: Guides have named almost all of the rapids, including Tunnels of Doom, Devil's Kitchen, Cutting Board, Garburator, Witch's Cauldron, Jaws of Death, Bad Attitude and Mother-in-Law, which refers either to the sweet spot or the wrath. True to form, you never know what the hell you'll get.
Nicomen House: Fandrich purchased this property at the foot of a waterfall a few years ago so guests would have a beautiful spot to have lunch and recharge. The spot is about halfway between Spences Bridge and Lytton, just before Frog Rock.
Osprey: These birds were close to extinction before being named an endangered species in the 1960s and are regular scouts on the river. You're fortunate if you get a chance to see their acrobatic moves as they hit the river to snag a fish with their talons.
Paddle/Power: Whether paddling or riding in the power J-boat, the Thompson does not disappoint. You can choose paddle, power or do both. Either way, you'll get wet.
Quiet: Kumsheen Rafting Resort is an oasis complete with a pool, hot tub, fine dining — the beef tenderloin with green-peppercorn sauce is fabulous and, yes, you've earned a piece of the legendary flourless chocolate cake. There are facilities for camping and RVing, plus several teepees and canvas cabins complete with platform beds and linens.
Rapids: The full-day trip starts at Spences Bridge before breaking for lunch at Nicomen. After lunch, there are 18 sets of rapids before the takeout at Lytton.
Soaked: Kumsheen has jackets, pants and wetsuits, plus they sell gear. It's a good idea to at least wear the jackets even on hot days as frequent splashes leave you soaked. Although the Thompson is one of the warmer B.C. rivers, you can get chilled easily.
Tourists: Kumsheen is a favourite for European visitors who want rugged Canadiana: They land in Vancouver, head to Whistler, then Kumsheen for whitewater before wrapping up in Banff. On one weekend, several sets of tourists from Scotland and the Netherlands had identical itineraries.
Underwater: Not even close, except by your choice in the calm stretches of the river when you're permitted to jump in and float alongside the raft. Fandrich's a professional who's been doing this for 40 years. He also runs a guide school and only hires the best.
Vortex: Rafting lets you discover your inner vortex. People look at you differently after a whitewater trip: They don't mess with you.
Washing Machine rapids: One of the last sets of rapids, but one that seems to defy gravity as water shouldn't be able to go vertical. You're not sure which way the water will take you — and it'll have you laughing, then shrieking like a teenage girl.
Xtreme adventure: It's an unforgettable, heart-pounding ride.
Yellow glow: It hits White Canyon at sunset and bathes everything in muted tones.
Zzzzz: After a day conquering the Thompson, these start before your head even hits the pillow.
If you go
Campsites start at about $35; teepees and cabins at about $47 (for four people). Aside from rafting, there is hiking, biking, fishing, naturalist tours and a two-day Wildside adventure trip, plus special-occasion trips, including a popular dry-grad excursion. Half-day rafting trips from $129 for adults; $99 youths age 10 to 16. There's a Labour Day offer for full-day rafting for $99. Info and reservations at kumsheen.com.


text:
Dec 28, 2008
In our first summer broadcast compilation, you'll hear Barney and Duncan made to sound stupid by the likes of Kate McIntyre (with her Master of Wine-sized brain) and Max Allen with his oh-so-green biodynamic ways. Max also gives cred to the idea that fancy booze gives you less of a hangover than cheap booze. Cheers!
Dec 19, 2008
What can cyclists expect from the new Victorian Transport Plan?
Along for the Ride hosts
cover the pros and cons with Michael Hopkins, Executive Director of
Policy & Communications at the Department of Transport, and Jason
den Hollander, Bicycle
Victoria's Facilities Development Manager.
And roving reporter Justin...
Dec 17, 2008
This week's guests on Triple R include Adam Green, the lads from Holy Fuck and Honus Honus from Man Man.
Dec 16, 2008
Join Tallman, Bulky Bill, Annabolics and SK for your final Radiotherapy session for 2008. Bulky Bill discusses the doyen of medical science, William Osler, and how to gain the confidence of a child patient. Annabolics delves into risk management in psychiatry and SK ponders the psychopathology of the ever-complex Alan...
Dec 14, 2008
This is is the final install for 2008, completing the year with part 2 of the crews intimate side. We expose what they get up to in their unique work lives. Scoop announcement of impending mini mouse and learn how to impress the media on lab visits. More on the year's Science Sensations and Silly Sausages. Cosmology...


text: Im driving south from md/va border (assateague island va) to florida for 4 days starting thursday. My goal is to find fun surf spots in new towns and ones i have already been. I lived in Cocoa Beach FL and Fort Lauderdale FL for a year so i have been to most spots inbetween there and St Augustine. Spots i have been to south of assateague va are Barrier islands off eastern shore va Virginia Beach Obx Emerald Isle nc Topsail nc St Augustine Cocoa Beach Sebastion Inlet Juno pier West Palm Boca Raton Deerfield Ft Lauderdale From St. Augustine to Topsail nc is undiscovered to me. I have thought of Folly Beach, Wilmington, Jacksonville fl, and Tybee island GA as a novelty. Folly Beach im thinking will do good with the north winds or any lower part of sc that will still get swell and offshores. What new areas would you suggest??? Cool small town vibe also included.


text:
Select a topic or year
From aging infrastructure to population growth to climate change, California's strained water supply faces a complex set of challenges and demands that threaten the future of the state's population, economy and environment. According to the California Department of Water Resources, the state has experienced below average precipitation and runoff since the fall of 2006, making this the fourth year of serious drought. Recently, California's governor set forth a statewide goal for all water agencies to reach a 20 percent reduction in water use by the year 2020.
By bringing together and analyzing data including water usage and quality, weather and climate, and environmental considerations, IBM's sophisticated water management system is helping SCWA make better decisions about resource allocation dynamically based on near real-time information. The system includes geographical and system map views so SCWA and its partner stakeholders can quickly identify and address specific issues such as low chlorine residual or low storage tank levels, in minutes rather than hours.
"The idea is to create a common operating picture – a collaboration platform – for SCWA and its retail water providers that provides a near real-time operating picture of the Russian River and the associated water transmission system," said IBM Big Green Innovations Vice President Sharon Nunes. "The ability to track and measure the water flow along with the diverse elements that impact the system at such a granular level arms SCWA and its stakeholders with a way to work together toward the common goal of ensuring adequate water for the region, now and for years to come."
In addition to integrating and analyzing information collected from SCWA and participating retail water providers, upgraded water meters, and external sources, such as the United States Geological Survey and the National Weather Service, the system provides collaboration tools that allow all stakeholders to share and access information to more efficiently and effectively manage the water supply in Northern California's wine country.
Central to SCWA's water infrastructure, which also includes the world's largest river bank filtration system, transmission pipelines and supplemental groundwater, is the Russian River. The river, a popular a tourist destination, provides the primary source of water in the region and is also used for water conveyance. The delicate ecosystem along the river – which includes endangered and threatened salmon and steelhead – combined with the seasonal irrigation requirements of agriculture and the recreation needs of kayakers, canoeists and anglers, add to the unique challenges for water management in the region.
The system consolidates and analyzes the data, which is then made available through a web portal. Dashboards provide a collective view and new levels of insight into the overall status of the system. In addition, it provides new analytic capabilities that enable users to slice and dice data as needed, rather than having to rely on pre-defined reports, supporting a more collaborative and proactive approach to managing water resources. This analysis can include historical trend studies to determine seasonal variations in flow and water quality, on which future decisions may be based.
"By effectively managing every drop of water in our system we can ensure that we can meet the needs of people, the environment and the community," said SCWA chief engineer Jay Jasperse. "By better utilizing our current resources we reduce the need for big, expensive infrastructure projects."
Using the system, SCWA and stakeholders can:
- Balance urban, agricultural and environmental imperatives, including habitat improvement and species protection,
- Enable system-wide responses to issues posed by climate change and other factors,
- Provide information as required to each stakeholder to enable collaboration and cooperation based on information transparency,
- Support system-wide, routine decision making for more efficient operations, with potential savings in energy usage and operating costs,
- Increase water use efficiency and energy efficiency, and
- Improve coordination between the agency and its customers (six cities and two water districts) in response to emergencies such as earthquakes.
IBM has developed a number of smarter water and energy management offerings under its Big Green Innovations initiative, part of a $100 million investment in 10 new businesses based on ideas generated during Innovation Jam, an IBM-led effort to gather ideas from thousands of clients, employees and thought leaders around the world.
IBM's collaboration with SCWA builds on its expanding portfolio of advanced water management solutions. Other clients include the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District, the Lower Colorado River Authority and many more. IBM also works closely with the Beacon Institute on its River and Estuary Observation Network, providing the technology infrastructure for a sophisticated water monitoring system along the Hudson River, and with the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia on advanced membrane technology for water filtration and desalination. In Ireland, IBM has created the world's first Smart Bay in Galway Bay, collecting and analyzing data on a wide range of parameters that impact the bay including water quality, weather conditions, pollution levels and more.
For more information about IBM, visit www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/water
For more information about SCWA, visit www.sonomacountywater.org
Related resourcesImages
IBM's Collaboration Platform for Sonoma County Water Agency
IBM's collaboration platform for Sonoma County Water Agency provides a collective view and new levels of insight into the overall status of the system and features analytic capabilities that enable users to slice and dice data for a collaborative and proactive approach to managing water resources.
IBM's Collaboration Platform for Sonoma County Water Agency
IBM's collaboration platform for Sonoma County Water Agency provides a comprehensive overview of its complex water management system, enabling increased efficiency in water and energy use.
IBM's Collaboration Platform for Sonoma County Water Agency
IBM's collaboration platform for Sonoma County Water Agency includes geographical and system map views.
|XML feeds
|Energy & Utilities
News about IBM solutions for the energy and utility industries
News of interest to IBM investors
|Smarter Planet
Images related to IBM's Smarter Planet initiative


text:
Roman Bioarchaeology Carnival XXII
Roman skeleton news from the month of October, delivered just in time for Halloween!
Roman-era Finds
Roman-era Finds
- Rome. 18 October. A man following a cat happened upon a previously unknown(?) catacomb underneath Rome near Via di Pietralata. The underground burial chamber likely dates to the 1st century BC through the 2nd century AD. Both cremations and inhumations seem to have been found. No pictures that I could find. I hope we'll hear more about this in coming months.
- Rome. 19 October. Investigations into the activity of tombaroli (tomb-raiders) in the Alban Hills led to the recovery of some ex-voto statues possibly dedicated to Juno. In the tomb raiders' homes were also found some artifacts from Etruscan tombs.
- Austria. 15 October. Excavations for a road uncovered a child's grave dating to around the 1st century AD. It appears to have been an inhumation, as the presence of deciduous teeth is noted, and the grave looks like some kind of rock-cut tomb, interestingly enough.
|Roman-era child's grave found in Austria (credit)
- England. 22 October. Widening of a major road in Nottinghamshire has revealed a Late Iron Age / Early Roman settlement (1st c BC - 3rd c AD). There are at least two human burials: one in a flexed position and one in an extended position, probably Iron and Roman age, respectively. Some artifacts remained, but in general the graves were highly disturbed.
|Iron Age flexed burial from Nottinghamshire (credit)
- Macedonia. September/October. Archaeology Magazine has two nice features on graves from Scupi, Macedonia, dating from the Bronze Age through the Roman period. The piece on the mass grave is particularly fascinating: at least 180 men were tossed into a large pit. Most of them have evidence of trauma. It's thought that they sustained injuries and died in the political upheaval during the 3rd-4th centuries AD.
|Mass grave in Scupi, Macedonia, dating to 3rd-4th c AD (credit)
Post-Roman Finds
- Vicenza. 16 October. A skeleton dating to the Middle Ages was found in Vicenza, Italy. It was apparently beheaded. (Large picture available through link. No evidence presented for the interpretation of decapitation rather than grave disturbance.)
- Florence. 24 October. An eighth skeleton has been found under the convent where the body of the Mona Lisa model is thought to be.
New Techniques
- 9 October. A new method for assessing the presence of collagen in bone (useful for isotope and DNA analysis) has been published. It was tested on Neolithic and Roman-era bones, the latter of which came from Castricum in north Holland. [Link to the paper.]
Exhibits and Videos
- 24 October. After 2015, the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy, will not display its mummies due to ethical concerns. Both of these links are in Italian, but here is a brief piece quoting the museum director, and here's a blog post by bioarchaeologist Moreno Tiziani.
- TED-Ed has a cute little video written and narrated by Roman historian Ray Laurence called "A Glimpse of Teenage Life in Ancient Rome." It's a day-in-the-life explanation and runs about 6 minutes. Super cute. Now if only Laurence would do one about teenage girls, older women, slaves, immigrants, and, well, people other than wealthy males. The only visible people in this video are male (except the 7-year-old girl betrothed in marriage), and we know that females had much greater visibility than that, particularly upper-class ones. It would be fantastic to see a series like this, each video focusing on a different age/sex/social class/ethnicity.
|Still from Laurence's TED-Ed video
Stay tuned next month as I travel to Rome for a conference, a bit of cool research, and perhaps some thanatourism!


text:
Playwright and director Phillip Hayes Dean's one-man play "Paul Robeson" powerfully chronicles the life of a remarkably talented man who, against great odds, achieved huge accomplishments and international stardom. After graduating with a Columbia University law degree, Robeson realized racist prejudice would limit his ability to practice law. He became an actor and singer, and a dedicated civil rights activist, fighting racism wherever he encountered it.
Two-time Emmy Award winner Keith David stars dynamically as Robeson, on an almost bare stage enhanced by lighting effects by Dan Weingarten, that only contains several chairs as props and scenery, and a grand piano. David, while speaking or singing, moves around and repositions the chairs from side to side of the stage. Musical director Byron J. Smith, in the role of Lawrence Brown, Robeson's regular pianist, accompanies him on piano for his occasional solos. Smith has worked with numerous artists, including Barbara Streisand and Wynton Marsalis.
The story begins with Robeson's arrival in 1915 as one of Rutgers University's first black students. Despite overt racism at every turn, he manages through defiance, humor, and undaunted courage to graduate as an all-American football star and become class valedictorian. He subsequently attends Columbia University where he meets and marries Essie, and with her encouragement turns to acting and singing that leads to his well-deserved international acclaim and fame. His travels around the world make him aware of the ubiquitous prevalence of racism and he uses his influence and stature to enlighten people by speaking out against injustice. Returning to the U.S. Robeson continues to fight against injustice and racism and is accused of being a Communist agitator. He is blacklisted and his passport is revoked, leading to an eight-year ordeal of condemnation before he could clear his name and have his passport reinstated.
Keith David, limping and still obviously suffering from an earlier knee injury that delayed the show's initial opening date, carried on stoically to the end of a rather over-lengthy 2½ hour show, with only one fifteen-minute intermission. His singing, learned in his younger years in the church choir, charmed the audience and elicited thunderous applause with his rendition of "Old Man River," that approached Robeson's own resonance. Smith's accompaniment of the evocative music from Robeson's era provided relief from the tension built up from David's otherwise continuous, albeit flawless, monologue.
In the second half of the show Robeson appears before the House Un-American Activities Committee, with Smith asking the questions from the piano bench. Although, for me, while this powerful re-enactment appeared to be over-long and unnecessarily thorough, it did not detract from my enjoyment and appreciation of the value of this worthwhile production. I found myself watching and listening, mindfully aware of the constant murmurs from the audience when identifying with Robeson's suffering and misfortunes during one of the many difficult periods in African American history.
Creative Team for Paul Robeson:
Director: Phillip Hayes Dean, Production stage manager: David Blackwell, Scenic design: Edward E. Haynes, Jr., Lighting design: Dan Weingarten, Costume design: Wendell C. Carmichael, Sound design: Bob Blackburn, Choreography: Keith Young.
Pictured is Keith David (center) with Byron J. Smith (background) in PAUL ROBESON by Phillip Hayes Dean. Photos courtesy of Ebony Repertory Theatre. Photo by Craig Schwartz.
Showing April 18-20 and 25-27.
Ebony Repertory Theater, Nate Holden Performing Arts Center,
4718 West Washington Blvd, Los Angeles. Phone: (323) 964 9766
Published on Apr 10, 2014


text:
A month in eXo... busy, busy, busy...
I have been within eXo Platform for almost 2 months now.. As expected, it is crazy, and exciting. This is why I did not have lot of time to blog... Ideas are here, just time is not... So here a very quick post on my current work... We have been releasing new releases of products (Portal/Portlet Container, Collaboration Suite), deliver a training on eXo Portal, writing docs, articles, and many other exciting things... One of them is this nice example of integration of GWT Google Gadget in eXo WebOS. During this period, when I was not working with customers, prospects and partners, I have learned a lot about one of the most exciting and powerful features: eXo ECM coupled with eXo Portal/WebOS. eXo exposed using a powerful UI, and set of API, its JavaContent Repository on which you can build powerful sites/portal using eXo templating engine... and one other cool thing, at least for me, is the fact that most of the programming that you do, including rich Ajax based application is done using Groovy. (using GroovyServer Pages)... More to come about eXo features on this blog, but the best place to be is to follow our company/project blog at http://blog.exoplatform.org, where all the team is presenting new features, and events of the eXo community... Also, I have created, with Sebastien Roul a JUG in Nantes, here some information for French people:
- Nantes JUG's Web Site
- Press Release in the "Nantes Development" site.