text: Iowa. Turns out its not just all silos and cornfields. Here is a track derived from a few of my favorite back roads utilized by Chads TWAT and Great River Gravel Ride routes as well as some of Craigs Jackson County IA ride. This is best suited for bigger bikes as I substituted sporty pavement in many spots in an attempt to time and distance manage the track into a weekend. There are many gravel roads though and when you ride a motorcycle in Jackson County a Level B road excursion is required. Thats a State law man; right next to one that says when they sell you a gallon can of paint they have to give you a wooden stir stick. I swear, look it up. The main track was laid out counterclockwise, starts/ends in Sabula IA and is 365 miles in length. Because the Cassville Ferry is utilized I have included an Illinois option to stay on the East side of the Mississippi River if the ferry is not operating. Always check the schedule before you make the trip as river conditions change. http://www.cassville.org/rates%20and%20schedule.htm All motorcycles like a boat ride. The Illinois/Wisconsin option makes a quick pavement run to Cassville to allow time for a Potosi Brewing Co. tour and sampling. Just a suggestion, not advocating a blend of alcohol consumption and motorcycle operation mind you. There are numerous camp and lodging opportunities along the way. Ferryville WI is a nice midpoint with two mom and pop hotels or camping along the river in the citys park. The views at the Lansing overlook, Pikes Peak State Park and the Saint Donatus Churches are on my list of must see treasures. Savanna IL has camp/lodging options if you need to arrive the night before and the trip over the steel grated Savanna/Sabula Bridge is always a treat on a dew heavy morning. Sorry, no pictures yet as I am usually trying to squeeze this in a day run from my place. I will include a link from another server but give the file attachment download a try, it just may work. This is just my twisted idea of fun; Im sure you can improve upon it and please, as always, ride safely. Here is a file link from another source


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Tesla Viability
Tesla Viability
Good to laugh at, since there doesn't appear to be a single fact in evidence, or gram of intelligence in the author's head.
Outdated information and some of it simply incorrect. Implying that the price change affects people who have ordered the car but not received it is simply dishonest.
It is true that Tesla, like any other young company is risky.
However, his calculations are crude and his estimates for cash available at the end of the 4th quarter is, I believe, wrong. I look forward to Tesla proving yet another blogger wrong when the release the 4th quarter data.
TM disclosed early in the Q that they would not meet prior delivery guidance, and dialed back expectations. Then early in December many of us received emails indicating a rush to get cars transferred by month end. And what happened? We did see a flurry of deliveries, but we also know lots of customers who jumped at the chance to be pushed ahead. I think we can say with a high degree of likelihood that TM fell short, as many customers waited for year end calls that didn't come.
TM had the right objective but probably bit off more than it could handle logistically while ramping up the first full production quarter. A good example is the apparently large number of deliveries where no delivery specialist was available to the customer. I don't see this as indicative of a major problems, as it is normal growth pain. However, the actual numbers may be ugly for share performance. The delivery results and pattern established at year end will directly affect both the numbers and perception of year end cash and burn rate, so TM shares may see near term downside.
Stocks don't stay flat - they go up or down based on anticipated underlying performance. Nearly every stock is at sometime during the year a good short or a good long. Good companies and good stocks are not always the same thing... I am considering shorting against the box....
I doubt TM fell short. In fact, based on VINs and other info, I expect they exceeded the upper range marginally >3,000 in 2012. And the production rate targets have likely blown projections out of the water. And reservations even moreso.
I think the Q4 report is going to look pretty damn good.
I agree with Brian that the 4th qtr numbers should look good (at least meet the reduced expectations).
The item in the quarterly report that can have a big impact on the stock price is a change in future projections. The current forecast is for 20k cars in 2013. If TM announces that based on an increase in reservations, they have (will) scale up production to 25k or 30k in 2013 it would have a huge impact on the stock price.
The last report I have seen (12/14/2012) show there are still 29millon shares short interest, 22 trading days. If the out look is now positive and the shorts try to cover in a hurry it could cause a huge spike in the price, though probably temporary.
Pungoteague_Dave - Go for it. We're all watching
I am shortng against the box only (eg hedging shares already owned). I hope you are correct Brian, but it seems clear that a lot of people were expecting cars in December that could not be delivered.
Of course, there are probably about 13,000 people out there that are unhappy they couldn't get their cars in December.
Delivering VINs in the range of 2700-3000 indicates to me that they sold at least 2500 this year, which is the low end of their estimate. I don't see them missing the 2500 range.
"Expecting" since when? Last summer? This fall? November? And it seems they are out-numbered by people who did get cars in December who were astonished and delighted to do so. Who are actively replicating themselves, by their own accounts.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Missing your summer fix of The 4400, the USA Network's canceled show about missing people who return with weird abilities? Pocket Books has your back, releasing the first original 4400 novel: The Vesuvius Prophecy. It takes place during the early run of the show, and has a suitably convoluted disaster plot.
Here's the synopsis:
Eleven-year-old Maia can see the future, and she's never wrong. So when she has a vision of Mount Rainier starting to erupt, the National Threat Assessment Command takes her warning very seriously. But to track down the unknown returnee who may trigger the volcanic eruption, NTAC agents Tom Baldwin and Diana Skouris must uncover the astounding truth behind one of the greatest unsolved crimes of the twentieth century….
And they've got competition. Ruthless enemies are working against them and somehow managing to keep one step ahead of the desperate agents. With the future closing in on them, Tom and Diana must foil a lethal conspiracy - before Seattle and the entire Pacific Northwest go the way of ancient Pompeii.
The book's available now on Amazon.com and in bookstores. [Slice Of Scifi]


text: OpenJournals Publishing http://www.openjournals.net email@example.com http://www.koedoe.co.za 0075-6458 2071-0771 The avifauna of Kwandwe Private Game Reserve, Eastern Cape, South Africa A protected area since 1999, Kwandwe Private Game Reserve incorporates several former farms, for which past records of bird occurrences are available. No bird species appear to have been lost from the area. Between 2001 and 2005, a group of observers conducted systematic bird surveys in most months, which allowed the status (resident, migrant or irregular visitor) of most bird species to be determined. At least three species have established breeding populations in the reserve over the past 10 years. Of 302 species reliably recorded to date, 182 (60.3%) appear to be resident, 46 (15.2%) are seasonal migrants and 74 (24.5%) are vagrant visitors. Eight vulnerable and eight near-threatened bird species have been recorded; Blue Crane, Kori Bustard and African Crowned Eagle have bred in the reserve. Together with other state-owned and private protected areas in this region, this reserve holds a significant portion of the inland bird species recorded from the Eastern Cape. Conservation implications: The varied thicket vegetation types of the Great Fish River Valley support a considerable diversity of bird species. If these habitats are managed for biodiversity conservation, they can support a large component of the terrestrial avifauna of the Eastern Cape region. Adrian J.F.K. Craig1 1Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University, South Africa Charlene Bissett1,2 1Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University, South Africa 2Kwandwe Private Game Reserve, Grahamstown, South Africa Mark D. Galpin22Kwandwe Private Game Reserve, Grahamstown, South Africa Bryan Olver2,3 2Kwandwe Private Game Reserve, Grahamstown, South Africa 3Phinda Private Game Reserve, Hluhluwe, South AfricaPat E. Hulley1 1Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University, South Africa Adrian Craig email@example.com Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa 101553110.4102/koedoe.v53i1.1015 © 2011.The Authors. Licensee: OpenJournals Publishing. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.22 Jul. 2010 03 Dec. 2010 02 Mar. 2011 Craig, A.J.F.K., Bissett, C., Galpin, M.D., Olver, B. & Hulley, P.T., 2011, 'The avifauna of Kwandwe Private Game Reserve, Eastern Cape, South Africa', Koedoe 53(1), Art. #1015, 5 pages. DOI: 10.4102/koedoe.v53i1.1015Introduction Over the past 20 years there has been a significant shift in land usage in the Eastern Cape. Several commercial farms have been converted to game ranches either for hunting or for ecotourism (Palmer 2008), leading to the formation of extensive private reserves along with the expansion of state-owned conservation areas such as the Addo Elephant National Park. This has particularly affected the vegetation type originally described as Valley Bushveld by Acocks (1975), and now treated as a distinct biome, Albany Thicket, by Mucina and Rutherford (2006). In this paper, we present some baseline data to establish how this management change has influenced the avifauna in one protected area in the Eastern Cape. Kwandwe Private Game Reserve (PGR) was established in 1999 and the first lodges opened for guests in 2001. There are bird records from different sources for three distinct periods: museum specimens (1916–1960), bird club observations (1980–1999), and surveys by reserve staff and associates (2001–2005). The present study investigated four questions. 1. What bird species occurred in the area prior to the establishment of the reserve? 2. Have any species been lost since then and, if so, can we explain their disappearance? 3. Have new species become established and, if so, can we account for their arrival? 4. Do periodic vehicle-based surveys reflect the current species diversity?Study area Kwandwe PGR (33°09'S, 26°37'E ) lies in the Great Fish River Valley, approximately 35 km north of Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The farms purchased for the reserve had previously been used primarily for stock farming, with irrigated lands bordering on the Great Fish River and ostrich pens on some sections. In 2005 additional land was purchased on the northern bank of the Great Fish River, increasing the area of the reserve to some 20 000 ha. The perennial Great Fish River flows through the reserve for about 25 km and all watercourses drain towards the river (Figure 1). The main vegetation types represented in the reserve are Great Fish Noorsveld and Great Fish Thicket, within the Albany Thicket Biome. The Kwandwe PGR preserves a significant area of Great Fish Noorsveld (Mucina & Rutherford 2006). At a finer scale, Bissett (2007) described 11 vegetation types in the reserve, of which five cover more than 1000 ha. These form a mosaic of thicket and bush-clump types, with Acacia karoo, Cussonia spicata, Euclea undulata, Euphorbia spp., Maytenus spp., Pappea capensis, Portulacaria afra, Searsia spp. and Schotia afra as the dominant larger plant species. There are also old cultivated lands, now covered by grasses, and two large dams. Recent additions to the property include some valleys with Dry Forest, including species typical of both Valley Thicket and Afro-montane Forest (Mucina & Rutherford 2006), on the north bank of the Great Fish River, where large trees such as Harpephyllum caffrum occur. The altitude ranges from 170 m a.s.l in the Great Fish River Valley to 600 m a.s.l. on the ridges, and mean annual rainfall for the past 7 years was 394 mm and 358 mm at Brandeston and Krantzdrift, respectively (Bissett 2007). MethodsPast records examined in this study included the published literature on birds of the Eastern Cape, the bird collection at the Albany Museum, records of outings by the Diaz Cross Bird Club, and an unpublished list of birds on the farm Brandeston, compiled by C.A. Whittington-Jones. During 2001 the staff at Kwandwe PGR began a systematic survey conducted on a specific day each month for the 'Birds in Reserves Project' (BIRP), coordinated by the (then) Avian Demography Unit at the University of Cape Town. BIRP records exist for five months in 2001, for every month in 2002, for eight months in both 2003 and 2004, and for all months in 2005. These records allowed for an assessment of the birds that are likely to be resident as opposed to vagrants. We have also included more recent records (up to October 2009). During the BIRP surveys we followed a standard route, with surveying starting at 06:00 in summer and at 07:00 in winter. The route was designed to traverse all the different vegetation types in the reserve and to pass close by the major water bodies. The total distance was about 35 km, which was covered in 8–10 hours. We also included other sightings by rangers during the observation period; these reports typically included only large birds such as bustards and cranes, or birds of prey. Between three and eight observers participated in the surveys, depending on staff commitments on the particular day. Normally an open game-viewing vehicle was used; if another vehicle was used, there was always one observer standing on the back. All observers were experienced bird watchers equipped with binoculars and all species confirmed by call were included. The bird names used follow those in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa (eds. Hockey, Dean & Ryan 2005). Only standard English names are used in the text, but both English and scientific names are given in Online Appendix 1. Results and discussion Past records Specimens from the Albany Museum included 68 study skins from the present reserve area (collected on the farms Brandeston and The Fort, which both had river frontage). All but three specimens were collected between 1920 and 1927: a Long-billed Crombec collected on Brandeston in 1916, a Dark-capped Bulbul from The Fort collected in 1939, and a Crowned Hornbill from Brandeston collected in 1960. The collections were made by V.E. Watson on The Fort and A.T. Rivett-Carnac on Brandeston. Hewitt (1931) cited Rivett-Carnac as one of his bird informants and mentioned a single sighting of a White-fronted Bee-eater from the Great Fish River Valley, but gave no precise locality. Despite this being a biased sample in which larger birds such as waterbirds, gamebirds and raptors are poorly represented, it does provide insight into the avifauna history of the area. Of the 56 species, 55 have been recorded on the reserve in the past 5 years. The only exception is the Red-headed Finch, which was categorised as 'locally nomadic' by Dean (1997) and makes occasional incursions into this region according to recent records from Brandeston. Seven sets of eggs collected at Heatherton Towers (now the visitor reception centre on Kwandwe PGR) in the 1930s, also formed part of the past records. The eggs represent species that currently breed on Kwandwe PGR. They are listed together with the study skins in the category 'Museum' in Online Appendix 1. C.J. Skead visited all the farms that have now been incorporated into Kwandwe PGR during his research on Eastern Cape birds, but no specific records are mentioned in his reviews (Skead 1965, 1967). The Diaz Cross Bird Club visited the farms Brandeston, Krantzdrift and The Fort (now incorporated into Kwandwe PGR) on four occasions between 1980 and 1998, during which 117 bird species were recorded within the area of the present reserve. Three of these species (Glossy Ibis, Southern Pochard and Cape Canary) have not yet been recorded since the establishment of the reserve. Club members also submitted sightings of interest to the club newsletter and we have extracted from the 'Diaz Diary' all such reports (listed under 'Diaz' in Online Appendix 1). One species, the European Bee-eater, was reported in March 1988 but has not been recorded from the area since. There are unconfirmed records for Denham's Bustard (formerly often confused with Ludwig's Bustard – see Herholdt 1988), Sand Martin (likely erroroneous identification for the Brown-throated Martin, formerly the African Sand Martin), Yellow Wagtail, and Thick-billed Weaver (the latter both from an unreliable observer). From July 1997 to June 1999, C.A. Whittington-Jones made regular visits to Brandeston during his study of Red-billed Queleas at ostrich feedlots. He recorded 136 bird species on the farm, of which only the Red-headed Finch (sighted in May 1998 and May 1999) has not subsequently been recorded on the reserve. Since the removal of the ostrich feedlots, the Red-billed Quelea has become an occasional vagrant in the area. Current records To date, 302 bird species have been recorded reliably on Kwandwe PGR (Online Appendix 1). Of this total, 274 species were recorded during the 45 BIRP surveys included in this overview, representing more than 90% of the species recorded up to 2006. The avifauna was subdivided into broad habitat classes within which the birds could be categorised as regulars, vagrants or migrants based on the monthly distribution of records (Table 1). Compared with three other Eastern Cape conservation areas where Thicket is the predominant vegetation type, Kwandwe PGR has the most diverse avifauna (302 species), of which 11% have been recorded only on this reserve. Some 194 species have been recorded from the original Addo Elephant National Park area of 12 000 ha (Urquhart & Klages 1997), excluding the recently added Colchester, Zuurberg and the Greater Addo sections towards the coast. These include habitat types such as Southern Coastal Forest, Suurberg Quartzite and Suurberg Shale Fynbos (Mucina & Rutherford 2006), which are absent from the other reserves. The checklist for the Great Fish River Reserve complex records 245 species from the area west of the Great Fish River, which spans the former Andries Vosloo Kudu Reserve and the Sam Knott Nature Reserve (23 000 ha combined). Shamwari Game Reserve currently covers 22 000 ha, with 257 species having been recorded. Although Addo Elephant National Park is thus the smallest of these conservation areas and no river runs through the reserve, all four reserves lie below the inland escarpment and at a similar distance from the coast. The Great Fish River Reserve is almost adjacent to Kwandwe PGR and Shamwari Game Reserve is less than 20 km from Addo Elephant National Park in direct line of flight. These reserves form part of a belt of conservation areas between the coast and the more arid interior and include a significant proportion of the South African avifauna (combined total = 334 species), despite none being mentioned in the first national survey of important bird areas (ed. Barnes 1998). Single records Several species have been recorded only once. However, in all cases there are other records for single sightings in adjoining regions of the Eastern Cape and in some instances the timing of vagrant sightings suggests that the same individual birds could have been observed. This group includes the African Pygmy Goose, Ground Woodpecker, African Black Oystercatcher (sighted after a period of onshore gales along the coast), Caspian Tern, Tawny Eagle, Bateleur, Baillon's Crake, Greater Flamingo, Abdim's Stork, Dusky Lark, Chat Flycatcher, Chorister Robin-Chat, Capped Wheatear, White-browed Sparrow-weaver and Long-tailed Paradise Whydah. Species indicative of range expansion The Goliath Heron, a rarity in the Eastern Cape in the 1980s, is now well established along coastal rivers, down the east coast (Craig 2006) and on inland dams, perhaps spreading from major impoundments along the Orange River. Kurrichane Buttonquails were not reported from the Eastern Cape during the bird atlas survey (Harrison et al. 1997), although there are historic records (Skead 1967). Several recent records at different times of the year have led to suggestions of a range expansion into the Eastern Cape (eds. Hockey et al. 2005). Birds on Kwandwe PGR were most often flushed from areas of thicket–grass patch habitat mosaic. In 2001 an adult bird was seen with a single, very small chick, indicating that breeding had occurred. The White-fronted Bee-eater was previously regarded as a vagrant in the Eastern Cape (Harrison et al. 1997; Skead 1967). A pair was found breeding on the Sundays River at Colchester in 1998 (Martin 1999) and since then birds have been seen at this site annually. Found nesting on Kwandwe PGR in January 2002, the birds were initially thought to be summer-breeding visitors, but in recent years they have been sighted in most months and may now be considered resident. African Palm Swifts were not recorded south of KwaZulu-Natal by Skead (1967) nor Quickelberge (1989), who reviewed data for the Transkei region. Nevertheless, the first records for the Eastern Cape date back to the 1980s in Steytlerville (Ward et al. 1984). This species is now regular along the coast where suitable palms are available and has also been recorded in Grahamstown. A small colony has been present on Kwandwe PGR at the Brandeston homestead since 2005. The Double-banded Courser was not found in the Grahamstown region during the bird atlas surveys (Harrison et al. 1997), which supports Vernon's (1982) observation that coursers are rarely sighted in the Eastern Cape today. However, this courser has been sighted in one section of the Kwandwe reserve quite regularly, in association with other birds typical of the arid interior (e.g. the Rufous-eared Warbler). Breeding had been recorded in 2001 and 2002. The Violet-backed Starling is an intra-African migrant, which has been recorded breeding in the Eastern Cape to the east of the Great Fish River. In recent summers there have been an increasing number of reports from this southern extremity of its range in South Africa. The Scaly-feathered Finch was first reported in 2006 and is now apparently a breeding resident, but its distribution is very localised within the reserve. To date there has been a single sight record of the White-browed Sparrow-weaver, but nesting birds were found on a farm south-west of Kwandwe PGR recently. This species has become established on farms in the Queenstown district in the past 20 years and is currently expanding its range there (K. Webster, pers. comm., May 2010). It colonised the Mountain Zebra National Park from the late 1960s onwards (Craig, Hulley & Parker 2005; Skead 1966). Passing largely unnoticed, the Southern Grey-headed Sparrow underwent a major range expansion during the last century, colonising the Albany district during the 1960s (Craig, Every & Summers-Smith 1987) and reaching the south-western Cape by the 1990s (Harrison et al. 1997). Seasonal visitors Barratt's Warbler, a bird from the mountain forests of the Eastern Cape often moves to lower altitudes in winter (Vernon 1989). This is reflected by higher winter records on the coast and occasional sightings en route (Craig 1986). The warbler was present in thick cover close to a game-viewing hide for several weeks in June 2003; it can easily be overlooked in areas traversed only by vehicles. A winter record of Chorister Robin-Chat may also represent an individual moving from montane forest towards the coast. The Dusky Sunbird is evidently a winter visitor to the Great Fish River Valley, with several sightings on the reserve where it often feeds on the honey thorn (Lycium oxycarpum). There were also ringing records from Brandeston and Resolution farms in the Fort Brown area prior to the establishment of the reserve and later captures at aloes on Kwandwe PGR and Hounslow, a farm on the western border of the reserve. Re-introductions Along with other reserves, Kwandwe PGR has been stocked with fauna which formerly occurred in the area (Skead 1987) and, more controversially, with species such as giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), which can be considered alien to the Eastern Cape (Castley, Boshoff & Kerley 2001). By contrast, only two bird species have been considered for re-introduction. The Red-billed Oxpecker, which had been locally extinct, was re-introduced to the Eastern Cape from the Kruger National Park in 1990, with birds released in Addo Elephant National Park, the Great Fish River Reserve and on a private game farm in the Highlands area (Craig & Weaver 1990). Birds have subsequently also been introduced to Shamwari Game Reserve in 1998 and there was a second release in the Great Fish River Reserve in 2003. Breeding has been reported from Addo Elephant National Park, the Great Fish River Reserve and Shamwari Game Reserve, with regular sightings from properties adjoining these sites. The birds are often seen on giraffe, one of their favourite hosts throughout southern Africa. Currently oxpeckers are recorded in Kwandwe PGR most months and over the past 2 years there have been sightings of dark-billed juvenile birds, despite no direct evidence of breeding within the reserve. The Southern Ground Hornbill may be introduced to Kwandwe in the future if the pilot project at Shamwari Game Reserve proves successful, although this region clearly represents the edge of the natural range of this species (Hulley & Craig 2007). Conservation significance The avifauna of Kwandwe PGR includes 16 species of conservation concern, all of which are potential breeding species in the area (Table 2). The Cape Vulture has suffered a major decline throughout the Eastern Cape, with many former breeding sites now abandoned (Boshoff, Piper & Michael 2009). Only occasional vagrants are now reported in this part of the province. Similarly, the Tawny Eagle was formerly widespread in the Eastern Cape and until 1981 a regular breeding species. It is suspected to have suffered heavily from indiscriminate use of poisoned baits (ed. Barnes 2000). The sighting in January 2005 was the first in the Grahamstown district for some 15 years (Craig 2005). Bateleurs have seldom been seen south of the Orange River over the past 50 years and a record of an adult bird at Kwandwe PGR in June 2009 was a major surprise. African Crowned Eagles nest on the reserve and Martial Eagles still nest in the district. Blue Cranes nest on the reserve annually, while Kori Bustards have nested here occasionally. These ground-nesting species are, however, vulnerable to predators, particularly the black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas). Cranes and bustards frequently collide with power lines (Jenkins, Smallie & Diamond 2010) and it is thus laudable that all power cables on this reserve are now underground. The Great Fish River Valley appears to form a conduit both for southward penetration of species typical of the arid interior, such as the Red-billed Firefinch, and for inland movements of species generally restricted to the coastal belt, such as the Yellow Weaver (recorded in the Great Fish River Reserve, but not yet on Kwandwe PGR). The thickets also provide acceptable habitat for some forest species such as the Narina Trogon and the Dark-backed Weaver. Conservation of the thicket biome is currently considered a priority, since this habitat has been extensively modified by agriculture and is regarded as important in carbon sequestration. Thus, the mosaic of privately managed and state-owned reserves in this region of the Eastern Cape should be seen as a significant contributor to conserving South African biodiversity. Conclusion Although we lack a comprehensive checklist for the region prior to the establishment of the reserve, there is no clear evidence that formerly resident bird species have been lost, while at least three species (White-fronted Bee-eater, African Palm Swift and Scaly-feathered Finch) have established breeding populations since the area had become fully protected. Regular vehicle-based surveys by experienced observers seem to record a high proportion of the bird species that occur within the reserve. Such monitoring should form a part of future management plans, in the interest of both conserving biodiversity and highlighting additional attractions for visiting tourists. Acknowledgements We are most grateful to the management of Kwandwe PGR, in particular Angus Sholto-Douglas, for supporting this project and placing vehicles at our disposal. Our thanks also go to all the rangers, trainees, and other volunteers who have taken part in the surveys. Brad Fike (Great Fish River Reserve) and Antony Collett (Shamwari Game Reserve) kindly provided copies of unpublished checklists of the birds of these reserves, and Craig Whittington-Jones offered us all his dated records for Brandeston. A.C. and P.H. received research funding from Rhodes University. C.B. received funding for research on carnivores from Kwandwe PGR during the time of the study. 1.AcocksJ.P.H.1975Veld types of South Africa', 2nd edn.Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa4011282.BarnesK.N.1998The important bird areas of southern AfricaBirdLife South Africa, Johannesburg. 3.BarnesK.N.2000he Eskom red data book of birds of South Africa, Lesotho and SwazilandBirdLife South Africa, Johannesburg. 4.BissettC.2007The feeding and spatial ecologies of the large carnivore guild on Kwandwe Private Game ReservePhD thesis, Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University. 5.BoshoffA.PiperS.MichaelM.2009On the distribution and breeding status of the Cape Griffon Gyps coprotheres in the Eastern Cape province, South AfricaOstrich802 85−92doi:10.2989/OSTRICH.2009.80.2.4.831 6.CastleyJ.G.BoshoffA.F.KerleyG.I.H.,2001Compromising South Africa's natural biodiversity: inappropriate herbivore introductionsSouth African Journal of Science973443487.CraigA.1986Forest birds on Rhodes University campusDiaz Diary155458.CraigA.2005Will the Tawny Eagle return to the Eastern Cape?Diaz Diary331 11129.CraigA.2006Goliath Herons on the Eastern Cape coast'Bee-eater572363710.CraigA.EveryB.Summers-Smith D.1987The spread of the Southern Greyheaded Sparrow in the Cape ProvinceAnnals of the Cape Provincial Museums (natural History) 16919120011.CraigA.J.F.K.HulleyP.E.ParkerD.2005A re-assessment of the avifauna of the Mountain Zebra National ParkKoedoe4895−11312.Craig A.Weaver A.1990The relocation of the Redbilled OxpeckerBee-eater414586113.DeanW.R.J.1997The distribution and biology of nomadic birds in the Karoo, South AfricaJournal of Biogeography24769779doi:10.1046/j.1365-2699.1997.00163.x 14.HarrisonJ.A.AllanD.G.Underhill L.G.HerremansM. TreeA.J.ParkerV.1997The atlas of Southern African birdsBirdLife South Africa, Johannesburg. 15. HerholdtJ.J.1988The distribution of Stanley's and Ludwig's Bustards in southern Africa: A reviewOstrich59813doi:10.1080/00306525.1988.9633917 16.HewittJ.1931A guide to the vertebrate fauna of the Eastern Cape Province. Part 1. Mammals and birdsAlbany Museum, Grahamstown.17.HockeyP.A.R.DeanW.R.J. RyanP.G. 2005Roberts birds of Southern Africa, 7th edn.John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town. 18.HulleyP.E.H. CraigA.J.F.K.2007The status of the Southern Ground-Hornbill in the Grahamstown region, Eastern CapeOstrich788992doi:10.2989/OSTRICH.2007.78.1.13.57 20.Martin P.1999First breeding record of White-fronted Bee-eatersBee-eater502 1321.MucinaL.RutherfordM.2006'Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland'Strelitizia19180722.PalmerA.2008A study of land-use trends and land tenure changes in the Makana Local Municipality (Albany Registration District) for the period 1994 to 2008'unpublished report to ARDRI, University of Fort Hare, East London. 23.QuickelbergeC.D.1989The birds of the TranskeiDurban Natural History Museum, Durban. 24.SkeadC.J.1965Birds of the Albany (Grahamstown) districtSouth African Avifauna Series30 146.25.Skead C.J.1966White-browed Sparrow-weaver, Plocepasser mahali A. Smith, in the eastern and north-eastern CapeOstrich37 12812926.SkeadC.J.1967Ecology of birds in the Eastern Cape ProvinceOstrich suppl.7110327.Skead C.J.1987Historical mammal incidence in the Cape Province. Vol. 2. The Eastern half of the Cape Province, including the Ciskei, Transkei and East Griqualand Chief Directorate, Nature and Environmental Conservation, Cape Town. 28.UrquhartC.Klages N.1997Addo, more than just elephantsBluecliff Publishing, Port Elizabeth. 29.VernonC.J.1982Coursers in the Eastern CapeBee-eater333313430.VernonC.J.1989Observations on the forest birds around East LondonOstrich14147584.19.JenkinsA.RSmallie J.J. DiamondM.2010Avian collisions with power lines: a global review of causes and mitigation with a South African perspectiveBird Conservation International203152278doi:10.1017/S0959270910000122 31. WardD.MartinR.MartinJ.MartinE.1984Palm Swifts in the Cape ProvinceBokmakierie 36, 107.


text:
Banner Finance Electronic Requisition Approvals Policy
Date enacted or revised:
Revised February 2005; Revised January 6, 2016
PurposeTo develop minimum requirements for obtaining goods and services through the requisition process and to ensure appropriate levels of electronic approvals is established.
ScopeThese policies and procedures are applicable to all McNeese employees who create or approve requisitions.
Key TermsRequisitioner - an employee who is approved to enter requisitions. Approver - an employee who is authorized to approve requisitions. Authorization - delegating authority from one employee to another.
Minimum StandardsAn authorized employee who enters a requisition for the purchase of goods or services cannot be an approver on the requisition.
AuditBy electronically approving the requisition, the approver implies that all supporting documentation has been reviewed and the transaction is appropriate, accurate and complies with all policies.
- One level of approval is required unless:
- The President or a Vice-President deems a second level of approval is necessary.
- Any purchase of goods or services that exceeds $5,000 regardless of available budget.
- Any deviations from this policy will require approval by the Senior Staff.
- At any time that the circumstance arises when the employee responsible for entering the requisition or the employee responsible for approving the requisition is unavailable for an extended period of time, written authorization to temporarily assign a different requisitioner or approver must be submitted to the Comptroller's office.
- Under no circumstance should an approver with electronic approval authority release his or her password.


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Class members argued intensely over whether to limit each woman's speech to three minutes. The concern was not whether aging bladders could handle a ceremony that lasts an hour and a half, but whether relatives, some of whom are flying in from as far as Boston and California for the event, might be bored. "These women have spent their entire lives nurturing other people, and now the spotlight is finally on them," Rabbi Kutner said. "They were afraid of burdening their audience."I found their talks especially moving, based as they are on the Torah reading that would have been done in the week these women should have had their original ceremonies 80 years ago. And, if you need encouragement to practice your speaking, the article notes that the women who'd done something as simple as teach Sunday school for decades did better in their presentations.
Inspiration, ideas and information to help women build public speaking content, confidence and credibility. Denise Graveline is a Washington, DC-based speaker coach who has coached nearly 200 TEDMED and TEDx speakers--including one of 2016's most popular TED talks. She also has prepared speakers for presentations, testimony, and keynotes. She offers 1:1 coaching and group workshops in public speaking, presentation and media interview skills to both men and women.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
eloquent elders practice for bat mitzvah
Today's New York Times profiles a group of older women--many in their 90s--who missed the chance to have a bat mitzvah in their youth, but jumped at the chance when it was offered by their suburban Cleveland synagogue. Focused on the speaking practice as the women prepare for the ceremony, the story has many touching moments, as the women recall days when girls' bat mitzvah ceremonies got short shrift, occurring on a Friday or omitting the reading of the Torah. This time, the women second-guessed themselves when it came to their own speeches:
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But on a more everyday and personal level...It's been just over a year since I started my new gig, and it feels simultaneously like it was yesterday, and a lifetime ago. It feels like a blur, for the flurry of new experiences I've been lucky enough to have, especially being able to see parts of the states I never would have otherwise had occasion or funds to visit. But also like a lifetime, for the things I've learned about this business, and myself, within this year. Two of these trips brought me to the Big Easy, and I managed to squeeze in a few tastes of soulful southern food and hospitality - my favorite of these experiences was at Commander's Palace, winner of multiple James Beard awards including three Lifetime ones, and most recently a semi finalist for Best Chef: south 2012. So good, in fact, that I found myself there twice: for lunch and brunch. Below are the highlights from each.
LUNCH: Commander's Palace is located in the Garden District, a slow paced neighborhood that lives up to its name. The famed Bourbon Street is not my scene for many reasons - so it was good to get to see a more serene, genteel side of NOLA, when I ventured out of the French Quarter to lunch here. There is a more formal dining room with country-style decor, or you could choose to sit on the garden patio out back. For lunch, I stayed inside - but definitely choose the patio for brunch as they have live jazz on weekends! The menu was one that could cause serious whiplash for adventurous foodies: my eyes roamed all over the page of creative and delicious sounding dishes, willing my stomach to be tested beyond all human limits to accommodate a taste of each.
I wasn't in the mood for martinis that day, but tip for those planning a visit - they have a 25 cent martini special!
Both visits to Commander's Palace were unforgettable, and great value especially for the quality and portion sizes - and whenever it is that I return to NOLA, I will most certainly be passing some of my time at Commander's Palace!
On a 7 point scale:
Flavor - 6 bites Presentation - 6 bites
Originality - 6 bites
Ambience - 6 stars
Service - 6 stars
Overall experience - 6 bites
Price - $$ (2 bite marks)
Probability of return visit - 100%
Commander's Palace
New Orleans1403 Washington Ave., New Orleans, LA 70130
Ph: 504.899.8221
Website: commanderspalace.com _____________________________________________________________


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D'oh! So I am totally late in getting this posted -- thanks for the reminder, Jennie! (And P.S., congrats on the good news : )
Guess what else, Jennie? -- and I swear, I can't even make this stuff up -- your lucky number got pulled by random.org:
Oooh! I love the looks of that book. I am always on the lookout for boy-appropriate quilted gifts. Panda pillow is a must have I think..
Congratulations! I call that fate. It was meant to be. And if you make the panda pillow for your baby-to-be, I totally want to see it!!
Shoot me over your mailing information and I'll get your book out to you ASAP.
Thanks to everyone who entered! I've got some more book-related giveaways coming up soon, so stay tuned ... : )


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1993 Boss Hoss BH 737 (1993)
Hello, You are bidding on 1993 First addition Boss Hoss Motor Cycle. If you are looking at this you know what this is. What you don't know is this Boss Hoss has been in storage for 25 years.2016-06-23 04:58:51Fort Pierce, Florida, United States0
Boss Hoss BH 737 Price Analytics
Moto blog
2013 LA Calendar Motorcycle Show ReportMon, 22 Jul 2013 00:00:00 -0700
The 22nd edition of the annual LA Calendar Motorcycle Show marked its return to the Queen Mary Seawalk Village in Long Beach, California with hometown boy Sam Baldi taking the Bike Building Championship's Best of Show trophy with a Jimmy Todorovith/Profile Cycles built Big Twin custom named "Lost Angel." This year's Calendar Show showcased not only top builders but selected vendors and exhibitors, and of course the Calendar Girl Music live performances. And as always, this year's show celebrated the world premiere of the 2014 FastDates.com Motorcycle PinUp Calendars, featuring the world's top SBK World Superbikes, sport and cafe bikes, and custom motorcycles with the beautiful Calendar Kittens. On hand throughout the day to meet with fans and pose for pictures were Calendar Kittens Apple Price, together with official SBK World Superbike grid girls Jessica Harbour and singer/songwriter Sarah Horvath.
The Aston Martin V12-Powered CruiserFri, 05 Jul 2013 00:00:00 -0700
From the WTF files of Youtube comes this custom built (obviously) motorcycle powered by none other than a V12 plucked directly from an Aston Martin. When it comes to transplanting large car engines into motorcycles, Boss Hoss has been the go-to name with its V8-powered customs, but this creation takes it one step further. We don't know much about the build, but really, the video speaks for itself.
Early V8 MotorcycleWed, 14 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800
Before venturing into aeronautics, Glenn H. Curtiss began his long and storied career by working with motorcycles. In fact, the early aviation community sought out Curtiss due to his reputation for constructing powerful and lightweight motorcycle engines.


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Results tagged ' Minor League '
Meet the Bloggers: Camille Campins Adams
Our second installment of our Meet the Bloggers series features Camille Campins Adams. Her My Serendipitous Life as a Baseball Wife blog chronicles her life as the spouse of a professional baseball player, and it's been rising up the Latest Leaders. The Miami native spent this past season in the Northeast with her husband, David, a Yankees prospect. In between the Minor League and Arizona Fall League seasons, we caught up with her recently at Marlins Park in her hometown:
Want to be the next person featured here? We're looking for MLB.com Bloggers who will be at the ballpark this Postseason to sit down for a video interview. If you fit the bill, please leave us a comment with your blog URL and available dates.


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GolTV will begin televising the 2013-14 season of Eredivisie, the Dutch national soccer league, on August 2.
The Miami-based soccer network will share the US media rights to the Dutch top flight league with ESPN. As of press time, ESPN — the self-proclaimed Worldwide Leader of Sports — begins its coverage of Eredivisie on August 11, while GolTV is set to kick off their coverage on August 2 with the season opener between Ajax against Roda JC Kerkrade.
Details and TV schedules are limited, but as soon as we find out more information, we'll be sure to share it with you.
GolTV is currently available on DirecTV and other TV providers.
Photo credit: @thedenimkit.


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Read the full story here Web Link posted Saturday, December 1, 2012, 11:51 AM
Town Square
Alameda County agency to pay for recount of votes on narrowly-defeated Measure B1 transportation tax
Original post made on Dec 1, 2012
Read the full story here Web Link posted Saturday, December 1, 2012, 11:51 AM
a resident of Birdland
on Dec 1, 2012 at 12:02 pm
You mean they are going to fund a recount hoping to benefit themselves and funding it with our money? How generous of them.
a resident of Amador Estates
on Dec 1, 2012 at 1:31 pm
Taxpayers have to pay for the recount? Ridiculous!
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Dec 1, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Whoever ordered this should be fired. If a recount is desired, the Yes campaign should be paying. This should be illegal to use taxpayer funds for this.
a resident of Livermore
on Dec 4, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Now now, let's not get upset when "your" government uses your money for the recount. On second thought, isn't the group requesting the recount supposed to pay. O' I just remembered, this is another tax increase isn't it. So we will pay to see if we can sway the results so we can all pay more taxes to keep the unions working and pay for their retirement. Something sounds wrong here. Are we getting screwed again??
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Dec 5, 2012 at 9:41 am
LOL. Is there ever a day that goes by that the lot of you on here all the time DON'T get yourselves all flustered up about everything in the world?? Take a deep breath and just relax... you'll be fine.
Now I'm sure even this post will ruffle you all up some more... hahaha
a resident of Pleasanton Valley
on Dec 5, 2012 at 10:13 am
mooseturd is a registered user.
This reminds me of flipping coins with a small child. They often demand a reflip. When it comes out like they want, then it's a valid flip. Well, I may not like the outcome of the recount and will demand another flip.
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Dec 5, 2012 at 12:58 pm
mooseturd, not sure that's a fair analogy... since any election count done relatively quickly on that day could have some margin of error, if the percentage difference between winning and losing is small, then it's reasonable it could be within the error rate. In that case, the recount is more like a double-check on the results with a more careful accounting. They wouldn't do a recount if the initial result was say 60% approval since the likelihood that it was 66.67% is just too low. But given this is currently at around 66.51% or something like that, it's clearly within a likely margin of error.
Therefore, trying to use a coin analogy, I think this is more like trying to read a flipped coin from 25 feet away the first time and asking for the second look at the coin to be with a zoom lense instead. There's no change in the underlying raw data (the actual votes or the first flip of the coin).
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Dec 5, 2012 at 10:36 pm
Who is checking the checkers?
Considering the massive amount of money contributed by the yes on B1 campaign, including the unions that will benefit greatly, the endorsements of most democratic politicians in the county, and the fact the no on B1 campaign was essentially unfunded, is anyone else concerned that Measure B1 money will find a way to tilt the outcome in their favor.
Again, I hope some taxpayer organization is monitoring the recount. What I expect is a disappointing outcome via a short-circuiting of the process. When Billions of taxpayer dollars at stake their is nothing the unions, The ACTC, and Haggerty won't do to ensure their future funding.
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Dec 6, 2012 at 1:11 am
The Valley Times is reporting that after the recount (partial recount in Berkeley), the measure again failed.
What a waste of taxpayer money to do a recount. Haggerty and Miley should both be removed from office.
a resident of Downtown
on Dec 8, 2012 at 5:51 pm
They could have used the recount money to fix the potholes on 680. I guess when you're gambling with taxpayer money, anything is a good bet.
a resident of Ridgeview Commons
on Apr 26, 2017 at 5:59 pm
Due to repeated violations of our Terms of Use, comments from this poster are automatically removed. Why?


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Thursday 08/07/2014, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Opening Day Spotlight onlyFiber is serious fun! Especially when . . . Our PANEL of 4 talented designers — Jenny King, Judith Shangold, Karin Skacel, and Myra Wood — were asked, Feature your fiber expertise to design panel-based garments using a template from Knitting in New Directions. A life-sized template is perfect for combining knit and crochet — even for mixing in handwoven or felted fabric.
Then we added a twist to the challenge: Each PANEList was handed a wild card, Take a panel created by one of the others and add pieces that make this design work. The element of surprise forces the designers out of their comfort zones — and that should be a good place for creativity.
How will the PANEL meet that challenge?
Will they be more creative when they plan and control the whole project? Or will they be more creative when they have to deal with the unknown?
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MANCHESTER — With the recent plethora of wilderness survival shows and surge in small-scale farming, Americans are thinking about and reevaluating what it takes to survive. On March 30, the Currier Museum of Art exhibition Abigail Anne Newbold: Crafting Settlement will do just that.
A room-sized art installation will invite visitors into a fictional homestead on the fringes of modern society. Custom-designed dwelling structures made using timber-frame joinery and a bike-pulled covered wagon are among the many unique handcrafted objects that will populate the gallery, set for self-sufficient living and on view through July 14, 2013. In the context of our uncertain times, Crafting Settlement poses urgent questions about the complex dynamics of living and making a home.
Newbold is an artist and "maker," who is part craftsperson, part designer. In Crafting Settlement, she combines age-old woodworking and textile techniques with modern materials such as nylon to create finely crafted items that populate a personalized domestic space, influenced by Shaker design and the vernacular architecture of New England farms. Objects on view will also include those Newbold has collected from flea markets and modified to suit her contemporary aesthetic — think Shaker rocker with neon yellow nylon webbing. Newbold's one-of-a-kind and visually alluring objects such as tools and a sleeping bag elevate what are typically mass-produced consumer items to the status of high-design and individualized production. The effect pushes craft practices into a modern context and explores the value of cultural heritage to our contemporary times.
Crafting Settlement is Newbold's most ambitious art installation to date. It builds on the artist's long-standing interest in the qualities that make a home, which originated while she was hiking through the backcountry of the Southwest United States carrying her home in a pack on her back. Themes of portability, survivalism, and the relationship between necessity and comfort continue to pervade Newbold's investigations into the meaning of self-sufficient living.
The exhibition Crafting Settlement will feature a hands-on Settlement Lab, where visitors of all ages can explore the content of the installation in more depth.
Based in Massachusetts, Newbold has recently exhibited at the Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston; the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. Newbold received a 2012 Artist Award from the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts and a 2009 Kresge Artist Fellowship, among other distinctions. Newbold earned a BFA from Massachusetts College of Arts in Boston and an MFA in Fiber from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan.
Abigail Anne Newbold: Crafting Settlement is part of the Currier's Contemporary Connections series, which features new work by early- and mid-career artists from New England made in dialogue with the Currier's collection, architecture, and regional histories and location.
About the Currier
The Currier Museum of Art is located at 150 Ash Street, Manchester, NH. Open every day except Tuesday. Museum admission: adults $10; seniors $9; students $8; children age 17 and under are always admitted free. More information: www.currier.org or call 603.669.6144 x108.


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Former Greenfield officer accused of misconduct reaches plea deal
Thomas Roszak accused of swearing at woman, throwing her in cell
A deal has been reached in the case of a Greenfield police officer accused of roughing up a suspect.
The 30-year-old officer was charged with misconduct in public office, accused of swearing at a woman and roughly throwing her in a cell.
VIDEO: Greenfield officer accused of roughing up suspect reaches deal
Former Officer Thomas Roszak could face more than three years in prison, but WISN 12 News learned he has cut a deal to be announced next week.
The criminal complaint stems from the Greenfield police arrest of a 30-year-old woman who had run from them and was later charged with fourth offense OWI.
Her lawyer said the incident is documented on video that hasn't been released publicly.
"There is video both from the hallway looking into the cell and from the cell looking out. And you do see my client literally off the ground somewhat vertically being thrown in. She actually strikes the mounted stool that's in the cell, just misses the table, and if she had gone a little bit further she would've struck her head, and it would've been a much more serious injury," Jon Safran said.
Safran said his client wants to make sure Roszak isn't hired as an officer again. He resigned earlier this month.
"It's obvious from the fact that the officer has resigned, and the fact that the officer was charged criminally, that this was a serious matter and not what we expect police officers to be doing," Safran said.
The details of the plea agreement haven't been released. Roszak is due back in court in one week.
The Greenfield police chief told WISN 12 News it wouldn't be appropriate for him to comment since Roszak is now a former employee.


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Lily is the 18 month old (as at Christmas 2009) daughter of friends, Alphonse and Michelle, in London. Using photos of Lily posted online by her adoring parents, a blank board book, adhesive photographic paper and Photoshop, I (secretly) created this personalised alphabet book. (I have pixelated faces for privacy.)
When unwrapped on Christmas day, Alphonse wrote: "Lily's gift from you is exceptional and drew gasps of admiration from us all. Perfect time for her to receive it too, as she is, of course, massively interested in herself and her immediate world and is becoming interested in letters. Would love to know how you did it." All I can say is thank goodness they had a cat named Viola!


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Where Champions Are Grown
When the final out was recorded on Sunday night in the San Francisco Giants' World Series clinching win, baseball's focal point was on two players: Buster Posey and Sergio Romo. Romo finished off the Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera with an unanticipated fastball while Posey received the season's final pitch to erupt a night of celebrating.
Romo and Posey were two of the 17 players that played for the Fresno Grizzlies at one point in their careers on the Giants' 25-man roster. The list of 17 is a mix of draft picks, free agents and MLB Rehabbers, but nevertheless, the stamp of the Grizzlies was prevalent on this World Series run.
Torture reigned in 2010. Every night for the Giants seemed like a tall mountain to climb during that season.
In 2012, it was a team-wide never-give-up attitude that carried them to the end. This is not to suggest the 2010 version was a just a group of individuals, but this season, it felt as if each player on the 25-man roster had a moment to shine.
Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner and Posey are the more well-known Grizzlies alums, but there are others with stints in Fresno during their careers. Each had a unique moment or moments that introduced them to fans of this band of characters.
Before Xavier Nady drove in three runs in his first game with the Giants on September 1st, he played in 25 games with the Grizzlies. Nady was signed as a minor league free agent after being released by the Washington Nationals. The Nationals, of course, fell in the first round of the playoffs.
Joaquin Arias recorded the final out in Matt Cain's perfect game, nearly falling over in the process, but he also registered two RBIs in the Grizzlies first game of the 2012 season to help the team to a 3-0 win over Tucson. Arias was a member of the Texas Rangers during the 2010 season when Texas eventually lost to the Giants in the World Series, but Arias was traded to the New York Mets during the season. He had never played in the World Series prior to 2012 and spent most of his career in the minors.
George Kontos was traded at the last possible moment before the start of the 2012 season to the Giants organization from the New York Yankees. He started the season in Fresno, appearing in 23 games and fashioning a 1.71 ERA. Once Kontos earned the Major League promotion in June, he never looked back. In fact, he became a valuable asset for the Giants in the playoffs. Kontos previously pitched in the bigs with the Yankees in 2011, but he did not make their playoff roster. The Yankees eventually lost to the Detroit Tigers in the 2011 playoffs after New York won 101 regular season games.
Ryan Vogelsong, an epitome of hard-work and perseverance, made his first appearance for the Grizzlies during the purple-and-black, home-games-at-Beiden-Field era in 2001. After being the Grizzlies Opening Day starter in back-to-back seasons in 2011 and 2012, he stood on the largest stage and consistently delivered standout performances in 2012 postseason. The Giants originally drafted Vogelsong in 1998 out of Kutztown University. It took Vogelsong many miles traveled, 14 different professional baseball teams and 15 years since he was drafted to taste the nectar of a World Series title.
Santiago Casilla (played for the Grizzlies in 2010 and 2011), Guillermo Mota (2012), Barry Zito (2011), Hector Sanchez (2011-12), Brandon Belt (2010-11), Brandon Crawford (2011), Aubrey Huff (2012) and Pablo Sandoval (2011-12) complete the list of 17 Farm Grown stars on the Giants roster.
When the Giants won the 2010 World Series, 16 of the 25 players on the postseason roster at the time played in Fresno (14 came up through the system while another two appeared with the Grizzlies on MLB Rehab assignments).
Posey was one of only
two three positional players on the Giants' World Series roster in 2012 that was also on the 2010 championship-winning team (Huff was a starter in 2010 but a bench player in 2012). Sandoval, though, was relegated to a bench role in 2010, but he totally redeemed himself in a monstrous way in 2012 with an MVP performance. It is only fitting the likely 2012 MVP from the regular season paired up with the 2012 World Series MVP to guide the Giants offense, banking off experience (positive and negative) from two years ago.
Two World Series titles in the last three years is quite an accomplishment. The Giants are now the first National League team to claim MLB's championship in two out of three years since the Cincinnati Reds did so in 1975 and 1976.
The Giants deserve each title, but each crown should serve as a moment of pride for the Central San Joaquin Valley community as well. It is one of the few regions in the country that can say they were able to see the World Series champions of tomorrow, today.
Romo threw pitches for the Grizzlies before he jumped to the Majors. Posey was a backstop at Chukchansi Park before a catcher at AT&T Park. The list goes on and on, and we should all be happy to be a part of it all.
Fresno is where champions are grown.


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"The Army has disgraced us all with the Sinclair sentence."
That's what our friend, a retired general, wrote about the case of Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair, who was accused of serious sexual misconduct with three women under his command. Only the third Army general to face court martial in 60 years, Sinclair received a tap — not even a slap — on the wrist: a reprimand and a $20,000 fine. No jail time.
To our friend, the Sinclair case represents a classic example of what he calls SOPA, the "Senior Officers Protective Association," operating "at its most disgusting level."
"I am personally familiar with it," he explained, "based on my own involvement in trying to fire a colonel who worked for me in Europe for sexual malfeasance, and getting the response from my boss that 'boys will be boys.'"
The general's words and experience demand attention. He's a Vietnam-era combat veteran who deeply loves his country. "The Sinclair affair," he concludes, "was an embarrassment to all who have tried their best to serve honorably and fairly without discrimination."
The day that the Sinclair verdict came down, a member of the Navy football team, Joshua Tate, was acquitted on charges of raping a fellow midshipman during a drunken party near Annapolis. The pretrial phase of that case contained a particularly obscene episode when lawyers for the player repeatedly questioned the woman about her preferences in underwear and sex acts.
Susan Burke, an attorney for the accuser, said that her client was "twice victimized: first by her attacker and then by the failed investigation and prosecution of this case."
Yes, the military has made some progress in confronting the appalling level of sexual violence rampant in its ranks. And Congress has passed some useful reforms. But these two cases show how deep the problem runs, and how much the brass still has to learn.
At least the Sinclair and Tate cases came to trial. Many don't get that far. During recent Congressional hearings, proponents of tougher measures offered these shocking statistics: In 2012, there were an estimated 26,000 sexual assaults on military personnel, men as well as women. Only 3,374 were reported and only 880 were prosecuted.
The Sinclair and Tate verdicts reinforce the lesson taught by those numbers: Don't bother to complain; the SOPA still rules. After Sinclair escaped jail Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, told the New York Times: "No one has any confidence in the system after a case like this."
Delilah Rumburg, who studies sexual assault at the service academies, said Tate's exoneration "sends a message" to future victims: "All these people are not going to believe me."
What can be done? Congress did pass some positive changes last December: ending the statute of limitations on sexual assault and rape cases; barring military commanders from overturning jury convictions in such cases; mandating the dishonorable discharge of anyone convicted of a sex crime.
But on one contentious issue, the lawmakers balked. Sen. Gillibrand strongly advocated a proposal that would have struck directly at the SOPA by removing military commanders from the prosecution of sexual assault cases. The current system, she argued, is "like your brother committing the sexual assault and having your father decide whether to prosecute."
Gillibrand attracted 55 votes including 11 Republicans. But the military lobbied hard to retain the current system, and her amendment fell five votes short of breaking a filibuster.
That was before the Sinclair and Tate verdicts. The military had its chance to prove its argument, that the current system was fair and effective. And it failed. Gillibrand should keep pushing her proposal.
This issue is not just about rules and procedures, however. It's also about culture. Power. Arrogance. In perhaps the most telling episode of all, Sinclair admitted to making derogatory statements about the women he abused.
When his staff challenged his language, he replied, "I'm a general, I'll say whatever the (expletive) I want."
When he was promoted to flag rank, our friend attended "charm school" with other new generals. He recalls a warning from a revered senior officer: "Just remember that the higher you go up the flagpole, the more your (rear end) shows."
Too many of his fellow officers didn't listen. What they heard was, "The more senior you become, the more you can get away with."
Until that cultural conviction is uprooted, until the influence and attitude of the Senior Officers Protective Association is profoundly altered, the epidemic of sexual violence in the military will continue.
United Feature Syndicate


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Well, you know I have a lot of catching up to do. So, after friendly nudges, sweet "we miss you" e-mails, comments from my mom and husband, and straightforward "when are you going to start blogging again?," I am finally going to give up my blogging hiatus and get things back in gear. I have no excuse, but that I work better on a schedule, and have been largely schedule-less since May.
Here's a quick re-cap, in pictures.
|Summer Starts with a Graduation Celebration!
|We celebrate our 6th Anniversary in Chattanooga, TN with a stay at Chanticleer Inn, great food, hiking, and city-exploring.
|Visits with family include a trip to Arrington Vineyards near Nashville, the Naval Museum in Pensacola, pre-Independence day celebrations, family meals, and time with friends.
Independence day celebration in Philadelphia include a picnic near the Philadelphia Museum and a fireworks show over the Schuylkill River.
While I've occasionally turned on my oven for an occasion (pulled pork for Independence day, cookies for Bible study, brownies for my husband's guy-weekend retreat), it has been largely avoided on account of it's kitchen-stifling tendencies. So, we've enjoyed our fill of grilled fare, sandwiches, and dishes which require minimal heat, like this delicious orzo salad.
This has to be one of my favorite summer sides, one that I make often in warmer weather, and always elicits recipe requests. The flavors just work so well together, it can be served cold or at room temperature, and goes well with almost anything you could throw on a grill.
Barely adapted from Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 cup orzo
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/4 cup golden raisins
3 tablespoons chopped kalamata olives
1/4 finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup basil, julienned
2 ounces good quality feta cheese, crumbled
In a medium pot, cook the orzo to al dente in salted water. Drain pasta.
In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper and sugar. Pour over the warm pasta, and let the pasta cool to room temperature.
Add the pine nuts, raisins, olives, onion, basil and feta to the pasta, stir well. Store Orzo salad in the refrigerator.
This salad can be made up to two days in advance. Salad is best at room temperature, but can be served cold.
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|Questioned Document Examination
|Written by Elyn Bryan
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AT NO TIME IN HISTORY was crime more rampant than it is today. White-collar crime accounts for more than $140 billion in losses annually. Nearly $20 billion worth of check fraud occurs annually. More than $2 million of worthless checks are passed daily. Telemarketing accounts for $48 billion in fraud, while according to the FBI, Internet fraud as of 2009 had topped $264 million in online losses. A crime wave of this proportion has put the services of competent investigators and certified forensic-document examiners in high demand.
This article is intended to educate and assist attorneys or investigators when they are speaking with attorneys, judges, or clients about cases that involve questioned documents. There are numerous types of cases where a document or handwriting evidence may be involved as a result of being found either at the crime scene or at the center of a civil suit.
A competent investigator is cognizant of all the clues at a crime scene. Items such as credit-card receipts, legal papers, canceled checks, personal notes, leases, and other types of documents and writing may hold the clues to the motive. The observant investigator will call attention to these documents. An investigator who does not think along those lines may miss the subtle clues that could be found on even the smallest scrap of paper, on a blank writing pad (that might reveal "invisible" indented writing), or among the personal belongings of a victim.
Crimes involving fraud, larceny, forged wills, death threats, identity theft, ransom notes, poison-pen letters, "other-hand" disguised writing, traced signatures, assisted deathbed signatures, altered medical records, fingerprint examination, ink and paper analysis, watermarks, contrived faxes, "cut-and-pasted" signatures on legal documents, anachronisms (chronological errors, such as paper or ink that did not exist simultaneously), disputed pre- and post-nuptial agreements, and auto-pen signatures are examples of the types of cases that are filed in our courts every day. An investigator should be aware of the fact that any documents or written material found at the crime scene may hold clues to solving the case, whether it is written on paper, walls, a car door, or a mirror. Questioned documents or writing can be typed, written in blood, lipstick, ink, pencil, or body fluids.
Most documents are written with non-violent, white-collar criminal intent. Others are written with darker purposes in mind: murder, stalking, kidnapping, and suicide. In questioned-document investigations—as in any investigation—it is the duty of the document examiner to remove the shadow of doubt. The examiner, if possible, will determine—without prejudice—if the document is authentic or forged, original or altered. The document examiner is an advocate of the courts. Examiners do not have clients; they represent the justice system. As a result, the examiner cannot become emotionally involved or empathetic. Upon initial contact, the examiner must disclose a non-fiduciary relationship to the person who retains the examiner's services.
There are deletions, alterations, inclusions, and other aspects that must be considered, as well. The evaluation of letter formations, pen strokes, pen pressure, spacing, letter height, relation to the baseline, and slant are all part of the evaluation process.
When a document is typewritten, there are other problems to consider. Was a page added after the fact? Is the page a copy? Did someone possibly apply "white out" on the original, type over it, and then make a copy so that it looks like an original? Was another typewriter used to make the forgery or the added page? And what about a computer-generated document? Are the pages all from the same ream of paper? With technology such as infrared and ultraviolet light sources, these questions can be answered.
On a daily basis, document examiners are faced with a multitude of questioned-document problems. The most common cases, for example, involve forged checks, forged wills, graffiti, credit-card fraud, leases, deeds, contracts to purchase items—including homes, cars, and businesses—mortgage fraud, disguised writing, and poison-pen letters (hate letters). With the improved technology of printers and copiers, forging and counterfeiting is rampant through the use of "cut and paste" and "lifting signatures".
It is well known that the field of digital science is constantly evolving. As new technology becomes available, the document examiner must stay on top of the latest state-of-the-art and work to anticipate the ways criminals may use new technology to their advantage. The certified forensic document examiner must utilize all the latest techniques and technology that science has to offer when examining questioned documents. When investigating digital crimes—crimes such as forged passports, driver's licenses, computer-generated documents, and digital images inserted into other items—document examiners are referred to as digital-crime investigators.
Comparative Ink Analysis
The newest technology today is found in comparative ink analysis equipment. One very useful forensic tool in pen-formula differentiation is ink analysis that involves the determination of chemicals specific to certain types of compounds. One method used to identify a certain kind of ballpoint-pen ink is called thin-layer chromatography. The process involves using an ultraviolet-visible photodiode array detector that allows for the dye components to be rapidly separated.
A standard is a known authentic sample from which comparisons are made. The United States Secret Service and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) jointly maintain the International Ink Library. This collection includes more than 9,500 inks, dating from the 1920s. New inks are chemically tested and added to this database on a regular basis. This reference serves as a great resource for the detection of fraudulent signatures and documents.
In the comparison of inks, chemical analysis can be useful in a number of cases, such as medical charts, tax evasion, insurance fraud, altered checks, counterfeiting, and other types of forgeries or frauds. A 2004 article from the Associated Press referenced ink-comparison evidence as one piece of evidence that assisted in the high-profile conviction of Martha Stewart. Examination of the ink on a document showed that an entry was made at a different time, possibly as an attempt to cover up insider-trading violations.
Aging Papers and Inks
The age of paper and ink can provide important clues when attempting to verify and authenticate a document. A key example was the Hitler Diaries case from the 1980s—one that involved purported diaries written by Adolf Hitler. The document examiner in the case unknowingly compared forged writing to the writing of the diaries. Taking the authentication and investigation one step further, the diaries were sent to a laboratory where the paper and ink was analyzed. It was proven conclusively that the document could not have been written by Hitler, since there were chemical compounds discovered in the paper of the book's cover that were not available when Hitler was alive. The age of paper can be determined according to the additives and chemicals or by watermarks. The Hitler Diaries, as well as many other questioned historical papers, have been debunked, while others have been authenticated.
These new developments are extremely important when examining ledger or medical-record entries. It has been established that the longer ink has been on a sheet of paper, the slower it will dissolve in the various solvents used to analyze them. It is now possible to identify the age of ink to within a six-month period. This new process of dating the age of inks has had dramatic impact on the examination and detection of backdated documents. Many malpractice cases have been won due to the analysis of ink on questioned medical records.
Infrared Comparisons
Infrared-imaging equipment and infra-red photography have given the document examiner an exciting new world of technology for investigating cases. Although this is not a new concept, the technology has been refined and taken to mind-boggling new heights.
The mechanics behind infrared are quite simple. The human eye perceives the reflected portion of the light spectrum. But there is much more of the spectrum that the human eye cannot see. For instance, when we see a rainbow, we are not seeing all the colors that exist. We see only red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. The colors on each side of the rainbow that we cannot see with the naked eye are the ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) areas. The instruments we need to convert UV and IR wavelengths of the light spectrum into visible images for the human eye are called video spectral comparators and forensic imaging spectrometers. This equipment is used for non-destructive analysis of questioned documents in the presence of seemingly equal but physically different features of writing. With IR and UV, we can see "through" writing that has been blacked out or obscured by "white out", as well as scribbled-out writing.
With split-screen and overlay software, direct visual comparison can be made of several individual images. Erased elements or chemically altered characters can be easily detected with IR and UV technology. The exceptional sensitivity and broad spectral range can detect even the slightest differences in similar inks, not seen by the unaided eye. This equipment is at the highest level of authentication technology available today.
Obliterated, faded, or altered writing can also be detected with IR and UV analysis. In a recent case handled by the IRS, the IRS claimed the defendant could not prove an expense he had written off for office equipment because the receipt had faded. The paper was old and the writing was "invisible". Under an IR filter, the "blank" receipt luminesced, showing writing that was outside the wavelength of visible light to the naked eye.
Electrostatic Detection Apparatus
Another valuable piece of equipment to the document examiner is an electrostatic detection apparatus (ESDA). With an ESDA and specialized infra-red side-lighting photographic techniques, the characteristic indentations found in writing may prove that the writing was traced. In addition, when the top page of a pad that has been written on is removed, the "blank" writing underneath can be processed with an ESDA to show the writing by the indentations on the pages below. Research performed by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City indicates that an ESDA can recover indented impressions from documents that were written up to 60 years earlier.
The technology behind the ESDA is fairly simple: To develop the indentations on paper, the indented paper is placed in a high-humidity device and transferred onto a bronze vacuum plate. The page is then carefully covered with a Mylar (transparent, non-conducting) film. The page is then electrically charged so that toner will adhere to the impressions when applied to the Mylar covering. The final step is to pour the toner on the Mylar. This process develops the page containing the various indentations.
An example of the use of an ESDA in a recent case involved a bust on a PCP drug lab. Although there was no paper evidence at the scene of the raid, the telephone book at the scene was analyzed and, in the end, it held the incriminating evidence—only visible by use of the ESDA. An astute investigator noticed a telephone book on the counter where the drugs were being processed. On the cover of the phone book were slight indentations that appeared to be writing. The indentations were restored by ESDA and the writing was compared to that of the known chief chemist of the PCP lab. The writing the ESDA retrieved was the chemical formulas, written by the chief chemist. Busted!
As an investigator, you need to think outside the parameters of visible evidence. Evidence to solve your case may be right in front of you and may easily go unnoticed. In this case of the PCP lab, the real incriminating evidence was truly invisible. If not for the trained eye of the investigator, the case may have been dismissed for lack of solid evidence that could link the suspect with the actual manufacturer of the drugs.
As an advocate of the court, the document examiner is relied upon to dispel any doubts about a questioned document. Sometimes, the examiner simply will not be able to render an opinion on certain documents. In those instances, the document examiner's letter of opinion will state an explicit explanation.
From murder scenes where notes are left behind, to kidnappings, to white-collar crimes such as forged checks, document examiners, investigators, and the technology they utilize prove to be a formidable team.
Questioned documents are a global issue. As investigators, you must be cognizant of the technologically advanced level of the criminals we face today. We must use all of the intelligence, the technology, and the resources available to educate ourselves on the topic of continually evolving criminal minds.
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Haven't seen much here but the Aussie boys have been busy...
Got out today on the zephyr in the pond (Westoz), Won't double up on everything else that was said.
Started around 10 to 12 knots on my mako king only on a 50cm bar which I hadn't adjusted the knot under the floats. Still able to stay upwind easily enough, but lacked punch. Changed to shortest knot and different experience altogether.
First thought was this zephyr sits somewhere between the New 2013 Catalyst and the edge. Developed more apparent wind than the cat, but less than the edge. Very smooth, very consistent, very stable, very ozone!
To make this clearer, there wasn't enough to warrant any kind of jump, and yet (those who know the pond) one tack out to the weed bank and back I was hitting the shoulder of the point and having to bear downwind to get back inside the pond. This is testimony to the apparent wind build up and the edge DNA built into this kite.
Wind picked up to 12 to 13/14 and now I was nicely powered. Started to throw down a few of my gay ass style hooked in stuff. Forward roll transitions with a forward loop. Back roll with back loop transitions, some one foot board offs..I know I know I'm an old school tragic!
Nice floaty jumps and plenty of time in the air to adjust accordingly, but was a little slow on the loop.
Changed to a bigger bar ( the one it comes with) and the loops were noticeably easier to execute as you would expect.
While I didn't do any unhook ( too old, to gay and not good enough for that) tricks it is easy to see why the promotion video shows this. This is a very stable canopy and not unlike the new C4 you can feel where the kite is through out the loop.
Got on an axis vanguard TT (nice board hey, wish I had got on the smaller carbon board but got the call for the war office and has to go) which has excellent pop, and the back roll back loops were as easy as they are on a much smaller kite. The kite would drag you through the rotation just right.
A fella who has a quiver of edges and catalysts also demoed this kite and when I left him to it was relatively convinced that when he got his new 19m edge ( he weighs a fair bit more than me, must be near 90kg?) was convinced he would be changing his 17m edge over to the zephyr. When I left is was blowing probably 15 to 18 ? Plenty of whitecaps and he was still very comfortable.
It seems they have designed a much better bottom end in this kite and yet maintained that top end zephyr riders have always enjoyed.
So it seem this kite has enough apparent wind edge like built into it to respond to an efficient board ( didn't test this but easily predicted on what I experienced) and yet will still afford a degree of freeride and freestyle.
Guys they have done a good job with this kite hey. Worth a demo for sure.
Would I buy one at 75kg, yes, if my marriage wasn't important to me and I didn't have a 14m cat on order ( present from the wife for my 40th).
Don't know how many retailers have a demo on offer but I just cracked a brand new zephyr which is available across from the pond at Westoz. Love to hear your thoughts after you've ridden it.
Ps some clarification on the wind, it was not driven much by a thermal Seabreeze. Maybe driven more by the weather coming. For example tried to go out down Mandurah on a 10m edge on a skim board 4knots lighter and couldn't stay upwind even though there was some whitecapping. In short wind was gutless today.
Pss further thoughts, I have a gut feeling that ozone may one day make smaller size zephyrs, as an almost free ride edge. So REO, cat, free ride edge (zephyr) and an edge. I think the zephyr in smaller sizes would just slow the kite across the window enough to make an awesome free ride kite.
Rider: Weight 75kg, Level - 1 below pro
Style: Freeriding
Weather: 13-18 knots
Build Quality: 10/10
Satisfaction: 9/10
Disclosure: Ozone Australia brand manager and store owner
My Comments: This is a new design, not a tweaked version of the last 2 versions of the Zephyr.
Out of the bag, typical Ozone quality and finish. Weight of the kite has been kept to a minimum. There are no read bridle or front bridle adjustments on this kite, so I just connected 4 lines to it from a proto bar I'm testing, which is 50cm long. Zephyr is normally shipped with a 54cm bar.
I was riding an Airush Sector 60 (one design) board. When I launched and began riding the wind was so light that 10/12M kites could not stay upwind, riders on those kites could get on the plane but would end up downwind after a 250m run and have to walk back up the beach 50-100m, so not much wind.
I had no trouble at all in getting on the plane as would be expected with such a large board and kite. The immediate thing I noticed though was how high I could point and plane upwind, this is very different to the previous versions of the Zephyr which required a bit of technique to get upwind.
Eventually I crashed a gybe and then got stuck in some sort of weird turbulence about 750m from shore. As I was trying to get back on my board I was getting hit by strong gusts up around 18-20 knots which were shifting to my right, all I could do was keep flying the kite, and it flew in a complete 360 at about 11oclock, as it completed the rotation I was lifted completely out of the water and so I let go of the bar and the kite crashed onto the water LE down.
Hmmm board is now 30M upwind of me, wind is now back to 12-15 knots but the kite was super easy to relaunch. I just pulled on my left leader line and held it, the kite drifted a bit, then the tip lifted and it rolled up on the other tip and relaunched, dragging me another 5m from my board.
Spotted my board behind me and started what I thought would be a long slog back to retrieve the board, but I was there in 3 tacks!
Later an experienced kite racer was on the water and although I could not match his speed, I could get close to his upwind angle.
Very keen to try this kite on a TT now and see how it boosts, especially after seeing the intro video with Andy Yates in New Cal.
While I was out another Zephyr appeared, a red white blue version, rider was on a Cab Chopstick and also had plenty of power and great upwind angles, spoke to him later on the beach and he was just frothing about how good the kite felt.
In light winds I'm sure this kite will be a ton of fun and will increase a kiters water time a lot, and if the wind picks up a bit during a session, no problem, the Zephyr still has that big wind range it always had.
Super stable, had no trouble when i often fell off trying to gybe, kite only ended up in the drink once and was a cinch to relaunch from dead downwind. Flew fine on the 50cm bar but I think the 54cm will work better in super light winds. My guess is this kite will work for me on the Sector from 8 knots through to 18 knots which is an impressive wind range for a 17M kite.
I gave it 9/10 on the satisfaction because its a big kite and I still prefer the performance of 9-12M kites.
I thought i'd found the best ever light wind kite when the original Zephyr came out back in 2010. Then I do recall us saying that the new Core XRLW was the best ever light wind kite in 2011. And 2012 saw the Core XR2 LW – which was the best ever light wind kite. Last week we had three 2013 Ozone Zephyrs rock up on the shop floor. You guessed it, BEST LIGHT WIND KITE EVER!!!!
This time, I'm not kidding. You can talk to the two lucky owners of those Zephyrs – Daryl and Dave. You can talk to the 11 individual (and independent) riders who had a demo of the new Zephyr last weekend at our demo day. All of them came back with huge smiles, nothing but praise and it wasn't even 15 knots!
But here's a proper review of the kite for those of you who are really keen to hear what it was REALLY like.
So a light wind kite is supposed to do a few things. It's meant to be powerful. It's meant to fly in light winds. To do that, you need to have a clean and efficient shape with no drag, flutter or silly things pulleys hanging in the air to hold it back. Check, check and check. A telltale sign of a great kite is the fact that it doesn't have much wingtip flutter in the turns (and CERTAINLY not in level flight).
The Zephyr is rock solid, and that positive turn is what really becomes apparent the moment you flick this kite into the window. It pulls steadily, recovers from the dive with a gentle pull on the bar, and then settles into straight line flight with no effort at all.
Like Steve said above - the old Zephyr "required a bit of technique to get upwind." The new one doesn't. While it's no Edge in terms of upwind sorcery (we still don't know how that kite does it!) You'll be more than impressed with how simple it is to get back to where you started. That's what light wind riding is all about right? I won't get into how exactly to ride upwind on it, basically just stand there. It's as simple as that.
Relaunch? I didn't crash it, but out of 11 independent demo'ers – most of them did. And I never heard a single mention of it. Something tells me it wasn't a big deal. Either that or the jellyfish were a bigger problem than getting the kite out of the water. With such a clean design and top quality fabric that Ozone use, water just beads off it anyway so I'm sure it relaunches as well as a Catalyst.
Top end? This is a funny one actually… Those of you who know Daryl know he'll be the guy in 25 knots on his old Zephyr. So when a southerly buster loomed on the horizon we weren't at all surprised to see him with the new one pumped up on the beach. Around the time he came in (mostly in the air) the wind had hit 30 knots. Admittedly that was beyond ridiculous, but Daryl said he was comfortably until it got over 25 knots. Same as the old Zephyr. Perfect!
Low end? It's not any lower than the old ones, I mean – short of filling your kites with helium (no, not really… It doesn't work) you can't get any lower than 5 knots with a big board. The difference between the old Zephyr and the new one is the fact that you can ride upwind easily and be comfortable in those low winds. Threshold winds as Cabrinha would say…
As for jumping and freestyle… Hey, I wear Nitrous shorts now. I don't do rolly-polys anymore. But I did jump it and went about 3m high. What do you expect in 10 knots? I saw Daryl about 15m up though once the wind hit – he's still up there.
So I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a fantastic big kite and I'd love to have one in my personal quiver for the light days. I'd feel comfy handing it to a learner (I did!) and knowing they'd be able to handle it. I'd also hook up to it with a raceboard and feel pretty competitive in the light air.
Now I know there's no negatives here - and I tried... I really did... Because most of you guys like my reviews because I DO point out the bad bits. But i just can't find any.
.Had a go on an old Underground 1.52 x 44 with the 2013 Zephyr today, on the correct size bar and lines - 54cm x 27M lines.
Wind was 9-14 EAST to ESE, with tide working against me, so losing a knot or so (at Kurnell).
Bad wind in close as its slightly cross off in that wind, but was able to get going. Stayed out for about 30 mins, ended up downwind at the Cat Club, walked back up to knobheads place and went one groin up, had one run and came back in.
Verdict, bottom end on this board is around 10-11 knots, its was the holes and lulls that killed my ability to stay upwind.
Had my sector 60 there but was not confident enough in the wind or my ability to get back to it if I stuffed a gybe (likely).
Super stable kite, even in these flukey conditions it never felt like it would fall out of the sky.
Then it was beer o'clock.
Just sharing...


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Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 30 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, …2008). She also is the cohost of the "Windows Weekly" podcast on the TWiT network. Got a tip? Send her an email with your rants, rumors, tips and tattles. Confidentiality guaranteed.
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Two children and one adult were killed and several people were injured when a truck struck a Halloween hayride in a small town in eastern Mississippi on Monday, authorities told NBC News.
The victims were all on a trailer which was being towed by another vehicle near Chunky in Newton County, according to Capt. John Poulos of the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
"It was just chaos," said Newton County Coroner Danny Shoemaker, The Associated Press reported.
U.S. & World
Three helicopters and multiple ambulances transported injured people to three hospitals. Some had life-threatening injuries, Poulos said.


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Augustus Bart Berger, Jr. 1924 - 2013
Augustus Bart Berger, Jr., passed away on August 7th, 2013, in Berkeley, California, at the age of 89. He was known throughout his church parish as extremely kind, generous, and caring. He was active and alert and continued his charity work until the end.
Bart was born on July 12th, 1924, in Denver, Colorado. His family moved to a small farm on Vancouver Island near Victoria, British Columbia, in 1934 to help relieve the stresses of the depression. They moved to Berkeley in 1939 after his father's death, and Bart attended Berkeley High School.
Upon graduation in 1942 at age 17, he enlisted in the Army Corps (Air Force). He was assigned to the 15th Air Division and stationed in North Italy, where he flew over 50 missions during World War II as a P-38 pilot and reconnaissance photographer. He earned two Silver Stars.
After the war, Bart graduated from U.C. Berkeley as a civil engineer. Bart worked for the California State Highway Department for 28 years until his retirement in 1977. Bart was initially a surveyor and later a designer in several departments. He helped lay out several of the Bay Area's freeways.
Bart married June Elizabeth Fountain on February 3rd, 1951, in Berkeley. He is survived by his sister Margaret Wallace of San Francisco, 4 children [Bart (Marcia) of San Jose, Tom (Marianne) of Albany, Ralph (Eileen) of Orinda, and Joan (John Coffey) of Colma], 9 grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchildren.
Bart loved the outdoors. His family fondly remembers the many summer camping trips they enjoyed together, and many visits to Bart's childhood retreat at Estabrook Ranch, Colorado.
Bart was an excellent photographer. He was an early member of the Berkeley Camera Club and remained active in the club for many years. He met his wife, June, at the Berkeley Camera Club. He enjoyed taking pictures of landscapes and family members, and he printed and developed his own photographs.
Bart was an avid gardener, and enjoyed building projects such as his greenhouse and home-built solar cooker and water heater.
Bart was very active in his church. He participated in several community-service activities, including providing food and transportation to those who needed it. He was known for devotion to his family, neighbors and friends, and for countless good works for the disabled and less fortunate.
Most of all, Bart is remembered by his family as a loving, caring father who taught his children well through his many examples of kindness and consideration.
There will be a memorial mass for Bart at Saint Mary Magdalen Church in Berkeley at 11 a.m. on Friday, August 30th, followed by a reception at the church.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to Saint Mary Magdalen Church or the charity of your choice.