text:
Mark O'Hara left jail without handcuffs Wednesday, two years after he went to prison and one week since an appeals court ordered him a new trial.
He was serving a 25-year sentence for having 58 Vicodin pills in his bread truck. Jurors weren't told that it is legal to possess the drug with a prescription, which he had.
The Hillsborough State Attorney's Office has not decided whether it will seek a retrial in the Dunedin man's drug trafficking case.
O'Hara, 45, said he made the 168-mile trip back from a Dixie County prison without knowing exactly why. His attorneys had alerted him of their successful appeal but cautioned that it wouldn't become final for 30 days.
Still, he figured something positive was afoot.
"They been treating me like a human," he said of authorities.
Events leading up to his release also seem to point in his favor.
Col. David Parrish, who runs the county's jails, said State Attorney Mark Ober called him late Monday afternoon with an urgent request. He wanted O'Hara brought back to Hillsborough from the Cross City Correctional Institution as soon as possible.
Prison transfers usually take a week. O'Hara's took a day.
On Wednesday morning, he appeared before Circuit Judge Ronald Ficarrotta, the same jurist who heard his trial and sentenced him to the mandatory 25 years in prison on the trafficking charge.
The hearing was scheduled so quickly that O'Hara's attorneys didn't even know about it.
Prosecutor Darrell Dirks acknowledged that the state erred in leaving out a jury instruction regarding prescriptions. He suggested O'Hara be returned to the status he had before his August 2005 trial.
O'Hara piped up, saying he had been released from jail on his own recognizance after his arrest.
Court records confirmed it. Dirks didn't object, and the judge ordered O'Hara's release.
He got to ride back to jail in a van without other inmates, he said.
That isn't typical treatment for an inmate, but neither was the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruling about his case.
Claims called 'absurd'
The opinion faulted prosecutors' claims that Florida statutes do not allow a "prescription defense" in drug trafficking cases.
Using words like "absurd" and "ridiculous," three appellate judges said the state's position would make patients with valid prescriptions criminals as soon as they left the drugstore.
Tampa airport police arrested O'Hara in August 2004 after they found the hydrocodone and a small amount of marijuana in his illegally parked and unattended bread truck.
He refused plea agreements from prosecutors before trial, one for three years in prison. Instead, jurors heard from two doctors who said they had been treating O'Hara since the early 1990s for pain related to gout and auto accident injuries.
Prosecutors did not contend that O'Hara, who went to prison in the 1980s for cocaine trafficking, sold any of the 80 Vicodin pills he had been prescribed in the eight months before his arrest. Under the law, simply possessing the quantity of pills he had constitutes trafficking.
On Wednesday, members of the State Attorney's Office continued to review the case.
"The immediate concern was to get him back and get him out of jail while they look at the case law," said Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi.
No clothes, no money
At 1:25 p.m., O'Hara walked out the front door at the Orient Road Jail, dazed and squinting in the sunlight.
He wore a sky blue paper shirt and pants outfit, provided by the jail to inmates who don't have street clothes. He called it a "clown suit." He said he threw away his personal belongings on his way out of prison.
Salt and pepper stubble blanketed his chin. He left his razor at prison, too. A guard told him he would be back for it.
"No, I won't," O'Hara recalled saying.
He had only a rolled-up stack of legal papers. No money, no ride home.
As he tried to figure out what to do next, Parrish walked up from the parking lot. The jail administrator recognized O'Hara instantly.
"I didn't know about this," Parrish said, pointing to the awkward paper outfit. "I'm sorry. You've had enough problems."
Getting home to Pinellas County was the next one. Parrish handed him a $20 bill, then disappeared inside to call a cab.
"You can't beat that," O'Hara said, smiling.
His head felt cloudy, he said. He wasn't sure what to think of his new freedom or whether it would last.
He sold two condos, his car and his bread business to pay for the appeal. But the state took the proceeds, according to family friend Eric Mastro, to pay toward the $500,000 fine that came with his conviction.
Parrish walked back out of the jail. The cab would arrive in five minutes, he said.
When O'Hara told him how far he had to go, Parrish handed him another $40 from his wallet.
Colleen Jenkins can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com or (813) 226-3337.


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Evan Longoria provided the Rays a pulse in their ALDS against the Red Sox.
But it was Jose Lobaton who gave Tampa Bay the most important gift of all.
And so Tropicana Field won't be dark tonight. More than 33,000 once again will pack the place, screaming and yelling and screaming some more, exhorting on their Rays as they attempt to drag this series back to Boston.
It was a stomach-jumping, breath-halting four hours, 19 minutes of baseball that showed our National Pastime, when played as it was played Monday night, takes a back seat to no other. And it was in that 259th minute that Lobaton cracked a two-out Koji Uehara offering into the right-field stands for a Rays' come-from behind 5-4 victory.
"We never give up,'' Lobaton said.
"That ranks right up there,'' said Rays manager Joe Maddon. "Really an incredible day for the Rays.''
Where to start? Anywhere would be fine. A 3-0 Red Sox lead became 3-3 on Longoria's three-run fifth-inning homer, the Rays' third baseman becoming just the second player in major-league history to hit a postseason home run on his birthday, and no doubt the first to head home to a former Playboy model girlfriend after doing so.
And the action just kept on coming, some of it to the chagrin of the Rays. Replay showed second base umpire Mike Winters missed Red Sox pinch runner Quintin Berry getting caught attempting to steal second base in the eighth inning, an opportunity on which the Red Sox failed to capitalize.
If you're keeping track at home of late, that's Blown Ump Calls 2, Rays 0.
Instant replay, can you please be born, like, instantly?
Even in the bottom of the eighth inning, when the Rays took a 4-3 lead, the run was scored in one of baseball's 6,957 peculiar ways. A leadoff walk to James Loney. A bunt up the first base line by Desmond Jennings, no one covering first for the Red Sox.
Another ball that failed to leave the infield, this one a grounder by Yunel Escobar that was smothered almost exactly behind second base by second baseman Dustin Pedroia and shortstop Stephen Drew.
All of it leading to Young, a hot hitter of late, kept on the bench for the game by manager Joe Maddon in favor of Matt Joyce. Young didn't hit a homer, or even hit it particularly hard, but yet another grounder, this one to first baseman Mike Napoli, scored pinch-runner Sam Fuld with the biggest run of the season.
Or so everyone thought. It wasn't the biggest, not after Boston tied the game in the top of the ninth on Pedroia's RBI grounder off closer Fernando Rodney.
The biggest was left to Lobaton, hitting in the bottom of the ninth, and not just against anyone.
Uehara had allowed just one earned run over his final 37 appearances of the regular season. In Boston's Game 2 victory he had recorded the save, striking out two Rays in a 1-2-3 performance.
Which made Lobaton's walk-off all the more remarkable. He hit just .184 in September. But at exactly 10:29 Monday night, no one cared a bit.
It's still just one victory, and tonight, they need right-hander Jeremy Hellickson to somehow leave his 5.17 ERA behind in the Rays' clubhouse.
Only four teams in ALDS history have come back to win a series after falling behind 0-2.
For the Rays to become the fifth, they had to have this one. For a while, it looked improbable, then possible, then it happened.
Longoria provides hope, Lobaton gives Rays life
Evan Longoria provided the Rays a pulse in their ALDS against the Red Sox.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
When I was an art teacher,
and now as a parent of two little prolific artists,
I am frequently asked,
"What is the best way to display
children's art work?"
My reply...
The BEST way to display your
child's art work is whatever
way works BEST for your lifestyle,
decor, budget, and home.
There isn't going to be one
answer or solution that fits everyone.
Today I'll share a few solutions
that work for my family
(and take you on a little show and tell around my house)
1. First option is expensive but will last for years and years.
This would be the professional framing and matting option
with archival quality, acid-free backing and matting material
to prevent the art work from turning yellow,
and UV glass to prevent fading.
This "abstract" watercolor was painted by
the Frog Princess "E"when she was 2 and half years old.
I love the colors and the expressive quality of it.
I had it framed in an acid free, archival quality
white mat with a three inch border and a
simple, contemporary-style black frame.
It suits the piece and gives it a more sophisticated feel
so that is can hang over the fire place or in our dining room
just as easily as it would in a child's room or playroom.
2. Simple option for paintings on canvas -
paint the edges and skip the frame.
If you get tired of them, gesso over them and start over.
These abstract acrylic paintings
were also painted by the Frog Princess "E"
before her third birthday.
Because I gessoed the entire bottom canvas black
and the top canvas white (before the painted them)
I did not need to frame them.
The sides of the canvas are already painted by me --
it's the same trick I use with my own work,
I paint all of my own painting edges black and don't frame any of them.
This robot painting was painted by "E"
when she was four and completely obsessed with robots.
It hangs with painted edges (and no frame) in our playroom.
3. If you have a lot of work that changes regularly
and you don't want to spend a lot of money, here's
a solution I used in the hallways at my school.
This self portrait was made by "E" in Kindergarten.
I placed it in an
acrylic box-style frame,
These are VERY inexpensive and a great solution
for creating a rotating children's art gallery
in a hallway,playroom, or bedroom.
You can easily change the art work
(in a variety of sizes)
and the look of the whole piece by
using different paper behind the artwork.
I just wrapped the cardboard box that
fits inside the acrylic frame
with bright green gift wrap.
(the artwork floats on top of the box, sandwiched between the two layers)
4. An easy solution for stiff paper like
Watercolor paper or work on Card Stock,
just set the artwork
(or even a stack of art work that you rotate)
in a wooden plate holder
(they also come in clear acrylic).
They come in a variety of sizes and finishes
to fit your budget and decor and (bonus!)
can be folded flat and stashed in a drawer
when not in use.
This is great for seasonal art work
or a nature table display!
5. A dedicated display area
for three-dimensional art work
like painted pottery,
clay pinch pots,
plaster hand casts,
painted picture frames, etc.
This etagere in the corner of our dining room
serves as a rotating gallery for all of our
larger masterpieces.
I also have a hutch that holds china
as well as my daughters' hand-painted plates
we've made at Paint-your-own-Pottery-type stores.
6. A hanging clothes-line style solution.
We hung this wire (from IKEA's Curtain Department)
and use Metal Curtain clips to rotate art work
(and alphabet/number flash cards)
around the top of our Playroom.
7. You can always go with the tried and true
refrigerator covered with magnets
and kid's art projects.
Great solution for all of those school pieces
that can be up for a few days (weeks)
then rotated to the recycling bin,
photographed for a digital scrapbook/coffee table book,
or put in a paper box to be saved/sorted later.
This option doesn't work if you have
a stainless steel fridge since they are not magnetic!
Other options:
Make your own ART BOOK
Garage Wall Gallery
Wrapping Paper for Grandparents
Custom Notecards/ Gift Cards (I use Snap Fish & Kodak Gallery)
Bulletin Board
Digital Albums
Custom Coffee Table books!
Home-Made Calendars
Curtain rod and Curtain Clips
Clothes Line and Wooden Clothespins


text:
Pakistan's Oscar contender 'Zinda Bhaag' faces formidable hurdles
KARACHI, Pakistan — The first Pakistani film up for Oscar consideration in half a century faces 75 foreign-language rivals from around the world, many made with much larger budgets and far slicker marketing campaigns. It must survive the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's winnowing process that narrows the field to five before the envelope opens at the Dolby Theatre on March 2.
For the filmmakers of the low-budget "Zinda Bhaag" set in the back alleys of Lahore, however, getting the film into Pakistan's few cinemas and showing the world a different side of their country is in itself a big win. The movie opens Friday in Los Angeles
"Just seeing something positive come out of Pakistan beyond war and terror, when there are so many problems, something beyond guns and jihadis, is an achievement," producer Mazhar Zaidi said. "At a larger level, it's something people here can relate to and take pride in."
The film, which cost less than $1 million, focuses on three young working-class Pakistanis from Lahore in eastern Punjab province faced with limited opportunities and unlimited problems who dream of a better existence overseas. The filmmakers keep a tight focus on daily life in the city's narrow streets, avoiding obvious references to terrorism or politics.
PHOTOS: Hollywood backlot moments
"Embodying a nation's hopes, that's scary," said director Meenu Gaur, speaking in a Karachi apartment overlooking a moody Arabian Sea. "It's just a victory that it's out."
"Zinda Bhaag" starts as a light comedy as the three steal and cook a chicken, drink, gamble and work for a local mob boss, searching for a way out of their low-paying jobs. But it soon turns dark as despair mounts and legal avenues fail, prompting the characters to try more questionable methods. Illegal emigration has a long tradition among Punjabis whereby a few return rich and many more die in shipping containers or live bleak lives overseas, too ashamed to come home.
"Zinda Bhaag," meaning "get out if you can," is an ironic twist on the national slogan "Pakistan Zindabaad," meaning "Long Live Pakistan." A Gilani Research Foundation Survey this month found that 40% of Pakistanis under 30 want to emigrate.
At a food court and multiplex in Karachi's Atrium mall, two engineers sip sodas on a Saturday afternoon, having run a gantlet of machine-gun toting guards and metal detectors to enjoy the air conditioning. They prefer such Hollywood blockbusters as "Avatar" and "Transformers" but found "Zinda Bhaag" "thought-provoking."
"The sad part, even though their friends were dying, they still wanted to go overseas," said Athar Shaukat, 26. "That's how desperate things are in Pakistan."
"We want to go abroad too," added his friend, Baar Mehdi, 25. "It's the sad reality."
Most critics here gave "Zinda Bhaag" high marks, calling it edgy, a new genre for Pakistan and the embodiment of a nation's Oscar hopes. There was also some grousing that the story line jumped a bit and a few of the songs were self-conscious.
"The long drought since Pakistan's last Oscar contender in 1963 underscores the state of an industry so decrepit it was unable to sort out the simple task of organizing a committee to promote one of its own," said Mira Hashmi, a film studies professor at the Lahore School of Economics. "Pakistan had a film body, but there was a lot of infighting and it was dormant for a long period of time. It's really our fault."
Finally this summer, a few filmmakers decided to put the country back on the cinema map and formed the Pakistani Academy Selection Committee, which chose "Zinda Bhaag" over three rivals.
Underscoring Pakistan's deeply divided society, however, even this modest exercise sparked controversy. Rival filmmakers accused the committee of approving "Zinda Bhaag" before it had a proper commercial run, operating in secret and favoring a film that wasn't really Pakistani. (The film, which uses a lot of non-actor Lahore locals, cast Bollywood star Naseeruddin Shah as the Lahore mobster, and Gaur, married to Zaidi, is also Indian.)
"We didn't object to the choice of the film, but the way it was selected," said Shahzad Nawaz, director of "Chambaili," a film the committee turned down. "Just because we're in Pakistan, you shouldn't start bending the rules, as happens with everything else."
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, the committee's chairperson, counters that the process was transparent and followed academy guidelines. "These allegations are biased and incorrect," she said. "We believe this was a targeted effort to malign the team behind 'Zinda Bhaag.'"
Even as India's Bollywood film industry has prospered, its Pakistani counterpart, Lollywood, has foundered, say film lovers, with more than enough blame to go around. "The Pakistani film industry has gone through a very rough patch over the past several decades," said Hasan Zaidi, a film critic. "It basically collapsed."
The industry still faces huge hurdles. Post-production technology is weak, studios are rundown and underutilized, and there's little local market. Filmmakers estimate they'll need 100 Pakistani screens to make homegrown films a commercial success. "That said, it's a beginning," Hashmi said. "You have to start somewhere."
VIDEO: Upcoming fall films
ENVELOPE: The latest awards buzz
PHOTOS: Greatest box office flops
Only good movies
Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.


text:
How to Have a Water Gun Target Practice With Your Kids
Do your kids need to burn off some energy?
Want a fun activity that's both cool and crafty?
Have a water gun adventure with your family.
Make targets, practice shooting and then stage a water fight as a family. It's good creative and physical play and it's lots of fun.
In this article I'll share how to have a have a water gun adventure that'll keep everyone cool all summer long.
Why Have a Water Gun Adventure?
Kids love playing in and with water. It's one of the staples of summertime. Whether they run through the sprinklers, play water balloon games or take part in a good old-fashioned water fight, they're bound to have a good time, no pool or beach required.
Join your kids in the fun with a water gun adventure. This activity combines crafts and target practice while you prepare for the ultimate water fight.


text:
Recommendation: Congressional oversight for intelligence�and counterterrorism�is now dysfunctional. Congress should address this problem. We have considered various alternatives: A joint committee on the old model of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy is one. A single committee in each house of Congress, combining authorizing and appropriating authorities, is another.
Recommendation: Congress should create a single, principal point of oversight and review for homeland security. Congressional leaders are best able to judge what committee should have jurisdiction over this department and its duties. But we believe that Congress does have the obligation to choose one in the House and one in the Senate, and that this committee should be a permanent standing committee with a nonpartisan staff.


text:
Mary-Kate, Ashley Olsen Give Needy Children Some Functional New Footwear
Darren Yokota
Talk about happy feet! Children in Honduras were recently treated to one-on-one shoe fittings with designers Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who visited the Central American country to deliver footwear on behalf of TOMS. The actresses partnered with the charitable brand to create a limited-edition line of shoes through their label The Row; in celebration of the collaboration, they brought brand new pairs of TOMS's everyday walking shoes to needy kids from three different communities outside the city of Tegucigalpa. The sisters were joined by a group of volunteers, and when they weren't fitting feet, they visited classrooms and played soccer with the locals. "Having the opportunity to be a part of something so meaningful has made the collaboration with TOMS special to everyone at The Row," Mary-Kate told WWD earlier this year. The TOMS + The Row shoes themselves, available in gray, black and plaid for $140-$150, are made of Italian wool and cashmere blends with lamb leather lining and black suede insoles. And just like TOMS's everyday shoes, proceeds from sales of these cozy classics will benefit the greater good: for every pair of TOMS + The Row shoes sold, a child in need will receive a new pair of shoes. —Kate Hogan
Darren Yokota


text:
By Karin Calloway
Grilled Tuna Nicoise Salad
Having an indoor grill on my Viking has led me to experiment and transform some of my favorite recipes. This Grilled Tuna Nicoise Salad takes the traditional salad of canned tuna, boiled new potatoes, steamed green beans and Nicoise olives and turns it into a grilled delight. I've replaced the traditional canned tuna with fresh tuna steaks. The steaks are marinated in a lemony vinaigrette, then are grilled to desired doneness.
Place your grilled assortment atop mixed greens along with the olives and cherry tomatoes for a wonderful entree salad. Some reserved vinaigrette that was used to marinate the tuna steaks, with the addition of drained capers and chopped fresh basil, becomes the dressing for the salad. This is a simple and satisfying spring meal that also would be wonderful for Al Fresco dining and outdoor grilling this summer.
Drain potatoes and set aside to cool. Slice potatoes into 1/2-inch thick slices. Brush both sides of the potatoes with olive oil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Toss the asparagus spears with olive oil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Preheat range-top grill on high setting for 5 minutes. Remove steaks from marinade and grill 3 to 4 minutes per side. Place the sliced potatoes and asparagus spears on the grill and grill for 3 to 4 minutes per side.
Line serving plates with the mixed greens. Add the capers and chopped basil to the reserved vinaigrette. Top the greens with the grilled asparagus, new potatoes and tuna steaks. Distribute the cherry tomatoes and olives evenly around plate and top with the vinaigrette.
Makes 2 servings.


text:
Can you run away from your own fate? When Prince Mu Hyul (Song Il Gook) is born into the royal family, he was cursed to someday kill his parents, siblings and son and cause the downfall of the entire country. Scared of the prophecy, King Yu Ri (Jung Jin Young) orders his older song, Prince Hae Myung (Lee Jong Won), to take the baby away from the palace and live among commoners. Hae Myung takes Mu Hyul to be raised by Hye Ap (Oh Yoon Ah), the chief decorator, who works in King Ju Mong's grave. Twenty years later, Mu Hyul discovers that he alone can remove the Sword of Ju Mong – the owner of which is said to rule the Northern territory. When a series of events results in Hae Myung's death, Mu Hyul believes King Yu Ri is responsible and joins forces with the Black Shadows, the secret army of Buyeo, to seek revenge. Thrown together with Prince Do Jin of Buyeo (Park Gun Hyung) and Princess Yeon (Choi Jung Won), is Mu Hyul doomed to live out his destiny? "The Kingdom of the Winds" is a 2008 South Korean historical drama series directed by Kang Il Soo. It is adapted from the manhwa "The Land of the Winds" by Kim Jin.
- Original title
- 바람의 나라
- Romanized title
- Baramui Nara
- Also known as
- Country of Wind, The Land of Wind
- Volunteer Team
- The Kingdom of the Winds Volunteer Team
- Broadcast Network
- Broadcast Period
- 09-10-2008 to 01-15-2009
- Rating
This show does not have any episodes


text:
Women Praying in General Conference
What is the recent history of women praying in public in the LDS church?
In July 1967, the church issued a "Priesthood Bulletin," a newsletter to the leadership of the church. It said, among other things "The First Presidency recommends that only those who bear the Melchizedek Priesthood or Aaronic Priesthood be invited to offer the opening and closing prayers in sacrament meetings, including fast meetings." In 1967, women were banned from praying in Sacrament Meetings.
In 1968, the General Handbook of Instruction said "Prayers in Church Meetings Prayers in all Church meetings should be brief, simple, and given as led by the spirit by the one who is voice. Their content should pertain to the particular matter at hand. Brethren holding the Melchizedek or Aaronic Priesthood should offer the prayers in sacrament meetings, including fast and testimony meetings."–p. 44.
In 1975, the rule about prayers only being offered by priesthood holders was reiterated in The Ensign.
This policy stayed in place until 1978, when President Kimball said "The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve have determined that there is no scriptural prohibition against sisters offering prayers in sacrament meetings. It was therefore decided that it is permissible for sisters to offer prayers in any meetings they attend, including sacrament meetings, Sunday School meetings, and stake conferences."
Women praying in public have come a long way from the ban on praying in Sacrament Meeting. The Church Handbook of Instruction published in 2010, the one currently in use, says "Men and women may offer both opening and closing prayers in Church meetings." This is wonderful progress; women have been granted the right to pray in any meeting they attend. There is just one step left; a women praying during General Conference.*
There is currently a letter writing campaign to church leaders, started by a group called Let Women Pray, asking that this final step be taken. (This event is not sponsored by the Exponent.) To our knowledge, women have not prayed in a General Conference session** ever, and certainly not within the last several decades. While women have been told they can pray in any meeting, that has not held up in the most public meeting of the LDS church. Many church members would like to see that change and are writing to ask that this change be made. Letters are being send to President Linda Burton, President Elaine Dalton and President Rosemary Wixom, as well as Elder Holland and Elders Perkins and Evans of the Quorum of the Seventy.
If you would like to see women pray in General Conference, send letters to the address below by February 22.
Let Women Pray
P.O. Box 3833
Salt Lake City, UT 84110
If you can, include 6 copies, one for each recipient. For more information about the campaign and the group, find Let Women Pray on Facebook or read our blog.
Here are letters composed by Exponent bloggers explaining why the feel this is important. Emily writes:
Dear General Authority,
I am writing regarding women praying in General Conference. This is not an easy letter for me to write because I have, I think, a healthy awareness of my ignorance of the magnitude, both in scale and gravity, of the things the Apostles of the Church deal with. I don't presume to advise you, only to engage in what I think is a long-standing means of communication between God's people and His prophets: letter writing. The scriptures have many examples of letters written by prophets to their people: Jeremiah, Paul, and Joseph Smith did this. I think the letters written by these prophets must often have been prompted by questions from their people, probably received in the form of letters. So it is in this spirit of seeking to communicate that I write.
I live in a very diverse suburb of Chicago. My neighbors to the north and south are Orthodox Jews and Assyrian Catholics, respectively. My son's elementary school is the most racially, ethnically, and religiously diverse school I have ever observed. He is the only Mormon, and already he is noticing that Mormons are different. I explain to him how beautiful the diversity of God's creation is, and how the diversity around us enriches our lives. I tell him it's good to be different, and that he is not the only child in his class with a unique background. He is noticing not only that he is the only Mormon in his class, but also that people who look like his classmates are rare in his church. Recently after attending a party in a church member's home he asked, "Mama, why are there no black people at the Mormon parties?" He has also asked me, although we have barely discussed this issue, why I do not have the priesthood.
These are important questions, that while difficult, I feel I can answer while holding both the truth of the gospel and the pain of not having all the answers as daily realities. But those realities and my son's observant questions are also the reason that things like women not praying in General Conference matter so much to me. I did not notice that women don't pray in Conference until I was in my 20s. But he lives in a different world than I grew up in. I worry that the contrast between his church life and his daily life may at times be jarring, and that the Church will often be the thing that appears in the less flattering light. Yet I believe within the realm of the current light and knowledge we have in the gospel, there is room to appreciate and expand the role of those who are less visible. It would be a balm to my soul to hear a woman pray in General Conference. It would be one more thing I could point to for my son and daughter to say, look: women are visible in this church, their spiritual gifts are just as important as the men's. I could more confidently say, you see women in your life leading, teaching, working, and contributing, and they do those things in the Mormon Church, too.
To be honest, I'd love to see many other changes which would open the arms of the institutional church a little wider to honor the diversity within us: general auxiliary board members sitting on the stand in General Conference, female Sunday School presidents, and a revised hymnal to include African American spirituals, for example. But as you have said, one miracle at a time. I love the gospel and I hope I am raising my children to love it, too. I sincerely thank you for taking time to read this letter, and for considering what it would mean to me and many others to allow women to pray in General Conference.
With warmest regards,
Emily U
And here is a letter from April:
Dear Brethren and Sisters,
I hope you will invite women to pray at the April 2013 General Conference. Excluding women from prayer at General Conference gives the impression that female prayers are somehow inferior to those offered by males and that God is more apt to listen to men than women. I have heard many General Conference talks that emphasize that God loves men and women equally; I do not like to see such important verbal messages contradicted at the very meeting where they are given by the choice to exclude women from voicing prayers.
Also, in spite of changes in written policy that clarify that female prayers are welcome in Sacrament Meeting, local leaders in some wards, branches and stakes continue to invite only men to offer certain congregational prayers. General Conference is an excellent venue to set an example for local leaders across the globe and demonstrate that women are welcome to pray on behalf of LDS congregations.
I have not composed my letter yet. But I got involved with this event because I believe that women praying in General Conference would show the women of the church that their prayers are just as powerful as men's are. I have been told on by several people, including a commenter on this forum, that men's prayers are stronger because they hold the Priesthood. I do not believe that is true, nor do I believe that is what the church teaches. But if women don't pray in the largest and most important meetings the church holds, meetings where new revelation is given, it leaves members free to believe that men's prayers matter more. No women should feel she is less important then the men in her life, and no man should feel his prayers are stronger. There is no policy demanding women be excluded from praying in General Conference. In fact, the opposite is true. I'd like to see the current policy of allowing women to pray anywhere be acting upon.
*This research was done by Jonathan Griffith and can be seen on this blog post.
**I realize that women regularly pray in the General Relief Society and Young Women's Meetings. These meetings are not called sessions by church leaders, nor are the counted as general sessions. When the leader conducting the last session welcomes the congregation, he calls that session the fifth and final session of Conference, which excludes the women's meetings. These meetings are also held a week before the rest of Conference. So the argument can be make that the women's meetings do not count as session of Conference.


text:
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sport car category
9 pictures
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9 pictures
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There is something mystical about seeing! Oh, and I talk to rocks. Doesn't everyone? I talk to squirrels and my GPS, too (she of the melodious and patient voice named Melody and before Daphne passed she was beginning to wonder what was up). The rocks don't usually talk back but Melody does.St3v3M wrote: ↑Thu Jan 04, 2018 8:19 pmI like to think Galen was out climbing, saw a pretty cloud, grabbed the nearest camera and snapped away. It was only when he got home he realized he forgot to check his metering and was so thankful the cloud wasn't blown out he printed it and called it a day. Knowing too many People Of The Dirt I know this isn't true though and he took his time, gave it his best and tried to capture the moment as much as he tried to show it to the viewer.
I've talked with a few climbers and they tell me the rocks talk to them, there's a knowing, a bond. Rocks are rocks to me, but a tree, a stream, a flower, a trail, they all have so much to say it's overwhelming at times while at others their silence is joy. I understand Galen better than I should and I understand his photo more than I want to, but rocks are rocks to me, I see hard, I see cold, I see ancient.
I thought of you when I wrote my piece and almost edited it out knowing how well you shoot but thought you might pick up on the metaphor and left it hoping it would spark something. I think we can all learn to shoot, it's not that hard really and is why it's called Point And Shoot, but learning to see is a whole other thing, and I think in a way you either see it or you don't. Seeing isn't all that hard either, but there's some mystical something that keeps most of us from it and I love learning why!
This is an interesting discussion, for as much as I don't like the posted image I am jealous of the experiences he had and the life he made. I'm pretty chill so I think it would have been challenging to work with him, but would I if I could - I'm already packed! S-
I think we all see (as opposed to just look) at least some of the time. I think I've managed a few shots where it looks as if I were truly seeing. I saw something not long ago about a musician. Someone asked how she got so good. "Practice," she said.
Yeah, but really ...
Oh, c'mon..,
It's probably the most well duh thing ever, but practice really is key. Steve, you've just challenged us to try to do without the rule/suggestion/guideline/indication/outline of thirds. I don't know if I will rise to it because I don't know how! I realize that I use it rather a lot, more than I thought, in various ways. I divide frames into horizontal thirds, vertical thirds, I place the main subject on or at least near the intersection of thirds... I don't think I can make a picture without it. I usually have the grid right up in my finder, although (thanks to PRACTICE) I can manage a composition without the grid, but I really can't manage a composition without consciously laying it out on the grid whether I can physically see it or not. I was on an airplane once and saw a young woman with a longish black leather thing with a suitcase handle. She opened it and laid it across her tray table. It was a short piano keyboard, 28 full size ivory keys, completely soundless. She began practicing etudes, not making a sound beyond a little thumping. I discovered that many of the great artists of the day, Van Cliburn, Horowitz, carried such an "instrument" everywhere. They were practicing fingering. Today they make them in silicon with earphones so the artist can hear the instrument, but they still want their fingering to be totally muscle memory, no thought, just --- there. They can hear the music just fine in their heads. I think it can apply to cameras and photography.
When I was working, shooting pictures all day every day, sometimes 7 days a week if I had weddings, I was making portraits and PR and commercial with every format from 35mm to 4x5" (split 5x7 actually but that's splitting hairs (see what I did there?)), even all the way up to 8x10.* We urge folks to work to make the camera an extension of hand, eye, and mind, but what if you routinely use many cameras? I'm here to tell you that they all became extensions of my hand, eye, and mind by using them every day. Shifting from one to another was all muscle memory. So was/is composition in the camera. We were taught to frame tight, "fill the frame!" Avoid cropping. For me sometimes that becomes a liability, framing so tightly that I can't crop if I want to. That's a habit I'm trying to break. But PRACTICE! Practicepracticepracticepracticepracticepracticepractice.
The lesson (I think) is the same one that photo instructors (specifically but it applies to many things) have been pounding into newbies for pretty much ever: SHOOT! In film days it was pretty $pendy but nowadays there seems no reason not to shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot. Yes, sometimes the "blind squirrel" thing happens, but if someone is serious and studies what they've shot, shares it with others (Mentoris anyone?), begins to develop a muscle memory for the camera, takes a camera everywhere, we're apt to get better than average. Nobody expects to be Galen Rowell or any other master, but ya never know. (Now all I gotta do is take my own advice.)
*(If you look at that picture, it has notes. If you mouse over there are captions describing what you are seeing.)


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After many frustrating days spent debugging my verifier for Kaffe, I've decided to scrap my experimental subroutine verification algorithm for the time being. Jim and Dalibor would like to see the verifier completely checked in before releasing 1.1.1, so I'm gonna get on my horse the next couple days to finish the debugging.
It turns out that I may have to rewrite much of Kaffe's Class instance creation code as type checking in the verifier sometimes requires a pointer to an instance of a Class that has not be loaded, so it would be nice to be able to create a Class instance, add it to the classpool without loading the actual Class or initializing its values, and only load it later when necessary. Hopefully I'll be able to take care of this this afternoon so that I can check in the rest of Pass 3b.
I've acquired a job part-time as a bartender for when I arrive in China at the end of November/beginning of December. I'm also thinking about teaching English full-time (20 hrs/week there) but I'm also looking for a potential job developing for Red Flag Linux, which would be a trip. Unfortunately, my inability to speak Mandarin is hindering my efforts to find such a job :). Hopefully I'll be able to buy a cheap computer when I get there so that I can continue working on Kaffe in my spare time.


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MOVIE REVIEW-Ineffable loss: Blue Valentine explores the death of love
Who was it who said we get married because we want a witness to our lives? That may provide an insight into the troubled minds of the married couple in "Blue Valentine," which follows them during their first six years of mutual witness. Did Dean and Cindy get married because they wanted to be sure someone was watching? Or was that Dean's need, and did Cindy lose the thrill of the watch?
Here is a film that watches pretty well itself. Derek Cianfrance, the director, observes with great exactitude the birth and decay of a relationship. This film is alive in its details. Toward the end of the six years, when Cindy is hardly able to remember why she wanted to marry Dean, Cianfrance observes the physical and mental exhaustion that have overcome her. And the way that Dean seems hardly to care – just so long as Cindy remains his wife and his watcher, which in his mind was the deal. Dean thinks marriage is the station. Cindy thought it was the train.


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Even by the standards of seasoned scouts who have been examining the crop for decades, this year's Wheat Quality Council hard red winter wheat tour revealed some new wrinkles, none of which were encouraging.
Even by the standards of seasoned scouts who have been examining the crop for decades, this year's Wheat Quality Council hard red winter wheat tour revealed some new wrinkles, none of which were encouraging.
"I've never seen wheat that was 8 to 10 inches tall and heading out, but I saw a lot of it this year," said Ben Handcock, the council's executive director and longtime coordinator of the tour that starts in Manhattan, Kansas, and canvasses parts of at least four states over a three-day period. "How do you cut foot-tall wheat with a 40-foot header? I've seen poor crops before but they are usually taller than this. When the wheat's not even as high as your boot, that's serious stuff."
Since the tour's conclusion, the weather-related challenges haven't let up, as temperatures soared to historic highs accompanied by continued blustery conditions. On May 4, Wichita, Kansas, recorded its earliest 100-degree day since record keeping began.
"It's getting worse every day," Handcock observed.
He had predicted the 75 field scouts representing grain-related businesses and associations would see significant wind damage. Not only did they survey the damage, they got to experience the ripping winds firsthand.
Winds gusted as high as 70 mph as the groups traveled across Western Kansas, where blowing dust led to road closures in some areas.
"It was ugly," Hancock said. "In some places we didn't stop because we couldn't even push the doors open."
Scouters saw dirt drifting up like snow banks. "I've never seen that before," Handcock said.
Even salvaging the poorest wheat will be difficult, since it is too short for farmers to graze or bale. "They won't want to tear it up, because nothing else will grow either, and so I think they'll just leave it out there for ground cover," Hancock added.
Central Kansas wheat farmer Dean Stoskopf hosted one of the tour stops. He spoke recently from an alfalfa field he was spraying for weevils for the second time this spring as he discussed conditions in the Hoisington area.
"It's really taking a toll on things now," he said of the worsening drought. "It's time to take cattle out to grass, but a lot of guys aren't taking as many out because the ponds have dried up and they are having to haul water from the start. Normally we're busy planting soybeans, but nothing's going on now. Everybody's just waiting."
Wheat that had been planted at the end of September was better established than wheat planted after beans later in the fall, he said, but all of it is hurting now. Nearby Great Bend has received 2.6 inches of rain since the beginning of the year.
By tour's end, scouts had pegged the Kansas wheat crop potential at 260.6 million bushels, which would make it the worst in about 15 years.
In Colorado, farmers planted far more wheat in late 2013 than they have historically and most of it came up. As a result, they are still in line to best last year's anemic harvest of 43.5 million bushels, which was only 40 percent of the 10-year average.
Close to one-third of the crop is currently rated in good condition.
"Colorado still has a crop to lose," summarized Joe Westhoff, a field representative for the Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee.
But he said the old adage that you have to kill the wheat crop seven times before harvest appeared to be holding true. And in a scenario similar to a year ago, the wheat north of the Burlington area is showing more promise than the wheat further south. Wind damage is evident in many locations across the eastern plains.
"You'll just see bare patches in the field where nothing is growing," Westhoff said.
Handcock said for now the best yield potential exists in Nebraska and South Dakota, but even those states are uncharacteristically dry and at risk of decline.
The Wheat Quality Council was founded in 1938 to evaluate the milling and baking qualities of developmental varieties and conducts annual tours of the wheat crop in the Central and Northern Plains. It was based in Pierre, South Dakota, up until last June, when Handcock moved his home office to Brighton, Colorado, to be closer to part of "his herd" of grandkids and great-grandkids.
Handcock is a native South Dakotan but graduated from Colorado State University with a degree in agricultural industry management.
"We love it here," he said of his new home.


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Strong Arm Steady - Can't Let Go
New Video For Strong Arm Steady "Can't Let Go" Off Their "Arms & Hammers" Under Talib Kweli's Blacksmith Records. Arms & Hammers Coming Soon
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Discovery Channel U.S. and BBC One Go Global with a Breathtaking Journey Through 20,000 Years of Human History
November 22, 2010
(Silver Spring, Md.) Discovery Channel U.S. and BBC One today announced a major new landmark series in which Andrew Marr embarks on the greatest story ever told - the epic story of human history.
Produced by Discovery Channel U.S., BBC Vision Productions, BBC Worldwide and The Open University, the eight-part series will combine stunning dramatic reconstruction, innovative computer graphics and gripping storytelling to reveal the events, conflicts and characters that have shaped our destiny. HISTORY OF THE WORLD will reveal the major turning points in our shared history, ranging from military campaigns to love stories to technological inventions to assassinations to medical breakthroughs to devastating natural disasters. The series will be shot all over the planet and will literally create lost worlds by freezing time at decisive moments in history and revealing the significance of these moments and how it they have shaped our world. From Cleopatra's encounter with an asp and Marco Polo's journey along the Silk Road to China to the arrest of Marie Antoinette and the firing of a bullet in Sarajevo in 1914, this will be the definitive account of human civilization.
"No one has captured 20,000 years of human history quite like this before," said Clark Bunting, President and General Manager of Discovery Channel and President of Science Channel. Beginning at the end of the last Ice Age and ending in our modern age, each tells the stories of real people, their civilizations, cultures, successes, and crashing failures. A story that charts progress, development and change through the centuries, and that reminds us of where we came from - and where we are now."
Jana Bennett, Director, BBC Vision says: HISTORY OF THE WORLD will use the most cutting edge production techniques married to Andrew Marr's expertise to tell the ultimate, universal story of humankind. It is an ideal project for our partners globally - it is through working with the likes of Discovery Channel, The Open University and BBC Worldwide that we can continue to produce projects with the scale and scope of History Of The World, maintaining the BBC's reputation for the most ambitious and creative landmark factual programming and providing exceptional value for license fee payers."
This announcement comes on the heels of a new agreement between the BBC and Discovery Communications extending their long-term North American co-production partnership by two years until 2014.
Executive Producer for the BBC is Chris Granlund. Series Producer is Kathryn Taylor. Executive Producer for Discovery Channel US is Susan Winslow. Executive Producer for The Open University is Catherine McCarthy. Jonathan Stamp is Consultant for BBC Worldwide.
About Discovery Channel
DISCOVERY CHANNEL (DSC) is dedicated to creating the highest quality nonfiction content that informs and entertains its consumers about the world in all its wonder, diversity and amazement. The network, which reaches 98.1 million viewers in the U.S., can be seen in over 170 countries, offering a signature mix of compelling, high-end production values and vivid cinematography across genres, including science and technology, exploration, adventure, history and in-depth, behind-the-scenes glimpses at the people, places and organizations that shape and share our world. For more information, please visit www.discovery.com.
About Discovery Communications
Discovery Communications (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) is the world's number one nonfiction media company reaching more than 1.5 billion cumulative subscribers in over 180 countries. Discovery empowers people to explore their world and satisfy their curiosity through 100-plus worldwide networks, led by Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Investigation Discovery, Planet Green and HD Theater, as well as leading consumer and educational products and services, and a diversified portfolio of digital media services including HowStuffWorks.com. For more information, please visit www.discoverycommunications.com.


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For their latest venture, the Kardashian sisters will launch a fashion line together.
Kim, Khloe and Kourtney have joined with Bruno Schiavi and his Australian-based apparel company, "Juni Corporation," which produces everything from "women's ready-to-wear and lingerie to bags and belts," according to People magazine.
"We are excited to work with Bruno Schiavi in developing our first brand together," the trio said in a release.
U.S. & World
On Thursday, Kourtney shared her excitement about the upcoming line tweeting: "Wanted 2 ANNOUNCE that my sisters + I r launching a FAB collection of women's clothes, handbags+shoes!"
Retail is nothing new to this famous family, who star in E!'s "Keeping Up With the Kardashians."
Little sisters Kendall and Kylie have recently made their modeling debuts, the elder "K" sisters co-own Miami clothing boutique "Dash," have jewelry and perfumes in their name and have already designed fashion lines with "Bebe" and "Beach Bunny."
The first pieces from the Jupi collection are set to hit stores in 2011.


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An Honourable Marriage
Reem Haddad
New Internationalist
Issue of June 2002
Reem Haddad meets a young woman who was determined to marry a wounded
Hizbullah fighter. And finds that others like her are queuing up.
Reem Haddad meets a young woman who was determined to marry a wounded
Hizbullah fighter. And finds that others like her are queuing up.
he has never once regretted it. She says that it's been a challenge, but also a joy.
'I am doing exactly what I've always wanted to be doing,' she told me whilst preparing the family's supper. Nearby a nanny was keeping her eye on the four rambunctious children.
'When I was a child I swore that I would grow up and fulfill my duty in this life.'
To 30-year-old Kamleh Wehbe, that duty was marrying a severely wounded resistance fighter. Once an active fighter in the Lebanese Shi'a Muslim resistance movement, Hizbullah, her husband Hassan now spends all his time in a wheelchair. He is paralyzed and can only move his head.
Like many others before him, Hassan joined Hizbullah to fight the Israeli army which had invaded southern Lebanon in 1978 causing hundreds of thousands of villagers to flee their homes. Hassan was only 14 when Israel occupied southern Lebanon, but the image of his family fleeing from the Israelis never left his mind. A few years later, desperate to return to their homes, the southerners joined Hizbullah to drive out the Israeli army. Thousands of young men enrolled. Among them was Hassan.
The only way to fight the powerful Israeli army was to ambush Israeli patrols and launch a series of hit-and-run raids against outposts held by the occupying forces.
Fighters were told that the military operations would either cost them their lives or render them severely wounded. Hassan didn't hesitate.
'I knew the risks,' he said. 'But I was doing something for God and for my country. That was worth every risk.'
During one military operation Hassan's group was spotted infiltrating the occupied zone. In the ensuing exchange of fire, Hassan was shot in the neck, paralyzing him instantly.
As for all its wounded, Hizbullah stepped in. The movement had already established an association in 1989 to care for its injured fighters and civilians wounded during battle. It currently cares for over 3,000 men, women and children – 80 per cent of the men are former resistance fighters.
Once the medical side is taken care of, the association turns its attention to finding ways to reintegrate the wounded into society. The goal is to make them as independent as possible. This means purchasing homes for their veterans and adapting them to suit their disabilities. Each disabled veteran receives a monthly stipend and their family's expenses – from school tuition to medical bills – are paid. Before locating jobs for them, patients can benefit from training – in languages, computers, handicrafts, vocational skills. Some can enroll in a university if they wish. An interest-free loan is dispatched for those who want to start their own businesses.
And for bachelors – wives are provided.
There doesn't seem to be a shortage of young women showing up at the association wanting to marry wounded resistance fighters. Among them was Kamleh.
In 1997, she was matched with Hassan. A year later, she gave birth to quadruplets.
'Even the association was surprised,' she laughed. 'They have been providing us with milk and diapers since the quadruplets arrived.' A full-time nanny was also provided.
Still more women are calling up the association and putting their names on the waiting list. The latest are several women from Saudi Arabia wishing to marry wounded resistance fighters.
'This is our duty,' explained Kamleh. 'These men have given up their lives and their bodies to free our country. They didn't have to but they did. And this is the least that we women can do for them.'
Kamleh knew from an early age that she would end up marrying a wounded fighter. The television footage of resistance fighters aired on Lebanese broadcasting stations mesmerized her. As the occupation in the south continued, she swore to marry a fighter one day – a severely wounded fighter.
'It is an honour to be married to Hassan,' said Kamleh. 'A very big
* Reem Haddad works for the
Daily Star in Beirut.
* Reem Haddad works for the
Daily Star in Beirut.
this article:
New Internationalist
(Documents - Articles - Photos)
Daily Star
(Documents - Articles - Photos)
Daily Star
Op-Ed Page


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The Moon is in Scorpio again today, but now void of course.
Meanwhile, Venus in Virgo is moving closer to an opposition of Neptune and Mars in Virgo is about to conjoin with Jupiter in Virgo. It's a good day to reflect on the sign of Virgo, especially on the ideas of purity, morality, innocence, youth, learning, organization, health, and discipleship.
We live in a complicated moment in history when it comes to these subjects. More than ever we glamorize youth…we don't want to lose it, we associate the definition of health with the youthful beauty or pliability of the body, and we find naive ignorance along with moronic sarcasm and willful immaturity the standards of high humor in the media. At the same time, it has become nearly impossible to take an ethical or moral stand about our beliefs or convictions without someone else taking offense or accusing us of some form of prejudice, ignorance, or cruelty. In our liberal arts west it might be said that we feel most suspicious about certainty or conviction of any kind…to the extent that sometimes at best we are each moral relativists without much ideological, religious, moral, political, or social consistency. We both fear and yet embody judgment like we're walking the halls of a perpetual high school experience, and inside many of us wonder where our real loyalties lie or if we have any at all.
All of these struggles can be discussed through the sign of Virgo.
First let's consider the idea of purity as it relates to youth. Why is youth associated with purity over, say, adulthood or old age? Isn't it also true that what is young desires to be older, wiser, mature, skilled, experienced, capable, and self-reliant? Isn't there something about youth that is also ignorant rather than innocent? Why do we favor the words innocent or pure rather than ignorant or inexperienced? The hardest thing to understand about archetypal images is that they contain multitudes of diverse and often contradictory ideas without losing their general cohesiveness. What tears us apart with an archetype is the tendency to struggle too intensely with the polarities contained within it. For example, how can we embrace the idea that youth isn't only sexy or pure but also ignorant and inexperienced? Or how can we learn to see that ignorance is often wise and devotion to fixed ideals often ignorant?
How can we hold the tension of these images creatively within our experiences, rather than clinging to one side versus the other?
Here are a few Virgoan tensions to carefully consider:
* At some point I'm no longer a student but a skilled practitioner
* At no point will I ever stop being a student
* It's important for me to have formed opinions and ideas, and to know what I'm talking about
* It's important for me to remain modest and indecisive in case I'm getting something wrong
* My virtue is connected to living in consistent accord with the values I believe to be good, true, and pure
* My virtue isn't at all connected to my ethics, my standards, or my ability to live up to them
* My work is only as good as my attention to details
* My work is only as good as the spirit in which I do it, pass or fail
* It's okay for me to be less experienced, less wise, less capable, less learned, or less anything than someone else
* I don't need to live by comparisons to others
* It's my duty to gain experience and to become wiser and more discerning and careful, adult like
* It's my duty to not let my experiences take me far from youthful openness…I could always still be wrong about things
* Images of age and purity are not in a linear relationship with each other
* Images of age and purity are in fact intimately related
* Honest criticism is healthy for my soul and teaches me how to mature and improve
* Criticism is uncreative, ungraceful, unforgiving, unimaginative, or painful
* There is a right way to do things
* Better to let go of certainty and err on the side of worry or caution
* I reject the idea that I have anything to prove to anyone
* I reject the idea that my substance as a person is separate from my actions, skills, experience, correctness, or usefulness in the world
We could easily roll out another dozen polarities…but instead let's close with the image of a young girl sitting in the field, near the end of summer, and near the end of her youth. Does she notice the angel wings sprouting gently from behind her shoulder blades? Does she see the bird sitting on her shoulder? What is she looking at on the sunset-horizon? Is it death? The coming harvest? How should she hold herself now, in a world between worlds. What comes next, after youth? Who does she serve and how can she tell when she's arrived somewhere? Next to her sits a bundle of wheat, carefully prepared. Is it a sacrifice, an offering, an attempt to legitimize or prove herself? Prove herself to who, and for what?
Prayer: Harvest maiden, draw us more completely into your complexities, and teach us to hold the tensions of all the images and ideas you contain


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Based on the number of folks that are reading my previous STP 2011 story, a lot of folks are already interested in the 2011 ride. And with the amount of interest, it looks like we'll all need to stay on top of this to ensure we can register.
Cascade Bicycle Club has changed the dates slightly from their original announcement:
Online only event registration opens at noon on Monday, Jan. 10 exclusively for Cascade Bicycle Club members. Event registration opens at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 1 to the general public.
It is interesting to note, however, that their website still doesn't seem to list the STP ride on applicable calendars. Last time was a blast – can't wait for this year.


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Relationships with
Photo Credit: Ashton Kutcher's picture is courtesy of Live Journal. Photographic illustrations of Ashton Kutcher are copyright © by their respective holders. The images are published with permission or as allowed by the copyright law's fair use or quotation provisions. If any copyright holder objects to an image being included, please notify us and it will be removed immediately.
Disclaimer: This information about Ashton Kutcher is derived from astrological interpretation of Ashton Kutcher's date, time, and place of birth.


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Summary: Fumarylacetoacetate (FAA) hydrolase family
Pfam includes annotations and additional family information from a range of different sources. These sources can be accessed via the tabs below.
The Pfam group coordinates the annotation of Pfam families in Wikipedia, but we have not yet assigned a Wikipedia article to this family. If you think that a particular Wikipedia article provides good annotation, please let us know.
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Fumarylacetoacetate (FAA) hydrolase family Provide feedback
This family consists of fumarylacetoacetate (FAA) hydrolase, or fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase (FAH) and it also includes HHDD isomerase/OPET decarboxylase from E. coli strain W. FAA is the last enzyme in the tyrosine catabolic pathway, it hydrolyses fumarylacetoacetate into fumarate and acetoacetate which then join the citric acid cycle [1]. Mutations in FAA cause type I tyrosinemia in humans this is an inherited disorder mainly affecting the liver leading to liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, renal tubular damages and neurologic crises amongst other symptoms [1]. The enzymatic defect causes the toxic accumulation of phenylalanine/tyrosine catabolites [3]. The E. coli W enzyme HHDD isomerase/OPET decarboxylase contains two copies of this domain and functions in fourth and fifth steps of the homoprotocatechuate pathway; here it decarboxylates OPET to HHDD and isomerises this to OHED. The final products of this pathway are pyruvic acid and succinic semialdehyde. This family also includes various hydratases and 4-oxalocrotonate decarboxylases which are involved in the bacterial meta-cleavage pathways for degradation of aromatic compounds. 2-hydroxypentadienoic acid hydratase encoded by mhpD in E. coli P77608 is involved in the phenylpropionic acid pathway of E. coli and catalyses the conversion of 2-hydroxy pentadienoate to 4-hydroxy-2-keto-pentanoate and uses a Mn2+ co-factor [5]. OHED hydratase encoded by hpcG in E. coli P42270 is involved in the homoprotocatechuic acid (HPC) catabolism [6]. XylI in P. putida P49155 is a 4-Oxalocrotonate decarboxylase [7].
Literature references
St-Louis M, Tanguay RM; , Hum Mutat 1997;9:291-299.: Mutations in the fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase gene causing hereditary tyrosinemia type I: overview. PUBMED:9101289 EPMC:9101289
Prieto MA, Diaz E, Garcia JL; , J Bacteriol 1996;178:111-120.: Molecular characterization of the 4-hydroxyphenylacetate catabolic pathway of Escherichia coli W: engineering a mobile aromatic degradative cluster. PUBMED:8550403 EPMC:8550403
Fernandez-Canon JM, Penalva MA; , Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1995;92:9132-9136.: Fungal metabolic model for human type I hereditary tyrosinaemia. PUBMED:7568087 EPMC:7568087
Roper DI, Cooper RA; , Eur J Biochem 1993;217:575-580.: Purification, nucleotide sequence and some properties of a bifunctional isomerase/decarboxylase from the homoprotocatechuate degradative pathway of Escherichia coli C. PUBMED:8223600 EPMC:8223600
Pollard JR, Bugg TD; , Eur J Biochem 1998;251:98-106.: Purification, characterisation and reaction mechanism of monofunctional 2-hydroxypentadienoic acid hydratase from Escherichia coli. PUBMED:9492273 EPMC:9492273
Roper DI, Stringfellow JM, Cooper RA; , Gene 1995;156:47-51.: Sequence of the hpcC and hpcG genes of the meta-fission homoprotocatechuic acid pathway of Escherichia coli C: nearly 40% amino- acid identity with the analogous enzymes of the catechol pathway. PUBMED:7737515 EPMC:7737515
Harayama S, Rekik M; , Mol Gen Genet 1993;239:81-89.: Comparison of the nucleotide sequences of the meta-cleavage pathway genes of TOL plasmid pWW0 from Pseudomonas putida with other meta- cleavage genes suggests that both single and multiple nucleotide substitutions contribute to enzyme evolution. PUBMED:8510667 EPMC:8510667
Internal database links
|Similarity to PfamA using HHSearch:
External database links
This tab holds annotation information from the InterPro database.
InterPro entry IPR011234
Fumarylacetoacetase (EC; also known as fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase or FAH) catalyses the hydrolytic cleavage of a carbon-carbon bond in fumarylacetoacetate to yield fumarate and acetoacetate as the final step in phenylalanine and tyrosine degradation [PUBMED:11154690]. This is an essential metabolic function in humans, the lack of FAH causing type I tyrosinaemia, which is associated with liver and kidney abnormalities and neurological disorders [PUBMED:9101289, PUBMED:16602095]. The enzyme mechanism involves a catalytic metal ion, a Glu/His catalytic dyad, and a charged oxyanion hole [PUBMED:10508789]. FAH folds into two domains: an N-terminal domain SH3-like beta-barrel, and a C-terminal with an unusual fold consisting of three layers of beta-sheet structures [PUBMED:10508789].
This entry represents the C-terminal domain of fumarylacetoacetase, as well as other domains that share a homologous alpha/beta structure, including:
- 5-carboxymethyl-2-hydroxymuconate delta-isomerase (CHM isomerase; EC), which catalyses the conversion of 5-carboxymethyl-2-hydroxymuconate to 5-carboxy-2-oxohept-3-enedioate [PUBMED:2194841].
- 5-oxopent-3-ene-1,2,5-tricarboxylate decarboxylase (OPET decarboxylase; EC), which catalyses the conversion of 5-oxopent-3-ene-1,2,5-tricarboxylate to 2-oxohept-3-enedioate and carbon dioxide.
- Bifunctional enzyme HpcE (OPET decarboxylase EC/HHDD isomerase EC), which is a duplication consisting of a tandem repeat of two FAH C-terminal-like domains. This enzyme is responsible for the degradation of 4-hydroxyphenylacetate, a product of tyrosine and phenylalanine metabolism also released by lignin catabolism [PUBMED:11863436].
- 2-keto-4-pentenoate hydratase MhpD (EC; also known as 2-oxopent-4-enoate hydratase), which converts 4-hydroxy-2-oxopentanoate to 2-oxopent-4-enoate [PUBMED:10537203].
- 4-oxalocrotonate decarboxylase (4-OD; EC), which catalyses the conversion of 4-oxalocrotonate to 2-oxopent-4-enoate and carbon dioxide [PUBMED:10651637].
- 2-oxo-hepta-3-ene-1,7-dioic acid hydratase, which hydrates the double bond of 2-oxo-hepta-3-ene-1,7-dioic acid to form 4-hydroxy-2-oxo-heptane-1,7-dioic acid in the catabolism of 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid.
Gene Ontology
The mapping between Pfam and Gene Ontology is provided by InterPro. If you use this data please cite InterPro.
|Molecular function
|catalytic activity (GO:0003824)
Domain organisation
Below is a listing of the unique domain organisations or architectures in which this domain is found. More...
The graphic that is shown by default represents the longest sequence with a given architecture. Each row contains the following information:
- the number of sequences which exhibit this architecture
a textual description of the architecture, e.g. Gla, EGF x 2, Trypsin.
This example describes an architecture with one
Gladomain, followed by two consecutive
EGFdomains, and finally a single
- a link to the page in the Pfam site showing information about the sequence that the graphic describes
- the UniProt description of the protein sequence
- the number of residues in the sequence
- the Pfam graphic itself.
Note that you can see the family page for a particular domain by clicking on the graphic. You can also choose to see all sequences which have a given architecture by clicking on the Show link in each row.
Finally, because some families can be found in a very large number of architectures, we load only the first fifty architectures by default. If you want to see more architectures, click the button at the bottom of the page to load the next set.
Loading domain graphics...
Pfam Clan
We store a range of different sequence alignments for families. As well as the seed alignment from which the family is built, we provide the full alignment, generated by searching the sequence database (reference proteomes) using the family HMM. We also generate alignments using four representative proteomes (RP) sets, the UniProtKB sequence database, the NCBI sequence database, and our metagenomics sequence database. More...
There are various ways to view or download the sequence alignments that we store. We provide several sequence viewers and a plain-text Stockholm-format file for download.
Alignment types
We make a range of alignments for each Pfam-A family:
- seed
- the curated alignment from which the HMM for the family is built
- full
- the alignment generated by searching the sequence database using the HMM
- Representative Proteomes (RPs) at 15%, 35%, 55% and 75% co-membership thresholds
- UniProt
- alignment generated by searching the UniProtKB sequence database using the family HMM
- alignment generated by searching the NCBI sequence database using the family HMM
- meta
- alignment generated by searching the metagenomics sequence database using the family HMM
You can see the alignments as HTML or in three different sequence viewers:
- jalview
- a Java applet developed at the University of Dundee. You will need Java installed before running jalview
- an HTML page showing the whole alignment.Please note: full Pfam alignments can be very large. These HTML views are extremely large and often cause problems for browsers. Please use either jalview or the Pfam viewer if you have trouble viewing the HTML version
- PP/Heatmap
- an HTML-based representation of the alignment, coloured according to the posterior-probability (PP) values from the HMM. As for the standard HTML view, heatmap alignments can also be very large and slow to render.
You can download (or view in your browser) a text representation of a Pfam alignment in various formats:
- Selex
- Stockholm
You can also change the order in which sequences are listed in the alignment, change how insertions are represented, alter the characters that are used to represent gaps in sequences and, finally, choose whether to download the alignment or to view it in your browser directly.
You may find that large alignments cause problems for the viewers and the reformatting tool, so we also provide all alignments in Stockholm format. You can download either the plain text alignment, or a gzipped version of it.
View options
We make a range of alignments for each Pfam-A family. You can see a description of each above. You can view these alignments in various ways but please note that some types of alignment are never generated while others may not be available for all families, most commonly because the alignments are too large to handle.
|Representative proteomes
1Cannot generate PP/Heatmap alignments for seeds; no PP data available
Key: available, not generated, — not available.
Format an alignment
Download options
We make all of our alignments available in Stockholm format. You can download them here as raw, plain text files or as gzip-compressed files.
|Representative proteomes
|Raw Stockholm
You can also download a FASTA format file containing the full-length sequences for all sequences in the full alignment.
HMM logo
HMM logos is one way of visualising profile HMMs. Logos provide a quick overview of the properties of an HMM in a graphical form. You can see a more detailed description of HMM logos and find out how you can interpret them here. More...
If you find these logos useful in your own work, please consider citing the following article:
This page displays the phylogenetic tree for this family's seed alignment. We use FastTree to calculate neighbour join trees with a local bootstrap based on 100 resamples (shown next to the tree nodes). FastTree calculates approximately-maximum-likelihood phylogenetic trees from our seed alignment.
Note: You can also download the data file for the tree.
Curation and family details
This section shows the detailed information about the Pfam family. You can see the definitions of many of the terms in this section in the glossary and a fuller explanation of the scoring system that we use in the scores section of the help pages.
|Seed source:
|Pfam-B_641 (release 4.0) & Pfam-B_1228 (release 4.1)
|Previous IDs:
|Sequence Ontology:
|Bashton M , Bateman A
|Number in seed:
|Number in full:
|Average length of the domain:
|215.60 aa
|Average identity of full alignment:
|26 %
|Average coverage of the sequence by the domain:
|71.69 %
HMM information
|HMM build commands:
build method: hmmbuild -o /dev/null HMM SEED
search method: hmmsearch -Z 47079205 -E 1000 --cpu 4 HMM pfamseq
|Model details:
|Model length:
|Family (HMM) version:
|download the raw HMM for this family
Species distribution
Sunburst controlsHide
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Change the size of the sunburst
Colour assignments
|Other sequences
|Unclassified sequence
Align selected sequences to HMM
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- 0 species
This visualisation provides a simple graphical representation of the distribution of this family across species. You can find the original interactive tree in the adjacent tab. More...
This chart is a modified "sunburst" visualisation of the species tree for this family. It shows each node in the tree as a separate arc, arranged radially with the superkingdoms at the centre and the species arrayed around the outermost ring.
How the sunburst is generated
The tree is built by considering the taxonomic lineage of each sequence that has a match to this family. For each node in the resulting tree, we draw an arc in the sunburst. The radius of the arc, its distance from the root node at the centre of the sunburst, shows the taxonomic level ("superkingdom", "kingdom", etc). The length of the arc represents either the number of sequences represented at a given level, or the number of species that are found beneath the node in the tree. The weighting scheme can be changed using the sunburst controls.
In order to reduce the complexity of the representation, we reduce the number of taxonomic levels that we show. We consider only the following eight major taxonomic levels:
- superkingdom
- kingdom
- phylum
- class
- order
- family
- genus
- species
Colouring and labels
Segments of the tree are coloured approximately according to their superkingdom. For example, archeal branches are coloured with shades of orange, eukaryotes in shades of purple, etc. The colour assignments are shown under the sunburst controls. Where space allows, the name of the taxonomic level will be written on the arc itself.
As you move your mouse across the sunburst, the current node will be highlighted. In the top section of the controls panel we show a summary of the lineage of the currently highlighed node. If you pause over an arc, a tooltip will be shown, giving the name of the taxonomic level in the title and a summary of the number of sequences and species below that node in the tree.
Anomalies in the taxonomy tree
There are some situations that the sunburst tree cannot easily handle and for which we have work-arounds in place.
Missing taxonomic levels
Some species in the taxonomic tree may not have one or more of the main eight levels that we display. For example, Bos taurus is not assigned an order in the NCBI taxonomic tree. In such cases we mark the omitted level with, for example, "No order", in both the tooltip and the lineage summary.
Unmapped species names
The tree is built by looking at each sequence in the full alignment for the family. We take the name of the species given by UniProt and try to map that to the full taxonomic tree from NCBI. In some cases, the name chosen by UniProt does not map to any node in the NCBI tree, perhaps because the chosen name is listed as a synonym or a misspelling in the NCBI taxonomy.
So that these nodes are not simply omitted from the sunburst tree, we group them together in a separate branch (or segment of the sunburst tree). Since we cannot determine the lineage for these unmapped species, we show all levels between the superkingdom and the species as "uncategorised".
Since we reduce the species tree to only the eight main taxonomic levels, sequences that are mapped to the sub-species level in the tree would not normally be shown. Rather than leave out these species, we map them instead to their parent species. So, for example, for sequences belonging to one of the Vibrio cholerae sub-species in the NCBI taxonomy, we show them instead as belonging to the species Vibrio cholerae.
Too many species/sequences
For large species trees, you may see blank regions in the outer layers of the sunburst. These occur when there are large numbers of arcs to be drawn in a small space. If an arc is less than approximately one pixel wide, it will not be drawn and the space will be left blank. You may still be able to get some information about the species in that region by moving your mouse across the area, but since each arc will be very small, it will be difficult to accurately locate a particular species.
Tree controlsHide
Download tree
- Save a text representation
Selected sequences
- (Uncheck all)
- graphically
- as an alignment
- sequence accessions
- sequences in FASTA format
The tree shows the occurrence of this domain across different species. More...
Species trees
We show the species tree in one of two ways. For smaller trees we try to show an interactive representation, which allows you to select specific nodes in the tree and view them as an alignment or as a set of Pfam domain graphics.
Unfortunately we have found that there are problems viewing the interactive tree when the it becomes larger than a certain limit. Furthermore, we have found that Internet Explorer can become unresponsive when viewing some trees, regardless of their size. We therefore show a text representation of the species tree when the size is above a certain limit or if you are using Internet Explorer to view the site.
If you are using IE you can still load the interactive tree by clicking the "Generate interactive tree" button, but please be aware of the potential problems that the interactive species tree can cause.
Interactive tree
For all of the domain matches in a full alignment, we count the number that are found on all sequences in the alignment. This total is shown in the purple box.
We also count the number of unique sequences on which each domain is found, which is shown in green. Note that a domain may appear multiple times on the same sequence, leading to the difference between these two numbers.
Finally, we group sequences from the same organism according to the NCBI code that is assigned by UniProt, allowing us to count the number of distinct sequences on which the domain is found. This value is shown in the pink boxes.
We use the NCBI species tree to group organisms according to their taxonomy and this forms the structure of the displayed tree. Note that in some cases the trees are too large (have too many nodes) to allow us to build an interactive tree, but in most cases you can still view the tree in a plain text, non-interactive representation. Those species which are represented in the seed alignment for this domain are highlighted.
You can use the tree controls to manipulate how the interactive tree is displayed:
- show/hide the summary boxes
- highlight species that are represented in the seed alignment
- expand/collapse the tree or expand it to a given depth
- select a sub-tree or a set of species within the tree and view them graphically or as an alignment
- save a plain text representation of the tree
Please note: for large trees this can take some time. While the tree is loading, you can safely switch away from this tab but if you browse away from the family page entirely, the tree will not be loaded.
There are 4 interactions for this family. More...
We determine these interactions using iPfam, which considers the interactions between residues in three-dimensional protein structures and maps those interactions back to Pfam families. You can find more information about the iPfam algorithm in the journal article that accompanies the website.
For those sequences which have a structure in the Protein DataBank, we use the mapping between UniProt, PDB and Pfam coordinate systems from the PDBe group, to allow us to map Pfam domains onto UniProt sequences and three-dimensional protein structures. The table below shows the structures on which the FAA_hydrolase domain has been found. There are 148 instances of this domain found in the PDB. Note that there may be multiple copies of the domain in a single PDB structure, since many structures contain multiple copies of the same protein sequence.
Loading structure mapping...


text:
The city announced that it is set to begin a $25 million infrastructure upgrade that will significantly increase sewer capacity and thereby better manage stormwater and reduce flooding in Elmhurst, Maspeth and Middle Village.
The existing sewers located under Calamus Avenue and 69th Street serve as major conduits in the area's drainage network, and both will receive significant capacity upgrades to ensure the proper drainage of stormwater from the streets to help eliminate sewer backups.
"This is great news, especially to the many local residents who have endured years of damage from repeated flooding after ordinary rainstorms," said Assemblywoman Margaret Markey. "We all look forward to the completion of this long-awaited improvement that will alleviate the hardships that have been caused by the current inadequate sewer system."
While the roadway is opened to add the sewer capacity, the city will also replace the area's water mains to ensure residents and businesses continue to enjoy a reliable supply of high quality water.
In early April, contractors will establish a field office in the community and begin mobilizing for the project. Construction will begin later this spring and the work is expected to be completed by the fall of 2016.
"In the weeks to come, we will assign a full-time Community Construction Liaison to keep residents and business owners informed about the work we'll be doing," said David Resnick, acting commissioner of the Department of Design and Construction.


text:
Occupy's Pledge to FIGHT BACK
We Didn't Start the Class War
Bill Hsu pledged on to fight back against the 1% by doing the following:
- Come out in the streets when Occupy calls for a day of action.
- Donate what they make in one hour to an Occupy-related project.
3873 others also signed the pledge. Will you pledge to fight back too? Click Here


text:
Look at that mess. What the hell is it? Apparently, it has something to do with Ryan Theriot's swings, but you can't be sure.
I know what it really is, though. It's just another in a long parade of terrible heat maps created by people who shouldn't be allowed to use R. (I mean, really? It's impossible Ryan Theriot is at his best on swing two feet past the outside edge of the zone.)
Ever since Hephaestus axed open Zeus' head and Dave Allen sprung forth, the SABR community has enjoyed lots of neat charts. And as was bound to happen, the man co-opted Allen's ideas and now anyone can simply copy and paste a heat map into existence on their computer. An understanding of how to smooth and regress is not required.
This blood splatter analysis is originally from an article by Mike Fast at Baseball Prospectus about how BIS blows. That article seems to be gone (Bed Jedlovec and his Beatdown International Syndicate probably got to Steven Goldman), but discussion–and the charts–live on at The Book blog.
The usually-not-crappy Jeff Zimmerman posted this, along with a mind-boggling number of other terrible heat maps on Fan Graphs.
We can thank TruMedia for this. As you can clearly see here, Ryan Howard's fly ball distance against soft-throwing righties… is… well, the trend is obvious. Pitchers have been tie-dying the zone in an effort to contain Howard's mammoth raw power.
Even FanGraphs has gotten in on the bonanza. But they've taken it to the next level: create your own heat maps. Shown here is a typically-incomprehensible one from Mark Buehrle's page. And when this feature was announced at the end of January, the readers went nuts:
- "I have such a huge boner for this." —The Nicker
- "Heat maps rock my world. FanGraphs rocks my world." —shibboleth
- "This is cool. I'm just starting to understand pitch fx so what do these maps mean?" —MauerPower
I've saved the best for last.
These come from Pending Pinstripes, and I think the article is about how Curtis Granderson's new swing is making everyone throw up? I'm not sure.
Sabermetrics got along well without heat maps for a long time. I know it seems that pitch location data is just begging for them and they're just so darn easy to make, but cool it, people. It's played.


text:
- Yield
- makes 6
- 2/3 cup chilled buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons minced fresh dill
- 2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening, chilled, cut into small pieces
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut into small pieces
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Whisk buttermilk, egg and dill in small bowl to blend. Whisk flour and next 3 ingredients in large bowl to blend. Add shortening and butter to dry ingredients; cut in with fork until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk mixture and stir just until moist dough forms.
- Using floured hands, gently knead dough on well-floured work surface until dough just holds together. Pat out dough to 9x6-inch rectangle (about 3/4 inch thick). Cut dough into six 3-inch squares. Transfer squares to ungreased baking sheet, spacing 2 1/2 inches apart. (Can be prepared 8 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
- Bake biscuits until puffed and golden brown, about 12 minutes.


text:
New user here. I'm working on trying to get asymptotic solutions to the following recursive function:
$f(r)=\frac{1}{r-k}\lgroup\sqrt{\frac{2}{k^2-1}}+\sqrt{\frac{1}{2k^2-1}}\rgroup$ (Eqn. 1)
where $k$ is such that
$r=\frac{1}{k}\lgroup\frac{\sqrt{2}(k^2-1)^{-1/2}+(2k^2-1)^{-1/2}}{\sqrt{2}(k^2-1)^{-3/2}+(2k^2-1)^{-3/2}}\rgroup+k$. (Eqn. 2)
Now I have solved this function numerically (in matlab), basically by taking the value of $r$ and solving Eqn 2 numerically for $k$, and then using that value of $k$ in Eqn 1 to find $f(r)$. The function goes to positive infinity at $r=1$, and goes to 0 as $r\rightarrow\infty$ (I would post an image of it here, but it's not letting me post an image as a new user).
The function becomes complex for $r<1$, but that isn't relevant because the physical system this is based on is not defined for $r<1$.
I want to get series approximations for $f(r)$ as $r\rightarrow1$ and $r\rightarrow\infty$. I plotted the same function on a log-log plot, while shifting the x-axis over 1 so that I could see the asymptotic behavior near $r=1$ (again I would post an image of the plot, but I cannot). Basically, on the log-log plot it goes to a straight line with a negative slope as $r\rightarrow1$, and then a slightly different slope as it goes to $r\rightarrow\infty$.
Based on this, it certainly should have a well-behaved series expansion at both of these extremes, if I can just figure out how to evaluate it.
My idea so far is to do the following:
- Get series expansions for Eqn 2 for $r(k)$ at the two asymptotes.
- Invert series expansions for Eqn 2 to get series solutions for $k(r)$.
- Substitute these series solutions into Eqn 1 and then evaluate series expansions for $f(r)$.
I've done #1 (using the series expansion function in the symbolic math toolbox in matlab), and gotten the two following series:
As $r\rightarrow1$, $r(k)=1+3(k-1)+2(k-1)^{3/2}-(k-1)^2+O(k^{5/2})$
Similarly, as $r\rightarrow\infty$, $r(k)=2k-\frac{5}{6k}-\frac{1}{12k^3}-\frac{5}{96k^5}+O(k^{-7})$.
After this though, I don't know what to do. I've looked up how to invert standard Taylor series, but these are Laurent and Puiseux series, and I can't figure out how to invert them. When inverting Taylor series you already know what powers will be in the inverted function, so then you just solve for the appropriate coefficients. In these though, I don't know a priori what the powers of the inverted series would be so I can't just solve for them using the same method.
I'm pretty sure that this could be easily done in Mathematica or Magma (since they both have a series inversion capability) but I don't have access to such software, and the symbolic math toolbox in matlab, which I do have, doesn't have such capability.