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- How's your posture? Lifehacker offers a comprehensive look at posture and gives us one more reason why you shouldn't keep your hands in your pockets when you speak (it leads to slumped shoulders). If you spend way too much time sitting at a desk, you'll want to read this to counteract those bad-for-your-posture sitting sessions when you stand to speak.
- Got a frog in your throat? Vocal coach Kate Peters offers suggestions and remedies in one of her "who let the frogs out?" posts to help speakers with compromised vocal chords.
- What's in a face? Plastic surgeon Iain Hutchinson spoke at TED about his work saving the faces of people with severe facial deformities...and in the process of watching this video, you'll learn a lot about how faces and facial expressions move us, change our minds and influence what we think of the person speaking. A warning: Photos in this presentation show facial images that may be disturbing to some. It's a compelling talk that will help you better understand the impact of your own face on an audience.
Use the Evernote clip button, above, to save this post in an Evernote notebook. Go here to subscribe to Step Up Your Speaking, my free email newsletter that looks at a different speaking topic in depth each month...then become a fan of The Eloquent Woman on Facebook and join the conversation with thousands of other women (and men) about public speaking skills and confidence.

subset: commoncrawl


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|Biosequences .. Software .. Molbio soft .. Network News .. FTP
A Postdoctoral, Research Associate position is immediately available at UBC Okanagan to work on molecular biology of bioactive compounds in medicinal plants. Qualifications: PhD (or MSc/BSc with several years of experience), solid background in molecular biology (with particular experience with cDNA library construction and screening and with microarray technology), and some experience with GCMS and HPLC. Position is for 2-3 years, and salary is competitive depending on qualifications. To apply please forward Resume to Dr. Soheil Mahmoud at: Soheil S. Mahmoud IKB School of Arts and Sciences UBC Okanagan Kelowna, British Columbia Canada V1V 1V7 Tel. (250) 807-8752 E-mail: soheil.mahmoud at ubc.ca


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May contain in-game purchases
Rocket League®
Psyonix Inc
PSN Game
Rocket League is a high-powered hybrid of arcade-style soccer and vehicular mayhem with easy-to-understand controls and fluid, physics-driven competition. Rocket League includes casual and competitive Online Matches, a fully-featured offline Season Mode, special "Mutators" that let you change the rules entirely, hockey and basketball-inspired Extra Modes, and more than 500 trillion possible cosmetic customization combinations.
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Online features require an account and are subject to terms of service (playstationnetwork.com/terms-of-service), privacy policy (playstationnetwork.com/privacy-policy), and the game publisher's privacy policy.
1-4 players
Network Players 2-8 - Full game requires PlayStation®Plus membership to access online multiplayer
8GB minimum save size
Remote Play
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Software subject to license (us.playstation.com/softwarelicense). Online features require an account and are subject to terms of service and applicable privacy policy (playstationnetwork.com/terms-of-service & playstationnetwork.com/privacy-policy). One-time license fee for play on account's designated primary PS4™ system and other PS4™ systems when signed in with that account.
Software and online features are subject to license, terms of use, and privacy policy (rocketleague.com/eula , rocketleague.com/tou , and rocketleague.com/privacy ).
© 2015-2020 Psyonix LLC, Rocket League, Psyonix, and all related marks and logos are registered trademarks or trademarks of Psyonix LLC. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.


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Though cold indeed, spring's in the air, and judging from his morning song, the scarlet cock cardinal knows it.
Perhaps he too hears the brook rattling as it snakes through dirty, dwindling streamside ice shelves. Maybe he even realizes that my once-bloated woodshed is emptying, the end near, and my taxes are e-filed. Yes, for me and the cock cardinal, life is good, notwithstanding Spring Sports Supplement week, which always unleashes a furious scramble before the first "Play ball!" echoes off North Sugarloaf's red sandstone cliffs so familiar to me as a boy.
So here I sit atop a cushion on this worn walnut seat, still spending most of my time delving deeper in local prehistory — reading, emailing, talking on the phone and in my daily rambles — all of it an information-gathering process in anticipation of the woods opening their arms for springtime exploration. I have planned a few enticing field trips I can't wait to embark upon but must discipline myself to be patient, never easy but usually rewarding. After focusing for months on the valley, where Paleo people were drawn to early vegetation and critters that ate it, I want to find signs of pre-Paleo habitation in the uplands, from back in the day when the ancient Sugarloaf beaver myth was born, the original storytellers of oral history looking out from high above the shores of post-glacial Lake Hitchcock. But enough of that — just a little tease about things to come, plus an unnecessary reminder of where my passions lie.
This week I'm going to take the easy way out by revisiting a tired old subject addressed last week for the first time in a while. The topic is cougars; no, not them, the four-legged variety. I guess I have little choice at this point. What's kind of biped version is out there for a 60-year-old man? Oooops. Better be careful before I offend someone thin-skinned; no shortage of such folks in these days of stifling political correctness.
What I'd like to discuss is all the peripheral stuff I disciplined myself to avoid last week, when focused on one specific cougar caper emanating from the north suburban Boston town of Winchester a month ago. Actually, I had displayed exemplary patience on that tale, too, disciplining myself to wait for the story to develop as I suspected it would after watching the hysterical, knee-jerk reaction on the nightly news, followed by a deluge of emails that arrived in my inbox to alert me to a subject readers knew would pique my interest. As expected, when the fellas from MassWildlife finally assessed photos of tracks — go figure — they ruled the prints canine. That's when I decided to jump in. That way, I get to poke fun at them rather than the opposite: that is, them responding with their final word on my amateurish misidentification and media irresponsibility. Contrary to the opinion of my detractors, I do learn from mistakes, though, and understand the value of analytical patience. Sometimes you must wait for the final word, the delay typically rewarded.
The fact is that, as has so often been the case when it comes to the subject of cougars with four legs and long sloping tails, the eastern Massachusetts tale was the culmination of many cougar stories that crossed my path over the winter. Even more eerie and, um, I guess predictable judging from past experience, there had been a recent run of cougar stories leading up to last week's piece. Yes, I just keep listening, storing the data and waiting to pounce. So here I sit, crouched low on all fours, wiggling my hind quarters, ready to spring.
As I recall, it all started in January when I heard from a Northfield woman who still had a plastic bagful of scat she believed had been deposited on the wooded riverside flats near where she came face to face with a cougar fleeing a freight train in August. After this close encounter — as I recall, west of the Connecticut River and north of Bennett Meadow — she had taken it upon herself to scour swampy terrain seeking indisputable proof of the sighting and, lo, found the scat, which she collected with her hand inside the Baggie, a chore all responsible dog owners know these days. Even though a female in-law worked for MassWildlife, she was reluctant to approach her for fear of being labeled loony. Instead she asked her brother what he'd do, and he told her to contact me, that I had written extensively about sightings like hers. When we finally hooked up, I encouraged her to send the sample to her inside contact, then let me know the results. That was back in January. Not a word since. I can't say I doubted her sighting. She didn't sound the least bit wacky to me.
It gets better. On the Saturday morning before last week's piece about the Winchester cougar hit the street, I had arrived at my tax accountant's South Deerfield office an hour early and decided to run a quick errand to the town dump, where I had some documents to exchange with a friend. On the way home, still time to kill, I took a quick diversion past the home of an old childhood friend to see if I could catch him. The yard screamed that he was there and I pulled in, knocked on the door and soon there he was, same mischievous smile he's worn since the day I met him 55 years ago. The game wardens never liked this guy much, but that didn't bother me. I have always been entertained by him. This visit was no exception. He was a wealth of information. He went from witnessing the Hall of Fame flight of a young Vermonter fleeing State Police after scaling a high chain-link fence bordering an Interstate that's come to be known as "Heroin Highway," to a busy run of Craigslist Corvette sales, to, yes indeed, you guessed it: Goshen cougars — the four-legged kind that love venison chops. My buddy's frequented that northwestern Hampshire County town of late for romance, and claims cougars are the talk of the town, that many folks have seen them, the town buzzing in the public square, yet folks are not "reporting" them, per se.
"They did a lot of logging up there and the deer are thick," my buddy told me. "I guess that's why there are cougars. People are seeing them in their backyards. Some have photos. Rumor has it that they even found a deer carcass in a tree four or five years back. No lie. They say a cougar killed it and dragged it up into a tree. … Wild stuff."
Which brings me back to last week's tale of the Winchester cat. While talking to a familiar old source on these matters, one who's hell-bent on substantiating Pioneer Valley cougars whenever and wherever sightings are reported, I was able to glean a little additional information. His outfit, Cougars of the Valley, presented a Friday-night Blandford lecture that drew an overflow crowd of better than 85, all of them talkative and thoroughly convinced there are cougars in their woods. My source claims the tracks photographed by Winchester police were sent to a panel of seven nationwide experts, including documentary film makers and wildlife officials who live in western cougar country, and all seven agreed the tracks are those of a large cat. Then, of course, MassWildlife experts viewed the snapshots and determined they were dog tracks, which still irks the police who shot the photos. Believe me: the people who call MassWildlife after backyard sightings are no more pleased with the responses they receive from wildlife biologists. In fact, I have spoken to many indignant witnesses who called me because they had been insulted by experts who implied they were either fools or liars.
In a lively telephone chat about this and that with my Cougar of the Valley source, a hospital administrator no less, I touched upon logging practices and ventured quite by chance into a controversial operation now underway in special hardwood forest familiar to me surrounding the Northampton reservoir in West Whately. The man hadn't visited the site to observe what was occurring there, but he knew Massachusetts Forest Watch activist Chris Matera was the loudest critic, and that caught his attention. In his opinion, Matera is a credible watchdog driven only by a commitment to protecting forest ecosystems, so he holds nothing but respect for the man. In his humble opinion, when Matera starts screaming, those who want to protect forests ought to listen. I myself have followed Matera, spoken to him and folks who have worked with him, and I agree with my source that he has only honorable intentions.
"Two of his target areas were the state forests in Savoy and at October Mountain (in Lee)," my source recalled. "I saw both sites with my own eyes and must agree that loggers left a destructive, disgusting, clear-cut mess. That's all I can tell you. Matera was concerned about irresponsible logging practices, and he was absolutely right. I was stunned when I observed what had been done there. It was bad, really bad."
That discussion pulled me right back to Goshen, not far from Savoy, and I told him what my boyhood friend had told me about cougars there. He hadn't heard anything recent, but chuckled and said, "Yeah, ask state officials about the deer found in the tree up there if you want to see them squirm. They investigated, went into full denial and still refuse to talk about it. I believe there was truth to the report. But trust me, you're not going to find a anything on the record."
Hey, you can't make this stuff up. Maybe I shouldn't report it. Maybe it's not true. But I suppose it never hurts to chronicle a news-gathering process. I guess I'll just keep putting one foot in front of the other and bumping into these random anecdotes, many interrelated, that keep the coals of discovery and inquiry glowing. Then coming at me are questions like this, from the Cougar of the Valley man, who on Wednesday inquired, "Do you suppose your source would talk to me about Goshen? I'd like to get up there to talk to people, look for tracks, maybe set up trail cameras. This is a good spring. By now, the snow's usually gone, precisely at the time when cougars get active and start following deer to edge habitats. It's a great time to find tracks if there's snow."
With that, I'm outta here, looking for tracks. Yeah, gotta go, eyes and ears wide open for wild little hinterland rumors and devilish backwoods spirits.


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Saturday, September 26, 2015 - No comments
Bristles and Dirt
"The artist must be obedient to the work... Each work of art, whether it is a work of great genius or something very small, comes to the artist and says, 'Here I am. Enflesh me. Give birth to me.' And the artist either says, 'My soul doth magnify the Lord,' and willingly becomes the bearer of the work, or refuses."
- Madeline L'Engel
This summer, I went through a workbook entitled "The Creative Call: An Artist's Response to the Way of the Spirit." It challenged me to see the making of art as a holy calling - to attend to the work of writing an article or crafting a photograph or preparing a lavish meal with the same zeal and sense of purpose as the craftsmen who were "filled with the Spirit" to produce articles of gold and stonework and beautifully designed curtains and carvings for the tabernacle. It pushed me to recognize the lies and the distractions that suck the creative life out of me and keep me from rising up and stewarding the creative gifts I've been given. And it spoke to me of connecting with the Creator Himself and allowing Him to inspire me and live His life through me as I bring to form the things I see in my mind's eye.
During the course of my season of going through this book (which I highly recommend, by the way) I had the chance to get glimpses into the creative lives of two artists who are also good friends of mine: Mike, who is a painter, and Brooke, who is a potter. My time with each of them sparked a whole host of things in my heart as I watched them pursue their individual crafts. Both are courageously prioritizing their art in the midst of busy work and family lives. Both came alive as they talked of their current projects - the ones they've been commissioned to do as well as the ones they are working on for the pure joy of putting brush to canvas and fingers to clay. And both spoke of that incomparable feeling of co-operating with their Creator as He created something beautiful through them. With them. In them.
Mike is my best friend's husband, and I've loved seeing the way his talent adds colour to his world, be it purposeful paint "splatters" on the tablecloths at their wedding or the fantastic sketches he's done of their baby girl. I've seen plenty of his professional airbrush work (it used to form a border three canvases deep around their living room...) and have watched his eyes light up as he flips through pictures on his phone of sculptures and murals he's been doing for water parks and climbing gyms. (The guy can take you all the way to the bottom of a cup of Tim Horton's coffee explaining the nuances of shading and palette brush definition. He's passionate about his stuff!) This summer, I got to see him in action at the Painters' Circle in Stanley Park as well as at the Grand Prix of Art in Ladner and was amazed at the way he can bring a scene to life with a brush.
Brooke and his wife Dana are friends from my days as a Tennesseean, and when I made the rounds down South this summer, I had the pleasure of sharing a meal with their family in their dining-room-cum-pottery-studio. On Facebook during the previous months, I'd been watching their pottery business come back to life after a long hiatus, and it had stirred something in my heart. Here was a man with six kids and a whole lot of work responsibilities making time and space in his life to do what he loved: create. Over supper, Brooke (and his faithful firer/glazer Dana) talked about their passion for making something out of nothing, and the communion they experience with their own Potter in the process. They're rearranging their lives to incorporate an art form that will be a source of income but also, and more importantly, a source of life. They've got a workshop in the dining room and a kiln in the backyard and a "Gehman Pottery Works" sign out back to make it official. And I respect them so much for it.
After the meal, Brooke sat there at the table and spun a lump of clay that soon took shape as a deep dish. I watched him coax it from nothing into something, and then painstakingly add two tiny holes on one side and a little groove on the other - a resting place for a pair of chopsticks. The perfect noodle bowl. And I marveled at this reflection of the One who dreamed up humans and then made us out of dirt. That feeling of breathing life into something that, just an hour before, only existed in your imagination - an incomparable taste of what it means to partake of the Divine nature alive inside of us, to co-create with our Creator.
I bought a mug from the Gehmans that night, carefully selected from the dozens of earthen masterpieces on their dining room rack. Brown and teal with the faintest streak of glitter. I wanted to take home a piece of the magic, I guess. To hold something in my hands that says, "Art is worth your time. Don't neglect the gifts within you. Make space for them, take time for them, fight for them." To have something to remind me my creative pursuits - whether for profit or for play - are about so much more than making money or entertaining myself or even bringing joy to others. They're about connecting with the One in whom creativity itself originated.
Check out these talented guys and their work online:
Mike the Painter:
Moser Creative
Brooke the Potter:
Brooke the Potter:


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I have been a busy girl creating with the Bad Girls April Kit!
And can I just say--WOW!! I felt like this kit was custom made just for me--it
is loaded with fun stuff! Amazing colors, awesome papers and goodies that were so fun to play with!!
Here are some sneak peeks for now!
I also have a big card event coming up on April 4th! I've been creating my cards and getting the kits ready for the big day. I am so excited to see all of the ladies-they are too fun and sweet!
It's going to be a fun filled day of card making for sure!
Thats all for now! Can't wait to share my layouts with you on reveal day!! And don't forget to stop by the BG message board on reveal night for fun prizes and more peeks!
xoxo Cari


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This message was preached at Foothills Community Church on March 5 and 6, 2011.
God's heart for people is that all would come to know Him. His method of choice in accomplishing this is us. He has set the Church on mission to draw people into relationship with himself. As we engage with God's heart through prayer, we will see the world change.
Hear the message here.
Download accompanying outline here.
Praying To Change The World
Posted: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 – 11:13 AM
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When Dilly Duka, the Columbus Crew's 22-year-old midfielder, was told last week of the team's struggles on the West Coast, he said the young players in the locker room represented a new era and were looking forward to playing at San Jose and Seattle.
"I think we're going to go out there flying" he said to MLSsoccer.com at the time.
Little did he know that it would be the youngsters who would be called upon to save the injury-ravaged Crew, taking four of a possible six points after a 2-0 win over the Sounders at CenturyLink Field on Wednesday just days after grabbing a 1-1 draw at San Jose.
OPTA Chalkboard: Youngsters lead the way in Crew's west coast triumph
It was only the team's third victory in 17 West Coast games since 2009.
"We just came out and played," second-year midfielder/forward Justin Meram said. "We haven't been in this league much so we don't really know the history so we don't want to put too much into how many we won on the road or lost here."
The Crew (4-4-3) beat the Sounders (7-3-2) for the first time after three ties and three losses, including a 6-2 drubbing on August 27 in their last visit.
"It was a great effort on everybody's part," defender Carlos Mendes said. "Anytime you come to Seattle and win it's a confidence boost."
After losing veteran central midfielder Milovan Mirosevic to injury against the Earthquakes on Saturday, longtime defensive midfielder Danny O'Rourke suffered an ankle injury in the 44th minute against Seattle.
Cole Grossman, making his first MLS start in just his fourth game, replaced Mirosevic and rookie Kevan George stepped in for O'Rourke, making his debut. By the end of the match, sophomore Bernardo Anor and third-year player Tony Tchani were also manning the midfield.
Then there was the third-year Duka connecting with Meram for the first goal in the 15th minute. Meram, who did not score last season, got his third goal in as many games with a header from six yards.
"When we come here with a team like we have, a lot of new players, they just want to stick together and prove that we are a decent team," coach Robert Warzycha said.
A couple of "old" standbys made the lead stand. Emilio Rentería got his first goal of the season in the 76th minute on Columbus' second shot of game with a looping half-volley from 30 yards, and Andy Gruenebaum tied his career-high for the second straight match with seven saves.
And like that, the Crew – young and old alike – are in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff hunt.


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NMU Dining Display Earns Rahoi Award
NMU Dining is the winner of the 2016 Wildcat Wellness Health Fair "Robin Rahoi Award." The event planning committee presents the award to the entity judged to have the best fair display, based on the following criteria: clarity of health promotion message, attractiveness of display, interaction with participants, usefulness of take-home materials and encouragement of positive health change. Those results are combined with fair participants' votes for their favorite exhibit to determine the winner. The award honors the memory, dedication and energy of Rahoi, former NMU registered dietician. NMU's Wildcat Wellness Health Fair was held in February.


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Collaborative consumption, aka the shareable economy – the labels given to a new generation of Internet-based companies that facilitate peer-to-peer exchanges of goods and services – certainly has some positive attributes. But does it really live up to the overhyped claims of its biggest boosters, who evangelize it as a "revolution" that forever alters the economy in only positive ways? Have they really figured out a way to create something from nothing, or are there hidden costs, impacts, and complications?
I was hoping to hear that kind of balanced discussion today at a symposium hosted by the University of San Francisco's Department of Hospitality Management, featuring What's Mine is Yours author Rachel Botsman and Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky giving the keynote luncheon address: "The Rising of the Sharing Economy: How is it expanding the Global Hospitality Industry."
Moderated by the department's administrative director, Dr. David Jones, I thought I'd hear a little academic skepticism, particularly given the hotel industry's concerns about unfair competition from Airbnb. And I wanted to ask Chesky directly why his company isn't paying the $1.8 million per year in Transient Occupancy Taxes that it owes to the city, as well as how his business model relies on hosts who are violating their leases and tenant protection laws here, in New York City, and other cities.
Instead, all I heard was uncritical boosterism, grandiose claims, creepy futurism, and the unfettered hubris of a 31-year-old CEO who claims to be altruistically saving the world while getting filthy rich in the process and refusing to even pay the local taxes that a fair public process concluded that Airbnb and its hosts owe. And after Dr. Jones failed to ask the questions I had submitted and cut off the Q&A early, Chesky turned and darted out a back door before I could ask him myself (his company's spokespeople also still haven't responded to my inquiries from last month).
Everyone just seems so enamored of what Botsman called "the wonderful world of collaborative consumption," with its focus on economic "disruption," that tech-lovers label she used over and over, without really stopping to think about the impacts of disrupting established economic and regulatory systems.
"This isn't a threat to the hospitality industry, it's a massive opportunity to innovate," she enthused, claiming it would only make the economic pie bigger, with no downsides.
Chesky then told the story about how he and a buddy slapped together the Airbnb website in three days to advertise the flophouse they turned their San Francisco apartment into using air mattresses in advance of a design conference, an idea that has now blossomed into a multi-million-dollar business that places about 100,000 guests each night around the world.
"It's like the United Nations at every kitchen table. It's very powerful," Chesky said of the social benefits of his company. "I think we're in the midst of a revolution and not a lot of people are talking about it."
Actually, it seems that everyone is talking about collaborative consumption these days, which is why Chesky was recently on the cover of Forbes and The Economist. But not a lot of people seem to be asking tough questions or challenging assertions that Chesky and his young bretheren are making, such as, "For us to win, no one has to lose."
That would have been a good time for Dr. Jones to ask, "If that's true, why are you refusing to pay the $2 million in TOT you owe the city, money that helps pay for Muni, street maintenance, the police, and other city services that visitors use?" Because the more Airbnb wins business from traditional hotels that do pay the TOT, the more the rest of us lose.
Similarly, in big, expensive cities that have developed complex systems regulating landlord-tenant relations – an essential system that determines who gets to live in these cities and how diverse and inclusive they remain – Airbnb offers a mechanism for circumventing those rules, a system it barely even acknowledges.
I've used Airbnb, and I understand that it can be a cool way to avoid expensive hotels and meet locals while traveling. That's great. But it's just not that simple, and it's simplistic to focus simply on its benefits, divorced from the larger economic and environmental systems in which is operates.
"This is not a niche phenomenon. This could have enormous historic precedence," Chesky said, later adding, "This is like a Golden Age we're going to be entering."
It is an age when anyone can become an entrepreneur and get rich, when the system of mass production itself will be replaced by the myriad ideas of people like Chesky in unforeseeable ways. "I think it will change dramatically the hotel and restaurant industry," Chesky said. "Hotels themselves are going to be much more local and personal."
He envisions the next generation of hotels creating rooms that cater to the individual tastes and preferences, from the music piped into the room to what's in the mini-bar, all discerned from Facebook and other online mechanisms that create what Bostman called our "digital exhaust."
"Consumers aren't strangers, they all have profiles and you can know everything about a person," Chesky said, sending the chill of dystopian futurism down my spine.
And we're all going to travel freely around the world, owning little, sharing everything, and elevating Airbnb and its allies into the "trillion-dollar-industry" he's pushing toward.
"We're wired to be nomads," Chesky said. "We're going to be moving all over the world much more."
So says the young, entitled CEO who doesn't even have a home, flitting around the world to stay with various Airbnb hosts. But for most of us, air travel is still expensive and our vacation time is limited. And from the perspective of climate change, nothing could be worse for the environment than substantially increasing air travel to facilitate this expanded globe-trotting lifestyle that Chesky envisions.
The environmental claims of collaborative consumption companies have always struck me as the most overblown. That's why I also cornered Adam Werbach – who went from heading Sierra Club to working for WalMart on its sustainability programs to launching Yertle, a stuff-sharing website – at an event promoting the new company on Monday, aka Earth Day.
"There's nothing that's green," Werbach said when I asked whether Yertle was. "I've never used the term green."
But he does make the argument that facilitating sharing allows less stuff to be produced overall, which is good for the planet.
"Is sharing a greener alternative than buying new?" he asked, citing examples such as pasta- or bread-makers as products that people may want to try without buying. "Can you find a way to sample or test those things without buying a new one?"
That's true, but as I perused the pages and pages of stuff available on Yertle – which is sort of a high-tech version of a garage sale or thrift store, except that everything is free – I couldn't help but be struck by its promotion of materialism and accumulation. Can we really tackle big environmental challenges and still keep all our toys?
Werbach, who graciously indulged my questions, admits that the shareable economy can't adequately address big problems like climate change, which will require a major cultural and economic shift. It's more like tinkering on the margins, and making some positive incremental changes, as he felt he was able to do at WalMart. "I do think we made them somewhat better. But, has it been adequate? No," he said.
His Yertle co-founder Andy Reuben was someone Werbach met and worked with at WalMart. Reuben seemed even more hopefully that the younger generation will use collaborative consumption to create a lighter footprint on the planet.
"One thing we're seeing is it will be an asset-light generation that can just get it and pass it on," Reuben said, describing Yertle as "based on better utilizing the stuff what we have."
That's a goal that most of us probably share, and one that the shareable economy can certainly help us address. But its big boosters – from venture capitalist Ron Conway down to the random techie true believer – have to be willing to engage in an honest discussion with the rest of us, rather than just bulling their way forward, heedless of their impacts and dismissive of our concerns.
Maybe Lyft and Uber have a role to play in augmenting San Francisco's taxi system, but we shouldn't destroy that taxi system in the progress. Yes, City Care Share and Zipcar enable people to sell their cars, but how do they actually impact the number of cars on the roads? Airbnb is certainly a popular site with both hosts and guests, but that doesn't mean it should be exempt from taxes and regulations.
After today's event, I spoke with Dr. Jones – a longtime Bay Area tourism booster with a fairly libertarian outlook – about why he didn't ask tough questions or express more skepticism. "I'm really not [skeptical]" he said, although he did note the dearth of academic research on collaborative consumption and the validity of some of my questions.
"There's a massive value shift and there's no way we're going back," Botsman said of the rapid rise of the shareable economy and its disruption of traditional economic models. That may be true, or that may be self-serving hype, but either way, it's worth talking about in an open and collaborative way that involves more than just the insular tech world.
Last year, Mayor Ed Lee and Board President David Chiu announced the creation of a shareable economy task force, which was supposed to be reporting back some recommendations about now. I asked the Mayor's Office of Communications for an update on its status three days ago, and I'm still waiting to hear back.
Meanwhile, Chiu's office is still negotiating complicated legislation that would govern Airbnb's operations in San Francisco, so there will likely be hearings on that company and the issues it raises this summer. That's important for a city like San Francisco that is so diverse and engaged.
If San Francisco wants to help lead this collaborative consumption revolution that we keep hearing about from Lee and other boosters, hopefully we'll also take a clear-eyed and precautionary view of what this brave new world looks like, how it's regulated, what its byproducts may be, and whose interests it serves.


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The Unconventional Gazette
December 14, 2012
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between Grandmothers and Grandfathers?
Well, here it is:
There was this loving grandfather who always made a special effort to spend time with his son's family on weekends. Every Saturday morning he would take his 5-year-old granddaughter out for a drive in the car for some quality time -- pancakes, ice cream, candy-- just him and his granddaughter.
One particular Saturday, however, he had a bad cold and really didn't feel like being up at all. He knew his granddaughter always looked forward to their drives and would be disappointed. Luckily, his wife came to the rescue and said that she would take their granddaughter for the drive and breakfast.
When they returned, the little girl anxiously ran upstairs to see her grandfather who was still in bed. "Well, did you enjoy your ride with Grandma?" he asked.
"Not really, PaPa, it was really boring. We didn't see a single asshole, queer, lesbian, piece of crap, horse's ass, socialist wing pinko democrat Obamalover, blind bastard, dipshit, Muslim camel humper, or son-of-a-bitch anywhere we went!"


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Grape seed extract is on my list of "must take" supplements. Here's why.
Grape Seed Extract Lowers Risk of Heart Disease
Proanthocyanidin (OPC), a powerful antioxidant found in grape seeds, grape skins, strawberries and French maritime pine bark, has anti-inflammatory properties which have been shown to promote normal blood flow and thus benefit the cardiovascular system.
OPC's prevent "blood sludge" that can cause strokes and heart attacks. OPC's work like aspirin (only better and safer) to prevent abnormal blood clotting. OPC's may be a superior answer for those who need thinner blood (like people with arrhythmias), as a safer alternative to coumadin.
OPC's are also called "Pycnogenol"® (a registered trade name) when they are derived from pine bark. The grape seed extract is slightly more potent and less expensive. You will see the terms Pycnogenol®, OPC's, and grape seed extract used interchangeably.
• In one study, 38 cigarette smokers were divided into two groups and received either 500 mg of aspirin or 125 mg of Pycnogenol®. After taking these doses, each subject smoked a cigarette, which is known to increase blood platelet aggregation (blood clumping). After two hours, blood samples were analyzed.
– Both groups had greatly reduced platelet aggregation,
– But those in the aspirin group had increased bleeding times while those in the OPC group did not.
Other studies in smokers have also shown the anti-aggregation effect of OPC's.
• In another study, 30 people were given Pycnogenol® and 10 were given placebo. People in the Pycnogenol® group had significant reduction in blood pressure, capillary (small blood vessel) leakage, and blood vessel inflammation, all risk factors for heart disease. There were no negative side effects or adverse changes in blood chemistries from Pycnogenol.®
Grape Seed Extract a Boon to Diabetics
(and those who don't want to be diabetics)
Pycnogenol® benefits the cardiovascular system by decreasing inflammation and improving blood viscosity in both normal and diabetic subjects. These effects can be especially important to diabetics. New research shows that OPC's have even more benefits for diabetics by helping to lower blood sugar levels and improving microcirculation.
• OPC's were administered to diabetic patients. Leg ulcers (which often result in gangrene and loss of limbs in diabetics) healed 25%-29% faster in the group taking OPC's. This is a significant benefit for diabetic patients and could help prevent loss of limbs that often occurs in diabetes.
• OPC's have also been shown to help lower blood sugar levels. Researchers looked at the effect that Pycnogenol® had on alpha-glucosidase, an enzyme that breaks down carbohydrates into glucose molecules. In this study, Pycnogenol® was compared to acarbose, a synthetic drug (sold under the brand name Precose) that inhibits alpha-glucosidase. Pycnogenol® was found to be 190 times more potent at inhibiting alpha-glucosidase, producing a greater delay in glucose absorption. At higher concentrations, OPC's greatly slowed the entrance of carbohydrates into the blood stream compared to the drug.
• Another study showed that Pycnogenol® improved the level of microangiopathy (small blood vessel abnormalities), decreased capillary filtration, improved symptoms and reduced edema in 18 out of 18 diabetic patients, with no subjects dropping out of the study due to adverse side effects. There were no improvements seen in the control group.
• OPC's have been shown in French trials to help limit the progression of diabetic retinopathy. In one study, 60% of diabetics taking 150 mg per day of OPCs from grape seed extract had no progression of retinopathy compared to 47% of those taking a placebo.
• Another trial including 77 subjects with type 2 diabetes, (half receiving 100 mg of Pycnogenol® and half receiving a placebo daily), showed after 12 weeks that subjects in the Pycnogenol® group had significantly lowered their plasma glucose levels compared to placebo. Pycnogenol® subjects were also found to have improved artery function.
• In another trial of 30 type 2 diabetics, researchers found that increasing doses of Pycnogenol® (doses of 50, 100, 200, and 300 mg) lowered blood sugar levels in a dose-dependent fashion. (The more grape seed extract, the lower the blood sugar levels.) Subjects who received 100 to 300 mg of Pycnogenol® had the most significant lowering of their fasting glucose levels.
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Anti-Cancer Effects of Grape Seed Extract
Talc (talcum powder) increases "ovarian neoplastic transformation" (turns cells of the female ovary into cancerous cells). A recent study showed that Pycnogenol® blocked this talc-induced cancerous change in ovarian cells. PC's have also been shown to induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) in breast cancer cells but not in normal breast tissue.
OPC's reduce four factors known to stimulate cancer cell growth:
• Blood sugar levels,
• Insulin levels,
• Free radicals,
• And inflammation.
This means that OPC's may be a potent factor not only in cancer prevention but also in cancer treatment. (See our medical paper on cancer diet and nutrition for full details).
But Wait! There's More! (More Benefits of Grape Seed Extract)
If heart-protective, anti-diabetic, anti-cancer effects aren't enough to make you consider adding grape seed extract to your supplement regimen, here are a few more benefits of this amazing flavonoid for you to consider:
• Anti-allergenic (grape seed stabilizes histamine release and so acts as a natural anti-histamine, without any drowsy side-effects). Asthmatic children who took Pycnogenol® were able to decrease their asthma medications.
• Improves skin elasticity by increasing collagen in the skin. For this reason, OPC's are often used in skin rejuvenation programs.
• Prevents varicose veins by strengthening blood vessels and increasing collagen (same reason it helps improve aging skin).
• Helps prevent Alzheimer's disease by blocking the formation of beta amyloid (a protein associated with Alzheimer's).
• Reduces symptoms of endometriosis. This was recently reported in Family Medicine journal; yet another study showing positive benefit.
I Don't Know About You, But…
The proven (but non-FDA-approved, blessed or verified) effects of grape seed extract (aka Pycnogenol,® OPC's, etc.) are just too great for me to overlook. I personally take 100mg, 3 times per day with meals and will continue to do so. The new research coming out on this important herb convinces me that I've made a good decision.
* Dr. Dana Myatt, NMD, is a practicing naturopathic family physician, educator, author, and speaker with a special interest in nutrition. Dr. Myatt lectures widely to medical and lay audiences, and hosts a website (DrMyattsWellnessClub.com). This information is reproduced with kind permission from Dr. Myatt's informative e-newsletter – HealthBeat News. For a free subscription, click here.
1. Inhibition of smoking-induced platelet aggregation by aspirin and Pycnogenol. Thromb Res. 1999 Aug 15;95(4):155-61.
2. Pine bark extract reduces platelet aggregation. Integr Med. 2000 Mar 21;2(2):73-77.
3. Single and multiple dose pharmacokinetics of maritime pine bark extract (pycnogenol) after oral administration to healthy volunteers. BMC Clin Pharmacol. 2006 Aug 3;6:4.
4. Inhibition of COX-1 and COX-2 activity by plasma of human volunteers after ingestion of French maritime pine bark extract (Pycnogenol). Biomed Pharmacother. 2006 Jan;60(1):5-9. Epub 2005 Oct 26.
5. Diabetic ulcers: microcirculatory improvement and faster healing with pycnogenol. Clin Appl Thromb Hemost. 2006 Jul;12(3):318-23.
6. Oligomeric procyanidins of French maritime pine bark extract (Pycnogenol) effectively inhibit alpha-glucosidase. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2006 Nov 10.
7. Rapid relief of signs/symptoms in chronic venous microangiopathy with pycnogenol: a prospective, controlled study. Angiology. 2006 Oct-Nov;57(5):569-76.
8. Procyanidolic oligomers in the treatment of fragile capillaries and diabetic retinopathy. Med Int 1981;16:432–4 [in French].
8A. Retinopathies and OPC. Bordeaux Medicale 1978;11:1467–74 [in French].
9. Contribution to the study of procyanidolic oligomeres: Endotelon in diabetic retinopathy (in regard to 30 observations). Gaz Med de France 1982;89:3610–4 [in French].
10. Antidiabetic effect of Pycnogenol French maritime pine bark extract in patients with diabetes type II. Life Sci. 2004 Oct 8;75(21):2505-13.
11. French maritime pine bark extract Pycnogenol dose-dependently lowers glucose in type 2 diabetic patients.Diabetes Care. 2004 Mar;27(3):839.
12. Pycnogenol reduces talc-induced neoplastic transformation in human ovarian cell cultures. Phytother Res. 2007 Mar 14; [Epub ahead of print]
13. Selective induction of apoptosis in human mammary cancer cells (MCF-7) by pycnogenol. Anticancer Res. 2000 Jul-Aug;20(4):2417-20.
14. Nutritional and Botanical Considerations in the Systemic Treatment of Cancer: 2006 Update.
15. Pycnogenol as an adjunct in the management of childhood asthma. J Asthma. 2004;41(8):825-32
16. Stabilization of collagen by polyphenols. Angiologica 1972;9:248–56 [in German].
17. Non-enzymatic degradation of acid-soluble calf skin collagen by superoxide ion: protective effect of flavonoids. Biochem Pharmacol 1983;32:53–8.
18. Pycnogenol protects neurons from amyloid-beta peptide-induced apoptosis. Brain Res Mol Brain Res. 2002 Jul 15;104(1):55-65.
19. Pine Bark Extract Reduces Symptoms of Endometriosis. J Reprod Med. 2007;52:000-000.
Note: This information has not been evaluated by the FDA. It is not intended to prevent, diagnose, treat or cure any condition, illness, or disease and is not a substitute for personal medical care. It is very important that you make no change in your healthcare plan or health support regimen without researching and discussing it in collaboration with your professional healthcare team.


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Author: graytuft.com
My policing career took art infused veins to every crisis. Upon approach I needed to see the small, apparently insignificant, cues. Each layered crises was a snapshot and, as the crisis concluded, I became a layer embedded in some stranger's memory. Today I write to unfold layers of my memory. Today I seek beauty beyond the fog of my memories. JT Murphy, graytuft.com


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"Modeling Electric Vehicle Benefits Connected to Smart Grids." 7th IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference. Chicago, IL : LBNL, 2011. LBNL-4929E..
"Smart buildings with electric vehicle interconnection as buffer for local renewables?." Researching the Intelligent City: Key Challenges of Integrating Urban Energy and Mobility Systems Research Symposium. Berlin, Germany : LBNL, 2011. LBNL-4921E..
The CO2 Abatement Potential of California's Mid-Sized Commercial Buildings. Berkeley: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2010. LBNL-3024E..
"The CO2 Reduction Potential of Combined Heat and Power in California's Commercial Buildings." Clean Tech Law & Business Journal (2010) 16. LBNL-2850E..
"The Influence of a CO2 Pricing Scheme on Distributed Energy Resources in California's Commercial Buildings." 23rd Annual Western Conference, Advanced Workship in Regulation and Competition 2010. LBNL-3560E..
"The Added Economic and Environmental Value of Solar Thermal Systems in Microgrids with Combined Heat and Power." 3rd International Conference on Solar Air-Conditioning, September 30 – October 2, 2009. University Palermo, Sicily, Italy, 2009. 11. LBNL-2629E..
The Added Economic and Environmental Value of Solar Thermal Systems in Microgrids with Combined Heat and Power. Berkeley: LBNL, 2009..
"Greenhouse Gas Abatement with Distributed Generation in California's Commerical Buildings." 10th IAEE European Conference, Energy, Policies and Technologies for Sustainable Economies. Hofburg, Vienna, Austria, 2009. LBNL-2693E..
"Greenhouse Gas Abatement with Distributed Generation in California's Commercial Buildings." 6th Annual California Climate Change Research Symposium 2009. LBNL-3020E..


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MAGNETOM Avanto Upgrade
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Upgrade your MAGNETOM Avanto with the latest generation of integrated coil and workflow technology - Tim 4G and DotGO1. Powered by the new syngo MR E11 software-platform, you can expand your MRI services and meet the needs in a dynamic healthcare environment now and for years to come. Make the most of your initial investment and upgrade to MAGNETOM Avantofit now.
General Requirements
Related Products, Services & Resources
1The product is currently under development; is not for sale in the U.S. and other countries. Its future availability cannot be guaranteed.


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You are accessing outdated information from an archived catalog, this content is for reference only.
For up-to-date content, please refer to the current catalog.
BSU Catalog Home | Graduate Technological Studies Course Descriptions
Dr. William Brauer (Chair; email@example.com), Dr. Timothy Brockman, Dr. Bonnie Higgins, Dr. Elaine Hoffman, Dr. James McCracken, Dr. Gerald Nestel, Dr. Vincent Vohnout, Mr. Randy Wentzel
The Department of Technological Studies has two graduate programs. The M.S. in Technology/Career and Technical Education focuses on the application of the specific study and use of technology for students pursuing a degree in the areas of technology education and career and technical education. The new M.S. in Industrial Technology is for students pursuing a degree in industrial technology, manufacturing, business, and enterprise quality leadership. The program encompasses the advanced study of quality methods, technical processes, problem solving, and application of leadership skills in non-educational environments.
The program options encompass the advanced study of educational methods, technical processes, problem solving, and the application of leadership skills in the educational environment.
Note: For Career and Technical Education Licensure, see "Professional Education: Licensures."
Undergraduate major or minor in industrial technology, technology education, and/or career and technical education.
See Section II, Graduate Study for degree requirements.
Note: ED 6108 has a prerequisite not required in this program.
ED 6100 Educational Research I (3 credits)
ED 6107 Advanced Educational Psychology (3 credits)
or ED 6108 The Learning Community (3 credits)
Subtotal 6 Credits
Select 6 credits from the following courses:
IT 6200 Application of Emerging Technologies (2 credits)
IT 6280 Instructional Technologies in Industrial/Vocational Education (2 credits)
IT 6340 Leadership and Supervision in Industrial/Vocational Education (2 credits)
IT 6380 Grant and Contract Writing (2 credits)
Subtotal 6 Credits
Select one:
A minimum of 6 guided elective credits selected with the consent of the advisor.
Subtotal 16 Credits
IT 6980 Graduate Research Paper (2 credits)
Subtotal 2 Credits
Students are expected to demonstrate proficiency in the application of instructional technologies.
This program provides graduate education for non-teaching individuals. The program focuses on developing industrial technology and quality leadership abilities and the application and analysis of techniques in these areas.
Undergraduate major or minor in industrial technology is suggested, but other degrees may be appropriate based on the applicant's career history and interests.
See Section II, Graduate Study of degree requirements.
IT 6000 Technical Research Design (3 credits)
IT 6100 Technical Research Implementation (3 credits)
IT 6117 Leadership Studies (3 credits)
Subtotal 9 Credits
Select 12 credits from the following courses:
IT 5878 Quality Assurance (not available to students that have taken IT 4878) (3 credits)
IT 6120 Studies in Quality (3 credits)
IT 6130 Industrial Planning and Control (3 credits)
IT 6140 Topics in Quality Benchmarking (3 credits)
3 credits from the following courses:
IT 6200 Application of Emerging Technologies (2 credits)
and/or IT 6240 Advanced Skills in Industrial Technology (1-4 credits)
Subtotal 12 Credits
Select 9 credits from the following courses:
PSY 5357 Industrial Organization Psychology (3 credits)
Technological Studies courses
Business Administration courses
Subtotal 9 Credits
IT 6870 Writing and Research in Technology (2 credits)
IT 6980 Graduate Research Paper
or IT 6990 Thesis (1 credit)
Subtotal 3 Credits
Total Semester Credits Required for Degree 33 Credits
Students are expected to demonstrate proficiency in the computer application of statistics used in technology.


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Pakistan's political dynamics has seen its different colors over the last six decades. The country saw some of the most oppressive military regimes and also some of the most corrupt periods of elected plutocracy. Our history saw struggles between left and right and also became an active player in the cold war period.
Though our politics has been influenced strongly by the foreign masters of our ruling elites. But in that our establishment has always played a vital role either as a proxy rule for foreign powers or as a king maker in local politics, many times the role has been a mixture of both. The honest reality of our history is that this role of our establishment has seriously dented our political culture, damaged rule of law and also harmed our rights as free citizens of this country.
A country which was founded on the principles of justice and equality didn't live up to the expectations due to the dismal performance of our establishment and their cultivated corrupt political culture based on feudal-corporatist mindsets. Right from the days of Ghulam Muhammad, Pakistani establishment strengthened its hold on the affairs of the state and its politics. Pakistan was thrown into an unwanted cold war and thus it gave up its freedom which it got few years ago into the hands of imperialist forces lead by USA, which at that time took place of United Kingdom as world super power along with its rival USSR.
Initially establishment rule was evenly balanced between civil and military establishments but later on especially after Ayub Khan martial law, military acted as the main force of establishment. Now by establishment we can easily refer to GHQ as main source of political power. Even Fatimah Jinnah, one of the strong political figure of our country and sister of founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah was not able to defeat this system. But her role in politics did make our establishment to get involved more in party politics or politics of masses. Now if I see things as an ordinary student of politics, foundation of PPP was meant to fill the political vacuum in the country so that those forces including Awami League, Jamat e Islami and others, who opposed Ayub martial law openly could not strengthen their grounds as alternate political reality other than establishment.
This approach worked in West Pakistan due to strong feudal system but failed in East Pakistan so establishment with the backing of feudal political class decided to use force on our own people. And we all know the consequences of 1971 riots and later Indo-Pak war. There was a chance for the nation to learn lessons from the mistakes and change the future course of actions.
But it didn't happen except for few adjustments, including a real major one of developing 1973 constitution, our political outlook remained same. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was a product of establishment, who tried to become larger than he should be in the eyes of establishment and also started a nuclear program against the wishes of our imperialist masters, became a liability to the system and so he was removed from the scene through Zia martial law and later hanged till death in a murder case of controversial nature.
Removal of Bhutto, instead of giving some relief to martial law forces became counter productive especially in the province of Sind so a new political reality of MQM was given space and support by military establishment. In Zia's time not only constitution was treated badly but his use of religion to give cover to his oppressive and hypocrite regime proved to be another major blunder in the history of our country.
Later after the death of General(R) Zia ul Haq, PPP with sympathy votes and deals with local and international establishment came into power. Instead of learning from past mistakes and doing accountability of constitutional violations and corruptions by Zia regime, PPP started a new era of corruption and nepotism in Pakistani politics. They were also joined by their rivals, PML(N) which was a product of Zia remains, in this political culture. This culture saw its ups and downs and political maneuvering by establishment through the formation of IJI and sacking of governments.
In this time Nawaz Sharif of PML(N), also emerged as a big political force through a huge mandate in 1997 elections by bagging 137 seats. Nawaz tried to undermine the unwanted reality of our political history i.e. military establishment and did not follow the line of imperialist master while conducting nuclear tests in 1998,was sacked in a military coup by General (R) Musharraf. In Nawaz's sacking his controversial 15th amendment and attacks on judiciary also played a key role as these actions weakened the rule of law and supremacy of constitution in the country and thus giving more room for unconstitutional measures by opportunist forces of martial law.
Musharraf rule proved to be one of the most disastrous periods of Pakistani history. In this tenure Pakistan get involved into a foreign war and this war was later dragged into our cities through some of the most evil policies. This war and Musharraf's rule converted the diversity of our society into a clash between sects, ethnicity and social classes.
Actions like attack on Supreme Judiciary, abrogation of constitution, illegal abductions, extra judicial killings, military operations including heavy bombings on civilian areas, 12 May 2007 and 9 March 2007 and others really broke the back of Pakistani economy and society. The society after Musharraf is more fragmented and country is facing some of the worst consequences of his actions.
Then another foreign sponsored deal, between forces of martial law and feudal-corporatist political elite, resulted in current NRO government. In return of Musharraf's safety and continuation of his imperialist slave policies, current ruling alliance was not only given power but all criminal cases were removed in the name of reconciliation. In the mean time, removal of Benazir Bhutto from the scene also helped her cronies and beneficiaries of NRO deal to capture more sympathy votes. Despite a report by UN, Benazir murder case is still not seeing much progress except for cover ups.
Our history saw politics of so called Left and so called Right, so called Red and so called Green and also the so called struggle between forces of dictatorships and so called forces of democracy. The reality is most of these setups were fake and were meant to serve the goals of ruling elite and their foreign masters.
Old games are now again being played by our ruling elite with assistance from foreign masters. Former dictator Musharraf is planning to come back into politics. Pir Pagara has also started his alliance of failed politicians in the name of uniting Muslim League.
PPP and allied parties are still playing their dirty games to strengthen their rule through fear and control politics as a result a commercial hub like Karachi is seeing one of the worst periods of target killings.Institutional corruption, high inflation and a huge government-created energy crisis to pave way for their corruption in Rental Power Projects are putting us into further economic disaster.
Natural resources and assets are on sale for nothing and again our nation is being fooled just for the monetary gains of few.So called opposition comprising of PML-Q and PML-N are busy in playing their hypocritical role. People are still not able to come out of their prejudices and short term greed and so giving strength to this system through "Zindabad" mentality.
Even floods have not changed the situation much. Supreme Court, which has provided some hope after restoration is being sidelined by government and institutions. Lawyers and media which emerged as a new force in national politics are now being divided through money and threats. Government involvement in SCBA elections and threats to media are examples of this approach. Situation in Afghanistan will come with its own dynamics and impacts on Pakistani politics.
Luckily few good things happened in recent times including the revival of civil society, emergence of free and resilient media, and an independent Supreme Court. These are real challenging times for those who love freedom and justice. These include all those who are struggling for rule of law, justice, accountability, freedom and respect for nation, and above all a better Pakistan. Lot is needed to be done and it seems to be an almost impossible task but lets hope for the best as we are responsible for our actions and decisions not the given conditions and out of control realities.
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Matt Damon was at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln today for student orientation. Apparently he's the "parent, guardian, or mentor" to a young man, reportedly his nephew. According to school officials, he asked to be given no special treatment whatsoever, preferring to take the campus tour as every other "parent, guardian, or mentor" does. With a name tag stickered to his shirt: M Damon.
Understandably, he attracted the attention of some of the other students. And when that happened he happily posed for photos and he wasn't surrounded by security with a publicist shoving her hand in people's faces which is why there was no hysteria, no crowds, and no mess. Not a bad thing to say about the man, really. I've been around him at charity events when he's turned down a green room because he doesn't want to roll like that. An exception, I promise you.


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I believe the hard part of building software to be the specification, design, and testing of this conceptual construct, not the labor of representing it and testing the fidelity of the representation.
- Fred Brooks - No Silver Bullet
Now that essay is in what I think of as the entrance exam to a job in software, if you haven't read it you really shouldn't be working in computing.
I thought it was worth bringing up again as there have been some bits recently around SOA v BPM which have been misunderstood as me bashing BPM. This isn't the case at all, what I'm saying is that you need to think first before implementing BPM and that SOA represents the best way to create the conceptual construct for BPM, and that BPM is about the labour of representing that construct.
The key here is that the important piece is the thought and planning of that initial piece, not the implementation of the ideas. It is much more valuable and powerful to have the correct conceptual framework before you start on the implementation.
This is why I say that BPM screws up SOA because BPM does not create a conceptual framework, it creates an implementation approach which is a set of steps linked together. There are people who practice true Business Process engineering who create the conceptual framework for process, and to me that looks much like the Business Service approach I try and do in that it considers the parts of the business and their boundaries before worrying about any simple issue of steps.
Hell don't stop at Fred though, Adam Smith apparently has some good ideas as well.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" is another famous saying, of course its not actually true, the first thing to work out is exactly where you are going and how to get there otherwise you could spend 40 years just wandering across a pretty small desert.
SOA is about thought, and thought makes better action.
Addition: It appears to be a bigger meme today than normal, someone else is bigging up the book
Technorati Tags: SOA, Service Architecture


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46 Ways to Bring Fun to Your Family
Need something fun to do with your kids, fast?
Want to know which adventures are sure to please kids and parents, both?
You've come to the right place!
In this final article for My Kids' Adventures I'll share the top picks from our editorial team, writers and you—our readers—so you can zero in on the tried-and-tested fun.
Whether you're looking for something new to do with your family or want to revisit an adventure you've enjoyed before, you're sure to find something exciting to do together.
Why Bring Fun to Your Family?
My Kids' Adventures was launched in July 2013 as a site for quick, easy, inexpensive activities that busy parents (and grandparents) can do together with their kids (ages 5-11).
With 205 articles on the site, each hand-picked to promote fun, adventure and togetherness among parents and kids, you're sure to find activities your family will love. This list will help narrow it down.
Just choose something that looks like fun and do it with your kids. Do one today or this weekend—don't wait for "someday." Bring fun to your family now and build a lifetime of happy memories.
15 Ways to Help Kids Stay Connected With Their Grandparents (Near or Far)
Do your kids see their grandparents regularly?
Want to help them develop a special relationship with their grandparents?
There are many things you and your kids can do to encourage that connection, whether your kids' grandparents live down the block or across the country.
In this article I'll share ways you can help your kids stay connected with their grandparents.
Why Stay Connected With Grandparents?
Whether near or far, grandparents glue the generations together. Grandparents are a way to connect your kids to their family's history. They're also lots of fun!
Sam Levenson famously said, "The simplest toy, one which even the youngest child can operate, is called a grandparent." How true that is.
As life gets ever faster, grandparents are often the perfect, though sometimes taken for granted, support system for families in these changing times.
How to Make a Survival Shelter From Leaves and Debris With Your Kids
Do you and your kids love survival shows like Man vs. Wild and Survivorman?
Have you ever slept outdoors in a tent, lean-to or teepee you built yourself?
Want to share an experience like that with your kids?
Even if you have little or no experience in the great outdoors, you can help your kids learn some basic survival skills and enjoy some creative fun together!
It's easy—we'll practice with a toy model first.
In this article I'll show you how to make a fun outdoor shelter out of leaves and debris, and share an important survival skill with your kids without them even knowing it.
Why Teach Your Kids How to Make a Shelter?
A shelter is the first thing to consider if you're ever lost in the great outdoors. In fact, if you get lost, you should make some kind of shelter first—before finding food or even water.
A debris hut is an easy-to-make outdoor shelter that can shield you from the elements like rain and wind, help you stay in one place and make it easier for searchers to rescue you.
Even if you don't need to make a shelter for survival, it's a pretty cool thing to know how to do and it's lots of fun to build together with your kids.
How to Make an Elf or Fairy House With Your Kids and Create a World of Wonder
Do your kids love to play make-believe?
Want to jump into their world?
Build move-in-ready elf and fairy houses as a family. Create little villages of fantasy that will give rise to make-believe quests right in your own backyard.
In this article I'll show you how to create a world of wonder and build elf or fairy houses together.
Why Build an Elf or Fairy House With Your Kids?
One of the fastest ways to create long-term memories that stick through adulthood is to wrap our activities in a feeling of wonder.
Stir up your kids' imaginative spirits and create mystical places where make-believe adventures are just waiting to happen. From the defensive dragon-fighting fortresses of the elves to the picturesque cottages of the flower fairies, these easy structures will write a whole new chapter in your family memory book!
The must-have ingredient in every happy childhood is wonder. Wonder is what transforms a walk in the woods into an exciting epic exploration. And nothing brings out wonder like magical creatures.
How to Have a Lumberjack Competition With Your Kids
Have your kids ever heard stories of lumberjacks like Paul Bunyan?
Want to create some unique backyard fun for your family?
Create a family lumberjack competition.
It's simple to set up and gets everyone outside for some friendly competition. Not only are the activities fun, but you'll also learn about a fascinating industry with deep historical roots.
In this article I'll explain how to put together kid-friendly versions of real competitive events from actual lumberjack competitions.
Why a Lumberjack Competition?
A lumberjack competition is a great opportunity to combine the cerebral with the physical! You'll get your kids outdoors for an adventure that's part obstacle course, part relay race, part target practice and all fun! Plus, you'll be able to sneak in a fascinating history and social sciences lesson about this tradition.
Lumberjacks and lumberjills, or loggers as they're referred to today, are people who cut down trees to harvest lumber. Your family won't be cutting down any trees. Instead, you'll participate in fun games that simulate some of the skills used in logging.
It's easy to create your own competition, using materials found at home or any big-box store.
Exploding Soda and Flying Potatoes: How to Ignite the Science Spark in Your Children
Are your kids interested in science?
Want to try cool experiments with your family?
To learn how to have messy scientific fun with your kids, I interview Steve Spangler for this episode of the Parenting Adventures podcast.
More About This Show
The Parenting Adventures podcast is a show from My Kids' Adventures.
It's for parents (and grandparents) who are looking for creative things to do with their kids.
The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).
In this episode, I interview Steve Spangler, one of the web's top science guys. His books include Naked Eggs and Flying Potatoes and Fire Bubbles and Exploding Toothpaste.
Just search "Steve Spangler" on YouTube and you'll find more than 1,300 videos that have a total of more than 145 million views. He's a regular guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and has three sons who test out all of Dad's experiments.
Steve shares ways to make science fun for kids by performing experiments as a family.
You'll discover the reasons why science is so important for kids.
Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!
Listen Now
[powerpress]You can also subscribe via iTunes or Stitcher.
Trash to Toy: 6 Creative Projects to Make With Recyclables
Are you constantly looking for creative projects for your kids?
Do you want activities that ignite their imaginations?
Make things with recyclables.
When you use items found in your recycling bin or around the house to create toys and treasures kids love, it inspires them to tap into their creativity and use what's available.
In this article I'll show you six things you can make with found items in your home.
Why Create Things With Recyclables?
When you create things using items from the recycling box, it's good for the environment and also helps develop your child's imagination and creativity.
It teaches kids that once something has been used for its initial purpose, it doesn't mean that we have to throw it away.
And it's an excellent family project, because you're working on something together.
Most importantly, it's just plain fun to turn trash into treasures. There's no limit to what you can make when you take random items and turn them into something else.
How to Create a Family Bucket List With Your Kids
Do you encourage your kids to dream big?
Are there adventures you'd love to experience together as a family?
Write them down so you'll have options on hand at a moment's notice.
In this article I'll show you how to create a family bucket list.
First you and your kids will share dreams of places to go and things to do together. Then you'll organize, prioritize and turn your wish list into tangible goals with a fun family project.
Why Build a Bucket List?
A bucket list consists of things you want to do in your lifetime (before you "kick the bucket").
The expression has been expanded to include goals people want to achieve within other time frames as well: before certain birthdays or life events, before holidays or vacations come to an end, before the kids reach a certain age, etc.
The bucket list concept has been around for a while and got a boost in popularity by The Bucket List movie, but it may be new to your children. Once you explain that it's a way to think of the fun things you'd like to do together, they're sure to get on board right away with lots of ideas!
It's fun and exciting to come up with goals using input from the whole family. Kids love to feel that their contributions count.
For this adventure, you'll actually make a special bucket, then gather, create and preserve a bucketful of family memories.
20 Back-to-School Teacher Gifts to Make With Your Kids
Are your kids nervous about meeting their new teachers?
Want to find a way to ease the transition?
Work with your kids to make a teacher back-to-school present.
When you make a gift for your child's teacher, you create a connection from the get-go.
The team at My Kids' Adventures scoured the web for the best teacher gift ideas.
In this article I'll share five fun things you can make to welcome your child's teacher back to school and start the year off with a smile.
Why Make Teacher Gifts?
No matter how big your kids get, the transition from summer vacation to the start of a new school year can be a challenge. This can be especially difficult for young kids.
When you work together to make something for your kids' teachers, it will help your kids get prepared for and even a little excited about the new school year.
Teacher gifts are also a great way to introduce your family to your kids' new teachers and let them know they're appreciated from the very start.
How to Explore Caves With Your Kids: Spelunking Basics
Do your kids like to explore the great outdoors?
Want to add an exciting extra element to your next hiking, camping or vacation adventure?
Go spelunking (cave exploring) with your kids and introduce them to parts of the world they've probably never seen before.
In this article I'll explain spelunking basics, and share what you need to know before you try caving with your family.
Why Go Spelunking?
There's a reason that caves are a common setting in literature, TV, movies, mythology and even non-fiction stories: Caves are cool, dark and mysterious! These incredible hidden places, formed by nature, just beg to be explored by kids and grownups alike.
You probably won't find a dragon or pirate's treasure or even a hibernating bear on your spelunking adventure, but you and your family will see and experience wondrous things that stimulate kids' imaginations and curiosity about the natural world.
When you explore a cave as a family, you'll have both an exciting outdoor adventure and a fun learning experience that everyone will remember for a long time.


text: Immediately throwing the presumed casting of Joss Whedon's S.H.I.E.L.D. into disarray, Gina Torres has signed on to co-star in NBC's upcoming Hannibal, the Silence Of The Lambs prequel/Bryan Fuller quirk-fest that continues to round out its cast with familiar faces that may or may not be ripped off and worn by a psychopath. Torres, another Pushing Daisies vet, will play the wife to Deputy Director of Frowny Faces Laurence Fishburne—a part she plays in real life as well, but with much less snappy dialogue. And yes, Torres will balance the show's shooting schedule with her current role on USA's recently renewed Suits, as well as any and all of those new Firefly projects that are definitely going to happen soon.


text:
MarkB wrote:Time to start using a debugger, I think.
Do you get the error when running with OpenMP but on only one thread?
Hello MarkB,
I used export OMP_NUM_THREADS=1, then run the program again, but the same problem happened while the OMP_STACKSIZE set to 1.5G and the ulimit -s unlimited set.
how to solve my problem that I just want to parallelize the DO loop which I posted before? Is it so hard to solve?
If I use a debugger, how to use? I never use debugger in the linux platform.
best wishes
yours alex


text:
Red-Glazed Garden Stool
Red-Glazed Garden Stool
- Traditional Chinese garden stool
- Individually hand-painted and finished with a rich lacquer
- Handmade by a family of artisans - each piece is unique
- SKU: LCQ-18GS-Red
- Brand: Red Lantern
Shipping & Returns
Shipped custom boxed and fully insured for complete reliability from our warehouse via FedEx Home Delivery.
- Quality Control: Your order is inspected prior to shipping to eliminate any problems or defects.
- Packing: Your order will be boxed for maximum safety and protection during shipping.
- Insurance: Each order is fully insured before shipping and this cost is included in our shipping price.
Return Policy:
Please contact us within 14 days of receipt of your item to arrange a Return Authorization Number (RMA).
Returns without an RMA number or items not in the original packaging will not be processed, or will be assessed an additional fee at our discretion.
Shipping costs are non-refundable unless the return is a result of a manufacturing defect or our shipping error.
We reserve the right to refuse returns or exchanges of items that are not in new condition due to damage or misuse by the customer.
Items must be returned within 30 days of the issuance of the RMA number, and must be received in the original packaging.
For health and safety reasons, bedding, towels, pillows and related items are not returnable. Please review the color, design and dimensions carefully on the product page before placing your order.


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Subsidizing Beauty
It has been quite a while since we last checked in with our friends in the baseball crazy nation of Venezuela and during that time, things have gone from bad to worse. Obviously the bad could only be Venezuelan superhero Mr. Ozzie Guillen and his self-confessed love of Fidel Castro. We expect that sort of thing from El Presidente Chavez but Ozzie?
Even worse, though, is what's happening to prices and stocks of essential goods over there. The point of this article is that the government has been forced to subsidize beauty supplies which is understandable in a country with so many beauty queens. But what I found more interesting is this sentence: "Premium toilet paper…is expected to slowly disappear from the shelves."
I don't know about you but if you've ever spent time in a country like Venezuela, you know that premium toilet paper is more than a luxury. It's a necessity. Its slow disappearance from the shelves also means the gradual disappearance of your colon.
Speaking of colons and Colons, what happens to Venezuelan baseball players under the Venezuelan subsidy regime? Is there a clause in there to underwrite cowhide for baseballs, leather for gloves and maple for bats? Let's be honest, after beauty queens, Venezuela's only real cash crop is baseball stars. Unfortunately the article doesn't address this topic but let's keep our fingers crossed.


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MySQL supports replication from one release series to the next higher release series. For example, you can replicate from a master running MySQL 5.6 to a slave running MySQL 5.7, from a master running MySQL 5.7 to a slave running MySQL 8.0, and so on. However, you may encounter difficulties when replicating from an older master to a newer slave if the master uses statements or relies on behavior no longer supported in the version of MySQL used on the slave. For example, foreign key names longer than 64 characters are no longer supported from MySQL 8.0.
The use of more than two MySQL Server versions is not supported in replication setups involving multiple masters, regardless of the number of master or slave MySQL servers. This restriction applies not only to release series, but to version numbers within the same release series as well. For example, if you are using a chained or circular replication setup, you cannot use MySQL 5.7.22, MySQL 5.7.23, and MySQL 5.7.24 concurrently, although you could use any two of these releases together.
It is strongly recommended to use the most recent release available within a given MySQL release series because replication (and other) capabilities are continually being improved. It is also recommended to upgrade masters and slaves that use early releases of a release series of MySQL to GA (production) releases when the latter become available for that release series.
Replication from newer masters to older slaves may be possible, but is generally not supported. This is due to a number of factors:
Binary log format changes. The binary log format can change between major releases. While we attempt to maintain backward compatibility, this is not always possible.
This also has significant implications for upgrading replication servers; see Section 16.4.3, "Upgrading a Replication Setup", for more information.
For more information about row-based replication, see Section 16.2.1, "Replication Formats".
SQL incompatibilities. You cannot replicate from a newer master to an older slave using statement-based replication if the statements to be replicated use SQL features available on the master but not on the slave.
However, if both the master and the slave support row-based replication, and there are no data definition statements to be replicated that depend on SQL features found on the master but not on the slave, you can use row-based replication to replicate the effects of data modification statements even if the DDL run on the master is not supported on the slave.
For more information on potential replication issues, see Section 16.4.1, "Replication Features and Issues".


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In what was called a "value judgment" by city staff, the City Council decided Tuesday that it was worth using affordable housing funds to pay union wages to workers constructing affordable housing.
With Mayor John Inks opposed, council members voted 6-1 in favor of a "prevailing wage" requirement, which city staff said would add 10 percent to the cost of affordable housing projects, like the 50-unit apartment complex for low-income families recently finished at the corner of Franklin and Evelyn streets downtown.
At issue was whether the city's housing funds would be better spent on building more affordable housing, even though council members have complained about not being able to spend housing funds fast enough. If a prevailing wage requirement had been added to the Franklin Street project, it would have cost the equivalent of two units, noted member Mike Kasperzak.
A dozen members of various construction worker unions noted the often overlooked costs of using cheap labor, claiming that non-prevailing wage contractors bring most of their workers from the Central Valley, that those contractors often pay under the table without paying taxes. They also argued that union workers have higher productivity and do higher quality work, saving the city from facing the time and expense of having to redo shoddy work, as Palo Alto faces with its new Mitchell Park library project.
The city already requires prevailing wage for its capital projects, and council member Jac Siegel said the requirement would be a fair extension of that policy.
"Mountain View has often been quoted as the 'small city with big heart,' and we are," Siegel said.
Council member Chris Clark said he felt "reassured" by research done by city staff members, who said a number of studies gave wildly different conclusions about the costs of the prevailing wage, some saying it added as little as 3 percent to the cost of a project, while other studies said it added 21 percent. Conversation with trusted affordable housing contractors who have done both prevailing and non-prevailing wage projects led city staff members to the conclusion that the real cost is about 10 percent. Staff members recommended a state prevailing wage be required for all affordable housing project contracts in the city. "I don't think it's going to cost us a huge number of units at the end of the day," Clark said.
The construction worker unions took a few shots from residents, such as Don Bahl, who owns property and a real estate business in Mountain View and claimed that unions could be taking more than half of some union members' wages, which drew laughs from union members in the audience. Resident Stephanie Munoz said the construction worker unions weren't democratic because not anyone could join, only those lucky to have the right connections, she said. She added, however, that "it's because of unions that the country as a whole has standard of living that it has."
Mayor Inks explained his lone opposition by saying the requirement would be "politics intervening in the marketplace" on an issue "better decided by businesses."
"My dad was a gardener who made barely minimum wage," said council member Margaret Abe-Koga, who supported the requirement. "I saw the injustices people do to other people not paying, not paying on time. I grew up thinking maybe if he were part of a union he would have had more protections."
"We are not talking about guaranteeing people a space to live in Mountain View," said former Mountain View mayor and former state Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, about paying construction workers enough to live in Mountain View. "Frankly, (union construction workers) live in mobile home parks. It's just having that presence of people in our community and giving them a fighting chance. A dime on the dollar is a pretty modest thing to pay, but it will put us on the side of the right."


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"Lindsay, come on, we're going to be late!" Haley pounds on my front door like there's a fire. Haley does most things in life like there's a fire these days. I'm certain it has something to do with her chocolate frosting fetish, but I have no proof. While I slide my last earring in, I unlatch the door and let it creep open.
"Calm down. Everyone here is eighty; do you want to wake the devil?"
"It's nine-thirty." She rolls her eyes, acting more like─well, more like me than her." "His minions are already up, eating their cat chow or chicken livers or whatever disgusting things that smell up your open-air hallways. This place reminds me of the lion house at the San Francisco Zoo! It's a vegan's nightmare."
"All right. Must you be so dramatic? Get in here." I grab her by the arm and pull her inside.
"It's not like I'll wake them, you know." She drops her purse on the entry table. "It's daylight. Everyone's going to bed, probably closing the top on their caskets as we speak." Haley takes her sweater and drapes it across her face like Dracula.
After living here for a year and a half, Haley doesn't have a lot of heart for my neighbors. I can't say I blame her. The Old women (former actresses, most of them are the very definition of curmudgeon, as if life has done nothing but kick them and all they can do now is kick back.
Personally, I admire them. It must be absolutely freeing to say and do as you please. Ans at the expense of their good name, they live the lives they want. Granted, it's a little lonely for my taste, but that doesn't mean I can't see the value in it.
I step out of the foyer to pick up a newspaper. I notice a few eyes peering at me from behind slit curtains: The only sign of life in this place, other than the nine million cats, is the sliding window coverings. It's like there's always an imaginary puppet show and I'm the star.
I slam the door, shuddering as I do so. "Maury must be on commercial. I'm obviously the only entertainment."
"Look at it this way. It's like having your own security firm. As long as they can still dial 911, you're safe."
"No, it's like living in a costume shop. The blinking red eyes follow me…And just when I get that cold, prickly feeling on the back of my neck, one of those blasted cats will rub up against my leg and scare the life out of me!"
Haley laughs. "Now who is being dramatic? They have a sixth sense. Instead of dead people, cats see cat-hating people. Your hatred of them is like a call of affection. Sort of like a signal to that special guy you do not want to date. Maybe you should try to pet on."
It's eerie living here since Ron died. I suppose part of it is my own Tell-Tale Heart, throbbing with guilt. Maybe that's why I'm so aware of the neighbors. Chances are they've done some regrettable things in their long lives, but it doesn't seem to bother them But I'd love to know the actual odds. What are the chances that these guiltless women would all move here? Or that I'd be in their midst? My unfortunate providence knows no bounds. If indeed it is providence, and not divine penance. They say what goes around, comes around─and it certainly doesn't leave.


text:
I have a tab-separated file, and I want to sort it by its columns 9, 14, and 16. By this I mean that all rows that agree at column 9 should be sorted by column 14, and among these, those that also agree on column 14 should be sorted by column 16. (All columns should be sorted ascendingly, but the first two should be sorted alphabetically, and the remaining one numerically.)
I've tried various forms of (
sort, but I don't get the desired sort order. The man page has not helped. Can anyone tell me the right incantation for achieving the sort described above?


text:
Items arrived quickly and exactly as described. This is the second time I've done business with PattyAnn, and she's great to work with!
Arrived so quickly, I almost had to duck!
Hi Trish,
This afternoon, I received the package, it is for my husband, he likes pyramid a lot, he saw it on my FB page when I created the collection for your ride. It was a surprise for him.
Thank you so very much and for the gift.
Andrea Designs by Andrea Wagner
Great item for my husband. Just as described. Thank you PattyAnn
This fabric is beautiful! Even lovelier than the pictures! Wonderful little surprises in the package. Great communication, prompt shipping. Definitely a terrific studio!
Great seller!
Wonderful to do business with. I bought this as a gift for my sister-in-law, for Christmas. The seller was very gracious in mailing it to Michigan for me. Very fast shipping, too! Thank you so much, Peggi
Thank you for your business! If you have any questions or need more information, please contact me using the "Contact this seller" button. I am happy to assist you.
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Hemlock Hill Management and Research
In 1997, the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA; Adelges tsugae) was discovered on the Arnold Arboretum's Hemlock Hill. This tiny insect, a relative of the aphid, feeds with lethal effect on the hemlock species of eastern North America. Native to eastern Asia, HWA was first detected in Virginia in the early 1950s and has since spread throughout the mid-Atlantic and southern New England. Sadly, researchers studying the insect have observed very high mortality rates among infested forests.
Beginning in 1997, Arboretum staff monitored the condition and rates of decline of roughly 1,900 eastern hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis) on Hemlock Hill. Presently, it is believed that 100 percent of the population is infested with HWA. To date, over 500 trees have been lost. As has been observed on other sites, those trees located in more marginal habitat conditions—thin soils or south- and west-facing exposures—have often been the first to succumb.
Because of the absence of host resistance and limited cultural control options, chemical treatments are the only reliable means of protecting hemlocks. Clearly any chemical treatment brings concern for the larger environment. At the same time, Hemlock Hill is an important resource for a large urban population that for over 150 years has enjoyed the singular educational and aesthetic experiences of a majestic hemlock-dominated forest.
Finding balance among stewardship, education, and public service goals, we are presently protecting hemlocks that are of sufficient vigor to recover and that grow in conditions that are favorable for treatment and do not present risk of water contamination. We control HWA on selected trees with applications of horticultural oil and, more recently, soil-injections of Imidacloprid (®Merit), a treatment now provided to over 40,000 trees at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. While using this method, we pay close attention to ongoing research that monitors for non-target effects and persistence in the environment. Ultimately, it is hoped that these treatments will "buy time" until biocontrols or other non-chemical options can offer reliable protection.
Other management measures include:
- Removal of hazardous trees. We continue to remove hemlocks that are in severe decline and present a potential safety hazard.
- Native regeneration. We encourage the growth of native tree species by removing competing invasive plants. We have also planted native hardwood species on the Hill's south-facing slope. In the future, we envision a mixed deciduous and evergreen forest in areas where hemlocks have been lost to HWA.
- Research Programs on Hemlock Hill. The severe consequences of HWA infestation pose compelling questions about the ecological changes associated with the loss of eastern hemlock. Beginning in 2004, the Arboretum collaborated with the Harvard Forest, a research institute, to examine changes on Hemlock Hill. Harvard Forest scientists established six 15 x 15 meter research plots in order to measure the changes that occur when hemlock is removed from the forest system. Measurements established baseline data for soil temperature, available nitrogen, organic soil mass and understory vegetation. Analysis compared nitrogen cycling, decomposition rates and regeneration across the six plots. Completed in summer 2008, the study is part of a longer-term Harvard Forest effort to assess ecosystem impacts of HWA in southern New England.
A second research project determined that Chinese hemlock (T. chinensis), a close relative of our native species, is fully resistant to HWA. Ongoing field observations assess the suitability of Chinese hemlock as a landscape replacement for the eastern hemlock.
Explore Hemlock Hill.
Additional information about hemlock woolly adelgid is available from the USDA and the Harvard Forest.


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Yesterday I finally took care of a nagging bit of unfinished business. Being an aficionado of the Rev War and the Tennessee frontier, I've always had a soft spot for Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area, but I'd never visited Carter Mansion, the historic house museum just a few miles away operated by the park as a satellite site.
Built sometime around the Revolution, either by John Carter (one of the first settlers in what would become Tennessee and leader of the Watauga Association) or his son Landon (a veteran of the War for Independence and an important political figure on the frontier), the house is one of the oldest and most important structures in the region.
I'd wanted to see it for a long time, but it had been closed every time I'd visited the park, so when I found out about a living history event at the house this weekend, I jumped at the chance to make a special trip. I took my cousin along; he's a fellow history enthusiast who accompanied me on my last visit to the park.
If this doesn't fit your idea of a "mansion," bear in mind that most houses of that time and place were simple cabins; painted siding and brick chimneys weren't the sort of architectural features you saw every day.
Where the house really knocks your socks off, though, is its elaborate interior. The carved panels, crown molding, chair rails, and fluted columns of the first-floor walls put this home in a different class altogether from the rough dwellings typical of the eighteenth-century frontier. Incredibly, some of the walls still have the original stain, visible above this fireplace in the parlor.
I've seen more than my share of historic house museums from the late 1700's and early 1800's, and this is one of the most beautifully restored and furnished of the whole lot.
Some members of the Carter family are buried on the grounds…
…although I could've sworn I saw John Carter himself treating some of the local militia to a patriotic libation.
A gang of Tories broke up the party by showing up uninvited, more than a little irate that their property had been confiscated. The negotiations didn't turn out well.
A good time was had by all—except for the Tories, I suppose—and I can finally scratch Carter Mansion off my bucket list. Totally worth the wait.