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Now that The Vampire Diaries' Elena Gilbert is becoming a vampire, how will it change the course of her life and will it alter the big decision she made in choosing Stefan over Damon in last season's finale?
"Without a doubt the triangle has been refreshed and reset with the actions of Elena going over that bridge and becoming a vampire," executive producer Julie Plec tells TVGuide.com about the series' fourth season, which kicks of Thursday (8/7c, The CW).
Vampire Diaries Video: Nina Dobrev says you'll be surprised by what Elena does as a vampire
For three seasons, viewers watched Elena (Nina Dobrev) fall in love with vampire Stefan (Paul Wesley), learn the truth about her supernatural history, lose Stefan to his Ripper side, develop strong feelings for his brother Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and ultimately decide that Stefan was the one she wanted to be with. But everything changed in the final moment of the Season 3 finale when Elena died only to come back in the transition stage of becoming a vampire. The question now on (mostly) everyone's mind: Will Stefan remain the Salvatore she chooses?
"If you look at it purely from a human point of view, we fall deeply in love, we grow, we change, our love changes and shifts and we find ourselves attracted to other people," Plec says. "But as we go from adolescence to adulthood, what do we need in our lives, the love we had or the love we wish we had? That's going to be a big part of the season: What does Elena becoming a vampire do to both her relationship with Stefan and her friendship with Damon? It's the same question [she previously] asked but from a different perspective."
Vampire Diaries' Ian Somerhalder: Damon is Elena's key to understanding her transition
Of course, before Elena can even think about life as a vampire, she must go through the toughest part, the transition. And trust us, it won't be easy on the stomach for her or viewers.
"We didn't want to make it easy or over-romanticize it or glamourize it, but we also didn't want to make it devastatingly depressing, so we're going to explore her highest of highs and lowest of lows," Plec says. "Episode 2 gives us a glimpse of what she's going through and then every episode that follows centers on some element of being a new vampire, for better or for worse, and what it's doing to her."
Although Stefan remains by her side when the show picks up, Elena becoming a vampire has a few positives, but quite a few negatives for the former Ripper who's worked so hard to avoid returning to the bloodthirsty guy he recently was. "What's nice about it is that they realize if they want to they can be together forever so in a small way it's a small victory in this whole catastrophe," Plec says. "What's not so nice is that a newbie vampire is a bundle of emotions and rage and hunger and bloodlust and desire and all those things that are really Stefan's Achilles heel. I like to use the analogy of being sober, but your girlfriend just turned 21 and wants to party. For Stefan, Elena usually supports him and is now the one needing to be supported, so who's going to keep Stefan from falling over the edge?"
Check out Julie Plec's video watchlist
Ultimately, Plec says, it'll be a long journey for the girl who was once everyone's rock and compassionate to a fault because, at the end of the day, there's no telling what will diminish (or intensify) as her new self takes form. "Elena is uncompromising about is the length she'll go to protect the people she cares about and as a vampire that takes on a whole new meaning. So I do think there is some element of concern on the part of her closest friends to make sure she's not losing her way or losing sight of herself in all this --especially how it relates to the Salvatore brothers."
Watch our Season 2 premiere of The Vampire Diaries Bite for more:
Vampire Diaries airs Thusdays at 8/7c on The CW.

subset: commoncrawl


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Constitution > Article I > Section 8
Militia Organization Clause
The Congress shall have Power . . . To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
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Reflections on My Chat with Justice Stevens re: Cameras in the Court
This morning at Georgetown Law's symposium in celebration of Justice Stevens, I had the good fortune–and great honor–of speaking with the Justice himself for a few minutes. Upon my introducing myself, I was surprised–and greatly honored–to learn that he was familiar with my work. So as I handed him a printed copy of my article recounting his final oral argument, he asked if it was the one he saw in the post the other day.
"The Post?" I asked. "I've written for the ABA Journal and Christian Science Monitor, but never the Washington Post." [Note: This conversation has been reconstructed from my memory; the quotations are accurate portrayals of our discussion, but not of the exact words spoken.]
"No, I received something of yours in the post."
He opened the envelope and looked at the first few sentences of the story.
"This is not the same one," Justice Stevens said, as he thanked me for the new reading material. And whoever mailed the justice one of my columns, I thank you.
He then asked my opinion on cameras in the Court, perhaps implying that the article he had already seen was the one from June's final day of the last term.
I told him that I am fully in favor of televised proceedings. He mentioned that there could be some adverse consequences. I responded that his former colleagues could be trusted to smack down any grandstanding lawyers, as they have always done.
"And what about the justices themselves?"
"The Daily Show can keep them in check," I suggested. By his knowing laugh, I submit that the Justice agreed with me.
I had the feeling that Stevens trotted out the commonly voiced concerns about cameras in the Court not because he believed in them, but rather because he wanted to hear how easily a young Court watcher could swat them away. It is disappointing that the Court's reluctance to televise its oral arguments stems from its lack of faith in the Bench and Bar to behave themselves in front of the cameras.
As the event began and the panelists began recounting their stories of Justice Stevens's "humble, devastating, and kind" demeanor from the bench, as former Solicitor General Paul Clement aptly described it, I kept thinking how tragic it is that the vast majority of Americans never had a chance to see Justice Stevens in action.
At the end of each oral argument week, starting today, the Court is releasing the audio recordings of the week's proceedings. These recordings invite listeners to listen for themselves to how the Court deals with the country's thorniest legal issues. But as exciting as it is to hear Justice Kagan's first question of her career, Justice Scalia do his best "Sh*t My Dad Says" impression with his various curmudgeonly comments, Justice Ginsburg re-upping her feminist cred, or Justice Alito unwinding his increasingly compelling hypotheticals, we are many years removed from the radio days of Justice Stevens's youth.
For every argument that the justices will spin out of control and play to the cameras, there are forceful answers in return. First, some justices already play to the portion of the public that can attend, so what's the damage if the rest of America sees their antics? The law should be engaging, not forbidding, and there's much to be said for Chief Justice Roberts's more relaxed, laugh-tracked regime, even if a few commentators here and there will take some hypotheticals out of context.
Second, televised proceedings will allow more Americans to know the names and faces of Supreme Court justices. As public servants who now undergo major media blitzes upon their nominations to the bench, the justices should not feel entitled to perpetual anonymity. And really, most Americans, though valuing the opportunity to watch the Court in action, will not commit themselves to C-Span three days a week so to better track the justices down in their Northern Virginia supermarkets.
Finally, part of the in-the-flesh experience of Supreme Court arguments is not only watching the justices speak, but also watching them listen. Several panelists at today's symposium expressed their deep appreciation of Stevens's ability to listen patiently and politely to the arguments as the other justices' seemed preoccupied with internally formulating their next questions. These scenes cannot be conveyed over audio. From Justice Thomas's brief-thumbing to Justice Ginsburg's trained stare at the advocates, the justices' listening styles may speak as loudly as their amplified voices about their commitment to the case before them.
Until that day arrives when we can watch the justices go about their business, however, today's footage from their class photo session will have to suffice.
Let's hope that these nine men and women, all of whom, like Justice Stevens, are or will be national treasures by the time their tenures have expired, will soon show enough faith in themselves and the public to finally put cameras in the Court.
This piece has been cross-posted at The CockleBur.
4 Responses
[…] Justice Breyer's ambivalence at the prospect of introducing cameras to the Court. Mike Sacks of First One @ One First talks to retired Justice John Paul […]
Stevens is a class act and I think you're right about his consideration of cameras in the courtroom. What an honor to get to speak with him about the issue! I'll miss seeing him at the Court and his questions regarding international law (irrelevant according to Scalia!). I think sometimes he asked these questions just to needle the great needler.
[…] What a difference a year makes. I've learned that I could endure those freezing cold mornings, made many new friends, been given some fantastic encouragement from rockstars of the SCOTUS press and bar, became a freelance print reporter, finished law school, and, well: […]
[…] My own take on the topic can be found here and here. […]


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The Miami Dolphins announced on Sunday that they have terminated the contract of wide receiver Chad Johnson, just hours after he was released from jail from his arrest on a domestic violence charge.
Johnson walked out of jail shortly after 1 p.m. after posting $2,500 bond, records show.
Johnson, wearing a green T-shirt and sweatpants, did not speak to reporters.
Johnson - who recently changed his name from Chad Ochocinco - was not present at the Dolphins camp Sunday.
Hours later, on Sunday night, the team sent the following email statement: "The Miami Dolphins have terminated the contract of WR Chad Johnson, the team announced today."
On Saturday, Johnson's wife, Evelyn Lozada, returned from shopping and while taking out the groceries, found a Wal-Greens receipt in the car's trunk for condoms, according to the complaint affidavit.
The two then began arguing inside the car about the receipt and their marriage, the report said.
Johnson allegedly got upset, grabbed his wife and head-butted her on the forehead, causing a laceration, the report said.
His wife tried to calm Johnson down but he began to scream, "I don't give a (expletive)! I don't give a (expletive) about my career!" the report said.
His wife then fled to a neighbor's house and called police. She told police Johnson was driving around the neighborhood looking for her, the report said.
Johnson claimed his wife leaned forward and they bumped heads, Davie Police spokesman Capt. Dale Engle said. She was treated on scene for her three-inch laceration and was transported to the hospital.
Johnson was arrested shortly before 9 p.m., and he faces a domestic violence charge of simple battery, Engle said.
According to the report, Johnson admitted he was arguing with his wife but said she head-butted him. He also said he went for a drive to give his wife time to calm down, the affidavit said.
His defense attorney, Adam Swickle, said a no-contact order has been issued that prevents Johnson from contacting Lozada. Swickle declined to comment further.
The often controversial Johnson, who signed with the Dolphins on June 11, spent most of last season in a reserve role with the New England Patriots after 10 seasons and six pro bowl selections with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Johnson and his wife have been married since July 4, 2012, according to a complaint affidavit. They do not have any children in common.


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Pentaho and DataStax
We announced a strategic partnership with DataStax today: http://www.pentaho.com/press-room/releases/datastax-and-pentaho-jointly-deliver-complete-analytics-solution-for-apache-cassandra/
DataStax provides products and services for the popular Apache No-SQL database Cassandra. We are releasing our first round of Cassandra integration in our next major release and you can download it today (see below).
Our Cassandra integration includes open source data integration steps to read from, and write to Cassandra. So you can integrate Cassandra into your data architecture using Pentaho Data Integration/Kettle and avoid creating a Big Silo – all with a nice drag/drop graphical UI. Since our tools are integrated, you can create desktop and web-based reports directly on top of Cassandra. You can also use our tools to extract and aggregate data into a datamart for interactive exploration and analysis. We are demoing these capabilities at the Strata conference in Santa Clara this week.
- Product downloads, how-to videos and documents are available at http://www.pentaho.com/cassandra and http://www.datastax.com/pentaho
- Attend the webinar on March 15th to learn more and about using Cassandra's integration with Pentaho Kettle http://www.pentaho.com/datastax-webinar
- Download, access how-to documents and videos at http://community.pentaho.com/BigData
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Eric Bruno is a technology consultant specializing in software architecture, design, and development. Write to us at [email protected].
In considering the history of distributed computing, CIOs should focus on how companies knew that it was the right time to make a big architectural bet on the next wave of technology. This past experience could help CIOs who are being asked to consider a similar move today. In the 1970s, for instance, Reuters introduced Monitor, through which journalists entered information via dumb terminals and a mainframe computer sent it out to readers.
In the early 1990s, about the time I joined Reuters as a developer, it was taking that distributed computing concept further by building a pioneering electronic trading system, Globex, for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, drawing on a mainframe and Windows-based PCs. As Globex's costs grew with its popularity, CME moved the Globex architecture to an even more distributed model: a pair of mainframe-class computers coupled with about 1,500 workstation-class servers running Linux and Solaris.
Now a new question is arising for CME: What role will cloud computing play in Globex and other platforms?
IT leaders face real pressures in today's economy to push the limits of technologies such as virtualization and cloud computing that extend distributed computing models. The decisions CME and Reuters faced in choosing which distributed model to adopt, and when, are much the same as the ones companies face today. One difference, however, is that economic pressures are forcing companies to consider emerging, often immature, distributed computing technologies.
What's New
Distributed computing refers broadly to applications that adhere to the client-server model, a cluster, an N-tier architecture, or some combination of them.
While there are variations on these base models, what they have in common is that they divide computing across multiple computers to achieve greater application scale and availability. Large Web sites like eBay use a combination of these models, with database and app servers clustered within each tier of the design.
With the increasing use of Ajax at the browser level, many sites have added a client-server element to the mix. As a result, large-scale distributed applications such as Google and Yahoo leverage all three computing models.
Web services take the distributed model a step further, sharing the data processing load. Since Web services are based on HTTP, it's straightforward to deploy a single service to multiple servers to share the load. This design lets developers distribute even single application components, resulting in greater scalability, more code reuse, and reduced costs. Thanks to open standards and Web services, message formats and protocols can be defined in XML, C++, or Java, then easily implemented on other platforms, reducing costs further.
But the biggest recent change to the distributed computing model is virtualization, letting IT divide a physical server into multiple virtual servers. Beyond the oft-cited hardware, energy, and space savings, using virtualization to divide a physical server into virtual ones helps solve the problem of getting the most value from multicore computers.
For instance, even if individual software components aren't yet written to take advantage of multicore architectures, developers should still consider using virtualization to run multiple software components on one physical computer as though they were each running on separate computers. This maintains the security and robustness of the software, while squeezing the most value from multithreaded-capable multicore computers.
As a result, individual application components can execute on multiple virtual servers, all running on a single physical server. One approach is to pair applications that communicate as much as possible, thereby eliminating network-induced latency that might be present if those apps are separated.
Combining virtualization with the other models of distributed computing can result in a cost-effective, scalable architecture.
But effectively monitoring virtualization requires administrator oversight, a time-consuming process that companies should look to minimize using configuration management and other life-cycle tools.
Instead of manually building configurations, for instance, administrators can link multiple templates containing the operating system, and build scripts and applications to a new virtual machine volume. Companies that need to speed up the process also should provide developers with self-service facilities for submitting and acting on virtual resource requests, instead of formal submission processes and the delays they entail.
While virtualization is the here and now of distributed computing, cloud computing is its future. Although its full impact has yet to be realized, it's becoming clear that cloud computing will be the service-delivery option of choice for distributed applications, thanks in part to today's CPU, memory, and bandwidth capabilities. Once vendors can combine a high level of developer control, a reasonable and flexible cost model, and compelling services, cloud computing will change the face of distributed computing.
When will that happen for enterprise systems? Some of the most important factors to watch are design decisions for security, data protection and recovery guidelines, and application architectures. For instance, developers working with cloud computing need to contend not only with familiar dedicated security problems such as firewalls and intrusion detection, but with security in a shared cloud environment as well. Heavy lifting in these areas is being done by groups such as the Cloud Security Alliance, which has released its "Security Guidance for Critical Areas of Focus in Cloud Computing," a best-practices document that provides security guidelines for enterprises cloud computing.
Perhaps most importantly, as with other distributed computing models, cloud computing isn't an all-or-nothing proposition. Hybrid models of dedicated/cloud resource implementations may be just the thing for applications with bursty usage patterns.


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The Republic of Cyprus has agreed to a eurozone bailout that will raid the bank accounts of Cyprus residents.
In July 2012, the Republic of Cyprus became the fifth eurozone member to request a bailout. Eight months later, Cyprus has agreed to a €10 billion ($13 billion) bailout package with its eurozone peers and the troika of the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund.
In order to help fund this bailout, a tax will be levied on the private holdings in Cypriot bank accounts. To avoid panic and a run on the banks, the decision was announced when banks were closed. But ATMs are now all but empty and online bank transfers have been suspended. Banks remain closed today in Cyprus due to a public holiday, and may stay that way for another day or two.
This is the reality of more than 1.1 million people living in Cyprus. The rich and poor alike will have their money raided by the government. The exact details of the plan are still being discussed. However, it is expected that those with less than €100,000 in their bank accounts will see 3 percent of it taken by the government to fund the bail out. Those with between €100,000 and €500,000 in their accounts will lose 10 percent and those over €500,000 will lose 15 percent.
This will affect every single person who has money held in a Cypriot bank. This includes non-Cypriots such as wealthy Russian oligarchs and the almost 1,000 Americans estimated to be living in Cyprus.
Recently, Wolfgang Schäuble, German Minister of Finance, told the world that Europe is "over the worst of the crisis." This must sound absolutely ridiculous to those about to lose up to 15 percent of their money held in Cypriot banks. Already, finger pointing is taking place across Europe, but as there were so many people involved in this controversial bailout, nobody knows where to apportion blame.
The eurozone crisis has revealed deep cracks in the whole European Project. The hubris of those wanting to establish a European super-state at whatever cost hide behind the Brussels bureaucracy while the average European suffers. If the EU backs these draconian economic measures in Cyprus, there will be nothing stopping them from supporting similar acts in other ailing eurozone economies—countries like Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain should consider this a warning.
Will there be an end to the misery or will it be misery without end? Europe needs to return to the fundamental basics of democracy. Power needs to be brought back to the member states and to the people. Economic policies of growth need to be pursued. The intrusive and excessive EU regulations need to be curtailed. The wasteful spending in Brussels needs to end. The excessive borrowing and entitlement programs need to stop. Until this happens, the people of Europe will pay dearly for the incompetency of Brussels.
Source material can be found at this site.


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Posted by Editoress on 06/1/03
Fort William World Cup
World Cup coverage sponsored byVélirium 2003
France still rules supreme when it comes to the downhill, although the names on the top step of the podium in Fort William were different from the usual ones. Anne-Caroline Chausson did not race, and Nicolas Vouilloz retired at the end of last year, but Cedric Gracia (Siemens Mobile Cannondale) and Celine Gros (Morzine Avoriaz) made sure that the French national anthem was playing after the first downhill World Cup. French riders went 1-2-3 in the women's race and 1-2 in the men's. Canadian's Jordie Lunn and Trevor Porter finished 37th and 60th respectively.
The course is very little changed from last year - 2.66 kilometres in length with a vertical drop of 525 meters. After a fast start, the riders go into a series of berms, log steps and short dropoffs before entering a wooded section at the halfway mark. After the muddy woods they hit a few more berms and the top riders will carry a lot of speed through the final jumps, including a tabletop, a double, and a final double step down into the finish, which was also the finish of the 4-Cross last night.
After exiting early in the 4-Cross the night before, Gracia came into the downhill "pissed off. I felt really bad after I was knocked out early (in the first round) in a crash, so I was really determined to do better today, even though DH is not my favourite event."
Gracia qualified third fastest, behind countrymen Mickael Pascal (Maxxis MSC) and Fabien Barel (Kona Clarks). However, when he got to the final, he changed his tactics for the second half of the course. "I didn't touch the brakes, and I was going crazy on the jumps. At the top I was terrible in the berms; they were so bumpy after the semi (qualifier), but at the bottom I was so fast."
Gracia finished 1.11 seconds in front of Pascal, and 1.87 seconds ahead of early leader Nathan Rennie, with 4-Cross winner Greg Minnaar (Haro-Lee Dungarees) finishing fourth after, in his words "a cautious run". The biggest disappointment to the crowd was the poor showing of defending World Cup champion Steve Peat (Team Orange). Peat almost didn't start after spending the evening at the hospital getting x-rays due to an injury to his right ankle in a crash in the 4-Cross final. In the morning he was hobbling around on crutches, but decided to try the qualifier, finishing 12th. He ended up 19th in the final.
"I was all right riding in a straight line, but I couldn't do right hand turns properly. I've got a bad right wrist from Big Bear, so I'm not so good on my right side!"
While Gracia won in the fast sections, Gros took her victory in the technical parts. "I feel I was very fast in the technical parts, with no mistakes. I didn't believe that I could win because Tracy (Moseley) has so much support here and knows the course very well."
It was that very support that hurt Moseley (Kona Clarks), the defending champion. "I knew it was going to be hard, and I had a hard time coping with the pressure. I have no excuses, I just wasn't fast enough."
Although Gros was extremely pleased to take her first ever World Cup victory (and World Cup leader's jersey), she feels that it is tainted by the non-appearance of World Cup and world champion Chausson. "I think it is a bad thing that Anne-Caroline is not here as the champion. I would have preferred to race her then win like this."
|Return to Canadian Cyclist homepage | Back to Top


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VANCOUVER — Three young men have been convicted of beating a so-called Good Samaritan during Vancouver's Stanley Cup riot, while another man has been acquitted.
Robert MacKay was assaulted on June 15, 2011, outside the Bay department store as a riot spread through the city's downtown after the Canucks lost in Game 7 of the playoffs.
Ioannis Kangles, Michael MacDonald, Carlos Barahona and David Leonati were charged with assault and for participating in a riot.
They pleaded not guilty and were put on trial earlier this year, when they denied they assaulted MacKay or joined in on the chaos that night.
Provincial court Judge Greg Rideout says photo and video evidence clearly shows MacDonald, Barahona and Leonati assaulted MacKay and participated in a riot.
However, Rideout says there is reasonable doubt when it comes to Kangles' actions, and he's been acquitted of all charges.


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The Douro Line runs between Porto and Pocinho, a town approximately 20 kilometers from the Spanish border. The line is 160 kilometers long thanks to the enabling capabilities of 26 tunnels and 30 bridges along its path. The line was put into service in 1887 -- after a 12-year construction effort -- in order to speed up the carriage of Port wine, other goods, and passengers between Porto and the stops along the way. At its inception, the journey from Pocinho to Porto was cut from 12 days to 5 hours.
Our day in Vila de Gaia had begun with tours of the Taylor's and Graham's Port Lodges, followed by a masterful Port wine Masterclass led by Paul Symington, CEO of Symington Family Estates, and lunch at the Symington Family Estates Executive Offices. We were scheduled to travel by train to Quinto do Vesuvio where we would be spending Friday and Saturday nights. With all of our scheduled activities, and the interest that these generated among our team members, we were perilously close to missing the train for which we had reservations. We said hurried goodbyes and got into our waiting rides for a pell mell trip through Oporto streets to the Campanhã train station.
We arrived at the station and hurriedly disembarked, snatched up our luggage and headed for the platform. One of the Symington staffers had ridden along with us to ensure that we went directly to the appropriate platform. We helped each other get the luggage onto the train. I cursed my wife under my breath (she has never met a jumbo-sized suitcase that she doesn't like) as I struggled to get her "weekender" aboard the train. There were no luggage racks inside the passenger compartment so we stacked the suitcases in the loading areas outside the compartment (There was some overhead space within the compartment for small items.). We made our way into the carriage and plunked ourselves into the seats that had not already been claimed by early-arriving passengers. Shortly after we collapsed exhausted into our individual seats, the train moved out.
Our schedule called for us to leave Porto at 3:20 pm and travel to Régua, making a number of stops along the way. We would arrive at Régua at 5:05 pm at which time we would be told whether we would have to change out trains for the remainder of the journey to Vesuvio, the stop for Quinto do Vesuvio. We were scheduled to leave Régua at 5:30 pm and arrive at Vesuvio at 6:39 pm where Paul Symington -- who had gone ahead by car to make arrangements for our arrival -- would meet us.
It took me a while to stop breathing heavily (after my encounter with my wife's luggage) and take stock of my surroundings. Having boarded the train in a rush, I had not had the luxury of being strategic in my seat selection. I was facing away from the direction of travel and had limited visibility of the scenery to my right and even less so on my left. So here I was, beginning one of the most scenic train rides in the world, and having no view. A punch in the gut. I would have to figure something out. But not now. I needed more resuscitation time. I did have an excellent view of our carriage and noted that it seemed occupied by locals with members of the Decanter team sprinkled randomly throughout the carriage.
For the first (what I found out later to be) 60 kilometers, the scenery was pedestrian but this all changed when the line met the river at Mosteiro where it travels west to east along the river on its north bank. We were sitting on the side of the train furthest from the river and saw everyone looking out and up. My backward facing seat was not getting the job done for me. After a few kilometers of fleeting glances of this scenery as it fled into the distance, I got out of my seat and went on the platform outside the passenger compartment in order to gain an unobstructed view. This was a great move until I found out that this was also the access point for the onboard bathroom which, when flushed, flooded on to the floor inside and outside the bathroom. I beat a hasty retreat.
There were a number of stops between Mosteiro and Régua and, at each stop, people would disembark and be replaced by new passengers. But between each stop we were treated to kilometer after kilometer of beautifully terraced vineyards rising from the river's edge and working their way up the slopes to the tree line; and if the hill were below a certain height, along its crest. Where vineyards were not planted, olive groves abounded. In many cases they were interspersed. In cases where vines or olive trees were not planted, the tree line reached down to the waters edge. Or a forest of rocks. At some points along the way a roadway paralleled the river. The river itself is fairly tranquil and its even disposition and height sets it in stark contrast to the sometimes rocky, sometimes craggy, sometimes terraced hillsides that frame it along its entire length.
At Régua we found out that we would not have to change trains after all (This was a relief as I wanted to delay re-tangling with my wife's "weekender" for as long as possible.). Régua had been a very important stop in the olden days as the town had been the capital of the Port wine trade. Another important stop along the way is Pinhão. This station is decorated with blue and white glazed tiles (azauelos) which depict local river and harvest scenes.
|Source: Railbrit.co.uk
|Source: Railbrit.co.uk
|Source: Railbrit.co.uk
Shortly after leaving the Alegria stop, we see an imposing granite formation, the signature of the Valeria Canyon. The longest tunnel on the line (712 m) had to be blasted through the granite to allow passage of the rail line. Passage through this tunnel gets us into Douro Superior, the region that is home to Quinta do Vesuvio. And four stops later we arrive at our destination. We are the only ones to get off at the station. And then it hits me. This stop is expressly for the use of this estate. Paul is there to meet us. He has shed his corporate trappings and is now attired in blue jeans and a land rover. The look of gentleman farmer fits him. He welcomes us and then sets about loading our luggage into the vehicles. We rush in to help.
Oh and about the trip. It is the most scenic train ride I have ever taken.


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Haven't found anything yet?
African Queen 2014
The archaic collection which reinterprets animal furs and skins. It mixes safari with glamour, archaism with exoticism, nobility with luxury. Metal effects and matt aesthetics create unique surfaces which are so beautiful they make you want to touch them. The giraffe, the stingray, and the king of the animals, the lion, were sources of inspiration for the design. Here, the adventure of the wilderness is tamed, but not falsified, through elegance. Elements from the world of fashion are referenced and translated into the language of interior design.
[references: Rasch]


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BRAINTREE, Mass. (AP) — Cardinal Sean O'Malley on Thursday approved a plan to stabilize the Boston Archdiocese's declining finances by combining its 288 parishes into 135 clusters that share staffing and resources.
The plan aims to keep parishes intact amid weak attendance, a looming priest shortage and decaying parish finances that have left 4 in 10 parishes unable to pay their bills. Meanwhile, the archdiocese is banking on an ongoing evangelization effort to bring Catholics back into the pews.
O'Malley said he sees the reorganization as key to a spiritual revival, and his message to parishes was simple: "They must refocus on outreach and evangelization. ... We can't use all of our resources and time, just to serve the active Catholics in the community."
Anne Southwood, head of the Boston-area council of the lay group Voice of the Faithful, said O'Malley's announcement was an acknowledgement of how badly the church needs laypeople to bring it back to health.
"Basically, what they said today is, 'We're all they have,'" Southwood said.
Just 16 percent of Boston Catholics attend church, following a decade that saw the archdiocese battered by a clergy sex-abuse scandal and parish closings that shuttered dozens of local churches.
The archdiocese also is facing a priest shortage. About a fifth of the 420 active priests are 65 or older, and the church expects its number of active priest to fall under 200 in a decade.
The archdiocese planned the reorganization over two years, and decided early on against more painful closings.
"The possibilities collapse when we close a parish in a place," said the Rev. Paul Soper, director of pastoral planning.
The clusters, or collaboratives, will consist of one to four parishes in the same area, each of which will retain its legal identity. The collaboratives will be led by a single pastor and run by merged clergy and layperson staffs and councils.
The goal is to lower costs and improve efficiency while shedding redundant resources, such as unneeded rectories or offices. A collaborative could decide to close a church building, but that takes Vatican approval and would need to go through the archdiocese.
The first collaboratives will be officially formed in July, and the plan would be phased in over five years, the archdiocese said.
If it succeeds in increasing church attendance, the archdiocese would be defying national trends. But O'Malley said the faith has broad appeal and a hold on large numbers who identify themselves as Catholics, even if they rarely attend Mass.
"Our call is to try and bring them a little closer to church and get them involved in their parishes in more of an ongoing way," O'Malley said.
The reorganization includes intensive evangelization training for clergy and parish councils and an emphasis on cultivating candidates to boost the shrinking priesthood.
Thomas Groome, a Boston College theology professor, hailed the archdiocese for keeping parishes open and reaching out to lapsed Catholics.
But he said he doubted the reorganization could alleviate the coming priest shortage, and may just postpone an honest reckoning of it, which Groome believes includes accepting that married men should be allowed to serve as priests.
"To the people of God, the solutions are obvious," he said.
Southwood said parishioners have concerns about who will be in their cluster and what role they'll be asked to play in the re-evangelization. She said she's ready to do her part.
"You have to be involved," she said.
Boston Cardinal approves archdiocese reshuffle
BRAINTREE, Mass. (AP) — Cardinal Sean O'Malley on Thursday approved a plan to stabilize the Boston Archdiocese's declining finances by combining its 288 parishes into 135 clusters that share staffing and resources.


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Beat the Streak Report: Monday, May 9
Today's word, Streakers, is CHALLENGE.
… As in, America has never faced one she couldn't overcome.
… As in, I bet you can't eat those six hot dogs in two minutes.
… As in, the BTS Report is throwing down its red, white and blue batting glove and preparing for fisticuffs.
In the far corner: Mr. Stephen Colbert — host of Comedy Central's Colbert Report, self-proclaimed leader of Colbert Nation, 2008 presidential candidate and inspiration for one of the most American substances to ever grace a 473-milliliter carton.
Here's the deal, Steve-O: Starting today, we'll be making a daily Colbert Challenge pick — one player per day who we'd risk all our marbles, pogs and Pokemon cards on. You do the same. We'll go head to head for seven days, resetting every Monday.
Can you beat us? Unlikely. But just to make things interesting, we're offering up a little incentive. Post a better record over any one week, and the keys to the social media juggernaut known as @MLB are yours for a day.
Seven days, seven picks, Colbert. You beat us, and you get 24 hours with @MLB's 1.2 million followers. You want to tweet about baseball? Go ahead. You want to tweet about politics? Be our guest. You want to tweet out Thor 3D spoliers? Well, start making picks.
We're locking in Andre Ethier for today. Streakers, encourage Stephen to make his pick known before lock time at 7 p.m.
Monday's picks:
(Make a BTS pick)
Oh, hello there …
Hunter Pence: .444 (4-for-9) since '06 vs. Reds starter Travis Wood
Todd Helton: .429 (6-for-14) since '06 vs. Mets starter Chris Capuano
Kevin Youkilis: .400 (4-for-10) since '06 vs. Twins starter Nick Blackburn
Placido Polanco: .367 (11-for-30) since '06 vs. Marlins starter Javier Vazquez
Feeling kinda spicy?
Kevin Kouzmanoff: .429 3-for-7) since '06 vs. Rangers starter C.J. Wilson
You'll thank me later …
Paul Konerko: .100 (2-for-20) since '06 vs. Angels start Ervin Santana
Howard Kendrick: .077 (1-for-13) since '06 vs. White Sox starter Edwin Jackson
Bobby Abreu: .161 (5-for-31) since '06 vs. White Sox starter Edwin Jackson
Julio Borbon: .136 (3-for-22) since '06 vs. A's starter Trevor Cahill
Leaderboard time!
Jmtribe begins this week as king of the castle with 28 games under their belt. One more day to get over the half-way hump, buddy. You might be able to do it!
Top MLB streakers
Jacoby Ellsbury: 17 games
Ben Zobrist: 14 games
Hunter Pence: 12 games
Shane Victorino: 11 games
(Make a BTS pick)
17 Comments
Only 9 games today and in 3 more days, only 7 games. This could be a week of plenitude or pittance. With the large reset rates over the past few days, I wonder how many would have picked DL players to get past these low-game-count days? Well, I'm at a streak of uno as a vast amount of you are, so I won't be playing it safe. GL to all except those at the top 😉
FYI: Of the Top2500 today, 88 picked known DL/AAA players.
I took Placido Polanco to get to 14.
Highest no selection is on page 2 with a streak of 17 now going back to 0.
LaV's List
Monday's Top Picks of the current Top2500,
122 Batters picked overall
Batter, Times Picked, Percentage
Placido Polanco 464 18.75
Andre Ethier 308 12.44 (2ND)
Troy Tulowitzki 171 6.91 (2ND)(5TH)
Dustin Pedroia 98 3.96
Adrian Gonzalez 92 3.72
Jacoby Ellsbury 84 3.39
Todd Helton 63 2.55
Joey Votto 63 2.55
Adam Lind 59 2.38
Gaby Sanchez 54 2.18
Matt Kemp 44 1.78 (2ND)(5TH)
Kevin Youkilis 44 1.78
No Selection 40 1.62
Miguel Cabrera 27 1.09 (1RST)
Highest "No Selection" 😛 pg# 2 with streak of 17 back to zero.
Yesterday's Top2500 Reset rate was 29.11% with Lance Berkman reseting the most.
Got Pinched OR 1 AB Wonders
TOP2500 saved or reset by PHA (going to include any pinch hitters and/or double switch, 1 AB or More)
C Beltran NYM, RESET 3, Highest was 15 gamer
B DeWitt LAD, RESET 1, was 9 gamer
E Nunez NYY, RESET 1, was 6 gamer
M Aviles KC, RESET 1, was 8 gamer
R Tosoni MIN, RESET 1, was 9 gamer
A Sanchez HOU, SAVED 4, Highest was 11 gamer
T Hunter LAA, RESET 1 (came in def, 1AB) was 8 gamer
Bloggers Group Top2500
UserName, Streak, Page#, Rank, Pick
yanksgiantsdevils33, 13, pg 9, 204, Polanco (PICKED 464X)
gurpsing, 12, pg 16, 310, Hunter Pence (PICKED 39X)
tolvar, 11 pg 20, 461, Ethier (PICKED 308X)
forcook, 11, pg 22, 461, Polanco (PICKED 464X)
BLACKHAWKS, 7, pg 67, 1532, Prince Fielder (PICKED 6X)
Bloggers Reset Yesterday
GL to all
OOPS… that (5th) on Tulo should have been on Ethier
Placido Polanco singles in the 3rd, onto 14! 🙂
And with Miggy's groundout (0-4 1 BB), we'll have a pair of new leaders atop the leader board tomorrow, unless DET gets 4 extra batters to the plate in the 9th to give him 1 more AB. Score is 10-2.
Well Dave, in your challenge to Stephen Colbert, at least you went outside your top 5 picks (spicy one too) for today: Crushin' Russian didn't play. Polanco & Hunter hit, Youk & Helton did not. Though your "you'll thank me later" picks were golden…. Howie came in game in 5th & will get just 1 AB. But the other 3 picks all got hits within 1st 2 ABs.
For your contest you may want to rely heavily on the lefty, i..e, Ethier, Ichiro, Cano, Votto, Damon?
Kendrick can get 2 AB's if the Angels get just 3 baserunners over the next 4 innings.
Yep, LAA losing big, so will bat in 9th. Needs just 1 extra hitter now for another AB (0-1). Only 13 of the Top2500 picked him, but those 13 are crossing some fingers right about now.
BTS gods were merciful today, for a change. The ex-leader would disagree. And if it weren't for extras in BOS, Pedroia would have been 0-fer.
Can that offer to broadcast to 1.2 million fans extend to us bloggers too if we beat you Dave?
Also, LaVolpe, did you find any free/pay sites where I could find the double/triple splits I was looking for?
If not, is it possible for you to write a program that would glean every AB for every active MLB player from the MLB.com database and sort it that way?
1. In order to write such a program, one would need access to all those details. Granted I could write something that would parse all the gameday accounts and build a mini database of sorts. But I wouldn't do that for several reasons: a) extremely time consuming to download that information and b) MLB would probably ban me from their servers for hitting their site too often and too fast.
2. As for custom query sites, enter the following in google and take a look at some of the hits you get. I'll leave it to you to do the testing of those sites. Here's the google search terms: mlb stats custom query
After 40 days:
USGDs: 0
SUSGDs: 1
SSGDs: 10
Ultimate success game-days (USGD): On an USGD, all 15 selections get hits or 14 out of 15 get hits and the 1 who doesn't is a pause.
Semi Ultimate success days (SUSGD): On a SUSGD, at least 14 of the top 15 most selected players must get a hit or pause. A SUSGD will occur on any game day that fits the SUSGD rules but not the USGD rules. IF there is exactly 1 O fer and/or 2 or more pauses in the top 15 that game day is a SUSGD.
Super success game-days (SSGD): On a SSGD, 12 or 13 of the top 15 most selected picks must get a hit or pause. If there are exactly 2 or 3 O fers in the Top 15, that makes for a SSGD.


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www.bungie.net | halo.bungie.net | bungiestore.com
Xbox LIVE support for original Xbox games has been discontinued as of April 15, 2010. You can read Mircorsofts official announcement HERE.
Our farewell tribute to the XBOX Live classic.
Bungie.net and Halo 2 are linked, so you can see everything about your Xbox Live games from here.
Buy Halo 2 collectibles and merchandise at the Bungie Online store.
Get tips, tricks and more at the largest Halo community site on the web.
H2 Desolation Action 02
H2 Desolation Action 01
Halo 2 : ConceptArt
Halo 2 : Storyboards
"Golden Campaign"
"Delta Halo Exterior"
© 2020 Bungie, Inc. All rights reserved.


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Bass will opt out of last year
Agent says forward wants to come back
After playing a pivotal role in the Celtics' run to the Eastern Conference finals, Brandon Bass has decided to opt out of the final year of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent.
His agent, Tony Dutt, said Bass would like to return to the Celtics but also wants the option of exploring the free agent market. Bass averaged a career-best 12.5 points and 6.2 rebounds in 59 regular-season games.
He had his best performance of the playoffs in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals when he led the Celtics with 27 points, including 18 in the third quarter.
Bass was acquired from the Orlando Magic for Glen Davis and Von Wafer, immediately paying dividends as a power forward to team with Kevin Garnett.
He was scheduled to earn $4.25 million in the final year of a four-year, $18 million deal he signed with the Magic in July 2009.
"If you would have asked me a year ago, I would have said the same thing,'' Dutt said. "I think Brandon was ready for a breakout year. At the same time, we made the decision to take less money [in Orlando] and that's one of the reasons we got the option in the first place. We felt like Boston was a good fit.''
Bass has repeatedly said that he enjoyed his experience in Boston and wants to return. The Celtics have salary cap space with the expiring contracts of Garnett, Ray Allen, and Jermaine O'Neal, and Bass desires a considerable raise.
"Like everybody else, it's always been Brandon's dream to go to the Finals, and I think he felt very comfortable with everybody and they came to respect his game and they did everything they could to help him grow as a player,'' Dutt said.
"He took less money to go to Orlando, so money has never been his main motivator. But then again, you want [to be] valued based on your performance, and Brandon does the work in the summer to make sure he gets better. And we want a situation where someone makes Brandon part of their family, so to speak.''
Bass will become a restricted free agent July 1 and can sign a contract July 10.
Does Pietrus fit again?
Mickael Pietrus is hoping that another operation on the right knee that was surgically repaired less than a year ago can help his agility after a painful season with the Celtics. Pietrus, an unrestricted free agent, underwent surgery Wednesday and will be sidelined about six weeks, according to agent Bill McCandless.
"I don't see how he played with what was in his knee,'' McCandless said. "There was a lot of fragmentation floating around, including a couple of pieces the doctor said would really create discomfort.''
McCandless said Pietrus considered going to Germany to have a regenerative procedure similar to the ones undergone by the Lakers' Kobe Bryant and the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez.
Like Bass, Pietrus expressed a desire to return to the Celtics.
"Mike enjoyed his year there and I think he gave Boston a significant lift in the playoffs,'' McCandless said. "Obviously, the Celtics have to consider who, what, and where for their team. Does Garnett come back? Does Ray come back?
"The reality is, Mike really enjoyed the season and he loves Boston, he really does.''


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5.0 Mustang & Super FordsProject Vehicles
1979 Ford Mustang - Project Pretty Ugly Part 2 - Dominant Genes
Holley's EFI, big cubes, and nitrous make up Project Pretty Ugly's beautiful DNA
Check out Part 1 and Part 3 of the project series!
It's pretty much impossible to dispute the notion that the latest version of the Mustang's 5.0-liter engine—the Coyote—is by far is one of the most outstanding powerplants that has ever been factory-installed in any late-model Pony. Seriously, and as results of projects like our Bolt-On Battle attest, the Coyote unequivocally is the best naturally aspirated late-model V-8 bullet for bolt-on mods, whether it is installed in a modern Mustang or transplanted into a Fox.
With that said, let us be clear in stating we also have absolutely no qualms with keeping things real when it comes to a Mustang's primary source of motivation, especially when a project is centered on one of our beloved '79-'93 Mustangs. Swapping a mod-motor between the fenders of a Fox will be the pinnacle of ultimate cool for many years to come, but keeping things pushrod also has strong merits. This is especially true as the earliest late-models are becoming more and more collectible and subject to restoration efforts of all sorts.
Our introductory report on Project Pretty Ugly (a rough-around-the-edges '79 Mustang coupe) focused on Rick Anderson's cool revamp of the Pony's OG interior and engine bay. It explained that the 'Stang was dubbed "Ugly" because Rick has no intentions of restoring any beauty (if there ever was any) to its original Light Chamois exterior. "I don't want to worry about the moron who's parked next to my Mustang throwing his door into it. By leaving Ugly the way she is, I won't be able to tell if or when it happens ... and I honestly don't care," says Rick.
Before closing that report, we also mentioned the proposed engine for project—a radical 427ci bullet that Rick plans to use regularly on the street, as well as flog mercilessly on the dyno and dragstrip. While some might believe installing a hot Coyote is the better move, we seriously don't find any flaws with this nod to the pushrod powerplant. The old-style engine will have a custom modern-day flair. D.S.S. Racing in St. Charles, Illinois, is responsible for screwing together Ugly's big-inch bullet—a 427X that's comprised of a Level 20-prepped, Ford Racing Performance Parts' Boss 351 block (bored 0.125-inch over), and D.S.S.' own stroker rotating assembly and all-new CNC-ported, FH-1, 208cc cylinder heads.
Those of you who are well-versed in '79-present Mustangs' history are quite aware that 5.0s featured four-barrel carburetors from 1979 to 1985. You also know that Ford made the move to (EEC-IV) electronic fuel injection for V-8 Mustangs in '86 (CFI on Cali '85 autos), and the rest, as they say, has been history. One of the cool things about Rick's project is his decision to stay true to the modern side of late-model history by fuel-injecting his project-car's big Windsor. However, believe it or not, he's also paying proper homage to the four-barrels that got things started on the first high-output 5.0s.
If you're wondering how this is possible, you're obviously not familiar with Dominator EFI (PN 554-114). This all-new engine-management system from Holley—the company that also makes the aforementioned carbs—easily facilitates using ultra-high-performance engines in cool street Mustangs like Rick's.
"Making horsepower these days is easy," Rick says. "Driveability and durability are the keys to having a neat street car, so I built this Mustang so it can be driven around with ridiculous horsepower (in comfort, with an automatic transmission, cruise control, and air conditioning) and still run the 30-mile/three-passes True Street events, too."
We all know how difficult it is to successfully reach such lofty goals, especially with a Fox 'Stang. Check out the photos and captions to see what Rick has done thus far, and stay tuned to future issues of 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords for more developments in this exciting project.
On The Dyno
Project Pretty Ugly's dyno debut was, in a word, excellent when you consider the max horsepower its D.S.S. Racing-built 427 pumps out at the rear tires (without and especially with nitrous oxide).
Although the Dominator EFI system features VE-based fueling strategy, the fuel side of tuning Rick Anderson's unique setup (naturally aspirated) was handled by the ECU's Fuel Map and Learn Function. "I spent more time figuring out the converter and keeping the bottle warm than I did tuning," says Rick.
In addition to the Quick-Start ignition and fueling strategy, Holley's EFI system features an integrated electronic transmission control (this component currently only controls Brand-X 4L60E and 4L80E automatic transmissions), which played a big role in the dyno tests. "After we discovered the torque converter was a little too loose (only 136 mph wheel speed at 7,000 rpm), we used the EFI's transmission controls to lock the convertor and achieved the 160 mph at 7,000—that is better, but still a little lower than I think is actually attainable at this power level," Rick says.
Nitrous guru Monty Smith helped with the nitrous jetting, choosing a 0.028 jet that is estimated to add approximately 250 hp. While Monte's tune is based on slightly leaner air/fuel and less timing, the dyno results prove it's perfect for Rick's project 'Stang.
Of course, putting the '79 through its paces on the quarter-mile is next. Considering the weight of the car (3,200 pounds with Rick onboard) , we think the ugly little coupe should be a 9.20-8.90 car.
Horse Sense: We hope by now you've all had a chance to read and fully digest "Insides Stout" (July '13), an introductory report on our friend Rick Anderson's stealth-style street/strip makeover of a homely little '79 coupe.


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Gerold Neudeck
OrganizationPurdue University
Telephone(not set)
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Hispanic Heritage(not set)
Dr. Gerold W. Neudeck is a Full Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Purdue University West Lafaytette, IN. He has authored or co-authored 9 books, is an editor for three multiple volume book series, and has 271 refereed professional research papers. He has completed 28 Ph.D. students and 26 MSEE theses students. He holds 14 patents on novel MOSFET and Bipolar solid state device structures. He has served as an Editor of IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.
His research interests have centered around solid state device physics and fabrication technologies which includes research on iso-type Ge/Si heterojunctions, HF noise in GaAs diodes, amorphous silicon films, amorphous Si-TFTs, extreme impulse current modeling of devices, and polysilicon emitter Bipolar fabrication processes. Presently his research using using selective (SEG), silicon epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) has let to several breakthroughs in the fabrication of fully depleted double and dual-gated SOI MOSFETs with threshold switching by the 4th terminal, micromechanical sensors, advanced triple-self-aligned BJT devices and advanced very high speed BJT devices. His current work is on fabricating multiple layers of SOI materials and deep submicron FD SOI MOSFETs in 2 layers.
Dr. Neudeck received awards including the Dow Outstanding Young Faculty, the Western Electric Fund, the D. D. Ewing, Eta Kappa Nu outstanding EE Faculty, the Honeywell Award, and the A. A. Potter Award. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE). He also was awarded the H. S. Nyquist Award for his contributions to the field of engineering.


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I had the chance to learn about the characteristics of the Moscato d'Asti Italian wines at a master class and winemaker luncheon at the beautiful Spiaggia Restaurant
I was delighted to witness the new show, Circle House, which is now featured at the beautiful Chicago Berger Park Mansion
"Let Me Entertain You" deserves a round of applause as a fun, engaging day or evening out enjoying many Broadway and Hollywood movie songs
Eat to Your Heart's Content at the annual Bon Appetit Chicago Gourmet Weekend Event
Yes, it's true that National Meatball Day is coming up on Wednesday, March 9th. Check out Meatball Hero & Pasta in Chicago
Deka is a delicious French-Russian restaurant for lunch, dinner or Sunday Brunch
If you have a shade of larceny anywhere in your psyche, TRUST US – SCREW YOU is a madcap play that will appeal to your heart and intensify your sense of humor
Most people were seeing "Jersey Boys", now at the Cadillac Palace, for the second, third, or even fourth time
Each show of "Twist Your Dickens" includes a special Chicago-based celebrity in a cameo appearance. This is playing at the Owen Theatre in the Goodman Theatre until January 3rd
Dancing Pros: Live! Is a new kind of theatrical performance: world-famous professional dancers on a 2014-2015 national tour compete in a variety of dance styles to become the grand-prize-winning couple
Whether Atlantic City is your destination or local choice for gambling and gaming in the Casinos, don't forget Atlantic City as your destination for fine dining, exotic flavors and great casual meals
Go see Brigadoon soon, at the Goodman Theatre. It is wonderful. Don't wait another century
I waited almost 60 years to see Damn Yankees from its 1955 Broadway debut – and it was worth that special wait as we thoroughly enjoyed the opening night of the Light Opera Works at Cahn Auditorium in Evanston, Il
The actors in MOTOWN THE MUSICAL sang and danced their hearts out victoriously and vivaciously during the upbeat national touring company musical at its premiere opening at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago
The Mayor of Atlantic City, Don Guardian, has a special invitation for you - come and enjoy Atlantic City. Check back here in mid-May and find out how you can be wined and dined
The American premiere of "Heartbeat of Home" is playing at the Oriental Theatre until March 16. Go see it
The Preserve -- a Napa, California combination spa, salon and peaceful garden was the perfect place for me to enjoy an interlude of pampering and relaxation
Chicagoland jeweler Graziela Saade Kaufman has been a rising jewelry designer for over 20 years. In her showroom, there are many beautifully and unique rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings to see, touch and appreciate
An overnight mini-vacation at the Holiday Inn Chicago North Shore Hotel in nearby Skokie, IL was a treat
There's something comforting about eating at a restaurant that wins award after award - and that would be Real Urban Barbecue in Highland Park or Vernon Hills
A great restaurant must have a reat ambiance and delicious food - Flight Restaurant and Wine Bar in Glenview,IL. succeeds on both counts
The Heartland Spa in Gilman, Il., is a great destination for fitness, food, friendship, a beauty program and more
I took my guest visiting from Boston to see Blue Man Group at Briar Street Theatre in Chicago and we loved it
Paradise 4 Paws is the perfect place for a dog vacation – for the dog and his extended human family. Price-wise, Paradise is compatible with most other dog day care and vacation stays and our dog, Dexter, loved it
BlogHer is holding its 9th annual conference on July 25-27. The first BlogHer conference, debuting in 2005, had about 300 attendees; BlogHer '13 is expected to have between 5,000 and 6,000 attendees
Two years ago, a magical home décor (and more) store, Lady Bird Designs, opened in Libertyville. Things have never been the same since their arrival…
I found an honest, caring doctor in Dr. Adam J. Cohen who shared that the best way to improve facial contour is the complete facelift but as I wasn't interested, I decided on the next best approach, Ultherapy
I found an honest, caring doctor in Dr. Adam J. Cohen who shared that the best way to improve facial contour is the complete facelift but as I wasn't interested, I decided on the next best approach, Ultherapy
After my complementary consultation with Dr. Adam J. Cohen, I decided to take the plunge and have Ultherapy. In an interview with Dr. Cohen, I learned about many aspects of this approach
A nostalgic look back at a Brooklyn family in the late 1930s-complete with the usual family fights, tensions, and fun
Pat Boone spoke candidly and graciously in a telephone interview prior to his performance at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace from his home in Beverly Hills
Based on Green Day's hit 2004 album, AMERICAN IDIOT has already been a 2010 Tony Award-nominated Best Musical and 2010 Grammy Award winner for Best Musical Show Album. The book is by lead singer, Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer, who is also the director, while Tom Hulce is the producer of this national tour
The madcap musical from down underplaying at the Auditorium Theatre until March 30 features the entertaining drag queens and transvestites in every color of the rainbow
My husband and I both wanted to know if the commercial measured up to the real deal, so he booked a three-day, 2-night stay for us at the Blue Harbor Resort & Spa in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. It did
Jersey Boys are the famous Frankie Valli and the Four Season in the Tony-Award & Grammy Award Winning Musical worth seeing time and again
South Pacific, playing at the Cadillac Theater was a wonderful evening of theater
Have "the time of your life" at ROCK of Ages - this week only!
The amazing story of the Great Chicago Fire of 1971 is brought back to life at the Lookingglass Theatre's Water Pumping Station, one of the few buildings to survive the fire
A Musical and Dance Extravaganza by Light Opera Works in Evanston.
Chemically Imbalanced Comedy's production of Barefoot in the Park provided retro memories that I lived through
Nearly 90 years ago, The Student Prince first played on Broadway. It has aged with grace and wit. Light Opera Works is currently featuring this operetta at the Cahn Auditorium in Evanston through August 28.
Broadway in Chicago brings "West Side Story" to the Cadillac Palace Theater. For younger audiences, this is a once-in-a-lifetime musical drama experience which is not expected to be in Chicago for a long, long time
I was there when Marlowe and Lyric Opera of Chicago's fashion show and sale took place
Spring Awakening,the winner of 8 Tony Awards,including Best Musical, Comes to Chicago
"White Noise" is not your typical Hollywood - Broadway musical-it provides a day or evening of valuable lessons worthy of continuing dialog after the show and is an experience unlike any other on the American stage today
Go see this riveting, humorous play about 17th century Mexican history and the story of the beautiful intellect, Sor Juana.
Saint Sebastian Players present Nunsense - Song, Dance and Humor in One Play
I never knew what the play, STOMP, was about-only that it made a lot of noise. But experiencing this was beyond anything I could envision
Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake is considered the ultimate power struggle between good and evil, paired with the promise of everlasting love. American Ballet Theatre (ABT) has a limited-run in Chicago until April 18
Celebrating our Earth is both monumental and memorable, especially when the 40-member Chicago Chamber Choir completes its 2009-2010 season with "Grounded: Songs of Our Majestic Earth." The April trio of performances coincide with Earth Day on April 22
I was totally mesmerized by the stories of Muslim women told in Unveiled at Victory Gardens Theater
Chicago Opera Theater hosts its 2010 Annual Gala Saturday evening, March 13. "Opera Among the Stars" features a cocktail reception, dinner, an operatic performance by soprano Danielle de Niese and dancing with the Matt Lewis band
An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin brings together two masters of music and theater
The Avalon String Quartet returns to Chicago April 18, 2010. It's a chamber music ensemble you won't want to miss
Mamma Mia! returns to Chicagoland for one week. It's the feel-great musical you won't want to miss
I need Santa's help to empty my computer's over-filled Inbox - a quirky view of holidays, computers and e-mails


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(Pocket-lint) - Dyson has unveiled its latest invention and it's not what many expected. Using the same form of Airblade technology as its hugely popular bathroom hand-dryers, plus a new supercharged motor, the British company has introduced a bathroom tap, the Dyson Airblade Tap no less.
No ordinary tap, the Airblade Tap combines a water spout with two prongs that blast directed air on to hands, completely drying them in around 14 seconds. There are infrared sensors which ensure the device knows when to wet or dry, and because of this simplicity - as with many Dyson products - it is ridiculously easy to use.
Pocket-lint was invited to the demonstration day at Dyson to check out the tap, which we are told is aimed primarily at facilities and corporate venues. But it can happily be installed in a home, thanks to the fittings being compatible with home sinks. And we like it. It's certainly effective.
Costing a staggering £40 million to develop, there are many elements to the Airblade Tap. The main is the new Dyson v4 digital motor, which drives the show. For such a device, there's a lot of air being shifted when in dry mode, so it needs such clever gubbins at work. There's also a newly developed silencer that keeps things quieter by resonating at the same speed as the motor.
It takes a little getting used to – for example, you need to wait for the water to stop pouring in order to activate the drying mechanism – but we can see the tap becoming very popular in high-class venues and footballers' homes.
And thar's the rub. Because of the massive development costs, this first generation of the Dyson Airblade Tap has to be priced handsomely in order to recuperate some of the outlay – a whopping £1,000 a pop. It will be out of reach (no pun intended) of many publicans, let alone homeowners. We'll no doubt see it on Grand Designs at some point though.
The medical-grade stainless steel utilised in its aesthetic certainly helps it look the part.


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As I see it. there really isn't an appetite at any level to put in the hard work required to resuscitate Offaly hurling. No leadership from the board; no expertise within the county; no understanding of modern hurling - that s&c is for othe counties who can't hurl; that we don't do tactics so we should hurl in a neat 3-3-2-3-3 formation because we swallow the bullshit that Kilkenny don't do tactics and therefore neither should we.biffinbanner wrote:i know most on here want a solution.certainly kevin ryan is a genuine guy but he hasnt got a "feel" for offaly i think..were better off get an offaly man and close up ranks and try and get out of it ourselves.bringing kilkenny men down to advise isnt the way to go in my opinion.its not long ago we were as good as them...weve lots of expertise inside the county.use it
The slide will continue. Fair to say Leix and Westmeath have overtaken Offaly at this stage. Kildare and Meath will be next. Rockbottom is probably around the level of Wicklow - our underage is probably on a par with theirs. The next level down would be counties like Armagh or Down where there are only about three hurling clubs anyway.
It's tough on the players at all levels who are sent out in their tricoloured jerseys, but totally underprepared for what awaits them. There is no glory to be got from hurling for Offaly. And every year there's fresh bullshit - XXL tops being ordered for Minors. Avoidable crap.
Finally, it's time we scrapped this 'Faithful County' crap. Thee's nothing 'faithful' about what's going on, at any level of Offaly hurling or football. Too much living i the past going on.


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"Mr.Crocker's book is engaging, provocative, and eminently readable. It should be around for Vatican III."
—William F. Buckley Jr.
"Harry Crocker propels us through two millennia with wit and insight. While irreverent to man, his reverence to God is never questioned in a must-read for non-Catholics as well as Catholics."
—Robert D. Novak, syndicated columnist and commentator
"Harry Crocker has written the best short history of the Church in English since the Second Vatican Council. In short, a Triumph."
—Fr. C. J. McCloskey III, director, Catholic Information Center
"I used to think that the history of the Catholic Church was the greatest story never told. But it's been told now—in Triumph—with all the verve, aggression, and even humor of John Wayne in The Quiet Man. This is rock-solid history—delivered with a rock-solid punch—and is the most essential Catholic book since the Catechism of the Catholic Church (though it's a lotmore fun to read). Buy it and enjoy."
—Sean Hannity, Fox News
"H. W. Crocker III has indeed brought about a triumph with his concise and informative history. Here is a book for the general reader that provides a grand view of the Church's progress through time. Triumph is a book that will strengthen the faith of Catholics and give others an exciting and complete account of the two millennia of the Catholic Church. Magnificent!"
—Ralph McInerny, Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies, University of Notre Dame, and author of the Father Dowling mysteries
"A biting, unaplolgetic romp through Catholic history that debunks some long held myths and celebrates the glory of the Catholic faith. A much needed Triumph."
—Raymond Arroyo, EWTN news director and host of The World Over


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409 W Prien Lake Rd Lake Charles LA United States 70601
3topia offers guests a unique dining experience, mouth-watering drinks and entertainment options.
See contact information and photos of nearby businesses and bookmark your favorite places on the go
Text App Link
Instantly connect, share and communicate with all of your friends, and get discovered online.
Easily stay connected with your friends and favourite businesses using a common chat interface on Pitnit.
Make informed purchasing decisions based on reliable reviews and recommendations through your circle of friends.
Manage all your social and professional contacts, albums, groups, events and favourite businesses at one place.
Explore the best local businesses in your area, find detailed business info, get directions and much more!
Make informed and better purchasing decisions by knowing detailed information about products, services, offers and discounts.


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If you would like to know more about our subscription plans, complete details can be found here.
"The Weekly"
"The Weekly" is Commercial Real Estate Direct's PDF newsletter, sent to subscribers every Friday morning. With over 100 news stories published on Commercial Real Estate Direct each week, "The Weekly" features the top stories in commercial real estate that industry participants need to know first. "The Weekly" also contains:
- Breaking mortgage, CMBS, and REIT news
- Quarterly league tables with rankings of B-piece buyers, book runners, and lenders
- Industry moves and changes in "The Insider"


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hinckley on Family Tree Circles
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Journals and Posts
Looking for ancestors of Theodore Carlos Bernoni Stretch
Theodore Carlos Bernoni Stretch born 11 February 1817, Worcester, Worcestershire, England. Anglican Clergyman, magazine/journal editor. Died 12 April 1899 Victoria, Australia.Elder son of John Cliffe Stretch and his wife Elizabeth, nee Long. Educated at Worcester College, Oxford (B.A. 1841; M.A. 1844) he was made Deacon 1841 and ordained priest next year by Bishop Henry Pepys of Worcester.
Stretch arrived in Victoria, Australia in 1852.
Looking for details on Ezra HARRIS Dursley England
Father - Levi
Occupation - Butcher 43 Long Street, Dursley
Children - Dora Gwendoline (b1891)
Trevor (killed in action WW1)
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Dear Alumni, Parents, and Friends of Colorado College,
As the crisp air settles on Colorado Springs, I am drawing great energy from the "Year of Listening" events that are taking place on campus and in cities such as Seattle, Los Angeles, Denver, and Boston. These highly interactive sessions are enriching our vision to make Colorado College the very best we can be. It is very gratifying to see the collective enthusiasm for building on our strengths as a liberal arts college and acting on our desire to take bold steps.
Themes that have emerged so far include pride in our strong faculty and their devotion to teaching, the importance of the Block Plan as an educational approach in this fragmented world, and the need to explain and underscore the importance of the liberal arts. And we all agree that the positive force of our community is one of our most important assets. Time after time, students and alumni describe the enduring ties they forge at and through the college. The number of you who continue to enjoy and nourish the friendships you made here is truly astounding!
We are right to take pride in our strong faculty, and I am pleased to join our alumni, students, parents, and staff in applauding their commitment to undergraduate teaching — a commitment that is becoming all too rare in higher education. Recently, the American Political Science Association stated that: "Within political science, and academia in general, research productivity is the Holy Grail. Career promotion and retention are largely based on research. Faculty prestige…also is often based on it."
But this is not the case at Colorado College, where the faculty's top priority is to offer students a top liberal arts education. Over and over during the listening tour, alumni describe moments with professors that still shape their lives. Frequently, for example, they recall a professor who helped them develop academically as well as socially. They are quick to explain that the close-knit faculty-student relationship here has prepared them in ways few schools can offer.
Closely related to this strength is our Block Plan-centered curriculum. With its capacity to engage students with a depth and directness that is rare these days (especially when compared to the communication via Facebook and Twitter), the plan is more relevant than ever. I am excited about teaching the Economics of Higher Education during Block Five and experiencing first-hand the focus instilled by the plan.
While other schools are professionalizing their curriculum or becoming "the University of Wherever," as Bill Keller wrote recently in The New York Times, we are continuing to develop students' skills in critical thinking, reading, and writing. We are also encouraging them to seek significant academic relationships with faculty, pursue independent research, and extend their commitment to community service. Through the multidisciplinary liberal arts, we are preparing our students to be global citizens, life-long learners, and lifetime achievers. We want our students to be creative and innovative — not in just one profession, but throughout their lives.
I close by thanking all of you who have contributed to the "Year of Listening" so far and encourage everyone to share in the experience by visiting my website and offering your ideas about the future of our college at www.coloradocollege.edu/president. I hope to hear from you often and see you on campus or in your own location very soon.
With best wishes and warm regards,
Jill Tiefenthaler


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Banking on BlogsBy Dan Gillmor
J.P. Rangaswami is not your typical investment-bank chief information officer. That's undoubtedly one reason why, when you look under the information-flow covers, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein is not your typical investment bank.
DrKW, part of the Allianz Group financial-services conglomerate, is based in London and Frankfurt. It has more than 6,000 employees around the globe, and operates in one of the world's most highly regulated industries. Information is the heart blood of the operation, and Rangaswami has been busy redefining some old ideas into modern methods.
In particular, he's adopted a variety of conversational toolsweblogs, podcasts, instant messaging, wikis and the likewhich he believes are fundamental to fostering better communication and collaboration within the bank. He's weighed the very real risks against the demonstrated benefits, and concluded that this is the best approach.
What's striking is how comprehensively Rangaswami has used these tools. While DrKW has an official external blog, the overwhelming majority of the company's edge-in collaboration is internal. Beginning with some internal blogging experiments in 2003, the operation has expanded to almost 400 internal blogs today, plus a massive wiki presence, sophisticated instant messaging, podcasting and even video-blogging. DrKW's IT people put the tools in place, explained how to use them, established some policies and then stepped back to see what would happen.
What makes this initiative worthwhile to investment bankers? Rangaswami notes that banking is all about "relationships, based on trust and transparency," and that social software, done properly, is ideal for this.
Quantifying the benefits is not simple, he says, though one of the bank's equity-derivative trading departments saw a 70 percent drop in internal e-mail traffic once its wiki hit full speed. But it's abundantly clear to Ranga-swami and his colleagues that tools which help a business to inexpensively and rapidly "absorb, react to and enrich information" are by definition valuable.
The adoption of these tools by people inside the organization effectively becomes the value proposition, he says, because they start collectively doing things they might not have imagined possible before deployment. And when employees, after learning how to use a tool, start "complaining about what it doesn't do," you know they have taken a kind of ownership of the process and will improve it.
"We couldn't do this by mandate," Rangaswami says. "We had to allow it to emerge."
Today the internal phone directory routinely includes links to blogs along with phone extensions and e-mail addresses. The most active blogs have more than 200 postings per yearand they have audiences. There were more than 2,000 "unique visitors" per month to the blogs in late 2005; in other words, "one-third of the bank staff reads the blogs," Rangaswami says. They comment, too: Every post elicits an average of 3.5 comments. There are also internal blogrolls, with people linking to each other'sand outsiders'ideas and knowledge. It's growing organically.
"Everyone thought a blog was about the individual voice and passion, but it's also about corporate voice and passion," he says. "A corporation has a culture, and people are the asset. I wanted to find a way to bring that together."
One of those human assets, Sean Park, has been blogging internally since mid-2004, and externally since the end of last year. Park, whose title is Head of Digital Markets, sees blogging as a way of sharing ideas, collapsing hierarchies and promoting innovative, lateral thinking. So far, he notes, the most ardent internal users are those in IT or the digital-markets area, and one of his goals is to use blogs to "reach out and get the ideas of people in other areas."
Using technology from Socialtext, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based company that focuses on enterprise wikis, DrKW has created a single "workspace," the DrKWikipedia, where people can add their collected knowledge to living documents incrementally. And these documents, when taken as a whole, amount to the enterprise's internal reference materials. Imagine an internal Wikipediaa virtual encyclopedia compiled by employeesand you get the idea. "It's much more useful than static Web pages," Rangaswami says. Meanwhile the old, static intranet sites are dying.
One of the great advantages of the wiki is its contribution to internal transparency: Even as users create new versions of documents, the software saves old ones. "The audit trail a wiki provides allows us, in a regulated environment, to be ahead of the curve," Rangaswami says.
Instant messaging, too, has become as much a collaboration tool as a simple way of talking. DrKW created 40 "channels" of data to which individuals can subscribe via a third-party product called Mind Align. Users effectively see a stream of timed and dated conversations, and can comment on particular issues.
The various systems are discrete in a sense, but the knowledge bleeds through the IT membranes. For example, a technology problem will lead to an alert that gets directed to the appropriate IM channel. "As we learn from it, we move into the blog space," Rangaswami says. "Then the learning gets deposited into the wiki."
If text predominates in DrKW's communications environment, there's also increasing room for richer media. The company used to have lots of quasi-town-hall meetings, Rangaswami says, where people had to gather in one place. DrKW invested in a small multimedia studio and uses it regularly. Podcasting and videocasting are offering more flexibility, particularly for the people listening.
As many companies have discovered, sometimes the hard way, corporate blogging is no different from other kinds of communications in the area of risk. A blog that leaks essential trade secrets can be just as damaging as an errant e-mail, and the issues are compounded in a highly regulated arena such as financial services.
"We can't wait for Eliot Spitzer to tell us that blogs are like e-mail," Rangaswami says, referring to New York State's attorney general, who has ardently pursued corporate wrongdoing in recent years. DrKW understood from the start that it needed a clear policy on the firm's edge communications. "But it had to be lightweight," Rangaswami says. It's just nine pages long, remarkably short given the nature of the company's business, and the policy is really more about general principles than hyper-detailed regulationsmore along the lines of a human-resources manual than a compliance document. The principles are the ones you'd expect, such as: Don't break confidentiality. Respect copyright. Don't go over the financial Chinese walls. Don't lie. If it's an opinion, say so. And so on.
The most interesting section, is subtitled "Writing Style," which could be useful for any blogger. Advice includes:
"Don't pick fights. Brawls may earn traffic, but nobody wins in the end."
"Be the first to respond to your own mistakes. . . . If you choose to modify an earlier post, make it clear that you have done so."
"Speak in the first person. Use your own voice; bring your own personality to the forefront."
Using one's own voice may be the most essential advice of all. DrKW, by encouraging its people to be who they are via these online tools, is giving its employees, and the company itself, an advantage.
It's difficult to imagine any kind of organization that would not benefit from this kind of conversation. The highest immediate returnnot necessarily the financial kind, but in terms of efficiency and cross-pollination of ideasseems likely to come from internal use of these tools. If I were considering their deployment, I suspect I'd start inside the organization and expand outward.
Dan Gillmor is author of We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People and director of the Center for Citizen Media (www.citmedia.org). His next column will appear in April.


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Dongyoung Lee
Studio Dongyoung Lee is a Amsterdam and Seoul based independent studio for graphic design. The studio mostly collaborates with artists, cultural and commercial institutions. Dongyoung Lee holds MA in Communication design in 2008 at Hongik Univ.(Seoul, KR). She participated at Jan van Eyck (Maastricht, NL) between 2013 and 2014 and Frans Masereel Centrum (Kasterlee, BE) in 2016. Her works and books are exhibited at WorkSpaceBrussels, Kaai Studio (Bruxelles, BE), Tafels: Flemish-Dutch presentation of artist books at Art Brussels and Art Rotterdam and Fons Welters (Amsterdam, NL). The studio has recently designed exhibition identities for De Appel curatorial final presentation (Amsterdam, NL), P/////AKT (Amsterdam, NL), Call for drawings - BAK (Utrecht, NL), MaHKU fine art graduation show with Marcus Miessen (Utrecht, NL), the publication for Gwanju Biennale 2016 with Metahaven and several projects for artist Yeb Wiersma.
Florijn 34 1102BA Amsterdam
+31 (0)61 894 50 62
Extra Projects
All rights reserved © Dongyoung Lee, 2016
Website by DisplayHooray


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Local Knowledge - Global Reach
We are an international recruiting agency from Hamburg / Germany which is supporting global clients in their recruiting challenges. Our main industries are:
- Aerospace
- Automotive
- Power Engineering
- Renewable Energies
We especially serve clients in Central Europe, USA, Russia and the Middle East. Our main aim is to connect international industrial clients with engineering specialists from Germany and Europe. This enables us to support our clients in their expansion plans while offering international professional and personal development perspectives for European engineering experts.
We support our clients with innovative concepts and tailor-made recruiting solutions. We are thereby especially aiming to establish and develop long-term sustainable relationships with our clients.
Jobs: http://marketplace.oktocareer.com/deutsche-recruiting/


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David Banner Shares His Wisdom With This Kids Of Watts @ WLCAC! "I Was A Semester Away From Reaching My Masters Degree"
David Banner came thru WLCAC In Watts ,CA to share his wisdom with the kids.
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
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Amy Winehouse's 15-year-old goddaughter performed an outstanding set at the Big Chill music festival, mirroring her late mentor by closing her show with a cover of Winehouse's "Love Is a Losing Game."
Dionne Bromfield got teary-eyed when she performed the song, barely able to sing its last few words, though the crowd cheered her on.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Friends & Family Gather For Amy Winehouse's Funeral
U.S. & World
"She was an amazing singer," Bromfield said. "She was not only my godmother, but she was my mentor and my boss as well."
The big-voiced singer sang with ease during her 30-minute performance on Saturday, the second day of the U.K. music festival.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: The Latest Star Sightings
Bromfield was a reminder of Winehouse: She stood close to the mic while belting lyrics, with her big hair and tiny build.
She was backed by a five-piece band and dancers, performing songs from her two albums and singing mainly about boys and relationship troubles.
Her scratchy voice was top-notch as she sang soul songs with pop flavors, especially on the old school-sounding "Remember Our Love" and the up-tempo "Yeah Right." She also performed covers of Cee Lo Green's smash "Forget You" ''and the Shirelles' "Mama Said," Bromfield's first single.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: On The Scene: Family & Fans Mourn Amy Winehouse In London
Winehouse, who had struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, was found dead of unknown causes at her London home on July 23.
Bromfield is signed to Winehouse's label, Lioness Records.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: A Look Back: Controversial Music Queen Amy Winehouse
Copyright 2011 by Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
PLAY IT NOW: Access Hollywood Live: Mitch Winehouse Releases Music Video
PLAY IT NOW: Piers Morgan: 'No One Was Shocked' By Amy Winehouse's Death
More from Access: [ Amy Winehouse Music Brits ]


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Tourism, fisheries, and shoreline protection represent just three of the many culturally and economically important services reef ecosystems provide in Jamaica, according to a MacArthur-supported report by the World Resources Institute, the Nature Conservancy, the University of the West Indies' Marine Geology Unit, and the Mona GeoInformatics Institute. The analysis showed reef-related fisheries alone contributed $34.3 million to the local economy, supported 15,000 - 20,000 fishermen, and impacted the livelihoods of more than 100,000 people island-wide. Currently, all of Jamaica's coral reefs are under threat from overfishing, bad fishing, watershed-based pollution, coastal development, marine-based pollution, climate change, and ocean acidification.
Watch the CNN video.
Download related PDF


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|Dr. Jeff Meldrum discussing opportunities of the Bigfoot Blimp
St. Louise NBC affiliate KSDK covers the Falcon Project, a project we refer to as the Bigfoot Blimp. We first covered the Falcon project back in 2010 before in an article titled, "The Falcon Project: A Blimp to Find Bigfoot." The project has been in the blueprint stage for sometime, and during that time it has gone through redesigns and revisions. Recently the Bigfoot Blimp has gained attention and higher visibility due Dr. Jeff Meldrum's involvement in trying to help fund the project from private donors.
By Jake Taylor
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI/CNN) - An Idaho professor is planning a search for Bigfoot, and he's building a new aircraft to help him find the legendary creature.
"A state of the art aerial wildlife survey in order to try to track and locate a sasquatch," said Prof. Jeff Meldrum of Idaho State University.
That's the plan. With the help of a Utah-based company, Meldrum says he'll soon build a Bigfoot blimp to try and track down the legendary creature.
"It looks like something out of a science fiction movie. It's a dirigible, an airship that has two air cells that gives it a kind of a catamaran stability in the air," said Meldrum.
He says the zeppelin will be state-of-the-art, filled with high-techequipment, and infrared cameras that will give researchers the best possible change of spotting a Sasquatch.
"It's not just looking at a little blob of red light against a blue background. This is high definition videography that will use a telephoto lens that can zoom in from a mile away literally," said Meldrum.
Of course, before the airship has its maiden voyage, it has to be built. Meldrum says the money to put it together will come from private donations.
Beyond the more attention-grabbing goal of finding Bigfoot, Meldrum says the planned aircraft has many other possible uses.
"All types of wildlife studies even geological studies could be conducted with data that could be garnered from an airship gathering this type of aerial surveillance imagery," said Meldrum.
He says he's planning on getting construction started within the next few months, and have it in the air by the end of the spring.


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Solentiname Islands
Solentiname Islands is in Nicaragua on the Southeastern corner of Lake Nicaragua.
Other destinations[edit]
The Solentiname Archipelago is situated in the south of Lake Nicaragua near San Carlos in the Rio San Juan Region. The islands are really remote - don't expect things like grocery stores etc. On the Isla Mancarrón is a little Pulperia with the most necessary stuff. There are 36 Islands but just a handful are inhabited. The biggest Islands are Mancarrón and San Fernando.
Get in[edit]
The only way onto the islands is by boat. Private boats can be chartered for around $100 per day. Otherwise collective boats leave from a pier in San Carlos near the current construction along the seawall. The schedule is San Carlos to Solentiname Tuesday and Friday 1pm for C$80 and returning the same days at 4:30am for the same price. You might be lucky and find someone from the island running around in San Carlos and giving you a ride to the islands.
Get around[edit]
See[edit][add listing]
There is still some intact nature on the islands even though the people do farm the land. There are petroglyphs on the islands.
Sleep[edit][add listing]
Isla Mancarrón:
Isla San Fernando:
Do[edit][add listing]
Visit the Museums on the main Islands.
Eat[edit][add listing]
Drink[edit][add listing]
Stay safe[edit]
There are no worries about safety on these small islands.
Get out[edit]
Tuesday and Friday at 4:30 am.
More Information[edit]