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South African Journal of Science
On-line version ISSN 1996-7489
Print version ISSN 0038-2353
S. Afr. j. sci. vol.110 n.5-6 Pretoria Mar. 2014
Llewellyn C. Foxcroft; Petr Pysek; David M. Richardson; Piero Genovesi
Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
The ongoing transformation of natural ecosystems to provide food, water, fibre, industrial development and space to live for an unprecedented and growing number of people has led to a global environmental crisis. Thousands of species are now threatened with extinction as a direct result of some form of human activity. One of the strategies for preventing a complete transformation of the globe is to set aside protected areas, where species, habitats and ecosystems should be safeguarded from disturbance. However, these protected areas face many challenges, not least of which is invasion by hundreds of newly introduced species that displace the indigenous biota, disrupt ecosystem processes and, in many cases, completely transform the invaded ecosystems. Plant Invasions in Protected Areas provides the first global synthesis of invasive alien species in protected areas since a review conducted 25 years ago under the auspices of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE).1
The number of protected areas in the world has grown sevenfold over the past half century, from ~20 000 in 1970 to almost 158 000 in 2011, and the network now covers almost 15% of the earth's land surface. Invasive alien species have been present in these areas for a long time, but their impacts are only now really starting to be felt, and are set to grow. Finding ways of dealing with these problems is fast becoming one of the main headaches for managers of many protected areas worldwide. The book sets out to document the understanding of the problem in the context of modern invasion ecology, and to determine how current understanding can support successful management that will limit further negative impacts. Conservation scientists by and large agree that invasive alien plants in protected areas should and can be brought under control, but carrying out such management can also be a wicked problem. As pointed out in the book, matters are complicated by the fact that some people even welcome the alien species,2 or argue that alien invasions should be accepted as inevitable and perhaps even desirable. In addition, some managers of protected areas try to address these problems by attempting to find beneficial uses for alien species, in most cases leading to further conflict, and failure of control efforts.
The book contains a wealth of information on the origins and status of plant invasions, and their management, in protected areas across the world. The majority of impacts associated with invasive alien species have to date been felt on islands. Prior to human settlement (in some cases very recent), islands were protected from invasions by the long distances from sources of alien species. Consequently, islands proved to be very vulnerable to invasion by newly introduced species. The occupation of ocean islands by people led to the extinction of many unique species, initially directly by hunting, but more recently because islands were swamped by alien species, many invasive. For example, about 70% of the 1000 vascular plant species of the Azores in the North Atlantic are alien. Not surprisingly, therefore, this book has a wealth of information on invasions in protected areas on islands, including those in the Mediterranean, Pacific, Indian, Atlantic, and Southern Oceans. These oceans include iconic World Heritage Sites such as the Galapagos and Aldabra, and the remote islands of the Southern Ocean. There is much to be learnt from islands, and this knowledge is important because severe impacts associated with invasive species, once regarded as island phenomena, are increasingly being felt on continents.
Much of the information is presented in a series of often fascinating case studies, which address the management of both individual species and of areas. African examples include a 'botanical garden' that was established in 1903 in the Amani Nature Reserve, Tanzania (Amani is part of East Usambara, a biodiversity hotspot of global importance). Here over 600 alien woody species were planted in blocks covering 300 ha, leading to the naturalisation of 73 species, 11 of which are now serious invaders. Conservation staff in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, were for a considerable time responsible for the ongoing introduction and cultivation of numerous invasive alien plants in tourist camps and staff villages, despite knowledge of their invasive potential and policies that prevented these practices. Thus, it was often the very people appointed to manage protected areas that set the scene for their degradation through invasion.
Whether or not this problem can be contained is the focus of the final third of the book. Here the options available to managers are thoroughly reviewed, and the need for a comprehensive approach becomes clear to the reader. Such a comprehensive approach should include preventing new introductions, regular surveillance, early detection and rapid response, eradication where possible, biological control, raising awareness, capacity building, political lobbying, integration of control into protected area management plans, management of invasions outside of the protected area boundary, and ecosystem restoration. The clear message that emerges is that managers need something of a paradigm shift away from 'weed management' (an agricultural concept in which the aim is to control certain established weeds), to management for biodiversity outcomes, in which the goal is to protect biodiversity, and which requires a much broader approach, better planning and regular monitoring. Much experience has been gained from the management, across the globe, of the 135 protected areas that are reviewed in this book. This book is one that should not only be read by students of invasion ecology, but also by conservation policymakers and the managers of protected areas. Whether or not they will is another question, as it is well known that a wide gap exists between research-based texts such as this one, and implementation of the recommendations in practice. This vital aspect is addressed only very briefly in the book under the heading 'Bridging the science-management divide', which refers to high-level coordinating bodies. In my view, much closer partnerships between researchers and on-the-ground managers will be needed - a substantial challenge to the research community. The lessons documented in this book deserve to reach a much wider audience than they probably will, and I would recommend this book to anyone involved with the management of biological invasions anywhere in the world.
1. Macdonald IAW, Loope LL, Usher MB, Hamann O. Wildlife conservation and the invasion of nature reserves by introduced species: A global perspective. In: Drake J, Mooney HA, Di Castri F, editors. Biological invasions: A global perspective. Chichester: Wiley; 1989. p. 215-255. [ Links ]
2. Dickie IA, Bennet BM, Burrows LE, Nunez MA, Peltzer DA, Porté A, et al. Conflicting values: Ecosystem services and invasive tree management. Biol Invasions. 2014;16:705-719. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10530-013-0609-6 [ Links ]
Department of Botany and Zoology
Stellenbosch University, Matieland 7602, South Africa


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More than 800 students, teachers, elected officials and community leaders were present at the new Dillon Middle School dedication on Thursday morning, September 6th. Several years ago, a letter was written to Congress pleading for help to replace the 100 year old dilapidated school by then-eight grader, Ty'Sheoma Bethea.
Doug McKalip, Senior Policy Advisor for Rural Affairs with the White House Domestic Policy Council stated, "I think Ms. Bethea's letter shows that an individual can have an impact, that the Obama Administration is listening, that we monitor closely the items that folks send by letter, email, and telephone. And that there often is action from the input."
"This state of the art school is dedicated to the academic advancement of our children. I am pleased that the promise to the children of Dillon County has been kept," said Vernita Dore, USDA Rural Development state director. Ms. Dore was instrumental in helping to fund construction of Dillon County Middle School, which replaces the old and dilapidated JV Martin Junior High, which was mentioned in President Obama's first State of the Union address.
Ray Rogers, Dillon School District Four Superintendent added, "I have been waiting for this day since 1991. It's like a dream come true."

subset: commoncrawl


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This post is going to walk through creating a CS Extension which checks grammar in InDesign. To achieve this, we'll be using an Adobe Labs technology called Alchemy. If you're not familiar, Alchemy is a tool that lets you compile C/C++ code into ActionScript bytecode. That means you can efficiently call into your C/C++ code from a pure ActionScript solution. This is especially exciting in the context of the Creative Suite because many developers already have a huge amount of existing code in C/C++. Here's a brief demo:
Getting up and running with Alchemy
The following links should be enough to get you going:
Defining the interface
After Alchemy is set up, we next need to download an open-source C library called Link Grammar, you can get the source from here. While the library has plenty of features, we'll just be using it to tell whether a sentence is grammatically correct or not. To call into this C library from ActionScript we need to define an interface that Alchemy can understand. We define this interface in the C code's main function. Link Grammar defines a sample main in src/parse.c; replace it with this one, which defines the interface to Alchemy. Here are some magical lines to note:
AS3_Val setupFunction = AS3_Function( NULL, setup );
AS3_Val isThisGrammarFunction = AS3_Function( NULL, isThisGrammar );
AS3_Val result = AS3_Object( "setup: AS3ValType, isThisGrammar:AS3ValType",
setupFunction, isThisGrammarFunction);
AS3_Release( setupFunction );
AS3_Release( isThisGrammarFunction );
AS3_LibInit( result );
This tells Alchemy that we have two C functions we want to expose to ActionScript; setup and isThisGrammar. Now all we have to do is flesh out these functions. For example, here's our isThisGrammar function:
static AS3_Val isThisGrammar(void* self, AS3_Val args) {
Sentence sent;
int num_linkages;
char* val = NULL;
AS3_ArrayValue( args, "StrType", &val );
sent = sentence_create(val, dict);
num_linkages = sentence_parse(sent, opts);
if (num_linkages > 0) {
return AS3_True();
return AS3_False();
This function first reads in a string passed from ActionScript and stores it in the variable val. We then pass val into the Link Grammar library. Based on the result, we return a Boolean to ActionScript telling it whether or not this sentence is grammatically correct. Notice, because we're in C-land we have to keep in mind memory management (e.g. releasing the sentences when we're done).
Compiling the library
Now that our interface is defined, let's compile the C code into a swc. Since Alchemy uses a modified version of gcc, we pass it the compiler flag "-swc". In the Link Grammar Makefile, we need only to change the rule which builds the binary so that it reads:
${BIN}/parse: ${OBJECTS}
${CC} ${CLDFLAGS} ${OBJECTS} -swc -o parse.swc
Running "make" from the command line will generate parse.swc. Easy as that!
From the ActionScript side
In most Alchemy use cases, all we have to do is initialize the C library and then call into the interfaces we defined:
var loader:CLibInit = new CLibInit();
var lib:Object = loader.init();
However, it's slightly more complex in our case. Alchemy requires that you pass any files needed by the C code as a byte array to the loader before calling your interfaces. Because the C code requires access to the file system (to read the dictionary, grammar rules, etc.), we're going to need a function something like this:
private function supplyFile( loader:CLibInit, file:File, fileName:String):void {
var bytes:ByteArray = new ByteArray();
var stream:FileStream = new FileStream();
stream.open(file, FileMode.READ);
stream.readBytes(bytes, 0, stream.bytesAvailable);
loader.supplyFile(fileName, bytes);
And that's all there is to it. To compile the CS Extension, generate the swc and copy it into the libs/ folder. At runtime, make sure you have the contents of Link Grammar's data/ folder (which includes 4.0.dict, words/, etc.) copied onto the desktop.
Attached Files:


text:
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Kitty's Place
Would you like to visit someplace nice... maybe just the two of you. Kitty's home is 5 years old, beautifully furnished, very family oriented. To Kitty your stay is important in that they strive to provide you with everything you need for your vacation or time away to relax.
Furnished with amenities for you to enjoy your vacation and fun in the sun. Very hospitable atmosphere, great beach, amusement parks only miles away, and shopping at a great Outlet Mall only minutes away. Newly installed above ground pool. Minutes to the famous Ft. Morgan. Great sunsets, beautiful waters, white sandy beaches. Very relaxing, very enjoyable.
Kitty's home is dog friendly and has it's own pool.
Email her at firstname.lastname@example.com
You will love it.


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RSS, Lucene, and REST
Sorry for the horrible title. I struggled trying to come up with a worthy title, but after a few minutes I decided to not let perfection get in the way of good.
My team has recently worked on a new feature I am pretty excited about: adding support for RSS/Atom in our application. I know your thinking so what. It's not really the what I am excited about but the how. What I'm really excited about was how the story was defined and implemented.
We had the simple requirement from a newer customer to provide an RSS feed for newly created items. This actually wasn't the first time for this requirement. We prototyped a similar capability a long time ago using OpenESB and the RSS BC, but for multiple reasons it just didn't work out.
So our first decision had to answer: how we were going to implement it......again, but better. Before the sprint began, a few of us got together and hashed out a potential solution: how about we use the Search REST Service, which is backed by Lucene, to support Advanced searches and return RSS?
Why does this excite me so much? To understand that I need to explain our application at a high level. It's a completely javascript-based application using ExtJS (now sencha), backed by REST Services using Jersey. Consequently, we have a lot of REST Services. Right now those REST Services support returning XML or JSON using a custom Response Builder we have created internally.
I'm excited because this single user story could have a huge improvement on the entire system:
- If we modified the Search Service to return RSS, then all our REST Services could support RSS.
- The REST Service would now support Advanced searches. Previously, it only really supported basic keyword searches.
- Any search they perform could now be subscribe to via RSS.
I'm not going to go into every detail on how it was done. I wasn't even actually the one who implemented it (see Matt White. He did a fantastic job.). We did have one major hurdle we had to overcome, and that was how to index items to enable advanced searches like Status=New.
Previously this wasn't possible given how we were indexing our items. We were basically indexing the item by building up a large String containing all the item information like the following:
import org.apache.lucene.document.Document import org.apache.lucene.document.Field def Document createDocument(item) { Document d = new Document() doc.add(new Field("content", getContent(item), Field.Store.NO, Field.Index.ANALYZED)) return d } def String getContent(item) { def s = new StringBuilder() s.append(item.getTitle()).append(" ") s.append(item.getStatus()).append(" ") s.append(item.getPriority()).append(" ") s.append(item.getDescription()).append(" ") return s.toString() }
The problem with this is performing a search for "New" would have returned any item with a status of New as well as any items that contained the word New. The solution was to just add another Field to the Document.
doc.add(new Field("Status", item.getStatus(), Field.Store.NO, Field.Index.NOT_ANALYZED));
Now the Search Service could support advanced searches like: Status:"New". You should put the value in quotes in case the value contains spaces (ie Status:"In Progress"). And since Lucene is so powerful, it also means the follow search would work: Status:"New" AND Priority:"High" AND "Hurricane". Now users have the freedom to subscribe to a near limitless amount of RSS feeds based on Advanced Searches.
Start to Finish
I think there were several reasons why this story was a success in my eyes. Most importantly where the two really smart co-workers who worked on it: Matt White and Chuck Hinson. All three of us knew of this user story ahead of time and we were able to discuss it technically days before backlog selection. This allowed us to brainstorm some ideas. Once we narrowed it down, we spent some more time separately looking into the code to find out the level of difficulty and if Advanced Searches like Status:New would be possible. Overall, together I'd say we spent 3-4 hours doing the preliminary work. Doing that preliminary work I think really enabled us to give a proper WAG for the story.
I really can't speak for how the development went (I was at Disney World for 10 days with the family), but I was really impressed with the tests Matt wrote. He wrote a number of unit tests making sure advanced searches worked and basic searches still worked. On top of that, he wrote an overall functional test using HttpBuilder executing the REST Service just as our javascript client would.
Finally, once the main work was finished, we uploaded a diff file to our internal instance of Review Board. From there I was able to perform a peer review where we found a minor bug in the changes.
I am sure it's not an original idea, but I thought it was a fun User Story that hopefully will provide a lot of value beyond what was originally estimated. Ideally, this might help others who are in similar situations.


text:
5 Dollar Wrestling - Escape from the Island of Misfit Toys DVD-R
$5 Wrestling Presents "Escape from the Island of Misfit Toys"
Well the lady who hates wrestling is back in charge at the Mooresville National Guard Armory and it's time for us to go. But before we go $5 Wrestling plans to blow the roof off of the place.... wait never mind replacing the roof at the armory is not in the 5 dollar budget. So, instead $5 Wrestling will sneak out the backdoor in the middle of the night like a bad tenant behind on their rent.
The reviews are already in:
"Thats why I don't like Colt Cabana's whole God damn thing and I don't care if he knows it" - Jim Cornette
"Everybody involved with the God damn thing I don't come to where they work and slap the dick out of their mouth" - Jim Cornette
"I don't fucking think of $5 Wrestling I think everyone in it should be hung up on Tryon Street and kicked in the ass" - Jim Cornette
- Lil Donnie vs. Fireball vs. Mike Levy w/ Strong Arm vs. Anthraxx w/ Mr. Krystal
- Wolfman Backstage Interview
- One Horned Liger vs. Wolfman
- Freight Train Backstage Interview
- Freight Train vs. Porkchop Cash Jr.
- Jeff Hart Backstage Interview
- American Idiot vs. Jeff Hart
- Dyn-O-Mite vs. Big Donnie
Bonus Footage
- Lil Donnie Backstage Interview
- Anthraxx w/ Mr. Krystal Backstage Interview
- Dyn-O-Mite rakes Jake Manning's leaves
Total Aprox. Running Time: 1 hr and 10 mins
Average Customer Review: 1 Reviews
Write an online review and share your thoughts with others.


text:
With so many events around the Monterey Peninsula, wine tasting at our outstanding wineries of Monterey County deserves to be high on the list! Few people realize that Carmel Valley, which is just a few short miles from our Monterey B & B, is home to 39,300 acres of vineyards, which produce grapes for 83 wineries (per WinesVinesData).
The heart of the tasting rooms for Monterey County is located in the tiny village of Carmel Valley about 12 miles off of Highway 1, and luckily enough, Monterey County's 20th Annual Winemakers Celebration is coming on Saturday, August 11th from 1 to 4 pm at the Barnyard Village Shopping Center in beautiful Carmel is the location which will host over 40 Wineries providing 150 wines. Great food, live music, and awesome scenery await you! Lawrence and I definitely want to join you there!
If you want to make a weekend of it while you are enjoying the Monterey County Annual Winemakers Celebration, we would love to have you stay at our luxury Monterey County b&b while rooms are available!


text:
Haven't found anything yet?
Get a nostalgic flair for a modern room concept - the wallpaper 448566 by Rasch brings the trendy vintage look to your home. The wallpapers textured design in brown creates a distinctive wall design, but also an impressive spatial effect. Moreover, the Rasch wallpaper convinces by its excellent material characteristics. The non-woven wallpaper is highly washable, dry strippable and has a good lightfastness.


text:
- Prayer and Worship
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- Bible
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- About USCCB
The committee assists the bishops, both individually and collectively, to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the communications media as "pathways to intensify communion and to render more penetrating the proclamation of his word" (John Paul II, The Rapid Development, 2005). The committee seeks to support the work of evangelization and faith formation through a comprehensive approach to media that includes media relations, media production and programming, policy, review of entertainment media, publishing, distribution, and licensing with sensitivity towards culturally diverse communities.
By accepting this message, you will be leaving the website of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This link is provided
solely for the user's convenience. By providing this link, the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops assumes no responsibility for,
nor does it necessarily endorse, the website, its content, or
sponsoring organizations.


text:
Greensboro Library, NCHome Menu
Intermediate English Literacy
- Date: -
- Location: Glenwood Branch Library
1901 W. Florida Street
Greensboro, North Carolina 27403
- Cost
Do you have the basics of English but want to learn more? This class is for intermediate students of English who want to improve their reading, writing, speaking, and listening. For more information or to register, please call 336-297-5000.Return to previous page >>


text:
RoA THEATRE ACADEMY "Teaching Life Skills Through Stage Skills"
Homeschool & After School Classes year round. Register for homeschool here. Register for after school here. Register for Summer 2018 here. Inquiries – email@example.com
Keep posted here, on our Academy Facebook Page or our monthly newsletter.
Faculty: Our Staff of Theater Professionals
These professional actors, directors, teachers and technicians are highly skilled at what they do, offering students the best training available in the Southeast. But they are also people who care deeply about young people and are passionately committed to sharing with them the joy and craft of theatre….
*(Go to Springer Opera House to learn more about Ron Anderson's nationally acclaimed Academy – Rose of Athens Theatre has the same curriculum model and, often, the same teachers.)
Activate: confidence, concentration, cooperation, imagination, listening, discipline, speech, intuition, poise and expression. Go to Rose academy classes facebook page, here
One thought on "RoA THEATRE ACADEMY "Teaching Life Skills Through Stage Skills""
[…] was posted on December 10, 2010 by Jef Holbrook. It was filed under News, Performances, Season . → […]


text:
Rekoil is, in the developer's words, what would happen "if Call Of Duty, Quake, and Unreal Tournament had a baby". That's a big claim, but you can take a look at the video and see if they do it justice.
Rekoil is planned to release for $15 at the end of October on the Xbox 360 and personal computers.


text:
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Decorating your home is very personal. The piece must not only reflect your needs, but also your personality. We carry a wide selection of furniture and accents for both you and your home. Come see yourself in our furniture.
We also buy items and/or estates. It's best to email information and photos to: email@example.com
Antique Mall Of West Seattle
Space #21 in the Basement
4516 California Ave SW
Sherman Oaks Antique Mall
Space #136
14034 Ventura Blvd
We have compiled a list of what we think
are some of the most comprehensive resources
on antiques and collectibles.
We have also made it easy for you
to purchase these books
by providing a direct link to a sister site
where you can add these to your collection.
Just click on the item to be taken there directly.


text:
Over 500 participants will enjoy a great day on Park Trails, listening to great music, and enjoying children activities. Thanks to Triangle Off Road Cylists (TORC) for the Tour de TORC guided bike rides and Carolina Godiva Track Club for race timing!!
Thanks to all for supporting William B. Umstead State Park. Funds raised will go towards restoration of the 124 historic cabins and mess halls, invasive plant control, and environmental education for your wonderful State Park.
On-site parking for the event is at 6000 Reedy Creek Road, Raleigh. (NOTE, you SHOULD click on this link, this is a private meadow next to the Park, NOT one of the normal park entrances).
Early Bird registration through Sunday April 7. On-line registration through noon on Thursday April 11. On-site registration Friday April 12 (5-7pm) and event day April 13 (8-9am).
More Information:
About Us
Contact Us
Join/Renew Membership
Support us with Amazon Smile


text:
Acai Berry 1000mg is a brand new High Strength Acai Berry formula containing a combination of 400mg pure acai berry with a 60mg 10:1 extract (equivalent of 600mg) to provide a total of 1000mg of acai berry.
Acai berry provides many nutrients to support health, vitality and energy levels. Acai Berry's nutrients have been found useful to support normal cholesterol level maintenance due to the high amount of antioxidants it contains. A tribe of people named Caboclo from the Amazon region eats Acai Berries as a part of their regular food.
Acai Berry's anti oxidant and healthy cholesterol level maintenance abilities are the major cause of its popularity. These palm trees are generally found in several south and Central American countries, chiefly Peru and Brazil.
Anti-oxidants help to support your immune system and battle the free radicals that threaten our internal health. Anti-Oxidants are natural helpers to our body's white blood cells. When toxins build up in our body from the non-organic foods we eat and the polluted air that we breathe, anti-oxidants help to fight away the build up and keep our body healthy.
Acai Berry 1000 mg is completely natural and, as such, they are safe for anyone to eat.
Troo Health Care Acai Berry Capsules are manufactured in the UK to GMP code of practice and ISO 9001 quality assurance certification.
These manufacturing procedures ensure that the basic manufacturing practices and prerequisites necessary for product quality and safety are being followed. This goes above and beyond what is required so that we can guarantee you receive consistently high quality products.
Suitable for vegetarians & vegans


text:
Using automation to overcome Agile testing challenges
Organizations globally are adopting the Agile development methodology for enhanced collaboration and faster delivery. Agile is a set of software development principles that lays emphasis on individuals over processes and tools, working software over documentation, collaboration over contracts and responding to change over following the plan. Through Agile, organizations can collaborate with their customers by delivering live and working software to them. Despite its benefits, embracing Agile in the Testing practice is not an easy task and fraught with challenges.
Challenges in adopting Agile in Testing
While selecting appropriate tools that are usable as well as flexible is an issue, encouraging the entire team to contribute towards the tests is another problem. Enabling open-source integration and promoting test-driven development are some of the other concern areas in Agile testing.
Agile also brings with itself a few technical problems like difficulties on account of distributed teams and obstacles faced by individual testers within the Agile team. In the case of Agile development methodology, it often becomes tough to keep track of the number and speed of changes in user stories, requirements or the code.
Another issue with Agile is frequently changing requirements. Due to this, the code is refactored quite often. Agile testing can be further bogged down by the fact that the testing team has to continuously collaborate with other cross-functional and geographically scattered teams.
How Test Automation can help
Test Automation can help organizations resolve the challenges associated with Agile testing. Test Automation ensures that the application is and continues to be in a good shape with each new sprint. It encourages the Agile development team to collaborate with the testing team, seeing it as a partner, rather than as Quality Police. Running the tests over and over again gives the development team an assurance that the new code, which was added to the system, does not break or destabilize anything. It also certifies that the system is working and the new code is doing what it is supposed to do. As Agile teams need to test continuously, Test Automation provides the required speed, and helps ascertain that the feature implemented during a given iteration or sprint is actually deployed.
Think, before starting
Overall, Test Automation is useful in addressing and fulfilling critical testing demands and essential for Agile projects due to their need for frequent regression testing. At the same time, while Test Automation may be needed, just deploying an automation tool is not the solution for an organization. What companies also need is a proven automation testing strategy and a skilled test team. This involves designing an effective automation solution that supports quicker maintenance, faster ramp-up time and distributed ownership.
Do look at Jim's comments to complete reading


text:
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (27 February 1807 – 24 March 1882 / Portland, Maine)
» Click to list general statistics » OR, select a date :
Oliver Basselin. (Birds Of Passage. Flight The First)
In the Valley of the Vire
Still is seen an ancient mill,
With its gables quaint and queer,
And beneath the window-sill,
read more >>
- Hits: Number of visitors who read the poem on the given date.
- Posts: Number of visitors who posted the poem to a friend (via e-mail) on the given date.
- Dates that have "0" hits may not be shown on the list.
- Dates, poems and poets that have "0" hits may not be shown on the list. Statistics are generated daily.


text:
Top flight deals to Philadelphia (PHL)*
Fly to Philadelphia with KLM
Together with our global network, we as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines offer flights to Philadelphia, serving Philadelphia International Airport (PHL). With delicious meals and a range of in-flight entertainment on our intercontinental flights, you can unwind and enjoy the flight.
Top Philadelphia attractions
- Liberty Bell: the historic 2.080 lb icon of freedom, featuring a biblical inscription.
- Independence Hall: the site where the US Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were debated.
- Franklin Institute: a science museum with interactive exhibits.
- Eastern State Penitentiary: a historic prison featuring tours of the famous Al Capone cell.
- Franklin Square: centred around a historic fountain, this park offers a mini-golf course, a burger joint and a classic carousel.
What's the best way to get around Philadelphia?
You can explore Philadelphia on foot, or use public transport. There are many bus routes that are perfect for sightseeing, such as the PHLASH bus or Hop-On-Hop-Off bus routes. With a combination of buses, metros and subways in Philadelphia, you'll never have to wait more than a few minutes to catch a ride.
What's the weather in Philadelphia?
If you want our advice, you'll take your umbrella on your trip to Philadelphia! It rains quite a lot all year round, so it's best to be prepared. If you're looking for warm days, travel to Philadelphia between June and September when temperatures are often above 20°C (68°F). Winters can be very chilly in Philadelphia with the average temperature in January being a very brisk 2°C (36°F).
Weather in Philadelphia
Powered by: OpenWeatherMap.org
27 °CSaturday15/08/2020
23 °CSunday16/08/2020
30 °CMonday17/08/2020
31 °CTuesday18/08/2020
28 °CWednesday19/08/2020
33 °CThursday20/08/2020
34 °CFriday21/08/2020
*All amounts are in USD. Taxes and surcharges are included. No booking fee is applicable, but a payment surcharge may apply. Prices shown may vary depending on fare availability. You will see the final amount when selecting your payment method.


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I asked the question, so I get to answer it first. No, in a league where momentum sometimes extends no further than the kickoff of the next game and where last year's champs, the Ravens, lost 4 of their last 5 regular season games and the 2011 champs, the Giants, lost 5 of 6 in the second half of that season – no way can the 3rd game be a make or break contest.
But that does not mean it is not an important game to both teams and their fan bases and that it might not serve as a harbinger of things to come. Both teams come in licking their wounds, though for the Texans with a 2-0 record, those wounds may be more like paper cuts vs. the deep cuts affecting the 1-1 Ravens.
Recent History
Though they are not in the same division, the Texans and Ravens have met quite a few times in their history and significantly, the teams have met 3 times in the last two seasons.
In 2011, the Ravens played the Texans twice in Baltimore beating them solidly during the regular season 29-14 and then ending the Texans' season and first playoff run 20-13. Last season the Texans at Reliant made the Ravens look like anything but future Super Bowl champs by manhandling them 43-13 in a week 7 showdown.
This year they are back in Baltimore for this Sunday's meeting.
What's Wrong with the Texans?
OK – we are all wondering this. They cashed in two miracles the first two weeks of the season and frankly the fans were hoping such heroics would be reserved for beating the 49ers or the Broncos later on in the season, not the lowly Chargers and Titans.
After watching a very good performance by Matt Schaub to lead them from 21 down to win the 1st game, folks thought they were watching David Carr for the first 3 quarters of the Titans game.
After playing like toreadors for the first half of the Charger's game, the defense went into complete shutdown mode for the second half of that game and most of the Titans game until they yakked up a 99 yard drive energized by Jake (friggin') Locker.
The team put their place kicking hopes in the hands (on the toe?) of rookie Randy Bullock, who has made 1 of 5 FGs that counted and 1 of 3 that did not on the season.
We are worried.
What's Right with the Texans?
They are 2-0. There are 24 other teams that wish they were undefeated. Of the undefeated teams, only the Broncos have won comfortably both weeks. Of the 14 games that the other seven 2-0 teams have played only 2 of them have been decided by more than 6 points. Five of those seven teams have won a game (the Texans won 2) with 16 seconds or less on the clock and that does not include a 1 point win by KC over the Cowgirls.
It is tough to stay undefeated in this league.
The other thing I would point out is that, while good teams win the games they are supposed to, they also often win games when it looks like they should lose them. Just picture the Rosencopter game. That was symptomatic of the time. In the 4 games between the Colts and Texans in 2008 and 2009, the Texans had second half leads (including a 27-10 fourth quarter lead in the R'Copter game) and won none of them. The Colts were better and both teams knew it and played it out accordingly.
What's Wrong with the Ravens?
Maybe this should be written as "Who's wrong with the Ravens?" Texan fans sit here and wring our hands wondering who is going to replace a Connor Barwin or who is going to help out until Ed Reed returns to the secondary. Piffle compared to the merry-go-round at the Raven's camp. After winning the Super Bowl, they have played apple turnover with the roster especially on the defensive side. Safeties Reed and Pollard, CB Cary Williams, LBs Ray Lewis, Ellerbe and Kruger all gone or retired. Anquan Boldin – a key to their SB run is across the country in San Francisco. They did re-sign Jameel McLain and he is on the PUP. TE Dennis Pitta is on the IL, Jacoby Jones is out 4 to 6 weeks with a knee injury, Ray Rice is questionable this week after limping off the field with a hip injury last week.
So they are facing the Texans without their top 6 tacklers, missing 10 of their 13 interceptions, two of their three top WRs, their best TE and possibly their All-Pro all purpose back from their Super Bowl year. They have to be doubting themselves after being humiliated by the Broncos and having to come back from a halftime deficit against the rotten Browns.
What's Right with the Ravens?
There is only one 2012 Super Bowl champ and they are the Baltimore Ravens. They have an inspirational coach in John Harbaugh (or is it Jim – never can get it straight). They have a studly defensive line with Ngata, Dumervil and Suggs. They have the $100 million man Joe Flacco at QB. And they are at home in the NFL – one of the great equalizers in sports.
What Will Happen?
It is time for the Texans to put together 4 solid quarters. If they do that – this version of the Ravens is not going to beat them.
Texans 23 – Ravens 10


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From a quick tidy up to a full makeover – the difference a quality renovation can make to the exterior of any home is astounding! Browse our gallery below to see the dramatic change an external renovation could make to your home!
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The exterior of every home is always battling the elements of the weather – be it rain, hail, sea-spray or the fierce sun! Depending where you live, one of these elements will always be present and its effects will be seen sooner rather than later. Of course, some environments are much harsher than others, but at some stage every home will need some kind of attention to the exterior, whether that be a re-paint or a full makeover.
The other element each home battles is the element of time itself – fashions change and so does the style and look of homes. What was in trend in home exteriors 30 years ago will have certainly changed now, and when bought up to speed can make the home look like brand new! Many an older home that has been the subject of an exterior home renovation can be mistaken for a brand new home.
Renovating the exterior of your home has many benefits – increasing the street appeal of your home, increasing the overall value of your property and also re-applying the protective barrier that shields you from the external elements.
Increasing the Street Appeal of Your Home.
Who doesn't want a fantastic looking home – and why shouldn't you have one? How many times have you seen an older worn out home in your street or a street near you that has had an exterior renovation and now just looks 'wow!' Even a simple coat of paint can do wonders. From there – it can go upwards to re-cladding or changing the cladding style, and replacing old windows to newer style windows. The next level is adding more storeys which significantly changes the style and look of the home.
Using a professional designer to help with the exterior design of your home can really be a plus and save quite a bit or money with not having to redo elements which just don't quite match, and allowing the styling of the exterior of the home to match what is happening on the inside. Professional designers have a certain 'eye' which can really make the exterior of any home.
Increasing the Overall Value of Your Property
It is a pretty simple equation – the better the home looks and feels in relation to the rest of the property – the more value is built into the property. This value comes into effect in two main areas – unlocking hidden value in your property as a whole, but also more value (cash in hand) for you should the time ever come when you wish to sell.
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When we last saw Miles & Co. on Revolution, they were about to be gunned down by one of Monroe's choppers. That's quite the cliffhanger to leave us on before taking a four-month hiatus. So what's in store for the gang now?
Catch up with Revolution: What you need to know before it returns"In the opening moments of Episode 11, they just run. They just tear outside there 'cause it's a helicopter," Creator Eric Kripke tells TVGuide.com of Monday's midseason premiere (10/9c, NBC). "But it immediately escalates because Monroe and Neville and all the wrong people have some very powerful weapons and the good guys don't have much."During the first half Revolution's freshman season, Monroe (David Lyons) was still holding out hope for a friendly reconciliation with Miles (Billy Burke). But now that Miles has turned him down, expect to see the general become more than a little unhinged. "The one guy who probably was his last tether to humanity basically shoved him away so I think Monroe feels free to really become darker and more dangerous just when he has the means to do it," Kripke says. And though the showrunner doesn't "think there's going to be any Dr. Phil moments" for Monroe in the second half of Season 1, there is still hope for redemption. "I think honestly when the audience finds a character charismatic and as long as it's logical and they can understand it ... you can take characters anywhere," Kripke says.
10 things to know about Revolution's returnWhile Monroe becomes more vulnerable, prepare for Miles to get reacquainted with his dark side. Since leaving the militia, Miles has done everything in his power to leave his violent past behind him, but according to Kripke, to defeat Monroe and "set things right, he has to become that general again." Unfortunately, this decision brings on a new series of dangers. "The threat is both internal and external because how do you maintain your humanity in the face of all this war?" Kripke teases."Everything becomes about a moral question and should you turn the power on and give a bunch of dangerous toys to a very unstable group of children or is it better to let Monroe steamroll over the continent?" he says. "Neither option's great. There's heavy debate but that's good because it muddies the water."
Celebs we'd like to spend one night with before the apocalypseAs for the long hiatus, Kripke isn't worried about any possible negative effects. "It allowed us to make a higher quality better series and at the end of the day, that's the thing I have to put at my first priority. The show's better because we took the break so therefore I'm glad we took the break," he told reporters during a conference call.One thing Kripke says would be improved upon when Revolution returns is the pacing, which even he admits was a little slow in the first half. But instead of simply speeding up the series a little, it sounds like Kripke is going full-steam ahead. "There's probably a lot of answers that we're giving in the second half that probably could have waiting until Season 2, but we felt that we should smoke them if we've got them," he explains. "I think you'll look at the second half and there's probably no one episode that doesn't have at least one big moment that either unveils more mythology or is a seminal moment in one of the character's lives that transforms them."Presumably, one such seminal moment during Revolution's big return is the game-changing major death. But who could it be? Will Nora (Daniella Alonso) get gunned down in battle? Will Aaron (Zak Orth) sacrifice himself for the greater good? Or will it be Jason (JD Pardo) who's fatally punished for his rebellion?But the bigger question is: Will you tune in after four months to find out?Revolution returns Monday, March 25 at 10/9c on NBC.Additional reporting by Natalie Abrams


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Barron's Bounce: American Eagle Can Soar
Jack Otter and Sam Mamudi discuss stocks that are moving after Barron's mentions: American Eagle, Rochester Medical, Rackspace Hosting and Equinix.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
I ... I'm gonna daughter Erin Starcom here with Emma Moody Blues are Stocks to Watch blogger ... and we'll be talking about stocks that are moving in the market after mentioning in this week's Barron's magazine ... cost and let's start with teen retailer ... American Eagle I haven't been in one of those stories too recently ... aam but apparently their final Saunders ... yet it did very well ... the commitment of one of our quilters likes it very much ... they had this book is actually up about four percent in the post twelve months is down about ten percent since mid September ... and ravines argument is that you could be seeing ... up sixty percent price still ... in the months ahead from about twenty dollars ... to thirty two dollars ... automated is they have a new CEO region in two thousand twelve ... Grover and sentiment from Levi's ... since then ... the scene seventy five percent earnings growth Evercore said ... and they have had ambitious plans ... in his pocket WellPoint sometimes is not that it's ... not an especially to degrading passions eleven times well ... one thing that scares me know with these ... retailers especially the one that can ... do that cater to teams ... in today's pop item of clothing might be tomorrow when only the ... Dungeons where you know it it just seems so ... bearish but ... the thing maybe American Eagle's have well established enough to avoid a ... guaranteed may be difficult to that level now they have been sentenced to seventy nine cents ... if we get ... there actually change the remote Lincoln opening new stores taking the store count to about twelve hundred am ... the way we see that they're actually striving to be number one ahead of Abercrombie said ... maybe that impervious to the tothe for construction ... I also ... every aam week it seems we talked about dating wonder who covers small caps ... once again the stock he's written about is zooming ... in early trade ... gives us the richest men to go this week at captain's ... David Trezeguet trailhead ... they have a business unit called funding ... which they were trying to come up with something to hospitals and would stave off infections ... aam ... and it has done well and Panini and being selling they've announced that they can sell it off ... they beat calculates that I'm the profit margins just really you can take away from me who grew one percent to about fourteen in hopes of class ... time is a big upside he says fifty percent upside in the next eighteen months for this stock ... on the latest quarter due to their sales excluding foreign aid and there are about twenty three percent ... to open a new manufacturing facility ... on Nielsen and his team from about one billion dollars in cash ... every month ... which could few acquisitions or share buybacks he likes pizza ... and the stock is up eighteen percent last week to ... get back to the present ... I am mildly odd Tiernan Ray Our tech blogger ... ah once again he's a bit cautious he thinks details are weighing a little too hard and its stocks of ... global production on ... his ... way and that I didn't think is one of his phrases into this color ... will be gentle and ... he mentions them to critics ... and Rackspace ... listings which exceeded consensus of ... trading about sixty times of pounds ... he he ... Timmins there is the ... investors like these stocks because ... they didn't become reads ... and reads as we know very favorable people like them ... to get money ... on their taxes on someone else ... but it has been in point Rackspace last week reported earnings that came in below analyst expectations for Fed said ... and when it reported earnings that beat expectations but up six percent ... I'm you know it resulted in my face as he says is to come and make scores below expectations at the scene of the potential for a quick snack time ... and your ... holdings of U S to become a region that contains fifteen made use of the rich so this I'm declaring a re seems to be that's a victory to shore on Wall Street CBS did it with their billboard Unit at stockpot I wonder how long that no one ... was given as Hasjim points out the contest that it reads ... We techniques for Tumpel he says that ... give more cash they offer enough now ... they would actually have to add to the three billion dollars in debt and other obligations to be paying dividends as a read some of the cap thanks much to ... and thank you for watching ...


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Bob Rennie is a man used to controlling his storyline. The "condo king's" ability to charm reporters and his skill at self promotion are legendary in Vancouver media circles.
But on this day, he's looking nervous as he approaches a reporter's table at Yew restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel, where many of the city's influential citizens dine frequently.
"Do you mind if we move over there," is the first thing he says. Staff are eager to oblige as we leave the lounge and head to "his" table in an area of the restaurant still closed to the public.
"Do you mind if I sit there, I'm a bit OCD," Rennie says nervously after I take the seat with a view of the room. We switch and he seems to relax a bit now that he can survey the landscape. But the man known as a "clip machine" is not his usual confident self today.
"This is very raw for me," he says haltingly.
We are here to talk about his mother. Margaret Elizabeth Rennie died at 83 on Sept. 27, 2012 after a long struggle with dementia. Rennie has never spoken publicly about the dark descent into fearfulness suffered by his stylish and exuberant mom in her last years.
He's agreed to do so now because the Rennie family has just announced an estate gift of $2 million to the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation. It comes at a time when the foundation is in the final stages of a campaign to raise funds for a new $82-million mental health centre at West 10th and Willow. The province has committed $57 million to the project. Last week, the foundation announced it was still about $10 million short of its goal, and launched a public appeal for donations.
The new centre, slated to open within five years, will replace a dank, crumbling structure built in the 1940s at Vancouver General Hospital, which was never meant to house psychiatric patients. Today, patients with severe mental disorders are housed four to a room with one washroom for 20 people.
Margaret Rennie's early onset dementia was diagnosed and treated by VGH and the family donation recognizes the role it played in treating and supporting her last years.
"In our baby-boomer generation, it seems that everyone has been touched by mental illness in their friends or families. All too often, we fear that the illness will blemish us, taint us somehow," Rennie says.
"I didn't think I would ever be comfortable talking openly about my mom's illness," he says. "When I decided to donate to mental health, and not to one of the celebrity diseases, I knew I had to do more than give; I had to talk about the giving.
"It's the business of early detection that interests me the most. Mom suffered from dementia. VGH identified the illness five or six years ago but it was at a level of seriousness by that time.
"She probably could have been helped by psychiatric care earlier in her life if everyone around her had been more open to real conversation about what was happening. An earlier assessment would have allowed all of us, including Mom, to deal with her mental illness with preparedness and acceptance."
Rennie's carefully managed public persona has never before included this sad chapter.
But the rest of it is local lore. The East Van kid. The high school dropout who rode the 1990s pre-sale marketing boom with a vengeance, smashing North American records along the way with feats like the sale of 300 luxury downtown units on one Sunday in 1996.
Rennie has made an indelible imprint on Vancouver's skyline that includes marketing some of our tallest buildings: the Wall Centre (2001), Shaw Tower (2004) and Shangri-La (2009).
Former Vancouver mayor and now Liberal Senator Larry Campbell has said "everything this city has evolved over the last 20 years has Bob Rennie written all over it."
But these days, it's art and politics that mostly preoccupy Rennie. He's a high-profile member of Liberal Premier Christy Clark's campaign cabinet and a key fundraiser for her team.
Rennie is perhaps most famous now for his passionate pursuit of art. He jokes that he's "mad enough to build my own museum" — a permanent 20,000-square-foot gallery and exhibition space in the Wing Sang building in Chinatown. He is widely thought to have one of the finest collections of contemporary art on the continent and is the North American chair of the acquisitions committee for the Tate Modern Gallery in London, England.
Rennie's celebrated disagreement with Vancouver Art Gallery director Kathleen Bartels over the future of the gallery is also the stuff of local legend. But today, he says he was wrong to turn strongly held views about the future of the VAG into a public spat.
"It should never be personal. It should always be about principles. I've learned that the hard way," he says, choosing his words carefully. One senses that dropping the sword in the Bartels battle might be part of the same psychic journey that has now lead Rennie to open up about his painful family history.
Just six months ago, in a Vancouver Sun obituary, he wrote touchingly about how his mother's beloved job as a waitress allowed her to indulge a sociable spirit and paid for her passion for fashion and the constant re-decorating of their East Van bungalow.
Buried in the son's effusive tribute, there is only one clue to the fearfulness and social anxiety that characterized Margaret Rennie's last years.
"THANK YOU also to every single person at the Broadway Pentecostal Home on Granville Island for giving Mom a reason to leave her room."
Rennie is still, understandably, very careful in his description of his mother's symptoms and protective of the private details of her illness. And he won't discuss the family dynamics that might have delayed diagnosis of her condition. He does say that the decision to donate the $2 million was part of estate planning with his son Kris, who runs the family business, daughters Katie and Stephanie and longtime partner Carey Fouks.
"We have decided together this is a family legacy that we can offer in Mom's memory. But I have to do more than give. You know that Curb Your Enthusiasm episode about the 'anonymous' donor who stands in the corner silently taking the credit? Well that can't be me. I agreed with VGH that I was going to rip off the Band-Aid."
With the family's substantial pledge, Rennie joins a growing list of B.C. business leaders who have transformed mental health fundraising from "tough sell" into "Cinderella story" in recent years.
Real estate mogul and retailer Joe Segal and his wife Rosalie led the way in 2010 with a $12-million gift to the VGH Mental Health Centre that will eventually bear their name.
It is the largest personal donation ever made for a mental health project in B.C. history.
In announcing his donation, Segal said, "I didn't want to support the obvious. I wanted to help where it's most needed."
The man leading the charge for the new centre, foundation vice-president Jim O'Hara, says the Segal donation changed the whole conversation around fundraising for mental health in B.C.
"When you have people like Joe Segal and Bob Rennie on board, it gives others permission to think that maybe this is a cause I can get behind.
"It's the last remaining piece of our health care system that needs to be brought into the mainstream in terms of the physical space in which we treat our patients," O'Hara says.
"There's already huge stigma attached to the illness, and the place we've been housing them at VGH has not helped at all."
Rennie credits O'Hara for really "moving me along" in understanding the difference between charity and philanthropy. And O'Hara says of Rennie: "he was an early convert to the cause. This really means something to him. He wanted to put his money where it would matter most."
Rennie has agreed to serve on the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation's Community Leaders Fundraising Group and use his influence to find the additional $10 million needed to complete the campaign. It seems that Rennie — condo king, art star, political operative — has used a painful personal loss to find a new passion for philanthropy.
"Really conscious giving is not writing a cheque to get out of the room, or to be invited to the right dinner parties or so that you'll like me. I'm 56 years old. I have a voice. The question is: How am I going to use it?"
The mental health series lineup:
Today: Community leaders lead fundraising. Realtor Bob Rennie is the most recent donor to the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation.
March 29: Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Carolyn Cross survived the Richmond plane crash in October 2011 and now helps citizen first-responders deal with the emotional aftermath of accidents and tragedy.
April 5: Depression. A Vancouver broadcaster and a young Victoria musician share their personal battles with depression and suicide.
April 12: Mood disorders. The symptoms, impact, science and advances in treatment, and tips on how families can manage it.
April 19: A patient's perspective. How a patient's environment plays a vital role in their therapeutic process.
April 26: On the street. Mental illness is the single biggest problem facing police on the streets of Metro Vancouver.
May 3: In the workplace. Mental illness is now the leading cause of workplace disability claims.
May 10: New drugs and therapies. Successes over the years and what is promising and in the pipeline.


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Jim -
Soccer and beer are certainly not odd bedfellows. There always seems to be some cross-pollination going on between these two realms. Whenever I go to tailgate parties at soccer matches (yes, we soccer lovers do tailgate), I unfailingly see soccer fanaticos drinking high quality brew. And when I go to craft beer events, it's not unusual for me to see some beer geek sporting a soccer jersey. I've never been able to figure out the precise reason why there are so many hybrid beer/soccer geeks. Perhaps the reason is that, in this country, it takes a certain measure of independent thinking to love soccer. I find that to be true with craft beer lovers as well.
During our most recent roundtable, which we strategically planned at BadaBoomz so we could watch our national soccer team take on the Mexican National Team in an exhibition match (in hi-def on a big screen, thanks to ESPN2 and the ever classy Mike DeWeese), the beer geek in the soccer jersey was Mike, decked out in the shirt of Fulham FC striker and American international Clint Dempsey, with whom Kelly appears to be smitten. While the match ended in a 2-2 draw, the game was entertaining, as USA v. Mexico matches often are.
We reviewed the Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale. We sampled the 2000 edition of this beer, which has garnered loads of praise from other beer reviewers. The Bigfoot poured with a medium off-white head and a ruby color. The nose was heavy with toasted malt notes accompanied by a prevalent graham cracker character. Medium in mouthfeel, the beer's flavor followed the nose with a cookie-like taste. While this barleywine had been cellar-aged for nearly eight years, this aging had not mellowed the alcohol presence in the beer because I clearly tasted the alcohol. Maybe the alcohol taste came through so clearly due to the beer's style since barleywines (at least, in my experience) tend to show their alcohol character prevalently.
Though I was impressed with the Bigfoot, I was not blown away. Perhaps this was so because I think the serving temperature was initially too cold. The character of the beer, however, improved by the time I was down to the last 1/4 of the glass. I've got to admit that my rating is also colored by the fact that I'm not a big fan of the barleywine style. Still, a very good beer that I would definitely give another shot. 3.275 mugs.
Mike -
We read our readers' blogs, and from time to time it rubs off, either consciously or unconsciously. So after we'd found out our first choice (Kasteel Rouge) wasn't available, we tossed the menus around until something stuck. I don't know who suggested it, but it was probably me, and we ended up drinking the vintage 2000 Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot Barleywine.
If anything, it's quite obvious that the brewers behind Bigfoot learned a valuable lesson from 1987's greatest film, Harry and the Hendersons. Like the film's main character, Bigfoot starts out untamed and ferocious, with a nose that jumps right out of the glass and tears up your house. But behind that tough front are hints of a sweet sugary nose. Like Harry, the beer can't help but be a little wild and punchy, but there's also a sweetness, with smooth molasses and toffee notes. After you get past the tough exterior, you realize that Sierra Nevada got it right. And Bigfoot's cloudy caramel color matches Harry's face - thus proving that Sierra Nevada always had him in mind.
If you recall the movie, in the end the Henderson's decide that the best thing for Harry is to return him to the wild, where we find out there's an entire army of Harrys, ready for the snatching. If you head to PartyPak, they're sitting there waiting - I brought a 2008 edition home this past weekend. 3.75 Mugs.
Gina -
Watching the National Team play is always entertaining and it's nice to know that there are places in the city that offer the opportunity to do so while enjoying good beer. This is especially true whenever they are taking on Mexico, even if the game ends in a tie.
I must say I was a little disappointed that the keg of Kasteel Rouge was gone. I have been enamored with it since I tried it a few months ago. Fortunately, Party Pak served me well once again, and I now have some in my fridge. But I digress...
As the Bigfoot Barleywine Ale arrived and we started pouring, I was completely overwhelmed with the heavy alcohol smell. On average, my initial feeling with these styles of beers is dread, as the overly alcoholic nose and the often sickly-sweet taste make the beer rather difficult to finish. I was very pleased to learn that this just simply wasn't the case with this aged Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot. Despite the ever-present alcohol nose, the flavor was more mellow than I would have thought, which I suspect is due to the 7+ years of aging this particular beer went through. I was pleased with this and I am anxious to see how much difference there is with something more recent. 3.25 Mugs.
This is my favorite cryptozoologically themed alcoholic beverage. I've tried Chupacabra brand malt liquor and Jersey Devil's Reserve Scotch, but I found both to be bottles of hyped-up novelty, with little flavor or conferral of supernatural powers. That said, I'm still among the unconverted when it comes to barleywines. Being a beer geek has given me the opportunity to acquire the taste for IPAs and Belgian beers, which I had eschewed in the past. I haven't had enough of a range of barleywines to appreciate the differences within the style.
I found it to be an agreeable beverage, although a whole bottle is a bit much, since I ended up drinking most of Kelly's half of the bottle we split. It poured out dark brown, and cloudy. The nose bloomed out of the glass and revealed a lot of alcohol. I also detected chocolate, which was also reflected by a sweet somewhat cake-y taste. I was pleasantly surprised by a hoppy finish. I think Leonard Nimoy should bring back "In Search Of…" and drink a few of these before telling us the tale of the Philadelphia Experiment. I give this a 3.5, and look forward to becoming better acquainted with this style.


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Phillies slugger Ryan Howard and former Eagles Cheerleader Krystle Campbell, his girlfriend of nearly two years, are now engaged, according to Bucks County Courier-Times Phillies writer Randy Miller.
Miller posted on his blog this afternoon that he had congratulated Howard on the engagement to Campbell, who works as a suburban elementary school teacher, and that the Big Piece told him he was planning for a small wedding.
Miller, who also wrote "Harry the K: The Remarkable Life of Harry Kalas," says the couple are planning to wed next year.
Emails to representatives for the Phillies and Eagles seeking additional details were not immediately returned this evening.
The Fightins blog, which no longer publishes, identified Campbell as Howard's mystery Super Bowl date in February 2010, and we reported days later that Campbell and Howard began dating the previous summer, shortly after she and Flyers center Jeff Carter had broken up after going out for several months.


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KYIV, UKRAINE—Several hundred people marched in Ukraine's capital Sunday to commemorate the brutal deportation 70 years ago of Crimea's entire population of Tatars, while about 20,000 members of the ethnic group rallied in the peninsula's main city of Simferopol.
In both cities, the gatherings were also a protest against Russia's annexation of Crimea, which re-opened old wounds for the Crimean Tatars and raised fears of renewed discrimination under Moscow's rule.
The new Kremlin-backed leaders of Crimea had refused to allow the Tatars to hold their rally on a central square, so they gathered instead near a mosque on the outskirts. The Interfax Ukraine news agency said the crowd whistled in anger when two Russian military helicopters flew low over the gathering.
More on thestar.com:
Canada should shelter Ukrainians, Tatars and Syrians: Siddiqui
Crimean Tatar community in Toronto fears deportations in homeland
In Crimea, some are asking whether to go or stay
The Tatars, a Turkic ethnic group, now make up 12 per cent of the population of Crimea, but they ruled the Black Sea peninsula from the 15th century until the Russians conquered it in the 18th century.
In May 1944, shortly after Soviet troops drove German forces from Crimea, Josef Stalin accused the Tatars of collaborating with the enemy and ordered their deportation. About 250,000 Tatars were shipped in freight trains to Central Asia, where more than 40 per cent died of hunger and disease.
Many Tatars later returned to Crimea in the years before and after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, which led to Crimea becoming part of an independent Ukraine.
Tatars supported the anti-government street protests that led to the ouster of pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych earlier this year and backed the new Ukrainian government in condemning Russia's annexation of the peninsula in March.
In Kyiv, Tatar community leader Mustafa Dzhemilev, who was barred from Crimea after the Russian takeover, was among the marchers.
Another Tatar leader criticized authorities in Crimea, saying they interfered with the rally on Simferopol's outskirts. Refat Chubarov, chairman of the Tatar national assembly, condemned the "helicopters flying over a peaceful rally where people were praying for the souls of hundreds of those killed by the totalitarian regime" and complained that police had blocked the roads to prevent thousands of others from attending the ceremony, Interfax reported.
By banning the rally in central Simferopol, the Russians were "trampling on our memory, on an entire people," Chubarov said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement before the anniversary expressing support for the Crimean Tatars.
"We commemorate the tragedy of 1944 with heavy hearts, even as we stand in solidarity with Crimean Tatars today against a new threat to their community," he said in Friday's statement.
Kerry also criticized what he said has been a rash of human rights abuses in Crimea since it came under Russian control.
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"Murder, beatings and the kidnapping of Crimean Tatars and others have become standard fare," he said. "Thousands of Tatars and others have fled their homes in Crimea, fearful for their safety. Those who remain face a future of repression, discrimination, censorship, limits on freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and the criminalization of dissent."
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned against the Crimean Tatars "becoming pawns" in disputes between countries, in particular between Russia and Ukraine.
"I understand that there are people who . . . have done a lot for the Crimean Tatars, who have fought for their rights for decades," Putin said Friday. "But we all need to realize that the interests of the Crimean Tatars today are bound to Russia."


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David Cromer's increasingly famous production of "Our Town," which began at The Hypocrites in Chicago, then moved Off-Broadway for a record-breaking run, and was a recent hit in Los Angeles in a version starring Helen Hunt, is now headed to the Huntington Theatre in Boston.
And Cromer, the non-profit theater said Thursday, will not only direct but retun the role he played in Chicago and New York. "Our Town" will open in Boston in December.


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70s style -Seafarer- Unisex (made for men but cute on a woman too) dark blue cotton polyester blend denim navy issue bellbottom jeans pants with cuffless hem, two front patch pockets, two rear patch pockets (one has button closure). Zip front closure with single snap. Standard size belt loops. These were acquired when the US Navy updated their uniforms in 2010 and discontinued purchasing denim bellbottom dungarees. These are identical in style to the iconic navy bells of the 60s and 70s.
Fits 30Waist, 37Length, 36Hip After Shrinking (Label Reads 31W 38L) 24Inch Bells
New Condition Vintage Deadstock with Original Tags
1.50 lbs


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It's been a while since Fisher has graced an American film – her last couple gigs were voice-only stints in "Rango" and the upcoming "Rise of the Guardians" – but in "Bachelorette" she proves she can still deliver on that unique blend of adorable vulnerability and hilariously scary life choices that cemented her stardom in "Wedding Crashers" and "Confessions of a Shopaholic."
Fisher - a doting mom to two kids with husband Sacha Baron Cohen - chats exclusively about how she brought the raunchy, rowdy comedy's cocktail-swilling, substance-ingesting, going-nowhere-fast character Katie to life. And what a dream come true working on "The Great Gatsby" has been.
What was it like seeing this script for the first time, and figuring your way into a character that you could play both broadly funny and with some subtle pathos?
I think what's interesting about this material is that we've all seen these types of drug-overdosing, anorexia, alcoholism [characters] – we've seen a lot in the indie world and in mainstream movies, but to see it within a comedic structure, was definitely surprising and kind of groundbreaking, which is why I was attracted to the material. Then Katie herself was a very interesting character to me, because here's somebody who's not educated and doesn't care. She's sort of still stuck in that high school mentality of feeling entitled to something, like the world owes her something. She's an egomaniac. She's sort of essentially a kind of bad person at a bad place in her life, and she goes and does all these bad things, but it was finding the comedy within that world that was a challenge at times. Being a mother of two and not really relating to the characters or the world, I had to sort of work extra hard to make sure that I was playing a Katie that everybody knew, that girl that people are like, 'I know, I've got a friend…' or 'I know somebody who's just like that.'
It's not your world now, but have you encountered these "Bachelorette"-type ladies in real life?
Not really, actually. When I read the material, it was funny because all the other girls were like, 'Oh, yeah – this is me and my friends,' or 'I know this one.' And I don't know why – whether it was growing up in Australia, if it's a cultural thing or whatever – but we never were kind of mean to each other like that. If somebody got something that we really wanted, whether it was the role in the debating team or whatever, we were always just like, 'Oh, you got that – Go!' I guess we were more spiritually evolved than these girls.
Was this an opportunity to do some sisterly bonding with your costars Kirsten Dunst and Lizzy Caplan, acting out all of this bad behavior?
Totally! Kirsten I've always been a fan of and I knew what she was doing was sort of different from anything that I've seen her do, and she felt the same about me. Then Lizzy, I didn't really know her stuff, but she just has this wonderful ability to be equal parts tough and vulnerable. I found that kind of beguiling to see.
Are you finding more and more parts that suit you, give you the right amount of comedy and acting challenges?
No. I think it's kind of static. I just think that I'm finding more and more courage within myself to take on things that maybe…in the past I was quite protective about what I did and I was quite precious about how I would be perceived. But that's what's great about having kids: it's sort of the death of ego, and so then when you read material I'm no longer judgmental of the people that I would play. I'm just more excited for a challenge, and I care about my career greatly. I'm a very passionate actor and I love acting. But at the same time I'm not married to outcomes in the same way I was as a younger actor, because I have a family and that's my priority.
Are you surprised at the way that audiences seem shocked at the way that women can be raunchy and rowdy, and they like it?
Yeah. That's so surprising to me. It never crossed my mind that this was a film that guys would go and see. I think it probably just fulfills their fears that 'beaitches are crazy,' and this is a bunch of girls acting crazy.
Do you have a group of long-term friends that you can be that way with if you choose to, that you trust each other and can be as obnoxious as you want?
Yes, definitely. Absolutely. I'm still friends with my girls from high school…I'm incredibly loyal. I never lose my friends. I guard my friendships, and I've been really fortunate to not bump into any of those your husbands don't get along or any of the speed humps that can breakup friendships. I've been really blessed with my girls.
Tell me about your experience making "The Great Gatsby."
Oh, I'm so excited – It's just sort of been a dream come true. I can kind of feel like I can retire now. All I've ever wanted is to work with Baz Luhrmann, because he's such a genius and I love that material. I grew up studying that book at school, and so it's kind of just been like eating the most delicious and delicate cake every day. Going to work was like an out of body experience. I loved every second.
Having studied the book, what did you want to see preserved in the film version and what unique Baz Luhrmann element were you excited to see layered in?
I suppose that it's just I love the story and the class contrasts in the book. I wanted that, and he has kept all the heart and a lot of the horror of the book, but he's just made it breathe. He's given it that '20's, Flapper girl spirit, when people just really let loose in a way that they hadn't, after the industrial revolution. I haven't seen the movie, so I'm nervous to talk about it, but I bet it's going to be brilliantly Baz.
Isla Fisher: "Bachelorette" Behaving Badly
Actress delivers a buzzy performance as a blacked out bridesmaid.
It's been a while since Fisher has graced an American film – her last couple gigs were voice-only stints in "Rango" and the upcoming "Rise of the Guardians" – but in "Bachelorette" she proves she can still deliver on that unique blend of adorable vulnerability and hilariously scary life choices that cemented her stardom in "Wedding Crashers" and "Confessions of a Shopaholic."


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I was listening to Howard Stern the other day (yes, I'm willing to admit it publicly) and an interesting discourse came about from the trouble the show is having with Clear Channel and the FCC.
Howard was talking about rock acts playing concerts in Clear Channel-owned venues and imploring them to come together in a boycott to show a united front against censorship. Howard's long-time sidekick, Robin Quivers, shot back, "Oh Howard, you know people never come together on anything."
I'm not going to go on about the recent moves of the FCC (oh, I could) but that statement got me thinking about the obesity problem in the United States.
As we face the growing epidemic of obesity there are random initiatives to combat it from various clubs, organizations, the government, and others — even some fast food companies.
I commend all of these people and groups. The problem comes from the fact that each is working, for the most part, independently from one another. Sure, there is some cooperation and some teamwork, but is it enough to really make a difference? That's hard to say. I hope so, but I'm not confident.
For example, IHRSA's Get Active America program is a great, short-term way to drum up interest in using exercise and health clubs to combat obesity. Unfortunately, it is for IHRSA member clubs only. Then there is the government's Healthier US initiative and the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sport's Presidential Challenge. Again, these are great ideas but often working independently of others in the fitness industry (although I am sure the PCPFS would be happy to partner with every club). And there are countless examples of clubs working locally to help educate people on the importance of exercise and proper nutrition in the battle against obesity.
Unfortunately, much of the focus in the mainstream media in this country is on the causes (bad diet, lack of exercise) rather than the prevention/cure — a cure that is readily available inside every health club in the country.
Perhaps it is time for all the elements of fitness from associations to clubs to manufacturers to the government — and those of us in the media — to come together and provide a united front in this battle.
In fact, Club Industry is trying to get the conversation flowing between many of these segments at a panel at Club Industry East in Baltimore next month entitled, Beyond the Bottom Line: Building a Healthier America — How the public and private sectors can work together for a fitter nation.
Sure, an industry-wide initiative may mean putting some money where your — our — mouth is. It may even mean (gasp!) teaming with a competitor. But in the end it may be the key not only to a healthier population, but a healthier industry.


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Advisors more likely to want to join existing firms and say majority of assets are currently fee-based
Public Company Information:
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In a new Schwab Advisor Services survey of advisors employed at independent broker dealers (IBDs) and insurance companies, more than eight out of ten (86%) say that the idea of being an independent registered investment advisor (RIA) is appealing. Among advisors that know someone who started or joined an RIA firm, an overwhelming 95 percent say they find the RIA model appealing.
"We see a growing number of IBD advisors transitioning to the independent RIA model," said Nick Georgis, vice president with Schwab Advisor Services, a leading provider of custodial, operational and trading support for more than 6,000 independent RIAs. "In our experience with these advisors, the desire to have more flexibility to develop and grow their own business and the ability to offer more customized solutions to clients are two significant drivers of this trend."
Georgis noted that Schwab saw a 45 percent increase in the number of advisor teams transitioning to independence from IBD firms in 2010 compared to 2009.
Of the nearly 160 IBD-affiliated advisors surveyed, most consider themselves independent in some way today – 56 percent feel "somewhat" independent and 36 percent say they are "completely independent." But they recognize differences between their current model and the independent RIA model, with 81 percent of advisors acknowledging that their business would be different if they were to start or join an independent RIA firm.
Advisors at IBDs see a number of benefits to joining or starting an independent RIA firm, including greater ability to develop and grow their own business (43%), deliver more customized solutions (42%) and hand pick their own team (41%) as the top three positives.
The top two macroeconomic changes that would increase the likelihood that an advisor would transition to a fully independent RIA are a friendlier economic and tax environment for small business owners (45%) and an improved overall market and economic environment (43%). Of the advisors surveyed, 58 percent say they would prefer to join an existing firm, while approximately one-third (34%) say they would prefer to start their own firm.
The survey also finds that an average 82 percent of IBD advisors' assets under management are currently in a fee-based model, and there is a clear trend toward most IBD advisors maintaining a primarily fee-based practice or a mix of commission- and fee-based business. Forty-five percent of advisors surveyed say their long-term plan is to be mostly or all fee-based, while 46 percent indicate they expect to maintain a mix of both commission- and fee-based business. Only eight percent of advisors say their practice will be mostly or all commission-based as their business evolves over time.
The two biggest potential advantages to a fee-based model cited by advisors in the survey are providing an easier to understand pricing model for clients (62%) and having greater predictability in revenue (61%).
About the Survey
One hundred fifty-seven financial advisors employed by independent broker dealers and insurance firms participated in the survey, conducted by Koski Research from January 5 to 21, 2011. All data is self-reported by study participants and is not verified or validated. Koski Research is not affiliated with Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
About Charles Schwab
The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) is a leading provider of financial services, with more than 300 offices and 8.0 million client brokerage accounts, 1.4 million corporate retirement plan participants, 710,000 banking accounts, and $1.6 trillion in client assets as of Feb. 28, 2010. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company provides a full range of securities brokerage, banking, money management and financial advisory services to individual investors and independent investment advisors. Its broker-dealer subsidiary, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC, www.sipc.org), and affiliates offer a complete range of investment services and products including an extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment advice; retirement plan and equity compensation plan services; referrals to independent fee-based investment advisors; and custodial, operational and trading support for independent, fee-based investment advisors through its Advisor Services division. Its banking subsidiary, Charles Schwab Bank (member FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender), provides banking and mortgage services and products. More information is available at www.schwab.com and www.aboutschwab.com. (0311-2170)
Follow us on Twitter: @Schwab4RIAs
Charles Schwab
Michael Cianfrocca, 415-667-0344
Makovsky + Co.
John McInerney, 212-508-9628