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Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 16776765
Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 7:26 pm
Post subject: Test Recipes: Good Eats Peanut Brittle
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Test Recipes: Good Eats Peanut Brittle
Article Digest:
There are many ways of making peanut brittle at home. Most are easy, but no recipe is as simple as the one presented by
Alton Brown
on his show
Good Eats
The Trick to Treats
). I decided to try this recipe and see how it compares to others.
I can't eat too much peanut brittle at one time, so I decided to halve the recipe that Alton presents on his show. Alton started with lightly salted, roasted peanuts. I had blanched peanuts in my pantry, so I started by lightly toasting them in a small pan. Raw, blanched, or roasted all all good in brittle. If you've got raw or blanched, you can optionally follow this step to bring out a little bit of the toasted flavors. If you've got roasted peanuts, then skip ahead to ingredient assembly. Over medium heat, I kept the peanuts (3/4 cup) constantly moving and tossing them every ten seconds or so. This keeps the peanuts from burning while the heat is developing and concentrating the peanut flavors and smells. As the peanuts start to change color, I threw in a pinch of table salt (kosher grains are a bit large for peanuts). My constant tossing incorporated the salt evenly and when the peanuts became a light yellow with dark brown spots, I removed them from the heat into a medium bowl.
Along with the 3/4 cup peanuts, I assembled 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper, 1-1/2 cup granulated sugar, and 3/4 cup water. That's all - it's the shortest ingredient list for any peanut brittle recipe that I'm familiar with.
I mixed the peanuts with cinnamon and cayenne pepper by tossing a couple times in the medium bowl. I was glad to see Alton Brown adding cayenne pepper to his peanut brittle. A bit of spiciness in sweets helps to heighten the flavors and punch of the other spices (like the cinnamon in this case). This is a "trick" well known to chocolatiers and made famous by the movie
Over on the stove, I combined the water and sugar in a saucepan. I used a nonstick saucepan, but if you're using a traditional pan, then you'll want to rub the interior surface of the pan down with vegetable oil. Over medium-high heat, I dissolved the sugar into the water and brought it to a boil. At this point, I deviated slightly from Mr. Brown and added about a tablespoon of corn syrup to prevent unwanted crystalization.
While the syrup was coming to a boil, I prepared a half sheet pan by dropping a
Silpat baking sheet
onto the pan. Silpat is probably the most popular brand for non-stick baking mats made by coating weaved fiberglass with a layer of food safe silicone. The sheets are reusable, easy to clean, durable, temperature resistant, and really, really non-stick. I find them invaluable for not just making pastries (the main use for silicone baking mats), but also for working dough, making oven baked steak fries, and of course, working with melted sugar. If you don't have a silicone baking sheet, just use parchment paper - but, I'd grease it with a lot of butter to ensure nothing will stikc (sugar is really sticky).
Once the syrup starts to boil vigorously, I tried out Alton's tip to cover the pot for three minutes to allow steam to collect and water to stream down the sides of the pan (to clean off any sugar on the sides of the pan). After the three minutes, I noticed that water had streamed back down, but not evenly. The pan was indeed cleaner, but not so much that I thought the step was useful, especially in light of what happens over the next ten minutes. As the water boiled off and the sugars started to heat up, additional sugar droplets were splattered onto the sides of the pan by the little bursting bubbles. Oh, well. When the sugar turns a light amber color (if you're using a candy thermometer, look for 350°F; like Alton, I eyeball most of my candies), we're ready to introduce the peanuts.
Working quickly, I used a wooden spoon to mix in the peanuts and spices. It's important to work fast (and sure) from this point on because the syrup is rapidly cooling. While you are stirring, the syrup will foam up, but the high sides of your saucepan will save you from a mess.
After the peanuts have been stirred in, I poured the syrup onto a silpat sheet. Syrup will flow out from the peanuts, so just use a silicone spatula or the wooden spoon to fold the excess sugar back onto the peanuts. As it thickens it won't flow anymore. At the same time, I used a silicone spatula (or back of wooden spoon) to press the peanuts down flat so you only have a single layer.
After the brittle cooled (about thirty minutes), I wrapped it in plastic wrap and broke it into 1-1/2 to 2 inch pieces with my hands. I them placed them in air tight container and brought them to work.
I found that the brittle was indeed simple to make and tasted quite good, but wasn't as light as some other recipes. Several recipes use baking soda (or a combination of tartaric acid with baking soda) to provide some additional lift to the syrup after cooking. This produces a lighter, crispier brittle. Another common practice is to preheat the baking pan (with silicone mat) to about 200°F so the syrup continues to flow, producing a thinner, lighter brittle.
Good Eats Peanut Brittle
(makes about 30 pieces)
3/4 cup (105 g) peanuts
mix quickly
pour onto silicone sheet
flatten, cool, break
1/4 tsp. (0.6 g) cinnamon
1/4 tsp. (0.5 g) cayenne pepper
1-1/2 cup (300 g)granulated sugar
boil until amber
3/4 cup (180 mL)water
Copyright Michael Chu 2004
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Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 7:29 pm
Post subject:
A good way to take care of the crystals that form on the side of the walls of the pan is this: Keep a little bowl of water with your pastry brush in it. Instead of covering the pan (which most of the times means the water that drips down the walls through condensation is never even) every now and again just brush the TOP of the sides of the pans with the brush. The water that drips down is enough to solve the crystallisation problem. It's quick and easy and adaptable.
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Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 7:30 pm
Post subject:
Peanut brittle is a v common snack with Indoniesians. You can also get it in Singapore, and it is usually comes with seseame seeds too. A very yummy snack!
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Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 7:30 pm
Post subject:
You might also try rough chopping the nuts. Halfs or quarters work great, and lets you have a thinner, denser brittle.
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Iced Nyior
Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 7:31 pm
Post subject:
Its a common snack in Malaysia too. And we also have a similar snack that is soft and chewy. It tastes great with sesame seeds. Goin to try this recipe soon. Can i omit the pepper?
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Michael Chu
Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 1654
Location: Austin, TX (USA)
Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 7:31 pm
Post subject:
Yes, the pepper can be safely omitted. It heightens the cinnamon flavor, but is not necessary.
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Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 7:31 pm
Post subject:
I used to be one of the professional chocolatiers you mentioned, though I just called myself a candy man. We avoided crystallization, as well, by brusing down the sides of our kettle with a brush and some nice clean water. I saw the same Good Eats episode and tried Alton's lemon-lime jelly candies. I thought they were way too rubbery.
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Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 7:31 pm
Post subject:
Because of the suggestions I added 65 grams of sesame seeds (no other changes), tastes great, very crunchy. I would definitely miss them, maybe you can go as high as 100 grams extra. It sets very quickly, so be sure to just turn it once or twice and pour.
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Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 7:32 pm
Post subject:
Far easier recipies exist to make peanut brittle, using a microwave and karo syrup instead of the stove. Search on "Microwave Peanut Brittle" on google or the like.
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Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 7:32 pm
Post subject:
So...it was a nice fall day. I decided to do something fall-y and try to make peanut brittle. I'd seen Alton Brown make a delicious-looking batch a few days ago on his Food Network show, Good Eats, so I printed his recipe from their website. Looked simple enough, and the recipe was rated only medium difficulty. His recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. On his show he said it "balanced the sweetness" or something, so I figured I'd give it a try. It took me 15 minutes of looking at the spices in the grocery store to find out that it's called a generic "Red Pepper" with a tiny little Cayenne on the label. Grrrr. Anyway, got home, got my sugar and water boiling and waited for it to turn a "light amber" color. Alton doesn't use candy thermometers. From now on, I will. When it looked a light amber-ish color, I mixed in the peanuts and poured it out onto the prepared, Alton-advised buttered wax paper. Within seconds I could see the nice peanut brittle brown color change to a waxy-looking white. Uh-oh. Went to sugar. Oh well, I thought. Sugar is sugar. Still edible. I broke (well, more like crumbled) a little chunk off the corner and tasted. And then ran for the fridge for water. A half teaspoon of red pepper suddenly seems like so much! I mean...candy that can burn your tastebuds off?! Bad idea. But my roommate likes spicy, so I broke off a chunk for him. But alas, Alton's ingenious advice to spread boiling hot candy onto buttered waxed paper failed miserably. (Noticing a pattern here, Alton?) The wax had melted away and into the candy, and the waxed paper could not be removed. At least not without a microscope, a pair of tweezers, and a lot of time and patience. So the whole batch went into the garbage, along with my hopes and dreams. So I'm searching for Alton Brown's email (he can expect a very strongly worded letter from me!) along with a better recipe for peanut brittle.
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Joined: 13 Mar 2006
Posts: 1
Location: California
Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 1:20 am
Post subject: Clarifications
Anonymous wrote:
Good Eats, so I printed his recipe from their website.
First problem. The foodtv website only includes the recipes, and not nearly enough of the explanation.
publishes the full transcripts of each show, which is probably better.
Anonymous wrote:
Alton doesn't use candy thermometers. From now on, I will.
Mr. Brown also has more experience than you cooking this stuff. Using a thermometer is hardly a crutch, and probably a really good idea if you're starting out (even if it's just the first time you try a recipe.)
Anonymous wrote:
Alton-advised buttered wax paper.
Did he recommend wax paper or parchment paper? They aren't the same.
See here for an explanation of the two:
Anonymous wrote:
Within seconds I could see the nice peanut brittle brown color change to a waxy-looking white. Uh-oh. Went to sugar. Oh well, I thought. Sugar is sugar.
Sounds like your sugar hadn't fully dissolved. Good chance a couple lingering crystals in there acted as a seed crystal, and the super-saturated sugar solution (woo! alliteration!) instantly crystallized on you. This is specificially the reason why Mr. Chu added corn syrup to his batch. It's a different type of sugar (fructose, I believe), and the incompatibilities in molecular shape help reduce the likelihood of all that sucrose lining up in the crystalline form it wants to.
Anonymous wrote:
But alas, Alton's ingenious advice to spread boiling hot candy onto buttered waxed paper failed miserably. (Noticing a pattern here, Alton?) The wax had melted away and into the candy, and the waxed paper could not be removed.
Again, this is why you should stick with parchment paper (no wax) or a silpat mat.
Anonymous wrote:
So I'm searching for Alton Brown's email (he can expect a very strongly worded letter from me!) along with a better recipe for peanut brittle.
I don't think it's public anymore. He used to have a contact form on his site, but that disappeared a few months ago.
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Joined: 04 Nov 2006
Posts: 2
Location: Ithaca, NY
Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:10 pm
Post subject:
I too tried the recipe out (in its original form) and ruined it. But to be honest, I didn't expect it to work on my first go-around. A little while after I removed the lid, I started noticing a little crystallization around the perimeter of the pan. I assume that was what ruined me, though it probably didn't help that I don't think my candy was really dark enough yet. It's pretty pale. Next time, I will try the pastry brush trick. I may not have made a brittle, but I still think it's delicious. And for the cost of more peanuts, I might as well try it until I get it right.
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Joined: 04 Nov 2006
Posts: 2
Location: Ithaca, NY
Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 3:17 am
Post subject:
Update: I tried this recipe once again, but this time, I used the pastry-brush trick. It worked! Ah, the sweet, spicy, and sometimes cough-inducing taste of success...
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Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 5:04 pm
Post subject: Try raw sugar/jaggery/panela
Peanut brittle in India is made with jaggery/raw sugar/panela, whatever you may call it.
It makes the brittle lighter and imparts an earthy/nutty flavour that makes it much more tastier! Though I think setting points for raw sugar will be different than with refined sugar.
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 5:31 pm
Post subject: Correction and notes
Recipe Correction: Add peanuts at 250 degrees F, not 350 degrees F. Also, you want to stop at 300-310 degrees F (Also called the Hard Crack).
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John McCain & Sarah Palin - Palin Was The Choice (Rappin Over Snoop Dogg - Murder Was The Case Beat) [Comedy Spoof]
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Fall for videogame publishers is like summer for Hollywood studios — a season of blockbusters supported by massive marketing campaigns. Yet with each game competing for attention, getting noticed is tougher than ever.
That's why it helps to hire a dragon-slayer.
For Bethesda Softworks' fantasy game "The Elder Skrolls V: Skyrim," out Nov. 11, the company chose to produce a live action commercial in which a warrior, with grim determination, calmly walks past throngs of panicked residents of a medieval village to fight a dragon that's menacing them.
Helmed by Alexei Tylevich, the spot is unusual for a game release: most ads typically feature CG-animated sequences edited around shots of gameplay.
But Bethesda worried that kind of ad would get lost in the clutter of other videogame commercials. After all, the game is facing off against heavyweight titles such as Activision's "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3," EA's "Battlefield 3," WB's "Batman: Arkham City" and Sony's "Uncharted 3" that boast bigger marketing budgets.
Bethesda will still roll out a more traditional ad closer to the game's launch, but the live action spot was designed as a "mood piece" that captured the cinematic aspects of the game that would play well on TV and quickly "catch your attention," says Pete Hines, Bethesda's VP of marketing and communications.
The scope of the ad certainly does. Lensed at Prague's Barrandov Studios over three days, the production involved more than 100 extras and eight stuntmen. Commercial house Logan (which has created ads for Apple, Toyota and other game franchises like "Metal Gear," as well as "Zombieland's" opening credits), produced the "Skyrim" spot and the digital dragon.
Although Bethesda declined to disclose the budget of the ad, the spot wound up costing about the same, if not a little less, than a commercial heavy on CG-animated sequences, the company says. It has 60-, 30- and 20-second versions airing.
The effort has paid off in terms of buzz. Since the "Skyrim" spot started airing on TV and online, the attention it's generated across social networks and Twitter has surprised Bethesda. It has been viewed nearly 1 million times on YouTube since Oct. 24.
Online chatter has compared the ad's design with the second season of HBO's "Game of Thrones."
"If people say that looks like 'Game of Thrones,' we're in the right place in terms of mood and vibe and tone," Hines says. "If that's the impression we're leaving, that's a good thing as opposed to, 'That must be for a some new videogame,'?" a humdrum response which often plagues other game campaigns.
Bethesda is hardly the first gamemaker to use filmed footage to help sell its games.
Sony currently has a memorable ad featuring live action versions of characters from its PlayStation franchises gathered in a bar, while Microsoft brought its "Halo: Reach" and "Halo 3" campaigns to life with short films that focus on the characters, plot and themes of the games they're promoting.
Bethesda wants to stress those same elements in its live action spot, hoping auds will themselves as the hero battling dragons. "People are looking for different ways to get their message across rather than 30 seconds of footage from the game, a logo and a box shot," Hines says. "If everyone's doing that, you need to do something different."


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Modi LIVE: Tax rules get easier, friendlier; faceless assessment, appeal, taxpayer charter; honesty honoured
Sugar-coating: Mills to get higher prices to offset hike in cane rates
Dues pile up: After power producers, machine suppliers say UP discoms owe them Rs 2,000 crore
PM Modi to launch facility to 'honour' honest taxpayers on Thursday
767 pre-operational licences needed for business in India; slash this regime to let FDI help economy
GST evasion caught: Madhya Pradesh cement company exec arrested for crores of rupees of fraud
Industry needs to become more competitive to make India 'Atma Nirbhar', says Suresh Prabhu
COVID-19: India-Bhutan border trade via Bengal suspended due to lockdown in Himalayan kingdom
India's fuel demand dips 11.7 per cent in July
UK's deep economic recession may send strong global headwinds to India
UK plunges into deep recession, Rishi Sunak admits 'hard times are here'
Are you an honest taxpayer? PM Modi to give honours for pushing tax reforms journey
States' borrowings skyrocket due to coronavirus; these five states borrowed more than double this year
El Salvador: A market on the rise for Indian companies
UK economy falls into recession; GDP in second quarter collapses by record 20%
China's money laundering in India: Income Tax Dept finds Rs 1,000 crore hawala, bogus transactions
Cut in benefits? New export scheme to cost govt just Rs 10,000 crore
Post-Covid fillip: GST refunds for longer periods central to UP's new industrial policy
SDL yields see minor hardening post monetary policy
Households' FMCG consumption in April-June highest in two years: Report


text:
At Moose Hill in Sharon, artists are inspired by a cornicopia of produce.
Hanging an art show about vegetables, Jan Nareski Goba tossed a salad bar of gorgeous photos, paintings and prints on the walls at Mass Audubon's Moose Hill Gallery.
Titled "Visual Harvest,'' the ongoing exhibit showcases 23 varied works by seven area artists who are showing images inspired by 30 kinds of vegetables cultivated in the community garden managed by the Sharon wildlife sanctuary.
The gallery curator, Nareski Goba, said the show's subtitle, "Off the Truck and on the Wall,'' reflects the theme of art inspired by the practice of Community Supported Agriculture in which 400 families use the multi-acre garden to organically grow or buy their own produce.
"The artists sent works as rich and vibrant as the vegetables growing in our garden,'' she said. "Their works accentuate nature's beauty and reveal the simple delicacy of native vegetables.''
Juror Diana Hampe, an art lecturer at Boston University, selected the finalists from about 20 artists. Finalists include four photographers, a watercolorist, an acrylics painter and a maker of etchings, each with their own discernible style.
Sharon resident George Castar, who began taking pictures as a teenager in the 1930s, photographed eggplants, squash and tomatoes with the formal composition of a stately Dutch still life.
Now 92, the retired maker of dental prosthetics who belongs to a photo club at the Sharon Senior Center said his style has been influenced by the way Rembrandt "used light to create magic'' in his later years.
Working with a Canon T3i, Castar captured the dance of light and shadows on the mottled surfaces of an eggplant and pomegranate with remarkable delicacy.
Shooting in extreme close-up, Christy Stadelmaier photographed the rough surfaces of red, white and yellow onions as if they were exotic snakes shedding their skins. By focusing on the brittle and twisted skins of her subjects, the Boston artist depicts the humble onion in a drama of growth and decay.
A subtly sophisticated stylist, Fred Martins photographs vegetables in ways that make them seem like more than tomatoes and carrots but exemplars of fertility and fecundity.
Perhaps the most realistic of the four, Nadine Mende photographed several boxes of baby tomatoes as if they might be found in a roadside stand.
In two etchings of pumpkins and beets, Margo Lemieux of Mansfield introduces a distinctly different medium that adds to the breadth of the show. The Mansfield artist's two works, "Rupert Farm Bounty'' and "The Beet Go on,'' combine the precise observation of a seasoned gardener with an artist's interpretive flair.
Perhaps the show's most interpretive work, Marilyn Kahn's subtly rendered watercolor, "Three Red Cabbages,'' depicts her subjects' veined and furled leaves in loving detail. Yet Kahn uses subtle shades of green to imbue her subjects with a freshness visitors can almost taste.
The show would have benefited from more examples of work by Lemieux and Kahn or artists working in other mediums.
As a child, Marlene Stemple discovered a crayon left on a radiator would melt into "long, dramatic drips of color … that would create shiny, even more luscious bands of color.''
A former graphics designer, the Boxborough artist is displaying that passion for vibrant colors in three dramatic acrylics of cabbage, lettuce and Swiss chard that artfully straddle the boundary between realism and impressionistic interpretation.
In her first exhibit, the mostly self-taught artist has conveyed her subjects' appeal as complex organisms that reveal nature's subtle magic and also make tasty salads.
While painting a mango, Stemple said she "got hungry and ate a slice'' of her subject.
Visitors might feel the same way about devouring "Visual Harvest.''
"Visual Harvest: Off the Truck and on the Wall''
WHEN: Through Sept. 11
WHERE: Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary, 293 Moose Hill St., Sharon
INFO: 781-784-5691; www.massaudubon.org


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+ The Colony bankruptcy case receives new ruling
A federal bankruptcy judge ruled Thursday, Jan. 8 that The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort must give its unit owners access to their units if it's open for business again as a hotel.
The resort's hotel operating entity filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Oct. 5, in the Tampa-based U.S. Bankruptcy Court's Middle District of Florida, and is working to submit a reorganization plan by the end of the month.
The judge also ruled the hotel is permitted to allow guests who made room deposits prior to the bankruptcy filing to use the money for hotel stays.
Colony President and General Manager Katie Moulton said the judge's ruling on the use of deposits was important to her because she felt horrible about guests who lost their deposits and had become creditors in the bankruptcy case.
"Allowing guests to use their deposits now rather than having them wait to receive payments from the court was a relief for us," Moulton said.
Moulton, however, expressed regret about the judge's ruling to reactivate the owners' 30-day usage rights per year.
"We would have liked to get through the peak earning season without dedicating rooms to free use by owners," said Moulton, who explained a phasing plan would be submitted to the judge later this week that will allow a limited number of rooms available to owners. "We only have 100 rooms available now, so more than 230 unit owners can't all show up at once, and the judge understands that."
Moulton said that the resort will submit a re-organization plan Friday, Jan. 29.
+ Early voting begins Friday
The town of Longboat Key will hold a town-wide preliminary election for District 1 candidates Lynn Larson, Lee Pokoik and incumbent Mayor Lee Rothenberg Friday, Jan. 15 through Friday, Jan. 22 at Town Hall, 501 Bay Isles Road.
Early voting hours are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday; 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday; and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. Early voting will not be held Monday, Jan. 18 in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Remember to bring your picture ID with signature in order to vote.
+ Corrections
• Town Commission District 1 candidates Lee Pokoik did not scratch out anything on his campaign signs that are placed on properties throughout the town. He only added words to the signs to make them compliant with state regulations.
• The Longboat Key Town Commission will make a decision on Moore's Stone Crab Restaurant's Comprehensive Plan amendment and zoning-request change at its 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 1 regular meeting.
+ Meetings & Agendas
• Key Club Islandside Project Hearings — 9 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 13 and Friday, Jan. 15, Temple Beth Israel, 575 Bay Isles Road.
• Code Enforcement Board Meeting — 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 13, Town Hall, 501 Bay Isles Road.


text:
Beat the Streak Report: Thursday, August 12
And Stephen Drew makes 36.
The beat goes on for "gfc2112", as our red-hot leader rode Drew's solo
blast to a 36-game streak. The next 21 days will hopefully be quite the
exciting time in Streakland, as users have quietly watched their dreams
of gold-plated ponies and private islands dim by the day.
Will "gfc2112" have the sheer will and determination to keep this party going and supplant Mr. BTS, Dick George, in the process?
Will "gfc2112" flashdance with fate and answer the e-mail I just sent him?
Only time will tell.
Oh, I'd also like to give a shoutout to "ponyforkeana" for taking the bull by the horns and providing the BTS blog world with all the streak knowledge and goodness one needs with his little countdown posted in the comments.
And with that …
Time for Thursday's picks:
Oh, hello there …
? Andre Ethier: .455 AVG (5-for-11) lifetime vs. Phillies starter Joe Blanton
? Mark Teixeira: .643 AVG (9-for-14) lifetime vs. Royals starter Bruce Chen
? Alexei Ramirez: .545 AVG (6-for-11) lifetime vs. Twins starter Francisco Liriano
? Denard Span: .529 AVG (7-for-19) lifetime vs. White Sox starter Gavin Floyd
? Derek Jeter: .406 AVG (13-for-32) lifetime vs. Royals starter Bruce Chen
Feeling kinda spicy?
? Jason Kendall: .444 AVG (8-for-18) since '05 vs. Yankees starter CC Sabathia
You'll thank me later …
? Alex Rios: .083 AVG (1-for-12) lifetime vs. Twins starter Francisco Liriano
? Delmon Young: .188 AVG (3-for-16) lifetime vs. White Sox starter Gavin Floyd
? Shin-Soo Choo: .182 AVG (2-for-11) lifetime vs. Orioles starter Kevin Millwood
Leaderboard time!
"halmuni" used Adrian Beltre to reach the 29-game streak plateau.
We get it, "halmuni", you want to be noticed. So here ya go, dance the night away.
Top MLB streakers
? Raul Ibanez: 18 games
? Placido Polanco: 10 games
? Michael Bourn: 9 games
? Victor Martinez: 9 games
? Lastings Milledge: 9 games
? Luke Scott: 9 games
12 Comments
Minimum current streak required, entering today, to have a chance at prizes (assuming no 1-game playoffs)
(*) Tiebreak potential: add 1 to "as of" date & minus 1 in goals/needed streaks
BTS Countdown
Grand Prize ($3M): Streak of 4 as of Aug 8th, Goal: 57
*Consolation ($10K): Streak of 0 as of Aug 21st, Goal: 44 (pending)
Survivor Countdown {tickets are for 2011 All-Star Game & Homerun Derby}
Grand Prize (tickets+travel+$10K): Streak of 0 as of Aug 28th, Goal: 37
*Consolation (tickets only): Streak of 0 as of Sept 4th, Goal: 30 (pending)
I think this format is more user-friendly & will continue to use it tomorrow & forward
Minimum current streak required, entering today, to have a chance at the prizes (assuming season ends Oct 3rd)
Abbreviations: DL=Deadline, CS=Current Streak needed, TS=Target Streak
(*) If tie possibility: add 1 to DL and minus 1 to TS & CS
BTS Countdown
Grand Prize ($3M): TS: 57, CS: 4, DL: Aug 8th
*Consolation ($10K): TS: 44, CS: 0, DL: Aug 21st (pending)
Survivor Countdown {tickets are for 2011 All-Star Game & Homerun Derby}
Grand Prize (tickets+travel+$10K): TS: 37, CS: 0, DL: Aug 28th (pending)
*Consolation (tickets only): TS: 30, CS: 0, DL: Sept 4th (pending)
LaV's List
Thursday's Top Picks of the current Top2500, 122 Batters picked overall. 10 games today.
Batter, Times Picked, Percentage
Derek Jeter 306 12.36
Andre Ethier 238 9.62(1rst)
Mark Teixeira 171 6.91(2nd)
Robinson Cano 161 6.51
Alexei Ramirez 139 5.62
Joe Mauer 110 4.44
Adrian Gonzalez 91 3.68
Placido Polanco 85 3.43
Adrian Beltre 79 3.19
No Selection 63 2.55
James Loney 49 1.98
Adam Lind 44 1.78
Denard Span 33 1.33(3rd)
Angel Pagan 26 1.05(5th)(good)
Prince Fielder 15 0.61(4th)
Marco Scutaro 11 0.44(5th)PH??
Yesterday's Top2500 Reset was 28.6% with A. Pujols killing the most hopes and dreams.
And 7.4% paused.
Highest "No Selection":Pg# 1 with a streak of 19 back to zero.
Bloggers Group Top2500
UserName, Streak, Page#, Rank, Pick
Dave55, 11, pg 20, 466, S. Posednik(32x top2500)
forcook, 11, pg 20, 466, A. Either
bullfrogs, 9, pg 39, 869, D. Jeter
darwi 9, pg 45, 869, F. Lewis(5x top2500)
bravesfanforlife88, 8, pg 67, 1374, D. Jeter
baseballgirlie13, 7, pg 92, 2178, D. Jeter
popi21 9, RESET BY, P. Konerko
GL to all
The "SWITCH" from Logan Morrision (3 for 4) to O fer David Wright struck again! I will never learn! If not for having these 2 occurrences in the last 3 days my streak would be at 8 and the Grand Prize would still be alive. Instead I'm at 0 once again and the highest streak I can reach now is 53.
Today's picks;
Beat the Streak: Ryan Zimmerman
HR Beat the Streak: Carlos Quentin
Survivor: Giants
Mr. Feldman and co. really dropped the ball today, IMO ? the most interestng BTS nugget of the day is that Troy Tulowitzki has AT LEAST ONE HIT in EVERY SINGLE DAY GAME he has played in this season!
To be fair, did I have the guts to pick him against Johan ? no ? LOL — but he?s already 1 for 1 and this is just the sort of info I read this blog for, so I hope someone appreciates it!
Anyway, now that BTS nation knows this, keep Tulo in mind when making your picks come Sunday!
Good luck to all!
Given Jeter was the lemming pick today, I went with Tulo. I actually think Jeter will come through but since this is my last run @ the 57, I vow to stay away from Jeter/Ichiro/Mauer, etc. They have carried me but ruined me too. Also, Jeter v. Chen took me down last time they met. Deja vu time. It came down to Jeter or Teix but I was wary of Teix's killer #s. Well, Jeter 0-fered and Teix got a hit or two.
It did occur to me that Johan could pitch well today but he as been very mediocre lately. What tipped me over is Tulo kills during day time. It was actully between him and Pagan who also is a daykiller. I cross Pagan off when I saw him batting 3rd because of Wright being out.
A double tip of my Cub hat to leeungaretta – Your post about Tulo is just what the blog needs – valuable information to put in one's memory bank. Thank you……..
Dave Feldman – Help again – The Survivor page is still messed up. The word "Next" does not appear at the bottom of page one to allow you to search back to see streaks beyond page one. You passed this along to the "tech guys" last week. Ir worked for one day only. They apparently did not fix the problem yet – what is going on? Perhaps you could make this part of you column tomorrow or post on the blog. Thanks.
We now have the Sun Cat – Alex Rios and the Sun God Troy Tulo.
FYI – A hit in every day game -Tulo is definitley the "Sun God" in Polish " Bog slorica"
Pablo Sandoval – This guy needs to diet:
—-The other night he "leaped", if you could call a man 50 lbs over weight leaping, to try to stab a liner by Cubs Soriano. Ball went off his glove into left field for a double.
—-Today he hits a ball to the deepest part of CF at spacious SF park and almost passed out as he rounded 2nd on his way to third.
He could be a great one if he turned that "Kunf Fu Panda" belly into some tone and muscle. He needs a diet and fitness coach.
Kung Fu Panda does need a fitness coach but not a batting coach – He hits a grand slam v. pathetic Cubs.
Keep an eye on Cub rookies – Tyler Colvin and especially Starlin Castro. They are now fixtures at 1 and 2 in the batting order and are hitting well.
Cubs going to St. Louis for a weekend series. It could be UGLY. Survivor bets on Cards look good, even to this Cub fan.
I think BTS is BS. I have one hit in the last 7 days playing. There is no way I will ever get to 30. It's a shame how people who just start playing get to 30 and 40 and I can't even get to 15 and been playing for 10 years. Angel Sanchez tonight.
This game has got to be the toughest and probably the most fun games out there because its so challenging. I've been playing since BTS came about and each and every year except this one I've surpassed my best streak from the year before. Last year was 30.. So i figure in 26 years I should finally get to 57.. unfortunately this year my best is 16.. and I dont see it happening. I've mostly be relying on Ichiro and Derek for the past 6 or 7 years.. and both of them took a "****" this year.. Ichiro is batting a miniscule 310 and Derek is hitting 284.. Miguel Cabrera seems to be the pick this season.. as for next year.. I dont know what i'll switch up with my strategies.. but at the moment i dont see a leadoff hitter that never walks and hits over 300 emerging… Ichiro will probably still be my guy until he finally retires.
@vinny1979. I feel you. Haven't been playing nearly as long as you. The newbies obviously get their streaks by picking high average hitters vs. lower quality pitchers/teams, for the most part. That strategy can work well for a streak or two during the season but probably won't get you the big bucks.
It is well documented on this blog that the success rate on average is about 80%. Doesn't matter what your streak is, eventually that other 20% will get you during this long contest period. Look at the all time leader that ended with 49. What is 49 out of 57? It's 86% so his luck was great but slightly better than the rest. We all just have to keep playing and hope we get a little additional luck too; maybe $10k worth.


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Monday, July 27, 2015
ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS reviewed
Now we come to the first of the "buts." When David Bowie turns up, about halfway through the picture, he provides a welcome distraction from the piling disappointment - and also something of an unwelcome relief map, pointing out to us that the two leads (Eddie O'Connell and Patsy Kensit) really aren't all that good-looking or interesting. Looking like the proverbial Man of Bronze, Bowie's small part in the film includes the most inspired filmmaking in the picture, a musical number that shows what a marvelous addition he would have been to MGM in its heyday; you can't look away from him and he moves with both grace, style and imperative. (Alas, the spoken side of his performance gives no hint of the fine actor he could be under other circumstances.) There is also a nightclub scene with a performance by Sade that is very enticing. These are a far and happier cry from an elaborate yet embarrassingly bad number featuring The Kinks' Ray Davies, staged inside a bisected rooming house set constructed à la THE LADIES' MAN. Davies plays the henpecked father of our hero, and if the point of the number was to show us what O'Connell was hoping to get away from... well, after a couple of minutes, we share his feelings.
Temple also includes allusions to his GREAT ROCK & ROLL SWINDLE universe with appearances by Tenpole Tudor and Irene Handl, and to Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg's PERFORMANCE (an infinitely greater film about London) with appearances by James Fox and Johnny Shannon. There's even a point in the Bowie number that seems to allude directly to that film's show-stopping number "Memo From Turner."
As for the other "buts," let's go back to that "aggressively visual." Home entertainment systems have been around for awhile now, so the expression has gone somewhat out of fashion in terms of reviewing new product - that said, this is a pretty solid "demonstration disc." If you want to show off your video set-up, the early extended take number - or the Bowie number - spilling out of your speakers in 5.1 DTS will serve very nicely.
Also, take note that this is a Twilight Time release, so this is a limited edition Blu-ray with an isolated music track. This sort of feature is usually of appeal to soundtrack collectors, but this one offers a much broader musical spectrum, so that it's probably of greater interest as a musical release than as a film. Its soundtrack encompasses not only Bowie, Ray Davies and Sade but The Style Council, and the entire soundtrack was arranged and conducted by jazz great Gil Evans, who includes a vocal version of Miles Davis' "So What" as a climactic surprise. With the movie playable in 5.1 or 2.0 DTS-HD MA, this disc sounds better than any soundtrack album of this material, and the isolated tracks are exclusive to this release. Therefore, as Twilight Time releases go, ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS has unusual provenance and collectability. If you want it, move fast - limited to 3,000 copies.
Posted by Tim Lucas at Monday, July 27, 2015
KINGS OF THE SUN reviewed
Set in an unspecified time (the trailer says "a thousand years ago") and narrated by an uncredited James Coburn, the story opens with the young Mayan prince Balam (Chakiris) inheriting his slain father's crown at the very moment that the army of Hunac Ceel (Leo Gordon) sieges his pyramid temple to challenge his claim to it. Balam - assisted by sage advisors that include a heavily bewigged Richard Basehart and a strapping Barry Morse - leads his people to ships that take them safely away to a new shore. There, theypresumptuously begin to rebuild their city before meeting or making peace with the Native American locals, led by Black Eagle (Yul Brynner). Black Eagle is wounded in get-acquainted battle with Balam, carried behind the Mayans' fortress walls, and nursed back to health by the raven-haired Ixchel (THESE ARE THE DAMNED's Shirley Anne Field), who hasn't the authority to inform him that he is being restored in order to be sacrificed to ensure, as per their culture's tradition, that their lands remain green and fertile - unaware that this new land has never known the droughts of their former stomping grounds. Naturally there is a love contest between the two kings for the unusually blue-eyed Ixchel, whose very existence brings the two cultures together while also driving them apart. But the eventual surprise arrival of a common enemy (guess who?) restores things to their proper balance in time for a rousing finale.
Directed by J. Lee Thompson and primarily scripted by James R. Webb (previous collaborators on 1962's CAPE FEAR), this film may be guilty of rechewing some dramatic conflicts as old as Shakespeare and dressing them up in some amusingly fruity costumes and anachronistic hairstyles, but the dialogue and staging have real conviction. If Chakiris doesn't carry the same weight as Brynner, this storyline admits as much (he has to learn what Black Eagle already knows, not only about fighting but about loving), and one of the most interesting passages of the film is when the two cultures lower their weapons and become hesitantly receptive to what they stand to learn from one another. (Judged solely from appearances, the movie seems to think that one of the great Mayan contributions to our culture was pomade, but they fortunately stress engraving.) Both Brynner and Chakiris move as lithely as the dancers they were in the fight scenes, but Brynner is particularly fascinating in that he gives the more proudly physical performance; he also imbues his character with a cat-like sensuality rarely encountered in films of this type. Because of this, Black Eagle is not only a warrior but a man as comfortable in his soul as in his physical being, and thus worthier of Ixchel than the man introduced as our hero.
Shot mostly on location in Yucatan and Sinaloa, Mexico, the film's sense of spectacle is on par with the Tarzan films being shot at various points around the world at this time (ie., TARZAN GOES TO INDIA) and there are battle scenes engaging literally hundreds of extras. It occasionally crosses one's mind that this is the kind of picture that Mario Bava could have shot a lot cheaper and sometimes to even greater effect, but there is much here that Bava could not have done so well on a tighter budget. Further bolstered by a rousing Elmer Bernstein score and the anamorphic cinematography of Joseph McDonald (MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, NIAGARA, BIGGER THAN LIFE), this is a nice surprise.
Streets tomorrow, July 28.
Posted by Tim Lucas at Monday, July 27, 2015
Thursday, July 23, 2015
The Magic Band at Western Costume
I've known this for awhile, but what I didn't notice until seeing this photo is that the stocking-masked gentleman second from the left might well be wearing the slouch hat worn by Vincent Price during his skulking scenes in HOUSE OF WAX (1953)!
Drummer John French, who is wearing one of these get-ups, remembers that the group obtained the wardrobe and props from this shoot from Western Costume rental in Hollywood. I wonder if any of the other space helmets or other props seen in this photo can be traced to other classic films or television shows? If any of these others, um, ring a bell - let me know at email@example.com.
Posted by Tim Lucas at Thursday, July 23, 2015
Friday, July 17, 2015
On A Personal Note
SNOOPER (little girl on the right)
June 29, 1997 - March 11, 2014
BLABBER (little boy on the left)
June 29, 1997 - July 17, 2015
"The Twins" brought many, many years of comfort, humor and warm companionship to our home and offices, and Donna and I loved them dearly, from before the day this picture was taken (when they came to live with us, when they were about a month old) through their final illnesses. They will be in our hearts forever.
June 29, 1997 - March 11, 2014
BLABBER (little boy on the left)
June 29, 1997 - July 17, 2015
"The Twins" brought many, many years of comfort, humor and warm companionship to our home and offices, and Donna and I loved them dearly, from before the day this picture was taken (when they came to live with us, when they were about a month old) through their final illnesses. They will be in our hearts forever.
Posted by Tim Lucas at Friday, July 17, 2015
Saturday, July 11, 2015
THE VIDEO WATCHDOG BOOK - Now Digital!
Entire chapters devoted to Terence Fisher, Edgar Wallace, Dario Argento and Jess Franco! With cover art by Stephen R. Bissette, interior illustrations by Brian Thomas - and a foreword by Joe Dante!
Order your download at http://videowatchdog.com/home/digital/library
Posted by Tim Lucas at Saturday, July 11, 2015
Friday, July 03, 2015
The QUATERMASS Rejuvenation
|As with all frame grabs, click to enlarge.
On July 27, Network Distributing in the UK will release Nigel Kneale's 1979 mini-series QUATERMASS as well as its condensed theatrical version THE QUATERMASS CONCLUSION on DVD and Blu-ray, priced at £19.99. Both versions of the story (one three-and-a-half hours, the other 106m 14s) were directed by Piers Haggard, who had previously directed one of the best horror films of the 1970s - the Knealean THE BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW, which made similar use of the English countryside - and who had also won the BAFTA Award for directing Dennis Potter's PENNIES FROM HEAVEN for television.
One could be forgiven for looking at previous DVD and VHS releases and imagining that the QUATERMASS projects had been lensed in 16mm, or perhaps shot on video and converted to 16mm, because they have always looked stale and sounded dreadful on home video. However, for this new Network release, the original 35mm camera negatives were accessed to produce incredible-looking, high-definition masters that completely revitalize the films, enriching their sense of landscape and bringing us more into the direct presence of their performances, by the likes of Sir John Mills, Simon MacCorkindale, Margaret Tyzack, Barbara Kellerman and Toyah Willcox. Also, for the first time ever on home video, QUATERMASS has been remixed in 5.1 audio from the original triple-track audio elements, while THE QUATERMASS CONCLUSION is presented in what we assume to be its intended original aspect ratio of 1.78:1.
In this story, set in an unspecified near future when Britain is overrun with wars between street gangs, Professor Bernard Quatermass is lured out of his retirement in Scotland in search of his missing granddaughter, and invited to comment on an allied space mission between the United States and the Soviet Union ("the symbolic marriage of a corrupt democracy to a monstrous tyrrany," he says). To his horror, the mission is fatally disrupted by an unknown force, a random beam from space that is soon found to be leading young people by the thousands to megalith sites, to pulverize and harvest some important chemical element found only in the young, and vomiting the rest into an increasingly discolored atmosphere.
Here is a series of grabs from QUATERMASS:
The next two sets of grabs illustrate the differences in framing between the miniseries version and the 1.78:1 theatrical version. As you can see, the TV version exposes slightly more information at top and bottom, while the widescreen theatrical framing adds more to the sides while focusing the information on the whole.
Additional grabs from THE QUATERMASS CONCLUSION:
I must admit that, on the basis of the presentations previously available, I have always feltt unkindly toward THE QUATERMASS CONCLUSION. However, on the basis of more recent screenings, I've changed my opinion and now believe the feature to be an admirable reduction of the whole. In fact, it was not the usual hatchet job but was creatively condensed by Kneale as he was writing the two versions simultaneously. The only thing really missing from it are opportunities for the characters to reel from and grieve their losses - otherwise, all the essentials feel there, along with a sharper sense of geography and cause and effect. Kneale's novel QUATERMASS remains the best version of this story, but - as this magnificent restoration helps us to see - this is a genuine science fiction epic of ideas, more relevant than ever after a passing of 35 years. Furthermore, this release stands with Arrow Video's BLOOD AND BLACK LACE and THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MISS OSBOURNE as one of the most exciting and needed restorations of the year.
Though Kneale conceived the story in response to what he saw happening in the world in the late 1960s, it speaks with startling clarity to the world we inhabit today - where news sources cannot be trusted, where large collectives of people have turned away from education toward superstition, where shootings are rampant. Indeed, just as Kneale's Martian hypotheses in QUATERMASS AND THE PIT have become accepted by scientists as a reasonable scenario for the origin of intelligent life on this planet, some of this film's theorizing about magnetic templates existing far below megalith sites like Stonehenge have been bourne out by recent research.
Had QUATERMASS not been made for television, had it been freer to show the real obscenity of apocalypse that it can only hint at, people might regard its two versions at least nearly on par with Romero's first DEAD trilogy. Taken as a whole, the Quatermass tetralogy - THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT, QUATERMASS II, QUATERMASS AND THE PIT and THE QUATERMASS CONCLUSION - is to science fiction what Romero's trilogy is to horror: stories of alienation and apocalypse on a global scale that rally our last shreds of humanity and intelligence to the surface.
As one character says, "They knew it was the only way... to beat the dark."
Posted by Tim Lucas at Friday, July 03, 2015
Thursday, July 02, 2015
Hope For the Lonely, from THE MONKEY'S UNCLE (1963)
|Sometimes if you wish for something hard enough...
|... it just might come true!
|"Ladies, please! There is plenty of me to go around!"
Posted by Tim Lucas at Thursday, July 02, 2015
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text:
West Deptford Board of Education
Application for Use of School Facilities
by Outside Organizations
All requests must be made a minimum of one month in advance.
What facility would you like to book?
RB APRRB Computer LabRB Conference RoomRB Library
Does it repeat? Yes No
If yes, what is the end date?
Daily Weekly Monthly
How many spectators?
Please list any special equipment you may require with this room:
Is this a non-profit organization? Yes No
Primary Contact Info
Emergency Contact Info
Please note: The sponsor affirms that he/she will abide by the rules and regulations pertaining to the use and/or rental of facilities and be responsible for paying The West Deptford District any billable fees. Insurance certificate in the amount of $1,000,000 must be provided before board motion will be approved.
Smoking, controlled dangerous substances, alcoholic beverages and contraband are strictly prohibited.
Raffles may be held on school property by adult organizations which have a direct relationship with the schools (i.e. PTO, Band Parents, etc.). No raffles may be held unless the sponsoring organization is in possession of the required local and state permits. (BOE SOP 10.6.0)


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Pvt. Frederick C. Anderson won nation's highest battlefield honor. In this second part, we trace his military service.
Since Frederick C. Anderson left no diary and never was mentioned in any letters or diaries written by his comrades, for the most part it is impossible to know his thoughts or actions on any particular day of the war.We can, however, trace his path through the movements of the 18th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment. Regimental records were quite thorough in recording who was present or absent on a particular day. "The battles in which Anderson took part are confirmed by Regimental records," writes Donald Thompson, an author currently working on an extensive history of the 18th Regiment. "So we know, at the least, he was not a 'skulker,' i.e. someone who made themselves conveniently absent prior to going into battle." Based on the Muster Records, indicating he was present when rolls were taken, Anderson did not have any absences or furloughs, nor was he sick from the date he was mustered, Aug. 24, 1861, until July 15, 1863, when he was noted as "Absent, straggled on the march July 15, 1863." On that July morning, 11 days after the Union victory at Gettysburg, the 18th Massachusetts marched 24 miles through Keedysville, Md., over South Mountain and into camp for the night near Burkittsville, Md. During this long march, Anderson became separated from his unit and lost, or got rid of, some of his equipment. When he caught up with the Regiment, he was charged $3.44 for the loss of a cartridge box, belt and plate, one ball screw, one cone, one wipe, one screwdriver, one knapsack, and two great coat straps. This must have been quite a blow for a solider making the typical private's salary of $11 dollars a month. (The equivalent of $175 today.) The regiment saw its first action, and its bloodiest confrontation of the war, during the Second Battle of Bull Run, which took place Aug. 28-30, 1862. The 18th suffered 183 casualties - 54 killed, 101 wounded and 28 missing – Aug. 30 when Confederate General James Longstreet's counterattack crashed into the flank of the Union Fifth Corps, to which the 18th was attached. The regiment may have enjoyed its finest hour Dec. 13, 1862, during the battle of Fredericksburg. The latest in what had been a long line of Union calamities, the battle has been described as the most one-sided contest of the war. After a series of attacks had failed on the left, Union General Ambrose. E. Burnside ordered the right wing of his army to advance across open ground up Marye's Heights in a frontal attack against the entrenched forces of James Longstreet. General Porter Alexander, commander of the Confederate artillery, surveyed the ground the Union forces would have to cross and told General Lee, "A chicken could not cross that road when we open on it." The 18th was facing Cobb's Georgia Brigade, dug in along the "Sunken Road" behind a stone wall. "There may have been as many as eight thousand Confederates in front of the 18th on Marye's Heights," said Donald Pfanz, head historian at Fredericksburg Battlefield. "They were taking fire not only from the troops directly ahead of them, but from oblique fire coming from their left and right." As southern shot, later described as a "sheet of flame" riddled the regiment, the men of the 18th moved toward the stone wall. "Lt. Col. Hayes, commander of the 18th, lamented that his regiment 'melted away as we advanced.'" Francis Augustín O'Reilly wrote in "The Fredericksburg Campaign." "To a Massachusetts soldier It seemed that none could live in such a storm of Bulletts." Sixteen hopeless brigade size attacks were made against Marye's Heights that December day at Fredericksburg. Not one of them came within 100 yards of the Confederate lines. There was much debate over which Union unit came the closest to the stone wall on Marye's Heights. The 18th Massachusetts along with the "Irish Brigade" are often mentioned as the two most likely. The answer will never be known. What is known as that the 18th Massachusetts sustained 125 casualties that day, the most of any of the seven regiments in Barnes's brigade. Capturing the flag The 18th Massachusetts reached Gettysburg on the morning of July 2, 1863, as part of the Union Fifth Corps. Later that day, the Fifth Corps would catch the brunt of the Confederate attack in an exposed outpost, a half mile in front of the Union lines, known as "The Wheatfield." After a sharp struggle, the Union forces in the Wheatfield were overwhelmed and forced to retreat. The Confederate advance ran out of steam later that day in "The Devils Den" and "Little Round Top." The Battle of Gettysburg cost the 18th 28 casualties - two killed, 23 wounded and two missing. One-hundred twenty men who enlisted at the start of the war with the 18th were mustered out of service Sept. 2, 1864, when their three-year enlistment expired. Another 87, including Frederick Anderson, accepted the inducement of a re-enlistment bonus in January and February 1864. Anderson re-enlisted for three years service Jan. 1, 1864, and was given a $325 bounty (the equivalent of $5,100 today), which was paid in three installments, two of which were for $50 each, and a 45-day furlough, which began Feb. 25, 1864. By August 1864, the end of the war was in sight. Ulysses S. Grant, now commander of the Union forces, had Lee's Army of Northern Virginia nearly bottled up in Petersburg, a city located about 20 miles south of the Confederate capitol of Richmond. Union forces had cut the Weldon railroad, one of the last supply lines left to Lee's army. It was during a Confederate counterattack to retake the railroad that Anderson captured the battle flag of the 27th South Carolina. The 27th, as part of Hagood's brigade, hit the Federal line at an angle, splitting into two divisions. The Confederates were greatly outnumbered, however, and were soon surrounded in a Union counterattack led by the 18th Massachusetts. During this counterattack, Anderson took the colors of the 27th. It's impossible to overstate the importance of a regimental battle flag during the Civil War. These flags were used for identification and communication and served to inspire morale within the unit. In the fog of battle, flags served as a rallying point and they were a focal point of enemy assaults. Being selected to carry the flag was considered a great honor even though it often meant certain death. "In many cases, regimental flags were gifts from a local community before the men left for war," Donald Thompson writes. "Regiments would assign up to a dozen Color Corporals to guard the flag. There was a concerted effort to keep the flag from touching the ground if a color bearer was killed or wounded and others would take the flag into their own hands and assume the roll of color bearer. "Losing the regimental flag was an act that could cause a regiment to lose face and honor and they strove mightily to ensure it was kept safe. Additionally, the capture of an enemy flag, meant fighting had taken place at very close quarters, a sign of an individual or regiment's bravery in the face of fire." Of the 1,520 Medals of Honor awarded during the Civil War, 326 were awarded for capturing the enemy flag and 138 for actions involving the saving or planting of the Union flag. Anderson received his Medal of Honor during a ceremony held Sept. 13, 1864. A large number of generals were present including the commander of the Army of the Potomac, George Gordon Meade. A New York Herald story, dated Sept. 16, 1864, describes the scene: "An impromptu platform was erected, which was gayly decked off with flags, among which were the captured rebel flags, bands of music stationed, and everything done to make the occasion one long to be remembered and talked over by those who witnessed it. … MAJOR GENERAL MEADE, commanding the Army of the Potomac, then arose, and during the utmost quiet and most respectful attention, addressed the soldiers as follows: - OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS OF FIFTH CORPS - I have to-day to perform a most pleasant and gratifying duty - to present to certain meritorious non-commissioned officers and privates medals of honor, conferred on them by the War Department for distinguished conduct on the field of battle, in capturing flags from the enemy." Anderson was wounded in the left foot in December 1864 while the 32nd Mass. Infantry was engaged in the siege of Petersburg. He was admitted to the 5th Army Corps hospital at City Point, Va., on Dec. 7, 1864 and on Dec. 25 transferred to Jarvis Gen. Hospital in Baltimore, Dec. 26. He was returned to duty Jan. 31, 1865. He was present at Appomattox Court House and witnessed the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia in April 1865. He was mustered out of military service at Boston June 29, 1865. Anderson, then age 23 and a resident of Somerset, married Sarah E. Francis, 24, in Taunton on May 20, 1866. They were the parents of Carrie M., born 1872; Herbert Newell, born April 30, 1875; and Cecilia Ann, born April 25, 1878. Anderson, age 40, died suddenly due to apoplexy (hemorrhage) while working as a teamer at the Worcester R.R. freight yard in Providence on Oct. 6, 1882. He was purportedly interred at Anderson Family Cemetery in Somerset. His wife, Sarah, then age 40, married Lacy Atkinson on July 29, 1883. Sarah Atkinson applied for a pension for her dependent children Oct. 15, 1884, but a pension was not granted as Frederick Anderson's death was determined to be unrelated to a disability incurred while in military service. Raynham's ghost soldier exited the world stage as quietly as he had entered it. The House of Industry is no more and the Orphan Trains stopped running 80 years ago. The Stilman Wilber farm in Raynham is overgrown. McMansions cover the ground Anderson walked across with the 18th at Fredericksburg. Much of the Weldon Railroad Battlefield, where Anderson won the Medal of Honor, has been paved over. There are no monuments to Anderson in Raynham, no streets named after him. There is no record of an Anderson Family Cemetery in Somerset. His final resting place remains unknown.
Raynham Call. This story would not have been possible without the help of Donald Thompson, whose blog "Touch The Elbow" is dedicated to Frederick Anderson's unit, The 18th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment.


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SAN FRANCISCO — The enthusiasm of its executives aside, the question of whether Apple (AAPL) is "losing" its ability to innovate remains an open one, even after the company unveiled a slew of new software and hardware on Monday.
As expected, Apple at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference unveiled a new version of iOS, a streaming radio service, an update to Mac OS dubbed "Mavericks" and some new Mac laptops.
It also revealed a new version of its Mac Pro, a desktop computer targeted at professional users. The redesigned machine is the "future" of desktop computing and should set aside any questions about Apple's creativity, enthused Phil Schiller, Apple's head of worldwide marketing.
"Can't innovate anymore, my ass!" Schiller declared to the delight of many in the audience here.
Any other company — or even the Apple of the past — would have satisfied its critics with such a show.
But the Apple of today faces a much higher bar. Investors and consumers eagerly awaiting another breakthrough product like the iPhone and iPad aren't going to be completely satisfied with a redesigned Mac Pro or even a revamp of Apple's iOS software, no matter how dramatic (and it is, by the way).
Indeed, you can get an indication of what investors in particular thought of Apple's announcements by looking at the company's stock price: It fell after today's announcements.
You can call investors and other Apple critics jaded or even shortsighted, but with Apple's profits falling and its once-vaunted sales growth slowing markedly, there's a growing sense that Apple needs a revolutionary new product, the sooner the better.
If you were holding out for an iWatch or an Apple Television, you're going to have to keep on waiting.
Instead, Apple's announcements consisted largely of incremental changes or features that were obviously influenced by other companies.
Take the update to iOS 7, the software that powers the iPhone and iPad. Its design looks a lot like the interface that Microsoft introduced seven years ago for its Zune music players and later adapted for smartphones and the Xbox. The new "Control Center" in iOS, which allows users to quickly adjust certain settings, has been a standard feature of Android devices for years.
And the new way that iOS will represent and allow users to switch between recently used applications is a lot like the application "card" interface that Palm debuted with its Pre smartphone in 2009.
And it's not just in iOS where Apple is borrowing from others and calling it "revolutionary." The new iTunes Radio service it unveiled appears to be very similar to Pandora. Similarly, while the ability to edit Apple iWork documents in a Web browser is a new feature for Apple's office applications, it's been an integral part of the rival Google (GOOG) Docs suite for years.
It may have been too much to expect that Apple would announce anything truly groundbreaking at Monday's event. While Apple has used the developers conference to announce big products in the past, it's gradually moved such announcements to the fall, closer to the all-important holiday selling season. If Apple is ever going to debut the rumored Apple Television or iWatch, it's likely to do that at one of those events. Similarly, you'll probably have to wait until fall, when Apple debuts the new iPhone and iPad, to see the newest and most compelling features in iOS.
And don't get me wrong: As a longtime iPhone user, I'm excited about many of the changes Apple announced Monday. I've been clamoring for a quick settings feature in iOS for years. Using "cards" to multitask was one of the things I loved most about Palm's webOS. And the new AirDrop feature, which will allow users to quickly share photos and documents with other nearby iOS users, looks really cool.
But none of these things is likely to jump-start Apple's sales — or reassure investors and fans who are anxiously awaiting Apple's Next Big Thing.
Contact Troy Wolverton at 408-840-4285 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow him at www.mercurynews.com/troy-wolverton or Twitter.com/troywolv.


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The aim of Taxonomy Online is to use the internet as a forum to illustrate fossil specimens held in the collections of the British Geological Survey (BGS).
These online publications do not replace traditional hardcopy palaeontological publications, but supplement them by allowing easy access to illustrations of specimens and to information about species. The descriptions of genera and species are brief, and emphasise the key features that allow differentiation between taxa, and give key information about the biostratigraphical usefulness of species and their ranges.
Digital, image-bearing databases are a powerful tool in taxonomy, but are only now becoming more widely available. It is intended that his project will make the BGS fossil collections, and in some cases those of collaborating organisations, available to geologists, and professional and amateur palaeontologists and form an important educational tool.
This was the first collection to be released and is part of a joint initiative with Geoscience Australia and is a gallery of species of Reduviasporonites Wilson, 1962.
Taxonomy Online 2, from the 'Bernard Owens Collection' is now available.
Other collections coming soon are:
For more information on the taxonomy online project, contact the project leader, Mark Woods.


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Monthly Archives: February 2016
Each MBTI Type's Superpowers8
February 16, 2016 by philipbullitthughes
Have you ever wondered if what your superpower would be if you had one? Well, I've gone through each type …
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The ENTJ: Sex, Dating, and Love14
February 12, 2016 by philipbullitthughes
The ENTJ loves a good challenge. They tend to see life as one great competition—there is much to do and …
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When People Try to Change You: The Pygmalion Project18
February 10, 2016 by philipbullitthughes
I have seen many people's faces light up with excitement when they first learn of their MBTI type. They flip …
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Each Type at a Job Interview6
February 5, 2016 by philipbullitthughes
While people may or may not say precisely these things to a potential employer (though I am sure many wish …
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Each Type in the Star Wars Universe6
February 3, 2016 by philipbullitthughes
Have you ever wondered how each type might behave in the Star Wars Universe? Well I've tried my best to …
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The ENFP: Sex, Dating, and Love17
February 1, 2016 by philipbullitthughes
For the ENFP, love presents its own list of challenges. ENFPs are warm, friendly, gregarious, charming, and they are not …
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And now, in honor of Tax Day, a word from Sharon Osbourne on the importance of paying your IRS bills.
After last week's report that Ozzy and Sharon owed the government $1.7 million in unpaid taxes from 2008 and 2009 – and we can only imagine the volume of Ozzy's "Shaaaaaarron!" bellow when THAT notice came in the mail – Sharon tells PopcornBiz that she's learned her lesson the hard way.
"Darling, I did [get it taken care of] and it was my own fault because I wasn't taking care of business," Osbourne tells us. "I was caring more about me than taking care of my family's business and I had a business manager that didn't care about me either, so he wasn't paying attention and the two of us f**ked up. But it's all paid and you learn through your mistakes. I learned to take care of my own business, darling, and not worry about my career."
U.S. & World
Speaking of taking care of business, Sharon – who returns to her hosting gig on "America's Got Talent" this summer as well as continuing to co-host CBS's daytime chat show "The Talk" – updated us on her long-percolating plan to make a film out of her heavy metal hubby's life story.
"A screenplay is being written as we speak," says Sharon, who's nailed down production financing. Ozzy previously suggested that Johnny Depp would be a fine choice to portray him in the bat-biting Black Sabbath days, but now Sharon tells us "We're going to go with somebody unknown." As for who would play the Osbourne matriarch herself, Sharon laughed that she's got "somebody quite fabulous" in mind.


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q 3 wrote:I'm warming up to the idea of giving Rogues one or two guaranteed one-time dodges, since that gives them about the same benefit that they currently have but makes the player choose when to use it. More player choices means more player strategizing and less player-cursing-the-RNG, which means more fun.
TigerKnee wrote:There's actually a strategy you can use with dodge, as long as you even have the slightest bit of dodge chance, AS LONG as you can survive more than 1 hit from whatever you're trying to kill.
Let's say you need 3 hits to kill a higher level enemy, but you can only manage to trade 2 blows as a Dwarf Rogue before you die.
Hit the enemy. Did you dodge?
No - Regenerate your health. Hit the enemy again.
Yes - Congratulations. You can now hit the enemy 2 more times at full health which means you can kill it.
Very much in theory you can use it to kill enemies that require 4 hits, 5 hits etc but of course your chance of dodging twice in a row is drastically lower. It IS possible though and if you pull it off you could get a giant slingshot.
Okay, this is mostly shameless bragging but I will now say that Orc Rogue + CYDSTEPP is way overpowered.
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Are you coming to the Abbotsford Creative Stitches & Crafting Alive Show?
This weekend – March 23 & 24!
We'll be there, so be sure to stop in and say "hello!"
Click on the photo below for more details.
Also, be sure to use this coupon to get 2-for-1 admission:


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Beef bourguignon cottage pie
A hearty meal for all the family, by Gary Rhodes. You can prepare it up to a month in advance
Nutrition and extra info
- Freezable
- kcal653
- fat30g
- saturates14g
- carbs36g
- sugars3g
- fibre3g
- protein44g
- salt2.26g
- 1 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil
- 200g pack bacon lardons
- 900g braising steak, cut into 3cm chunks
- 225g button mushrooms
- 225g button onions or small shallots, peeled
Related to the onion (as opposed to being a younger version of it), shallots grow in clusters at…
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tbsp demerara sugar
- 600ml red wine
- 400g can beef consommé (or use 400ml/14floz beef stock)
The classic choice of meat for a British Sunday roast. Beef is full of flavour, as…
- 1-2 tbsp cornflour, loosened with 1-2 tbsp red wine or water
For the mashed potatoes
- 1kg medium, floury potatoes, preferably Maris Piper or Desirée, quartered
The world's favourite root vegetable, the potato comes in innumerable varieties. A member of…
- 50g unsalted butter
- 100ml milk
One of the most widely used ingredients, milk is often referred to as a 'complete' food…
(Up to a month ahead) heat the oil in a large pan. Fry the bacon lardons over a high heat for several mins until well coloured. Using a slotted spoon, remove from the pan, drain on kitchen paper and set aside. Season the beef, then fry in the fat left in the pan. Once coloured, add all the remaining ingredients for the beef, except the cornfl our and bacon, and bring to a simmer. Partly cover the pan with a lid and continue to cook for a further 2-2½ hrs or until the beef is tender.
Once cooked, tip everything into a colander set over another pan so you can catch the sauce. Tip the contents of the colander into a large pie dish, about 28cm x 23cm x 5cm. Re-boil the sauce and check for seasoning. Thicken with the loosened cornfl our, adding a little at a time and stirring until you have the desired coating consistency. Spoon enough sauce over the beef to barely cover and loosen it, then stir. Remaining sauce can be frozen, ready to re-heat and offer separately on the day.
While the beef is cooling, make the mash. Boil the potatoes until tender, 15-20 mins, depending on size. Drain off the water and replace the lid. Shake the pan to break up the boiled potatoes. Add butter and milk a little at a time while mashing. Season.
Spoon and spread the mashed potatoes on top of the cooled beef. Once covered, the mash can be marked with a spoon, palette knife or fork for a more interesting fi nish (see Gary's tip, left). When cold, the cottage pie is ready to cover and freeze.
The day before serving, transfer the pie to the fridge to defrost overnight. (Or reheat from frozen on the day, see below.)
On the day, reheat the pie. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. If thawed, bake for 50 mins-1 hr, or until heated through, then increase heat to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6 for the fi nal 10 mins for a golden brown topping. If cooking from frozen, cover with foil, then bake for 1¼ hrs; remove foil and bake uncovered for 1¼ hrs more, then increase heat as above for the last 10 mins.
Recipe Tip
Serving with...Just trim some French beans, then boil for several minutes in plenty of salted water, leaving a slight crisp bite before draining, seasoning and tossing in butter.


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Showing 1 - 20 of 217
Statement Transportation
Statement on the Metropolitan Transportation Sustainability Advisory Workgroup Report
December 18, 2018The Metropolitan Transportation Sustainability Advisory Workgroup Report released today provides a sober look at the fiscal and managerial challenges facing the MTA.
Testimony Education
Testimony on the New Department of Education Five-Year Capital Plan
December 18, 2018City officials cannot continue to expect the City can build its way to a solution; making real progress will require implementing operational strategies that alter the use of space and redirect students to facilities with capacity.
Blog City Budget
Charter Revision 2019
December 14, 2018The 2019 Commission will avoid the shortcomings of recent commissions if it stays true to its stated criteria and pursues Charter revisions that simplify and update the document.
Podcast episode City Budget
Episode 61: 2,268 with Stephen Eide
December 13, 20182,268 is the average daily number of people in adult psychiatric centers in New York State, a decrease from a peak of more than 93,000 people in 1955. Stephen Eide, a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, discusses the impacts of deinstitutionalization in New York.
Report Transportation
NYS Infrastructure Policy
December 13, 2018This paper was prepared by HR&A Advisors as a background paper for the December 2018 CBC Conference on most important fiscal and economic issues facing New York State. The paper provides recommendations for how NYS should prioritize, fund, and deliver key infrastructure investments.
Blog State Budget
Don't Get Too High on Potential Marijuana Revenues
December 13, 2018There is significant revenue potential from the marijuana industry, but research suggests that many months or years of careful planning precede consistent revenues.
Statement Housing
Statement on the New York City Housing Authority's NYCHA 2.0 Plan
December 12, 2018The New York City Housing Authority's (NYCHA's) NYCHA 2.0 plan can help stabilize the system and deserves support.
Podcast episode City Budget
Episode 60: 18.6%
November 30, 201818.6% is the poverty rate in New York City. Greg David and Cara Eisenpress, both from Crain's New York Business and the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, discuss their recent reporting exploring New York City's safety net, how it's funded, and how it compares to other places (hint: a lot better).
Testimony Pensions & Benefits
The Health Care Savings Agreement: A Look Back and a Look Forward
November 29, 2018Savings to health benefit expenditures are crucial to attaining labor settlements that are fair and reasonable for both City employees and taxpayers.
Letter Pensions & Benefits
Governor Cuomo Should Veto Costly Employee and Retiree Benefits
November 27, 2018CBC Recommends veto of A8164-b/S3770-b, A8402-b/S6435-b, A9909/S7705, A9910/S7704, and A10735/S7933.
Testimony Taxes
New York City Property Tax Reform
November 27, 2018CBC makes recommendations for property tax reform to fix problems with transparency and equity of the system.
Report City Budget
Reviving EMS
November 25, 2018The City of New York spends more than $1.1 billion annually in an effort to provide its residents and visitors this vital service, but the money is not used wisely.
Video City Budget
CBC Releases Recommendations on How FDNY Should Allocate Its Resources
November 25, 2018Citizens Budget Commission releases recommendations on how #FDNY should allocate its resources.
Press Release City Budget
CBC Recommends Reforms to Improve Emergency Medical Services in New York City
November 25, 2018CBC today released a report that highlights major inefficiencies in the City's current EMS and identifies reforms.
Op Ed Economic Development
The Smart Money on Amazon
November 23, 2018As New Yorkers search for Black Friday deals, including on Amazon, we are also scrutinizing the deal offered to the retail giant to come to Long Island City.
Blog Economic Development
Breaking Down the Amazon HQ2 Deal:
November 21, 2018Amazon has committed to creating 25,000 full-time high-paying jobs over ten years, investing approximately $2.5 billion, and building 4 million square feet of office space at its new headquarters in Long Island City, with the possibility of expanding to 8 million square feet and 40,000 jobs. To facilitate this investment, Amazon will receive benefits of up to $1.7 billion from New York State and $1.8 billion from New York City. This blog explains the incentive package provided by the State and City and offers five takeaways about the deal and its lessons for future economic development policy.
Podcast episode City Budget
Episode 59: 1981
November 16, 2018The data point for today is 1981, the year in which the State Legislature enacted S7000A, the landmark bill that formalized the current property tax system for New York City. A response to the Hellerstein case, which found the system was in violation of State law, S7000A essentially codified the status quo.
In doing so, it established a system of property classification, fractional assessments, caps, phase-ins, and class shares that is still with us 37 years later. These structural features and statutory requirements are the root of the system's inequities and complexities. A home worth $500,000 can face the same tax bill as a home worth $1.5 million, while the value of a condominium unit, according to the City, is a fraction of its sale price. In fact, some buildings have values that are below the sale price of individual units. And commercial and rental property faces a higher average property tax burden than 1-, 2- and 3-family homes.
These inequities and problems have led to repeated calls for reform, including pending litigation. This past May, Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Johnson formed the Advisory Commission on Property Tax Reform. In September, the Citizens Budget Commission, the Regional Plan Association, and NYU Robert Wagner School of Public Service held a panel to discuss the problem, inequities and potential reforms
Statement Housing
Statement on NYCHA's Expansion of PACT
November 16, 2018Expanding public-private partnerships is a big step in the right direction, and more needs to be done to put NYCHA on sounder footing.
Testimony Housing
Testimony on the NYCHA Physical Needs Assessment
November 15, 2018NYCHA has an astounding $32 billion in capital needs, a nearly fivefold increase over the last decade. Today nearly all its properties require substantial rehabilitation.
Video State Budget
Attracting Amazon to the Empire State
November 13, 2018A push to bring up to 25,000 Amazon jobs to Queens could be a costly one to taxpayers in New York.


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4 's
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Color: White
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Thanks so much for the patterns. Looking forward to having some time to make the coats over Christmas break from school
Thank you so much for this lovely pattern -- I'm making costumes for a Biblical opera this Epiphany and this will come in very handy :) Great service and great seller :)
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3DOcean HDRi 1934 Dusk Sun Clouds 99118
3DOcean HDRi 1934 Dusk Sun Clouds 99118
Texture \ HDRI Images \ Exterior \ Sky \ Dawn & Dusk
Panorama \ Skydome \ Highres \ Hdri \ Dusk \ Clouds
Texture - HDRi 1934 Dusk Sun Clouds 99118 by paguthrie @ 3DOcean
Texture \ HDRI Images \ Exterior \ Sky \ Dawn & Dusk
Graphics Files Included: JPG Image, High Dynamic Range HDR, OpenEXR Image; Layered: No; Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS; Texture Resolution: 7070x3535; Tileable: No.
[Also available in Pack 004 ]
-The original horizon has been removed from the HDR files, and the photos used to make the HDRi re-processed for a smoother, noise free image.
-Radiance (.hdr) and OpenEXR (.exr) file sizes have been optimized to improve loading times.
-16 bit RAW versions of the backplate photos now included to allow greater freedom in post processing.
HDRi skydome panorama in .exr and .hdr format for use as a spherical environment in 3D scenes. Note that these HDRi skies are not complete 360 degree x 180 degree panoramas, only the top half (the sky) is present. 1934 refers to the time of day it was taken.
Sun angle, where 0 means the sun is on the horizon and 90 means directly overhead: 0.86 degrees
Approx 7000px wide, good enough in most cases to be used as the directly visible sky. When you want more control, or the sky is visibly low res, you can use the supplied 12 megapixel .jpg or RAW backplates.
Dynamic Range.
The photos used to make the HDRi are taken at the following exposures.
1/8000, 1/2000, 1/500, 1/125, 1/30, 1/8, 1/2
which is equivalent to a dynamic range of approx. 12 EVs (Exposure Values). A Canon 1Ds MK3 was used and was set to shoot 7 exposures 2 EVs apart.
Actual measured dynamic range for this sky: 13.89 EVs
Comes with a series of straight shots of the sky taken at the same time as the HDRi and with the same color temperature so it matches your render. Photos are in both .jpg and 16 bit .dng format.
*Note that a minimum of Photoshop CS5 or Lightroom 4 is required to open the .dng files
If you are confused by apparent overexposure in photoshop, remember photoshop is displaying a preview of part of the whole dynamic range, you can simply drag the exposure slider down at the bottom left of the image window to view the full range. My HDRi Skies FAQ http://www.peterguthrie.net/blog/2011/07/hdri-skies-faq/ might be a good place to start.
Remember to change the mapping type to environ/spherical environment.
In all HDRs the sun is oriented south>north for easy control of shadow direction. To change the rotation enter a value from 0-1 in the bitmap offset, for example to have the sun coming from the east, change it to 0.25, from the north: 0.5 etc. If you use the VRayHDRi loader, use degrees for rotation instead (0-360).
I usually use the exr in a vray dome light rather than as a max environment map. If you are using a vrayphysical camera then a good starting point would be to set the output of the exr (in the bitmap loader) to 1, set the vray dome light to a multiplier of 1 and leave the vrayphysical camera exposure at default. (F8, 1/200th, ISO 100 ) From there you can adjust either the bitmap output multiplier or the vraydomelight multiplier till you are happy with the exposure. (I find the multiplier can vary between 0.5 and 2.0)
If you use V-Ray, I strongly suggest loading the exr or hdr file using the VRayHDRi loader: it has much better bitmap filtering so even when using a zoom lens you dont see any pixellation in the sky.
Please feel free to visit my blog for my most recent preferred workflow with HDRi skies: http://www.peterguthrie.net/blog/2012/02/hdri-lighting-workflow/
HDRi - Pack 005; HDRi - 1554 Clear Sky Low Sun; HDRi - 1236 Clear Winter Sky; HDRi - 0907 Dawn Sun; HDRi - 0839 Cloudy Dawn; HDRi - 0917 Dawn; HDRi - 0911 Dawn.
Keywords: clouds, dusk, exr, hdr, hdri, highres, panorama, skydome, sun.


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November 13, 2018
The Left Is Already Winning the 2020 Presidential Race
For the first time in 40 years, bold progressive policies are setting the terms of the debate. MORE
Mariame Kaba: Social Movements Brought Down Rahm—Now They Can Transform Chicago
A conversation with writer and organizer, Mariame Kaba. MORE
By Sarah Lazare
Trump's Space Force Is No Joke
China, Russia, and the U.S. are already militarizing space. Here's why that's dangerous. MORE
By Branko Marcetic
Act Locally
Jerry Brown Didn't Invite Grassroots Activists to His Climate Summit—They Came Anyway
While the elite discuss band-aids, organizers call for real solutions. MORE
By Kate Aronoff
In the Shadow of Detroit, a Michigan City Is Taking the Solar Transition Into Its Own Hands
Amid poverty and frequent power blackouts, a cutting-edge renewable energy program is underway in Highland Park. MORE
By Valerie Vande Panne
Baltimore Won a Big Victory for Affordable Housing. The Next Goal: Community Control.
Housing organizers won $20 million annually in city money for housing. They want that housing to be democratically controlled. MORE
By Ajowa Nzinga Ifateyo
Socialists Versus Landlords
Los Angeles DSA is harnessing anger over skyrocketing rent to get nonvoters to the polls in November. MORE
By David Dayen
Serial Misogyn-Neigh: The New "BoJack" Explores How We Let Famous Men, And Horses, Off the Hook
Season five of BoJack Horseman turns a critical eye on its characters and itself. MORE
By Sady Doyle
America's Great Strike Waves Have Shaped the Country. We Can Unleash Another.
Erik Loomis' "A History of America in Ten Strikes" is a powerful reminder of the need for worker militancy. MORE
By Shaun Richman
The Typical Workplace Is a Dictatorship. But It Doesn't Have To Be.
Socialists and progressives have a variety of ideas to bring democracy into the workplace. MORE
By In These Times Editors
Black Women Voters Aren't "Saving America." We're Saving Ourselves.
Since at least the 1830s, Black women have organized, campaigned, and voted for issues that matter to us most. MORE
By Joshunda Sanders
We Believed Anita Hill
In 1991, an alleged sexual harasser was appointed to the Supreme Court. Let's not repeat history. MORE
By Joel Bleifuss
How Pro-War Democrats Use Russiagate To Bloat the Military—And Why That's Dangerous
Russia became the bipartisan justification for an $716 billion defense budget and nuclear build-up. MORE
By Sarah Lazare
Yes, Voter Suppression Is Real. But Young Voters May Bridge the Gap.
The midterms are rigged against people of color and the poor. MORE
By Joel Bleifuss
94% of Indigenous Women in Seattle Have Experienced Sexual Violence. We Need To Tell Their Stories.
Abigail Echo-Hawk on a hidden epidemic. MORE
By Andrew Schwartz
Why I'm Sick and Tired of Hearing About Russiagate
Mueller won't save us from the deep flaws in our democracy that brought us Trump. MORE
By Jessica Stites
What Russiagate Skeptics Get Wrong
The Left can call for military deescalation while still holding Putin accountable for electoral meddling. MORE
By John Feffer