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By Porthos
I picked up enough boneless short ribs to make 3 meals for my Sweetie and me. One meal will be pan-braised tonight. One has been vacuum-sealed and is in the freezer. My question is about seasoning, sealing, freezing, then defrosting and cooking at a later date. I'd like to season and seal the 3rd meal's worth. Can I use a dry rub on the meat, then seal, freeze, and cook at a later date? Does anyone else do this?
By newchef
So I've now found myself at the water's edge of Modernist Cuisine. Specifically, using sodium citrate for emulsifying all kinds of cheeses. What I'm after is making an emulsified Parmesan sauce as well as another emulsified cheese sauce (most likely using Cheddar or Colby) that I can freeze and use later. I'm a single guy and am no stranger of tweaking recipes for freezing but I haven't done it for modernist stuff yet. I'd love to make a big batch of cheese sauce, freeze it into ice cubes for up to 3 months or so, and then take a few cubes out to thaw on a weeknight and toss with pasta, drizzle over veggies, etc.
I looked at the modernist cuisine FAQ and saw this specific post about the cheese sauce that is "probably" freeze-able because it uses something called carageenan. Has anyone been able to freeze sauce and keep it frozen for, say, a few months? And not have to use carageenan?
By WackGet
Recently I picked up a few different types of emulsifiers in bulk powder form when I saw them in passing at a catering wholesaler.
Having never used powdered emulsifiers before in cooking or baking, I figured I'd find pretty comprehensive instructions for their use on the web - but I can't.
I'm not a stranger to food science but nor am I a chemist. I understand that emulsifiers are at least sometimes prepared by pre-mixing them into a (heated?) liquid or fat and then using the resulting solution in the actual recipe, which may explain why a lot of commercial emulsifier mixtures are packages as tubes of gel or paste. I've also checked several industry-level textbooks about emulsifiers and while they are fantastic for in-depth explanations of the chemistry behind each emulsifier, they do not (as you might imagine) provide guidance on how a lowly baker or cook would actually use a powdered form.
So does anyone know how to prepare and use a dry powdered form of any of the following in a real recipe?
Specifically I am most interested in enhancing baked goods and adding stability to sauces, but would also like to know how to use them for other processes such as sausage-making too.
E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids E481 Sodium stearoyl lactylate E482 Calcium stearoyl lactylate E472e DATEM (diacetyl tartaric acid ester of mono- and diglycerides)
By chefg
I have to say designing the Alinea kitchen has been one of the most exciting experiences thus far in the opening of this restaurant. I have been fortunate to have been "raised" in some of the best kitchens in the country. When I arrived at the French Laundry in August 1996 the "new kitchen" had just been completed. Often times you would hear the man talk about the good old days of cooking on a residential range with only one refrigerator and warped out sauté pans with wiggly handles. When I started about 50% of the custom stainless steel was in place. The walls smooth with tile and carpet on the floors. I recall the feeling of anxiety when working for fear that I would dirty up the kitchen, not a common concern for most cooks in commercial kitchens.
The French Laundry kitchen didn't stop, it continued to evolve over the four years I was there. I vividly remember the addition of the custom fish/canapé stainless unit. Allowing the poissonier to keep his mise en place in beautiful 1/9 pan rails instead of the ice cube filled fish lugs. Each advancement in technology and ergonomics made the kitchen a more efficient and exacting machine.
When I returned to the Laundry this past July for the 10th anniversary I was shocked that it had metomorphisized once again. The butcher room was now a sea of custom stainless steel low boys, the pot sink area was expanded, the walk-in moved, and an office added to the corner of the kitchen. The kitchen as I left it in June of 2001 was beautiful and extremely functional, of course it is even more so now. It is the relentless pursuit of detail and concise thought that allows the French Laundry kitchen to be one of the best for cooks to execute their craft…..16 hours a day.
This was good motivation.
When it came time to design my kitchen I drew on experiences at Trio, TFL and other kitchens I was familiar with to define the positives and negatives of those designs. We were faced with a 21x 44' rectangle. This space would not allow for my original kitchen design idea of four islands postioned throughout the kitchen, but ultimately gave way for the current design which I think is actually better than the original. But most the important aspect in shaping the final design was the cuisine. Due to the nature of food that we produce a typical layout with common equipment standards and dimensions do not work. Here is where the team drew on our experiences from Trio. By looking at the techniques we utilized we came to several conclusions.
1. A conventional range was not our main heat source. We do need the flat tops and some open burners for applications such as braising and limited stock work. But our overall use of this piece of equipment is somewhat low. Given that we wanted four open burners and two flat tops with two ovens I began to source out a reliable unit. We settled on the Molteni G230.
2. Upon analyzing our other heat source needs we decided to place a large focus on induction. By utilizing portable induction burners we are allowed the flexibility to give as much power as needed to a specific station in the kitchen. Obviously induction's radiant heat is very low, and this allows us to keep the temperature in the kitchen reasonable, yet the power is quite high. 31,000 BTU's of highly controlable heat. But the main reason for choosing this flexible source of heat is the fact that each chef typically employed at least four different cooking applications on a given night. This huge flux in technique and the realization that the menu would change entirely in 8 weeks time meant that we had to design a kitchen that could evolve on a nightly basis. And last, we are very specific with temperatures; induction makes it easier for us to hold a liquid at a predetermined temperature for long periods of time without fluctuation. They operate between 85 and 500 degrees farenheit. We did a great deal of research on the different producers of induction and favored Cooktek. The fact that they are the only U.S manufacturer of commercial induction cooking equipment and located in Chicago made the decision easier. Their innovative approach to induction may prove to be even more exciting as we are already talking about new product development in the future.
3. a. The complexity of the presentations and a la minute plate-ups of the food require a great deal of surface area devoted to plating. This was one of the most critical factors in determining the basic shape of the kitchen. The size of some of today's popular plates, the amount detail in each composition, coupled with the fact that producing tasting menus vs. ala carte means sometimes large waves of same dish pick ups made it necessary for us to have over 44' of linear plating surface.
b. Virtually nothing goes vertical above the 36" counter top in the space. All food, plates, equipment, and dry good storage are contained by under counter units. There are a few exceptions such as the infrared salamanders, the three-door refrigerator, and the hood. This allows all the cooks a clear line of communication between each other and the front staff. It allows me an easy sight line to survey the entire kitchen's progress with a quick glance.
Given these two points it seemed obvious that we needed to combine the two and create custom pieces that would fulfill both needs. Large spans of plating surfaces with all food and equipment storage below. As you can see we ended up with two 22' long units. Each function as a pass and under counter storage.
The building is 21' wide wall to wall. This allowed us just enough space to create two lines on each exterior wall with their passes forming a 60" corridor for the pick up of plates and finishing of dishes.
4. We decided to add a station to the kitchen. At Trio we had five including:
a. pastry
b. cold garde manger
c. hot garde manger
d. fish
e. meat
Now that we had more space, and the ability to give each station multiple heat
sources regardless of their location in the kitchen, we could spread the workload even further. We also realized it doesn't make much sense to identify each station by classic French Bragade terms. A saucier did not solely cook meat with classic techniques and prepare various traditional stocks and sauces…in fact quite the opposite. This holds true with most of the stations, with the exception of pastry, but even they will have very unconventional techniques, menu placement and involvement in the kitchen systems. We will add a station that will be responsible for a large majority of the one-bite courses both sweet and savory.
5.Given the size constraints of the building we realized a walk-in would not be possible in the kitchen. If we were to have one it would be in the basement. Having experienced this at Trio we decided to design the kitchen without a walk-in, making up for the space in various lowboy locations and a three-door reach-in. I experienced the walk-in less environment when I worked at Charlie Trotter's. It is certainly different, but as with most things if done properly it provides a very efficient environment. It works best in situations where fresh products are brought in daily for that days use. And prevents ordering in large quantities. It also provides us with very specific units to house different items. We will utilize the 3-door refrigerator to store the majority of the vegetables and herbs along with some staple mise en place, and items that cannot be made in very small quantities like stocks. Raw meat will have it's own lowboys as well as fish, dairy, and all frozen products.
6. At Trio we found ourselves using the salamander a great deal. It is very useful for melting sugar, bringing on transparent qualities in things like fat and cheese, cooking items intensely on only one side, and it is a highly controllable non-direct heat source. Due to the air gap between the foodstuff and the heat elements the cook can control the degree of heat applied to the dish based on the technique he is using. It becomes a very versatile tool in the modern kitchen, so much so that we will install three Sodir infrared salamanders.
Again, this is to insure that all the cooks have access to all of the techniques in the kitchen. As I said before it is important for our cooks to be able to sauté, simmer, poach, fry, grill, salamander, and freeze at the same time and sometimes for the same dish.
We have a few unusual pieces of equipment in the kitchen; the most is probably a centrifuge. A few months ago Nick and I were driving home from a design meeting and ended up talking about signature dishes and menu repetition. Of course the black truffle explosion came up and he asked if I would have it on the menu at Alinea. I replied a firm no, but shortly thereafter said I would enjoy updating it. We threw around some tongue and cheek ideas like White Truffle Implosion, and Truffle Explosion 2005….I said it was a goal of mine to make a frozen ball with a liquid center….but then dismissed it as nearly impossible. Within a few minutes he said …"I got it…we need a centrifuge" His explanation was simple, place the desired liquid in a spherical mold and place on the centrifuge…place the whole thing in the freezer. Within days he had one in the test kitchen. I guess this is better suited for the kitchen lab topic that we will be starting in a few weeks…
We are working on a upload of the kitchen blueprints. When those post I plan on going into more detail about certian aspects of the design. Doing so now would be pointless as the viewer does not have a reference point.
By ronnie_suburban
It's the first day of cooking in Alinea's Food Lab and the mood is relaxed. We're in a residential kitchen but there's nothing ordinary about it. Chef Grant, along with sous chefs John Peters and Curtis Duffy are setting up. The sight of the 3 steady pros, each in their chef's whites, working away, does not match this domestic space. Nor does the intimidating display of industrial tools lined up on the counters. While the traditional elements are here in this suburban kitchen: oven, cooktop, sink, so too are the tools of modern restaurant cookery: pacojet, cryovac machine, paint stripping heat gun…wait, a paint stripping heat gun?
In the physical realm, the Food Lab is a tangible space where the conventional and the unconventional are melded together in the quest for new culinary territory. With Alinea's construction under way, the team must be resourceful. This meant that renting a space large enough to house both the office and the kitchen aspects of the food lab was out of the question.
The decision was made to take over a large office space for the research and administrative aspects of Alinea and transform a residential kitchen into the Lab. Achatz and the team would work three days per week at the office researching all aspects of gastronomy and brainstorming new dishes, while managing the project as a whole. The remaining time would be spent in the kitchen executing the ideas formulated at the office. "At first I thought separating the two would be problematic," says Grant "but in the end we are finding it very productive. It allows us to really focus on the tasks at hand, and also immerse ourselves in the environment conducive to each discipline." The menus for opening night—containing as many as 50 never-before-served dishes--must be conceived, designed, tested and perfected. The Alinea team does not want to fly without a net on opening night.
On a more abstract level, the Food Lab is simply the series of processes that continually loop in the minds of Chef Grant and his team. While there is no single conduit by which prospective menus--and the dishes which comprise them--arrive at Alinea, virtually all of them start in Chef Grant's imagination and eventually take form after brainstorming sessions between the Chef and his team. Menus are charted, based on the seasonality of their respective components, and the details of each dish are then laid out on paper, computer or both and brought to the kitchen for development. In this regard, the Food Lab provides something very special to the Chef and his team. "We consider the food lab a luxury," says Grant. Once Alinea is open and the restaurant's daily operations are consuming up to 16 hours of each day, time for such creative planning (aka play) will be scarce. Building a library of concepts, ideas and plans for future menus now will be extraordinarily valuable in the future. Otherwise, such planning sessions will have to take place in the 17th and 18th hours of future workdays, as they did when the Chef and his team were at Trio.
Today, several projects are planned and the Chefs dig into their preparations as soon as their equipment setup is complete…
Poached Broccoli Stem with wild Coho roe, crispy bread, grapefruit
Stem cooked sous vide (butter, salt, granulated cane juice)
Machine-sliced thin bread
Dairyless grapefruit "pudding"
Dried Crème Brulee
Caramel orb shell made with bubble maker and heat gun
Powdered interior made with dried butterfat, egg yolks, powdered sugar & vanilla
Peeled grapes on the stem
Peanut butter coating
Wrap in brioche
Micro-grated, roasted peanuts
Instant Tropical Pudding
Freeze Dried Powders of coconut, pineapple, banana
Young coconut water spiked with rum
Muscovado Sugar
Candied Chili
Jamaican Peppercorn
Vanilla Bean
The steps required to comprise each dish are, as one might imagine, intricate and numerous. For the Poached Broccoli Stem, Chef Grant begins by separating the broccoli stems from the florets. The stems are stripped of their fibrous exteriors and pared down until they are uniform in size. Grant comments on the use of the second hand part of the vegetable: "This dish started with the roe. Every year we receive the most amazing Brook Trout Roe from Steve Stallard, my friend and owner of Blis. Typically, we serve the eggs with an element of sweetness. I find it goes very well with the ultra fresh salinity of the week-old roe. This time around we wanted to take a savory approach so I began looking into complimenting flavors in the vegetal category. About the same time, our group had a discussion about secondary parts of vegetables and the stem of broccoli came up. I had a past experience with the stem and found it to be very reminiscent of cabbage. Knowing that cabbage and caviar are essentially a classic pairing, I felt confident that we could work the dish out. Now I'm struggling to decide if this is a broccoli dish or in fact a roe dish, I think they really battle for the top position and that helps makes the dish very complex."
Chef Grant processing the broccoli
The stems are placed in a polyethylene bag, along with butter, salt and granulated cane juice. The bag is sealed with a cryovac machine
The sealed stems are placed in a 170 degree F water to cook, sous vide, until extremely tender; about three hours
Broccoli stems after cooking
The crisp bread element is fabricated via the use of an industrial deli slicer. Chef Grant then brushes the sectioned pieces of poached broccoli stem with eggwash, affixes them to the thin planks of brioche and places them in a fry pan with butter.
Grant's mise...not your ordinary cutting board
Poached Broccoli Stem and Crisp Bread cooking
Ready for plating
A bright green broccoli puree is made with a vita-prep blender. Here, Chef Grant "mohawks" it onto china given to him by Thomas Keller
Smoked Coho roe has arrived via Fed-Ex, courtesy of Steve Stallard
Chef Grant devises a plating scheme for the Poached Broccoli Stem while Curtis looks on
Chef Grant ponders one potential plating of the dish. He called this incarnation 'predictable' and started over.
Another plating idea. This version is garnished with broccoli petals and ultra-thin slices of connected grapefruit pulp cells. The yellow petals are stand-ins for what will ultimately be broccoli blossoms
Grant is still displeased at the dish's appearance. "The dish tastes as I envisioned it....texturally complex, with the crispness of the bread, the soft elements of the floret puree and stem, and the pop of the eggs. The buttery richness from the bread gives the stem the flavor of the melted cabbage I loved at the [French] Laundry. And the hot and cold contrasts from the roe and broccoli …I like it…..I just don't like the way it looks." Another attempt and the group agrees, it is better but not "the one." The use of the thinly sliced cross sections of peeled grapefruit energizes the group. In the next rendition, they make small packets with the ultra thinly-sliced grapefruit containing the roe...
A third plating configuration for Poached Broccoli Stems; this one featuring the packets of roe wrapped in ultra thin sheets of grapefruit pulp cells
At this point the team decides to move on and come back to it next week. After some conversation they decide that in the final dish, broccoli will appear in at least 5 forms: poached stems, floret puree, some raw form of the stem, the tiny individual sprouts of broccoli florets, and the blooms. Grant feels that Poached Broccoli Stem could be ready for service, although he still envisions some changes for the dish that will make it even more emblematic of his personal style. "Our dishes continue to evolve after they hit the menu. It is important for us to get to know them better before we can clearly see their weaknesses."
The thought for the dried crème brulee originated over a year ago when a regular customer jokingly asked for a crème brulee for dessert. "He said it as joke, I took it as a challenge," says Grant. "Of course, we never intended to give him a regular crème brulee." The team tried various techniques to create the powder-filled caramel bubble while at Trio to no avail. An acceptable filling for the Dried Crème Brulee has been developed by the Chef and his team but several different methods, attempted today, to create the orb from caramelized sugar have been less than 100% successful.
Caramel blob awaiting formation. Chef Curtis kept this pliable by leaving it in a low oven throughout the day
Chef Grant's initial idea to use a metal bubble ring and heat gun (normally used for stripping paint) to form the bubbles does not work as hoped. Attempts to fashion them by hand also come up short.
Says Grant, "At Trio we tried a hair-dryer. When Martin told me about these heat guns which get up to 900 degrees F, I thought we had it for sure. If it was easy everyone would do it I guess." Eventually, Alinea partner Nick Kokonas garners the task's best result by positioning a small, warm blob of sugar onto the end of a drinking straw and blowing into the other end. The results are promising. Curtis suggests using a sugar pump to inflate the orbs. That adjustment will be attempted on another day.
"We intentionally position whimsical bite in the amuse slot, it tends to break the ice and make people laugh. It is a deliberate attempt to craft the experience by positioning the courses in a very pre-meditated order. A great deal of thought goes into the order of the courses, a misalignment may really take away from the meal as a whole." For PB&J, the grapes are peeled while still on the vine and then dipped into unsweetened peanut butter. They are allowed to set–up, and then they are wrapped with a thin sheet of bread and lightly toasted. When the peeled grapes warm, they become so soft they mimic jelly. The composition is strangely unfamiliar in appearance but instantly reminiscent on the palate. PB&J is, according to Grant, virtually ready for service. There are a couple of aesthetic elements, which need minor tweaks but the Chef feels very good about today's prototype.
Chef John peels grapes while still on their stems
Peeled grapes on their stems with peanut butter coating
Chef Grant studies the completed PB&J in the Crucial Detail designed piece
Often, creative impulses come by way of Alinea's special purveyors. "Terra Spice's support over the past couple of years has been unprecedented, and it has accelerated with the start of the food lab," says Grant. "It is great to have relationships with people that think like we do, it can make the creative process so much easier. Often Phil, our contact at Terra, would come into the kitchen at Trio and encourage us to try and stump him on obscure ingredients. We always lost, but not from lack of trying. He even brought in two live chufa plants into the kitchen one day." The relationship has developed and Terra team has really made an effort to not only search out products that the chefs ask for but also keep an eye out for new ingredients and innovations. In August, Phil brought by some samples of products that he thought the Alinea team might be interested in trying.
Phil of Terra Spice showing the team some samples
Coconut powder and other samples
Grant recalls "the most surprising item to me was the dried coconut powder. When I put a spoonful in my mouth I could not believe the intense flavor and instant creamy texture, it was awesome." That was the inspiration for what is now Instant Tropical Pudding. The guest is presented with a glass filled with dried ingredients. A member of the service team pours a measured amount of coconut water into the glass and instructs the guest to stir the pudding until a creamy consistency is formed.
The rum-spiked coconut water being added to the powders
At the end of the day, the Chefs assess their overall effort as having gone "fairly well." It's a mixed bag of results. Clearly, the fact that things have not gone perfectly on Day 1 has not dampened anyone's spirits. The team has purposely attempted dishes of varying degrees of difficultly in order to maximize their productivity. Says Grant, "Making a bubble of caramel filled with powder…I have devoted the better part of fifteen years to this craft, I have trained with the best chefs alive. I have a good grasp of known technique. The lab's purpose is to create technique based on our vision. Sometimes we will succeed, and sometimes we will fail, but trying is what make us who we are." The team's measured evaluations of their day's work reflect that philosophy.
According to Chef Grant, "The purpose of the lab is to create the un-creatable. I know the level at which we can cook. I know the level of technique we already possess. What I am interested in is what we don't know...making a daydream reality." With little more than 100 days on the calendar between now and Alinea's opening, the Chef and his team will have their work cut out for them.
A special thanks to eGullet member yellow truffle, who contributed greatly to this piece
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- This event has passed.
Acro Yoga (beginners) with Will Dukes
August 19, 2019 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
|Recurring Event (See all)
Weekly on the same day
Event Navigation
Beginners Acro-Inspired Yoga
AcroYoga is a playful fusion of partner yoga, simple acrobatics and Thai massage. In these sessions expect sweat, laughter and some steps outside your comfort zone. This is a safe space to play and explore and we try and make it accessible to all levels of experience (including none at all!).
No partner necessary – we work in groups of 3 to ensure safe flights at all times.
What to bring with you: Water, and a mat if you have one (don't worry if not)
Level: Beginner
Name of the teacher: Will Dukes
Cost for the class: £ 10 drop-in OR £15 to both the beginners and intermediate class on the same night

subset: commoncrawl


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IBM Sets a Stingier 401(k) Standard
Employee benefits expert Jack VenDerhei tells Kiplinger how one-time year-end employer contributions may affect savers' returns.
Jack VanDerhei is research director for the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C.
KIPLINGER: Starting this year, IBM will make a single end-of-year contribution to each employee's 401(k), instead of traditional periodic contributions throughout the year. What impact does a lump-sum policy have on workers' savings?
VANDERHEI: If you assume a positive rate of return on 401(k) investments, then getting the entire employer contribution at the end of the year, as opposed to uniformly throughout, gives you, on average, a half-year less time to earn a return. But the longer you're in a plan, the less the impact. Based on data on millions of employees in more than 60,000 plans, my research shows that the overall reduction in the median 401(k) balance in a traditional plan for a 25-year-old would be 4.3% by the time that worker reaches age 65. For workers automatically enrolled in plans throughout their career (and therefore likely to be participating more of the time), the reduction is just 2.4%.
Will IBM set a precedent?
It's too early to tell. But back in 2006, IBM was one of the first companies to start freezing pension accruals for active employees. Some employers prior to that had frozen their defined-benefit plans, but very few for existing employees. Once IBM did it, the floodgates opened.
How many companies already make once-a-year 401(k) contributions?
The consulting firm Aon Hewitt says 9% of companies do it, but a lot of them have always done it that way. Employers either have been doing this for decades or will start to do it now.
What can workers do to keep their retirement savings on track?
Workers facing this type of change will have a whole lot of incentive to stay with their employer through the end of the year, or whatever the cutoff date is going to be. If you leave before that, you'll end up losing a full year's employer contribution. Workers might also want to put most of the lump-sum contribution in a money market fund and gradually shift some of it to the stock market at regular intervals, replicating the dollar-cost averaging they'd have if their employer had kept its periodic contributions. That way you won't risk investing the whole contribution all at once when the stock market is at a peak.


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ALBANY -- Thousands of opponents of New York's new gun control law gathered Thursday at the statehouse to lobby lawmakers and rally against measures they say infringe on their constitutional right to bear arms. Two lines in the morning stretched through the underground concourse of Empire State Plaza in downtown Albany, with a mass of demonstrators waiting to pass through checkpoints and metal detectors to enter the Capitol. Several held signs with slogans like, "Don't tread on me." "We believe Gov. Cuomo jumped on the bandwagon to become president of the United States," said Tom Moriarty, a retired New York City police officer from Orange County. He said the criminal laws already on the books should be enforced to the fullest, rather than infringing on people's Second Amendment rights and guns they have for hunting and security. "There's a lot of people here. There's more people coming right now," said Moriarty, who arrived with 125 members of the Black Rock Fish & Game Club in Cornwall on two buses. Barbara Teeter and Don Crane, who came from Columbia County on a bus with members of the Columbia-Greene Sportsmen's Association, said the issue is taking guns from people who haven't done anything wrong and not getting illegal guns off the street. "It won't interfere with mass shootings, this law won't," Crane said. Extra state troopers were on duty. Organizers say the afternoon rally will include an address by National Rifle Association President David Keene. Hundreds of people gathered outside by midmorning. The new law sets a seven-bullet limit on magazines, tightens the definition of illegal "assault weapons" and requires owners of formerly legal semi-automatic guns to register them. About 500 opponents rallied outside the Capitol two weeks ago, chanting they won't comply. The New York Rifle & Pistol Association, organizer of the rally, and other opponents have filed notice of their intent to sue in an attempt to overturn the law. Cuomo has said the new law "will limit gun violence through common sense, reasonable reforms that include addressing the risks posed by mentally ill people who have access to guns and banning high capacity magazines and lethal assault weapons." He advocated it after authorities say a troubled 20-year-old killed 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school using a semi-automatic rifle and large magazines illegal under New York's law. While the Cuomo administration and legislators are discussing possible amendments, the only ones disclosed so far would clarify that exemptions for filmmakers firing blanks and for police will continue under the new law.
Opponents of NY gun law gathering in Albany
- Michael Virtanen
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Interview With…War
HE: Today we sit down with everyone's favorite Horseman, War. Good morning, War. How was your trip to Earth?
WAR: Freakin' awesome! I missed the bus transfer in Purgatory, so I had to walk a some, but then this carful of female rodeo clowns gave me a ride in. Say…do I have white makeup anywhere fun?
HE: *struggling not to look* What confounds you most about mortals?
WAR: Uh…nothin'. Well, I guess sometimes I wonder why they go and hack and bludgeon the shit outta one another. Y'all are so fucking good at it, I almost don't need to try.
HE: Where is your favorite place to reap?
WAR: Battlefields, hands-down, and the bloodier the better. Your inner cities aren't bad these days either, on a small scale.
HE: If you were mortal, what job would you want to have?
WAR: Shoot, do we have time for my list? Porn star – that's an obvious one. I was thinkin' doctor since I ain't scared a blood. But the good kinda doctor like one of them Gyno…cogo-ologists, you know, the kind that looks at lady parts. Not one of them human butthole doctors. That shit ain't right. I was also thinking a vet might be awesome but only because I think the idea of having your entire arm up an elephant's ass is fucking hilarious… [actually rolls on floor laughing]
HE: Has a mortal ever escaped you?
WAR: Just one. Fucking Lazarus. I've had some reclassified out of my reach, like Caesar. He got too big for his Rubicon-wading britches, so he got moved from my domain over to Grim's. Same with Napoleon, that little Frog pantywaist. You might think Saddam Hussein escaped me by livin' all up in his own asshole there, but in the end, that was MY noose.
HE: What's the most negative aspect of wearing a meat suit?
WAR: There ain't no downside, Sugar Britches (winks). Uh, they're kind of fragile. Do you know how fucking painful bending your boner is? [shudders] Maybe the random need to back out a stinker.
HE: Is it hard working for God?
WAR: Fuck yes! Think about it: "Now War, you're supposed to go and reap souls lost to conflict… but don't be too messy… and don't break shit… and don't be too noisy, I'm resting… and that blood will stain, so don't get it on you!" Seriously, I'd rather be married to a Human woman with control issues.
HE: Is Lucifer as bad as they say?
WAR: Lucifer is a card-carrying dickwad. If he weren't one of them special creations of God, I'dve pummeled the piss out of his silk-suit-wearing panzie ass millennia ago. What I hate about Lu is that he won't just come out and fuck with you like a man. He's got to be all passive-aggressive and shit, so you're just cruising along thinking the everything is cool and BAM! You're asking yourself, "Hey, how'd this dick get all the way up my ass?"
HE: What do you have to say about the Mayans?
WAR: Oooooh! Those are so good with cheese! Or fried! I once had them barbecued and then smothered with pilates. Fuck, I'm hungry. Is there a taco place close?
HE: Your dream date is?
WAR: You. Those puppies real?
HE: [ahem] Can you just answer the question?
WAR: Guess I shoulda worn the tattooed rocker meatsuit. I'll say my dream date was Catherine the Great. You think that story about her dying underneath her horse was true? The only thing close to being horse-like in that rumor was my epic fuckin' …
HE: Alright, alright, moving on. Beatles or Elvis?
WAR: Fuck that hippy shit. I'm straight up old school metal dude, er, dudette. I do my best reapin' to Disturbed. They ain't metal but I love that shit. Makes me want to go hack something with a dull blade. Or bone them in half…
HE: Favorite sports team?
WAR: You know the Mongols used to have this brutal sport played on horseback… I don't know. I have to admire teams that suck ass but have loyal fans. The Red Sox come to mind. I hang out with fans mainly for the fun, and of course cheerleaders.
HE: Where do you see yourself in five years?
WAR: Kicking ass and taking names, baby. Humans are always coming up with new reasons to go schwack each other, and yours truly will be there to enjoy the fuckery.
HE: What would mortals be most surprised to learn about you?
WAR: I have a sensitive side… no shit. One time, I was out reaping and there was this little kid who got shot. So I was all, like, "Aww, that's sad," and then I jerked his little soul out – *ssschwaap* – just like that. Sensitive an' shit.
This concludes our sit down with War, the last of our interviews with The Four Horsemen. Stay tuned tomorrow for our exclusive on site interview in Hell with the ever stylish, ever evil, Lucifer. Then we'll round out our weekend with an interview with the Big Man himself, God and his favorite son, Jesus! Stay tuned…


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I am pretty sure I have never bought asparagus before because the hubs isn't a fan-- but I love it, so I wanted to make some for myself! We were having Sesame Chicken for dinner... so I figured a Teriyaki sauce on the asparagus would compliment the main dish!
Teriyaki Asparagus
serves 2
- 1 bunch of asparagus
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1/4 small onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp teriyaki sauce
- Wash & Trim the ends of asparagus.
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and saute until translucent (approx 5 min.)
- Add asparagus and garlic to skillet and stir fry for approximately 8-10 minutes or until asparagus is desired tenderness. (I like mine more done... so I left it on low for a while!)
- Once asparagus is done, drizzle with 2 tsp teriyaki sauce and toss.
- Enjoy!


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Police Practices and Activities Experts Serving Alberta
Change State | Show all Alberta experts
Find a Police Practices and Activities Expert
Experts in law enforcement professional practices, standards, police ethics, use of force, firearms, adherence to codes and lawsuits, police pursuit, failure to train litigation, search and seizure, police service dogs training and operation, police equipment and procedures. Police Practices and Activities experts serve as expert witnesses and forensic consultants in Alberta legal matters, and provide expert reports and testimony for judges, attorneys, lawyers, law firms, insurance companies and government agencies in Federal and state court trials and arbitrations in Alberta.
The listings below are of Police Practices and Activities experts serving Alberta.
Featured ListingsCurtis J. Cope Consulting, Inc
Curtis J. Cope
Huntington Beach, CA
California POST Master Instructor, Federal/State court-recognized expert. Some areas include: Use of Force, Training, Supervision, Police Practices, DUI, SWAT expertise. 29 years Law Enforcement experience; 42 years of law enforcement teaching and over 15,000 personnel trained.
Michael Levine, Consulting
Michael Levine, Federal Agent, Retired
Stone Ridge, NY
Michael Levine is a 50-year courtroom veteran as a supervisory federal agent, police instructor and police trial consultant. His expert trial testimony in Use of Force, Undercover Tactics, Informants, Blind Mules, Money Laundering, Narcotics trafficking, Interrogations and all facets of criminal investigations has been accepted in Federal and State courts in 19 states, Puerto Rico, and numerous foreign nations. In January 2008, he authored the Police Student Manual "Undercover Tactics and Informant Handling" for the New York State Department of Criminal Justice Services. Since his retirement from the Drug Enforcement Administration in 1990, he has been retained on more than 500 civil and criminal actions, depending on the facts, working for plaintiffs, defendants and police agencies. A list of his latest cases may be found at www.policetrialexpert.com.
Expert ListingsOakton Community College
George Klein, Ph.D, Professor Emeritus
Northbrook, IL
George C. Klein, Ph.D. works as an expert witness on the intersection of mental health and criminal justice. He specializes in the police apprehension of the mentally ill, police policies and procedures, police use of excessive force, and jail suicide. He was a part-time police officer for over eight years. He was a consultant and researcher for the Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI Academy for over 13 years. He is a trained hostage negotiator and served with a SWAT team. His book, entitled, Law And The Disordered: An Exploration in Mental Health, Law, and Politics, was published in 2009. The book is an examination of the mental health and criminal justice system in Illinois. It includes fieldwork on police apprehension of the mentally ill, hospital emergency rooms, the homeless mentally ill, and mental health screening in jails. His book, entitled, The Militarization of the Police? Ideology Versus Reality, was published in 2019. The book examines the police use of force, and the riots in Ferguson and in Baltimore. In 2018, he published an article entitled, On the Death of Sandra Bland: A Case of Anger and Indifference. He has also published articles on hostage negotiation and terrorism. In 2007, he published a book entitled, The Adventure: The Quest For My Romanian Babies. George Klein taught at Oakton Community College for 43 years. He is a Professor Emeritus.
Taylor Law Enforcement Consulting Group
Roy Taylor
Raleigh, NC
The Taylor Law Enforcement Consulting Group offers expert witness consultants specializing in law enforcement operations. We provide consulting and expert witness consultation to attorneys, insurance industry, and facilities involved in litigation. When you need a law enforcement expert, we specialize in police policies, use of force to include deadly force, electronic control devices, less than lethal weapons, high speed vehicle pursuits, failure to train, negligent retention, K-9 utilization, and failure to supervise.
ECJM Consultants Inc.
Edward Mamet
New York, NY
Retired NYPD Captain of Detectives, with 40+ years experience in all phases of Police Work. Expert in Investigations, Tactics, Operations, Conduct, Training, Use of Force, High-Speed Chases, Death in Custody, and Shootings. Plaintiff and Defense.
Adam Bercovici
Adam Bercovici
Oxnard, CA
I am a retired 30 year LAPD lieutenant and Expert for criminal defense, plaintiff, security, and premise liability cases. During my career I was directly responsible for managing officer-involved shooting scenes, investigations and undercover operations. I helped create and write the updated LAPD policy on undercover and plain clothes tactics.
On-Target Solutions Group, Inc.
Gregory Anderson
Yorkville, IL
I served as an executive/chief of police for three different law enforcement agencies, with the unique opportunity to start a police department from inception. I am the president and founder of the On-Target Solutions Group which provides consulting and training to law enforcement and government organizations. Our offerings are on a wide range of law enforcement practice topics including leadership and supervision, internal affairs investigations, use of force, best practices, and recruiting and applicant background investigations. Our training is approved by a state authorities with thousands of government personnel trained nationwide.
Law Enforcement Policy And Practices Consultant
Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson is a retired Lieutenant Colonel - Illinois State Police. Johnson continues to serve as a private consultant and expert witness regarding law enforcement policies and practices. He has been retained in over 200 cases and has been qualified in state & federal courts. He also conducts sensitive internal investigations. Johnson currently serves as an Assessor for the C.A.L.E.A. and has reviewed the operations of approximately thirty-five law enforcement agencies nationwide seeking accreditation.
R. Paul McCauley, PhD, FACFE
Police & Security Expert
Indiana, PA
Assist Plaintiff/Defense attorneys. Police and Security Policies, Practices, and Operations. Senior University Professor, former Security Manager, Police Trainer, Fulbright Scholar, Australia. Board-certified.
Michael Corbett
Corbett Investigative Consulting LLC
The Woodlands, TX
Daniel Bowman, Mr.
Daniel Bowman, Mr.
Blacklick, OH
Mr. Bowman has served as a consultant and expert witness in civil and criminal cases. He has been ruled as being qualified to offer opinion in the training, use and deployment of police service dogs, in federal, state and municipal courts. He is available to review pertinent information and evidence in canine related cases for the purpose of rendering an unbiased opinion as to the facts and circumstances presented.
McMahon & Associates
James (Jim) McMahon
Eagle, ID
Juries like our explanations of concepts and activities. Qualified expertise in multiple fields of endeavor. Prior law enforcement, US intelligence collection, security (people, Information, data systems, asset protection). Twenty five years full time experience from Officer to Assistant Chief of Police. Jim has testified in security risk cases of identity disclosure, serial homicides, assaults, bar fights and thefts of intellectual property. twenty years as a reserve officer / sergeant / lieutenant responsible for managing investigations of sexual assault, child sexual exploitation, computer crimes and pre-employment background investigations. Work with US Customs, FBI, Department of Justice and sworn as a special deputy US Marshal. Extensive work in the Silicon Valley.
J.A. Williams, LLC, Police Consultant
James A. Williams, Ph.D.
Cherry Hill, NJ
Dr. James A. Williams is a former Municipal Police Chief and a retired United States Department of Justice DEA Senior Executive and Chief of Organized Crime DEA Task forces. Part of his tenure at the USDOJ was spent as Mobile Chief of International Police Training. As a U.S. Diplomat to the Caribbean, he administered operational oversight to mission essential law enforcement and police training programs. He has been certified in Domestic and International Courts as an Expert in Police Policy, Practices,Procedures & Training. He has met State and Federal Court Standards of the Daubert Challenges. As an Associate Member ( Academic ) of the American Bar Association, he serves on the ABA Criminal Justice Section Committee. Dr. Williams' consulting and expert witness specialties for both Defense and Plaintiff Attorneys includes Wrongful Death - Wrongful Shooting - Excessive Force - Wrongful Arrest - Civil Rights Violations. Dr. Williams has been Court Certified as an Expert Witness in matters of Premises Liability involving Firearms and Excessive Force. Dr. Williams is currently on staff as an Adjunct Professor in the Law & Justice Department at Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey.
Chief Dan Busken
Greenville, TX
Chief Dan Busken served as a municipal police officer for 34 years including 24 years as a chief of police. This service included responsibility for development of and compliance with progressive law enforcement policies and procedures. Chief Busken served on the Board of Directors for the Texas Police Chiefs Recognition Program. This program sets the standards for progressive and professional law enforcement practices throughout the State of Texas.
Evidence Solutions Inc.
Ric Leutwyler
Tucson, AZ
Our team of experts, with decades of experience, can help you discover data, analyze, present, and provide expertise for your company. We are here to help support you with information that you can use to answer questions, solve problems, and prove your cases. We make confusing information easy to understand. Our goal at ESI is to help our clients obtain, understand, and utilize all the data and information available to them. We can analyze cell phones, computers, hard drives, EDRs, reconstruct accidents, provide trucking standard of care consulting, recover digital data, and provide expert witness testimony in our many areas of expertise.
On-Scene Consulting, LLC
Scott Defoe
Huntington Beach, CA
Expert for both Defense and Plaintiff on police practices, use of force and private security throughout the United States. Retired LAPD SWAT Sergeant II+1. During 26 year-career worked numerous specialized assignments such as: K9, SWAT, Patrol, Training, Jail Operations and VICE. Presently an Executive Director of Security in the private sector.


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About this blog
FLEFF Intern Voices
The Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival from the interns' point of view
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Blogging Post by Alexis Lanza, Film, Photography, and Visual Arts '15, FLEFF Blogger, Enfield, CT
I joined the FLEFF blogging team not knowing what to expect. All I knew was I wanted to learn and I wanted to write about it. My job is a blogger. I am a number; part of a group that is part of a larger group. We are the festival team.
The theme is dissonance. It's all we've been talking about for weeks. Every time I interview someone, I ask, "What does dissonance mean to you?" because every person has a different answer.
I have learned that festivals are a place for thought, discussion, and ideas to mass together in the same pot. I am excited for this. I think FLEFF is fascinating and every person who I have talked to has been completely different. It's a giant pot of soup with ingredients and flavors that somehow meld together to create an unexpectedly pleasant, bold, and unforgettable flavor. By result of some happy circumstance, I have been able to talk with people who offered an insight on something that directly correlated with my life: a concept I learned in class the day before that made me question my opinions, an idea I was on the fence about, or perhaps something that has been floating in the gray matter of my brain for awhile now.
I was given the privilege to speak with Karen Rodriguez, Upstate Filmmakers Showcase Curator, who talked with me about her experiences in the Pacific Northwest and experimental film. Hearing her story was the encouragement I needed to solidify my desire to move to Seattle and pursue what life has to offer me there. My blogging team also had the pleasure of Skyping with Leila Nadir, co-founder of ecoarttech (and her dogs!). Leila talked with us about the environment, nature, and her work. For that whole week, I had been subject to discussion along similar veins, focusing mainly on the National Parks, in my Environmental Anthropology class. I had been visibly struggling as these ideas threatened to irrevocably destroy everything that was important to me in my life before I questioned these topics. Without even realizing it, Leila put my mind at ease and helped me to see, as she put it, that nature "exists, but it's constructed."
Dissonance. Throwing a wrench into the mix. I experience this every day. Although a contributor to opening my mind, thus far FLEFF has also been a way for me to calm the dissonances in my life and in that way fully grasp the lessons the world is trying to teach me. These two examples embody the feelings I have been experiencing as a blogger for FLEFF the past couple months. I am a little tentative— but mostly excited— for the festival week, when every day will be these experiences one after another. I am open and ready to question the world.


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Digital Patterns
patterns by yarn
pattern category
skill level
Knit Usk, a men's cable cardigan from the Brushed Fleece brochure, designed by Martin Storey, using Brushed Fleece. For the experienced knitter.
This fun and festive unisex sweater was designed by Vicky Sedgwick using Felted Tweed.
Designed by Marie Wallin using Big Wool, this sweater is perfect for the winter months.
This stylish intarsia sweater was designed by Martin Storey using super soft Cocoon.
This classic sweater with front pocket detail was designed by Erika Knight using Cocoon.
This cosy intarsia sweater was designed by Martin Storey using chunky Big Wool.
Using Felted Tweed Aran, this cosy sweater features texture and cables throughout.
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Free delivery* on orders over $50 ex gst
$4.50 ex gst* is charged for orders under $50
Over sized items may incur a freight charge
Lit Loc Easel Floor Stand, 4 Tier x 4 Wide x 2, 32 Pocket, Double Sided - DLE
Lit Loc easel floor stands are a high quality, attractive and contemporary design for presenting your brochures and promotional materials.
Includes castors for easy mobility and adjustable height cross supports to allow brochure storage capacity to be adjusted to clients requirements. The Cross-Bars can be adjusted to two different heights in order to provide the appropriate support.
The included Lit Loc brochure pockets are made from durable crystal clear acrylic.
Easy assembly and tools are included.


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Recipe Source:
1.All Purpose Flour - 1 1/4 cup
2.Condensed Milk - 1 cup (minus 2 tbsp)
3.Butter - 1/2 cup ( 1 stick)
4.Orange Juice - 1/2 cup
5.Sugar - 3 tbsp
6.Baking pwdr - 1 tsp
7.Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
8.Orange zest - 1/2 tsp
9.Lemon juice - 1 tsp
10.Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
* Cut the orange into two halves and squeeze out the juice.
* Pre heat the oven for 356 degree farenheit or 180 degree celcius.
* Sift the all purpose flour,baking powder,baking soda and combine well.
* Take a mixing bowl,add butter and sugar.Beat it well.
* Now add the orange juice,lemon juice, condensed milk,vanills extract and beat them nicely.
* Now slowly add the dry ingredients and mix it with a spatula.Don't beat after adding the flour,if not the cake will not rise properly.
* Take a pan ,butter it well.Sprinkle some flour on top of the butter.This is a very essential step for making the cake to rise well.
* Now pour the cake mix and tap it to spread evenly.
* Bake for 30 mins or untill the tooth pick comes out clean.
* Transfer it to a wire rack and cool completely.
* Cut and enjoy the cake.
* Dont add too much of orange zest,it may make the cake bitter.
* Take utmost care ,when the cooking time crosses between 25 to 30 minutes,if not the cake may become hard.Keep an watch at the cake .
Sending this to my event started by Priya
Bookmarked Recipes Event


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American Physical Society Sites|APS|Journals|PhysicsCentral|Physics Magazine
- American Physical Society Sites
- Publications
- Meetings & Events
- Programs
- Membership
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- Careers In Physics
- Newsroom
- About APS
- Become a Member
"Computational study of fluid particles: dynamics of drops, rheology of emulsions and mechanics of biological cells"Background:
Xiaoyi Li received a Bachelor of Science in Thermal Fluid Engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China in May 2001. He conducted graduate research in the Depart-ment of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Delaware and obtained his PhD in 2007. His thesis work on the multi-phase flow of drops, capsules and cells was advised by Prof. Kausik Sarkar. The work was published in Physical Review Letters, Physics of Fluids, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, and Journal of Computational Physics and other major journals in fluid dynamics community. Xiaoyi received the 2007 Allan P. Colburn Best Dissertation Award by University of Delaware. After graduation, he was working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Center for Advanced Modeling and Simulation at Idaho National Laboratory. The work involved multi-phase fluid dynamics modeling of complex subsurface reactive transport processes with applica-tions to contaminant immobilization and shale oil extraction. Currently, Xiaoyi is working as a Senior Research Scientist at United Technologies Research Center. His current research focuses on multi-scale multi-phase flow modeling of spray atomization in reacting environment as mani-fested in aero-engines, rockets and industrial gas turbines.


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14 Sefton Road
14 Sefton Road, B16 9DR
£105 per person per week
This newly redecorated property is located near to the Edgbaston Reservoir and comprises of four bedrooms (3 double rooms and one en-suite), a lounge, bathroom, kitchen. It is also equipped with fridge/freezer, a cooker, and washing machine.
The city centre, shops, restaurant, clubs and pubs are only 10 minutes away.
- All bills included (Gas, Water, Electricity, TV Licence, Virgin Broadband)
Like what you see?
Why not contact us to arrange a viewing!


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Dear Customers, we are OPEN and posting orders as normal. There may be a delay in receiving goods in some areas.
July offer:25% off on Individual Bach™ Original Flower Remedies (excluding the Bach sets) plus Free postage for UK online orders!
Free Tote Bag with Nelsons logo - online orders over £50
Free Parker Pen - online orders over £100 to celebrate Nelsons Homeopathic Pharmacy 160 years anniversary.
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Everybody loves robots, despite what Mike Yamamoto may tell you. And these crazy musical robots at LEMURplex in Brooklyn are especially cool. These homemade 'bots are controlled by a single Mac, according to LEMURplex's Eric Singer. Cool stuff. Check out the video to see them in action. Happy watching!
Click here for previous episodes of Craving NYC.


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There are so many videos that I have been meaning to share with you all, but just haven't gotten around to doing so. I can hear my mother's voice echoing in the distance, "Shit or get off the pot, daughter!" (I love my mother. She swears like a sailor.) Did I mention that I am a professional procrastinator? If only that job paid. Well I'm finally doing it, shitting or getting of the pot that is, and am making these video posts a weekly feature.
For this first installment, I've chosen a sweet, 1984 short produced by the National Film Board of Canada featuring a woman named Carol Bowlby who grew massive amounts of food in her Nova Scotian urban backyard. Talk about packing it in! This lady had a mere 260 square feet of space in which to plant and was able to produce enough to keep her family of five in veggies for seven months out of the year. Now that's impressive. I've been able to glean several useful and thrifty tips on small space growing from the film. But the icing on the cake has to be the film's classic late 70s-early 80s ambiance: an earthy, handmade pottery sense of style set to an airy flute combined with tinkly xylophone soundtrack, just like all of the educational films us 40-somethings watched in elementary school. The helpful, timeless tidbits overlaid by the dated fashions and sounds make this one a real gem.
Friday, May 13, 2011
4 comments:
Seriously, major flash backs from that vid. Not that any of said flashbacks had anything to do with a garden. Thanks! I am your newest follower :) Love your blog and I have spent too much time on it. We just bought our first pygmy goats today and we have raised rabbits for about 2 years and chickens for 1. As long as my neighbors don't tell, we will be fine :)ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMay 15, 2011 at 7:31 AM
This is a very inspiring video.ReplyDelete
I liked the idea of laying saved raspberry canes on the beds to keep cats from laying down on the seedlings. Lots of good stuff in there, that we all know now, but was much less common in the 70s.ReplyDelete
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Beach Workouts
Hitting the beach, but still want to work out? Here are some beach workouts that don't seem like workouts at all. (The calorie-burning and fitness potential of these activities is based on a 150-pound individual performing the activity for one hour and are estimates.)
Throwing a Frisbee®: Who doesn't love to play Frisbee? It's great fun, but also burns 205 calories an hour.
Boogie Boarding or Body Surfing: Also burning approximately 205 calories per hour, boogie boarding or body surfing can help you cool off during the summer heat while you burn those calories.
Tossing bean bags or horseshoes: Both of these burn over 200 calories per hour, too, and bean bag tossing is also kid-friendly—a great way to make it a game the whole family can enjoy.
But if you really want to ramp up your calorie-burning potential while enjoying time at the beach, then try these. (Calorie-burning potential is also for a 150-pound person performing the activity for one hour and are estimates.)
Beach volleyball: Burning nearly 545 calories per hour, beach volleyball can be super fun in the sun for you and a group of friends. It works your entire body, and after an hour or so of friendly competition, you can jump in the water to cool down.
Run along the beach: Running at an approximate rate of six m.p.h. or about 10 minutes per mile, burns 682 calories per hour. Also, running along the beach can be a nice change of scenery and terrain. And you can dive into the water when you're done!
Go for a swim: Swimming can burn calories, too—approximately 477 per hour or 682 per hour at a more energetic pace—and it sure is a great way to stay in shape while having fun at the beach.
Then there's stand-up paddleboarding, which strengthens your core and can provide a full-body workout. The average male can burn between 800 to 1,000 calories per hour, while the average female may burn approximately 500 to 700 calories per hour. Again, this is just an estimate, but that's impressive.
So, go ahead and join the beach party—and stay in shape at the same time.
In order to avoid risk of injury, please seek advice directly from your physician, especially if you have existing medical issues, before beginning any exercise or nutritional program. Also, be sure to stretch after exercise to avoid muscle and joint tightness.


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Hello everyone!!
It's been a week since my last post, and well, I truly wanted to post but for the last week I was battling a cold. The only thing that I could possibly blog about would have been tissues, nyquill, sneezes, and soup. I thought I'd spare everyone the boredom and take a little blogging break! A week later and my cold is DONE (thank god!).
Now that I feel better, I finally feel like I can resume my normal workouts, eat a wider variety of foods, and go back to the regular flow of life.
Yesterday I ventured out for a run for 1/2 marathon training. My schedule called for a 4. 5 mile run which is the farthest distance I've gone in quite some time! I missed my training run with the running group Saturday because I was still feeling iffy, so I decided to run alone on Sunday. The temperature was a brisk 21 degrees! It was hard for me to adjust to the cold temperature for the first five minutes, but I eventually warmed up.
In the beginning of my runs in the cold, I try to inhale through my nose and exhale through my mouth. Now, I don't know if there is any proven science behind this, but your nose helps to filter, moisten and warm the air making it less harsh on your lungs. I try to do this type of breathing at the beginning of my run to get my lungs used to the cold air!
Overall, I was pretty happy with my pace! Since I hadn't been training because of my cold, I was worried that I'd go too slow. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was going at a sub 10 min/mi pace! My goal is to continue training at around this pace.
I hope your week is off to a great start!


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In Louisville, Southern Indiana and Western Kentucky
5012 East Manslick Rd.
Louisville, KY 40219
This organization has provided current materials to the Better Business Bureau (BBB)
When a report is complete, it will be available at no charge by contacting this office or
by visiting our Web site. If the organization is a charity, the report will also include
the results of an evaluation in relation to the BBB Standards for Charity Accountability.
The BBB reports on charities and determines if they meet 20 voluntary standards on matters
such as charity governance, finances, fund raising, and donor privacy. The BBB does not
evaluate the worthiness of a charitable program.
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Since many people are already familiar with openVPN, this seemed like a good idea. However, in and of itself openVPN is not sufficient. The most convenient way for people to be able to work is for them to be able to directly connect to their already existing desktop. All of the users here run either Windows XP (tm) or Windows 2000 (tm), which suggests rdesktop as a solution. But rdesktop can't get through the firewall and we won't open our firewall for that traffic as it would be too hard to secure. Adding openVPN allows for more security, but it runs into the following problems within the scope of our implementation:
In order to eliminate the security issues above and to make it less of a difficult system to maintain into the future, I suggested creating a Linux live CD that boots, logs into an openVPN server that connects the external and internal networks, and then automatically opens the individuals internal desktop using rdesktop.


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There are disagreements among avid supporters of organic production as to what growing methods should be allowed to carry the "certified organic" label.
Those viewpoints, especially the question of whether or not food grown by hydroponic farming methods should be eligible, were on display during a panel presentation April 7-9 at the annual North American Agricultural Journalists spring meeting in Washington, D.C.
Lee Krankel, executive director of the Coalition for Sustainable Organics, said that growing in soil doesn't always make sense. There are areas where soils are poor, where rainfall is scarce and where growing conditions are not amenable to traditional fields of crops, he said.
"A hydroponic system lets you use 1% of the amount of water you would otherwise need," he said. "The question I have is whether new labeling requirements on organics could blow out the USDA Certified Organic program's reputation."
Krankel said U.S. customers expect that foods that are labeled Certified Organic will be free of pesticides, hormones, antibiotics and GMOs.
"Where will we be in 2030?" he asked. "The original organic law, going forward, is about the social welfare of workers, the humane treatment of animals and the standards of organic production. Does the industry go by to Congress and try to evolve the label?"
David Chapman, executive director of the Real Organic Project, said hydroponic growers are attempted a "hostile takeover" of the organic industry.
"Organic is about the health of the soil and the health of the planet," he said. "Agriculture has a big impact on climate change Healthy soil produces a healthy crop and healthy animals. People expect to go to the store and buy an organic tomato that was grown in soil, not by hydroponics."
Chapman suggested that the "monied interests" have moved in to change the definition of organic in order to protect their own profits and insisted that allowing hydroponics to be labeled Certified Organic will diminish the meaning of the label.
Steve Etka, policy director for the National Organic Coalition, said that certification of non-soil crops is problematic because the organic laws require that crops qualifying for the label must be "fostering healthy soils."
"Organic standards enhance biodiversity and environmental protection," Etka said. "They require production systems that sequester carbon. The idea is to assure consumers that they are getting what they want. The organic label should be about continuous improvement. We should be using Certified Organic as the base and adding on labeling that tells consumers when there are higher standards."
Laura Batcha, executive director of the Organic Trade Association, said that an organization that includes 9,500 operators is bound to face some problems.
"It is not about small and large and not as much about real organics but an extreme stance of anti-regulation," she said. "Companies large and small can have a farm that is not organic, but can have containers sitting on concrete and their content is organic. There's something 'off' about that."
Batcha said she believes that the market will decide in the end. If consumers do not accept any steps down from organic rules and humane treatment of animals, then the industry will be forced to maintain standards that they will accept.
She said there are a limited number of rules that can be pushed without regulations beginning to strangle small growers.
TALKING LABELS: Lee Frankel, left, executive director of the Coalition for Sustainable Organics talks about labeling standards as the rest of the panel looks on. Seated from left are Dave Chapman, executive director of the Real Organic Project; Steve Etka, policy director for the National Organic Coalition and Laura Batcha, executive director for the Organic Trade Association.
"If you use regulations as a supply management tool, then you are going to see supplies get really small or really large," Batcha said.
Her concern about container growing is that labeling Certified Organic should only be allowed if the surrounding farming operation is also organic.
The panel also expressed concerns about how organic labels play out in import and export markets. There are countries with stricter standards for organic labeling, and others whose standards are more lenient than the U.S., particularly in allowing organic labels on meat from animals that have been treated with therapeutic antibiotics.
There are also concerns about "fake" organics entering the U.S.
"Organic is a consumer-driven label, and we do have to be aware that we put ourselves into a position of distrust of all organics as a result of import fraud," Batcha said.


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MPAA Points To Its Roster Of Crappy Online Services And Asks What We're Complaining About
from the nice-try deptIn response to Jimmy Wales reiterating the fact that Hollywood's own failings online are a major cause of infringement, the MPAA has hit back by saying: that's crazy! After all, the studios do Hulu and Netflix, so how can anyone complain?
Wales had used everyone's favorite example these days: the difficulty in finding a legitimate way to pay for Game of Thrones online...
Wales also argued that the entertainment industry needs to continue adjusting its business model so it offers people the content they want. Citing a personal example, Wales noted how he can't watch HBO's "Game of Thrones" series at home in London even though he's willing to pay for it.A smart and consumer-focused MPAA might note that they're trying their best but they realize there are still gaps and they hope to continue to improve. But, you know, that's not how the MPAA rolls. Instead, they send out spokesperson Kate Bedingfield -- who just recently joined the MPAA from the White House -- to insist that Wales was crazy for suggesting they need to make more efforts to please customers. You see, in the mind of the MPAA, as long as they've done something, they've clearly done enough.
"I think that he media industry needs to say, 'Look, why don't we sell people what they want to buy,' and I think that will take care a huge proportion of the problem," he said.
"Our studios are constantly partnering and innovating new ways for audiences to watch the movies and TV shows they love: Hulu, HBO Go, Vudu, Crackle, UltraViolet, Epix, MUBI – and that just barely scratches the surface," said Kate Bedingfield, a spokeswoman at the MPAA. "There are more legitimate avenues available today to watch movies and TV shows online than ever before, and our studios are continuing to innovate every day to bring audiences even more options."In other words, don't actually address what Wales said. Don't respond to his specific complaint. Insist that because you're doing something, even if it doesn't solve the problem he noted, you're clearly doing enough... and then revert back to talking point numero uno: oh, poor us, we're harmed! So harmed. Harmed into our best years ever at the box office... (oh wait, they leave that last part out).
"At the end of the day, stealing shows and movies out of convenience still harms the people who work hard to make them," Bedingfield added.
Seriously, the MPAA needs to hire communications people who actually deal with consumers, rather than politically-focused ones. They seem to have absolutely zero sense of how to respond to the public on anything without making themselves look worse. The last two decades of RIAA/MPAA communications have been a long-term case study in exactly how to do everything wrong.
Filed Under: game of thrones, hollywood, jimmy wales, piracy, ultraviolet
Companies: hbo, hulu, mpaa


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Leave us a comment (if that doesn't work, try emailing us instead) and NIFG will try to help. We've got the greatest minds in the local game here to help, or at least we'll see if we can point you in the right direction...
Please try searching the site (using the search box in the top left-hand corner) prior to posting questions.
The important bit (PLEASE READ):
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Question: 31/01/2011 from Lindsay
I have an official photo (taken by Clemnts Lyttle Studios) of a 1934/35 NI football cap, but am struggling to identify him as only the name Albert is hand-written on the back. Any ideas? I am happy to share the photo for your archives.
Hi Lindsay. There were no "Alberts" capped at senior level in 1934/35, but it is possible that it is an Amateur, Junior or Youth cap. If you could forward a photo to the address above (or post it to a photo hosting site such as Picasa/Photobucket etc and send on the link) we will have a go at identifying who it could belong to.
Question: 22/09/2009
What was Lawrie Sanchez' record as our manager, i.e. wins draws defeats and goals for and against?
Sanchez's record was: Played 32, Won 11, Drew 10, Lost 11, Goals Scored 35, Conceded 42.
Full details for all managers available here.
Question: 21/03/2009
Who was the last player to score against the Republic of Ireland?
Answer: 21/03/2009 from jcd
The last Northern Ireland vs Republic of Ireland match was held in May 1999 at Lansdowne Road, Dublin in a fundraiser in the aftermath of the Omagh Bomb. Northern Ireland won 1-0 thanks to a second-half goal by substitute "Super" Danny Griffin which can be viewed here.
Question: 12/02/2009
What is the greatest number of players from one Irish league club to start a full international match for OWC? I have 3 from Limavady starting in our glorious 11-0 defeat against Wales on 03.03.1888- can any club beat that?
Answer: 12/02/2009 from jcd
The Limavady tally of three has been surpassed on several occasions. Though the record stands with Linfield who supplied seven players to face Scotland on 25/03/1893.
Linfield also supplied six players for another six matches. Cliftonville also managed six for four matches; the best by Distillery was five; Belfast Celtic and Glentoran's best matched Limavady with three. Bohemians, then an Irish League club, managed four against Wales in 1912.
I was at the B international game against the Republic - Tolka Park - February 1998.We won 1-0. But I cannot remember who scored? Any ideas???
Answer: 13/03/2007 from jcd
Republic of Ireland 'B' 0-1 Northern Ireland 'B'
11 February 1998 - Tolka Park, Dublin (Att: 10,200)
Scorer: George O'Boyle (43).
Has any NI player ever played top flight football in England (Premiership or old First Division)but not played for NI? For that matter, has any Welsh, Scots or RoI player ever played top flight English football but never been capped?
Answer: 25/03/2007 from jcd
- just none I can think of right now!
The obvious answer is Jim Hagan (one of the few non-internationals profiled on this site) who played top-flight football with Coventry and Birmingham in the 70s and 80s. There have been many other instances, normally of just a few appearances.
From the Premiership era (covered here in detail):
Johnny Wright (Norwich 93/94)Also off the top of my head:
Wes Boyle (Leeds 96/97)
Owen Morrison (Sheff. Wed. 99/00)
Jimmy Harvey (Arsenal 77/78-78/79)
Henry Lunn (Portsmouth 47/48)
Errol McNally (Chelsea 61/62-63/64)
Peter Tilley (Arsenal 53/54)
Davy Hannah (Liverpool 1894/95-96/97)
Billy McDevitt (Liverpool 23/24)
William Hood (Liverpool 37/38)
As for Scottish and Welsh players I'm sure there's been loads particularly dating back prior to the Premiership
Hi there. First can I say what an excellent resource Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats and Irish League Greats are... I came upon the former a few weeks ago, and must've spent hours reading it since, fabulous.
This falls somewhat between the stools of both - but do you know if Belfast ever played intercity matches, against the likes of London or Glasgow or Sheffield, either as annual challenges or "one-offs"? Particularly if any such games were on the go after WWI or even WWII?
Northern Ireland was fully into the annual series of inter-league, amateur, schoolboy, and junior games - and it would be interesting if Belfast got involved with this class of fixture. On the Scottish Football Historical Archive there is a single appearance of Belfast among lists of Inter-County / Representative ties... 21 Jan 1882 Ayrshire 12-0 Belfast, 28 Jan 1882 Belfast & District 0-12 Ayrshire (at Cliftonville)... but obviously that's in the formative years of the game, and something of a mis-match by the looks of it!!
Answer: 04/08/2012 from jcd
Glad you're enjoying the sites!
Aside from the 1882 trial match (or matches) I haven't seen any evidence that Belfast played regular inter-city matches. There were regular inter-provincial matches prior to WWI (Ulster vs Leinster results here) and inter-county/inter-regional association matches (partial Co. Antrim results here, Co. Derry also played a number of matches in the late 1880s, touring Scotland and playing Co. Antrim and Dublin). Perhaps it could be surmised that as there was no Belfast FA, the Co. Antrim FA matches could be considered an alternative(?).
I'll publish anything additional to the site that I find.________________________________________________________________________________


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Two successful new auctions will further boost wind energy supply from 2013 onwards.
The country clocked up a total of 930MW of installed wind capacity at the end of 2010. More than 325MW of wind projects came online across 14 wind farms as part of Proinfa - the government's renewable energy programme - according to Brazil's electricity regulatory agency Aneel. This year could be even better, with experts forecasting more than 500MW resulting from Proinfa, as well as the construction of projects that were commissioned via auctions in 2009 and 2010.
Auctions involving wind were the highlight of the year, showing that wind can be an important contributor to the grid - which is dominated by energy from hydroelectric power. The two auctions in August, which allow generators to secure 20-year power-purchase agreements, notched up 70 wind projects - or 2GW of new capacity - to come online in 2013.
The auctions saw a frenzy of bidders that drove the average price of the two auctions for wind down to BRL130.86/MWh ($77.8/MWh), almost 12% lower than at the country's first-ever wind auction in December 2009. Average auction prices for wind energy in 2011 should remain at around the same level as those in August, says Pedro Perrelli, executive director of Brazil's wind energy association, Abeeolica. "Of course, if many projects are submitted for future auctions, you will see a few companies that bid at very low prices," Perrelli adds.
The government has already indicated it is likely to hold new auctions for renewable energy this year, which should include wind.
Indeed, a large number of companies are waiting in the wings. Santiago Miles, corporate communications manager at Impsa, an Argentine renewable energy equipment manufacturer and developer, estimates that more than 340 wind projects that did not win bids in August are waiting for new auctions.
Miles is optimistic following the success of the auction. The auction's low prices were a direct result of the industry's maturity and regular auctions will continue to stimulate the development not only of the industry itself, but also of suppliers of items such as electrical equipment, logistics, manpower and civil engineering, he says. Impsa plans to install 222MW of wind this year.
New factories
The success of the auctions has convinced a number of companies to set up factories in Brazil, spanning from the industrial heartland of Sao Paulo to the windy north-east of the country. International names such as French infrastructure and power group Alstom, US turbine giant GE Energy and Indian turbine maker Suzlon are betting on further growth based on the government's commitment to hold auctions.
These companies were joined in December by Spain's Gamesa, which announced plans to build a factory in Bahia state. Gamesa expects to begin production at the factory by mid-2011. Impsa and Wobben Windpower, a subsidiary of German turbine manufacturer Enercon, are expected to start local production even sooner.
Lauro Fiuza, president and founder of local wind energy firm Grupo Servtec, says wind projects contracted at the auctions are already in the initial phase of construction.
Not to be overshadowed by the auctions, the government's Proinfa programme was steadily notching up new projects last year, including power group Multiner's 51MW Parque Eolico Alegria I in the north-eastern state of Rio Grande do Norte, which came online in December.
Some approved wind farms are still earmarked to be built in 2011. "We see 404MW of Proinfa projects that still need to be built this year," Fiuza says. A handful of big Proinfa projects will come online in 2011 after securing extensions from the original deadline of 31 December 2010, such as Multiner's Alegria II, and a ten-wind farm complex owned by Impsa in the southern state of Santa Catarina. According to Perrelli, most of the remaining projects already have the financing, equipment, licenses and some have even started building.
Industry analysts believe the financing of wind projects continued to become easier last year. Developers and manufacturers were able to obtain credit from national development bank BNDES and its regional counterparts. In January BNDES and the Banco do Nordeste approved BRL 905 million ($543 million) in loans to local energy company Renova Energia. Although private financing still remains relatively limited, new players such as Spanish bank Santander are increasingly eyeing up this expanding market.
New wind under Proinfa programme
Year MW
2006 208.3
2007 10.2
2008 89.3
2009 266.9
2010 325.6
Total 900.3*
* Brazil also installed 30MW of small private wind prior to Proinfa
Source: Aneel


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There's a scene in the 1987 movie "Robocop" where a security robot, programmed to kill anyone holding a weapon, trains its guns on a junior executive holding a pistol to demonstrate how the machine deals with criminals. "Drop your weapon," intones the robot, "you have ten seconds to comply." The young executive drops the gun. "Drop your weapon," repeats the robot, "you have eight seconds to comply!" Panic ensues. The robot continues its countdown. Things don't end well for the executive.
Right about now, SGI may be feeling like that junior executive, and SCO is the robot training its guns on yet another alleged case of IP infringement. Tossing away the pistol of infringed code has evidently done SGI no good at all.
SGI is now officially in SCO's sights over claimed violations of SCO's IP, including elements of xfs, the journaling file system SGI donated to the Linux kernel a few years ago. SCO sent notice in August that it was terminating SGI's Unix licenses where Irix (SGI's own Unix variant) is concerned, but it hasn't announced any plans to sue. Yet. SGI has until October 14th to comply with the termination. If what SGI has to say about the matter is any indication, SCO may be saved some embarrassment.
SGI's response to SCO is part of what's coming to be more and more the Kabuki theater of Unix litigation: The company has told SCO it doesn't agree, and just as promptly taken its case to the open source community so we can all endure yet more open letters and responses to open letters while these companies slug it out.
According to SGI, it did contribute some lines of infringing code to the Linux kernel: about 200 out of more than 1 million. The company says it expunged the code, then conducted an audit and turned up other problem areas, which it is still in the process of fixing. SGI is doing the right thing, both in general terms and with regard to SCO's demands, which were that SGI fix the matter.
SCO, on the other hand, is persisting with the license termination.
The immediate reaction of many (us included) was to laud SGI for being reasonable and fair, moving quickly to fix a problem and honor another company's IP. Our other immediate reaction was to scold SCO for keeping its guns trained on SGI despite the company's reasonable and honest efforts to honor its license. That reaction is reasonable in light of SCO's inconsistent enforcement (as noted last week when we reported HP's apparent free pass in the litigation frenzy) and general boorishness on the PR front. If SCO persists in terminating SGI's licenses despite the company's apparent good-faith efforts to clean up its code, SCO is wrong.
But further reflection must include the fact that SGI did cop to infringement and tried to mitigate the seriousness of it by pointing to the fact that the code it unlawfully contributed to Linux "appeared" to be in the public domain anyhow, and there just wasn't that much of it. And that takes us back to the overall arc of the SCO case. and why, as much as we think SCO's behavior is heavy-handed and overreaching, it's best to reserve judgment on the core of the matter, which is SCO vs. IBM. If SGI did mistakenly infringe on SCO's copyright then there's no reason to believe that IBM would have been immune to the same mistake
In Other News
SCO and SCO-related dramatics hogged most of the Unix limelight this week, but not so much that we can't take the time to note an important release of an important piece of software: Samba 3.0.
If Linux has found a place as glue in many organizations, it's in no small part because of Samba, which allows Linux machines to act as Windows file and print servers in a manner that's transparent to Windows clients. It's a vital bridge between the world of Unix servers and Windows desktops, and we're inclined to think of it as key to the success of Linux, right up there with Apache. With Apple's adoption of Samba in its own OS X, Samba has become a, sort of, lingua franca for file and print sharing.
With the release of Samba 3.0, the software now provides Windows NT Primary and Backup Domain Controller functionality, as well as single sign-on Active Directory support, which enables Samba machines performing PDC duties to integrate seamlessly in Active Directory environments.
The Samba release announcement says "this enables significant cost of ownership savings over a Windows NT4 domain," which is to say "Why pay for Windows when you can get Samba for free?" That's a discussion we'll leave for another time.
Security Roundup
The most noteworthy security issue this week was the discovery of several vulnerabilities that could lead to either denial of service attacks or a remote exploit through the OpenSSL package. The vulnerabilities were discovered during a security audit conducted by the U.K. government. No exploits have been demonstrated yet, and patches may be found, as usual, from your vendor or from the OpenSSL download page, where a patched version is available in source form.
Tips of the Tradescreen Revisited
Last week we made the case for giving GNU screen a try. It's a piece of software that allows users to multiplex a single physical terminal into multiple login sessions on a server, detach the sessions, and reattach to them elsewhere on the network. What we didn't go into were the numerous configuration options and commands screen requires to work.
Screen configuration is handled through a file in the home directory called .screenrc. Here are a few lines from our own .screenrc, with an explanation of what they mean:
vbell off: This controls whether screen uses a visual bell by flashing the terminal or an audible bell. If you tend to keep your screen sessions behind other windows, you will probably prefer to turn the visual bell off to be able to hear the audible bell.
caption always: screen can provide a small caption that tells you which session you're looking at. Handy if you have to access several hosts and don't have a good indication of which one you're in.
screen -t production ssh production.acme.com: This line tells screen that when it starts up, it should automatically open a login session named "production" by running the command "ssh production.acme.com". You can have as many "screen" lines as you like: They'll all run when you start screen. We have several of these lines in our own .screenrc to connect us to a console mail client, a tail of our daemon log, and our news reader. Any command you would interact with from the shell will work here.
Here are some keystrokes you can use to manipulate screen.
ctrl-a space cycles between sessions.
ctrl-a " brings up a list of all available sessions.
ctrl-a ': prompts for a session to switch to, either by name or by number.
ctrl-a c: opens a new session.
ctrl-a d: detaches the screen session, thus freeing up the terminal. You can reattach by logging into the same machine elsewhere and issuing the command "screen -r".
If you ever leave a screen session running without detaching first, you can reattach to the same session from another terminal by using the command "screen -RD," which forcibly detaches the session from the old terminal and reattaches it to the terminal you're at.
One last tip: If you're an emacs or bash user used to using "ctrl-a" to get to the beginning of the line, you may notice screen grabs the ctrl-a as its own escape key. How do you get around that? By using the command "ctrl-a a" to tell screen to ignore the escape. It takes a little getting used to. If you want to switch the command prefix from ctrl-a to ctrl-b, you can always use this line in your .screenrc: escape ^bb. With the keystroke examples we gave above, you'll now be able to use ctrl-b.


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When the Air Force activated its first unmanned aircraft wing in 2007, the military invited journalists out to Creech Air Force Base in Nevada to come take a look at the robotic future taking off.
Today, that kind of openness would be unthinkable. The Air Force began to limit press access to Creech in 2009. In the last six months, they've closed it off almost entirely, turning down every American media request to visit the drone pilots. The only visit approved during that period was from a British outlet, involving Creech's UK drone squadron, Air Force officials tell Danger Room.
Drones are the signature weapon in America's wars, from Afghanistan to Yemen to Pakistan. Their employment has become one of the world's most sensitive political issues. But, thanks to the near-blackout of the media, the public knows less and less about the drones – and the people who operate them.
That's a big shift from just a few years ago, when reporter after reporter was given an interim security clearance, and sat next to pilots as they controlled drones thousands of miles away above the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. Photographers were given a wide berth to shoot what they liked. The Air Force even posted footage from the drones' cameras to YouTube.
A May 2009 60 Minutes segment was in many ways typical of the era. Correspondent Lara Logan, using an awestruck tone, boasted her "rare look" at the Reaper drone's 500-pound laser-guided bomb and, for dramatic effect, was tracked on the base by a Predator. The Air Force declassified drone footage for 60 Minutes – including a sequence of Iraqi insurgents being taken out by the drone.
Of course, the Air Force didn't just let reporters waltz into Creech. Journalists were carefully vetted, and then given a temporary secret clearance before being allowed into the drones' remote cockpits. The reporters couldn't have cellphones on them. Notes and footage were reviewed before they left. And if any journalists passed through the doorway that separated the secret and unclassified zones, blue lights hanging from the ceiling would flash, "a reminder to the crews to mind their conversations, an outsider is among them," as Esquire's Brian Mockenhaupt put it.
The blue lights signaling the presence of journalists haven't come on for a while. New guidelines put in place have made it harder for journalists to be let in. Starting in 2009, media requests to visit the base had to be run up the chain of command, first through Air Combat Command, which oversees the drones and all other Air Force tactical aircraft, and then relayed to Air Force headquarters, where they were "more or less denied," said Staff Sgt. Dustin Holmes, Creech spokesperson.
"The change in guidance wasn't a light switch that turned off all public access to information about [remotely piloted aircraft]," said Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis, spokesman at Air Combat Command, but "it was a recognition of the sensitive nature of the mission and the risks involved in unrestricted media access to an operational unit."
"You will very rarely find reporters in a cockpit looking over the shoulders of pilots flying real combat and intelligence missions," said Sholtis. "No one should expect to see that happening with RPAs simply because the crew's cockpit happens to be in a building farther from the battlefield."
Press visits to Creech were all but phased out in 2010. "Creech was unable to support media requests during this timeframe because of a high operations tempo and post 9/11 security concerns," said Creech spokesperson Lt. Katherine Roling.
At the same time, the drones flown from the base became more important than ever to American military and intelligence operations. U.S. Air Force drones' flight hours more than doubled in three years, rising to 563,000 in 2010 from 262,000 in 2007. Reported CIA drone strikes in Pakistan spiked to 117 in 2010, compared to 50 or so in the year before.
The U.S. government maintains that its top-secret CIA drone program, operating in Pakistan, is completely separate from the classified-but-overt military drone effort, which is supposed to be limited to Afghanistan. (The reality is more complicated than that, with Air Force drones chasing militants into Pakistan and the CIA relying on military personnel to operate their aircraft.)
Ironically, just as press access to the ostensibly open military drone program wound down, the government began to speak more and more about the supposedly super-secret CIA drone war. In 2009, then-CIA chief Leon Panetta declared that drones were "the only game in town in terms of confronting or trying to disrupt the al-Qaeda leadership." By the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the Washington Post was describing the whiteboards used to keep track of pending operations and informants in the region. The CIA's former top lawyer, John Rizzo, told Newsweek about the group of 10 agency lawyers who granted "approval for targeting for lethal operation."
"It's basically a hit list," Rizzo added.
This counter-intuitive approach to dealing with the press – shutting access to the open war, while cracking the door to the secret one – meant that the public saw the machines and some kind of political machinery at work. But the men behind the machines – the pilots – disappeared.
What was lost? In a 2009 Frontline episode, we could drive to work with the pilot who prays for strength and wisdom. 60 Minutes caught the flicker of doubt in the eyes of the pilot confronted with the question, "What if you get it wrong?" Never mind the myth of the efficient killing machine. There are people who make the decision of whether to pull the trigger. There are stories to be told about these airmen who have the power over life or death.
Opponents of the drones tend to paint them as "cowardly" weapons, operated by people who are conscience-free. By shutting off access to Creech, the Air Force is allowing that argument to be floated without rebuttal.
After spending a month being tossed from one military spokesman to another, film producer Daniel Desure put up a Craiglist ad in desperation. Were there any drone operators who would talk to a group of artists about non-classified parts of their job? Dozens of responses came in. Desure filtered out the obvious fakes, found eight people who sounded legitimate, and set up interviews with four people.
But then, a call from the FBI spooked the team. Desure was warned that "there are a lot of people who don't want this to happen." Shortly after that, two drone operators who already agreed to talk to him went dark.
One of the pilots sent an apologetic email, excerpts of which were forwarded to Danger Room. "My commander just briefed the entire base that we are not to discuss details regarding our aircraft, or mission, with outside agencies and press offices," the email reads. "Everyone is spun up over personnel releasing information to the public."
Desure's team eventually found one airman who agreed to speak, but wouldn't allow himself to be identified. In the final product, 5,000 Feet Is the Best, a former drone pilot addresses the camera, his voice digitally distorted, his face cast in a blurry halo. We have to take the word of the filmmakers that he is who he says he is. He describes the heat patterns of the landscape that stretches out before him, and spots something that looks like a "white blossom." He must be in his 20s. As he tries to make out the images on the screen, we too, try – and fail – to meet his eyes.
Photos: Noah Shachtman


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Had another fabulous trip to Portimao with No Limits. 13th - 15th October
Lot's of sunshine, beer and bikes There was another Duke out there, Orange 1290 with lots of stickers on the headlight. Looked to be having a lot of fun.
Thought I'd share this, saw me on someone else's video. So it quickly became my video
Right at the very back at first, 6 or 7 bikes back. There's a black Duke on the prowl...