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The nation's entertainment capital shut down on Tuesday as two major awards shows and a Madonna concert were canceled, and most of Hollywood's big studios closed their doors in response to horrific terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.
Latin Grammys Canceled, Primetime Emmys Postponed The 2nd annual Latin Grammy Awards show had ironically been moved to Los Angeles from Miami for security reasons last month amid fears that anti-Castro demonstrations protesting the presence of Cuban artists might get out of hand.
Organizers of the star-studded music gala said on Tuesday that the $4 million production, which was to have been broadcast in the United States and 120 other countries, was canceled.
"Who wants to be in a public place with thousands of people under these circumstances?" said one Latin music executive. Guitarist Carlos Santana was among those scheduled to perform at the event.
Organizers of Sunday's 53rd annual Primetime Emmy Awards said the ceremony was postponed indefinitely "out of respect for the victims, their families, and our fellow citizens," said Jim Chabin, president of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. "We will set no new date until we find out the extent of this tragedy and the national mourning that's going to take place," Chabin told The Associated Press. Television and Film Production Halted Hollywood's big studios, from AOL Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. to Sony Corp's Sony Pictures to Vivendi Universal's Universal Studios, closed their doors Tuesday and instructed staff to go home as the country remained in a state of shock.
The major U.S. television networks canceled regular programming to allow for blanket coverage of the events. NBC said production has been halted for the week for its late night programs hosted by Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien. According to The Hollywood Reporter, location shoots for ABC's Thieves, CBS' Judging Amy, and Fox's The X-Files, were all shut down Tuesday. "We have not denied any permits and have not requested any production companies to shut down, but we have informed them that police and fire departments are on high alert and that may impact some productions' ability to shoot if using pyrotechnics or gunfire," Morrie Goldman, VP of Communication for the Entertainment Industry Development Corp., which handles permitting for the Los Angeles area told the Reporter. Staples Center 'In Lock-Down Mode' A Madonna concert, scheduled for Tuesday night at the Los Angeles Staples Center, which seats 20,000, was also canceled.
"We're in lock-down mode and on high security," said Lee Zeidman, senior vice president of operations for the Staples Center. He said the pop diva's shows on Thursday and Friday were still scheduled to go on at this point.
Walt Disney Co., whose parks and cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse are symbols of America at home and abroad are considered terrorist targets, said that Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in Southern California closed Tuesday, but reopened Wednesday. (Mr. Showbiz and ABC are owned by the Walt Disney Co.)
Reuters contributed to this story.


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A One Direction Fan-Fiction. │Caution: This story has...
Playing by the Rules
- by Megan (:
- Rating:
- Published: 15 Aug 2013
- Updated: 20 Jun 2014
- Status: In Progress
A One Direction Fan-Fiction. │Caution: This story has cussing and moments of intimacy. If you have a problem with any of those, then this might not be for you. │© Copyright 2014. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced, displayed, modified, or distributed without the expressed prior written permission of the copyright holder. For permission, contact Megan (: on Movellas.com
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Author's Note:This story is the direct sequel to Surprises in the Greenwood and I'd highly recommend you have read that before reading this as otherwise some things won't make sense.
by NiRi
On Friendly Terms With The Dwarves
Legolas made his way towards the looming shape of Erebor — the Lonely Mountain. He hummed softly to himself as he walked, glad that he had been able to get away for this trip. It had been two months since Gimli and he had parted since their return from the War. It felt good to have returned home, but his family saw how much he missed the friend he had made in his travels, and so they had shooed him on his way with instructions to tell Gimli to visit again soon. Oh, how he looked forward to seeing the dwarf again! A message had been sent to Gimli through the men of Dale, who were on friendly terms with the dwarves. A reply stated his friend would be expecting him and looked forward to his visit.
Being expected, Legolas made his way up the slope with little concern, following the map Gimli had sent. The sudden screaming of his senses, proclaiming danger, took him a bit off guard, and he froze in his tracks. A thud sounded, and he found, in the ground before him, where he would have been if he had not stopped, a dwarven throwing ax lay deeply imbedded in the ground.
Glancing up from the axe, he discovered a group of four dwarves approaching him, and angry dwarves judging by their countenances. Each dwarf was heavily bearded and wearing chain mail over a colored tunic. And all were armed with axes as well. Legolas felt grave concern over the expressions on their faces. He had learned from watching Gimli that if a dwarf looked like that, there was going to be trouble — big trouble usually. Uncertain, he stooped and picked up the axe, noting it's fine, sharp edge. Straightening, he faced the advancing dwarves and smiled, trying to sound cheerful. Anything to ease the tension in the air around them.
"Greetings, my good dwarves! I am Lego—"
A booming voice interrupted him. "We know who you are, elf!. And you would be wise to stay where you are and toss away the axe!" The dwarf that spoke was black-haired and wearing a red tunic. Standing to either side of the speaker stood his mirror copies, only with brown hair and beards, one in blue and the other in yellow. And slightly behind them stood a dwarf that looked very much like Legolas suspected Gimli must have appeared when he was younger, sporting wild auburn hair and wearing a black tunic. Gimli's brothers, perhaps? He swallowed. All were giving him menacing glares.
Legolas complied with their wishes, tossing the axe forward a few paces. He had no desire to cause any trouble, but he was very confused about their grim demeanors. He was expected, was he not? The black-haired one said they knew who he was! So what was the meaning of this reception? Surely Gimli had told the others he was coming? He swallowed again, watching the advancing dwarves with a wary gaze.
The dwarves halted a few yards away. One of them, the dwarf in blue, picked up the axe and slipped it back into his belt.
"We know who you are," the dwarf in red repeated. "And you are not welcome here. We don't know how you enchanted our brother, but you won't be enchanting anyone else! We will find a way to release him from your foul spell!"
Legolas blinked. So they were Gimli's brothers. Oh bother it all, he had not counted on the ongoing animosity between the elves and the dwarves being a hindrance to his visit. This would not be fun at all, if Gimli's family did not accept him!
Holding his hands out, palms up in a sign of peace, he smiled, trying to reason with his greeters. "I assure you, I have done nothing to Gimli, other than befriend him. I do not understand why you would think such things, but perhaps if you would call him, he could explain..."
"And let you ensnare him even more?" The dwarf in blue asked, his brows rising up his forehead.
"He's lying," the one in yellow cried, fingering his axe.
"Probably wants to enchant us, too," the red-headed dwarf murmured, though of the four, he looked the least convinced.
"And how do you explain that foul creature?" the one in yellow spit out the question. "Huh? Do you have any idea what followed our brother home? Almost killed Grayn, it did!"
Foul creature? What did he have to do with that? He could not think of what they meant— A sudden suspicion sent trickles of apprehension down his spine. Oh, no. Tell me she did not... But it would explain her absence these past weeks, would it not?
Legolas sighed. "I beseech you, please listen to me. I know not of what you speak. Please only fetch Gimli, and I am sure we can put whatever has happened behind us." He started to question why he had ever agreed to visiting his friend's home. Gimli could not have thought it a good idea considering his family's misconceptions about him!
"Do you think we are so stupid?" Yellow shirt growled. "You sent a warg after our brother! It found Grayn first." He pointed at the dwarf just behind them, the one that looked so much like Gimli, who was bobbing his head, eyes wide. "Luckily we were able to fend it off. Only, whatever you did to our brother has his brain so addled he took the creature into the mountain with him! The darn thing sleeps on his bed at night! And you try to say you did not put him under a spell?"
The group of dwarves threw each other suspicious looks and red shirt nodded. "Get him!" As a group they rushed Legolas, who still stood in shock over all he had heard.
Legolas had wondered where Draugalu had wandered off to, but she was prone to such things. And if he was not being rushed by four angry dwarves, he would have laughed that she had followed Gimli home. The female warg, who he had raised from a pup, had taken a shine to his friend when he had visited the Greenwood.
He leapt back to avoid the onrush of angry brothers, but found it had been an unnecessary move. Before they could reach him, a voice called out, and all four suddenly stopped in their tracks.
"What is wrong with you idiots? Do you wish to dishonor your family by attacking Gimli's friend?" The speaker stepped into view, and Legolas gazed upon another dwarf. This one also had auburn hair, but lighter in shade than that of Gimli's and black shirt's hair. And this one wore no mail, just a plain brown tunic belted over dark trousers.
Due to his family, Legolas had much experience with females. He had a wonderful wife, a beautiful daughter, a mischievous granddaughter and numerous nieces, not to mention his mother and brother's wife. Legolas had prided himself on charming the ladies of his family. And so, even though brown shirt was appeared much like the others in build and beard, and spoke gruffly like a dwarf should, Legolas picked up on little things that assured him this one was different. This dwarf was female. He smiled.
"I don't know what you think you are doing! Mother is going to kill you! She told you to leave the elf alone." The dwarf-woman crossed her arms across her chest, tapped her booted foot much like any woman of Legolas's acquaintance, and glared at the four brothers who had turned toward her. They were looking guilty...and to Legolas's amusement, afraid.
Legolas just stared. He had been shocked by many things in his life, but never had he anticipated this visit to be so eventful. And he had not even seen Gimli yet! The dwaf-woman met his eyes and smiled, and when she did, her eyes twinkled and he thought she was lovely, for a dwarf.
She uncrossed her arms and approached, holding out her hand. "Galin," she said, "sister of Gimli, daughter of Glóin at your service."
Legolas took her hand but did not know whether to shake it or kiss it. He did not remember if Gimli had ever said how one greeted a dwarf-woman. However, Glóin was a dwarf of high position, and so Legolas opted for the latter, bending low to bring her fingers to his lips. Galin giggled lightly — he had not known dwarves could giggle — and pulled her hand back as a red blush crawled over her face.
"Now, now Master Elf! Gimli told me you were married. You should not be flirting so with unwed females." Galin chastised him with a coy smile.
Legolas flushed in embarrassment. He had not meant to give her that impression! "Forgive me, my lady. It is the custom of my people to greet a lady in such a manner." He bowed. "Legolas Thranduilion, at your service."
She inclined her head, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "Nice to finally meet you, Legolas."
He smiled, realizing she had only been teasing him. "Is Gimli expecting me? I do hope Draugalu has not caused any problems. I apologize for any trouble she may have been. I never thought she'd follow Gimli home!"
"Draugalu is a dear and has been no trouble except when she sat on Grayn and washed his face repeatedly! Seems she mistook him for Gimli." She gave him a wicked grin. "I would have paid handsomely to have witnessed it!" Inclining her head towards the mountain, she continued,"Gimli is expecting you and is being notified that you are here, as we speak. Forgive the rudeness of my brothers. They do not understand how it is possible for Gimli to have befriended an elf."
Legolas walked with her towards the entrance to the mountain, but could not help noticing Gimli's brothers had slipped away. For some reason, he did not think he had seen the last of them. What a shocking way to start his visit!


text:
Redoubt Fortress and Military Museum
For nearly 200 years, the Redoubt Fortress has defended the Eastbourne coast. Formerly a barracks and store depot, it formed part of the chain of Martello Towers which stretched from Folkstone to Seaford.
Today this magnificent building provides the perfect setting for the largest military museum on the south coast. The museum holds the Regimental Collections of The Royal Sussex and The Queen's Royal Irish Hussars and also the Sussex Combined Services.
Venue Type:
Museum, Castle or defences
16 March to 15 November 2015.
Adult £4.50
Senior/Student £3.25
Child £2.50
Family (up to 5 people) £12*
*must include 1 child under 16
- Museums Association
Additional info
Free on-street and Pay & Display parking available nearby. Disabled parking bays on Royal Parade. A platform stairclimber suitable for most manual wheelchairs is avaible for access to the museum - please phone to book.
The museum consists of several collections, primarily those of two distinguished regiments of the British Army, The Royal Sussex Regiment and The Queen's Royal Irish Hussars. The other major collection is that of the Sussex Combined Services Museum, which records all military ties with the county.
Collection details
Weapons and War, Coins and Medals, Archives, Decorative and Applied Art, Fine Art, Costume and Textiles, Photography, Social History
Key artists and exhibits
- The Royal Sussex Regiment
- The Queen's Royal Irish Hussars
- The Sussex Combined Services Collection
- Eastbournes Home Front
Redoubt Fortress and Military Museum
Royal Parade
East Sussex
- About
- | Collections
- | Map


text:
Phoebe Cates, 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High'
That "sproing!" heard 'round in the world in 1982? That was the sound of a generation reaching puberty at the sight of Phoebe Cates in (and out of) her red bikini. Bonus leer-fodder for those who enjoy the male torso: Sean Penn, Eric Stoltz and Anthony Edwards violate the "No Shoes, No Shirts, No Dice" policy.
Universal Pictures
Copyright © 2018, Daily Press


text:
Similar to a
pacemaker, a vagus nerve stimulator (VNS) is a small
device implanted under the skin near your collarbone. A wire (lead) under the
skin connects the device to the vagus nerve in your neck. The doctor programs
the device to produce weak electrical signals that travel along the vagus nerve
to your brain at regular intervals. These signals help prevent the electrical
bursts in the brain that cause seizures.
After it is implanted in your body, the battery-powered device can
be programmed from outside your body by your doctor. You can also use a
handheld magnet to turn the device on if you feel a seizure about to start. And
turn it off if it is causing unpleasant side effects.
It takes about 2 hours to surgically implant the VNS device
in the chest.
The vagus nerve stimulator can start working right after the
surgery (as soon as the doctor programs it). You may notice a slight bulge in
the area under your collarbone where the device is. And the surgery will leave
small scars on the side of your neck where the wire lead was placed and on your
chest where the device was implanted.
Vagus nerve stimulation can be used in some
people who have
partial seizures, who have not responded well to
antiepileptic medicines, and who are not candidates for epilepsy
VNS is used in combination with medicine or surgery. VNS does
not eliminate the need for medicine, but it can help reduce the risk of
complications from severe or repeated seizures.
The vagus nerve stimulator reduces the frequency of partial
seizures that don't respond well to medicine and may make them less severe. It
is used along with antiepileptic medicines or epilepsy surgery to control
partial seizures.
The benefits of VNS seem to increase over time. In one study:1
For people who can sense when they are about to have a seizure,
turning on the VNS using their hand-held magnet can sometimes prevent the
seizure. It may also shorten a seizure already in progress.
Studies show that VNS may also be effective in children. VNS improved independence, mood, and learning in some children.2
The vagus nerve stimulator is considered safe. Mild side effects
occur in some people when the device stimulates the nerve. The most common side
effects include:
In children, vagus nerve stimulation may cause increased
Vagus nerve stimulation is not a cure for
epilepsy, and it does not work for everyone. It does
not replace the need for antiepileptic drugs. It is most likely to be available
at an epilepsy center.
Complete the special treatment information form (PDF)(What is a PDF document?) to help you understand this treatment.
CitationsSchachter SC (2002). Vagus nerve stimulation therapy
summary: Five years after FDA approval. Neurology, 59(6,
Suppl 4): S15–S20.Buchhalter JR, Jarrar RG (2003). Therapeutics in
pediatric epilepsy, part 2: Epilepsy surgery and vagus nerve stimulation.
Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 78(3): 371–378.
Last Revised:
August 26, 2011
Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
Susan C. Kim, MD - Pediatrics & Steven C. Schachter, MD - Neurology
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2012 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.


text:
G423, New October 2001
Flexible cash rental agreements are designed so that landowners and tenants share in the boom-bust cycles of farming. The tenant assumes nearly all the risk in a cash rental arrangement. In a crop-share agreement, the tenant and landowner share risk in proportion to input costs paid or output received. A flexible cash rental arrangement is a hybrid between a cash and a crop-share rental agreement. It allows for some of the tenant's risk under a traditional cash rental arrangement to be shifted to the landowner. With increased risk there is a greater chance for higher profit. Therefore, over several years the landowner should receive a monetary return that is greater than would have been received in a cash rental agreement, but less than the landowner's share in a crop-share rental agreement.
Flexible cash rental arrangements allow a landlord to share in high prices and yields; however, the landowner also must share in low prices and yields. Tenants decrease their risk relative to a cash lease agreement and in turn give up some profit potential. An advantage is that if a flexible cash lease can be designed to satisfy both parties, the arrangement can be used for multiple years. Of course a new written and signed lease should be completed each year (unless the lease is a multiple-year lease), but the method for calculating the rent would stay the same.
This publication discusses three basic types of flexible cash rental arrangements:
The price and yield flexible cash rental arrangements are typically easier to develop and compute. As the names imply, price and yield arrangements vary only one factor, whereas a revenue arrangement varies both factors. This distinction is important if, for example, flexing of the cash rental arrangement for price during a high price year - paying a high rental rate - occurs when yield is simultaneously low. The revenue flexible cash rent agreement takes into account both yield and price in determining the rental rate.
Flexing for revenue involves indirectly flexing both price and yield simultaneously and holds advantages for all parties. For example, flexing for gross revenue allows the following scenarios to be avoided:
Use our interactive Revenue Flexible Cash Rents calculator.
Rent is determined by adjusting the base rental rate by the ratio of current gross revenue to a revenue level based on historical observations. The tenant and landowner will need to determine the base gross revenue before agreeing to the contract.
Assuming the tenant will plant corn on the acreage, the lease states the base rent is $80 per acre and the base gross revenue is $200 per acre. The base gross revenue might be determined by using the last five-year average gross revenue for the field. Any year's gross revenue is determined using actual production and a stated local price, such as the average local weekly Wednesday price between Sept.15 and Dec. 1. If the actual gross revenue is $220, then the rent is
[$80 x (220/200)] = $88 per acre
Before the crop year begins, both tenant and landowner agree how to determine the current year's yield and price, as well as the percentage share of the crop used for calculating rent. (This is similar to a crop-share agreement except that price is included and no input costs beyond land are incurred by the landowner).
The agreement states that the landowner will receive a cash rent payment equal to 30 percent of the actual yield at a set price (such as the average local weekly Wednesday price from Sept. 15 to Dec. 1). If the actual corn yield is 110 bushels per acre, and an average price from Sept. 15 to Dec. 1 is $2.10 per bushel, rent would be
[(110 x 30 percent) x $2.10] = $69.30 per acre
Both parties agree in advance on a fixed base cash rent, current year's base price, normal yield, and how rent will increase. A ceiling could be used with this method, but the floor price would be the fixed base rent.
Tenant and landowner agree on a minimum base rent of $55 per acre, based on an average soybean yield of 35 bushels per acre and past average price of $5.75 per bushel for a typical expected value of $201.25 per acre. Assume a good year with an actual yield of 40 bushel per acre and a price of $6.00 per bushel. If it were agreed that rent would increase 30 percent for increases in value per acre, then rent would be
$55 + (((40 x 6.00) - (35 x 5.75)) x 30 percent)
$55 + ((240 - 201.25) x 0.30)
$55 + 11.63 = $66.63 per acre
There are many methods of flexing rent based on yield. The rental payment is adjusted (whether higher or lower) based on a predetermined method. Generally, a base cash rent is set and adjustments are based on actual production. Following are two examples.
Use our interactive Yield Flexible Cash Rents calculator.
Rent is determined by adjusting the base rental rate by the ratio of current yield to a pre-established yield level based on a historical average. The tenant and landowner will need to determine the base rent and base yield before agreeing to the contract, and this arrangement should be stated in the contract. A floor and ceiling rental amount clause could be added to the contract.
Assuming the tenant will plant corn on the acreage, the lease states the base rent is $80 per acre and the base yield was determined to be 100 bushels per acre. The actual production was 78 bushels per acre. The rent would be
[$80 x (78/100)] = $62.40 per acre
Both parties agree on a base cash rent, as long as the yield falls within a range. Yield levels outside this range cause the rental rate to be adjusted reflecting the actual production. Again with this method, floors and ceilings could be used on total amounts per acre.
Assume the agreement is specified for a soybean crop. The agreed base cash rent is $65 per acre, if the current year's soybean yield is in the range of 25 to 35 bushels per acre. For each 5 bushel per acre outside the range (higher or lower), the rent moves $5 per acre. If the current year's field average yield is 20 bushels, which is 5 bushels outside the range, then rent would be lowered $5 per acre [(5 bushel outside the range 3 5 bushel movement change) x $5]. Thus, the cash rent would be $60 per acre.
There are many methods of flexing rent based on price. The rental payment is adjusted (whether higher or lower) based on a predetermined method of pricing. Following are two examples.
Use our interactive Price Flexible Cash Rents calculator.
Rent is determined by adjusting the base rental rate by the ratio of current price to some pre-established price level based on a local historical price. The tenant and landowner will need to determine the base rent and base price before agreeing to the contract. The location and time period used to determine the actual price should be agreed upon in advance and stated in the lease agreement
Assuming the tenant will plant corn on the acreage, the lease states the base rent is $80 per acre and the base price is $2.50 per bushel. The actual price will be based on the average local weekly Wednesday cash price from Sept, 15 to Dec. 1. The price used in flexing the rent (the weekly Wednesday price from Sept. 15 to Dec. 1 in this example) is $2 per bushel. The rent would be
[$80 x (2/2.50)] = $64 per acre
Both parties agree on a base cash rent, as long as the price falls within a specified range. If the price goes higher or lower, then adjustments to rent are based on predetermined adjustments. Ceilings and floors can be used on the total rent paid. This guarantees the landowner a minimum rent level, as well as allowing for the tenant to receive the rewards of good management when revenue is above the ceiling.
Assuming the tenant is planting soybeans, the base cash rent is $75 per acre. The local average historical price (in this case average price between Sept. 15 and Dec. 1), is between $5.25 per bushel and $5.50 per bushel. For each $0.10 outside the range, the rent adjusts $1.50 per acre. If the current year's price is $4.85 per bushel, which is $0.40 outside the range, then rent would be lowered by $6 per acre. The rent paid to the landowner is $69 per acre.
The above methods require a base cash rent, base yield or base price. Here are a few tips for determining those values. These are only guidelines, and individuals can choose to use whatever works best.
The tax implications of using a flexible cash rental agreement are not clear. In particular, it is important to determine whether the landowner is a material participant in production agriculture, because if the landowner can waive material participation, then the landowner can choose to be exempt from the self-employment tax. The issue with a flexible cash rental agreement is whether the landowner is a material participant. The farmer's tax guide provides criteria with which landowners can determine whether they are material participants. The criteria listed in the farmer's tax guide should be considered when specifying the flexible lease agreement.
Many of the flex cash rental methods could easily have a clause for a rental rate floor and ceiling. Why would the tenant and landowner be interested in floors and ceilings? In a year of low prices and low yields, the landowner would still get a guaranteed payment. In a good year with high prices and high yields, the tenant would benefit as a return to management.
How do the tenant and landlord agree on floor and ceiling prices?
There are no exact rules for doing this, but here is one suggestion. The first step is to set the base rent amount. Assume the base rent is $75. At this point, both parties consider how far they could or would be willing to go in an extreme year. For example, assume both parties agree to go $25 either direction. Therefore, the floor or minimum rental payment would be $50 per acre. This amount would be guaranteed to the landowner, and in a bad year the rent could go this low. The ceiling or maximum price would be $100, and in an extremely good year, the landowner could get up to this amount.
When a flexible cash rental agreement is agreed upon, be sure to include the method of calculation for all crops grown. It is possible to use different rental methods for different crops. If the lease agreement is for different crops, include the number of acres of each crop and how rent will be calculated.
Order publications online at http://extension.missouri.edu/explore/shop/ or call toll-free 800-292-0969.


text:
By: Mark McGrouther, Category: Science, Date: 30 Jul 2010
It's been a week of movies and blogs. The site contains 8 new movies and links to some fantastic new material on the Web. Thank you as always to our contributors!
Dangerous times for Stripey Snappers
Finding a home on the reef can be a lethal time for baby Stripey Snappers. This post showcases a recently published paper by the Australian Museum's Jeff Leis.
Fantastic fish links from Pelagos
Ichthyologist, Adrian Flynn, kindly allowed us to post links to some of the most amazing footage about fishes. The 'Barreleye in Monterey Canyon' is incredible. Thanks again Adrian!
A Sixgill Shark was caught on video attacking a bait in deep water near Osprey Reef, off north-eastern Australia.
Watch our intrepid researchers swim through blue water watching nothing but a tiny fish in front of them.
Eastern Smooth Boxfish at Julian Rocks
Highcrown Seahorse in the Gold Coast Seaway
Roundbelly Cowfish at Julian Rocks
Splendid Hawkfish at 9 mile reef
Striped Boxfish at Osprey Reef
Thornback Cowfish, Lactoria fornasini
Tags Stripey Snapper, Larval following, fishes, ichthyology, boxfish,


text:
New Marathon County Surveyor
Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 3:09 pm
Congratulations to my daughter, Emily Pierce, named today as the new County Surveyor for Marathon County. She will be sworn in on November 16th. On that day, she will be taking an official oath at the County Clerk's office to support and uphold the US and State constitutions and the duties as prescribed to her in the state statutes because she will become a constitutional officer. She will officially be the first woman to ever be Co. Surveyor in Marathon County, and the third woman in the state.
If you see Emily congratulate her.
If you see Emily congratulate her.


text:
SCons / GSoC2008 / Ideas
The SCons wiki has moved to https://github.com/SCons/scons/wiki/Ideas
[[!toc 3]]
Fix Bugs
As with all projects, bugs and requests for enhancements and new features accumulate. Many of them only involve a couple of weeks worth of effort, but the primary developers are busy enough that there's just not enough time to get to them. Dealing with a few small bugs, a couple of medium enhancements, or a single large new feature (and including tests and documentation) is a tremendous way for inexperienced programmers to get their feet wet, gain experience, and sharpen your Python skills.
The idea here is to choose a reasonable set of bugs to tackle: not too hard and not too easy. You can get advice from the mailing list as to the difficulty of various bugs, but judging how long it will take to do a task is one of the skills that young programmers must develop.
The issues database contains the list of defects that would be the starting place to look for bugs to fix. It also contains the requests for enhancement and new features that can also be mined for potential ideas.
Mentor(s): StevenKnight, GaryOberbrunner, others
Simpler Interface for "Simple" Builds
The attraction of systems like CMake and GNU automake is that they provide a very simple interface (parseable as a Python script) that handles a wide number of typical builds. The idea is to design and implement an interface that is as simple as CMake and
automake for the kinds of tasks they handle, while still allowing the full power of SCons for the tasks that they don't handle well.
A prior project has provided a great deal of the
automake functionality for SCons. Although it is useful, the interface is not simple. One approach to this task would be to take that implementation and extend it with a very simple interface.
This task requires skills in language synthesis and language design, plus the ability to conceal unnecessary complexity behind a simple façade. The interface should "just work" for a wide range of common tasks, keeping the implementation details out of sight.
Mentor(s): GregNoel, possibly StevenKnight
New Builders
SubstInFile() Builder
This is a builder that takes a file containing a template and fills it in using a dictionary of names and values. There's a starting implementation in SubstInFileBuilder. This project would turn that into the be-all end-all of template builders. Here's some ideas for how it could be better:
- Currently it just does simple value substitution; it could do full Python expression substitution (although that may be overkill?).
- It could take prefix/suffix arguments so template variables could look like %FOO% or $(FOO) or whatever people want. Handling parens like this means maybe handling nested parens in the expressions. Even should allow for no prefix/suffix.
- It should be able to take a construction environment as the dictionary, so construction variables get expanded. This shouldn't be the default because it's a little unsafe (you never know what stuff might appear in an Environment in the future and break your build).
- There could be a better interface for passing the substitution dict than just overriding SUBST_DICT; apply some creativity here! A Value node or something possibly? It also needs a test suite and documentation. There's some documentation in this wiki at DeveloperGuide/TestingMethodology.
This is a reasonably-sized project, and well-contained so it should be very easy to integrate the result into the release with minimal disruption. It shouldn't take more than two or three weeks: a week for preparation (exploring ideas, specification, writing some tests), a week for implementation and testing, and a week for documentation and fixing bugs.
Mentor(s): GaryOberbrunner
Python Binary Builder
Surprisingly, SCons can't compile a Python source into a Python binary. A builder that did this would be a useful addition. This isn't enough of a project for a full summer's worth of work, but it could be combined with other small projects to fill up the summer.
Mentor(s): probably StevenKnight, possibly GregNoel
Other Builders
When converting a legacy build system, portions of it may well be written in another scripting language. Instead of being forced to rewrite the scripts into Python, it would be simpler to continue to use them as they are. Builders for Sed, Awk, Python, Perl, Lua, Ruby, and others would be a useful addition; see also Groovy under the Java heading below.
These are a bit different from other builders, in that not only do they have the typical target and sources, but they also have a script that must be executed. This will probably require modifications to the core builder logic to deal with this.
These are small projects, not enough individually to fill up a summer of coding, but they could be combined with other small projects.
Mentor(s): probably StevenKnight, possibly GregNoel
Internationalization with Gettext
gettext set of library functions allows a program to deal with internationalization (i18n) and localization (l10n) issues. The entire suite contains functions to use a translation catalog to convert a string in one language into another and handle the various numeric and date formats. Providing this support to programs being built would be very useful.
GNU uses the
autopoint command to determine the
getttext infrastructure. SCons will need a similar configuration step to determine exactly what it needs to do.
SCons will need a builder for the
msgfmt program, which compiles the catalogs into binary format, and possibly for other programs as well.
This project will need someone who understands i18n, l10n, and the
gettext model.
Mentor(s): GregNoel, StevenKnight
Internationalization of SCons
SCons itself needs to be internationalized. There's a Python
gettext module to do the heavy lifting, but locating and marking all the strings that need to be translated, plus setting up the infrastructure to provide translations, is a lot of patient, detailed grunt work.
LIBOBJ Support
autoconf can replace missing or broken library functions with versions that are locally compiled and included in a program. It provides support for
fileblocks, and probably others.
It would not be a stretch to extend this facility to generating header files for specific circumstances;
dirent.h comes to mind.
SCons should have such a facility. It's far more than a summer project to provide a framework and all the functions, not to mention the configure tests that determine if the replacement is needed, but establishing the framework and a few of the configure tests and corresponding functions should be well within scope.
Mentor(s): GregNoel, possibly StevenKnight
Revamped Option Handling
SCons has three completely-independent mechanisms for providing variations in a build:
- An Optik parser for command-line flags. This is a fine system, but it's not extensible to allow flags to be declared after the initial parse.
- A home-grown parser for dealing with variable assignments on the command line and in files. It isn't bad and probably is a reasonable basis for expansion.
configuresubsystem that extracts information from the machine and operating system. It currently has only a few actions implemented, and its integration with other components isn't as smooth as one would like. All of them have in common that they convert external information into an internal form, so that user code (or even system code) can make decisions based on it. All of them have ways to validate the external information, change the shape of the external information into a more palatable internal form, make decisions based upon the values, and usually have the effect (or sometimes side-effect) of changing the values of variables in the construction environment. The first two also have in common that they want to provide help text to the user upon request.
The idea here is to integrate the three mechanisms, or, at worst, integrate the first two and provide a foundation for the third. Ideally, it should be fully backward-compatible with the existing
Options() functionality.
There's been some discussion on the mailing list about this, and a (partial) specification is available. However, there are still a few points for which no consensus emerged; these would need to be resolved. The most likely way to tackle it would be to translate the single-character flags into their token equivalents as a special case so that all the later processing only has to deal with tokens.
Mentor(s): Probably GregNoel
Smarter Treatment of Intermediate Targets
[[!bug 583]] is about implementing something similar to the .INTERMEDIATE and .SECONDARY special targets in GNU
make (see the description in the manual). A SECONDARY target is only built if it is needed by a downstream target that's being rebuilt. An INTERMEDIATE target is a SECONDARY that is automatically deleted once all downstream targets using it are successfully built.
This idea will need four things to be implemented:
- The Intermediate() and Secondary() functions to mark Nodes appropriately.
- The logic to delete an intermediate target when the need for it is done.
- The logic to figure out if a target is up-to-date even if intermediate or secondary targets are missing.
- The logic to rebuild missing intermediate targets if a downstream target needs them. Mentor(s): GregNoel
Don't Rebuild if Only "Comments" Differ
If only the comments in a file change, there's no need to rebuild anything that depends on it. This can easily be accomplished by stripping out comments (and other extraneous content) when calculating the signature. [[!bug 193]] discusses this, including some tips for implementation, although the approach suggested there may not be adequate in all cases.
The complication here is that the source for one tool could be comments for another. For example, the C compiler and the Oxygen documentation system operate on the same files, but they have different ideas about what the significant content is. Changing the documentation should not trigger the C compiler and changing the code should not trigger the documentation system.
Since this change would cause almost all targets to be rebuilt the first time the new release of SCons is run, this change should be packaged with other updates that do the same. The BigSignatureRefactoring page appears to be the meeting place for coordinating this.
Mentor(s): Probably StevenKnight
Library and Application Versioning
SCons has no direct support for versioned libraries and applications, that is, packages that may have multiple versions installed at the same time. SCons supports neither installing a versioned package nor choosing between multiple packages for a particular build.
In the former case, the need is for a cross-platform "link" (or "symlink"?) action, with generic chaining so that
libfoo.so can be symlinked to
libfoo.so.1, which is linked to
libfoo.so.1.2, which is linked to
libfoo.so.1.2.3 (the actual installed library). Similarly, an application might be installed as
prog2.3 and needs a symlink to
prog. In addition, when cleaning (
'scons -c'), it needs to remove the link only if it refers to the correct object (i.e., it should not remove a link created by a later installation). See [[!bug 1947]] for other aspects of this task.
In the latter case, the need is to be able to choose a version of a library or application that's not the default (either an older guaranteed-stable version or a newer maybe-not-stable version). How this is done varies between systems; the design of the feature should hide that level of detail. Robert Lupton of Princeton has an Python implementation for selecting applications that works in his environment (it also can specify version dependencies to automate much of the selection), but it's not clear if it's sufficiently general-purpose.
Doing both aspects of this for a single summer is probably too much, unless there's some existing technology that can be leveraged.
Mentor(s): StevenKnight, GregNoel, Robert Lupton (rhl at astro princeton edu), others
Reduce Memory Footprint
It's known that some applications have an enormous memory footprint when running SCons. There's little visibility into why this would happen in some cases but not others. Knowing what affects the memory footprint would enable both developers and users better control of the size of their run.
There seem to be few tools that give insight into the footprint of a Python application. SCons needs a framework that allows various sorts of statistics to be accumulated and displayed. There are a number of pieces of information that would be useful (in no particular order):
- The average size of each type of object, the number of times it is allocated, and the high-water mark of allocations.
- The amount of memory allocated over time during the run, possibly annotated by how many of each type of object is in use.
- The amount of memory spent on compiled Python code.
- Objects freed by garbage collection (as opposed to a refcount dropping to zero).
- Leaked (not collectible) objects. It may not be possible to gather all of these statistics currently, but if we can make a suitable case, it might be possible to influence future Python development to include features to make it possible.
It would also be very useful to develop a set of guidelines that identifies what users can do to minimize their memory footprint.
Existing tools that we're aware of in this space are PySizer (which hasn't been updated since 2005), the Heapy toolset from Guppy-PE (which hasn't been updated since 2006), and this recipe by Jean Brouwers.
Mentor(s): GregNoel, StevenKnight
Performance Improvements
SCons would get much wider adoption if its performance were improved. The subsections below describe different techniques. In general, the techniques can be divided into two major styles: top-down, by eliminating the need to execute entire phases, and bottom-up, by speeding up individual functions that contribute too much to the runtime.
Large-scale Optimizations
There have been proposals to optimize SCons' performance by eliminating the need to reparse the SConscripts every time. Other proposals have approached the issue by identifying only those SConscripts that contribute to the current rebuild and only reparse those.
This section describes some large-scale changes that are intended to eliminate entire phases of SCons' operation in some circumstances.
- One idea is a daemon that monitors filesystem changes. SCons could query this daemon to learn what files have changed since the last build. The daemon might also keep the SCons environment in memory to make "startup" instantaneous. On Windows, the daemon could easily be implemented using public APIs (
ReadDirectoryChangesW). On some UNIX-like systems, there is the
famutility to monitor changes to files (there is a bit of prior art several years back when someone prototyped something like this on IRIX, but it never became widespread).
- Another idea is to cache the DAG itself, in addition to the dependencies. When SCons is started, it would check to see if any of its inputs (which would include files such as SConscripts, option files, imports, and so forth, as well as command-line options) have changed from the last run. If not, it would reuse the cached DAG instead of running the SConstruct to rebuild the DAG from scratch. Mentor(s): probably StevenKnight
"Fast Unsafe" Build Mode
Normally, SCons emphasizes correct builds over everything else, including speed. For larger projects with multiple hierarchal directories, it would be a boon to have an 'instant build' option that would just build the changed files in a leaf directory, sort of as a syntax check before building and linking everything that depends on the changed files in other directories. This would ease the pain on large projects where only a small part of it at a time is being modified and a quick compile check would suffice.
The idea is to trade a guaranteed correct build for a fast development cycle when correctness is not desired. This feature would be intended for savvy users, and it would be up to them to diagnose any problems that result from missing dependencies.
The feature could require modifications to SConscripts to take advantage of it. It could also impose restrictions on the information provided by calling SConscripts (perhaps so that the imports could be cached) so that only the local SConscript needs to be evaluated. Additional restrictions and caveats are also possible. And when a full build is done, the affected files may be rebuilt, even if it is not strictly necessary.
[[!bug 1939]] is one possible way to implement this project. Other ways are possible. A good proposal should consider alternatives.
Mentor(s): Josh Leavitt <Josh dot Leavitt at hill af mil>, GregNoel, StevenKnight
One important aspect of performance is to be able to document the changes in performance. The SCons project has started developing some benchmarks where the performance of routines believed to be critical can be tested and documented. The task here would be to build some more of these benchmarks.
There are two complimentary approaches in use: "micro" benchmarks that profile an actual SCons run that exercises one particular feature, and "nano" benchmarks that do side-by-side comparisons of internal functions. Microbenchmarks are used to identify code that seems to be more expensive than one would expect. Nanobenchmarks explore possible alternative implementations of code highlighted by microbenchmarks.
Any project to work on performance should describe how the project plans to measure the performance. It's not enough to just say, "I'll use the Python profiler," the idea is to discuss how you'd use it, what pieces you think you'll measure, how you plan to set reasonable performance targets and track progress against them, etc. Development of any necessary tools, subsystems, or other infrastructure for measuring performance is fine, but should ideally aim for tools that are generally re-usable and useful in the future, not one-offs just for the project.
Mentor(s): GregNoel or StevenKnight
Integrate Code Coverage into Testing
Code coverage is a form of testing that determines how much of the code has been executed during testing. Wikipedia lists five types of code coverage:
- Function coverage - Has each function in the program been executed?
- Statement coverage - Has each line of the source code been executed?
- Condition coverage - Has each evaluation point (such as a true/false decision) been executed?
- Path coverage - Has every possible route through a given part of the code been executed?
- Entry/exit coverage - Has every possible call and return of the function been executed? There are at least three packages that do code coverage for Python: trace2html, Coverage, and figleaf. A Google search would probably turn up others.
The idea here is to add code coverage as a testing option. The project would be to evaluate the various tools available, pick one (or synthesize one), and integrate it into the standard testing procedures. It should be possible to visualize the output easily so that areas of untested code can be quickly identified. And the process should be well documented.
Mentor(s): GregNoel or StevenKnight
Distributed Compilation
A model for being able to parallelize software builds by distributing work across a network of homogeneous machines would benefit many large projects. One possible approach would be to try to integrate (and generalize) some functionality like
distcc, perhaps similar to the way that SCons has already integrated some
ccache-like functionality. Another more ambitious approach would be to try to make use of existing grid computing systems. Since the scope of this project is only a summer's worth of coding, there probably won't be enough time to solve this big a problem completely, so a better idea is to try to carve out a manageable first step in your proposal.
(Note: Incredibuild recently added support for distributed SCons builds, which would meet the needs of some users. However, it is a closed-source commercial product, so it is not an option for most open source software projects.)
Mentor(s): probably StevenKnight

Better Java Support
SCons' Java support gets dinged by Java programmers for being relatively limited. Revising the Java support to be better is important to the acceptance of SCons in the Java community. There are a number of different pieces that could be carved out as well:
Revamp approach to Java
SCons' approach to Java is to build entire subdirectories of
'.java' files into one or more
'.jar' files. This is inadequate when only partial rebuilds are needed. The Java support could use some refactoring (even redesign) by someone who's familiar with the needs of large-scale Java projects, and has an itch to try to use the underlying flexibility of SCons to do better than what's out there.
Mentor(s): ??? Possibly StevenKnight
More Ant-like Behavior?
Ant is obviously the standard for Java compilation. As a general dependency tool, it leaves something to be desired, largely because so much of the nitty-gritty Java dependency management is actually in
javac, not
Ant. Nevertheless, Java programmers are familiar with the
Ant model, and to the extent that we can find SCons-like ways to adopt parts of it, it would help make SCons more attractive (especially to Java programmers who are part of multi-language software projects).
Mentor(s): ??? Possibly StevenKnight
Port to Jython
Making SCons run under Jython, thereby allowing it to run under the Java VM, might also help make it more attractive to the Java community. Since SCons is all Python, it's actually not far from being able to do this, but there's a serious barrier with respective to Java's complete lack of a notion of a current directory and being able to
chdir(). Working around that might involve some serious refactoring to completely eradicate
chdir() calls from the SCons source.
Mentor(s): ??? Possibly StevenKnight
Add a
Groovy() builder that works with the
Java() builder so that Groovy programs can be compiled and intermixed with Java.
A simple builder for Groovy is a small project that could combined with other small projects to fill up a summer. Integrating Groovy with Java is at least a medium-sized project.
Mentor(s): Russel Winder <russel dot winder at concertan com>, possibly StevenKnight
Improved Target-File Caching
The SCons
CacheDir() function provides a framework for sharing built targets between developers, but it's relatively primitive. A project to tackle one or more potential improvements to it would be extremely welcome. Possible objectives include:
- Administrative tools for managing the cache directory, including aging/clean up of old targets, limiting the size of cache, etc. All subject to configuration options, of course.
- Some mechanism for locking write access to target files when multiple clients try to create the same target—or better, some distribution of locking logic so clients can detect that some other client is in the progress of building a target file that will end up in the cache when finished.
- Measure the efficiency and scalability of caching and address any issues so that it can handle thousands of source files in a tree and tens of thousands of targets. Mentor(s): probably StevenKnight
Dynamically Determine Documentation Toolchains
A problem with many open source projects is that in the documentation area, developers don't know how to produce documentation that will be of use to many different users, so they end up producing plaintext documentation or documentation that only really flies on one platform (as in the case of SCons manpage), or they produce a PDF and hope that that will be OK with everyone. If SCons were able to provide a convenient path from some of the popular documentation 'source' formats (LaTeX, TextInfo, DocBook, HTML) all the way through to platform-specific help files, this would help to improve access to what documentation developers create.
The challenge is to integrate a decent suite of documentation tools so that platform-specific help files can be built and installed. On Windows there is the HtmlHelp compiler that can produce
.CHM files from HTML files plus some index files. On GNOME and KDE there is the freedesktop.org ScrollKeeper system, which allows HTML and DocBook XML to be served up via a centralised help browser. There are probably similar things on Mac, Solaris, and so on.
The idea here is to create the mechanism that will determine the correct "native" documentation format based upon the deployment platform and then find a toolchain from the starting format to the deployment format. The toolchain could be as short as zero commands if the deployment format is the same as the source format, or it could be one command that converts directly from the source format to the destination format, or it could be a series of conversions. It's possible that the toolchain could vary based upon the commands available on the build machine. Moreover, there could be more than one documentation format required if the same package could be deployed on different platforms.
Mentor(s): possibly JohnPye
Batched Builders
Some builders are significantly faster if they compile more than one program at a time. Other builders can optimize better if they can see more than one file at a time. What these builders have in common is that they want to be passed all the out-of-date source files in the same step.
[[!bug 1086]] offers further discussion of the issues and and [[!bug 1381]] has a patch that partially implements this concept. The patch is several years old and is unlikely to work in its current state, but it should provide a good starting point.
Finishing the development, creating regression tests, and writing the documentation is unlikely to be a full summer's worth of work, but it could easily be combined with other smaller tasks to fill out the time.
Mentor(s): StevenKnight
Better Windows Installation
The current SCons self-extracting Windows installer is generated by the Python
distutils package. It has some limitations:
- Because
distutilsis geared towards installing Python modules, it installs SCons as a script within the current Python installation, not as a standalone utility that happens to use Python
- Related: it doesn't support multiple side-by-side installations of SCons (different versions)
- It does not add SCons to the Windows Menu
- It provides no "uninstall" action for SCons
- It provides no Windows-style help (
.chm) A project to re-write SCons' Windows installation so it behaves more like a "real application" would help spread SCons more widely and benefit a lot of users.
One likely approach would involve writing a full WiX installer and by trying to crib best practices from other projects that already use it. (WiX itself is open source and available from SourceForge.)
Also see the next item for a possible related project.
Mentor(s): possibly StevenKnight
Standalone Executable
There are still sites that don't have Python installed. And sometimes an application can only be run with a particular version of Python. Adding packaging logic so SCons can be shipped as a self-contained unit would help lower the barrier to entry for those sites.
For Windows, the most likely approach would involve using py2exe. A more generic approach might involve using PyInstaller, which reportedly covers Windows, Linux and Irix. Coming up with a
.dmg for Mac OS X would be good, too—perhaps this could involve helping a project like PyInstaller add that support...?
A possible project to mine for ideas (and code?) is the Chandler project at the Open Source Applications Foundation, who apparently package Python in their distributions for systems that don't have it.
Also see the previous item for a possible related project.
Mentor(s): possibly StevenKnight
Continuous Documentation
Keeping the public documentation in sync with the source is a continual problem in all open-source projects. The idea here is to regenerate the PyDoc/JavaDoc/whatever, convert it into the wiki markup, and automatically inject it into the wiki. Conversely, any edits to those pages would be turned into deltas that could be posted as patches or just folded back into the source. This would keep the documentation up-to-date both on the web and in the source, and allow individuals without code commit privileges to participate by providing small edits to incomplete or incorrect documentation.
Moreover, the injected documentation should be readily integrated into a higher-level framework so that the wiki can be organized by the way that makes sense to describe the concepts rather than the way it makes sense to code the program.
The synchronization could be triggered every time the code is checked in, or on a timer, or manually. The deltas between what is in the source and what is in the wiki would need to be retained (and reapplied) until they are resolved. Some scheme would be needed to deal with conflicts between competing changes (probably the source should win, but alternatives exist that a proposal should explore).
SCons uses Python, SVN, and a MoinMoin wiki, but the framework should not be limited to those choices, but should be adaptable to deal with different programing languages, repository types, and wiki markups.
Mentor(s): GregWilson
Python Software Foundation
SCons will accept proposals for non-SCons projects, as long as we believe that the work will directly benefit us as well a wider community.
One source of ideas is the Python Software Foundation (PSF), an umbrella organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the Python programming language, and to support and facilitate the growth of the international community of Python programmers. It holds the intellectual property rights to recent versions of Python and ensures that Python distributions are made available to the public free of charge.
PSF is also a participant in the Summer of Code and has their own ideas page. Feel free to pick a topic from their site that has direct applicability to SCons and float a proposal with us.
Another idea
Idea subhead one
Idea subhead two


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If you are interested in using this image, please consult Acknowledging the Website.
This record was last updated on 26 Jan 2015
Image Reference
The Illustrated London News (Feb. 16, 1861), p. 138.
Caption, "Dealers inspecting a Negro at a slave auction in Virginia." This illustration accompanies a detailed eyewitness description of slave sales in Richmond. The person shown here was to be auctioned, and "some of the buyers . . . asked him a variety of questions, as to his last employment, state of his health, and so forth. Then they turned his head to the light, and lifted the corners of his eyes to ascertain if they were free from indications of disease; in the same way they examined his teeth. they did not do this in a harsh or brutal manner, but just the same as a doctor might examine a patient" (pp. 139-140). A composite engraving, combining the image shown here with an auction block scene shown on this website ( auction_richd_1861) was published in the French publication "L'illustration, Journal Universel" (vol. 37 [1861], p. 148), misleadingly giving the impression that the scene is an original depiction of a slave sale in South Carolina; this illustration, in turn, appears on the Mary Evans Picture Library website with an unattributed source (picture no. 10044451).


text:
common name: brown dog tick
scientific name: Rhipicephalus sanguineus Latreille (Arachnida: Acari: Ixodidae)
Introduction - Distribution - Description and Identification - Life Cycle - Medical and Veterinary Significance - Management - Selected References
Introduction (Back to Top)
The brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus Latreille, is unusual among ticks, in that it can complete its entire life cycle indoors. Because of this, it can establish populations in colder climates, and has been found in much of the world. Many tick species can be carried indoors on animals, but cannot complete their entire life cycle inside. Although R. sanguineus will feed on a wide variety of mammals, dogs are the preferred host in the U.S. and appear to be required to develop large infestations.
Figure 1. Life stages of the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus Latreille. Clockwise from top right: larva, male, female, nymph. Photograph by James Newman, University of Florida.
Infestations in houses can explode to very high levels quickly. Typically, a few ticks are brought into the house or kennel, often on a dog which has been away from home. The early stages of the infestation, when only a few individuals are present, are often missed completely. The first indication the dog owner has that there is a problem is when they start noticing ticks crawling up the walls or curtains!
Distribution (Back to Top)
The tick is found world-wide, more commonly in warmer climates, and is found on dogs, in kennels and houses, and occasionally on wildlife. It is present throughout Florida.
Description and Identification (Back to Top)
Among ticks in Florida, this tick is easily recognized. It is small, red-brown in color (called the red dog tick in other parts of the world), and lacking any ornamentation. Although not sufficient for formal identification, it can be recognized by its by red-brown color, elongated body shape, and hexagonal basis capituli. The hexagonal basis capituli is a particularly good identifying character, as only one other tick species with this feature has ever been found in Florida (Boophilus annulatus, the cattle tick). The cattle tick was eradicated from Florida many years ago, so ticks found in Florida now with a hexagonal basis captituli are almost certainly R. sanguineus.
Figure 2. Hexagonal basis capituli, an identifying character for the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus Latreille. Photograph and drawing by James Newman, University of Florida.
Hosts (Back to Top)
In the U.S., the brown dog tick prefers to feed on dogs in all stages. However, it will feed on other mammals, including domestic animals and humans. This is most likely to occur if it cannot find a dog nearby, so beware of trying to control the tick by removing the dogs! Elsewhere in the world, it is more frequently found feeding on other mammals. This difference in host preference is not completely understood, but is probably related to the animals available and differences in the populations from the original introductions into new areas. In the southeastern U.S., it has been reported occasionally from rodents and deer, but most collections are from dogs and (much less commonly) humans.
Life Cycle (Back to Top)
Ixodid ticks require three blood meals to complete development; once each as a larva, nymph and adult. The brown dog tick is a 3-host tick; this indicates that it leaves the host to develop and molt between the larval, nymphal and adult stages. Each stage must locate a host; in a domestic environment this may result in feeding on the same dog (if there is only one or a few dogs present), but there is an opportunity for the same tick to feed on three different hosts.
A fully blood-fed female brown dog tick can lay up to 5000 eggs; the number of eggs laid depends on the size of the tick and the amount of blood she ingested. The length of time each stage feeds, and the time required for development and molting, are very dependent on temperature. Feeding and development times are generally faster at warmer temperatures. Survival is generally higher at cooler temperatures and higher relative humidity, but these ticks are tolerant of a wide range in conditions.
Figure 3. Life cycle of the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus Latreille. Drawing by James Newman and Leah LeFevre, University of Florida.
An adult female will feed on the host for around one week, then drop off the host and find a secluded place for egg development. Cracks and crevices in houses, garages and dog runs are ideal locations. She will start laying as soon as four days after she completes feeding and drops off the host, and can continue to lay for as long as 15 days. As she lays the eggs, she passes them over her porose areas (specialized areas on the back of the basis capituli), to coat them in secretions which protect the eggs from drying out. After she finishes laying her eggs, she dies. The larvae hatch two to five weeks later, and begin to quest, or look for a host. All stages of this tick prefer dogs, although they will feed on other mammals. Larvae feed for three to seven days, then take about two weeks to develop into nymphs. The nymphs then feed for five to 10 days and again take about two weeks to develop into adults. As adults, both males and females will attach to hosts and feed, although the males only feed for short periods. The overall cycle can be completed in just over two months, but frequently will take longer if there are few hosts available or in cold temperatures. Ticks are notoriously long-lived, and can live as long as three to five months in each stage without feeding.
In Florida, the cycle can occur year-round both inside houses and in outside kennels and dog runs.
Figure 4. Female brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus Latreille, laying eggs. Photograph by James Newman, University of Florida.
Frequently, people report having different types of ticks, or adults and "babies". In fact, generally what they are seeing are engorged and unengorged ticks or different stages. Ticks increase in size dramatically while feeding; engorged ticks are considerably larger than unengorged ticks. The different stages (larva, nymph and adult) are progressively larger in size. Many features used to identify the stages and sexes are difficult to see without a microscope. Larvae have only six legs, while nymphs and adults have eight. Males and females are difficult to distinguish without examining them microscopically, but males take only small blood meals while females take large meals and increase in size. Nymphs are distinguishable from adults primarily by size, but this is not reliable and needs to be confirmed by microscopic examination.
Figure 5. Engorged (right) and unengorged or flat nymphs of the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus Latreille. The increased size results from ingesting large volumes of blood. Photograph by James Newman, University of Florida.
Figure 6. Nymph (larger tick) and larvae of the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus Latreille, on a dime. Photograph by James Newman and Leah LeFevre, University of Florida.
Medical and Veterinary Significance (Back to Top)
High levels of infestation can cause skin irritation and damage in dogs, and the population can reach pest proportions in houses and kennels. In the U.S., R. sanguineus is a vector of disease in dogs; canine ehrlichiosis (Ehrlichia canis) and canine babesia (Babesia canis). These rarely cause disease in humans; only a few cases are known. In dogs, symptoms of canine ehrlichiosis include lameness and fever; those for babesiosis include fever, anorexia and anemia. Both have been found in Florida. In parts of Europe, Asia and Africa R. sanguineus is a vector of Rickettsia conorii, known locally as Mediterranean spotted fever, boutonneuse fever, or tick typhus. Rhipicephalus sanguineus has not been shown to transmit the bacterium which causes Lyme disease.
Chapters 2 and 5 of the National Public Health Pest Control Manual provide details on diseases transmitted by ticks.
Management (Back to Top)
The best management strategy is prevention of infestations in the house or kennel. Discuss tick control with your veterinarian. Preventing engorgement of the ticks on dogs is critical to management of the tick and the well-being of the dog. Treatments with fipronil (in sprays and spot-ons), amitraz (often in flea and tick collars), permethrin (sprays and shampoos) and deltamethrin (shampoos) have been reported as effective. Regular treatment will minimize the chances of a dog picking up a tick and the tick successfully feeding. Treatment will also reduce attachment by other species of tick, such as the American dog tick or the blacklegged tick. Once an infestation has started, thorough treatment of the dogs is critical and may need to be repeated several times. Follow your veterinarian's instructions and the directions on the any tick control product you use. Dogs should be examined regularly and attached ticks removed and disposed of. It may be necessary to treat the house or kennel, paying particular attention to cracks and crevices. Pest control operators should be consulted. Other mammals should be monitored and treated if necessary, but be careful about treatments used on cats. Some tick and flea treatments for dogs are poisonous in cats. People should check themselves regularly; although rare in the U.S. this species will bite humans. DEET (found in many insect repellents) does repel these ticks, but may not be practical if an infestation is inside a house. Use according to label directions.
Insect Management Guide for ticks
The earlier the infestation is discovered and addressed, the easier it will be to control. Monitoring and grooming dogs, particularly upon return from kennels or locations where other dogs are present, is the best way to detect infestations early.
Selected References (Back to Top)
- Estrada-Pena A, Ascher F. 1999. Comparison of an amitraz-impregnated collar with topical administration of fipronil for prevention of experimental and natural infestations by the brown dog tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus). Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 214: 1799-1803.
- Folz SD, Ash KA, Conder GA, Rector DL. 1986. Amitraz: a tick and flea repellent and tick detachment drug. Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 9: 150-156.
- Fox MT, Sykes TJ. 1985. Establishment of the tropical dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, in a house in London. Veterinary Record. 116: 661-662.
- Franc M, Cadiergues MC. 1999. Activity of a deltamethrin shampoo against Ctenocephalides felis and Rhipicephalus sanguineus in dogs. Veterinary Parasitology. 81: 341-346.
- Koch HG. 1982a. Oviposition of the brown dog tick (Acari: Ixodidae) in the laboratory. Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 75: 583-586.
- Koch HG. 1982b. Seasonal incidence and attachment sites of ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) on domestic dogs in southeastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas, USA. Journal of Medical Entomology. 19: 293-298.
- Koch HG, Tuck MD. 1986. Molting and survival of the brown dog tick (Acari: Ixodidae) under different temperatures and humidities. Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 79: 11-14.
- Kumar S, Prakash S, Kaushik MP, Rao KM. 1992. Comparative activity of three repellents against the ticks Rhipicephalus sanguineus and Argas persicus. Medical and Veterinary Entomology. 6: 47-50.
- Rhodes AR, Norment BR. 1979. Hosts of Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Acari: Ixodidae) in northern Mississippi, USA. Journal of Medical Entomology. 16: 488-492.
- Smith RD, Sells DM, Stephenson EH, Ristic M, Huxsoll DL. 1976. Development of Ehrlichia canis, causative agent of canine ehrlichiosis, in the tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus and its differentiation from a symbiotic richettsia. American Journal of Veterinary Research. 37: 119-126.
- Sonenshine DE. 1993. Biology of Ticks. Vol. 2. Oxford University Press, NY. 465 pages.
- Sweatman GK. 1967. Physical and biological factors affecting the longevity and oviposition of engorged Rhipicephalus sanguineus female ticks. Journal of Parasitology. 53: 432-445.


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You can now buy iTunes gifts from within Facebook's gift system. iTunes gifts in Facebook are available for $10, $15, $25, or $50, and can be used to buy videos, music, apps, and more. Facebook says:
Starting today with Facebook Gifts, you can instantly gift your friends iTunes digital gifts and recommend albums, movies, games, apps, and more available on the iTunes Store.
Search for a specific song or album to recommend, or let your friend decide. iTunes digital gifts are available for $10, $15, $25, or $50.
This follows Apple making iBooks discoverable in Flipboard, and it's quite a strategic change for Apple. Previously, if you wanted Apple's digital content, you went to Apple. Even their grand, and ultimately ill-fated social experiment, Ping, lived in iTunes. Now, post-Ping, Apple continues to outsource social, and Apple starting to come to you.
Sure, if you're already in iOS or OS X, you can use Twitter and Facebook integration to share, but if you're not, if you're in Flipboard and Facebook (and presumably other places, eventually), Apple's content will be there for you to "discover".
Amazon gets a cut of iTunes revenue, Apple gets a much larger visible footprint.
Source: Facebook.


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By: Mark McGrouther, Category: Science, Date: 05 May 2011
Sydney Harbour doesn't immediately spring to mind when you think of tropical fishes. That's why we were recently surprised to hear about juvenile Roundface Batfish that have been seen near Clifton Gardens and in Parsley Bay, in the outer harbour.
I was first alerted to the presence of one fish by Richard Vevers of Underwater Sydney on 15 April. Since then, a number of people have contacted me, including Henry Budd the Telegraph's Harbour Reporter.
Chris McDonald contacted me to say that three specimens are now swimming in warmer water at Sydney Aquarium.
The Roundface Batfish is a rare visitor to Sydney Harbour. The only other confirmed specimen from the harbour was caught near Manly Pier in 1976. It is now preserved in the Australian Museum Ichthyology Collection. Interestingly that fish was also seen in May.
Tags fishes, ichthyology, batfish, Roundface Batfish, Platax teira, Ephippidae,
Hi Bob, Thank you for your great post. I had no idea that there had been a batfish at Parsley Bay for some time. It's excellent that you are documenting your sightings, but on the other hand a real shame that a good data set like yours doesn't have a public outlet through which information could be shared with others. I have been spending some time lately thinking along these lines and wondering how we could rectify the situation. Feel free to email me with follow-up thoughts or add additional comments.
No worries Lynda. We have just received another interesting comment about a recent juvenile batfish sighting in Sydney Harbour. See the comment on the Ephippidae - Batfishes page.
What a cool story Mark. Thnx for posting it!


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Capitals carry winning streak into Montreal
Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals will try to extend their longest winning streak of the season to five games when they visit the first-place Montreal Canadiens for Monday's clash at the Bell Centre.
The Capitals have used a 4-0 record in April to open a two-point lead over the Winnipeg Jets for the top spot in the Southeast Division. The Jets, who have played one more game than Washington, are hosting the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.
Ovechkin has sparked the Capitals during their winning streak, scoring five goals during the four-game stretch. The two-time Hart Trophy winner also has tallied 15 times over the last 12 games and Washington is 9-2-1 in those contests.
Although he scored just 10 times in his first 27 games of the season, Ovechkin is now tied with Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos for the NHL lead with 25 goals on the year.
Ovechkin scored twice on Sunday to help the Capitals record a 4-2 win over the visiting Lightning. Joel Ward netted the game-winner late in the second period for Washington, which hasn't won five in a row since opening the 2011-12 season with a 7-0 record.
Ward also registered an assist in Sunday's win, while Michal Neuvirth stopped 28 shots in the victory.
"I thought we played great in the second period and we stuck to our plan in the third," Neuvirth said. "Obviously, it's a huge two points for us."
To keep their hot streak going, however, the Capitals will have to beat the Northeast Division leaders on the road. Montreal recorded a 4-1 win in Washington on Jan. 24, ending a six-game losing streak in this series.
Washington is 10-9-2 on the road this season and has won four straight and five of its last six games at the Bell Centre. The Caps have claimed seven of nine in the series overall.
However, the Canadiens enter Tuesday with wins in five of their last six games and are coming off Saturday's important win over its main rival for the division title.
Montreal held on for a 2-1 victory against visiting Boston on Saturday night to extend its lead atop the Northeast to three points over the Bruins. Boston has since closed the gap to one after Monday's win over Carolina, but the Bruins are idle on Tuesday.
Carey Price made 26 saves for the Canadiens, who won three of the four meetings against the rival Bruins this season.
"It's obviously two big ones. We're battling for the top spot. The playoffs are coming up soon and we're just trying to set the tempo for the rest of the season going into the playoffs," Price said.
Alex Galchenyuk and Michael Ryder scored for the Canadiens, who are also three points behind Pittsburgh for the Eastern Conference's top seed.
The Canadiens are 13-4-3 as the host this season and are completing a three- game homestand on Tuesday.
In other news for the Habs, Montreal defenseman Alexei Emelin will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ligament in his left knee. Emelin was injured during the first period of Saturday's win over the Bruins when he collided with Milan Lucic. In 38 games this season, the second-year blueliner posted three goals and nine assists.


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in reply to Re: puzzling problem with access to DB when using mod_perl
in thread puzzling problem with access to DB when using mod_perl
No, I haven't heard of PSGI/Plack, before you mentioned it. It sounds intriguing, so it is tacked onto a rather long list of things I ought to investigate.
I wasn't asking why others lstudy these things. Rather, I was asking how these options relate to each other, if at all. For example, I have read that I need not change my use of DBI in order to use Apache::DBI, as DBI will use it automagically if mod_perl and Apache::DBI are both installed (I guess, with what I read since my question, it reduces to a question of whether or not I'll see a payoff by trying to use fastcgi too). But, how, for example, do fastcgi and mod_perl relate? Are they competitors? Complementary? I have been using CGI for a while, and want to improve the responsiveness of my scripts. For that reason, in addition to studying mod_perl, I am also investigating use of JavaScript+jQuery+ajax (and I am thinking possible using mod_perl handlers to return XML to my JavaScript AJAX event handlers).
I have now read some of the references you cite, and am working on the others? :-)
Thanks again


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Band Saw Tires part 2
I recently had a tire blow on the band saw. I thought it would be a good opportunity to share my experience with changing them out so I made a short 4 part series on it. Hope the info is helpful. Parts 3 and 4 will be posted soon. Thanks for viewing.


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Qimmik wrote:you could write haud senior es amatore tuo maximo natu.
Qimmik wrote:assuming that x annos habere is a Latin idiom, which I don't know I've ever seen
Qimmik wrote:I found an instance of tot annos habet in Cicero.
Qimmik wrote:"You only have the years of your youngest lover." But this is somewhat obscure.
You're using tantum as an adverb to mean "only".
Qimmik wrote:It's not tantum annos habes that sounds obscure--it's the genitive amatoris that makes it obscure. You need something that makes it clear you're comparing quantities of years.


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By Marc Livitz: Jesse Vargas of Las Vegas fought his way to a unanimous decision victory over Wale Omotoso at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California on Saturday. The two undefeated welterweight fighters battled in a tight contest for the WBC Continental Americas title.
The fight didn't open as a slugfest as Omotoso (23(19)-1) may have wished in regard to his ten pound weight advantage he carried when the opening bell sounded (Wale weighed in at 164 while his Las Vegas opponent registered at 154). Vargas (22(9)-0) used measured jabs, while Omotoso seemed to wait for the chance to land a decisive shot.
Jesse tried to use the ring a bit more in the second until Omotoso moved to bring the action in closer and sent Vargas to the canvas for the first time in his young career about two minutes into the round. A right to the body from Wale appeared to be the culprit until replays confirmed that Jesse was just caught off balance. Nevertheless, Omotoso seemed to be in the lead, albeit a small one after two. The strong rights of the Nigerian fighter opened a cut over the Vegas native's left eye sometime in the third.
Vargas tried to reestablish his jab in the fourth but had trouble breaking through Omotoso's tight guard. He landed the occasional one-two combination. He was being somewhat forced to change his fighting style all together from this point onward. Vargas caught his foe with a strong right midway into the fifth and followed it up with another which almost sent his Nigerian foe to the mat. The onslaught continued and Wale wasn't the same "fire at will" combatant as previously seen.
Vargas pushed and pushed. Omotoso's shots now lacked any significant power and so he did the smart thing. He leaned into Jesse and slowed down the action. Each fighter boxed considerably more in the sixth and neither fighter showed much aggression. Much of the same in round seven, although Jesse Vargas attempted to neutralize Wale Omotoso's right with a consistent left jab, which he "doubled up" at times in the round.
Vargas landed a few hard rights in the eighth. Each fighter was exchanging words between them and Omotoso closed the period with an effective right-left combination. Jesse continued to use his jab in round nine, yet it did open him up to counters at times form Wale. The fight was indeed close at this point and the tenth and final round may have held the trump card for each boxer. Omotoso landed a solid right to open the tenth. He scored with a right uppercut with a minute to go as well. Vargas still looked to land the left jab and hope for a counter right.
The bell sounded and the decision was left to the three ringside officials.Two judges each scored the bout 96-93, while the third saw it at 97-92. The unanimous decision, although a bit questionable went to Jesse Vargas, who remains undefeated.
March 16, 2013
© 2000 - 2011 Knockout Entertainment Ltd & SecondsOut.com


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A man has been arrested in the shooting of his 33-year-old son in Northeast Baltimore early Monday morning, after police said they determined that the son had given a false account of how he was wounded.
Larry Grafton Carter, 57, of the 1200 block of Rossiter Ave. was in police custody shortly after noon Monday, about 12 hours after police were called to his home, said Sgt. Anthony Smith, a police spokesman.
Just after midnight, police found Carter's son wounded at the home. He told police he was taking out the trash when he heard two shots and was hit in the arm before fleeing inside, Smith said.
Police said their investigation showed that was not the case, and that Carter and his son were inside Carter's apartment when they "became engaged in a heated argument that became violent."
Smith said he did not know whether the victim had changed his story or whether detectives came to the conclusion for some other reason.
The son was in good condition Monday, Smith said.
A man contacted at the Carter residence declined to be interviewed.
The shooting continued a string of violence in the city over the weekend.
On Sunday night, two men, ages 20 and 22, were shot in the city's Cherry Hill neighborhood. Police began investigating the shooting, which occurred in the 700 block of Cherry Hill Road, after both men walked into nearby Harbor Hospital for treatment about 9 p.m. Their injuries were not considered life-threatening.
Overall, five people were killed in Baltimore over the weekend, including Sean Rhodes, 25, of Franklin Square, who was one of three people shot early Sunday at the after-hours club Ras-a-Ter International Restaurant and Club at 2103 W. North Ave., police said. Police had previously said Rhodes was from Glen Burnie.


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The air outside GreenBar Collective craft distillery in Monrovia is getting warm, but it still crackles with the crispness of fall. Inside the bright, white warehouse, two employees bottle fresh apple bitters while Keith Taylor, the bar manager for sprawling Echo Park restaurant Mohawk Bend, chats with GreenBar's founders and master distillers, Melkon Khosrovian and Litty Mathew. They stand beside a silver tank of ruby red hibiscus liqueur that Taylor uses to make a limoncello-based drink called the Arturo Bandini. GreenBar is happy to make time for Taylor as he's one of its most important customers: He has created a robust cocktail program using only California spirits.
At the moment, Taylor is contemplating the new apple bitters. "Got any ideas?" asks Mohawk Bend floor manager, Anthony Pecos. Taylor nods.
"Fall is about apples," Khosrovian interjects. "I'm thinking gin, muddled celery, muddled or fresh-pressed apple juice and apple bitters."
The conversation takes off from there. More booze and ingredient combinations are discussed, and a few winning ideas emerge that Taylor plans to experiment with later that week. Experimenting is a large part of his job, because Mohawk Bend stocks more than 100 different bottles of alcohol, all made by small-batch distilleries in California, many of which don't lend themselves to traditional cocktail recipes. In L.A., it's a one-of-a-kind cocktail program, and its success speaks to the growing richness of California's craft distilleries, which, according to the American Distilling Institute, are the most numerous of any state in the nation, with a current total of 28, up from around 10 just seven years ago.
A large number of those distilleries are clustered in Northern California, where wineries and breweries act as feeder industries. In Los Angeles, where such businesses are scarce, GreenBar Collective stands as the sole craft distillery and claims to make the world's largest collection of organic liquor. In a couple of months, it plans to ramp up its presence in the city by moving to a new facility in downtown Los Angeles, at 8th and Santa Fe streets. The move will enable it to further strengthen relationships with its local buyers, including restaurants such as Bottega Louie, Akasha, BLD, Border Grill and Chaya, which results in a rare opportunity to collaborate on outside-the-box cocktail ideas using its vodka, gin, rum, tequila and liqueurs.
"When Keith and others like him visit the distillery, we are breaking down those walls of mystery," Khosrovian says. "To learn how the spirits they use are made, is essential to their trade."
Taylor is an enthusiastic student. Beginning a year ago at Mohawk Bend owner Tony Yanow's behest, he embarked on a tour of as many California distilleries as possible. Along the way he became friends with Marko Karakasevic, the 13th-generation distiller at Northern California's famed Charbay distillery (Charbay is Mohawk Bend's house vodka); he got to know a Vietnam War vet named Dave Classick at Essential Spirits in Mountain View, who makes a complex rum with Hawaiian molasses and what Taylor believes is the only bierschnaps made in the U.S.; and he discovered why Temecula distillery JB Wagoner's attempt to make tequila in California and call it "Temequila" didn't fly with the Mexican government. They now call it a "blue agave spirit."
Because technically tequila must be produced in Mexico, Mohawk Bend doesn't carry it. The same goes for Scotch. And if an ingredient is essential to a drink but isn't made in California, as is the case with tonic water, Mohawk Bend chef Randal St. Clair will make it himself.
The bar also gets the bulk of its bitters from a relatively new company called Miracle Mile Bitters, which was created by a self-proclaimed "cocktail geek" named Louis Anderman, who sublets a space at GreenBar for his research and development lab.
Anderman's bitters, including chocolate-chile, yuzu and sour cherry, are carried in about 30 L.A. bars such as Tar Pit, Harvard & Stone and Little Dom's.
"The support from the L.A. community has been incredible," Anderman says. "I've gotten to know so many bartenders. I consider them creative collaborators, although I have but one liver to give for my art."
In Los Angeles, where the dining scene is gripped by a local, organic and sustainable fever, it seems only natural that spirits would follow suit. After all, most of the city's top mixologists, including Zahra Bates and Julian Cox, began hand-crafting cocktails with high-quality ingredients after realizing the disconnect between serving an artificial Apple Pucker martini beside a plate of fresh farmers market food. Take that thought process one step further and you naturally arrive at using craft distilleries as your sole source of liquor, Cox says.
Cox, who created the beverage programs at Rivera, Playa and Picca, is now working on the program for Short Order, Nancy Silverton and the late Amy Pressman's new gourmet burger concept in the Original Farmers Market.
"They've created an all-American burger with local grass-fed beef, cheddar and pickles, so we are only using American micro-distillers for our program," Cox says. "We'll have a ton of California brands in the mix." Cox, however, doesn't think that California is quite ready to solely support the type of spirits program that he wants to run, although he does believe that it's on its way.
"There has been a lot of growth in California over the past five years," Cox says, "and we're going to see it more and more."
Indeed, consumer expectations are the biggest challenge with crafting a California-only cocktail program, Taylor says.
"People come in and they want a Belvedere martini, a Bombay and tonic or a Jim Beam and Coke," he says. "But when we explain what we are doing, only 1 in 30 will say, 'That's a drag.'"
The unpredictable nature of craft distilleries also makes for an unpredictable booze program, but often in a serendipitous way, Yanow says.
"Our program is a living, moving organism, because sometimes we get spirits which become suddenly unavailable and we have to adapt," he says, using as an example the time that Taylor put a drink on the menu featuring Charbay's Double & Twisted whiskey. The bar proceeded to go through its entire supply in three weeks.
"Then it went extinct," Taylor says, laughing. "It takes three to four years to make."
When GreenBar moves to downtown L.A., it will begin making whiskey, Mathew says, and when it does, it will be remarkably different from other offerings in the market.
"When you don't have that idea that you need to preserve tradition," she says, "you break the rules."
The air outside GreenBar Collective craft distillery in Monrovia is getting warm, but it still crackles with the crispness of fall. Inside the bright, white warehouse, two employees bottle fresh apple bitters while Keith Taylor, the bar manager for sprawling Echo Park restaurant Mohawk Bend, chats with GreenBar's founders and master distillers, Melkon Khosrovian and Litty Mathew. They stand beside a silver tank of ruby red hibiscus liqueur that Taylor uses to make a limoncello-based drink called the Arturo Bandini. GreenBar is happy to make time for Taylor as he's one of its most important customers: He has created a robust cocktail program using only California spirits.


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BFST® Devices are Electrical Medical Appliances that
actively stimulate blood flow in injured tissue.
BFST® devices are NOT heating pads.
BFST® stimulates blood flow through your entire knee while you are at rest. This is very important because while at rest, an unaided and inflamed Meniscus can otherwise have seriously impeded blood flow. It is the oxygen and nutrient-rich blood that enables the healing process, so adequate blood flow is required for the Meniscus tissue to heal properly and quickly.
The BFST® device is easy to use. Put it on, plug it in, turn it on and sit back and relax. People often notice a slight tingling sensation and warmth deep in their knee as the BFST® starts the blood flowing. The effects last up to 4 hours, which means long after your 20 minute treatment is over, the blood keeps flowing and your Meniscus keeps healing. The more you do it, the longer it lasts and the healthier your knee gets.
The promotion of blood flow has obvious benefits. The reminder of the injury is incredibly important too, because avoiding re-injury is fundamental to rapid recovery. The BFST® Knee Wrap is designed to be worn even when turned off, to help protect your knee from re-injury, and this goes a long way towards shortening the recovery time. Patients enjoy the support and cushioning BFST® wraps provide and appreciate that they are healing - patients like wearing them, they know its helping them heal. This positive attitude further contributes to an overall positive recovery plan.


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Potty Pax May Be the Dumbest Infomercial Product Yet
Picture this: You're in a public restroom stall and it's literally wall-to-wall shit stains.
Do you A) try another stall, B) leave the restroom altogether because God only knows what else goes on in there, or C) pull out a carrying case containing a nylon toilet seat cover, do the deed, and then place the cover back in its case after lightly rinsing it in the sink of the same restroom containing a shit-stained toilet stall.
If you answered C, congrats: You are the proud owner of the Potty Pax.
Also: You have dysentery.