text:
By Art Opp, Loveland, Colorado
I am also familiar with the term Header Box. When harvesting grain with a machine called a Header, this machine, pulled by 4 horses, would cut the grain and the canvas belt would carry the grain up into a Header Box that was driven along side of the header. When the header box was full the load would be taken and unloaded at a spot where it was decided to stack the grain in as many stacks as was needed for that field of grain. These stacks would be set in such a way that the threshing machine could be pulled up to the stacks so as to have the feeder between two of the stacks so that the men could pitch the grain into the feeder from both sides. These Header Boxes would have a high side and a low side. That was because the low side was needed so as to fit under the under the part of the Header that brought the cut grain up into the header box.
There would often be as many as six stacks, side by side, just far enough apart so the feeder of the threshing machine would fit between them. All they needed to do then was move the machine over to the next set of stacks and they were ready to continue threshing.
These Header Boxes of course were pulled by a team of horses. They were just like box used to haul hay except that one side was built lower than the other. In other words it would be slanted, a high side and a low side.
The header was often used when the grain was too
short for the binder to make good bundles. That's
where the name Header comes in. It cut less straw
then was needed for binding to make bundles.


text:
Oh, Atlanta
The fun never stops.
Settling in from my last baseball trip, that you read about in my last one, I'm gearing up for another on a more Major level.
Yes it has to do with the Pirates. No, it's not in Pittsburgh.
The Bucs are in Atlanta for a four-game weekend series and I'll be there for three of them.
History hasn't been kind to the Pirates playing in the ATL.
Mention the names Jerry Meals or Sid Bream to a Pittsburgh fan and you're asking for trouble. Rather, stinging images that ruined games and seasons, while adding plenty of agony to already troubled years.
July 26, 2011 and October 14, 1992. Nineteen years and nearly two months apart.
Two plays that have defined the Pirates' history.
The Pirates went 19-42 the remainder of the way, last year, after sitting at 53-48 after Jerry Meals called Julio Lugo safe for the Braves' 4-3 win in 19 innings.
Sid Bream's slide at home was a little more clear cut, but still a call that could've gone either way. Yet no baseball enthusiast would've guess what it would do to a franchise for the next 20 years. Since that National League Championship game 7, Pittsburgh has failed to reach the postseason. The Pirates haven't even had a winning season since Sid's slide.
An awful twist of faith, a string of mismanagement, bad luck or some kind of weird hex — whatever has haunted the Pirates the most — it hasn't made them win.
Atlanta owns a 93-61 advantage over the Bucs since that fateful NLCS.
Let's hope I can reverse the curse.
Photo credits: youjivenmeturkey.com, hedgeco.net nbcsports.com, fansided.com

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Bakers & Larners uses cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue we assume that you consent to receive all cookies on the Bakers & Larners website. Read More.
Laundry & Ironing
Copyright © Bakers & Larners 2018. All rights reserved. Registered in England. Company registration number 67886.
eCommerce by


text:
11:00 am
Taste This! "Heirloom Tomatoes" Chef Joe takes a break from traveling and stays in the kitchen to whip up a number of delicious dishes. What's so great about Heirloom Tomatoes? Chef Joe breaks down Heirloom Tomatoes and uses them to put a twist on the classic tuna melt! This episode also features a recipe for basil pesto pasta accompanied by a tomato beef sauce. D
11:30 am
Cooking Odyssey "Mykonos - Part 1" Join Chef Yianni as he explores the sandy coast, windmills, and food of Mykonos and demonstrates how to make "Mostra", a traditional Mykonian appetizer, and a Greek Risotto with scallops. D
12:00 pm
Critical Issues In School Reform "Innovations In Professional Collaboration: A Community of Learners" At Souhegan High School in Amherst, New Hampshire, teachers regularly gather feedback on their teaching practice from peers as well as students, as part of a school-wide effort to make Souhegan a genuine community of learners. D
12:30 pm
Critical Issues In School Reform "Looking At Student Work: A Window Into The Classroom" Teachers at Norview High School in Norfolk, Virginia, demonstrate the collaborative examination of student work and discuss its value and implications for teaching practice. D
1:00 pm
French In Action "All Manner of Transportation I" Mireille is going to Chartres, and Robert invites himself along. They decide to take the train. Robert almost gets lost in the metro on his way to meet Mireille at the station.G
1:30 pm
French In Action "All Manner of Transportation II" At Chartres, Robert is deeply moved by the beauty of the cathedral and of his companion. When she leaves briefly, to visit a nearby museum, he imagines he's being betrayed.G
2:00 pm
Western Tradition "The Industrial Revolution" Technology and mass production create a new kind of wealth and a new kind of servitude.G
2:30 pm
Western Tradition "The Industrial World" Industry transforms Europe, from the heights of political power to the details of everyday life.G
3:00 pm
Biography of America, A "Civil War" As the Civil War rages, all eyes turn to Vicksburg, where limited war becomes total war. Professor Miller looks at the ferocity of the fighting, at Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, and at the bitter legacy of the battle -- and the war. D
3:30 pm
Biography of America, A "Reconstruction" Professor Miller begins the program by evoking in word and picture the battlefield after the battle of Gettysburg. With the assassination of President Lincoln, one sad chapter of American history comes to a close. In the fatigue and cynicism of the Civil War's aftermath, Reconstructionism becomes a promise unfulfilled. D
4:00 pm
Curiosity Quest "Monterey Aquarium" Join Joel Greene and the Curiosity Quest crew as they float through the Monterey Aquarium. Watch as Joel gets a chance to feed interesting mana fish while balancing over a massive fish tank. D
4:30 pm
Biz Kid$ "Escape The Box" Discover how different families work out "allowances." Even basic financial planning starts now. Learn how to manage your monthly income and expenses for vacations, education, and more.G
5:00 pm
The Electric Company "War of the Words" When Hector is chosen to give a presentation on stamina to Jessica and Keith's health class, the pranksters work overtime to keep Hector from getting some much needed rest. Will Hector have enough stamina to make the presentation?. D
5:30 pm
Cyberchase "Eureeka!" (topic: 2- & 3-D Geometry) - Pursued by Hacker, Digit lands on cybersite Eureeka, where his mission is to find Professor Archimedes - the maker of the encryptor chip, a unique computer chip that can fix Motherboard. But Archimedes is nowhere to be found - only a pile of two-dimensional rods where his chip factory should be. The kids arrive to help, and discover that by linking the two-dimensional rods together into certain geometrical patterns they actually create a surprising three-dimensional shape that leads directly to unraveling the mystery of Archimedes' strange disappearance. D
6:00 pm
It's Sew Easy "Mom and Grandma Are Busy - Kids and Baby" The first child or grandchild is often the motivation for reviving sewing or a first sewing project. Rebecca Cornell and Christy Howden, young moms and pattern designers, open the show with felting techniques for a fun toy. Next, Tricia Waddell and Katrina Loving have a mom friendly tip for reinforcing seams for heavy wear on stuffed animals and clothing. D
6:30 pm
Color World with Gary Spetz "Color Navplion-Katakolon-Argostoli" Host-Artist, Gary Spetz, arrives in Greece via cruise ship. He visits the ancient ruins of the Greek Olympics, then moves on to explore the charming Greek seaside towns of Navplion and Argostoli. D
7:00 pm
Mexico -- One Plate at a Time with Rick Bayless "Presenting: World-Class Wines of Baja" Baja California Norte produces many world-class, gold medal-winning wines. That fact may surprise most people in the United States. Rick takes us on a tour of the region along with renowned winemaker and visionary Hugo d'Acosta, founder of La Escuelita, a nonprofit winemaking school that opened in 2004. D
7:30 pm
Joanne Weir's Cooking Confidence "Summer In Italy" Joanne shows how to get maximum flavor from a bountiful tomato crop by roasting them slowly. Sasha learns to make a stew fit for summer using fresh vegetables and a basil mint pesto. Recipes: Oven-Dried Tomatoes, Feta and Olives, Summer Vegetable Stew with Basil and Mint Pesto (Parm-Reg). D
8:00 pm
Ask This Old House "Using Hand Planes/Repairing A Cracked Stone Walkway" In the workshop, general contractor Tom Silva demonstrates the proper way to use hand planes. Then, Tom, along with host Kevin O'Connor, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey and landscape contractor Roger Cook, asks, "What is it?" Afterward, Roger helps a homeowner repair a cracked stone walkway. D
8:30 pm
Rick Steves' Europe "Galicia and the Camino De Santiago" Rick follows a centuries-old pilgrim trail, from the French border to Santiago de Compostela in Spain's northwest corner. He stops in Pamplona for the running of the bulls and dives into the unique Celtic culture of Galicia where Riverdance meets flamenco.G
9:00 pm
Rudy Maxa's World "The Islands of Polynesia" French Polynesia's far-flung collection of about 130 islands range from lagoon-ringed islands with green volcanic spires to low, coral atolls with very little land, to heavily forested, rugged beauties. This is a place of dreams, a culturally rich, geologically fascinating group of islands surrounded by azure waters teeming with marine life, as lavish underwriter photography illustrates. D
9:30 pm
Lidia's Italy In America "Italian Style Steak" Lidia makes Fettuccine with Malfada Sauce, Steak with Pizzaiola Sauce and Ricotta Cookies. Lidia visits the Immigrant Monument in Woldenburg Park of New Orleans, and Tanya takes viewers to explore the impressive collection at the Nelson-Atkins museum in Kansas City. D
10:00 pm
Cook's Country from America's Test Kitchen "Dinner at the Diner" NULL
10:30 pm
Joanne Weir's Cooking Class "Stuffed Chicken Breasts & Fava Fennel Salad" Joanne teaches her student Geoff a new way to prepare chicken using some of his favorite ingredients, and shows him how with a little work he can create a vibrant, fragrant salad. Recipes: (1) CHICKEN BREASTS STUFFED WITH GOAT CHEESE AND OLIVES (2) FAVA BEAN, FENNEL, AND PARSLEY SALAD. Student: Geoff Rubendall - Civil Engineer. D
11:00 pm
Taste This! "Heirloom Tomatoes" Chef Joe takes a break from traveling and stays in the kitchen to whip up a number of delicious dishes. What's so great about Heirloom Tomatoes? Chef Joe breaks down Heirloom Tomatoes and uses them to put a twist on the classic tuna melt! This episode also features a recipe for basil pesto pasta accompanied by a tomato beef sauce. D
11:30 pm
Rick Steves' Europe "Galicia and the Camino De Santiago" Rick follows a centuries-old pilgrim trail, from the French border to Santiago de Compostela in Spain's northwest corner. He stops in Pamplona for the running of the bulls and dives into the unique Celtic culture of Galicia where Riverdance meets flamenco.G


text:
Mr. Bradbury's life work has proclaimed the incalculable value of reading; the perils of censorship; and the vital importance of building a better, more beautiful future for ourselves and our children through self-knowledge, education, and creative, life-affirming attentiveness and risk-taking.
These values are the bedrock of the National Book Foundation. Our mission is to promote the reading and appreciation of great American literature among diverse audiences across the country.
The Foundation is proud to publish on our website -- for the very first time anywhere -- Mr. Bradbury's remarkable acceptance speech as well as the introduction by National Book Award Master of Ceremonies, Steve Martin. [Of special note: a down-loadable audio version of Mr. Bradbury's remarks will be available on this site early in the new year!]
MR. MARTIN: And now ladies and gentlemen it's a very, very special time this evening-an evening that has been a lot of fun I think for all of us.
Each year the Board of Directors of the National Book Foundation confers a special award upon an individual who has enriched our literary culture through a life of service or a corpus of work. The National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters will be presented tonight to Ray Bradbury.
Novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, and poet, Ray Bradbury was born in Waukegan, Illinois 80 years ago. He grew up in Illinois and Arizona and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1934, where Mr. Bradbury has lived ever since.
He married Marguerite McClure in 1947. They have four daughters: Tina, Ramona, Susan, and Alexandra. Ray Bradbury's first published story was called "Hollerbochen's Dilemma," and it appeared in Imagination! magazine. The author was 18 years old.
Master of Ceremonies Steve Martin with Ray Bradbury
Since that time, how can we even begin to count all of the ways in which Ray Bradbury has etched his indelible impressions upon the American literary landscape? There are few modern authors who can claim such a wide and varied province for their work, spanning from the secret inner-worlds of childhood dreams, to the magic realism of everyday life, to the infinite expanses of outer space.
Half a century ago, The Martian Chronicles was published and soon thereafter Fahrenheit 451 (by the way in Europe that would be "Centigrade 283")-the quintessential book lovers' book written in nine days; and then Dandelion Wine, I Sing the Body Electric, The Illustrated Man, The October Country, Something Wicked This Way Comes. (By the way, the original title was Look Out, Here Comes Something Wicked.) Ray Bradbury's prodigious and seemingly never-sleeping imagination continues to delight us, and next fall his new novel, From the Dust Returned, will be published by Avon Books.
What better way to conclude this introduction to Ray Bradbury than to show a clip from the classic film Fahrenheit 451, directed by Francois Truffaut starring Oscar Werner and the incomparable Julie Christie. We extend thanks to Universal Pictures for providing this excerpt. Let's roll the film.
MR. MARTIN: Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Ray Bradbury.
MR. BRADBURY: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Well, here I am. I have one good eye, one good ear, one good leg, and there's other things missing but I'm afraid to look.
This reminds me of my encounter with W. C. Fields when I was a kid. My folks wandered out to Los Angeles because my dad was looking for work in the Great Depression and I was enamored of movie stars and I wanted to see famous people so I put on my roller skates, I was 13 years old, and I roller-skated out to Hollywood and there standing on the steps of Paramount Studios was everybody's hero, Mr. W. C. Fields himself.
I roller-skated over to him; I said Mr. Fields, can I have your autograph? And he signed it and gave it back to me; he said, "There you are, you little son-of-a-bitch." And here I am. I felt as if I was knighted that day.
This is incredible. This is quite amazing because who you're honoring tonight is not only myself but the ghost of a lot of your favorite writers. And I wouldn't be here except that they spoke to me in the library. The library's been the center of my life. I never made it to college. I started going to the library when I graduated from high school. I went to the library every day for three or four days a week for 10 years and I graduated from the library when I was 28.
And so I've written more short stories and novels and plays and poems about other writers than any other writer in history. I've been madly in love with them. I've written poems about Edgar Allen Poe being my father. Emily Dickinson being my mother. I've written a poem the title of which is "Emily Dickinson Where Are You? Herman Melville Mentioned Your Name Last Night in His Sleep." I've written a wonderful story called "Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby's is a Friend of Mine" in which Charles Dickens comes to live in my grandparent's home when I'm 12-years-old during the long summer of 1932. You didn't know it, but I helped him finish A Tale of Two Cities with a nickel tablet and a yellow Ticonderoga #2 pencil.
So my dream has always been; I've never been jealous or envious of other writers. I have been in love with them and my dream always was that some day I could go to the library and look up on the shelf and see my own name gleaming against L. Frank Baum and the wonderful Oz books, or against Edgar Allen Poe's or leaning against many other similar writers and knowing that Jules Verne was on a shelf down below me along with H. G. Wells. These are all my companions.
I wrote a long poem a few years ago about taking a journey across England to Land's End and I said to myself, Who would I want to take on such a journey late at night, and just sit up all night and listen to them and not say a word myself? I'd have Rudyard Kipling there and Charles Dickens and Aldous Huxley and Edgar Allen Poe and Herman Melville and listen to their talk all night and go to sleep with the lazy talk of these wonderful people inside my ears.
So when it comes to a novel like Fahrenheit 451, I don't know how many of you know, but I wrote it in the library, the basement at UCLA. This is 50 years ago. I had no money to rent a proper office. I had a large family at home and I needed to have a place where I could go for a few hours. I was wandering around the UCLA campus and I looked down below and I listened and down in the basement I heard this typing. So I went down in the basement of the UCLA library and by God there was a room with 12 typewriters in it that you could rent for 10 cents a half-hour. And there were eight or nine students in there working away like crazy, so I moved in there one day with a bag of dimes and I began inserting dimes into the machine and the machine released the typewriter and you'd have half an hour of fast typing. I ran upstairs in between sessions.
Ray Bradbury
Can you imagine what it was like to write Fahrenheit 451 in the library where you could run upstairs and feel the ambience of your beloved writers; and you could take books off the shelf and discover things that you might want to put in your book as a quote and then run back down and finish writing another page. So over a period of nine days I spent $9.80 and I wrote Fahrenheit 451.
You might say I wrote a dime novel, right? But, later Ballantine Books came along and they wanted me to add some material to it so I wrote another 2,500 words. That was during the Joseph McCarthy period. He was giving a bad time to a number of people and I wrote the additional pages to Fahrenheit 451. I still needed some extra income because my family was growing, and I tried to sell it to various magazines who were afraid of the subject matter because Joseph McCarthy was making such a ruckus in the country.
A young editor came along who was starting a new magazine and needed material. He said, "I have very little money. I've got $400. Is there something you could sell me for $400?" I said,"Yes, I have this novel and I'd like to have it published in the magazine before it comes out in book form," and he said, "I will take it." So I sold Fahrenheit 451 and it appeared in the second, third, and fourth issues of Playboy.
Not a lot of applause from you men here. [APPLAUSE] That's more like it. That's more like it. Where would you have been when you were 14 without that magazine, huh? We didn't have anything like that when I was growing up. It was a terrible, terrible time. Hugh Hefner came up to me at a party a year ago and said, "Thanks for being there when it counted." And no one knew what he was talking about, but I did. He gave me a chance upward.
It's been a long, slow process and I've been helped by a number of wonderful friends. Number one, my wife took a vow of poverty to marry me, and when we got married we had $10 in the bank.
This is back in 1947, and my wife had to go to work immediately. We had a ceremony at an Episcopal Church and I put $5 in an envelope and handed it to the minister. He said, "What's this?" I said, "That's your pay for the ceremony today." He said, "You're a writer aren't you?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Then you're going to need this." He handed it to me. I took it back and many years later I sent him a decent check.
I settled into this small bungalow with Maggie back in '47, but that same month a wonderful thing happened. A young editor at Simon & Schuster wrote me. I had met him briefly that summer before and was incredibly impressed with him. His name was Don Congdon and he said in his letter, "I'm stopping being an editor now this month. Do you need a literary agent?" And I responded to him, "Only if it's for a lifetime."
I married Don Congdon the same month I married my wife. So I had 53 years of being spoiled by my wife and by Don Congdon. We've never had a fight or an argument during that time because he's always been out on the road ahead of me clearing away the dragons and the monsters and the fakes. And saying to me every time something came up, "What is this going to mean 10 years from now or 20 years from now? We'd better not do it." So that's the best advice you can have.
Editor Jennifer Brehl with Ray Bradbury
And then along the way I had wonderful editors like Kathy Hourigan over at Knopf, and Bob Gottlieb, and now I have Jennifer Brehl at Avon. But a wonderful thing happened concerning one of my first books. Back in 1949 my wife was pregnant and we had absolutely no money in the bank. Our friend Norman Corwin, the great radio writer, producer, director, a dear friend, said to me, "Ray, why don't you come to New York and let the editors see your face and maybe you'll sell something there."
So I got on the Greyhound bus, four days, four nights to New York. Have you ever done that on the Greyhound bus? Don't. Don't. Those were the days before air conditioning and toilets.
I arrived at the YMCA, the Sloan House, moved in there for $5 a week and proceeded to show my short stories to editors all around New York City, but nobody wanted my short stories. They said, "Don't you have a novel?" I said, "No I'm a sprinter. I'm a sprinter."
But finally I had dinner my last night in New York with Don Congdon and Walter Bradbury, no relation of mine. Walter Bradbury at Doubleday. And sitting at dinner that night he said to me, "Ray, what about all those Martian stories you've been writing in the pulp magazines during the last 10 years? Don't you think they would make a novel if you wove them together in some sort of tapestry and called it The Martian Chronicles?" I said, "Oh my God." He said, "What do you mean?" I said, "I read Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson when I was 24 and I said to myself, 'Oh God, wouldn't it be wonderful if someday I could write a book as good as this but put it on the planet Mars.'"
I made an outline, I named some characters, but I forgot all about it and suddenly here was Walter Bradbury suggesting to me a possible novel I'd written without knowing it. So he said, "Do an outline. Come tomorrow to the Doubleday offices and if I read your outline and like it I'll give you $750."
I stayed up all night at the Y. I wrote the outline. I took it to him the next day and he said, "Yes, this is it. Here's $750." He said, "Now do you have any other material that you could give me that we could kid people into thinking it was a novel?" And I said, "Yes, I have a short story about a man with tattoos all over his body and at night when he dreams he perspires and the tattoos on his body come to life and tell their stories." And he said, "Here's another $750."
So in one day I sold The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man for $1,500. I was rich. And that's, you know, 53 years ago and money went a long way then. It paid for our rent for the next two years. Our rent was only $30 a month. It paid for our baby. Babies were cheap back then. It cost $100 for our baby. And it was a down payment on a little tract house when we moved inland further. The book came out and there were very, very few reviews. In fact, only one. I was in a bookstore. I bumped into Christopher Isherwood. I did not know him. I grabbed a copy of my book; I signed it and gave it to him. I thought, Oh Christ, you know, I know he's thinking, One more book to read. Oh God.
But three days later Christopher Isherwood called me and said, "Do you know what you've done?" I said, "No, what have I done?" He said, "You've written a remarkable book and I'm going to be the book editor and writer for Tomorrow Magazine next October and this will be my first review." So he did a three-page review of The Martian Chronicles which introduced me to the intellectual world and saved my soul.
So that was the only review. But he introduced me to Gerald Heard and finally my hero, Aldous Huxley, at tea one day. I hate tea. My God, I hate tea. And you have to pretend to like tea when you're sitting with Aldous Huxley. And Mr. Huxley leaned forward during tea and he said, "Do you know what you are?" And I said, "No, what am I Mr. Huxley?" He said, "You're published. You're a poet." I said, "Is that what I am? Is that what I am." Aldous Huxley was telling me that I was a poet and I had yet to write one decent poem. I was working at it but it didn't come right, so I put all my poetry into my books.
So through Isherwood, I met a lot of wonderful people and over the years slowly, slowly, slowly, The Martian Chronicles came into being. I wrote a whole series of essays and short stories and one day woke up and saw that I'd written a novel, and that's still around.
All of my work is a wonderful surprise and a delight. I take joy in what I do. I have a wonderful relationship with my waking self every morning and that hour around 7:30 when your brain is not connected to your ears, when it's floating around inside your head full of metaphors. I lie in bed and I watch the metaphors collect and drift and when they reach a certain point of collision, I jump out of bed and get them down before they go away.
Everything I've done is a surprise, a wonderful surprise. I sometimes get up at night when I can't sleep and walk down into my library and open one of my books and read a paragraph and say My God, did I write that? Did I write that? Because it's still a surprise.
Along the way people said to me, "Ray, when are you going to do a screenplay?" Because I love motion pictures. I've seen just about every one ever made. A lot of the bad ones and a lot of the wonderful ones over and over again. I said, "Yes, there's one man I'd love to work for, that's John Huston," and I knew that I wanted to work for him. Well, I gave John all of my books of short stories one day in 1951, and he wrote back from Africa where he was making The African Queen and he said, "Yes, I agree with you, someday we'll work together. I don't know on what."
National Book Foundation Board Chairman, Deborah E. Wiley with Ray Bradbury
The day finally came. I came home from a bookstore one day and my wife said, "John Huston just called. He wants you to come to his hotel." I went to John Huston's hotel. I walked into his room. He put a drink in my hand. He sat me down and he leaned over and he said, "Ray, what are you doing during the next year?"
I said, "Not much, Mr. Huston. Not much." And he said, "Well, Ray, how would you like to come live in Ireland and write this screenplay of Moby Dick?" And I said, "Gee, Mr. Huston, I've never been able to read the damn thing."
He'd never heard that before and he thought for a moment and then he said, "Well, I'll tell you what Ray. Why don't you go tonight, read as much as you can, and come back tomorrow and then tell me if you'll help me kill a white whale."
So I went home that night and I said to my wife, "Pray for me." She said, "Why?" I said, "Because I've got to read a book tonight and do a book report tomorrow."
Luckily I was at the right age to read the book. I was 33 years old. I'd tried when I was younger. It just didn't work. But what I saw there is a part of myself, the gift of metaphor.
All the early writers in America, Melville and Poe and many of the others wrote in metaphorical style. You could remember their stories. I raced through the book. I didn't read it. I looked at all the metaphors and I came back the next day and I said, "Yes, I'll do it."
I went to live in Ireland for the better part of a year and it was hellish work. Terrible work because I read some sections of the novel over 100 times. Some sections 200 times. Some sections 300 times. Other sections not at all because you're looking for the metaphor. You're finding a way to combine things and put them together.
And finally, after seven months of hard work, a day of great passionate relaxation came to me. I got out of bed one morning in London and I looked in the mirror and I said, "I am Herman Melville." I sat down at the typewriter and in eight blazing hours I wrote the last 40 pages of the screenplay and it all came out right; for that one day, for a few hours, the ghost of Melville was really in me. Was really in me.
I ran across London and I threw the screenplay into John Huston's lap and I said, "There, I think it's finished." And he read it and he said, "By God, start the cameras."
That happened after all that research and trying to get Melville into my bloodstream, a very important, very important thing. Along the way after Moby Dick I worked on many other things. I worked on many screenplays. Did some more short stories. And finally, one of the great things in my life had to do with space travel.
People are always asking how I can be so involved with outer space. Why do I care about space travel. My answer has always been because I think there is a chance for us to become immortal. Our endeavor to go into space has to do with our living in other worlds and moving life from earth out to Alpha Centauri and perhaps further with all the bumps and wrinkles, with all our inconsistencies, with all our evil things, but not with all of our bad things because we'll be taking along Shakespeare and many others, Emily Dickinson, many other people to fund the universe with our knowledge.
When we landed on the moon, David Frost asked me to appear on his show so that I could explain my ideas about the reason for us being alive at all. So I went over to the David Frost Show and I was there at 8:30 at night when we landed on the moon. A great moment. I was crying. I think all over the world people were crying. One of the greatest nights in the history of the world.
So I prepared to go on the show and say what I had to say, and David Frost said, "And now we have a great American here, a pure genius. He's a wonder," and I thought, That's got to be me. It's got to be me. And he says, "And here he is, Engelbert Humperdinck."
No, no, no! He came up and sang his stupid song, and then he started another introduction I thought, Well this time it's got to be me. And he did another introduction and it was for Sammy Davis, Jr. He was a very nice guy, a very talented guy. I knew him. I took my daughters out to see him the day before on the set of the studio, but this was not a night for Sammy Davis, Jr. or Englebert Humperdinck.
I walked off the show. I went out to the parking lot, the producer came running after me and said, "What are you doing out here?" I said, "I'm leaving." He said, "You can't do that." I said, "Watch my dust. That idiot in there has ruined the greatest night in the history of the world. I don't want to be on the show with him. Get me a cab and get me out of here." They got me a cab and I crossed London and I went to meet with Walter Cronkite. I did a show with Walter Cronkite on Telstar around the world and I was able to say what I had to say about the possible immortality of mankind.
We're always asking, "What are we doing here on earth?" We are the audience. There's no use having a universe, a cosmology, if you don't have witnesses. We are the witnesses to the miracle. We are put here by creation, by God, by the cosmos, whatever name you want to give it. We're here to be the audience to the magnificent. It is our job to celebrate. That's what I wanted to say and what I did say on the Cronkite show.
I stayed up all night that night we landed on the moon. I was on nine different shows around the world. I said all these things. I cried all night I was so happy. At nine o'clock in the morning I walked back across London exhausted but very, very joyful, and out in front of my hotel I saw a little London newspaper and it said, "Neil Armstrong walks at 6:00 a.m., Bradbury walks at midnight." So I had the satisfaction of that moment, of being part of our landing on the moon, and my hope is that we will go back in the near future.
Now it's time to wind this up and to show my appreciation for this magnificent Medal. My moment with Herman Melville in many ways is equal to what has occurred to me in my lifetime and what you have told me tonight. I've researched my life. I've looked into myself. I've tried to find me. Along the way I've located myself.
Tonight I can look in the mirror and say to myself, My God, who's that there? Why, that's Ray Bradbury. I can't believe it. You've done it to me. Thank you very much.
MR. MARTIN: That was beautiful.
MR. BRADBURY: Thank you. Thank you.[APPLAUSE]
MR. MARTIN: That was a beautiful speech, Mr. Bradbury. [APPLAUSE]
Visit the National Book Foundation.


text:
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - STS-107 Mission Specialist Laurel Clark waves to onlookers as she arrives at KSC for pre-launch preparations. STS-107 is a mission devoted to research and will include more than 80 experiments that will study Earth and space science, advanced technology development, and astronaut health and safety. The payload on Space Shuttle Columbia includes FREESTAR (Fast Reaction Experiments Enabling Science, Technology, Applications and Research) and the SHI Research Double Module (SHI/RDM), known as SPACEHAB. Experiments on the module range from material sciences to life sciences. The crew includes Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut. Other crew members are Commander Rick Husband, Pilot William "Willie" McCool, Payload Commander Michael Anderson and Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and David Brown. Launch of Columbia is targeted for Jan. 16 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. (Photo Release Date: 01/12/2003 )
KSC-03PD-0049 - Raw ASCII Text Caption file
KSC-03PD-0049 - Low (GIF Format, 320x240 pixels x 256 colors, approx 50 Kbytes)
KSC-03PD-0049 - Medium (JPEG format, 1024x768 pixels x 256 colors, approx 250 Kbytes)
KSC-03PD-0049 - High (JPEG, 2040x2640 pixels x 16 million colors, approx 400 Kbytes)
STS-107 KSC Photo IndexNext Image KSC-03PD-0050
DISCLAIMER: No copyright protection is asserted for these photographs.
If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA of a commercial product. These photographs are available for preview and download in electronic digital form ONLY. They may not be ordered from NASA in photograph form. (See NASA Copyright Notice)


text:
The Gospel of Kink is the newest book by Richard Wagner, Ph.D., ACS, a Clinical Sexologist in private practice here in Seattle, providing Sex Therapy and Relationship Counseling for over 30 years. Richard is often known for his thought provoking podcasts via his website, Dr. Dick's Sex Advice. Ever since he told us here at the Foundation that he was working on this book, we have been eagerly awaiting this new treatise.
And we weren't disappointed! In the forward, he spends some time explaining his choice of word for the title, eloquently explaining the root meaning of "gospel" is "good news", thereby priming us with the idea that our personal truths are our gospel.
The book is written as a "workshop in a book" which is similar to a workbook where you go through various self-awareness exercises intended to encourage self discovery. What is different about The Gospel of Kink is the group of fictional participants that go through these exercises with you. This is approach allows you to make personal connections with the participants, just you do with characters in a book. You have the same chances to empathize, be irritated and gain understanding through their process of self discovery.
These exercises are simple and common, with the added twists that are necessary to make them fully relevant to those in kinky, lifestyle or alt sex relationships. I am very impressed by the ways that Dr. Dick subtly offers "extra credit" assignments via his characters taking initiative to expand the exercises or seeking out addition exercises on their own. I found myself think "Ooo! I should do that, too!" as opposed to feeling resistant about "more work" or guilty that I didn't do all the exercises.
The Foundation is very proud to invite you to meet Dr. Dick and his panel of alt sex experts this Saturday. You will have a chance to buy his book and get it signed by all the contributors after a short workshop, based on this new book. Since this is a book release party we will have red velvet cake and refreshments to celebrate.
The workshop at 3pm is $10, and the book signing starting at 4:30pm is free. For those in need, there is a discount code that can be used for online purchases. Just type in E8F3Y in the promo code field at check out.


text:
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
The Vanishing Mr. Hat
ANYWAY THE POINT is not about where the character comes from, it's about where he went because I've noticed that recently all he's done is get involved in some stupid fight with a female version of himself and that's about it. No more maniacal plots. I think this explains a lot about why xkcd has been sucking so hard the past few months.
But of course, my bold assertions are nothing without empirical evidence, so here we go: I decided to divide the series into 50 comic chunks, and measure what percentage of strips per chunk have him in it. Note that while Mr. Hat is well defined by his hat (see detail at left), not all men in hats are Mr. Hat. He has a very distinct personality. I have noted if there is a possible dispute about his identity.
Note also that except once while it was stolen, Mr. Hat always wears his hat. If he's not wearing it, it's not Mr. Hat. He's enough of a continuing character that I believe this is fair.
Now...to the numbers!!
Chunk 1 - Comics 1-50
Mr. Hat Comics (number): 2 (I'm not counting 45)
Mr. Hat Density Index: 4%
Chunk 2 - Comics 51-100
Mr. Hat Comics (number): 5 (77 seems like just a guy wearing a hat)
Mr. Hat Density Index: 10%
Chunk 3 - Comics 101-150
Mr. Hat Comics (number): 5
Mr. Hat Density Index: 10%
Chunk 4 - Comics 151-200
Mr. Hat Comics (number): 6
Mr. Hat Density Index: 12%
Chunk 5 - Comics 201-250
Mr. Hat Comics (number): 3
Mr. Hat Density Index: 6%
Chunk 6 - Comics 251-300
Mr. Hat Comics (number): 3 (291 doesn't count - he doesn't talk and it's CLEARLY a different hat)
Mr. Hat Density Index: 6%
Chunk 7 - Comics 301-350
Mr. Hat Comics (number): 3
Mr. Hat Density Index: 6%
Chunk 8 - Comics 351-400
Mr. Hat Comics (number): 6
Mr. Hat Density Index: 12%
Chunk 9 - Comics 401-429 (present - not a full chunk yet)
Mr. Hat Comics (number): 2
Mr. Hat Density Index: 7%
Hey let's look at that in CHART FORM-
So from this it looks like, yes, there was a dip in Mr. Hat's appearances. But maybe it's on the rise again? After all, there's a pretty obvious peak there at the end.
Or is there? This is about the time that the Female Version of Mr. Hat steals his hat and they get in a crazy battle of Spy vs. Spy-esque revenge plots. These, I maintain, are not truly the essence of Mr. Hat - he is best when he gives quick, pithy one liners, not when he displays emotion. Anyway, you can decide that for yourself. If you would like, here's what the chart looks like not counting those four comics -
Of course all this raises the question - is his disappearance a cause of xkcd's recent sucktasticness, or a symptom? I'll let you decide that one as well.
12 comments:
Okay I'm sorry but I'm like clicking all your links, so I'm sort of pilfering through your old posts again.ReplyDelete
But anyway, I just noticed that the alt-text for http://xkcd.com/29/ explains the joke as well.
It is nice for me to reread old posts, so don't worry about it. Agreed about the alt-text on comic 29. I tend to give him some leeway on those really early ones, but incidentally, as long as we're talking about that alt-text, go read Men In Hats and see just how closely Mr. Hat is based on Aram, who is incidentally a wonderful character. Here is an example: woo men in hatsReplyDelete
Dammit Carl you have hooked me onto yet another webcomic. Haha, my captcha is "bigin." Biginning of the end for me!ReplyDelete
... Okay it is more amusing at three in the morning with an essay awaiting my typage.
- AnonymousJune 18, 2009 at 6:40 AM
Amanda, Randall's old alt-texts weren't funny, nor were they meant to be. They explained the joke, but he ditched them once he had enough of a geek audience that he didn't feel the need to stab the living shit out of every punchline for the questionable benefit of those who wouldn't like xkcd anyway.ReplyDelete
Unless you really hated the Secretary of the Internet arc, I think you may wish to revise your data. Also, although the Spy vs. Spy arc has lots of crap, the main ones (she takes his hat, he takes his hat back) are still good.ReplyDelete
I did really hate that arc! Hated it hugely. I wrote a long post about it, you should check it out.ReplyDelete
I would update my data but I don't care as much anymore. We do see Mr. Hat more than when I wrote this (I wrote it just as Journal was happening) but often he's a watered down lame version, so it's still a problem.
At least Journal 1 was still hat-esque.ReplyDelete
Carl, that's not what the phrase "begs the question" usually means. Usually it refers to the informal logical fallacy of assuming the exact thing you're trying to prove within an argument. What I think you should have said is "raises the question." Also, thanks for the blog, I'm glad people are noticing the recent shittiness of xkcd.ReplyDelete
you are right. I will correct it.ReplyDelete
But it's hardly "recent" shittiness anymore - this post is more than a year old. DAMN.
Begging the question is such an interesting phrase.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousNovember 2, 2009 at 5:21 PM
WTF??!?!!? WHY DO YOU MAKE GRAPHS AND CHARTS AND AVERAGES AND PERCENTS FOR A FUCKING WEBCOMIC? GET A LIFE!ReplyDelete
i am using SCIENCE. it is just what i do. For what it's worth, I made this graph first back when I was a huge xkcd fan.ReplyDelete


text:
Follow Us
A metrosexual is a man who lives in a city, shows a lot of interest in his appearance and his lifestyle, and is not gay. The "metro-" indicates a sophisticated city life. The "-sexual" comes from "homosexual" and is used because this interest in appearance (i.e. cosmetics, fashion, etc.) is usually associated with certain gay men. Famous metrosexual: David Beckham


text: Business Directory Search Hot Deals Narrow search by: Category: Any Category Accidental Death & Dismemberment Insurance Accountants Accounting Advanced Diagnostic Capabilities Advertising/Promotions Affordable Housing Air Conditioning Ambulance Ambulance Animals Antiques/Estate Sales/Consignments Apartments Appliance Repair Arcade Architectural Design & Building Assistance finding Community Services Association Management (HOA/Condo) Attorneys Auto Insurance Auto Parts Auto Repair Auto Sales Awards and Personalization Backflow Banks & Credit Unions Bar Baseball Beauty Salon/Spa Beauty Salons/Spas Beverage Distributors Birthday Boarding Books & Stationery Bottled Water Bowling Building Supplies Catering Cellular (Wireless) Chamber of Commerce Child Placement Childcare Childrens Clothing/Toys Chimney Cleaning/Repairs Chiropractor Churches Civil Engineering Clinic Clothing/Shoes Club/Membership Stores Club/Membership Stores CNC Machining Coffee Shop Commercial Commercial Cleaning Commercial Construction Commercial Kitchen Commercial Leasing Commercial Property Appraisals Commercial Property Sales Commercial Recycling Community Organizations Computer Service/Sales Computer/Video Games Concrete - Ready-Mix Concrete Hippo Delivery Construction Contractors Construction Management Construction/Development Consultants Contractors Convenience Store/Gas Station Copiers/Printers/Fax Machines Corporate Office Cosmetic Dentistry Counseling Credit Card Processing Custom Cabinetry Dental Design/Marketing/Print Design-Build Digital Marketing/SEO Dining Discount Stores Dog Drain Cleaning Drug & Variety Stores Dry Cleaning Dryer Vent Cleaning Durable Medical Equipment Loans Economic Development Education Elderly Services Elected Officials Electrical Repair Electrician Emergency Eye Care Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Emergency Room (ER) Event Venues/Meeting Spaces Events Eye Care Eye Trauma/Infection Treatment Eyeglasses/Contact Lenses Family Financial & Investment Services Financial & Investment Services Financial Advisors Financial Services & Insurance Fire/Emergency Fitness, Gym and Weight Training Fixture Installation & Repair Flood Insurance Floor Care Floor Covering Flooring Retailer & Installations Florists Food & Beverage/Catering Fun Furniture Game Room Garbage Disposal Installation & Repair Gas Leak Detection & Repair General Construction General Contractor, Construction Manager General Dentistry Gifts & Specialty Items Golf Clubs Government Grainery/Feed/Seed/Fertilizer/Etc. Grocery Stores Grooming Gym Handyman Hardware Health Care Health Insurance Heating HOA Management Hockey Home Builder Home Builder Home Decor Home Improvement Home Improvement Homeowner's Insurance Hospital Hotels/Motels Human Resource Management HVAC Hydro Jetting Individual Industrial Property Insurance Internet Service Provider Investment Property Sales IT - Information Technology MSP Jewelry Kennel Kitchen Tools/Accessories Land Appraisals Land Sales Landscaping Laser Tag Lasik/Cataract Consultation Lead Generation Leak Detection & Repairs Legal Services Life Insurance Limousine Long Term Health Care Major Medical Insurance Manufacturing Manufacturing & Production Martial Arts Massage Therapy Meat Market Media Medical - Doctor's Office/Primary Care Medical Care and Rehabilitation Medicare Supplement Insurance Meeting Mental & Behavioral Health Merchant Services Minor household repairs Mortgage Banking Mortgage Services New Home Sales Non-Profit Nutrition Occupational Therapy Office Properties Office Supplies On-site Laboratory Services Optometrist Orthodontics Orthokeratology (Non-surgical Lasik) Our Volunteers Drive Seniors Outpatient Therapy Painting/Staining Painting/Staining Party Payroll Pediatric Dentistry Periodontal Health Pest Control Pets Pharmacy/One-Stop-Shopping Phone/Television/Internet Photography Physical Therapy Pipe Lining Services Plastics/Injection Molding Plumbing Pre-construction Prescription Pickup, etc. Press/Publications/Radio Print/Mail/Package/Ship Services Printed Media Professional Dog Trainer School Professional Employer Organization (PEO) Professional Sports Promotional Products Property Leasing & Management Property Management Prosthodontics Public Housing Public Relations Real Estate Services Recycling Services Relocation Services Remodeling Renter's Insurance Residential Residential Cleaning Residential Construction Residential Home Sales Residential Leasing Residential Repairs Residential Roofing Resorts Restaurants Restaurants & Specialty Dining Restorative Dentistry Retail Roof Repair Sales Support - Hospitality Industry Security Services Sedation Dentistry Self-Performance Shoe Repair Short Term Rehabilitation Signs & Banners Skilled Therapy Skin Care Speaking Sporting Goods Staffing/Employment Storage Storm Damage Repair Surgical Consultation Tax Preparation Telephone (Landline) Title Insurance and Escrow Services Towing/Wrecker Training Training Tree Service Urgent Care Utilities Vape Shop Veterinarian Vision Care Wallpaper Installation Waste Disposal Water Conditioning Water Coolers Water Filtration Systems Water Heater Installation & Repair Water Softener Installation & Repairs Water Softener Installation & Repairs Website Development Weight Management Weight Training Window Coverings Windows & Doors Keyword: Advanced Search Realtor: Commercial Leasing Commercial Property Sales Investment Property Sales Land Sales New Home Builder New Home Sales Residential Leasing Residential Property Sales Results Found: 2 new search Sort by: A-Z Print Contact these Businesses YMCA of Greater Williamson Cty 1812 N. Mays Street Round Rock, TX 78664 (512) 246-9622 YMCA of Hutto 200 Alliance Blvd Hutto, TX 78634 (512) 846-2360 Business Directory Events Calendar Hot Deals Contact Us Weather Join The Chamber 2015-06-03 ChamberMaster Integration Team


text:
Education is key to both the employee and student wellness programs at 32,300-student West Virginia University.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—Education is key to both the employee and student wellness programs at 32,300-student West Virginia University. Nettie Freshour, R.D., dietitian/program coordinator for WVU Dining Services, says the initiatives for both programs are based on providing as much information to employees and students as possible, in the hope they will make healthy decisions.
Educating employees: Freshour says the program was designed specifically for WVU Dining employees and includes several components such as a yearly health fair, information sessions and what Freshour calls "behavioral change" programs. The department was recently recertified as a Gold Status Well Workplace from the state of West Virginia for its employee wellness efforts.
"A big part of the program is the health fair," Freshour says. "Any individual on our insurance can attend it for free. Those individuals not on our insurance can also attend for $30. At the health fair our employees can get a complete workup such as a blood/glucose and blood pressure checkup and a BMI check. They can get analysis by a chiropractor and get skin analysis done. They can get a lot of free nutrition and wellness information. So even for those not on our insurance, it's a good deal."
Once every three years Freshour digs a little deeper by conducting a health risk appraisal, so the department can understand what conditions the employees are suffering from and what they are concerned about. The appraisal tells Freshour how many of the employees have type 2 diabetes or heart disease. It tells her how many are smoking and things like how many don't wear seat belts when they drive.
"Based on that appraisal I'm able to create programs that are going to be beneficial to our department," Freshour says. "I also do a needs and interests assessment. So, for example, maybe the appraisal shows me that a lot of our employees have type 2 diabetes but the needs and interests assessment shows that none of those employees would attend an information session on type 2 diabetes, so I wouldn't offer that."
Freshour also conducts a cultural audit to get an idea of how the staff perceives the administration's wellness efforts. The department's goal is to let the staff know that administration really is interested in their health and wellness. To help convey that feeling, Freshour created a wellness team made up of five employees from all different levels. The team created a mission statement, goals and a 12-month calendar of wellness events.
"Within those 12 months we will try to incorporate nutrition information, physical activity information, self-care, stress management and smoking cessation," Freshour says. "Since tobacco is pretty predominant in this state we always try to encourage our employees to quit. We encourage activity breaks rather than smoke breaks. A monthly newsletter goes out to all the employees based on those categories."
The items on the calendar try to focus on behavior change programs, Freshour says. One program offered recently was a stretching program. Employees were given information on the importance of stretching, and the wellness team gave them large rubber bands that they can use to stretch. Another program the department did was "Walk 100 miles in 100 days," which was in conjunction with the university.
"Basically we just encouraged employees to track their mileage for 100 days and hopefully they'd clock in a mile per a day," Freshour says. "We also do something called 'Chug a Jug,' which is where we gave everyone a water bottle and we encouraged them to drink it and try to fill it up twice before 2 p.m. and twice after 2 p.m. If they could do that then they would be getting the recommended 64 ounces of water in a day. [What we are doing with these programs] is we're trying to decrease call out times. We're trying to increase productivity. Plus we want to get [the employees] to understand that it really is beneficial for them. We also add other little incentives, such as if an employee fills out a tobacco affidavit that says they've been smoke free for a year, they can get a decrease in their health insurance. We also offer decreases for filling out a living will and attending the health fair."
Employees also are encouraged to take advantage of all the healthy menu options that are available to the students as part of the student-focused wellness program, Healthy U.
Healthy U: To encourage health and wellness for the university's student population, Freshour says the department created a nutrition and wellness task force. The task force's main goal was to offer healthy foods within the dining halls, but the team decided early on that just offering the food wasn't good enough.
"We wanted to explain to students why [the healthy food] was beneficial for them," Freshour says. "We decided to design a wellness program that was an educational nutrition program."
In the dining hall the department uses a stop light system—go, slow and whoa—to indicate which items are healthier. Free nutrition counseling also is available. Each residence hall also has a wellness coordinator who offers wellness programs, to which dining contributes.
"We'll do things like 'How to Avoid the Freshman 15' and 'How to Eat Well and Study.' We offer dining hall tours and grocery store tours. We also provide them with a lot of handouts with nutrition information. We use social media to encourage health and wellness. We have a Healthy U Facebook page. We also use Twitter to do something called Tweet Well. If someone does something that is healthy they can tweet it and label it as a Tweet Well. If an individual gets so many Tweet Wells in a month, then they can win prizes."
In conjunction with the basic Healthy U program, the department works closely with a department on campus called Well WVU, which is part of The Students' Center of Health. Nutrition has its own section on the Well WVU website where videos, podcasts, an "Ask the Expert" feature and other topics answer nutrition concerns.
"The podcasts are a really cool thing," Freshour notes. "We have podcasts of how to eat healthy in the dining hall, where we educate the students that just because it's not labeled as healthy doesn't mean it's not healthy. For example, we offer a wheat pizza, but we don't label it as a healthy item. There is a new podcast every month on Well WVU so we worked with Well WVU to do the dining hall one and one that toured a grocery store. We intend on doing more."
The department also takes part in a lot of health fairs on campus where it provides healthy food from the dining hall for students to sample. Freshour says the department recently took part in an event called Try It, which encouraged students to try something new.
"The event focused on physical activity as well as nutrition," Freshour says. "We offered things like turkey burgers, salmon burgers, veggie burgers and sweet potato fries. Once again, all the items we offered are available in our dining hall on a regular basis but maybe the students were a little apprehensive to try them."
Freshour says the biggest challenge with either wellness program is always getting people to buy in.
"When you have individuals who are kind of set in their ways and have been eating sausage biscuits and gravy for breakfast every morning and hot dogs for lunch it's tough—especially if they don't have a doctor breathing down their necks because they aren't going to the doctor," she explains. "A lot of times they just don't want to know; they'd rather ignore the information. We just want them to know that it is beneficial to have that information in the long run.
"I have to say David [Friend, director of dining services] is really the epitome of our wellness program," she adds. "He would never tell you that, but he decided to really take a personal approach to it and show our staff how unbelievably important it is. He started implementing exercise and diet into his everyday life. He made it a priority and he initially lost 60 pounds. He really is an inspiration to the rest of our department. He definitely leads by example. He has made wellness one of my main responsibilities. That's definitely one of the reasons we've been reaccredited as Gold because our upper management deems[wellness] a priority."
Freshour says it's important to get as many people involved in wellness efforts as possible. That way the department can lean on its employees for expertise, she adds.
"You never really know who goes home and rides a bike or goes for a five-mile jog," Freshour says. "Ask individuals to help out by bringing in their expertise. Also, start small; there's no reason why you can't hold one or two events a year to start off. If you are utilizing your department's resources you can have an effective wellness program and not spend a dime."


text:
Skip to Content
Weather data for the ski industry
Add this forecast to your website
1. Please choose the layout that best suits your site.
Choose Freecast Layout
Snow report only
Snow report & next 24 hours (6 hourly)
Snow report & 3 day forecast
Snow report & 5 day forecast
2. Change Color
3. Change weather units
4. Either leave the header name as shown below or change it by typing into the box;
5. Specify width in pixels (optional)
6. Select the scripting language.
Choose scripting language
C# - ASP.Net
VB.Net - ASP.Net
7. Copy the code, paste it to the backend of your Website and the forecast will update daily.
If you require a plugin for more than 5 locations, or wish to discuss this offer and other content options from Weather2, please Contact Us.


text:
|Are you ready for the next challenge? Gear up and explore
Pokemon Infinity Online
|Try the new on-the-go game that is based on the wonderful world of MonsterRanch!
Click here to visit it
It is currently Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:36 am
In total there are 33 users online :: 0 registered, 0 hidden and 33 guests (based on users active over the past 5 minutes)
Most users ever online was 379 on Sun Jul 15, 2018 11:17 am
Registered users: No registered users
Legend: Administrators, Global moderators, PBA Rangers, PBA Staff in Training, Registered users
Congratulations to: CurtiJAWL (44), uricaineupepe (41), Cornellcync (33)
Total posts 242946 • Total topics 10933 • Total members 13924 • Our newest member Sued197


text:
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Support the Glass Message Board by finding a book via book-seek.com
Support the Glass Message Board by finding glass through glass-seek.com
Thank you Rosie and Michael. I've got some problems at work and have to deal with a substantial cut in earnings (a hard blow) and a bit of mobbing. Though one is no worse than the other, both together have messed me up a little. But things will be OK, only because they have to be. :usd:
Page created in 0.835 seconds with 28 queries.


text:
(→Dan Mashal (dan408))
|Line 55:
|Line 55:
'''Package maintainer:'''

'''Package maintainer:'''

-BitchX and Scrollz IRC clients

-BitchX and Scrollz IRC clients

-MATE Desktop (official feature of Fedora 18)

-MATE Desktop (official feature of Fedora 18)

-Co maintainer of Cinnamon DE.

-Co maintainer of Cinnamon DE.

Revision as of 03:53, 13 November 2012
The following elections will take place in November/December 2012:
- Fedora Project Board (two seats)
- FESCo (Engineering) (four seats)
- FAmSCo (Ambassadors) (three seats)
- Fedora 19 Name (separate schedule from the committee elections)
All dates and times noted are UTC time.
Fedora Board Elections November/December 2012
For the last election, please look at NominationsMayJune2012
There are two seats up for elections this year:
- E1: currently held by Christoph Wickert
- E2: currently held Jaroslav Reznik
More information on board seats history is available here
Candidate Template
- Goal statement:
- Past work summary:
- Future plans:
- Anything else you want to add:
John Dulaney (j_dulaney)
- Mission statement: To promote Fedora in my role as an ambassador; to continue to develop test criteria for new features coming into Fedora and evolve the QA process as needed to fit with the evolution of Fedora. I will also strive to make sure that Fedora remains at the forefront of technology and to be the best Free distribution of Linux.
- Past work summary I am a member of the Fedora Quality Assurance team. I help write test cases for new features, I am a proven tester (testing critical path software updates), I test new releases starting prior to branching, and I help establish release criteria. I am also a Fedora Ambassador, especially within the Fayetteville region. I spread knowledge of Linux in general and Fedora in particular and inform people that they do have a choice for Freedom.
- Future plans: Strive to improve the testing of Fedora; both personally and collectively throughout the QA team, to continue to educate people on the advantages of Linux and Free Software, and to continue to test Fedora.
Dan Mashal (dan408)
- Mission statement: To make Fedora better in any way I possibly can for both users, sysadmins, and developers.
- Past work summary:
Package maintainer:
-BitchX and Scrollz IRC clients
-MATE Desktop (official feature of Fedora 18)
MATE Desktop -Co maintainer of Cinnamon DE.
QA team/Triager/Bugzapper/Proventester:
Fedora 17 (Beefy Miracle)
Fedora 18 (Spherical Cow)
-Held Fedora 17 release party in Walnut Creek, CA.
-Spoke at Silicon Valley Linux Users Group - Aug 1, 2012
-Hosted puppetconf 2012 Fedora booth
-Hosted OLPC Summit 2012 Fedora booth.
-Spoke at Silicon Valley Linux Users Group - Nov 1, 2012
- Future plans: Improve communication between groups within Fedora, to make Fedora the "cool" distro to use again. To make Fedora easier to use for everyone. To make it more accessible for the every day person. To make Fedora the #1 free operating system on the planet.
- Anything else you want to add: The first time I installed Linux it was Slackware in 1996. Since then I have my first encounter with Red Hat Linux was version 5. I have run Fedora on production servers. Fedora is like my 2nd job and my passion and I want to see it be the best distribution it possibly can be.


text:
Adajio earrings by Barbara MacCambridge with paisley design
These handmade Adajio earrings feature a green and purple paisley design on a grey background. Adajio earrings are the latest work by Colorado artist Barbara MacCambridge and are made in the USA. These hook style earwires are sterling silver.
These earrings themselves measure approximately 1.8" long (including the earwire) by .4" wide. Please note that the dime is not included but shown to help you gauge the size of the earrings. These earrings come with Glassando's gift box that is great for giving or storage for years to come.
These earrings would make a great gift for anyone who loves green and purple jewelry, or appreciates handmade jewelry.
According to the artist, Adajio items are etched, and then embellished by hand with a special proprietary process that adds color and interest to each piece. Earrings are completed with gold-filled or sterling silver ear wires, as well as glass, metal, and crystal beads depending on the design of the earrings.


text:
PHP CGI with VirtualHosts.
This is what I found out while trying to get php to work as CGI with Apache VirtualHosts.
By enabling 'force-cgiredirects', you *must*:
1) set 'cgi.fix_pathinfo=1' in php.ini
2) leave doc_root commented out (php.ini also)
If you miss item 1, the apache logs will show 'unexpected T_STRING' in the php binary.
If you miss item 2, you'll only see 'No input file specified.', instead of the expected output.
You can then turn on the php support for a particular vhost by defining:
Action php-script /cgi-bin/php
inside the corresponding <VirtualHost> directive.


text:
We are looking for good, safe drivers to deliver meals to customers throughout our delivery area. Drivers must have a reliable automobile, insurance, and a clean driving record.
Browse Menus
My Order
About Us
Contact Us
My Account
Choose from an address on file:
Oops! Google couldn't match exactly what you entered!
Please select the one that most closely matches your address.
Want to change your address? You can choose from one of your addresses on file


text:
Today I arrived late at my house because my team had a big problem migrating a stored procedure from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2012. Countless hours lost trying to find out what we could be have been doing wrong...
On the end, in turned out, all the trouble was because of a bug in SQL Server 2012.
Here is what we found, lets say you have a table "T_1":
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[T_1](
[C] [nvarchar](50) NULL
Now, lets say you add some rows to it.
INSERT INTO [dbo].[T_1] ([C]) VALUES ('P')
INSERT INTO [dbo].[T_1] ([C]) VALUES ('Q')
INSERT INTO [dbo].[T_1] ([C]) VALUES ('R')
Now write this query:
select * from T_1 where ISNUMERIC(C)=1 and CONVERT(float,C)=0.0
And you will get a nice error message:
Msg 8114, Level 16, State 5, Line 1
Error converting data type nvarchar to float.
¿What is the bug? You shouldn't be getting an error message! the "Error converting data type nvarchar to float." is generated by the CONVERT(float,C)=0, but SQL should never run that code because ISNUMERIC(C)=1 evaluates to false, and if the first part of an "and" is false, there is no point in executing the second part, the result is going to be false anyway.
Well you might say, maybe SQLServer has always done things this way... well, no, it has not. In SQL 2000, that query executes correctly!
And in SQL 2012, there is a workaround, just change from nvarchar to varchar:
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[T_2](
[C] [varchar](50) NULL
INSERT INTO [dbo].[T_2] ([C]) VALUES ('P')
INSERT INTO [dbo].[T_2] ([C]) VALUES ('Q')
INSERT INTO [dbo].[T_2] ([C]) VALUES ('R')
Now if we write (note we are now working with the table T_2 that uses varchar) :
select * from T_1 where ISNUMERIC(C)=1 and CONVERT(float,C)=0.0
We will get no error.
Why is this happening then?
It seems to be a bug in SQL Server 2012 execution plan:
As you can see in the image, SQL 2012 inverts the predicate when working with nvarchar!
On the other hand, for T_2 the table with a varchar column:
As you can see, here the the order of evaluation is preserved, and things work like they should.
Now what can we do if we are not allowed to change the type of the column in the table?
I tried using a CTE, but it does not work, the execution plan is the same faulty one:
with V_1 as (select * from T_1 where ISNUMERIC(C)=1)
select * from V_1 where CONVERT(float,C)=0.0
Using a subquery also fails:
select * from (select C from T_1 where ISNUMERIC(C)=1) V_1 where CONVERT(float,C)=0.0
We can change the type explicitly to varchar in the query, that fixes the problem:
select * from T_1 where ISNUMERIC(C)=1 and CONVERT(float,convert(varchar(100),C))=0.0
But, what if we actually have an Unicode string with chars that will get damaged by a conversion to varchar?
I shouldn't be a problem…. What do you think? any other workaround?
UPDATE: I have submitted this bug to Microsoft Connect, click here to see my bug report


text:
Not your mama's drama: Stamford soaps will air online
STAMFORD -- In classic soap opera style, two of the daytime dramas that were killed by the networks will be brought back to life this month.
"One Life to Live" and "All My Children" have been filming at a location on Stamford's West Side for two months and preparing for a comeback on Monday. Both shows will be shortened to 30 minutes and aired online.
"I think that's where it's going," said actress Kassie DePaiva, who plays Blair on "OLTL." "A job is a job, it doesn't matter where. I'm just glad we're keeping the show alive."
On a recent day, DePaiva was rehearsing a bar scene in the Stillwater Avenue studio, set up to resemble the fictional town of Llanview, Pa.. After 19 years on the show, she was upset when it went off the air in January 2012, after a 43-year run.
"Words can't express it, completely devastated," she said.
But then word came that the production firm Prospect Park had bought the licensing rights for the longtime soaps from ABC and was planning to air them on its The Online Network (TOLN) and things started looking up. Though the deal initially fell through, it was later finalized to run on Hulu and Hulu Plus.
DePaiva said most cast members signed on to do the show, airing Mondays through Thursdays, with a compilation show on Fridays.
Each production will film on a five-week on, five-week off schedule, which DePaiva is excited about. She's already planning to do a play in Florida on her next break.
"It's kind of nice," she said. "I have time to do other things."
In a nearby room, actress Melissa Archer, who plays Natalie, was performing a scene with the little boy who portrays her son on the show. Dressed in a silky robe, Archer is looking in a closet for something to wear and holds a dress up to her body.
Archer's "son" comes into the room and tugs on her robe. Archer asks what he's still doing up and he says he can't sleep. She says she'll sing his favorite song. As they exit, he asks where she's going and she says a "big party."
More than 20 crew members, including cameramen, producers and directors were on hand during filming and they shot the scene several times. "So Finn, you're going to look at mommy and you're happy when she says she's going to sing your favorite song," the director says.
After the shoot, Archer took a break on a couch and said it was "very sad" when the show was canceled, but things turned around. She was on the show 10 years and wanted to come back.
"I was very excited that they were going to be able to do it," she said.
Archer said she thinks the fans will stay with the show, when it moves from ABC to online.
"I think that's part of the reason it's happening, because of the fans," Archer said. "I think we have the opportunity to get even more fans."
Jerry verDorn, who played Clint for seven years, stepped out of his dressing room for a few minutes to discuss the show's future.
When the show was canceled by ABC and picked up by Prospect Park, verDorn thought they'd be shooting in three months. Though it took more than a year, he calls the move "quite historic."
The former "Guiding Light" star remembers starting in the business and talking with actors who transitioned from radio to television. He said they had reservations about making the leap.
"Now we get to take another step forward," he said. "We get to be a part of history."
The actor said his sons barely watch anything on television because they don't want to wait for a certain time to watch a program.
"When I told my sons what I'm going to do, they were like, `it's about time,' " he said.
Actor Corbin Bleu will be playing the new character of Jeffrey, a newspaper reporter who works at The Banner, under Erica Slezak's character Victoria Lord.
"What's cool about Jeffrey is the possibilities are endless because there isn't an established storyline," he said.
Bleu, who grew up in Brooklyn, said he's been acting since he was 2 years old and was featured in the "High School Musical" series.
"I've done film, television and Broadway and this was something completely new," he said.
After filming wraps, Bleu said he'll fly back to Los Angeles, where he resides. Meanwhile, he said all of the sets will change over for AMC, whether it's new paint or furniture.
Sean Russel-Herman, who's playing a bartender and lives in New York City, said coming to Stamford is "like a breath of fresh air." This is his first soap opera role.
"I like television better, I think it brings more to it," Russel-Herman admitted. "But I'm glad they are getting into it. From a marketing perspective, I think it's a good idea."
It's not just the actors that missed the show when it went off the air. So did Julia Davis, head of makeup, and Wayne Bilotti, head of hair dressing.
"It's wonderful coming here," said Davis, who worked with the show seven years. "It's like being back with family."
"It's like a little world all to itself and then it went away," said Bilotti, who was there 17 years.
Bilotti, who now works on both shows, said he's not concerned about the move to Hulu.
"I don't worry about the fans coming back," he said. "I'm excited about the new fans we're going to get."
In fact, Bilotti said the shows can be edgier, as there are no restrictions from the networks, so actors can show more skin and swear. He believes this will be groundbreaking.
"I think it's all positive and we're all really excited about it and that's all you can be," he said.
"All My Children," set in the fictional town of Pine Valley, was canceled in September 2011 after a 41-year run. The show featured Susan Lucci, as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most popular characters. Though Lucci hasn't signed on for the show, several other regulars have.
Both shows aired on ABC and were created by soap opera pioneer Agnes Nixon.
"I am so pleased that our dream of bringing these two series back to life is coming to fruition," Nixon said, in a statement. "I am grateful to Prospect Park for their unwavering commitment to this project and to the amazingly talented casts of `All My Children' and `One Life to Live' -- their devotion to these franchises has made this moment possible. And to the fans -- well we wouldn't be here without you."


text:
We offer the highest quality of ALL medications you purchase and they come in its original manufactures packaging. We select only most reputable suppliers in pharmaceutical industry.
Our company strives to maintain and improve every phase of our business and satisfy needs of our customers. All products at our site are available to be shipped - that means we have them in stock and can ship them to you within 3-5 business days after payment clearance.Be healthy. Consult your doctor.


text:
Notation basée sur
7 Avis
4,4 sur juillet 12, 2016
A good friend and I were staying at Glencairn B&B. What can I say? John and Helen were so nice and helpful with everything. All the conversations with them and the other guests were interesting and we liked very much the breakfasttalk in the morning.
4,6 sur juin 23, 2013
My girlfriend and I enjoyed our stay very much and we truly appreciated the great advice that John gave us. The en-suite was micro but functional and the rest of the room, house yard was pleasant. Thank you John and Helen.
4,6 sur juillet 29, 2012
Our hosts, John and Helen Fox, made us feel very welcome on our arrival at Glencairn B&B, with a cup of tea in their very beautiful garden. Although the ensuite was very tiny, the main room was a very generous size, with, not only a large and extremely comfortable bed (the most comfortable of all the B&B's we stayed in while in Ireland), but a sitting area included. Free wifi and cable TV were also included. The breakfasts provided were excellent, with plenty of variety and special dietary needs catered for. John was very knowledgeable about the local area, and directed us to some quality local attractions that we would not otherwise have known about. Nothing was too much trouble for our hosts, making us feel very much at home. We highly recommend Glencairn B&B as a place to stay while in Cork
5 sur septembre 06, 2011
Superb! The best B&B we have stayed, not only for the rooms and facilities ( which are really great),but also for the kidness of Helen and John. You really feel at home!
5 sur octobre 18, 2010
John and Helen are one of the sweetest couples you'll ever meet. They really made sure that my sister and I had everything we needed and helped out in any way they could. When they found out we were the only guests staying for the night they happily upgraded us to a bigger room for the same price. My sister and I felt very welcomed and in the morning we were greeted with a wonderful Irish breakfast and some lovely traditional Irish music playing in the background. Helen even did a little Irish dance performance for us :) The place itself was so quaint and comforting and there's a nice patio where you eat that is surrounded by plants and flowers. Overall, we had an amazing time in Ireland and would recommend the Glencairn B&B to anyone.
5 sur octobre 11, 2009
We felt as if we were at home. John and Helen are very friendly and were always concerned about our welfare. In addition they always had good tips for places to go. Our room and bathroom were beautifully and lovingly furnished. The garden is fabulous and a dream. It was also nice that we could share our daily experiences with our hosts. The breakfast was very good and tasty. On one evening we sat with the other visitors in the garden around the fire with beer and wine. The B&B is in a quiet semi rural area, but very near the city and has good access to daytrip destinations. The Glencairn Bed and Breakfast is highly recommended.
5 sur septembre 22, 2009
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Glencairn B&B: the room was beautiful, the bed roomy and comfortable, the bathroom clean and everything in perfect order. Breakfast in the conservatory was wonderful, and we enjoyed getting to know the other guests around the table. John and Helen are lovely hosts, friendly and inviting, and we particularly appreciated them allowing our dog to stay with us in our room. Our only regret was that we couldn't stay longer- it was by far the most enjoyable stay in a B&B we've ever had! We'll definitely be back!


text:
Happy 10th Anniversary To The Biggest Games Of 2008
GameSpot looks back at some of the more notable games of 2008. It was packed with high-profile sequels including GTA IV, Fallout 3, and Metal Gear Solid 4.
GameSpot looks back at some of the more notable games of 2008. It was packed with high-profile sequels including GTA IV, Fallout 3, and Metal Gear Solid 4.
Appeals court rejected Silicon Knights' claims, entitling Epic Games to $9.2 million in damages for breach of contract, copyright infringement, and legal fees.
Silicon Knights says it is still working despite downsizing, closing its offices, and selling equipment.
[UPDATE] Silicon Knights' Xbox 360-exclusive and associated content no longer available to purchase; Microsoft confirms game pulled due to recall notice.
[UPDATE] Company president Mark Rein says jury finds for Epic Games on all counts in Unreal Engine 3 licensing dispute case, company awarded $4.45 million in damages; Silicon Knights plans ...
Too Human developer confirms staff cuts, says it is currently focused on making "one of its most requested titles for the next generation."
Denis Dyack says Silicon Knights intends to finish the trilogy it started with 2008 Xbox 360 exclusive.
Judge rules Too Human developer's case and Gears of War developer's counterclaim have enough merit to go before a jury.
We take a look at the latest Xbox Live content after Comic-Con.
Microsoft Store Update: $15 side-scrolling adventure game hits Arcade; Batman: Arkham Asylum, Too Human, and Phantasy Star Universe added to Games on Demand.
Scrolling shooter debuts on downloadable game service alongside naval action game Aqua; Games on Demand adds Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Top Spin 3, and Too Human to downloadable catalog.
GameSpot UK's sister site talks to the man behind the Internet's most acerbic video game reviews.
PAX 2009: Tim Schafer, Greg Zeschuk, Denis Dyack, Joseph Staten weigh in on the power of interactive narrative and the ways it can be delivered successfully.
GDC Europe 2009: Silicon Knights' founder believes that cloud computing will "profoundly affect the games industry forever."
Source: Telefilm Canada, a division of the Canadian government, as spotted by the Silicon Knights community forums. What we heard: Silicon Knights' future seemed to be locked into a definitive ...
Come see the winners of GameSpot's Best of 2008 dubious honors category!
Use your keyboard!
Log in to comment


text:
Park Ridge Gas 'N Pak Cited for Selling to Alcohol to Underage Customer
Sioux Falls Police say a compliance check of 21 off-sale liquor establishments in the city on Wednesday turned up one violation.
Information Officer Sam Clemens says the one business out of 21 that made the sale to an underage person was Park Ridge Gas 'N Pak at 1801 South Western Avenue:
The clerk who sold to a minor was cited for furnishing alcohol to a person 18-20 years old and will be required to appear in court.
Police say businesses that sell to underage persons may face fines, suspensions, or loss of their liquor or malt beverage licenses.


text:
With the trip to France coming up in just over two weeks, and no recent semi-epic rides to speak of, it was time to go big. And going big without driving somewhere means it's time to do the classic Santa Cruz run, 112 miles of hills, flat stuff, rollers and hopefully tail winds on the coast. That was the plan, so that's what we did. Mostly.
As usual, the first order of business is Old LaHonda, which Kevin dispatched in just under 20 minutes, while I arrived just over two minutes later. I'm getting used to that. But I'm also getting used to getting stronger later in the ride, so it wasn't too surprising that we were fairly equally-matched on the run up Haskins to Pescadero.
The run down the coast was far more pleasant than last time (when we had pretty stiff headwinds from Pescadero to Santa Cruz); even the traffic was lighter, despite this being officially "summer" (perhaps the moderate temps kept people away?). Perhaps we arrived in Davenport feeling too good, too fresh, because Kevin thought we should ride up Bonny Doon, a much tougher route than the run down the coast to Santa Cruz. Ouch. It's not just the nasty initial climb to Bonny Doon, but the subsequent climbs and rollers that take you to Empire Grade and the eventual descent (via Jamison Creek) to Boulder Creek. It didn't disappoint. It was just as steep and nasty as I'd remembered.
Next up? China Grade. You cross the Bridge of Death at the bottom and for the next 10-15 minutes, you're out of the saddle, trying to keep your front wheel on the ground and your rear wheel from slipping on either loose pavement or the occasional water seepage on the road. I did fine keeping up with Kevin here too. After China Grade it's a bumpy climb and descent to highway 9 at Waterman Gap, and then a fairly easy grade up to Skyline and Mr. Mustard, where an ice-cold drink (Coke for Kevin, Squirt for me) awaits. Kevin was definitely ready for a break, as he'd had three seizures on the ride, the final one on the highway 9 climb to Skyline (and that one left him with a bit of a headache). Fortunately, he'd had warning for all three of them, so he was able to come to a stop and lie down before each hit.
No drama on the run north on Skyline, and we arrived home about 8 hours after we left, feeling pretty good, and pretty tired. Just as we had hoped.


text:
This is one of my favorite cookies. It is crispy and crunchy butter cookies. It looks fancy yet is simple and unbelievably easy to make. It is flaky pastry with slightly caramelized sugar and is a great holiday treat.Serve this with a cup of tea and enjoy!
Puff pastry -1 sheet
Granulated sugar- 1/2 cup
Cinnamon- 3/4 tsp
Cardamon powder- a pinch
Salt- a pinch
Mix sugar,cinnamon powder, cardamon powder and salt and set aside.
Thaw puff pasty as per instruction. Dust half of the mixed sugar on the working space (wooden board or marble)and spread the puff sheet on top of the sugar. Dust the rest of the mixed sugar on top on the pastry sheet. Spread the sugar evenly .Using a rolling pin gently roll on top so that the sugar gets pressed on either side of the pasty dough ( work quickly because sugar will soften the dough).
Fold the pastry dough starting from the corner towards you to the inside. Continue folding and stop when you reach half way at the middle. Turn to the other side of the pasty sheet and do the same. When both the folds meet at the center bring together, one over lapping the other and slightly press with the rolling pin. Refrigerated this for about half an hour so that the dough becomes firm.
Pre heat oven to 350 degree F. Cut the pasty into thin equal sized slices (I got about 24 pieces). Layer on a greased baking pan leaving some space between, as these will expand. Bake for about four or five minutes and then flip over these cookies( use a spatula) and bake for another two to three minutes. Transfer to cooling rack and when completely cool transfer to air tight containers.
Try this
Hope you will all enjoy!


text:
It's planting time in the northern Piedmont of North Carolina. The tobacco transplants have moved from the greenhouse to the ground. Sam Crews is full-throttle, making sure the family's 150 acres of tobacco get planted on time. Yet every other thought comes back to what's really on his mind.
"We're going to face a serious cut in quota if nothing is done," says Crews, president of the Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina. He farms with his brother, Jimmy, in Oxford, N.C.
"A buyout is on everybody's mind," he says.
For Crews, as well as other tobacco growers, it amounts to a "holding pattern" for a tobacco buyout.
He likens his situation, and the tobacco industry, to that of a bleeding patient waiting for an operation — knowing that the doctor has been called, but hasn't yet arrived.
Since 1997, Crews, along with his fellow tobacco growers, has experienced the bleeding and about 52 percent of the tobacco quota he used to grow. A paper circulated by Blake Brown, North Carolina State University Extension agricultural economist, predicted an additional quota cut of 30 percent if the program is still in place by the end of the year.
"A lot of us won't be able to stay on the farm if that happens," Crews says. "That includes us."
Crews has watched his operation diminish from 206 acres in 1996 to about 150 this year.
He and his brother, Jimmy, are in partnership on the farm as well as the Granville Tobacco Warehouse, a Flue-Cured Stabilization Marketing Center station and an ag supply business in Oxford. In an effort to diversify their tobacco-growing operation, Crews contracts with Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company to grow Pesticide Residue Clean tobacco.
They receive a 25-cent-per-pound premium to grow the reduced-residue tobacco. "We're basically doing what I did growing up on my daddy's farm," Crews says. "We plant the tobacco and have a very few chemicals we can use. Sucker control is the biggest challenge. We have to go over it twice for sucker control. We have to store it separately and have to make some good decisions about harvesting so we can fill a barn at a time. The premium is based on quality."
Standing beside his pickup truck, with his father, Roy Crews within earshot, Sam lets his mind wander back to what's on his mind. "The whole family worked together putting in tobacco and taking it out," he says. "We always played by the rules. Now the program is starving all of us to death."
Labor, rent and fuel costs are combining to erode the potential for profitability in tobacco.
In testimony before a Senate sub-committee chaired by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., in April, Crews said as much. Along with other tobacco leaders, Crews urged passage of a buyout, as well as a reform of the current tobacco program. "Our challenge is not to simply rectify flawed policy," he testified, "ours is a complex arrangement of situations bound together by the federal tobacco program."
As president of the Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina, Crews stays in contact with the House and Senate leadership on a weekly basis, working with Graham Boyd, the association's executive director.
In testimony before the Senate sub-committee, Crews called the tobacco program a "relic whose merit is obvious and appreciated, but whose current incarnation is crushing us in the world market." U.S.-grown tobacco is priced out of the global market, Crews says. "We are dangerously close to becoming a niche leaf producer for one major manufacturer."
In a statement that could have been made in a hearing setting as well as a field setting, Crews says he's become "increasing disturbed" by the number of proud, yet, broke farmers that he personally knows. "For the past two years many of them have hung on hoping for a buyout.
"There are still major hurdles to overcome," Crews says. "Obviously, we need it pretty soon.
After the buyout Crews hopes there will be a way to make an auction system work. "Sometimes it's hard to satisfy a foreign buyer with a contract situation. They may require different stalk positions."
Moving back to what will happen if a buyout is not passed, Crews talks about the community at-large. "It's not only tobacco farmers that will be affected if we don't get some relief — fertilizer dealers, churches, volunteer fire departments and a whole lot of other people," Crews says.
"The tobacco money turns over six or seven times in the community," he says.


text:
The proliferation of new wineries in Washington State has slowed in the past couple of years, but the landscape today is radically different from even 15 years ago. As recently as the early 1990s the Washington wine scene was dominated by a few large players who also owned a high percentage of planted vineyard land. Today, most of the excitement is being generated by small, quality-minded wineries, and the industrial-scale producers are mostly competing at the low end of the market.
Cabernet and Merlot are Washington's most serious and successful varieties, with Syrah rapidly increasing in popularity thanks to the efforts of some talented newcomers. Red wine is generally growing as a percentage of total production of premium wines, even if Riesling still has considerable commercial importance.
Most of Washington's grapes are grown in the desert east of the Cascade mountains, in the Columbia and Yakima River Valleys, where annual rainfall is so low that the vineyards must be irrigated. The vines in Washington benefit from long daylight hours during the summer, and a longer growing season than California (grapes are usually picked well into October). Although daytime temperatures can be quite hot, frequently surpassing 100 degrees, generally cool September nights allow the grapes to retain healthy acidity, resulting in wines with noteworthy intensity of varietal character. The greatest threat to grape-growing in Washington is winter frost, which can sometimes be severe enough to kill vines, as it did during the winters of 1996 and 2004.
We noticed that the credit card number you entered matches one of your saved credit cards. We've updated your saved card with the new information.


text:
Book Title: Centenary cameos : 1784-1884 / By O.P. Fitzgerald
Author: Fitzgerald, O. P. (Oscar Penn), 1829-1911
Image Title: Portrait of Susanna Wesley
Description: Portrait of Susanna Wesley.
Click here for additional images available from this book.
For information on licensing this image, please send an email, including a link to the image, to email@example.com