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WASHINGTON — Children 12 years old and younger soon will no longer be required to remove their shoes at airport security checkpoints, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Congress on Tuesday. The policy also includes other ways to screen young children without resorting to a pat-down that involves touching private areas on the body.
Napolitano said during a Senate hearing on the terror threat to the U.S. that the changes would be rolled out in the coming months. But the Transportation Security Administration later said the changes would be rolled out in weeks rather than months.
Napolitano said there may be some exceptions to keep airport security unpredictable. Terrorists have plotted to use children as suicide bombers, and some children still may be required to remove their shoes to keep security random.
"There will always be some unpredictability built into the system, and there will always be random checks even for groups that we are looking at differently, such as children," she said.
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Many travelers have complained that the TSA does not use common sense when it screens all air travelers the same way, including young children and the elderly. Criticism escalated last year when the government began using a pat-down more invasive than what had been used in the past, one that involves screeners feeling a traveler's genital and breast areas.
Earlier this year, TSA introduced a modified pat-down for children 12 and under and later announced it would look at ways to screen children through other methods to reduce the number of pat-downs provided to them. TSA Administrator John Pistole had called for a more aggressive pat-down for air travelers when he took over the agency last year because he thought it gave screeners the best chance at stopping a suicide bomber like the one who nearly brought down an airliner over Detroit in 2009 with a bomb tucked in his pants.Story: Airport security: You ain't seen nothing yet
To reduce the number of pat-downs given to children, screeners will soon be told to send children through metal detectors or the walk-through imaging machines multiple times to capture a clear picture and use more explosive trace detection tools such as hand swabs, according to the TSA.
"TSA anticipates these changes, which will begin rolling out in select airports this week, will continue to strengthen and streamline the security screening process for travelers," said agency spokesman, Greg Soule.
The government is expected to soon begin testing a new airport screening system on a small number of travelers who volunteer personal information that intelligence officials will vet. If cleared, these travelers could go through security faster, in some cases, because they won't be asked to take their shoes off.Mercifully, summer travel season nears its end
Removing shoes during checkpoint screening has been a common complaint among airline travelers since security was increased after an al-Qaida operative tried to set off a bomb built into his shoe on an American Airlines flight in December 2001.
Not all countries around the world have the same requirements. For instance, countries in the European Union have never required that travelers take off their shoes to go through security at airports, Pistole has acknowledged. And while no one has attempted another shoe bomb on a U.S. flight since December 2001, Pistole said the technique continues to be an option for terrorists.
"Probably the most visible part of the change in homeland security since 9/11 for most Americans has been the presence of TSA at the airports," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee which held Tuesday's hearing. "It's an annoyance to people," Lieberman said of the security measures. "But they put up with it."
Related stories
- Officials: No change in shoes-off policy — for now
- Traveling through Boston? TSA has some questions
- Parents call for TSA to review frisking after kid gets pat-down
- Baby receives pat-down at Kansas City airport
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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After a spate of news stories this summer citing tensions between President Barack Obama and his top military commanders over the possibility of U.S. intervention in Syria, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough hastened to assure the Washington Post that everything was, in fact, copacetic: The president "appreciates" candid military advice "above all else," McDonough insisted, and has "close, and in some instances warm, relationships with his military chiefs," as the Post put it. During my own time at the Pentagon, where I worked as an Obama appointee from the spring of 2009 until mid-2011, few seemed to hold this view. I recall asking one general, recently back from Afghanistan, if he'd shared his experiences and insights with the president. Rolling his eyes, he told me grimly that the White House preferred the military to be seen but not heard.
Curious about whether things had changed since then, I asked a dozen serving and recently retired senior military officers with high-level White House access, many of whom were not comfortable speaking on the record, if they knew of any military leaders with whom the president had a close and warm personal relationship. In every case, the initial response was a long silence. "That's a great question," said one retired senior officer, after a lengthy pause. "Good question. I don't know," said a second. "I don't think he's close to anyone," commented a third. He just doesn't seem to have any interest in "getting to know" the military, a retired general concluded.
Story Continued Below
Of course, there's no law that requires the president to invite his top generals for pajama parties or rounds of golf, and being "close" to military leaders is no guarantee of sound decision-making. But all of this raises an increasingly relevant question: How has the president—the man who promised to " finish the job" in Afghanistan, close the door on the unpopular Iraq War and " end the mind-set that got us into the war in the first place"—managed a military he often seems to regard with mistrust and unease?
"Americans are deeply ambivalent about war," Obama told a National Defense University audience in May. He might have been speaking about himself. Despite his campaign promises, Obama has been embroiled in a series of military adventures, some of his own making. Although the last U.S. troops finally withdrew from Iraq in December 2011, there are today almost twice as many American troops in Afghanistan as when Obama was first elected. Obama also presided over a seven-month air campaign in Libya and has accelerated a covert drone war that has so far killed an estimated 4,000 people in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. Through all this, the president has continued to express his dismay over the nation's militarized foreign policy: "We cannot use force everywhere," he insisted in May. "Perpetual war … will prove self-defeating, and alter our country in troubling ways."
After more than a decade of combat, many military leaders share Obama's concern about the costs of perpetual war. But most of those interviewed for this article—an array of current and former Pentagon brass who have collectively had charge of many of the wars on Obama's watch—also expressed the fear that the president's ambivalence about military force has morphed into ambivalence about the military itself. The generals told me they believe this double ambivalence has contributed to a series of strategically incoherent White House decisions—and, despite McDonough's reassurances, most of my sources said tensions between the White House and the military are running worryingly high.
The latest cause of heartburn inside the Pentagon is undoubtedly Syria. On Aug. 21, according to the United States and its allies, the forces of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad launched a chemical attack on a rebel-held area, crossing the " red line" Obama had drawn. Obama responded by declaring his intention to "send a message" to Assad via targeted military strikes.
No soldier in his right mind would guarantee 'no boots on the ground,'" a retired senior commander told me. "You can never make such guarantees."
The timing was awkward. Only days before the chemical weapons attack, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had gone on record pooh-poohing the idea of U.S. military action in Syria, emphasizing the risk of escalation, the importance of being "realistic about the cost we incur in blood and treasure" and "the limits of military force." Dempsey grew more circumspect in subsequent congressional testimony, but "his body language," says retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, Dempsey still suggested he was thinking, "I can't believe how dumb this is."
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates was explicitly critical in a September speech: "I believe that to blow a bunch of stuff up over a couple days, to underscore or validate a point or a principle, is not a strategy."
According to most of those I interviewed, Gates's scathing words reflect an unhappiness with the commander in chief that is widely shared in the military. "The military does not take kindly to people asking them to do things without thinking them through," Eaton observes. "Military guys get kind of bemused when civilians tell them it's OK to blow people to smithereens using bombs, as long as you don't kill them with chemical weapons."
"No soldier in his right mind would guarantee 'no boots on the ground,'" another retired senior commander told me in frustration, after the president had promised just that. "You can never make such guarantees. And we need to be careful how we draw moral lines and distinctions in this terribly complicated civil war. In 12 years of war, the U.S. has won everything tactically and nothing strategically. Let's not bomb somebody just to bomb somebody."
The Syria episode reinforced the sense of a White House-Pentagon relationship in crisis, and media outlets eagerly stoked the controversy. "America's Top Generals Are Mad as Hell, and They're Not Taking It Anymore," ran a headline in Foreign Policy. The Washington Post published a caustic op-ed by retired Army Maj. Gen. (and Fox News commentator) Robert Scales, who claimed that military personnel were "embarrassed to be associated with the amateurism of the Obama administration's attempts to craft a plan that makes strategic sense."
Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, the White House coordinator for defense policy, assured me in an emailed statement that the president "relies heavily" on his senior military leaders to provide "candid, direct advice with respect to when and how military force can be used to achieve our national security objectives." In my interviews, however, many senior military leaders complained of feeling baffled and shut out by a White House National Security Staff that, in their view, combines an insistence on micromanaging minor issues with a near-total inability to articulate coherent strategic goals. "The NSS wants to run the show, day to day and minute to minute," laments a former military official, "so they have no time—they're almost incapable of strategic thinking."
Alluding to Carl von Clausewitz's famous maxim, another recently retired senior general voiced similar frustration. "If war is 'the continuation of policy,' I'd like to know what that policy is—so I can avoid screwing it up, or wasting lives for no purpose." But, he says, "I don't understand the process by which the White House is making strategic or foreign-policy decisions. … There's an appearance of consultation, but you know you won't be listened to."

subset: commoncrawl


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Starvin Marvin's Bar and Grill: Great food, nightly entertainment
Have a good time and good food every night of the week at Starvin Marvin's Bar and Grill.
This expansive, casual eatery is located in the middle of Beaumont between downtown and the West End off Interstate 10 at 2310 N. 11th St. Eat lunch or dinner in the quaint and rustic barn-like main restaurant with its tin trim and painted concrete floors. You'll feel right at home. Or dine outside on the massive porch that runs the length of the restaurant and extends into green space perfect for throwing a football or letting your kids run while you relax into a meal.
Owner Marvin Atwood has created an atmosphere for socializing and a menu for satisfying your every craving, and he is not done.
This winter, Marvin is expanding his menu to complement some already super delicious selections, like the recently perfected and ready for sampling crawfish enchiladas. It's an entrée featuring the best combination of Tex Mex and Cajun. Crawfish tails are wrapped in a corn tortilla with spinach and artichoke, spices and rich and thick cheese sauce, served with Mexican rice and guacamole. Look for other new menu items, too, like stuffed pork and Monterey chicken as well as a few new desserts.
Stick to traditional Marvin fare when you order the blackberry ribs. These pork baby backs are marinated for 72 hours so they just fall off the bone, but not before you can lick and slurp up the most savory blackberry barbeque sauce. Don't miss this signature dish served with a salad and a southern side like steak fries, fried whole pickled okra, sweet potato fries, garlic mashed potatoes or mac and cheese, to name a few. (The restaurant sells its honey-based blackberry barbeque sauce separately, and people come from all over looking for it.)
During football season, come and enjoy a good ol' Angus beef burger on the patio where you can view the game on nine big screens. If it's cold, Marvin encloses the porch and lights the stone fireplace. Sit by the outdoor fireplace and eat a buffalo, venison, turkey or veggie burger. Course, you can always eat throughout the entire game by ordering all-you-can-eat chicken wings for $10. Who cares who wins or loses … you got wings for 10 bucks!No football game? No worries. Marvin brings in local talent to play music on the outdoor stage. With three levels of decking, there's not a bad spot to listen to tunes and partake of hot buttered garlic bread served with cinnamon honey butter followed by a homemade soup like broccoli cheddar, potato, chicken tortilla, chicken and sausage gumbo or crawfish etouffee. Order a cup of soup and a half a sandwich like the Texas club, a triple-decker of black forest ham, turkey and hardwood smoked bacon, pepper jack and cheddar cheeses, lettuce, tomatoes and mayo. It's almost too pretty to eat but way too delicious not to!
Along with the flow of football, music and fantastic flavors, Starvin Marvin's offers some signature spirits. You'll find full bars both inside and out equipped for daily happy hours from 2-4 p.m. And it's likely you'll catch a glimpse of Marvin's most popular drink – Liquid Marijuana. This enticing green mixed drink combines Captain Morgan Rum, Malbec, melon liqueur and Blue Curacao. Once you've seen it, it's hard not to try it.
In addition to the 360-seating capacity inside and outside, Starvin Marvin's has a room upstairs that seats 50 comfortably for private parties. Guests can order from the menu or Starvin Marvin's will prepare a party menu for any celebration.
Eat and socialize at Starvin Marvin's Bar and Grill, open Sunday-Wednesday from 11 a.m. – 1 a.m. and Thursday-Saturday from 11 a.m. – 3 a.m. Check out its Web site at www.starvinmarvinsbeaumont.com and Facebook page at facebook.com/StarvinMarvinsbarandgrill.


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Prime Minister Julia Gillard has urged people in NSW to stay away from floodwaters which have so far claimed two lives.
Seven campers were airlifted to safety on the NSW south coast on Sunday as properties around Port Macquarie on the mid-north coast flooded.
Ms Gillard said it was imperative people kept out of floodwaters.
"Water is a dangerous thing. Deceptively dangerous. Even very low levels of water, if it's fast moving, can sweep people away," the prime minister told reporters in Canberra on Sunday.
She said it was heartbreaking to hear of the death of Luke O'Neill, 17, who was swept into a drainpipe on Friday as he was collecting golf balls in waist-deep water in the town of Kew, south of Port Macquarie.
"(He was) doing something I think we can all imagine a 17-year-old and his mates doing, going after golf balls in floodwaters, but such a dangerous thing," Ms Gillard said.
Early on Saturday afternoon, the body of a man was found in his submerged car on a flooded road at Mylneford, about 20km northwest of Grafton.
No requests for federal assistance had yet been made, Ms Gillard said.
"But if any requests come in for assistance, then we will meet them as quickly as possible and with all human endeavours to do everything that's asked for," she said.


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The Sun City Hilton Head Board of Directors has formed a social support network task force to examine a process by which residents can have access to pertinent information related to social issues that may hinder them from participating in an active lifestyle. The task force will focus on lifestyle events that are associated with, but not exclusive to, aging.
Its work will include:
• Collecting and compiling information from all available resources associated with social events that are associated with but not exclusive to aging
• Recommending a best practice approach, which will not contain any potential liabilities for the Community Association
• Presenting the board proposed work
• A need to research and analyze what is not known about this subject matter for future decisions associated with the community
Applications will be accepted from interested residents through Jan. 31. Residents can submit their application online by logging into www.suncityhiltonhead.org, clicking on "Tools" and then "Volunteer." An announcement will follow after appointments are made.
Board appointed committee openings
There are vacancies on the following board appointed committees:
• Activities advisory committee
• Leadership development committee
• Public safety advisory committee
• Recognition advisory committee
Residents can apply to these committees online by logging into www.suncityhiltonhead.org, clicking on "Tools" and then "Volunteer."


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Altai, SouthernPrint
Primary tabs
Alternate Names
Altai, Oirot, Oyrot
57,400 (2010 census). Ethnic population: 74,200 (2010 census). Includes Northern Altai [atv].
Altay, Gorno-Altai Ao mountains, along Mongolia and China border.
Language Maps
Language Status
2 (Provincial). Statutory provincial language in Altai Republic (1993, Constitution, Article 68(2)).
Altai Proper (Altai-Kizhi, Altaj Kizi, Maina-Kizhi, Southern Altai), Talangit (Chuy, Talangit-Tolos, Telengit), Teleut. No intelligiblility of Northern Altai [atv].
Language Use
Home, and with other Altai. All ages. Also use Russian [rus].
Language Development
Written Altai based on Southern Altai, but is rejected by Northern Altai children. Taught in primary schools as a medium in a few schools and as a subject in a few schools. Grammar. NT: 2003.
Language Resources
Other Comments
Different from Oirat [xal] (Kalmyk-Oirat), a Mongolian language. Traditional religion.


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SAN DIEGO -- The government is asking the military's highest court to reconsider its ruling last month that overturned a murder conviction of a Marine who has served more than half of his 11-year sentence for one of the biggest war crime cases to emerge from the Iraq war.
Military prosecutors argued in a motion filed to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces on Monday that it should reinstate the conviction of Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III of Plymouth, Mass., who led an eight-man squad accused of kidnapping an Iraqi man from his home in April 2006, marching him to a ditch and shooting him to death in the village of Hamdania.
The judges on June 26 supported Hutchins' claims that his rights were violated when he was held in solitary confinement without access to a lawyer for seven days during his 2006 interrogation in Iraq.
Prosecutors stated in their latest motion that Hutchins waived his right to counsel at the time and willfully told his side of the story without being badgered or coerced. They said the court should reconsider its ruling.
Hutchins' lawyer Marine Maj. Babu Kaza on Tuesday filed an opposition to the government's motion, asking the court to summarily dismiss it and to immediately order the military to release his client.
Kaza accused the prosecution of rehashing arguments already made in the case -arguments that the court has already considered and rejected.
Government prosecutors could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.
Last month's ruling was seen as a major blow to the military's prosecution of Iraqi war crimes.
Hutchins has said he thought the man -- who turned out to be a retired policeman -- was an insurgent leader. Prosecutors accused the squad of planting a shovel and AK-47 to make it appear he was an insurgent.
None of the other seven squad members served more than 18 months.
The move is the latest in a series of twists and turns for Hutchins, whose case was overturned once by a lower court three years ago.
The lower court ruled Hutchins' 2007 trial was unfair because his lead defense lawyer quit shortly before it began. The military's highest court disagreed on that point and reinstated Hutchins' conviction in 2011, sending him back to the brig after eight months working at a desk job at California's Camp Pendleton. The high court said at the time that the problem wasn't grave enough to warrant throwing out the conviction.
But last month, the high court agreed with Hutchins' latest petition.
Under the military justice system, Hutchins will remain in the brig until the court rules on the government's motion, unless it orders the military to release him immediately.
The father of two issued a statement through his lawyer.
"The government's motion yesterday requesting reconsideration from the court is frivolous, and is solely designed to stall my imminent release," he said. "My family and I have been through so much. "


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Always one to help, Jacqui Brocklebank likely only had one thought when the flood waters were pouring into High River and she believed a friend was in trouble: she needed to do something. Her family can only speculate what drew her to the home of a friend who also lived in the town ravaged by the floods that swept across southern Alberta.
Two flood victims hailed as heroes
Always one to help, Jacqui Brocklebank likely only had one thought when the flood waters were pouring into High River and she believed a friend was in trouble: she needed to do something.
Her family can only speculate what drew her to the home of a friend who also lived in the town ravaged by the floods that swept across southern Alberta.
But they know for certain she died a hero.
"She was doing what she loved to do and that was help people," her mom, Janie Pighin, said Monday.
The free spirited and outgoing woman, 33, was killed Friday after rescuing a friend from the rising waters — one of four people killed by the devastating floods that have wreaked havoc in numerous communities.
Pighin suspects her daughter tried to phone first and, then, after getting no answer, took a cab to her friend's house where the waters were already rising. She walked into the murky water and woke up the friend who was able to get to safety. Brocklebank did not.
"It was her love of her family and friends. She went back into the flood to help her friend. We're so proud of her," Pighin said.
Brocklebank was a friendly and thoughtful woman, well known in High River and the nearby communities where she grew up. She walked everywhere and often popped into shops to talk with store owners and locals.
"If she didn't know them, she got to know them," Pighin said
She was also a determined woman, resolved to live independently, despite suffering from cerebral palsy.
She was a fighter, her mother said.
"We're calling her brave and fearless. There was never a mountain too big for her to climb," she said. "It had to take something dramatic as the High River flood to take her out."
Her family, including numerous siblings and the six nieces and nephews she adored, are left remembering her big smile and how others were always first in her thoughts.
"She never missed a birthday. She would phone her dad and remind him of whose birthday was the next day," Pighin said.
As her family remembers her as a hero, friends and family of Robert David Nelson are also saying it was an act of heroism during the floods that killed the father of six.
Nelson, a Calgary lawyer who lived on an acreage south of the city with his family, died Friday after his ATV flipped while he was checking on his neighbours' homes.
"He's a hero. He was out serving others," friend Larry Spackman said Monday.
The husband and father of six — three boys and girls ranging in ages from 2 to 16 — worked all night Thursday and into Friday morning assisting those living across the street from his acreage just east of Okotoks. Those homes back onto the Sheep River, which was raging from the surge of water upstream.
"He literally worked all night long to get pumps working and berms built to protect his neighbours' houses," Spackman said.
After catching about an hour's sleep, Nelson went out on his quad to ensure all the pumps were working and that everyone was OK.
"We don't know what happened, but somehow he flipped on his ATV and his head hit the pavement," Spackman said. "They found him a bit later."
Spackman said the family is buoyed by their faith — they're all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Nelson and his wife first met at Spackman's house about 15 years ago. They later married and Nelson adopted her child from her first marriage.
His wife was nearby when the accident happened and she was able to take a moment to say something to her husband.
"She held him and was able to say goodbye. She had a chance to say, 'I hope you're doing a real good job getting ready for us in eternity, because you'll be seeing us someday,'" Spackman said.
Spackman said Nelson was known for his constant efforts to do what he believed was right.
"I would describe him as selfless," he said. "He strived to do everything that he knew was right in his life and make the most of his life and help others."
A third victim of the floods has been identified as Amber Rancourt.


text: Life at GTU Life at GTU involves a diverse array of options for engagement, participation, exploration, reflection, and even adventure. Our home in Berkeley, and the San Francisco Bay Area, is the center of one of the world's most diverse and innovative, active, learning communities. Join in this vibrant and dynamic life experience.


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I did it again, I bought another BMW. This is my 5th BMW but this time I bought a wagon. It's a 2002 525i automatic touring in Alpine White, with 220,000km, originally from Florida with virtually no rust on it. I was in Chicago back in January and happened to drive by it on a Saturday but I was busy with work and couldn't take a look at it until Sunday, when they happened to be closed. Went back on Monday and put a deposit on it. This is just a few days after I had bought a clean X5 from a friend in Chicago so I couldn't drive it home at the time since I was already driving the X5 home. I was going back to Chicago in February so I didn't pick it up until then.
The car is pretty basic the only real options on it are electric and heated seats, sunroof, self levelling rear suspension (airbags), and it came from the factory with navigation but one of the previous owners swapped it out for a super cheap and super shitty aftermarket unit. It came with TSW wheels, which I find ugly, and new random brand all season tires, as well as M5 style front and rear bumpers. There was one reported rear end accident on the Carfax but it said the airbags didn't deploy and the frame rails looked perfect when I checked it.
When I initially saw the car and put the deposit on it there were a few problems, the ABS and traction control wasn't working, one of the rear level sensors wasn't working, the driver's window wasn't working and the secondary air pump was throwing a code. The dealer promised to take care of these things and while they did most of it the ABS module has to be sent to be repaired out since the part they thought was the problem was only part of the problem and they didn't change out the level sensor so they gave me back a few hundred dollars to cover the costs of the repairs. Of course with my luck, the night I picked it up the intake cam position sensor failed and I had to pick up a new one but the dealer was nice enough to let me use their shop and tools to change it out, which took 30 minutes. I also broke one of the breather valves trying to get at the cam position sensor
No surprise to me but on my way home I encountered a few issues. While I was just outside Janesville, Wisconsin my passenger wiper decided to stop working halfway up the windshield and my driver wiper smashed into that and mangled both blades. Of course the E39 uses a special wiper arm and finding wiper blades is near impossible. I was able to get one straightened out enough to put it on the driver side and keep driving. Made it to Eau Claire and since it wasn't late I figured I'd aim to get to Duluth for the night. With my luck, in Eau Claire there was a little snow so I figured I was ok but as soon as I left there had been a snowstorm just outside the city and I had to drive through it all with no abs, traction control and on crappy all seasons. By the time I got to Duluth there was about a foot of snow on the roads and I almost got stuck a couple times.
Most of the other issues are pretty much all cosmetic. The headliner is sagging in parts, some of the inside hatch trim is cracked, the front door seals are cracked (common issue), and someone thought it was a good idea to use electrical tape to black out the chrome window trim. The headlight adjusters are broken (another common issue) but I'll be taking the headlights from the 540i. Other than that the body is in pretty good shape, the paint is a little worse for wear but being a Florida car I suppose it's expected to be a bit beat up by the sun. There are quite a few rock chips on the hood and the clear coat on part of roof and part of the passenger doors has come off.
Only rust I found on the car
I also have another lovely stereo to deal with. BMWs aren't the best to deal with but whoever put this in completely removed the stock amp and it seems like they just wired up the front speakers the aftermarket head unit. There's also this interesting feature where when you turn on the rear defroster the whole thing just shuts off...
I have quite a few plans for the car currently. My biggest plan for the car is a V8 manual swap. I'd love to do an M5 swap but that'll have to wait. If I choose to do an M5 swap at a later date I'll just have to find a motor and ecu. I already ordered KW V1 coilovers since the suspension seems to be a bit worn out and the V1s are the only full kit still available for the E39 touring with rear airbags. Everything else is pretty minor.
- V8 swap
- manual swap
- KW V1 coilovers
- fix ABS
- rear level sensor
- black headliner
- new headunit
- speakers, amps & subwoofer
- rear hatch struts
- new Hatch trim
- new front door seals
- paint chrome trim black
- sell wheels
- new 3rd brake light
- swap headlights from 540i
- possible vinyl wrap blue
Bought a BMW wagon, has some slight issues, planning on modding.


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Why Dogs Are Smarter Than Cats
A not-so-smart best friend? Experiments in language and cognition show Fido's (sporadic) brilliance
With half as many neurons in their cerebral cortex as cats—and half the attitude, some would say—dogs are often taken to be the less intelligent domestic partner. While dogs drink out of the toilet, slavishly follow their master and need a chaperone to relieve themselves, cats hunt self-sufficiently and survey their empire with a regal gaze.
But cats beware. Research in recent years has finally revealed the genius of dogs.


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Last weekend, millions of people devoted their full attention to football and the accouterments of Super Bowl festivities. This weekend, the annual Grammy awards along with the unscheduled and untimely demise of a pop icon ensured that music dominated wide interest. Do you think that any event in our lifetimes will ever focus so much positive attention and excitement on nature or birding? Not likely, right?
Still, we each know what we like and focus our faculties accordingly. Though Corey had a host of good birds to choose from (again) he has decided that his Best Bird of the Weekend was the one he found because he took the time to scope through a ginormous flock of Canada Geese: a diminutive Cackling Goose at Blue Chip Farm in southern Ulster County, New York. I found myself on the shore of Lake Ontario on the most bitter day of this mild winter to observe over 1,700 maniacs take a Polar Bear Plunge. I brought my bins expecting nothing more interesting than a Bonaparte's Gull, but was pleasantly astonished when a Purple Sandpiper flew right in front of me to forage the slush-scummed surface of the lake.
Believe it or not, this icy tableau includes a Purple Sandpiper
What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us in the comments section about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed. If you've blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment.
My best bird was a Song Sparrow at my feeders yesterday afternoon. I didn't blog about it, but I did put up a post of some iPodscoped images I took last year. Feel free to check it out: http://wordsaboutbirds.com/2012/02/12/ipodscoping-2011/
The heart-warming attempts of the Short-toed Treecreepers at Heidelberg Zoo to make us humans forget the Siberian winter temperatures by singing their hearts out was certainly the highlight.
My best bird was a Townsend's Warbler seen in Carlisle Pa. A beautiful bird and a lifer for me!
Being fortunately enough to live just one and a half hours from Linton, Indiana, I drove to the Beehunter Marsh and was among many birders who saw the HOODED CRANE. I arrived at just the right time and a friendly birder with a scope let me see it immediately. It stood out among many Sandhills with it white head and darker body. A life experience1
a Smew on my local patch, the first seen here in something like 30 years!
My BBOtW (and of the month, and probably the year so far) was completely unexpected. Driving up highway 94 toward Chicago, at around exit 66b there were a few Turkey Vultures coasting overhead … joined by a Bald Eagle. There is a pair that nests about 4 miles from this spot, so I'm thrilled I got a chance to see one of them. Just wish I hadn't been driving, so I could have gotten a longer look!
We decided to go back to Granger Lake, east of Austin, Texas and look for the Whooping Cranes again. We didn't see them, but did manage to see a Burrowing Owl, which was my bird of the weekend:
Some good birds out there. I had some top-notch species while guiding at Heliconias Lodge in Costa Rica. Among Crested Owl, Black-crested Coquette, and Gray-throated Leaftosser were great but the weekend award went to my lifer Keel-billed Motmot.
I had a wonderful time on Galveston Island birdwatching Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Also went to Sheldon Lake State park and Huntsville state park along the way. I saw 47 species that I could identify, and 10 of them were lifters. There were many others I couldn't identify because they wouldn't hold still long enough for my shivering hands to hold the binoculars to (or because I'm not skilled enough in telling one sparrow from another, whichever). Highlights were many Brown Pelicans, 20 Sandhill Cranes, and a large pile of Black Skimmers. Oh, and my second ever Wood Duck. All that fun followed by a day with my grandbaby–life is good!
Definitely the Peregrine Falcon perched on the Osprey nest platform at Jamaica Bay
Boreal Chickadees. They're all over the place along with the Gray Jays up in the Hudson Bay lowlands, and they come right into camp so not much effort needed to find them.
I saw a Hooded Merganser.
I carpool-birded Ontario's Golden Horseshoe to net Ross' Goose, Barred Owl and King Eider, all lifers:
Lucky you. Mild winter weather attracted a record crowd (of people) to the Hudson River EagleFest, but only a few eagles. I was lucky to see a few of the eagle.
?where is Exit 66 on I-94? When I lived in Chicago, we had to drive to the Mississippi River to see eagles.
© 2013 10,000 Birds. All words, images, and opinions are the property of their respective authors unless stated otherwise.


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via Instagram https://ift.tt/2THAWmk
Posted by joiezabel on March 14, 2019 in Joie's Ensembles and tagged Instagram.
My name is Joie. I like music and clothes and killer dinners. I have a vast collection of vintage dresses and brit pop bsides. This blog was created to remember my adventures.
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This week, the time-honored American holiday of Thanksgiving rolls around yet again, serving as the kick-off to a month-long orgy of conspicuous consumption. To celebrate, Nintendo just announced that it's releasing two 3DS bundles on Turkey Day. This announcement confirms the availability of the previously mentioned black Legend of Zelda handheld and outs a flame-red Super Mario model, too. $199 gets you the 3DS and either Super Mario 3D Land or The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, and the combo saves you a bit of money compared to buying them separately.
The one to get is obviously the Zelda 3DS, as the Mario one appears to be a plain ol' red 3DS with no fancy embellishments. The announcement says that the bundles will be available starting on Thursday and I'm guessing some of you will probably be making a run to the mall before the turducken gets carved.
You can contact Evan Narcisse, the author of this post, at email@example.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.


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Rihanna and Chris Brown -- The Exes Who Party Together ...
Rihanna and Chris Brown The Exes Who Party Together ...
Another clue Rihanna may be getting back together with Chris Brown ... the two partied at the same club at the same time last night ... AGAIN.
Chris and Rihanna were spotted at Avenue nightclub in NYC. Sources at the club tell us the two were in the club together for roughly 30 minutes ... and Brown spent some time hanging out at Rihanna's table.
They exited the club separately ... but within minutes of each other ... and both were tight-lipped about what happened inside.
The exes have been linked together several times already this year ... laying down song tracks ... showing up at birthday parties and hanging out at nightclubs in West Hollywood.
Where there's smoke ...
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Pete Treloar necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 36 diseños de 7 diseñadores freelance.
Wanted! A creative, powerful look to a Web Home Page layout for an International Home Staging, Design & Marketing Association (APSD). Using New logo and following general look of 3rd party website layout (http://www.padi.com)
APSD (Association of Property Scene designers)
A creative, powerful and celebritized look to a Web Home Page layout for a Home Staging, Design & Marketing Association (APSD). Our main audience is female, well-educated, entreprenerial 35-55 Age group. They are coming to us to change Careers & create wealth, freedom and power through starting thier own Home Staging Business and taking our Professional level certification programs.
Use http://www.padi.com as template for column layout - nav bars & graphic placement (for example, the turtle would be Karen's pic and the company logo would be ours) – love the color of this site, replace the water theme with theme suggesting success and fun in business.
Key elements:
- Celebrity: utilize picture of Karen Schaefer (Founder) - to celebritize Karen's position as Founder and Traininer.
- Lifestyle of Owning/Starting your own Home Staging, Design and Marketing Business/Career
APSD New Logo (see logo contest winner) - use the color theme included in the new logo (red.white.blue)
- Header Banner to include opt-in box for "Join Karen's weekly Staging, Design and Marketing Video ezine" - email only.
- Navigation bar above main header including the following links: (above logo & picture)
Home / Online Training Programs / Staging tips / About APSD / Affiliates & Partners / APSD Pro Login / Open A Staging Business / Start a Staging Career / Contact Us
- Main Navigation bar to include the following buttons: (just below logo & picture)
Locate an APSD Pro / Stage Your Home Now / Staging & Marketing Learning Systems / Learn to Stage Properties / Learn to Market Properties / Locate an APSD Business Member / APSD Pro Certification Courses /
- Main Column (center) - include three main boxes:
Who is Karen Schaefer? / APSD Certification Courses (APSD Home Stager - APSD Stager Pro - APSD Property Scene Designer - APSD Property Scene Designer Trainer) / Why the APSD System Works?
- Main Column graphics (include a sampling of property pictures and lifestyle with video play button) - this is where the pictures of people diving appear on http://www.padi.com.
- Sidebar (right) items to include: Staging Community / Member log-in (username & password) / FREE CD opt-in box (include graphic of CD) / Upcoming Events
- Sidebar (left) 3-4 stacked "300x150" testimonial video boxes (placeholders)
- The footer Navigation should have space for a listing of quick links, privacy policy, earnings disclaimer, Copywrite @2009 APSD
- see above description
- Professional, lifestyle promotion
- All Flash - needs to be content driven


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DIY is all the rage, which puts a little bit more pressure on your Halloween party this year. Fortunately, it's possible to give your party the DIY touch no matter what your skill level is. Here are five crafty party ideas that require three supplies or less.
Make a pumpkin party cooler.
Supplies: Pumpkin, bowl, ice
Leave the ice chest in storage. Instead, cut the top off a large pumpkin and scrape out the pulp and seeds. Set a bowl inside (you may need to cut away some of the pumpkin flesh to make it work.) Then fill with ice and your beverages of choice.
Turn your table into a witch.
Supplies: Striped socks, old boots, black tablecloth
Ding-dong the witch is . . . under the table? Put striped socks and a pair of old boots on your table legs. Cover it in a black tablecloth. For a little extra pizzazz, use a witch hat as a centerpiece.
Spookify your fridge.
Supplies: Black felt, tape
Got a white fridge? Then you're in luck because this is the easiest DIY project there is. Cut out big black, felt circles and attach to your fridge to make a ghost face.
Invest in chalkboard paint.
Supplies: Pumpkins, chalkboard paint, chalk
Something about a chalkboard just screams Halloween. Take it a step further and spray small pumpkins with chalkboard paint. Write your guest's names on them to use as place settings or use them to label dishes on the buffet table.
Hand out frightening treat bags.
Supplies: Plastic gloves, candy, ribbon
Send guest home with a spooky goodie bag. Fill a plastic glove with candy (Smartees are perfect for the fingers) and tie off with a ribbon.
Final tip: There are a million and one ways you can use pumpkins to decorate. In addition to a cooler and a place setting, they also make great vases.
For more great DIY Halloween ideas, check out our Pinterest board!


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WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. -- Accidents have resulted in delays and one road closure during the afternoon commute on three major Westchester roadways Tuesday.
An accident reported at 4:50 p.m. on the southbound Saw Mill Parkway in Hastings has resulted in delays and the closure of Farragut Parkway.
The northbound Sprain Brook Parkway south of Jackson Avenue in Greenburgh was closed because of a car fire. The incident, which was reported at 4:55 p.m., was cleared at 5:30 p.m.
The right shoulder of I-684 north at Exit 4 (Route 172) has been blocked by a stalled vehicle earlier during the afternoon commute.
Click here to sign up for Daily Voice's free daily emails and news alerts.


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* We have limited quantity of FC1242SR in stock. Our inventory changes constantly and quantities listed are based on available stock. This item comes with our 100% Money-Back Guarantee.
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One hospitalized, two at large in burglaries
Police say a series of break-ins Monday left one man in the hospital and at least two suspects on the run.
On Monday, July 15, at about 8 p.m., police responded to the 1300 block of Threadneedle to find a man they later identified as 17-year-old Leonard Guillory climbing inside the house.
According to a BPD press release, police gave chase when Guillory fled, scaling at least one 6-foot fence before being taken into custody.
Another suspect was inside the home when police arrived but managed to escape on foot, the press release said.
Guillory was booked into the Jefferson County Jail on charges of burglary of a habitation, and evading arrest. His bond is set at $20,000 for burglary and $250 for evading arrest.
Before the Threadneedle burglary, police responded to an attempted robbery in the 4300 block of Dallas Street in Beaumont's North End.
Upon their arrival, police found one man had been involved in a shooting and was critically wounded. When they interviewed the homeowner, police said the man received a knock on the door at 3 a.m. and answered the door armed with a small handgun.
Police said the suspect attempted to fool the homeowner into thinking he was a friend in need of some gasoline. But as soon the homeowner stepped onto his porch, he was immediately attacked by a second suspect wearing what police identified as a Halloween-style mask. The homeowner opened fire on the man, striking him three times, once in the head, according to the press release.
Officers later found a small handgun and a BB gun used by the suspects but weren't able to detain the man who knocked on the door, who police say fled on foot and is still at large.
BPD spokesman Doug Kibodeaux said the wounded man is still at St. Elizabeth's ICU where he is recovering from his wounds.
"He's still in pretty bad shape, but they got the bullet out and everything," Kibodeaux said of surgeons who operated on the man's head.
Kibodeaux went on to say the man will likely recover from his ordeal and will be released into police custody and charged with aggravated robbery. Police are also anxious to find the man's accomplice.
"It's just a matter of time," Kibodeaux said of finding the second man involved in the Dallas Street robbery. "We'll probably know a whole lot more when (he) wakes up in the hospital."
Kibodeaux said homeowners should be wary of late-night visitors.
"Just don't open the door unless you're absolutely sure you know who's on the other side," Kibodeaux said. "Cause once the door's open, they can force themselves in. Once you open the door, it's really kind of too late."
Beaumont police disrupt another burglary
Tuesday, July 16, at 5:33 p.m., a homeowner in the 2100 block of Ratcliff called to report a burglary in progress. His home had been burglarized earlier in the day. He left and when he returned, he observed a male by his house. He called the police and stayed out of sight. Officers responded and after a brief chase, arrested 17-year-old Denzel Lewis of Beaumont and 18-year-old Tevin Semien of Beaumont. They were both apprehended with stolen property. The two suspects had entered the residence through a window by removing an air conditioning unit. Lewis and Semien were transported to Jefferson County Jail and booked in for burglary of a habitation with a $35,000 bond each.


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Let $X$ be a topological space, and $Homeo(X)$ the group of self-homeomorphisms of $X$.
(1) What is the exact meaning of: $H^*(X)$ is a an $A_\infty$-module over $Homeo(X)$?
(2) Does $H_*(X)$ also have an $A_\infty$-module structure? Is it the same as that of $H^*(X)$?
Added later: Jeff Giansiracusa gave a nice answer to (1). But his answer uses the ring structure in cohomology, leaving (2) open: Is there an $A_\infty$ structure on homology as well?


text: VW Rear Speaker Panel. Want to cover up that rear are in your VW? Hide some items from prying eyes? Or use this cover to mount your speakers. You have a few options with our rear speaker panel- order your desired color, or paint it to match your VW, or cover it to match your upholstery. Available in black, white, red, tan, and blue.


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WASHINGTON — There was no trip to New York and no fancy outing as the Obamas celebrated their first wedding anniversary since they moved to the White House.
Instead they kept it simple, with a dinner out Saturday night at an elegant, American-fare restaurant near Georgetown. The evening was balmy and the moon almost full.
President Barack Obama stayed in all day before taking a motorcade with Michelle Obama to the Blue Duck Tavern to mark their 17th wedding anniversary.
Mrs. Obama stepped into the restaurant wearing a backless knee-length dress while the president wore a dark suit.
Last year, the Obamas also had an understated anniversary with a simple dinner out in downtown Chicago. The Obamas were married Oct. 3, 1992, in a ceremony at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
The anniversary dinner came after a whirlwind week that saw the Obamas fly to Copenhagen to make an unsuccessful pitch for their hometown of Chicago to host the 2016 Olympics.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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For those of you who use Rhythmbox, you'll be happy to hear to v0.13.2 brings some great improvements. I subscribe to the mailing list and try to help when possible, but when I saw the news of Rhythmbox 0.13.2 code being released I instantly starred it!
Well, it took me over a month to get around to looking into the update, but ironically there is a backport posted at WebUpd8 that makes installing this in Ubuntu 10.10 as easy as copy-n-pasting three commands into the terminal!
The Last.fm updates (thanks to Jamie Nicol's GSoC project) have finally been added and I was obsessively tracking the code commits each day to watch the progress while it was going on. Now that I get to test out the changes, I've glad to say that the Last.fm improvements are grand!
The new support for DACP, which allows you to use your iPhone/iPod touch/iPad as a remote for iTunes, now allows you to remotely change the tunes playing in Rhythmbox!
Unfortunately, this feature doesn't seem to currently support sending cover art embedded in the media files' metadata to the remote. I've seen discussions about this recently in the mailing list, so this will likely change before too long!
One last improvement that I have to mention is the "Various fixes for iPod support" as this is one area that I've felt is constantly in need of improvement with each new release of iOS and each new model. There are also a great deal of other improvements which I'll list below directly from the mailing list (via Jonathan Matthew)!
Rhythmbox 0.13.2 ("Dagger") is now available from
* Much improved Last.fm (and Libre.fm) plugin (Jamie Nicol's GSoC project)
* Support for DACP (iTunes remote) (Alexandre Rosenfeld's GSoC project)
* Zeitgeist plugin (developed by Markus Korn, Laszlo Pandy and Michal Hruby)
* New podcast sub-sources showing newly posted and recently downloaded episodes
* Slightly improved integration with the GNOME Shell message tray
* Various fixes for iPod support (Christophe Fergeau, Ben Walsh)
Bugs fixed:
341462 – Make current podcast downloads more visible
345957 – View last.fm profile
381679 – Add "record to profile" toggle to the last.fm plugin
589886 – Crash when selecting multiple podcast feeds
591841 – Crash processing playlist files from command line
592428 – Allow the user to select Libre.fm as their audioscrobbler service
601152 – can't really create playlists on iPod
604170 – Unable to change the order of files in an iPOD playlist
612156 – crash when stopping radio stream before playlist parsing has finished
618619 – Crash while getting properties from ipod shuffle
623200 – Add previous and play actions to notifications, and use id's
that correspond to named icons
625030 – Use XSPF format for the default iRadio playlist
625054 – Rhythmbox transfers music to my generic MP3 player without
file extensions
625214 – DACP Support in Rhythmbox
628254 – metadata helper crashes when tagging MP3 files that don't
already have tags
628791 – crash showing ipod properties if the ipod database can't be read
628794 – Rhythmbox can not share to iTunes 10 using DAAP
629038 – coherence plugin breakage
630689 – drop GtkObject use
631008 – Zeitgeist plugin
631191 – GStreamer MTP source element stopped working
631218 – don't open (some) iframes in podcast descriptions in new
browser windows
631355 – Typo in string: "Listended"
631698 – Rhythmbox stars (ratings) not updated properly when scrolling
up in the playlist
631817 – rhythmbox hangs when starting playing next audio cd track
632119 – Add WSUM 91.7FM (University of Wisconsin) to iRadio-Initial.pls
632475 – ipod "Remove from playlist" was completely removing from iPod
632655 – URL updates for Internet Radio stations
633531 – Rhythmbox can't load Cover-Art from musicbrainz
Translation updates:
– bg, courtesy of Krasimir Chonov
– ca@valencia, courtesy of Joan Duran
– cs, courtesy of Marek Černocký
– da, courtesy of Ask Hjorth Larsen
– de, courtesy of Christian Kirbach
– el, courtesy of Michael Kotsarinis
– es, courtesy of Jorge González
– et, courtesy of Mattias Põldaru
– gl, courtesy of Fran Diéguez
– hu, courtesy of Gabor Kelemen
– it, courtesy of Luca Ferretti
– ja, courtesy of Hiroyuki Sekihara
– ja, courtesy of Takayuki KUSANO
– lt, courtesy of Žygimantas Beručka
– nb, courtesy of Kjartan Maraas
– nl, courtesy of Redmar
– pa, courtesy of A S Alam
– pl, courtesy of Piotr Drąg
– pt_BR, courtesy of Djavan Fagundes
– ru, courtesy of Yuri Myasoedov
– sl, courtesy of Andrej Žnidaršič
– sv, courtesy of Daniel Nylander


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Hadrian (Roman emperor)
Hadrian (hā´drēən), AD 76–138, Roman emperor (117–138), b. Spain. His name in full was Publius Aelius Hadrianus. An orphan, he became the ward of Trajan. Hadrian distinguished himself as a commander (especially in Dacia) and as an administrator. Trajan's choice of Hadrian as his successor, announced after his death, caused some discontent in Rome. His reign was vigorous and judicious, and he ruled over a prosperous and relatively peaceful era. Hadrian proved his military skill in pacifying (118) Moesia. Abandoning Trajan's aggressively expansionist policy in Asia, he withdrew to the boundary of the Euphrates. In Palestine, however, he proved himself ruthless. His Romanizing policy aroused opposition there, especially when he excluded the Jews from Jerusalem. He put down (AD 132) the insurrection of Bar Kokba with great severity; the ensuing war (132–135) was the most difficult of his reign. In Rome he was generous in offering circuses and in giving alms to the poor, and he enlarged and reformed the civil service.
Hadrian traveled extensively in the empire, interesting himself in all the local affairs of state and adorning the provincial cities. In Germany he built great protective walls, and in Britain (where he had visited c.121) he had Hadrian's Wall constructed. He built a temple of Jupiter Capitolinus on the site of the ruined Temple at Jerusalem and renamed Jerusalem Colonia Aelia Capitolina. He also built the Arch of Hadrian in Athens, and in Rome he rebuilt the Pantheon, added to the Roman Forum, and erected a mausoleum (now Castel Sant'Angelo). His last years were spent more or less quietly in Rome and in his villa at Tibur (which has been excavated), cultivating the arts. He was learned in Greek and accomplished in poetry and music. Hadrian also patronized artists, and his love for the doomed young Antinoüs was memorialized by sculptors and architects. As his successor he chose Antoninus Pius.
See S. Perowine, Hadrian (1987); M. T. Boatwright, Hadrian and the City of Rome (1989); A Everitt, Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome (2009).


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Mind mapping expert Toni Krasnic
Toni Krasnic (@ConciseLearning) is a student success coach, teacher, and mind mapper. He has a decade of college-level teaching experience at both two-year and four-year institutions, including four years at The George Washington University. What began as a young professor's desire to help his students transform the quality of their learning and skills has grown into his lifelong mission to inspire and help all students learn how to learn and be successful. He's been featured by the Northern Virginia Magazine as Northern Virginia's favorite local author in 2011.
Toni is also the moderator of a Mind Mapping Community on Google+.
Contact Toni at [email protected] or visit his website at www.ConciseLearning.com
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Subscribe To Jurassic World Sequels Already Being Planned Updates
I've already subscribed
Let's not be naïve here. We know that no one ever plans to make a single movie anymore: when a writer enters a studio with a pitch about Sandra Bullock taking care of a sick kid with leukemia, or Shia LaBeouf as a tragic abolitionist, they want to hear what the sequel will be like. As Universal preps Jurassic World for 2015 release, you can bet your ass they're looking to continue the Jurassic world. Don't actually bet your ass, though. You can't get that back.
Director Colin Trevorrow spoke to Empire about the coming dino-sequel and crossed his fingers that he would be invited back, to continue an exploration into the dinosaur world. He claims,
"We definitely talked about [sequels] a lot... We wanted to create something that would be a little bit less arbitrary and episodic, and something that could potentially arc into a series that would feel like a complete story."
While we're not going to mention it, in the link Trevorrow also mentions who would return for the sequel, essentially confirming which cast member survives. Fortunately, he also confirms that dinosaur animatronics are being used in lieu of computer generated dinos, though his pitch for this installment sounds an awful lot like ground that's already been covered.
"It's about alpha dominance and the fact that humans have been the alpha species for a very long time. And so now we've brought back another that happened to be the alpha species during its time, and we have to co-exist, so what is that relationship?"
The one difference from the earlier films seems to be that in this film, Jurassic Park is actually a fully-functioning park. So dinosaurs are no longer a scientific wonder, but a fact of life to these people, placing them on even ground. It seems to shift the films away from horror and more into adventure, though not enough yet that we can get our dream movie of dinosaur commandos with guns on their heads.
Jurassic World stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Omar Sy, Judy Greer, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ty Simpkins and maybe Idris Elba and is set for release June 12th, 2015.


text: I was returning after a nice couple of miles of paddle exercise and a couple of fishermen saw me (the old man with a white beard) and came to assist me putting the canoe on the SUV. When I turned around they saw me finish loading the canoe on the roof. They said with some surprise in their voice, "looks like you have done that a lot of times before." I thanked them for their offer of assistance but did not tell them this was the first time I had tried to self load my canoe on this rig. I have this group to thank for what I have learned on this site. I had modified some old pike poles to make a ramp to slide my canoe onto my new SUV. I also used the loops under the hood trick to tie down the bow. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.


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I want to say that this giveaway is totally interesting. Makes me in a sweet world and really yummy. Magic Bean Buyer celebrate their 1000 sales and they made a giveaway. If you win this giveaway, just choose your favorite item (minus wedding cake toppers) to collect. Hmm.. Doesn't it so interesting? So, just click HERE
Good luck! ;)


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From epidural, pethidine, hot water, homeopathy and gas and air, thinking about pain relief before you go into labour means you'll be as prepared as you can be – and that you'll find yourself in the most appropriate environment for you to give birth in. "Some women want to work with their pain and are best suited to a birth centre or independent midwife," says Victoria Cerins, childbirth educator and founder of Birthready. "If you want to avoid pain during labour, a private obstetrician is more for you. Make sure you've got a good match between you and the people around you."
An anaesthetic injected into the lower part of your spine to numb the nerves that feel the pain of contractions, an epidural can be used from early labour until you're fully dilated. Positives include being able to top up the epidural yourself and progressing labour if you're exhausted, while negatives may include the use of urinary catheter and shivering, nausea and vomiting – epidurals can also inhibit your ability to push effectively when the time comes. It may also affect bonding with your baby after birth and some women complain of backache afterwards.
Also remember that if you ask your midwife for an epidural in the later stages of labour, it may be too late (which often turns out to be a positive if you were hoping for a natural birth).
Warm water
A bath that can be filled with hot water is installed in most birth centres and some labour wards. Filled with water at 35-38°C that's deep enough to reach your armpits, sitting or lying in the bath helps ease the more intense contractions. "Warm water can help women feel relaxed, calm and more in control," confirms Renee Adair, founder of the Australian Doula College. "But it can slow labour if you get in too soon – never use the hot tub unless you're in established labour, as the hot water can be very draining."
A painkiller from the same family as morphine, pethidine works by relaxing your body and involves an injection in your thigh or bottom, administered by a midwife. It takes about 20 minutes to have effect and lasts around two to three hours, causing drowsiness and dulling pain. Side effects can include slowing labour and, if it crosses the placenta it can affect your baby's breathing.
Gas and air
'Happy gas' - a mixture of oxygen and nitrous oxide - is inhaled through a rubber mask placed over your mouth and is often used towards the end of the first stage of labour, when you breathe deeply through the mouthpiece. The gas builds up in your blood, relaxing your muscles as the contraction builds. Some women don't like it, however, as it can cause light-headedness, disorientation and a dry mouth. Gas is most effective if you breathe it in as you feel the contraction approaching.
A natural method of pain relief, homeopaths make up remedies using tiny amounts of compounds from plant and mineral sources containing no chemicals and that can work alongside conventional medicine. Homeopathic remedies can be used to establish labour if it slows down and help with exhaustion as childbirth progresses. "Each remedy is tailor-made for each woman," says Sydney homeopath Debbie Rayfield, adding that the remedies can also used to help with morning sickness during pregnancy.


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Team Quest
MMA & Fitness
Portland, Oregon
Team Quest
MMA & Fitness
Portland, Oregon
Located in the Portland area, Team Quest MMA is one of the world's most credentialed martial arts programs. We train people of all skill levels and all ages in the most effective and reliable martial arts systems in the world.
Since 2000 Team Quest MMA has specialized in Mixed Martial Arts, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and Muay Thai Kickboxing. Our training programs are perfect for those looking to get in amazing shape in our fitness programs, learn self defense in our martial arts classes or to train to compete in mixed martial arts.
No matter what skill level you have in martial arts, Team Quest MMA & Fitness can help you become the best version of you with our world class coaches and friendly environment.
championship tradition
since 2000
championship tradition
since 2000
We offer a clean, friendly and safe environment to practice the best martial arts, self defense and fitness programs in Portland, Oregon. Our members range from ages 5 to 65 years old. No matter what experience you have, we can provide you a training program that will make you the best you can be with supportive team mates and experienced coaches. We are the authority for mixed martial arts training in the Portland, Oregon area. The classes at Team Quest MMA in Portland are fun, exciting and a great way to meet new people while getting in to the best shape of your life!
The Combat Fitness class is a 45 minute cardio blitz designed to give people of all fitness levels a great workout. This class utilizes components of kickboxing, boxing & MMA skills and dynamic conditioning drills using combat principles. Combat fitness is perfect for beginners or those looking to shake out the ring rust and get back into fighting shape.
If you are looking for functional strength and conditioning that will help you sleep better, lose weight, prevent injuries, become more confident, gain strength, gain muscle, get toned & get in to the best shape of your life, than look no further than our combat fitness program.
Team Quest MMA offers kickboxing classes in Portland, Oregon for all skill levels and ages with the most effective striking system on the planet for self defense, competition or to just get into amazing shape!
Kickboxing is a mixture of several techniques employed in the rest of the forms of martial arts. Referred to as the "science of 8 limbs" simply because almost all parts of the body are employed during the fight. The forehead, the fists, elbows, knees, and feet are often used as the weapons. It has been around for more than 2000 years and is basically regarded as the oldest variant of martial arts.
This class is offered at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. The class is typically 1 hour long and involves pad work using focus mitts, Thai pads, kick shields and heavy bags. This training program is designed to teach students striking combos through our numbering system. A full body workout, this class will get you in shape fast.
The kids martial arts classes at Team Quest are great for kids ages 5-11. Our kids martial arts program allows students to learn skills in MMA, Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, Boxing & Wrestling. If your child is looking for a change from regular sports, then this is it. The Team Quest kids martial arts program empowers kids through Martial Arts to become confident, focused, self disciplined and respectful to others.
The kids Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes are structured to allow kids of all experience and skill levels to learn the martial art of BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu). Separated by age and size in the class allows the kids to train with other children who can help push them to succeed as well as learn how to defend themselves from opponents with the use of the gi. The kids Jiu Jitsu classes require a gi (kimono) to ensure the use of proper technique and give your child a realistic feel of wrestling in real life situations as we typically wear clothing while in self defense situations.
The teen MMA program at Team Quest is specifically designed for teens ages 12-17. This class teaches students skills in Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, Wrestling, Submission Wrestling, Clinch fighting, Dirty Boxing as well as incorporating strength and conditioning.
This hour long class is offered three days a week, Monday, Wednesday & Friday at 5pm.
This program is for teens ages 12-17 years old that allows students to learn skills in MMA, Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai Kickboxing, Boxing, Wrestling, Submission Wrestling & Dirty Boxing. The Team Quest T.U.F.F program empowers teens through Martial Arts to become focused, self disciplined and respectful to others.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu emphasizes taking an opponent to the ground and utilizing ground fighting techniques and submission holds involving joint-locks and choke holds also found in numerous other arts with or without ground fighting emphasis. The premise is that most of the advantage of a larger, stronger opponent comes from superior reach and more powerful strikes, both of which are somewhat negated when grappling on the ground.
The Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Classes at Team Quest in Portland, Oregon are fun, safe, challenging and a great way to lose weight, while getting in shape and learning how to defend yourself!
Team Quest MMA & Fitness Portland is a world leader in mixed martial arts training and we are experts in boxing training for all skill levels. No matter if you are a beginner or pro, our boxing program will challenge you, help you lose weight, get in shape fast and learn realistic boxing with fast paced drills and awesome work out partners.
If you are looking a change from the ordinary way of working out and want to try something new, look no further. The boxing classes at Team Quest are great for people of all skill levels to learn proper foot work, head movement, speed and reaction drills that will help you learn the "sweet science".
Team Quest Portland offers the best boxing classes for all skill levels. No matter if you are a beginner or if you are a professional, our boxing classes will help you get a great workout while training with fast paced drills and world class boxing techniques.
Mixed Martial Arts is the fastest growing sport in the world. This involves a mixture of various martial arts such as Kickboxing, Boxing, Judo, Karate, Wrestling, Jiu Jitsu, Sambo and Tae Kwan Do.
These MMA classes are offered at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. The class is typically 1 hour long and involves pad work using focus mitts, Thai pads, kick shields and heavy bags. This class is designed to teach students striking combos through our numbering system. Students will often work with partners to practice submission holds and work at a drill pace to sharpen their take down, submission and striking skills.
If you want the MOST COMPREHENSIVE results, the FRIENDLIEST ENVIRONMENT and the BEST INSTRUCTION, join Team Quest MMA & Fitness, a WORLD LEADER in Mixed Martial Arts and Portland's #1 gym for MMA training.
Team Quest is world renowned for providing world class coaching in Submission Wrestling & for over a decade has produced some of the top grapplers in the world who compete at some of the highest levels of mixed martial arts and jiu-jitsu competition.
Submission wrestling (also known as submission fighting or simply as No-Gi) or Combat wrestling in Japan, is a formula of competition and a general term describing the aspect of martial arts and combat sports that focus on clinch and ground fighting with the aim of obtaining a submission using submission holds.
Students will often work with partners to practice submission holds and work at a drill pace to sharpen their take downs & submission skills. Learn how to grapple with our no-gi submission wrestling techniques that have been proven at the highest levels of competition from world class & olympic level wrestlers.


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JHS wrote:JHS wrote:Is the Diezel tone stack you're talking about the one from this thread?
To me this tone stack looks more like it was copied from an Engl amp. Same issue like the stack in a Marshall 2003/4. At high volume it will do nearly nothing to the tone, a bit mid scoop, not more.
this tonestack is from the diezel VH4, we found a schematic of the tonestack and the input


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Negotiating is like playing poker in that reading an opponent's tendencies and strategy can be the pathway to success. Your next play always depends upon your analysis of what the person across the bargaining table is thinking.
The NHL Players Association clearly isn't where it wants to be in collective bargaining negotiations with owners, but players no longer have to guess what owners are thinking.
After talks broke off Thursday in New York, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said bluntly: "Term limits on player contracts is the hill we will die on," Daly said.
The bad news is that negotiations have collapsed, no new talks are scheduled and the entire 2012-13 season is endangered.The good news is that all of the cards are now on the table and everyone understands where they have to go to get the deal done.
That actually is good news because one of the reasons why negotiations have moved tediously slow is because each side was fearful of what the other side might do next. Owners didn't like the way Donald Fehr reacted to their proposals and the NHLPA didn't like Gary Bettman, period.
Fehr insists that the two sides are close to a deal simply on the basis of a side-by-side comparison. Owners dispute that because their last offer was contingent upon the players accepting it in its entirety. They said, it was either a Yes, Yes or 'No. Choosing what you like and discarding what you didn't wasn't allowed, said owners.
MORE: Talks fall apart
But the two parties are at least closer to a deal simply because they know precisely where they need to go if they want to launch the 2012-13 season.
As someone who has watched these negotiations run in place for months accompanied by pointless, childish name-calling and endless Twitter wars, I am going to call that an absurd form of progress.
Players know if they want to get this show on the road, they can accept a 10-year CBA, with an eight-year opt-out clause, and a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue. Plus, there is a five-year cap on contract lengths with an exception granted for teams trying to re-sign their own restricted and unrestricted free agents. Team can sign those players for seven years. Also, owners insist on a maximum 5% year-to-year variance on multi-year contracts to prevent teams from back-diving contracts. Players would also get $300 million back to ensure that those with previously signed contracts are made whole or somewhat whole.
Now obviously I know that the NHL has officially withdrawn that offer, but I would be willing to bet some of my hockey-related revenue that if Fehr called Bettman tonight and said he would now take that deal the owners offer would would miraculously reappear. Call it a hunch. However, there is definitely an expiration date on the miraculous reappearance.
Now if owners wake up tomorrow and decide just want to play, they get the 50-50 split, but the CBA length would be eight years, with an opt-out at six years. Plus, the cap of players' salaries would be eight years, with a clause to allow teams to negotiate an extension in the middle of a contract. There was a clause to address owners' concern about back-diving contracts, but it was nowhere close to the owners' plan.
Now it simply comes down to pain tolerance for the negotiating parties. According to Bettman, players are losing $8 million to $10 million in salary every day and the league is losing $18 million to $20 million daily in revenue.
Daly's message was purposeful to be sure. He's not a man prone to hyperbole. He speaks with a purpose, and he's clearly sending the message that the owners won't budge on contract length. I would choose to believe him. Now players have to decide whether this issue is enough to risk losing $1.5 billion in salaries this season.
I have said what I thought was fair and unfair months ago, and those debates are useless now. This is like the argument that a parent has with a teenager after some form of mischief or misconduct. The kid keeps pleading extenuating circumstances and playing the fairness card and the parent has to continually remind the teenager that it was time to move beyond those arguments and face the consequences of the action.
The consequences here are the destruction of the sport. How do you face fans if you cancel an entire season for the second time?
Thursday's blowup cost players millions and millions of dollars – maybe another 10% of their pay -- because two days ago we were talking about the possibility of a 58-game schedule and this morning, we are hoping for a 48-game schedule.
Players will have to decide whether the reality is more important than the principle, especially with regard to the five-year cap. It affects a smaller percentage of players, but the vast majority of players it affects are stars.
If I had a son just starting out in the NHL, I don't know how I would advise him about the contract cap. But I would tell him that I think players should embrace the owners' plan of a 10-year CBA. I think a 10-year CBA is actually in players' best interest.
Fehr is certainly right when he says a desiring a shorter deal is the ethical approach for the NHLPA because players turn over regularly and new players deserve a chance to have a say about their future. It's his job to look after future generations of NHL players.
But I've heard for months from players and agents that their great fear of going to 50-50 is that it will be the launch point for more concessions in the next CBA fight. Even with the major concessions players have made, they still have a good deal, and their money is good. The NHL revenues will take a hit this season and maybe next season. But the NHL was in a growth spurt when this lockout began, and it will most assuredly rebound, particularly if this season is played. A 10-year deal will prevent owners from coming back from more any time soon. Plus, at the end of 10 years, the NHL leadership could be dramatically altered.
Frankly, it seems nutty to me that the players are considering anything less than 10 years.


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In the desert region of Southern California's Imperial Valley — just to the east of the urban sprawl of San Diego — the ambient temperature can seasonally fluctuate from a high of 130° to as low as 27°F, with humidity usually resting at a bone-drying 10%.
Nonetheless, folks do live in the area, and — needless to say — most such desert dwellers consume inordinate amounts of precious energy just keeping their air-conditioned homes comfortable ... especially during the scorching hot summer months. However, one particularly resourceful resident of this arid wilderness — university professor James Harmon — has chosen to abandon the "conventional" methods of climate control and let the desert environment passively temper his abode all year round!
It Pays to Plan Ahead
Achieving a natural climate control system takes a good deal of planning and sound research, even in an area of moderate climate, so in order to make the solar heating and cooling concept a working reality in the often-uncompromising desert, Jim really had to do his homework. The house he eventually designed [1] rests on a concrete slab foundation that's set about four feet below the desert floor to take advantage of the temperature-stabilizing effect of the earth, [2] incorporates a naturally convected ventilation system that serves to heat the home in winter and cool it in summer, [3] uses insulation to the utmost on both interior and exterior walls, and [4] takes advantage of desirable wintertime sunlight through the use of south-facing glass — much of which is shaded by roof over-hangs in summer — both at ground level and within the roof's skylight "wall".
When Mr. Harmon first moved to his ten acres of desert property more than five years ago, his plans included not only the construction of a practical, inexpensive, energy-efficient dwelling, but — on a more comprehensive level — the creation of a nearly (or fully) self-sufficient homestead. And except for his modest needs for outside electrical power, Jim has pretty much accomplished his goal of independence. The house itself is only part of a master layout ... which includes organic vegetable gardens and orchards (all of which are irrigated with underground watering systems), food drying bins, a workshop, a compost pile, a grape arbor, a greenhouse, and even a solar-heated hot tub!
Since construction of a dwelling was Jim's primary project (and because he scrounged much of his building material over a long period of time), the resourceful professor began to plan his structure long before he drove the first nail. "When you build a house like this, you go through a long period of information gathering and gestation, before drawing even the first few simple plans ... you've got to have some kind of idea about just what you want to accomplish and how your system should work.
"The design I used incorporates a bit of commonsense technology, some ancient architectural methods of the Middle East, and a smattering of southwestern American Indian building techniques. The result is a structure that's almost wholly passive, uses native building materials wherever possible, and — this is quite important to me — leaves an almost indiscernible impression on the landscape."
And It Works Like a Charm...
Exactly how does Jim's home achieve his goals? First, the concrete foundation was poured in an excavation four feet deep, and surrounded with a low block wall that rises up to ground level. The slab doesn't utilize a bed layer of insulation, because — being a thermal sink — it must be given the chance to absorb ground heat in the winter to help warm the structure and, by the same token, assimilate the home's excess interior heat in the summer and transfer that warmth to the earth. Other factors were considered, too: The effect of occasional strong winds is minimized by the protective natural earth berming and the low profile of the dwelling. And, as an aesthetic plus, the line of sight to a nearby tarmac highway is conveniently interrupted, too.
But that's only part of the story . .. a natural ventilation system (adapted from Middle Eastern home design) is the major means of maintaining an acceptable comfort level in the house all year round. A total of eight unperforated, 4"-diameter, corrugated ABS plastic drainage pipes are connected — using vent holes previously formed in the structure's foundation — to the sides of the octagonally shaped dwelling. From these openings underneath the house, the tubes curve around, then come together (a slight distance is maintained between them to assure proper thermal conductivity) within a broad underground channel, and run to a point about 100 feet away. Jim figures the depth of this ditch — 40 inches — to be something of a compromise between a shallower trench (which wouldn't afford proper air tempering), and a much deeper chasm (which would be excessively labor-intensive for a relatively slight gain in efficiency).
The terminal point for the tubes — simply a 2' X 2' concrete block "manifold" extending from ground level to a depth of about four feet — is capped with a reworked kitchen exhaust fan that allows air to be drawn through even when the motor is off. (On rare occasions, use of the fan is required to force air through the system and into the house.)
Normally, though, the intensity of the sun (and, in part, the direction of the prevailing winds) is great enough to cause the ventilation cycle to operate perfectly. In addition to the underground tubes, Professor Harmon's design incorporates — in effect — two useful layers of roof on its windward side: the standard exterior surface, covered with tar and gravel, and an interior roof which is nothing more than pine tongue-and-groove finish board fastened to the lower face of the roof joists. The upper surface of the inner roof is lined with builder's foil to form air passageways within the home's "cap." Jim provided inlets and outlets for the built-in ventilation channels by drilling a quantity of 1/2" holes in circular groups through the soffits outside the house, and likewise by opening the ducts to the atmosphere at the apex of the roof, where he's built what he calls the "tower of power" (which is also ventilated, through the use of small ducts, to the air within the home itself).
...In The Summer...
Hence, during the hot season, as the sun beats down on the structure's roof with a vengeance, it immediately heats the air within the ventilation channels. Naturally, this hot air begins to rise, moving upward with the slope of the roof. As the heated air flows out of the house by way of the tower, more air is drawn in from the outside eave vents ... and the process continues, resulting in a steady flow through the roof passageways.
This rapidly moving air, in turn, creates a suction which pulls more air directly from inside the house itself, through the ducts at the top of the tower. And, since a slight vacuum is actually created inside the dwelling, fresh outside air is pulled in from the only source possible: the underground ventilation tubes, which thermally condition the entering atmosphere by virtue of the constant 75-80°F ground temperature.
To help the cooling process during periods of intense summer heat, Jim also had the foresight to install exterior venetian blinds on the south-facing, leeward side of the house . . . which he closes to prevent the sun from beating in through the windows. Since these "light shutters" are external (not to mention white in color), heat never has a chance to actually find its way into the house.
Another trick up Jim Harmon's "thermal" sleeve is the very convenient cooling effect of evaporation. During the hottest part of the year (when J.H.'s gardens need the most moisture anyway), the professor supplies the liquid by activating his buried sprinkling system. The sprinklers soak the ground, and as the water evaporates from the sandy soil, the temperature of the earth decreases considerably ... which, in turn, helps to further cool the incoming air in the underground vent tubes!
Mr. Harmon can achieve still more indoor "air conditioning" by activating his "swamp cooler": a broad belt of thin foam pad, revolving in a shallow tub of water, through which forced air is passed. (Jim also has plans for an indoor hot tub, which could function year round to provide humidity and/or heat as required depending on the season.)
...And in the Winter
The same system that cools the air in summer also furnishes a temperate climate during the colder months. Since the sun is lower in the sky in wintertime (and because ol' Sol's effects are less intense then than in the summer), the heat buildup within the roof channels is not as great ... and the airflow is likewise reduced slightly. Fortunately, the home's roof was so designed that wind moving, as it usually does in that locale, from the northwest helps to draw air from inside the house — and thus through the tubes — by virtue of a suction effect as it passes over the peak.
In case the flow is not sufficient to provide proper ventilation, Jim always has the option of activating the electric fan in order to force tempered air through the buried pipe network.
In addition, a considerable amount of winter heat is derived from direct insolation. Because the sun is low in the sky, its light can stream unhindered through the main south-facing windows and the vertical clerestory glazing at the peak of the roof. (Jim has installed freestanding redwood grape arbors above all the southern-exposed windows, to provide necessary summer shade and delicious fruit. Come cold weather, the vines dry up, so sunlight can pass through the arbors when it's most needed.)
An Airtight Thermos Bottle
Of course, the home's unique ventilation system operates properly only if the doors and windows are closed and the walls are relatively airtight. But varying levels of comfort can be attained — at any time of the year — by opening the windows as desired.
Another factor which contributes to the success of the Harmon desert home design is the fact that J.H. has gone to great lengths to properly insulate the structure. The lower portion of his dwelling is, of course, earth-sheltered ... and the upper part, framed with 2 X 6 studs, is also just about impervious to nearly any temperature fluctuation that may occur. Behind the tongue-and-groove interior sheathing are two batts of fiberglass insulation, then a layer of 3/8" plywood. This surface is covered with 1" polystyrene, which in turn is veneered with builder's foil.
The final covering is an exterior facade of ladrillos, or Mexican brick (similar in its thermal mass effects to the materials used in native American earthen shelters), which is set slightly away from the backing wall's foil-covered surface ... to provide an air space through which excess heat — absorbed by the brick and reflected from the builder's foil — can escape into the roof channels. In addition to careful wall construction, the professor has fully insulated each thick exterior door.
"It's a lot more economical," Jim observes, "to pay for good thermal protection today — especially before a structure is completed — than to continue shelling out money over the next 10 or 20 or 30 years to cover the rising cost of heating. And if, after a period of time, you should decide to add insulation, the cost will always be greater because of inflation and the extra work involved in doing the job on a finished house .
"Profit and loss considerations aside, however," Professor Harmon points out, "the design of my home is based not so much on the painful fact that energy costs are rising as on my conviction that energy consumption is an ethical rather than an economic issue. Energy waste, whether it proceeds from senselessness or selfishness, seems to me downright immoral ... because it will adversely affect the lives of future generations."
Sound Construction and Low Cost
Even though his chief emphasis was not on economy ... as close as Jim Harmon can figure, his partially earth-sheltered, 1,000-square-foot, octagonal desert home cost him about $22,000 to construct. This boils down to an easy-to-swallow $22 per square foot. Of course, Jim is quick to point out that the price would be difficult to duplicate today, partly because he purchased much of his wood before the big lumber price increase of several years ago, and also because he and some good friends (particularly Peter Hansen, who helped with both plans and construction) did much of the work themselves.
But even with the sharp increase in lumber costs, Mr. Harmon still believes that wood construction is a sound choice. "Framing a house with lumber remains a good way to go . . . mainly because, if you use the synthetics and other trash available on the market nowadays, you'll find such materials are just as expensive and provide less quality and longevity . I'd rather spend my money now and get it over with, and have the satisfaction of a well-done job."
Another reason Jim chose to go with wood (in conjunction with concrete and some of the native materials available in his area) was that he wanted his dwelling impervious to all but the very worst earthquakes ... phenomena which are often problems in the Imperial Valley area. In order to assure his home's solidity, he designed the structure like a wagon wheel, with a central hub plate in the roof acting as a pivot from which the "spokes" (in this case surplus railroad trestle beams) radiate and fasten to the eight corners formed by the walls of the house. In theory, this arrangement distributes both horizontal and vertical shocks evenly throughout the structure ... with little or no damage to the framework. And Jim's design was given an acid test recently when a severe quake hit the area and did considerable damage to several local communities ... while merely causing the Harmon home to creak slightly!
A Successful Homestead in the Desert
All in all, now that Jim's had a chance to live in his house through several seasons, he's quite pleased with the structure's performance. Since the dwelling's systems are almost entirely passive, including its gravity-fed solar domestic water heater (the only "active" exceptions being the very occasionally used forced-air fan and the swamp cooler), Jim's normal power requirements are merely for lighting and for pumping water into a storage tank from his 330-foot well. The happy result is that the desert dweller's utility bill averages — at $50 a month — a quarter of what his neighbors pay! (The Harmon household does use a small amount of bottled gas for cooking, but Jim's future plans include the construction of a miniature methane-from-compost plant, which should take care of kitchen needs.)
Otherwise, Jim's ten-acre micro-community is relatively self-sufficient ... with the help of ol' Sol. And since — in addition to growing much of his food — the Golden Stater raises cacti for sale to nurseries and the like, the desert itself provides him with an extra source of income for a minimum of effort ... and that's a hard-to-beat combination in any territory!
How It Works
Simply put, the Harmon house works on the principle of pressure differential caused by rapidly moving air. Here's how: In the summer, as the sun beats down on the surface of the roof, the air within the ceiling channel absorbs heat. Because the heated air has a much lower specific gravity than the ambient atmosphere, it tends to rise, flow upward along the channel between the inner and outer roof, and exhaust out the louvers in the "tower of power."
Naturally, with all this air escaping, a new supply must be brought in ... and it enters by way of the groups of 1/2" holes drilled through the soffits under the outside eaves. So, what results is a constant — and sometimes down-right furious — flow from the outdoors, through the roof channels, and outside again.
In order to take advantage of the air current, Jim Harmon has cut several small openings into the tower, at its highest point inside the house. As the heated air rushes past these holes, it actually entrains — or pulls — the air within the building right through the vents in much the same way that an automobile's carburetor draws fuel out of its reservoir.
Of course, since air is then being drawn from the living area of the house itself, it must be replaced ... and the only available sources of supply — as long as the home's doors and windows remain closed — are the eight ventilation tubes buried 40 inches beneath the surface of the earth, where temperature is maintained at about 75-80°F year round.
During the winter — when the path of the sun and its intensity result in lower temperatures within the roof channels — the system still functions, though not quite as efficiently as during the hot season. Fortunately, prevailing winds from the northwest, flowing over and around the outside of the "tower of power," tend to pull air out of the roof also. And if this breeze effect is not sufficient to draw warmed air through the underground pipe network, the blower fan can always be activated.