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Press Release
Galaxy 'Hunting' Made Easy
Galaxies found under the Glare of Cosmic Flashlights
14 September 2007
Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope have discovered in a single pass about a dozen otherwise invisible galaxies halfway across the Universe. The discovery, based on a technique that exploits a first-class instrument, represents a major breakthrough in the field of galaxy 'hunting'.
The team of astronomers led by Nicolas Bouché have used quasars to find these galaxies. Quasars are very distant objects of extreme brilliance, which are used as cosmic beacons that reveal galaxies lying between the quasar and us. The galaxy's presence is revealed by a 'dip' in the spectrum of the quasar - caused by the absorption of light at a specific wavelength.
The team used huge catalogues of quasars, the so-called SDSS and 2QZ catalogues, to select quasars with dips. The next step was then to observe the patches of the sky around these quasars in search for the foreground galaxies from the time the Universe was about 6 billion years old, almost half of its current age.
"The difficulty in actually spotting and seeing these galaxies stems from the fact that the glare of the quasar is too strong compared to the dim light of the galaxy," says Bouché.
This is where observations taken with SINFONI on ESO's VLT made the difference. SINFONI is an infrared 'integral field spectrometer' that simultaneously delivers very sharp images and highly resolved colour information (spectra) of an object on the sky.
With this special technique, which untangles the light of the galaxy from the quasar light, the team detected 14 galaxies out of the 20 pre-selected quasar patches of sky, a hefty 70% success rate.
"This high detection rate alone is a very exciting result," says Bouché. "But, these are not just ordinary galaxies: they are most notable ones, actively forming a lot of new stars and qualifying as 'starburst galaxies'."
"We discovered that the galaxies located near the quasar sightlines are forming stars at a prodigious rate, equivalent to 20 suns per year," adds team member Celine Péroux.
These findings represent a big leap forward in the field, setting the stage for a very promising era of galaxy 'hunting'.
The astronomers now plan to use SINFONI to study in more detail each of these galaxies, by measuring their internal motions.
SINFONI is a combination of a novel infrared 'integral field spectrometer' (SPIFFI) and a special adaptive optics module (MACAO). The integral field module SPIFFI gives detailed colour, or spectral, information for each of 2000 spatial points on the sky, arranged over a contiguous two dimensional field of 32 times 64 pixels. SINFONI was developed and built by an international consortium consisting of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany, ESO, and NOVA, Leiden, the Netherlands (see ESO PR 21/04).
More information
This research is presented in a paper in press in the Astrophysical Journal ("The SINFONI Mg II Program for Line Emitters (SIMPLE): discovering starbursts near QSO sightlines" by N. Bouché et al.). The team is composed of Nicolas Bouché, Richard Davies, Frank Eisenhauer, Natascha M. Förster Schreiber, and Linda Tacconi (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany), Michael T. Murphy (Swinburne University of Technology, Australia), and Céline Péroux (ESO).
Nicolas Bouché
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
Garching, Germany
Tel: +49 89 30000 3830
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Céline Péroux
Garching, Germany
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Michael T. Murphy
Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing
Swinburne, Australia
Tel: +61 (0)3 9214 5818
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
About the Release
Release No.: | eso0740 |
Legacy ID: | PR 40/07 |
Name: | Galaxies, Quasar |
Type: | Early Universe : Galaxy Early Universe : Galaxy : Activity : AGN : Quasar |
Facility: | Very Large Telescope |
Instruments: | SINFONI |
Science data: | 2007ApJ...669L...5B |


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The Washington Nationals were three outs away from a one-run loss against the fourth place New York Mets on Tuesday night but Steve Lombardozzi saved the game by hitting a walk-off sacrifice fly into the glove of Mike Baxter in left field. His sacrifice fly sent first baseman Adam LaRoche around to score. Washington beat New York 3-2 in their first walk-off victory of the season.
The Nats may have won the game but it was night in which the their offense continued to struggle. Manager Davey Johnson's lineup managed four hits before their three-hit ninth inning rally. They were lucky enough to score early on a solo home run hit by shortstop Ian Desmond off right-handed pitcher Jeremy Hefner in the second inning — Desmond's eighth home run of the season — but that's the only run they'd tally up until the ninth inning.

subset: commoncrawl


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Ancient and timeless, a masterpiece of literature, the Holy Bible reveals God's role in human history, our place in God's plan, and truth to guide us and shield us from deception.
The Holy Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, are the written Word of God, given by divine inspiration. The inspired authors spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. In this Word, God has committed to humanity the knowledge necessary for salvation. The Holy Scriptures are the supreme, authoritative, and the infallible revelation of His will. They are the standard of character, the test of experience, the definitive revealer of doctrines, and the trustworthy record of God's acts in history. (Ps. 119:105; Prov. 30:5, 6; Isa. 8:20; John 17:17; 1 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17; Heb. 4:12; 2 Peter 1:20, 21.)


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Hydrate, Alkalize and Mineralize
X2O is an exclusive and unique nature-made mineral complex delivered in an easy-to-use sachet. It is found only one place on the earth, from a pristine ocean source near the Okinawan Islands. X2O takes plain water and transforms it into supercharged mineral-rich, alkaline water that offers essential health benefits for the body. With countless testimonies from around the world, people are sharing transformations in their personal health that they directly attribute to X2O. Here are three ways in which X2O can provide extraordinary health benefits.
Benefits of X2O
Increase alkalinity which helps to balance your body's pH levels
What does increased alkalinity do? X2O helps restore pH balance in the body by transforming your water into a powerful alkaline beverage. Higher alkalinity means the water you drink with X2O can fight against acidic conditions within the body which can lead to disease and illness. Plus, the more alkaline the body, the easier it is to melt away unwanted fat and lose weight. -
Optimize hydration at the cellular level
With the human body being 70% water, staying hydrated is vital. X2O provides improved hydration by allowing the water to be more easily absorbed by your body. In addition, X2O delivers vital electrolytes into your water that improve your overall hydration at the cellular level. -
Revitalize with 70+ essential trace minerals
X2O sachets contain an all-natural mineral complex that releases beneficial trace minerals into the water. These minerals can be easily absorbed and used to support your body's metabolic functions. Every sachet of X2O contains calcium, magnesium, and over 70 naturally-occurring trace minerals. In maintaining a healthy pH balance, your body must have an abundant supply of ionic minerals, especially calcium. Ensuring that your body gets the optimal level of minerals it needs is a vital component to being healthy.


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Cats in heat – the facts from Edgewood Veterinary Group
June 14, 2019
Cats in heat: all the facts
Cats reach sexual maturity (and can breed) from around four months old; a female cat coming into heat can be a daunting experience for any pet owner. If you are unsure of what to expect, call Edgewood Veterinary Group on 01621 828381 to book an appointment with a nurse to ask about your cat's cycle and discuss neutering.
Make an appointment with our vet nurses
Our vet, Jürgen, recommends neutering your female cat (spaying) at four to five months of age to prevent unwanted pregnancies. If your cat is allowed outside at this age without being neutered, there is a good chance that she will mate and become pregnant.
When a female cat is in heat, this isn't one long period; there can be many short periods repeated every 10-14 days or so. Cats do not ovulate until they are mated, so this period of heat cycles can be lengthy. Longer days can trigger reproductive activity, leading to many kittens being born in March, April and May.
Signs that your cat is in heat:
- Flirtatious, extra affectionate behaviour.
- Rubbing and rolling on the floor.
- Extreme vocalising, yowling as if in pain or even as if having a heart attack!
- Raised hindquarters, moving the tail from side to side.
If you are considering having your pet neutered, the team at Edgewood Veterinary Group are all happy to help with any queries or concerns that you may have, so feel free to contact us .
Benefits of neutering
There are plenty of benefits to having your cat neutered. For instance, your cat's ovaries and uterus are removed, thereby preventing pyometra – a serious uterine infection.
Neutering also lowers the risk of mammary tumours and reduces the spread of infectious diseases from mother to kittens and it reduces 'wandering' and therefore the chances of your cat being involved in a road accident.
It also provides important population control with fewer unwanted kittens, and it eliminates male cats on the doorstep fighting, spraying urine and vocalising. And, that can only be a good thing.


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This module plugs right onto the GPIO connector of your Raspberry Pi, and provides it with a 1602 character display, 6 pushbuttons, a temperature sensor, and an analog input. A version with a built-in real-time clock is also available, so that your Pi always knows the exact time, internet acces or not.
The LCD, buttons, temperature sensor, analog input, and RTC can be accessed over a SPI or I2C interface.
This board also breaks out the two SPI busses, I2C bus, and UART, so connecting more of our expansion boards is still an option.
If you order the board with a RTC mounted, it will come including the required CD2032 coin cell.
16 characters by 2 lines white-on-blue LCD
6 pushbuttons
MCP9700 temperature sensor
1 analog input
MCP794xx battery backed-up real-time clock (or compatbile)
The RTC is always I2C because that is easier with Linux device drivers.
This board fits together with the Raspberry Pi into a case we designed. (click here)
Documentation for the complete PCB
Raspberry Pi User Interface with 16 x 2 LCD
- Brand: BitWizard
- Product Code: RPi-UI-16x2
- Availability: In Stock
Available Options
Related Products
Tags: raspberry, rpi, raspberry pi, pi, case, ui, user interface, 16x2, lcd, i2c, spi, rtc, clock, real time clock, mcp9700, 9700, temperature


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Founded in 1981, Gate 1 Travel is known for offering quality vacations at competitive prices. Gate 1 has a wide selection of attractively priced escorted tours, river cruises and independent vacations in destinations worldwide.
The company's escorted tours feature the latest-model motorcoaches and comprehensive itineraries. One upfront price covers your accommodations, transportation, some meals and guided sightseeing. Professional tour directors who lead each group are carefully selected for their extensive knowledge and attention to detail. River cruises include some of the same components, but instead of traveling via motorcoach and staying in hotels, you'll move between cities and sleep aboard a well-appointed riverboat.
Independent vacations with Gate 1 are also popular. These trips are perfect for travelers who want to utilize Gate 1's planning and rate negotiation services but prefer maximum freedom to explore a destination.
Trip ratings on this site are based on the quality of accommodations, the number of included meals and activities and the level of service delivered. Gate 1's vacations are categorized as first class or deluxe on the industry rating scale (budget, first class or deluxe).


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I have been working on my site through MAMP and with a localhost. I have not uploaded my site online yet.
I have worked in it for weeks accessing through the MAMP start page and then typing http://localhost:8888 on my browser.
Well, after a long night I woke up the next day and tried to log in as always. When I do it, my site appears on the browser but I cannot edit a thing. I mean, there is no way I can enter the admin panel, there are no tabs, no WP icon, not even the little EDIT squares at the end of every post or page where I clicked and it took me to the admin panel and dashboard.
I can navigate through the site, it works perfectly, It looks as if it was online, but simply I cannot edit anything.
I tried to remember what I did differently from the other days, and the only thing I came up with is that I updated a galleria plugin and I activated a new contact plugin widget. As I read in the forums I took all the plugins from my wp-content folder inside the WordPress folder but that did not solve the problem. I tried replacing the entire WordPress folder for a fresh download, the site looks funny no photos but still cannot access to the admin panel. I have no code or programming experience and am I new to WordPress. I am stuck with a dead line and no idea on what to do!


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Privacy Policy
We respect the privacy of every individual who visits our website or uses our products and services.
We collect different types of information for different services. Generally, we contact basic Contact Information (Name and Email) for our email newsletter or free reports, and standard payment information to give you access to our Products and Services, in order to support Account creation, log in, Product & Content access, License and Invoice access, and other Account Management Functions. Your data is private by default. We do not track your personal or contact information other than to provide you the service you have signed up for.
This Privacy Policy is our commitment to transparency in communicating how we collect and process the information that is collected from you, as well as the choices you have with respect to the information.
Email Notifications
If you signup for our products (free or paid) and services, you will receive emails from us about the products and services that you've signed up for. In addition, you may receive occasional promotional emails, special discount offers and other important newsletters, messages and announcements about our products and services.
We respect your privacy. We will never sell, rent, lease or give away your information to any third party. Nor will we send you unsolicited email. You may unsubscribe from our mailing list at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of each email sent.
If you'd like to stay on our lists and continue getting emails from us about our products and services, no further action is required.
Personal Information
We collect these personal information from you:
- Your first name
- Your last name
- Your email address
- Your password is encrypted, meaning it can not be read or accessed by anyone
- Your IP address
- Purchase information: We collect your purchase date, amount paid, coupons used and most recent login dates and times. We do NOT store any of your financial information. All your payment information is handled by PayPal.com or Authorize.net (and on occasion, payment processors like ClickBank, JVZoo, etc). Any payment information you enter on this site is encrypted and handled by the payment processors themselves.
- You can access, change or remove your personal information on the My Profile page at any time. We will delete your account upon your request, when you contact us.
At any time, you may request your information to be exported and sent to you for review, and we promptly honor any requests by you to have your account deleted and forgotten. Please note without an account, you'll not be able to login to our website and access your products or services.
Our free signup forms for our newsletters and free reports and bonus offers set a cookie to make sure it is not shown to you every time. But we do not track your information in any other way.
Whenever a buyer clicks on an affiliate link from any one of our products or services, a cookie is set on the visitor's browser, and is used to track the affiliate who referred the visitor to our websites. If the visitor goes on to sign-up or purchase any our products, the affiliate cookie helps us reward the affiliate with any commissions. The cookie contains just the "id" number of the referring affiliate and no other details.
When you login, if you select "Remember Me", your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
Analytics & Social
This website uses tracking software (Google Analytics) to monitor its visitors to better understand how they use it. The software will save a cookie to the visitor's computer's hard drive in order to track and monitor their engagement and usage of the website, but will not store, save or collect personal information.
We also use Facebook & Google Ad-Tracking pixels on our pages for Facebook or Google Retargeting.
Who we Share your Data with
- We use PayPal and Authorize.net (and on occasion, payment processors like ClickBank.com) to process payments. Any credit card information entered on this site is encrypted and processed by the respective payment processors.
- We operate a mailing list using Aweber.com. When you sign up for a free or paid membership, you may be added to a mailing list managed at Aweber. This mailing list is used to send you information about our products and services, discounts and special offers, occasional promotional emails, news and announcements, and other relevant emails . You can unsubscribe from the mailing list at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of each email sent. You may also use the unsubscribe link to modify your email preference.
Contact Us
- You can open a support ticket to send us any message about your concerns about privacy.
Agreeing to our Privacy Policy
By using our site, you agree to us using your data in accordance with this Privacy Policy. There are certain services that we may not be able to provide if you do not choose to provide relevant information. When asked to provide certain personal information you may decline, but where such is necessary to provide a service or feature, your use of that service or feature may be restricted as a result.
This Privacy Policy applies to Newbie-Trader.com and any of our other websites, products or services hosted or delivered through other websites.
Thank You
Thank you for being a Newbie-Trader.com customer.
We're proud to provide the highest level of privacy for our customers.


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In March 2018, the Social Security Administration (SSA) had a nasty surprise for Teresa Sims, a woman with disabilities who lives in a group home in Minnesota's Twin Cities. The agency informed her by letter that she would no longer be receiving the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) checks she'd been living on since she was a child because she had failed to disclose that she owned three pieces of real estate in a county six hours north of her home. Local SSA officials wouldn't believe her when she told them that she had never been to the county, let alone owned property there.
The same has happened to thousands of other SSI recipients -- people with disabilities or the elderly living on basic assistance income, according to a joint report by the National Consumer Law Center and Justice in Aging. The problem started in 2018 when the SSA, in an effort to find government assistance beneficiaries owning unreported property that could disqualify them from receiving benefits, began cross-checking lists of property owners on a LexisNexis data set called Accurint for Government. Letters started turning up in the mail informing people that their benefits had been cancelled, and in some cases even demanding repayment. Often the letters did not even identify the properties allegedly belonging to the recipients, making it even more difficult for the falsely accused to deny the claims and convince local SSA officials that they owned no property.
It should be of little surprise that the SSA's initiative netted innocent people, notes the new report, "Mismatched and Mistaken: How the Use of an Inaccurate Private Database Results in SSI Recipients Unjustly Losing Benefits." Accurint for Government's database is "riddled with errors," the report states. Accurint drew up its list of alleged property owners by simply plugging first and last names into the LexisNexis database, without even checking to see if middle initials or Social Security numbers matched those of assistance recipients.
Such laxity would never have passed muster with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FRCA). So to get around this, LexisNexis inserted a disclaimer at the bottom of its website, which reads: "Accurint for Government is not a consumer report (as defined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act) and may not be used for any purpose permitted by the FCRA." For its part, the SSA is using the disclaimer to strip benefits recipients of their rights; the FCRA would have otherwise entitled the SSI recipients to be notified before action is taken, and given them the right to have inaccurate information investigated and corrected, the report points out.
The SSA claims that it did not act on the LexisNexis data alone, but rather used it as a starting point for further investigation to determine whether recipients did own property. But advocates around the country challenge this assertion, pointing to numerous cases like that of Ms. Sims where action was taken without further investigation, the report says.
Ms. Sims went without any income for six months. It took the efforts of a dogged legal services attorney and many letters, meetings and appeals before her benefits were reinstated. The SSA finally acknowledged that the real estate in question was owned by Teresa A. Sims and her husband Harold Sims, not by SSI recipient Teresa Sims, who has no middle initial.
Among several recommendations to prevent such future calamities, the National Consumer Law Center and Justice in Aging together ask that LexisNexis and SSA acknowledge that Accurint for Government is a consumer report, and they call on both to abide by FRCA standards. The report also calls for the SSA to implement an appeals process that allows benefits recipients to challenge claims against them before any action is taken.
To read the full report, click here.
This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax, legal or estate planning advice as individual situations will vary. Neither Royal Alliance Associates, Inc., nor its registered representatives or employees, offer tax or legal advice. As with all matters of a tax or legal nature, you should consult with your tax or legal counsel for advice.
Securities and investment advisory services offered through Royal Alliance Associates, Inc. member FINRA/SIPC. Royal Alliance Associates, Inc. is separately owned and other entities and/or marketing names, products or services referenced here are independent of Royal Alliance Associates, Inc. Special needs consulting services are not offered through Royal Alliance Associates, Inc.
Content provided by the Academy of Special Needs Planners, Copyright 2021


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Miss blue charm 14k gold
€149,00This charming charm, enveloped in pure 14-carat gold, embodies the unique harmony between noble metals and the serene beauty of blue quartz.
- Handmade
- 14k recycled gold
- Stone: Quartz
- Charm: 16x7mm
- Necklace not included
Our goldsmith needs an average of 1 week to produce your showpiece. Do you need it sooner? Then please contact us with your request..
How it's made
All jewelry is made from 14 karat recycled gold, handmade by local goldsmiths to preserve the Dutch handicraft. Order your unique piece today and make sure you can enjoy it within 3 weeks.
Don't know your ring size? No stress!
We have found a quick way to measure your ring size so that you are sure that you order the right size.
Care guide
Please take care of your treasures. We use pearls, precious- and semi precious stones, which are delicate in nature. Avoid scratching, don't swim or shower with them and keep them away from chemicals, perfume and creams.
Do you want to personalize one of our collection items with a different stone? We are open to discuss the possibilities together. Send a message with your wishes to email@example.com.


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Another freebie!!
Egg Punch, an adventurous 3D take on platforming and mini golf, has today launched on the Apple App Store as a free download. The debut iOS game from Copenhagen-based studio Pixel Juice, Egg Punch puts the player in the shell of a poor naked bird whose feathers have been stolen by mischievous rabbits! Forced back into the egg-shell, the player will aim and roll the egg through 54 levels of mini-golfing, feather-collecting, and rabbit-tackling fun. A new twist on a classic game that's sure to delight mobile gamers of all ages, download Egg Punch for free today!
With wonderfully crafted 3D worlds, colorful graphics, cute characters, and engaging levels full of obstacles, Egg Punch is a game for the entire family to enjoy this holiday season. To learn more on just how rascally rabbits were able to steal the bird's feathers and for a closer look at some of the intricate levels and courses in Egg Punch, check out the launch trailer at http://youtu.be/hpYn9V7SBWA.
Highlights of Egg Punch include:
• Protect your bird's egg from scheming rabbits in Egg Punch – a family-friendly and adventurous take on mini golf where players must bounce off walls, tackle rabbits, and navigate fans and short cuts to complete each puzzling level.
• Complete each level in as few shots as possible to rack up the most points, then convert them to coins in the shop to add new abilities and stack the deck in your favor!
• Explore the courses and obstacles of six challenging worlds of nine levels each, all with their own theme and feel: Summer Garden, Castle Walls, Crooked Canyon, Carrot Curses, The Stronghold, El Dorado and more to come!
• With each level representing another whacky take on mini golf, are you up to the challenge of collecting enough feathers and coins to unlock and complete all 54 levels?
• In the Shop – Use coins to load your arsenal with power-ups like the amazing shot boost, the hole seeker, and the feather magnet, or personalize your egg with cool eggshell designs.
Download Egg Punch for free today at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/egg-punch/id471970360?ls=1&mt=8.
For more information please visit www.PixelJuice.com.


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For commuting cyclists a question I'll commonly hear is:
"How do you carry your suit in to work when you are riding a bike?"
There are a few different solutions.
1. Take it in by public transport and leave it at work
The first option is to leave the bike at home once per week and simply wear or carry your suit. However, this isn't an ideal option as it's a shame to miss out on a day of cycling. Plus, not everyone will have space at work to leave a few different suits in a locker.
2. Use a suit bag
There are a number of different suit bags available to cyclists. Here are three popular ones.
Slicks Suit25 – £132
Chris Askew, a London cyclist, came up with the design for the Suit25 bag after he was having problems getting his suit in to work. I've posted my first impressions on the Slicks Suit25 here. The bag is an impressive piece of kit. So much so, that my house mate has been borrowing it almost continuously.
- Wateproof cover
- Fits in laptop
- Can also fit in your shoes, lunch etc.
Available from Slicks website: http://www.slicks.cc/suit25
Henty Designs Wingman – £115.49
The Wingman is a new bag by Henty Designs. It's designed to help you carry your suit in to work. I really like the throw over the shoulder design of this bag, as well as how quick it is to unfold it and then hang it up.
- Space to fit an iPad
- Waterproof cover included
- Additional bag that fits inside the roll for your shoes and so forth
- Don't need to fold your suit in half – just needs to be rolled around the rigid structure of bag.
Available from Henty Designs website with free shipping: http://henty.cc/ and also from V02 Sportswear for £118.99.
I've met one of co-founders of the Wingman (Jon Gourlay) who introduced me to the product and I've reviewed the bag here.
SuitSak – £65
With a very wide design, the SuitSak is not something that would instantly appeal to me. However, it does have the most competitive price point.
- Space to fit your laptop
- Space for your shoes, lunch etc.
- Only need to fold your suit in half
Available from Suitsak.com
3. Wear your suit on your bike
There's also nothing to stop you wearing your suit on your bike. This is generally easier on certain bike types. Boris Bike style bikes for example have chain guards and a relaxed riding position. This means you don't get your suit caught in the chain and you don't stretch the trousers.
How do you carry your suit in to work? Leave a comment below.


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Cookie preferences can be changed at any time by clicking the button below and adjusting the options.
Alternatively, most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set, visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org. Below are some links to helpful information on managing cookies in the most popular browsers:


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Sleep Sense™ Seminar
Attending a Sleep Sense™ seminar provides a comfortable environment where a small group of parents get together and learn how to SOLVE their children's sleep problems.
You'll get to share experiences with other parents who are facing some of the same challenges as you… and then develop a personalized sleep plan that will give your child the tools needed to finally start sleeping through the night (and taking long, restful naps during the day.)
Here's a brief outline of what you can expect during the seminars:


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browngrotta arts is devasted by the loss of Sandra Grotta, our extraordinary collector and patron and mother and grandmother. Sandy and her husband Lou have been pivotal in the growth of browngrotta arts through their advice and unerring support. Sandy graduated from the University of Michigan and the New York School of Interior Design. For four decades, she provided interior design assistance to dozens of clients — many through more than one home and office. She encouraged them to live with craft art, as she and Lou had done, placing works by Toshiko Takezu, Mariette Rousseau-Vermette, Helena Hernmarck, Gyöngy Laky, Markku Kosonen, Mary Merkel-Hess and many other artists in her clients' homes. Among her greatest design talents was persuading people to de-accession pieces they had inherited, but never loved, to make way for art and furnishings that provided them joy. Sandy was a uniquely confident collector and she shared that conviction with her clients.
Her own collecting journey began in the late 1950s, when she and Lou first stepped into the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York City after a visit to the Museum of Modern Art. "The Museum's exhibitions, many of whose objects were for sale in its store, caused a case of love at first sight. It quickly became a founding source of many craft purchases to follow," Sandy told Patricia Malarcher in 1982 ("Crafts," The New York Times, Patricia Malarcher, October 24, 1982). It was a walnut table "with heart" on view at MoCC that would irrevocably alter the collectors' approach. The table was by Joyce and Edgar Anderson, also from New Jersey. The Grottas sought the artists out and commissioned the first of many works commissioned and acquired throughout the artists' lifetimes, including a roll-top desk, maple server and a sofa-and-table unit that now live in browngrotta arts' gallery space. She followed the advice she would give to others: "When we saw the Andersons' woodwork," Sandy remembered, "we knew everything else had to go," Sandy told Glenn Adamson. From the success of that first commission, the Grottas' art exploration path was set. The Andersons introduced the Grottas to their friends, ceramists Toshiko Takaezu and William Wyman. "The Andersons were our bridge to other major makers in what we believe to have been the golden age of contemporary craft," Sandy said, "and the impetus to my becoming our decorator."
When Objects USA: the Johnson Wax Collection, opened in New York in 1972 at MoCC, by then renamed the American Craft Museum, the Grottas began discovering work further afield. "Objects USA was my Bible," Sandy told Malarcher describing how she would search out artists, ceramists, woodworkers and jewelers. A trip to Ariel, Washington, led the Grottas to commission an eight-foot-tall Kwakiutl totem pole for the front hall by Chief Don Lelooska. Sandy ordered a bracelet by Charles Loloma from a picture in a magazine. "I always got a little nervous when the packages came, but I've never been disappointed," Sandy told Malarcher. "Craftsmen are a special breed." Toshiko Takaezu, as an example, would require interested collectors like the Grottas to come by her studio in Princeton, NJ, a few times first to "interview" before she'd permit them to acquire special works. It took 15 years and several studio visits each year for the Grottas to convince the artist to part with the "moon pot" that anchors their formidable Takaezu collection. Jewelers Wendy Ramshaw and David Watkins in the UK also became dear friends as Sandy developed a world-class jewelry collection. At one point, in a relationship that included weekly transatlantic calls, Sandy told Wendy she needed "everyday earrings." Wendy responded with earrings for every day – seven pairs in fact. "For me, the surprise was that they found me," says John McQueen. "I lived in Western New York state far from the hubbub of the art world." McQueen says that he discovered they the Grotta's were completely open to any new aesthetic experience. "from that moment, we established a strong connection, that has led to a rapport that has continued through the years – a close personal and professional relationship."
Their accumulation of objects has grown to include more that 300 works of art and pieces of jewelry by dozens of artists, and with their Richard Meier home, has been the subject of two books. The most recent, The Grotta Home by Richard Meier: A Marriage of Architecture and Craft, was photographed and designed by Tom Grotta of bga. They don't consider themselves collectors in the traditional sense, content to exhibit art on just walls and surfaces. Sandy and Lou's efforts were aimed at creating a home. They filled every aspect of their lives with handcrafted objects from silver- and tableware to teapots to clothing to studio jewelry and commissioned pillows, throws and canes, a direction she also recommended for her interior design clients. The result, writes Glenn Adamson in The Grotta Home,"is a home that is at once totally livable and deeply aesthetic." Among the additional artists whose work the Grottas acquired for their home were wood worker Thomas Hucker, textile and fiber artists Sheila Hicks, Lenore Tawney and Norma Minkowitz, ceramists Peter Voulkos, Ken Ferguson and William Wyman and jewelers Gijs Bakker, Giampaolo Babetto, Axel Russmeyer and Eva Eisler. They have traveled to Japan, the UK, Czechoslovakia, Germany and across the US to view art and architecture and meet with artists.
Perhaps their most ambitious commission was the Grotta House, by Richard Meier. Designed to house and highlight craft and completed in 1989, it is a source of constant delight for the couple, with its shifting light, showcased views of woodlands and wildlife and engaging spaces for object installation. The Grottas were far more collaborative clients than is typical for Meier. "From our very first discussions," Meier has written,"it was clear that their vast collection of craft objects and Sandy's extensive experience as an interior designer would be an important in the design of the house." The sensitivity with which the collection was integrated into Meier's design produced "an enduring harmony between an ever-changing set of objects and they space they occupy." The unique synergy between objects and architecture is evident decades later, even as the collection has evolved. Despite his "distinct — and ornament-free — visual language, Meier created a building that lets decorative objects take a leading role on the architectural stage," notes Osman Can Yerebakan in Introspective magazine ("Tour a Richard Meier–Designed House That Celebrates American Craft," Osman Can Yerebakan, Introspective, February 23, 2020). The house project had an unexpected benefit — a professional partnership between Sandy and Grotta House project manager, David Ling, that would result in memorable art exhibition and living spaces designed for the homes and offices of many of Sandy's design clients.
Sandy and Lou became patrons of the American Craft Museum in 1970s. As a member of the Associates committee she organized several annual fundraisers for the Museum, including Art for the Table, E.A.T. at McDonald's and Art to Wear, sometimes with her close friend, Jack Lenor Larsen, another assured acquirer, as co-chair. At the openings, she would sport an artist-made piece of jewelry or clothing, sometimes both, and often it was an item that arrived or was finished literally hours before the event. "I wear all my jewelry," she told Metalsmith Magazine in 1991 (Donald Freundlich and Judith Miller, "The State of Metalsmithing and Jewelry," Metalsmith Magazine, Fall 1991) "I love to go to a party where everyone is wearing pearls and show up in a wild necklace …. I have a house brooch by Künzli – a big red house that you wear on your shoulder. I can go to a party in a wild paper necklace and feel as good about it as someone else does in diamonds." Sandy served on the Board of the by-then-renamed Museum of Arts and Design, stepping down in 2019.
From its inception, Sandy served as a trusted advisor, cheerleader and cherished client to browngrotta arts. She introduced us to artists, to her design clients and Museum colleagues. Questions of aesthetic judgment — are there too many works in this display? too much color? does this work feel unfinished? imitative? decorative? — were presented to her for review. (She was unerring on etiquette disputes, too.) The debt we owe her is enormous; the void she leaves is large indeed. We can only say thank you, we love you and your gifts will live on.
You can learn more about Sandy's life and legacy on The Grotta House website: https://grottahouse.com and in the book, The Grotta Home by Richard Meier: A Marriage of Architecture and Craft available from browngrotta at: https://store.browngrotta.com/the-grotta-home-by-richard-meier-a-marriage-of-architecture-and-craft/.
The family appreciates memorial contributions to the Sandra and Louis Grotta Foundation, Inc., online at https://joingenerous.com/louis-and-sandra-grotta-foundation-inc-r5yelcd or by mail to The Louis and Sandra Grotta Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 766, New Vernon, NJ 07976-0000.


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Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Why Are Atheists Always Described as Militant?
In a similar vein, the comedian Robert Klein once noted that President Garfield is nearly always described as "shot by a disappointed office-seeker". Klein went on to claim that if you look up Garfield in the dictionary, it says "See office-seeker, disappointed".
The intelligent design crowd plays the same game with "Darwinists". They never refer to their ideological opponents as scientists or biologists; they are nearly always "Darwinists", or, as Wesley Elsberry has pointed out, "dogmatic Darwinists".
Now look at this otherwise unnoteworthy article by Associate Press religion reporter Rachel Zoll, about the reaction to recent books by atheists Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. Notice anything, well, trite about the title? Yes, it's the "militant atheist" platitude. Atheists must never be described as intelligent, thoughtful, friendly, questioning, or thought-provoking. Instead, they must be described as "militant".
From the meaning of "militant", you might expect that Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens are burning down churches, or at least leading protests, stirring up crowds with their fiery rhetoric. You would be disappointed, of course. What Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens have done is write books. Hitchens is more of a curmudgeon than a militant, and Dawkins and Harris are both rather mild-mannered. Nobody is leaving their public events carrying torches and singing the atheist analogue of the Horst Wessel song.
I'm not sure when the juxtaposition of "militant" and "atheist" became a cliché. The earliest citation I've been able to find so far is a 1928 book review of Edward Lucas White's book Why Rome Fell by Elmer Davis. Davis wrote, "Militant atheists ought not to read it; they will be too likely to swallow it all uncritically."
Whatever the origins, the term "militant atheist" eventually became a description to be used whenever the writer wanted to express disapproval about nonbelievers. Madalyn Murray O'Hair was often so described; a 1970 article in Time sneered at her attempt to found a new church. True, O'Hair was, by all accounts, a nasty person. However, when she was killed in 1995, obituaries routinely referred to her as "militant". Her murderer, however, was not so categorized.
When Jerry Falwell died recently, newspaper obituaries rarely described him as "militant", even though the adjective fit him much better than mild-mannered atheists like Harris. Ironically, however, the Associated Press obituary by Sue Lindsey, referred to Falwell's father and grandfather as "militant atheists".
Flaubert would have appreciated the "militant atheist" cliché. In Dictionnaire des idées reçues, he reported the following platitude about atheists: "A nation of atheists could not survive." Sadly, that cliché is still prevalent today among the morons of the Religious Right.
Added June 6 2007: over at Pharyngula, commenter Jurjen S., whose command of history is evidently better than mine, tells me about the League of Militant Atheists, an anti-religious group in the Soviet Union from 1925-1947. Probably this is the source of the term "militant atheist"; indeed, many of the 1920's citations for this phrase discuss actions in the Soviet Union.
Added January 4 2011
Google's n-gram viewer
has now revealed some earlier uses of the term: the earliest I have found is from Progress: a monthly magazine of advanced thought, Volume 6 edited by George William Foote, in 1886. On page 466 he writes "He was not only an Atheist, but a militant Atheist..." Perhaps this is the earliest usage of the term. But as the google n-gram viewer indicates, the term really took off in the 1920's, with the rise of the "League of Militant Atheists" in the former Soviet Union.
Oddly enough, the term "militant theist" gets no citations at all.
6 comments:
As a side note about the term "militant atheists", I believe Dawkins himself wouldn't mind being called as such. In fact, he urges all the atheists to be more militant:
Maverick Woo - 7:42 PM, June 05, 2007
- Unknown said...
The atheist analogue of the Horst Wessel song would of course be the International. Godless communists and all that. Theists are so hopelessly clichéd.
- 2:33 AM, June 06, 2007
z *F *F *Eb | Do. F* | Bb*. A' G* D* | Fo Ebo
Without a God, we march hu-mans un---it--ed
z Eb* Eb* D* | Co. F* | F*. F' G* F* | Do. z
Em--bracing doubt, we seek the truth thats true - 8:28 AM, June 06, 2007
Theo Hobson, whom no one will ever refer to as a "public intellectual", seems to like the phrase "militant atheist" a great deal.
- 2:59 PM, June 06, 2007
Having grown up in this country as a member of a religious minority, I believe in a secular society, but I'm not an atheist. I'm a practicing Hindu.
I'm a pro-life Democrat. I am pro-life but also believe in a complete separation of church and state. I gave $1,008 to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, while asking Rev. Barry Lynn (Executive Director) to keep the organization neutral on this divisive issue, rather than take a pro-choice stance.
I have no problem with atheism. Thomas Jefferson, the architect of American democracy, said, "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts as are only injurious to others, but it does no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pockets nor breaks my legs."
Under Jeffersonian democracy, monotheism, polytheism, agnosticism, atheism and even victimless crimes are all tolerated. This conception of democracy appears to me to be closer to the Vedic conception of government, because under Vedic civilization there was tolerance of different philosophical schools of thought, different yoga systems, demigod worship, ancestor worship ("pitas" or forefathers in Sanskrit), pantheism (advaita vedanta), and even atheists like Charvaka.
The American Left is open to the idea of a tolerant multicultural, multireligious, multiracial and possibly even a multilingual society, whereas the right is not.
Jefferson stated that "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts as are only injurious to others." Science fiction writer Robert Heinlein in "The Notebook of Lazarus Long", also wrote that sin lies only in harming others--all other "sins" are concocted.
In Vedic civilization, victimless crimes such as intoxication (rice wine was offered to goddess Kali) and even prostitution (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.11.17-19) were legal and regulated.
I agree that religion has no place in the secular arena and therefore oppose government instituted prayer in the public schools, but must simultaneously oppose the teaching of modern myths such as the theory of evolution in the public schools as well.
According to Vedic civilization, people fall into four different classes: educators, military, mercantile, and laborers. Only a certain class of people will have military inclinations, and a military draft forces people from the working classes to take up arms against their will. The American Left generally recognizes the immorality of a military draft.
Writer and activist Jean Blackwood, in the July 1993 issue of "Harmony: Voices for a Just Future", a peace and justice publication on the religious Left, notes:
"Many of the young people who make up the animal rights and environmental movement grew up with pro-abortion rhetoric in their ears. They can make the mental shift from banning CFCs, outlawing whaling, and abolishing clearcuts to 'a woman's right to choose' with such alacrity that one might suspect no self-contradiction was involved."
For many young people today, abortion is just another choice; just another form of birth control. Will they be more inclined to listen to a secular moral philosophy that doesn't dictate their sexual behavior or intrude upon their private life, or a set of unprovable religious beliefs that does?
There are non-traditional pro-life groups that make up "The Left Side of the March" on the March on Washington, every January 22nd, in D.C.: Vegans for Life, Democrats for Life, Feminists for Life, the Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians (PLAGAL), etc.
I'm not sure if Atheists for Life is included, but Rachel MacNair, a Quaker pacifist, vegan, and past president of Feminists For Life, once pointed out that there are pro-life atheists who argue that since there is no afterlife, life is especially precious.
Had Dennis Kucinich remained pro-life, I would have voted for him. Atheists and agnostics have nothing to fear: we really live in a secular society; one in which people merely pay lip service to religious ideals. - 1:28 PM, June 18, 2007
- Jeffrey Shallit said...
Vasa Murti:
While there may some points of agreement between us, calling evolution a "modern myth" and opposing teaching this cornerstone of biology in public school strongly suggests that you don't know what you're talking about.
Evolution is a fact. The theory of evolution, which explains how evolution occurred, is a very well-supported theory that has withstood 100 years of tests. - 3:20 PM, June 18, 2007


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Saturday, October 21, 2006
More Highlights From the PS22 Chorus of 2005/6 (and more Tori...)
Justin was in 4th grade when he sang this beautiful Christmas song, "I Wonder As I Wander" at last year's holiday show. We are all in great anticipation of his performance at the Martin Luther King Observance (read previous post!)
4 comments:
heyyyy 22 Mr.B it's Nita. How is the chorus looking this year and are they as good as the 05/06 chorus.
- October 24, 2006 at 4:44 PM
- Mr. B said...
Hi Nita!! How great to hear from you! Yes, the chorus this year is off to an absolutely incredible start, and thanks for asking!! But every year's group has a special and unique sound, so I can't play favorites! I miss you lots though, and hope you're still keeping up with your music!Hopefully, you'll come by and visit one day -- Ms. Farrell, Mrs. Burns, & I would love to see you!!
- October 24, 2006 at 6:03 PM
Hello there...
Well I just wanted to tell you and all the kids that they are so wonderful! I live here in New York and sing for a living. It's hard being a musician at times, but music is what makes the world go 'round. I hope that all of you guys can take what you are learning and creating in this group, and let it grow inside you throughout your whole lives. You truly inspire people when you sing. I mean, you made me cry and I've heard those songs a million times! It was like a completely new experience listening to you guys make it your own. Plus, the music is wonderful because a lot of it is by Tori Amos, who is a genius. Anyway...I will keep watching and listening. You guys have a new fan!
Love, Lisette - October 28, 2006 at 3:08 AM
oh my gosh that was great i saw my brother
- April 10, 2012 at 1:49 PM


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The Mason in Mantis Green | Modern T-Rex Decor, Dinosaur Art
regular price $199.00Only $179 w/ code WINTER24
- the mason in mantis green measures:
- 14" H x 7.5" W x 15.75" D
- 7 Lbs
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The Mason in Mantis Green. Prehistoric times get a modern makeover! This is one of our authentic t-rex dinosaur sculptures, designed & hand-painted in-house at the White Faux Taxidermy studio, by one of our professional artists. The legendary tyrannosaurus rex is among the most popular and recognizable dinosaurs in the dino kingdom. His gaping mouth, powerful teeth, and fierce eyes make a bold statement in your space. We sculpt our huge dinosaur head from fine resin, so no animals (extinct or otherwise) are harmed in production! Each t-rex is individually hand-painted in a variety of trendy colors and unique finishes. Thanks to the silver screen this Cretaceous king is commonly misplaced in the Jurassic period, but regardless of his fossilized roots he will be right at home on the wall of your modern bedroom, contemporary office, trendy nursery, eclectic living room, or playful kids room.
Name: | The Mason in Mantis Green , Modern... |
Assembly: | none required |
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Shipping: | *ships insured & timeframe is in business days via UPS Ground (in lower 48), UPS Standard (Canada), USPS everywhere else. |
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Prop 65: | California Disclaimer |
• 7 Lbs


text:
No event in the history of Western man provided so profound a shock as the discovery of America
August 1976
America was an experience man could only have once. Knowledge of China, knowledge of Africa, festooned as it was with the Spanish moss of myth and legend, had penetrated Europe from the days of Imperial Rome and beyond. When discovered, the animals of Australasia were stranger by far than America's, and the aborigines and the bushmen of Tasmania were more primitive, even more uniformly naked than the Caribs whose appearance was so startling to Columbus. By then the strangeness of the Americas had destroyed the sense of novelty. There could only be one New World.
When confronted by novelty, men try to domesticate what is strange and alien; they attempt to fit the exotic into their cherished intellectual schemes and to absorb it into their interpretation of the world and its past. They retain, as it were, a husk of strangeness in which to take delight, or to weave fantasies, or worse still to construct rationalizations of their own evil intentions. The discovery of America had all of these effects and more, for no event in the history of Western man provided so profound a shock to the imagination or to the mind. And yet one might argue that the most important results of this discovery were far more mundane—maize, tobacco, gold, fur—the never-ending abundance of the land that led to the rape of a continent which became a golden pasture for human locusts.
Columbus, amazed, unsure, reluctant to accept that he was not in the Indies, found it easier to fit the Caribs into the legend of the Golden Age. As Peter Martyr, the friend of Columbus, wrote in the early 1500's, they "seem to live in that golden world of which old writers speak so much, wherein men lived simply and innocently without enforcement of laws, without quarrelling, judges and libels, content only to satisfy nature." This was the beginning of that ever-lengthening legend of the innocence of America which shifts from island to the mainland, from Caribs to noble Indian chiefs. It took many centuries to die; indeed, it is hardly dead yet, for nowadays the innocence has been transferred to the wilderness, to the desert, to the primitive land still unscarred in the West.
The theory that the naked Caribs lived in innocent bliss was soon dispelled. The Spaniards learned with horror that the Caribs hung up the hams of men and women to cure in the sun like sides of bacon. They relished the taste of human flesh; for them it was a gourmet's revenge on an enemy. When the Spaniards began to root themselves inefficiently in Hispaniola, the denizens of the Golden Age rapidly became subhuman. The Spaniards stressed their cannibalism, their nakedness, their fornication, and their frequently deviant and public sexuality. This savage paganism made their salvation imperative and their servitude justifiable.
The Caribs wanted neither salvation nor servitude. Killed, hunted, tortured, beaten, and worked to death, they soon began to vanish, until genocide was virtually accomplished. Today scarcely any remain, but before they almost totally disappeared they had woven themselves into the imagination of Europe, as Hugh Honour has shown us in his recent book The New Golden Land , which is a brilliant discussion of the way the discovery of America haunted the European artistic imagination.
These Caribs, however, did more than stimulate the imagination. The brutal treatment accorded to them unleashed the passion of Bartolomé de Las Casas, whose bitter pen damned Spanish cruelty to a believing world of French, British, Germans, and Dutch—who, however, behaved no better themselves once they got a foothold in the New World. But Las Casas' fiery words and the undeniable truth of his tale of the brutalities, the killing, the torturing, and the wholesale destruction of primitive peoples started an enduring theme in America's history that still resonates in our own day. It is a long, bloody, bitter, and sad road that leads from Hispaniola to the slaughter at Wounded Knee or the atrocities in the forests of Brazil. Innocence and betrayal, fascination and disgust, illusion and reality, these have so often been the dual response of Europeans to the primitive peoples of America.
The discovery of America led to an appalling destruction of human life—probably over twenty million died in a half century—a fact all too rarely depicted in the artistic vision of America. It was the strangeness, the exotic nature of the people, the ornaments, their color that entranced the artist. They might pose them like classical heroes, but they dressed them in their own feather headdresses and feathered skirts or left them stark naked. For the first two decades these natives remained amorphous, exotic yet somewhat unreal, like strange Europeans. Many artists who painted them had never seen an Indian, although from Columbus' first voyage a few men and women had been ripped from their homes to be displayed as curiosities in the courts of Europe.
It was only quite late in the sixteenth century that Indians were depicted more accurately, placed in more exact settings, and their customs, dances, and villages shown with some appreciation of reality. John White's water colors of the Indians of Virginia, among whom he lived briefly in 1585-6, show greater precision and accuracy, even though he refrained from depicting the more primitive and savage of their customs. A Frenchman, Jacques Le Moyne, had been far more candid in his sketches of Florida Indians, but true realism had to wait until the seventeenth century, when two fine Dutch painters—Frans Post and Albert Eckhout—painted Brazilian landscapes and people exactly and vividly. And yet the art of fantasy in European paintings of Indians was not eradicated for centuries; even Delacroix in the early nineteenth century could paint Indians who looked like well-bred Europeans in fancy dress. The tradition of realism started by John White developed more slowly and only reached its apogee with Catlin, Bodmer, and Rosa Bonheur, just before the genocide of the Indians had begun in earnest.
It was not only the exoticism of the people that both entranced and horrified Europeans. Columbus had gone in search of riches, of the fabulous Cathay. The Spaniards wanted gold. And they found it, bountifully in Mexico and beyond their wildest hopes in Peru; and the gold in the end led to the mountains of silver in Potosi and Taxco. This success in the search for riches came slowly. There were very barren decades, so that every object that was rich and exotic to look at was valuable as propaganda in the courts of Europe, which had to finance the early voyages of exploration and colonization. So the splendors of Central and South American civilizations were soon on their way to Europe—the great golden disks, the brilliant featherwork cloaks, the terrifying death masks in jade and greenstone, works that when Albrecht Dürer saw them in Brussels made him marvel at "the subtle ingenia of men in foreign lands."
To the emperors they were indicators of riches to come, not works of art, and the golden vases, fountains, and animals that passed into the court of Charles V were quickly melted down for the money he always lacked. The feather cloaks were thrown away or left to rot in the attics of his palaces. Only a few men of taste or of obsessive curiosity found a home for them in their cabinets, and today only a handful of objects survive from the first century of European discovery.
Among the earliest collectors to appreciate the singularity and beauty of Mexican art were the emperor Ferdinand 1 (who died in 1564) and his two sons; the extraordinary Rudolph II, a patron of everything exotic; and not surprisingly, perhaps, the greatest family of art patrons in Italy—the Medici, who as early as 1539 had brought together, as Hugh Honour reminds us, forty-four pieces of featherwork as well as carved masks and animals in semiprecious stone. Perhaps the strangest fate of any American object in the sixteenth century was that of a Mexican obsidian disk that fell into the hands of John Dee, Queen Elizabeth I's astrologer and magician, who used it to conjure up spirits. It was, however, the common objects, novel to Europe yet totally adaptable, that were most quickly diffused—the first being the hammock, unknown to European gardens and ships until discovered in the West Indies; equally adaptable but later in time came the canoe of the American Indians and the kayak of the Eskimos.
Just as amazing to Columbus as the inhabitants of the West Indies were the flora and fauna of the New World. Some, of course, were easy to assimilate. The rather subdued colored parrots of Africa had been greatly prized possessions of the Europeans in the late Middle Ages, but the brilliant colored parrots of Brazil rapidly replaced them. These were represented as early as 1502 in Europe and appeared in a painting by Carpaccio, the Venetian artist, as early as 1507. Along with hummingbirds and Mexican quail, they were used as brilliant decorative motifs in the Loggetta of Raphael at the Vatican.
Hugh Honour has demonstrated the astonishing speed with which the artists of the Renaissance seized upon American birds and animals as well as Indians to use as dramatic motifs in their painting and sculpture. The turkey—now the all-pervasive Christmas dish of English families—reached Europe almost as quickly as the parrot. It was bred in Spain shortly after 1500, and the bird had reached Britain by 1525. Ironically, a hundred years after its discovery by Columbus the turkey had reached the East Indies. But it was the odder birds and animals that excited the most curiosity—the iguana, which was thought to be a dragon, discovered at last; the armadillo, whose true nature baffled scholars for decades; the opossum, which was the first marsupial known to Europeans; and the tapir and the llama, both of which defied description.
More important than the attempt to describe and to draw the birds, animals, and plants was the impact of their variety on the development of European botany and zoology. Knowledge of the new animals had reached Europe, along with specimens, from time to time. The rhinoceros had made a vivid impression on Europe, but Europeans had never been subjected to such a flood of wholly new birds, animals, fruits, vegetables, trees, and flowers as they were from the New World between 1500 and i55o. And it was this variety, its strangeness, and, at times, its marvelous adaptability and usefulness that led to the beginning of a scientifically precise observation—indeed, the beginning of botany and zoology as we know them.
The flora had a far greater impact than the birds and animals, so few of which could be domesticated. Maize, which could easily be grown in Europe, was exploited at once; within ten years of its discovery it was being cultivated in Italy, where it transformed Italian agriculture. Similarly, cassava, which reached West Africa very shortly after the Portuguese discovery of Brazil, had a like dramatic effect. The potato, which took far longer to establish itself as a crop rather than as a curiosity, ultimately had a more profound effect on European history than maize. The high nutritious quality of the potato enabled the European, particularly the Irish peasant, to maintain himself and his family on tinier and tinier garden plots. Millions of men and women depended on a single crop, and the disastrous potato blight of the nineteenth century destroyed the population in a monstrous famine in 1845 and, in an ironic twist of history, sent tens of thousands of starving Irish to find a new life and a new hope in America.
The contributions of the flora of the Americas to the enrichment of Europe is nearly endless; foods such as tomatoes, tapioca, chocolate, pineapples, avocados, runner beans, Jerusalem artichokes, passion fruit, and many more: flowers now common in Europe, such as morning-glory, nasturtium, dahlia, and the tobacco plant, the most dangerous and deadly of all the plants to reach not only Europe but the entire globe, certainly one of the greatest of all hazards to human health. It was thought oddly enough to be deadly and dangerous when first discovered, and no one damned it with greater vehemence than James I of England. But the habit of smoking proved contagious and the profit impossible to resist. The land of America was quickly ravaged by Europe's addiction to tobacco—and not only America but also Africa, whence came the slave labor needed for its intensive cultivation. What in 1570 was depicted as a delicately beautiful flower decoration of Albrecht V of Bavaria's prayer book became in less than fifty years a major export for America and a sweeping addiction with traumatic economic and social effects on Africa and Europe.
The potato and tobacco, along with maize, are perhaps the best known of the vegetables that changed the eating and social habits of Europe. What, perhaps, is not such common knowledge is that the great movement in landscape gardening that changed the face of the English countryside in the eighteenth century also owed a great deal to America, above all to Virginia. The Virginian oak was planted by the hundreds of thousands; so were a large number of American pines; and the Magnolia grandiflora became the prize possession of even small gardens. Without the influence of America the English landscape would look quite different today.
However, the mental image of America remained more powerful than the influence upon European artistic expression of its exotic people, plants, and animals, and surely matched even the influence of such exceptional material agents as maize, the potato, or tobacco. America remained for centuries the only New World. When the northern colonies established the first federal republic, at whose birth the liberties and rights of men were proclaimed as inalienable, another New World was born, as potent as that discovered by Columbus. A new political world had come into being, utterly distinct from anything Europe had known before—and one that created as entrancing an illusion as the civilizations the conquistadors had discovered.
To the poor and downtrodden peasants and workers of Europe it held out a new hope, a glittering image of riches and freedom. It is easy to forget the bitterness and brutalities of the ghettos of Europe or the starvation and deprivation that the wretched villagers of Greece and Italy suffered. It was their despair that eventually drove them to the coffin ships in which thousands died as they made the Atlantic crossing. The reality they found in America was harsher: hunger stalked on the Lower East Side; once more deprivation for many became part of their lot in life. And yet there was a reality in the illusion. There was more liberty, more social hope in America than in the lands they had quitted. There still is, in spite of the black ghettos and the long-enduring memory of slavery. The destruction of primitive peoples and slavery are the harsh realities of the American experience, for whose nakedness the Constitution, with its proud declaration of liberty, proved so pathetic a rag. So often illusion provided hope, reality the fate. And yet whatever the American experience might be, it remained for most Europeans an exotic continent.
After Buffalo Bill's fabulous success small boys in Riga, in Manchester, in Lyon, in Milan, played for generation after generation at cowboys and Indians; in the twentieth century Hollywood provided the dreams for the masses, and Disney captured the imagination of the child. No longer a fairyland of exotic peoples, animals, and plants, America has created a new world of fantasy.
In the lives of children, in the dream time of adolescents, even in the sexual expectations of the adult world, America still feeds Europe with its illusions. As with the illusions of the past, a harsher reality is always breaking in: the drugs, the dropouts, the divorces. Perhaps the tobacco plant with its vivid flowers, intoxicating scent, and deadly leaves should be the enduring symbol of that strange combination of illusion and reality with which America has continued to haunt Europe since its discovery.


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I was recently given a 3 month subscription of Slacker Radio Plus to review. I have had a free Slacker Radio account for quite awhile and was excited to try the plus service. I have not been disappointed! With the Plus service you get no ads, unlimited song skips, unlimited song requests, and complete songs lyrics. They have over 2 million songs and real live DJs programing the stations. No matter what your taste in music, you will most likely find a station you will enjoy. They offer kids stations, big band, classic rock, new country, and more!
I am most impressed by the unlimited song requests and number of songs available. One of my favorite songs ever is You're My Jamaica by Charley Pride, a song most people have never heard of and that is nearly impossible to find. They have it! They have also had every other song I have thought up so far. That is a big plus with me. I also love that when you put in a song request, then you end up listening to that song title radio, like You're My Jamaica Radio is my current station of choice. This station plays songs that are similar to the one you request; I've been treated to George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, and most of my favorite country greats. You can ban songs you don't like or favorite songs you love.
I have listened to Slacker Radio everyday for almost a week now and just love it. If you read any of my blogs very often, you will know that we are a family that loves our music, so this service is a perfect fit for us. Plus, it gives us so many more songs to play our family name that tune game with! We have discussed it and will definitely be keeping it after our review period is up.
Slacker Radio Plus is great for families, especially those with teens and college kids who are really into music. With the unlimited song requests, they can here whatever they want, whenever they want for much cheaper than buying or paying to download the songs. I think it is a great fit for the older teen set. Or just anyone who, like us, really enjoys music.
Guess what? I have 3 month subscriptions to Slacker Radio Plus for three of my lucky readers! All you have to do is go check out Slacker Radio, then come back and tell me what feature you like the most. That's it!
Bonus Entries:
- Follow me on Twitter & tweet about this giveaway (leave a link to the tweet)
- Follow my blog
- Subscribe to my blog via RSS
- Go over to my other blog, Livin' Our Love Song and look around, then come back here and tell me one song title I've written about over there. (3 extra entries)
- This one may be the easiest ever - Tell me your favorite song and/or artist.
Good luck y'all!


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A technical run hat with the distressed SFRC Punk Logo across the front. Lightweight wicking woven polyester material provides a layer of protection from mother nature on the front and top panels.
- Lightweight polyester mesh side panels keep your head cool for the length of your workout.
- Soft polyester mesh wicking sweatband on the inside to help move sweat away from your head keeping you focused on the trail or road.
- Adjustable back snap buckle with tuck in pocket for any excess keeping the back of your hat tidy.
- Updated styling with sublimated designs
- Black underside of the bill to reduce glare
- Curved bill
- One size fits most
- Machine washable


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Customer Story
Crop science for the modern world
Biotechnology giant Syngenta brings science to the age-old art of agronomy with cutting-edge statistical methods and sustainable technologies
Challenge | Increase efficiency, minimize costs and optimize products by disseminating statistical methods to R&D and production centers worldwide. |
Solution | Deploy analytical decision making strategies, from design of experiments to quality control and process reliability. Use JMP® to build compelling models; thereby gaining buy-in from local managers formerly reliant on intuition-based reasoning. |
Results | By harmonizing advanced biotechnology with traditional approaches to agriculture, Syngenta has paved the way for a multitude of new innovations that move crop science toward a more sustainable future. |
It wasn't all that long ago that farmers relied primarily on almanacs for annual agricultural insight, as they had since as early as the middle of the second millennium BC. From planting dates to weather forecasts to astronomy, farming families gleaned bits of knowledge from the almanac's pages, supplementing its wisdom with a healthy dose of intuition and tradition. But the advent of biotechnology and its application in today's thriving agrichemical industry has changed all that. Seeds are now heartier and crop harvests bigger than ever before; such innovations are needed to feed the ever-increasing human population.
Syngenta, now one of the world's leading agribusinesses, creates new seed varieties and hybrids every year, in addition to designing traits and advancing formulations that fight resistance. This multibillion-dollar undertaking touches both producers and consumers worldwide with state-of-the-art products designed to increase farm productivity without sacrificing biodiversity. Many attribute the company's success to a marriage of science and art. Though the art has been there since the days of the almanac, the science is a product of more recent innovation in everything from formulation chemistry to quality to process engineering to the development of new agronomic practices.
David Barnett is Senior Formulation Chemist, Data Scientist and Robotics Chemist for Syngenta Crop Protection at its Jealott's Hill R&D site near Reading in the UK; Dirk de Bruyn Ouboter is Global Measurement Science and Process Performance Lead at Syngenta's Basel-area Technology & Engineering facilities. These two scientists touch very different aspects of Syngenta's global production, yet both share a sense that precise science and analytics have a home at Syngenta. And for both Barnett and de Bruyn Ouboter, JMP® has been the mechanism by which they are able build scientific methods into their work via statistics. JMP is now used widely across the entire global organization; from field operations to its nearly 150 R&D sites, Barnett says Syngenta has employees of all types: everyday JMP users, power users, JMP Pro users.
Robotics technology has transformed formulation chemistry via automation and design of experiments
One of the largest agricultural research centers in Europe, Syngenta's Jealott's Hill site is designated primarily for R&D. There, Syngenta's elite formulation robotics, first launched in 2009, represent a major breakthrough in formulation chemistry. Thanks to automation, scientists like Barnett are able to evaluate hundreds of agrochemical formulations every day, ultimately boosting yield multifold.
JMP is a natural extension of the work done by Syngenta's formulation robots. "I use JMP to design and analyze experiments that we generate for a formulation robot," Barnett says. JMP helps optimize formulations by guiding a strategic experimentation process vis-à-vis design of experiments (DOE). "Instead of the usual two or three samples people can make in a day, we use the system to make two to three hundred," Barnett says. "Handling all that data is quite important, and we use JMP to do it." Moreover, Barnett says JMP is also an invaluable tool for image analysis that brings speed and ease of use to other traditional formulation techniques.
Process analytics boosts improvements in safety, quality and efficiency performance
De Bruyn Ouboter comes from a background in physical chemistry and engineering. Now based at one of Syngenta's largest Technology & Engineering centers in Münchwilen, Switzerland (near Basel), de Bruyn Ouboter works primarily on what he terms the "seed end of the business." He's part of a global performance team that interfaces between production and R&D, spearheading strategic initiatives to overhaul quality, safety and efficiency across Syngenta's many seed processing facilities. In addition, de Bruyn Ouboter also performs diagnostic functions, making sure new technologies are being implemented correctly at production sites worldwide.
"As a chemist coming into the world of agronomy, it's less data-based and a bit more anecdotal," he says. "This is where JMP comes in – why I use JMP. The only way to [illustrate the case for data-driven decision making] is telling a story with the data and with graphics and pictures. That's where JMP is really helpful: turning data and numbers into graphics [that production managers] can see and better understand."
For a global company like Syngenta, it's to be expected that operators and production managers in Seeds come from a multidisciplinary background. During the season they are out in the fields, coordinating planting efforts and working directly with farm machinery. After a harvest, they move with the products to a processing site, which may or may not be associated with a local quality lab. "Though [operators] may have broad experience, scientific thinking may not be so much a part of it," de Bruyn Ouboter says. "That's why they say 'turning an art into a science.'" Before the advent of modern DOE, people working in the fields and local production sites relied on intuition and learned knowledge to make decisions. "Before JMP and DOE, they designed experiments based on historical trends," he says.
And Barnett agrees: "One of the big things is data visualization. That's the part of JMP that helps us turn the art into science. You can put all these numbers into a picture – it's the best way to explain what you see in the data. In other words, it's a discussion when you're handing back local operators' data. You can explain why something is happening, not just say 'use these methods, they're the best.'" This is how scientific knowledge is transferred – from R&D site to production site and from production site to heartier crops and higher yields.
New technologies and tools facilitate productive internal discussion
In an industry where most production goes on outdoors, even the most airtight statistical approach can have its limitations. Unpredictable weather patterns have a real effect on yield – and that's where the art form is still relevant. But just because some environmental variables can't be controlled doesn't mean there's no need for statistical models. In fact, that's why modeling and looking at the data for answers is so important, de Bruyn Ouboter says. "It is very difficult to predict what weather you're actually getting – or what you actually want," he says. "There's been a movement toward combining data from a lot of different sources (like agronomic data service networks and satellites) to make this prediction better. We're really just scratching on the surface of what is possible.
"We're finding and investigating new technologies and bringing them to Syngenta field sites so local operators can use them. And it also works the other way around: We visit the sites and see how they do things. It's all about ideas and discussions … and putting the pieces together.
"Quite often it's discussion with people on-site who do the work every day. Sometimes they have a concept in their mind, but then what we find using statistical methods destroys their concept. But if we have a graph, it's the best medium. We can create models with their data and they see what is possible. They begin to understand the science aspect, rather than just the apparent story behind their decisions."
With the installation of new technologies, Syngenta now collects more data than ever at all its global sites, no matter how small. "On-site systems record information, though not everyone looks at it," de Bruyn Ouboter says. But JMP has proven its worth; highlighting how small variables – even something as insignificant as leaving a facility air gate open or closed – can actually affect outcomes. If you buy into that idea, then you can figure out how to optimize processes. And in the long term? Syngenta hopes that boosting productivity with better science will ultimately provide a more stable, more sustainable global food supply chain.


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D & D Tree Services is a division of D & D Tree and Landscaping of Westchester County, NY. Westchester Trees Professionals are ISA Certified Arborists dedicated to providing expert tree care. D & D Tree Service is fully licensed by the Department of Consumer Protection of both Westchester County NY and Rockland County NY, as well as by the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs.
Purchase NY Tree Care
Whether you need new plantings, tree cutting, pruning, or trimming you can hire the best expert pruning professionals from D&D. Hiring a trained arborist improves the heath and appearance of your trees, prolonging their useful life through the removal of undesirable branches. When you have trees that are dead, damaged, diseased or insect infested you should contact us to help you with the proper pruning based on Tree Care Industry specifications.
For safety and tree life longevity, you should always consult with a professional arborist before undertaking a large tree removal project. From pruning young trees to removing storm damaged limbs or downed trees, hiring an expert is always recommended.


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Deals for Spa
Getting the best deal is all about timing. Avoid peak season periods like Christmas, spring break and the Fourth of July. Research the "shoulder season" for the destination you plan to visit, the times immediately before and after peak season (like May in Miami) - weather will be relatively mild and the room rates more reasonable. Many resorts incentivize travelers to take longer trips with offers like "stay three nights, get the fourth free." If your travel dates are flexible you might be able to snag a free night, or even two.
Watch out for resort fees. Now fairly standard in the U.S. hotel industry, resort fees are tacked on top of the nightly room rate and cover amenities such as pool access, fitness classes, airport transfers and Wi-Fi. These can be as high as $35 per night in some destinations and are sometimes billed when checking out of a hotel - good to keep in mind when budgeting for a trip.
To pick the resort best for you establish what type of vacation you plan to take. For family trips with young children, look for resorts with a solid pool and perhaps a supervised kids club program so adults can escape for few hours of quiet time. If the goal is to avoid children, narrow your search to an adult-only property or boutique spa resorts. All-inclusive resorts allow for hassle-free travel - pay a flat fee for the room, all meals, drinks and tips and focus more on relaxing than calculating vacation costs.


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It was a fun night of glamour and electrifying excitement as Pan African financial services group, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc once again gathered together a stunning audience from Across Africa at the 2018 edition of the UBA CEO Awards.
The event which was held at Eko Hotels and Suites in Lagos, Nigeria, was the talk of the town and trended all night as staff members, their clients and friends all let go and got totally immersed in the celebrations of the special evening.
The UBA CEO Awards remains one of the most sought after annual events in the Lagos entertainment calendar. in its 10th year since inception in 2008, the event keeps getting bigger and better.
The theme of the night, Celebrating Africa, celebration by the pan-African Bank, of the continents rich history and culture. UBA's foot print in 20 African countries and in London, Paris and New York allowed a culturally diverse audience which was on display at the event. The Bank was also promoting its core value of Enterprise, Excellence and Execution as staff members who had performed extra ordinarily during the year, were rewarded and celebrated throughout the evening.
The Chairman, UBA Plc, Mr. Tony Elumelu, who was at the event with his lovely wife Dr Awele, said as he was interviewed on the golden carpet, that the bank chose this day to reward staff who had worked hard to ensure that the company remains a leading financial institution on the continent.
"It is a time to reward dignity, hard work, and excellence in execution, and to show our multitude of staff globally that they are very much appreciated for their contributions.' said Elumelu.
The GMD/CEO, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, who congratulated the recipients of the various awards in different categories, charged them to continue to work hard and exhale the core values of UBA. He re -iterated that the Customer is the employer and all staff must focus on ensuring that they are given excellent services always.
He said, "Every year, it is our tradition to appreciate our people who have put in their very best and gone far and beyond the call of duty to deliver excellent services to the bank and the customers by extension. As you may well know, UBA has promoted about 47 per cent of its staff within the last twelve months, and this is something that is very rare in our industry. It is a statement about our commitment to the employees'.
Continuing, Uzoka said, "We know that when you have been rewarded, you will be motivated to do more, so I encourage you all to put in your best and remain focused on satisfying the customers, which is the reason why we are here."
In attendance were captains of industries, media moguls, Nollywood stars, Public servants and politicians including President of Dangote Industries, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Chairman of Forte Oil, Femi Otedola, President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chief (Mrs) Nike Akande, Former Governor of Ekiti State, Otunba Niyi Adebayo and wife, Angela, Publisher of Ovation Magazine, Mr. Dele Momodu, Majority Leader, House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, CEO, Ebony LifeTV Mrs Mo Abudu and some Nollywood stars, Richard Mofe Damijo, Omotola Jalade Ekehinde, Omoni Oboli.
Also present to honour UBA at the event were Former Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State, Wale Edun, CEO, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr, Bismarck Rewane, CEO, Airtel, Segun Ogunsanya, Directors of UBA Plc, Ambassador Joe Keshi, Chief Kola Jamodu, Ambassador Adekunle Olumide, Mrs Rose Okwechime, among many others
Great performances by A-list artists such as 'science students' crooner, Olamide, Flavor, Kiss Daniels, Style Plus and Falz the bad guy as well rib-cracking comedy from Basketmouth ensured that staff and guests alike were kept off their seats as they each performed to the massive enjoyment of those present.
Ace TV Presenter, IK Osakioduwa and Ayo, were the compere of the event led the guests through a night of fun and laughter and of course lots to eat and drink.


text: Joe Landman <landman at scalableinformatics.com> writes: > I think there are two different issues. First: security is meant to be > an access control and thottle/choke point. Second: is how you view your > cluster. Is it "one-big-machine" in some sense (not necessarily Scyld, > but with a security model such that if you are on the access node you > are on the machine), or is it really a collection of individual machines > each with their own administrative domain? One of these models works > really well for "cluster" use. I don't think it's quite that black and white. You can have the cluster appear as a single security domain to the user, while still maintaining some internal barriers. Even if you have passwordless ssh access across the cluster for ordinary users, you probably should have restrictions for root access - even if an attacker can root the login node, he shouldn't be able to just ssh as root to any machine. Yes, if he can root the login node, he can probably root the other nodes as well, but let him work for it. >>> It all boils down to a CBA (as everything does). Upgrading carries >>> risk, no matter who does it, and how carefully things are packaged. The >>> CBA equation should look something like this: >>> >>> value_of_upgrade = positive_benefits_of_upgrade - >>> potential_risks_of_upgrade >> >> With the security benefits being really hard to quantify. > > Not really. If you have a huge gaping hole that needs patching (OpenSSL > off-by-one or weakness), the benefits are easy. The security benefits of the upgrade (or, rather, the costs of *not* performing the upgrade) is something like benefits = potential_damages_from_exploit * risk_of_exploit Trying to estimate the risk of somebody exploiting a particular vulnerability can be very hard. >> I don't get this. What's the point of having a "secure" frontend if >> the systems behind it are insecure? OK, there's one big point - >> hopefully you can buy some time - but other than that? > > Its the model of how you use the machine. If you lock all the doors > tight with impenetrable seals, and the attacker goes through the weaker > windows, those impenetrable seals haven't done much for you. Exactly. But you seem to propose to seal the login node tight, but leave the windows on the compute nodes ajar. > The idea is you minimize the exposed footprint of the machine to threat > facing access. Yeah. But we seem to have different opinions on where the threat is. It isn't just the Internet connected login node that is exposed to threat. Even if you think you can trust your users, each and every remote login session might actually be a hijacked account. It's all very well saying that "If your system can be keylogged, it should never ever be on a network, anywhere.", but I'm afraid that's just wishful thinking. In actuality a huge proportion of Windows systems are malware infested *AND* there have been large password theft attacks against Unix systems in the last few years, using ssh trojans and X-based keyloggers. This is what reality looks like, and we have to deal with it. We all know it's impossible to lock down a system completely. You always have to make trade-offs and risk assessments. I'm not arguing for a system where the users have to turn up in person and deliver their jobs on punchcards. Rather, I think my two main points are: a) Defense-in-depth. Relying on perimeter defense is so 20th century. The Windows world is starting to discover this, and I think we should learn from them. Putting all your effort into one big barrier is the wrong way to build security. The attackers should have an uphill struggle *all* the way - "we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender" b) The main threat has changed. You still have to protect yourself against remote exploits, but for a cluster that exposes few services this is no big problem. Instead, our main headache is now protection against *local* attacks through identity theft. -- Leif Nixon - Systems expert ------------------------------------------------------------ National Supercomputer Centre - Linkoping University ------------------------------------------------------------


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Busy Bee | Deer Pillar Candle Mould | 3" x 6"
Silicone rubber moulds and beeswax are a perfect fit as beeswax does not adhere to silicone. The wax shrinks as it cools and guarantees easy removal of the candle. No release agents are required. Candles are easier removed when cold.
This deer pillar mould comes with a centre pin. It should be removed when the candle is solid, but still a bit warm (after 2 hours). If you wait too long, the wax adheres to the metal pin making it difficult to remove. Insert the pre-waxed wick into the candle. Use a wick tab to keep the wick in place or seal the bottom hole on a hot plate.
The silicone mould should last for a lifetime. Clean it with a bottle brush and warm soapy water after a few uses. Store your mould free standing with the opening up, cover with a paper towel to keep dust and dirt out. Do not leave the pin in the centre hole for storage.
Wicking size: #6


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Whether land is or is not within the curtilage of a building can be a decisive factor in many planning cases. The High Court considered the meaning of the word in ruling that a large hardstanding used for storing fencing materials did not fall within the curtilage of the single, modest building on the site.
The owner of the site had applied to the local authority for a retrospective certificate of lawfulness of existing use or development in respect of a substantial area of hardstanding that had been laid down at its yard. The owner argued that the development was properly viewed as a hard surface within the curtilage of an industrial building or warehouse for the purpose of the undertaking concerned and that it was therefore permitted by operation of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015.
The council refused the application and the owner's appeal against that decision was later rejected by a planning inspector. The yard had previously been home to several buildings but, by the time of the application, all save one of them had been removed. The inspector found that, although those parts of the hardstanding in close proximity to the remaining building fell within its curtilage, the rest of the hardstanding did not and thus was not permitted development.
The inspector noted that the size of the hardstanding was massively in excess of that which would be needed to serve any undertaking carried on in the building. He found that the hardstanding was the owner's primary requirement and that the building was an optional extra. In that sense, the hardstanding could not be said to be ancillary to the building.
In ruling on the owner's challenge to the inspector's decision, the Court noted that, although a curtilage does not have to be small, the relative size of a building and its claimed curtilage is not irrelevant. The issue as to the extent of the building's curtilage was a matter of fact and degree for the inspector to resolve in the exercise of his planning judgment.
The inspector had made no error of law and had taken into account the owner's arguments that the entirety of the site was enclosed by one fence and was in the same ownership and occupation. The owner's appeal was dismissed.