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NRG will no longer invest in STP expansion
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
By Tracy Idell Hamilton
San Antonio Express-News
NRG Energy stopped all spending on the South Texas Project nuclear expansion and will write off its investment in the face of deeply diminished prospects for the project since Japan's worst-ever nuclear accident.
"The project is not dead," CEO David Crane said Tuesday, "but it's not moving forward at this point, and to be frank, under the current circumstances, the reality of it moving forward in the foreseeable future is not high."
The company plans to record a first-quarter pre-tax charge of about $481 million from Nuclear Innovation North America, its joint venture with Toshiba, NRG said. Toshiba funded $150 million of that.
NINA will continue to seek an operating license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Crane said, as well as a federal loan guarantee from the Energy Department.
He called that decision "smart asset management," saying he could see a time when the project near Bay City, with a license and loan guarantee in hand, will be attractive to new investors.
Toshiba, which holds a 12 percent stake in NINA, will take over the costs of pursuing the NRC license. But Crane acknowledged any roadblocks in that process could cause Toshiba to drop its funding.
CPS Energy, which retains a 7.6 percent stake in the expansion, said it will continue to support efforts to secure the federal loan guarantee and operating license. It stopped its investment, which totaled about $386 million, more than a year ago.
The city-owned utility would receive $80 million from NINA if the project gets the loan guarantee.
Spokeswoman Lisa Lewis said it's too soon to tell whether CPS ultimately will lose its investment in the project. She noted there were times during the development of STP's original two reactors when the project looked dead, only to be revived by new partners and new circumstances.
CPS is a 40 percent owner in STP 1 and 2; Austin Energy owns 16 percent and NRG 44 percent.
Anti-nuclear activists cheered Tuesday's announcement but were dismayed that NRG didn't pull the plug entirely.
Karen Hadden of the SEED Coalition, an Austin-based environmental organization, said her group and others would continue to fight the licensing efforts.
NRG recognized last month that it likely lost a major investor in the expansion after Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear reactors were crippled by a tsunami spawned by an earthquake. NRG then suspended indefinitely all detailed engineering work and other pre-construction activities. That reduced the project workforce from 1,000 to about 350.
NINA will keep three employees on the project, Crane said.
The South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Co. had about 120 workers assigned to the expansion at its peak; that number now is 24.
Tepco's president confirmed Monday, according to a story on Nikkei.com, that the company will reconsider its overseas business strategy as it focuses on bringing the damaged reactors under control.
This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. SEED Coalition is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability, human rights, economic democracy and social justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a "fair use" of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.


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ScienceDaily (Dec. 6, 2012) —
The catastrophic drought last year in the Horn of Africa affected
millions of people but also caused the extremely late arrival into
northern Europe of several migratory songbird species, a study published
December 6 in Science shows. Details of the migration route
was revealed by data collected from small backpacks fitted on birds
showing that the delay resulted from an extended stay in the Horn of
The extensive 2011 drought in the Horn of Africa had significant
consequences for European songbirds such as thrush nightingale and
red-backed shrike. These birds visit northern Europe every spring to
mate and take advantage of ample summer food resources.However, their spring migrating route from southern Africa to northern latitudes passes directly through the Horn of Africa, where the birds stop to feed and refuel for the next stage of their migration.
"Our research was able to couple the birds' delayed arrival in Europe with that stopover in the Horn of Africa. Here they stayed about a week longer in 2011 than in the years before and after 2011. Because of the drought, the birds would have needed longer to feed and gain energy for their onward travel, causing delayed arrival and breeding in Europe. This supports our theory that migrating animals in general are dependent on a series of areas to reach their destination,"says Associate Professor Anders Tøttrup from the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the University of Copenhagen.
Data loggers as a backpack
The late spring arrival of European songbirds such asthrush nightingale and red-backed shrike perplexed researchers and bird watchers in 2011.
This mystery was even greater considering these songbirds' tendency to arrive progressively earlier over the last 50 years as climate change has made its impact.
By placing small data loggers on the backs of several birds in the autumn before their migration to Africa, and retrieving them in the spring when the birds returned to Europe, the scientists were able to trace the migration route and stopover sites. These data revealed a delay in the particular stopover in the Horn of Africa. Additionally, it was noted that other migrating birds not passing through the Horn of Africa arrived in Europe at the expected time.
"We have reconstructed 26 migration routes based on data from the small 'data backpacks' weighing just 1 gram. This new technology provides us with a detailed picture of the birds' migration and stopovers. It is brand-new territory to be able to track animals this small over such great distances," says Associate Professor Kasper Thorup from the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the University of Copenhagen.
Delayed breeding
The birds' late arrival in 2011 also meant a similarly late breeding year.
"There are no signs of implications on the birds' breeding success and thereby the size of the population. But it is possible that we haven't yet seen the full effect of the delayed year," concludes Anders Tøttrup.
The research was carried out in collaboration with Lund University in Sweden.
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Copenhagen.

subset: commoncrawl


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Dematic introduces a set of warehouse solutions for high-density pallet storage, engineered to support production and distribution operations that need an effective way to receive, store and ship full or mixed case pallet loads. According to the company, these solutions are characterized by:
Deep Lane Pallet Storage on Floor with AGVs
- Based on a fork style automatic guided vehicle (AGV) that is capable of automatically staging pallet loads on the warehouse floor, arranged in lanes, multiple pallets deep
- The pallets can be stacked up to 24-feet high, in each deep lane
- Features of the AGV include a periscope design and adjustable forks.
Deep Lane Pallet Storage in Rack with AGVs
- Consists of deep lane pallet storage in a rack structure with Dematic's satellite shuttle device to index each pallet in the rack.
- A fork style AGV transports pallets to the deep lane rack structure up to 40-foot clear height and deposits the load in the first rack position.
- From there, the satellite shuttle device lifts, transports, and positions the pallet in the deep lane rack.
Deep Lane Pallet Storage in Rack with SRM
- Utilizing Dematic's shuttle device and software management, the deep land pallet storage rack with Dematic's shuttle device to index each pallet in the rack can also be configured with storage and retrieval machine (SRM).
- This solution, with dedicated SRMs in each aisle, improves the density and throughput.
- Aisle widths can be minimized and the height of the rack structure can be increased to 110 feet.
- The SRM accesses loads on both sides of the rack aisle structure using the deep lane shuttle.
- Typical applications are 5 to 10 pallet levels high with multiple aisles of storage located in an existing conventional building or a rack supported structure.


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BLDGBLOG here proposes an ecumenical cathedral for the holiday season, made entirely of magmatic architecture.
The cathedral would consist of nothing but igneous rock, extruded directly from the earth and diverted through a complicated system of pipework and trenches. These would act as a plumbing system, shaping eruptive flows, giving the lava architectural form as it cools.
The lava would therefore be frozen in place on-site, taking the final form of the building; it would steam for a bit, perhaps, maybe hiss if it's raining – but then it's architecture.
A kind of lava-fountain; a domestication of the earth's magmatic dynamism.
The red eddies of liquid glass from an ongoing eruption – Hawaii, or Iceland – would be shaped immediately into the buttressed vaults, nave, tracery, and cloisters of this, the world's largest cathedral, larger than most towns and continually growing. A crystalline crypt, glassine, geothermal.
New wings and side-chapels appear with every eruption.
[Image: The flying buttresses of Notre-Dame, from a Boston College Gothic architecture page].
The resulting volcanic glass could even be shaped into thin sheets of polished obsidian, fed through a filigree of pipework till you've got stained rosate windows, readymade. Perhaps you could color the flows using a salt of various metals.
Churches were always geological, monuments to stratigraphy –
[Image: The cathedral at Amiens, from Boston College's High Gothic architecture page].
– this just more so.
The earth, printing itself upward into arches and barrel vaults; new Gothic mountains, shaped by the creative process they celebrate.
[Images: Arnaud Friche, Senlis Cathedral, Gothic Vault, Senlis, Oise, France; The Great Organ, Saint-Eustache, Paris; and the Crypt of the Plaimpied Church, Cher, France (many more beautiful photos at this site; spotted via things magazine)].
Alternatively, of course, you would not need a volcano. You'd simply build an earth-melting platform anywhere in the world, and it would melt its way down through the earth's crust.
As a boat passing through water creates a wake, the platform's passage through the earth would create cathedrals, lava curling up in buttresses and freezing into place.
Frozen wakes of igneous rock in the form of sacred architecture.
Or a volcanic pasta machine: extruding churches from terrestrial dough.
[Image: Viollet-le-Duc's ideal Gothic cathedral, prior to the era of magmatic architecture – which hereby begins].
(And for a bit more on volcanic landscapes, see Mount St. Helens of Glass).


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Why a Georgia Lemon Law Attorney
In the face of a Georgia lemon law claim, you may wonder whether you need an attorney. You can represent yourself but your chances of success are much greater if you have a skilled Georgia lemon law attorney at your side. The legal procedure related to a lemon law claim can be complex, and the manufacturer is more than likely to deny responsibility or offer you a settlement that is far below the true value of your claim. The right attorney can ensure that your interests are well-protected through the life of your claim.
Most lemon law claims are settled out of court by way of negotiation between the consumer and the manufacturer. If your case cannot be settled out of court, you need a Georgia lemon law lawyer who has the persistence and dedication to take your case through to trial if necessary.
At the National Lemon Law Center you will find that we are fully committed to consumer protection and upholding both state and federal lemon laws. When you decide to find a Georgia lemon law lawyer, you can rest assured that we will give you the personalized attention you need in order to help you find a well-qualified attorney in your area. Whether you are dealing with a car, truck, SUV, computer, motorcycle or any other consumer product that may be a lemon, we can review your case and see what we can do to help you find a lawyer to represent you.
Finding a Georgia Lemon Law Lawyer
The first step to take in filing a claim and maximizing your recovery is to contact a Georgia lemon law attorney. Most lemon law attorneys offer a free initial consultation and will represent you without charging you any out of pocket legal fees. Instead they will seek compensation from the manufacturer or dealership.
If you think you may need a Lemon Law Attorney in Georgia,
contact the National Lemon Law Center. We've helped over 19,000 consumers and recovered over $70 million.


text:
At night however, plants absorb oxygen and release carbon dioxide.
In many places it is a common belief that you should not sleep under large trees at night, because the shortage of oxygen and excess production of carbon dioxide may suffocate you. We don't know how accurate such claims are, so we want to investigate part of such claims.


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Simple Nautilus Flickr Uploader
This is a simple GUI to upload pics to Flickr from Nautilus file browser (should work with KDE though).This application is Free Software (GPL version 3) and uses the Flickr API, but is not endorsed or certified by Flickr.
How to use it
Select the pictures you want to upload to Flickr on you file browser and right click to open them with this application, and you're done. Easy and neat.
Install Nautilus Flickr Uploader in Ubuntu
First you need to download .deb package from here or using the following command
wget http://www.usebox.net/jjm/nautilus-flickr-uploader/deb/nautilus-flickr-uploader_0.03-1_all.deb
Now install this .deb package by double clicking or from the terminal run the following command
sudo dpkg -i nautilus-flickr-uploader_0.03-1_all.deb


text:
Fast & Free Shipping on U.S. Orders Over $150
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I agree to the processing of my data in accordance with the conditions set out in the policy of Privacy.
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Premium Luxurious Premium Cotton Crinkle
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Free domestic shipping on orders that are $150+
Customer service
We are available from monday to friday to answer your questions.
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Your payment information is processed securely.
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text:
I almost didn't make this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. Heather of Sherry Trifle chose the Chocolate Gingerbread, and while it looked like a delicious dessert, I thought I was still gingered-out from the holidays.
But then, I didn't want to miss this week since I didn't make the last two recipes (Corn & Pepper Muffins and Berry Surprise Cake). I really like being in the TWD group, and I don't want to be kicked out.
You see, I've already been kicked out of one group...not a blogging or baking group, but a group a people I used to be a part of who have quite obviously not included me lately. No more invitations to happy hours or dinners for me. I was hurt as I began noticing my exclusion a couple months ago, and I even apologized for having been cranky over the holidays (they are not really a happy time for me). That didn't seem to matter; I have, apparently, been voted off the island. It's okay, though...really. I've learned to appreciate my true friends even more...the friends who don't dump me because my stress or unhappiness might ruin their good time, the friends who might even go out of their way to cheer me up.
- I used jarred minced ginger instead of fresh ginger, and I omitted the sugared ginger or Asian "stem ginger in syrup".
- The original recipe calls for a chocolate mocha icing, which I also omitted. Instead, I dusted some powdered sugar on top.


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Previous Lesson
Complete and Continue
Full-Cycle Recruiter Course
Module 1: Getting to Know the Talent Acquisition and Recruiting Industry
Module 1 Summary
Intro to Getting to Know the Talent Acquisition and Recruiting Industry (1:53)
Lesson 1: Recruiting is the Best Industry in the World! (12:04)
Lesson 2: Recruiting Principles, Best Practices & Processes (12:25)
Lesson 3: Know What's Wrong With the Recruiting Industry So You Can Stand Out (17:30)
Lesson 4: Average Recruiting Metrics (5:59)
Lesson 5: Helpful Recruiting Resources (3:13)
Lesson 6: Steps in Full-Cycle Recruiting (9:10)
Lesson 7: Talent Acquisition Dictionary (1:14)
Lesson 8: Talent Acquisition Acronyms (2:34)
Check on Learning 1
Module 2: Setting the Foundation as a Recruiter
Module 2 Summary
Intro to Setting The Foundation as a Recruiter (3:33)
Lesson 1: Getting to Know You as a Recruiter (2:44)
Lesson 2: Articulate Your Recruiting Voice (4:04)
Lesson 3: Understanding Emotional Intelligence in Recruiting (16:36)
Lesson 4: Become a Resilient Recruiter (8:36)
Lesson 5: How to Make a Powerful LinkedIn Profile (14:15)
Lesson 6: Be an Organized and Efficient Recruiter (17:28)
Assignment: Articulate Your Recruiting Voice
Module Two Resources
Check on Learning 2
Module 3: How to Deliver Best in Class Candidate Experience
Module 3 Summary
Intro to How to Deliver Best in Class Candidate Experience (0:58)
Lesson 1: What is Candidate Experience and Why is it Important? (11:13)
Lesson 2: How to Keep in Touch With Candidates (10:30)
Lesson 3: How to Write an Effective InMail/Email Pitch (9:05)
Lesson 4: My InMail/Email Example (6:26)
Lesson 5: Common Filler Sentences to Avoid (8:20)
Lesson 6: What to Say When A Candidate Gets Back to You (13:51)
Lesson 7: Detailed Guide for a Recruiter Phone Screen (7:48)
Lesson 8: Intake/Recruiter Screen (3:42)
Lesson 9: Candidate Motivators (14:39)
Lesson 10: Tips for Remote Interviews (7:18)
Assignment: What to Say When a Candidate Gets Back to You
Assignment: My InMail
Project: Enhance Candidate Experience
Role Play: Recruiter for Recruiter (R4R) Intake Call
Module Three Resources
Check on Learning 3
Module 4: Sourcing Fundamentals
Module 4 Summary
Intro to Sourcing Fundamentals (2:20)
Lesson 1: Candidate Tracker (16:09)
Lesson 2: Sourcing Map Template (12:54)
Lesson 3: Build Top of Funnel (9:58)
Lesson 4: What is a Boolean Search? (7:08)
Lesson 5: Source for FREE on LinkedIn (10:33)
Lesson 6: Top Benefits of LinkedIn Recruiter (11:18)
Lesson 7: Profiles to Push Forward (10:30)
Lesson 8: Eight Sourcing Techniques (10:27)
Lesson 9: ChatGPT to Build Boolean Strings (10:37)
Assignment: Sourcing Map
Module Four Resources
Check on Learning 4
Module 5: Diversity Fundamentals
Module 5 Summary
Intro to Diversity Fundamentals (3:08)
Lesson 1: Diversity Equity Inclusion and Belonging Terms You Must Know (11:06)
Lesson 2: Understanding DEIB (8:39)
Lesson 3: Understanding Work Visas (9:28)
Lesson 4: Unconscious Bias Training (23:42)
Lesson 5: Mitigating Bias (7:11)
Lesson 6: Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Diversity Statistics in STEM (3:46)
Resource: Inclusion and Diversity Videos (1:18)
Resource: IBM Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report for 2021
Resource: Pew Research Center Diversity in STEM Report
Check on Learning 5
Module 6: Inclusive Sourcing
Module 6 Summary
Intro to Inclusive Sourcing (1:27)
Lesson 1: How to Seek Out Underrepresented Talent (13:02)
Lesson 2: Diversity Boolean Strings (2:13)
Lesson 3: Use ChatGPT to Find More Diverse Talent (6:25)
Lesson 4: Diversity Recruiting Do's and Don'ts (5:34)
Lesson 5: Calibrating Diversity with Your Hiring Manager (4:08)
Lesson 6: More Inclusive InMail/Email Examples (5:29)
Project: Underrepresented Talent InMail Activity (1:43)
Check on Learning 6
Module 7: Closing
Module 7 Summary
Lesson 1: Conversation Before the Final Round Interview (10:51)
Lesson 2: Follow-Up with Candidate After the Final Interview (11:06)
Lesson 3: How to Present an Offer (7:56)
Lesson 4: How to Negotiate an Offer for Your Candidate (12:35)
Lesson 5: Different Techniques to Close Candidates (17:57)
Lesson 6: Most Common Reasons People Decline Job Offers (13:41)
Lesson 7: Celebrate Your Highs So You Know How to Fight Your Lows (8:48)
Lesson 8: Get Recommendations + Referrals (9:20)
Assignment: Closing Scenarios Activity (2:06)
Check on Learning 7
Module 8: Working With a Hiring Manager
Module Summary
Lesson 1: Best Practices When Working With a Hiring Manager (2:32)
Lesson 2: Get to know the Hiring Manager and Their Needs (4:56)
Lesson 3: Educate Them on the Hiring Process and Best Practices (3:17)
Lesson 4: Narrow Down the Job Requirements (3:01)
Lesson 5: Be Transparent and Check in Regularly (3:43)
Lesson 6: Demonstrate Grace and Understanding (3:30)
Lesson 7: Know When to Escalate Issues to a Manager/Leader (4:05)
Check on Learning
Module 9: Common Mistakes Recruiters Make When Working With The Hiring Manager
Module Summary
Lesson 1: How to Be Confident When Working With a Hiring Manager (7:37)
Lesson 2: Hiring Manager Intake (8:51)
Lesson 3: Common Struggles Recruiters Have With Hiring Manager (4:56)
Lesson 4: How to Handle Challenging Situations With Hiring Managers (8:30)
Survey: End of Course (1-7)
End of Course Survey
Exam: End of Course Check on Learning
Final Check On Learning
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The old Files Graveyard is located on a hill east of the Mantachie Creek bottomlands near the old Aberdeen and Jacinto Road. The land was first owned by the James Files family during the 1830s and it was James Files (born September 9, 1769), who was buried in the old cemetery on January 29, 1842. This old burial ground contains perhaps a dozen or many more graves, with most being marked only by brick. Pictured above is the David Files pottery monument (son of James Files) and the remains of an old brick crypt. Pictured to the left is the Garland G. Lesley Confederate monument and a small section of the adjacent graves marked only with brick.
One interesting monument in the cemetery is that Confederate monument memorializing Garland G. Lesley (born 1838 in South Carolina). His father, Abel Buren Lesley (born 1805 in South Carolina) brought his family to Itawamba County from Alabama during the late 1850s settling near this old cemetery. His son Garland G. enlisted with Company C (Town Creek Rifles) of the Second Mississippi Infantry. He was enrolled in the company at Verona in western Itawamba County on Saturday, March 1, 1862 by Lieutenant William Marion Pounds (born September 12, 1828 in Baldwin County, Georgia), the brother of Itawamba County planter, Merriman Pounds. Garland Lesley was wounded (right hand with loss of fingers) at the Battle of Gaines' Mill, Virginia on June 27, 1862 and on May 23, 1864 he received a medical certificate of disability.
The companies that made up the Second Mississippi Infantry were raised in the four counties that made up northeastern Mississippi – Tishomingo, Itawamba, Pontotoc and Tippah.
In the 1860 census Garland is listed as Darling G. Lesley in his father's household. In the 1870 census he is listed as Garland with his wife Permelia and children Nancy and James. In the 1880 census he is listed with his wife Permelia with children Martha, James, Charlie and Marion. He is not found in the 1900 census.
There are several graves adjacent to the Lesley Confederate monument marked only with brick, and family members say those are graves of seven Lesley children who died of yellow fever, probably during the yellow fever epidemic of 1878, when more than 20,000 citizens of the Lower Mississippi Valley lost their lives.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
1 comment:
- Rena said...
i've heard of this, but have never been to it.this would be very interesting to see, nice photos.
- September 8, 2009 at 11:23 PM
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text:
Tag Archives: Lipper
DITMo Hedge Strategy Monthly (June12, Issue11) New Release
DITMo Hedge Strategy Monthly Jun12-Issue11Attributions, Rankings and Performances for Hedge Fund Classes and Indexes with Probabilities, Graphs, and pullout Color Matrices. By Pj de Marigny, PM DITMo Strategies / Renovatio Asset Management
DITMo Manager: "The Trouble With Banks…" (Top Short FCNCA)
Short: FCNCA: First Citizens As a relative value manager of DITMo Strategies "relative stability" is the screening. There is a reason why it is almost impossible for "relative stability" to find trades in the bank sector. Instead, the financial industry "relative stability" screen is relatively narrow including just a handful of exchanges, credit card companies and a few service companies. […]
DITMo Hedge Strategy Monthly (May12, Issue10r)
Revised version: DITMo Hedge Strategy Monthly. 23pg/20 Hedge Fund Classes & Indexes over 10Y period. Widely used by Private Banks, Wealth Advisors, Hedge Funds and Allocators.DITMo Hedge Strategy Monthly May12-Issue10r
DITMo Hedge Strategy Monthly (Apr12-Issue9) Rev
23 pgs, 20 Hedge Strategies by GARP SoCal Director. Now with Alpha/Beta t-tests including probabilities of risk and return, "Returns, Attributions and Rankings." Scattergrams, SD/Return graphs and Color Return Ranking matrices that may be used as pullouts by advisors and allocators.DITMo Hedge Strategy Monthly Apr12-Issue9 Rev
NEW!!! DITMo Hedge Strategy Monthly (March 2012, Issue #8)
Newly revised with signficance tests on Alpha, Beta, Correlation with Probabilities of Risk and Return, Rankings, over 50 Attributions, etc, by Pj de Marigny, PM DITMo Strategies; Director GARP SoCalDITMo Hedge Strategy Monthly Mar12-Issue8
DITMo Hedge Strategy Monthly (Feb'12) Rev.
23 pgs, 20 hedge strategies and indexes, probabilities on risk and return, color matrices (revised front page VaR measures) Pj de Marigny is PM, DITMo Strategies and GARP SoCal DirectorDITMo Hedge Strategy Monthly Feb12-Issue7 (Rev)
DITMo Hedge Strategy Monthly (Feb 2012, Issue #7)
Pj de Marigny, PM DITMo Strategies; Director, GARP SoCal 23 pages on 20 Hedge and Index Strategies with Attributions, Probabilities and Rankings over 10 YearsDITMo Hedge Strategy Monthly Feb12-Issue7
DITMo Hedge Strategy Monthly (Jan2012, Issue#6)
Newly Revised 20 Strategy and Index Report with VaR, Drawdown and Sharpe Rankings, Probabilities on Risk and Return, Attribution Breakdown, 20 pages by Pj de Marigny, Director, GARP SoCalDITMo Hedge Strategy Monthly Jan12-Issue6


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- This event has passed.
PIGS: Canada's Pink Floyd – In The Flesh Tour 2019
November 5, 2019 @ 7:30 pm - 10:30 pm
PIGS—Canada's #1 touring Pink Floyd tribute—bring their authentic recreation of 1970s Floyd to fans 'in the flesh' with North American tour
Realizing that playing large stadiums meant most of their audience could barely see or hear them, Pink Floyd sarcastically called their 1977 'Animals' world tour 'In The Flesh'. This sense of disconnect eventually inspired Roger Waters to write The Wall, which would become one of the highest selling records of all time. PIGS have named their In The Flesh Tour for precisely the opposite reason: while celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Wall and touring across North America, PIGS want to unironically highlight the up front and personal experience of their show.
An absolute 'must-see' for any Pink Floyd fan, PIGS are well known for their authentic rendition of classic Pink Floyd songs both new and old. On their In The Flesh Tour, PIGS are bringing an exciting new Floyd show to fans across Canada and the USA to highlight the best of the band's incredible discography. Fans can expect flawless performances of songs from The Wall, The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and Animals, along with other classic favourites and rarities from Meddle to The Division Bell. The tour will take PIGS—currently Canada's only nationally touring Floyd tribute—from Sidney, BC to Sydney, NS and back, including stops in Newfoundland and the USA.
Celebrate the long and storied history of Pink Floyd with PIGS as they recreate the live Floyd experience from the 1970s, bringing the majestic music and legendary concert experience to life. Immerse yourself in the sound of Pink Floyd beneath lasers and the glow of a giant Mr. Screen, flawlessly performed with authentic instrumentation and incredible live sound.
Formed in 2008 in Victoria, British Columbia, PIGS: Canada's Pink Floyd honour Pink Floyd's music like no other tribute. They have spent over a decade meticulously recreating the live sound and concert experience of seventies-era Pink Floyd and have perfected their craft in front of sold out audiences throughout Canada. The last few years have seen PIGS emerge as the #1 national touring Pink Floyd tribute in Canada playing to over 100,000 fans, with every show featuring their meticulous attention to the details of the live Floyd experience that their many fans have come to know and love. PIGS recreate the live experience of the seventies with authentic gear, accurate parts, and voices so close to the original it's hard to tell them apart.
Using authentic instruments and equipment, the band recreates the sound and live concert experience of Pink Floyd in their heyday. Pink Floyd's live shows were always a huge part of their appeal—and PIGS have been working to keep that experience alive for generations to come. PIGS have the voices, the mannerisms, the authentic gear, the correct players, lights, lasers, visuals, and sound. PIGS are as close as fans will get to experiencing the live sound and experience of 70s Floyd shows.
PIGS shows truly are a labour of love. Over a dozen different guitars and basses are used each night, songs are carefully performed combining aspects of both studio and original live versions, and the correct equipment is used when possible down to the proper cables and guitar strings. Set-lists are developed to highlight both the biggest hits and the most interesting rarities; PIGS are driven to keep their shows fresh, dynamic, authentic, and exciting for their fans.
One of Canada's premiere visual artists, VJ Photon (Erik Nortman) has been working with PIGS since 2009, collaborating with the band to combine their own material with original footage from Pink Floyd's Mr. Screen, closely imitating the classic look from the seventies with state of the art visuals and lasers.
PIGS' In The Flesh Tour brings fans an incredible night with almost 3 full hours of flawlessly played music, authentic sound, and state of the art lasers and visuals: it's as close to the legendary Pink Floyd concert experience as possible. Come see why PIGS is considered one of the finest Pink Floyd tributes anywhere.


text:
Welcome to RESprotect
RESprotect GmbH is a Dresden based, privately held Biotech company specialising in the development of drugs for the prevention and treatment of chemotherapeutic drug resistance and radiation therapy resistance.
RP101 is the company's first product candidate, a small molecule drug given orally to cancer patients in combination with standard of care chemotherapy. In two clinical studies, patients with advanced pancreatic cancer were shown to achieve significantly improved survival when compared to those receiving standard chemotherapy alone.


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'Merida' is generally ready for harvest after 240 days, and is an interesting overwintering type. When planted in late September or early October, this variety can be harvested in May and June for an extremely sweet 7-8 inch root with foliage that is very resistant to bolting. Loose, well-drained soil, free from clods and stones are a must for carrots. If your soil is less than ideal, plant only short rooted varieties. A hardy biennial grown as an annual, carrot tops are a rosette of fern-like foliage growing from a swollen tap root. A cool weather crop that is easily grown with few disease or pest problem, they should be planted in early spring with successive crops being planted every 2 to 3 weeks until early summer for a continuous crop. Start 2 to 3 week after the last average frost date. They may be cold tolerant, but seeds take forever to germinate in raw weather. Carrots should be planted in full sun, but will tolerate partial shade. Prior to planting, work a low nitrogen fertilizer such as 5-10-10 into the soil.
Important Info : 'Merida' is an overwintering variety. Most carrot varieties are ready to harvest 55 to 85 days from planting. Shorter varieties are ready in about 60 days or less. Carrots can be strored for up to five months in a cold moist place.Google Plant Images: click here!
Cultivar: MeridaFamily: Umbelliferae
Size: Height: 0 ft. to 1 ft.
Width: 0 ft. to 0 ft.
Plant Category: annuals and biennials, vegetables,
Plant Characteristics:
Foliage Characteristics:
Flower Characteristics:
Flower Color:
Bloomtime Range: not applicable
USDA Hardiness Zone: 3 to 11
AHS Heat Zone: Not defined for this plant
Light Range: Dappled to Full Sun
pH Range: 5.5 to 7.5
Soil Range: Some Sand to Clay Loam
Water Range: Normal to Normal
Plant Care
Conditions : Full to Partial SunFull sunlight is needed for many plants to assume their full potential. Many of these plants will do fine with a little less sunlight, although they may not flower as heavily or their foliage as vibrant. Areas on the southern and western sides of buildings usually are the sunniest. The only exception is when houses or buildings are so close together, shadows are cast from neighboring properties. Full sun usually means 6 or more hours of direct unobstructed sunlight on a sunny day. Partial sun receives less than 6 hours of sun, but more than 3 hours. Plants able to take full sun in some climates may only be able to tolerate part sun in other climates. Know the culture of the plant before you buy and plant it!
How-to : Preparing Garden BedsUse a soil testing kit to determine the acidity or alkalinity of the soil before beginning any garden bed preparation. This will help you determine which plants are best suited for your site. Check soil drainage and correct drainage where standing water remains. Clear weeds and debris from planting areas and continue to remove weeds as soon as they come up.
A week to 10 days before planting, add 2 to 4 inches of aged manure or compost and work into the planting site to improve fertility and increase water retention and drainage. If soil composition is weak, a layer of topsoil should be considered as well. No matter if your soil is sand or clay, it can be improved by adding the same thing: organic matter. The more, the better; work deep into the soil. Prepare beds to an 18 inch deep for perennials. This will seem like a tremendous amount of work now, but will greatly pay off later. Besides, this is not something that is easily done later, once plants have been established.
Pest : AphidsAphids are small, soft-bodied, slow-moving insects that suck fluids from plants. Aphids come in many colors, ranging from green to brown to black, and they may have wings. They attack a wide range of plant species causing stunting, deformed leaves and buds. They can transmit harmful plant viruses with their piercing/sucking mouthparts. Aphids, generally, are merely a nuisance, since it takes many of them to cause serious plant damage. However aphids do produce a sweet substance called honeydew (coveted by ants) which can lead to an unattractive black surface growth called sooty mold.
Aphids can increase quickly in numbers and each female can produce up to 250 live nymphs in the course of a month without mating. Aphids often appear when the environment changes - spring & fall. They're often massed at the tips of branches feeding on succulent tissue. Aphids are attracted to the color yellow and will often hitchhike on yellow clothing.
Prevention and Control: Keep weeds to an absolute minimum, especially around desirable plants. On edibles, wash off infected area of plant. Lady bugs and lacewings will feed on aphids in the garden. There are various products - organic and inorganic - that can be used to control aphids. Seek the recommendation of a professional and follow all label procedures to a tee.
Glossary : LoamLoam is the ideal soil, having the perfect balance between particle size, air space, organic matter and water holding capacity. It forms a nice ball when squeezed in the palm of the hand, but crumbles easily when lightly tapped with a finger. Rich color ranges between gray brown to almost black.
Glossary : Viruses
Viruses, which are smaller than bacteria, are not living and do not replicate on their own. They must rely on the cellular mechanisms of their hosts to replicate. Because this greatly disrupts the cell's functionality, outward signs of a viral infection result in a plant disease with symptoms such as abnormal or stunted growth, damaged fruit, discolorations or spots.
Prevention and Control: Keep virus carriers such as aphids, leafhoppers, and thrips under control. These plant feeding insects spread viruses. Viruses can also be introduced by infected pollen or through plant openings (as when pruning). Begin by keeping the pathogen out of your garden. New plants should be checked, as well as tools and existing plants. Use only certified seed that is deemed disease-free. Plant only resistant varieties and create a discouraging environment by rotating crops, not planting closely related plants in the same area every year.


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Home > Hotels in Syria > Hotels in Latakia > Al Samman Hotel
Build: 2004
Location: Center
Address: Maghreb Al Arabi street , near the Directorate of Finance
- 5 minutes walk to city center
- 25 km to the airport
- 300 m to the sea
- 5 minutes by car to the train station
- 5 minutes drive to the bus station
Close to the city center and is located near the Corniche West Sea
Located in the heart of the city of Lattakia.What gives him the importance of the proximity to the beach area Lattakia And many places of entertainment and markets.
3 Lifts
11 Floors
24 Hours Services
Car Parking
Wireless Internet
Fitness centre
Laundry Facilities
Total Number of Rooms and suites:126
Double Rooms
Single Rooms
Junior Suite
Air Conditioning
Direct Dial Phone
Mini Bar
Automatic Wake-up Calls
Voltage 220V
Al Teras
Al Teras Restaurant offer breakfast and all kind of food and drinks
Panoramic Restaurant
To provide lunch and dinner and the establishment of private parties and weddings and conferences, where she holds the hotel management
Within the atmosphere romantic restaurant offers all kind of food and drinks and specialty for parties and special evenings
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Leslie Smith Signs Multi-Fight Deal With Invicta FC, Fighting Jennifer Maia July 13th
By Invicta FC (via press release)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (May 1, 2013) – On the heels of her second-career Invicta Fighting Championships "Fight of the Night" performance, crowd-pleasing, prolific striker Leslie "The Peacemaker" Smith (5-3-1) of Pleasanton, Calif. has signed a new, multi-fight agreement with the women's world championship Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promotion and will drop from bantamweight (135 pounds) to flyweight (125 pounds) and challenge Jennifer Maia (7-2) of Curitiba, Brazil. at Ameristar Casino Hotel Kansas City on Saturday, July 13.
The winner of the Invicta FC 6 matchup between Smith and Maia will be awarded a title shot against newly crowned Invicta FC World Flyweight Champion Barb Honchak (8-2) of Bettendorf, Iowa.
"We are excited to bring Leslie under the Invicta Fighting Championships umbrella for the long-term and to watch her compete in a new weight class that is becoming super competitive in our promotion," said Invicta FC President Shannon Knapp. "Since we launched our live event series last year, Leslie has demonstrated incredible tenacity and athleticism by putting on some of the most memorable fights in our cage. She is a true warrior as is her opponent Jennifer Maia, so we are looking forward to an explosive matchup between two of the sport's stars on what will be Invicta FC's biggest fight card to date."
The 30-year-old Smith engaged in an all-out war with former Strikeforce champion Sarah Kaufman at Invicta FC 5 at Ameristar Casino Hotel Kansas City on April 5. Following the conclusion of the three-round contest that many believe Smith won, however, Kaufman was awarded a controversial, split decision, prompting widespread boos from the displeased, capacity crowd.
Smith also won "Fight of the Night" honors at the inaugural Invicta FC event on April 28, 2012, after slugging it out relentlessly with fellow striker Kaitlin Young for the duration of their three-round bantamweight bout. The fight was declared a majority draw, setting up a much-anticipated rematch at Invicta FC 3 on Oct. 6 that saw Smith take charge and finish Young with an onslaught of punches from mount position in the second round (2:19) of the matchup.
Maia, a 24-year-old submission specialist, notched her first victory in the Invicta FC cage with a stunning upset, unanimous decision win over superstar Zoila Frausto Gurgel on April 5. Recognized as one of Brazil's quickest rising stars, Maia made quick work of each of her first four professional career opponents, scoring a first round TKO (punches) in her pro debut on Suelen Pinheiro Ribeiro in 2009, and submitting each of her next three opponents inside the first round.
Tickets for Invicta FC 6: Cyborg vs. Coenen 2, go on sale soon.
In the main event of the stacked 13-bout card, ferocious KO artist and pound-for-pound sensation Cris Cyborg (11-1, 1 NC) of Curitiba, Brazil will face off with fellow superstar and submission ace Marloes Coenen (21-5) of The Netherlands in the first-ever Invicta FC world featherweight (145 pounds) championship bout.
The showdown between rivals Cyborg and Coenen marks a highly-anticipated rematch to their explosive, barnburner first fight in Sunrise, Fla. on Jan 30, 2010 in which Cyborg emerged victorious by way of TKO (punches) in the third and final scheduled round (3:40) of action.
In the co-main event, reigning Invicta FC world strawweight (115 pounds) champion Carla "Cookie Monster" Esparza (9-2) of Redondo Beach, Calif. will put her title on the line against undefeated JEWELS champion Ayaka Hamasaki (9-0) of Tokyo, Japan.


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Ninety years ago, on 21st January 1924, Vladimir Lenin, the great Marxist and leader of the Russian Revolution, died from complications arising from an earlier assassin's bullet. Ever since then there has been a sustained campaign to slander his name and distort his ideas, ranging from bourgeois historians and apologists to various reformists, liberals and assorted anarchists. Their task has been to discredit Lenin, Marxism and the Russian Revolution in the interests of the "democratic" rule of bankers and capitalists.
A recent history by Professor Robert Service, "Lenin: A Political Life, The Iron Ring", states that:
"Although this volume is intended as a balanced [!], multifaceted account, nobody can write detachedly about Lenin. His intolerance and repressiveness continues to appal me."
Another "balanced" historian, Anthony Read, goes so far as to assert, without any actual evidence, that Lenin was in a minority at the 1903 Party Congress, and simply chose the name "Bolsheviks" (the Russian word for majority) as "Lenin never missed a chance of furthering the illusion of power. From its very beginning, therefore, Bolshevism was founded on a lie, setting a precedent that was to be followed for the next ninety years."
Mr Read continues with his diatribe: "Lenin had no time for democracy, no confidence in the masses and no scruples about the use of violence." (The World on Fire, 1919 and the Battle with Bolshevism, pp.3-4, Jonathan Cape, 2008)
There is nothing new in such false claims which rely, not on the writings of Lenin, but heavily on the outpourings of Professors Orlando Figes and Robert Service, two "experts" on the "evils" of Lenin and the Russian revolution. Full of bile, they all peddle the lie that Lenin somehow created Stalinism.
Likewise, the Stalinists, having turned Lenin into a harmless icon, also defamed his ideas to serve their crimes and betrayals. Lenin's widow, Krupskaya, was fond of quoting his words:
"There have been occasions in history when the teachings of great revolutionaries have been distorted after their death. Men have made them into harmless icons, and, while honouring their name, they blunted the revolutionary edge of their teaching."
In 1926, Krupskaya, said that "if Lenin was alive, he would be in one of Stalin's prisons."
Lenin was without doubt one of the greatest revolutionaries of our time, whose efforts culminated in the victory of October 1917 and whose work changed the course of world history. The socialist revolution was transformed by Lenin from words into deeds. He became overnight "the most hated and most loved man on earth."
Lenin's youth
Born in Simbirsk on the Volga in 1870, Lenin was to experience a time of great upheaval in Russia. The semi-feudal country was ruled by Tsarist despotism. The revolutionary intelligentsia, faced with this despotism, were attracted to the terrorist methods of the Peoples' Will. Indeed, Lenin's elder brother, Alexander, was hanged for his part in the attempted assassination of Tsar Alexander III.
Following this tragedy, Lenin entered university and was soon expelled for his activities. This increased his political thirst and led to his eventual contact with Marxist circles. This progressed to a study of Marx's Capital, which was circulating in small numbers, and then on to Anti-Duhring by Engels.
He got in touch with the exiled Emancipation of Labour Group, headed by George Plekhanov, the founder of Russian Marxism, who he considered to be his spiritual father. He them moved, at the age of 23, from Samara to St Petersburg to form one of the first Marxist groups.
"It is thus, between his brother's execution and his move to St Petersburg, in these simultaneously short and long six years of stubborn work, that the future Lenin was formed", explained Trotsky. "All the fundamental features of his personality, his outlook on life, and his mode of action were already formed during the interval between the seventeenth and twenty-third years of his life."
Massive foreign investment gave a spur to the development of capitalism and the emergence of a small virgin working class. The emergence of study circles and the impact of Marxist ideas saw attempts to establish a revolutionary Russian Social Democratic Party.
Lenin had met with Plekhanov in Switzerland in 1895 and on his return he was arrested, imprisoned, and then exiled. The first Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) was held in 1898, but the Congress was raided and the participants arrested.
Marxism and Bolshevism
At the end of his exile, Lenin concentrated his efforts on the establishment of a Marxist newspaper – Iskra, the 'Spark'. By this means, Iskra was to establish Marxism as the dominant force on the left. Smuggled back into Russia it served to unite the circles into a unified national party on solid political and theoretical foundations.
In this period, Lenin wrote his famous pamphlet What is To Be Done?, which argued for a party made up of professional revolutionaries, people dedicated to the cause.
In 1903, the Second Congress of the RSDLP was held, which was essentially the founding Congress. It was here that the comrades of Iskra established themselves as the dominant trend in the party. However, an open split took place late in the proceedings over organisational questions between Lenin and Martov, both editors of Iskra. The Majority around Lenin became known as the "Bolsheviks" and the Minority around Martov as the "Mensheviks".
There are many myths surrounding this split, which took most participants by surprise, including Lenin. There were no political disagreements at that time. These would only emerge later. Lenin attempted reconciliation between the factions, but failed. He later characterised the split as an "anticipation" of later important differences.
These differences emerged over the perspectives for the revolution in Russia. All tendencies viewed the coming revolution as "bourgeois-democratic", namely a means of sweeping away the old feudal regime and clearing the path for capitalist development. The Mensheviks, however, stated that in this revolution, the workers would need to subordinate themselves to the leadership of the bourgeoisie. The Bolsheviks, on the other hand, believed that the liberal bourgeoisie could not lead the revolution as they were tied to landlordism and imperialism, therefore the workers should lead the revolution supported by the peasants. They would form a "democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry", which would provoke the socialist revolution in the West. In turn, this would come to the aid of the Russian revolution. Trotsky held a third view: he agreed with Lenin that the workers would lead the revolution, but believed they should not stop half way, but should continue with socialist measures, as the beginning of a world socialist revolution. In the end, the events of 1917 confirmed Trotsky's prognosis of "Permanent Revolution".
The 1905 Revolution demonstrated in practice the leading role of the working class. While the Liberals had run for cover, the workers set up Soviets, which Lenin recognised as the embryo of workers' rule. The RSDLP grew enormously under these conditions and served to pull the two factions of the party closer together.
The defeat of the 1905 Revolution, however, was followed by a period of ruthless reaction. The party faced tremendous difficulties as it become more and more isolated from the masses. The Bolsheviks and Mensheviks grew further apart politically and organisationally, until in 1912 the Bolsheviks constituted themselves as a separate party.
In these years, Trotsky was a "conciliator" between the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. He had stood apart from the two factions while preaching "unity". This led to bitter clashes with Lenin, who had upheld Bolshevik political independence and these clashes were later used by the Stalinists to discredit Trotsky, despite Lenin's wish, contained in his Testament, that Trotsky's non-Bolshevik past must not be held against him.
The revival of the workers' movement after 1912 witnessed growing support for the Bolsheviks, which claimed the support of the overwhelming majority of Russian workers. This growth, however, was cut across by the First World War.
The betrayal of August 1914 and the capitulation of the leaders of the Second International marked a terrible blow to international socialism. It meant the effective death of this International.
The small handful of internationalists worldwide regrouped at an anti-war Conference held in Zimmerwald in 1915, where Lenin called for the creation of a new workers' International. These were very dark times - the forces of Marxism were now completely isolated. Revolutionary prospects looked very dim indeed. In January 1917, Lenin addressed a small meeting of the Swiss Young Socialists in Zurich. He remarked that the situation would eventually change but that he would not live to see the revolution. Yet, within the space of one month, the Russian working class would bring Tsarism crashing down and bring about a situation of dual power. Within nine months, Lenin would head a government of Peoples' Commissars.
The Russian Revolution
When in Zurich, Lenin scoured the newspapers for the latest news from Russia. He saw that the soviets, now dominated by the leaders of the Social Revolutionaries (SRs) and the Mensheviks, had handed power to the Provisional Government, headed by the monarchist Prince Lvov. He immediately telegraphed Kamenev and Stalin, who were wavering: "No support for the Provisional government! No trust in Kerensky!"
Writing from exile, Lenin warned:
"Ours is a bourgeois revolution, therefore, the workers must support the bourgeoisie, say the Potresovs, Gvozdyovs and Chkheidzes, as Plekanov said yesterday.
"Ours is a bourgeois revolution, we Marxists say, therefore the workers must open the eyes of the people to the deception practised by the bourgeois politicians, teach them to put no faith in words, to depend entirely on their own strength, their own organisation, their own unity, and their own weapons… You must perform miracles of organisation, organisation of the proletariat and of the whole people, to prepare the way for your victory in the second stage of the revolution."
In his Farewell Letter to the Swiss Workers, Lenin explained the key task: "make our revolution the prologue to the world socialist revolution."
When Lenin returned to Russia on 3rd April 1917, he put forward his April Theses: a Second Russian Revolution must be a step to the world socialist revolution! He came out against the old guard who were lagging behind the situation and fought to rearm the Bolshevik Party.
"The person who now speaks only of a 'revolutionary-democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry' is behind the times, consequently, he has in effect gone over to the petty bourgeoisie against the proletarian class struggle; that person should be consigned to the archive of 'Bolshevik' pre-revolutionary antiques (it may be called the archive of 'old Bolsheviks')."
He managed to win the support in the ranks and overcome the resistance of the leadership, which had ironically accused him of "Trotskyism". In reality, Lenin had come over to Trotsky's position of Permanent Revolution, but by his own route.
In May, Trotsky had returned to Russia after being interned by the British in Canada. "On the second or third day after I reached Petrograd I read Lenin's April Theses. This was just what the revolution was in need of", explained Trotsky. His line of thought is identical with Lenin's. In agreement with Lenin, Trotsky joined the Inter-District Organisation with the aim of winning them over to Bolshevism. He entered into close collaboration with the Bolsheviks, describing himself everywhere as "We, Bolshevik-internationalists."
The seizure of power
On 1st November 1917, at a meeting of the Petrograd committee, Lenin said that after Trotsky had become convinced of the impossibility of union with the Mensheviks, "there has been no better Bolshevik". In reviewing the Revolution two years later, Lenin wrote: "At the moment when it seized power and created the Soviet republic, Bolshevism drew to itself all the best elements in the current of Socialist thought that were nearest to it."
"Lenin did not come over to me, I went over to Lenin", stated Trotsky modestly. "I joined him later than many others. But I make bold to think I understood him in a way not inferior to others."
In the months preceding the revolution, Lenin had called on the Menshevik and SR-dominated Soviets to break with the capitalist ministers and take power, to which they stubbornly refused to do. However, the Bolshevik slogans - Bread! Land! Peace! All Power to the Soviets! - won rapid support amongst the masses. The mass demonstrations in June reflected this shift. It also prompted the new premier Kerensky to begin a campaign of repression against the Bolsheviks. The "July Days" saw the Bolsheviks driven underground. A campaign of hysteria was whipped up against them, calling them "German agents", which forced Lenin and Zinoviev into hiding and the arrest of Trotsky, Kamenev, Kollontai and other Bolshevik leaders.
In August, General Kornilov tried to impose his own fascist dictatorship. Desperate for help, and fearing Kornilov, the government released Trotsky and other Bolsheviks. The Bolshevik workers and soldiers stepped into the breach and defeated Kornilov's counter-revolution in the process.
This boosted support enormously for the Bolsheviks, who won majorities in both the Moscow and Petrograd Soviets. "We were the victors", stated Trotsky concerning the elections at the Petrograd Soviet. This victory proved decisive, and became an essential stepping-stone to the victory in October.
Lenin, who by now was in hiding in Finland, became very impatient with the Bolshevik leaders. He feared that they were dragging their feet. "Events are prescribing our task so clearly for us that procrastination is becoming positively criminal", explained Lenin in a letter to the Central Committee. "To wait would be a crime to the revolution." In October, the Central Committee took the decision to take power, against the votes of Zinoviev and Kamenev, who issued a public statement opposing any insurrection and for the Party to look towards the convening of the Constituent Assembly!
Trotsky, as head of the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, acted swiftly to ensure the smooth transfer of power on 25th October 1917. The Revolution succeeded in a bloodless fashion and on the following day, 26th October, its results were announced to the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets. This time, the Bolsheviks held some 390 delegates out of a total of 650 present, a clear majority. In protest, the Mensheviks and Right SRs walked out. Lenin, who addressed the Congress, simply proclaimed to the triumphal delegates: "We will proceed to construct the Socialist order." The Congress then proceeded to set up a new Soviet government with Lenin at its head. Despised just four months earlier, the Bolsheviks were now hailed by the revolutionary workers.
In a matter of days, decrees were issued by Lenin's government: on peace proposals and the abolition of secret diplomacy, on land to the toilers, on the right of nations to self-determination, on workers' control and the right of recall over all representatives, on full equality of men and women, and on the complete separation of church from state.
When the Third Congress of Soviets in January 1918 proclaimed the establishment of the Russian Federated Soviet Republic, large tracts of Russia were still occupied by the Central Powers, bourgeois nationalists and White generals.
Five days after the Revolution, the new government was attacked by Cossack forces led by General Krasnov. The attack was repulsed and the general was handed over by his own men. However, he was released after giving his word not to take up arms. Of course, he broke his promise and went south to lead the Cossack White Army. Similarly, after the Winter Palace military cadets were released they staged an uprising.
Year One
The Revolution was all too generous and trusting in its early days. "We are accused of resorting to terrorism, but we have not resorted, and I hope will not resort, to the terrorism of the French revolutionaries who guillotined unarmed men", stated Lenin in November. "I hope we shall not resort to it, because we have strength on our side. When we arrested anyone we told him we would let him go if he gave us a written promise not to engage in sabotage. Such written promises have been given."
This innocence was recognised by Victor Serge, a former anarchist turned Bolshevik, who wrote in his book 'Year One of the Russian Revolution':
"The Whites massacre the workers in the Arsenal and the Kremlin: the Reds release their mortal enemy, General Krasnov, on parole… The revolution made the mistake of showing magnanimity to the leader of the Cossack attack. He should have been shot on the spot… [Instead] He was to go off to put the Don region to fire and the sword."
No sooner had the Soviet power established itself than the imperialists acted to crush the revolution in blood. In March 1918 Lenin moved the government to Moscow as Petrograd had become vulnerable to German attack.
Soon afterwards, British troops landed in Murmansk accompanied by American and Canadian forces; the Japanese landed in Vladivostok alongside British and American battalions. The British also seized the port of Baku to get their hands on the oil. French, Greek and Polish forces landed in the Black Sea ports of Odessa and Sevastopol and linked up with the White armies. The Ukraine was occupied by the Germans. In all, 21 foreign armies of intervention on several fronts confronted the Soviet government forces. The Revolution was fighting for its life. It was surrounded, starving and infested with conspiracies.
White Terror
The SR party leadership endorsed the principle of foreign intervention to "restore democracy". A similar counter-revolutionary position was held by the Mensheviks, which placed them in the enemy camp. They collaborated with the Whites and took money from the French government to carry out their activities.
In the summer of 1918 attempts were made to murder Lenin and Trotsky. On 30th August, Lenin was shot, but managed to survive. On the same day, Uritsky was assassinated, as was the German ambassador. Volodarsky was also killed. The plot to blow up Trotsky's train was fortunately foiled. This White Terror served in turn to unleash the Red Terror in defence of the Revolution.
The White Terror was played down by the capitalists, who blamed everything on the Reds. White atrocities "were generally the work of individual White generals and warlords and were not systematic or matters of official policy", explains Anthony Read, in an attempt to excuse them. "But they often matched and sometimes outdid the Red Terror." In fact, as a policy they always outdid the Red Terror in terms of brutality, as is the nature of counter-revolutionary forces.
Interestingly, Read goes on to describe the methods of General Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg. "No Bolshevik, for instance, could equal the White General Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, a German Balt born in Estonia, who was sent by the Provisional Government to the Russian far east, where he claimed to be a reincarnation of Genghis Khan and did his best to outdo the Mongol conqueror in brutality. A fanatical anti-Semite, in 1918 he declared his intention of exterminating all the Jews and commissars in Russia, a task he set about with great enthusiasm, having his men slaughter any Jew they came across in a variety of barbarous ways, including skinning them alive. He was also noted for leading his men in nocturnal terror rides dragging human torches across the steppe at full gallop, and for promising to 'make an avenue of gallows that will stretch from Asia across to Europe'."
This was the fate that awaited the workers and peasants of Russia in the event of a victory of the counter-revolution. It was the fate of Spartacus and his slave army at the merciless hands of the Roman slave-state. The alternative to Soviet power was no "democracy" but the most brutal bloodthirsty fascist barbarism. The whole effort of the Red Army and the Cheka, the security force, was therefore directed at winning the Civil War and defeating the counter-revolution.
The Soviet government had no alternative but to fight fire with fire, and to make a revolutionary appeal to the troops of foreign intervention. As Victor Serge explained:
"The toiling masses use terror against classes which are in a minority in society. It does no more than complete the work of newly arisen economic and political forces. When progressive measures have rallied millions of workers to the cause of revolution, the resistance of the privileged minorities is not difficult to break at this stage. White terror, on the other hand, is carried out by these privileged minorities against the labouring masses, whom it has to slaughter, to decimate. The Versaillais (name given to counter-revolutionary forces that put down the Paris Commune) accounted for more victims in a single week in Paris alone than the Cheka killed in three years over the whole of Russia."
A period of "War Communism" was forced upon the Bolsheviks, where grain was forcibly requisitioned from the peasants to feed the workers and soldiers. Industry, ravaged by sabotage, war and now civil war, was in a state of complete collapse.
The imperialist blockade crippled the country. The population of Petrograd fell from 2,400,000 in 1917 to 574,000 in August 1920. Typhoid and cholera killed millions. Lenin described the situation as "Communism in a besieged fortress".
On 24th August 1919, Lenin wrote: "industry is at a standstill. There is no food, no fuel, no industry." Faced with this disaster, the Soviets relied upon the sacrifice, courage and will-power of the working class to save the revolution. In March 1920, Lenin declared "The determination of the working class, its inflexible adherence to the watchword 'Death rather than surrender!' is not only a historical factor, it is the decisive, the winning factor."
Aftermath of the Civil War
Under the leadership of Lenin and Trotsky, who had organised the Red Army from scratch, the Soviets were victorious, but at a terrible cost. Deaths at the front, famine, disease, all combined with economic collapse.
By the end of the Civil War, the Bolshevik government was forced to make a retreat and introduce the New Economic Policy. This allowed the peasants a free market in their grain and contributed to the growth of strong capitalist tendencies, resulting in the emergence of the Nepmen and Kulaks. It was simply a breathing space.
Given the low cultural level, where 70% of the population were illiterate, the Soviet regime had to rest for support on the old Tsarist officers, officials and administrators, who were opposed to the revolution. "Scratch the soviet state at any point and underneath you will see the same old Tsarist state apparatus", stated Lenin bluntly. With the continuing isolation of the revolution, this constituted a grave danger through a bureaucratic degeneration of the revolution. The working class was systematically weakened by the crisis. The Soviets simply ceased to function in this situation as the careerists and bureaucrats filled the vacuum.
Despite measures being introduced to combat this bureaucratic menace, the only real saviour of the revolution was the success of the world revolution as material assistance from the West.
In early 1919 Lenin had established the Third International as a weapon for spreading the revolution internationally. It was a school of Bolshevism. Mass Communist Parties were soon established in Germany, France, Italy, Czechoslovakia and other countries.
Unfortunately, the revolutionary wave following the First World War was defeated. The revolution in Germany in 1918 had been betrayed by the Social Democrats. The young Soviet Republics in Bavaria and Hungary had been crushed in blood by the counter-revolution. The revolutionary factory occupations in Italy in 1920 had also been defeated. Once again, in 1923, all eyes were on Germany which was in the grip of a revolutionary crisis. However, the false advice given by Zinoviev and Stalin resulted in its tragic defeat.
This came as an almighty blow to the morale of the Russian workers, who were hanging on by the skin of their teeth. At the same time, the defeat reinforced the growth of bureaucratic reaction in the state and the Party. With the incapacity of Lenin following a series of strokes, Stalin began to emerge as the figurehead of the bureaucracy. In fact, Lenin's last struggle was in a bloc with Trotsky against bureaucracy and Stalin. Stalin retreated, but a final stroke left Lenin paralysed and speechless.
Prior to this, Lenin had drawn up a Testament. In it he states Stalin "having become General Secretary, [which Lenin opposed – RS] has unlimited authority concentrated in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be capable of using that authority with sufficient caution." "Comrade Trotsky, on the other hand… is distinguished not only by outstanding ability. He is personally perhaps the most capable man of the present CC..." He warned there was a danger of a split in the Party.
Two weeks later, Lenin added an addendum to his Testament after Stalin swore at and abused Krupskaya for helping Trotsky and others communicate with Lenin. Lenin broke off all personal relations with Stalin. "Stalin is too rude and this defect, although quite tolerable in our midst and in dealings among us communists, becomes intolerable in a General Secretary", stated Lenin. He urged that Stalin be removed from his position due to his disloyalty and tendency to abuse power.
But on 7th March 1923, Lenin suffered a stroke that rendered him completely incapacitated. He would remain in this state until his death on 21st January 1924. Lenin's removal from political life gave increased power to Stalin, which he used to full advantage, not least in suppressing Lenin's Testament.
It was left to Trotsky to defend Lenin's heritage, which was being betrayed by Stalin. The victory of Stalinism was due fundamentally to objective reasons, above all the terrible economic and social backwardness of Russia and its isolation.
The subsequent defeat of the international revolution in Britain and especially China, served to further demoralise the Russian workers, exhausted by years of struggle. On the basis of this terrible weariness, the bureaucracy, headed by Stalin, consolidated its stranglehold. Lenin's body, against the protests of his widow, was then placed in a mausoleum.
It is a monstrous lie to suggest that Stalinism is the continuation of the democratic regime of Lenin, as the apologists of capitalism claim. In reality, a river of blood separates the two. Lenin was the initiator of the October Revolution; Stalin was its grave-digger. They had nothing in common.
We end this tribute with the fitting words of Rosa Luxemburg:
"Whatever a party could offer of courage, revolutionary far-sightedness and consistency in a historic hour, Lenin, Trotsky and the other comrades have given in good measure. All the revolutionary honour and capacity which Western social democracy lacked was represented by the Bolsheviks. Their October uprising was not only the actual salvation of the Russian Revolution; it was also the salvation of the honour of international socialism."
Ninety years after his death, we pay homage to this great man, his ideas and courage. Lenin combined theory with action and personified the October Revolution. Lenin and the Bolsheviks changed the world; our task at this time of capitalist crisis is to finish the job.


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Years ago, when I edited Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot, I learned of Lithuanian textiles through weaving, by way of work by Antanas and Anastazija Tamošaitis and by Kati Meek and an awareness of the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture in Chicago (SS&D Summer 1986). Lithuania is one of three countries tucked into the curve at the eastern end of the Baltic Sea, along with Latvia and Estonia.
Later I met and published several books by Donna Druchunas, who has delved deeply into her Lithuanian roots with a special interest in the knitting heritage. Donna included some Lithuanian material in her Ethnic Knitting Exploration, for which I knitted the samples as part of the design and publishing process. Donna's dedication and rigor make her a great working partner.
Knowing Donna led to my meeting June Hall, who lives in Cumbria, in northwestern England, with a flock of Soay sheep and has been my generous guide and connection to that part of the world. June, too, digs long and hard into the subjects that catch her intellect and interest.
They both have studied the Lithuanian language, traveled to Lithuania, and now (over more than eight years) collaborated on a book: Lithuanian Knitting: Continuing Traditions.
It's a great honor to host Donna here with a blog post celebrating the imminent publication of Donna's and June's book on Lithuanian knitting (and sheep and wool). She's written us a splendidly technical introduction to how she came to know some of the techniques in the book—and notes as well that you can knit the book's projects with the techniques that are already familiar to you. It's just interesting, and possibly useful, to know exactly what methods Lithuanians use to make their stitches dance.
— Deb
P.S. I'll be back with more blog posts before long. My time for writing posts has been consumed by other pressing needs, but it looks like some of those will soon be resolved.
Guest post by Donna Druchunas
What is Lithuanian knitting?
What makes knitting Lithuanian? Is it special techniques that are used? A unique way to hold the yarn and needles? Certain combinations of colors? Interesting pattern stitches?
All of these things, and more. The techniques I've included in Lithuanian Knitting: Continuing Traditions are all based on vintage accessories in museum collections, reproductions of Lithuanian National Costume ensembles, or folk art pieces made by contemporary knitters. These instructions are adapted from Mezgimas (Knitting) by Anastazija Tamošaitis as well as other vintage and contemporary Lithuanian knitting books in my library, along with tips I've picked up from Lithuanian friends. I've modernized some of the decreases and made other adjustments to make the techniques easier for contemporary knitters.
I love vintage knitting books and have my own small collection of nineteenth-century English-language books, but the earliest Lithuanian-language knitting books I've discovered so far were published almost a hundred years later. Sodžiaus menas kn. 5: Mezgimo-nėrimo raštai (Village Arts no. 5: Knitting patterns), by Antanas Tamošaitis, came out in 1933 and Mezgimas (Knitting), by Anastazija Tamošaitis, Antanas's wife, was published in 1935.
Together, these two books form a wonderful foundation in Lithuanian knitting. Antanas wrote about the spiritual significance of folk art and documented colorwork motifs and mitten and sock designs from regions around the country, while Anastazija wrote instructions for knitting a variety of accessories using traditional motifs and colors. Mezgimas also includes instructions for knitting techniques that were not traditional in Lithuania, but which Anastazija may have learned about in The Encyclopedia of Needlework, by Thérèse de Dillmont, which was published in 1884 and became a hugely popular reference throughout Europe.
Most of the Lithuanian-language knitting books in my collection were published between 1959 and 1979, during the Soviet period. Most were written by Lithuanian authors, but others were translated from Russian. I found these books on eBay and at used book shops, street fairs, and flea markets in Lithuania. These books are quite similar to the vintage English-language knitting books I have from the same period. They include basic knitting and crochet instructions, a stitch library, and a collection of projects. Many of the books also include basic dressmaking information, along with tips for sizing garments which may be quite detailed or as vague as, "Models are given in one size. If you make a gauge swatch, it will be very easy for you to determine the number of stitches to cast on for your own size."
I've been learning to read and speak Lithuanian, so at first it was a challenge to figure these books out, but since I'm quite fluent in knitting and they all have lots of charts and diagrams, it's been a good way to learn the parts of the language related to knitting.
The basics: Grandmother's knitting
My grandmother taught me how to knit when I was in kindergarten, maybe even before that. I started out with a stockinette-stitch swatch and wrapped the working yarn snugly around my left index finger, like a bobbin, to control my tension.
"When you knit the yarn goes in the back and the needle goes in the back of the stitch," Grandma told me. "And when you purl, the yarn goes in the front, and the needle goes into the front of the stitch." The formula was easy for me to remember and I learned to knit and purl with equal ease. I didn't know that this was called the Eastern Uncrossed or Combination method of knitting, commonly used in Russia and parts of Eastern Europe. To me, this was just Grandma's knitting.
One of my favorite Lithuanian knitting books, a small volume called Megzkime Pačios (Let's Knit) by O. Jarmulavičienė, presents the basic knitting stitches just the way my grandmother taught me. Other books offer up instructions for the standard modern-European style of knitting and note that this is the common method used in books, but in the old days, most knitters (in Lithuania) used močiutės mezgimas, or "grandmother's knitting." Both methods are interchangeable, the authors explain, as long as you pay attention to your work. In general, the books do not show drawings with hands, but the working yarn always trails off the drawings to the left, with the assumption that knitters will carry the yarn in their left hand, no matter which way they form their stitches.
Knit and purl stitches
Knit = back/back. To make a knit stitch, hold the working yarn in the back, and insert the right needle into the back of the stitch. Pick the yarn with the tip of the right needle and pull it through to form a new stitch.
Won't you twist your stitches if you knit into the back? Not if you purl wrapping your yarn in the opposite direction.
Purl = front/front. To make a purl stitch, hold the working yarn in front, and insert the right needle into the front of the stitch. Pick the yarn in the same manner as you do when knitting.
With this technique, switching back and forth between knits and purls is easy and fast. After I practiced for a bit, the process became unconscious as the yarn "automatically" moved to the front or back of my needles as necessary for the next stitch. Ribbing and cables followed quickly for me, and I never realized that purling was supposed to be difficult. Moving your yarn to the front or back of the needles is something that is not even mentioned in Lithuanian knitting books.
To knit without twisting your stitches, always work into the leading (or right) leg of the stitch. It doesn't matter if it's in front of or behind the needle.
While I was doing my research on Lithuanian knitting techniques, I stumbled onto an interesting discussion in the Combination Knitters group on Ravelry about Lithuanian (and Russian) knitting and how to work left- and right-leaning decreases. This is an important topic, and perhaps the most confusing to knitters who knit in the Lithuanian fashion. Because your stitches are oriented on the needle with the leading leg of the stitch at the back, the normal decrease instructions in English-language knitting books don't make any sense when you look at your stitches on the needle.
Left-slanting decrease
A left-slanting decrease is usually worked as ssk in America these days. In my Lithuanian knitting books it's usually called simply "knit two together," but because the stitches are turned, you put the right needle into the back of the two stitches to knit them together and the final decrease leans to the left. Sometimes it is explained like this: 2 akys, sumegztos kartu gerai iš apačios (knit two together from the bottom, or back). But it's not usually so simple, because knitting terminology is not standardized in Lithuania, so each author explains things in her own way.
- If you knit in the Western fashion, with the leading leg in front, this will be twisted. You can turn the stitches around first so they don't twist, if you prefer, which is usually called ssk.
- If you knit in the Lithuanian fashion, with the leading leg in back, this will not be twisted.
Right-slanting decrease
A right-slanting decrease is worked as k2tog in America. In my Lithuanian books, this is sometimes explained as 2 akys, sumegztos kartu gerai iš viršaus (knit two together from the top, or front). This creates a decrease that slants to the right, but the stitches are twisted. Depending on the yarn texture and color, this may or may not be noticeable in the finished knitting.
- If you knit in the Western fashion, with the leading leg in front, this will not be twisted.
- If you knit in the Lithuanian fashion, with the leading leg in back, this will be twisted. You can turn the stitches around first so they don't twist, if you prefer. There's no formal name for this maneuver, but it is similar in concept to ssk. It is actually only necessary to turn the second stitch around. The first stitch will be the bottom stitch in the decrease, and will be hidden.
All of this is very technical and fascinating to me, but you can knit any of the projects in Lithuanian Knitting: Continuing Traditions in any techniques you like. In fact, most of the projects are knitted in the round, which eliminates many of the differences between močiutės mezgimas and standard Western knitting techniques.
A Lithuanian knitting book made with lots of Lithuanian involvement
I've been working on this book with my co-author June Hall since 2007, with several trips to Lithuania for both of us between then and now, along with uncounted hours of writing, knitting, and editing.* We are finally ready to send the files to the printer. To pay for this, I've been holding a Pubslush crowdfunding campaign (like Kickstarter but only for books) and we're over 100% funded today with just 5 days left to go! I'm so excited that so many people are helping me make this dream come true in a way that will give back to the Lithuanian economy. The book is being printed in Lithuania, and the extra funds that come in will go to our Lithuanian art director, Marius Žalneravičius.
I hope you'll take a minute to check out the fundraiser. If you like what you see, you can also pre-order your copy through this campaign and get some special rewards as an extra bonus!
~ Donna
* Not to mention lots of language study, leading up to and during the project.
More from Deb: I signed on early at Pubslush to get one of the first copies of Lithuanian Knitting. This is going to be a very cool book that I've been following and supporting since it was a vague dream. If you go to the Pubslush page, you can see Donna's video and hear some snippets of Lithuanian music and see preliminary pages—well worth the 4 minutes.
There are more posts in the book's blog tour here. Felicity Ford's post has a photo of Lithuanian coarse-wool sheep.


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Brothers Judd interview of W. Hodding Carter, author of Flushed: How the Plumber Saved CivilizationINTERVIEW: In his new book, Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization, W. Hodding Carter plunges into the reality and history of sewage and plumbing with all the zeal of a missionary. His message for modern man is that we need to face up to the fetid facts about our own body functions and the technological marvels by which we process them. The book is as funny as it is fascinating and we recently had the honor of an e-mail interview with the author. Howdy Mr. Carter: Congratulations on a fine book and thank you for agreeing to answer some questions. Q: Before we get going, I take it you're not a former spokesman for the Carter Administration? Given that my dad used to banish me from the dining room table for my bathroom talk, I'd say I'm definitely not him. So, yes, HC III is my dad and he's teaching public policy and leadership at UNC Chapel Hill. I'm thinking he and I should go on the lecture circuit together, Poop 'n Politics--they always go hand-in-hand. Q: What got you interested in plumbing and why do you believe that the plumber has saved civilization? Whoa, wait a minute. That took me a whole book to answer. Honestly, I became interested in writing about plumbing because I thought it would be amusing. So, let this be a lesson for me and everyone else: Never, ever, decide to write something because you think it might be "amusing." It took me three years just to research my version of the history of plumbing. And I certainly didn't begin with the the thesis that plumbers had ever saved civilization but I did start by thinking it was an essential; part of our daily lives that hardly any of us understand. Richard Trethewey, the plumber for the TV show, This Old House, calls plumbing the "dark art" of home construction and repair. It's the one aspect of their home that most people have no concept of and they don't want to because of the waste management side of things. So, that sort of answers why I got interested in writing a book on plumbing but to find the answer as to why I got interested in plumbing itself, you'd have to ask my therapist. The one thing all great, successful societies have in common is good plumbing--from the Harrappan of the Indus Valley 5000 years ago to the Romans to the Victorian Brits to the US in the present day. In some cases, good plumbing essentially created these societies, as in the case of the Romans, and in others, it afforded the fledgling state to blossom, as in the US. Having a constant water supply and a system that removed waste from the residents' neighborhoods, afforded people a level of health and leisure time that allowed these civilizations to prosper. I do my own plumbing but came across a problem with my well pump just yesterday that had me thinking it might be best to call a professional. There's a good reason why they have to put in 2000 hours before they can become a journeyman plumber--mid-level in the plumbing world. Q: Can you describe the Washlet you bought for your house for those of us who may still be suffering on a mere toilet? It's sort of hard to describe love at first sight, know what I mean? Put simply, the washlet is a super-modern toilet seat functioning as a bidet--or is it the other way around. See? I still can't think straight when I talk about Jasmin--the washlet's given name. Anyway, the seat is constantly warmed to a soothing 100-plus degrees. No recoil when you sit down on Jasmin. Registering your arrival, a deoderizer that acts more like a catalytic converter kicks on and so there's no stink in Jasminland. You do your business, press a button on the remote control and a wand comes out to wash you. Hard, soft, oscillating, pulsating, forward, back--whatever you desire. You can then hit the drier button but since that takes about 5 1/2 minutes to work, you might want to skip that function, and instead, hit stop and use toilet paper, like the common folk. The thing cost about $1000 but I think it's worth every penny. But, then, I'm a bit biased, being in love and all. Q: In the book you discuss how public body functions have been throughout history and still remain in many cultures, but that they've become quite private in ours. What benefit would there be to making them public once again? I think you can have open toilet habits and still have sanitation. When I spoke about this on the Diane Rehm Show, many people wrote in fondly remembering their experiences in the army, sitting in an open latrine sharing jokes and gossip. They were pitying modern soldiers with their private porta-potties. I just believe that we make using the toilet an unnecessary hang-up. It starts in childhood and never lets up. And my own empirical evidence suggests when we first start out, we don't even mind the smell of human waste. I have seen countless kids (mine and my friends) not find their waste smelly. It's only after we go "Ewww. Yech." over and over again that they too learn to think it's smelly. If you start with that knowledge then you realize it's a conditioned response and one that's led to there being way too many anal people in the world. Sure, you want to clean the waste up and not get it on your food or in your mouth but it doesn't have to be reviled. And I'd have to say that the ways we've chosen to separate ourselves from our waste--the sewage system--has been more harmful than helpful. Wastewater has ruined more harbors than any other single contaminant. We're addressing that in many cities now but we still have a long way to go--treatment plants are far from perfect. We were probably better off when we had nightmen, as they were called (human waste was called nightsoil), carting the stuff off to local farms to use as fertilizer. And I hate to break it to everybody but that's what the best sewage treatment plants are doing today--killing harmful bacteria and creating fertilizer. Q: Along the same lines, you and your editor(s) faced an unusual challenge in this book, finding a way to speak frequently about fecal matter and the like. How did you decide what terms to use? In my review I was critical of your choice of s**t and poop, because the first seems needlessly profane and the latter somewhat juvenile. Were these things you considered or are those just the terms you feel most comfortable with personally? Well, I like both those terms but I intentionally used s**t (spelled out) early on to make it clear that I wasn't going to be beating around the bush when talking about this subject. And, having four kids, we use the word poop very, very often. As a matter of fact, my son just pooped in his diaper. Wouldn't that have sounded odd if I'd said, He just scatted in his diaper" or "he just had a bowel movement in his diaper"--that's not the way we, or at least I, talk. Q: Does your family share your enthusiasm for plumbing, newfangled toilets and greater openness about body functions? My wife humors me, except when it becomes an added expense--like when it takes me 3 tries to sweat a couple of fixtures and I spend as much money as it would've cost to higher a plumber. My 8-year-old daughter shares my sensibilities and will talk about poop and plumbing all day long with me. My 3-year-old son loves bathroom talk and my 10-year-old twins hate all of it. Q: You mention that you've taken to leaving the bathroom door open and talking to people as you see a man about a dog, or whatever... Biographers suggest that this was a tool that LBJ used to dominate his staff and colleagues. Presumably you're pursuing different purposes? Well, as much as I'd like to dominate my family, it isn't in the picture so I'm definitely doing it for different purposes. Again, it's about not being freakish about bodily functions. We all poop. Why try to pretend otherwise. People go to great lengths to hide it--turning on showers, blowdriers, singing loudly. It's insane. Q: Now that you're immersed yourself in and revealed some of the mysteries of the bathroom, do folks want to talk to you about it or is plumbing something they just don't even want to think about? People always, always want to talk about it. It appears to be cathartic which goes to my point about the need to open up about all this pooping and peeing. On to some more general questions about writing: Q: Brian Lamb of Booknotes (C-SPAN) always asks a question that I find interesting. How do you go about the physical task of writing? I write on a computer. I've been doing so since I got out of the Peace Corps in 1987. It seemed like such a luxury and I love the way I can move things around using it. I wear out the lettering on my keys every 6 months or so. "N" and "A" seem to be my most popular. I keep a journal that I, oddly enough, write by hand, and my journals are usually much, much longer than my books. While I love computers, there's something about pausing over a page in your journal, pen in hand, thinking about how best describe deciding not to take a chart with you while trying to sail from Portland to Boston. Whether I'm writing a book or magazine article, I take along a tape recorder, spiral "reporter" notebooks, and journals. I use the tape recorder for catching quotes I do not want to get wrong, the notebook to jot down hard bits of info (like the smell of the ocean) and I use my journal to tell a story from the day and record how I'm feeling, what I'm thinking, what I want. Q: At one point in the book you note that many plumbers are not necessarily plumbers by conscious choice, but followed in their father's footsteps. Is journalism sort of the plumbing of the Carter family? My family was shocked when I announced at 22 that I wanted to write but I'd known it for years and years. I'd just been too afraid to say it aloud. So, while I had other choices work-wise, there really wasn't anything else to do. It almost didn't seem like a choice. I did have second thoughts, though, when both my grandmother and my father said on more than one occasion, "Don't you want to be a teacher instead?" My grandfather was, and my father is, an incredibly talented writer, but I felt my approach was different (entertaining versus informative). There was room for one more Carter voice. A couple of my daughters already write better than I did at their age so I'm guessing there will be a few more generations of us Carter writers to come. Q: In past books you've written about following the trail of Lewis and Clark and sailing a Viking ship and in this one you both travel widely and describe hands-on plumbing experiences -- how would you describe what you do? I'd call myself an experientialist. I feel like the only way I can learn about a people or an event or even a place--learn about a noun, I guess--is by going and doing. I need to be hit in the head with a 2 by 4 to really appreciate carpentry or sail a wooden tub through packs of ice to appreciate the hazards of the arctic. I guess I'm a little dim. I just think when people read about this average guy fumbling his way through a situation they can relate and become more engaged. I loved going to India for this plumbing book to learn about this amazing man, Dr. Pathak of Sulabh International, building these extraordinary public washing facilites that are powered by human waste. India was so overwhelming but his organization gave me a focus and a chance to see all of India's craziness through his goal--no more Untouchables. In some ways, though, trekking through the Maine woods with my friend, the writer Will Blythe, in a hopeless attempt to retrace Thoreau's trail was my favorite trip of all. We didn't know a thing about canoeing or the outdoors but somehow, we lived to tell the tale. To me, that's what it is all about. Q: Finally, are there other projects you're working on -- another book you have on tap or a trip in the works? I write somewhat irregularly for Outside magazine (I'm some kind of correspondent for them), and an article that I have coming out in Outside's August issue discusses my current project--trying to swim as fast now at age 43 as I did in college. Sadly, most evidence suggests that it's possible to do so; if I don't, I have no excuse. OJ: Thanks again for your time, Mr. Carter, and all the best with the book. (6/30/06) |
Copyright 1998-2015 Orrin Judd


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Good luck on the hunt!
Our Hunting Agency "Barbara" in Goraj organizes hunts in Poland for foreign hunters.
Our customers mostly come from Western Europe.
This firm has been operating since 1993. It was launched on 01.03.1993, but our experience
in organizing hunts for foreigners has a history which is longer than 30 years.
We are forest engineers. Our professional studies and our former experience in organizing hunts
during our work on different posts of our professional career (most often work in big state forests)
guarantees a professional service during the hunt and the rest after hunting.
Anna (Ewert) Kucharska
(owner of the firm)


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Zornitsa Vladova
- 30 September 2011
- OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES - No. 128Details
- Abstract
- The distributive trades sector, which is primarily accounted for by wholesale and retail trade, is not only economically important in its own right, but also relevant to monetary policy. Ultimately, it is retailers who set the actual prices of most consumer goods. They are the main interface between producers of consumer goods and consumers, with around half of private consumption accounted for by retail trade. The
- JEL Code
- E58 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Central Banks and Their Policies
F41 : International Economics→Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance→Open Economy Macroeconomics


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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's stunning loss Tuesday night to Tea Party-aligned challenger Dave Brat figures to embolden grassroots conservatives on multiple fronts.
Deal-making is out. Immigration reform is dead, at least this year. And it could mean an "ugly" fight over raising the nation's debt ceiling when it comes up again next spring, analyst Greg Valliere said Wednesday.
"Forget about any other deal-making; an ugly, market-rattling debt ceiling fight now looms in March of 2015," Valliere said in a research note.
Cantor's loss throws everything out of whack, in an election season that was largely shaping up along a narrative of establishment Republicans striking back against grassroots challengers.
Brat's upset of Cantor will send House leadership scrambling to replace him. It could embolden one of the many members of the House Republican caucus to make a play to join leadership. And it will likely inspire many Tea Party challenges to incumbents.
"Business groups like the Chamber of Commerce were vilified by Cantor's opponent; "crony capitalist" is the new insult. But perhaps the biggest loser is the GOP brand as the House careens further to the far right -- good luck winning the White House in 2016," Valliere wrote.
The debt-ceiling fight could become even more pronounced if Republicans recapture control of the U.S. Senate in November. It would give the GOP control of both chambers of Congress, and it would make President Barack Obama's stance of not negotiating over the debt ceiling somewhat untenable.