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March, 2016 Newsletter
March 25
Beverly Rubik, PhD
Cell Phone Radiation and Our Health
Cellular telephones are now the leading personal communication devices with 7 billion cell phones used worldwide. A growing number of these are "smart" phones that are replacing other technology in our lives, with email capability, camera, recorders, web surfing, and numerous other functions. Yet questions remain about their safety. The US guideline of specific absorption rate (SAR) at or below 1.6 watts/kg is solely based on heating effects, while numerous peer-reviewed research reports show that low-level microwaves may cause a range of nonthermal bioeffects.
A pilot study with 10 adult volunteers was conducted by Rubik to look for any changes in blood cell morphology following human exposure to a smart phone under controlled conditions. Fresh peripheral blood samples were collected and photographed under a microscope, before and after subjects wore a smart phone in a backpack for 45 minutes followed by active use of the smart phone for another 45 minutes blood microphotographs were scored for various parameters. Nine of 10 subjects showed unhealthy blood changes. Such effects on the blood, if long term, are significant and would be expected to pose cardiovascular issues.
TIME: Friday, March 25, 2016 at 7:30 p.m., (doors open at 7 p.m.)
PLACE: Unity Community Church – Y.E.S. Hall, 3391 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto
Speaker's Bio
Beverly Rubik earned her Ph.D. in biophysics at the University of California at Berkeley. She is internationally renowned for her research at the cutting edge of science and medicine and has received several awards for her research. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine; Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine; and The Journal of Vortex Science and Technology. She is a professor at Energy Medicine University; adjunct professor at California Institute of Integral Studies and Saybrook University; a consultant to industry on maverick wellness products; and a holistic health practitioner advising clients on enhanced self-care.
Dr. Rubik founded the Institute for Frontier Science (IFS) in 1996. Laurance S. Rockefeller, Sr., helped support the founding of the IFS. In 2002, IFS was awarded an NIH center grant for frontier medicine research on biofield science in consortium with researchers at the University of Arizona. Dr. Rubik was a project director in this consortium and supervised studies on Reiki, a form of Japanese spiritual healing, and on qigong therapy, a healing practice that originated in China.
Members get in FREE.
A $15 donation is asked of non-members at the door.
Students with ID, a $5 donation is asked.
An FMBR Workshop
March 26, 10 AM to 12:30 PM
Understanding Wireless Radiation and How to Protect Ourselves Lead by Beverly Rubik, PhD and Herry Jabs, MS
What do cell phones, wireless internet, cordless phones, cell phone towers, "smart" meters, and "smart" home appliances have in common? They all emit radio frequencies (RF). Moreover, these devices are all around us and are affecting our health in profound ways. With the proliferation of wireless technology and our increasing exposure to RF, people are experiencing greater stress and have headaches, fatigue, and low energy, symptoms often associated with chronic radiation sickness. A new syndrome--Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Syndrome--affects an estimated 25% of the population, with 3% severely affected. We will demonstrate RF exposure with field meters that we will bring to measure your portable device emissions. We will explain more about the health consequences of exposure as documented in scientific and medical studies. Although there is no practical way to eliminate these wireless fields completely from our lives, we will discuss ways in which we can significantly reduce our exposure and protect ourselves. We will also discuss the so-called "protective" devices sold in the marketplace and our independent test results on several such devices.
Harry Jabs, M.S., was educated as an experimental physicist and holds 2 Masters degrees, one from DESY in Germany (German Electron Synchrotron) and the other from Texas A&M University, where he conducted research on cold fusion and nuclear physics. Presently he is a senior scientist at Institute for Frontier Science in Emeryville, CA, a nonprofit laboratory conducting pioneering research. Harry is a multidisciplinary scientist and engineer with expertise in physics, chemistry, biochemistry, electronics, mechanics, material science, and software engineering. He is passionate about developing new technologies that some people might consider impossible.
COST to Attend:
Paid FMBR members: $50.00.
Non-FMBR members: $65.00.
• Time: 10:00 am to 12:30 pm
• PLACE: Lost Altos Masonic Lodge, 146 Main St., Los Altos
Toward an Understanding of the Biological Effects of Microwave EMF
Part 2
Jerry Gin, Ph.D.
As I discussed in Part 1, the current health standards for the biological effects of microwave electromagnetic fields (EMF) are based upon the heating effects of the radiation rather than the biological effects. Recent research has yielded a substantial body of data on changes in intracellular calcium in our bodies due to microwave EMF. This research data indicates why serious health problems can occur at levels much lower than the current world standards predict as safe. The Russian microwave EMF standards are more stringent than the US standards and are primarily based upon immunological changes in animals. The recent intercellular calcium research provides a much stronger basis for creating a new and more scientific safety standard for our cell phones, cell towers, baby monitors, Smart Meters, computers, tablets, radar, microwave ovens, etc. The following will describe the details behind this conclusion.
We all know that calcium is important to the health of the body because of its role in maintaining bones and teeth. The concentration of calcium in the blood must be maintained within fairly tight limits for health (8.8 to 10.4 mg/100 ml). Within cells calcium concentrations are tightly regulated and are generally about 10,000 times lower inside the cell than outside the cell. Calcium concentration is regulated by channels which are embedded in the membranes of cells; opening and closing of the channels are voltage dependent so they are called voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs). The pharmaceutical industry knows the importance of blocking these channels to reduce calcium influx into cells and have developed whole categories of drugs to block these channels (called calcium channel blockers). Some uses of these drugs are to decrease blood pressure in patients with hypertension, to alter heart rate, to prevent cerebral vasospasm, to reduce chest pain caused by angina pectoris, and to influence the biosynthesis of aldosterone which affects hypertension.
What is not generally understood is that if too much calcium enters a cell, a host of negative consequences can occur. For the past 12 years, my partners and I at Livionex, Inc. have been conducting research on what happens to cells when they are injured. Injury causes an influx of calcium into the cell, which triggers enzymatic reactions that either cause cell death (apoptosis) or the generation of inflammatory cytokines which produce inflammation. The inflammation causes pain and tissue damage.
Dr. Martin Pall, biochemist at Washington State University, and other scientists have shown that low level microwave EMF exposure can result in VGCC activation and elevated intracellular calcium. 2 4 5 In a recent review 2 5 and in two dozen studies, calcium channel blockers, which block voltage-gated calcium channels, also block the increased influx of calcium caused by EMFs. This suggests that activation of these channels is primarily responsible for the results noted in studies on the effects of EMFs. VGCCs normally open calcium channels for short periods, in the millisecond range; EMF activation can result in much longer open periods, resulting in significantly higher intracellular calcium influx.
The intracellular calcium activates a nitric oxide synthase enzyme that produces nitric oxide. At low physiological levels, nitric oxide leads to activation of enzymes that produce a therapeutic effect. However, nitric oxide, especially at higher sustained levels, leads to formation of peroxynitrite and results in oxidative stress (free radical formation). 4 Dr. Martin Pall, 2 4 in his review, shows that the increase in intracellular calcium can result in numerous problems:
- Oxidative stress results in DNA breaks - contributes to cancer cell formation.
- Activation of matrix metalloproteases degrades the tight cell/cell junctures and breakdown in the blood-brain barrier.
- DNA breaks of gamete precursor cells can result in a decrease in fertility and sperm count
as well as adverse effects on sperm morphology and function.
- Activation of kinases lead to apoptosis (cell death).
Depressed melatonin levels leading to sleep disruption.
VGCCs are present in nearly every biological system in the human body; for example, in the immune, endocrine, nervous, and circulatory systems. EMFs can thus result in increases of allergies and inflammation, affect hormone regulation, brain function and heart rhythms.
Given that the scientific literature shows substantial biological effects of microwave EMFs, it seems clear to me that current national and international safety standards do not adequately address biological hazards. The current standards are based on the false assumption that the main effect of microwave EMFs is an increase in heat, and thus the standard of safety rests upon the measurement of the temperature increase of a liquid. Scientists observe biological effects at as low as 20 microwatts/kg. Is it then really safe to irradiate humans in the 2 watts/kg range (i.e., with 100,000 times stronger radiation)? The US standard for cell phones is 1.6 watts/kg. This standard fails to account for the non-thermal biological effect described in the substantial body of scientific papers, including the opening of VGCCs by EMFs and the resulting myriad of diseases it can cause.
The recommendations by Dr. Pall2 and others include the implementation of new, biologically based, safety standards2 and the lowering of exposures to EMFs by factors of 100 to 1000-fold. Biological standards recommended by Dr. Pall include measurement of nitrous oxide levels in cell culture sensitive to EMFs; biological tests such as cardiac, hormone, and neurological changes in animals in response to EMF; and whole animal studies looking at nitrous oxide levels in blood.
Dr. Pall's recommendations for lowering exposures by 100 to 1000-fold are as follows:
better shielding of computers and tablets, especially their bottoms; improved design of WiFi antennas -- exposure levels are 1000 to 10,000 times higher than needed; hard wiring of computers in schools; better shielding of cell phones and more use of headsets; lower signal strength of cordless phones (no need broadcast to 200 ft when 20 ft will do); removal of Smart Meters (short high intensity pulses are very damaging; VGCC activation continues long after pulse has ceased); finer grounded wire mesh over windows of microwave ovens can lessen exposure 100 fold. (Note: test your microwave oven shielding -- place your cell phone in microwave oven and see if signal can go through shielding; at home, I have 2 microwave ovens, in one, shielding was adequate and in the other, inadequate -- the phone rang.)
Many Healing Modalities
Jerry Gin
When one starts reviewing the field of alternative healing, one finds that it is quite diverse and that there are many healing modalities. One can even argue that there are as many healing modalities as there are healers.
A set of notes has been compiled which attempts to list some of them. The notes have been further refined to describe common qualities among the different healing modalities and to group them based upon those commonalities. Any such grouping cannot do justice to some modalities because of their unique features which do not quite "fit" any classification. However, it does appear that there are commonalities and the reader is invited to review these notes, which also describe some of the lesser-known ones.
2016 SSE Conference
The Society for Scientific Exploration (SSE) will hold its 2016 Annual Conference this year in Boulder, Colorado, from June 20th-23rd. This year it will be a combined conference of the Parapsychological Association and SSE. It will be a rich experience for anyone interested in the leading edge of science, including areas that are too controversial or too new to have found their way into the mainstream. The conference theme is Accessing the Exceptional, Experiencing the Extraordinary.
Jerry Gin at East West Bookshop
324 Castro St., Mountain View, CA
Friday, May 6, 7:30pm
The Nature of Mind-Being
Free. To reserve tickets, please call 650-988-9800
The Foundation for Mind-Being Research (FMBR) brings together the scientific and experiential evidence in diverse fields such as consciousness, subtle energy, healing, remote viewing, sacred geometry, BioGeometry, near-death experience, out-of-body experience, quantum physics, bioenergetics, spirituality, and enlightenment. The study of these subjects facilitates out individual mind-being evolution as to who we are and our interconnectedness. Jerry Gin, Ph.D., scientist and chairman of FMBR, will introduce the studies and evidence in the various fields to give us a better understanding of who we are and why we are here.
Saturday, May 7, 12:00-5:30 - pm
A Course in the Nature of Mind-Being
$25 thru may 6, $35 day of
he term "mind-being" refers to our individual evolution as we learn about consciousness, the nature of the universe, who we are, and out interconnectedness. To help in out evolution, this Foundation for Mind-Being Research (FMBR) workshop covers studies in consciousness, the Field, fundamental patterns of matter, subtle energy, healing, out-of-body and near-death experiences, sacred geometry, BioGeometry, torus structure, Quantum physics, DNA, bioenergetics, spirituality, and enlightenment. Jerry Gin, Ph. D. scientist and chairman of FMBR, will present studies, evidence, and relationships in the various fields to provide a better understanding of who we are and why we are here.
To reserve tickets, please call 650-988-9800,
To reserve online, click below, and scholl down to Jerry's workshop, then click "Add to Cart" button.
APRIL 9: 12:30 am to 5:00 pm San Jose Dowsers blog, San Jose:
(Check later.)
APRIL 21: 7:00 pm Silicon Valley Health Institute, Palo Alto:
Russell Jaffe, MD, PhD, CCN speaking on
Healthy for Life ...
Evidence to Support Predictive Biomarkers for Lifetime Health
APRIL 2: 7:00 pm South Bay IANDS
Betty Eadie will speak on, Nothing Can Separate Us from Christ's Love
Foundation for Mind-Being Research
P.O. Box 449, Los Altos, Ca 94023-0449


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There's something inherently sad about those post-surgery Elizabethan collars (or as the dogs from Up call them, "The Cone of Shame"). One dog owner discovered there's one way to make even the Cone of Shame something to be proud of: put a Death Star on it. Now his pup Musha is ready to rule the Galaxy.
[HoboHiatus via TheFW]

subset: commoncrawl


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- Perhaps due to rain, the Halloween costumes encountered on my excursion were substandard. The best I saw was a group of six guys in real sequined and tailored mariachi costumes. They were carrying ukuleles and one boombox, though, and not mariachi instruments. Can't blame them--they'll probably get drunk and would destroy their vihuelas and trumpets.
- The Saw franchise makes for costumes almost as bad as the movies.
- I found to my horror that it's vastly more difficult to buy naphtha lighter fluid than it used to be. No doubt this is a consequence of less smoking and consequently less Zippo lighter use, both of which are good in themselves. But it may make this adhesive-busting solvent eventually impossible to find. Oddly enough, papers for rolling tobacco were abundant.
- Dipping into the World Series, the Philadelphia Phillies (awful name for a team) did not perform up to standard.
- The game featured heavy tie-in promotion and ads for Sherlock Holmes. It's getting a Christmas release and a huge push -- Warner Brothers is really banking on it. I'd forgotten it's directed by Guy Ritchie, so my hopes are low. Holmes is more resistant to atrocities than Lina Wertmüller's work, but still... On the other hand the ads featured Eddie Marsan repeatedly and prominently and he's usually a great perfomer.
- The promo for the US release of Pirate Radio (called The Boat That Rocked in the UK) revealed that an American DJ saved rock 'n' roll in the UK. I hope it does well here, but I can't recommend it. Great topic for a movie -- just not this one.
- Abortion services are under attack in much of the US. The leading pro-choice groups aren't very savvy about politics, which is a shame.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Among the Monster Costumes
Data points:
Posted by riffle at 11/01/2009 02:01:00 AM
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text: Tamara Lackey is portrait photographer and Nikon USA Ambassador who specializes in commercial, portrait and editorial photography, as well as humanitarian work. In addition to her passion for photography, Tamara also loves to teach. She teaches professional workshops and seminars all over the world. To see where Tamara will be teaching next, check out our events page. To book a photo shoot with Tamara, you can contact us here. And to find out more information about Tamara, you can check out her biography page.


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Instead of discussing the latest news Trion Worlds has on ArcheAge, we're going to focus on the game itself. Unfortunately though, I still don't have a release date for you! Last week I found my way into the ArcheAge alpha and was finally able to get hands on with it to see what all the rage is from region to region for ArcheAge. Despite all the 1.0 patch nonsense, now I was able to see why everyone in the community has been voicing their opinions so loudly for Trion to hear. I've never played ArcheAge in any other regions, so I went into this experience blind and I'm going to give you new guys an idea of what to expect as well!
Upon starting up ArcheAge I arrived at the decision of four different races, Nuian, Elf, Firran, and Harani. Each with their own unique background and perks. Nuian being the basic human race, also known as the Conquerors of the Continent. Then we've got the secluded elven swimmers, whom are well... elves! But of course, there's always gotta be the one furry race those of us have a desire to play. Look no further than the Firran. The Firran are essentially humanoid cats roaming the wilds attempting to understand their purpose in this world. Last but not least of course is the heroic Harani. Practical, cunning, and efficient laborers. I want Firran, because cats, people!
Claw to earth, blood to water, fang to wind, fur to fire...
Here comes the fun part for those of you that go balls to the wall crazy with customization. While you can't customize your body too much, you can customize your face as much as your heart desires. The creation lets you tweak the width of your nose, the depth of eyes, jaw, and so forth. You can make them look as much as possible like you if you take the time. Or you can just do what I did below.
In the character customization there's a so-so amount of options for the basic things like hair style, eye type, hair color, and so forth. If it turns out you don't want to spend hours in the customization there are also pre-made options. The first time I went through the character customization without realizing I could tweak all the tiny details and ended up choosing different hairstyles, eye types, and what not taking maybe five minutes. So when it comes to the character customization, it's up to you how long you take.
Now that you have your beautiful character, it's time to decide how you're going to be playing ArcheAge. Are you up for ranged combat, melee, magic, summons, curses, etc. It's up to you how you customize your skillsets to create a class of your own. At this point you're given five basic options so you don't end up going into the world without being able to hold your own. As you level very early on you'll unlock the next two skillsets which allow you to arrive at your final epic monstrosity of a class (which can also be swapped at any time for a nominal in-game fee). I personally decided to start myself off with the Archery skillset figuring "Hey, I'm playing alone so I may as well kite my foes as much as possible." Last week Community Manager, Evan Berman and Producer, Victoria Voss got together for a livestream discussing how the skillsets work in creating a class in great detail. With 120 different permutations of the skill system, there are a LOT of options here.
The Themepark is in Town
Since the 1.0 update craze in other regions of ArcheAge people have been worried the sandbox elements have been fleeting inArcheAge. I believe I recall hearing Trion Worlds stating that the beginning of the game has a themepark feel to it with players being able to go crazy with the sandbox elements down the road. The quests, standard as they might be, serve as a lore-based way to open up all the game's systems to you.
Once I started the game past the character creation I found myself set on a basic quest line. Go here, go there, kill this, gather that, in order to get a feel for the game. I haven't gotten too far in ArcheAge, so I haven't had the opportunity to experience the many of the sandbox elements. I only see them hovering off in the distance. I've spoken with players that have said you can jump into crafting right off the bat as long as you have the resources needed. I won't be surprised when I hear a player hit the max level by only crafting, but I don't see them getting those resources without doing some questing to get to a reasonable point. So without a doubt, you'll have to push through the themepark portion of the game to enjoy the sandbox part. Personally, I have no issue with this.
Anyway, one of the things I liked right off the bat with ArcheAge would have to be the environment. Being able to stare off in the distance at a mountain range and knowing I can reach it without an invisible wall blocking me off is great. Fortunately I attained a Snowlion mount for riding gloriously into the sunset. A moment that made me jump was when I was first getting into combat and had this slow earthy creature was wandering along. Having my bow at the ready, I decided why not start popping shots for the first time at this guy. Since he was so sluggish it was easy to kite him and all I could think was I had found my South Park boars to hunt. Next thing you know, what looks like a gopher digging toward me appeared. And then WHAM, a giant earthen of a fist pops out and grabs me. That was when Witchcraft became my second skillset... for safety's sake.
Me killing boars.
Goals to Look Forward To...
Now what am I looking forward to as I journey farther into this world? Honestly, I had to take a break from all the questing as I'm often just wandering back and forth between quest hubs. What I'm really looking forward to is gliding, cars, ships, crafting, housing, and all those sandbox elements! I like the idea of having my own farm with plants and livestock. While I'm sure it'll be a heck of a challenge trying to handle, actually. Then thereare cars and ships. Cars man... cars. How often do you play an MMORPG in a fantasy setting like this, with cars? Something about the cars and navy action sounds incredible to me. I'm still trying to decide whether I'll find myself pillaging defenseless merchants to make a living or defending them.
I apologize for not having the latest entry in the column be last week as our usual schedule is. In order to make up for it, we'll be having the column two weeks in a row including this week. Therefore, you can expect a new article giving you your fix on April 29th!
Jeffrey Lerman / Jeff can be found playing games 99% of the time, with the 1% being writing about them. Feel free to follow his banter on Twitter @Snakester95.


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MIRT: Muscle Injury Release Technique
A revolutionary approach to treating muscle injuries has emerged. The name: MIRT: Muscle Injury Release Technique. The goal: to strip away old scar tissue, relieve pain, and facilitate healing.
Developed and trademarked by Drs. Paul and Patrick Baker of Baker Family Chiropractic and Sports Injury in Cincinnati, Ohio, this technique has earned itself a positive reputation in the sports injury rehab arena. MIRT, a proven successful alternative to surgery, eliminates old scar tissue formed between muscle fibers (also called fibrotic adhesions). Not only does scar tissue have ten to a hundred times more pain fibers than healthy tissue, it inhibits the injured muscle from healing properly. Releasing scar tissue through MIRT is crucial to regaining the body's maximum potential. (continued)
Increasing Flexibility and Joint Mobility – Reducing Pain
MIRT, a fairly new procedure, has shown over a 90% success rate in treating thousands of muscle injuries in the past few years. MIRT involves no surgical procedures, no artificial equipment, and no medication of any sort. It is purely a technique of skill that involves the doctor's hands or elbows, working in an intense, rhythmic, and aggressive motion to strip away old scar tissue and generate long term pain relief. "It is similar to massage therapy, only a hundred times more intense," says Dr. Patrick Baker.
MIRT can be uncomfortable at first, but most patients feel immediate and substantial pain relief after the very first treatment. Subsequent treatments are less uncomfortable, and after two to three MIRT sessions, patients experience a strong difference in flexibility, joint mobility, and pain relief. Prior to MIRT, the way to eliminate old scar tissue was by means of surgery. Because of this breakthrough chiropractic technique, patients can heal more efficiently, less expensively, and in much less time.
From Professional Athletes to Weekend Warriors
Drs. Paul and Patrick Baker, former competitive athletes and current bodybuilders, have treated many professional athletes.
In 2001, Cincinnati Bengals' two-time pro bowl running back, Corey Dillon, entered the clinic of Baker Family Chiropractic & Sports Injury. Dillon complained of chronic pain in his right hamstring, resulting from an injury suffered seven years prior. Since the injury, Dillon underwent traditional massage therapy, physical therapy, electrical stimulation, injections, and the use of pain relievers-none of which brought him the relief he sought. Concerned about his long-term well-being as an athlete, Dillon finally turned to chiropractic. Dr. Paul Baker palpated (examined) Dillon's hamstring and discovered a tennis-ball-sized muscle "knot," actually built-up scar tissue. Dr. Baker began to manually implement MIRT for an intense fifteen minutes, and afterward, the knot began to disappear. Dillon, stunned by the results of MIRT, started a trend among professional athletes, and soon after, many players began benefiting from MIRT sessions at Baker Family Chiropractic.
Many patients of Baker Family Chiropractic include NFL players from the Cincinnati Bengals, New Orleans Saints, Washington Redskins, Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers. Drs. Baker have shown that MIRT is not just for professional athletes. Indeed, MIRT has worked miracles on elementary school soccer players, high school and collegiate athletes, and even the "weekend warriors."
Whether the injury is a hurt shoulder, strained pectoral muscle, lower back muscle spasm, or any other muscle injury, MIRT strips away the built-up scar tissue so that the muscle can finally heal correctly. When an injury occurs, or when a muscle tightens up through a repetitive motion, like throwing, running, or weightlifting, the body automatically attempts to "self-heal" by sending extra blood to the area, thereby producing swelling. Swelling cuts off the oxygen supply to the muscles and connective tissue-producing a condition called Hypoxia. Hypoxia causes scar tissue to form between muscle tissue and connective tissue (fascia), inhibiting the muscles from sliding back and forth properly. As a result, flexibility of the muscle and joint are severely limited. Oftentimes, patients know they are in pain, but do not realize they have built-up scar tissue that can be relieved through MIRT. How can a person tell if he or she has scar tissue? The most common way is to move the area of concern. Signs of scar tissue include: (1) trouble moving the area through the different motions; (2) the area does not have the strength it once did; or (3) the area fatigues very easily.
Bengals' player Corey Dillon, an appreciative advocate of MIRT, only regrets that he did not start the proper healing sooner. "I suffered seven years of pain and reduced potential, something I never have to go through again, thanks to MIRT," Dillon says. "The technique is one of pure brilliance. It is the only thing that has worked for me. If anyone is suffering from an old or new injury, he or she should definitely try MIRT." -Dr. Casey Miller, Drs. Speaker Bureau, April, 2003


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They don't call January the Wolf month in Gaelic for nothing. Here's my winter ware snowy selfie. We've had big storms, lots of tree damage, some snow, waterlogged ground and Brrr… it has been sooo cold! I've been waiting for a lot of house repairs for YEARS, this includes having heating putting in. the 1970's storage heaters are not affordable or any good in any way. So we heat ourselves with a rickety gas bottle heater, a small plug in heater, duvets & hotwater bottles. and layers and layers of clothes. But the wind is the worst because it gets in through all the holes in the walls, rotten timbers, wobbly windows rotten window sills and loose doors. Hope has also kept us warm. A contractor has been given the job to do the work at last and… had to cancel appointments last week due to being snowed in. The plan is to give us a wood stove for heat and water! As well as all the repairs etc. At the moment I have to carry hot water from the bathroom in a bucket to was the dishes in the kitchen. Imagine, warmth, dryness AND hot water ?! * shivers *
so to keep warm, busy & sane between shivering bouts of work frozen to the desk, we thought we better have another go on the climbing wall after some months out for injuries. We go to either the indoor walls at Gairloch or Inverness. I am rubbish at it because of my wrecked right arm grip, but it certainly warms you up!
We like to get out for walks as often as possible. I love the snow & the light it creates, worth getting soggy petticoats for.This is the view West from above Achnashellach , looking towards Loch Carron.The treehouse, is one of our community assets, that I look after, It is available for hire ( £5 an hour ) and is nice and cosy with a big wood burning stove in it. It has a slight sway when it is windy, and with the sound of the river below is a really relaxing space. The footpaths through the small wood to get to it are currently very wet with snow and thaw, so wellies on !This is one of the path's to the Treehouse, I was part of the party that planted these trees in 1990, it was bare crofting ground that was donated to the then Heritage charity which later was transferred to the Kirkton Woodland and Heritage Group, which is now renamed the Lochcarron Community Development Company– confused? don't be, its all the same charity owned by the community that deals with environment, heritage, culture & sustainability. We've had a few treeplanting sessions with school children & community volunteers since then, but it is a battle with deer nibbling the baby trees.These two cabins were recently built on site for local ventures to run arts/ heritage type businesses from. The one in the Foreground is where we run training courses in the winter, and in summer houses " Made in Lochcarron " ( formerly the iGallery ) a shop/ gallery/ information point run by local artists, makers and volunteers. The cabin further away is Kiki's Craft Corner, which is always busy with training courses in textile arts and is a treasure trove of craft tools and materials, specialising in textiles.
So if it's too cold, or I feel too ill for a walk, there is always a wee drive to look at scenery & get out of the house. This morning the Applecross road was closed and the wind was blowing the snow about up on the hills,
Not my handywork! Great place for a snow man though!The greenhouse is too cold & wet to get much done in. I can't wait for a dry hour or so to get in & start tidying up & preparing for planting seed trays !This is the condensation on my art room – "studio" window. Everywhere is so damp and mould affects our health. But it is rather pretty!
Inside the art room, is a crazy combination of pottery, sewing, painting and woodwork…and everything else, pencils, sequins, willow, wax..mess. I've been making some pots for a raku course i'm doing in February.The kiln is handy when the power goes out, we don't have a camping stove or anything so we use this in the shed to heat water & basic cookery. We had three days of cuts but at least it was coming back on occasionally between outages. Talking of basic cookery. My diet is very odd after being ill this last year. I can't eat shop bread, Can't eat fatty things, but can eat homebaking & i can eat butteries. a traditional Scottish item which is VERY fatty. so we had a go at making our own. The recipe i used had way too much fat in! incredible amounts of butter and veggie fat, it was gross! a lot of work too, so not one of my favorite kitchen experiments, but they tasted okayish. This year's marmalade was also rubbish. I tried a new recipe for "Easy marmalade" because it is always a bit of a long job. this one was 3 hours worth of sieving, de pipping, scraping pith and cutting peel, then after a rolling boil of 6 hours, i repeat SIX HOURS ! it didn't set. delicious, but runny. I think my pan is too wide to get a good heat on it for big batches of preserves. Need a smaller based taller one. Meanwhile out of the kitchen, because I'm certainly no domestic goddess or anything so housewifey, back in the studio where the power tools live.What? an Iron? how housewifey is that !? no, rest assured, I do not do ironing. I only use that when sewing things. That pink fabric in the middle? I'm wearing it as I type, it's a dress/ petticoat & nice and warm. It was upcycled. I have a cupboard full of fabric scraps, except to find anything, the cupboard ends up all over the floor as you can see in the above photo & it is a disaster area. so i made some shelves & sorted it out. I'm working my way through making patchwork at the moment.
and the really raggy stuff gets cut into strips and woven into rugs. The long one was done on a peg loom & the round one i crocheted with my fingers, it was painful but very fast. I prefer the tighter weave of the peg loom though, it just takes more time to set up. These sort of things are great to do on long dark winter evenings under a duvet while we watch tonnes of films and box sets.I have also dug out my old pottery pugmill, which mixes and squishes the air out of clay. It hasn't been used in 14 years or so. The motor seems to be seized or is damp or something. I'm hoping we can get it working to lend to a community pottery project. More on this another time.So there you have it. A long cold- indoors a lot sort of month. January.


text: 7/14/17 – Dodge County Sherriff Dale Schmidt is warning employers to not turn a blind eye to drugs in the workplace. With the rising use of methamphetamines and opioids, he says a vast majority of jobs, specifically larger factories, have drugs at some level. Schmidt told us recently on WBEV's Community Comment that owners or managers have rights to ensure their business is operated properly. He says he is willing to visit employers and supervisors to teach them how to conduct random drug screenings and how to handle these situations. The sheriff says employees who go to work high should know that there is a possibility that they could hurt themselves or others. He says it is important to remember when you are on company time, employees are expected to be at full capacity.


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Update, 7/11/17, 8:18pm PT: It appears that the listings have been removed.
Original article, 7/10/17, 6:26pm PT:
Two new Corsair Add-in Card NVMe SSDs tipped up on Newegg today (opens in new tab). The cards fall under the company's flagship Neutron umbrella, but with a new model name: NX500. Corsair claims up to 3,000 MB/s sequential performance, according to the listing, but these flagship products carry a flagship price.
The new Neutron NX500 appears to use a Phison PS5007-E7 add-in card reference design like the Zotac SONIX. The Newegg listing doesn't show the amount of DRAM used on the 400GB or 800GB drives, but these may be the long-awaited retail versions of the "Double-DDR" prototype we tested in March.
The Newegg listing doesn't specify the controller, of course, but other indicators lead us to lean in the E7's direction. There is no mention of 3D NAND, but the listing specifically states MLC flash. Marvell, Silicon Motion, and Realtek have shifted focus from MLC to 3D TLC flash on existing and emerging controllers. Phison is one of the few companies with a planar MLC NAND product in reserve that we haven't seen yet.
|Interface / Protocol
|PCIe 3.0 x4 / NVMe
|PCIe 3.0 x4 / NVMe
|Sequential Read
|3,000 MB/s
|3,000 MB/s
|Sequential Write
|2,400 MB/s
|2,400 MB/s
|Random Read
|Random Write
The Neutron NX500 add-in cards on Newegg come in 400GB and 800GB capacities. That would indicate heavy over-provisioning to increase random performance during very heavy workloads. The drives should feature the full binary capacities, 512GB and 1024GB, with ample amounts in reserve. We haven't see this much over-provisioning in a consumer product since the early SandForce SF-1200 released in 2010.
The Neutron NX500 listing shows performance identical to Corsair's MP500 M.2 2280 NVMe SSD, which uses the Phison E7 controller. The NX500 has better random performance—300,000 IOPS read compared to 250,000 on the MP500. The increase would come from over-provisioning and the massive heatsink used to cool the tiny controller under heavy workloads at high queue depths.
The NX500 800GB will be the first Phison E7 to ship in the U.S. with 1TB of flash. We've only tested one E7 with this much memory so far—the Galax HOF PCI-E. Kingston lists the KC1000 M.2 2280 SSD with the same controller in a 960GB model, but we've yet to see the drive listed for sale, except on Kingston's website (for $552.50).
Newegg shows the Neutron NX500 in stock and ready to ship at the time of this writing. The NX500 400GB sells for $319.99, and the 800GB sells for a wallet-bending $699.99. In contrast, the Samsung 960 Pro 1TB sells for $579.99 at Newegg (opens in new tab) in a single-sided M.2 2280 form factor. It looks like Corsair is ready to take on the giant. With a larger form factor that allows increased cooling to combat thermal throttling, Corsair brings more to this fight than a slingshot.


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Generated by Scarlett Photo, Black Comedy is an Australian TELEVISION illustration funny that integrates apologies of tv as well as movies, along with historic, empirical as well as physical illustrations. An ABC AU initial, the series very first broadcast on November 5, 2014 as well as has actually had an effective two-season run. Black Comedy series 2 premiered on ABC Australia on February 3,2016 This six-part illustration funny series supplies a busy as well as enjoyable consider the Australian society in a humorous, intriguing as well as a bit profane means. Starring several of one of the most popular native comics from Down Under, Black Comedy is a numerous kinds of farce as well as pop-culture tricks that are incorporated in such a method, that relatively offending declarations appear as pertinent as well as amusing.


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Information obtained from press release.
SOLON, Ohio, (August 11, 2017) – REESE® Towpower has designed the innovative POD HAZARD LED roadside warning and work light device. It's not only an ideal LED warning solution for motorists who stop their vehicle near passing motorists during a roadside emergency, it's also a convenient work light for any possible situation. The bright LED warning lights provide 360-degree light projection that is visible to oncoming motorists up to 1/4 mile away.
"Awareness is the first step in safety for any roadside situation,'' said Eric Yukich, senior director of product marketing and strategic growth. "With POD HAZARD, motorists have a safe and convenient roadside warning system that notifies oncoming motorists and helps keep their vehicle and passengers safe in those stressful situations."
Constructed of all-weather, shatter-resistant polymer, the POD fits in the palm of the hand; it's perfectly sized for the vehicle's glove box for when emergencies arise. It's powered with three alkaline-type AAA batteries, which provide up to three hours of illumination (high beam), and up to 36 hours in warning mode. The twist-on base allows quick battery replacement and weather resistance.
POD HAZARD (P/N PD110200) is merchandised as a two-pack, and offers two work light modes (high beam and low beam), as well as seven different warning illumination modes, including SOS rescue mode. An integrated 5-in-1 mounting option includes a dual-use swivel hook, magnetic base, permanent base, and picture-frame style.
You can find Bob Difley's RVing e-books on Amazon Kindle. Follow on Facebook and Twitter.
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Eileen Gannon of Des Moines, Iowa won the Seattle's Best Coffee Red Cup Showdown with this coffee recipe flavored with caramelized bacon and hints of pumpkin pie spice. Courtesy of Seattle's Best Coffee, below is the recipe for the drink Gannon has named, "How to Win a Guy With One Sip."
- 1 rounded tbsp of Seattle's Best Coffee, Level 5, Ground
- 3/4 cup of hot water (6 fl oz)
- 2 tbsp of light cream (1 fl oz)
- 2 teaspoons of bacon-flavored syrup
- 1 1/2 tsp of caramel flavored syrup
- 1/8 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice
- Spiced caramelized bacon (recipe below)
- caramel ice cream topping
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Caramelized bacon (recipe below)
Directions for "How to Win a Guy With One Sip"
- Brew the coffee with hot water in a pour-over brewer or coffee hand press.
- Pour the coffee into a cup.
- Pour in light cream, bacon flavored syrup, caramel flavored syrup and pumpkin pie spice and stir with a spoon until combined.
- Top with a dollop of spiced caramelized whipped cream, drizzle with caramel ice cream topping and sprinkle with a little pumpkin pie spice.
- Garnish with a strip of caramelized bacon.
Directions for Spiced Caramelized Bacon Whipped Cream
- In a larger mixer bowl, add 1/2 heavy whipping cream (4 oz), 1/2 tsp caramel flavor syrup, 1/4 tsp bacon flavored syrup and 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice.
- Whip until stiff peaks form.
- Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and set aside until ready to use.
Directions for Caramelized Bacon
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
- Line a 9″ x 13″ pan with parchment paper and cover with a thin layer of light brown suger.
- Layer strips of bacon over the brown sugar.
- Pat additional brown sugar over the bacon to cover and top with a second piece of parchment paper.
- Bake the bacon for 15 to 20 minutes, or until brown and bubbling.
- Remove to wire rack and cool completely.
By winning the creative culinary competition, Gannon pocketed $10,000 and a chance for her drink to be featured in participating Seattle's Best Coffee locations. Congrats Eileen!


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Chemists have made a big step towards the creation of a completely artificial life form.
A team from Harvard University and the University of California, San Diego has created self-assembling cell membranes, the structural envelopes that contain and support the reactions required for life.
Nearly two years ago, biologist Craig Venter announced that his team had created an artificial cell. However, only the DNA was truly synthetic, and was housed in a natural biological cell.
"One of our long term, very ambitious goals is to try to make an artificial cell, a synthetic living unit from the bottom up – to make a living organism from non-living molecules that have never been through or touched a living organism," says UCL assistantr professor Neal Devaraj.
"Presumably this occurred at some point in the past. Otherwise life wouldn't exist."
The molecules that make up cell membranes have heads that mix easily with water and tails that repel it. In water, therefore, they form a double layer with heads out and tails in, creating a barrier.
Devaraj and Harvard graduate student Itay Budin created similar molecules with a novel reaction that joins two chains of lipids – soemthing not seen in nature.
"In our system, we use a sort of primitive catalyst, a very simple metal ion," Devaraj says. "The reaction itself is completely artificial. There's no biological equivalent of this chemical reaction. This is how you could have a de novo formation of membranes."
Thehe synthetic membranes were created from a watery emulsion of oil and detergent, stable as it stands. But when copper ions are added, sturdy vesicles and tubules begin to bud off the oil droplets – and, after 24 hours, the oil droplets are gone, consumed by the self-assembling membranes.
The biggest surprise of this discovery may be its simplicity.
"It's trivial and can be done in a day," says Devaraj. "New people who join the lab can make membranes from day one."


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FREDERICK, Md., March 27 (UPI) -- Police in Maryland were looking for the mother of four children found dead in their home with their father, who had apparently committed suicide.
Pedro Rodriguez, 28, apparently hanged himself in the family's Frederick, Md., condominium, but there was no apparent cause of death for three girls, ages 9, 4 and 1 and 3-year-old boy, police told The Baltimore Sun. Police said they didn't consider their mother, Deysi M. Benitez, 25, a suspect but said they feared for her safety.
Benitez' sister and her co-workers told police they have not seen her in about a week, the Sun reported.
Police discovered the bodies Monday after being contacted by officials at the school attended by two of the girls who were concerned that they'd been absent for several days.


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Scapegoating is a phenomenon that happens in almost all human groups. A. Colman (video below), begins the above talk by saying that it is the root of evil in humanity. Is he exaggerating this? Or are there truths in his remark?
What makes a group?
A group is made up of a bunch of individuals (and we are referring to human individuals here), who have to be together because of a certain task or function. A company of workers is a group. There are social groups, church groups, political groups, hobby groups, support groups and the like. Families are also groups.
In my article Bion: The Function of Myths in Groups, I explain that a group is a body that has a mental state and creates a phantasy. The group becomes more than the sum of people that come together to form it. The group has its own dynamics and it is its own organism.
Groups are like organisms, and they strive to keep themselves intact
The group connects the inner worlds of people. Narcissistic tendencies and psychological traumas get played out in groups. Like a living organism, the group strives to keep itself intact.
In order to do so, any form of aggression that naturally and unconsciously arises from the group becomes a threat to the status quo of the group. There is a tendency then for the group to move towards "doing something" to maintain harmony and equilibrium. The individuals then strive to retain their own idea of their "good self" and deny their part in the aggression that threatens the group.
Groups need scapegoats so that the members can disown their responsibility for the group's destruction
The aggression that is latent in the group becomes disowned by the individuals (who do not want to be blamed for their group's destruction), and transferred on to an external object of blame. This object of blame is the scapegoat.
Oftentimes the scapegoat is a member of the group. Sometimes it appears in the form of someone from outside the group– people from another culture, immigrants, women, etc.
Scapegoating in Groups
Scapegoating is the most ancient human rituals. It used to come in the form of practices such as child & animal sacrifice, adult sacrifice, witch hunting. Large groups of people can also become scapegoats, as we have witnessed during the Holocaust, Apartheid, and other genocides.
A Scapegoat is a person, subgroup, collective idea … who is made to take the anxious blame for the other people in their place.
The process of scapegoating is done in order for the rest to feel more comfortable, or to be more efficient, and whole.
The scapegoat embodies the transformational, creative and/or destructive potential within the group.
The scapegoat has often creative potential, and is often different from the others in the group. Sometimes this person has the potential to make changes in society.
Scapegoating is victimization of the other
Many who have been young victims of bullying in school or in the family have experienced from a young age, what it is like to be in the position of the scapegoat.
The scapegoat is usually the different / outsider. Not being able to bear the difference. Potential scapegoats are usually people who are racially different.
Scapegoat's Adjustment
In order to survive being scapegoated, the person either turns into the
- victim /patient (as in children who develop illnesses or develop behavioral problems in school).
- avenger (someone who takes revenge)
- the messiah / prophet (someone who saves the group)
09:10 Colman, in the video above provides us with literary examples of some of these scapegoat transformations.
In Families, the child who becomes the Scapegoat is also the Symptom Bearer
Scapegoating happen in almost all families. Most of the time a child in the families bears the brunt of the scapegoating. If the family is relatively harmonious, the scapegoat feels simply like a "black sheep", and grows up to be an adult who can function well.
In families that are dysfunctional, or in families where mental disorders and/or addictions or illnesses exist, the scapegoat child develops symptoms or syndromes that affect his/her ability to function emotionally as an adult. Some of these scapegoated children develop psychological issues like depression, anxiety, eating disorders. Some also develop the tendency to self harm.
This is usually seen (which I witness in practice) in a families where parents strive to stay together, despite the fact that one or both parents are abusive or psychologically unstable. What would have been a natural course of action, a break up, is avoided by members of the family at all costs. A superficial picture of stability is often seen in these families.
The "only" problem this family seem to have is a problem child — a child who is doing poorly at school, has behavioral problems, has eating disorder, self harms or has other emotional difficulties. When as therapists we see such children, we understand them to be symptom-bearers.
The experience of being a child scapegoat is one of Childhood trauma. There is immense feeling of loneliness because his/her feelings towards the family are negated by their own parents and siblings. These are the children who'd take the blame for their parents' worries. Many grow up believing that they are flawed. Many introject the blame. Self blame lead to self hatred, self harm and sometimes suicide.
Psychotherapy for Child Symptom Bearers
Usually families bring themselves into therapy because of a "problem" or "sick" child. In successful family therapies, the therapeutic work centers around the relational dynamics between the family members, and not focussed on the "problem child". Helping the parents and other members become aware of their roles in the family system releases the afflicted child of having to bear the intrinsic problems that exist in the family.
Psychotherapy for Adult sufferers of Scapegoating
One does not always know that one is being made a scapegoat. In the working environment, the scapegoat may simply find work in the office stressful with conflicts.
Sometimes, of course, in the course of therapy the client realizes that he/she was his/her family's symptom bearer, or that he/she was a scapegoat in a group.
Being a scapegoat brings with it feelings of loneliness. You are being targeted as the cause of problems. Because of this, there'll also be feelings of having done something wrong, or being flawed. This progresses to self blame. Psychotherapy involves
- addressing these feelings of loneliness, shame, fear and betrayal
- re-aligning oneself by being awareness of the group reality,
- finding oneself again being independent of the group,
- finding resources outside the group
- getting support from others


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As you may have read somewhere by now, it's almost impossible to review Amazon's new series Forever, starring Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen. That's because creators Alan Yang (Master of None, Parks and Recreation) and Matt Hubbard (30 Rock, Parks and Recreation) want to keep the true concept of the show a secret. And rightfully so — the story's twists and revelations enhance the viewing experience, and it's rare that a series ends up being something much different from what you expect at the outset.
So, no spoilers. Don't worry.
Air date: Sep 14, 2018
The trouble with the list of things Yang and Hubbard don't want spoiled — a list so long that somewhere Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner is sending critics telepathic messages about his legendary spoiler demands not being so bad in retrospect — is that it makes it difficult to take a deep dive into the bigger issues tackled by Forever, which is a wonderful little series.
But there are ways to work around the spoilers while getting people excited enough to watch what turns out to be a surprisingly effective, very low-key and naturalistic comedy, if it's a comedy at all. (It falls into the 30-minute space, but of course television is filled with series doing more dramatic than funny things in that world, as this one does.)
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At the end of the first season's eight episodes, there's a faint suggestion that new and different things might be ahead for season two, which is just another way that Yang — who has already experimented with TV rule-breaking very effectively in Netflix's Master of None — and Hubbard have gone off-script conceptually. Forever is the latest television series to follow the Louie mold, tossing aside preconceived notions of what can or can't be done in terms of structure and story.
June (Rudolph) and Oscar (Armisen) are a longtime married couple who, in a lovely and smartly conceived directorial flourish by Yang, are shown subtly changing before our eyes. That is, their marriage is changing. But only one of them, June, really understands that. Forever is very much a story about a marriage, though it embraces so much about life's existential questions, small and large, that it's ultimately a meditation on the search for personal happiness and how to share space on the planet with people who can either help you with that or prove a hindrance.
There's an intimacy between June and Oscar that clearly draws upon Rudolph and Armisen's shared history as actors and friends. And individually, they're well cast for their respective roles. Armisen's Oscar is a nerdy dentist with some unsurprising quirks — like needing the dishwasher loaded a particular way. Because he's hyperaware that expecting June to do it his way would be perceived as bossy, he instead redoes her dishwasher-loading work 10,000 times. Oscar is emotionally intuitive and sensitive to a fault. He doesn't want to rock the boat. He just wants to be in the boat with June, as happy as can be. He's a good cook. He's very aware that June is a little bit out of his league and that he's lucky to have her. He's ultra-supportive. He's very satisfied with their life, as he should be.
But of course Oscar is also a little dull. He's a little too satisfied with how things are. Armisen's skill here is that he's all in — you never doubt that Oscar is totally in love with June and their life together. Though Armisen is primarily known for his comedic turns and legendary Portlandia moments, his nebbishy turn here is likable and guileless in its simplicity. And yes, he's excellent at helping to fuel the funnier moments on Forever, which goes out of its way to be humorous as if by accident.
As June, Rudolph is the one whose face can't lie — you know exactly when her boredom with marriage or with Oscar himself has taken its toll. You know when she's unsatisfied — but not unhappy, which is a very different state of mind. You can see how she settles for less in little moments that begin to add up. The strength of Forever lies in those moments when both Rudolph and Armisen subtly convey life's milder letdowns, as well as the emotional challenges of the matrimonial contract, without going to the next step, which is the all-too-familiar trope of two people hating each other and acting out.
In that context, Forever is different from, say, HBO's Divorce. Beyond that, it's completely different because of the things about its premise that can't be mentioned here. But still, this marriage that's being followed through the years is less obviously in trouble, which is the key to the series.
This is probably a good time to say that when Forever wants to be funny, it can be ragingly funny, especially over little things. That's no surprise given that Hubbard and Yang worked on two of the funniest comedies that TV has ever birthed, 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation. But both Master of None and Forever are decidedly more interested in small moments and the intricacies of human nature than they are in setups and punchlines. Rudolph's mastery of disdainful swearing is truly something every time it's employed (particularly when June and Oscar go skiing and step outside the car into an insanely cold wind). Armisen's skill at granular comedy, finding humor in little descriptions or facial expressions, has long been his calling card. Together they nail the parts of Forever meant to be both ridiculous and subtle.
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But make no mistake — this series stands out mostly for its downbeat, melancholy moments. Sometimes those are the ones that also make it more of a work in progress, trying to find its tone. Forever wants to be weird in places, mysterious too — and some but not all of that works, because Yang and Hubbard are biting into some big themes within the limited time frame of eight half-hour episodes. But the series is never uninteresting. It has ambition on many fronts. And this first season, which also stars Catherine Keener and features several key cameos and intriguing supporting roles (notably Noah Robbins as a teenager the couple encounter and Kym Whitley as June's best friend), manages its biggest task, which is to keep you a little off-guard and open to all possibilities as it forges ahead.
That's a nice little feat (and marks yet another success for Amazon Prime Video, which is on quite the run lately). Forever is already a slice of something unique in a crowded TV landscape, with the allure of morphing into something bolder in future seasons. That's a notable achievement for any series, let alone one that can't be fully explained to those who are about to experience it.
Cast: Maya Rudolph, Fred Armisen, Catherine Keener, Noah Robbins, Kym Whitley
Creator-writers: Alan Yang, Matt Hubbard
Director: Alan Yang
Premieres: Friday (Amazon Prime)
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Since the conditions were so bad at the Breakwater, we decided to hit the Aquarium in the afternoon, in hopes of actually seeing something interesting. We got there about 45 minutes before closing, so we just had time to hit our favorite spots. It turned out to be quite a treat. The water was hazy, from the crappy water being pulled in from the bay. It was the haziest I have ever seen the water there. But that did not deter us from scouring the tanks for nudibranchs. They have a couple of tanks that are supposed to have nudibranchs including a dedicated nudibranch tank (which is pretty new, it's near the penguins upstairs), but they often appear in other tanks as well. So we are always looking around just in case. The best find was in the skeleton shrimp tank, where we found a pair of Polycera atra. I've only seen one ever before, so that was exciting. We also found Spanish shawls in that tanks as well as in the pier pilings tank. The dedicated nudibranch tank was full of nudis. It seems to be quite variable in terms of both the number and species in there. Today they had several Dirona picta, which I have never seen before. There were also tons of Dorids in there.
We also visited the Melibe exhibit, and the Pacific Spiny Lumpsuckers in the tank nearby. I think they are the cutest animals at the aquarium, even cuter than the sea otters! Speaking of otters, I was delighted to find a tiny cat-toy-sized stuffed sea otter at the gift shop. Pepper was quite pleased with the selection. Unfortunately Oreo only likes tiny toys, so she's not really a fan.
It's about diving. And cats.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
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Sri Lanka: US-China Rivalry Behind Intra-Ruling Class Struggle
Posted by Ka Frank on February 5, 2010
This article appeared on the World Socialist Web Site on January 29, 2010.
Behind Sri Lanka's political infighting: US-China rivalry
Peter Symonds
In the wake of Tuesday's presidential election in Sri Lanka, Colombo has become a hotbed of rumour and intrigue as the two factions of the ruling elite backing the winner, Mahinda Rajapakse, and the loser, General Sarath Fonseka, manoeuvre and position themselves for open political warfare. Far from putting an end to the campaign brawling, the election has set the stage for deepening instability.
The extraordinary events of the past three days have included: the surrounding of Fonseka's hotel by heavily-armed troops, government accusations that he was planning a coup, counter-accusations by Fonseka that the government was about to arrest or assassinate him, a demand that the election be annulled and threats of legal action from both sides.
What is behind this bitter rivalry? The two men have essentially the same domestic program. General Fonseka was part of President Rajapakse's inner cabal as it ruthlessly prosecuted the communal war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that ended in the LTTE's defeat last May. Fonseka now pledges to renew Sri Lankan democracy, but like Rajapakse, he is responsible for war crimes and gross abuses of democratic rights. If he fears assassination, it is because he is intimately acquainted with the operations of the pro-government death squads that murdered hundreds of politicians, journalists and ordinary people over the past four years.
The economic agenda of the two men is identical. Both campaigned on the basis of fanciful promises that they knew could not be kept. Rajapakse pledged to turn the island into the "wonder of Asia" and to double per capita GDP within six years. Fonseka demagogically declared he could solve all the country's problems by eliminating "waste and corruption"—as if the impact of 26 years of civil war and the current global economic turmoil could be overcome simply by ending the corrupt practices of the Rajapakse brothers. In reality, Rajapakse and Fonseka are committed to imposing the full burden of the worsening economic crisis onto working people and using the police-state apparatus built up during the war to suppress any opposition.
The main reason for the political feuding is not to be found in Colombo. Since the LTTE's defeat, the country has been drawn into the vortex of great power rivalry. Sri Lanka's strategic position in South Asia and astride the key sea routes from the Middle East and Africa to North East Asia and across the Pacific has made it the focus of growing attention by the major powers. China, which is seeking to protect its maritime trade, used the war to bolster its position in Colombo—providing arms, aid and diplomatic backing in return for economic and strategic concessions, in particular a major new southern port at Hambantota. India and Pakistan, along with the European powers, are also vying for position in Sri Lanka.
The major destabilising factor, however, has been the US, which is determined to counter China's growing influence in Asia and internationally, including Sri Lanka. Following the LTTE's defeat, the Obama administration, which had backed Rajapakse's war, cynically played the "human rights" card. Together with the Europeans, Washington sponsored a resolution in the UN Human Rights Council calling for a limited war crimes investigation as a means of pressuring the Rajapakse government. China, however, flexed its diplomatic muscle, blocked the US/European move and supported the Sri Lankan government's own resolution hailing its victory in the "war on terror.
By early December, the US had shifted tack. A major report entitled "Sri Lanka: Recharting US Strategy After the War", issued by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, highlighted the danger to US strategic interests of China's growing influence in Colombo and bluntly declared that the US "cannot afford to 'lose' Sri Lanka". It advised "a new approach that increases US leverage vis-à-vis Sri Lanka" using economic, trade and security incentives. As for "human rights", while they remained important, the report stated, "US policy towards Sri Lanka cannot be dominated by a single agenda. It is not effective at delivering real reform, and it shortchanges US geostrategic interests in the region".
Rajapakse is acutely aware that he can ill-afford to alienate the US. In the course of the presidential election, he boasted that he had opposed the "international conspiracy" to save the LTTE and smear the army with war crimes charges. But his anti-Western posturing and defence of "little Sri Lanka" always had its limits. While pointing to Washington's war crimes in Afghanistan, he only did so to justify his own. He was always careful never to name names and now shows every sign of wanting improved ties with the "conspirators"—the US and the EU.
Fonseka's own relations with Washington are extremely murky. He arrived in the US in late October, purportedly to renew his Green Card and visit relatives, and was asked to attend a voluntary interview with the Department of Homeland Security, reportedly to answer questions over war crimes related to Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse. Colombo furiously opposed the interview, which eventually did not take place. While the nature of discussions between US officials and Fonseka is shrouded in secrecy, he announced his resignation from the army just days after returning to Colombo and actively campaigned against Rajapakse's anti-Western stance.
The nature of future relations between Washington and the Rajapakse regime is by no means clear. What is certain is that this great power rivalry, especially between the US and China, is adding an explosive new factor to the volatile and unstable mix of Sri Lankan politics. Whatever the immediate outcome, the factional warfare in the ruling elites will only compound the economic crisis facing the island, and therefore the determination of whoever comes out on top to launch a savage onslaught on the social position of the working class.
One Response to "Sri Lanka: US-China Rivalry Behind Intra-Ruling Class Struggle"
February 19, 2010 at 1:59 pm
I think that this is a lousy story. Not only does it miss the essence of the picture it goes on to distort it.
There is no doubt that the US seeks to encircle China (and Russia).
The US has enrolled India for the purpose, but India has its own South Asian Agenda.
As for South Asia (I exclude Burma) the rivalry is between India and the US. The former seeking to dominate the region as the sole hegemon, with the blessings of the US, while the US seeks to keep India as a junior partner in its agenga for golbal domination.
In the case of Sri Lanka, unlike in the case of Nepal, competition has remained stronger than collusion, and India's rulers always sought hegemony over Sri Lanka.
The rivalry was transparent during the pease talks, backed by the US sabotaged by India; during the resumed war where India preferred absolute elimination of the LTTE, while the US only sought an LTTE surrender/disarmament; and recently in the presidential electins where the rivals backed different candidates.
China has never meddled in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. It has sought good relations, desired an independent foreigh policy, but never allowed Sri Lankan foreign policy affect its relationship, even during the pro-US government under Jayawardane.
China is taking steps to protect its economic interests in the event of a US-led blockade of the ocean routes. But the apporoach is not to establish it militarily. Chinese economic aid would probably continue on a large scale even in the event of a pro-US dictator taking charge in Sri Lanka.
The comment on the "Washington sponsored a resolution in the UN Human Rights Council calling for a limited war crimes investigation as a means of pressuring the Rajapakse government" takes the cake.
Not just China, but India, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela and many countries rejected that move. No country that knows US intentions in 'upholding human rights' will collude with US moves to 'punish' another country, unless it is hand-in-glove with the US in the matter.
China has long ceased to be a socialist country. It may even become an imperialist power some time. But not yet.
To pick on China in a situation where the fault lies far away seems paranoid if not mischievous.


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West Hawaii Dance Theatre & Academy proudly presents the comedic ballet "Coppélia" at the Kahilu Theatre in Waimea, Saturday, May 18, 2019. Showtime is 5:00pm. You can find ticket info below.
This family-friendly, historic ballet has been reconstructed from the original choreography by WHDT's Founder & Artistic Director Virginia Holte, Assistant Director Midori Satoh and Instructors Megan Joy Chapman, Jenna Ojeda and Ann Marie Pargett contribute additional choreography. The newly formed West Hawaii Dance Theatre Orchestra under the Musical Direction of Maestro Brian Dollinger accompany the dancers.
"Coppélia" tells the amusing tale of village girl Swanilda and her fiancé, Franz. Though he's set to marry her, Franz's wavering affection falls on Coppélia, a lifelike doll that he mistakes at a distance for a beautiful young woman. Unbeknownst to Franz, Coppélia is the creation of old toymaker, Dr. Coppélius. Not realizing that her betrothed has fallen for a doll, comedy ensues when the feisty Swanhilda and her friends sneak into the eccentric doll-maker's musty workshop where she intends to confront her romantic rival.
With the mischievous antics of Franz, the jealous tirades of Swanilda, and comedic and heart-felt eccentricities of Dr. Coppélius, Coppélia really bursts with personality. Children and adults alike always leave the theatre chuckling. Showcasing youth, innocence, playfulness and joy, comic exuberance and vitality, "Coppélia" fits perfectly into West Hawaii Dance Theatre & Academy's repertoire.
Coppélia premiered at the Theatre Imperial de l'Opéra in Paris on May 25, 1870. The three-act ballet was first choreographed by Arthur Saint-Leon with the musical score by Léo Delibes shimmering in violin melodies and fast-cascading Slavic themes. The ballet was later restaged by Marius Petipa and again by Lev Ivanov and Enrico Cecchetti.
WHDT Senior dancers Mako Yamamoto and Enna Hendrickson lead the ballet as Swanhilda and Coppélia, Andrew Fung, a student at HPA is Franz along with over 70 local youth, teen and adult community dancers round out the cast of Coppélia. Visiting Professional Danseur Timour Bourtasenkov, formerly of the Bolshoi Ballet, will play the role of Dr. Coppélius.
If You Go…
Purchase tickets at www.kahilutheatre.org. For more Information please call West Hawaii Dance Theatre & Academy at (808) 329-8876 or visit www.whdt.org.
West Hawaii Dance Theatre & Academy is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and is sponsored in part by the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Hawaii Community Foundation, Vance Wall Foundation, Ironman, Macy's Cooke Foundation and our local businesses and families.


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With the growing popularity and increasing demand of SEO requirements, now, more than ever before, it's essential for large and small business owners to utilize their company's website to its fullest potential. This procedure begins with attracting local businesses and clientele to your website and company. In order to achieve that goal, you must first have an appealing and interesting company website.
Why WordPress?
WordPress is the leading platform for large and small business owners and entrepreneurs. The site provides an extensive library of professional themes and capabilities for nearly all business fields; journalism, corporate executives, repair shops, photography, etc.
In recent years, WordPress/wordpress.com has emerged as the premier personal website provider and medium. Naturally, today's discussion will entail how to properly use your company's WordPress website SEO capabilities.
Local SEO vs. Conventional SEO
In all honesty, there isn't much of a difference between local SEO and traditional SEO. The primary distinction lies in the contact data and utilization of local keywords that allows targeting of neighboring marketplaces. You may be asking, what are the immediate advantages of local SEO?
- Potential clients relate and identify quicker with local business entities
- Localizing SEO allows you to hone in more directly to your target market
- WordPress sites have built-in plug-ins and features designed for local SEO
Conventional SEO will only broaden things, and remove you from the local scene and your desired and necessary target market.
WordPress Local SEO Basics
As with any new goal or endeavor we partake, it's essential to get things started off on the right foot—this isn't any different. Here are some simple and immediate WordPress changes that will quickly put you on the right track:
- Change the WP default URL/permalink to something local that relates to your business
- Use the WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin
- Use the "relevant and localized" keywords in your content
Staying On The Local SEO Track
Staying focused is equally as important as getting off to the right start. Keyword research and usage will be a major contributor in ensuring your company's website success in local SEO. Remember to keep your keywords and URL or permalink catered to your local vicinity. For example, if you own a pizzeria in St. Louis, MO, keywords and phrases like, "St. Louis' best pizzeria" or "The largest pizzas in St. Louis" will work well for you. Local SEO doesn't happen overnight. It will take time, as well as trial and error. Consider using some of these resources:
- Local SEO tutorials
- Optimization with business listings like Google and Bing
- Citation Building
If your company website isn't generating the local clientele you desire, then jumpstart your local SEO with a move to WordPress today.


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New Way to Promote your Business
Featuring a broad mix of prominent and relevant topics, FIA events serve as a great way to educate, inform and network. We capture theses events on video, enabling anyone to be a part of the event.
Going Virtual: Due to the current pandemic, we have taken our events virtual for a while. However, you can still get the same great recognition and promotion for your business by sponsoring the recorded video of our virtual events that is promoted via email, as well as on our site and social media channels.
Here are some examples:
Become a Video Sponsor
As part of a new sponsorship opportunity, we are now offering FIA members the opportunity to sponsor the event video. For just $150, it's a great way to get your name in front of FIA members.
Key Benefits of Video Sponsorship:
- Promotion in Video: Name and logo will be cross-promoted in video and video description.
- Mentions in Email and Social: Video will also be shared to all FIA members as well as on our social media channels.
- Site promotion in a dedicated blog post with your name, logo and link to your site (view example).
Choose Your Month
NOTE: There are two (2) video slots per event available and they are sold on a first come, first serve basis. Make your selection below.


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This is our time to win the county row seats!
Click Below for County Row Candidate Information
Join a Bucks County Campaign
Judi Reiss is a 42-year resident of Bucks County – living in Lower Makefield Township with her husband Gary. Her grown children all live in the community. In 2015, Judi was elected for a four-year term on the Lower Makefield Township Supervisors. During her first term, Judi restarted Lower Makefield's Open Space purchasing program, executed needed infrastructure improvements, including bike path expansion, and helped get a Community Center finally started.
Judi is a retired marketing manager and former teacher. She taught for over 10 years in the Trenton Public School system and worked for Stark & Stark in Princeton, NJ. Judi says she learned the value of community when she lost her son, Joshua, at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001: "Many people in the Lower Makefield community were there to support me and my family. This is my chance to give back to those who helped me." Judi has a master's degree in education and a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Georgia.


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When I built my new shop, I knew right from the start that I would be hanging a lot of tools and supplies on the walls. I also knew from my previous shops that locations and requirements would change as new tools were added. Rather than punching more holes in the walls every time I needed to hang or move something, I opted instead to mount two rows of cleats around the entire shop.
The cleats have a 45º bevel on their top edges, which allows the matching parts on the storage accessories to lock into place. Made entirely of 3/4″-thick MDF, this mounting system is inexpensive and easy to install.
Getting items off the ground and my workbenches is easier (and neater-looking) than ever. I mount as much as I can on the wall cleats–everything from clamp organizers to the pencil sharpener.
Accessorize your workshop's wall cleat system:
Build a pencil station
Build a paper towel holder
Build clamp racks
Build a pegboard
Get started with the heart of the system: the cleats. From a standard sheet of 3/4"-thick MDF, rip 16 strips 2 7/8" wide x 8' long. Once the strips are cut, angle the blade on the tablesaw to 45º and cut the bevel along one edge, leaving a 1/8" flat spot at the point. The blunt edge strengthens the tip so it doesn't get chipped during use. See the wall cleat plans for details.
With all your cleats sawn, mount them on walls where you need storage. For maximum flexibility, I used two sets of rails positioned 61" and 82" from the floor, anchored with #10 x 2 1/2" countersunk screws driven into the studs every 16". Drive a screw through one end, sit a level on top of the cleat, then move the opposite end into position before locking it there with a second screw. Finish up by driving screws into each stud in between. Just remember to mount each wall cleat with the bevel facing upward and toward the wall.
Once you build your cleats, you can create whatever storage solutions you need to suit your workshop.
Tool Rest: Using a large piece of MDF as a backer, create a resting place for various tools. Measure anything you'd like to store out of a toolbox and cut rests and notches for them. A few screws and you're suddenly very organized!
Simple Shelf: A simple scrap of MDF on a cleat can hold the cartons of screws and plugs you use most often.
Basic Box: Build a box out of MDF, screw it to a cleat and drop in any odds and ends you have lying around on your workbench.
|Size (T x W x L*)
For one cleat
|3/4" x 2 7/8" x 24"**
|**Make cleat as long as needed for the area and accessories to be hung up
* Length indicates grain direction
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Thank you for all of your calls on the Senate Farm Bill! Unfortunately, despite strong grassroots support, the Senate leadership prevented these amendments from even being voted on:
- The Tester Seeds and Breeds amendment to ensure that some of your tax dollars are spent on classical plant breeding, rather than just genetically engineered seeds;
- The Grassley Packer Ban Amendment to prevent giant meatpacking companies from unfairly manipulating the market by owning their own feedlots; and
- The Paul Raw Milk amendment to remove the interstate ban on raw milk and stop FDA harassment of farmers and co-ops simply because they cross state lines.
The sponsors of these amendments all deserve our thanks for trying to bring these important issues to the Senate. If you live in their states, please be sure to let your friends and neighbors know that these Senators stood up for independent farmers and consumers: Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY).
One amendment that we opposed – Senator Feinstein's amendment to impose new regulations on laying hen operations – was also kept from a vote. Although we recognize the problems with the factory farm conditions, Feinstein's bill could have serious unintended consequences for pastured farmers due to the labeling and euthanasia provisions.
We also urged phone calls in support of two amendments that were scheduled for a vote. We warned you that these amendments were both long shots, but they are important issues. It often takes several tries to get a bill or amendment through, so this was a start!
* The DeMint Checkoff amendment was defeated 79 to 20
There are currently 18 mandatory "Checkoff" programs. Under these programs, anytime a farmer sells a cow or a gallon of milk or any other covered commodity, the farmer is legally required to pay a fee to industry-run organizations. These funds are used to pay for things such as the "Got Milk?" and "Pork, the other white meat" advertising campaigns. The problem is that these advertising campaigns benefit primarily the retailers and grocery stores, not the farmers, but the farmers are stuck paying the bills. When it comes to raw milk, the industry adds insult to injury by promoting only pasteurized milk products and running ads against raw milk — yet raw milk farmers are still required to pay into the Checkoff to support those ads.
The DeMint amendment would have barred any Checkoff program from being mandatory. If producers wish to fund a joint advertising campaign, they still could, but they would no longer have been coerced to support advertising efforts that are not in their interest.
* The Sanders GMO labeling amendment was defeated 73-26
This amendment would have not have required labeling, but would have affirmed the right of the States to require labeling of GMOs. The amendment would have also required USDA and FDA to present a report within 2 years identifying how much of our food supply contains GMOs. This amendment supported both States' rights and the right of individuals to make informed decisions for themselves.
We owe a "Thank You!" to Senator DeMint (R-SC) and Senator Sanders (I-VT) for sponsoring these amendments. You can see how your Senators voted on the DeMint amendment here and on the Sanders amendment here
For both of these amendments, please be sure to thank your Senators if they voted yes. If your Senators voted no, call and ask their staffers for an explanation and urge them to reconsider their position on these issues.
The House Agriculture Committee is expected to release its draft of the Farm Bill either this week or next. So we'll be going through the amendment process again soon on the House side — stay tuned for more action alerts!


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Milwaukee man named Birds in Art Master Artist
WAUSAU - Milwaukee native Don Rambadt has been named the 2017 Birds in Art Master Artist.
The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum chose Rambadt after 16 years of his metal sculptures being selected to be a part of the annual avian art exhibition.
Museum Director Kathy Kelsey Foley said in a news release that the Woodson Art Museum is excited to feature Rambadt because he continues to push boundaries with his art — both aesthetically and technically.
RELATED: 'Birds in Art' artist ponders crows, universe
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Rambadt was born in 1970 in Milwaukee and went on to attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he earned a bachelor of fine arts in sculpture. For 10 years, he operated Vanguard Sculpture Services, a bronze foundry, outside of the city of Milwaukee. But his inspiration for his art came from learning how to weld — a skill he said fueled something inside of him.
"I could completely lose myself in the process," he said in the news release.
Rambadt's art will be on display from Sept. 9 through Nov. 26. Twelve of his sculptures have been chosen for the display, alongside over 100 other works of art, produced in the past three years by artists all over the world.
For more information on the annual Birds in Art exhibition, visit www.lyam.org.
Contact Going Out reporter Laura Schulte at 715-297-7532 or firstname.lastname@example.com; on Twitter @schultelaura.


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Tiago Peixoto authored
Complete overhaul of command line parsing, and support for loading graph-tool as whole as a python module The command line parsing was completely rewritten. It now supports better parsing of sub-options, with type checking and grouping support. Error reporting was also significantly improved, and it now warns of invalid options and option values, before the option is executed. Some syntax has changed, such as range filtering: --[vertex|edge]-range-filter was replaced by --exclude-[vertex|edge]-range and --keep-[vertex|edge]-range, which should have a clearer meaning. Ranges can also be specified now by comparison operators (>,<,>=,<=,=), such as ">=10", to indicate a range of (10, inf). In addition, ranges can now be easily open or closed at either end, by suffixing the specific end with '*', to indicate it is closed, ex: "10 700*" means (10,700]. The graph-tool script can now be loaded as a python module (it must be renamed first to 'something.py'). All the command line options (except 'for' and 'history' which become irrelevant) are available as functions, with full description and optional parameter support. In addition, pure function objects can be given as parameters where expressions are asked, instead of strings and files, which enables convenient extension of graph-tool.cb61cc74