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Although Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface Killa famously said on the classic track "Criminology" that he "revolve around sciences," it would seem that his fellow swordsman the GZA has literally taken those bars to heart. The Brooklyn native has immersed himself in working alongside MIT professors for research and mixing his potent bars with scientifically-influenced facts. Just a month shy of his 46th birthday, the veteran wordsmith sat down with The Fader and their Captain Morgan Black-sponsored 'Step Into The Black' series, breaking down his interest in science, his new album Dark Matter and plans to work on a graphic novel.
"I was interested in science from a very early age but not to the point where I wanted to go to school and study and be a physicist," said GZA. "Just learning things about the stars and the planets, the workings of the atoms and molecules …knowing that we're part of this whole universal structure. It's all fascinating. It's something to write about."
Along with Dark Matter, GZA hinted that he's working on three albums and also a graphic novel Chlorine – a coming-of-age tale of four youth during summer vacation set at a swimming pool; GZA said that the book will be 12-part anthology series. As if the GZA wasn't busy enough, he's also a travelling lecturer, having graced the halls of Harvard and the aforementioned MIT.
"It's pretty intimidating at times, and challenging," shared GZA, comparing lecturing to his normal stage setting of Hip-Hop. "It all relates back to music, my upbringing, my involvement with the Clan."
The ambitious Dark Matter album, in where GZA uses rhymes inspired by the cosmos and the creation of the universe, is slated for a fall release.
Check out the full video here:
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• The Dark Knight Rises x Under Armour – Gotham City Rogues Collection [PHOTOS]
• Drake Buys $7.7 Million Mansion [PHOTOS]
• Hip-Hop Wired Presents: A Tribute To BET's Rap City: Tha Basement [VIDEO]
• Beyoncé Shows Off Blue Ivy [PHOTO]
• Rick Ross Talks Grilling Tilapia And Eating Cheese With Bon Appétit [PHOTOS]
• Bangin Candy: New Basketball Wives: LA Star Brooke Bailey [PHOTOS]
• 10 Nas Albums, 10 Memorable Album Covers [PHOTOS]
• A Journey Through The Life And Legacy Of Nelson Mandela [PHOTOS]
Photo: YouTube


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Education facilities managers have learned to be proactive rather than reactive to potential risks
Earn continuing education from these training videos from the Las Vegas event
« Back to Facilities Management News Home
Bulbrite recently announced the release of their 2017 LED Product Catalog, featuring a wide variety of LED lighting solutions for residential and commercial applications.
The new 2017 LED Product Catalog offers the most comprehensive compilation of product information for Bulbrite's LED line. It also features a new look and feel, rebranded with Bulbrite's new "turn life on" branding, which will be unveiled at January 2017 Lightovation.
Bulbrite's 2017 LED Product Catalog is divided into four major sections: Omni-Directional LEDs, Directional LEDs, Specialty LEDs, and Linear LEDs with an easy-to-follow coloring system, table of contents and index. Showcasing the company's commitment to education, Bulbrite's LED catalog design presents significant technical information in a user-friendly format. The new LED Education section highlights important resources that customers rely on to choose the right LED lamp for their needs, including graphic illustrations to further explain lighting terminology. Additionally, footnotes help users navigate UL ratings for dry, damp and wet location applications as well as legislative and performance certifications.
Compatibility icons throughout the catalog help users identify ENERGY STAR® certified products, UL listing, DLC certifications, dimmability and more to easily guide readers to find the ideal product for their unique lighting needs.
A downloadable PDF version of the 2017 LED Product Catalog is available on the new Bulbrite website (www.bulbrite.com).

subset: commoncrawl


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Senior Care
The Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation supports select senior care facilities in Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. Mrs. Whitehead was sympathetic to the welfare of senior women of limited means, having grown up among older female family members who struggled to make ends meet. In establishing the Whitehead Foundation, Conkey Pate echoed his mother's concern by professing "the greatest sympathy for senior women … who have met with adversity in their declining years."
The Foundation does not provide financial assistance directly to individuals. If you are seeking aid for senior care, please contact your institution for information on how to apply.
Please see below for a list of institutions that participate in our senior care program. Note the Foundation rarely adds new institutions to this program. For more information, contact Carrie Conway at email@example.com.
Participating Institutions
GeorgiaA.G. Rhodes
Emory University – Budd Terrace
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home
Presbyterian Homes, Inc. – Austell and Quitman
North CarolinaArbor Acres United Methodist Retirement Community
Baptist Retirement Homes of North Carolina
Moravian Home, Inc. – Salemtowne
Penick Home
Senior Services
Trellis Supportive Care
VirginiaGoodwin House
Rappahannock Westminster-Canterbury
Westminster Canterbury Richmond
Westminster-Canterbury of the Blue Ridge
Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay


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Stop the war!
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SIAM Journal on Computing, Volume 2
Volume 2, Number 1, March 1973
- E. A. Akkoyunlu:
The Enumeration of Maximal Cliques of Large Graphs. 1-6
- Chin-Liang Chang, Richard C. T. Lee, John K. Dixon:
The Specialization of Programs by Theorem Proving. 7-15
- Seymour E. Goodman, Stephen T. Hedetniemi:
Eulerian Walks in Graphs. 16-27
- Philip M. Spira:
A New Algorithm for Finding all Shortest Paths in a Graph of Positive Arcs in Average Time 0(n2 log2n). 28-32
- Jürg Nievergelt, Edward M. Reingold:
Binary Search Trees of Bounded Balance. 33-43
- S. G. Williamson:
Isomorph Rejection and a Theorem of De Bruijn. 44-59
- Mike Paterson, Larry J. Stockmeyer:
On the Number of Nonscalar Multiplications Necessary to Evaluate Polynomials. 60-66
Volume 2, Number 2, June 1973
- J. Robert Jump, P. S. Thiagarajan:
On the Equivalence of Asynchronous Control Structures. 67-87
- John H. Holland:
Genetic Algorithms and the Optimal Allocation of Trials. 88-105
- Alfred V. Aho, Jeffrey D. Ullman:
A Technique for Speeding up LR(k) Parsers. 106-127
- Phillip J. Chase:
Transposition Graphs. 128-133
Volume 2, Number 3, September 1973
- John E. Hopcroft, Robert Endre Tarjan:
Dividing a Graph into Triconnected Components. 135-158
- John E. Hopcroft, Jean E. Musinski:
Duality Applied to the Complexity of Matrix Multiplication and Other Bilinear Forms. 159-173
- Walter J. Savitch:
How to Make Arbitrary Grammars Look Like Context-Free Grammars. 174-182
- Donald P. Gaver, Gerald S. Shedler:
Approximate Models for Processor Utilization in Multiprogrammed Computer Systems. 183-192
- Toshihide Ibaraki:
Finite State Representations of Discrete Optimization Problems. 193-210
- Robert Endre Tarjan:
Enumeration of the Elementary Circuits of a Directed Graph. 211-216
Volume 2, Number 4, December 1973
- Loren Haskins, Donald J. Rose:
Toward Characterization of Perfect Elimination Digraphs. 217-224
- John E. Hopcroft, Richard M. Karp:
An n5/2 Algorithm for Maximum Matchings in Bipartite Graphs. 225-231
- Stephen S. Lavenberg:
Queueing Analysis of a Multiprogrammed Computer System Having a Multilevel Storage Hierarchy. 232-252
- J. C. Dunn:
Continuous Group Averaging and Pattern Classification Problems. 253-272
- Leonard J. Bass:
On Optimal Processor Scheduling for Multiprogramming. 273-280
- Walter B. McRae, Ernest R. Davidson:
An Algorithm for the Extreme Rays of a Pointed Convex Polyhedral Cone. 281-293
- John E. Hopcroft, Jeffrey D. Ullman:
Set Merging Algorithms. 294-303
- Sheila A. Greibach:
The Hardest Context-Free Language. 304-310
- Derek G. Corneil, Bruce Graham:
An Algorithm for Determining the Chromatic Number of a Graph. 311-318
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Despite a strong start on the East Coast, the Dirty Mind tour lost its momentum when it hit the Southern states. Dates in Charleston, Chattanooga, Nashville, Atlanta, and Memphis saw disappointing ticket sales, failing to attract the mainstream R&B audience who had seen Prince open for Rick James earlier in 1980. Only in Detroit–where he, astonishingly, nearly sold out the 12,000-seat Cobo Hall–was Prince building a substantial audience.
Meanwhile, according to drummer Bobby Z, the album sales just "kind of sat" (Nilsen 1999 74). The machinations of P.R. mastermind Howard Bloom, brought on by Prince's management at the beginning of December, had not yet taken hold. After a final date at Chicago's Uptown Theatre (no relation), the tour ground to a halt; and, for the third time in his brief career, Prince was sent back to Minneapolis to lick his wounds.


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August 2nd, 2011
Everyone's a Critic: Living in 'The Real World'
We can attribute at least one thing to MTV as it turns 30 this week: "The Real World" may not have been the first reality show, but it was arguably the most groundbreaking. In it, you can find the blueprint for many of the reality formats that dominate today's TV landscape.
It was a simple idea - put a group of strangers together, turn on the cameras and see what happens – that yielded an addictive, engaging result. The show became a sensation, a part of our cultural consciousness that gave Generation X a rallying point and a shared experience.
I can still rattle off the names of nearly every cast member from the first 10 seasons. I can tell you when and why that famous introduction sentence changed from "seven strangers" to "seven people." I know when producers stopped casting people who lived in the city where the season took place, and when they started forcing the cast members to work together as well as live together.
And sadly, I can tell you when I stopped caring as much about "The Real World"... which was when it stopped being about the real world.
From its outset, the show was a social experiment, and it took on important issues. Race relations, abortion, sexuality, alcoholism. All the sensitive topics that we knew were out there, but we may not have known how to discuss.
In 1994, AIDS was a frightening constant in our society, but one that few people had direct experience with. That is, until "The Real World" producers cast Pedro Zamora, who was openly gay and HIV-positive. Zamora, who worked as an HIV/AIDS activist, used the show as a platform to educate. When he died following the season, President Bill Clinton made a speech honoring Zamora declaring that now, no one could say they had never known a person with AIDS.
Think about it: The sitting U.S. president commented on the impact of a reality show on MTV.
But somewhere along the way, "The Real World" shifted. Yes, there were always parties and alcohol and scandal. But now, that's ALL the show is about. It's permissive debauchery, where cast members are more concerned with hooking up and getting trashed.
Look at pictures of the most recent cast, and then look back at photos of the original cast members. Now tell me if any of those original seven would be cast in today's "Real World." (OK, maybe Eric Nies.)
It's possible that "The Real World" still holds up a mirror to our society, and maybe the generational shift in cast members just brought a different tone to the experiment. But the show that launched a thousand reality series doesn't hold the cultural weight that it once did, and it certainly doesn't challenge our ideas about who we are and the world that we live in anymore.
We're never going to be at a loss for reality shows filled with beautiful people doing wild things. And reality shows won't be at a loss for viewers who want to watch beautiful people do wild things. But there was a time when "The Real World" strived to be eye opening, not just eye candy.
It may be a harsh criticism for such a long-running franchise, but that's what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real.
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Compared to mom, father's generally get the short end of the stick when it comes to their special day: Father's Day. As flower arrangements, fruit bouquets, and a box of chocolate are not the atypical items, which make dad ooh and ah, there are a few approaches to please dad. Here we've developed a short list of Father's Day gift basket ideas:
1) Search online among the most popular fruit bouquet companies: Cherry Moon Farms, Edible Arrangements and Harry and David.
2) Compare each companies fruit bouquets. Since each presents a different interpretation of the edible bouquet, be sure to evaluate the contents, fruit bouquet delivery costs as well as the various sizes and prices.
Father's Day Gift basket note: If Dad does not enjoy fruit, create your own
Gift basket. Consider these suggestions:
For dads, who are addicted to 18-holes of golf, create Father's Day Gift baskets filled with golf balls, gloves, energy drink, a Titlist baseball hat, golf attire and any other gadgets that will improve dada's game. Also, be sure to explore is any golfing events and opens are scheduled in Dad's locality. Don't rule out Web sites, selling golf products, however be sure to compare prices.
Container wise: Opt for an untraditional gift basket. After all it's for dad and he'll appreciate the extra effort put into giving him a nice gift. For instance, a golf bag doubles as an excellent Father's day gift baskets – especially when it's arrives stocked with all the gadgets dad needs for a good round of golf.
Finally, dad does not have to be a golf enthusiast to create a wonderful Father's Day gift baskets. Customize the items according to dad's favorite past time.
Please click on Father's day Gift Baskets for additional ideas.


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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is working to develop a nuclear propulsion technology demonstrator. The Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program has set the goal of demonstrating a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) system above low Earth orbit in 2025. Current propulsion in the space domain limits maneuverability of on orbit spacecraft.Continue reading "Nuclear Rockets in Space"
Category Archives: Mars
How to Travel Around Mars Quickly
NASA's new rover, Perseverance is almost to Mars! It carries with it a host of scientific instruments to collect tons of data in its search for signs of ancient life, and it won't be traveling there alone. Along for the ride is a technology demonstrator called Ingenuity. Ingenuity is also known as the Mars Helicopter.Continue reading "How to Travel Around Mars Quickly"
Meet Perseverance
In about a week and a half the Mars rover; Perseverance will touch down on the Red Planet. After successful systems checks and time to boot up, this next generation rover will begin to explore our neighboring planet. Although on the surface Perseverance looks a lot like previous rovers such as Curiosity, it is theContinue reading "Meet Perseverance"
Seven Minutes of Terror
– Perseverance arrives on Mars – After launching on July 30th from Cape Canaveral and spending over 6 months traveling through the solar system, the new Perseverance rover is about to arrive at Mars. Before it can begin to explore the surface of the red planet, however, it must endure a harrowing descent. On FebruaryContinue reading "Seven Minutes of Terror"


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In its second year, Bike-n-Brews is a young Cascade Bicycle Club event, especially compared to the club's iconic Seattle to Portland Classic first held in 1979.
Bike-n-Brews is a much different kind of ride. It's less about distance and more about, well, enjoying a ride and grabbing a beer. And for the first time, they are hosting a northbound version of the ride sticking mostly to the Burke-Gilman Trail.
Bike-n-Brews El Norte starts and ends in Myrtle Edwards Park along the waterfront just north of downtown. The ride will then head to 192 Brewing in Kenmore for a beer stop before heading back to Seattle for music and food (there are soft drinks for people who don't want to drink). If you have never biked 48 miles before, this could be a good, low-stress and almost entirely flat way to give it a shot.
On one level, Bike-n-Brews is just about having fun on bikes. But it's also an effort on Cascade's part to appeal to a wider range of people (Disclosure: Cascade advertises on Seattle Bike Blog). The ride is fairly easy, but just long enough to make you feel like you earned your beer.
Online registration has ended, but you can register at the start for $50 (includes a t-shirt and drink tickets). More details from Cascade:
Due to the overwhelming popularity of our original Seattle Bike-n-Brews south-end ride, we have added a brand new event to this year's ride roster: Bike-n-Brews El Norte (the North)!
Bike-n-Brews El Norte is a relaxed urban event for recreational cyclists who appreciate flat city riding and tipping back local craft beers.
Last year's inaugural event drew a truly eclectic mix of riders—young and old, Lycra and jeans, fixies and carbon road bikes. And, with route options of 12, 38 or 48 miles, this is a ride anyone can complete.
The route begins and ends at scenic Myrtle Edwards Park near Downtown Seattle. Bike-n-Brewers are taken on an out and back ride to Kenmore, utilizing the Elliot Bay, Ship Canal and Burke-Gilman bike trails, and lightly traveled roads in between.
The start/finish line will feature live music and food. With their paid registration, riders receive an event t-shirt (must register before May 28 to receive t-shirt) and beverage tickets good for beer at both breweries. The mid-point rest stop will be at 192 Brewing Company in Kenmore. Riders can use a beer ticket here and fuel up on soft drinks and ride snacks. Hot food will be available for purchase. The Myrtle Edwards Finish Line Festival location overlooks beautiful Elliott Bay, featuring live music and beer from both Fremont Brewing and Peddler Brewing companies!


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MBM Uses 3D Scanning technology to achive significant cost saving, optimize maintenance schedules, increase quality, improve safety and reduce rework with our equipment the results are very detailed ad accurate. We can provide support while the vessel is in operation.
MBM Uses laser equipment for new build, conversion, refit, survey and tests which includes inclining test with lashers which gives more accurate result while conduction the inclining test.
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[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/04/12/art.scotus0412.gi.jpg caption="A federal judge from Montana and the dean of Harvard's law school are among several names being added to the Supreme Court short list."]
Washington (CNN) - A federal judge from Montana and the dean of Harvard's law school are among several names being added to the short list of potential nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court, a government source tells CNN.
Sidney Thomas, a 14-year veteran on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, is being vetted by the White House, said the source, who has been regularly consulted in the selection process.
Two women who were not previously on other published lists of potential candidates are now being seriously considered. Harvard Law school dean Martha Minow has been on the school's faculty since 1981. And Elizabeth Warren heads the Congressional Oversight Panel, which reviews government efforts to boost the shaky financial and private investment sector. Neither woman has judicial experience.
Sources close to the selection process said the new names represent an effort to expand what had been a short list of candidates, many of them left over after last year's court vacancy was filled by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Some White House officials have been urging the president to expand the list of possibles to include more non-judges and people with different backgrounds and from other regions of the country. All the current Justices except the retiring John Paul Stevens are Ivy League law school graduates.
Thomas, a white male who was born in Bozeman, Montana in 1953, is little-known and has attracted little fanfare beyond the San Francisco-based court, which is considered the most liberal among the nation's 13 appeals courts.
Among rulings he authored was a 2006 decision in Nadarajah v. Gonzalez, where Thomas concluded the government illegally detained Ahilan Nadarajah for four years while the Justice Department appealed a grant of asylum. The man is a member of the Tamil ethnic minority and asserted that he was tortured and persecuted by members of the Sinhalese majority.
Minow is the daughter of former Federal Communications Commission head Newt Minow. She clerked for former Justice Thurgood Marshall. In her mid-50s, Minow replaced as dean the woman considered near the top of potential high court nominees, Elena Kagan, now solicitor general.
Warren - along with her husband - is also a Harvard law professor. She has been a regular on the talk-show circuit, including CNN, to discuss the economy's effect on families. The Oklahoma native has also co-authored two books with her daughter.
One name mentioned by some analysts for years as a potential blockbuster choice has been all but ruled out for consideration. Supporters of Hillary Clinton have long touted her credentials, but White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said Monday the president "thinks Secretary Clinton is doing an excellent job as secretary of state and wants her to remain in that position."
The White House has given no indication when Obama will name a successor to Stevens, who announced his retirement last Friday. Stevens has been on the high court nearly 35 years and leads the four-justice liberal bloc.
Wheres the list of CEOs running for this job?
i absolutely love elizabeth warren. the supreme court could certainly use her no-nonsense approach to things. i don't know how her not having judicial experience would affect her ability to serve. that is one for the experts
It does not matter who is picked, the fear/hate/obstructionist/purity Republicans will do all they can to demonise the person.
If all that is needed is 50 senators and the VP to confirm, I say select someone who will balance out the court from the far right Roberts,Alito,Scalia,Thomas. Put someone in who will work for the people not the special interest.
What we need is for one of the far right to leave or Kennedy and replace with a peoples justice and we will get the 5 to 4 in our favor for once.
We need to make it that before and decision is handed down that you must have 7 justices on one side seeing the SCOTUS is the last word unless congress changes the legislation a ruling was based on.
I think Bill Clinton would make an excellent judge and would stand a good chance if it weren't for that one little instance.
I think we need some new independent ideas on the high Court – some folks with no political leanings. For example:
UH never mind, we do not have any of those independent thinkers in the country.
Hillary Clinton would be great!!!!! Seems like a NO-Brainer to me. A former First Lady and Senator. How could you get better experience on the court? Obama's going to appoint a liberal anyway so what a great choice!!!!!! Unless of course he really still hates her!!!!
I like Elizabeth Warren. A very thoughtful individual.
You can bet your last dollar that Bozo's appointee will be. Liberal activist wanting to legislate from the bench rather than a true constitutionist!
I and most other Americans are fed up with Obama's liberal/socialist agenda. We will see that it is stopped in November and 2012!
Absolutely NO 9th circuit accord judges--they are blinded by liberalism and overturned 95% times by the Supreme Court.


text: We've created our PCB machine recommender and pricing tool to help you zero on the best PCB laser etching or milling machine for your research or manufacturing environment. Whether you're designing single or multi-layer printed circuits on copper, FR4, alumina, AlN, green board or any other of a number of substrates, there's an ideal LPKF rapid PCB prototyping machine for the job. Finding one is quick and easy. Just answer five simple questions about your PCB design and manufacturing needs, and you'll instantly get a machine recommendation or two, and be presented the chance to request price and delivery. Other overhead cost preparation, ROI, and capital expenditure (CapEx) planning tools are available in our updates section, too!


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Call for equity for indigenous women
WASHINGTON - Racial and gender inequalities afflict women generally in the
United States and Native women more than others, according to the
Washington-based Institute for Women's Policy Research.
The Institute's "Status of Women in the States" shows that American Indian
women have lower social and economic status than white women throughout the
U.S., with lower earnings, less education, more poverty and worse health.
Coupled with Department of Justice findings on the high rate of violent
victimization among Indian women, the report continues a modest trend
toward constructive attention to the problems Native women encounter - and
overcome in a great many cases - on a statistical scale unparalleled in the
United States.
"The data in this report clearly show the many challenges faced by Native
American women in this country," said Heidi Hartmann, president of the
Institute for Women's Policy Research. "We hope that the report will serve
as a springboard to energize policymakers to improve the status of Native
American women."
Jacqueline Johnson, executive director of the National Congress of American
Indians, called on the funding community to support new research on
American Indian women. "Many data sources are out of date or incomplete. In
order to adequately address the problems facing Indian women, we need
reliable statistics to describe the quality of American Indian women's
lives and experiences. Researchers don't know enough about many of the
serious issues affecting American Indian women's lives because Indian women
do not yet have sufficient political or economic power to demand the
necessary data."
The study makes a good start, reporting that the median annual earnings of
American Indian women who work full-time, full-year in the U.S. are $25,500
and they make only 58 cents for every dollar white men in the country make.
The report finds 25 percent of American Indian women in the U.S. living in
poverty. The number is even greater for Native American single mothers:
More than a third, 38 percent, of families headed by an American Indian
single mother live in poverty.
The differences between Native women who live in urban and rural areas are
even more pronounced. In non-metro areas, those working full-time,
full-year make $23,200 on average, and women in metro areas make $27,600.
When women who work less than full-time are included in the figures, the
picture is bleaker: Native women who live in non-metro areas make only
$15,000, and those who live in metro areas make $18,800.
Read More
Differences also abound from state to state. American Indian women's
earnings range from a high of $38,700 in Connecticut to a low of $19,900 in
North Dakota. American Indian women in Virginia are the least likely of
Native women to be poor, with 11 percent living in poverty, while almost
half of American Indian women in South Dakota, 45 percent, live in poverty.
"Government at all levels should put forth an effort to recruit American
Indian women into training and education programs that will offer them
higher -paying opportunities and positions and help close the wage gap,"
said NCAI's Johnson.
"Effective federal, state and local policies to lower American Indian
women's poverty rates are greatly needed to address these disparities," she
added. "Ways to address these inequities include emphasis on educational
attainment, enforcement of equal opportunity laws, payment of living wages,
increased access to affordable child care and providing adequate health and
leave benefits."
A smaller proportion of American Indian women (30 percent) in the country
work in managerial or professional jobs, compared with 36 percent of all
women. Only 12 percent of Native American women nationally have a four-year
college degree, almost half the rate for all women (23 percent). Again, the
numbers vary widely across the country: 50 percent of American Indian women
in the District of Columbia work in managerial or professional jobs,
compared with 20 percent of Native women in Iowa. Massachusetts has the
highest proportion of American Indian women with a college degree, at 20
percent, while Delaware has the lowest, at 7 percent.
American Indian women are also dramatically under-represented in elected
office: No American Indian women currently serve in the U.S. Congress, and
no American Indian women serve in statewide elected executive offices in
any state in the country. As of October 2004, there were 10 American Indian
women serving in state legislatures in five states across the country, out
of a possible 7,382 seats. In comparison, there were 1,355 white women
serving, 215 African American women, 58 Hispanic women and 23 Asian
American women.
Johnson said political participation is a viable method for American Indian
women to shape the policies that affect their lives. NCAI sought to
increase the involvement of all American Indian people in the political
process through the Native Vote 2004 campaign. She said success stories
include Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, who was
elected to the Minneapolis school board and Cecelia Fire Thunder, who
recently became the first woman elected president of the Oglala Sioux
Tribe. In addition, a Chickasaw woman, Lisa J. Billy, was elected to the
Oklahoma House of Representatives. More efforts like these are needed to
include Indian women in the political process, Johnson said.
Health disparities also characterize the experience of Native women in the
United States, the report found.
Editor's note: NCAI staff contributed to this article.


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In situ detection of electrified aerosols in the upper troposphere and stratosphere
- 1LPC2E-CNRS/University of Orléans, 3A avenue de la recherche scientifique, UMR7328, 45071 Orléans cedex 2, France
- 2Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Center for Environmental Science and Engineering, Kanpur, India
- 3University of Bath, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK
- 4University of Reading, Department of Meteorology, Reading RG6 6BB, UK
Abstract. Electrified aerosols have been observed in the lower troposphere and in the mesosphere, but have never been detected in the stratosphere and upper troposphere. We present measurements of aerosols obtained during a balloon flight to an altitude of ~ 24 km. The measurements were performed with an improved version of the Stratospheric and Tropospheric Aerosol Counter (STAC) aerosol counter dedicated to the search for charged aerosols. It is found that most of the aerosols are charged in the upper troposphere for altitudes below 10 km and in the stratosphere for altitudes above 20 km. Conversely, the aerosols seem to be uncharged between 10 km and 20 km. Model calculations are used to quantify the electrification of the aerosols with a stratospheric aerosol-ion model. The percentages of charged aerosols obtained with model calculations are in excellent agreement with the observations below 10 km and above 20 km. However, the model cannot reproduce the absence of electrification found in the lower stratosphere, as the processes leading to neutralisation in this altitude range are unknown. The presence of sporadic transient layers of electrified aerosol in the upper troposphere and in the stratosphere could have significant implications for sprite formation.


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Funny Moments
A Day at Chalker
We started our new unit, Ultimate Connections, off with a pre-test to assess background knowledge and a Bridge Simulation Activity. The students were placed in different societies with varying resources and food items. They needed to figure out ways to sustain life by trading. They learned quickly the importance of bridges! Check out the fun below:
We did a bit more reading about the Vietnam War and then continued our novel. We're almost to the end. It's SO hard to stop reading each week!
No Homework!
Enjoy your Spring Break!
Dr. Kraeger


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When Marnie Was There (in Japanese, "Omoide no Marnie", or "Memories of Marnie") has the distinction of not only being Studio Ghibli's latest film, but as current plans stand, of also being their last theatrical film. I've watched most of Studio Ghibli's films, and bidding them farewell is not an easy thing, but should we bid them goodbye, or are they still there for us? I feel that this film deals with that very question.
Before I begin my thematic discussion and analysis of the film, because this write-up will contain numerous spoilers, I'll cut to the chase and say that this film is my 2nd favourite Studio Ghibli film from the last two decades, and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. The film is directed by Yonebayashi Hiromasa who directed The Secret World of Arrietty and is based on a novel by the same name by Joan G. Robinson, first published in 1967, which is set in England.
While it might not seem so at first glance, I hold that When Marnie Was There is a film about growing up. Growing up is also growing past, and beyond this film being about Anna's journey of growing past her own pains, it is also a film about us growing to leave Studio Ghibli, or at least Studio Ghibli as it is in Miyazaki's films (as Takahata's are different in style), behind. And in order to do so, the film that seems much less about the "magical journey", is anything but.
(This is a Things I Like post, it's not a review, but more a discussion of the show and of ideas that rose in my mind as a result of watching the show. There will be massive spoilers for the film.)
When we first behold Marnie, it is through a dream-scape, far and unknown. When we first meet Marnie, she is clad in blue and white, and welcomes us past a gate. When we last meet Marnie, she is again clad in blue and white. A blonde girl clad in blue and white, to a western audience, should bring to mind Disney's Alice. Marnie invites Anna in, and asks her to keep her a secret. This is an invitation to the unknown and magical world, which in particular is similar both to Alice going down the rabbit hole, and to characters such as Spirited Away's Chihiro and others in Ghibli films starting their journey, but on a more meta-level, it is us being invited on a journey to a place that is just out of touch with reality whenever we watch a Studio Ghibli film, it is an invitation to the land of the fantastical.
There are more references and touches of the fantastical in the film, such when Anna dances amidst the fae until she drops unconscious, or when they go into the "underworld", the lonely silo at the top of the hill, and "fantastical" is very much the key word here, as when the show tells us the truth about Marnie, it still doesn't answer whether we've met her ghost, or whether Anna had been hallucinating the whole thing. "Memories of Marnie," the Japanese name for the film is appropriate here, but not as an answer, because what are ghosts in western myth if not memories of those who are held from moving on?
And here it is where we get to the theme of the movie, as I see it, and of this piece. Marnie's last question to Anna was whether she forgives her for leaving her behind, and one of Anna's most heartfelt messages early on in the movie was how she could not forgive her family for dying and abandoning her. Whether it is Marnie who's always watched over Anna and who couldn't move on until being forgiven or Anna who had to call back the memory of her grandmother, even if she wasn't yet fully aware of the fact, so she could come to terms with her leaving her is a big question, which isn't answered in the film but rather is left for interpretation, but the key point remains – Anna ended up forgiving Marnie for leaving her; she forgave her grandmother for leaving her behind.
Growing up is growing past, and in Anna's case, it's growing past her hurt and feeling of betrayal. Anna is able to forgive Marnie because she loves her so much that she cannot see herself as not forgiving her, as hurting her by not forgiving her, and because she also knows that Marnie loves her, and that she probably had no other option when death called. Anna is not an adult, not a grown up, she's twelve. But forgiving Marnie is what gives her a chance of ever growing up, of getting on with her life. It is what allows her to also forgive her adoptive mother, whom she loves, and knows loves her. It is an acceptance of how things are not always perfect.
While "growing past" sounds very cold, as if it's exactly the sort of abandonment that Anna resents, it is the opposite in this case. Anna had never been left by Marnie, as can be seen by the presence of the memory-ghost, and rather kept her within her. "Growing past" here should mean that one can move on while still keeping your memories within you, as making them a part of you that you accept, rather than resent, and use to remain anchored from any change. Anna carries Marnie within her during the film, and even moreso once the film ends, with her promise to return to Sayako, Hisako, and the Marsh House.
Likewise with us (or at least myself) and Studio Ghibli, and also Disney films, and other elements one attaches to one's "childhood". It's easy to feel some sort of resentment, or at least sadness, when those symbols of our childhood abandon us (such as by an author's death or when a studio will no longer produce films), or when we feel as if they've betrayed us (when we do not like their latest creation), or even the betrayal and loss we feel when we grow past them, when we look back on our old memories and feel as if they were unearned. But just as Anna carried Marnie with her up to now, and just as she will keep carrying her within her now as she finally allows herself to connect to new people, so will Studio Ghibli remain with us, as all the other elements of our childhood that helped shape us to who we are, and still provide bittersweet memories as we look back, and look forward.
When Marnie Was There could just as well have been named "When Marnie Is There", because while to "grow up" is also to "grow past", it does not mean we leave these things behind, but take them with us as we head beyond the point where they could carry us. When Marnie Was There is very much a Studio Ghibli film in its themes and atmosphere of the fantastical, of the emotional journey of young people, and it is also a very fitting farewell to Studio Ghibli, as it teaches us to say farewell fondly, as we can also revisit our past memories. These films will remain there for us, for as long as we need them.
Watch this film, it's a good film, it's a good memory. 9/10.
I really wanted to include this section, but there was just no way to include it organically. So, I'm going to include it past an artificial break, and though it chaffs, I feel so strongly about this film that I cannot do without adding this final flailing moment. This movie towards its end has an "Up Moment", but of course with the moment coming towards the end it can't truly be an "Up Moment," seeing as while it does have a hammering of "Sad Feels", it works because of how the entire movie builds up to it.
When I first watched the movie, ever since we first met Marnie, and perhaps even slightly before, I felt there was "imminent loss" hanging all over the film. Aside from the sense of the fantastical seeping in, I kept feeling a tingling behind my eyes, even when things didn't go badly, there was always the sense of Anna's hurt, of the film holding its breath in as it waits for the other shoe to drop. That "Up Moment" worked not because of its universality and raw sadness, but because the entire film was gearing up to it. This is a film about loss, about terrible loss, and about growing up to accept it, with love. Growing up to accept the love that others have for us, even as we feel unworthy of it.
Beyond being a fantastical film (pun intended), even in its brightest moments, it's a quietly sad film, that doesn't openly declare its sadness, until that final cathartic moment that finally allows us to wake up, and grow up.


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17 Camden Street, Dublin 2
Neon is a reliable sort. For in and around a tenner, you can get a tasty Thai dinner. It may not be the best Thai place in Dublin to visit but the restaurant is very laid back so you can nip in and out for a quick one or kick back and take advantage of the free pour-your-own-ice-cream-cone machine. I've never had a disappointing meal from here but may I recommend the duck spring rolls as a starter. Holy coriander! 10 out of 10.
What has it got?
Seating: The majority of the seating is a communal table with moveable benches, which is tricky for a wheelchair. They have a few table with individual moveable chairs (no arm rests) but the tables are quite close to each other so you will have a bit of an issue finding a comfortable angle for your wheelchair.
Doors: The front door and the door out to the toilets are a bit heavy so you'll need to give a whoosh to get them open.
Ground: Painted concrete floor and tiles.
Stairs: It's all flat here with a slope up to the bathrooms.
Bathrooms: They have a large wheelchair bathroom. Most of the time, wheelchair bathrooms or cubicles are found in the ladies bathroom but here it's in the gents. Equality and all that.
Spaciousness: As I mentioned above, it's a bit tight in places as the tables are quite close together.
Helpfulness of Staff: The staff will you get a table that suits the wheelchair best.
Parking: There is wheelchair and other parking available on Camden Street and Pleasants Street.
Rating: 8/10
Why did it lose points? Neon lost two points because if the place is busy, it will be difficult to find a table that suits your wheelchair. Communal tables and benches are a pain in the ass for wheelchair users and unfortunately many restaurants are using them these days. The heavy doors might be difficult for some people but, other than that, Neon has a good wheelchair bathroom, it's all flat and the food is just fab.


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Comedy in the late 1980s was at a crossroads. The Mayalls,
Sayles and Eltons who had hitherto been tarred with the
'alternative comedy' brush were people who had attracted
interest because they had not followed the traditional route to a
career in comedy - they had not been in Footlights, they had not
written for Week Ending, and their apprenticeship had
been gleaned largely from late-night, bearpit stand-up shows. In
1989, however, these people were starting to make proper money at
last, and their television work became increasingly less
experimental and more viewer-friendly as a result. Meanwhile, those
of the same age who had been to Oxbridge and done their
National Service writing for Alas Smith and Jones
suddenly became the new media darlings. Andy Hamilton came up with
Drop The Dead Donkey, Angus Deayton hosted Have
I Got News For You, and Clive Anderson got his own chat
show. In the midst of all this was Absolutely, which
remains an unparalleled and under-rated gem.
The show was the work of Absolutely Productions from day one.
Fellow, non-alternative scene contemporaries Rory McGrath and Jimmy
Mulville (with whom some members of Absolutely had
worked with on Radio Active) set up Hat Trick
Productions in 1986, and the idea of setting up an independent
production company suddenly became an attractive and fashionable
prospect for those who had spent their twenties writing for
badly-paid Radio 4 quiz shows. With television stations at this
time being obliged to take a proportion of their output from
independent companies, it meant a form of creative control that
dreams are made of. Not to mention a nice logo.
The Absolutely team consisted of four Scottish
performers who had all attended the same school and had worked
together on radio and at the Edinburgh Fringe as 'The
Bodgers' - John Docherty, Moray Hunter, Gordon Kennedy and
Peter Baikie. Docherty (who consequently changed his name to Jack)
and Hunter were the most well-established writers, and their names
were familiar to viewers of many mid-80s comedy programmes. They
wrote the Spitting Image sketch about the Queen
forgetting to troop the colour, and the sketch where Smith and
Jones try to explain to a sales conference what the buttons on a
stereo do ("The Dolby button allows you to listen to your
cassette with the little green light on or off..."). They
were joined by former Footlights president Morwenna Banks, who had
also made sporadic appearances on Radio Active
(including the Australian stage version), together with brief
bit-parts in other shows - 'Third Whore' in a banned
Dangerous Brothers sketch from Saturday Live, for
example. Partnering Amanda Swift, with whom she had worked on Radio
2's Gorham & Swift, she wrote a book
(The Joke's On Us, 1987) about women in comedy.
She also produced a documentary about the burgeoning 'Comedy Of
Hate' non-phenomena, which was promptly banned by Channel 4.
John Sparkes was familiar to viewers of Naked Video
as 'Siadwel', an earnest anorak-clad poet who would sit on
a bed and happily tell people about his week ('People say to
me, 'Siadwel - go for it!'...so I went for it. It had
gone.'), but he left after the third series to work on
Absolutely. Both had joined The Bodgers for their
second Radio 4 series, resulting in a swift name-change from
In Other Words The Bodgers (1985) to Bodgers, Banks
& Sparkes (1986).
The content of the first show was interesting - some
sketches were very traditional, observational pieces concerning job
interviews and people phoning for pizza, while other items took
conventional situations and filled them with slightly sinister
characters. The most impressive of these was The Nice Family, who
became regular characters in the series. It was essentially a
monologue for Docherty, as a pillar-of-the-community father with an
odd, anachronistic hold on his four teenage children.
In spite of this, the experimentation in the first series
was extraordinary. One sequence involved Sparkes, against a plain
background, simply humming 'Greensleeves' for NO REASON
WHATSOEVER. There was also a deliberate decision not to include any
television parodies (unless they involved the
Absolutely team addressing the viewer as themselves), and
to exploit the three 12-minute sections of each programme to create
a real shape for the show. This involved impressive use of long,
Pythonesque linking devices, which allowed the comedy time to (for
want of a better word) breathe. There was also an edge to
the shows due to there being no time for studio
Other ideas continued: in the first series, we had
experienced a slide-show about the town of Stoneybridge,
accompanied by a gormless narration ('Come to
Stoneybridge...with its stony bridge!'), but series two and
three saw this idea develop, and we got to experience the actual
councillors behind the film, headed by Gordon Kennedy. The idea got
sillier as it went on, with Stoneybridge bidding to host the
Olympics and coming up with more and more elaborate promotions.
'What would you say to someone interested in investing in
Stoneybridge?' asks Sparkes. 'Well,' says
Baikie, 'First of all,
Baikie's musical contributions were also at their
height in the second series, usually accompanied by animated
sequences (made by Triffic Films, who created the Have I Got
News For You opening titles). One song advocated that the
world's ills would be solved if everyone wore a suit
('Have you ever seen a chartered accountant/Involved in a
potato blight?'), while another parodied
environment-friendly protest songs.
Sparkes developed his old man character 'Bert
Bastard' from series one, where the character was essentially
Sparkes shivering in a filthy kitchen going 'Oh, bloody
hell'. In series two, he had great monologues with
terrific, pathos-ridden one-liners ('If there's one
thing I can't stand, I can't stand
The 'Nice Family' sketches (and arguably the
entire series) reached their peak when the family visited a travel
agent. It's worth printing this sketch in full, because it
remains Jack Docherty's finest ten minutes:
The third series arrived on 17 May 1991, and was
transmitted at 10:30pm on Friday nights - a slot traditionally
reserved for Channel 4's most popular comedy series. This
series, which again ran for eight shows, only had a running time of
35 minutes (effectively 30 minutes of material), something which
the cast had insisted upon. Although the elongated linking material
had shaped the show in interesting ways, Docherty felt that it was
often self-indulgent. (Indeed, Absolutely Productions edited the
second series down to six 35-minute episodes for the 'Very
Bits Of Absolutely' compilations in spring 1991.) The third
series was certainly up to the same standard as series two,
although it was clear that the team had now found a formula and
there was generally less surprise and experimentation going
The spirit and verve was the same, however - usually with
sketches examining middle-class angst. In one episode, there is a
running joke about a bride preparing for a wedding, culminating in
a home video directed by her film-school-educated brother-in-law
(Docherty), who edits the footage like a rock video. The family are
embarrassed, to which Docherty jumps up and showers everyone with
insults like 'How can you be bothered to be bothered
about that?' and 'Here's to you, you collective
waste of blood'. Pausing for a second, Docherty then comes
out of character and addresses the viewer: 'God, I'd
love to do that. Still, I can't really - I'm a little
bit too sensible for that sort of thing...'. It echoed
previous Docherty rants where an eponymous character had rallied
against the world ('Why not be nasty to people - it
works!'), and was genuinely moving. When Docherty and
Hunter performed in a sketch about businessmen speaking gibberish
(referring to everything as 'Perkins') or a perfectly-timed
sketch about solicitors having long names, it was a convincing
revenge-fantasy for ex-lawyer Hunter, and one with which the viewer
had complete sympathy.
By this point, Absolutely was certainly
popular, although the press-release mentality of the media at the
time meant that people like Reeves and Mortimer were easier to
market. However, a fan did apparently go up to Vic Reeves and tell
him they were 'a big fan of his characters, especially the ones
who all dress in beige' (a mistaken allusion to The Nice Family
which Banks was mischievously pleased with).
The fourth series (again consisting of 35-minute episodes)
began on 22 January 1993, and marked Alan Nixon's departure as
producer. His replacement, David Tyler, further restricted the
sprawling nature of the format, with an emphasis on sketches which,
in Docherty's words, 'cut to the joke'. Series four
was, for the most, part, disappointing and many of the characters
lost their focus. The Nice Family, in particular, became less
sinister and indulged in more obvious gimmicks (a photo of John
Major on the wall, for example), and Docherty seemed to have
trouble doing the voice. The Calum Gilhooley sketches were weaker,
as were the Little Girl routines. Many sketches were dumbed down
quite substantially, with their characteristics simplified and
their surprise-value non-existent. There were a couple of enjoyable
items - a splendidly-choreographed song about bank holidays, and
Baikie's amazing 'Laughing Man' (a Pavarotti/Topol
figure who sings about pleb-tickling T-shirts and pub notices
before pissing himself laughing) being two examples - but series
four didn't really make for exciting or provocative viewing.
Sadly, because the show once again occupied the Friday 10:30pm
slot, most viewers' casual dismissal of Absolutely as a whole is based on these final six episodes.
Despite this final series, Absolutely
remains unequalled in television comedy. Quite simply, if you
don't like Absolutely you don't like comedy.
An average episode of Absolutely is like a good
episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, Not The
Nine O'Clock News and Harry Enfield's
Television Programme rolled into one. No, really. The
paler, trendier Fast Show owes Absolutely a monstrous debt.
To this day, the Absolutely team damn the
original series with faint praise, bemoaning the success-rate of
the sketches and cringing at their young performances. This
attitude is baffling, as Absolutely (for its first
three series at least) was nothing short of a weekly masterpiece.
But that's comedians for you. We can only hope that enough
people rediscover its brilliance to persuade them otherwise, and
that more writers will cite it as an influence. Absolutely, to use the worst analogy in the world, could become the Nick Drake of sketch comedy.
And that is why Absolutely was fantastic. It was, it's TRUE!


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- Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources
Media Contact for Baker-Polito Administration Releases First Comprehensive Energy Plan
Jessica Ridlen, Communications Director, Mass DOER
Boston — The Baker-Polito Administration today released the first-ever Comprehensive Energy Plan (CEP), which analyzes Massachusetts' energy supply and demand and outlines priorities and strategies for achieving a clean, affordable, and resilient energy future for the Commonwealth. The report found that thermal and transportation sector energy efficiency policies, as well as a clean electric grid, are needed to reduce emissions, lower costs, and ensure regional reliability. The Comprehensive Energy Plan was commissioned as part of Governor Baker's Executive Order No. 569, Establishing an Integrated Climate Change Strategy for the Commonwealth.
"The recommendations and analysis produced in this plan illustrate a changing energy landscape that will require a focus on energy efficiency improvements and the utilization of electricity to heat our homes and power our transportation sector," said Governor Charlie Baker. "The Commonwealth will use this plan to build upon major advancements like securing cost-effective, large-scale clean energy procurements of hydro-electricity and offshore wind energy and implement policies to help keep Massachusetts competitive in the region while ensuring residents and businesses have access to clean and reliable energy options."
"The Comprehensive Energy Plan provides planning guidance for state and local government to reach energy savings and emission reductions goals while balancing affordability and reliability," said Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito. "Developed with robust stakeholder engagement, this strategic plan is the next step in our administration's nation-leading work to combat climate change and promote clean energy."
The Comprehensive Energy Plan was developed by the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) using modeling for multiple scenarios for potential amounts of clean energy and energy efficiency between now and 2030 to evaluate the impact on cost, emissions and reliability.
The Plan recommends that policies should focus on reducing emissions in the thermal and transportation sectors, and take advantage of investments the Commonwealth has made in clean electricity by electrifying transportation and building heating through newer technologies like air source heat pumps. Additionally, analysis showed that Massachusetts may lower electricity rates to below predicted levels through reduction of consumption at peak periods and cost-effective procurements of clean energy. Policies that support supply energy diversity available in the winter, like the Commonwealth's recent procurements of hydroelectric energy and offshore wind energy, demonstrated significant cost and emission benefits during cold winter days.
"The Commonwealth is already implementing the Comprehensive Energy Plan recommendations in our 2019-2021 Three Year Energy Efficiency Plan by prioritizing fuel switching and active demand reduction," said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton. "This plan provides a smart, clear blueprint for Massachusetts and New England to follow over the next decade to reduce emissions, improve reliability and ultimately lower consumers' fuel costs."
In order to meet the Commonwealth's energy and emissions objectives, the Plan recommends a policy strategy that continues to increase cost-effective renewable energy supply, prioritize electric energy efficiency and peak demand reductions and support grid modernization and advanced technologies. Future policy strategies should target reductions in thermal sector consumption, drive consumer demand for energy efficiency measures, promote fuel switching from expensive, higher carbon intensive fuels to lower cost, lower carbon fuels, and invest in research and development for clean heating fuels.
"The most cost-effective way to reduce emissions while maintaining affordable energy costs for consumers is to ensure that as we increase the amount of energy supplied by clean renewable sources, we also combine our efforts with greater building energy efficiency and peak demand reduction strategies," said Department of Energy Resources Commissioner Judith Judson. "We need to not only change how we supply energy, but how we use energy through greater efficiency and reducing our consumption during peak periods."
The Comprehensive Energy Plan is designed to contribute to larger planning efforts including the 2030 Clean Energy and Climate Plan (CECP) process that establishes the policies the Commonwealth will use to achieve its greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments under the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) and the recently announced long-range comprehensive study outlining strategies to achieve 80 percent reductions by 2050.
"Under the Baker-Polito Administration, Massachusetts has been recognized as a national leader in developing policies to promote cleaner and more efficient energy usage," said House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, Jr. (R-North Reading). "The Comprehensive Energy Plan released today charts a course for the Commonwealth to continue to build on that success and to take additional steps that will benefit not only the environment but also the state's ratepayers through reduced emissions and potential cost savings."
"Having a comprehensive state energy plan is essential to projecting energy demand and then meeting it with reliability, cost-effectiveness and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions," said State Senator Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester). The creation and maintenance of this plan will guide our state government to better decisions and strategies for consumers, our environment and our economy."
"I applaud the Baker-Polito Administration, Secretary Beaton, and Commissioner Judson for the significant undertaking of creating a Comprehensive Energy Plan to help guide Massachusetts' energy choices in the coming years," said State Representative Thomas A. Golden, Jr. (D-Lowell), Chairman of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy. "I look forward to working collaboratively with the Administration to achieve the next level of emission reductions, energy conservation, and diversification, all of which will enable Massachusetts to continue along the path of pursuing cost-effective and reliable energy."
Multiple stakeholder sessions were held throughout the development process, and DOER hired a consultant, Synapse Energy Economics, Inc. to assist in the modeling and development of the CEP. More information on the development of the CEP and other details can be found here.


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About 99% of sports talk radio callers make shit up*. Case in point: I tuned in to the FAN960 post-game last night.
That was a mistake.
They sure love their C-words on the FAN: confidence, character, ciller instinct (heh). I'm pretty sure those things played a role in last night's loss, but some folks are so focused on the game-within-the-game-within-the-game. It's like double vision, you see two of everything so you think there's two of everything. Sometimes there's not even one of anything.
EV Shots On Goal : 9-10
EV Shots Toward Net : 16-18
EV Faceoff Starts : 6-2
EV Shots On Goal : 11-9
EV Shots Toward Net : 17-14
EV Faceoff Starts : 5-4
EV Shots On Goal : 9-2
EV Shots Toward Net : 22-3
EV Faceoff Starts : 6-3
EV Shots On Goal : 29-21
EV Shots Toward Net : 55-35
EV Faceoff Starts : 17-9
- It might be just me but I think the faceoff starts told the story of the game better than the Corsi. The Flames were easily worse in the second period to my eye, than either the first or third.
- As near a hard match as you can ask for between Iginla and Stastny (12 of Jarome's 16 EV minutes and Stastny's 17). Who lost that battle? I'd say Jarmoe.
- A lot of Stastny minutes for Regehr and Phaneuf, but Bouwmeester actually took a fair chunk of that time himself. Even when he's not taking the toughs, he's taking the toughs. Speak of the devil, he played a whopping 18 EV minutes in total, the most amongst the Flames skaters.
- Without shift charts (hopefully Vic gets this going again, but if not, don't worry folks, it's coming!), the story is not complete. But it looks to me like Boyd was given some sweet ice time to work with. And he looked comfortable playing those minutes.
- The first COL goal was bogus, you could see Phaneuf's stick was held, preventing him from getting to the loose puck. So much for that "lack of desperation" theory.
- WalkInvisible in last night's comments said that Bourque's fight was selfish on his part. Maybe. But the replays showed an uncalled slash on Bourque's stick (can anyone second this?) which effectively killed our 6-on-5 anyway. Myriad other incidents confirm: officiating was not at its finest.
- The Corsi count might indicate that the Flames only outshot the Avs on the back of that third period flurry, but the ice was already tilted way before then. Colorado was more "opportunistic"... whatever that means.
The Avalanche are not a good team.
* I just made this up.


text:
In California, Many Police and Firefighters Get $100,000 Pensions
At least 9,000 public employees earn almost double the median income every year of their retirement
Efforts to reform California's public employee pension system got a boost Wednesday from a Sacramento Bee investigation that unearthed some staggering numbers. "Almost 9,000 retirees in the California Public Employees' Retirement System receive at least $100,000 in annual benefits," the newspaper reported. The figure is being seized upon by critics of state worker compensation, who point out that the median taxpayer in the Golden State earns just $56,000 per year.
In fairness to California's public employees, the average pension drawn by last year's retirees was a more reasonable $38,000. "The outliers are driving the discussion," says union spokesman Steve Maviglio. "It's frustrating." In order to ease his mind, let's focus our criticism on the real culprits: the legislators who made retiring police officers, firefighters and correctional officers eligible to earn 90 percent of their peak salary for life after they retire. These "public safety employees" account for most of the six-figure pensioners, often because they work a lot of overtime and cash out unused vacation days in the last year of their contracts, artificially boosting their salaries and thus the sum they'll receive every year until death.
That doesn't frustrate Maviglio, who insists that "people who put their lives on the line every day deserve a secure retirement." But do they "deserve" more than twice the US median income? Do they "deserve" the sum the average California teacher makes, plus $32,000? Do they "deserve" pensions far higher than the highway workers whose jobs are much more dangerous? These aren't idle questions, given the public safety worker retirements we can expect in the near future. To cite one example:
About 18,000 local public safety and California Highway Patrol officers in the Cal-PERS system were 45 or older in 2009, the latest state figures show. Most can retire at age 50 and get 3 percent of their highest pay for every year they worked, usually up to 90 percent. Their average pay: $108,000.
That's $1.75 billion.
This issue is another example of the public employee problem that confronts the American left. Lest I be misunderstood, I am not saying that public employees are bad people, or that I blame them for negotiating lucrative compensation packages, or that they're all overpaid. What I insist is that compensation and work rules in the public sector offer numerous glaring examples of dysfunction. Sometimes compensation is so generous that resources are obviously being misallocated. Other times, excessive job security is the problem. Combine these trends and taxpayers are faced with a public sector that grows ever more expensive and less efficient. In that environment, antagonism to expanding government is rational, especially if it seems like Democratic Party leaders aren't interested in reining in even the most egregious public sector excesses.
So what say you, Governor Brown?
Image credit: Flickr user Scazon


text:
'D.Gray-man Hallow' is based on Katsura Hoshino's manga series of the same name and it picks up almost where the last series were left.
Allen Walker is a young Exorcist of the Black Order organization whose prime purpose is destroying weapons called Akumas. The Akumas were created by a being known as the Millenium Earl, an ally of the immortal Noah family. The Exorcists use mighty weapons called Innocence to make their lives easier and to fill the show with amazing action sequences.


text:
I can scream and I can shout, what difference would it make to-
the ones at the top, who believe the world is their game-
and they live with their crowns, reveling in people's misery-
and they shut their glass doors, to the voices of masses crippling.
And I try and I'll try, little difference it makes to those-
whose hearts have been numbed, by vices a long time ago.
And my words, flutter past, their ears like empty promises-
and they think, their silence, over time will diminish my spirit.
One by one the rest may fall to the ground,
but I implant my feet in the soil of the land-
and the silence thrown by the ones wearing crowns,
only help to make my resolve grow stronger.
And the glass doors shut to our pleading cries,
will one day crumble from the strength of our voices-
and with that I go to sleep every night-
and I wonder, I ponder how you sleep at night.
I will scream and I will shout, I believe it will make a difference-
and if not, then I'll die trying, knowing I did my sole best.
'Cause I know, it's not time to worry yet,
and my lungs aren't saturated-
you can sleep tonight while my tears hole the ground,
they remind me my heart hasn't numbed from your acts.
And the glass doors that shelter you will come to crack,
awaiting that is what keeps my feet on the ground.
And indeed, that day will arrive.
IMAGE CREDIT: photo gallery.com


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Gate-to-Gate Run moved to Saturday; new events will replace My First Tri
EGLIN AFB — The 96th Force Support Squadron announced changes Thursday to its annual fitness events.
Starting this year, the annual Gate-to-Gate Run will be moved to the Saturday before Memorial Day to offer a fitness-oriented event to honor the sacrifices of veterans. In the past the race was held on Memorial Day. The change will allow Eglin to preserve the event in a more cost-effective manner and ensure its success, according to the base. Eglin has hosted the Gate-to-Gate Run for 28 years. More than 2,000 runners participate each year. In addition, the 96th Squadron will replace the My First Tri with four adventure and theme-based events. My First Tri will be replaced by events in March, May, late summer and October that appeal to a broad spectrum of athletic competitors and skill levels. The 96th Squadron is committed to providing events in order to encourage fitness and health throughout the Eglin community.


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As much as we all love our cellphones, we can also be mighty tough on them. My family is always coming to me with stories of "a friend" who set aside their phone and promptly forgot where they left it. I even find that I, against my own advice, sometimes forget to delete apps I'm not using, eating up precious memory.
Let's all commit to a fresh start this year, for the sake of our hardworking phones. My New Year's resolution is to treat my phone right—and enjoy the rewards of better performance and security that I know will follow. To get started, I put together this list of what I'm calling my "Cellphone Self Improvements" for 2017. I hope that by sharing them, you might benefit from at least a few of these, too.
1.) Download a Password Manager
A password manager app (like LastPass) securely stores passwords and logins for all your devices, taking the guesswork out of signing in.
2.) Backup your photos every month using Google Photos or iCloud
Make sure you have space available to capture that beautiful sunset or unique family moment!
3.) Charge your smartphone every day
Don't let "low battery" interrupt your busy day! Setup a charging station at home, or get a car charger if you need to "juice up" on the go.
4.) Delete apps you never use…
If you really "need it someday," you can always download it again later.
5.) …but try a new app every month or so!
There are so many fun and helpful apps coming onto the market all the time! You can always find my recommendations right in this blog!
6.) Always keep Wi-Fi turned on
Wi-Fi is available just about anywhere now, so why not preserve the data from your cellphone plan for when you really need it?
7.) Turn off GPS and Bluetooth unless you really need them
There's a double benefit here: you'll conserve precious battery life, and in the case of GPS, save on data usage as well.
8.) Put your phone in the same pocket of your purse or bag
Imagine not having to fumble and search every time you reach for your phone. Pick a spot, and stick with it.
9.) Download "Find My iPhone" or "Android Device Manager"
Here's the quick and easy way to locate a missing Android device or iPhone! Just follow the steps I listed here.
10.) Learn a new feature each month
Even if it's as simple as something like using emojis, commit to mastering one skill each month and you'll be an expert in no time!
The beauty of this list is that the payoffs are immediate. Even if you only do half of them, you've still improved your phone's performance and reliability (or in my case, made sure I can actually find it when I need it!) Let's start our "cellular New Year" the right way—we'll benefit all year long.


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Today is International Firefighters' Day (IFFD). It was instituted after a proposal was emailed out across the world on January 4, 1999 following the deaths of five firefighters in tragic circumstances in a wildfire in Australia. May 4 used to be a traditional Firefighters' Day in many European countries, because it is the feast day of Saint Florian, patron saint of firefighters.
On 2 December 1998, firefighters in Linton in the Australian state of Victoria were fighting a large wild fire near the town and called for mutual aid. This mutual aid call brought two trucks from the volunteer Geelong West Fire Brigade to the scene as a strike team. As the trucks entered the hot zone the wind suddenly changed direction and the trucks were engulfed in flames. Five firefighters – Garry Vredeveldt, Chris Evans, Stuart Davidson, Jason Thomas, and Matthew Armstrong – were killed. IFFD was instituted to commemorate not only their deaths, but the deaths of all firefighters in action, and to honor the bravery and dedication of all firefighters worldwide.
One of the ways to show your support is to wear or sport a red and blue ribbon as shown above. Red represents fire and the blue, water. You can wear the ribbon, decorate your car or house with the colors, place tokens on your front lawn. Be creative. Show your support.
The patron saint of firefighters is St Florian. Florian was born about 250 CE in the ancient Roman city of Aelium Cetiumin in present-day Sankt Pölten in Austria. He joined the Roman army and advanced in the ranks, rising to commander of the imperial army in the Roman province of Noricum. In addition to his military duties, he was also responsible for organizing firefighting brigades. Florian organized and trained an elite group of soldiers whose sole duty was to fight fires, and so is sometimes honored as the founder of professional firefighting. Among miracles attributed to him was the extinguishing of a raging village fire using a single bucket of water. It is also said that he was executed during the Diocletian persecution of Christians. Reports reached Rome that Florian was not enforcing the proscriptions against Christians in his territory. Aquilinus was sent to investigate these reports. When Aquilinus ordered Florian to offer sacrifice to the Roman gods in accordance with Roman religion, he refused. Florian was sentenced to be burned at the stake. Standing on the funeral pyre, Florian is reputed to have challenged the Roman soldiers to light the fire, saying "If you do, I will climb to heaven on the flames." Instead they drowned him in the Enns river with a millstone around his neck. His death thus ironically combines fire and water.
Although International Firefighters Day originated from the deaths of firefighters in Linton, the day is meant as a memorial and celebration of people in all branches of emergency services including hazardous materials specialists, fire prevention specialists, heavy equipment operators/mechanics, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), auxiliaries, and more. Do something special today to honor people in these services in your own way.
I would like to celebrate the day by honoring the members of my old company, Cuddebackville Fire Department (CFD). I was a volunteer firefighter/EMT with them for 7 years. During that time I had some of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Cuddebackville is a small rural community in the region of New York that borders Pennsylvania and New Jersey. You might think that a village of around 600 people would not need a fire company, but CFD performs all manner of emergency duties and community services – medical emergencies, road accidents, river rescue, flood control, ice rescue, and so forth. In the busiest year when I was in the squad we were called out 235 times. The camaraderie I shared with my brothers and sisters in those years is very special to me. They called me "the professor." At the time I weighed 135lbs and you would never have mistaken me for a body builder. But I was part of a team, and we all did the jobs we were trained for in harmony. It was the teamwork and dedication that inspired me.
There is a saying in emergency services that I like, "We run towards things that other people run away from." So . . . a great big, heartfelt shout out to all people who put their lives on the line without hesitation in the service of others.
All firehouses, career and volunteer, have a kitchen. Career firefighters have shifts that last for 24 hours, several days in a row, and they must live and take their meals at the firehouse during that time. Occasionally volunteer firefights also live at the firehouse, for example, during times of extended bad weather when driving to the firehouse would be hazardous. But volunteer firehouses also need kitchens for times when the squad is called out for a structural fire, or other extended duty, when it is necessary to provide meals for people on site. A structure fire may take a day or more to bring under control.
That firefighters love chili is a slightly overworked cliché, but it is based in reality. So I'll present you here with my recipe. Nothing starts an argument faster that just about every aspect of chili, including the spelling of the word. In the U.K. it is often "chilli" and in the U.S. sides are divided between "chili" and "chile." I'm not going to get in the middle of this one, but simply state that I use "chili" for the dish, and "chile" for the hot peppers that go into it. There are also endless disputes about the ingredients of chili – with or without beans is a big one. Tomatoes or not? Chunked or ground meat? Beef or another meat? What spices? All are arguments that get some people hot under the collar, but I can't be bothered with them. I make chili the way I like it, and it happens to be close to what is usually called "firehouse chili" in the U.S. I do also make Cincinnati chili but that's a story for another day.
I won't give you a formal recipe because, as with all soups and stews, I don't ever measure anything, and ingredients can vary. It's not really feasible to make a small amount. I usually make a batch of at least a gallon. It freezes well, but I rarely have to. I can eat a gallon in 2 days, no worries. Here are the basics.
Firehouse Chili
Bring beef stock to a simmer in a stock pot. It should be around ¼ full.
Use a dry skillet to brown ground beef in a skillet. Make sure you break up any clumps of meat. Add the browned beef to the stock.
Add a little vegetable oil to the skillet and gently sauté coarsely chopped onions until golden. For the last minute or so add finely chopped garlic, but do not let it brown otherwise it will be bitter. Add the onions and garlic to the stock.
Add roughly chopped canned tomatoes and tomato paste to the stock along with chopped green or red bell peppers, hot peppers to suit your tastes, cumin, oregano, paprika, and parsley.
It's your choice whether to add beans at this stage. I do. They can be canned or pre-cooked. It really does not matter what beans you choose. I usually use pinto beans, but I find black beans make a nice change.
Simmer gently, uncovered, for an hour or more. Over time the stock will reduce and thicken. You do not want the final product to be watery.
Serve in bowls with crusty bread or flour tortillas.


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The road
I was that nerd who loved roadmaps as a kid. They were paper then and you could get them free in gas stations. We were that family addicted to the Sunday drive. Pick a destination, we'd go. Mom sometimes let me use the Kodak Brownie, which I inherited hand-me-down before getting my own camera on my tenth birthday. I'd make squares with my fingers against the car window imaging good shots. As I said, I was that nerd. I still look at maps, mostly Google now, and I still haven't lost my addiction to the road. There are all kinds of reasons to take advantage of our nation's unique mobility. You don't even have to go far. It's good for kids, seniors, and everyone to get a few miles out of town to recharge perspective. A friend used to say she left her problems at the highway ramp, then picked them up again when she exited back into our small town. As a photographer, I find the road trip indispensable to the profession. There are major league road trips, of course. South Dakota through the Badlands into Wyoming. The Pacific Coast Highway. The Blue Ridge Parkway. But even modest road trips can restore and reward any photographer. Build those little trips into your routine. Check Google maps, pick a point. It's often on the way to the destination that the best photographs surprise you. Make sure you have your equipment, comfy shoes, and a good road music mix so you can lose yourself, figuratively and, perhaps, even literally. Let your mind make those little framing squares as the world goes by - then pull over. Whenever you wish. You're in the driver's seat now. I call this photograph – what else? – Road Trip. Creative people need continual surprise as to what's around the corner.
Copyright 2015
as to what's around the corner.


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Building and Maintaining Relationships in the Digital Age: Using Social Penetration Theory to Explore Communication through Social Networking Sites
Issue Date2015-05-31
Pennington, Natalie
University of Kansas
140 pages
Degree Level
Communication Studies
Copyright held by the author.
MetadataShow full item record
The purpose of this research is to extend Social Penetration Theory (SPT) beyond face-to-face (FtF) relational development by taking into account the unique nature of online interpersonal interactions and self-disclosure practices. More specifically, by applying SPT to social networking sites (SNSs) for relational development and maintenance, this research seeks to test the major assumptions of the theory regarding relational development and self-disclosure. Three studies were conducted to assess SPT in relation to communication online. The first study, discussed in Chapter Three, used a combination of survey and quantitative content analysis of Facebook profiles (N = 103) to look at the depth and breadth of communication across the various stages of relationships maintained online. The second and third studies, discussed in Chapter Four, considered how variables related to communication online (audience awareness, information seeking, and privacy concerns) affected relational maintenance and dissolution. The second study utilized focus groups (N = 26) to generate reasons for why users of SNSs would end relationships online (e.g., oversharing, conflict). The third and final study used this list to survey participants (N = 312) about their own social network of choice (Facebook, Twitter or Instagram). Participants were asked to consider how the reasons generated in the second study related to their own decisions to "unfriend" or "hide" specific members of their social network, reporting on up to 10 members for each participant for a total of 3,062 cases. Participants also discussed their own information seeking and audience awareness as it related to SNS use. Altogether, these three studies highlight important variables needed to consider relational maintenance and development in a multimodal world, supporting the primary claim of SPT that in weighing the costs and rewards of self-disclosure, relational closeness is the best predictor of satisfaction.
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Here is my tracking demonstration set to 30/42pt like the other examples. I don't really like how the label copy to the left of the tracking (i.e. default tracking, +100 and +200 tracking) sit on two lines. This is the only way to get it to fit, however. This may need adjusting slightly.
It looks better on one line, but this forced me to sit it on top of the examples. It's fixed to the baseline grid, but looks a little too close so will need spacing out.
I thought I would add an underline effect to make it apparent that the text is titling something. It is the same colour and point size to the body copy so there could be some confusion.
I also added a little guide to what I have used in the actual specimen book. This is from the body copy, to the headers, to the font values of the demonstration texts. It tells the user what point size I have used, coupled with the leading values.
I went back to the introduction page to double check the consistency in terms of header font values. I decided to do a little more work on it:
I think the introduction page would look a little cluttered with the description, so I took it out and put in a short introduction page that clearly labels both typefaces. I moved the description over to the next page and coupled it with the specimen uses of the font:
Here is what I have so far, in PDF format. The pages are looking a little bit dull and disinteresting at the moment, so I am aiming to resolve these and bring the specimen book to a close by the end of this afternoon. All the development from this point forward will come in the form of issuu pdfs.


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History of McBryde Oil Company…
McBryde Oil Company has been "Fueling the Hill Country Since 1930". That was not long after 19-year-old Rankin Carroll (R.C.) McBryde jumped off a hay wagon on its way into Centerpoint, Texas, determined to build a life and business for himself. A lifelong resident of Kerr County, "Mr. Mac," as he was known to his friends, founded R.C. McBryde Oil Company in 1930 in Kerrville, Texas as the consignee for the Pierce-Fordyce Petroleum Company. As Pierce-Fordyce gave way to Sinclair Oil Company, McBryde Oil became a Sinclair jobber, before switching again to become a Phillips 66 jobber in 1956. It was also in 1956 that R.C.'s son Nowlin McBryde graduated from Texas A&M University and followed his father into the oil business. Nowlin began his career as an engineer for Phillips 66 in the oil fields of West Texas, but it wouldn't take long for him to make his way back to Kerrville to begin working with his dad in the family business.
Beginning in 1964, Nowlin worked at his father's right hand, learning the business by doing a little bit of everything. When he wasn't driving a delivery truck, he was working on the fuel pumps or keeping the company's books. In the late '60s R.C. and Nowlin recognized the beginning of what would bring big changes to their business, their community, and the industry overall…the interstate highway system would connect the east coast to the west coast via Interstate 10 running right through Kerr County. The McBrydes knew this offered an excellent opportunity for them to grow their business and began scouting the best location from which to take advantage of the new highway. Nowlin was dispatched to a location 50 miles west of Kerrville in Segovia, Texas. It was 1969 when McBryde Oil Company bought a 5-acre piece of land in Segovia from a particularly unhappy rancher who was about to have his 240-acre ranch split in half by the new highway. Segovia Truck Stop, located at I-10 exit 465, has been selling gas and diesel and serving great diner-style food to long-haul truckers and families traveling cross-country since 1970.
After seeing his son's success in building the Segovia Truck Stop, R.C. decided that Nowlin was ready to continue the McBryde Oil Company legacy on his own. Though Nowlin bought the company from his father in 1971, old habits die hard and R.C. would continue to come to the office for the rest of his life. There was a brief period in the late 1970's when Mr. Mac notified the office that he would take semi-retirement. He told them he planned to start working only half days and would spend the rest of his time fishing and playing golf. This semi-retirement lasted about two weeks, after which time he reverted back to his full-time schedule and never mentioned retirement again.
Nowlin continued to grow the business for the next three decades, keeping the company strong through the many up and down economic times that would occur during that period. In 2005, Nowlin realized he wouldn't be able to run the company forever and decided he needed a succession plan. With neither of his two daughters living near Kerrville, Nowlin determined that to keep the legacy of McBryde Oil going, he would need to sell the company.
In July of 2009, Nowlin struck a deal to sell McBryde Oil to Michael Burniston from Austin. When Michael and his wife Kathryn and their two daughters moved to Kerrville shortly after that, they brought a deep respect for the longstanding relationship McBryde Oil, and it's founding family has had with its customers and the Kerrville community for over 80 years.
Yes, old habits die hard, until his passing in April of 2013, Nowlin continued to come to the office almost every day. He was there greeting his old customers and keeping up to date with local happenings, and he was always there when Michael had a question about the business that only someone with 60+ years of experience could answer. We grieve the loss of our friend and mentor, Nowlin McBryde. We hope to make him proud by continuing the McBryde legacy and dedication to customers that have allowed McBryde Oil Company to keep fueling the Texas Hill Country since 1930.


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Alternate titles:
Birds of a Feather
Great Goose Race
Game Overview
In Birds of a Feather, each player leads a flock of geese on their annual migration ahead of the advancing winter. Can you find the over-winter grounds before your opponents? Will your entire flock survive the journey or will fatigue, lack of food, or prowling wolves claim some of your companions?
Birds of a Feather is a mechanically simple but strategically rich game of racing, pushing your luck, and managing the health of your flock. Players create a migration route by laying tiles with different terrains. Flocks can forage for food on the terrain and find places to rest.
Additionally, players hold secret cards with terrain patterns. If their flock flies over this combination, indicating that it recognizes the migration route, the flock gains a bonus to help them.
Players can fly along the same route, which provide bonus to speed but restricts available food, or they can strike out alone, hoping to find Mexico before their opponents.
Current Rules:
April 24, 2017
Rulebook Version 0.1
First draft of the rules. Fairly thorough. Still need to decide how to handle Flight Path. Variants need a fuller description, but this can come later.
April 26, 2017
Took the first Prototype out for a spin. Realized the economy might be broken and winter's a bitch.
Score: Game 1 - Me 0
April 28, 2017
Second playtest session. Some real progress on mechanics for Pattern cards, Winter, Terrain economy and other tweaks.
Winter: I discovered my original idea of having each tile have snowflakes that advanced a winter tracker which triggered winter to advance was stupidly overcomplicated. Instead, I just put winter tiles in the draw bag equal to the number of players.
Terrain economy: Bumped up the base values of terrain. Plains = 7, Hills =4, Mountains = 2. Flocks can collect all of it (with some modifiers) instead of 1 per goose. This allows flocks to recover easier on Plains.
Pattern Cards: Really cool idea for players to build a flight deck by selecting cards to represent the terrain they fly over. If they have a pattern card with the same sequence of terrain as individual cards, they can replace cards in the flight deck with a pattern card. Much simpler than my original concept.
New Rulebook, Version 0.2
Haven't played with Pattern Cards or Mexico Cards. Seeing how vanilla game plays


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Airline: Continental
Incident Date: Aug 02, 2006
Report Date: October 2006
Incident Type: Death
Animal: Dog
Brachycephalic: Yes Definition
Animal Age: 8 years
Flight Number: 357
Originating Airport: IAH (George Bush Intercontinental/Houston)
Destination Airport: RNO (Reno/Tahoe International)
Reporting Airport: RNO (Reno/Tahoe International)
CO Flight #357 IAH-RNO Dog - Pug 8 yrs old August 2, 2006 Male, Name: Not Available
Owner/Guardian REDACTED
Narrative Description: Description of the Incident: Upon arrival in Reno, Nevada, the Ramp personnel who opened the cargo bin door of the aircraft noted that this animal was deceased upon arrival.
Description of the Cause of the Incident: This animal was loaded into the aircraft bin in Houston alongside another dog and a shipment of baby chicks. Upon arrival into Reno, this pet was deceased. The other animals, riding next to this pet's crate, arrived in good health. The necropsy was performed by the Nevada Department of Agriculture and they noted that, "a cause of death in this animal was not determined histologically or on gross examination".but also stated "natural causes cannot be ruled out". An internal investigation showed that all handling was per established guidelines, and the aircraft was operating properly.
Description of any corrective action taken: This animal's death was not transit related, so no corrective measures were taken.
PetFlight Report:
October 2006 Airline Pet Travel Report
Original Report
Map of all airports that have reported an air travel, pet related incident.
The inspiration for PetFlight.