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A Memphis state representative is proposing a change in the so-called parent trigger education law that would give the state final approval.
A statute passed in 2011 allows parents to force education reforms at their children's public schools, but local school boards must sign off on the efforts.
Democratic Rep. John Deberry told WPLN-FM in Nashville his bill is intended to start a conversation about making it easier for parents to force reform. He is proposing that a simple majority of parents' signatures on a petition should allow that a school be transformed into a charter or closed altogether.
If Deberry's initiative is adopted, parents whose petition has been turned down by a local school board could appeal that decision to state officials.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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this is seriously one of the most beautiful otome game CG i've seen so far *_* *hoping to do great CG screen for my x-down game but lack the skills T_T ( motivation strikes back !!!!! *
Wand of Fortune
I want to play this game sooooo bad!!!
(Source: anivore)
Please give me this game ;___;

subset: commoncrawl


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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
-DO you REALLY think WOW death penalties are too steep? Really? A pitance of easily made gold is too steep? I hope you never played an MMO made before WOW
Most of your points make me think you haven't played WOW in a long time, leveling as a healer or tank for example, is easily these days.


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The Religion and Romance Test
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The LONG Scientific Personality Test
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The Why Am I Still Single Test
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The Are You an OKCupid Asshole Test
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The Tits, Ass, and Cuteness Test
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text:
Detective Chief Inspector April Casburn, convicted last month of trying to sell details of a phone-hacking inquiry to a tabloid, started her 15-month sentence Friday.
LONDON — A senior British counter-terrorism police officer was jailed Friday after becoming the first person to be convicted following a massive police investigation into alleged phone-hacking centered on Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers.
Detective Chief Inspector April Casburn, 53, was jailed for 15 months for misconduct in a public office after she was found guilty last month of offering to sell details about the phone-hacking inquiry to Murdoch's News of the World tabloid.
"It was ... a corrupt attempt to make money out of sensitive and potentially very damaging information," said Justice Adrian Fulford.
Casburn called the News of the World Sept. 11, 2010, when police were at the early stages of examining claims that journalists from the paper had illegally accessed the voicemails of mobile phones in a bid to find stories.
RELATED: Victims of phone hacking await inquiry's report
Prosecutors said she had phoned asking for money in an attempt to undermine the investigation because of her perception that she had been wronged and sidelined by police colleagues.
She denied asking for payment, and said her intention was to raise the alarm over what she viewed as a waste of counter-terrorism resources on hacking, when they should have been concentrating on preventing attacks in the run-up to the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Casburn, head of a counter-terrorism financial investigations unit at the time, testified that she had been incensed by the attitude of senior officers, who regarded the hacking probe as "a bit of a jolly" and a chance to interview celebrity hacking victims like the actress Sienna Miller.
However, the judge said her actions could not be described as that of a whistle-blower, adding if she was not in the process of adopting a child, he would have jailed her for three years.
"If the News of the World had accepted her offer, it's clear, in my view, that Ms. Casburn would have taken the money and, as a result, she posed a significant threat to the integrity of this important police investigation," Fulford said.
Detectives are now not only investigating these allegations but also whether journalists paid cash to public officials, including police officers, for information.
Casburn is the first person to be convicted in a scandal which escalated into a much wider crisis, embroiling the top echelons of the British establishment, media, and police, and led to Murdoch closing down the News of the World in July 2011.
Rebekah Brooks, the former boss of News Corp.'s British newspaper business and a close confidante of Murdoch and of Prime Minister David Cameron's former media chief Andy Coulson, are among those who have also been charged with criminal offenses relating to their inquiries.
RELATED: UK phone-hacking verdict: Press needs legal regulator
The hacking scandal prompted Cameron to launch a wide-ranging public inquiry into the press, which exposed cozy relations between politicians and journalists. The inquiry panel delivered an excoriating verdict on newspaper practices last November.
It also called for the often unruly press to be overseen by a regulator enshrined in law, but Cameron rejected this — to the delight of many in his Conservative party but to the dismay of the Liberal Democrats, the junior coalition partner.
However, he ordered editors to come up with an effective independent system of self-regulation urgently. The industry is still working on proposals.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
The reason a lot of people were pissed about 2.2 taking so long is that it obstensibly added nothing of value to the game. Voice chat is a nice feature, but people don't care about 2.2 rewriting the sound system or whatever--when Blizzard takes 2 months to release a new patch, people tend to expect 2 months worth of new stuff, not a patch that added virtually nothing to the game.
IMO if Zul'Aman is already done they should have simply delayed the patch another month and tested Zul'Aman. At least then when 2.2 hit there would be something new to do. As it is, this is probably the least exciting patch since the "Storms of Azeroth" patch that added weather to a handful of zones. At least that one added T0.5.


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Last week's underwhelming performance against Sydney FC is still preying heavily on Wellington Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert's mind as he prepares for Sunday's 11th round A-League match against Adelaide.
"There was a 90-minute period when 11 players were flat," Herbert said of Sydney's 2-1 victory at Westpac Stadium.
"It wasn't a good performance, and we've got to stare that one pretty firmly in the face, drive on and look for improvements this week."
There'll need to be plenty. Adelaide sit second on the ladder with 22 points and have only been beaten twice this season.
The Phoenix have three wins and sit sixth on 12 points, with four other teams in a log-jam behind them only two points astray.
Adelaide and Wellington last met in a fiery fourth-round clash at Hindmarsh Stadium which resulted in seven yellow cards, Phoenix defender Ben Sigmund's sending off and a controversial 3-1 win to Adelaide amid accusations that Argentine striker Jeronimo Neumann dived.
Herbert promised a shake-up to his starting line-up after the Sydney loss, and looks set to follow through.
"I think there'll be a couple of changes, and I think that's pretty fair across the board," he said.
"We'll make a little bit of a stance on this and I think we'll see a pretty good reaction."
One change Herbert won't want to make is up front, where some doubt surrounds the fitness of in-form striker Jeremy Brockie.
Herbert is optimistic Brockie's hamstring twinge, which stopped him from training on Thursday, will clear. But he says the Phoenix have plenty of options in Louis Fenton, Benji Totori and Tyler Boyd should Brockie be unavailable.
He's also admits the return from injury of creative midfielder Dani Sanchez throws up further possibilities around structure and game plan.
"He's a different sort of player, he gives us options," Herbert said.
"He's been out for a long period and it's a tough ask over in Adelaide.
"But he's training well, and we're going to have to throw him in somewhere. I could be tempted to start him."
' +


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Band Watch: EV REE WUHN
Website / Facebook / Twitter / Soundcloud / YouTube
We've done a lot of work with the members of Toronto-based ambient rockers DORA ALEXANDER over the past few years, so suffice to say we were feeling a little sombre back in the early fall last year when the group members announced they were going on indefinite hiatus to sort out their respective personal and musical situations.
An understandable scenario for sure, but still… we were feeling a little upset by the whole thing.
Luckily, the core of the band announced a reformation of sorts earlier today as EV REE WUHN – a much more electronic/ambient based project that harkens back to some earlier SIGUR ROS or mid-2000s RADIOHEAD material.
It's much lighter on the effect-laden hooks and focuses more on the percussion/piano/synth fronts to invoke a gentler, instrumental-heavy dreamscape style – check out the first teaser track Control in the embed below… AND…. if you like what you hear you can DOWNLOAD IT FOR FREE on their website.
No word yet on official performance dates, but stay tuned – we'll be sure to keep you in the loop.


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13 of 14
Advertisement, the Toronto Star, June 3, 1966.
If this customer made up for missing opening day by becoming a regular patron of Towne & Countrye Square, she would have witnessed many changes in the years to come. Later additions included a movie theatre and a Bay department store, while Sayvette was replaced first by Woolco, then a succession of Loblaws-owned banners.
Back to article


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Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Seminars
Spring, 2014
April 18
Data-driven protein engineering: learning the sequence-function mapping from experimental data
Dr. Philip Romero, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, San Francisco
3:00 p.m., McDonnell Douglas Engineering Auditorium
April 25
Solute Precipitate Nucleation: Mechanistic Insight from Theory and Simulation
Prof. Baron Peters, Depts. of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of California, Santa Barbara
3:00 p.m., McDonnell Douglas Engineering Auditorium
May 16
Energy Absorbing Mechanisms in Natural Materials and Implications for Bioinspired Designs
Prof. Joanna McKittrick, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering
University of California, San Diego
3:00 p.m., McDonnell Douglas Engineering Auditorium
Previous Seminars, 2014
January 10
Advanced Characterization of Materials using Electron/Ion Microscopy
Dr. Meng Gu, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
January 17
Polymer Nanoparticles and Thin Films: The Influence of Confinement and Processing Effects on Glass Properties
Dr. Yunlong Guo, Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Princeton University
January 24
Probing Charge Dynamics in Nano-materials with Nano-tools
Dr. Tamar Mentzel, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
January 31
Dynamically Tunable and Solar Energy Enhancing Bio-Photonics: Nanoscale Protein Assembly Drives
Changes in Reflectance and Photosynthesis, Inspiring New Nano-Technologies
Prof. Daniel E. Morse
Center for Energy Efficiency, Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies
Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, UC Santa Barbara
February 7
New Options for Natural Product Engineering
Prof. Blaine Pfeifer, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
The State University of New York at Buffalo
February 14
Materials Challenges in Gas Turbine Engines
Dr. Sungbo Shim, Materials Specialist, Rolls Royce High Temperature Composite
February 21
Windows to the Brain: Novel Concept for Providing Non-invasive, Chronic Access to Neural Tissues for Laser-based Diagnostics & Therapeutics
Prof. Guillermo Aguilar, Professor and Chair, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, UC Riverside
February 28
Engineering and Understanding Enhanced Catalysis in Multienzyme Structures
Prof. Ian Wheeldon, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering , University of California, Riverside
March 7
Chemical Looping Technology – Perspective and Prospect in Carbon Management
Professor L.-S. Fan, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University
3:00pm, McDonnell Douglas Engineering Auditorium
March 14
Reaction Mechanisms and Degradation Processes in Energy Conversion and Storage Systems Characterized by In-Situ Electron Microscopy
Prof. Shen J. Dillon, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Wednesday, March 26
Biosynthetic routes for renewable fuels and chemicals
Dr. Han Li, The Scripps Research Institute
10:00 – 11:00 a.m., Location: Harut Barsamian Colloquia Room, EH2430
Wednesday, April 2
Designer materials and devices from computationally driven self-assembly
Dr. Eric Jankowski , University of Colorado, Boulder
10:30am, EH 2430, Harut Barsamian Colloquia Room
April 4
Nano/Microscale Machines: Recent Designs and Applications
Prof. Joseph Wang, Department of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego
3:00pm, McDonnell Douglas Engineering Auditorium
April 11
Giant Protein Assemblies in Nature and by Design
Prof. Todd O. Yeates, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles
3:00 p.m., McDonnell Douglas Engineering Auditorium
Monday, April 7
Enabling advanced post-combustion CO2 capture through energy-efficient separation technologies
Dr. Fateme Rezaei, Georgia Institute of Technology
10:00am, Engineering Hall 2430, Harut Barsamian Colloquia Room
April 11
Giant Protein Assemblies in Nature and by Design
Prof. Todd O. Yeates, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles
3:00 p.m., McDonnell Douglas Engineering Auditorium


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YUMA, AZ - Hundreds of elementary students take a walk through the body at the Yuma Civic Center.
Every year the Yuma County Public Health Services District puts on a interactive "Body Walk" exhibit for 3rd grade students.
The purpose of the event is to influence kids at a young age to make smart and healthy choices for the rest of their lives.
The tour starts off with small groups of kids walking into the brain to learn about where healthy choices begin and eventually work their way down into the bones followed by the muscle to learn how to make their body move with physical fitness.
At the end of the walk through kids are put to the test with what they learned. Brooke Robbins a 9-year-old at James B. Rolle Elementary says She learned a lot about the lungs and that smoking can really cause harm and cause a heart attack."
Various Elementary Schools participated in this years "Body Walk" and they tell News 13 it's very beneficial to their learning and fun.
Sign up here to receive breaking news stories from KSWT.com and morning updates to your email inbox.


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Read what other Viator.com travelers think about the Small-Group Evening Tour and Dinner in Monte Carlo from Cannes. What they loved, what they liked and what they think could be improved, it's all here to help you make the most of your next trip.
Click here for tour details, schedule and pricing
Fantastic value for money. The driver/guide shared a great commentary which was very informative. A perfect evening - all in our group had a brilliant time!!
Fantastic guide made for a fantastic trip! Well worth the money.
This was one of the best highlights of our trip.
Our guide was fantastic, great sense of humour and brilliant knowledge of the area. He gave us time to stop and take photographs and made the evening a total success.
Geraldton, Western Australia.
This was a great fun evening. Tour guide was superb in pointing out all points of interest and generally looking after us. Bistroquet was a great fun place to eat. Waiters were a giggle and we even had a superb card magician entertain us towards the end of the night. Food was a plenty and very good. The casino square area was a great fun place to visit in the evening. Would thoroughly recommend it to everyone that visits the area.
Great trip! The driver/tour guide was fun and full of information. I would recommed to anyone. Make you feel very important.
An excellent trip. We were picked up from Cannes and driven to pick up others in Nice. Then onto Monaco for dinner in a nice restaurant just off Casino Square. The meal was excellent and we also had about 90 mins at our leisure in Monaco following the meal. Just about enough time for the main central area - but if you want shopping or the palace its better to go on one of the day trips (we did both!). The guide, Sylvia, spoke good English and was excellent throughout.


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Mr. Bryant's Web Site
|Home | 7th Grade Expectations | English 7 | 9th Grade Expectations | English 9 | 7th and 9th grade lists of readings and novels | Grammar | Outside Reading | 9th grade Root Words | 9th grade Topic Discussion | Spelleing Lessons | Spelling Strategees | MLA Style Guide | Emailing Homework | Theories of Moral Development | Critical Thinking | How to get an A | Doctrine of Completed Work | Write-ups on Writing | Issues in GATE | General Weekly Schedule | Photos/Docs | FAQs | Teacher | Most Dangerous Game Proof | Tone Outline | Erikson's Theory of Psych Development | Aristotelian Argument | Aristotle: Ethics | Writing Genres and Outlines | Crito | Crito | Crito Outline | Hero's Journey | Allegory of the Cave | Response to Lit - Poetry | Antigone | Will to Power Proof | Email Mr. Bryant
Tone Outline
What is "Tone:"
In writing, the term "Tone" refers to the author's attitude towards his/her subject. In effect, it's how the author wants the writing to come across to the reader. Understanding the tone of voice an author is using is often critical to understanding the author's meaning. Tones may vary but usually have an emotional quality to them. For example, tones might be dramatic, suspenseful, sarcastic, absurd, humorous, cautionary, academic, bitter, celebratory, ironic, sympathetic, etc.
Write an outline for an expositional paragraph in which you analyze the overall tone of Gary Soto's short story, "Seventh Grade." Use passages from the story as evidence of the tone and be sure to explain how that evidence demonstrates it. The assignment will be either typed or neatly written in ink. Include parenthetical citation after each example [ex: (Soto 117)]. The page numbers for these citations will accord with the hardback version of the Prentice Hall Literature anthology. Include a works cited at the end.
The following is the format for the outline:
I. Introduction (terms and context) and topic sentence (must be an Occasion Position Statement)
A. First example (cite author and page number)
1. Context
2. Explanation of how example demonstrates tone
B. Second example (cite author and page number)
1. Context
2. Explanation of how example demonstrates tone
C. Third example (cite author and page number)
1. Context
2. Explanation of how example demonstrates tone
D. Concluding statement
The works cited will be as follows:
Soto, Gary. "Seventh Grade." Prentice Hall Literature Bronze Level. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education, Inc. 2002. 116-121. Print.
This assignment will be due Friday, September 13. It will be worth 25 points.


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Doctoral students complete two residencies during the course of their program. These three-day events allow students to meet at regional locations face-to-face with peers in their own program, students in other programs, and with faculty.
These students will be introduced to the comprehensive exam and the dissertation process to help them tackle both with confidence. They will also develop skills in academic writing, time management and organization, and have access to academic and financial aid advising. Argosy residencies are essential waypoints for students as they follow their path toward successful completion of their programs.


text: WICHITA FALLS - If you see a lot of smoke coming up from Lucy Park this week, don't be alarmed. The Wichita Falls Fire Department will be conducting Wildland Fire Fighting training in Lucy Park. Members of the Fire Department will be burning off underbrush to practice the proper methods for back burning and clearing, command and control at Wildland Incidents and the correct practices of several other areas of Wildland Fire Fighting.Location: Lucy Park (eastern part of the park, near the Wichita River and Central Freeway) Dates: Wed., January 16 - Fri., January 18Time: 8:45 a.m. - 5 p.m. each dayThe City would like citizens to be aware of this training because of the smoke that will be generated by the brush burning. If someone sees smoke in this exact area of Lucy Park they do not have to notify 911. If smoke is seen in areas other than the location of the training, citizens should immediately notify authorities for investigation. For further information please contact Fire Chief Earl Foster or Assistant Fire Chief Jon Reese at 761-7901.


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Cluster policy in developing countries
AbstractAfter it has been discovered as a vehicle of economic policy in industrialized countries at the beginning of the 1990s, cluster policy has attracted the attention of development policy. Indeed, the case for using cluster policies to promote economic development is in principle not confined to the context of industrialized countries. As cluster policies necessarily have to be specifically tailored to each individual case, it should come as no surprise that their use in developing countries will always differ from their use in industrialized ones. Surely, individual cluster policies in developing contries, too, will differ from each other. Still, some general approaches that respond to typical framework conditions in developing countries can be discerned. This article elaborates some of them and suggests ways to promote clusters on the regional and local levels in developing countries.
Download InfoIf you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Bibliographic InfoPaper provided by University Library of Munich, Germany in its series MPRA Paper with number 44257.
Date of creation: 2013
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:44257
Contact details of provider:
Postal: Schackstr. 4, D-80539 Munich, Germany
Phone: +49-(0)89-2180-2219
Fax: +49-(0)89-2180-3900
Web page: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de
More information through EDIRC
Related researchKeywords: clusters; cluster policy; regional policy; development policy; development cooperation;
Find related papers by JEL classification:
- R58 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Regional Development Planning and Policy
- O25 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Industrial Policy
- O10 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
- O20 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - General
- F63 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Economic Development
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2013-02-16 (All new papers)
- NEP-DEV-2013-02-16 (Development)
- NEP-GEO-2013-02-16 (Economic Geography)
ReferencesReferences listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Dohse, Dirk, 2000. "Technology policy and the regions -- the case of the BioRegio contest," Research Policy, Elsevier, Elsevier, vol. 29(9), pages 1111-1133, December.
- Altenburg, Tilman & Meyer-Stamer, JORG, 1999. "How to Promote Clusters: Policy Experiences from Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, Elsevier, vol. 27(9), pages 1693-1713, September.
- Schmitz, Hubert & Nadvi, Khalid, 1999. "Clustering and Industrialization: Introduction," World Development, Elsevier, Elsevier, vol. 27(9), pages 1503-1514, September.
- Benner, Maximilian, 2009. "What do we know about clusters? In search of effective cluster policies," MPRA Paper 43848, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2009.
- Dirk Dohse, 2007. "Cluster-Based Technology Policy—The German Experience," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 69-94.
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This is a tumblelog, kinda like a blog but with short-form, mixed-media posts with stuff I like. Scroll down a bit to start reading, or a bit more to read more about me.
Source: facebook.com
8 notes
A nice image
Home of Souls
Creative Enlightment
Design by Marcus Olovsson / Powered by Tumblr / Here's the archive and a feed if you want.


text:
Next, you'll be asked to connect with Twitter. Rest assured, we will never send a tweet from your account
without your permission.
We will send you an email with an invite soon.
#Hit The Like Button lol... Please Like Our Facebook Page "Many Thanks"
See what's Trending Now for @TrackwriterzStu
Follow @TrackwriterzStu on Twitter


text:
Undergraduate Program in Electrical Engineering
The department offers a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) degree. Lectures are augmented with ample laboratories and design experiences. In addition, internship opportunities frequently exist with local engineering companies, including TVA. Outside of the classroom, UTC's proximity to multiple power generation facilities is leveraged for student tours
Program Educational Objectives
OBJECTIVE 1: Graduates will take their place as competent practitioners of electrical engineering, displaying the modern skills and knowledge of theoretical and practical engineering, including social and communication skills
OBJECTIVE 2: Graduates will be active in professional societies, and will be progressing towards professional registration.
OBJECTIVE 3: Graduates will pursue continuing education and/or graduate studies, and will be proactive in mentoring novice or prospective engineers.
OBJECTIVE 4: Graduates will take responsibility for their work's effect on their domestic and global environment, including safety, social and economic factors.
OBJECTIVE 5: Graduates will function effectively independently or in multi-disciplinary environments.
Student Outcomes
The program outcomes of the undergraduate curriculum mirror the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) criteria for accrediting engineering programs. Prior to graduation, each graduate of UTC's electrical engineering program will demonstrate:
- An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering,
- An ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data,
- An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability,
- An ability to function on multidisciplinary teams,
- An ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems,
- An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility,
- An ability to communicate effectively,
- The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context,
- A recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning,
- A knowledge of contemporary issues,
- An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.
Annual Student Enrollment and Graduation Data
Enrollment Data
Graduation Data


text:
Strategic Location for Unique Lifestyle & Business Opportunities
Kepong Brem Mall is a thriving hot spot with high potential market located next to the Crystal Crown Hotel along Jalan Kepong & the inter-change of Jalan Kuching/Jalan Ipoh. It is densely populated and within 5 kilometers from Kuala Lumpur City Centre.
A New Facelift for the Kepong Suburban
Revitalize the neighbourhood with utmost excitement, fabulous events, fun & fashionable lifestyle to our modern Kepong Brem Mall with exclusive retails, entertainment centers & convenience stores.
A Haven for the Unexpected
A shopping mall cum office complex consists of 5 floors of shopping retail, 1 floor of convention/exhibition halls, 2 floors of entertainment outlets & restaurants, & 5 floors of offices. 13 levels of car-parking complex attached to the shopping mall. It is comprehensively equipped with state-of-the-art integrated facilities.


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Good Friday EVE (as we like to say around here...). Hope you're day-after Halloween is going great! Please keep in mind that fog is predicted in the forecast for tomorrow morning again. (fog on Thursday morning really ended up impacting the morning commute) Also, watch for scheduled construction closures:
-- T C Jester Northbound and southbound at IH 10 . Total Closure. Closed overnight from 9:00 PM, Friday, November 2 to 6:00 AM, Saturday, November 3. S/B Detour: Right, (West), on the IH 10 W/B Frtg Rd. to the 10 W/B Mainlanes Entrance Ramp from TC Jester; IH 10 W/B Mainlanes to the Washington Exit; Left, (South), on Washington to the IH 10 E/B Entrance Ramp from Washington; Left, (East), onto the IH 10 E/B Mainlanes; Exit to TC Jester. N/B Detour: Right, (East), on the IH 10 E/B Frtg Rd. to Shepherd, Left, (North), on Shepherd; Left, (West), on IH 10 W/B Frtg Rd to TC Jester .
-- IH-10 EAST Eastbound Connector Ramp to IH 45 NORTHBOUND . 1 Inside Lane(s). Closed overnight from 9:00 PM, Friday, November 2 to noon, Saturday, November 3.
-- IH-10 KATY Eastbound from WASHINGTON AVE/WESTCOTT ST to WEST OF T C JESTER . 1 Inside Lane(s). Closed continuously from 4:00 PM, Saturday, November 3 to 5:00 PM, Saturday, December 15.
-- US-59 EASTEX Southbound from HOPPER RD to BENNINGTON ST. 1 Outside Lane(s). Closed continuously from 9:00 PM, Friday, November 2 to 5:00 PM, Sunday, November 4.
Please let me know if I can look into any traffic issues for you! email@example.com
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text:
I spent the last five days walking to Machu Picchu. What follows is the true story of my adventures. I've encoded the information in my usual humorous narrative style, but if you want to skip the low-information-density text and check out the thousands of words worth of information in the pictures, be my guest. Otherwise, read on!
Some background first--Machu Picchu is one of the last cities of the incas. It's one of the lost cities that you read about in storybooks, and was only discovered in the early 20th century, hidden in a mountain in the peruvian rainforest. It's peru's largest tourist attraction and will probably be one of the "new" seven wonders of the world. The incas built a 33 km trail to machu picchu, made of stone, with steps carved into the mountains themselves. Every day, almost 500 people start the 4 day walk to the city. 88 travel agencies in peru handle the intense demand for people who want to walk to the city. It is also possible to take an insansely expensive(by peru standards) train to the city at the base of Machu Picchu, Aguas Calientes, and then take a bus from there. Machu Picchu itself consists of elaborate ruins, terraces, temples, and stone inca paths leading to more distant temples.
Naturally, I couldn't just do what everyone else was doing, plunk down a couple hundred dollars, and have a team of porters, cooks, and an english speaking guide reciting a tired script shlepp me down a trail crowded with tourists from all over the world. I'll carry my own weight, thank you very much, and I'll eat the crappy camping food that I've always eaten. Having a whole team of people carrying my stuff doesn't sit right with me. I had heard of an alternative trail that goes by the 6,000m peak of Salkantay, that also leads to Machu Picchu. I walked around Cusco for a day before I left, asking around for a guide who knew the flora and fauna of the rainforest and mountains that I would walk through. I found one who would come with me for the 5 day journey for $100, on the condition that I rent a tent for the two of us, buy all the food, rent a stove, and bring all the necessary equipment and emergency supplies and meds.
I ran around for a good day, buying food at the central market, haggling to rent camping equipment, and getting ready. I also tried to book my train back from Machu Picchu, but the station sold tickets outside, and because it was raining that day, they weren't selling tickets(remember this, my children, as it will come in handy later)
The next day, I was to meet my guide at 4:30 in the morning in the town square, and from there, we would take a bus to the trailhead at the town of Mollepata, 3 hours away. I walked down in the dark, my 60 pound pack pressing hard on my shoulders, and waited for the guide. After 15 minutes of bubkis, a taxi pulled up. A woman in the taxi who I had never seen before called out that my guide was sick, but there was another guide, and would I please get in the taxi? Figuring that a kidnapping would be more exciting than sticking around in the dark waiting, I hopped in.
We took the taxi to the bus stop, where I met my new guide, Carlos. He looked about 15, had a backpack the size of an average squirrel, and grocery bags of camping gear strewn about him. It was obvious that there was no way in hell he could cram everything at his feet into his bag. I looked at him skeptically, but then the bus pulled up, and we got in.
Carlos spoke Spanish and Quechua, with a few english words. However, my spanish was good enough that I could have a tentative conversation with him, with only a few miscommunications worthy of international war. In the bus, we spoke half an hour, exchanging plaisanteries or whatever the hell you exchange. It turned out he was 22, and was in school to be a guide for the main Inca trail, the holy grail for Peruano tour guides (you have to go to school for 3 years before you can be a licensed guide for the trial). He then pulled his hat over his eyes and fell asleep against my shoulder, while I looked out the window as the bus tentatively picked its way up and down the mountain roads.
We pulled into the town of Mollepata. Carlos jerked awake, and we walked to the town square, where we dumped our packs. "Wait here--I'm going to get a different backpack," Carlos said. I sat on a park bench and waited. After half an hour, with no sign of Carlos, I began to get uneasy. What appeared to be a meeting of the Field Workers' Union was called, and suddenly I was an awkward white boy sitting on a bench in the middle of about 50 field workers holding pitchforks, arguing about the poor working conditions, as well as how they should construct a new canal. After a while, the meeting adjourned, and a little later, carlos came back with a 100 pound rice bag with webbing sown into it as shoulder straps. "It's a typical pack," he said to me with a grin.
We started walking. My trail was about 80 km over four days. We walked for 5 hours over the mountains, high altitude sun beating down on us. As we walked, we talked back and forth in Spanish. Carlos is fairly new at the tour guide gig, this being just about a year since he started doing it. One of his rougher edges is a lack of the confidence-inspiring bedside manner of more experienced guides. Within a few minutes of walking, he had told me about two tourists who died horribly on the trek and a mule who got tangled during the night in a german lady's tent, freaked, and pulled the tent, woman and all, for about a kilometer before getting tired. I thought it was pretty funny, but I'd be curious to see how more tentative hikers react. Anyway, after a while, we pulled to a stop for lunch, and it immediately began to rain.
Funny thing about rain--it's wet. Within moments, everything was soaked. The path turned to the consistency of Just Add Water! Instant Pudding. Despite the 10 coats of waterproofing I had applied to my shoes, I felt like I was walking on muddy water balloons. And then this other thing started happening--drainage. Mountain is another word for funnel. The mountains capture all the water that falls and send all the rain for tens of square miles cascading down creases in the mountain, forming instant rivers 10 or 20 feet wide, swollen with muddy water.
I've never met anyone more fastidious at keeping his feet dry than Carlos. Every kilometer, there was about 10 streams crossing our path. Our path was only a few feet wide, but Carlos always hopped from rock to rock to cross the streams, regardless of the fact that one slip on the wet rocks would send you crashing down the 300 foot slope on the side of the trail, towards certain death. I considered just slogging across the streams, dry shoes be damned, but then I recalled the old adage, "When in Rome, do as the Peruvians do," and so I hopped from rock to rock like I was born to it.
After another five hours of walking, we pulled into a cow pasture where we would spend the night. While we were looking for a suitable camping spot, the Quechua farmer who owned the pasture walked up to us with his son and told us we could sleep in his backyard. (All of this, by the was, is taking place in a constant, soaking rain). We set up camp, and then the farmer's wife, who looked all of 14 came out to us with a bowl of noodles and potatoes, which were delicious. We cooked and ate dinner, and then the farmer came out and exchanged some words in Quechua with Carlos, who turned to me and said in spanish "Come into the house. They have guinea pig"
I'd never been in one of these farmhouses before, and it was interesting, to say the least. The first thing I realized was that the farmers out here don't much believe in natural light. In fact, they don't believe in any light. A small oil lamp burned in the corner, and the wife sat stirring a pot over a small fire. The house was made of stone, with a thatched roof, and pitch black. I sat on a wooden bench and ruminated while Carlos and the farmer talked in Quechua. A cat and dogs walked around, blindly bumping into my legs intermittently. The back of the house was completely dark, and suddenly a strange noise came out of the gloom, like bubbles popping in rapid succession. "What's that," I asked Carlos. "Guinea Pig." I sat some more, enjoying the scenery, when another noise started up, like machine gun fire. "What that?" "It is also the guinea pigs. They are having sex now." I hugged my knees to my chest and prayed for the nightmare to end. After a while longer, we went out, got into our respective tents (mine leaked like a sieve) and went to bed.
It was still raining when I woke up at 6. We ate horrible breakfast bars that I'd bought in Cusco, packed, and left. The trail led through pastures, climbing steeply. I began to fall behind. I couldn't understand why. I'd been fine the previous day. But try as I might, I felt tired, barely able to stay upright. I struggled to haul myself up step by step, focusing on the trail in front of me. Carlos pulled a branch off a dead tree and gave it to me as a walking stick. I pressed my weight on it and slogged upwards.
The scenery became bleak. The rain was constant, wind chilling
us. Rocky slopes with a thin scrub spread out before us, and clouds
passed over us, obscuring our view and turning our world white. It
seemed as if the climb was endless. In the distance, I could
occasionally make out the side of Salkantay through holes in the
clouds. We could hear avalanches from Salkantay several times as we
walked. And still the climb went on. I could see skeletons of mules
on the side of the path--Carlos told me that when mules get hurt, the
guides just push them down the mountain, since there's nothing else to
do for them. The wind grew stronger, and I put on another coat.
Finally, the trail leveled off. I was surrounded by boulders, piled
with cairns, in the saddle between two mountains. Carlos dropped his
pack and I did the same, grateful for a rest. He looked at me and
said "Welcome to 4,200 meters."
I realized why I was having so much trouble--there was no air.
At 4,200 meters, the air pressure is low enough that water boils much cooler. I found myself blinking often, my eyes drying out. I was high enough that my eyeballs were boiling!
Carlos maintained his proficiency at telling unsettling stories with a yarn about a husband and wife who were hiking with him on our trail when the husband slipped on a loose rock and started to topple. The wife grabbed him, and then they both tumbled down the rocky slope to the river, and both had to be helicoptered out. He topped it off with another story about a man who decided to ride one of the pack mules, got bucked off, and broke his clavicle. A quick mental calculation told me that if Carlos had led a tour group for every week of his year-long professional career, and the three accidents he witnessed were on separate trips, then I had about a 12% chance of meeting with a horrible disaster. And the odds would only go up as he told me more.
We continued walking, down now. The rain and wind picked up, and we grabbed shelter in a kind of shallow cave, where past tourists had thrown all their old plastic bottles. Carlos pulled out a lighter, made a pile of plastic bottles, wrappers, and dry hay, and started a fire. I watched from the entrance, horrified, thoughts of cancer and acrid, poisonous smoke flitting through my head while Carlos happily warmed his hands and dried his pants.
After a while, the rain slackened enough to continue. We walked down, out of the mountainous zone, and into the high rainforests of Peru. Suddenly, the scenery was vastly different. We were surrounded by lush vegetation. Orchids popped out of every corner, bromeliads perched on treed. Bamboo-like plants arched overhead, and a swollen river raged beneath us. It was suddenly hot and humid, while still pouring rain. I shed my outer layers and began to sweat. I took pictures of flowers and plants every few steps. The trail was even muddier, if that was possible, and my pants quickly became caked with mud. Briars ripped at my pack and shirt. After another several hours, we pulled into a small pueblo and set up camp, also in a backyard. Before we could cook dinner, a hard rain started up, and we retreated to the safety of our tents, in the hope that the rain would stop soon. After an hour, I resigned myself to the conclusion of bed without supper, ate a horrid breakfast bar, chewed a couple mouthfuls of powdered milk(delicious), and went to bed.
I awoke to find that the humidity was playing games with my camera, and making the backlight on the display work sporadically. EIT! Carlos and I ate breakfast with the senor whose house we were staying behind. His house was a little more open than the previous one. He boiled beans over the fire in a cast-iron pot, which swelled and split. Carlos and I split a bowl, alternating between eating and throwing beans to the floor. The floor of this house deserves some mention, by the way. It was alive, teeming with animal life. A good fifteen guinea pigs circulated the room in a kind of brownian motion, their patterns punctuated by occasional bursts of chicks, dogs, kittens, roosters, turkeys, and one parrot. Anytime one of us threw a bean to the ground, it was as if someone pulled a plug in a bathtub, as the entire floor drained to that one area in a desperate race to be first to the bean.
The third day was solidly in the rainforest. It had rained all night, and was staying on through the day for an encore. The soil had the consistency of jelly, and landslides were common. We would often wade through mud up to our thighs, where the earth above the trail had given way and covered everything with tons of loose mud. A Quechua woman and child joined us for the first seven or eight kilometers, as the trail went to another pueblo later on. After all that rain, the little creeks crossing the trail had gone and grown up into big and strong oceans of rushing water carrying mud, rocks, logs, and possibly us. Carlos stuck with his leap of faith technique for crossing the rivers, and since I'm writing this now, I guess it worked well enough.
The rainforest in peru is something incredible. Bizarre plants and beautiful flowers loomed from both sides of the path. Eagles flew overhead and perched on trees. These incredible forest are growing on the side of steep mountains with 60/70 degree slopes down for kilometers to the river below. Every now and then, I would see a scar in the hillside where a mudslide took out trees, path, vines, butterflies--everything, for hundreds of meters, leaving a reddish brown smear in their place. I glanced with a sense of foreboding at the slope above me, but then figured that the chances of me being caught in a mudslide were roughly that of me being eaten by wild pigs, and so I put it out of my mind, and we walked on. Butterflies swirled around us. From the river below, we could hear deep booming sounds, which were boulders being rolled along underwater by the force of several months' worth of rain.
We walked through the rainforest for hours, steadily descending, following the river. After a while we moved into farmlands, where coffee bushes, banana trees, and pepper trees surrounded us. We eventually walked into a village made entirely of mud. I mean it. The street was a muddy trough, torn by animal and car tracks. The houses were made of mudbrick. They had dirt floors. The fences were earth topped with cactii. It was impossible to walk in that muck-no footing at all. We slipped and slid our way through town to get to a dirt road, where we waited to catch a bus to the town of Santa Teresa. Well, not really a bus. Kinda more like a truck. One came through, and we hopped into the back. It had a floor, 3 walls, a canvas top, doors at the back that would occasionally flap open, making us dig our fingernails into the wooden floor to keep from tumbling out, and three 10 foot logs that were rolling around on the floor. It was a three hour ride, so I settled down on a sack of potatoes, only to get thrown across the truck when we hit a pothole. And another one. I eventually braced myself between one of the floor logs and the side wall, and was able to remain kinda stationary. We would stop every few minutes to pick up another person, usually with a bunch of bananas or, in one case, a bagful of cats. Meowing cats. And then we were off, the jolts of the truck slamming my back against the wall. As we passed through every village, the driver let loose with an earsplitting blast, prompting spanish shouts of "Ow! My fucking ears just broke!" from Carlos. Needless to say, I loved every minute of it.
We pulled into Santa Teresa three hours later, thoroughly bruised. I forked over my 6 soles for the 'bus' fare, which could have gone towards my hospital bills, and then we walked into town. By then, Carlos was sick of his aquaphillic tent, and I can't say I was thrilled with mine, so we went to a friend of his who had an outdoor eating area with a tin roof, and laid out our things to dry there.
Santa Teresa has a hot springs about half an hour's walk from the
town, so we headed down in search of a good soak. As we started
down the road, we were accosted by a construction crew who shouted
that a mudslide the day before knocked out the road, and we couldn't
go through. We looked around for another way to get down, and ran
into a couple town kids headed for the aguas termales.
"how can we get down there?"
"Take the road"
"the construction crew said it was off-limits"
"They say a lot of things"
We headed down once more, passing the construction crew. There was an exchange between Carlos and one of the workers, and I clearly understood the sentence, "If you want to die, go down this road." We voted in favor of death, scrambled over the mudslides, hopped over the rifts down to oblivion, and avoided the cracking parts about to take another fifty tons of dirt down the mountain. On the way down, Carlos delivered another classic: "This is a new town. Seven years ago, the old town was buried in an avalanche. Everyone living here died. We'll see the ruins tomorrow"
The Hot Springs were nice. Few
things are better than a burning hot soak after three days of walking
with a heavy pack. 'nuff said. On the way back up, Carlos told me
about some of the customs in the hinterlands of peru. One that
sticks out is a description of the end of the year festivals:
"At the end of every year, there is a big party. Anyone who has an enemy can settle it with a fistfight. Neighboring villages fight for the right to the best farmland. Three hundred people on each side battle eachother with sticks, rocks, slings, and slingshots. We don't allow guns, however."
"Do people die?"
"Yes, but it's part of the party," Carlos replied. Steer Roast pales in comparison.
The fourth, and last day of hiking started simply enough. We got up, ate, donned our packs, and started walking from the town down to the river. On the way down, I saw the ruins of the old town knocked out by the avalanche, as well as the railroad. Several railroad cars had been knocked into the river, and seven years later, I guess people figured they looked good there, and just left them.
After half an hour of walking, we arrived at the river. There, there was a steel wire going across the 50' raging river, with a wooden platform dangling from pullies underneath. There were lines of five or ten people at both sides, waiting to cross. Carlos grinned at me "oroya. Cable Car."
I climbed on, and one of the guys on the other side of the river started hauling. It was pretty fun. Three women all piled in together for the trip back, and then Carlos came over, and we went on our merry way.
On the other side, we had a drink of Chicha de Quinua, a mildly fermented drink made of mashed corn boiled for days, and then let to sit. According to Carlos, there is an art to drinking it-"In the morning, it has no flavor, so it must sit for a while. The best time to drink it is in midday, when it is slightly alcoholic. If you drink it in the afternoon, it is much stronger, and four glasses will make you drunk, but then you will swell up like a balloon." I checked my watch. We continued on along a dirt road, and I got to see one of the main points of international political contention in peru right now--a bridge. Currently, the only way across the river is by cable car, but the river must be crossed to get to Machu Picchu. The only easy way to get to Machu Picchu is by train, Perurail, which ironically is owned by the Chilean government. Since Machu Picchu is possibly the biggest tourist attraction in South America, Chile cleans up quite nicely on the train tickets. If the bridge is completed, it will be possible to take a bus to Machu Picchu, and Chile will lose its monopoly on transportation, and prices will have to go down. To prevent this, Chile is using every ounce of political clout to keep the bridge from being finished. We walked on.
As we walked, I noticed another cable car exactly like the one we
just crossed on, but with a sign on it saying "DANGER!! DO NOT USE!"
Carlos piped up, "A few years ago, a german tourist was crossing the
cable car when it snapped, and she fell into the river. Dead. We had
to build another one, which was what we just crossed"
"What's the difference with the new cable car?" I ask
Blank Look.
We walk on, and cross a spectacular waterfall that goes under the trail. And I mean under. The trail cuts across a mountain, and the river is inside the mountain, and then comes spewing out at the base, into the main river. Given the muddy color, all I could think of was that we were crossing Willy Wonka's chocolate waterfall.
We walked on, munching on oranges, and hours later, arrive at a hydroelectric plant. From there, we would take a train up to Aguas Calientes, at the base of Machu Picchu. The walk was over.
The train ride was uneventful, and an hour later, we pulled into Aguas. Carlos spoke to a friend of his and arranged to sleep in a restaurant, and I shlepped into a hostel. Aguas Calientes (Literally, hot waters) is a bloated town, by merit of being closest to the most famous ruins in South America. Prices are sky-high, the Visa logo is more prominent than the Peruvian flag, and even now, in the off-season, tourists flock to the city in droves. We ate a modest dinner in Carlos' friend's restaurant, talked for a while watching the idiot tourists, and then went to bed.
The next morning, I woke up at 4:30, leave my pack in the room, and go to the center of town in the dark to meet Carlos. No suprise, it was raining. We began the hour and a half walk up to Machu Piccu. The walk is on an inca trail, an it's nothing but stairs. All the way up. It's just getting light when we get to the top. We talk for half an hour and then say our fond farewells--only I had a ticket to enter the ruins.
I was one of the only people in the ruins. The best way I can describe how I felt is dumbstruck. It was raining too hard to take many pictures with my handicapped camera, and there was no one within eyesight, so all I could do was look at the city. Machu Picchu is something special. Translated from Quechua, it means Old Village. The sheer scale of it is amazing. It spreads on and on, like Somerville. The houses all had thatched roofs, which are all gone now except for a few restored ones, which gives the city an exhibitionist air, as you can see into every house from the top. I silently walked into the city, and for hours, wandered lost among the ruins, just taking it in. I climbed to the top of the temple of the Sun, at the side of the city, and stared at the Hitching Post of the Sun, a plain rock with knobs that, according to the Incas, was where the Sun would tie itself every night. Then the conquitouristadors started to arrive.
I retreated to the sanctuary of the trails behind the city. There is a hard trail to the top of Huayna Picchu (Young Village), the mountain always behind Machu Picchu in every picture you've ever seen. I was the only person on the trail, and I start walking. I took an hour detour to walk to the Temple of the Moon, a ruin hidden deep in the rainforest, rarely visited compared to the main ruin, and overgrown with vegetation. Very cool.
I walked back up and continued to Huayna Picchu. I was alone on the top after a brisk walk up thousands more Inca stairs. For thirty minutes, I stood on top of the mountain, staring at the mountains around me. I had time for a few acapella renditions of "I'm sittin on top of the world" before the next tourists invaded my reverie. For a couple hours, I stayed on top of the mountain, waiting for the clouds to clear so I could get a glimpse of Machu Picchu(My camera was completely broken by then, but the view was something out of National Geographic). I passed the time by pretending to be an Australian. I've been hanging around a bunch of Australians in Cusco, so I picked up enough slang and accent to be convincing--I convinced some New Zealanders!
After a while, I headed back down. By then, it was 10 or 11, and Machu Picchu was awash with tourists. My personal hell. I walked another hour down to Machu Picchu, and went to go buy my train ticket back (remember at the beginning when I said to remember that I couldn't get my train ticket because the ticket booth was rained out? Remember that now!). The guy at the ticket booth told me that there were no more backpacker ($30) tickets available. I told him that I made reservations a week ago, and he started laughing. Reservations don't really do anything down here. The only tickets left were $50 tickets for a fancier section, otherwise I had to wait in this tourist-ridden hellhole for two more days. I only had enough cash for the cheap ones, so I asked if he took a card. No luck. In fact, there are no ATM machines in Aguas Calientes, ridiculous, considering how many tourists are there. I walked the streets, talking to tourists about to buy dinner, trying to convince them to let me pay with my card, and then they pay me back in cash. No luck. Eventually, I met this really nice Dutch couple at a restaurant, and after talking to the waiter, he agreed to put aside the check for any table that paid in cash, and I could pay for it with my card and take the cash, minus a comission, of course. Finally, a table paid in cash, I covered it, took the cash, and was about to go buy my ticket when Carlos showed up again. It seemed Carlos couldn't get a return ticket either, and needed to borrow twenty soles. I gave it to him, ran around to get enough cash again to get my ticket, and then booked it to the counter. The train was due to leave in half an hour. I waited for ages for the guy to fill out my ticket, then sprinted back across town to get my pack from them hostel, ran back, and jumped on the train a minute before it left. And thus endeth my journey to Machu Picchu.
I dumped my pack on the train in the luggage area, and found my seat. I was sitting next to a 30ish peaked-looking blonde. I had scarcely sat down when I was confronted by a horrible ghoul of a man. Let's call him Bill. On the train, he had a fat beer belly, tiny blue bathing shorts, a tucked in T shirt (who tucks their t-shirt into their shorts?) and a week's growth of beard. He was sitting in front of me, turned around, and loudly said to me "You speak-a English?"
The word 'speak-a' is utter shite when said by anyone who speaks
english, and Bill was every bit the stereotypical American tourist.
But he continued: "You know, English? You habla?."
I gave him my best clueless look and said "Si. Claro, senor"
"This wom--mujer here," he said, motioning to the blonde girl next to me, "Lisa, is very pretty. Very bonita, no?"
I grin cluelessly, nodding frantically, the same act that gets me free dinners at MIT when I pretend to be the stereotypical foreigner from Serlozia.
The asshole continues, "Lisa, is no married. She no have..." In an attempt to bridge the divide between our distant cultures, he points emphatically at his wedding ring. "Lisa has only thirty years. Very viej...jovena, no?
Lisa piped up, "Twenty seven, Bill. If you're going to talk about me, get it right."
I noticed that Bill was with a group of about fifteen other ugly, grinning, fat americans. I turned to Lisa and asked "Esta Borracho? (Is he drunk)," guessing correctly that she spoke no spanish. One of the other Americans translated for the poor foreigner, "He's asking if you're drunk, Bill."
Bill is momentarily taken aback, but then comes back in force. "No, I'm not drunk. But Lisa is pretty, no? Maybe you be Lisa's boyfriend."
The woman sitting next to Bill turns to me, "Where are you from?"
I happened to be wearing a fleece that said Colombia on it, so I said "Colombia"
"What city?"
This I could do. Picking my vowels and consonants out of a hat, I say, "Tejolayba"
The consensus in the car is that they've never heard about it. I grin apologetically and say "Is very...poc.small"
They murmur simpathetically, and then say, "We're (motioning in a circle) from Aspen"
I look at them and say enthusiastically, "Yes, Yes! I learn all of America in my schooling. Aspen is of Colovio, no?"
They all chime in to correct me, all smiles. I can't believe they're stupid enough to buy this, but I figure, go for broke, and say, "I hope one day to live in the America"
The conversation goes on. This was actually the first english I'd heard or spoken in five days. I tell them that I've been living in Cusco for five months, making sweaters for money. Never once do they wonder how my character could afford this ticket, which is something like 3 month's salary, on average. They all work in the same place, and they're here on vacation(duh). Then Bill, who is obviously the ringleader, orders (I shit you not) all of the beers the train has. Fortunately, it's only about 20, so it only works out to one (ish) per person in his loutish douchegroup.
I notice the man sitting across the isle from me with his wife is not part of the group, but he's been listening to our exchange. He and his wife look about fifty, and they both look disgusted with the assholes. I lean over and say to him in Spanish, "I'm not actually from Colombia. I live in Boston and speak perfect English. This guy started fucking with me and I want to get back at him." He starts cracking up, and then translates into english for his wife, who cracks up too. Then I get an idea.
I tug on Bill's sleeve and say, "You want buy sweater?"
"Sure, pal. Show me what you got."
"One moment, pleezings..." (As an avid reader of my diary, you might remember that one of the first things I bought in Peru was a sweater that a street vendor told me was alpaca, but was actually acrylic. I was embarrassed to find out that I'd been had, at the time) I had brought this sweater on the trip, and it was in the bottom of my backpack, smelly and wet. The armpit had ripped a couple weeks back, and I sewed it up with garish yellow thread. I ran back, grinning for real this time, rummaged through my backpack, and dug out the sweater.
Bill made a show of inspecting it. I assured him that it was made of Vicunas, knowing they never heard of it. "I like it," he said. "How much!"
"Vi...twinty soles" (exactly what I paid for it).
The exchange was done. I sold the asshole my smelly, fake sweater. I told the guy next to me everything in spanish, and he cracked up again.
The train ride went on. One of the brilliant women in the group made loud barnyard noises to amuse the others, drowning out any other conversations in the entire car. I made tentative spinglish conversation with the people around me, building up my character. I realized, as I watched the other douches in the group "accidentally" groping the stewardess and winking at some of the girls in the car ahead of us, that selling them my ratty sweater was not enough to punish them for their sins of ignorance, stupidity, assholishness, and behaving like idiot americans in other countries. I realized that, given that they were riding in first class and had just hiked the Inca trail with TWENTY-ONE!!!! porters, that they were probably loaded. They might, just might, be able to attone for their sins with infusions of cash to the poorer denizens of Cusco. I began to set my trap.
After some more dialog with Bill, I told them that if they liked the sweater I sold them, I had many more in Cusco that I could sell them. I could bring the girlfriend of my friend, who had lots of sweaters, to their hotel, and they could buy what they wanted. I was instantly surrounded by these idiots, each one describing exactly what kind of sweater he or she wanted, and could I bring one like that, par favar? I made a date to meet them at their hotel (the hotel libertador) at 10, and then we parted ways. As we were leaving, Bill gave me his card. Turns out he's president of the Aspen Chamber of Commerce! One of his flunkies chimed in, "Bill is a very important man. He may be governor one day." I kissed the card and put it in my pocket.
I called my parents, and then went wandering around the streets in the artisan barrio of Cusco until I found a woman who made sweaters and who was having a crap night selling them. I told her to meet me at 9:15, bring all the sweaters she had, and I would take her to a group of idiotic americans I met, and she could name her price, since they didn't know shit.
In the meantime, I took the liberty of looking up the hotel they were staying at. It was the most expensive hotel in Cusco, possibly in Peru, at $500 a night, per room. And they had 10 rooms! I don't know hotels like that in the states!
At 9:15, I went to meet the woman. She had told her entire family, and they all came out with all the sweaters that they had made (they all made sweaters by hand). We all trouped down to the hotel, which was incredibly fancy, possibly the ritziest hotel I had ever been in. The family waited outside, and I went in, noting the snotty glance the doorman gave the family. I tracked down "Meezter Bill," and convinced him to bring the family inside. They all came in, and for a while, stared around them at what must have been one of the fanciest places they'd been in their lives. I enjoyed the pissed look on the doorman and concierge's face, but Bill insisted loudly that we all were his guests, so the hotel couldn't do anything. The family started laying out their sweaters, which were actually really nice, and the entire American group clomped down and started buying left and right. The family kept going to the front desk to make change for the hundred sole bills that the Americans were paying with, which pissed off the receptionist. It couldn't have worked out better if I'd planned it(oh, wait...). I stayed around and translated in halting English. All in all, I think the family made about $200 that night, which is normally a couple of week's work in Cusco. Not bad. The husband and wife were thrilled. After everyone left, the woman gave me a chullpa(one of the peruvian hats) which was nice, and her cell number, and told me if I ever met any other americans, to give her a call. I went to bed that night with a smile on my face.


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Zoo Animal + Is/Is @ Amsterdam
Technically this is in St. Paul, but they need some love too. And with a lineup like this, I'm definitely ok with posting about St. Paul on a Minneapolis blog.
Get there at 7. People who only show up for the headliners are lame.
- Alex


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Make your own marshmallows
It's alive!
How To Make Hang Tag Notebooks
How to do a half-up bow with your hair.
The best gifts come in small packages.
Turn the old rags in your closet you call shirts into cool new ones!
These necklaces sure do Rock! (pun intended).
DIY Poster Art
Display your jewellery in style with a frame and branches.
cute and useful!
Super easy and fun bits for your scrapbooks or art journals, or gifts!
A cute and simple shirt you can make on your own.


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Class leading performance, a lightweight aluminum chassis, and today's most popular quick detachable casual touring amenities. All that and more is what awaits you with the 2012 Yamaha Stratoliner S . With just about every bike manufacturer promising you these things, very few actually live up to it. The Stratoliner S does so with flying colors.
The Stratoliner S takes V-twin performance and character to the next level, setting the standards by which all casual touring machines are judged. The bike comes with all the necessary amenities, including a lockable quick release windshield, a passenger backrest, and lockable sidebags that have been covered in leather. The bike also gets plenty of chrome, highlighted by the switchgear, chrome master and clutch cylinders and levers, chrome wheels, chrome belt guard, chrome engine covers, and chrome front end. Yes, there's a chrome overload with the Stratoliner S. Just the way we like it.
All that shiny chrome notwithstanding, the Stratoliner S is also a picture of aggression and superb handling. The bike is powered by a 1854cc air-cooled, pushrod 48-degree V-twin engine that produces great thrust at any speed. The bike's twin-bore downdraft electronic fuel injection system provides optimum engine efficiency and throttle response in the widest possible range of conditions. At 3,300 rpm, the bike can hit 75 mph with maximum torque reached at only 2,500 rpm, giving us a clear idea of the bike's unbridled power.
In terms of handling, the Stratoliner S also comes ready for action, thanks in large part to a long and low aluminum frame provides great looks and light handling unlike any other full-size cruiser. To go with the frame, the bike also carries 46mm fork tubes and a tucked-out-of-sight single shock with adjustable spring preload out back that provides a smooth ride under varying loads.
Find out more about the full specs of the Yamaha Stratoliner S after the jump.
- 113-cubic-inch (1854cc) air-cooled, pushrod 48-degree V-twin has massive looks and performance.
- Four pushrod-activated valves and two spark plugs per cylinder provides optimum combustion efficiency.
- Ceramic-composite plated cylinders for superior heat dissipation with forged pistons cooled by oil jets. Provides outstanding reliability and longer engine life.
- 9.48:1 compression ratio and aggressive cam timing increase power output across the board.
- Computer-controlled, twin-bore, fuel injection monitors multiple engine parameters to calculate perfect mixture under all conditions; wide-angle 12-hole fuel injectors provide excellent atomization.
- Exhaust Ultimate Power valve (EXUP) inside the two-into-one exhaust system boosts torque.
- Special custom-machining of the cooling fin edges gives a jewel-like appearance to the engine as light hits it from different angles.
- 3300 rpm at 75 mph gives some idea of the Stratoliner S's power and cruisability. Maximum torque is reached at only 2500 rpm.
Chassis and Suspension
- Aluminum frame is light, rigid, and requires few welds for a smooth, clean look. A light, Controlled-Fill die-cast swingarm complements the bike's streamline style and reduces unsprung weight for great handling.
- 46mm fork tubes serve up an excellent ride and a sweet appearance.
- A tucked-out-of-sight single shock with adjustable spring preload out back provides a smooth ride under varying loads.
- A thick, richly chromed 1.25-inch handlebar in chrome clamps carries the Stratoliner S's switchgear wiring on the inside.
- Flangeless, teardrop fuel tank carries a full 4.5 gallons of fuel.
- Polished 12-spoke wheels evoke a thick spoke look, but carry modern tubeless radial tires; a 130/70-18 front and a fat, 190/60- 17 rear for excellent grip.
- Chrome front brake master cylinder with integrated lever operates a pair of 298mm front discs squeezed by strong monoblock calipers for excellent power, feel, and great style.
- Strong-and-light belt final drive routes power smoothly and efficiently to the rear wheel.
- Floating floorboards and an adjustable heel/toe shifter help provide a comfortable, low-effort ride.
Additional Features
- A sculpted seat makes the Stratoliner S an excellent place to sit on long rides. Improves long range comfort.
- Position beams within the main headlight housing provide great visibility.
- Left-thumb operated high-beam switch, and right-thumb activated accessory driving light switch for great visibility.
- Classic clock-style instrumentation complement Stratoliner S's neo-retro look and contains analog speedometer, tachometer and fuel gauge, along with twin digital tripmeters and odometer.
- Bright multireflector headlight, LED taillight and amber turn signals behind clear lenses give a custom look.
- Leather-covered locking hard sidebags, a quick-removable windshield that locks into place, and a locking, quick-detachable passenger backrest are standard on the Stratoliner S.
- Sidebags detach easily for cleaning.
The 2012 Yamaha Stratoliner S will be available starting February 2012 at a starting price of $16,590 (Intense Black).
|Engine Type
|113-cubic-inch (1854cc) air-cooled 48°
V-twin; pushrod OHV, 4 valves/cylinder
|Bore x Stroke
|100.0 x 118.0mm
|Compression Ratio
|Fuel Delivery
|Twin-Bore electronic fuel injection
with throttle position sensor
|TCI: Transistor Controlled Ignition
multiplate wet clutch
|Final Drive
|46mm telescopic fork;
5.1-in travel
|Single shock;
4.3-in travel
|Dual hydraulic disc, 298mm
|Hydraulic disc, 320mm
|12-spoke cast
|L x W x H
|101.6 x 43.3 x 59.6 in
|Seat Height
|27.8 in
|67.5 in
|Fuel Capacity
|4.5 gal
|Est. Fuel Economy
|42 mpg
|Wet Weight
|802 lb
|Intense Black


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|Standard Name
|Systematic Name
|Feature Type
|ORF, Verified
|Subunit of DNA primase; DNA primase is required for DNA synthesis and double-strand break repair (1, 2 and see Summary Paragraph)
|Name Description
|DNA PRImase
|Chromosomal Location
|View Computational GO annotations for PRI2
|Molecular Function
|Manually curated
|Biological Process
|Manually curated
|Cellular Component
|Manually curated
|6 genes
|Classical genetics
|Large-scale survey
|reduction of function
|52 total interaction(s) for 39 unique genes/features.
|Physical Interactions
|Genetic Interactions
|Length (a.a.)
|Molecular Weight (Da)
|Isoelectric Point (pI)
|PhosphoGRID | PhosphoPep Database
|Last Update
|Coordinates: 2011-02-03 | Sequence: 1996-07-31
|Subfeature details
|Retrieve sequences
|S288C only
|S288C vs. other species
|S288C vs. other strains
|External Links
|All Associated Seq | E.C. | Entrez Gene | Entrez RefSeq Protein | MIPS | Search all NCBI (Entrez) | UniProtKB
|Primary SGDID
PRI2 is an essential gene (3); it encodes a subunit of DNA polymerase alpha (4), formerly called DNA polymerase I (5; reviewed in 2, 6; also see 4). Yeast DNA polymerase alpha comprises four subunits, of MW 167 kD (Pol1p), 79 kD (Pol12p), 62 kD (Pri2p), and 48 kD (Pri1p). Polymerase alpha is required for DNA replication; it is involved both in initiation and in priming Okazaki fragments during lagging strand elongation. It has no associated proofreading exonuclease activity; the two smaller subunits form the primase activity that synthesizes short RNA primers in DNA replication. Pri2p increases the efficiency of RNA primer extension catalyzed by Pri1p on a DNA template (7). In yeast, DNA polymerase alpha activity is required for premeiotic DNA replication and sporulation and for double-strand break repair (8), but not for other DNA repair synthesis (9, 10).
Conditional mutations in PRI2 show altered DNA synthesis at the restrictive temperature (11), as well as increased mitotic intrachromosomal recombination and increased spontaneous mutation rates (12). DNA primase may also couple DNA replication to DNA repair, as a mutation in PRI2 (pri2-1) inhibits completion of double-strand break repair (8). All four subunits of DNA polymerase alpha are assembled throughout the cell cycle (13). In addition, affinity chromatography detects physical interactions between the polymerase and several other proteins (14), including Spt16p and Pob3p (15). Like many other genes encoding DNA replication proteins, PRI2 is transcribed during late G1 and S phases of the cell cycle; it is also highly expressed during premeiotic DNA synthesis (16). Though the mouse Pri2p homolog is very similar to the yeast protein, it cannot complement a pri2 mutation.
|Foiani M, et al. (1989) A single essential gene, PRI2, encodes the large subunit of DNA primase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol Cell Biol 9(7):3081-7
|Burgers PM (1998) Eukaryotic DNA polymerases in DNA replication and DNA repair. Chromosoma 107(4):218-27
|Lucchini G, et al. (1987) Yeast DNA polymerase--DNA primase complex; cloning of PRI 1, a single essential gene related to DNA primase activity. EMBO J 6(3):737-42
|Plevani P, et al. (1988) The yeast DNA polymerase-primase complex: genes and proteins. Biochim Biophys Acta 951(2-3):268-73
|Burgers PM, et al. (1990) Revised nomenclature for eukaryotic DNA polymerases. Eur J Biochem 191(3):617-8
|Sugino A (1995) Yeast DNA polymerases and their role at the replication fork. Trends Biochem Sci 20(8):319-23
|Santocanale C, et al. (1993) The isolated 48,000-dalton subunit of yeast DNA primase is sufficient for RNA primer synthesis. J Biol Chem 268(2):1343-8
|Holmes AM and Haber JE (1999) Double-strand break repair in yeast requires both leading and lagging strand DNA polymerases. Cell 96(3):415-24
|Budd ME, et al. (1989) DNA polymerase I is required for premeiotic DNA replication and sporulation but not for X-ray repair in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol Cell Biol 9(2):365-76
|Wang Z, et al. (1993) DNA repair synthesis during base excision repair in vitro is catalyzed by DNA polymerase epsilon and is influenced by DNA polymerases alpha and delta in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol Cell Biol 13(2):1051-8
|Francesconi S, et al. (1991) Mutations in conserved yeast DNA primase domains impair DNA replication in vivo. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 88(9):3877-81
|Longhese MP, et al. (1993) Conditional mutations in the yeast DNA primase genes affect different aspects of DNA metabolism and interactions in the DNA polymerase alpha-primase complex. Genetics 133(2):183-91
|Ferrari M, et al. (1996) Phosphorylation of the DNA polymerase alpha-primase B subunit is dependent on its association with the p180 polypeptide. J Biol Chem 271(15):8661-6
|Miles J and Formosa T (1992) Protein affinity chromatography with purified yeast DNA polymerase alpha detects proteins that bind to DNA polymerase. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 89(4):1276-80
|Wittmeyer J and Formosa T (1997) The Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA polymerase alpha catalytic subunit interacts with Cdc68/Spt16 and with Pob3, a protein similar to an HMG1-like protein. Mol Cell Biol 17(7):4178-90
|Johnston LH, et al. (1990) Expression of the yeast DNA primase gene, PRI1, is regulated within the mitotic cell cycle and in meiosis. Mol Gen Genet 221(1):44-8


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Our coastal waters are known for having an abundance of sharks, but one that made its way down our coast last winter got more attention than most others.
She wasn't just any shark. Her name is Mary Lee, a 16 foot 3500 pound Great White shark that was tagged off the waters of Cape Cod by the non-profit research ground OCEARCH.
What many may find surprising and perhaps a bit uncomforting is just how close Mary Lee came to our coast. "She had been cruising up and down the coast kind of sticking her nose in and out of various river mouths," says OCEARCH found Chris Fischer. Mary Lee was the first Great White tagged in the Atlantic by the group, which allowed the world to watch her travels online. She definitely gets around. " "She has really blown our mind. She has traveled over 5,000 miles in just six months." Mary Lee has since moved back north and then headed toward Bermuda. Another Great White, named Genie, is currently about 50 miles off the coast according to OCEARCH's global shark tracker.
Great Whites have been spotted here before, but it's pretty rare. Devin Dumont, with the UGA Marine Extension Aquarium on Skidaway Island says that the Department of Natural Resources usually observes a handful of the fierce predators each winter. It's believed that they could be following the migration of Northern Right Whales. "Unfortunately the right whales die as the result of boat collisions, and that's kind of ringing the dinner bell for the great whites," says Dumont. The sharks are usually only nearby the beaches during the winter.
While Great Whites like Mary Lee may strike fear into those who are getting ready to hit the beach, both Dumont and Fischer say that we are much more of a threat to them than they are to us. Fischer says that sharks are under attack globally with some 73 million being taken each year for their fins alone—something he says threatens the oceans entire ecosystem.
The hope of the OCEARCH tagging program is that it will allow scientists to gather more data than ever before about sharks like this and be able to follow their travels—learning more about their breeding and migration patterns.
Here more from Chris Fischer from OCEARCH about the project and its importance tonight on WSAV News 3 at 6..
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