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WLP720 Sweet Mead/Wine Yeast
A wine yeast strain that is less attenuative than WLP715, leaving some residual sweetness. Slightly fruity and will tolerate alcohol concentrations up to 15%. A good choice for sweet mead and cider, as well as Blush wines, Gewürztraminer, Sauternes, Riesling.
Feedback and experiences from previous customers. Want to leave a review of your own?
"Great Stuff"
The batch turned out perfect, my 2nd batch ever and it was easy easy! It was a quick fermentation roughly a couple of weeks and it came out stout but not overpowering. Finished a little cloudy but super-clear cleaned that right up. Great Stuff Garrison
"Waiting for more honey"
I have used your Sweet Mead Yeast in about 3 batches of mead and I have yet to get an inconsistent product or something that I didn't like! I know that I have (unintentionally) changed the recipe and the end result is still the same. There was one batch that I pitched the yeast before the must got to a sufficient temp and that batch turned out low alcohol and very sweet. Still, no complaint and that was my fault. I just wanted to drop you a line and tell you how happy I am with your product. I have two vials of that yeast in my fridge right now just waiting for me to go buy more honey.
" ... this batch is just fantastic!"
I've used this yeast in the past with nice results. However, this batch is just fantastic! I made a 5 gal batch of traditional mead using 14 lbs of honey and a short 15 min boil. Brew day was 8 Feb 09. The OG was 1.110. Jumping several readings later (10 Apr) and the gravity is at 1.024. The mead has a very nice sweet honey flavor...excellent. I'm not complaining, but that's over the anticipated <75% attenuation of the yeast. Thanks. Bill
"This yeast dropped my mead from ... "
This yeast dropped my mead from 1.084 to 1.000. This is well beyond 75% attenuation.
"The cider is absolutely delicious..."
I used this yeast to make a batch of cider with 4 gallons of pasteurized apple juice and 4 pounds of brown sugar dissolved in one gallon of water. O.G. was 1.065, 10 days later it was at 1.002! The cider is absolutely delicious, but the yeast attenuated way higher than I expected. Next time I will try an ale yeast with a lower alcohol tolerance to leave it a little sweeter.
" ... make sure you ..."
I've used this yeast multiple times in different mead recipes. Its my preferred yeast for my orange clove mead. When they say it has a Low Flocculation rate, they are not exaggerating. It frustrates my friends they have to wait so long for the mead to clarify before drinking, but the yeast is worth it. If you want something you can drink fast and young, this is not the right yeast for you. My batches usually top out around 6-7% ABV when using 3-4lbs of honey/gal, although at 6% and 3.33 lb/gal it's still perhaps a bit too sweet. Whether this is a function of temperature fluctuations or acidity from the oranges I use I don't know. If you use this yeast in the winter, make sure you are using a heat belt.
"I tried fermenting 5 gallons of pasteurized cider"
I tried fermenting 5 gallons of pasteurized cider from whole foods with nothing added. This yeast would not drop out from the cider. I thought to let it sit longer but it ended up giving the cider a very yeasty flavor. This may have been from the low gravity, I'm not sure. The flavor at first was great but then yeast flavor destroyed it, I'm sure it makes great mead but not sure about low gravity cider.
"I've been using WLP720 on and off for several years"
I've been using WLP720 on and off for several years, depending on availability in my local homebrew stores. It is my favorite because it gives a high alcohol content (good for aging), retains sweetness, produces no noticeable fusel alcohols, and leaves to no yeasty flavor. However it will sometimes take only 4 weeks to fully ferment, other times it takes as long as 4 months! My OG tends to be between 1.130 and 1.110, and temperature right around 70 F. I provide plenty of fermaid K either all at the beginning of the batch, but have recently tried the staggered method. I've also recently started using the no-heat method rather than 155 F boil for 10 minutes. So far it doesn't seem like changing these techniques makes the mead ferment at any different rate. I've also only recently been using ph testing in my latest batch that has been going for 6 weeks now, OG 1.125, currently 1.145 at 70 F. I'm trying to figure out why the sluggish fermentation at times. Right now the ph appears to be 3.8 but I'm using wine ph strips so that could be off by a little bit. My question is what are the best ph ranges I should aim for when using this strain? And yes, I'm seriously considering getting a digital ph meter ;-) Thank you, -Sean Benjamin
Frequently Asked Questions
I am brewing my first mead. It came out to 10.1% abv. Your web site states the alcohol tolerance as 15%. Why such a difference?
A lot of things can contribute to the lower alcohol. That percentage is based on ideal conditions for the yeast. Yeast health, oxygenation, nutrition, etc. can all lead to the lower percentage.
Optimum Ferment Temp.70-75°F (21-24°C)
Alcohol ToleranceHigh


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Turnout Sheets
Turn out your horse in a quality horse turnout sheet from Dover Saddlery! Waterproof and breathable, a turnout sheet is a versatile and useful component to most riders' horse clothing collections. Our full selection of lightweight and heavier turnout sheets is available from top brands including Rambo®, Amigo®, Baker®, Rhino® and more. Find the perfect one for your horse in the right size and a color you love today.

subset: commoncrawl


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(EAU CLAIRE - March 15, 2004) A new survey shows prices for all grades of gas have risen to a record high average of $1.77 per gallon.
Prices may be high, but there are things drivers can do keep costs down. As a manager at Saturn of Eau Claire, Chuck Konzen suggests a full tune-up to cut fuel costs.
AAA of Wisconsin says a poorly tuned vehicle can increase fuel consumption up to 50 percent or more. Konzen also says poor tire alignment from those spring-time potholes can end up costing you more in gas.
weau.com Extended Web Coverage
Gas Prices
What determines the price you pay at the pump?
Why do gas prices fluctuate?
Source: www.eia.doe.gov contributed to this report.


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Introduction to PET
Last Modified: April 18, 2002
This information was provided by an unrestricted educational grant from Integral PET Associates, LLC.
What You Need to Know
Technological advances are providing physicians with a better understanding of cell metabolism than ever before. At the forefront of these advances is the PET scan, which provides diagnostic information unavailable from other imaging tests, such as computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MR).
Unlike the MR and CT, which provide anatomic imaging of the physical structure of the body, a PET scan provides metabolic imaging that show how the body's organ systems function and how cells grow. The PET is able to show whether tissue is normal or abnormal based on cellular metabolism. This information can allow the physician to assess chemical and physiological changes related to metabolism. PET images can therefore demonstrate pathological changes long before they would be revealed in a CT or MR.
PET can help physicians with early diagnosis of a disease and provide additional information that can help predict a patient's eligibility for surgery. PET can also help physicians monitor a patient's response to treatment as well as identify distant metastasis that can affect treatment, helping curtail ineffective treatments and reduce unnecessary invasive procedures.


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So it all came together on the day... having been in Dahab yesterday, I had spent a large chunk of time on my phone organising transport for our divers, making sure we had mesh bags on hand, and that everyone was still up for our house reef clean up this week. This was my first turn at organising a reef clean up, so maybe it wasn't the best...
Project AWARE's online environmental community working together for ocean protection.
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I would like to ask if there is any way to ensure that my sent email was read, and to ensure also that the attached files were opened.
I use Hotmail.
I would like to ask if there is any way to ensure that my sent email was read, and to ensure also that the attached files were opened.
migrated from superuser.com Jan 11 '12 at 7:24
This question came from our site for computer enthusiasts and power users.
No, this is impossible. There is no reliable way to know what happens to an email once it leaves your client. One technique for confirming an email is read is to include an html image tag (usually hidden) that references an image on a server in your control. If the image is opened, this means the email is opened. However, most email clients block the opening of remote images precisely for this reason - privacy takes precedence. So it does not ensure you are notified.
If this is a service you require, then the email would need to be sent using a service in your control.
One option would be something like SecureFTP. File are sent as links in an email, and to access the files they must log into the secure site (using their browser). If the files are downloaded, you are informed.
This might be a little too philosophical, but there's no way to ensure someone has actually read your email. Even the received/read notifications do not ensure this. Why? Because it is a simple question of not being able to read someone's mind. The notification ensures only that someone has seen that the message was received.
My way of dealing with this is asking for an answer when the other person has read and / or acknowledged the contents of my email.
SpyPig. Problem solved—free.
The most simple and common way to do this is using tracking images. Services such as Mailchimp provide this as part of their broadcasting service, and regular users can achieve it thorough services such as GetNotify.
The principle is you embed an image in the email, even a tiny 1x1px invisible thing. As soon as them image is pulled then that request is logged, and the URL to load the image is unique to that recipient of that email.
Try readnotify
You can give it a go for free and it's the most reliable email tracker around.
A trick I've always used if there are intended links for a recipient to visit is to shorten the links with a unique bit.ly url. Then I can track if the user clicks on that link in with bit.ly analytics.
Of course this fails if the email is text only, but perhaps it will solve some of your issues.


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Department of Art
Alumni and FriendsSince 1903, Western's Art faculty have been educating contemporary artist, and offering classes that were designed to meet the personal and professional goals of students. Many students have found their life's careers as a result of studying art at Western. Relatively recent successes include:
Matt Zumbo, - Graphic Design - BFA, 1976 - Matt Zumbo's Homepage
Matt Zumbo has been creating artwork since 1973. Some of his clients include Simon and Schuster, Doubleday Books, Chemical Bank and Omni Magazine. He will well-known for his science fiction and fantasy illustrations, including covers for the "Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman" series by Walter M. Miller, Jr. and for Anne Logston's fantasies "Greendaughter" and "Wild Blood."
Thomas Jackson, - Painting - BA 1972 - Thomas Jackson's Homepage
Thomas Jackson cites numerous artists as influences and heroes. Among them are former WIU ART faculty Bruce Bobick who Tom sites as inspiring the development of technique in his work.
- Derek Reeverts, - Ceramics - BFA 1999 - Derek Reeverts' Blog.
Kristin Beaver - Painting - BFA 2000 -
Kristin Beaver's Homepage
Kristin was among 18 artists from hundreds of applicants to be awarded an inaugural Kresge Artist Fellowship in the Visual Arts in June 2009. The 12-month fellowship includes an unrestricted $25,000 prize funded by The Kresge Foundation. It is the largest award of its type available to individual artists in metropolitan Detroit.
Alanna DeRocchi
Animal Presence by Alanna DeRocchi
The following You Tube videos are from an exhibition of large-scale ceramic and mixed media sculpture by Alanna DeRocchi on view on the McLean County Arts Center's Brandt Gallery from August 19 through October 22, 2011.
Originally from Petersburg, Illinois, Alanna DeRocchi received her BFA from Western Illinois University in Macomb. She continued studying at California State University, Long Beach, ultimately earning her MFA at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4
- The placement of Art Education majors continues to be between 80 and 90%.
- Over 90% of Graphic Design graduates are employed in their field within six months of graduation.
- Check other success stories on ART FACEBOOK!


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For Pam Slay, Kyle Harris isn't just a pet sitter. She's a "lifeline."
Tabitha was a 13-year-old black cat being overlooked at a Los Angeles County animal shelter until Bridget Alves noticed her.
Some women might scream upon seeing a huge, furry spider in her home.
Bessy was suffering. The 7-year-old German shepherd was in advanced liver failure and losing function in her back end.
It was a warm January day and Kelly was acting like a puppy. Surprisingly agile, the 100-pound, 12-year-old mixed breed dog hopped on the couch, looking for a little attention, before heading off to play in the yard with her friend Chuck, a 14-year-old Boxer mix.
The holidays can be a festive, yet hectic time of year. For pets, the whirlwind of activity and distracted humans can present a prime opportunity to get into mischief or worse.
Mark Benson of Canyon Country had just finished taking his family's newly adopted dog Gunny for a walk when it happened. As Benson went to take off his shoes on the front porch of his home, Gunny slipped out of his harness.
SueAnn O'Connor of Valencia has had a lot of dogs in her life, but never one quite like Lulu.
Maverick has spent several months at Advanced Care Animal Care Center in Canyon Country, but the senior cat is far from sick. He's looking for a new home and veterinarian/owner Amanda Gillen felt her office was a good place to start.
Blooming flowers and blossoming plants signal the start of spring across the Santa Clarita Valley. The season has been known to trigger environmental allergies not just in people, but for their pets, as well.
While the owners are away, the dogs will play.
Dogs may be man's best friend, but cats are the most popular pets in America. According to the Humane Society of the United States, there are approximately 86.4 million owned cats in the United States versus 78.2 million dogs.
It was a lovely summer evening in the Santa Clarita Valley, much too nice to leave her four-legged best friend at home while she enjoyed a meal alfresco. That's why Laura Chesler recently brought along her dachshund Ella to the Valencia Lazy Dog Café to dine with friends.
As many pet owners know, spaying or neutering is the proven method of preventing unwanted births. What many might not know is that spaying and neutering also provides health and behavioral benefits that add to the quality of life for your pet, not to mention the duration.
There's something wonderful about watching your pet frolic outside in warm weather, but beware. Some common plants and gardening products can be hazardous, even fatal, to a dog or cat.
Page 1 of 25
More than 1,000 shelter pets will be showcased at the No-Kill Los Angeles (NKLA) Super Adoption on Saturday, June 4, and Sunday, June 5 ...
Page 1 of 1


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An eligible employee who is the spouse or registered domestic partner[1] of a member of the armed forces of the United States, National Guard, or reserves who has been deployed during a period of military conflict to combat theater or combat zone of operations, shall be allowed up to ten (10) days of unpaid leave. Such leave shall be used only when the employee's spouse or domestic partner is on leave from the armed forces of the United States, National Guard, or reserves while deployed during a period of military conflict to combat theater or combat zone of operations. This leave does not affect or prevent the granting of any leave for military spouses afforded by the Family and Medical Leave Act, and may run concurrently.
Retaliation against the employee for requesting or obtaining such a leave is prohibited.
[1] The term "domestic partner" means two individuals who reside together in a long-term relationship of infinite duration with an exclusive mutual commitment in which the partners agree to be jointly responsible for each other's common welfare and to share financial obligations. The partners may not be related by blood to a degree of closeness which would prohibit legal marriage in the state where they legally reside. The term "registered domestic partner" means domestic partners, one of whom is an NYU employee, who have submitted a completed New York University Statement of Domestic Partnership and other required information, and have received approval from the University.
|Effective Date:
|September 01, 2008
|Issuing Authority:
|Executive Vice President and Provost
|Responsible Officer:
|Vice President for Human Resources and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
|Office Name:
|Offices of the Provost and Executive Vice President
The purpose of this policy is to implement Section 202-I of New York Labor Law, which provides for eligible employees to take leave to coincide with the leave of a family member serving in the armed forces.
This policy applies to employees who are employed by New York University and work at least twenty (20) hours per week. Such employees are deemed "eligible employees".


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Let us take the standard QED ($e^-, e^+, \gamma$) as a model of QFT and ask what is its "short-distance" physics?
They say the UV infinities appear because we do not know the real physics of short distances and initially we introduce it wrong. OK, but after renormalizations, what physics does remain? Do we replace the unknown/wrong physics with certain/right one? Can anybody describe it without appealing to unphysical bare particles? Have we an idea about the real electron from QED? If so, why we cannot use it as the input to construct a reasonable theory from the very beginning?
P.S. Moderators, please do not close my questions before they are answered, let people answer.


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20 Nov 2007 7:17 AM #1
Programmatically Select TreeNode
I think this is simple question but I've been stuck on it for some time now. I have a treepanel and would like to be able to have a default selection. I first thought the selectPath method would be what I want, and that seems to work, but doesn't give any visual indication that a node is selected (highlighted). In the forums I have come accross references to node.ui.highlight() but that gives me 'Ext.fly(...) is null or not an object'.
What I would like to see is my treepanel with a node selected just as if the user just clicked on it.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Ext Team: I am still very new to Ext but have been quite impressed, keep up the good work.
20 Nov 2007 7:21 AM #2
21 Nov 2007 8:06 AM #3
How witty...after a day of searching I figured I'd risk a question.
At any rate thanks for the link it got me going in the right direction.
For anyone else that reads this, function.defer() was what I needed.
Something I am still curious about, however, is why I needed to defer the call to TreePanel.selectPath(). I am calling it in the TreePanel's render event after building the tree, why does it need a pause? Is there another event I should be using so that I don't have to defer...maybe the window's render event (the tree is in a window)?
Thanks, kg
3 Feb 2008 5:23 PM #4
Yes I'd like to know the same thing - we shouldn't have to use defer. I note that TreeNode has no "render" event we can monitor. Is there any other way we can automatically select a treenode upon the tree panel rendering?
3 Feb 2008 11:14 PM #5Code:
if (Ext.getCmp('tree')) { // if tree is loaded var tree = Ext.getCmp('tree'); tree.on('append', function(tree, p, node){ if(node.id == 9){ // select node node.select.defer(100, node); } }); }
9 Sep 2009 1:05 AM #6
This is just great. Let's defer all the processing...
5 Sep 2011 9:44 PM #7
what in case of multiselectModel
in MultiSelectModel its clearing all the selection model.......
8 Feb 2013 5:16 AM #8
Solution of above question
If you have node id then try to get the node by id and then use as follows
taxonomyTreeLoader.on("load", function(){
if(isQueryExecutable && singleParamDynamicQuery &&docTypeCodeDynamciQuery.length>0){
var currentNode=taxonomyTree.getNodeById(docTypeNodeId);
taxonomyTree.fireEvent("click", currentNode);


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When will I receive my membership cards?
Please allow six weeks after purchasing your membership for your cards to arrive. If you have not received your cards by then, please call the Membership Department at 713-942-8000, ext. 116 or e-mail email@example.com.
May I come to the Museum without my card?
Yes. Your card is not required to visit. However, members receive up to 20 percent discounts (based on membership level) in our Store on presentation of a valid membership ID.
I think I have lost my cards or never received them. What do I do?
Call the Membership Department at 713-942-8000, ext. 116. We will send you a replacement card. For your identity protection in the event that your card is lost or stolen, only your membership ID number appears on the membership card.
How many cards do I get?
Ally- and Friend-level members receive one card. Two cards are issued for all other levels. Visit the Membership area of our Web site for a complete listing of member benefits by level.
May I bring a guest to members-only preview parties or other events?
All membership events - including preview parties - may be attended by the individual(s) covered in the membership level.
Can I get in free at other museums?
At the Associate level and above, you are entitled to participate in the North American Museum Reciprocal Program, which provides complimentary general admission free or member admission during regular museum hours and member discounts at museum shops and concert or lecture tickets. Please see the Museum Reciprocal Programs listing site for a complete list of participating museums.
At this time, there is not a level that provides membership to all the rich and diverse museums in Houston. For more information about other museums in Houston, visit the Houston Museum District Association Web site.
May I give my card to someone else to use?
Your membership card and privileges are non-transferable. They are valid only for the person(s) named on the membership account.
Are there any special organizations for young people at HMH?
Members between the ages of 21 and 39 are invited to join Cultural Bridges, a group of young patrons who gather regularly for a lively mix of art, entertainment and education. For more information or to join, please visit the Next Generation Web site or call 713-942-8000, ext. 109.
My company has a matching gifts program. Is HMH eligible to receive the matching gift?
Yes. The Internal Revenue Service has identified HMH as a non-profit organization and, as such, is eligible to receive your company's matching gift. Please fill out the form you have obtained from your company. Matching gifts may be applied at any time during the 12 months of your membership. Please note that matching gifts are considered donations and may not be used to upgrade or extend memberships.
How can I stay informed about exhibitions, programming and events?
A periodic e-newsletter and other e-mail bulletins and invitations are sent to all members who share their e-mail addresses with us. Content includes information about upcoming events and exhibition openings. It is the best way to remain up to date on timely Museum news. Please provide your e-mail address during the 12 months of your membership. We do not share e-mail addresses with other organizations, and you may opt-out of this service at any time. Also, visit our Web site for comprehensive Museum information.
How can I get more involved with HMH?
There are several ways to be involved with the Museum. You may volunteer, become a docent, serve on a committee or provide a donation to the annual fund. For more information, please call the Membership Department at 713-942-8000, ext. 116 and share your interests. We would be happy to recommend an area in line with your preferences.
My question has not been addressed here. What do I do?
Please call the Membership Department during Museum hours or drop us an e-mail at email@example.com. Membership office hours are Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.


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Larry Osterman - The toughest technical problem that Larry faced
- Posted: Nov 04, 2004 at 1:59PM
- 22,091 views
- 8 comments
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bdelahunty wrote:Larry is cool.
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Secrets of Back-to-School Savings
Find out how mom bloggers avoid spending a fortune come fall
It's that time of year again: The kids are headed back to school, which means you're in for busier mornings, nights doing homework and doling out a whole lot of cash. But does the start of a new academic year really mean you have to dig deeper into your pockets? We asked mom bloggers for their tried-and-true ways to save money on back-to-school spending, and they definitely delivered. Read on for proof that new clothes, lunches and after-school activities don't have to cost an arm and a leg.
School Supplies
Pencils and pens and rulers, oh my! School supplies can really add up. Here's how to save some major cash on the necessities.
1. Use what you have.
According to Christine Koh, founder and editor of Boston Mamas, you probably already have all the school supplies you need right in your house. "It's just a matter of finding them and assessing." This year she gave her daughter a list of everything she needed for school and turned it into a scavenger hunt. "She went through the house and pulled out folders, pencils, pens, etc.—and she had everything on the list!"
2. Swap, don't buy.
Emily Roemmich, editor of Busy Mom, likes SwapMamas.com, a swapping website that includes a section for school and office supplies. Connect with other moms to trade items you no longer need for supplies you can use, so you won't have to spend any money.
3. Know when it pays to spend more.
Inexpensive supplies are a no-brainer, except when it comes to something like backpacks. "We used to buy the kids backpacks for $20 or less but found we were replacing them by December," says Kimberly Vetrano of She Scribes. "Now we buy quality backpacks they can use for a few years for around $40."
School Clothes
Back-to-school wardrobes don't have to cost a fortune, as long as you know how to handle fall fashion.
1. Take inventory.
Before hitting the stores with her two kids, Kristie Sawickis of Saving Dollars and Sense makes a list of what they already have and what they still need. "It keeps us from overspending on all the super-cute 'must-have' items that can break the bank," she says. Sheri Reed, editor of The Stir, a CafeMom blog, keeps track of what clothes she already has for her two boys by keeping boxes of shoes and clothing labeled by size in a closet. "I pull them out before each school year starts. That way I can see what fits and what else we need to buy."
2. Get younger siblings excited about hand-me-downs.
Lee Allport of My Sentiment ExactLee reports that her youngest son loves anything that once belonged to his older brother. "We actually do better with hand-me-downs for him than we do with buying new clothes!" she says. "We simply get him excited by telling him that his older brother once wore this outfit, and if we can find a picture to prove it, that's even better." You can also shop with hand-me-downs in mind by avoiding gender-specific or too-trendy items. "When my children were younger I used to buy certain clothing—like sweatpants, sweatshirts and T-shirts––in unisex colors so I could save them when my eldest daughter outgrew them to pass them down to my youngest son," says Kimberly.
3. Shop out of season.
Instead of paying a premium for the latest styles, Kimberly tries to shop out of season for clothing, purchasing winter items in the summer and vice versa. "You'd be amazed at how many things you can get for rock-bottom prices that way. If your child is still growing, you can 'guesstimate' what his or her size would be or buy a size or two larger so there's something to grow into."
4. Organize a swap.
"I have six friends who are scattered across the country, and since they all have kids of different ages, we do cross-country clothing swaps," says Brittany Gibbons of Barefoot Foodie. "We each pay the shipping fee to send a box of clothes that no longer fit to the mom whose child is the next size down." If you don't have friends to swap with, the Internet can be another great source for no-cost clothing. "thredUP is really fantastic," says Christine. "It's a site where you can swap clothing with other parents; just stuff a flat-rate USPS box full of clothing and list it on the site. Then you get credit to pick a box for yourself. It's super-easy, convenient and practically free!"
5. Remember, you don't need to buy anything.
Sheri saves money by not buying into the need for new things every school year. "Since it's usually still summer weather when school starts again, my boys don't start the first day of school in a brand-new outfit. We reuse backpacks, and when we can, lunchboxes, for several years."
School-Week Meals
In the hustle and bustle of packing lunches and pulling together weeknight dinners, it can be easy to throw a lot of cash down the drain. Here's proof you don't have to spend a ton on meals during the week.
1. Pack reusable lunches.
Don't waste money on plastic utensils and paper napkins that get thrown out after only one use, says Jessica Shepherd of My Silly Monkeys. "If you throw away bags and bottles, you're basically throwing your money in the garbage!" Instead, use cloth napkins, real flatware and reusable containers for food and snacks. Stefania Pomponi Butler of City Mama loves using LunchSkins, which are BPA- and phthalate-free reusable snack and sandwich bags that can go in the dishwasher. "It's a small investment, but they last forever."
2. Don't buy snack-size.
"Don't fall prey to snack-size options when planning school lunches," warns Kristie. "Buy a full-size bag of crackers and then make your own snack sizes with reusable containers." For creative out-of-the-packaging lunch ideas, check out the photos of the daily lunches Catherine McCord of Weelicious packs for her son.
3. Add a special—and cheap—touch to lunches.
Special extras don't have to be expensive. Lee uses cookie cutters, which she buys packs of at the dollar store, to cut her son's peanut butter sandwiches into shapes. "It's always a surprise for him when he opens his lunchbox." Leaving an inspirational note for your kids in their lunchboxes just might set the tone for a great day, too. If your mornings are too hectic to write up a thoughtful message, Lunchbox Love for Kids includes pocket-sized positive notes and trivia that are perfect for slipping right into a lunchbox. There are hundreds of different cards, so your kid will always get a new message when he opens his lunchbox. Plus each pack of 12 cards only costs 97 cents in Walmart stores.
4. Plan ahead.
"One way I keep my grocery budget in check is by creating a weekly menu," says Kristie. "It only takes a few minutes but it keeps me from buying things unnecessarily." Once a week she sits down with the whole family to decide what they'll have for lunch and dinner so everyone feels involved. Stefania also plans her weekly meals each Monday and posts them on her blog, where readers are invited to share their own meal plans and contribute ideas. "The whole point is to have no waste," she says. "I plan and shop, so at the end of the week I'm not throwing out wilted lettuce or rotten cucumbers."
After-School and Weekend Activities
Keeping kids busy and productive can be a challenge, especially for your wallet. Between after-school activities and weekend adventures, it can really add up. Check out the bloggers' favorite ideas for low-cost activities.
1. Don't buy new sporting equipment.
To help your kids gear up for their sports teams, Jessica recommends borrowing equipment from older students or checking out sites like Freecyle, an organization that promotes giving away items for free, as well as Craigslist and eBay. Kristie heads to Play It Again Sports, a sporting goods consignment store chain, to find goods at reduced rates as well as trade in her old items to offset the costs.
2. Pick up odds and ends when you run other errands.
Kristie recommends always being on the lookout for inexpensive crafts items, like paint, tiles and beads, as an easy way to stockpile a stash of rainy-day projects without breaking the bank. Having crafts at the ready also means not having to blow your budget on a last-minute activity.
3. Let the great outdoors be entertainment enough.
"I'm a nature junkie and my kids love coming along," says Sheri. "Our favorite freebie is visiting our local wildlife preserve, which has an auto tour. From the comfort of our car (which is great when it's really hot, cold or one of them is cranky), we can observe wildlife, sing with the radio and just be together." Find one near you by visiting the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service website.
4. Find free activities online.
Emily loves the printable coloring pages, videos, music and games offered at PBS Kids as well as the free reading and pre-reading activities at Starfall. She heads to Gamequarium to find hundreds of educational games and resources for kids preschool age through sixth grade.


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I am an IT professional. I get around 20-30 mails per day related to my work or general company updates/processes. I have always lacked in effectively managing my mails so I can quickly search a mail when required. I use Outlook. Please provide tips and help.
There seem to be two general schools of thought for dealing with email. Broadly they are filing and searching.
Filing would see you have an appropriate directory structure, likely within your email client, to forward sort the messages into. If this can be suppored by automatic rules based on unambiguous subject lines, e.g. [HR Update], all the better. Each project would likely have its own folder, so the number of emails can be quite managable, and I can often jump to the right folder and then just skim down.
Searching has been popularized by GMail, among others. You might proactively tag an email, but fundamentally they are all stored in a big bucket, and you dip in using search and refinement in order to find what you are after. Outlook Advanced Find can support some reasonably complex searches, but subsequent refinement is not as clean as some other interfaces.
Personally I use a mostly filing-based scheme, as outlined in the GTD Outlook setup guide, so I tend to sort things into folders based on Projects. I do admit to having a catch-all folder, for HR updates and announcements that I would like to keep. That's pretty big, and only useable by searching, but the data there is already more random (e.g. when did Bob get his promotion to AVP).
(Note: comments are based on my own current use of Outlook 2010, without other plugins.)
Good Luck
I make heavy use of Categories in Outlook 2010 to manage my email archive. I've also mapped "Quick Steps" to shortcut keys to speed operations. My daily work is managed in a GTD process, so I have those quick steps set up to create Task entries for my task lists, too.
I used to file email in folders by projects. I found that too often, an email might belong in more than one folder, or might not belong to any that I already have. And then finding what I wanted later required remembering how to navigate a hierarchy of folders correctly.
For the last several years, I've gone to having a single archive folder for the calendar year. Outlook's search capabilities are good enough for that to work, and if I really want to I can create a "search folder" over that archive to automatically pull archived email by project, or person, or whatever.
To make this work, I add categories to email as I read it. I have categories for each product release, component, developer, etc. and apply as many as apply to a particular message. I have a quick step defined to open the Categories selection dialog, and then move the message to the archive folder. The Categories selection dialog respects keystrokes, so typing the first couple characters of a category jumps to it. So reading my mail in the Inbox with message preview works like this:
At this point, the message is gone, the next message comes up, and start the processing loop again. I get the inbox to zero pretty much every day, and certainly at least a couple times a week. When I need a saved email, it is easy to use Outlook's search in my archive folder to find it, or to look in the @Read or @Reply folders if I'm not done with it yet.
There are plugins that can help you. I have some friends who use the free Xobni plugin for Outlook to quickly search their inbox. They seem satisfied.
Generally you should look into using Rules to move bulk email into separate folders so that they don't clutter your inbox.
Create Filters. If you are receiving emails from specific sources everyday, make filter for it. Bill Gates used this silly technique way before 2006, but it's well adorable even now.. http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/30/news/newsmakers/gates_howiwork_fortune/


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Alpine Skiing - Coed Junior Varsity
Junior Varsity Boys Captain: TBD
Junior Varsity Girls Captain: TBD
Berkshire School maintains a Girls Junior Varsity Ski Team, and a Boys Junior Varsity Ski Team. The JV teams train and compete alongside our Varsity programs and will be assigned to specific coaches for the season. Our JV teams compete in a total of six races within the Brigham Ski League (BSL), facing schools including Taft, Avon Old Farms, Suffield, Salisbury, Trinity Pawling, Kingswood, Loomis, Miss Porter's and Ethel Walker.


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3D rendered, digital, hi-fi, colorful, tech.
Helicopter, boeing, apache.
Flower design, bouquet, garden.
Fast food, chinese food, restaurants.
Beach, mountain, desert, forest, sunset.
Travel tour, holiday, scenery.
Moving, living, animation.
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Members of the media who wish to reach students, faculty, staff, or a spokesperson of the College, please email Media Relations or call 802-440-4399.
Bennington College
Office of Communications
One College Drive
Bennington, VT 05201-6003
Literature faculty member Camille Guthrie is guest blogging in April for the Poetry Foundation's blog, "Harriet," in celebration of National Poetry Month.
Guthrie's recently released collection, Articulated Lair, a series of poems about the art of Louise Bourgeois, was chosen as the January book-of-the-month for The Rumpus Poetry Book Club. She discusses the collection here.


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Heavy-duty battery disconnect switch. OFF/1/BOTH/2. Voltage ratings for applications up to 36VDC. Continuous rating of 310 Amps 12VDC. Can be surfaced or panel mounted. 6-1/4"L x 6-1/4"W x 2-3/4"H.
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Enough! Race to End Violence
YWCA New Britain has a long history of helping people who have been victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. For Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April, YWCA New Britain's Sexual Assault Crisis Services (SACS) hopes to raise public awareness about the pervasiveness of sexual assault and all types of violence that affect victims and their families every day. By raising this awareness, we hope to break the silence and end the violence.
YWCA SACS has partnered with Central Connecticut State University and the Hartford Marathon Foundation to host an event entitled ENOUGH! A Race to End Violence. The event will consist of a 5K race followed by an awards ceremony, and ending with our guest speaker. During registration and after the race there will be tables set up from local resources as well as food and a chance to participate in our clothesline project (www.clotheslineproject.org). All are encouraged to join together at the end of the race to help spread the message that violence is not acceptable.
This year we are pleased to announce that our guest speaker will be Beth Holloway, mother of Natalee Holloway the high school senior who was abducted on her graduation trip in Aruba in 2005. Since that tragic event, Beth has delivered her message of hope, faith and personal safety to young adults and people of all ages all across the United States and we are excited to have her with us.
The proceeds from the event will allow SACS to continue to provide comfort and counseling to individuals affected by sexual assault and abuse in 46 towns within Hartford, part of Tolland County, and Plymouth.
SACS's mission is to eliminate sexual violence in our community through crisis intervention, prevention education, and public policy advocacy. Advocates and volunteers answer hotline calls, work with law enforcement, accompany survivors at local emergency rooms and speak to community groups to ensure that victims' voices are heard.


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The number of City of Wilmington trash customers who choose to recycle has risen dramatically since the city introduced the big blue recycling carts.
More than 40 residents of the Old East Wilmington area came to the city's second neighborhood outreach meeting. They shared input on what they like, don't like and what they would like to see in their community.
The city's second neighborhood outreach meeting took place on Oct. 24 for residents of the Old East Wilmington area. Input received at the meeting will be included in the city's long-range Comprehensive Plan.
Bring your little ghost or goblin out for some fall fun! The Fit For Fun Center is holding their annual fun fall festival on Oct. 25 and the Great Pumpkin Hunt at Maides Park will take place on Nov. 2.
The city held the first of 12 neighborhood outreach meetings for the Sunset Park/Woodlawn area on Oct. 17. More than 40 participants turned out to help define their community and tell the city what they liked, didn't like and wanted to see in the future.
New "smart" meters were installed on several city streets recently. The new meters feature a lit screen that displays parking rates, hours, time limits and other information.
The WPD is recruiting 8-10 year olds for the 2013-14 season of Police Athletic League (PAL). PAL is a proactive community policing effort that uses sports as a tool to promote gang resistance and awareness.
City Council saw a presentation at their Oct. 15 meeting showing Wilmington's growth since the mid 1800s and highlighting our city's geographic, demographic and socioeconomic data.


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$20 Off MyWebsite Business Plus - Create a professional business website in minutes.
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1and1 aka schlund.de. Also known as the spammer hosting provider that said that they couldn't respond to or correct spam emitting from their network due to "European Privacy Regulations". They seem to have cleaned up their act somewhat recently, but they're still hosting malware distribution sites and botnet controllers.
See http://www.spamhaus.org/sbl/listings/1and1.com for details.
@rhmurphy: ur the man, very nice info. tyvm
These websites are always templated junk, and are a poor reflection of the quality standards for any business that uses them. use your local website designers.
I canceled my 1 and 1 website after my first year with them. When I pulled a copy of my credit score, I found that this company reported a collection for unpaid service. I never received anything from them indicating a problem, but now I have a bad mark on my otherwise excellent credit rating. Now I can either live with it, or spend lots of time trying to get it fixed. Based on the number of down votes, I must not be the only one that had a problem with them.
@mikegrmi: I went through the same issue as you did with them and I responded to the collections notices with a fair credit reporting act request for additional information regarding the charges. I did not have an issue after that.
Look into things, it may take time to clear your credit but it's not difficult.
I've been using 1&1 for my domain names for years and never had any issues. Two months ago I signed up with their business hosting package and I've got to say that I'm really satisfied as I can have multiple sites pointed to same hosting area, but show different content. I do agree that their templates are not top of the line, but price vise, they are one of the cheapest, but offers great features, especially over on their hosted services. I've not used their "my website plus" as I liked thefeatures and price for the do it your self hosted plan.


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Defensive Secretary
Memoirs of a Secretary at War
Robert M. Gates
Knopf, $35, 618 pp.
Robert Gates leaves his readers without a shred of doubt: he respected, indeed loved, the men and women who served on the front lines in the two wars fought by the United States during his tenure as Secretary of Defense. His frequent trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, he writes, "took a heavy emotional toll." Each one proved more difficult than the last. "As I looked into each face," he says, "I increasingly would wonder to myself which of these kids I would next see in the hospital at Landstuhl or Walter Reed or Bethesda—or listed for burial at Arlington cemetery." I have no reason to doubt Gates's sincerity. Unlike many in his position—indeed strikingly unlike the bloodless Donald Rumsfeld, whom he replaced—Gates is clearly a man with a heart.
Not only that: Gates took upon himself this emotionally grueling task not for love of money or power but out of a sense of duty—the word he relies upon for the title of his memoirs. "I did not enjoy being secretary of defense," he writes, and again there is little reason to be skeptical. Gates assumed his position at the age of sixty-three, when others might have been considering retirement, and left five years later, well past the age when he could have relied on his position to assure a high-paying or prestigious job somewhere else. (He has since assumed positions as President of the Boy Scouts of America and Chancellor of the College of William and Mary.) The only man to have served as secretary of defense under two presidents of different parties, he never displayed the one-sidedness necessary for political advancement in this hyperpartisan age. Those who write political memoirs tend to hide their ambition, claiming that only reluctantly and against the better judgment of friends and family were they called into the fray. Gates does his share of that, and, if truth be told, he is not always convincing. But if any public servant in recent years comes close to embodying the ideal of duty, it is he.
In Gates's world, a willingness to sacrifice and a respect for duty stand in sharp contrast to that noisy, ugly, and short-sighted activity called politics. He cannot help but contrast the quiet resolve of the troops with "the self-promotion and selfishness of power-hungry politicians and others—in Baghdad, Kabul, and Washington," all of whom made difficult the task of "maintaining my outward calm and discipline, and suppressing my anger and contempt for the many petty power players." Memoirs offer opportunities to get even, and Gates, who avoided name-calling when in office, cannot resist letting the world know what he really thinks of the likes of Joe Biden, Dick Cheney, John McCain, Carl Levin, and the two presidents under whom he served. No longer repressing his anger and contempt, he offers a form of titillation unusual in political memoirs. Inside the beltway, where journalists care more for personalities than policy, Gates's candidness has helped him sell books.
THAT SAME WILLINGNESS to be candid, however, also reveals another side, indeed a dark side, to the service Gates offered his country. In September 2007, Gates's main task was to fend off Democratic attacks on the war in Iraq in order to give President Bush and his military commanders more time to develop strategies for improving America's crumbling position in that country. Meeting with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, he impressed upon her the necessity of passing a defense-appropriations bill and resisting efforts to attach conditions on funding for the war in Iraq. Pelosi turned him down flat. "I wasn't surprised," Gates writes. "After all, one wouldn't want facts and reality—not to mention the national interest—to intrude upon partisan politics, would one?"
The arrogance behind Gates's comment is breathtaking. George W. Bush had taken the country to war on a lie. Elections are the mechanism we use to ensure a modicum of accountability for such actions. The conversation between Pelosi and Gates took place as a new electoral campaign was in the making—a campaign in which Americans wound up electing a president who had opposed Bush's war. In this context, Pelosi, representing both her party and her constituents, had every right to refuse the requests of the Bush administration. By sarcastically dismissing Pelosi and her concerns, Gates reveals how little respect he has for the democratic process; anger, he does not seem to understand, is the price we pay for irresponsible leadership. There was no room for that kind of anger in Gates's notion of duty. His was never to reason why. That explains why his love for the troops, as moving as it is, comes far too late: the best way to ensure that American troops do not wind up in Landstuhl is not to send them on hopeless and ill-defined missions in the first place. It was, I believe, because Pelosi also hated to see young people die that she turned Gates down.
As for facts and reality, it was the Bush administration, which Gates faithfully served, that ignored them. Where, one has to wonder, is the anger directed against a president who knew so little, risked so much, and refused to acknowledge any mistakes? Gates presents himself as a pragmatic manager working to get things done. The problem is that managerial skills used in the service of getting the wrong things done is of little help to the troops or anyone else. Concerned only with means and not ends, Gates praises Bush for all the personal characteristics that led the country to disaster. "I found him at ease with himself and comfortable in the decisions he had made," he writes of Bush. "This was a mature leader who had walked a supremely difficult path for five years." That Bush never understood the consequences of his actions was less important to Gates than that "he was a man of character, a man of convictions, and a man of action." Gates blames his failures to get his way not only on politicians like Pelosi but on Pentagon bureaucrats defending their turf. Those targets are too easy. Blame for Iraq belongs at the very top. A truly candid memoir would have posed the question of how the United States found itself fighting the wrong war in the wrong place.
For all his finger-pointing, that is a question Gates avoids. It is not an exaggeration to say that the great bulk of the work facing Gates as secretary of defense was to manage the fallout created by one of the worst presidents in our history. In this he did about as well as any single individual could do. But just as his respect for the troops comes too late, so does his sense of duty. In this case, duty requires a frank and honest discussion about how the response to the events of September 11 turned so sour. Assigning blame is a duty Gates shirks.
For whatever reason, most likely to deflect attacks on his lack of foreign-policy experience, Barack Obama asked Gates to stay on. "I thought Obama was first-rate in both intellect and temperament," Gates writes. But, he continues, Obama disliked passion, and it showed in his relationship with the troops fighting in Afghanistan. "When soldiers put their lives on the line, they need to know that the commander in chief who sent them in harm's way believes in their mission. They need him to talk often to them and to the country, not just to express gratitude for their service and sacrifice but also to explain and affirm why that sacrifice is necessary, why their fight is noble, why their cause is just, and why they must prevail. President Obama never did that." I read this as a recommendation to infantilize the troops, most of whom were far too jaded to buy into such patriotic mush. When a large number of troops are already committing suicide or requiring extensive psychiatric help, following Gates's advice would have made the personal crises they faced far worse by asking overstretched troops to achieve impossible objectives. Obama made clear, even while sending more troops to that country, that he wanted them home as soon as possible. That, and not Bush's bluster, is what leadership is all about.
Working for a Democratic president, the contempt for democracy Gates showed in his meeting with Pelosi took on a whole new life. Gates writes as if wars can be won, but only if society gives the war-makers unchecked authority to win it, shooing away those institutions of public understanding and engagement that stand in the way. The key decision facing Obama was whether to pursue a policy of counterterrorism or counterinsurgency in Afghanistan. (The former would seek the limited objective of reducing terror; the latter would be aimed at creating a more stable and secure Afghanistan.) It all came down to whether something like the surge used in Iraq could be used in America's other war and, if so, how many new troops should be sent there. Gates, who favored the counterinsurgency strategy, complains that decision-making was complicated by what he calls "the obtuseness of many of those at home"—which others might label democracy at work. His example? The family of twenty-one-year-old Lance Corporal Joshua Bernard objected to the publication of a photo of his dead body, but the Associated Press decided to publish it anyway. Gates calls the AP decision an "outrage." Others might view it as an attempt to make real the costs of war so that Americans would be better prepared to make decisions about future commitments to another one.
Unlike Bush, Obama was deliberative. According to Gates, a total of nine two-to-three-hour meetings were called by the president so that he could get Afghanistan right. It is not unknown in our society, indeed it is rather routine, for military leaders to put pressure on the president by emphasizing the danger of not acting decisively. In this case, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, an advocate for the counterinsurgency approach, offered such an assessment to Obama, only to see it leaked to the Washington Post. Needless to say, Gates was furious that ordinary people might learn something about how their money was to be spent and the lives of their children put at risk.
BUT THAT IS NOT what makes Gates's telling of this story interesting. Gates writes that he would be "very surprised" to learn that McChrystal himself had anything to do with the leak. Although it certainly seemed to Obama and his advisors that the military was double-crossing them in the hope of getting more troops, Gates "tried to persuade Obama that there was no plan, no coordinated effort by the three military men to jam him." Relying on the ever-helpful passive voice, Gates writes that, as a result of Obama's suspicions, "a wall was going up between the military and the White House." If Gates sometimes seems to infantilize the troops, here he is doing the same for his readers. Military leaders in a democracy use whatever tactics they can to get what they want. That is called politics, and the military practices it just as politicians do.
Gates refuses to see it that way. "In the end," he writes of the Afghan deliberations, "I felt this major national security debate had been driven more by the White House staff and by domestic politics than any other in my experience." For Gates, there are those guided by the maxim of duty, who simply want to do what is right, and those guided by the maxim of politics, who want to do only what is popular. He writes, "The aggressive, suspicious, and sometimes condescending and insulting questioning of our military leaders" by Obama's advisers "made them overly defensive, hardening their unwillingness to compromise." Gates may not fully understand what he is saying here, for he appears to be acknowledging that at times the military is in fact not guided by the national interest but by what it can get at the bargaining table. So, it turns out, was Gates. "My anger and frustration with the White House staff and the NSS during the process led me to become more protective of the military and a stronger advocate for its position than I should have been." Political concerns may well have influenced decisions with respect to Afghanistan, motivating those who wanted a more aggressive posture as well as those who did not.
Gates has been criticized for leaving out of his memoirs all the things he got wrong, such as the Iran-Contra affair and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Far more damaging, I believe, is what he puts in. Gates's memoir is engaging to read. As a public servant, he comes across as a man of experience and discretion. Yet anyone who believes that the United States has lost much of its democratic character as it has ceded ever greater matters to the military will find Gates's anger misplaced and his praise for his own accomplishments grating. America needs leaders who understand their duty to be restoring some sense of control over the military in the hope of winning our democracy back. A little anger toward those who led the country so astray might be the best place to begin.
About the Author
Alan Wolfe is director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College, and the author of Political Evil: What It Is and How to Combat It (Knopf).
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This was a good article, and I appreciate this assessment of Bob Gates that I hadn't seen before. Still, I strongly disagree with a number of items in this otherwise thought-provoking article.
I will start by saying that I did not agree with Bob Gates' criticisms of President Obama lacking passion in regards to Afghanistan, especially since Obama ran on a platform of wanting to wind down the Afghanistan War (after a counter-insurgency period). However, I can understand Bob Gates' point of view even as I disagreed with him, in that the one thing worse than going through that special Hell that is war in Afghanistan for a purpose is going throug that special Hell for nothing. Bob Gates and Nancy Pelosi both have a love for the troops, but this same love for the troops took them to different conclusions. Nancy Pelosi was right to use war appropriations to address neglected domestic policy needs, and Bob Gates was right in wanting the troops to believe that there was a purpose of being in imperial graveyard that is Afghanistan.
I see the job that Bob Gates was doing as Defense Secretary as cleaning up the absymal disaster that that George W Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld started in Afghanistan and Iraq. I never occurred to me that Bob Gates would have had sufficient time to even consider the morality, practicality or strategic implications of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bob Gates struck me as somebody who was working day and night to figure out a way to clean up those messes. I posses nowhere near the talents that Bob Gates has, but I'm not sure that I could have thought about those wider issues; I probably would have been spending all my time cleaning up those messes too.
I understand the threats that too strong of a military power poses to democracy, but one thing that I disagree with is that military power in America is the most serious threat to American democracy. These strongest threats, rather come too strong of a Wall Street Bank power, the financialization of America's economic life, economic inequality, and oligarichical-minded billionaires like the Koch Brothers who are trying to turn the Federal Government into a corporatist analogue of the Soviet Politburo. There is even a case to be made that economic inequality is starting to be a drain on the military budgets, and economic inequality has certainly be impacting the military.
In any case, America more likely than not will be facing retaliatory attacks from Salafist terrorists for decades to come. The military budget cannot be reduced any further without making already improverished soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and coasties even poorer (which would endanger our soldiers and is just immoral anyway), or significantly reducing our fighting capabilities and hamper our abilitieis to defend ourselves. Economic inequality will soon cross that point where it will start eroding both democracy and the military's ability to function.
"I have no reason to doubt Gates's sincerity."
Really? In his January 27, 2014 column, "No Tears for the Real Robert Gates," former CIA analyst Ray McGovern wrote: "I thought that anyone following the copious reporting on Consortiumnews.com regarding Gates would greet with appropriate skepticism his latest self-serving set of excuses. … Five years ago … Washington Post columnist David Broder, hailed Gates as "incapable of dissembling." … it would be much closer to the truth to say that Gates was "incapable of not dissembling."
"Robert Gates leaves his readers without a shred of doubt: he respected, indeed loved, the men and women who served on the front lines…"
Throughout his memoir, Robert Gates writes about how much he loves the troops and claims he was the "Soldier's Secretary." However, I felt that Gate's statements were a bunch of hypocritical, insincere sentimental BS. I agree with Ray McGovern, who argued that Gate's assertions "amounted to an attempt to anticipate and deflect accusations that he, in actuality, betrayed those young men and women by sending more of them to die just to buy time for President Bush and other politicians to slip out of Washington before the ultimate defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan. My own take can be found in the the chapter, "The Soldier's Secretary?", in the April 2014 Feral Firefighter blog post "Defend Your Integrity."
"the best way to ensure that American troops do not wind up in Landstuhl is not to send them on hopeless and ill-defined missions in the first place. … A truly candid memoir would have posed the question of how the United States found itself fighting the wrong war in the wrong place."
For "truly candid memoir" about the backstory to the Afghan War I would suggest the late Michael Hastings's book "The Operators."
Ray McGovern's column, "Gates and the Urge to Surge" (Consortium News, Nov. 23, 2008), is also worth a look.
My own take is found in the chapter, "Something to Die For" – Gate's & McChrystal's Failed Afghan War COIN "Surge", in the April 2014 Feral Firefighter blog post "Defend Your Integrity".
Oh goodness, I thought this was going to be a book review. What we have is the usual Commonweal partisan rant about the G.W. Bush presidency as a means of trying to make Obama look better. If Obama is to be remembered well, it won't be due to his aplogists in Commonweal.
Professor Wolfe's characterization of talking to the troops as infantalizing them is very poorly placed. He may imagine a conversation so condescending as to amount to that, but he seems to lack the imagination - perhaps the experience - to elaborate a view of how a Commander in Chief communicates with his troops in a meaningful fashion..
Such a conversation need to begin for a position on what it is requird of our armed forces. The troopers may be simultaneously (a) aware of the deficiencies of the situation (political, strategic, tactical) an yet (b) deeply committed to serving the American people, and of course, supporting their fellow soldiers. I this situation, they are *commited* to civilian command and they deserve a Commander in Chief who explains to them what is happening.
That senio faculty in our liberal ars colleges and universities see war differently than do servingsoldiers is certainl true. But that is not at allto say that comunicating menaingfully is trvializing anything about war. We doubtless need ongoing discussions in our civil socety about what the role of national defense ought to be and how that is properly commandd by the civilian government. The wrkof Andrew Bacevich adddresses thes matter seriously ndfro a positon of experience. Speaking of infantalizing our troops is not worthy of such serious matters.
Mark L.
Elsewhere in the issue, there is the sentimental reflection on the avalanche of surplus liturgical objects in the Netherlands. I don't know that it is a singular Catholic fault but to take your view as dogma, 'as for facts and reality it was the Bush administration that ignored them,' does not appeal to those for whom the inpirations of conscience would find contradicting facts.


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- 22 Resorts
- Consistent Snow
- Diverse destinations
- Resorts open before those of many other states
- Home to Vail, Beaver Creek, Copper Mountain
Related Regions: Sierra Nevada, Northern California, California, North America, United States, Lake Tahoe
"Awesome sunny weather. Shady areas are icy. Not bad for this time of year. "
"Cloudy and perfect on Friday afternoon "
"Not bad for spring skiing "


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5 Advanced Technologies Still Catching Up to Invertebrates
#2. The Namib Desert Beetle Is a State-of-the-Art Water Collection System
The Namib Desert in Africa is one of the driest places on earth -- it gets less than an inch of rainfall every year. Yet the Namib Desert beetle thrives there.
Via Wikipedia
Put some spinners on this one and it's ready to cruise.
That's because a fog rolls in off of the Atlantic Ocean on most mornings. The beetle will stand facing the wind, using its hind legs to prop itself up to a 45-degree angle, and then let the tiny water droplets collect on its back. The condensation builds until it rolls down to its mouth for a nice morning drink. It seems like a simple but elegant solution to drought, the sort of thing a bug would come up with.
Only, it's not so simple.
How We Can Steal It:
Worldwide, 884 million people lack access to a safe water source. It would sure be nice to harvest fog and turn it into drinking water for them, but our attempts to do so thus far have kind of sucked. One fog harvester near Chungungo, Chile, gathers 4,000 gallons of water a day by using nets to collect condensation, but there's nothing stopping the wind from evaporating the water or blowing it clean off the nets before it can be collected.
Via Art4Logic
Plus, people keep getting too close to the net when they spike the ball.
So researchers have come up with a better idea using the same technology that the Namib Desert beetle uses. It turns out there are tiny bumps on the beetle's back that are a naturally hydrophilic surface. Much like a necrophiliac is attracted to dead people, a hydrophilic substance attracts water. But then the rest of the beetle's back is hydrophobic -- meaning it repels water. So once the droplets get too big to hang onto the water-collecting bumps, they detach and roll down the beetle's back before the heat and wind can steal the water away.
Via rdmag.com
To replicate this, researchers took small beads of glass that attract water and covered their bases in a layer of water-repellant wax. As a result, they were able to capture water out of the air just like the Namib Desert beetle. They hope that this discovery will lead to more permanent and stable panels in order to not just help gather water, but also for dissipating fog. This would be extremely helpful at places like the airports in, say, San Francisco, where flights are commonly delayed because of weather.
#1. Moths Have Built-In Night Vision Goggles
If you've ever watched a moth stupidly slamming into a light bulb over and over again, you probably thought that this was one species that really didn't have much to teach us.
But because moths are so shitty in so many ways, their eyes really have to be something special. Being both fragile and stupid, moths' only hope of avoiding the many predators who eat them at night is to be able to see better than they do. They accomplish this by having extremely antireflective eyes.
Via Gizmag.com
So that you can't see their equally black souls.
Light that is reflected off the eye is lost information, and even the smallest piece of information can mean the difference between survival and death. Moth eyes are designed to take in as much light as possible and, as such, are one of the least reflective surfaces found in nature.
There is nothing simple about how the moth accomplishes this -- their eyes are coated with nanoscopic structures (that is, smaller than microscopic) that are perfectly designed to keep light waves from bouncing off.
Nothing can escape their horrific gravity-crushing gaze.
How We Can Steal It:
Two words: solar panels.
The problem with solar panels now is that they are expensive and aren't very efficient. The panels are highly reflective, which is the exact opposite of what you want in a device designed to absorb light. Just like light reflected off the eye is lost information, any glare or reflection on a solar panel is lost energy.
In order to reduce this glare, researchers were able to "... nanoimprint the microstructure of moth's eyes into acrylic resin ... using anodic porous alumina molds." Which is just technical speak meaning they made a film that duplicates the antireflective properties of moth eyes. The result is an inexpensive roll of film you can stick over any solar panel and immediately boost its efficiency by 5 or 6 percent. That doesn't sound like much, but you have to keep in mind that modern solar panels only operate at 5 to 18 percent efficiency, and the moth's eye film is an easy upgrade.
That's why the Cracked offices run on diesel.
Meanwhile, other researchers are finding ways to use the tech on everything from antireflective coatings for monitors and eyeglasses to fiber optics, semiconductors and more.
Keep this in mind: To mimic the surface, scientists had to use a focused ion beam to etch the tiny details at a nanoscopic level. Or, to quote one researcher, "... the nanoscopic structures on the lens surfaces had to be smaller than the wavelength of light so as to smooth out the sharp refractive index change as the light strikes the surface ..." That's what it took to imitate what can be found on every moth you've ever crushed under a rolled-up magazine.
Brian Thompson is a freelance writer. He enjoys making new friends on Facebook and being stalked by crazy people on Twitter.
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When I first heard about the Ojai, CA -based cycling-gear producer Cyclelogical, they were in the thick of the bike trade-show season, schlepping their small but impressively focused catalogue of organic t-shirts and custom bags from Austin, TX to Seattle WA. The far-flung exhibitions, at which Cycleogical's dedicated team of young cycling enthusiasts set up promotional booths, offered important opportunities for the fledgling company to show-off their gear.
"Austin was spectacular. Lots of traffic and interest." Said Sami Clingan, director of marketing at Cyclelogical. The team followed their success in Texas with even greater acclaim a week later in Washington, "At the Seattle Bike Show last weekend…we received best of show."
Clingan's excitement and enthusiasm at the direction the company is headed is infectious, and seems to be shared by everyone who has seen what Cyclelogical is all about. Their mission statement, proudly displayed on their website, professes a deeply-felt conviction that reducing gasoline-consumption and promoting respect for cyclists as road-users is the key to our transportation future. Not new concepts, by any means, but as Sami puts it, the company just wants to show that,
"Bikes are rad and bike commuting is such an awesome concept that everyone should be doing it!"
Cyclelogical was conceived in 2008 "by a couple of guys in the basement of a tiny house in Ogden, UT" keenly adjusting to the demands of cycling in a northern-midwest winter. The company rapidly developed a range of commuter-oriented gear, including innovative bags, pouches and something they call "chopspokes"; basically slim, reflective cylindrical clips which attach to your spokes and take the place of those wide, ugly plastic reflectors most cyclists immediately remove from their bikes.
Additionally, the company developed a network of designers who came up with another product beloved of urban cyclists and hipsters: post-modern t-shirts with evocative, whimsical drawings and slogans. The t-shirts are made from 100% organic cotton. Sami Clingan sent me one such shirt so I could get a feel for the product, and I immediately fell in love with it. I am 5'10" and cycling-skinny, so most retailers' t-shirts don't fit me. The designers at Cycleogical seem to have taken into account the sort of frame most keen cyclists have (wiry and slim), and the t-shirt I received fits me like a glove. The organic cotton feels soft, like a well-washed shirt, and the design is really cool. Several friends complimented me when I wore it out the first time, and asked where they could get one.
Based on their early success in Austin and Seattle, and assuming the team will not sit back and rest on their laurels but rather get on with designing even more versatile and practical gear, it would be quite understandable if this attractive young company became a very serious competitor in the cycling-products market. Meanwhile, visit their website and read what they're all about: I think most people will agree, we need more entrepreneurs with a vision like Cyclelogical.


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Just entered a contest at a local pub. We are given 5 gallons of finished wort and then we have to finish the brew and bring it back to be judged after fermentation and bottling . We have to pitch the yeast or dry hop or whatever we want. The wort is an american pale ale. Any suggestions?
closed as not constructive by baka Feb 21 '12 at 13:14
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Interesting problem!
Who's doing the judging? Professional brewers? BJCP judges? The drinking public?
You didn't mention anything about the specifics of the wort. What follows assumes that the wort is pale to golden, mildly hopped, and mashed for medium body.
If your beer is going to be judged by regular folk, I'd brew a regular beer. Ferment the wort with WYeast 1056 at 60 F. Dry hop with an ounce or two of cascade and cold condition for a month. This will produce a clean American pale ale with a citrusy hop aroma.
If you're being judged by beer aficionados, you could try something a bit more distinctive. Lots of options here, but a Belgian pale ale might be just the thing. Boil 1 lb of table sugar in a quart of the wort. Cool, and add back to the wort. Ferment with WY3787 at warmish temperatures: upper 60's or low 70's. The sugar will add alcohol and lower the body. The yeast will provide Belgian character: fruity esters and some spice.
Good luck. I wish one of my local brew pubs would stage a contest like this.


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Animal Hall of Fame: Smallest
4 of 5
Fairyflies, members of the wasp family, are only about 1/5 of a millimeter long. They are so thin--about the size of a thread--that they can't fly well and rely on the wind to carry them.
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Photo: Laura Moss
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I'm reading Boas' book and there's a part where she assumes that the following integral goes to $0$ as $\rho$ tends to $\infty$. The argument is that the numerator contains $\rho$ while the denominator contains $\rho^2$. However, I'm uncomfortable with this line of reasoning since the integral has not yet been evaluated.
$$\int_0^{\pi} \frac{\rho ie^{i\theta}d\theta}{1+{\rho^2 e^{2i\theta}}}$$
Can anybody (a) guide me on how to evaluate the integral (b) tell me why the above reasoning is sound in spite of not evaluating the integral? Perhaps if I could do the first part, it would shed some light on the second. Thanks.


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