text:
Glenn County - Tehama County - Colusa County , California.
(c) 2010, Mike Barkley (04/05/2010)
Comprehensive, Chronological INDEX of the case ; F=Filed, L=Lodged, S=Signed, R=Received
SWRCB APPLICATION A014115 - E.A. Wright/Fritz Mast Case Index
[see also http://swrcb2.waterboards.ca.gov/ewrims/wrims-data/l007202%20a014115.pdf ]
[schedule of allowed Angle Decree usage at http://www.mjbarkl.com/limits2.htm shows that SWRCB did not have jurisdiction to make or consider this application]
Cat 1 CORRESPONDENCE VOL. 1 OF 1 RECORD OF FOLDER [" F " - date filed if date originated not evident]
[Inside of file front cover]
Applicant: Fritz Mast, Alma Mast and Floyd L. Harlan
Address: c/o Fritz Mast, 4 Cielo Court, Orinda, CA 94563
Application 14115 [pencil 16144] Permit ; [Related, A018965]
Applicant: E.A. Wright, crossed off, "see below"
Date filed 12/29/1950
Maps Filed 12/29/1950 A;County 11;Fee $5.00
Forms Sent 02/05/1951 8,8a,8b
022151 Affidavit of posting Rec'd
042651 Permit 8532 issued
021455 Ext to 12/01/1957 to complete constr & use
070857 Assd to Hugh W. & Phyllis M. Jamieson Jr.
012158 Ext to 12/01/1959 to complete constr & use
060960 Rept of Insp by F.M. Kuchta
100660 Ext to 12/01/1962 to complete constr. & use
071263 Rept. of Insp. by F.M. Kuchta
032364 Order allowing Corr. of Descr. of point of diversion & corr. of Descr. of place of use
031065 Lic. 7202 issued
042667 Asgd to Sandy Lake Company, A Limited Partnership
042667 Rept of Insp. by F.M. Kuchta
042976 Records chgd to show Phyllis Bostick & Sandy Lake Company, a Limited Partnership as owner
101289 Assigned to Fritz Mast
051297 Assigned to Fritz Mast, Alma Mast & Floyd L. Harlan
Record of Fees:
Record of Folders
[Inside of file back cover]
UNDATED TRW Real Estate Information, Glenn Parcel map 22-02; T20N R6W
UNDATED TRW Real Estate Information, Glenn APN listing 22-02-0-001 & -002, Lands of Douglas & Pamela Campbell
UNDATED TRW Real Estate Information, Glenn Parcel map 25-13; T21N R6W
UNDATED TRW Real Estate Information, Glenn APN listing 25-13-0-006 & -011, Lands of Douglas & Pamela Campbell
UNDATED TRW Real Estate Information, Glenn Index Book 22
UNDATED TRW Real Estate Information, Glenn Parcel map 21-16, 17, 18, 19 & 20 ?
UNDATED TRW Real Estate Information, Glenn APN 21-16 - 20 listing none highlighted
UNDATED TRW Real Estate Information, Glenn Index Book 25
UNDATED TRW Real Estate Information, Glenn Parcel map 25-09, 10 & 11 ?
UNDATED TRW Real Estate Information, Glenn APN 25-09 - 11 listing none highlighted
UNDATED Elk Creek vicinity taped-together photocopy topo map with 16 Fritz Mast ponds highlighted under Aps 14115, 18965, 20614, 20615
122950 F E.A. Wright Ap 14115 map on Dept. of Public Works map form, N 1/2 NW 1/4 S9 & NE 1/4 NE 1/4 S8 T20N R6W unnamed stream
UNDATED Approval For Signature, Extension Order - Class 3; 2 copies, both crossed out, "This should not be processed. [illeg]"
Large envelope:
122950 map on Dept of Public Works form, as above except estending into SE 1/4 SW 1/4 S4; "superseded"
092161 empty returned envelope to Jamieson, sent to Elk Grove, resent to Elk Creek
041989 return envelope to Phillis Bostick, Pacific Grove, contents letter O'Hagan/Permit & License Unit to Mast; re conveyance from Sandy Lake Company, Phillis Bostick & Elk Creek Associates to Fritz Mast & Alma Mast, will change records unless notified to the contrary within 30 days;
032364 crude map of the pond location on quarter-quarter lines; Hugh W. & Phyllis M. Jamieson;
PAPERS "BOUND" IN FILE (re-sorted in date order):
122950 Application to Appropriate Unappropriated Water; Superseded, E.A. Wright, unnamed creek trib to Stony Creek; 200 a-f, 11/01 - 04/01; irrigation, stock water and recreational; POD South 792' & West 66' from the N 1/4 corner of S9 T20N R6W MDB & M, being within the NE 1/4 NW 1/4 S9 T20N R6W; 30' high, 175' long, 5' freeboard, of earth; flood in S9; surface 15.7 acres, 200 a-f; on-stream storage; estimated cost $2400, begin on or before 06/01/1951 end on or before 06/01/1952, use by 06/01/1954; POU 120 acres in S4 & 100 acres in S9 T20N R6W MDB & M as per map; own the land; stockwater for 400 head of cattle; irrigate 220 acres pasture 04/01 - 10/30; boating, swimming and plant fish;
122950 receipt; E.A. Wright, $5.00
011651 memo to/from [?] Holmes, Smitherum; E.A. Wright filed Ap. 14115 for 200 a-f/year, dam in NE 1/4 NW 1/4 S9 T20N R6W MDB & M, etc.
020551 letter Edmonston/Dept Publ Works to Wright; enclosed 3 copies of notice, post 2 by 02/20/1951 & return enclosed affidavit
020551 Notice of Application to Appropriate Water; 200 a-f/annum POU 220 acres, 80 within S 1/2 of SW 1/4 & 40 within SW 1/4 of SE 1/4 S4; 65 acres within N 1/2 of NW 1/4 & 35 within NW 1/4 of NE 1/4 S9 T20N R6W MDB & M; 40 days to protest; on back, mailing list
020651 2 return receipt cards
020551 letter Edmonston/State Engineer to Postmaster/Elk Creek, please post the notice
021651 letter Edmonston/State Engineer to Counsel/Reclamation, added your name to the list for 8 aps
022051 Affidavit of Posting Notice, E.A. Wright 02/20/1951 "on the front of the Elk Creek Store & in the Fruto StoreR
020551 Notice of Application to Appropriate Water; a copy
022651 letter Edmonston/State Engineer to Wright; received posting affidavit, "Further action will follow in due course."
041051 Check for Permit (checklist); "no prior pending applications affected."
042651 Permit Terms; $8.60
042551 Water Right Permit for Signature of State Engineer; Form 223-B;
050151 letter Edmonston/Dept Publ Works to Wright; Ap approved, $8.60 now due, if not received within 30 days will revoke;
050751 receipt from Wright, $8.60 permit fee
050851 letter Edmonston/Dept Publ Works to Wright; permit on reverse of enclosed ap copy; extensions on good cause, progress reports,
050951 return receipt cards
102752 Progress Report by Permittee for the Year 1952; "Built dam & spillway at a cost of $2900"; made use, "stockwater & recreation", all 12 months, filled in winter, did not use as much water as expected, will use full "As soon as I get in my pasture, probably '53"
100853 Progress Report by Permittee for the Year 1953; additional works required "distribution system"; used now for stock & recreation all 12 months; expect full use 1954; collected water during the "rainy season"; "1 year extension of time requested; owner will be absent from ranch on business part of 1955 and desires to direct construction personally"
111954 memo Johnson/Assistant Hydraulic Engineer to Files; On 11/18 "Mr. E.A. Wright called at the office in connection with Application 14115. During the visit he stated that the dam has been constructed and has been used for domestic and recreation purposes. A one year extension of time was requested to complete construction and apply the water to irrigation of 220 acres named in the application."
UNDATED Progress Report by Permittee for the Year 1954; not filled out, crayon "see memo dated" 11/19/1954
020355 Water Right Order for Signature of State Engineer or Assistant State Engineer"; order granting extension, per statements in progress reports
021455 Order Granting Extension of Time within which to Complete Construction and Use; to 12/01/1957; "WHEREAS good cause has been shown" [uh, where?]
021555 letter Banks/Dept Publ Works to Wright; order to extend to 12/01/1957 entered
021755 return receipt card
011556 letter Banks/Dept Publ Works to Wright; sent you progress report form 10/01/1955 & reminder post card 11/15/1955, progress report is required; if a problem, please inform
112656 Progress Report by Permittee for the Year 1956; water 550 cows & calves; swimming, boating, hunting & fishing, thru out year; estimate complete use by 1958
061257 letter Spencer/Supervising Hydraulic Engineer to Jamieson; on 07/08/1957 Wright notified 14115 & 16144 & 16886 assigned to you;
061757 Notice of Assignment, to Hugh W. Jamieson, Jr. and Phyllis M. Jamieson, husband and wife, c/o Alex Johnson, Elk Creek, California
121157 Progress Report by Permittee for the Year 1957; 600 head of stock; swimming & boating; used stock water during winter months, expect longer or different season: "Planted 30 acres irrigated pasture for 1958 use. Arranging to install domestic water system to supply two dwellings and gardens and lawns" "Plan to add to irrigated pasture acreage if water supply adequate" "Present owners took possession in" 06/1957. In 01/1957 "the Supervisor of Dams Department notified the then owner - Edward A. Wright - that changes in the dam and spillway would be required to secure approval of the work and Mr. Wright has agreed to have the required changes made at his expense. [para] It is our understanding that these changes will be made about" 10/01/1958 "so that we shall lose a minimum quantity of stored water."
121157 Notice of Expiration; "see item 7 of Progress report", estimate full use in 1959; "check Received $5.00" 12/13/1957
121657 receipt $5.00 permit extension fee
111158 Approval for Signature of State Water Rights Board or Chief Engineer, Extension Order - Class [blank]; 100% complete, but progress report shows "Plan to...."; Extend to 12/01/1959
012158 Order Granting Extension of Time within which to Complete Construction and Use; to 12/01/1959
012158 letter Jopson/SWRB to Jamieson; extension to 12/01/1959 granted
012258 return receipt card
081958 memo, Brown/Engineer of Dams to Jopson/SWRB; on 08/18/1958 Alex Johnson, Elk Creek filed with Engr of Dams to build an earth dam 35 feet hight with 400 a-f capacity for $4,000 in NW 1/4 S9 T20N R6W MDB & M for irrigation storage, Dam is already constructed [how did it get to 400 a-f? see various discussions below]
100658 Progress Report by Permittee for the Year 1958; "completed but is being altered on instruction of Division of Supervision of Dams; use commenced, estimate 120 a-f, 27.25 acres irrigated pasture, 575 head of stock, 5 hp motor on pump for domestic; boating, fishing, swimming; used every month; not used as much as expected, "may experiment with full use on dry range"; extimate capacity 400 acre ft; filled October, overflowed balance of winter; Johnson, Agent; "The Division of Dam Supervision has required additional work on the dam and the spillway and the contractor will be on the job any day now (" 10/06/1958). [para] "While expense has been minimal on improving no construction has been done, so no expense incurred as of today." [difficult to read]
111959 Progress Report by Permittee for the Year 1959; cost over past 12 months $12,381.22, "Bringing dam to conform to requirements of State Division of Supervision of Dams"; irrigated pasture 47 acres; 825 head of livestock; domestic yard and garden; boating & fishing; "Irrigation Apr to Oct. Stock water" 01/01/1959 - 05/13/1959 "and to Dec 31"; future "About the same"; "Evaporation this year seemed to be greater than usual." use estimated 135; collected Dec to March
053160 SWRB to Jamieson; 06/06/1960 F.M. Kuchta will inspect
061460 F inspect 06/09/1960 F.M. Kuchta , accompanied by Alex Johnson, Ranch Manager (Phyllis Jamieson's father), also info from Dam Department; "incomplete insofar as the establishing of use of water is concerned. Construction work to bring dam up to State requirements for safety, was completed in 1959 or late 1958. [para] Ranch Manager Johnson is submitting a request for a three year extension of time to allow feasible development of the place of use to be made and to establish use of water on the developed land. Since permittee acquired this property only in" 06/1958 "and circumstances attendant to this filing were definitely adverse, it appears that a full three year extension is warranted." POD appears to be erroneous; see A-18965 is actually the same point of diversion; "Appears from records of Division of Dams that original tie was in error -- correction needed only." diligent under present ownership, "former owner was diligent, but, did not comply with safety requirements." "Reservoir - about 400 acre-feet" per 18965; [to p. 2] Changes in POU "Acreage will be considerably reduced - probably will not exceed 85 to 100 acres when complete." "All acreage will lie within original" POU except for maybe "15 acres which may be served south of reservoir." "reservoir is in a gorge, necessitating a rather high lift for application, much of the soil is of poor quality--development of the additional acreage will have to proceed on an experimental basis, to determine which acreage can profitably be served and which would be better (more profitably) used as dry pasture." "about 27 acres of mixed clover pasture is served by sprinkling. Some additional acreage will be sprinkled and some will be flood irrigated late in fall to give early winter feed (before heavy rains begin)--this method will be used in particular on soil that is not of sufficiently high fertility to warrant full development." "about 27 acres of mixed clover pasture and water for about 900 head of cattle." "reservoir completely fills with first good rain" Other rights: "Riparian to this stream & also Stony Creek (a portion of the land) Also has A-18965 for an additional 200 AF storage in this reservoir (same source) and A-16144 for 2000 AF storage from Salt Creek." [to p. 3] costs: $12,381.22 to bring up to State safety requirements, $24,000 on construction of dam and rebuild pumps, sprinkler lines, etc., before that; irrig began 1958; clearing other pastures continuing; obstacles: "not be profitable to serve some (about half) of the proposed place of use - poor soil quality and lift too great from reservoir." test for which areas will be profitable; finances not a problem; [to p. 4] "...No area-capacity curve was filed with this application and Dam Supervision Section of Department of Water Resources does not have an area-capacity curve. Applicaton states that the capacity of the reservoir is 200 AF, but Mr. Johnson, the ranch manager stated that it was about 400 AF, with which approximation Dam Supervision seems to agree. There is no slope gage on the dam and Mr. Johnson paid no particular attention as to how far reservoir was drawn down except that the suction line on the pump is 40' long (presumably at a 3:1 slope) and reservoir was drawn down so that a whirlpool was forming over the suction at the end of the season, which would suggest that it was drawn down possibly 9' during the season. [para] Mr. Johnson estimates that 4 acre-feet per acre was applied to about 27 acres of mixed clover pasture or a use of (27 x 4) 108 acre-feet. Information as to actual pump operation agrees fairly well with this estimate: [para] Pump was in normal operation at time of inspection so pressures of discharge on the sprinkler system could be measured, and were found to vary from 32 to 37 psi--with 62 No. 860 Buckner Rainer sprinklers operating, each with a 5/32" nozzle. According to the Rainbird charts, the nozzles were delivering about 4 gpm each or a total of 248 gpm = 0.55 cfs. It requires about 7-1/2 - 23 hour days to serve the acreage and an attempt was made to serve it every 10 days from about May 15 to about October 1, a period of about 138 days: 7.5 x 23/24 x 3 = 21.6/30 = 72% of time in operation 0.72 x .55 = 0.4 cfs; 0.4 x 138 x 1.98347 = 110 AF used (approximately); In addition, some water was lost to evaporation and some to seepage plus some water that was released into the creek during winter months before heavy rains began for watering of about 900 head of cattle. [para] REMARKS [para] Permittees are requesting a full three year extension of time and although the filing has been under extension for five years in addition to the three years granted at the time of issuanmce of permit, it appears that the full time presently being requested is warranted, chiefly because of the conditions which existed at the time present owners acquired this property and filing in June 1958. [para] It appears that the original applicant, Mr. Wright, filed the application in the amount of 200 AF p/a and stated that the reservoir capacity was 200 AF simply to avoid engineering requirements that would have been imposed had he admitted that the capacity was far in excess of that figure, as now appears to be the case. Further, the dam was not constructed under State Supervision and as constructed did not meet State specifications as to safety. In addition, Mr. Wright was a boating enthusiast and the reservoir was constructed chiefly for recreational purposes with any benefit that might be derived from it for irrigation purposes, being purely incidental. It is built in a gorge, requiring a high pumping lift to land that is of poor quality, at best. [para] Since present owners have acquired the property, to meet State safety requirements it has been necessary to raise the dam about 2-1/2 feet, widen the spillway by about 30' and remove a section through the dam to a depth of about 20' from its present crest level to install a 12" pipe with valve so that water might be released if it appeared necessary from a safety standpoint. The cost of these changes was in excess of $12,000, whereas the original cost of the dam is believed to have been only about $3,200. [para] The dam now meets state specifications as to safety, but considerable time will be required to determine which land can profitably be irrigated, considering only the cost of lifting the water to the various levels, and the fertility of the soil. Presently being considered is about 20 acres of fairly level land north of the reservoir and immediately adjacent thereto, an additional 40 acres of steeply sloping to rolling land, also to the north of the reservoir, but further removed and possibly 15 acres of fairly level land on the bluff to the south of the reservoir which requires a very high lift. Soil depth is being checked and experimental plantings being made to determine soil fertility."
Sketch of Dam; photos; Wright Dam, original crest elev 746.7, present 749.0, length 300', top width 10', downstream dam elev + or - 719'; downstream 2-1/2 : 1 slope; upstream 3 : 1 slope; 12" pipe thru dam, screw gate control upstream elev 730'; spillway elev 740.5, original width = 30', present = 45'; photos: 7-7 across reservoir from dam, pier out to ladder down to float for fishing or swimmimg?; 7-8 from bluff on south side res; 7-9 some of the land to be developed; 7-10 land to be developed, all photos 06/09/1960;
060960 Extension Petition; 3-year, spent to date $24,000, 100% complete in '59, full use by end of '62 season; Why not completed within time allowed "Necessary to bring dam up to State specifications after acquiring property in June of 1957, also land to be served is rough and rolling and much of it required clearing of timber. Development must proceed slowly on more or less experimental basis as only portions will prove to be worth developing because of soil quality and elevations above water level in reservoir. It is believed that by the end of the 1962 season, the development will have been completed or at least definite plans as to development will be complete." [drafted by Mr. Kuchta?]
061060 Receipt $5 extension fee
100660 Order Granting Extension of Time within which to Complete Construction and Use, to 12/01/1962
090160 Approval for Signature, Extension order - Class [blank]; to 12/01/1962
100660 letter Hill/Executive Officer to Jamieson; order extending to 12/01/1962 granted
100760 return receipt card
112961 Progress Report by Permittee for the Year 1961; completed? "probably yes"; more construction? "Possibly will make use of portable permanent pump (now on hand) to lower reservoir below present permanent pump suction." max use? "Not known - but Reservoir drawn about 10'"; 27 ac. mixed clover pasture, max 944 head cattle, fishing & boating; expect to fill? "could completely fill any winter in 24 hours" how much used? "about 10' drawdown"; use in any season? "+ or - 100 acre feet"
092392 Progress Report by Permittee for the Year 1962; use as great? "No. We pump to suction limit with present pump but may be able to irrigate additional acreage with pump at a different site." source goes dry? "Yes...no record kept, but soon after rain stops." draw down? "12 feet" irrigate? 27.5 acres, "Irrigated pasture - clovers & grasses"; Stock watering, number of animals "2358" [! animals? ]; boating, fishing, swimming, and duck hunting; domestic "1/3 acre lawn - no house use"
093062 Notice of Expiration (questionnaire?); [is this a request for extension, or not?]; % complete, "Completed"; year in which full use will be made? "3 years" [hence?]; reasons why not yet? "Full use of water for irrigation requires an additional installation of power and pump and the outlay of necessary funds"
092462 Receipt $5.00 permit extension fee
070163 notice of inspection by F.M. Kuchta on 07/12/1963
071263 Request for License; [Form 76D] "(200) acre-feet per annum to be collected from about November 1 to about December 31 of each year." "stockwatering and recreational uses" [no domestic?] & irrigation of 8 acres within NW 1/4 NE 1/4 S9 T20N R6W MDB & M, and 19 acres within NE 1/4 NE 1/4 S9 T20N R6W MDB & M, 27 acres total; "This constitutes a petition to correct the description of point of diversion and place of use."
071263 Report of Inspection; on 07/12/1963 , F.M. Kuchta w/Mr. Alex Johnson permittees' "agent & manager of the ranch"; Diversion: POD as in permit? "Perhaps - but use 'tie' from 18965" [meaning?]; If not, when will petition be submitted? "76C constitutes petition to correct" [Form 76D?]; If diversion point has been moved...? "Has not been moved -- not a regular shaped section -- new tie may be more accurate." diversion system complete? "Yes...Complete to extent necessary to establish full use under this filing -- pump may be moved to allow another 125 af to be removed from reservoir (under A-18965.)"; diligence? "Yes"; limiting capacity? "Wright Reservoir -- 400 AF"; how determined? "Survey by August J. Hoever RE #2042 Survey of reservoir & map drawn with 5' contour intervals -- see area-capacity curve Page 4 of this report." [to p. 2] change from POU in permit...? "Considerable reduction in acreage -- from 220 acres down to 27 acres. Actually area irrigated is within originally proposed area but was only vaguely described in application....76C [D?] constitutes petition to correct description" POU developed to full use? "yes--to extent this permit...An additional 15 acres of land may be planted to pasture and sprinkled after pump has been moved to allow use of an additional 125 or more AF from reservoir." Major use "Irrigation: About 27 acres of land is served by sprinkling -- diversion direct from reservoir. Stockwatering: Cattle drink from pond and/or from troughs in the corrals -- 2" pressure system keeps troughs in corral full. Recreational: Canoing [sic], boating and swimming." Wasteful? "No...Collected during season of surplus flow, for irrigation use the method of sprinkling is used during which is conservative -- stockwatering and recreational are more or less normal." Max? "27 acres of mixed clover pasture -- 900 to 3500 head of cattle watered and recreational use as noted." Max diverted, etc.: about 225 AF, plus 175 held over in dead storage, for "Stockwater & more will be used under A-18965 later." Other rights "Application 18965, Permit 12374 covers remaining 200 AF in reservoir not covered under this filing. Riaprian [sic] to stream. Also have other filings on smaller stock ponds in the vicinity." [to p. 3] per Mr. Johnson "Reservoir is full by time 3" of rain falls in fall - always by end of December." "Survey & Area-Capacity curve by R.E. August Hoever in 1959." formulas "From R E Map" "No direct diversion. From description of winter flows by Mr. Jonson -- maximum flow probably 400 cfs or more -- has filled reservoir in 24 hour period." [to p. 4] recitation of Mr. Wright's actions as described in previous inspection report; plus "in one year the reservoir was drawn down about 325 AF--of which about the normal amount (as shown on area-capacity curve below) was withdrawn for irrigation but it was a very dry fall and early winter and it became necessary to release water into the creek for stockwatering use at a feed lot beside Stony Crek. This was done only one year and the feed lot has now been abandoned so such use is not likely to occur again in the future. [para] Mr. Johnson presently, tentatively, plans to move the irrigation pump from its present location and attach the suction to the lower end of 12" release pipe which passes through the dam at an elevation (top) of almost 727'. If this is done, it will allow about 100 AF additional water to be removed from the reservoir for irrigation which in turn will constitute a withdrawal of near 125 AF under companion filing A-18965"
General Sketch of the Project [p. 5]; "Reservoir and irrigated acreage traced from aerial photograph and approximate location of Section lines added from map filed in connection with Dam Filing #371; Wright Dam - #371 is about 300' long (to spillway) is 44' high has 8-1/2' of freeboard and a spill way that is 45' wide at its entrance. Contour map of the reservoir was filed in support of A-18965 and may be found in that file if needed." Map; "an addtional 15 Ac of land may be planted & served in this area [peninsula between left thumb & finger upstream]," to 27 acres, + or - 1/2 mi 8" alum. pipe, thence along north side of parcel to two cross pipes in the lower 19 Ac, mixed clover pasture; [decent drawing]
photo, upstream from dam, showing pier, outlet-pipe control, ladder [?] down to floating platform
122763 letter Hill/Executive Officer to Jamieson; under permit 8532 [Ap 14115] max use was within the extension period so no further processing of the extension is necessary, but "unable to return a filing fee once it and the extension request are accepted." [any reason?] BUT, on the other one, 18965, it appears more construction is needed and thus an extension is needed so please petition for it and send another $5. [kinda chicken?]
021164 Check for Change; [checklist] "Correction of description of" POD/POU "brought about by plotting from aerial photos & map filed with later filing A-18965." "Checked plat map & wall map and there appears to be no conflict with any other application."
032364 Order Allowing Correction of Description of Point of Diversion and Correction of Description of Place of Use; correction, no "injury to any other legal user of water,"
022864 Approval Sheet, Change Order or Correction Order; "Order allowing correction of description of point of diversion and place of use."
032364 letter Hill/Executive Officer to Jamieson; enclosed is copy of order allowing correction of POD & POU
032464 return receipt card
122950 Application to Appropriate Unappropriated Water; permit copy / work copy;
021455 Order Granting Extension of Time within Which to Complete Construction and Use
032364 Order Allowing Correction of Description of Point of Diversion and Correction of Description of Place of Use [glued to ]
061060 Order Granting Extension of Time within Which to Complete Construction and Use [glued to ]
012158 Order Granting Extension of Time within Which to Complete Construction and Use
040264 Check for License; checklist
020865 Approval for Signature, Water Right License [out of order after license & undated map; form dated 04/22/1964 but signed 02/08/1965 ? ]
031065 License for Diversion and Use of Water;
UNDATED hand drawn map on small section [S9] sheet showing Stony, unnamed Stream, dam, reservoir; is 19 acres on both sides of Stony? [another copy of the one loose in back of file]
031065 letter Hill/SWRB to Recorder/Glenn County; enclosed license to be recorded i/a/w Water Code �1650;
031065 letter Hill/Executive Officer to Jamieson; copy of license enclosed, this completes the procedure
031265 return receipt card
031065 License for Diversion and Use of Water; recorded copy
042567 letter Jamieson/H.W. Jamieson Enterprises to SWRB; 14115, 18965, 20615 assigned to Sandy Lake Company, a Limited Partnership; #20614 to Elk Creek Association, a Limited Partnership; both c/o Winitsky & Sellers, Beverly Hills
042667 Report of Inspection; F.M. Kuchta unaccompanied, interviewed Mr. Huff, Ranch Manager and Mr. Winitsky by phone; irrigation abandoned, 27 acres "not been irrigated for about four years. The sprinkler pump has been removed." [to p. 2] "reservoir was originally constructed by Mr. Wright for sail boating." "maximum 2000 head of cattle have access to this reservoir" "Mr. Huff stated that the reservoir is only drawn down '5 or 6' feet since irrigation has been abandoned. This would result from stock use, evaporation and seepage and would roughly indicate a 'drawdown' of about 150 acre-feet." "This 10,000 acre ranch has been divided. About 6000 acres (northerly) by Sandy Lake Development Company and about 400 acres near Stony Gorge Reservoir by Elk Creek Associates--both handled by Mr. Winitsky
042667 photos; Wright Reservoir Westerly across reservoir, and northerly to dam; quite a bit of vegetation filling in
050367 letter Hill/Executive Officer to Winitsky & Sellers; acknowledge change of ownership
100169 Report of Licensee for 1967, 1968, 1969; used entire year, spilled each year; max storage "8 ft" below spillway [sic]; end of season drawdown 20' below spillway; no irrigation 350 head of "Commercial"; 1/4 acre garden; fishing; 1 h-p power motor; "supply water to stock corrals, we water yards"
120575 Report of Licensee for 1973, 1974, 1975; used entire year, spilled first two, not yet on 1975; 3' below spillway first 2; 25' drawdown each season [wow! if not irrigating, used for what?]; 125 head of beef; small plat of garden; fishing;
0227?? Contact Report Rinehart/Div WRights; "Mr. A.H. Huff stated that property has been divided and Mrs. Phyllis Bostrick [sic] is a co-owner. A letter will be sent."
031776 Contact Report Rinehart/Div WRights & Winitsky/Sandy Lake; "confirmed that A20614 and A20615...are owned by Phillis Bostick, and that Mrs. Bostick also owns a portion of the land adjacent and inundated by Wright Reservoir which is covered by A14115 and A18965...[para] Assignment will be made accordingly. [para] Mr. Winitsky stated that he has authorization as General partner, to act as agenct in bahalf of Sandy Lake Co., Partnership"
032476 letter Page/Supervising Engineer to Phillis Bostick: acknowledges change in ownership & receipt of Huff water use reports
032576 letter Bostick to Carroll/Div WRights; per phone conversation today, know nothing of the Huff reports & is not co-owner with Sandy Lake of anything; boundary with Sandy Lake crosses "an artificial lake at one point"; "You agreed to write sending full information and a map which would show how the water mentioned is situated and which ponds the licenses cover." cc Geiss, MacFarland and Meckfessel, Willows
040276 letter Page/Supervising Engineer to Bostick; enclosed are copies of topos showing reservoir locations, & copies of licenses which cover water use in these reservoirs;
041476 letter Bostick to Carroll/Div WRights; received, will come to Sacramento to discuss in person
042976 letter Page/Supervising Engineer to Bostick; thanks for 04/20/1976 visit; apparently does own with Sandy Lake Lic. 8551 [Ap 20615], 8688 [18965], 7202 [14115] but nothing with Elk Creek Associates on 8550 [20614];
121878 Contact Report Smith/Div WRights and Bostick; "Mrs. Bostick called with some questions re: License Reports for above filings. I helped her as best I could and she asked that we send her copies of these 3 licenses [Aps 14115, 20615, 18965]. She said that co-owner Elk Creek Assoc (Lice 744) has sold the property but she is not sure to whom. She is in contact with some of partners of Elk Creek Assoc and will encourage them to inform us of the changes. [para] Mrs. Bostick also has a new address: Phyllis Bostick (formerly Mrs. Jamieson),...
020779 For Sandy Lake, Partnership Project Operations, call Tex Huff, Ranch Manager, 916-968-5331
010979 Report of Licensee for 1976, 1977, 1978; for each year used all months except June - Oct; not emptied any year; no irrigation; 400 head Herefords "on total acreage served [garbled]"; hunting, fishing
032979 Report of Licensee for 1976, 1977, 1978; for each year used all months except July - Oct; no spill 1976 & 7, yes spill 1978; 4 feet below spillway at max [?]; not emptied any year; 25 feet down end of season; 100+ head of beef cattle each year; 1976 small garden & lawns, 77 & 78 "small + lawns"; fishing; [2 different reports for the same years?]
042758 [sic] 042983 F Report of Licensee for 1980, 1981, 1982; no spill 1980; yes spill 1981 & 1982; 1980 3' feet down from spillway max; end of season 1980 14, 1981 12, & 1982 8 feet down at end of season; irrigated 3 acres each year, garden; 300 head cattle & horses 1980; 300 to 500 cattle & horses 1981 & 1982; domestic 3 persons, 3 acres approx; swim boat fish; conservation: livestock only; erosion control methods: "poison squirrels"; after use: "livestock watering - gardens yards for 2 houses [horses?]"; "these animals are moved about often"
102786 contact report Espinoza with Mr. Bernard Doorman; "representative for the Sandy Lake Company. He is the person who completes the Report of Licensee forms. The Report forms for the above applications will be sent to Mr. Doorman, who will complete them and send them back. he also asked that a copy of the 1980, 1981, 1982 reports for the above applications be sent to him...Corona Del Mar"
110186 Report of Licensee for 1983, 1984, 1985; use every month except June-Aug; spilled each year; 8' down at end of each season; irrigated 3 acres garden; 300-500 cattle - horses; domestic 3 acres; swim-fish-boat; conservation: "livestock only"; minimize erosion: "poison squirrels"; after use: "livestock watering - garden and yards - 2 horses"
122088 letter Marvin M. Gevurtz/atty to SWRCB; Sandy Lake property transferred to Fritz Mast & Alma Mast 08/30/1988, forwarding;
041189 handwritten note thereon, "called Mr. Gevurtz in reference to interest of Phyllis Bostick who is a co-owner of the water rights with Sandy Lake Company. I also needed information on ownership of A-20615. Mr. Gevurtz referred me to Alex Winitsky...."
041789 contact report, O'Hagan/Div WRights and Alex Winitsky Ofc; "I contacted Mr. Winitsky to confirm that Friz & Alma Mast should be shown as sole owner of the above water rights. (Needed to confirm that the Mast [sic] also purchased the interest of Phyllis Bostick, co-owner with Sandy Lake Company.) Mr. Gevurtz letter" 12/20/1988 "also failed to mention if Mast should be shown as owner of A-20615 (owner on record Phyllis Bostick, Sandy Lake Company and Elk Creek Associates.[ no close paren] Mr. Winitsky confirmed that Mr. & Mrs. Mast are owners of these rights. He stated that Mrs. Bostick and Elk Creek Associates sold all interest in the property held in conjunction with Sandy Lake. [para] Fritz Mast. Mr Mast called me to discuss water rights. He informed me that he also acquired the property owned by Elk Creek Associates."
041989 letter O'Hagan/Permit and License Unit to Mast; changing to your name 14415, 18965, 20614 & 15; copies of licenses & topo maps enclosed
051189 contact report John O'Hagan by Fritz Mast; "Mr. Mast called in regards to my ownership assignment letter dated" 04/19/1989. "He stated that he check [sic] his property lines and locations of the reservoir [sic] covered under the above licenses and determined the following:
A-14115 & A18965 - This large reservoir is located on Mr. Mast's property. A portion of the upper end of the reservoir is located on Mr. Doug Campbell's property. Mr. Mast stated that he contests any interest in the water right that Mr. Campbell claims and will be resolving the matter with Mr. Campbell. I informed Mr. Mast that our records would remain as assigned in my letter dated" 04/29/1989 [pencil changed to 04/19/1989] "until contest in ownership is resolved (per Section 832 CCR);
A-20614 - All reservoirs are located on property owned by Mr. Mast
A-20615 - Mr. Mast informed me that Reservoir [sic] #1, #3, #6 and #15 are not on his property. He believed that Reservoir #1, #3, & #6 are on Mr. Campbell's property. [para] I informed Mr. Mast that we would split license #8551 (A-20615) when correct ownership at Res. #1, #3, #6, & #15 are determined." Action: "Real Estate check for Ownership & split licenses" [see Real Estate chedk papers in back of file]
010490 mini memo O'Hagan to Mast; "Enclosed is a copy of License 7202 and a map showing the 27 acre Place of Use (irrigation). Also enclosed is a complaint form which you requested. Important items to remember:
- (1) Upstream neighbor ( if his property adjoins reservoir water surfrace) may be considered co-owner of water right.
- (2) The 27 acre P.O.U. described on the license is the only authorized area to be irrigated using waters withdrawn from storage. A Petition to Change the Place of Use filed before our Board is required to irrigate any other acreage (can be filed by any owner of the water right)
- (3) If the Place of Use has not been irrigated under this license for 5 consecutive years, irrigation use can be deleted from the license.
- (4) Disputes over private agreements are generally not within Board Jurisdiction
011992 Report of Licensee for 1989, 1990, 1991; used every month; spilled 1989 & 1991, not 1990; 1990 3 feet below spillway; end of season down 1989 6' , 1990 7', 1991 6' "w/evaporation"?; no irrigation; 80-100 head of cattle 1989-90; 60-80 cattle & horses 1991; no gardening; fishing; minimize erosion: "squirrel control";
041295 Report of Licensee for 1992, 1993, 1994; used every month, garbled?; spilled every year; stock 500 pair; 3 persons; 5 [acres?] garden; fishing;
042297 Report of Licensee for 1994, 1995, 1996; used every month except June-Oct, or Jul-Oct 1996; no spill 1994, spilled other 2, down end of season 7 feet 1994, 6' other two; 500 pair 1994 & 5, 800 heifrs [?] 1996; 3 people, 5 acres garden; "Note: Sandy Lake, Approx. 25% of this pond are not in our Ranch but should be recorded in Mr. Harland's Title."
051297 letter Okada/Div WRights to Mast; on your report forms you request revocation of Lic 8550 Ap 20614; Lic 7202 changed to show undivided with Mast & Harlan; for Lic #8551 Ap 20615, enclosed is a form to split off Reservoirs #1, 3, 6 & 15 (36 a-f total) to Mr. Harlan, also sending to Mr. Harlan to review, if both agree, will change, no fee; discrepancy on #5? map enclosed, if on Mr. Harlan's please note on the split request;
040100 Report of Licensee for 1997, 1998, 1999; used every month; spilled every year; end of year 5' down; 20-50 head at times only each year; 1/4 acre garden;
010804 bill, $100
040100 Report of Licensee for 2003, 2004, 2005; used every month; amounts of diversions, "unknown, water level may go down 15 to 20% by Nov."; spilled every year; stock: "cows & calfs, horses & sprinkle Corrals & Garden; other: ducks geese & deer"; conservation: "The small % of use does not need conservation."; "Please check the permit and let me know if my neighbour [sic, British sp.] to west pays anything. The ranch to the west used to be part of my ranch and sold of [sic] after the Licens [sic] were issued. I belive [sic] that I should not be charged fees since I'm the 1st rancher signed on with the wildlife conservation programs."
051009 Report of Licensee for 2006, 2007, 2008; used every month; livestock use Dec - May 31st; spilled every year; livestock: "cows, calves, horses/sprinkels [sic] corrals & garden; other: ducks & geese; conservation: Small % of use not needed to conserve"; signed for "The Mast Family Ltd Partnership"
Return to Stony Creek Water Wars
--Mike Barkley, 161 N. Sheridan Ave. #1, Manteca, CA 95336 (H) 209/823-4817


text:
you can discuss songwriting, inspect techniques, position people to write and perform and discuss their work or the works of others. but the work is them doing and them doing is them learning themselves, the weird thing about trying to teach songwriting, or anything about their imagination, is that you can't. you can teach how to hit a nail with a hammer, how to pull a tarp over rain, how to tie your shoelaces but if it is in the imagination…can you teach someone to paint or to make movies or to be a dancer.. can't make a horse drink water.
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subset: commoncrawl


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When tragic events happen, social media quickly fills with rumors and fake stories. NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks to Kate Starbird of the University of Washington about misinformation on the web.
Was the U.S. duped into striking Syria? No. The grisly deaths this week of women and children in what looks to be a chemical weapons attack was not carried out by opponents of President Trump in his own government - the, quote, unquote, "deep state." But that is the rumor that's been circulating on social media. And of course, this isn't the first time rumors like that have spread. Kate Starbird studies the spread of rumors. She teaches at the University of Washington, and her research traces fake news back past this presidential race to at least the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
KATE STARBIRD: We found a couple of different kinds of rumors, and one of them - there was this weird little rumor. It was kind of small but very different from the other ones and that was this theory that the Navy SEALs had perpetrated the Boston Marathon bombings. And they had been blamed on these what they called patsies, which were the suspects that were the Chechnya brothers. But it was all part of this - it was a false flag that the U.S. government or some elements of the U.S. government had perpetrated this event on itself.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: What do we see happen when a tragedy occurs? Is this - did you find that this was common?
STARBIRD: We did see across all of the manmade disaster events, over and over again, these same claims go from, you know, event to event to event.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: What we've just seen now on the strike on Syria, saying that somehow these were actors staging the event to sort of dupe the United States to make them - to draw them into the war. It's the same kind of thing.
STARBIRD: Exactly. So as soon as I saw this event, I actually posted on Facebook. I said, you know, you're seeing these images. But within, you know, a couple hours or maybe a day, you're going to see claims that this didn't really happen or that it was perpetrated by someone else. And of course, that comes to fruition.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: So the question is, so if we're seeing the same thing happening over and over again, who's doing this?
STARBIRD: I think you have people that are doing it for individual reasons. They have some political motivation, or they have financial motivation. They can make money selling these ideas, selling ads on their website.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Just trying to get eyeballs so that they can sell, you know, whatever product they're pushing.
STARBIRD: So there's that element. Then there's people that are sincere believers in this stuff. They really - they're bought in. They think about this. They're 9/11 truthers (ph). They're JFK conspiracy theorists. And then there was elements of what seemed to be purposeful disinformation strategies. So someone who doesn't believe these things, who's got a political motivation for injecting very confusing ideas that are anti-globalist, anti-corporatist, anti-mainstream media.
And they - a lot of the theories had this idea that there's a group of very powerful people that are outside of government that sort of orchestrate things. Those are the kinds of things that were actually much more problematic than the folks that were doing it for money or the sincere believers.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: What does this say to you? What have you learned through looking at this?
STARBIRD: I've learned a lot in the last few months. So, you know, I come from computer science and media studies, but I'm really sort of an engineer background. And I've ended up in this very politicized space looking for sort of a U.S. right versus left kind of spectrum, and that's not what I found.
What I found was these kinds of theories and this way of thinking about the world is appealing to both people on the left and the right - that people are going to see one theory. Like, they're anti-vaccine or they're anti-GMO. And they're getting drawn into these other theories of, you know, deep state actors that are changing world events to manipulate you. And then getting pulled into this worldview that is very potentially dangerous.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: That's Kate Starbird. She teaches at the University of Washington. And she studies the spread of misinformation online, a huge problem these days. Thanks so much for joining us.
STARBIRD: Thank you.
Source : npr.org
Karim Baratov poses in front of his house in Ancaster, Ont., in this undated photo. Online, Baratov presents himself as a high-end car enthusiast who made his 'first million' at age 15. (Facebook)
The FBI alleges that 22-year-old Karim Baratov, from Ancaster, Ont., was one of four men connected with a series of cyberattacks carried out on Yahoo that began in early 2014.But you wouldn't know it from Baratov's online persona.
On Instagram, Baratov presents himself as a high-end car enthusiast. He has frequently posted pictures of Aston Martins, Audis, Mercedes and BMWs, among other cars that he claimed to own; gaining nearly 30,000 followers in the process.
In one post, he describes himself as "well off in high school to be able to afford driving a BMW 7 series and pay off a mortgage on my first house.
"In others, he's shown spreading handfuls of $100 bills.
Baratov, who has dual Canadian-Kazakh citizenship, goes by at least two other names according to the FBI. He does not list his profession, nor how he became so well off at such a young age, on social media.
His Instagram profile describes him only as a: "Workaholic. Occasional drawer. Gym rat.
"But a cached search reveals another description: "Self made entrepreneur/programmer/web developer/investor.
"Clues left on Baratov's various social media profiles and websites registered under his name — coupled with allegations of computer hacking and economic espionage made by the FBI — offer a glimpse into how Baratov may have made his living.
He claimed in postings on the social media site Ask.fm that he made his "first million" when he was 15, working on "online services."
"I prefer online businesses because there is way less risk and less effort in a way," he wrote.
A call to the number tied with Baratov's home address was not answered.
Baratov made a brief appearance in a Hamilton courthouse on Wednesday morning and was returned to custody.
Neighbours on Chambers Avenue where Baratov lives said Wednesday they often puzzled at the young man's lifestyle – to be able to afford to live alone in a large, new house in an expensive subdivision, and to always be seen driving pricey cars.
"His parents either bought him the house, or he's getting money somewhere else, because he doesn't seem to work all day; he just drives up and down the street," said Kerry Carter, a neighbour who lives a few doors down.
Baratov's Facebook page links to a website called Elite Space, written in Russian, which claims to offer a number of services, including servers for rent in Russia, protection from distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, and domain names in China.
Though it does not specifically mention hacking, there are clues on other sites that this may also have been among his services.
For example, an email address matching one of Baratov's aliases was used to register an account with a Russian discussion forum, which lists DDoS and hacking as the Canadian user's interests. The profile then links to a website that claims to offer email hacking services for a handful of Russian email services, including Mail.ru, as well as Gmail.
There are also a number of websites registered in Baratov's name, including one called "mail-google.us," and another "mail-yandex.us." Though the websites are no longer online, the URLs appear designed to trick visitors into thinking they are visiting a legitimate Google or Yandex email site — a common phishing tactic.
While it is difficult to definitively link the sites to Baratov, they appear to fit the FBI's description of his alleged illicit work.
According to the agency's indictment, Baratov's job was to use the information gleaned from the Yahoo intrusion to gain access to targets' email accounts with other service providers.
Baratov's last Instagram post was a photo from the 70Down restaurant and lounge in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood, the night before his arrest.
Source : cbc.ca
In a rapidly changing world filled with too much information, Tom Lounibos, CEO of Soasta Inc., has a simple, down-to-earth, one-word solution for his customers looking to make a digital transformation: practice.
A one-time college baseball star drafted by the major leagues, Lounibos admitted he often turns to sports metaphors when talking about business solutions. "If you're making the move to playing pro ball, it's the same game, but everything is just so much faster," he explained. "So how do you get there? You watch the films, you hit the batting cage ... in other words, you practice."
For companies looking to develop software like the pros -- Amazon, Netflix, Google -- practice is really all it takes -- sort of. Too bad there's no digital equivalent of a batting cage. Instead, customers have to rely on something that's far from simple: advanced software-monitoring solutions that track everything about software performance, usability and response rates. These platforms theoretically can let companies "practice" a design tweak or marketing campaign, but they generate so much information that mere mortals simply can't wade through it all. Some companies end up with literally thousands of screens monitoring all the data, but at the end of the day, they don't really know how to take the information and make it work for them, Lounibos said.
That "not being able to get your players ready for the big game" thing wasn't working for Lounibos, and it's been a very real issue for Soasta. Too much information is, indeed, too much, and sometimes the volume is off-putting. "We spent a lot of time selling people on our data science platform only to discover they just couldn't wrap their heads around it all," Lounibos said.
So by putting on his coaching hat, Lounibos and his team of "quants" -- as in quantitative analysts, i.e., data scientists -- spend their days selling people on the benefits of data science: what it is, how to use it and why it matters. They explain that understanding and pairing data science and AI (artificial intelligence) can help develop better software faster.
Now, it's like going into a batting cage that simulates a real-world environment.Tom LounibosCEO, Soasta
But that's a leap, particularly when it comes to AI, a long-standing technology that is not broadly used and owns a checkered past (HAL 9000, anyone?). That's where Lounibos' extensive experience in Silicon Valley with startups and established companies comes into play. He's no stranger to fast-paced change or the need to coach customers on new technologies. "What I love about our industry is I think we get caught up with a lot of particular technologies," he said. "But the best thing about this industry is we are more adaptive than pretty much anything else out there. We're looking for change and not comfortable being static.
"For starters, Lounibos realized Soasta needed to practice what it preached. The company ramped up its hiring of data scientists so much that he refers to Soasta as a "data science company" that's training a generation of whiz kid math majors to get out and spread the word about understanding data science and AI. "We're selling data science -- conversion rates, bounce rates, anomaly detection, impact scores, latencies and metrics tied to specific industries," Lounibos said.
The Soasta team is selling the magic behind sites like Amazon, which uses measurements of the most minute details paired with AI to constantly tweak and change what it's offering. His company is placing what many call the "Amazon effect" within reach of nearly any organization.
By getting data science and AI in the door, other changes will start to happen, Lounibos noted, and those changes are nearly as valuable. First, companies start to see that information silos can be deadly to growth and innovation. "Back when we came out of college, it was about being deeper, not broader," he said, the idea being that an individual was such an expert developer that he or she could work alone. But in this new world order with rapid-fire development, collaborative teams are necessary to take data and run with it. "We're learning now that you have to be broader, not deeper," he stressed. "We're not changing what we do; we're changing how we do it."
At one time, software development was really little more than a guessing game, Lounibos said. "Everyone used to rely on a few guys in the back room guessing about how people would use an app," he explained. "Now, it's like going into a batting cage that simulates a real-world environment. We're not guessing how people use an app; we're actually seeing in real time how they use that app. And then a company can change its behavior dynamically if it needs to." Getting to that point once took companies weeks or even months, but "by understanding data science and machine learning," he said, "companies can now quickly get to actionable components of information that can tell them to turn left or turn right."
The promise of data science and AI is so compelling that some of Soasta's customers have gone so far as to create their own data science teams to, as Lounibos put it, "get their hands dirty and really get down in the data." What it all comes down to is a way to gather and use facts to make critical decisions. "People love it when their instincts are proven with facts," Lounibos said. "It's like bringing a gun to a knife fight; now I am bringing actual facts about what happened here."
Source : searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com
Was former President Barack Obama's birth certificate faked so he could run for office? It depends on how you ask Google.
The search engine giant last week expanded a test fact-checking program worldwide in a bid to help stop the spread of misinformation after it faced criticism for returning fake and offensive information in its popular search queries.
USA TODAY tested the feature out, asking Google a range of questions previously proven false — and some known to be true.
The result: Whether an answer surfaced what Google calls a "fact-check snippet" depended on how you phrased the question and whether the topic had been fact-checked by an organization taking part in Google's program. The snippets aren't tags on specific stories but rather on search words or phrases that appear in the list of results.
Search "Obama Kenyan citizen" and a fact check snippet pops up from Snopes.com, detailing reasons why a purported Kenyan birth certificate for Obama was a fake.
Search "Obama birth certificate fake," however, and no snippet turns up. Instead, the first link is a story from WorldNetDaily, a site run by leading birther proponent Joseph Farah, which says that Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate was faked.
The responses highlight the difficulties the world's most popular search engine faces as it works to offer users more authoritative and credible information after being critiqued for returning fake and offensive information items in response to some queries.
Google had been running a limited test fact check program in the United States and the United Kingdom for articles on news.google.com since October. The new roll-out applies to all searches worldwide — not just news — in all languages it supports. The inclusion of a fact-check topic won't affect the ranking of search results.
The information in the fact check tags comes from third-party fact-checking organizations. In the United States so far those include PolitiFact.org, FactCheck.org, Snopes.com, the Washington Post, the New York Times and GossipCop.com. Internationally there are between 50 and 100 groups offering tags, Google said. The fact checking doesn't just cover political stories, but a broader swathe, including science and health.
The search terms that trigger fact check snippets depend on whether a given topic has been the subject of a fact check and what words and phrases were tagged.
While it's unclear if the results might sway those committed to a specific point of view, they give a sense of the power Google has to tailor search results for a specific purpose.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based search giant's move comes a month after Facebook began adding a "disputed" warning tag to some articles with no basis in fact.
Thus far the fact check tags seem to be most often triggered by long-existing false stories. For example, a search in Google's main search box of the phrase "kidney theft" give a top return that links to a Snopes.com article debunking a popular, and false, Internet topic about unwary travelers being drugged and used as unwilling kidney donors by organ thieves.
Some political topics are also present. Searching on "national parks coal mining" give as its first return a snippet from Snopes titled "Did President Trump Open National Parks and Wildlife Refuges for Coal Mining?" and the label of "Mixed" as to its truth.
President Trump did sign an executive order in March that overturned a temporary moratorium on the leasing of federal lands for coal mining, but Snopes noted that public lands had never been fully and permanently closed to such activity in the first place.
The phrase "30 million undocumented immigrants" brings up Google fact-check snippets because during the presidential campaign, Trump made the claim that the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States could be much higher than the 11 million previously reported by the U.S. government. "It could be 3 million. It could be 30 million," Trump said in a speech in Phoenix in August.
That number was actually pegged at 11.4 million by the federal government in 2012, a number corroborated by groups such as the non-partisan Pew Research Center.
The system isn't partisan and any fact check organization that wants to can take part, as long as it abides by Google's terms of service for fact check snippets, Google says. They require that analysis "be transparent about sources and methods, with citations and references to primary sources."
Each snippet also comes with a Feedback link for users to respond.
Google has been under pressure, both internally and externally, to provide more authoritative and truthful results. In December after it emerged that a Holocaust-denying site was the first one that popped up when someone searched "Did the Holocaust happen?" the company changed its algorithm to "help surface more high quality, credible content on the web," reported tech news site Search Engine Land.
While such sites make up fewer than 1% of Google queries, the company clearly has begun to address the problem and has been putting a lot of resources into it, said Barry Schwartz, a news editor at Search Engine Land.
"If someone's searching for something specifically, even if it's rumor and not true, Google wants to show them that authoritative sites believe it's not factual," Schwartz said.
Source : khou.com
Throughout history, people have always worried about new technologies. The fear that the human brain cannot cope with the onslaught of information made possible by the latest development was first voiced in response to the printing press, back in the sixteenth century. Swap "printing press" for "internet" and you have the exact same concerns today, regularly voiced in the mainstream media, and usually focused on children.
But is there any legitimacy to these claims? Or are they just needless scaremongering? There are several things to bear in mind when considering how our brains deal with the internet.
The human brain is always dealing with a constant stream of rich information - that's what the real world is
First, don't forget that "the internet" is a very vague term, given that it contains so many things across so many formats. You could, for instance, develop a gambling addiction via online casinos or poker sites. This is an example of someone's brain being negatively affected via the internet, but it would be difficult to argue that the internet is the main culprit, any more than a gambling addiction obtained via a real world casino can be blamed on "buildings"; it's just the context in which the problem occurred. However, the internet does give us a far more direct, constant and wide ranging access to information than pretty much anything else in human history. So how could, or does, this affect us and our brains?
It's important to remember that the human brain is always dealing with a constant stream of rich information; that's what the real world is, as far as our senses are concerned. Whether staring at a video being played on a small screen or watching people playing in a park, the brain and visual system still has to do the same amount of work as both provide detailed sensory information.
It's too detailed, if anything. The brain doesn't actually process every single thing our senses present to it; for all its power and complexity, it just doesn't have the capacity for that. So it filters things out and extrapolates what's important based on experiences, calculation and a sort of "best guess" system. The point is, the brain is already well adapted to prevent damaging information overload, so it's unlikely that the internet would be able to cause such a thing.
Another concern is that the constant access to information stored online is atrophying or disrupting our memories. Why bother to remember anything when you can just Google it, right?
Memory doesn't quite work that way. The things we experience that end up as memories do so via unconscious processes. Things that have emotional resonance or significance in other ways tend to be more easily remembered than abstract information or intangible facts. These things have always required more effort to remember in the long term, needing to be rehearsed repeatedly in order to be encoded as memories. Undeniably, the internet often renders this process unnecessary. But whether this is harmful for the development of the brain is another question.
Doing something often and becoming good at it is reflected in the brain's structure. For example, the motor cortex of an expert musician, proficient in fine hand movements, differs from that of non-musicians. An argument could be made that constantly committing things to memory rather than just looking them up as and when needed would enhance the brain's memory system. On the other hand, some evidence suggests that a more stimulating, varied environment aides brain development – so maybe the constant, interesting information found online is better for you than rehearsing dry facts and figures.
But, counter to this, other evidence suggests that the detailed presentation of even simple web pages provides too many features for the human brain's small-capacity short-term memory to handle, which could have knock-on effects for the memory system. It's a mixed picture overall.
Does the internet impact on our ability to focus on something, or does having 24/7 access to so many things prove too much of a distraction?
The human attention system is complicated, and so again, it's an unclear picture. Our two-layer, bottom-up and top-down attention system (meaning there's a conscious aspect that enables us to direct our attention, and an unconscious aspect that shifts attention towards anything our senses pick up that might be significant) is already something that can make focusing 100% on something quite a challenge. It's for this reason that a lot of people prefer to have music playing while they work: it occupies part of the attention system that would otherwise look for distractions while we're trying to do something important.
The internet, however, provides a very quick and effective distraction. We can be looking at something enjoyable within seconds, which is a problem, given that much work in the modern world is done on the same device we use to access the internet. It is such a concern that apps and companies have sprung up specifically to address this.
But it would be unfair to say that the internet is responsible for distracting us from work. The brain's attention system and preference for novel experiences existed long before the internet did, the internet is just something that makes these aspects particularly irksome.
Social interactions with other people are a major factor in how we develop, learn and grow at the neurological level. Humans are a very social species. But now the internet has allowed social interactions and relationships to occur between vast numbers of people over great distances, and for them to occur all day, every day.
This means that everything we do can be shared with others at the press of a button, but this has consequences. The positive feelings gained from social media approval are said to work on the same neurological basis as drugs do; providing rewards via the dopamine system. Thus, social network addiction is slowly becoming an issue. By creating a situation where we're constantly trying to impress and being judged by others, perhaps the internet isn't doing our brains much good after all.
But, as with most things, the actual problem comes down to other people, not the net.
Source : theguardian.com
Have you noticed that some of the problems you are experiencing either in interpersonal relationships or work, seem to be recurring?
For example, a person who has had some unpleasant arguments with their co-workers in the past, can expect to go through similar struggles moving forward, no matter if they are in a completely different work environment. And the underlying theme of different arguments is the same – that person has a problem to establish a functional communication with their co-workers.
This is just one example, but many of us tend to repeat the problems and some of us eventually start feeling hopeless, thinking it is just our flawed character and there is nothing we could do about it.
Actually, the reason certain problems keep repeating is because we are not using an efficient problem solving technique. Luckily, we can become better problem solvers and therefore, lessen the number of problems we face.
Whether we're happy or successful are largely determined by our problem solving ability. If you just leave problems being unsolved, you may suffer in the following ways:
Problem solving is just like other skills we need to master in life. To be good at it, we need to practice it with the right approach. Unfortunately, many of us may not realize the common mistakes we make when solving problems. Here are some examples:
Most of us tend to spend a lot of energy to deal with the symptoms of problems without realizing the real causes. To identify the root causes of a problem, we need to challenge the first conclusion that pops up in our mind and keep asking the right questions until we can see beyond the phenomenon of the problem.
It is our tendency to look for quick fixes of problems. This leads us to believe in our intuitive without looking into the causal relationship behind the problem. And that's why we seldom get to the core of problems and adopts the ineffective solutions.
Finally, we become ineffective problem solvers because of our over-reliance on our knowledge. It is a common misconception that the more we know, the more capable we are to tackle problems. But the fact is mere knowledge doesn't enable us to become effective problem solvers. What we also need is logical thinking skills, the ability to think critically and creativity.
In order to become better problem solvers, we need to follow these 4 steps whenever we deal with any problem in life:
The first and most important step is to identify the root cause of the problem. One of the most effective approach is 5 whys invented by Sakichi Toyoda in the 1930s.[2] Totaya suggests that by asking "why" for 5 times can help us better identify the core problem.
For example, your problem might be that your business website is not getting enough traffic.
The solution – allocating more resources on the research to understand our readers.
Please note that we only apply vertical thinking to delve deep in one possible problem, which is unattractive content in this case. If you think there is another possible reason for declining traffic, you should do another set of 5 whys. By doing this, we can train up our logical thinking skills and so what we see from a problem does not stay at the superficial level.
After we define the root problem, it is time to find possible solutions. Here's where we can use the lateral instead of learned, vertical thinking.[3] That means, rather than spending all of our energy and time on transforming one initial idea into a perfect solution, we should rather think of at least ten possible ones and write them down first.
By doing so, we won't draw the conclusion too early or limit our choice to the first few ideas that pop up in our minds, Instead, we postpone our decision making and make use of our creativity to generate potentially better options. Although it takes us more time in this stage, we're more likely to come up with better solutions later on.
After generating possible solutions, it is time to select the best one. To make sure we make the right decision, we should list the pros and cons of each option and then compare them on the basis of cost and benefit. In this way, you are more able to make rational choice instead of being deceived by your unreliable biased judgement.
Although you have gone through 3 stages and take many factors into consideration to pick the best solution, you shouldn't have the false hope that you solution is going to to be perfect. But it'd be good to implement your solution first and then keep evaluating its effectiveness and make adjustments afterwards. Then you have a clearer direction in mind of how to tackle your problem strategically.
By now, you are equipped with the efficient problem solving techniques. But if you want to learn more to further improve your problem solving skills, here are two great books you can read for more insights:
This book gives a magnificent insight into two types of thinking going on in our brains, and what conditions each. By giving us background to our behavior, the book helps us become better at understanding our programmed ways of dealing with problems so that we can hopefully find a more effective, unbiased ones.
Problem Solving 101: A Simple Book for Smart People
It is a practical, illustrated guide that teaches us critical thinking and resourcefulness in problem solving.
|Sage Journals: Interpersonal Problem-Solving Skills and Depression-Proneness
|Mind Tools: 5 Whys
|Lifehack: Education Kills Our Creativity, Here Is How We Can Regain It
Source : lifehack.org
You might think that the only people who believe in aliens are forum-dwelling internet conspiracy theorists.
But it turns out a lot of Nasa astronauts also think extraterrestrials are real and that they have been in touch with humanity for a long time.
At least four celebrated spacemen have become famous for their outspoken beliefs about the existence of extraterrestrials.
Some have seen UFOs soaring through the sky, while others claim to have been tipped off about alien contact by military top brass.
Here are four Nasa astronauts who believe aliens are real.
Getty Images
In 1971, Mitchell became the sixth person to walk on the moon.
But he spent the rest of his life convinced that "aliens have been observing us and have been here for some time."
He once claimed that peace-loving aliens had visited Earth on a mission to save humanity from nuclear war and suggested the Vatican knows the truth about the existence of extraterrestrials.
Mitchell also alleged that UFOs had been seen above nuke bases and often disabled the missiles held within Cold War-era weapons silos.
The spaceman firmly believed the American government covered up the famous Roswell incident in 1947, when a flying disc allegedly crashed near a small town in New Mexico.
"The reason for the denial is they didn't know if they [the aliens] were hostile and they didn't want the Soviets to know so they devised to lie about it and cover it up," he reportedly said.
Gordon Cooper was one of the original Project Mercury astronauts, and was the first man to sleep in space.Getty Images
Cooper was one of the seven astronauts who took part in Project Mercury, the first American manned mission which ran from 1958 until 1963.
The craft he piloted was dubbed "spam in a can" because it was automatically controlled, rather than piloted by the astronauts on board.
But even before he underwent the life changing experience of becoming the first man to sleep in space, he claimed to have seen UFOs flying over Germany in 1951.
The spaceman also said he saw flying saucers spying on a secret airbase where experimental American aircraft were being tested.
"I believe that these extraterrestrial vehicles and their crews are visiting this planet from other planets, which are a little more technically advanced than we are on Earth," he told the UN in 1984.
"We may first have to show them that we have learned how to resolve our problems by peaceful means rather than warfare, before we are accepted as fully qualified universal team members.
"Their acceptance will have tremendous possibilities of advancing our world in all areas."
Deke Slayton was also an original Project Mercury astronaut.NASA
Slayton was also part of Project Mercury, before enjoying an illustrious career which saw him serve as NASA's Director of Flight Crew Operations.
But he also reportedly saw a UFO in 1951.
"It looked like a saucer sitting at a 45-degree angle," he said, according to the Daily Star.
"I didn't have any cameras otherwise I would have shot some pictures.
"At that time – for whatever reason – it just took off climbing and just accelerated and disappeared."
NASA selected Brian O'Leary as a scientist-astronaut in 1967, for a potential manned mission to Mars.NASA
He never made it into space, but he was one of 11 astronauts named for a possible Nasa Mars mission in the 1960s.
Later in his life, O'Leary had a near-death experience which changed his perspective on life and reality.
Dr. O'Leary, who became respected physics professor at Princeton University after leaving Nasa, said: "There is abundant evidence that we are being contacted.
Civilizations have been monitoring us for a very long time and that their appearance is bizarre from any type of traditional materialistic western point of view."
Source : nypost.com
A New York start-up is selling earphones that can translate live speech in real time from five different languages.
Waverly Labs said its $250 (£205) Pilot smart earpieces will start shipping to those who pre-ordered late this summer, after a successful crowdfunding campaign.
The Bluetooth-enabled wearable takes speech from one person wearing an earpiece, and relays the translated version straight into the other wearer's ear with only a couple of seconds' delay.
The earpieces and app (Waverly Labs)
There is also an accompanying app that can translate even more written languages. At the moment, the speech translation part is limited to English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, but from this autumn, 10 more will be available to buy.
At the moment, the device only works if whoever you want to speak to also has an earpiece, but the company said it is working on one that will be able to translate everything around you.
You'll also need an internet connection for the translation to work.
When not translating they can act as normal noise cancelling wireless headphones that can be used to listen to music.
In a promotional video, CEO Andrew Ochoa said he came up with the idea after meeting a French woman on holiday and struggling to overcome the language barrier.
"Even when we tried to find a solution like using some translation app to communicate it was horrible" he said.
Now holiday romances have technology on their side.
Source : irishnews.com
Though we are in tumultuous times, post-Brexit, nobody has yet confronted the prospect of an enclave of Britain adopting the euro – but it is going to happen, and shortly. For an Austrian developer is set to make this unlikely eventuality a reality; and to understand the supposedly impossible, we need to venture somewhere that specialises in creating what has previously been inconceivable: Dubai.
There, back in 2003, a state-owned construction company began a project that would see an archipelago of 300 man-made islands emerge three miles off Dubai's coast. Known as The World, and measuring four miles across, they now form a vast map of Earth if viewed from above.
Plans to build on The World stalled when the emirate's financial crisis struck, but six islands are now being turned into what Austrian developer Josef Kleindienst expects to become the world's most exciting holiday destination – a six million sq ft development known as The Heart of Europe.
Named Main Europe, Germany, Monaco, Sweden, Switzerland and St Petersburg ("Russia" already exists elsewhere in The World), these islands will feature a range of hotels and leisure amenities, all representing a European country in some way. Islands named after specific destinations will be inspired by those regions: Germany will offer Christmas markets, an Oktoberfest, and specialities from Apfelstrudel to Jägermeister; in Switzerland expect fresh snow produced by an artificial-snow maker, similar to the one used in the Mall of the Emirates indoor ski centre. Main Europe will be a repository for the destinations without a designated island, so visitors will be able to explore "the rest of Europe" – 51 countries in total – by, say, frequenting an Irish pub or sampling French patisserie. How Britain will be represented is unconfirmed but, as with everywhere else, staff will be from the relevant destination – and the official currency will be the euro.
It was the blank canvas left by the stalling of The World that inspired Kleindienst to create a single destination offering "the best of what Europe has to offer… assembled in a new way. Most people want to travel and experience the world but not many can do it, so visiting The World [and The Heart of Europe] in Dubai is the next best option."
He expects the project to be finished by 2018, and although my recent visit suggested there was still much to do, stays in the islands' Floating Seahorse holiday homes will be possible from the end of 2016.
In total, 131 of these three-storey "boats without propulsion" will surround The Heart of Europe. The glass-bottomed Jacuzzis on the rooftop are novel but the most impressive feature awaits below sea level. There, the glass wall of the master bedroom faces a coral garden intended to entice passing sea life. The surrounding area is not yet a diver's paradise but I did see shoals of silver fish emerge from the murky twilight.
Guests paying £2,100 per night will have access to the surrounding beaches and restaurants; 90 of the units will encircle the heart-shaped St Petersburg to form a Maldives-style honeymoon resortwith infinity pool and spa. Savvy use of nascent technologies has proved pivotal to the viability of The Heart of Europe, and other innovations will radically change the idea of where, how and why we travel in future.
The World Travel & Tourism Council calculates that in 2015 tourism generated $7.2 trillion (9.8 per cent of global GDP) and estimates that this figure will rise to $8.7 trillion in 2020 and $11 trillion in 2026. With such predictions, rich spoils await the creators of the tourism products we will adopt in years to come.
Lola Pedro, a regional director with trend-forecasting agency TrendWatching, predicts that increasingly personalised digital platforms will drastically alter the holidays we take over the next decade. "Expect to see a shift from today's mass-market, internet-driven holiday curation to newer technologies that express a more personalised understanding of a holidaymaker's personality, interests, and emotional and social needs," she says. Websites such as Airbnb and instant-dating app Tinder already encourage consumers to trust strangers – and we should expect "more liquid social connections and travel services that immediately match [travellers] with others at their destinations who have shared interests".
How rapidly new behaviours can develop is ably demonstrated by the current Pokémon Go phenomenon, a smartphone app launched last month that uses augmented reality (overlaying computer-generated elements on a user's real surroundings) to insert Pokémon characters into a player's world. Within a week of its arrival it was generating an estimated revenue of $1.6 million per day in the United States and has seen users traverse cities and countries in their efforts to encounter each character. Other augmented-reality apps, encouraging us to rediscover electronically the settings we encounter in reality, are certain to follow shortly.
Expect virtual-reality travel experiences to become more popular, too. Increasingly sophisticated headsets are already enabling the immobile to admire the view from Machu Picchu, for example, and also allowing discerning consumers to "try before they fly".
Thomas Cook is harnessing the technology to offer customers tantalising taster experiences, such as helicopter rides above Manhattan and tours of the pyramids. The Australian airline Qantas, meanwhile, has provided headsets preloaded with immersive travel guides to some premium passengers.
Affordable headsets are being launched by PlayStation, HTC and Oculus VR (owned by Facebook), so virtual excursions could soon be a reality for many.
Other wearable tech may further alter how we travel. Though the future of Google Glass is uncertain, more discreet types of apparatus are on the way. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology is developing microscopic circuits so small they can be embedded in a contact lens.
Apple Watch offers travel-ready apps that provide instant currency conversions and flight information, while easyJet's Sneakairs prototype uses trainers embedded with vibrating smartphone-synchronised sensors to indicate when notable landmarks are within immediate reach of sightseers.
The things we choose to see are changing, too: the world's first "rig-spotting" tour last month saw a group of 120 tourists pay from £535 per head to participate in a four-day tour of North Sea oil rigs. From September, guests at Cape Town's Ellerman House hotel will be able to fly by private jet to the jewel-rich town of Port Nolloth on an £11,400 "diamond safari" package – the first of its kind. Participants who follow professional prospectors are "pretty much 100 per cent" likely to uncover gems.
More far-fetched travel opportunities are on their way. If the innovators and entrepreneurs of today achieve their aims, the future of travel might look something like this:
Nick Trend, Telegraph Travel's consumer editor, expects the destinations we frequent to change in the years to come. "With the future of key package-holiday destinations such as Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia looking uncertain," he says, "expect mainstream tour operators to tempt us to some alluring new destinations. The UK's biggest travel company, Tui, has recently launched holiday packages to Costa Rica and to the beaches of Cayo Santa Maria in Cuba, for example."
In years to come, we will roam the previously inaccessible, explore entirely new surroundings and reconsider destinations previously overlooked. Abu Dhabi, long in Dubai's shadow, is a case in point. Currently under development there is Saadiyat Island, a vast cultural district that will house world-class museums in buildings designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects. The first to open, in 2017, will be the Jean Nouvel-designed Louvre Abu Dhabi; institutions including the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and the Zayed National Museum (designed by Frank Gehry and Norman Foster respectively) will follow.
Environmental factors will have an increasing impact, too. Later this month, the 13-deck Crystal Serenity cruise ship, which accommodates 1,070 guests, will sail along the Northwest Passage on a 32-night voyage that extends from Anchorage to New York. Guests (paying from £16,875 each) are guaranteed spectacular views as they pass through pristine landscapes – but the trip has only been made possible by receding ice levels, and environmentalists have voiced concerns about the imposition of such a momentous vessel on vulnerable ecosystems and communities.
Others will go to greater lengths to explore extreme landscapes. Elizabeth Ellis, founder of tour operator Blue Marble Private, is currently organising a trip to the wreckage of the Titanic. She expects "exploratory travel [in] difficult-to-reach, other-worldly environments" to become increasingly popular.
In the past 12 months she has chartered flights from Cape Town to the South Pole as a part of an eight-day Antarctic trip that cost participants £50,000 apiece, and arranged for a group to fly to the edge of space on a MiG military aircraft capable of reaching altitudes of about 60,000ft, or 11.5 miles.
While prohibitively priced, commercial space travel is also coming. The severely delayed Virgin Galactic is still planning to sell flights to space at $250,000 a pop; its privileged guests will soar almost 70 miles above the Earth's surface.
The Bloon flights offered by Spanish company Zero2Infinity don't reach the same altitude but at €110,000 (£92, 600) per person they are somewhat cheaper. Launching in 2018, the aircraft capsule will be hoisted 22 miles into the air by balloon, in the same way as daredevil Felix Baumgartner was taken to 128,100ft on the Red Bull Stratos mission in 2012.
Exploring new depths here on Earth, the proposed SeaOrbiter is an oceanic observation vessel designed to traverse previously uncharted waters on extended research missions. In addition to 12 floors of labs it will feature guest quarters; crowdfunding has provided enough revenue to partially commence construction, though it could be several years before it sails.
Trains, planes, boats and cars will continue to shuttle us hither and yon, but the form of the journeys could change markedly over the coming decade. Here are some examples.
By air
For moneyed travellers, supersonic flights could soon be a reality. The US company Aerion is collaborating with the Airbus Group to launch AS2, a supersonic business jet, in 2023. Expected to reach Mach 1.5, it would be 67 per cent faster than current long-range subsonic jets.
Rival firm Spike Aerospace is also planning to launch a Mach 1.6 supersonic jet in the early 2020s – but with one significant difference. To reduce drag, its cabin will be devoid of windows. Instead, interior walls will be covered with all-enveloping screens on which the panorama surrounding the aircraft could be broadcast. Travel time from New York to London would be almost halved, to just 3hr 20mins.
Nervous travellers might prefer to have a different type of elevated aviation experience. Described as "the Netflix of private jets" and launching in October, Surf Air will offer unlimited private-jet flights to subscribers paying £2,500 a month. In New York, Uber-style app Blade is making near-instant, exclusive-use and shared helicopter rides to the Hamptons and elsewhere a possibility.
Sadly, it is less exciting in economy class. Major US carriers including Delta and American Airlines are competing with budget operators by introducing extra-cheap ticket options, colloquially called "last class". Passengers can expect cheaper-than-economy fares, and no frills.
Tim Robinson, editor of the Royal Aeronautical Society's Aerospace magazine, sees the cabin as "a major battleground for airlines to improve the passenger experience and ultimately maximise their profitability". He predicts innovations such as dedicated sections for passengers wanting high-speed connectivity for gaming, say, or separate zones for those with children.
Cheaper oil prices, increased competition and improved aircraft should see other enhancements filter through to the mass market. Since May, low-cost airline Norwegian has offered direct flights from London to California, with one-way flights to San Francisco starting at £179, while better aircraft will take us further, and in more comfort.
Increasingly common, Boeing's Dreamliners offer bigger windows and invisible but significant improvements such as better air-filtration systems; Airbus A380s can accommodate 544 passengers in a four-class configuration. When it launches next year, a 9,034-mile Qatar Airways service between Doha and Auckland will become the world's longest flight. It should take between 17.5 and 18.5 hours.
By rail
The rail industry is attempting to reach new extremes too, and the pleasures of slow train travel are being revived by new luxury sleeper services. Belmond (the company behind the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express) will launch multi-day trips in Ireland and Peru over the next year, and Train Suite Shiki-Shima's service will offer passage through north-eastern Japan from next May.
In late 2014, Golden Eagle Luxury Trains launched its Jewels of Persia tour on the first ever European train to cross into Iran. The service provides a unique opportunity to explore terrains long off-limits to all but the most intrepid travellers. Though passengers have to forego alcohol on Iranian soil, they do benefit from fine dining and comfortable private quarters.
The experience is available as a Telegraph Tour escorted by rail enthusiast Michael Portillo (for further details, call 03300 299 528).
In contrast, the eponymous transit system proposed by new US company Hyperloop One is focused on speed and aims to harness electric propulsion to accelerate carriages through a tube at up to 800mph – enough to travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes. It plans to test a prototype next year.
By water
Cruise ships are changing and many already come with amenities and novelties to rival the best hotels. Expedition cruise company Lindblad now carries ROVs (remote-operated vehicles) which plunge to 500ft below sea level to provide high-definition video of what lurks beneath the ship; and the Scenic Eclipse, due in 2018, will be capable of sailing in polar waters and will carry two helicopters and a submarine.
For total extravagance, however, nothing rivals superyachts. With basketball courts and 3D cinemas already de rigueur, owners are demanding ever more outlandish features. The proposed 295ft Moonstone would feature a faceted hull embedded with solar-powered LEDs. Activated by app, they could display the exact hues of that evening's sunset to partially camouflage the vessel.
By (flying) car
Currently being developed by a Slovakian company, AeroMobil is a car that converts into a plane in seconds. Prototypes have flown successfully and commercial deliveries are expected in 2018. The new £145,000 ICON A5, meanwhile, is a two-person amphibious aircraft that can take off and touch down on both water and land. Light and easily operated, it should appeal to millionaires who are keen to kick-start their weekend breaks.
The hospitality sector has been shaken up by the arrival of Airbnb, and various "sharing economy" operators are emerging in its wake. Among them, onefinestay facilitates accommodation in exceptionally luxurious homes; soon-to-launch Freebird Club is a members' club offering homestays for the over-50s.
Other increasingly niche "peer to peer" platforms, explicitly targeting a specific demographic, are likely to follow. Already Bud and Breakfast promises access to "cannabis-friendly" accommodation, while KinkBNB encourages users to get to know their hosts more intimately.
Travellers who are less enthused about engaging with strangers will be catered to by improvements in technology. Though their ability to hold eye contact is unnerving, the human-like robots at Japan's newly launched Henn-na Hotel can check guests in and tackle general queries without intervention from a human.
Botlr, a robot butler, is currently being trialled at a number of Aloft hotels in America; some Starwood hotels are now allowing guests to check in digitally, using their smartphones as room keys; and new apps launched by the likes of the Four Seasons chain are increasingly enabling customers to execute every engagement electronically.
Other hotels are being developed to provide a base for customers with specific interests. Upmarket US gym chain Equinox is set to unveil its first hotel – no doubt a haven for keep-fit fanatics and selfie-loving Instagram fans – in New York in 2018, while eco-conscious consumers are being targeted by the emerging 1 Hotels group. Among various energy-saving initiatives are bedroom taps that release "triple-filtered" water so guests can hydrate without recourse to the plastic bottles traditionally replenished at turndown.
Virtuoso, an international network of high-end travel agencies, has highlighted multigenerational travel as this year's most popular travel trend, and companies are endeavouring to satisfy simultaneously the disparate needs of toddlers, great-grandparents and everyone in between.
It's a shift that is seeing hotels significantly reconfigure their inventory and a number of properties have launched high-capacity stand-alone villas that supersede their signatures suites.
A lavish example is the new, hillside Villa 20 at Amanzoe in Greece(from £12,000 per night for up to 18 guests), which offers residents a cascade of private pools and lounges, in a setting 1.5 times the size of Trafalgar Square. If escaping your family is preferred, various operators cater for solo travellers. Just You's packages see single travellers gather for Budapest spa breaks and comprehensive tours of Cuba; for particularly solitary types, On Foot Holidays arranges self-guided walks across Europe.
The legalisation of gay marriage is encouraging LGBT individuals to travel more openly and, according to the market research firm Forrester, the gay travel market is now worth £6 billion in the UK. Launched in December, OutOfOffice.com caters to this demographic and has thrived. Predicted revenues for its first month were £50,000; the company made £250,000.
As interest in specialist areas grows, you can if you wish join similarly committed fans on Game of Thrones-themed tours in Belfast, commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster with a tour, or book a package to see a future solar eclipse.
Travellers who wish to record these sojourns can hire a professional photographer to accompany them in 180 destinations through Flytographer or try the Drone the World service, launched this week by Black Tomato. From Burma to Iceland, drone photographers who have worked on Star Wars and the James Bond films will shoot blockbuster-worthy footage of clients' escapades. Though our preferred means of documentation may change over time, it's nice to think our desire to remember and relive our most precious holiday experiences will always stay with us.
Source : telegraph.co.uk
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text:
Pittsfield Police seek Ford SUV that struck, killed pedestrian on Dalton Avenue early Sunday
PITTSFIELD — A 32-year-old man was killed on Dalton Avenue early Sunday morning, apparently by a hit-and-run driver, local authorities said.
The Berkshire District Attorney's Office on Sunday evening identified the pedestrian as Christopher Reynolds, address unknown, who died of blunt-force trauma.
City police are looking for the light-colored Ford SUV that witnesses say struck Reynolds and kept on driving.
The collision took place around 1:30 a.m. in the vicinity of 457 Dalton Ave., just east of the intersection with Plastics Avenue. Police say the driver was traveling east and kept going in the direction of Dalton.
Pittsfield Police want to hear from anyone who has information about the incident at 413-448-9700.
The Ford is likely to have front-end damage, police said.
The fatality is the second serious car-pedestrian crash in the Berkshires in less than a week.
A Plainfield man faces charges he was intoxicated behind the wheel when he allegedly struck a Dalton resident crossing Main Street in Dalton on Tuesday evening.
Derek J. Talbot, 21, was released on personal recognizance after his arraignment Wednesday in Central Berkshire District Court. He must remain drug- and alcohol-free and submit to random screenings while on pretrial probation.
Police say Talbot struck Sean Labonte, 41, in a crosswalk, leaving him with head trauma and a fractured skull. Labonte was taken to Berkshire Medical Center and later transferred to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.
Dalton Police Chief Jeffrey E. Coe had said the victim was expected to recover.
If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.


text:
By David Reeder
With the magazines you see above I could hold my neighborhood in an iron fist. Well, that's what I heard anyway. About a week ago the website Thought Catalog ran an article by a purported AR15 owner entitled (creatively enough) I Am An AR-15 Owner and I've Had Enough. It was different enough from the bulk of TC's indulgent woe-is-me relationship… more …Read the Rest
Source:: Recoil