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Collection of men's neckties 'ties in' to crafty creations
The modern necktie, ascot, and bow tie are all descended from the cravat, the silk scarf first worn by Croatian soldiers visiting to Paris in 1660, celebrating victory over the Ottoman Empire. King Louis XIV, admiring the adornments, adopted them as insignias of royalty. While history has 'ties' for the most popular ways to knot ties, and many believe the Windsor knot is the only really correct way, the Mailbag offers unconventional uses for a very conventional accessory.
Ties, trimmings and endless possibilities
"I have dozens of neckties that have been cleaned out from our closet," writes Elaine N. of Nashua (LTR 2,166). "They are all in excellent condition and I know that some people put them to good use with sewing projects. I also have a large amount of lace trimmings that someone may want for various decorating or sewing projects. Always enjoy reading your column and the generosity of the readers out there putting to good use things others could use. Thank you." From pillows, wall decorations, patchwork blankets, quilts, and wreaths, to eyeglass cases, stuffed rattlesnake toys, a miniskirt, tablecloth, as well as covers for boxes, books, chair covers and seats … the possibilities for practical and decorative uses and reuses for men's neckties are practically endless online, in books, magazines and at your local craft store. Elaine can be reached at 889-5272 and would prefer calls after 9:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Needs microwave for elderly friend with limited income
"I've been helping a friend who is elderly and very poor trying to get things for his apartment, he does not want much and does live very meagerly," writes Mickey of Nashua (LTR 3,371). "He has asked me to try and find a Microwave for him so he can get some frozen dinners and warm them up. He does not use the oven, only the burners. I have looked at Savers and searched Yard Sales with no luck that either one of us could afford. I have purchased jeans, shirts, used radio and pots and pans for him and have not accepted any money. The last thing he has requested is a Microwave. I just can't afford one right now. I am so hoping one of your readers would have an extra one not in use. I am about to have major surgery and was hoping to have a Microwave for him soon. I can pick it up within a 10-mile radius of Nashua. Thank you so much for all you are and all you do for the community!" American author, H. Jackson Brown Jr., reminds us to "Remember that a gesture of friendship, no matter how small, is always appreciated" – sometimes even to serve as an inspiration to someone else. Anyone who can be a 'friend in deed' and help Mickey with a microwave for her 'friend in need' should call 880-0584. Your help will be much appreciated. Mickey, prayers are with you for your upcoming surgery.
Commode available
"I have a commode with rails that was used once," says Dee M. (LTR 314). "It's like new. Has a bucket with handle and cover. It's been sanitized. Holds 300 pounds. Not a wide one. Can deliver in Nashua or within five miles. Hope someone can use it." This is an item no one wishes to need, but wishes they had should the need arise! If you, a family member, or friend would be more comfortable having a commode at bedside or close at hand, Dee can be reached at 721-2890.
– Janet M. of Litchfield (LTR 3,370) writes: "Just wanted to let you know that a lovely women from Mason, NH picked up the 100-cup coffee maker today. She was so happy and I was as happy knowing that someone could use it. Also, received a call from Sandy B. of Nashua and she picked up the food warmer with sterno cups and the 18-quart roaster. Thank you for helping me to find people that could use things that I might have had to throw away. Now knowing that someone is using them makes me feel great. Thanks again, love your column!"
– Ed G. of Nashua (LTR 1,551) writes: "No problem with the A/C – I received four calls, no calls for the VHS cabinets. Thanks for your help." In case someone missed Ed's offer two weeks ago, he still has 12, two-drawer, stackable cabinets, 17-by-12-by-5 inches, formerly used to house VHS tapes. Interested parties should call Ed at 888-7843, after 9 a.m.
A 'Back to School' shopping reminder …
The Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter is starting their 2018 'Backpacks for Back to School Program.' Donations of backpacks and school supplies will be accepted starting, Monday, July 30, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Chris' Mailbag will publish a 'Supply Wish List' next Sunday. Folks shopping for supplies for their own children might want to consider purchasing 'extras' for a really good cause!
Contact Chris' Mailbag by emailing firstname.lastname@example.com or sending mail to Chris' Mailbag c/o The Telegraph, 110 Main St., Suite 1, Nashua 03060. Include full name and complete address, along with telephone number or email address for publication, if applicable. Items eligible for publication are for donation, trade or barter only; requests of items for sale or purchase will not be included.


text: Edward and Anna Scott arrived in India in the fall of 1862. Settling in the northeast state of Assam, they threw themselves into the work of God. However, after seven years, Scott felt the Lord calling him to take the gospel into what is now Nagaland. The Naga were brutal head hunters. Before a man was allowed to marry, he must kill at least 30 of his enemies. The British military commander warned him it would cost him his life. But Scott persisted, and with his Bible and violin, he headed into Nagaland. Soon he was surrounded by twelve spear-wielding warriors. Things looked bleak, but Scott took his violin and began to play and sing, "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name." Mesmerized by the music, they slowly lowered their spears. Scott then asked the chiefs for their permission to live among them and they agreed. Scott's ministry was greatly blessed by the Lord. Today 90% of those in Nagaland profess to "crown Him Lord of all," the highest in all of India.Today's Reading: Job 18-20 Memorize: Matthew 16:26

subset: commoncrawl


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STILLWATER, MN —EBBQ Asked to respond to Jerry Brown's earth-shaking revelation that "history should be honest," in relation to California schools educating students about gay culture, Rep. Bachmann quickly announced that she has just recently become personally involved in rewriting the official gay page on Wikipedia, so it will be correct historically.
Ms. Bachmann said "I now believe that important contributions from Americans of all backgrounds and walks of life are needed to be sure that our nation's gay history is not besmirched."
Asked about the process of rewriting the page, she offered this: "My Husband Marcus, an eminent doctor and PhD, will do a first draft rewrite of the page. I will then edit and add human color with my maternal pen. You are all aware that I have raised 28 children during my 20-year marriage with Marcus. I too, know a lot about this gay phase. Among those 28 children of mine, I am sure, as is Marcus, that at least 1 or 2 could have been gay or were leaning to becoming gay.
"My Marcus is a well-respected expert on gay life and all that it entails. He has spent his entire adult working life with the gays, advising them on social mores, documenting their behavior patterns and, when needed, he is able to professionally show any slower clients how to quickly pray the gay from their lives. This represents an historic and important step forward for our nation, and I thank my dear husband for all of his deep research and his pastor-like understanding on this historic front."
It was pointed out to Ms. Bachmann that many states have laws that already require recognition about the contributions of Native Americans, African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and Asian-Americans, among other groups. A question to her from a reporter was "What about the gay culture? Can't there be objective recognition about them as well?"
About this information, Rep. Bachmann said, "Today I will begin making history in our great nation by ensuring that Wikipedia, my most trusted resource on the history of our nation, no longer excludes the contributions of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) Americans. Governor Brown's decision has helped Marcus and I decide that we now want these gays to feel better than the second or third-rate citizens that they are. This is a turning point in my candidacy's policy on the super-sensitive issue of gays in the US."
"Marcus and I have come to another conclusion over the gays, is it what, 6 – 10% of the nation's population by count? We no longer officially consider it an outrage to let these few million people live their undisciplined lives outside traditional family values. Marcus is personally and emotionally relieved that we are no longer pressing against them on this issue. He says that enough is enough.
"People stressing out on gay issues in their private lives should not have to endure taunting from bullies about their vocal tone, their ability to dance, the shedding of tears emotionally, especially where male gays are concerned."
The last question to Ms. Bachmann was about her intent to legislatively deny gays same-sex marriage.
She responded, "I am now all confused about this whole issue. At the moment, I feel that it is no longer an issue that is very important anymore. Yes, I still have bad thoughts about gay marriage and what it might do to our society. I just don't know if that is the right way to think any more. Can I get back to you on this? Marcus is on my phone here and I have to take this call."


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French fibre roll-out and take-up break new recordsCreated March 4, 2019
According to the latest quarterly account from French telecoms regulator l'Autorité de Régulation des Communications électroniques et des Postes (ARCEP), annual growth in the number of superfast access subscriptions in the country reached two million, for the first time ever. This, says ARCEP, was very largely thanks to the growing adoption of FTTH/B.
The report reveals that over the course of Q4 2018, the number of superfast broadband subscriptions (maximum download speed equal to or faster than 30 Mbps) increased by 615,000 to reach 9.0 million, or an additional 2 million subscriptions year on year (YoY), versus an increase of 1.5 million one year earlier. The majority of this growth was due to an increase in the number of subscriptions to fibre to the home/building (FTTH/B) plans, which rose by 485,000 compared to the previous quarter, and so accounted for close to 80% of the increase in superfast access user numbers. As of 31 December 2018, the number of end-to-end fibre access lines totalled 4.8 million, which is 1.5 million than the year before.
In total, 45% of all premises eligible to subscribe to a superfast access plan were subscribing to such a plan in Q4 2018, which marks a 6% increase YoY. The total number of broadband and superfast broadband subscriptions stood at 29.1 million at the end of Q4 2018, which marks an increase of 190,000 over the previous quarter and of 700,000 year on year (+2.5%).
Broadband roll-out takeaways from the ARCEP report include:
- Over the past four quarters, 3,212,000 additional premises were passed for FTTH, of which 1,013,000 were in Q4 2018. This is the first ever quarterly increase of more than a million
- As of 31 December 2018, 13.56 million premises were eligible to subscribe to an FTTH access service, or 32% more than one year earlier
- The vast majority of FTTH rollouts in the fourth quarter of last year were in those parts of the country where the Government has issued a call for investment letters of intent (called "zones AMII" in French). The 630,000 additional premises passed during the quarter mark a record high for these areas
- The pace of FTTH rollouts in areas covered by public-initiative rollouts continued to rise during the quarter, with an additional 249,000 additional premises passed. The overall rate of line sharing rose slightly to reach 29%
- In total, at the end of Q4 2018, 20.1 million households in France were able to subscribe to a superfast Internet access service, all technologies combined, including 13.9 million households located outside of very high-density areas
- At the end of Q4 2018, 48% of the premises in the municipalities where Orange made rollout commitments, and 36% of those where SFR has made commitments had been passed for FTTH access.
However, ARCEP warns that operators will need to step up the pace of their deployments if they are to meet their targets on time. The first deadline is a commitment to have at least 92% of the premises passed by the end of 2020, with the remaining being passed "on request".
For more information, visit www.arcep.fr


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Comic Con 2015 Big Bang Theory panel preview: What you need to know
Before the writers of The Big Bang Theory potentially break our hearts with news about the state of Amy and Sheldon's relationship at Comic-Con on Friday, EW is here to give you a refresher on where the CBS comedy left off:
Where we left off: Frustrated with the glacial pace at which their relationship is moving, Amy (Mayim Bialik) decides to take some space from Sheldon (Jim Parsons), unaware that he has procured an engagement ring. Meanwhile, Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Penny (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting) head to Las Vegas with an aim to get hitched until he admits to a drunken make-out session with a co-worker during his North Sea expedition. Raj (Kunal Nayyar) decides not to break up with the adorably twisted Emily (Laura Spencer) for fear of being alone, while Howard (Simon Helberg) and Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) struggled with whether to kick Stuart (Kevin Sussman) out of their home until they realized it was his birthday.
What we know about season 9: For the time being, Amy and Sheldon are kaput, so it will be up to Sheldon to figure out whether he wants to win her back—and their relationship woes will likely cause a ripple affect throughout the group. Since we didn't see Leonard and Penny call off the wedding, they are still heading towards Vegas, but whether they get hitched remains to be seen.
Comic-Con burning question: When are Amy and Sheldon getting engaged?
Head here for more of Entertainment Weekly's Comic-Con coverage.


text: All craftable Items and buildable Buildings can be destroyed to get a random amount of the resources back that are required to create the object. Details Edit For every required Item-type, an amount of that type is dropped, which is a random number between 0 and the creation amount. Retrieved from "https://doomedio.fandom.com/wiki/Recycling?oldid=195" Categories: Add category Cancel Save Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.


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Act 2 Documents
As noted in the Site History section of this site, Sunoco and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) entered into a Consent Order and Agreement in December 2003 (CO&A). Sunoco's Phase I Remedial Plan (Phase I Plan), dated November 2003, was included as an attachment to the 2003 CO&A. In accordance with the 2003 CO&A and Phase I Plan, a Current Conditions Report and Comprehensive Remedial Plan (CCR) was prepared by Langan for Sunoco in June 2004. The Phase I Plan and the CCR divided the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) Complex into 11 Areas of Interest (AOIs). The CCR also presented the Phase II remedial approach and schedule to characterize each of the 11 AOIs, and to conduct Phase I and II corrective action activities in accordance with the 2003 CO&A and the Phase I Plan. Since 2003, Sunoco or Evergreen have performed site characterization activities at all 11 AOIs in accordance with the 2003 CO&A.
In October 2006, Sunoco submitted a notice of intent to remediate (NIR) to the PADEP entering the complex into the Act 2 program. This NIR was later updated and submitted to the PADEP in November 2014 in order to reflect the ownership identity to PES and the remediator to Evergreen. The NIR was updated again in December 2016 to change the selected remediation standard for lead in soil to the Residential Statewide Health Standard for the North Yard Ball Field in AOI 8. In November 2011, the facility was formally entered into the PA One Cleanup Program with the USEPA – Region III and PADEP. In November 2011, Sunoco submitted a Work Plan for Site Wide Approach under the One Cleanup Program. As previously discussed, characterization and remediation work at the PES Complex is currently being performed under the September 2012 Buyer-Seller Agreement signed by Sunoco, PES, and the PADEP.
Below are the Act 2 reports which have been submitted to the PADEP and USEPA to date. The most recent Remedial Investigation Report (RIR) for each AOI incorporates past data and supersedes previous investigation reports. Due to electronic file size, some reports were broken into two parts (Part 1 and Part 2) for ease of download.
Future Act 2 reports will also be posted on this website. Forthcoming reports include Addendums to the AOI-4 RIR and AOI-9 RIR Addendum. Subsequent correspondence for these reports will also be posted to the site upon receipt/submittal. Subsequent to approval of all RIRs and Addendums submitted for each AOI, remaining Act 2 reports will be completed for the complex as a whole, including a Fate and Transport RIR, Risk Assessment, Cleanup Plan, and Final Report. The exception to this is AOI-10, which will have a combination Risk Assessment, Cleanup Plan, Final Report submitted for that AOI only.
Although the reports provided on this website include all Act 2 reports which have been submitted to PADEP and the formal comments provided by PADEP over the last several years, we have refrained from uploading all communications to the website which have been exchanged over the past several decades related to the complex. Because the investigatory and remedial approach has evolved and questions or matters which may have been raised in older communications have been addressed in more recent reports and/or otherwise rendered moot, we have refrained from posting all prior communications so as not to water down the more relevant substantive reports. The PADEP records included on this website reflect PADEP's decision-making at various points in the overall Act 2 process but do not include an exhaustive list of every "record" in the official public file. To examine PADEP's public file, please schedule an informal file review through PADEP's Norristown office.
Notices of Intent to Remediate
NIR Update_Nov 2014
NIR Update_Nov 2016
AOI 1 - Point Breeze No. 1 Tank Farm
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 1 RIR_8-5-16_Part2
AOI-1 RIR Public Notices_July 2016
AOI-1 PADEP Letter_RIR_20161101
AOI-1 PADEP Comments_RIR_20161108
AOI-1 PADEP Memo_RIR_20161031
AOI-1 Evergreen Response_RIR_20170131
AOI 2 - Point Breeze Processing Area
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 2 RIR_07-20-17_Part2
AOI-2 RIR Public Notices_Aug 2016
AOI-2 PADEP Letter_RIR_20171018
AOI-2 PADEP Comments_RIR_201710
AOI-2 PADEP Memo_RIR_20171017
AOI-2 Evergreen Response_RIR_20171228
AOI 3 - Point Breeze Impoundment Area
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 3 RIR_03-20-17_Part2
AOI-3 RIR Public Notices_Mar 2016
AOI-3 PADEP Letter_RIR_20170614
AOI-3 PADEP Comments_RIR_201706
AOI-3 PADEP Memo_RIR_20170609
AOI-3 Evergreen Response_RIR_20170830
AOI 4 - No. 4 Tank Farm
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI4 RIR_03-24-17_Part2 (Figures Only)
AOI-4 RIR Public Notices_Mar 2017
AOI-4 PADEP Letter_RIR_20170621
AOI-4 PADEP Comments_RIR_20170629
AOI-4 PADEP Memo_RIR_20170621
AOI-4 Evergreen Response_RIR_20170830
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 4 SC-RIR_10-16-13
AOI-4 SC-RIR Public Notices_Oct 2013
AOI-4 PADEP Letter_SC-RIR_20140115
AOI-4 PADEP Comments_SC-RIR_20140116
AOI-4 PADEP Memo_SC-RIR_20140114
AOI 5 - Girard Point South Tank Field
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 5 RIR_01-16-17_Part2
AOI-5 RIR Public Notices_Mar 2015
AOI-5 RIR Public Notices_Jan 2017
AOI-5 PADEP Letter_RIR_20170502
AOI-5 PADEP Comments_RIR_20170504
AOI-5_PADEP Memo_RIR_20170428
AOI-5 Evergreen Response_RIR_20170731
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 5 SCR-RIR-CUP_12-13-11
AOI-5 SC-RIR-CUP Public Notices_Nov 2011
AOI-5 PADEP Letter_SC-RIR-CUP_20120315
AOI-5 PADEP Comments_SC-RIR-CUP_20120319
AOI-5 Evergreen Response_SC-RIR-CUP_20120725
AOI 6 - Girard Point Chemicals Area
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 6 RIR_11-21-17_Part2
AOI-6 RIR Public Notices_Feb 2017
AOI-6 PADEP Letter_RIR_20180226
AOI-6 PADEP Comments_RIR_20180301
AOI-6 PADEP Memo_RIR_20180222
AOI-6 Evergreen Response_RIR_20180430
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 6 SCR-RIR_09-03-13_Part1
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 6 SCR-RIR_09-03-13_Part2
AOI-6 SC-RIR Public Notices_Jun 2013
AOI-6 PADEP Letter_SC-RIR_20131127
AOI-6 PADEP Comments_SC-RIR_20131122
AOI-6 PADEP Memo_SC-RIR_20131122
AOI 7 - Girard Point Fuels Area
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 7 RIR_06-09-17_Part2
AOI-7 RIR Public Notices_Feb 2017
AOI-7 PADEP Letter_RIR_20170830
AOI-7 PADEP Comments_RIR_20170831
AOI-7 PADEP Memo_RIR_20170824
AOI-7 Evergreen Response_RIR_20171031
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 7 SC-RIR Addendum_09-19-13
AOI-7 SC-RIR Addendum Public Notices_Aug 2013
AOI-7 PADEP Letter_SC-RIRs_20131218
AOI-7 PADEP Comments_SC-RIRs_20131218
AOI-7 PADEP Memo_SC-RIRs_20131206
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 7 SCR-RIR_02-29-12
AOI-7 SC-RIR Public Notices_Jan 2012
AOI-7 PADEP Letter_SC-RIRs_20131218
AOI-7 PADEP Comments_SC-RIR_20120717
AOI 8 - North Yard
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 8 RIR_12-21-17_Part 2 (Figures Only)
AOI-8 RIR Public Notices_Dec 2017
AOI-8 PADEP Letter_RIR_20180322
AOI-8 PADEP Memo_RIR_20180322
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 8 SCR-RIR_01-31-12_Part1
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 8 SCR-RIR_01-31-12_Part 2 (Figures Only)
AOI-8 SC-RIR Public Notices_May 2011
AOI-8 PADEP Comments_SC-RIR_20120709
AOI 9 - Schuylkill River Tank Farm
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 9 RIR Addendum_02-08-17_Part2
AOI-9 RIR Addendum Public Notices_Jan 2017
AOI-9_PADEP Letter_RIR Addendum_20170418
AOI-9_PADEP Comments_RIR Addendum_20170418
AOI-9_PADEP Memo_RIR Addendum_20170413
AOI-9 Evergreen Response_RIR Addendum_20170707
Philadelphia Refinery_AIO 9 RIR_12-31-15_Part1
Philadelphia Refinery_AIO 9 RIR_12-31-15_Part2
AOI-9 RIR Public Notices_Oct 2015
AOI-9 PADEP Letter_RIR_20160328
AOI-9 PADEP Comments_RIR_20160310
AOI-9_PADEP Memo_RIR_20160324
AOI 10 - West yard
AOI-10 ERA Public Notices_Aug 2016
AOI-10 PADEP Letter_RA_ 20161110
AOI-10 PADEP Comments_ SC-RIR-RA_20161117
AOI-10 PADEP Memo_RA_20161108
AOI-10 Evergreen Response_SC-RIR-RA_20170131
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 10 SCR-RIR_06-29-11
AOI-10 Evergreen Response_SC-RIR-RA_20170131
AOI-10 SC-RIR Public Notices_Jun 2011
AOI-10 PADEP Letter_SC-RIR_20120106
AOI-10 PADEP Comments_ SC-RIR-RA_20161117
AOI-10 Evergreen Response_SC-RIR_20111108
AOI-10 Evergreen Response_SC-RIR-RA_20170131
AOI 11 - Deep Aquifer Beneath the Complex
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 11 Final Report_06-21-2013 - Part2
AOI-11 Final Report Public Notices_Jun 2013
AOI-11 PADEP Letter_FR_20130926
AOI-11 PADEP Comments_FR_20130912
AOI-11 PADEP Memo_FR_20130923
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 11 SCR_RIR_09-12-11_Part1
Philadelphia Refinery_AOI 11 SCR_RIR_09-12-11_Part2
AOI-11 SC-RIR Public Notices_Sep 2011
AOI-11 PADEP Comments_SC-RIR_20111209
Complex-Wide Reports
Lead HHRA Public Notices_Feb 2015
PADEP Letter_Lead HHRA_20150506
PADEP Memo_Lead HHRA_20150430


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CTS Women In Engineering Monthly Book Club at the Domain/Negotiating
IEEE Women in Engineering Book Club: Thriving and Surviving in the Tech World
Discussion Topic:
Join us for a snacks, beverages, good company and a fantastic discussion group, focused on developing your career.
In this inaugural meeting at our North Austin location, we'll discuss negotiation. You negotiate tradeoffs, features, your vacation days, all sorts of things, both at work and at home. We'll discuss two short articles: "Get the Most From Your Next Salary Negotiation" and "Make More Money, Be More Valued." And perhaps we'll try some practice conversations! You will leave with new ideas for yourself!
No charge for the event. Bring a friend! And make new ones!
Date and Time
- Date: 27 Jun 2017
- Time: 06:30 PM to 08:00 PM
- All times are America/Chicago
- Add Event to Calendar
- Starts 29 April 2017 12:00 AM
- Ends 27 June 2017 06:30 PM
- All times are America/Chicago
- No Admission Charge
6:30 Snacks and networking
7:00 Discussion
8:00 Adjourn to BlackFinn for a complimentary Happy Hour!
Join us on the 4th Tuesday of each month at The Microsoft Store at the Domain, 3309 Esperanza Crossing, suite 104, Austin, Texas 78758. THANK YOU to our friends at Microsoft for hosting our event


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Executive Vice President, James Beard Foundation
The James Beard Foundation's Executive Vice President Mitchell Davis is a cookbook author, journalist, speaker, and scholar with a B.S. from Cornell's School of Hotel Administration and a Ph.D. in Food Studies from NYU. With the Beard Foundation for almost 25 years, Davis has had several roles and has created and overseen many of the organisation's most important and impactful initiatives. He served as Director of Publications, Vice President of Communications, and interim President, before becoming Executive Vice President in 2011. Among the marquis programs he helped create and launch are the JBF Annual Food Summit, a national dialogue of thought leaders on sustainability and public health, the JBF Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change, an advocacy training program for chefs, the JBF Women's Leadership Programs to address gender imbalance in the industry, and JBF LTD; a sold-out, five-week pop-up restaurant featuring several of the world's best chefs.
In 2013, on behalf of JBF, Davis led the team that was selected by the U.S. Department of State to create the USA Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015, for which he served as Chief Creative Officer and received commendations from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and First Lady Michelle Obama.
Outside of the Beard Foundation, Davis frequently writes about food and reviews restaurants. He holds a chair on the Academy of the London-based World's 50 Best Restaurants, for which he oversees the region of eastern North America. He has written five cookbooks, including the ground-breaking e-book My Provence (Alta Editions) with Michelin three-star chef Laurent Gras, which won two IACP awards, including "Judges Choice." His most popular book is Kitchen Sense (Clarkson Potter), a comprehensive guide to home cooking. As a James Beard Award nominated journalist, Davis is a regular contributor to food publications, including the Art of Eating and Saveur. For two years Davis hosted the weekly talk show Taste Matters on Heritage Radio Network. His T.V. and film appearances include PBS's James Beard: America's First Foodie, City of Gold, History Channel's 101 Fast Foods that Changed the World, Food Network's Food(ography), Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and Best in Smoke.
Davis is sought after as a program curator, speaker and moderator on topics such as food culture and history, taste, restaurants and chefs, Jewish food, the food system, sustainability, and food media. He has created programs for the Chicago Council on
Global Affairs, the Annenerg Trust at Sunnylands, World Bank, SlowFood, the UN
Sustainable Development Goals Fund, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, MAD Food Camp, and the EAT Foundation, among other prestigious organisations. In 2013, The Forward selected Davis as one of the 50 most influential Jews under 50 in America. And in 2017 epicurious.com named Davis one of the "100 Greatest Home Cooks of All Time" alongside many of his own cooking heroes, such as Richard Olney, Julia Child, Edna Lewis, and James Beard, himself.


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Lessons Learned: There is always a way to overcome difficulties and events of life."There's always a way for every problem, just don't give up," said best-selling American author Tony Robins. Nature certainly has the skills to "overcome all obstacles" at the upper level and become great teachers of life.
Trees have existed for about 370 million years and as you can from these incredible photos, there is a good reason why they exist so long.


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Ms. Rice has been working in the Civil Engineering field since 1993,
when she began her employment with Stout, Tacconelli & Associates, Inc. Her work includes managing all aspects of subdivision and land development throughout the design and approval process. Her experience is extremely varied and includes title and boundary research, site design and layout, stormwater management design and the use of best management practices, permitting for State highway occupancy, permitting for various environmental issues associated with the Department of Environmental Protection and local Conservation Districts and representation on behalf of clients before local and regional governing agencies.
Ms. Rice attended Lehigh University for her undergraduate studies, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture in 1993. She later completed a graduate program at Villanova University where she received a Master of Science in Water Resources and Environmental Engineering in 2001. Susan has had additional training in stormwater management principles and best management practices.
Ms. Rice acquired her Engineer-In-Training certificate in 2001 and obtained her Professional Engineering license in February of 2007. [Pennsylvania P.E.#074508]
Ms. Rice has appeared before numerous municipal planning commissions and legislative bodies within Bucks and Montgomery Counties on behalf of clients to testify on matters related to subdivision and land development.
©2020 S.T.A. Engineering, Inc. 2499 Knight Road Pennsburg, PA 18073 215-679-0200


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Nairobi Day Tours & Excursions in Nairobi Outdoor activities includes Cultural & Theme Tours, Food, Wine & Nightlife, Tours & Sightseeing. Most Popular Nairobi Day Trips Attractions are African Fund for Endangered Wildlife – Giraffe Centre , Nairobi National Park, Karen Blixen Museum, David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust- Elephant Baby Orphanage, Bomas of Kenya, Nairobi National Museum, Railway Museum, Karen Blixen Coffee Garden and Cottages, Kiambethu Tea Farm, Kibera Slums, Hell's Gate & Lake Naivasha, Lake Nakuru and many more.
Daily Nairobi Tours ,Nairobi City Attractions & Nairobi Mini Safari Trips with Optional Tours to Nairobi National Park, David Sheldrick, Baby Elephant Orphanage, Giraffe Centre, Karen Blixen Museum, Carnivore Dining Experience And More. Book Last Minute or In Advance


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Professionally Servicing All Your Real Estate Needs
Middletown Real Estate Agent
Edward Vivona
Specializing In The Purchase & Marketing of Homes
Throughout Monmouth, Ocean & Middlesex Counties
Give Me A Call To Experience What
So Many Already Know!
Middletown Township NJ offers homes, lifestyles for any taste, at any price-point. Withsuch diversity, it's important to align yourself with a seasoned, area professional. Someone who understands the vast terrain as Middletown encompasses over 60 square miles.
Your Middletown Real Estate Agent should be prepared to explain the unique qualities of any given area as you embark on your Middletown Real Estatesearch. You'll want to align yourself with someone cognizant of fiduciary trust, someone who can communicate their acquired knowledge for any given area, the current marketplace, in assisting you in one of the most important decisions you'll ever make.
Conveniently Located, Middletown Real Estate
Middletown Township, located in Central Monmouth County is conveniently located. Earmarked at exits 117, 114 and 109 on the Garden State Parkway. It is also served by both Route 35 and 36… you know the roads, the one's you drive on your visit to Sandy Hook State Park. Did I mention Middletown Township is expansive?
Keep this in mind when searching Middletown NJ Real Estate. The most Southern end of the municipality is tied to Gateway National Recreation Area, part of that commonly known as Sandy Hook, the Raritan Bayshore Coastline. In addition, Middletown Township includes the areas known as Locust, Navesink, Lincroft, Leonardo and several others. Home to over 66,000 residents, one of the oldest settlements in all of New Jersey.
Middletown offers commuting convenience to Manhattan, figure a little over an hour drive by car, the same goes for train and bus service. The train, known as the NJ Transit – North Jersey Coast Line is very dependable, runs very frequently. Alternative communing venues are also available through Academy Bus Lines and The Seastreak Ferry System. Perhaps some of the quickest of all the services with commute time to Manhattan in the area of 35/40 minutes. For those heading west, Middletown is about an hour-plus to Trenton, add another 20/30 minutes if continuing on to Philadelphia.
The Middletown Township school system
The district, consists of 17 public schools, educating, showing over 10,000 students as currently enrolled. Of the 17 schools, 12 are elementary, 3 are middle schools and then there are 2 public high schools Middletown South and North. There are also 2 private high schools and 3 private grammar schools in Middletown Township. If children are in your mix, just another of many home purchase options you will consider, when searching for that perfect home, in the perfect location, through Middletown-Real Estate.
Single family homes in traditional Middletown, what most Buyers consider west of Route 35 should start in the mid $4's, a large sampling of homes into the high $7's, with some areas topping out at $1M+. Then there's Navesink River Road, I'm sure you've heard of it, opulence tied to the Navesink River experience. With price-points offered to those of extraordinary means, $4M should be a good starting point, with the sky being the limit. Middletown Real Estate NJalso offers a diverse sampling of communal, townhouse/condo opportunities, starting in the mid-$2's, well into the high $4's, low $5's. Adult Communities are few, primarily Shadow Lake Village & Shady Oaks, lovely, well run, well maintained developments with price-points stating in the low $1's through the low $3's. Your Middletown Real Estate Agent should be equally qualified to provide the in-outs for these as well.
What Middletown NJ has to Offer
Middletown Township offers a great sampling of open space, the Monmouth County Parks System, home to 48 parks spread out over 42 acres. The Henry Hudson Trail intersects Middletown Township, a great place for bike riding. Offering on/off access for taking in the sights, cruising over to the bay-front beaches. Speaking of which, the beaches, most of which are free, offer easy access, perfect for just hanging out, kayaking or trying your luck at landing a monster, the area is known for some of the best Striper fishing on the entire East Coast. Visiting Monmouth County Photo Gallery should get your heart pumping.
Just as Middletown NJ Real Estate offers you all the convenience of shopping for your next home, Middletown Township offers all you will ever need in the way of convenience. There's no limit to shopping options, food markets, deli's, fine dining, movie theaters and services. As diverse as your palette, your needs or anything you could imagine which is nice. But let's digress for a moment. The number one priority of any Monmouth County Real Estate Agent, in this case, your Middletown Real Estate Agent should be empowering you to make an informed decision. One example might be, as one third of Middletown Township is aligned with water, wouldn't it be good to know if flood insurance could be in the mix? Ask your agent to run the latest FEMA maps for those homes you may be considering.
So, give some thought to Middletown, New Jersey!
You will be pleasantly surprised. You should have access to all this information and more, when you meet with your Middletown Real Estate Agent, some like me. Middletown NJ, a meaningful consideration, a trip worth making!
Services Offered:
Licenses / Credentials
– The National Association of Realtor
– Monmouth County Association of Realtors
– Lifelong Resident of Monmouth County
– MLS Member of Middlesex, Monmouth & Ocean Counties
– New Jersey Association of Realtors


text: Fidcal 168 Report post Posted September 14, 2010 AFAIK it's not a marker but the signal propagated by the sound. This is the same as object collision. If drop or throw an object the audible sound comes to the player but an inaudible 'sound' (I call it a signal but it's called a propagated sound meaning propagated to the AI) is triggered. The same can be (indeed I think already is but disabled) applied to a door sound. This is why I think the best solution is to keep this signal reasonably low so only an AI who is right near the door will go to a high alert and distant ones won't. This propagated sound system is already controllable. All that is needed is to only do this if the player activates the door just as collision signals are only sent if the player drops a goblet and not if an AI accidentally kicks one or knocks on by opening a door. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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Pearls of Wisdom: Rufus Hall
The chief executive of Orchid Group, the biggest start-up the pub industry has seen, saw his company fall into administration just two years after inception. After restructuring its finances, the group bought the 43-strong Premium Pubs and Bars estate in 2009, bringing its estate up to 290 food-led pubs, making it the largest food-led pub operator in the R200 list.
I'm quite a humble person. I think what makes me successful is the people in the business, I think they make me look good to be honest. Orchid from day one has been built quite clearly around people. That's the bit that I enjoy, and I think that's the bit that makes the difference at Orchid.
There isn't a manual for chief executives that buy 291 pubs in one go, which says - on day one do this, on day two do that. When we bought all those ex-Spirit pubs with private equitty firm GI Partners, I managed to assemble a board very quickly, and we had weekly pacing meetings where we basically brain dumped all the things we had to do. It was sheer hard work and planning, and sleeping with a pad beside our beds.
Something intrinsic to the British pub is that they all have very rich histories, sometimes going back centuries, they have very different communities that they serve. We genuinely believe that the British pub represents part of our historic tapestry and we should build on that history and individuality.
We believe that British people like carvery – it is quintessential British food. We did a lot of research and felt that the carvery was a British staple that really needed re-inventing.
The restaurant and pub boundary is merging a little. Forty-five per cent of our turnover is food and there is some research around that says 60 per cent of people would rather eat in a pub because of the informality.
We've learned a lot from Piccolino's, Wagamamas and Carluccio's, who do fast, casual food. We really admire the way they do that. Another reason I like those three is because in recession, like us they've stuck to their guns and not panicked into discounting.
There's a number of restaurant business that have arguably spoilt their core business by discounting. If you drop price too much, something has to give, and what tends to give is quality.
Walt Disney had a saying when he set up Disney Land: "Quality will out". meaning quality will out last everything. And what we've done is not compromise the quality of the ingredients of our food or compromised service.
If there was one key to our success in recession it would be looking after our people. We actually increased our training budget and paid bonuses in 2009. We were the first pub company to be listed in the Sunday Times best big companies to work for. To do that in recession, in the hospitality business, was pretty special. That was the proudest moment of my career – it's direct feedback from your employees.
As a business, if you don't change you stand still. One thing we've always said at Orchid is that we'll react to trends, be entrepreneurial and try things. And not be scared to fail.


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Wynn Macau Limited is warning of an increase in "fraudulent online gambling and investment websites" using the 'Wynn' name, as well as names of other legitimate businesses and governmental authorities.
In its interim report, the Hong Kong-listed casino operator said these websites often prominently display logos and trademarks of known entities. "We do not offer online gambling or investment accounts. Websites offering these or similar activities and opportunities that use our names, such as 'Wynn Resorts (Macau) S.A.', 'Wynn'-related trademarks, including our marks for 'Wynn Macau' and 'Wynn Palace', or similar names or images in likeness to ours, are doing so without our authorization and possibly unlawfully and with criminal intent," it said.
In the company's view, its intellectual property assets, "especially the logo version of 'WYNN,' are among our most valuable assets." It is actively reporting such websites and pursuing legal remedies, but also said litigation for this "may be costly and may not be successful in protecting and preserving the status and value of our intellectual property assets." Wynn Macau operates both the Wynn Macau and Wynn Palace hotel-casinos.
Just last month, in China's Jiangsu province, police reportedly arrested 56 suspects connected to a 'transnational' internet gambling ring whose business amounted to about $1.1 billion. In a separate bust in the same province, police arrested 63 people suspected of involvement in the operation of five gambling sites that were using trademarks of SJM Holdings' New Lisboa Casino and Sands China's Venetian.
Wynn Macau, in its interim report, posted revenue of HKD19.2 billion ($2.4 billion) for the first half of 2018, 20.9% higher than last year's first-half revenue. Of this, HKD16.5 billion ($2.1 billion) came from casino operations. The company attributed the higher revenues to "an increase from Wynn Palace driven by higher gaming volumes together with higher table games win percentage for both VIP and mass market segments."
Adjusted EBITDA was HKD5.3 billion ($675 million), 36.9% higher than the corresponding period in 2017. Net profit for the period was HKD3 billion ($387 million), 90% higher than last year's first-half net profit.


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The Mendocino Women's Business Center at West Business Development Center is pleased to announce the February 2019 monthly empowerment gathering at a woman owned business located in Ukiah on Friday February 15th! Join us to connect, collaborate, learn, and gratefully enjoy the bounty of local Mendo food and beverages.
Join us on Friday February 15th for the monthly Women's "Mendopreneurs" Empowerment Night at Ukiah Valley Networking Agency. Come and meet the awesome and amazing Maureen "Mo" Mulheren, local successful Independent Insurance Agent, Ukiah City Council Member, and the Executive Director of Ukiah Valley Networking Agency. as well as other great local entrepreneurs and small business owners in our community. Join us and enjoy!
*Everyone is Welcome!
Maureen "Mo" Mulheren ~ An amazing local woman in business success story, Maureen "Mo" Mulheren is a Ukiah native, the mother of two wonderful daughters, a business owner and a self-employed Independent Insurance Agent. In November 2018 she was re-elected to the Ukiah City Council. "the City Council needs people connected to the community....I am the council member that knows how the community at large feels about the issues and has the back bone to voice their opinion and not just be a wall flower."


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Belong, Explore, Grow
A little while ago I wrote about the three values we believe are at the core of the experience for students living at Res: belong, explore, grow. There is no doubt that from a strong sense of belonging the courage to explore and the opportunities to grow emerge. With all the changes and challenges that come with moving out of home to a new city, adjusting to living in Res, beginning tertiary study and meeting many new people, also come opportunities to learn more about oneself, others, one's faith and the world we live in. Growth can be difficult, it often happens when we are out of our comfort zone. Res hopefully provides a safe environment for young adults to talk to new people, test out new ideas and try new experiences.
Below are two reflections on this theme from current residents who moved into the Res earlier this year:
"Moving away from all that is familiar and comfortable forces you to step outside your comfort zone. I used to find talking to people I didn't know quite an uncomfortable, awkward experience. Since moving to Res, starting Uni and going to different churches I have met and made small talk with countless individuals. Naturally, after a couple of weeks, talking to people I didn't know became normal. I have grown more confident, assertive and creative through learning to interact with new people." Carly from Shepparton
"I have never been the type of person to talk openly to people, but at Res, the people I have met have changed that for me. Throughout my childhood, I had always been the outsider and the quiet one. Res brings out the best in everyone, and because of that, my personality has grown dramatically. The friendships I have made, I wouldn't change for the world. For me, Res gives me the ability to explore the opportunities possible, and make the most of it. I am grateful for that." Blake from Wodonga
As the students spend some time at home during the Uni holidays, please pray that they might be refreshed for semester two. Pray for us, the Committee, the support staff and House that we would continue to find ways to create an environment for all students to belong, explore and grow.
Anouchka Chatelier
(Student Res Manager)


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From Pew:
The potential for creating superbugs is great enough that we have to rethink how we raise livestock. Confinement facilities may be the most efficient way to raise meat, but farmers are playing with fire.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Bad News On Antibiotics
Posted by A Farmer at 5:13 PM 0 comments
Labels: Ag news, Bad Ideas, News in the Midwest
Dropping the Puck
Wow, I'm really slipping. I didn't get around to making picks for the NCAA hockey tournament before it started. The big story is that Yale knocked off the Gophers. Today, Quinnipiac (I wanted to highlight the fact that they were ranked #1 earlier, but never got around to it), BC, Miami and Notre Dame are all in first round action, while UMass-Lowell, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Yale are in second round action.
Posted by A Farmer at 11:02 AM 0 comments
Labels: Minor sports
The Real Costs of a Total Fuckup
James Fallows:
A little over ten years ago, George W. Bush fired his economic advisor, Lawrence Lindsey, for saying that the total cost of invading Iraq might come to as much as $200 billion. Bush instead stood by such advisors as Paul Wolfowitz, who said that the invasion would be largely "self-financing" via Iraq's oil, and Andrew Natsios, who told an incredulous Ted Koppel that the war's total cost to the American taxpayer would be no more than $1.7 billion.The really tragic part is that the real costs can never be calculated in dollars. And if they could, you would hear something like quintrillion. All for a few cowards to appear tough.
As it turns out, Lawrence Lindsey's estimate was indeed off -- by a factor of ten or more, on the low side. A new research paper by Linda Bilmes, of the Kennedy School at Harvard, begins this way:The Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, taken together, will be the most expensive wars in US history - totaling somewhere between $4 to $6 trillion.The most powerful and disturbing part of Bilmes's analysis is the explanation of why, even though American combat deaths and military exposure in Iraq and Afghanistan are coming to their ends, covering the costs has just begun. In the introduction she says:One of the most significant challenges to future US national security policy will not originate from any external threat. Rather it is simply coping with the legacy of the conflicts we have already fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.As the paper lays out, a surprisingly large fraction of the long-term costs comes from the disability payments and medical obligations to people who served. People who were 18 or 20 years old when the war began, and who were injured or disabled (but survived), may need public help until very late in this century.
Posted by A Farmer at 10:51 AM 0 comments
Friday, March 29, 2013
91 Wins
That's what the Reds should manage, since I made my annual over-under bet on wins, and took the under on 90.5. Back in 2011, I took the over, and the team played like shit. So now I just try to get the highest number possible and take the under. Consider it my effort to give them luck.
Common Pesticides Hurt Bees' Brains
To investigate, scientists looked at two common pesticides: neonicotinoids, which are used to control pests on oil seed rape and other crops, and a group of organophosphate chemicals called coumaphos, which are used to kill the Varroa mite, a parasite that attacks the honey bee.That is not good.
Neonicotinoids are used more commonly in Europe, while coumaphos are more often employed in the United States.
Work carried out by the University of Dundee, in Scotland, revealed that if the pesticides were applied directly to the brains of the pollinators, they caused a loss of brain activity.
Dr Christopher Connolly said: "We found neonicotinoids cause an immediate hyper-activation - so an epileptic type activity - this was proceeded by neuronal inactivation, where the brain goes quiet and cannot communicate any more. The same effects occur when we used organophosphates.
"And if we used them together, the effect was additive, so they added to the toxicity: the effect was greater when both were present."
Another series of laboratory-based experiments, carried out at Newcastle University, examined the behaviour of the bees.
The researchers there found that bees exposed to both pesticides were unable to learn and then remember floral smells associated with a sweet nectar reward - a skill that is essential for bees in search of food.
Dr Sally Williamson said: "It would imply that the bees are able to forage less effectively, they are less able to find and learn and remember and then communicate to their hive mates what the good sources of pollen and nectar are."
Posted by A Farmer at 7:30 PM 0 comments
Labels: Ag news, Bad Ideas, Science and stuff
Has Marriage Changed?
Conor Friedersdorf argues that it hasn't changed as much as we think:
Think of the math. My grandparents raised their kids in a couple decades -- that is to say, for less than a third of their time together. The subsequent love and support they gave their kids and grandkids cannot be overstated. But the child-rearing obligation that traditionalists want to preserve -- a stable, two-parent household composed of a child's biological parents -- was met decades ago. Once their kids left home, once my parents got married and had me, my grandparents didn't imagine the core of their marriage as exhausted. They expected "to love and cherish, in sickness and in health," 'til death. They've spent their "empty nest" years with one another as business partners, traveling companions, and friendly competitors in gin rummy.I would posit that it has changed in the way that people may be less likely to make the sacrifices necessary to make things work out. There isn't the social stigma in calling it quits like there used to be. I think it is easier at the point where his grandparents are in their lives to reflect back on everything and realize that the good times and positive benefits outweigh the challenges. I also think that people today seem so much less tied to a single place than they did in the past. Some of the older farmers ended up marrying their neighbors. Their social circles were constrained by geography. However, I think Conor is right on the main merits of his argument. And it is a beautiful thing to hear my grandparents' generation talk about how much they love their spouses.
That wasn't ever negotiable.
I once conducted an interview about another couple from the World War II generation. Their granddaughter shared the advice her grandparents gave her prior to her wedding. "They sat me down and told me, 'Anyone can get a divorce nowadays. But we never did because, as individuals, you die alone. And do you want, grandchild, to be 80 years old and to look back on your life having stopped and started and stopped and started? Or do you want to look back knowing that you went through and got through and learned from and moved forward with one person?' They kept it up, not because of the children or the social implications, but because they were always curious about what would happen at the end. And their comment to me was that the end proved much more worthwhile to them, having gone through it together rather than having done it alone."
Posted by A Farmer at 7:27 PM 0 comments
Labels: Civil society
Fractal Architecture?
Building Awe-Inducing Crystalline Structures from The Creators Project on Vimeo.
I just don't understand architects. I think maybe it is their focus on beauty and appearance as opposed to function and purpose. When I look at nature, I am looking for the secrets to simplicity as opposed to complexity. I realize that nature and the world are complex, but I don't want to add complexity to it. I want to start at the most basic, and build from there.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
What Causes Fairy Circles?
Thousands of "fairy circles" dot the landscape of the NamibRand Nature Reserve in Namibia. Why these barren circles appear in grassland areas has puzzled scientists for years.A scientist thinks it is termites:
If you fly from Angola down to South Africa you'll spot thousands of these fairy circles down below. They look like moon craters and are anywhere from the size of a manhole cover to 30 feet across.It is amazing that it took this long to figure it out. But, there is also this:
Scientists have had some good guesses as to what causes them (none of which include fairies or people): poisonous plants, insects, seeping gas, even radiation. But no one could find evidence of any of these.
Then came one very determined biologist: Norbert Juergens. He traveled from the University of Hamburg in Germany to dig trenches inside the circles.
Juergens found that within every circle, the sandy earth beneath the surface was wet, even in the dry season. Juergens, who is not given to excitability, knew he was onto something extraordinary. "It was an exciting observation," he says, "because water is the most important resource in the desert. I sort of discovered 1 million little circular oases in the desert at that moment."
There was something else odd about the circles — they were ringed by tufts of year-round grass. "It was a plantation," he says. "It's a plantation of plants created by some organism."
Juergens had been commuting back and forth from Germany for a couple of years, examining scores of these circles, and still hadn't found the cause. An organism, yes, he figured, but what kind?
He found spiders, beetles, ants and even aardvarks in the circles. And termites — and only termites showed up beneath every circle.
JONATHAN WILKER: This is what happens when I'm on an airplane, and it comes up that I'm a scientist, people say: What do you study? And I'll say, yeah, you know, when you're at the beach and you see all those creatures stuck to rocks. And they'll say, yeah, yeah. I said, so, we're trying to figure out how they do that. And the typical response is oh.The guy has been studying shellfish for 14 years while trying to figure out what chemicals the animals emit to glue themselves to piers and ships and rocks. Pretty freaking amazing. Maybe we can learn something worthwhile from the damn zebra mussels that plague the Great Lakes.
PALCA: And if that's not enough to get people interested, Wilker lets the other shoe drop.
WILKER: Look, these glues that these animals are producing, they're really strong and they set wet. Go to the hardware store, buy everything on the shelf and try to glue two things together underwater, and you're not going to be able to do it. And this is how we're going to learn how to do that.
PALCA: This highly serious search for the sticky secrets of shellfish - try saying that three times fast - is in a boring old lab building on the Purdue University campus. Inside one of the rooms, Wilker shows off three giant tanks of saltwater and an elaborate pumping system to keep the water moving.
Posted by A Farmer at 8:29 PM 0 comments
How Will History Judge the Roberts Court?
Andrew Cohen:
Fifty years from now, when same-sex marriage is recognized in every American jurisdiction, our relatively enlightened descendants will cull through the transcripts and audio feeds of this week's oral arguments at the United States Supreme Court in Perry and Windsor and shake their heads in wonder and dismay. Look at how little time the learned justices spent exploring the intent and effect of the discriminatory laws, our grandchildren will say, and look at how much time they spent instead searching among the weeds for ways to avoid a definitive ruling about the constitutional rights of millions of people.The whole post is worth reading. I'd like to expand Cohen's point. History will not be kind to the conservative movement. It isn't that many of the positions they hold would be nice in a perfect world. It is that they won't face up to the fact that it isn't a perfect world, and that their ideas are extremely damaging in the world we have. 50 years from now, people will look back on this time and wonder how such a fairly small and uninformed bunch of assholes could do so much damage to such a tremendous country. Gay marriage is just one of a number of issues where conservatives are positioning themselves as selfish, cruel, unthinking dickheads who would cut off their nose to spite their face. Unfortunately, we share that face with them.
Tuesday's argument in the Proposition 8 case out of California was void of any reference to, let alone meaningful discussion of, the virulently anti-gay sentiment that helped ensure passage of the 2008 ballot measure banning same-sex marriages in the state -- both marriages already in place and marriages to come. And Wednesday's argument over the federal Defense of Marriage Act only touched on this discrimination in passing, as if the justices were concerned that America would somehow be offended it it were reminded of the bigotry and prejudice that accompanied passage of the measure in 1996.
Peak Farmland?
A recent study concludes that world food production will be able to be completed on fewer acres than is now farmed as crop yields increase and population growth rates decrease:
Our analysis encompasses the leverage on cropland exerted by parents, workers, consumers, and farmers. Since 1960, their combined behaviors havespared areas of land that are immense when compared with what continuation of birth rates, appetites, yields, and other factors might have led us to expect. India and China alone have spared an area more than three times the size of France or a dozen times Iowa. Absent the slowing population growth, Evolving tastes, and improving agricultural practices, unimaginable destruction of nature would have occurred.Hopefully they are right. I'm not as confident, and I'm also concerned that climate change may hurt our prime farm land. This does serve as a warning that the current boom times won't last. I've been expecting that.
The past 50 years have already witnessed important peaks for environment and resources. The rate of increase of world population peaked arounnd 1970 and has slowed considerably since then. Peaks of forest destruction also have passed with a transition from less to more forests in many countries and regions. By the 1980s wooded areas in all major temperate and boreal forests were expanding. After 1990, growing stock expanded in many forested countries (Kauppi et al. 2006), and during 1990–2010 the density of forests grew in all world regions, albeit unevenly (rautiainen et al. 2011). Like farms and their crops, the productivity of forests providing wood products has risen. meanwhile consumption has fallen as e-readers replace paper and as demand for other wood products, such as railroad ties and telephone poles, has declined. As we hinted above, peaks of farmers' use of nitrogen and water may also have passed.
Posted by A Farmer at 7:30 PM 0 comments
Labels: Ag economy, News in the Midwest
Diagram of a Farmer's Brain
My former boss and his wife provided me with this:
I would change tweed to plaid or flannel, and add a section that says Bad Ideas.
I would change tweed to plaid or flannel, and add a section that says Bad Ideas.
Posted by A Farmer at 7:04 PM 0 comments
Labels: Do as I say not as I do, Farm life, Fun
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
The Supreme Court and Gay Marriage
I'm just shooting off my mouth right now, but my prediction is that the Supreme Court will strike down DOMA 5-4 or, I think more likely, 6-3, while running for cover and dismissing the Prop 8 case, allowing the lower court ruling to stand. I know, that isn't a really bold prediction, but I just don't see the court getting out ahead of the curve and getting where they'll have to take us in 10, or more likely 15 years. However, the discussion at the beginning of the week highlighted a very interesting set of graphs. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find them. One showed the gradual acceptance of interracial marriage that took decades, while the other showed the dramatic acceptance of gay marriage. I think the long, slow acceptance of interracial marriage, and the realization of how odd it was that it took that long to accept, has played at least a small part in the much more rapid change in opinion on gay marriage. If I find those graphs, I'll post them.
Update: This is interesting.
Update: This is interesting.
Posted by A Farmer at 7:10 PM 2 comments
How Maxwell House Conquered Passover
From Fast Company:
Over 90 years ago, American Jews celebrated the Passover holiday by eating matzo and unleavened treats, but when they reached for a beverage they shunned coffee in favor of tea. It seems there wasn't a coffee brand certified kosher for Passover. In 1923, Maxwell House saw an opportunity and introduced the first kosher for Passover coffee; others soon followed. Looking to solidify the brand in the minds of Jewish consumers in the early 1930s, Maxwell House's ad agency employed an innovative marketing tactic for the time: branded content.Why is it so ubiquitous? Well, they made it easy to get:
Well, that's what we call it today. In fact, Maxwell House decided to publish a book, specifically a Haggadah, and offer it to customers for free with the purchase of a can of coffee. (A Haggadah recounts the Exodus from Egypt, comprised of prayers, songs, and stories which guide the Passover Seder.) The Maxwell House edition was an instant hit. Today, it's the most popular Haggadah in the world, with over 50 million printed. This Haggadah is so ubiquitous that it's become difficult to find others. When I went to a Judaica shop in NYC looking to buy a nice set of Haggadahs, the salesperson suggested I hit the supermarket and pick up the Maxwell House edition: "They're really good," she exclaimed.
Before Maxwell House published its own, consumers purchased many different versions of Haggadahs. As the number of Seder guests grew, people needed to purchase or borrow additional books and find the right match. Maxwell House made it easier to bring family and friends together year after year with one common text.That little bit of Passover trivia is brought to you by Folgers (j/k).
Posted by A Farmer at 7:01 PM 0 comments
Labels: Didn't Know That, Strange But True
Drought Hurts Corn Cob Pipe Maker
Morning Edition:
RACHEL LIPPMANN, BYLINE: Walk into the sprawling brick building that houses the Missouri Meerschaum Company, and you get the sense that not much has changed since the 1880s. Sure, there's electricity now and running water. But when it comes to making the pipes that made the company famous, the process is pretty much the same. And that's just how general manager Phil Morgan likes it.I really liked the part about selling the corn cob pipes to the college students. I bought a Missouri Meerschaum between high school and college, and smoked it on and off through school, before I decided that, like with cigars, waking up with the taste of an ashtray in your mouth wasn't all that cool. I always loved the smell of pipe tobacco, and the smell of it burning wasn't too bad either, but the taste wasn't all that great. I went with the corn cob pipe both for price and sentimentality. I probably still have it somewhere, but I have no idea where. Anyway, this piece brought back old memories.
PHIL MORGAN: We like the heritage nature, the authentic nature of our pipe. You know, we like the - it's a natural product.
LIPPMANN: So this buzzing sound emanating from the second floor of his 133-year-old factory makes him cringe.
MORGAN: And I'd love for this - for it to be dead quiet up here. And the only thing to hear, a few squirrels running around.
LIPPMANN: Mounds of cobs are scattered across the wood floor of this unheated space, waiting to be cut into pieces, shaped into pipes of all sizes, coated in plaster, and shipped all over the world. In an ideal situation, this room would be full of cobs and they would sit for two years, drying naturally. So corn grown in 2012 wouldn't become pipes until 2014.
But the buzzing from the propane heater is helping these cobs dry more quickly. Though the weather was fine in 2010 and 2011, the cobs that grew were of poor quality. Morgan needed a good 2012 growing season to replenish his company's supply.
MORGAN: We had the seed we needed. But it was really warm in the spring, planted it early, the corn looked fantastic, and then the drought hit. Our field is irrigated so it wasn't just the drought, it was the heat. Corn does not like heat.
LIPPMANN: That 2012 crop produced just a third of the cobs needed. With inventory already low, there wasn't time for them to dry naturally. So that means firing up the propane. In addition, Morgan had to temporarily stop offering bigger pipes. And total sales, which had been rising in recent years, dropped.
MORGAN: It isn't just from a sales standpoint and a profitability standpoint. It's just what it does to your psyche. I mean, when you start thinking that hey, oh my God, are we going to have to quit making pipes for some period of time.
LIPPMANN: But cob smokers are loyal customers. And if recent sales at John Dengler Tobacconist in St. Charles are any indication, business will continue to be brisk. Owner Larry Muench sells about 700 Missouri Meerschaums a year.
LARRY MUENCH: It always starts in the end of August, September, when the college kids come in town. And I always start them off with a corn cob. Why should then spend 30, 40, 50 bucks and find out they don't like it. So I tell the kids if they buy a corn cob and they don't like it, just wait for winter and put it in the snowman's mouth.
Posted by A Farmer at 6:47 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Those Damn Cows
I went over to the farm tonight to feed the cows, and as I drove up the road, I could see one cow way back in the corner of the pasture. When I got into the barnyard, I could see it was one of the Herefords, which could only mean one thing-she'd had a calf. Sure enough, I walked back there, and she had a little bull calf standing beside her on this little two foot wide muddy flat spot up against the fence, right beside a slope down into a washout with about a foot of standing water in it. This was approximately four feet from where I found a two-day old calf frozen in the washout two months ago. I tried picking up the calf to get him away from the standing water, but I only made it 10 feet. So I went over to mom and dad's to get some supper and regroup.
The cow and calf were about 300 yards from the barn, and it was just too soft to drive anything back there. My "best" idea was to get a tarp out of the barn, put the calf on it, and drag him up to the barn, to get him out of the wind and let him warm up (and keep him from falling down in the washout or the manure pit or something). This worked marginally well. I would get him going 30 or 40 yards, catch my breath, then he'd stand up and wander off, or his mom would come up to check on him and stand on the tarp. I'd have to catch him and throw him back on the tarp, or shoo her away and get started dragging him again. I felt like Holling on Northern Exposure, when he paid a farmer to pull a horse-drawn plow for him. After about a dozen stops, and a massive amount of profanity, I finally got him up to the barn, packed into some straw, and then shooed his mom into the barn with him. He was pretty beat, and I wasn't much better myself. I figure if he's alive on Friday he'll probably make it.
I looked around for a video clip of Holling pulling the plow, but I couldn't find it. I did find this clip, however, which reminds me why I loved that show. In it, Holling had returned to school because he'd dropped out when he was a kid, and the teacher makes him read his essay to the class:
The cow and calf were about 300 yards from the barn, and it was just too soft to drive anything back there. My "best" idea was to get a tarp out of the barn, put the calf on it, and drag him up to the barn, to get him out of the wind and let him warm up (and keep him from falling down in the washout or the manure pit or something). This worked marginally well. I would get him going 30 or 40 yards, catch my breath, then he'd stand up and wander off, or his mom would come up to check on him and stand on the tarp. I'd have to catch him and throw him back on the tarp, or shoo her away and get started dragging him again. I felt like Holling on Northern Exposure, when he paid a farmer to pull a horse-drawn plow for him. After about a dozen stops, and a massive amount of profanity, I finally got him up to the barn, packed into some straw, and then shooed his mom into the barn with him. He was pretty beat, and I wasn't much better myself. I figure if he's alive on Friday he'll probably make it.
I looked around for a video clip of Holling pulling the plow, but I couldn't find it. I did find this clip, however, which reminds me why I loved that show. In it, Holling had returned to school because he'd dropped out when he was a kid, and the teacher makes him read his essay to the class:
Posted by A Farmer at 8:53 PM 0 comments
St. Patrick's Day In Iceland
Some gorgeous video of the Northern Lights (I'm a sucker for these videos):
Posted by A Farmer at 6:52 PM 0 comments
Labels: cool stuff
Irrigation District Cuts Water Withdrawals
Threatened by another summer of crop-shriveling drought, Kansans are watching a bold experiment unfold in Sheridan County, population 2,556, a sliver of the state's northwest corner. On lands dominated by agriculture, locals have agreed to across-the-board cuts to water use.Later on in the article, it points out how water withdrawals in much of the aquifer are more comparable to mining than anything else. West Texas and western Kansas are in the worst shape right now.
The state of Kansas didn't order the cuts, nor did a regional entity. Rather, at a time when states and locals are jockeying for water, stakeholders in the 100 square-mile "high priority" (meaning particularly parched) zone of Northwest Kansas Groundwater District 4 reached a consensus to reduce groundwater pumping by 20 percent over the next five years. They are gambling on short-term wants for a longer-term need - to preserve the aquifer their lives depend upon.
"We're doing it because we think it's right," said Wayne Bossert, the district's manager. "We have high hopes for it."
Sheridan's plan is just one of many major efforts to fend off a slow-moving disaster with national implications: The High Plains Aquifer, which feeds some of the world's most productive croplands, is running dry.
The aquifer, also called the Ogallala, is one of the world's largest underground sources of freshwater. It stretches 174,000 square miles through the middle of the country from South Dakota to Northwest Texas, touching parts of Kansas and five other states, watering more than one-quarter of all irrigated acreage in the U.S. and some of world's largest grain cattle feedlots. The Ogallala also provides drinking water to four of every five people living above it.
For decades, farmers and others have been slurping up groundwater far faster than nature can recharge it.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/03/24/186777/in-drought-ravaged-plains-efforts.html#storylink=cpy
Utica Shale Well Data Due In
We should get some idea of what the drillers have found so far. My guess would be probably not as much as has been hyped.Energy producers in the Buckeye State have compared the Utica to the giant Eagle Ford shale play in Texas and declared it a boon for a state still weathering an economic downturn. However, enthusiasm has cooled somewhat since drilling began in 2011, after wells produced more cheap natural gas than the more lucrative oil.On March 31 this year, data from between 50 and 60 wells drilled in 2012 will be given to the state. It will then be made available on the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' website in April, the department said. It did not give a specific date but last year the report came on the second of the month.
While around 500 drilling permits have been issued in the state since 2011, only those wells that have actually produced will be covered in the report. It will show output over the lifetime of every new well, its location, and its owner, providing some proof of which acreage, and which companies, are performing best.
"It is a meaningful sample of wells that will go a long way toward giving investors a sense of whether the Utica is the next big thing," said Morningstar analyst Mark Hanson, who covers companies operating in the state.
Posted by A Farmer at 5:53 AM 0 comments
How Tax Cuts Impact Rural Areas
Ben Merriman looks at who gets hurt in his home state of Kansas:
Low population density makes rural communities extremely vulnerable to state cuts. The elimination of a school or clinic may force residents to drive to the next county (or the one after) to access a service. There are nearly 150 public high schools in the state with 150 students or fewer, many of them barely able to remain open. Cuts in state funding for public education, which could come to thousands of dollars per pupil in the coming years, will force many of these small school districts to close or consolidate. This will produce endless travel time for the unlucky students. It will also mean the demise of many small communities: the social life of the local school sustains many towns throughout the state, and when a high school closes, the community often dissolves.The suburbs get to keep more money, and the rural areas get hit.
Huge cuts to the state income tax will be offset by the continuation of a sales tax increase and the elimination of a number of tax credits primarily benefiting the poor. Kansans making less than $20,000 could see their annual taxes increase by several hundred dollars. This does not include other ways that life will be made more expensive. Lower levels of state support for necessary institutions such as universities, courts, and roads will be made up by increases in tuition, fees, and tolls. In the past decade, the University of Kansas tripled tuition in an attempt to make up for cuts in state support. Despite this the University has seen increases in class size and time to graduation, lower completion rates, and the deferral of vital maintenance.
Underneath taxation is an idea of society. Taxes in Kansas have long supported public goods that are both necessary and too expensive to be paid for solely by the people who need them. Because the state is huge and speckled with small communities, infrastructure and schooling were important funding priorities. Though the political life of mid-20th century Kansas was unglamorous, it supported an idea of prudent, rational government that attempted to provide for the necessities of civic life.
Posted by A Farmer at 5:45 AM 0 comments
Labels: Civil society, Farm life, We Have a Revenue Problem
Monday, March 25, 2013
China Coal Plants Drain Water Supply
Scientific American:
A report published today by Bloomberg New Energy Finance notes that the top five Chinese power generators -- China Huaneng Group, China Datang Corp., China Huadian Corp., China Guodian Corp. and China Power Investment Corp. -- have hundreds of gigawatts of coal-fired power plants in the country's dry north and that retrofitting them with water-efficient solutions could cost billions of dollars.I'm glad I don't have to figure out how to clean up the mess the Chinese are making of their country. It may keep the Communist party in power a while, but they will reap the whirlwind in the not too distant future. The Atlantic features pictures of the pollution of China's water here.
"Today, 85 percent of China's power generation capacity is located in water-scarce regions and 15 percent of this still relies on water-intensive, once-through cooling technologies," said Maxime Serrano Bardisa, one of the report's authors as well as Bloomberg New Energy Finance's water analyst.
At the same time, the nation is seeing less and less water. According to separate research by the China Environmental Forum, an initiative of the U.S.-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars' global sustainability and resilience program, China's total water reserves dropped 13 percent from 2000 to 2009, with the water shortage being particularly severe in the north.
The coal industry has played a big role in the shortage, the report says. Northern China has 20 percent of the country's freshwater supply, but its coal mining and coal-fired power generators are thirsty for water. Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates that in 2010 alone, the two sectors combined withdrew 98 billion cubic meters of fresh water across the region -- or nearly 15 percent of China's total freshwater withdrawals in the year.
Posted by A Farmer at 8:25 PM 0 comments
Labels: Bad Ideas, Engineering and Infrastructure
Signs of Danger in Farmland Prices?
I still predict that when the shit hits the fan, all the talk of farmers buying land with cash will prove to be more banker bullshit. Nobody is laying out $20,000 an acre cash for farm ground. They have to be borrowing against land they already own. Maybe I'm wrong, but all the claims of the realtors smell a lot like the the feedlot.As far back as 2011, when the run-up in land prices was still gathering momentum, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation held a symposium in Arlington, Va., for bankers, regulators and investors titled "Don't Bet the Farm: Assessing the Boom in U.S. Farmland Prices." But banks and others continued to offer farmers low-interest loans.Debt held by the nation's farmers has risen nearly 30 percent since 2007, to an expected $277.4 billion this year. The bulk of those loans were made by commercial banks, the farm credit system and the Farm Service Agency. Some regulators and critics say that figure is most likely undercounting debt from specialized finance institutions or credit extended by seed companies like Monsanto and equipment manufacturers like John Deere.While national data does not show sharp jumps in closely watched debt gauges, some analysts point to other data that reveal farm debts have already topped levels reached just before the farm crisis of the '80s. Data that the Kansas Farm Management Association has collected from more than 1,300 farms in the state showed the amount of debt compared to the value of underlying assets had climbed to 25.5 percent at the end of 2011, slightly above where it stood in 1979.Some farmers are in over their heads already. One of the heartland's most talked about bankruptcies in years is that of Stamp Farms, of Decatur, Mich. In less than a decade, Michael D. Stamp, 37, built his farm into a huge operation growing corn and soybeans. In November, he was hailed as a savvy farming entrepreneur on the cover of Top Producer, an agricultural magazine, and was one of three national finalists in its annual contest.
The Other Dave
The Other Dave from The Other Dave on Vimeo.
I used to think that surviving getting struck by lightning would be a great story to tell, as long as you didn't end up wetting your pants when somebody fired up the microwave or something. Then I was closing a window when lightning struck a tree outside. It threw a piece of bark through the window, throwing glass all over my bedroom, peppered the siding of the house with bark and fried my well pump. That was close enough for me to realize lightning was wicked powerful. This video reinforces that belief.
Posted by A Farmer at 11:28 AM 0 comments
Labels: Mother Nature that Bitch, Strange But True
Are Aircraft Carriers Going the Way of the Battleships?
Wired looks at threats to the carriers, and some of the alternatives the Navy might look to:
Navy Capt. Jerry Hendrix, a historian, analyst and futurist, caused a stir by making the case against the Navy's cherished supercarrier fleet. Hendrix's recent study "At What Cost a Carrier?" (.pdf), published by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for a New American Security, urges the Navy to begin drawing down its 10-11 Nimitz-class flattops and follow-on Ford-class vessels.$14 billion, plus $7 million a day in operational expense? That would be $2.5 billion a year to operate. That is absolutely crazy.
A single new carrier costs $14 billion to build plus $7 million a day to operate. "Not a good use of U.S. taxpayer money," Hendrix asserts. Moreover, he contends that huge carriers with their five-acre flight decks and scores of warplanes are ill-suited to the American way of war, in which precision and avoiding civilian casualties are more important than overwhelming firepower. Worst, Hendrix warns, the carriers — major symbols of American military might — are increasingly big targets for China's DF-21D ship-killing ballistic missiles.
Posted by A Farmer at 8:19 AM 0 comments
Hayek, Friedman, Regulation and the GOP
As he undertook an American lecture tour in 1944, Hayek expressed frustration that many of his most ardent acolytes seemed not to have read the book. Although "The Road to Serfdom" expressed deep anxieties about central planning, it was also explicit about the positive role that government could play. "Probably nothing has done so much harm to the liberal cause," Hayek wrote, as a "wooden insistence" on "laissez-faire."The Friedman concept of the evil of all regulation has become gospel in the Republican Party, and it just isn't based in common sense reality. It is funny that Hayek has become the go-to name among conservatives pretending to know something about economics and trying to secure the gold bug vote, even though they don't seem to realize he offered a defense of socialized medicine.
Hayek was quick to point out a number of areas where regulations might be beneficial, including the restriction of excessive working hours, the maintenance of sanitary conditions and the control of poisonous substances. And he argued that the price system became "ineffective" when property owners weren't charged for the damages they caused; hence the need to regulate deforestation, farming, and the smoke and noise produced by factories. "In such instances," he wrote, "we must find some substitute for the regulation by the price mechanism."
Hayek's views were shared by many economists at the time. Frank Knight, of the University of Chicago, provided a classic statement of the justification for regulation in his essay "The Ethics of Competition": "In a developed social order hardly any 'free exchange' between individuals is devoid of either good or bad results for outsiders," he wrote. He argued that "social action" was necessary to promote exchanges that diffuse benefits and suppress exchanges that diffuse evils that aren't reflected in market prices.
Economists such as Knight and Hayek worried deeply about the erosion of free markets, but saw their chief antagonist as "central planning" rather than "regulation." Central planning, as Hayek explained it, involved "direction of all economic activity according to a single plan, laying down how the resources of society should be 'consciously directed' to serve particular ends in a definite way."
Much of the contemporary animus against excessive regulation more closely resembles ideas first brought into general circulation by Milton Friedman. Where Hayek perceived a host of areas that might be improved by regulation, Friedman saw almost none. In the 1960s, although very few among even his closest allies shared such views, Friedman advocated for the abolition of almost every regulatory arm of the federal government. He argued that the agencies with famous abbreviations -- the ICC, FCC, FDA -- should all be shuttered to grant greater discretion to consumers, whose actions Friedman viewed as the most reliable record of public opinion. If doctors and dentists would be allowed to practice without licensing requirements, he said, the cost of care would plunge, yielding benefits that far outweighed any dangers that uncertified practitioners might pose. (If one proved inept with a drill, Friedman reasoned, consumer preferences would soon take that into account.)
Sunday, March 24, 2013
NASA Photo of the Day
March 20:
M42: Inside the Orion Nebula
The Great Nebula in Orion,
an immense, nearby
starbirth region,
is probably the most famous of all
astronomical nebulas.
Here, glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an
immense interstellar
molecular cloud only 1500
light-years away.
In the above deep image in
assigned colors highlighted by
emission in
oxygen and
wisps and sheets of dust and gas are particularly evident.
The Great Nebula in Orion can be found with the
unaided eye near the
easily identifiable
belt of three stars in the popular constellation
In addition to housing a bright
open cluster of stars known as the
Trapezium, the
Orion Nebula contains many
stellar nurseries.
These nurseries contain much
hydrogen gas, hot young stars,
proplyds, and
stellar jets
spewing material at high speeds.
Also known as
M42, the
Orion Nebula spans about 40 light years and is located in the same
spiral arm of
our Galaxy as the
Image Credit & Copyright: Reinhold Wittich
Image Credit & Copyright: Reinhold Wittich
Posted by A Farmer at 11:57 AM 0 comments
Labels: cool stuff
Winter Makes One More Pass Through
Via Scientific American:
The calendar says spring but the forecast looked like winter as a major storm this Palm Sunday weekend was forecast to bring heavy snow, flooding rain and severe thunderstorms as it moved east across the United States.The I-70 storm? They are calling for 3 to 8 inches of snow here. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Snow had already started falling in eastern Colorado and parts of Kansas early on Saturday, according to AccuWeather.com senior meteorologist Tom Kines.
Interstate-70 was closed from east of Denver to the Kansas state line because of blowing and drifting snow, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. Snow delayed arriving flights at Denver International Airport, said spokesman Heath Montgomery.
The snow was expected to move east to Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio, over the next 24 hours, before moving into the mid-Atlantic states, he said.
The snow could measure from three to six inches in the Midwest, but accumulations in the Baltimore-Washington area could be much less due to higher temperatures, Kines said.
A potential for "tremendous rainfall" could hit areas south of the snow line, according to AccuWeather.com.
Posted by A Farmer at 11:24 AM 0 comments
How Unpopular is the Republican Party?
In my decades of polling, I recall only one moment when a party had been driven as far from the center as the Republican Party has been today.How about the GOP as the party of "God, Guns and Gay bashing?" It doesn't cover all of the idiocies of the party, but definitely highlights some of the main talking points.
The outsize influence of hard-line elements in the party base is doing to the GOP what supporters of Gene McCarthy and George McGovern did to the Democratic Party in the late 1960s and early 1970s — radicalizing its image and standing in the way of its revitalization.
In those years, the Democratic Party became labeled, to its detriment, as the party of "acid, abortion and amnesty." With the Democrats' values far to the left of the silent majority, McGovern lost in a landslide to Richard Nixon in 1972.
While there are no catchy phrases for the Republicans of 2013, their image problems are readily apparent in national polls. The GOP has come to be seen as the more extreme party, the side unwilling to compromise or negotiate seriously to tackle the economic turmoil that challenges the nation.
The Rich and Charity
Ken Stern:
One of the most surprising, and perhaps confounding, facts of charity in America is that the people who can least afford to give are the ones who donate the greatest percentage of their income. In 2011, the wealthiest Americans—those with earnings in the top 20 percent—contributed on average 1.3 percent of their income to charity. By comparison, Americans at the base of the income pyramid—those in the bottom 20 percent—donated 3.2 percent of their income. The relative generosity of lower-income Americans is accentuated by the fact that, unlike middle-class and wealthy donors, most of them cannot take advantage of the charitable tax deduction, because they do not itemize deductions on their income-tax returns.I've always been confounded by the fact that people of more humble means are generally more generous in support of charity than the wealthy. Of course, a very large percentage of charitable contributions go to churches, and those may not fund anything other than church salaries. The article also points out that of the largest donations made each year, almost none go to social service organizations, while many go to prep schools, museums and the performing arts. I think the idea that private charities could handle the burden the government handles dealing with poverty is just smoke blowing by Republicans. It would be a disaster.
But why? Lower-income Americans are presumably no more intrinsically generous (or "prosocial," as the sociologists say) than anyone else. However, some experts have speculated that the wealthy may be less generous—that the personal drive to accumulate wealth may be inconsistent with the idea of communal support. Last year, Paul Piff, a psychologist at UC Berkeley, published research that correlated wealth with an increase in unethical behavior: "While having money doesn't necessarily make anybody anything," Piff later told New York magazine, "the rich are way more likely to prioritize their own self-interests above the interests of other people." They are, he continued, "more likely to exhibit characteristics that we would stereotypically associate with, say, assholes." Colorful statements aside, Piff's research on the giving habits of different social classes—while not directly refuting the asshole theory—suggests that other, more complex factors are at work. In a series of controlled experiments, lower-income people and people who identified themselves as being on a relatively low social rung were consistently more generous with limited goods than upper-class participants were. Notably, though, when both groups were exposed to a sympathy-eliciting video on child poverty, the compassion of the wealthier group began to rise, and the groups' willingness to help others became almost identical.
If Piff's research suggests that exposure to need drives generous behavior, could it be that the isolation of wealthy Americans from those in need is a cause of their relative stinginess? Patrick Rooney, the associate dean at the Indiana University School of Philanthropy, told me that greater exposure to and identification with the challenges of meeting basic needs may create "higher empathy" among lower-income donors.
The Great Flood After 100 Years
The Dayton Daily News features a series remembering the Great Dayton Flood of 1913, and its impact on the region:
One hundred years ago today, Daytonians had no idea that the winds from a monster Easter Sunday tornado in Omaha, Neb., and the Gulf Coast states would soon be wreaking havoc with their own city. It already had been an unusually wet winter, saturating the ground and setting the stage for disaster.The flood brought about the creation of the Miami Conservancy District, which designed and constructed a series of levees and flood control reservoirs to protect the region from a flood 40% larger than the 1913 flood:
On March 21 — Good Friday — the first storm hit, with 45 mph wind gusts that knocked out telegraph lines. The rains began in earnest on March 23, Easter Sunday, pounding the Miami Valley with eight to 11 inches of rain over a five-day period. The runoff found its way to the Great Miami River, at the pinch point where four rivers — including the Mad River, the Stillwater River and the Wolf Creek — meet near downtown Dayton.
In 1913, Dayton was a bustling city of 117,000 residents, the 43rd largest city in the nation. It had endured 10 major floods, rebuilding the earthen levees each time, and seemed to regard occasional flooding as the price of prosperity. But this time, the levees couldn't withstand the sheer volume of water from the Great Miami and its tributaries — 250,000 cubic feet of water per second through a channel with a capacity for 25,000 cubic feet. "This flood was so large that 90 percent of the total volume of water had to flow through Dayton's city streets," explained Julia-Dian Reed of the National Weather Service in Wilmington.
Sirens, alarms and church bells began sounding during the early morning hours on Tuesday, March 25, but many Daytonians failed to take the warnings seriously, until it was almost too late. Fred Noble brushed off his wife Wealthie's concerns about the safety of their family of 11 children, who lived at 142 W. Columbia St., very close to the levee. "It gets this way every year; we'll be OK," he assured her.
By early Tuesday morning, the river level had risen to 11.6 feet, raising deepening concern and attracting gawkers to the bridges and riverbanks, unaware that three of the city's levees had come close to failing. Curiosity turned to terror around 8 a.m. when the main levee broke at Webster Street and a 10- to 20-foot wall of water swept through St. Clair, Jefferson, Main and Ludlow streets. Thousands ran or swam for higher ground.
The Official Plan Flood (OPF) is the flood on which all Miami Conservancy District channels, levees and dams are designed. The March 1913 flood was, and remains, the flood of record for the Great Miami River Watershed.
The rain fell on ground already saturated from the melting of ice and snow of a hard winter, resulting in a runoff rate of 90 percent.
After an exhaustive investigation of precipitation and flooding data, Arthur Morgan, the system's engineer, felt that a flood protection system that could handle the 1913 flood, plus 40 percent additional runoff, should protect the cities from all flooding by the Great Miami River.
Into The Trash
My bracket has more holes in it than a wheel of Swiss cheese. Picking an all-Jesuit final featuring Gonzaga and Georgetown was not a good idea. Looks like I'll have to wait until next year.
Posted by A Farmer at 9:05 AM 0 comments
Labels: 'Tis The Season, Bad Ideas, Basketball, Do as I say not as I do, Oops
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text:
The developer that is applying for Massachusetts' third and final license has failed to impress the state's gambling regulator.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission began its deliberations on Thursday on whether it will issue a license to Rush Street Gaming. The Chicago-based casino company partnered with Brockton businessman George Carney to form Mass Gaming & Entertainment, which will be in charge of developing and operating a $677 million resort on the Brockton Fairgrounds.
But Rush Street Gaming's owner Neil Bluhm's hope was dashed to ground when Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby ripped his proposal for not having enough "wow factor."
Crosby delivered a blistering presentation, in which he described Mass Gaming & Entertainment's project as a "convenience casino" that does not only stand out, but also doesn't pay enough homage to its would be host city and state, as well as would be unlikely to improve the surrounding area.
The MGC chairman said MGM's plan for Springfield was "genuinely ambitious" that it elicited a "broad enthusiasm" from the commission, the governor and even its casino rivals. In comparison, Crosby said his impression with Mass Gaming & Entertainment was that it wasn't compelling or committed enough.
"The approach of the applicant seemed to be: 'We will do good things. Just trust us,'" Crosby said. "This proposal has virtually none of [MGM's] features. It sits in the middle of a vast parking lot, completely isolated from any other operating part of the community, with no links or coherent strategies for broader urban renewal or economic development. In this respect, it is a great disappointment."
Mass Gaming & Entertainment will have the opportunity to respond to Crosby's criticisms.
Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter said the casino, which promises $10.3 million in annual revenue and 1,800 local jobs, would have caused a major economic boom for his city.
"Chairman Crosby is worried about our economic future. What's our economic future without the casino?" Carpenter said, according to Wicked Local.
If it gets through the gaming commission and Crosby, the Brockton project will be the latest addition to Massachusetts' crowded southeast. The state currently has two licensed, non-tribal casino projects—MGM's $950 million Springfield casino and Wynn's $2 billion casino in Everett—and one tribal project from the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, which recently broke ground on its $1 billion First Light Casino project in Taunton.
In addition, the region is also home to the Plainridge Park slots parlor and harness racing track, as well as a full scale casino in nearby Rhode Island, which, by the way, is also asking for its voters' approval on a second facility along the Massachusetts-Rhode Island border.