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One hundred years ago this month, a laboratory experiment at the University of Karlsruhe in Germany set the stage for the Green Revolution. Chemist Fritz Haber placed a sheet of osmium in a steel chamber, pumped in a mix of nitrogen and hydrogen gases, and cranked up the heat and pressure. Then, out flowed ammonia, the elusive raw material for producing synthetic fertilizer. It was the eureka moment scientists had been pursuing for a decade: Haber managed to create the necessary conditions to transform nitrogen gas, abundant in the atmosphere but useless for life, into a digestible form. The work would earn Haber the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. (Many protested the award because Haber had been instrumental in developing and deploying chlorine gas for Germany during World War I.)
Once implemented on an industrial scale, ammonia synthesis enabled the widespread fertilization of croplands for decades hence. As a direct result, the world's population skyrocketed from 1.6 billion to six billion during the 20th century. But Haber's nourishing discovery has a dark side he probably never imagined. The boom of fertilizer, long injudiciously applied, has come at a high price for the environment.
And now, according to a new report to be released later this month by the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) of the International Council for Science, society's aspiration to use biofuels to kick its oil addiction could backfire. By intensifying nitrogen pollution, a business-as-usual approach to biofuels production could exacerbate global warming, food security threats and human respiratory ailments in addition to familiar ecological problems. Scientists have long known that the reactive nitrogen in fertilizers leaching from agricultural fields (as well as those smaller amounts exiting tailpipes and smokestacks) wreak havoc as they cascade through the air and rivers. Rogue nutrients often spur harmful algal blooms as they flow into the ocean, and hundreds of estuaries around the world suffer from so-called seasonal dead zones as a result. "We're getting to the point where dead zones will be continuous bands around the continents," warns marine ecologist Jeremy Jackson of Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif.
Fixing the nitrogen problem is at the heart of Jackson's call to make the Green Revolution truly green, a sentiment echoed by scientists around the world. A primary culprit: so-called first-generation fuels, which are based largely on fermentation of cane and corn sugars.
"The production of ethanol from corn in the U.S. is a disaster in terms of fertilizer flowing down the Mississippi River," says Cornell University environmental biologist Robert Howarth, chair of the International SCOPE Biofuels Project. The U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, passed with strong bipartisan support, set a goal of producing 54 billion liters (14.3 billion gallons) of ethanol from corn by 2022. But new research outlined in the SCOPE report indicates that, without a change of practice, meeting that goal could increase the nitrogen flux in the Mississippi by 37 percent. That pits ethanol production overwhelmingly against another national goal: reducing nitrogen flux in the same river by at least 40 percent to reduce the size of the dead zone in northern Gulf of Mexico.
Corn is a troublesome biofuel source, particularly from a nitrogen standpoint, Howarth says. Typical corn-growing practice is to apply high doses of fertilizer, with substantial losses to the surrounding environment. Corn has very shallow roots compared to most crops and so can use nitrogen only in the top one to two inches (0.4 to 0.8 centimeters) of the soil. Moreover, it only takes up nitrogen and other nutrients for 60 days out of the year. Other crops such as soybean and wheat have deeper roots that are active longer. But the rising price of corn has encouraged farmers to grow more of this "nitrogen leaky" grain. Land set aside for conservation purposes as well as some active soybean and wheat fields are being converted back to active corn cultivation.
Still, this growth in corn production cannot hope to enable the world to reach its ethanol production goals, the report says. The U.S., for example, put 24 percent of its 2007 corn harvest into ethanol, yet that generous contribution amounted to only 1.3 percent of the nation's use of liquid fuels. Based on this and other early findings, the SCOPE report projects that substituting 10 percent of the liquid fossil fuels used for transportation with biofuels could require a third of the world's arable land, causing trouble not only with nitrogen pollution but also food security.
Current biofuel targets impart other major problems for global warming and human health that Howarth says scientists have "long underestimated." Fertilizers release significant quantities of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas with 300 times the heat-trapping capacity of carbon dioxide (CO2). A 2007 analysis by Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany, and his colleagues suggests that for most current biofuel crops, corn included, any CO2 savings will be wiped out by higher emissions of nitrous oxide and nitrogen oxide. The latter destroys so-called "good" ozone, which shelters life from damaging ultraviolet radiation; it also fuels production of ground level ozone, the main constituent in smog that is widely known to exacerbate human respiratory ailments. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, millions of Americans live in areas that exceed the national standards for ozone exposure.
Even as researchers sound the alarm on biofuels, they suggest promising solutions. On the horizon is cellulosic ethanol, sometimes dubbed "grassoline". The wood or woody grasses that are the feedstocks for these so-called second-generation biofuels can be grown on marginal lands (thereby not competing for space with food crops) and need much less fertilizer, according to chemical engineer George Huber of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. A mature cellulosic biofuel industry will be able to compete with oil at around $50 per barrel and deliver fuel to the pump at about $2 per gallon, say Huber and his Michigan State University colleague Bruce Dale.
But that vision is still several years off, Howarth points out. Meanwhile, the SCOPE report suggests that even grassoline may not be the best use of biomass: "The world would be better off using the cellulose directly for combustion," Howarth says. "If you try to use biomass in a stationary way, it's much more efficient." Direct combustion of switchgrass for heat and electricity can provide 2.6-fold more energy than converting the same source to ethanol—and 9-fold more energy than producing ethanol from corn. The proof is out there: 35 percent of homes and commercial buildings in Sweden are heated by combustion of biomass, mostly willows grown on nearby plantations.
Biofuels are a hot topic right now, but the litany of issues surrounding fertilizers and nitrogen pollution are far more complex. Foremost among the challenges is the need to use more fertilizer to combat hunger in many parts of the world, points out ecologist Alan Townsend of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Townsend, like Howarth, has spent much of the past 15 years analyzing the human perturbations to the global nitrogen cycle. More fertilizer is badly needed to help feed burgeoning populations in much of the developing world, and yet mistakes of the West are being repeated elsewhere. A study published in February suggests that China could cut its fertilizer use by a third without reducing crop yield. Pursuit of meat-intensive diets, which requires massive production of fertilized crops to feed animals, is another problem Townsend and Howarth point out.
Despite their dire warnings, neither scientist is a pessimist. Haber's discovery has been a miracle for a century, Howarth says. We just need to be smarter about how we apply it.
Nitrogen Fertilizer: Agricultural Breakthrough--And Environmental Bane
A new report citing drawbacks of the corn ethanol craze casts a pall over the centennial of a Nobel Prize-winning discovery that transformed global food production
One hundred years ago this month, a laboratory experiment at the University of Karlsruhe in Germany set the stage for the Green Revolution. Chemist Fritz Haber placed a sheet of osmium in a steel chamber, pumped in a mix of nitrogen and hydrogen gases, and cranked up the heat and pressure. Then, out flowed ammonia, the elusive raw material for producing synthetic fertilizer. It was the eureka moment scientists had been pursuing for a decade: Haber managed to create the necessary conditions to transform nitrogen gas, abundant in the atmosphere but useless for life, into a digestible form. The work would earn Haber the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. (Many protested the award because Haber had been instrumental in developing and deploying chlorine gas for Germany during World War I.)


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Opening next Friday, "Seven Psychopaths" has a title promising a certain amount of spilled blood and bad behavior, and the writer-director Martin McDonagh delivers on the promise. McDonagh notes, however, that his film contains "more dialogue in the midst of a shoot-out than the average movie featuring psychopaths with guns."
This is the second feature, the first being the droll hit-men comedy "In Bruges," from the celebrated Anglo-Irish playwright who burst onto the world stage with a flurry of harsh, eloquent black comedies set in his native Ireland. "Seven Psychopaths" picks up on a subject McDonagh, now based in London, addressed in what many consider his finest play to date, "The Pillowman": that of the storyteller's responsibility or culpability, if any, regarding the impact of his disturbing fabrications on others.
In the new film, a Hollywood-based screenwriter (Colin Farrell) writing a movie called "Seven Psychopaths" struggles with writer's block, with alcohol, with the relational demands of his woman (Abbie Cornish) and with the attempts of his struggling-actor friend (Sam Rockwell) to become a co-writer on the project. The actor makes his living by kidnapping dogs for reward money. When one particularly vicious owner (Woody Harrelson) becomes a mark, McDonagh's pitch-black "knockabout" (his word) begins weaving stories within stories, some questioning the artist's need and business imperative to provide the gore desired by the public, some gleefully exploiting that need for comic purposes.
McDonagh got lucky: The plays he wrote, which continue to be done around the world, have given him a very comfortable life and the latitude to make a movie every four years or so. If he wants to.
"I'm really lazy," he said recently over coffee in a downtown hotel restaurant. He notes that between "In Bruges" (2008) and "Seven Psychopaths" he wrote a play, "A Behanding in Spokane," starring Christopher Walken (another "Seven Psychopaths" cast member) and co-starring Rockwell. It ran briefly on Broadway in 2010. That play, he acknowledges, "didn't quite work." But it gave two of his seven psychopaths a nice warm-up.
"In Bruges" and "Seven Psychopaths" were written around the same time; McDonagh decided to film "In Bruges" first, so that he'd be ready, as a director, to take on the more expansive and complex action required by "Seven Psychopaths" in due course. If the movie carries any meaning, he says, it's in his interest in "the desire we have to write stories. And the worry about what kind of stories you're putting out there. People have said it's a very Tarantino-like film, but I feel, I hope, it's more of a comment on a kind of…ease with violence in those things. And probably in my stuff too."
McDonagh, who cites Chicago-based Tracy Letts ("Killer Joe," "Bug," "August: Osage County") as one of his champions of contemporary drama, continues the conversation: "I hope there's some kind of morality in all my work. It's not like I have sleepless nights about it. But sitting down to write about psychotics with guns in this film, I didn't want it to be a straight, easy psychotics-with-guns thing. Even in a comedic, knockabout way I wanted it to touch on something and not seem…empty."
To wit, though he hesitates to name the name: Tarantino. "'Pulp Fiction' is an amazing film, and I haven't made one nearly as good," McDonagh says. "That said, the last couple of his, I don't know. I couldn't stand 'Inglourious Basterds.' It's beneath him. It's beneath the person who made 'Pulp Fiction.'"
McDonagh remains close — though hellaciously competitive — with his brother, the writer-director John Michael McDonagh, whose film "The Guard" starred Brendan Gleeson of "In Bruges," among many others. The McDonagh boys play tennis twice monthly whenever they're in London. His brother, Martin claims with an exasperated grin, is the foot-faulter of the two. "I think he's more relaxed about the our whole dynamic since the success of 'The Guard,'" he says. "But the moment that film overtook 'In Bruges' at the box office in Ireland, he called me. After midnight. He couldn't wait to tell me."
"Seven Psychopaths" opens in Chicago Oct. 12.


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We have waited/ fought/ waited/ fought for the cabinet store to reimburse us for the dishes. Our wedding dishes. They came out, inspected the damage and the cabinet, assumed responsibility and admitted that it was a manufacturer error. What they didn't do, was keep their word. Sad. Very sad.
I can barely wait to unpack each box and stack them into rainbow happiness.
But honestly, I am really, really scared.
Our contractor triple secured the cabinet to the wall, so I should feel safe. But it is still a little freaky.
But I am going to be brave. It is going to be beautiful. We have real dishes!!!


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- May 18, 2008
- Admin
Lobotomy by Any Other Name
Commentary by Peter R. Breggin, M.D.
On August 4, 2003 the Los Angeles Times published a story by Benedict Carey on the "New Psychosurgery" being conducted at medical centers at Harvard University and Brown. The syndicated report was republished around the country as recently as October 2003. The potential patients were identified as individuals suffering from intractable depression and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
The psychosurgeons are attempting to recover from one of the more serious blows dealt to their aspirations in the past two decades. In June 2002 a landmark malpractice suit was brought against another national medical center where a surgeon was performing very similar psychosurgery (Zimmerman v. Cleveland Clinic). The victim of the combined capsulotomy and cingulotomy was a 58-year-old woman. After the surgery, she was rendered mute and robotic. Two doctors from the Harvard project testified on behalf of the surgeon and I testified as a psychiatric expert on behalf of the patient. After hearing both sides of the controversy, the jury awarded $7.5 million to the injured patient and the psychosurgery project at the Cleveland Clinic was shut down.
The surgery is not new and the story made the same discredited claims that have been offered for lobotomy since the 1940s. The two forms of psychosurgery that are being promoted — cingulotomy and capsulotomy — are the same techniques used in combination in the Cleveland Clinic malpractice case.
Cingulotomy was first performed in 1948 and capsulotomy in 1949 during the first great wave of lobotomy. These surgical interventions interrupt and destroy large bundles of nerve connections in the brain (white matter). These nerve connections include pathways to and from the frontal lobes. As a result, innumerable brains cells (neurons in gray matter) die throughout various portions of the brain. Much of the cell death occurs in the adjacent frontal lobes of the brain — the seat of all higher human functions. This is the scientific definition of lobotomy. The inevitable result is widespread damage to the high mental functions, including judgment, insight, future planning, social awareness, and creativity.
Exactly this kind of psychosurgery fell out of favor decades ago because it causes severe damage to the mental and emotional processes. In the early 1970s, a second wave of psychosurgery began with cingulotomy as the most common operation. I worked as a psychiatric consultant with the U. S. Congress to form the psychosurgery commission which ultimately declared all psychosurgical operations experimental and unfit for routine clinical use. In a trial in which I testified as an expert in 1973 in Michigan (Kaimowitz v. Department of Mental Health), a three-judge panel declared the same psychosurgery too damaging to the brain, mind, and personality to be permitted in state facilities. This precedent-setting case has never been challenged in the courts. Most psychosurgery projects around the country, including cingulotomy and capsulotomy, were stopped. Harvard and Brown are the only two that have been identified as remaining in North America.
I have personally evaluated five cingulotomy psychosurgery cases performed at Harvard. These individuals lost memory and reasoning functions, were flatted emotionally, and became unable to relate in a caring manner to other people. Four became legally incompetent.
There is no mystery about how the surgery "works." It produces intellectual and emotional blunting. The doctors rate this apathetic state as an improvement. Patients who submit to this surgery are never told how damaging it will be to their most basic human processes.
The psychosurgery performed at Harvard and Brown is the same old lobotomy that was rejected by science, medicine, and the public decades ago. Damaging the brain is not a solution to human psychological suffering.


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Santa Clara USD | BP 4317.2 Personnel
Any district employee who desires to resign his/her position shall submit, in writing, a letter of resignation which indicates the date which the employee intends as his/her last day at work. The Governing Board encourages employees to provide advance notice that is appropriate for the position they hold.
The Board authorizes the Superintendent or designee to accept an employee's written resignation and to set its effective date. Once the Superintendent or designee has accepted and set an effective date for this resignation, the resignation may not thereafter be withdrawn by the employee.
The effective date of the resignation shall be a date not later than the close of the school year during which the resignation is received. However, an employee and the Board may agree that a resignation will be accepted at a mutually agreed upon date not later than two years beyond the close of the school year during which the resignation is received by the Board. (Education Code 44930, 45201)
(cf. 4117.7 - Employment Status Reports)
Legal Reference:
35161 Board delegation of any powers or duties
44242.5 Reports of change in employment status, alleged misconduct
44420 Failure to fulfill contract as ground for suspension of diplomas and certificates
44433 Unauthorized departure from service as unprofessional conduct
44930 Acceptance and date of resignation
45201 Power to accept resignation
80303 Reports of change in employment status
80304 Notice of sexual misconduct
American Federation of Teachers, Local #1050 v. Board of Education of Pasadena Unified School District, (1980) 107 Cal.App.3d 829
Policy SANTA CLARA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
adopted: August 22, 2013 Santa Clara, California


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Teriyaki Glazed Chicken Kebabs
October 21, 2013
I've recently been told that TheIronYou is a tad random and needs more structure.
Make no mistake, I receive a plethora of compliments almost daily about it (which makes me super happy!) However, a friend of mine - who's a powerforce in the publishing business - wrote me a lengthy email on Saturday, listing all the things that I should improve in my blog.
First and foremost, less randomness.
To be honest, I dig randomness. It's part of who I am, especially in my blogging life.
I like not having restraint whatsoever, not knowing which port I'm sailing to.
The feeling that I can publish whatever goes through my mind — or better yet, whatever happens in my kitchen, without need to think too much about it.
It's a feel good-freedom sensation. In the end, TheIronYou is part of me and reflects to some extent who I am as an individual, so why doing something that it's not me?
However, one of the rules I live by, is to always be open to (constructive) criticism — especially when it comes from people who KNOW what they're talking about.
So here I am, giving more structure to TheIronYou. And let's start by getting rid of some of the randomness factor.
Apparently the first step to this 'structured world' is to to have pre-scheduled post publication dates. I'll do that. So from now on, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are going to be the days when stuff happens 'round here. Dig it?
Also, it's necessary (her words) to institutionalize an event and make it happen on a regular basis. So what I'm thinking about is to create an event called "(Every Other Week) Kebabs Mondays".
Every other Monday, I'll post a recipe for kebabs.
Meat, veggies, fruits, etc, anything that involves food on a stick. What you guys think about it?
I think it's a brilliant idea, and I'm already stoked by it. But if you think it's lame, lemme know. As mentioned, I'm open to criticism (at least, if I'm in a good mood!)
That being said, we'll start today with our "(Every Other Week) Kebabs Mondays", with these dope teriyaki chicken kebabs.
This is a recipe I make quite a lot. It's super simple, with an easy-to-make teriyaki marinade that includes ingredients I always have in my pantry.
Soy sauce, white wine, vinegar, honey, ginger, garlic. Who doesn't have this stuff right now? I know, rhetorical question.
Make the sauce, marinate the chicken for (at least) 30 minutes, fire-up the grill and in a heartbeat you'll have tasty and glazed-to-perfection chicken kebabs that everybody will love.
Teriyaki Glazed Chicken Kebabs Print this recipe!
Serves 6
¼ cup / 50 ml organic wheat-free soy sauce (or coconut aminos)
¼ cup / 55ml white wine
¼ cup / 60ml water
1 tablespoon raw organic honey (or raw coconut palm sugar)
1 teaspoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
bamboo skewers
2 lb / 900 gr free-range organic chicken breasts, cut into 1½-inch chunks
Ground black pepper to taste
In a small saucepan, over medium heat, add soy sauce, white wine, water, honey, white vinegar, ginger and garlic. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and let simmer for 5 minutes.
Turn off the heat and let cool for at least 10 minutes.
In a shallow sealable container or in a large Ziplock bag, combine chicken chunks and teriyaki marinade. Cover or seal and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (marinate overnight for fullest flavor).
Remove the chicken from the marinade and skewer onto bamboo sticks that have been soaked in water for 5 minutes.
Heat a grill or a grill pan to medium-low heat (if you're using an outdoor grill lightly oil the grill grates).
I strongly recommend low-temperature cooking so that the teriyaki marinade can glaze without burning black.
Grill the chicken kebabs, until golden brown and cooked through, about 10 - 12 minutes turning regularly, until juices run clear.
Transfer kebabs to a platter, top with chopped cilantro and serve.
Nutrition facts
One serving yields 270 calories, 6 grams of fat, 6.5 grams of carbs and 47 grams of protein.
33 comments:
Mike that looks fantastic and I'm so into the Kebabs mondays thing. Great job!ReplyDelete
I say your blog, your rules, man!ReplyDelete
I don't think people who enjoy reading your blog will suddenly decide to stop reading it because you don't post according to a predetermined schedule, or don't follow a certain "theme".
Blogging should be fun, and like you said, it should be an expression of who you are. Please, please, don't let The Iron You become something that it's not by trying to abide to certain rules that aren't even relevant.
Just be passionate, blog about what you like and more importantly keep feeding us. If it's kebabs you want to share, let it be kebabs. But don't you go kill your spontaneity by making kebabs "just because it's kebabs day". And if the kebabs aren't ready on Monday, I can very well wait until the Tuesday to get a taste of them...
My 2 cents.
Oh, and by the way... those kebabs, man... Those kebabs! OH!Replies
Noted. Thanks for the great advice my friend!Delete
I'd like to invite you to join our site www.easyrecipes.com . I really enjoy your blog and recipes and I think the over 8,000 unique daily visitors to Easy Recipes will too.ReplyDelete
By joining Easy Recipes, we will provide the Nutrition Facts for every recipe you post in which you could customize and add to your blog. Viewers need and love to know the nutritional facts. Its a free service that we offer to blogs and recipes we really love. It looks professional and your members will love it. Simply visit www.easyrecipes.com or contact me at firstname.lastname@example.com. We look forward having you in our network!
These kebabs look incredible!ReplyDelete
This looks good.ReplyDelete
Homemade teriyaki sauce without any "weird" ingredients?! OMG. So pinning!!!ReplyDelete
And about blogging rules...emmm, I don't know...I didn't see that problem. I don't know. I don't think this is the schedule to success, honestly.ReplyDeleteReplies
Thanks Olena, given your experience I take your advice in great value!Delete
I'm only new to your blog and I love it! I love your randomness and you often have me laughing out loud! Please don't change.ReplyDelete
I've tried a number of your recipes recently and have loved them all.. can't wait to try these kebabs!
Keep up your great blog and don't change it too much. xoReplies
You've convinced me, random it is! ;-)Delete
- AnonymousOctober 21, 2013 at 10:24 PM
I also don't think you have to have a schedule. I like randomness. Some posts are too organized and they seem commercial. If you feel like posting kebods, then do, and if you feel like posting a great dessert recipe, then go right ahead! I am just happy when I have a new post from you to read. Always either very informative or delicious! Thanks!ReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you, this means a lot to me!Delete
I like the randomness! But what do I know about blog writing!ReplyDeleteReplies
One more vote in favor of randomness. It's winning by a landslide!Delete
Love your randomness and totally drool inducing dishes!ReplyDelete
Whatever direction you decide to take your blog in - am willing to keep reading on! I mean if there are more dishes like this simple - yet totally delectable chicken - I just couldn't resist! :)Replies
Thanks Sashi, you are truly awesome!Delete
I love randomness and I also think it's fun to have kebab mondays..yum.ReplyDelete
As Sashi says, anything you chose to do, I will be a regular reader. Loving this glazed chicken, looks delicious.Replies
Thanks Ash, I really appreciate this!Delete
SO glad I saw this post...This is a meal for the entire family, my kids will love it:)ReplyDeleteReplies
Thanks Lynda, I really hope your kids will enjoy it :-)Delete
I think that's the interesting thing about blogging: we all learn every day new tricks of the trade.ReplyDelete
You have a great blog, Mike, and I'm sure with new structures there will be even more things going on.
But to be honest, part of the charme of your blog is the "randomness" and the spontaneity when you write, it's such fun to read, so don't change too much.
The Teriyaki Kebab looks yummy and easy to prepare and I'm looking forward for the Kebab Mondays :)
OMG those kabobs are too die for, they look soo good. I would love to try oneReplyDelete
Made this yesterday, so flavorful and juicy. Love it!!ReplyDeleteReplies
That's great Marcia!Delete
These were DELICIOUS! We made them with boneless, skinless chicken thighs and I wished we had more after they were gone. We're making them again this week!ReplyDelete
Hi...I would like to make these this weekend for the adults at my daughters birthday party, but, alas, it is supposed to rain. What are your thoughts about oven baking them?? Temp?? Thanks!!!ReplyDeleteReplies
I would bake them at 450°F, 10 minutes per side (i.e., 20 to 30 minutes maximum of baking time total depending on the size of the chicken chunks).Delete
Alternatively you can cook them on the stove top with a grill pan?
Thanks so much.... I'm going to try and bake them so I can multitask... I'm really looking forward to serving them to my guests!ReplyDelete
The sauce seems too runny...doesn't look like a glaze. Did I do something wrong?ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMarch 21, 2016 at 7:33 PM
The glaze seems too runny...did I do something wrong?ReplyDelete
The one problem with this recipe is that it uses chicken breasts which are the driest part of a chicken. Far better to use chicken thigh fillets which are more tender and have more taste than the breast.ReplyDelete


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One of Broadway's most loved shows, Godspell recasts the Gospel of Matthew in a creative, modern way, providing a unique reflection on the life of Jesus. The show's music comes from renowned composer Stephen Schwartz, who also penned songs for Wicked and Disney's Enchanted.
The musical, under the direction of SIC director of theatre, Allan Kimball, features Sean Partain of Harrisburg as Jesus and Kyle Upchurch of Benton as Judas. Other cast members include Braden Downs (Benton), Brendan Mann (Harrisburg), Cassandra Watkins (Harrisburg), Dylan Comer (Carrier Mills), Ebonie Tate (Harrisburg), Eric Jackson (Harrisburg), Jason Green (Golconda), Justin Leinenbach (Eldorado), Kristy Fox (Carrier Mills), Laura Hanrahan (Harrisburg), Meredith Wolf (Harrisburg), Mirinda Hart (Harrisburg), Rachel Stearns (Harrisburg), Salena Russell (Harrisburg), and Skai Tso (Galatia).
The production is choreographed by Brandon Johnson, Joshua Kimball and Hillary Renda.
Meredith Wolf, a freshman cast member from Harrisburg, explains, "Godspell is very different from any musical I've been involved in. Most musicals have a cut-and-dry script, and the way it's performed doesn't change drastically from production to production. Godspell, on the other hand, is very fluid and adaptable to the cast that will be performing it."
Directing the music and lyrics for the performance will be Clifton McReynolds, director of music at SIC. Costumes are the creations of Janet Hart's fashion design class at Harrisburg High School, while John Hart of Hart's Music in Harrisburg is providing sound for the show. The show's set design and lighting are the products of Kimball's stagecraft and technical theater class at SIC.
Tickets are $10 for the general public, $8 for students, staff and seniors. For reserved seating, contact the box office at 618-252-5400, ext. 2486 or 2487 or 618-841-4649 or email email@example.com.
SIC Theatre presents Godspell October 18-20
Posted on 10/16/2013, 4:01 PM
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- Communities
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Find out how light is helping Dartmoor zoo get ahead of the pack.
Find out how light is helping Dartmoor zoo get ahead of the pack.
to the restaurant and we'll be saving a massive amount on energy costs. There will also be big savings on maintenance, thanks to the long life of the LED lamps."
- Alex Smale, Business Development Manager at Dartmoor Zoo
In an extraordinary tale of business bravery, Dartmoor Zoo was bought in 2006 by the Mee brothers. Although they had no zoological experience, they managed to save the zoo from permanent closure – a story that was later retold in the film 'We bought a zoo'. Could Philips lighting help them to keep the new zoo afloat?
Although the zoo had been kept open, it was direly in need of refurbishment. Philips was brought in to improve lighting in the restaurant, where only 40% of the fixtures were working, and ageing fluorescent downlights produced an unattractive ambience.
Luckily, LuxSpace downlights were on the menu. The energy saving LED lamps were installed in the existing ceiling recesses, keeping installation costs to a minimum. The new lights create a pleasing ambience, and are controlled by a Philips Occuswitch DALI system. As a result, the lighting is linked to photocells so that it can be automatically dimmed in relation to levels of natural daylight. The lights will also dim to 20% brightness when there are no people nearby, creating further savings.
The new system has been warmly received by guests and employees alike. In addition to lighting the restaurant and conference room, Philips is also working to renovate the cat house lighting, improving working conditions for the keepers. The new systems, with their lower energy consumption, are helping the zoo to meet environmental targets. What's more, the low maintenance requirements of LED fixtures provide significant savings for the zoo, helping to keep them in a roaring trade.
The new lighting system in the restaurant reduces energy use by 50% compared to the previous setup. In addition, where the previous lamps would last two to three years, the new lamps will not need to be maintained for 10 years.


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What the Oscar-winning 2009 documentary "The Cove" did for dolphin slaughter in Japan, "Blackfish" may do for killer whales living in captivity while performing at marine parks. Like "The Cove" and Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," "Blackfish" is as much about human hubris as animal behavior.
Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, "Blackfish," which opens Friday, explores what might have caused one whale, Tilikum, a 12,000-pound orca, to kill three people, including veteran SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau, in 2010. It was news of Brancheau's death during a show at SeaWorld in Orlando that sparked Cowperthwaite's interest. SeaWorld first claimed that the trainer had slipped and fallen; later, the company claimed Tilikum had been spooked by Brancheau's ponytail.
"I didn't come from activism. I'm a documentary filmmaker but also a mother. I've gone to SeaWorld in San Diego with my kids," says Cowperthwaite, 41, during a visit to Boston. "When I heard about Dawn Brancheau being killed, I thought, 'What a strange aberration; what a sad event.' And so I began researching the issue. I could not come to terms with why the whale Tilikum made that decision. Was he playing, or just curious, or was he angry? Whatever it was, I didn't think those things happened at SeaWorld. I thought this was a place of loving bonds. I was naive, I guess."
During the two-year filmmaking process, Cowperthwaite says she came to realize that "nothing at [SeaWorld] is what it seems." Besides animal behavior experts and patrons who witnessed whale attacks during performances over the years, Cowperthwaite tracked down former SeaWorld trainers willing to go on the record. They talk about safety lapses, questionable training practices, and the living conditions — Tilikum was kept in a small, dark tank for more than 14 hours at a time — that might have pushed Tilikum to deadly aggression.
Tilikum, born in the wild near Iceland in 1983, was captured and sent to a marine park near Vancouver before he was sold to SeaWorld in Orlando.
"I knew the only way for this movie to have credibility was to hear from people who had touched the other side," says Cowperthwaite, a Colorado native and University of Southern California graduate who lives in Los Angeles. One who had significant inside experience is John Crowe, who provides the film with one of its most chilling interviews.
A former diver, Crowe trapped and, in his words, kidnapped baby whales for shipment to theme parks while their mothers watched and screeched in agony. Haunted by these memories, Crowe quit the business. "People told me that all those old divers were either dead or not talking," recalls Cowperthwaite. "It took me 50 cold phone calls to every John Crowe in Canada and Washington. I finally found him in Newport, Ore., where he owns a bar."
"Blackfish," which will air on CNN later this year, contains powerful footage of whale attacks at marine parks. Cowperthwaite obtained much of it through the Freedom of Information Act once the Occupational Safety and Health Administration took SeaWorld to court and the footage became exhibits in the case.
But for all its compelling footage and interviews, it was crucial to Cowperthwaite and co-writer and editor Eli Despres that "Blackfish" unfold as a story in thriller-like fashion.
"I didn't want it to feel like medicine. I didn't want it to feel like an ethical boxing match," says Cowperthwaite. She's directed programs for Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel, among others, but her only other feature is 2010's "City Lax: An Urban Lacrosse Story." "I would rather tell a story and tell the truth; and if the audience feels something, then I know that feeling is completely authentic."
She sought comment from SeaWorld, which owns parks in Orlando, San Diego, and San Antonio. The company declined to appear in "Blackfish" but issued a statement that the film "appears to repeat the same unfounded allegations made many times over the last several years by animal-rights activists. . . . [Sea World] is dedicated in every respect to the safety of our staff and the welfare of animals."
"I tried to talk to them. I saw during the trial how they would answer questions, how they have such marketing and PR spin, how automated and polished their responses are," says Cowperthwaite. "They have had the floor for 40 years and controlled the entire message, so I am OK with 80 minutes to myself. I gave them every opportunity."
Although he has not yet seen "Blackfish," one of the most respected whale experts in the country, Dr. Charles "Stormy" Mayo of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, says orcas "roam thousands of miles each year in tight-knit social groups and [marine aquariums] put them in tiny cells. It's absurd." Such parks are more circuses than educational centers, Mayo says. But if the facility is honest about what it is presenting, then there is "some limited teaching value" in keeping animals in captivity. "But to say it is natural or that it is teaching the public about the ecosystem is a stretch beyond credibility."
Cowperthwaite doesn't think SeaWorld should cease operating — it's a $2 billion a year business and she isn't that naive — but she does hope her film will affect how the park exhibits whales. "The marine park experiment 40 years ago wasn't about understanding the species. I honestly think it was about curiosity and wanting to connect. But when it starts being lucrative, the relationship becomes about control."
Although "Blackfish" has earned kudos on the festival circuit, Cowperthwaite says she's nervous about the film opening in Orlando where SeaWorld "butters a lot of people's bread."
"SeaWorld could drain my bank account in a day," she says. "But I know I'm armed with the truth. That's where I derive my confidence."
Loren King can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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There's a scene, late in Seven Psychopaths, the deliriously entertaining meta-movie that opens Friday, when Sam Rockwell's character Billy—the most psychopathic of all the psychopaths of the title—attempts to decipher the hoary adage, "an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind." He mulls for a second, letting the cliché clatter to and fro around his brain for a bit, until he stops. His eyes light up. "That's bullshit!" he yells. "No, it doesn't. There'll be one guy left with one eye. How's the last blind guy gonna take out the eye of the last guy left?" Colin Farrell and Christopher Walken are left speechless: The guy is crazy, but he ain't wrong.
Seven Psychopaths is sort of Adaptation crossed with a Pulp Fiction-era grunge crime thriller, sort of a Things To Do In Los Angeles When You're Dead But Still Trying To Finish Your Screenplay. It follows Irish screenwriter Marty (played by Colin Farrell and clearly meant to be the cinematic representation of writer-director Martin McDonagh, of In Bruges) as he attempts to write a screenplay called Seven Psychopaths while crossing paths with dognappers, angry mobsters and, yes, a psychopath or two. The seven actors on the poster aren't the psychopaths of the title; they're the ones Marty tries to come up with while writing his screenplay, a process that keeps sneaking its way into the real-life action we're watching.
The film sounds a little too insider-screenwriter-process-y when I describe it this way, but trust me, the movie is way too much fun to get bogged down in neurotic writerland. It's mostly a showcase for these actors to have a terrific time with thick, juicy dialogue. Tom Waits, one of the actual psychopaths, delivers a lovely, sad monologue about a lost love and their dangerous pastime. (His section contains one of the film's best jokes, one I won't ruin here except to say that those frustrated by David Fincher's masterpiece will at last find some satisfaction). Great old grizzled Harry Dean Stanton has a wordless, hypnotic performance as a vengeful Amish father. Woody Harrelson has a giddy time chewing up scenery as a puppy-obsessed mass-murderer.
But the movie belongs to Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell. Walken gives one of his classic crazy-sad performances as a wistful dog-napper with a tragic past who's just trying to be with his wife, who is dying from cancer, while, on the side, taking an assload of peyote in the desert. Walken knows how plum a role he has here—it's one of the few Walken gigs that doesn't think simply casting Christopher Walken is enough of a joke—and he milks it for all it's worth. It's vintage Walken, the best he's been in years.
And he's still not the best thing about the movie. Rockwell has long been an energizing, unpredictable presence in movies—he's perpetually the only daring part of otherwise conventional movies, from The Green Mile to Iron Man 2 to Frost/Nixon—but he's a breathtaking freakshow here, the most I've enjoyed a supporting actor all year. His Billy is a psychopath in every possible definition, but an oddly sympathetic one, crazier, smarter, and more hopeful than anyone else in the film. There's a purity to Rockwell here; the movie goes off in a lot of different directions, but Billy is the soul of the film, the shining throughline blasting past everything else. He's loony, but never distancingly so. He's the psychopath who lives next door, the one you'd spend all night watching a Breaking Bad marathon with before noticing, when he left the next morning, that someone had severed the head of your three cats. It's a staggering, gloriously fun performance. Seven Psychopaths is a blast, but a week after seeing it, Rockwell's still what I remember the most. I think I want him to be in every movie from now on.
Grierson & Leitch is a regular column about the movies. Follow us on Twitter, @griersonleitch.


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Symbolically, the great change can be seen as the martyrdom of Joan of Arc – martyred not for the Church, but by the Church, for reasons that combined charges of heresy with her cross-dressing.
A combination of charges of heresy and "sodomy" were also the pretext for the persecution and trials of the Knights Templar- masking the naked greed of the secular and clerical powers which profited thereby. The same confusion of "sodomy" and heresy led to an expansion of the persecution from the Templars to wider group, and also the expansion of the methods and geographic extent, culminating in the executions of thousands of alleged "sodomites" across many regions of Europe. This persecution was initially encouraged or conducted by the Inquisition, later by secular authorities alone – but conducted according to what the church had taught them was a religious justification. Even today, the belief that religion justifies homophobic violence is often given as a motivation by the perpetrators – and the fires that burned the sodomites of the fifteenth century had a tragic echo in the gay holocaust of the second world war ("Remember the Ashes of our Martyrs")
This vicious homophobia was exported by the expanding colonial empires, introducing intolerance to many regions of the world where homoeroticism had previously been tolerated, accepted as entirely natural, or even celebrated as bringing particular spiritual gifts.
Yet even at the height of the persecution, there was the paradox of a succession of popes, who either had well-documented relationships with boys or men (Paul II, Julius III), or commissioned frankly homoerotic art from renowned Renaissance artists, which continues to decorate Vatican architecture (Sixtus IV, Julius II). This period exemplifies the continuing hypocrisy of an outwardly homophobic, internally homoerotic Catholic Church.)
Related posts
- Queer Saints and Martyrs in Christian (and pre-Christian) History
- Queer Saints 1: Before "Christianity"
- Queer Saints 2. The Early Christians: Saints and Martyrs for the Church
- Queer Saints 3: The (Homoerotic?) Medieval Church
- Queer Saints 4: The Great Persecution (Martyred By the Church)
- Queer Saints 5: Gay Popesa
- Queer Saints 6: Modern Saints, Modern Heroes – A Great Resurrection?


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Eugenical Sterilization in the United States (1922), by Harry H. Laughlin
Eugenical Sterilization in the United States is a 1922 book in which author Harry H. Laughlin argues for the necessity of compulsory sterilization in the United States based on the principles of eugenics. The eugenics movement of the early twentieth century in the US focused on altering the genetic makeup of the US population by regulating immigration and sterilization, and by discouraging interracial procreation, then called miscegenation.
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The "T" in T-shirt refers to the shape of the garment's outline.
Based in Cincinnati Ohio, Velva Sheen began making simple garments from American-grown cotton in 1932. They eventually became the official producer of T-shirts, sweats and shorts for a number of universities as well as the US military. Today, the distinctive Velva Sheen label is coveted among vintage connoisseurs and has taken off in Japan. Extra soft and extremely durable, the shirts are sewn with a "tube" design (meaning no side seems). Still American made the old fashioned way, the shirts are only available at a few select stores here in the States. Thankfully, Context just landed the tees, in six colors, thanks to savvy shop owner Ryan Huber. "They've got an old school fit that works great today," he says. "It reminds me of the stuff my father and grandfather handed down." Sure, they're more expensive than your average 3-pack of Hanes, but it's the difference between getting-the-job-done and doing-the-job-well. The handsome packaging is just a bonus.
$70 for two, at Context
What should I pack for my first business trip?
- Matt, OH
With nearly every airline imposing a baggage fee nowadays, if you can get away with flying with just a carry-on, do it.
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Aug 26-Sep 17
Aug 26-Sep 17
Here's how to watch the 2023 La Vuelta a Espana broadcast on FloBikes. The 2023 La Vuelta a Espana broadcast starts on Aug 26, 2023 and runs until Sep 17, 2023. Stream or cast from your desktop, mobile or TV. Now available on Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast and Apple TV. Don't forget to download the FloSports app on iOS or Android! If you can't watch live, catch up with the replays! Video footage from the event will be archived and stored in a video library for FloBikes subscribers to watch for the duration of their subscription.
Sepp Kuss Confidence Gained In Vuelta a España 2023 Ride for Jumbo-Visma
Sep 16, 2023
Sepp Kuss talks of the confidence gained in Vuelta a España 2023 ride of three weeks for the race win.


text: Leisure Arts is a leading publisher of lifestyle and instructional craft publications, including the best-selling "I Can't Believe I'm Knitting" series. In addition to printed publications, the Leisure Arts product line also includes ebooks, digital downloads, and DVDs. The following key categories are represented: cross stitch, knitting, crochet, quilting and sewing, embroidery, plastic canvas, scrapbooking and papercrafting, painting, beading and jewelry […] Learn To Knit With Leisure ArtsFebruary 25, 2014 in Crafts tagged beading and jewelry making / crafts / crochet / cross stitch / Embroidery / holiday entertaining / Home Decorating / knitting / painting / Plastic canvas / quilting and sewing / scrapbooking and papercrafting by Karren Haller


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Trainers John Gosden and Richard Hannon believe that the betting market for today's St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot underestimates the prospects of the latter's Night Of Thunder confirming Qipco 2000 Guineas running with runner-up Kingman.
The highlight on day one of the showpiece meeting is being billed as the 'royal rumble', as Hannon's English Guineas winner takes on Gosden's Irish Guineas hero.
The Group One contest will be the third time the pair have met this season, after Kingman won comfortably at Newbury in the Greenham before Night Of Thunder turned the tables at Newmarket.
The bookmakers have Kingman as odds-on favourite to gain his revenge, which Gosden disagrees with, and he is also giving full respect to the likes of Night Of Thunder's stablemate and champion two-year-old Toormore, as well as War Command, last year's Coventry and Dewhurst winner.
"I've walked the track and it will be good to firm on the straight track by the race and good ground on the old (round) track," said Gosden.
"I'm very happy with him. This is a very good race, though - it is by no means a two-horse race and if anyone goes in there thinking it is they are wrong, I'm certainly not underestimating anything.
"The front two are two very nice colts, but it is definitely not just between them and I'm also not sure how the bookmakers have it priced up as it is. I would have it as even between them (Kingman and Night Of Thunder).
"It's nice when you get two horses who keep meeting, it's good for racing."
Kingman provided James Doyle with his first Classic winner and despite that being on very soft ground at the Curragh, owner Khalid Abdullah's retained rider does not expect the quicker surface to be an excuse.
"I sat on him last week and we did a nice piece of work on ground that was just on the fast side of good," said Doyle.
"He's a very straightforward horse with a lot of gears and a high cruising speed.
"It's going to be run towards the end of the card, a few races will have taken place, but I'm sure the clerk of the course will have it in good shape.
"I'm sure it will be nice, fresh ground and hopefully everything will go to plan as I'm really looking forward to it."
Hannon is also struggling to see why Kingman is favoured so much in the betting.
"It's going to be a great race. I've got no reason to see why the form from Newmarket's going to be reversed and I don't see why the betting isn't 6-4 each of two," said Hannon.
"Kingman was very impressive in Ireland but it's going to be quick enough ground at Ascot. I thought Night Of Thunder was a worthy winner of the Guineas and he's in great form."
Toormore is owned by Middleham Park Racing, whose racing manager Tim Palin said: "We felt we had one or two excuses after the Guineas, but I don't think there will be any on Tuesday.
"I'm very much a believer in the science of the 'bounce' factor and after his big effort in the Craven, his first run since September, maybe he slightly regressed in the Guineas, turning out just 16 days later.
"Another potential excuse was they probably went a bit hard up front. People who know more about times than me say it was always going to set up for something coming from off the pace.
"Hopefully we'll find out whether we've still got the Toormore we all hoped and dreamed he was, or whether horses like Night Of Thunder and Kingman have improved past him from two to three.
"We'll find out whether he can progress into a champion or whether being champion two-year-old was all he's destined to be.
"If he wins then we can look upwards at races like the Sussex Stakes.
"If he gets beat, we might have to bob and weave and maybe go down the Prix Jean Prat and Prix Maurice de Gheest route."
Godolphin's Outstrip may have benefited from a patient ride when taking a last season's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita, but trainer Charlie Appleby believes his reappearance at Newmarket was too bad to be true.
"Outstrip blew very hard after he finished last in the Guineas and he then scoped dirty so we gave him a nice break, waited until he had finished his treatment and then resumed training. I have been pleased with his preparation since," said Appleby.
"He took some of the best juvenile form into the Guineas so he deserves to line up in a top-quality race like this. I'm looking forward to again seeing the Outstrip that we saw last year.
"There does not seem to be any pace in the race but if they dawdle early on that could suit us. He showed a turn of foot in the Breeders' Cup and the ability to quicken up could be one of his attributes.
"He is uncomplicated but the one thing that we probably won't do is make the running with him as he may have hit the front too soon when he was beaten by Toormore at Goodwood last year.
"I walked away very disappointed from the Guineas as he had been pleasing us all through the winter."
Another to disappoint in the Guineas was Aidan O'Brien's War Command but many from Ballydoyle improve significantly from their first run. He was pulled out of the Irish Guineas when the ground went soft and wears cheekpieces for the first time.
"On the day of the Irish Guineas the ground went heavy which wouldn't have suited him, he's a good ground horse so it wouldn't have made sense running him," Joseph O'Brien told At The Races.
"He seems in good form and we think he's improved since Newmarket. Looking at the Guineas now it doesn't look as bad a run as we thought it was at the time, he was only beat five or six lengths so he ran a good race.
"We thought he'd improve plenty for the run and we feel that he has, so we hope he can get a bit closer.
"If he needs them (cheekpieces) I'm not sure, he was probably rusty at Newmarket. He's a very laid-back horse, though, so if they sharpen him up a couple of lengths then brilliant."