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The Pink Pyramid, a gay bookstore that has operated in downtown Cincinnati for over 21 years has been closed.
"The City of Cincinnati closed us down!" sign now appears in its empty storefront window.
"They pushed us out because we are a gay business," said George Vanover, who owned the business for nearly 25 years with his partner, Gary Allgeier. "Some people have told us they think it's because of the streetcar and because of development. But I don't think that. I think they just wanted us gone."
"This was a concerted effort to get rid of us," he continues. "And they won. They got rid of us."
It all began in 2013 when cops made a few undercover visits to the store and they were sold "nail polish remover."
Problem was the crime lab called what he was selling isobutyl nitrite.
"Poppers" or "rush," an inhalant used to get a short burst of euphoria and to increase sexual pleasure. The state of Ohio calls it illegal when the chemical is packaged and sold as an inhalant, says Allgeier's lawyer, Bill Gallagher. But it can be used as a nail polish remover.
Undercover cops busted The Pink Pyramid again in 2014, selling its special brand of "nail polish remover.". This time, they also got a search warrant and found 634 bottles of the inhalant at the store. They found others, mostly used, during a separate search at Allgeier's home. The cops said he knew exactly what he was selling.
There were more criminal charges. But this time, the Cincinnati Police department asked the city's law department to begin additional court proceedings to declare the bookstore a nuisance and to shut it down.
And the cities lawyers did just that.
Cincinnati's only gay city council member Chris Seelbach weighed:
"They've been a fixture in the gay community. A lot of people are upset to see it go," he said. "But you have to follow the law and not disobey it. That is the number one issue here. They'd still be open today if they had stopped selling illegal products."
Vanover scoffs, calling the city not nearly as progressive as it likes to make believe it is.


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Welcome to Methodist Day School Preschool & VPK!
Methodist Day School Preschool (MDS) and VPK
We have been nurturing and educating children since 1961 and We Love What We Do! We are the oldest preschool in Naples, Florida!
MDS was created to provide an environment which develops and nurtures each individual child's growth and learning. MDS strives to meet the varied needs of today's families. We are passionate about providing a loving atmosphere where children from all backgrounds can flourish and grow.
Our premiere preschool serves children 2 through 5 years of age. We are equipped with a loving and experienced staff that has been nationally background screened, and holds certification in CPR/First Aid. Our talented teaching team have outstanding educational credentials, experience and other advanced certifications in the field of early childhood education. Our staff is provided with ten hours of training annually on our campus. Our teachers are the cornerstone of our program. Many of our teachers have been with us for over 15 years. We praise God for all of them!
Our program is set up to continue to build on the learning blocks of the previous year until reaching Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten. VPK is a government-funded program to help prepare students for Kindergarten. Our school follows the Collier County School Calendar.
Come Check Us Out
Ready to find out if MDS is the right place for your child? Schedule a tour! If you have any questions, comments or concerns please do not hesitate to call or email.
Director: Alicia Silvin | 239.262.1152 | firstname.lastname@example.com

subset: commoncrawl


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Q – how much will you pay for my car?A – obviously this depends on the condition of your car but we will give you a top trade price for your car
Q – do I have to bring the car anywhere?A – no we will come to you
Q – I'm miles away from anywhere. Will you buy a car from me?A – Yes. We collect cars from all over the country
Q – what type of cars are you interested in?A – we are interested in any car from registration year 2010 onwards
Q – what will you do with the car?A – we stock a number of reputable dealers with cars
Q – how long will it take you to give me the cash?A – once we have inspected the car and satisfied ourselves that you are the owner we will organise immediate payment


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To improve public procurement – use the Trust Test
Public procurement is too often solely made on price, and not enough on true value and to account for areas...
As part of my research for a seminar in which I was involved during the summer, I asked the owners of about 40 small and medium sized companies, as well as a couple of private multinational trading groups and smaller quoted companies, how much they knew about corporate governance and more particularly directors' duties, as set out in the Companies Act 2006.
I received twenty five replies which I thought was a good response. The overwhelming impression (other than for the plcs) was that neither subject figured very highly on anyone's list of priorities; most people had more important matters to worry about, such as their company's survival and trying to make a profit in tough economic times.
Having previously raised these topics, there was not much new in most of the answers. However, one theme came up a number of times: –
• "I don't look at the laws, I rely on common sense";
• "At the end of the day, common sense prevails";
• "Nobody had really taken any interest, they mostly felt that sound common sense, openness and integrity would cover 99% of the legal 1000's of pages [of legislation and regulations]…" [a comment which perhaps sums up the whole purpose of this discussion].
I started thinking about the absence of common sense in much of the legislation relating to business law. I understand, as a practising lawyer that not all legislation is, or can be, simple. A lot of the law is extremely complex and realistically there is no ability for it to be made less so. However, this is by no means always the case. In addition, does complexity necessarily need to conflict with common sense?
The product of much legislation appears to be complexity rather than clarity. The problem goes beyond the sheer amount of legislation. My question (to which I have yet to receive a satisfactory answer) is why so much legislation has become as it now is: over-complex, unenforceable, unenforced and not fit for purpose. Here are a couple of examples, both of which affect directly the work I do:
I find section 443 of the Companies Act 2006, which attempts to deal with the calculation of the period for filing company accounts, incomprehensible. Even the accompanying notes explaining the section are tough to get to grips with. I am happy to admit to this as I have been assured that I am not alone in my confusion! Where is the sense in producing incomprehensible and therefore probably unworkable legislation? Common sense suggests legislation ought to be intelligible – if not to everyone, then at the very least to those whose role it is to review, understand and advise on its meaning.
On the same topic, (but at a macro rather than a micro level), we now have:
• over 11,000 pages of tax law considered by many to be the most complex in the world;
• one fairly new Companies Act also considered by many to be not fit for purpose with its 1,300 sections and more than 70 statutory instruments; and finally
• a very, very large FSA so called "handbook".
SMEs, which form by far the greatest part of the UK business community, certainly won't find much help in these rule books, nor indeed, I would suggest, will many of their advisors. I believe common sense requires that at some level the law and accompanying regulations are accessible to those who need to use and rely on them. This is particularly relevant to SMEs who may have neither the time nor the ability to understand what is or isn't "legal". Indeed this is a constant refrain from many of the organizations which represent these very large groups of SMEs.
I have suggested to the Ministers at the Department of Business, Skills and Innovation that rather than continuing to waste acres of forests for the paper used to churn out primary legislation and secondary rules, someone might first like to consider whether what we already have is fit for purpose (if anyone remembers what the original purpose was). I was therefore, pleased to note (although nothing whatsoever to do with me) that the government set up reviews in respect of both taxation and health and safety legislation. Initial comments from Lord Young's report on the latter seem both practical and positive. Hopefully someone will look at the morass of company rules and get rid of some of them as soon as possible. Can it really take 32 sections of the Companies Act 2006 to set out the core rules on company names?
More rules don't necessarily mean better rules. On the whole the short Takeover Code, with its core principles, works more efficiently than most other rulebooks. Is this because those who wrote these particular rules understand both the subject matter and the target audience?
If we want companies and their owners to focus on key issues, survival and profitability (as noted earlier) must be high on that list. I would like legislators to make it easier for them to do so whenever possible. This may seem, as has been put to me, "a bit laissez-faire(ish)". However, it might (in many cases) be preferable to the alternatives. I know the government has suggested that one law be repealed for each new one enacted. I wonder if they couldn't be persuaded to stop passing new rules relating to businesses and their management until 2011. Sometimes, doing nothing, having first considered other alternatives, can be the best possible solution in the circumstances.
To my mind the more difficult point is to what extent the ideas of common sense tie in with the current and numerous discussions on ethics and morality. That debate is for another paper and I think, another day. I certainly don't believe we should ignore the former, however right, proper and indeed popular it is currently to debate the latter. As a subject for genuine discussion I think the idea of common sense as an issue is being overlooked. This has been confirmed by my numerous conversations with those who own and manage companies as well as lawyers, accountants and academics all of whom have convinced me this is a topic ignored for too long. Why? Perhaps because the subject is apparently so simplistic? It is in fact anything but. That is why I have part titled this note "the dark matter of the law". Dark matter is everywhere and presumably one day someone will identify exactly what it is and why it is there.
The idea of common sense should not necessarily be incompatible with laws, rules and regulations clearly drafted and fit for purpose. I have suggested in other papers that law which is, for want of a better word, "over-complex" is often law which is often neither enforceable nor enforced.
If anyone thinks these are new ideas, I can do no better than repeat a short extract from an interview in 1980 with Siegmund Warburg, founder of S. G Warburg & Co Ltd, in London and perhaps the leading banker of his generation.
"What qualities do you look for in someone you hire?
I think the most important thing is the courage and common sense of a fellow".
Public procurement is too often solely made on price, and not enough on true value and to account for areas...
In January 2020, Tomorrow's Company co-hosted a major Financial Inclusion Summit, to launch our report into the role of employers...
Mental health in the workplace has gone from a fringe idea to being mainstream and top of the agenda in…
Dear Readers, Here are a few articles published in the last few days that address issues – such as mental…
We need a social contract that is fair, so that everyone has the chance to progress.
Joining Russell Goldsmith at the London offices of GSK to discuss this issue, were Kerry O'Callaghan, VP for Global Brand...
Tomorrow's Company is proud to announce a partnership with the c suite podcast, a monthly show covering topics such as Marketing…
Press return to search


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Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called for an independent inquiry into the death in detention of Muhammad Yusuf, a reporter who was being held in South Kalimantan province, in the far south of the Indonesian part of Borneo, on a charge of defaming a local palm oil production company.
A series of irregularities surround Muhammad Yusuf's death in the town of Kotabaru on June 10, nine weeks after his arrest because of his coverage of allegedly illegal land seizures linked to the activities of MSAM, a company that operates a huge oil palm plantation in the province, reports RSF.
Yusuf had become well-known for his reporting on the story, writing no fewer than 23 articles for two news websites, Kemajuan Rakyat and Berantas News, from November 2017 to March 2018.
He was arrested on April 5 as he was about to fly to Jakarta to meet with the National Commission on Human Rights.
After holding him for more than two months, the police say he was taken from prison to a hospital in Kotabaru on 10 June with chest pains, vomiting and breathing difficulties, and died soon after arrival as a result of a heart attack.
"We call on the Indonesian government and supreme court to guarantee a full and independent investigation and to deploy whatever resources are necessary to ensure that all possible light is shed on this journalist's death," said Daniel Bastard, head of RSF's Asia-Pacific desk.
"The credibility of the rule of law in Indonesia is at stake because of the many doubts surrounding this case.
"What with his critical reporting, the appearance of collusion and a lack of transparency, there are many reasons for suspecting that Muhammad Yusuf died because of his journalistic work."
Strong suspicions
Yusuf's wife, Arvaidah, had requested his release three times on medical grounds because of concern about his state of health. After his death, she was denied access to the morgue and to the autopsy results. Convinced that his death was "not natural," she has filed a complaint against the police and district attorney, who were jointly responsible for detention.
Many people question the independence of the police and district attorney's office in this matter. South Kalimantan's governor is the uncle of the wealthy businessman who owns MSAM, the company targeted by Yusuf's reporting.
According to Tempo, a leading Indonesian news website, bruises on the back of Yusuf's neck can be seen in a video of his body.
All these suspicions prompted the National Commission on Human Rights to announce last week that it was opening an investigation into his death.
Indonesia is ranked 124th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2018 World Press Freedom Index.
The Pacific Media Centre is an associate of Reporters Without Borders in media freedom work.


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When it comes to boots, I feel that I am becoming a bit of a connoisseur. I Love boots, and at this point in the year I start looking for what the new styles are going to be coming in the autumn. I am addicted to boots. It is really bad but I find they are just the most practical shoe for the colder months.
I have spotted of few pictures on the internet of some classic dessert boots from Clarks. I just thought they were so gorgeous in the different shades of suede that I had to share them with you!
I was looking into how this classic boot originated. It was designed in line with the boots made in Bazaars in Cairo when off duty army officers would use them as their shoe of choice to relax in. The pattern was taken by Nathan Clark and was first made in a neutral beige suede. He was told that the design would never sell but he believed he had a great product so took it to a Chicago shoe fair in 1949 where he created a huge desert like display to show the world what he had to offer.
To this day, Clarks are still making the same boot and this year, their 190th brand anniversary, they have produced 1950 pairs which are all handmade in England and individually numbered! They come with a good price tag but I have also been perusing their other cheaper classic pairs of desert boots and thought I would share these with you! They are all beautiful shoes, designed well and with a rich history of a brand that is dedicate to creating classic shoes for comfort and style.
(From top left to right)
Classic Limited Edition/Mans Blue Denim/Chestnut Suede/Black Suede/Brown Leather with Beeswax Finish/Ladies Snake Skin Effect/Light Beige with Grey Spots/Spotted Black and White/Black Leather with Buckles
I especially love the ladies patterned ones; would look amazing with rolled up jeans and a chunky knitted top! A pair might just make my birthday list!!
Post by Emily


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Your Identity Crisis
For a very advanced technological culture, we have a major identity crisis. This comes in many waves for us culturally and as individuals. Part of our issue is that we don't know where we came from. It seems like the history of our country is up for grabs, and the story lines keep changing depending… Continue reading Your Identity Crisis


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It's Fall, Y'all! And that means it's one of the best times of year, especially at the Dallas Arboretum. Right now it's Autumn at the Arboretum so it's the perfect time to back a picnic and bring the kids to come see the over 90,000 pumpkins, gourds, and squash. We had a recent visit to this year's fabulous display and it was the cutest theme and set up I've ever seen!
Pumpkins at the Arboretum is such a fun and popular tradition that has been going on for the last 14 years. In fact, I took a trip down memory lane to remember the first time I had a visit with my daughter at Autumn at the Arboretum 8 years ago. Seeing the pumpkins displayed is one of the best things to do in Dallas in the fall. It's a great place to take the family and out of town guests you have!
Autumn at the Arboretum is such a popular attraction so I suggest making this your first stop when getting to the Arboretum. You can follow the pumpkins along the way and make sure to stop and take some photos as your kids and family are willing!
This year's theme is It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! Here is some more information about the pumpkin display to know before you go to help you plan you visit.
- The pumpkins will be on display until October 31st.
- Regular admission into the Dallas Arboretum will also get you into the pumpkin area.
- There are tons of photo opps so dress the kids and bring a camera.
- Wear comfortable shoes because lots of walking will be done!
All the beloved Charlie Brown characters are there for this year's display including Snoopy, Pig Pen, Linus, and more. You will want to bring the kids and snap tons of pictures.
There are over 90,000 pumpkins to hunt for, a maze to follow, and all the cute Charlie Brown characters to try and find. There's plenty to do and see in the area so you could stay for awhile and the kids will want to play! Mine loved the maze and the fun pumpkin house. It was so cool!!
You could easily spend the entire day the Dallas Arboretum. They have such a beautiful area to stroll around in and even several eateries there as well. We always opt for bringing lunch and having a nice picnic on the lawn space in front of the lake which makes for a nice view.
As you can see there is so much to see and do at the beautiful Dallas Arboretum this time of year. Make sure you take a trip out to see the pumpkins before Halloween!
Have you ever been to the Dallas Arboretum? They have so many fabulous events happening daily including cooking classes and concerts on the lawn. There's something for the whole family.
Thank you to the Dallas Arboretum for providing my family with tickets so we could experience the beautiful pumpkins. We had a fabulous visit and enjoyed every minute.


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We went to see my brother Cam in the morgue the day after he died. I wasn't planning on going in, because watching my stepdad Jim die last year really messed me up.
We sat and waited with the cops for a while, until the most beautiful lady came out to talk to us. She knelt down in front of us, spoke softly, took my mums hand with such compassion and concern. Her name was Anouk.
"Ok I'd like to let you all know .... when you walk into the room, Cameron will be lying down with a sheet tucked up to his chest. He'll be wearing a white hospital gown. (Pointing) His head is up there and his feet down there. You can stay in there for as long as you like. Do you have any questions?"
We didn't, but we were all thinking what a wonderful person she was, really warm and caring and meant it. I'm so glad she described the scene before we went in, made it less scary.
I walked in last, stood at a distance. It was shocking and confronting and relieving all at once. There he was! Right in front of us! Hey Cambo! His beautiful hands were out in front of him and kind of up a bit. The look on his face told me he didn't suffer and wasn't in pain when he died. (I still can't believe he died. This week has been dreadful.)
I didn't want to touch him because mum said how cold he was. I think we all took turns in crying - except Dave. That week Dave gave all of us such respite in his strength.
Death is such a freaky, scary, cloistered thing in our culture. Yet it happens every day. In Bali you can buy tickets to watch a funeral and then see as the body gets set alight. Tickets. Like a show.
We all said thank you to Anouk and walked outside. The policeman told us to have a great day. When we were back at Lindas house, we couldn't believe that a coroner could be so utterly caring. Then we found out that Anouk was actually a counsellor. A bloody good one.
A few days later I needed to see Cam again one last time before he was cremated. (CREMATED WHAT) Mum did too, so she and I made an appointment and went back, just the two of us. Our final last chance to say goodbye. This time we had a lady called Michelle come out to greet us, explain where he was, etc. She was a bit more lively - told us how handsome Cam was.
Mum and I walked in and half of his face looked like it was sunburnt. It looked good, like he'd got a bit of a tan while hanging out at the old morgue. Michelle explained that as he died his head fell to the right, leaving a pool of blood. And the longer he was in the morgue, the more pronounced it was. I touched him this time. His legs and his arms and his hands. I mopped his defrosting forehead with a tissue that I put in my back pocket and vowed to always keep. I've no idea where it is now. Mum gave me some time alone with him. I cannot remember one thing I said to him. I wondered if he was just standing right there, looking at me looking at him, so unwilling to say goodbye but knowing I had to and we were never, ever to see him in this incarnation in life again.
That shit burns like nothing I've ever experienced.
Mum came back in and I press down on his legs, making a plastic sound. We wondered what it was ... maybe something they put there to keep the body cool?
We walked out, after kissing and loving as much as we could. We said goodbye to Michelle and we were literally half way out the door when I turned and asked her where his clothes were that he was wearing when he came.
"Hmmm. Good question."
She went into the office to check for notes - none. We followed her back in where Cam was, and she walked right around, reached up where his legs were, and then pulled out this huge plastic bag containing all of his clothes. (Hey Rocky, watch me a pull a rabbit out of my hat. Nothin' up my sleeve!)
"I'm so sorry, this should have been given to you."
I watched as mum reached in and pulled the clothes out. When she got to the bright red hoodie she started crying. It was the hoodie she'd given him for his birthday just a month before, she'd been looking for it at his flat the day before and assumed he didn't like it because she couldn't find it.
"He liked it! He *did* like it!"
It was good that we got his clothes and saw him a second time and mum knows he liked the hoodie ... but it was all wrong.
Everything was wrong. Thank goodness for people like Anouk and Michelle to help guide people like us through the very worst times of our lives.
1. Noelene the Young
2. Megan the Mouse
3. Harpal the Australian
4. Darren the Artist
5. Jo the Interesting
6. John the Telstra Guy
7. Michael the Photographer
8. Peg the Lady
9. Jeff the Preacher Man
10. Andres the Cobbler
11. Honey the Prostitute
12. Mark the Masseur
13. You the Blog Reader
14. Jo the Podiatrist
15. Casey the Uni Student
16. Dream the Horse and Carriage Driver
17. Tamas the Hungarian Accordionist
18. The Dignified Trolley Ladies
19. Alex With The Studded Hot Pink Belt
20. Leaf The Fallen
21. Bel Of The Library
22. Jay And His Big Issue
23. Emma The Adult Shop Cashier
24. Teena, Saver Of Dogs
25. The Luna Park Face
26. Gary The Missing
27. Kristen at the Elephant Bean Cafe
28. Uncle Paul
29. Jess The Mama
30. The Two People At The Checkout
31. Alfie The Pourer
32. Breaking The Rules With Captain Starlight!
33. The Woman In Line At The Bakery A Few Weekends Ago
34. Dog The Dog
35. Julia Gillard The Person
36. Nancy The Badass
37. Bruce From The Psych Ward
38. Jeremy The Costumeless


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The Union
The Union is a forum-based roleplaying site. The Union takes place some 500 years after Fur Future, which had replaced Redwall 3000.[1]
- Address: http://z9.invisionfree.com/The_Union_RP/
- Ran from/to: May 2006[2] - present
The Union takes place in the year 3503, 500 years after Fur Future.
In 3065, the COURAGE rebellion was victorious in overthrowing Morthid, creating "The Union of Redwall", ending the reign of the Redwall Empire's first and only emperor. With that, their democratic vision of peace and prosperity was fulfilled. For twenty years.
Soon after the victory, a fox-centric religious movement started up, where foxes were considered to be the children of the gods, or "Princes of the Universe". This movement quickly gained power, and within a few decades, all leaders of the Union were foxes. Slowly, over time, the foxes cemented their supremacy in the public mind, escalating fox leaders of the COURAGE rebellion to god status and removing the non-foxes from history. A family-line of emperorship was established, and the last remaining semblances of a democracy were reserved only for foxes.
In 3285, The Union discovered spaceflight, and colonized another world, putting it's prisoners and religious heretics there. This didn't last, and in 3305, the colony rebelled, lead by several members of the Desot family. Fifty years of bloody war resulted, and after a failed nuclear strike by The Union, the planet was given independence, becoming the Democratic Republic of Redwall, or simply The Republic. For over a hundred years, relations between the two sides improved, although they both still built up their military. During this time, the Desot family also increased it's power over the Republic, becoming the De Facto "royal family" for the colony.
In 3457, The Union conquered the forbidden lands, a section of land from where noone had returned. There they discovered humans, and the real reason behind their creation - not gods, but genetic experimentation. Humans were labeled heretics and a crusade was launched to wipe them out. The republic offered them shelter, shattering the peace.
During this time, a group from both The Union and The Republic took up refuge in the asteroid belt, calling themselves the "Coalition of Traders", and began making a living by piracy - although for the most part, coalition raids result in few, if any casualties. Smaller groups broke off at one point or another, forming their own societies, and are often blamed by the Coalition for the numerous bloody pirate attacks that do occur in the belt.
In 3501, the emperor of the Union died, bringing his second eldest son into power. His oldest son, a black fox, resented this, and began a small rebellion, funded by the Republic, to eventually take his place. His is not well-trusted by some of the non-fox members of the rebellion.
In 3503, following a failed raid on what was thought to be a Union supply depot, but really turned out to be a research lab, the Union declared war on the Republic, citing proof of the Republic's involvement in the rebellion through the involvement in the raid of Paris Desot.
- Paris Desot - Otter, Male
- Gabriel - Lynx, Male
- "PIM" - AI, Female (Uses Gabriel as host body)
- Josephine Luturis Zanier - Otter, Male
- ↑ The Union - Forum based RP. August 16, 2006 post to the furry_rpers LiveJournal community.
- ↑ New Site Idea #1 - The Union, The Union of Redwall Lives! May 30, 2006 post to the Fur Future forum.
External links[edit]
- Survivors of Fur Future thread on the Redwall 3000 forum
|This multiplayer world entry is a stub - can you expand and improve it?


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With every purchase of The Living Urn™, you have the option to receive a tree seedling of your choice. Seedlings are simply young trees (about 6" to 3' tall depending on the tree species) that have already germinated from a seed and are ready to be planted in The Living Urn™ and grow from your loved ones cremated remains.
Evergreen Tree Seedling
The Evergreen option is best for those that like the elegance and resilience of evergreen trees and want to receive and plant their tree seedling right away. The pine, spruce and cypress evergreen options are famously hardy species that retain their green color year-round. You will select your Evergreen Tree Seedling type at checkout and it will arrive on your doorstep within 3 to 10 days from the date of purchase ready to plant (or, if you purchased your Living Urn™ at a retail store, you receive a voucher for an Evergreen Tree Seedling -- simply visit the link in the upper right hand corner of this page, input your voucher code, and select your seedling).
Seasonal Tree Seedling
Unlike the Evergreen tree options, our Seasonal tree options require special consideration on where they are planted (geographic planting zone) and when they are planted (specific window of time in the spring and fall). For this reason, if you decide to select a Seasonal tree, we provide you with a variety of options tailored specifically to your geographic growing zone identified by your zip code. Also, we will ship your Seasonal Tree Seedling to you only when it is the optimal time for it to be planted so your special memory tree will grow and flourish. Our Seasonal tree option is best for those not interested in memorializing their loved one with an Evergreen tree and those willing to wait to plant their seedling and their Living Urn™ for up to 6 months until the appropriate and optimal time. Your Seasonal Tree Seedling will arrive at your doorstep when the time is right for planting, typically in the spring or fall months. If possible, plant your Living Urn™ and seedling within 5 days of its arrival.
To find out what seasonal trees are available for your particular location, simply visit www.arborday.org/livingurn and type in your zip code in the space provided.
Below are the Seasonal Tree Seedlings we offer (options vary for each growing region and additional trees species may become available from time to time in certain regions):


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Price or Sale Batch
Group Edit Items
Product List Tool
Scale Sync
Get Report
Specify one or more search conditions to find a set
of products in POS. Select one or more products in
the list of results and click one of the right hand
buttons to feed the select product(s) into different
tools and reports. Star (*) is permitted as a wild
card in text fields.
Selected items are retained across searches and can
be used to build larger sets of products. For example,
you could run a search for items in department one
with a description including "CAN", select a few products
in the result set, then run a second search for items
in department two with a description including
"FROZEN". The second search results will include
products that match the second search and
products that were selected in the first search.


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Stellar Photo Manipulations the Old Fashioned Way Friday
January 18, 2013
by Benjamin Starr, Visual News
Featuring Thomas Barbèy's photomontages.
"Photo manipulations have been a mainstay of photography, even before the advent of Photoshop, but with the ubiquitous use of program by everyone and their brother, the world has become flooded with seriously questionable work. Luckily the other day we ran across the work of Thomas Barbéy to give us hope. His pieces bring back a classic surreal quality, perhaps because he does this the old fashioned way – with carefully planned film based photographs, selection of negatives and maybe even a bit of airbrushing... Read more
Discovery in Stone
by Sioban Roth, National Geographic Magazine
Feature on Bill Atkinson's book Within the Stone.
"Shooting extreme close-ups of polished opals in a hotel room couldn't be farther away from hiking in the woods, seeking rays of evening light that hover between the branches of a flowering dogwood tree. But the two have their commonalities. "It's a found art, a little bit like landscapes," Atkinson says of his stonescapes." Read more
Photos celebrate glories of nature
December 16, 1999
By Robert L. Pincus, San Diego Union-Tribune
A review of Burkett's exhibition at the Joseph Bellows Gallery, La Jolla, CA
"Burkett has an extraordinary eye for framing nature, for making his rectangular windows onto it seem as if they were destined to be pictures. In this respect, he is a lot like Ansel Adams. He isn't grounded in one locale, as Adams was with Yosemite. But the same reverence is palpable..." Read more


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If you are a Kodi user, it is likely true that most of the time you use Kodi on fullscreen mode. However, there is also the option to run Kodi windowed, at least on Windows OS. This lets you use your device for any other tasks while you watch a movie. The problem is that if a window comes in front of Kodi, it will be partially obscured. If you are a user of Kodi on Windows and want to watch movies while working or doing anything else, then keep reading, to find out how to keep Kodi windows always on top. [Read: Kodi Windows Store installation method is now available]
Table of Contents
How to keep Kodi windows always on top of other windows?
This setting is accessible thanks to the
advancedsettings.xml file that can be created within the userdata folder of any Kodi installation. If you want to get an Always on top Kodi window, all you need to do is take clever advantage of these advanced settings. It is easier than it seems. [Read: 5 Kodi advanced settings I always use on media centers]
Recommended HTPC / Home Server Builds:
- Best Home Theater PC Build 2017 to do it all (Plex, Kodi, NAS, Gaming)
- Best Emby Server builds 2018 – Pre-built and DIY options
- Medium Budget 4K HTPC Build 2017 for Kodi, Plex and Gaming
- Cheap 4K HTPC Build for Kodi, OpenELEC, and LibreELEC 2017
- Low Power Home Server Build 2017 for Network File and Media Storage
- Best HTPC for Kodi with 4K on a Medium Budget 2017 (~$400)
- Energy efficient budget HTPC-NAS combo build 2016
To start, if you want to ensure that an Always on top Kodi window is visible, head to
System ->
Settings ->
System ->
Video Output. Here you want to make Kodi run windowed. If Kodi is running fullscreen, it will make no sense for you to define always on top Kodi windows on the Kodi options. On the
Display mode menu item, make sure Kodi is set to
Window size & finding the userdata folder
Once you have Kodi running on a window, set the dimensions of it by dragging on the edges, like you would with any other Windows application. It's time now to make it stay always on top. If you want Kodi to be always visible, head to a Windows explorer window and type
%appdata%/Kodi/userdata on the address bar. Press
Enter. The Kodi userdata folder should open up for you. [Read: Kodi Beginners Guide p5: Kodi folder location and structure]
Working with the advancedsettings.xml file
If you don't have the
advancedsettings.xml file created, then create it now at this location. If you have it, then simply edit it. The advanced settings Kodi file is an
XML language file. You want the following markup in this file:
<advancedsettings> <alwaysontop>yes</alwaysontop> </advancedsettings>
Basically, the
advancedsettings.xml file has to start and end with both
<advancedsettings> tags (the closing one has an slash
/ symbol in front of the tag word, as seen in the example). This tells Kodi where the settings start and end. Somewhere between these tags, the property
<alwaysontop> has to be set to
yes, with opening and closing tags as well. It does not matter if you have other settings between the
<advancedsettings> tabs, as long as
<alwaysontop> has its own line, as shown in the example, and is not between any other tags.
Can I have always on top Kodi windows now?
Yes. You are done. Congratulations! Save the file, and then restart Kodi. You can now watch movies while working, and in general, avoid interruptions on your content. Now you need some content to watch, don't you? Use one of these legal Kodi streaming addons or get movies with one of these 10 best Kodi movies addons. Enjoy being productive and watching your favorite media at the same time! (or at least, try!)


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Play It Again Sam
Allan: That's quite a lovely Jackson Pollack, isn't it?
Museum Girl: Yes, it is.
Allan: What does it say to you?
Museum Girl: It restates the negativeness of the universe. The hideous lonely emptiness of existence. Nothingness. The predicament of Man forced to live in a barren, Godless eternity like a tiny flame flickering in an immense void with nothing but waste, horror and degradation, forming a useless bleak straitjacket in a black absurd cosmos.
Allan: What are you doing Saturday night?
Museum Girl: Committing suicide.
Allan: What about Friday night?
We've been watching a lot of movies.
Sitting in our chair. With our ottoman now in position.
We've been watching a lot of movies that we already know.
Philip Henslowe: Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.
Hugh Fennyman:: So what do we do?
Philip Henslowe: Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well.
Hugh Fennyman: How?
Philip Henslowe: I don't know. It's a mystery.
And, finally, one line which has made it into our everyday lexicon -
Whenever someone around us proclaims that they are shocked regarding some turn of events, one of us says, strongly and firmly: I'M SHOCKED, SHOCKED TO FIND THAT GAMBLING IS GOING ON HERE...
As in:
Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much.
Captain Renault:[aloud] Everybody out at once!
There is small, strange comfort in knowing exactly what will happen next, on the screen, when one may not be so convinced things 'will all turn out right in the end' in real life.
After all...
Philip Henslowe :[aloud] The show must... you know...
William Shakespeare: [prompting him] Go on!


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Parking Control Security Officers
Eagle One Security provides "24/7 Top of the Line" Parking Control Security Guards. Our professional security guards are fully licensed by the Bureau of Security & Investigative Services (BSIS), and understand the importance of safety and provide it to the best of their ability. Our security officers undergo a variety of immense training stages before we deploy them into the field. Eagle One Security has the best security solution when it comes to parking management and securing your lot. Our professional parking control security officers are highly determined in providing nothing but the upmost best protection and upholding their high visibility and professional presence for your property of business. Our security officers can deter parking violators, and unlawful parking hazards at your business or property providing you with the safety and security you deserve.
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Customer Service
Effective Monitoring
State-of-the-art Technology
Parking Control Officers can be requested in:
(Uniform, Business Attire, or Plain Clothes)
Enforce your business/property security policies


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Cotoneaster horizontalis Decaisne, Fl. Ser. Jard. L'Europe 22: 168, 1879.
Synonym: C. acuminata Lindley var. prostrata J.D. Hooker ex Wenzig
Section Adpressi, series Horizontales
Origin: China (Sichuan, Gansu).
Presence in western Europe: Naturalized in France (Farille & al. 2010), Germany (John & Frank 2008; Dickoré & Kasperek 2010), Great Britain (Stace 2010). Furthermore known from Austria, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Switserland (Dickoré & Kasperek l.c.), Italy (Celesti-Grapow & al. 2009), Sweden (Hylmö 1993), etc. Doubtlessly present and relatively common in many parts of Europe.
Cultivation in Belgium and the Netherlands: "common" (De Koning & van den Broek 2009).
Comparative taxonomy: Cotoneaster horizontalis is here accepted in a narrow sense, following Fryer & Hylmö (2009). Dickoré & Kasperek (2010) and Flora of China (Lingdi & Brach 2003) accept this species in a (much) wider sense. Both subsume many species of Fryer & Hylmö's (l.c.) series Horizontales under Cotoneaster horizontalis.
Illustrations: Hylmö (1993), Grevtsova (1999), Roloff & Bärtels (2006), John & Frank (2008), De Koning & van den Broek (2009), Fryer & Hylmö (2009), Stace (2010). See also: http://www.british-wild-flowers.co.uk/C-Flowers/Cotoneaster,%20Wall.htm.
The naturalisation history of Cotoneaster horizontalis in Belgium is poorly documented. It was first collected in the wild in 1982 on top of a calcareous slope in Comblain-au-Pont in the valley of river Meuse (Verloove 2006) but its escape from cultivation might well have started (much) earlier. In the 1980's it was further documented from calcareous rocks in the valley of river Ourthe near Werpin. In the past decades Cotoneaster horizontalis has been increasingly recorded in large parts of Belgium, although it seems less frequent on acidic soils (see up-to-date distribution map in Piqueray & al. 2008). It is absent in large parts of the Kempen and in eastern Belgium. On the contrary, an important incidence was observed in large urban entities, especially around Brussel and Gent. It is necessary to stress that part of these records surely corresponds with similar, related species, mostly Cotoneaster hjelmqvistii and, to some extent, also C. ascendens (and possibly still other, as yet, unidentified species).
Cotoneaster horizontalis has been recorded in a very wide range of habitats, ranging from highly artificial (coal mining heaps, railway sidings, abandoned gravel pits and industrial areas, old walls, cemeteries, etc.) to natural ones (mainly calcareous grassland and scrub in coastal dunes). It is usually confined to dry, sun-exposed sites, mostly on calcareous substrates. Typical invaded habitats include Mosan Xerobromion (Piqueray & al. 2008) and coal mining heaps. In such suitable habitats it is able to naturalise and proliferate (see below). In coastal dunes Cotoneaster horizontalis is not rare (especially between De Panne and Nieuwpoort) but, at least for the time being, it never builds dense stands. Less frequently (and perhaps often merely ephemeral) Cotoneaster horizontalis also occurs in (half-) shade and on rather acidic soils. It has also been observed as an epiphyte in pollard willows.
The degree of naturalisation of Cotoneaster horizontalis in Belgium is fairly variable. It is one of the commonest species in cultivation and is easily dispersed by birds. Hence, it is a frequent xenophyte but often occurs as single individuals or in relatively small numbers. In parts of Germany, for instance, it is a very rare and often ephemeral species (compare with Henker & Kiesewetter 2006). However, in suitable habitats (see above) Cotoneaster horizontalis may quickly develop dense and large thickets. As such, Cotoneaster horizontalis locally has become an invasive species in Belgium and appears on the black list (http://ias.biodiversity.be/species/show/49). Piqueray & al. (2008) investigated its impact in biodiversity hotspots in Belgium. Cotoneaster horizontalis mostly occurred in complexes of xeric grasslands and calcareous rocks and was often accompanied by rare and vulnerable native species. Its naturalisation process in such habitats proved to be very effective. Three-year-old individuals already reproduced successfully and berries are subsequently dispersed by birds, which allows long distance dispersal towards uninvaded grasslands. Piqueray & al. (2008) recommend that Cotoneaster horizontalis should no longer be commercialized (not very probable) and that intensive (early) management in high-value habitats should be undertaken. Public awareness should also be raised. Eradication of Cotoneaster horizontalis in affected grasslands is not straightforward: uprooting seriously damages neighbouring vegetation as a result of its much outspread root and rhizome system. Cutting (at least every three years) prevents Cotoneaster horizontalis from flowering and fruiting and thus limits its further development but does not allow its eradication. Its biological and phenological traits should be studied further before coherent and efficient management strategies can be developed (Piqueray & al. 2008).
Cotoneaster horizontalis is a rather variable species and belongs to a critical species complex (Series Horizontales of Section Adpressi). In Belgium it has hitherto been confused with both Cotoneaster hjelmqvistii and C. ascendens. Especially the former is fairly frequent and also occurs in natural habitats although it exhibits – at least for now – a much less prominent invasive behaviour (the "usual" invader in calcareous grasslands in Belgium surely is Cotoneaster horizontalis). Identification aids for their separation from the latter are discussed under these species. Records of Cotoneaster horizontalis probably also hide other related and/or similar species. Cotoneaster adpressus Bois and related microspecies like C. nanshan M. Vilmorin ex Mottet are not rare in cultivation and possibly overlooked. The latter is even quoted "common" for Belgium and the Netherlands by de Koning & van den Broek (2009). Both are distinguished by their leaves with distinctly undulate margins and dull upper leaf surface (shiny and with more or less flat margins in Cotoneaster horizontalis). Other related species include Cotoneaster atropurpureus Flinck & B. Hylmö and C. perpusillus (C.K. Schneider) Flinck & B. Hylmö, both separated by petals with a blackish red base (the latter also more diminutive in all its parts but otherwise probably rather poorly distinguished and merely reduced to synonymy with C. horizontalis by Dickoré & Kasperek 2010). See also Klotz (1957).
Celesti-Grapow L. & al. (2009) Inventory of the non-native flora of Italy. Plant Biosystems 143(2): 386-430.
De Koning J. & van Den Broek (2009) Nederlandse Dendrologie (14th ed.). K.N.N.V.: 547 p.
Dickoré W.B. & Kasperek G. (2010) Species of Cotoneaster (Rosaceae, Maloideae) indigenous to, naturalising or commonly cultivated in Central Europe. Willdenowia 40: 13-45 [available online at: http://user.uni-frankfurt.de/~kasperek/papers/dickore_kasperek_2010.pdf].
Farille M.A., Zeller J., Jordan D., Charpin A. & Garraud L. (2010) Cotonéasters échappés de jardins en Haute-Savoie. Monde Pl. 501: 1-5.
Fryer J. & Hylmö B. (2009) Cotoneasters. A comprehensive guide to shrubs for flowers, fruit, and foliage. Timber Press, Portland-London: 344 p.
Grevtsova A.T. (1999) Atlas Cotoneasters. Cotoneaster (Medic.) Bauhin. Kiev, House Orchard, Truck-Garden: 372 p.
Henker H. & Kiesewetter H. (2006) Erstnachweise kritischer Pflanzensippen für Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Bot. Rundbr. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 41: 5-20.
Hylmö B. (1993) Oxbär, Cotoneaster i Sverige. Svensk Bot. Tidskr. 87: 305-330.
John H. & Frank D. (2008) Verwilderte Cotoneaster-Arten in Halle (Saale) und Umgebung. Mitt. Florist. Kart. Sachsen-Anhalt 13: 3-28 [available online at: http://bv-st.de/images/Flo-Kart_2008_003-028_John_Frank.pdf
Klotz G. (1957) Übersicht über die in Kultur befindlichen Cotoneaster-Arten. Wiss. Z. Univ. Halle, Math.-Nat. 6(6): 945-982.
Lingdi L. & Brach A.R. (2003) Cotoneaster. In: Wu Z.Y. & Raven P.H. (eds.), Flora of China, vol. 9. Science Press, Beijing & Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis: 85-108 [available online at: http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/PDF/PDF09/Cotoneaster.PDF].
Piqueray J., Mahy G. & Vanderhoeven S. (2008) Naturalization and impact of a horticultural species, Cotoneaster horizontalis (Rosaceae), in biodiversity hotspots in Belgium. Belg. J. Bot. 141(2): 113-124 [available online at: http://orbi.ulg.ac.be/bitstream/2268/16142/1/belgian-journal-2008.pdf].
Roloff A. & Bärtels A. (2006) Flora der Gehölze (2e Auflage). Ulmer, Stuttgart: 844 p.
Stace C. (2010) New Flora of the British Isles, 3th ed.: XXXII + 1232 p. Cambridge University Press.
Verloove F. (2006) Catalogue of neophytes in Belgium (1800-2005). Scripta Botanica Belgica 39: 89 p. [available online at: http://alienplantsbelgium.be/sites/alienplantsbelgium.be/files/tabel_2.pdf].


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The Grand Canyon wasn't created by an earthquake.
While it's tempting to imagine that the world changes via sudden shocks, that our culture is shifted by dramatic changes in leadership, that grand gestures make all the difference…
It turns out that our daily practice, the piling up of regular actions, the cultural practices and biases that we each choose—that's what makes change happen.
False promises and urgent reactions are a trap and a sideshow.


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Used Cars Baltimore
Welcome to Cherner Brothers Auto Sales! Located right here in Baltimore, MD, we are the destination for purchasing quality used vehicles at unbeatable prices. Whether you are looking for a luxury sedan, or a good old 'Made in the USA' pickup truck, you are sure to find it at Cherner Brothers. Family owned and operated for over forty years, we have a longstanding commitment to providing our customers with a fast, no gimmick approach to automotive sales. If you are searching for a unique selection of reliable used cars, Baltimore's very own Cherner Brothers is the only name you need to remember.
A History of Personalized Service
Here at Cherner Brothers Auto Sales, our friendly staff is always here to help you find whatever it is you are looking for. One of the most unique aspects of coming to Cherner Brothers for your used vehicle search, is that you will always be working with a decision maker here at the dealership. Our small boutique-style approach to automotive sales ensures that you will get personalized, one-on-one attention from someone who is an owner or a manager here at Cherner Brothers. Over the past forty years, we have had plenty of opportunity to expand – but we have made the conscious decision to remain the mom-and-pop shop our customers love and keep coming back to.
The small size of Cherner Brothers Auto Sales means that there is never a back-and-forth game between our customers and a phantom manager that may or may not exist. When you come to Cherner Brothers, you will be treated to a straight-forward sales approach with one of us. The same person who walks you through our inventory selection, will also help you navigate the financial side of things. Whether you are purchasing your vehicle in cash, or need to take out a loan, you will work directly with one person throughout your entire experience with us. Because of this one-on-one individualized attention, the sales process at Cherner Brothers is completely streamlined. Eliminating the back and forth shenanigans that other dealerships seem so fond of, Cherner Brothers keeps your car buying journey succinct and to the point. We understand that your time is valuable, so rather than waste hours of your Saturday with some sales suit and tie, come down to Cherner Brothers Auto Sales where you will be treated like one of the family.
The Most Diverse Inventory on the East Coast
One of the major downsides of used car lots, is their inability to provide their customers with a diverse inventory of quality pre-owned vehicles. Just as our sales approach differs from every other used car dealership you will encounter, so does our inventory selection process. At Cherner Brothers, we acquire the vast majority of our pre-owned inventory directly from members of our community. Not only does this allow us to remain actively engaged with members of our outstanding community, but it also affords us the opportunity to provide buyers with the most diverse used car inventory on the East Coast. One thing that you will never find at Cherner Brothers is dozens of the same make and model bought at rock-bottom prices from a local auction. While other dealerships are perfectly content in acquiring vehicles by the masses in order to turn a quick profit – that isn't how Cherner Brothers operates. Every vehicle on our lot was hand-selected by our family-run team for its reliability, quality, and condition – because we are committed to providing our customers with only the best pre-owned vehicles out there.
The small size of our dealership also means that our inventory is constantly changing in order to meet the needs of our customers. Whether you are searching for a used luxury Mercedes-Benz C-Class wagon, a performance-enhanced BMW 3-Series, or a ruggedly equipped Jeep Wrangler Unlimited – Cherner Brothers has what you are looking for. If at any point our inventory does not include a pre-owned vehicle to meet your specific needs, just let us know! At Cherner Brothers, we love helping our customers find the perfect vehicle they have been dreaming of driving. Our dedicated team has access to dealership-only resources that allow us to find cars, trucks, and SUVs that aren't in our current inventory, and the ability to bring them directly to our dealership for you to purchase. When we say that our inventory is the most diverse on the East Coast, we certainly mean it. If what we currently have in stock isn't what you are looking for, we won't rest until we track down the vehicle that matches your specifications and get you driving home in the new-to-you car of your dreams.
A One of a Kind, One-Stop Shop
At Cherner Brothers Auto Sales, we are in the used car business. Rather than simply sell you used vehicles, Cherner Brothers will also buy your vehicle directly from you on the spot. Whether you plan to purchase your next car from us or not doesn't matter. Our one-of-a-kind pre-owned car dealership is able to offer the best selection of used vehicles, because we purchase them directly from our customers. If you are thinking of selling your vehicle for cash, or you want to trade it in for another model, Cherner Brothers can help you with both. Simply stop in and see us during regular business hours, and within fifteen minutes, you can leave with cold hard cash in exchange for your car. Unlike other places, we will literally purchase any vehicle, and we promise to beat any written offer you bring in from another dealership.
Another one-stop shopping experience we offer is guaranteed financing for everyone. Regardless of your credit situation, or how many times you have been turned down by other dealerships – you will drive home in a new-to-you vehicle when you come down to Cherner Brothers. Our small size allows us the ability to offer flexible in-house financing to every individual who needs a reliable mode of transportation, and that is a guarantee you just won't find anywhere else.
The Bottom Line is a Good One
Whether you are looking to purchase a great pre-owned car, truck, or SUV, or are searching for a way to turn your vehicle into cash, Cherner Brothers is the place to be. The vast majority of our past customers come back for their future automotive needs, because they already know that Cherner Brothers is the most unique used car dealership in the D.C. area. Here at Cherner Brothers Auto Sales, we have an all-inclusive "everyone" policy that is the foundation of how we do business:
- Everyone Gets a Deal
- Everyone is Treated Fairly
- Everyone is Taken Care Of
- Everyone Leaves Happy
If those qualities are important to you in a used car dealership, then we invite you to come and experience the Cherner Brothers difference for yourself. We would love to introduce you to our family, and give you a tour of our unique selection of quality pre-owned vehicles. Time and again, we hear from our customers that it was "The easiest car buying experience I've ever had." Instead of wasting your valuable free time in a showroom with someone who is interested in their bottom line rather than your best interest, come down to Cherner Brothers Auto Sales and discover for yourself what a truly unique car buying experience is like. We can't wait to show you around.


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Omakase is a brand NEW sushi joint in SF that just opened up 2 weeks ago. Obviously when I heard about this place, I was all over it. (Omakase = sushi art on plate)
Now THIS is a place that seeks perfection and I was immediately impressed by the passion and voice given to the art of food.
Sitting at the sushi bar, it doesn't take long to realize that Omakase is special – there are only 14 seats a night, every single piece of pottery is imported from Japan, the service is on point, and our sake was served in hand-made crystal glasses-!!
GUYS. Even the sushi rice is timed/cooked depending on the time of your reservation AKA arrival. I mean… how cool is that??
They take the extra step to ensure that each guest enjoys the optimal temperature for sushi rice. Not too cold, and not too hot. Just perfection.
Omakase leaves your dinner experience entirely up to the chef, who crafts a menu each night based on seasonality and quality of ingredients.
Here, they offer three different fixed-price tasting menus: $100, $150, $200.
Meaning: hungry, very hungry, F'ing feed me everything please!
Every single item we had was phenomenal, there were even pieces of fish that I've never had before! Head Chef Jackson (who goes to Tokyo every year to practice his art) explained that since some fishes on their menu are so expensive and rare, 99% of sushi restaurants in the U.S do not carry them.
Side: their fishes are flown in 3 times a week from Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo — the famed and largest fish market in the world! (It was such an awesome place to visit during my trip to Japan)
Did you guys know that there are three different types of eel?? Most places in SF have the basic one- Unagi. This one (above) is called Hamo Conger, which is a special type of sea eel and one of the most expensive in the world (<– also rarely available in sushi restaurants).
Here, they put fish scales on top of unago, which gives it a crunchy texture with each bite (<– love this!). You can only use a certain type of fish scales in order to get it so crispy.
Think of Unago as the same level as o-toro.
This is their gorg box of uni, which is a little redder in color. Omakase only gets the best from Hokkaido.
This is the golden eye snapper- an amazing white fish with a rich, buttery flavor and golden/rosy skin that is lightly torched.
Chef Jackson truly outdone himself with this one. If you've never had golden eye snapper, you can't call yourself a sushi fan!
So at this point, my mind has already been blown.
And just a little FYI: The owners/head chef has been killing the sushi game in SF for YEARS now. After two decades of sushi restaurant experience, Chef Jackson has finally opened up his dream sushi restaurant, a true omakase experience
Oh, just another thing to note. Masaki Sasaki– the man behind Maruya's 1 Michelin Star, is now a consultant here at Omakase. I'm not saying anything, but I'm trying to say something that might be eluding to something.
Here are the rest of the pics from the night:
This is the cooked sea bass (it's seriously one of the best I've ever had): crunchy on the outside, yet still buttery on the inside, never drying out the flavors- now that's perfection!
So to sum it all up:
Omakase is the new kid on the block and I cannot say enough good things about this place. If you're a true sushi lover and can appreciate the art of Japanese cuisine + all the tiny details that go into every cut of fish, then this place is for you. Make your ressies ASAP while they are still new, otherwise reservations might be hard to get within a few months.
Oh, did I also forget to mention that every meal here begins with a glass of champagne?? For only being two weeks old, you can tell that A LOT of work was put into making this dining experience one-of-a-kind. Given the talent behind Omakase, this is a restaurant worth visiting and watching.
PS: this place is perfect for date night!! Sit back, enjoy some sake, and watch the Chefs prepare you a meal you won't forget.


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Closet Envy: Sarah Von of Yes and Yes
Though she lived out of a backpack for the better part of last year, blogger and world traveler Sarah Von can appreciate a well-organized closet. Once she unpacked from nine months of travel, Sarah set to work turning a very mediocre walk in closet into something straight out of Sex And The City.
Name: Sarah Von
Location: (usually) St. Paul, Minnesota
Blog: Yes and Yes
Twitter: @yesandyes
What's your favorite item in your closet at the moment?
My stylish grandma recently gave me her vintage, black (real) fur capelet. I'm trying to find a way to style it that won't make me look like a snooty so-and-so or a Russian countess.
Do you have any super genius storage/organization tips to share?
I love stacking my bracelets around vintage bottles and those back-of-the-door shoe hangers are worth their weight in gold!
What items would your fantasy closet include?
The perfect pair of riding boots, a great method of scarf storing (I have yet to discover one!) and The World's Most Flattering Mirror.
Best type of hanger: wooden, plastic, or those puffy satin ones?
I actually love those fancy hangers that are covered in fake suede. Nothing slides off – ever!
Do you share your closet with anyone? Any advice for sharing space peacefully?
Currently, my closet is mine-all-mine, but I've shared closets in the past. I'm actually a big fan of quality over quantity so I'm usually pretty good about using only 50% of the closet!
Thanks for the tour, Sarah! Do you guys have any questions?


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Once you have a specific project you need to fill an application in writing with the request for allocation of a grant for this project. As well as the commercial firm is the business plan for convincing investors to invest in the business, the application need to convince the grantor to invest a certain amount in your project. The application differs from a business plan to obtain funds for a commercial project, i.e. non-profit business.
Applicants need to have a goal in mind: to convince funders (which is the appropriate Committee, Council of experts, the Commission) that your project has the necessary qualities, having a weight in the framework of any science: conceptual novelty, meaningful content and methodological rigor.
Under equal conditions the winner of the bid, which is most clearly seen all three of these virtues. I.e. it should meet not only requirements of her writing but also the hidden expectations of the Commission. Also it would be very useful (especially in the case when it comes to applied Sciences and Humanities) to show convincingly the usefulness and importance of the project for your country. Since most foundations-Grantmakers doing this to help the country as a whole. Therefore, the more clearly you will show the significance of your project in this view, the better.
Making a request, be guided that it will seek answers to three basic questions:
1. What is new we learn as a result of implementation of the project?
2. Why do we need to know this?
3. How do we make sure that the conclusions are correct?
1. What is new we learn as a result of implementation of the project?
2. Why do we need to know this?
3. How do we make sure that the conclusions are correct?
You need to keep in mind that the applications, usually, and the time for the Commission to decide little. And it is unlikely they will look for hidden answers to these questions. Therefore, the presentation of your text should be crisp and clear. The best chance to attract the attention to fit in all these answers in the first paragraph or at least on the first page. Be sure to use this chance. If your project is very complex in order to fit the wording of the main idea in a few lines and it can be opened only gradually, still take the trouble to say something memorable to the reviewer, even if after hours of reading other applications. This may be any special, catchy, unconventional statement. This will increase the chance that your project will attract attention.
Many proposals are reviewed by multidisciplinary committees. Therefore, communicate as clearly as you can, don't abuse professional slang, and highly specialized terms eat only in those cases, if a common language is not there of their peers. Stress do to the main idea of your project. A variety of details, additions, examples, if you are sure that they are needed in the application, it is best to fit into the application in order to facilitate its perception.
It will also be useful to give a brief overview of the current situation in your area of science to include as complete as possible bibliography, where you want to identify recent work in this area. It is necessary to mention only that has a direct relationship to your topic. Bibliographies are considered a sign of a scientific approach and severity of the applicant, so they often pay special attention. Well-written bibliography shows that you have done serious preparatory work and made sure that your project will be in science, a new word, not duplicate results already obtained by someone previously.
Methodological canons in the various Sciences, and they often vary even within the same discipline. However, we have two General recommendations on how to make a positive impression "methodological equipment" of your application. First, tell us about what research you have done and how is going to use the results in your project. Also explain how much time you plan to spend on this and how you distribute it.
Second, use the arguments in favor of that solution of these tasks will move you forward in solving the main problems of the project. Usually about the methods in the application tells a very vague and uncertain. For example, often there are phrases such as "will consider the relationship between X and Y". What it means is unclear. So tell in detail what methods you propose to use to analyze the data, and what would be the criteria of the authenticity of the results in the end. The more clearly the reviewer will understand what, why and how are you going to do, the more favorable it will affect the fate of your application.
Correctly structured application, like a Sonata, usually ends by returning to the original topic. How the study and its results are connected with the main problem? Using what you determine is correct or was your hypothesis? All this must be reflected in the application. Also, specify what will be the outcome of the project as its result: dissertation, book, article, or something else.
When writing a good application need to be aware that her 5 minutes to write. So do not delay it indefinitely, begin to make an application for the grant in advance. Having written it, reread with a fresh mind, especially the first paragraph and the last part, trying to see her through the eyes of the reviewers.


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As I'm writing this, I'm sitting on the roof deck of my friend Chris' mother's house in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I'm five stories above the Pacific Ocean, but because of the way the sound collects on the concrete structures below and around her house, the acoustics of the crashing waves are actually amplified, making it sound louder than if I were sitting on the beach ten feet from the break. The house is wired throughout, and I've got some Tito Puente playing on my iPod through the stereo three stories below, which of course fires out the tiki bar speakers on the roof. Now, as the sun prepares to set midway through my first vacation in about three years, I was struck by an insatiable urge to whip out the ole' laptop and update my blog for the first time in a long while. Isn't technology great?
In fact, it so happens that technology is going to be the focus of this post. I recently finished Doris Kearns Goodwin's biography of Abe Lincoln Team of Rivals (which is a truly amazing book and deserves a blog post of its own), and when I closed out the last page, I found myself so emotionally impacted by the amazing character and character-based accomplishments of this man that I needed something very different for a next book. So, I grabbed a Christmas present from my Mom and Dad, Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity is Near. And different is what I got.
For people who are not familiar with Ray Kurzweil, it's worth pointing out up-front that he is one of the most peer-respected inventors, thinkers and futurists around today, with, as his bio points out, "a twenty year track record of accurate predictions," largely rooted in the future of technology. PBS named him one of "16 revolutionaries that made America", along with other inventors over the past two centuries. He is the recipient of 13 honorary doctorates, as well as the Lemelson-MIT prize, which is apparently the world's most prestigious prize for innovation. In short, the guy is no dummy.
The Singularity is
Near is in many ways a simple book with a simple premise; that people
mistakenly view the future, and the future pace of change, with an inherently
linear frame, and as such, most people on the planet are essentially oblivious
to the fact that technological innovation and adoption progress exponentially
(and in some cases with an exponential exponent). More importantly, few people have an
accurate idea of just how vast the changes that are coming down the pipe are,
and how soon these paradigm shifting technologies will be here.
Understanding the
Exponential Pace
Let's think about this for a second. I know that I have certainly been guilty of using this linear frame to think about the future. Looking back, a common view of paradigm shifting technologies is that they happen about once a generation, and the same pace will hold true through our lifetimes. But this breaks down with closer inspection. It took the telephone about 60 years to become a mainstream technology. Radio, which was invented nearly 30 years later, took over 30 years to become mainstream. Television, took about 25 years to become mainstream. The PC, which was invented nearly 40 years later, took less than 20 years to become mainstream. But here's where things get interesting, as we hit the "knee of the curve" (a term used to describe the point where the exponential nature of a curve really kicks in) following the PC. Mobile phones followed less than 10 years after the invention of the PC and became mainstream in just over 10 years. Most recently, the World Wide Web went from first commercialization to fully adopted mainstream technology in 7 years. As he points out the in book, according to this exponential pace post-knee "technological progress in the 21st century will be the equivalent of two hundred centuries of progress (at the [linear] rate of progress in 2000)."
How is This Possible?
If you consider this statement – that we will have two hundred centuries (20,000 years) of progress, at the current rate of development, in the next 100 years – it's totally understandable if you're reaction is something along the lines of "No way. That's impossible." But closer analysis will help you understand how something like this could make sense. Most non-technophobes are familiar with
Then, when you consider the application-oriented impact that all of this processing power is already having, you start to see the whole picture. DNA sequencing data is growing exponentially. Brain scanning capability (resolution and speed) is growing exponentially. All aspects of nanotechnology (size, computational power, communication capability) are shrinking or growing exponentially, respectively. A great example of how computational power increases effect linear models is a look at the story of the human genome project. Quoting from the book, "When the human-genome scan got underway in 1990 critics pointed out that given the speed with which the genome could then be scanned, it would take thousands of years to finish the project. Yet the fifteen-year project was completely slightly ahead of schedule with a first draft in 2003."
It is in this light that I started to understand just how different the tools of tomorrow will be from the tools of today. But, this is still just the backdrop of the post – albeit a necessary backdrop in order to appreciate the legitimacy of Kurzweil's main point and real subject of my post. Kurzweil's central point is that as the computational power of available technology reaches that of the human brain, and then quickly surpasses it and all collective human brains, non-biological intelligence will become the driver of progress and will no longer be slowed down by human boundaries, thereby growing the exponent exponentially until all matter and energy near us in the universe is used for computation and the storage of information. If this last part sounds like a bit of a stretch, consider what happens as we pass the point where non-biological intelligence surpasses biological intelligence, which he refers to as "the singularity". After this point, non-biological intelligence will be able to evolve itself drawing off of a combination of (i) its super-intelligence, (ii) instantaneous access via the Internet to all available human knowledge at all times, (iii) the fact that non-biological intelligence is much more efficient at transferring information from one node to another vs. human's highly inefficient language-based sharing mechanisms and (iv) the fact that it doesn't need coffee breaks or get tired. Oh yeah, and don't forget that it will continue to get access to exponentially more computational power over time after the singularity, at the very least – a point that is almost certainly dramatically over conservative given the fact that the current exponential growth pace is based on non-superintelligent human progress. How realistic is this? Well, artificial intelligence (AI) systems are already in use today doing things like scheduling airline traffic, reviewing data from surveillance satellites, monitoring the stock markets for insider trading and other fraud, and aerospace engineers have even been using genetic algorithms (so-called because of their ability to actually evolve on their own) to design highly sophisticated equipment like new jet engines. In short, the integration of non-biological intelligence into society is already well underway.
Before we get to the singularity though, the first step will be the integration of biological and non-biological intelligence, and this was actually much more interesting for me because as I thought about it, I was somewhat stunned to realize that I actually believed it was possible in the somewhat near-term given the exponential advance frame from above. Naturally, this is a highly controversial topic, and one that will undoubtedly be met with highly emotional responses – namely fear, disgust, disbelief and outright rejection. And understandably so, as this quickly becomes a religious question (readers of this blog will now finally understand why I choose this topic as the first thing to write about in so long).
D.A.R.Y.L. on
The integration of biological and non-biological intelligence has already begun with numerous experiments ranging from hybrid neural networks to devices aimed at replacing damaged areas of the brain causing diseases like Parkinson's. But this is only the beginning. Kurzweil believes that by the 2040's, we will have fully non-biological entities that we could upload new or existing human personalities to that will be able to easily pass the Turing test – essentially meaning that they will be conversationally utterly indistinguishable from biological humans. As far as I can tell, people will fall into two camps on this matter. People who are in any way religious or faith grounded (even so casually that they might frequently say that they are not religious at all), will find it very difficult to believe that this is possible. It just clashes too much with a traditional view of the human soul. In their minds, even if these non-biological entities are possible (a point they will certainly contest) and no matter how realistic, they will believe in their heart that these things will not truly behave like humans, and most importantly, they will not BE human. Purely rational atheists who view the human body as nothing more than a highly evolved machine, made up of nothing but chemical and electrical mysteries that are all ultimately solvable with the proper equipment and insight, will find themselves believing this to be possible. Perhaps they will be as shocked at themselves as I was as I thought about this, as viewing their own personalities in the frame of nothing more than an elaborately evolved collection of analog and digital, chemical and electrical processes can be a disconcerting thought experiment.
If we can perfectly reverse engineer the brain (and if you fall in the purely rational camp, there seems to be no reason to believe that we will not be able to do so with the proper advances in technology – which seem to be right around the corner as per the above backdrop information), can we so easily say that a non-biological person would be any less "human?" Again, from a purely rational perspective, I think the answer has to be 'no'. If the engineering is perfect and the non-biological brain functions exactly as the biological one, it would be hard to view this non-biological entity as casually as we view a toaster, for example.
What would the creation of non-biological humans mean to modern monotheistic religions that are built around the central role of humanity in the universe and their interplay with a God? If people are just biological machines that can be perfectly replicated by other people, does this in any way damage God's role in the universe or the legitimacy of His accomplishments? Or conversely, what could the failure to achieve something like this given adequate technology mean to atheists and their beliefs about the essentially random and ultimately irrelevant role of humans in the universe?
While one could easily look at this impending success or failure point and think that it will represent an "answer" to some of the super-questions like 'does God exist', I'm sad (or happy – depending upon how you want to look at it) to say that I don't think this will happen at all. Ultimately, I don't see the results of advances in this technology, or any technology for that matter, shedding much light on these questions. It may shift the goal posts a bit, so to speak, but as has happened again and again throughout the progress of science, the more philosophical role of God should remain untouched. As I've mentioned in previous posts on topics like Intelligent Design, regardless of how much we learn about what the physical rules of the universe are and how things work the way they do, there is simply nothing that science can ever offer us about WHY the rules are as they are. Astrophysicists can tell you Einstein's cosmological constant to fifteen decimal places and tell you what that means to the expansion of the universe, but they can't tell you why it is what it is.
But long before we get to have that argument over campfires with our non-biological fishing buddies, however, there seem to be a lot of practical questions that need to be addressed as we head towards "the singularity." As a soon-to-be parent and the husband of a teacher, it strikes me that we'll likely need to give the entire education system a major upgrade, probably a lot sooner than people think. With so much of today's education focused on the accumulation of a somewhat narrow base of knowledge across a wide array of subjects which will enable us to function productively in society, it seems that the focus of curricula will need to be adapted to make us more efficient and effective users of the tools that will be at our disposal. For example, I doubt it will it still make sense to spend months learning the key dates and names of the American civil war or the advance of the European explorers, when we will be able to download the entirety of this information into the non-biological component of our brains in a matter of minutes. Instead, it seems that the focus should be reoriented towards exercises that help future generations harness their creativity to better use the technology at their disposal. This creativity can be then be applied to subtopics like problem solving, the arts, interpersonal dynamics (conflict resolution, etc.), critical analysis and design. Instead of learning about General George McClellan's failed 1862 Peninsula Campaign, students might instead be asked WHY he failed against General Lee's smaller army, and to design a tactical simulation that would have succeeded in accomplishing Lincoln's goal at the time – namely, ending the civil war three years earlier than it ultimately did, and saving tens of thousands of American lives. I have to admit, taking all of the time in schools that is currently needed for data/background accumulation and transitioning it to guided critical analysis sounds pretty interesting to me and makes me somewhat jealous of our kids.
What does this mean
for real estate prices?
Ultimately, regardless of whether or not these technological advances happen exactly according to Kurzweil's aggressive timeframe, it does seem likely that we will experience his three revolutions (genetics, nanotechnology and robotics) during our lifetimes. While the scope of what we can expect in the future unfortunately takes the wind out of my sails a bit on my excitement over wifi networks and iPods overlooking the Pacific, it does open up a whole host of questions. And isn't the inherently human characteristic of asking questions what life is all about?
So, as I prepare to shut down my computer and go back to the task of staring at the ocean, I strangely find myself stuck wondering about what genetic and nanotechnology advances will mean to real estate prices in New York City. Assuming we can extend life essentially indefinitely through gene therapy and nanobot-based cellular repair, it seems that the population growth will skyrocket and real estate prices will continue their relentless ascent. Maybe buying a place in New York does make sense? Of course, after the singularity it sounds like we will all be living in virtual Victorian mansions inside our $1,000 laptop supercomputers, which does make a $2 million studio apartment seem a bit unnecessary. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to let it play out. And anyway, it's time to change the Tito.


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Classical Music to Enjoy This July
Take in the sweet sounds of four classical festivals
Sorry, spring concert season and Christmastime performances; the best month for classical music in New Hampshire is July. A quartet of music festivals this month will fill the Granite State with the sounds of world-class chamber music, from Portsmouth to Plymouth.
New Hampshire Music Festival, July 5-August 4
The 64th season of the New Hampshire Music Festival begins on July 5 and plays on the theme of wanderlust. Festival concerts at the Silver Center for the Arts and other venues in the Lakes Region explore classical music from around the world, from European greats like Handel and Haydn to the modern tunes of Latin American composers such as Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Historic Portsmouth Chamber Music, July 10
The annual Historic Portsmouth Chamber Music series, sponsored by the Portsmouth Athenaeum, will continue well into the fall, but it gets its start this month. St. John's Episcopal Church will play host to the series' first concert, a performance of Mozart, Fauré and Turina piano quartets by Central4 and festival returnee Meredith Crawford.
Lettvin Chamber Music Series, July 15-16
A homegrown festival moves into the Bradford Center Meetinghouse mid-month with the Lettvin Chamber Music Series. The festival, named for noted pianist and Bradford resident Theodore Lettvin, welcomes Lettvin students-turned-accomplished virtuosi Laura Kargul, Ronald Lantz and the Goldenberg Duo back to New Hampshire for a pair of classical performances.
Halcyon Music Festival, July 20-30
Venues around the Seacoast will play host to the third annual Halcyon Music Festival (halcyonmusicfestival.org). The 20-plus participating musicians (including Abel Pereira, principal horn of the National Symphony Orchestra, and Wendy Warner, winner of the elite Rostropovich Cello Competition) live and rehearse together for the duration of the program, in addition to providing seven intimate chamber concerts open to the public.


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Phil Wiggins & George Kilby Jr. Trio – Masters of the Blues
Experience a stellar evening of authentic Blues at Baur's featuring harmonica master Phil Wiggins with guitarist George Kilby Jr . Jointly presented by Colorado Blues Society and Music Appreciation Society, this acoustic performance by the Wiggins & Kilby Blues Trio will be a concert to treasure as these revered players deliver the down-to-earth lyrics of modern day Country Blues along with traditional tunes. Blues harp master Phil Wiggins and the fingerpicking guitar playing of George Kilby along with bassist Andy Calder are appearing exclusively at Baur's Listening Lounge in Denver for this very special Saturday night.Get Tickets
Phil Wiggins was half of the internationally acclaimed acoustic blues duo Cephas and Wiggins for 30 years. Together they made 14 albums for Smithsonian Folkways, Alligator and Flying Fish labels among others. George Kilby Jr spent 20 years playing with and producing albums for the legendary pianist Pinetop Perkins of Muddy Waters band. The two met not long after the passing of their respective musical partners; and this has resulted in a new dynamic partnership including tours and major Blues festivals in the US, Canada and Europe. Their extensive catalog of songs as well as a songwriting collaboration developing new material are the inspiration for a new record in the works. In 2013, Kilby and Wiggins recorded and released Kilby's song "You never see the hand throw the Stone" which tackles racism, religion, and corruption. The song appears on the CD Six Pack (Top Frog Music).Their current collaborative material follows this path instead of recycling old blues themes, however classic they may be. Themes such as police/race strife, forgiveness, the 2nd amendment question, and the preservation of the environment are common in the new material that Wiggins & Kilby are recording for an upcoming album.
Wiggins' honors with Cephas include Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, the White House, and a seat on the National Council for the Traditional Arts. Kilby's honors include 3 albums with Pinetop Perkins, a WC Handy Album of the year, and countless European and US tours. Of late the pair is also doing several concerts with the legendary Sherman Holmes (of The Holmes Brothers).
Blues aficionados and lovers of authentic roots music will appreciate the artistry of these World renowned proponents of the the Blues traditions! Phil Wiggins blows the harmonica like nobody else playing today and with George Kilby on guitar, they are the perfect partnership to carry on their combined legacy. Please get your tickets to attend the Denver premier of this important new musical partnership proudly sponsored by CBS and MAS.
Phil is among a very small handful of virtuosos whose command of his instrument takes my breath away. His talent rivals that of any artist I've encountered in my career in Classical music, in my view placing him in the company of the Yo-Yo Mas and the Joshua Bells of the world."
– – Scott Freck, General Manager, North Carolina Symphony
"Phil Wiggins' honking/wailing/chugging/moaning blues harp…a cool showcase for Kilby's fingerpicking work – but pay attention to the words. One trademark of Kilby's originals is the use of a deceptively down-to-earth approach to lay some deeper-than-you-may-think wisdom on the table."
– – Brian Robbins, Jambands.com
Saturday, February 20 :: 9:00pm
Wiggins & Kilby Blues Trio
Baur's Listening Lounge
Dinner Reservations: 303-615-4000
1512 Curtis Street
Denver, CO


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The EMS project is funded by the European Union under the Copernicus programme and coordinated by the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC).
Between 13 and 15 July extremely heavy rain fell in western Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, swelling rivers and causing tragic floods. On 16 July a fire broke out on the Greek island of Samos. A few days later, another fire broke out in Spain, near the town of Albacete: over 2500 hectares of woods were wiped out in the space of just a few hours. In the following days Sardinia, Sicily, in Italy, and other countries such as Turkey, Greece or Albania have also been tormented by fires.
As well as counting on mutual European aid in the management of these kinds of emergencies, local authorities and civil defence departments can also put their trust in the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) – Rapid Mappig (RM), the Copernicus programme service that provides rapid satellite maps of afflicted areas.
The RM is able to provide information and satellite maps anywhere in the world, 24/7/365, for all types of disasters, whether natural, meteorological or manmade. These instruments are crucial both for coordinating aid during emergencies but also preventing and mitigating potential adverse events in the future.
To monitor emergencies, the RM places its trust in the data of the Sentinels of the Copernicus European satellite observation programme as well as national Copernicus contributing missions, such as the Italian COSMO-SkyMed or the French SPOT missions – to name just two – which provide their data, if required.
Since its creation in 2012, the EMS – Rapid Mapping service has provided maps and information for over 520 events. The service is managed by the European Commission – JRC and the map production is entirely delegated by to an European consortium led by e-GEOS (80% owned by Telespazio, 20% by the Italian Space Agency) that also involves GAF – a 100% e-GEOS company – and Telespazio Ibérica.
Lucia Luzietti, who manages the e-GEOS team dedicated to the service from the Rome Emergency Room, told us how they work and how satellite data can help us prevent and mitigate future emergencies.
The EMS – Rapid Mapping Emergency Room can receive lots of requests in a very short space of time. How do you manage such a large amount of work?
The Team that supplies the Copernicus EMS RM service was organised in order to deal with peaks of activity that can occur in the event of major emergencies, like the one in northern Europe, or in situations in which the Team has to deal with different emergencies at the same time. More specifically, we can activate up to 7 different Production centres in Europe at the same time, each of which identical to the next, to ensure a large production capacity 24/7. All of this is coordinated by two Emergency Manager Teams overseen by e-GEOS and SERTIT, a French company that is also part of the consortium.
How does the activation process work?
The activation process is very quick because the most crucial aspect of a Rapid Mapping service is promptness. The Emergency Manager receives a new request to activate the Copernicus EMS Rapid Mapping service via email from the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC), the 24/7 control room of the European Civil Protection Mechanism in Brussels, and this is followed by an alert call together with information on the event, areas of interest and the type of analysis useful for the User. The Team gets to work immediately, defining all of the production details directly with the user of the Service in the first two hours so as to finalise, through the European Space Agency, the order of the first satellite acquisitions available on the areas requiring monitoring. For Authorised Users that want to access the service the procedure is very simple and consists of filling out a document that must be sent to the ERCC via email which finalises an analysis of the new request and an authorisation process, downstream of which the request is sent to us as Providers of the Service.
Which other entities are involved in the activation process?
Lots of entities are involved in the activation of the Rapid Mapping service. Once again there is the ERCC, which not only contacts us in the event of new requests but also supports us throughout the entire activation process, as well as the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) for more technical aspects. Users are also key protagonists as, thanks to their help, we have the opportunity to collect feedback directly from the people working in the field and therefore to gain a better understanding of requirements and plan production more effectively. There is also the ESA, which is in charge of the satellite data provision thanks to the important contribution of the Sentinels and the Copernicus Contributing Missions. Finally, there is us, the Providers of the Service, with the Coordination Team and the various Production Centres.
On a planet that is undergoing major climate changes, how can we use satellites to prevent future disasters?
Satellite data is a valuable source of information today. In particular, the quantity of data available enables us to study how a territory responds to certain events in terms of damage to the population, to infrastructure etc. in a very detailed way. Understanding past extreme events therefore enables us to correctly plan risk mitigation measures and prepare better for extreme events.


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This past weekend the Memphis Open took place at High Pockets in Tennessee, July 23-27. The events included One Pocket Open, 10 Ball Open and Amateur 9 Ball. These tournaments were all well attended and the two open events featured some world class talent. It is no wonder why, as this tournament has a substantial amount of added money. $2,000 added $500 entry One pocket, $4,000 added $500 entry 10 Ball, plus $500 added Amateur 9 ball.
The 10 ball event began play on July 25th. Canadian Jason "Klatticus" Klatt had a bye that lead right to Mosconi Cup team member Brandon Shuff. Klatt set the tone for his tournament here winning this match and continuing on to beat Dennis Hatch and Ruben Bautista. In the winners side final Klatt met up with another Mosconi Cup team member, Justin Bergman. Here Bergman put a stop to Klatt's run and continued his own, winning 17-7.
Bergman overpowered some big names on his way to the final as he dispatched Sky Woodward, Johnny "the Scorpion" Archer and Justin Hall. Klatt waited in the losers side final as Johnny Archer made his way through the bracket. On this day the Scorpion was no match for Klatticus as he regained his earlier form and won 17-8, against a visibly frustrated Archer.
This was a true double elimination event, meaning Klatt had to beat Bergman twice in order to win. The first set was a tightly contested affair. At 15-14, Klatt won this game and never looked back to take the first set 17-14. The second set once again was a close affair between these two young talents. However Klatt bested Bergman once again winning 17-13 and claiming the $6,200 top prize and his most prestigious title to date. When talking with Klatt today via Facebook chat, he gave full credit for the win to his mental toughness. "What won me the tournament was my mental game. I just try to keep my head in the game the whole match. Tough to do in long race." said Klatt.
In a classy move Bergman went to Facebook after his match and gave credit to his opponents great play. For those who were unable to watch the live stream, Bergman gave some good insight to how well Klatt played when stated,"Well I'm disappointed I lost didn't play bad Jason Klatt played flawless and broke great."
After being in Vegas for the BCAPL, then heading right to Memphis for this event Klatt is not sure what is next. For now he will take a few days off to relax and enjoy this win. There is a flurry of big tournaments coming up including the return of the Turning Stone Classic and the U.S Open. With his playing getting better with each tournament it promises to be an exciting fall for Klatt fans.
Top 3
Jason Klatt- $6,200
Justin Bergman-$3,300
Johnny Archer-$2,000
The results of the One Pocket and the Amateur 9 Ball will be updated later. Thank you to Ray Hansen and Kenneth Lawson for their help in piecing this story together.
Journalist graduate with a passion to write and to promote the game of Billiards. His blog Cue Sport Nation is for pool enthusiasts who are interested in everything related to Pocket Billiards. Coverage includes results from major tournaments throughout the world.