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June 12-13 - TEN year anniversary of the 2007 Movie premiere in Sydney
Ten years ago, yesterday and today, was the two day premiere event of the 2007 Transformers Movie (June 12th) and Press Conference (June 13th)... which started it all for the Movie Universe for us fans.
The following text and images are from this webpage of mine.
More comments from other fans can be seen here at TFW2005 (the Ozformers topics from 2007 no longer exist because they were on the old messageboard site, and we started up the current one in 2008).
For some videos that are still on youtube, there are two from the Movie screening (here and here), and two from the Press Conference (here and here).
PART ONE (Movie Screening & Red Carpet - Tuesday June 12th 2007)
(note - any photos not belonging to me were submitted to me for this report and are noted - none are to be used without written permission from me or the owners)
For years I've wanted the local Australian fans who can't afford the expense of BotCon to know what it feels like to go to a dedicated Transformers convention, and Paramount managed to do it with this two day event. The general atmosphere and excitement by a hoard of fans over a matter of hours is what BotCon is like over a matter of days, and to see the look on the faces of certain fans, who just couldn't get enough of it all, was priceless. At this two day event we had guests, a movie screening, heaps of fans mingling in the one place, and a guest panel (press conference) - all we needed was an exclusive toy and it could have been called a convention.
Admittedly, the Tuesday event started out very slow, with the MC trying to hype up a 'crowd' of about 10 people, but within an hour there were fans everywhere, soaking it all in and having a great time. And then there was that overwhelming anticipation by the committed Transformers fans that they were soon to be the first in the world to see the biggest thing in Transformers since it began 23 years ago.
It all started quite simply really. After seeing on an American fan-forum that there was an advance screening of the Transformers Movie in this country, I merely rang Paramount back on June 1st to ask if it was true, plus to point out that their Australian Movie website kept spelling 'Decepticon' wrong.
Later that day I got an email from the Promotions company handling the event, with an offer to attend the movie screening for me and as many other fans that I could find.
I was also asked to offer seats to up to 40 fans to the press conference the next day (I got 18 names, but only about 10 were able to make it).
The Promotions company were offering movie tickets to each of the main Transformers fan forums that had Australian members (including Ozformers, TAAU, Seibertron, and probably TFW2005), as well as some computer geek forums (for the CGI element of the movie and for the computer game)... but Ozformers was the one fansite offered access to the "Media only" Press Conference on the second day, which was an amazing privilege.
With about a week before the event I knew that fellow fans dirge and Goktimus were going to be there, so I made flight and work arrangements to be in Sydney for the two days.
Right up until the 6th of June (6 days before the event) when I booked the flight, I still wasn't believing that this was all happening.
A copy of the webpage invite that was emailed to me and others (most would have 'admit two' on them).
Day one - Tuesday 12th June.
This was probably one of the few times I wasn't panicking and rushing to the airport at the last minute, because I made sure I was ready to leave the house an hour before I needed to. I was certainly not going to miss this event over something stupid like being late for the plane.
I flew into Sydney at about 2.30pm, met up with dirge in the CBD a little after 4pm and we both went to Central station to meet Goktimus about quarter to five.
We took a bus to the Fox studios, and walked to the venue to find that the MC had already started his routine to hype the 'crowd' (there were only about a dozen people there by 5.15-ish).
We checked in and got our passes, and I took some photos of the 'red' carpet (it was camo green) area. I checked out the 'win $25 grand' competition but they wouldn't let you hand in the entry until between 6.30 and 7pm (which was odd, because that was about the time we were expected to be going into the theatre).
The competition booth (could fill out the entry forms at any time, but only submit them during 6.30 and 7pm).
The MC on the microphone was sporadically giving away passes to the screening, passes to the movie at any theatre, and some other passes to nearby venues. The camo carpet was fenced off on both sides, with the media on one side and the fans/public on the other. At the entrance to the cinema, there was a black Hummer with 'Transformers' painted over it.
The marshalling area and check-in table for the 'important' people. Us fans had to report to some PR people off to one side.
Some photos of the location before it got dark, taken by Board member Burn. DJ's platform and theatre entrance.
Looking across to the 'Fan side' from the 'Media side', taken by Board member Burn.
Looking straight down the Camo Carpet before anyone or the media had even arrived, taken by Board member Burn. (doesn't Megatron look scary? I can't imagine that poster being sold at all - who'd want that creepy demonic face on their wall?).
As darkness fell and the crowd grew, the event started to gain momentum. Looking down the Camo Carpet.
Same shot, but photo taken by board member Saintly. Note the welcome mat at the start of the Camo Carpet, saying 'Transformers Demolition Area'.
On an angle.
Further along the 'Fan side', showing the DJ up on the platform behind the 'Transformers' sign.
A better photo of that angle taken by board member Burn.
Also on the 'Fan side'.
The Hummer, with Goktimus being photographed by dirge.
And Goktimus taking a photo of dirge.
While waiting for the stars to arrive, I met with Krayt, Lord Zed and his friend Pete(?), Burn, Sharky, Crank, Saintly and some other fans who are on the TFW2005 forum. Checked out the competition booth, and wandered around taking photos of everything.
The celebs are about to arrive.
Looking across to the 'Media side'.
The MC, hyping up the crowd and giving away heaps of tickets.
And a few props halfway along the Camo Carpet.
The first invited local celebrities arrived a little before six, and most I didn't even recognise (I don't watch Channel 7 soapies or know the Sydney radio and TV identities), but I did recognise Andy G, and um, that was unfortunately it. The MC kept saying other celebs would be there, like David Kosh, whom I didn't see, but was apparently there (according to dirge, and Koshie mentioned it on the Sunrise program the following morning when interviewing Rachael Taylor).
The first 'Celeb' (no idea who it was) showed up, posed for photos for about 5 minutes, and went inside. The next Celeb didn't arrive for another 5-10 minutes and the movie started about an hour later, so this first lady must have regretted showing up so early. Ever heard of 'fashionably late'?
Other people who were were allowed down the Camo Carpet, so must have been TV or Radio identities.
On the left is Andy G (Australian Idol host), who was one celeb who actually tried to race past the photographers.
More unknown celebs, but pretty enough for me to photograph..
A little bit before 7pm, the three Movie people arrived - first Megan Fox in a short dress, Rachael Tayler in a long green dress, and then Michael Bay.
The first of the Movie guests arrive by car.
Out steps Megan Fox in a short (and probably very cold) dress.
Playing up to the media.
And still flirting with the media.
Then came one fan's moment that will never be forgotten. (a fan who goes by the name of Sideswipe2005 on the TFW2005 board)
Want to see that as a close up? Okay.
Some other photos of Megan, by board member Saintly. How she passes for a 16 year old in the movie beats me...
Next up was the more conservatively dressed but much more beautiful Rachael Taylor, who is actually an Australian (I only found that out a few days before).
Since I didn't manage to get a frontal photo, enjoy these ones from Board member Saintly.
After the two girls spent most of their time in front of the media, and a little with the fans, when Bay showed up and started walking over to the media, I yelled out 'Ignore the press, come to the fans'.
One of his minders quickly looked around with an angry face and said, 'you want him over there?', and the fans answered, 'yeah!'. So Bay was turned around and re-directed over to us first. After signing a few things and answering some questions, he was grabbed and told to go back over to the media.
Michael Bay (has the dashing, suave looks of someone who should be in a movie, rather than directing them).
Photo by Saintly.
When those three went in, everyone with passes to the screening were then allowed to file in. And since there were so many invited people not showing up, they gave out remaining passes to those in the crowd, which probably meant just about everyone who showed up to the event got in.
We were checked by security and had to hand in phones and cameras, and then directed into one of two theatres. I ended up in theatre 3, while most of the other fans from this board went into theatre 2 which had the three Movie people in it. The bonus for me though, was that our theatre apparently had a five minute head start with our screening, so we were the *first* group to see it in the world, but only by a few minutes.
Me being the TF news reporter that I am, I actually took notes during the movie (yes, in the dark), and wrote up a synopsis when I got home.
When it ended, I met up with dirge, Goktimus, Lord Zed and his friend, and we walked back to the nearest train station to head our separate ways.
I stayed the night at dirge's place, and froze my butt off on his couch (I didn't plan for the colder weather in Sydney).
(continued in Part two - Press Conference)
Last edited by griffin; 13th June 2017 at 08:28 AM.
PART TWO (Press Conference - Wednesday June 13th 2007)
(note - any photos not belonging to me are noted, and none are to be used without prior permission from me or the other owners)
Day two - Wednesday 13th June.
I had to kill some time in the morning, so headed into the city with dirge (who had to work), and then made my way to Redfern station around 11am.
Within 20 minutes I found "Carriageworks" (the name of the building at Redfern that hosted the Press Conference), while on the way there I stopped to buy a notebook.
I reported in at the 'front desk' and was given a few Press kit items (but not everything, as I was just representing a fansite and not major media). Those who were official Press were given 2 CDs and/or 2 Beta Videos (depending on if they are TV or Internet Media). One CD/Video was 26 Minutes, the other was 47 Minutes.
I'm not sure what was on the longer one, but since I was given a CD copy of the smaller one, which had on it, 3 clips from the movie (Caryard with Bumblebee, Scorponok attacking soldiers, Mikaela checking Bumblebee's engine) each in 3 different audio formats, plus a 2minute 10second featurette on Michael Bay, showing some behind the scenes shots.
The other thing being given out to everyone, including us fans, was a 131 page Movie Press Book, with info on just about everything and everyone involved in the Movie.
The location of this Press Conference looked old and rusted on the outside, but renovated and modern inside. It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, with rundown streets, so walking to the venue would have been out of the question at night.
Board member Rollerforce and his three friends were already there when I arrived, plus a few of the other fans from the TFW2005 forum who emailed me for seats. Board member Kup showed up a little later.
The 'foyer' had the Vehicle from the night before, plus a small stage set up ready for photographing the guests on when they arrived. After taking a couple of photos of the car, my camera died because I didn't notice that it was low on power from the night before (should have bought batteries when I got the notepad). Fortunately Rollerforce was there to save the day - he was kind enough to take photos with the promise of getting me some copies. My hero
The Movie people didn't arrive until 12.45-1.00, so we were all waiting around for some time in the foyer and in the auditorium. When they did arrive, the girls came in first (and I thought Megan's dress was short the night before, this time I could see her butt when she walked in front of me), who distracted the photographers while Michael Bay came in after them and stood to one side.
Rollerforce and I pounced, getting his attention, taking photos and asking some questions. One I asked was if it was Devastator or Brawl in the Movie, and he said that to him it is Devastator and that's who it is supposed to be. He said he chose the name because it sounds more evil.
He also mentioned that he hadn't heard of BotCon (which I thought he might be at to present the movie to *the real fans* ) but maybe now that he knows he might look into it. He had the face of someone who had a lot on his mind (perhaps the fear of risking $145million on a movie) as well other projects, or he was just getting bored of us fans (because he was making an action movie with Transformers, rather than a Transformers movie). At this point I think he was happy to be rescued by his minders, who pulled him over to join the girls on the mini-stage for some group photos.
Board member Rollerforce in front of the Autobot side of the Hummer (his photo, taken by a friend)
The Hummer inside from the back, taken by Board member Sideswipe2005.
The Hummer again from the Decepticon side, with one of the Paramount people so that the photographers know where the Movie people would be standing.
Hummer from the front, stage at the back, and the 'foyer' area showing the interior of the building (old train yard building). Photo by Sideswipe2005.
The mini-stage, taken by Sideswipe2005.
And now, the girls. Megan on the left in black, Rachael on the right in yellow. Photos by Rollerforce.
Sneaking in from behind, Michael Bay. Photo by Rollerforce.
The three together, taken by Sideswipe2005.
Same pose, but taken by Rollerforce (or me holding his camera above the media pack).
Michael Bay taking time to meet the fans, here with Rollerforce (his photo).
And with me (photo taken by Rollerforce).
The three posing at the mini-stage for a few photos. Photo by Sideswipe2005.
Everyone was directed into the auditorium. The extended trailer was played on a big screen (sound was too loud), and then three guests made a big entrance with lights and smoke. They seated themselves on the centre of the stage and started answering questions from the audience, both fans and media. It went for just on 40 minutes.
Just like at the Movie event the night before, another Transformers welcome mat. Photo by Rollerforce.
Inside the auditorium. Projection screen in the middle, and the 'grand entrance' arc over to the right. Photo by Rollerforce.
The seated, taking questions. Photo by Sideswipe2005.
And another shot, by Sideswipe2005.
The Q&A.
Before the Q&A started, one of the event organisers made it absolutely clear that Megan Fox has to have her name pronounced 'May-gan'. (something that didn't surprise me after seeing how she presented herself, and showed off herself to the media like any other Hollywood ego) I think it was funny that I didn't hear any of the audience pronounce her name the way she wanted it.
- First question asked about why he included some Classic Transformers Phrases. Bay didn't know about Transformers before he started and when Steven Spielberg rang him to see if he would direct it, Bay turned him down thinking it was just a silly toy movie. It was only when Bay was convinced to go to the Hasbro offices to learn about the history of the toyline and of the storyline from the last 20 years that he really took it in and saw the potential to want to take on the project.
- Question about Fan interaction during the production of the movie, Bay said that he read blogs and listened to suggestions, but wasn't going to change the need to reinvent Transformers for this movie. He could see that the fandom was very negative at first, but has been happy to see it turn around so much that the movie has even won the MTV award for 'The Best Movie yet to be seen'.
- The Human perspective, Bay wanted to focus on the Boy. The Transformers are not the central theme, and he wanted to make the movie more for the *non-fans*.
- Did the fan reaction affect him? No. Bay also mentioned that there must have been so much interest from people out there that by the beginning of this year their server had had 39,000 attempted hacks .
- Question for Rachael about using her Australian accent in the movie. She said that Bay wanted the accent for her character.
- Bay was asked why Hugo Weaving was chosen for Megatron and not Frank Welker. He said that Welker sounded too cartoony. The reason why Peter Cullen was chosen for Optimus was that he actually went through the audition process like everyone else and just managed to pull off the best performance.
- The girls were asked about what it was like acting in the movie, and they responded by saying that a lot of it was reactive acting, because so much was added in visually after it was shot. They commented on having to react to temporary props (like a face on a post) or to nothing at all.
- Asking about the visual side of the movie, Bay mentioned that with Optimus alone, there are over 10,000 indiviually animated moving parts. He mentioned that the lighting ended up being the biggest issue in post-production, trying to get it looking right on every character in every frame. And it was worked out that each frame would take about about 38 hours to render (if done by one person), so multiply that by 24 (frames per second), then by 60 (seconds in a minute), then by another 60 (minutes in an hour), and then by 2.25 (for the length of the movie in hours). (It means that it would have taken one person about 843 years to do all the Computer Animation in this movie, so there must have been a heap of people working on the renderings in this movie.)
- There were some comments on Bay's style, and being mentioned that the movie was totally finished only four days ago.
- Bay's favourite Transformers character in the movie... Bumblebee, for the emotion element and the 'cute' factor.
- Spielberg's favourite - Bumblebee. Spielberg was a big fan and has a huge collection (apparently).
- Megan was asked if she is a fan of Transformers. She says she is a bit now, but since she was born in 1986, she was more a fan of TMNT (Turtles) when growing up.
- Bay mentioned once again that this was not a movie about toys, it is a movie for everyone. One for the whole family, not just kids or fans.
- The involvement of the military was brought up, and his history with the US military in his films. Bay said that the involvement was very good, and got to use a heap of equipment, and actual military personel (all of them volunteered, so it wasn't at a cost to the taxpayer). He mentioned that the military personel would make suggestions with lines and pace and he would work them in to get a more accurate account of how the US military would react in this situation.
- What was the hardest decision he had to make? Trying to get everything done in the movie within budget, which was at $145 million. He said that he had to try to make special eeffects more affordable, so that he could have a movie that was as visually spectacular as Pirates, with about a third of the budget. He talked about the exploding bus sequence, which had an actual stunt driver and wires pulling the bus around while charges were set off, and said that most films these days would do that as a digital effect, but he wanted to do it for real to make it look more real. But it was a big risk because it was an expensive shot that they could only afford to try once.
- Most difficult sequence? Desert scene when Scorponok attacks. It was about 40+ degree heat and several days of filming.
- Hoover Dam, was it meant to reflect an episode in the original series cartoon? No, it was just coincedence. (IMO, I couldn't see how having Hoover Dam in the Movie could have been seen as having any relevance to Sherman Dam in one episode of 98 episoide original series. If the Statue of Liberty had been included or an oil rig, or any of the hundreds of other locations from the original series cartoon had been included in the Movie, it's just coincedence. Other than it being a location in the Movie, there is no other similarity to Gen1 because the fighting doesn't happen at the dam. It was a fanboy question that had to be asked though to see if Bay was a fan in disguise...)
- Filming took 83 days, which is said to be very long for a movie like this, with the average time being about 50 days.
- Some characters Bay wanted in the movie? He wanted to have an Aircraft Carrier Transformer (maybe Broadside could be in the sequal?), but it would have been too expensive. He also wanted a Boombox character, which could be why Frenzy ended up turning into one in the movie. Of the 13 Transformers characters that ended up in the Movie, Bay wanted Optimus, Megatron and Bumblebee. All the rest were chosen by the writers, with some later changes to names and forms.
- Bay said he is both nervous and excited.
- I got to ask a couple of questions, but wasn't able to take notes as I was asking them, and was too excited to remember what they said to write down later. I asked the girls how they felt about being in their biggest movie role so far, and I asked Michael how he felt about the fandom being more positive towards the movie as the release date got closer. By this stage it should have been obvious to me that he didn't prioritise the fans when making this movie, and wasn't too concerned about how they reacted, because with a budget like this, he needed to make the movie for the general public first, then the fans second. However, it was the only question I could think of at the time, so I stuck with it.
- The last question to Bay had a response that was probably the most disappointing to me as a fan. When asked what he thought of the audience reaction to the screening the night before, he mentioned that he was surprised and confused at the fan reaction to certain things, like the first appearance of Optimus in truck mode. These are the fan Icons from the last 23 years, and he despite pouring in the last year and half into this movie and supposedly reading comments from fans, he just still doesn't get it.
It may just be a truck, or a phrase to him and non-fans, but to us, they have been around so long they are Iconic. It may not be the classic red cab-over truck from Gen1, but it is Optimus-as-a-truck driving onto the big screen in a live action movie for the first time, which sends shivers down the spine of any fan, and if cheering that Iconic image because of how exciting it is to see it, is confusing, he probably needs to spend a little more time back at Hasbro HQ brushing up on Transformers before the next Movie. He did a great job, and I have to give him credit for that and for not being one of those people who claims to be a fan just to win fan support, but I just feel a little surprised myself - because he spent so much time around Transformers and didn't pick up much from the fandom about our Iconic history, or become a fan himself.
When the Press Conference was over, the press and fans left the auditorium and some of us hung around in the foyer area for a while, chatting and scoffing the free food. When it looked like the Movie people were not coming out any time soon (lunch was taken out the back for them), I left with Kup to the trainstation and headed back to the airport for my flight home.
In case any of the event organisers or PR people actually read this - a huge thankyou for giving me (and the other fans) access to the event. It was worth the expense of interstate airfares and half a day off work unpaid (stupid manager tricked me into thinking I was covered - I actually went to work on the Wednesday night as soon as I flew back into Brisbane, halfway into my shift).
Stuff I got from the 2 day event.
From left at the top - one of the two CDs given to the Press at the Press Conference, The Media pass, The Movie pass, an autographed postcard by Michael Bay, and at the bottom is the Movie Press Book.
Another photo showing the back of the Movie pass, the front of the postcard (which I took to the event myself), and the cover of the Movie Press Book.
For those of you who were there ten years ago, post up your thoughts (because the old board is no longer around, so we lost all those original comments from way back then).
As a final note, today, ten years after the first movie had it's premiere and press conference in Sydney Australia, the fifth movie is having it's premiere in Guangzhou City China... it's probably coincidence, but it makes for nice timing.
Last edited by griffin; 13th June 2017 at 08:35 AM.
Wasn't there, but I remember you talking about this before going and this review of the event (shame in hindsight there is no archive of the old board)
A 2 day premiere event - you know that's when the IP holders are really pushing for success
[Insert former photobucket hosted image here]
"Sometimes, the wrong thing feels so right"
Ooooow. 10 year mystery. Please help griffin put the mystery to bed.
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Horticulture, the branch of plant agriculture dealing with garden crops, generally fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants. The word is derived from the Latin hortus, "garden," and colere, "to cultivate." As a general term, it covers all forms of garden management, but in ordinary use it refers to intensive commercial production. In terms of scale, horticulture falls between domestic gardening and field agriculture, though all forms of cultivation naturally have close links.
Horticulture is divided into the cultivation of plants for food (pomology and olericulture) and plants for ornament (floriculture and landscape horticulture). Pomology deals with fruit and nut crops. Olericulture deals with herbaceous plants for the kitchen, including, for example, carrots (edible root), asparagus (edible stem), lettuce (edible leaf), cauliflower (edible flower), tomatoes (edible fruit), and peas (edible seed). Floriculture deals with the production of flowers and ornamental plants; generally, cut flowers, pot plants, and greenery. Landscape horticulture is a broad category that includes plants for the landscape, including lawn turf, but particularly nursery crops such as shrubs, trees, and climbers.
The specialization of the horticulturist and the success of the crop are influenced by many factors. Among these are climate, terrain, and other regional variations.
Horticultural regions
Temperate zones
Temperate zones for horticulture cannot be defined exactly by lines of latitude or longitude but are usually regarded as including those areas where frost in winter occurs, even though rarely. Thus most parts of Europe, North America, and northern Asia are included, though some parts of the United States, such as southern California and Florida, are considered subtropical. A few parts of the north coast of the Mediterranean and the Mediterranean islands are also subtropical. In the Southern Hemisphere, practically all of New Zealand, a few parts of Australia, and the southern part of South America have temperate climates. For horticultural purposes altitude is also a factor; the lower slopes of great mountain ranges, such as the Himalayas and the Andes, are included. Thus the temperate zones are very wide and the range of plants that can be grown in them is enormous, probably greater than in either the subtropical or tropical zones. In the temperate zones are the great coniferous and deciduous forests: pine, spruce, fir, most of the cypresses, the deciduous oaks (but excluding many of the evergreen ones), ash, birch, and linden (lime).
The temperate zones are also the areas of the grasses—the finest lawns particularly are in the regions of moderate or high rainfall—and of the great cereal crops. Rice is excluded as being tropical, but wheat, barley, corn (maize), and rye grow well in the temperate zones.
Plants in the temperate zones benefit from a winter resting season, which clearly differentiates them from tropical plants, which tend to grow continuously. Bulbs, annuals, herbaceous perennials, and deciduous trees become more frost-resistant with the fall of sap and therefore have a better chance of passing the resting season undamaged. Another influence is the varying length of darkness and light throughout the year, so that many plants, such as chrysanthemums, have a strong photoperiodism. The chrysanthemum flowers only in short daylight periods, although artificial lighting in nurseries can produce flowers the year round.
Most of the great gardens of the world have been developed in temperate zones. Particular features such as rose gardens, herbaceous borders, annual borders, woodland gardens, and rock gardens are also those of temperate-zone gardens. Nearly all depend for their success on the winter resting period.
Tropical zones
There is no sharp line of demarcation between the tropics and the subtropics. Just as many tropical plants can be cultivated in the subtropics, so also many subtropical and even temperate plants can be grown satisfactorily in the tropics. Elevation is a determining factor. For example, the scarlet runner bean, a common plant in temperate regions, grows, flowers, and develops pods normally on the high slopes of Mt. Meru in Africa near the Equator; it will not, however, set pods in Hong Kong, a subtropical situation a little south of the Tropic of Cancer but at a low elevation.
In addition to elevation, another determinant is the annual distribution of rainfall. Plants that grow and flower in the monsoon areas, as in India, will not succeed where the climate is uniformly wet, as in Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. Another factor is the length of day, the number of hours the Sun is above the horizon; some plants flower only if the day is long, but others make their growth during the long days and flower when the day is short. Certain strains of the cosmos plant are so sensitive to light that, where the day is always about 12 hours, as near the Equator, they flower when only a few inches high; if grown near the Tropics of Cancer or Capricorn, they attain a height of several feet, if the seeds are sown in the spring, before flowering in the short days of autumn and winter. Poinsettia is a short-day plant that may be seen in flower in Singapore on any day of the year, while in Trinidad it is a blaze of glory only in late December.
In the tropics of Asia and parts of Central and South America the dominant features of the gardens are flowering trees, shrubs, and climbers. Herbaceous plants are relatively few, but many kinds of orchids can be grown.
Vegetable crops vary in kind and quality with the presence or absence of periodic dry seasons. In the uniformly wet tropics, the choice is limited to a few root crops and still fewer greens. Sweet potatoes grow and bear good crops where the average monthly rainfall, throughout the year, exceeds 10 inches (25 centimetres); they grow even better where there is a dry season. The same can be said of taro, yams, and cassava. Tropical greens from the Malay Peninsula are not as good as those grown in South China, the Hawaiian Islands, and Puerto Rico. They include several spinaches, of which Chinese spinach or amaranth is the best; several cabbages; Chinese onions and chives; and several gourds, cucumbers, and, where there is a dry season, watermelons. Brinjals, or eggplants, peppers, and okra are widely cultivated. Many kinds of beans can be grown successfully, including the French bean from the American subtropics, the many varieties of the African cowpea, and yard-long bean. The yam bean, a native of tropical America, is grown for its edible tuber. In the drier areas the pigeon pea, the soybean, the peanut (groundnut), and the Tientsin green bean are important crops. Miscellaneous crops include watercress, ginger, lotus, and bamboo.Geoffrey A.C. Herklots Patrick Millington Synge The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Propagation, the controlled perpetuation of plants, is the most basic of horticultural practices. Its two objectives are to achieve an increase in numbers and to preserve the essential characteristics of the plant. Propagation can be achieved sexually by seed or asexually by utilizing specialized vegetative structures of the plant (tubers and corms) or by employing such techniques as cutting, layering, grafting, and tissue culture. (A detailed discussion of the methods of controlling sexual propagation can be found in the article plant breeding.)
Seed propagation
The most common method of propagation for self-pollinated plants is by seed. In self-pollinated plants, the sperm nuclei in pollen produced by a flower fertilize egg cells of a flower on the same plant. Propagation by seed is also used widely for many cross-pollinated plants (those whose pollen is carried from one plant to another). Seed is usually the least expensive and often the only means of propagation and offers a convenient way to store plants over long periods of time. Seed kept dry and cool normally maintains its viability from harvest to the next planting season. Some can be stored for years under suitable conditions. Seed propagation also makes it possible to start plants free of most diseases. This is especially true with respect to virus diseases, because it is almost impossible to free plants of virus infections and because most virus diseases are not transmitted by seed. There are two disadvantages to seed propagation. First, genetic variation occurs in seed from cross-pollinated plants because they are heterozygous. This means that the plant grown from seed may not exactly duplicate the characteristics of its parents and may possess undesirable characteristics. Second, some plants take a long time to grow from seed to maturity. Potatoes, for example, do not breed true from seed and do not produce large tubers the first year. These disadvantages are overcome by vegetative propagation.
The practice of saving seed to plant the following year has developed into a specialized part of horticulture. Seed technology involves all of the steps necessary to ensure production of seed with high viability, freedom from disease, purity, and trueness to type. These processes may include specialized growing and harvesting techniques, cleaning, and distribution.
Relatively little tree and shrub seed is grown commercially; it is generally harvested from natural stands. Rootstock seed for fruit trees is often obtained as a by-product in fruit-processing industries. Seed growing and plant improvement are related activities. Thus many seed-producing firms actively engage in plant-breeding programs to accomplish genetic improvement of their material.
Harvesting of dry seed is accomplished by threshing. Seed from fleshy fruits is recovered through fermentation of the macerated (softened by soaking) pulp or directly from screening. Machines have been developed to separate and clean seed, based on size, specific gravity, and surface characteristics. Extended storage of seed requires low humidity and cool temperature.
Trade in seed requires quality control. For example, U.S. government seed laws require detailed labeling showing germination percentage, mechanical purity, amount of seed, origin, and moisture content. Seed testing is thus an important part of the seed industry.
While most vegetable seed germinates readily upon exposure to normally favourable environmental conditions, many seed plants that are vegetatively (asexually) propagated fail to germinate readily because of physical or physiologically imposed dormancy. Physical dormancy is due to structural limitations to germination such as hard impervious seed coats. Under natural conditions weathering for a number of years weakens the seed coat. Certain seeds, such as the sweet pea, have a tough husk that can be artificially worn or weakened to render the seed coat permeable to gases and water by a process known as scarification. This is accomplished by a number of methods including abrasive action, soaking in hot water, or acid treatment. Physiologically imposed dormancy involves the presence of germination inhibitors. Germination in such seed may be accomplished by treatment to remove these inhibitors. This may involve cold stratification, storing seed at high relative humidity and low temperatures, usually slightly above freezing. Cold stratification is a prerequisite to the uniform germination of many temperate-zone species such as apple, pear, and redbud.
Vegetative propagation
Asexual or vegetative reproduction is based on the ability of plants to regenerate tissues and parts. In many plants vegetative propagation is a completely natural process; in others it is an artificial one. Vegetative propagation has many advantages. These include the unchanged perpetuation of naturally cross-pollinated or heterozygous plants and the possibility of propagating seedless progeny. This means that a superior plant may be reproduced endlessly without variation. In addition, vegetative propagation may be easier and faster than seed propagation, because seed dormancy problems are eliminated and the juvenile nonflowering stage of some seed-propagated plants is eliminated or reduced.
Vegetative propagation is accomplished by use of (1) apomictic seed; (2) specialized vegetative structures such as runners, bulbs, corms, rhizomes, offshoots, tubers, stems, and roots; (3) layers and cuttings; (4) grafting and budding; and (5) tissue culture.
Apomixis, the development of asexual seed (seed not formed via the normal sexual process), is a form of vegetative propagation for some horticultural plants including Kentucky bluegrass, mango, and citrus. Virus-free progeny can be produced in oranges from a seed that is formed from the nucellus, a maternal tissue.
Vegetative structures
Many plants produce specialized vegetative structures that can be used in propagation. These may be storage organs such as tubers that enable the plant to survive adverse conditions or organs adapted for natural propagation—runners or rhizomes—so that the plant may rapidly spread.
Bulbs consist of a short stem base with one or more buds protected by fleshy leaves. They are found in such plants as the onion, daffodil, and hyacinth. Bulbs commonly grow at ground level, though bulblike structures (bulbils) may form on aerial stems in some lilies or in association with flower parts, as in the onion. Buds in the axils (angle between leaf and stem) of the fleshy leaves may form miniature bulbs (bulblets) that when grown to full size are known as offsets. Corms are short, fleshy, underground stems without fleshy leaves. The gladiolus and crocus are propagated by corms. They may produce new cormels from fleshy buds. Rhizomes are horizontal, underground stems that are compressed, as in the iris, or slender, as in turf grasses. Runners are specialized aerial stems, a natural agent of increase and spread for such plants as the strawberry, strawberry geranium, and bugleweed (Ajuga). Tubers are fleshy enlarged portions of underground stem. The edible portion of the potato, the tuber, is also used as a means of propagation.
A number of plants form lateral shoots from the stem, which when rooted serve to propagate the plant. These are known collectively as offshoots but are often called offsets, crown divisions, ratoons, or slips.
Roots may also be structurally modified as propagative and food-storage organs. These tuberous roots, fleshy swollen structures, readily form shoots (called adventitious, because they do not form from nodes). The sweet potato and dahlia are propagated by tuberous roots. Shoots that rise adventitiously from roots are called suckers. The red raspberry is propagated by suckers.
Layering and cutting
Propagation can be accomplished by methods in which plants are induced to regenerate missing parts, usually adventitious roots or shoots. When the regenerated part is still attached to the plant the process is called layerage, or layering; when the regenerating portion is detached from the plant the process is called cuttage, or cutting.
Layering often occurs naturally. Drooping black raspberry stems tend to root in contact with the soil. The croton, a tropical plant, is commonly propagated by wrapping moist sphagnum enclosed in plastic around a stem cut to induce rooting. After rooting, the stem is detached and planted. Though simple and effective, layering is not normally adapted to large-scale nursery practices.
Cutting is one of the most important methods of propagation. Many plant parts can be used; thus cuttings are classified as root, stem, or leaf. Stem cuttings are the most common.
The ability of stems to regenerate missing parts is variable; consequently plants may be easy or difficult to root. The physiological ability of cuttings to form roots is due to an interaction of many factors. These include transportable substances in the plant itself: plant hormones (such as auxin), carbohydrates, nitrogenous substances, vitamins, and substances not yet identified. Environmental factors such as light, temperature, humidity, and oxygen are important, as are age, position, and type of stem.
Although easy-to-root plants such as willow or coleus can be propagated merely by plunging a stem in water or moist sand, the propagation of difficult-to-root species is a highly technical process. To achieve success with difficult-to-root plants special care is taken to control the environment and encourage rooting. A number of growth regulators stimulate rooting. A high degree of success has been achieved with indolebutyric acid, a synthetic auxin that is applied to the cut surface. A number of materials known as rooting cofactors have been found that interact with auxin to further stimulate rooting, and these are sold as a hormone rooting compound.
Humidity control is particularly important to prevent death of the stem from desiccation before rooting is complete. The use of an intermittent-mist system in propagation beds has proved to be an important means of improving success in propagation by cuttings. These operate by applying water to the plant for a few seconds each minute.
Grafting involves the joining together of plant parts by means of tissue regeneration. The part of the combination that provides the root is called the stock; the added piece is called the scion. When more than two parts are involved, the middle piece is called the interstock. When the scion consists of a single bud, the process is called budding. Grafting and budding are the most widely used of the vegetative propagation methods.
Stock cambium and scion cambium respond to being cut by forming masses of cells (callus tissues) that grow over the injured surfaces of the wounds. The union resulting from interlocking of the callus tissues is the basis of graftage. In dicots (e.g., most trees) cambium—a layer of actively dividing cells between xylem (wood) and phloem (bast) tissues—is usually arranged in a continuous ring; in woody members, new layers of tissue are produced annually. Monocot stems (e.g., lilacs, orchids) do not possess a continuous cambium layer or increase in thickness; grafting is seldom possible.
The basic technique in grafting consists of placing cambial tissues of stock and scion in intimate association, so that the resulting callus tissue produced from stock and scion interlocks to form a living continuous connection. A snug fit can be obtained through the tension of the split stock and scion or both. Tape, rubber, and nails can be used to achieve close contact. In general, grafts are only compatible between the same or closely related species. Success in grafting depends on skill in achieving a snug fit. Warm temperatures (80°–85° F [27°–30° C]) increase callus formation and improve "take" in grafting. Thus grafts using dormant material are often stored in a warm, moist place to stimulate callus formation.
In grafting and budding, the rootstock can be grown from seed or propagated asexually. Within a year a small amount of scion material from one plant can produce hundreds of plants.
Grafting has uses in addition to propagation. The interaction of rootstocks may affect the performance of the stock through dwarfing or invigoration and in some cases may affect quality. Further, the use of more than one component can affect the disease resistance and hardiness of the combination.
Grafting as a means of growth control is used extensively with fruit trees and ornamentals such as roses and junipers. Fruit trees are normally composed of a scion grafted onto a rootstock. Sometimes an interstock is included between the scion and stock. The rootstock may be grown from seed (seedling rootstock) or asexually propagated (clonal rootstock). In the apple, a great many clonal rootstocks are available to give a complete range of dwarfing; rootstocks are also available to invigorate growth of the scion cultivar.
Tissue-culture techniques utilizing embryos, shoot tips, and callus can be used as a method of propagation. The procedure requires aseptic techniques and special media to supply inorganic elements; sugar; vitamins; and, depending on the tissue, growth regulators and organic complexes such as coconut milk, yeast, and amino-acid extract.
Embryo culture has been used to produce plants from embryos that would not normally develop within the fruit. This occurs in early-ripening peaches and in some hybridization between species. Embryo culture can also be used to circumvent seed dormancy.
A shoot tip, when excised and cultured, may produce roots at the base. This technique is employed for the purpose of producing plants free of disease. Certain orchids are rapidly multiplied by this method. Cultured shoot tips form an embryo-like stage that can be sectioned indefinitely to build up large stocks rapidly. These bulblike bodies left unsectioned develop into small plantlets. A similar procedure is used with the carnation, in which the shoot tip forms a cell mass that can be subdivided.
Callus-tissue culture—a very specialized technique that involves growth of the callus, followed by procedures to induce organ differentiation—has been successful with a number of plants including carrot, asparagus, and tobacco. Used extensively in research, callus culture has not been considered a practical method of propagation. Callus culture produces genetic variability because in some cases cells double their chromosome number. In rice and tobacco, mature plants have been obtained from callus formed from pollen. These plants have half the normal number of chromosomes.

subset: commoncrawl


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JPMorgan Chase, one of our nation's ethically-challenged financial institutions, is facing another big fine. That means that once again you'll be hearing the right wing's go-to defense of the bank: President Obama's out to get JPMorgan Chairman Jamie Dimon.
The leading purveyor of this line is the Wall Street Journal editorial page, which wrote last month that Dimon is "the Obama Administration's favorite Wall Street target" because he "keeps deviating from the Obama script." The claim is that Dimon ticked off the White House by objecting to Dodd-Frank financial reforms, grousing about Obama's "anti-business rhetoric," and even hinting that "he preferred a change in the White House."
It would be pretty damning if that's what really caused JPMorgan's regulatory problems. But does the argument hold water? Here's the short answer: no.
And here are some details, drawn from the 10-page list of Morgan's legal problems in its last annual report.
To begin with, it would probably take a superhuman coordinating effort to get all the federal agencies gunning for JPM to work together. A partial list includes: Congress, the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Department of Justice. Not all of them have invariably marched to the White House's tune. In any event, the Journal's editorial page is not usually where you find a lot of faith in the Obama administration's organizational prowess.
What's also overlooked is that many of the investigations costing JPMorgan its billions in settlement costs weren't started by the federal government at all. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission slapped the bank with a $400-million penalty for manipulating the California energy markets, but the complaint FERC acted on came originally from the California Independent System Operator, the agency that found its own markets being manipulated.
How about the criminal charges faced by two Morgan employees over fraud committed in Italy? That complaint came from the city of Milan. Morgan's alleged complicity in Bernie Madoff's enormous Ponzi scheme? That allegation comes from the trustee of the Madoff securities estate, who wants to recover $19 billion in supposedly fraudulent transfers to the bank.
The celebrated London Whale disaster, which has cost JPMorgan roughly $10 billion in trading losses and penalties, is being investigated by Britain's Financial Services Authority, among many other regulators. Among the charges is that JPMorgan made false and misleading statements about the disaster. It's hard to imagine, of course, that President Obama or his minions tricked Dimon into calling the huge loss "a tempest in a teapot." But he did.
Then there's the scam JPMorgan and other banks perpetrated in the auction-rate securities market just before the 2008 financial crisis. That investigation was launched by then-New York Atty. Gen. (now governor) Andrew Cuomo and the state of Florida.
Finally, there's the ongoing investigation of the manipulation of the LIBOR market by JPMorgan and other banks. (LIBOR is an international interest-rate benchmark.) The investigating agencies there, including several state attorneys general, the European Commission, the British Financial Services Authority and the government of Switzerland.
The shocking thing is that this isn't even a complete list. But does it tell you that JPMorgan's ills are the result of animosity from the Obama administration? The regulators and prosecutors haring off after JPMorgan aren't all federal, they aren't all Democrats, and they aren't even all American. Even if people in the White House were out to get Morgan and Dimon, they would have to get in line.


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Pampers Premium Care Pants gives your baby better leakage protection. Pampers Premium Care Pants have dry core that prevents urine from coming back to the top sheet by locking away the liquids. This makes Pampers Premium Care Pants to keep your baby dry even under pressure so he can play uninterruptedly.
• All-around softness • Up to 12 hours of dryness • Baby Lotion helps protect your baby's delicate skin • Breathable material micro pores help air circulation, allowing skin to breath • Stretchy 360 degree waistband and leg cuffs for all around fit
Store diapers in an area protected from extreme heat and humidity and away from products with fragrances.
Don't let your baby put the diaper in mouth. Discard any diaper that has become torn or unsealed and read the warning label on all bags.
Brand: Pampers. Category: Baby Care. Type: Pant Style Diaper. Size: Medium. Pack Contains: 20 Diapers.
Required information not available. Please refer actual product packaging for more information.
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The bottled water brand is cross-promoting the upcoming film 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' with its new ad, in which the hero of the film, Spider-Man, passes a window and sees a baby version of himself reflected back.
Spider-Man and his miniature clone then test each others' skills by competing in a dance-off – set to a remix of Ini Kamoze's 'Here Comes The Hotstepper' by Yuksek – before Spider-Man flees the arriving police.
BETC Paris created the spot, which is being hosted on YouTube and is similar to previous campaigns by Evian where people see baby-sized versions of themselves when they pass mirrors, which are intended to symbolize the inner youthfulness experienced by Evian drinkers.
The most recent campaign of its kind, "baby & me", was the most popular video ad in the UK, according to research by YouTube. It also featured Yuksek's remix of 'Here Comes The Hotstepper'.
Evian began promoting the new Spider-Man ad, called "the amazing baby & me 2" at the end of March, offering glimpses of it through Snapchat and posting a trailer for the full ad on YouTube on 24 March.
Valérie Chidlovsky wrote the new spot, it was art directed by Agnès Cavard, and directed by Tomas Skoging through Acne. Group M handled the media planning and buying.
The campaign will include TV, cinema, online, point of sale and events activity.


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FDA Issues Health Advisory Regarding the Safety of Sporanox® Products and Lamisil® Tablets to Treat Fungal Nail Infections
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today issued a Public Health Advisory to announce significant safety-related updates to the labeling of Sporanox® (itraconazole) products and Lamisil® (terbinafine hydrochloride) tablets. Sporanox® and Lamisil® are used to treat nail (onychomycosis), skin and other systemic fungal infections. The following may be used to answer questions.
The purpose of today's FDA Public Health Advisory is to alert healthcare professionals to serious risks associated with the use of Sporanox® and Lamisil®.
The FDA believes there is a small but real risk of developing congestive heart failure (CHF) associated with the use of Sporanox®. Both Sporanox® and Lamisil® have been associated with serious liver problems resulting in liver failure and death. However, there is insufficient data to allow the FDA to make any kind of statement about the comparative safety of Sporanox® and Lamisil®.
Results of recent studies of Sporanox® revealed a potential for the drug to weaken the force of the heart muscle's contractions. This so-called "negative inotropic effect" was observed when intravenous Sporanox® was injected into anesthetized dogs and healthy human volunteers. In these studies, the adverse effect on the heart muscle resolved once the drug was stopped.
Since becoming aware of the study findings, the FDA analyzed US and international post-marketing adverse event reports involving Sporanox that were received between its approval in September 1992 and April 2001.
During this period, the FDA received 94 cases in which patients receiving Sporanox® developed CHF. In 58 of the 94 cases, the FDA believes Sporanox® contributed to or may have been the cause of CHF. In 26 of these 58 cases, Sporanox® was being administered to treat fungal nail infections. Of these 58 patients, 28 were hospitalized. Death was reported in 13 cases. However, the causal relationship between the 13 deaths and Sporanox® is very unclear because of confounding factors. For example, 10 of the 13 patients who died had serious underlying conditions.
In response to the study findings and the analysis of the post-marketing adverse event reports, the FDA has added additional information to the current "black box" warning in the Sporanox® labeling. The warning now states that Sporanox® should not be administered for the treatment of fungal nail infections in patients with evidence of cardiac dysfunction, such as CHF, or a history of CHF. The Sporanox® "black box" warning also includes important information about heart-related adverse events caused by drug interactions.
If signs and symptoms of CHF occur during treatment of fungal nail infections, the revised labeling recommends that Sporanox® should be discontinued. If signs and symptoms of CHF occur during treatment for more serious fungal infections involving other parts of the body, the revised labeling recommends that continued use of Sporanox® should be reassessed by the physician.
The advisory also alerts healthcare professionals to rare cases of serious liver problems including liver failure, transplantation and death associated with the use of Sporanox® products and Lamisil® tablets. While adverse liver effects were already included in the labeling for both products, the FDA decided to include this information in the advisory because some cases involved patients who had neither pre-existing liver disease nor a serious underlying medical condition.
The FDA's concerns do not apply to the topically applied versions of Lamisil® such as cream and solution.
As of April 2001, the FDA has received and reviewed 16 possible Lamisil®-associated cases of liver failure, including 11 deaths and two liver transplantations.
As of March 2001, the FDA has received and reviewed 24 cases of liver failure possibly associated with Sporanox®, including 11 deaths. Approximately half of the liver failure cases received Sporanox® for fungal nail infections or other dermatological infections.
Given the possible serious risks associated with Sporanox® products and Lamisil® tablets, the new labeling for both products now recommends that healthcare professionals should obtain nail specimens for laboratory testing prior to prescribing the medications for fungal nail infections, to confirm the diagnosis.
In conjunction with the FDA's advisory, the manufacturer of Sporanox® (Janssen Pharmaceutica Products, L.P. of Titusville, NJ and Ortho Biotech Products, L.P. of Raritan, NJ) and Lamisil® (Novartis Pharmaceuticals of East Hanover, NJ) are notifying healthcare professionals of the labeling changes by issuing "Dear Healthcare Professional" letters.
The FDA encourages healthcare professionals and patients to report adverse events associated with the use of Sporanox® and Lamisil® to the FDA's MedWatch Program. Reports may be submitted to MedWatch by phone at 1-800-FDA-1088, by fax at 1-800-FDA-1078, by mail at MedWatch, HF-2, FDA, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852-9787, or on the MedWatch web site at www.fda.gov/medwatch.
The full text of the FDA Public Health Advisory is available at the FDA's MedWatch web site, http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/advisory/sporanox-lamisil/advisory.htm.
For more information on this subject, see the Center for Drug Research and Evaluation's Sporanox and Lamisil Public Health Advisory Web page. For general information about liver toxicity, see the Center's Web page on Drug-Induced Liver Toxicity.


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Climate deniers use naive deceptions
Two similar, scientifically naive deceptions have recently re-surfaced to deny the science of climate change. One claims the current global warming is natural variability; the other that carbon dioxide could not be the cause because its concentration is too small.
Of course climate scientists are aware of historic climate changes and generally understand the factors inducing past patterns. The basis of scientific methodology is testing hypotheses. Scientific confidence in a relationship grows when all other possible causal factors have been rejected by analysis.
Thus is how climate science investigates global warming. All other possible factors that might induce the warming we have seen over the last century have been rejected by analysis. Increasing concentration of carbon dioxide stands as the only remaining factor able to cause the warming we have seen. Indeed, without the human-induced atmospheric carbon dioxide increase, these factors would have caused global cooling through the first decade of this century.
The warming properties of atmospheric carbon dioxide were suggested in the 1820s and subsequently confirmed — even at the low concentrations known to exist. The idea is not new. Low concentrations of chemicals in parts per billion can have profound and even lethal consequences.
Arguing that an increase in carbon dioxide from 275 to 400 parts per million (nearly 50 percent) is too small to have any possible climatic effect is uninformed. Denying the conclusion that carbon dioxide is causing global warming requires proposing a factor unknown to science.
Alan Journet
Ashland is still a city of people who care
As evidence that Ashland is still the city of people who care, here's our story.
Our dog is a loving, happy member of the family, who just can't overcome her genes. She's a bird dog, and if given the slightest opportunity, will chase every sparrow and goose until she's exhausted. Yesterday, while on a "potty break," she finagled a way out of the yard, trailing her broken tether. Now here's the Ashland miracle: When returned home late at night, she had been rescued from the trailing tangle, was clean and whole.
Some Ashland soul had found her and with great compassion, had freed her, cared for her, and sent her home. Our hearts are overflowing with joy and gratitude to this "heart of Ashland" person. Thank you for rescuing our precious Savannah, and for making this the great city we love.
Ellen Wilfong-Grush
Frustrated about homelessness issue
I have lived in Ashland for about three years now. I've been loosely following the issue of homelessness here and what's being done to alleviate the problem which, so far, hasn't been much of anything.
While I am not aware of all the reasons the Plaza is being remodeled, it just seems to me that the money being spent on that would have been more wisely spent on doing something to create a facility for temporary housing and other services for the homeless population here. It seems to me that business owners downtown do not want to deal with this very important issue, and that the city would rather not deal with it at all.
Spending money to figure out a solution to this issue seems like it would solve problems for both sides. It would mean less of the homeless people occupying the downtown area which would also make the business owners and tourists happy.
It is sad that people would rather look the other way and not deal with this sort of situation, but that is the reality. I am frustrated that Ashland cannot seem to figure this out when there are so many other cities in Oregon and elsewhere that are willing to give more help than Ashland does to those in need.
Katie Breen


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This FTOOL is also written in C. Full use is made of dynamic memory allocation. If the number of spectral channels is changed in XSTAR, this program should adapt appropriately, automatically.
Examples of changes in XSTAR that would require changes in this FTOOL (just meant as a sample, not necessarily an exhaustive list).


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Stop whatever it is you're doing right now and plug into this amazing new short film The Gate. The CG creatures are horrifying, mesmerizing, and should really be the high water mark for all computer-animated beasties. Plus, fairy genocide!
The Gate
Quiet Earth has the exclusive look at a gorgeous parade of freaks in The Gate, which is written and directed by Matt Westrup and produced by Spencer Friend. This is the real deal my friends. Watch the mutant-meat-sack party now, now, NOW!
95% of the human genome is composed of redundant gene sequences. They appear to have no known biological function. Could a chance event reactivate them?
Painted Skin 2
Next up is a collection of glorious concept art from Wuershan (The Butcher, the Chef, and the Swordsman). According to Twitch Film, this is (clearly) a sequel to Gordon Chan's Painted Skin and has been filming all across the globe for months. Zhou Xun will be reprising her role as Xiao Wei. The original movie followed two myth spirits who liked to eat the hearts (and skins) of their victims/lovers to stay young. The art for the sequel is gorgeous — hope the movie lives up to the look.
Moving Day
Oh dear, this is a cute little short from Jason Wingrove. We're glad we're not the only folks out there who have always wanted to see a flamethrower murdering a bunch of fairies.


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Mill Girls
Bessy Conway; or, The Irish Girl in America.
The day of parting came at last, and Bessy was permitted as a special favor to go in the carriage with the Hibbard family to see Mrs. Walters on board the Garrick. Many friends were there, and many kind wishes were exchanged, and people were coming and going to the very last. The Hibbards were amongst the last to leave the vessel, and Bessy Conway lingered behind whilst her mistress spoke with the Captain and his officers.. Mrs. Walters had kindly promised to go and see Denis Conway and his wife as soon as she returned to Garrick, where she meant to spend part of the following summer, and Bessy stood drowned in tears, with Sirs Walters' two hands clasped between her own whilst she poured out the sorrow, and the love, and the gratitude that filled her heart. Suddenly another voice spoke behind her, it was that of Henry Herbert:
"Mrs. Walters," said he," you will excuse me, I hope, for intruding myself upon you at a moment sacred to friendship and to grief. I could not allow you to depart without assuring you once again that I am deeply grateful for the generous interest you have been pleased to take in a forlorn castaway like myself. I make no professions -- people would not believe me if I didŃat least it seems so -- but oh! believe me, I am the creature of circumstances. My whole life has been unfavorable to the growth of virtue -- no genial sunshine, no softening dew has fallen on my heart to fructify the germ of good
that nature, or nature's God implanted in it -- this you cannot understand, and there is no time now for explanations -- permit me once more to thank you most sincerely, and to wish you a safe and pleasant voyage. If we never meet again I shall remember you as one who spoke kindly and encourag ingly to the poor outcast -- "
Bessy had retreated to a corner, and her sobs went to Mrs. Walters' heart. Herbert turned quickly and fixed his eyes upon her with a sorrowful expression.
" Ay ! she may weep," he said to Mrs. Walters, " she love you and you were kind to her. She will find few to treat her as you did -- to appreciate her as you did. I know her value, and I would cherish her as a tender 'dower, but she will not have it so -- she 'dies me as though I were a serpent, -- and others view me through a still darker medium ! Mrs. Walters ! I do not complain, but I must say that some whom you know have not used me well -- but no matter now -- a time may come, -- If they only left me, Bessy, I could bear all, and the world might be the gainer -- now I am like a boat sent adrift on a stormy ocean without pilot or rudder -- farewell !"
" Farewell, Mr. Herbert !" said Mrs. Walters with deep feeling; "farewell! and may God give you strength to resist temptation, and follow the instincts of your better nature ! -- there -- shake hands with Bessy now -- and go quickly -- you have but a moment !"
Bessy came forward with downcast eyes, and Herbert taking her hand looked a moment on her drooping tearful face, then sighed heavily, and dropping the hand he held left the cabin without a word. Mrs. Walters looked at BessyŃthe color had left her cheek and she was trembling with suppressed emotion.
"Bessy! Bessy ! take care!" said the lady in a kind and soothing tone, "I know and feel that your trial is a hard one -- but you must persevere -- all that your friends can do will not save you, unless you act firmly and -- keep him at a distance!
Let no promises, no persuasions induce you to listen to him -- were his intentions all that he says, you would be none the happier for being his wife, knowing the light in which his family would regard you Remember what I tell you, Bessy, and you will never be sorry for taking my advice. You must hurry away now, for I hear the Captain calling to me that Mrs. Hibbard is going. Goodbye, Bessy! good-bye ! I expect you to write to me very soon and I will answer your letter. God bless you, my dear girl ! and may His mighty arm protect you from all danger !"
Bessy's heart was too fall for words, but she pressed Mrs. Walters' hand again and again, and raised her eyes to heaven invoking a blessing on her head, then silently followed Mrs. Hibbard to the deck, and had barely time to say " good-bye" to the Captain when her mistress left the vessel, and they joined the crowd on shore who were waiting to see the Garrick sail. When the final moment came and the stately ship elbowed her way out through the throng of merchant craft representing almost every nation of the earth, Bessy felt as if she were alone in the world and the halfforgotten sorrow of a former parting was renewed in her mind. Small comfort did she find in the shining gold piece which Mrs. Walters had slipped into her hand at parting. "It will do for a keepsake," was her sorrowful thought as she looked at its jaunty liberty cap and its emblematic stars, then kissed it and laid it carefully away in the tiny silk purse which the fair hands of Mrs. Walters had fabricated expressly for her use
Mrs. Hibbard did her best to console Bessy, and to replace the kind mistress she had lost. But somehow she never got so tar into Bessy's heart as her kindness would seem to warrant She was a very good woman as the world goes, and meant well at all times, but there was a want of steadiness in her disposition that amounted at times to caprice, and there was also a listless indifference to the affairs of others that looked very like selfishness if anything else it could be called. Consequently she
could never be to Bessy what Mrs. Walters had been, and that the poor girl soon found out with a sinking heart. Still Mrs. Hibbard was strongly impressed with a sense of justice and desired, moreover, to make friends of her domestics if she only knew how to set properly about it. She knew very well when she was well served, and endeavored to encourage by every means in her power those whom she found faithful in the discharge of their duty. To Bessy, therefore, she was uniformly kind, and made it a practice to hold her up as an example to others, a favor with which Bessy could well have dispensed, for she knew that it vexed and annoyed her fellow-servants without at all benefiting her.
Bridget had no patience with her mistress for what she considered this unjust partiality, and she never took any pains to conceal her discontent. She contrived to make the kitchen so uncomfortable to Bessy that she spent no more time in it than was actually necessary. Still she did not complain to Mrs. Hibbard, fearing a violent concussion which would end in Bridget's expulsion. But old Wash was not so forbearing -- he thought he had borne too long, and so he made it his business to lodge a formal complaint against Bridget, telling his mistress that he could live no longer in the same house with her.
After breakfast next morning Bridget was sent for to the sitting room, and Mrs. Hibbard asked her how it happened that she made the place so disagreeable to her fellow-servants. This reused Bridget's ire, and instead of giving any satisfactory answer, she launched out into a violent tirade against the house and every one in it, man, woman and child. Mrs. Hibbard tried in vain to stop her, saying that there was no need for loud talk or angry words, but she might as well have tried to stop the rushing avalanche of the Alps or Apennines in its downward course. Everything was said by Bridget that could possibly annoy her mistress, and she wound up by telling her that she didn't know a good girl from a bad one.
"Any bogtrotter that comes the way will suit you as well
as a girl that knows her business. I an't used to that Mrs. Hibbard, and I tell you I shan't stand it any longer. I'm no greenhorn, Sirs. Hibbard ! nor I'm no stranger in New York, thanks be to God -- I have had good places, Mrs. Hibbard ! not all as one, and I know what good places are, and I an't a'going to be walked over by any one -- I'll leave to-morrow Mrs. Hibbard ! -- there !"
"Then we are both of one mind, Bridget !" said Mrs. Hibbard quietly and coldly; " that is just what I wanted to tell you. There are two weeks past of the present month, for which time I will pay you when you are ready to leave."
" Well ! Mrs. Hibbard, it's very hard" -- began Bridget in an altered tone -- she had had no idea that her mistress would take her at her word.
" I have nothing more to say to you, Bridget," said Mrs. Hibbard walking away; " you leave tomorrow forenoon."
So it was that Bridget lost a place which she knew in her heart was as good as any in New York. She blustered a great deal in the kitchen, and boasted over and over that she didn't care a snap for Mrs. Hibbard or any one else, "only in fair play ;" she abused Bessy and old Wash till, as Bessy said, " a dog wouldn't lick their blood," but neither of them made her an answer, and, indeed, they kept out of her way as much as possible, so the day passed over without any more serious catastrophe than the breaking of a kitchen bowl which Bridget flung out of her hand in one of her tantrums."
Next morning she left the house, refusing the half month's wages which was her due, and threatening to make Mrs. Hibbard pay her month in full, as she turned her away without any reason at all but just to please that spiteful old nigger, and that nasty lithe piece of consequence, Bessy Conway. Ellen was favored with a good-bye, together with a parting admonition to take care of herself, for her turn would come next.
"Smooth water runs deep, Ellen," said Bridget with an emphatic
shake of the head; " you see they never stopped till they got one out, and they'll serve you the same trick, depend upon it. I'd advise you to get pious, and thump your craw, and turn up the whites of your eyes now and then like a duck in thunder -- when you think folks are looking at you. That's the way to get along, and -- do you hear, Ellen!" she added with a mischievous glance at Bessy, "if you only do that you needn't be partic'lar as to what you do behind-backs -- voteens can make a longer tether to themselves than they're willing to give to others."
Ellen put this broad hint off with a laugh, but Bessy looked very grave, and felt strongly tempted to make a severe retort on Bridget. A moment's thought, however, served to show her how worse than useless this would be, and she allowed Bridget to depart without any allusion to what had been said.
Mrs. Hibbard had advertised for a cook the evening before, and of six or eight who presented themselves in the morning, she engaged a tall, thin, and rather delicate looking young woman named Fanny Powers. Mrs. Hibbard was almost afraid to take her, fearing that her strength might not be equal to what she undertook, but Fanny appeared so confident, and looked so tidy and so amiable, moreover, that. there was no possibility of doubting her capacity or her willingness. She was, therefore, inaugurated as cook and laundress, and her fellow-servants were all prepossessed by her appearance.
Indeed, nothing could exceed the order and neatness with which Fanny went through her work, and, of course, the com fort of the family was wonderfully increased. Her mildness and good sense were equally remarkable in her intercourse with her fellowservants, so that, in all respects, she seemed a most valuable acquisition to the household.
Bessy Conway, in particular, regarded the newcomer with admiration, and esteemed herself fortunate in obtaining such a companion, for she found that Fanny was extremely pious,
and loved going to church beyond anything else in the whole world. She could not live, she said, without going to church regularly, and she wouldn't take the best place in New York where she couldn't get going as often as she wished.
A happy girl was Bessy when, on the first night after Fanny's arrival, the two knelt together to say their beads, and after a little persuasion, and some goodnatured laughing, Ellen was at last persuaded to join them.
" Surely we're all right now," said Bessy to herself as she laid her head on the pillow that night. Undoubtedly things looked bright, but Bessy had yet to learn the truth of the old saying: " All is not gold that glitters. "
Things had gone on very smoothly and fairly for about a week, and every one was happy in the restored peace of the mansion. Old Wash spent more of his time in the kitchen than he had done for many a month, and it was a pleasure to see him as he sat of an evening by the brightly-polished range, looking alternately, with a broad grin of satisfaction, at the clear fire and the shining teakettle on top, and the sedate countenance of the new cook as she sat at the table hard by making a dress for herself. The old man thought he had never felt so comfortable, and so he told Fanny who, of course, took all the merit to herself, and thanked Wash for his good opinion.
It was a real pleasure for Bessy, too, to bring down her work to the kitchen, in the evening after tea, or perhaps read some pious or entertaining book while Fanny worked. And the old nigger pricked up his ears and listened -- he had never heard Catholic books read before and he seemed to think them the strangest reading that ever was. As a general thing he sat listening in silence, mouth and eyes open, to catch the words whose meaning was so mystical to him. Now and then, however, he would break out in exclamations of surprise, and his running comment on what reached his ear was amusing to the girls, though at times they had to call him to account
when his remarks, whether intentionally or not, made irreverently free with sacred things.
This was all very pleasant while it lasted. The stream running so beautifully clear no one in the world could suppose that there was mud to be stirred up from the bottom very soon that would discolor the sparkling water and make trouble where all was peace and contentment
Eight or nine days after Fanny came, there was a sermon to be preached on Sunday evening, in St. Mary's Church, and Fanny calculated so certainly on being present that she was full of it all the week, and could hardly speak of anything else.
She grew quite eloquent while giving an account to Bessy of sermons she had heard preached by the same eminent clergyman.
" Well! I declare," said Bessy innocently, "you were very lucky to be able to hear so many one sermons."
"I guess I was," said Fanny, " but somehow I always make that out wherever I am."
"See that now ! -- the old saying over again: ' where there's a will there's a way."'
There wasn't "a way" on that occasion, for when Sunday afternoon came round, Fanny received orders to have some supper ready for a few friends whom Mrs. Hibbard had invited to come home with her after evening service.
When Bessy went into the kitchen a little while after, she was surprised to see Fanny sitting there crying as if her heart would break.
" My goodness, Fanny dear I what's the matter with you?"
Fanny could not answer at first, but went on sobbing most piteously.
" Lord bless me !" said Bessy again in great alarm, " what's come over you at all, Fanny ? -- did you hear of any death?"
" N -- n -- no ! I didn't," sobbed Fanny, " but -- but -- but -- "
" But what ?"
"W -- can't -- can't -- get out this eveningŃ"
"Well ! what of that?"
" Why I shan't hear -- hear Father P 's -- sermon !"
With all Bessy's goodnature she could not help laughing
" Why, then, Fanny, is that all that ails you?"
" I guess it's about enough," replied Fanny very sharply; " I don't see what you've got to laugh at, really !"
" Well ! after that" -- and Bessy held up her hands in utter amazement -- " after that I'm sure I'll not wonder at anything."
" You won't, eh? -- dear me !" ejaculated Fanny rather disdainfully, as Bessy thought, for such a pious person.
In the meantime Fanny had dried up her tears, and Bessy went on: " Well ! do you know, Fanny, I'm surprised at you -- indeed I am -- to let your mind be disturbed at such a trifle as that."
" Trifle, indeed ! it ain't a trifle, I tell you, to be disappointed like that !"
"I wish you may never have more cause to cry!" said Bessy; " if you don't you'll come off safe enough !"
" Now will you just keep your chat to yourself ?" said Fanny, with increasing ill-humor; " I an't in a state of mind to bear much at the present time, I can tell you !"
"Why, Fanny! Fanny! where's your patience gone ton Sure I often heard you say that it was a fine thing for people to have trials and troubles in this world, for that every one would be a crown to them in heaven; -- it seems you don't want to make a crown of this trial, anyhow."
But Fanny was quite too angry to listen to reason. " Well ! it an't any use talking," she exclaimed petulantly, "if I'm vexed it an't without good reason. I guess St. Peter himself couldn't bear it patiently!"
"Well! I think he could," said Bessy with a smile, ' -- and I'm sure of it, too, for I couldn't bear what St. Peter bore, I'm afraid, and I could bear this disappointment of yours as easy as could be."
" That may be," retorted Fanny, with a look so cynical and
sour that Bessy could hardly believe her eyes; " some an't as anxious to hear sermons as others."
"Well! I can say for myself," said Bessy, still smiling, " that there's no one likes better to hear instructions than I do, -- but still I'd never fret about missing one sermon; if I did, I'd be afraid that I wasn't profiting much by them that I did hear."
On this Fanny bridled up, and her eyes actually flashed fire. " I'd thank you, Bessy Conway, to keep your opinion till it is asked for, and it will be a long day before I ask it, take my word for it."
" Well ! sure you needn't be vexed with me anyhow," said Bessy mildly; "it isn't my fault that you're kept in from church."
" I don't say it is, Bessy !" rejoined Fanny, a little softened, " but I'm real angry with Mrs. Hibbard."
" Well ! I don't see why you should. Is it because she wants supper for three or four of her friends? Hasn't she a right to get what she wants in her own house?"
"Nobody says she hasn't," exclaimed Fanny with renewed warmth, " but it's the least a girl that's working like a slave all week should have Sunday evening to herself!" and again Fanny burst into a passionate flood of tears. " Here I've to go to w work amongst pots and saucepans instead of going to Church like a Christian to hear the word of God ! It's too bad, and I've a great mind to put on my things awl go off to Church."
" And lose your place tomorrow morning?"
" I don't care a cent about the place ! I'd rather be for half wages where I could save my soul!"
Seeing the state of nervous excitement into which Fanny had worked herself, Bessy was driven to her wit's end, and knee not well what to say. Still she felt as though she ought to say something.
" Well ! I don't know how it may be with you," said she,
" but for my part, I think I can save my soul here as well as if I was in a nunnery; -- and do you know what, Fanny! maybe you're doing more for your soul among the pots and saucepans to-night than if you were sitting in a pew in St. Mary's Church listening to Father P ."
" How so, pray?"
" Why, because you'd be doing your own will if you went to Church, but it's God's will for you to stay at your work, when the mistress wants you "
"Well, upon my word !" ejaculated Fanny in high disdain, " things are come to a pretty pass with us when a bit of a greenhorn undertakes to lecture us like that!"
"I hope you'll not take it ill of me," said Bessy mildly; "even if I am a greenhorn, as you say, that doesn't prevent me from knowing how to save my soul. There's as good Christians where I came from, thanks be to God, as there is anywhere else "
" Good gracious !" cried Fanny, glancing at the clock, " there its seven o'clock, and I hadn't got a thing done, not even my tea-dishes washed!"
" Well ! if you'll go on with your cooking," said Bessy, " I'll wash the dishes for you."
This welcome proposal restored Fanny's good humor, at least to a certain extent, and although she kept sighing at intervals all the evening as she thought of Father P-'s sermon, she said no more about it, for Wash came in soon after, and Bessy took care to keep other subjects afloat, so that the evening passed away without any further allusion to the exciting topic of Fanny's disappointment.
But the girls were never on the same terms after that evening. The bond of sympathy was broken between them, and their mutual confidence was much diminished if not entirely destroyed. Bessy's faith in Fanny had received a severe shock, and the subdued mildness, or rather calmness of her exterior no longer impressed her as it had done. She had dis --
covered that a deep strata of human pride lay beneath the modest and humble exterior, and that angry passions were smoldering beneath the cold surface, awaiting but occasion to fan them to a blaze.
Dancers at a Club
During the following week, Bessy went up to see Mrs. Finigan . She found the Castle Inn and every one in it in a state of exuberant hilarity. The merry sound of the fiddle was heard from the large room off the bar, mingled with snatches of songs and " voices in their glee," and laughter that rang pleasantly on the ear. Ally was behind the bar with Ned, and both seemed as though their hearts were overflowing with content and they reveling in the sense of fortune's favors. They were both glad to see Bessy, and Ally, inviting her in behind the bar, told her she was just in time for a dance .
" How is that, Mrs. Finigan?"
"Well ! the club meets to-night, you know, and they have elegant music and everything first-rate."
" What's the club!"
"Why, the Smoking Club, to be sure I thought you knew all about it. They meet here once a week."
"Well ! but what have l to do with them?" inquired Bessy.
"Bad cess to you, Bessy, is there ne'er a spree in you, at all q Didn't I tell you you were just in for a dance, and its what you question me like a lawyer."
"Why dear me! Ally, do you think I'd go in among a room full of people that's all strangers to me, and step out on the floor before them all? Sure enough I'd be fond of a dance when I'd do that !"
"Don't be botherin' me now with your airs !" and Ally gave her a push in sportive mood. " Won't Ned go in with you himself, and its glad enough the boys will be to get such a partner! why our Mary comes every meeting night and she wouldn't miss the fun for anything ! Come here, Ned !"
Ned came accordingly and joined his persuasions to Ally's,
but Bessy was proof against them all. They were forced to leave her to go to their business, and Ned especially was very angry, knowing what a stir her pretty modest face would make in the club-room.
" You may go to the mischief, then!" he said testily as he hurried back to the bar; " if Herbert was there, she'd go in a minute," he added in an under tone, " but her own equals aren't good enough for her ladyship since she has a squireen running after her !"
Vexed as Ally was, she gave Bessy a seat near where she was standing. "But maybe you'd rather go up stairs," said she in an ironical tone, " my mother is above."
Bessy was rather amused, however, by the view which she had of the club-room through the open door, and she said she would wait a little where she was before she went up to see Mrs. Murphy. It was, indeed, a scene where mirth and jollity abounded, and where the hilarious elasticity of the Celtic nature was strikingly manifested. The Smoking Club of that day is now with the past, for twenty years throws many a custom off the stage of popular favor into the gulf of things obsolete.
At the room-door sat an odd-looking genius with the drollest expression of countenance and that ceaseless flow of humor only to be found amongst those of his class and country. This individual held a plate on which was deposited, by each one on entering, the silver key which obtained him admission, in the likeness of a York shilling. Each member, it seemed, had the privilege of bringing a partner, and the pile of shillings on the plate was appropriated, first of all to paying the musicians, the remainder to be spent at the bar in refreshments for the company. The smoking-members had another room appropriated to themselves, their pipes and tobaccoŃcigars were held in sovereign contempt, and by common consent excluded the club-room.
Bessy enjoyed the fun mightily for some time. The whole scene was familiar, and as she watched each:
dancing pair that simply sought renown,
And the merry antics of the young men and the simpering shyness of the girls, as they gaily footed the floor to the tune of "The Rocky Road to Dublin," or "Jackson's Morning Brush," or some other traditional favorite, she could almost forget the thousands of miles that lay between her and " the big barn" where many a time she tripped it on the bare earthen floor. When the recollection of where she was did recur to her mind, a sigh and a tear were given to the lightsome heart and the homely joys of that Auld Lang Syne which seemed to have fallen a score of years back into the past, though Bessy's years were but a score.
It soon got about in the room that " old Denis Conway's daughter from Ardfinnan" was somewhere in the vicinity, and one after another, full half a dozen "Tipperary boys" made their bow and scrape before her, asking the pleasure of her company to dance. Bessy was fain to refuse them all, but no one could take offense, her smile was so sweet, and her excuses so plausible.
She was just thinking of going up stairs, when a well known voice, speaking to Ned at the bar, made her turn quickly, and there she saw Henry Herbert, his face flushed either with liquor or some strong excitement. He had just come in, accompanied by a tall showy man, whom Bessy recognized with a sinking heart as the same who had so impudently accosted her that well-remembered night in Chatham square.
The pair of friends were passing on to the smaller room adjoining the club-room, and Ned Finigan looked anxiously round in search of Bessy. To his great relief no Bessy was there.
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Drug candidate leads to improved endurance
16 July 2013
An international group of scientists has shown that a drug candidate designed by scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) significantly increases exercise endurance in animal models.
These findings could lead to new approaches to helping people with conditions that acutely limit exercise tolerance, such as obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and congestive heart failure, as well as the decline of muscle capacity associated with aging.
The study was published 14 July 2013, by the journal Nature Medicine.
The drug candidate, SR9009, is one of a pair of compounds developed in the laboratory of TSRI Professor Thomas Burris and described in a March 2012 issue of the journal Nature as reducing obesity in animal models. The compounds affect the core biological clock, which synchronizes the rhythm of the body's activity with the 24-hour cycle of day and night.
The compounds work by binding to one of the body's natural molecules called Rev-erba, which influences lipid and glucose metabolism in the liver, the production of fat-storing cells and the response of macrophages (cells that remove dying or dead cells) during inflammation.
In the new study, a team led by scientists at the Institut Pasteur de Lille in France demonstrated that mice lacking Rev-erba had decreased skeletal muscle metabolic activity and running capacity. Burris' group showed that activation of Rev-erba with SR9009 led to increased metabolic activity in skeletal muscle in both culture and in mice. The treated mice had a 50 per cent increase in running capacity, measured by both time and distance.
''The animals actually get muscles like an athlete who has been training,'' said Burris. ''The pattern of gene expression after treatment with SR9009 is that of an oxidative-type muscle - again, just like an athlete.''
The authors of the new study suggest that Rev-erba affects muscle cells by promoting both the creation of new mitochondria (often referred to as the ''power plants'' of the cell) and the clearance of those mitochondria that are defective.


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I've just finished reading Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, about the year the author, Julie Powell, cooked every recipe in Julia Child's cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking and blogged about it all. I did find the book funny, although even Julia Child in person couldn't get me cooking some of these things (and perhaps Julia Child wasn't impressed with Julie's project anyway).
After Child's death, Julie Powell at first envisioned Julia with her husband Paul again toasting "whatever comes next" but at the end of Julie and Julia, she
says she thinks Julia's in a grave with a "cool headstone" and she gives her readers a guess what the epitaph is. Well, I immediately thought 'The End' since Julia Child was an author. No, that's not right.
According to Find A Grave, Julia Child's body wasn't buried. Her ashes were scattered instead, perhaps in Santa Barbara and Maine, USA. I see there are over 700 messages there on the Find A Grave memorial pages for Julia Child. That's quite a memorial in itself.
Now what would be a good epitaph though?
Maybe this - often attributed to Julia Child - "Life itself is the proper binge."
Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell (New York: Back Bay Books, 2005).
Arlington National Cemetery Asks Public Input on Eligibility Rules - As space has become limited, the Department of Defense considers new eligibility rules for the iconic Arlington Cemetery and seeks public and stakeholder ...
1 year ago


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Mariano Rivera will be back on the mound after a knee injury forced him to miss most of the 2012 season.
But Rivera's return to baseball will likely be a brief one: the Yankees have scheduled a press conference for Saturday, where Rivera is expected to announce his retirement at the end of this year.
Rivera, 43, is widely considered one of the greatest closers of all time. He has spent his entire career in New York, signing with the Yankees organization in 1990 and making his debut as a starting pitcher in 1995.
Rivera's career began to take off when, in 1996, he began pitching relief, ultimately landing the coveted role as closer. He has been selected as an All Star 12 times, helped the Yankees win five World Series championships, and earned more than 600 saves over his 19 years in baseball.
Before his injury on May 3, Rivera had been hinting 2012 would be his final season. But after successful surgery to in June to repair his ACL, Rivera announced he would return for at least one more year.
"I'm not going down like this," Rivera said of his decision.
According to the New York Times Bats blog, the Yankees are preparing to give Rivera the sendoff his storied career deserves. But, given his history of planning retirement only to reverse course later, the team is leaving open the possibility he'll change his mind yet again.


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Today, promotional graphics demand process color. Can your screen-printing shop deliver?
By Bruce Ridge
With today's proliferation of color, it's easy to forget that black-and-white photos, movies, TVs, newspapers, and desktop printers once dominated our lives. In the past, if color was an option at all, it was a luxury. But technology has made full color practical, affordable, and appealing, especially to advertisers who want print promotions to represent their products in color that is realistic or even better than real life.
Color issues are part of a larger set of interrelated challenges that screen printers face today. According to the Technology Forecast 2001 released by the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, four key market trends are influencing all image-reproduction processes: A demand for an increasing number of colors on the typical job. An increase in print complexity on the typical job. A substantial reduction in turn-around time for the typical job. A substantial reduction in the average run length of the typical job.
To remain competitive in light of these trends, many screen printers are beginning to produce process-color graphics. And shops that already have experience with process color are finding themselves obligated to print more process-color work, more predictably, and in a shorter time frame that ever before. What do all these companies have in common? Their success depends on training employees to understand what process-color reproduction is all about and how to make it work with screen printing.
Competitive pressure
For a long time, screen printers were unchallenged in certain niches, including the markets for large-format, short-run, and durable graphics. Then digital technologies emerged, and they seemed poised to take over the business in these niches. While that threat hasn't become a reality, digital technology has raised the bar on color reproduction and led to a growing demand for high-quality process-color on all graphics--including those that are screen printed.
Wide-format digital imaging evolved in direct response to the need for accurate color, high resolution, and rapid turnaround on short-run graphics. Unlike the screen-printing process with its hundreds of variables, digital imaging leapfrogs labor-intensive prepress and production steps that can send screen-printed color out of control if not performed correctly. Digital technology requires much less operator intervention, making the human factor less influential on the printed result.
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