text:
In the Photo above, CHP Officer Pierman and a Mendocino County Sheriff confer with the demonstrators about their well being and discuss their plans around the lock down.
Work at the Caltrans Willits Bypass project was once again delayed when it was discovered that two protesters, Jamie Chevalier and Travis Jochimsen, had used metal lockboxes to lock themselves to a wick drain augur, a tool used in the process of draining the wetland area along the bypass construction site. The two were locked to the augur for around five hours before they were arrested -see photos below. Photos on this page are by Ree Slocum Photography.
Use the player to hear more on this story in a piece aired on Mon, May 20, 2013, by KMUD News Correspondent Christina Aanestad. The audio clip begins with an interview with Sarah Grusky of Save Our Little Lake Valley.
Additional Resources:
Protest of Willits Bypass Project planned-update; Willits Bypass slowing down-new audio included
Senator Evans says Caltrans needs to consider alternatives to Willits Bypass-Caltrans Response
Willits Bypass tree-sitters extracted by CHP
Arrests at Willits Bypass site
Farm group challenges environmental review of Willits Bypass Project
Caltrans Willits Bypass Web Page
Save Little Lake Valley
Around 6 am this morning, Jamie Chevalier (Photo Left) and Travis Jochimsen (photo right) locked down in a black bear device on the wick drain boom brought in by Caltrans.
The photo above shows Bodhi Tree being arrested by Arcata Police and Humboldt County Sheriff Deputies-see the video of the arrest at the bottom of the page.
Update-Thurs., May 23, 2013: According to a press release from the Eureka Police Department, double homicide suspect, Bodhi Tree, being held without bail for the murder in Arcata of Alan "Sunshine" Marcet, 27, and 18-year-old Christina Schwarz on May 18, 2013, is now a person of interest in a shooting that occurred three days earlier in Eureka. Detectives believe the homicides in Arcata and the shooting in Eureka are potentially related. According to the press release the individual who was initially detained by the Eureka Police Department, in connection with the May 15 shooting, is not the focus of the investigation at this time. On Wed., May 22 in Humboldt County Superior Court, suspect Bohdi Tree pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder . The gun used in the Arcata double homicide has still not been found.
Police officials request that if you have any information about the Eureka shooting of Rhett August which occurred on Wed., May 15 on the 1900 block of J Street in Eureka, please contact Lead Detective Peter Cross at 707 441-4390, Senior Detective Ron Harpham at 707 441-4305 or the Eureka Police Dept. at 707 441-4606. If you have information specific to the homicides in Arcata contact Lt. Ryan Peterson at 707 822-2428.
Update- Tues., May 21, 2013: The Arcata Police Department is still actively investigating this double murder case with 28 year old Bodhi Tree of Arcata as the prime murder suspect. The victims, Alan "Sunshine" Marcet, 27, of Oak Park Michigan, and 18-year-old Christina Schwarz, a Eureka High student, were shot and killed on Sat., May 18 at a residence at 2457 Eye Street, Arcata. Police continue their search for a handgun that was possibly discarded by the suspect in the Sunny Brae area, specifically in the area of Beverly Drive and Shirley Blvd. If anyone finds a gun they are asked to leave the gun in place and immediately contact the Arcata Police Department. Hear more on this update below.
Use the player below to hear an audio update on this case, including an exclusive interview with the resident of the home in which the murders took place. This news piece was aired by KMUD News Correspondent, Christina Aanestad, on the KMUD Local News, Tues., May 21, 2013.
Murder suspect, Bodhi Tree, is shown in the photo below.
Read the original post on this story below.
On Sat., May 18 Arcata Police Officers were alerted to a reported shooting in Arcata, with one victim dead at the scene and a second pronounced dead after being transported to the Mad River Community Hospital. The suspected shooter, Bodhi Tree, 28 years old of Arcata, was later apprehended and booked in the Humboldt County Jail on two counts of Murder. The press release on this incident appears below.
On May 18, 2013, at about 2:00am, the Arcata Police Department responded to the 2400 block of Eye Street on the report of gunshot victims inside the residence. A female victim was pronounced dead at the scene, the male victim was pronounced dead at Mad River Community Hospital.
The Arcata Police Department conducted an extensive investigation with a suspect being developed. The investigation led officers to a residence located in the 200 block of Marilyn Avenue, located in the Sunny Brae area of Arcata. Upon initial contact with the occupants of the residence, the suspect was not located. A short time later, citizens in the area notified police of a suspicious subject in the 1700 block of Shirley Blvd, a short distance away from the Marilyn Avenue residence. Officers responded and located Bodhi Tree, 28 years old of Arcata. Tree was the homicide suspect sought by the police department and he was arrested. Tree was transported to the Humboldt County Jail and booked for two counts of PC 187--Murder.
The homicide investigation continues and anyone with information is strongly encouraged to contact the Arcata Police Department at 822-2424.
View a You Tube video below of Bodhi Tree being arrested by Arcata Police and Humboldt County Sheriff Deputies-You Tube video uploaded by "AndrewEliGoff."
The subject of impact on wildlife species due to rodenticide use in marijuana grows is in the news again as Second District Supervisor, Estelle Fennell, sponsored a resolution to discourage their use. Although not strictly a ban the resolution, which was approved unanimously, is hoped to influence business owners to take rodenticides off their shelves and to discourage consumers from using them.
A letter from Reckitt Benckiser, the company that the manufactures d-CON rodenticide products, dated the same day the board approved the resolution, urged the Board of Supervisors to, "...conduct a review of the scientific evidence surrounding the use of rodenticides, and to consider the serious unintended consequences of encouraging local businesses to restrict the sale of these products." Click here for a pdf copy of this letter.
Using the player below you can hear more on this story in a piece submitted by Daniel Mintz and aired on KMUD Local News on Tues., May 14, 2013.
Previous related KMUD News Posts:
"Southern Humboldt businesses take rat poison off shelves"
"New lawsuit targets rat poison regulation"
"See Biologist Mourad Gabriel- Pot and Endangered Wildlife-Sept. 27 Arcata"
"Groups call for ban on rat poisons"
At 10:30 pm on Mon., May 13, 2013 a McKinleyville man reported to a Humboldt County Sheriff's Deputy that he had been struck intentionally by a truck. The suspect was described as a White male, approximately 6' tall, 220 lbs, late 50's, balding, with some hair on the side of his head, and was reported driving a dark colored pickup truck, possibly a Nissan. See the full HCSO press release and photos below.
On 05-13-2013, approximately 10:30 p.m. the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office received a call from a 20 year old McKinleyville man who told the deputy he was struck intentionally by a truck. When the deputy arrived at the McKinleyville Shell Gas Station 1606 Central Avenue, McKinleyville the victim related the following:
The victim was standing in line to make a purchase inside the gas station when a male (suspect) behind him in line became irritated because the line was not moving fast enough. The victim attempted to explain to the suspect that the person in front of him at the register was disabled and needed extra time to gather his items and make his purchase. The suspect got angry with the victim and began yelling obscenities at the victim. The victim decided to leave, walked out of the gas station and across Central Avenue, McKinleyville. The suspect got into his truck, drove out of the gas station and accelerated at the victim, striking the victim with his truck and causing the victim to literally get knocked of his feet and fly through the air. The victim landed on the shoulder of the road. Several uninvolved citizens witnessed the assault. The victim sustained injuries to his elbow, hip and knee. Medical arrived, but the victim refused medical treatment.
The investigating deputy was able to obtain a video of the suspect from the gas station. The Humboldt County Sheriffs Office is requesting the public's help in locating and identifying the suspect.
Anyone with information for the Sheriffs Office regarding this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Sheriffs Office at 707-445-7251 or the Sheriffs Office Crime Tip line at 707-268-2539.
The suspect is described as: White male, approximately 6' tall, 220 lbs, late 50's, balding with some hair on the side of his head. Driving a dark colored pickup truck, possibly a Nissan.
Photo above shows murder suspect Shane Franklin Miller, white male, red hair, blue eyes, 5'10", 200 pounds, DOB 05/08/1968, 45 years of age.
Important Note: Due to on-going law enforcement activity related to this case, the Bureau of Land Management has announced that the King Range National Conservation Area wilderness and recreation sites, including the Lost Coast Trail, are closed until further notice. Click here for more information. Additional note: Audio updates below are ordered in chronological order (older first).
Update for Thurs., May 16, 2013 highlights: On day 8 of the massive manhunt for triple-murder suspect Shane Miller, there have been no confirmed sightings of Miller since his pickup was found in Petrolia on May 8; currently plans are being made to scale back the search force in the Mattole Valley, but patrols in the area will be intensified; King Range will be closed through May 30, but local Schools in the area will remain open. Click here for the May 16 audio update.
Update for Wed., May 15, 2013: Hikers found Shane Miller's dog- click here for that story.
Update for Mon., May 14, 2013 highlights: Search for Shane Miller continues; swat team searches cabins and trails in King Range; 100 people attend community meeting with Humboldt and Shasta County Sheriff's Offices representatives on Sun., May 12; search for Miller will continue in King Range area until evidence is found that Miller is not in the area; a second public meeting is scheduled for Wed., May 15 at the Honeydew School at 5 pm; checkpoints north and south of Petrolia are still in effect.
Update for Mon., May 13, 2013 highlights: Search for Shane Miller continues; swat teams search cabins and trails in King Range; 100 people attend community meeting with Humboldt and Shasta County Sheriff's Offices representatives on Sun., May 12; search for Miller will continue in King Range area until evidence is found that Miller is not in the area; a second public meeting is scheduled for Wed., May 15 at the Honeydew School at 5 pm; checkpoints north and south of Petrolia are still in effect. Click here for the May 13 audio update.
Update on the Miller manhunt for Sat, May 11, 2013 @ 1:51 pm
Highlights from the Press Release from the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office indicate:
- Over 70 law enforcement officers are in the Mattole Valley and BLM Kings Range Recreation area searching for triple murder suspect Shane Miller.
- Resources include: SWAT Teams from the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, Shasta County Sheriffs Office, Sonoma County Sheriff's Office and California Department of Corrections, law enforcement officers from Arcata Police, Eureka Police, Fortuna Police, Rio Dell Police, California Highway Patrol, Bureau of Land Management, Cal-Fire, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
- Also involved in the search are helicopters from the California Highway Patrol and Kern County Sheriff's Office, and a team of U.S. Marshalls, along with a specialized communications truck which they brought with them.
- Officers are re-searching some areas that have been previously searched and are expanding their search areas. They are also checking numerous cabins in the area. There has been no sighting of Miller since his truck was located in the 30000 block of Mattole Road.
- The Tour of the Unknown Coast Bike Race is currently taking place, and law enforcement officers are providing additional security for the racers who are traveling through the Mattole Valley area. There have been no issues regarding the race as of noon today (Sat.).
- Area residents are no longer being requested to shelter in place. However, they are being advised to stay in at night and lock their doors. They are also requested to report any break-ins or other unusual activity immediately. The law enforcement checkpoints have been lifted during the race. However, check points will continue during night time hours.
Hear KMUD newscasts and updates (most recent at the bottom) about this on-going incident- see the original post on this incident below.
In the afternoon on Wednesday, May 8, 2013, a tip that the vehicle, a Gold Dodge 2010 pickup truck belonging to triple murder suspect, Shane Miller, was seen at the mouth of the Mattole River prompted action from local Humboldt County Sheriff's Officers, CHP, Fortuna Police Department and Rio Dell Police. A search of the area resulted in locating Miller's empty truck in the 30000 block of Mattole Road in Petrolia, Calif. (see map below). A command post for the on-going manhunt has been set up at the Petrolia Volunteer Fire Department.
The suspect, Shane Miller, is believed to have killed his wife, 34-year-old Sandy Miller, and their two daughters, 8-year-old Shelby and 4-year-old Shasta. The three were found dead at their home in Shingletown, Shasta County, Calif., at around 8 p.m. on Tues., May 7.
Miller is considered armed and dangerous, possibly having access to a cache of weapons. Anyone with information should call the Sheriff's Office (530) 245-6025 or, in Humboldt County, call the Sheriff's Office at 707-445-7251 or the Sheriffs Office Crime Tip line at 707-268-2539. The public should not approach Miller. If he is seen call 911.
Use the player below to hear more on this unfolding story. This piece, including an interview with Jeff Fontana, Public Affairs Officer for the BLM, was aired on the KMUD Local News by News Correspondent, Christina Aanestad on Thurs., May 9, 2013.
Additional late breaking information is found in this piece by KMUD News Correspondent, Eileen Russell which also aired on Thurs, May 9 on KMUD Local News.
The audio below is from a piece aired on the KMUD Local News Fri., May 10, 2013. It contains updated information and several interviews submitted by KMUD News Correspondent Eileen Russell, reporting on the ground from Petrolia, the active current search location for wanted triple-murder suspect Shane Miller. Audio highlights include an interview with one of the hikers evacuated from the Loast Coast area due to the manhunt, the scope and protocol for the search, and public awareness that checkpoints have been set up in the area.
The player below contains audio from the update on the Shane Miller Manhunt. This update was aired Mon., May 13, 2013 by KMUD News Coordinator, Terri Klemetson, and contains content provided by Community Journalist, Willow Rain, on the Community Meeting which took place in Petrolia Sun., May 12.
Use the player below to hear the Shane Miller manhunt update, aired Thurs., May 16, 2013 by KMUD News Correspondent, Eileen Russell.
On-Scene Photos of Shane Miller Manhunt - taken by KMUD News Correspondent Eileen Russell
Update 5-14-13: According to a press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, on Tues., May 14, 2013, at approximately 10:00 a.m., the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office spoke with Redding Police Department who informed the Sheriff's Office Kirin Maciel had walked into their office and was located safe and in good health. Her grandmother picked her up from Redding Police.
Original Post on thsi story is found below.
A 14 year-old female was reported missing last Saturday, May 4, 2013, by her grandmother. Kirin Aurealas Maciel left her grandmother's house on Meadowbrook Lane in Eureka on foot and was last seen by a friend of her grandmother at about 4:30 pm heading for downtown Eureka. Kirin is reported to have medical issues and the public's help is requested in locating her.
The full press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, dated May 7, 2013 appears below.
On 05-04-2013, approximately 8:00 p.m. the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office was contacted by the grandmother of a missing juvenile. The grandmother told the investigating deputy her granddaughter Kirin Aurealas Maciel, 14 years old, from Eureka was missing. The granddaughter told the deputy her grand daughter has medical issues and she was very concerned for her well being. Maciel left her grandmothers residence on Meadowbrook Lane, Eureka on foot. A friend of the grandmother told her she saw Maciel on foot walking towards downtown Eureka about 4:30 p.m. Deputies checked the area for Maciel and did not locate her. The Sheriff's Office is requesting the publics help in locating her.
Kirin Aurealas Maciel is further described as: 14 years old, white female, 5'3" tall, 140 lbs, blue eyes, strawberry blond colored hair last seen wearing a dark colored sweatshirt and dark colored pants
Anyone with information for the Sheriffs Office regarding this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Sheriffs Office at 707-445-7251 or the Sheriffs Office Crime Tip line at 707-268-2539.
Using a bolt cutter to cut a lock, one or more suspects broke into the McKinleyville Community Services District (MCSD) facility on Letz Avenue, McKinleyville, cut the fuel line to a diesel tank and removed around 132 gallons of red dye diesel leaving a large amount of diesel fuel spilled on the ground. This fuel was found leaking into a drainage ditch adjacent to Widow White Creek.
It was estimated that the break-in occurred during the late night or early morning hours between Sat., May 4th and Sun., May 5th. See the full press release below for more information.
On Sunday, May 5, 2013, at approximately 7:00 am, MCSD staff was contacted by the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office regarding a theft and vandalism. When a Sheriff Deputy arrived on site at the end of Letz Avenue, he was met by MCSD staff, where it was discovered that a lock on the gate was cut using bolt cutters, which were found at the scene along with other miscellaneous tools.
The suspect(s) then cut the diesel tank intake fuel line and attached a garden hose to it. Once the hose was attached the suspects removed approximately 132 gallons of red dye diesel from the tank. MCSD staff believes the crime occurred during the late night or early morning hours between May 4th and May 5th, 2013
When MCSD staff arrived on the scene, there was a large amount of diesel fuel spilled on the ground, which was leaking into a drainage ditch that is adjacent to Widow White Creek. Due to MCSD staff's immediate response to contain the spilled diesel, they were successful in trapping the fuel before it entered the stream.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Humboldt County Environmental Health were notified and also responded to the scene. They both commended MCSD staff for their excellent response to the incident and preventing further potential environmental damage.
MCSD staff hired a local environmental contractor to assess the status of the incident. The contractor is also taking over the cleanup and will continue to monitor the site for the next seven (7) days.
Because of a previous incident in December 2012 at that location, MCSD had placed a camera on top of the building, which was also stolen by the thieves. The total loss to MCSD at this time is estimated at $6,300.00.
The photo below is of two 15-gallon containers. A total of 15 containers were found at the site. These containers were used to transport the diesel. It is possible that these 15 containers were being transported by vehicle Saturday night or early Sunday morning. If you have any information about these containers, please contact the MCSD General Manager at 839-3251 or the Sheriff's Office at 707-445-7251 or the Sheriff's Office Crime Tip line at 707-268-2539.
Update- May 7, 2013: Missing person found
According to a press release update from the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, dated May 7, 2013:
On 5-7-2013, approximately 12:00 noon the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office was notified by the Principal of Eureka High School that missing person Michelle Hibberts-Goodwin, 15 years old showed up at school. A deputy responded to the school and confirmed Hibberts-Goodwin was there. She was in good health and told the deputy she voluntarily left home, but decided to return due to media attention.
The original post on this incident appears below.
A 15 year-old female was reported missing, as of Friday, May 3, 2013, by her father.
Michelle Hibberts-Goodwin, who goes by the nickname "Elle", was last seen near Eureka High School on that Friday at around 2:30 pm. The press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office appears below.
On 05-03-2013, approximately 10:00 p.m. the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office was contacted by the father of a missing juvenile. The father told the investigating deputy his daughter, Michelle Hibberts-Goodwin, 15 years old, from Eureka was missing. She goes by the nickname of "Elle" .She was last seen in the area of Eureka High School at approximately 2:30 p.m. and was supposed to take the bus home. She failed to show up.
Michelle Hibberts-Goodwin is further described as: White Female, 5'2" tall, 125 lbs, blue eyes, blond/black hair. She was last seen wearing jeans with sparkles and a black top
Anyone with information for the Sheriffs Office regarding this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Sheriffs Office at 707-445-7251 or the Sheriffs Office Crime Tip line at 707-268-2539.
Reported missing: Michelle Hibberts-Goodwin - was last seen wearing jeans with sparkles and a black top.
Recent fires in our state have tapped Northern California CAL FIRE equipment and personnel leaving overall fire resources diminished in our area as hotter, dryer weather leads to increased fire potential. In addition to stretched resources and fire hazard prone weather, our local situation has been impacted by a bout of suspected arson caused blazes.
In an interview, aired on Fri., May 3, 2013 by KMUD News Director Terri Klemetson, Cal Fire Battalion Chief Jeremy Monroe indicated that we are in a very elevated fire hazard time right now with the potential for fires to become large fires. Monroe implores people to, "Be careful with fire in the wild lands."
Use the player below to hear the full interview
Additional Resources:
Fires raging Statewide
CAL FiIRE warnings and weather watch
Fireweather Forecast Eureka
Update - Tues., Dec. 17, 2013: According to a press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, the Humboldt County Coroner has confirmed that the body found in a shallow grave off of Jewitt Ranch Road, in the Harris area of Humboldt County, is that of missing person Garret Rodriguez, 29 years old from San Diego, California. KMUD News offers condolences to the friends and family of Garrett Rodriguez. On April 25, 2013 Garret Rodriguez was reported missing by his father who told the investigating deputy that Garret told him he was coming to Humboldt County to work on a ranch that was growing medical marijuana. Anyone with information about this case is requested to contact lead Humboldt County Sheriff's Detective Jennifer Turner at: 707-268-3642 or the Sheriff's Office Crime Tip line at: 707-268-2539. The press releases, updates, and original posts on this incident appear below.
Use the player below to hear more on this story in an update submitted by Eileen Russell and aired by KMUD News Director Terri Klemetson on the Local News on Tues., Dec. 17, 2013.
The audio below includes an extensive interview with Jennifer Turner, lead HCSO detective on this case.
HCSO Press Release, dated 12-13-13:
The Humboldt County Coroner has identified the human remains located in a gravesite off of Jewitt Ranch Road, Harris area of Humboldt County as that of missing person Garret Rodriguez, 29 years old from San Diego, California. Rodriguez was reported missing by his father to the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office on 04-25-2013. His father told the investigating deputy that Garret told him he was coming to Humboldt County to work on a ranch growing medical marijuana. Garret told his father the ranch was located in an area known as "Murder Mountain."
A Forensic Pathologist has also confirmed that Rodriguez is the victim of a homicide. Anyone with information about this case is requested to contact lead Humboldt County Sheriff's Detective Jennifer Turner at Ph. 707-268-3642 or the Sheriff's Office Crime Tip line at 707-268-2539.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation ( F.B.I.) is assisting the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office with this investigation.
Gravesite Report HCSO Press Release:
On 11-30-2013, at approximately 5:00 p.m., the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office received a call from a citizen who wanted to report a possible human gravesite. The citizen told deputies where to search for the possible grave. On 12-01-2013, approximately 7:00 a. m. Humboldt County Sheriff's Detectives went to the location described by the citizen which was off Jewitt Ranch Road, the Harris area of Humboldt County. Detectives located a possible gravesite which they dug up and located human remains. The Humboldt County Coroner's Office was summoned to the scene. The identity of the deceased is unknown at this time, along with the cause of death, age and sex. Detectives are treating the deceased as a homicide at this time.
View other updates and the original post on this story below.
Update Tues., June 25, 2013-Family of missing person, Garrett Rodriguez, hires private investigator.
The family of Garrett Rodriguez who has been missing for well over half a year has hired Cook & Associates, a local private investigation company, to find their missing loved one. Rodriquez (pictured above) is from Ocean Beach, Calif. and according to his family went missing after coming to Humboldt County to work in the marijuana industry in the Rancho Sequoia-Alderpoint area. The player directly below contains the latest audio update on this story.
Anyone with information about the disappearance of Garrett Rodriguez is asked to call Chris Cook with Cook & Associates at 707-839-7422 and/or the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office at 707-445-7251, or the Sheriff's Tip Line 707-268-2539. See photo below for Rodriquez without a beard.
This update, submitted and aired by KMUD News Correspondent Eileen Russell, includes interviews with the missing man's mother and aunt and the owner of the private investigator company hired by the family. The piece aired on KMUD Local News Tues., June 25, 2013.
The original post on this story appears below.
The father of 29 year-old Garret Rodriguez (Garret is shown in the photo above), recently notified the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office that he has not heard from his son for over six months. Garret had informed his father that he was coming to Humboldt County to work on a ranch growing medical marijuana, and that the ranch was located in an area known as "Murder Mountain." According to a KMUD interview with Garret's father he believes that "Murder Mountain" is in the Alderpoint area. Anyone with information relating to this missing person, Garret Rodriguez, is asked to contact the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office at 707-445-7251 or the Sheriff's Tip Line 707-268-2539.
Click here for another reference to "Murder Mountain".
Read the full press release below:
The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office is seeking the public's help in locating a missing person. On 04-25-2013 a Humboldt County Sheriff's Deputy spoke on the telephone with the father of Garret Rodriguez who reported him as a missing person. His father told the investigating deputy that Garret told him he was coming to Humboldt County to work on a ranch growing medical marijuana. He told his father the ranch was located in an area known as "Murder Mountain". The father has not heard from his son for over six months which is highly unusual. The father contacted all of Garret's friends and they have not heard from Garret either.
Garret Rodriguez is described as follows: 29 year old white male, 5'8" tall, 180 lbs, brown hair, green eyes.
He is driving a 1998 Dodge Ram Pickup Truck, California plate 7P63498.


text:
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley planned to unveil a new cellphone security system Friday at the Baltimore City Detention Center.
The technology automatically blocks calls from all cellphones inside the building, except a small number of phones assigned to employees. It also allows any phone to call 911.
It's a misdemeanor to smuggle a cellphone into a Maryland correctional facility. In 2007, an inmate used a cellphone to arrange the killing of a Baltimore County witness.
The system has been up and running since Dec. 30, said Rick Binetti, a state corrections spokesman. The facility has been tweaking it since then.
O'Malley's proposed budget for the next fiscal year includes money to install similar systems at two more Baltimore corrections facilities. The Metropolitan Transition Center already has one in place, Binetti said.
Binetti said Maryland's corrections facilities started having a cellphone problem in the early 2000s as the devices became smaller and easier to smuggle in. The state started cracking down in 2007, when it confiscated 741 phones from inmates. It took 1,658 in 2009, but the problem has decreased since then, he said. Last year, guards collected fewer than 1,000 phones.
The state tried several years ago to get permission to jam all cellphone use in the jail, but the federal government does not allow state facilities to do this, Binetti said.
It settled on a "managed access'' system instead, which blocks calls selectively, based on the number the call comes from.
The Hanover company Tecore Networks designed and built this system. It installed the first system at the Metropolitan Transition Center in 2012 and tested it in 2013, Binetti said.
Binetti said assaults against corrections staff have dropped by 60 percent since the state started enforcing cellphone policies in 2007.
O'Malley to Announce Jail Phone Security System
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley planned to unveil a new cellphone security system Friday at the Baltimore City Detention Center.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
App Builder for busy small business owners
Build mobile apps quickly and without writing a single line of code using our intuitive app maker.
✓ 100% free to build
✓ Easy to use drag and drop app builder
✓ Online chat support
Build your app now!
No credit card required.
How to make an app in 4 easy steps
1. Pick a template
Select a business template to start with an app pre-loaded with all the features and tabs you'll need.
2. Brand your app
Save time when we pull business info, images, and colour schemes from your Facebook page and website.
3. Edit content
Add, customise, and tweak features and information — all without writing a single line of code.
4. Easy publish
Our app maker wizard makes it super simple to make your brand new app live, in just a few clicks.
Make an app for your business in minutes.
Select your business type and your app comes pre-loaded with the features you'll need.
- Restaurants Takeaways
- Beauty Salons
- Estate Agents
- Radio Stations
- Medical Centres
- Good Cause
- Geo Directory
- Sports & Fitness
- Coffee Shops
- More
Create an app for your restaurant or takeaway
✓ Increase order frequency and size
✓ Improve customer loyalty
✓ Stay top of mind
With your branded restaurant and takeaway app, customers can order food, customise toppings, load previous orders, reserve tables, and make payments - all without speaking to anyone.
Make an App for Hair & Beauty Salons
✓ Boost total bookings
✓ Serve more clients each day
✓ Increase customer loyalty
Spend more time with your clients and less time answering phone calls, replying to emails, and chasing no-shows.
Create an App for Estate Agents
✓ Automatically suggest properties to clients
✓ Show properties with image galleries and video
✓ Book appointments without calls and emails
You can automatically make location-based property suggestions to anyone using your app. They can view property images and video, book a viewing, RSVP for an upcoming open house, and get GPS directions -- all without speaking to you.
Make an App for Radio Stations
✓ Stream your playlist and take requests
✓ Design custom DJ profiles
✓ Make it easy for your listeners to engage with your radio station wherever they are.
Easily stream your playlist via Apple and Android Streaming by entering your URLs. Improve your song list by taking requests via a mobile friendly online form.
Create an App Medical Centres
✓ Manage upcoming appointments
✓ View and RSVP for events
✓ Share information about health issues.
Improve the care of your patients by helping them show up for their appointments and important events on time, and by sharing relevant health information in between visits.
To help patients take better care of themselves in between visits - make articles, videos, and health guides accessible inside of your app.
Make an App for a Good Cause
✓ Help others learn about your cause on the go
✓ Increase event awareness and attendance
✓ Use multimedia to share your story
Touch the hearts of donors and advocates with an About Us tab that makes it easy to pull in videos from YouTube, audio from your website, and images from your computer and online.
Geo Directory App Maker
✓ Customize directory categories and subcategories
✓ Search directory by keyword, category, and distance
✓ Users can save items to favourites and add items to your directory
Add as many categories to your directory as you need. Then, users can search your directory of businesses, properties, vehicles and more using keywords, a category, or by distance. When they find what they're looking for, they can get directions or add it to their favourites. And if something is missing, they can submit items to your directory.
Create an App for Fitness & Sports Clubs
✓ Notify students of class times and updates
✓ Post class schedules and events
✓ Build a community around your business
Improve class attendance by reminding students of an upcoming class or event with timed push notifications.
To keep students engaged in between classes, make your blog content, social media activity, videos and more accessible inside your app.
Make an App for Coffee Shops
✓ Differentiate yourself in a crowded market
✓ Impress customers with a professional app
✓ Engage and build relationships with customers
Push notifications and special offers to customers when they are near your shop or a competitor's. Show an always up-to-date menu and tempt customers with pictures of your newest drinks and desserts. Build a loyalty program that fits your business to encourage repeat customers.
Select from 20+ business types, make modifications, or create your app from scratch - no coding required.
What our customers have to say
We looked at a number of app builder sites and I have to say you guys have been the best! Seriously, nothing has been a problem to you and the other guys who have helped me, you're willing to look over things and also change things on my behalf too.
Greg Jones
GJ Personal Trainer
I do want to say this is the best customer service I've ever had, thank you!
Leo Lafferty-Whyte
Triple H Coaching
The support I've received from the team has been impeccable, and one of the main reasons I chose AppInstitute over other app makers – they really make you feel important to them.
Andy White
App Reseller
Greg Jones
GJ Personal Trainer
Leo Lafferty-Whyte
Triple H Coaching
Andy White
App Reseller
Mix and match app creator features to make your app your own.
Take our feature suggestions to create your app in minutes.
Or, edit your app until it's exactly what you need — no coding required.
Full Brand Control
Guarantee brand consistency by pulling business information, logos, photos, and colour schemes from your Facebook page and website. No digging for hex codes and entering manually.
Calendar & Booking System
Keep users in the loop and improve attendance by adding events to your in-app calendar. Users can RSVP for events, add them to their own calendars, and create reminders.
Rich Media
Boost engagement with your business by adding new content on a regular basis. Upload videos, stream audio, create image galleries, and connect your blog.
Drag & Drop App Builder
Add, remove, and edit your app's features, text, media, and more with a simple drag and drop app builder.
Loyalty Program
Reward customer loyalty with special offers and rewards using in-app stamp cards, coupons, check-ins, and QR codes.
Online Payments
One click payments and the ability to add unlimited categorized listings makes it easy to create a food ordering or m-commerce app.
Push Notifications & Messaging
Trigger notifications and messages based on a customer's location, time, and segment. Notifications can contain discounts, updates, special offers and more.
Social Media Integration
Increase engagement with your brand via social media integrations. Your users can access your Facebook and Twitter feeds without leaving your app.
GEO Listings
Connect people with places, things, and businesses. GEO listings make it easy for your users to add and search GEO tagged properties, vehicles, businesses, and more.
Don't have time to create your own app?
We'll do it for you at a fraction of what a developer will cost you.
One of our expert app builders will connect with you to discuss your app's requirements in detail.
We'll take your requirements and build the app you need while you continue to focus on your business.
When you are 100% satisfied with your app, our app makers will get your app live and ready for your customers.


text:
|Jepson Flora Project: Jepson Interchange
previous taxon |
next taxon
Jepson Interchange (more information)
©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
Annual, perennial herb, shrub, glabrous to hairy, generally aromatic
Stems generally erect, generally 4-angled
Leaves generally simple to deeply lobed, opposite, generally gland-dotted
Inflorescence: cyme, generally clustered around stem, head-like, separated by evident internodes (terminal in Monardella ) or collectively crowded, spike-like to panicle-like (sometimes raceme or flowers 212); subtended by leaves or bracts; flowers sessile or pedicelled
Flower generally bisexual; calyx generally 5-lobed, radial to bilateral; corolla generally bilateral, 12-lipped, upper lip entire or 2-lobed, ± flat to hood-like, sometimes 0, lower lip generally 3-lobed; stamens generally 4, generally exserted, paired, pairs unequal, sometimes 2, staminodes 2 or 0; ovary superior, generally 4-lobed to base, chambers 2, ovules 2 per chamber, style 1, arising from center at junction of lobes, stigmas generally 2
Fruit: nutlets 4, generally ovoid to oblong, smooth
Genera in family: ± 200 genera, 5500 species: worldwide. Many cultivated for herbs, oils (Lavandula , lavender; Mentha , mint; Ocimum , basil; Rosmarinus , rosemary; Thymus , thyme), some cultivated as ornamental (in CA Cedronella , Leonotis , Phlomis )
Reference: [Cantino & Sanders 1986 Syst Bot 11:163185]
Annual, perennial herb, shrub
Leaf entire, lobed, or toothed, generally not spine-tipped
Inflorescence: clusters generally many-flowered, generally head-like, generally spheric, generally involucred, generally surrounding nodes in generally ± spike-like, generally interrupted panicles, or flowers 1several per leaf axil
Flower: calyx generally 2-lipped, upper lip entire or of 3 generally shallow, sometimes spine-tipped lobes, lower lip generally of 2 generally spine-tipped lobes; corolla 2-lipped, upper lip 2-lobed to entire, lower lip with 3 spreading lobes (middle often expanded); fertile stamens 2, attached in throat, anther sacs 12 per stamen (if 2, then separate on thread-like structure, 1 fertile, > other); style forked at tip
Species in genus: ± 900 species: ± worldwide, especially tropical, subtropical Am
Etymology: (Latin: to save, from medicinal use)
Horticultural information: All species are excellent bee fodder and have edible seeds (a traditional food of native Californians).
Perennial, mat-like, rhizomed; hairs wavy
Leaf 820 cm, oblong-hastate, puckered; upper surface sparsely long-hairy; lower surface tomentose; teeth rounded
Inflorescence: clusters < 6 cm wide; bracts 1.54 cm, green to purple
Flower: calyx 1.53 cm, upper lip generally entire; corolla tube 2535 mm, red to salmon, upper lip 78 mm, shallowly 2-lobed, straight, lower lip 1012 mm; stamens and style exserted
Fruit: nutlet, 3.56.5 mm, brown
Chromosomes: 2n=30
Ecology: Common. Oak woodland, chaparral, coastal-sage scrub, open or shady slopes
Elevation: 0800 m.
Bioregional distribution: s Sacramento Valley (Solano Co.), Central Western California, South Coast, Transverse Ranges
Horticultural information: 5; IRR: 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24 &SHD: 7, 8, 9, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21; GRCVR: mow yearly.


text:
John Whyle
Chelsea High Chelsea, AL Class of 1983
Memories of John Whyle
Are you John Whyle?
This page means someone is someone is looking for you. Register for free to let other alumni contact you and more:
- Let others find you
- Contact old friends
- Share photos and memories with other registered alumni
Looking for John Whyle?
This is a placeholder page for John Whyle, which means this person is not currently on this site. We do suggest using the tools below to find John Whyle.
About placeholder profiles
You are visiting the placeholder page for John Whyle. This page is here because someone used our placeholder utility to look for John Whyle. We created this page automatically in hopes John Whyle would find it. If you are not John Whyle, but are an alumni of Chelsea High School Chelsea, AL, register on this site for free now.


text:
Micro-hydro power
Using water power to fight poverty
Micro-hydro power is the small-scale harnessing of energy from falling water, such as steep mountain rivers. Using this renewable, indigenous, non-polluting resource, micro-hydro plants can generate power for homes, hospitals, schools and workshops.
Practical Action promotes small-scale hydro schemes that generate up to 500 kilowatts of power. The micro-hydro power station, which converts the energy of flowing water into electricity, provides poor communities in rural areas with an affordable, easy to maintain and long-term solution to their energy needs.
We have developed micro-hydro systems with communities in Peru, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Kenya. These systems, which are designed to operate for a minimum of 20 years, are usually 'run-of-the-river' systems.
Micro-hydro: the basics
"Run of the river" systems do not require a dam or storage facility to be constructed. Instead they divert water from the stream or river, channel it in to a valley and drop it in to a turbine via a pipeline called a penstock.
The turbine drives a generator that provides the electricity to the local community. By not requiring an expensive dam for water storage, run-of-the-river systems are a low-cost way to produce power. They also avoid the damaging environmental and social effects that larger hydroelectric schemes cause, including a risk of flooding.
Water from the river is channelled through a settling basin, which helps to remove sediment that could harm the turbine. The water then flows into the Forebay Tank where it is directed downhill through a pipe called a penstock. When the water reaches the bottom, it drives a specially designed turbine to produce the electricity.
What's the environmental impact?
Unlike traditional power stations that use fossil fuels, micro-hydro generators have practically no effect on the environment. And because they don't depend on dams to store and direct water, they're also better for the environment than large-scale hydro-electric stations.
In fact, by reducing the need to cut down trees for firewood and increasing farming efficiency, micro-hydro power has a positive effect on the local environment.
The power to recharge communities
Micro-hydro power can also be supplied to villages via portable rechargeable batteries. People can use these convenient sources of electricity to fuel anything from workshop machines to domestic lighting – and there are no expensive connection costs. The batteries are charged at a station in the village, thus providing the local community with a clean, renewable source of power.
For industrial use, the output from the turbine shaft can be used directly as mechanical power, as opposed to converting it into electricity via a generator or batteries. This is suitable for agro-processing activities such as milling, oil extraction and carpentry.
Micro-hydro schemes are owned and operated by the communities they serve, with any maintenance carried out by skilled members of that community. So they provide employment in themselves, as well as providing the power to re-energise entire communities.
Micro-hydro projects on video
Why is it needed?
Of course, every community's particular needs are different. But in general, access to energy is a vital stage in the development of remote villages like these.
It can lead to swift and significant improvements in education, sanitation, healthcare and the overall standard of living. These benefits are achieved both directly - as in the provision of light - and indirectly - as the time and money that people save is redirected into other projects.
Micro-hydro power systems like these are designed to operate for a minimum of twenty years if they are properly looked after. That's why we train local people to build and maintain their own system. And by making a small charge for use, communities can accumulate enough money to pay for the replacement of the unit at the end of its useful life.
Once schemes are set up, they should continue to function indefinitely without any more external funding.
Find out how energy from micro hydro tranformed the life of Rosa from Mount Kenya:
Tungu-Kabri micro-hydro power project in Kenya
The Tungu-Kabri micro-hydro power project in Kenya is a cheap, sustainable and small-scale technology that harnesses the energy of falling water to make electricity.
This project was the first of its kind in Kenya. Funded by the United Nations Development Programme and developed by Practical Action East Africa and the Kenyan Ministry of Energy, the project benefits 200 households (around 1,000 people) in the Mbuiru village river community. The project is a cheap, sustainable and small-scale technology that harnesses the energy of falling water to make electricity. It also alleviates the environmental problems associated with using wood and dung for cooking, diesel for milling and kerosene for lighting - and keeps on working, even in the face of drought.
The problem
Life is hard for the women and men in rural Kenya and the need for access to modern, 'clean' energy is acute. 96 per cent off Kenyans live without access to grid electricity. In rural homes, families spend at least a third of their income on kerosene for lighting and diesel for the milling of grain. Kenyan women also devote a huge amount of time collecting, processing and using wood and dung for cooking - time which could be spent on child care, education or income generation.
And according to the UN, in a country where nearly 80 percent of the population rely on farming for a living, poor farmers face declining yields and incomes in the traditional coffee and tea growing areas which pushes them into even more biting poverty. Just to survive, they will be forced to clear forests in higher, cooler, areas. This can only add to environmental damage, which in turn can lead to increased poverty, hunger and ill health.
Putting the power in people's hands
Mbuiru village - 200 kilometres north of Nairobi - is a typical rural village in Kenya. It is very poor, with few opportunities for change. However, villagers in Mbuiru had the will to help themselves to generate the power to beat drought and poverty.
Step 1 The project site is assessed. Many rivers do keep flowing, however bad the drought. Practical Action looked at flow records going back 40 years, to ensure the water power project will work. The River Tubgu, near Mbuiru is perfect.
Step 2 Practical Action explains its intentions at a village meeting. The villagers have many questions - the only hydro-power people know about means big dams. Practical Action explains how a small scheme could help them, how it works and how it would belong to all the villagers. Everyone is eager.
Step 3 Villagers hold back the river and start to build an intake weir and canal, giving up every Thursday to labour for months. Families work together, digging, shifting stones and laying concrete. The canal alone takes many weeks to build.
Step 4 Groups of villagers toil to make bays to clean dirt out of the water, and build a tank to hold the water before it goes through 'penstock' pipes into a turbine. People learn to mend as they build, so they can do repairs themselves.
Step 5 Two years later, power! The powerhouse goes up, in goes the machinery. Now the river can be released. The villagers hold their breath. It works and all that effort seems worthwhile.
Impact on the future
"This power is wonderful', says villager Mrs Kaburu. 'All of us will feel the benefit for many years to come'.
The project generates an estimated 18 kilowatts of electrical energy. This amount can light 90 homes and Practical Action estimates that the power the system generates will benefit about 200 households.
In the months ahead, the villagers will be able to light their homes, save time and run small enterprises with this power. This will bring them a little vital money, to help buy clothes, food, and even schooling for their children. Also, water power also means less wood is used - so the environment benefits.
Water-powered computers in Sri Lanka
For a school facing an energy crisis a small 'pico' hydro scheme installed with help from Practical Action has come to the rescue. Pico hydro manages to produce energy from the smallest of river streams - typically a pico hydro scheme can produce upto 5Kw of energy.
The Batuwangala Maha Vidyalaya school in Galle Sri Lanka has transformed the lives of its pupils and villagers by introducing the internet and providing online access to the modern world. A computer centre with 23 desktop computers has been funded through the Secondary Education Modernisation Project (SEMP).
But there remained a problem. The SEMP grant only covered the cost of the equipment and the monthly internet bill. It did not stretch to paying for the electricity. As most of the students came from poor families, they were unable to contribute to the cost of powering the centre that had had such a positive impact on their lives. With a rising electricity bill, the school faced being cut-off from their link to an online world of knowledge and resources.
The school's plight was brought to the attention of Practical Action's Enhancing Renewable Energy Options (EREO) project. The team set to work to secure an alternative power source. A visit to the school revealed lots of natural nearby water sources and the plan for a 'pico' hydro energy scheme was hatched. Pico hydro can produce up to 5KW of energy from the smallest of streams.
A power house was built by students of the local Open University of Sri Lanka and materials were sourced from a pico hydro machine manufacturer. On completion, the power centre could produce 650-watts of electricity - a small amount but just enough to power the computer lab and save the school.
The Batuwangala Maha Vidyalaya school is now considered a sustainable energy pioneer. No longer does it rely on the main Sri Lanka grid. The pico hydro system can power four computers and all the light-bulbs in the school at the same time. The school's overall electricity bill has been halved as a result. The students have gained not only a sustainable source of electricity, but also learnt how they can produce their own energy. They've now set up a maintenance committee which takes turns in making sure the pico hydro system is working properly.
If you want to see the impact the computer centre has had visit the blog set up by the school.
"You have brought us something great. We can only call it a miracle."
Electricity is the miracle that Francis Mwai, a resident of Kathamba, Kenya, described to Practical Action visitors.
Kathamba, 130 kilometres north of the capital Nairobi, and Thima are villages involved in a pilot scheme bringing electricity to remote areas where national grid connection is costly and difficult.
Thanks to Practical Action, Nottingham Trent University and members of Kathamba Self Help Group 2000, a pico-hydro power unit is now providing electricity for 30-plus homes with another 35 awaiting connection. Thima's scheme already covers 66 homes with more connections planned.
This scheme aims to highlight how these smaller versions of micro-hydro systems can generate electricity from very small streams. The Kenyan Energy Ministry's Department of Renewable Energy, dubbed it "wonderful".
No more travelling to buy or recharge batteries for lighting, radios or televisions. No more buying fuel for lighting homes. Kathamba villager Sebastian Wakone previously used kerosene for lighting, but now pico-hydro power means that savings on fuel can go towards other essential family budget areas, particularly his children's education.
"No longer will our children fail to study due to lack of ten bob for purchasing paraffin," said Kathamba Self Help Group 2000 chairman, James Muchira.While Practical Action helped provide power generation equipment, technical knowledge and support, the local people contributed the hard physical work. "It has really helped us as a community," according to Thima resident Polly Murimi.
Practical Answers
You can download technical briefs and manuals on Micro Hydro at Practical Answers, the technical information service of Practical Action, or you can submit an enquiry to the Practical Action staff via the online form
Policy and practice
Other Practical Action resources on hydro power:
Up-scaling micro hydro: a success story?
It is over a decade since Practical Action first embarked on micro hydro in Sri Lanka. This report attempts to capture some of the highlights in the development process and assess the path of up scaling micro hydro beyond the initial goal of Practical Action South Asia in the present context.
- Download (327KB)
Social impact evaluation project 'Fund for the promotion of Micro Hydro Power Stations (MHSP)'
This paper presents the social impact evaluation of the Project "Fund for the Promotion of Micro Hydro Power Stations (MHSP)", which was carried out by Practical Action (then ITDG).
- Download (332KB)
Small-scale hydro power
Practical Action's position on small-scale hydropowerFind out more
MEGA Malawi
The Mulanje Electricity Generation Authority micro-hydro project in Malawi is a sustainable and ambitious social enterprise - aiming to tackle the dual challenges of sustainability and scale.Read more


text:
(Editor's note: This story is one in a regular series of stories published Mondays about the experiences of local veterans of World War II.)
As he watched grainy footage of the death camp flash across the screen of his television, Milton Gilbert began to narrate.
"That building you just saw was the crematorium," said the 89-year-old Jewish man. "I was there."
The tape in the Army veteran's VCR is one he picked up when he went back to the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp in the 1990s. It's one of several about the camp he owns, including one in which he recorded his own commentary over the standard narration.
"When I tell you this is the worst concentration camp, this is why," Gilbert said as graphic images invaded the screen.
The purpose of the Mittelbau-Dora camp was to clandestinely build so-called "Weapons of Retaliation" for the German military. After Allied forces bombed German production buildings, the Nazis decided they needed to find a more secure method of production.
In 1943, the Germans had concentration camp prisoners dig huge tunnels into the mountains of central Germany just north of the town of Nordhausen. Prisoners were kept underground in unstable tunnels for months, working until they either died or became too sick to work and were killed.
"That's us," Gilbert said as American soldiers trudged across the screen toward the camp on April 11, 1945. "We didn't know (what was coming). We didn't have a choice."
Gilbert was part of the 104th Infantry Division, which is officially credited as liberating the camp. The experience came just after his 21st birthday, and capped a year of intense combat that left him somewhat numbed to the horrors of war.
"There's nothing like being in the infantry," said Gilbert, giving one example of the difficult scenes he said he came across on a regular basis.
"One day I came across a soldier impaled on a bayonet while searching for an artillery unit," Gilbert said. "He may have been booby trapped. I didn't disturb him. I knew better."
The son of Jewish Russian immigrants, Gilbert grew up in the Bronx, N.Y., during the Depression.
"I remember seeing a guy, who was a painter, shot dead right in front of me when I was a little kid," he said. "That's how rough it was."
Gilbert enlisted in the Army ROTC program in college. He was eventually sent for training with the 104th Infantry in Colorado, where Gen. Terry Allen, a decorated World War I veteran, trained his division.
"Our expertise was night fighting," Gilbert said, which was Allen's forte. Most of the division's battles were fought between 2 and 6 a.m., he said, which allowed the Americans to catch their enemies by surprise.
Gilbert, a short, skinny kid who had run track in high school, soon found himself running again.
Not too long after he got to Europe, Gilbert was re-assigned from being a gunner to a "runner."
"They didn't have reliable radios then," Gilbert explained, so runners were used to communicate between foxholes and headquarters.
If a unit got pinned down under fire, Gilbert would often be sent back and forth to relay messages. It was a dangerous job, Gilbert said, with a lot of turnover.
"All you did was make sure you kept moving," he said. "Lots of fun."
Gilbert was hit with shrapnel in the shoe and nicked in the neck, but was never seriously wounded. In addition to running, he also filled in for other men who got hurt – a sort of "utility" man.
At Cologne, Germany, Gilbert was asked to fill in for a forward observer – a soldier who helps coordinate artillery fire on the enemy.
With only a few minutes of "training" from the man who had been injured, Gilbert directed artillery fire on Germans from the inside a church that the Germans were shelling.
"When they would take out one floor I would move to the one below it," said Gilbert. He earned a Bronze Star for his actions that day.
In addition to fighting at Cologne, Gilbert crossed the Rhine and Roer rivers. Earlier in the war, he was assigned to assist the British I Corps in Belgium, which led to one of his more strange encounters.
One day, after being asked to find a British artillery unit to assist during a battle, Gilbert came across them taking a break.
"They had all their weapons stacked, and they were drinking tea," Gilbert said shaking his head. "It was unbelievable."
Gilbert said he ended up performing "myriad" jobs during his time in the service, from laying down spools of communication wire to acting as a liaison at meetings between commanding officers.
After the war, Gilbert married and became an attorney. He settled down in Natick in 1968, where he lived for four decades.
His wife Rachel, who shared the same birthday, died last June. He now lives in Framingham, but is still the oldest member of the Natick Rotary, in which he has been involved for many years.
Though his hearing isn't great and he doesn't move as fast as he used to, Gilbert still remembers a lot about the war, and has frequently studied it over the years.
Gilbert went back to Germany for the 50th anniversary of D-Day in 1994, where he visited the former site of the concentration camp his division liberated.
Gilbert said what's always bothered him is that all the Germans he encountered during the war professed to know nothing of the death camps.
Gilbert had taken six years of German in school, so was often used to interrogate a new prisoner or question German civilians.
"Nobody knew anything," he said with disgust, including townspeople near Mittelbau-Dora.
In an interview with the Morse Library's Natick Veteran's Oral History Project in 2002, Gilbert said the stench coming from the camp would have given it away to anyone living in the area.
"The aroma – unless you've been around that magnitude of human destruction, you just don't know that peculiar smell that permeates everything for miles and miles and miles," he said.
Brad Petrishen can be reached at 508-490-7463 or email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @BPetrishen_MWDN.
WW II Journal: Longtime Natick man 'ran' across Europe
(Editor's note: This story is one in a regular series of stories published Mondays about the experiences of local veterans of World War II.)


text:
Obsidian's made a name for itself over the years for taking on the daunting task of producing sequels to complex, high profile role-playing games. First it was Knights of the Old Republic II, then Neverwinter Nights 2, and soon we'll see what the studio is able to do with Fallout: New Vegas. With Alpha Protocol, though, we get an entirely new game. There aren't any preconceived notions: no established fan base, no gameplay systems that need to be preserved. Finally, this is a chance to see what Obsidian can do on its own terms. Unfortunately, it wasn't worth the wait. It's a wobbly, inconsistent game that gets a few things right, but is filled with so many awkward and glitchy bits you get the feeling that it should have spent some more time behind closed doors.
The setting and story are highlights. It's a spy thriller filled with crime bosses, turncoats, global conspiracy and corporate greed, all told within a flashback framework. You are Micheal Thorton, an agent who's forced to go rogue and unravel a sinister plot to shift the tide of global events for nefarious purposes. Set in real-world environments, this isn't the type of setting we often get for role-playing games. Those used to flinging fireballs or swinging broadswords might relish the opportunity to strap on bulletproof body armor and burst fire with an assault rifle for a change. Like other games where choice and consequence play a role in how the story develops, Obsidian's done a good job in Alpha Protocol making it feel like you have power over progression. As Thorton takes on missions in locations like Moscow, Taipei, and Rome, he encounters characters that want to partner up, offer helpful information, or greet him with a bullet. By engaging in a Mass Effect-style conversation system, you determine how you want to deal with them: professionally, with a flippant response, or by planting a bullet in their chest.
Opening up these kinds of options strengthens the role-playing aspect of the game, letting you feel as though you're driving the story instead of being led along by the hand. Don't like that machine-gun toting mobster wearing the pink sunglasses? Then get into a shootout with her. Or, if you'd rather, offer up a few flirtatious comments to win her over. Is that one love interest getting annoying? Well, then just prioritize the mission goal over her safety. Arriving at crossroads like these and determining who lives and who dies also has effects later on, netting you statistical bonuses for your relationship status with characters, unlocking new items to buy, and reaping other rewards as you correspond over email with those you decided to keep around. It's an exciting system because you have a timer attached to inputting dialogue options so you have to think fast. Your response could be trivial, or it could wipe out a character entirely. It's just too bad the personalities of the supporting cast aren't developed better.
Most characters, even those around for the entire game, are flat stereotypes who rarely act in a way that feels human. Some scream, swear, and double-cross you and some wear gaudy clothes and dye their hair, but that's no substitute for genuine personality and emotion. When one of the most intriguing characters in the game is a pistol-wielding bodyguard who doesn't speak a word and nearly half of the Alpha Protocol experience is spent in conversation, it's not a good sign.
Despite many of the characters being little more than cardboard cutouts, Thorton, even with his generic appearance, can be entertaining. As long as you don't choose the boring response every time and decide to test the boundaries of what can be done in this game world, it's possible to inject energy into the sometimes dry and meandering conversations. It's especially rewarding to hear characters specifically reference actions you've taken throughout the course of the game, giving you a better sense that you're having a permanent effect on events. Email messages, of which there are quite a few, tend to be of a different tone entirely, sometimes involving crude and crass language the likes of which appears nowhere else in the game. Is it trying to be a goofy spy tale filled with silly character designs and intentionally terrible accents or a grim story about international espionage? Alpha Protocol uncomfortably straddles the line. When it's trying to be serious, it's boring. When it tries to be funny, it's like an eighth-grader writing on a bathroom stall.
At least the decisions you can make are exciting even if the characters generally aren't, but all that washes away when you're in the combat zones. For each location in the world you're given a safe house; a room in which you can correspond with your handler to receive missions, check email, buy additional intel, and decide how to adjust your gear for the battle ahead. Shotguns, SMGs, pistols and assault rifles can be upgraded to alter and enhance functionality, and a range of armor kits and explosives can be equipped to make you more resilient, stealthy, and deadly. It's a solid customization system, one that doesn't surprise but allows for the kind of variation role-playing gamers would want, balancing loosely defined realism with the standards of the genre. Then you step into the field of combat and things start to unravel.
It's not the lack of options that makes fighting fall flat. Every weapon has its own bonus mechanic, like holding a shotgun at the ready for a few seconds to enhance its knockdown properties, or keeping a pistol's targeting reticule over a foe for a while to boost its accuracy. These help define each firearm, giving them more of a personality than their damage numbers and discharge sounds. Weapon-specific skills are also very useful, particularly the pistol's chain shot ability that lets you freeze time and pinpoint the exact spot you want a bullet to land, with additional skill upgrades allowing you to queue up more shots. Once enemies are alerted to your presence, you can take advantage of an unreliable stick-to-cover system, ducking behind environmental obstacles as enemies do the same to exchange rounds with minimal damage done to health and armor.
As you fire away at foes, you'll likely be overwhelmed and forced to retreat to search for health or allow shields to recharge. In these instances, the problematic artificial intelligence hurts the experience. Enemies flail about, trotting around catwalks and office hallways, incapable of recognizing that you've simply rounded a corner. Sometimes, they advance on your position and repeatedly unload shots into a wall with no chance of hitting you. They'll even run into each other and get confused or climb up and down ladders for no clear purpose. In rare instances, they'll get stuck in the walls and floors. Even when you're out in the open, enemies infrequently engage in any kind of intelligent assault, content to sit in one spot while firing and reloading, or running directly into a waiting shotgun barrel. If you're out in the open, for some reason enemies will make blind suicide charges to try and hit you with melee strikes while you're spraying them with SMG bursts. It sucks out the excitement of combat and makes it difficult to believe these are elite operatives instead of random strangers who were handed guns and armor five minutes before Thorton showed up.
It doesn't help that combat setups are repeated too frequently, making the game feel monotonous as you plod between increasingly familiar encounters. To shake things up it's possible to invest in the stealth line of skills and attach a silencer to your pistol. Initially it's decent fun to sneak up behind guards as they patrol around stages, to stay crouched and avoid making loud noises. But the stealth system becomes more imbalanced as you progress, with the upgraded versions of the Shadow Operative skill functioning like a 'kill everyone' button, letting you sneak around for long periods of time and murder enemies right in front of others without giving away your position as if you'd slipped on the One Ring.
Alpha Protocol's boss encounters are among the most frustrating parts, as the super-powered adversaries sprint around maps unloading bullets and then close the gap to get in a few awkward melee hits. They may be challenging, but rarely any fun. These boss fights do break up the monotony of some stages, though, along with some additional mission goals like requiring nonlethal takedowns to stay in good standing with a handler or forcing you to choose between pursuing an assassin or the target you're trying to protect. A few turret and sniper sequences are sprinkled in for variety's sake, but they don't do enough to offset the issues with the core gameplay.
Apparently, no role-playing game would be complete without a smattering of mini-games, and so you get a few in Alpha Protocol. They're all designed for a gamepad, though. Console players will likely find some enjoyment in the alphanumeric code matching of the hacking or the pressure sensitive lockpicking minigame, but PC users will be left feeling largely ignored because the systems were not tuned well for the mouse and keyboard. This tilt toward the console versions extends across the majority of Alpha Protocol's interface. The mouse-keyboard combo is functional, but the game definitely feels like it was designed for a gamepad. Those playing on PC might want to hook up an Xbox 360 controller for the best experience since making selections on menus, particularly the weapon mod customization, doesn't seem to want to consistently cooperate with mouse clicks.
The notion that Alpha Protocol is unrefined is further reinforced by the visuals, which look dated regardless of your platform of choice, and on consoles tend to chop up fairly frequently. The character models are unremarkable, environments are dull and lifeless, and most animations are weirdly stiff and unnatural, like Thorton's unintentionally hilarious death sequences as he bounces around like rubber. Thorton's voice acting is good, but otherwise it's a mix of suitable and what's hopefully intentionally cheesy. Reject James Bond tunes make up the majority of the soundtrack.
Closing Comments
Obsidian's Alpha Protocol offers an original setting and the power of choice. It's a game where you decide the fate of a majority of the cast, giving you the sense that the story is guided as much by you as it is by the designers. With a number of ways to customize the experience – you can play as a stealth agent with a silenced pistol or bullet-spraying berserker – it initially seems like everything should be in place for an entertaining role-playing experience. But Obsidian fumbled this one, badly in spots. A more rounded cast of characters could have helped out immensely because it's difficult to build up any emotional investment with the stereotypical personalities wrapped up in this twisting tale of conspiracy and global domination. Imbalanced skills, glitches, dim-witted enemies, and repetitive encounters further undercut the entertainment, making Alpha Protocol a game you can safely pass by.


text:
Search results
Framed around key concepts of media literacy, the That's Not Me tutorial examines how entertainment and news media represent diversity and the impact these media portrayals can have on the value we place on individuals and groups in society. The tutorial explores how the media industry is changing to better reflect Canadian society and provides strategies for challenging negative representations and engaging young people in advocating for more realistic and positive media portrayals.
In e-Parenting Tutorial: Keeping up with your kids' online activities, Alice, a witty and cyber-savvy mom, takes parents on a tour of the many different Web environments and activities that are popular with children and youth.
The Digital Literacy Training Program for Canadian Educators workshop provides an overview of essential digital literacy skills and key concepts of media and digital literacy, familiarizes participants with the digital experiences of Canadian youth, and introduces the resources and tools that are available through MediaSmarts' USE, UNDERSTAND & CREATE digital literacy framework.


text:
Harvard fell to Rensselaer Friday in its eighth road contest in its last 10 games (Gil Talbot).
TROY, N.Y. – The Harvard men's hockey team was unable to find its first ECAC Hockey victory of the 2013 schedule, dropping a 3-0 final to Rensselaer Friday night at Houston Field House. The loss moves Harvard to 5-14-1 overall and 3-12-0 in ECAC action, while RPI improves to 9-11-5 and 4-6-3 in league contests.
The Crimson penalty kill was tested early when Brayden Jaw was sent off for a boarding call just 2:10 into the contest. Harvard was diligent with a man down, however, and saw just one shot reach Raphael Girard in goal over the two-minute stretch. Just past the 10-minute mark of the first Harvard gained a big opportunity to get on the board when a vicious hit on Alex Fallstrom saw the Crimson go on a five-minute power play. The special teams unit had trouble settling in the RPI zone, and the disruptive Rensselaer penalty kill limited the guests to just one shot in the extended power play.
Riding the momentum of the major penalty kill, the Engineers jumped on the board with 1:06 left to play in the first. Luke Curad put a shot on net and the rebound came to Mark Miller, who wheeled around the left faceoff circle and beat a screened Girard with a low, skidding shot. Girard closed the period with 11 saves.
The guests' power play looked sharper in the second period, when an RPI penalty gave Harvard another shot at a man-up tally. Six seconds into the power play, Harvard had its best look of the night to that point when Brian Hart and Kyle Criscuolo exchanged crisp passes down low and found Jimmy Vesey at the backdoor, but his shot clanged off the pipe and away from the crease.
The Engineers were the ones to strike on the power play in the second, stretching their lead to 2-0 5:03 into the frame. Just seconds after a returning a player following a four-on-four scenario, Mike Zalewski put home a short rebound for the man-up marker. The Crimson killed off the final penalty of the period and held the Engineers without a shot in those two minutes, but headed to the locker room with a 2-0 deficit after 40 minutes of play.
Just 2:55 into the third, RPI extended its lead to 3-0 when Miller one-timed home a threaded pass to the backdoor. The Crimson offense was unable to muster many good looks on goal down the stretch and RPI closed out the 3-0 victory after having one of its last shots ring off the post and out of the Harvard zone.
Up next for Harvard is the opening round of the 61st annual Beanpot. The Crimson will take on No. 5 Boston College in the 8 p.m. game at TD Garden.


text:
[PHOTO(shop)] Osama bin Laden's Fake Death Picture (NSFW!)
It's graphic. It's photoshopped (zoom in and see the pixel pixies!). But, hey, it's what we got...for now. The main thing, in the words of James Bond:
Even though it's fake, it's still a little graphic for some sensitive tastes so we shall label it: Not Safe For Work! Opening the post will show the whole real fake picture.


text:
- Find A Gem At Global Pathways Jewelry
- The Kitchen Table Bistro Is A Quality Dining Experience
- Go With The Flow Helps You Find Your Flow
We have worked hard to compile a comprehensive directory of local businesses that offer services necessary for the buying and selling of homes. Browse them here!
There doesn't seem to be anything here!
View our directory for all of Vermont.
Want to see yourself listed in our directory and generate leads for your business? Learn more about joining Vermont Homes's service directory here. It's completely free!Learn more


text:
Balminil Decongest
(xylometazoline nasal)
How does this medication work? What will it do for me?
Xylometazoline belongs to a group of medications called nasal decongestants. It is used in a nasal spray and drops for the relief of symptoms of nasal congestion caused by seasonal allergies, year-round allergies, sinusitis, and ear infections. It is also used to make rhinoscopy (an examination of the inside of the nose) easier. It works by narrowing the blood vessels in the lining of the nose. This helps to clear the symptoms of congestion.
Your doctor may have suggested this medication for conditions other than those listed in these drug information articles. As well, some forms of this medication may not be used for all of the conditions discussed here. If you have not discussed this with your doctor or are not sure why you are taking this medication, speak to your doctor. Do not stop taking this medication without consulting your doctor.
Do not give this medication to anyone else, even if they have the same symptoms as you do. It can be harmful for people to take this medication if their doctor has not prescribed it.
How should I use this medication?
Before using this medication, the nose should be blown gently. Do not use this medication for more than 3 days in a row.
Nasal spray: The usual recommended dose for adults is one or two sprays in each nostril every 8 to 10 hours. The head should be tilted slightly forward while using the spray. Breathe deeply.
Measured dose pump: The usual recommended dose for adults is one spray in each nostril every 8 to 10 hours. The head should be tilted slightly forward while using the pump. Before using the pump for the first time, prime it by spraying several times into the air until a fine mist is seen.
Nasal drops: The usual recommended dose for adults is 2 or 3 drops in each nostril every 8 to 10 hours. The head should be tilted back while using the drops.
Many things can affect the dose of medication that a person needs, such as body weight, other medical conditions, and other medications. If your doctor has recommended a dose different from the ones listed here, do not change the way that you are using the medication without consulting your doctor.
It is important to use this medication exactly as prescribed by your doctor. If you miss a dose, use it as soon as possible and continue with your regular schedule. If it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and continue with your regular dosing schedule. Do not use a double dose to make up for a missed one. If you are not sure what to do after missing a dose, contact your doctor or pharmacist for advice.
If symptoms continue for longer than 3 days, stop using this medication and contact your doctor. Excessive use may cause congestion to become worse.
Store this medication at room temperature, protect it from moisture, and keep it out of the reach of children.
Do not dispose of medications in wastewater (e.g. down the sink or in the toilet) or in household garbage. Ask your pharmacist how to dispose of medications that are no longer needed or have expired.
What form(s) does this medication come in?
Each bottle contains xylometazoline 0.1%. Nonmedicinal ingredients: benzalkonium chloride, dibasic potassium phosphate, EDTA disodium, monobasic sodium phosphate, potassium chloride, purified water, and sodium chloride.
Who should NOT take this medication?
Do not use this medication if you:
- are allergic to xylometazoline or any ingredients of this medication
- are currently taking monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors (e.g., phenelzine, tranylcypromine)
- are sensitive (i.e., experience trouble sleeping, dizziness, lightheadedness, weakness, tremor, or abnormal heart rhythms) to other related medications (e.g., epinephrine, phenylephrine, pseudoephedrine)
- have narrow-angle glaucoma
- have rhinitis sicca (a chronic type of rhinitis with very little or no nasal discharge)
What side effects are possible with this medication?
Many medications can cause side effects. A side effect is an unwanted response to a medication when it is taken in normal doses. Side effects can be mild or severe, temporary or permanent.
The side effects listed below are not experienced by everyone who takes this medication. If you are concerned about side effects, discuss the risks and benefits of this medication with your doctor.
The following side effects have been reported by at least 1% of people taking this medication. Many of these side effects can be managed, and some may go away on their own over time.
Contact your doctor if you experience these side effects and they are severe or bothersome. Your pharmacist may be able to advise you on managing side effects.
- burning and stinging of the nose
- dryness of the nose
- headache
- increased nasal discharge
- sneezing
- trouble sleeping
Although most of the side effects listed below don't happen very often, they could lead to serious problems if you do not seek medical attention.
Check with your doctor as soon as possible if any of the following side effects occur:
- blurred vision
- dizziness or lightheadedness
- drowsiness
- high blood pressure
- nervousness
- palpitations (heartbeat that is fast, irregular, or pounding)
- trembling
- weakness
Stop taking the medication and seek immediate medical attention if any of the following occur:
- difficulty breathing
- swelling of face or throat
Some people may experience side effects other than those listed. Check with your doctor if you notice any symptom that worries you while you are taking this medication.
Are there any other precautions or warnings for this medication?
Before you begin using a medication, be sure to inform your doctor of any medical conditions or allergies you may have, any medications you are taking, whether you are pregnant or breast-feeding, and any other significant facts about your health. These factors may affect how you should use this medication.
Prolonged or excessive use: If symptoms continue for more than 3 days, stop using this medication and contact your doctor. Excessive or prolonged use of this medication may make congestion worse.
Medical conditions: If you have difficulty urinating because of an enlarged prostate, heart disease, high blood pressure, glaucoma, overactive thyroid, advanced hardening of the arteries, or diabetes, discuss with your doctor how this medication may affect your medical condition, how your medical condition may affect the dosing and effectiveness of this medication, and whether any special monitoring is needed.
Multiple users: Use of this nasal spray by more than one person may cause spread of infection.
Pregnancy: This medication should not be used during pregnancy unless the benefits outweigh the risks. If you become pregnant while taking this medication, contact your doctor immediately.
Breast-feeding: This medication should not be used during breast-feeding unless the benefits outweigh the risks. Women who are breast-feeding should speak to their doctor for guidance.
Seniors: Seniors should use this medication with caution, and should not exceed the recommended dose.
What other drugs could interact with this medication?
There may be an interaction between xylometazoline and any of the following:
- MAO inhibitors (e.g., phenelzine, tranylcypromine)
- other decongestants (e.g. pseudoephedrine)
- sympathomimetic medications (e.g. formoterol, methylphenidate, appetite suppressants)
- tricyclic antidepressants (e.g., amitriptyline, nortriptyline)
If you are taking any of these medications, speak with your doctor or pharmacist. Depending on your specific circumstances, your doctor may want you to:
- stop taking one of the medications,
- change one of the medications to another,
- change how you are taking one or both of the medications, or
- leave everything as is.
An interaction between two medications does not always mean that you must stop taking one of them. Speak to your doctor about how any drug interactions are being managed or should be managed.
Medications other than those listed above may interact with this medication. Tell your doctor or prescriber about all prescription, over-the-counter (non-prescription), and herbal medications you are taking. Also tell them about any supplements you take. Since caffeine, alcohol, the nicotine from cigarettes, or street drugs can affect the action of many medications, you should let your prescriber know if you use them.
All material copyright MediResource Inc. 1996 – 2017. Terms and conditions of use. The contents herein are for informational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Source: www.medbroadcast.com/drug/getdrug/Balminil-Decongest


text:
Elephant seals take their name from the large proboscis of the adult male (bull) which resembles an elephant's trunk. The bull's proboscis is used in producing extraordinarily loud roaring noises, especially during the mating season. More importantly, the nose acts as a sort of rebreather, filled with cavities designed to reabsorb moisture from the animals' exhalations. This is important during the mating season when the seals do not leave the beach to feed, so must conserve body moisture as they have no incoming source of water. The two species, the northern elephant seal and the southern elephant seal, both were hunted to the brink of extinction by the end of the 19th century, but numbers have since recovered. (Wikipedia Notes) I hope you learn something from this tut and please enjoy! A fav, love it or comment would be fantastic! Luv n hugs to you all and thank you!!!
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!


text:
New York Yankees Charm Bracelet With Swarovski Crystal
Officially-licensed 13-charm bracelet honors Yankees. 18K-gold and sterling silver plating, genuine Swarovski crystal, more. Gift box.
Measures 7-1/2" L
- Price:
- s&s◇
Winner of a league-leading 27 World Series® titles, the New York Yankees have brought no shortage of heart-pounding heroics to the Big Apple over the years. Now let your pride in this legendary MLB team shine with a stylish charm bracelet for Yankees fans - the Go Yankees! #1 Fan Beaded Bracelet. Custom-designed with over a dozen interchangeable charms, this fine jewelry creation from The Bradford Exchange comes all put together and ready to wear. For devoted fans of baseball and fashion, it's a style home run you'll wear with pride!
Officially licensed by MLB Properties, this stunning Yankees charm bracelet features 13 handcrafted charms on a 7-1/2" sterling silver-plated bracelet. Gleaming with rich 18K-gold plating and shining sterling silver plating, individual charms include a Yankees cap, ball and pennant, plus a heart-shaped charm with the team name and a genuine blue Swarovski crystal. Delicate engraving, hand-enameling in team colors and official team logos add spirited touches of New York Yankees pride. Fervent demand is expected for this unique beaded bracelet, which comes in a jewelry pouch and gift box. Don't wait to secure yours - order now!
California Residents click here for Proposition 65 notice.
- Let your Yankees pride shine when you cheer on your MLB heroes with this stylish beaded charm bracelet, a fine jewelry design from The Bradford Exchange
- Officially licensed by Major League Baseball Properties, Inc.
- New York Yankees beaded bracelet is handcrafted with 13 unique charms, plated with sterling silver and rich 18K gold, and embellished with detailed enameling
- Interchangeable charms feature team colors and logos and include a Yankees hat and baseball, an engraved heart with team-blue Swarovski® crystal, an enameled pennant flag and more
- Yankees charm bracelet arrives all put together and ready to wear
- Velvet jeweler's pouch and deluxe gift box, perfect for safekeeping or giving as a sparkling Yankees fan gift
- Accompanied by a Certificate authenticating your bracelet as an original from The Bradford Exchange
- Measures 7-1/2" L; 19.1 cm L
©2013 The Bradford Exchange


text:
Great article in the WSJ about pets and their value to us.
Recently, an almost literal case of lifeboat ethics occurred. On Aug. 4, Graham and Sheryl Anley, while yachting off the coast of South Africa, hit a reef, capsizing their boat. As the boat threatened to sink and they scrambled to get off, Sheryl's safety line snagged on something, trapping her there. Instead of freeing his wife and getting her to shore, Graham grabbed Rosie, their Jack Russell terrier. (One media account reported that Sheryl had insisted that the dog go first). With Rosie safe and sound, Graham returned for Sheryl. All are doing fine.It's a great story, but it doesn't strike me as especially newsworthy. News is supposed to be about something fairly unique, and recent research suggests that, in the right circumstances, lots of people also would have grabbed their Rosie first.
We have strange relationships with our pets, something examined in a wonderful book by the psychologist Hal Herzog, "Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals." We lavish our pets with adoration and better health care than billions of people receive. We speak to pets with the same high-pitched voices that we use for babies (though when addressing pets, we typically don't repeat and emphasize key words as we do with babies, in the hope of boosting their language acquisition). As a grotesque example of our feelings about pets, the Nazis had strict laws that guaranteed the humane treatment of the pets of Jews being shipped to death camps.
These are unique ways for one species to interact with another. On occasion, a predatory cat, after killing an adult prey, adopts the prey's offspring for a few days; these cats are usually confused adolescent females, swirling with the start of those strange maternal urges. But there is certainly no other animal that puts costumes on members of another species on Halloween.
A recent paper by Richard Topolski at George Regents University and colleagues, published in the journal Anthrozoös, demonstrates this human involvement with pets to a startling extent. Participants in the study were told a hypothetical scenario in which a bus is hurtling out of control, bearing down on a dog and a human. Which do you save? With responses from more than 500 people, the answer was that it depended: What kind of human and what kind of dog?
Everyone would save a sibling, grandparent or close friend rather than a strange dog. But when people considered their own dog versus people less connected with them—a distant cousin or a hometown stranger—votes in favor of saving the dog came rolling in. And an astonishing 40% of respondents, including 46% of women, voted to save their dog over a foreign tourist. This makes Parisians' treatment of American tourists look good in comparison.
What does a finding like this mean? First, that your odds aren't so good if you find yourself in another country with a bus bearing down on you and a cute dog. But it also points to something deeper: our unprecedented attitude toward animals, which got its start with the birth of humane societies in the 19th century.
We jail people who abuse animals, put ourselves in harm's way in boats between whales and whalers, carry our childhood traumas of what happened to Bambi's mother. We can extend empathy to another organism and feel its pain like no other species. But let's not be too proud of ourselves. As this study and too much of our history show, we're pretty selective about how we extend our humaneness to other human beings.
—Mr. Sapolsky is a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University and the author of many books. He will write the 'Mind & Matter' column every other week.


text:
John Neumeier is one of those talented cooks who knows how to spoil his own soup. It's not that this Milwaukee-born director of the Hamburg Ballet lacks for ingredients. In his 1977 "A Midsummer's Night Dream," which opened in San Francisco Wednesday at War Memorial Opera House, he abounds in a near chaos of stuff, from fevered drama to burlesque to Balanchine-isms to 1970s-style sci-fi cum Busby Berkeley. But thanks to excess, he manages to take most of the elegance and poetry out of Shakespeare, which is rather like taking most of the broth out of the chowder.
The ballet's Prologue is designed to introduce the players, but it is a hot mess with what, at times, feels like a cast of hundreds. The scene opens at the court of Theseus, Duke of Athens, the night before his wedding to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons.
The stage is awash in Empire-style decor and costumes, which give the scene a domestic heaviness. Add the mincing of some prospective brides and a poorly delineated cat's cradle of affections that drives the comedy, and it's thick business all around.
We know that "Midsummer" is Shakespeare's sweet romp about desire and the insanity of love that afflicts lovers across social strata and demographics. We also know that Helena loves Demetrius who loves Hermia who loves Lysander who loves Hermia. Knowing it isn't seeing, however, and Neumeier has so clotted the stage with corps de ballet, with everyone dressed in nearly identical clothes, that signature movement styles barely register.
Only Silvia Azzoni, whose Helena is a nearsighted vaudevillian, followed by the martinet obtuseness of Otto Bubenicek as her beloved officer, Demetrius, physically embody their characters. One of the evening highlights comes as Helena tries desperately to attach herself in a dozen different insectivorous ways to the tone deaf Demetrius. Lysander and Hermia's set pieces, by contrast, are mostly insipid standard pas de deux of breathless and ho-hum love.
The fairy Puck, danced with naive mischief by Alexandr Trusch, and the laborers, or "rude mechanicals," hired to provide wedding entertainment are aptly comical, though the latter often resemble a chorus line axed from a production of "Les Miz." An organ grinder accompanies them, providing moody music within the music.
Nothing undoes this ballet, though, like "The Dream" scene. To transition from the Prologue, Hippolyta falls asleep on a divan, like Marie in "The Nutracker," and off we go into the land, not of fairy tale enchantment, but of tacky sci-fi and warmed-over '60s modern dance, with hints of synchronized swimming routines from Berkeley's Million Dollar Mermaid. Decked out in silver unitards and skullcaps against some messy silver trees, the "fairies" look like nothing so much as extraterrestrials who slow-mo in from a different movie or another ballet altogether.
Hippolyta/Titania is leggily and eloquently danced by Helene Bouchet, who repeatedly sails atop Theseus/Oberon's shoulder (Thiago Bordin) like winged Victory.
Who can get behind the 1977 costumes, though? Despite their retro silliness, the lugubrious, slow slides to second position with meaningless gesticulations might still have suggested enchantment if Neumeier had aligned his emotional stars. But the musical accompaniment to this invasion strays from the lyricism of Shakespeare and the lushness of Felix Mendelssohn's score to a fever dream set to Gyorgy Ligeti's "Volumina for Organ." It's as though Neumeier slipped Shakespeare's Hippolyta a dystopic hallucinogen intended for Lisbeth Salander, the Amazonian heroine of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."
Such darkness threads through Neumeier's "Little Mermaid" and "Nijinsky," where they belong. To lace "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with the gothic is to take the sweet, bawdy and idyllic silliness out of the Bard's ingenious concoction.
Dance review