text:
2nd AVE PIER Myrtle Beach South Carolina.....
Focus is difficult here....direct sunlight, large glare....?
pierphotopersonsouth carolinamyrtle beachamerica
Merry Christmas
I'm blessed to have great children....they allow me to find places like this.
I'm grateful i have someone in my life that only wants to be near me, share some of what I have to offer.
Sunset Sandstorm...
Myrtle Beach South Carolina....
Merry Christmas to all...and to all a good night.
sandstormmyrtle beachsouth carolinaphotopersonamericaunited statesboat
Wow....thanks for all the great comments...hope you enjoy this one also....Merry Christmas!
Water in rain.....
Just south of Asheville North Carolina....Did I mention rain.....
The music got changed quickly....Paul Jr. was focused on the post production so we enjoyed some Traveling Willberries.....it helped. We traveled 4300 miles for all sorts of water not in the consistency of snow, sometimes that can be rough on the non-photographers in the group but I still try to get all aboard a trip to remember what they have seen along the way, some have just seen everything and can't be made happy, some like me just need to get a few items off the bucket list.....it was a great trip.
Flatrock Falls North Carolina...
Thanks for looking, enjoy the holidays...
Not much of a waterfall it sits right next to the road. We arrived very late the canyon was extremely dark with a mist in the air, tierd from doing so much driving this day it was good to get some lens time. The main feature of this fall is the large flat rock the water flows out onto, in any flow rate the water must cascade out onto the pitched rock thus its a keeper for any light or flow rate, the higher the flow rate the less access you have to the spot I am taking this photo from and to the left there is a fairly shear bank. The foliage around the falls is dense and somewhat trampled you can tell it see's lots of traffic as it sits quite close to the popular Looking Glass Falls. This fall can be found on Davidson Creek in Transylvania County on FS475 within two miles of HWY 276, this road offers day's of waterfall photography of the vertically challenged type and the canyon is fairly flat, the water is accessible for most anyone with some portions could be said to be handicap accessible. Remember leave no trace includes not damaging the flora when you crash the site as so many do, ripped leaves an broken or snapped tree limbs last for years and we want all that go there to have an opportunity for this photo.
Frozen River Bottom....
We took this in North Carolina, Paul Jr did the post processing last night as a tutorial in Lightroom.
What do you think of the team approach in photography?
Sometimes it seems overwhelming the amount of work that can be involved getting a image thru final production when you involve more people.
We have been on vacation for the past twelve days and now all the relatives are in till Christmas...i have been delinquent in commenting on the daily photo's, my apologizes.
America .....thats where we went. Mainly West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina. 4300 miles on the crapiest roads in America....but are they? This was a simple shot of a ray coming through rain clouds blazing into a dark field and mountain side that had froze the night before. Atmospheric change, evaporation-fog is cool, most of the southeastern USA has this effect going on everyday due to temp spreads. I took three frames of this and drove off, it took all of two minutes....but there were hundreds of places we drove thru that it was like this. No starship, just great in focus sharp photo... there is nothing really remarkable going on other than a cool weather phenomenon. You have one that occurs just down the street....you see it on the way to or from work.
Jewel Lake Mill...
Another rainy day in North Carolina....
Thanks to my brother Tom and his wife Nancy for the great hospitality!
When you want to play a ten thousand dollar round of golf where do you go? The gristmill sits on this golf course.
Located just south of Cashiers North Carolina on the High Hampton Inn and Country Club property, the ground's keeper told me the mill is the "honeymoon suite" or the "love shack" depending upon which state you were from and that it can be rented.
Not going to India with them this time, next time.... when i have the chance to pilot the plane we all fly into Sir Edmond Hillary field, closest airport to Everest. Scratch one off the bucket list :).
Triple Falls North Carolina...in the rain.
Thanks for all the awesome comments on yesterday's picture, trip co-ordinator and cancer thriver Linda Davis deserves much of the credit. Triple Falls is a 1220' accent and 3.2 miles round trip, this was her second back-country hike into active bear country....she did amazing!!!!
Our twelve day trip to the east coast is over and the Grandkids are in tomorrow for the next month....have lots to process and share.
Make it a great week!
Cape Sunset......
Enjoy the weekend.......
Holiday Light...
Have a great weekend...
Where am I?
O.K. a hint.....this guy filmed someting that affects us everyday, it changed America, the World forever, we can't do without what he is filming and we were there on the 108th anniversary of the historic event he captured.
It's not a self portrait but this is what we look like here in the Dailies, it's who we are .....it's who we be, with more modern equipment of course. Soulful....for Paula, LOL.
I have traveled across America and have never seen a bronze of a photographer....ever. I thought I would share, enjoy and please....GUESS!!!
Thanks for the awesome comments, complaints and suggestions, it's Friday.....YEA!
The answer....Kill Devil Hills North Carolina at the Wriight Brothers National Memorial, just a side note.....it took less than seventy years from their historic flight for the United States of America to land a man on the moon with a piece of the Wright Brother's aircraft on board....yet we still have no cure for cancer, a giant failure for all American's.........Have you lost someone you love to cancer?
Sunset on the Cape.....
Thanks for looking, it's all downhill to the weekend...
Tommarow....self portrait...guess where I am at....
Shrimping sunset....
Georgetown North Carolina
Thanks for all the great comments yesterday....love to travel and tend to put in 500 plus miles a day, at least a 16 hour day with many stops. Hope the week is going well for you....it's hump day.
The Old Mill....
A cold West Virginia. Glade Creek gristmill the most photographed mill in America sits in the Babcock State Park of West Virginia. Glade Creek flows into the New River a National River. This area is chock full of recreation for all. Plan to spend some time in this area the photo op's are all over the place.
This shot was taken shortly after I fell....I set the tripod up and got the remotes hung, I had to sit down I felt as though i got run over by a linebacker my ankle was killing me I hit square on my back and got the wind knocked out of me..... all that with Linda watching my self induced carnage unfold in front of her on the edge of the bank twenty yards away......I know for sure now there have been times when she thought I was an idiot, but this was one time where she thought I was seriously hurt. Seems as though I have one moment like this on each trip....too close to the edge to close to the wildlife ect... I'm glad she is near me, she keeps me in check. Good thing i don't ride motocross anymore....i would have multiple international symbol refrencing how I'm #1 sign positioned squarely between my eyes.
glade creek gristmillwest virginiafallsmillsphotopersonamericaunited states
Over the edge.....
Make it a great week! Thanks for looking.....enjoy.
Sunday morning sunrise......
Have a great day!
Happy Birthday Paul....
Thanks for looking at my work, enjoy the weekend....
Lake sunrise....
Thanks for you wonderfull comments on the airshow contest winning photo yesterday!
Photo contest winner....
Thanks for all the great comments!!!
They're always watching......
In a sea of eighty thousand screaming husker fans at kick off I take this shot across the stadium, 400mm deep......
It's Pearl Harbor Day.....
We won best photo last night.....Thank's to Linda...... she was proud, as was I.
Swing on over....pull up a chair....don't mind my OCD.
Thanks for the great comments....y'all!
Found these in Door County Wisconsin they look out over a bluff above a lighthouse on the coast.
Husker Power....We play #9 South Carolina...
It's Monday....have a great week!
After shoveling six inches if snow off the front deck.
Have a great weekend!
Thanks for looking and your comments.
Blue sky........
Enjoy your weekend.
Spirit of Nebraska....in flight.
Thanks for looking, hope you enjoy part of Nebraska, it's friday.
3-6 inches of snow tonight....
Hope you all have a great weekend!
Wilderness entrance.....
Thanks for taking a look.
The busy bench.........
Thanks for all the great comments hope you like this one.
Abundant color.......
Windows to life.......
Hope all had a great Thanksgiving........back to work!
Thanks for the great comments!!
First day with the 5D Mark II.....
Indianola Iowa.....July 30, 2011....mass ascent at sunset.
Thanksgiving Day Sunset........Downtown Omaha Nebraska.
Husker Nation is satisfied.......
Factory wall art.....downtown Omaha.
This is the largest section of the wall i could take with the 16mm, the panel is 75 feet tall and 600 feet long. This section has the office entrance.
Hope you had the best Thanksgiving, enjoy!
Cascade Falls.....Happy thanksgiving to all.
Pawnee Pass Colorado ....14,457'
Thanks all on the birthday wishes..... we had a great night last night, not all are moving yet.....
Brainard Lake Colorado……sunset expedition.
Campsite view……10,000' above sea level, May 2010.
Note to self, take along rain gear……
Arriving late morning at our campsite we set up for a quick six to eight mile hike to Lake Isabelle, no real significant challenges the trail is twenty feet wide and has high traffic impact as it is reasonably close to a major metropolitan area. Since this trip was for an ascent through Pawnee Pass and one night in the Indian Peaks Wilderness crossing the Continental Divide, my thought upon reaching Lake Isabelle so easily is that I would just hike up to the pass from the lake, take a quick three hour round trip thirty-five hundred foot ascent for a evening divide photo, no problem. It is a nice hike, there are several nice meadows to visit and some small lakes to boot. At the point of discharge out of the tree line the clouds rolled over the rim of the divide and the sky darkened closed right in. Having been a pilot earlier in life I enjoyed the closeness of the clouds, being in them was like flying in them.
Midway through the upper switchbacks the storm funneled down through the pass like cake batter out of a bowl. I knew I was in trouble, but I wasn't alone. Two others were descending also at a rapid pace, the air filled with ionization from the cloud to ground lightning lancing the hillside. Upon reaching the tree line we found a small overhang adjacent to the trail with a group of trees barricading us from the torrential rain that follows the lightning. Instantaneous thunder claps shake my internal organs, the rain now cascading off the overhang turns pink from the lightning flashes. I can hear the prayers being offered up if we could just get out alive. Our bodies now shivering, the temperature is dropping and sleet fills the air. I know now I'm just not prepared. As quickly as it hits us, the storm loosens it's grip, we descend to the lake, our party is now six. Miles to warmth, people shed their clothing to slow heat loss out of their bodies. Our group has now doubled in size. Twelve, shivering to the point of exhaustion almost naked, irritable and combative, we reach the parking lot, it's a quarter full with forty or fifty people just like us, some shaking so bad they can't open their car doors, they can't align the key in the key hole they shiver so bad. As I walked passed Brainard Lake to our campsite the sky turns this erie red as if to somehow display it had lost the battle…..this was that moment .
Fresh snow at Yankee Smith Mill.....
Located in Clay County near Liberty Missouri. Yankee Smith Mill is part of the Heritage Village area of Robert Hodge Park. It is a reproduction of a mill built on the Platte River in 1825 by Yankee Smith. The park has many buildings of the period and has a fantastic period festival worthy of your time. Grinding still occurs at the mill on certain dates and is one of the most scenic mills I have visited. This photo is one I did on the way home from Paul and Nini's last January, I was still shooting film and had this scanned and put on a disk, not nearly as good as digital. I will get a better one next time we go see them.
Your comments are so inspiring…. thanks for taking the time out of your busy day to enjoy this great mill.
First snow, Yellowstone crossing......
This is my last fall foliage picture for the community, snow is upon us and we are lucky we dont have two feet on the ground like last year. Thanks all for the well wishes on my accident, my back is real sore but I am vertical and looking forward to seeing all the family together this weekend. This shot is of Clark Lake Rd. in Door County Wisconsin where it intersects with Cave Point Road. A short distance from here are the caves created by the waves eating away at the limestone rock that is the shoreline. If you are in the area be sure to visit the Cave Point County Park it offers quite a few photo ops of the geology and the thundering wave action in the caves is spectacular. The park offers many picnic tables and a covered gazebo for larger gatherings, along with bathrooms and water. I dont recommend going to this park with NEBRASKA regalia stuck to your vehicle or tromping around the park in NEBRASKA attire the week you got spanked by the Wisconsin Badgers though. Of all the places we went the people here were the most critical and boysterous of our supporting our team, we just laughed them off. We love this great state as well as the other fourty nine and were blessed to be able to share with you our photos and stories of us rambling through the backroads of them all.
My late day entry, I fell off the backhoe trailer yesterday and hurt my back. Took this in Wisconsin on the way to great fall foliage.
Thanks for yesterdays comments... it was tough to read that wall art.
It's who we are....it's who we be.
I shot this yesterday here in Omaha Nebraska. This is the latest city supported graffiti art that is alongside one of the most popular trails in town, about two miles away. It is about fifty feet long and eight feet tall. We drove up to the site and by the time I had the camera on the tripod the police were driving down the road toward us, the officer explained it was art. I let her know I was a member of the local camera club and just wanted to take a shot for our next show and tell night.
Yesterday when I was processing it I had smug up behind my work and noticed the new STOP CENSORSHIP stamp over the smug insignia at the top of the daily page, ironic. It is hard to make out what word it is when you are standing in front of it. The caption intro words are from one of my favorite Black Eyed Peas songs. Sorry for the small crop just view it large........enjoy, and let me know if you figure out what it does say!
Thanks also for going back and reading yesterday's story behind the photo, all the great comments are inspiring!
OK a few hints....if you sit back away from the computer screen you can read it alot easier....and your in it now.....good luck!
Superior sunrise....
On the return trip to Omaha from Grand Portage Minnesota beat from the past five days and 2500 miles we have logged driving, we set up camp in a County Park in Washburn Wisconsin. Dinner done and a romantic fire dancing beside us we set the computer up on the picnic table and started a great evening of image gazing while the camera downloads to the Mac. We had camped for days in crappy weather and the car is fully unloaded, cause lets face it after a while it become a rolling dumpster and everything is out of place. Blissfully enjoying the great shots and the ability to move freely, the night goes on, all the while a severe line of supercell thunderstorms are rapidly moving in.
Our campsite nestled in a thick stand of tall pines next to Lake Superior has been obscuring the cloud to ground lightning and the wall cloud that is now upon us. It now is a race to get what looks like a roving junk yard into the vehicle as the wall of water is moments away. Into the wee hours we huddle in the car playing cards by flashlight while the supercell fills the creek bed that we set up our now soaked tent and sleeping gear next to. Late into the night the storm rolls away, echoing thunder sings us to sleep on what I think is a sponge. With what seemed like minutes of sleep we woke before light and went fifty yards to edge of the lake…..enjoy our Superior sunrise.
wisconsinsunriselake superiorcampingstorms.
Rebuilding America.
The rest of the story.....we parked the car to go down to the Sturgeon Bay Canal Light and the Sturgeon Bay Canal North Pierhead Light, just south and east of Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin in Door County. The two lighthouses are separated by 500 yards. The Canal Light is a working U.S.Coast Guard facility, the Pierhead Lighthouse is abandoned except for an automated signal. The road to these lighthouses has a great biking trail along the canal that had awesome fall foliage, and is one of the states rustic roads that ends at the spot here where I took this shot. The U.S. Coast Guard facility has a sidewalk that borders the property that goes out to the North Pierhead Light. In the center of the sidewalk there was a yellow stripe, as you enter the U.S Coast Guard property. The sidewalk was labeled "private" on the side of the U.S Coast Guard Facility and "public" on the other. This is the only place in America I have ever seen this, and I have been to almost every lighthouse in the U.S of A.
We strolled out to the North Pierhead Light, looking curiously into the Coast Guard facility I got my shots and returned, as we went in, trying to understand the reasoning for the deliniation of the property line. Upon our returning at the very end of the "divided" sidewalk I found the 90+ year old owner of this bike exhausted, spent, and sweating profusely laying on the private side of the yellow line in the grass where he had obviouslly collapsed. I approched the old guy, dressed in full race colored spandex and I asked if he was OK, he said...."I'm 92 years old and just rode 15 miles from town out here".....out of breath and weazing....."what part of that makes you think I am OK." Stunned not knowing what to say, I looked around for some help. He then said....."I will be fine, sooner or later they will come load me up in the pick up truck and haul my old ass back to the house like they do everyday...thanks for asking, most people just pass right by."
This is an image of his bike he rode in on.
Rural America, could be any back road of any state, these are the great people that feed America and the World year after year. I search the back roads to find these barns, this is one of the most manicured farmsteads we saw on our trip, enjoy.
Have a great week!


text:
Obesity Paradox In Survival From Sepsis
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – University of Michigan Health System researchers revealed an obesity paradox among older Americans suffering from sepsis.
Study raises questions about how obesity impacts the body's response to infection.
In a study of 1,404 Medicare beneficiaries, heavier patients were more likely to survive the life-threatening infection that can lead to a stay in a hospital's intensive care unit.
The findings, published in the August issue of Critical Care Medicine, raise interesting questions about how obesity impacts the body's response to infection.
Obesity is most often connected with worse, not better, health outcomes.
"Physicians expect obese patients to do poorly and this belief can affect the care and counseling they provide to patients and their families," says lead author Hallie C. Prescott, M.D., a pulmonary and critical care medicine clinical lecturer at the U-M Health System. "Our study indicates obese sepsis patients actually have lower mortality and similar functional outcomes as normal weight patients."
The focus of the study was to investigate the association of body mass index to survival, health care use and functional deficiencies following a severe sepsis hospitalization.
The last objective was selected because of the value patients place on living and functioning independently.
The incidence of sepsis has doubled in the past 15 years leading to an increased focus on research and Medicare spending. Severe sepsis causes a million hospitalizations yearly among Medicare beneficiaries.
These hospitalizations cost more than $16 billion annually, which is roughly 4 times the cost of hospitalizations for heart attacks. Half of patients hospitalized with severe sepsis die within a year.
The patients who survive often become debilitated during their hospital stay and need to spend time in a rehabilitation facility.
"Obese patients who survive their sepsis hospitalization use more health care resources and require more Medicare spending – but this apparent increase in resource use is a result of living longer, not increased use per day alive," says senior author Theodore Iwashyna, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of internal medicine at the U-M Health System.
Authors note there are many health benefits to maintaining a normal weight, but the findings suggest that excess weight may cause the body to respond differently to critical illness. A better understanding of this difference may help health care providers improve care for all patients with sepsis and other critical illnesses.
The study was conducted with participants of the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative sample of older Americans that is run by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research on behalf of the National Institute of Aging.
Additional authors: Kenneth Langa, M.D., John M. O'Brien Jr., M.D., and Virginia W. Chang, M.D., Ph.D.
Reference: "Obesity and 1-year outcomes in older Americans with severe sepsis," Critical Care Medicine, August, 2014.
The article was originally published by the University of Michigan Health System on Aug. 4, 2014.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
"It's amazing to see how fast devs go from 0 to Blog under a domain they own on Hashnode 🤯. It reminds me a lot of what Substack did for journalists."
Guillermo Rauch
CEO, Vercel
You can start a blog in just a few seconds using Hashnode and then you can move that to your own domain if you get one later. They will even help distribute your articles on their platform. By far the best place to create a blog, imho.
Quincy Larson
Founder, freeCodeCamp


text:
Sale on canvas prints! Use code ABCXYZ at checkout for a special discount!
Boundary: Bleed area may not be visible.
Click and drag to re-position the image, if desired.
by Michelle Hoffmann
Image Size
The image is near the edges of the product but doesn't cover the entire product. Some of the background color may appear around the outside edges of the image.
Background Color
Product Details
Our spiral notebooks are 6" x 8" in size and include 120 pages which are lined on both sides. The artwork is printed on the front cover which is made of thick paper stock, and the back cover is medium gray in color. The inside of the back cover includes a pocket for storing extra paper and pens.
Ships Within
2 - 3 business days
Canvas Print
Framed Print
Art Print
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Spiral Notebook
Fleece Blanket
Face Mask
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My name is Michelle Hoffmann. I am a passionate digital artist looking to leave my mark on the world. The art I create is unique and original, like me! My art career started late in life. With a family to raise, it was not until my last child was the only one at home that I began to focus my career on my artwork. Originally, I had started with pencil and pastels but was talked into trying my hand in the digital realm. As appreciation of my creations grew, I focused more time on electronic art and have not looked back since. To date, I have created over 3000 pieces of digital artwork, and, as my following has grown, I have also begun to branch out into the NFT world. You can find my NFT art on Crypto.com, Rarible, Mintable &...


text:
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text: Artist: J.D. f/ Mase & Lil' Kim Album: Life in 1472 Sdtk. Song: You Get Dealt Wit Typed by: firstname.lastname@example.com Mase [talking]: Just show me the Bounce J, once I get the bounce, I'mma be good. Niggas gon' hate me I get that. Then I'll have everything J.D. [overlapping Mase] Fuckin' with my dough is like fuckin' with my pride & fuckin' with my hoes is like fuckin' with my high That's two things in life that you just don't mess with Act like a trick & like a trick you get dealt with Mase Now I know you love my lazy flow but here come my crazy flow Do this shit 'cause it make me dough do it again to make me more Rich is only way to go givin' you what you pay me for What you lookin' shady for? Bitch you ain't got my baby hoe. Top down 64 radio AC blow They peep though think that automatically 'cause this nigga roll with Puff Daddyo he gotta be ridin' in a B-E-N-T-L-E but why? Cause you see a young nigga like me out doing it wanna come & put ya two in it wanna ruin it see me pursuin' it & wanna spend what's mine First you wouldn't give me the time now you gotta get in line Think that Mase gon' trick a dime you out ya fuckin' mind See I'm bout it bout it now is you with it with it? Bitch I don't care how you get ya dough you get it get it Now you can't claim to be a pimp & then go be committed Just like you hit it hit it man another nigga don' hit it uhhh J.D. [Chorus] Fuckin' with my dough is like fuckin' with my pride & fuckin' with my hoes is like fuckin' with my high That's two things in life that you just don't mess with Act like a trick & like a trick you get dealt with [Repeat] J.D. Hoes know to fuck with me & they'll be set fo' life lookin' nice sex right livin' in my paradise I been makin' millions since I was young & still clockin' still rockin' hoe hoppin' showin' all y'all niggas how it's done You know So So sell copies like Kinko's so ya better bend before ya go saying too much shit 'cause all I'm about is makin' dough & makin' mo' keepin' my glow sho nuff unlike yo' stuff I make the shit that keep 'em runnin' to the sto' Swappin' drop tops on the regular spittin' game on the cellular If I meet a hoe and the hoe ain't tryin' to fuck then the hell with her I'm tellin' ya Shit we do ya can't erase took a little change of pace me & Mase for the niggas that hate we still up in yo' fuckin' face. Chorus Lil' Kim Uhh Now why the fuck you keep blamin' me? You the one that try to shoot game to me Thug ass bitch you claim to be y'all hoes never meant a thang to me Frontin' ass niggas want to roll with us go with us spend a little dough with us got a crush hush on this slim chick with the wet lips & the set hips Too much smoke in the Lex' whip can't pick who I wanna sex with got more weed than a li'l bit Hydro ain't no bullshit Then I come through in the 6 drop me & Li'l Cease doin' the Wop Infrared clips filled to the top y'all niggas need to stop C-Can I say it again say it again? Better come through with a little more win B.I.G. is a slogan R.I.P. 'til I see ya again Ain't no tellin' in this life of sin how much dough you got to spend Take so long you got to bend Grab yo' man snatch yo' bitch fill them flames with them clips When the cops come stash the Indo better throw the weed up out the window Wannabe clowns got jokes ain't shit funny play y'all niggas like dummies click-click Show me the Money!! Chorus


text:
Tīkoki ana te waka o Aoraki!
Ko Rūaumoko e ngunguru nei!
He parekura! He parekura! He parekura e!
Ko te motu whānui tonu kua pani.
Kei te hunga kua riro ki te pō, moe mai rā.
Kei ngā makorea, he aha rā he kōrero mō koutou?
Ko te Atua hei whakawhirinakitanga atu mō koutou
hei aupehi i te mamae, ā ngākau, ā wairua.
Kia piki te ora, piki te kaha ki a koutou katoa.
The canoe of Aoraki rocks!
It is Rūaumoko, earth shaker, rumbling!
Causing great calamity!
The nation mourns.
To those who've breathed their last breath,
Rest in peace.
To the survivors, what words can we possibly say?
Let the Creator be your support in this time of pain.
Be strong, get well soon.
Like many others throughout New Zealand, staff at Te Papa have close connections through family, friends and colleagues in Christchurch. We have all watched in horror at the devastation that has taken place because of the earthquake on 22 February.
In the Wellington Foyer, Level 2 of the Museum there is now a place for staff and members of the public to express their condolences. On display is a small boulder of pounamu, symbolising aroha – love and support – for the earthquake victims, their families and friends. It has a tangible connection with the South Island – Te Wai Pounamu – as it was sourced from the Arahura River, Westland. This variety of pounamu is known as kawakawa – as are the leaves of mourning placed on the case in which it sits.
If you would like to help with the Christchurch Quake Appeal, you can do so through the Red Cross, Mayoral Fund and Salvation Army to name a few. There is also a donations box at Te Papa. All donations will be passed on to the emergency services.


text:
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering have created a lithium ion battery that outperforms the current industry standard by three times. The key material: sand. Yes, sand.
"This is the holy grail – a low cost, non-toxic, environmentally friendly way to produce high performance lithium ion battery anodes," said Zachary Favors, a graduate student working with Cengiz and Mihri Ozkan, both engineering professors at UC Riverside.
The idea came to Favors six months ago. He was relaxing on the beach after surfing in San Clemente, Calif. when he picked up some sand, took a close look at it and saw it was made up primarily of quartz, or silicon dioxide.
His research is centered on building better lithium ion batteries, primarily for personal electronics and electric vehicles. He is focused on the anode, or negative side of the battery. Graphite is the current standard material for the anode, but as electronics have become more powerful graphite's ability to be improved has been virtually tapped out.
Researchers are now focused on using silicon at the nanoscale, or billionths of a meter, level as a replacement for graphite. The problem with nanoscale silicon is that it degrades quickly and is hard to produce in large quantities.
From left, (b) unpurified sand, (c) purified sand, and (d) vials of unpurified sand, purified sand, and nano silicon.
Favors set out to solve both these problems. He researched sand to find a spot in the United States where it is found with a high percentage of quartz. That took him to the Cedar Creek Reservoir, east of Dallas, where he grew up.
Sand in hand, he came back to the lab at UC Riverside and milled it down to the nanometer scale, followed by a series of purification steps changing its color from brown to bright white, similar in color and texture to powdered sugar.
After that, he ground salt and magnesium, both very common elements found dissolved in sea water into the purified quartz. The resulting powder was then heated. With the salt acting as a heat absorber, the magnesium worked to remove the oxygen from the quartz, resulting in pure silicon.
Schematic showing how sand is turned into pure nano-silicon.
The Ozkan team was pleased with how the process went. And they also encountered an added positive surprise. The pure nano-silicon formed in a very porous 3-D silicon sponge like consistency. That porosity has proved to be the key to improving the performance of the batteries built with the nano-silicon.
The improved performance could mean increasing the expected lifespan of silicon based electric vehicle batteries up to three times or more, which would be significant for consumers, considering replacement batteries cost thousands of dollars. The energy density is more than three times higher than that of traditional graphite based anodes, which means cell phones and tablets could last three times longer between charges.
The research was detailed in the latest issue of the journal Scientific Reports.[source: University of California – Riverside]


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Leave L'Amorosa and proceed in the direction of Perugia. After crossing the A1 you may choose between the first and the second exit for Cortona; if you choose the first exit, you will be able to visit the Abbazia di Farneta (Route A) en route to Camucia, the second exit will lead you directly to Camucia, the lower part of Cortona. The Abbey of Farneta, built between the IX and X century AD, with its interesting archaeological and paleontological collection, is worth visiting.
Cortona traces its origin back to the Etruscan times and merits a full day's exploration. We recommend you take a look at the site Etruscan Academy Museum for information on the town and, if you haven't already got one, purchase an in depth guide book. We would advise not visiting Cortona on Saturday or Sunday when the city can get very crowded.
If you prefer not to spend the whole day in Cortona you can visit the surrounding area. You can climb up to Torreone and then turn right to visit the Eremo delle Celle, a Franciscan hermitage of striking beauty. Travel east in the direction of Pergo and Mercatale. Once in Mercatale you can descend to Tuoro sul Trasimeno where you will find the Raccordo Perugia - A1 by way of which you can quickly return to the Locanda dell'Amorosa, travelling along a road that passes through a stunning landscape that has many vestiges of the past.
Alternatively, from Cortona, follow the Nord/Ovest direction towards Arezzo (Route B) and after a visit, by appointment, to the Castello di Montecchio head for Castiglion Fiorentino, perhaps not as well known as Cortona, but just as interesting in terms of history, churches, palaces and museums. From here a road takes you back through the Val di Chiana up to Foiano and then Sinalunga.
Distances and travel time
- l'Amorosa - Abbazia di Farneta: km. 14,5 - minutes 16
- Abbazia di Farneta - Cortona: km. 14,3 - minutes 18
- Total distance km. 59,6 - drive time 1:07'
Route A
- Cortona - Mercatale - km. 18,6 minutes 22
- Mercatale - Tuoro sul Trasimeno - km. 12,1 minutes 13
- Tuoro sul T. - L'Amorosa - km. 35,3 minutes 35
- Total distance km. 94,8 - drive time 1:44'
Route B
- Cortona - Castello di Montecchio - km. 8,5 minutes 12
- Castello di Montecchio - Castiglion Fiorentino - km. 3,7 minutes 6
- Castiglion F.no - L'Amorosa - km. 27,5 minutes 36
- Total distance km. 68,5 - drive time 1:28'


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Aaron Swartz's FBI File
When I heard the news of Aaron Swartz's suicide I was deeply saddened or more accurately profoundly irritated. Why had the government – or should I say U.S Attorney Carmen Ortiz – wasted so much time and resources destroying someone over such an inconsequential act? Downloading too many free articles warranted this kind of crackdown? How out of control was the State these days?
Then I remembered a macabre fact – upon death every American's FBI file becomes unclassified with certain exceptions. So I figured what the hell, I printed out a copy of Swartz's New York Times obituary filled out a few forms and sent the documents to our friends at the bureau.
I was fully prepared to get a letter saying no such file existed, after all Swartz was not really a criminal. Instead I received 21 pages out of a 23 page file the FBI had put together on one Aaron H. Swartz.
Two of the 23 pages were not released, according to the FBI, due to; privacy (U.S.C Section 552 (b)(7)(C)), sources and methods (U.S.C Section 552 (b)(7)(E)) and, curiously, putting someone's life in danger (U.S.C Section 552 (b)(7)(F)). Putting someone's life in danger? Typically that refers to informants. Did someone close to Swartz provide information to the FBI on him or is the FBI just being really dramatic? Or is this standard justification for not releasing the Special Agent on the case's name? I am honestly still confused by that box being checked off.
Exceptions aside, the records reveal that the FBI investigated Swartz for his role in the accessing the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) documents. Swartz himself was aware that he was being investigated and would later send a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for his own FBI file. Swartz's request seems to be different than what I received at least in redactions for example the 4/16/2009 meeting was apparently with Swartz's lawyer Andrew Good who refused to talk to the FBI unless an assurance was given that his client would not be hurt – no assurance would be given so no further conversation took place.
There is another odd redaction on 2/19/2009. The FBI agent writes a report that includes information from a New York Times article but redacts one of the names that is actually listed in the article – Carl Malamud. Malamud also seems to be the one referenced in the 4/15/2009 report in a conversation with the FBI claiming he did not know "how Aaron did it."
Overall the files tell you more about the FBI than they do Swartz. They collected information from Linked In, followed his blog posts, and even thought his membership in the "Long-term Planning Committee for the Human Race" was worthy of note. There is also a Kafkaesque entry concerning Swartz's blog post NYT Personals which includes the question "Want to have the F.B.I. open up a file on you as well?" – which I read for the first time in Swartz's FBI file. One can only wonder what is in the two classified pages of Swartz's FBI file.
The FBI concluded its investigation and the PACER case was closed. No crime had been committed so there was apparently no further need to investigate Swartz. If only U.S Attorney Ortiz had taken the same reasonable stance. Of course, the JSTOR case came after Swartz made a lot more powerful enemies.
Aaron H. Swartz FBI File by Daniel Wright
* The files can be downloaded and printed from Scribd, any issues drop me an email. ds83wright [at] gmail.com


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Following the fiscal cliff melodrama, Senator Richard Shelby appeared on television to declare that we are becoming European. "We're always wanting to spend and promise and spend and borrow but not cut. We've got to get real about this. We're headed down the road that Europe's already on."
There's no "heading" about it. We're there. Prof. John J. DiIulio, writing in "National Affairs", outlined the true size of American government. When state and local government expenditures are added to federal outlays, government spending as a share of GDP easily competes with European nations. In fact, per-capita government spending in the U.S. is higher than in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and our debt to GDP ratio is higher than most European states.
The Obama administration has set records for deficit spending in peacetime, but there is no question that the growth of government at all levels has been a decades-long process. In 1960, total government spending (local, state and federal) amounted to 27 percent of GDP. In 2010, it was about 42 percent. State spending has been almost as irrepressible as federal, leaving only nine states that can now boast AAA credit ratings. Many states are facing crises over unfunded pension liabilities that have the capacity to engender strikes and social unrest in the not too distant future.
Though President Obama and the Democrats are fond of citing the "two wars on a credit card" and the Bush tax cuts as drivers of our debt, the truth is that the first Obama term added $4.5 trillion to the national debt in just three years -- more than the total debt amassed by the United States government in two centuries. DiIulio writes: "Add our annual debt per capita (about $49,000 in 2011) to total annual government spending per capita (about $20,000 in 2011), and we have a rough 'big government index' of nearly $70,000 for every man, woman, and child in this country."
The difference between Americans and Europeans is that we aren't honest about our appetite for big government. We hide it through a variety of proxies, private contractors, and public/private partnerships. Leaving aside the Department of Defense, which employs 3.2 million Americans, government employs more than 20 million civil servants. Only 2 million of those are full-time federal workers. The Department of Homeland Security, for example, employs 188,000 federal bureaucrats, but also 200,000 privately contracted employees. Medicaid doesn't employ an army of civil servants but instead pays private employees of medical practices, hospitals, and nursing homes.
The EPA employs between 16,000 and 18,000 full time personnel. It has been able to expand its regulatory reach though by cooperating with 50 state EPA equivalents and by hiring tens of thousands of private contractors.
Most non-profits receive few government subsidies. But the largest ones with the biggest budgets are heavily government-dependent. One-third of all non-profit dollars come from government. Catholic Charities USA, for example, a marquee "private-sector" charity, received two-thirds of its funding in 2009 from Uncle Sam.
Americans prefer small government to big government -- in the abstract. But 60 million receive Medicaid benefits, 54 million collect Social Security, 48 million participate with Medicare, 45 million receive Food Stamps, 7 million are in prison, jail, or on parole/probation, more than a million have de facto government jobs working for defense contractors, nearly a million children participate in Head Start and about 40 percent of K-12 students receive free or reduced price meals. There's some overlap in those categories, but it still adds up.
Taking a government check goes down much more easily when you can persuade yourself that you're only withdrawing money that you have faithfully paid in over the course of a lifetime. Indignant elderly callers to C-SPAN constantly invoke the "I paid for my Social Security" myth.
They didn't. The average beneficiary will receive far more in Medicare and Social Security benefits than he paid for in taxes.
We are, in short, a socialist-style society just like Europe. And Obamacare has yet to kick in.
The road to recovery begins with admitting you have a problem.


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Photo by Scott Preston
(New York, NY) January 8, 2014 — For 25 years and 15 years respectively, we've had the honor and pleasure of playing, living, learning, and traveling with the Allman Brothers Band, one of the truly legendary rock and roll bands. We will be forever grateful for the opportunity and the experience, and for the love, enthusiasm, and support of the incredible fans. We are both preparing to dig even deeper into our various creative and musical endeavors and, as a result, 2014 will be our final year as part of the band. We are looking forward to seeing our loyal ABB fans at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta this Friday night January 10th and in March at the Beacon Theater in New York City as we celebrate the 45th Anniversary of the band. – Warren Haynes & Derek Trucks
A Statement from Warren Haynes:
I joined the Allman Brothers Band in 1989, at age 28, for a reunion tour with no promise or expectations of it going any further. Based on the success of the tour and the uncanny chemistry between the original members and the new members, we decided to continue and see where it all led. Now, here we are, 25 years later, and it has been an amazing experience. I've always said that if I were to join a band that I grew up listening to the ABB would be at the top of that list. The original version of the band was a huge influence on me and I'm sure that the countless hours I spent listening to and studying that music helped shape me as a musician. As proud as I am of being a member of such a legendary band, I'm even more proud of the music that we've made together and of being a part of carrying their original vision into the future.
As someone who's been fortunate enough to juggle a lot of musical projects and opportunities I look forward to maintaining a vigorous schedule which will include many more years of touring and recording with Gov't Mule in addition to my solo projects and to enjoying more family time as well. Being part of the ABB has opened a lot of doors for me and that's something I don't take for granted nor do I take for granted the friendship and musical relationships I have with each of the members. The 45th Anniversary of the ABB is a milestone amidst too many highlights to count and I'm looking forward to an amazing year creating music that only the Allman Brothers Band can create.
A statement from Derek Trucks:
I got the call to join the Allman Brothers while on tour with my own band at the age of 19. It was out of the blue and felt surreal. I leapt at the chance. This was the music that I had cut my teeth on and it was the distinctive sound of Duane's guitar that inspired me to pick up the instrument in the first place.
When I started with ABB I didn't know how long it would last, only that I would let the music lead me and teach me. Amazingly that led me past the band's 40th anniversary, to the band's 45th, and now my 15th year as a member of this incredible band. Five years ago the 45th seemed like a lofty goal but I thought if we could make it to that milestone it would be a logical time to move on.
While I've shared many magical moments on stage with the Allman Brothers Band in the last decade plus, I feel that my solo project and the Tedeschi Trucks Band is where my future and creative energy lies. The Tedeschi Trucks Band tour schedule keeps growing, and I feel the time has finally come to focus on a single project, which will allow me to spend that rare time off the road with my family and children. It's a difficult decision to make, and I don't make it lightly.
I'm proud to have made a small contribution to the masterful music they have created over the past forty years, and will continue to create. Now seems like a good time to go out on a high note with a great 45th anniversary in 2014, and the mutual respect and friendship of the other 6 members of ABB.
Allman Brothers Band Live Dates
January 10 – Atlanta, GA – Fox Theatre – All My Friends: Celebrating the Songs and Voice of Gregg Allman. http://celebrategreggallman.com
Beacon Theater in New York City March 7, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 19, 21 and 22.


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Kris Humphries Wants Kim Kardashian to Fess Up ... How Much $$$ Did We Make?
Kris Humphries Hey Kim ... How Much $$$ Did We Make?
Kris Humphries has filed legal docs ... asking a judge to reinforce the obvious -- that Kim Kardashian has a duty to disclose how much money the couple raked in during their 72-day marriage. But Kris is also challenging Kim's right to give away money that represents what they made in wedding gifts.
Kris' lawyer wants the court to reinforce that Kim has a duty to deal with him fairly and in good faith ... and that includes giving him a full accounting of the assets and liabilities accumulated during the marriage.
In the docs, Kris' lawyer writes, "A spouse may not make a gift of community personal property, or dispose of community personal property for less than fair and reasonable value, without the written consent of the other spouse."
It appears the lawyer is referring to Kim keeping the wedding gifts but giving double the value to charity.


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Make sure kids' vaccines are up to date
With communicable diseases such as whooping cough, mumps and measles making a comeback, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall is reminding parents to make sure their children's vaccines are up to date as they return to school.
And Kendall has added his voice to that of the Canadian Medical Association, calling for mandatory declaration of vaccination when children enrol at school, as is done in Ontario and New Brunswick.
The CMA voted at its annual meeting in late August for other provinces to follow suit, requiring immunization records but allowing exemptions for medical or religious reasons. Doctors also called for development of a national database to pull together records scattered between doctors' offices and schools.
"By the time a child reaches five or six years old, he or she should have received booster shots that protect against measles, polio, chicken pox, whooping cough and more, and kids in Grade 6 and 9 should receive follow-up vaccinations," Kendall said. "This is all part of B.C.'s free, routine immunization program."
Kendall emphasized that vaccinations themselves would not be mandatory, but the information would give schools the ability to protect students when an outbreak happens. That means excluding unvaccinated children from school during an outbreak, and offering parents the chance to fill gaps in their protection.
"Unvaccinated children are at risk themselves, but they also pose a risk to others because they create a gateway into the community," Kendall told CKNW radio this week. "So we need the concept of herd immunity, where we get 95 per cent of the population of a cohort of children vaccinated, so it's much harder for disease to spread in the community."
Vaccine records also give public health authorities a chance to counter misinformation that has proliferated in recent years, he said.
"If we know who the parents of those children are, we can talk with them and tell them the facts and what is real and what is not real, and hopefully convince a good proportion of them that what they're actually fearing is either unreal or not scientifically valid, or is in fact a misplaced fear," Kendall said. "And we would hope that we would get some of those parents at least to get their children vaccinated."
Parents in B.C. can now sign up for free text message reminders at immunizebc.ca/reminders, and the website also offers a smartphone app to manage immunization records.
Tom Fletcher is legislative reporter and columnist for Black Press newspapers.


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Inn at Ellis River's Minted Green Pea Soup
Mint and lemon add refreshing notes to this soup, which can be enjoyed year round. The recipe was featured on the 2013 Inn to Inn Herb Tour.
- 2 leeks
- 1 medium red onion
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 cups homemade chicken stock (if not available, substitute low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth)
- 5 cups frozen baby peas
- 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, loosely packed
- 1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley leaves, loosely packed
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
- 3/4 cup creme fraiche
- 1/2 cup fresh chives, chopped.
Wash leeks well and chop the white and light green portions. Peel and chop the red onion. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks and onion, and cook over medium-low heat for 5-8 minutes, until the onion is soft. Add 2 cups of the chicken stock, increase the heat, and bring to a boil. Add the peas and cook for 2-3 minutes, until the peas are tender. Remove the pan from the heat and add the remaining stock, mint, parsley, salt and pepper.
Puree the soup with an immersion blender or in small batches in a blender on low speed. It the soup is too thick, add a small amount of stock or water. Whisk in lemon zest and ½ cup of cr me fraiche just before serving. Garnish each serving with chives and a spoonful of cr me fraiche. Serves 6-10.


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Schlichting Lab Research Crew
More on this page will be coming soon!
Dr. Carl Schlichting
My research revolves around understanding the forces that shape the evolution of the phenotype, from the perspective of the reaction norm (i.e., the range of phenotypes that will be produced by a genotype when it is exposed to different environments). Experimentally I have studied the morphological responses of species and populations to environmental variability (their phenotypic plasticity), but I have become equally interested in the other side of the coin, namely what evolutionary forces operate to restrict the expression of phenotypic variation (the lack of plasticity, i.e., canalization). Some selective factors will favor plasticity, other forces favor canalization. The reaction norm that we observe has been forged by the balance of forces in this tension zone. There are a number of factors that impinge on the outcome: the predictability of environmental change, the ability to sense the change (or its correlates), the spatial or temporal nature of variability, and the scale at which it is perceived (e.g., within an individual's lifetime). We are currently working with the genus Pelargonium in South Africa to understand these issues better.
Graduate Students
Colin J. Carlson
Colin is a second-semester Master's student. After completing his undergraduate work with a B.S. in EEB and a B.A. in Environmental Studies from UConn in 2012, Colin returned to the lab to work on a number of different projects pertaining to adaptation of ecosystems and societies to climate change. His previous work has focused on understanding the ecological implications of phenotypic plasticity for adaptation to climate change in the South African genus Pelargonium. His research has also focused on a number of broader social issues, including the relationship between religion and conservation (in the intersection formed by sacred forests); the protection and legal ownership of traditional ecological knowledge; and resilience of social and ecological systems to climate change as a function of cultural stability. His current work focuses on identifying the factors that drive species to extinction, using historical data to reconstruct actual extinction events, and thereby identify the factors that caused them.
James Mickley
Bio needed.
Katherine Shaw
Bio needed.
Timothy Moore
Timothy is a second year PhD student, who moved to the University of Connecticut after completing his Undergraduate and Master of Science at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He has an interest in plant evolutionary biology, specifically molecular systematics, comparative biology, and evolutionary ecology. His previous work has investigated the evolution and ecology of the semiparasitic genus, Thesium in South Africa. He has also investigated the evolution of annuality in the grass Ehrharta caylicina, and the adaptive significance of leaf size and shape variation in the genus Jamesbrittenia. His current focus lies in understanding the role that hybridization plays in species' geographic range expansion, and, ultimately in facilitating adaptive radiations. He hopes to use spatially explicit species distribution data, and next generation sequencing techniques to elucidate patterns of gene flow between populations and between species.
Nora Mitchell
Bio needed.
Kali Block (Fall 2012-)
Mentors: K. Burgio (Rubega Lab), C. Carlson
Project title: Georeferencing extinct species' ranges to reconstruct extinction processes.
Kali is an undergraduate sophomore majoring in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and minoring in Wildlife Conservation. Starting in the Fall of 2012, and continuing into Spring 2013, she has been working with Kevin Burgio and Colin Carlson on georeferencing historical observations of an extinct Psittacid in order to recreate the species' niche. Kali is an active member of the Wildlife Conservation Society Chapter at the University of Connecticut and is a certified wildlife rehabilitator through the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council.
Michael Berkley (Spring 2013)
Mentors: C. Carlson
Project title: Ethnobotany and bioprospecting: traditional knowledge and the ethics of modern pharmaceuticals.
Michael is a recent graduate of the University of Connecticut majoring Biology and minoring in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Some of Michael's previous research focused on the phenotypic plasticity of Euglenoids and their response to varying environmental conditions, specifically photic levels. His future plans for his educational career are to attend law school, specifically interested in intellectual property and patent law related to pharmaceuticals and medical products. Michael is also passionate about conservation and the intersection of ecology with law, pertaining to the preservation of and intelligent use of our natural world. Michael will be working on a project focused on the intersection of law, ethics and ecology in the context of bioprospecting and the use of traditional knowledge in the pharmaceutical industry.


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On this episode of Sweet Kicks with Bricks, Barry talks with Marc about the Kickstarter, Pocket Ops.
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