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2020(S10) Lecture:week 4
Week 4 Tuesday
The envelope please...
The final groups are
|Team (rename as desired)
|20.385 mentor
|gen'l topic area
|Stephanie, Judy, Lizzie, and Logan
|Alie and Derek
|better health and genetic improvements for humans
|Fired up
|Nancy and Grant
|turning cells into machines that make energy for us
|Will and Ben
|Alvin and Jose
|biotechnology for material synthesis
Starting a 4 part challenge
"The new techniques, which permit combination of genetic information from very different organisms, place us in an area of biology with many unknowns."
Summary Statement of the Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA Molecules
Berg et al PNAS 1975 72:1981.
- Is DNA (the physical material) inherently dangerous?
- What makes it (or could make it) dangerous?
- How can you tell if it's dangerous?
- Are there special places that DNA (the physical material) should be kept?
- Are there rules that can be enforced about its manipulation?
Why are we doing this??
If you've spent time in a research lab, there's a good chance you've worked with DNA there. But is that the only place DNA can be manipulated? What if the techniques and facilities for manipulating DNA were available to everyone? What if they already are? If you've never spent time working with DNA, then you're in for a treat. Today you'll isolate and purify some DNA using materials found in most any kitchen or garage. And from this challenge, you'll be better able to judge the capabilities and possibilities of "amateur bioengineering."
Challenge: Backyard Biology
Part 1: Cookin' up some DNA in your kitchen
This protocol is from Karen Kalumuck at San Franscisco's Exploratorium
Another variation can be found on the University of Utah's Learn.Genetics site.
- Strawberries (frozen or fresh)
- Seal-able plastic "baggies" (sandwich and gallon)
- No 2 Coffee Filters
- 6% solution of NaCl (dissolve 1/2 tablespoon salt in 1/2 cup water)
- 25% strength liquid dish soap (1 part liquid soap into 3 parts water)
- Eye droppers
- 70% Isopropanol
- Toothpicks or coffee stirrer
- Obtain 2 small to medium sized strawberries
- Place them in a sandwich-sized seal-able plastic baggie.
- Add about 1/2 a cup of the 6% NaCl solution, and seal the bag.
- Squash the strawberry in the salt solution thoroughly, while it's in the baggie. Try to break up large pieces of berry into mush.
- Add about 2 tablespoons of the detergent solution. Seal the baggie and gently mix the berry mush with the detergent. Avoid producing bubbles/foam.
- Optional clean up step: Put the entire extraction (strawberry goo, salt, detergent) through a filter -- coffee filter over a cup is just fine. This gets rid of a lot of the stringy strawberry goo, and the extraction is cleaner. Place the cleaned up material that passes through the filter into a new baggie.
- Hold the baggie by one of the upper corners so that the mush accumulates in a corner of the baggie. Use a pipette or dropper to gently trickle down about 10 - 20 ml of alcohol down a side crease of the baggie. The alcohol should layer onto the surface of the mush. Hold the bag still (or VERY gently rock back and forth) for 1 minute.
- Observe what's happening at the interface. You should use a coffee stirrer to "spool" up the material at the interface, to save for next time or to run on the Lego-Phoresis gel if it's ready.
Part 2: Lego™phoresis
Cast your gel
This design is a variation of the one shown in MAKE magazine, volume 07
- small plastic container
- scissors
- masking tape
- legos
- agar-agar
- running buffer
- 500 ml bottled water
- pinch of table salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- Aquarium pH kit to check pH ~7.5
- adjust with more water or baking soda as needed
- microwave
Note: you'll cast your gel this time and run the DNA through it next time.
Homework before tomorrow's studio session
You can find the term "biohacking" and "DIYbio" (for "Do It Yourself Biology) increasingly tossed into conversations and presentations. There are examples ranging from "how to" websites to an MIT commencement address. Begin your follow-up work from today's lecture by reading Freeman Dyson's 2007 New York Times article in which he writes about "our biotech future." He foresees a domestication of biotechnology that will dominate our lives for the next 50 years. He foresees an "era of Open Source biology (in which) the magic of genes will be available to anyone with the skill and imagination to use it." Based on your backyard biology experience today, what do you think of the present and future possibilities of biohacking? As a point of comparison you might consider the hacking of the iPhone. Here are some other questions you might consider as you think about this topic:
- Who can hack computers and who can hack biology?
- Are there speed, safety, and training considerations?
- Do you expect to see garage biotechnologists in your lifetime? Do they already exist? Should they?
Decide for yourself if biohacking is confirmed, plausible or busted and write-up your reflections. You might include thoughts on today's challenge, on Freemon Dyson's vision, on what you imagine the DIYbio movement will look like in 2 years or in 20. Your paragraph can be added to your "Personal Design Portfolio" in the homework dropbox before tomorrow's studio session, calling your assignment: FirstInitial_LastName_PDP_7.doc, for example: J_Watson_PDP_7.doc
Week 4 Studio
Part 1: Nip and Tuck
In today's studio, project teams will be assigned. These teams are loosely grouped around common interests, be they project areas or project approaches. Once you have assembled into your groups, be sure to introduce yourselves, exchange contact information and figure out which interests landed you on the same team. Then you can use the rest of the studio time to work on your team's "facebook" page and your "team contract." The required content for each is:
Team Facebook Page
- a name for your team
- the names of your team members
- the names of your team mentors (20.902 students who will be the go-to folks for questions and guidance on your project)
- what challenge your team will address
- what ideas you have agreed to work on (at least 3, no more than 5)
As you develop your ideas, you might also want to keep in mind the requirements for your "3 ideas presentations" that will take place in two weeks. Think about what you will have to present, and how you would like to present it. Maybe the work could/should be divided up or maybe you need to hash out ideas on the spot together. You will use the time today and all of next week studio time to make real progress on these high level questions about your project.
Team Contract
These team building tools have been developed by MIT's Gordon Engineering Leadership Program, appreciating that teamwork and leadership underlie nearly all successful engineering projects.
Start by reading (independently) this short article by Patricia Philips that describes the different kinds of teams that exist and some common stages that teams go through. Once everyone has finished reading, discuss the article as a group, paying particular attention to team and individual roles and responsibilities as they may relate to your particular project and team.
Then as a team, work through the following questions in order to form your team contract. You can work through the questions fast or slow, all of them or just a few. After considering these questions, write a team contract that you can all agree to work with for the rest of this term.
Questions To Consider To Create a Team Contract
These questions have been adapted from Lori Breslow's work at MIT for the subject, 15.279.
Part 1: Goals
- What are the goals of the team?
- What are your personal goals for this assignment?
- What kind of obstacles might you encounter in reaching your goals?
- What happens if all of you decide you want to get an "A," but because of time constraints, one person decides that a "B" will be acceptable?
- Is it acceptable for two or three team members to do more work in order to get an "A" ?
Part 2: Meeting Norms
- Do you have a preference for when meetings will be held? Did you have a preference for where they should be held?
- How often do you think the team will need to meet outside of class? How long do you anticipate meetings will be?
- Will it be O.K. for team members to eat during meetings?
Part 3: Work Norms
- How much time per week do you anticipate it will take to make the project successful?
- How will work be distributed?
- How will deadlines be set?
- How will you decide who should do which tasks?
- What will happen if someone does not follow through on a commitment (e.g., missing a deadline, not showing up to meetings)?
- How will the work be reviewed?
- What happens if people have different opinions on the quality of the work?
- What will you do if one or more team members are not doing their share of the work?
- How will you deal with different work habits of individual team members (e.g., some people like to get assignments done as early as possible; others like to work under the pressure of a deadline)?
Part 4: Decision Making
- Do you need 100% approval of each team member before making a decision?
- What will you do if one of you fixates on a particular idea?
Before you leave today, upload your Team Facebook Page and your Team Contract to the "Project Development Notebook" in the homework dropbox, calling your assignments: TeamName_PDN_1.doc and TeamName_PDN_2.doc, for example: EauDcoli_PDN_1.doc Please make sure that every member of your team has a copy of the Facebook Page and the Team Contract.
Week 4 Thursday
Challenge: Making Biology Easier to Engineer
FooCamper's Guide
Optional Challenge: Lego™phoresis (con't)
- steel wire
- large plastic container
- loading buffer
- 1/4 tsp glycerine/glycerol
- a few drops red food coloring
- DNA you isolated from strawberries
- remaining running buffer from part 1
- 9V batteries
- Aquarium antimicrobial (ideally 2.3% methylene blue diluted 1:100 in bottled water) to stain DNA in gel after run
Homework for Tuesday's challenge session
There are two short parts to this assignment and you should spend no more than 1 hour reading the first two pages of this essay, and the chapter by Charles Weiner that was photocopied from the "Encyclopedia of Ethical, Legal, and Policy Issues in Biotechnology."
- Part 1: Do the lambda switch
Our guest speaker next week, Mark Ptashne, has offered to talk about his life in science and on the widely applicable lessons learned from a simple system like the phage lambda. He has been quoted as saying, A few simple principles underlie gene regulation across the board, from bacteria to yeast, plants, fruit flies and humans. As part 1 of your homework today you'll show your understanding of these "simple principles." Please download the following image and label as indicated. You can hand in a hard copy of your work on Tuesday of next week, or you can scan it and upload the finished version to the Stellar website.
- Part 2: Public scrutiny of research decisions
A generation ago, there were many key events that established our current practices for the regulation of experiments involving recombinant DNA. Among these were:
- the 1973 Gordon Conference
- the 1974 Berg letters in Nature and Science
- the 1975 Conference in Asilomar
- the establishment of the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee
All of these are described in Charles Weiner's chapter that you were given and you can familiarize yourself with the details there.
- Then choose ONE of the three quotes shown below and:
- give your idea(s) about how to best engage the public in the scientific enterprise
- comment on one author's viewpoint or agenda, as best you can glean from the short quote
- and finally say if you think the publication was an appropriate places to express that author's viewpoint
Quote 1: from pg 910 of Encyclopedia chapter (above) "The motive from the start was to avoid public interference and to demonstrate that the scientists on their own could protect laboratory workers, the public and the environment."
Quote 2: from Open Letter to the Asilomar Conference filed with Maxine Singer's papers at the National Library of Medicine written by Science for the People "There is little evidence that the technologies being discussed at this meeting arise from social or medical needs of large segments of the population. Rather, they represent specialized interests including those of the scientific community itself."
Quote 3: from Summary Statement of the Asilomar Conference written by Paul Berg et al and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science "In the longer term, serious problems may arise in the large scale application of this methodology in industry, medicine and agriculture. But it was also recognized that further research and experience may show that many of the potential biohazards are less serious and/or less probable than we now suspect."
Why are we doing this??
This homework assignment serves three important purposes for our class. First, it provides some context for the upcoming video presentation of the 1976 Cambridge City Council Hearings. These hearings enabled the citizens of Cambridge to directly address the scientists themselves and question the intent and efficacy of national safety guidelines for recombinant DNA work. The video was made available to us by Charles Weiner and it will be shown on Tuesday in class. Second, this chapter will give some timeline for the development of recombinant DNA technology itself as well as for the meetings and hearings that addressed its hazards. Finally, this chapter gives some insight into the polarizing viewpoints and biases inherent in many of the discussions associated with these issues.
When you have completed this two part assignment, please upload what you can of your response to your "Personal Design Portfolio" in the homework dropbox, calling your assignment: FirstInitial_LastName_PDP_8.doc, for example: D_Baltimore_PDP_8.doc


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According to "Sears, Roebuck, USA: The Great American Catalog Store and How It Grew," a Sears customer wrote the Chicago Mail-order giant and asked if she could return several bottles of patent medicine that she'd purchased the month before.
In her letter, she explained that the medicine had been intended for her husband and after ingesting the first bottle, he'd quickly passed on.
The clerk who received the inquiry responded quickly, with an assurance that certainly, she could return the unopened bottles, and by the way, would she like to see a copy of Sears' Tombstone Catalog?
Funny story, but the sobering fact is, traditional, elaborate Victorian funerals were expensive. Tradition dictated that certain rituals and procedures be done, and a middle-class family might endure shame and scorn if they couldn't afford a decent marker for their loved one. And what about the poor? Often, they had to quietly and stoically endure the humiliation of seeing their loved one placed in a pauper's grave.
(An aside: There's a 1920s pauper's grave in Williamsburg where 35+ bodies (many of whom are children) are buried. The only "markers" at the site were small granite stones – the remnants of tombstones – that were provided by the undertaker. These markers outlined the individual graves. With the passage of time, those graves were forgotten and now there's a condo built on top of part of that cemetery.)
After Aunt Addie's exhumation made the headlines, several people shared "old family legends" about a time when a young child died, and the family – unable to afford a real burial and/or pay burial fees – surreptitiously stole into the city graveyard in the dark of night, and buried their little one in a make-shift coffin.
By contrast, such stories make a pauper's grave seem like a mercy.
I have no pictures of Sears tombstones, but with all these testimonials, they shouldn't be too hard to find. Plus, they were made from Vermont Slate, which as a distinctive color and veining.
If you look up Sears Tombstones on the internet, you'll find there are folks claiming that Sears tombstones were hollow, zinc markers (metal) but this is one of those apocryphal stories. Not sure where it started, but it's not true.
To learn more about Victorian burial customs, click here.
To read about early 1900s burial rituals, click here.
To learn more about Addie, click here.
To read about Penniman's poor flu victims that were buried in a forgotten grave, click here.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Acoustic loop with live acoustic guitars, bass, brush drums and shaker. It has a very lovely melody played by acoustic picked guitar. Excellent for corporate usage, business, web, internet, flash project, family album, tv, commercial – anything where you need a background music. Its positive, fun, groovy and even a little bit childish.
You get two versions: with and without melody, as you can hear in the preview file. Both versions you get in WAV format and MP3 format.


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This post is dedicated to my reader, Tracy. Thanks for dropping an email about this blog. :)
|Data Sheet
|Scientific Name:
|Potamotrygon Reticulata
|Other Names:
|Reticulated Stingray, Teacup Stingray
|Amazon Basin, South America
|Adult Size:
|30-35cm (15 inches) disc, not including length of tail
|good, but will eat smaller fishes
|Tank Level:
|Bottom Dweller
|Minimum Tank Size:
|125 gallons
|Carnivourous. Eats shrimps, or any fish small enough to fit in it's mouth. Accepts worms and krills.
|Tough - in aquarium
|Medium - Difficult
|Ideal pH:
|around 6-7 is usually optimal
|78-82 degrees F
|Tank setup:
|ideally with thick sand substrate for it to hide itself
|A male has 2 so called claspers on the bottom side of the disk.
The Teacup stingray is olive color with dark markings resembling a net. They have a white underbody. The tail is about half to three quarters the length of the body. Teacup stingrays can be distinguished from other freshwater stingray species based on its unusually long, pointed tail, flatter body shape, and smaller eyes. Their color pattern usually consists of numerous small, indistinct, light-colored blotches on a darker base color. As they grow older, the web pattern seems to diminish. At full maturity, these stingrays reach up to about fourteen inches in diameter, obviously not including the length of the tail.
A minimum aquarium of 125 gallons is required, although larger tanks are preferred. I do recommend anything smaller than this.
Teacup stingrays are great for aquariums with other fish as long as they are too large for the stingray to consume. They are very peaceful and spend most of their time ignoring other fish. However, males may be a bit aggressive toward other rays occasionally, especially during mating. Ensure that extremely aggressive fish are not housed in a community tank with your stingray or they may attack your ray, causing it severe harm or even death. Moreover, with their preference being the bottom of the tank, you will rarely see these rays venturing to the surface. Also, some plecos have been known to suck off the stingray's mucus coating on their disk and they will eventually succumb to disease and die. Therefore, I do not recommend having other plecos in the same tank.
Teacup stingrays prefer water that has a pH around six or seven with a temperature being near the upper seventies or lower eighties (Fahrenheit). Even though they are relatively hardy, these stingrays are not recommended for those that are not familiar with caring for more than your average aquarium fish. One reason is due to their diet. These rays tend to eat worms (earth worms, black worms, blood worms) as well as small live fish that are within the aquarium.
Teacup stingrays are carnivorous and their diet usually consists of benthic invertebrates such as crustaceans and worms, and a limited amount of vegetable matter. In an aquarium, they will accept live worms, bloodworms, cut shrimp, krill, crayfish, cut white fish such as pollock or smelt, and other meaty items.
Some literature noted that it is difficult to wean Teacup Stingrays off of live blackworms and earthworms once they are large enough to eat other foods.
Teacup Stingray is one of the several species of freshwater stingray that has been known to breed in captivity.
As in all species of freshwater stingray, fertilization is internal. During mating, the male will grab hold of the female's disc with his mouth and attempt to roll underneath her, where he will subsequently insert one of his claspers into her cloaca and deposit sperm.
Freshwater stingrays are matrotrophically viviparous, giving birth to one to seven live young at a time after a gestation period of several months (dependent on species).The uterus is formed from the expansion of the oviduct. The embryos obtain nourishment from their yolk sacs early in their development. During the later stages of pregnancy, small, filamentous appendages called trophonemata develop within the uterus and penetrate the spiracle of the embryo, supplying it with a nutrient-rich fluid called histotrophe that feeds it until it is born.
Gender Differences:
Males display elongated, rolled copulatory organs called claspers on the insides of their pelvic fins. Females lack claspers and are generally larger than the males.
Teacup stingrays are highly vulnerable to argulus - commonly called Fish Lice. The small parasites attach themselves to the stingray's disk and extract nourishment by piercing the flesh with a pointed organ called a style. The wound can cause bacterial or fungal infections. Although one or two may not cause a serious problem, a serious infestation can be fatal. To remove the argulus, one can carefully remove it with tweezers.
Got a photo? Contact me
References Cited:
1. TeaCup Stringray, [Online], Accessed on 12 June 2008 [Available]
2. Potamotrygon reticulata, Teacup Stingray, [ Online ], Accessed on 12 Nov 2009 [Available] http://aquaticpredators.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=26168
If you know of any good source of books or online sites, please do let me know.


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The Evergreen State...in Black and White
These photographs depict scenes of life in Washington, the Evergreen State, during the past century. They are taken from the extensive collection of historical photographs located in the of the University Libraries.
The University of Washington attracts students from the state, from around the nation, and from around the world. A state-supported institution, it hosts thousands of students from the Evergreen State's towns, cities, suburbs, and rural areas. These historical photographs evoke the varied landscape, communities, and activities that played a part in shaping the way today's state looks and how it works.
Information on copies of historical photographs is available from Special Collections, located in the Allen Library, B level.
Railroad trestles, almost pristine in their newness, cross the salt marshes of Grays Harbor at Hoquiam about 1891. In the center distance is the magnificent new Hoquiam Hotel , built in anticipation that the arrival of the railroad would bring tourists as well as industry. The hotel failed during the depression of the early 1890s, but the unappealing reality of the nearby beach probably contributed to its financial problems. Photographer unknown. Neg. no. UW4389
Steam and smoke mark the Bloedel Donovan sawmill at Skykomish in the early 1920s. A huge jumble of huge logs await their turn. The completion of the Great Northern Railroad in 1893 opened new markets for lumber produced in the Pacific Northwest, and helped create mill towns such as Skykomish. Darius Kinsey photograph #2482. Neg. no. UW572
On an early June day in 1927, this is the summit of Stevens Pass: an epic traffic jam. This is not a typical scene: these motorists are part of a group promoting the improvement of state roads. The service station offers Red Crown gasoline. Lee Pickett photograph. Neg. no.3908
The promise of agricultural success is represented by this scene of two gentlemen shaking hands agreeably, while the newly-abundant waters flow. The photo was taken in 1911 to promote land and water rights sales by the Moses Lake Land and Irrigation Company. Asahel Curtis photograph. Neg. no. 21840
It looks like a village in New England, which was exactly what its builders had in mind. This is Port Gamble, a company town of the Puget Mill Company, as it looked on a bleak Friday, February 26, 1907. Although the streets are now paved, the town looks remarkably similar today. Founded in 1853, Port Gamble was maintained as a company town by successor Pope Resources until 1996, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The street trees are sugar maples, whose seeds were sent out from the East Coast. Photographer unknown. Neg. no. UW4948
The Peace Arch at Blaine once had a more peaceful setting, as shown in this photograph taken in the 1920s. At the right is the sign marking the international border. A Seattle-bound express train streaks past from Vancouver on the Great Northern Railroad. Leonard Frank photograph. Neg. no. 1638
Literally carved out of the forest, the Bush House hotel is shown shortly after its construction about 1891. It has been enlarged over the years, and is still a prominent landmark in the town of Index, offering food and lodging. Photographer unknown. Neg. no. UW14521
In 1960, Leavenworth was a sleepy mill town with a main street of drug stores, a bakery, and taverns, in two- and three-story brick buildings from the turn of the century. A town rejuvenation effort has now buried these storefronts beneath a jumble of faux Bavarian facades. Photographer unknown. Negative no. UW15492
A scene of the suburban ideal, circa 1910. At the left, a two-car interurban train of the Spokane & Inland Empire Railroad drops off passengers and express from the metropolis on its way to Liberty Lake. At the right, a country store advertises dry goods and shoes; out front is an automobile, the first of what will become a horde in a few years. In the center, and along the tracks, are the magical electric lines that run the railroad, light the store and houses, and pump water for the orchards. Photographer unknown. Negative no. UW6323
This was the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Jens Moe, the first to be held at the New Salem Free Lutheran Church in Silvana about 1900. The photograph was taken by the owner of the town's general store. Iver Botten photograph. Negative no. UW5246.
The accommodations may not be elegant, but they are sturdy. The hotel at Nespelem was photographed about 1910 by Dr. Edward H. Latham, resident physician on the Colville Indian Reservation and an expert amateur photographer. Latham photograph. Negative no. UW4852
A housing project takes shape near Moses Lake in "a scene typical of much of the Columbia Basin Project irrigation area today, as the delivery of the first gravity irrigation next spring nears." The first water reached the area in 1952. US Bureau of Reclamation photograph. Negative no. UW16760
The roads are nearly bare of traffic on the new highway crossing Mercer Island. The completion of the Lake Washington floating bridge east from Seattle in 1940 opened the island to rapid suburban development after the end of World War II in 1945. Asahel Curtis photograph. Negative no. 65460
Citizens of Ilwaco, and military men from nearby Fort Columbia, gather around the body of a large sea lion, "killed May 5, 1896," near the mouth of the Columbia River. Photographer unknown. Negative no. UW 16759
Surrounded by a weathered picket fence, this is the grave of Mary Kitsap at St. Peter's Catholic cemetery in Suquamish, photographed in 1911. Asahel Curtis photograph. Neg. no. 20094
The wheat harvest is underway at the Bush family farm, located near Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island, in a photograph taken in the 1890s. Photographer unknown. Negative no. UW5537
A woman holds the reins on a horse-drawn combine as it works through a wheat field in Spokane County in the early years of the twentieth century. Photographer unknown. Negative no. UW1664
Late morning, Sunday, October 11, 1925: the crowd is celebrating the driving of the golden spike, completing an extension of the Milwaukee Road railroad tracks to the Union Wharf in downtown Port Townsend. That day brought another significant change to transportation to the city and to the Olympic Peninsula, as trains from Port Angeles now connected directly with a new twice-a-day boat to Seattle. The newly remodeled Olympic (formerly the passenger steamer Sioux) could also ferry 45 automobiles. Photographer unknown. Negative no. UW5132
Population in the state of Washington increased rapidly during and after World War II. By 1949, Tacoma, the state's second-largest city, had about 139,000 residents, but, as the scribblings on the sign suggest, the figure was rising. Howard Clifford photograph. Negative no. UW834
There is unmistakable optimism here, as a young man proudly poses behind an infant tree in a newly planted orchard. The optimism was probably warranted. The spread of irrigation in Yakima County where this picture was taken in the early 1900s, helped to create an immensely successful fruit industry in the State. Photographer unknown. Negative no. UW7040
This Web exhibition copyrighted by the University of Washington Libraries. The exhibition may be used online, parts of it downloaded for personal use, or the URL for the exhibition may be included in another electronic document. For information on reproductions of the images and use guidelines click here or contact Special Collections.


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Not long ago I was asked to write about a possible head coaching vacancy in Tucson. You're smart and understand the genesis and timing of this request. I didn't write it. I thought to perhaps corroborate or source but I also haven't written all year. It was a question, however, worth pondering. I pondered:
It's a job, like most, that comes with immense pressure. Whether its innate to competition, the salary, publicity or history, the title has expectations. It's uniquely not the PSI of Rupp, Assembly Hall or Phog. McKale isn't quite steeped in singularity like some of its contemporaries. Prior to the current administration, the job there was most recently held by a father-son duo. Of course, that strange reality manifested only when a Division-2 coach declined the role. Eventually that team went to the Sweet Sixteen. A studio host once took this school to the NCAA tournament. It's a job that dances.
It's a job with a big cactus. A stylized saguaro purveying a brand that the white-haired coach recognized would permeate the fabric of our culture. That cactus is ineffably woven into Campbell Avenue, eeggees, Bag's, Frog's and parking at the Hospital; the tones of Brian Jefferies, 1290, 1490 and whatever their FM affiliates are. Some will tell you it's woven into improbably losses, painful defeat and the permanence of wanting. A badgering pain. It's literally woven into the jerseys. A grown man would rumble to mid-court, disrobe, and consequently render McKale's roof ajar. As another tale goes, John "Button" Salmon spoke to his coach, the arena's namesake, from his deathbed. Salmon reminded the team to "Bear Down." Legend. It's a job that is Arizona.
It's a job that means a lot to many. 230,947 by one measure. That's how many people attended the McKale Center this season. That's fifty-thousand more fans than any other Pac-12 school. It's more than 3x the attendance at USC. And Stanford. They won't sit down until the opposition scores. Games are played on 94-feet named after the job's matriarch. I'm quantifying the caring because its generational now. Grandparents are watching with grandchildren. I'll introduce you. They go to Tempe, Maui, Manhattan, Vegas, Boise. They won't sit down there either. It's a job that makes people feel.
It's a job defended and appreciated by its holders. President Dr. Robert C. Robbins has alluded to his own dead body in defending this job. He also had the presence to ask and the leadership to be patient. Could he be wrong in all of this? Maybe. But there's nothing more empowering than knowing someone's got your back. Tucson – above the comments section – has this job's back. It's a job that's supported.
It's a job that wins. It's a job that's lost.
It's Sean Miller's job.
And I wouldn't have anyone else in the seat. Perhaps unsurprisingly and unnecessarily declared, I'm all in. As if I needed to tell you. In that vein, I'm also for his team and what they've become. 'Arizona vs. Everybody' or any other mantra they want to offer, I'm glad to make grand allusions to the 1997 NCAA Tournament, the last time Arizona was a four-seed in the South Region.
I'm qualifying all of it because this one feels different. I don't know what's about to happen and that's not TruTV or Buffalo. You know what I'm talking about. It's a belabored point and not worth the exhaustive hypothesizing. There's a disconcerting cloud over the entire sport – this job in particular. Three weeks ago we knew this team not to have a coach, shooting guard or power forward.
I just don't know. You and they don't know.
And more immediately we know even less. I'm clueless as to how far the 70th rated defense can travel or the projected top pick can carry. It's impossible to know who might go without a touch for 11 minutes or the volume of lead squanderable in four minutes. Lord knows we've seen it tested, this tournament is brilliantly cruel.
But contrast to the other unknowns, right now we find great joy in ignorance. With little more than the promise of a chance, we allow ourselves comfort in the uncertainty of future results. The promise of possibility and what a little magic amidst the madness can yield. Hats and tee shirts? Perhaps.
I do know this: It's a job preoccupied with the Buffalo Bulls. It's a job I'm pulling for.


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Here you will find the Poem My Fancy of poet Lewis Carroll
I painted her a gushing thing, With years about a score; I little thought to find they were A least a dozen more; My fancy gave her eyes of blue, A curly auburn head: I came to find the blue a green, The auburn turned to red. She boxed my ears this morning, They tingled very much; I own that I could wish her A somewhat lighter touch; And if you ask me how Her charms might be improved, I would not have them added to, But just a few removed! She has the bear's ethereal grace, The bland hyaena's laugh, The footstep of the elephant, The neck of a giraffe; I love her still, believe me, Though my heart its passion hides; "She's all my fancy painted her," But oh! how much besides!


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Thursday, March 11, 2010
Rest Day
3 comments:
Tried out a tabata jump squat and I also felt the burning in the quadriceps, but also the lower back i the late rounds, prolly sore tomorrow.ReplyDelete
Had some success with the cleans yesterday, really happy about that:
Btw, are you in Paris over easter? I´m visiting again, would be fun to do a mobile-wod together!
ahh bear, alas i will be in the UK by then. too bad, because i think paris in the spring will be incredible. lucky for you.ReplyDelete
cool video, as usual. you going to stockholm sectionals next weekend?
Figured that you would travel somewhere over the holidays. Don´t hurt asking :)ReplyDelete
Don´t have time or the money unfortunately...need the rest anyway, doing a tryout for a job as a firefighter on the following mon-tuesday after the competition weekend! Keep your fingers crossed!
And pretty damn sore today, hehe.


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Becoming Yellow: A Short History of Racial Thinking
- Sale Price:
- $44.10/£36.40
- Price:
$63.00/ £52.00
- Published:
- Apr 18, 2011
- Copyright:
- 2011
- Illus:
- 7 color illus. 16 halftones.
30% off with code PUP30
In their earliest encounters with Asia, Europeans almost uniformly characterized the people of China and Japan as white. This was a means of describing their wealth and sophistication, their willingness to trade with the West, and their presumed capacity to become Christianized. But by the end of the seventeenth century the category of whiteness was reserved for Europeans only. When and how did Asians become "yellow" in the Western imagination? Looking at the history of racial thinking, Becoming Yellow explores the notion of yellowness and shows that this label originated not in early travel texts or objective descriptions, but in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century scientific discourses on race.
From the walls of an ancient Egyptian tomb, which depicted people of varying skin tones including yellow, to the phrase "yellow peril" at the beginning of the twentieth century in Europe and America, Michael Keevak follows the development of perceptions about race and human difference. He indicates that the conceptual relationship between East Asians and yellow skin did not begin in Chinese culture or Western readings of East Asian cultural symbols, but in anthropological and medical records that described variations in skin color. Eighteenth-century taxonomers such as Carl Linnaeus, as well as Victorian scientists and early anthropologists, assigned colors to all racial groups, and once East Asians were lumped with members of the Mongolian race, they began to be considered yellow.
Demonstrating how a racial distinction took root in Europe and traveled internationally, Becoming Yellow weaves together multiple narratives to tell the complex history of a problematic term.
Awards and Recognition
- Winner of the 2013 Academia Sinica Scholarly Monograph Award in the Humanities and Social Sciences


text:
Rome Pilgrimage Day 6: Footprints of St. Paul
by Steve Ray on October 16, 2007
Videos moved to my Pilgrimage website here
After another good breakfast at the Michelangelo, we drove outside the old city walls to Tre Fontane—the place where St. Paul was beheaded 2,000 years ago out on the Via Ostia. In fact, starting on June 28, 2008 the Church will celebrate the Year of St. Paul commemorating his birth in 8 AD.
We walked up the tree-lined path inside the Trappist compound with the sun glimmering through the trees. This is a beautiful location far removed from the bustle of the city. We visited the Church of St. Paul's Martyrdom where we celebrated our private Mass with Fr. Bob Roggenbuck. By the way, Fr. Bob is an excellent homilist and celebrated a reverent and beautiful Mass each day.
(Click on picture for a larger imaage.)
We prayed at the column where Paul was executed and the three altars over the three fountains that sprang up where Paul's head rolled down the hill. There was a great picture in the sacristy which you will see in the video. I also took about 8 minutes to tell a short version of Paul's life story which can be seen in the separate video below. The Trappists make wines and beers which everyone enjoyed looking at and buying.
Then we toured the magnificent Patriarchal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. Below the high altar is the tomb of St. Paul, just rediscovered within the year. Everyone was able to go below the altar to see the section of the sarcophagus that is exposed.
The church is lined with the famous medallions—the portraits of all the popes from St. Peter to Benedict XVI. There are also marvelous paintings of the life of St. Paul lining the walls of the nave and the transepts. There is a side chapel devoted to St. Stephen because St. Augustine said that without the prayers of St. Stephen we would have never had St. Paul.
Since we had time, and because I wanted the pilgrims to walk in the footprints of the centuries of pilgrims before them, we went to the Church of St. Lorenzo (Lawrence) which commemorates the martyrdom of St. Lawrence the Deacon who was roasted to death. When they place him on the grill he said to his executioners "You can turn me over now; I am done on this side!" Under the high altar of St. Lawrence are the bones of St. Lawrence, St. Stephen the first martyr, and Justin Martyr.
There are four Patriarchal Basilicas which are included in the seven pilgrimage churches in Rome. The four basilicas are St. Peters, St. Paul Outside the Walls, St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran. These make up the pilgrimage churches along with Santa Croce in Gerusalame (Holy Cross of Jerusalem), San Sebastian, and St. Lawrence.
Their were two choices this afternoon: either free time, or an optional walking tour of Rome with Steve and Janet to eat lunch and to visit the Column of the Immaculate Conception, the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the 2nd century Column of Marcus Aurelius, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona (gelato and cappachino), and the Church of St. Agostino (St. Augustine) with a Caravaggio painting, the tomb of St. Monica (mother of St. Augustine) and more.
We then crossed the Tiber River again and headed to St. Peters and back to our hotel. Many people scattered to continue exploring and shopping on their own. We all had dinner again at La Pilotta.


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Our Process
Our staged homes create a lifestyle for buyers to experience. Although we can't change a house's location or floorplan, we intentionally highlight all of the best features in your home. Staging your home will increase your chances of buyers developing an emotional connection with your home and getting it sold for the best price!


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Some parts of this FAQ can be highly out of date or even wrong. Please either ask in IRC channel if unsure or refer to the The Debian GNU/Linux AMD64 HOW-TO for a more up-to-date manual.
[DebianAMD64|Debian on AMD64] FAQ
This page holds the frequently asked questions regarding the Debian port to amd64.
If there are unanswered questions the best thing you can do is to add the Q's at the bottom of this page.
Q: Is this port only for AMD 64-bit [[CPUs]]?
A: No. "AMD64" is the name chosen by AMD for their 64-bit extension to the Intel x86 instruction set. Before release, it was called "x86-64" or "x86_64", and some distributions still use these names. Intel refers to its AMD64 implementation as "?Intel64" previously named "?EM64T". The architecture is AMD64-compatible and Debian AMD64 will run on AMD and Intel processors with 64-bit support. Because of the technology paternity, Debian uses the name "AMD64".
Q: How do I install Acrobat Reader?
A: At least for testing as of March 2012, the 'official' .deb packages available from Adobe's FTP servers (version 9.4.7) work just fine, provided that one installs using
dpkg --force-architecture -i AdbeRdr9.4.7-1_i386linux_enu.deb
The package will be installed in /opt with a shell-script in /usr/bin, a manpage in /usr/share/man and a bash-completion snippet /etc/bash_completion.d/acroread.sh.
Note that you still will need to install the ia32-libs and ia32-libs-gtk packages.
If that does not work for you, either try the chroot approach described in the HOWTO or, if you absolutely want to avoid using a chroot, follow these instructions as an alternate way:
1. In Etch and later, install ia32-libs and ia32-libs-gtk. Do
apt-get install ia32-libs ia32-libs-gtk
this step does not work on Jessie (Package has no installation candidate) For Jessie see instructions below
2. Get the acroread (e.g. acroread_7.0.8-0.0_i386.deb) debian package from http://www.deb-multimedia.org/pool/main/a/acroread/ and install it with
dpkg -i --force-architecture acroread_7.0.8-0.0_i386.deb
It won't go without force, because it is the wrong architecture. While you are at it, you may also get the extra plugins.
3. Edit /usr/bin/acroread. Towards the end, there is a line
exec "$ACRO_EXEC_CMD" ${1+"$@"}
GCONV_PATH=/usr/lib32/gconv LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libpangohack.so.0.0 GDK_PIXBUF_MODULE_FILE=/etc/gtk-2.0/gdk-pixbuf.loaders32
at the beginning of this line, before exec.
Not sure if it is required -- AlexanderVlasov
4. Copy /etc/gtk-2.0/gdk-pixbuf.loaders to /etc/gtk-2.0/gdk-pixbuf.loaders32, and replace all references to /usr/lib/ with /usr/lib32/:
sed 's:/usr/lib/:/usr/lib32/:' < /etc/gtk-2.0/gdk-pixbuf.loaders > /etc/gtk-2.0/gdk-pixbuf.loaders32
Not sure if it is required -- AlexanderVlasov
acroread should work now.
5. To prevent the warning during the loading of the PPK module, remove it:
rm /usr/lib/Adobe/Acrobat7.0/Reader/intellinux/plug_ins/["PPKLite"].api
You cannot start any other program from Acrobat Reader (such as a web browser), because the special settings do not work for other applications. Hopefully someday this will all be easier.
Q: How to install Acroread on Jessie / AMD64?
wget ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/unix/9.x/9.5.5/enu/AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i486linux_enu.tar.bz2 tar -jxvf AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i486linux_enu.tar.bz2 # INSTALL script installs to /opt/Adobe by default AdobeReader/INSTALL apt-get install libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0:i386 libgtk2.0-0:i386 PATH=/opt/Adobe/Reader9/bin:$PATH acroread
That does not always work, possibly due to changes in Debian 8.2. Also, installing stuff outwith the control of the package management system, e.g. from scripts in .tar.bz2 files, is bad practice and often things installed in that way break when system updates are applied. I do understand why it sometimes has to be done that way, but preferably as a very last resort only. In any case it did not work for me.
If you are using a custom Linux kernel for 64-bit PC and want to run 32-bit programs, then you have to set the CONFIG_IA32_EMULATION Linux build configuration option, otherwise you won't be able to run 32-bit binaries.
I suggest the following, which works in my case:
$ mkdir ~/AdobeReader $ cd ~/AdobeReader ...(or whatever working directory you wish of course) $ wget ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/unix/9.x/9.5.5/enu/AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i386linux_enu.deb $ su ...(password required) # dpkg --add-architecture i386 # apt-get update # apt-get install libgtk2.0-0:i386 libxml2:i386 libstdc++6:i386 # dpkg -i AdbeRdr9*.deb
Q: Does Wine work?
A: Yes.
Q: What about Flash?
A1: You can install the flashplugin-nonfree package which is in the Debian repositories.
A2: The proprietary Adobe Flash plugin is known to produce undesired audio distortions (artifacts) on 64-bit systems: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=620901. This can be fixed by applying a patch provided on Adobe's bugtracker https://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/FP-5739. After installing "flashplugin-nonfree", do:
wget -O /tmp/memcpy-10.3.162.29.bsdiff https://bugs.adobe.com/jira/secure/attachment/70204/memcpy-10.3.162.29.bsdiff sudo aptitude -Ry install bsdiff sudo bspatch /usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/libflashplayer.so.new /tmp/memcpy-10.3.162.29.bsdiff sudo mv /usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/libflashplayer.so.new /usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/libflashplayer.so rm /tmp/memcpy-10.3.162.29.bsdiff
A3: You can also use Gnash, which is free software and runs fine on AMD64, but which as of June 2010 plays very few flash files on the web correctly.
A4: If everything else fails, you can use nspluginwrapper to install the 32 bit official plugin from Adobe. Download the .tar.gz version from http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ and do
tar -zxvf install_flash_player_10_linux.tar.gz #unpacks libflashplayer.so mv /full/path/to/libflashplayer.so /permanent/location sudo aptitude install nspluginwrapper ia32-libs ia32-libs-libnss3 ia32-libs-gtk nspluginwrapper -v -i /permanent/location/libflashplayer.so
Deb-multimedia needs to be in /etc/apt/sources.list for this to work because it has some necessary packages. If you have a Mozilla based browser the flashplayer-mozilla package needs to be installed as well. Remember to use the full absolute path to libflashplayer.so when using the nspluginwrapper command; otherwise it failed for me. Doing
ldd libflashplayer.so
is sometimes helpful to show if some shared library is missing.
Adobe had released a pre-release version of Flash Player 10 for 64-bit browsers, available from version 1:2 of the flashplugin-nonfree package. This package is currently disabled because Adobe pulled the 64 bit version after the beta.
Q: How do I build i386 debs on AMD64?
A: use the linux32 command to fake uname and limit memory size inside your i386 chroot. Package is linux32.
The following solution is based on the Debian-AMD64 Howto 'Running applications inside the chroot' Section:
Simplest way to build i386 packages out of the box on AMD64 is to use dchroot and a simple wrapper script such as the following example for dpkg-buildpackage:
#!/bin/sh rpath=`pwd` dchroot -c i386 "cd $rpath && linux32 dpkg-buildpackage -ai386 $@"
Save it under /usr/local/bin/ia32-dpkg-buildpackage, make it executable and change the chroot name according to your environment.
You will need to have your home directory available under the chroot.
Now you can build i386 packages using ia32-dpkg-buildpackage like dpkg-buildpackage. for example:
$ ia32-dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot
Remember to install the build-depends for the package inside the chroot.
Better approach: use -vserver kernel and create 32-bit vserver; build anything you want inside it.
Q: Is there a quick rundown on the changes you've made to apt/dpkg command-line syntax anywhere?
A: There are two new scripts that were added to dpkg.
dpkg-libinfo was added by Gerhard Tonn. It was originally written for the s390x and sparc64 ports. It allows debian/rules files to figure out if /lib or /lib64 should be used. See --help, or the usage of dpkg-libinfo in the zlib source.
dpkg-subarchitecture was added by Bart Trojanowski. The main goal of dpkg-subarchitecture is to allow for the concurrent installation of packages that were compiled for different CPU types, but can still be executed on the local host. As you may already know, on AMD64 hardware you can install and run software compiled for k8, k7, i686, i586, i486, and i386. That relationship is captured in /usr/share/dpkg/subarchtable; or see http://www.jukie.net/~bart/debian/amd64/files/dpkg/subarchtable. Note that this feature can also be used to build i686 optimized modules.
Along with the scripts, the dpkg architecture name was changed to 'amd64'. Thus the names of 64-bit packages are named *_amd64.deb.
Apt's /etc/apt/sources.list has a new feature, too: You can specify what architecture apt should pull from a given distribution mirror. Below is an example that instructs apt to use the binary-i386 part of the testing distribution. If the "(i386)" is omitted, the default binary-amd64 would be used.
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing(i386) main non-free contrib
In addition, apt now uses the dpkg-subarchitecture script to determine whether certain packages are subarchitectures of amd64. The -s flag requests a list of compatible architectures that can be installed. The actual call that apt makes is
$ dpkg-subarchitecture -s -aamd64 i686 i586 i486 i386 all
There are a few other features that still need to be added to apt and dpkg. The next one that has been requested is a test for library ?ABIs. Basically, binaries of any architecture can depend on applications of any other architecture, but for binaries that depend on libraries, apt would have to make sure that the ABI of both packages is compatible. For example, an i386 and i686 package have compatible ABI, but amd64 and ia64 do not. Again, this information is captured in the subarchtable file previously mentioned.
Q: How do I port a debian package to AMD64?
A: There should be no porting necessary, so just use the standard commands:
apt-get source package cd package-version dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc -rfakeroot
If everything works (i.e., there are no problems in the code that affect building it on a 64-bit system), you should have a package-version_amd64.deb.
Q: Ok, so what do I have to do to port a library package to AMD64?
A: With biarch, that used to be a pain, but with pure64 building a library should be no different from building an ordinary package.
Q: How do I build my first amd64 binaries?
A: With pure64, it is a simple as
gcc hello.c.
gcc will automatically target a 64-bit system. You can add -m32 to get a 32-bit executable.
== Q: Lots of us don't care about 32-bit compatibility -- we don't run anything proprietary. We just want a native 64-bit port. Shouldn't that be simple to put together? ==
A: Yes, and that is what pure64 gives you.
Q: How do I bootstrap a 64-bit system?
A: There are many ways.
You can just download the installer and create a new 64-bit installation. You can also use debootstrap from a running system. Remember that you will need a 64-bit kernel for a 64-bit system. Using the 64-bit kernel for a 32-bit system may work, but there will probably be problems with loadable modules.
You can also recompile the system from source yourself:
following the debian-amd64-howto, I have found the following differences:
when compiling the kernel I had to
1) remove the ARCH:= line from the makefile and
2) use the command
ARCH="x86_64" make HOSTCC="gcc -m32" CC="gcc -m64" LD="ld -m elf_x86_64" bzImage
Note: When using an MSI SCSI board, compile the kernel with SCSI and SCSI_DEV and MPT FUSION.
Q: How do I build a 64bits GNU/Linux kernel on a 32bits machine using the kernel-package tools?
A: The following command will use fakeroot to simulate root privileges when necessary (need for building packages), it will tell Linux build system that it's cross compiling and the Debian packaging system that the destination architecture will be AMD64. It will also prepare the package to generate an initrd image (needed on most systems) when the kernel package is installed.
make-kpkg --rootcmd fakeroot --cross-compile - --arch=amd64 --initrd kernel_image
But I want to add some patches, configure it and use my own versioning...
make-kpkg --rootcmd fakeroot --cross-compile - --arch=amd64 --initrd --revision=0.5 --append-to-version=-p64 --added-patches tuxonice --config xconfig kernel_image
This one will use 0.5 as the package version, it will add -p64 to the Linux kernel image name, patch the Linux source with the tuxonice patch and use xconfig as configuration frontend that will be fired before the actual building.
For Debian linux-source-2.6.24-4, this would create the package: linux-image-2.6.24-p64_0.5_i386.deb
Q. Cross-compiling a 32-bit (i386) Linux binary on 64-bit Machine (amd64)
Short answer, depending of the tool you use, you can use one of:
linux32 make linux32 dpkg-buildpackage linux32 git-buildpackage


text:
A/N: Heh, haven't been seen in this fandom in a while, but I'm… sort of… back again.
This fic is based on Yoru Ryu's fanart comic series called 'Keeping My Sanity', so that concept belongs to her; you can see her stuff over at deviantart, and it's wonderful, don't miss it. All other concepts belong to Nintendo.
But first, some explanations: this is set in my own strange little world, which is a combination of anime, manga and game, so there's something I should really explain. Namely, the way I view the Elites. For this story pretty much all you need to know is that I view everyone at gym leader level, and those above, to be Elite. The E4 and the Champions are a little more complicated, but I don't really make mention of those concepts in here, so I won't bother to go into them.
The other thing I have to mention has nothing to do with my strange little world, but it's more important, because it'll clear up some things for you people who are only fans of the anime or only fans of the manga. This story is about Lance, and looks at the differences between anime-Lance and manga-Lance. In the anime he's got pink hair and he's pretty much the poster-boy for being a pokemon master. In the manga, he's got red hair he wants to destroy mankind for the way they've abused pokemon, so he's not so nice. Because they're such opposing personalities, I've found it difficult to reconcile which one I like better; so this is sort of the result of that, too.
Anyway! Enough rambling, and on with the show.
I wake.
It's morning. The light shines through the windows – big windows that they are, covering nearly two walls and my ceiling. I like windows, I like the outside.
But I hate them too. I don't want to see my reflection in them, or in mirrors – my bathroom only has one mirror and I almost never look into it. But I need those windows. I hate feeling closed in. And I need to see my reflection in them. It's the first thing I have to do, the first thing every morning. Some people look at their clock or listen to their radio or roll over and pretend they're still asleep. But I have to look at my reflection.
Today my hair is red.
It could be worse. At least my eyes are still grey. Still, I know that the others will be walking on tenterhooks around me, probably for most of the morning.
So they should, he whispers. They should be wary about angering a dragon in his den.
I dismiss it. He says that often. Today he is making me feel it.
I half expect the other one to speak up, but there is no answer, and so I dress and leave my room, so bare of sentimentality, so filled with objects. It's my room but it's one of many. My home is with my pokémon and with my friends. Rooms and buildings are just places to stay.
This morning, my only friends are my pokémon. I know the others see that as soon as I enter the common room. They won't see that my hair is red, of course; they can't see it. They tell by what I'm wearing: boots go without saying, but pants, a turtleneck and a red jacket instead of the flight suit I wear otherwise.
"Brooding already, Lance?" Wallace asks cheerfully from the couch, but I only tilt my head in reply. On other days I might have smiled and said something witty, but on mornings like this I can be as silent as a tomb.
They wouldn't expect anything else. They know me too well.
And yet they do not know me enough.
"Lorelei arrived from the Plateau this morning," Wallace tells me with his flashing smile, twirling his blue bangs around one finger. He is too happy, that man, and far too perceptive. On days like this he's one that I try to avoid.
"I know," I say, moving to one of the buffet tables along a wall. The Mansion of the Elites' in Evergrande is very different to the Indigo Plateau. Over there we each have our own unit, with a small staff to keep them neat while we're gone. Sometimes two of us will decide to share – all of the gym leaders are paired with someone – but it's hardly ever a problem because we all move around so much. None of us really consider our houses at the Plateau and Evergrande to be our true homes anyway, especially since the gym leaders spend most of their time in their respective cities.
In Evergrande we all live in one huge, sprawling complex. Meals aren't served so much as the fact that food is always on hand. It makes it easy to feed pokémon with fast metabolisms.
"Of course you do." Wallace sips his tea, and if he were anyone else I would think he was mocking me.
Strike that. I know he is mocking me anyway. Wallace is one of those types that people might call 'air-headed', but we all know that it's a farce.
Or maybe not.
But it's not all that he is, at any rate, just like the rest of us. None of us became Elites without keeping something in reserve.
If only they knew what I was hiding.
Holding a tray, I turn to find a seat somewhere else, preferably on the balcony where there'd be room for my dragons, and inadvertently make eye contact with Koga across the room. He is here on business; he wants his daughter to have to opportunity to take care of the gym without him. He's training her to succeed him, and she's becoming decent, which means that Koga is more often here or at the Plateau than in Fuchsia.
He is watching me, like he always does; assessing, contemplating. He is another I try to avoid on days like this.
Sometimes I wonder whether he doesn't already know.
He is also the only one who would understand, and that worries me.
Not Koga. The understanding.
I look away and move to the balcony, feeling his dark eyes on my back. The others are involved in their own meals and affairs – I see blonde-haired Karen scribbling notes, surrounded by scattered paperwork, with a plate resting neglected nearby – but none of them offer a place to sit or some company. On days like this they know I want to be alone.
Sometimes I wonder why. I'm wondering that now, aware of the other Elites behind me. I catch a glimpse of my reflection in the glass of the windows and see that my hair has pink highlights, and in the image my forelock has been swept back with the rest, even though I can still see the real one hanging over my eyes.
Then the breeze makes my jacket rustle, and I feel the pokéballs at my back.
Not alone. Not so long as you have them.
I shut the door behind me.
I don't know how long I've been out there before I am finally disturbed, but it has to be a while, because I can feel myself getting hungry again. I'm only aware that someone has opened the door because one of my dragonairs lifts her head and trills a greeting to whoever has just come out. I can hear footsteps; too light to be a man, and they're accompanied by that strange clack of high heels.
I can guess who it is.
"So you are out here. Koga doesn't lie."
"Lorelei," I acknowledge her without turning around, and I can feel the rumble of my dragonite's echoing welcome from where I sit, leaning against her side.
For a moment there is silence, and then dark shoes come into my view. "He also said you were in one of your moods. He wasn't lying about that either."
"As you said. Koga doesn't lie."
And he doesn't, which isn't really what you'd expect of a ninja. It's as though he chooses to offset his inherent darkness by being as honest as possible.
"Glacia, Sidney, Wallace and I were going to go down to the beach for a picnic lunch. Wallace wants to show off some of his new moves, and Glacia and I haven't battled in a while. Want to come?"
I actually consider it. The grounds are big, so my dragons do have plenty of space to fly, but the beach will give them even more. And Gyarados could use that space. The balcony looks over the pool, but it's tiny in comparison to the ocean.
There are no objections, so I give Lorelei a nod, and she smiles slyly, pushing back the auburn hair fluttering in her eyes. "There. Not so difficult, was it?"
I feel a flicker of annoyance at the patronising words, but I know that it's often the only way they can deal with me on days like this. At least I agreed. I rather like the beach, and I like Glacia and Sidney. Neither of them are too observant. It should be easy enough to avoid having to make conversation with them around.
It's Wallace I have to watch out for. He's likely to try and draw me out.
That wouldn't be so bad, a part of me suggests wistfully. I know which part it is.
The beach is calming. It's a broad stretch of sand behind the grounds of the mansion, so no one ever comes here but us. It's almost cove-like, surrounded by reefs, so no one on the ocean comes in either.
I'm right about Sidney and Glacia. Sidney and Wallace are fairly chatty people, and Glacia loves listening to gossip, so that means I can trail along behind as we walk, listening in but not contributing. Our pokémon gambol, fly and surf about, having fun in the day and the clear weather. It's a nice picture, one that we Elites rarely receive, so busy are we with our duties and jobs.
Right now they're discussing Teams Aqua and Magma. Neither of those organisations are nearly as large as Team Rocket, mostly because they're not interested in expanding their ranks. Their goals are more misguided than the Rockets could ever be, but for all their danger their intentions are good. They just want to make the world a better place. Team Rocket just wants control.
Few people see that distinction, but the Elites are some of them. The Magmas and the Aquas are a difficult point for us to deal with, simply because their leaders are Elites themselves; gym leader strength, at least. They want what we want. They're just going about it the wrong way. It's caused some fairly heated arguments among the rest of us.
I'm expecting Wallace to turn and ask me what I think – or if not him, then Lorelei. As the most active of the Elites I've fought and even infiltrated both Teams on several occasions, so the others know I can be counted on for an unbiased opinion.
Sure enough, Wallace looks at me sidelong, and I can see in his blue eyes that he intends to get me into the conversation one way or another. If it were another subject I might not mind, but the very nature of my duties makes this topic more difficult for me than for the others, although they probably don't know it. I've never been hesitant in my judgments, not outwardly at least.
"What do you think, Lance?" he asks, and I am suddenly in the spotlight as the others look at me with interest. "Should we let them back into our ranks, if they ever give up on their ambitions?"
"You're getting ahead of yourself, Wallace," Sidney interrupts, and turns to me, his mohawk damp with the nearby spray of the surf. "You've fought them the most, Lance. Steven's only talked to them. Do you think they ever will give up?"
Silently I regard him, but the others wait patiently. For all that I am instinct in battle, in philosophy I think carefully before I speak, and they know it, though they don't know why.
But it is a question I do not want to answer, because the next step is something I do not want to acknowledge, and I'm too busy arguing with myself besides.
I always said you should watch that one, I'm told smugly. He's Darkness too, after all.
I am Shadow, I reply sharply. And the Darkness is too deep to hold Shadow. He is insightful, but not observant.
The objections subside into reluctant acceptance.
Besides, a different part of me adds, the part that was faded this morning and only watched mildly as the day went on. He's asking the wrong question too.
I say as much aloud, and Sidney's eyebrows shoot up. "How's that?"
"You're asking if they will give up," I answer simply. "Your question shouldn't be if but when, and at what cost."
It's exactly that which frightens me: the cost. It's that which I do not want to think about, not now, not ever until the time comes. Because when the time comes, it will be beyond the point of thinking, and there are some things which should only be dealt with in retrospect.
Sidney looks thoughtful. "Alright," he agrees. "When do you think they'll give up, then?"
There is the question I truly do not want to answer, for the same reasons that the cost frightens me. Because I know those men. And I know the odds are that the cost will be far too high.
I think Wallace sees something of it in my eyes, because he claps a hand to my shoulder and smiles mischievously, directing the others' attention away from the issue, and I feel a quick burst of gratitude. "Let him be, Sidney. He's been brooding all morning; he needs a chance to give his brain cells a rest before he loses what little he has."
"It's the company," I answer, deadpan, and feel a little thrill of satisfaction at the startled and then gratified expressions that flash through Wallace's eyes. He grins as the others laugh, and I smirk along with them.
Not so bad at all.
And as we pass a pool of still water, I see that my reflection is, for once, the truth: spiky pink hair, thick and shaggy, with a forelock draping across my face, and eyes neither blue nor gold, but grey.
It's evening by the time we get back, and I can feel myself drifting further away as we approach the doors of the mansion, only this time it's in the opposite direction. So perhaps 'away' is the wrong word for it. 'Closer' might be more accurate; closer to the way the world sees me as.
A part of me – that part of me – finds it annoying, how the entire world can be so blind. And yet at the same time he finds it useful. He needs it and he knows it.
I know it too. But I'm also afraid of what they'd find out, and so I keep him hidden.
Tonight I don't get the chance to keep him locked away, because Steven is waiting for us in the common room, and I find myself glad that today didn't turn out to be 'one of those days' after all.
Steven's one of the few things for which all parts of me are in complete agreement: he's my friend. He's the only one who can match me in power during a pokémon battle, and so I respect him. He's calm and determined, and so I admire him. He takes me for what I am, without pressing issues like Wallace and Lorelei do, and so I appreciate him.
Yet he doesn't know. I can tell he worries, but for all that, he doesn't know exactly what makes him so worried. He just knows that something is wrong.
He is the diplomat. I am the warrior. I still don't think he quite knows what that means. I'm afraid of the day when he'll find out. Unlike Koga, I don't fear his understanding. I fear his lack of it.
I know the reason he's here this evening, and I can't afford to block myself out.
"Are you ready, Lance?" he asks me, in a corner away from the others in the room. "Professor Oak will be arriving in Goldenrod the day after tomorrow. We'll probably be able to beat him there if we leave in the morning."
I nod silently, and Steven gives me a long, measuring look before grinning. I know that look.
Uh oh.
"He's bringing his grandson, by the way."
You've got to be kidding.
Excellent, I've heard he takes after his grandfather.
I know that both the opposing emotions flash across my face, because Steven laughs. For a moment I'm conflicted in my reaction; then I smile slightly in resigned amusement at his amusement.
Steven usually brings out the best in me.
Hopefully that will continue to hold true throughout this assignment. It's a meeting to determine whether interregional habitation of pokémon is beneficial or not. Some conservatives believe that species native to Hoenn shouldn't be put in parks in Johto, and so on. They're claiming that it's destroying the habitats of the pokémon which were already there.
Seeing as they're accusing Bill's storage system of precipitating the transport of non-indigenous pokémon into Johto and Kanto, he has to be there as well, and he asked for Professor Oak to be put on the board.
Steven's reason for being there is twofold. In the first place, he's the most diplomatic of the Elites, and considering how heated this discussion has gotten it was decided it'd be best to have an impartial mediator. Since the only people either side considers to be impartial are the Elites, Steven took the job. In the second place, as a geologist he's gone pretty much everywhere there isn't a city, so he's seen enough of the environment to be able to judge.
Officially, the second reason is also my excuse for being there.
Unofficially, I'm going to be on duty. If a law is passed to prohibit the transport of non-indigenous pokémon into a region, it'll make it that much harder for poachers to work their trade. People are going to be very interested in the verdict – perhaps too interested.
I can only hope no one will try to crash the meeting.
I've got mixed feelings about big cities – mixed feelings about towns in general. Mostly it's because of the people. I hate that there are so many people, especially since I can hardly walk anywhere without being mobbed unless I go in disguise. I don't like being in the spotlight, contrary to popular belief. And whenever I walk into a city I can't help but think of the pokémon whose homes had been there before it was built.
But I know which part of me is thinking about that, and usually I can block it out.
Yet at the same time I like watching people. It's fascinating, really, especially watching children. I always wonder whether they'll turn out to be a trainer or not, or what kind of trainer they'll be, or whether they'll be any kind of a challenge.
It's harder to watch the ones who are actually old enough to be trainers, because I run the risk of being recognised; but when I manage it they can be even more entertaining, watching and analysing their strategies, seeing them learn from their mistakes.
That's partly why I don't mind that Oak has brought his grandson along. I've often wondered how well the boy battles, what with his grandfather being who he is, although I hear that the kid's gone into science now.
I don't want to think about what Wallace or – God forbid – Bruno would think if they knew I like watching children, but I can't help it. It's something I have to do, just like I have to look at my reflection in the mornings. Kids aren't always as innocent as folk law would have us believe, but it's their youth and their enthusiasm for pokémon which serve to remind me exactly why I chose the life I did. Exactly why I put up with the life I have.
It's not as good as most people seem to think. There's that blindness again, but it's not one I'm about to shatter. The longer I can keep them blind, the longer I can protect them.
And myself.
I turn from watching the kids in the park below me playing at being trainers, aware of the tiny smile on my lips but not about to wipe it away. It'll be gone all too soon anyway, so for now I'm just contented with the image the window reflects: pink hair, swept back…
And blue eyes. That surprises me. I hadn't realized I was getting so mellow.
…damn. That's going to make it harder if anything happens.
But evening comes and nothing does happen. Not much was achieved beyond some very long, very loud arguments – Bill's got quite a set of lungs on him for a man who spends most of his time shut away in his lab – and I can see that Steven's already getting a headache.
"Maybe tomorrow," I offer placidly as we return to the rooms the Pokémon Association has offered us, a couple of floors up from the meeting room we had just spent the day in. The Association's Johto Headquarters is more like a hotel than any kind of office building, but I can't complain. It means less time on the streets and less chance of someone ambushing us for some reason or another.
I don't even need to look at my reflection to know that my hair has just acquired red highlights.
Steven casts me a bemused look. "Were you even paying attention?" he asks. "This isn't going to be settled quickly. People like that tend to be stubborn."
I shrug. "I can hope."
I'd prefer to hope. Optimism is pink, and there's going to be far too much red in my future if this drags out as long as you say it will.
But I say none of that aloud, of course, and Steven doesn't notice. He can't. To him and everyone else, there's only pink.
Steven's right. The issue isn't settled the next day, or the next, and I've ended up paying as little attention to the actual proceedings as I possibly can. I always manage to get the same window seat in the room, but I find myself more and more torn between watching the children and watching for trouble. Paranoia is red, after all.
It starts raining a few days after we first got here, and that makes it more difficult; no kids to distract me, nothing to do but try to pick threats out of the grey, drizzling rain.
Someone like Whitney would probably be wishing desperately for something to happen, just to break up the monotony, but I've been in the business for too long to wish for action when there's peace. I know that makes me sound old, but it is the truth. In the first place, action isn't nearly as exciting as people think it is.
In the second, it makes it harder to hold back. Especially when it's the wrong kind of action.
The kind that demands a cost.
Fate enjoys laughing at me.
The first explosion takes even me by surprise. Of any kind of attack, this wasn't the one I was expecting.
It's not close enough for us to see any of the effects, either that or it's a small one, but it's still enough to quake the room, and I know that it happened somewhere on the block.
The entire block is composed of the Association Headquarters.
Most of the bureaucrats are looking around in confusion, but Steven and I – and, I note with approval, Professor Oak and his grandson – are on our feet, already alert to the danger.
There's no time to do anything before there's a second detonation, and this time it's close enough to make the lights flicker.
"Someone's lost control of their electrodes," someone grumbled, and I can't stop a flash of incredulity.
How thick can you get? A cool, derisive agreement comes a second later, but it only makes me feel dread.
Not now.
"Those weren't electrodes," Oak said grimly. He would know. "They're bombs."
Not everyone in this world likes pokémon; terrorists do exist. Team Rocket is only the most famous case, and they're pro-pokémon more than anything else, but there are other, smaller groups which are the opposite, radicals which do everything from picketing the Safari Zone to euthanizing perfectly healthy pokémon.
Some of the most persistent target the Association and their members. I've seen it before; it's one of the reasons gym leaders tend to riddle their buildings with traps.
I don't know whether to be amused at the irony or not – this attack has nothing to do with the regulation of non-indigenous pokémon.
"All of you, get outside as fast as you can," I hear Steven order, but I'm already at the door, just as another muffled explosion rocks the building, and this one is again further away. Behind us I'm aware of disbelieving exclamations and then the tramp of many shoes as the officials move, some of them gibbering with fear and others in disbelief.
The nearest exit is left. I'm going right. Most of the men turn to get out of the building, but there is still more than one set of footsteps following me, and I curse inwardly.
They're going to get in the way.
If they get in the way then it's their own fault.
I don't have time to argue with the callousness of that comment. It might be necessary.
Distantly I can already hear sirens, but they're swallowed up by the muffled whoosh and roar of a nearby blast, rocking the building, making us stagger against walls and glass shatter. I can hear screams now, see smoke drifting up the stairwell ahead, but I don't stop. Instead I just pull my cloak over my mouth as a filter and continue my run downward, blocking out all sound but the most relevant.
Every now and then we pass a terrified employee, but our action is always the same: Steven tells them to leave as quickly as they can, and every time he extends the warning to whoever was brave and foolish enough to follow us.
Absently I'm relieved I can't smell anyone burning as we pass by the floor of the latest bombing. Either we've been lucky or it's not their intention to hurt anyone. The fact that they chose a rainy day for their operation lends credence to that; it suggests that they mean to warn people, not kill them.
Suggests, but doesn't prove.
It's pure luck that we come upon the next bomber before it happens, but I don't know whether it's good or bad. I should say that it was luck we got there before the explosion, not that we happened to be heading for the right place; red is for paranoia, and I don't like taking chances.
We find him in the block's extensive gardens, in the corner of the grounds not far from a laboratory. It's one of those more scenic places intended to hide things like pipelines and voltage boxes, and that's exactly what this one does. It's the easiest and most likely place to be targeted.
With bombers around, it's a death trap. An explosion here would destroy half the block and put out the lights for dozens more.
There's always one.
I can't argue. I know he's right. There's always one which has to go beyond the intended and into blatant destruction.
It's the sound of Dragonite being released which gets his attention, but he's on guard, whirling around to face me as I burst through the trees. "Stop there," he shouts, waving around a remote attached to the box he's holding as the others catch up, too late to free their own pokémon; I've always been a fast runner, and I was a few too many steps ahead.
I do what he says, holding out a warning hand for Dragonite to stop without taking my eyes from the man, paying no attention to the rain which soaks my flight suit. I ignore the expletives and cries of fear behind me that belong to the officials who had followed.
Fools. Should have stayed behind.
"No one else touch their pokéballs," the man says warningly, and he's irritatingly calm, his eyes narrowed at us assessingly and lips touched with a sneer. He thinks he's in control.
I know he's not.
"Listen," Steven says from nearby in the calm, 'talking to unreasonable people' voice he uses when Whitney and Roxanne get into a catfight.
Normally the image would make me smile, but I'm too far gone.
"Put the bomb down, and we'll let you walk out of here, alright?"
The man sneers and I feel anger; all of me feels anger, which happens rarely and is something to be wary of when it does.
It's ironic, though, that I can feel such opposing rages. A part of me is blazing. The other is cold. But it's the one that blazes which will ultimately end this.
"I don't think so." He gestures at the green-painted voltage box just visible through the bedraggled shrubbery against the brick wall of the grounds. He's close enough to it to blow the device and kill all of us with an electrical discharge, if not half the building as he intended, and he knows it.
But I can also see the trigger isn't a simple one. The kinds of explosives they're using aren't based on detonation, so they're not as destructive; they'll cause a few bad fires but that's it, unless put somewhere that would carry a chain reaction. The trigger reflects that. It was designed to be set, so it can't be activated instantaneously. It'd take him a few seconds to use – not enough time to take him down personally or get out Steven's metagross for a psychic solution, but…
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Dragonite shift, her antenna sparking slightly with frustration.
"Why are you doing this?" Oak's grandson demands furiously, and for a moment – just a moment – I snap out of it with a sharp feeling of dismay, quickly squelched.
You don't have time to feel this.
"What possible reason could there be for doing something like this?"
He's so young.
He shouldn't have followed.
You can't do this.
You have to.
"I don't need to explain my reasons to the likes of you," the man says, looking maniacal now, and I can see a gleam in his eyes which says he's planning something.
You can't hesitate.
"But it is ironic. I didn't expect celebrities to be here."
I know.
He grins now, believing himself in control, and out of the corner of my eye I can see Steven's jaw set grimly, see his hand twitch as though wishing he could go for his pokéballs.
"All we have to do now is decide what to do," the man continues, taunting us and enjoying it.
It's working, I know it is. I can hear words of anger being shouted from behind me, register the warning wave of the button at some insult, but my world is narrowed.
You're not considering this.
Because I know what I have to do.
You can't.
And to do it I need to shut a part of myself away.
The part that I cherish most of all.
The part which I have no choice but to reject.
"What are you going to do," he mocks. "Great, powerful trainers, fools who rely on dumb beasts, righteous saviours of our modern –" the derisive emphasis is clear "–world. What are you to do? If you walk away, I will destroy that box and you will die. If you try to move or call for help, I will detonate."
"That's insane! You'll die as well!"
That one is from Bill, but the pang of consternation is hardly noticeable. He's a grown man, at least, he knows that life can be ugly.
Though I have to wonder whether he's ever before seen a demon with an angel's face.
"Will I?" the man asks, and I can tell from his tone that he has a plan to escape.
The realization has me feeling nothing. I'm calm now, too calm, hardly aware of the rain threatening to drip in my eyes, of the weight of my clothes.
"So. Walk and die, move and die. Because, shining examples of the pokémon world that you are, you wouldn't dare sully your hands with killing me."
He smirks at me, thinking he has won, and I can tell from the frustrated sounds behind me that the others believe he is right. The third option is inconceivable.
I meet his eyes squarely.
And evenly I answer. "Fire blast."
There is the roar of wind and flame beside me, and in his final split second I see the man's eyes widen with terror and realization, the realization that he does not know me at all.
And then he is consumed, dead before he can scream, the blaze too strong to be put out by the rain before it is too late, sufficiently powerful to have melted down plastic and wires with enough speed to neutralise the explosion beyond an ineffective whump.
For a few moments there is silence aside from the crackle of flames, the fizzle of water, and the hum of the pokéball as I recall Dragonite. I know I'll be feeling it later, but right now I'm still as calm as ever.
They're all looking at me, I'm aware of that before I turn around, and my gaze scans over faces shocked, frightened, disbelieving. It takes only a second; then I'm moving, striding back towards the complex with a flick of my wet cloak, my hair dripping in my eyes.
But for an instant, my gaze meets Steven's, and I know later I will be frightened, regretful, guilty for his anguished expression, but for now I am only challenging.
This is the way it had to happen.
Then I'm past before I see whether he has accepted it or not, and I don't look back.
I do step through a puddle as I move through the trees, and I don't need to see to know, but I glance down anyway. My eyes are gold.
My hair is red.
- finis
A/N: I've always viewed Lance as the special agent they portray him as in the anime, but in that sort of job he'd have to have faced some kind of situation where it's kill or be killed. Not something you'd think of when you only watch the anime, but manga-Lance is more than capable of making that decision.


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Gil-galad's letter
|This article describes a concept which is mentioned in J.R.R. Tolkien's works, but was never given a definite name.
|Gil-galad's letter
|Númenor before its fall
|Tar-Meneldur and subsequent Kings of Númenor
|Sealed with Gil-galad's device of white stars upon a blue rondure
Gil-galad's letter refers to a letter that Gil-galad wrote in Lindon and gave to Aldarion at Mithlond, to be delivered to Tar-Meneldur in Númenor.
History[edit | edit source]
In S.A. 882[1] Aldarion returned from a voyage to Middle-earth, bearing a letter from Gil-galad written expressly for his father, Tar-Meneldur. Due to the king's anger at Aldarion's long absences from the realm they did not discuss the letter when it was delivered. Later though the king did read the document. Upon the outside it stated that it had been given in Mithlond to the King's Heir and was to be delivered in person.
Within, the letter opened with a greetings to the king. Gil-galad then thanked the king for sending his son to him so many times and asked for his pardon for detaining him at times for his knowledge and counsel. The Elvish king then imparted information only for the Númenórean king's eyes. A new shadow was arising in the East which Gil-galad declared was a servant of Morgoth. This power was gaining strength and he asked Meneldur for help. Gil-galad stated that it was Aldarion's wise counsel that the Eldar and the men of Númenor should seek to hold the westlands together. Eriador was identified as the core holding to be maintained. The gap in the Misty Mountains in the land of Calenardhon was a defensive weak point that required a seat of power nearby. Gil-galad praised Aldarion for his establishment of Vinyalondë at the mouth of the Gwathló but stated that it needed men. Gil-galad then appealed to the ancient friendship of the Eldar and the Dúnedain to withstand the new threat.
Meneldur was sorely troubled by this letter, both for its contents and because of his estrangement from his son which had kept their minds apart. Pondering whether or not to give aid, Meneldur decided that it would be best to pass the Sceptre of Númenor to his son, whose knowledge of the situation was greater than his own. The Council of the Sceptre sought to delay the king's passing of the Sceptre[2] but Meneldur only waited until the Spring of S.A. 883.[1]


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ITU holds first Community Coaches and Technical Officials Course in Cameroon
Last week, 28 members of the triathlon community from the Central African state of Cameroon traveled to its capital city of Yaoundé to participate in the ITU Community Coaches and Technical Officials Course. The aim of the four-day course, the first of its kind in the region, was to assist attendees in growing triathlon in Cameroon.
With a lack of appropriate facilities needed to create a strong development programme, Central African states have struggled in the cultivation of triathlon but participants took the first steps in reversing that trend while in Yaoundé. Everyone in attendance listened to lectures on coaching presented by Franz Studer, as well as received classes on officiating from African Triathlon Union Continental Coordinator Travis Campbell.
According to Studer, what Cameroon lacks in facilities and equipment, they make up for in enthusiasm, which is spearheaded by Cameroon Triathlon Federation's Edwige Olga Ngassam. Under her tutelage, Studer found Ngassam has managed to create significant interest in multisport activities, not only in Cameroon, but in the whole of Central Africa.
During the course, Ngassam set challenging goals for Cameroon, with the idea that the course was meant to serve as a starting point for the development of triathlon in the Central African region. Within five years, she hopes to produce athletes that can compete on a continental level.
Despite the disparity of accessible swimming pools and bicycles, Studer and Campbell were both enthusiastic about the foundation laid at the ITU Coaches and Technical Course. Studer said, "I have no doubt that Edwige and her team are willing and capable of creating a broad-based development programme that will show amazing results in a few years."


text: Insidious Chapter 2 picks up where its predecessor left off -- in abject silliness. As before, director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell's wannabe-scary story indulges in innumerable demonic-possession tropes before closing with a ridiculous finale set on an "astral plane" known as "The Further" where evil spirits lurk. That's also where paterfamilias Josh (Patrick Wilson) finds his soul trapped at outset, leaving his earthly body to be controlled by a mommy phantom who likes to scare the rest of Josh's family -- including wife Renai (Rose Byrne) and son Dalton (Ty Simpkins), the latter gifted with the ability to travel in his sleep to The Further -- with loud jolt scares involving a noise-making baby walker. Two goofy mediums (Whannell and Angus Sampson) offer deliberate comic relief, but most of Chapter 2 is unintentionally hilarious. Characters routinely behave in absurd ways, none more so than a team of ghost hunters nonchalantly rummaging around an abandoned hospital at night with flashlights and shaky-cams. Before a reunion with dead psychic Elise (Lin Shaye), the characters must first uncover the secret of their pesky -- and, as Renai learns, slap-happy -- specter, which is revealed in a finale that, like Wan's The Conjuring, equally comprises classic horror clichés and mythological mumbo jumbo. Plus, there's time travel, because why not?


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You know who I don't envy right now? People responsible for Susan G. Komen for the Cure's public relations. Since the charity's transparently political and poorly received decision to defund Planned Parenthood, Komen supporters have not hesitated to express their displeasure. Just how giant is the pink, ribbon-shaped shit that the foundation has taken on its reputation? Let's find out.
They've certainly angered some partners who are upset with Komen's added caveat to their "pro-woman" stance (new policy: pro-some-women). The American Association of University Women was one of the first to announce that they were severing ties, saying in a news release from this morning that they will not offer the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure as possible pre-conference community service option in the lead up to their National Conference for College Women Student Leders. Their reasoning? Komen's playing politics, and AAUW isn't buying it.
Komen's own in-house message board is full of disappointed donors who are pledging their support to Planned Parenthood instead of Komen.
But Susan G. Komen for the Cure hasn't just pissed off individuals, they've also rubbed government officials the wrong way. California state senators Noreen Evans, chair of the Legislative Women's Caucus, said the move "defies logic" and has announced that the body will not be holding it's annual bake sale to support Susan G. Komen For The Cure this year. Democratic State Senator Alex Padilla of Los Angeles announced that he'll no longer be sporting pink ties as a nod to Komen. He said,
Komen has placed its supporters in the untenable position of aligning themselves with acquiescence to the agenda of the religious right, or aligning themselves with healthcare and breast cancer organizations that will not bow to such pressures. The choice is clear to me. I choose the latter.
Minnesota Congresswoman Betty McCollum has sharply criticized Komen's swing to the right by accusing them of blatant pandering, and Virginia Congressman Jim Moran has also urged Komen to banish politics from their funding decisions.
Two dozen US Senators have echoed the disappointment of Padilla, Evans, Moran, and McCollum, preparing a letter to Komen leadership that points out that Komen funds helped provide 170,000 clinical breast exams to Planned Parenthood patients, and 6,400 mammogram referrals.
Komen's obvious pander/lying has even pissed off the Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, both of whom served as honorary chairs of the foundation in 2010. Jill tweeted, "When Joe heard about Susan G. Komen not funding Planned Parenthood anymore, Joe thew away his pink-ribbon Harvest Peach yogurt." Ouch, Komen. You've got people so mad now they're throwing away delicious yogurt. [Update: They've pissed off whoever is running Fake Dr. Jill Biden's Twitter account. It was an imposter! Regardless, the tragedy of yogurt disposal stands.]
The dent Komen's boneheaded move will put in their donations is yet to be seen, and even less likely to be spun with anything but sunny positives when and if we find out that the waterfall of money has been reduced to a money dribble. But what I can tell you is that this negative PR for Komen continues to have the opposite effect on Planned Parenthood.
A media representative for the organization told me today that support keeps rolling into Planned Parenthood— in the second 24 hour span since it was announced that Komen funding would be withdrawn, more than 9,000 individual donors have donated online (in a normal 24-hour period, it's about 100 people. A ninety fold increase. Thanks, Karen Handel!). More than 4,000 people have begun following Planned Parenthood on Twitter, and more than 10,000 people have "liked" their Facebook page. Additionally, more than 119,000 people have signed the family planning organization's letter of support in the last 24 hours. Holy anti-choice backfire, Batman!
Read More:
Meet the Komen Exec Behind the Planned Parenthood Defunding
Susan G. Komen is trying to prove it didn't stop giving grants to Planned Parenthood because of a right wing political agenda. More »
Top Komen Official Threatens to Resign Over Charity's Pandering, Lying
A member of Susan G. Komen For The Cure's Medical Advisory Board has threatened to resign. More »
Breast-Cancer Survivor Andrea Mitchell Takes Komen CEO to Task
Today, Susan B. Komen CEO Nancy Brinker stopped by Andrea Mitchell Reports to defend her organization's decision. More »
How the Susan G. Komen Foundation Lost Its Way
Before Susan G. Komen died of breast cancer in 1980, she asked her sister Nancy to promise to work towards finding a cure. More »


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Turquoise Blue Chrome Hoverboard Swegway Segway Bluetooth and LED Wheels UL2272 Certified
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If you want a great new way to have fun and get about, you can't go wrong with our Limited Edition Exclusive Swegway. This amazing board is essential if you want a fantastic new way to get around and learn some great tricks, as well as looking cool/different.
Looking to get in on the Swegway fun but don't know where to start? Our Limited Edition Exclusive Swegway is perfect for beginners of all ages. With tyres measuring 6.5 inches, it's light yet sturdy and can be used to master those eye-catching tricks and spins with fantastic maneuverability. You'll love it for indoor and light outdoor use, zooming about at up to 9mph.
From our New Swegway range - our most popular, agile and durable Swegway boards available. Also available in lots of other different exclusive limited edition colours
Key Features:
**We recommend you wear appropriate saftey gear before using this product, such as a helmet, arm pads, knee pads**
***All sizes / weights / speeds are approximate***
**UKBIGBUY advises and recommends that a Silicon cover is used to protect the outer casing of your hoverboard whilst using any kart attachment. UKBIGBUY can take no responsibility for any aesthetic damage caused to your hoverboard/swegway if a protective silicon cover is not used**


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A Road Scholar Program by Brian (Fox) Ellis
Tracing his rise from Prairie State rail-splitter to America's favorite president this blend of history and humor will attempt to disentangle the man from the myth. Told from the perspective of Austin Gullaher, a childhood friend of Lincoln who once saved his life, Brian "Fox" Ellis steps into character to allow audiences to step back in time and meet Lincoln during many facets of life, including his childhood, his career as a lawyer, and his presidency.
For more information, please contact Beth Keller, 847.432.1573 x124.


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There are 8 houses with 6-8 apartments in each house. 4 apartments on ground floor and 2-4 apartments on second floor. The apartment is located in a nice and child friendly area with ski in/ ski out. Walking distance to the gondola, which brings you up to the mountain for some cross-country skiing. A short walk brings you to Øyer Centrum with several shops and restaurants.
In summer you have a good location close to activities like downhill cycling, Hunderfossen, Lilleputthammer and Lekeland. Great hiking in the mountains.
Livingroom with a sofa and tv.
Fully equipped kitchen with fridge, 2 hot plates, small oven and, micro and dish washer.
Seating group for enjoying meals together.
1 Bedroom:
Bedroom 1: Doublebed, bunkbed
1 Bathroom:
Bathroom 1: shower, toilet
Further information:
The apartment is 35 square meters.
Pets allowed at an additional cost.
Internet access, balcony, parking.
This is our cheapest alternative.
Ski storage not heated.