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Another book, another slide show, another global rock concert — another run?
Note: This essay is a preview of this weekend's Times Magazine.
One afternoon in February, Al Gore was waiting to board a commercial flight from Nashville to Miami, where he was to deliver the slide show that forms the basis of "An Inconvenient Truth," his Academy Award-winning documentary on global warming. Gore was telling me about Ilya Prigogine, a Belgian chemist who won a Nobel Prize in 1977 for his insights into the thermodynamics of open systems, an intriguing subject that has very little to do with global warming. Every minute or so he flashed a microgrin at a passer-by without interrupting his oratorical flow. We had moved on to complexity theory, which Gore would really immerse himself in if only he had the time, and then to the concept of nested systems, which of course had been developed by the late psychologist Uri Bronfenbrenner, when a woman in a blazing orange shirt emerged from her flight, did a double take and cried, "Isn't that AL GORE?!" There was no ignoring this fan. As she came over to thank Gore for trying to save the planet, I saw that my bags were in the way. "I'll move them," I said; and Gore, before he could think, said, "No, don't."
Six years after the Supreme Court declared him the loser of a presidential race that seemed his for the taking, Al Gore has attained what you can only call prophetic status; and he has done so by acting as he could not, or would not, as a candidate — saying precisely what he believes, and saying it with clarity, passion, intellectual mastery and even, sometimes, wit. Everywhere he goes, people urge him, almost beg him, to run for the presidency. He probably won't — though he might. ("It's complicated," he told me, "but it's not mysterious.") He says he thinks he'd be better at it this time than he was last time. And he probably would be: Gore really does know how to hold 6,000 people in a room. But sometimes one person is one person too much for him. Given his druthers, he'd really rather talk about complexity.
Gore is a gifted, and remorseless, explainer. Over the last three decades, he has been trying to explain a complicated and unattractive idea that scarcely anyone wanted to hear — that mankind has threatened its future on the planet by massively increasing the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Now, thanks in part to Gore himself, fewer and fewer people dispute this premise. But winning the argument — the smoking-causes-cancer part — is only the beginning. Gore and the country's major environmental groups have now embarked on a three-year effort, for which Gore hopes to raise hundreds of millions of dollars, to persuade the American people, and the political parties, to take drastic action to curb greenhouse gases. It is a campaign of such vast ambition that you could almost imagine passing up a run at the presidency in order to pursue it. "The central challenge," he said to me later that evening, as he was waiting to go onstage at the University of Miami, "is to expand the limits of what's now considered politically possible. The outer boundary of what's considered plausible today still falls far short of the near boundary of what would actually solve the crisis."
The Gores live in a whitewashed neoclassical mansion with a pillared portico in the ritzy Nashville neighborhood of Belle Meade. Tipper Gore had agreed to meet me there, and we sat outside by the pool, which was then still covered for the winter; a servant brought iced tea on a tray, along with a vase of tulips. The whole setting was redolent of genteel withdrawal; but inside, as if in generational counterpoint, Tipper, in days of yore a drummer in a rock band, kept, and used, both a drum set and a conga set. The former vice president, the more sedate and cerebral of the two, was upstairs going over the galleys of his new book, "The Assault on Reason," a learned screed on the demise of public discourse and "the meritocracy of ideas" scheduled to appear this week. I asked Tipper how long it had taken her husband to get over the agony of 2000. She looked at her watch and laughed. "What time is it now?" she asked. Neither of them, she said, has ever quite gotten over it. They withdrew from Washington to Nashville, where they set about fashioning a new life. In early 2001, she recalled, she said, "You know Al, why don't you do your slide presentation again?" For him, she said, it would be "like going back to your roots."
Gore had been using the slide show as a teaching tool on global warming for more than 20 years. Now he switched from slide carousels and flip charts to computer graphics and began barnstorming the country. He also contemplated making another run at George W. Bush, a prospect that many of his own supporters regarded with ill-disguised dread. Gore officially withdrew his name from the race in late 2002 and concentrated on preaching the climate-change gospel and on making money as the vice chairman of Metwest Financial, an asset-management firm. And now that he was liberated from the political imperative of caution, Gore began to issue thunderous — and as it turned out, highly prescient — jeremiads against the Bush administration. He denounced the war in Iraq and what he saw as the administration's reckless encroachment on civil liberties and on the prerogatives of Congress. He became the darling of the bloggers and the left. He supported the candidacy of Howard Dean. (His prescience did not extend to politics.)
By 2005, climate science had advanced to the point where the urgency of reducing CO2 emissions had become manifest, though only to the small circle of cognoscenti. And that was the problem. Gore had talked himself blue on the subject without making much headway. In mid-2005, he began talking to members of "the green group," as the environmental lobby is collectively known, about marshaling a popularizing effort. Nature has a way of chipping in on climate change, and the apocalyptic images of Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans at the end of August 2005, made such a campaign seem not only more urgent but also more compelling. Gore was the obvious candidate to lead the crusade. But the Al Gore of September 2005 was not the Saint Albert of today. That Al Gore was a harsh partisan, and all too apt a symbol of the hectoring, holier-than-thou stance of the environmental movement. "It was not clear then that having him headline this was the best strategic approach," says an official who now works with Gore, "but they didn't want to say that to him, because he was their friend and ally. It was painful. It was like, 'Maybe we need more balance.' " Gore tried to solve the problem by seeking to attract a Republican as a partner, but one candidate after another turned him down. And so, in December of that year, the board of the Alliance for Climate Protection was established — without Al Gore.
The decision obviously rankled. When I asked Gore why the alliance had taken so long to get in gear, he blurted out, "Because I wasn't chairman of it." This actually appears to be true. In the ensuing months, according to one of the alliance's founders, "nothing happened, nothing happened and then nothing happened. It was like the spaceship had gone around to the other side of the moon." Meanwhile Gore continued to proselytize the heathens, gaining adherents by the hundreds and thousands. It had not occurred to him that he could win converts by the million. But when he brought his slide show to the Beverly Hilton in April 2005, he hit pay dirt. Laurie David, a former comedy producer (and the wife of Larry David) who had become a leading environmental activist, brought Gore to Hollywood; among the spectators was Lawrence Bender, a producer whose films included "Pulp Fiction" and "Good Will Hunting." Bender received his very own form of revelation: "I immediately thought to myself, This has got to be a movie." Even a movie about a slide show could work, he thought, so long as there was "an emotional way in"; and Gore would be that way. Filming began over the summer, and the finished product was introduced at the Sundance Festival in January of last year and quickly sold to a distributor. The movie landed in theatres in May — warp speed by Hollywood standards.
Hundreds of thousands of filmgoers must have grudgingly yielded as I did, passing in a matter of days from "I'm not going to an Al Gore vanity project" to "Oh, fine" to "Yikes!" For all the gizmos and pyrotechnics, "An Inconvenient Truth" required viewers to pay attention to real science. A review on the Web site realclimate.org, which caters to the academic climate crowd, concluded that Gore had handled the science "admirably," with only a few minor errors. One prominent climate scientist I spoke to, Kerry Emanuel of M.I.T., did say that he felt Gore might be exaggerating the effects of increased CO2 emissions. Others disagree. Perhaps the most remarkable summation came from James Hansen, the director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (and one of Gore's own gurus), who wrote, in The New York Review of Books, "Al Gore may have done for global warming what 'Silent Spring' did for pesticides."
"An Inconvenient Truth" did a great deal for Al Gore as well. The last time he appeared in the consciousness of most Americans, six years earlier, he was, to all appearances, an unhappy guy running against a happy guy; and Americans like their presidential candidates to be happy. Gore now attributes this impression to a "meta-narrative" diabolically scripted by Karl Rove; but meta-narratives stick for a reason. Gore seemed to find the confines of a presidential campaign asphyxiating. And now, on screen, you could see that he was breathing free. He was dead earnest, but he was also wry; and though his torso still looked as blocky as a suitcase, he moved around the stage as if someone had loosened a vertebra or two. You could feel his enthusiasm, his alarm, his indignation.
"An Inconvenient Truth" erased the taint of partisanship from the Gore persona. By last fall, he had become the chairman and prime mover of the Alliance for Climate Protection. He hired a C.E.O. and began thinking about strategy. Meanwhile, "An Inconvenient Truth" had been winning new converts, as the slide show had before. Kevin Wall, a celebrated rock promoter who designed the "media architecture" of the Live 8 global concerts in 2005, attended the premiere and found himself thinking, as Bender had the year before, "How do we take what Al has done with this movie to the next step, and reach billions of people and really move the needle?" That next step was the global concert. Wall signed up the BBC and NBC to broadcast the events, and MSN to provide broadband coverage. Wall wasn't thinking about Gore, but when the two met, Gore suggested that the concerts, to be held this summer on July 7, serve as the alliance's launching pad.
Live Earth, as the event has been christened, will be just about the biggest thing in planetary history, and all the profits will go to the alliance. Concerts will be held on "all seven continents," including Antarctica. For the American concert, to be held at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, Wall has commitments from the Police, Smashing Pumpkins, the Dave Matthews Band, Ludacris, Alicia Keys and others; the European concert, at Wembley Stadium in London, will include Madonna, the Black Eyed Peas, the Beastie Boys, Duran Duran and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The host sites will have wall-to-wall radio, broadcast, cable and online coverage; another 30 to 40 countries will be "very big," Wall says, while satellite television and radio broadcast will be available in 100 to 120 other nations.
Live Earth is only the beginning. On his laptop, Gore showed me a diagram with a fleur-de-lis at the center and lines radiating out to indicate every facet of the vast campaign. "An Inconvenient Truth" is a mighty instrument all by itself: the book version has sold 850,000 copies worldwide, with a young adult version fresh off the presses, and a children's version in the works. Twelve thousand people came to house parties last December to celebrate the release of the DVD. The movie will be showing in schools, both here and abroad. (It has already earned as much in foreign as in domestic sales.) Gore has paid to have the slide show translated into 28 languages. He will also be training volunteers to deliver the slide show in India and China, as he already has, and will continue to do, here. He will be holding "solutions summits" with corporate, political and scientific leaders; he was getting to work on a new "Solutions" book as soon as he knocked off "The Assault on Reason." A children's TV show was in the works, and a reality show as well. It's going to be all global warming, all the time.
But the core of everything is the three-year program of mass persuasion to be conducted under the aegis of the Alliance for Climate Protection. The alliance will not lobby or even propose specific solutions to global warming; rather, it will seek to break the climate crisis out of the crunchy confines of environmentalism. Global warming is going to have a giant product rollout. Gore talks constantly about the need to move public opinion; he is convinced that what now seem like forbidding political and technical obstacles to drastically reducing carbon emissions will give way once we marshal the will to act. And Gore says he believes that once people understand the science, they'll share his sense of urgency. Thanks to Hurricane Katrina, and balmy winters, and animals evacuating their habitats, and all those terrifying pictures of melting glaciers, that sense may already be taking hold. According to a recent New York Times/CBS News poll, 78 percent of Americans believe that global warming requires action "right away."
Al Gore has given a great deal of thought to why some people still don't recognize the cliff we're about to drive over. "The Assault on Reason" is Gore's own attempt to explain, as he put it to me, "why our public discourse is so vulnerable to the kind of rope-a-dope strategies that Exxon Mobil and their brethren have been employing for decades now, and why logic and reason and the best evidence available and the scientific discoveries do not have more force in changing the way we all think about the reality we are now facing." The very fact that Gore feels that this requires an explanation shows what a high-minded rationalist he is. He says he believes that ideas were given a fair hearing on their merits until television came along and induced a kind of national trance. This is a hoary line of argument, but Gore adds a novel neuropsychological twist, explaining that the brain's fear center, the amygdala —"which as I'm sure you know comes from the Latin for 'almond' " — receives only a trickle of electrical impulses from the neocortex, the seat of reasoning, while sending back a torrent of data in return. This explains why "we respond to spiders and snakes and claws and fire, but we are less likely to feel urgency and alarm if the threat to our species is perceptible only by connecting a lot of dots to make up a complex pattern that has to be interpreted by the reasoning center of the brain" — well, it's quite a challenge for the explainer.
Whatever the merits of the TV-and-neurological-pathways argument, I couldn't help thinking that Gore was consoling himself, in a typically depersonalized and abstract fashion, for, as he told me, "30 years of beating my head against the wall." Gore first learned about the buildup of greenhouse gases at Harvard, and he began trying to publicize the issue soon after reaching Congress in 1977. He made it a prominent part of his campaign for the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1988, at a time when public awareness of global warming was close to zero. Finally, when he became Bill Clinton's vice president, he had the chance to raise the issue at the highest levels. This proved to be a time of tremendous frustration.
After the Republican House and Senate victories of 1994, environmental groups, and their allies in Congress and the White House, were forced to fight a desperate rear-guard action to protect core legislation, including the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. Real progress on issues like gas-mileage standards and the development of alternative fuels was next to impossible. "We got slam-dunked on almost every issue," as Kathleen McGinty, former head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, recalls; "and not just by Republicans but by Democrats as well." She and other former aides give Gore high marks for steadfastness in the face of massive resistance. But the resistance came not only from the business lobby and their allies in Congress but also from some of the administration's own top officials. As Gore himself recalls: "It was seen as an arcane, hobbyhorse issue: We'll indulge Vice President Gore, and let him do his thing yet again, and then we'll get back to what we know is the serious stuff."
This internal clash came to a head in 1997, with negotiations over the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse-gas emissions, which the business community, and above all the energy industry, vehemently opposed. Timothy Wirth, a committed environmentalist and then under secretary of state for global affairs, assembled a bipartisan advisory group of a dozen or so senators to build support for the treaty. "I could not get a single White House official to come to any of these meetings," Wirth recalls. "They would not identify themselves with Kyoto." Wirth planned to assemble a range of such groups, as he had with earlier pacts; but the White House took over the process before he could do so and made no outreach effort. "It was a goddamn scandal," Wirth says. "It was horrible." Wirth stepped down a few weeks before the treaty was to be finalized.
Gore was quite taken aback when I relayed Wirth's remarks. "He's not talking about me," he said. "I don't know who he's talking about." But he also adds: "If I had been president, would I have bent every part of the administration and every part of the White House to support this? Yes, I would have. Does that translate into criticism of President Clinton for not doing this? No. I was vice president, not president." Or maybe Gore would rather not do the translation. When the international negotiations looked as if they were about to collapse, in part owing to American resistance, Gore suggested that he fly to Kyoto to demonstrate Washington's commitment. David Sandalow, who worked on environmental affairs at the National Security Council, recalls a meeting with a dozen advisers "in which nobody recommended he go, with the range of opinion running from neutral to strongly against." Gore went anyway. "His arrival was galvanizing," Sandalow says. (Others are less convinced.) Gore returned in triumph — and instantly encountered, he recalls, "resistance in the White House to even signing it, much less submitting it to the Senate for ratification." Gore used his last dram of political capital to persuade Clinton to sign the Kyoto pact; it was never sent to the Senate, where it surely would have died an ugly death. The Clinton administration thus surrendered without firing a shot. For Gore, it was a humiliating denouement.
Gore's advisers in the 2000 campaign worried that he would commit political suicide by global warming. The issue had advanced far enough in public consciousness that George W. Bush saw fit to endorse regulating carbon emissions (a position he promptly ignored once taking office). But it was still a net loser. Gore says he believes that he lost West Virginia, and possibly Kentucky, by calling for restrictions on coal-fired utilities. Gore could be excused a case of epic bitterness; but his total immersion in a cause he deeply believes in appears to have seen him through. The only what-if in which he indulged during our time together was to say, only half-jokingly, that if he had had the "presentation skills" he has since learned, "I think I'd be in my second term as president."
Ah, the presidency. There are Web sites, and even a political action committee, dedicated to promoting a Gore candidacy. James Carville, the Democratic strategist, told Rolling Stone flatly, "He's going to run, and he's going to be formidable." Several of Gore's aides from the 2000 race are said to have assembled a shadow campaign team should Gore change his mind. But the people closest to Gore say, as one, that he does not so much as raise the subject. "Al knows where the sirens are," says Roy Neel, who has been with Gore since the early days in Congress, "and he knows when it's not real." He adds that Gore "has rejected offers to do any sort of planning." He has not, however, stopped others from planning on his behalf.
When I asked Gore why he hasn't dismissed all the speculation by issuing a Shermanesque refusal to stand, as he did in 2002, Gore said, "Having spent 30 years as part of the political dialogue, I don't know why a 600-day campaign is taken as a given, and why people who aren't in it 600 days out for the convenience of whatever brokers want to close the door and narrow the field and say, 'This is it, now let's place your bets' — If they want to do that, fine. I don't have to play that game." This sounded a lot like "I can get in late." (Indeed, the buzz among the former aides is that Gore could jump in at the end of 2007 should the current contenders show significant weakness.) A few moments later, he said: "I'm not issuing a Shermanesque statement because that's not where I am. I'm not ruling it out for all time. Although I cannot presently foresee any circumstances, such circumstances could emerge."
"And such circumstances could emerge in 2008?"
"It's extremely unlikely, but not impossible."
In James Hansen's view, which Gore shares, we have no more than 10 years to level off the production of greenhouse gases; by 2050, despite massive growth in population and the world economy, we must have cut global emissions to "a fraction of what they are now." Otherwise, we go over the cliff. This is what Gore means when he says that the outer edge of the politically possible falls short of the inner edge of the necessary; and this is why he believes that the only hope is to transform the definition of the possible through a campaign of mass persuasion. There are now half a dozen greenhouse-gas bills in Congress; the most drastic of them would meet Hansen's target through a combination of tough gas-mileage standards, requirements that utilities resort to alternative fuels and a market-based "cap and trade" system. Under such a regime, mandated by the Kyoto Protocol and now in place in Europe, companies receive an annual "allotment" of carbon emissions; those that produce even less can sell their "credits" to those who can't or won't make it under the bar. Of course this system works only if the annual "cap" starts low and gets smaller and smaller every year. Gore's great fear is that business lobbies and lawmakers will unite around some kind of compromise legislation that will demonstrate "commitment" without actually driving up the cost, or driving down the permissible volume, of carbon emissions. And he views even the most stringent legislation as inadequate.
Still, the monolith of apathy and opposition has begun to break up; and because, as Gore says, social change, like climate change, is "nonlinear," the shift in public opinion may come about very suddenly. Major firms, including Wal-Mart, are starting to see the economic logic of going green. In January, a coalition of 10 big companies, including G.E., DuPont and several major utilities, banded together with environmental groups to call for reductions of up to 30 percent in greenhouse-gas emissions over the next 15 years. A number of conservative Republicans in the Senate have quietly vowed to back tough legislation now in committee, though President Bush would almost certainly veto such a bill. China is rapidly gaining on the U.S. as the world's leading source of greenhouse-gas emission, but Gore says he believes that the Chinese government is changing direction. He gave his slide show at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and found "a high degree of receptivity" to his message. Scientists from China and other large developing nations recently signed off on an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report calling for the immediate imposition of a carbon-trading system or a carbon tax, and for a switch to lower-carbon fuels.
Gore himself is writing, and traveling, and presenting, at a maniacal clip. He's even eating like a maniac: I watched him inhale the clam dip at a reception like a man who doesn't know when his next meal will be coming. Still, he may have been thinner in 2000, but he's happier today. One of his longtime political supporters watched in amazement as Gore badgered Kevin Wall, the rock promoter, into working with the Alliance for Climate Protection. Here was a man who as a presidential candidate could barely ask anyone for a dollar, much less browbeat them. "It was a total behavioral change," says this old ally. "It was just shocking."
I told Gore that he seemed to be experiencing that pleasure-in-the-midst-of-work that the psychologist Csikszentmihalyi called "flow."
"Is that how you pronounce it?" Gore said. "His first name is Mihaly. He also co-authored a cover story for Scientific American a few years ago on television," and on and on. I told Gore that he was far more deeply versed in the work of Csikszentmihalyi than I was. He laughed so hard that he turned purple.


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But first I'd like to thank everyone who stopped by to leave a comment and show their enthusiasm for buying local and their appreciation toward The Natural Gardener.
….the winner is LisaH of Austin! Lisa, Congratulations! I'll send you an email with info. for redeeming your gift. Thank you Natural Gardener for the donated certificate!
I'm grateful to the very active Austin garden blogging community for introducing me to some independent nurseries that I am eager to visit soon…and for reminding me of the VALUE of shopping locally. While shopping at local nurseries this past weekend I purchased….
Inland Sea Oats (chasmanthium latifolium) – (below) shade-loving, graceful and looks like a cross between bamboo and prairie grass; I'm planting it in a strip between a fence and a walkway to soften the parallel edges of the space; it has great rustling movement in the lightest of breezes- nice to include nature's music in a garden. (photos provided by Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and Gardener of Good and Evil Blog)
Berkeley Sedge (carex divulsa) – (below) an evergreen carex that is clumping, grass like and floppy like rabbit ears, love it; I'm planting twenty of these in a portion of my garden that is part sun/shade where way-too-thirsty bermuda grass once was. (photo provided by The New York Times / garden design by Mark Word; Annie's Annuals
Devil's Shoestring (nolina texana) – (below) an evergreen uber hardy Texas native; I'm adding this amongst my boulders for year-round green and a truly authentic Texas Hill Country look. (photo provided by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center)
I've never seen any of the above lovely xeric plants at the big box stores. Now, I've got to go get planting! I'll post photos soon…..
And, again, below are some of the fabulous central Texas garden blogs that participated in Support Your Local Independent Nursery Month – brainchild of Pam Penick of Digging. I visit these blogs often for inspiration and know-how.
Digging- It all starts with a patch of dirt

subset: commoncrawl


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How to Buy an Engagement Ring on a Budget
There is a lot of pressure on men when picking out that perfect engagement ring. Many men see the selection as a symbol of the depth of the love for their bride to be. The engagement ring may be a representation of your love and commitment to your fiancé, but it certainly is not something that you should stretch to pay for or go into debt over.
Here are a few simple things to consider when buying a ring for your betrothed:
Know your budget: Don't get wrapped up in the two month's salary propaganda. Figure out what makes sense for you to spend to get your future fiancé a beautiful engagement ring that won't put the two of you in the poor house before you even tie the knot.
A ring is not an investment: Although the value of the diamond and ring itself may appreciate over time, would you ever plan to sell your wife's ring in retirement or during difficult financial periods? An investment is something you purchase today that you anticipate will appreciate in value, so you can sell it at a profit. An engagement ring does not meet those qualifications. It is a gift, not an investment.
Do your research: Know what you are looking for before you go to a jeweler. Understanding the 4 C's (carat, color, clarity, and cut) will arm you with knowledge before you walk into the store — and before a jeweler leads you down a path of endless monthly payments.
Would you buy a car based on the word of the dealer? When trying to save money on a diamond, consider making the sacrifice in the color, clarity, or the carat. Making a move from a one-karat diamond to a .90-karat stone can save you hundreds, even thousands of dollars. The only person that will know the difference is your jeweler. A one-step downgrade in color and clarity will also create huge savings, and the compromise may not even be discernable to an admirer.
Try not to skimp on the cut. A properly cut diamond has facets that are well positioned to reflect incoming light back to you. This is what makes a diamond sparkle. A poor cut, more than anything, has a great effect on the quality of the sparkle of the diamond.
Always comparison shop: Although it may be impossible to find two diamonds that are equal, it is not impossible to find an equivalent diamond at a cheaper price through comparison shopping. Once you have decided on the aspects of the diamond you hope to purchase, shop more than one jeweler to get the diamond you are looking for at the best price.
Buying an engagement ring is similar to any other major purchase. If you decide on a budget, do your research, and then comparison shop, you will be sure to get her a ring that she loves at a price that won't break the bank.


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In Remembrance of D-Day, June 6, 1944Posted on June 6th, 2012 No comments
68 years ago today marked the beginning of the end of Adolf Hitler's reign of insanity as American and allied forces landed on the Nazi occupied beaches of Normandy, France.
Nearly 200,000 personnel were involved with the attack. Thousands of soldiers died risking the invasion so that hundreds of thousands more could push back the Nazis and end World War II. The invasion had been planned…


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Houston Quilt Market
Vintage Quilt Revival schoolhouse session Photo courtesy of Tracy Mooney/Generation Q Magazine
I've been back from Quilt Market a few weeks now, but it seems like just days. Things have been crazy busy at home and I've finally had a chance to go through my photos. (All on my phone, I just had no more room to pack my nice camera.) I wanted to share a bit about my trip. Mostly photos, but everyone likes new-fabric-eye candy, right?
This was my first trip to Quilt Market (trade show). I've been to several Quilt Festivals (open to public show), so I wasn't completely flying blind, but it was pretty exciting to see the "business" side of things. Katie, Lee and I were there to promote our upcoming book, Vintage Quilt Revival. A huge surprise arrived at our doorsteps just a couple days before we left - a real, life, actual copy of the book!
We knew we'd be getting one advance copy about a month before the first big shipment arrived at the publisher, but we weren't expecting for several more weeks. To say we were excited would be an understatement. And also, to have the book in person and be able to show it to people in Houston was awesome.
We arrived Thursday evening and had our Schoolhouse presentation Friday afternoon. For those that haven't been to Quilt Market, Schoolhouses are timed sessions where you get a chance to present your product (fabric line, notion, book, etc) to a group of people (shop owners, press, etc). There are tons of Schoolhouses going on at any given time, in rooms all over the convention center. I was quite nervous because 1) I'd never been to a Schoolhouse before and 2) what if no one showed up to ours?? We spent the morning visiting other Schoolhouses and I started to get more comfortable. Everyone in the audiences was so kind and all the other presenters said they were nervous too. It was just one of those times where you realize everyone there is human and wants to see each other succeed.
So Friday afternoon we had our Schoolhouse session and it went really well! We were able to share our book, how it's broken down, and probably 80% of the projects. We had a great response! After that was over we were able to officially relax and enjoy the rest of the weekend.
I went into Quilt Market thinking there weren't a ton of upcoming fabric lines that I just needed. Boy was I wrong! Haha I think there were 2 lines that excited me the most. First, Botanics by Carolyn Friedlander.
This line follows Carolyn's hugely popular Architextures line. Carolyn uses the same small scale style, but this time the line is inspired by the organic world. She works a bit of gold into some of the prints in a really, really amazing way. This was the only line I actually spent money on over the weekend, coming home with a Fat Quarter set.
The next collection that really excited me was by Anna Maria Horner (of course, would you expect anyone else?!)
FreeSpirit Fabrics has coordinated new collections by various designers called True Colors. These are fabrics that can be used as blenders and will be available for longer periods of time. I love Anna Maria's fabrics so much, her sense of color is always right up my alley.
Her booth showcased both her True Colors collection and her new line, Dowry.
Probably the biggest surprise and talk of market was Cotton + Steel: the new collaboration between RJR Fabrics and Melody Miller, along with designers Rashida Coleman-Hale, Alexia Abegg, Kim Kight, and Sarah Watts.
My head is kind of exploding at the amount of talent in this group and I cannot wait to see what they have to show us later in 2014.
I think what I love most about this group is their willingness to think big and take chances. That's not something that comes naturally to me and I have so much awe and respect for people that can do that. They've shown they have a great mix of artistic talent and business savvy and I think that is a rare (and powerful) combination. If you haven't had a chance to watch their video, be sure to check it out.
It was fun to just walk the show and see friends and celebrate their success.
Jeni Baker with her bright and happy new line, Dreamin' Vintage. I predict this line is going to fly off the shelves.
Vanessa Christenson's new Color Me Happy line. I even got my hands on her new pillow patterns - you'll be seeing more of them later!
Designer Marcia Derse and I, holding up my Lighthouse Quilt that I made for her Quilt Market booth! Featuring her upcoming Palette fabric line.
I seriously have a million pictures. :)
It was great to meet designers in person whom I have admired their work so much. Camille Roskelley of Bonnie and Camille.
Leah Duncan with her second line for Art Gallery Fabrics. LOVE her artwork!
Sarah Jane with her adorable new line Wee Wander - and her new baby! Check out in the teepee on the right!
Lots of new solids are coming out, including Modern Solids by Alissa Haight Carlton, which are a really cool looking crossweave...
and another by Denyse Schmidt for FreeSpirit Fabrics.
Ok, I could go on and on. I think I already have! It was a great time, I'm finally not exhausted anymore and really just inspired to get back at the sewing machine. I hope you enjoyed the photos!


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The GSL has been a long time coming.
Work on the very first SL Geo started way back in February 2008. Known as the SL91 that still born project has achieved cult status within the paintball community with only the ten sample units ever seeing the light of day; exchanging hands for staggering sums of money amongst collectors its place in paintball history is secure as one of the rarest markers ever made.
Fast forward to late 2013 and we have the first fully-fledged Limited Edition SL Geo; The GSL
Just like every other SL before it, the GSL brings something a little bit special to the table. In this case it's a stunning fusion of technology and features from the Geo3, the Ego LV1, the Ego CSL together with all new ideas developed specifically for the GSL.
The SL range has always been made that extra bit special by its exclusivity and its use of bespoke parts that are not used on or in any other model in the range. The GSL is no exception with virtually every external metal part being designed and manufactured in limited numbers for use exclusively on the GSL. From the body, to the frame, the POPS and trigger. Every part manufactured for sole use on the GSL.
Mechanically the GSL also varies dramatically from the Geo3 on which it is loosely based. Replacing the standard threaded internals comes a new quick release system. Pull up the bonnet and slide out the IV Core and you have access to a completely new firing assembly. The IV Core is made up of all new components with new ST3 bolt, super soft ST3 bolt tip, can, propshaft, propshaft tip, back cap, locking mechanism and bonnet. Besides the obvious quick release mechanism the IV Core was developed to further increase the already impressive efficiency of the Geo3 platform. The internals incorporate a new pressure sensing path that allows the sprung propshaft to react more quickly and earlier in the cycle to trap more of the "tail end" air in the firing chamber. This tail end air does not have a significant effect on the velocity of the paintball, but does contribute to inefficiency if it is wasted. The IV Core traps more of this wasted air each shot therefore increasing overall efficiency without any negative impact on the sound or feel of the marker.
Externally the GSL incorporates the SL4 regulator and foregrip together with the grips and console from the Ego LV1. The soft, textured and shaped rubber at both contact points on the marker offer exceptional stability and ergonomic comfort. With the inclusion of the AT Pipe system from the Ego LV1 the macroline is removed from the marker and the air passes through the frame and the AT Pipe into the new SL4 inline regulator. It makes for a sleek finish.
Of course the body, bonnet and frame blend seamlessly into each other helping to emphasise the aggressive 3D milling of the billet machined and hand finished body. A deep lustrous anodizing over a satin blasted finish in 3 select colourways adorn each marker. The colour matched anodizing extends to each of the additional accessories that are included with the GSL, such as the optional triggers and the full 5-piece SL3 barrel kit.
Packaged in the zipper case with the barrel kit and additional trigger there is also a completely new GSL manual, a second GSL-specific ST bolt (all metal construction), a GSL Parts Kit that includes an AT POPS extender rail, ePortal Kit, tools, barrel sock and GSL Key Chain.
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Our global network of experienced transaction advisory professionals work with many of the world's leading oil and gas companies, fast-growing companies and private equity firms on many highly complex cross-border deals in the global market. Our focus is on providing independent, whole-life support and advice to our clients to improve their growth, profitability and competitiveness, in a changing landscape.
We have proven industry skills covering the entire breadth and depth of our oil and gas clients' businesses ranging from strategy to portfolio review, optimization and management to execution. Our global reach means that wherever a company operates in the world, we can help achieve the value that investors expect.
We continually challenge ourselves to develop services that are highly relevant to our clients in the face of evolving regulatory and industry requirements, and the changing landscape. Our strategic and execution services include:
- Corporate development advisory — company, portfolio and asset evaluations, and review of internal decision support models; identification of options to address any gaps in portfolios and to maintain or create clients' competitive edge
- Transaction execution — advising on mergers, acquisition or divestments, joint ventures and alliances, undertaking buy-side and sell-side due diligence, and carve-out accounting
- Integration — determining and analyzing post-acquisition and merger integration and, in some cases, portfolio realignment
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Thank you for visiting our website! Below you will be able to find the answer to Prosecute woman crossword clue which was last seen on Mirror - Cryptic Crossword, March 20 2017. Our site contains over 2.8 million crossword clues in which you can find whatever clue you are looking for. Since you landed on this page then you would like to know the answer to Prosecute woman. Without losing anymore time here is the answer for the above mentioned crossword clue:
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|Ruin nothing in terrible slip
|Set dopes off
|Go on at a horse
|Swap some coins
|Sketch a tie
|Agree with the head
|Fill hole in improvisation
|Happy with criminal shelter
|Confused a year with a shorter time
|Like a family
|Cadge from cleaner
|Hitting with can
|Pears used as weapon
|Principle of reversibility?
|Another form is not as good
|Spinning around pub
|Blagged about prisoner
|Show indifference to cape
|Deposit on feathers?
|Chap gets information on time
|Join a religious man
|Prosecute woman
|Unacceptable in Southampton
|A vine turned green
|Unfortunately sent home
|Holding racket inside
|Spite about mine
|Honest about quantity
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Queen Anne is a neighborhood in Seattle which is defined by a few things: its killer views, its killer "Counterbalance" hill, and of course, the fact that it is the neighborhood in which the Cakespy Headquarters is located. And what a sweet 'hood to call home: from the lower part of the hill with its Danish-inspired pastries, to the top of the hill, where doughnuts and carbohydrates reign, there are plenty of places to get your dessert on in Queen Anne. Here are some of our personal favorites:
Caffe Ladro: Though mostly known for its coffee, Ladro is an established bakery in its own right: they have their own commercial bakery in West Seattle, at which baked goods are made daily for all of their Seattle locations. Ranging from dense vegan oat bars with a tart rhubarb layer to buttery scones and a gorgeously crumbly cardamom coffee cake, it's worth a visit even for non coffee drinkers. Two Queen Anne Locations: 600 Queen Anne Ave. No., and 2205 Queen Anne Ave. No.; online at caffeladro.com.
Crow: Though we don't frequently feature restaurants (we don't feel as comfortable talking about the meal before dessert), this one is an exception. When Head Spy Jessie moved to Seattle on a whim and found herself jobless, she waited tables at Crow in lower Queen Anne. Though no longer waiting tables there, we all still enjoy their house-made desserts which will range seasonally--offerings might include a house-made strawberry ice cream, rustic cobbler à la mode or a sinfully rich chocolate cake. We like to sit at the bar where it's OK to order dessert only! 823 5th Ave. No., (206) 283-8800.
Eat Local: Desserts made with no artificial sweeteners, no refined sugar, and all-local ingredients? Sounds suspect, we know, but as proven by our recent week-long Eat Local Challenge, sometimes local is a good thing: ranging from the surprisingly light honey-lemon cheesecake to crumbly shortbread and toe-curlingly delicious chocolate decadence in their "takeaway" dessert case, Eat Local offers some treasures on Upper Queen Anne. 2400 Queen Anne Ave. No., (206) 328-3663; online at eatlocalonline.com.
El Diablo Coffee Co.: Aside from serving a spicy mocha made with Mexican chocolate that would make even a black coffee drinker a believer, they've got some killer desserts--Tres Leches Cake, Red Velvet, and a rotating cast of tarts, pots de creme, and other delectable treats. The desserts are supplied by another Seattle Bakery, Bella Dolce, but the ambiance is far better at El Diablo, with a warm, lived-in interior and cute hipster employees. 1811 Queen Anne Avenue N., (206) 285-0693; online at eldiablocoffee.com.
Macrina Bakery: Macrina can be a strange beast, inspiring either fierce love or instense disdain amongst Seattleites. It's an acquired taste for certain--their cakes aren't as sweet as some of their other commercial counterparts, and their "short" scones do tend to crumble differently than the sweet ones you'd find at say, Starbucks. And to put it bluntly, their coffee is...not good. But while our Cakespy crew doesn't love everything at Macrina, the good stuff is truly, genuinely good: rich cupcakes that blur the line between cake and truffle; beautiful iced shortbread, and perfect buttermilk biscuits with jam in the morning. Queen Anne Location, 615 W McGraw St., (206) 283-5900; online at macrinabakery.com.
Metropolitan Market: Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and Metro Market is that place for us. Located one block away from Cakespy Headquarters, this is the place that fuels our immediate sugar needs, with a surprisingly good on-site bakery, and also a large selection of pastries, ranging from local bakers like Alki Bakery, EATS Market, Essential Baking, Macrina--to baked goods and pastries from the likes of Poilâne Bakery and Cheesecake from Junior's in NYC. Swoon. Two Queen Anne Locations: 100 Mercer Street, and 1908 Queen Anne Ave. No.; online at metropolitan-market.com.
Morfey's Cake Shoppe: True, Morfey's is a special-order cake bakery (alas, no rows of cake slices or cupcakes for those just walking by), but is certainly worth mentioning. They've been around forever, and it shows, with light-as-air cakes topped with whipped buttercream frosting which invoke instant taste nostalgia. Just walking inside will give you a buzz--with just a tiny meeting area in front of the large commercial ovens, the air is thick with the smell of cakes baking. 110 Denny Way, (206) 283-8557; online at morfeyscake.com.
Nielsen's Pastries: Though this one can be hard to hit due to their bankers hours (7:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. Mondays, 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. the rest of the week, 8:00 a.m. - 3 p.m. Saturday, and closed on Sunday ). Nonetheless, if you find yourself here during a trip or if you're local taking a "mental health day" from work, it's worth a visit, with rich, cream filled pastries, Danish specialties and cookies like mom made--but better. Our picks are the oozy, glazey, fantastic cinnamon rolls (picture top), and the "Potato"--think of a creamy, rich, custardy eclair, then top it with a marzipan jacket and a dusting of cocoa. One Sweet Potato indeed. 520 2nd Ave W, (206) 282-3004; online at nielsenspastries.com.
Pasta + Co.: When you see the the gorgeous pasta displays and splendid array of olive oils just keep on walking--they'll only divert you from the wonderful (made in-house!) lemon tarts, as well as creamy, dreamy cupcakes and sweets supplied by excellent local baker T.M. Dessert Works. 2109 Queen Anne Ave. No., (206) 283-1182; online at pastaco.com.
QFC: Yes, QFC is a grocery store chain and part of the Kroger family. But we're not scared to admit that their bakery has what in our opinion is a surprisingly toothsome and tasty nanaimo bar. You'll also always be able to find a pink frosted cookie here, but not much else in their baked goods case is worth a mention in our opinion. Queen Anne Location, 500 Mercer St., (206) 352-4020; online at qfconline.com.
Teacup: This bulk tea shop is a mecca for tea lovers, ranging from tame Northwest Mint to exotic (and expensive) Pu'Erh blends and exquisite green teas. However, tea isn't the only thing that keeps us coming back--we also love their tiny tea cookies and homemade scones--supplied by Blue Dog Baking; biscotti from Dilettante is also on hand. 2207 Queen Anne Ave No.,
(206) 283-5931; online at seattleteacup.com.
(206) 283-5931; online at seattleteacup.com.
Top Pot Doughnuts: Continuing their slow but steady quest in taking over the doughnut world, Top Pot just opened a new location on Upper Queen Anne, which can be teeming with families on the weekends, but is rather pleasant on weekday afternoons. While we won't say they're the best we've ever tasted, they are very, solidly good, and very dependable; also, their displays, with doughnuts like the "Pink Feather Boa", never fail to brighten our mood. But if you prefer Mighty-O's vegan donuts, they have them across the street at Caffe Fiore. 325 West Galer St, (206) 728-1986; online at toppotdoughnuts.com.
Uptown Espresso: Like Ladro, Uptown Espresso's baked goods are their own creations. While we can take or leave their scones, we've had very good experiences with their iced "loaf" cakes (try the pumpkin if it's available) and with their buttery, shortbready sugar cookies. Good Americano too--in the mornings, barista Kelly (on the right side) always makes us smile. 525 Queen Anne Ave No., (206) 285-5663; online at uptownespresso.net.


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Creed had his one month check up today. He's grown three inches and now weighs 11 pounds! Our friends the Rices take a picture of their kids every month with the same stuffed animal so you can tell how much they've grown. We adopted their tradition so here's Creed at one week.
And here's Creed at one month (he's practicing being a Wild Thing so he can hang out with Max).
And here's Creed in his bouncy seat, his favorite place to be.


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Window to Prevent Catastrophic Climate Change Closing; EU Should Press for Immediate U.S. Action
Washington, D.C.—Consumption of energy and many other critical resources is consistently breaking records, disrupting the climate and undermining life on the planet, according to the latest Worldwatch Institute report, Vital Signs 2007-2008.
The 44 trends tracked in Vital Signs illustrate the urgent need to check consumption of energy and other resources that are contributing to the climate crisis, starting with the largest polluter, the United States, which accounted for over 21 percent of global carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning in 2005. Europe, already feeling the effects of climate change, should pressure the U.S. to join international climate negotiations, according to Erik Assadourian, Vital Signs Project Director.
"The world is running out of time to head off catastrophic climate change, and it is essential that Europe and the rest of the international community bring pressure to bear on U.S. policy makers to address the climate crisis," said Assadourian, who spoke at the Barcelona launch of Vital Signs. "The United States must be held accountable for its emissions, double the per capita level in Europe, and should follow the EU lead by committing to reducing its total greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050."
This summer, the European Union has become a showcase for how the world will be transformed by climate change, including tragic fires in Greece and the Canary Islands, dramatic floods in England, and heat waves across the Continent. Assadourian urged European leaders to push the U.S. to engage more constructively with the international community on climate change, starting at the United Nations late this month and in the Bali Climate negotiations at the end of the year.
With a global population of 6.6 billion and growing, the ecosystem services upon which life depends are being stretched to the limit due to record levels of consumption:
- In 2006, the world used 3.9 billion tons of oil. Fossil fuel usage in 2005 produced 7.6 billion tons of carbon emissions, and atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide reached 380 parts per million.
- More wood was removed from forests in 2005 than ever before.
- Steel production grew 10 percent to a record 1.24 billion tons in 2006, while primary aluminum output increased to a record 33 million tons. Aluminum production accounted for roughly 3 percent of global electricity use.
- Meat production hit a record 276 million tons (43 kg per person) in 2006.
- Meat consumption is one of several factors driving soybean demand. Rapid South American expansion of soybean plantations could displace 22 million hectares of tropical forest and savanna in the next 20 years.
- The rise in global seafood consumption comes even as many fish species become scarcer: in 2004, 156 million tons of seafood was eaten, an average of three times as much seafood per person than in 1950.
The expanding world population's appetite for everything from everyday items such as eggs to major consumer goods such as automobiles is helping to drive climate change, which is endangering organisms on the land and in the sea:
- The warming climate is undermining biodiversity by accelerating habitat loss, altering the timing of animal migrations and plant flowerings, and shifting some species towards the poles and to higher altitudes.
- The oceans have absorbed about half of the carbon dioxide emitted by humans in the last 200 years. Climate change is altering fish migration routes, pushing up sea levels, intensifying coastal erosion, raising ocean acidity, and interfering with currents that move vital nutrients upward from the deep sea.
- Despite a relatively calm hurricane season in the U.S. in 2006, the world experienced more weather-related disasters than in any of the previous three years. Nearly 100 million people were affected.
While U.S. carbon emissions continue to grow, the fastest growth is occurring in Asia, particularly China and India. But without a U.S. commitment to emissions constraints, persuading China and India to commit to reductions is unlikely. "The only hope for reducing the world's carbon emissions is for the U.S. to begin reducing its emissions and cooperating with other nations immediately. The EU may be the only entity that can make that happen," said Assadourian.
"With the U.S. Congress preparing to take up far-ranging climate legislation this fall, and with President Bush planning to hold an international climate change summit in Washington, now is the time to act. If the U.S. and other nations walk away without concrete plans to implement a binding agreement, the EU should not hesitate to use its diplomatic clout to press the issue," suggested Assadourian.
Already, the window to prevent catastrophic climate change appears to be closing. Some governments are starting to redirect their attention away from climate change mitigation and towards staking their claims in a warming world. "Canada is spending $3 billion to build eight new patrol boats to reinforce its claim over the Arctic waterways. Denmark and Russia are starting to vie for control over the Lomonosov Ridge, where new sources of oil and natural gas could be accessed if the Arctic Circle becomes ice free—fossil fuels that will further exacerbate climate change. These actions assume that a warming world is here," said Assadourian.


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Home > Jewelry > Hot off the Bench >
Heart Song
I have currently disabled all of my listings.
We are in the process of shutting down this website.
We have moved all of our jewelry to: Jitterbugs Attic on Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/shop/JitterbugsAttic
We also have a jewelry findings store on Etsy:
If you wish to order over the phone, you may reach me at: 407-451-0699
-Size 26mm tall x 15.5mm wide (oval drop)
-Overall size including earwires is 1.75"
-Sterling Silver
-Handmade by me!
All of our signature silver is handmade by us! Carved by me (from wax) and then hand finished by my husband, Steve.


text:
UAD-2 PCIe DSP Accelerator Cards
Customer Reviews
UAD-2 PCIe Cards
Only registered users can write reviews. Please, log in or create an account.
E. Bellerose
A1 I love it!
It's works perfectly and give a lot more power to my DAW and the plugin Bundle is just awesome. Great for home studio. Easy installation no problem and compatible with windows 10. Excellent jog UAD. I'm now on a next level with you guys. Keep going.
L. Barbe
Give a second chance to your old computer !
My Mac Pro was underpowered for mixing large Pro Tools sessions so I decided to give him more power !
The UAD-2 Octo Ultimate card did it perfectly and even more than i expected !!!
Now my mixes sound really better: All plugins provided are really amazing !
Thanks to Universal Audio for this great product .
S. Renius
UAD Octo Power & the download Session
Hey Guys,
the Octo Card is very powerful and makes me happy ;-).
Only I had problems with the downloads Version 7.0. I need a lot of downloads til the right result. And now I can not select a demo-mode in the Software for test new UAD PlugIns....
At present I combine the octo in my workflow with built in my Mac Pro and on the road with my Book i use a sonnet chassis. A new Satelite Octo would be the best . My Wish for the future...
So sorry for my english...
Best regards to America ;-)
Thank you for your cool development. You all are doing a good job.
I am a very big fan!
PS: In this time I have often Problems with my Satelite Quad _ Firewire 800 to my Mac Pro.If I don't working some minutes ist the fw- stream interrupted
S. Mcclure
Replacement Duo Card
Service department was incredibly helpful in solving my problems with my card. They replaced it immediately. I swear by my card. I can't live without it! It brings my mixes to life. It's like having 10 racks full of processing at you fingertips. How did we ever do without this?
Universal Audio ROCKS!!!!!
A. Onyeche
Let's not pull any punches here. This is a little bad boy DSP processor. I replaced my 1E with it and it out pro-forms it. Sweet like candy. For the price it's the best way to get onto the platform. Expansion has been made so easy due to the fab drivers just keep adding cards. To keep it real, everyone who's anyone and no ones use these cards. It's a must.
M. Mercado
Wow, this things got some juice! I recently upgraded from XP to Windows 7.
I upgraded from 2 UAD-1 PCI cards to the UAD-2 DUO. I opened up some of my old mixes that were tapped out, and man, there's plenty of power to spare.
I didn't even bother installing the UAD-1 cards, there's plenty of power with just one UAD-2 DUO card.
Now I have to check out some of the new UAD plugins, can't wait!
L. Landuzzi
I have Pro Tools HD 2 with last Pro Tools HD 10.2 software.
I've used and tried tons of DSP plugins (TDM) ad native plugins (Waves, McDsp, Heat, Avid, Soundtoys, Softube, etc.)
I was thinking that adding a UAD-2 to my system would be ... something you can live without: well, I was wrong !
UAD-2 Nevana adds a lot of realism to my mix and using Neve plugins seems using the real thing: you have the sense of using a real knob with a real reaction.
I'm still using TDM and native plugins: I was wrong in the sense that UA plugins add a lot (a very lot) of colors in your palette, and are something different in the sense that I think they're the "retina display" of your sound ! Luca from Bologna, Italy
A. Davison
The Good:
I finally upgraded my old UAD1 card for the UAD2 Duo. I'm loving the increased DSP power; I can use UAD plugins on far more tracks than before.
The Bad:
I really miss the Nigel guitar suite. That thing was an unsung hero, especially (surprisingly enough) on my bass tracks.
The Ugly:
The harsh fact is that these cards are expensive. For a proffessional studio, I'd say it's a no-brainer, but for a project studio like mine, well, let's just say my wife will not allow me to buy anything else music-related for a while.
E. Nowak
I'm amazed! I've been a big UAD fan since I bought the first Mackie PCI card version many years ago. The quality of the initial plug ins gave my work a very clean and professional sound. I kept adding plug ins, and realized that I had more tools for mixing than any recording studio I was ever in, even into the early 90's. Over the years I had accumulated (4) UAD-1 cards just for the power and flexibility it gave my system. Then the UAD-2 platform came out, and I knew I needed to get a Quad! I wanted to keep pace with the new plug ins that became available. The increase in power allowed me to use an incredible number of my favorite plugins. To me, the most amazing thing about UAD, is the care and respect shown to long-time customers by creating the rebate plan,
S. Muramatsu
I always use NEVE EQs and several compressors powered by UAD-2 for each drum parts of VST instruments when composing. UAD-2 QUAD is powerful enough to trim every sounds of kick, snare, hat, toms, crush and ride, also overhead. This makes big difference in my drum unit. It turns lively so much.
EMT-140&250 are also my favorite. Those are unique in UAD and you can't find them in other plug-in distributors. They will give some organic reverb to your vocals and guitar solo.
One thing I have to tell is that if you use UAD-2 DSP, soon you need more. I chose a UAD-2 QUAD for myself, but it is not enough to put plug-ins into every channel which I wanted to use them. I might buy another QUAD card, that is a problem.
S. Sherrard
When the UAD-2 systems came out, I already had four UAD-1 cards in an external expansion chassis. I bought the UAD-2 QUAD and had it running in a slot in the computer (not in the expansion slot) at the same time as the UAD-1 cards. They worked together without any problems. However, as I was hoping, the UAD-2 was more than powerful enough to replace the four UAD-1 cards. So, I eventually sold the UAD-1 cards and the expansion chassis to simplify my hardware setup.
I'm loving all the UAD plug-ins and the UAD-2 Quad gives me more than enough power for almost every mix I do. With some of the new intensive DSP plug-ins, I can occasionally manage to max out the card, but that is fairly rare, and I can also freeze tracks to free up some DSP when needed.
The only negative I have to say about the UAD-2 QUAD card I have (which is one of the earliest ones), is that the PCI-E connector is very small, and didn't fit very tightly into the slot on the original computer I had it in. Plus, it didn't seem to line up correctly with the backplane of the computer, so when I screwed it down, it was angle slightly, and sometimes it wasn't making proper contact in the slot, and one or two of the QUAD's processors wouldn't show up, or sometimes the entire card wouldn't even show up, and I'd have to shut down, and reseat it in the slot. I ended up have to loosen the screw on the card itself that held the backplane bracket so that I could pull that bracket a little further back to allow it to fit better into my computer.
I have since built a whole new studio computer system, and the QUAD seems to fit tighter and lines up slightly better with the backplane in the new computer, although it's still not a perfect fit. But, no problems so far with the card not being recognized.
Even with my new i7-950 based system, which can handle quite a bit of plug-ins all on its own (I also own Waves Mercury + SSL, plus many other Native plugs), the UAD-2 Quad is a major part of my mixing arsenal. UA makes great sounding plugs that I rely on for every mix, even though I have other similar native options. Something about the UAD versions just sound right to me and seem to be easier to dial in to get the sound I want.
D. Willis
In this age of powerful computers with Quad processors and a jillion cores in your CPU, why buy extra hardware cards to process audio?
That's the question I asked myself when I was considering buying UAD cards. But after researching all the possibilities, and going on the forums and seeing how good the support from the company was (very important to me!), I took the plunge.
I liked the results so much that I bought a second UAD-2 card. The sounds are just so darned good, and the processing cards lets my Mac use all its power for Logic and any native AU plugins I'm using.
The UAD plugins work as advertised, and any time I had questions the tech support was immediate. That's the second time I've mentioned support, because I feel it's SUPER important when dealing with high end cutting edge stuff like audio recording. And software updates are regular, free, and smush any bugs.
Basically, I feel very well taken care of and I feel like this company really understands musicians. Yeah, the stuff is a little pricey, but I'm happy to pay it since it works right the first time and every time. That alone is worth the price.
I'm so glad I spent the money on this instead of the Waves plugins -- so many problems with those and vastly overpriced. (I know some people run both, but I'm an a limited budget). On a limited budget, every dollar counts -- and my UAD dollars are very cost effective.
I don't mean to ignore the most important thing of all -- awesome sounds!
M. Hagel
UAD Octo in external Thunderbolt Chassis
UAD Octo in external Thunderbolt Chassis connected to McBook Pro Quad.
A breeze to work with! Disconnected the internal fans, which are unbarebly loud.
Gets hot but still o.k. Working on the road finally becomes uncompromised!!
K. Monaco
Misinformed sales people and poor customer support made the upgrade to UAD2 platform from a UAD1 card a horrific experience. Lost over a thousand dollars of registered plug-ins on original card and got "sorry about that" as a peace offering. The product is "okay" not any better than others available, but don't expect any help from the customer service department. They will not go the extra mile to help a customer no matter how much you have invested in their products. Unless of course you're somebody famous. Guess where that left me. Save your money, stick with packages less costly and more customer friendly. I had to rate this a 1 star as it wouldn't let me leave it blank, which is what it deserved.
M. Porcelli
unfortunately nothing new as I have traded in from a uad 1 (an undesired purchase) and also waited more than one month after purchase with no communication from the retailer...
L. Perrotta
About a month ago I purchased the UAD-2 SOLO DSP Accelerator, At first I was not impressed with these effects, I auditioned almost all of them at the same time.
Then I started to use a few of them together, the sound improved a lot.
Now I have a $500 voucher, that came with this system, to buy effects and I can't decide what to buy because the 14 days trial expired.
It would be nice if Universal Audio would allow to reaudition these effects even if they would put in a click every minute or so.
My advise to anyone buying this system, audition only a few effects at the time.
R. Ravella
The UAD-2 Duo is not powerful enough to justify its cost. Like everything else at Universal Audio, it is over priced. Fortunately, I didn't have to purchase it - it came free with my LA-610 MkII, which is also over priced (like all Universal Audio Products). Getting the combination for just the price of the LA-610 MkII amounted to a reasonable purchase so I would recommend only buying these products when there is a comparable sale. Also, the UAD-2 Duo will prove frustrating due to its lack of power (I can't image what a one-processor version would be like let alone the original UAD-1!!). Wait until the Quad version is offered free with another product you're interested in before purchasing. Unfortunately, the plugins are also very expensive so you're committing to a pretty expensive endeavor. As for the performance of the plugins, they are generally good. You can find most of them in less expensive versions from other companies however that are just as good. UA's unique ones are where the value is (Cooper, Massive Passive...) so if you get a Quad for free and stick with those, it can be a reasonable investment.
J. Nie
Added to my Flexi card. Now the power drain on the computer is almost as expected, in the ProTools LE world.
Great product!
M. Islamovic
only caan say you rock the best plug ins the prooos
P. Gill
It's just a dsp card. Only as good as the plugs it runs.
I was disappointed my local dealer wouldn't allow me to trade-in 2 x UAD-1's for the Duo Flexi. Well, I guess that's what you get when you live in Thailand and your local UA dealer sucks.


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Indiana Poultry Response Plan (PDF: 291 KB)This plan outlines the responsibilities for a poultry outbreak response in Indiana.
Avian Influenza Risks (Word: 29 KB)(From Simon Kenyon, Purdue Extension veterinarian)
Indiana Wildlife Disease News (PDF: 560 KB)A publication developed through a joint project between USDA-APHIS (Wildlife Services) and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (Division of Fish and Wildlife).
A Message from the State Veterinarian (Word: 18 KB)
The following five questions are answered by Simon Kenyon, Purdue Extension veterinarian
FAQs about Avian Influenza (Source: Centers for Disease Control)
FAQs Brochure on Avian Influenza (PDF: 1 MB)A brochure that covers general questions and facts. (Source: National Chicken Council, Egg Safety Center, National Turkey Federation)
Poultry industry's system is antidote for bird flu(Source: Ag Answers, date: 11/15/2005)
Biosecurity for the BirdsA national campaign to promote avian health through biosecurity(Source: APHIS)


text:
SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwired - May 9, 2014) - Atossa Genetics, Inc. (
Management will host a conference call on Wednesday May 14, 2014, at 4:45 pm Eastern Time to review financial results and corporate highlights. Following management's formal remarks, there will be a question and answer session.
To listen to the call by phone, interested parties within the U.S. should call 866-652-5200. International callers should call 412-317-6060. All callers should ask for the Atossa Genetics conference call. The conference call will also be available through a live webcast at www.atossagenetics.com.
A replay of the call will be available approximately one hour after the end of the call through June 16, 2014. The replay can be accessed via Atossa's website or by dialing 877-344-7529 (domestic) or 412-317-0088 (international). The replay conference ID number is 10046259.
About Atossa Genetics
Atossa Genetics Inc. is focused on improving breast health through the development of laboratory developed tests (LDTs), medical devices and therapeutics. The Company's LDTs are being developed by its subsidiary, The National Reference Laboratory for Breast Health, Inc. The LDT's and the Company's medical devices are being developed so they can be used as companions to therapeutics to treat various breast health conditions. For additional information, please visit www.atossagenetics.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Forward-looking statements in this press release are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated or estimated future results, including the risks and uncertainties associated with actions by the FDA, including timing of review by the FDA of 510(k) submissions, and actions related thereto, whether Atossa can submit additional information to the FDA in a timely fashion and whether the FDA will find that information acceptable and/or request additional information, the outcome of the FDA re-inspection completed on March 14, 2014, the outcome or timing of regulatory clearances needed by Atossa to sell its products, responses to regulatory matters, Atossa's ability to continue to manufacture and sell its products, recalls of products, the efficacy of Atossa's products and services, performance of distributors, estimated future expenses and cash needs, whether Atossa can launch the additional tests, devices and therapeutics in its pipeline in a timely and cost effective manner, and other risks detailed from time to time in Atossa's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including without limitation its periodic reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q, each as amended and supplemented from time to time.


text: Alaskan moose that collide with cars and trains can end up as dinner for the needy in a unique partnership between the state and charity groups. Al Grillo/AP hide caption toggle caption Al Grillo/AP The Salt From Grille To Grill: When Roadkill Is Good Enough For Dinner November 8, 2011 Hunters and scavengers with a taste for game are turning road and train accidents with deer, moose and other animals into a free meal. A food bank in Alaska distributes moose meat collected by train tracks to the needy.


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LibreOffice has been nothing if not an active and vibrant project since it was forked from OpenOffice.org back in 2010; and it was just a few months ago that we saw the debut of LibreOffice 3.5, the software's third major release.
Several smaller updates have come out since then, but yesterday a new one was launched that looks truly notable.
Specifically, a fresh shot of speed appears to be the most defining feature in this new software, which promises to be twice as fast than earlier versions.
"LibreOffice 3.5.4 is the fastest version of the best free office suite ever, with up to 100% performance gains when opening large files," wrote Italo Vignoli, director of the Document Foundation, in the software's official announcement.
'Many code optimisations'
The previous release of LibreOffice - version 3.5.3 - was launched at the beginning of this month with numerous bug fixes.
The remarkable performance gains in this latest one, however, are "the combined result of the many code optimisations executed during the last months and the bug and regression chasing activity performed regularly by volunteers and developers," Vignoli explained.
Thousands of volunteers around the world contribute to the Google-backed free and open source productivity suite, including via regular "bug hunts." More than 400 code developers are involved in the project.
Recommended upgrade
Of course, the performance gains do depend on the user's operating system and hardware configuration as well as the contents of the user's file, Vignoli noted.
Still, the potential is impressive, and I can't imagine it won't be noticeable for users.
Myriad bug fixes were also included in LibreOffice 3.5.4, and the Document Foundation recommends that all users upgrade to this latest version of the software.
You can download the software for free from the project's site.


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How can bond investors generate returns in a low rate, post-Brexit world?
Bond investors seeking stable returns face an increasingly difficult task, but there are options available.
6 September 2016
Brexit burden
What the UK's June decision to leave the EU will mean to regional – or global – economic viability is still a matter of heated debate. What most investors agree on is that Brexit only adds to the already elevated level of market uncertainty, and has made life even more difficult for bond investors.
Interest rates across the world remain at historic lows and liquidity is compromised by central bank buying activity. Yields have fallen, again, and the lack of liquidity has led to bouts of extreme volatility. However, bond investors are not without options.
The current level of monetary policy accommodation is unlikely to dissipate in the short or medium-term. Indeed, unconventional policy responses from the world's major central banks are only likely to increase in coming months.
On the bright side
To date, actions from these central banks have squeezed developed market yields in both government and corporate bonds to historic lows. We expect the hunt for yield will remain a driving force here for some time. The silver lining is that with central banks content to remain accommodative, or become even more so, emerging markets have again become a viable source of returns. The fact that the Federal Reserve has grown more dovish in 2016 has proved a boon so far this year for emerging market debt, given that it is more sensitive to US dollar strength. To mid-July, cumulative inflows into emerging market debt had reached $13.7 billion. This compares with an outflow last year of $14.4 billion and an inflow over the whole of 2014 of $11.1 billion.
In particular, Schroders' fixed income team has grown more interested in Latin America, which looks increasingly business-friendly after years of structural vulnerability. As political uncertainty rises in the US, the UK and the eurozone for various reasons, political reforms in Latin America are making the political landscape a great deal clearer.
Of course, bond investors should not generalise about emerging markets or treat them as homogeneous. Not all emerging economies are on an equal footing, but we believe that diligent investors can find a number of opportunities to exploit.
The carry trade
Investors who want or need to retain much of their bond exposure in developed markets face a sterner challenge, but still we believe there is a route to stable returns.
In our view, the most prudent approach to take is to focus on "carry". Carry is perhaps the most traditional component of bond returns and refers to the combination of coupons gathered and price appreciation as a bond draws to maturity.
In our unconstrained strategies we have the ability to combine exposure to select corporate bonds with derivative positions to isolate carry. Our derivative positions aim to limit or offset interest rate sensitivity and credit risk, allowing us to reduce exposure to an unpredictable market while still potentially benefiting from some stable total returns. Most benchmark constrained strategies will not be able to implement such an approach, but more flexible, unconstrained bond funds, do not have the same constraints.
It is clear that bond investing is more difficult now than at any point since the global financial crisis. The outlook for the global economy is murky. Yields are negative in a widening pool of global government bonds, which already amounts to $13 trillion. Political risk is high. However, with a careful, strategic approach, we think investors could still secure positive total returns until greater clarity is restored.
Important Information: This communication is marketing material. The views and opinions contained herein are those of the author(s) on this page, and may not necessarily represent views expressed or reflected in other Schroders communications, strategies or funds. This material is intended to be for information purposes only and is not intended as promotional material in any respect. The material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument. It is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for accounting, legal or tax advice, or investment recommendations. Reliance should not be placed on the views and information in this document when taking individual investment and/or strategic decisions. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. The value of an investment can go down as well as up and is not guaranteed. All investments involve risks including the risk of possible loss of principal. Information herein is believed to be reliable but Schroders does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Some information quoted was obtained from external sources we consider to be reliable. No responsibility can be accepted for errors of fact obtained from third parties, and this data may change with market conditions. This does not exclude any duty or liability that Schroders has to its customers under any regulatory system. Regions/ sectors shown for illustrative purposes only and should not be viewed as a recommendation to buy/sell. The opinions in this material include some forecasted views. We believe we are basing our expectations and beliefs on reasonable assumptions within the bounds of what we currently know. However, there is no guarantee than any forecasts or opinions will be realised. These views and opinions may change. To the extent that you are in North America, this content is issued by Schroder Investment Management North America Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Schroders plc and SEC registered adviser providing asset management products and services to clients in the US and Canada. For all other users, this content is issued by Schroder Investment Management Limited, 1 London Wall Place, London EC2Y 5AU. Registered No. 1893220 England. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.


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Join us on Tuesdays for our weekly Meditation!
Are you stressed, overwhelmed, or just have a busy mind? We will be connecting to the stillness within and grounding our energy through many forms of meditation. You'll learn techniques you can use at home, as well as experience the healing benefits of meditation every time you join us.
All levels and beginners welcome!
Please bring a yoga mat as well as any cushions you might need.
So excited to see you there, in my office at 701 W. Sheridan, Oklahoma City, OK. 73102. RSVP at email@example.com to confirm your spot!
$8 at the door. FREE if you're a member of my VIP Inner Circle. Learn more.
Back to All Events
Join us on Tuesdays for our weekly Meditation!
Join us on Tuesdays for our weekly Meditation!
Earlier Event: August 14Meditation Tuesday
Later Event: August 28Meditation Tuesday


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The Federal Reserve's taper talk may have rattled the financial markets but it has had one notable beneficiary: Mergers and acquisitions.
An otherwise slow year for M&A got a sudden and dramatic boost after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in late May that the central bank likely would begin winding down, or tapering, its $85 billion a month in asset purchases.
That chatter, in turn, set off concerns that interest rate increases weren't far behind, and ended up sparking the deal-making climate.
(Read more: Here's who Wall Street wants as the next Fed chief)
"Higher interest rates will result in lower pricing in general, but it comes down to buyers and sellers just agreeing where it's going to go," Tim Hartnett, global & U.S. private equity leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said in an interview. "It's a good time to own something for sale."


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Thanks to an ill-fitting helmet, the 49ers left tackle bled profusely from a cut on the bridge of his nose throughout the game and a scar remains four months later. Unfortunately for Staley, the nasty gash symbolized his gruesome performance as a pass-blocker Sept. 9. He surrendered 2 1/2 sacks to Packers outside linebacker Clay Matthews, who beat him with a bull rush and by slipping around Staley on the outside.
In the following 15 regular-season games, Staley rebounded nicely, surrendering five sacks and earning his second straight Pro Bowl berth. On Saturday, he will have a chance to avenge his first-game flop when the 49ers meet Green Bay in a divisional-playoff game at Candlestick Park.
"I'm excited for the opportunity to play against Clay again," Staley said. "I didn't play terrifically well the first time I played against him, but I'm happy to have the opportunity to go against him again."
Entering the season opener, Staley had an indirect connection to Matthews, who ranked fifth in the NFL with 13 sacks despite missing four games with a pulled hamstring. One of Staley's housemates throughout training camp was Eric Bakhtiari. The since-released linebacker spent part of his offseason training with Matthews in Southern California, but evidently didn't pass on any insider tips Staley found useful.
This week, Staley suggested his season-opening problems stemmed from his fundamentals, not because he was outclassed by Matthews, the only player in Packers history to earn Pro Bowl honors in each of his first four seasons.
"After watching the game, there were a lot of technique issues," Staley said. "When you're going against a player of that caliber, you have to be on your technique on every single play, every single snap."
From his perch in the press box in Week 1, offensive coordinator Greg Roman said he spotted Staley's fatal flaw. Roman, an assistant offensive line coach with the Ravens and Panthers, said the six-year veteran's problem was "so simple it just jumped off the screen."
"When you're playing a guy like Clay Matthews, you've got to be on it," Roman said. "You have to technically be at the top of your game. And Matthews is a great example of a guy, as a pass rusher, that does a great job of identifying weaknesses while he's rushing a tackle. I think Joe played another Pro Bowl season and that was a great learning experience going into this game for him."
If Staley didn't learn from the season opener, Matthews appears fully ready to expose him again. Since returning from his hamstring injury, Matthews has collected a sack in four straight games, including two takedowns in last week's 24-10 wild-card win over Minnesota.
"I've cleaned that up, and I'm a different player now at this point of the season than Week 1," Staley said. "I'm excited to go against him again."
Candlestick impressions: Billy Cundiff, the 49ers' prospective new placekicker, was happy with his performance at the aging stadium. B4
Divisional playoff
Who: Packers vs. 49ers
When: 5 p.m. Saturday
Where: Candlestick Park
TV: Channel: 2 Channel: 40
Radio: 680
Eric Branch is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Twitter: @Eric_Branch


text:
The parliamentary dimension of the
ONE in FIVE Campaign
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
developing the parliamentary dimension of the Council of Europe ONE in FIVE
Campaign to fight sexual violence against children.
to associate national
parliamentarians with the parliamentary dimension of the Council of Europe
ONE in FIVE Campaign to stop sexual violence against children;
promote the signature, ratification and implementation of
of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual
Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (CETS 201 - Lanzarote Convention)
which entered
into force on 1 July 2010;
increase the visibility of existing common standards under the Lanzarote
Convention and contribute to the implementation of these standards through
concrete proposals for legislative and political action;
to facilitate the
exchange of best practices.
the Parliamentary Assembly works in close
cooperation with the governmental sector of the Council of Europe;
the Assembly
continues to prepare reports on the issue of sexual violence against children
and to develop communication materials to help convey its message;
the Assembly
organises debates as well as other events to raise awareness of the issue of


text:
You do enough juggling in a commercial kitchen. Ease your mind with a proper functioning equipment timer that'll help notify you when food is ready for your attention. Between your oven timer, delay timer, brew timer and more, these little electrical parts keep track of everything so you don't have to.
Exclusive offers and product updates will be arriving to your inbox soon.


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text:
TSA's Failure Based On The Myth Of Perfect Security
from the it's-not-happening deptAs the complaints against the TSA ratchet up, various people are finally starting to point out why the whole concept of security theater is a farce. The entire setup is based on the idea that you can have "perfect security." But, if you wanted perfect security, the only way to do that is to not let anyone fly, ever. As James Fallows notes it doesn't make much sense to "spend limitlessly toward the impossible end of reducing the risk to zero." As he notes:
Every society accepts some risks as part of its overall social contract. People die when they drive cars, they die when they drink, they die from crime, they die when planes go down, they die on bikes. The only way to eliminate the risks would be to eliminate the activities -- no driving, no drinking, no weapons of any kind, no planes or bikes. While risk/reward tradeoffs vary between, say, Sweden and China, no nation accepts the total social controls that would be necessary to eliminate risk altogether.Along those lines, the Unqualified Offerings blog (via Julian Sanchez) does a nice job explaining how the incentives line up to create this ridiculous situation. Basically, he notes that a terrorist attack on an airplane will happen. Some day. No matter what we do to try to prevent it. But once that happens, the response is going to be obvious: those who pushed hard for more ridiculous security theater that wasn't implemented will keep their jobs and retain power. Those who pushed for more reasonable solutions will be vilified.
Yet when it comes to dealing with terrorism, politicians know that they will not be judged on the basis of an "acceptable level of risk." They know that they can't even use that term when discussing the issue. ("Senator Flaccid thinks it's 'acceptable' for terrorists to blow up planes. On Election Day, show him that politicians who give in to terror are 'unacceptable' to us.") And they know for certain that if -- when -- a plane blows up with Americans aboard, then cable news, their political opponents, Congressional investigators, and everyone else will hunt down any person who ever said that any security measure should be relaxed.
This is the political tragedy of "security theater."
100% success is usually impossible in the real world. Given that eventually, one way or another, a terrorist will almost certainly take down a plane, the only question that management has to ask itself is what position they want to be in when that happens. And that answer is simple: Safe in their jobs, and poised to inherit a bigger budget.And that's why we get security theater.
The goal isn't so much actual safety. After all, as Jim Harper notes, if you look at the actual "risk" of a terrorist attack on an airplane today, it's pretty close to zero. But the whole process is built around trying to bring it all the way to zero, which is an impossibility, but leads to ridiculous extremes. And, he notes, this is exactly how the terrorists planned it:
This is apostasy in Washington -- where the political imperative is zero risk. But risk is a reality of life. We take risks when we drive, when we walk across a street and when we go to the fridge for that two-day-old slice of pizza.
This illusory quest for zero risk helps terrorism achieve its goals. As news of "Operation Hemorrhage" -- smaller, low-cost attacks aimed to disrupt commerce and stoke fears -- demonstrates clearly, terrorism works by inducing target states to overreact. That's the only mode terrorists have for affecting major powers like the United States.
We've been nothing if not a patsy to their strategy. The element of surprise, central to terrorism, forces us to defend everything against every mode of attack -- a logic that naturally bleeds us.
Filed Under: incentives, myths, privacy, security, terrorism, tsa
Companies: tsa