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Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Midweek TV/Media Notes
Some interesting TV items away from the track to start this week's media notes:
NBC is in the development stage for a scripted drama centered around a NASCAR family. Here is a blurb from the deadline.com media website:
NBC is developing The Crew, a testosterone-heavy underdog family drama set in the world of NASCAR from Heroes writer-producer Joe Pokaski and NBC Universal-based producer Scott Stuber. The ensemble revolves around the family of distinctly different "brothers" on a NASCAR racing team who, as individuals have their own lives and dreams, opportunities and problems but as a team share a singular goal - to be the best.
What sets The Crew apart is that it is expected to be done in cooperation with NASCAR. NBC is in negotiations with the racing league for the rights to use its name, logos, tracks, race footage, etc. Stuber already has a similar arrangement with NASCAR on the feature side at Universal Pictures where he is producing a NASCAR drama with Gary Ross attached to direct.
No information has been released about potential scheduling or actors involved in the series quite yet. Will pass it along as things develop.
Over in reality TV land, Krishtian Turner has announced that she will be filming Say Yes To The Dress for TLC as a part of her build-up to marrying driver James Buescher. Krishtian's father is the money behind Turner Motorsports, a new team stepping into both the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series next year with a sizeable commitment. The program will air in the spring of 2011.
Over at InsidePulse.com, Josh Clinton offers that filming for ABC's The Bachelor has already begun in Costa Rica. Starting in January with episode one, there will be a very different NASCAR connection to this program.
Pictured above with Rick and Linda Hendrick is Emily Maynard. She met and was subsequently engaged to Ricky Hendrick at the time of the tragic plane crash. Maynard later revealed that she was pregnant at the time and now has a five year-old daughter named Josephine.
Maynard's name surfaced later in dating rumors with none other than Dale Earnhardt Jr. While that ended quickly, Maynard moved into the media world doing a podcast for SPEED and then working as a host on the syndicated 3 Wide Life motorsports series.
Now, Maynard is one of the ladies competing for the attention and affection of Brad Womack, who is making his second appearance on The Bachelor after choosing not to "take a bride" on his last go around. There is little doubt that Maynard will attract a lot of media attention as this program airs.
You may have heard by now that TV ratings for Sunday in Martinsville were down slightly. Basically, about five million viewers tuned in. "Undercover Boss" later that night had twice the audience.
Wednesday brings the media attending the announcement of a new primary sponsor for Jeff Gordon over at Hendrick Motorsports. It also reportedly brings the RPM crisis to a head. Unless some key creditors are paid, it looks like Talladega might be without four Sprint Cup Series teams.
"NASCAR Now" with Mike Massaro at 5PM on ESPN2 and "Race Hub" with Steve Byrnes at 7PM on SPEED will have updates on all the news of the day. In the meantime, please feel free to leave us a comment on any of the topics discussed above. Thanks for stopping by.
9 comments:
- RPM said...
The Crew sounds like The Epic Fail.
- October 27, 2010 at 1:44 AM
- Anonymous said...
I foresee that the naysayers to expect everything to be bad. Just saying...many people here, as noted by several on the Undercover post, have a tendency to expect the worst. Do I understand why, yes, but this production is being made by some quality people, not by the crew behind 'Son of the Beach'. I will at *least* let them get it made and watch an episode before I condemn them. Does NASCAR's involvement mean a good thing or a bad? Who knows. I can't picture the 'Heroes' people or NBC giving them any creative control. Lot of people may not realize it, but NCIS is made with the cooperation of the real NCIS. Yet it certainly doesn't always portray them in a professional light (frankly, they'd have been fired long ago if they worked in a real office, but that's another story.) No TV drama is going to be all realistic. We'd be bored to tears if that were the case. Most crimes are solved with paperwork & legwork; asking a lot of normal questions, not car chases and pursuit. Thank goodness there are not the number of serial killers they show on Criminal Minds or we'd all be dead. We know there were a lot of things not realistic about it, but people still liked Days of Thunder. Call me crazy, but I like to at least keep an open mind about things I haven't seen yet.
As far as Emily, I wish her luck. Don't watch the show, but she's probably a nice girl. As for Say Yes to the Dress, I catch them all; look forward to that (it's obviously not geared toward the male NASCAR audience, although I suppose if they like looking at pretty girls in white...
- October 27, 2010 at 8:37 AM
- Anonymous said...
The crew just sounds like another opportunity for snl to make fun of nascar. As long as the stooges in Daytona get their money, nobody cares. Then again, this show would be a perfect fit for espns drama agenda
- October 27, 2010 at 9:20 AM
- GinaV24 said...
Wow, does Emily really think this is a good way to find a husband? I'm not into reality shows -- just not my deal.
But you never know, maybe some of these will be a diamond in the rough. Interesting that a broadcast network is interested in the crew, so it might get a wider audience.
It's a shame that the folks at home didn't get to see the race at Martinsville -- in person, it was fun to watch (except of course for Ears wrecking my favorite guy). LOL I know I'm biased.
- October 27, 2010 at 9:54 AM
- 51 yr. fan said...
Another sellout by the Beach Bums
trying to make a dollar by turning
our sport into a melodrama. Looks like it's going be Days of Our Lives WRASCAR style. I bet one
team member has his buddy's wife
pregnant by the third show. Is there a reason they are not using
IRL or F1 as format?
Please just show us the racing!
- October 27, 2010 at 10:41 AM
- Anonymous said...
People are mostly trend followers and the shows will get their share of viewers until the newness wears off. A lot of us just are not into these 'type' shows because of various reasons and do not watch. Whether a show is good or bad in some people's opinion doesn't stop the trend to follow the leader(s).
- October 27, 2010 at 3:16 PM
- Jonathan said...
51 year old fan this is 2010 thats the hot thing now a days on TV! And hey why not get the Nascar name into what people watch!!! To be honest I hate all these shows on tv now a days but people watch em (not me) so I feel this is a stab at trying to get the Nascar name out there and im all for it! It is what it is and we cant do anything about it but Nascar is trying hard w all this new tv stuff plus dont forget when Transformers 3 hits theaters NASCAR will have part in that movie as well! Good we need this for are sport.
I was never a fan of Nascar till 04 and I happened to see a lot of it on tv cause thats when it was booming and it got me to watch a sport I would have never watched and I fell in love! Say what you want but I think this is great
- October 27, 2010 at 3:54 PM
- Anonymous said...
I have come to the conclusion that the reason I have negative thoughts on these new programs is I feel very strongly nascar should be spending its time and money on fixing the sprint, nationwide, and camping series FIRST! But, I am afraid nascar thinks these new shows are the way to fix their problems. MC
- October 27, 2010 at 7:35 PM
- Anonymous said...
I've always wondered why anyone with money, family name and connections would ever debase themselves to try and find a husband/wife on a show like the Bachelor? It's pretty pathetic, imho. I can't imagine that the Hendrick family is too pleased. For all intents and purposes, many of the women on the Bachelor make themselves out to be rather skanky and ho-like. Not my idea of someone I would want to marry. And as for the Brad, he's a loser from a previous show, when he dumped both girls he led on for the entire show. He's akin to a male ho, imho. But of course, he says he knows he's going to find forever love this time around. Yeah, like that happens.
- October 27, 2010 at 9:53 PM


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Q: Hi, my name is Paul. I am new to the Corvette world but have been working on cars all my life. I enjoy the technical articles the magazine publishes. I especially enjoy the online articles. I have been searching the web for information on how to test for a blown head gasket. It seems like the information I am getting is mixed and actually evokes more questions than answers.
I own a 1975 Corvette that I purchased with the knowledge that is had been overheating and was running rough. The car has been sitting since I bought it, but I am ready to get it back on the road. One of my symptoms is that when I crank over the engine with the radiator cap off it "false boils" is that is a sign of a blown head gasket?
Why does overheating cause head gasket problems, and what other test can I perform to pinpoint if I have a blown head gasket? Thanks for any help,
Paul F.
Via the internet
A: Paul, if the engine has been overheated it is possible that you have blown a head gasket, cracked or warped a head. If a cylinder head gets too hot it can swell to the point where it crushes the head gasket. This will usually occur at the thinness point of the head gasket which is between the engine cylinders. The blown head gasket and/or cracked combined with engine combustion pressure provides a leak path for coolant and/or combustion gases.
Let's discuss the various indicators of a blown head gasket and the diagnostic techniques we can use to determine a blown head gasket and/or cracked head. You should be careful when performing these tests because when you have a blown head gasket the engine can overheat quickly and the cooling system can build excessive pressure which can cause something in the cooling system to rupture so take care while performing this test.
Indicators of a Blown Head GasketExhaust
Coolant emanating from the exhaust will present one of the common signs of a blown head gasket. When there is a blown head gasket and/or cracked head you may notice white smoke coming from the tailpipe. Sometimes droplets of water will be coming out of from the end of the tailpipe as well and the exhaust will have a sweet smell to it. (Image A)
One simple check of a blown head gasket is oil contamination. This can be determined by inspecting the dipstick and the oil cap for a milky residue, this residue will have a creamy tan/off-white color. This milky residue is caused by coolant entering the engine oil through the leaking head gasket and/or cracked head.
A blown head gasket and/or cracked head can cause bubbles of air to be visible in the radiator or expansion tank. To check for this, remove the radiator cap, warm up the engine and on a warm engine some head gasket problems will present with bubbles being visible in the radiator or expansion tank. It may be necessary to bring the rpms (revolutions per minute) up for the bubbles to be visible. Be careful as it is possible that the coolant could erupt out of the radiator or expansion tank much like a geyser. Take care not to get burned while performing this test. (Image B)
The bubbles seen here are visible in the combustion leak tester tool.
Engine Performance
The engine may possibly idle roughly or run poorly because of compression loss from a head gasket problem. Usually one or two cylinders will be affected. If you can isolate which cylinders are missing you can remove the spark plug for inspection. If your spark plug is extremely clean or has a coolant tint the problem could be severe. If you disable the ignition system so the vehicle will not start you may notice the coolant may start spraying out of the plug holes while cranking over the engine.
With all of the spark plugs removed, so you will not hydro-lock the engine, a cooling system pressure tester can be installed to see if coolant is pumping into any of the cylinders. This can be done with the coolant system pressure tester installed on the vehicle and the ignition disabled. Have a helper check for coolant to be spraying out of the plug holes while cranking over the engine.
Compression Test
What leads to most misdiagnosis of a blown head gasket is that all of the above indicators passed the test. Remember, a head gasket can get blown without causing the coolant to mix with the engine oil and without causing combustion gases from entering the cooling system. This happens when the head gasket has failed between two cylinders resulting with a gap in the head gasket that will let the compression of one cylinder to leak into a companion cylinder.
This condition can be very easily verified by doing a compression test. If two side by side cylinders have 0 psi (pounds per square inch) compression this confirms that the head gasket is more than likely burned between those two companion cylinders.
Exhaust Gas Analyzer Test
If you have an exhaust gas analyzer, head gasket diagnostic becomes much simpler. Simply use your emissions analyzer to check for combustion gasses in the cooling system. This is done on a warm running engine, by inserting the exhaust probe of the exhaust gas analyzer into the top of the radiator without allowing it to suck any coolant into the probe. If you are afraid of a coolant bubble shooting out and getting into your probe, use a no-spill antifreeze funnel or something appropriate to eliminate contamination. You may find it necessary to drain enough coolant out of the radiator so that the level is 2 to 3 inches below the neck of the radiator or reservoir so not to suck any coolant into the probe.
If you see if combustion gasses levels soar you have confirmed that the head gasket and/or cracked head is the problem, because combustion gas from the combustion chamber of the engine is now getting into the antifreeze. This, in turn, confirms that antifreeze is going into the combustion chamber and out the tail pipe.
Cost effective Block Tester (Combustion Gas Tester)
If you don't happen to have a $5,000 exhaust gas analyzer laying around in the garage you can use a Block Tester, also known as a combustion leak tester, to determine if you have exhaust gases in your cooling system. (Image C)
A combustion test kit can be found at your local NAPA, auto parts store. The part number is 700-1006. The price for this part is less than $50.
Vehicles with head gasket failures can overheat quickly and the cooling system can build excessive pressure which can cause something in the cooling system to rupture so take care while performing this test. Be sure to read the manufacturer's instructions before performing any test.
This is the procedure for performing a combustion leak test using a Block Tester:
1. The engine should be warm, and allowed to idle during the test. Coolant must be warm and circulating so combustion gasses can enter the cooling system while this test is in process.
2. Remove radiator cap, and check to see that radiator coolant level is low enough to prevent any coolant from getting into the test equipment during the test. It may be necessary to drain enough coolant out of the radiator so that the level is 2 to 3 inches below the neck of the radiator or reservoir to prevent contamination.
3. Check the color of test fluid before installing it into your test equipment. If the fluid is blue it is good to use. If the fluid is green or yellow, discard and obtain fresh test fluid.
4. Remove the top of the tester by twisting and pulling up. Pour test fluid from bottle into test instrument to the fill line.
5. Insert test instrument onto the neck of radiator or reservoir with a rotating motion so a seal is formed with the radiator or reservoir. This will allow radiator gases to pass through test fluid and by the squeeze bulb. (Image D)
6. Continue to force radiator gases through test fluid by squeezing bulb for about 1 minute. If fluid turns yellow a combustion leak is present.
7. If fluid remains blue, a combustion leak is not occurring while test is in process.
Paul, replacing the head gasket will cure the leak, but remember a blown head gasket is generally the result of an underlying problem generally with the cooling system that will need to be diagnosed and repaired. Otherwise, the newly installed head gasket may suffer the same fate the next time the engine overheats.
It is also a good idea to always have the heads checked by a machine shop after removing them to make sure they are not cracked or warped. This is the kind of job you only want to do once. Thanks, and good luck Paul.
Got a question for our Tech Corner expert? Just jot it down on a paper towel or a lightly soiled shop rag and send it to us at VETTE Magazine, Attn: Technically Speaking, 9036 Brittany Way, Tampa, FL 33619. Alternatively, you can submit your question via the Web, by emailing it to us at email@example.com. Be sure to put "Technically Speaking" in the subject line.


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According to the UK's Autocar, Dodge could be building a small rear-wheel-drive roadster to give the Mazda MX-5 a dose of the jibblies. Media A-listers have reportedly already seen the car, which will take its cues from the 2002 Razor concept (pictured), which took its cues from the Lotus Elise. No word on production date, but a concept will likely be unveiled at the Geneva motor show next month. But will cost-cutting at DCX put the kabosh on a specialty model of dubious volume? What the hell. Call Pontiac; the roadster wars are heating up.
[via Motor Authority]
Breaking! DaimlerChrysler Chooses Chinese Chery To Build Dodge Hornet? [internal]


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Oil-eating bacteria have started to clean the Deepwater Horizon spill
In the Gulf of Mexico, nature's janitors are hard at work, mopping up the aftermath of a man-made disaster. On 20 April, 2010, an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig unleashed the largest oil spill in US history. Now, a team of American scientists led by Terry Hazen have shown that just a month or so after the incident, a microscopic clean-up crew had already started to digest the mess.
The ocean is home to many groups of bacteria that can break down the chemicals found in crude oil. Some, like Alcanivorax, are oil-eating specialists that are usually found in low numbers, only to bloom when oil spills provide them with a sudden banquet. That's exactly what has happened in the Gulf of Mexico. Hazen has found that these oil-eaters have swelled in number in the contaminated waters.
Just last week, Richard Camilli from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution confirmed that after the explosion, a deep plume of oil the size of Manhattan had persisted for several months in the Gulf of Mexico. Camilli also found that oxygen levels near the plume had remained relatively stable. On the bright side, this was good news for local ocean life for a lack of oxygen would create inhospitable dead zones. But it also suggested that bacteria weren't breaking down the plume as hoped; if they were, you'd expect to see a fall in oxygen levels.
This evidence was, of course, indirect. Hazen's team actually looked for oil-eating bacteria themselves rather than just signs of their presence, and their report is more optimistic. Using two ships, they collected samples of water near the broken well between 25 May and 2 June. They discovered the same deep-sea oil plume that Camilli did, around 1,100 metres below the surface, and they found that oxygen levels inside the plume were slightly lower than those outside it. But more importantly, they also found twice as many bacteria within the oily cloud.
Sixteen groups of bacteria were enriched within the plume, particularly the Oceanospirillales (a group that includes Alcanivorax who we've already met). All sixteen groups have members that can digest the hydrocarbons in oil and can do so in very cold environments where most bacteria would grind to a halt. These plume bacteria were genetically distinct from those outside and no factor except the presence of oil – not temperature or salinity or pressure – could account for this split.
This separation suggested that the microbes of the Gulf had already started to respond to the spill, and their genes sealed the case. Hazen detected the presence of over 1,600 genes involved in breaking down oil, many of which were much more active within the plume. And the worse the contamination, the more active these genes were.
Hazens' results suggest that the deep ocean has its own janitorial crew that is standing by to mop up the threat of oil contamination. These bacteria have had millennia to practice their art, as oil frequently leaks from natural seeps in the area. They have also evolved to tolerate chilly temperatures, for the depths where the plume exists are at a frosty 5 degrees Celsius. These microscopic cleaners could play a big role in deciding the ultimate fate of the Deepwater Horizon spill.
Hazen estimated that the bacteria were breaking up the oil hydrocarbons faster than they would naturally degrade. Their job might be easier because the plume is relatively dispersed, so the oil particles are smaller and easier to break down. Indeed, Hazen says, "The deep plume has not been detectable for the last 2-3 weeks. It went away fairly rapidly after the well was capped beginning July 12, 2010."
Nonetheless, there is no room for complacency. Effective though the bacteria are, the oil contains some components that they simply won't be able to break down and the sheer scale of the spill cannot be taken lightly. As Camilli says, "The long-term ecological implications… remain uncertain and I don't think anyone could rightly argue that dumping 4.1 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico was ecologically beneficial."
Reference: Science http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1195979 (To my knowledge, this paper will only be publicly available on Thursday)
For more on the Deepwater Horizon spill, follow David Biello's excellent reporting at Scientific American and the unstoppable bloggers at Deep Sea News.
Image from Hoi-Ying Holman group
Comments (29)
Bacteria can do anything!
@Ed Yong: Do you know if the highlighted bacteria become part of the food chain in any appreciable way. I can imagine that the increase in bacteria will eventually beget an increase in food chain activity, which could be a boon for the local fisheries.
Also, I would love to get any info on the other stuff that spewed out of the well alongside the crude oil. Have there been any studies on the levels of other contaminants since the spill?
What kind of byproducts/waste does the bacteria create as it chomps away at the oil? It'd be cool if it was mermaids.
When I wrote about this a while ago (http://tinyurl.com/289ucoh) there was concerns for biodiversity as the bacterial population explosions can completely upset the trophic levels in the environment. Apparently there was a concern that the oily water could destroy photosynthetic plankton numbers and the bacterial population explosion in the oil plumes could act to drive an increase in jellyfish numbers which can feed off the bacteria. These two changes alongside many others would result in a complete shift in the ecosystem.
Are you aware of any new data on plankton and jellyfish numbers or was this just fear-mongering while the leak was still out of control?
My understanding was that oil is toxic to most or all life, so it's interesting to hear that something can eat oil, or at least some oil components.
Is it possible that any higher forms of life can metabolize crude oil? Plankton perhaps?
Reports are that millions of gallons of "dispersant" was mixed into the oil. That would include old stocks of the extremely toxic Corexit EC9527A, and lots more of the supposedly less toxic EC9500. Producers of "Dispersit" report BP buying millions of gallons of their product, supposedly much less toxic than the Corexits. Oddly, toxicity of these substances is only quoted for arthropods, two of them: silverfish and shrimp.
I wonder how good that "4.1 million barrels" figure is, considering how dishonest BP was, for months, about how much oil was blasting out. The last figure I heard was "up to 60K bb/day", which seems to suggest closer to 6 million barrels, or 250 million gallons. If they also put in 60K gallons of Dispersit every day, plus a perhaps similar amount of Corexit, that's well over 2% of the total volume of the plumes. One wonders what effect that stuff has on the bacteria and the food chain.
@ Ed Yong Perhaps 'fear-mongering' was a bit over the top. But it still seemed like an interesting if not devastating possibility. Great post though, forgot to say that before
Concerning fungi: would you English-speaking people decide how to pronounce it?! Paul Stamets says "fan-juy", others say "fan-guy"; some say the final i as in pit, others as in spite. I am already struggling to adapt to the barbarian – English – pronunciation of Latin (which means I have to scrap off all pronunciation rules I learned studying it at school), would you barbarians at least reach some consensus on such a simple word as fungi?
Now, to the article:
""and I don't think anyone could rightly argue that dumping 4.1 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico was ecologically beneficial."". No, but some will say "See, problem solved, that wasn't so bad, was it? Let's keep drilling everywhere as if nothing happened". I am not saying that Hazen's findings should not be made known, of course! But caution will be needed in presenting them, because I fear there are many politicians and businessmen out there ready to mispresent them and drive public opinion to think that nothing really bad happened. As long as scientific findings are divulged by such competent communicators as Ed no worries, but I have already heard in a report on Italian television that the spill's effects are over (because, apparently, in Lousiana they fished lobsters without any sign of contamination)…
PS I have never seen a paper with so many authors!
Ed, I had HEARD of papers with many many authors, but I hadn't SEEN (an abstract of) one with my eyes 😉
Oil-eating bacteria was stated as a posible remedy back in June this year (see – http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sjtb2).
According to the expert interviewed all that is needed is fertilizer to get the most out of the process. The link above also links to information on the experts/research team and a scientific paper on the bacteria.
Wow, remarkable that Discover publishes this article without even mentioning that BP funded this study. Are massive conflicts of interest no longer newsworthy?
The institute that funded this study, the Energy Biosciences Institute, is funded by a 10-year, $500 million grant from BP. Not only that, but BP controls 4 of 8 members of the institutes Governance Board.
Check it out: here – http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2010/08/24/deepwater-oil-plume-microbes/
and here — http://www.energybiosciencesinstitute.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10&Itemid=104
So, surprise, BP has funded a "scientific" study that says that it's perfectly natural for all this oil to be in the Gulf, there were already microbes there, ready to eat up all the oil. Problem solved! Isn't nature great?
But seriously, the bias in this situation is inexcusable. This study is presented as independent, but this conflict of interest is enormous. Doesn't Discover check these things?
what is the effect of the dispersant on the oil eating bacteria?
these bacteria evolved in an environment without those. It is impossible to predict the effect of an artificial dispersant which so deeply affects the digesting process.
The dispersant may in fact kill the oil eating bacteria.
who has done tests?
The dispersant as it has been described by biologists effectively allow oil which would not otherwise be able to cross biological cell barriers to pass right through those barriers and enter the system of animals much more quickly.
Furthermore if the bacteria eats the oil does that also mean it eats the attach dispersant molecule or do the bacteria in effect act as a dispersant concentrator leaving higher and higher levels of dispersant in less and less oil filled waters?
This study was funded by BP. So how valid is it. Is BP looking for a way to pay out less money
@15 – Thanks Ed. I really appreciate the follow-up.
so….BP is making up the existence of these microbes?
*slaps hand on table laughing*
The bacteria should probably be harvested, cultured, and used to solve problems with plastic in our landfills. Those bacteria should be able to break up polymerized hydrocarbons if they can digest crude oil.
@22 Just like we can easily digest cellulose, just because we can digest its monomer? Sorry, but chemistry doesn't work like that.
Indeed, for the overwhelming majority of bacterial species, we have no idea how to culture them. Those few that can be cultured are used everywhere.
Gee, how nice these lovely hardworking bacteria, eating away all nesty rude and crude oil . . . we're so proud of them . . . but, wait. How long will they take to finish the job? Let us suppose, some 100thsd years? Great! Can't Obama and BP find something that works a bit faster?
does everyone really believe that there is bacteria that all of the sudden has eaten up millions of thick black sticky oil. i don't, i know for a fact that one of the major ways oil companies make it look like they cleaned it up oil dispersing and guess what that is dish-washing detergent what happens to the oil on your pots and pans when u wash them it is dispersed but it is still there . and if there are so many of these bacteria why weren't there any up in Alaska or are they only in the gulf
interesting indeed
i little believed when my frind said about it
it would be great if it could be some how used to lessen oil spill itself or break oil down while being spilled in oceans by some how harvesting the bacteria around the tankers or something.
it is interesting but my question is this bacteria already exist in the ocean or is it engineered and apply to oil spill in the ocean.


text:
These in line gauges were seen on many different tire pumps offered in the day.
I wonder how long it took to get the tire pumped up to 60 or 70 psi by a hand pump? I use a compressor and it seems to take a while.
With a good tire pump, it probably takes about two minute to put 65psi into a 30X3.5 tire. It just feels like ten minutes.
I use a hand pump (tall standing bicycle pump) when my trailer is parked on the street. Usually, it takes less than a minute per tire to go from 45-50 to 60-65. I was surprised at the effort the first time I did it, but it's really not that bad.
I use a bike pump too. Quick, inexpensive, gage built in. Not a lot of effort. Modern hand pumps are a lot different than the old ones. A lot more efficient for some reason.
I want to thank Jay for sending me the air chuck I needed to complete my air pump repair. It was exactly what I needed and period correct. I have never met Jay before but because of the forum, I was able to contact him and he graciously sent me the part.
Thanks so much, Jay.
Nice legs for an old fart Neil
Tom, Your welcome my friend.


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I think we're all aware that McDonald's has taken over the world. In fact, this has been going on since we were kids and long before Happy Meal debates started popping up on message boards. But it now appears that McDonald's has literally covered every second from birth to, well, the end as they open restaurants that stay open for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and in hospitals!
You'll never have a craving for a Big Mac again that is not easily remedied. Good news?
I don't know about you, but there are times when something bad happens and I need to drown my sorrows in a black and white shake. I'm guessing that's what these hospital McDonald's locations are all about. Having a tough day, or have to endure some kind of invasive test? Make yourself feel better with some Chicken McNuggets and a large fry. (And then stop, so you don't wind up back in the hospital for a cholesterol situation.)
That, and drunken drive-thru runs, can probably explain the appeal of the 24/7 McDonald's as well. It's comfort food, and you never know what time of day you'll need that comfort. Or what location you may find yourself in, when you need that food to wallow in for a moment.
Of course it would be better to go for a run, do some yoga, or just call a friend. But sometimes the easiest method of comforting is exactly what you need. It may not be good for us in the long run, but it's hard to argue against comfort food in the moment.
Do you go to McDonald's when you need a pick-me-up?
Image via McDonald's


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Author Notes: These peaches poached with basil may well be the perfect summer dessert. It makes brilliant use of summer's best produce, it is easy but impressive, you can make it ahead, and it's beautiful and truly unique. The beautiful pink globes served with a drizzle of syrup and a sprig of basil make a lovely plate, but add a small scoop of vanilla ice cream or some sweetened whipped cream if you'd like -- or my favorite, a dollop of mascarpone blended with a little powdered sugar. Under no circumstances should you discard the excess poaching liquid. Keep the pale pink syrup in the fridge in an airtight container. You can drizzle it over plain ice cream or stir it into yogurt, use it to sweeten iced tea, add an outstanding twist to a gin and tonic, or just pour it over ice and top with sparkling water for a real refresher. —TheRunawaySpoon
Food52 Review: This is a dish that keeps on giving. The peach halves, gently poached in a fragrant syrup of white wine and sugar infused with fresh basil, make a gorgeous, aromatic dessert. As TheRunawaySpoon notes, the leftover syrup, tinted a rosy pink from the peach skins (which conveniently slip right off once the fruit is tender), should be reserved and savored: drizzle it over ice cream, or use it to perk up sparkling water or prosecco. Note: using non-clingstone peaches will make your life easier here! - A&M —The Editors
Serves: 6
cup white wine
1 1/2
cups granulated sugar
1 large
bunches fresh basil
yellow peaches
- Place the wine, 1 1/2 cups water and sugar in a wide bottomed saucepan and stir to dissolve the sugar slightly. Place the pan on the stove over medium heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes and then reduce the heat, leaving the syrup to simmer gently.
- Cut the peaches in half and remove pits gently. Drop half of the basil leaves into the syrup, and then gently place the peach halves cut side down into the syrup. Poach for about 3 minutes and then gently turn over using a slotted spoon. Continue poaching for an additional 3 – 4 minutes, until soft (cooking time will depend on ripeness of peaches). Carefully prick the cut side of the peaches to check for tenderness. The peels should be wrinkling up as well. You may cook the peaches in two batches if all the halves will not fit in the pan at once.
- Remove the peaches to a plate with a slotted spoon. When they are cool enough to handle, gently slide the skins off and discard. Add all but about six basil leaves to the syrup and bring to a boil; boil until reduced by about half. Pour any juices that have collected on the plate with the peaches into the syrup. Leave to cool to room temperature.
- The peaches can be covered with plastic wrap and kept at room temperature for several hours. When ready to serve, place two peach halves on a plate and drizzle with a little basil syrup. Reserve the remaining syrup for another use. Garnish with basil leaves and serve.
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Fruit|Peach|Basil|5 Ingredients or Fewer|Poach|Summer|Dessert


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Early today, Broncos linebacker Von Miller said he hadn't heard from the league. Now he has.
Miller officially has been suspended six games.
"The Substances of Abuse policy requires everyone to comply with the rules," Miller said in a statement released to the media. "Although my suspension doesn't result from a positive test, there is no excuse for my violations of the rules. I made mistakes and my suspension has hurt my team, Broncos fans, and myself. I am especially sorry for the effect of my bad decisions on others. I will not make the the same mistakes about adhering to the policy in the future. During my time off the field, I will work tirelessly and focus exclusively on remaining in peak shape. I look forward to contributing immediately upon my upon my return to the field and bringing a championship back to the people of Denver."
The fact that the outcome of the suspension is official implies that a hearing happened. Which means that the reports from last Thursday that he was meeting with NFLPA lawyers and not attending a hearing on his situation may have been false — unless the league was pushing for something more than six games and the situation was resolved via negotiations between the NFL and the union.
Indeed, Miller received a hearing. He advanced his arguments. And the league rendered a decision. Miller's statement suggests he'll accept the suspension, serve the time, and move on.
At a base salary of $2,284,125 in 2013, the loss of six game checks will result in the sacrifice of $806,161.76 in wages.
Whatever Miller did to get suspended, it probably wasn't worth $806,161.76.


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Microsoft tells EC it will ship Vista
EC says: On your head be it
Microsoft is going ahead with launching Vista in Europe and South Korea, in spite of fears the software could be delayed because of concerns from European and Korean competition regulators.
Reuters reports that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes that it is going ahead with the worldwide launch in a conversation last night.
The commission had previously raised anti-trust concerns about Vista's search functions, security, and ability to save documents as pdfs.
A statement on the Microsoft website says the company had "constructive dialogue" with both the European Commission and Korea's Fair Trade Commission and that it made changes to the operating system in response to those discussions.
Not that the announcement necessarily guarantees a smooth ride for Vista - Kroes, talking to Reuters about the conversation, said: "He was aware that he shouldn't ask me if I could give a green light to it and rightly so."
A statement on the commission website said: "The commission has not given a 'green light' to Microsoft to deliver Vista because, as the commission has consistently stated, Microsoft must shoulder its own responsibilities to ensure that Vista is fully compliant with EC Treaty competition rules and in particular with the principles laid down in the March 2004 commission anti-trust decision concerning Microsoft."
Read the full Microsoft press release here. The European Commission's response is here. ®
Sponsored: Becoming a Pragmatic Security Leader


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According to TV executives, psychic mediums shows are passé, so they are looking for new ways to present the paranormal. In accordance with this new formula, Long island Medium showcases Caputo's rambunctious personality and also features her family. We watch her daughter learn to drive, and her husband getting a new tattoo, but with a twist. Caputo can't grab a morning coffee or shop for groceries without providing spontaneous readings to strangers along the way.
Of course, these are just cold readings of stereotypical subjects; usually older ladies who are asked, "Did your mother/father pass?" Obviously, she/he had, so Caputo proceeds to share a stock message, such as she "loves you", he has "found peace" or he is telling you it's time to "move on". Alternatively, Caputo performs the same tricks for groups, like a kind of psychic Tupperware party. As believers, these people are pushovers, and with a larger pool of subjects she never fails to strike with questions like, "Did someone here lose a brother?" Making her task even easier still, she never guesses the name or the initials of the deceased. To "validate" contact, Caputo makes vague references that have the appearance of being specific; special songs, handwritten letters, and items of clothing and jewelry. Those read are interviewed afterwards, gushing that they are indebted to Caputo for helping them come to terms with the death of their loves ones.
Caputo is best known for her exaggerated displays of emotion. There is rarely a scene where she isn't in tears or claiming empathetic abilities, such as, "I could feel your tears running down my cheek." In one episode she announces that the spirit of a deceased 6 year-old boy has become "attached" to her. Convinced that the only way to free the spirit is to meet with his mother, she tracks down the woman whose details she happens to have in an appointment book. Caputo appears to be greatly distraught by the little boy's constant presence, but she is strangely unavailable for a session until the following week. She spent this week in apparent spiritual agony, yet still had time to have lunch with friends, all the while complaining about her invisible friend.
Caputo is celebrated for confronting and converting the skeptics. During a live interview for Long Island radio station KJOY, a line of eight "skeptics" are pitted against her. Visibly stressed at first she asks the group, "Who lost a sister?" A woman acknowledges this question, and the medium quickly finds her stride, achieving perceived "hits" with her staple "validations" about clothing and personal letters. Caputo had emotionally disarmed the woman who was taken in by what a real skeptic would readily recognize as a classic cold reading. Skilful editing seems to have ironed out any misses and genuine skeptics.
There is also the potential for Caputo to perform hot readings. For example, she 'converts' several 'skeptics' in a motorcycle shop. However, these are her husband's friends at his place of work and she could easily have inside information about them. She does a reading for the woman who grooms her dogs, but she has been a customer for years. Then there are the too-specific private readings with clients at their homes. Of course, she has all of their personal information and comments provided at the time of booking. Then there are the other signs around their homes including photographs and other possessions that tell a story. Much of the show seems scripted too. Caputo offers a commentary throughout, but always wearing the same clothes, suggesting that the 'running' commentary is filmed post events, and that she's just acting.
Long Island Medium is a great show for doing RiffTrax to; for skeptics to hone their skeptical skills, catch fallacies, and detect cold and hot reading tricks and techniques. Unfortunately, there are plenty of episodes to do this to with two existing seasons and a third to air later this year.
Dr. Karen Stollznow is a linguist, author, skeptical paranormal investigator and a research fellow for the James Randi Foundation. You can follow Karen on Twitter here.


text: World Wheat Crop Seen As Near Record March 19, 2013 04:01 AM Tweet TAGS: Marketing, Overseas December 18, 2014 By Bloomberg Email March 19 (Bloomberg) -- Farmers from Australia to Europe to the U.S. are poised to reap the second-largest wheat crop on record as fields recover from drought and heat waves, boosting global stockpiles for the first time in four years. Output will climb 4.3 percent to 690 million metric tons, about 10 million tons short of the all-time high set two years ago, the United Nations estimates. Global inventories will increase by 2 million tons to 176 million tons, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences predicts. Prices will probably drop 16 percent to $6 a bushel in Chicago by the end of the year, according to the median of 16 analyst and trader estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Food supply is expanding, with the UN forecasting a record rice harvest and the U.S. government the biggest-ever corn and soybean crops. Wheat closed at $7.1275 on the Chicago Board of Trade yesterday and last traded at $6 in May, before the worst U.S. drought since the 1930s and heat waves in Europe drove prices to a four-year high in July. Snowstorms in the U.S. have since helped boost soil moisture, Joe Glauber, chief economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said March 6. "The supply situation was compromised through some very adverse weather events in the Northern Hemisphere," said Steve Mellington, the chief executive officer of the Australian Grain Growers Cooperative, which has 350 members across three states. "Growers are now responding to those price signals with the increased area being planted this year." World Index The supply outlook flipped wheat from being last year's best performer in the Standard & Poor's GSCI Index of 24 raw materials to the second worst in 2013. The grain has fallen 8.2 percent while the S&P GSCI gained 0.6 percent and the MSCI All- Country World Index of equities rallied 5.7 percent. Treasuries lost 0.7 percent, according to data from Bank of America Corp. Europe will lead the rebound and yields are set to recover in Russia, the third-biggest shipper last season, says the UN's Food & Agriculture Organization. That would boost inventories, said Bangkok-based Hiroyuki Konuma, assistant director-general. A recovery in reserves would follow three years of declines, FAO data show. The world grain crop, including wheat and corn, will probably rise 7.2 percent to 2.406 billion tons in the coming season, estimates trader Alfred C. Toepfer International GmbH. Higher production should make for more exports. India, the third-largest grower after the European Union and China, may boost shipments to a record 10 million tons to clear out state stockpiles, according to the state-backed National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research. Exports were 6.5 million tons this year, according to USDA data. Domestic Harvest The U.S. drought eased after snow from Texas to Wisconsin combined with above-average rainfall east of the Mississippi River, said AccuWeather Inc. The USDA still forecasts a 7.4 percent drop in the harvest to 57.2 million tons this year. The Northern Hemisphere's winter-wheat crops are off to a poor start, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts including New York-based Damien Courvalin said in a report March 11. The bank expects prices to rise to $7.80 in three months. A further drop in global supplies in 2013 would mean inventories declining to critically low levels, the analysts said. Winter crops in the U.S., which accounted for about 74 percent of the area planted last year, were in the worst condition since at least 1985 as they went into dormancy in November, USDA data show. Plants should resume growth this month and are harvested from May. Weather Concerns "You're coming into a very critical window," said Alan Winney, chairman of Emerald Group Australia Pty, which says it's the third-largest storage and handling network in eastern Australia. "If you start to get some dry weather or weather concerns you could see the market rebound quite quickly. If we continue with the same generally stable weather around the world, I think we'll go lower." Changing weather can drive sudden changes in prices. Wheat averaged about $6.41 in the first five months of 2012, before surging more than 50 percent in about seven weeks as drought emerged in the U.S. and Europe. The grain reached $9.4725 in July, the highest in four years. While the $6 projected in the Bloomberg survey is higher than the $5.58 average in the past decade, it is less than half the record $12.825 close in 2008. The ratio of global stockpiles to demand in 2013-2014 will be 26.9 percent, according to Rabobank International. While up from 25.8 percent in 2012-2013, it's lower than the average of 27.6 percent in the five years to 2011-2012. Hedge Funds World food costs tracked by the Rome-based FAO dropped for a fifth month in February and the 55-item index is 12 percent below a record reached in February 2011. Glauber of the USDA said last month that crop prices including soybeans and corn should ease in 2013 as farmers expand supply. Both reached records last year. Hedge funds and other large speculators have been betting on lower prices since December. They were net-short 41,519 futures and options in the week to March 12, from a net-long 80,827 contracts in August, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Russia will produce 53 million tons of wheat this season, 39 percent more than last year, as output in Ukraine jumps 23 percent to 19.5 million tons and Kazakhstan's crop surges 48 percent to 15.2 million tons, the FAO estimates. Toepfer, the trader part-owned by Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., expects the global crop to gain 4.3 percent to 682 million tons. Farm Ministry In Australia, last season's second-largest exporter, production may rise 13 percent in the year from July 1, the government forecaster said. Shipments probably will advance 13 percent to 18 million tons in 2013-2014, according to CBH Group, the country's biggest grain handler. Canada's Farm Ministry is forecasting a 4.8 percent gain in output to 28.5 million tons. The country was the fourth-largest shipper. "We are expecting a rebound in wheat production in 2013, mainly on expectations of a return to average yields," said Konuma. "We would expect a more comfortable supply and demand situation at the global level." --With assistance from Phoebe Sedgman in Melbourne, Sungwoo Park in Seoul, Prabhudatta Mishra in New Delhi, Yasumasa Song and Aya Takada in Tokyo and James Poole in Singapore. Editors: Jake Lloyd-Smith, James Poole To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at email@example.com Back to news


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Just a few photo's that I've taken recently I wanted to share and coming up next post? A brownie cake I know you'll all love.... it was so good I almost didn't want to share!
print giveaway!!
It's time for a giveaway! Considering I've only done this once before I thought it was about time for another one. So here's the deal... I will be giving away these three 4x6 prints from my shop to one lucky winner any where in the world.
Want to win this? I thought so. Leave a comment and tell me what you love best about summer. You have until Friday, September 3rd to enter.
Good luck and I hope your all having a great weekend!
Posted by Ash 19 comments:
Labels: butterflyfood, giveaways, photography
butter biscuits with a twist
Don't you just love food processor baking? I like it even better on my lazy days when I still want to bake but with not a lot of effort. You can just throw everything in, mix it up and it's pretty much good to go in the oven after a little forming.
To tell you the truth, when I first saw this I thought it was more like a scone and that's what I was sort of expecting until I saw them come out of the oven.... these were more like cookies and extremely good cookies at that!
via Jamie Oliver
Preheat oven to 190c/375f. In a food processor, blend 110g unsalted butter, 85g caster sugar, a splash of milk, 30g cornflour, 110g self-rising flour and 4 tbsp rolled oats. Shape mixture into 15 small balls and place on a baking tray, leaving enough space to spread. Bake for 12-15 mins, until golden. Cool on a wire rack. Melt 100g white chocolate over a double broiler and dip half of each biscuit, then place on a non-stick baking paper and sprinkle over pink peppercorns. Let cool.
Hope your all having a fabby weekend!
Posted by Ash 14 comments:
Labels: baking, biscuits, pink peppercorns, summer, white chocolate
DIY coconut curls
Let me start off with that I could not find dried shredded coconut that looked like this for the life of me and believe me I looked. I did find something quite similar under the name of... coconut chips? They didn't have the cool brown skin edge I've been looking for and well cost more then the price of about five coconuts. I figured then I just plain needed to make them myself.
So I did some goggle research and found this video on how to easily crack a coconut.
It helped.
Then came the time to shred or peel. I peeled. I was liking the way they looked already so I knew then that I needed to do some 'how do you dry coconut' research for these lovely's and found out there's not a whole lot of info on it. Weird? I thought so.
After a bit more looking I was saved.
Here's the drying method: Preheat oven to 200 c. Lay out coconut curls evenly on a sheet pan with parchment paper. Bake for 60-90 min. Keep checking cause you don't want them to go brown but if they do just a bit... no worries. You've now got toasted coconut and that tastes just as good if not better.
Let cool and place in a jar or air tight container.
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African Market Women, Market Queens, and Merchant Queens
Gracia Clark
In the open marketplaces found in cities and villages throughout Africa, women traders usually predominate. This gives women considerable weight as economic actors, because these marketplace systems are the primary distributive networks in most parts of Africa. A large proportion of Africa's consumer goods and foodstuffs move through their intricate chains of intermediaries, which can include market retailers, neighborhood shops, street vendors, wholesalers, and travelers who collect goods from farms, factories, and ports. Although the vast majority of women traders live at or below the poverty line, some have risen to powerful positions that earn them the sobriquet of queen.
Different regions of Africa show distinctive patterns of trading practices and of men and women's participation in specific trading roles, reflecting specific gendered histories of precolonial trade, colonial interventions, and waves of national policy. These variations arise not from some primordial isolation, but from traders' varied positioning within longstanding trade relations that have linked Africans since ancient times between regions, across the Sahara Desert and over adjoining oceans. Women's trading roles are more highly developed in western Africa than in eastern, northern, and southern Africa, where precolonial trading patterns were more radically disrupted by conquest, land appropriation, and apartheid.
Ideologies and arenas of practice such as Islam, Christianity, modernization, socialism, structural adjustment, and globalization likewise shape the constraints and opportunities facing women traders in any given situation. Because these influences operate around the globe, though not uniformly, they to some extent create parallel or convergent trends in widely separated nations. Deepening economic pressures today push even more women and men into trading to support their families and sustain the hope of prosperity. Market women struggle individually and collectively to keep their communities going under difficult circumstances that make formal economic channels function poorly. Their determined efforts give African economies more resilience as they respond to the challenges of war, political instability, and climate change.
The Anlu Rebellion
Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta Mougoué
From 1958 to 1961, Kom women in western Cameroon cast aside their regular domestic and agricultural duties to engage in a revolt against British administrative interference in agriculture—normally their domain—and the alleged plan by the ruling political party, the Kamerun National Congress (KNC), to sell Kom land to Nigerian Igbos. In keeping with the practices of anlu, a centuries-old women's organization generally deployed against people who violated the Kom moral code, women interfered with burial rituals; hurled insults at men in public; demanded the closing of schools, courts, and markets; set up roadblocks; destroyed and burned property; and defied both traditional and British authorities in the Bamenda Grassfields of western Cameroon. Their tactics included stripping naked in front of men. While local men considered the sight of the vagina in public to be a bad portent and thus understood the seriousness of the revolt, flabbergasted British officials had no idea what was to come. By seizing control of resources and demonstrating in public, Kom women disturbed local political power, and protested against British rule in the Southern Cameroons. They were a crucial force in the victory of the Kamerun National Democratic Party (KNDP) in 1961, which brought a restoration of political order at the time of independence.
The Archaeology of Gender in Sub-Saharan Africa
Lyn Wadley
The meaning and context of gender is contested even in the 21st century. No generalizations about gender are applicable through time or across space. Even where gender roles are defined by particular cultural norms, they are not static, and an individual may pass through several gendered social transformations in a lifetime. Sub-Saharan African rites of passage into adulthood are sometimes marked by gender-specific physical mutilations such as circumcision, dental modification or scarification, together with other forms of symbolic marking that invariably adopt a binary gender system as the norm. The initiations are largely designed to instruct initiates about behavior appropriate for men and women of reproductive age belonging to a specific community. Some aspects of initiation rites may be detected archaeologically through skeletal alterations, rock art motifs, and props such as scarified dolls. Concepts of gender are also connected to the last rite of passage: burial. Through this, people gain access to the ancestral world. In some parts of Africa such as Mali, men and women are buried with the artifacts they owned in life, while in Ethiopia, stelae mark the gender of the deceased. Elsewhere, as in the Stone Age of southern Africa, gender-undifferentiated grave goods are placed with men, women, and children, suggesting a genderless ancestral world. Gender roles can be identified in some archaeological sites in parts of Africa, and these roles sometimes appear to have altered through time. Gender roles changed with environmental shifts, and certain tasks such as big-game hunting disappeared as a result. In other cases, gender roles were revised because of social pressures imposed on specific communities.
Bodily Ways of Knowing: Anthropological and Historical Approaches to Affect and the Senses
Kathryn Linn Geurts
For centuries, European and Global North observers of non-Western societies have been fascinated by African bodily expressivity and power. Artistic and ritual displays of bodily ways of knowing have captivated explorers, traders, missionaries, anthropologists, historians, and tourists, and this engagement has spawned a robust industry of representational accounts of African affect and sensibilities. Both European colonialism and American imperialism created and produced voluminous documentation of "the black body" through study of folklore, proverbs, myth, sculpture, masks, adornment objects such as beads, tunics, hair combs, and so forth. In addition, film and still photography have been used to capture vivid portrayals of bodily powers revealed in dance and possession trance. A history of such documentation and collection reveals shifts over more than a century in the way body, affect, and sensing have been understood and studied. Anthropology and psychology took the lead in attending to affect and the senses, but by the late 20th century additional fields such as music, art history, archaeology, and history joined in the sensory turn.
Funmilayo (Anikulapo) Ransome-Kuti: Nigerian Anti-Imperialist, Humanist, and Feminist Activist
Cheryl Johnson-Odim
In the late 19th and 20th centuries, massive numbers of African women, poor and rich, educated and uneducated, were deeply involved in resistance to European colonialism/imperialism and male domination at both the national and local levels of their nations. The 1890 rebellion led by Charwe in present-day Zimbabwe, the 1929 women's rebellion in eastern Nigeria, the 1940s women's marches in Senegal as part of the strike of African male railway workers so beautifully chronicled in Ousmane Sembene's God's Bits of Wood (1960), the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya, the revolution against the French in Algeria, and women's roles as troop support and combatants against the Portuguese in Angola and Mozambique and against apartheid in South Africa are among the many examples of women centered in African resistance to colonialism and African nation-building. In all of these struggles women did not isolate their struggles as women from their struggles as oppressed people.
Born Frances Olufunmilayo Olufela Abigail Folorunsho Thomas, but best known as Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (and later Funmilayo Anikulapo -Kuti), is the best-known Nigerian woman anti-imperialist, pan-Africanist, and feminist. She struggled for the independence of Nigeria and the empowerment of Nigerian women to vote, be educated, and be included in the governance structures of their nation. She also identified herself as a human-rights activist who struggled on behalf of the poor and disenfranchised of all nations. She was among a small number of West African women (such as Adelaide Casely-Hayford, Constance Cummings-John, and Mabel Dove Danquah) who traveled widely internationally and who were active in international women's organizations such as the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). At one point, when Amy Ashwood Garvey visited Nigeria, FRK wrote to ask about affiliating with Garvey's United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) Women's Corps.
In addition to her travel to many countries on the African continent, FRK traveled to Eastern and Western Europe, the Soviet Union, and China. Though invited to participate in a conference in San Francisco in the 1950s, she never visited the United States because she was unable to secure a visa due to her travel during the Cold War to eastern bloc nations and China, for which she was accused of being a communist. She was never a member of the communist party, but she did embrace the socialist ideal that all people were entitled to their freedom, education, medical care, and housing, and her activism was firmly rooted in grassroots organizing.
She is best known for having led the struggle that deposed the Alake (king) of Abeokuta, for leading women in their struggles against taxation by the British colonial government without the vote or representation in government, and for her work with the nationalist party the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) and with the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT). She founded two women's organizations within Nigeria, the Abeokuta Women's Union (AWU) and the Nigerian Women's Union (NWU-which was the basis for the formation of the Federation of Nigerian Women's Societies), and a short-lived political party, the Commoners' People's Party (CPP). Internationally she worked with the WIDF (of which she was elected a vice president), the WILPF (that listed FRK as president of its Nigeria section), and the West African Students' Union (WASU) of London. She authored articles on women in Nigeria in the WIDF journal, and one ("We Had Equality 'til Britain Came") in the Daily Worker published in London.
During her lifetime as an activist, she received many honors: the Order of the Niger (1965—from the Nigerian government for her work on behalf of the nation); honorary doctorate from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1968); an appearance in the International Women's Who's Who (1969); and Lenin Peace Prize (1970).
On her death in 1978, FRK was hailed in headlines in major Nigerian newspapers as the "Voice of Women" and "The Defender of Women's Rights." She is also considered a pioneer in the articulation and practice of African feminism and an important figure in the rise of Nigerian radical political philosophy. Analyses of 20th-century African and transnational feminism will continue to be informed and complicated by her story.
North Africa and France: Imperialism, Colonialism, and Women, 1830–1962
Julia Clancy-Smith
The workings of modern empire can better be viewed through the lens of gender because gendered hierarchies illuminate broad, intersecting aspects of the colonial project.
Community, kinship, household economies, religion, education, sexuality, social engineering, nationalism, and transnational reform movements were all inflected by imperial patriarchy in various guises. This perspective is especially rich for "French" North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco) from 1830 until 1962 since the region and its peoples were subjected to intense forms of "European" settler colonialism. From the start, the "woman question" assumed particularly fraught and contentious dimensions whose repercussions can be detected even today. Nevertheless, colonial North Africa did not represent a self-enclosed container. Transimperial and global processes shaped the sociopolitical terrain, and in turn. Policies, practices, and resistance in the Maghrib exerted a powerful torque far beyond its limits. Key to understanding women, gender, and settler colonialism is the state of the "archive," the sprawling corpus of records, writings, words, things, and images left in an empire's wake. The voices of women, children, and "ordinary" people, those labeled "the colonized," have until recently been missing in conventional narratives. As Antoinette Burton observed, the archives themselves structure "the conceptual frameworks of women's and gender history." In the imperial historical context, the task of recuperating and restoring lost voices is all the more problematic, yet urgent. One might also add that the fundamental question is "whether 'women' is a category at all."
Swazi Women's Resilience regarding Patriarchy, Marginalization, and the HIV/AIDS Pandemic
Betty Harris
This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History. Please check back later for the full article.
Swazi women, who are grossly underrepresented in social, political, and economic spheres in contemporary Swaziland, nevertheless have helped to perpetuate the Dlamini dynasty that has ruled the kingdom since its inception in the mid-16th century. The kingdom has been ruled by the Ngwenyama and the Ndlovukazi, in complementary gender roles for the Swazi king and Queen Mother, respectively. Queen Mother Gwamile (1859–1925), a forward-thinking woman and the most prominent Queen Mother and regent, had a tremendous impact on shaping the Swazi polity by promoting the education of both genders and buying back land alienated by concessionaires and European settlers. Yet most women's marginalization in the public sphere increased markedly during Swaziland's colonization and has been reinforced in the post-independence period. Swaziland became a peripheral capitalist formation even prior to formal colonization vis-à-vis South Africa. Labor and capital were exchanged unequally, with Swazi men having more employment opportunities in Swaziland and South Africa, resulting in women having more restricted migration and employment opportunities. Often, women were confined to poor, rural homesteads. Furthermore, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, in which Swaziland eventually had the highest percentage of cases, has resulted in a higher death rate for women. As independence approached, King Sobhuza II (1899–1982) resisted Westminster-style political institutions in favor of enhanced indigenous institutions. In the post-independence period, he prohibited citizens' formation of political parties and exercising the franchise at the national level. Swazi women's parliamentary representation is on the lowest tier in Africa and worldwide. Improvement in the status of Swazi women will require their own activism and the involvement of the international human rights community at various levels.
Women and Apartheid
Meghan Healy-Clancy
Apartheid, the system of racial and ethnic separation introduced in South Africa in 1948, was a gendered project. The immediate goal of the white Afrikaner men who led the apartheid state was to control black men: to turn black men from perceived political and criminal threats into compliant workers. Under apartheid, African men would travel to work for whites in towns and on mines, but their homes would be in rural ethnic "reserves," known as "homelands" or "Bantustans." This vision depended on the labors of African women: while their men migrated to work, women were to maintain their families in the increasingly overcrowded and desolate countryside, reproducing the workforce cheaply while instilling a sense of ethnic difference in their children. "Coloured" (mixed-race) and Indian women were similarly charged with social reproduction on a shoestring, in segregated rural and urban areas. White women uniquely had the franchise and freedom of movement, but they were also constrained by sexually repressive laws.
Apartheid's gendered vision of production and social reproduction faced continual resistance, and it ultimately failed. First, it failed because African women increasingly moved from rural areas to urban centers, despite laws limiting their mobility. Second, it failed because some women organized across ethnic and racial lines. They often organized as mothers, demanding a better world for a new generation. Both their nationally and internationally resonant campaigns—against pass laws, educational and health care inequities, police brutality, and military conscription—and the fact of their collective organization gradually undermined apartheid. Officials generally underestimated the power of women, and their contributions have continued to be under-appreciated since apartheid ended in 1994, because women's political style emphasized personal and familial concerns. But because apartheid was premised on transforming how families lived, actions of women in fact undermined the system from its core.
Women and Politics in Africa
Aili Mari Tripp
While women were never fully equal to men in the political sphere, women in precolonial Africa governed kingdoms, established cities, launched military conquests, and founded states. Some governed as sole rulers often as queens, while others governed together with a king, as a mother or sister of the king. A third arrangement involved a tripartite sharing of power among the king, mother, and sister, and a fourth arrangement involved societies in which an age set or group of elders governed the society and in which women exerted either direct or indirect power.
Women lost out in such arrangements, first, with the spread of Islam and Christianity and later with colonization. Women participated actively in nationalist movements, but their motivations sometimes differed from those of men, and were related, for example, to taxation and the desire to improve female education. After independence, women were further sidelined from political life with a few exceptions. It was not until the 1990s that we began to see the reemergence of women political leaders. This happened with the opening of political space, which allowed for the emergence of women's organizations, coalitions, and movements that pressed for an increased political role for women. The decline of conflict after 2000 created greater stability that enhanced these trends. Pressures from the United Nations after 1995 and from foreign donors strengthened domestic actors pressing for women's-rights reforms in the area of political representation.
Women and Post-Independence African Politics
Gretchen Bauer, Akosua Darkwah, and Donna Patterson
Building upon their participation in anti-colonial struggles across Africa in the mid-20th century, African women have taken on many political roles in the post-independence period. While military rule and single-party rule precluded access to elected office in many countries in the early years after independence, female combatants fought alongside their male counterparts in ongoing struggles for national liberation in other parts of Africa, especially southern Africa, into the 1980s and 1990s. In many countries, national gender machineries established in the 1970s provided an institutional infrastructure for pursuing women's rights even if they were often not fully implemented. State feminism, articulated through First Ladyism and state-led national women's associations, sought to co-opt women's struggles for political gain. In some instances, it did ameliorate women's economic hardships and promote political participation. Women's mobilization in the 1980s, in part a response to the severe impact of structural adjustment programs on devastated African economies, led to local-level organizing and eventually to a focus on women's access to political office. Since the political transitions that swept the continent beginning in the early 1990s, women have accessed political office in all three branches of government in unprecedented numbers just as new forms of mobilization have emerged around issues like the rights of sexual minorities.
Women in Angola
Mariana P. Candido
European colonial powers established the contemporary boundaries of Angola during the Conference of Berlin (1884–1885). However, colonialism dates to the 15th century, when Portuguese merchants first contacted the Kingdom of Kongo along the Congo River and established early settlements in Luanda (1575) and Benguela (1617). Parts of the territories that became known as Angola in the early 20th century have a long history of interaction with the outside world, and as a result European primary sources provide much of the information available to historians. The reports, official correspondence, and diaries were produced by European men and are therefore problematic. However, by reading against the grain scholars can begin to understand how women lived in Angola before the 20th century.
Some, such as Queen Njinga, had access to political power, and others, such as Dona Ana Joaquina dos Santos e Silva, enjoyed great wealth. Kimpa Vita was a prophet who led a movement of political and religious renewal and was killed as a result. Most women never appeared in historical documents but were fundamental to the economic and social existence of their communities as farmers, traders, artisans, mediums, and enslaved individuals. The end of the slave trade in the 1850s led to the expansion of the so-called legitimate trade and plantation economies, which privileged male labor while relying on women's domestic contributions. The arrival of a larger number of missionaries, colonial troops, and Portuguese settlers by the end of the 19th century resulted in new policies that stimulated migration and family separation. It also introduced new ideas about morality, sexuality, and motherhood. Women resisted and joined anticolonial movements. After independence, decades of civil war increased forced displacement, gender imbalance, and sexual violence. The greater stability at the end of the armed conflict may favor the expansion of women's organizations and internal pressures to address gender inequalities.
Women in Central African History
Gertrude Mianda
This examination of the history of women's situation in Central Africa from the late colonial period of the 19th to the early 21st century sheds light on women's experiences by highlighting their agency in confronting the changes they faced. The colonizers' introduction of cash crop production and forced labor in the late 19th century to modernize the economy impacted the sexual division of labor, transforming the organization of the work within the family and community. In the post-independence period, traditional gender expectations continued to shape the lives of the majority of women, but a small number were able to take advantage of social mutations in the domains of education, politics, and work to become leaders. Transformations brought about by postcolonial armed conflict in three Central African countries profoundly affected women's lives.
Women in the Gambia
Catherine Cymone Fourshey
A predominantly rural territory with few urban centers historically, the Gambia holds little in the way of well-known luxury resources commonly discussed in studies of western Africa. People of the region, in particular women, have exploited both riverine and oceanic food and material resources. The limited scholarship available on Gambian women reveals they have been essential to those endeavors contributing to economy, politics, society, and family institutions. Often by pursuing seemingly less-lucrative endeavors, women have been prominent actors innovating production and acquisition techniques as well as product uses in this mixed agricultural and aquatic economy, from precolonial to contemporary times. Despite few raw materials or luxury resources, and in certain contexts great limits on their authority, women of the Gambia River region were central to economic life historically, developing household food production and trading their surplus agricultural, aquatic, and manufactured goods. In different eras and contexts, Gambian women have been agricultural innovators and technologists; catchers, processors, and traders of aquatic resources; merchants of manufactured and crafted items; and educators. In essence, they created intellectual, economic, and artisanal opportunities for themselves and others in their communities. These activities allowed women to influence and propel economic and political agendas over time. In particular, women have been credited with critical developments in rice production technologies going back at least to the 16th century, though women's expertise in this realm likely has much deeper historical roots. This knowledge and set of skills related to rice agriculture made Mandinka women of the Gambia River region critical to West Africa's Upper Guinea coast and also to life in the Americas as enslaved producers. Mandinka women and men became a large demographic represented in southeastern US plantations and communities because of their well-developed techniques in rice cultivation. Gambian women significantly influenced the eastern and western Atlantic worlds.
The modern-day nation of The Gambia, which achieved independence in 1965, is a relatively small territory hugging the banks of Gambia River for a narrow fifteen miles from the north and south banks. Starting 300 miles inland to the east (upriver), the river flows west into the Atlantic Ocean (downriver). Looking back in time at this region bordering the river, it is important to consider Gambian women's lives over time in the context of both centralized and non-centralized political units. In the orbit of centralized states such as Ghana (4th–13th centuries), Takrur (9th–14th centuries), Mali (13th–15th centuries), and Jolof (14th–16th centuries), women (and men) negotiated shifting expectations over time. Certainly Gambian women have been born into, circulated among, or married within several local cultural and linguistic traditions that include Aku, Bambara, Fula, Jola, Mandinka, Manjago, Serahulle, Serer, and Wollof. However, scholars have written more about women and gender for these groups in neighboring countries. Non-centralized political and social affiliations typically provided women a great deal of authority and autonomy. However, most positions and statuses women were privy to historically were reshaped and often greatly diminished from the 19th century onward due to processes of the slave trade, Islamization, and European colonialization. With the rise of Atlantic-world trade small numbers of coastal Gambian River women expanded their spheres of influence and wealth by forming both marital and economic alliances with Portuguese, French, Dutch, and British men. By the 20th century a number of women pursued various forms and levels of education in efforts to increase their opportunities in the social, political, and economic arenas. In essence, in each historical era women of the Gambia River have sought out knowledge, expertise, and skills in order to achieve their ambitions regardless of the political, religious, or social order dominant at the time.
The Women's War of 1929
Adam Paddock
The Women's War of 1929, known among Igbo women as Ogu Umunwanyi, occurred from November 23 to January 10, 1930. It was a resistance movement whereby women in the Eastern Provinces of the British colony of Nigeria intended to reverse colonial policies that intruded on their political, economic, and social participation in local communities. Women participants included predominantly Igbo and Ibibio women; however, Ogoni and Andoni women, among others, participated. Whereas the British system of indirect rule on paper intended to institute political control with minimal intrusion on African societies, colonial rule in Eastern Nigeria significantly contributed to redefining women's position in society, which meant colonialism's political changes led to a range of consequences for women's work and daily lives that extended well beyond politics. In addition, the British colonial government imposed an almost completely alien political system of autocratic warrant chiefs on societies that in the past practiced a political system with diffused political authority shared across several positions, organizations, and gender.
Shortly after World War I, the British colonial army in eastern Nigeria defeated the last major resistance to colonial rule, the Ekumeku rebellion. In the ensuing decade, resistance to colonial rule continued, but Africans altered their tactics and women featured prominently in anticolonial resistance when cultural changes tended to disadvantage women. The Women's War of 1929 marked an apex in women's resistance in Eastern Nigeria to colonial rule. The War began in the rural town of Oloko when Igbo women suspected the colonial government intended to use warrant chiefs and the native court system to implement a new tax on women, which they believed the colonial government planned to add to an existing tax on African men. From the initial outbreak of resistance in Oloko, the women's resistance extended across eastern Nigeria as women joined the movement and demanded either significant changes in or the removal of the colonial government. Thousands of women participated in the resistance and they employed a variety of tactics, which included removing the cap of office from warrant chiefs, looting factories, burning down native court buildings, blocking train tracks, cutting telegraph wires, releasing prisoners from colonial jails, and destroying or confiscating colonial property. The British colonial government resorted to lethal force and in the process colonial soldiers shot women at Abak, Utu Etim Ekpo, and Opobo. The most significant loss of life occurred at Opobo and it marked the end of the Women's War except for a few minor instances of resistance.
The tactics and scope of the Women's War confounded colonial authorities because, even though they extensively assured women they would not be taxed, participation in the resistance increased and spread across the region. Eventually, the Women's War caused the British to abandon the warrant chief system and establish village councils; however, generally women were excluded from political participation. More importantly, the Women's War of 1929 marks the beginning of a transition in eastern Nigeria from predominantly localized ethnic-based opposition to British imperialism to resistance movements that transcended ethnicity and class.


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Joined: 15 Mar 2013
Posts: 3
Location: Colchester, VT
Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 11:17 am
Post subject: Setup for a beginner
First post! I'm hoping all you experienced people can share some good info!
I would like to get into windsurfing and am looking to purchase a used setup. I don't know anything about windsurfing, so all info is good!
Background info:
- I grew up surfing in New England
- I'm now land locked in Northern Vermont, close to Lake Champlain
- I have been sailing a 16' Hobie Cat for 4 summers, so I have a decent understanding of sailing small crafts
- I'm 5'10" 170 lbs
- Typical wind ranges from 5-20 knots
- Primary use will be on a lake with minimal (1-4') chop
What do I need for equipment? Board, mast, sail, harness? What specs should I be looking for? What other info should I provide?
Thanks for the help!
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Joined: 11 Aug 2006
Posts: 1068
Location: Florida
Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 11:53 am
Post subject:
Best piece of advice I can give you is get a lesson from an experienced instructor. Something like this:
It will save you endless frustration. Plus they will have the correct beginners equipment and can advise you on what to buy.
If that is not an option, look for a wide board (wider than 80 cm) with a daggerboard. Star-board Start or Rio are excellent. The Hifly boards are no longer made, but the Hifly Motion was a good durable cheap beginners board.
The beginners rig packages from Chinook are good value:
as are these packages:
If you put together an a la carte rig rather than a pre-package one like the ones above, I like the Hot Sails Maui Superfreak sails for learning, but most wave sails from the last 10 years should be fine. For your size and winds something around a 5.0 initially, and one you have a good understanding and want to go faster, a 6.0 will be a nice addition. You'll also need a mastfoot, a mast extension, a mast, probably a 430 cm will fit both a 5.0 and a 6.0 depending on the sail brand, and a boom that goes from about 160-210 cm should cover those sail sizes.
Pity you are in Vermont as I have the perfect beginners set up that I no longer need, but I am in Los Angeles.
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Joined: 08 Jan 2012
Posts: 665
Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 12:59 pm
Post subject:
Yeah, capetonian said it all. Get lessons - going by yourself thru the absolute beginner phase is soo not worth it!
Last edited by adywind on Fri Mar 15, 2013 5:55 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Joined: 14 Jul 2012
Posts: 61
Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 1:29 pm
Post subject:
I'm currently selling a beginner's rig - I'm not trying to push it here, I may have a buyer, and you're in the wrong place. But you might what to know what's in it.
I started last yet with a real mismatch of stuff, and it took me some time to get stuff that worked properly together. It doesn't have to be fancy, and in some ways it's better that isn't, since you'll beat it up a lot. But it does have to fit together, and not be some super old gear.
What I put together is:
130L board
2-3 sails in the 4-6 range - older, but serviceable.
460 mast (although 430 might be a little bit better)
medium sized boom
mast base/universal/extension
Don't forget wetsuit/lifejacket/wetsuit boots and maybe gloves.
This type of setup is meant for *after* your first lesson. you'll be frustrated if you take it with no experience.
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Joined: 13 Oct 1995
Posts: 944
Location: Thousand Oaks, CA
Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 1:33 pm
Post subject:
Look around until you find another windsurfer. A posting here would be a good start. Most of us are friendly, helpful folk who'll be glad to help you find stuff, and maybe even spot you some free lessons. I'd do it, but I'm 3,000 miles away, like Capetonian!
Spennie the Wind Junkie
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Joined: 30 May 2007
Posts: 967
Location: Formerly Cape Hatteras, now Burlington, VT!
Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 2:21 pm
Post subject:
Hey RSP!
I used to sail Champlain all the time before I moved to NC. It's a SUPER fun place to sail. You'll have the best luck of meeting up with other folks up at Sandbar (the bridge on the way to South Hero). In south wind, you'll find people on the south side of the bridge. In north wind, you'll find people in the State Park, all the way down at the end of the parking area.
The main benefit of launching at Sandbar is that it's shallow, which makes it easier to get back up and running after you fall.
Look for early morning south winds during the summer (usually done by 10am)
Fall is the crazy windy season, with big big big days.
The water is freezing in the Spring, so make sure you have a good wetsuit...
For gear, try to find a beginner board if you can. Something with a dagger board and at least 200 liters. After a little practice, once you find yourself completely addicted, you'll use a ~130 and a ~100 liter board most of the time. For sails, start with something around a 5.5 or 6.0. Eventually, add a 7.5 and a 4.7ish, and you'll be totally set!
I know a good handful of sailors up there. PM if you want contact info.
formerly known as hodad.andy
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Joined: 10 Feb 2012
Posts: 1120
Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 2:40 pm
Post subject:
spennie wrote:
Look around until you find another windsurfer. A posting here would be a good start. Most of us are friendly, helpful folk who'll be glad to help you find stuff, and maybe even spot you some free lessons. I'd do it, but I'm 3,000 miles away, like Capetonian!
I would agree with this, windsurfers are actually friendly mature people who like to help new people get into the sport, pretty much the complete opposite of surfers
And buy used gear, you will trash your gear learning.
Instruction would be nice but it may not be available or unaffordable.
I taught myself by watching instructional videos on youtube and some dvd's I bought.
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Joined: 26 Jan 2007
Posts: 481
Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 6:03 pm
Post subject:
I give many lesson (couple hundred SUP / WS a year). That's my take.
A good instructor will with in 2 hours have you up and running on the basic of the sail, how to turn, sail back and forward, self rescue etc. This will cost you anywhere from $40 to $150 for 2 hours and will save you 25 hours X$%#^&# haha.
Join a club if there is one close by.
Then get a used big board and cheap Rig and spend a few weekends sailing.
After a while you ready to step up to some better used gear or new stuff.
happy sailing and welcome to WS
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Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 1197
Location: Bonita Springs, Florida
Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 3:56 pm
Post subject:
Good advice from hodad.andy!
I also recommend a really big (200+ liter volume) board with a daggerboard. If you're buying new, the Kona ONE or Exocet WindSUP are nice boards to learn on that remain fun to sail in a variety of conditions.
If you want to do things on the cheap with used gear, I have written a "guide" for that.
Getting a lesson, or at least some set-up help from an experienced windsurfer, can be a HUGE help, potentially shortening a year-long learning process into a day-long learning process.
Lake Champlain should be an exciting spot to windsurf.
James' Blog: Windsurfing Equipment Size Calculator
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Joined: 04 Nov 2008
Posts: 228
Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2013 4:07 pm
Post subject: Re: Setup for a beginner
RSPvideo wrote:
- I'm now land locked in Northern Vermont, close to Lake Champlain
Thanks for the help!
Sand Bar should be a perfect spot for you. Park beach is good for N-NW-W winds and the other side across the road for S directions. Though it is said to have water-weeds threre.
Myself I'm in central New Hampshire, mostly sailing Mascoma and Sunapee. Coming season planning to go to Lake Champlain (Sand bar). So, we can have a session together. I'm no pro, learning too, yet would be happy to share some experience.
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RichardCW needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 246 designs submitted by 44 freelance designers.
Global Training & Certification Institute G.T.C. Institute
Our company provides training and certification programs to thousands of professionals each year. Most of these are conducted online or within small seminar formats. We would like to now create a seal for our training organization as a whole.
It is very important that our seal is professionally created, looks corporate, but also looks conservative in nature. Some of our programs are progressive and modern on topics such as marketing but others are on very traditional topics. It is important that our seal looks appropriate to be associated with these programs in each case.
We will do our best to provide feedback to anyone who's logo gets rated with a 4 star rating or higher. Thanks in advance for your hard work.
Working professionals who would like to complete online training or certification programs to increase their knowledge and abilities in the workplace.
We would like a cirlce-based logo to act as the seal for our company the G.T.C. Institute. The G.T.C. Institute stands for the Global Training & Certification Institute and it would be great to fit both the words G.T.C. in the logo as well as the full name spelled out - Global Training & Certification Institute. Perhaps the G.T.C. could go in the middle with the spelling out of the words on the outside of the circle?
We are open to different color variations but we would prefer conservative corporate feeling colors, no neon colors and no clip art type images or symbols please.
The logo must be in a circle or circle with small spokes to look like a professional seal of an organization.
Here are examples of other professional seals just so you know what we compete against, please do not copy any of these:
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


text:
May 13, 2006
STANFORD, Calif. - Despite some heated battles on several singles courts, the UC Santa Barbara men's tennis team saw its 2006 campaign come to an end Saturday with a 4-0 loss to California in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Taube Tennis Center.
The 20th-ranked Golden Bears improved to 16-6 overall and advance to Sunday's second round against either host Stanford or Quinnipiac. Meanwhile UCSB's season ends with a 15-11 dual match record.
After Cal clinched the doubles point with convincing wins on courts one and three, the action turned to singles. Berkeley's Lennart Maack earned a 6-3, 6-1 victory at the No. 3 spot, while his teammate Ken Nakahara did the same at No. 5 with a 6-1, 7-5 triumph over Scott Hohenstein.
A spirited contest ensued at the top spot, where Berkeley's Connor Niland - the Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year squared off with Nick Brotman, who earned similar honors in the Big West Conference. The Golden Bear senior, also recently named ITA West Region Player of the Year, pulled out a narrow 6-4, 6-4 win to clinch a second round berth for his squad.
Play was suspended while Santa Barbara was within striking distance on the three remaining courts. Gaucho freshman Max Taylor won the first set on court six, 6-3, before Cal's Dean Wallace knotted the score by taking the second frame 6-4. At No. 2 singles UCSB rookie Bijan Hejazi dropped a tough 7-6 (7-5) decision to Tyler Browne but then held a commanding 4-1 second set advantage. Finally, on court four Santa Barbara junior Elad Stern rallied from a 6-1 opening-set loss to Daniel Sebescen and was on the verge of knotting the score, up 6-5 in the second.
The Gauchos were making their third NCAA tourney appearance and first since 2003 under head coach Marty Davis, who was a three-time All-American at Cal in the late-1970's.
Doubles: (California wins doubles point) 1. Conor Niland/Tyler Browne (Cal) d. Nick Brotman/Anders Dalskov (UCSB) - 8-2 2. John Petit/Daniel Sebescen (Cal) vs. Carsten Thorstensen/Scott Hohenstein (UCSB) - 6-3, dnf 3. Lennart Maack/Dean Wallace (Cal) d. Bijan Hejazi/Elad Stern (UCSB) - 8-3 Order of finish: 3,1
Singles: 1. Conor Niland (Cal) d. Nick Brotman (UCSB) - 6-4, 6-4 2. Tyler Browne (Cal) vs. Bijan Hejazi (UCSB) - 7-6, 1-4, dnf 3. Lennart Maack (Cal) d. Anders Dalskov (UCSB) - 6-3, 6-1 4. Daniel Sebescen (Cal) vs. Elad Stern (UCSB) - 6-1, 5-6, dnf 5. Ken Nakahara (Cal) d. Scott Hohenstein (UCSB) - 6-1, 7-5 6. Dean Wallace (Cal) vs. Max Taylor (UCSB) - 3-6, 6-4, dnf Order of finish: 5, 3, 1