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For free admission contact us on our website. We're hiring Boston promoters.
Ascend Nightclub
295 Franklin St
Boston, MA
Doors 10 PM
21+ with valid ID
Tickets: http://bit.ly/2hKn96Z
Artist Biography - Kill The Noise
There's a new ghoul haunting parties worldwide – a diamond-eyed, baseball-capped skull slapped to turntables, grinning off sweat-drenched t-shirts, and gleaming from 20-foot neon screens on stage. It's the bony mascot of Kill The Noise, the buzzing young producer and DJ whose uniquely intense take on electronic dance music has kept him rocking around the globe. From packed nightclubs to sold-out festivals like HARD, Electric Daisy Carnival and Audiotistic, marking his territory every night with hypnotic, bass-heavy sets and skull stickers alike.
Amazingly, Kill The Noise has been able to leave such huge mark on his fans without a single official solo release. Yet that's about to change in a big way with the release of his debut EP Roots, a diverse four-track collection that offers KTN a chance to show off musical influences while hinting at exciting new production frontiers. The title track is a tribal epic built on techy basslines and massive drums. "Jokes On You" is a cheeky, instantly memorable clubber featuring enormous detuned riffs and KTN's own cut up vocals. "My World" jacks out with high-energy laser synths, while closing track "Perfect Combination" offers a infectious hook and feel-good disco vibes.
Roots is also the inaugural release on Slow Roast Records, a new imprint founded by Kill The Noise and world-champion deejay Craze, distributed by indie powerhouse Fool's Gold. It sets the stage for future releases this year by Señor Stereo, Klever and even more from KTN and Craze themselves. So rest assured – this skull will continue to shine!
Artist Biography - YOOKiE
In a scene that many consider to be oversaturated, YOOKiE stands out. Comprised of brothers Anthony and Chris Alfaro, YOOKiE is a young production duo that is currently based out of New York.
Their releases highlight the direction that the electronic music scene is heading, having already been released on Dim Mak, Big Beat, Buygore, with forthcoming releases on Mad Decent, Good Enuff, and Never Say Die Records. The duo's edit of Skrillex's 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites' continues to tear audiences apart, having received support from The Chainsmokers and Carnage at Ultra Music Festival 2016, as well as from many other top-tier Producers and DJs since its release.
YOOKiE has solidified their presence within the music scene with their unconventional and highly imaginative originals, remixes and edits, which have landed them major support from artists and fans alike. With much to come, YOOKiE will continue to break through the boundaries of the music industry with their ever-experimental production style of high energy music.


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This review is by Kalina Wilson, who can also be found at geminica.com.
Not long ago I reviewed the Noodler's flex pen with mixed results. I wanted to love it, but my pen just couldn't keep up a steady flow of ink. Thinking it was just a matter of proper adjustment I spent hours trying every bit of advice online, even carving into the ebonite feed, but the pen got no more usable. Instead of giving me a graceful, sweeping line I was ending up with awful chicken scratch because so much labor was involved in making the pen flow.
It must be concluded that at least some of these pens aren't very good straight out of the box. That's not too surprising - it's often the case with affordable fountain pens, and the Noodler's is very affordable at $14. At least the Noodler's Flex is made to be easily worked on, with easy disassembly and a workable feed. It's a great intention, design, and pricepoint, you can't knock that. Still, I was disappointed that I was spending more time fiddling with my flex pen than actually drawing with it.
Now to the GOOD NEWS.
In June, a few online suppliers received new shipments of the flex pens, and I picked one up in 'Vulcan Coral' from Goulet Pens.
This one flows like a dream. Straight out of the box! No struggle required, though I did wash the nib in soap and water as always. I love sketching with this thing, and am already angling to grab another one next time they're on the market (that June batch is already long gone, but online retailers can put you on a list to be alerted when they're coming back). Flex nibs have a learning curve attached for those of us that aren't used to them, but now that I'm spending more of my time learning instead of cursing, I'm making some progress.
Does this mean the new Noodler's flex pens are better? Or is it a game of chance, since each ebonite feed is slightly different than the next? Did I irrevocably destroy my first pen during my efforts to salvage it? Is my new flex pen made out of magic?
Who knows. But I can tell you this - a functioning Noodler's flex pen is a thing of beauty, and a great sketching tool for artists. It's a gamble but the payoff might be the pen of your dreams.

subset: commoncrawl


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- "Most people have forgotten that 'droid' is short for 'android,' meaning manlike."
- ―Lando Calrissian
Androids were droids built to resemble humanoids. However, it seems that in later times the term became synonymous with cyborg, an organic being with body parts replaced by artificial ones.[1]
The word droid was an abbreviation of the word android, but nevertheless, androids were categorized differently from droids.[2] For instance, C-3PO, R2-D2 and Mon Julpa, who was disguised as an android, were referred to as "two droids and one android". However, it should be noted that C-series protocol droids were also designed to be humanoid in appearance, so C-3PO himself would also qualify as an android.
- Star Wars Droids
- Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu
- Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope (First appearance)
- "Lucky Stars"—Star Wars Tales 15
- Shadows of the Empire
- Shadows of the Empire: Evolution
- Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game
- Star Wars: The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt
- Spain's Droids and Ewoks Novelizations, Part 2 on StarWars.com (article) (backup link)
External linksEdit
See alsoEdit
Notes and referencesEdit
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.


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There is now a summary available from a pilot project that was held in the North East of England.
What will be the final outcome seems to be anyones guess at the moment. We will try and bring you any updates promptly, but keep an eye on the various useful websites:


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There has been a vogue, in recent times, for a type of memoir known as "creative nonfiction," which appears to mean inventing or altering facts in order to "make a better story." I don't know why anyone would bother doing this. If you need to fictionalize a story in order to make it appealing, why not just write a novel?
If you're going write a memoir or a history, you have to do so in the faith that the story is already there. It's in the actual events. It's real. Your job is not to create the story but to discover it, because in nonfiction "story" is not something you impose upon the facts; it's something you reveal through the facts.
To put in another way, in a work of fiction, the facts don't have to be true, they just have to be plausible. In a memoir or a history, the facts don't have to be plausible, they just have to be true.
And that's the glory of it.
I'm thinking of the history I have just written, Games Without Rules, The Often Interrupted History of Afghanistan. If this were a novel, I could never get away with having British envoy William McNaughton report to his superiors, in 1841, that all was "quiet from Dar to Beersheba" in Afghanistan, only one month before his chief aide Alexander Burnes was killed by a mob surrounding his house, and only two months before MacNaughten himself was beheaded by Afghans.
And if I got away with that, I couldn't pile absurdity on absurdity by writing that the entire British community of 16,000 then panicked and instead of trying to reach the safety of a fortified palace on the other side of the city, they tried to escape the country on foot over the Hindu Kush mountains in winter!
And I certainly couldn't write that forty years later, almost to the day, British envoy Louis Napoleon Cavagnari made virtually the same mistakes. He issued almost exactly the same statement as Macnaghten, in the same city, and in the same circumstances–just two days before he was killed by a mob surrounding his residence. It just wouldn't be plausible.
But it's all true, so I could put it into my book.
As a novelist, I could never create the terrifying late-19th century Afghan king Abdu'rahman—the Iron Amir!—and then give him a wife who had her own corps of bodyguards consisting of women warriors. In 19th century Afghanistan? It's just not credible.
And I couldn't have the 20th century Communist president Taraki plot to assassinate his own vice-president by strapping a bomb to the toilet and inviting the guy over for lunch. I mean really! Who could believe such a story? And to have the episode end with the president and the vice-president of the country chasing through the palace, firing at each other with handguns? You couldn't put that in a novel unless you were writing an absurdist black comedy. Otherwise, it's just bad Hollywood.
Except that it really happened. So I can put it in my nonfiction book.
When one writes fiction, by contrast, one begins with the narrative arc and then assembles the facts necessary to give it flesh. In fiction it is never permissible to justify an implausible event by saying, "But something like that really happened!" Doesn't matter that it happened. It has to seem like it happened. Indeed, within the terms of the fiction, it has to seem not just plausible but inevitable.


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Members and observers of the Science-Policy Interface
SPI members
Mariam Akhtar-Schuster
Mariam Akhtar-Schuster is senior scientific advisor at the Project Management Agency in the German Aerospace Center (DLR-PT) in Berlin, Germany. A Geographer, Dr. Akhtar-Schuster holds a PhD from the Faculty of Mathematics and Sciences, University of Goettingen, Germany. Since 1988, she conducted field research on desertification/land degradation and drought in northeast and southern Africa. Key expertise includes morphodynamics and biodiversity in semiarid/arid regions; land use systems with special emphasis on mobile animal husbandry; science-policy communication on DLDD. She was co-founder and co-chair of the independent scientific network DesertNet International. She was member of the scientific steering committees that organized UNCCD´s 1st and 3rd scientific conferences (2009 and 2015). In 2012-2013 she chaired UNCCD´s ad hoc working group to further discuss the options for the provision of scientific advice to the Convention. Since 2014, she is co-chair of UNCCD's science-policy interface (SPI), and in 2017 she was nominated by the IPCC as review editor for its special report on "climate change and land" (to be finalized by September 2019).
Nichole Barger
Nichole Barger, an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado in the U.S., has worked as an ecologist to support sustainable land management and restoration of a broad variety of ecosystems throughout the world. Barger is currently a coordinating lead author on the IPBES global land degradation and restoration assessment. In her research program, she works in partnership with diverse governmental entities in the U.S. on land degradation and restoration issues such as the ecological risks of fire mitigation treatments, historical drivers and biogeochemical responses to woody plant encroachment, forest decline and regeneration, and more recently restoration of degraded dryland ecosystems. Barger also has extensive research experience working on conservation and management issues in dryland ecosystems across the globe. She has worked with international research teams in the semi-arid grasslands of Inner Mongolia and anthropogenic grassland ecosystems of Venezuela, in addition to recent work in southern Africa on plant invasions in the biodiversity hot spot of the Cape Floristic region of South Africa and vegetation dynamics of the Namib Desert of Namibia.
Ermias Betemariam
Ermias Betemariam is a land health scientist with research interest in land degradation, landscape ecology, restoration ecology, soil carbon dynamics and spatial sciences to understand land health constraints and targeting interventions to sustain ecosystem services. He worked as a watershed management expert in small and medium scale irrigation projects in Ethiopia. Ermias Betemariam served as a lecturer in Mekelle University, Ethiopia. Ermias Betemariam is currently working as land health scientist in the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) with major responsibilities of leading the land health surveillance work which involves developing land health measurement and monitoring protocols, lead research projects across Africa, resource mobilization and capacity development. He is also a focal point for the UNCCD at ICRAF. He has published more than thirty articles in peer reviewed journals mainly in areas of ecology, land use cover dynamics, land degradation and restoration. Ermias Betemariam holds a BSc. in Forestry (Alemaya University, Ethiopia); M.Sc. in Geoinformation sciences and Earth observation (ITC, Nethelands) and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Natural Resources (University of Bonn, Germany).
Jean-Luc Chotte
Jean-Luc Chotte is a senior scientist at IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement), France. His research topic deals with the impact of climate and land use changes on soil organic matter dynamics (stocks and fluxes). The objective of his research is to unravel the soil functioning and explore ways to sustain ecology intensification to achieve food security, to combat land degradation and propose science-based evidences to reinforce the role of soils in mitigating/adapting to climate changes. He has been involved in many international projects (see his web site http://www.jean-luc-chotte.fr). To date he has published about 100 publications in the fields of Soil Sciences and Soil Ecology. Since 2011 he is the Director of join Unit "Functional Ecology & biogeochemistry of soils & agro-ecosystems". Since 2015 he has been nominated Deputy Director of one of the 5 Scientific Department at IRD. He is the focal point for IRD in the 4P1000 initiative. Jean-Luc Chotte is a member of Académie d'Agriculture de France.
Annette Cowie
Annette Cowie has a background in soil science and plant nutrition, with particular interest in sustainable resource management. She is Principal Research Scientist, Climate in NSW Department of Primary Industries. Annette is also Task Leader of the International Energy Agency Bioenergy research group Climate Change Effects of Biomass and Bioenergy Systems, and Land Degradation advisor on the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the Global Environment Facility. Her current research focuses on sustainability assessment and greenhouse gas accounting in agriculture and forestry; investigating key aspects of soil carbon dynamics and biochar processes; and life cycle assessment of forestry, bioenergy and biochar systems.
María Angélica Fernández García (CST Bureau member)
María Angélica Fernández García is an environmental engineer at the El Bosque University in Bogotá, Colombia; she is a specialist in Environmental Education and Management. She has over seven years of professional experience in research and management of soil degraded by erosion, salinization and desertification and sustainable soil management. María Angelica was part of the technical team for the formulation of the Policy for the Sustainable Management of Soils, in the preparation of the National Study of erosion and in the Protocols for the identification and evaluation of salinization and desertification. She has worked in entities such as the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies - IDEAM, has led the issue of soils in the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia and is currently representative of the Latin American region in the Bureau of Science Committee and Technology of the UNCCD.
- Latest publications and peer-reviewed articles
Carl Kojo Fiati (CST Bureau member)
Carl Kojo Fiati is the Director of Natural Resources at the Environmental Protection Agency, under Ghana's Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation. He provides technical guidance and oversight for assessment and mitigation of environmental risks associated with the development and exploitation of natural resources. His major efforts have been directed towards improving environmental quality governance and leveraging science, technology and traditional knowledge for developing solutions to problems of natural capital degradation and restoration of ecosystem resilience. He is currently coordinating the development and integration of innovative market-based offsets schemes into Ghana's Environmental Impact Assessment System that would incentivize private sector-lead investment to address land degradation and loss of biological diversity. As head of natural resources programmes for the UNCCD national focal institution, Mr. Fiati has contributed to the formulation of policies and action plans related to Multilateral Environmental Agreements, including preparation and revision of the National Action Plans to combat desertification drought. Mr. Fiati holds an MPhil. in Oceanography and Fisheries from the University of Ghana; BSc(Hons) in Biology with specialization in plant water relations from the University of Cape Coast, and Certificate in Environmental Biosafety from the Institute of International Agriculture, Michigan State University.
- Latest publications and peer-reviewed articles
Marijana Kapović Solomun
Marijana Kapović Solomun is assistant professor and vice Dean for Scientific Research at Faculty of Forestry, University of Banja Luka. Dr. Kapović Solomun is member of UNCCD Roster of experts, and LDN national expert involved in LDN TSP process in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is Alumna of JFDP programme of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of USA in area of Land degradation and conservation. Dr. Kapović Solomun has broad international and national experience in scientific projects, as leader or expert for soil, land degradation and forestry, who published significant number of scientific papers. She is Management Committee member of European Cooperation of Science and Technology COST Actions ES1306 "Connecting European connectivity research"; FP1304 "Towards robust projections of European forests under climate change" and CA16209 "Natural Flood Retention on Private Land". Marijana Kapović Solomun is founder and President of Association for women's empowerment and nature protection "Mother Nature", President of Board Members "United States Alumni Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina", and Vice President of "Association of Forestry Engineers "EcoForest".
Zahurul Karim
Professor Zahurul Karim has a background in soil management and crop production. He conducted research work at the world famous Rothamsted Experimental Station and obtained Ph.D. from the University of Reading U.K. Currently he is working as an International Advisor for Food Policy Research Program of a World Bank supported modern food project in Bangladesh. He has served in many key positions including Secretary to the Government of Bangladesh, Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), Director General of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) and Member-Director (Soils) of BARC. He has also worked for more than five years as Senior Advisor in Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Dr. Karim has experiences of working for more than 40 years as professor, researcher, research manager, senior public administrator & policy planner and national &international consultancy/advisors. His areas of specialization include management of degraded soils, climate change impact of food security and framing of public policies. He has 140 publications in peer reviewed journals, books and monographs. Dr. Karim is a fellow of many societies and leaned bodies including The World Academy of Sciences, New York Academy of Sciences, Member of the Pool of International Experts (PIE) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of the Netherlands. Currently he is chair of many professional bodies at home and abroad.
German Kust (CST Bureau member)
German Kust, from 2017, is principal researcher in the Institute of Geography of Russian Academy of sciences, head of the Scientific and Expert Centre for Desertification, Land Degradation and Droughts. He works on desertification/land degradation problems since 1988, as researcher and professor in soil science and environmental ecology at the Soil Science Faculty of the Moscow Lomonosov state university, then as Executive director, Head of the laboratory of soil resources and ecological projecting, at the Institute of Environmental Soil Science, and as a Head of the Department of Soil Erosion and Conservation in Moscow Lomonosov state university. His professional interests include sustainable management of natural resources, environmental land management, soil science, environmental and agricultural ecology, environmental education, biodiversity conservation, environmental services, remote sensing. He has also been working as independent consultant/expert for several international organizations including the World Bank, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, UNCCD, GEF. In 1996, he gained the Doctor of Biology (Doctor habilitatus) degree in "Desertification and soil evolution in dry areas" and in 1988 a Ph.D. degree in "Soil alkalinity phenomenon and its diagnostics". He gives/gave courses on: Soil evolution, Environmental doctrine, Remote sensing application in environmental sciences, Global mechanism of environmental/ natural resources management, Methodology of soil systematics, Theory and practice of landscape designing, GIS technologies in environmental sciences, and others.
Rattan Lal
Rattan Lal, Ph.D., is a Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science and Director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, The Ohio State University, and an Adjunct Professor of University of Iceland. He received B.S. from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana; M.S. from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi and Ph.D. from the Ohio State University. He served as Sr. Research Fellow with the University of Sydney, Australia (1968-69), Soil Physicist at IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria (1970-87), and Professor of Soil Science at OSU (1987-to date). He has authored/co-authored 866 refereed journal articles and 496 book chapters, has written 20 and edited/co-edited 69 books. He is included in the Thomson Reuters list of the World's Most Influential Scientific Minds (2014, 2015), and among the most cited scientists in agriculture globally (2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017). Dr. Lal is recipient of the Honoris Causa degree from five universities in Europe and Asia, and is fellow of the five professional societies. Dr. Lal has mentored 106 graduate students and 320 visiting scholars from around the world. He is the former President of the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (1987-1990), International Soil and Tillage Research Organization (1988-1991), Soil Science Society of America (2006-2008) and the current President of the International Union of Soil Sciences (2017-2018).
Armando López Santos
Armando López Santos is a professor of the Universidad Autónoma Chapingo with adscription in the Unidad Regional Universitaria de Zonas Áridas (UACh-URUZA) in Bermejillo, Durango, Mexico, institution where since more than 20 years ago has doing matching between teachings, researching and linkage with stakeholders in the improvement of the standard of living of the settlers drylands. Also, during some years as professional consultor accredited by Federal Funds (FIRA) he worked in the design and execution of rural projects. In the past five years he has been part of research projects related to the study of climate change and its local effects in northern and central Mexico. As a result of this, in 2014 he was awarded the State Prize for Science, Technology and Innovation by the Council of Science and Technology of the State of Durango. In this same year, he was recognized as National Researcher, level 1 (SNI-1) by the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyt) of Mexico. Actually, is part of Main Academic Group of teaching in the Graduate Program (Master and Doctorate) in Natural Resources and Environmental of Dryland of URUZA-UACh.
Graciela Metternicht
Graciela Metternicht is Professor of Environmental Geography in the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales Australia (UNSW). She has over 20 years of experience in sustainability and environmental management to address land degradation. Her work encompasses the fields of earth observation science, physical geography, environmental monitoring and management. She has a special interest in applications of geospatial technologies for the management and analysis of natural resources. Graciela's past appointments include Regional Coordinator of Early Warning and Assessment of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Professor of Geospatial Systems and Environmental Management (University of South Australia); and as Professor of Spatial Sciences (Curtin University of Technology). She is Deputy Chair of the Australian Academy of Sciences National Committee of Geographical Sciences; co-chair of the Dryland Ecosystems Specialist Group of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management, and member of the Global Land Programme Scientific Steering Committee. Metternicht holds a PhD in Geography (summa cum laude) from the University of Ghent, Belgium.
André Francisco Pilon
André Francisco Pilon, currently is Associate Professor, University of São Paulo (USP). Along his career, held the positions of Psychologist, São Paulo's State Court of Justice; Director, Ministry of Health; Editor-in-Chief, journal Academus, Collaborator, Journal da USP. Academic Background: Masters of Public Health Education, University of Puerto Rico; Doctorate (and Post-Doctorate), University of São Paulo. Affiliations: International Academy of Science, Health & Ecology; UNCCD Science-Policy Interface; EuroScience; World Alliance for Citizen Participation: IUHPE; WSSCC; Center for Healthy Cities. He presented in different national and international events and has authored several scientific publications about his four-dimensional ecosystemic approach to environmental problems, quality of life and the state of the world. His proposal for public policies, research and teaching programmes encompasses politics, economics, culture, education, culture and ethics and implies the shifting of the paradigms of growth, power, wealth, work and freedom embedded into the cultural, social, political and economic institutions, in view of quality of life, biodiversity, resources, living-spaces, landscapes, natural and built environments. Instead of the effects (reduced, fragmented, taken for granted issues), his proposal emphasizes the general phenomenon, in the core of the "boiling pot", where the problems that menace life survival on Earth emerge and where they should be dealt with.
Omer Raja (CST Bureau member)
Omer Raja is working as Deputy Inspector General of Forests in the Ministry of Climate Change, Pakistan. He has a PhD in Vegetation Ecology from the University of Aberdeen, UK and Masters Degree in Forestry from University of Peshawar, Pakistan. He has specifically worked on classification and efficiency of use of forage resources under Semi-Arid Conditions in the Hindukush, Karakoram and Himalayan Region of Pakistan. Besides that he has experience in management of forestry resources in both mountainous and sub-mountainous forests. Integrated management of water resources in dryland areas for forestry, rangeland and agriculture through "Sustainable Land Management" has also remained as one of the areas of interest for improving the transhumance grazing and agriculture systems prevalent in the area. He continuously remain involved in policy and planning for forestry and allied natural resources. Furthermore, he also looks after the implementation of provisions related to UNCCD, CMS and FRA.
- Latest publications and peer-reviewed articles
Ahmet Senyaz (CST Bureau member)
Ahmet Şenyaz is advisor to the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs in Ankara, Turkey. Dr. Şenyaz obtained a BSc from Faculty of Forestry, an MBA from Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences and a PhD in Fire Economics from the Institute of Science and Technology of Istanbul University, Turkey. From 2000 to 2003 he coordinated the FAO supported project in order to formulate National Forestry Action Program of Turkey for the years 2004-2023. From 2003 to 2010, he served as Head of Research and Development Department of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. During his term, he coordinated the activities of working group on LULUCF in order to submit first national communication of Turkey under the UNFCCC activities. He also coordinated applied research projects of 11 forest research institutes of the Ministry. Since 2011, he has been contributing to scientific and international activities of the General Directorate of Combating Desertification and Erosion. He contributed to the formulation of Turkish National Strategy and Action Plan for Combating Desertification for the years 2015-2023. He served as co-chair of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Future Strategic Framework of the UNCCD in order to formulate "the UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework".
Mark Svoboda
As the NDMC's Director, Svoboda administers and oversees the center's staff and mission, which involves the research, operational, planning and education/outreach programs of the NDMC and NOAA's Drought Risk Management Research Center. Mark works closely with federal, tribal, state, basin, local and international officials and governments on drought monitoring early warning information systems, drought risk management planning and collaborative research. He provides expertise on a wide range of climate-water management issues and is responsible for assessing user product needs and responding to information and decision support requests. Svoboda is involved with drought monitoring, assessment and prediction committees and activities at the state, regional, tribal, national and international levels. Mark Svoboda is the co-founder (1999), and served for 17 years as one of the principal authors of the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor (http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu). His work with the Core Team of the Western Governors' Association led to the development of a report and recommendations on creating a National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) for the United States, which was authorized by Congress into public law in 2006. Mark Svoboda is a member of the World Meteorological Organization/Global Water Partnership Integrated Drought Management Programme's Advisory Panel and currently serves on the NIDIS Executive Council.
Peter Verburg
Peter Verburg is currently chairing the Future Earth Knowledge-Action Network on the Food-Water-Energy Nexus. He has established an internationally recognized leading position in the field of land system analysis. He has developed and applied a large portfolio of methods to analyze spatial patterns of land use and ecosystem services at scales from local to global. Methods originate from different disciplines, including social sciences (interviews, participatory approaches, choice experiments, socio-cultural valuation, foresight studies), econometrics (efficiency analysis, spatial econometrics), geography (accessibility analysis, spatial modelling, remote sensing) and earth sciences (biogeochemical modelling). Having worked with collaborators from this wide variety of fields, Peter has established insight in the different disciplinary traditions and vocabularies which facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration. His work on regional-scale land use modeling has resulted in one of the most frequently used land use models worldwide (CLUE-s). His international reputation is acknowledged by being elected as the chair (2012-2016) of the Scientific Steering Committee of the Global Land Project (http://www.globallandproject.org), an international network of the IGBP and Future Earth global change programmes.
Peter is leading the Environmental Geography group, part of the Institute for Environmental Studies, at VU University Amsterdam and was appointed as a lead author for the Global Biodiversity Outlook and IPBES.
Graham von Maltitz
Graham von Maltitz is a principle researcher and research group leader of the Global Change and Ecosystems Dynamics group of the Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) unit, CSIR, South Africa, where he has over 25 years of experience. He trained as a systems ecologist, and rural development specialist, with a focus on the coupled socio-ecological aspects of savanna and grassland regions of southern Africa. He has a specific research interest in areas of communal land tenure and on the unique problems associated with resource management in these areas, especially as they are impacted by global change. This has focused extensively on what is often termed community based natural resource management (CBNRM), where sustainability of the resource can be used to support energy provision, local livelihoods, tourism, or downstream and global benefits. Identifying drivers of sustainability has underpinned this research which has been used to better understand land use planning and sustainable land management. He has a long term research interest in desertification and degradation, having been linked to both national and international initiatives and policy development, including being a coordinator of South Africa's initial National Action Program (NAP) on Desertification, and a Coordinating Lead Author of the IPBES Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment.
Ana Vuković
Ana Vuković is Assistant Professor at Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Serbia, part time employed at Faculty of Forestry, and received all levels of her education at Department of Meteorology, Faculty of Physics. She teaches courses on meteorology, climatology and climate change. Her main expertise is related to numerical modeling of atmospheric processes and their interaction with land surface, including airborne dust transport. As external science associate she is engaged in the activities of WMO Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System. In the recently initiated COST action (InDust), related to the airborne dust transport and strengthening interconnection between data providers and end users, she is the leader of the working group responsible for dust modeling. Her professional interest is mainly focused on the development of high-resolution forecasts, which comprehend local risk problems and weather extremes. Her other research activities and expert engagements are related to implementation of high-resolution climate change modeling and risk assessment in sectors of economy and environment protection.
SPI observers
Jonathan Davies (representing IUCN as observer)
Dr. Jonathan Davies coordinates IUCN's Global Dryland Initiative and is the focal point on desertification and land degradation. He has 25 years of experience in the fields of agricultural development and conservation, and specializes in the restoration and sustainable management of arid and semi-arid lands. His current work areas include: assessment of rangeland and grassland health; natural resource rights and governance; scaling up rangeland restoration to achieve LDN; policy implementation for sustainable rangelands management; and developing the links between agriculture and conservation in the drylands. He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics and an M.Sc. in Tropical Livestock Production.
Jian Liu (representing UN Environment as observer)
Dr. Jian Liu is currently the Chief Scientist of UN Environment and Acting Director of the Science Division, UN Environment. Jian LIU has over 30 years of professional experience in science and policy, in the specific domains of ecosystems management, agriculture, environment and climate change at national, regional and global levels, in particular in developing countries. Jian holds a doctorate degree in Physical Geography from the Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. He was the Director of UN Environment's International Ecosystem Management Partnership, the first global centre on ecosystem management in the global south, which he established, as the founding director. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Chief of UN Environment's Climate Change Adaptation Unit and the Deputy Secretary of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). His earlier posts include Deputy Director General of the Bureau of Resources and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Director of the Chinese Ecosystem Research Network, and Manager of Environment Program of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.
Eduardo Mansur (representing FAO as observer)
Mr. Eduardo Mansur, a national of Brazil, currently is Director, Land and Water Division, at the FAO's Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Department, holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Forestry from the Federal University of Paraná, Brazil and an M.Sc. in Forest Economics from the University of Helsinki, Finland. Mr. Mansur started his career in 1981 as a Researcher (Silviculture) in a collaborative programme of the Federal University of Paraná and the Eduardo Mondlane University of Mozambique. He worked as Project Officer in Mozambique and Ecuador, and served from 1995 to 1996 as Regional Forest Conservation Officer for South America with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Mr. Mansur joined FAO in May 1997 as Chief Technical Adviser in the FAO Representation in Mozambique. In 2002, he transferred to FAO Headquarters in Rome as Project Co-ordinator and then served as Forestry Officer with the Forestry Economics and Policy Division (FOED). From 2007 to 2008 he worked as Senior Forestry Officer, Regional Office for Africa, Accra, Ghana. Between 2008 and early 2012 he was Assistant Director, Reforestation and Forest Management with the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) in Japan. In March 2012, Mr. Mansur returned to FAO HQ in Rome, as Director of the Forest Assessment, Management and Conservation Division with FAO Forestry Department.
Marioldy Sanchez Santivanez (CSO representative)
Marioldy Sanchez Santivanez is a Forest Engineer responsible of the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit of AIDER, a Peruvian NGO with 23 years of experience promoting and supporting sustainable drylands management in the north coast and Andes of Peru. Since 1992, AIDER develop capacities and give technical assistance to communities and governments at local level for addressing land degradation issues by developing initiatives of dryforests conservation and restauration, agroecology and sustainable cattle raising. Marioldy started her career working with local communities in dryforests, giving technical assistance for forest inventory and environmental education. She has been part of the technical teams of several projects and initiatives developed by AIDER in drylands, in charge of the participative monitoring and evaluation of progress toward the expected objectives, involving local communities and stakeholders. She has been involved in the process of implementation of the UNCCD since 2011, has attended several UNCCD meetings as an observer and is CSOs alternate observer to the UNCCD Science-Policy Interface. She coordinated the participation of AIDER in the UNFCCC COP 20 in Lima and currently coordinates the communication component of the International Network of ONGs Combating Desertification (RIOD) in Peru. Marioldy has led the participatory process of designing a dryforests conservation strategy for two local communities and currently coordinates the project titled "Improving capacities for dryforest management in the north coast of Peru" with the purpose of enhance the work of the national forest authority in the subnational level.
Robert Stefanski (representing WMO as observer)
Robert Stefanski is currently Chief of the WMO Agricultural Meteorology Division of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva, Switzerland. His duties include developing the scientific and technical aspects of this division and providing technical and scientific support to the WMO Commission for Agricultural Meteorology. He is also the Head of the Technical Support Unit of the Integrated Drought Management Programme which works with countries in developing drought early warning systems and national drought policies. From 2005 to 2010, he was the Scientific Officer in the same Programme at WMO. From 1991 to 2004, he was an agricultural meteorologist for the United States Department of Agriculture where he monitored worldwide weather and climate conditions and how they impacted global agricultural production. He has a Master's Degree in Agricultural Climatology from Iowa State University (1988) and B.S. in Agricultural Meteorology from Purdue University (1986).


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Well the Women's 10,000m was a great distance race. The big shock for me was the poor performance of the Ethiopians (well 2 of them). Generally they like to run as a team, but last night only one was up to the task - the great Tiranesh Dibaba, Her cousin Derartu Talu won the 10k in Barcelona and Sydney; and now Dibaba has an Olympic Gold to go with her 2 world championships.
She sat on the Ethiopian runner from Turkey, Elvan Abeylegesse(Ethiopian and Kenyan often crop up running for other countries) in much the same way as she did last year in the world championships. And then much the same way Dibaba kicked with 400m to go and won running away.
Perhaps the run of the night was the American Shalane Flanagan, who broke her own American record to win the bronze - and just goes to show you you don't need to come from East Africa to be a top distance runner - here's hoping it's an indicator of things to come for Craig Mottram.
The swimming finals this morning:
- Women's 200m Backstroke: Kirsty Coventry has 3 silvers from these games, but she is the defending champion, so I'll pick her to take Gold.
- Men's 100m Butterfly: If the WR holder Ian Crocker was at his best he might be able to stop Phelps winning, but his heat swim looked pretty rough. They'll swim next to each other, so I'm betting Phelps will make it #7.
- Women's 800m free: Would love to see Kylie Palmer grab an individual medal to go with her relay gold.
- Men's 50m Freestyle: Anybody's. Sullivan seems to be struggling a tad sine the 100m freestyle - perhaps the ex-girlfriend's 3 Golds are weighing on his mind.
Some great results this morning.Jared Talent in the 20km walk won bronze and Luke Adams came 6th. Now walking is a very odd sport, but it certainly deserved more coverage than 7 gave it. All we got to see was them walking into the stadium - i.e. the last 100m of 20km... excuse me if I found it hard to get too excited (the only reason I knew about Talent was because I happened to be listening to the ABC).
But the big news of the morning was Michael Phelps winning his 7th Gold in the 100m Butterfly. Now the adage in sport is that it's better to be lucky than good, but Phelps has the unique aspect which the greats seem to possess - he is both good and lucky. He mistimed his final stroke in to the wall, and yet somehow - mostly because the Slovakian had also slightly mistimed his final stroke, Phelps was able to get to the wall 1 hundredths of a second faster.
In years to come, people will forget just how close Phelps was to winning 6 golds instead of 8. Lezak in the men's 4x100m swam better than he ever has and ever will to get the Americans to the gold; and 1 hundredth of a second in the butterfly? Such a margin comes down as much to luck as skill.
Coming into the Games it was reasoned that Phelps would need everything to go for him to win 8 Gold. Well everything has.
Good work by Youcef Abdi in qualifying for the final of the men's 3000m Steeplechase. Last year at the world championships while in a good position in his heat with a lap to go he was tripped (or fell - the steeple is bit rough and tumble); he picked himself up and ran out the lap. He has had a habit of falling or losing his shoe in races (he nearly fell in his heat), so here's hoping he runs a strong final and breaks his Australian record.
Well yesterday I praised Tamsyn Lewis, today I scratch my head in wonder. Why she would bother running the 400m is beyond me. She is not world class, she's barely commonwealth class in the 400m; and yet tonight she is running an 800m semi final, which will require her to be one of the 2 fastest non-automatic qualifiers (I'm assuming she won't finish in the first 2). This will require her breaking her PB; and yet for some reason she thinks the best way to prepare for this is to run a 400m? Stupid.I'll take it all back if she gets through tonight, but I doubt I'll need to.
At the moment the Aussie men are playing the beach volleyball and getting a bit of a touch up by the Dutch. Have to admit I'm not focusing too much on the match as the Crows are playing Essendon on foxtel. Near the end of the third quarter the Crows are giving the bombers lesson.
Young Crows Patrick Dangerfield kicked a goal with his first kick in the AFL. It's an understatement to say he's been under a some pressure from the Adelaide media and supporters because he was drafted instead of Brad Ebert. But he looks good. (though now that I've given him a wrap he's kicked a point from a set shot).
And if Dangerfield's nickname isn't Rodney I'll be very disappointed.
The big event tonight will be the men's 100m. Usain Bolt has so far jogged through the rounds. In the second round he jogged 100m in 9.92secs. The 100m often involves a bit of psychology as the favourites try to use the least amount of effort while still winning each heat. And of the three main challengers - Bolt, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay - Bolt looked to be using the least energy.
He is 6ft 5 - massive for a sprinter (Carl Lewis was 6ft 2; Maurice Greene 5ft 9; Asafa Powell 6ft 3) - and is really a 200m man (which is an odd thing to say about the 100m world record holder). I thought Powell was the fastest jogger; but Bolt has taken it to a new level - and in sprinting, the fastest jogger usually is the fastest sprinter.
7:06pm: Channel 7 are doing great stuff with the rowing finals. After showing live the win by in the pairs of Drew Ginn and Duncan Free, now we watch the double sculls... 200m to go we have boat length lead. C'mon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes!!!!You beauty!!! 2 from 2!!! Scott Brennan and David Crawshay make it 7 Gold for Australia - take that Michael Phelps, anything you can do, a nation of 20 million people can do just as well!
Great start for the night ahead
Men's fours just started... can we go 3 for 3?
Oh bugger. Watching rowing is damn frustrating, it goes so slow; you want them to just do some quicker strokes. The British just kept coming at the Aussies and got them with 200m to go and went past. Still 2 gold, 1 silver isn't a bad day's work.
Only 5 hours till the men's 100m final. The 100m is a tough event to write about. It's hard to describe an event which takes a shorter time to complete than it does for me to type "the men's 100m is a tough event to write about". As a middle distance runner from my youth I am always going to be biased towards the 1500m and 5000m runners, but you can't deny that every kid when they first muck around running in the school year tries to run fast. Those who can't run fast try to run far, and those who can't run fast or can't run far take up swimming.
Sprinters are the kings of the track because like the test pilots in Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff (great book, read it) the sprinters are those who have left everyone else behind. When you look at the 8 men in the final, you need to realise all those who have been left behind: those kids who always won the 100m at sports day when you were at school but who couldn't win the inter-school sprint; the kids who won the inter-school 100m, but then got run out of the state under 15 championships; the kids who could win their under 15 state championships, but then couldn't cut it at the national titles; the kids who won the under age national championships but who were found wanting when they hit the seniors; the men who are able to beat all the other men at their local inter-club events, but not quite everyone; the guys who can beat everyone, but not everyone in their country; the men who can beat everyone in their country, but when they goes overseas they find they are running forever in the B races; the men who can beat everyone in their country, who can win at international events, but who have a got injured 2 months out of the Olympics; and everyone who didn't even beat that kid back in high school (which means you and me). All of us have been left behind.
Those who remain stand at the top of the pyramid, from which they look down on us poor souls who just didn't quite have it genetically, mentally, or physically and then tonight they will line up and discover just which one of them is the pinnacle of that pyramid.
And that's why the 100m is the only event in the world that lasts less than 10 seconds, but which will have people staying up all hours of the night to watch.
8:30pm: The Men's Points cycling race is on at the moment (I'm not even going to check if it is actually live - that just leads to disappointment); it is total madness - riders going a a lap up, then going for sprints; realising that who is actually in the front may not be in front. It's great watching. Aussie Cameron Myers is doing well - but who knows in a couple laps it all can change.
8:56pm: It did change. Myers 4th. Have to say the only bad thing about the event is it's over too quick. On Tuesday the Madison is run, which is like the points race, only involving teams of pairs - which means even more madness and confusion. Bring it on.
9:31pm: Tamsyn Lewis runs an absolute shocker - geez she almost looked like she had run to 400m more than the rest of the field...
A terrible post-race interview - Lewis was in distress and really Pat Welsh really should have let her go - no need to rub in the fact that she obviously isn't good enough and also had made a bad choice to run the 400m this morning. But even that choice aside, if Lewis had run her PB of 1:59.21 she still would've come 4th in that heat, and would need no one else to better her time in the next 2 semis (would love to let you know if this has happened, but Channel 7 has decided to show a repeat of a rowing race that everyone saw only 2 hours ago.... checking the website, to qualify she would've needed to better her PB by a full second.
10:11pm: Semis of the 100m; let's see who jogs and who has to run...Well Bolt absolutely strolled through the first semi in 9.85secs. Scarily fast.
(Just noticed from the website, they seem to be running about 10 minutes behind schedule) .. Medal ceremony for the 20k walk.. gotta admit I like the Russian anthem, kinda makes you feel like invading on a small neighbouring country. Apparently the super slow-mo showed that quite a few of the walkers were running, and yet only 2 got DQ'd.
2nd semi final of the 100m to start now... Gay hasn't been all that flash (hamstring may be suspect), Powell looks ok, just doesn't look as good as he used to (mostly because Bolt just does what Powell used to do, only better)...
Well Powell wins the semi, but he had to run. And Tyson Gay, current world champion and runner of the fastest time ever in any conditions (9.68secs wind assisted) suddenly finds that he has been (dare we say it).... left behind. A hamstring problem? Too bad, at this level if you want to be the mightiest of the mighty nothing can go wrong. The fastest man in the world needs to be an indestructible force - some men are left behind because their bodies won't allow them to run fast enough, some because their body normally lets them run fast enough but on this day it decides to betray its owner. In the first case you're left behind 20 years ago in the playground at school, in the second you're left behind in the semi finals of the Olympic Games.
10:42pm: Channel 7 have a choice to make - Show the men's long jump qualifying that is happening right now? Show the javelin in the women's heptathlon, which is happening right now? Show a 5 minute montage of Michael Phelps? I don't need to tell you what choice they made.
They come back from an ad break with this bizarre montage of Olympic highlights and all the shows Channel 7 wants to promote. I have to say this "Packed to the Rafters" keeps making me think they're doing a reality show (or is that an "observational documentary) of Pat Rafter and his family. Still if I see the promo one more time instead of a live athletics event I think I shall boycott it in protest (yeah, I won't protest the Beijing Games because of human rights abuses, but I'll protest against a TV station's over-use of montages!).
One hour to go; my picks - Bolt, Powell, Thompson. WR? No.
Women's marathon tomorrow - I see Benita Johnson is listed to start (wondered why she wasn't in the 10,000m). Paula Radcliffe is the greatest women's marathon runner of all-time, but she is very susceptible at major championships. She has been injured, so it is doubtful she will win, but it would be great to see her do it. Otherwise it as absolute raffle (as all marathons are).
The men's 10,000m is the last event tomorrow night: give the gold to Kenise Bekele right now. A quick look at his bio reveals this a guy not used to losing the over the 25 laps. Gebreselassie is running purely because the smog was too great for him to contemplate the marathon; which is a pity, because he could have won that; he won't win this.
Just had it pointed out to me that we've got 2 sailing Gold medals coming Australia's way. Sailing is never going to be a great spectator sport (ok the America's Cup had it's moments, but that was 25 years ago), but the Olympics is the pinnacle for most of these sailing classes, so great stuff. That will put Australia on 9 Golds (yeah try and match that Michael Phelps).
12:17am: Fifteen minutes till the final of the 100m; so does Channel 7 build up the excitement by having a cross to the guys in the stadium to talk about what we can expect; perhaps show replays of the heats to see who has looked the best? Nope, instead they show the USA playing Spain in basketball. Oh well, at least it is live, and I guess some people might be staying up to watch it.
Quick tennis aside; Federer is looking like becomming an Olympic champion he is in the doubles final, and the Swiss are up 2 sets to love; 5 all in the third.
12:31pm: Oh my God.
Wow! 9.68sec slowing down!!!!!! He started jogging in the 100m Final!!!!! Amazing.
Just incredible. Thompson 2nd, Dix 3rd. But really it was Bolt then no one.
Now that is a highlight. (Big tip he'll break Johnson's 19.32 WR in the 200m).


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'Tis the season for seahorse sex/
It's January, and seahorses in the southern hemisphere are full swing into some summer lovin'. And if you're out cruising the seagrass beds off Australia's south coast, you might get lucky too, and witness the remarkable act of a female impregnating a male. Seahorses turn the tables on sexual roles.
And while their cryptic coloration makes courting seahorses difficult to see, especially observant divers—like the two researchers who filmed the footage below—might catch a glimpse of the extraordinary aftermath of seahorse sex: a seahorse dad giving birth in the wild:
Yes. That is a pregnant male giving birth to about 150 to 200 baby seahorses that he's been carrying around, nourishing and protecting, in his belly pouch for about three weeks. During this entire time, he hasn't had any sex. For these expectant fathers, pregnancy brings with it some strict celibacy.
Here's why. During "intercourse", a female seahorse deposits eggs via an oviposter (which looks like tiny phallus protruding from where her belly button would be). This stubby tube extends from her belly, pushed outward by the swelling of eggs inside her, and enters into the male's open pouch.
In several seahorse species, a horny male shows he is ready for action by flexing his body, pulling tail up towards nose and then straightening out. This serves to fill his pouch with water, ballooning it outwards and showing off the big, gaping cavern where he will nurture the young. (The side effect of this vigorous folding action is that his stretched opening looks an awful lot like a natural form reminiscent of a Georgia O'Keefe).
Females are likely turned on by the site of this enormous chamber, and will commence consummation.
After the female has deposited her eggs into his pouch, the male then seals it shut, releasing sperm into the chamber to fertilize the eggs. His pouch then fills with nourishing fluids to bathe the embryos and must remain sealed to prevent seawater—which is fatal to developing young—from getting in. Thus, the three-week dry spell for seahorse action.
But just because there is no sex, doesn't mean they don't flirt. In fact, for White's seahorse (Hippocampus whitei)—the species caught on film above—a pair of lovers continues to meet and greet each other every day throughout the pregnancy.
Though flirtatious, this formal courtship is straight out of a Jane Austen novel, complete with proper etiquette.
A male arrives at a designated "greeting" spot at dawn; the female then makes her entrance and quickly swims to the male while the two "blush" colors at one another. Each seahorse then grasps a blade of grass with their delicate curving tails, and begins to circle around in the same direction, the male making the larger outer circle around the female. Periodically, they release their grasp and swim side-by-side, tails often entwined, along the seagrass meadow, like two lovers out for a morning stroll. Then, they repeat.
This happens for several rounds, and then the two part, returning home (like proper lads and ladies), until the next morning.
Staying with the same partner is, well, rather aberrant behavior for any species. Nowadays, genetic tests have shown that only a handful of species are really monogamous. But White's seahorses are one of them (at least for a season), with males and females staying true, one sexual bout after the other from October to about April.
One of the potential reasons for this is that having a dedicated partner helps coordinate some perfectly timed sex. For males, they need a female with ripe eggs, ready to go, within a few hours after giving birth in order to fully maximize the reproductive season. Females, on the other hand, have a limited window of only a few days to hold onto their eggs once they have hydrated them—if a male doesn't show, she has to dump the whole batch.That's a huge energetic waste on her end.
By staying closely bonded, females can regulate egg development to correspond to when their male will be ready to receive another round. The male ensures he has a female in synch with his birth schedule; the female gets a male who shows up on time.
Only when the male has just given birth will he signal—via the vigorous body flexing—that he is ready to take things beyond the morning dance ritual. Courting the female may take several minutes or even hours, depending. Should he be successful, however, he will receive a pouchful of eggs…and commence his journey through pregnancy once again.
As soon as those babies are out the door, the male is ready to go again—pretty impressive for someone who has just given live birth to dozens of young. With a mating season of only about 6 months, pregnancies are stacked back to back—an endeavor made easier by the fact that his mate is patiently waiting for him back at lovers lane.
The next time you gaze out across the shimmering sea, consider this: somewhere out there, right at that very moment, you can bet there is some creative (if not kinky) sex going on.
Throughout 2016, Sex in the Sea will bring you updates about who is getting down to business each month. A calendar to accompany the stories is in the works, but for now, check back regularly to stay on top of the hanky-panky happening beneath the waves as we circle round the sun.


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Congratulations to Scott Tinker, Shirley Dutton, and Chock Woodruff for receiving well-deserved recognition.
2016 GCAGS Don R. Boyd Medal for Excellence in Gulf Coast Geology – Scott Tinker
2015 President's Award for Outstanding Paper (GCAGS Journal, vol. 4) – Shirley Dutton, Robert G. Loucks, and William A. Ambrose, "Factors Controlling Permeability Variation in Onshore, Deep Paleogene Wilcox Sandstones in the Northern Gulf of Mexico Basin: Targeting High-Quality Reservoirs"
2016 GCAGS Outstanding Educator –Charles M. Woodruff, Jr.


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Little Mouse's Big Secret
This is one of my favorite fall stories. Unfortunately the illustrations are too small to use in storytime. So I worked up a way to use this story with puppets … Continue reading
August 2, 2013 · 2 Comments
I love Denise Fleming's Lunch for so many reasons. The text is so simple you can read it as is for younger crowds, or elaborate and turn it into a … Continue reading
July 19, 2013 · 1 Comment
(Fill-in-the-Blank)'s Colorful Day
These stories are inspired by Read It Again and The Wielded Pen. These stories are variations of Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd. I'll be using Dino's Colorful Day for the … Continue reading
June 26, 2013 · 2 Comments


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It looks like blue-eyed soul is coming to the rescue of the music industry. We can debate the state of the music industry all day, but you have to admit that Adele was definitely the best thing that happened this past year. She's an artist whose very reminiscent of artists of yesteryear. Her songs actually have lyrics that tell a story and aren't just this bubble gum pop that we're use to hearing on the radio.
Maybe it's just me, but I think it's really sad that it took a white girl from Britain to remind us of Soul. That's not to disparage artists like Jill Scott and Ledisi because the truth of the matter is the machine that is the music industry will not let these artists crossover the way Adele did. But I cannot blame Adele for that. The woman had a fantastic ablum and she was rewarded accordingly last night at the Grammys.
It was a Grammys that was marred by the death of the greatest vocalist that ever lived, but yet it was a vocalist that took home the biggest prizes.
Adele is a pure vocalist who sings the song. She doesn't over-sang nor does she do a hundred million runs. She just sings the melody and it comes out brilliantly.
Here's the Grammys she won:
Album of the Year
Best Pop Vocal Album
Record of the Year
Song of the Year
Best Short Form Music Video
Best Pop Solo Performance


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'Cicero the Advocate -- he's back, he's bad, and he's taking names!'
Or so the voice-over for the trailer would growl, if this surprisingly feisty volume were a summer blockbuster coming to a movie screen near you, not the scholarly product of a sedate and distinguished academic press. Not quite a decade after his collection Cicero the Philosopher helped make 1995 a watershed in the re-evaluation of that portion of the oeuvre, Jonathan Powell has joined with Jeremy Paterson (still his colleague at Newcastle when the volume was conceived) to produce a worthy successor. The standard maintained is uniformly high, and excellence is not uncommon. We can hope that Oxford will provide a paperback version sooner rather than later, at a price teachers and even their students can actually afford.
Cicero the advocate has never been ignored in quite the same way as Cicero the philosopher; accordingly, the editors (hereafter P. and P.) and their contributors write to file a different brief -- not to demonstrate that the texts are worthy of attention, but to encourage us to give them the right kind of attention. P. and P.'s long and often polemical introduction (1-57), which does much to raise the volume's feistiness-quotient (as well as to increase its length), is especially insistent on this point: any discussion of a forensic speech must at least start from the premise that it is an exercise in 'practical advocacy' (thus P. and P.'s 'manifesto', 9) through which Cicero aims to persuade one or more judges who are concerned -- in principle and commonly in practice -- to find for or against a defendant according to the facts and the law. Any other aspect of the speech -- its status as an artfully wrought verbal construct, as a move in a larger political game, as a pose struck to claim a certain social status or gender role -- must be understood with reference to the immediate, practical goal the speaker aims to achieve for the person he represents. In general terms, it is difficult to disagree: to take a speech with which I have lately been much occupied, the pro Sestio, it is perfectly clear to me that the speech has been seriously misunderstood, in several different ways, both because its relation to the charge it addresses has been misunderstood (though here the work of Andrew Riggsby, especially, has helped enormously) and because scholars became accustomed to treating its best-known segment -- the so-called excursus on populares and optimates -- as a freestanding 'political program' or 'manifesto' (a hollow and pitiable thing it would be, if it were simply that!), without reference to the strategy that guides Cicero's thoroughly practical advocacy in the speech. But, perhaps because P. and P.'s premise seems so clearly right-headed to me, I find myself wondering whether there really are enough wrong-headed others 'out there' to require the heat and force that P. and P. generate in their otherwise-substantively-helpful introduction.
Be that as it may, the editors' focus on advocacy, beyond placing the stress where it most belongs, has two further benefits. First, by being thus specific the focus differentiates this collection from another recent, very useful collection with which it might at first sight seem to compete or overlap, Brill's Companion to Cicero: Oratory and Rhetoric (Leiden 2002), edited by James May. Because the latter embraces all forms of Ciceronian oratory, and the rhetorica too, and because its treatment of the oratory is organized chronologically (on the organization of the present volume, see just below), there is in fact remarkably little overlap (only two scholars -- Christopher Craig and Andrew Riggsby -- contributed to both, writing on different topics in each). Second, the stress on advocacy provides the contributors with a clear target on which to concentrate their fire, and overall they rise admirably to the occasion.
The collection's two parts -- 'Themes' and 'Case Studies' -- are well conceived, and complaining that neither has all that one might hope ('if "Themes" embraces perorations, why not exordia too?') would be foolish. In the first section the authors range widely over the corpus of forensic speeches in pursuit of their chosen themes. Andrew Lintott, on 'Legal Procedure in Cicero's Time' (61-78), Jill Harries, on 'Cicero and the Law' (147-63), Michael Winterbottom, on 'Perorations' (215-30), have all written crisp, accessible, and wonderfully lucid treatments -- the latter two with more than a touch of panache -- and have each of them given grateful teachers resources to which they can direct students who need a brief and reliable orientation on these subjects. Three other chapters are related by virtue of the fact that they share a concern with character. In 'Self-Reference in Cicero's Forensic Speeches' (79-96) Jeremy Paterson addresses one of the most salient features of Cicero's advocacy -- the fact that Cicero's favorite subject so often seems to be Cicero himself -- and argues, cogently overall, that this habit of self-reference, for all that it departs from modern canons of advocacy 'was a response to the nature of advocacy at Rome and its origin in patronage, where the influence of the patron was the heart of the system' (94). In 'Audience Expectations, Invective, and Proof' (187-213), Christopher Craig takes up a subject that has received much attention and gives it a new twist, ably arguing that whereas Cicero selected the garish hues of his invective from a largely conventional palette, he did not apply them slapdash in his forensic advocacy but chose them 'in a highly selective and disciplined way that subordinates the invective goal of humiliating an enemy [appropriate to deliberative oratory or to non-forensic forms of adversarial speech, e.g., the altercatio] to the need to make arguments of probative value in a judicial context' (212). Andrew Riggsby, for his part, gives a characteristically rich treatment of 'The Rhetoric of Character in the Roman Courts' (165-85), asking first whether the Romans mostly believed that adult human character is a fixed entity, then applying the answer (yes) to the use of character as an element of argument in forensic oratory, before concluding by briefly considering the influence of this dominant belief on the reception of the Aristotelian conception of rhetorical ethos. In another contribution in this section Kathryn Lomas helpfully draws together much information relevant to the sociology of Cicero's advocacy by surveying 'Cicero and his Italian Clients in the Forensic Speeches' (97-116).1
In the collection's second main section, by contrast, each author has chosen a single speech on which to concentrate, and each approaches the chosen text from an angle that throws different light on Cicero's advocacy. Catherine Steel, in 'Being Economical with the Truth: What Really Happened at Lampsacus' (233-52), uses Verr. 2. 1. 63-67 to show very nicely how the set of facts Cicero narrates to implicate Verres in judicial murder could -- with no straining or twisting at all -- be made to yield a narrative that shows Verres behaving as a responsible Roman abroad. Lynn Fotheringham, in 'Repetition and Unity in a Civil Law Speech: The Pro Caecina' (252-72), shows how Cicero uses verbal repetition to insinuate the structure of a speech, and how grasping the structure helps the audience to grasp the speech's strategy. Christopher Burnand's 'The Advocate as a Professional: The Role of the Patronus in Cicero's Pro Cluentio' (277-90) takes the speech to present 'an important window onto [the] semi-professional world' that advocacy had come to constitute by the late Republic. D. H. Berry's 'Literature and Persuasion in Cicero's pro Archia' (291-311) convincingly argues that the famous 'defense of literature', which comes to dominate the speech in a way that seems irrelevant to the matter at hand, in fact very cannily gauges its audience, the better to support the second contention that Cicero must defend (viz., that even if Archias' claim to citizenship could not be shown to be sound according to the letter of the law, he would deserve to be received as a citizen nonetheless). Wilfried Stroh -- than whom nemo est qui melius de Cicerone patrono hisce triginta annis meruerit -- contributes a long essay on 'De Domo Sua: Legal Problem and Structure' (313-70) that is illuminating and exasperating in almost equal measure (in my case, the balance tipped toward exasperation: see below). And Jeffrey Johnson (full disclosure: a former student of mine), in 'The Dilemma of Cicero's Speech for Ligarius' (371-99), shows how in this difficult speech, delivered before Caesar as single judge, Cicero frames his defense as a double argument (in effect: my client is not guilty, and even if he is, he deserves to benefit from Caesar's noted clementia) intended to achieve a good outcome no matter which way Caesar inclines.
Though each of these essays is quite distinct, there is one recurrent theme that runs through them, and indeed through the first section's chapters too: the degree to which Cicero will be 'economical with the truth' in pursuit of his goal as advocate. More than a few readers of this review will also have noticed this trait in Cicero, of course, and it is no more than we should expect, given the character of ancient rhetorical education, and especially the character of declamation, which Cicero practiced far into his adulthood. As is well known, it is one of the rules of the declamatory game that the 'facts' posited in a given theme cannot be altered for the sake of one's argument: if a controversia, say, proceeds from the demise of X, it is not open to a speaker arguing one side or the other to 'reveal' that X is actually alive and well and living in Volaterrae. On the other hand, the speaker is certainly permitted, in fact encouraged, to bend, pare, twist, and spin the facts so that the 'back story' they form reveals that X, by God, deserved to die. The spin given the facts in a way useful to one's side is called a color, a label that derives -- according to one charming etymology (Quint. 4. 2. 88) -- from the blush that such spinning threatens to bring to the speaker's cheeks. Though so much of his oratory depends on such 'colors' -- on being 'economical with the truth', on vigorous suggestio falsi joined with energetic suppressio veri -- it is safe to say that blushing before the judges was not among Cicero's afflictions. Given that this is so prominent a feature of his advocacy, I would have welcomed more direct engagement with it in P. and P.'s introduction; in any case, it is a bit surprising to see them warmly endorse (27) a statement by John Crook -- 'the fact is that in no instance do we know for certain that Cicero . . . was alleging fact . . . that he knew to be false'2 -- which can itself be regarded as true only if we construe 'for certain', 'alleging', and 'fact' as finely as Bill Clinton construed the verb 'is'.
The collection is rounded off by an Epilogue, 'Cicero and the Modern Advocate' (401-16), in which John Laws (Lord Justice Laws), a Judge of the Court of Appeal, picks up a theme already strongly represented in P. and P.'s introduction, engagingly and helpfully treating the similarities and differences in the realms of both ethics (see just above) and art. There follows, in an Appendix, a useful 'Chronological List of Cicero's Known Appearances as an Advocate', and back matter of the usual sort (bibliography, index of passages, general index).
Of course any given reader will have quarrels or, if not quarrels, nits to pick with any given chapter, and if I have avoided doing so, it is only partly for reasons of length: picking on some without picking on all would seem churlish, and as I have already suggested, the overall quality is such that universal picking did not seem called for. If I have one general criticism, it is that the editors could, in some consequential ways, have been more active qua editors. A small but significant example: in some of the chapters, quoted extracts (of course there are many) are given in both English and Latin, in some in English only, and in (I believe just) one, in Latin only. On a different level, two of the essays clearly merited, and would have benefited from, more extensive editorial coaxing or cudgeling. If I have not mentioned before now the essay by David Levene included in the first section, it is, alas, because it falls under the heading Most Intelligent Paper With Virtually No Bearing On The Volume's Stated Theme: called 'Reading Cicero's Narratives' (117-46), it is almost wholly concerned with reading -- specifically, the difference between being a reader of a published speech and a hearer of the speech as delivered, and how that difference bears on certain tenets of ancient rhetorical theory -- and has next to nothing to say about Cicero's advocacy as such or about his use of narrative to achieve his practical goals. It would have been a favor to all concerned had P. and P. urged so able a scholar to address more directly a topic that -- given Cicero's adroitly 'spun' narratives -- is not insignificant. It would have been an even greater kindness if a good deal of brisk editing had been visited upon Wilfried Stroh's paper, which -- and I say this with all respect -- falls under the heading Most Intelligent Paper That Is Also Nearly Unreadable. Its treatment of the very difficult legal issues in the case and the way both Clodius and Cicero responded to them is always astute and often cogent.3 But my goodness: the garrulity and self-indulgence on display make it suitable for the young only as a negative example. At fifty-eight pages it is two to three times the length of the other chapters; and if it reads much longer than its fifty-eight pages, that is because -- with many pages bearing many more words in the notes than in the text -- it is in fact much longer (connoisseurs will perhaps be reminded of 'The World's Greatest Law Review Article'). The notes themselves are dense, discursive, and commonly tangential or polemical or both: if anyone from F. A. Wolf on down has made a statement bearing on De Domo that Stroh considers incorrect or (a favorite) 'incomprehensible', no matter how inconsequential, it is bound to be registered somewhere in the notes, with the miscreant duly spanked and set straight. Honestly: trying to track the text's complex argument while working through such notes is like using half of one's brain to work an intricate puzzle while using the other half to monitor the behavior of a terrier on speed. A text half as long with one quarter the number of notes would, again, have been a favor to all.
But to end on a positive and forward-looking note: now that we have Cicero the philosopher and Cicero the advocate, what comes next? Cicero the poet seems unpromising, since there probably is not enough there there. But Cicero the correspondent? That would be another book worth waiting for.
1. The chapter's full title is 'A Volscian Mafia? Cicero and his Italian Clients in the Forensic Speeches': since most of the Italian clients surveyed (99-110) hail from Etruria and the regions north of Rome, not southeast Latium, I confess I haven't a clue why that question heads the title (most of the 'Volscian' town names that adorn the map on p. 96 are connected with a single speech, pro Plancio). 2. Legal Advocacy in the Roman Empire (Ithaca 1995), 140. 3. Unfortunately, it was written without access to W. Jeffrey Tatum's exceptionally able discussion in The Patrician Tribune: Publius Clodius Pulcher (Chapel Hill 1999), esp. 156-66, 187-93.


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Donation Based Class: Peace Across America will happen with Unity!
Bring it back give it back and grow!
We are hosting a donation based class to to give back to the community. The mission of the donation based class is to be of service to all including those who may not have access to yoga. It is our vision to continue to bring forward the full essence of yoga from its roots. It is our desire that yoga will continue to be a way for the community to come together and elevate together as one through peace and love.
Class will be followed by a donation based meditation class. All of you answers can be found inside. Meditation is a practice for all individuals to still there minds and move deeper into the flow of life. You will have an opportunity to deepen your practice or begin your practice based on where you are in the moment. Nahi Meditation is here to help anyone who walk in the from heal mentally, physically and spiritually to move forward powerfully in every way.


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Can women ever be good enough?
By Gina Barreca
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (MCT) If you want to get into an argument with a woman, compliment her.
Say she did an excellent job on her project, on her assignment or with her fundraiser, then watch what happens. Whether you're applauding her for the skillful handling of a complex situation or cheering her for the quicksilver nature of her problem solving, she will nod, offer a tight-lipped smile and proceed to explain, in earnest, why you're wrong.
"My team did everything." "If only I had another week!" "Are you kidding? I'm nowhere near my expectations."
She'll keep talking, too, apologizing and offering details. Men back away slowly, scratching their heads and swearing never to say another word. Other women murmur soothing noises because we understand.
I offered soothing noises today. For three years, a close friend has been writing a novel. Her publisher sent an email that included the glorious phrase: "It's terrific. Consider the book accepted" as well as suggestions for a few changes for the final chapter. She forwarded me his note. I focused on "terrific" and "accepted," but she focused on his edits as evidence that she was not, and probably never would be, good enough. She feels lightweight, amateurish, and as if she's been caught pilfering rather than earning her success.
She suffers from what I call "achievement dysmorphia," or the sense of disconnection women experience when our manifest accomplishments and our sense of unworthiness don't line up. It isn't quite the impostor syndrome it's not about faking a persona but instead it's about a reluctance to accept victory and enjoy even an earned sense of triumph.
Cue Doris Day singing "I Enjoy Being a Girl."
Over the years, we've learned about body dysmorphia, a recurrent, relentless dissatisfaction so profound it compels a woman to diet, exercise or scrub her face compulsively because she can't stand her appearance.
(Such behavior is not hard-wired, either; female gerbils do not spend hours wondering whether they've spent enough time on the treadmill that day. They do not search under the wood chips for tiny pairs of Spanx if they feel some fat under their fur.)
Cultural conditioning causes us to undermine ourselves ritually, and we accept the self-sabotage as if we were born to it.
Actually, we're almost but not quite born to it: If you see a very little girl look into a mirror, you'll probably see her smile. But the older she gets, the more that smile is tinged with chagrin. By the time she's grown into her adult body, she's probably dissatisfied with it.
This profound sense of discomfort inside one's own skin is so widely accepted as part of women's lives that huge corporations such as Unilever, owners of Dove products, capitalize on it. Dove now has a "Self-Esteem Toolkit" as part of its website to help girls "embrace their unique beauty."
Great, right? Except Unilever also owns AXE products marketed to young men. Are young men encouraged by AXE to discover the unique beauty in every individual? Let's see: An AXE website declares: "Girls are getting hotter! Keep your cool with new AXE." Hmm.
This tells us that women are identified first by their beauty and belief in their beauty is worn away long before they are old enough to understand that it would be better for them to build their identity on their strengths, skills and talents. But after all, vanity in girls is encouraged; pride is discouraged. If this were not the case, there would be ego moisturizers alongside the ones for your face.
The world persists in categorizing women as either pretty or smart, nice or ambitious, and feminine or feminist even though, if you're civilized enough to sleep lying down and not standing on all fours, you already know these divisions are artificial. They only exist because some guy, a long time ago, decided "Hey, if we don't start compartmentalizing women, they'll be all over the place!"
And now women are all over the place, or soon will be; it's taken a few thousand years, but we're on it.
It's time for us to stop rehearsing our shortcomings. When they are due, we should accept congratulations with grace and pleasure right along with the other responsibilities of success.
Comment by clicking here.
Gina Barreca is a columnist for The Hartford Courant.
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© 2013, The Hartford Courant Distributed by MCT Information Services
© 2013, The Hartford Courant Distributed by MCT Information Services


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I discovered Aluminum Christmas trees this year, and was lucky enough to pick up a nice 7' Evergleam and color wheel for my place. I came across this fantastic How To on decorating your aluminum Christmas tree at AluminumChristmastrees.net. It's worth a read even if you don't have an aluminum tree. Check out the rest of the guide after the jump.
Via AluminumChristmasTrees.net


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Week of April 18 - 24
Mild week! A cold and a couple travel days thrown in meant that my activity level would be down but I'm fine with that. I've been operating at full throttle for for the past month and it didn't surprise me that I came down with a cold (on the summit of Mt. Clay Thursday the symptoms surfaced). Anyway, it was a sign to tone things down for a couple days and rest up.
I was still able to accomplish a few things this week though. The first was an excellent track workout on Tuesday. Double J and I did 5 x 1 mile and although it was windy out I was able to hit my 5:30 goal pace with 400m recovery. I'd love to run these faster, somewhere in the teens, but that will come with more training. For where I'm at now I'll gladly take those and move on.
Second, I had a great run / hike with Tristan Williams up on the Southern Presidentials on Wednesday. The goal was to collect photos & video capturing a moonrise. Turns out everything was perfect but the moonrise was just a little too early to really pop. We still got amazing shots and the video came out great for a run and gun:
And lastly, I met up with Brian MacIlvain, Ed Warren, and eventually joined by Gabe Flanders for a tour in the Great Gulf. When I was there last Sunday I had my eye set on Pipeline Gully and that was the mission for the day. We hiked up the Cog and warmed up on Airplane Gully then Turkey Shoot. After scouting the Pipeline from the Base we decided to bootpack back up Airplane and hike over to the top to assess the conditions. It was perfect with a few choke / rock points visible below before the final ice bulge. It was wider than expected and we were able to make nice medium radius turns down, regrouping at each of the choke points. We checked out another run further north but there wasn't enough snow to give it a go. Instead, we took a final lap down Airplane and called it a day.
I spent Friday getting prepped for our trip to Alaska. Hilary really wanted to go to AK with her week off in April so we made it happen. It's a fair amount of travel but not too bad. We stayed with a friend down in Portsmouth so that our 5:30am bus to Boston the next morning wasn't TOO bad. Saturday we traveled through Denver and made it to Alaska at 3pm. Sunday we organized gear, got a much needed run in on the Anchorage trails and were off to Talkeetna! More on that AK trip next week...
Run: 24.1 mi / 1,447' (Track work & a couple easy runs)
Backcountry: 7'057' (Great Gulf)
Hike: 14.1 mi / 4,974' (Half run / Half Hike)


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We went to visit Shatila camp where our friend Lula was teaching English. We knew the camp was important. We knew that it was a center of the struggle for many reasons. We knew that this was the place where hundreds of women, children and men were massacred over a few days in September 1982. We knew who the murderers were. We knew who trained them. We knew who supplied the weapons. We knew who promised to provide security for the camp when the PLO evacuated. We knew that the camp was leveled in 1985 to punish the people for allowing the men to come back. We knew all this because we'd read these facts in books, we'd seen the pictures, and we'd listened to eye-witnesses. And now we were going to see the place for ourselves.
We got to the English class early, and Lula introduced us to the students, who were all women.
We said "Hello. Nice to meet you. How are you?"
And they said, "Hello. Welcome to Shatila. I am fine. How are you?"
We asked them, "What is your name? Where are you from?"
They laughed at our apparent ignorance and told us, "Palestine, where else?" (Read More)


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But the Joy Buzzer made some people jump during a handshake, and the Whoopee Cushion got reactions, some of them not particularly pleasant. I sent away for any number of pranks and gadgets from the Johnson Smith catalog of my callow youth, checked the mailbox often for their arrival. Fake dogpoop. A set of metal plates that, when dropped, would approximate the sound of breaking glass. Or metal plates dropping. A microphone that, when properly hooked up to the big Zenith radio in the living room (few had TVs in those days), could be used to broadcast martian takeovers and all points bulletins for family members mistaken for bank robbers. It had a long wire so you could hide behind a couch and say, authoritatively, "We interrupt this broadcast to bring you an important bulletin." Those subjected to this lame-ass tomfoolery would exclaim, "Oh my, I wonder what this can be..."
The fake dogpoop worked all too well. Fleet, the boxer, who I loved, was jerked by his collar and escorted outside before I could tell them. I blurted, "No! It wasn't him, it was me!" which got me a strange look from my aunt and grandmother who were trying to imagine their 12-year-old summer visitor doing that on the living room rug. They apologized to Fleet and gave me looks which contained, "How long is he here for?" I, of course, explained the novelty item and my aunt said "Funny like a crutch."
My grandmother lit a cigarette and started playing Chopin on the baby grand, which she did to lift her spirits, cigarette dangling from her lips, eyes squinting against the smoke.
I decided not to try the dribble glass on them. Save it for friends during a round of RC Cola. The fake vomit could wait for my sister. Squirting lapel flowers, rubber knives, cigar loads, a book on vemtriloquism, another on hypnotism, midget radios, and much more to suck away the savings of little boys who wished to annoy the world.
Johnson & Smith, you made my world a livelier place. And I see you're still in business today, a rock, a verity that is contributing to the exasperation of America from the sunny shores of California to the rockbound coast of Maine. Onward, proud bearers of the flag of nuisance. Go forth and pester. Joy-buzz the joyless!


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Belkin Dyle mobile TV Review
Doesn't require data connection; Compact design
Limited channel selection; No DVR capability; Limited coverage area
The Belkin Dyle mobile TV streams live television without using data, but suffers from a lack of channels and market availability.
Sometimes, you just don't want to miss your favorite TV shows on the go. The urge to flip on the telly might hit when you're waiting in a long line, killing time between meetings or taking your lunch break at work. With the $99 Belkin Dyle mobile TV dongle, you'll be able to tune into live programming via your iPhone or iPad. The Dyle device doesn't use a single byte of data, relying instead on over-the-air signals, so worries about data caps or Wi-Fi strength are a thing of the past. Is the Belkin Dyle the right device to get your TV fix?
The top right of the device has an extendable titanium antenna, which is 4.5 inches long when fully extended. There's also a microUSB port on the bottom of the device, allowing for pass-through charging of your iOS device.
MORE: 11 Battery Tips for Your iPhone 5
A small, black-and-gray neoprene carrying case is included with the Dyle mobile TV device. The dongle fits perfectly inside the pouch, which can then be closed shut using a small Velcro strip. The front of the pouch has a small Belkin logo on the front.
We again needed to manually choose our location from a dropdown list every time we launched the app, which is annoying.
Availability and Selection
A coverage map on Dyle's website shows details of channel availability and supported zones based on address or ZIP code. These maps show that city centers have the best coverage, with only spotty coverage as users get further out in the urban sprawl.
Channel selection varies from market to market, with most supported cities receiving between three and five different channels. In New York City, we were able to get NBC, FOX, Qubo and Telemundo.
MORE: 25 Best iPhone 5 Apps
The Dyle coverage map showed a fifth channel, WNYE, but this station is marked as unaffiliated, so we weren't surprised that it wasn't available when we scanned for channels.
According to the Dyle coverage map, Dallas is the city with the most channels, with six affiliated stations: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Qubo and Telemundo. Other cities had significantly fewer stations, such as Pittsburgh, which gets only NBC.
Although it's only available in New York and Boston, Aereo greatly overshadows Dyle in terms of channel selection and services. Aereo currently offers 31 channels -- a far cry from the six, at most, offered by Dyle.
The home screen seems largely unnecessary, as it only has the Dyle logo and Watch Now button that jumps to the TV listing screen. The Help tab shows information such as the About screen, a FAQ and the license agreement, as well as a way to manually scan for channels or change your location.
In the Live TV tab, we could see a logo of the station, as well as the title of the current program, its broadcast time and a little green dot that showed that the channel was available at that time. We could view episode information by clicking a small "I" icon next to the green dot, manually check the signal, or view which shows were coming up next. Unfortunately, we couldn't browse more than one show ahead of the currently playing show.
Overall, the app has a slightly antiquated look and feel, which made us wish for a sleeker interface, such as Aereo's mobile site. The logos were not Retina ready, so we could easily make out the individual pixels. And tabs such as Home and Help, though prominently placed, didn't provide much value.
After we selected NBC, the "Today" show started between 3 and 5 seconds later. We could pause and play the live stream without any delays.
The over-the-air video is broadcast at a bit rate of around 400 Kbps or higher, which creates video quality similar that of Netflix or Hulu over Wi-Fi. Although we twisted the Dyle's antenna -- just as we used to adjust the rabbit ears on our TV in the good old days -- picture quality did not change.
MORE: 10 Smartphones with the Longest Battery Life
For the most part, video quality using Dyle wasn't as high as when we watched live television with Aereo, which can manually or automatically adjust the video quality to match the signal strength. When we set our signal strength to medium on the Aereo, the video quality was roughly the same as when we watched the "Today" show using the Dyle, with slightly blurred images that were occasionally blocky.
Since the Dyle mobile TV dongle grabs channels over the air using the ATSC-M/H standard, there's no data actually traveling through the traditional mobile data routes. This is a huge benefit over such services as Aereo, which stream content through either Wi-Fi or a cellular connection. We were able to put our iPhone into Airplane mode and still watch TV using Dyle.
However, in addition to its larger channel selection, Aereo includes cloud-based DVR capabilities.
Supported Devices
MORE: Top 10 Designer iPad Cases
Although it's not officially supported, we got the Dyle mobile TV dongle to work with our iPad mini using a 30-pin-to-Lightning adapter. Everything worked normally, except the dongle now protruded even further away from our tablet, but this is an inconvenience that plagues any 30-pin accessory plugged into a Lightning port.
The $99 spent on the Belkin Dyle mobile TV can get a little over a year's service with Aereo, which has 31 channels and DVR capabilities, and can run on any smartphone, tablet, notebook or even the Roku set-top box. However, if your city isn't yet supported by Aereo, or if you want to watch TV without worrying about your data plan, the Dyle mobile TV is worth a look.
|Accessories Type
|Apple Accessories
|Accessories Type
|Cell Phones Accessories
|Battery Type/Life
|2.2 x 5.4 x 8.1 inches
|1.6 ounces
|Company Website