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Winter, by Ketil Kvan (reproduced with permission: kvams-flisespikkeri.com)
Some would say it is a bleak image, made up as it is by a block of dark blue-grey, slate sky, with lighter greys below, both almost featureless, meeting in a horizontal line in the middle of the wide picture. Jagged mountains flank the centre, white with ice or snow, casting pale reflections onto the dull sea. There are no signs of life of any kind, no fish, no fowl, no humans.
1 Bergen
The sea in Bergen harbour glitters in the sun. The wind is a whetted knife, straight from the Arctic – not far from here. Some hardy souls eat and drink at tables in front of the harbourside cafes in the Bryggen, but I am glad to duck into one of the narrow passages.
These wooden buildings are now less square, less vertical, than once they were. They mostly date from the eighteenth century, when profits were made from dead whales, not black gold. They are far longer and taller than they are wide, and the upper floors overhang narrow wood-floored passages between them, forming tunnels. It is cool here, not cold, the lack of sun more than made up for by still air.
The fronts of the ground floors have been converted into cafes and tourist shops selling silverware and expensive knitwear. Rooms along the passages, too, have been converted into tourist traps, and I browse among knitted gloves and sweaters, felt slippers, and rows of long-nosed trolls in a range of sizes. Stuffed reindeer heads or antlers announce leather-goods shops, next to art galleries without prices on their wares.
I pass a shop selling prints. There are glass-fronted cases outside, displaying small copies of the range of prints on sale. Inside, they are pinned to the walls in all their different sizes and states, bare, mounted, and framed. They are arranged tightly, one against another, filling the space.
The one that calls to me is slate-blue, blue-grey and white. I'm not sure I like it, for it is bleak and soul-less. It is cold, remote and lonely. I move on, looking at fleets of stylised Viking ships against vertiginous fjord landscapes, depictions of the Bryggen buildings, small houses in snowy landscapes and circular, vaguely astrological designs. Oh, and fish, lots of fish. The prints are all simple in style, many of them woodcuts, effective and eye-catching. But still I end up in front of the slate sky, gazing at it before resolutely leaving the shop.
I meander on beyond the Bryggen, up through steep cobbled streets, admiring the painted wooden houses with their glossy roof-tiles and window boxes, plant pots brightening odd sunny corners. My wanderings finished, I return through the wooden canyons in the Bryggen, back past the print shop. The slate sky is mounted on the wall just inside the door; it draws my eyes as I walk past.
It is not unique – it is a print, a copy of an original. Many people must have one hanging on their walls. I wonder why it attracts me, and whether it speaks to others as it speaks to me. Perhaps it is the ambiguity – is that slate sky threatening a storm, or is it just going dark? Perhaps there is an attraction in the total absence of humanity in it.
I walk away. If I buy it now it will get crushed or torn. I am for the north – in the lap of luxury, it has to be said, but still it is not practical to carry a print like that around with me. And I don't need more pictures for my walls at home.
Nearly two weeks later, I am back. I have sailed in lengthening days from spring back into winter, through long evenings when it doesn't go dark, gliding past snow-covered mountains turned to shades of pink and orange by the low sun, clouds turned to streaks of fire. Through all this, the picture still sticks in my mind. We return to Bergen in mid-afternoon. The Bryggen is one of the most attractive parts of the city, so naturally I go back there to fill my time before my flight leaves the following morning.
Naturally, I buy a picture of icy mountains under a slate sky.
2 Stay cold
Mountains white with ice or snow. Water in its solid form. H2O, or dihydrogen monoxide, if you're trying to be clever, essential for life as a liquid.
It is cold, in that painting, or the snows would melt, run into the fjords leaving bare rock, patches of lichen on scree. Colder still, and the sea surface would freeze. Cold enough for long enough and snow builds up, year by year, decade by century by millennium. Builds up, compresses, turns to ice. Cold enough for long enough, and you get an ice cap.
We need the ice we have. We need it to be ice, to stay solid. Ice caps on Antarctica and Greenland lock up huge amounts of water. When it melts, sea levels will rise, submarine rivers will change their paths, and our climate will change. Who knows how? Or when?
3 Cold curtains
The moon lights the snow on the mountains, limning ridges and peaks against their shadows. In the slate sky, the diamond glitter of stars is paled by the moon glow. The beauty is stark, harsh, glacial.
I wait, in the warmth, hoping for the aurora.
Here, behind the glazing, there is little sound beyond the crackle of wood in the stove. The air outside is calm. When the wind blows, it howls around the chimney and makes white caps on the water, streaking them with blown spume.
Icicles hang from the eaves. It is cold outside, but not enough to freeze seawater. I open the doors and step out, closing them carefully behind me. I will need the warmth again soon.
I shrink as the world around me grows, the sky expanding to surround me. Frigid, uncaring, unfeeling. A gentle breath whispers against my face, not enough to stir the stalks of dead grasses poking through the snow. Faint sounds of waves against the rocky shore are all my ears detect above the hush of my breath. White beneath my feet, and on the mountains before me. Black above my head.
I am insignificant. Nothing matters.
This is comforting.
I have left behind bills, adverts, news. Arguments about the planet's doom, campaigns for this or against that. Buy this, pay for that, work harder, get the latest model.
I have wood for the stove, food enough, thoughts enough.
The sky brightens in moving bands of green, flowing and shifting. Cold curtains of light, the northern dawn, a chance combination of sunstorms, magnetic fields and atmosphere. The universe cares not that we enjoy its beauty. Cares nothing for us or what we do. Nothing for what will become of us.
'Save the planet!'
I laugh, breath puffing small clouds into the air. Save our way of life, they mean. The great world will spin forever, until the Sun expands. Our planet doesn't care. Snowball Earth or Venusian hell – it makes no difference to the ball of rock we inhabit.
I am so small and insignificant, why worry about my actions, or lack of them?
The uncaring universe sets me free.
4 Dead cold
Ice is cold, hostile, unforgiving. It can squeeze ships to death, but can also kill in small ways. Touch ice that is cold enough with a bare hand, and you will leave layers of skin on it. Freeze tender plants–or humans, come to that–and ice crystals will burst cell walls.
Ice sucks heat from things around it. Capillaries close to limit heat losses, flesh chills. Without oxygen carried by the capillary blood, cells die, flesh turns black. There is no cure–affected parts must be removed before rot spreads and poisons the rest.
For some faiths, hell is a lake of brimstone and fire. The pain of a burnt hand is bad enough, I cannot imagine the whole body agony of being burnt at the stake, or the prospect of that eternal burning. Surely a death by cold is preferable. The body cools. Fingers and toes, painful at first, soon go numb. Tiredness sets in, blood slows, and slows the brain with it, until there is unending sleep.
Sleep, perchance to dream?
Who knows?
5 Crystal cold
The moon lights snow on the mountains, bright against the sky. A crystal cold light, unfeeling and chilling. The Moon and the Sun, cold and warm, ying and yang.
Sunlight is life and growth, moonlight merely a pale reflection, good only for showing this desolate scene, bare and lifeless.
I had people once, warm and soft.
The moon is bright, but hazed with sheets of cirrus, hiding the few stars that should be visible. Their absence speaks of weather fronts, thickening clouds, a storm to come. Isolating me further in wind and rain.
It is fitting, this stark landscape with the colour leached. I had enough, but I wanted more. In the pursuit I gained pale silver but lost warm gold. My silver is measured in pounds, dollars, kroner. In diamond watches, crystal pins. In cars, and houses, prestigious holiday cabins overlooking the fjords. My lost gold was measured in love and companionship.
There is warmth here, in the physical sense. A generator, hidden away in an outbuilding to preserve the illusion of a cabin of old, the heating hidden in floors and walls. Although the illusion is shattered by the picture windows, triple-insulated. And so I stand, isolating myself indoors from the isolation beyond, inside a shell within a desert.
Connections. That is what life is about, what is missing. Can I connect with the slate and white outside? With the sea and rock and sky?
I slide the doors open and step out. The air bites my lungs, my eyes water. There is not wind enough, yet, to ruffle the water, but still it spears through my clothes and ruffles my hair. I step forward to the rails separating the deck from the rocky shore beyond. The last of the warm air in the cabin drifts out behind me, and the cold stabs harder.
To my left, the shining, rippling path of the moon on the sea calls me, blocked by the small rocky point sticking out into the fjord. I walk down the steps, onto the pebbled shore, my shoes slipping on ice-rimed rock.
Around that point, the moon glint will come to my feet, form a path to my future.
Perhaps I will follow it.
6 Icy sentinels
White sentinels in icy splendour,
Bidding farewell.
A passage out, away
To stormy seas, wild waves,
The unknown.
White sentinels in icy splendour,
A passage back, home
To sheltered seas, placid waters,
The familiar.


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Have your say on the future of transport in the North East for the next 20 years. The Regional Transport Strategy will set the vision and direction for transport provision in the North East, building on the significant improvements that have taken place in recent years. The next Regional Transport Strategy will be developed during 2019 and Nestrans would like to hear your views.
We will publish all information relating to the development of the strategy on this website and provide the opportunity to comment on key areas of interest and the draft strategy once it is produced. Please click on the buttons below to see our current discussion topics, submit your views and see latest news updates.
Our Vision and objectives for 2040
"To provide a safer, cleaner, more inclusive and accessible transport system in the north east, which contributes to healthier, more prosperous and fairer communities."
- Increase access to a sustainable transport system for all, recognising specific needs of disadvantaged and vulnerable users
- Reduce the business costs of transport for all sectors of the economy to realise the aspirations of the Regional Economic Strategy
- Reduce the adverse impacts of transport on public health and the natural and built environment
- Improve the integration of transport and land use to reduce the need to travel by private car
- Improve the relative competitiveness of public transport compared to the private car
- Maintain and enhance a safe, resilient and reliable transport network.
These objectives have been developed following an extensive consultation exercise undertaken as part of the City Region Deal Strategic Transport Appraisal.
Consultations – Share Your Views
The Affordability of Transport
Behavioural Change and Mode Shift
Road Safety and Casualty Reduction
The Accessibility of Transport
Existing rail network in north east Scotland
Carbon reduction and alternative fuels
Nestrans is the Transport Partnership for Aberdeen City and Shire.
Our purpose is to develop and deliver a long-term regional transport strategy and take forward strategic transport improvements that support and improve the economy, environment and quality of life across Aberdeen City and Shire.
The current Regional Transport Strategy for the north east can be found here.
For more information on Nestrans and the work that we do, visit www.nestrans.org.uk

subset: commoncrawl


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Review: Wren V3US and V3USP Wireless Speakers
Slightly smaller and less expensive than the previous models, the V3US and V3USP retain the functionality of providing wireless playback in a soundbar-style speaker. In particular, the new models support WiFi via DTS Play-Fi, and will offer compatibility with Apple AirPlay. They also support streaming from iOS, Android, Mac or Windows devices in multiroom configurations, as well as aptX Bluetooth which comes in handy when you want your music in places your WiFi signal doesn't reach, like a garage or a patio. The two new models are essentially equal; the only difference being that the V3UP15 can also be used sans wall outlet, thanks to its rechargeable lithium-ion battery.
The speakers measure 12(w) x 4.5(h) x 4.5(d) inches; a curved lower edge gives them a touch of style. The V3US weighs 6.3 pounds while the battery-equipped V3USP weighs 6.8 pounds. Those hefty numbers speak to the very solid construction quality using 0.5-inch MDF wood cabinets with MDF internal bracing, wrapped by real-wood veneers. The bottom has a soft silicone rubber mat while the front has a cloth face. You can choose almond anigre wood with a black grille, or espresso wenge with a white grille.
The rear of the cabinet has the following: set-up button, 3-position bass EQ switch, Ethernet via RJ-45 to USB adapter input/service port, aux in jack, reset button, and power jack for the external power supply. A side panel has soft-touch switches for selecting source (WiFi, aux, and Bluetooth), volume, and power. With the control panel on one side, you can position the speaker vertically or horizontally. The vertical orientation gives you a tidy footprint and the speaker looks particularly classy amidst the tall bottles in a liquor cabinet, or so I am told.
Inside, you'll find two 3-inch drivers and a 3.6 x 2.6-inch front-firing passive radiator. Power is courtesy a 15-watt/channel stereo Class D DSP-controlled amplifier. On the wireless side, the speakers operate at 2.4GHz/5GHz dual band (802.11 b/g/n).
The phone app is visually simple and its operation is straightforward, both of which are very good things. You can set up and name your speakers, set up stereo pairs, update the system, choose your streaming source (such as Spotify, Pandora, Amazon, Tidal, iHeartRadio, Internet Radio, etc.), create zones, turn on one or more speakers, adjust their volume, etc. Pairing is painless and reliable.
You can connect up to sixteen Wren speakers on a network for synced playback. You can also stream music from one device to different zones, or use different devices to stream to different speakers. Here is the connectivity info you'll need: aptX Bluetooth; Play-Fi/Android 2.2 and later; Windows 7 and later; iOS 6.0 and later with the Play-Fi iOS app; Mac with OS X and later; iTunes 10.2.2 and later; and will offer AirPlay compatibility with iOS 4.3.3 and later.
Sometimes I spend hours listening to a speaker, trying to decide if I like it. Other times, I just instantly know. Wren speakers (both the old and the new) fit in the latter category. Upon first listening, I immediately bonded with them. They are tuned by John Crisco, Wren's director of product development and engineering, and apparently, at least sonically, we were separated at birth. A dark sound is exactly what I prefer in a loudspeaker, and the Wrens give you that. Don't misunderstand me - not muddy, not boomy, not thumpy - but smooth and warm. Of course bass response is limited with a cabinet and drivers of this size, but thanks to the passive radiator, and probably the MDF construction as well, the low end is much more satisfying than what you usually find in small speakers, and it is expertly balanced with the higher end.
You can almost never cheat the laws of physics. You can easily spend a ton of money and get terrible sound, but it's extraordinarily difficult to spend modestly and get terrific sound. These Wren speakers sound like money.
Speaking of money, the V3US retails for $399 and the portable V3USP retails for $449; both will be available in January, 2016. Wren informs me that they are offering a $100 pre-order discount for customers who order by December 18 and all orders will be filled by Christmas; details can be found at wrensound.com.
The Wren V3US and V3USP are not made of recycled or any other kind of plastic; they do not look like they were designed by an 8-year old; they do not sound like they were tuned by an 8-year old; they do not have colored LEDs that dance to the music; they do not take selfies. Instead, these Wrens are solidly built wooden-cabinet loudspeakers that combine classic upscale looks and excellent sound quality with the convenience of wireless. Old-school quality all the way.


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VIB has many research partners both in and outside Belgium. We are proud to collaborate with, among many others:
Oxford BioMedica and VIB collaborate on the the further preclinical evaluation of MoNuDin® for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Acambis (now Sanofi Aventis) and VIB are developing a universal flu vaccine for humans. The universal influenza vaccine has been pioneered by researchers from VIB and Ghent University.
Ablynx is engaged in the discovery and development of Nanobodies® to treat a range of serious human diseases. It was established as a spin-off of VIB and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).
VIB and Bayer CropScience have an ongoing collaboration into the mechanisms with which plants cope with stress factors such as extreme temperatures or persistent drought. The results are crucial for the development of crops with higher yield.
Read more about how to become an R&D partner of VIB.
Green biotech cluster - Plant sciences in Ghent, Flanders, Belgium from VIB on Vimeo.


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Throwing a summer soiree or a barbecue? Turn up the heat with these sexy summer cocktails brought to you by New York's finest restaurateurs and nightlife gurus.
The Boathouse Restaurant and Lounge
The Hamptons' newest hot spot is a mix of nature and fun. You can dock your boat and enjoy dinner and dancing at the posh establishment.
"A Grey Goose L'Orange Summer Tea is perfect to cool off from the summer heat." – Nightlife director Matt Levine.
Orange Summer Tea
Photo: iStock
2 oz orange flavored vodka (we recommend Grey Goose L'Orange)
.5 oz iced tea
Simple syrup
Fresh mint
Sliced orange rounds
Pour vodka, iced tea and a dash of simple syrup to taste over ice. Stir flavors together and then top with fresh mint and sliced orange rounds.
The Eldridge
Major celebs flock to this chic Lower East Side lounge. Some social angling is in order be sure to have your name on the list as this exclusive spot has a strict door policy.
Fresh Berry Vodka Lemonade
Photo: iStock
2 oz vodka
.5 oz fresh squeezed lemonade
Raspberries for garnish
1 tbsp sugar
Lemon wedges
In a cocktail shaker combine the vodka, lemonade, sugar and ice. Shake until thoroughly mixed. Pour into glass and garnish with raspberries and a lemon wedge.
The Bowery Hotel
The duo that brought the Maritime Hotel and the Waverly Inn kept classic nostalgia in mind when creating The Bowery. Hoteliers Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson developed this swanky hipster-drawing boutique hotel with a chic downtown vibe.
With fresh juices, it's a perfect refresher for brunch or an afternoon at the pool
– James Stuart, Food & Beverage Director for The Bowery and Jane Hotels
Thai Swizzle
Photo: iStock
2 oz Mekhong Thai Rice Rum (or substitute for another golden rum)
.5 oz orange juice
.5 oz pineapple juice
.25 oz lemon juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Splash of grenadine
Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker, shake and serve in a tall glass over ice.
The Jane
This far West Village venue attracts the fashionable crowd. In fact, the place turned out to be such the late night hot spot, there was some serious grumbling by old time neighbors. Never mind, only onwards and forwards and this refreshing cocktail is a great way to start anew.
For those who want to graduate from vodka but might be wary of gin try this perfect aperitif. – James Stuart, Food & Beverage Director for The Bowery and Jane Hotels
The Raja
Photo: iStock.com
1.5 oz dry gin (We recommend Gordon's)
.5 oz St. Germain
2-3 dashes of orange bitters (We like Fee Brothers)
Lemon juice
Club soda
In an old fashioned glass muddle 3 lemon wedges. Fill glass with ice and combine the gin, St. Germain and 2-3 dashes of orange bitters. Shake well, return contents to glass, top with a splash of club soda and serve.
Stay and get your groove on at this Lower East Side lounge. With its modern upscale decor and relaxed door policy, this hot spot has an effortlessly cool vibe like some street style stars we know.
"A refreshing gift after a hard day basking in summer greatness."- Owner Rob Koda.
Stay Fresh
Photo: iStock.com
2 oz vanilla vodka (try Stoli's vanilla flavor)
Splash of pineapple juice
Splash of fresh lime juice
Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker, shake and pour over ice. Garnish with a pineapple wedge and you're all set!
3 Easy And Healthy Summer Entertaining Recipes, Plus More Great Diet Tips


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HE'S WATCHING: Whether you think the Elf on the Shelf is creepy or cute (we know which camp we're in), kids might just be inclined to aim for the "nice" list when he's parked near the tree. As the legend goes, he's a "scout" from the North Pole, sent to keep on eye on Santa's biggest fans, watching their every move in advance of the big toy delivery. Holiday hall monitor or Santaland snitch? You be the judge. Available online at elfontheshelf.com and select area retailers.
OUR GANG: If your heart doesn't warm up just a little at the sight of this scrawny little Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, we're pretty sure you're a Scrooge. Wrapped in Linus' darling blue blanket and adorned with a single red ornament, it'll take you right back to the first time you learned the true meaning of Christmas with the whole Peanuts gang. Aw. Get yours for $20 from Betty's Attic online or at area Walgreens stores.
SWEET MEMORIES: Make like the Cratchits this year and serve a traditional English Pudding at your holiday feast. Delivered to your door from Acorn, it comes complete with brandy butter icing and a "traditional lucky sixpence". As the story goes, whoever finds this gold coin in their piece of cake will get some money in the new year. Or a trip to the dentist on the 26th. Order online for $39.95.


text: billboard5 Tweet Pin It Related Posts 20 Nice Tutorials for Designing T-Shirts 25 Helpful CSS3 Tutorials and Techniques A New Collection of Adobe Photoshop Tutorials About The Author BB Editorial BlueBlots is a design blog showcasing more about Design Inspirations, Freebies, Tutorials and Resources on the web. For more updates, follow us on Twitter or Subscribe HERE Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Name Email Website


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Eager to shed those last 10 pesky pounds before bikini season kicks into high gear? Bob Harper of NBC's The Biggest Loser suggests eating to lose. Eating breakfast, that is! "More often than not, if people are trying to lose weight, they don't have breakfast. They think 'I'm not feeling hungry, so I'm going to go with this feeling. If I'm not feeling hungry, surely I'm losing weight,'" Harper tells Us Weekly. "In fact, you're actually doing the opposite: You're slowing down your metabolism."
To avoid this common weight loss pitfall, Harper, the New York Times bestselling author of Jumpstart to Skinny, suggests eating a hearty breakfast daily, and structuring it to always include protein, carbs and fat. "I'm really trying to get people to eat real foods again — staying away from processed, so much sugar, fat and salt," reasons Harper. "People need to have a structure."
In Jumpstart to Skinny: The Simple 3-Week Plan for Supercharged Weight Loss, Harper restructures the most important meal of the day to satisfy those dieters with a sweet tooth through his PB&J Oatmeal recipe, which he's sharing with Us readers. (See below) "The PB&J Oatmeal is really, really good. It's a great source of proteins, carbs and fat," says the trainer.
To finish off your breakfast, Harper suggests adding a cup of coffee or espresso — especially prior to a workout — but only in moderation. "It revs up your metabolism and gets you going," says the fitness expert. "If your body can handle caffeine in moderation, it's a real benefit in weight loss."
Peanut Butter and "Jelly" Oatmeal and Egg White Scramble
3/4 to 1 cup water, depending on your preferred oatmeal thickness
1/2 tablespoon almond butter
Dash of cinnamon
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup fresh blueberries
5 egg whites, lightly beaten
olive oil spray
cracked black pepper
1. In a small pot, bring the water to a simmer.
2. Add the almond butter and cinnamon and stir until smooth.
3. Add the oatmeal and cook until done, about 5 minutes.
4. Turn off heat and stir in the berries. Set aside while you cook the eggs.
5. Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Spray with olive oil to coat.
6. Pour the egg whites into the skillet, add pepper, and stir to scramble as the whites turn opaque.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION PER SERVING: 304 calories, 25g protein, 30g carbs, 7g fat, 5g fiber
Excerpted from JUMPSTART TO SKINNY by Bob Harper with Greg Critser Copyright © 2013 Bob Harper. Excerpted by permission of Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
For access to all our exclusive celebrity videos and interviews – Subscribe on YouTube!


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I had Windows 7 installed on a 500GB hard drive. I wanted to install Ubuntu on a16GB pendrive and use it as a hard drive. I made an Ubuntu bootable pendrive on a 4GB pendrive.
Then I booted my system from the Ubuntu 4GB pendrive. I inserted a 16GB pendrive to install Ubuntu on it. I choose the "Something else" option while installing Ubuntu. During the partition allocation and that process I deleted my 500GB hard drive (i.e. /sda) instead of selecting my 16GB pendrive. I came to know about this mistake when I tried to restart my system. It showed this message:
Insert bootable disk.
Once again I booted my laptop with the 4GB Ubuntu bootable pendrive. In Disk Utility I saw that my 500GB hard drive has free space.
I have very important data on it. Please help me. It's very urgent.


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Have you ever talked to your friends or family about death? Do you know what your loved ones' wishes are for long-term care? Have you told them what your wishes are? What does it mean to decide to send a family member to a nursing home, hospice facility or receive hospice care at home? Is your family prepared in case someone dies suddenly? What are your wishes regarding a funeral, and does your family know what they are?
The separation many of us have from death or those who are dying – due to extended life expectancy and the rise of long-term care facilities – means that this subject is rarely discussed and has almost become taboo. This does a disservice to those who are dying and those who are struggling to cope with the loss or imminent loss of a loved one. Several interesting communities and resources have recently stepped in to fill that gap.
Now you can gather a group of friends or family to discuss "Death Over Dinner", sending out a resource for people to read in advance and then gathering to talk about your reactions or thoughts. They point out on their homepage that "How we want to die – represents the most important and costly conversation America isn't having." Bloomberg recently highlighted these dinners in an article which looks into some participants' experiences. Or you can attend a "Death Cafe" which gathers people together over cake and coffee (or tea) to share their thoughts and fears about death. Back in March, NPR interviewed the man who started them, and you can read that interview here.
If you have any questions about Jewish funerals or the mourning process, funeral options available, or would like information about resources in the community, please do not hesitate to let us know.


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It was drizzly outside yesterday so I decided to walk round and round the mall, stopped at 2.5 miles, sat in the newly snazzed up food court (I think it is now called Dining something or other), sketched a family while I sipped lemonade, and clocked a final 3.2 miles by the time I reached my car. IPat and my other hand accompanied me to the mall – usually I travel light when walking but yesterday I wanted to combine a few things.
iPad; New Trent Arcadia stylus.
Apps Used: Finngr Pro and ArtRage


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All pictures taken in natural light without flash.
- 03 Gentle Variation: the left photo below is more accurate than the right, which got washed out a little and makes the palette looks cooler-toned than it is. This palette is more neutral despite the green and blue shades, as shown at left. And because it's more neutral that it works for me, as I much prefer a bluish or olived golden green over green green.


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Letter of the Day | Move away from cronyism and nepotism
THE EDITOR, Sir:
As news of the scandal-hit state agency Petrojam circulates, it is puzzling how such a young person like Floyd Grindley (age 38) was appointed general manager of Petrojam, Jamaica's state-run petroleum refinery. Amid the reports of corruption, nepotism, cronyism, and questionable spending, it came as no surprise that Grindley agreed to step down, becoming the fourth casualty (to date) of this saga.
Contrary to what some may say, I'm a firm believer that age does have limits. Responsibility to a large extent, comes with experience and growth. Likewise, I also believe that persons well beyond retirement age should lessen full-time work responsibilities, as the body and mind does begin to slow down at certain points in life.
Even with 16 years' experience, Grindley's youth and lack of professional degrees beyond an undergraduate degree from UWI would've raised questions and concerns. According to The Gleaner, Mr Grindley was recognised in Alabama, USA, as one of the top 40 progressive professionals under 40 years old in that state. But Alabama is not Jamaica, and the key word is 'progressive'.
It is unfortunate that an agency of this size, importance and significant budget is hit with such scandals. It reflects badly on the prime minister and his government. Why is it necessary, for instance, to appoint a chairman to lead the board, if he lives in Maryland, USA? The chairman, Dr Bahadoo-Singh, also had questionable reimbursements, some of which, we understand, he has already repaid.
We must be very cautious when appointing persons to head large agencies which come with a lot of responsibilities, including budgets. If we focused more on ability, qualifications, skill and experience, with less emphasis on alliance and political ties, we might be better able to control corruption in public agencies and get the job done more efficiently and effectively.
P. Chin


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The Wolf Pack is coming back for another season!
The announcement was made during the show's Comic-Con panel, as thousands of fans cheered for the shows stars Tyler Posey, Dylan O'Brien, Tyler Hoechlin, Holland Roden, Shelley Hennig and Dylan Sprayberry.
Season five will have 20 episodes, and each will be an hour long.
The drama's fourth season is currently airing on MTV and the renewal is hardly a surprise.
Teen Wolf is one of MTV's top shows, premiering to 2.2 million viewers when it returned June 23, reported TV line.
Another big surprise by the team was newcomer Dylan Sprayberry, who plays werewolf Liam, will be upgraded to series regular.
Executive producer Jeff Davis said, "He's ready to be a werewolf, but he's not ready to be a hero."
"They're unique," Shelley Hennig said of Stiles and Malia's relationship. "They're unlike most relationships in high school," she added.
Their relationship may not last too well though.
"They may have a rocky road ahead," Davis teased. "When a certain secret about her parentage comes out."
Also, Derek has kept 'losing his powers' a secret.
"He's going to have to figure out who he is when he's not a werewolf," Tyler Hoechlin said of Derek's big change. "It's being a human, moving on and finding your identity."
Lydia will also struggle to find her identity as a banshee, a journey that will run high this season as the audience will more about her family and her past.
"One of the things we've really enjoyed about crafting Lydia's arc is that we can do it slowly," Davis said.
"We can do it over seasons and seasons. It's a struggle for her to master her powers, and we're going to see in the next two episodes how she struggles with that," he added.
In a trailer for upcoming episodes, every member of the pack is seen in dire straits, including Derek, who appears to be dying.
The gang is also changing the rules of the dead pool game by making their own list of assassins to kill.
There's "a lot of decision-making" in the coming weeks, Davis explained. "A lot of character are coming to a finish. One of the last lines Peter says is, 'It was my bite that changed your life; it's my bite that can end it.'"
Teen Wolf season 4 airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.


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See below for a full list of available titles by this Author
Chris Barnard is a major figure in Afrikaans literature, whose work has been translated into over ten languages.
He was born in Nelspruit in 1939. He worked as a journalist for seventeen years and the as a script writer and film producer between for another sixteen. He hashas published thirty books, encompassing novels, plays for stage and radio, short stories, film scripts and childrens books. He is the 2011 recipient of the Department of Arts and Culture's South African Literary Awards (SALA) for lifetime achievement. He currently lives on a farm next to the Hartebeespoort Dam, cultivating oranges and macadamia nuts.
His latest novel is Bundu, translated from Afrikaans by Michiel Heyns. In April 2013, it was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.
In a place near Mozambique where no one knows the boundary, drought is changing everything. Tens then hundreds of people seek refuge in a forgotten outpost where a clinic is run by lonely souls of uncertain training, nuns staunchly determined to serve. But the inundation soon becomes too much for them, and there is no help from outside. Within the small community of outsiders a plan takes shape that is as outrageous as it is inspired, when Brand de la Rey, an ecologist who is researching the local baboons, organizes a desperate mission for more supplies, using a damaged aeroplane that is unfit for purpose.
The extract below is taken from the beginning of Chapter One.
It was five o'clock in the afternoon and the yard a sweltering hollow in the forest. I was shaving; the first time in many days. It was painful because the blade was worn and the water lukewarm. There was a glass of wine in front of me on the windowsill and after every fifth or sixth razor stroke I would dab more soap on my chin and sip at the wine and the wine wasn't up to much but it was wine and it was cold. I made sure, each time, to replace the glass precisely on its little wet ring. And to take my mind off the business of shaving I tried to remember when last I'd seen a human being. Normally Vusi would be somewhere in the vicinity from early to late, but without him the house and the yard and the forest presented a lonesome aspect. Was it de Gaspri, the previous Friday, when he'd brought provisions? Or had Strydom been here after him? Before I could remember, I realized suddenly that the glass of wine had disappeared. I wasn't holding it in my hand; I hadn't placed it in another spot; I'd certainly not been imagining it. The neat little circle of damp was still clearly visible on the windowsill. But the glass of wine was gone.
I replaced the razor carefully in the basin and leant out of the window. It must have toppled over and out. But there wasn't a glass on the ground outside. The yard was dead quiet. There wasn't the slightest sign of life anywhere. I looked all around me on the floor.
My almost-full not-up-to-much ice-cold wine had disappeared without a trace.
In the previous few days food had disappeared from the house several times. The five strips of half-dry meat from the screen cupboard on the back stoep; the three last stale crusts from the bread tin; a basket of wilted beetroot and carrots from the pantry; the last bottle of preserved peaches that I'd schlepped with me from camp to camp for how many years and had been too stingy to open.
At first I thought it was the baboons. We were in our third successive dry summer and there was no food left in the veld. The baboons came close to the yard every now and again and Vusi had had to chase them from the stoep several times. Even shy forest birds had come into the kitchen looking for crumbs.
The wine gave me pause. Could it really be baboons?
In the kitchen, on my way out to the yard, I suddenly got the sharp smell of sweat. And the screen door was open. The screen door that I always kept latched to keep snakes out, was wide open.
But there was nobody in the yard. And there was no sign of my wine glass.
After dinner, when I went looking for my torch in the bedroom, I discovered that both my blankets had disappeared from my bed.
That night I got no sleep. At one o'clock the distant drone of Jock Mills's motorbike was of some consolation to me - a sign of human propinquity. Perhaps because the night was so dead quiet, perhaps because my ears were constantly pricked up, I could hear the Harley Davidson approaching from five minutes away, closer and closer, gradually closer. In my mind's eye I could see the bike making its way through the dark kloof, kilometre by kilometre, its dirty-white beam vibrating through the tunnels of wild orange and brushwood, the dry ridges of grey palm, the long corridors of tambookie, the rising flurries of beetles and mosquitoes constantly vanishing before the beam as if dissolving in the dark. I lay listening to Mills passing by behind the yard and gradually disappearing up the slopes, round the back of Dumisane's hills, and at last fading away over the black crest of the plateau.
At some point after three o'clock, for the first time that I could remember, I went to remove the key from the bakkie and at long last fell asleep with my gun next to me.
I was on the other side of the Bápe near the baboon ravines when Vukile called me the next morning just after sunrise. Reception was poor, but in between the scratching and crackling of the little loudspeaker I could hear that it was Vukile and that he was talking about Vusi. It was a short distance down the valley and across the river to the Mbabala mission station and I got there just after seven. Or almost there. Because Gwaja's procession of skinny goats was making its way to the grazing and it took me a good ten minutes to negotiate the last two hundred metres between the avenue of banana trees up to the whitewashed thatched building that everybody for a thousand square kilometres around liked to refer to as the mission hospital. We generally spoke of the station or the clinic for short.
It had started life as a small Catholic school that on Sundays doubled as a church. In the first few years there had been a dedicated priest, Father Mundt, who during the week taught in the morning and ministered to souls in the afternoon. He started with four pupils and no parishioners. After five years there were more than a hundred pupils, two nuns, an extensive congregation and a clinic on Fridays that was run by Ursula Frisch, a sixty-year-old nurse from Richards Bay with a motorbike and leggings, an unshakeable faith in castor oil and a story that as a young nurse in Kenya she had declined a marriage proposal from Ernest Hemingway. Nobody knew exactly which way the wind was blowing, but there were stories that she sometimes spent the weekend at Mbabala, reputedly mainly because she and Father Mundt were equally besotted with bridge. But three months after her death in a motorcycle accident Father Mundt returned to Germany to be treated for depression. Dr Vukile Khumalo came to start a clinic. But after almost five years there was, with the exception of Father Holm who had lasted only a few months, nobody who felt up to taking over Father Mundt's congregation.
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Donald F. Padelford
Abstract: It is hypothesized that hierarchically negentropic systems (defined herein), including organisms, are associated with partially non-local information/probability fields which, a) entail or express interiority, b) engender "entangled learning" with similar negentropic systems, and c) cause otherwise random processes, including mutation in biotic systems, to become somewhat non-random. These effects, which are believed to be driven by quantum interactions, modify those identified with the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis. A series of tenets, or broad organizing principles, related to such systems and their associated fields, are enumerated. An empirical test which could potentially falsify certain aspects of the hypothesis is given.
Tags: consciousness, Falsification, Adaptive mutation, directed mutation, entanglement, entropy, evolution, information / probability fields, interiority, natural philosophy, negentropy, non-locality, non-random, reductionism, Donald F. Padelford


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Nicholas Polischuk, December 18, 1954 – June 13, 2016
Nick, you will be missed. Rest in peace. – Ran
Nick, you are a wonderful man. Your presence brings cheers, love and smiles to everyone around you. Your life is a blessing to me, and my family.
You are crazy, crazier than me on audio, and everything else You're the The Big Lebowski. I will always remember you. Love you a lot. I'm going to miss you. – Rick
Nick was a warm, kind and caring individual. I will forever miss his easy smile, and good nature. Knowing Nick has made me a better person. Nick is and always will be "The Dude"… – Aleks
For most of the time we knew him, Nick was in some degree of pain, but to be in his presence was pure pleasure, every single, precious, rare, wonderful moment.
We will miss him always. – Len