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.Photo: Tribal leaders, fishermen, family farmers, environmentalists and elected officials held a press conference on the north steps of the State Capitol opposing Governor Jerry Brown. Photo by Dan Bacher.
Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Fishermen Blast Bay Delta Conservation Plan
by Dan Bacher
Censored News
The California Natural Resources Agency on Monday, December 9 released 34,000 pages of Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) documents for public review as tribal leaders, fishermen, family farmers, environmentalists, water agency leaders and elected officials held a press conference on the north steps of the State Capitol protesting the project.
The widely-criticized plan proposes to construct three new intakes in the north Delta along the Sacramento River about 35 miles north of the existing South Delta pumping plants. Two 35-mile long twin tunnels would carry the water underground to the existing pumping plants that feed canals stretching hundreds of miles to the south and west.
The release of the public review draft of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan and its corresponding Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) triggers a 120-day period for the gathering of public comments, from Dec. 13, 2013 through April 14, 2014.
In a statement, California Natural Resources Secretary John Laird described the BDCP as a "rational, balanced plan to help meet the needs of all Californians for generations to come."
"By meeting the state's dual goals for BDCP of ecosystem restoration and water supply reliability, we will stabilize and secure against catastrophe the water deliveries that sustain our homes, jobs, and farms, and do so in a way that not only protects but enhances the environment," he claimed.
However, rather than being a "rational, balanced plan" as Laird claimed it is, Caleen Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of Winnemem Wintu Tribe, denounced the tunnel plan as "a death sentence for salmon and a violation of indigenous rights."
Chief Sisk spoke at the press conference Monday to re-affirm the Tribe's opposition against the construction of Brown's water export tunnels under the BDCP – and will speak at another rally sponsored by Californians for a Fair Water Policy on the north steps of the State Capitol at 12:00 noon on Friday, December 13.
Sisk said California's State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Water Project divert too water from the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento River Delta, the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast, to the state's water brokers to supply unsustainable industrial agriculture, destructive fracking for oil and municipal developments in the desert.
The proposed peripheral tunnels, with a conservatively estimated price tag of $54.1 billion, will undoubtedly kill the sensitive Delta, a delicate mix of salt and freshwater, that is vital to the life cycle of California salmon as well as other fish and species, according to Sisk.
"There is no precedent for the killing of an estuary of this size, so how could any study be trusted to protect the Delta for salmon and other fish?" asked Sisk. "How can they even know what the effects will be? The end of salmon would also mean the end of Winnemem, so the BDCP is a threat to our very existence as indigenous people."
"As one of the many traditional salmon tribes in California, the Winnemem rely on access to salmon to maintain our cultural and religious practices," she said. "The peripheral tunnels, if ever constructed, would therefore be in violation of our indigenous rights to maintain our cultural practices with salmon, as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."
The Bay Delta Conservation Plan has been developed without "free, prior and informed consent" by California Tribes, as required under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Articles 10, 11, 19, 28 and 29. (http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/
unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf )
In fact, the first formal informational meeting for California Tribes on the BDCP was held on December 10, in Sacramento - the day after the EIR/EIS for the tunnel plan was released! That is hardly "free, prior and informed consent - or "government-to-government" consultation, as required under state, federal and international law.
At a recent public meeting in Redding, Sisk said Deputy Director of the Natural Resources Agency Jerry Meral, who in April claimed that "the Delta cannot be saved," disclosed that the peripheral tunnels are connected to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's plan to raise Shasta Dam by 18.5 feet. The dam raise that would destroy or submerge nearly 40 sacred sites and destroy potential salmon spawning areas. "We are currently working on plans to re-introduce our salmon above the dam into the McCloud River," said Sisk.
She said the planned Delta tunnels will require more water be taken from the Trinity River and Lake Shasta, which is fed by the Upper Sacramento, McCloud and Pit Rivers. This will add even more stress to the struggling ecosystems of these rivers.
"This plan is not meant to benefit the public of California, native and non-native, but purely to line the coffers of the lobbyists who have been buying off Governor Brown all along, such as Beverly Hills Big Ag billionaire Stewart Resnick and his wife Lynda who contributed $99,000 to his 2010 campaign," said Sisk.
"The peripheral tunnels are a violation of the public's trust in Gov. Brown, and not the answer to dealing with the state's forthcoming water shortages. There are better solutions," she concluded.
Sisk emphasized that California is one of four salmon states in the U.S. – and has the potential to beome the leading producer of salmon in the nation and the world if the rivers are restored.
Bill Jennings, Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), also slammed the BDCP at the press conference.
"In the final analysis, BDCP is a blatant water grab and represents an insidious attack by powerful special interests in the south state on the fisheries, farms, communities and future prosperity of California," said Jennings.
Since the State Water Project began exporting water in 1967, water exports have increased by more than 60%; outflow to the Bay has declined by more than 40%, according to Jennings.
"Since 1967, the flow and water quality standards protecting the Delta – inflow, outflow, export ratios, salinity - have been violated hundreds of times, without a single enforcement action taken. Likewise, water rights, area of origin and watershed protection statutes have been ignored," said Jennings.
And since 1967, Delta fisheries have collapsed. "Populations of Delta smelt are down 98.9%, striped bass 99.6%, longfin smelt 99.7%, American shad 89.1%, threadfin shad 98.1% and splittail down 99.4%," he disclosed.
Anadromous fisheries have experienced similar declines. For example, steelhead and winter-run salmon are down 91.7% and 95.5%, respectively, Jennings noted.
"And now, the architects that orchestrated this catastrophe propose to divert more water around an estuary already hemorrhaging from lack of flow. Moreover, they want to build the tunnels now and decide how to operate them later. This is a death sentence for the estuary," he concluded.
Bob Wright, Senior Counsel for Friends of the River, described the Government agencies calling the BDCP a "conservation plan" as "a fraud on the public."
"The plan is to grab the water and in the process take it away from designated critical habitat for several already endangered and threatened species of fish including Sacramento River Winter-Run and Central Valley Spring-Run Chinook Salmon and drive them into extinction," he emphasized. "That is against the law because federal agencies are prohibited from doing that by the Endangered Species Act."
"We oppose the rush to build a project that would exterminate salmon runs, destroy sustainable family farms and saddle taxpayers with tens of billions in debt, mainly to benefit a small number of huge corporate agribusinesses on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta. "This proposal is fatally-flawed."
Carolee Krieger, Executive Director of the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN), said, "These documents are a whitewash of a white elephant. The BDCP is a sham and a scam -- fluffy propaganda for a project that will burden ratepayers and taxpayers with ruinous debt for the benefit of a few hundred corporate farms."
"Nor will the Twin Tunnels deliver any extra water to South State ratepayers. In fact, if Bay/Delta flows meeting the biological standards of the scientific community are established, there will be less water available for export, not more – and that means everything squandered on the Twin Tunnels will have been money for nothing," she observed.
Zeke Grader, President of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman's Associations (PCFFA), summed up the BDCP boondoggle as a "Triple Platinum Lie."
"It won't save the salmon, it won't save the Bay-Delta Estuary, and it won't increase the water supply," said Grader.
Californians for a Fair Water Policy, a statewide coalition opposing the tunnels, will again rally at the north steps of the State Capitol onFriday, December 13 at 12 noon as the Brown Administration's proposed project is published in the Federal Register, opening the public comment period.
Opponents will point out expected damage to water, the environment, fish, farming and water ratepayers, and tax payers, according to a media advisory.
Besides Sisk, speakers will include Conner Everts, Southern California Watershed Alliance; Alex Aliferis, Contra Costa County Taxpayers Association; Nick di Croce, Environmental Water Caucus; Jonas Minton, Planning and Conservation League; Zeke Grader, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations; Supervisor Don Nottoli, Sacramento County; Bob Wright, Friends of the River; Russell van Löben Sels, Five Delta Counties Farm Bureau Caucus; Bill Jennings, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance; Grace Marvin, Butte Environmental Council; Jim Cox, Calif. Striped Bass Association; Jack Sanchez, Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead (SARSAS); Osha Meserve, Stone Lakes Wildlife refuge; Bill Wells, Calif. Delta Chambers of Commerce; and Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta
For more information, go to: http://www.stopthetunnels.org, or contact Steve Hopcraft, 916/457-5546; steve [at] hopcraft.comTwitter: @shopcraft;
by Dan Bacher Wednesday Dec 11th, 2013 6:10 PM
by Dan Bacher Wednesday Dec 11th, 2013 6:10 PM
by Dan Bacher Wednesday Dec 11th, 2013 6:10 PM
by Dan Bacher Wednesday Dec 11th, 2013 6:10 PM
by Dan Bacher Wednesday Dec 11th, 2013 6:10 PM
by Dan Bacher Wednesday Dec 11th, 2013 6:10 PM
by Dan Bacher Wednesday Dec 11th, 2013 6:10 PM
by Dan Bacher Wednesday Dec 11th, 2013 6:10 PM
by Dan Bacher Wednesday Dec 11th, 2013 6:10 PM
by Dan Bacher Wednesday Dec 11th, 2013 6:10 PM
15347/californias-dark- alliance-between-ocean- protection-and-the-tunnels-of- extinction
Photo: Tribal leaders, fishermen, environmentalists, family farmers, state officials, federal agency scientists, Southern California ratepayers and the overwhelming majority of Californians oppose the budget-busting, salmon-killing tunnels. So why are Jerry Brown, John Laird, Jerry Meral and their collaborators still pushing this horrible plan? Photo by Dan Bacher.
by: Dan Bacher
Thu Dec 12, 2013 at 08:37:20 AM PST
The privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative and the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral tunnels at first may appear to be entirely different processes.
The MLPA Initiative, a process begun in 2004 under the Schwarzenegger administration, purported to create a network of "marine protected areas" along the California coast. The network was supposedly completed on December 19, 2012 with the imposition of widely-contested "marine protected areas" along the North Coast.
On the other hand, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan is a process begun under the Bush and Schwarzenegger administrations to achieve the co-equal goals of water supply reliability and Delta ecosystem restoration. The Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement was released to the public on Monday, December 9 and the 120 day public comment period will begin on Friday, December 13.
However, in spite of some superficial differences, the two processes are united by their leadership, funding, greenwashing goals, racism and denial of tribal rights, junk science and numerous conflicts of interest. When people educate themselves on the links between the two processes, I believe they can more effectively wage a successful campaign against the twin tunnels.
Mike Carpenter, a sea urchin diver and organizer of a fundraiser for the California Fisheries Coalition in Albion on the Mendocino coast, made the vital connection between the MLPA process and Scharzenegger's campaign to build a peripheral canal back in 2009 when the battle against the creation of fake "marine protected areas" on the North Coast was amping up.
Carpenter emphasized that the MLPA Initiative was just a "cover-up" for the Governor's plans to build a peripheral canal or tunnel around the California Delta, the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas, through the Delta Vision and Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) process. Carpenter's words have proven very prophetic, considering what has happened since that time.
How are the peripheral tunnels plan and MLPA process linked by leadership, funding, greenwashing goals, racism and denial of tribal rights, junk science and conflicts of interest?
1. Leadership: Phil Isenberg, a former Sacramento Mayor and Assemblyman, chaired the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force to create fake "marine protected areas" on the Central Coast from 2004 to 2007. Isenberg then went on to Chair the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force that advocated building a peripheral canal or tunnel.
After that process was finished, he went on to chair the Delta Stewardship Council created under the water policy/water bond legislative package of 2009. Under his leadership, the Council released a Delta Plan that creates a clear path to the construction of the peripheral tunnels. The deeply-flawed plan is now being contested in court by 7 lawsuits from a diverse array of water contractors, agribusiness interests, urban water agencies, environmentalists, Indian Tribes and fishing groups.
John Laird, former State Senator and the current Natural Resources Secretary, is the key cheerleader for both the MLPA Initiative and the peripheral tunnels. He oversaw the completion of the fake "marine protected areas" for both the South Coast in January 2012 and the North Coast on December 2012, in spite of overwhelming opposition by fishermen, Tribal leaders and grassroots environmentalists.
2. Funding: The Resources Legacy Fund Foundation and David and Lucille Packard Foundation both funded the MLPA Initiative, along with giving millions of dollars to the "environmental" NGOs that support both the MLPA and BDCP processes. (http://www.
californiaprogressreport.com/ site/big-corporate-money- behind-fake-marine-protection)
Five non-profits donated a total of $20 million for the creation of "marine protected areas" under the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative. The Packard Foundation, the biggest contributor to the widely-criticized process, contributed $8.2 million to the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation to fund MLPA hearings.
The Packard Foundation also helped fund, along with the Stephen Bechtel Foundation, several PPIC reports advocating the construction of the peripheral tunnels as the "solution" to California's water problems and ecosystem restoration.
3. Greenwashing Goals: Desperately needed actions to restore our ocean, bay and Delta waters have been substituted under the MLPA Initiative with the imposition of redundant fishing closures on the most heavily regulated ocean waters on the planet to further the Governor's "green" facade.
The alleged "marine reserves" created under the MLPA scam fail to protect the ocean from fracking, oil drilling, pollution, military testing, wind and wave energy projects and all human impacts on the ocean than fishing and gathering - at a time when the ocean is under assault by the oil industry, corporate polluters and ocean industrialists.
In the case of the Delta Vision and BDCP processes, the dire need to restore the Delta by decreasing water exports and retiring drainage impaired land on the San Joaquin Valley's west side has been substituted with plans to build twin tunnels and increase water exports to corporate agribusiness, developers and oil companies while taking Delta family farms out of production under the guise of "habitat restoration."
4. Racism and denial of tribal rights: Tribal and environmental justice communities in both processes have been excluded in a classic example of environmental racism.
The racism of the MLPA process was demonstrated when the Yurok Tribe was banned from harvesting abalone, mussels and seaweed off their traditional areas off the False Klamath and Reading Rock as they have done for thousands of years under the "marine protected areas" that went into effect off the coast last December.
And in spite of direct action protests and outrage by Tribal members, fishermen and grassroots environmentalists over the flawed Initiative, the MLPA Initiative still fails to recognize tribal gathering rights in no take "State Marine Reserves," allowing tribal gathering only in "State Marine Conservation Areas" where some fishing and gathering is already allowed.
Likewise, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan has been developed without any consent from California Tribes, as required under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. In fact, the first formal informational meeting for California Tribes on the BDCP was held on December 10, in Sacramento - the day after the EIR/EIS for the tunnel plan was released!
That is hardly "government-to-government" consultation, as required under state, federal and international law.
"There is no precedent for the killing of an estuary of this size, so how could any study be trusted to protect the Delta for salmon and other fish?" asked Caleen Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe at a press conference against the tunnels at the State Capitol on December 9. "How can they even know what the effects will be? The end of salmon would also mean the end of Winnemem, so the BDCP is a threat to our very existence as indigenous people."
5. Junk Science: Both the MLPA Initiative and BDCP fiasco have relied on false assumptions and flawed data with little or no basis in natural science to advance their goals and objectives.
In the case of the MLPA Initiative, the Yurok Tribe said it attempted on numerous occasions to address the scientific inadequacies with the MLPA science developed under the Schwarzenegger administration by adding "more robust protocols" into the equation, but was denied every time.
The Northern California Tribal Chairman's Association, including the Chairs of the Elk Valley Rancheria, Hoopa Valley Tribe, Karuk Tribe, Smith River Rancheria, Trinidad Rancheria, and Yurok Tribe, documented in a letter how the science behind the MLPA Initiative developed by Schwarzenegger's Science Advisory Team is "incomplete and terminally flawed." (http://yubanet.com/
california/Dan-Bacher-MLPA- Initiative-based-on- incomplete-and-terminally- flawed-science.php)
Frankie Joe Myers, Yurok Tribal member and Coastal Justice Coalition activist, exposed the refusal to incorporate Tribal science that underlies the "science" of the MLPA process on the day of the historic direct action protest by a coalition of over 50 Tribes and their allies in Fort Bragg in July 2010.
"The whole process is inherently flawed by institutionalized racism," said Myers. "It doesn't recognize Tribes as political entities, or Tribal biologists as legitimate scientists." (http://klamathjustice.
blogspot.com/2010/07/july- 21st-2010.html)
The BDCP "science" is also a sham. On July 18, 2013 scientists from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Marine Fisheries Service exposed the hollowness of Secretary John Laird and other state officials that the BDCP is based on "science." This was done after the federal agencies had already made "red flag" comments stating that the completion of the tunnel plan could hasten the extinction of Sacramento River Chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and other fish species.
The federal scientists provided the California Department of Water Resources and the environmental consultants with 44 pages of comments highly critical of the Consultant Second Administrative Draft EIR/EISDraft, released on May 10. The agencies found, among other things, that the draft environmental documents were "biased," "insufficient," "confusing," and "very subjective." (http://
baydeltaconservationplan.com/ Libraries/Dynamic_Document_ Library/Federal_Agency_ Comments_on_Consultant_ Administrative_Draft_EIR-EIS_ 7-18-13.sflb.ashx)
Then on December 9, Bob Wright of Friends of the River summed up the complete lack of science that the BDCP is based upon when he said, "Government agencies calling the BDCP a conservation plan is a fraud on the public."
"The plan is to grab the water and in the process take it away from designated critical habitat for several already endangered and threatened species of fish including Sacramento River Winter-Run and Central Valley Spring-Run Chinook Salmon and drive them into extinction. That is against the law because federal agencies are prohibited from doing that by the Endangered Species Act," said Wright.
6. Conflicts of Interest: The Blue Ribbon Task Forces to create "marine protected areas" were filled with individuals with numerous conflicts of interest, including a big oil lobbyist, a marine corporation executive and a coastal real estate developer.
Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association and a relentless advocate for offshore oil drilling, fracking, the Keystone XL Pipeline and the weakening of environmental laws, chaired the South Coast MLPA Blue Ribbon Task that developed the MPAs that went into effect in Southern California waters on January 1, 2012. She also served on the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces for the North Coast, North Central Coast and Central Coast.
While Reheis-Boyd served on the task forces to "protect" the ocean, the same oil industry that the "marine guardian" represents was conducting environmentally destructive hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations off the Southern California coast. Documents recently obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and media investigations by Associated Press and truthout.org reveal that the ocean has been fracked at least 203 times in the past 20 years, including the period from 2004 to 2012 that Reheis-Boyd served as a "marine guardian."
In the case of the BDCP, the proverbial fox is also in charge of the hen house. Governor Jerry Brown this September appointed Laura King Moon of Woodland, a lobbyist for the state's water exporters, as chief deputy director of the California Department of Water Resources (DWR). (http://www.indybay.org/
newsitems/2013/09/18/18743462. php)
Moon had been a project manager for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan since 2011 while "on loan" from the State Water Contractors, an association of 27 public agencies from Northern, Central and Southern California that purchase water under contract from the California State Water Project.
DWR also hired Susan Ramos, Deputy General Manager of the Westlands Water District, "on loan" from the district to serve as "a liaison between all relevant parties" surrounding the Delta Habitat Conservation and Conveyance Program (DHCCP) and provide "technical and strategic assistance" to DWR. (http://www.indybay.org/
newsitems/2011/12/14/18702762. php)
Documents obtained by this reporter under the California Public Records Act revealed that Ramos was hired in an "inter-jurisdictional personal exchange agreement" between the DWR and Westlands from November 15, 2009 through December 31, 2010. The contract was extended to run through December 31, 2011 and again to continue through December 31, 2012.
We can see that MLPA and BDCP processes have much in common in terms of their leadership, funding, greenwashing goals, racism and denial of tribal rights, junk science and numerous conflicts of interest. I believe that people can more effectively oppose the Governor's twin tunnel plan by understanding the dark links between the MLPA Initiative and BDCP.
The unjust implementation of fake "marine protected areas" under the MLPA Initiative also provides a cautionary tale for activists fighting the Bay Delta Conservation Plan - the fact that science, state, federal and international laws and the majority of people are on your side doesn't necessarily mean that you will prevail. The state and federal governments have a long history of implementing projects that don't make any scientific, legal or economic sense because powerful corporate interests effectively bought off and manipulated agency and elected officials to produce a pre-determined outcome.
It is vital that people fighting against the BDCP and for the restoration of salmon and other fish populations in California learn from both the successes and mistakes of MLPA Initiative opponents so they can more effectively wage a successful campaign to stop the construction of Governor Jerry Brown's twin tunnels.
blogs/details/winnemem-wintu- tribe-fishermen-blast-bay- delta-conservation-plan/
newsitems/2013/12/11/18747642. php
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Jerry McCulley: ' While Truth, the first Jeff Beck Group album, has often been touted as the blueprint for Led Zeppelin and much of the bombastic blues rock that followed, the group's sophomore outing arguably comes closer to fitting that bill. Which is to say it's decidedly heavier, if less ambitious and more narrowly focused, than its heralded predecessor. Beck and company (a young Rod Stewart in peak form, Ron Wood on bass, Tony Newman on drums, and here augmented by keyboardist Nicky Hopkins) don't get much more adventuresome here than reworking Elvis Presley chestnuts "All Shook Up" and "Jailhouse Rock" with almost comic lugubriousness, especially in the drunken, sinewy tones the ax prodigy coaxes from his instrument. That tightening of dynamics thus transforms the lovely Hopkins instrumental showcase "Girl from Mill Valley" into a placid island in a sea of greasy grooves. Truth gave us Beck's tasteful, if quirky heart, Beck-Ola is a jolt of his prodigious musical libido–and damned if less almost isn't more.'
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- Jailhouse Rock
- Plynth (Water Down the Drain)
- The Hangman's Knee
- Rice Pudding
Jeff Beck — guitars
Rod Stewart — vocals
Nicky Hopkins — piano and organ
Ronnie Wood — bass
Tony Newman — drums
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Have your say in the final design!
The Franklin Park Steering Committee has received a funding grant ($305, 000) from the Lyle S. Hallman Foundation to uplift the multi-purpose court at Franklin Public School Park. We want to renovate this court to increase physical activity and social opportunities for children and their families, both during school and after school hours. Fill out this survey by October 31, 2017 to let us know how we should design this space. We are asking community members from several schools and neighbourhoods to offer their opinions on this space. If you are an adult, please complete this survey with your children in mind.
If interested, please go to the following link to participate: https://goo.gl/forms/keCakrPi80ioUuhJ3


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NxNW Winery
Contact Information
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- 1102 Dell Avenue
Walla Walla, WA 99362
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- nxnwwine.com/
- @nxnwwine
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- Tasting offered: Unknown
- Mon-Sun: No hours specified
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Wineries / Vineyards Near NxNW Winery
Foundry Vineyards - Walla Walla, WA - 0.5 miles
Corliss Estates - Walla Walla, WA - 0.7 miles
Canoe Ridge Vineyard - Walla Walla, WA - 0.8 miles
Amavi Cellars - Walla Walla, WA - 0.8 miles
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This winery information last updated: Feb 26, 2018


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A non-profit promoting ethics in the software development process through outreach, education, and support.
The foundation is inspired by stories such as this one, and Reddit posts such as this one which show how often software developers are subjected to having to choose between violating laws or ethical standards and keeping their job. Ideally, this will be a collaborative effort between companies and their employees to the benefit all of mankind.
We are looking for ethics experts and educators to help develop customized ethics policies for various software companies.
Software companies of all sizes interested in participating in developing standardized ethics policies are encouraged to contact us using the contact form below.


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Regular price
Our Sad Face pink sweatshirt is a must-have item. Your wardrobe won't be complete until you get your hands on one of these soft, cozy and super comfortable sweatshirts. We dare you to wear your sad society on your chest — get our The Sad Society™ Pink Sweatshirt before it sells out. The latest looks in our new collection We want you to help you up your style game and embrace your dark side with our pink sweatshirt. Express yourself when you rock this shirt on Instagram and IRL. Available in Small, Medium, Large and XL Long sleeve Screen printed on soft cotton Made in America Say it with your shirt — and then share it on social You belong in The Sad Society. You get that you don't always need to express yourself with words. Say it on your shirt. Or don't — and leave a little mystery. When you wear The Sad Society's vintage black sweatshirt, everyone will be asking where you got it. The Sad Society is all about making clothes that make you happy. Join The Sad Society and get all your favorite looks today.


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|Scamp Travel Trailers - http://www.scamptrailers.com/
Very light weight travel trailers designed for easy towing by small cars and trucks. The aerodynamic camper design assures high fuel efficiency.
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|Costa del Sol holiday rentals - Benalmadena apartments - http://www.beachline.co.uk
Privately owned holiday accommodation and apartment rentals in the resort of Benalmadena, Costa del Sol, Spain. Photos, prices and availability. Option to book on-line or over the telephone. The site also provides general information about the region of Costa del Sol and Benalmadena.
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|Surplus Store - https://www.surplusstore.co.uk
Our online gun store stocks air rifles, airpistols, airsoft weapons and everything else to meet your UK online gun shop needs.


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The studio reflects the changing status of artists through time, from the humble workspace of art workers to the hallowed ground of masters
Today, art production is just as likely to take place on a laptop as in a paint-splattered loft; nevertheless, the studio retains its aura as the ultimate site of creation. As represented in paintings such as Courbet's allegorical self-portrait of 1855 and in the kitsch mid-century photos of Modernist greats by Vogue art director Alexander Liberman, the studio is a crucible in which experience is transmuted through the struggle of a genius into gold, both metaphorical and literal.
In earlier centuries, most artists worked in botteghe (workshops), where they were apprenticed to master craftsmen, or in the scriptoria of monasteries. The relatively low status of art workers in the Middle Ages, when they were still regarded as manual labourers, began to alter as they imbibed the scholarly pretensions of their aristocratic patrons, and the bottega became the studiolo: a site of learned refinement more suited to quiet contemplation than to dust and hammering. (Leonardo da Vinci, who abjured the role of the bottega principle, said that 'an artist's studio should be a small space because small rooms discipline the mind'.) Successful artists such as Tintoretto could afford both a bottega and a studiolo, thus spatially separating the functions of research and development, and production. This paralleled the division of labour that would accelerate with the development of capitalism.
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Source: Hubert Fanthomme / Paris Match via Getty Images
However, the studio was not firmly welded to the artist's identity until Netherlandish painters of the 17th century began to incorporate it into their self-portraits. In this mercantile, bourgeois society, Rembrandt's obsessive self-documentation extended to his place of work (in an early self-portrait he shrinks from his looming canvas), and Vermeer hit on the fantastic idea of catching himself in the act. Vermeer's room, unlike the studio with crumbling plaster occupied by Rembrandt, has a domestic character the refinement of which serves to bolster the artist's professional status. In both, however, light already emerges as a thematic constant.
'Vermeer's room, unlike the studio with crumbling plaster occupied by Rembrandt, has a domestic character the refinement of which serves to bolster the artist's professional status'
By the 18th century, artists across Europe had an alternative career path to the studio apprenticeship in the form of the school. Such institutions were modelled on the École des Beaux-Arts, founded in 1648 and given its current buildings by Félix Duban in 1830-60. Duban's works culminated in the enclosure of the central court by an elegant vault of glass and iron. While Duban saved his avant-gardism for the interior, later academies such as Mackintosh's school in Glasgow and Van der Velde's Weimar Bauhaus took transparency to the facade, making them instantly legible as sites of production. The glazed wall was also the marker of the factory, a double-coding (made explicit in Gropius's Dessau Bauhaus) that can be traced back to William Morris's attempt to recalibrate modes of artistic and industrial production.
Source: Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library / Alamy
The impulse behind Morris's programme also provoked a dramatic escape from the studio, with painters following the Barbizon School in fleeing the cities for the plein air of the countryside – ironically, this was facilitated by the industrial production of paints, which were now available ready-made in tubes. Later, the Impressionists revealed that nature itself had been industrialised, but they continued the practice of painting outdoors with artistic labour now reconceived as an analogue of bourgeois leisure rather than peasant toil. This circular walk comes to a halt in Anselm Kiefer's 200-acre outdoor studio near Nîmes.
'The restored unity of life and art was, however, only available to the rich'
By the time Henry James wrote his short story The Real Thing in 1892, light had become the defining quality of the studio, to the point of being thereby legible to the layman: 'He had had no other introduction to me than a guess, from the shape of my high north window, seen outside, that my place was a studio and that as a studio it would contain an artist.' Meanwhile, the countryside was being merged with the city by critics of industrial urbanism, facilitating a sort of domesticated plein air painting in artistic suburbs by the new middle classes. While the academies had professionalised the discipline, continuing its trajectory away from the workshop, after Morris an attempt was made to fuse the broken parts – both institutionally and spatially. The restored unity of life and art was, however, only available to the rich: several of Shaw's villas in Bedford Park are distinguished by large north-facing studio windows, while Voysey's wallpaper factory in the same suburb was – though equally light – a proletarian place of alienated labour.
Source: Page \ Park
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In any case, few artists could afford the luxury of a house-cum-studio in a garden suburb, and had to settle for grimier settings. The history of artists reusing light industrial spaces in insalubrious areas is coterminous with that of second-wave industrial urbanism, as industry moved out of the cities. Montmartre, Chelsea, the Village – all became artists' 'colonies' in the mid-19th century. Bourgeois isolation was not an option for the impecunious, and despite the imperialism of the word colony – which would later be revealed in all its racist, gentrifying power – there was at the same time an undeniably potent communalism at work in such locales, often shared by immigrants and radical political cells. This is the milieu now romanticised as bohemia, but it also bred anarchist bombers.
'When Abstract Expressionists explored the terrain of the canvas … few … would have acknowledged a relationship between their concerns and real estate'
This process was to have unexpected consequences. Martha Rosler put her finger on the turning point: 'When Abstract Expressionists explored the terrain of the canvas … few … would have acknowledged a relationship between their concerns and real estate'. The city has been remade by avant-garde pioneers extracting value from poor neighbourhoods, and the workshop as site of de-alienated labour was ironised for a post-Fordist age by Warhol's several studios, most famously the Silver Factory created by Billy Name.
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Source: Sophie Fiennes
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Source: Judd Foundation
Many artists have followed Warhol in returning to the bottega system, among them Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons; however these have jettisoned any remaining fragments of Morris in favour of imitating capitalism's less romantic industrial processes. Meanwhile, a post-studio condition is inhabited by a jet-setting precariat of art producers lugging their laptops between London, Lisbon and Berlin. Their workspaces, should they be able to afford them, are in subdivided warehouses on city fringes, while in 'revitalised' centres, where all labour aspires to the status of 'creativity', co-working spaces such as Second Home plays on bohemian antecedents to colour exploitation with absinthe-tinted spectacles.
Case Studies
A31 Architects, Art Warehouse, Dilesi, Boeotia, Greece, 2010
The rough, board-formed vault of this free-standing concrete studio has a tough, elemental quality, sheltering the artist Alexander Liappis from the Mediterranean sun beating down on the carapace. Within the simple structure, a small mezzanine to the rear acts as a store for canvases, while the large, full-height space to the fore allows for the production of sculptures and paintings on a grand scale. Outside, a terrace acts as a place to display completed works among the olive trees.
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Caseyfierro Architects, Assorted studio spaces, London, UK, 2015
Former industrial buildings have long been preferred sites for successful artists, especially those producing large-scale works, for reasons of economy as well as space. Warhol's naming of his lofts 'factories' gave this phenomenon wry recognition, but most are less reflective on the conditions of their labour. Anish Kapoor's recent monopolisation of an industrially produced pigment suggests his embrace of the capitalist mode of production is entirely unironic. He bought a former dairy in south London 20 years ago; Caseyfierro has been transforming the space over the past five years while he continued to work there.
To leave him relatively undisturbed, the project was completed in three phases, resulting in a spaces ranging from studiolo to bottega: small, white-walled drawing studios, painting studios, a gallery-type space for testing installations, an office and a vast workshop with a roof structure capable of bearing suspended weights of up to 3 tonnes. From the street, the 3,100m2 studio is the soul of discretion, so when the uprising against gentrification comes these high brick walls will likely escape the attentions of the mob.
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Source: Jim Stephenson
Garcés - De Seta - Bonet, Artist's Studio, Barcelona, Spain, 2013
The central architectural problem of the studio is natural light and its diffusion through space. In this workspace for Catalan painter Eduardo Arranz-Bravo, the problem was made knottier by the client's stipulation that there should be no distracting view accompanying this light – and that there should also be room for the display of his work, where visitors can view pieces without distracting him.
In response, the architects designed a two-storey, in-situ concrete building on a sloping site adjacent to Bravo's house. The lower gallery space is directly accessible from the road and has a long glazed facade looking out onto woodland, while the upper studio space is accessible via a footpath from the artist's house and is sightless, with a prismatic ceiling culminating in a skylight.
Knowspace, Studio Houses, Songzhuang, Beijing, China, 2014
The romantic image of the artist is a lone figure struggling in a garret. But this is rarely the case: for many, isolation is not conducive to creativity, whereas community allows for the exchange of ideas and inspiration. The enduring popularity of artists' colonies is testimony to this: from Giverny to Provincetown, artists have fled cities to settle where life can be reorganised around communal creative labour – and crucially, with cheaper rents. Today, one of the most substantial artists' colonies in the world is 20km from Beijing in the suburb of Songzhuang. This was established by a group of artists who relocated from the inner suburbs 20 years ago. It embodies ancient and modern aspects of Chinese culture: the long tradition of the artist-scholar leaving the city for rural seclusion, and the more recent process of urbanisation that has devoured formerly peripheral areas of Chinese cities, rendering them insufficiently isolated for such purposes.
Thanks to the booming Chinese art market, Songzhuang now thrives, with around 2,000 artists in residence. This recent addition to the colony is by Berlin studio Knowspace, which was commissioned to design a complex for a pair of artists who desired individual homes and workspaces arranged in close proximity around a private courtyard. Saw-toothed roofs allow for the top lighting of the studio blocks, with garages on the ground floors.
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Source: LV Hengzhong


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Pros and Cons of Cooking in the Microwave
- Details
Published: 12 October 2017
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In many countries, people find it impossible to work in kitchens without a microwave, while some regions across the globe are not at all accustomed to cooking in the microwave. Lately, many medical studies have revealed that the exposure of food electromagnetic radiation can have hazardous effect when consumed but this notion has not been accepted on worldwide basis. Researches are carried on to approve whether cooking in the microwave is good or not. So as per the facts known, if you are in doubt whether to use microwave for cooking or not, then you must read these pros & cons of cooking in the microwave:
Highly Economical
Microwave oven runs on the basis of volumetric heating, which is the procedure where the electromagnetic waves penetrate deep into the food and shrinks the time of cooking. Cooking in the microwave requires lower temperatures and energy as compared to traditional cooking gas. It is said that it takes around 70 percent less time to cook the same amount of food on a gas burner. There is no question about wastage of energy.
You Won't Have To Eat Burnt Food
When you cook manually on a cooking gas, chances are high that lack of proper attention can ruin the whole beauty of the food by burning it. While cooking in the microwave, you get a respite from the tension of constantly checking it as you have a proper guide to set temperatures as per the food item.
Easily Heat Leftover Food Stuffs
Until now, it is microwave that has emerged as the fastest mode of cooking across the globe. Just in minutes or seconds, you can heat up leftover food stuffs without getting them burnt or over cooked. Moreover, you don't have to wait long for taking a bite of your favourite meat chops that were forgotten in the refrigerator.
Relish Healthier Food
Cooking in the microwave ensures that no compromise is done on the quality of food stuffs. You can get better and healthier food items prepared in the microwave while maintaining their taste quotient. The colour and texture also remains intact as it doesn't get affected from the smoke which arises in traditional mode of cooking. Since cooking for a long time on the gas burner deteriorates the nutrient content of the food, using microwave is the best option as it cooks food faster even with less oil.
Cooks Faster Than Conventional Oven
While cooking in the microwave, no preheating is required and food tends to cook faster as the space is small and heat gets trapped in the small area. In case of conventional oven, we need to preheat the entire oven even if we want to cook for two or four people and comparatively food takes longer time to cook and we actually don't utilise the complete space too.
Extremely Convenient
It is not wrong to say that microwave is the ambassador of the modern day cooking. There is no requirement of preheating, little effort in cleaning is needed, fits in appropriately in kitchen, you get to eat home made food instantly, washing microwave utensils is easier as food doesn't stick to its surface, etc. With so many convenience features, you cannot afford to avoid cooking in the microwave.
Plastic Dishes Can Induce Chemical Reaction
When we use plastic cookware for heating or cooking in the microwave, then the process of heating will result in chemical reactions between the food and the plastic or other kind of food packages not meant for use in microwave. This may lead to various health hazards too. So you need to make sure that you use only microwave safe utensils while heating or cooking in the microwave.
Limited Capacity
If you have a big family or you are a party lover, then microwave is certainly not for you. Cooking large amount of food for several people will mean cooking several times which will take lot of time and electricity. Moreover, if you wish to cook a number of dishes, then it becomes a cumbersome job.
Does Not Give The Browning Effect
The perfect browning effect is given by baking in the conventional oven. If you have a fetish for baked food items and you cannot tolerate imperfections, then you must not use microwave oven for baking as it is meant for cooking food fast or heating. It is not actually meant for rendering the same quality of food as made in the traditional oven. Even all bakers depend on ovens rather than microwaves for baking.
Cannot Be Used For Deep Frying & Other Cooking Patterns
The main reason why half of the world still has not accepted microwave oven as the standard cooking method is due to its inability to deep fry food stuffs and cook eggs or prepare food items that need to be stirred or flipped occasionally.
You May Find The Food Cooked Unevenly
Many a times we tend to use a utensil that is greater in measurement than the central plate that rotates. Due to this, part of the food item that is not within the range does not get appropriate heat. Different food stuffs require different range of heat so that it gets cooked to the core. But generally in a microwave, you will find that some places are too hot while there are spots where heat does not reach properly. This results in uneven cooking.
Flavours May Not Blend In Properly
In comparison to the conventional mode of cooking, cooking in microwave may result in improper blending of flavours and spices, due to which you may experience a flood of flavours in one bite and lack of flavours in another bite.


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Day 6: Farwell Canyon and Beyond
"When I'm gone, don't look for me in the places I have been. Look for me in the places I planned to go." ~GrizzLee
Video - Day 6: Farwell Canyon and Beyond
Not having time, nor the initiative, to go back over to Chilko Lake and tackle the supposedly rough road over to Nemiah valley, I packed up my gear on this morning with a heavy heart. I know that it will be a year before I can come back. My only hope is that that the weather is just as spectacular when I do. I enjoyed a rather long breakfast, the highlight of which was 2 cups of hot cocoa and warm oatmeal supplemented with a picture perfect view across the lake. The waterfowl were chirping as were the loons. I really enjoyed the quiet. The morning had a nippy bite to it and a light frost had coated everything. A sign that fall is just around the corner.
|My morning at Cochin Lake.. Hot Cocoa and the song of the Loons
As I left, I took some different roads on the way out; exploring a bit more and stopping briefly at Eagle Lake. Once I was back out on hwy 20, it didn't take long before I had to move cautiously among the cattle in the road. After passing a native village called Redstone, the road conditions allowed me to move much quicker. Before I knew it, I was at Lee's corner in Hanceville. I fueled up with regular unleaded (That's right, they don't have premium fuel in these parts). I downed a cup of coffee and grabbed a drink for later. I talked a bit more with the locals. The native folks here are really interesting and you can get some interesting tidbits about the history and some interesting places to see in the area. The native gal at the store came out and chatted with me a bit about her life growing up in Bella Coola. She was, in fact, a Nuxalk native and she told me about the about the history of the people and her family. It was from her that I really became aware of the 1st nations people and the plight of the Nuxalk folks
|My arrival at Farwell Canyon
I left towards Riske Creek and took a turn to head out to Farwell Canyon. Once again, I was off the tarmac and back on gravel. This was to be my road bed for the day. By now I was use to it as I have ridden very little paved roads over the past 5 days
|Hard to resist the charms the canyon offers
|River carved canyon with hoodoos and the sweet smell of sage
It is hard dispute the beauty of Farwell Canyon. Too many, it may just seem to be another beautiful geographic feature of the planet. For me, it is much more than that. it is a portal to another world… a means of time travel and look back into history from a geological sense as well as seeing what the land was like before man developed the country. This country has it all. It is extremely rugged and rocky (much of it volcanic in origin) with forested pines, lining the benches into the high country which give way to large tracks of natural grasslands. Large creek basins drain through the country. Traveling through this specific area by motorbike is like nothing else I have ever experienced. Deer, wild horses, cougars, open range cattle, bears, etc. live here. In my travels here, I have seen very little people. And the people I have meet are extremely cordial. There is the occasional abandoned log home and barns to be found throughout the area. All this makes for exciting travel and one never knows what lies around the next corner. My GPS and maps are not to be relied upon. Many times I have looked for roads listed on the map, only to see a faint path of where one existed or to end up at a dead end. All this adds to the adventure.
|An old cabin (homestead?) makes for a fairytale setting
|They say dreams are whispers from your soul
|Somewhere out there is your soul
|Arriving at the famous Gang Ranch
|I feel like a cowboy in the old west
|This is a portal to another world
|Adventure riding nirvana!!
The highlight of this area for me, is traveling on the east side of the Fraser canyon. After passing through Gang Ranch I dipped down into the canyon, crossing the Churn Creek bridge. From there, the road winds it way up high along the benches where unobstructed views into the heart of the Chilcotin Plateau can be had. Not only are the views vast, they are accentuated with the colors and geographical striations of the canyon walls the bench lands all caused by some massive flooding event. It is somewhat equivalent to the scablands I have traveled through in Eastern Washington. My pictures only capture a fraction of the beauty. To really appreciate it, one must be see it in person. At one point I stopped for over 40 minutes just sitting and soaking up the views. All the time wishing that I could stay longer.
|Dog Creek Bridge
|If I were an artist, better I could not be of nature's own choice of colors and design
|The landscape is surreal
Eventually, I turned away from the Fraser Canyon, traveling along the Dog/Canoe Creek road. I had ambitious plans of dropping back down to the Big Bar Ferry Road and coming back up a steep grade to Cougar point. The grade there is an astounding 23% and the signs posted state that the road isn't recommended for public use. However, the sky clouded up and it looked like it may rain. I didn't want to be on such a road when it was wet. I made my way through Jesmond and several other ranch lands, including the Big Bar Ranch and finally came out at Kelly Lake. I was hoping to camp there for the night. Two things prevented me from doing so. First and foremost, the campground was closed and there were signs posted at the day use area that no camping was allowed there. I wasn't going to let that stop me, but a local came by and told me not to camp there and that I would be fined. Since the weather was marginal, I rode my bike over the Pavillion Mountain road on my way to Lillooet. The Pavillion Mountain road is a wonderful road that has an 18% grade with multiple switchbacks as it makes it way up and over form Kelly Lake to Pavillion. It is a wonder ride with incredible vistas. I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked to because of the approaching darkness and the few sprinkles now dotting my helmet.
|A moment of reflection
|Arrival at Kelly Lake
|"A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams" ~John Barrymore
I arrived in Lillooet and found a room to spend the night. I was disappointed to see that it never really did rain over night. I could have setup in Cayoosh Creek Campground. However, a comfortable bed and a shower were gladly embraced. It was a long day full of riding, sightseeing and spiritual awareness. I had been on an adrenaline rush for most of the day and my body was tired.
The next day, was rather uneventful. I did ride the Duffy Lake Road over to Pemberton. All the while there was a constant threat of rain. From there I rode my bike back home, passing through Whistler, crossing the US-Canadian border and finally back home to my house in Sammamish, Wa. Whew, what a RIDE!!!!! One of the best I have ever had.
Until Next Time...


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I was able to go to at least one San Francisco Symphony concert this fall (big wave of my opera-singer hair to SY, who gave me a ticket); I heard Louis Lortie play Liszt's Totentanz and Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, followed after the break by Alexander Nevsky with Nancy Maultsby as soloist. I was sitting close, as is my wont, so the Steinway sounded a bit harsh, but on the whole I enjoyed the whole thing immensely. I've always found the Choral Fantasy very appealing. I once went into a CD store to buy a copy and astonished the clerk by having heard of it. I guess she considered it the ultimate in undiscovered Beethoven. I had heard it live with Peter Serkin and the Boston Symphony, and don't think I didn't drop those names on her foot. The Prokofiev made me realize that I'm more used to the soundtrack than the cantata; it veered off at the end from the path I was expecting. It has its weird witty little twists, but it's great battle music, inspiring yet mournful. I was watching the Director's Cut of Troy a few weeks ago and I noticed James Horner plundered it pretty freely for the soundtrack.
The playbill had a long article about "guilty pleasures" in music, which I skipped, since there are more than enough sources of guilt in my life without including music among them. For some people some indulgences, usually involving food or sex, have their oh-so-naughty air as the source of pleasure. It seems odd to restrict music in such a way that rousing glittery fortes, even those of such great artists as Liszt, Beethoven, and Prokofiev, are seen as shameful. There's something deeply thrilling about the immense but organized noise that a symphony orchestra can make, and one of the many reasons for hating artificially amplified music is that we've lost the awesome sense of physical excitement that a full-blown orchestra can achieve, so that nowadays it's not uncommon for people to think that "classical music is calming". Beethoven, Liszt, and Prokofiev – calm or calming! I like Schoenberg string quartets as much as the next guy – actually, it's almost certain that I like them a whole lot more than the next guy, depending of course on who the next guy is – but there's no shame in ripping open the sky. I think of the contemporaries of Berlioz and Wagner complaining about the horrendous ear-splitting cacophony they felt those composers inflicted on the world, and I laughingly wonder what those critics would make of the screeching cars that drive by blasting monotonous thumping so loudly that windows rattle up and down the block.
I was familiar with the music and I could have sworn I was familiar with the musicians, but as soon as Kurt Masur walked out to conduct I realized I had never seen him live before. Unlike most conductors, he's much taller than I thought he would be. If you've never seen a man in his 80s conducting a rousing, vigorous performance of The Dance of Death, then let me tell you it is a beautiful, beautiful sight.


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Manjula Dayal, founder of Dayals Sawmillers Ltd and winner of the Women in Business Awards 2017
Manjula Dayal has been in business in Fiji for almost 30 years and this year won Woman of the Year at the Women in Business Awards 2017. She founded Dayals Sawmillers Ltd in 1994, which is currently a leading processor and exporter of Fiji mahogany and is now looking to expand with a steel rolling […]
Janet Sape, Executive Director,PNG Women in Business
Winner of the Westpac Outstanding Woman of the Year Awards and one of the Pacific's best-known advocates on women's issues.
Moale Leah Vagikapi Founder & Co-Director, IM Associates Limited, PNG
Papua New Guinean entrepreneur, Moale Vagikapi, is the founder and Co-director of IM Associates – a property development and management business that has expanded into other areas of consultancy including mobile medical services.
Lucy Kasimwane, Owner of Lukasko Group, Solomon Islands
When Lucy Kasimwane decided to leave her job, it came as a major shock to the people who depended on her – her family. It was a decision that took great courage but would change her life.
Maria Ronna Luna Pastorizo-Sekiguchi, Managing and Creative Director, The Greenhouse Studio
Maria Ronna Luna Pastorizo-Sekiguchi is the Founder, Managing and Creative Director of The Greenhouse Studio – a multi-disciplinary creative communications studio based in Suva, Fiji.
Jinita Prasad, Regional General Manager, PLN Advisory Pty Limited
Fijian businesswoman Jinita Prasad is the Regional General Manager for PLN Advisory – an Australian-based business that provides strategic and corporate advice to clients operating in the Pacific.
Hon Francesca Rhianna Semoso, Deputy Speaker of the Bougainville House of Representatives, PNG
Hon Francesca Rhianna Semoso is the Deputy Speaker of the Bougainville House of Representatives and an advocate for women in leadership in Papua New Guinea.
Florence Jaukae Kamel,Managing Director & Principal Artist, Jaukae Bilum Products Founder, Goroka Bilum Weavers Cooperative & Goroka Bilum Festival
Florence Jaukae Kamel is an internationally renowned artist and designer. With a reputation as the modern 'face of hilum', she is also an outspoken advocate for women's rights, a respected leader within PNG's Eastern Highlands Province, mother to five and grandmother to three children.
Soraya May-Malagi, Director of Operations Le Vasa Resort, Samoa
Since moving to Samoa from California USA, Soraya May has built Le Vasa Resort up to be one of the highest ranking resorts in Samoa on TripAdvisor and Hotel.com. In 2012, she was also voted by Westpac as one of the top 50 businesswomen in Samoa.
Rita Jaima Paru, Dial-A-Lunch Services, PNG
Rita Jaima Paru owns and runs Dial-A-Lunch Services – a Port Moresby-based operation that supplies convenient, affordable and nutritious catering services for Papua New Guinean businesses, government organisations and the general public.


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Collaborative Intelligence
Dawna Markova & Angie McArthur
A breakthrough book on the transformative power of collaborative thinking—essential reading for anyone who works as part of a team, who manages others, or simply wants to better understand how people think
Angie McArthur has been an integral part of PTP since 1998, co-facilitating and designing global conferences, leadership retreats, training programs, and ongoing one-on-one Thinking Partnerships in organizations from non-profits to Fortune 500s. She is also one of the creators of the Worldwide Women's Web, a network formed in 2001 to retain women in corporate leadership roles. As an expert in perceptual learning patterns, she has developed communication strategies for authors, corporations and CEO's, and the Executive Champions Workshop. She has also designed interactive web assessments and products for corporate training programs.
Dr. Dawna Markova is PTP's co-founder and CEO Emeritus. An internationally known expert in the fields of learning, perception, and asset-focus, Dr. Markova is a former Senior Affiliate of the Organizational Learning Center at MIT and a consultant member of the Society for Organizational Learning. She has established learning communities across the United States, leads workshops on maximizing individual and team talent and serves as a thinking partner to CEOs and senior executives around the world. She is the author of many books, including A Spot of Grace, I Will Not Die an Unlived Life, The Smart Parenting Revolution, The Open Mindbook and audio series, No Enemies Within, How Your Child IS Smart, and Learning Unlimited. She is also renowned for public speaking and has been hired by global organizations to deliver keynotes to thousands of participants.


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Skip to comments.Army Orders Soldiers to Shed Privately Owned Dragon Skin Body Armor
Posted on 01/15/2006 9:33:25 AM PST by Bobibutu
Army Orders Soldiers to Shed Dragon Skin or Lose SGLI Death Benefits By Nathaniel R. Helms
Two deploying soldiers and a concerned mother reported Friday afternoon that the U.S. Army appears to be singling out soldiers who have purchased Pinnacle's Dragon Skin Body Armor for special treatment. The soldiers, who are currently staging for combat operations from a secret location, reported that their commander told them if they were wearing Pinnacle Dragon Skin and were killed their beneficiaries might not receive the death benefits from their $400,000 SGLI life insurance policies. The soldiers were ordered to leave their privately purchased body armor at home or face the possibility of both losing their life insurance benefit and facing disciplinary action.
The soldiers asked for anonymity because they are concerned they will face retaliation for going public with the Army's apparently new directive. At the sources' requests DefenseWatch has also agreed not to reveal the unit at which the incident occured for operational security reasons.
On Saturday morning a soldier affected by the order reported to DefenseWatch that the directive specified that "all" commercially available body armor was prohibited. The soldier said the order came down Friday morning from Headquarters, United States Special Operations Command (HQ, USSOCOM), located at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. It arrived unexpectedly while his unit was preparing to deploy on combat operations. The soldier said the order was deeply disturbiing to many of the men who had used their own money to purchase Dragon Skin because it will affect both their mobility and ballistic protection.
"We have to be able to move. It (Dragon Skin) is heavy, but it is made so we have mobility and the best ballistic protection out there. This is crazy. And they are threatening us with our benefits if we don't comply." he said.
The soldier reiterated Friday's reports that any soldier who refused to comply with the order and was subsequently killed in action "could" be denied the $400,000 death benefit provided by their SGLI life insurance policy as well as face disciplinary action.
As of this report Saturday morning the Army has not yet responded to a DefenseWatch inquiry.
Recently Dragon Skin became an item of contention between proponents of the Interceptor OTV body armor generally issued to all service members deploying in combat theaters and its growing legion of critics. Critics of the Interceptor OTV system say it is ineffective and inferior to Dragon Skin, as well as several other commercially available body armor systems on the market. Last week DefenseWatch released a secret Marine Corps report that determined that 80% of the 401 Marines killed in Iraq between April 2004 and June 2005 might have been saved if the Interceptor OTV body armor they were wearing was more effective. The Army has declined to comment on the report because doing so could aid the enemy, an Army spokesman has repeatedly said.
A U.S. Army spokesman was not available for comment at the time DW's original report (Friday - 1700 CST) was published. DefenseWatch continues to seek a response from the Army and will post one as soon as it becomes available. Yesterday the DoD released a news story through the Armed Forces News Service that quoted Maj. Gen. Steven Speaks, the Army's director of force development, who countered critical media reports by denying that the U.S. military is behind the curve in providing appropriate force protection gear for troops deployed to Iraq and elsewhere in the global war against terrorism. The New York Tiimes and Washington Post led the bandwagon of mainstream media that capitalized on DefenseWatch's release of the Marine Corps study. Both newspapers released the forensic information the Army and Marines are unwilling to discuss.
"Those headlines entirely miss the point," Speaks said.
The effort to improve body armor "has been a programmatic effort in the case of the Army that has gone on with great intensity for the last five months," he noted.
Speaks' assessment contradicts earlier Army, Marine and DoD statements that indicated as late as last week that the Army was certain there was nothing wrong with Interceptor OTV body armor and that it was and remains the "best body armor in the world."
One of the soldiers who lost his coveted Dragon Skin is a veteran operator. He reported that his commander expressed deep regret upon issuing his orders directing him to leave his Dragon Skin body armor behind. The commander reportedly told his subordinates that he "had no choice because the orders came from very high up" and had to be enforced, the soldier said. Another soldier's story was corroborated by his mother, who helped defray the $6,000 cost of buying the Dragon Skin, she said.
The mother of the soldier, who hails from the Providence, Rhode Island area, said she helped pay for the Dragon Skin as a Christmas present because her son told her it was "so much better" than the Interceptor OTV they expected to be issued when arriving in country for a combat tour.
"He didn't want to use that other stuff," she said. "He told me that if anything happened to him I am supposed to raise hell."
At the time the orders were issued the two soldiers had already loaded their Dragon Skin body armor onto the pallets being used to air freight their gear into the operational theater, the soldiers said. They subsequently removed it pursuant to their orders.
Currently nine U.S. generals stationed in Afghanistan are reportedly wearing Pinnacle Dragon Skin body armor, according to company spokesman Paul Chopra. Chopra, a retired Army chief warrant officer and 20+-year pilot in the famed 160th "Nightstalkers" Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), said his company was merely told the generals wanted to "evaluate" the body armor in a combat environment. Chopra said he did not know the names of the general officers wearing the Dragon Skin.
Pinnacle claims more than 3,000 soldiers and civilians stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan are wearing Dragon Skin body armor, Chopra said. Several months ago DefenseWatch began receiving anecdotal reports from individual soldiers that they were being forced to remove all non-issue gear while in theater, including Dragon Skin body armor, boots, and various kinds of non-issue ancillary equipment.
Last year the DoD, under severe pressure from Congress, authorized a one-time $1,000 reimbursement to soldiers who had purchased civilian equipment to supplement either inadequate or unavailable equipment they needed for combat operations. At the time there was no restriction on what the soldiers could buy as long as it was specifically intended to offer personal protection or further their mission capabilities while in theater.
Nathaniel R. Helms is the editor of DefenseWatch Magazine. He can be reached at email@example.com. Please send all inquiries and comments to firstname.lastname@example.com .
Give that dead man 30 days in the cooler!!
There's something about this that doesn't sound right. Unless I see the orders, I'm not going to accept this as fact. It's all hearsay and second or third hand.
I will consider this a non-story until the orders are produced, in writing.
I wouldnt give a damn what the troops are wearing. As long as they were safer.
Maybe the officer's attitude is that those vests don't make them safer. (I don't have any opinion one way or the other.) It does seem kind of boorish on the part of the brass, however.
I do not believe this story.
What officer would ever issue an order that states an insurance policy would not be paid? That is crazy.
This piece is from Hackworth's outfit and I don't know if it is for real, but if it is, it stinks.
I'm not going to accept this as fact." So....you would not want your son wearing non-issue armor if DOD said their gear (by definition older and cheaper, from lowest bidder) was as good, or almost as good, maybe; but no matter, orders is orders?
Yeah. Nobody's identified. Nobody knows who said what, when. If orders were issued, let's see them.
After all, Hillary's saying about the same thing. I don't believe her, either.
If this new effort to limit alternative body armour is real, it would seem as if the main contractor had promise of exclusivity in the business agreement with the Army.
Tell you what Army leadership, if someone is going to fight for me over there, you give him first choice in body armour. If the guy is willing to put his money out to protect himself, then STFU and let him do his job.
Just damn! The guys are putting their lives on the line and the Army wants them to wear what they consider to be inferior armour.
That's just bull-s--t, if true.
If not true, I wish the Army would corner the idiot that started this rumour and kick their arse.
This is so much like the government. Dear God sometimes I wish a rock from heaven would just come and squash them all. They are bugs disguised as human beings. Can't do anything without government approval because everyone knows how fn competent the government is. We so deserve to be destroyed and oppressed for our acceptance of such crap.
Some REMF who has spent his whole career in procurement in the Pentagon and has his future tied up in slelcting the current armor.
"I'm not going to accept this as fact." So....you would not want your son wearing non-issue armor if DOD said their gear (by definition older and cheaper, from lowest bidder) was as good, or almost as good, maybe; but no matter, orders is orders?"
Look. You're not paying attention. I'm saying that I don't believe any such orders not to wear the other armor were ever issued. I don't believe that crap about generals wearing this better armor, either.
This sounds like a crapola story to me. Hackworth's stuff is often bullwhack. Show me the orders that prohibit the wearing of this armor. Show me where it says that the insurance won't pay off.
The story smells.
See: defensereview.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=490
If true; and that is a big "if", I would like to see the hide ripped off the idiot who issued the order.
I think this boils down to the same thing in civilian life when an employer threatens to hold a paycheck from a worker untill they comply or payroll deduct damages that an employee accidently makes. They can threaten it but they can not enforce it.
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As expected, the deal reached between NYC OTB and its creditors' committee includes a plan for racetracks to take over OTB's advance deposit wagering (ADW) system in return for the forgiveness of $65 million worth of debt, reductions in certain payments to the industry, a reduction in its tax payments to the state, layoffs of around 400 employees, and closure of some branch offices. In addition, as feared by standardbred horsemen, it includes perks for owners of the state's existing harness track racino owners which appear to be totally unrelated to the immediate issue of the corporation's emergence from bankruptcy.
A new corporation will be established to run the ADW operation on behalf of creditors which include NYRA, Empire Resorts/Monticello Raceway, Finger Lakes Racing Association, [and] Churchill Downs.
Shares of the account-wagering company are expected to be allotted based on the amount of pre-petition debt that is being forgiven by each entity in the transfer. [DRF]Wagers on in-state tracks placed through the ADW will be treated as on-track bets as far as the tracks' retention percentages go; except that NYC OTB will get 2% on wagers placed on terminals at one of its 50 remaining branches. Not only will bettors be able to use, fund, and withdraw from their accounts at the remaining 50 parlors, but OTB is required to "prominently display offers to sign-up for new Track ADW accounts." So there's a change for you; OTB serving to benefit the racetracks. Whatmore, a "New York first" policy will require the parlors to show less out-of-state races, and "carry all operating in-state tracks and....feature these events on the largest screens available in the parlors" (except on Triple Crown and BC days).
The provisions that are upsetting the harness horsemen are included in a section which is labeled "Industry Requests." They would, if approved by the legislature, allow the racinos to offer tax-free "free play" credits to lure slots customers, up to 5% of the net per machine at the facility (though only half that at Yonkers and Aqueduct); eliminate a requirement for dollar-for-dollar matching when racinos tap into the state's share of VLT revenues for capital improvements; lower the minimum number of required racing dates specifically for harness racing; and, rather bizarrely, grant a variety of legal indemnifications to Yonkers and Monticello, including regarding any underfunding of purses resulting from NYC-OTB failing to meet their financial obligations to them. (An effort to also eliminate a 1% increase in the state's share of VLT revenues that was included in the recent budget seems to have failed.)
How these clauses got into the agreement seems clear. As Tom Precious reported on Bloodhorse.com earlier in the month:
The source involved in the talks said the harness push is coming strongest from Jeff Gural, who owns Vernon Downs and Tioga Downs.Gural is not on the committee because he owns those tracks; but rather because he's the chairman of Newmark Knight Frank, a real estate company which is the landlord of several buildings with OTB properties, including their headquarters at 1501 Broadway. Gural is a guy who's been praised for his efforts to promote racing at Tioga Downs, which has set takeout rates at the state's minimums. However, it seems fairly clear that he's taking advantage of the situation to try and push through provisions that don't relate to money owed on his properties, nor to the OTB bankruptcy.
"Everybody just assumes that we're just a bunch of greedy racetrack owners who are trying to take advantage of the situation to line our pockets,'' Gural said. "The truth is exactly the opposite. We recognize it's good for the industry to keep OTB afloat."It's hard to figure how these proposals would help to accomplish the latter.
Whether these proposals will get the legislative approval they need is not clear. Though the Senate Racing Committee chairman Eric Adams signed on approvingly to the press release, the Assembly Racing Committee chairman Gary Pretlow declined to do so. "I'm not in a mood to give away any of the state's money," Pretlow said of the "free play" plan. [Bloodhorse.com]
We still haven't heard from the thoroughbred guys on this agreement. Though nobody is threatening to reduce their racing dates, you'd think that they might share at least some of the concerns that the harness guys expressed here. NYTHA president Richard Violette, and New York Thoroughbred Breeders Executive Director Jeffrey Cannizzo are both preparing for the Genting ceremony at Aqueduct on Friday, and are giddy no doubt about the prospects of the slots money to soon come.
- Speaking of Senator Eric Adams, he got a prominent mention in the Inspector General's scathing (for lack of a better word despite the fact that everyone else used it) report on the Aqueduct Entertainment Group selection, though the harshest criticism was reserved for John Sampson and Malcolm Smith. They should be quaking in their boots knowing that the report recommends that the matter be referred for possible criminal charges. But this matter warrants a post of its own, so stay tuned for that. I told you that this was gonna be a doozy.
- Bad Religion at Irving Plaza on Wednesday night!


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National Farmer's Day!
Hats off to National Farmer's Day! Today we celebrate the hard working individuals and families who put in the long and hard hours to help fuel the American economy.
October might not seem fitting for celebration as it is toward the end of the harvest but what better time to celebrate? Farmers will be able to able to take a break from their hard work and join in on the fun now that the season is coming to a close. Our agricultural industry has become a symbol of what it means to work for a living and provide for others in this country. Here at Blount we recognize the necessity and significance of such and industry's impact on both the environment and our economy.
Blount is proud to work with local farmers who supply only the freshest and top quality produce to ensure a healthier diet for a more satisfied customer. We thank you once again for dedicating yourself to those long hours and know that when customers dig into these delicious soups, sides and entrees that your fresh ingredients make all the difference!


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Product Description
SOCKET EXTENSION BAR EXTRA LONG 18" (450mm)
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KING TONY have paid every attention to detail and have made these bars to exceed the highest industrial standards in the world including the DIN and AIS
This extra long extension is a great addition to any tool kit and is ideal for hard to reach areas on machinery
Perfect for the tradesman, mechanic, fitter or farmer this extension bar wilol save you time and effort every time you use it.
- Industrial quality
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- Note: all sizes sold separately
TOOL KING are an Authorised KING TONY AUSTRALIA stockist
Copyright TOOL KING all rights reserved


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Jimmy Fallon as Conan's successor?
On Saturday Night Live, he co-anchored "Weekend Update" with Tina Fey and hosted a talk show as Barry Gibb in a recurring sketch. But is Jimmy Fallon ready for a real-deal hosting gig? NBC apparently thinks so; the New York Times reports that the network is currently discussing a "holding deal," which would secure Fallon's on-air services, with the comedian and his representatives. Though the agreement wouldn't guarantee Fallon a late-night job, NBC has been putting out feelers for successors to Conan O'Brien after the redhead host takes over from Jay Leno on The Tonight Show in 2009.
So far, the only other announced contender is Carson Daly, who has made no secret of his ambition to succeed O'Brien, and can't be terribly happy with the news that NBC may pass him over after his years spent working the network's post-Conan graveyard shift. And I'm sure Ryan Seacrest wouldn't mind being considered; after all, the host-bot is only on television for 50 hours a week.
So who would you like to see take over for Conan when he leaves Late Night? And do you think Fallon can refrain from cracking himself up for a whole hour?
addCredit("Jimmy Fallon: Everett Collection")


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Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden bids farewell to Johnny Clegg - The Final Journey World Tour
Date: 25th November 2017
Venue: Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, Newlands, Cape Town, Western Cape
Tickets: R400 at Computicket
Breaking News...
Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden bids farewell to Johnny Clegg.
"Kirstenbosch is pleased to announce that we will host a Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden farewell to Johnny Clegg. Johnny has played at the Garden for the past 10 years and has agreed to bring his Final Journey tour to the Garden. This will be his final performance in Cape Town. Unlike the Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concerts, the show will be at night forming part of his farewell tour."
Nearly forty years after he began one of music's most remarkable careers, Johnny Clegg is embarking on his Final World Tour, titled The Final Journey.
The Johnny Clegg Final Journey concert at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden will be held on Saturday 25th November 2017 at 7pm. Tickets for this concert are on sale NOW at Computicket.com or by calling 083 915 8000
The tour which has seen 12 sold out concerts in South Africa and two sold out London concerts, is built around Clegg's unparalleled repertoire of songs which began with the release of Juluka's Universal Men in 1979 and continued through the Savuka years and his more recent solo work.
Clegg's many different hits and live favourites will be brought to life on the Kirstenbosch Garden stage, supported by his world-class live band.
Johnny Clegg: The Final Journey World Tour represents the peak of a career that has combined near matchless music success with sustained - and significant - social, political and cultural impact.
Clegg's recorded output as part of Juluka, Savuka and solo has earned him millions of record sales, countless awards and nominations (including a Grammy nomination) and multiple international releases, all eagerly consumed by a truly global audience. He was the forerunner of combining Western musical styles with African ones, sparking a revolution in South African music that can be still be heard in the work of artists today.
Most potently, Clegg's ability to illuminate the connectedness of all human beings through his music meant he was a pioneer of social cohesion in South Africa. He also provided a portal for international audiences to gain a deeper understanding of the anti-apartheid movement and the journey towards, and ultimately into, freedom. For this, Clegg has received many different honours including an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire), the South African Order of Ikhamanga and the French Chevalier des Arts et Lettres (Knight of Arts and Letters) , as well as several honorary doctorates.
Additional dates are set to be added later in the year for what promises to be the most powerfully emotional live shows of a truly singular South African – a dancer, anthropologist, singer, songwriter, academic, and activist like no other.
Current Tour dates:
20th September – Dubai Opera, Dubai
14th October - Berkelee Theatre, Boston
16th October - Palais Montcalm, Quebec
18th October - Koerner Hall, Toronto
19th October - Place des Arts, Montreal
23rd & 24th October - BB Kings, New York City
26th October - Keswick Theatre, Glenside (Philadelphia)
27th October - Warner Theatre, Washington DC
25th November 2017 – Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, Cape Town
26th & 27th January 2018 – The Boardwalk ICC, Port Elizabeth
Tickets for the South African dates of Johnny Clegg's Final Journey World Tour are available through Computicket.com or by calling 083 915 8000.
Dubai tickets are available from www.dubaiopera.com
Tickets for this unmissable event will sell fast as fans ensure they don't miss this South African on his Final Cape Town concert.Follow Real Concerts on twitter for updates:
@Real Concerts