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The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts is a book by Gary Chapman with an invaluable message: that humans communicate love using five distinct "languages". We each have a different primary love language, and we feel most loved when love is expressed to us in that language. Conversely, relationships falter not necessarily due to lack of love, but due to difficulties in communicating this love in another's love language. This model can help to foster mutually enriching relationships.
The 5 Love Languages opens with an argument that the feeling of being "in love" is comparatively shortlived. The average duration for the "in love" feeling is, we are told, two years. As this feeling fades one encounters frustrations and grievances previously unnoticed or considered unimportant. This shift requires one to begin working at communicating love by making a concerted effort to convey love in a lover's primary love language.
This is a second sort of love, writes Chapman, which "requires effort and discipline. It is the choice to expend energy to benefit the other person, knowing that if his or her life is enriched by your effort, you too will find a sense of satisfaction." Chapman thus establishes a dichotomy between being "in love", "not an act of the will or a conscious choice", and "real love", a willful commitment to benefit another. This contrast facilitates his subsequent exposition of the love languages, the how of living out and expressing his "real love".
The 5 Love Languages is a useful model
The 5 Love Languages' model allows you to determine your partner's love language and endeavour to express your love in the way most intelligible to them. Expressing your love in your own language (if it's not your lover's language) is like trying to find a bus station in Tanzania using English. You're much better off matching your language to the language of your audience. So you gotta know their language. Similarly, it helps to know your own so you can make sure to have your emotional needs met.
And what are these five languages?
- Words of Affirmation. This means encouragement ("you'll be great") and compliments ("you are great"). If this is your primary language, you'll find slurs or insults particularly hurtful.
- Quality Time – "giving someone your undivided attention". This can include doing an activity together, or "quality conversation", in which "two individuals are sharing their experiences, thoughts, feelings, and desires in a friendly, uninterrupted context." Here, inattentiveness, interrupting, or rushed encounters might be hurtful.
- Receiving Gifts. This could be material gifts or the gift of one's presence in a time of need – either is a symbol of love. An absence of gifts or one's lover might be painful in this language.
- Acts of Service – "doing things you know your spouse [sic] would like you to do". Mainly this means chores, errands, or simple tasks. If you feel unloved particularly when your partner doesn't do the dishes or pick you up from the airport, this could be your language.
- Physical Touch – "Running the hand through the hair, giving a back rub, holding hands, embracing sexual intercourse". This is an emotional need, not simply sexual. If your lover doesn't spontaneously display physical affection, in this language they are expressing a lack of feeling.
If none has jumped out at you as your own love language, or if you aren't quite sure, Chapman gives a few ideas on how to figure out your own (or somebody else's…) love language. Consider:
- How do you express love? People tend to express love in their own primary love language. If you think about the ways that you've tried to indicate affection, they are a hint to your primary love language.
- What makes you feel most loved? Consider what has made you feel truly loved, what things people have done or said that warmed you to the core.
- What makes you feel least loved? Chapman also gives examples where people have known they feel truly awful because, for example, their spouse spends no time with them, or belittles them, or doesn't touch them. If you can think about times you've felt unloved, these also point to what your primary love language is – it's also the most powerful language for expressing unlove.
My Love Languages
The 5 Love Languages includes a test to find out your own love languages (you can do it yourself online). So now, the moment you've all been waiting for: my score, in ranked order. (12 is the maximum for any one language, there are 30 points to be allocated)
- Quality Time: 12
- Physical Touch: 9
- Words of Affirmation: 5
- Acts of Service: 4
- Receiving Gifts: 0
This makes sense.
Even before I'd done the test, encountering the concept and then reading the book made it clear to me how much I value quality time, in particular "quality conversation". Quality time is my primary love language: what makes me feel most loved is having deep, committed, quality conversations. And this is how I like to express my love: by listening, by giving others the opportunity to have such conversations. It's also a lack of quality time that makes me feel underloved: when people don't seem to want to spend time with me, or offer divided attention (such as checking their Facebook notifications f.f.s.). Curiously, but maybe not coincidentally, most of the times I've felt intense love for someone it has arisen out of a specific episode (typically overnight at some sort of sleepover) of intense, mutual conversation.
Knowing this also helps me to understand other things about myself. For example I am challenged when somebody I'm conversing with answers a trivial phone call or breaks the conversation to check Facebook etc.. I myself would avoid such behaviours. But now I get it – as quality time is my primary love language, doing such a thing would be hateful. So it makes me feel snubbed. For those for whom quality time isn't their primary language, they don't see what all the fuss is about.
I also noticed that "receiving gifts" scored nothing at all. Which is interesting. I enjoy receiving gifts and understand that they are symbols of love, but I think the reality is that they don't touch me that much emotionally. I can see the trails of this in my history: in my family I had a reputation as being terrible at giving gifts (I have 7 siblings and it can be hard keeping track of all the birthdays, let alone coming up with gifts). Now I see why – I didn't think gifts communicated love well. There have also been times where I have received quite loving gifts and perhaps failed to show enough appreciation, or to feel the love that was imbued in the gift. It's useful to recognise this about myself. It will help me to interpret expressions of love offered as gifts, as well as to be proactive about offering love in the form of gifts to the suitable people.
Lost in Translation
The 5 Love Languages joins a mere handful of books that have significantly influenced how I experience relationships. Its simple model for thinking about how we communicate love and how we interpret love from others is useful and elegant. While any and every model has its limitations, this one is an excellent way of making sense of your emotional needs and improving your ability to meet the needs of others. Do read it.
Find out your own love language by doing the online quiz. If you do, please comment with – if not your results – at least some thoughts about them!

subset: commoncrawl


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Wednesday winger Jermaine Johnson has received a call-up from the Jamaican national squad.
The Reggae Boyz are scheduled to play Panama and Costa Rica later this month and both games are FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Jamaica will first of all play host to Panama in Kingston on Friday 22 March before travelling to San Jose on Tuesday 26 March where they will take on Costa Rica.
The 32-year-old featured for Jamaica last month in their 0-0 draw against Mexico. Prior to that game, Johnson's last cap for his country came back in November 2009 in a friendly against South Africa.
Johnson has made 36 appearances for Wednesday this season, scoring three goals.


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Oh, hell no!
I don't know who came up with this overused adage, but it's simply not true, unless you're a grandma who survived the depression with only cabbage soup and potato skins. Then I guess yes, Pie is easy in comparison.
Baking however, is far more of a skill than cooking.
An extra teaspoon of baking powder can be the be-all and end-all of your perfect pastry.
An extra teaspoon of baking powder in your scrambled eggs will go a long way to adding fluffiness, but there's no catastrophe should you have forgotten it.
Cooking is like matchmaking; bringing complementary elements together and watching them, well, complement each other. A little bit of fire under their stubborn arses also helps.
Baking is like IVF; every element – the ingredients, the temperature, the altitude – has to be just right in order for the project to be successful.
See what I mean?
Despite this, I will bake. I will bake this tonight:
Apple Blueberry Pie
Shortcrust Pastry without liquid: (Thanks Kook en Geniet)
250 ml (1 c) cake flour
pinch salt
15 ml (1 T) castor sugar (I used icing sugar)
125 g (1/2 c) butter or margarine
Combine cake flour, salt and sugar.
Grate and rub in the butter or margarine until crumbly, or use a food processor using the pulse action. Since I don't have a food processor, I did it by hand, which was lots of fun!
Tip (from me): If you make this beofre the time, keep it in the fridge so that the butter doesn't melt.
3 medium sized apples
100ml blueberries
125ml (1/2 c) sugar
1 ml ginger
juice and grated rind of 1/2 lemon
60 ml (4 T) hot water
Handful of pecan nuts
Preheat oven to 180ºC.
Peel, core and slice your apples. If you want to used tinned apples, go ahead. No snobbery here.
Lay half the apples, berries and nuts in your pie dish.
Combine sugar, lemon juice and rind, ginger and sprinkle 1/3 of this over apples.
Arrange remaining apple slices and berries over the top and sprinkle another 1/3 of the sugar mixture.
Sprinkle over shortcrust pastry crumbs and pour over hot water.
Sprinkle remainder of the sugar mixture over the crumbs.
Bake for 40 minutes. Serve with whipped cream.
Don't get on the scale until you've been for a jog.
So alright, this is fairly easy, but definitely not foolproof. I'm the fool and the proof that it can go wrong in so many ways; your butter's too squishy or the oven's too hot and the apples stay hard. While it's still a test, the rewards are definitely worth it.


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TORONTO — Voter suppression tactics, including a pattern of harassing phone calls, were a factor in the Liberal party's defeat in the last election, says interim leader Bob Rae.
"I have no doubt at all that it contributed to the defeat of a number of candidates," he said Saturday at a news conference in Toronto.
Rae believes the automated and non-automated calls were not the actions of one person, but a concerted effort by a group of individuals targeting Liberal candidates.
"I think when you get as many ridings coming forward as we've seen now, you can't just say it's an isolated incident or an isolated case," he said, flanked by supporters, including party president Mike Crawley and Markham-Unionville, Ont., MP John McCallum.
"This is not an isolated problem. It's becoming a very disturbing pattern which we can see right across the country, not just in a few ridings."
On Friday, Postmedia News and the Ottawa Citizen reported evidence of a "systematic voter-suppression campaign" against Liberals in tight ridings during last May's federal election.
This campaign consisted of harassing phone calls targeting Liberal voters in 14 ridings — the majority of which were in southern Ontario.
Liberal supporters say the repeated calls usually came during dinner, late at night or early in the morning from people claiming to represent the local Liberal candidate.
Calls also were placed to voters with Jewish-sounding names during the Saturday Sabbath and in one riding with a South Asian candidate, voters received phone calls from someone imitating a Pakistani accent.
Those who received the calls say they got them repeatedly and that the person on the other line spoke to them rudely.
Rae says at least 27 ridings have reported receiving complaints about these calls.
He urged anyone who may have pertinent information — including Prime Minster Stephen Harper — to come forward about these "dirty tricks" as the RCMP and Elections Canada continue with their probe into these reports.
Under the Elections Act, it is illegal to tell voters to go to a wrong or non-existent polling station.
"It just isn't good enough for the Conservatives to say they didn't know anything about it," said Rae. "That defies all credibility. The notion that one person would be responsible for these robocalls."
In the meantime, Rae says the party is considering calling for a number of byelections or even pursing legal action.
"Dirty tricks are not permissible at anytime. They are not permissible in election campaigns," he said.
On Friday, Rae sent a letter to House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer, asking him to allow an emergency debate on the matter when Parliament resumes Monday.
But interim federal NDP leader Nycole Turmel says approval for such a debate is unlikely because it is not the responsibility of the federal government to probe these kinds of situations.
Instead, she urged for a thorough investigation by the RCMP and Elections Canada.
"It is really sad for the election process," said Turmel in Toronto. "This doesn't help people who don't vote, to come back and believe in the election process."
On Saturday, Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro said his party also was on the receiving end of such phone calls.
"My own campaign in Peterborough (Ont.) was the victim of dirty tricks phone calls, with Conservative supporters harassed by late-night abusive calls, and our party condemns these acts," he said in a release.
Earlier this week, a spokeswoman for the Conservatives distanced the Tories from the scandal, saying that whoever initiated it did so alone.
On Friday, a young Conservative staffer in Guelph, Ont., reportedly resigned amid the growing scandal.
It's unclear what role, if any, Micheal Sona, 23, may have played in this robocall ordeal.
With files from Stephen Maher and Jason Fekete, Postmedia News, and Glen McGregor, Ottawa Citizen


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Minimise risk and confusion with a well written employment contract, helping you set out the ground rules of the relationship with the employee.
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Watch our free webinar to answer all your questions on employment contracts. Join Senior Associate, Sophie Margaret Whish from Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors and Catherine Ngo, Senior Editor of HR Advance as they talk through the basics of employment contracts.
Having a clear framework for your employer and employee relationship helps to minimise risk and leaves nothing to chance.
Our contracts are simple and easy to complete, allowing you to specify upfront how you deal with scenarios such as termination of employment and post-employment restraints.
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Call our experts for help with wage rates, termination of employment, redundancy, personal leave, and more.


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How To ~Play It Cool~ When You See a Dog In Lincoln Park
Cats may control the Internet, but it's pretty safe to say dogs control our hearts. Dogs are carefree, loyal and loving towards pretty much everyone they meet—ergo, the DePaul College Republican's mortal enemy. Those furry little bastards are the only living things on the face of this planet that will ever love you as much as it loves itself. As a result, DePaul students find it almost impossible to handle our collective shit when we see them in public. Here's a list of things to absolutely NOT do when you see a dog in Lincoln Park, lest you look uncool in front of the greatest creatures on the planet.
Frequent the Wiggly Field Dog Park Without a Dog:
This is very creepy. Going to a dog park without a dog is similar to a childless person hanging around a daycare. It's unnatural and scares everyone. Enjoy it like everyone else does: by briefly passing over it while on the Red Line.
Smile Awkwardly At It As You Walk By:
Try your hardest to not smile longingly at the oblivious tail-wagger as you walk on by. It's still just a dog; it won't understand why a human is giving it love and attention just to walk away. Save yourself, and (more importantly) the dog, some heartbreak and continue on with your joyless life.
Show It Too Much Affection:
If you were "That Person" and stopped a stranger in the middle of their day to pet their dog, do NOT overstay your welcome. Dogs can be many things: cute, fluffy, docile, they may even actually be into you. However, this does not make it okay to stop someone in the middle of their morning jog to grope their dog at the corner of Sheffield and Fullerton. Have some respect for a doggo's "me time."
Ask Them About the Cubs:
Walk Past It With Your Bag of Stu Food:
A member of a species notorious for eating its own excrement will go wild at the smell of your hamburger and mozzarella sticks from Ranch. If you're walking down the street with your freshly defrosted dinner, take another route if a dog walks your way. Otherwise, it'll go into a mad frenzy trying to grab even a single stray curly fry.
Drop Out and Apply to PetCo:
The only upside to this drastic decision is that it will bring you just a little bit closer to Lincoln Park's doggo population. However, you'll regret your decision immediately once you realize your job entails handling snakes and getting attached to animals ready for adoption.
Angrily Stop Feeding Your Cat:
Born to perpetually push things off high shelves, cats will never love us as unconditionally as our doggo compatriots. Still, this doesn't make it ok to stop feeding your cat after this frustrating retaliation. After seeing a happy and carefree dog, coming home to a cold and loveless kitty can push almost anyone over the edge. Just try not to take it out on your feline friend.
Walking around campus and greater Lincoln Park area after day can get pretty monotonous and coming home to a cat that couldn't care less about you can seem like cruel and unusual punishment after seeing a friendly doge. But seeing a dog walking obediently beside its human can break this monotony and bring a smile to almost any Blue Demon's face. As a courtesy to other Chicago residents, please refrain from engaging in any of the aforementioned activities next time you're strolling through your local dog friendly area.
Hey dummy, listen to our podcast!


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The European Court of Auditors (ECA), based in Luxembourg, audits the European Union's finances. The ECA offers both paid and unpaid traineeships lasting from three to five months. Those interested can now apply for traineeships starting in September. For traineeships that begin on:
- 1 September 2018, applications may be submitted from 1 April–31 May 2018
- 1 February 2019, applications may be submitted from 1 September–31 October 2018
- 1 May 2019, applications may be submitted from 1 December 2018-31 January 2019.
Further details and eligibility criteria are available here.


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Jan 21, 2017
Sex, Love, and Rock n' Roll by Scott MacKenzie Review
Title: Sex, Love, and Rock n' Roll
Author: Scott MacKenzie
Publisher: Metal Blonde Books
Format: eBookPublication Date: January 16, 2017
Overall:4 out of 5 stars.
Source: Purchased
Enigmatic, wealthy and wickedly handsome, Jack Willow is more than just a talented musician.
He's a man with a sordid past.
And a man of many dark secrets.
When he meets a seemingly innocent girl by the name of Leah, he pulls her into a secret sexual world, a world that will both test their limits and bring them together.
But Leah is not who she seems.
Neither is Jack.
TRIGGER WARNING: This book contains the POV of a very abrasive male protagonist. There are RAW and explicit scenes of sexual nature, including dubious consent, menage, BDSM-style situations, coarse language, etc and this book is NOT intended for sensitive readers. It gets DARK, it gets weird. There are a lot of crazy sexual scenes and situations. As dark and twisted as this tale is though, it is still a love story. IF you can handle all of that, read on, and thank you for reading!
Special Note: The first half of this book was previously published as "House of Sin" by pen name Vince Stark. It has since been re-edited and is now combined with the second half to make Sex, Love and Rock n' Roll.
Well they weren't kidding when they said this book was erotica. It is full of sex, and that is kind of the point I guess. The main character suffers from a sex addiction and so it is definitely a main theme within the book. That being said, I did still enjoy it, even if I skimmed the sex scenes. It should be noted that they were well-written, I can only handle so much, so that ends up being a reader flaw, not one of the books. Many people may have heard about this book since the author's wife is Karina Halle, and I will tell you if you go in expecting to read something with her writing style you will be disappointed. Scott Mackenzie is a great writer, but his style is all his own. This reads very differently so please be aware of that. Now on to the full review.
I really enjoyed the main character. Jack Willow, former rockstar, is abrasive and takes what he wants with no apologies, that being said he is not cruel he just knows what he likes. When he meets Leah, she ticks all of the boxes and has an air of mystery that he finds intriguing. Turns out Leah is not completely innocent, and she's out to learn what she likes. This leads to alot of exploration and smexy scenes while they learn about each other. The scenes have a very raw feel to them, and you'll probably find yourself wishing your significant other was around.
The plot of the book was also interesting. The beginning read like the start of a romance novel, there is nothing else going on but Jack and Leah figuring out they are really into each other and might want to make that permanent. The book then takes an odd turn into mystery land. The middle of the book springs several surprises on you about both Jack and his business. The surprises do make the book feel like there is a deeper meaning, and it ups the ante for the storyline.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. There were a few things that kept me out of it, there were some tense changes that were hard to get past. Switching from past to present within the same paragraph for instance. I think that's something that tighter editing would eliminate as the bones of the story were amazing. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.
4/5 – An Enjoyable Read, Well Written
**Please Note: This review is my honest opinion and I did not receive monetary compensation from it.**
Find SCOTT MACKENZIE online:
Goodreads | Instagram | Facebook
Buy SEX, LOVE, AND ROCK 'N ROLL online:
Happy Reading Everyone!


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Writing down your passwords is dumb. But buying a logbook specifically to write them down, in a single place, which announces to the world that it contains all of your passwords? That's even dumber.
I spotted this logbook in Grand Passion in Clapham, London, just this weekend. It is for stupid people. (And yes, writing down passwords probably is more sensible than using a single, easily cracked password across all the sites you use. But my guess is that anyone using this book doesn't employ 32-characters random alpha-numeric text strings in their quest for security.)


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Exploring the Earth System with Imaging Spectroscopy
Editors: Foerster, S., Guanter, L., Lopez, T., Moreno, J., Rast, M., Schaepman, M.E. (Eds.)
- Provides a sound overview of the status of terrestrial imaging spectroscopy from space
- Obtains insight in the most prominent terrestrial imaging spectroscopy applications
- Finds guidance on requirements for future terrestrial imaging spectroscopy systems
Buy this book
- Hardcover 124,79 €
price for Spain (gross)
- Free shipping for individuals worldwide
- Immediate ebook access, if available*, with your print order
- Usually dispatched within 3 to 5 business days.
- The final prices may differ from the prices shown due to specifics of VAT rules
- Softcover 88,39 €
price for Spain (gross)
- Due: September 18, 2020
- Free shipping for individuals worldwide
- Immediate ebook access, if available*, with your print order
- The final prices may differ from the prices shown due to specifics of VAT rules
- About this book
This volume presents a broad overview of the requirements, capabilities, challenges and future directions of spaceborne imaging spectroscopy to explore the Earth's surface for a range of application domains. These include mine exploration, soil mapping, vegetation monitoring, mapping of pollution and hazardous materials, inland and coastal water monitoring, urban applications and others. Imaging spectroscopy, also often termed hyperspectral remote sensing, for terrestrial Earth observation dates back to the 1980s, when the first spectrometers observing in the visible to shortwave infrared wavelength range were deployed on airborne platforms. From the end of the 1990s onwards, spaceborne hyperspectral missions have demonstrated the capability to provide information on the composition and biochemical and physical characteristics of the Earth's surface. Today, several hyperspectral spaceborne missions are under development to be launched within the next few years. It can be expected that future global and frequent coverage of the Earth's surface with spaceborne imaging spectroscopy data will bring a major advance in the information depth that future Earth system models and monitoring service developments can be based on.
Previously published in Surveys in Geophysics, Volume 40, Issue 3, 2019
The chapters "Imaging Spectrometry of Inland and Coastal Waters: State of the Art, Achievements and Perspectives", "Imaging Spectroscopy for the Detection, Assessment and Monitoring of Natural and Anthropogenic Hazards", "Assessing Vegetation Function with Imaging Spectroscopy", "Spaceborne Imaging Spectroscopy for Sustainable Agriculture: Contributions and Challenges" are available as open access articles under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com.
- About the authors
Saskia Foerster holds a senior scientist position in the Remote Sensing Section at the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) in Potsdam/Germany. Her research interests include the monitoring of soil and land degradation processes, water resources and natural hazards using multi-sensor Earth observation data. Furthermore, she has been working in the scientific preparation of the German space-borne imaging spectroscopy mission EnMAP for the past ten years.Teodolina Lopez holds an Earth Science post-doctoral position at the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern, Switzerland. Her research focuses on the characterisation in (semi-) arid regions of the groundwater flow and transfers and their interaction with the atmosphere. This approach relies on the synergy between Earth Observation dataset (mostly thermal infrared and gravity) with in situ measurements (geophysical, geochemical and geology) and simulations.
Michael E. Schaepman is professor of remote sensing at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. His research focus is on optical remote sensing, in particular quantifying light-matter interactions using forward and inverse radiative transfer models. His current projects are related to developing trait-based approaches to observing functional diversity from regional to global scale using air- and spaceborne satellite missions. He further contributes to assessing genetic mechanisms underlying the behavior of plants in their natural environment by linking genomics, phenomics and spectranomics at different spatial and temporal scales using remote sensing.
Luis Guanter obtained his Ph.D. in Environmental Physics in 2007 from the University of Valencia, Spain. In the last years he has been the Head of the Remote Sensing Section of the GFZ Potsdam and the Principal Investigator of the EnMAP spaceborne imaging spectroscopy mission. His research is focused on the remote sensing of the Earth's surface and atmosphere with space- and airborne sensors. He has moved recently to a new position as a Professor of Applied Physics at the Universitat Politècnica de València.
Jose Moreno is Professor of Earth Physics with the Department of Earth Physics and Thermodynamics, Faculty of Physics, University of Valencia, Spain, and director of the Laboratory for Earth Observation (LEO) Image Processing Laboratory/Scientific Park. His main work is related to the modeling and monitoring of land surface processes by using remote sensing techniques. He has been involved in the preparatory activities and exploitation programs of several imaging spectroscopy satellite missions (SPECTRA, CHRIS-PROBA), member of the HyspIRI International Science Group, member of the EnMAP Science Advisory Group, and chairman of the Mission Advisory Group for the ESA Earth Explorer FLEX (Fluorescence Explorer) mission.
Michael Rast followed studies in geology / geo-scientific remote sensing. He joined ESA, mainly involved in establishing mission/science requirements for Earth observation satellite sensors, e.g. MERIS on Envisat. Following a research year at NASA's JPL, he obtained a doctorate at the University of Munich in imaging spectroscopy. After a secondment to the GEO Secretariat, Geneva as Senior Programme Officer, he headed the Earth Observation Science Strategy Office at ESA-ESRIN until 2017, when he became the Senior Advisor to the Director of Earth Observation Programmes. He holds a professorship for terrestrial remote sensing at the Department for Geography of the Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich.
Buy this book
- Hardcover 124,79 €
price for Spain (gross)
- Free shipping for individuals worldwide
- Immediate ebook access, if available*, with your print order
- Usually dispatched within 3 to 5 business days.
- The final prices may differ from the prices shown due to specifics of VAT rules
- Softcover 88,39 €
price for Spain (gross)
- Due: September 18, 2020
- Free shipping for individuals worldwide
- Immediate ebook access, if available*, with your print order
- The final prices may differ from the prices shown due to specifics of VAT rules
Services for this Book
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Bibliographic Information
- Bibliographic Information
- Book Title
- Exploring the Earth System with Imaging Spectroscopy
- Editors
- Saskia Foerster
- Luis Guanter
- Teodolina Lopez
- Jose Moreno
- Michael Rast
- Michael E. Schaepman
- Series Title
- Space Sciences Series of ISSI
- Series Volume
- 70
- Copyright
- 2019
- Publisher
- Springer International Publishing
- Copyright Holder
- Springer Nature Switzerland AG
- Hardcover ISBN
- 978-3-030-24909-0
- Softcover ISBN
- 978-3-030-24912-0
- Series ISSN
- 1385-7525
- Edition Number
- 1
- Number of Pages
- Number of Illustrations
- 17 b/w illustrations, 79 illustrations in colour
- Additional Information
- HB spin-off book from the journal Surveys in Geophysics, Volume 40, Issue 3, 2019
- Topics
*immediately available upon purchase as print book shipments may be delayed due to the COVID-19 crisis. ebook access is temporary and does not include ownership of the ebook. Only valid for books with an ebook version. Springer Reference Works and instructor copies are not included.


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Thursday, July 30, 2009
Hot nights, warm tomatoes, and a cool but troublesome computer
I spent last night sleeping on the couch – well, for the first couple of hours – as the living room is much cooler than my west-south-west facing bedroom. Around 1:00 a.m., just as I was finally drifting off to sleep, the sirens began. Fire trucks racing down the road in front and the lane behind, police cars, ambulances, and looky-loos following close behind. A couple of blocks over, a house on fire – the smoke and flames reaching high into the night. Each time I drifted back to sleep, more sirens as trucks from other jurisdictions arrived. By 2:30, I had given up all hopes of sleep and decided to take Sadie for a walk in the finally-cool-enough night air. Apparently half the town had the same idea, as I bumped into new friends and neighbours on every block, some unable to sleep and wanting fresh air, some checking the location and status of the fire. Word spread quickly – a couple, their son and their dog escaped without harm, but the house was completely gutted by the blaze. Nothing remains this morning but a few charred uprights and a pile of burnt rubble.
By the time I returned to my house some time around 3:30, it seemed pointless to try to sleep, and so I took advantage of the cooler air to make jello, fresh fruit salad, and two kinds of homemade iced tea (one mint, the other chai) to keep me refueled without cooking for the next couple of days. I have still not given in to buying an air conditioner – it seems like such an extravagance for the couple of weeks each year that we really need it. And in this heat, who wants to lug it home and set it all up??? And so I spend my days sitting strategically in front of high-powered fans, reading a book or watching tv, and working my way through boxes of old photos and other memorabilia. It's not a bad way to while away the day.
This evening I took the overheated dogs into the back yard for a quick piss-and-dump. They do little more than run out, do their business, and head back inside to plonk their furry bodies in front of the nearest fan. Before I could head back to the house, however, a neighbour's head popped up over the fence that separates our yards and our dogs. In her hand, three large, just-picked-that-moment red tomatoes, warm from the sun and smelling sweetly with the scent that only fresh-picked tomatoes have. "Would you like these?" she asked. Would I! Tomatoes, good ones, are one of my favourite veggies – er, fruits. And it had been a long time since I had eaten a truly fresh-from-the-vine tomato. Not one of them made it as far as the kitchen counter. It was the Best Dinner Ever on a hot, hot day. Next year, I'm growing a garden!
As for the computer, I'm writing this blog on my old one. Why? Because I can't get the new one to work. It may have all the bells and whistles, including wireless technology, built in web cam, lots of memory, but it is not user friendly. And the one thing I very much dislike about my new geographic location is that SERVICE SUCKS! I don't know where local businesses learned their rules for customer service, but they all need refresher courses. So far, I have had run-ins or at least annoying encounters with the garage who outright cheated me by filling my radiator with water and charging me for antifreeze (something I found out at another garage a couple of weeks later), a wellknown chain store that uses "rollback" as their slogan but doesn't tell you they rolled back service, a furniture store that delivered the totally wrong sofa rather than telling me the one I ordered was discontinued, and now the computer store.
I was assured the computer would be ready for me to just "plug in and go". I was assured my files would all be "transferred over, and show up just as they do on your present computer". I was assured that they would come out next week to set up the wireless modem and walk me through the new technology. Of course, that was before they got my money. Now they tell me they can't transfer some stuff because the software has to be loaded in first (but they didn't have time to do it there even though I had taken the disks in), and they won't be able to get out to the house until mid to late August. But still, says they, just plug it in and you can start using it for most things.
Right. Plug it in. Done. A thousand messages I don't understand start popping up. A thousand icons I don't recognize appear on the desktop. A thousand questions that I have no idea how to answer. And my attempt to get onto the internet tells me that the computer cannot connect with the server.
Don't know why. Of course, the user manual and the "help" site are both available only online. And I can't get online. And the computer store is closed and I now find out they won't be open tomorrow or, in fact, all next week. So the cool computer is back in the box, the old computer is hooked back up, and I am steaming mad on an already hot enough day.
Thank goodness for neighbours with warm ripe tomatoes, and for dogs who like walking with me in the wee small hours. Such gifts can make up for a multitude of aggravations.
If any computer gurus want to visit the island, there's a comfortable spare room, five critters to entertain you, and lots of icy cold beer in the fridge.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
The birthday report, a visit to Martin, and a new computer
So, before I go, here are a couple of animal-related updates:
Yesterday I spent a wonderful day at the farm where Martin now lives. He is doing sooooo well, integrated right into the herd, acting and looking like A Real Alpaca. When I arrived he and his alpaca family were in the pasture over the hill, in the soft green grass and shady trees. But as Judy and I headed for the barn to give a somewhat wooly llama a nice new haircut, the alpacas came running up to keep a close eye on us. Some stuck their head over the gate or fence, others just milled around to make sure they weren't missing out on anything important.
The llama to be sheared didn't feel like cooperating in the barn, so we led him back towards the house where there is a special stand called a "squeeze box" (not half as scary as it sounds - simply a hitching post with timbers extending outward to keep restless llamas from doing the fox trot while you clip). All the alpacas followed, their heads swivelling this way and that, monitoring our every move. They are so very funny - like curious little aliens checking out a strange planet.
Between the heat (it was 39 degrees celsius, or about 102F for my American friends)and the work we were doing, I didn't take my camera to the fields so have no pics. Next time, it will hopefully be cooler and I will get photos of the many critters at Martin's new home.
And despite the incredible heat, it felt so very good to this country-lovin' gal to be back out in the fields, surrounded by animals, breathing in the scent of hay and dust and manure and critters. It is a good, wholesome smell, an "I was meant to be here" smell, a comfort smell, like homebaked cookies in Grandma's kitchen.
When I returned home, there was an email from Janice at Hearts on Noses , reporting on the piggies' birthday. Here, in her own words, is what happened when she went to give them their birthday treat:
"Dreading going out into the heat I started to line up all the trays on my front porch using the peanuts, marshmallows, liquorice nibs, apples and strawberries. I started to walk them all over, putting them out nicely, planning to close the gate and call them all back home [from their outing in the pastures] once the trays were lined up. FOILED!! When I looked up, I FREAKED as I saw her ROYAL self [Mama Soda]coming out of the shed. YIKESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS WHERE'S THE KIDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With no choice I had to open the gates and let who ever was there in before Soda ate everything!!!
And who is missing?????????????????????? I called and called and then I had to go out looking. Sweat pouring down my face into my eyes, I ran up the street, over to Mario's, around the acreage, asking the deer eating apples at the school if they had seen a little black pig. Forty-five minutes, and back to the paddock, and there is ROB ROY doing the "Scotch dilly dally" and heading for a swim. Back to the house for more nibs and strawberries to lure him back in.
Next Birthday celebration CANCELLED. LOL"
Oh piggies......you cause the Piggy Lady such grief! But I'm sure there will be a birthday celebration next year too - don't you believe her when she says it is cancelled!
Here's some pictures of them enjoying their feast. Note that they are all BALDY PIGGIES now - they have shed their thick black bristles in favour of going NEKID in the heat. It will grow back next winter though, and hair or not, they are still handsome piggies! Thanks, Janice, for loving them.
Num, num, num, num, num....T R E A T S!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The potbellied piggies that I fostered from birth to 20 months are two years old today! From wee little critters that fit into my hand to full grown youngsters running around the sanctuary, I have watched them develop their own unique personalities; the social butterflies, the timid, the funny, the bossy, they are all sentient beings with thoughts and feelings and relationships. Just as they once awakened Mama Soda demanding to be fed, they now awaken the Piggy Lady at Hearts on Noses with a cacophony of sound; they know when it is breakfast time.
My gift to them is what piggies love best - a feast of goodies which arrived by special delivery (thanks to their Auntie Ewwen) last night, and Janice has promised to take many pictures. I suspect they will also have a good mud wallow to help them keep cool, or play "bobbing for strawberries" in one of the many pools that are spread around the sanctuary in the hot weather.
Happy birthday, Whisper, RobRoy, Rickey, Lizzie, Fizz, Spritzer, Swizzle, Derby, Toddy, and Tom.
Snouties up, little piggies, it's your day today.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
The Encore
It was a Kodak Moment. But I had no camera. I couldn't share it. And I was walking the Slowest Dog On Earth. Oliver takes approximately forty minutes to go around the block. Seriously. He takes dainty little steps that remind me of ancient Japanese movies when women had their feet bound and tiptoed in tiny steps behind their husband or father. Except Oliver doesn't hurry as the women in the movies did. He takes tiny steps in s l o w, s l o w motion. And stops to check out the pee-mail every few feet. Sigh.
And so by the time we got back home and I leashed up Sadie and Charley for the next walk of the evening, dusk was falling, the rain had stopped, and the setting sun was once more hidden behind purple clouds. But I grabbed the camera anyway.
And I'm glad I did. Because even though these pictures can't capture the amazing colours and textures and scents of the evening, I hope they help relay some of the magic that was tonight. For just as we turned away from the sea wall and headed back up the hill, the sun slipped out from its curtain of cloud for an encore.
And what an encore it was!
Rainbows, double ones, spread across the bay from side to side. Golden sunset on white boats and yellow hillsides. And brilliant orange fireball clouds all around.
The dogs and I went back to the little park near the wharf to watch nature's lightshow. A crowd of people were there, ironically waiting for a movie-in-the-park night that was supposed to begin at dusk. Instead, families were treated to a show far more spectacular, far more awe-inspiring than any Hollywood-produced performance could be.
When we finally returned home, the neighbours were out on the street, watching in awe as a rainbow trailed right into a brilliant orange puff of cloud, like some multi-coloured comet hurtling to the earth.
And as I came through my gate into my back yard, the whole sky was ablaze with orange light, sunset on clouds washed with the rain.
When I lived in the Northwest Territories, I saw the most amazing displays of Northern Lights, displays I will never forget. Tonight's sky rivaled those experiences.
My photos don't do it justice. The images, however, are firmly rooted in my mind.
A lightshow like no other. An encore worthy of a standing ovation.
The Wednesday Walk
Wednesday was a hot, hot day here so Crofton Lake was the hike of choice. It is a fairly gentle grade up to the lake on a mostly well-treed trail, and although the area right around the lake has no shade, most of the dogs happily play in the water while the others paddle around the edges to keep cool. As usual, we had the place to ourselves.
Archie does his otter imitation
Vimy doesn't swim. He really, really wants this stick so he braves the water up to his chest - note the feet still planted on the ground, as he stands still and wills it to float toward him.
"I got it!!" Drew is a water baby - he will play 'fetch the stick from the lake' for hours - but always drops them short of shore in case any other dogs decides to steal HIS stick.
Quinn looking coy
There were only three people this week, but together we had eleven dogs with us - and still some of our dogs stayed home! They are all so well behaved and get along so nicely - even Karen's most recent foster, Quinn, who is still learning "manners" before being considered adoptable did so very well. He is a lovely dog and could easily steal my heart. Here's Quinn:
The dock is a favourite place, especially when there are treats involved:
Charley and Luger and Quinn, with Hugo walking away and Pearl's back end!
Amie (between her human's legs), Luger, Dolly, Quinn, Sadie and Charley
Soon they all spread out and do their own thing, giving me the opportunity for some solo shots:
Sadie investigates the shoreline
Charley contemplates a muddy spot. "Did I drop a treat in there?"
Vimy - the old soldier whose been through some real battles in life
Happy Sadie
Quinn, finally living the good life
Pearl - the princess who somehow keeps her coat white even on the sand
Luger - he is supposedly my Caleb's father. Taken in the same SPCA seizure, he had a broken leg that hung lifeless and had to be removed. Being a tripod hasn't slowed him down in the least.
Drew investigates an interesting old logWith the others busy exploring or swimming, Charley finds the dock a nice place to lie down and reflect:
"Ahhhhhh.....this is the life!"
Time to head home, and leave the beautiful surroundings to the birds, frogs, and fish.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
I wud like ......
I wud like a cookie, please
I wud like a fishing rod
I wud like you not to step on me
I wud like to be yer friend
I wud like the secret password
I wud like to get that bird on the deck
Animal communication - it's not hard to figure out!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
When you know better, you do better.
And that was the start of an education which has left me flabbergasted.
At a follow up meeting I attended, one councilor expressed frustration at the contradictory information she was hearing from the company that operates the gas box in this area and from the delegation attempting to have it banned. She wanted to see the evidence, the facts, the professional and scientific material.
And, unlike the Grinch whose heart grew three sizes too large, my mouth grew three sizes too large – and I offered to gather the material and summarize it into an information package, with the assistance of two other members of the delegation.
I will be honest here – as a retired social scientist and university faculty member who has spent the past 30 years reading and writing academic papers I knew I was up to the task, but a big part of my motivation was to check out the facts for myself. I had heard that 18 American states have banned the gas box, with more pending, but I also heard it said that the American Veterinary Medical Association approved its use. I heard that Humane societies in Canada and the US considered it unacceptable and inhumane, and that the Canadian Veterinary Medical association considered lethal injection THE most humane method. And I learned that dogs in my region were euthanized only by lethal injection, but cats were put in the gas box.
I am not particularly militant, and I veer away from animal activists who are. I prefer the gentler, more rational approach, and will rise up in anger and take more aggressive action only when really backed to the wall on issues I feel very, very strongly about. Mention "PETA" and I run for the hills.
And so I sat down with my computer and my university library access code, and I researched. With the assistance of two women who have now become my friends, I read articles in veterinary journals and conference papers, and position statements from various veterinary, professional, and humane associations. And I read. And read. And read.
And what I learned was frightening. What I learned was heart breaking. What I learned was an education in itself.
The package we produced contains a four page summary paper on the position statements of various professional and humane societies nationally and internationally, and an eight page summary paper on the scientific research, along with a reference section of works cited (and online links) should the reader wish to learn even more.
For the purposes of this blog, I will sum up the research succinctly: small animals like cats, dogs and rabbits who are euthanized by CO2 have one of two experiences:
a) Low concentrations of CO2 and/or gradually filling a chamber with CO2 after the animal has been placed in it leads to aversive reactions, panic, and slow death through asphyxia. The animal suffocates as it attempts to climb the sides of the box to escape the gas, and frantically tries to claw its way out.
b) High concentrations of CO2 and/or placing the animal in a chamber pre-filled with 70% CO2 or higher leads to more immediate loss of consciousness but with greater initial pain. The carbon dioxide instantly converts the nasal mucus to carbonic acid. Loss of consciousness using this method still typically takes 45 seconds or longer, much longer for neonate and young animals like kittens.
I cannot live with that. Can you?
So far, three communities in BC have banned its use – New Westminster, Victoria, and Nanaimo. Two others – the City of Duncan and the District of North Cowichan – are currently considering their position. But countless other communities across Canada and the United States continue to use this archaic and inhumane form of euthanasia.
Dear reader, I challenge you. Find out how animals are euthanized by animal control in YOUR area. And if the gas box is still part of their equipment, take action.
In the words of Maya Angelou: "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." I only hope the councils in this region will do better, now that we know they know better.
You can obtain a free copy of the information package by emailing us at banthegasbox [at] hotmail [dot] com.
Do it for the animals.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
The good life: free for the taking
Last night was a perfect evening for a walk - a light breeze, gentle swells undulating across a glassy sea, golden and pink sunset washing the landscape with colour. I grabbed the camera and the dogs and inhaled deeply as I drank in the beauty all around me.
The neighbour's Indian Bean tree has been providing me with pleasure for at least a couple of weeks now. It is a mass of beautiful flowers and large heart-shaped leaves. It will, I am told, develop long beans after the flowers have gone. Here's what it looks like from the distance:
And a closer look at a bough:
And then the beautiful white and purple flowers close up:
Further down the block, I admire a mimosa tree. I cannot get a shot of the flowers as they are high up like a pink blanket draped across the very top of the broad expanse of green foliage. I learned, as I searched for the name of the tree, that the flowers and bark of the mimosa tree are one of the most prized of Chinese botanicals, famous for relieving anxiety, stress and depression. The flowers can be seen in this link, but here is the top part of the tree, as seen from the street:
And beneath it, this cat keeps an eye on the dogs. Kitty is nearly always visible in this small garden, watching the parade of people and dogs passing by.
Splashes of colour are everywhere:
Down at the sea wall, we paused to take some shots of the water. I never tire of looking at the ocean, the boats, the islands in my little piece of the world. The evening air was so clear I could see Mt. Baker poking its summit above Salt Spring Island. (You'll need to click on the photo and peer very carefully to the right of the "hump" to see Baker in this picture - it was much more visible to the naked eye!)
More boats, more ocean, more beauty everywhere I look.
In the golden sunset, the trees along the seawall and up the hillside do a dress rehearsal for the fall performance:
In the grass by the beach, one of many feral and semi-feral cats watches us carefully before running off to the safety of the underbrush.
Back home, I stop to admire the sunset on the ripening apples on my tree.
And then I decide to have a little fun with the dogs, who cooperate by each taking a turn at modeling the visor which shades my eyes when the bright summer sun sinks low in the sky.
It was a good day. It is a beautiful world. There is so much beauty to be seen, and fun to be had. It is all there, free for the taking. A simple life, a good life.


text: Goat Cart Information on the back of this photo: by the goat: George Busch by the cart: back - John Busch, Chris DeLeeuw, front - Joe DeLeeuw, John DeLeeuw Does anyone know when this photo might have been taken? There was no date included on the photo. Centennial Category: PeoplePeopleCentennial Tags: BuschDeLeeuwgoatsPeoplePeople


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Graduate Level | Undergraduate Level
Ming Lei
Dr. Michael Downer
Ming Lei and advisor Dr. Michael Downer of UT Austin were awarded the 2011 graduate Robert S. Hyer Research Award. Ming developed a new technique to characterize nanometer-thick silicon-on-insulator (SOI) films, a platform for a multitude of current high-performance electronic and photonic devices. The 2009 International Technology Roadmap for semiconductors expressed the need for faster, non-destructive ways of detecting defects at the interface of the SOI thin film. Using internal photoemission and optical second-harmonic generation, Ming was able to develop a technique to determine the energy level structure of these interface defects. Ming also worked on the characterization of high-K dielectric materials. He developed an all-optical method for detecting specific classes of defects in hafnium-based high-k dielectrics on silicon by resonantly photo-ionizing them and detecting the free charge by optical second-harmonic generation. Dr. Downer is an experimental physicist who is internationally known for his clever use of ultrafast laser pulses at high intensities to understand diverse phenomena in atomic plasma and condensed matter physics. Additionally, he is a remarkable teacher, who has been recognized by the UT College of Natural Sciences Teaching Excellence Award, the President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award, the UT Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award, and for 2010-11, the Dad's Association Centennial Teaching Fellowship. More information on Ming's and Dr. Downer's work can be found in the publications listed below.
1. M. Lei, J. Price and M. C. Downer, "Hot carrier injection from nanometer-thick silicon-on-insulator films measured by optical second-harmonic generation," Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 241105 (2010)
2. J. Price, M. Lei, and M.C. Downer, "Charge-trapping defects in Si/SiO2/Hf1-xSixO2 film stacks characterized by spectroscopic second-harmonic generation," J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 29 (2011) 04D101 - 04D101-11.
3. J.H. Yum, T. Akyol, M. Lei, T. Hudnall, G. Bersuker, M. Downer, C.W. Bielawski, J.C. Lee, S.K. Banerjee, "Atomic layer deposited beryllium oxide: Effective passivation layer for III-V metal/oxide/semiconductor devices," J. Applied Physics 109, 064104 (2011)
4. Ming Lei, J. H. Yum, Jimmy M Price, Todd W. Hudnall, Christopher W. Bielawski, Sanjay K. Banerjee, Patrick S. Lysaght, Gennadi Bersuker, Michael C. Downer, Spectroscopic evaluation of band alignment of atomic layer deposited BeO on Si(100), Appl. Phys. Lett. (2012)
5. Ming Lei, J. H. Yum, S. K. Banerjee, G. Bersuker, M. C. Downer, Band offsets of atomic layer deposited Al2O3 and HfO2 on Si measured by linear and nonlinear internal photoemission, physica status solidi (c), 2011
Nelson Cardenas
Dr. Samarendra Mohanty
Nelson Cardenas and advisor Dr. Samarendra Mohanty of UT-Arlington received the 2011 undergraduate Robert S. Hyer Research Award. Nelson combined novel digital holographic techniques and optical tweezers to study the stretching of red blood cells. Red blood cells need to squeeze through capillaries half their size and elasticity of cells can change in people that have certain diseases. Recently, Nelson co-invented "Common-path quantitative phase imaging and manipulation of microscopic object" which is being disclosed to UTA for filing patent. This microscopy technique which is based on interferometry, allows for real time determination of the depth. Being the founder vice-president of the UTA SPIE chapter, Nelson has been active in outreach activities such as organizing several SPIE seminars and a COMSOL Multiphysics workshop, and demonstrating experiments at the UTA Sally Ride Science festival, and the DFW Metroplex events (2010). Dr. Mohanty is a young assistant professor who joined UT-Arlington in 2009 after finishing Postdoctoral work at the Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic. His research interest include Biophysics and Physiological studies from the molecular and cellular level to whole organisms. More about Nelson's and Dr. Mohanty's work can be found in the publications listed below.
1. N. Cardenas, L. Yu, S. K. Mohanty, Digital holographic microscopy combined with optical tweezers, Proc. SPIE, 7902-27 (2011).
2. N. Cardenas, N. D. Ingle, L. Yu, S. K. Mohanty, Development of a digital holographic microscopy system integrated with atomic force microscope, Proc. SPIE, 7904-8, (2011).
3. N. Cardenas, L. Yu, S. K. Mohanty, Stretching of red blood cells by optical tweezers quantified by digital holographic microscopy, Proc. SPIE, 7897-54, (2011).
4. N. Cardenas, L. Yu, S. K. Mohanty, Probing orientation and rotation of red blood cells in optical tweezers by digital holographic microscopy, Proc. SPIE, 7906A-23 (2011).
5. N. Cardenas, Y.N. Mishra, S. K. Mohanty, Hybrid optical transport trap: loading and unloading of microscale objects using a microfabricated optical fiber into optical tweezers, Proc. SPIE, 7950-7 (2011).
6. N. Cardenas, S. K. Mohanty, Common-path quantitative phase imaging and manipulation of microscopic objects, Disclosure to UTA.
7. Y. N. Mishra, N. Cardenas, and S. K. Mohanty, "Optical Micromanipulation of red blood cells using a microfabricated optical fiber into optical tweezers," in Optical Trapping Applications, OSA Technical Digest (CD) (Optical Society of America, 2011), paper OTMD5p.
8. Nelson Cardenas, Pattrick Thomas, Lingfeng Yu, Samarendra Mohanty, "Biomechanics and dynamics of red blood cells probed by optical tweezers and digital holographic microscopy", Bulletin of the American Physical Society, 56(1), BAPS.2011.MAR.V39.11 (2011).
9. N. Cardenas, S. K. Mohanty, "Common-path spectral phase microscopy", Bulletin of the American Physical Society, 56(7), BAPS.2011.TSF.N2.2 (2011).
10. N. Cardenas, Samarendra K. Mohanty, "Tunable near-infrared dispersive quantitative phase microscopy", Proc. SPIE, 8231 (2012).
11. N. Cardenas, Samarendra K. Mohanty, "Investigation of shape memory of red blood cells using optical tweezers and quantitative phase microscopy", Proc. SPIE, 8231 (2012).


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When former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of himself and the United Nations in 2001, he gave a remarkable speech. In that speech delivered on December 10 — just a few short months after the World Trade Center was destroyed by extremists — he said:
Each of us has the right to take pride in our particular faith or heritage. But the notion that what is ours is necessarily in conflict with what is theirs is both false and dangerous. It has resulted in endless enmity and conflict, leading men to commit the greatest of crimes in the name of a higher power.
Even though this part of his address was discussing the need for greater acceptance and understanding across religious boundaries, it certainly could be applied to other realms of belief and lines of division such as those found in politics, nationalism, academia, race, philosophy… you name it.
Avoiding the "false and dangerous" notions Annan described six and a half years ago sure would go a long way toward opening paths humanity could take in overcoming its most pressing present and future challenges.
Read Kofi Annan's entire Nobel Lecture at NobelPrize.org


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Friday, May 7, 2010
Cert Petition in Just Compensation Case
Ilya Somin at the VC has a post describing a cert petition in a potentially important Just Compensation case, City of Milwaukee Post No. 2874, Veterans of Foreign Wars v. Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee. The case involves the "undivided fee" rule, which can lead to gross undercompensation of holders of under-market leases. Gideon Kanner has a post on the case, as does Robert Thomas at the Inverse Condemnation Blog.
Ben Barros
[Comments are held for approval, so there will be some delay in posting]


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The double portrait busts are finished in clay and instead of firing them in the kiln, I'd like to cast them.
They are not dried out, but still softish damp clay. Damp clay won't stick to plaster or silicone.
When I was satisfied with the bust modeled in clay, I started to make a mold, this is a bit like a jelly mold and will allow me to make more than one reproduction of the busts.
The fine detail of the portrait will be copied using a flexible silicone mold. Silicone is a sort of soft synthetic rubber. This forms a thin layer that can curve under slightly, going into the hair, ears, eyes and nostrils. When the silicone layer is removed it stretches so it can be taken off without damaging the cast.
To hold this floppy silicone layer in place there is a jacket of hard plaster, often called a mother mold. The plaster mother mold has spaces that fit special bumps on the silicone, these are called register keys and ensure that the silicone layer is positioned correctly inside the mother mold.
I've used this same process when making a relief of a bull inspired by a Picasso lithograph.
For a bust, the mold is made in two halves, producing a front and back, each with a flexible silicon layer and a rigid plaster outer layer, these two halves will fit together.
Day 1
- The first step is to position the bust, face up, on a steady table, making sure the back of the head and neck are properly supported.
- Then you need to build up a clay edge all around the bust, build this up in clay of a different colour so you can tell the difference and don't accidentally start scraping at your original bust (I used grey clay for the edge on a dark brown bust). Another tip is to lay the bust on cling film so that a thin layer of cling film (saran wrap) is between the two clay colours, let a half centimeter of this lay on top of the clay edge.
- Choose a line, going from the arm, up the outside of the shoulder, up the neck and over the head to the other side. It's best to choose a route that doesn't have too much detail, the line doesn't have to be totally straight. This line will be where the two halves meet. The clay edge needs to be quite wide because it'll have various register keys and the sides of the plaster mother mold on it. Make the edge very very smooth on top and bring the edge of it right up to the bust.
- Once it's ready, scoop some rounded register keys into it. Some people make a smooth furrow all the way around the edge, I just scooped several 4cm long spaces out. These will let the two silicone halves of the mold position exactly with each other and with their respective mother molds.
- Now make up some thin silicone and dribble it in a fine stream over the face, neck and chest. It will continue to flow for quite a while and end up pooling on the edge and in the register key spaces. The silicone may also dribble onto your table or floor, don't try to wipe it while it's liquid, just wait until it has set and then peel it off.
- Get a block of clay, flatten the top and create about 20 conical spaces in the clay, fill these with some of the silicone and leave them to set overnight. These will be little conical register keys made of silicone, they will position the silicone mold inside the plaster mother mold.
Day 2
The next day you can trowel over a good layer of thickened silicone making sure to fill in any overhangs so that the rigid plaster mother mold can slide on smoothly without catching.
Position the conical register keys into the silicone around the outside of the bust (and on it too) and let it set.
The wet silicone is very sticky but can be patted smooth with a sponge covered in cloth that has been dipped into a strong solution of washing up liquid and water. Make the silicone layer as smooth as possible.
Day 3
First cut some register keys into the outer edge of the clay edging. These will be to position the two plaster mother molds onto each other. Use a sharp knife to slice through the silicone and down about a centimeter into the clay. Make these register keys very smooth with bevelled edges.
Now make up some plaster and smooth it over the top of the silicone layer. The layer of plaster should be 2-3 cm thick and should have some hessian strengthening in it. Make it nice and thick at the edges and be sure to fill those freshly cut register keys.
Make sure the plaster is nice and smooth on the outside otherwise you'll scratch yourself when handling the mold once it's dry.
As always with plaster, have a bowl of water for hand and tool washing, dump this on the garden when you're finished, never into the sink or toilet.
Voila, one side done!
Day 4
Turn the whole thing over to expose the back of the head. Peel off the clay edging. Wipe everything clean of the clay.
Smear a thin even layer of vaseline over the exposed silicone surface and the exposed plaster in the plaster register keys which are now protruding. The silicone mustn't stick to the next layer of silicone, the plaster mustn't stick to the next layer of plaster.
Now go back to step 5 on day one and repeat the entire process.
Here you see the back half once it's ready for the mother mold. The silicone is cleared from the plaster register keys at the edges, the conical silicone register keys are set into the silicone around the mold to position it into the mother mold and the long humps are along the divide to match the two silicone halves together, the surface of the thickened silicone has been patted down.
Once the back of the mold, including the mother mold is set, it's time to scrape away at the sides until you can see the divide all the way around, now gently but firmly prise the halves of the plaster mother mold apart. You'll have a mother mold on one side and all the rest on the other. Slide your fingers between the two silicone layers all the way around the edge then gently peel back the silicone.
The clay bust can be discarded, the mold is ready for casting.


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Man Monday #13 | Your dose of cuteness for the rough Monday
Like every Monday, a new hot and fresh list featuring some hotties for you to follow on Instagram. This is Man Monday 13 to brighten up the beginning of your week and give it that little extra spark it needs. Enjoy Man Monday 13!
Click their names to go to their Instagram
1 | Alfonso Herrero
2 | Samuele Visentin 3 | Egoitz
4 | Manuel Otgianu 5 | Hugo Manos
6 | Tommy


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Heart teapot
This teapot is hand painted with my design and then fired with food safe glaze.
It measures 14 x15 x 26cm
It is dishwasher safe but I would recommend washing by hand .Due to the nature of the technique used there may be variations in the colours and texture from piece to piece
©JennyMitchellDesigns 2000-2018
I wanted to create a fresh design to reflect love and nature.
Shipping & delivery
This item will be posted to you by Jenny Mitchell Ceramics within 3 days of receiving payment.
|Shipping destination
|Additional items
|United Kingdom
Returns Policy
You have 14 days, from receipt, to notify the seller if you wish to cancel your order or exchange an item.
Unless faulty, the following types of items are non-refundable: items that are personalised, bespoke or made-to-order to your specific requirements; items which deteriorate quickly (e.g. food), personal items sold with a hygiene seal (cosmetics, underwear) in instances where the seal is broken.


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No philosophy or art babble in this post! I have been on my yearly trip with the Wapping Group and friends to France. Despite having all my paints with me I spent a lot of time drawing. Not an intentional decision, but often a sketch book is just the thing for recording your impressions. Sadly original drawings are a disregarded commodity, if you do a print series from them each print could fetch more than the original would! I have always loved drawings myself, they seem to illuminate what an artist is about more than anything else. With an artist like Rembrandt it is like seeing his mind at work. I think maybe it is that the artist didn't really think anyone else was going to see the work so the result is unselfconscious. Certainly Rembrandt's landscape sketches inspired me from when I first saw some in the 70's at the British Museum. I now know that he was perhaps the first to head out with his reed pen and bottle of ink and sit in a field and draw what he could see. Not as a reference it would seem as they don't appear as backgrounds to etchings, but just for fun.
The other thing about drawing is that it is minimal. With pen you have a line and groups of lines and bare paper and that is it. Whatever you are seeing before you has to be defined in a combination of those three things. This in itself is a good way to learn how to break down a scene into equivalents… there is no real possibility of producing a full rendering so each part must be pared down as much as possible and areas that are similar combined. Although this is limiting it is also in an odd way liberating. It is a halfway house between representation and calligraphy.
In the drawings on this trip I used a toned paper so I have the luxury of one more element, heightening with white. This is for the simple reason that to do a tonal pen drawing on white requires many more layers of hatching all of which take time. With the soft blue of the paper supplying a mid tone far fewer lines are required. The paper I have used is Turner Blue from Ruscombe Paper Mill this is a reproduction of the kind of paper Turner might have used in his small sketchbooks. The paper is slightly textured, about 130lb in weight and very strongly sized. The texture means the pen grips the paper a little supplying resistance whilst still being fine enough to draw rapidly without catching. The heavy sizing means the white highlights sit on the surface and stay very bright and clean.
The pens and the inks I use are made by Noodlers. The drawings below are mostly made with and Ahab fountain pen which has a huge ink capacity which is very much needed as drawing uses ink like no tomorrow. These pens have flexible nibs which allow far more variety of mark than a standard pen would. Indeed they are very similar in feel to Gillott steel drawing nibs, but without the dipping and blotting! The ink is Noodlers too, in this case Bulletproof Brown which is both lightfast and waterproof.
The white used for heightening is Dr Martins Bleedproof White. Most of us have used Chinese White or White Gouache and found they look great when you apply them but then dull to a dirty grey. Bleedproof white however does not do this and stays just as white as when you apply it. It also makes a dilute wash that looks very clean when dry, which adds interesting possibilities.
So that's all you need, I'll make a list: One pen, pencil, putty rubber, small sable brush, Bleedproof White, sketch pad, small vial of water to moisten the white. All this goes in my waist coat pockets leaving only my lightweight Walkstool to sling over my shoulder. I use the Walkstool because it is very light has a big comfortable seat and is quite high at 26in. In townscapes especially sitting on a low stool gives you a poodle's eye view of the world and backache to boot!
Before we get to France however we start the day before in Dorset…
This is Stourpane on a really hot day. I loved the contrast between the ideal Dorset village and the spider's web of wires. Although is seems odd the picture would be dull if they were not there. They act as a compositional glue holding the picture together. All these drawings are about 9in by 7in.
France! We arrived in St Malo after an overnight ferry. It was overcast and the light was very diffuse. These are the sort of conditions that make painting quite difficult. Strangely pen drawing is perfect for this sort of light. Areas are defined by texture as much as tone. I use vertical hatching for the walls always inserting a few breaks to indicate that the walls are old and not perfectly smooth. Roofs are horizontal if square on to us but angled if receding. The trick is that once you have assigned a style of hatch to a type of surface keep it consistent. Also you want the line to do as much work as possible, so direction should relate to the direction of the surface if it has one. Objects that have no particular direction like a tree for example can be rendered with a dotted and scribbled texture. Cars are more tricky but I just indicate a few major surfaces and leave the rest to the imagination. The pavement and streets are slightly different in that I want to show recession or depth. So the ground surfaces are done in a mixture of perspective parallel hatching and almost horizontal to indicate both flatness and direction.
This is Le Croisic where we were based for the first week. Here I have quite a lot of different surfaces to indicate. I have used more or less the same mix as before. The exceptions are the harbour walls and the water. The walls are very rough and vary a lot in tone so the hatching is varied too. I am not drawing every course of stones just giving hints that there may be courses and variation in angle of hatch to show variation. Added weight is got by including a few crosshatched areas. You have to be careful not to loose all the paper as a very solid black would be wrong here, though they do have their uses. The water cannot be dealt with like a road surface because it is reflective. The almost horizontal hatching indicates both the surface and the occasional disruption from a wave. Then the reflections are indicated by variations of density. A very few wandering vertical lines complete the feeling that the surface is water.
I add the whites at the very end and use as little as possible. Here the sky needed lightening in areas both to indicate cloud but also to add the feeling of the buildings being predominately backlit. The boats are picked out too and also the key division of the road surface which is directly sunlit.
Later I did the same scene again but at a different time of day. I have used all the same methods but here reduced the highlights to represent the softer lighting. All the tones are arranged to allow the plain paper to represent sky. The building below the church is left plain also to supply a focus and a route down for the eye to the harbour and the boats.
Le Croisic again. I had just mad a complete dog's dinner of an oil of this scene so I sat down to sketch it quickly to recover some of my pride. I only had 20 minutes so I vignetted it strongly. In the oil I made the mistake of loosing track of the fact that the lit gable end was the focus around which the rest of the picture had to be built. Instead I got over involved in the boats and the cafes. A vignette shows just how brutally you can reduce the periphery and still have a perfectly comprehensible scene.
This is the port of St Nazaire. I drew it from the top of one of the huge U-boat pens. At first seems impossible to get down such a complex scene. What I looked for here was what tied the scene together. After looking a while I decided that the water was the key area to get right. That and the sky are the only quiet areas so needed to be dealt with in as minimal a fashion as possible. Nonetheless the water still had to carry the information of depth flatness and reflectivity. A great deal to express with very few marks! There is a lot of leeway in the busy harbour detail, a wrong line or bit of erratic drawing will not stand out. The water was a different matter and I added lines very carefully and stopped as soon as I had enough hints to tell the story.
A very simple sketch. I was wondering how to make anything of the pools where they store the live oysters when a tractor headed out do drop a load of tasty molluscs in the drink. I only had time to scribble in a horizon line and sketch the tractor before they left. Once they had gone I had to decide what to do with the rest. The paper needed to stand for the still pools so I lightened the whole sky with a thin white wash. Then I could apply full strength white for the rest of clouds. I kept the distant shore mostly vertical to make it a little abstract. Only broken by a couple of highlights and the tower of the church in Guerande on the other side of the salt marshes.
This is the same church in Guerande close to. What interested me here was the clutter of the cafes and the vans clearing away the market. I was sitting in a wildly exposed spot and getting baked by the sun. There was no getting around the fact that to get to the bit I was interested in a whole church needed to be drawn. People often find such subjects forbidding to draw and are put off by the morass of detail. If I had put in all the detail it would have taken forever and looked awful so I had to decide which bit to build it around. I chose the window and positioned it very carefully by holding my paper up to the scene and marking key levels off on the side of the paper. You can measure with your pencil, but I find it far more accurate and simple to hold the paper up to the actual scene. I don't mark many things just the main architectural breaks and the tops and bottoms of things. Once the window was positioned I worked out from there. I stopped adding content as soon as each part of the building looked complete. In this way it appears that there is a lot of detail, but most of it is actually in the viewers mind's eye. Once the hard labour of the church was done I got to draw the bit I was really interested in! I indicated the ground with as little as possible. Just giving hints of paving and perspective. No more is needed as the imagination supplies the rest. This minimal approach also helps with the impression of the sun light beating down and bouncing back up again. By the time I had done all the pen work and erased the pencil the light was fully on the church facade. I had to remember back to how I first saw it where only a few parts of the tower were catching the sun.
This is Honfleur where we spent a couple of days on our way home. I was a little lost as to what to draw when this very large lady and her tall thin companion came down the street. I suddenly saw how they might be set against the shadowed facades. This was a very busy spot so I had to just scribble in whichever bits I could see between the crowds of tourists. Most of the work here is in the facades with lots of hatching. It is important to vary the vertical hatch to add interest. With pen you can make the same tone with close thin lines or more widely spaced thick ones. This results in the same overall tone but gives quite a different quality. With the windows you must be very careful not to over detail and also not to make each identical. Again the white was kept to a minimum.
After a hard day bashing away with the oils it was a relief to dump my kit and go out with just my pens. Much of the character of Honfleur is in the fashionable and not so fashionable folk parading to and fro. I liked the simple backdrop of the building with the empty sky beside it so I just sat and scribbled people that took my fancy as they passed. You can't get a whole figure in with one bite so most of these are composites of several passers by. Once I decided that the population was high enough I set to work inking over the pencil. The man still has to have his stick added as I forgot to put it in!
Last one from Honfleur. I wanted to do something out of the tourist zone and this took my eye. The avenue of trees was tricky as I would have liked to have left the sunlit areas plain but for the rest of the image they had to be darker. I decided to use an abstract hatch, which was a bad move I now feel, a simple vertical one would have been cleaner.
Lastly some of my fellow artists on the coach. When people are moving about I start several faces at once and fill in bits as they return to the pose I want. You soon find that everyone has typical positions they return to so bit by bit you can get a drawing done. Just the pencil was enough here. I was tempted to add ink but the softness of the pencil seemed just right. The few highlights just give enough of a lift to hint at volume and light.
That's it, Oils and Watercolours next…


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Be a part of professional community
Learn More about Coworking Movement
You can work from anywhere in the world if you choose to. Coworking spaces and coworkers are here to welcome you.
As a Coworker you are encouraged to openly communicate your needs, views and opinions, both professional and personal ones.
Coworking spaces nurture collaboration, rather than competition, allowing you to share resources, knowledge and strengthen your skillset.
Use the opportunity to surround yourself with like-minded professionals who will support your efforts to become the best version of yourself.
Coworking sustainability rests on the success of each individual member. Social capital generation is equally important as a stable upkeep.
What's Coworking?Coworking is a concept defined by a set of core values that advocate for collaboration, autonomy, transparency and community. Acting as an alternative solution to previous workplace structures, often associated with isolated offices and long working hours, coworking spaces are designed to be open, offering basic amenities and a shared space where independent professionals can come together to work in a flexible and communal setting. Coworking's popularity grew alongside the rise of the freelancers movement, becoming a platform synonymous with independent success. While coworking spaces may cater to different types of members, from artists, remote workers, techies, startups and everything in between, almost all coworking spaces are built upon a foundation of the movement's core values.
Benefits of CoworkingCoworking is known to have numerous benefits, from alleviating isolation for remote workers, to creating job opportunities and placing value on human connection. Users often state that they feel healthier and happier when working from a Coworking space, as they have more professional and personal autonomy, in addition to their work and overall relationships becoming more meaningful. Coworking spaces not only directly benefit their users but also the greater community. Many spaces make their home in underutilized real estate, subsequently adding to the surrounding area. In addition influencing physical surroundings, the majority of Coworking spaces also offer various support for their members, in the form of meetups and events, which can also be open to the public.
About Coworking MovementCoworking, as it is understood today, was coined in 2005 by Brad Neuberg. This San Francisco based independent professional is known to be one of the first to open a flexible workspace that catered to freelancers and any other like-minded individuals looking for a place to work as equals. Today, with close to 10,000 Coworking spaces worldwide, which are home to half a million Coworkers, the movement has showed no sign of slowing down. Coworking has contributed to the rise of digital nomadism, coliving, cotraveling, the freelancers movement and also a shift towards integrating more social practices within traditional workplace culture.
Coworking spaces worldwide
Coworkers worldwide
% of Coworkers reporting higher productivity
% of Coworkers reporting higher income


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Sunday, September 14, 2014
New Packages for the Fall!
We've got some great new packages for the Fall which promise to get travelers to Pittsburgh (or Pittsburghers who want to explore their own city!) off the beaten path. I'll explain the new packages in a series of blog posts - so keep checking in on us or visit packages page at our website, thepriory.com.
First up is the Sacred Pittsburgh tour, which offers an afternoon touring two of Pittsburgh's most famous religious properties, St. Anthony's Chapel on Troy Hill and St. Nicholas Croatiia Church in Millvale. Both are very close to our Priory Hotel, and both chapels draw visitors from around the world. Our shuttle provides transportation to and from the chapels, as well as to dinner at the world famous Church Brew Works Brew Pub.
St. Anthony's is a small church located in the heart of an historic German residential neighborhood. Its claim to fame is that it holds the most religious relics of any church site outside of the Vatican. They line the apse of the chapel from floor to ceiling! The bottom two photos show the interior and exterior of St. Anthony's.
St. Nicholas was built by Croatian immigrants in the nearby town of Millvale. St. Nicholas features the 1930's era murals of famed Croatian painter Maxo Vanka. The murals are truly striking, and stand out among churches throughout the entire United States. The top three photos show St. Nicholas from the outside and inside, as well as a sample of Vanka's work.
Find out more about our Sacred Pittsburgh tour here!
Posted by John Graf, Proprietor at 1:42 PM No comments:
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So its been a while since I blogged and I'm delighted to try out the new WordPress editor! Unlike most Google updates, I actually like this thing. It's uncluttered with fewer and more useful tabs on the left, unlike its old self.
Moving to more topical issues, I have decided to check out some local coffee shops in the new place I'm at. The first stop is at Dana Street Roasting in Mountain View. This is a cute little coffee shop but a little too hippie for me and not in a good way. I pick a corner spot and find a treasure trove in the crack between the floor and the wall.
No gum stuck to the bottom of the table. Check.
Although I have decided to try a gooey drink (which I categorize as everything except plain coffee), they have some very good collection of coffees I might want to try out some day. I ask the owner if the almond latte has coffee. That's how little I know about gooey drinks. He is a little surprised but goes on to explain, yes, it does indeed have coffee in it. After making the difficult choice between almond milk and almond syrup while discarding rice milk as being a real possibility, I finally get my latte, woohoo. And its really good (do remember that I have nothing much to compare it to).
The place also has an old coffee roasting machine. It would really do much better with air-conditioning instead. Other than that, the art is really so-so. The cookies and bars on the counter look questionable but that's another area I have not ventured into. You could eat them and live for all I know.
They also have a unisex bathroom so don't miss this spot if you particularly fancy putting toilette seats down. What I definitely love is their choice of music. Good mix of indie and more indie. I'm coming back for sure because its so close to home.


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Being artists is a very complex world. It doesn't mean focusing on one art only. You are talented with a guitar, and I'm sure you paint also, or you had the idea to be a painter as well, but never had the chance to try and show your skills as painter.
This happens with acting as well. There are many celebrities that switch from acting to singing or playing an instrument. They can be seen in movies, in dramatic performances, at events and introducing shows as well.
One artist I want to introduce is Manuel Marino and his Weblog where you can listen to music online. Manuel is an all around artist and while pausing from the music work, he relaxes with 3d art and painting.
Do you want a famous artist? Janet Jackson, a wonderful artist! She paused at the moment her singing career to focus on her acting work, with roles in in Tyler Perry's movie sequel Why Did I Get Married Too? and his upcoming drama For Colored Girls.
But she has not quit her music career at all! And will hit the studio next year to record a new album.
She tells Larry King, "Just because I've made two films back to back… it's always been a dream of mine to do something like this, so I kind of put music on the back burner to do this. And I will continue to do more films. But definitely, I can't give up music, it's in my blood. And I love, love, love performing. So I will make more music."
Having sold over 100 million records worldwide, Jackson is ranked as one of the best-selling artist in the history of contemporary music. Her tenth studio album, Discipline, was released in February 2008, debuting on the Billboard 200 at number one.
Learn more about cool gadgets like cube speakers. Visit this website to find the best music news about all the music biz!


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Super Stardust HD and Resogun, is bringing yet more frenetic shooting to PlayStation 4. A brief trailer shown during Sony's Gamescom press conference showcased space marines mowing down waves of nasty monsters. Players will be able to tackle the challenge cooperatively and, in an interesting twist, it looks like they can turn against each other competitively as well.
Watch the trailer for yourself after the break.


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French Onion Soup Plus
It's been a while!
October proved to be much busier than I anticipated. With the changing seasons brought a bit of a change of internal temperature for me. I always try to ward off viruses any way I can. Usually, I'm successful.
For whatever reason, my immune system felt a little overwhelmed this year. Needless to say, I was in bed for a good 48 hours shivering and sniffling. Over those few days when I was recovering, I downed soup and tea like mad! Soup is a food group that I overlook during the warmer months, with the exception of the occasional gazpacho. I really love soups during the fall and winter. There's something magical about eating and drinking something all at once. I love to drink all my leftover broth. It warms my heart! ^_^
One of my favorite soups is French onion. I used to eat this in my pre-veg days, like most people, I suppose. It's a pretty common menu item. I really wanted it the one day when I wasn't feeling well. There's something really comforting about sweet caramelized onions in a rich salty broth. However, I was faced with a bit of a dilemma: I only had half an onion...
Yeah, you can't really do much with half an onion!! That's basically one serving! Luckily, I had some other vegetables in my fridge that needed to be used. This version of baked onion soup is a hodge podge of ingredients that I had on hand. However, I think after making "onion" soup this way, I'll never settle for just onions again! It was definitely delicious and also a hit with my "non-veg" family. ;)
I prepared the soup in the "French" fashion (or wherever it came from!) with a crunchy crouton in the bottom of a crock and melted "cheese" on top. I used some gluten free bread that I had on hand, but you can use any toasted bread that you prefer (or, omit if you choose). The "cheese" is also optional, but it's so fun! I also like the presentation because it reminds me that vegan dishes can imitate conventional ones pretty well when they feel like it!
Adapted from Baked Onion Soup in Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons by Nava Atlas
Yield: 6 servings
Oven 375 F.
I'm Jess!
This is my very first food blog! I post revised conventional recipes of foods that I hold near and dear to my heart. My cooking here is all gluten-free and cruelty-free, but full of flavor and comfort.
October 2017


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Trading Depot supply a range of cold water tanks, cold water tank lids and insulation jackets from leading manufacturers including Davant and Polypipe.
Water Tanks Available
Currently the cold water tanks and lids that are held in stock are available in a range of shapes and sizes, these include circular and rectangular and a coffin style.
The rectangular options available include:
- 4 Gallon (18 litre)
- 25 Gallon (114 litre)
- 40 Gallon (182 litre)
- 50 Gallon (227 litre)
- 50 Gallon Coffin Style Low Level (227 litre)
The circular options available include:
Insulation Jackets Available
The insulation jackets that are available from Trading Depot are also manufactured by Davant and are designed to match up with the equivalent sized tanks, however are ideal for insulation of cold water tanks of all types. They are strong, resilient and easy to handle and install. The jackets are supplied with a filled lid with two lengths of heavy duty fixing tape for ease of application. The Jackets are made in Great Britain and exceed the requirements of Water Byelaw 30 and BS 7181:1989.
Byelaw Kits Available
Also available online from Trading Depot are a selection of Byelaw kits for cold water tanks, which consist of the lid, an insulation jacket and tank connectors. These are available in circular (25 and 50 gallon) and rectangular (25, 40 and 50 gallon).
A = Expansion pipe grommet
B = Screened breather
C = Screened warning overflow with dip tube
D = Customised insulating jacket
E = Inlet backing plate
F= Snap cover
*Rectangular tank used for illustration purposes. Locations of parts may variety wit the variety of tanks.