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posted: Dec. 17, 2021.
The movie Bohemian Rhapsody celebrates the iconic rock band Queen and its legendary lead vocalist, Freddie Mercury. But when we see pictures of the flamboyant singer, many fans both old Read more
Olympian's Pole Vaulting Accident Puts the Spotlight on Dental Injuries
posted: Nov. 07, 2021.
British pole vaulter Harry Coppell had an unpleasant mishap right before the Tokyo Olympic games. During a training vault, Coppell glanced the top bar to loosen it, which then fell Read more
posted: Sep. 28, 2021.
In real life he was a hard-charging basketball player through high school and college. In TV and the movies, he has gone head-to-head with serial killers, assorted bad guys… even Read more
posted: Aug. 19, 2021.
Inauguration night is usually a lavish, Washington, D.C., affair with hundreds attending inaugural balls throughout the city. And when you're an A-List celebrity whose husband is a headliner at one Read more
posted: Jul. 10, 2021.
During this year's baseball spring training, Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton got into a row with a steak dinner—and the beefsteak got the better of it. During his meal, Read more
For nearly two decades, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has dominated the pop and country charts. In December she launched her ninth studio album, called evermore, and in January she delighted fans Read more
For anyone else, having a tooth accidentally knocked out while practicing a dance routine would be a very big deal. But not for Dancing With The Stars contestant Noah Galloway. Read more
Since his breakout role as Dr. Doug Ross in the 90's TV drama ER, George Clooney has enjoyed a blockbuster career as an award-winning actor, director and producer. He's still Read more
This year's Carol Burnett Award, presented at the Golden Globes, goes to Ellen DeGeneres for her "outstanding contributions to the television medium on or off the screen." This is the Read more
Are bleeding gums something you should be concerned about? Dear Doctor magazine recently posed that question to Dr. Travis Stork, an emergency room physician and host of the syndicated TV Read more
Kill Bill fans have been pressing for a third installment of the stylized revenge tale since Kill Bill, Volume 2 hit the theaters in 2004. Finally, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is Read more
The NBA's reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo may seem unstoppable, but he proved no match for a troubled tooth. Antetokounmpo, the self-proclaimed "Greek Freak," missed one of the final three 2020 Read more
Too Old to Straighten Your Smile? Not If You're Like These A-List Celebrities
If you're well past your teen years, you probably have several reasons for not straightening your crooked smile: the expense, the time and the embarrassment of being a 30-, 40- Read more
How many actresses have portrayed a neuroscientist on a wildly successful TV comedy while actually holding an advanced degree in neuroscience? As far as we know, exactly one: Mayim Bialik, Read more
Kathy Bates has been a familiar face to filmgoers since her Oscar-winning performance as Annie Wilkes in Misery. She's best known for playing true-to-life characters like Wilkes or Barbara Jewell Read more
The long-running hit show Dancing with the Stars has had its share of memorable moments, including a wedding proposal, a wardrobe malfunction, and lots of sharp dance moves. But just Read more


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A file photo shows Barack Obama talking with Narendra Modi during a working dinner in the East Room of the White House, in Washington, 31 March, 2016. Photo: AP
Narendra Modi invited to address US Congress joint session
1 min read . Updated: 28 Apr 2016, 10:06 PM IST Richard Cowan, Patricia Zengerle
US House Speaker Paul Ryan said this would provide an opportunity on sharing how the two nations can work together to increase prosperity
Narendra ModiUS Congressjoint sessionRepublicanPaul Ryan
Washington: US House Speaker Paul Ryan has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak to a joint session of Congress when he visits Washington in June, the top House Republican said on Thursday.
"This address presents a special opportunity to hear from the elected leader of the world's most populous democracy on how our two nations can work together to promote our shared values and to increase prosperity," Ryan said in a statement. Reuters

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The IO Bunk Pod is a one-of-a-kind bunk bed that stands out for its unique design and aesthetic. Featuring simple and uncluttered lines it combines a beautiful aesthetic with complete functionality. Its gentle soft curves and exposed plywood edges give the bunk bed a friendly and comforting appeal. The innovative design of the Pod embodies a sense of fun and provides a hint for the unexpected. The bed is multi-functional and can be configured into a bunk bed, two separate single beds, a top bed and desk area beneath as well as a bed and desk separately in order to suit your family's evolving needs. The side shelving allows for special treasures to always be close by. Its ability to transform is a delight to children and parents alike, giving the piece longevity, while the engineering behind the concept enables ease of assembly and conversion.
The small footprint of the Pod helps utilise space efficiently especially in compact living situations. Due to its openness on all sides it offers great flexbility in terms of where to position it within a space while taking full advantage of natural light.
Children can use the pod from an early toddler age (lower bunk or single bed) through to their teen years and beyond giving the pod the "ability" to grow with the child.
It is important that the pod appeals to both kids and parents alike so that they may engage and enjoy the product for a long time. The sizing and features of the Pod are designed to enable easy access for parents providing ample height space in the lower bunk without compromising its overall size. Parents can thus join and interact with their children in comfort when reading bedtime stories and have books, notepads and toys at hand on the shelves nearby. In addition, when split into individual units, adults can also comfortably sleep since the beds accommodate standard full size mattresses.
Our Pod is produced with sustainable thinking applied to its design and combines a simple playful aesthetic with total functionality. It is made from Scandinavian birch plywood, chosen for its strength, warmth and durability. The IO Bunk Pod has been consciously made and tested by FIRA (Furniture Industry Research Association) meeting all relevant safety regulations.
We like to believe that just as each child is unique, we can give personality to the objects we create and our IO Bunk Pod is a true reflection of this belief. With the IO Bunk Pod, our goal is to enable children to not just see their bunk bed for its obvious function but rather for them to imagine its possibilities.
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Can you imagine a world without technology?
Let's talk about how boring, weird, hard, (add all the words) the world would be without technology. Okay, let's say for instance there were no gadgets like TVs, Phones, Laptops, and computers. Just take a moment and think about what the world would have been without gadgets and technology.
Without television, we probably would not be able to watch and enjoy all our favorite shows, movies, news, music videos, and many other comfortables at home as we do. How quiet and boring our homes would be without them right? But wait we could also watch all the above or get access to them on our ipads or tablets, phones, or computers. Trough Youtube and probably google and other sites Did you just ask about the screen size? Well, we could use projectors to project from our devices. So. can we say that based on that we can do away with TVs?
Let's see if we can do without this other gadget. How about if we did not have mobile phones? Of course, we could live without them. But what could have replaced mobile phones? Maybe telephones. Everyone could still make calls with telephones and even with software like Skype on their laptops and computers. But would the replacement have been as clear and handy as the mobile phones? Maybe not but I bet we would have adjusted.
Use the fast simple youtube to mp4 converter to save youtube videos. This youtube to mp4 download is the best to convert online videos. The best facebook to mp4 online video downloader.


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Shawq شوق (Nadia El Guindy) - (1976) Egyptian one-sheet
Shawq (1976) - (Nadia El Guindy) Egyptian one-sheet
This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Mohammad Abdel Aziz and Hassan Mazhar Gasour to promote the 1976 Ashraf Fahmy film Shawq starring Nadia El Guindy as Shawq based on story, screenplay and dialogue by Abdel Hay Adib taken from the 1946 King Vidor film Duel in the Sun, with cinematography by Mahmoud Nasr. The film was produced by Nadia El Guindy Films. Plot summary: A teacher named Adam [Mahmoud El-Meliguy] lived in the al-Malahat district of Alexandria with his spoiled son Mokhtar [Mohammed El Arabi] and his third wife, a gypsy named Shawq. He had a second son named Ahmad, [Hussein Fahmy] who returned after completing his studies abroad. Shawq tried to ensnare Ahmad but he resisted her; the father also treated Ahmad differently than he treated his brother because he loved Mokhtar best. Mokhtar blinded his father unintentionally in a welding accident. Mokhtar suspected there was a relationship between his brother and his wife, which caused a struggle between the two brothers; Shawq declared she did not love Ahmad; she declared her love for Hanafi the drummer [Saeed Saleh] and left town with him. Then friendship was restored between the two brothers.
Cast and crew: Hussein Fahmy, Nadia El Guindy, Ashraf Fahmy, Sa'eed Saleh, Tewfik El Dekn, Imad Hamdi, Mahmoud El-Meliguy, Mohammed El Arabi, Mahmoud Nasr, Fouad Al-Zaheri, Mahmoud Nasr, Abdel Hay Adib
Labels: Abdel Hay Adib, Ashraf Fahmy, Fouad Al-Zaheri, Hussein Fahmy, Imad Hamdi, Mahmoud El-Meliguy, Mahmoud Nasr, Mohammed El Arabi, Nadia El Guindy, Sa'eed Saleh, Tewfik El Dekn


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Zeppelin Song Headed for SCOTUS
Members of the rock group Led Zeppelin have been in and out of court for the past six years over their chart topping smash "Stairway to Heaven".
In 2014, the estate of Spirit guitarist Randy Wolfe – aka – Randy California – field a suit of copyright infringement against the rockers for "stealing" part of the song "Taurus".
In 2016 a jury passed down a verdict in favour of Led Zeppelin. In March 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the 2016 decision.
Not satisfied with the decision, Wolfe's estate is looking to continue the suit and a petition for a writ of certificate has been filed with the United States Supreme Court. In the petition filed, the estate said, "the (Ninth Circuit) opinion is a disaster for the creatives whose talent is often preyed upon. By the same token, it is a gift to the music industry and its attorney – enthusiastically received – by a circuit whose own judge once observed: 'Our circuit is the most hostile to copyright owners of all the circuits.
"Stairway to Heaven" appeared on "Led Zeppelin IV", an album that has been certified with a Diamond Award by the RIAA – Recording Industry Association of America – for selling at least 10 million copies – 23 million. The album has sold nearly 40 million copies around the world.
feature photo credit: By p a h, United Kingdom profile – Led Zeppelin by p a h, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3330909
Led ZeppelinStairway to Heaven
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Monmouth College Admissions
ACT Scores, Acceptance Rate, Financial Aid, Tuition, Graduation Rate & More
Monmouth College. Photo courtesy of Monmouth College
Monmouth College Admissions Overview:
Monmouth College has an acceptance rate of 52%. Students with good grades and strong test scores have a good chance of being admitted. To apply, those interested will need to submit an application, along with SAT or ACT scores and high school transcripts. The school accepts the Common Application, which can save applicants time and energy when applying to multiple schools.
Will You Get In?
Calculate Your Chances of Getting In with this free tool from Cappex
Monmouth College Acceptance Rate: 52%
Monmouth College Description:
Monmouth College is a private liberal arts college located in western Illinois, south of Davenport, Iowa. The college was founded by Scottish Presbyterians in 1853, and to this day the school maintains its affiliation with the church and its Scottish heritage. Indeed, it is one of the few colleges anywhere to offer bagpipe scholarships. The college has an entirely undergraduate focus, and students come from 19 states and 12 countries. Monmouth College has a 14 to 1 student / faculty ratio, and an average class size of 18. The school often does well in rankings of Midwest colleges. In athletics, the Monmouth Fighting Scots compete in the NCAA Division III Midwest Conference.
Total Enrollment: 1,147 (all undergraduate)
Monmouth College Financial Aid (2015 - 16):
Percentage of New Students Receiving Aid: 100%
Most Popular Majors: Art, Business Administration, Elementary Education, English, Physical Education, Psychology
Retention and Graduation Rates:
Men's Sports: Swimming, Water Polo, Football, Lacrosse, Basketball, Cross Country
Women's Sports: Volleyball, Soccer, Softball, Water Polo, Swimming, Golf
If You Like Monmouth College, You May Also Like These Schools:
Bradley University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT Graph
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Lake Forest College: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT Graph
Monmouth College Mission Statement:
read the complete mission statement at http://www.monm.edu/information/about/mission.aspx
"As an undergraduate liberal arts college we recognize the close relationship of faculty and students to be fundamental to our learning environment. As a community of learners we strive to create and sustain an environment that is value-centered, intellectually challenging, aesthetically inspiring, and culturally diverse; and we hold as central our commitment to liberal arts education and to one another..."
Learn About Monmouth University and What It Takes to Get In
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Walsh University: Learn About the School and What It Takes to Get In


Cumbernauld Baby Sensory classes run in North Lanarkshire. The Award Winning Baby Development classes are held weekly in Cumbernauld in our WOW Centre. This location is easily accessible for parents living in the local communities. If you are looking for an exciting activity which will be fun for you and will help with your baby's sensory development call your Class Leader, Frances, who will arrange for you and your baby to visit one of her classes.


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by Burhan Marriott 3 years ago
Lakers Sign 10-Year G League Veteran For Remainder Of Season
Andre Ingram, a 32-year old guard who has spent 10 years in the NBA G League (formerly the D League), has finally got the call up to the NBA. The Los Angeles Lakers have officially announced the signing of Ingram for the rest of the season, which includes a nationally televised home game against the Houston Rockets tonight and a "road game" against the Clippers to wrap up the season on Wednesday.
Since graduating from America University in 2007, Ingram has spent his entire career in the G League, including four seasons with the now-defunct Utah Flash, five seasons with the Los Angeles D-Fenders, and a season with the South Bay Lakers, who he played for this year. He also briefly played in Australia in 2016 before returning to the G League, according to NBA.com.
Ingram averaged 9.1 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 47 games for the South Bay Lakers this season. He ranks as the G League's all-time leader in three-pointers made (713), and has career G League averages of 10.2 points (.464 FG%, .461 3P%), 3.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 384 games, according to NBA.com.
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FOR DESTROYING BLM SIGN, PROUD BOYS SUED BY D.C. CHURCH
In Washington D.C., a historic Black church decided to sue the Proud Boys, as they destroyed the Black Lives Matter banner put up by the church. On January 4th, a suit was filed by the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church against their leader, Enrique Tarrio, as well as the…
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For several years, fans were allowed to enjoy their own interpretation of Tweet's hit single, "Oops (Oh My)." Many just assumed it was about masturbation. Now, Missy Elliott has chosen to reveal the actual meaning behind the song…
King Von's Estate Releases Autobiographical Music Video
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Upcoming Philadelphia Artists H20 Hadd talks new music, growing as an artist and more!


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Bitcoin, Blockchain, Crypto Mining News, Cryptocurrency, Don't Miss, Economy, Hot News, News & Updates, Opinion
What Makes a Bitcoin Blasphemy?
A Congressman's suggestion could lead to Bitcoin blasphemy.
The confidence of investors in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin gradually rises. The crypto community obviously gets larger every single day. Yet, the lack of regulatory clarity has haunted and hindered the new industry since its beginning.
Democratic Representative Bill Foster stated that courts shall be allowed to reveal crypto users and reverse fraudulent transactions. Having the respect to the "poorly understood" and "minimally regulated industry," Foster continued,
"I sometimes feel kind of lonely here… Very few understand the nuts and bolts of it [the industry]."
The Congressman's Suggestions
It shall be emphasized that the Congressman is a member of the Financial Services Committee and he also co-chairs the Blockchain Caucus. Explaining the need for regulators to keep watch. The Congressman suggested that ultimately has the potential to ruin the essence of Bitcoin and crypto related-transactions.
"You (authorities) have to be able to go to court to unmask participants under some circumstances. It doesn't have to be visible to the whole world."
Advocating another form of pseudo-anonymity, Foster suggested that a third party. For instance, the court could learn about the real-world identity of a crypto user with a "very heavily guarded key." According to him, it would act like a "cryptographic backdoor in essence" and will allow them to reverse transactions on the blockchain.
He argued that those kinds of tools were necessary for the government to protect itself, businesses, and individuals from ransomware attacks. He said,
"… But in fact, there's not a technological alternative that I'm aware of. For most people if they're going to have a big part of their net worth tied up in crypto assets, they're going to want to have that security blanket of a trusted third party that can solve the problem."
Having the respect to regulations, the Congressman continued,
"We're going to have to establish a law between the legal and illegal regimes here. There's a significant sentiment, increasing sentiment, in Congress that if you're participating in an anonymous crypto transaction that you're a de-facto participant in a criminal conspiracy."
Foster finished his statement by saying that the middle-ground worth striving for is third party anonymity.
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The odds of a 'no' vote in a referendum on Britain's biggest congestion charge zone have been slashed by a bookmakers, as it claims the results will be a "resounding no".
More than 1.94 million postal ballot packs have been sent to voters across the Greater Manchester region. The residents will have their say on the Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund proposals, which involves the introduction of a £5 weekday, peak-time only congestion charge.
Bookmakers Ladbrokes have slashed odds on a 'no' vote from 8/11 to 2/5. Spokesman Nick Weinberg said of the results announcement, which is due at noon on Friday: "Judging by the weight of money, we're heading for a resounding 'no'."
A massive publicity campaign has been waged by both 'yes' and 'no' groups in the run up to the referendum, and in the two weeks that the postal ballot forms have been sent out.
The 'yes' campaign says the region has a once and for all chance to get billions invested in local transport - the 'no' campaign says the plans are "badly thought through" and will cost the region jobs as the congestion charge will restrict access to the city centre.
The result will be followed closely in Whitehall which will want to know if voters are willing to back road charging, as it may signal plans to develop congestion charging across the UK in the future.
The charge, if approved, will cover about 80 square miles, and will cost drivers up to £5 a day to visit the city. The scheme also involves major investment in public transport in Greater Manchester.


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Thailand protesters demand limits to king's power, install 'People's Plaque' near Bangkok palace
The king was not present in the country during the protests
By Peter Aitken | Fox News
Fox News Flash top headlines for September 19
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Thailand's capital city to protest the monarchy, with protesters laying down a "People's Plaque" in direct defiance of the king.
The total number of protesters varies depending on reports, with authorities saying 18,000 joined Saturday's demonstration while the protesters claimed that the number was possibly as high as 50,000, Reuters reported.
Criticism of the monarchy carries a punishment of a long prison sentence, which makes the defiance of a "People's Plaque" all the more daring. The plaque was installed near Bangkok's Grand Palace as a direct challenge to King Maha Vajralongkorn.
Pro-democracy student leaders hold a plaque declaring "This country belongs to the people" at the Sanam Luang field during a protest in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020. Thousands of demonstrators turned out Saturday for a rally to support the student-led protest movement's demands for new elections and reform of the monarchy. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
The plaque bears the words "the country belongs to the people, not the monarchy, echoing the words of leaders from the 1932 upheaval that ended the absolute monarchy.
"I hope the people in power will see the importance of the people," student leader Panupong "Mike" Jadnok, told the crowd, according to Reuters. "We're fighting to put the monarchy in the right place, not to abolish it."
ANTI-LOCKDOWN PROTESTS DEMAND CITIES RECONSIDER RESUMING CORONAVIRUS RESTRICTIONS
Protesters chanted anti-monarchical demands, such as "Down with feudalism, long live the people." The protesters also demand that Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha resign, with plans to march on the offices of the prime minister on Sunday.
"The people are humans, not dust under your royal feet," student leader Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul told the protest early on Sunday. "The people want a king who protects democracy, not one who betrays the people's democracy."
Pro-democracy protesters gather at the Sanam Luang field during a protest in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020. Thousands of demonstrators turned out Saturday for a rally to support the student-led protest movement's demands for new elections and reform of the monarchy. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
The crowd also demanded cuts to the royal budget and changes to the constitution that would significantly curb the king's power. Protesters criticized the king's absence from his country, having stayed in Europe for much of the time since he inherited the throne from his late father in 2016.
THAI KING RESTORES CONCUBINE'S ROYAL CONSORT TITLE AFTER ACCUSING HER OF UNDERMINING QUEEN
"Unless the monarchy is under the constitution, we will never achieve true democracy," protest leader and human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa told the gathered crowd.
Pro-democracy protesters raise a three-fingers, symbol of resistance salute during a rally at Sanam Luang in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020. Thousands of demonstrators who occupied a historic field in Thailand's capital overnight continued with their rally on Sunday to support the demands of a student-led protest movement for new elections and reform of the monarchy. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
The prime minister took power in 2014 during an election that some have called a "coup" and won a disputed election last year, the BBC reported.
Despite his contentious rise to power, the protesters care far more about the king's limits than the prime minister's. Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, who delivered the protesters' manifesto, has said the intention "is not to destroy the monarchy but to modernize it, to adapt it to our society."
But she and her fellow activists have been accused of "chung chart" -- a Thai term meaning "hatred of the nation" -- and they say they are deeply fearful of the consequences of doing "the right thing" by speaking out.
The Royal Palace was not available for comment on the protest and the demands for reform, according to Reuters.
Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter with a focus on national and global news.


Two University alumni who went on to make national history were honored when the University rededicated a residence hall in their honor. UIndy's New Hall was renamed Ray & George Crowe Hall last fall in honor of legendary high school basketball coach and public official Ray Crowe, a 1938 graduate, and his younger brother George, a 1943 grad and barrier-breaking professional athlete. Hallie Bryant, who played for Ray's Crispus Attucks High School team and later spent 27 years with the Harlem Globetrotters, spoke at the rededication, as did Ray's son Lloyd Crowe, now a deputy chief with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.Ray Crowe, who died in 2003, was perhaps best known as coach of the Crispus Attucks High School basketball team that won state championships in 1955 and 1956, becoming the first African-American team in the nation to claim a state title and launching the career of NBA star Oscar Robertson. Ray was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1968 and the University's Hall of Fame in 1987. As a student, Ray earned nine letters in basketball, track and baseball, as well as the education degree that informed his career as a teacher and coach. In 1966, he was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives, serving two terms and chairing the House Education Committee. He later led the Indianapolis parks department from 1976 to 1979 and served on the City-County Council from 1983 to 1987, meanwhile serving 18 years on UIndy's Board of Trustees. George Crowe, named Indiana's first Mr. Basketball while playing for Franklin High School, also became a three-sport standout at Indiana Central, which other siblings also attended. After serving overseas in the Army from 1943 to 1946, he began playing professional basketball and baseball. He was thought to be the first African-American player to sign with the Boston Braves, which he did in 1949, playing in the minors before his big-league debut in 1952. As an All-Star infielder, George later played for the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals. He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1976, UIndy's Hall of Fame in 1986, and the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004. He died in 2011.
UIndy's latest residence facility, Roberts Hall, is helping to accommodate growing enrollments at UIndy. Located on the south side of Hanna Avenue, Roberts Hall has an initial capacity of 170 and offers semiprivate bathrooms and other features that are designed to appeal to upperclassmen. Student input was reflected in its design, which includes kitchens and laundry facilities on each floor, plus a fitness center and mail room. The new dorm is named for the University's co-founder and first president, the Reverend John Taylor Roberts. UIndy's total enrollment in the fall reached a record 5,432. The University's residential population has grown 50 percent in just 10 years.


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This Is Where I Leave You; My take on the movie starring Jason Bateman, Tina Fey and Jane Fonda #book2movie
If you think about it, a story, be it a book or a movie, that takes place in and around a funeral is going to be fraught with emotion. Put a group of people together when someone important to them dies and things are bound to go a little haywire. Love them or hate them, the situation elicits mixed emotions, everyone's feelings are scratch-the-surface raw. What better way to get your characters at their most revealing than to place them in this very specific setting? Certainly not at a wedding where everyone is on their best smiling behavior, beaming congratulations all over the place, wanting to believe the bride and groom will live happily ever after, dammit. Nope. If you want raw emotion and high drama, characters at the height of being themselves, bring on a funeral. Especially a funeral that reunites people who've been living quite separate lives from each other. When it works, it's terrific, vis a vis The Big Chill. When it doesn't we just shake our heads sadly like something died. Remember Elizabethtown with Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst?
This Is Where I Leave You worked for me. I found myself tearing up within the first few minutes of the film and was wet-eyed throughout much of the movie. It wasn't perfect but I laughed, I cried that old saw, which is very much how I felt when I read Jonathan Tropper's beautiful and bitingly funny book. Is the book better? The book is almost always better. But Tropper himself wrote the screenplay which is fairly faithful to the spirit of the book, if not all the minor notes. The film stars Jason Bateman, well cast as Judd Altman (Foxman in the novel) a man who learns his father has died almost on the heels of discovering his wife has betrayed him with his boss. (Tropper readers may remember this is a slight change in timing from the book.) Returning home for the seven-day Jewish mourning period at the request of his mother, (Jane Fonda) Judd is forced to spend time in close proximity with his brothers Phillip and Paul (Adam Driver and Corey Stoll) and sister Wendy (Fey) "sitting Shiva".
It's that family dynamic that I found most interesting; the love/hate relationship we all have with our relatives. The people who know us best know just what buttons to push, and for some reason, love to jab at them. We can't help digging at them, extracting payment for that time we got punished for their transgressions, punishing them because we secretly know mom and dad always loved them best.
Judd, our protagonist, is the middle son; until now he's had it all together, everything has worked out pretty much as he planned, smooth as silk. Until it doesn't and he falls apart. Paul (Corey Stoll) is the eldest brother, stoic and self-sacrificing, full of resentment. He's the one who's stayed in the hometown, holding down the family's business. Phillip (Adam Driver) is the baby, the spoiled brat, the puer aeternus, the guy with the Peter Pan complex who refuses to grow up. Wendy, (intentional?) played by Tina Fey, is the big sister who practically raised him while Mom was busy being a famous child-rearing expert and author and dad was busy with the store. Completely irresponsible and entitled, Phillip acts out, walks all over everybody including the older woman (Connie Britton) he's 'engaged to be engaged' to. It's a family full of the walking wounded, not unlike many of our own families. Imagine if when people asked "How's the family?" we replied, "All f%#ked up, just like yours."
I thought Bateman was fine as Judd; he comes off as a likable, sympathetic character. Bateman is clearly at ease with comedy - the trailers before the movie included one for Horrible Bosses II - but he was natural and comfortable with the serious moments too. That's important as the entire story is told from his point of view and while this wasn't a stretch for his abilities I found him watchable and believable. In the novel, Tropper gives Judd's character the insights that made us laugh with recognition, cry at their pathos. I do wish Tropper the screenwriter had left more of that in the film; Bateman could have handled that delicate balance. Instead, director Shawn Levy veered more toward the comic, sometimes sacrificing the nuance that made the book such a magical punch in the gut.
(CHECK OUT SOME GREAT LINES FROM THE BOOK)
There are great comic moments though, between Judd and his mother and siblings. The idea of the matriarch Hilary having her breasts surgically enhanced is milked for laughs but Fonda maintains her dignity, playing it seriously. In her mid-seventies, she looks in great shape - the breasts are fake - regal in the part of the pragmatic widow who loves to share details of her sex life with the deceased Mort, knows life is too short not to go for what makes you happy. And boy does she go for it! Adam Driver (Girls) was his weird and wonderful self as the entitled Phillip while Connie Britton shone as the older woman coming to grips with the fact that he's not ready, maybe won't ever be ready, to grow up.
Tina Fey is almost always funny, I liked her best though not when she was snarking but when she let her vulnerability show allowing the too few interactions she shares with Horry (Timothy Olyphant) to be tender and filled with pathos. Like her character, I found myself wishing things could have worked out differently.
Corey Stoll is such a fine actor, he was probably wasted as Paul although nobody rages better and I'm hoping he has more time to strut his dramatic stuff in the upcoming Dark Places (reading that one now). Katherine Hahn as Paul's desperate-to-get-pregnant wife, Abigail Spencer as Judd's cheating wife, Dax Shepard as Judd's boss all handled their moments well. Which brings me to Rose Byrne as Penny, Judd's high school crush who conveniently pops up time and again, unrealistic even in what is supposed to be a fairly small town. I wasn't crazy about the way she's portrayed in the trailer, unfortunately, the film treads much the same water; her character lacks a filter but that doesn't mean the performance should lack subtlety. Even while trying for a more open-ended ending Levy's direction and Tropper's script leaves us with the rom-com conceit that this girl may be the answer to Judd's dreams. The whole at long last love notion.
I can't help but wonder if director Shawn Levy had dared to take a little more time - it was just one hour and forty-three minutes and could have been stretched to two hours - whether we could have had a bit more exploration of the themes of healing and self-discovery the book so adroitly delivered. It's tough having read Tropper's novel and having loved the characters, how much does that knowledge and affection color my response as an audience member?
All in all not quite the exquisite, evocative and hilarious revelations of Tropper's novel but a fine and entertaining movie if you take it on its own terms.
More Reviews of Movies Based on Books
Adam Driver as Phillip Corey Stoll as Paul Jane Fonda as Hillary Jason Bateman as Judd Jonathan Tropper Shawn Levy This Is Where I Leave You movie review Tina Fey as Wendy


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Find sources: "Brittny Gastineau" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Gastineau at LA Direct Magazine's "Remember to Give" Holiday Party, December 2007
(1982-11-11) November 11, 1982 (age 36)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Model, socialite, television personality
Brittny Gastineau (born November 11, 1982) is an American model, socialite, and reality television personality.
1 Early life and family
2 Careers
2.1 Modeling
2.2 Entertainment
Early life and family[edit]
Gastineau was born in New York City.[1] She is the daughter of Lisa Gastineau and former New York Jets defensive end Mark Gastineau.[2] During the divorce proceedings between her parents she lived with her grandmother and attended public school at Clarkstown High School North in New City, New York. After graduating from high school she attended the University of Alabama before returning to New York City to model.[3]
Careers[edit]
Modeling[edit]
After moving back to Manhattan Gastineau signed with the Elite Model Management, and became a model as part of their celebrity division. Within weeks of signing with the agency, she appeared in a spread for Stuff magazine. She walked runways for Anne Bowen and Anna Sui during NYC fashion week in 2005, and signed an endorsement deal with L'Oréal Paris, which led to a European advertising campaign. During that time, she became the face of casual wear designer Ed Hardy. Later, Gastineau appeared on the cover of Steppin' Out, Hamptons and Lucire magazines. In 2005, she appeared on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 list, ranking at number 60.[4]
In 2006, she walked the runway for New York Fashion Week, for designer, Yumi Katsura, and modelled for the designer's her bridal collection later that year.
Her successful modeling career included contracts with MAC cosmetics, as well as occasional runway shows for boutiques such as Heatherette run by Traver Rains and Richie Rich. She also shared a high-end accessory line with her mother, Tres Glam, and in 2007, they added a costume jewelry line as well.[5]
Gastineau continues to successfully pursue modelling, which includes occasional magazine layouts. She has appeared on the cover of Social Life magazine, and appearances in magazines such as L.A. Confidential and Life and Style. In 2008 at Fashion Week in NYC, she walked the runway for designer Tamara Pogosian, and was featured in a campaign for Ferrari California in Beverly Hills. She made small appearance in the movie Bruno where she was duped by the Sacha Cohen character into believing she was on a TV show when in fact, she was the victim of Cohen's role play.
Currently, Gastineau makes occasional appearances as Kim Kardashians' best friend on the hit E! show, "Keeping Up With The Kardashians".
Entertainment[edit]
In 2004, Gastineau landed a development deal with the E! Network and began production on a reality series which would also feature her mother Lisa Gastineau, the ex-wife of NFL defensive end Mark Gastineau.
In 2005 the series, eventually dubbed T Girls, premiered on February 15 and became a modest hit for The E! Network. The first season chronicled mother and daughter's quest for love in New York City as well as Brittny's formal, successful introduction into the world of modeling. On January 31, 2006, the series' first complete season was released on Region 1 DVD in the United States.
In between seasons of The Gastineau Girls, Gastineau appeared on another E! Network reality show, Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive, which observed the activities of spoiled celebrity children on a Colorado cattle ranch. The show was produced by Joe Simpson, father of Jessica and Ashlee Simpson. Gastineau later appeared on the NBC game show, Identity, and guest hosted episodes of The View and Isaac Mizrahi's talk show. She appeared on Lifetime's Top This Party, E!'s Keeping Up with the Kardashians and MTV's popular programs The Hills and Cribs. She also hosted segments for Fuse TV and Spike TV.
In 2009, Gastineau appeared in a small segment of the movie Brüno where she is asked to judge whether Jamie Lynn Spears should keep or "abort" her unborn baby. Gastineau said to "abort it". Gastineau said she was 'joking around' and, in a later interview, said she was aware of the satirical nature of her appearance, saying: "I was just playing along. Anyone who is going to see Bruno knows it's a comedy, and I was totally joking around! I was not serious." She says she's seen the movie and "thought it was amazing." Sacha Baron Cohen, she adds, "is a genius."[6][7]
^ "Brittny Gastineau". AskMen.com. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
^ Caplan, David (January 10, 2010). "Brittny Gastineau Meets 20-Year-Old Half-Brother for First Time". people.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
^ "Brittny Gastineau". Maxim. Archived from the original on June 14, 2010. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
^ "FreeJose.com". Maxim Magazine Hot 100 Women of 2005. Archived from the original on January 26, 2007. Retrieved February 9, 2007.
^ "TresGlam.com". Tres Glam. Retrieved August 14, 2008.
^ Oldenburg, Anne (July 15, 2009). "Gastineau says she 'was joking around' in 'Bruno'". usatoday.com. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
^ Brittny Gastineau on Bruno: I Was In on the Joke By Us Weekly Staff July 15, 2009
Brittny Gastineau on Twitter
Brittny Gastineau on IMDb
Article in Lucire Magazine
Brief interview with Stuff Magazine
Gastineau Girls at AskMen.com
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brittny_Gastineau&oldid=902959176"
Female models from New York (state)
American socialites
American television personalities
Models from New York City
Participants in American reality television series
University of Alabama alumni
American television actresses
Use mdy dates from November 2011


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Featured Live Stream News
Shakey Graves taping livestreams on May 6
Austin City Limits is pleased to announce that we will be streaming our taping with Shakey Graves live on Wednesday, May 6, 8pm CT/9pm ET. The taping will webcast in its entirety via our YouTube channel.
Austin-based singer/songwriter Shakey Graves will be playing songs from his acclaimed 2014 LP And the War Came. An actor who had a recurring role on Friday Night Lights and appeared in several Robert Rodriguez films, the erstwhile Alejandro Rose-Garcia started making music as part of New York City's "anti-folk" scene. Since returning to Austin, Shakey Graves has become so closely associated with his hometown that for the last three years, Austin has celebrated "Shakey Graves Day" by mayoral proclamation. With And the War Came, he extends the ground emotionally and sonically broken by his 2011 self-released debut Roll the Bones, which still ranks near the top of Bandcamp's digital best-seller charts. As noted by Exclaim, And the War Came "displays remarkable growth as a songwriter, guitar player and arranger without entirely leaving behind the one-man-band, lo-fi aesthetic that made his debut such a captivating listen."
The broadcast version of this show will air this fall on PBS. Join us for this live webcast of the Austin City Limits debut of Shakey Graves.
Tags livestream, Season 41, Tapings
← Giveaway: Shakey Graves 5/6 → Encore: Beck


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Oroville Dam-Lessons We are Learning
Submitted By David Vaughn
Professor of Practice, Clemson University
Director of Global Engagement, RESA
Recently, many of us learned about the plight of the earthen Oroville Dam which is tallest earthen or concrete dam in the U.S. at 770 ft.(1), with a concrete spillway, an unarmored earthen emergency spillway that is susceptible to erosion. Nearly 200,000 residents were evacuated due to a potential dam failure and we owe a debt of gratitude to the emergency managers that managed the situation and brought calm to a potentially catastrophic situation. Many news casts focused on the design of the structure which was started in 1961, while others focused on maintenance and upgrade decisions that were made in recent years but what lessons have we learned that will help our communities become more resilient?
We are all familiar with Hurricane Katrina and how on August 29, 2005 over 50 levees failed within days causing billions of dollars of damage and great loss of life. The overtopping of the levees was not the reason for failure but rather that the earthen levees were not hardened with concrete on the community facing slopes. Based upon the lessons learned then, "the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has now raised the levees back to full height and finished the sections that were never high enough. It has also "hardened" the slopes of many levees with heavy rock or concrete to withstand waves."(2) These actions have greatly reduced the risk to the city of New Orleans.
An interesting point is that seven weeks after Katrina's landfall, three environment groups (Friends of the River, the Sierra Club, and the South Yuba Citizens League) acted and filed a motion on October 17, 2005 with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), urging federal officials to require that the Oroville dam's emergency spillway be armored with concrete, rather than remain as an earthen hillside. They said that the dam, built and owned by the state of California, and finished in 1968, did not meet modern safety standards because in the event of extreme rain and flooding, fast-rising water would overwhelm the main concrete spillway, then flow down the emergency spillway, and that could cause heavy erosion that would create flooding for communities downstream, but also could cause a failure, known as "loss of crest control." The group stated that "A loss of crest control could not only cause additional damage to project lands and facilities but also cause damages and threaten lives in the protected floodplain downstream,".(3)
FERC rejected that request, however, after the state Department of Water Resources, and the water agencies that would likely have had to pay the bill for the upgrades, said they were unnecessary. Federal officials at the time said that the emergency spillway was designed to handle 350,000 cubic feet per second and the concerns were overblown. "It is important to recognize that during a rare event with the emergency spillway flowing at its design capacity, spillway operations would not affect reservoir control or endanger the dam," wrote John Onderdonk, a senior civil engineer with FERC, in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's San Francisco Office, in a July 27, 2006, memo to his managers.(3)
In October 2015, South Carolina experienced over 36 dam failures (5) due to a stalled tropical storm and within one year 25 additional dam failures were experienced due to Hurricane Matthew in 2016 (6). One of the disservices that occurred was when the stalled tropical storm of 2015 was classified as a 1,000-year event, which mortified several of my colleagues as it diminishes the reality that extreme events happen every year and that we need to plan accordingly.
Too many times when bad things happen we get to classify these as acts of God or as a black swan event. "The theory of black swan events is a metaphor that describes an event that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately rationalized after the fact with the benefit of hindsight." (4) But we have experienced these failures before, they are not black swan events, therefore, we can model the effects of extreme events, understand the impacts, and mitigate vulnerabilities.
The reality is that California has experienced an incredibly wet winter with it being on track to be the wettest on record in California. The snowpack in the northern Sierra Nevada is 224 percent of normal which is compounded by increase temperatures that threatens to melt the snowpack.(7) Based upon the current trend, this year will be the wettest season since 1982 only 35 years ago, and the Oroville Dam was dedicated in 1968 only 49 years ago.
Research suggests that the increase in frequency and magnitude of weather-related events is tied to climate change (whether it be a natural cycle or human caused). In "Building Safer Cities", Torben Juul Andersen notes that in the past 30 years, the frequency of disaster events has quadrupled, economic losses have increased by a factor of 2,000 to 3,000, and insurance losses have increased by a factor of 1,000(9). The economic losses have far outweighed economic growth figures for the same period, suggesting that factors beyond the increase in number of events have impacted loss figures.
It is with hope that situations like the Oroville Dam near-failure will foment collaborative discussions about improved design standards which will foster the development of community resilience. Some of the factors that need to be discussed are as follows:
What is at stake? – Peter Gleick, a water researcher at the Oakland-based Pacific Institute stated that a failure of the spillway could cut into the hillside and release more and more water, leading to a "cascading failure." (8) This catastrophic event could cause $100s of billions of damages to California's infrastructure and over a decade of economic impact. Normal and continuous operations of the Oroville Dam is critical to California's economy and the state should invest in the protection of this resource.
What is the expected life? – As a rule of thumb, large dam projects like the Oroville Dam seem to have a life expectancy of 50 to 100 years and many of these projects across the country are or will be exceeding their design life span. We need to focus on what measures need to be taken to strengthen our aging infrastructure.
What is the design threat? – As stated above, the frequency and magnitude of weather-related events has increased dramatically and to some degree it is a moving target. To combat this uncertainty, "the government of the Netherlands has recognized the threat of sea level rise and climate change. Current proposals in Dutch parliament call for upgrades in flood protection. If this proposal passes North Sea flood protection will be upgraded to 1-in-100,000 years status. Such a large commitment is part of the Netherlands's "Living with Water/We are Here to Stay" campaign."(10) This is not a recommendation to use a return period of 10,000 years for weather-related events but rather that we need to align the likelihood with the consequences. However, we should recommend that a standard be created that will increase the design threat return periods to 500 or 1,000 years for our highly critical infrastructure.
Should Failure Mode Analysis be used to detect design flaws? – In 2006, federal officials at the time said that the emergency spillway was designed to handle 350,000 cubic feet per second and the concerns were overblown. However, the reality is that some of the main turbines had to be taken off line, the concrete spillway sustained damage prior to the event which got much worse during the event, and the erosion from the emergency spillway was well beyond expectations. There is enough evidence from Katrina, the SC floods, and the most recent Oroville incident that should dictate the hardening of the emergency spillway slope.
The Oroville Dam incident has highlighted what is at stake, our poor understanding of weather-related events, design flaws, funding short-falls, and to some degree our arrogance as human beings by stating that an event would never happen. The reality is that we have and are learning lessons that need to be acted upon, changes implemented, standards created, and in time our communities will become more resilient.
Oroville Dam; Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oroville_Dam)
"Is New Orleans Safer Today Than When Katrina Hit 10 Years Ago?"; Scientific American; Mark Fischetti; August 27, 2015 (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-new-orleans-safer-today-than-when-katrina-hit-10-years-ago/)
"Oroville Dam: Feds and state officials ignored warnings 12 years ago"; The Mercury News; Paul Rogers; February 12, 2017 (http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/02/12/oroville-dam-feds-and-state-officials-ignored-warnings-12-years-ago/)
"Black swan theory"; Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory)
National Performance of Dams Program, Stanford University (http://npdp.stanford.edu/2015_SC_Flood_Failures)
"Dams again failing in South Carolina"; The State; October 13, 2016 (http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article108153527.html)
"10 things Southern Californians should know about the Oroville Dam crisis" (http://www.scpr.org/news/2017/02/13/69021/10-things-southern-californians-should-know-about/)
What is the Oroville Dam, and what will happen if the spillway fails?; USA Today; Ian James; February 13, 2017 (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/02/13/what-oroville-dam-and-why-so-terrible-if-fails/97844512/)
"Building safer cities: the future of disaster risk."; Kreimer, Alcira, Margaret Arnold, and Anne Carlin; World Bank Publications; 2003.
"Sea Level Rise and the Future of the Netherlands"; ICE Case Studies; Vanessa McKinney; May 2007 (http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/dutch-sea.htm)
Community, Community Resilience, emergency response, natural disaster, risk
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A still from Coffee Zombie featuring Gary Lee and Coffee Zombie (Suhasini Seelin) in Melbourne's Pesgrave Lane.
An average Australian drinks at least one cup of coffee a day and one in four say they can't survive the day without one! A study called 'Australian Attitudes towards Coffee' by McCrindle Research proves it, but do we really need numbers? One look around busy city streets every morning, with people lining up in cafes is more than enough to see the importance of coffee in urban lives.
Coffee Zombie is a series about a character who can't function without a coffee… in their reusable coffee cup. It's safe to say we all know someone like that. We hope to understand our current day relationship with this seemingly magical drink that can solve our morning problems. Subtly.
The inspiration for Coffee Zombie came not so much from statistics, but personal experience.
My utter incompetence to function without coffee made me question whether I'm addicted. Little everyday tasks seemed to prove a comic affair – such as ending up with different socks on each foot, or a t-shirt back to front, or not being able to spell coffee- in the half asleep, pre-coffee state of mind. Through the series, we have extended these simple ideas further and played out internal thought processes using silent physical comedy.
This series began as an experiment during an artist in residence program at Melbourne's Boyd Community Hub in Southbank, through a City of Melbourne grant. Inspired by the history of the room, which originally was a school where girls learnt typing on an old typewriter, we wanted to film some mundane actions reflecting their state of mind. This grew in to a little series of situations that reflect the 'zombie' state of mind, pre and post coffee.
The series is driven by one character performing trying to navigate through daily challenges.
Suhasini Seelin. Photo by Wilari Tedjosiswoyo.
The simplicity of the idea meant that we required minimal pre-production. And the fact that Melbourne has such beautiful buildings, cafes and alleyways that make a great backdrop was a bonus. The challenge was to also maintain simplicity in the execution, and find situations that communicate the same thing differently, while also bringing in different ideas and thoughts each time.
The silent form, inspired by legends like Charlie Chaplin and Mr. Bean helped keep the series format relatable and the expression subtle – sometimes exaggerated, sometimes real, sometimes obscure and sometimes over the top.
Each two minute episode has an everyday situation that the character faces – at home, at work or outside. Through this we explore themes that provoke deeper musings such as meaning of the repetitive, mundane daily cycle of life (Legend of Sisyphus), the significance of waiting, how far one would go to get what they want, and the simple joys of life.
The larger reflection and question we explore is, do we as an urban society need to be addicted to something to function? Be it coffee, or technology, or social media, or video content, or being busy. Do we need a saviour rescuing us all the time? Is this system sustainable and for how long?
Thinking sustainability, Coffee Zombie leads the way with the reusable coffee cup as a weapon in the war on waste. The coffee cup is a catchy symbol, cool accessory and hard to miss throughout the series. The aim is to normalise the reusable cup or at the very least spur curiosity. All characters use their own cup, and no disposable cups used in the series. It's safe to say 'No plastic waste was created during the making of this series'.
The series aims to hold up a mirror, and give people a little chuckle, a little thought, a little glimpse of life – while they sip a coffee or prepare instant noodles!
Someone like me, who has OCD (Obsessive Coffee Disorder) would really enjoy Coffee Zombie.
The series runs from 4th-10th Feb, and all episodes and related content can be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/coffeezombie.


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George Bullat: a century of living healthy
by Terry Dean January 6, 2009 Updated February 11, 2021
Even at age 100, George Bullat could still cut a rug.
Three times a month, Bullat danced at Spares & Pairs Square Dancing Club in Park Ridge, a senior center. Square dancing was one of his favorite pastimes. On Sunday, the longtime Oak Parker died.
"I don't feel any older than I did at 95," Bullat, a widowed father of two, told Wednesday Journal last October, marking his birthday.
Bullat, an Oak Park resident since 1969, lived alone, but led an active life. A member of St. Catherine/St. Lucy Church in Oak Park for more than 50 years, Bullat was head usher at the church for morning mass. Reading was another passion of the Chicago native, along with racquetball, which he played well into his 80s. He got interested in square dancing in 1970 after seeing a note posted at the West Cook YMCA, following a game of racquetball.
At age 76, Bullat retired after 27 years at Central Scientific Co., where he was vice president of international sales. The company sold microscopes and other lab equipment overseas.
During World War II, Bullat was responsible for shipping X-ray equipment overseas to U.S. troops. Prior to Central Scientific, he was employed for 18 years at General Electric as an export manager.
Bullat was born in Chicago on Oct. 13, 1908, the same year the Chicago Cubs last won the World Series. His parents were born in Athens, Greece, and came to the United States in the early 1900s. Bullat was the oldest of three children. His brother and sister are both deceased. The family lived in Chicago's Near West Side. He attended Crane Junior College (since converted to a high school in Chicago) and Northwestern and DePaul universities.
He married his late wife, Helene, in 1934 during the Great Depression. She died in 1969. The couple had two children-a son, who is a lawyer and a daughter, now deceased. When he turned 100 in October, Bullat received several accolades, including a proclamation from State Sen. Don Harmon (39th) submitted to the Illinois General Assembly and a letter of recognition from the Village of Park Ridge. Bullat also received a letter from President George W. and Laura Bush acknowledging his birthday milestone.
Bullat lived through 19 U.S. presidents – Theodore Roosevelt was in office when he was born. He credited his longevity to eating healthy and staying active – he didn't smoke and only drank occasionally with friends. Bullat is survived by his son George Nicholas Bullat, one grandchild and two great-granddaughters. St. Catherine/St. Lucy Church, 38 N. Austin, will hold a memorial mass today at 10 a.m.
CONTACT: tdean@wjinc.com


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Sharp KC-860U (KC860U) Air Purifier / Humidifier is 2-in-1 Sharp Air purifier and humidifier with Sharp Patented Plasmacluster Ion technology for a very large room.


The Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens showcases the flora of the Central Queensland Coast Bioregion, a diverse area featuring lush tropical rainforests, wide sweeping beaches, mangrove lined waterways and open eucalypt forests.
Many of the unique natural features of the region are interpreted in specific areas / precincts of the Gardens, such as the Finch Hatton Gorge Waterway, Regional Forest Garden and Eulamere Wetlands.
The diverse cultural heritage and makeup of Mackay is also celebrated in specialised gardens, displaying the plants of the South Sea Islands, Aboriginal culture and bush tucker and Torres Strait Islands.
Our links with Malta and Japan are also represented. Children are not forgotten with a "Under the Banyan" PlayGarden included, a healthy 900 metre walk from the Visitors Centre.
Socializing at community events e.g. Landcare Day, Christmas in the Gardens.
Education opportunities with school tours, guided walks, interpretive signs and displays.
Come and visit us and remember to bring your camera to capture your Botanic Gardens experience.
Discover one of Australia's youngest Botanic Gardens, located at beautiful Mackay on the Central Queensland Coast.
Opening hoursRecommended visiting is from 5am to 9pm. All major arterial pathways and facilities are accessible and lit within these hours.
The Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens has been designed to showcase and trial primarily local native plants from the Central Queensland Coast Bioregion.
The opening of the Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens on May 24, 2003, fulfilled a dream of the Mackay Association 125 years previously.
Check out the many different sections of the Botanic Gardens.
To be recognised by the community, our visitors and the wider botanical and horticultural fraternities as a responsible repository of Australian plants.
The Lagoons are at the heart of the Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens and was the location of Mackay's first settlement and water supply.
Council and community working together for a shared botanical visionA council/community Advisory Board has been formed to oversee future plans for Mackay's Botanic Gardens.
Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens offers a range of gifts and souvenirs to visitors.


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The Collected Essays of Arthur Miller
Editorial: Bloomsbury
This volume brings together essays by one of the most influential literary, cultural and intellectual voices of our time: Arthur Miller.
Arranged chronologically, these writings take the reader on a whirlwind tour of modern history: the Nazi war crimes trials, Vietnam, Watergate, the Balkan conflict and even President Clinton´s infamous liaison with Monica Lewinsky. From his personal experience, Miller writes passionate discourses on censorship and the death penalty, and Swiftian satire on the McCarthy witch-hunts; records his meeting with Nelson Mandela; and assesses the lasting impact of the Depression on an American generation.
The essays are also a remarkable record of Miller´s views on theatre, including discourses on the origins of modern drama, the nature of tragedy, what makes plays endure, and theatre in Russia and the US. They give eloquent expression to his belief in ´the theatre as a serious business, one that makes or should make man more human, which is to say, less alone´.
This collection features selected essays from three earlier publications: Echoes Down the Corridor, The Theatre Essays of Arthur Miller and The Crucible in History. The volume is edited and features a new introduction by Matthew Roudané, Regents Professor of American Drama at Georgia State University.
´Arthur Miller understands that serious writing is a social act as well as an aesthetic one, that political involvement comes with the territory. A writer´s work and his actions should be of the same cloth, after all. His plays and his conscience are a cold burning force.´ Edward Albee
Otros lectores que han leído The Collected Essays of Arthur Miller, han escogido


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Q: why our build does not contain all the required dll's We have a .net 2008 application which uses two dll's to remote to a server to get information. the returned object. One of the properties of this object is an enum which is held in a third dll.
For some reason when we build the third dll is not being added, despite the fact i have now included all three dll's in the solution.
at runtime when the code deserialises the object we get a dll not found exception specifying that the dll is missing, for the dll in question, it contains only enums (not my design)
Any idea how i can force the dll to be added?
I can just add the dll as part of the harness or service but I shouldn't have to as it should be picked up as a dependency of the main project

A: That's because you don't need the DLL.  An enum assignment gets compiled to its numeric value, there is no reference the type in the IL.  For example, this:
public enum Numbers { Zero, One, Two, Three }

static void Main(string[] args) {
  var n = Numbers.One;
}

gets compiled to this:
  IL_0001:  ldc.i4.1          ; NOTE: constant 1 being used here
  IL_0002:  stloc.0

The compiler automatically filters out "using" directives for assemblies that are not actually used.

Apparently you've found a wrinkle in this, it is very important that you put details like this in your question.  Yes, binary serialization will put a type reference in the serialized data, something the compiler cannot see.  The only workaround for this is to ensure the assembly gets copied into the build directory.  Project + Add Existing Item, navigate to the DLL.  Select it in the Solution Explorer window, set the Copy to Output Directory property to "Copy if Newer".

A: use post-build event command to add the dll into your bin directory.

A: Do you have the "Copy Local" flag set to true in the reference properites?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Happy New Year! 2017 is finally in our hands and can I just say it has been great thus far? I want to make this year all about building better relationships and Paperless Post is the site to give your words some personal flair. So here's 4 reasons Paperless Post is great for more than just sending a Christmas Card.
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Who is the first person you would send a card to using your Paperless Post account?


The table lists the main alpine plant genera in New Zealand. Some genera, such as Forstera, Haastia, Oreobolus and Pachycladon, are confined to the mountains. Others, like Acaena, Dracophyllum and Hebe, also have species in the lowlands.
Controversially to the popular belief many rockery plants can still thrive in shade, as long as the rocky environment s provided. As I see you have pointed some of them out, such as the Acaena, I would like to provide a list I have personally done the research for and conjured, because of the growing interest of the people I work for(I'm a planting expert). Here's the list for everyone's convenience, I'm sure your audience will find it handy - http://genalorainne.kinja.com/10-shade-loving-rockery-plants-1698800034 Thank you and best regards, G.


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Another Look at Fred Baron, the Man at the Middle of the Edwards Flap
By Jennifer Forsyth
Aug. 19, 2008 6:00 pm ET
As Fred Baron, a big Democratic fundraiser and one of the kings of asbestos litigation, found himself increasingly in the spotlight for his moving of John Edwards' mistress across the country, his explanations became more confusing and his memory became more faltering. See his comments in this interview with the NYT. Now, he appears to have clammed up, leaving many unanswered questions about why he unilaterally decided to move not only the mistress, Rielle Hunter, from Chapel Hill, N.C. to California, but also Andrew Young and his family. Young is the campaign worker of the two-time presidential candidate who claims to have fathered Hunter's child.
Since Baron hasn't returned our phone calls, a colleague at Baron's former firm, Baron & Budd, Brent Rosenthal, stepped in to give us a better picture of Baron. Rosenthal makes clear that he hasn't talked to Baron about Edwards's mistress, but says that Baron is the kind of person who would step in to clean up a mess. "He is an incredibly loyal person. So I think he would do anything he could to protect somebody he believes deserves his support. No. 2., if he were to tell Edwards, then Edwards would then have some link and some knowledge of it. So if this was a way of protecting Edwards, I think it only makes sense to withhold that from the candidate."
Yet, Rosenthal says that Baron likely would have made sure that he wasn't violating campaign finance laws in assisting Hunter or Young (see Saturday's WSJ story). "I don't think his loyalty would extend to violating the law or to blatantly misrepresenting something to a candidate or to the person who is employing him. But I do think he would do whatever it took within those limits to protect someone he was loyal to."
Rosenthal says Baron was an Edwards supporter from the early days of his first campaign for the presidency and that Baron seemed to grasp how important it was that Edwards not have any skeletons in his closet, given the recent Clinton sex scandal. "Fred said he had specifically assured himself that there was nothing of the kind�now this was long before Rielle. But he had paid attention to that issue, in other words, and was sensitive to the issue."


No longer stuck in the mud!
First day on the overland truck started with a quick overview of the truck itself, where everything goes and how everything works. Then it was loads of photos with the owners of the hostel and off down the tiny backstreets of Almaty in our humungous beast!
Are we absolutely certain this is the way to this major tourist site?
When we finally found the petroglyphs site – it turned out that we had come in the back way!
Ah, no. This would be the back way. Oops.
Tamgaly is a UNESCO Heritage listed site consisting of around 5000 petroglyphs, many of which depict hunting scenes, animals and people.
While others describe "sun-head" deities with a halo consisting of a circle, and many rays and points. These are unlike anything I've seen before (very different to the petroglyphs at La Silla Observatory) and very cool.
"Sun-head" deities are very distinctive human figures with circular "halos". There are 4 of them in this image, 2 on the rock on the left and 2 on the darker rock on the right, along with many dancers.
There is even one riding a bull!
The petroglyphs date from the Bronze Age (13th/14th Century) through to the 20th Century, with the earliest carvings also being the largest and the most deeply drawn – most likely with stone or metal tools.
And while the petroglyphs were the highlight, there were also a burial ground consisting of stone cysts and boxes with adults and children buried on their left sides with their heads facing west.
Unfortunately, we only had an hour to explore the site – I reckon 2hrs minimum for the main site would have been better. But because it had taken us so long to get there, we had to push on for our bush camp near the Kyrgyzstan border.
We managed to get a couple of kilometres up a different road (recommended to us by the park ranger) when disaster struck, and we became seriously and hopelessly bogged.
As the time for our extraction lengthened, our tour leader set out for the main entrance to the petroglyphs to enlist the assistance of the park ranger. Unfortunately, he'd already packed up for the day and gone home. So we then they tried the locals at a farm we had passed on our way in. Apparently they weren't exactly enthusiastic about helping, but once they were shown the photos of our predicament, they agreed to drive their tractor and try to help pull us out.
Totally stuck in the mud – and, unfortunately the tractor didn't help.
Unexpected dinner at Tamgaly Petroglyphs. Good thing we were meant to be bush camping further along the road, so were equipped with supplies!
So we resigned ourselves to camping where we were for the night. Luckily we were ready for a bush camp, so we set up the tents, cooked dinner and retired for the evening just as the rain started.
BTW – this link has more information on the petroglyphs.
Dennis' "Golden Quarter" walking tour was fantastic, but it wasn't the reason I initially contacted him. Those of you who have been following along for a while won't be surprised to know that he also offers a foodie tour in the Green Bazaar of Almaty. Of course, I was in!
We were met by another traveler – Benjamin from the US – and headed in to start off with a traditional Kazakh lunch at one of the restaurants in the market.
I'm really having a hard time getting used to not being able to read anything or understand anything. I'm so used to travelling in Latin America where, now that I speak Spanish, everything is easy. Dennis translated for us and made some recommendations, and we ended up with a few different dishes.
Both he and Benjamin ordered Plov – the very typical rice, carrot, meat dish that is really, really tasty.
Just to be different, I ordered an interpretation of beshparmak, which usually consists of flat noodles topped with onions, meat, and horse sausage. This version was called "meat, Kazakh-style", with the meat broth mixed in to form a soup. This was also good, but I thought the Plov was tastier.
And we decided to share a serving of Manty, dumplings with pumpkin, meat and herbs inside. This was made even better by the ladzhan – a chilli side that is often served on the table.
We each paid 1,200 Tenge (less than US$4) for all this food!
Next thing was to head off to explore the Green Bazaar itself. First of all – the whole place is incredibly clean, and looks like it has been organized by a person with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder! It is immaculate!
The section for dairy produce – where we were plied with samples of all the different products by this lovely lady who is a friend of Dennis' wife.
We also tried the dried salted curds – again, something I encountered in Mongolia, and again, not my favourite thing to eat in the world (actually, the Mongolia trip is the only trip I've ever done where I have lost weight). I don't exactly remember what it was like in Mongolia, but this one was extremely salty … I don't think I'll be buying some for the road, though it does keep incredibly well!
From there we headed over to the meat section, where they use the whole animal – absolutely nothing is wasted.
Nothing is wasted. Yes, those are sheep heads in the bottom image!
This included a section specializing in horse-meat (very common here) and particularly horse-meat sausages.
Almost right beside, was the smoked and cured meat section, where we indulged in yet more samples – this time of the dried horse-meat sausage (very tasty!) and a salami that had been made out of horse-meat.
And the "eastern medicine" section, where you could buy brews to cure all manner of ills, as well as other more exotic things like frogs, snakes and crickets.
I actually tried one of the dried crickets dipped in honey – the vendors were all looking at me so expectantly!
Our final stop was downstairs to the fresh produce section. This was less nice than upstairs given it was quite dingy and dark – and the produce mostly consisted of root vegetables, herbs and apples. Almaty actually means "apple", and Kazakhstan is renowned for its apples. They are particularly proud of the Aport apples – which grow to be quite large.
Then to top it all off, I actually had a tomato that tasted like a tomato  Those of you who know me, knows this is one of my ultimate tests of food … and it was delicious!
If you are interested in markets and trying local foods, can definitely recommend Dennis' Green Bazaar tour with Walking Almaty.
During my travels last year, I discovered the joys of "free walking tours" in many of the cities I visited (a particular highlight were the Cusco by Foot walking tours I did in Peru). Almaty also had a free walking tour available, but I decided to go a different route and head out with Dennis, of Walking Almaty, an expat American who has studied Eurasian culture, who has an awesome website, and who I thought could offer a slightly different perspective. I decided to try his "Golden Quarter" tour to begin with.
I met with Dennis at the Statue of Abay – Kazakhstan's favourite son – and, indeed, I think Dennis offered a different perspective than a standard walking tour would. For example, one of our first stops was the old Geological Institute where he explained that although many of the buildings in Almaty adhere to Russian architectural trends, many of them are actually made out of local stone – either granite or limestone – rather than concrete. The Geological Institute, for example, is a fairly brutal architecture, but is made out of limestone, and you can still see fossil shells (or where they were before "smokers picked them out in their boredom" as Dennis put it) within the materials making up the edifice. How cool this this?!
Then there were the aryks – water channels that run throughout the city that direct the meltwater from the mountains to water the trees within the city. All gravity fed.
Then there was the Academy of Sciences or "Centre of Knowledge". A massive structure where the brightest minds of Kazakhstan congregated during the Cold War.
Because of this, it was a prime target for US missiles, and so had a series of underground bunkers surrounding it. This one is now an underground, gay nightclub – underground in every sense of the word.
A lot of these large governmental buildings are painted in pastel colours – the theory being that it brightens up the city during the long winter that they endure here – a practice adopted from St Petersberg. And although the architecture is Russian, a lot of the embellishments on the buildings use Kazakh symbiology – particularly variations on rams' horns.
We also visited this cool Eastern Calendar fountain that is styled for the eastern zodiac. However, several of the animals we classically associate with eastern cultures have been replaced by Kazakh versions. For example, the tiger is replaced by the snow leopard, and the dragon has been replaced by a snail??!!
Vladimir Tverdokhlebov (the designer) depicted most of the creatures with wings (even when wings are not appropriate) and with their heads twisted back to look over their bodies. This was inspired by the animal style jewelry of the Scythian people – an important part of Kazakh culture.
One of the really neat things about the design of Almaty is the alleikas, quiet "streets" within the residential areas of the old town that are really lovely ways of getting around the city while avoiding the main thoroughfares. Almost like parks – they offer peace and tranquility in the heart of quite a large city.
Why are the bases of the trees painted white you might ask? Dennis actually has tons of answers to questions like these on his website . If you are ever planning on visiting Almaty – I recommend reading his stuff beforehand!
The other thing to note in these residential areas are the filled in balconies of the apartments. Originally the Russians gave these apartments to people so they would have a place to live, but they could not make any modifications to the buildings. Ultimately, with the departure of the Russians, the people ended up owning these places for themselves and many of them elected to close in the useless (remember it is bloody cold in Kazakhstan for the majority of the year) balconies to form what are called loggia – I just love all the different unique and personalized styles!
Many famous people lived in these apartments and each building proudly displays a plaque announcing who it was that graced the premises, and between which years. This is helpful to figure out when the edifice was built, as it is generally the initial year of residency of these famous people.
Kazakhstan is quite big on its tile mosaics and Dennis was giving me the rundown of a couple of particularly awesome pieces on the hotel across the way from the Opera House. The Enlik Kebek Mosaic is laid out like a comic book – the blue delineations are like the different panels in a comic – and tells one of the most famous epic stories in Kazakhstan. Yes, it is about rival men battling it out to see who gets the girl.
The other mural depicts the Silk Road – in the image below you see only 2/3rds of it, showing the olden days of Kazakhstan and camels walking towards the new Kazakhstan (which you can't see – but which shows the iconic Almaty hotel etc).
We then caught the metro – always an interesting thing to do! Almaty's metro has taken 20 years to build, but only had 9 stops! You pay your 80 Tenge (AUD$0.34) in exchange for a token, which then goes in the barriers.
The stations themselves are so deep underground that you almost get vertigo from the escalator!
They are all absolutely pristine and each is decorated differently. Can you spot the odd thing out in the top image, which depicts the Silk Road in one station?
Finally, we headed to one of the most important churches in Almaty – Zenkov's Cathedral. Because it was Easter Sunday, there were loads of people, and the priests (what are they called in Russian Orthodox?) would come out periodically and bless the "Easter Bread" that people had bought to the church for just this reason. There were plenty of smiles and plenty of holy water being thrown around in the process!
All in all, this was a really interesting walk through the streets of Almaty. I still suspect it is quite a different take on a typical walking tour, which would undoubtedly just visit all the key landmarks and explain their history. I found this insight into the more "everyday" features of Almaty much more interesting – so thank you to Dennis!
I'd definitely recommend Dennis' Golden Quarter walking tour for something a little different. Dennis is a great guide and very easy and interesting to talk to.
We said goodbye to our hosts and left the village of Saty with greatly improved weather, calling in to take a quick peek at one of the ubiquitous Islamic cemeteries that dot the landscape here.
This is the most touted natural feature of Almaty region, and, although beautiful, it wasn't quite as impressive as I had imagined. It would have been great to have more time to explore more than just this famous part of the canyon, and to see it in different light – rather than the harsh midday sun.
and onto the "Witches Gorge" – so known because people would leap to their deaths off the cliffs, spurred on by the call of the witches – and the Charyn River.
We ended up seeing 2 snakes (something that got Emil very excited) and quite a few of these little guys – gerbils I think.
After exploring the Canyon for a few hours, we started the long road back to Almaty, stopping along the way for a very late lunch at an Uighur restaurant.
We had our own private partitioned space, and I asked Emil to order something for me that I hadn't tried yet. He ordered Kazan Kebab and Etken Chay (Uighur milky tea) for me.
Both were delicious – made even more so due to the fact that I was starving. And it was a lovely ending to the trip.
I can highly recommend the 3-day Kolsai Lakes, Kaindy Lake and Charyn Canyon tour offered by Almaty Tours. Although it is a bit pricey, you are really well looked after and the places you visit really are spectacular.
After an early breakfast of fried eggs, bread, Baursak, jam, Hvorost (fried dough squares covered in honey and poppy seeds – very similar to the typical Kazakh sweet Chak Chak), and tea of course, we set off in the car to the first Kolsai Lake – altitude 1,818m.
Hvorost as part of breakfast – I like this idea!
A half hour up a bad road saw us overlooking a gorgeous scene of turquoise water nestled in between pine-covered hills. Unfortunately, it was very overcast again, so the pictures don't really do it justice.
From there we started the hike up to the second Kolsai Lake. Trust me – the map at the entrance is not to scale!
Map of the Kolsai Lakes – we were only going to hike to the middle lake in this image. It was NOT to scale!
Of course, I should have looked it up before we left Almaty, but it ended up being a 9km hike one way. It wasn't particularly strenuous for the first couple of hours and there were some beautiful views of course.
But then we hit the snow. This made it infinitely more challenging – partially just in trying to keep footing and partially because it ended up obscuring the path at a really critical point.
In the end, after bush-bashing up the river for a bit trying to regain the path, and several shoes-full of snow later, we decided that we had to turn around. Fortunately, it was only about 2 minutes into our retreat that we stumbled upon the trail again – so we resumed our push through the snow and mud for the second lake.
The last hour up to the second lake is steep and, given this was Emil's first time to the second lake, we had no idea how much further we had to go. In fact, we had no idea if this really was the path to the lake, or a path used by illegal immigrants coming over the border from Kyrgzstan… But eventually it flattened out into a saddle, and then we'd finally made it.
And it was totally worth it!
The second lake is at 2,252m, and was still mostly frozen. And apart from a couple of large ducks/geese, we were the only ones there.
Absolute tranquility surrounded by conifer-covered mountains – perfect place for a well-deserved lunch.
We hung out up there for about half an hour admiring the view, before an increase in wind heralded a turn in the weather, at which point we decided to beat a hasty retreat. We did not want to get lost in cloud coming back down!
Yes, the lake was still frozen!
Eventually made it back down through the snow without major incident – loving the Salomon hiking boots I bought back in Australia – great grip on some dodgy surfaces! And enjoyed the stroll back once we'd gotten past the snow.
Came across these blokes fishing back at the first Kolsai Lake, which again was just gorgeous in its tranquility.
Then it was back in the van for the slow trip back to Saty village. Dinner was Lagman, an Uighur national dish adopted by the Kazakhs. Noodles, vegetables and a little meat in a broth … with dill of course!
Although I was far more interested in visiting Lake Kaindy, this turned out to be a really awesome hike with some great views, even if a bit hairy at times due to the snow! Really recommend it!
I'm meeting up with the Madventures Silk Road tour in Almaty, Kazakhstan – but decided to arrive a few days early to explore the surroundings. A quick internet search revealed a wealth of hiking/nature opportunities around Kazakhstan's old capital (the capital was moved to Astana in 1998), but the one that really caught my eye was Lake Kaindy. With its turquoise waters and drowned spruce trees – it was a little different – and so I set my heart on seeing it.
I ran up against the usual issue where a minimum of 4 people is required for a tour to run, so ended up signing up for the 3-day Kolsai Lakes, Kaindy Lake and Charyn Canyon tour offered by Almaty Tours. By some miracle, they had a departure scheduled for 17-19 April – perfect timing for me – and they assured me it would run no matter how many people they had. It was pricey, but it was the only way I was going to get there.
I was met at the Almaty Backpackers Hostel by Emil, my guide, at 7am and it turns out that I'm the only one on the tour! Emil is 23 with a degree in public relations, is actually from Kyrgyzstan, speaks excellent English and is a very friendly and talkative young man. We got along well right from the beginning.
In case your Central Asian geography is hazy, Kazakhstan is a very big country! In fact, it is the 9th biggest country in the world! Given this, and the fact that many of the roads are in quite bad shape, it takes a long time to get to locations that look relatively close together on the map. I'm Australian. I should be familiar with this idea. But somehow it always comes as a surprise in another country.
So, it took us almost 5 hours to reach the Kazakhstani portion of the Tian Shan Mountains and the village of Saty, where we based ourselves for the next 2 days. Ironicially, the slowest part of the trip was along the perfect dual-carriageway highway leading out of Almaty, which, for some inexplicable reason, had a speed limit of 50 km/hr! The most interesting part of the drive was the last hour or so – where we passed through a grassy region with farmers on horseback tending their herds. Like in Mongolia, there are no fences here, but unlike Mongolia, the Kazakhs are settled in farms and no longer lead a nomadic lifestyle. This is a result of the Russians who, in the 1930s, created cooperative farms across Kazakhstan and converted the population to a more settled way of life.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by the family that runs the guesthouse where we would be staying. Essentially, I have a room in the home of a local Kazakh family, and they feed us whatever they will eat themselves (normal Kazakh food) while we are here. For lunch this consisted of Plov – a staple dish in Kazakhstan made from rice, carrot, meat (in this case mutton) and herbs – they are particularly fond of dill. Quite heavy food (lots of carbs!), but very tasty!
This was served with pickled cabbage, biscuits, sweets, and an enormous basket of bread and Baursak (fried dough).
All washed down with as much tea as you can drink. In this case, we had tea with milk, though it is also very common to have tea with lemon.
I also learned that there is a whole ritual around the tea. In particular, to be hospitable, the lady of the house must sit with the guests and serve the tea for them.
Tea is served in bowls with the milk added in first, followed by the brewed tea, followed by more boiling water. The bowl is only ½ filled – if it is filled completely, it means that your host is trying to get rid of you and it is time for you to leave!
You finish your bowl of tea, and then hand it back to the host to refill to ½ way. Repeat this until you've had enough, which you indicate by placing your bowl down on the table and covering the top with your hand. It feels very strange to be waited on in this way, but an interesting custom.
After lunch, we transferred into an old Russian van for the trip up to Lake Kaindy.
We ran into another couple of Russian tourists who joined us on our excursion, managed to overcome a bit of an obstacle blocking the road, and spent the next 40 minutes crawling up a very bad 4WD-only road. You have to give it to these old Russian-made vans!
From where we left the van, it was another 1.5km walk uphill to reach the lake. But, despite the crap weather we had, it was amazing!
It is only a small lake that was formed in 1911 when a powerful earthquake triggered a landslide, forming a natural dam. As the water rose, it flooded the spruce trees which are now a bleached and eerie feature of the lake.
From the lake's edge, we headed up to get a more eagle-eye view, traipsing through the last of the winter snow.
Again, just a spectacular place – both the lake and the surrounding mountains.
And from this vantage point, you can see a very cool thing – the water in the lake is so cold that it has perfectly preserved the needles of the spruce trees below the waterline! Even more than 100 years later, they are clearly visible in the beautifully transparent water.
Totally worth it to get up to the lake – though would have been nice to have about another hour there just to sit and contemplate the view.
Then it was back to the guesthouse – and for dinner we had more tea, more bread and Baursak, and Manty – dumplings filled with meat, potatoes and herbs (dill, again). Not quite as tasty as the Plov at lunch, but definitely filling!


While my wife and I have been doing a fair amount of traveling, exploring various parts of the world, we have long felt that we've been neglecting some of the fantastic destinations within the U.S. We greatly enjoyed our first major trip out West about 6 years ago, when we visited Zion, Bryce, the Grand Canyon and other nearby locations, and wanted to see more of this part of the country. We started planning almost a year ago (well actually, my wife did most of the planning!), and were finally able to spend a little over 2 weeks out there in the middle of June. The images in the 3 galleries I present here represent a small fraction of all that we saw and did, organized by their subject, rather than location.
We flew in to Jackson, WY, rented a car, and headed to Grand Teton, staying at the Jackson Lake Lodge. Some of our favorite locations included Oxbow Bend, Schwabacher's Landing, Mormon Row, and the Jenny Lake area. We enjoyed a different view of this magnificent park when we did a float trip down the Snake River. After exploring Grand Teton for several days, we went to Yellowstone, staying a few days at the Lake Yellowstone Lodge on the eastern side of the park, and then several more days at Snow Lodge, on the western side, near Old Faithful. We enjoyed seeking out the wildlife, including several bear encounters, as well as exploring the unique geothermal oddities this park has to offer. The LaMar Valley was fantastic, and we had an awesome time driving the Beartooth Highway, getting as far as the West Summit at 10,947 feet.
Glacier National Park was our next destination, where we spend a few nights at The Resort at Glacier at St. Mary's, followed by some time at the Lake McDonald Lodge. The landscape here was quite impressive, although we were disappointed to find that the middle section of the Road to the Sun was closed because of damage to the highway , apparently from mudslides or other natural events. We did one of the boat rides from Many Glacier, with an included hike providing wonderful views of Grinnell Lake and surrounding areas. We definitely got some exercise on this hike! We also headed up to Waterton Park in Canada for a day, which was well worth the time.
While we were very lucky in terms of finding great things to shoot, we were less fortunate as far as getting good light for these shots. There was virtually no rain for the entire 2+ weeks, but frequent cloud cover at the prime dawn and dusk times was disappointing. Plus, given the area we had to cover, and the limited number of sunrises and sunsets, we often had to shoot at less than ideal times of day. The result is that the quality of many images posted here is less than I had hoped for, but I posted them anyway, in order to convey some sense of the beauty and diversity of these fantastic National Parks.
For those interested in GPS and have Google Earth installed on their computers, I again created KMZ files, showing the location for all the images presented in these galleries: Birds, Wildlife, Landscape.


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