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Anne Hathaway Isn't Angry Anymore
There aren't many spots like Cafe Luxembourg in New York City. It's the kind of place where well-worn barstools and hang-your-own coat racks add to its sophistication. The kind of place where you can have too many glasses of wine at lunch. Where you can tell the hostess you are meeting Anne Hathaway and she'll shrug and say, "Oh, she's been here a million times." The whole vibe is high-end casual, Left Bank meets Upper West Side. And indeed, when Hathaway walks in, there is no noticeable change in the room. No one cranes their neck or pulls out an iPhone. Maybe the other patrons have seen the Oscar winner here a million times. Or maybe everyone is French.
In the five years since #HathaHate—the 2013 media storm that erupted after Hathaway won the best supporting actress Oscar for her turn as Fantine in Les Misérables and was deemed too earnest, too jazz-hands, too something—the 35-year-old has emerged with a simple realization: It doesn't matter whether people like her, because she really likes herself. "I'm interested in living a very honest life. I don't know if that makes me a boring person. I don't really care if it does," she says after we debate the merits of the Côtes de Provence versus organic rosé. "It would be easier if I was better at being misleading or sneaky. I know how all that stuff works. I'm not a naive idiot. I know if I was a little bit mean to everybody, people would be like, 'Oh, she's fun. I like her. Come have a drink.' And I'm just like, 'Can we have a drink and not try to tear each other apart?'"
Brave New Heights "I'm not interested in getting to the top of the mountain. I hope that, at the top of the mountain, there's another mountain."
Louis Vuitton sleeveless jacket, dress, shoes. Juicy by Juicy Couture pants, $50. Ben-Amun by Isaac Manevitz earring, $220 for pair. Aurélie Bidermann ring, $480.
Anne—or Annie, as she tells me to call her—was born in Brooklyn. When she was six, her parents, Gerald, a labor attorney, and Kate, a former actress, moved the family to Millburn, New Jersey. She has two brothers, one of whom is gay, which is why the once devout Roman Catholic Hathaways converted to Episcopalianism. Though Hathaway doesn't identify with any religion now, owning your truth became something of a family motto. "When I was a teenager and life was starting to happen, my dad said to me: 'Three promises. Don't get a tattoo until you're 23. Don't get into motorcycles'—we have a family history of motorcycle accidents—'and don't lie,'" she says. "I took that in really, really deep." (She did get a tattoo, a small cursive M on the inside of her left wrist, when she was 28.)
After high school, Hathaway went to Vassar College for a bit and then New York University's prestigious Gallatin School of Individualized Study but never graduated. She got famous instead; after the short-lived Fox series Get Real, she landed The Princess Diaries. She made the A-list via the critically loved Brokeback Mountain and the commercial hit The Devil Wears Prada.
"It would be easier if I was better at being misleading or sneaky. I know how all that stuff works. I'm not a naive idiot."
She also got burned. In addition to the post-Oscar backlash, there was the ex who stole more than $6 million from investors during their four-and-a-half-year relationship. She rebounded and married jewelry designer and producer Adam Shulman in 2012. Four years later they had a son, Johnny. Motherhood, she says, was a healing experience. "How Johnny is going to feel about himself will have so much to do with how I feel about myself in front of him," she says. "If I'm feeling insecure, I am very careful that I don't show that. But I also work really hard to acknowledge that place, give room for that place, and then release myself from that place. I'm more loving now, and that includes toward myself."
Through it all she kept working; Hathaway has appeared in more than 35 films. "I was very deliberately, in my twenties, trying to do as many different types of roles as I could with different directors, just to become a better actress," she says. "If there was a goal, it was always to just play parts until people were like, 'Oh, she can pull that off.'" Things didn't always work out perfectly—and she's witnessed the abuse of power firsthand. "I've had a 20-year career and I've had some really, really bad experiences," she says, "but I've had a lot of great ones too—with members of both genders." I can tell she's hesitant to go there on the bad times. "While they do not begin to approach the atrocious, galling stories others have shared in recent months, I have had negative on-set experiences, some of a sexual nature," she tells me later. "Some are from the beginning of my career, some are more recent—all are unacceptable."
Hathaway is happier talking about the positive experiences, and what we can learn from them. "There have been many; Serenity with [director] Steven Knight [was one]. He distinguishes himself by always, in every scenario, behaving as though we were two human beings trying to tell the same story. I never felt there was a power dynamic at play; rather, it was a respectful, artistic collaboration. The same for Matthew McConaughey, Jason Clarke, and the crew." She's using those experiences—and the conversations they beget—to inform her work with Time's Up. Personally knowing that a film set could be either harmful or harmonious was one reason she got involved," she says. "But it's not just being an actress. Being a 35-year-old cisgendered woman who has experienced the everyday, abusive imbalance of the world also made me want to be a part of a movement for change…. I know the world can be far worse for others than it has been to me, but I suppose, like most everyone who has been hurt, I want to protect others from going through the worst of what I experienced. I want to help make what I consider the best of my experiences to be the norm, as it always should have been." She's thought a lot about how the abuse could run so deep within the industry. "I think that there's got to be some guys who get high off the power. But in a lot of cases, it's an echo chamber. Most guys have never seen anything different."
"I want to protect others from going through the worst of what I experienced. I want to help make what I consider the best of my experiences to be the norm, as it always should have been."
Hathaway is pushing herself to see differently. "One thing that I'm confronting about myself is my own bias and the fact that I aspired to be a part of [this industry] without having to imagine what it could look like if everybody was in it. But if change is going to happen, we have to get uncomfortable," she says. "Somebody really brilliant once told me that prophecy is not handed down by DNA. We learn by telling each other stories." And as she segues into producing, she hopes to become a different kind of storyteller. "I'm working on something right now, and I really hope it gets made," she says, with more than a hint of irony creeping into her voice. "It's about multiple versions of truth, and whether or not you can be judged on a moral level by someone who's never imagined what it's like to be you."
Right now, however, she's focused on the release of Ocean's 8. Hathaway plays Daphne Kluger, an actress who may or may not be in on a diamond robbery with Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, and Rihanna at Vogue's annual Met Ball. It's downright satisfying to watch a group of smart, badass women pull off the heist and not just be the arm candy. I ask whether it feels surreal to play Famous Person Attending Met Ball, an event she's attended many times herself. "I was so excited to get invited onto the team," she tells me. "It was a big, out-of-nowhere offer. I was just like, 'Do not embarrass yourself in front of your heroes. Do not embarrass yourself.'" She stops talking here, as if to silence critics—including herself.
Politics of Cool "I know if I was a little bit mean to every- body, people would be like, 'Oh, she's fun. I like her. Come have a drink.'"
Levi's Limited jacket, $148. Valentino dress. Céline hoop, $790 for pair. Eye M by Ileana Makri ring, $475. Volcom socks, $12. Ash sneakers, $279.
Ready, Set, Action "I want to change the way we make movies. I want to make that process more open, inclusive, and socially responsible."
Lacoste dress, $375. Rockins scarf, $230. Céline hoop.
It's the kind of purposeful self-reorienting you might expect from anyone who has been so scrutinized. I bring up the workout video she recently captioned on Instagram: "I am gaining weight for a movie role and it is going well," which was her way of controlling the fake news cycle. "I didn't feel like dealing with the pregnancy rumors," she says. "I find it bizarre that there's a storm to get ahead of, but I have a history of being shamed and humiliated, for a lot of different reasons." Her colleagues have seen her grapple with barriers too. "Sometimes she'll come out with a really good joke, and I'm like, 'You should tweet that or put that on Instagram, Annie!' And she's like, 'I can't,'" says Rebel Wilson, her costar in the upcoming comedy The Hustle. "One Friday I said, 'I can taste the weekend,' and she was like, 'Oh, and how does he taste?' She comes up with stuff like that all the time. I guess a lot of people don't know that side of her."
In our afternoon together I see glimpses of that Anne Hathaway. She drinks pink wine during the daytime. She slurps a mean oyster. She gets hives on her neck when she's nervous and is as comfortable name-checking Ryan Gosling as she is David Foster Wallace and feminist author Rebecca Solnit. She keeps a ridiculous photo on her phone of when she was "ready to go into labor" and Barbra Streisand rubbed her belly. "I don't have strangers in my life. People don't treat me like a stranger very often," she says. "I've always been really good at diving in. And while sometimes I wish there was a little more distance, I actually really like being able to go there with people right away."
"I find it bizarre that there's a storm to get ahead of, but I have a history of being shamed and humiliated, for a lot of different reasons."
And like all of us, sometimes she gets really pissed off. "I have a history with rage," Hathaway says. "I used to do this thing where I was like, 'I'm nice 29 days out of 30, and then I give myself complete permission to be a bitch to anyone, about anything.' I realized that if I could actually move away from the judgment and deal with my emotions in the moment, I didn't actually need the extra day. Rage doesn't lead you to a place of peace. And for me the goal is not happiness. The goal is peace."
But peace, like success, is more of a journey than a destination. "Cate Blanchett once said something like, 'I don't ever want to feel that I've arrived, because as soon as you arrive, you have to leave,'" she says. "That's the way I've always felt about it. I'm not interested in getting to the top of the mountain. I hope that, at the top of the mountain, there's just another mountain." She knows she regresses sometimes, and recalls a moment watching the monitor after filming a scene for The Hustle. "Chris Addison, the director, saw me recoil and said, 'What's the matter?' And I said, 'Nothing. I just need a new face,'" she says. The negativity felt all too familiar. "I just had this moment where I was like, 'Ugh. Not again. You know where this road leads. And you know it doesn't make you a better actress. So can we please not beat the you-know-what out of ourselves today and just, like, make another choice?' And the scene came alive."
In the end, all this self-analyzing has just made her better—a better mom, a better actress, a better human. "Anne is pretty darn self-aware," says Ocean's 8 director Gary Ross. "The thing that struck me most about working with Anne is her bravery. She commits fully to the character, with bravado and no self-protection—understanding that a great performance is never a timid performance."
We pay the check and walk the two long blocks to the uptown apartment where she and Shulman and Johnny live when they're not in Los Angeles. Right before she heads back to her life full of fame and contradictions and screaming toddlers and self-criticism, we hug. It's a wrap-you-up, close-friends kind of hug, not timid at all.
Justine Harman is Glamour's features director.
Fashion credits for lead video: Versace bodysuit, $1,095. Pringle of Scotland pants, $695. Annelise Michelson hoop, $557 for pair. Dinosaur Designs ring, $235. Eye M by Ileana Makri ring, $475.
For black-and-white photos: Eckhaus Latta blazer, pants, $696. Ivy Park hoodie, $50. Rockins scarf, worn as belt, $119. Kathleen Whitaker earring, ring. Sarah & Sebastian pearl earring, $295. Eye M by Ileana Makri gold ring, $475. Bracelets, worn throughout, Hathaway's own.
This story originally appeared in the June/July 2018 issue of Glamour.
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The Valved Corrosive Material Cracker Source VCCS is designed for controlled injection of radicals of antimony, tellurium, magnesium or other corrosive materials in standard MBE applications. Parts directly exposed to the evaporant like crucible, valve mechanism, injector tube and cracker are solely made from PBN to minimize corrosion of the cell.
A mixture of larger molecules of, for example, Sbn is produced by sublimation of the evaporant within the reservoir. The resulting beam flux is controlled by an all PBN mechanical valve unit and finally the gaseous molecules are dissociated within the thermal cracker stage to form a molecular beam containing a large ammount of e.g. Sb2 species.
The source consists of the 420 cm³ reservoir, built into a water-cooled vacuum enclosure that also houses the valve unit, and the injector tube with a thermal cracker unit on top.
Operation of the mechanical valve unit shows fast, stable and reproducible flux control. Together with our valve controller MVCU an easy handling and integration into your MBE system is provided.
Three independent heater circuits allow precise and flexible adjustment of the temperatures in each part of the cell in order to provide sufficient material vapor, avoid condensation within the valve or injector tube and ensure maximum cracking efficiency, each according to the requirements of the particular evaporant. A schematic illustration of the sequence of the different heater stages is shown in the figure on the right.
The special design enables easy and safe refilling of the crucible from the backside of the cell without the need of removing the complete cell from the system.
Schematic sketch of the VCCS building blocks. The PBN-funnel (2) connects the PBN reservoir (1) with the full-PBN valve (3). The evaporant is guided to the cracking stage (5) by a PBN injector tube (4). For better homogeneity there is a beam shaping funnel (6) on the orifice of the VCCS.
The main purpose of the VCCS in MBE applications is enhanced flux control and cracking of materials whose vapor is highly corrosive to metallic surfaces. The VCCS was originally designed as a source for an antimony radical (Sb2) molecular beam as group V material in standard III-V MBE. It uses the well-established concept of sublimation of elemental Sbn followed by a step of thermal dissociation in a cracker stage to produce a Sb2 molecular beam. The VCCS all PBN construction of the inner parts, in particular the valve mechanism, in combination with the flexibility provided by three independent heater circuits allows applying this concept to other materials like Te, Mg or Se.
The valve mechanism and hence the beam flux can be regulated either manually or remotely by a servo motor drive (MVCU) with a 0-10 V analogue input signal.
A large crucible capacity of 420 cm³, fast and precise flux control and easy handling for maintenance and crucible refill make the VCCS an ideal source for smaller production MBE systems as well as for higher throughput research MBE systems.
Several publications based on samples grown with VCCS sources are listed in section References / List of Publications.
is a valved corrosive material cracker source on DN100 CF flange with 420cm³ crucible and UHV-length 305mm.


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Kavajah
Kava Jah, born Junior Johnson, in Cumberland, Clarendon Parish, Jamaica, is a reggae artist who writes, sings, and chants his own lyrics in his own style. Born into a family with musical roots, Kava Jah's father Levi Johnson was a teacher of music at the Spalding's Comprehensive High School and choir master in the church. He was a leader in the community both musically and spiritually. Kava Jah started playing music around the age of ten practicing on his father's instruments and soon found his love for the guitar.
In 2007 Kava Jah entered the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) Popular Song competition, where he received an award for most disciplined artist, thus creating momentum towards his first national performance in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba performing for the Military in observance of Jamaica's Independence Day and returning again to Cuba in 2008. Kava Jah began working with Gumption Music Production out of Kingston, Jamaica creating, recording, and preparing to tour. In 2012 Kava Jah joined the I-Kronik band as lead singer and songwriter touring internationally and sharing the stage with artists such as Romain Virgo, Luciano, Protoje, David Hines of Steel Pulse, Junior Reid, I-Wayne, and many more. Kava Jah has performed on stages in the United States such as Reggae on the River (CA), Sierra Nevada World Music Festival (CA), Grand Central Park (NY), BB Kings (NY), with many more notable performances across the nation and beyond, reaching as far as Costa Rica, Anguilla, and St. Marten.
Kava Jah has been manifesting his solo career, pushing the limits of his lyrical talents and musical capabilities preparing to release his debut solo album. Recently, Kava Jah released a music video for his new single 'Danger Zone.' Kava Jah is a dynamic artist both on and off the stage, spotlighting his unique acoustic performances.
Rally Up Shop
ANCIENT MIXTAPE Mixed by DJ Nature Won
Forward to Love – King Kanashi I

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


It is important that every official inspection station properly instruct all employees in accordance with the instructions and procedures as set forth herein. The contents should be carefully studied and frequently reviewed by your entire organization. Continued supervision of all inspector mechanics should be maintained. If your appointment is withdrawn, it is because you or your employees have failed to follow instructions.
Persons operating under a certificate of appointment, contemplating a change of location or ownership, must notify the West Virginia State Police, Traffic Records Section, 725 Jefferson Road, South Charleston, West Virginia 25309-1698, before such change is made.
A new application must be made for appointment of inspection privilege for the new location of ownership - this requires a new investigation by the West Virginia State Police. If the owner remains the same, the original station number will be reassigned to the new station.
To eliminate any period of non-operation, such application should be made at least thirty days in advance.
All inspection privileges will cease under the old certificate as of the date of issue of the new certificate of appointment. Persons operating under a certificate of appointment, who are not contemplating a change of location or ownership, but wanting to make a change in name only must fill out a new application showing the change in name.
Upon receiving this notarized application, the Superintendent will issue a new certificate of appointment, the old certificate must be returned to the Superintendent immediately.
Inspections may continue during the above transaction.
No inspections will be conducted on premises during the period of suspension.
Application for appointment shall be made on Form DPS MVI-1. This form may be secured by writing to the Superintendent, West Virginia State Police, Traffic Records Section, 725 Jefferson Road, South Charleston, West Virginia 25309-1698. The Superintendent will investigate all persons or firms filing applications. Appointments will be made when a favorable report is received.
If a garage does not maintain normal business hours or is open for business and conducts inspections only in the evening, application for appointment as an official inspection station will not be approved. An ordinary inspection station is required to remain open at least eight business hours each work day.
The appointment as an official inspection station could be suspended for not maintaining a clean garage, or not keeping proper tools and equipment.
An inspection station operator, upon going out of business, shall immediately return to the West Virginia State Police, Traffic Records Section, by way of area supervisor, the Certificate of Appointment and all unused inspection stickers, final reports of inspection and all other forms issued.
In the event of death of the owner, the spouse, or a surviving member of the immediate family, shall submit a new application within sixty (60) days for a change of authority and continue operating, providing a qualified mechanic is employed to conduct the inspection.
Discontinuance of business even temporarily, or removal of an official inspection station from one location to another, automatically cancels authorization. Reports, stickers and all forms must be returned immediately to the West Virginia State Police, Traffic Records Section, 725 Jefferson Road, South Charleston, West Virginia 25309-1698 by way of area supervisor.
1. Owner/operator will assume all responsibility regarding the inspection of all inspector mechanics in their employment.
2. That he will see that the official inspection station instructions and supplements are available to each authorized inspector mechanic.
3. That he and his employees will conduct honest, thorough, and efficient inspections in compliance with the motor vehicle laws, rules and regulations governing such inspection.
4. To have available at all times in his inspection station all tools and equipment in good, working order, prescribed in the official inspection station rules and regulations.
5. To maintain a clean and orderly place of business and shop. (To be responsible for all employees in this respect).
6. Owner/operators will be required to maintain on file the inspector mechanic's license, or a photocopy thereof, of all inspector mechanics in their employment.
7. Owners of public stations will make certain that the inspection of vehicles will be conducted without unreasonable delay.
8. To keep up-to-date inspection records at his station which will be available at all times for examination by the State Police. Duplicate copies of log sheets and sticker requisitions must be kept at the inspection station for a period of two years.
9. To conduct all inspections and affix all inspection stickers in the approved inspection area of the location designated by the State Police.
10. That he will keep on file and abide by the memorandums forwarded to official inspection stations by the West Virginia State Police.
11. To keep an adequate supply of inspection stickers, rejection stickers and numerical inserts on hand.
In accepting the appointment, the station owner or operator obligates himself to make sure vehicles have been properly inspected. To submit the required inspection reports and log sheets to the West Virginia State Police immediately upon completion. This applies to both fleet and public stations.
1. Before any mechanic can inspect vehicles, he must attend the Inspector Mechanic Training Program and be examined and certified by a member of the West Virginia State Police. He must have a general knowledge of mechanical skills and completely familiar with the inspection program, its rules and regulations.
2. The mechanic must be at least 18 years of age and hold a valid driver's license in the state which they reside. He must pass the examination with a grade of not less than 80 percent. Any revocation or suspension of the driving privilege automatically revokes the license to inspect.
3. Must allow for a criminal and/or driving record check to be conducted to determine if applicant is truthful and possesses a history which would indicate they will follow rules and procedures set forth by the West Virginia State Police.
4. Must have been employed as an automobile mechanic one year prior to making application, or completed an automotive training program conducted by a generally acknowledged school such as by the military, a vocational, a rehabilitation, a county or private school. 5. Upon the request of the inspection supervisor, the mechanic must demonstrate his ability to efficiently and correctly operate the various testing devices required in the inspection program.
6. Approved inspector mechanics are subject to re-examination at any time, to determine if they have full knowledge of current official inspection rules and regulations. If the examination discloses the inspector mechanic is not familiar with the inspection regulations, he will be suspended from making inspections until able to pass a re-examination.
7. A previously licensed mechanic who has been licensed and is currently certified as a mechanic as of the effective date of these revised regulations shall be exempt from these qualifications upon their successful completion of a recertification class and test.
1. Upon failure of the examination, mechanics shall be required to repeat the inspector mechanic training program before re-testing.
2. Failure of the second examination or subsequent examination will cause a waiting period of ninety days.
It is the duty of the inspector mechanic of an official inspection station to always properly and thoroughly conduct the official inspection of vehicles presented for that purpose. It is a grave responsibility and should not be taken lightly.
In affixing a sticker to an approved vehicle, the employee is placing a "Certificate of Safety: on that vehicle indicating that the vehicle is safe for operation on the highway.
It is the responsibility of the employee to check that all equipment is of an approved type. That is the purpose of requiring approved devices in these regulations. The aiming of the headlights, fog lights, or auxiliary driving headlamps is an important must. An approved headlight tester must be used.


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Get ready to hear the Phillies connected to 2 Nationals quite a bit
By Tim Kelly
Anthony Rendon will be a free-agent after the 2019 season. (Tony Quinn/Icon Sportswire)
The Philadelphia Phillies will enter Monday evening's matchup with the Atlanta Braves just two games back of the Chicago Cubs for the second National League Wild Card spot. Still, FanGraphs says that the Phillies have just a 4.8 percent chance to make the playoffs in 2019, the fourth best odds in their own division. Regardless of what happens in the final few weeks of the 2019 season, it will be hard to window dress the obvious holes on the current team.
That means that general manager Matt Klentak – even after having what he described as "objectively great" offseason a year ago – will have his work cut out this winter.
Without a ton in the way of prospect capital, spending their way out of any holes may be the Phillies best route this winter. And an offseason after signing Bryce Harper away from the division-rival Washington Nationals, the Phillies, at least in a speculative sense, could very well find themselves connected to two Nationals stars again.
Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon has forced his way into a historically tight National League MVP race, as he's slashing .337/.417/.630 with 32 home runs, 114 RBIs and a 6.8 fWAR. Since the start of the 2016 season, FanGraphs says that Rendon – not Nolan Arenado, Kris Bryant or anyone else – has been the best third baseman in baseball.
Remarkably, 2019 is the first time that the 29-year-old has been voted an All-Star. Don't get it twisted, though, he's going to be compensated like a perennial All-Star this offseason, probably because he should have been an All-Star a few times now.
Mark Feinsand of MLB.com says that Rendon, who is represented by Scott Boras, could attempt to top the eight-year/$260 million extension that Nolan Arenado signed with the Colorado Rockies in February. Here's the thing: Arenado started that extension in his age-28 season. Manny Machado signed a 10-year/$300 million deal last offseason, that, like Arenado's deal, runs through his age-35 season. The feeling here is that a deal that pays Rendon slightly more annually than Arenado but runs through his age-35 season is more likely. That would mean a six-year deal with a total value around $200 million. The deal could include a club and/or vesting option for a seventh season, along with an opt-out after the third or fourth season that would allow Rendon to re-enter free-agency if he would be so inclined.
When considering Rendon, the Phillies will have to ask themselves quite a few questions, and many of them circle back to first baseman Rhys Hoskins. There's a case to be made that 2019 has shown Hoskins is more suited to be a No. 5 hitter, as opposed to hitting cleanup. Signing Rendon, in theory, would allow them to make that a reality.
The issue is that the Phillies top overall prospect, Alec Bohm, is a third baseman. Bohm – who hitting coach Charlie Manuel spoke glowingly about at the Futures Game – profiles as a middle-of-the-order bat and will seemingly be ready to be a regular contributor at the major league level in 2020. There are questions about whether Bohm will be strong enough defensively to remain at third base, though Hoskins is entrenched at first base and at least for the time being, DH isn't an option in the National League.
Could the Phillies sign Rendon and shop Hoskins this offseason with the plan for Bohm to take over at first base next summer? Perhaps, but that would be quite the risk before Bohm ever plays a game at the major league level. Hoskins is also a leader in the Phillies clubhouse. Even if you set both of those things apart, Hoskins is probably best suited to be a DH and likely would be treated as such in potential trade discussions. Would a team trade a controllable, young starting pitcher for Hoskins this offseason? Almost certainly not.
As appealing as adding Rendon may sound, it is fair to wonder if investing $200 million in a position player – as opposed to a pitcher like Houston Astros RHP Gerrit Cole – is the best path forward for the Phillies. Even a team with the financial wherewithal of the Phillies can only give so many mega contracts.
It feels as though the Phillies have backed themselves into a corner where they need to make multiple impact additions to their starting rotation this winter. Cole, one of the favorites to win the American League Cy Young Award, would obviously be a nice start. But like last offseason's pursuit of LHP Patrick Corbin, things happen. Cole may have a preference to pitch elsewhere, his price may get too high, etc.
With that in mind, Jon Morosi of MLB.com's report last week that Nationals RHP Stephen Strasburg is "increasingly likely" to opt-out of the $170 million that he's owed after 2019 ($100 of which will come over the next four seasons) should be of note to the Phillies. It's first worth adding the qualifier that Strasburg may do what Clayton Kershaw did last offseason, when he used the threat of opting out of his contract to land a new three-year/$93 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Strasburg, who turned 31 last month, would presumably like to get an extra year tacked onto his deal that runs through the 2023 season. The Nationals, who currently are slated to pay Strasburg $45 million in 2023, would probably like to restructure the three-time All-Star's deal.
But, it's always difficult to predict exactly how the Nationals will act. Is there a scenario where Strasburg opts out and ultimately doesn't agree to a new deal with the Nationals? Sure. Los Angeles Dodgers LHP Hyun-jin Ryu, San Francisco Giants LHP Madison Bumgarner, Minnesota Twins RHP Jake Odorizzi, Chicago Cubs LHP Cole Hamels and New York Mets RHP Zack Wheeler can all also become free-agents this offseason. They probably all won't, but the more the merrier for the Phillies because beyond Aaron Nola, it's anyone's guess as to what their starting rotation will look like in 2020.
There are a few things to ponder when weighing a potential pursuit of Strasburg. First, Morosi wondered in his piece whether Strasburg – who is from San Diego and pitched in college at San Diego State – may want to pitch on the West Coast. If he does, well, there's not a whole lot the Phillies can do about that. The issue more pertinent to the Phillies is that since having Tommy John Surgery in September of 2010, Strasbourg has pitched over 1,300 innings. The surgery has been wildly successful, as Strasburg has had an excellent career, but it's far from rare to need the surgery a second time. The Phillies, and any other potential suitors, would have to factor that in when considering a pursuit of Strasburg.
The truth is, though, it's very rare that a pitcher without any flaws becomes a free-agent. Cole, who turned 29 over the weekend, may be the closest thing to that, and he's likely to break the bank this offseason. If Strasburg becomes available, the Phillies may not ultimately choose to pursue him aggressively. But for as nice as the idea president Andy MacPhail has preached of "growing the arms and buying the bats" sounded, it hasn't worked for the Phillies. Frankly, it's been a disaster. That doesn't mean it isn't a good idea in principle, but the Phillies haven't developed pitching well. In a division with four formidable teams, the Phillies are going to have to take some risks on pitching this offseason if they want to be able to compete in the National League East.
So, yes, it's September and the Phillies are legitimately contending for the playoffs. The Phillies are seven wins away from their first non-losing season since 2012, and eight away from their first winning season since 2011. But it feels like they are still a ways away from building a team that's a consistent force in the National League playoffs. And as they search for solutions this offseason, two of Harper's former Nationals teammates will certainly be considered.
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text:
Major crash leaves 3 dead, MADD warns against drunk driving
M.A.D.D encourages safer and sober driving.
By: Ashley Valenzuela, 23ABC , Bayne Froney, 23ABC
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — A major crash on New Year's Eve left three dead in Northwest Bakersfield, according to police, the driver had been intoxicated before losing control of the vehicle.
The crash occurred Thursday night around 11:15 p.m., the driver was under the influence at the time, and it's incidents like these, where organizations want to help raise awareness of drunk driving.
"We suffer a lot here in Kern County, Bakersfield area from the tragic loss of impaired driving," said Michael Yraceburn, MADD advisory board.
Northwest Bakersfield faced that loss Thursday night after three men died due to a drunk driving incident, the driver lost control of the vehicle, crashing into a tree, ejecting three passengers from the car, leaving the driver and one other passenger with minor injuries. The vehicle was out past the stay-at-home order curfew, where it is recommended to stay indoors between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.
"There are family members that never went to sleep last night, because they were getting phone calls, telling them that their loved ones were dead," said Yraceburn.
Michael Yraceburn is a member of the advisory board for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, a national organization that spreads awareness about the dangers of impaired driving in hopes to help stop those from getting behind the wheel while intoxicated.
"Tragedy that could be so easily avoided, we have Uber, we have Lyft, and we all of these things available and no one has to get behind the wheel if they have been drinking or impaired by drugs, it is that simple," said Yraceburn.
According to Yraceburn, not only are you risking lives while intoxicated behind the wheel, but you could even face fines ranging from $500 to $5,000, as well as court costs, attorney's fees, suspension of your license, and more.
"It is very very expensive to suffer a DUI, when you could have avoided it with a $20 Uber," said Yraceburn.
According to California Highway Patrol, in just the first six hours of their maximum enforcement period for New Years, there were 244 arrests for DUI's and 13 deaths due to crashes involving someone driving under the influence.
Yraceburn hopes that people realize they are risking more than just themselves when they get behind the wheel.
"If you're going to have just a few drinks, what's the risk, what is the need to jump behind the car wheel and drive? Protect yourself and protect those that you love," said Yraceburn.
BPD also says that upon medical clearance, the driver will be put in jail for DUI and vehicular manslaughter related charges.
The crash investigation is ongoing if you have any information about it police are asking that you contact them at (661) 327-7111.


text:
Q: Hot to get exit code of wget ftp I need to get exit code of ftp execution. My command line is:
wget -N ftp://server:pass@server/path/

Using:
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then

will check wget execution.

A: not tested:
wget [wget options] 2>&1 | grep -i "failed\|error"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
namespace chromeos {
namespace file_system_provider {
namespace operations {
namespace {

// Default implementation for dispatching an event. Can be replaced for unit
// tests by Operation::SetDispatchEventImplForTest().
bool DispatchEventImpl(extensions::EventRouter* event_router,
                       const std::string& extension_id,
                       scoped_ptr<extensions::Event> event) {
  if (!event_router->ExtensionHasEventListener(extension_id, event->event_name))
    return false;

  event_router->DispatchEventToExtension(extension_id, event.Pass());
  return true;
}

}  // namespace

Operation::Operation(extensions::EventRouter* event_router,
                     const ProvidedFileSystemInfo& file_system_info)
    : file_system_info_(file_system_info),
      dispatch_event_impl_(base::Bind(&DispatchEventImpl,
                                      event_router,
                                      file_system_info_.extension_id())) {
}

Operation::~Operation() {
}

void Operation::SetDispatchEventImplForTesting(
    const DispatchEventImplCallback& callback) {
  dispatch_event_impl_ = callback;
}

bool Operation::SendEvent(int request_id,
                          const std::string& event_name,
                          scoped_ptr<base::ListValue> event_args) {
  return dispatch_event_impl_.Run(
      make_scoped_ptr(new extensions::Event(event_name, event_args.Pass())));
}

}  // namespace operations
}  // namespace file_system_provider
}  // namespace chromeos

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Tarkanian, who has supported most of Trump's policies but not the President's personal foibles, said the U.S. immigration system should allow asylum seekers who are fleeing violence or dangerous living situations in their home nations.
Yet recently, President Trump has been openly critical of asylum seekers, tweeting his concerns over what he says are lax immigration laws that improperly allow immigrants into the country.
"What I believe in is a little bit of a break from what President Trump has been saying," Tarkanian said. "I believe in bringing in people that are refugees from counties that are fleeing from life-threatening situations. The foundation of our country are people like that."
Trump's Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, recently said victims of domestic abuse and gang violence generally will no longer qualify for asylum under federal law. It is a decision that advocates say will endanger thousands of foreign nationals seeking safety in the United States.
Tarkanian's support for asylum seekers stems from his family's roots, dating back to the Armenian Genocide of the early 20th century.
In 1915, the Turks of the Ottoman Empire began to expel and massacre Armenians, according to conventional and historical sources. By the early 1920s, an estimated 1.5 millions Armenians had been killed.
"My grandmother escaped the Armenian genocide where the Ottoman soldiers came in and massacred her village," Tarkanian said. "And she came here, loved America, learned how to speak English, worked hard, two or three jobs and raised money. (It was) enough for my father to go to college and become the greatest basketball coach in the history of our country."
Tarkanian, of course, is the son of former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, who won the 1991 national basketball championship at UNLV and later was enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Tarkanian differs from the Trump administration on another immigration point -- it's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy, which led to the separation of nearly 3,000 families at the U.S. southern border earlier this summer.
"We certainly don't want to separate any children from their parents," Tarkanian said. "There has to be a solution where you protect our sovereignty and our rule of law without separating children."
Most Americans agree on the primary points of the immigration debate, Tarkanian said.
"You can't separate children from their parents. That is first and foremost," Tarkanian said.... "And I believe most of the people who are seeing this show would agree with us about the points I am talking about. It is the politicians who won't agree to it."
"First and foremost, I believe most Americans want to have a secure border," he said. "They believe we should know what is coming into our country and who is coming into our country and that we should control the border. And whether it is with the wall or technology, you could argue about that. But who is not in favor of a secure border?"
Chain migration, or family-based immigration, should be limited, Tarkanian said.
"(We should) revise the chain migration where immediate family members should be able to come in with whoever comes in legally, a spouse and immediate family," he said. "It should not be opened up to second or fourth cousins. Reasonable people would agree with that."
Tarkanian is also opposed to the lottery system of immigration, officially called the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program. This program grants up to 50,000 immigrant visas annually, drawn from random selection.
Tarkanian also wants to establish a system of electronic verification of employment eligibility (E-verify) to vet undocumented immigrants seeking jobs in the United States.
E-verify has become a contentious issue in the U.S. House. The Western Growers Association, representing growers of more than half the produce in the U.S., helped block E-verify legislation in July, according to news reports.
"I believe also we should have e-verification, where an employer has to verify who he hires and so we make sure they are in our country legally," he said.
Tarkanian also wants to grant legal residency to those green-card immigrants who play by the rules.
"We have to find a solution to the people who are in our country and who are not breaking the law, who are following our system and who are an asset to our country," Tarkanian said. "And I believe they should be given legal residency."
Tarkanian also touched on immigration issues of people who have overstayed their visas.
More than 700,000 immigrants overstayed their visas in fiscal year 2017, according to estimates from the Department of Homeland Security.
The 700,000 estimation is about 300,000 more people than were apprehended trying to illegally cross the U.S./Mexico border the same year. The Homeland Security numbers indicate that visa overstays are a much larger source of illegal immigration than illegal southwestern border crossings.
"I would think that in today's technology, that we would be able to track down people who have overstayed their visas and be able to identify those people and either have them removed or get their visas renewed if there is a good reason for it," Tarkanian said.
Tarkanian sees another problem with the immigration/visa system in the U.S.
"We have lost a lot of intellectual assets, people who have come to our country, stayed here, went to college or learned a great trade and they are forced to leave our country and go back to wherever they came from or to another county of their choice," he said. "Well, we could be using them here in the United States. Just a change in the law would allow those people to stay here. They could be great assets to our country and I am in favor of that."


text:
Q: How to display a document with its subcollections from Firestore in a RecyclerView with Android? This is what my Firestore database looks like:

I have a RecyclerView which displays a list of posts. But I am not able to retrieve a document with its subcollections and put it inside an object. When I submit a list of posts in my RecyclerView, I want each post to already have its Likes and Comments.
I use AsyncTask to do the background work of querying all the posts of the user. After the AsyncTask is done, it will submit the List of posts to the RecyclerView. (Still doesn't work)
In the code below, I'm calling all the Posts of the user and then getting the "Likes" of each post.
I have put a while loop inside each post so that I can wait for it to finish querying the Likes before proceeding to the next Post snapshot
doInBackground()
final List<Post> postList = new ArrayList<>();
// -- GET all the posts of the user
feedsCollection.document(documentID).collection("Posts").get()
    .addOnSuccessListener(new OnSuccessListener<QuerySnapshot>() {
        @Override
        public void onSuccess(QuerySnapshot queryDocumentSnapshots) {

            for(final DocumentSnapshot documentSnapshot1 : queryDocumentSnapshots){
                final Post post = documentSnapshot1.toObject(Post.class);

                // Finish getting the likes&comments before proceeding
                while(post.isStillLoading()){
                    // -- GET Likes of each post
                    db.collection("FeedsCollection").document(documentID).collection("Posts")
                            .document(documentSnapshot1.getId()).collection("Likes").get()

                            .addOnSuccessListener(new OnSuccessListener<QuerySnapshot>() {
                                @Override
                                public void onSuccess(QuerySnapshot queryDocumentSnapshots) {

                                    List<Like> likeList = new ArrayList<>();
                                    for(DocumentSnapshot likeSnapshot : queryDocumentSnapshots){
                                        Like like = likeSnapshot.toObject(Like.class);
                                        likeList.add(like);
                                    }
                                    post.setLikes(likeList);
                                    post.setStillLoading(false);

                                }
                            });
                    // -- GET comments code
                }
                postList.add(post);
            }
        }
    });
return postList;

onPostExecute()
    protected void onPostExecute(List<Post> postList) {
                super.onPostExecute(postList);

                adapter.submitData(postList);

            }

These are the things I've tried:

*

*I tried having multiple
viewtypes in my recyclerview, so that if the list is still empty, it
displays "No items". And then when the AsyncTask finish, it will
re-submit a list to the recyclerview.

*I tried to use FirestoreRecyclerAdapter but I've read that its queries are shallow so it can't get the Likes and Comments subcollections of each post document altogether.

Any other workaround for this?

A:
But I am not able to retrieve a document with its subcollections and put it inside an object.

There's no way you can achieve this. The queries in Firestore are shallow, so it is allowed to only get documents from the collection that the query is run against. Furthermore, there is no way you can get a document together with the nested subcollections in a single go. You can get the document and then run separate queries for each and every subcollection.
Another possible solution might be to use Firebase Realtime Database, where when you download a node, you download it together with all the data that exist beneath that node.

I use AsyncTask to do the background work of querying all the posts of the user.

The Cloud Firestore client already runs all network operations in a background thread. This means that all operations take place without blocking your main thread. Putting it in an AsyncTask does not give any additional benefits.

A: If you have data in multiple collections, even nested collections, you will have to perform multiple queries to get all that data.  It won't be possible with just a single query.  You can certainly implement what you want, it will just be significantly more complex to do so.
It will require one query to get all the documents in PostsCollection, then more queries for each of the subcollections nested under Comments and Likes for each of the posts.
Switching to Realtime Database as Alex suggests might not be a good idea.  You will lose a lot of more complex querying capability just to get deep queries, and you might not even want fully deep queries all the time, as that could be more expensive overall.


The NCA will not make an attempt to identify users or their browsing activities. However, in the unlikely event of an investigation, a law enforcement agency or other government agency may exercise its legal authority to inspect our Internet logs.
The NCA will only record your e-mail address if you send us a message or subscribe to one of our mailing lists. Your e-mail address will only be used or disclosed for the purpose for which you have provided it and it will not be added to a mailing list or used or disclosed for any other purpose without your consent.
The National Capital Authority uses a number of different statistic applications, one of which is Google Analytics.


text:
export { defaultProps } from 'app/styles/default/default-props';
export { defaultStyles } from 'app/styles/default/default-styles';


text:
The Perfect Time Capsule For Messaging Far Future Civilizations? Tiny Microbe
If humanity fails to find a way through this train wreck of a climate crisis, we might want a form of record-keeping that doesn't decay after a generation or two. You know, just to let future intelligences know we had some redeeming qualities.
Artist Joe Davis from Harvard University thinks he has a solution. If you really want to leave your 30th-century descendants a work of art, embed it in the genes of the salt-loving microbe, Halobacterium salinarum.
Davis's suggestion, described in a new paper, isn't the first to propose using nucleic acid as a memory solution. Three years ago, Microsoft also announced plans for devising technology that would see them store information in DNA data banks.
It's not hard to see the appeal of this kind of data storage. Depending on who you ask and how you crunch the numbers, all of the chromosomes in a single human cell could match a pair of CDs for storage space.
That extreme compactness means the sum of all the world's data could, in theory, fit into a double-garage as strings of A, G, T, and C.
Given the rate at which that library of data grows every year, we might want to think about efficient ways to contain it.
It's not just a nice theory. Researchers have previously crammed books, images, and even movies into a format that life has been using for billions of years.
Unfortunately, if you wanted every Marvel film in the MCU translated into a droplet-sized DVD, you'd still need to have plenty of patience. Companies are making headway on automating and speeding it up, but it's not exactly the future of Netflix.
But in addition to its small size, the idea has one other appealing factor.
Unlike that stash of VHS tapes at the top of your closet, or even the CD-ROM games buried in your drawer, a properly stored DNA memory bank can be relied upon to preserve its information for the long haul.
That's all well and good if you have a deep freezer and aren't expecting a major interruption to electricity in the next thousand years or so, but how do we ensure our data survives in the long term?
Researchers suggest the best method could be to find a hardy little archivist that ensures the data is kept in check the old-fashioned way without our help.
"If all other life is destroyed on Earth, and this is the only thing left, maybe that information could propagate on its own," biological engineer Jeff Nivala from the University of Washington tells Steve Nadis at Science Magazine.
In Davis's study, his nomination for the best bug for the job isn't a bacterium, strictly speaking, but a salt-tolerant microorganism called an archaeon.
H. salinarum is right at home in highly salty environments, so it's proven it can put up with the stress of a hostile wasteland.
Buried in salt and deprived of nutrients, it simply stays put, shutting down and refusing to reproduce until conditions improve.
Whereas oxygen and radiation would corrupt a CD in short order, H. salinarum would use its talent for repairing oxidative damage to ensure all of the data was kept in relatively pristine condition for centuries or more.
Davis doesn't have a background in biology, himself, but hasn't let that stop him working with a more qualified team of researchers to demonstrate the microbe's potential over other candidates.
For a code to preserve, Davis created two 3D art pieces (seen above) inspired by a rather apt Russian folktale called "Koschei the Deathless", which were reduced to a string of coordinates and translated into base codes before being inserted into a spot in H. salinarum's genome.
Even after the altered cells copied themselves several times over, their precious message remained stable.
While the intent may sound more sci-fi than practical, there's still much to learn about H. salinarum's metabolism that this kind of research could reveal.
The next phase is to store them away in salt for a number of years before checking in on the code once again, and perhaps tag some proteins to see if they move around while the tiny archivist sleeps.
The study is available on the pre-print website bioRxiv.org.
• March 3, 2020


text:
Combustion technology helps convert animal waste to energy
January 8, 2016	0 By Amanda Giasson
Two alternative energy companies have partnered with Smithfield Foods to produce renewable energy from pig manure.
According to a recent press release, Roeslein Alternative Energy, St. Louis and Georgia-based ABUTEC (an acronym for Advanced Burner Technologies), have teamed up with Smithfield Foods Missouri for a waste to energy project that will involve converting the excessive amount of manure, which is produced from the nearly 2 million pigs that are housed there, into renewable energy. This will be achieved by trapping the biogas released from Smithfield's manure lagoons and storing it for energy production.
There is enough manure to produce over 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
The almost 2 million pigs located at Smithfield Foods Missouri are housed throughout nine facilities. The animals create enough manure to produce 2.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas. In order to create pipeline-quality natural gas, Roeslein is utilizing a pressure swing absorption (PSA) gas conditioning system from Guild Associates Inc., to remove the impurities from the biogas.
According to ABUTEC, in the event that the PSA systems are down due to maintenance or too much biogas is produced, its custom-made 1.5 megawatt (MW) enclosed combustor will burn off the white gas with more than 98% destruction efficiency, enabling Roeslein to continue operation and production. A total of 88 of ABUTEC's combustor units will be manufactured and installed, one for each of the manure lagoons.
The waste to energy project will also earn Smithfield Foods carbon credits.
The combined technology of Roeslein and ABUTEC, will earn Smithfield Foods carbon credits for its environmental sustainability commitment. According to a news article from Renewable Energy From Waste, this type of carbon credit or offset is a type of compensation that represents one metric ton of carbon dioxide eliminated or decreased from the atmosphere by a project that reduces emissions.
The $120 million waste to energy project in Missouri is more than 50% completed. The renewable energy project is expected to be up and running by the middle of this year. Duke Energy in North Carolina has agreed to purchase a portion of the natural gas that will be produced. Duke Energy is a sustainable electric and gas company and is the largest electric power holding company in America.
CategoryAlternative Energy Hydrogen news United States
TagsABUTEC biogas duke energy energy from waste renewable energy Roeslein Alternative Energy Smithfield Foods Missouri W2E waste to energy
Solar energy developer is leaving the Nevada market
Researchers begin experimenting with balloons that produce solar energy
Amanda Giasson
Amanda Giasson has been a professional freelance writer and editor for over a decade. She enjoys writing on a variety of subjects and has a specific interest in news pertaining to environmental issues and how they affect the world. Follow Amanda on Google+


text:
Q: Connecting CCNA lab to home switch for desktop access SU Network Enthusiasts,
I'm a little lost on how to connect my CCNA lab to my home network. I can have diagrams of both to ease the burden of answering this broad question: how can I access both environments through one desktop with only one NIC?
Network Diagram
I have a console cable connection to R1 in the lab from the desktop for configuration and my desktop is on the home network subnet which only has one NIC. I have R1 connected to my home switch. My home switch and router appear to have recognized it automatically as a separate WAN. The trick I'm having difficulty working out is how to see the lab from the desktop.
I don't quite know what is pertinent information to provide to assist this along, but maybe some questions or simple suggestions can help me work this out on my own.
Any assistance would be most appreciated!
Ken

A: The easiest way to communicate with all of the devices, is to use the console cable and directly connect to R1. From there you can use the command ssh X.X.X.X to ssh into the device you wish.
To check that ssh is enabled on the device, use the command show ip ssh or sh ip ssh for the shorthand command. If ssh is enabled on the device, the output will show SSH enabled - version X.xx and display the authentication timeout time, and authentication retries number like so - Authentication timeout: 120 secs; Authentication retries: 3
Though you have a diagram of your network, if you're ever unsure of the neighboring devices IP address, you can use the show cdp neighbor command, which is enabled on all devices by default. You can also fine tune this command to specify the neighbor of a specific port or management interface. show cdp neighbors documentation


The hair on the back of my neck was standing on end. We were completely surrounded by a frenzy of bugling bulls. We had a big herd bull in a clearing in front of us with a large herd of cows, and the satellite bulls were circling and screaming in frustration all around us. A bull was raking a tree a few yards in front of us. We could hear the crashing of antlers from bulls fighting just out of sight.
The big herd bull we had dubbed the Thoroughbred was feeling the pressure from his tormentors and began his usual routine that earned him his nickname, taking his cows and running. Only this time we thought we had him. The bull and his cows were in a box canyon surrounded by vertical cliffs, with us blocking his escape. We thought finally one of us would get a shot.
Ruggs Ranch elk camp was a collection of comfortable wall tents situated deep in the rolling mountains of the 80,000 acre property.
Suddenly we heard rocks rolling. We looked up and saw the Thoroughbred pushing his cows straight up the rock face. I wouldn't have thought a goat could have made it up that cliff, yet here was a herd of elk traversing the face. The Thoroughbred pushed his cows over the top first then stopped toward the top of his climb and in a regal pose bugled in defiance and celebration of his triumphant escape. Standing with our bows in our hands, my hunting partners and I just shook our heads and smiled in appreciation of this unforgettable experience.
We had backpacked seventeen miles into a Montana wilderness area, and two and a half weeks later we hiked out without an elk, but knowing we had experienced one of the greatest hunts of our lives. It was the perfect elk hunt.
That was twenty years ago, just prior to the reintroduction of the wolves into our western mountains. All of us have hunted elk since, and none of us have experienced the elk numbers, the intensity of the rut, the trophy quality, and the relaxed demeanor of the elk that were the hallmarks of that hunt. I thought an elk hunt like that was a thing of the past. That is, until last fall when I arrived at Ruggs Ranch in central Oregon. I had met ranch owner John Flynn at the Dallas Safari Club show in Dallas. We talked about the ranch and all it had to offer and lined up a late fall hunt.
The well-appointed living room in the main lodge at Ruggs Ranch.
Ruggs Ranch head guide Adam Sande kept me wound up all summer with trail camera photos of herds of the big bulls roaming the ranch. I had to push my hunt at Ruggs later than planned due to the birth of my daughter Eliza. I had missed the birth of my son when he arrived early while I was away on a Cape buffalo hunt. My wife was very understanding about that one, but I figured she might not be amused if it happened a second time.
I arrived at Ruggs in early November with only a few days to hunt, and pulled up in front of their beautiful log lodge. I was greeted by the smiling staff and we hauled my gear to a room in the lodge. Since we weren't heading up to the elk camp until the next morning, Adam suggested we experience some of the bird hunting that Ruggs is famous for. With another guide, Pete, and a couple of dogs, we headed out. We saw pheasants everywhere on the drive out, and after unloading the dogs it was but a few yards of walking before we had our first point. The dogs flushed the bird on command and we had our first rooster in the bag. The abundance of birds was such that we would only walk a few yards before we had another point. It wasn't long before our coats were heavy with birds and we headed back to the lodge.
Ruggs has the most amazing birdcleaning facility I have ever seen, where the birds are cleaned and vacuumpacked. We dropped off the birds and headed into the lodge where we were greeted by Executive Chef John "Cookie" Kulon, who served us an unbelievable meal that would be tough to beat in a five-star restaurant. Stuffed to the gills, I climbed into bed, anticipating the next phase of my hunt—elk camp.
The next morning we headed up from the grassland plains where the lodge is located into the pine-covered mountains where the elk camp is situated. It was the nicest wall tent camp I have ever experienced and the best thing about it was Chef Cookie came with us. This is the first elk hunt I have ever experienced with an executive chef. The glazed pork chops and fresh salad sure beat the ramen noodles, jerky, and granola bars that are the usual fare on my elk hunts.
We situated our gear and headed out to glass for elk. The ranch consists of more than 80,000 acres of beautiful rolling mountains, timbered canyons, and open parks—a free-range elk paradise. Adam spotted a very nice bull in a distant canyon but there just wasn't enough daylight to go after him, so we headed back to camp and made a plan for the next day's hunt.
hunters well-fed with gourmet dinners such as glazed pork chops with fresh salad.
Breakfast was still on the table when we heard our first bugle of the morning. Quickly finishing the excellent meal, we headed out in the direction of the bugles. We could hear the cows and calves calling in the clearings ahead. We still-hunted along the timber's edge, trying to close in on the herd. Suddenly we spotted elk topping a rise. We sat, pinned down, until they made their way out of sight, then continued to move. We came over the rise and moved down into the timber toward the herd. We could hear elk calls everywhere and could tell this was a huge herd. Before long, cows and calves began to appear below us, working their way through the clearings. They just kept coming and coming, cows, calves, spikes, and occasional smaller bulls in a parade that seemed endless. As the huge herd made its way past us we became aware we were completely encircled by elk — just like that long-ago day in Montana.
I kept my rifle trained toward the first opening that allowed a shot. Anticipation was killing me as I waited for a big bull to step into the opening. We were all grinning from ear to ear but trying not to move and spook the herd. This mass of elk — hundreds of animals — streamed past us for more than two hours. We saw numerous bulls, but none of the big ones presented a shot. We followed slowly behind, hoping to get a shot at one of the big bulls, but eventually we were forced to back off as they were heading for their midday bedding grounds.
After lunch we headed out to another area not far from camp. We hadn't walked far when we came across a good bull feeding in a small clearing in the afternoon sun. I glassed the bull and although he was a very nice 300-class bull, he was a 5×6. We were heading into the canyon where we had glassed the big bull the night before, so we decided to hold out. Still-hunting through the timber and along the canyon, we saw mule deer and cows and calves, but not the big bull we had seen the previous night.
The next morning dawned clear and cold. We headed up to another part of the ranch where there were several huge parks with water holes. The terrain was beautiful and far less steep than the elk country I'm used to in Idaho and Montana. We made our way across a ridge leading to a steep canyon where the guides see a lot of the big bulls in the late season. Finding a good vantage point, we began glassing the canyon. After glassing for a while and not spotting any bulls we started working our way down the canyon. As we approached the edge of a large clearing, a handful of elk suddenly stood and retreated into the timber. From the thundering sound of hoofs and the swath of churned ground in their wake, there was no doubt of the size of this herd. We followed along in their tracks for a time but they had blown out of the valley and up onto a high plateau.
A sample of Executive Chef John "Cookie" Kulon's "elk hunter fuel".
After lunch and an afternoon nap we headed toward the plateau where the herd had gone. We had barely stepped out of the truck when we ran into elk. It seemed elk were behind nearly every bush and now our biggest problem was going to be getting to the plateau where the bulk of the herd was. We would move a few yards and get pinned down by more elk. Fortunately, these elk don't see much hunting pressure and with a lack of predators they are much more relaxed than public-land elk. They would catch us sometimes right out in the open but usually after staring us down for only a few minutes they would resume feeding and move on.
Elk were calling all around us but the bulk of the bugling was up the canyon toward the clearing on top of the plateau. The sheer number of elk was both fantastic and frustrating. We knew there were big bulls in this herd because the guides had seen them a few days before my arrival, but we could make no progress trying to navigate this minefield of elk. Several small bulls would feed in and out of sight between the trees, but we could never get a good look at the big bulls.
Darkness was slowly creeping in when we finally made it to the rim of the plateau. We knew this was going to be our last chance before my hunt ended. Elk were in the clearing but we knew we were only seeing a small portion of the herd. Several small bulls were feeding and chasing cows in what must have been the secondary rut, but no big bulls were in sight. Finally we had to make a decision. The light was fading and so was my hunt, and I really wanted an elk for the freezer. The moment was now upon us—shoot or go home empty-handed.
The hunters saw many large bulls on the ranch, but they were difficult to stalk in the enormous herds. Reed was pleased with his "meat bull," taken on the last evening of the hunt.
I picked out a bull in the clearing and took the shot. The herd thundered off for what seemed like an eternity. We made our way up to the crest of the ridge, hoping to spot my bull; we knew any sign he left would have been wiped out by the herd. As we crested the ridge, there lay my bull about 100 yards off. He was far from the biggest bull on the ranch, but we couldn't have cared less. To have simply spent so much time surrounded by elk was amazing. Even as we began to field-dress the bull, the rest of the elk resumed talking not far away. Being in the midst of so many elk in such a pristine setting was something I didn't think I'd experience again in my lifetime. I was glad to know the good old days of elk hunting still exist in places like Ruggs Ranch.
After field-dressing, we leaned back against the warm bulk of the bull under a beautiful star-filled sky and reminisced about the past few days. I had just experienced another perfect elk hunt.
The story originally appeared in Sports Afield, November-December 2015.
Does reading this make you feel like elk hunting? Explore the elk hunting opportunities on BookYourHunt. And if you haven't been lucky with the tag lottery this year, read our story how and where to buy elk tags over-the-counter.
← Come together: How to combine hunting and a family vacation.


Costco now has these Callaway Hex Pro Yellow Golf Balls in addition to the Callaway Hex Control Golf Balls. These are not available everywhere, but seem to be similar to the now discontinued Callaway Tour i(s).
If so, expect both distance off the tee and spin around the greens.
The Callaway Hex Pro Yellow Golf Balls are priced at $24.99 per dozen balls.


When a larger number of distinct blocks occur, longer codewords must inevitably be used. But compression can still be achieved if the codewords for common blocks are sufficiently much shorter than the blocks themselves.
One simple strategy for assigning codewords is to number all distinct blocks in order of decreasing frequency, and then just to use the resulting numbers—given, say, in one of the representations discussed above—as the codewords. But if one takes into account the actual frequencies of different blocks, as well as their ranking, then it turns out that there are better ways to assign codewords.
The pictures below show examples based on a method known as Huffman coding. In each case the first part of the output specifies which blocks are to be represented by which codewords, and then the remainder of the output gives the actual succession of codewords that correspond to the blocks appearing in the data. And as the pictures below illustrate, whenever there are fairly few distinct blocks that occur with high frequency, substantial compression is achieved.
Huffman encoding with blocks of length 6 applied to patterns produced by cellular automata. The maximum possible compression is by a factor of 6; the maximum achieved here is roughly a factor of 3. The difference between the size of the results for the last two examples is mostly a consequence of the presence of large areas of white in the first of them.


Centre for Scientific - Information Researches on Science, Education and Technologies.
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The Basis trends of the Centre activity include: studying the problems of market economy, social and economic aspects of corruption, the features for development of the employment market in a transition period, the functioning of the bank system in Russia, theories and practice of federalism, regional management and local self-management, the problems of criminality prevention, the theory and methodology of political science, political culture, political elites, types of authority in a comparative-historical prospect, General and Russian history, History of Idea; the actual problems of modern Western and Russian Sociology and Social Psychology.
The abstract magazines reflecting Domestic and Foreign Literature on economy, history, sociology, State and Law, and also subscription periodicals " Political Science " and " Economic and Social Problems of Russia " are issued.


The EU Directive grants a fundamental right to purchase healthcare services across the European Economic Area for all EEA citizens and to apply for reimbursement from their home system. The EU Directive route to accessing healthcare in Europe is similar to the S2 route, but there are some important differences.
The EU Directive gives you the right to purchase healthcare services in another EEA country and to aplly for reimbursement from the NHS, as long as the treatment is medically necessary and would be made available to you under the NHS.
It covers both treatment given in state-run hospitals and by private service providers.
Prior authorisation may be required in some cases. This will confirm whether you are entitled to the treatment and the level of reimbursement you can expect. It will also ensure that you are aware of all the possible treatment options within the NHS, which may be more convenient for you than going abroad. Find out what types of services require prior authorisation (PDF, 72kb). Please note that this is not necessarily a definitive list.
You must be allowed to have treatment abroad if you cannot have the same treatment on the NHS within a medically acceptable period. As with the S2 route, if 'undue delay' applies in your particular case, you must be granted authorisation. Find out more about the general rules.
For more information and to ensure you don't have any difficulties when claiming back your money, england.europeanhealthcare [at] nhs.net (contact NHS England) before making any arrangements abroad.
Further infromation can be found via on the NHS Choices Website.


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text:
The Starry Expanse Project
Rebuilding Riven
Life after Mysterium
Every year after Mysterium, the team takes a bit of time off as a breath of fresh air after the mad dash to complete our demo in time for August. That brief period of exhalation has been thoroughly enjoyed by each and every one of us, and it is now safe to say that we're back to work.
After our success with last year's goal, we have decided to split our team into three distinct groups. The first group, which is the majority of the team, is focusing on finishing up the Village Basin area that we showed off at Mysterium. This includes completing the unfinished assets as well as fixing any remaining glitches and generally fine-tuning the engine.
Meanwhile, two of our artists are off blazing new trails for the project. We've discussed our camera matching process in the past, our technique of getting 1:1 geometry based solely on images from the original game. Matt, our expert camera-matching guy, has already begun to apply this technique to the rest of Jungle Island, which is the first stage in expanding our in-game area beyond the Village Basin. In these screenshots, you can see our progress on matching Gehn's throne and the upper walkway in the forest (the line overlays are our work)
(The image is somewhat high-resolution, may load slowly)
Once areas are fully "matched", we create very simple stand-in geometry for the area, so in-engine work can begin before the final assets are completed, or even started. The stand-in assets are then replaced, one by one, with final art, until the area is complete. This is the state of the 233rd age currently – it is fully blocked-in, and Kelly, one of our amazing artists, is beginning to create detailed assets, based on the blocking geometry.
Here you can see one of the elements she's working on, albeit still in an early, unpolished phase:
We're very happy to be back to work – as nice as a break is every now and then, we all love working on this project, and are excited to be able to show you guys some pretty cool stuff in the weeks and months to come.
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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 25th, 2014 at 10:30 am and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
43 Responses to "Life after Mysterium".
Team members' usernames are in red.
Flake Says:
First ! Beautiful as always
That's awesome! Keep up the good work, I look forward to this fantastic remake!
Flowerpower Says:
As usual….IMPRESSIVE!!!
CatzTF Says:
Every time an update is posted, my excitement levels triple! :} GREAT WORK!
MikeS Says:
All the new stuff looks great, you guys have made tremendous progress. Very impressive. Quick question though, hopefully this won't sound too snippy – do you guys believe the switch to Unreal 4 will be the last engine change? I know with a long term project like this, it's tough when new tech comes out before the project is finished. The temptation is always there to move to the next best thing.
zib_redlektab Says:
Yes, at this point we have settled on Unreal 4 as our engine. We have no intention of changing again.
Yali Says:
zib, are you guys still looking for recruits? I was just on Polycount.com today and some of the artists are amazing! Riven is all about texturing and lighting imo and the guys there never cease to impress.
Also will Robyn Miller let you use his soundtrack? It was one of the best parts of Riven.
…and by the way I'm still hoping down the road you guys can add an explorable Tay. I think it would be a shame to remake Riven and not correct the biggest fuckup Cyan ever did (well, it was really the lack of development time mind you). Ever since I saw that box have I longed to explore that hive. The same way realMyst had Rime, perhaps the hive could be added after the the initial visit where you regain your trap book. Maybe as some kind of DLC even or maybe an added section of gameplay which requires you to go there to retrieve something for Catherine. Please consider it. I've been waiting 17 years to see Riven redone with the hope that we might finally see more of it.
So far everything looks great!
+1 on exploreable Tay (and 233), even if it's just to leave the prison to walk around a bit . I'm really hoping that the 3D movement will allow us to go outside areas that were originally blocked.
Invisible walls really suck. I took a game design class where the professor said that you should never use a blocking volume or invisible wall to encourage gameplay. Meaning if you don't want your character going somewhere, block it off with physical objects or a story reason like a crumbled wall. Invisible walls only piss off the player. I'm hoping we can wander more freely around jungle island's more open spaces and between the trees in the jungle area. It is realRiven after all.
Oh and thanks for the Tay +1. We've waited so long for the possibility of there being something new in Riven let aalone resolving that anticlimax of the Hive that appeared on the friggin box.
Trapez77 Says:
October 2nd, 2014 at 7:57 pm
Im against an explorable tay, it could never live up to what we all imagine it to be. And it is a prison after all. And you would also have to have a lot of npc's walking around. Im all for using the crystal imager to power up the burnt book in ghens lab to have a new age to explore.
Was Tay originally meant to be explorable but cut?
Yes, and this is going back to comments Rand and Robyn made many years ago. Essentially there were supposed to be five ages including Tay, 233 and 234. Cyan was already behind schedule by '96 and decided to scrap that content for time.
Interesting. Are there any conceptual sketches left over?
October 27th, 2014 at 10:03 pm
Not that I can think of. Although much of the Riven concept art was done pretty roughly and most of it isn't released.
Mozalbete Says:
Impressive as always. Making that jungle must be hell. Or maybe not so much once you have some assets you can cover the map with?
Anyway, I hope UE4 gives you a really good version of the light color contrast and intense shadows
The Blue Page Says:
Will the Original music and sounds from Riven be used in this Remake, without being altered in anyway?
Devilin Pixy Says:
Looking great so far, nice work!
October 4th, 2014 at 7:32 pm
Looks like Unreal 4 has free educational licenses now for schools.
https://www.unrealengine.com/education
Gorobay Says:
From http://www.pcworld.com/article/2690711/exclusive-preview-this-is-obduction-cyans-spiritual-successor-to-myst.html: "There's a very strong The Room-esque presence in Obduction—you can now pick up, rotate, and interact with objects in the environment[…]. "It's the kind of stuff that you wished you could do in Riven when you'd pick up the stuff on Gehn's nightstand," says Anderson."
That does sound pretty cool. Will we be able to interact with objects like this in realRiven?
October 5th, 2014 at 7:16 am
I think that would only be possible if, after making the game, Cyan colaborated, gave them the system they made etc.
Philip Says:
We actually haven't decided that yet. Back in the beginning we had concept art for a "detailed object view" that would let the player pick up essentially any object, and rotate it around 360 degrees, zoom in and whatnot…
My personal suspicion is that Riven just has too many random trinkets (some of which are important, many of which are not) to make them all "inspectable". If everything was able to be inspected like that, you might start ignoring the important objects because so many of the viewable objects are just function-less.
An important part of Riven's design is that the player be directed toward the important bits (i.e. things that help them progress in the game). This was accomplished in the original through careful choice of camera locations, selective interactivity, etcetera. In the more unrestricted environment that is realRiven, we don't have the ability to force certain aspects of the game like that, so we'll need to experiment to see what's workable and what's not.
Jaratomithy Says:
I personally think that being able to pick up any object (including many useless objects) is a fantastic idea. It would force the player to stop and really think about what they are trying to accomplish.
I'm sure it would also give the game a whole new level of depth and detail which would make it even more immersive than it already is.
But that's just me, I'm no game designer so I can't really argue.
If Cyan could provide the team with all original models used in Riven somehow it could save you tons of time! I'm not sure if it's plausible but certainly worth negotitating.
Curious about this as well, seems like it would save a lot of time.
Also the textures. Nothing says Riven more than those Albuquerque textures.
Ethan B. Says:
Have you guys thought of possibly starting a kickstarter?
Keith Monaghan Says:
November 23rd, 2014 at 10:01 pm
I'd support Starry Expanse on Kickstarter!
Thank you! It's great to know we have such awesome followers.
We currently have no plans for a Kickstarter… That said, it's not outside of the realm of possibility!
October 22nd, 2014 at 9:51 am
October update ?
Soon to be November update.
I hope we get to see the beautiful blue sky as close to the original as well. It made the game so much more immersive for me. Keep up the good work! I'm really looking forward to this!
Jota Says:
November 11th, 2014 at 11:57 am
Playing Riven with Oculus Rift and Omni Virtuix would be the most amazing experience ever. Omni Virtuix fits to every game, so noe extra work to be done there.
You guys still alive?
November update ?
Soon to be December update.
I guess the project is dead.
Seems like it. 🙁
We're still alive!
Yay! Good news!
Haha, there have been plenty of times in the past where they have had three month or more breaks between updates.
I know, but apocalyptic comments are always a good way to get a little "we are still here!" response 😀
Nope, things are still chugging along. Those of us in school find ourselves constantly distracted by it this time of year, however. We'll definitely post something by the end of next month (if not sooner).
Have a burning question you want to ask us?
Want to interact with fellow Starry Expanse fans?
For that and more, join and connect with us on the following platforms!
Copyright © The Starry Expanse Project
To our wonderful fans,
Thanks for your patience during this break in community updates. We will share more news as soon as we are able!
-The Starry Expanse Team (November 2021)


text:
Burials and Cemeteries Go Green Environmentally friendly funerals are catching on in some areas of the U.S. as an alternative to traditional burials. So-called "green burials" eschew embalming and fancy caskets in favor of a more biodegradable, natural return to the earth.
Burials and Cemeteries Go Green
December 16, 200712:00 AM ET
Cheryl Corley
Ginny Boll, a 78-year-old former nun, said that when she dies, she wants her friends to hold a party to celebrate her life and then to bury her simply. Cheryl Corley, NPR hide caption
Cheryl Corley, NPR
Ginny Boll, a 78-year-old former nun, said that when she dies, she wants her friends to hold a party to celebrate her life and then to bury her simply.
Tom Kursell, president of the Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee, said he is planning to dedicate a two-and-a-half acre meadow full of native Wisconsin grasses to green burials as early as next spring. Cheryl Corley, NPR hide caption
Tom Kursell, president of the Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee, said he is planning to dedicate a two-and-a-half acre meadow full of native Wisconsin grasses to green burials as early as next spring.
What Is a Green Burial?
What exactly makes a funeral green? Read more about some of the environmental, health and legal issues involved.
Ginny Boll loves life. The 78-year-old former nun operates a dog-grooming business in Wisconsin in a small shed near her home on her woodland property. When she dies, Boll says she wants her friends to hold a party to celebrate her life and then to bury her simply.
She's not interested in being embalmed or laid to rest in a fancy casket. Boll wants to return to the earth in a more natural way.
So-called "green burials" are catching on in some areas as an alternative to traditional burial. They are simple, often more affordable and environmentally friendly.
Formaldehyde-based embalming is taboo in green burials, as are concrete burial vaults. Caskets are made of biodegradable material, and sometimes the deceased are wrapped in shrouds alone.
According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the average cost of a traditional funeral is $6,500 plus cemetery costs.
A green burial can be significantly less costly — in some locations, it's only a few thousand dollars; the burial of cremated remains is even less.
Cremations — which are also inexpensive — are increasing in number. But Joe Sehee, executive director of the Green Burial Council, says that unlike with cremations, green burials present little possibility that mercury or other potentially hazardous emissions will be released.
Sehee says it's up to individuals to decide how green they want their end-of-life process to be, but he believes current funeral practices are reason enough to go green.
"We bury enough embalming fluid to fill eight Olympic-size swimming pools, enough metal to build the Golden Gate Bridge, and so much reinforced concrete in burial vaults that we could build a two-lane highway from New York to Detroit," Sehee said.
It wasn't until the Civil War — when bodies were transported from the battlefield to home — that current funeral practices became popular. So in many ways, green burials are simply a return to traditions of the past. And some religious groups adhere to those practices even today.
The concept of green burials, though, is more popular overseas. In Great Britain, there are 200 green cemeteries. In the United States, there's just a handful in a few states. The first, Ramsey Creek Preserve, opened in South Carolina in 1998.
Even so, there has been enough interest in these alternative burials that some conventional providers are starting to think green. That includes the Forest Home Cemetery, a historic landmark in Milwaukee. Cemetery President Tom Kursell says a two-and-a-half acre meadow full of native Wisconsin grasses will be used for green burials as early as next spring. That's where the process of "ashes to ashes" will take place at a much more rapid place.
Whether it's a conventional cemetery carving out areas for green burials, or burial grounds being created in an effort to preserve open space, Sehee says it's all connected to the same idea: One's final act can have meaning for a family while having less impact on the earth.
Related NPR Stories
Green Burial Movement Spreads to the Southwest Sept. 21, 2006
Full Cemeteries Lead to Alternative Burial Practices June 4, 2006
Q&A: What It Means to Have a Green Burial
Heidi Glenn
When Six Feet Under character Nate Fisher was laid to rest in the HBO series, his unconventional funeral gave many viewers their first glimpse of eco-friendly "green burials." A scene in the series shows several characters carrying Fisher's shrouded body — sans casket — to a gravesite in the woods.
Since then, the movement to make funerals more environmentally friendly has grown. But what exactly makes a funeral green? Here, a look at some of the environmental, health and legal issues involved.
What is a "green burial?"
Green funerals shun chemical preservatives, traditional heavy metal and wood caskets, and other features of costly modern burials. Going green is billed as a low-cost, highly personal alternative to a conventional burial. Un-embalmed remains are put directly into the ground, either shrouded in cloth or buried in natural caskets made of biodegradable materials, such as cardboard, wicker and pine. Burial vaults – underground, concrete reinforcement used to ensure that graves do not collapse – are not used.
Where do green burials take place?
Usually, at cemeteries that aim to preserve the natural landscape. Some cemeteries also create a conservation fund to protect the burial area for years to come.
Why opt for a green burial?
The principle is to follow the natural cycle of life by returning the body to the earth and embracing the Biblical philosophy of "ashes to ashes, dust to dust."
Advocates also cite their reduced environmental impact over conventional burials, as well as land-preservation benefits and affordability. Traditional burials, they argue, are a waste of resources: Each year, cemeteries bury millions of feet of wood, thousands of tons of steel, copper and concrete, and hundreds of thousands of gallons of embalming fluids — which contain formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.
Isn't embalming required?
Not by federal law. Some funeral practitioners say embalming is vital for preventing the spread of disease. But the Green Burial Council — which has set standards for the practice — argues that "there is no evidence suggesting that embalming provides any public health benefits." In green burials, bodies are preserved using dry ice or a cooler for up to three to four days.
Do green burials pollute water?
Advocates say water quality will not be jeopardized because, for the most part, harmful bacteria and viruses become inert within hours or days after death. To prevent any potential contamination, they say burial sites should be kept far from streams.
If the natural landscape is supposed to be preserved, how are graves marked?
Some green cemeteries use flat native fieldstones to mark graves, as well as shrubs and trees. Green cemeteries are also going geek — using GPS coordinates to locate graves.
Where are green burials held?
A handful of green cemeteries have sprouted up in a few states — including California, Florida, Michigan, New York, South Carolina and Texas. Many traditional cemeteries are also considering devoting areas to burials where remains are not embalmed and vaults are not used.
Ramsey Creek Preserve in northwestern South Carolina –- the first green cemetery in the U.S. — does not require a casket; instead, bodies may be wrapped in a shroud or blanket. Most graves there are hand-dug in order to protect plants and minimize the impact on surrounding land.
What about cremation?
Cremation uses far fewer resources than burial. But the process involves burning fossil fuels, and it can produce emissions including carbon monoxide and mercury (from dental fillings). Some crematoriums are considering reducing their carbon footprint by participating in carbon-offset programs.
Those who want to bury cremated remains can purchase biodegradable urns. Some people also opt to add ashes to balls that are dropped onto memorial ocean reef sites, according to Grave Matters, a book on the natural death movement.
How much does a green burial cost?
At Ramsey Creek Preserve, prices start at about $2,000, which covers the cost of the burial site. A pine casket can cost $420, a cardboard casket as little as $50. According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the average cost of a traditional funeral is $6,500 — excluding cemetery costs such as a lot, vault and plot marker. Many funerals run well over $10,000.