text:
Platan & Latarka Galleries
Walks in Muranów 1939.
Road to an Empty Sky is an outstanding work on Poland's Jewish culture and a unique memorial to the latter's destruction. Book presentation of the new book of Zoltan Halasi. Guests: Zoltan Halasi and Andras Török
Thursday 8 October 2015, 6:00 pm
Polish Institute
Road to an Empty Sky is an outstanding work on Poland's Jewish culture and a unique memorial to the latter's destruction. It opens on a Holocaust poem written in Yiddish by Itzhak Katzenelson and translated into Hungarian by Halasi. Throughout the nineteen gripping chapters of the book's prose section, Halasi speaks through the words and writings of the Jewish intelligentsia of the time to describe what was lost in the war. In literary texts rendered as historical documents, the author gives an overview of Polish Jewish culture followed by an exceptionally vivid depiction, rich in dramatic details, of the cruel and methodical annihilation of both this national culture and those living in it.
From one chapter to the next, he slips seamlessly from one role to another – from rapporteur to art historian, literary critic to travel guide writer – as he covers themes as varied as wooden synagogues, anthologies of Yiddish poetry and Warsaw's Jewish Quarter with unerring expertise. Taking the perspective of a German banker, he exposes the Nazis' hidden financial agenda and, as an SS pamphlet writer, reveals the absurdity of racist discourse.
The recounting of a week-long selection within the Warsaw ghetto shows us the inexorable logic behind actions made under duress, while a social worker describes the many obstacles she faces in rescuing children. Using three different points of view (Polish, Jewish and German), Halasi shows us how the Treblinka death camp was set up and operated. Through the cynical commentary of German police officers, we see the rituals with which murderers are initiated and mass slaughters are performed. The last chapter alternates – rhythmically, painfully driving the reader to the brink of endurance – between fragments of narratives by fleeing Jewish children and by those who sheltered them.
The profoundly disturbing content is paired with special literary devices, such as verse (frequently polyphonic) hidden in prose. By exploring the individual plights of many, the book invites us to see how they all fit into the overarching systemic processes. Using important formal innovations, the work as a whole covers a thematic area unfamiliar not only to the Hungarian, but also the European reader. Its novel approach facilitates a literary revisiting of complex, multifaceted factual materials long held in secret.
The book concludes with an unconventional collection of poems, medieval in tone and outlook, in which the author draws upon characteristic features of the Middle Ages: empires, popes, chivalry, crusades, feudal struggles, as well as the false accusations against Jews: blood libel, host desecration and well poisoning – all of which add up to an anatomically precise depiction liberally dosed with irony. It culminates in a triad of poems which, following the genre of the traditional Jewish lament (qinah), tells the tale of its European history.
With its powerfully innovative literary devices, Halasi's book undertakes to show not only the systemic organization of the Holocaust, but also to – through the use of poetic imagery and the musicality of verse – draw up from the collective subconscious its historical antecedents in Europe, and deliver the essence of its message to the reader.
Critically acclaimed soon after its publication, Road to an Empty Sky was granted the prestigious Déry and Milán Füst awards in Hungary.
Program magazine
Audio coverage
80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War
75th anniversary of the Warsaw Rising
75th anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino
Minister Jacek Czaputowicz on Polish diplomacy priorities in 2019
"Cursed Soldiers" National Remembrance Day


text:
Anti-censorship group censored
Wednesday May 06th 2009, 10:08 pm
EFA have been served with a link deletion notice by ACMA. They've been ordered to remove a link to http://www.abortiontv.com/Pics/AbortionPictures6.htm, a site which was added to the ACMA blacklist after anti-censorship Whirlpool user xFOADx baited them to do so.
As a good measure of the circular futility of internet censorship, ACMA served Whirlpool with a link deletion notice when xFOADx published the content of a letter to him from ACMA indicating the page on the abortion.tv site had been blacklisted. EFA rightfully wonder where it all will end:
If a link to a prohibited page is not allowed, what about a link to a link? At what number of hops does a hyperlink ecome acceptable?
Indeed, is http://tinyurl.com/3ya5js a prohibited link? It points to http://www.abortiontv.com/Pics/AbortionPictures6.htm. How about http://tinyurl.com/cgyla3? It points to http://tinyurl.com/3ya5js.
EFA have also reproduced a copy of the 'Final Link Deletion Notice' as received from ACMA. Page 3 of the Notice contains the evil offending link. Should ACMA ban EFA from publishing ACMA's own Notice?
1984 much?
mgk's host has not yet been served with a link deletion notice for the several times I have published the http://www.abortiontv.com/Pics/AbortionPictures6.htm, but hope springs eternal. I'm aware that a complaint has been made to ACMA about mgk, but whether a single blogger is worth ACMA's attention or if they will focus on attacking large harbours of criticism of the government like EFA & Whirlpool remains to be seen.
One thing's certain; the first rule of censorship is that you cannot discuss censorship.
FIGJAM: Internet censorship works! Just ask Exetel!
Tuesday May 05th 2009, 8:42 am
It has been predicted several times that 'trials' of mandatory internet censorship would invariably be heralded as great successes, given the lack of definition of 'success' before trials were commenced.
ISP Exetel have just completed what they are calling a 'trial' of mandatory internet censorship. And ya know what? It's a runaway success!
Never you mind that the 'trial' they ran bore no resemblance whatsoever to the requirements of Rudd's plan. But that's not important! Exetel claim it works… depending upon your definition of 'works,' of course.
Mysteries abound, though. Exetel's Steve Waddington is now so convinced of the need for and lack of harm of mandatory filtering that he's gone from staunch filter opponent to calling staunch filter opponents 'crazies' in the span of 5 months. Waddington's coarse and completely unprofessional flaming of an unhappy home & commercial Exetel customer is fully gobsmacking. So, how exactly did Waddington's opinion change so radically? Was he sold a pup by the censorware vendor? Was he told to change his mind by Exetel Boss John Linton? Who knows. Regardless, I've been shopping for a replacement for my Optus service since they announced they'd be participating in a flawed 'trial' as well. Exetel's well and truly earned a spot on my never-in-a-million-years list.
But, if Exetel's results are to believed, internet filtering WORKS… as long as your banlist is infinitesimally small, involves a statistically insignificant number of users and doesn't filter YouTube or Wikipedia.
You can score a squillion points a minute if you have Conroy™ brand goal posts. A mile wide, fully portable, put 'em anywhere you like!
Geofiltering tomfoolery: one of the two downsides to being a US expat
Sunday May 03rd 2009, 7:04 am
In the nearly 14 years I have lived in Australia to date, the only American stuff I have truly missed is Ben & Jerry's. I certainly did not miss living in the US during the reign of King George the Torturer. Up 'til this point, pretty much any US TV offerings worth seeing (and those are damned rare) have been readily available, either on the 'torrents or through the kindness of producers of such shows, who have made them viewable via their websites.
Well, a couple of days ago, the folks over at Comedy Central decided that it's more important to please international copyright holders than the fans of the shows and so have geofiltered the availability of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Never you mind that TDS & TCR either don't air at all in Australia or don't air in their entirety. TDS is occasionally aired in Aus in a weekly 'global edition' digest form- and often a week (or more) later than the US airing, while TCR doesn't air in Aus at all. This is suicide for a news and current affairs program. Who cares about month-or-more-old satires of current events?
While I've not succeeded over the years in getting any New York Super Fudge Chunk here in Aus, geofiltering of US websites is trivial to beat. The only thing that Comedy Central have accomplished by slamming the door on overseas fans of TDS & TCR is to generate an awful lot of badwill, particularly after Jon Stewart has bragged so many times that TDS is available for free, worldwide, via the TDS website. Well, that and will force TDS fans to get the show (probably illegally) off the 'torrents.
American insularity is something that Stewart has railed against for all the time TDS has been on air. Lets hope commonsense prevails, but in the meantime, proxying, IP spoofing and torrents will keep any dedicated TDS/TCR fans from missing anything. One thing geofiltering will definitely not accomplish is to force fans in Australia to buy cable/satellite services so they can get old or truncated versions of the shows.
Australia's monarchist hangover
Friday May 01st 2009, 8:07 am
The government is in the process of conducting a 'Human Rights Consultation' with a view toward establishing some sort of Bill of Rights or human rights declaration. Good idea. We don't have basic human rights codified in Australia, not even freedom of speech/expression.
However, the Terms of Reference for this consultation negate its very existence. Last note in the Terms:
The options identified should preserve the sovereignty of the Parliament and not include a constitutionally entrenched bill of rights.
Rights doctrines do one thing and one thing only- protect citizens from excessive exercise of government power. They're of little value if they are enacted on a statutory basis, where they can be modified, overridden or even dissolved by a simple act of Parliament.
The notion of 'preserving the sovereignty of the Parliament' could only be acceptable to authoritarians and monarchists. Governments in liberal democracies are constituted of, by and for the people, not the other way around. You don't get imbued with the right to deprive others of human rights merely because you have been elected to a public office. The only sovereignty which should be established by a rights doctrine is that of the citizen over the government.
If there's to be a human rights declaration, it must be a constitutional instrument or it has little value. Regardless, GetUp are pushing participation in the human rights consultation:
This government consultation is a once in a lifetime chance to call for a Human Rights Act to permanently protect human rights in Australia.
Sorry, but the Act as framed will not 'permanently protect human rights in Australia.' It will be white-anted by the present or subsequent governments, merely because it will not be entrenched as part of the Australian Constitution, which offers some resilience against tampering by a simple Parliamentary vote. I can't support GetUp's campaign unless they lobby to change the terms to specify a constitutional rights declaration.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Locations The Oasis at Death Valley Grand Canyon National Park Glacier National Park Lodges The Grand Hotel Yellowstone National Park Zion National Park Windstar Cruises VBT Bicycling and Walking Vacations The Grand Canyon Railway & Hotel Country Walkers
Rooms # rooms 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Our Fred Harvey Legacy
Andrew N. Todd
Betsy O'Rourke
Gordon R. Taylor
Hans Desai
Jim Forester
Kirk H. Anderson
Lonnie S. Clark
Shannon Dierenbach
Tim Schoonover
Death Valley Gifts
Grand Canyon Gifts
Grand Canyon Railway Gifts
Mount Rushmore Gifts
Rocky Mountain Gifts
Yellowstone Gifts
How Was Your Stay
Our Brands & Properties
Fall Vacation Planning
Soul of the Traveler Quiz
Guide for Multi-Gen Travel
Plan a National Park Vacation
Plan an Italian Escape
Plan a Culinary Getaway
Plan a Romantic Escape
Guided Vacations Made Easy
Planning an Active Vacation
Stress-Free Small Group Travel
Travel Professional Sign Up
International Travel Professional Sign Up
General Benefit Information
Living in a National Park
Locations & Employment Dates
5 Unexpected Winter Getaways to Book Now!
Get exclusive travel news and offers from the Xanterra Travel Collection
Why These 5 Unexpected Winter Getaways Should be on your Bucket List
Posted by: Xanterra on November 7, 2019
Aboard a four-masted sailing ship with just 148 guests, you'll visit Bora Bora, Moorea, Fakarava, and other exotic Tahiti destinations that are the stuff of dreams.
Nothing compares to a warm-weather destination when you're in the grip of winter's icy sting. But there's more to a winter escape than tried-and-true Florida, Hawaii, or the Caribbean. Consider a more exotic locale for your next winter getaway. From Tahiti and Death Valley to Panama, New Zealand, and South Africa, here are five amazing and unexpected vacations. Get ready to fill out your bucket list.
Tahiti & the Tuamotu Islands
Experience one of the most beautiful places on earth on a 10-day Windstar Cruises voyage in French Polynesia, Tahiti & the Tuamotu Islands. Aboard a four-masted sailing ship with just 148 guests, you'll visit Bora Bora, Moorea, Fakarava, and other exotic Tahiti destinations that are the stuff of dreams. With the trade winds at your back, sail among deserted motus and shallow lagoons enveloped in crystalline waters and azure skies. Travel through the windward and leeward Society Islands with sails billowing to the beautiful Tuamotu Islands, where pristine atolls and pocket lagoons welcome you to a hidden paradise. You may have to pinch yourself to make sure it's actually real.
Winter getaways don't always have to beach focused. Sometimes, only the desert will do. Comfortably warm in the winter when much of the country is shivering, The Oasis at Death Valley welcomes you with spring-fed pools at a constant, cozy 85 degrees, the world's lowest golf course at 214 feet below sea level, and two hotels, the historic AAA Four Diamond Inn at Death Valley and the family-friendly Ranch at Death Valley. Coming off a $100 million revitalization, the resort is an unexpected gem in the middle of the 3.4 million-acre Death Valley National Park, the largest national park in the lower 48. In addition to the park's stark and dramatic beauty, perfect for exploring on hikes, bike, horseback, or jeep, the resort pampers guests with a spa, two dining rooms, and spectacular stargazing from its outdoor decks in a Gold Tier Dark Sky Park, the highest level awarded.
Longing to tick a dream destination off your bucket list this winter? Consider Country Walkers eight-day guided tour of New Zealand: The South Island. Winter in the Northern Hemisphere is a perfect time to visit because it will be summer in the Southern Hemisphere. On this tour, you'll trek through stunning natural beauty including dramatic mountain landscapes, secluded beaches, and verdant forests. Hike the Mt. Robert Circuit, an alpine trail overlooking Lake Rotoiti in Nelson Lakes National Park, which is marked by the snow-capped Southern Alps. Explore one of New Zealand's "Great Walks," the Abel Tasman Coast Track, lined by golden beaches, pristine bays, and intriguing rock formations. Take in the photogenic coastlines at Marlborough Sounds, as you climb the ridge-top trails of the Queen Charlotte Track (be sure to keep your camera handy!). And enjoy encounters with locals as they go tramping — Kiwi for "taking long walks" — and learn why it's a favorite national pastime. It just may become yours, too.
Costa Rica and Panama
When is two better than one? When it's a nine-day cruise to both Costa Rica & Panama with Holiday Vacations. Not only will you visit both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in the same day as you traverse the iconic Panama Canal, but you'll also enjoy the extraordinary natural sights of Costa Rica, a country known for its eco attractions. On the first half of the tour, you'll explore Costa Rica's renowned tropical forests filled with endemic wildlife at Poas Volcano National Park, the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge, and the misty Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, among others. Thrill at the sight of jaguars, ocelots, pumas, margays, and iguanas — as well as the resplendent quetzal. Then visit vibrant modern Panama City and the historical ruins of Old Panama. After the canal crossing, take a scenic boat ride to Embera Quera, an indigenous community where residents share their music, dance, and handmade crafts. Talk about a break-the-mold vacation!
Combine stunning wilderness with wine tasting on an 11-day guided bike tour of South Africa: Cape Town & the Garden Route with VBT Bicycling Vacations. South Africa's sandstone mountains, rolling hills, lively townships, family-run wineries, and cosmopolitan Cape Town unfold as you cycle through this fascinating country. Ascend iconic Table Mountain by cableway and thrill to its stunning views of the Cape Peninsula. Hike among the forests of Tsitsikamma National Park or swim in the Indian Ocean. Photograph the blooms of the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and the scenic roads of the Garden Route. Experience post-apartheid South Africa on a township tour. Enjoy a wine tasting at a family estate and a traditional braai, or barbecue. And discover centuries of cultural influences, from Dutch-flavored Oudtshoorn to the "French Corner" of Franschhoek, settled by farmers from France who brought their winemaking traditions with them. It's a great way to sample the country's amazing diversity.
How to Explore
Recognized by the readers of Condé Nast Traveler on the 2016 Gold List of Favorite Cruise Lines and by USA TODAY readers for Best Boutique Cruise Line, Windstar's fleet of small luxury sailing ships and all-suite power ships with 148 to 310 guests bring you closer to smaller ports and exclusive local experiences around the world. Visit windstarcruises.com or call 888-460-5098 for more information.
The Oasis at Death Valley is situated in a lush oasis surrounded by the vast and arid desert of Death Valley National Park, Calif. — just 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas and 275 miles northeast of Los Angeles. This is one resort with two hotels — the historic, AAA Four Diamond, 66-room Inn at Death Valley and the family-oriented, 224-room Ranch at Death Valley. The entire resort has undergone a complete renaissance with an extensive renovation in 2018. It includes natural spring-fed pools, an 18-hole golf course, horse and carriage rides, world-renowned stargazing, and is surrounded by Death Valley National Park's main attractions. Visit oasisatdeathvalley.com for more information or call or call 800-236-7916.
For more than 40 years, Country Walkers has provided active, immersive, and unforgettable travel experiences on five continents. They offer two distinct ways to explore: scheduled, small-group Guided Walking Adventures and independent Self-Guided Walking Adventures. On tour, guests enjoy superb local cuisine, first-class guides, fine accommodations, and authentic cultural and natural encounters. Visit countrywalkers.com or call 800-234-6900 for more information.
Holiday Vacations is one of America's most reputable tour companies, with 46 years of experience. As a nationwide provider of air, rail, motorcoach, and cruise guided vacations to more than 65 destinations worldwide, their packages are inclusive of all airfare, fine hotels, meals, and must-see attractions. Expert tour directors handle all travel details, assuring you a carefree and memorable vacation. Visit holidayvacations.com for more information.
VBT Bicycling Vacations
VBT Bicycling Vacations offer more than 55 deluxe, small-group bicycling, walking, and barge & sail vacations in 27 different countries and 10 U.S. states. They are the value leader in active biking vacations and have been rated among the "World's Best Tour Operators" by the readers of Travel + Leisure for seven years. Each trip includes all accommodations, many meals, two expert local trip leaders, unique sightseeing and cultural activities, and full van support. Unlike other companies, VBT also includes round-trip international airfare from more than 30 U.S. cities and select Canadian cities for all overseas vacations. Visit vbt.com or call 800-245-3868 for more information.
For more travel experiences available from the Xanterra Travel Collection and its affiliated properties, visit xanterra.com/stories.
Written by: Veronica Stoddart
Award-winning travel editor and writer Veronica Stoddart was the former editor in chief of the Travel Media Group at USA TODAY. She has written for nearly two dozen publications and websites.
7 Amazing Trips That Will Change Your Life
Five Memories You'll Never Forget on a Holiday Vacations Tour of the Netherlands & Belgium
5 Death Valley Hikes That Should Be on Your Bucket List Now
Receive Exclusive Content & Travel Deals
TAC Employees
6312 Fiddlers Green Circle | Suite 600 North
info@xanterra.com
Copyright 2020 Xanterra Travel Collection
Tourism Marketing by VERB
Xanterra Travel Collection | A World of Unforgettable Experiences
Cedar Creek Lodge - Just Outside Glacier National Park
Grand Canyon National Park – South Rim
Affiliated Properties:
The Broadmoor
Xanterra is a proud member of the World Wildlife Fund's Climate Savers program
Sign up for exclusive travel news and offers for some of the world's most incredible destinations.
Sign up for Travel Offers


How Are YOU Observing Public Power Week?
Is your utility holding an observation of Public Power Week? If so, we'd love to hear about it!
Public Power Week is October 5-11. 2014 marks the 28th anniversary of this nationwide program to celebrate the importance of public power to local citizens and other key publics, including state and national officials.
Are you holding events or otherwise celebration Public Power Week with your citizens? If so, we hope you'll share your plans with IAMU so we can feature you in next weeks IAMU Informer. Just email the details to cdean@iamu.org, or fill out the "Suggest a Story for The Informer" form on the right side of the page. Thanks in advance!


text:
Delingpole: 48,000 Britons Died of Cold This Winter; UK Government Praises Climate Policy Which Helped Kill Them
OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty
Britain has just suffered its worst winter death toll in 42 years.
According to the Daily Star:
It is estimated that 20,275 Brits more than average died between December and March.
An additional 2,000 deaths more than average were expected due to cold conditions between March 23 and 31, this winter's average death rates show.
Campaigners have called the deaths a "national tragedy" as cold weather victims fatalities could be prevented – especially in the elderly.
According to the Office of National Statistics, one in 10 cold weather deaths are among under-65s, one in 10 among 65-75s and eight in 10 among over-75s.
The Department of Health also said cold conditions worsen winter killers including flu, chest diseases, heart attacks, strokes and dementia.
It means this winter is set to total at least 48,000 deaths due to cold weather – which works out at an average of one death every three and a half minutes.
But what's more shocking still is that the UK government – claiming to be Conservative, last time I looked – is actually boasting about the disastrous policy which helped kill them.
Here is what Energy Minister Claire Perry had to say on the tenth anniversary of the 2008 Climate Change Act – the most ruinous and pointless piece of legislation in recent British parliamentary history – which is largely responsible for making energy so expensive that the poor and vulnerable cannot afford to heat their homes.
Momentum on climate action is accelerating with the UK in the driving seat. Climate change is no longer just a phrase used by environmentalists and scientists, it forms part of our everyday narrative. This is the moment not only for global efforts to reduce our CO2 output, but also for the growth of green industries and for international climate collaboration.
Climate change crosses party political lines and doesn't respect borders. That cross-party support for climate action and UK leadership was demonstrated in 2008 with the introduction of the historic Climate Change Act, setting an ambitious legally-binding target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80% of 1990 levels by 2050.
Though the Climate Change Act was passed under a Labour government, it was supported by almost the entirety of the Conservative opposition, led by David Cameron – who later went on, as prime minister, to boast that he was leading the "greenest government ever."
But the Climate Change Act was passed a whole decade ago. Since then, the Conservatives have had more than enough time to consider the evidence and conduct a cost benefit analysis. According to the Department of Energy's (presumably now out of date) estimate the Act, which requires Britain to decarbonise its economy by an impossible 80 percent, will have cost the taxpayer a total of £734 billion by 2050.
What, exactly, is Britain getting in return for all that money spent?
Well, if you believe that aforementioned 'Conservative' minister Claire Perry, one of the things it has got is the moral high ground.
Fast forward 10 years and in 2015 the UK was instrumental in securing the Paris Agreement, committing 175 countries to protect the world from catastrophic warming.
Three years ago in Paris, the UK and other developed countries committed a joint contribution of $100 billion to help the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world cope with the increasing risk of droughts and floods and provide access to clean energy. We should be proud that the UK is regarded so highly for its climate action overseas as well as at home.
Except, as we know, this is cobblers. The really big carbon dioxide emitters – such as China and India – don't give a damn whether or not Britain wishes unilaterally to decarbonise its economy in the name of 'saving the planet'. So Britain's contribution to global decarbonisation, either in terms of leadership or in total reduced carbon dioxide levels, is negligible.
As Christopher Booker tartly notes in the Sunday Telegraph:
Has Perry ever looked at the figures to see how far the rest of the world has, in fact, been following in our footsteps? It is true that in the past decade the UK, according to the latest BP Statistical Review of World Energy, has cut its emissions by 28 per cent, mainly by closing down the coal-fired power stations that until 2015 still supplied 30 per cent of our electricity, so we now contribute barely one per cent to the global total.
But China, the world's largest emitter, contributing 27 per cent of the total, has in the same period increased its emissions by 24 per cent, and plans by 2030 to have doubled them. India, the third largest emitter, has increased them by 54 per cent and plans to have tripled them. So our energy minister thinks we should continue to set an example to the world by spending "trillions" on meeting a target that could only be achieved by closing down virtually all our economy, while the rest of the world takes not the blindest notice.
So, if not the moral high ground, what has Britain managed to get in return for that £734 billion outlay?
Apart from the various bat-chomping, bird-slicing eco-crucifixes blighting the skylines and the arrays of solar panels turning agricultural land into something out of a bad 70s movies, about the only tangible thing I can think of is all those extra dead people in body bags.
Unlike most of the things climate campaigners worry about, these dead people aren't theoretical projections derived from dodgy computer models. These are real people – brothers, sisters, grandparents, great-grandparents – who might well have lived a few more years longer than they did if the cost of heating their homes hadn't been artificially driven up by government policy.
Cold is a much bigger killer for humans than heat.
As Harry Wilkinson notes at Conservative Woman:
Globally, twenty times as many people die from the cold than from the heat. This is exactly the case in Britain, where cold-related mortality accounts for 61 deaths per 100,000, one of the highest rates in Europe. This compares with only three deaths per 100,000 for heat-related mortality.
Human beings just don't like the cold, and we are willing to pay to avoid it. In the United States, a Stanford study found 2.5 deg C of warming would lower deaths by 40,000 annually and, using willingness to pay as a measure of preference, that workers would be prepared to give up between $30billion and $100billion annually in wages for a 2.5 deg C rise in temperature.
Here in Britain, winter excess deaths had been falling over the past century, but in the past decade that progress has stalled. The trend could even go into reverse as bills increase to support unreliable renewable technologies.
The temperature of centrally heated homes has also been falling, suggesting that the rising cost of energy is preventing people heating their homes adequately. This is all the more surprising given that improvements in insulation should have resulted in warmer homes, not colder.
You'd think that the fact UK government policy is causing tens of thousands of old people to freeze to death would be something of a national scandal: that the newspapers would be full of it; that eager Conservative backbenchers would be kicking up a fuss about the appalling waste of life staining the government's conscience and calling into question the Conservatives' reputation as the party of decency and common sense; that the Labour opposition would be campaigning vigorously against the outrageous costs being added to consumer energy bills by green levies.
Instead, such is the power of green groupthink that the government is quite literally getting away with murder: in the name of saving the environment it is killing its people.
And almost no one is doing a damned thing to stop it.
EnvironmentLondon / EuropePoliticsBP Statistical Review of World EnergyBritainClimate ChangeClimate Change ActEnvironmentOffice of National StatisticsUK governmentWeatherwinter death toll
W.H.O. Chief Says Coronavirus Still an Emergency
W.H.O. Renews Coronavirus Emergency in Shadow of Dubious Chinese Statistics
Exclusive: National Association of Attorneys General Invests Taxpayer Money in ESG
Report: NYC Makes City Employees Take Critical Race Theory Training
Gmail Creator: ChatGPT AI Could Destroy Google's Business Within Two Years
Biden: The 'Great American Road Trip Is Going to Be Fully Electrified'
Nolte: Cheaper to Drive Gas-Powered Car 100 Miles than Average Electric Car
HBO's 'Gossip Girl' Reboot Is Latest Woke Show to Go Down in Flames
Biden, Mayorkas Import Poverty, 'Enslavement' via Migration
Camo-Clad Migrants Apprehended in Arizona Mountains near Border
Israel: Majority of Antisemitism Online Stems from Pro-Palestinian Progressive Left


text:
The eight Mosty siblings celebrating their mother's birthday:
Left to right: Lee, Harvey, Lizzie, Mark, Addie, Karl, Sam, and Ruth.
Seated: Elizabeth Bean Mosty.
Click on any image to enlarge.
Leroy Mosty, of Mosty's Garage, at the corner of Water and Lemos streets in downtown Kerrville, loaned me a nice book the other day. It's called "Mosty: From There … To Here."
It's a brief history of the Mosty family, as remembered by Harvey Mosty. The book was produced by his grandson, James Craft.
Harvey Mosty
"The following was originally handwritten by Harvey Mosty (my grandfather) at the request of my mother, Marie Annaletta Mosty Craft," James Craft writes on the introduction page. The original text was put on paper by Harvey Mosty in the 1950s.
Harvey Mosty was the second child of Lee Anthony (L. A.) Mosty and Elizabeth Bean Mosty; he was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1885.
L. A. Mosty was a noted nurseryman in Kerr County, and many of the plants and trees sold in Kerrville from the turn of the last century came from a Mosty family nursery. Quite a few of these trees still grace Kerrville's older neighborhoods.
Although I've known members of the Mosty family all of my life, I didn't have a real understanding of their family history until I read this little book.
L. A. Mosty was born in Akron, Ohio in 1851. He married Elizabeth Bean at Lampasas, Texas in 1881. The young family moved from Lampasas to Kansas City, Missouri, around 1883, and where Mosty worked at a hardware store, and later as a cattle buyer. He moved his family to Kansas in 1889, and they farmed there. On Thanksgiving Day 1894, they loaded up a wagon and returned to Lampasas, to a ranch owned by Elizabeth Bean Mosty's family. The journey lasted until March, 1895, and included a crossing of the Red River near Dennison.
"After crossing the Red River," Harvey Mosty writes, "I saw my first Live Oak Tree. Sure looked good to me. Had never seen a broadleaf evergreen before."
I notice several places in the book where Harvey mentions things a nurseryman would know from years of experience
"In the fall of 1896, I planted my first crop," he writes. Harvey Mosty would have been around eleven years old at the time.
L. A. Mosty display at the 1914 West Texas Fair
"Dad and Lee had left for Menard, Texas, hunting work. Grandad Bean furnished me a double shovel plow and showed me how to sow the oats and plow it in. He started me off keeping the front plow shovel in the furrow left by the rear shovel the previous round. I got about half through the field and it looked like I was not getting along fast enough, so I took to running both plows, cutting 2 furrows at each round. When spring and summer came, the oats planted according to Grandad Bean's instructions made a good crop. The rest that I had hurried on was nothing but weeds. I learned then to do everything right and as told by older people."
L. A. and Elizabeth,
and I think Lee, Jr.
I noticed a passage about a trip from Lampasas to Menard in 1897, where Elizabeth Mosty and the kids at home boarded a train in Lampasas, traveled to Ballinger, then took a stage coach to Menard, where they joined L.A. and Lee, Jr. at their "camp on the Gus Nois farm a few miles below Menard on the San Saba River."
That name, Gus Nois, might have been a young Harvey Mosty's memory of a man name Gus Noyes. His son, Charles Noyes, would later be the subject of a bronze statue by Pompeo Coppini, which stands today on the courthouse square in Ballinger, Texas.
Later that year the family moved from Menard to Kerrville: L. A., Elizabeth, and their eight children. In 1897, L. A. Mosty established his nursery business here in Kerrville.
This family has had a great impact on the history of our community.
Harvey Mosty was a nurseryman, and, with his brother Lee, of Center Point, was credited as offering the "first soft-shell pecans on native stock." They had quite a business. In 1936, for example, the brothers shipped "a full [rail] carload of peach trees to Sherman, numbering 12,000 plants." What an incredible number of trees.
Harvey Mosty was active in his community: he served on the school board, the chamber board, was one of the developers of the Garden of Memories cemetery, was a Mason, and was a member of the Baptist Church. He passed away in 1958, here in Kerrville.
Mosty Brothers Nursery is still in operation, in Center Point.
I'm very thankful to Leroy Mosty for loaning me this delightful book.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who is thankful for our community. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times on January 9, 2020.
This newsletter is free, but not inexpensive to produce. You can help by forwarding it to folks who might find it interesting. If you'd like to learn more -- my Kerr County coffee-table books are collections of my Kerr County history columns.
Rich Taylor January 11, 2021 at 6:00 PM
Very cool story. Harvey was my great grand father. I grew up working at Mosty's Flower Shop as a kid for my Dad Sid Taylor. My grandpa Pop McKnight and grandma Margaret Mosty McKnight lived next door to the flower shop. Great memories. Thank you for publishing this story.
Thejimmyjamesmcknight January 13, 2021 at 8:20 AM
Great story. My cousin is Rich Taylor and Harvey was my great grandfather. We spent many hours working and playing at Mosty's Flower Shop.


Get your customers on an automatic payment plan!
One of the best things you can do for your business, cash flow and yourself is to get your customers on some form of automatic payment plan. Some people are afraid to implement this type of system because they believe that their clients will not go for it. I can tell you from over 31 years of experience that it is one of the best things that we did to help our cash flow and it also helped us keep our peace of mind. We implemented it 15 years ago and have eliminated the problems that we had with our clients regarding billing and payments.


On Demand Printing: Selling Mugs, T-Shirts and Mouse Pads!
For most of my career I was so focused on advertising, corporate and editorial markets that it never occurred to me that there was money to be made in what is called the paper products industry. Paper products include greeting cards, calendars, coffee mugs, puzzles and so forth; when your photo is part of the product.
It wasn't until I established a line of greeting cards that I realized that this whole vast other category existed. Shortly after getting the John Lund's Animal Antics® line of cards established we began to license the images for coffee mugs, jigsaw puzzles, figurines, checks, even Christmas ornaments! The problem with this market his how incredibly difficult it is to penetrate. But that has changed now. For little or no money you can open a storefront with CafePress or one its numerous competitors. I mention CafePress specifically because that is where I have started my little enterprise, but there are numerous online businesses now that offer on demand imprinting of a huge variety of merchandise.
It takes a little work. You have to choose which of your images to feature, size them, go through the process of uploading them and so forth. The hard part is driving traffic to your store. But again, that is simply a matter of SEO and elbow grease. All of us who are passionate about our photography have first hand experience that there are people out there who are willing, eager even, to purchase our work. Think of search engine optimization as helping them find what they want.
Of course, it helps to have the kind of images that people want to buy as refrigerator magnets, mouse pads, and aprons. It is also important to make sure your images are available for such licensing. My funny animal and pet pictures are for the most part not handled by stock agencies such as Getty and Corbis. Many of the images are licensed through Kimball Stock whom I chose for their niche of animal pictures and also because they license for non-exclusive use. That way I can still offer these images on the products and merchandise that I want to.
Well, I guess I will wrap this up because I have a lot more uploading to do for CafePress!


If you are a doctor, a dentist, a lecturer at a medical school, a medical student, an intern, an medical imaging technician and your passion is photography and the desire to capture moments of life with camera - this salon is for you! - share your sensitivity ... Join us!
This year's PhotoArtMedica Salon was the debut for a new category – "Medical photography". Our aim is to encourage participants to present the life of medical centers or their relations with patients through the lens of a camera as well as the artistical interpretation of medical imaging scans (CT, MRI, 3DUS, OCT, etc.). In the previous editions, we've already had an opportunity to see some of such works, and subsequently, the idea of a separate "Medical photography" category was born. This year it is finally debuting! Only in this category, 21 doctors and students presented a total of 58 photographs - all of them diverse and inspiring. I hope this part of the competition will keep developing with even more participants joining the "Medical photography" category in the following PhotoArtMedica editions.
The other two categories – "Free" and special, this year "Man and landscape", brought up some impressive, surprising and meaningful pieces, proving the constantly growing artistic level of the Salon. We are happy to see the PhotoArtMedica community grow. This year we are glad to welcome for the first time participants from Bulgaria, India, Malaysia and Portugal. This edition is also special because of the biggest so far representative group of one foreign country - 13 participants from Italy. We would like to thank you all - the debutants as well as those who have been with us since previous editions - for sharing your photo-emotions. For us, all of your pictures are remarkable!
I would like to thank all of those that have been supporting us - Honorary Patrons, Photographic Patrons, Partners and Sponsors of the PhotoArtMedica Salons in Częstochowa, Poland - thanks to you we are now richer with all of the photo-emotions.
BE WITH US ON ... !


Baskin Robbins is the world's largest chain of ice cream specialty stores, with 6,000 retail stores in over 35 countries around the globe. With this over-arching brand image, Baskin Robbins' iconic pink taste spoons were created with the belief that people should be able to try any of our many flavors at no cost! Welcome to Baskin Robbins!
The brand is famous for its unrivalled, ever-growing library of ice cream flavors. With the innovative program 'Flavor of the Month' to introduce a new flavor every month, Baskin Robbins has created an exciting collection of nearly 1,000 ice cream flavors.
'31' commemorates the company's inspiration to offer a different ice cream flavor for each day of the month – there is never a boring day at Baskin Robbins!
Baskin Robbins is the world's largest chain of ice cream specialty stores, with 6,000 retail stores in over 35 countries around the globe.
The brand is famous for its unrivalled, ever-growing library of ice cream flavors. With the innovative program 'Flavor of the Month' to introduce a new flavor every month, Baskin Robbins has created an exciting collection of nearly 1,000 ice cream flavors. '31' commemorates the company's inspiration to offer a different ice cream flavor for each day of the month – there is never a boring day at Baskin Robbins!
With this over-arching brand image, Baskin Robbins' iconic pink taste spoons were created with the belief that people should be able to try any of our many flavors at no cost! Welcome to Baskin Robbins!


text:
Every Coach's Dream, Chapter 17
Every Coach's Dream, A True Story about Dixie Youth Baseball in Three Small Towns, by Harold A Brown
Chapter 17: Game Two In The Tournament – College Grove
The more you learn the more you realize how little you know.
The finals of the tournament would be Saturday night at College Grove.
Nolensville Red had won the Jamboree at the beginning of the season and wanted to win the tournament. They tied College Grove in the regular season, but The Grove had beaten Nolensville Red more times in the head-to-head during the regular season. Because of that they were going to be rewarded with the first place trophy.
The all-stars had been chosen, but would not be announced until after the game. The stands were full of fans from all four teams.
Rocket would get the start in their final game. Keith Bennett would lead off the top of the first with a walk. Not a good start for Rocket. Toby Pace would line out to the pitcher and Mike House hit a grounder to Lajuane at short. Lajuane threw to first for the out and Keith moved to second on the play. Rocket was told not to throw anything close for Lakeith.
If College Grove was going to win, they were going to have to do it with some of their other players. Rocket didn't like it but he gave Lakeith a free base. While J.D. Martin was batting, Keith thought he would steal home. What was he thinking? When he made his move to home, Rocket threw a shot to Owen to record the last out.
Lajuane struck out to start the inning and Owen walked and stole second. Marty was hit by the second pitch he saw. Rocket couldn't get the bat on the ball and was sent back to the dugout with out number two. That left Jimmy to bring Owen in. He got under the ball for an easy pop fly for Lakeith at second. Two base runners were stranded.
J.D. Martin came back to the plate and grounded to second for a force out at first. That was a big out. Martin had been hitting the ball all season. Rocket got Williams on four pitches but walked Holt. His control was not what Coach had hoped for. Lewis grounded to second and Marty threw to Lajuane who was covering second for the third out. Thank goodness for good defense.
The Red team sent four batters to the plate in the bottom of the second. Darrell struck out but Teddy reached first on a fielding error but was thrown out at second trying to squeeze that extra base. Derek walked and Frank flied out to first. Derrick was left on base.
Derek Pack: Derek loved playing sports. He was an excellent player and eventually went into coaching. Whatever he did, he was a winner. He was trying to fit in but born to stand out.
Nathan Scales was the ninth hitter for College Grove and led off the top of the third. Rocket got him on three straight pitches. Nathan was a big kid that had trouble meeting the ball. Heaven help any pitcher that hit his bat. They would still be looking for the ball. Rocket took great delight in striking out Keith Bennett. I don't know why but there seemed to be some upmanship between the two.
Toby Pace had been moved back up in the line up and it was going to pay off for Coach Bennett. He hit a single in the gap between center and right field. Mike doubled putting runners on second and third. Sticking to the plan, Rocket gave Lakeith a free base to load the bags. J.D. Martin doubled, driving in all three runners. So much for strategy.
Things often go unseen in life and Coach wasn't sure if the umpire had seen what he saw. At his direction, an appeal was made at third. Lakeith had not touched the bag as he rounded it for home. It was a successful appeal and Lakeith was called out erasing one of the runs and recording the third out. It would be a critical error for College Grove.
The Red team was back to the top of their order. Lajuane got his base on balls. Owen got a fielder's choice that forced Lajuane out at second. Marty came to play and doubled to score Owen. Rocket hit the ball so hard that he forced and infield error that scored Marty. The game was tied. Jimmy liked what he saw Rocket do and he did the same.
Runners were now on second and third. Mike struck Darrell out and got a pop up from Teddy for the final out of the third. The bottom four batters in Coach Bennett's line up were weak hitters. Rocket knew that but knowing and being able to do something about it wasn't always easy. He struck out Williams on three pitches. Holt hit the second pitch back to the mound for a throw out at first base. Harris did the same and got the same results. Derek would lead off the bottom of the fourth with a shot back to the mound and was thrown out at first. Frank doubled and stole third. Lajuane struck out and Owen grounded to second for a force at first. Frank was left stranded at third.
Hazlewood had taken Nathan's place but repeated the same results. Out number one. Keith struck out for the second time in a row. Toby walked and Mike doubled him home putting them ahead by one.
Rocket pleaded with Coach to let him pitch to Lakeith. Coach should have stuck with the plan but he wanted to show that he had confidence in his pitcher. It was certainly a chance to build character. Rocket was way ahead in the count when Lakeith got his single, driving in Mike at second. Two runs ahead. J.D. Martin singled in Lakeith. Three runs ahead. Williams struck out on three pitch and the bleeding was stopped.
Mike came back to the mound to start the bottom of the fifth. He had to be tired but he was the best they had even though tonight wasn't one of his better games. With three runs down the Red team had a chance to prove something or fold. Marty led off with a double. He would finish the season with a team high batting average of .667 and an on base percentage of .773. I don't think he cared about that one bit, he wanted to win this last game against College Grove.
Coach Bennett made what he thought was the best move possible to preserve the lead. Lakeith Vaughn moved to the mound and Mike took over second. With Lakeith you just had to be patient at the plate. He threw hard but his control was still suspect. In fairness, most batters were glad to take three swings and go sit down rather than take a chance on being hit. That was not the case with Coach's boys. Rocket was patient and drew a walk. Jimmy hit a high fowl ball on the first base side and J.D. Martin made the catch for the first out.
Darrell was as smart as Rocket and made Lakeith throw strikes but he could not throw enough of them so Darrell got a free base. They were loaded with Teddy coming to the plate. He had been hitting the ball all night but not for base hits. With Lakeith ahead in the count one and two, Teddy tripled to the fence and cleaned all three off the bases. The game was tied once again. Derek took enough time at the plate for Teddy to do what he did to Rockvale. To make it sweeter he stole the base on Keith. The Red team was ahead by one. Derek struck out as did Frank. Five innings were in the book.
Because Rocket had pitched one inning at Rockvale he was not eligible to pitch in the sixth. Darrell moved to the mound and Jimmy took first. Rocket parked it at third after giving his best on the mound. Darrell would be facing their seven, eight and nine batters. He had a good defense behind him. All he had to do was throw strikes. Nothing for free. He struck out Holt and caught a pop fly off of Lewis who had reentered the game.
Big Nathan Scales had re-entered hoping to make some sort of contact. An act of desperation. Darrell recognized the danger and pitched very carefully to the big guy. The tying run was on base even though he was very slow and had only a slim chance of stealing on Owen. Keith was back up. He hit a ground ball down the first base line at Jimmy. Time seemed to stand still as Jimmy prepared himself to scoop up the ground ball. After what felt like an eternity he fielded that ball and stepped on first for the final out and the win. Darryl dropped on the mound as if he had been shot. Coach could see what that game meant to him and the others.
College Grove 5, Nolensville Red 6
Filed in Baseball


text:
Western University researchers begin work on COVID-19 vaccine
The vaccine work will be done in Western's recently constructed Imaging Pathogens for Knowledge Translation (ImPaKT) facility which contains Canada's newest Containment Level 3 facility and a suite of state-of-the-art imaging equipment. This will allow the researchers to safely study the virus in exquisite detail.
A multidisciplinary team of Western University researchers is beginning work on the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. They join the global effort to curb the spread of the virus which to-date has been confirmed in 225,000 cases worldwide, and has caused more than 9,000 deaths.
The team is rapidly mobilizing its efforts to establish and test an effective vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. At the same time they also are working to develop a 'vaccine bank' which would contain many ready-made vaccines to be used rapidly at the start of another coronavirus outbreak of a different strain.
The work will be done in Western's recently constructed Imaging Pathogens for Knowledge Translation (ImPaKT) facility which contains Canada's newest Containment Level 3 facility and a suite of state-of-the-art imaging equipment. This will allow the researchers to safely study the virus in exquisite detail.
"An effective vaccine will have a tremendous impact on stopping the spread of the virus or alleviating the symptoms of the disease in infected individuals," said Stephen Barr, PhD, Associate Professor at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. "In the face of an outbreak like this one, putting together collaborative teams and working with other labs across the country is critically important for giving Canada the greatest chance to effectively control and manage this pandemic."
Stephen Barr, PhD (right) and Ermela Paparisto, PhD Candidate (left)
The team is building off of work started by Chil-Yong Kang, PhD, Professor Emeritus at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry who has been actively working on a vaccine for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) based on constructs he developed for an HIV vaccine. MERS is caused by a class of coronavirus similar to virus that causes COVID-19.
"MERS-CoV is highly related to this new virus, so it is possible to adapt that vaccine strategy quite rapidly for SARS-CoV-2," said Eric Arts, Professor at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry. "With the technology we have today, we can also introduce all the genetic diversity that exists for these coronaviruses in bats and other species, and create thousands of 'seed' vaccines."
Using bioinformatics, the hope is they would then be able to identify which strain is circulating early in an outbreak, and immediately start vaccine production from the vaccine bank.
Led by Schulich Medicine & Dentistry Professors Stephen Barr, PhD, Eric Arts, PhD, Chil-Yong Kang, PhD and Ryan Troyer, PhD, the work is possible thanks to new funding announced today from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. This funding was rapidly made available to fast-track a comprehensive Canadian response to the pandemic. The team at Western received $998,840 for the project.
"With the emergence of a new virus in the human population, we don't know what will work to control or treat it," said Barr. "By sharing the knowledge we all get from across Canada, we can rapidly develop a variety of vaccines that can help stop and or slow the outbreak."
It is one of 96 projects funded across the country.
"We are in unprecedented modern times," said Arts. "We can look back in human history, and while a pandemic of this magnitude has happened before, we didn't have the same public health infrastructure and research technology that we have now."
The multidisciplinary team involves experts from virology, microbiology, vaccinology, bioinformatics and immunology including Barr, Arts, Kang, Troyer, Greg Dekaban, PhD, Jimmy Dikeakos, PhD, and Mansour Haeryfar, PhD.
Stephen Barr, PhD (left) and Ermela Paparisto, PhD Candidate (right)
Eric Arts, PhD
Chil-Yong Kang, PhD
Ryan Troyer, PhD


text:
Jim Victor Vision Fund
Learn More About Genesis
Home > Projects & Events > Clarissa C. Cook Hospice House > Hospice Story: Grace
A Hospice Family's Story
By Dave and Pam Meyer
Right up until her final days, Grace, our beloved mother and mother-in-law, was an active 90-year old. She loved attending the events of her great grandchildren and she was still volunteering at her church, which was very important to her.
Grace didn't look 90. People often misjudged her age by about 20 years.
Grace had been diagnosed with autoimmune deficiency disease several years ago, but she had been able to go on with her active life until she was injured in a fall at home. She suffered an internal injury and the bleeding could not be stopped.
When we were told there was nothing more that could be done for Grace except to make her comfortable, she wanted to go home.
Then we were told about the Clarissa C. Cook Hospice House. From our first steps inside the doors, we knew this was the place where mom would be comfortable and receive the care she needed at the end. This was a place where she could spend her final days.
First, it is a beautiful environment. Because mom's stay was very brief, she wasn't able to enjoy everything that was available, but mom said it herself; "this felt like home."
We were also totally impressed by the services available and by the compassionate staff. The staff not only looked after the needs of Grace, they looked over our needs as a family. Everything that mattered most to us at that time was available to us.
Grace was only at the Clarissa C. Cook Hospice House for 48 hours but the house and the care she received made a lasting impression on all of us.
Some day we will all face our final days. Several of our family members have since said that when they go, they want to be surrounded by the beauty and the compassionate, skilled staff of the Clarissa C. Cook Hospice House.
It felt like home for all of us and we are grateful it is available.
(A portion of the memorial fund for Grace Meyer was donated the Clarissa C. Cook Hospice House to help fund educational opportunities for staff. For information on opportunities to support hospice care, please call (563) 421-5107.)
Clarissa C. Cook Hospice House
Hospice Story: Page Grubb
Hospice Story: Grace
Hospice Story: Magic in the Music
Hospice Story: Robert Lynch
Hospice Story: Gift of Music
Hospice Story: Winding Walk
Hospice Story: Dr. Ann O'Donnell
Support the Genesis Foundation Today!
Genesis Foundation, Davenport
1230 East Rusholme Street
Medical Office Building 2, Suite 207
Genesis Foundation, Silvis
801 Illini Drive
Silvis, IL 61282


The Peckham Safer Neighbourhood Team is your local police force; they work alongside the community wardens and are dedicated to the local area.
They are there to help with crime, anti-social behaviour and other problems you may face in the local neighbourhood.
Working with others to solve crime.
Providing reassurance to those who feel frightened and vulnerable.
Acting on information about those who are committing crime locally.
I noticed some suspicious cars and behaviour in the private car park in my development from around 11.00 tonight until 11. 25. Four cars were in the car park with a number of hooded figures congregating around one car that had 3 or 4 people in it. They definitely did not belong here. I did try the 0300 123 1212 number, but that line was constantly busy. We've had problems with this car park recently and previously, as the electric gates open for any car that approaches them.
The car park is just off Burcher Gale Grove, SE15. If you drive to the barrier on Chandler way from St. George's way and turn onto Burcher Gale Grove, the car park is first on the right.
Are you able to send spot patrols by the area at night?


Today's favorite adventure for the month of March comes to you from Brooklyn! We made a bunch of trips to NYC (and two of these picture are from there because we went there on this day too) but we didn't often make it to the Brooklyn side. It's so fun and a bit different than NYC. It was nice to break it up since we usually hit the same stops in NY. Something I wish I knew about Brooklyn is that DRIVING THERE TAKES FOEVER! Haha. It definitely makes more sense to walk the bridge or take a bus or the subway or a train or a taxi or ANYTHING but drive. We drove to NYC plenty of times and never ran in to much traffic. Brooklyn was insane… it took us about 2 hours just to get from our exit off the freeway to the city (making a 3 1/2 hour drive almost 6 hours). We didn't even do much there, just walked along the water and under the bridge, ate a snack, and let Maddux run around! We also met up with my family in NYC which made it all the better.
I love this city and want to go back every year the rest of my life! It was one of the saddest things about moving away from Massachusetts, knowing I can no longer go to NYC whenever I want. Truly a city for dreamers!


The recently released movie, The Wedding Party 2: Destination Dubai, was screened at the Deputy British High Commissioner's residence on December 20,in Lagos. The intimate, private screening was co-hostedby EbonyLife Films.
We're very proud to be hosting this wonderful film about a British and a Nigerian family brought together through marriage. It's funny, heart-warmingand reaffirms that diverse families and communities can unite through shared values.
Guests included Mo Abudu, Uzoma Onwuchekwa, Wale Adebajo, Emeka Emuwa, Ayo Subair, Pat Utomi, Ego Boyo,Lanre Olusola, Nike Oshinowo, Nkiru Anumudu, Gbolahan Balogun and Pat Faniran.
Also present were some of the cast and crew – director of The Wedding Party 2, Niyi Akinmolayan, Sola Sobowale, Ireti Doyle and Enyinna Nwigwe.
Merry Christmas ?? From The Franklins – Ubi, Jayden & Zaneta!
I love Nigerian movies but never gone out of my way to go see any in the cinema. Who has seen the movie? Is it worth the hype? So I don't waste my time. While I enjoyed the experience of watching the first with family and friends, if I am being honest, it was a regular chick flick.
Ms Nike Oshinowo, easy on the botox and fillers. Meanwhile, this divorce is doing things to Ireti o, good good things.
This movie must be really good; seeing as Mo Abudu must have seen it 15 and a half times by now….
Nkiru Anumudu actually looks calm as in normal for once.
Ego Boyo used to be so beautiful. What appun?
Eunice Omole of the defunct TV show "The Debaters" created by Mo Abudu.


Old mystery: Can Kavanaugh get 50 votes for confirmation?
New mystery: Can Republicans confirm Kavanaugh before Trump withdraws the nomination?
Lord only knows what this story amounts to. There are not one but two layers of obscurity to it. First, Kavanaugh is obviously reluctant to tip his hand, even in private chitchat with the Senate, about how he might rule as a Supreme Court justice on a matter of momentous importance like Russiagate. Second, the senators he's meeting with don't want to betray his confidence by sharing details of their conversation, particularly when those details might set off a media feeding frenzy that complicates his confirmation.
We can guess at what he said to inspire this story, but all we're doing is guessing.
Sen. Jeff Flake, a GOP member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has been a fierce Trump critic and a defender of Mueller, discussed with Kavanaugh his career working with the independent counsel Ken Starr, who investigated the Clinton White House. Flake later told CNN that he doesn't believe that Kavanaugh would view Mueller as unconstitutional.
Say, isn't Kavanaugh a well-known critic of the old independent counsel model? What's he doing turning around now and (allegedly) saying that Mueller's appointment is "appropriate"? Ed and I have each written about that, but the short version is that the two positions are constitutionally distinct in an important way. The independent counsel was appointed by a panel of judges; conservatives like Antonin Scalia believed it scrambled separation of powers to have the power of prosecution vested in someone who wasn't accountable to the executive, as the Constitution requires. But the independent counsel model was scrapped years ago, replaced by the special counsel model under which Mueller operates. In the new model, the special counsel is indeed entirely within the executive branch. He's appointed by the attorney general (or deputy attorney general in this case) and can be fired by the president for cause. The constitutional defect is cured.
A few weeks ago Benjamin Wittes described a law review article written by Kavanaugh in 1998 after he left Ken Starr's office, offering an alternative to the independent counsel model of the time. Kavanaugh's proposal looked a lot like the model we have now: He thought an independent-ish counsel could be useful in some circumstances (an unpopular opinion in the Starr era) but wanted the job filled by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and he wanted the president to retain power to fire the person he'd appointed for any reason. As long as the counsel was accountable to the executive there was no constitutional problem. Fast-forward 20 years and it's no wonder that soon-to-be Justice Kavanaugh finds Mueller's appointment "appropriate." He probably made this exact point to Flake or whomever, that his skepticism about the independent counsel had to do with a separation-of-powers issue that no longer obtains. Everything he's written on this issue in the past points towards him tolerating Mueller's role now.
But there's good news for Trump too. Note again, per Wittes, that Kavanaugh thought the president should have the power to fire the sort of special counsel he imagined in 1998 for any reason, with or without cause. That makes sense, as it's part and parcel of the special counsel's accountability to the president. I mention that just because if Trump were to drop the axe on Mueller and Congress tried to intervene by passing a statute shielding the special counsel from being fired without cause, there's good reason to think Kavanaugh would vote to strike that law down. It'd be another case of a branch trying to muscle in on the president's power over prosecutions. Kavanaugh's not going to oust Mueller for Trump on separation-of-powers grounds, but if Trump decides to oust Mueller, Kavanaugh's probably not going to stand in his way either.
And it follows, as several experts suggested to CNN, that if Kavanaugh believes Mueller ultimately answers to Trump then Kavanaugh probably also believes that Mueller can't enforce a subpoena against Trump. The prosecution power belongs to the president, not his deputies. Even the independent-ish ones.
CNN's story goes on to say that Kavanaugh has been hinting (again, whatever that means) in conversations that he believes the president can't be prosecuted while in office. If you want to put POTUS on trial, you either impeach and remove him first or you wait until he's out of office and then go after him. No surprise there: All sorts of people hold that view, allegedly including Bob Mueller himself. It's the Justice Department's own policy, in fact, per an OLC opinion from 2000. Per scholar Ronald Rotunda, Mueller would be bound by that policy even if disagreed with it. Kavanaugh's (alleged) view of the subject derives directly from his view of the prosecution power. If the Justice Department is accountable to the president himself then the president can't be prosecuted without his consent.
And presumably the president can't be indicted either, even if that indictment were stayed until the end of his time in office. I've been wondering about that lately as a sort of hybrid option for Mueller just in case he thinks probable cause exists to believe that Trump obstructed justice. Typically he's said to have only two choices, either indicting and prosecuting Trump — which is a nonstarter, per the OLC opinion I just mentioned — or simply accusing Trump informally and referring the matter to the House, along with the evidence he's gathered, for impeachment. What about a third option, though, in which Mueller secured an indictment of the president but then declined to proceed with the prosecution any further on grounds that the president can't be tried? A standing indictment would dial the pressure on the House to impeach Trump way, way up. Trump would be dogged for the rest of his presidency by the fact that he's been formally accused of a crime in federal court. It'd be a political groin punch.
Justice Kavanaugh would rule, I take it, that the president can quash that indictment at any time. If the prosecution power ultimately belongs to him then he has final say on what to do about the indictment. As a political matter, though, just the fact that the indictment was filed at all, even temporarily, would be a devastating blow as forcing Trump to quash his own indictment would make him look insanely corrupt. For Mueller his course of action would be an ethical question, I assume. Does he believe in good faith that he lacks the constitutional authority to indict the president, even if probable cause exists? If so, then how can he do it, even expecting that Trump will quickly step in and quash it?


text:
Q: Optimize nonlinear model fit I would like to find the best parameters to fit a curve to my data and I feel like I have everything set up pretty well, but when I run my optimization function, I just get back the starting parameters.
rick<-function(x, a, b){
        x*a*exp(-x/b)
   }

x<-df$WaterInput
a<-.1
b<-460

pred<- rick(t, a, b)
predD<-as.data.frame(pred)
predD$WI<-df$WaterInput

plot(WUEs~WaterInput, data=df)
points(predD$WI, predD$pred, type="p", col="red")

### Optimization attempt###

obfun<- function(coef, x){

    sim<- rick(x=x, a=coef[1], b=coef[2])
    simD<-as.data.frame(pred)
    simD$day<-df$WaterInput

    obs<- df$WUEs

    rss <- sum((obs - simD$pred)^2)
    rss
}

op.wi<- optim(c(.1, 460), obfun, x=df$WaterInput)

The dataframe can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kns2h2zcqtagwns/WUE%20for%20SO.txt?dl=0

A: That's simply because you don't use the coefficients in your optimization. Right now you are calling rick(), then assigning the returned value to sim, but then you do not use it in your objective function, rss. Also you have a t in your example, that you didn't supply.
I think you want something like:
rick <- function(x, a, b){
        x*a*exp(-x/b)
}

x <- df$WaterInput
a <- .1
b <- 460

pred <- rick(x, a, b)
predD <- as.data.frame(pred)
predD$WI <- df$WaterInput

plot(WUEs~WaterInput, data=df)
points(predD$WI, predD$pred, type="p", col="red")

obfun <- function(coef, x){
    sim <- rick(x=x, a=coef[1], b=coef[2])
    obs <- df$WUEs
    rss <- sum((obs - sim)^2)
    rss
}

op.wi <- optim(c(.2, 460), obfun, x=df$WaterInput)
points(x, rick(x, op.wi$par[1], op.wi$par[2]),col=3)

A: Perhaps the following is an alternative for you (but you will need good starting values für a and b)
dat <- read.table("WUE for SO.txt", header=TRUE)

mod <- nls(WUEs ~ WaterInput*a*exp(-WaterInput/b),
           data=dat,
           start=list(a=0.1,b=500))

plot(WUEs ~ WaterInput, dat)

tt <- 100:1300
lines(tt, predict(mod, list(WaterInput = tt)))

summary(mod)

Parameters:
Estimate Std. Error t value Pr(>|t|)
a 8.384e-02  7.065e-03   11.87   <2e-16 ***
b 4.977e+02  3.414e+01   14.58   <2e-16 ***

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


6/6/2001 - Commission accepts AFC as "data adequate."
10/31/2001 - Commission approves Application for Certification.
10/18/2002 - Unit 1 on line and producing power.
The Valero Cogeneration Project (VCP) was certified by the California Energy Commission (Energy Commission) in October 2001. The nominal 102 megawatt (MW) cogeneration power plant was certified under a 4-month, expedited review process to be built in two 51-MW phases. The facility is located at the Valero Benicia Refinery, within the City of Benicia, Solano County. The two-phased facility was approved to include two combustion turbine generators equipped with water injection to control oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions and associated support equipment.
Phase I (Unit 1) of the project, a 51 MW generator, was constructed and began commercial operation in October 2002. Construction of Phase 2 of the project, the final 51 MW generator, was never completed and in October, 2007, after having been granted several extension requests, the certification for this phase of the project was allowed to expire at the owner's request.
Note: Both phases as approved were to be on-line no later than December 31, 2002 pursuant to Energy Facilities Siting Regulations, Title 20, California Code of Regulations, section 1704, Appendix B; Public Resources Code, section 25552 (SB 28X-May 2001); and Executive order D-26-01.


A friend of mine assumed babywearing meant baby clothes, ie. "baby wearables!" So here's my definition of babywearing: it is the practice of carrying your baby with a carrier of some kind. This can include wraps, backpack carriers, mei tais, buckle/soft structured carriers and slings.
Babywearing promotes bonding. Babies are generally calmer and may even cry less because their basic, primal needs are met – being close to mom (or caregiver). It also gives a sense a security to the baby, being so close to caregiver. Being so close and feeling a parent's rhythm in walking (and bouncing and heartbeat) reminds them of when they were secure in the womb. Holding a baby via your arms, a wrap or carrier means there is less time lying in a baby carseat or crib or flat surface, decreasing the risk of plagiocephaly.
For many parents, it has made "going about the day" a little easier. It can support breastfeeding and for some, it has helped care for high-needs children. Mothers have been known to have an increased level of oxytocin through skin-to-skin contact or physical contact with baby.
In my own experience, it has helped my baby transition to sleep faster, especially if I needed her to take a nap and she wouldn't have it in my arms or crib.
Look around this website as well as others such as Babywearing International and BCIA and Babywearing Los Angeles. You can also check out La Leche League International for babywearing and breastfeeding articles.
* These statements are generally accepted, but you should do your due diligence and locate research articles about babywearing online and at your local library. If you have a question about benefits, please contact your local babywearing group. Read our Terms & Conditions and Disclaimer here.