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What's making our winters worse?
Peter Mandel
Maybe you've noticed it too. The Old Farmer's Almanac seems especially pleased with itself this year. A cheerful cover blurb calls the 2016 edition "USEFUL, WITH A PLEASANT DEGREE OF HUMOR."
I, for one, am not laughing.
Not after sifting and shoveling through last winter's demoralizing series of snowstorms.
Not after noticing that the 224-year-old annual takes a page off from its litany of planting tips and moon-phase tables to brag about its (mostly correct) forecast of New England's frigid February and March.
And especially not after finding out that this unsympathetic little booklet, which begins its calendar year each November, is predicting more of the same for the winter ahead.
"A super cold winter is on tap," warns the Almanac's website: "Bundle up! Freezing temperatures will be especially pronounced along most of the Atlantic seaboard, and the Northeast…should brace for a slew of snow."
No one needs reminding about last year's snow totals in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. But according to a study done by MIT's Ben Letham, the winter of 2015 "doesn't just hold the record, it smashed the old records." Last winter, he notes, "the Boston area got 94 inches of snow in just one month, compared to the previous record (set in 1978) of 59 inches. To put that into perspective, the average annual snowfall...is 41 inches."
I admire Letham's work. But it troubles me that he fails to investigate exactly why we were subjected to such an insulting season. Did we Southern New Englanders do something wrong during the previous fall? Was this cosmic pushback? A divine wrist slap? And, even more importantly, who is responsible?
To try to get to the bottom of these questions, I've been at work on a study of my own — one that, if I may say so, will end up rivaling or exceeding the importance of anything compiled by the scientists at MIT. After several months of research, I've identified the cause of last year's historically brutal winter.
It's the Almanac, itself.
Many readers are aware of its top-secret formula for predictions that takes sunspots, tidal patterns, and planetary movements into account. In fact, after analyzing my own secret data, I now realize that the Almanac's closely-guarded formula isn't for forecasting at all. It's a recipe. A prescription, if you will, that when activated by the editors and "meteorologists" at the Almanac's offices, actually enhances stormy conditions.
I don't want to frighten people but, from its quiet mountain headquarters in Dublin, N.H., and from the very hour of its founding in 1792, The Old Farmer's Almanac has been making our weather worse. Much worse.
In a press release, the Almanac claims it had been 96.3 percent accurate in its "2015 predictions of a bleak and biting winter." That doesn't sound possible, does it? That is, unless some behind-the-scenes weather tampering has been going on.
How can I be sure of all this? Some of it is, to be frank, extremely technical: the kind of thing only leading weather psychologists will understand. And, as I said before — like the Almanac's prize formula — it's a secret.
But think about it. Along with its Maine-based competitor, The Farmers' Almanac, this popular guide to planting and rural homesteading positively rockets to the top of those all-important supermarket-rack bestseller lists when potential buyers are running scared. Old Farmer's Almanac editor Janice Stillman told CNN.com recently that about 3 million copies of the publication are now in print, and that it just passed one million fans on Facebook.
Bingo. Pay dirt.
Historically, bad weather — and bad winters — equal handsome profits, which, over time, has turned The Old Farmer's Almanac into the fabulously remunerative Fortune 5,000 enterprise that it is today. Still, I'm willing to take the high road on this disturbing matter. I'm offering the Almanac a one-time deal. If it retracts its dire predictions for the upcoming winter I will file and forget about my ground-breaking inquiry into its thoughtless, even destructive behavior over the past two centuries.
I'm giving the Almanac a deadline of the first drift of snow that piles up on my Providence porch. The very first drift. No longer.
I'll let you know what I hear.
Peter Mandel, an occasional contributor, is an author of children's books, including "Jackhammer Sam" and "Zoo Ah-Choooo."
© 2023 www.providencejournal.com. All rights reserved.


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Richard Tomczak0
Editors Note, Dr. Nancy Tomes: This paper had its origins in my course HIS 401, "Presidential Assassinations in Historical Perspective," which Nava took in Spring 2019. Taught seminar style, the course looked at the history of Presidential assassination attempts, both failed and successful, from Andrew Jackson to Ronald Reagan. For her 401 paper, Nava chose to follow up […]
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Richard Tomczak
By Ann Sandford Formed on November 19, 1919, the League of Women Voters of New York State predated the founding of the League of the United States and the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that granted women the right to vote in 1920. As interest in the new organizations grew, local […]
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By John A. Strong and Mary Laura Lamont Introduction In 1999, the Huntington Library in San Marino, California acquired two account books which were identified as having belonged to "a Long Island merchant named Richard Floyd" of Brookhaven, New York. With further research, these ledgers have proven to be of major significance to early Long […]
By Jonathan Olly Long Island changed an awful lot When Prohibition came. Some fine old standards went to pot When Prohibition came. Fishermen sailed away at night, Knowing the weather wasn't right For any sort of fish to bite, When Prohibition came…. Paul Bailey, Suffolk County historian, 1962[1] One minute after midnight on January 17, […]
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By David Bunn Martine My grandmother, Alice Osceola Bunn Martinez, born in 1901, was a keeper of many oral histories. She remembered whaling stories from our Shinnecock-Montauk family and community going back to the early 19th century. In fact, she was a granddaughter of David Waukus Bunn, who was a whaler on several ships. But […]
By Georgette Grier-Key Introduction Archaeologist Steve Mrozowski, Ph.D. acknowledges that Long Island's history, as in much of the North, seems largely to escape the slavery narrative. Stories about African Americans and enslaved Africans on Long Island are the less-told stories largely because of the lack of surviving or noted physical evidence.[1] Yet, Long Island had […]
By Stephen N. Sanfilippo I have seen the Storm arise Like a giant in his wrath.[1] There was no regular mail service between the seaports of the northeastern United States and the ships that those ports sent to the Pacific during the mid-19th century peak of "Yankee" whaling. Letters were passed from ship to ship, […]
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By Jenna Wallace Coplin Located on the north shore of Long Island not 40 miles east of Manhattan, Cold Spring Harbor, at the beginning of the 19th century, was a small community that was home to a lesser-known whaling business run by John H. and Walter R. Jones. These brothers, along with a long list […]
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By John A. Strong Introduction The Long Island Algonquian communities along the south shore were closely attuned to their maritime environment. The coastal wetlands provided them with a reliable supply of shellfish, fish, migratory fowl, and sea mammals. They collected clams year round, trapped and netted fish, and hunted water fowl, seals, and whales. Little […]
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By Nancy Shoemaker The American whaling industry originated on Long Island in the mid-seventeenth century, and as the historian John Strong has demonstrated in numerous books and articles, including his essay in this collection, Native American men's labor was fundamental to the enterprise's growth and success.[1] The bounty of whales off Long Island and Cape […]
"A List of Persons on Long Island": Biography, Voluntarism, and Suffolk County's 1778 Oath of Allegiance
jruff
After the Battle of Long Island in the fall of 1776, British forces re-gained control of New York from rebel forces. Until 1783, they commanded the southern portion of the colony-turned-state. A consequence of the British occupation was that New York — New York City, in particular — became a beacon for American Loyalists. Thousands […]
Material Life on the Long Island Frontier: The Inventory of Captain William Lawrence, Flushing, 1680
In the spring of 1939 all the world converged on Flushing, Queens to cast a hopeful eye on the future. With George and Ira Gershwin's Dawn of a New Day as its anthem, the 1939 World's Fair promised a peek at the "World of Tomorrow."[1] Flushing Meadows-Corona Park played host to the international exposition. The […]
Richard Floyd IV: Long Island Loyalist
Introduction The wartime experiences of Colonel Richard Floyd IV, a wealthy Brookhaven landowner and influential judge, provide an intimate lens through which to view the varied Loyalist perspectives on the Revolution. Richard IV, who was a steadfast Loyalist throughout the entire Revolutionary War, was one of only three Suffolk County Loyalists named in the 1779 […]
The Value of Mature
Determine why you are not having sex now, and what precisely you'd have to improve in order to begin. Sex is a shape or relaxation in which you forget your worries temporarily. Making love caused me to enormous quantity of annoyance in the form of bullying. The longer you wish to have sexual activity , […]
The Richard Floyd Account Book, 1686-1690: A Search for Authorship and Historical Significance
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What Do You Do With the Garbage? New York City's Progressive Era Sanitary Reforms and Their Impact on the Waste Management Infrastructure in Jamaica Bay
cbackfish0
Introduction For most of New York City's history, the city's filth was about as evenly distributed as its wealth. Before reliable municipal services were widely available, affluent residents paid for regular garbage collection, street sweeping, and privy cleaning.[1] But in poorer neighborhoods garbage and filth were allowed to accumulate on the streets and in the […]
The Bethel-Christian Avenue-Laurel Hill Historic District
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Issues of cultural awareness and racial equality for African Americans have long been important topics of discussion on Long Island. Historical research has proven that blacks were tightly woven into the social fabrics of both Nassau and Suffolk Counties since the earliest settlement period. However, most of the initial fact-finding and preservation of artifacts related […]
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While travelling along Middle Road in Cutchogue, New York, you may notice the large Town of Southold sanitation facility seemingly out-of-place among the agricultural fields, vineyards, and farm houses. What you will likely not see is the historic Church Lane neighborhood, which borders the sanitation facility on the north side of Middle Road. This is […]
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Introduction Jupiter Hammon, acclaimed as the United States' first published African American poet, is now recognized as a significant figure in American literature. Born in 1711, he published his first poem in 1760 and died about 1805, leaving an important body of poetry and prose. He lived most of his life on a large northern […]
An Archaeological View of Slavery and Social Relations at Rock Hall, Lawrence, New York
Introduction Most visitors to Rock Hall Museum in Lawrence, NY, are quite surprised to learn that this stately manor was home not only to a well-to-do white family but also to one of the largest groups of enslaved Africans in a single household in what was then Queens County. Learning that the owners of the […]
Miss Sperry: Corporate Beauty Pageants and the Prizing of Femininity in Postwar America
In December, 1958, the Sperry Gyroscope Corporation, a large defense contractor located on Long Island, presented Sandy Kuene, a female worker, with an award. No ordinary honor, human resources managers and employees recognized Kuene for winning the coveted title of "Miss Sperry" for 1958.[1] Her prizes (described somewhat curiously as "gifts") included a large oil painting […]
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cbackfish
Before this technological era of music carriers, iPods, MP3s and digital downloads, Golden Crest Records was Long Island's only significant gramophone record company. Operating from 1956 through 1984 and based in Huntington Station, it flirted with national influence through hit records by the Wailers in 1959 and 1964, and released a broad spectrum of American […]
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Founded in April 1912 to train high school students to become farmers, the New York State School of Agriculture on Long Island at Farmingdale (now Farmingdale State College) has gone through a series of changes during its 100 years of history. Albert Aaron Johnson served as the school's first Director from 1913 to 1923, setting […]
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Figure 1: Aerial View of the Nissequogue River. Source www.striperonline.com/kayaking_nissequogue_river.htm Shakespeare alleged that "what's past is prologue." If this is true, then millennial ecological concerns such as those unveiled in recent films ranging from Al Gore's award-winning An Inconvenient Truth to Gregory Greene's The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American […]
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Either as independent laboratories or as connected nodes, islands are instructive settings. They can be interpreted as sites of natural experiments providing laboratory-like case studies of flora and fauna as well as nature-and-society systems. Finches from the Galápagos Islands have inspired Darwin's theory of evolution; and the environmental destruction of Easter Island's Polynesian society has […]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The series of Year 6 Masses with the Bishop saw students, staff, clergy and guests from 30 school communities congregate in three regional clusters across the Diocese of Wollongong - the first at Holy Cross, Helensburgh; the second at St Paul's, Albion Park; and the third at Holy Family, Ingleburn.
The Masses - each collaboratively planned and led by students - were celebrated with Bishop Brian and concelebrated with priests from the schools represented. Each church was packed to the rafters with at least nine schools, their banners and school colours lining the pews and perimeter of the congregation.
The Mass commenced with a child from each school carrying forth their school candle and proceeding to place it in a beautifully crafted sacred space filled with colour, light and meaningful symbols aligned with the Acknowledgement of Country - water poured into a coolamon, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candles, an Aboriginal cross and clap sticks to pay our respects to Elders past and present and their wisdom, culture, and role in the life of our country and Diocese.
Many nominated their favourite part of the Mass to be when Bishop Brian used his homily to walk around to all the students and address them directly, engaging them in ideas around the significant sacrament of Confirmation that Year 6 undertake this year, their final months in Year 6 and preparing for the unknowns of the future, such as high school.
The Bishop asked them what they considered to be the hardest things about being at the end of their primary school years. Students offered thoughtful and honest answers: losing friends; saying goodbye to the teachers and school they've known for the past 7 years; leaving the place where they've made a lot of memories; going from being the eldest and leaders of the school to the youngest again, where everything is new and uncertain; fears of getting lost, navigating unfamiliar places and routines... and more homework!
Bishop Brian empathised, assuring the children that it was not uncommon to be afraid or apprehensive about a sense of 'newness' approaching, and that God was with them.
"Yes, you're leaving primary school and moving into high school; yes, you do have to say goodbye to the familiar environment that you know. But you're not doing it alone," he said.
In this national Year of Youth, Bishop Brian asked students to think about how they can be the light of Christ to others in their school, their parish, their home, and in their community.
Organisers of the Masses, CEDoW Education Officers, Cath Hailstone and Tim Hart, said the Masses were a very special occasion for everyone involved.
"Each Mass was a wonderful celebration and opportunity for school communities to engage with our new Bishop, Brian Mascord, and reflect on their time at primary school and the exciting opportunities and challenges ahead," Mrs Hailstone said.
She and many of the students present paid particular tribute to the rich live music accompanying each Mass. With students and teachers singing, and pianos, guitars and other instruments playing, the music prompted wholehearted participation from the congregation and gave a considerable energy and vibrancy to the celebrations.
Following each Mass, the students had the chance to have lunch together and mix with students from other schools - including meeting and talking to those who will be attending high school with them next year.
They also thoroughly enjoyed the Catholic Youth Ministry Wollongong (CYMW) team's outdoor lunchtime concert together. Hundreds of children at each venue had an afternoon of fun singing along, jumping and dancing to a popular array of the band's upbeat music - music that's liveliness and joy stayed with the students long after all the instruments were packed up and the day had concluded.
Thank you to CEDoW Education Officers, Cath Hailstone and Tim Hart, and the Catholic Life, Education and Mission (CLEM) team for their vision and hard work to bring these Masses to fruition.
CEDoW extends our thanks to Bishop Brian Mascord, all the musicians, singers, dancers and readers for their contributions to the liturgies; to the principal, teachers, and students of the host schools (Holy Cross, Helensburgh; St Paul's, Albion Park and Holy Family, Ingleburn) for their involvement in the liturgy, their hospitality in their welcome and providing refreshments; to the RECs, Year 6 teachers and other supporting staff for their organisation and preparation; and to all of the Year 6 students and their teachers for their organisation and efforts in preparing and attending the days.


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HomeBiggest projectsAjaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project timeline and all you need to know
Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project timeline and all you need to know
Modified date: Sep 21, 2021
Developed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project entails the construction of a 614km-long natural gas pipeline from the Ajaokuta terminal gas station (TGS) in the Kogi state in the southern region of Nigeria, through the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Niger, and Kaduna, to terminate at a gas station in Kano.
The project, the cost of which is estimated at US$ 2.8bn, is being implemented in three phases, under a build and transfer (BT) public-private partnership (PPP) model, which involves the contractor providing 100% of the financing.
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The first phase covers the section between Ajaokuta and Abuja, which is approximately 200 kilometers long and is budgeted to cost US$ 855M.
The second phase is from Abuja Gas Terminal to Kaduna Gas Terminal, a distance of 193 kilometers and its budget is US$ 835M, while the third and the final phase is from Kaduna to Kano, a distance of approximately 221 kilometers, and is estimated to cost US$ 1.2bn.
The natural gas pipeline project requires the laying of approximately 51,200 steel line 40in-diameter pipes featuring a total combined weight of 240,768t. The project will also utilize 24in-diameter steel line pipes for spur lines, as well as 40in-diameter line break valves and future tie-in valves.
Other infrastructures planned for the development include various associated valve stations, as well as intermediate and terminal facilities.
The Objective of the pipeline
The AKK gas pipeline will be supplied with up to 3,500 million cubic feet (mcf) of pipeline quality gas a day sourced from various gas gathering projects in the southern part of Nigeria, at a minimum pressure of 1,000 lb per square inch gauge (psig) at the Ajaokuta tie-in, and deliver it to Kano also at a minimum pressure of 1,000 psig.
The long-term target of the project is to supply gas to Europe through the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP) project, which it forms phase one of. Upon completion, the TSGP will provide a golden opportunity for the West African country to exploit its gas potentials and utilize its gas resources to enable it to earn as much revenue from gas as it is earning from oil.
This will in turn enable the country to meet its nagging domestic gas utilization and eliminate its gas flaring, as well as meet global greenhouse gases/climate change policy requirements in the long run.
In July, the NNPC announced tenders for Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project.
In June, the NNPC submitted the proposal for the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) natural gas pipeline project to Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC).
In July, the feasibility study for the project was approved and the PPP compliance certificate was issued.
In December, Nigeria's Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the pipeline project.
In April, a consortium of two local companies including Oando Plc and Oilserv was awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the construction of the first phase (Ajaokuta-Abuja) of the pipeline.
A consortium of Brentex Petroleum Services Limited and China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau (CPP) was also awarded the EPC contract for the third phase of the project (Kaduna-Kano) the same month.
In March, China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure) agreed to provide insurance cover for 85% of the total cost of the project (US$ 2,890,522,548.37), which will be borrowed from Chinese financial institutions to the sum of US$2,591,849,049.19.
The Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) a subsidiary of the NNPC, would provide equity financing worth US$ 434M, the equivalent of 15% of the total cost.
In July, the construction of the pipeline was launched with commissioning scheduled for 2022.
It was reported that the NNP, through the federal government of Nigeria, was seeking US$ 1bn from other lending organizations to continue working on the project after the Chinese lenders failed to disburse the pledged cash as expected.
Ajaokuta terminal gas station (TGS)
Brentex Petroleum services Limited
China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau (CPP)
Federal Government of Nigeria.
hina Export and Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure)
Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC)
Nigerian Gas Company (NGC)
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)
Oando
Oilserv
patrick mulyungi


"NO HOME FOR HEROES" explores history's military mysteries regarding lost service men and women who were classified as "Missing In Action". Each podcast features information from the actual investigative case files of the Chief Rick Stone and Family Charitable Foundation who is committed to providing information to the families of America's long forgotten MIA's.
Much of what you hear will surprise you. Some of what you hear will make you sad. And some of what you hear will make you angry. But all of what you hear will make you proud of our American heroes.
These FREE episodes are NOW AVAILABLE for you to listen.
Just CLICK on the title of the episode you wish to listen to and it will begin to play automatically (you may need to adjust the sound level of your device).
Please note: These episodes are AUDIO ONLY and do not contain video images or any advertisements.
NOW AVAILABLE FOR FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS!! ACT NOW!!
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"NO HOME FOR HEROES" is a trademark of the Chief Rick Stone and Family Charitable Foundation. The podcasts contain no advertising and neither the Foundation, hosts or guests receive any compensation for their creation or participation in the podcasts. Podcast episodes of "NO HOME FOR HEROES" are produced from the actual copyrighted investigative files of the Chief Rick Stone and Family Charitable Foundation for the private use of our audience and intended to provide information to the families of missing American service men and women. Any other use of these podcasts without the express written permission of the Chief Rick Stone and Family Charitable Foundation is strictly prohibited.


Open and inclusive societies encourage their citizens to play an active role in democratic life, and it is through education, youth work and sport that they build a common ground for divergent opinions to converge and make ends meet. Two Strategic Partnerships under Erasmus+ are fully embracing diversity and turning it into opportunities.
In addition to increased learning mobility opportunities, the Erasmus+ programme encourages projects that foster the development of social, civic and intercultural competences; tolerance, social inclusion and fundamental human rights; and democratic values and active citizenship. Through Strategic Partnerships, Erasmus+ provides support for transnational collaboration between education institutions, enterprises, local and regional authorities and other relevant players to develop and share innovative practices and promote cooperation and peer-learning. Among the Strategic Partnerships that have been selected so far in the field of higher education, 28 projects focus on intercultural and intergenerational education and learning.
The Euro-Med Youth Training and Networking Programme, for instance, trains students for intercultural leadership. Bringing together partners from France, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Morocco, this Strategic Partnership offers young students from diverse backgrounds the possibility to attend a two-week programme and be immersed in courses, workshops, debates and joint research projects that encourage dialogue to find shared solutions to complex societal issues. The final goal – to promote intercultural learning, respect for diversity and entrepreneurship, as well as to better equip students to succeed in increasingly connected and competitive environments. The first International Summer School took place in 2015 in Cappadocia, Turkey, on the topic of 'The Power of Images: Truth, Manipulation and Intolerance.' The second one was held in 2016 in Guba, Azerbaijan, around the theme 'Migration and the Future of Intercultural Relations.' Featuring prominent scholars and researchers, the lectures from both summer schools are available online.
Inside out – outside in. Building bridges in teacher education through encounters with diversity, is an on-going Strategic Partnership that tackles the 'diversity challenge.' To be completed by 2018, the project aims to improve the provision of intercultural competences and understanding in pre- and in-service teacher education. 96 teacher students from 8 different higher education institutions, will take part in intensive courses to broaden their awareness and understanding of diversity in the classroom; develop intervention measures that reduce early school leaves and increase the resilience of at-risk pupils; build bridges between formal, non-formal and informal education; and design a cross-disciplinary module to be implemented in teacher education programmes.
These are just some examples of how Erasmus+ is helping build a more open and inclusive society. The call for applications for 2018 is now open. If you are interested in setting up a Strategic Partnership, check out the 2018 Erasmus+ Programme Guide and apply by March 21st 2018.


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Anthony Bourdain in Uzbekistan: 5 Spots Where Tony Ate
January 4, 2023 / No Comments
Located along the ancient Silk Roads, Uzbekistan has a wealth of influences in its architecture, its people, and especially its food. In exploring the culture and dishes of this central Asian country, Anthony Bourdain encounters flavors and tastes from around the region and beyond as he prepares to attend a traditional Uzbek wedding.
Anthony Bourdain visited Uzbekistan to film season 1 (episode 8) of his show No Reservations; it was his only on-screen visit to this former Soviet state and epicenter for incredible architecture, culture, and food. Even if you've never been to Central Asia, you've probably seen pictures of Uzbekistan – and it's exciting to see it through Tony's eyes and what he tastes.
Whether you're planning a trip to Uzbekistan too or just curious about the places visited by Anthony Bourdain in Uzbekistan, you've come to the right place. In this post, you'll find a full list of the known and named places Tony ate, as well as a few unnamed spots. (If you know where they are, please let me know in the comments!
Want to watch the episode where Anthony Bourdain visits Uzbekistan?
The No Reservations episode is available on Amazon, Hulu, and Apple TV.
Jumanji/Chigatoy Shashlik
Bochka (formerly Aleko)
Unknown Chaikana
Unknown Roadside Restaurant
Private Wedding Party
Starting off in the capital of Tashkent, Anthony Bourdain and companion Zamir Gotta first dine at a restaurant referred to as 'Jumanji', but that seems in appearance to resemble Chigatoy Shashlik.
Here we are introduced to the fusion style local staples of lepeshka (traditional local bread baked in a clay oven), lagman (a noodle soup of beef chuck, garlic, tomato paste, vegetables, and cumin which wears its Chinese origin firmly on its sleeve), tandoor lamb chops (an Indian staple), roasted chicken legs, before the centerpiece of shashlik, lamb kebabs marinated in herbs and wine overnight before being cooked over hot coals and served with vegetables.
Their stomachs suitably filled, Bourdain and Zamir move onto the Aleko restaurant (now called Bochka) and belly dancing club, for a decidedly non-local Jamaican Kiss cocktail (a blend of rum, coffee liqueur, and milk).
The following day, Zamir takes Tony to a chaikana in the nearby city of Parkent just an hour's drive outside the city. A style of traditional teahouse, a chaikana is an institution in Uzbekistan and serves as a meeting point for the community.
Bourdain is instructed in the art of proper tea etiquette, to pour in and out of the cup three times, and most importantly to never serve a full cup to a guest (which would be seen as an invitation for them to leave).
Leaving the Tashkent region, Tony and Zamir begin their trip to Samarkand, with a stop en route in the roadside town of Jizzakh. There they enjoy an admittedly dubious-looking lunch of room-temperature tandoori lamb cuts is placed in front of them. Remembering the cardinal rule of "Do not offend your host," Bourdain samples a plate of various cuts, including ribs, loin, brains, and sliced liver. With a quick stop to witness the natural beauty of Timur Darvaza (Timur's Gates), our heroes continue their journey.
Arriving in Samarkand, Anthony again sees the range of influences on display. A mix of Turkish, Persian, Mongol, Arab, western & eastern cultures come together to create a unique beauty. Following a now infamous visit to a traditional Uzbek spa, where Tony experiences a truly bone-cracking massage, and a trip to a local bazaar for last-minute gifts, it's time for the wedding itself.
A traditional Uzbek wedding starts with a pre-wedding breakfast meal where the father of the groom feeds all the neighborhood men. Despite this being a morning affair, Bourdain and Zamir are soon drinking shots of vodka as they toast the occasion. Thankfully, a meal consisting of more lepeshka is on hand, together with plov, a pilaf-style dish made up of long grain rice, tender chunks of beef, onions, and carrots that is considered Uzbekistan's national dish.
Hot tea is served as a digestive, and Zamir explains that a cold drink after such a heavy meal could cause unnecessary stomach disturbances… something best avoided ahead of a wedding.
Finally, after gifts are given to the bride and groom and speeches follow, Anthony reflects on the important role food plays in Uzbek culture. Lepeshka is placed inside the groom's jacket to signify abundance, a rich life, and to bring luck, whilst the bride and groom suck honey from each other's fingers to symbolize the sweetness of life. The reception ends as it began, with more plov served, washed down by many, many shots of vodka.
As with many of his episodes with Zamir, Anthony Bourdain's visit to Uzbekistan is a bit different than other destinations with more restaurants and less narrative adventure. Nevertheless, this episode certainly sells the unique beauty of Uzbekistan and the fascinating foods you can try there.
Have any questions about the places visited by Anthony Bourdain in Uzbekistan or the foods he ate? Or can you fill in the gap on some of the unnamed places he ate? Let me know in the comments below!
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Matt Young
Matt Young is a street food fanatic and world traveler, currently splitting his time between Europe and South East Asia.
Anthony Bourdain in Hokkaido: 5 Spots Where Tony Ate
Anthony Bourdain in Sichuan: 10 Spots Where Tony Ate
Anthony Bourdain in Taipei, Taiwan:
7 Spots Where Tony Ate


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Blockchain Publishing Can End Corporate Dominance Of Science
AnalysisTechnology
Paddy Baker
Which industry has higher profit margins than Google and saw a growth in revenue last year that was larger than that of the global film industry?
No, not the big banks or smartphone manufacturers, nor any sector whose presence in mainstream society seems ubiquitous.
Instead, in the niche world of scientific publishing, the three biggest companies – which constitute over half the industry – have yet again found themselves near the top of the profit tree.
The New York-based Elsevier, which itself represents 24% of the scientific journal market, announced profits of over $900m, up $60m from 2016 and with a profit margin of 36.8%; and in the past month, shares in Wiley-Blackwell have experienced a 5.2% surge.
The only bad news so far is that Germany's Springer Nature, which wants to raise a reported $1.2bn from an IPO but has had to postpone its plans following weak investor demand, as reported by Reuters.
Why So Profitable?
"The problem at the moment is that I have to pay for my own research from the publishers", says Manuel Martin, co-founder and senior project leader of Orvium, a decentralized platform for scientific papers and findings to be managed and published. "At present, the publishing industry actually introduces limitations on the scientific community".
Unlike other forms of publication, such as newspapers and magazines, which effectively pay for content by employing a full-time team of writers and editors, scientists are often funded by governments or institutions. They give their findings to journals for free – which, in turn, take the copyright – and then they rely on the academic community to peer review content on a voluntary basis.
By then selling the published content back to the institutions and governmental organizations that originally funded the projects in the first place, scientific journals enjoy high-profit margins because costs are so low.
Calling from Geneva, Martin admitted that, "this is something the scientific community has had to deal with for a very long time".
Founded by a group of scientists with experience in working at some of the world's largest and most prestigious research institutions, including CERN and NASA, it is clear that Orvium was created to address a clearly-defined issue: fix the systemic problems surrounding academic publishing.
Planning to use blockchain technology to effectively put all academic and scientific publishing in the public domain, Orvium will enable researchers to post findings on the blockchain, making it instantly available to the community to read and assess.
"If it hasn't been published it effectively doesn't exist," says Martin, who knows from firsthand experience as a big data engineer at CERN. "However at present, it normally takes between one to two years for research to find itself in the relevant publications and readily available for the subscriber community. With Orvium this can be immediate".
Decentralised Blockchain Publishing
Established in the summer of 2017, Orvium will allow contributors to retain ownership of their papers, and gives them the right to determine whether the work and all the associated findings and data will be free at the point of access – or subject to some sort of paywall.
"It's important for us that the creator can decide what to do with access", says Martin. "Many scientists know full-well that companies, whether they be pharmaceutical or engineering firms, often profit from their work: they can decide whether private institutions have to pay to use their work, whilst making it freely available to individuals or fellow researchers."
Although Orvium won't charge contributors or individuals for using its platform, Martin says that the plan is for Orvium to take a share of the fees charged for content that has to be paid for.
The platform is also holding an ICO for its ORV tokens, either in July or August, with plans to raise $20m for further project development: Crypto Briefing asked Martin why Orvium needed such a large amount of money, especially as the project has yet to release an MVP.
"Our development team has experience in utilizing this type of tech and so we know the full costs of conception and production", argues Martin. "We spent a lot of time on the proof of concept and ensuring that our MVP will work with our whitepaper: it is currently in the testing phase."
With tokens valued at $0.10 each, ORVs will not only be used as a means to access pay-for-content, but can also be used to reimburse validators, who assess contributions on the platform and, under the current model, work on a voluntary basis.
"Everything is at the user's discretion, but Orvium will allow validators to charge for peer reviews", says Martin. He also mentioned that Orvium would require contributors to upload used data and other resources, in order for reviewers to accurately assess every aspect of the published research: not just the end product.
"Of course collecting data that is used in research papers is often the most costly and time-intensive part, and there's nothing to stop a scientist also putting a paywall on the raw data as well, should they want to", Martin added.
The Platform the Sector Deserves.
There are other blockchain platforms out there that also harness blockchain technology with plans to overhaul the publishing status quo.
Chief among them is Po.et, which protects intellectual property by tracking ownership of all digitally created assets across the internet, enabling creators to know how their content is being used.
But Martin sees Orvium as more than just a DLT publishing house. Instead, he sees it more as a framework which can facilitate collaboration and research in the scientific community.
"Using blockchain, we can create a platform that can be used to crowdfund new research lines or highlight contemporary issues which require the community's urgent attention", says Martin. "It is already common for institutions to offer prizes to mathematicians say, to solve complex problems: we can do the exact same thing on the blockchain."
"We can also offer decentralized journals or publications that use the Orvium platform to coordinate research and find reviews for published work", Martin added.
New projects come along almost every other day which use blockchain technology in ways which seem unfeasible or completely unnecessary: does society really need blockchain to reward people for feeding their cats or to introduce a whole new paradigm of Buddhist economics? Is it little more than a gimmicky attempt to make the most out of crypto-mania?
But Orvium makes sense and not just because it may actually offer the first real opposition to the oligopoly enjoyed by publishing companies.
As well as the perceived injustices of making substantial profits from donated work, by determining what is and isn't published, companies decide what the scientific community reads and effectively set the research agenda.
In a 2008 paper, one of the heads of the National Institutes of Health, which funds and conducts medical research for the US Government, argued that because of the importance of innovation for society, "there is a moral imperative to reconsider how scientific data are judged and disseminated".
Elsevier, which is the largest scientific publishing company in the world, had 1.5m articles submitted by 14m contributors to its publications last year, of which 420,000 were published with the help of 800,000 voluntary peer-reviewers.
The way it stands, a community au fait with splitting atoms or curing what was thought to be incurable (e.g. HIV) is being held hostage by centralized organizations concerned with private interests and profit margins.
If ever a sector required overhauling by blockchain it is the world of scientific publishing: disruption is needed here…and needed now.


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Sheffield artist TeeDee released his viral TikTok hit on SoundCloud going Number 2, overtaking Drake
When We Were Young festival 2022: How to get tickets and line up including Sheffield band Bring Me The Horizon
Only Fools and Boycie, Cast, Doncaster
Comic actor John Challis is one of the nation's best known comic actors, much-loved as dodgy used car salesman Boycie in the hit comedy Only Fools and Horses.
Thursday, 22nd September 2016, 12:36 pm
Updated Tuesday, 4th October 2016, 1:31 pm
More recently, John has starred in ITV's Benidorm and in the BBC 1 remake of Are You Being Served.
His show packed with anecdotes and fascinating behind-the-scenes stories from his career.
John said he's been doing the show for three years.
"I was asked to do a show at a small theatre in Shrewsbury, which held 250. The idea was for me to be interviewed on stage and for us to show a few clips.
"We expected there to be a reasonable audience but, in fact, we sold out. We've been on the road ever since. "
What's the show about?
"It's about stories and fun, it's about sharing with fans the things they won't know from behind the scenes. There are some amazing stories – about the time The Beatles asked me to star in their Magical Mystery Tour film and I said no, about the time I was tracked down by Dr Who fans in America because I'd starred in a series alongside Tom Baker, about David Jason and Nick Lyndhurst in Only Fools and Horses and about my time on the cobbles in Coronation Street."
The show is at Cast tomorrow. Box office: 01302 303959 or go online at Cast in Doncaster


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Kirby Lynn Criswell (born August 31, 1957) is a former linebacker for the St. Louis Cardinals in the NFL and a 2nd round draft pick in the 1980 NFL Draft.

Football career
Criswell was born and raised in Grinnell, Iowa, where he attended Grinnell High School. A standout in high school, Criswell was recruited to play collegiate football by several universities. He elected to play for the University of Kansas. The Jayhawks did not produce any strong teams during his time with them, but Criswell was noticed due to his passionate style of play. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the second round of the 1980 NFL draft. Criswell, who sported a Mohawk hairstyle during training camp, was waived by the Bengals before the start of 1980 football season but then signed by Green Bay. Green Bay cut Criswell two days later.

It was late in the 1980 NFL Season when Criswell was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals. He did manage to get into four games for St. Louis that year. A broken arm kept Criswell off the Cardinals active list for most of the 1981 season. St. Louis signed Criswell to another contract early in 1982.

Less than a month after his signing, Criswell was arrested on federal drug charges. On June 2, 1982, Criswell was found guilty by a federal jury of possessing marijuana and conspiring to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine. He was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison. After his sentencing, Criswell said a recently published Sports Illustrated article on Don Reese may have hurt his cause.

Criswell never played in the NFL again.

References

External links
Kirby Criswell, Pro reference
Kirby Criswell, football database
NFL profile, Kirby Criswell

1957 births
Living people
People from Grinnell, Iowa
Kansas Jayhawks football players
Players of American football from Iowa
American football linebackers
St. Louis Cardinals (football) players
American people convicted of drug offenses

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, has explained why the United Kingdom removed Nigeria from its travel red list.
Laing said Nigeria was exempted from the red list based on "scientific and public health data".
The British government had on December 4 placed Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe on its travel ban following the outbreak of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
It said the red list was reintroduced as a precaution after the emergence of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, which has been recorded in over 50 countries including Nigeria and the UK.
Laing, said, "On Tuesday 14th December, UK Ministers made the decision – based on scientific and public health data – to remove Nigeria from the UK's travel red list. The emergence of the Omicron variant is a reminder that the COVID-19 pandemic is not over, and like all countries around the world the UK has had to take difficult decisions to protect public health.
READ ALSO: Keechant Sewell Named New York First-Ever Female Police Chief
"We took this necessary precautionary action to give us time to understand the challenge we and others faced, and to slow down the spread of Omicron while scientists urgently assessed what impact the variant has on vaccines, treatments and transmissibility. When we announced the heightened restrictions we made clear that we would remove them as soon as we could, and that is the decision Ministers have taken today.
"I know this will be welcome news for students, tourists, businesses and families in the UK and Nigeria, although I recognise the impact that these temporary health measures have had."
Related Topics:omicron Covid-19omicron variantRed listUK travel red list
BREAKING: UK Removes Nigeria From Travel Red List
Two Cases Of Omicron Variant Of COVID-19 Confirmed In Nigeria


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GTG RECORDS
DIY Record Label and Community
Blaine and His Keyboard
Bong Mountain
Cat Midway
CrookedSound
Dreadpool Parker
Drinking Mercury
Extra Arms
The Hat Madder
Honah Lee
The Hunky Newcomers
Jeremy Porter and The Tucos
Narc Out the Reds
No Skull
The Plurals
Robot (Re)pair
Sleeping Timmy
Small Parks
The Soods
The Stick Arounds
Stargrazer
Two Houses
RECESS OPS
GTG SESSIONS
Who? What? How?
GTG FEST
Category Archives: GTG House Shows
GTG Feature In City Pulse!
Big thanks to Dylan Tarr and City Pulse for this excellent piece about the 10th anniversary of GTG Records! Follow the link here or read the whole piece below!
A Decade of GTG Records
Local Lansing record label celebrates a productive anniversary year
BY DYLAN TARR
Lansing's GTG Records put out 16 records this year. That's over 150 songs and more than 10 hours of music. If you wanted to, you could drive all the way to Tennessee listening to nothing but GTG releases from this year alone. For a record label based out of a house that City Pulse once named "Eyesore of the Week," that's a lot of music. And honestly, it's a lot of music no matter what your headquarters look like.
"This was sort of a special thing," said GTG co-founder Tommy McCord, also known as Tommy Plural, admitting they don't usually release a terabyte of music in 12 months. "We decided that since it was the 10th working year of the label we wanted to celebrate it."
McCord traces the beginnings of GTG Records back to 2007, when he and his bandmates, Hattie Danby and Nicholas Richard, put out the Plural's first EP.
"We first used it as a way to release our demos and our friends' demos on CD-Rs," said McCord. "In 2007 we put out an EP called 'Professor Nanners,' and that was the first time we had a professional company manufacture the CDs."
Since then, with 10 years on the record and over 100 releases, the label has taken on a life of its own, McCord said, describing it as more of a collective of local musicians than a business.
"I knew bands would be putting things out this year and I thought if I reached out to a few more people I could figure out one release a month," said McCord. "We ended up doubling up in some of those months because there was so much happening."
If you still have some reservations about a record label run out of a dilapidated house on the east side of Lansing, you shouldn't. This is exactly where the music you eventually love comes from.
Def Jam started in Rick Rubin's dorm room while he was a student at NYU. Bruce Pavitt dubbed together compilation tapes for an obscure fanzine that later turned into Sup Pop. It doesn't matter if bands are recording in a sound proofed studio in L.A. or in a Michigan basement between noon and 11 p.m. to comply with noise regulations; great music is great music.
City Mouse's "Get Right," released in November on GTG, sounds like the band Sleater Kinney could have been if they didn't lose their razor-sharp teeth immediately after their first album. GTG's first release of 2017, The Hunky Newcomers live album, "Harder Stuff Dude," sounds like Black Flag in an alternate universe where Greg Ginn actually possesses a sense of humor.
And the Hat Madder's fourth release on GTG, "Rotting On the Vine," is a proggy, Mars Volta-like record without any of the step-dad connotations that prog-rock often comes with.
I could go on comparing GTG bands to other famous bands you've heard of to convince you that Lansing's music scene is undeniably important, but I won't because that's a job McCord happens to be very good at.
"I'll be honest, I tour the country for large parts of the year and I see cool bands everywhere," McCord said. "But I feel like the concentration of cool bands in Lansing is higher than anywhere else, and I really don't think it's because I'm a hometown pride person. There are just a lot of cool weird things here."
And with a surplus of cool, weird things to foster in Lansing, McCord said that GTG as an organization simply becomes whatever it needs to be to do its job.
"It's like what do you want to do as a band," McCord said. "If the band's not going to play shows very much we'll have a mostly digital release and a small run of CDs to have at the release party."
Similarly, if a band intends on touring and playing out constantly, GTG puts out vinyl releases too.
"With the Plurals, we noticed on tour that bands who had a 7 inch or a 12 inch seemed like they were always selling them," McCord said. "I was like, we can get in on this, right?" he laughed.
But pressing vinyl is expensive. While this might dissuade other independent labels, McCord only laughed and said, "no one gets rich off this stuff." And besides, he said, "Records just look sweet. It's cool to look at it and just to know your music is on it."
GTG has evolved with the scene, picking up the slack where Lansing's shortcomings wear even thinner.
"Around 2009, a lot of local venues closed so we started to do more house shows. All ages spaces and intimate venues for touring bands who might not get a lot of people out at Mac's Bar are important," said McCord, referring to the GTG House, the label's headquarters and inclusive local venue.
GTG does the dirty work, too. That's right, they book tours, a nightmarish process few bands attempt and even fewer succeed at.
"It's really hard to make people give a shit about you if they don't know who you are," said Isaac Vander Schuur, front man in the Hat Madder and GTG engineer. "There's definitely a lot that the label can provide as far as making sure your tours get booked and you're not thrown to the wolves out on the road."
GTG helped book the Hat Madder's recent west coast tour, insuring Vander Shuur and his bandmates weren't driving 2,000 miles just to play to a different empty room each night.
Sure, GTG Records can pack out a venue, make sure you not only survive on tour but thrive, all while manufacturing and distributing your record, but what about all the hopeless losers like me and you who aren't in a band? What's GTG doing for us besides eating up all the space on our Zunes?
"My goal is to show people there's a lot of great music being made out there and that it's still possible to have fun in America in the Trump Administration," McCord said.
"It's really important in times of discontent to have an outlet for expressing your frustrations and opening up communication with more people," said McCord. "Shows with a positive energy are great ways to meet people and find more allies for your cause."
And whatever your stance on safe spaces is, I'm sure we can all agree seeing a show without getting punched out or molested by some creep is preferable if not important.
"You get all these people in a room together and everybody just enjoys each other's company, you can really tell," said Vander Schuur. "When you play a show in front of a GTG audience you get an inspiring vibe back from them, even if you're not having your best night. They still have your back front and center, waiting to see what you're going to do next. That's why I started playing music in the first place and that's why I'm still doing it, because I'm a part of this label."
Posted in Album, Bong Mountain, GTG House Shows, GTG Records, The Hat Madder, The Hunky Newcomers, The Plurals
Tagged 2017, Blessed, City Pulse, Fucking Awesome, Lansing, Thanks, Wow
April 2017!! Lansing shows! Mini-Honah Lee Mini-Tour! Stoopfest!! More!!
Lots of great shows in Lansing this month!
Here's a list of every GTG related show happening around the US this month, got some tour dates from a duo lineup of Honah Lee, plus the first road dates from Dim's new band Alpha Rabbit. One of those dates is the Tommy Plural CD release!
4/6 – Tim & Dim (Honah Lee) w/ Alpha Rabbit @ Mill Hill Basement (Trenton, NJ)
4/7 – Tim & Dim (Honah Lee) w/ Alpha Rabbit @ 123 Pleasant St (Morgantown, WV)
4/7 – Small Parks @ The Avenue Cafe (Lansing, MI)
4/8 – Tim & Dim (Honah Lee) w/ Alpha Rabbit @ GTG House – TOMMY PLURAL CD RELEASE PARTY!
4/8 – The Stick Arounds @ New Dodge Lounge (Hamtramck, MI)
4/9 – Tim & Dim (Honah Lee) w/ Alpha Rabbit @ Northside Yacht Club (Cincinnati, OH)
4/11 – The Hat Madder @ Trumbellplex (Detroit, MI)
4/12 – The Plurals @ The Workshop (Grand Rapids, MI)
4/13 – The Plurals @ The Sanctuary (Detroit, MI)
4/14 – The Plurals @ The Avenue Cafe (Lansing, MI)
4/20 – Narc Out the Reds @ Mulligan's Pub (Grand Rapids, MI)
4/21 – Narc Out the Reds @ Quality Beet (Michigan City, IN)
4/22 – STOOPFEST 2017 (Lansing)
4/23 – The Hat Madder @ The Green Door (Lansing, MI)
4/25 – GTG House Show w/ Disappointed Dad, Fever Hands, Blaine
4/26 – The Hat Madder @ The Fledge (Grand Ledge, MI)
Stoopfest is gonna be sick too!
Whoo!!
Posted in Frank and Earnest, GTG House Shows, GTG Records, Honah Lee, Narc Out the Reds, Small Parks, The Plurals, The Stick Arounds, Tommy Plural, Tour
Tagged 2017, April, DIY, Lansing, Punk, Sweet
Let's Get Some Color In Here!
More info next week! Release party event here!
Posted in Album, GTG House Shows, GTG Records, Tommy Plural
Tagged idiot cousin, party, Tommy Plural
YES! (GTG Fest / Small Parks/ The Stick Arounds)
GTG Fest 2016: SUCCESS! Soooooo many good times. Thanks so much to The Avenue Cafe, all the raffle donors, the attendees, the bands, the city of Lansing… everyone! GTG Fest 2016 was the biggest year yet for us and we can't wait to see what the future holds! Even if right now we're all still nursing our sore bodies and unraveled minds! That's how you know it's a fest weekend!
This weekend was also really important to us because we released two new LPs and in the process had two more bands join our family! Small Parks released their debut LP "Honest Light" on vinyl (it came out digitally in the spring but now it's a for-real real record!) Friday night, with The Stick Arounds following suit with the release of their debut (recorded live at the much beloved and missed Mystery Garage) LP "Mystery Garage" on Saturday night. Two different perspectives of the Michigan DIY community, many styles and sounds, and all good, honest pure-GTG Records goodness. You can order 'em at our store right now!
Expect further updates on these two great bands and more info on their records in the coming days. It was a great weekend and there's still so much to take in! Good times.
Posted in GTG Fest, GTG House Shows, GTG Records, Small Parks, The Stick Arounds
Tagged 2016, Awesome, DIY, Fucking Awesome, GTG Fest, GTG House, Lansing, party, The Avenue Cafe
Drinking Mercury is playing a show!
I get excited about every show I play. You never know how a show is really going to go, it could look like it'll be a great crowd and then the response is tepid… the room could be empty before you start and then suddenly fill up with enthusiastic, awesome people. The band could be a well-oiled machine but then inexplicably fall off the rails for no real reason, or you could be under-rehearsed and then totally nail the set. Every show has the promise of something new and exciting and I hope that never changes.
This Friday I'll be playing the first proper show in over two years by my very first band Drinking Mercury. We're playing at GTG House with Brook Pridemore, Elroy Meltzer, and Rent Strike. This band has continued to exist for over 16 years because the sheer joy of making music together is something that we can't get away from and even when we don't do anything for extended periods of time we can always pick it back up where we left off. We're currently recording for a new split LP that we'll all be talking about plenty in the not-too-distant future but as is the nature of the band it could be another little while before we play live again and, well, playing live is incomparable to anything else. Get some insights into our recording and rehearsal process on the band facebook page and try and get as excited as us.
I don't really have more to add. Just excited! Being excited is cool, right? Kids still use that word still… "cool"? – Tommy
Posted in Drinking Mercury, GTG House Shows
Tagged 2016, Brook Pridemore, Drinking Mercury, Elroy Meltzer, GTG Records, pointless, Rent Strike
Logan & Lucille!
On tour now!
In 2011 The Plurals went on our first "long" tour. We had made it a regular thing to do some long weekend to 10 day trips out to the east coast a couple times a year since 2007, largely to keep up with our friends that eventually formed into Honah Lee, but in the summer of 2010 on a whim I hit up a guy named Billy in Tucson, AZ to see if we could play a little festival he was putting together for April 2011 called Way Out West Fest. Billy said what few others before or since have said and said that, yes, he would have The Plurals on his inaugural festival and suddenly we had to book a tour to the southwest. And, well, since we were going that far we might as well book the west coast too. This first west coast tour was a turning point for The Plurals and was definitely many learning experiences crammed into a short period of time but the end result was that we were hungry to play for as many new audiences as we could and we haven't really let up sense.
Though the intervening years have been a bit rough on us.
We wouldn't have had such a positive experience if it weren't for the new friends we made along the way, and one of the first was Logan Greene. When we rolled up to Tucson, AZ for the first time on April 8th, 2011 we were among the first people to show up for the fest. We went to meet up with Billy at a bar called The Hut, a Caribbean-themed college bar on the "main college drag" of Tucson; a bar we would not be frequenting were it not, perhaps bafflingly, hosting this weekend-long DIY punk fest. Sitting outside the bar was a guy with red hair and glasses and he made it a point to introduce himself to us straight away. His name was Logan and he was, as he put it, "one of the only actual local musicians playing the fest." He didn't say this vindictively, more just pointing it out matter-of-factly, and I knew I had met a kindred spirit right away. I have often expressed frustration at how bigger music events in the Lansing area don't often include the musicians that make cool and interesting things happen on the day-to-day ground level and also how it's a rare thing for a band that achieves a level of success to actually give back to the local community, so I understood Logan's point. Logan also had pushed for their to be an all ages venue for the fest and I could see he was gunning for the fest to be as big and great as possible and that he wasn't interested in just joining the party.
But I might have been wrong.
As the first Way Out West Fest went on we made a lot of friends, saw a lot of tropical mixed drinks consumed after the bar had failed to order an adequate amount of cheap beer, saw a lot of great bands, and also witnessed the phenomenon of people being unable to bounce back from partying too hard and missing large portions of the fest. Our set came in the middle of day two and we were in a little bit of a blackout area (maybe in more ways than one…) after everyone had crashed for the afternoon but before they had left the hotel to check out the evening performances (which included Tiltwheel, Toys That Kill, and Lenguas Largas… yeah, this was a good lineup!). So, we didn't have a huge audience for our set but one of the people that made it a point to show up and bring as many people along as he could was Logan. Later on he played with his band The Bricks, and the next day he did an acoustic set with his band Doctor Dinosaur. I'll just put it this way: the guy knows his way around a tune, and his friendly demeanor doesn't hurt anything. A few days later when we got to San Pedro for the fist time and met our future band brothers Black Sparrow Press we noticed that there was a painting on their wall that someone had done of Logan playing an acoustic set at one of their house shows. Things like this let you immediately know that you're among friends.
I wasn't able to find the portrait in question online anywhere, but this one may say more than I ever could.
Over the years we crossed paths many more times, for Way Out West Fest 2012 and then just for Plurals tour dates in Tucson. I learned that Logan spent time as a music teacher, knew a lot of other musicians that I had respect for, and he eventually started a label called Diet Pop Records with his girlfriend Lucille Petty. In 2013 I did the "excuse to travel to California in the winter for as little money as possible" solo acoustic tour and Logan and I met up for a batch of dates in Arizona and California and sharing the stage with him for a few nights I learned a lot about how to present music in an acoustic format and I left the experience with some new songs written. In 2014 Diet Pop Records starting a cool video series called Trundle Sessions and were kind enough to invite The Plurals along to film a performance. Finally, as The Plurals imminent third album An Onion Tied To My Belt was nearing completion Diet Pop agreed to be one of the labels to help put it out. We really are family now!
So, the latest Logan Greene incarnation is a musical duo with Lucille called, get this, Logan & Lucille. They're in the middle of a long international tour and GTG House is hosting them on FRIDAY JUNE 26TH, just a couple days after their return from the European leg. I'm really looking forward to showing my friends what we have here in Lansing and I hope everyone else can join me!
– Tommy Plural
Better? Days
Posted in GTG House Shows, GTG Records, Tour
Tagged Folk-Punk, GTG House, GTG Records, Logan & Lucille, Tucson
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Bookin'
Grammin'
@drinkingmercurymusic at @rockfordbrewing tonight! 8:30-11:30!
Saturday night at @avenue_lansing ! @noskullband and more! #punk #punx #punxsutawneyphil #puhnk #junk #puke
A remastered version of #trieste is up for free download at https://stargrazer.bandcamp.com/album/trieste-ep-10th-anniversary-remaster It's the 10th anniversary of this atmospheric wonder by #stargrazer AND the 60th anniversary of the dive to the deepest point of the ocean. Limited edition physical copies coming this fall!
@drinkingmercurymusic is live on @wyceradio from 12-1 today (1/23)! 4 songs and some talkin!
https://youtu.be/DVBt0SJmosc


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TV ReviewsTop ChefSeason 14
An unlikely vegetable has a fan favorite packing their knives on Top Chef
Randall Colburn
Top ChefSeason 14
Choke Holds and Clammy Hands
Because The A.V. Club knows that TV shows keep going even if we're not writing at length about them, we're experimenting with discussion posts. For certain shows, one of our TV writers will publish some brief thoughts about the latest episode, and open the comments for readers to share theirs.
Here's what happened: It's the mise en place relay race! Knife draws determine the two teams—blue and green—and the chefs are tasked with mincing garlic, shucking clams, cleaning shrimp, dicing onion, doing whatever it is you do to artichokes, AND making a dish out of those ingredients in just 25 minutes. Despite a three-minute penalty, the blue team wins with a plate of fried shrimp and clam bellies and Sheldon, that angel who "still considers himself a line cook," is granted immunity for his game attitude. The same teams remain for the elimination challenge, wherein each chef must prepare one course of a seven-course dinner that's centered around radishes. The results are surprisingly astounding, with Padma and Tom declaring it the best food they've ever eaten on the show (*rolls eyes so effin' hard*), the blue team winning, and Brooke standing out for her radish panna cotta. While the judges say every dish was great, they send Sam home for calling his dish a "bahn mi" even though he used brioche and it wasn't a sandwich.
Yay! No rookies vs. veterans! Boo! Another group challenge! It's okay, though, because the chefs still get to show off their style with individual dishes. Out of the rookies, Sylva and Sylvia are still leading the pack. His halibut didn't sound nearly as radish-centric as everyone else's dishes, but it sure looked delicious. And Sylvia's got Shirley's knack for weaving a story into her dishes; the radish cake she made is reminiscent of a dish her grandmother used to make her in Italy.
It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that a veteran would go home this episode. While I love to believe in the integrity of Top Chef's judging process, it would've been damn disheartening to see another rookie go home for the third straight week. That said, Sam was clearly the weak link here. The only real criticism they had for BJ's dish was that there was a "soft radish" on it. Sam's wasn't a failure in execution, but in conception: calling it a "bahn mi" put the wrong picture in the judge's heads. How many times has that sorta thing happened on Top Chef?
BJ says he loves "making dishes with humble ingredients," which might be the only humble thing about him.
What do you think of the head-to-head format? I didn't mind it in this format, with each chef preparing one course, but that's only because we were able to see each dish. That the challenge can end without seeing the entirety of the meal, as it did during the abysmal Seattle finale (that Brooke subtly shades in this episode), is such a shame. Imagine being robbed of Brooke's panna cotta and Sylvia's radish cake! Blasphemy!
Seriously, though: I love Brooke, but how does a panna cotta that didn't set end up becoming the best dessert in Top Chef history?
Let's give it up for Amanda! When she talked about her three spinal fusion surgeries I figured she was a shoe-in to go home this week, especially when I saw she was up against Shirley, a clear frontrunner. Her win was surprising and kinda heartwarming, and Shirley's look of disbelief upon losing was priceless. What did you think of Amanda during the D.C. season? Do you think she's a dark horse here?
FYI, she bartends at a cozy little spot a few blocks from my Chicago apartment, so I might have a soft spot for her. I can't speak to her food, but she makes a helluva cocktail.
Wherefore art thou, Graham?: Richard Blais is back to remind us that, no matter how talented he is in the kitchen, he is literally the worst judge this side of Katie Joel. He says literally nothing of substance. He lacks the wit of Hugh, the spunk of Emeril, the brashness of Toby Young (remember Toby?), and the warmth of Gail. He's a sentient faux hawk in a bowtie. The extent of his critiques are like, "Wow! Great flavor!" They've billed Graham Elliot as a head judge this season and he's only been in one episode. Maybe Gordon Ramsey's got him locked in a cage somewhere.
Am I too hard on Blais? Are there any Blais defenders out there? Is he only there because he won Top Chef: All-Stars? Do you think he had flashbacks to his "banana scallops" when Casey served her radish scallops? What do you think he smells like? I'm serious. No joke answers.
Speaking of bad judges (and Katie Joel), remember how literally 90% of Katie Joel's words were ADR'd in during the first season? Seriously, you almost never see her actually saying the words she's speaking. It's hilarious.
Am I too hard on Katie Joel?
Katsuji is cold as ice. Not only is he trying to resurrect John's inner demons, but his "Annie who?" at the beginning of the episode was some deep shade.
Serious question: How does one become a Top Chef superfan? Was anybody in that audience reading this review? If so, comment and tell us all about it.
Sam says "foams can be scary on Top Chef." Who else thinks he still has Marcel nightmares?
Sam, I'm sorry for calling you Poochie. Your work with Beyond Type 1 is inspiring, your food looks incredible, and you seem like a genuinely nice guy. I'm also sorry for the below pic, which is you finding out Gerald will be your competitor in Last Chance Kitchen. It's just that it's the fakest "surprised" look I've ever seen and I couldn't not take a screen shot to post with this review. Anyways, here it is:
Last Chance Kitchen: Since Sam didn't make radish the highlight of his dish, he and Gerald are tasked with making dishes centered around celery, the most flavorless of ingredients. Sam uses the celery three different ways, couching it all in a cream of celery soup. Gerald is more ambitious in his attempt to make celery Dippin' Dots, but they turn out looking more like shards of green ice and sink his dish, Titanic-style. Sam will need to beat 11 chefs to make it to the finale. New Orleans' Louis currently has the record, having beat out six chefs to make it to the finale, so 'ol Backwards Hat's got his work cut out for him.
Can we take a moment to acknowledge how tremendously awkward it is for the losing chefs to have to sit in on Last Chance Kitchen for the rest of the competition? Poor Annie looks like the last kid picked in gym class as Tom forces her to trudge out to her lone chair. If it were me I'd be wearing a pair of Groucho glasses. Instead, Annie yells out, "Celery is one of my favorite ingredients!" and I swear to Christ I couldn't figure out if she was joking or not. Seriously, look at this sad scene:
Next week on Top Chef: Amanda sounds like she's speaking backwards and I'm like:


text:
July 16, 1945 ~ The Birth of the Atom Bomb
July 16, 1945 – The United States conducted its first test of an atomic bomb in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Early in World War II, the United States learned that Nazi Germany was working to develop an atomic weapon.
This revelation raised more than a few red flags and led to the establishment of the Manhattan Project in August 1942.
Manhattan brought together the best scientific minds of the generation to study the feasibility of building an atomic bomb capable of unimaginable destructive power.
By July 1945, a prototype weapon was ready for testing.
Although Germany had surrendered months earlier, the war against Japan was still raging, so time was of the essence.
The device, informally nicknamed "The Gadget", was of the same design as the Fat Man, the bomb later detonated over Nagasaki, Japan.
On July 16, The Trinity Test was conducted and the Gadet was detonated in the desert near Los Alamos.
The Gadget's detonation released the explosive energy of nearly 22 kilotons of TNT.
Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, director of the project, watched the mushroom cloud rise into the Nevada sky and recited a Hindu passage from the Baghavad Gita.
"Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds."
News of the successful test was relayed to President Harry S. Truman, who was meeting with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in Potsdam to discuss the postwar world.
According to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Truman was elated.
Truman and many other U.S. officials hoped that possession of the atomic bomb would be America's trump card in dealing with the Soviets after the war.
Less than a month later Truman would make the decision to use the weapon against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bringing a swift end to World War II.
The American atomic monopoly did not last long, though.
By 1949, the Soviets had developed their own atomic bomb, marking the beginning of the nuclear arms race.
The test site for the Gadget was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places the following year.
Thousands visit the landmark each year.


text:
39 Journals
Venkatesh Balasubramanian
Department of Engineering Design
chanakya@iitm.ac.in (Work)
+91-44 2257 4117 (Work)
Publications - 67
Dr. Venkatesh Balasubramanian is a Professor in the Department of Engineering Design at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. He works on various problems of disruptive innovations in product and process developments at IIT Madras.
Dr. Balasubramanians' academic work at IITM can be classified into three interlinked domains
1. Innovation and Lean Operations
Developed Suzhal Management System (SMS), a methodology to disruptively innovate to develop new products and implement lean operations. SMS has shown a big impact in productivity improvements and various product development initiative have been done in industries ranging from automotive manufacturing to postal services and leather goods manufacturing.
2. Factors in Transportation
Developed methods to understand and objectively measure occupant comfort, performance and health in various modes of transportation such as on- and off-road vehicles, helicopters, 2 wheelers, etc. This has helped create IP, which are licensed by IITM for commercial development of products such as Intelliseat™, an IoT device for driver behavior and performance monitoring. These methods are used to design vehicles with improved ride comfort and contribute towards transportation safety.
3. Devices and Implants
Various disruptive medical devices, materials and implants have been developed that will improve the care given and the cost of care delivery. These have been in disciplines such as cardiac, vascular, orthopaedic, dental, etc.
In addition to his academic work, Dr. Balasubramanian had pursued a passion in leadership development. He had helped develop and coordinate a one-year PGPEX program, Visionary Leaders for Manufacturing (VLFM). This program was unique in many ways and the first to have a joint diploma offered by IIMC, IITK and IITM. This program was adopted as the skill and leadership development program of the "Make In India" vision of DIPP, GoI. He had also developed programs for building leadership in engineering and manufacturing excellence for various large and medium sized manufacturing companies.
Dr. Balasubramanian mentors and advices technology based start-ups, SMEs and automotive industries in strategic management, disruptive and sustaining innovations, new product development and productivity improvement. He serves as a member of the Ergonomics Sectional Committee of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and is an Assistant Secretary of the Indian Society of Ergonomics (ISE).
He is an advisor to National Health Mission in Tamilnadu and was part of the team that helped to build TAEI (Tamilnadu Accident and Emergency Initiative), one of India's comprehensive emergency programs. He also serves on the board of Tamilnadu Ex-Servicemen's Corporation Limited (TEXCO) as a Director.
External profile links: LinkedIn, SciSpace, Scopus, University website, Google Scholar
Publications (67)View all
Investigation of factors contributing to injury severity in single vehicle motorcycle crashes in India
, Sivasankaran S.K. and Rangam H.
2021 | Taylor and Francis Ltd.
Influence of occupant collision state parameters on the lumbar spinal injury during frontal crash
and Sivasankari S.
2021 | Elsevier B.V.
Developing a heuristic relationship to predict the spinal injury during vertical impact for autonomous vehicle and bio environment
2020 | Elsevier Ireland Ltd
Investigation of factors contributing to pedestrian hit-and-run crashes in India
and Kumar Sivasankaran Sathish
2020 | Informa UK Limited
Exploring the severity of bicycle–vehicle crashes using latent class clustering approach in India
2020 | Elsevier BV
Network (4)View all
J. M. MallikarjunaProfessor
1 publications in common
A RameshProfessor
Sujatha ChandramohanProfessor
Get all the updates from Venkatesh Balasubramanian


Fashion lovers take note: flights to the clothes capital of Europe are super low cost. I found this great September Milan break using Trivago and my Flight Finder tool that will see you stay in this incredible city for less.
During your break in the wonderful city of Milan, you will be staying in the Italianway Apartment on Bligny 25. These well-rated apartments are a mere 20-minute walk from the centre of Milan, but you will be served by a metro station and bus service. These bright and cosy apartments are well connected to the city's main tourist attractions.
Milan is the perfect city to experience art, fashion and good coffee. You'll find most of the city's well-known attractions in the Duomo area. Make sure to book a visit to the Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie. Why? Because on a hidden away wall, you will be able to see da Vinci's famous The Last Supper. You should stop by the city's famous museums or climb to the top of Duomo for a stunning view of the city's skyline. Go shopping for discounts in Milan's shopping centres and finish your day by indulging in aperitivo culture and have a few drinks before dinner in Navigli.


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catkin/Glossary
This is a glossary of common jargon used in relation to catkin.
build system: A set of tools for building code. See: Make, CMake, and catkin.
catkin: A Build System based on CMake and extended with Python. It adds features for building distributed code bases and is the successor to rosbuild. See: catkin
catkinize: The act of converting a rosbuild, or otherwise non-catkin, package into a catkin one.
dry: A 'dry' package is one that has not yet been catkinized. See wet for an explanation of the analogy.
in-source build: This indicates that the build folder and generated code are in sub folder of the source code, e.g. if the source code is in src and the build folder is src/build.
out-of-source build: This indicates that the build folder and generated code are outside of the source directory, e.g. if the source code is in src and the build folder is build.
rosbuild: A Build System which utilizes CMake, but is designed to be easier to use and to solve build problems specifically related to ROS. It is being replaced by catkin. See: rosbuild
target: This term refers to a build target, which is anything that can be created as a result of the build process, e.g. executables, libraries, generated code, etc...
wet: A 'wet' package is one that has been catkinized. The analogy is that the catkin 'tide' rises through the package dependency tree and they become 'wet' as they are catkinized. dry packages are rosbuild packages that have not been converted yet.


text:
Skarpögatan är en gata på Östermalm i Stockholm. Skarpögatan leder i en svag böj i nord-sydlig riktning genom ambassadkvarteren i Diplomatstaden.

Skarpögatan fick sitt namn år 1948 under kategorin "skärgårdsnamn" efter Skarpö, norr om Rindö intill Vaxholm. Gatan börjar i söder vid övergången mellan Dag Hammarskjölds väg samt Djurgårdsbrunnsvägen och slutar i norr vid Gärdesgatan. Gatan är en återvändsgata och är avstängd för allmän trafik och obehöriga, beroende på alla ambassader som finns i området. Här har Tysklands ambassad, Norges ambassad och  Storbritanniens ambassad i Stockholm sina adresser.

Källor

Externa länkar

Gator och torg i Diplomatstaden
Återvändsgator


Are you playing with Visual Studio 2015 and ASP.NET 5.0 (vNext) yet? Good! If you are you may have noticed this little quirk when using Bower packages.
If you open up bower.json and add a package (for example angular) and then build then as part of the build process the missing Angular.js package will be downloaded (expected). Now let's say that you've changed your mind and you don't want to use Angular.js. You could go back into the bower.json file and remove the dependency there. You would also need to go to the wwwroot/libs folder and remove the angular directory that is present there.
Now here is the thing, if you save the file and do another build the angular directory in wwwroot/libs will be recreated even though Angular.js is no longer a dependency in the bower.json file. Turns out to stop it getting restored you need to also remove the angular directory off the root of the web project in the bower_components directory.
As you can see in the screenshot above, you need tom remove the three highlighted things above to stop those packages reappearing. This isn't actually a problem with Visual Studio 2015. I can replicate the same thing using grunt, bower and grunt-bower-task on a hand-crafted Node.js app on my MacBook.
I suspect that the grunt-bower-task install task doesn't really refer to the bower.json file prior to just enumerating over the contents of the bower_components directory (could be wrong about this as I've only skimmed the source code on GitHub).
Anyway, thought I would point it out because the behaviour can be frustraiting when you don't know what is going on.


text:
De Birmese meestimalia (Yuhina humilis) is meestimalia, een zangvogel uit de familie Zosteropidae die voorkomt in het Oriëntaals gebied.

Kenmerken
De Birmese meestimalia is 12 tot 14 cm lang. Hij lijkt sterk op de baardmeestimalia en werd in de vorige eeuw soms beschouwd als ondersoort. Het is een wat fletse uitvoering van de baardmeestimalia. Opvallend verschillend zijn de grijze buik en ondestaartdekveren en de sterkte streping.

Verspreiding en leefgebied
De Birmese meestimalia komt voor in montane bossen op 1200 m boven de zeespiegel in Myanmar (Birma, vandaar de naam) en het noordwesten van Laos en Thailand.

De soort telt 2 ondersoorten:
 Y. h. clarki: oostelijk Myanmar.
 Y. h. humilis: zuidoostelijk Myanmar en westelijk Thailand.

Status
De Birmese meestimalia heeft een ruim verspreidingsgebied en daardoor is de kans op uitsterven gering. De grootte van de populatie is niet gekwantificeerd, maar waarschijnlijk gaan door verbrokkeling van het leefgebied de aantallen achteruit. Het tempo ligt echter onder de 30% in tien jaar (minder dan 3,5% per jaar). Om deze redenen staat deze meestimalia als niet bedreigd op de Rode Lijst van de IUCN.

Dier uit het Oriëntaals gebied
Brilvogels
IUCN-status niet bedreigd


This is a real story of a author, a pastor along with a filmmaker, Tony Gapastione. Following enduring the ache of divorce and bullying via his childhood, he also suffered through the suicide of his grandmother being an grownup. These functions from this past and also the lingering voices in his head haunted him and remaining him broken� but that was not the tip of his story. His life was changed when he recognized his soreness did not need to outline him, however it well prepared him for his mission. Tales can heal the entire world, but we now have to enable them mend us 1st. Here is the Contacting.


Built in 1846 by Miles Goodyear Fort Buenaventura is Utah's original and oldest settlement. Located on the Weber River two miles south of the confluence with the Ogden River the fort offers a wide range of amenities for outdoor recreation. Fort Buenaventura symbolizes a period of western history that was the transition from nomadic ways of the Indian tribes and trappers to the first permanent settlers in the Great Basin. the fort has authentic artifacts on display and hosts mountain man rendezvous re-enactments over Easter weekend. Facilities at the fort include camping and picnic areas, a canoeing pond and a replica of the original fort.
Summer in and around Ogden, Utah is filled with music and dancing, free outdoor movies, mountain biking, rip-roaring rodeos and, of course, adventure!
Notoriously Eventful Events You Can't Miss in Ogden!
Any day spent in and around Ogden is a day well spent, offering plenty of things to see and do.