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Rewilding the River: Bring nature back to our floodplains
Posted on August 17, 2017 by petecooperwildlife under Current Affairs
The rush of air over my head is just about audible as the scythe-like shape of a hobby snatches its dragonfly target some six feet above ground before arcing, swift as an arrow, upwards and effortlessly transferring the prey from talon to beak mid-flight.
In the distance, wedding bells meld into the high-pitched chorus of gulls and lapwings down on the lagoons, and the sight of the Norman church tower is just visible over the tangle of willows and rustling reeds.
This is Fishlake Meadows, a roughly 270-acre expanse of wetland just north of my hometown of Romsey in Hampshire.
It served as one of two 'local patches' in my teenage and young adult life, but not just for bird-watching (with 160 species recorded on site and regular ospreys stopping over every summer). It's where I implemented my first solo mammal survey over several years, gathering data on the status of otters, water voles and other small mammals that was published in a final report this summer. And it is a mecca for invertebrates, an outdoor classroom for getting to grips with butterflies, grasshoppers, crickets and dragonflies.
Many more local naturalists treasure this little Arcadia on the edge of a market town, and soon I am sure it will gain an even wider appreciation, now it has been taken under the wing of Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust last month as their newest nature reserve.
But perhaps what's most interesting about this site is that it didn't come about through any strategized management plans, but through a relatively rare occurrence in Britain – land abandonment, allowing a passive rewilding through lack of human interference.
The meadows were farmland for generations, and while flooding was commonplace, pumps prevented wild animal and plant life from completely reclaiming them. By the 1980s however, these proved too costly to operate, and they were switched off for the last time. The resultant reedbeds, lagoons, rough grassland and sallow scrub you see today is barely recognisable from the land it once was, and only the root-submerged dead poplars standing in neat field boundary lines, and the odd stone bridge over the swampy ditches, give clues to its agricultural past.
In fact, standing in Fishlake is a window into a long-gone era, which holds huge potential for an equally enticing future.
What have the Romans ever done for us?
The site is essentially a Mesolithic floodplain – what all of our river valleys would have been like before we started re-shaping the land to our wishes.
Go back 2,000 years, and the River Test Valley that these meadows sit within would have been a phenomenally wildlife-rich wetland. A shifting picture of habitats from open water, to reeds and wet scrub, to dark and foreboding carrs (wet woodland) of willow and alder, brimming with abundant birdlife. Some familiar, like mallards and kingfishers, but the whooping serenades of cranes and the huge Dalmatian pelicans flying overhead perhaps more unexpected.
The land would be gardened by the natural ebb of winter floods, and the grazing efforts of gardeners that wouldn't require a pay cheque: wild boar, deer, aurochs – a wild, now-extinct ox 6-foot high at the shoulder – and most notably beavers, whose dams in the smaller catchments running down the hills would extend these wetland sanctuaries deeper into the landscape.
Even with large rivers such as the Severn and Thames, we don't tend to think their catchment extends beyond the main channel itself. In reality, much of this is the result of vast land drainage and canalisation that has been occurring continuously in Britain from the moment the Romans and arrived and started digging canals through the fens of Norfolk. As rivers and their floodplains were dredged, re-routed and drained, over time much of the ecological complexity was eroded away.
Take a look at the screen-cap below; with Fishlake immediately north of Romsey and the actual River Test to the right of the town. The fields on either side of the river are on flat ground much like Fishlake, but the river itself has long being engineered to ensure these remain dry through much of the year. Compare this with the variety you see in the meadows not far away.
Flooding and a new nature
Sitting snugly within the Test Valley, Romsey and other settlements within the river's catchment are prone to floods in the winter that are getting more frequent.
The most dramatic of recent years in 2014 saw Fishlake completely submerged under at least six feet of water. Although enough flooding occurred to give the local press its biggest event of the year, it could have been a lot worse had Fishlake, with all its ecological complexity, not been there to soak it up. How much more money in flood protection could we save if there were more Mesolithic floodplains allowed to re-gain a footing across the catchment?
This idea of natural flood management is increasingly in vogue, and even the government seem keen to an extent. Meanwhile, a report published earlier this year stated that 90% of Britain's floodplains aren't currently suitable for flood mitigation, making a point that too much intensive farming and not enough natural vegetation is curbing this ecosystem service.
Could Fishlake be a useful model of an alternative land use for many of these floodplains? The fact that it turned into what it is today without a single pound or action plan being passed suggests that actually getting there might not be too complicated – the question is whether we, or rather the landowners and communities, want it to happen.
With Brexit underway, there may in fact be a route towards reaching this goal. All clouds have silver linings after all. A lot of the talk about what to do when Common Agricultural Policy subsides are no longer available has turned surprisingly promising for environmentalists. Rather than giving more money to those with most land taken into production, it looks like we'll be headed for a system where more is granted to those who give land back to nature – such as in carbon storage, flood protection and wildlife conservation.
This is all stuff I have heard personally from farmers, and has been reported in the media as a chief policy of new environment secretary Michael Gove. Given previous track records, conservationists are watching this with the cautious optimism. But the fervour with which this message is resonating is very promising.
It would give farmers and landowners an economic incentive for creating more Fishlake Meadows-type wild floodplains where this is possible. Even if only parts of the catchment went this way, as would likely be practical, the stabilisation provided by the novel plant communities could make a huge difference, while the main river banks & channels could act as a corridors linking such areas together for wildlife.
Imagine if every town had their own wild floodplain landscape directly upstream of them, as is the case with Romsey and Fishlake Meadows (along with Winchester's Winnall Moors). Not only would you be providing a flood relief buffer, but a place where people could reconnect with nature right on their doorstep. And I mean real nature.
Return of the wild
To get an idea of how much wetland we have lost, and what we could regain, we only have to look at our water birds. This year was the first year on record of a black-crowned night heron pair breeding in the Somerset Levels. What this article's headline doesn't recognise, is that these are not, in all likelihood, the first ever breeding pair. Bones of this bird have been found in Britain dating to Roman times and the 16th/17th century, while a strong case has been made for them being the 'brues' commonly found in medieval banquets (Yalden & Albarella 2009).
The spoonbill is just one former breeder coming back – this breeding bird photographed in Norfolk in 2012.
Anecdotal accounts speak of volumes of birds all but forgotten nowadays. Black terns are an occasional visitor that get birders' hearts racing when one shows up at an RSPB reserve. Yet in Norfolk in 1769, they were said to nest in "vast flocks [that] almost deafen one with their clamours" (Holloway 2010).
The loss of wetlands, from the beginnings of agriculture to the post-war land intensification, would have likely exacerbated the effect of over-exploitation of wildlife. Dalmatian pelican bones have been found in Bronze Age middens with dents that implicate being cut by tools. The aforementioned medieval banquets would have consumed huge numbers of cranes, storks, ducks and waders. And by the 19th century, egg collectors help put the nail in the coffin of breeding black terns, while persecution to protect fish stocks wiped out the ospreys and white-tailed eagles.
Yet as soon as we started recreating some of these lost habitats for conservation purposes at the turn of the century, many birds have bounced back. The return of bitterns is perhaps the most famous story, and with legal protection enforced, the marsh harrier swiftly reclaimed the reedbeds. Night herons follow a long line of egrets (little, cattle and great white), purple herons, spoonbills and little bitterns as birds that have bred for the 'first time' in recent years. A warming climate could be one factor, or is it just the fact we've given them what they need to thrive again?
Floodplain restoration across the UK could help these and more species recolonize former haunts, perhaps some day approaching an abundance one would expect of the Danube delta in Eastern Europe. Some may require more direct action to re-establish. While all birds can theoretically recolonize naturally, this is likely to be an incredibly slow process with those that return to their hatching place to breed, such as ospreys and white storks.
By enabling reintroduction projects in areas of suitable habitat, this would be a fantastic opportunity for engaging the wider public in the amazing things we have lost from our countryside, as well as speeding up the re-establishment process (as indeed is already happening with these two species at Poole Harbour and Knepp). The Dalmatian pelican that toured Cornwall last year became a minor celebrity – imagine what releasing more of these birds to the Somerset Levels could do for engaging people in the magic of nature?
Our ancient wild floodplains would have been dynamic ecosystems of shifting habitat mosaics, both from physical processes and biological ones. Large herbivores, primarily in the form of beavers and aurochs would've helped shape the swamp. The reintroduction of beavers to Britain is by now well known, and releasing more of these animals would create increasingly complex water systems and engineer a varied vegetation community (Law et al 2017). Many nature reserve managers already use domestic cattle to graze wetlands in order to maintain specific habitats, acting as proxies for aurochs which archaeological evidence suggests were common in fenland-type habitats (Lynch et al 2008).
There is debate on the necessity of this, which I will not dwell on here. Perhaps more extensive use of a carefully controlled number of animals – such as heck cattle, a breed supposedly close to its extinct ancestor – would provide a more varied diversity of habitat from the heavy trampling, grazing and browsing, without creating a grass monoculture due to an overload of an animals in a predator-free zone. Could the landowners that have donated land to floodplain restoration even make some extra money off the organic beef?
And if any brave maverick would like to fence in a couple of that other lost marshland herbivore, the moose, to see what happens, I'm all ears.
The moose – future resident of rewilded, expansive floodplains?
The talk of 'rewilding' is undoubtedly fashionable at the moment, but while much of it seems to focus on the possibilities in the uplands, there is a huge, untapped opportunity within many of our lowland floodplains. They tick many of the boxes that proponents often put forward – home to an abundance of restored wildlife that could be natural-process lead, a vast sponge to curb the cost and tragedy of flood damage, and immediate access to nature for those who aren't lucky enough to live in remote corners of the country.
I'll be following the development of Fishlake Meadows Nature Reserve with interest. For years, this site has shown me you can discover the thrill of wild, near-untamed land two minutes from suburbia. For the sake of nature and the next generation that grows with it, let's have more of this please.
Holloway, S. (2010) The Historical Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1875-1900.
Law, A., Gaywood, M. J., Jones, K. C., Ramsay, P. & Willby, N. J. (2017) Using ecosystem engineers as tools in habitat restoration and rewilding: beaver and wetlands. Sci. Total Environ. 605, 1021-1030.
Lynch, A. H., Hamilton, J. & Hedges, R. E. M. (2008) Where the wild things are: Aurochs and cattle in England. Antiquity. 82, 1025-1039.
Yalden, D. & Albarella, U. (2009) The history of British birds. OUP, Oxford.
3 thoughts on "Rewilding the River: Bring nature back to our floodplains"
Real nature? You note that Hampshire and IoW Wildlife Trust is taking over the management of Fishlake Meadows to turn it into one of their nature reserves, and where the Trust has declared that it will be "preventing the spread of trees and scrub across open habitats like the grassland, reedbeds and ponds" and the "introduction of cattle grazing, which will help keep scrub at bay and maintain the open wetland habitats that make Fishlake Meadows so special…..helping us to recreate the historic activity that defined the wildlife in this area". I am in no doubt that turning off the pumps had an impact on the vegetation cover, but it is likely also to have come from the cessation of agriculture, but these changes – the results of the abandonment that you admire – are to be reversed.
You also mention Winnall Moor. You probably didn't see it, but the Hampshire Chronicle ran an article in June 2011 that achingly contrasted the fate of two adjacent water meadows in the corridor of the River Itchen near Winchester. The more northerly water meadow is a reserve of the Hampshire and IoW Wildlife Trust, who had a whacking £1.3m, mostly from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), to "turn back the clock" on Winnall Moors by chopping down hundreds of alder, poplar and willow and reintroducing cattle grazing. The vision was to return the water meadow to the mostly treeless state that existed in the 1930's when agriculture sucked the vegetative life out of the landscape. Two smiling trust workers were pictured in the Chronicle article, content in the knowledge that their mastery would re-impose the correct landscape, with trees removed, cattle grazing reinstated, and the long, open views – much loved by the conservation industry – restored.
As the Chronicle article noted, there had been no outcry at the felling of trees on Winnall Moors as few people live nearby and access is not universal. The situation was however different on the floodplain of Winchester Meadows. Winchester College, the owners, faced with the unfavourable SSSI condition report, drew up plans for a similar tree-felling exercise. Once the plans were out, the criticism began. A Dr Chris Dixon of nearby Kingsgate Street, wrote a letter to the Chronicle, saying that it was the worst idea to "restore" the water meadows to their condition in the 1930s:
"In the 1960s the college very sensibly decided that removing the cattle and providing a wildlife sanctuary was the right thing to do. Cutting down all the trees and shrubs, fencing off two large areas north of Garnier Road with three strand barbed wire and grazing cattle in the enclosures, will have a devastating effect on the surroundings. The insects and invertebrates the current vegetation supports, allow a huge variety of wildlife to live there". Dr Dixon had a dim view of the predominantly agricultural landscape that lay to the south of Winchester meadows, where the effect of livestock on the land can be seen for miles: "It is featureless and unattractive, with far less of the wildlife we all enjoy so much"
The letter was a portent of what was to come from people living in the nearby St Cross area, moving city councillor Robert Sanders to predict widespread opposition as the college's plans became better known. Local resident Keith Story explained his opposition to tree felling on the basis of the importance of the visual value of the trees, but it went deeper for him:
"Many people have an emotional bond, they love large trees and hate to see them taken down"
Past history now, but beware as history repeats itself. I watched for years a wonderfully wild area of boggy deciduous carr woodland (3.3ha) that borders the B3053 from Old Station Roundabout immediately out of Bishops Waltham to Corhampton/Meonstoke – you could regularly see ducks wandering off the site into the Budgens supermarket. It's called North Pond on some maps, and I once checked to see if it had any designations (LNR, SSSI) any felling/agri-environment stewardship schemes, or connection to HIOWWT, all of which are the kiss of death to wild nature. It had none, but even then my fears about it were proven true when a few years ago, ghastly "rides" were driven through it by industrial tree felling, and the marshy ground and open water churned up. Real nature. I have no idea why it was done, or who commissioned it, but it is the typical adherence to the mainstream dogma of conservation. Beware, because the same thing is going to happen to Fishlake Meadows
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Charles Robert Redford Jr.
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Discovery Channel is getting into the scripted business with a new series about the Old West from Robert Redford. Announced as part of Thursday's Discovery Communications upfront presentation, the network is launching The West, a series spanning 40 years between the end of the Civil War and after the turn of the 20th century. The series, from Redford's Sundance Productions and Stephen David Entertainment, will feature famous characters from American History, including Jesse James, Wyatt Earp and Buffalo Bill.Discovery Channel is getting into the scripted business with a new series about the Old West from Robert Redford. Announced as part of Thursday's Discovery Communications upfront presentation, the network is launching The West, a series spanning 40 years between the end of the Civil War and after the turn of the 20th century. The series, from Redford's Sundance Productions and Stephen David Entertainment, will feature famous characters from American History, including Jesse James, Wyatt Earp and Buffalo Bill.
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Everyone in New York ends up on the subway at some point, and most of us end up there at least twice a day. It is definitely its own land with a distinct set of rules, people, smells and sounds that inhabit it and give it its color. At first, everything is exciting, somethings are off-putting, but eventually you become desensitized to it all.
There are always performers in the subways. Musicians, dancers, silver painted statue people, mini-Michael Jacksons, lady Michael Jacksons (just about every variety of Michael Jackson you can imagine) and for the most part they become a piece of the background noise. But last Sunday I was at the Atlantic/Barclay stop in Brooklyn heading to a last stop in Target before leaving town for a bit, and I heard the strains of "How Great Thou, Art" coming from a soothing, and unique instrument, which at first I thought might be a theremin, but it was instead it was Maestro Moses Josiah and his musical saw. He had an almost ethereal expression and unlike all the other people performing in the subway, he had the aura of someone giving a gift that you were welcome to take if you like as you moved through your day. He was so earnest, and the music rather haunting, so that I had to pause a moment and just take it in.
He accepts donations, and sells cds, so if you are ever in New York and pass Mr. Josiah, take a moment and appreciate him. He and his music have stayed with me long after hearing it.


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Nigel Ng Kin-ju ( ; born 15 March 1991), better known by his online persona Uncle Roger, is a Malaysian stand-up comedian and internet celebrity based in London, England. Ng prides himself on various East, Southeast, and South Asian stereotypes, and became popular on social media as his online persona, a middle-aged Asian man reviewing Asian food recipes who speaks Cantonese as a first language with an exaggerated and pronounced accent.

Early life
Ng was born in Kuala Lumpur to Malaysian Chinese parents of Hokkien ancestry. Ng's father is a car salesman and his mother is a full-time homemaker.

After graduating from Chong Hwa Independent High School, Kuala Lumpur in 2009, Ng moved to the United States to study at Northwestern University, majoring in engineering and minoring in philosophy, graduating in 2014.

Career
Ng is a fan of Hong Kong comic actor Stephen Chow, and cites Chow's films as having inspired him to become a comedian.

Ng won the Amused Moose Laugh-Off 2016 and was runner-up in the Laughing Horse New Act of the Year 2015. He was also a finalist in the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year (2016) and Leicester Square New Comedian of the Year (2015). Ng was nominated for the "Best Newcomer Award" for his stand-up comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019.

Ng made his TV debut in 2018 on Comedy Central's Stand Up Central.

He hosted the comedy podcasts Rice to Meet You with UK-based Swedish comedian Evelyn Mok. and HAIYAA with Nigel Ng with his producer Matt

On 2 January 2021, Ng uploaded his first Chinese video in Bilibili, a video sharing website in China. On 12 January, Ng apologised on the China social media platform Sina Weibo and deleted a video featuring fellow YouTube star Mike Chen who had been critical of the Chinese Communist Party, and who had been associated with Falun Gong. Ng stated, "This video has made a bad social impact...I wasn't aware of his political thoughts and his past incorrect remarks about China...I hope you can give Uncle Roger, who has just entered China, a chance to improve!" Ng's move attracted criticism on Twitter. In his first subsequent video as Uncle Roger, he said he would "keep making funny videos – no politics, no drama".

In 2021, he appeared on the first episode of Mock the Week Series 19, a British comedy show on BBC Two.

Uncle Roger
Ng has become best known for his comedic persona Uncle Roger, who speaks with a pronounced Cantonese-like accent and prides himself on various East and Southeast Asian stereotypes. His comedy partner Evelyn Mok came up with the middle-aged Asian uncle character for a sitcom with Ng in mind, and Ng further developed the character on TikTok and Instagram sketches before moving the character onto YouTube.

In July 2020, Ng attracted attention for his YouTube video critique of Hersha Patel's BBC Food video on cooking egg-fried rice in the Uncle Roger persona. After the video went viral, Ng and Patel appeared on BBC together. Ng has also collaborated with Patel on a YouTube video. In August 2020, Ng worked in Liz Haigh's restaurant, Mei Mei. In September 2020, he posted a critique video with regards to Gordon Ramsay's fried rice cooking, in which he praised Ramsay for his correct technique. Ng has released numerous videos critiquing Jamie Oliver's versions of popular Asian dishes like egg-fried rice and Thai green curry. He has made it clear that he does not want any of his viewers to spread hate towards anyone. He has also reviewed the fried rice of a number of other chefs.

In 28 February 2021, he became a special guest on MasterChef Singapore Season 2.

On August 14, 2022, he became a guest judge on Junior MasterChef Indonesia Season 3 during the Final 3.

On October 13, 2022, he also became a guest diner on Hell's Kitchen Season 21. He complained on the Blue Team being slow on service and wished to be on the Red Team's service with Tony Hawk.

Reception
The accent Ng uses for the Uncle Roger character has also received criticism for perpetuating negative stereotypes about Asians, and his act has been compared to a minstrel show. Chef J. Kenji López-Alt, who is of Japanese descent, criticised him in the description of his egg fried rice tutorial, saying "I don't like that his schtick seems to give a free pass to people to imitate stereotypical Asian speech patterns and pronunciation (especially as it's almost always non-Asians doing the imitating). It's ugly, it's yellowface, it's not funny, and it promotes anti-Asian racism at a time when Asians are already being heavily discriminated against."

Personal life
Ng currently resides in London, United Kingdom.

In 2020, Ng revealed that he was a victim of an anti-Asian racist assault in London. He said in one of his live sets, "I got punched, man, in London. This is real." He added that it was a cyclist that had punched him.

References

External links

 Nigel Ng's channel on YouTube

1991 births
English-language YouTube channels
Living people
People from Kuala Lumpur
Malaysian people of Hokkien descent
Malaysian people of Chinese descent
Malaysian expatriates in the United Kingdom
Malaysian YouTubers
Malaysian stand-up comedians
Northwestern University alumni
21st-century comedians

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I am originally from Newport News, Virginia, and I joined the U.S. Army after high school, and trained as a Network Data Telecommunications Specialist. I was stationed in Germany most of my military career, which included a duty assignment in Berlin when the "Wall" came down. I had other duty assignments in South Korea; Maryland, Georgia, Texas, and served two years as a Drill Instructor. During my military career, I learned how to be confident, work as a team member as well as lead a team. Throughout my military career, I had been taking classes whenever I could. When I retired in 1997, I had enough credits, combined with my military experience, that I only had to go to school for 18 months to get a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. I started working at various placement agencies as an Administrative Assistant as a way for me to get into corporate jobs. I finally landed a placement job as a contractor with IBM in Charlotte, NC in 2002. While there I supported a Project Management and Sales team as a Project Coordinator for IBM's Business Continuity Recovery Services. I decided to go back to school. I enrolled at Strayer University, North Charlotte campus in September 2004, and completed my MBA in June 2006. I had a friend who was working in the Federal government in Washington, DC, and he sent me the link for a program that was at the Department of Labor, and told me to apply. I applied, and the week after I had completed all my course work at Strayer, I moved to Alexandria, Virginia, and started work with the U.S. Department of Labor in June 2006 where I was accepted into the Department of Labor's MBA Fellows program. As an MBA Fellow, I did various rotational assignments with several agencies within the Department. I had the opportunity to apply business practices, knowledge, and expertise on special projects, conducted fact-finding research, and interpreted regulations. Once I completed the MBA Fellows program, I became a permanent member of the Civil Rights Center as an Equal Opportunity Specialist. I worked in the Office of External Enforcement, performing duties related to external enforcement of the nondiscrimination and equal opportunity statutes, Executive Orders, and regulations applicable to programs and activities receiving Federal financial assistance, either from the Department of Labor or, in some circumstances, from other Federal entities. DOL-conducted program and activities related to labor and the workforce, and this includes complaint intake, complaint investigations, and compliance reviews.


Exposure to UV light from the sun or from tanning beds can damage the DNA in melanocytes, the cells that make the melanin that gives skin its color. This damage is a major cause of skin cancer, the most common form of cancer in the United States. In the past, experts believed that melanin protected the skin by blocking harmful UV light. But there was also evidence from studies suggesting that melanin was associated with skin cell damage.
In the current study, Douglas E. Brash, clinical professor of therapeutic radiology and dermatology at Yale School of Medical, and his co-authors first exposed mouse and human melanocyte cells to radiation from a UV lamp. The radiation caused a type of DNA damage known as a cyclobutane dimer (CPD), in which two DNA "letters" attach and bend the DNA, preventing the information it contains from being read correctly. To the researchers' surprise, the melanocytes not only generated CPDs immediately but continued to do so hours after UV exposure ended. Cells without melanin generated CPDs only during the UV exposure.
The researchers next tested the extent of damage that occurred after sun exposure by preventing normal DNA repair in mouse samples. They found that half of the CPDs in melanocytes were "dark CPDs" — CPDs created in the dark.
In searching for an explanation of these results, Sanjay Premi, associate research scientist in the Brash laboratory, discovered that the UV light activated two enzymes that combined to "excite" an electron in melanin. The energy generated from this process — known as chemiexcitation — was transferred to DNA in the dark, creating the same DNA damage that sunlight caused in daytime. Chemiexcitation has previously been seen only in lower plants and animals.
While noting that news of the carcinogenic effect of melanin is disconcerting, the researchers also pointed to a ray of hope: The slowness of chemiexcitation may allow time for new preventive tools, such as an "evening-after" sunscreen designed to block the energy transfer.
Other study authors include Yale's Silvia Wallisch, Camila M. Mano, Adam B. Weiner, Antonella Bacchiocchi, and Ruth Halaban; Kazumasa Wakamatsu of Fujita Health University School of Health Sciences in Japan; Etelvino J. H. Bechara of Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil; and Thierry Douki Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique in France.
The study was supported in part by Department of Defense CDMRP grants CA093473P1 and CA093473 (D.E.B. and R.H.), and NIH grant 2 P50 CA121974 (R.H. and D.E.B.).


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NSW Government to again change rules over land clearing in bushfire-prone areas
By Lucy McNally
Posted Wed 12 Aug 2015 at 3:12am Wednesday 12 Aug 2015 at 3:12am Wed 12 Aug 2015 at 3:12am , updated Wed 12 Aug 2015 at 5:18am Wednesday 12 Aug 2015 at 5:18am Wed 12 Aug 2015 at 5:18am
abc.net.au/news/nsw-government-to-again-change-10-50--land-clearing-laws/6691050
The New South Wales Government will again change a contentious law that allows homeowners in bushfire prone areas to clear their land without a permit.
Introduced in 2014 to help homeowners protect themselves from bushfires, the 10/50 laws initially allowed people within 350 metres of high-risk bushland to cut down trees within 10 metres of their property without a permit.
But they were scaled back twice, after receiving complaints that residents were cutting down trees to ensure they had better water views.
Under the current laws, property owners can cut down a tree within 10 metres of their home, and clear scrub within 50 metres of their property if they are within 100 metres of a bushfire-prone area.
A review of the scheme did not recommend changing that rule, but instead made 30 recommendations.
Emergency Services Minister David Elliott said they included one recommendation aimed at stopping property owners from cutting down trees simply to enhance property values.
"If you are living within 100 metres of the coastline well you cannot simply use 10/50 [laws] to cut down a tree," he said.
"We saw as a Government and we heard from the people that this legislation was being misused.
"I am not about going around and using bushfire mitigation reasons so that people on the north shore and on the Sydney Harbour can simply improve their views."
Environment Minister Mark Speakman said the Government would adopt all 30 recommendations.
"This strengthened scheme will introduce stronger environmental protections such as excluding koala habitats, littoral rainforests, Aboriginal places and trees within 100 metres of the coastline and mapped estuaries," he said.
"The scheme will now also exclude critically endangered plants, critical habitats, all mangroves and saltmarshes and a range of critically endangered ecological communities."
But the Nature Conservation Council said the review did not go far enough.
"Nothing in the Government's review changes the fundamental problems with the code," the council's chief executive Kate Smolski said.
"The code still overrides the bulk of the Threatened Species Conservation Act and local council tree preservation orders.
"It has been clear since its introduction that the 10-50 rule has been used almost exclusively to remove trees to improve views, facilitate development and other non-bushfire related purposes."
Legislation has been a shambles: Labor
Labor's Environment spokesperson Penny Sharpe said the Government should have included environmental protections from the start.
"The fact that wetlands were considered to be a reasonable inclusion within this code in the first place was wrong," she said.
"We welcome anything that's going to protect koala habitat but there's a lot other habitat we need to look at and we're looking at the detail now."
Ms Sharpe said the legislation had been "a shambles".
"In 12 months there have been three different iterations of the code," she added.
"We're now up to the third iteration, that may or may not be doing what it's supposed to be doing — protecting property, protecting people and also looking after the environment.
"We believe you can get this right — we don't think the Government is there yet."
Posted 12 Aug 2015 12 Aug 2015 Wed 12 Aug 2015 at 3:12am , updated 12 Aug 2015 12 Aug 2015 Wed 12 Aug 2015 at 5:18am
State and Territory Parliament


The artist who did this totally gorgeous #painting is Gill Bustamante. She is also designing the cover for my latest #novel, Demon Gene, so as you can imagine I am very excited. Check out this gorgeous painting and loads more on her website.


"Absolutely LOVE HZ Plastic Surgery!"
about this practice. If you want to look amazing and be treated extremely well (and so so comfortable) in the process, look no further!" - Janet C.
"Michelle was great! She thoroughly explained the process to me and made me feel so comfortable."
"The staff was professional and friendly. Michelle was great! She thoroughly explained the process to me and made me feel so comfortable. My Botox is working great! The entire experience made me feel confident to continue coming back for future treatments and procedures! Thank you Michelle!" - Anh P.
"Michelle Fletcher APRN is the best injector in Central Florida!"
"Super friendly and professional staff"
"Dr. Z has an eye for perfection!"
"Dr. Z has an eye for perfection! Such a kind man and I had the pleasure of working with Michelle. I had fillers done in my cheeks and botox on my smile lines and acne scars. She was patient with me, professional and kept making sure I was okay. I wish I would have found them sooner. If you're looking for the best plastic surgeon, it's this place!" - C.


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Wendy's to replace workers with self-service kiosks in some restaurants
A sign is posted in front of a Wendy's restaurant on August 10, 2016 in Daly City, California.
Fast food joint Wendy's has begun introducing self-service ordering kiosks to at least 1,000 locations -- or about 15 percent of its stores, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The move is seen by some analysts as a way to offset new minimum wage requirements that some places, including California, have voted in.
Is this an unintended consequence of the minimum wage hike?
Ted Green, Co-Chair of the Labor and Employment Committee at the Los Angeles County Business Federation (BizFed)
Saru Jayaraman, Co-Director and Co-Founder, Restaurant Opportunities Center United (ROC United), a nonprofit working to improve wages and working conditions for restaurant workers. She is the author of "Forked: A New Standard For American Dining" (Oxford University Press, 2016)
Is McDonald's investment into AI tech for its drive-thrus a bellwether for retail?
#MeToo hits fast food: What responsibility do corporations have to employees at franchise locations?
Jonathan Gold's top LA restaurant picks, from $ to $$$$
How is LA's new minimum wage impacting you?
We look at why fewer teens are working summer jobs
Food industry, branding experts unroll Chipotle's recent burrito of trouble
The curse of automation
Governor Brown paves the road for hands-free driving in California
GOP unveils ACA replacement plan, why is Metro ridership on a decline & Wendy's new self-serving kiosks
Exploring the American Health Care Act, Congressional Republicans' ACA replacement plan
Weighing the impact of sending ground troops to fight ISIS in Syria


We hope everyone is enjoying their last few weeks of summer with friends, family and fabric!
This is a high quality 1/4" thick acrylic curved ruler set for longarm quilting use. Or it can be used to mark quilting designs for quilting on your domestic sewing machine.
or tell us about your favorite long-arm quilter!
Good Luck! Winner will be announced on Monday 8-24.
Only one comment about quilting?!…hmm.. how about I'm a teacher by day and a quilter any other open minute I have available to quilt! I can get lost on my quilting and the days stress disappears among the colors, and designs, and the hum of my machine. Quiting is what keepse sane!!
I'm doing a Row by Row quitl and needed your ruler. I found your site and am excited to learn more. Your quilts are beautiful . I'm ready to sew!
Enjoyed the QAL, my local quilt group liked my quilt. I have been making several of your patterns and liking the curves, finding it easy to get the seams matched up with your technique of cutting them to size after sewing the curved blocks.
I LOVE quilting! I have my own long arm now and really enjoy the process (even through it can be stressful) of coming up with how to quilt my stack of unfinished tops. Thank you for a chance at such a great giveaway. Your quilting has been such a great inspiration for me.
I visited a local quilt shop today. They had a great display showing your quilts. I couldn't resist buying your ruler and can't wait to get started on my own quilt.
I started quilting 35 years ago and top quilted by hand. I now have a longarm that I absolutely love. I feel so blessed.
I'm a busy longarmer. My challenge is finding time to quilt my own quilts! But, I feel blessed to have my own machine.
I just bought a mid arm a few months ago and I am enjoying learning. I have only started using rulers. I think the curved cross hatching achieved with your ruler is fabulous. Have made three of your paterns. Love them all. There are not enough hours in a day.
I just quilted my Metro Hoops quilt at Laurena's Longarm Quilting in Burlington MA. She patiently taught me how to use the Statler Machine to make beautiful leaves in the circles! I think I will have to make another Metro hoops quilt.
I don't do a lot of ruler work, the sidekick just might be the one I fall in l ove with! Thanks for th giveaway !
I have been quilting for more than 10 years and did all my quilting in my home machine. Two years ago I got my long arm and I love it. It was a challenge but I think I have tame that stinker. Love not to have to baste my quilts, I'm not as young as I think and not having to be in my knees in the floor basting and fighting the quilt in the home machine is like being in heaven. Love quilting it is my therapy.
I do not own a long arm, but I am in awe of those who use it so skillfully. However, I am slowly learning to quilt on my domestic machine and I am finding it a lot of fun. Your ruler would really inspire me!
I quilt all my quilts on my domestic machine. I love doing free motion! It feels like drawing and adds so much texture to the quilt.
I have been quilting since the 70s and haven't made enough yet. I have a longarm but still struggle with the more advanced free motion work. Pantos are my forte.
I have been hand quilting and tying quilts but I am really wanting to learn FMQ on my sewing machine. So excited to about your patterns, so gorgeous ?
My daughter and I always make sure one of your patterns is in our project basket when we go to our guilds annual retreat. Love your work – keep designing!!


Election Day is 5 weeks away. The Alliance is here to help with resources, opportunities, events, and timelines so that you have best nonpartisan materials to use in educating your students about the election.
Fifth graders in Glendora, California frame an inquiry around the compelling question "Does Voting Matter?". They research the history of voting rights and investigate primary sources. After finding and analyzing voting statistics locally, statewide and nationally, students conduct surveys and compile their own statistics to dig deeper and attempt to uncover the cause of what looks like voter apathy in the community. As students study the history of voting rights coupled with the realization that voter apathy exists today, students decide to take informed action by creating Public Service Announcements and brochures urging the community to register, learn, and then vote!
Voting on the question "Does Voting Matter?" in Glendora, CA. Image courtesy of Rebecca Valbuena.
Voter registration deadlines are fast approaching. Find registration information and other localized, up-to-date elections information by visiting the League of Women Voters' award-winning Vote411 website.


The first-ever Transition US National Gathering (and the follow-up Leadership Retreat and Movement Strategy Session) was a great success! TUS staff, board, and our growing network of supporters and volunteers around the country remain hard at work integrating this amazing experience -- including harvesting stories, videos, images and other artifacts -- but for the moment, it feels necessary to give our blog readers at least a very basic sketch of the magic that we co-created in the Twin Cities this summer.
The events this summer -- both the Transition US National Gathering and the leadership retreat -- were historic in nature: It was the first time Transition US hosted a national-level gathering of Transition-minded folks from around the country, and the Movement Strategy Session represented the first-ever gathering of some of the most engaged grassroots Transition leaders in the same place at the same time, building a vessel to continue working together in this new post-gathering era. In this regard, the gathering and retreat were de facto successes: Simply by virtue of coming together, we accomplished something major. And that is to say nothing of what even happened at these events, the breakthroughs we had together, all that we taught and learned from one another, the community and trust and understanding we built with one another, the resources and skills and inspiration we shared.
The events took place in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota from July 27th through August 1st. The wider National Gathering attracted over 300 participants of various levels of engagement in the Transition Towns movement to build thriving resilient community all across the country. Included in this event were two days of intensive trainings, a public screening of the documentary film "Tomorrow," keynote presentations by Richard Heinberg, Rob Hopkins, and Phyllis Young, 43 workshops on various topics, bioregional breakouts, Open Space sessions, shared meals and dorm lodging, social time together after hours, and, finally, the two-day Leadership Retreat and Movement Strategy Session (which I'll describe in greater detail below, and even more deeply in the next installment of this multi-part series).
Common areas for improvement cited included the quality of the food served at Macalester (although I personally found the cuisine to be delightful!) and the high cost of attending the Gathering (which is understandable, though it bears noting that we offered a great many full and partial scholarships, several substantial discounts and work-trade opportunities, and turned no one away for lack of funds). Survey participants also indicated a desire for more practical examples of Transition work, fewer concurrent workshops to choose between, greater diversity of participants, simplifying the registration process, and providing more time for networking, self-organization, and celebration.
The Movement Strategy Session, which followed the main gathering, was a smaller and more intimate convergence of some of the most active Transition organizers around the country. There were 34 participants, including four TUS staff, four TUS board members, and the initiators and citizen-leaders of dozens of local transition initiatives from Puget Sound to Northern California, New Mexico to Colorado, Montana to Minnesota, Pennsylvania to Vermont, Boston to Florida — and many places in between.
This was the first Transition US Leadership Retreat of its kind: for most of these high-level transitioners, it was their first time in the room with most of the other leaders present. And while there were a number of direct and concrete deliverables that were achieved, perhaps the most important and consequential result of this meeting was the community-building that we did — the relationships forged, the trust built, the experience of looking each other in the eye, hearing one another's voice, and embracing each other as brothers and sisters and kindred souls with a common purpose.
The retreat was convened chiefly not by Transition US staff, but by a newer participatory body of volunteers from around the country known as the Collaborative Design Council of grassroots leaders of high-functioning Transition initiatives, which serves in advisory capacity to the TUS staff and board. One of the main intentions — and delivered results — of this retreat was expanding the size, participation and scope of this Collaborative Design Council. Indeed, it feels like the greatest upshot from our entire week in the Twin Cities, above and beyond simply getting to know one another and hang out in person, is the greater participation and decentralization we are seeing take shape across the Transition movement, from the growth of the Collaborative Design Council to the formation of National Working Groups, to the rise of Regional Hubs across the country.
As you may be aware, Transition US has a very small staff (approximately 2 "full-time employee" hours shared among four less-than-full-time staffers) and rather limited capacity (traditionally with a budget less than $200k/year). Rather than letting this limit us, we've oriented more and more staff time toward cultivating a grassroots-and-tops nationwide community of citizen-leaders who are working together with more and more clarity and focus on scaling up and supporting the national project of Transition towns in the US.
The Transition US National Gathering and Leadership retreat yielded at least four solid national working groups and communities of practice to carry forward the national-level work of Transition in a grassroots capacity -- a Heart and Soul group, a Social Justice & Transition group, a revamped Transition Streets cohort, and a REconomy community of practice. Furthermore, with the event's bioregional breakouts and the overt emphasis placed on organizing at a regional level, we witnessed a surge in the growth of Regional Hubs, from New England and the Mid Atlantic to NorCal and Puget Sound. And, perhaps most importantly, nearly a dozen retreat participants indicated an intention to commit time to growing the Collaborative Design Council and to regional Transition Hubs. This growing set of participatory circles will allow us to continue to "broaden, deepen and scale up" our work in Transition long after the National Gathering has come and gone. Supported in community, we will continue to carry our work forward in an ever-greater collective spirit.
In our local Transition initiatives, we "honor the work already being done" and provide a vehicle for passionate citizen-leaders to come together and do their work more effectively in community. We do not impost transition in our towns from the top-down, but rather inspire people to some together and do the work from the ground up. A small initiating team inspires and supports the action of even larger working groups, and provides a context for local change-makers to come together and accomplish more than we ever could alone. In our local initiatives, no one person sets the agenda for the collective, or carries the entire "transition" on his or her back. The work -- and play -- is shared, in community. Why should the work of Transition be any different at a national level?
There are over 160 official Transition Initiatives in the United States, and countless more mullers and unofficial groups -- and that is to say nothing of all the other small-t "transition-like" activity happening in our communities, kindred individuals and organizations doing the work of building thriving resilient community without explicitly using the word "transition" to describe it. And, as William Shakespeare might have said, "Transition, by any other name, smells as sweet." In our towns, and at a national level, we place ourselves in service to the ever-growing movement and network of real people coming together to re-imagine and re-create our world in a good way, in a just way, in a way that respects and honors our interconnectedness with our planet and with each other.
What a huge undertaking this is! How ever will we do it?
As we look ahead to the next phase of Transition here in the US, there certainly seems to be a growing sense of "togetherness," which is demonstrating itself not only through events like the Transition National Gathering and Movement Strategy Session, but also through a countrywide (and, indeed, international) community that is growing to carry forward the true work of Transition. With our neighbors in our own Transition initiatives, with our nearby bioregional allies in the Regional Hubs we are forming, and with our wider circles of kindred transitioners in National Working Groups and advisory bodies like the Collaborative Design Council, we are going farther and farther -- together.
And, to paraphrase the age-old Hopkins-ism: It may be just enough, just in time.
In my next dispatch, I'll share more from my day-by-day experience at the Transition National Gathering and Movement Strategy Session, and I'll link you to the many photos, videos, stories and other bits of media we've begun to collect chronicling this truly historic summer in our domestic wing of the global Transition movement. I also look forward to sharing more from my experience earlier this spring at the Transition International Hubs Gathering in Santorso, Italy. For now, I hope I've given you a little taste of the recent National Gathering, and a sample of some of the exciting decentralization and increased participation taking shape to steward this movement to ever-greater heights and respond ever more effectively to these urgent times. Together, we are capable of such great, great things.


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Category Archives: Bruce Springsteen
>Springsteen Saxophonist Clarence Clemons Passes Away After Stroke
>Earlier tonight a little bit of the music died with the passing of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons from complication of the stroke that he suffered yesterday.
Springsteen issued the following statement which is posted on his website:
It is with overwhelming sadness that we inform our friends and fans that at 7:00 tonight, Saturday, June 18, our beloved friend and bandmate, Clarence Clemons passed away. The cause was complications from his stroke of last Sunday, June 12th.
Bruce Springsteen said of Clarence: Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner, and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band.
This is one of my favorite songs of his which featured Jackson Browne and then girlfriend Darryl Hanna.
The big man will be missed!
Filed under Bruce Springsteen, Clarence Clemons, Darryl Hanna, Jackson Browne, stroke
>A special state budget update from NJPP President Deborah Howlett
In his budget address three months ago, Governor Christie outlined his view of the "new normal" in New Jersey. It went something like this:
Rich people get tax breaks.
The middle class pays more.
We all make do with less.
Most states, instead of relying solely on cuts to services – cuts that threaten jobs and economic recovery and hurt struggling families – have adopted a balanced approach that includes revenues. But the plan laid out by the governor was cuts-only. It would close state facilities for the profoundly disabled; continue last year's devastating cuts to schools; and require deep reductions in health insurance coverage for people with no place else to turn.
Over the next month or so, lawmakers and the governor will work in Trenton toward agreement on a state spending plan for the coming fiscal year.
NJPP will be in the thick of things.
As we have for 14 years, NJPP is fighting for the return of fair and progressive fiscal policies that until recently provided opportunities for all New Jerseyans and prosperity that was broadly shared across the Garden State. In a series of emails over the next couple of weeks I'll give you more details, but here are a few highlights of the work that NJPP is doing to make a difference.
Senior Analyst Ray Castro is a leading voice in the independent and critical analysis of how cuts to NJ Family Care, the state Earned Income Tax Credit, and Medicaid will make it harder for poor and working families to get by.
A study by NJPP and the national group Demos showed that a bill to deregulate telecommunications in New Jersey would cost consumers, especially the poor and the elderly. Using the findings in the report, NJ Citizen Action and AARP went to work on lawmakers and in a grassroots effort that included more than 10,000 phone calls to legislative offices they succeeded in getting the measure tabled.
NJPP's report on the proliferation of corporate subsidies is the foundation for ongoing efforts by the Better Choices coalition, of which we're a member, to restore badly needed revenue. Made up of more than 70 nonprofits — including human services, education, religious, and labor groups – Better Choices is a vocal advocate for a proposal developed by NJPP to raise taxes on the wealthiest among us, those with income (not net worth, but income) over $1 million a year.
We're proud to be a leading voice for common sense in New Jersey, and to strongly and clearly advocate for those who have the smallest voices in the public arena – the middle class, working families, the disabled and the most vulnerable in our society.
That work was spotlighted in a story published recently by the Asbury Park Press, which caught the attention of one of its hometown readers, rock icon Bruce Springsteen. Speaking of NJPP and our partners, Springsteen wrote in a letter to the editor, "These are voices that in our current climate are having a hard time being heard, not just in New Jersey, but nationally."
Like you, and The Boss, we refuse to accept the idea that there's a "new normal."
Not here in New Jersey.
Not this year.
Deborah Howlett, President
Update: I want to clarify a point made in our earlier email "Special State Budget Update," which may have left the impression that as a policy matter NJPP is opposed to the closing of state institutions for people with developmental disabilities. We absolutely are not. Further, we understand it is important that the effort to close these institutions be fully funded by the state so that people with disabilities can live in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs.
Filed under AARP, Bruce Springsteen, Debrorah Howlett, Gov. Chris Christie, health care cuts, Middle Class, New Jersey Policy Perspective, NJ State Budget, School cuts, service cuts, tax breaks for the rich, Trenton
>As A Matter Of Fact…State pleads poverty to reduce tax credits for working families, but has enough to provide tax credits for corporations
> April 18th, 2011
For working families struggling to make ends meet, the state Earned Income Tax Credit is a necessity, and the Christie Administration's 25 percent reduction in the credit this year for about a half million New Jersey families is a devastating increase in the taxes they owe.
Today, on tax day, it's important to note that a parent with two children working full time at the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour (about $15,000 a year) will owe $300 more in taxes – or more than a week's wages.
These are the same families who are also being targeted for other cuts in services that are essential to their independence. Last year about 48,000 uninsured parents who received the state EITC were denied health coverage through NJFamilyCare. That number is expected to rise to 92,000 parents this year.
It is getting to the point in New Jersey where, for many marginal families, it simply doesn't pay to work. Aside from stripping those working families of their independence, it creates an even greater cost to the state.
The governor's favorite rock star, Bruce Springsteen, recently cited a Legal Services of New Jersey report in a letter to the Asbury Park Press, writing, "the cuts are eating away at the lower edges of the middle class, not just those already classified as in poverty, and are likely to continue to get worse over the next few years." The census data backs up his assertion. From 2005 to 2009 lower income groups increased, the middle class shrank and the number of wealthier people increased in New Jersey. Economics plays a role in this, but so does state policy.
This cutback in tax credits for working families comes even as the Christie administration and the Legislature are expanding tax credits for corporations in New Jersey.
For example, last month the state awarded Campbell Soup a $41 million tax credit to renovate its corporate headquarters, move 49 jobs from Cherry Hill to Camden and hire 50 new employees at the Camden site over the next 10 years. The credit includes $6.3 million for new furniture. Campbell qualifies for the subsidy, officially called the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit, which is aimed at redeveloping urban centers, because its offices are within a mile of the Walter Rand Transportation Center.
The total cost to the state to fund that tax credit to Campbell Soup is nearly as much as the $45 million in savings gained by reducing the state EITC.
So who needs this help the most, one of the largest corporation in America or working New Jerseyans who can barely make ends meet to support their children? It's unfortunate example of why the state needs a more balanced approach — one that doesn't focus only on cuts in services, but also balances the demand for shared sacrifice fairly between working families and giant corporations.
Interested in learning more about the Earned Income Tax Credit? Check out this piece by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
A Hand Up: How State Earned Income Tax Credits Help Working Families Escape Poverty in 2011
Filed under As a Matter of Fact, blog, Bruce Springsteen, corporate tax breaks, Earned Income Tax Credit, Gov. Chris Christie, New Jersey Policy Perspective, NJFamilyCare, poverty
>MyFox Video: Farm Tax Breaks for N.J. Celebrities; Middletown's Mercantante Featured
>Many NJ residents like Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Max Wienberg and others are taking advantage of huge property tax breaks for having portions of their property designated as farmland. They are being called by many phony farmers, for their attempts at cashing in on the law that states property owners with 5 or more acres can qualify for a special farm land tax break if they can show income of only $500 from goods produced on their lands.
MyFox News posted this report last night and interestingly Middletown's Administrator Tony Mercantante is featured in this report:
…But many say these tax breaks help preserve New Jersey open space and limit development. And Middletown manager Tony Mercantante thinks that can be a good thing.
Merchantante says, "Farming certainly is an activity that the state's been looking to preserve to the extend possible and farmland assessment has allowed farmers to survive."
People in favor or the tax breaks worry that backlash will force a change that hurts real farmers and possible jeopardize agriculture in New Jersey.
But Mercantante says change could occur, and bring more tax money to town's like his, without hurting real farmers.
"I think there should be a sliding scale approach to farmland assessment based upon the extend of your farming activity," Mercantante says…..
I find Mercantante's take on this subject somewhat disingenuous. If he felt this way previously why didn't he speak of it before, could it be because the "Queen of Middletown" is no longer with us? Judy Stanley-Coleman, aka the Queen, also took advantage of this law by raising honeybees on a portion of her large Middletown estate.
http://www.myfoxny.com/video/videoplayer.swf?dppversion=7875
Farm Tax Breaks for N.J. Celebrities: MyFoxNY.com
Hat tip goes out to RedBankGreen.com for finding and posting first!
Filed under Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Middletown, Tony Mercantante
Bruce Springsteen – crawfisherman?!; Hero woos commission with soulful crooning
I heard about this video the other day while listening to the radio. It's is very moving and worth the watch. This guy Drew Landry is a real person who has been effected by the BP oil spill and deserves to be heard by all.
"There was a public hearing about the Gulf oil spill in Louisiana a while back…and this quiet fisherman, Drew Landry, didn't just speak from his heart, but he performed a song worthy of Bruce's BEST! Really – it's like "The River" Louisianne style."
Filed under BP Oil Spill, Bruce Springsteen, Drw Landry, Louisiana
"We Can't Let This Bank Fail"
More than 35 million Americans, including 12 million children, either live with or are on the verge of hunger. In New Jersey alone, an estimated 250,000 new clients will be seeking sustenance this year from the state's food banks. But recently, as requests for food assistance have risen, food donations are on the decline, leaving food bank shelves almost empty and hungry families waiting for something to eat.
The situation is dire, no more so than at the Community FoodBank of New Jersey (CFBNJ), the largest food bank in the state, where requests for food have gone up 30 percent, but donations are down by 25 percent. Warehouse shelves that are typically stocked with food are bare and supplies have gotten so low that, for the first time in its 25 year history, the food bank is developing a rationing mechanism.
As the state's key distributor of food to local banks – serving more than 500,000 people a year and providing assistance to nearly 1,700 non-profits in the state – the stability of replenishment of the CFBNJ is essential to ensuring that individuals in need have access to food.
If everyone could just do a little, it would help those in need a lot. To help, people can:
Make a monetary contribution: Visit www.njfoodbank.org.
Donate food: Drop off a bag of food at your local food pantry.
Organize a food drive: We can help explain the logistics of starting a food drive. Just call 908-355-FOOD.
Help "Check Out Hunger:" Look for the "Check Out Hunger" coupons at your local supermarket and donate. No donation is too small!
One thing that people commonly confuse is the role of the food bank. The CFBNJ is similar to a wholesale distributor, as they provide food to more than 1,600 charities throughout the state, which then give food directly to the hungry (the food bank does not give food directly to individuals). The food bank also does not accept small amounts of food, such as a cart of groceries. They encourage those donations go directly to a local food pantry or soup kitchen. Rather, the food bank accepts large quantity food donations, such as a truck full of groceries, as well as monetary donations which they stretch to purchase food at wholesale prices, such as 300 lb. bags of rice, for example.
Food Bank of NJ Needs Your Help!
Thanks to all of the participating bloggers for "We Can't Let This Bank Fail" campaign
1) JerseyBites.com
2) RedBankGreen.com
3) Jersey Girl Cooks
4) Simply Sable
5) John and Lisa are eating in South Jersey
6) Padma's Kitchen
7) Chefdruck
8) Life Lightly Salted
9) My Italian Grandmother
10) Cook Appeal
11) Crotchety Old Man Yells at Cars
12) Mommy Vents
13) This Full House
14) Paper Bridges
15) Motherhood Avenue
16) The Kamienski Chronicles
17) Down the Shore with Jen
18) Fits and Giggles
19) House Hubbies Home Cooking
20) Nourish Ourselves
21) Partybluprints.com
22) Tommyeats.com
23) Off the broiler
24) Mrs. Mo's New Jersey Baby
25) IamNotaChef.com
26) SimplyBeer.com
27) HistoryGeek.com
28) Savy Source Newark
29) Momlogic New Jersey
30) SurvivingNJ.com/blog
31) SurvivingNJ.blogspot.com
32) JerseyGirlGuide.com
33) Best of Roxy
34) Citizen Mom.net
35) Lynetteradio.com
36) Jersey Beat
37) Pop Vulture Phil
38) JerseySmarts.com
39) LongBeachIslandSummers.com
40) WildwoodSummers.com
41) Mike Halfacres Blog
42) Somerset08873
43) Family, Friends and Food
44) KateSpot.com
45) NewJerseyMomsBlog.com
46) JCRegister.com
47) New Jersey Real Estate Report
48) Riverviewobserver.com
49) More Monmouth Musings
50) Man of Infirmity
51) Another Delco Guy in South Jersey
52) SweetNicks.com
53) Average Noone
54) Cleary's Notebook
55) Welcome to my Planet
56) The Center of New Jersey Life
57) Sharon's Food Blog
58) Morristown, Chatham, Summit, and Madison NJ Real Estate
59) Midtown Direct Real Estate News
60) New Jersey Real Estate
61) BlowUpRadio.com
62) LazlosDen.com
63) The Ridgewood Blog
64) Book a Week with Jen
65) Banannie
66) Cartoongoddess.com
67) Matawan Advocate
68) Take Back the Kitchen
69) The Joy of Toast
70) Route 55
71) Montclair Kids.com
72) SaveJersey
73) Stompbox
74) Joe the Blogger
75) Environmental Republican
76) Stacey Snacks
77) Subversive Garden
78) New Jersey Pathfinder
79) Cooking With Friends Blog
80) Triple Venti
81) Read All About It
82) Rich Lee on Media
83) Likelihood of Success
84) Cape Cuisine
85) The Business At Hand
86) NewJerseyTaxRevolution
87) Figmentations
88) MiddletownMike
89) Caviar and Codfish
90) A Day in the Life
91) Mack's Journey Through Life
92) Alice's Restaurant
93) Tiger Hawk
94)Politics Patrol, The Bob Ingle Blog
95) The Food Chain
96) Henson's Hell
97) Cranbury Conservative
98) Baristanet
99) New Jersey: Politics Unusual
100) Jersey Shore Blog
101) Plainfield Today
102) Beacon Bulletin
103) Journal Square Jersey City 07306
Filed under blogging out hunger, Bruce Springsteen, Community Food Bank Of New Jersey, donations, empty shelves, food banks, food pantry, New Jersey, We Can't Let this Bank Fail


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Eden Park management to ban spectators from having fun at matches
Cricket, Other Sports
Comments Off on Eden Park management to ban spectators from having fun at matches
Following the ejection of Sri Lankan supporters from playing drums at the final T20 match between the Blackcaps and Sri Lanka on Sunday, Eden Park management have confirmed that they have instituted a new Code of Fan Conduct that explicitly prevents supporters from expressing the emotion known as fun at matches.
"Nobody goes to Eden Park to enjoy themselves," said Eden Park Trust Chairman Doug McKay. "I mean really, the public transport connections are rubbish, there's no parking for miles, the food and beverages are overpriced, the beer is warm, and there's virtually no shelter in the seats from the elements.
"With that in mind, the Eden Park Trust Board understands that there's no way anyone looking for a good time would attend an event at Eden Park, so in order to ensure that the small handful of people so miserable with their existence that they regularly attend fixtures at our ground, we're taking steps to ensure that their misery isn't interrupted by hooligans who may in anyway be appearing to enjoy themselves at the stadium," added Mr McKay.
Eden Park Trust clarified that patrons partaking in any activities or facial gestures that indicate that they may be enjoying their experience at the match will be forcibly ejected by security. In leaked guidelines to security contractors, these activities include applauding, smiling, speaking with other spectators, or consuming an alcoholic beverage in less than 10 minutes.
"We feel that our new measures will ensure that going to a game at Eden Park is as thoroughly miserable as intended," said Mr McKay. "This way true sports fans, and users of Twitter, will be entirely at home at our facilities."
The Eden Park Trust Board clarified that children will still be allowed to attend games at the stadium, pointing out that nothing induces a state of abject hopeless than having bored, fighting children running around.
Blackcaps Cricket Eden Park New Zealand Sri Lanka
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올해 인포월드/포레스터 엔터프라이즈 아키텍처 상은 6개 엔터프라이즈가 주도적인 변환을 통한 비즈니스 성공에 대해서 주어졌다는군요~!!!
Despite their crucial role and unique combination of skills, enterprise architects seldom get the recognition they deserve. Last year, InfoWorld and Forrester Research decided to rectify that -- with the first annual InfoWorld/Forrester Enterprise Architecture Awards, which honored five organizations whose EA initiatives had a major impact on the business.
엔터프라이즈 아키텍트는 그의 핵심적인 역할과 유일한 기술 경력에도 불구하고, 거의 인정받지 못하고 있다. 지난해(2010년), 인포월드와 포레스터 연구소는 이를 바로 잡기로 결정하고 첫번째 인포월드/포레스터 리서치 엔터프라이즈 아키텍처상을 5개 기관에 주었다. 5개 기관은 EA를 주도적으로 추진하여 비즈니스에 주요한 영향을 미쳤다.
This year, with so many strong nominees, we chose a total of six winners: American Express, Bayer Healthcare, First Data, the Singapore Ministry of Education, Procter & Gamble, and USAA.
올해는 어메리칸 익스프레스, 베이어 헬쓰케어, 폴스트 데이터, 싱가폴 교육부, 프록터 앤 갬블, 그리고 유에스에이에이 6개 기관이 수상하였다.
공공기관으로서 싱가폴 교육부가 선정된 것이 특이점인라고 보입니다.
한번 일독하시면 EA를 실무적으로 이해하는데 도움이 되리라 보입니다...!!!
10월 28일 한국정보화 진흥원에서 진행됩니다...!!!


text:
<?php

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use Symfony\Component\Finder\Finder;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response;

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    'twig.path' => __DIR__.'/../views',
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$app->register(new Silex\Provider\UrlGeneratorServiceProvider());

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    $path = urldecode($request->query->get('path', ''));
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    ;

    $paths = array_filter(explode('/', $path));

    return $app->render('index.html.twig', [
        'breadcrumb' => $paths,
        'path' => $path,
        'dirs' => $dirs,
        'files' => $files]
    );
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    $path = urldecode($request->query->get('path', ''));
    $width = $request->query->get('width', $config['width']);
    $height = $request->query->get('height', $config['height']);
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    $image = $optimizer->thumbnail(file_get_contents($basePath), $size, $pathInfo['extension']);

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        return new Response($image, 200, [
            'Content-Type' => 'image/'.$pathInfo['extension']
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    $path = urldecode($request->query->get('path', ''));
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        return new Response($image, 200, [
            'Content-Type' => 'image/'.$pathInfo['extension']
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    }
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$app->run();

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Fat-fuelled power station to supply London sewage works
8 April 2013, source edie newsroom
Fat and oil from restaurants will soon power the world's largest fat-fuelled power station at Beckton in East London, Thames Water announced today.
The plant, which will produce 130 Gigawatt hours (GWh) a year of renewable electricity, will power a major sewage works owned by Thames Water.
The company will buy 75 GWh of the plant's output to run the works, which serves 3.5 million people, while the remaining power will supply the national grid.
Currently, Thames Water spends £1m a month removing 40,000 annual blockages caused by fat poured down drains.
The company will provide at least half of the fuel the generator requires to run, amounting to 30 tonnes a day of fat, oil and grease that would otherwise clog up London's sewers.
Thames Water commercial director Piers Clark said the project was a "win-win" with renewable power helping to tackle the ongoing operational problem of 'fatbergs' in sewers.
The construction, worth £70m, will be powered by low-grade cooking oil and food fat which will be collected from food outlets and manufacturers.
The planners say that solidified grease, such as from lamb and chicken, will be harvested from 'fat traps' in restaurant kitchens and from pinch-points around the capital's sewer network.
Thames Water's currently 14% of its total power requirement from renewable sources and the Beckton plant will increase this to more than 20%.
Conor McGlone
| Food & drink


Office of Scholarly Publications at Georgetown University: Do you know the publishing prizes in your field?
Do you know the publishing prizes in your field?
Although I am currently writing on an 18th-century subject, and although I'm a life member of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (when my new copy of the journal Eighteenth-Century Studies arrives, I usually jump around the house with glee), I didn't know so much about possible publishing prizes in my field. This week when I asked scholars from anthropology, history, English, Spanish & Portuguese, and more if they knew about prizes in their fields, most said no. But guess what? Knowing about prizes is crucial. Often you can even self-nominate.
Here is just one of the prizes listed on the website for ASECS. I became so interested in James L. Clifford (a scholar whose name I recognized from Johnson studies) that I looked up his New York Times obituary. He died at age 77 in 1978 after a remarkable career. He had an engineering degree from MIT, and he might have stayed in that field had he not read Boswell's Life of Johnson in 1929 during a course at Columbia. He joined Columbia's faculty in 1946 after the second World War, and he stayed there until his retirement. What a guy. And what an honor it would be to win the prize named for him.
The James L. Clifford Prize goes to the author of an article on an outstanding study of some aspect of eighteenth-century culture, interesting to any eighteenth-century specialist, regardless of discipline. It carries an award of $500.
· The article should be no longer than 15,000 words.
· The article must have appeared in print in a journal, festschrift, or other serial publication between July 2008 and June 2009.
· The article may be nominated by a member of the society, by its author, or by an editor of the publishing journal. Self-nominations are limited to one article per year.
· Nominations must be accompanied by nine (9) copies of the article and must be received in the ASECS office no later than 1 January 2010.
· The author must be a member of the ASECS at the time of submission.
Devonthink vs. Evernote vs. ??
Another question from the web page -- proposals!
Is your book making you crazy?
Are Writers Conferences Helpful or Necessary?


Operation shed 5 stone: Shin splints, booooo!
In the last post I mentioned that I had to pull out of the Two Castles 10k yesterday. I only got the place two weeks ago and was really looking forward to the event. Two Castles is my local 10k race, it starts at Warwick Castle, and finishes at Kenilworth Castle. This would have been my first Two Castles 10k Race. Being the Regency Runners local event, the Regency Runners are always out in full force. This I think always makes it extra special. In fact, a twitter friend of mine @russw ran the race yesterday and said that Regency Runner shirts were everywhere, I won't of course mention that he was pipped on the line at our local parkrun Saturday by one of the new members to the club, Samantha!
So the reason for me pulling out is? Probably every runner's worst nightmare shin splints.
Since the marathon, my primary running goal has been to improve my pace. As I have mentioned before I have joined the 5k 10 week course at running group, this involves lots of interval work, just what I need. Or so I thought!
The problem with changing your pace up after a marathon is your muscles are still healing, not just from the 26.2 miles but also the months of training that you have put in, so when you start to have a go at sprint sessions your muscles are all sticky and can't move properly, causing more damage. I thought that the 4 weeks I took off from running after the marathon would have been enough, but it appears I was wrong yet again!
I have only been running once a week, with the PT sessions at Peak Fitness and my own sessions in the gym I have been able to keep myself busy enough. As I have been having the pain for a few weeks, I thought the rest in between runs would do me some good.
Thursday I decided to go down to meet with running group for a relays session, pretty stupid idea I know, but in my defence my legs felt surprisingly good. I got through the first drill with no real pain, but during the second drill I started to feel sharp pains in my shins during the sprints, this was then quickly followed by quite heavy pain in between the sprints so I quickly dropped out quite miserably half way through.
I think secretly Cathy was very pleased with the pretty patterns that she made on my legs with her tape, however I don't quite know how I can hide this when I am in the office tomorrow!
So how do you feel about your gym???
So I ran a Marathon, so now what?


Greetings in the name of our wonderful Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we hope this letter finds each of you enjoying the blessings of God. The Lord truly has been good to us and we are excited once again to be writing this letter to share what great things the Lord has done!
These last couple of months we have been very busy in the Lord's work. Besides our regular jail and prison services we were allowed the great privilege to be a part of three separate youth camps! This was truly a blessing to be able to preach to so many young people and encourage them to serve the Lord with all their hearts! In one of the meetings we had a young man trust Christ as his Saviour. Many others were stirred and encouraged during these camps. Please help us pray for our younger generation that God would move and give them a greater desire to dedicate their lives unto the Lord!
The Lord has blessed in our jail and prison meetings as well. We have seen several men trust the Lord in our regular services since our last letter. In the last two months two men at Craggy Correctional, four men at Yancey County Jail, and two men at Graham County Jail all called on the Lord for salvation! It is always a blessing to see people get troubled about their condition before God and turn to Him for salvation! Please help me pray for these men as they begin their walk with the Lord. Also, pray for those that have been coming but have not accepted Christ as of yet. The Lord has really blessed lately at Buncombe County Jail. We haven't seen anyone saved in our services there but the Lord has given tremendous liberty in sharing the word of God! We are praying that the good Word of God would continue to deal with their hearts and that they would turn to the Lord Jesus! During the month of August we were able to go to Sampson Correctional in Clinton NC for a prison revival. The Lord blessed during this meeting and we saw four men trust Christ as their Saviour.
Many have asked how Abbey, oldest daughter, was doing with her thyroid condition. As many of you know, she had some trouble with her thyroid and we were very concerned about her condition. She had to have a treatment to kill her thyroid function and now is being treated with medication. She is doing great now. The doctors have finally got her medication right and she seems to be having no trouble with it. We praise the Lord for helping her through this! We would like to thank all that prayed and have been praying for her health. It was a great comfort to our family to know that so many of you were praying for the Lord to touch her and we cannot express how much that meant to us!
Please continue to pray for our family as we travel and endeavor to reach others with the glorious Gospel of Christ! Thank you again for your continued prayers and support. We don't take that for granted but we pray for you all continually that God would supply all your need according to his riches in glory! May the grace of our precious Lord be with you all.


I've had my flashlights – both the 900 & 350 – for about two weeks now and I have to say that these are the best damn flashlights I've ever owned. I've already given away my favorite #1 flashlight – it's just not good enough now. Thank you so very much for one of the best ran and most timely campaigns I've been involved with to date. And thanks even more for the spectacular products! I've been telling everyone I know about the NiteGear Lumas. I wish you guys the greatest success!
Got my 2 Luma 900 flashlights today. Very happy with them. Packaging was good. Flashlights are very solid and bright. Have fun with it, everyone. Good job, NiteGear.
Received my 900 and 350 and super happy with them!
I really like your customer service and your product.
Excellent service. Quality product and finish. Thanks.


> number with the highest majority would be enacted.
> could, of course, be done among the peak values (16, 17, 18).
just as tehre are innumerable ways to count ranked ballots.
know why one would do it that way. You didn't give a reason.
of the quantity according to how close they are to our favorite.


text:
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag
Publisher: Doubleday Canada: March 2010
Eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce didn't intend to investigate another murder -- but then, Rupert Porson didn't intend to die. When the master puppeteer's van breaks down in the village of Bishop's Lacey, Flavia is front and centre to help Rupert and his charming assistant, Nialla, put together a performance in the local church to help pay the repair bill. But even as the newcomers set up camp and set the stage for Jack and the Beanstalk, there are signs that something just isn't right: Nialla's strange bruises and solitary cries in the churchyard, Rupert's unexplained disappearances and a...
Publisher: Anchor Canada: November 2010
A Red Herring Without Mustard: A Flavia de Luce Novel
Publisher: Bantam: October 2011
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Alan Bradley, author of the most award-winning series debut of any year, returns with another irresistible Flavia de Luce novel.
In the hamlet of Bishop's Lacey, the insidiously clever and unflappable eleven-year-old sleuth Flavia de Luce had asked a Gypsy woman to tell her fortune--never expecting to later stumble across the poor soul, bludgeoned almost to death in the wee hours in her own caravan. Was this an act of retribution by those convinced that the soothsayer abducted a local child years ago? Certainly Flavia understands the ...
What We All Long For
By: Brand, Dionne
Publisher: Vintage Canada: December 2005
"They were born in the city from people born elsewhere."
What We All Long For follows the overlapping stories of a close circle of second-generation twenty-somethings living in downtown Toronto. There's Tuyen, a lesbian avant-garde artist and the daughter of Vietnamese parents who've never recovered from losing one of their children in the crush to board a boat out of Vietnam in the 1970s. Tuyen defines herself in opposition to just about everything her family believes in and strives for. She's in love with her best friend Carla, a biracial bicycle courier, who's st...
The Painted Girls
By: Buchanan, Cathy Marie
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers: April 2016
The Delusionist
By: Buday, Grant
Publisher: Anvil Press: June 2014
Fiction. Kobzar Literary Award, Finalist. Eric Hoffer Award, Shortlist. City of Victoria Book Prize, Finalist. Art, love, and history furnish the setting in this tale of fate and destiny. Set in Vancouver in 1962, we follow Cyril Andrachuk, son of immigrant parents from the former Ukraine, as he makes his way from high school to menial labour jobs, from first love to first heartbreak, from sibling rivalry to malicious family betrayal. Cyril is the only Canadian-born member of the Andrachuk family, his parents and older brother having survived the Holodomor, Stalin's systematic starving of the ...
A Good House : A Novel
By: Burnard, Bonnie
Publisher: HarperFlamingoCanada: January 2000
A Good House is an extraordinary success story, with ten printings in the first six months of publication. This remarkable portrait that details the fabric of ordinary family life over three generations has captured the hearts of readers and critics--not to mention award committees--all across the country.
Bill Chambers has come home from the Second World War with several fingers missing, but with his hope intact. He wants the best for his wife, Sylvia, and his children, Patrick, Paul and Daphne, and with his steady job at the hardware store in his small hometown, the futur...
Claire's Head
By: Bush, Catherine
By the acclaimed author of "The Rules of Engagement "and "Minus Time," "Claire's Head" is a compulsive, psychologically charged new novel about a migraine sufferer and her search for her missing sister.
On a quiet June morning, Toronto cartographer Claire Barber receives a phone call telling her that her sister Rachel, a freelance medical journalist living in New York, seems to have vanished. Last heard from while on assignment in Montreal, Rachel cancelled a trip to visit her six-year-old daughter, who lives with Claire's middle sister, in Toronto. Among the many fears that haunt Claire a...
Such is My Beloved New Canadian Library N 2
By: Callaghan
Publisher: McClelland and Steward: 1957
ISBN: 281BQL1000350
More Joy in Heaven
By: Callaghan, Morley
Publisher: New Canadian Library: January 1970
Based on a real-life character, More Joy in Heaven is a gripping account of the tragic plight of young Kip Caley, a notorious bank-robber released early from prison and feted by society as a returning prodigal son.
Earnest, optimistic, and fired by reformist zeal, Kip eventually comes to realize that the welcome of his supporters is superficial and that their charity is driven by self-interest.
More Joy in Heaven was first published in 1937.
Close to the Sun Again
The Palace Thief: Stories
By: Canin, Ethan
Publisher: Picador: November 1994
"The Palace Thief" is the story of a dedicated and inspiring classics professor at an elite prep school where an encounter with a student, the son of a powerful senator, inexorably alters his life. Forty-one years later at a reunion of his students, he is faced with the fear that he may have failed the most important challenge of his life--to have been a great teacher.
In Calamity's Wake
By: Caple, Natalee
Set in the badlands of the North American west in the late 1800s, In Calamity's Wake tells the story of orphaned Miette's quest to find her mother, the notorious Calamity Jane.
Miette is reluctant to meet the woman who abandoned her--whom she knows only as an infamous soldier, drinker and exhibition shooter--but she sets out nonetheless across a landscape peopled with madwomen, thieves, minstrels and ghosts, many of whom add a thread to the story of her famous mother.
Interspersed with Miette's story are the stories of Jane as told in legend, history books, dime store ...
Girl Runner: A Novel
By: Carrie Snyder
Publisher: n/a: January 2014
The Reconstruction
By: Casper, Claudia
Publisher: Penguin Books Australia: March 1997
Soucouyant
By: Chariandy, David
Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press: September 2007
A "soucoyant" is an evil spirit in Caribbean lore, a reminder of past transgressions that refuse to diminish with age. In this beautifully told novel that crosses borders, cultures, and generations, a young man returns home to care for his aging mother, who suffers from dementia. In his efforts to help her and by turn make amends for their past estrangement from one another, he is compelled to re-imagine his mother's stories for her before they slip completely into darkness. In delicate, heartbreaking tones, the names for everyday things fade while at the same time a beautiful, haunted life...
Belinda's Rings (Nunatak First Fiction)
By: Chong, Corinna
Publisher: Newest Pr: March 2013
Half-Asian teenager Grace (but she'd prefer it if you called her "Gray" instead) is not a perfect little supermom-in-the-making like her older sister Jessica, and would rather become a marine biologist than a mother--although she does understand how to take care of her special-needs kid brother Squid better than anyone else in her family. When her mother Belinda abruptly runs out on her family and flies across the Atlantic in order to study crop circles in the English countryside, Grace is left alone to puzzle out her life, the world, and her unique place within it.
With a warmth and...
Jade Peony
Publisher: N/A: December 1995
Chinatown, Vancouver, in the late 1930s and 40s provides the setting for this poignant first novel, told through the vivid and intense reminiscences of the three younger children of an immigrant family. They each experience a very different childhood, depending on age and sex, as they encounter the complexities of birth and death, love and hate, kinship and otherness. Mingling with the realities of Canada and the horror of war are the magic, ghosts, paper uncles and family secrets of Poh-Poh, or Grandmother, who is the heart and pillar of the family.
Wayson Choy's Chinatown is a community ...


text:
Disentangling the wicked problem of antibiotic resistance
Omulo_wsu_0251E_12011.pdf (1.254Mb)
Omulo, Sylvia Adhiambo
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is currently an urgent public health concern worldwide. For low-income regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, absence of surveillance data and systematic investigations of risk factors prevents clear assessment of the impact that AMR has in these communities. There is also no empirically-based guidance for intervention strategies. In chapter one, we use PRISMA guidelines to review 116 journal articles from eastern Africa concerning AMR in people and animals, with the aim of understanding the scale of the problem and contributors to the problem. Over the last 40 years, AMR has reportedly increased, with unregulated antibiotic use invoked to explain the high prevalence of AMR in the region. Nevertheless, we note critical gaps: (i) consistent speculation about the risk factors for AMR without critical examination; (ii) no standardized system of testing and reporting of AMR data; and (iii) lack of community-based studies on AMR in people. Chapter two reports the outcome of two cross-sectional surveys on antibiotic use in an informal settlement (slum) in Kenya. Results from this survey show that residents generally have limited and inconsistent knowledge of antibiotics, including a perceived effectiveness of antibiotics for colds and flu. Chapter three explores how variation in lab resources and deviations from prescribed laboratory protocols might impact estimates of AMR prevalence. For the set of factors investigated, i.e. culture conditions, sample storage, isolate selection and repeated re-isolation, we observe that subtle variations are unlikely to significantly alter prevalence estimates. In chapter four, we use a longitudinal study design to examine how sanitation and antibiotic use impact household- and individual AMR loads in households living within an informal settlement in Kenya. While there is a relationship between reported antibiotic use and resistance to sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim in children, most of the variance in the distribution of resistant bacteria is explained by sanitation variables. We conclude that although it is possible to design educational interventions based on our findings (chapter 2), such interventions are not likely to have a significant impact on community-level AMR when sanitation challenges continue to impact these communities (chapter 4).


The metal tripod of Cacoon is suitable to hold the Cacoon swing chairs – whether inside or outside of the house, in the living room or in the garden. It is easy to install the chairs of Cacoon in the metal frame.
The weight of the frame of 28 kg remains safely on the ground. The tripod construction spreads the weight to three legs, which grants to stand safely. The frame made of powder coated steel is stable and it can be used outside without any problems. Please keep in mind the size of the metal frame. It has a height of 2.6 m and a diameter of 2.2 m. which is the reason why the metal tripod by Cacoon needs enough space, for you to feel comfortable in the Cacoon chairs.
The metal frame is suitable for all the Cacoon chair sizes. It is also available in a wooden edition.


Hello, lovely and glorious readers! A reminder that I'll be reading at the Gallery Bookshop tomorrow evening at 6:30 PM with Janet Frishberg from Get Out of My Crotch!. We'll be talking about reproductive rights, eating delicious snacks, and generally having a good time.
PLUS, it's Second Saturday, which means you can wander around Mendocino and look at art, to boot. I mean, really, how can you say no to that.
Why Are Young Adults Dying In Nursing Homes?