A few miles south, Ken Migliorelli zigzags over the potholed roads between his hilly orchard in Tivoli and the flat sandy fields of his cropland in Red Hook. A Valentine's Day freeze took out all his stone fruit this year—no peaches, nectarines, or cherries—and a hard frost in May reduced his apple crop by 30 percent.
But Migliorelli, who manages 1,000 acres of vegetables, fruits, hay, and grains (there is a brewery here), and supplies 24 farmers' markets in the city, knows the power of diversity. Depending on the time of year, 130 different kinds of fruits and vegetables fill the Migliorelli stands, including the same strain of broccoli raab his grandfather, Angelo, brought as seeds from Italy in 1933.
In Copake, at Walt's Dairy, David Kiernan milks 168 cows—a fraction of the herd of 400 registered Holsteins on this farm. That milk is on the grocery shelf within 36 hours.
These farms and about 400 others have been preserved with the help of land trusts over the past 30 years. Steve Rosenberg, the executive director of Scenic Hudson Land Trust and a registered lobbyist, wants to save 5,000 more. New York loses a farm every three and a half days, according to the American Farmland Trust; in 25 years, it has lost half a million acres. And farmers are an aging population.
The Kiernans' easement, at Walt's Dairy in Copake, protects 357 acres—and the view. Photo by Frederick Charles.
Rosenberg, a former real estate attorney who grew up watching the marshes of southern Florida turn into malls and subdivisions, came to Scenic Hudson Land Trust in 1990 to develop a plan that would preserve clusters of the Hudson Valley's most valuable farms first, then go after the rest. "A third of the highest-priority farms over 10 years would cost about $250 million," says Rosenberg. "That means $25 million a year for 10 years." It would cost about $720 million to preserve nine more clusters of the most productive farms—614 to be precise, totaling 163,673 acres—within 150 miles of New York City.
Just where to get the money, of course, is the big question. And a 2013 report by Scenic Hudson, Securing Fresh, Local Food for New York City and the Hudson Valley: A Foodshed Conservation Plan for the Region, suggests the public and private sources of money that need to be organized under one umbrella.
The plan presents startling statistics. Although local land trusts and other groups have collectively saved more than 81,000 acres, 89 percent of the region's farmland remains unprotected. About 4,355 farms totaling 485,286 productive acres could still be sold at any time for development. The plan points out the disconnect: thousands of farmers upstate and the hungry city below. Food policy experts estimate the city's annual unmet need for fresh local food is close to $1 billion.
When Rosenberg first arrived 25 years ago, Scenic Hudson Land Trust was focused on the Hudson River. The group, founded in the 1960s, had defeated General Electric's plan to build a giant hydroelectric plant at the foot of Storm King Mountain, and its landmark court case launched the modern-day environmental movement. Scenic Hudson had gone on to preserve 25,000 acres of land, mostly along the Hudson River. But Rosenberg widened that view to the region's farmland, which, after all, is 20 percent of its land base, and the key to its cultural history and growing ecotourism.
Since 1992, Scenic Hudson has protected 100 family farms, or 13,000 acres of productive land, most within 150 miles of New York City. Rosenberg has increasingly immersed himself in the politics of food, as inseparable from preservation not only of farmland, but of farmers struggling to make ends meet.
Two seminal reports in 2010 posed major questions about New York City's broken food system. The first came out of the NYC Food & Climate Summit, held in December 2009 at New York University.
Rock stars in food policy, including Anna Lappé, a cofounder of the Small Planet Institute; the nutritionist Marion Nestle; and the Just Food activist Karen Washington, to name a few, examined the elephant in the room, hardly mentioned at the UN Climate Change Conference being held that same week in Copenhagen: the industrial food system, which belches out one-third of the greenhouse gases that warm the planet.
FoodNYC: A Blueprint for a Sustainable Food System, the report that followed in February 2010, from then Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's office, noted the city's dependence on produce flown in from California and China, its food deserts and hungry people, its rates of obesity, diabetes, and asthma. And it looked outside the city, at New York's seven million acres of farmland, its farmers struggling to find local markets and forced to sell cheap to wholesalers.
Another report quickly followed: FoodWorks, A Vision to Improve NYC's Food System, from the office of Christine C. Quinn, then speaker of the New York City Council, pointed out the ludicrous realities. Why do New Yorkers eat apples from Washington State, and drink apple juice from China, for example, when New York State is the nation's second-largest apple producer? The city boasts more than 120 farmers' markets and 100 community-supported agriculture programs, or CSAs, but 1.4 million city residents can't afford to buy nutritious food and three million residents live in food deserts. At the same time, the city's budget for institutional meals is second only to the U.S. military.
Jeremias Taquez, with just-picked cauliflower and red cabbage. Photo by Frederick Charles.
For years, distribution has been a major hurdle. Local farmers can't find a place at the Hunts Point Terminal Market, which sprawls over 100 acres in the Bronx, with an annual $2.4 billion in sales of fruits and vegetables—mostly grown across the country or world. But in two years, those farmers will finally have their own wholesale marketplace in the Bronx.
In early August, Governor Andrew Cuomo, city officials, and GrowNYC, the nonprofit group that runs the city's 50-plus greenmarkets, announced plans to build a separate, $20 million Greenmarket Regional Food Hub on a three-acre site near the Hunts Point cooperative. Cuomo has pledged $15 million for the 120,000-square-foot hub, which will include a wholesale farmers' market, cold-storage capacity, and space for local food businesses.
In 2012, with a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Rosenberg's staff set out to find the answers. They combed through county tax and land records, and maps of agricultural districts. They verified the possible farms with aerial photos, to make sure they were actually being farmed, or hadn't turned into golf courses. Using GIS, they mapped the farms already preserved, which revealed contiguous easements, the gaps of unprotected farms among them, and the vast areas where none had protection. The staff also assessed the soils and productivity of each farm, prioritizing which farms should be saved first, and how to rally the forces to do it.
Other land trusts, including the 30-year-old Columbia Land Conservancy, which has preserved 10,000 acres of agricultural lands (and 16,000 acres of forests, wetlands, and other areas), have focused on the most valuable farms within their particular counties—not the entire valley. And maybe it took Rosenberg, the new kid on the block, to state the obvious.
Scenic Hudson has taken "a critical mass approach to farmland protection," says Rosenberg, who acknowledges the group's sizable endowment makes that possible. Reader's Digest money—Scenic Hudson's 2014 Annual Report cites $161.9 million in its Lila Acheson and DeWitt Wallace Hudson Valley Land Preservation Endowment—funds about $2 million a year in farm protection projects. That capital is used to leverage investments from other key stakeholders, from so-called slow money investors—who invest in small farms and local enterprises based on sustainability and social justice—to city, state, and federal funds.
In April 2015, Garodnick wrote a letter, signed by 14 city council members, to Mayor Bill de Blasio urging the administration to invest at least $5 million a year to "conserve the farmland in its regional foodshed." The letter was supported by dozens of groups, including Just Food, the city-based social justice group that has lately linked farmers to food pantries and subsidized CSAs; Slow Food NYC; the Regional Plan Association; and chef/restaurant owners Dan Barber, Mario Batali, and David Bouley.
And Rosenberg's tireless lobbying has had an effect.
In the meantime, land trusts have broadened their missions from simply preserving farmland to connecting farmers to direct markets, through groups such as Just Food and GrowNYC.
The Cashens leased this 60-acre field and spent three years bringing it to organic standards. A complicated easement has helped them afford to buy the land. Photo by Frederick Charles.
Now, the Cashens sell their produce directly, through Local Produce Link, run jointly by Just Food and United Way. "We're essentially contracted by United Way and are providing about 40,000 pounds per year of fresh produce to four food pantries in Long Island City," Cashen says. Just Food also introduced the Cashens to a group in Brooklyn and another in Long Island City that wanted to start CSAs; now they sell about 1,000 CSA shares around the city.
New York City's Greenmarket essentially lifted the Migliorelli clan out of debt. Ken Migliorelli tells how his father, Rocco, peddled vegetables from a cart, when Pelham Parkway was mostly pig farms. By the time Co-op City was rising over Interstate 95, the family left the Bronx for the Hudson Valley. By 1976, they were growing vegetables again, in Red Hook. But most of their business was wholesale.
Land trusts are also using new conservation tools to keep farms in farmers' hands. Conservation easements, in which landowners sell or donate their development rights to a land trust, generally reduce the value of the property by 40 to 60 percent of its full market value, and restrict its use to agriculture or simply open space.
The process has worked well for farmers who use the much-needed capital to reduce debt or expand their operation. But lately, second- home buyers flocking to the bucolic Hudson Valley have been buying up these preserved lands and taking them out of production.
Even if they rent part of the land to farmers, the lack of security and the inability to make capital investments make this at best only a temporary solution for those working the land. And young farmers without access to inherited land can't afford to buy preserved farmland, unless additional easements further reduce the price to what farmers can afford and also restrict the sale of the land to working farmers. Land trusts have begun working together on these affordability options, or preemptive purchase rights, as they are also called, to keep farmland in the hands of farmers, not estate buyers. But it's not happening fast enough, given the number of farms up for sale, says Lindsey Shute, of the National Young Farmers Coalition, who farms with her husband, Ben.
The coalition's 2013 national survey of more than 200 land conservation professionals found that a quarter of the farms protected by their programs were out of production— because the easements were sold to nonfarmers.
Finally, in 2012, the Shutes were lucky enough to buy 70 acres, at agricultural value, from a friend who on the same day sold her development rights to the Scenic Hudson Land Trust. Now their organic operation, Hearty Roots Farm, supports 25 acres of vegetables, 900 laying hens, and 15 pigs. The Shutes supply a CSA in Red Hook, as well as seven CSAs in the city, all with subsidized shares.
Longtime farmers, even those with preserved land, are facing the same steep prices if they need to purchase more land to expand production.
Chris Cashen, one of nine children, was only 15 when his parents donated the development rights to the Farm at Miller's Crossing. Bound for college, and eventually law school, he found the concept hard to grasp, at first.
Fast forward to 1999, when Chris wanted to marry a young market gardener, Katie Smith, and they needed land to expand. They eventually bought the family farm "at a very generous price" from his parents, says Cashen. Their success led them to rent 30 more acres from a struggling dairy farmer, and it took them three more years to bring the soil up to organic standards. By the time the farmer sold his land—more than 400 acres to an investment developer—the Cashens were renting 60 acres that were crucial to their operation.
Walt Kiernan feeds the "girls," just a few of his 400 registered Holsteins. Photo by Frederick Charles.
The new owner agreed to rent to the Cashens, until the development broke ground, but when the plans never materialized, he needed a return on his investment. He was willing to discuss alternatives to putting the land on the market, however. So three different land trusts—Columbia Land Conservancy, Scenic Hudson, and Equity Trust—have forged a conservation easement that will allow the Cashens to buy 69 acres at agricultural value, while preserving about 330 acres of the old dairy farm.
A slice of New York State's recent infusion of $20 million to protect Hudson Valley farmland, as well as matching funds from Scenic Hudson, will purchase the development rights on the property, so the seller will receive market value.
But young farmers are still struggling. New York State's $20 million for Hudson Valley farmland pays only for the purchase of development rights. "Which is a huge disappointment for us, because if it's just going to protect land from development, that is not sufficient to keep farmers in the valley," Shute says.
Migliorelli preserved his family's 132-acre farmstead in 1995. It was one of seven farms in Red Hook, in Dutchess County, that Scenic Hudson preserved all at once, totaling about 1,000 acres, in its first critical mass approach to land protection. "We zeroed in on Red Hook, because that's where there was the greatest farmer receptivity," Rosenberg says. But the process took years.
"Some people who were new to this concept didn't like hearing about it. They didn't want anything to infringe on their right to develop," Migliorelli says. "But to me, to preserve these prime farmlands for future generations is a necessity." Dutchess County adopted its first Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan in 1998. In 2003, Red Hook approved a $3.5 million bond initiative for the purchase of development rights; in 2007, it passed a Community Preservation Act, which allows the use of a transfer tax on real estate to fund easements.
Anne Raver writes about the environment, including gardening and farming, wildlife habitats, and landscape design.


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FSV Jägersburg is a German association football club from the Jägersburg suburb of Homburg, Saarland.

The club's men's department greatest success has been promotion to the tier five Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar in 2015.

The club's women's department, now defunct, last played in the tier three Regionalliga Südwest in 2014–15 and has played as high as the 2. Bundesliga. It has also participated in the DFB-Pokal for women on twelve occasions.

History

Men
Formed in 1928 FSV Jägersburg spend most of its history as a local amateur side. The club's rise through the league system began in the mid-1990s, winning promotion to the tier six Landesliga Saarland-Nordost in 1997. It played at this level for the next six seasons until a league championship in 2002–03 took it up to the Verbandsliga Saarland. Jägersburg played the next six seasons at this level, generally as a lower table side. It played its best season in 2008–09 when it finished runners-up, a result good enough to qualify the club for the newly introduced Saarlandliga. In the six seasons there the club finished in the top half of the table each year. A league championship in 2014–15 took FSV Jägersburg up to the tier five Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar for the first time.

Women
The club's women's department, now defunct, last played in the tier three Regionalliga Südwest in 2014–15. The team has played as high as the 2. Bundesliga, where it participated in the 2004–05, 2005–06 and 2008–09 seasons.

It has also participated in the DFB-Pokal for women on twelve occasions, in 1986–87, 1987–88, 1992–93, 1994–95, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10 and 2013–14. In 1986–87, 1987–88, 1994–95, 2004–05, 2005–06 and 2008–09 it advanced to the second round, on the other occasions it was knocked out in the first.

Honours
The club's honours:

Men
 Saarlandliga
 Champions: 2014–15
 Landesliga Saarland-Nordost
 Champions: 2002–03

Women
 Regionalliga Südwest
 Champions: 2007–08

Recent seasons
The recent season-by-season performance of the club:

Men

Women

 Men: With the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 and the 3. Liga in 2008 as the new third tier, below the 2. Bundesliga, all leagues below dropped one tier. The Saarlandliga was introduced in 2009 and replaced the Verbandsliga Saarland at the sixth tier of football in the Saarland.
 Women: With the introduction of the 2. Bundesliga in 2004 the Regionalligas and leagues below dropped one tier.

References

External links
Official team site
FSV Jägersburg at Weltfussball.de

Football clubs in Germany
Football clubs in Saarland
Women's football clubs in Germany
Association football clubs established in 1928
1928 establishments in Germany
Homburg, Saarland

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Q: Can a factor be used as Y variable? Best test? I have many plant populations of the same species sampled (around 100). What is measured is an allele on one gene, that can be A,B or C. This is what I would like to use as Y variable. Then I have the yearly rain, the altitude and the the mean temperature.
I was hoping to do something similar to an ANOVA, with allele = rain + altitude + temperature but I did not find a way to do it. Ideas?

A: Your dependent variable is nominal and has three distinct levels (A,B and C); therefore, a multinomial regression would suit your needs very well. You would basically be fitting a regression whereby the log odds for any of the alleles would be modeled as a linear combination of the three predictor variables. See also here. You would basically be assessing which of the three independent variables are associated with an increase in the odds of a gene being A,B or C in comparison to your defined reference group (i.e. one of these three genes), as well as their relative contribution to the model

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
#ifndef device_h
#define device_h

// declare the Oberheim matrix hardware :
#define MATRIX_DEVICE_A 0 //0x0a // matrix connected to Serial1
#define MATRIX_DEVICE_B 1 //0x0b // matrix connected to Serial2
#define MATRIX_DEVICE_C 2 //0x0c // matrix connected to Serial4
#define MATRIX_DEVICE_D 3 //0x0d // matrix connected to Serial5
/*
  #define matrix_model_A matrix_1000
  #define matrix_model_B matrix_1000
  #define matrix_model_C MATRIX_6
  #define matrix_model_D matrix_1000
*/
//// status of matrix_model
//typedef union {
//  struct {
//    unsigned ALL: 8;
//  };
//  struct {
//    unsigned A: 1;
//    unsigned B: 1;
//    unsigned C: 1;
//    unsigned D: 1;
//  };
//} matrix_model_t;
extern bool matrix_model_A;
extern bool matrix_model_B;
extern bool matrix_model_C;
extern bool matrix_model_D;

#define MATRIX_6    1		// 1 if Matrix6/6R , 0 if Matrix 1000
#define MATRIX_1000 0

//device var used in chaosmatrix.c and else
extern bool matrix_modele; // indicate if matrix6 or 1000
extern unsigned char device; // set the Matrix Device A, B, C or D regarding i2c output
extern unsigned char router_device;	// define IIC port

extern unsigned char device_arp; // set the Matrix Device A, B, C or D regarding i2c output
extern unsigned char device_seq; //

// function to set the device :
extern void Matrix_Modele_Init(void);

extern void Device_Select(unsigned char pin);
extern void Show_Selected_Device(unsigned char device);
extern void Device_Init(unsigned char device);
extern void Router(unsigned char evnt0, unsigned char evnt1, unsigned char evnt2);
extern void Router_Arp(unsigned char evnt0, unsigned char evnt1, unsigned char evnt2);

//extern matrix_model_t matrix_model;

#endif

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Santa Barbara AVP, Here We Come!
Next up, Santa Barbara! The season is here and this coming weekend will kick off what will be a very busy summer. From SB you can follow us around the world while we compete on the FIVB International Tour in Shanghai, Rome, and Seoul before coming back to California for the Huntington Beach AVP event.
We had a great week of training and we are HUNGRY to get out there and compete! I want my first big win and I want it NOW! Come cheer us on!
I hope to see you at the beach!
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"Enter the (red) dragon" – We are introduced to the first three symbolic characters of chapter 12: the woman = Israel, the red dragon = Satan, & the male child = Jesus Christ. Ever since Satan was kicked out of heaven, he has been warring against God ever since…and especially with the Jews since they are central to God's plan. Through the scriptures we see that Satan is not to be underestimated or overrated, but that God is large and in charge and has a plan!


text:
Harvard President Vows to Temper His Style With Respect
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 22 - With his faculty threatening open revolt, the president of Harvard, Lawrence H. Summers, promised Tuesday that he would temper his management style and begin treating people more respectfully.
Professors, gathered at an overflow faculty meeting to hear and discuss Dr. Summers, appeared so dissatisfied with the state of his leadership that they rejected a proposal to have three senior Harvard scholars mediate the furor between the faculty and its president.
After five weeks of mea culpas for his remarks about women in the sciences, Dr. Summers issued yet another apology. He promised professors that they would no longer experience the intimidation, anger and hurt feelings that many of them have reported in his three-and-a-half-year tenure.
"I am committed to opening a new chapter in my work with you," he told some 500 faculty and staff members, according to a copy of his remarks. "To start, I pledge to you that I will seek to listen more and more carefully and to temper my words and actions in ways that convey respect and help us work together more harmoniously."
"No doubt I will not always get things right. But I am determined to set a different tone."
He also promised to pay greater respect to the powers of the faculty on matters like undergraduate education, which he has sought to re-shape.
But the deep concern over his management appeared likely to continue, at least in private. Some critics said after the meeting that Dr. Summers was so damaged that his chance of being a great Harvard president was over. Others praised him as trying to reach out.
Although professors did not hold a vote of no confidence at Tuesday's meeting, as some had threatened, a university dean promised to hold a series of private, informal meetings between Dr. Summers and professors in the coming weeks. However, several professors expressed skepticism about whether that intervention would do any good. The next full faculty meeting, where the confrontations with Dr. Summers have taken place this month, is scheduled for March 15.
"He is the president; we need to work with that," said Cynthia Friend, chairwoman of chemistry and chemical biology.
"We need to find a new way of working together," she added.
Tuesday's faculty meeting was convened explicitly for professors to stand in judgment of Dr. Summers, for and against, and was the latest stormy episode in the serial drama of the Summers presidency. The depth and intensity of faculty anger was shown in a Harvard Crimson poll published Tuesday in which 52 percent of professors disapproved of Dr. Summers's leadership and 40 percent approved. In an effort to heal the breach between Dr. Summers and the faculty, a former dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences proposed a three-member mediation team that would act as a line of communication from the faculty to the president and to Harvard's two governing boards.
Two professors rejected the idea as undemocratic and seemingly prearranged. The former dean, Jeremy Knowles, withdrew the proposal.
"I think an important opportunity was lost for the faculty of arts and sciences to gain some leverage to change its relationship with the president," said Theda Skocpol, a government professor who was to have been on the mediation team.
Most of the faculty speeches at Tuesday's meeting ranged from mildly critical to highly critical of Dr. Summers, but some supporters spoke in his favor.
Caroline Hoxby, an economics professor, opened her remarks by saying that the discussion was not about "right versus left" or political correctness, but about management. Some commentators have put a political spin on the debate over remarks by Dr. Summers that women may lag in science and engineering because of "intrinsic aptitude."
"Every time, Mr. President, you show a lack of respect for a faculty member's intellectual expertise, you break ties in our web," Professor Hoxby said to Dr. Summers, according to a copy of her remarks. "Every time you humiliate or silence a faculty member, you break ties in our web."
Leaving the meeting, James Kloppenberg, a history professor, said he felt reassured. Professor Kloppenberg said of Dr. Summers, "He realizes he can't govern the university without the support of the faculty."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Day 62 Reflections
We have just completed a fabulous tour of Irkutsk where we heard a music presentation by extraordinary opera singers and also visited a real dacha where we enjoyed a delicious homemade lunch. The dacha was fully winterized and lived in by a retired hydro engineer and his wife, who provide this service to tour groups as a small business venture. So it is not typical, but most of the dachas in the "cooperative" are; and while they aree a bit more modest than this one, they are in much better shape than those along the Siberian railroad. Our very excellent guide, Svetlana, has a dacha herself as does Ektratina, along with roughly 80% of Russians who live in cities (according to Svetlana). It would appear to be a fundamental ingredient of surviving the long winters and the ups and downs of living here. My advice to Putin: you can mess with a lot of stuff here, but you mess with dachas at your own risk.
So what else are we learning about Russia as we head for Lake Baikal, the last stop before we get into Mongolia ? Here are some observations:
It is a big country. Ok, you knew that already, but when you are on a train and see the open space mile after mile after mile, you begin to get an idea of what big is, and we are only just over half way on our Siberian journey.
Much progress has been made since our last visit in 1993, but there is still a long way to go. Moscow is totally a different city and unrecognizable to us from what we remember in 1993. While we did not visit Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk or Krasnoyarsk in 1993, they have enjoyed revitalization as well. New skyscrapers and modern buildings dot the cityscape, tower cranes are numerous, and shopping malls and upscale stores are everywhere. Restoration of old buildings is in progress. Cities are generally clean and have much less graffiti (Hurrah!) than Western European cities though when asked why, people just say "police." Old buildings—some decrepit—have not disappeared, but overall the four big cities we have visited–all over one million people– seem generally healthy.
Not so with the villages. If anything most along the Trans Siberian railroad seem in worse shape than in 1993. Few roads are paved. Tin roofs remain on most houses, many of which seem on the verge of collapsing. Many villages resemble the old shanty towns we used to have in the South and still have in Appalachia, or the African villages and informal settlements of today. It is not clear how many houses have running water, but there are surely a lot of outhouses around, so probably not many.
Near the larger cities there are also communities of dachas, which are not to be confused with "villages" since they serve as second homes for weekend escapes and vacations. (Dachas supposedly do not have chimneys and that is supposedly how you tell the difference.) However, many of the dachas look a lot like the villages and are in similar condition. (What I did not know is that the big surge in the construction of dachas occurred during the early stages of Communism when land was given away in order for people to build homes and grow their own vegetables as one way of dealing with the food shortage.)
Crossing Siberia in 1993 and crossing it again today leave one with the same impression: Russia is still in some respects a Third World country.
Yet our guides caution us that the villages that we see from our train are not representative and generally are there to house people who maintain the railroad tracks. Other villages are superior. The "dacha cooperative" we visited today was definitely in better shape and actually very modern and comfortable.
While there is nostalgia for some aspects of the past—particularly the safety net and relative economic security—I can't see the country returning to Communism. As the saying goes, "That train has done left the station." Too much has changed. Putin's actions are nationalist, not ideological. No one we have talked to or heard about is talking about destroying shopping malls or skyscrapers or outlawing Chanel or Louis Vuitton or cut off jeans.
There are also many other differences between Putin's actions now and the Communist system. One is the role of church and state. The Communists were atheists, required people to sign atheist "creeds," and destroyed or converted tens of thousands of Russian Orthodox churches to other uses. Most of the Orthodox clergy were executed or became political prisoners in gulags. Under Putin, the church is back big time. The Russian government has spent billions of rubbles restoring or rebuilding Orthodox churches destroyed by the Soviets and has even financed construction and restoration of mosques and upon occasion synagogues. You could argue that this is simply a way of controlling or taking over religion, which could well be the case. Just like the old days when the czars ruled Russia, church and state now show signs of appearing pretty close. For the moment this seems to be working and has helped enhance Putin's popularity. For the long term, when the church and the state become too close, it usually spells trouble.
Also under Soviet rule, tens of millions of Russian citizens were murdered or imprisoned in gulags. Under Putin there have been mysterious deaths of oligarchs and reformers, but very few; and our guides and the various people we have talked to seem to speak freely and do not hold back on their political views.
The guides also openly describe Stalin's "reign of terror" and cite the statistics of 15-20 million murdered while he was in power. Some leaders, like the Mayor of Kazan, remain critical of Putin, yet have not been squelched. We have not had the impression that we were being watched or followed though some would argue I am naïve about such things. For us, however, Russia does not feel like a dictatorship or totalitarian state.
The Russian people are tough. They survived the czars, the two world wars, which took the lives of millions, the reign of terror under Stalin which took many millions more. Nothing like this has ever happened in the US. Yet they keep going and are proud to be Russian. Here in Siberia they also endure weather that seems intolerable—highs in the summer of over 100 degrees, lows in the winter of 20 below or lower. These Russian people are strong and resilient.
Russia is diverse ethnically. There are something like 140 ethnic groups in Russia, representing about 20% of the total population, and most people say that that ethnic diversity is now respected.
The Russian view of Putin is very different from the Western view. His popularity is real, not some concocted poll. The reasons have little to do with ideology but with what he is perceived to have done for the Russian people. He has restored the pensions, which had been reduced to practically nothing. He has been present at the site of natural disasters and provided funds for relief. For a good a while, strong oil and gas prices were lifting most boats, and he got credit for that. He has rebuilt churches and mosques. For these actions he gets high marks from most Russians .
Many here even see the Crimean intervention and Russia's role in the Ukraine as justified and reasonable. Almost everyone says only a ruler who is powerful can hold Russia together; and if not Putin, then who?
Ironically while Putin is perceived as the strong man who is right for Russia, several people we have talked to believe that behind Putin there may be an invisible force which is really calling the shots. They suspect remnants of the KGB or oligarchs or some combination of the two. As the saying goes, just because you are paranoid does not mean people are not out to get you.
Just as we are learning more every day, every day the complexities multiply, and it seems harder to make generalizations. I am reminded of the comment about India: stay three weeks and you know it all; stay three years and you know nothing. The last local guide said, "If there is one thing that I want you to go away with it is this—that generalizing about Russia is very dangerous. This is a large and complex country with differences by region great and small."
Ekatrina, our primary guide, said this today at the vodka tasting as our train chugged along toward Irkutsk: " Russia has always been multi dimensional. The Russian government and the Russian people are not the same. They have always been separate and always will be. But the Russian people are great. We are survivors."
WiFi is limited as we get deeper into Siberian and there is no telling when we will find a hot spot next. Maybe Ulan Bator in Mongolia in five days. Stayed tuned.
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Category: Big Trip
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4 thoughts on "Day 62 Reflections"
Andrew Bart says:
I enjoyed very much your reflections about Russia. It is a country I know very little about. Graet observations. This is one unforgetable trip. You are both very generous about your views and sharing your experiences. I feel lucky to be part of this.
Devoted daughter says:
The train looks and sounds great. Like you are traveling in a former century. Also enjoying the political analysis. Mongolia or bust!
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How Much Does It Cost To Become An Olympic Figure Skater? It's Expensive To Get Into The Sport
By JR Thorpe
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images
The glitz and glamor of the figure skaters as they skim across the ice at the Winter Olympics may dazzle, but audiences are witnessing the culmination of years of training — and, for elite competitors, a truly spectacular price tag. Between costumes, training, custom skates, choreography and other elements, being an Olympian in figure skating, or simply competing at an elite level, is a substantial financial commitment — one that supportive families and clubs can spend a fortune attempting to accommodate. The amount of money it can cost to become an Olympic figure skater can be seriously mind-boggling.
The most obvious area of impressive expense, for the public viewer at least, is the costumes — which don't come cheap. An investigation by The Gloss in 2014 found that all costumes for Olympic skaters are, by and large, custom-made — unsurprisingly, as it's not a good look to be in the same outfit as somebody else. According to the Gloss, elite-level costumes from designers can cost between $500 and $5,000, and skaters have two costumes, one for their short program and one for their long (and that's not counting spare costumes, in case one rips or gets dirty). They tend to need new costumes every year, too. Those spangles and sparkles are often applied by hand. And the performance "look" for female skaters in particular also involves make-up and hair, which at the elite level is usually applied professionally.
Jamie Squire/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images
And then there are the skates. Estimates differ, but it's thought that custom skate boots, which are pretty standard at Olympic level, can be between $1,000 and $1,500 a pair, and competitors can wear them out annually — and that's not counting the cost of sharpening and maintaining them monthly.
Equipment, however, is only the beginning. In an investigation of the costs behind Winter Olympic sports careers, Forbes points out that virtually all Olympic-level figure skaters start as children, meaning years of lessons, private tuition, practice time, competition fees and other expenses. Forbes notes that elite-level figure skaters will likely have reached their peak with a price tag of around $100,000 on their past training and skating life.
Because of the significant investment, a wealthy — or at least financially stable — background is pretty necessary. Stories abound of supportive parents remortgaging homes, cutting down on expenses for other children, and making some extreme financial decisions to be able to afford the cost of sending an elite-level figure skater all the way to the top, and hopefully to the Olympics. Mike Slipchuck, director of Skate Canada, told the CBC that even as a low-level competitor, annual costs can reach $10,000 annually — but that the number could also rise to $30,000. If you reach Team USA, funding is provided and financial aid is also offered, but that's an elite pinnacle.
Once you reach the Olympics, expenses start to pile up, because the best choreographers, musicians, coaches and other elements of a successful competition come at a price. Every competition cycle requires a new routine, and getting the rights to music and coming up with new moves adds up on the balance sheet. Scott Hamilton, who won Olympic figure skating gold in 1984, told the Huffington Post that "I've heard everything from $25,000 to $80,000 a year. It can get out of control."
It's important to remember that being an Olympian doesn't immediately translate into financial success — in fact, far from it. Olympians can often encounter financial trouble, particularly after they retire from their sports, and only a select few of very lucky or very successful team members will attract sponsorships and advertising deals. Catch the public imagination or walk away with a medal and you may be rewarded, but it's in no way guaranteed. Prize money is available at other competitions, but in the Olympics you do it just for the glory — and the gold.
Being an Olympian of any kind is an extraordinary sacrifice, not only for the athletes themselves but for their families and support networks. And when you're watching Team USA take to the ice in PyeongChang, it's worth remembering that they've got there through years of very, very expensive work.


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Dispense 1-3 pumps into the palm of your hand. Rub hands together before applying evenly throughout damp hair. Comb and allow to dry naturally or blow-dry.
Extremely nourishing properties, it helps to make hair manageable, bouncy and protected.


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about scope it was thrown from?
> > code. If you have any better proposition I am all for it.
> I don't think there's any need to make this accessible through the macro.


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Charaxes montis is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, south-western Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. The habitat consists of montane forests.

The larvae feed on Albizia gummifera.

Taxonomy
Described as a subspecies of Charaxes dilutus, later regarded as a full species by Victor Van Someren.

Similar species
Charaxes subornatus is in the  Charaxes eupale species group (clade). The clade members are:

Charaxes subornatus
Charaxes eupale
Charaxes dilutus
Charaxes montis
Charaxes minor
Charaxes schiltzei
Charaxes schultzei
Charaxes virescens
Bouyer et al., 2008 erected the genus Viridixes Bouyer & Vingerhoedt, 2008 to accommodate species belonging to the eupale species group.

Realm
Afrotropical realm

References

Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1974 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part IX. Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Entomology) 29 (8):415-487.
Bouyer, T., Zakharov, E., Rougerie, R. & Vingerhoedt, E. (2008): Les Charaxes du groupe eupale : description d'un nouveau genre, révision et approche génétique (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Charaxinae) Entomologica Africana Hors Série 3:1-32.

External links
African Charaxes/Charaxes Africains Eric Vingerhoedt images of eupale group
Images of  C. montis Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project)
Charaxes montis images at Consortium for the Barcode of Life

Butterflies described in 1956
montis


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Aria Sa'id named Executive Director of the Compton's Transgender Cultural District
Posted on February 4, 2019 by StJames
San Francisco, CA- The Compton's Transgender Cultural District is pleased to announce celebrated transgender advocate and award-winning political strategist, Aria Sa'id will lead the Compton's Transgender Cultural District as Executive Director. Ms. Sa'id is a founder of the world's first transgender cultural district, in addition to co-founders Honey Mahogany (former Executive Director), Janetta Johnson (Executive Director of TGI Justice Project), Stephany Ashley (former Executive Director of St. James Infirmary) and Nate Allbee (Community Organizer and Co-owner of The Stud). The Compton Transgender Cultural District is fiscally sponsored by St. James Infirmary.
The cultural district was founded in 2017 by the group with a mission to create a hub of social, cultural and economic opportunities for transgender and gender non-conforming communities. In addition the cultural district aims to prevent the displacement of transgender residents, address housing stability and employment disparities of transgender people of color, and more. Named after the Compton's Cafeteria Riots–the first documented TLGB civil rights uprising in the United States–the Compton's Transgender Cultural District is the first legally recognized transgender district in the world. It is also an effort founded by queer and transgender/gender nonconforming community members to honor the rich legacy of transgender women who continue to be at the forefront of the fight for LGBTQIIA+ equality.
"The Compton's Transgender Cultural District pays tribute to one of the most important events in the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement, and it took place right here in the Tenderloin. The Compton's District speaks to the tremendous role that the transgender community has played in that movement, and to the many transgender people who continue to call this place home", said Supervisor Matt Haney. "I'm proud of the fact that Compton's is in District 6, and our office stands fully in support of the district's mission and it's new Executive Director."
The Compton's Cultural District encompasses six blocks in the southeastern Tenderloin and crosses over Market Street to include two blocks of 6th Street. In 2016, the city of San Francisco renamed portions of Turk and Taylor Street — now called Compton's Cafeteria Way and Vikki Mar Lane. The intersection is the center of the Compton's District, and organizers hope it will be a hub of services and economic opportunities for trans and gender-nonconforming folks, as well as a place to pay tribute to the district's history.
Having led the cultural district since its inception, transgender political activist and cultural district co-founder Mx. Honey Mahogany, stated full support of the district's next phase of it's leadership."I have spent the past two years leading the effort behind the Compton's Transgender Cultural District. With the support of my co-founders, especially Janetta Johnson and Aria Sa'id, we have established Compton's as an official cultural district, held numerous community gatherings to help guide the work of the district; successfully negotiated with incoming developers to secure a new community center and new job opportunities for our community; and through Prop-E, finally established a permanent source of funding for the district in order for it to achieve its goals. I am certain that Aria Sa'id is the right person to take the reigns from here. Aria is a brilliant creative force and an incredible leader, I can't wait to see the direction the district takes under her leadership, and I look forward to continuing to support her and the district in the years to come."
In defining her hopes for the future of the cultural district, and her goals in her new role, Aria Sa'id stated, "I've created a 5 year multi-prong strategy towards ensuring that the cultural district is effective in its mission, and foster a reimagination of social and economic advancement of transgender people. My strategy includes taking pride in our district and staking a claim through place-making; a strong social enterprise strategy to boost economic and income enhancement opportunities for transgender people with multiple barriers to employment and/or housing stability. It also includes creation of partnerships with affordable housing providers to minimize ongoing displacement of transgender residents, and a strengthened intention of housing our community's most disenfranchised members. In addition, I want to create and implement an entrepreneurship boot camp program for aspiring transgender entrepreneurs and cultivate resources so that the cultural district can invest in co-op businesses to garner as much transgender ownership as possible".
Prior to her new role as Executive Director of the Compton's Transgender Cultural District, Ms. Sa'id served as LGBT Policy Advisor for the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. Preceding her work in policy, she served as Director of Programs & Policy at the nationally acclaimed, St. James Infirmary- a peer based occupational health and safety clinic for sex workers. She is also an alum of the Women's Foundation of California's Women's Policy Institute- and one of the first transgender women of color to graduate the program. She's also received numerous awards for her decade long career in public service towards the transgender community, garnering accolades from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, The California State Assembly, and receiving the "Heritage of Pride" award from San Francisco Pride last year. She's worked on several sex worker and transgender rights laws at the California state legislature and locally in San Francisco.
Ms. Sa'id reflects on her journey. "It's been incredible journey for me. And it's such a full circle moment for me. I'm still in my twenties, and I don't have a college degree, if I'm super transparent. And I came to San Francisco, like so many of my sisters- only to find how limited I was in opportunity. All of my work and accomplishments have literally been informed by my experiences as a Black transgender woman- navigating homelessness, limited job opportunities, survival sex work, and just trying to climb out of the margins that are put before us. I want to set an example to young Black transgender women that, yes we do have to work three times harder than our peers to get half as much. But, if we work really hard and stay committed, we can lead. We can lead our own organizations or businesses go after whatever dreams and aspirations we have."
Posted in: Community
StJames
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Microsoft: We have sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses thus far
November 27, 2012 - 10:04 pm
Alex Wilhelm
Alex Wilhelm is a San Francisco-based writer. You can find Alex on Twitter, and on Facebook. You can reach Alex via email at [email protected] (show all) Alex Wilhelm is a San Francisco-based writer. You can find Alex on Twitter, and on Facebook. You can reach Alex via email at [email protected]
Today Microsoft announced in a speech that it has sold some 40 million Windows 8 licenses thus far. Windows 8 brings to the Windows brand a new interface, and support for the tablet user environment.
According to the company, Windows 8 upgrades are outpacing those that Windows 7 enjoyed post-launch.
Previously, Microsoft announced that it had sold some 4 million licenses in the first three days of the product's life. The 40 million figure is key, as it helps to dispel notions that Windows 8 is a flop of any sort; 40 million is a strong enough figure to likely ensure that Windows 8 does not suffer from Vista's fate.
Among the TNW staff, it is the general consensus that the 40 million figure is strong. Presumably, the sum includes copies sold to OEMs, along with those moved on Surface units, and to individual consumers.
For some time since the launch of Windows 8, a negative narrative was starting to spin, helped along by negative notes on Surface sales, a data point that Microsoft has yet to reveal. However, this news bit is effective pushback.
Microsoft also informed TNW that a number of Windows 8 applications have crested the $25,000 revenue mark. It is at that threshold that applications pay only a 20% cut to Microsoft, and not the normal 30% fee.
According to the firm, the number of Windows 8 applications has doubled since the operating system was launched.
Top Image Credit: BUILDWindows
Published November 27, 2012 - 10:04 pm UTC
Dear Microsoft, putting ads in the Windows 11 File Explorer is a very dumb idea
Fuck yeah, passwordless logins! Google, Apple, and Microsoft team up to make our lives easier
Microsoft looks poised to dominate the quantum computing industry


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Places to See on an Edinburgh Sightseeing Tour
BY: Kavin A | Category: Travel | Submitted: 2014-03-12 05:15:38
Article Summary: "The imperious, awe-inspiring Edinburgh Castle is the single most important destination to visit on any Edinburgh tour. It is the most popular attraction for visitors to Edinburgh and holds a strong and varied history..."
Rugged Edinburgh is considered by many to be one of the most charming European cities. As well as being very striking in terms of its architecture and natural surrounds, it also holds a formidable reputation as a city of culture, and there are a multitude of Edinburgh attractions to explore. Edinburgh earned the nickname of 'Athens of the North' for being one of the major world centres of Enlightenment philosophy.
Perhaps the best way to uncover the key sights of this extraordinary capital is on one of the omnipresent day tours available - choose between bus tours and guided walking tours - there are different advantages to each option. One thing you can be sure of is that you could never run out of things to do in Edinburgh.
The imperious, awe-inspiring Edinburgh Castle is the single most important destination to visit on any Edinburgh tour. It is the most popular attraction for visitors to Edinburgh and holds a strong and varied history. You may be unaware of the legends surrounding the castle. It is said to contain a ghost of a piper playing as well as a headless drummer on the battlements. Try to catch the traditional One O'Clock Gun time signal. Even if you do not go to the very top of the castle, you are still afforded stunning panoramic views of the city below.
The magnificent Holyrood Park is only a few minutes away from Edinburgh's Old Town, and thus easily accessible. Covering a five-mile radius, it is an exceptional place to explore and the central Arthur's Seat proves a popular walk, in fact being relatively easy to climb. Wander the ruins of the once majestic Holyrood Abbey and St Anthony's Chapel. Uncover Holyrood Palace, still used today since its reconstruction in the seventeenth century.
In late summer, the world renowned Edinburgh International Festival runs from mid August to early September. The Edinburgh International Festival originated in the wake of the Second World War, with the expressed goal to 'provide a platform for the flowering of the human spirit' and continues to bring great performers from around the world together to showcase their talents. For something different and uncoventional, the eclectic and wide-ranging Edinburgh Fringe Festival takes place at around the same time as the International Festival.
Conclusion: There is a great range of things to do in Edinburgh and it is best to undertake an Edinburgh sightseeing tour, to really make the most of what this city has to offer. Edinburgh tours to key Edinburgh attractions could be taken in the form of bus tours or guided walking tours - there is something for everyone. You will not be disappointed by Edinburgh - in fact, you will be astounded and enchanted by the range of cultural attractions it has.
If time is precious you might want to arrange a private tour of Edinburgh by car with a local registered blue badge guide. You can do this with DGATOURS Tracy Edwards 2012-07-17 05:32:51	1426
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Freight and Logistics
About Accenture Home About Accenture Home
WOMEN: GENDER DIVERSITY AND EQUALITY
How storytelling and teaching help a corporate career
By Nia Sarinastiti, Senior Manager, Accenture, Jakarta
DOWNLOAD VIDEO TRANSCRIPT [PDF]
"I am grateful to couple my passion for teaching and storytelling with a rewarding marketing career."
I've been pursuing my interest in storytelling since I was a child and have found it to be a great tool for teaching and communicating with people, both personally and professionally.
I think it's extremely important for people to be able to tell their stories and communicate well if they want to get hired and progress in their careers.
Others support this view and emphasize personal storytelling in career success. In a TED Talk, filmmaker Andrew Stanton, who wrote the "Toy Story" movies, notes that a great story comes from talking about what you know and revealing values that are important to you.
An article in The Washington Post notes that behavioral job interviews, where "hiring managers want to hear your story" are becoming more prevalent in the corporate world. The article notes that effective storytellers are ready with a library of personal anecdotes to reinforce their brand and their values.
Effective storytelling at all ages
I was born in Indonesia, but, as I grew up, my family spent some time living in the United States. As a foreign elementary student, I was given an assignment to "show and tell" where I came from.
To tell my story, I decided to hold a puppet show depicting Indonesian folklore. So, I put extra effort into making papier-mâché dolls. My dad made the stage, and my mom made the dresses.
My puppet show was a hit. From that day forward, it became a standing show every other Friday at my grade school.
After I returned to Indonesia during high school, I began teaching my friends conversational English. I taught them how to tell stories in simple English as a way to master the language.
When I was in college, I began helping my father, who was an economics professor, grade his students' papers. At the same time, I continued my storytelling career as a host of an Indonesian history television show.
It was then that I realized that teaching and storytelling came naturally to me. This revelation led me to become a teacher's assistant while in graduate school and to pursue a graduate teacher certification. I have now had my teaching credentials for almost 25 years!
Now, working at Accenture, I am grateful to couple my passion for teaching and storytelling with a rewarding marketing career.
In the consulting industry, one can't always rely on a picture telling a thousand words. I have been active leading orientation sessions for new members of our organization, bringing to life inclusion and diversity and leadership discussions through personal examples. And for our social media marketing, I ensure our posts help to tell a story.
Being able to tell a story, whether it is your own story or the messages of your organization, is a vital skill I hope to share with others. To pass on my knowledge of storytelling, I take part in a Women's Mentoring Program, in which we tell our stories of work and experience to university students.
SEE MORE VIDEOS: INSPIRATIONAL STORIES OF WOMEN ACHIEVING THEIR DREAMS
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There's no feeling quite like it. Full of excitement and anticipation, you open the first proper copy of your new book. And immediately, you spot a typo. Believe me: if you feel bad, spare a thought for your poor editor.
We hate mistakes. It's our job to stop them happening, so when we make them ourselves, or let one slip through, we beat ourselves up about it for days. As someone who has paid a probably not-insignificant amount of cash to have your book edited, you'd be forgiven for feeling upset and annoyed. But before you go dashing off an enraged email to your editor,I have a startling revelation: Editors are not robots. They also aren't proofreaders.
Error rates are a hot topic among editorial professionals. Some editors like to proclaim they have a certain error rate (and this is usually incredibly low, like 1%). I'll say right now that I have no idea how they can come up with that number and I set very little store by it. I don't trust anyone claiming they will definitely catch 99% of all errors. It's bunkum, as far as I'm concerned. It all depends on the manuscript in question.
Let's take an example. Most editors agree that they wouldn't be happy with finding less than 95% of the mistakes. It's a matter of professional pride, after all. That number isn't static – it relies on a lot of variables. For example, I'd miss way more than 5% of errors if someone, for some unfathomable reason, decided I was a good bet to edit their book on mathematic formulas. And in a story that spans two paragraphs, I'd hope that my error rate was 0%! As we all know, no two manuscripts are alike in content or quality. As a rule of thumb, when I perform a line & copy-edit on a manuscript, I make upwards of 2,000 changes to the text. I've made as much as 6,000 sometimes. These aren't all errors or corrections, of course; some of these are improvements in the form of rephrasing sentences or suggesting alternative words that are a better fit. Regardless, a lot of these changes will be correcting mistakes (which could be typos, or might be commas or apostrophes in the wrong place, or a word hyphenated incorrectly).
Let's be generous and say there are 500 mistakes in a manuscript. If that sounds high to you, you'd be surprised! If I catch 95% of those, there are still 25 mistakes remaining in the text. If a manuscript has 1000 errors, there are 50 mistakes remaining, and so on. The more mistakes in the original manuscript, the more will remain. An editor might have performed a very heavy edit and made 6,000 changes, but missed something like 'leech' being used instead of 'leach' (full disclosure, I almost missed this myself in a recent job and only noticed at the last minute). That doesn't wipe out the thousands of other mistakes they spotted and changes they made.
Perfection is impossible. I've seen some editors claim their finished product will be error-free. I'd love to have those kind of super powers. That would be even cooler than being able to be invisible! Sadly, you won't ever get perfection. I recently read a best-seller which has been out for years. I found a couple of typos. This book has been through numerous reprints, undoubtedly a great deal of editorial intervention, and there were still some mistakes. Your book, out for a day and having gone through one editorial professional, is probably going to have more. That's just life. You'll never have a perfect product, although you should never stop trying (nor should your editor).
So when you spot that typo, take a deep breath. Go and change it. If a reader has pointed it out, grit your teeth and thank them. If you have the budget, get a proofreader. They might catch another 90-95% of the mistakes left behind. But most of all, don't sweat it. A couple of typos won't make or break your book. But all the other mistakes your editor caught? They just might have.
I always thought I caught 100% of the errors in what I read, but I had to accept that it isn't so. I self-published my collection of short stories. I had two people read it carefully, but didn't have the budget for a professional editor. As soon as the book was released, my mother was the first one to tell me that there were typos.
Yes, I can see there's still room for improvement.
Thanks for your feedback, Daphne! If a missing 's' (although Fowler's Modern English Usage suggests the lack of an 's' is fine in colloquial use [which my blogs most certainly are!] and has been used since the 14th century) and a stylistic issue are the only things wrong, then I'm more than happy with that 😉 And there's always room for improvement in everything! Thanks for your reply!
I love that you addressed this. One of the factors that makes self-editing virtually impossible is that the author can only read a document so many times before she or he just isn't seeing it anymore. The same is true of the second reader, or the third, or the fourth. So when you or I are making 2000 or 6000 changes to a document, and no that's not unrealistic at all, eventually we reach a point where "one more read-through" just won't work. The best authors collaborate with us, and we are grateful.


ARSENAL are lining up a £5million move to sign Leicester City's versatile star Jeffrey Schlupp.
The pacey 22-year-old was key to keeping the Foxes in the Premier League this season, earning the club's Young Player of the Year as well as the Players' Player of the Year award.
His performances have caught the attention of Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, who is believed to be lining up a £5m bid in the summer to test Leicester's resolve.
Former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson also saw the potential in Schlupp after he offered him a trial in 2013, but the Ghana international instead opted for first-team football at the King Power Stadium after his month's stay at Carrington.
The Foxes academy product, who played junior international football for Germany, can play as a left-sided defender as well as a forward, which is understood to interest Wenger.


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Why does silvopastoralism reduce environmental impact of cattle farming?
Published: - Dec 28, 2017
The friendly environmental alternative decreases cattle ranching impact
Silvopastoralism has been proposed as a productive system and a sustainable alternative that reduces the environmental impact generated by cattle farming. This proposal increases the productive activity.
Cattle ranching is a huge enemy of environmental protection. The deforestation of extensive areas of forest, to give way to pastures where livestock grows, has generated soil compaction, loss of biodiversity, and carbon sinks. However, perhaps the more serious impact is the exponential growth of greenhouse gas emissions from cattle droppings.
Intensive silvopastoral systems combine different strata, grasses, shrubs, and large trees in such a way that they generate plausible benefits for the development of livestock in an environmentally friendly way.
The dead fences with wood, extracted from deforested forests, are eliminated and replaced by a combination of live fences and electric fences, reducing the impact and operating costs for the farmer. Additionally, the separation of paddocks is a protective barrier against the wind that drains the land dedicated to the cultivation of feed for livestock.
With the presence of trees, shade is provided to paddocks. This can reduce temperatures up to 10 degrees Celsius, minimizing heat stress of livestock avoiding excessive sweating that inhibit the gain in weight of each animal.
In paddocks where the sun falls directly, the presence of insects that usually live underground is considerably less than those pastures that have trees offering shade. These subterranean insects open tunnels that allow the oxygenation of soils favoring the root system of any plant species. As a consequence, the exchange of nutrients favors the health and fertility of soils.
Fodder shrubs such as Leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) or 'Golden Button' (Tithonia diversifolia) provide cattle with an important feed that provides a significant protein content.
Nevertheless, not only it has the nutritional value of the intake of these shrubs been demonstrated; to a large extent, the breeding of cattle is responsible for the emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes generously to Global Climate Change. Thus, the consumption of forage species of shrubs decreases the methane gas content (CH4) of animal excretions.
The presence of trees and shrubs encourages the diversity of organisms by increasing the biodiversity that generates immense environmental benefits by providing food to the communities, medicines, useful fibers for handicrafts, and countless social benefits.
The reduction of erosion, because of the effect of water and winds, constitutes an environmental and social benefit, due to the reduction of the sedimentation of water bodies, such as rivers, lagoons, or reservoirs.
The presence of leguminous species is associated with bacteria of the genus Rhyzobium that contribute to the fixing of nitrogen in soils, reaching 200 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare per year in the tropics.
While it is true that livestock is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity and ecosystem functionality due to deforestation and environmental degradation, there are also production alternatives that minimize the impacts of this activity on the planet and its resources.
LatinAmerican Post | Alberto Castaño
Copy edited by Marcela Peñaloza


Buy 24 or more for $6.64 each.
A villainous new presence is aprowl in Mossflower Woods-the Marlfoxes. Stealthy and mysterious, they are out to plunder and destroy everything in their path. And when they reach Redwall Abbey, they ruthlessly steal the most precious treasure of all-the tapestry of Martin the Warrior. It takes Dann Reguba and Song Swifteye, children of warrior squirrels, to follow in their fathers' heroic footsteps. Together with the young shrew Dippler, and Burble the brave watervole, they embark upon the seemingly impossible quest. . . .
"I sometimes think it ironic for an ex-seaman, longshoreman, truck driver, policeman, bus driver, etc., to find success writing children's novels," says Brian Jacques (pronounced "Jakes"). Yet it is all too true. With the publication of his first children's book in 1987, the award-winning Redwall, Jacques' fresh talent has received exceptional praise from reviewers in the United States and England. Newbery Award winner Lloyd Alexander called it "a fine work, literate, witty, filled with the excitement of genuine storytelling. Young people will surely be captivated. I hope they give their elders a chance to share the delights."
A well-known radio personality in his native Liverpool--as well as an actor, stand-up comic, and playwright--Brian Jacques is the host of "Jakestown" on BBC Radio Merseyside. Ever the performer, Jacques is well-known for applying his acting and entertainment background to his lively presentations to legions of young fans at schools across the United States and England.
This interest in poetry extended to Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Goldsmith.It was also at St. John's that Brian met a teacher, Alan Durband (who also taught two Beatles, Paul McCartney and George Harrison), who, more than thirty years later would bring about a major change in his life.
I'm the author/artist and I want to review #11: Marlfox: A Tale of Redwall.


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The Requirements For A Silver Turnaround
Cliff Droke
Let's take a look at the short-term and intermediate-term technical pictures for both gold and silver.
Before we get too excited over the rally in silver, consider that whenever a commodity rallies after a multi-week sustained decline, there's always the danger (indeed, the probability) that the advance will be arrested and prices will be forced back to re-test the recent lows. This is how double bottoms are formed. Sometimes a re-test of the low is a double bottom and, in particularly strong markets, it can be a higher low. In weak markets the previous low will fail to hold up under testing and a lower low will be made.
In silver's case this means we should prepare at least for a re-test of the early December low near the $19.00 level. Let's assume for purposes of this discussion that the most recent low will continue a few more days and that silver makes it to the 150-day moving average at the $21.42 level (see chart below). Since the 150-day (30-week) moving average, which is an important long-term trend line, is still declining it reflects continued downside momentum.
Silver must not only overcome the 150-day MA, but must also establish a base of support before we can have any assurance that its interim decline has been completely halted. Further, a multi-week basing pattern is essential to forming the launching pad for a new bull market. In other words, regardless of what happens in the next few days, silver has a ways to go before convincing us that the bear market has ended.
The same can be said for gold. The 150-day moving average for gold, even more so than silver, is a dominant longer-term trend line which has checked ever rally for gold of the past year. The daily chart of the SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD) provides the clearest example of the resistance exerted by this important trend line. As long as gold and the gold ETFs remains below this trend line, bear market conditions can be presumed to still hold sway.
Commodities guru Jim Rogers made a high-profile statement yesterday to the effect that silver looks better than gold on a relative basis. A number of financial writers picked up on this and used it as an excuse to promote silver as a "hot" investment choice. What Rogers actually said, though, was "I'm not buying either gold or silver...but if I had to buy one today, I'd buy silver because it certainly has gone down more than gold." [Source: Adrian Ash, Bullion Vault]
Rogers is correct, IMO, not to be purchasing gold or silver right now in light of the continued path of least resistance for both metals – which is confirmed down. He may be on to something, though, in terms of silver's future turnaround potential at some point in the coming months if global volatility re-emerges and scares investors away from equities and back into the safe havens.
Remember, though, that the chief technical near-term obstacle for the white metal is the 150-day (30-week) moving average, which continues to shepherd the metal lower. Until silver decisively breaks above this important trend line, it should be assumed that sellers retain control over the market.
Turning our attention back to gold, declining demand from India -- one of the world's major gold consumers -- has been a major factor behind the downward trend in the gold price. A recent report on India's projected gold imports for 2014 put a further damper on the yellow metal. According to All India Gems and Jewelry Trade Federation, gold imports are expected to fall to 500 tons, from an estimated 650-700 tons in 2013.
ETF and institutional trading demand for the precious metals has also taken a hit lately. According to the CFTC, net combined long positions in gold contracted by nearly 16% to 26,774 contracts during the week ending Dec. 3. This level was last seen in mid-2007. Investment bank Barclays has stated that should the gold price drop below $1,200, an extra 100 tons of gold-backed ETF holdings will become loss-making, which may prompt more ETF selling.
In light of the above points it's evident that gold and silver need a significant catalyst to recover from the malaise currently hanging over the market. Fear and uncertainty are the two catalysts which gold feeds upon and indeed these two widespread investor emotions kept gold in a strong uptrend until the summer of 2011.
As we've talked about in past reports, however, an economic slowdown in Asia and/or Europe in 2014 would have profound consequences for the global economy and would be a definite stimulus for a return to gold among safe haven investors. Early next year a repeat of the "fiscal cliff" saga in the U.S. would also likely help bolster gold's prospects as a safe haven.
All in all, the return of economic volatility in 2014 – regardless of where it comes from – would almost certainly harbinger a revival of interest in gold as a safe haven du jour among investors with silver benefiting as well.
Kress Cycles
Cycle analysis is essential to successful long-term financial planning. While stock selection begins with fundamental analysis and technical analysis is crucial for short-term market timing, cycles provide the context for the market's intermediate- and longer-term trends.
While cycles are important, having the right set of cycles is absolutely critical to an investor's success. They can make all the difference between a winning year and a losing one. One of the best cycle methods for capturing stock market turning points is the set of weekly and yearly rhythms known as the Kress cycles. This series of weekly cycles has been used with excellent long-term results for over 20 years after having been perfected by the late Samuel J. Kress.
In my latest book "Kress Cycles," the third and final installment in the series, I explain the weekly cycles which are paramount to understanding Kress cycle methodology. Never before have the weekly cycles been revealed which Mr. Kress himself used to great effect in trading the SPX and OEX. If you have ever wanted to learn the Kress cycles in their entirety, now is your chance. The book is now available for sale at:
http://www.clifdroke.com/books/kresscycles.html
Order today to receive your autographed copy along with a free booklet on the best strategies for momentum trading. Also receive a FREE 1-month trial subscription to the Gold & Silver Stock Report newsletter.
Clif Droke is a recognized authority on cycles and internal momentum and is the editor of Gold & Silver Stock Report, published each Tuesday and Thursday since 1998. He is also the author of numerous books on trading and investing, including most recently, "Kress Cycles." For more information visit www.clifdroke.com
Clif Droke is the editor of the three times weekly Momentum Strategies Report newsletter, published since 1997, which covers U.S. equity markets and various stock sectors, natural resources, money supply and bank credit trends, the dollar and the U.S. economy. The forecasts are made using a unique proprietary blend of analytical methods involving cycles, internal momentum and moving average systems, as well as investor sentiment. He is also the author of numerous books, including most recently "Kress Cycles." For more information visit www.clifdroke.com
1 cubic foot of silver weighs approx 655 pounds whereas 1 cubic foot of gold weighs more than half a ton.


If you have a spare million or two dollars lying around, you might be able to wangle a couple of tickets to the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor "super" bout coming up.
Many of you are probably wondering just who Mayweather and McGregor are?
The name of Mayweather is vaguely familiar to me since there was a time when I used to watch boxing.
In what passes for boxing today, the 40-year-old Mayweather may be the best boxer pound-for-pound going.
The last time I paid attention to the fight game, Tommy Hearns was boxing Sugar Ray Leonard or heavyweight bully Mike Tyson was trying to beat (or was it bite) opponents.
McGregor, a champion in the Ultimate Fighting Championship series or one of those federations, has zero boxing experience going into this bout.
Muhammad Ali, a true boxing champion, must be rolling over in his grave. And he was a true showman.
Unless he's given the some kind of special edge, McGregor could easily fall in one round.
Of course, McGregor could strike Mayweather in the face with one of those flying foot hits you see endlessly on ESPN.
It reminds me of the movie, Rocky III, where the main character of the trilogy takes on the giant wrestling star Super Lips (Hulk Hogan) in a charity match. It's that incredibly stupid.
There are some misguided souls who are trying to put racial overtones on the Mayweather-McGregor meeting.
That's a great thing to do in an era where racial harmony is a hard thing to find, indeed.
For sporting value, I would much rather watch President Trump take on Joe Biden in a boxing match. That was even suggested during last fall's election.
Or Mike McCarthy oppose Bill Belichick in an all-football matchup at the 50-yard line at Lambeau Field.
Get your per-pay tickets ready, folks. This is going to be one for the ages.


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February 16, 2013 February 16, 2013 by Matt Noonan
Mass. College Hockey: Norwich Nets Two Late Goals, Tops UMass Boston
Colin Mulvey, ECAC East Hockey, Hockey, Max Revis, Mike DeGrazia, Norwich Cadets, Norwich University, Rob Florentino, Steve Weston, Tim Niedzielak, Tim Richter, Travis Daniel, Travis Janke, UMass Boston Beacons, UMass-Boston, University of New England, Zach Andrews
By NoontimeSports.com
Courtesy of the UMass Boston sports information department, here's this evenings release from the Beacons men's ice hockey game against Norwich University. The Cadets tallied two goals during the final minutes, which helped them earn a seasons sweep:
BOSTON, Mass.—In a game that had no bearings in the standings, two of the top 12 teams in the nation went blow-for-blow for 50 minutes, before #1 Norwich University (21-2-1, 16-1-1 ECAC East) scored two late goals to earn a 4-2 win over #12 UMass Boston (18-5-2, 11-5-2) Saturday afternoon before a sold out Clark Athletic Center Ice Arena.
Before the game the Beacons honored the five members of the Class of 2013, as Tim Richter (Naugatuck, Conn.), Tim Niedzielak (Chicago, Ill.), Rob Florentino (West Roxbury, Mass.), Steve Weston (Henniker, N.H.) and Mike DeGrazia (Novi, Mich.) played the final regular-season home games of their careers.
Despite the loss, UMass Boston will be the number two team in the ECAC East Tournament, and will host the University of New England next Saturday in a quarterfinal matchup. The Cadets who wrapped up the number one seed last weekend, will play host to eight-seeded University of Southern Maine.
Norwich junior forward Travis Janke led the Cadets with two goals, while senior forward Colin Mulvey picked up his nation-leading ninth game-winning goal to help Norwich avoid back-to-back negative results for the first time all season.
Freshman Max Reavis (Omaha, Neb.) had one of his best games of the season, creating chances all over the ice and finishing with a goal and an assist. Florentino added a power-play goal, while Travis Daniel (North Brunswick, N.J.) picked up his team-leading 26th and 27th assists on the year.
In net, Zach Andrews (Coral Springs, Fla.) played a tremendous game, making a half-dozen highlight reel saves. The freshman netminder made 26 stops on 30 shots, in falling to 16-5-2 on the year.
Sophomore netminder Matic Marinsek moved to 9-1 with 23 saves on 25 Beacons shots.
With both teams already set in their playoff seeding for next weekend's ECAC East Quarterfinals, the Beacons sat several key players due to lingering injuries, giving a pair of freshman a crack at the top ranked Cadets.
The new lineup didn't seem to affect the Beacons at all, as they held the momentum at several junctures throughout the game, despite having to battle back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits.
Neither squad was able to find back of the net in the first period, despite several great chances for the Cadets. After a Beacons penalty at the 18:26 mark, Norwich had three point-blank chances in front of the net on Andrews, but the freshman goalie was able to turn each one aside.
Norwich took a 1-0 lead 68 seconds into the second period, as they capitalized on some weary legs for the Beacons. UMass Boston successfully killed off the final 36 seconds on a power-play that carried over from the first, but couldn't get the puck out of the zone, leaving the same five players out on the ice for over a minute. Shane Gorman finally capitalized for the Cadets, when he found Chris Duszynski's rebound and lifted a backhand over Andrews' shoulder to make it 1-0 Norwich.
The Beacons retaliated at 4:47 of the period, when they scored the first of their power-play goals on the game. DeGrazia slipped away from a Cadet hit and found Reavis in the slot for a huge slapshot that dinged the underside of the crossbar before falling straight down and into the back of the net.
It wouldn't take long for Norwich's response, as the Cadets grabbed a 2-1 lead on a fluky goal at the 6:10 mark. Defenseman Alec Thieda sent a soft shot towards net from the blue line that deflected off Janke's midsection and by Andrews for Janke's 11th goal of the season.
Just under 20 minutes later, Florentino gave the Beacons the equalizer on the power-play, when Reavis found Florentino all alone at the point, and the senior sent a slapper through traffic that found the netting at 6:09 of the third.
UMass Boston looked like they finally were going to take the lead when Norwich's Gerard Mceleney was called for tripping at 11:11, but the momentum quickly shifted. Norwich's intense forechecking on the penalty-kill led to a two-on-one rush with Mulvey and Tory Allan skating into the Beacons end; Allan fed Mulvey just past the left circle and Mulvey's shot ricocheted off of Andrews shoulder and into the top corner of the net for the first short-handed tally against the Beacons this year.
Janke put the nail in the coffin at 17:21 when he took a feed from senior captain Pier-Olivier Cotnoir and sent a wrister over Andrews head to make it 4-2.
The Cadets outshot UMass Boston 30-25, with both teams scoring two goals on special team opportunities. UMass Boston finished 2-for-8 on the man advantage, while Norwich finished 1-6 and added a short-handed goal.
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The intricate thyroid hormone pathway we explained before has to be taken into account. The key is not in how much thyroid hormone the thyroid gland can produce or how much thyroid hormone we supplement with, because if a problem develops anywhere along this pathway, the cells will not effectively utilize that thyroid hormone and hypothyroidism will remain.
In his opinion, the underlying causes of hypothyroidism have to be addressed and this means all the many steps of this hormone pathway down to the cell level, including the cell hormone receptors themselves.
Diet plays an extremely important role in the health of the thyroid. "It's well known in science and human physiology that cells and organs require specific nutrients that we extract from our food in order to function properly." (4) A good example is the liver. Simply missing certain key ingredients in our diet can inhibit our liver's ability to convert T4 to T3 that our cells need and will quickly contribute to hypothyroidism. When our liver doesn't get enough active T3 thyroid hormone it quickly becomes sluggish and congested, which further impairs T4 conversion.
This step also includes removing any food that is causing a reaction in the body (12).
Most hypothyroidism sufferers make too much of the stress hormone cortisol, which inhibits the conversion of T4 into T3. But stress hormones are just some of the hormones that need to be properly balanced in order to truly heal and rebalance our thyroid. All the different hormones that directly affect thyroid function have to be balanced.
Dr. Brimeyer recommends following a program with seven simple steps to start healing your thyroid.
Excessive estrogen levels are also becoming an epidemic health problem, according to Dr. Brimeyer.
Estrogen is a very obvious problem in women during menopause when progesterone levels naturally drop, in women on birth control or hormone replacement therapy. But it is becoming a problem for men too, not only because they also have estrogen in their bodies, but because of all the many different sources of estrogens present in food (soy, herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides), plastics, etc.
Estrogen's role in hypothyroidism has been well documented. Estrogen directly affects the thyroid gland by inhibiting its ability to secrete thyroid hormone. Regulating estrogen levels is imperative to truly heal the thyroid.
When estrogen becomes predominant there is not enough progesterone to balance estrogen out. Please check our blog titled 'Heart disease in women' to learn how the mistletoe in the 'Heart and Body Extract' can help balance estrogen levels.
The stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol inhibit the conversion of T4 to T3. They also increase production of Reverse T3, which blocks the body from properly using thyroid hormone. Both of these effects cause hypothyroidism.
As a survival mechanism, under stress, our body naturally down regulates the thyroid in order to conserve energy.
Another problem with the stress hormone adrenaline is that it forces our body to increase the concentration of free fatty acids in our bloodstream. Because most people have large concentrations of polyunsaturated fats in their fat cells, when these fats are forced into the bloodstream they block thyroid hormone from reaching the cells.
In addition, in order to reduce stress hormones it is imperative to balance blood sugar levels. This will keep cortisol, from breaking down protein from our muscles in order to raise blood sugar when it drops too low.
Lastly, it's important to balance sodium levels, because under conditions of hypothyroidism the body will lose this mineral easily, which will drive adrenaline up. Just adding enough salt to the diet can help.
Please check our blog titled "Stress" to learn more on managing stress.
Approximately 2/3 of the active thyroid hormone T3 that our body uses is converted from T4 by our liver. Liver congestion can keep this conversion from happening causing hypothyroidism. When this happens T4 tends to accumulate in the body, which slows thyroid production, perpetuating hypothyroidism even more.
Another problem that occurs with a congested liver is that it loses its ability to properly store sugar. It is this stored sugar in the liver that plays an important role in helping us maintain steady blood sugar levels throughout the day, starting the stress reaction we mentioned before and once again, causing hypothyroidism.
For more information on how to keep the liver healthy, please check our blogs on liver health.
Protein intake is an important part of a healthy diet. We should consume at least 70 to 100 grams of high quality protein per day. Dr. Brimeyer recommends bone broth for its anti-inflammatory properties and for being a good source of amino acids.
Low blood sugar both decreases the conversion of T4 to active T3 in your liver and it signals the body to increase production of the stress hormone cortisol, which breaks down muscle tissue in order to keep blood sugar from dropping to dangerously low levels.
Polyunsaturated fats are especially problematic for the thyroid because they block the enzymes that signal the thyroid gland to release its hormones. When these fats enter the bloodstream, they also block the active thyroid hormone within the bloodstream from being transported to the cells that desperately need it. They also block cells from properly responding to the thyroid hormone that they do get, which makes the hormone much less effective to cells.
Healthy fats for the thyroid are coconut oil and butter. These saturated fats promote healthy thyroid function and increase the cells' response to thyroid hormone. They can also cancel out the negative effects of polyunsaturated fats.
Please check our blog on fats for more information.
Too much exercise or very intense exercise can stop our body from producing T3 even long after exercise.
However, there are some extremely beneficial forms of exercise for hypothyroidism that naturally promote your thyroid and the body's hormonal health. One example is Tai Chi.
For anyone struggling with signs or symptoms of heart disease, autoimmune issues, fatigue, depression, digestive issues, food allergies, etc., Dr. Brimeyer recommends to stop treating them like they are separate problems and start understanding that hypothyroidism plays a big role in each and every one of them. Healing your thyroid and rebuilding your health from the ground up can be a complex process that requires careful planning, but going directly to the source and correcting the underlying causes will assure we are successful in doing so (4).
Under normal circumstances, the amount of heat produced in the body depends on the amount of fuel (food) burned, but with low thyroid hormone, burning of fuel is not possible. Some of the earliest studies in hypothyroid patients showed that they had temperatures below normal. In his early years of practice, Dr. Broda Barnes started to instruct his patients to take their temperature upon awakening, before getting out of bed. He established the 'basal body temperature test' as a reliable simple test patients could do at home. Just by increasing their temperature with thyroid therapy, he was able to set straight erroneous diagnoses, lower their blood pressure and decrease heart palpitations and fast pulse.
However, this simple technique of measuring basal body temperature as a guide to determining thyroid function did not appeal to the medical profession. Despite this, axillary or underarm temperature has been used for several decades and, based on thousands of readings, it has been established that normal values for underarm temperature are in the range of 97.8 to 98.2 degrees Fahrenheit. A temperature below 97.8 indicates hypothyroidism, above 98.2, hyperthyroidism. As low temperature rises with thyroid treatment the symptoms associated with hypothyroidism usually disappear (1).
The basal temperature is not a perfect test for thyroid function, because other conditions aside from hypothyroidism can give a low reading: starvation, pituitary gland deficiency or adrenal gland deficiency, but these are easier to diagnose (1).
The basal temperature can be taken by any man any day of the week. Women during their menstrual years see a fluctuation of the temperature during their cycle so it is best measured the 2nd or 3rd day of the period after flow starts according to Dr. Barns. After menopause, it can be taken any day.
The procedure consists of taking one's temperature immediately upon awakening in the morning. A reading below the normal range of 97.8 to 98.2 strongly suggests low thyroid function. A reading above that is suspicious of some infection or overactive thyroid gland.
Dr. Broda Barnes did not address auto-immune thyroid disease since obviously it was not prevalent back then, but much is being researched today and new ways to help our thyroid are being successfully used. Dr. Brimeyer, for example, has been able to use Dr. Barnes' temperature test with his patients and has found that adding a pulse test provides very insightful information. He recommends taking one's temperature and pulse always at rest, 20 minutes after a meal, three times a day: right upon waking, after breakfast and in the afternoon around 3 p.m.
Following an anti-inflammatory diet is a very important part of healing our thyroid. One food that has been found to be very helpful is ginger. According to Dr. Jockers, ginger can be used for its anti- inflammation properties just like aspirin and ibuprofen. "Ginger is a digestive stimulant that promotes gastric flow and contains enzymes which aid in proper digestion… can be used to treat pain associated with intestinal inflammation by relieving contractions of the gut lining. Individuals with leaky gut are likely to have an unhealthy balance of bacteria in their gut resulting from toxic foods and gut inflammation. Ginger exhibits powerful antimicrobial and natural antibiotic properties as well… ginger has been extensively found to combat strains of bacteria linked to leaky gut. Unlike synthetic antibiotics, ginger has been effective against both standard and drug resistant microbes in treating gastrointestinal infection." (13) You can find ginger as an active ingredient in the "Heart and Body Extract".
Other nutrients are beet root and papaya, which can also be found in the "Gland Extract". Beets are a highly nutritious root that contains vitamins A, B, and C, potassium, magnesium, folate, soluble fiber, protein, carbohydrates, and antioxidants. Beets help lower blood pressure, prevent inflammation, help with gut motility and help detoxify the liver and the blood (14).
The "Gland Extract" also contains fo-ti-tieng, which nourishes the glands, and contains kelp and watercress.
Dr. Jockers stresses that low vitamin D3 is associated with thyroid disorders and should be addressed. Vitamin D levels play a very important role in immune regulation, calming down autoimmunity and keeping inflammation levels under control.
Also, both iron and B12 deficiency are a common finding with thyroid disorders. He recommends a complete blood count as well. This will look in detail at red blood cell counts, iron stores and white blood cell levels, as well as liver function, kidney health, digestive health and blood sugar regulation.
A 'C Reactive Protein' (CRP) reveals the inflammatory status of the body. This is important because increased inflammation impedes the T4-T3 conversion (7).
Similarly, lowered magnesium is a common deficiency and will also affect thyroid function (10). It is also very important for blood sugar stability and healthy adrenal-pituitary and hypothalamic function. A magnesium deficiency can lead to chronic inflammation and increased pituitary gland stress that alters proper TSH production (7).
Concluding, thyroid health has a very strong link to the health of the rest of the body, and more importantly, the heart. Iodine supplementation is a key part of thyroid function. In the case of auto-immunity, addressing the diet is a crucial aspect in resolving thyroid conditions.
Barnes, Broda O., and Lawrence Galton. Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness. New York: Crowell, 1976. Print.