When our jam band friends Dangermuffin agreed to participate on MyJoogTV, they stated they wanted to tour a winery. So we selected Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard. The winery is the closest winery to Washington D.C. and specializes in Bordeaux varieties as well as Chardonnay and Pinot Gris. They have also been able to leverage many years of east coast wine experience, particularly from viticulture consultant Lucie Morton, to produce several excellent wines. During the filming we tasted their 2010 Chardonnay and 2009 EVOE! - a blend of Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Franc. The Chardonnay is crafted in the Chablis style - no secondary malolactic fermentation - and aged in French Oak. This wine exudes chardonnay - plenty of fruit - no oak residue, and a long tail. The EVOE! is aged 19 months in French Oak and the Merlot dominants for a very drinkable wine with very soft tannins. Both wines display why Maryland Wine should not be avoided, but instead, actively sought.
Maryland Wine is receiving a youthful boost with the entry of Old Westminster Winery into the industry. The winery is owned and operated by the Baker Family, with siblings Drew, Lisa, and Ashli managing the vineyard, wine making, and marketing respectively. And evidently the housing crash of 2008 lead to the creation of the winery. Wanting to sell the winery, and seeing reduced property values, the family investigated alternative uses for the land and decided, why not a vineyard and winery. They then planted seven acres of grapes, some unique to Maryland: Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Merlot, Chardonnay, Albariño, and Sauvignon Blanc. The first harvest from these vines occurred during the Autumn of 2011, so they will need to wait two more years until they can utilize estate fruit. In the meantime, they are sourcing fruit from other Maryland vineyards, Chatham Vineyards in the eastern shore of Virginia, and from California.
As their name suggests, the winery is located just outside of Westminster, Maryland and expects wine sales to be driven through their tasting room. They are located only twenty miles from the Baltimore Beltway. They also plan to follow the wine style modeled by neighboring Black Ankle Vineyards and eschew the sweet wine market and concentrate on premium dry wines. Currently the winery is not open to the public (expect a Spring 2013 opening) but are allowing 100 Century Club members to receive lifetime access to the facility in order to taste the wines as they progress from barrel to bottle.
Lisa Baker invited me to visit the winery and sample the wines from barrel. While planning the trip I realized their story may be interesting to viewers of VirginiaWineTV, so we also filmed an episode which will b e available in early April. How interesting? Well, how often to 20-something year old siblings start a winery. Drew, the elder, is 26 and could not join us since he is on sabbatical in New Zealand, learning from the southern harvest. Ashli, the youngest, will graduation college this year take over all marketing functionality. And Lisa, 23, is the full time wine maker. Her Chemistry degree is an obvious advantage in her new vocation and there are plenty of consultants available to instruct through each phase of wine making. However, my initial skepticism was how has she developed a palette for noticing the nuances in different wines. She acknowledges this potential handicap and described to me how she and Drew have tasted hundreds of wines trying to identify missing structure or imperfections. They will continue this crash course in order to improve both their palettes. And Lisa is getting plenty of practice in the winery. Last year the Maryland Assembly passed a law legalizing the equivalent of a custom crush. So this year, Old Westminster Winery became such a facility and Lisa assisted consultant John Levenberg in making wine for two other Maryland start-ups, Crow Vineyard and Winery and Vineyards At Dodon.
I arrived at the winery to find their first bottled wine, the 2011 Maryland Rosé, produced from the bleeding of their Maryland sourced Merlot. The also bottled a Rosé from the Chatham grapes, keeping that juice separate so they could enter the Maryland Rosé into state competitions. Since their red wines will remain in barrel for another 12-14 months, the saignée rosés provide the Bakers with quick proof that there infant enterprise is truly a functioning winery.
Before we sampled the wines, Lisa described how each stage in the wine making process is dictated by their core philosophy: producing high quality wines. These include hand sorting the grapes, separate heating and cooling systems built into the fermentation tanks, and close oversight with the winery's consultants (initially John Levenberg, now Carl DiManno).
We started our tasting with the Merlot from Chatham and it was quickly evident that another to creating quality wine was obtaining quality fruit. And this lot contained solid fruit. After only two months in new French oak, the wine retaining a fruit forward character and a little harsh tannins from the stems and skin. Over time these tannins will mellow and change as tannins from the wood are im parted into the wine. Yet this wine is really drinkable now - a solid wine that hopefully will retain its fruit during the next 14 months in barrel.
The next two wines were sourced from California and will be used to supplement the Maryland and Virginia lots. The fruit from both barrels, one Merlot, the other Syrah, were lighter than the Chatham Merlot and will need more time in barrel to generate more body and structure. The wines will also benefit from barrel aging to introduce more tannins. Ironically, these batches will test Lisa's wine making skills.
The final wine was a Maryland Cabernet Franc, where they grapes were sourced from a vineyard in Thurmont Maryland. In general, this wine is coming along nicely. It had as much fruit flavor as the Chatham Merlot, but with less tannins. Evidently the tannins are mellowing quickly because Lisa noticed a change since the last taste a week ago. And paired with a proprietary chocolate, the tannins disappeared completely. Maybe that's how they will market dry wines to a sweet wine market.
I look forward to returning to Old Westminster in six or seven months when they start crushing and fermenting their white wine. And hopefully at that time Drew will be available to navigate us through their second year of harvest. Check out their Century Club video below and I'll be adding the link to the Virginia Wine TV episode soon. Cheers.
Most of you are probably already aware of the phylloxera epidemic that ransacked Europe vineyards starting in 1867. One Bordeaux grape, Carmenère was particularly susceptible to the louse. The epidemic was finally alleviated when viniferia vines were grafted to phylloxera-resistant American rootstocks. Once again Carmenère suffered because the vine didn't take to the new grafts and growers felt the grape was too difficult even when conditions were favorable. Thus Carmenère was eventually replaced with more familiar vines, such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, and was soon thought to be extinct. Once a major player in Médoc and Graves and then gone....at least until 1994. That is when Professor Jean-Michel Boursiquot from the Montpellier's school of Oenology conducted DNA analyze and determined that a Chilean Merlot clone was actually Carmenère. How was that possible?
Before the phylloxera epidemic, Chilean vignerons had been importing the vines from France thinking they were receiving Merlot grapes or a clone of Merlot. Apparently, their leaves are very similar. They had no clue it was a distinct grape variety. And in fact, it was a general practice to combine the Merlot grapes and this "clone" which lead Chilean Merlot to differ from Merlot wines produced elsewhere. Then came Professor Boursiquot's DNA analysis and a few years later Carmenère was categorized as a distinct Chilean grape variety. And today, Carmenère is Chile's signature grape.
Carmenère is dark-skinned grape variety and requires a long growing season to reach its prime potential. These conditions can be found in the Colchagua Valley in Chile, the southernmost portion of the Rapel Valley - and located about 80 miles southwest of Santiago. The Colchagua Valley was named 2005 Wine Region of the Year by Wine Enthusiast and the warm Mediterranean climate has been compared to Napa Valley. Humidity is low, frost is unknown, and breezes from the Pacific cool the valley at night creating a potential 40°F diurnal temperature variation. A perfect vine growing environment; particularly for Cabernet Sauvignon (11,186 hectares; but Carmenère is well represented at 2,344 hectares.
It has a unique sensory profile that runs to red raspberry, dried herb and white pepper in good years. Adds to complexity in blends too.
We use it in blends more often than as a 100% varietal, but I will have released three vintages varietally. French Oak 30-40% new. 18 months or so in cellar. Nice, medium bodied red that is more dynamic than Merlot but not as heavy as Cabernet.
This is still a niche varietal that arouses interest and curiosity. It does require education of the customer, but we are not thinking of getting into Carmenère in a big way…just something fun to show people that is new and rare.
Want to know what to expect with a Carmenère wine? Our friend, Todd Trzaskos from Vermont Wine Media, is a student of Chilean wines and explains, "Carmenère has the fruit of Merlot but plummier, tannins of Cabernet Sauvignon, but softer. I'll drink to that.
One of the most recognized vineyards in the Commonwealth of Virginia is Honah Lee Vineyard. The property is owned by Wayne and Vera Preddy and sits at 1000 feet elevation on a steep South-West facing slope in central Virginia (Orange). This means that the grapes are exposed to an abundance of sunlight during the hot summer months; but the elevation provides suitable diurnal temperature variation through night-time cooling. The soil is hard clay which limit deep root growth and leads to more fruit character over minerality.
The vineyard was first planted by Jim and Sharon Horton from Horton Vineyards when they leased the property from the Preddy's. The vineyard provided the foundation for Horton to quickly become one of the premier wineries in the state and showcased their Rhone and Portuguese varieties. However Horton was eventually evicted from the property after a dispute with the landlords. Horton's loss quickly became other winery's gain as the vineyard's sourced the fruit to several Virginia wineries.
And many of these wineries choose to create single vineyard wines from the grapes. Delaplane Cellars, for example, has or continues to produce a Honah Lee single varietal Viognier, Syrah, and Tannat. Our feature winery today, Tarara Winery, has created an interesting take on the single vineyard theme by creating a single vineyard blend: the 2010 Honah Lee White. The blend consists of Virginia's signature grape Viognier (40%), Petit Manseng (40%), and Roussanne (20%). This is a dry wine with peach and apricot flavors - thanks to the Viognier - and plenty of balanced acidity thanks to the petit manseng. Winemaker Jordan Harris writes that "Honah Lee Vineyard is one of our favorite partners....the fruit from Honah Lee is some of the most enticing and exotic fruit we get each year." And one of Jordan's goals is to recognize and highlight the best vineyard sites in Virginia as evident by the Tranquility, Nevaeh, and Honah Lee labels.
This year the 2010 Honah Lee White was the only Viognier based wine to receive a Gold medal in the newly revamped 2012 Governor's Cup competition. Revamped in the sense that, among other changes, now all wines submitted into the Governor's Cup must consist of 100% Virginia grown fruit - reversing the previous policy of allowing 25% outside fruit. We concurred with the award and after sampling a few at the Governor's Cup reception, "borrowed" a bottle to use in our toast during our interview with Governor McDonnell below. Cheers.
Last Saturday night (March 10th) we were invited, along with several other wine bloggers, to Delaplane Cellars where owners Jim and Betsy Dolphin were showcasing their soon to be released red wines. The winery focuses on single vineyard wines, whether single varietal or blends. And the winery excels in showcasing these vineyards on the wine's labels - a practice we wish more wineries would follow. But before heading downstairs into the barrel room, we were first offered a palate cleansing white, the 2010 Mélange Blanc, a blend of Chardonnay (62%), Honah lee Viognier (27%) and Petit Manseng (11%). Even with the petit manseng, this is a dry blend - fruity with refreshing acidity. For those of us who usually enjoy the winery's 100% Honah Lee Viognier, this wine will have to substitute, since they did not receive enough fruit to produce a single varietal.
Once downstairs we started with the first estate wine bottled at the winery, the 2011 Delaplane. The vines were planted in 2008, and thus, three years later bearing suitable fruit. The blen d is predominately Merlot (50%), followed by Cabernet Sauvignon (33%) and Cabernet Franc (16%). The wine is fruity with low tannins making this an easy drinking wine. The only deficiency was a lack of mid-palette - but that will probably go unnoticed by most consumers.
The next stop was at a Slavokian oak barrel filled with their Williams Gap 2010 using grapes sourced from Williams Gap Vineyard - located in Loudoun County near Round Hill, Virginia. The wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (31%), Merlot (30%), Cabernet Franc (27%), and Petite Verdot (12%). This is a bigger wine than the Delaplane- with bold flavors and more tannins on the tail, even though the wine went through extended masceration to soften the tannin structure. This will be a fine wine, possibly my favorite blend of the evening.
The final blend was the 2010 Springlot, sourced from grapes grown on the top of Naked Mountain by John Everson. The proportion of grapes was directly related to amount of grapes sourced which corresponded to a semi-Right Bank wine: Cabernet Franc (40%), Cabernet Sauvignon (30%), Merlot (17%), and PV (14%).
We then moved to two single varietal red wines starting with the 2010 Shirland Syrah aging in a new American Oak barrel. For those who are interested, the vineyard is located near M iddleburg. The wine will be located in the people's cellars rather quickly since Delaplane has a history of crafting mighty fine Syrah. I don't see this as an exception.
The other single varietal red was the 2010 Honah Lee Tannat and as many are aware, this Orange, VA vineyard is the source of many different grape varieties. Whereas their 2009 Tannat needed to lay down because of the high tannins - the 2010 version is ready to drink now. The juice was pressed quickly at dryness so as not to add even more tannins. Tannat is quickly becoming a favorite wine of ours and this is another example of an underrated grape that excels in the Commonwealth.
Finally, we samp led what we consider Virginia's other signature white grape, Petit Manseng. For the first time Delaplane is producing an estate Late Harvest Petit Manseng which comes in at 10.5% RS but with typical acidity to balance the sugar. This pineapple flavored wine will satisfy their consumer's demands for a sweet offering.
This was a special evening where I was fortunate enough to be invited to the barrel sampling, but also a chance to meet or catch up with fellow bloggers My Vine Spot, Wine About Virginia, Virginia Wine In My Pocket, and Craig's Grape Adventure. Cheers to Delaplane Cellars.
Last night we were invited to the joint WineAmerica & Winegrape Growers of America reception on Capital Hill called "Taste the Wines of America". The event was to recognize the Congressional Wine Caucus, which is bipartisan group of lawmakers aiming to "educate and engage colleagues in legislative and regulatory matters pertaining to the wine community." The reception also coincides with meetings within the wine industry on matters affecting the entire community. But the highlight for most was the reception which featured wines from every region of the country. Most impressive was the large selection of wines from the Other 46. Yes, California, Oregon, Washington, and New York were well represented, but how many times do you get to sample wines from Massachusetts, Iowa, Nebraska, Georgia, Indiana, Arizona....... You get the picture.
We walked in to immediately see the three B's of Virginia representing the Southeast: B arboursville Vineyards, Boxwood Winery, and Breaux Vineyards. Plenty of Viognier and Bordeaux blends available at that table, as well, as wines from Tennessee, Georgia and North Caroline, with Biltmore Estate Winery representing the Tar Heels. We learned that their estate NC wines are made from grapes grown in Polk County, south of Asheville.
We moved next to this year's DrinkLocalWine.com hosts, Colorado Wines, which were part of the Rocky Mountain contingent. Also representing Colorado was Guy Drew from Guy Drew Vineyards in Cortez Colorado who was pouring several of his wines: Viognier, Rose, Riesling, and a very nice Meritage. Another Color ado wine we really enjoyed was the Rhone blend made from Snowy Peaks Winery from Estes Park. Their Grand Valley "Eleve" consists of Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsault, and Viognier. Incredible that these grapes can flourish in the Grand Valley. Finally, we met Dr. Ron Bitner, one of the first growers in Idaho and owner of Bitner Vineyards in Caldwell. We enjoyed his Snake River Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve whe re the grapes are harvested around Thanksgiving. Yes, that late. Frost is obviously a concern, but the vineyards steep slopes allow the cold air to pass easily down the mountain. And we finally got to sample a wine from the famed Arizona Stronghold Vineyards - this the 2009 "Site Archive" Merlot. Hope to follow up with a visit to Arizona wine country this summer. And check out the DLW12 Conference being held April 28th at the Metro State College in Denver. The Twitter tasting of Colorado wines should be very, very interesting.
The next table was the wines from the Northeast, handled by Maryland Wine. We started with the flexible Chambou rcin, sampling the Rose from Port of Leonardtown Winery Leonardtown Maryland and the Knob Hall Winery (Clear Spring MD) Cumberland Valley "Le Reve Rouge". This was an interesting take of a Rhone wine, substituting Chambourcin for Syrah and Vidal for Viognier. After tasting some wines from Massachusetts, we found our favorite from North East Pennsylvania: Presque Isle Wine Cellars Dornfelder. There's a nice little micro-climate near Lake Erie which allows vinferia grapes such as Dornfelder, Riesling, Pinot Noir, and even Cabernet Sauvignon to survive.
The Great Lakes were next, featuring wines from Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. We were reminded why Traminette is the state grape of Indiana through Wildcat Creek Winery. Wisconsin was represented by Wollersheim Winery and there were several Michigan wines; yet we couldn't find the L. Mawby Vineyards Cremant Classic sparkling wine. Painful. Someone was monopolizing the goods. But not the ice wine. The Breitenbach Wine Cellar Vidal Blanc Ice Wine is a true ice wine, where the frozen grapes are harvested during the middle of the night to maintain the condensed sugars. Nice.
And then there the wines of the Midwest containing bottles and bottles of unique grapes: Blanc du Bois, Vermentino, Tempranillo, Marquette, Brianna, St. Croix, Norton, Edelweiss, and Vignoles. The table was represented by Missouri Wines, James Arthur Vineyards from Raymond Nebraska, and Fredericksburg Winery from Fredericksburg, Texas. The later was pouring a savory Muscat Canelli and started a trend of nice whites including the McPherson Cellars Rousanne and the Duchman Family Winery Vermentino. These are two clean, food friendly wines. We've mentione d the Stone Hill Winery Norton many times over the years and this night reinforced why that grape should not be overlooked. And then there were the hybrids - many manufactured from the University of Minnesota specifically for cold weather climates. There were the Tassel Ridge Winery Brianna, Marquette, and St. Croix and the James Arthur Vineyards Edelweiss, a sweet wine with a balanced acidity. Yet the easy favorite was the JAV Vignoles - an off dry wine with strong apple flavors and nice acidity. This is one wine I always want to have available; suitable for dry and sweet drinkers.
Thanks WineAmerica and the Winegrape Growers of America for a nice tasting from across the states. Cheers.
We recently learned that one of the founders of the post-Prohibition east coast wine industry was Philip Wagner, founder of Boordy Vineyards. Wagner and his wife Jocelyn began planting grape vines in the early 1930's specializing in French Hybrids and propagated these to vineyards throughout the East and Midwest. "Vidal Blanc, for example, was first found by the Wagners in a backyard vineyard in Poitier, France, a town southwest of Paris about half way to Bordeaux, and cuttings were 'smuggled' into the U.S. wrapped in a damp towel in Jocelyn's purse." Other grapes the Wagners championed were Chambourcin and Baco Noir.
Apparently these grapes were not enough. Rumor has it that Wagner contacted Dr. Harold Olmos, of UC-Davis, to develop a tannic, "hearty grape that could translate into a marketable wine for colder climates". After 20 years of cross breeding, Olmos finally publicized this cold climate grape: Carmine - a cross of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignane, and Merlot. What? A cross of three grapes. How is that possible? Well, with a lot of time and patience. First, Olmos crossed Cabernet Sauvignon and Carignane. The progeny was then crossed with Merlot - so in reality Cabernet Sauvignon and Carignane are the grandparents. The result is a late budding and ripening grape, slightly larger than Cabernet Sauvignon, with loose clusters. Perfect for most American wine growing regions. Yet, despite Olmos' efforts, Carmine never really gained traction. Today, the grape is grown in only a handful of vineyards in the United States.
The largest grower is perhaps Kramer Vineyards, located in Gaston, Oregon. Trudy Kramer related to us why Carmine.
"Every wine has a story. We were amateur winemakers and found out about Jim Leyden at Courting Hill Vineyard who had a nice selection of different varieties. So it was one place to go many times throughout the vintage to pick grapes to make our wine. One grape he had was Carmine. He had brought it into the state—not sure if it was legal or not. But he was intrigued with it and was trying to get people to plant it. When he found out that we were planting, he talked Keith into planting it, but I wasn't sold on it. My take on it was that none of the grapes it was from, Cabernet, Carignane, or Merlot, did well in the Willamette Valley so why would we even think of planting it? So he pleaded with me and I said, "So, if it doesn't sell, out it goes!" Deer were ravaging it for a few years until Keith finally put a good deer fence up so we make our first in 1998. It wasn't until 2000 that we figured out how to craft a good wine out of the grape. The issue is ripening and the presence of the green bell pepper notes that I don't like at all. Carmine was supposed to be for the "cool" central California coast. We are a lot cooler than the Central California Coast! But Jim knew they were growing it successfully in New York and Pennsylvania in cooler regions there. People made regular red wine, rose, and sparkling out of it."
And Kramer has experienced how versatile the grape is - from crafting a big red tannic wine to a soft rose.
"When have a vintage warm enough to give us riper flavors, then we make a red wine ferment in bins, press out before fermentation is totally done, settle, and put into barrels to finish fermentation. We also inoculate with malolactic. The acids are pretty high so we often have to adjust those in the beginning. Sugars are low so we have to add that every vintage. In 2010, the fruit had a lot of unripe flavors in the skins, just green as it could be. Since it was the latest vintage ever, we decided to wait into November and pick it as late as we could. We took a sample of the juice to the lab and we just couldn't see how it could be made into a red wine. As we were reading the lab report, Kim tweeted about our dilemma on-line. A local wine writer suggested doing a rose. So she runs out and takes a juice sample and tastes it. Just delicious with no green! We were shocked. So two days after harvest, we pressed it out for a rose. The color was unbelievable—so dark it almost looked like a Pinot Noir. Turned out just great! In 2011, it was even later, so we again decided from the start to do a rose again, but this time it was very cold outside and we had to wait until day 5 to press because the color and flavors weren't right. This wine has not yet been bottled, but it's even better than 2010! So is it appropriate for the climate? Probably not., but with inventive winemaking, cluster thinning, late picking, and attention to detail, we can make a very good wine out of it."
Educated consumers is an issue with Carmine, because, let's face it, how many of us wine geeks has heard of it. Not us until a couple weeks back. Here's Kramer again relating their experience.
"Yes, we do have to educate people who are new to our winery. We do have a following for it now which is why we have planted more. It is so different from Pinot Noir and people are curious about it. They often confuse it with Carmenere. Dr. Olmos is rolling in his grave! The work on it was done at UC Davis back in the 1950's and only a few California vineyards have it. It is nice to have something unique for people to taste when they visit us."
The origins of Isabella grape, a native Vitis Labrusca, are still unknown. Perhaps it originated in the Carolinas by random pollination of a labrusca grape and an unknown vinifera. Others have claimed that the grape was cultivated by the Cherokee Indians or that it is a cross between an unknown vinifera and muscadine grapes. Regardless of its origin, it was quickly adopted in New York and New England. In 1824, Deacon Elizah Fry successfully planted the first grapes in New York State – Catawba and Isabella. William Prince of Flushing, Long Island also acquired the grape, purchasing vines from Mrs. Isabella Gibbs, the wife of George Gibbs, a Brooklyn merchant; hence the name, Isabella. Originally the grape displayed the standard "grapey/foxy" taste and flavor associated with Labrusca grapes, but modern winemaking techniques have succeeded in removing this characteristic, resulting in a strawberry/boysenberry-like flavored wine.
Over time, Isabella began to be replaced by Concord or other hardier and more productive vinifera varieties, but has survived in a few eastern vineyards. Ironically, while production of the grape is virtually non-existent in the United States, it remains very popular in the rest of the world, where it has over 50 aliases. In Hungary and Georgia it is known as Izabella, Seksarda in Croatia, Fragola in Italy and Australia, and Albany Surprise in New Zealand. Large acreages of this grape are grown in Brazil, Russia, and in Columbia where it is that country's most widely planted variety.
Goose Watch Winery is one New York winery that continues to utilize Isabella. The winery decided to cultivate Isabella because of the grape's long history in New York and the fact that the variety creates a distinctive Boysenberry-like aroma which separates it from other native varieties that are just "grapey". As a bonus, the Isabella grape retains strong name recognition in the Finger Lakes region, so visitors to the winery do not need to be cajoled to taste the wine as with other non-mainstream grapes. The winery produces a semi-sweet style Rosé of Isabella wine named after a popular wine that used to be produced by the Great Western Winery (now the Pleasant Valley Wine Company). Every vintage of this wine has won at least one gold medal and the 2004 vintage won Gold and was named "Best Native American Varietal" at the 2005 NY Wine Classic.
Isabella is also produced at a few other American wineries that specialize in producing wine from labrusca grapes. Also in New York, Barrington Cellars produces a semi-sweet rosé wine and an Ice wine from Isabella. And a little southwest in North East Pennsylvania, Heritage Wine Cellars produces several labrusca wines which include Isabella.


text:
package preprocessor

import (
	"github.com/andreaskoch/allmark/common/paths"
	"github.com/andreaskoch/allmark/common/route"
	"github.com/andreaskoch/allmark/model"
	"github.com/andreaskoch/allmark/services/converter/markdowntohtml/imageprovider"
	"fmt"
	"regexp"
	"strings"
)

var (
	// imagegallery: [*description text*](*folder path*)
	imageGalleryExtensionPattern = regexp.MustCompile(`imagegallery: \[([^\]]*)\]\(([^)]+)\)`)
)

func newImageGalleryExtension(pathProvider paths.Pather, baseRoute route.Route, files []*model.File, imageProvider *imageprovider.ImageProvider) *imageGalleryExtension {
	return &imageGalleryExtension{
		pathProvider:  pathProvider,
		base:          baseRoute,
		files:         files,
		imageProvider: imageProvider,
	}
}

type imageGalleryExtension struct {
	pathProvider  paths.Pather
	base          route.Route
	files         []*model.File
	imageProvider *imageprovider.ImageProvider
}

func (converter *imageGalleryExtension) Convert(markdown string) (convertedContent string, converterError error) {

	convertedContent = markdown

	for _, match := range imageGalleryExtensionPattern.FindAllStringSubmatch(convertedContent, -1) {

		if len(match) != 3 {
			continue
		}

		// parameters
		originalText := strings.TrimSpace(match[0])
		title := strings.TrimSpace(match[1])
		path := strings.TrimSpace(match[2])

		// get the code
		renderedCode := converter.getGalleryCode(title, path)

		// replace markdown
		convertedContent = strings.Replace(convertedContent, originalText, renderedCode, 1)
	}

	return convertedContent, nil
}

func (converter *imageGalleryExtension) getGalleryCode(galleryTitle, path string) string {

	imageLinks := converter.getImageLinksByPath(path)

	var code string
	if galleryTitle != "" {
		code += fmt.Sprintf("**%s**\n\n", galleryTitle)
	}
	code += strings.Join(imageLinks, "\n")

	return code
}

func (converter *imageGalleryExtension) getImageLinksByPath(path string) []string {

	baseRoute := converter.base
	galleryRoute := route.NewFromRequest(path)
	fullGalleryRoute := route.Combine(baseRoute, galleryRoute)

	numberOfFiles := len(converter.files)
	imagelinks := make([]string, 0, numberOfFiles)

	for _, file := range converter.files {

		// skip files which are not a child of the supplied path
		if !file.Route().IsChildOf(fullGalleryRoute) {
			continue
		}

		// skip files which are not images
		if !model.IsImageFile(file) {
			continue
		}

		// image title
		imageTitle := file.Route().LastComponentName() // use the file name for the title

		// calculate the image code
		imagePath := converter.imageProvider.GetImagePath(converter.pathProvider, file.Route())
		imageCode := fmt.Sprintf(`<img %s alt="%s"/>`, imagePath, imageTitle)

		// link the image to the original
		fullSizeImagePath := converter.pathProvider.Path(file.Route().Value())
		imageWithLink := fmt.Sprintf(`<a href="%s" title="%s">%s</a>`, fullSizeImagePath, imageTitle, imageCode)

		imagelinks = append(imagelinks, imageWithLink)
	}

	return imagelinks
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


After the massive release of Shankar's "I", the cinema fans are eagerly waiting for the release of Yennai Arindhaal. It was announced that it will hit screens on January 15th, but due the post production works the producer has announced the release date would be January 29th 2015.
The official press release confirms that the movie will be censored on January 21st and producer confirms that the movie will hit the screens on Jan 29th.
So we can expect a worldwide trend in Twitter on Jan 21st from Thala Ajith fans with the censor tag for Yennai Arindhaal.
Parvathy Nair who was lately joined in the cast list of Yennai Arindhaal was on cloud 9 when this offer from Gautham Menon knocked her door. With all her shooting part over for Yennai Arindhaal, she thanks Director Gautham Menon and Producer AM Rathnam for this kinda debut in tamil movie industry. She praises the whole team and especially Thala Ajith, that she has not seen a such a kind human being even when he is at the peak of celebrity stardom.
Parvathy plays the role opposite Arun Vijay in the movie, with Trisha and Anushka plays opposite Thala. Yennai Arindhaal goes to censor on Jan 21st 2015 and it is scheduled for the worldwide release on Jan 29th 2015.
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2 climax for 'Yennai Arindhaal'?
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Mudhalvar Mahathma on the censor table!
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text:
Bajaj Auto December sales up 30% to 292,547 units
By On January 03, 2018, 10:40 AM IST Automobile News
New Delhi: Bajaj Auto on Tuesday reported 29.72 per cent increase in total sales in December at 2,92,547 units as against 2,25,529 units in the same month previous year.
Motorcycle sales grew 12.52 per cent to 2,28,762 units in December 2017 against 2,03,312 units in December 2016, the company said in a statement.
Commercial vehicles sales zoomed to 63,785 units during the month compared to 22,217 units in the year-ago period, it added.
Exports stood at 1,43,038 units in the month as against 1,05,804 units in the same month previous year, a jump of 35.19 per cent.
Topics:auto Bajaj

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Sabres have had their fair share of problems recently. Briere and Drury leave, then Campbell and suddenly the team is in a world of trouble. But wait, underneath all of this lies a very, very good team. But is it good enough to make the playoffs? Probably not, although, it's gonna be close.
The Sabres have a lot of excellent players, no superstars really, but some really solid players. Derek Roy had a great year last year and he'll have to repeat that - or better it. Same applies to Vanek, who despite having a slow start to last season, tore it up down the stretch. Gone is the controversy over his 7 times 7 contract, this is the new NHL, everyone's overpaid. So now he can concentrate on scoring goals. And he will. So will Jason Pominville, one of the bigger surprises in the Eastern Conference last year. 'Pommer' put up career highs in all categories, including a stellar 27 goals and finished a point behind Derek Roy for the team lead. Mighty impressive.
After that, there are some question marks. Hecht is a very capable hockey player - as is his potential 2nd line center Tim Connolly. But if Connolly isn't injury free this year, it's gonna stretch the depth of the Sabres immensely. Other bright spots are the youngsters Stafford, Kaleta and the tiny but effective 5'5" Nathan Gerbe (he's so little I want to pack him in an overnight bag). Also, Andrej Sekera is an excellent young defender who could pack more of an impact than people outside of Buffalo think.
Buffalo's defense is one that I can't understand though. At times Tallinder and Lydman are really effective, at times, they are taken off and replaced by Sekera and other young defender Mike Weber. If the Sabres are going anywhere, then Tallinder and Lydman are gonna have to get in tune with each other again - fast.
The addition of Craig Rivet was an excellent move. Here's a guy that plays tough and puts up points in the mid-30s. Very, very nice addition, but the D still lacks.
Ryan Miller is a very good goaltender, but Ruff can't play him in 50 consecutive games (it was closer to 35, but I know it was a lot) again. He's too small and he's not Nabokov or Brodeur. So Patrick Lalime was brought in. Quite capable of taking care of the net while Miller gets some rest, this is a decent tandem.
Still, put it all together and it'll take some luck for the Sabres to be in the 8.
Prediction: 9th in the East.
THe Sabres have lots of pride and always work hard. It's never an easy win when you play these guys. If they don't make the playoff, surely they will play the role of upset.
jamvan wrote: THe Sabres have lots of pride and always work hard. It's never an easy win when you play these guys. If they don't make the playoff, surely they will play the role of upset.
LOL How the hell did you read that so quick!?


Former Govs. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, and Joe Kernan, a Democrat, urged that city elections be combined with presidential elections.
Local elections for township and school boards are combined with midterm and presidential elections. That is a good process that makes those elections more representative of the voting population because of higher turnout. That process is also good because it saves millions of dollars statewide.
It is time to do as the former governors advocated and combine city elections with other elections, preferably lower-turnout midterm elections. This would make city elections more representative of the voting public but again save millions that cities could surely use to fix the coming potholes of winter.
Steven D. Smith (Letters, Aug. 27) questions how Christianity can recover from the blows of news of the moral failure of priests in Pennsylvania and Donald Trump before he was elected president.
Moral failures are hard on the people affected by them. There can be no "turning a blind eye," no matter who commits them. Moral failures are a sin. Covering up such offenses is as wrong as the original offense. There is a broad movement to remove coaches, political leaders and spiritual leaders who have abused those under their leadership. This is the right thing to do.
Having said this, I remind myself that we do not live in heaven yet. We live in an imperfect world. Every one of us is a sinner. We all need a savior who can not only forgive sin but restore the sinner. Christians see Jesus Christ as this savior.
If we demand moral purity from our leaders, then we must also demand it from ourselves. If only morally pure people are allowed to lead us, there would be no leaders, not even parents or teachers. We need leaders who have learned lessons from their failures and know now how to avoid the many moral traps found in everyday living. Christians follow a savior "who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet without sin." Because he was tempted he can help us win despite our temptations.
Can Christians follow imperfect political or religious leaders? Are there any other kind? The good news is, God can use a broken yet humble parent to successfully raise healthy children. He can use ordinary people to guide the rest of us in our public lives. He has been doing this for thousands of years and we pray he will continue to lead those who lead us, in spite of their failures and weaknesses. Do we have any other option?
John McCain, an American war hero, earned the respect and gratitude of our nation, enduring years of beatings and torture as a prisoner of war. He continued his service to the country he loved as a US senator for 30 years.
Trump received five deferments from the military draft during the Vietnam War.
God is good, truth will prevail.


text:
Pont-l'Évêque – rodzaj sera
 Pont-l'Évêque – francuska gmina w regionie Dolna Normandia
 Pont-l'Évêque – francuska gmina w regionie Pikardia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Heya, I'm interested in donating for the thread [took a break from DC for a year or so], and it didn't seem like the request list had been updated since ~2012? Just wondering if there's a new list or something.
I'd like to join if that's still possible.
When you say silver egg, do you mean by the metallic silver or the rare silver?
Also, I might've missed this question in the FAQ, but can I trade in one of my uncommons in return for that number of commons that it's worth? So for example, I use one of my Shallow Water's to add 4 to my total making it 5?
First, if someone is clearing out the caves then rares will be more common, because more eggs will spawn if the cave is unblocked. More CB rares means more people breeding them which means that rares will be easier to obtain.
But rares are only valuable because they are rare. They have a collector's value, rather than having more functionality than a common dragon. If rares are less of a challenge, the game becomes less fun.
However, there is a flaw in the above argument; it assumes that this project will be an enormous success and have a huge effect. At the moment, cave blocking does present a balance problem, and this project is probably not going to cause a massive imbalance towards easiness. Actually, I suspect it will improve balance and make the game more fun.
So in other, shorter words, I think there are two sides to the argument. While acknowledging the other side, I agree with you and would like to join.
However, I think that the project has overlooked something; abandoned egg cave. The cave is also getting clogged, and the eggs there aren't CB. Maybe have a process where the person who caught it says they got it from the cave, and then you check if they have the parents so they can't breed it then claim it was from the cave. It shouldn't be any more hassle than checking what they did with the offspring.
Thank you for reading my long and admittedly a bit pointless analysis of this project. I've tried to be open, honest and constructive. I apologize if I've come across as blunt.
Sorry if this has been answered, but if i bred my dragons and forgot i was egg locked then do they not count?
Every bred breed. Will only donate prize dragons 4th gen+ and metallics 3G+ though, so please don't ask me for low-gens of those. Everything else is free!
Are you a temporary or permanent donator? How many eggs do you wish to give away? Permanent.
I'm Working Towards: Gold Dragon, 35 pt.
Please remove me from the Silver request list.
Should I be concerned that this hasn't updated since last year?
It appears this topic has been abandoned. I will close this thread until the OP lets me know they'd like it re-opened.
If members wish to organize a new, similar project, that would be fine.


The unnamed 65-year-old knowledgeable medical docs at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital in Guangzhou, China, that he had suffered a trauma to his arm months earlier.
An individual ended up throughout the hospital with a nasty an an infection that appeared to "eat away at his arm". The bug had been slowly devouring his arm for 5 months sooner than he sought medical help.
The unnamed 65-year-old knowledgeable medical docs at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital in Guangzhou, China, that he had suffered a trauma to his arm months earlier. Afterward, he began to notice a spherical rash appeared on his correct hand and forearm.
He tried to deal with the rash with a mixture of "juices and fragments from herbs," D.r Jinglin Qin talked about in a case report revealed throughout the New England Journal of Medicine.
"But there was no improvement to his condition," Dr Jinglin talked about.
When he arrived at the hospital, medics assessed him. They well-known an enormous, purple rash that had started to blister and ulcer, with patches of "crusting" pores and pores and skin. They took a biopsy, to try to arrange what was making the rash. In the lab, the sample of pores and pores and skin taken from the affected individual, began to develop a fungus known as Sporotrix schenckii.
Jinglin talked about they diagnosed the individual with a case of sporotrichosis, dubbed "gardener's disease".
"The infection usually involves the skin and subcutaneous tissue and occurs from inoculation of the fungus from plants and soil through the skin," he talked about.
And he warned people with compromised or weaker immune packages have been additional liable to catch the bug.
Sporotrichosis is rare, nevertheless can present nasty. The fungus lives all by means of the world in soil and on plant matter like moss, rose bushes and hay. An particular person turns into contaminated after they arrive into contact with fungal spores.
It generally impacts the pores and pores and skin, when the fungus will get into the physique by means of a decrease or scrape.
Jinglin's workers dealt with the affected individual with anti-fungal medication and 4 months later the rash and crusty sores had healed.
Be the first to comment on "Farmer diagnosed with 'gardener's disease,' which 'ate away at his arm'"


We are a South African based technology company specialising in full-stack development. We have carefully built an international team of project managers, product experience specialists, modern stack software developers, and designers to create delivery teams you can trust.
We utilize cutting edge technologies and agile processes that deliver greater efficiency, quicker outcomes and enhanced product quality. Innovation is essential to driving success in a startup. Seeing your challenges clearly and understanding your opportunities early is key to maximizing performance.
Bitcube can offer the necessary experience, scientific depth and operational expertise to help you rapidly build your product and ultimately focus on getting your innovations to the market.
In 2009 we saw the need for quality software products for small businesses and startups. It all started with one business owner who believed in us and in 2014 our business expanded to the UK. Word of mouth quickly led to a whole range of projects and the team continues to grow each month.
Bitcube has built a team with a strong track record in Software Development, Applied Mathematics, Statistical Programming, Data Science, FinTech, UX and UI Design. We hold various IT, Mathematics, and Design related degrees, but more importantly, we drive continuous education throughout our team so that we are always up to speed in the latest UX/UI Design knowledge, software development trends, technologies and best practices.
We aim to regularly employ people who share our passion and necessary skill set. If you want to become part of the team just give us your email address and we will get back to you asap!
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Bitcube is a software company in Bloemfontein that helps you improve your probability of success by leveraging our extensive software expertise, high-performing teams and multi platform/stack experience.


text:
Paul Kimura (* 20. Jahrhundert; † April 2020) war ein US-amerikanischer Snookerspieler, der 2006 die Snooker-Meisterschaft der Vereinigten Staaten gewinnen konnte.

Karriere

2006 nahm Kimura, der aus Kalifornien kam und in einem Snookerclub in San Gabriel trainierte, an der US-Snooker-Meisterschaft teil und erreichte das Halbfinale, in dem er überraschend den auf Platz 2 gesetzten Raymond Fung besiegte, bevor er im Finale gegen Romil Azemat mit 5:3 zum Überraschungssieger des Turnieres wurde. Nachdem er 2007 auf eine Teilnahme verzichtet hatte, nahm er 2008 wieder am Turnier teil, unterlag aber im Achtelfinale Altmeister Tom Kollins. Im selben Jahr war er Teil des US-Teams bei der Can-Am Snooker Challenge, bevor er 2009 im Finale des vierten Events der USSA National Snooker Tour Yi Fei Mei unterlag. 2012 nahm er letztmals an der US-Meisterschaft teil, schied aber bereits in der Gruppenphase aus. Er starb aller Wahrscheinlichkeit nach im April 2020; sein Tod wurde am 30. April 2020 vom US-Verband bekannt gegeben.

Erfolge

Weblinks

Einzelnachweise

Snookerspieler (Vereinigte Staaten)
US-amerikanischer Meister (Snooker)
US-Amerikaner
Geboren im 20. Jahrhundert
Gestorben 2020
Mann


text:
Lifestyle Personal Lines the Jan/Feb 2018 issue
Andy Vetor, Executive Vice President, Employee Benefits, MJ Insurance
I tell people in some ways cancer is the best thing that ever happened to me. It gave me a perspective I could never otherwise get.
By Chris Hann Posted on January 24, 2018
What are your New Year's resolutions for 2018?
To put my iPhone down and be present.
If you could give Donald Trump one piece of advice for the New Year, what would it be?
It's not about you. Maybe that's the nicest way I could say it. Leadership requires putting others' needs ahead of your own. It requires selflessness.
You are Indiana-born and -bred. What was it like growing up in Anderson, Indiana?
I played sports in high school—sports have always been a big part of my life in general. Anderson has the second-largest high school basketball gymnasium in the world. It seats about 9,000 people. It's bigger than Cameron Indoor Stadium, where Duke plays.
Is there anyone in Indiana who's not a basketball fan?
People who were born somewhere else.
Your all-time favorite IU basketball player?
Oh, man, good question. Probably Steve Alford or Calbert Cheaney. One of my earliest memories is sitting on my grandparents' floor watching IU win the national championship with Steve Alford in 1987. I was 7.
You were a student at Indiana University when your picture appeared in Sports Illustrated.
I was in college when Bobby Knight got fired, in 2000. My fraternity buddies and I hung a banner from our window saying "9-10-00/A Legend Dies/Thanks Brand." Myles Brand was the IU president who fired Knight.
What do people from outside Indianapolis get wrong about the city?
I'm incredibly proud of Indianapolis and the strides the city has made in the past 20 years. People are gravitating back to downtown, and not just millennials. The city is built on a foundation of sports. All the stadiums are right downtown. Part of the huge success of the city was getting the Colts to come here. We also have developed a really good tech scene here as well.
What's your favorite downtown restaurant?
Milktooth. Conde Nast Traveler named it one of the top 100 restaurants in the world. The chef, Jonathan Brooks, is unreal. He's a magician. He's not even a chef. He should change his title.
Your favorite dish at Milktooth?
This is going to sound weird, but they have a biscuit with this pad of infused butter on top. It's probably the best thing I've ever eaten in my life.
You were named a "Rising Star" by the Indianapolis Star in 2010. How'd that happen?
It was very nice to be thought of in that way. I was the youngest shareholder in the history of the firm. I opened our benefits practice in our first office outside of Indiana when I moved out to Phoenix in 2005. After that was up and running, I came back to Indy and in 2013 began overseeing the overall benefits practice for MJ.
You were diagnosed with cancer five years ago. Can you talk about that experience?
I was lucky. I lead our benefits program, and we joined an on-site wellness clinic at MJ, so I went for a physical myself. I had an ultrasound the next day, and two days later the urologist told me I had testicular cancer. I tell people in some ways it's the best thing that ever happened to me. It gave me a perspective I could never otherwise get.
What was your treatment like?
I ended up having surgery. I was very lucky to have Dr. Lawrence Einhorn, the same doctor who treated Lance Armstrong. It spread to my lymph nodes a little less than year after the first diagnosis. I had to go through three months of chemotherapy, but I have been cancer-free ever since.
What's the lesson there?
Do the things you need to do to take care of yourself. When I have the opportunity to speak about healthcare, I preach the value of preventive care. I was 34 at the time. It's a young man's disease. My son was 1.
Who's been your most influential business mentor?
Joe Perkins was my mentor, the guy who brought me to MJ. He's one of our partners. He recruited me from college and attached me to his hip for three years. He taught me the business and a lot of other life lessons as well. I wouldn't be where I am today without him.
If you could change one thing about the insurance industry, what would it be?
Pharmacy benefit managers—they're the middlemen between the drug manufacturers and the pharmacies that purchase their medication. The way that system works is broken. The incentives there are misaligned to the employer.
What gives you your leader's edge?
It's the people around here, our team. The innovations that we are bringing to the marketplace are the things that give us our edge.
The Vetor File
Vacation Spot: Bald Head Island, North Carolina
Musician: Bruce Springsteen ("I go to five to 10 shows per tour. If I could do anything, I would just follow him for an entire tour. Nothing gets my adrenaline pumping like a Springsteen show."
Author: Patrick Lencioni (The Ideal Team Player, Death by Meeting, Getting Naked)
Wheels: BMW X5
Chris Hann Associate Editor Read More
See More: Leadership Profiles
Lifestyle Submerged in the Swell of Memory
Lifestyle Italy: Beyond the Quattro Grandi
Review of The Sea
The further you venture away from the big four iconic destinations, the more rew...
Lifestyle Getting Personal in 2022
Bringing back this annual end-of-year favorite.
Lifestyle Wanderlust: Bermuda
"I'm not shy about the fact that we like to dig in and actually be kind of an insurance nerd."
Lifestyle Bradley Plummer, SVP, Employee Benefits, Cottingham & Butler


Melanie Barbato has an academic background in the study of religion and philosophy. She holds a Master's degree from the University of Oxford (England) and is currently finishing up her doctoral thesis at LMU Munich (Germany). She is also a stay-at-home mom. Her poetry explores ideas of motherhood, commitment and faith and tries to question common conceptions of what self-fulfilment should look like for women today.


Humor aside, the fact that many of these trials have started to move only recently, most of them under the same magistrates gives an idea of the atmosphere under Cristina Fernandez rule or even, why not, contamination of the judicial system.
Judge Lijo ordered Boudou's arrest in a case initially brought in 2012 involving tax return anomalies and said the 55 year old economist, "had been enriched unjustifiably during the exercise of public duties". The judge also ordered the arrest o Boudou's business partner Jose Maria Nuñez Carmona.
The arrest warrant said the charges include illicit association and money laundering. "They developed their criminal schemes since the start of August 2009, when Amado Boudou took charge of the Economy and Finance Ministry, until the month of December 2015, when he ended his vice-presidential term," it said.
The warrant said Boudou made intricate financial transactions, some of them involving bank accounts abroad, to shield money and its beneficiaries. It also said that Boudou laundered money by buying an apartment for his then-girlfriend, journalist Agustina Kampfer.
The embattled former official is already on trial on charges of bribery and conducting business incompatible with public office. In that case, Boudou is accused of using shell companies and middle men to gain control of a company that was granted contracts to print the Argentine currency. He also has pending legal disputes with other former girlfriends and in December was scheduled to travel to Mexico to be next to his current pregnant girlfriend, a Mexican politician.
Boudou's attorney, Eduardo Duranona, told reporters that he was surprised by the arrest and that his client never intended to flee. He also said Boudou wants to cooperate in the investigation, and asked the judge how come "you have him detained today, and not yesterday".
Boudou is an economist, who loves rock, playing the guitar as a rock star, as well as top end cars and Harley Davidson motorbikes, and although he studied at a Liberal pro-business economics school, he joined the populist administration of Cristina Fernandez and was instrumental in proposing, at a critical moment for the cash strapped government, to grab the private pensions scheme funds.
Apparently this was the main reason for Cristina Fernandez choosing Boudou to join her in the presidential ticket. However he was never a member of the president's inner group.
Other high level ex Kirchner officials in jail include former planning minister, Julio de Video, was arrested two weeks ago on corruption charges after Congress stripped him of his parliamentary immunity. De Vido is being investigated on suspicion of having the Government overpay more than US$ 7 billion for liquefied gas. He's also being probed for possible embezzlement in another case involving a coal mine.
A former deputy public works minister, Jose Lopez, is also facing charges after being caught by police trying to hide US$ 9 million in cash in a Buenos Aires convent earlier this year.
Since leaving office in 2015, Cristina Fernandez has been hit by a string of corruption scandals and was indicted last year. She has acknowledged that some corruption took place during her Government, but denies any wrongdoing and dismisses allegations against her as politically motivated. Fernandez won a Senate seat during the recent elections, which grants her immunity from arrest.
Tags: Amado Boudou, Argentina, Ciccone Case, Cristina Fernandez, Jose Lopez, Judge Ariel Lijo, Julio de Vido.
If I were going to write a book about corruption, Boudou would have one of the first chapters, just after the dead Kirschner and just before the three live ones still thinking they can act with impunity, play the victim card, and get away with the booty. Now that a few of the judges are not afraid of being suicided in the middle of the night, things are finally moving in the right direction. Macri's biggest challenge is keeping in check the Latin propensity to steal what you can while in office.
La Asesina looted the funds, you lying chantapufi!
Rique, Payaso! Vos sos el Mentiroso!


text:
Trips & Events Ideas
#TakePrideOutside About
All Discounts Health & Wellness Lift Tickets Travel
Trips & EventsIdeas Discounts All Discounts Health & Wellness Lift Tickets Travel #TakePrideOutsideAbout
Be A Goat - Outdoor trips for LGBTQ adventurists
Queering the Outdoors with GOATs
[Repost from MetroSource: Queering the Outdoors with GOATs | January 23, 2019]
Interview with MetroSource Editor
Mother Nature doesn't judge. So why do the outdoors sometimes feel so unfriendly to us queers?
"There have been real positive changes for LGBTQ community over the last few years but that progress has been slow to reach our beautiful countryside, parks, and rivers" says Keith Oberlin, founder of Get Out And Trek (GOAT). Referring to a recent study by the National Recreation and Park Association, he added, "Funding and support for LGBTQ inclusion in the outdoors seriously lags most other minorities. As a group, we also continue to be overlooked by outdoor industry sponsors and manufactures which is a huge surprise given the over US$3 Trillion in global spending power of the LGBTQ community."
We spoke with Keith to learn what he and others are doing to change that.
Q.: GOAT. There's a ton of bad puns here, Keith, what are you really up to? What is Get Out And Trek?
A.: Get Out And Trek hosts outdoor adventures for LGBTQ adventurist and friends that make escaping the ordinary and breaking free from the everyday easier. But it's so much more. In our hyper-distracted digital world and polarized political state, people are looking for meaningful connections and safe spaces. The one non-judgmental place people can go to get away from it all and restore their souls is the outdoors. It's a place to build amazing friendships. We want to make access to that experience easier for the queer community with our outdoor trips and adventures.
Q.: OK, no actual livestock involved.
A.: [laugh] Just the two-legged variety. We affectionately call our members GOATs.
Q.: Why the name "GOAT"?
A.: We want to build off the complex and empowering experience of coming out and turn it into an affirming statement, "get out". The double entendre with getting outdoors and relation to the popular saying "GOAT, the Greatest Of All Time" was also no accident. Besides, we think GOATs are cute. You have to like anything that's so free-spirited and unapologetic– like our aspirations for the queer community.
Q.: Mother Nature doesn't judge. So what's the problem?
A.: Like other minority groups, queers can find the outdoors daunting. The cultural narratives, publicity and imagery of skilled queer outdoor athletes, which should build our interest and confidence in the outdoors, just aren't there.
I've whitewater kayaked, hiked, snowboarded and biked across parts of North and South America, and I can say that some of the most beautiful areas of the world can also be in some of the most conservative. It can be intimidating. To show up with gender pronouns of they/them/theirs or as a bi-racial gay couple with a one-bed reservation can leave you feeling like you're fighting for your human rights versus being on a relaxing vacation. Pioneering organizations like Outdoor Afro, Latino Outdoors, and Girls Who Climb demonstrate that there is a real need to create safe spaces for minority groups in the outdoors. We hope to be a part of creating that for the queer community.
Q.: So more progress is needed, but there is hope?
A.: Most definitely! The outdoors are not scary. They are boundless, beautiful, and amazing. Everyone should feel at home in them. I love, love seeing outspoken social media influencers like Pattigonia and Mikah Meyer pushing boundaries and bringing awareness. The inclusivity discussions sparked by The National Park's "Find Your Park" is a huge statement about the progress being made. There is still more work to be done.
Q.: What's on the agenda this year?
A.: Coming out of a very successful and fun summer, we are excited to get out this winter on a few NYC-based day ski trips and some longer ski trips to Vermont and Montana this February and March. We have big plans this summer that include rock climbing, white water rafting, surfing, and paddle boarding. It won't stop there, but we don't want to give too much away just yet as we are still finalizing our lineup.
Q.: What makes GOAT trips special?
A.: Gosh where do I start?! I have so much to say on that. Our focus is to get outdoors, to make it easy and make it fun. We remove the obstacles by thinking through all of the logistics from transportation, accommodations, equipment, to location, guides, and local businesses. While today's social media is everything to building brand awareness, a sign we are doing it right is when our guests put down their phones to brace for an incoming wave of whitewater or joyfully scream while ziplining at 50 mph above the treetops. Our guests are free to be themselves, with no judgment, to enjoy the beautiful fun outdoors.
It's a passion of mine to get the LGBTQ community outdoors. I hope that's infectious. The outdoors continues to be a challenging place for the queer community. I formed GOAT (beagoat.org) to help overcome that. I want everyone to Get out. Be free. Be a GOAT!
Winter, Skiget out and trek January 23, 2019
#TakePrideOutside With GOAT
get out and trek May 21, 2019
From Corporate Life to the Call of the Wild
Member Profilesget out and trek August 8, 2018
Ways to Get Out
Trips Your way
Free Trips
Discounts For You
The Outpost blog
#takeprideoutside
About GOAT
copyright 2019 · all rights reserved.
Get Out And Trek - Be A Goat!


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text:
Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft
Using Service (US):
Air Force (USAF)
No more new aircraft will be purchased.
Focus is on upgrades and modifications.
Prime Contractors:
Airframe: Lockheed Martin Corporation
Engine: General Electric Aviation and
Pratt & Whitney (United Technologies)
About the F-16 Fighting Falcon:
The General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single seat, fixed wing, multi-role fighter aircraft powered by a single Pratt & Whitney F100 or General Electric F110 turbofan engine. On the F-16, which is a 4th generation fighter aircraft, advanced technology features include a blended wing body, reduced static margin, and fly-by-wire flight control.
The F-16C/D is equipped with the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-68 multi-mode fire control radar. However, new built F-16E/F Block 60 aircraft (not in U.S. inventory) are equipped with the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-80 AESA Radar. U.S. Air Force F-16C/D aircraft can be equipped with the LANTIRN targeting system. The Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN) system from Lockheed Martin allows the F-16 to fly at low altitudes, at night and in any weather conditions, to attack ground targets. The LANTIRN system gives the F-16 extra accuracy for weapons delivery and consists of two pods (AN/AAQ-13 navigation pod + AN/AAQ-14 targeting pod) attached to the exterior of the aircraft. Also, the F-16 can be equipped with the AN/AAQ-28(V) LITENING Targeting Pod	from Northrop Grumman and UTC Aerospace Systems' (UTAS) DB-110 Reconnaissance Pod.
On April 3, 2012, the 4,500th F-16, an F-16C Block 52, rolled off the assembly line in Forth Worth, TX. To date, more than 4,550 F-16s have been produced and delivered to 28 countries. The F-16 is a highly maneuverable aircraft which has proven itself in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack. The F-16 provides a low-cost, high-performance weapon system for the United States and its allies.
The F-16A (single-seat) first flew on December 8, 1976 and the first production F-16 was accepted by the Air Force in August 1978. The F-16B (two-seat) has tandem cockpits that are about the same size as the one in the A model. The bubble canopy extends to cover the second cockpit. To make room for the second cockpit, the forward fuselage fuel tank and avionics growth space were reduced. For training purposes, the forward cockpit is used by a student pilot with an instructor pilot in the rear cockpit. All aircraft delivered since November 1981 are F-16C/D variants. They have built-in structural and wiring provisions and systems architecture that permit expansion of the multi-role flexibility to perform precision strike, night attack and beyond-visual-range interception missions. The F-16C (single seat) and F-16D (two-seat) Fighting Falcons incorporate the latest cockpit control and display technology. All active, Air National Guard (ANG) and Air Force Reserve (AFR) units have been converted to the F-16C/D configurations.
The F-16 program traces its history back to the Advanced Day Fighter requirement and later the Light Weight Fighter (LWF) program, and the Air Combat Fighter (ACF) program. On January 13, 1975, the Air Force selected the General Dynamics YF-16 as the winner of the ACF contest. The YF-16 was selected over the Northrop YF-17. Initially, five manufacturers had submitted proposals to build the LWF: Boeing, Northrop, General Dynamics, Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV), and Lockheed. In 1993, General Dynamics	sold its aircraft manufacturing business, which included the F-16 production center and final assembly line in Fort Worth, TX, to Lockheed Corporation (now Lockheed Martin). The F-16 was built under an international agreement creating a consortium between the U.S. and the four NATO countries of Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway. These countries jointly produced (with the United States) an initial 348 F-16 fighters for their respective air forces. The consortium's F-16s were assembled from components manufactured in all five countries, while final airframe assembly lines were located in Belgium and the Netherlands.	Belgium also provided final assembly of the Pratt & Whitney F100 engine used in the European F-16s.
Armament/Weapons:
The F-16 has eleven weapon stations (hardpoints) and is capable of carrying a wide range of ordnance. The aircraft is equipped with an M61-A1 Vulcan 20mm six-barreled gatling gun and carries AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles (incl. AIM-9X), AIM-120 AMRAAM, AIM-7 Sparrow, AGM-88 HARM, AGM-154 JSOW, AGM-158 JASSM, GBU-31/38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) and GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs as well as several other types of ordnance.
Mission/Role:
The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a light weight, high performance, multi-role fighter capable of performing a broad spectrum of tactical air warfare tasks at affordable cost well into the 21st century. F-16 aircraft provide a high-performance air-to-air and air-to-surface attack capability.
FY 2017 & FY 2018 - F-16 DoD Program:
This data is available in Forecast International's U.S. Defense Budget Forecast, a comprehensive analytical database containing historical and forecast budget figures, year-to-year funding comparisons, congressional budget markups, program justification documents, and much more.
Sources: U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Lockheed Martin Corp.,
Northrop Grumman Corp., and F-16.net.
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text:
package com.facebook.react;

import com.facebook.react.bridge.ReactContext;

/**
 * New Listener interface for react instance events. {@Link
 * ReactInstanceManager.ReactInstanceEventListener will be deprecated.}
 */
public interface ReactInstanceEventListener {

  /**
   * Called when the react context is initialized (all modules registered). Always called on the UI
   * thread.
   */
  void onReactContextInitialized(ReactContext context);
}


In the magazine's annual America's Best New Restaurant issue, editors Andrew Knowlton and Julia Kramer note that "the tortellini in brodo is just one of the many surprises at this breakout Los Angeles spot."
"With "nose-to-tail" flying around the culinary scene like a swarm of bees, it was only a matter of time until the ethos of full, purposeful utilization made its way into the world of vegetable scraps."
"If you've been to a party in Silver Lake lately, gulped sulfite-free Grenache on a back porch lighted year-round with votive candles and strings of Christmas lights, you know certain things to be true."
"Here Pollack pairs rosy chicken liver crostone with black plum mostarda and his marvelous bread. Handmade tortellini in brodo are plump pockets of proscuitto and broth."
"Now focusing on his first solo project, Alimento, Pollack has taken that sensibility a step further by combining flavors from all over Italy with those that the hip Silver Lake crowd craves."
"Chef Zach Pollack (Sotto) pays homage to regional Italian specialties at Alimento."
"Despite the respect for culinary tradition that Pollack demonstrates at every turn, he is more than willing to do away with received wisdom. For instance, he dismisses the idea of al dente as a requirement for quality, noting how those silky tortellini succeed because they're pliant and soft."
Better Know a Dish: Alimento's Pigs in a Blanket. Indulge in this epic Italian snack at Zach Pollack's new Silver Lake restaurant.
"Welcome Alimento, a lovely trattoria opening tonight in Silver Lake in the former Back Door Bakery space. From Sotto's Zach Pollack, this ode to all things Italian draws from all over the country's cuisine, like mackerel conserva with white beans, rye tagliatelle in a veal ragu, and maccheroncini with chicken livers and marsala."
"Pollack is best known as one part of the two-man chef team behind Sotto, the Pico Boulevard Southern Italian restaurant that serves some of the city's best Italian food. Pollack and co-chef Steve Samson opened Sotto in 2011 in partnership with restaurateur Bill Chait. While Pollack is still very much a part of Sotto, he's currently focusing about 110% of his energy on his new project."


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This Weekend in International Music: Omara Portuondo, Toots, and More
by Steve Kiviat November 5th, 2010 October 12th, 2020
Maria Mulata
This weekend offers some greats (Omara Portuondo, Toots Hibbert), as well as some interesting lesser-knowns.
Move over, Shakira, there's another Colombian bombshell in town. Maria Mulata performs her own brand of Colombian folk music in a variety of languages—including Spanish, Portuñol (a mix of Portuguese and Spanish), and an ancient Mayan dialect—for free at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage from 6 to 7 p.m. If you can't make it, you can always check out the webcast.
Omara Portuondo, the legendary 70-year-old Cuban singer who's made a name for herself both as a solo act and with the Buena Vista Social Club, is performing at George Washington University'sLisner Auditorium. The show starts at 8 p.m.; tickets $25-$45.
Ever heard Georgian folk music? Didn't think so. The Zedashe Ensemble, formed 15 years ago in an effort to revive traditional Georgian music after years of Soviet repression, plays the Glen Echo Town Hallat 8 p.m. Tickets $15.
SundayIt seems like Toots & the Maytals are always on tour. The Jamaican ska/rocksteady veteran and his band land at the State Theatre in Falls Church for an 8:30 p.m. show. Tickets $26.


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De Van Swinderenvaart (Fries en officieel: Van Swinderenfeart) is een kanaal in de provincie Friesland.

Beschrijving
De Van Swinderenvaart en de Sminkevaart werden in 1840 gegraven in opdracht van G.R.G. van Swinderen ter verbetering van de afwatering. De Van Swinderenvaart is een verlenging van de Luts.

Bij het gebouw Kippenburg ligt een brug. De vaart loopt in westelijke richting naar de buurtschap Schouw. Hier mondt het uit in de Wyldemerk (in de periode 1960-1970 ontstaan door zandwinning) en de Spookhoekstervaart. De Van Swinderenvaart maakt deel uit van de route van de Elfstedentocht.

Kanaal in Friesland
Oppervlaktewater in De Friese Meren
Gaasterland (streek)


text:
The Corruption of Big Spending Democrats
Warner Todd Huston April 20, 2013 Barack Obama, Big government, Congress, corruption, Culture Of Corruption, Democrats, Economics, Liberals, Senate, Senate 22 Comments
Buried in a recent Politico story is a line that reveals the utter corruption of "money in politics." But not that of money spent electioneering, but that spent by government from the assumed bottomless pockets of the American taxpayer. It is a corruption that has destroyed the Constitution, laid waste the rule of law, perverted our system, and crushed the American way of life and it must end.
The Politico segment in question is from an April 17 piece talking about the failure of the anti-Second Amendment Democrats of getting their gun-banning bills passed in the Senate. It is a quote from a gun-ban advocacy group decrying that "bribery" doesn't work in politics like it used to.
"Bribery isn't what it once was," said an official with one of the major gun-control groups. "The government has no money. Once upon a time you would throw somebody a post office or a research facility in times like this. Frankly, there's not a lot of leverage."
It is a revealing quote.
This quote fully acknowledges that the big spending Congress has fallen into a habit of voting on bills based on the money they could get out of it as opposed to voting based on the merit of the law under consideration.
This is one of the reasons that every bill has sometimes dozens of amendments, riders, tack-ons, and additions that shove into the bill things that have nothing at all to do with the main topic. The shame of our process is that we don't get stand-alone bills meant to address a single subject. These add-ons are all bribes meant to entice votes.
A sad fact is that few of the votes cast by our Senators and Congressmen are cast based on the merits of the main bill. Instead they are cast to get give-aways paid for courtesy of the American taxpayers.
The best reform movement our government could make, one that would help cut the size of government, is to initiate a movement to have stand-alone bills where the only amendments allowed are those that pertain directly to the subject of the bill. That right there will begin to halt the drive to spend cash hand over fist as the sort of add-ons we've seen for decades will not be added to bills.
But another benefit of stand-alone bills would be to give we the people a handle on where our representatives really stand on the issues.
Imagine what it would be like if our elected officials were to get in a habit of casting an up or down vote on bills instead of pointing to weasely poison pills as their reason for voting for or against something. We will have elected officials that will have voted on the merits instead of officials hiding behind rhetoric and sure-fire bill killers and we'd be able to amass a reliable guide on what politicians think on a wide range of issues.
As it is now, all too often a Senator will cast a "no" vote on something he might otherwise support because one of his colleagues added some outrageous amendment that had nothing to do with the bill. Conversely, we have votes cast on bills they either don't really support or don't care enough to have an opinion on just because they were able to attach an amendment that brings home millions of tax dollars for a pet cause or a payoff to some constituency or special interest.
And the latter is why we have so many un-Constitutional laws in our country today.
In any case, this one little quote sums up very succinctly what is wrong in Washington today. "The power to tax" truly is "the power to destroy" and our elected officials see the U.S. Treasury as their own little piggie bank from which they can draw at any time to pay off pals, cronies, and voters back home all in an effort to keep themselves in office.
They don't care what's good for America and they sure as hell don't care what is Constitutionally legitimate. It's all about filling their own pockets and those of their buddies with a never-ending flow of tax dollars.
Dear TV, I Don't Care About Your 'Reality'
#BENGHAZI: Whistleblowers Emerge
Comey Made A False Official Statement To Congress
Obama And Bipartisanship: No Sacred Caos
In Harsh Economy, Union Demands Put Crimp in Businesses Across the Country: Recent Stories Surrounding California Grocer
Warner Todd Huston
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago-based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com and BigJournalism.com, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, RightPundits.com, StoptheACLU.com, Human Events Magazine, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book "Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture" which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions, EMAIL Warner Todd Huston: igcolonel .at. hotmail.com "The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it." --Samuel Johnson


PvP is Player versus Player. You can test your skills against other players, not against NPCs.
There are different ways to join PvP matches.
Open up the Quick Menu and select "Matchmaking". You can join any competitive map or Shadow War this way.
Open up the Matchmaking Menu (Standard key on PC is F7) to join a PvP match. Press Tab to join a Shadow War.
Talk to one of the various Matchmaking NPCs on fast travel points. Talking to them will bring up the Matchmaking Menu as seen above.
There are two teams fighting against each other.
If you're in team Utah, your armor and vehicle are orange.
If you're in team Delaware, your armor and vehicle are green.
You will have noticed a score on top of the screen. A blue and a red bar. You are always in the team with the blue bar. The same is true for capture points in C&H matches.
You cannot switch teams at will. The only possible way is to leave and rejoin matches. This doesn't guarantee that you will switch teams though.
Low Ego Level players want to play PvP too. So they have a fighting chance, everyone will get boosted to the highest EGO in a match. Currently, the highest EGO possible is 5.900, with Alcatraz, it will be 6.000.
Keep in mind: Your weapons and shields should be as close to your ego as possible to get the most out of the boost!
You can see you are boosted when your EGO is written in yellow numbers.
There are two C&H Maps and Shadow War.
20 minutes are over. The team with more points wins.
You accumulate points by holding cap points as long as possible.
How do you capture points?
You have to stand close to capture points. First, you need neutralize them, then capture them for your team.
Each team starts at one end of the map. There are three Cap Points that can be captured and defended. Players of the enemy team cannot get into the Spawn Area.
Note: You have to sign up to participate in Shadow Wars. You are not automatically participating when being in the area.
As opposed to C&H, there are no capture points in Deathmatches. Your goal: Killing as many enemies as possible and try not to die.
Some of the kills are not self-explanatory.
Kill an enemy player close to an enemy-owned cap point.
Kill an enemy player close to one of your cap points.
Kill an enemy player attacking one of your team mates when his shield is down and his health is low.
Kill an enemy player who killed one of your team mates shortly before.
Destroy a vehicle while an enemy player is sitting on it.
Don't land the killshot on an enemy player but help killing him.
Sit in the turret on the Cerberus and kill people.
Hi just a question... Is there a way to in proove serious lag in pvp? Shadow war aswell but not as terrible as pvp. Im playing from south africa is the distance maybe the problem? Or setting prehaps? Any info will be appreciated i have triedmany diffrent things to try in proove this lag issue.... Or im must kick ps3 out door and move over to xbox not sure though.


Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. It may be my favorite day of the year. Good food, fun with family and pumpkin pie. Yummy. I can't wait.
Oh, and before we to any further, Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you have a great day!
Thanksgiving Day a day to slow down and thank God for the blessings of life. That's something we should do more often.
I thought it would be cool to take a few minutes and share what we are thankful for.
Me, I'm thankful for a lot. I could go on and on about family, my staff, my friends, but one thing I don't say often enough is, I'm thankful for you who take the time out of a busy day to read what I write. I truly appreciate it.
I'd love to hear what you are thankful for? Please share in the comments section below.
Comments for What are you thankful for?
Thank you Dad for your wonderful comments. I agree with you that the most important thing to be grateful for is a loving family and, of course, good health. I'm from Canada where we also have Thanksgiving, but in October. Besides that it is essentially the same.
I too have a lot to be thankful for Dad, but this year I'm especially thankful that I was able to go to WDW 3 times since last thanksgiving, for over a week each time! My Disney battery is full! :) Thanks for all you do.


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Well the Christmas break is over, and after a busy December the workshop closed for 2 weeks and a well earned holiday for me and the staff. Our family take the opportunity to go on a holiday so this year the destination of choice was Vietnam.
After a long flight we arrived at Ho Chi Minh city at night, as we got into the taxi to go to the hotel, I was surprised with the amount of traffic, motor bikes everywhere. Bumper to bumper and max speed was about 20 km/h, cars, motor bike, trucks and buses tooting there horns and forcing there way down the 3 lane road, that they have made it into a 5 lane highway, how many near misses in the 1.5 hour drive to the hotel and not once did I see any body get angry or try and cut any body off everybody gave way to each other and we all made it safe and sound. After a great holiday and I would recommend Vietnam to anybody, we returned to Perth.
We landed back in Perth it was about 5.30 in the morning we jumped into a cab and left the airport, There was very little traffic on the road being so early but to my amazement there was a new Mini driving the same way as us, they clipped the curb with their tyres and was swerving down Tonkin highway doing about 70km at best, the taxi drive was holding back so he didn't get hit and than took his chance and over took the Mini. As we pass we a all looked to see what was going on Drunk? Maybe but the driver was happy texting way on her phone.
So that got me think how do their road system works so well and back here in Perth we have less traffic on the road the road are 100% better and wider. Is it just a attitude thing do Perth drives think the work revolve around them, why do some people have to be first to the traffic lights? Why are Perth drives not courteous to each other? We can learn allot from our travels and people and drivers.
In 1990 there were about 500,0000 vehicle on the road in Vietnam. In 2004 there is estimated to be around 14 million.


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Home FitnessStrength-Training for Seniors
Strength-Training for Seniors
Fitness, News and Advice, Senior Health
https://spryliving.com/articles/strength-training-senior/
By Catherine Winters on September 1, 2010
Rosa Loud Paula Smith, of Massachusetts, works on her muscle tone.
https://i0.wp.com/spryliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/63d528.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1
Last September, Paula Smith, 63, decided it was time to shape up so she joined a strength-training program at Quincy College, in Massachusetts, where she serves as executive dean for enrollment services.
Twice a week for 40 minutes, she lifted weights under the watchful eye of a trainer. By March she had lost six pounds of fat and gained four of muscle. "My clothes fit better, and it's easier for me to lift things," says Smith. "I can actually see muscle in my arms and legs." Smith never imagined she would achieve so much by exercising twice a week. "It's a regimen that is doable, makes you feel good and gives you confidence," she says.
A scant 13.7 percent of Americans 50 and older strength train at least twice per week. Yet, it's "the single best thing you can do to maintain and build muscle mass," explains Dr. Wayne Westcott, an instructor in exercise science at Quincy College. Best of all, it's never too late. Westcott has found that regardless of age people gain an average of three pounds of lean muscle mass after 10 weeks of strength training. Elsewhere, people 90 and older had average strength gains of 174 percent and improved their walking speed by 48 percent following eight weeks of high-intensity resistance training–meaning they lifted the weight as quickly as possible.
Strength training also helps you lose weight, lowering your risk for Type 2 diabetes and heart disease. In February 2009, Cliff Losak, 58, of Tea Neck, New Jersey, started lifting weights three times per week when the scale hit 259 pounds (he's 6'1″). "I got disgusted looking at myself," he admits. His Type 2 diabetes was another motivator. A year later, thanks to strength training, a healthier diet and long walks, he has shed 61 pounds and slashed his glucose levels from 500 to about 100. His doctor is so pleased that she took him off one of his diabetes medicines, halved the dosage for another, and told him he could stop his blood pressure medication. Now a trim 198, Losak says "I notice definition in my arms and my stomach. My love handles have all but disappeared."
Hoisting weights is about more than firming up. It's good for bones and a research has found that 65- to 75-year-old women who strength-trained once or twice per week improved two key cognitive skills: selective attention and conflict resolution. Plus, keeping muscle strong may be your best defense against a frail old age. "If you don't use it you lose it, says Patrice Winter, spokesperson for the American Physical Therapy Association. "Strength training keeps you functional for as long as possible." Without muscle, it'll be harder to get out of a chair, lift a gallon of milk, catch yourself when you trip, and take a walk. In fact, age-related muscle loss, also known as sarcopenia, costs the U.S. about $18.5 billion annually–one reason it's among the hottest topics in aging research.
Muscle loss starts as early as your 30s but because you're usually active, it's not noticeable, explains Kieran Reid, M.Sc., research program manager of the Nutrition, Exercise Physiology and Sarcopenia Laboratory at Tufts University. Once you hit your 50s, the rate at which you lose muscle picks up.
"If you put a person in his 30s or 40s to bed for 10 days, he loses a little bit more than a pound of muscle from his legs, says Dr. William J. Evans, director of the Nutrition, Metabolism and Exercise Laboratory at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. "If you put a person in his 60s to bed for 10 days, he loses more than 2 1/2 pounds. That's a lot."
While it sounds counter-intuitive, we build muscle by breaking it down. The muscle then repairs itself, becoming stronger. What's it take? Just two to three strength-training sessions per week, says Irwin H. Rosenberg, M.D., Jean Mayer professor of medicine and nutrition at Tufts University, who coined the term sarcopenia. Work on both your upper and lower body, doing two to three sets of each exercise 10 to 12 times. But here's the catch: As soon as that becomes easy, bump up the weight about five percent–so-called progressive resistance exercise. "Staying at the same resistance won't have much of an effect," says Dr. Rosenberg. Using weight machines is best but if you can't get to a gym, try bands, hand weights or your own body weight. Activities like Pilates, yoga and ballet build muscle, too. Seattle resident Patricia Vaccarino, 53, took up ballet four years ago when she put on weight and started developing curvature of the spine. In addition, a doctor told her that her knee problems–caused by weak inner thigh muscles–made her a candidate for a future knee replacement. Today she takes three to five weekly classes in ballet and Pilates. The result: She has lost about 10 pounds; her back is "ramrod straight" and her calves are "like steel"; her balance and reflexes have improved; and her knees no longer hurt. What's more, "my body looks like it did before I had children," she says.
More Muscle-Friendly Strategies
Strength training isn't the only thing that keeps muscle strong. Here, three more muscle-building ingredients:
Protein. Exercise breaks muscle down, damaging the protein in it. The amino acids in protein-rich foods repair that damage and lay down new, stronger muscle. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for protein is .8 grams a day for each 2.2 pounds you weigh. That adds up to 47 grams for a 130-pound adult or 72 grams for a person weighing 200 pounds. But Dr. Evans recommends that starting at about age 60, people should get 50 to 100 percent more than the RDA. Good sources of protein include lean meat, poultry, fish; low-fat dairy products, such as skim milk; eggs; and soybeans.
Aerobic Exercise. Insulin, the hormone associated with Type 2 diabetes, opens blood vessels, allowing amino acids to do their muscle-building task. But our insulin response slacks off with age, so vessels don't open as widely. Researchers have found that walking on a treadmill for 45 minutes restored the insulin levels of people in their late 60s and older to those typically seen in 20- and 30-somethings. People walked at 70 percent of their maximum heart rate, the same moderate intensity recommended for cardiovascular fitness. Though more research is needed, it can't hurt to do aerobic activity, be it walking, swimming or cycling. "It'll at least help you keep the muscle you have," says researcher Elena Volpi, M.D., director of the Sealy Center on Aging Metabolism Research Core Laboratory at the University of Texas, in Galveston. One caveat: The insulin response wears off after about 48 hours; a good reason to make exercise a regular part of your life.
Vitamin D. "It improves muscle function and strength," says Michael F. Holick. Ph.D., M.D., professor of medicine, molecular medicine physiology and biophysics at Boston University Medical Center. The RDA for D for people 51 to 70 is 400 IUs; for older people, it's 600 IUs. Dr. Holick thinks we should get even more. Sunshine is the best source of D. Ten to 15 minutes of unprotected sun exposure two to three times per week during the summer should help your body make enough D, says Dr. Holick. But concerns about skin cancer mean many of us shun the sun. The best dietary source? D-fortified milk. One 8-ounce glass contains about 100 IUs. Other sources: D-fortified cereal (a cup has 40 IUs); oily fish (3 ounces of sockeye salmon have 794 IUs; 3 ounces of tuna have 154); and D-fortified yogurt (six ounces have 80). An unexpected source: A three-ounce serving of mushrooms exposed to ultraviolet light (check the label) have a whopping 400 IUs. Bolster whatever D you get from sun and food with a daily supplement containing 2000 IUs of D, advises Dr. Holick.
Learning to Lift
You can teach yourself to strength-train but to minimize the risk of injury, hire a personal trainer when you're starting out, even for one or two sessions. "A trainer can show you proper body mechanics," says Patrice Winter, a spokesperson for the American Physical Therapy Association. If the cost is prohibitive, ask a trainer if she'll work with you and a few friends; that way you can split the cost. Don't forget: If you join a gym, you are usually entitled to one free session with a trainer.
Consulting a physical therapist to learn proper lifting techniques makes sense. But don't expect your health insurer to pay, even if your doctor advises you to strength train. On the other hand, if your doctor prescribes physical therapy to strengthen muscles around a knee that is hurting or ease shoulder tendonitis, for instance–insurance should pay–though the number of treatments covered may be limited. If you consult a therapist without seeing your doctor–many states allow direct access to physical therapists, plan on paying out of pocket.
Found in: Fitness, News and Advice, Senior Health
Raising Good Sports
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