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Death 'n' Roll
Death 'n' roll bands incorporates groovy riffs and beats as well as other elements from more traditional metal and hardrock, such as more rock-oriented guitar solos and simpler riffage, into their style, and often make use of midtempo paces. This style arose in the 1990s in the wake of the popularity of Pantera's groove-oriented heavy metal, which revolutionized thrash metal and influenced other types of metal, too. Entombed and Gorefest were among the creators of death 'n' roll, and other examples of death 'n' roll artists are Six Feet Under, Debauchery, We Are the Damned, and Malignant Tumour.
death 'n' roll top albums
4.21 | 15 ratings
Wolverine Blues
DCLXVI - To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth
death 'n' roll online videos
ENTOMBED A.D. - Torment Remains (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Tupan
Painface - Tlalocan (Official Music Video)
PAINFACE
The resistance - Rise from treason
Stooge
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death 'n' roll New Releases
death 'n' roll Music Reviews
GOREFEST Erase
Album · 1994 · Death 'n' Roll
"Erase" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Dutch death metal act Gorefest. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in July 1994. Gorefest had experienced a relative amount of success with both "Mindloss (1991)" and "False (1992)", and were in those days widely awknowledged as one of the most prolific death metal artsts out of The Netherlands.
With the addition of guitarist Boudewijn Bonebakker to the lineup on "False (1992)" a musical tranformation began though, and the results of that change was first heard on "Erase". While both "Mindloss (1991)" and "False (1992)" are arguably old school death metal releases to the bone, the sophistication in the guitar and harmony department were enhanced with the addition of Bonebakker to the ranks. He made it clear from the start that he wasn´t interested in just playing basic death metal, but that he wanted to incorporate a more melodic and rock oriented touch to the music, inspired by his great love of 70s and 80s heavy metal and hard rock.
Stylistically that change is clearly heard on "Erase" which features several elements from 70s and 80s heavy metal and hard rock in addition to maintaining a death metal basis. The many guitar harmonies are one of great assets of the music, and a feature the band focus on much more than before on "Erase". I wouldn´t label the music death´n´roll, but at times it´s very close to that description and it wouldn´t be completely wrong to tag the music as that. Jan-Chris De Koeijer (vocals, bass) has changed his vocal style slightly too. He is less of a growler and more or a raw barking shouter on this album.
The musicianship is strong. Gorefest were at this point a tight playing unit. Diverse rhythmic playing by drummer Ed Warby (who would later find fame with Ayreon and a bunch of other projects), great harmony guitar work and solos and catchy powerful riffs, and De Koeijer´s distinct sounding vocals in front.
The 8 tracks on the 42:21 minutes long album are all relatively catchy and powerful, and feature great guitar work. The latter element is to my ears the highlight of the album and at times the harmony guitar themes are rather sophisticated. Tracks like "Low", "Erase", "To Hell and Back", and "Goddess in Black", are among the standout tracks, but as mentioned "Erase" is a strong release throughout. It´s also a relavitely diverse release and tracks like "Peace of Paper" and "Goddess in Black" stick out as being a bit different than the rest of the material. The former is the most death metal oriented track on the album and even features a couple of blast beat sections, where the rest of the material is predominantly heavy or mid-paced. The latter mentioned track is slow paced and slightly more atmospheric than the remaining tracks.
"Erase" features a powerful and well sounding production, which suits the music perfectly. It´s not as brutal or in your face as the productions of previous releases, but it suits the more sophisticated sound well. "Erase" is probably a fanbase divider as it could prove not to be old school and brutal enough for the fans of Gorefest early material and as a consequence of the still relatively brutal vocals, it may prove a bit to harsh for those who enjoy the more rock oriented part of the band´s sound, but personally I think they strike a good balance here and a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.
XYSMA The First and Magical
Although XYSMA started out as one of Finland's first grindcore bands near the city of Turku, the band's involvement with the Swedish death metal scene altered their development substantially as one can hear from the detour on the early demos to the eclectic mix of death, doom and grindcore on the debut "Yeah!" The band befriended one of Sweden's more popular death metal bands, namely Entombed and with the success of their 1993 "Wolverine Blues" the Entombed inspired a whole new legion of followers with the strange newfangled musical hybrid. That would be the silly titled death 'n' roll tag which took the death metal traits that included guttural growls and heavy distorted guitars and married them with compositional constructs of 70s rock and roll and heavy metal.
XYSMA jumped on this bandwagon and while elements were present on the debut, the band went full death 'n' roll on the sophomore album FIRST AND MAGICAL. Gone were the Napalm Death influences and in was a unique mix of Carcass sounding death metal mixed with 70s blues oriented hard rock. Hardly a combo one would consider to attract a new legion of followers. In fact, out of all the subgenera of metal that were splintering off in the early 90s, this is the one that probably attracted the fewest newcomers mostly because it doesn't really sound very compelling unless the elements are balanced just right. While Entombed did a pretty good job on "Wolverine Blues," they didn't really manage to follow up with anything of equal stature.
As far as XYSMA's take on this weird combo style, they pretty much follow the Entombed playbook and created a similarly fashioned sound. While XYSMA had great potential in what they crafted as their own unique style, they always seemed to botch up aspects of their albums that made it a bumpy ride. Same goes for FIRST AND MAGICAL which starts off with a rather silly sound check sequence that bookends the entire album. After the initial head scratching moment, "One More Time" starts off as 70s hard rock which makes you think the band had abandoned metal altogether however after a few measures it finally adds the death metal bombast. Despite the awkwardness it does demonstrate perfectly as to how the two styles are mixed. Once the groove is established and the death metal moments are churning out, a psychedelic keyboard appears that makes this album a tad surreal.
All in all, the tracks that sport the death 'n' roll tag are not bad at all. The groovy hard rock aspects keep a nice melodic flow while the pummeling percussion and riffs add the proper bombast as does Janitor Mustasch's growly death vocals. The band had really stepped up the musical tightness since "Yeah!" Mustasch and Olivier Lawny provide the stellar twin guitar attacks as they simultaneously create the double melodic counterpoints that keep the groove on. The biggest head scratcher comes in the form of the all acoustic "Can't Imagine Your Death" which sounds like a completely different band. In fact it sounds like some rejected track off of Led Zeppelin III as it has a similarly styled guitar chord progression but lacks the intensity of anything the great Led Zep cranked out not to mention Mustasch's vocals sound ridiculous.
While XYSMA does a decent job tackling the death 'n' roll style of death metal, i can't say that this is a style of death metal that really works for the most part and although the album is mostly played spot on, the compositions themselves seem to be lacking in some unknown substance that is needed to spice them up. Add to the fact that the silliest moments sort of derail the entire flow of the album which means this album doesn't stack up against some of sub's greatest moments that bands like Entombed and Gorefest dished out. There are some great moments on this one and at a short playing time of just over 31 minutes it doesn't wear out its welcome either. It's just not compelling enough to call great.
ENTOMBED Wolverine Blues
voila_la_scorie
Entombed: one of the Big Four in Swedish death metal and the first of the four that I was to encounter on CD. Fairly recently. Like, a few months ago and nearly three decades after the band's career commenced. As with many old school death metal bands I have gotten acquainted with, I found out about Entombed by watching old school death metal playlists on YouTube. Of course, the album usually mentioned is "Left Hand Path" with some attention also going to "Clandestine". It was either of these two that I had to choose for my first purchase. Then I saw "Wolverine Blues".
Blues?! A death metal band is using the word "blues" in an album title? And Wolverine? Even at the time this album was released, the X-Men character was well known. What on earth were these Swedes up to?
So, I checked out some songs on YouTube and, well, wow! Consider this: I had been checking out a couple of dozen bands or more in a subgenre I was not too familiar with and had previously avoided. At first, everybody sounded awesome. But after a while, everybody sounded similar. I wanted to find that band or album that did something different to make it stand apart from the usual death metal environment. This album certainly did stand out.
After two death metal albums in Swedish style, Entombed decided to get into some other stuff and came up with an album that sounds like a conconction of mid-seventies Black Sabbath and Motorhead with some hardcore peppered in. In-your-face, angry biker style vocals, really growly, dirty, massive-rusty-industrial-chain guitar sound, and a rhythm section that almost swaggers, this album took a death metal band in such a new direction that they called this music "death n' roll". While the title probably was supposed to sound cool, I can't help but think of crocodiles when I hear this. Death roll!
There's little point in picking apart each song. It's just ultra-gritty guitar riffs, groove, and guts throughout with some songs capturing my attention more than others for one reason or another. I'd say the first three or four tracks and the last two are my preferred songs, but the whole album is consistent, though "Hollowman" brings in a bit of melody.
After several listens, some of the excitement of hearing the entire album has worn off, but I am still very curious about the next album, "DCLXVI: To Ride Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth". For now, "Clandestine" is on its way to my place, so I'll get to see the earlier side of the band.
Death n' roll or whatever, it was really good to hear an album that combined components of the death metal sound with more familiar, traditional stuff like Black Sabbath and Motorhead.
GOREFEST Soul Survivor
With Soul Survivor, Gorefest jump onto the death 'n' roll microgenre bandwagon that Entombed and others had been driving for a couple of years prior, and to their credit they pull off the style admirably. To be fair, they had been preparing this sonic shift some time in advance, with groundwork laid on the preceding Erase, but here they lock on to the genre and really nail it, churning out a set of songs which manage to balance being genuinely anthemic whilst still having a thick layer of death metal grit to them. Never mind that you can't listen to "Forty Shades" without thinking of 50 Shades of Grey - this is still a death 'n' roll mosh party in a sleek 44 minute package.
CONVULSE Cycle of Revenge
"Cycle of Revenge" is the 4th full-length studio album by Finnish death metal act Convulse. The album was released through Svart Records in March 2016. It´s the successor to "Evil Prevails" from 2013 and the second album since Convulse reformed in 2012. Convulse was one of the seminal death metal acts out of Finland in the late 80s/early 90s, but they split-up in 1994, only to reform 18 years down the line.
"Evil Prevails (2013)" pretty much continued the old school death metal style from the band´s 90s releases, but added an occasional rock´n´roll element (especially the guitar solos pointed in that direction), but "Cycle of Revenge" is a very different kind of beast. In fact the only thing the two albums have in common are the emotionless and unintelligible growling vocals. The vocals are about the only death metal trait left in the music, and instead of old school Scandinavian style death metal, we´re treated to a psychadelic tinged (and at times nicely atmospheric) heavy rock/metal style with growling vocals. At various points I´m reminded of artists like Tiamat, mid-period Gorefest, contemporary Tribulation, and Convulse fellow countrymen in Sentenced. So at this point I guess it´s fair to call the music death´n´roll (there´s a hard rocking stoner riff or two in there too).
The instrumental part of the music is very well executed and the material is generally well written and relatively varied, which means the 8 track, 33:57 minutes long album is entertaining throughout. "Cycle of Revenge" is also an incredibly well produced album, featuring a powerful and organic sounding production, which suits the music perfectly. Unfortunately the growling vocals sound completely out of place, and when the band experiment with spoken word passages or semi-raw clean vocals, like they do on "Ever Flowing Stream", you can hear great potential. So without knowing if Convulse are going to drop the growling vocals on the next release, I´ll go out on a limb here and call this a transition release between their old school death metal days and their new psychadelic tinged heavy rock/metal style, because I do expect them to drop the growls on future releases. They are so obviously out of place here, that not dropping them would be a crime.
So "Cycle of Revenge" is a bit hard to rate fairly, because I´m rather biased about it. On one hand I think the instrumental part of the music is of a high quality and it´s both powerful, adventurous, and intriguing, but on the other hand the growling vocals do drag my rating down a bit, so I think it speaks volumes about the rest of the music, when a 3.5 star (70%) rating is still warranted.
death 'n' roll movie reviews
No death 'n' roll movie reviews posted yet.
Artists with Death 'n' Roll release(s)
BEYOND THE SIXTH SEAL United States
BLACK BREATH United States
BLACKSHINE Sweden
BLACKSTAR United Kingdom
BONES United States
CARCASS United Kingdom
CONVULSE Finland
CRACK UP Germany
THE CUMSHOTS Norway
DEATH BREATH Sweden
DEATH WOLF Sweden
DEBAUCHERY Germany
DELLAMORTE Sweden
DESULTORY Sweden
DEUTERONOMIUM Finland
DISFIGURED CORPSE Czech Republic
DISGRACE Finland
DOMINUS Denmark
ENTOMBED Sweden
ENTOMBED A.D. Sweden
FUNGUS INC. Belgium
FURBOWL Sweden
GENERAL CHAOS Germany
GHOUL PATROL Finland
GHOULS COME KNOCKIN' Austria
GHOULUNATICS Canada
GOREFEST Netherlands
HELLCRAWLER Slovenia
HELLTRAIN Sweden
KEMEROV Greece
KONKHRA Denmark
KOROG Hungary
KORPSE United Kingdom
MOKSHA Spain
MURDER IN ART Finland
PAINFACE United States
PAKENI Finland
PHAZM France
POSTMORTEM Germany
REBELHEAD Finland
THE RESISTANCE Sweden
SIX FEET UNDER United States
SYSTRAL Germany
TAKE OVER AND DESTROY United States
TRANSILVANIAN BEAT CLUB Germany
XYSMA Finland
ZX SPECTRUM Latvia
death 'n' roll Index


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Dana Point hires full-time caseworker to help…
NewsCalifornia News
Dana Point hires full-time caseworker to help find housing for homeless
Dana Point Mayor Pro Tem Paul Wyatt in Dana Point on Tuesday, December 5, 2017. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)
By Erika I. Ritchie | eritchie@scng.com | Orange County Register
A homeless man, center, is asked to leave by library personel after he cussed out woman who was working at one of the library's public computers at the Dana Point branch of the county library on Tuesday, November 14, 2017. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)
In July, Dana Point Police Chief Lt. Russ Chilton has a friendly chat with Steven Gustafson who has been homeless since April 12th of last year. Gustafson thanks Chilton "for your service." Dana Point Police Chief Lt. Russ Chilton says managing the homeless is challenging. "Most people look to law enforcement to solve the issue but it's really a community issue. We need to work together." It's a collaboration between law enforcement, city leaders and faith-based organizations, Chilton added. (File Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Sheriff's deputy Chris Eiben looks out onto the roof of the Dana Point branch of the county library on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 where homeless people had been camping out . (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Steven Gustafson's pittbull A Pearl warns of visitors as Gustafson emerges from his shelter in Dana Point on Monday, July 24, 2017. Dana Point Police Chief Lt. Russ Chilton makes his rounds and warns Gustafson, who has been homeless since April 12th of last year, that he will have to find another place to live because he is living in an "illegal campsite."(Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Tommy Waldo and Vicki Williams may not be the stereotypical faces of homelessness but Waldo says he's been living in his car for about 15 years. Williams, who is 30, says she's been homeless most of her adult life. They eat food donated by volunteers from Welcome Inn in Dana Point on Monday, July 24, 2017. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
DANA POINT In the wake of nuisance and public-safety complaints, city leaders have taken what they call the first step in getting dozens of the city's homeless people into permanent housing.
On Tuesday, Dec. 5 the City Council unanimously approved spending $80,000 to hire a full-time caseworker to interact with the city's homeless with the intent of getting them services to get them housed. The city previously funded the job on a part-time basis but has now stepped it up to 40 hours a week.
The council agreed to contract with Family Assistance Ministries, a San Clemente faith-based nonprofit that assists those in need with food, shelter and counseling. As part of the contract, FAM will assist in getting some of the homeless back to their families and provide vouchers for emergency shelter. This is expected to cost about $50,000 a year.
"This was a big step forward," said Councilman Paul Wyatt, the city's liaison to the Homeless Task Force. "This is the first tangible step ever."
In April, the City Council created the task force, made up of members of the Planning Commission, the Dana Point Chamber of Commerce, County of Orange, California State Parks, Dana Point Harbor Merchant's Association and South Coast Water District.
Unlike the previous group, started in 2014, this task force has established meeting times and creates strategies. In July, Wyatt pushed to have its charter redefined and focus on a plan of action. He lobbied to include regional groups and neighboring communities.
The renewed focus on the homeless issue in Dana Point follows several recent City Council meetings where dozens of residents voiced their concerns over what they called an "exploding problem."
At a July meeting, dozens of frustrated residents pleaded with city officials to gain control.
Homelessness in Dana Point is not new, but residents and business owners say they've seen the population more than double in the last few years. Homeless people are camping out in alleys, public parks, county rights-of-way and now on private property, residents told the council. And they are using those properties as toilets, having sex there and dumping trash, residents said.
While many cities in Orange County are facing similar issues, Dana Point seems to be a target for the homeless in the south part of the county. The city's hilly topography creates hidden shelters and the industrial area in Capistrano Beach is a popular camping spot — close to Doheny State Beach, according to city officials and support group leaders.
An increase in the number of sober-living homes in the area has created a pool of people who become homeless after they are evicted from the homes and settle in Dana Point, said Orange County Sheriff's Department Lt. Russ Chilton, the city's police chief.
"Approving the full-time case worker is critical to to working closer with the homeless, " Wyatt said. "We have an issue of people living on the street that have nowhere else to go. We can't just chase them to the next city.
"In order to enforce our laws, we have to be able to provide services. But we don't have to accept homelessness as a lifestyle choice," he said. "This should be the first step in putting us into position."
Mary Perdue from Mercy House, who has worked with the city for 18 years, recounted recent success stories including a veteran who had lived on the streets of Dana Point and is now in permanent housing.
She talked of four others recently released from one of the 65 sober living homes in town that didn't have anywhere else to go but live on the street. All four were recently provided with the means to get to their families out of state, she said.
Perdue said several homeless have been identified as being "housing ready." But first priority will be given to those who are chronically handicapped or the mentally ill, she said.
Top Stories OCR
Erika I. Ritchie
Erika Ritchie reports on South Orange County coastal communities, military issues and Camp Pendleton for the OC Register. She explores everything from coastal access, environmental issues and marine life to city government, animal welfare and quality of life. She's won many awards including first place in news (2016) by the Orange County Press Club for her coverage of record numbers of whale entanglements off the California coast. Erika's covered military change of command and seen military affairs firsthand from the sea aboard a battleship, air from a MV-22 Osprey, and land including Pendleton's International war games and San Clemente Island's ordnance ranges. Journalism allows Erika's penchant for telling human stories of conflict, struggle and joy. Her monthly Everyday Hero feature does just that, highlighting achievements of some of Orange County's most dedicated volunteers and non-profit leaders. Since joining the Register in 2001, she's at times covered every city in South Orange County delving into development, housing, transportation, county government and social issues. She's often written about Saddleback Church and Pastor Rick Warren's emerging national and global roles. Erika's passionate about animals and outdoor adventure. She runs, stand-up paddles and skis - both alpine and x-country. She frequents Mammoth Lakes and Mountain for hiking, biking & skiing and for her dogs to frolic in the snow and lakes. She grew up bilingual in German and conversational in French.
Nuclear waste moves from wet pools to dry storage at San Onofre

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Salivating Over Salvia? Premiere Plant Sale at UC Davis Arboretum on Saturday, April 6
Salivating over salvia?
You can see, salivate--and purchase--salvias and more at the spring premiere plant sale sponsored by the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden on Saturday, April 6.
They'll offer everything from "Bee's Bliss" to "Black Lace" to "Blaze" to "Brilliance." Among the many others: "Whirly Blue, "Pozo Blue," "Marine Blue," "Little Kiss," "Midnight," "Pink Cadillac" and "Hot Lips."
The plant sale, open to the public, is set from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the one-acre Arboretum Teaching Nursery on Garrod Drive. It's a great place to buy plants to attract our pollinators: bees, butterflies, birds, beetles and bats. Not to mention syrphid flies, aka hover flies/flower flies!
You can download the plant sale inventory on the website. Favorites include the Arboretum All-Stars and California native plants, as well as herbs, perennials, shade plants, bushes, trees, vines and more.
Can't make it on Saturday, April 6? Plant sales are also scheduled Saturday, April 27 and Saturday, May 11.
Happy spring! Happy salivating! And happy/hungry pollinators!
A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, nectars on a spiked floral purple plant, Salvia indigo spires (Salvia farinacea x S. farinacea) at the Kate Frey Pollinator Garden at the Sonoma Cornerstone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Focus Area Tags: Environment, Innovation, Natural Resources, Yard & Garden
Tags: bee bliss (1), bumble bees (49), carpenter bees (9), plant sales (3), pollinators (32), public plant sales (1), salvia (11), UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden (10)
Bee My Valentine!
Remember receiving valentine cards that read "Bee My Valentine?"
Well, every day can be Valentine's Day when there are bees in your garden.
We captured this image several years ago of a queen bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, nectaring on a spiked floral purple plant, Salvia indigo spires (Salvia farinacea x S. farinacea). She had just emerged from her winter hibernation on a sunny day in November. The site: the Sonoma Cornerstone pollinator garden of Kate Frey. She's the co-author of The Bee-Friendly Garden (with UC San Francisco professor Gretchen LeBuhn), and a world-class garden designer and pollinator advocate.
It wasn't Valentine's Day, but then again, yes, it was!
Every day is Valentine's Day when there are bees in your garden.
A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, nectaring on a spiked floral purple plant, Salvia indigo spires (Salvia farinacea x S. farinacea). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Ooh, this nectar is good! The yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, can't get enough of this salvia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Yes, I can "bee" an acrobat when I want to "bee." A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, on a salvia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Focus Area Tags: Agriculture, Environment, Health, Innovation, Natural Resources, Yard & Garden
Tags: Bombus vosnesenskii (42), salvia (11), Valentine''s Day (4), yellow-faced bumble bee (28)
Valley Carpenter Bees: Drama in the Garden
Some folks call them "bumble bees," but they're not.
In size, the female Valley carpenter bee (Xylocopa varipuncta) resembles a bumble bee, but certainly not in color.
The female Valley carpenter is solid black with metallic wings. The male of the species is a green-eyed blond, fondly known as "the teddy bear" bee because it's fuzzy-wuzzy and cannot sting. Entomologists will tell you that the male and female are dramatic examples of sexual dimorphism. Yes, they are!
We've been seeing a lot of female Valley carpenter bees lately on our blue spike salvia, (Salvia uliginosa). They engage in nectar-robbing: this occurs when bees circumvent the usual plant-pollinator relationship and "cheat" by entering a flower from the outside to steal nectar. They drill a hole in the corolla to reach the nectar, thus avoiding pollination or contact with the anthers.
Similar-looking insects include bumble bees, cactus flies and horse flies, according to California Bees and Blooms, a Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists,by UC-affiliated authors Gordon Frankie, Robbin Thorp, Rollin Coville, and Barbara Ertter. "Carpenter bees are shinier and have less hair than fuzzy bumble bees. Carpenter bees have two pairs of wings, and they have long, slender, elbowed antennae, while fly mimics have only one pair of wings, and short stubby antennae."
The Valley carpenter bee is California's largest carpenter bee.
They're large but they're elusive. They usually don't linger long for you to grab a photo. This one did. It was early in the morning, and like a true human morning person, she declined to move fast.
Don't bug me, I'm trying to wake up. This female Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, peers over a blue spike salvia (Salvia uliginosa) blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The female Valley carpenter bee sips nectar from a blue spike salvia, Salvia uliginosa. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The metallic wings of the female Valley carpenter bee gleam in the sun as she sips nectar from gold coin, Asteriscus maritimus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This is the male Valley carpenter, Xylocopa varipuncta, bee on germander. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Focus Area Tags: Environment, Yard & Garden
Tags: blue spike salvia (1), California Bees and Blooms (20), gold coin (2), Kathy Keatley Garvey (18), salvia (11), Valley carpenter bee (13), Xylocopa varipuncta (27)
Bee-Hold, The Eye of the Bee-Holder
Bee-hold, the eye of a bee-holder.
When you have a "Bee Crossing" sign in your pollinator garden, odds are that bees will cross right in front of that sign.
And it's not always a honey bee.
European wool carder bees (Anthidium manicatum) zip around our blue spike sage (Salvia uliginosa), chasing other bees away and trying to save it for "their girls"--per chance to mate with them.
In the photos below, a male European wool carder bee paused to sip some nectar before continuing his rounds.
Little did he know, a honey bee (on the sign) was staring right at him.
As its name implies, the European wool carder bee, Anthidium manicatum, is a native of Europe. American entomologists initially detected his "immigrant ancestor" in the United States (New York) in 1963, and the species spread west. The carder bee (so named because the female "cards" fuzz from plants for her nest) was first recorded in California (Sunnyvale) in 2007.
"Bee Crossing" signs are favorites in pollinator gardens, not for the bees, but for the humans. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Sign of the times: A European wool carder bees (Anthidium manicatum) is surrounded by honey bees on the "Bee Crossing" sign. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of European wool carder bee nectaring on a blue spike salvia. The eye of a honey bee adds to this photo. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Focus Area Tags: Agriculture, Food, Yard & Garden
Tags: Anthidium manicatum (18), blue spike flower (1), European wool carder bee (13), honey bees (357), salvia (11)
A Reason Why Bumble Bee Population Is Declining
The news is disturbing but not unexpected.
Scientists are linking global climate change to one reason why the worldwide population of bumble bees is declining.
An article published Sept. 28 in the journal Ecology Letters by Florida State University (FSU) researchers showed that bumble bees just aren't getting enough floral resources.
For the study, lead researcher and postdoctoral fellow Jane Ogilivie and six colleagues examined three subalpine bumble bee species in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, and found that the changing climate means fewer flowers.
"Knowing whether climate variation most affects bumble bees directly or indirectly will allow us to better predict how bumble bee populations will cope with continued climate change," Ogilivie told the FSU News Service in a press release. "We found that the abundances of all three bumble bee species were mostly affected by indirect effects of climate on flower distribution through a season."
The FSU News Service aptly headlined the research a "Stinging Report."
"When researchers think about flower effects on bees, they typically consider floral abundance to be the most important factor, but we found that the distribution of flowers throughout a season was most important for bumble bees," Ogilivie said. "The more days with good flower availability, the more bees can forage and colonies can grow, and the bigger their populations become. We now have longer flowering seasons because of earlier snowmelt, but floral abundance has not changed overall. This means we have more days in a season with poor flower availability."
The researchers wrote in their abstract: "Climate change can influence consumer populations both directly, by affecting survival and reproduction, and indirectly, by altering resources. However, little is known about the relative importance of direct and indirect effects, particularly for species important to ecosystem functioning, like pollinators. We used structural equation modelling to test the importance of direct and indirect (via floral resources) climate effects on the interannual abundance of three subalpine bumble bee species. In addition, we used long-term data to examine how climate and floral resources have changed over time. Over 8 years, bee abundances were driven primarily by the indirect effects of climate on the temporal distribution of floral resources. Over 43 years, aspects of floral phenology changed in ways that indicate species-specific effects on bees. Our study suggests that climate-driven alterations in floral resource phenology can play a critical role in governing bee population responses to global change."
Bumble bee expert Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, long ago sounded the alarm that bumble bees are in trouble. He is the co-author of Bumble Bees of North America: an Identification Guide (Princeton) and California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists.
The last bumble bee we saw--the last of the season--was on Sept. 23 at Kate Frey's pollinator garden at the Sonoma Cornerstone, Sonoma. It was a yellow-faced queen bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, nectaring on a spiked floral purple plant, Salvia 'Indigo Spires' (Salvia farinacea x S. farinacea). The queen had apparently emerged from hibernation to find food on that warm summerlike day.
I knelt to capture some images.
"Oh, it's just a bumble bee," scoffed one tourist, casually sipping a glass of wine. "They're everywhere."
Sadly, they're not.
A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, nectaring on Salvia 'Indigo Spires' in Kate Frey's pollinator garden at the Sonoma Cornerstone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Hungry bumble bee, a queen Bombus vosnesenskii, can't get enough of the nectar from the salvia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee heads for the same plant, Salvia 'Indigo Spires,' in Kate Frey's pollinator gardener at the Sonoma Cornerstone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Me, too! Another another bee wants a share of the food--the sweet nectar from Salvia 'Indigo Spires.' (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Tags: Bombus vosnesenskii (42), bumble bee (30), declining bumble bee population (1), Florida State University (1), Indigo Spires (1), Kate Frey (16), Robbin Thorp (238), salvia (11), Sonoma Cornerstone (8)
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A house never builds at once. It keeps on churning the money until the last breath because sometimes, the colour fades, sometimes, the floor gets cracked and blah-blah-blah. Therefore, there is no end here and the budget gets bigger and bigger, creating an apocalypse. Well, an apocalypse is exaggerating, but yeah, near far, it is like this. Therefore, this is always suggestible that whatever you use in building a home, it must be of a good quality as it will reduce the chances of early damage. The biggest most example is choosing the PVC doors and windows so that they are not easily damaged costing twice-thrice to your pocket.
PVC, the Polyvinyl Chloride is the biggest gift to humankind from the material engineering where the sustainability is increased, alleviating the excess cost to pocket, and giving a good option for the long run. Therefore, if you are getting a new home build or you are changing your old doors and windows, then PVC windows and doors are a good option. You can find a plethora of window and PVC door manufacturers, giving an array of varieties within a good price.
But you must ask the question that why only PVC? And, the answer is all here.
The other name for PVC is durability, which is seen to you once you have used it. Well, no exaggerating, but Polyvinyl Chloride has the quality and this is the reason why they are apparently used for making the doors and windows at the beachfront properties. They are anti-resistant to salt water, moisture, precipitations, longing to 10 succeeding years until you hammer it or bombard it. Joke apart!
Now as the durability of Polyvinyl Chloride is discussed, now comes the sustainability. Well, we all know that in making a wood door, a good number of trees are cut misbalancing nature and environment, which is so not the case in the PVC made doors and windows.
While playing a good role in suitability, the PVC also plays a great role in combatting the scarcity of heat by thermal insulation. They are air fit and provide a good temperature to sit in and relax when it is chilling outside.
Versatility: Being versatile is an art and this art is very well embedded in the PVC doors and windows. They have colours, designs, and impeccability in fitting in with the interiors. Therefore, if you are even worried of the interiors, then also do not, as the furnishing made from the PVC is even good in that.
Last but not the least, the security is even not the concern with the PVC fittings as the doors and windows come with many security fittings like the ultra-locks, anti-jemmy devices, etc. However, this is the feature, which differs from manufacturers to manufacturers. So, no matter which door manufacturer you choose, you must ask what securities they provide.
So, with this article, we hope that you are clear about why should you prefer the PVC doors and windows than others.


text:
Lat Mosque (IAST: Lāṭ Masjid, literally "Pillar Mosque") is a mosque in Dhar town of Madhya Pradesh, India. Named after the Iron pillar of Dhar (called "lāṭ" in Hindi), it is also known as Lat ki masjid, Ladh Masjid, Lath Masjid, or Jami Masjid of Dhar.

History

The mosque was built in 1405 CE by Dilawar Khan, the first Sultan of Malwa. Spolia from Hindu and Jain temples were used in its construction.

The mosque is named after a now-fragmented iron pillar (called lat in Hindi), which is located in its compound.

Architecture

The pillars and carved brackets from the former temples can be seen in the colonnade of the mosque's inner courtyard. Hindu and Jain-style carvings can be seen on these pillars. One of the two gates of the mosque is also of Jain style. The mihrabs and minbar of the mosque were designed by the Muslims.

References

Bibliography

Dhar
Mosques in Madhya Pradesh
15th-century mosques
Religious buildings and structures converted into mosques

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


In an age of upheaval characterized by increasing threats to life and to the earth itself, the emotions of grief, fear, and despair are widespread and often overwhelming. Anxiety and depression are rampant. How do we transform our dark emotions into fruitful energies for healing, life-sustaining action, and transformation?


GWB 10/8-10/9 10/8 St. Louis. (Overnight in St. Louis). 10/9 St. Louis.
JK (Overnights 10/7 in St. Louis) 10/8 St. Louis debate. (Overnights 10/8 in St. Louis).
GWB 9/6-9/7 9/6 Poplar Bluff. (Overnight in Kansas City). 9/7 bus tour...Lee's Summit, Warrensburg, Sedalia, Columbia.
DC 8/4 Lee's Summit (sub. KC).
JE (Overnights 8/4 in Cape Girardeau) 8/5 Cape Girardeau.
JK, JE 8/5-8/6 train tour...8/5 St. Louis, Washington, Jefferson City, Sedalia. (Overnight in Kansas City) 8/6 Smithville, Kansas City.
JE 8/15 Springfield. 8/16 Willard.
JK 6/2 Kansas City arrival. 6/3 Independence.
GWB 5/14 Bridgeton (St. Louis).
JK (Continues from 4/30) 5/1 St. Louis.
JK 4/30 Fulton, St. Louis. (Overnights in St. Louis).
JK 3/27 Kansas City, St. Louis. 3/28 St. Louis.
Ralph Nader spoke as part of the "For the Common Good" convocation series at Drury University in Springfield, MO.


text:
from lettuce import before, after, world, step
import os
from contextlib import closing
from journal import connect_db
from journal import DB_SCHEMA

TEST_DSN = 'dbname=test_learning_journal user=ndraper2'
settings = {'db': TEST_DSN}
INPUT_BTN = '<input type="submit" value="Share" name="Share"/>'

@world.absorb
def make_an_entry(app):
    entry_data = {
        'title': 'Hello there',
        'text': '''#This is a post'
```python
    def func(x):
        return x
```''',
    }
    response = app.post('/add', params=entry_data, status='3*')
    return response

@world.absorb
def login_helper(username, password, app):
    """encapsulate app login for reuse in tests

    Accept all status codes so that we can make assertions in tests
    """
    login_data = {'username': username, 'password': password}
    return app.post('/login', params=login_data, status='*')

@before.all
def init_db():
    with closing(connect_db(settings)) as db:
        db.cursor().execute(DB_SCHEMA)
        db.commit()

@after.all
def clear_db(total):
    with closing(connect_db(settings)) as db:
        db.cursor().execute("DROP TABLE entries")
        db.commit()

@after.each_feature
def clear_entries(scenario):
    with closing(connect_db(settings)) as db:
        db.cursor().execute("DELETE FROM entries")
        db.commit()

@before.each_scenario
def app(scenario):
    from journal import main
    from webtest import TestApp
    os.environ['DATABASE_URL'] = TEST_DSN
    app = main()
    world.app = TestApp(app)
    login_helper('admin', 'secret', world.app)

@step('a journal home page')
def get_home_page(step):
    response = world.app.get('/')
    assert response.status_code == 200
    actual = response.body
    expected = 'No entries here so far'
    assert expected in actual

@step('When I click on the entry link')
def click_on_the_entry_link(step):
    login_helper('admin', 'secret', world.app)
    world.make_an_entry(world.app)
    response = world.app.get('/')
    response = response.click(href='detail/1')
    assert response.status_code == 200
    assert 'class="titleDivider"' in response.body

@step('Then I get the detail page for that entry')
def i_get_the_detail_page(step):
    response = world.app.get('/detail/1')
    assert response.status_code == 200
    assert 'class="titleDivider"' in response.body

@step('a logged in user')
def a_logged_in_user(step):
    redirect = login_helper('admin', 'secret', world.app)
    assert redirect.status_code == 302
    response = redirect.follow()
    assert response.status_code == 200
    actual = response.body
    assert INPUT_BTN in actual

@step('a journal detail page')
def journal_detail_page(step):
    response = world.app.get('/detail/1')
    assert response.status_code == 200
    assert 'This is a post' in response.body

@step('I click on the edit button')
def click_on_the_edit_button(step):
    response = world.app.get('/detail/1')
    assert response.status_code == 200
    response = response.click(href='/edit/1')
    assert response.status_code == 200

@step('I am taken to the edit page for that entry')
def taken_to_the_edit_page(step):
    response = world.app.get('/edit/1')
    assert response.status_code == 200
    assert 'id="editbtn"' in response.body

@step('a journal edit form')
def a_journal_edit_form(step):
    response = world.app.get('/edit/1')
    assert response.status_code == 200
    assert response.form

@step('I type in the edit box')
def type_in_the_edit_box(step):
    response = world.app.get('/edit/1')
    assert 'id="editbtn"' in response.body
    response.form['title'] = 'Test edit'
    response.form['text'] = '''
```python
    def func(x):
        print "Edit Success"
        return x
```'''
    redirect = response.form.submit()
    assert redirect.status_code == 302
    response = redirect.follow()
    assert response.status_code == 200

@step('I can use MarkDown to format my post')
def use_markdown_to_format(step):
    response = world.app.get('/detail/1')
    assert response.status_code == 200
    assert "<pre>" in response.body

@step('a new journal detail page')
def new_detail_page(step):
    response = world.app.get('/detail/1')
    assert response.status_code == 200

@step('I look at a post')
def look_at_a_post(step):
    response = world.app.get('/detail/1')
    assert 'Test edit' in response.body

@step('I can see colorized code samples')
def can_see_colorized_code(step):
    response = world.app.get('/detail/1')
    assert '<span class="k">' in response.body

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


With over 25 years in the mortgage industry, MortgageTech has helped companies achieve new installs, harness compliance changes, on-board new loan product lines and just about everything that has impacted this industry. In today's challenging environment, our knowledgeable teams, Encompass LOS customized designs and implementation experience will bring you the expertise and consulting you expect. We work first to understand your company's unique personas, roles and milestone lending workflows, because we understand that no two companies operate the same. We then customize a solution to achieve your companies specialized lending practices.
To on-board Encompass and its supporting solutions and/or outside third-party vendors you must have a systematic approach. In order to have balanced life of loan process, it is important that all integrations are setup and working as efficient as possible from your Point of sale through servicing to include: credit, flood, appraisal, Automated Underwriting Systems, Product and Pricing, Mortgage Insurance, Day-One-Certainty, Disclosures and Closing Documents and let's not forget Compliance. (Just to name a few) If you are lucky enough to offer Third Party Origination, it brings its own set of complexities. Let's face it, to take advantage of Encompass' incredible features, it takes a village.
We work from a collaborative approach to achieve your company's expected Sales to Servicing workflow results. Our MortgageTech Project Managers come from years of applied experience and are eager to share their system knowledge as well as help your company avoid pitfalls and focus on success.
You are the reason we are here. It is important we understand your system environment and your future needs so we can ensure a successful project. We are in it with you for the long haul.
MortgageTech has both Certified Encompass Administrators and Developers to help customize your configuration to effectively automate your unique business flow. Our Developers help by bridging the gap between Encompass and Third party venders thus creating an improved user experience.
We work collaboratively to bridge the gap between dispirit systems that are not natively integrated into Encompass. We acknowledge that integration is vital for a smooth efficient process.
No one is better at implementing Encompass or ensuring lenders get the most out of their investment than we are. The health of your Encompass platform is critical to your bottom line. We've analyzed hundreds of Encompass implementations, so we can tell if a system is not firing on all cylinders—and why. When we analyze your system we look not only at Encompass, we also look at how your system interacts with service providers, third party vendors and the customer experience. Our experts can provide a full under-the-hood analysis and complete checkup that covers compliance, efficiency, file flow and more.
There are many things that can cause slow downs in your system. We look at both your hardware and software configuration and identify what things could be impacting your system.
We review your Encompass settings to make sure they are properly aligned with your Life-of-Loan process. We meat with team members to determine system security and confirm all Personas, Roles, etc. are performing as expected.
We look at your current workflows, by channel, to make sure they are optimized to obtain the greatest efficiency. We also look at all interfaces to ensure they are as streamlined as possible.
We run mock applications through Encompass to get a clear understanding of your customer's experience. We look at both face-to-face and online interactions to help identify areas of improvement.
We provide a full report outlining what items need to be addressed and all are rated from low priority to critical so you can focus on the important items first.


4. The price reported is the weighted average of multiple transactions ranging from $22.45 to $22.85. The reporting person hereby undertakes to provide upon request to the SEC, the Issuer or a security holder of the Issuer the number of Class A Common Stock and the price at which the transactions were effected.
5. The reported amount consists of 12,028 restricted stock units and 12,713 shares of Class A Common Stock. The restricted stock units are to be settled in an equal number of shares of Class A Common Stock upon vesting.


Save on Matting & Mounting Materials at Sonoran Sunrise Grove. Top brands include Toad and Lily, CafePress, Amiley Womens Short Sleeve Tops, & Logan. Hurry! Limited time offers. Offers valid only while supplies last.


You are listening «Klassik Radio - Till Broenner» from Germany, Hamburg, 128 kbps - Jazz/Blues. Listen online Klassik Radio - Till Broenner - Jazz/Blues, 128 kbps. The most important American invention? In our opinion, it is very clear: Jazz. To honor this special genre, we have compiled the most famous and beautiful Jazz songs of the last 60 years. Klassik Radio – Till Broenner is broadcasting in German from Germany, Hamburg.


text:
About Rod D. Martin
Praise for Rod D. Martin
Book Rod to Speak
The Martin Organization
PayPal Mafia
Articles | Most Recent
Rod's Formal Writings
Great Writings
Technology & Markets
The Rod Martin Report
The Myth of Wage Stagnation
Posted by Guest Author | Aug 21, 2018
by Marian L. Tupy
The question of the cost of living in the United States is intimately connected to the issue of the so-called "wage stagnation," which is typically blamed on economic liberalization that started under President Carter, gathered steam under President Reagan, and peaked under President Clinton.
According to a 2015 report issued by the Economic Policy Institute, a pro-labor think tank based in Washington, D.C., "ever since 1979, the vast majority of American workers have seen their hourly wages stagnate or decline. This is despite real GDP growth of 149 percent and net productivity growth of 64 percent over this period. In short, the potential has existed for ample, broad-based wage growth over the last three-and-a-half decades, but these economic gains have largely bypassed the vast majority."
True, adjusted for inflation, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees in the private sector (closest approximation for the quintessential blue-collar worker that I could find) have barely changed between 1979 and 2015. In October 1979, average hourly earnings stood at $6.51 or $21.20 in 2015 dollars. In October 2015, average hourly earnings stood at $21.18 – slightly below the inflation adjusted 1979 level.
Looking at the average hourly earnings, however, ignores at least three very important factors: expansion of non-wage benefits, fall in the price of consumer goods and rise in price of services, such as education and healthcare.
First, in recent decades, non-wage benefits expanded. Today they include relocation assistance, medical and prescription coverage, vision and dental coverage, health and dependent care flexible spending accounts, retirement benefit plans, group-term life and long term care insurance plans, legal and adoption assistance plans, child care and transportation benefits, vacation and sick paid time-off, and employee discount programs from a variety of vendors, etc.
It is not easy to put an exact figure on the value of those non-wage benefits, but they could amount to as much as 30 or even 40 percent of the workers' earnings. The lion's share of the non-wage benefits, as my Cato colleague Peter Van Doren wrote in 2011, is consumed by "the dramatic increase in health insurance costs." "The fixed costs of health insurance," Van Doren shows, "are a much larger percentage of the total compensation of lower-earnings workers."
Second, many, perhaps most, big-ticket items used by a typical American family on a daily basis have decreased in price. Over at Human Progress, we have been comparing the prices of common household items as advertised in the 1979 Sears catalog and prices of common household items as sold by Walmart in 2015.
We have divided the 1979 nominal prices by 1979 average nominal hourly wages and 2015 nominal prices by 2015 average nominal hourly wages, to calculate the "time cost" of common household items in each year (i.e., the number of hours the average American would have to work to earn enough money to purchase various household items at the nominal prices). Thus, the "time cost" of a 13 Cu. Ft. refrigerator fell by 52 percent in terms of the hours of work required at the average hourly nominal wage, etc.
Needless to say, the above price reductions greatly underestimate the totality of welfare gains by an average American, by ignoring qualitative, aesthetic and environmental improvements on commonly used items. (To give just one example, a refrigerator today uses one-third of the electricity used by a refrigerator in the 1970s.)
From the above discussion it might be reasonable to conclude that Americans are much better off today than they were in the late 1970s, but that would be too simplistic. The cost of education, healthcare and housing has risen at a faster pace than total compensation. It is true that today's houses are larger, healthcare better, and education more high-tech than in the past, but quality improvements do not seem to account for the entirety of price increases. For example, there appears to be a high degree of academic consensus that housing price inflation is driven, primarily, by zoning laws. (No such consensus, alas, exists for the rise in education and healthcare costs.)
The question of standard of living is a complex one. The accompanying infographic refers to merely one part of the debate, i.e., affordability of commonly used items. While we believe that the infographic tells an important story, it should be considered within a broader context, including non-wage compensation and offsetting increases in the cost of housing, education, and healthcare.
— The Myth of Wage Stagnation originally appeared at Reason and Human Progress. The accompanying infographic features 16 different household items have fallen by between 52 percent and 96 percent in terms of "time cost" since 1979.
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About Rod Martin
Rod D. Martin is a technology entrepreneur, venture capitalist, hedge fund manager, author and conservative activist from Destin, Florida.
Click Here to Learn More About Rod
Connect with Rod Martin
Praise for Rod Martin
Rod is one of our nation's leading minds. He's smart, original, and very committed—a combination that one rarely finds. Peter ThielPayPal, Founders Fund, Facebook, Palantir
Rod Martin and [former Howard Dean campaign manager] Joe Trippi are America's two foremost experts on online politics. Annual Bipartisan Conference of George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management
Rod Martin is a Reaganite-Thatcherite conservative…[and] a man who has spent much of his life ministering to and working for the benefit of others. I know Rod as an advocate for freedom, a leader who understands the real changes we need in Washington, and who has the drive and ability to make those changes happen. Steve ForbesPresident and CEO, Forbes; Former Presidential Candidate
Rod Martin is the kind of dynamic leader who has the knowledge, ability and experience to lead us successfully into the 21st Century. His vision for America is compelling. Gov. Mike HuckabeeFormer Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate
Rod Martin literally wrote the book on excellence. Humble yet brilliant, a man of love and compassion, with penetrating clarity he illuminates the world around us, and we are both stirred and enlightened. Dr. Gil AmelioExecutive Committee, AT&T; Former CEO, Apple Computer and National Semiconductor
Rod Martin has a proven track record of overwhelming success. I believe in him strongly. Dr. Ronnie FloydPresident, The Southern Baptist Convention
Rod Martin is a born leader and an outstanding political mind. Anyone who takes him on is going to have a serious fight on their hands. Dick DresnerCelebrated International Political Consultant, Credited With Boris Yeltsin's 1996 50-Point Turnaround Re-Election
Rod Martin is a man of uncommon vision and character. Ever since I first worked alongside Rod in the early days of PayPal, I've been struck by his powerful vision for the future. Rod understands the intersection of technology, politics and culture in a way that few others do. Eric JacksonFormer Chief Marketing Officer, PayPal.com; Author, The PayPal Wars; Founder and CEO, CapLinked.com
Rod Martin wears with uncommon grace an uncanny ability to link his vigorous faith to the practical challenges of both the business world and the political arena. Yet the respect he shows for others carries a warmth and modesty that are both too rare among those who are strong advocates of feisty positions. Joel BelzFounder, World Magazine; Former Chairman of the Board, Covenant College
America badly needs more leaders who really get the future. We need more Rod Martins. Randy TateFormer Deputy Whip, U.S. House of Representatives
Rod Martin is a modern day philosopher-statesman. He is a capitalist intellectual, a conservative iconoclast, a gentle adversary and a kind prophet. He inspires us towards a fresh national vision built upon the original founding principles. José GonzálezPresident, Semila
Rod Martin is not only effective and efficient, but he is also perceptive, wise and gracious. He gets things done. He is a great friend and a great ally. Dr. Ted BaehrPublisher, MOVIEGUIDE®; Chairman, Christian Film and Television Commission
Rod is one of the sharpest, most gracious men I know, and one of the most gifted political thinkers today. His ability to analyze issues and communicate thoughtful insights on them have earned him the respect of people across the political spectrum. Dr. Tom AscolExecutive Director, Founders Ministries, Southern Baptist Convention
I am proud to have been Rod Martin's friend for a quarter century, and I can tell you that he is one of the finest men and most outstanding leaders in our church and in our country today. He has a knack for turning everything he touches to success. Hon. Paul PresslerRetired Justice, Texas Court of Appeals; Past President, Council for National Policy
Rod Martin is a cornucopian entrepreneur and eutropic thinker whose influence radiates through an array of companies, institutions, movements and churches. A renaissance American, he is also a prolific friend of freedom and faith around the globe. George GilderFounding Father of Supply-Side Economics, Globally-Recognized Technology Guru
If Rod Martin represents the next generation of leaders, America has nothing to worry about. Hon. John Paul HammerschmidtU.S. House Republican Leadership, 1967-1993
A leader and a servant, in public life and in private, Rod Martin strides at the top of his profession, and has nowhere to go but up. He is in the truest sense of the word 'outstanding'. Hugh O'BrianLegendary Actor; Founder, Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY)
Rod Martin is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished thought leaders today. He is a wonderful mentor, a humble role model, and a deep inspiration for the next generation of scientific innovators and entrepreneurs. Dr. Harald OttOtt Laboratory for Organ Engineering and Regeneration, Harvard Medical School
Rod's achievements pale beside his character and his brilliance. He sees what others can't. He leads when others won't. Jane Russell"40 Most Iconic Movie Goddesses of All Time", Glamour
Rod Martin is one of America's finest young minds. Dr. Edward TellerFather of the H-Bomb


text:
Can heart and passion negate silly mistakes on the field?"
Posted: Fri May 17, 2019 12:33 am
WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections 2016 NFL DraftInjuriesFree AgencyGame FilmIs re-signing Kwon Alexander a necessity? New Ryan Jensen Jersey White ,23commentsCan heart and passion negate silly mistakes on the field?ESTShareTweetShareShareIs re-signing Kwon Alexander a necessity? Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY SportsKwon Alexander is by all accounts an electric player in the locker room and in the huddle for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His exciting style of play and passion for the game and his teammates is evident. After an injury ended his season in 2018, Alexander and the Buccaneers find themselves heading towards free agency without a contract for the young inside linebacker. Many fans feel Kwon needs to be brought back with no questions asked as a young top end linebacker. But is he? Is it truly a necessity to bring back the 24 year old?Let's take a step back and think aloud on this subject. Why Tampa Bay needs to bring back Kwon Alexander. Alexander is the emotional leader on defense. His level of energy shows out on the field and the intensity he plays with makes him who he is as a football player. With a new defensive style being brought to Tampa by Todd Bowles, there's reason to believe the scheme would better fit Kwon, who showed out when given the opportunity rush the passer. On 32 pass rush attempts, Kwon pressured the quarterback on nearly 19% of his pass rush attempts. Kwon returning to play inside alongside Lavonte David and the two being utilized better and more diversely in a Bowles scheme is something many Buccaneer fans are drooling over. After all, Kwon's infectious demeanor is what fans love. Fans love the guys with all the energy, fans love the great life stories and fans love good people which Kwon Alexander is all of those things and more. For all the reasons as to why Kwon is needed for this defensive make-over, what are some of the reasons he isn't? Why Tampa Bay may be just fine without Kwon Alexander.In a scheme that sure sounds like it'll be 3-4 heavy with two inside linebackers, where would this leave Kendell Beckwith? Beckwith played very well in Kwon's initial absence back in 2017. Beckwith is also under contract for 2019 and 2020 at a very low cap hit under $1 million each season. The linebackers will be responsible for a lot of the run lanes while the big men up front eat space and that means one on one tackles. Kwon Alexander has struggled with tackling efficiency and has tallied up 78 missed tackles over his career including 20+ in each of his first three seasons (2018 cut short due to injury). Beckwith on the other hand missed 8 tackles in 2017 with more snaps taken than Kwon, while Alexander finished the season with 21 misses. The biggest factor in this entire off-season scenario surrounding Kwon Alexander will be compensation. Alexander has missed parts of each of the last two seasons due to injuries and his availability due to health is a concern in the long run. If the Buccaneers were to franchise Kwon, the hit a year ago was $14.961 million. That's a hefty amount to pay a linebacker that has been sketchy as a tackler and up and down in coverage over his career. The contract details that Kwon Alexander and his team are looking for may very well be the ultimate deciding factor to whether or not he remains in Tampa. The final verdict. Kwon is not a necessity in a Todd Bowles defense. He just isn't. At the same time, it will be a shame to not have back the infectious attitude that he brings to this team. The smile, the charisma, the speed and the youth that comes with Kwon is something this defense would miss. The Buccaneers have a tough decision to make with Alexander in the near future. With Donovan Smith almost assuredly coming back, the money is getting tighter. Let's see if there's some loose change for a fan favorite. Could the Bucs add a talented player to their secondary?"The Green Bay Packers drafted Ha'Sean 'Haha' Clinton-Dix with the 21st pick of the 2014 draft. He was nicknamed "Ha ha" by his grandmother because people were mispronouncing the "Sean" in his name as 'shawn' when it was intended to be 'seen' - exactly what I bet you just did. Clinton-Dix was a two time national champion at Alabama under Nick Saban. The Packers picked up his fifth-year option after the 2017 season, and former Packers head coach Mike McCarthy even called him one of their core players. But halfway through the 2018 season the Packers traded Clinton-Dix to the Washington Redskins for a fourth-round pick. Now that Clinton-Dix's rookie deal is up, who might he play for next?HAHA CLINTON-DIX'S CAREERTo say that Clinton-Dix has been productive would be an understatement. Since he came into the league in 2014 he leads all safeties in solo tackles with 363 and is second in total tackles. To put that in perspective, of all the safeties that have played in approximately the same number of games (a whopping 80) since then, nobody is within 30 tackles of Clinton-Dix. He's also tied for 10th in sacks with 5.5 and tied for 21st in passes defensed. As if that wasn't enough, Clinton-Dix is tied for 6th with 14 interceptions. In short http://www.buccaneerslockerroom.com/authentic-demar-dotson-jersey , Clinton-Dix has been one of the best, most productive safeties in the NFL since he entered the league. So why did the Packers trade him for just a 4th? It was likely due to several factors. First, the safety market seemed to be weirdly depressed last season. A lot of safeties sat on the market in free agency with few bidders. Second, there were comments that Clinton-Dix's play was overall inconsistent and that he gave up far more big plays than he should have and had a tendency to avoid contact or give poor effort tackling. For what it's worth, Clinton-Dix made the Pro Bowl in 2016, and Pro Football Focus graded him highly in 2018 before the trade:WHY THE BUCCANEERS NEED HIMAre you kidding? The Bucs have a ton of young talent at safety, but nobody that really stands out. Justin Evans is clearly the most athletic of the bunch, but he has problems breaking down ball-carriers in the open field. One reason Clinton-Dix is valuable is because he's so versatile. He's no Derwin James when it comes to rushing the passer, but at 6'0 and 208 lbs Clinton-Dix is comfortable around the line of scrimmage. He can play the robber coverage role in the middle of the field, and he also has the range to play as a single-high safety. In other words, because Clinton-Dix can do everything he allows a defense to be creative and effective in disguising the coverage. The Buccaneers could very much use someone like that. Whether due solely to poor coaching over the years or not, Tampa Bay's safety position has struggled for a long time. Having someone like Clinton-Dix could instantly vault the Bucs' defense into not just respectability, but maybe even...good? Is that allowed? WHAT WILL CLINTON-DIX COST?That's an interesting question. Eric Berry re-set the safety market with a per-year value $1 million more than the next highest-paid safety and a total of $7 million more guaranteed. The Vikings' Harrison Smith and the Dolphins' Reshad Jones are similar players to Clinton-Dix in terms of production. Both are the second and third highest-paid safeties after Berry. They are getting paid $10-12 million per year on deals with a total value of approximately $50 million dollars. Even if you just go by guaranteed money, it's $30 million. Unless the safety market continues to be in a slump, Clinton-Dix could command a hefty salary. WILL IT HAPPEN?It's not out of the realm of possibility. With a new coaching staff, and with cornerback M.J. Stewart rumored to be switching to safety where general manager Jason Licht intended him this whole time, it's possible the Bucs are still sifting through their current players and learning about their strengths and weaknesses and where they might find a role in new defensive-coordinator Todd Bowles' scheme. With all the depth and competition it's possible they expect to sort it out, but it's also possible they don't really love anyone that they already have. Gone (or at least not currently under contract for 2019) are Chris Conte, Josh Shaw, Andrew Adams http://www.buccaneerslockerroom.com/authentic-warren-sapp-jersey , and Isaiah Johnson. That still leaves Justin Evans, Jordan Whitehead, and M.J. Stewart.How do the Bucs feel about the safety prospects in the draft and about the guys in free agency? Safeties on the potential free agency market might include Lamarcus Joyner, Earl Thomas, Tyrann Mathieu, Marcus Gilchrist, Terrance Brooks, Landon Collins, and many, many more. Rookie draft prospects include Deionte Thompson, Nasir Adderley, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Juan Thornill, Taylor Rapp, Darnell Savage, and many more talented enough to go in the top 100 picks.There are a lot of questions that need to be answered before Tampa Bay would probably think about positioning themselves for a player like Clinton-Dix. If Washington doesn't resign Clinton-Dix and he does hit the market, who knows how much he might ask for. As long as teams don't get into a bidding war that drives the cost up Tampa Bay could make room for him, but it might have to give up significant assets to do so. DeSean Jackson comes to mind since his cap hit is $10 million. Is the opportunity cost worth it? But if they get there and free agency repeats itself from last year where a bunch of safeties are just sitting there, they may be able to snag Clinton-Dix or someone like him for a steal.


Homes by the Sea is a TV show on British national television from More4 with an average rating of 3.1 stars by TelevisionCatchUp.co.uk's visitors. We have 26 episodes of Homes by the Sea in our archive. The first episode of Homes by the Sea was broadcast in November, 2018. Did you miss an episode of Homes by the Sea but don't you wan't that to happen in the future? Please set an alarm and add Homes by the Sea to your favourites, so we can remind you by email when there's a new episode available to watch. For free!
Charlie Luxton visits Craster Tower and Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland. In Whitley Bay he discovers a surprising seafront semi and a deceptive modern build overlooking Druridge Bay.
Charlie Luxton visits south Devon to see a magnificent clifftop home, a 200-year-old fisherman's cottage with a stunning view, a stylish 1960s modernist house and a bold 1930s villa.


text:
masterlee@penangfengshui.com
Master Lee
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Travel Australia Feng Shui of Perth, Australia
In feng shui, we always say that "water is money".
Many thousands years ago, men hunted for living in the forest. Then, men started to do farming and fishing, thus they started to depend heavily on water. The four human earliest civilizations are all next to rivers. After that, men started to learn doing trading and where is the best place to do trading, it is near the water i.e. at the river bank and near the seaside. Men migrated from the forest to flat land and then to the river bank. You will notice that many popular cities are all built next to water such as New York, Hong Kong, Singapore and many more.
Do you know why Africa is the poorest continent among all other continents? It is because comparatively Africa does not have a lot of good water compare to the rest. It is in quite a dried land. However, being the driest continent in the world, Australia is doing well because the water there is really clean.
The Swan River at the City of Perth forms a clean water flow protecting the city. If you refer to my bookhttps://www.penangfengshui.com/index.php?pages=book_enjoyyourlife_ebook page 39, I said the houses are located in an auspicious sector known as the 玉带环抱 'yu dai huan bao', a jade belt around your waist. It is like someone hugging and protecting you. Jade belt was a belt worn by ranking officials in the olden China. Hence, if you have a house located at the auspicious sector, your relationship with your family members and people around you will be remarkable and your luck in terms of wealth will be excellent. If you study carefully, the center of the City of Perth is surrounded by the Swan River which ample clean water and it forms玉带环抱 'yu dai huan bao'.
Being a biggest country at the South of the world and south hemisphere of the earth, Australia is a super star as the up and coming star 9 that is going to take over star 8 now is at the South of the later heaven bagua. Period 9 is 2024-2043 and now we are at period 8 2004-2023. Australia is a country full of resources and the world is running short of resources hence it is going to be the time for Australia to shine even more brightly in future.
Also, the star 8 is going to be at the South West in 2016 and Perth is located at the South West of Australia is going to be good in 2016.
Penangfengshui June 4, 2019
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Strong believe in promoting the knowledge of the oriental astrology as it is a wisdom and treasure which passed down by our ancestors.
RECOMMENDED FENG SHUI ITEMS
Cambodia Public Bank and AIA Feng Shui Speeches
Chinese New Year Feng Shui talks for UOB, BSG and Prudential Assurance.
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A visit to Dubai, triggered me to think of this.
Why the Qin dynasty could not last long? 为什么秦始皇建立的秦朝那么短命?
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Happy Monday! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Things around casa de Decor and the Dog were pretty quiet. Nate worked a lot. Ike and I cleaned and cooked a lot. Very housewifely of us. We were able to sneak in some crafting! Well, I did some crafting. Ike dug through my bags and stole supplies.
On Friday I mentioned that I am helping host a Pinterest party as part of a collaboration with Michaels and Hometalk. The party is happening this Sunday! Cue the introvert freak out.
I met with the assistant manager of my local store last week. We discussed which projects she thought would be the most successful. Of course her suggestion was burlap. Gross. Burlap makes me all stuffy but I always like to make things harder than I need to so I went for it. Turns out my sinuses are cool with burlap canvases. I decided to turn my canvas into a memo board for the coffee lover in your life. I think it's darling.
I really have a hard time with super simple crafts. I think it's the blogger in me. More, more, more! The Michaels assistant manager assured me that simple was best. This craft whips up in about 30 minutes. Mainly because you have to wait for some paint to dry.
Here's what you will need to create your own DIY burlap memo board for the coffee/tea/hot beverage lover in your life. All of these supplies can be found at your local Michaels store.
I started by painting my wooden mug with chalkboard paint. I gave it two coats.
Once the mug was dry, I hot glued it onto the canvas. I then eyeballed some ribbon, cut it to size and hot glued it to the back of the canvas. Make sure it's tight so you can easily hang things from it.
I hot glued on paper hearts that I made using a heart punch. You could also paint these if you're super talented.
I then rubbed some chalk all over my mug to "prime" it. (Perform this step after your paint has dried completely. Refer to the packaging as all chalk paint is a little different.) If you skip this step, the first words you write may be stuck on your mug forever.
Hang anything you want from your pretty new memo board using small clothes pins. You can also write on your cute little chalkboard mug now as well.
Now comes the fun part! It's time to craft together. It's like craft night but with strangers!
Click here to find a Michaels near you that is hosting an event on Sunday, February 16th from 1-4pm! I will be at the Davenport, IA location!
Purchase the supplies for your Pinterest inspired project and head to the class room to chat and create with a Hometalk blogger. There are specially marked end caps throughout the store if you're looking for ideas! I'll also show another project idea on Friday!
Don't forget to use those coupons! Grab a coupon for the US or a coupon for Cananda!
Finally, consider joining Hometalk! Hometalk is a home & garden social network where you can clip amazing ideas and inspiration, ask for advice and opinions or share some of your favorite DIY, home and garden posts or projects! Once you have joined follow Michaels on Hometalk to enter to win a $100 Michaels gift card. Five winners will be announced on Hometalk's Facebook page on Feb 17, after the party.
Find me on Hometalk here!
Who's crafting with me on Sunday? I'll be sure to social media (a verb) all of the fun!
Disclosure: This post is part of a sponsored partnership with Hometalk. But the tutorial, project and social anxiety fears are all my own.


text:
Roseland NYC Live
1998 live album by Portishead
Live album by
24 July 1997, Roseland Ballroom, New York City, New York, United States; 1 April 1998, The Warfield, San Francisco, California, United States ("Sour Times" on CD); 3 July 1998, The Quart Festival, Kristiansand, Vest-Agder, Norway ("Roads" on CD)
Go! Discs, London
Portishead chronology
(1997) Roseland NYC Live
(1998) Third
Professional ratings
AllMusic [1]
Rolling Stone [2]
Roseland NYC Live is a live album by English band Portishead, released in 1998 by Go! Discs/London.[1] A PAL format VHS video was released the same year, with a DVD version following four years later.[3] Although the New York Philharmonic is credited as appearing in the video, none of the musicians are members of the Philharmonic, nor is the Philharmonic credited in the audio album.[4]
1 Content
Content[edit]
The album was mixed by Rik Simpson.
Unlike the CD, all the tracks on the DVD were recorded at the Roseland Ballroom. The DVD version has a bonus elements section, containing the music videos for "Numb", "Sour Times", "All Mine", "Over" and "Only You", as well as short films "Road Trip" and "Wandering Star" and the Portishead movie To Kill a Dead Man.
Track listing[edit]
All songs written by Geoff Barrow, Beth Gibbons and Adrian Utley except where noted.
"Humming" – 6:28
"Cowboys" (Barrow, Gibbons) – 5:03
"All Mine" – 4:02
"Mysterons" – 5:41
"Only You" – 5:22
"Half Day Closing" – 4:14
"Over" – 4:13
"Glory Box" – 5:37
"Sour Times" – 5:21
"Roads" – 5:51
"Strangers" – 5:20
"Humming"
"Cowboys" (Barrow, Gibbons)
"All Mine"
"Half Day Closing"
"Over"
"Only You"
"Seven Months"
"Numb"
"Undenied" (Barrow, Gibbons)
"Mysterons"
"Sour Times"
"Elysium"
"Glory Box"
"Roads"
"Strangers"
"Western Eyes"
Credits[edit]
Beth Gibbons — Vocals, guitar
Geoff Barrow — Decks, drums, musical director
Adrian Utley — Guitar, Moog, kabassa, musical director, orchestral arrangements
John Baggot — Keyboards, piano
Clive Deamer — Drums, percussion
Jim Barr — Bass, double bass
Andy Smith — Decks
Andy Hague — Trumpet
John Cornick, Dave Ford, Will Gregory, Andy Hague & Ben Waghorn — Horns
Nick Ingman — Orchestra conductor, orchestral arrangements
New York Philharmonic — Orchestra
Recorded by Keith Grant and David Hewitt on Remote Recording Services' Silver Truck
^ a b "PNYC: Portishead". AllMusic.
^ https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/portishead/albums/album/91086/review/19067806/roseland_nyc_live
^ "PNYC: Portishead — Roseland New York". IMDB.
^ "Portishead – Roseland NYC Live". Discogs.
Geoff Barrow
Beth Gibbons
Adrian Utley
Glory Times
"Machine Gun"
"The Rip"
"Magic Doors"
"Chase the Tear"
To Kill a Dead Man
Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roseland_NYC_Live&oldid=887249383"
Portishead (band) live albums
Live video albums
1998 live albums
1998 video albums
Portishead (band) video albums
Albums produced by Geoff Barrow
This page was last edited on 11 March 2019, at 13:35 (UTC).


Transferring your assets can occur either through a gift or by inheritance. Gifts are defined as transfers made during an individual's lifetime while inheritances are those transfers made after someone's death.
If gifts or estates involve large transfers of money or property, they may be subject to a federal tax as well. While most gifts and estates are exempt from taxes, it is often the case that some people will try to circumvent tax laws by making attempts to avoid paying the gift or estate taxes. This can result in charges of tax evasion, failure to file or falsifying returns.
The gift tax can be applied to any transfer of income or property from one individual to another. However, there are so many exemptions that sometimes the gift tax is applicable only in a small number of cases.
If a gift was made that does not fall under these exceptions and exceeds the annual exclusion amount, you are required to report and pay taxes on the gift. If you fail to follow the guidelines on reporting gifts in excess of the allowed amount, you can be charged with tax evasion.
However, even if a gift does not fit into one of these exceptions and exceeds the annual exclusion, most gifts will still not be subject to tax since each taxpayer has a unified credit they can use for taxable gifts and estates. This credit allows over $5 million in taxable gifts to be made tax-free over a lifetime.
The taxable estate includes all property an individual owned at the time of death plus any gifts made in the three years prior to death. Like gifts, most estates are exempt from tax by way of exclusions and deductions. Furthermore, the same unified credit that can be used towards taxable gifts can also be applied towards a taxable estate.
There are a number of exceptions to the estate tax. Allowable deductions include funeral costs, debt owed at time of death and any property transferred to a surviving spouse. If any part of the estate does not fall under these exemptions, you are required to file with the IRS. Failure to file can result in tax evasion or failure to file charges.
In addition to federal taxes, New York also has a state estate tax. This tax is applicable to individuals who are residents of the state of New York or own property located in New York and that the estate exceeds $1 million in value.
Tax evasion related to gift and estate tax carries heavy penalties so it's wise to be diligent about accuracy when claiming exemptions on any and all of your assets.


text:
Vol 2, No 2 (May 2013) /
John Boyages: "architect" in designing and building innovative programs against breast cancer
Meet the Professor
Eunice X. Xu
Editorial Office, Gland Surgery, China
Corresponding to: Eunice X. Xu, Science Editor. Editorial Office, Gland Surgery, China. Email: editor@glandsurgery.org.
Submitted Apr 07, 2013. Accepted for publication Apr 09, 2013.
Professor John Boyages, MB, BS (Hons), FRAZNC, PhD (Figure 1), is a leading breast cancer specialist who has pioneered innovative approaches in the detection and treatment of women with breast cancer. He is the director of Breast Oncology at Macquarie University Cancer Institute, Macquarie University, Sydney, the founder of Westmead Breast Cancer Institute (BCI) and BreastScreen NSW Sydney West. Nominated as one of four finalists for "NSW Australian of the Year 2013", he and his team have contributed in decreasing the mortality from breast cancer in the West of Sydney with a massive fall of almost 35% since 1992.
Figure 1 Professor John Boyages
The journal Gland Surgery is honored to have an interview with Professor John Boyages to share with readers stories behind his clinical excellence, about the establishment of BCI and BreastScreen Sydney West and his acceptance of the appointment in Macquarie University.
How did you get involved in breast cancer research?
When I finished my medical degree, Sydney Hospital (the first Hospital of the colony in Australia), where I had trained, was closing down. The Government had built a brand new Hospital in Western Sydney (Westmead Hospital) where I started my residency and was initially being groomed to be general physician.
During my internship at Westmead Hospital I was rotated to a term in radiation oncology under Professor Allan Langlands who was Scottish trained from the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary (Scotland, UK). Professor Langlands was the founding Professor at Westmead. He was a visionary leader and was really pushing breast conservation in Australia at the time, as many patients were getting mastectomies. In the end I decided to apply for radiotherapy instead of becoming a general physician. Everybody thought I had gone mad at the time. I became very interested in breast cancer research and I wrote many papers with him.
How did your research interests evolve once you finished your residency?
The same week I had finished my final radiation oncology exams (and thought my study was over!), I was invited to take up a Fellowship at Harvard University under the supervision of Professor Jay Harris, who was - and still is - one of the leading breast cancer oncologists in the world. Of course, I then had to sit the American Board entrance exams, so my study was not quite over. The fellowship involved attendance at multidisciplinary breast cancer clinics at the Dana Faber Cancer Institute, intensive research, a three-month clinical term at the Beth Israel Hospital, and attendance at weekly breast cancer tumour board meetings.
Your dream was to create a multi-disciplinary, specialist team integrating screening, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up all in one location. Now it has been achieved. What inspired you to build BCI?
It was during this time in the USA that really opened my eyes to what we could achieve for patients, which I hoped to bring back to Australia. I worked with an amazing team, including Drs Jay Harris, Susan Love, Craig Henderson, Dan Hayes, Jim Connolly, Stuart Schnitt, Abe Recht and many others. We would see patients together who had been referred from all over the world. At the end of my fellowship, I was offered an assistant Professorship at Boston, but decided to return to Australia in 1989 to take up the position of Staff Specialist in radiation oncology back at Westmead Hospital in Australia.
The design of the radiotherapy unit back at Westmead was confronting: patients with breast cancer were seen in tiny rooms, and were weighed in public; so there were things I just didn't like back in those days. I spent most of my career trying to improve the conditions for patients and would eventually go on to obtain the funding and design the Breast Cancer Institute ("BCI") not only from a physical perspective but from a "one-stop-shop", patient-centred service perspective.
Nominated as one of four finalists for "NSW Australian of the Year 2013", you and your team have contributed in reducing the mortality rate for breast cancer in Western Sydney by almost 35%. How was this big improvement achieved? What changes have you witnessed in the diagnosis and treatment in breast cancer in the last two decades?
In 1990, I very quickly started the Western Areas Breast Group (WABG) and invited doctors to come together for monthly multidisciplinary team meetings. Back then, nearly 400 patients with breast were treated by 70 different surgeons - an average of 6 patients each - and the care was totally fragmented. For example, if a woman saw a surgeon who operated on five patients a year, their mastectomy rate was about 65%; however if you saw a surgeon who operated on more than 10 patients a year the rate was more like 35%.It was my passion to change this particularly after seeing what could be done in the USA.
In 1993, I decided to apply to be the founding director of breast screening in the West of Sydney. I remember one surgeon saying it was an "outrage" that a radiation oncologist could run a screening program! From there I began an accreditation process to link surgeons to our screening program, and also implemented a general practitioner (GP) education program. It was a difficult time, as everyone thought that their income would be affected by the development of specialist breast units. I decided to take an inclusive approach, and use "education" rather than "legislation" to link as many surgeons, radiologists and allied health staff as possible. Breast care nurses were unheard of at the time but were beginning to evolve in the US. We built 6 screening units, two assessment centres and two mobile units and expanded to shopping centre locations. I learnt a lot from the screening program in Vancouver.
From there, we started training specialists of the future, and so we began a Fellowships program. We have trained over 40 fellows since the BCI was formed in 1995. So the basic approach is: Strong leadership, a governance structure, budget control, bring teams together, fund raise and develop education and information strategies for patients and doctors. It wasn't done on our own, two cancer centres were built in the region that extended over a large area with a high proportion of non-English speaking background (http://profile.id.com.au/wsroc/home).
Compared with other hospitals, how does BCI benefit breast cancer patients?
The BCI, and my new organisation the Macquarie University Cancer Institute, has multiple facets that benefit patients with breast cancer. All patients are seen pre-operatively by a multidisciplinary team and discussed with the disciplines of surgery, pathology, radiation oncology, medical oncology, genetics and breast care nursing. We have 8 clinic rooms, 2 digital mammography units,4 ultrasound machines, and space for research and education. Equipment is shared for patients being recalled after an abnormal mammogram and patients having follow-up mammograms after breast cancer treatment. Our eight, BCI "Sunflower Clinics" (Figure 2) (4 screening units in Myer lingerie department, and 4 in community hospitals) are linked by the internet to a radiology reading centre. We have three MDT teams that assess new and post-operative patients, a benign clinic and a family history service. We have an on-site physiotherapy, allied health and nutrition and psychology clinic. For more information see: www.bci.org.au or www.mqci.org.au.
Figure 2 The first of eight "BCI Sunflower Clinics" at Myer Parramatta
Is BCI duplicable for other countries? What could breast cancer specialists learn from BCI?
We receive a lot of visitors from across the world. There are elements from the many breast centres I have visited or worked at in the genetic makeup of the BCI. I have seen elements of it duplicated in the UK and elsewhere, particularly when our international fellows return home. A lot of the model depends on different funding and governance mechanisms in different countries.
Is there any story to be shared with us, such as the particular challenges, setbacks, or successes that you've encountered along the way of establishing BCI?
Successes: developing a statewide directory of breast cancer specialists where patients could find out about their doctors' expertise, delivering national live broadcasts to rural patients, and implementing digital screening units in the lingerie departments of the Myer department store. Setbacks- yes-with success always comes failure. My biggest set-back was the resistance I received initially from the radiology department and the breast screening unit who didn't want to move their service to our one-stop-shop service and share their equipment. We finally got there but it took many years and more grey hair! I see lots of patients with small screen detected cancers. One patient, yesterday, said, "I stopped going to screening when the mammogram unit was on the fourth floor at a public hospital (its old location) and there was no parking. I am so thankful for the BCI sunflower clinic in the shopping centre-easy parking, quick and friendly staff."
BreastScreen Sydney West was one of the first breast screening service in Australia to be able to transmit digital images from all screening sites to its central image reading centre, seconds after a woman finished her mammogram. How has this service changed the diagnosis of breast cancer? What is the uniqueness of such a screening service?
I was invited back to direct the screening unit in 2007 having left it in 1995 when I established the BCI. We merged it into one comprehensive screening, diagnosis and treatment program underpinned by research and education. We built 8 digital screening units in 8 months- it was a phenomenal achievement and could not have been achieved without the enormous efforts of the BCI staff, GE health care, Myer and the Area Health Service. We reduced the time of reading the films from over 20 days to less than seven. Patients were waiting up to 6 weeks from their first mammogram to be assessed if an abnormality was picked up. We managed to reduce this down to 2 weeks. We introduced strict quality control processes on all patients who underwent a core biopsy and then linked all patients with a cancer diagnosis to our treatment teams facilitated by our breast care nurses. Making screening more accessible in shopping centres certainly makes the service more accessible for women. I always say, that by the time the women reached the escalator, her X-rays were sent through the internet back to home base ready to be read at Westmead Hospital. I had finally achieved my vision to link the whole thing together. We finally got there by 2008.
Can breast screening service in BreastScreen Sydney West be introduced to the world?
Yes it can. It's quite simple once you understand that you need a leader, a driver, you need all traditional departments to give a little-surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, breast screening and for everyone to understand that the focus has to be on the patient and not their own "turf".
What drives you to step outside of Westmead for Macquarie University?
I am an "architect" in many ways. I enjoy designing and building new programs. After 17 years as the director of the BCI, and after finally integrating the screening program as an important step of the breast cancer treatment program, having 70 excellent staff, multiple centres and exceptional clinicians and a healthy budget, it was time to move on. I'm very proud of the BCI, but after 18 years the "parent" must separate from the "young adult" for the next generation to take over. I was recently given an Emeritus Professorship at Westmead Hospital and still very much enjoy research and teaching at Westmead.
The technology at Macquarie University Hospital here is mind-blowing. We installed the first contrast mammogram in Australia and our patients have access to PET scanning with an onsite Cyclotron. We have also introduced a new technology called VMAT: Volumetric assistance technology (VMAT) which is particularly useful for patients with left sided breast cancer or with breast implants receiving post-mastectomy radiation. It's a technique that delivers a high dose where the cancer is and a lower dose around the normal tissue. It's like painting-on the radiotherapy. The hospital is a dynamic, can do place and it is centered in a expert and dynamic, agile University, nearly 50-years old with expert and dynamic academic staff and researchers. We have started an Advanced Lymphoedema Assessment Clinic, a multidisciplinary team of experts who assess and treat patients with intractable lymphoedema. We are testing liposuction and lymph-node transplant.
What inspired you to write your book - Breast Cancer: Taking Control (Figure 3)?
One evening, I took a phone call from a Doctor whose wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She was pregnant and had already had a mastectomy: she was told she needed a caesarian section at 34 weeks and had not yet seen an oncologist. I was so angry. If doctors couldn't get the proper treatment for their wives, then what hope did the general community have? So from that weekend I started writing the book: that was the trigger point for me.
Then I kept writing. I enjoy writing - I use a lot of gardening analogies in my consultations and my book. I've nearly finished another book for patients titled 'DCIS of the Breast: Taking Control'. My DVD, Clinical Breast Examination: Taking Control is aimed at teaching health professionals about how to take a history, examine the breast, where to look for recurrences and how perform the triple test. I find that most doctors I meet during their training struggle doing a proper breast examination. See the book's web site for more details: www.breastcancertakingcontrol.com.au.
Figure 3 Breast Cancer: Taking Control
Disclosure: The author declares no conflict of interest.
Cite this article as: Xu EX. John Boyages: "architect" in designing and building innovative programs against breast cancer. Gland Surg 2013;2(2):116-119. doi: 10.3978/j.issn.2227-684X.2013.04.06