The Southeastern Naturalist publishes articles that make me jump up and down with excitement. Most people, upon learning I read such obscure journals, think I'm weird, but I don't care. I think people who waste money at outlet malls on junk they don't need are weird. Anyway, what could be more exciting than an account of a coral snake swallowing a baby copperhead? A photograph of this occurrence (previously unknown to science) was published in the above mentioned journal. For some reason I can't directly link the photo to my blog but the below link will lead to it.
Coral snakes are in the same family of snakes as the deadly cobra. Like the cobra, their venom is a neurotoxin that can cause respiratory failure. Unlike America's other poisonous snakes, however, coral snakes have small fangs and often can't penetrate human skin. They are a shy small snake growing to just 3 feet in length and will retreat when approached by man. When they do bite, they cling on like a bulldog rather than striking and releasing. Each year, only an average of 15-20 people are bitten by coral snakes. One study found that 2/3rds of these bites occurred because an idiot picked the snake up. 33% of these idiots were drunk when they handled the snake. Coralmyn is the anti-venom used to counteract coral snake venom. Pfizer stopped making the drug in 2010 because bites are so rare it wasn't profitable to make it. So be sure not to get bitten by a coral snake or the doctor will be standing around without a cure.
Coral snake range. The eastern's closely follows coastal plain pine forests.
Coral snake. I've never seen one. When distinguishing between similar-colored snakes remember red on yellow will kill a fellow.
Scarlet king snake aka milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum). Remember red on black is a friend of jack. I did see one of these once at the Congaree National Park.
Scarlet snake (Cemophora coccinea) A nocturnal species that feeds on other snakes' eggs.
Coral snakes are fossorial creatures preferring to live in sandy soils that support pine and scrub oak forests. They emerge from their burrows to hunt in the leaf litter for other snakes, lizards, frogs, birds, small mammals, and large insects. There are 76 species worldwide but only 3 live north of the Rio Grande. The eastern coral snake (Micrurus fulvius) lives east of the Mississippi, the Texas coral snake (Micrrus tener) lives west of the Mississippi River, and the Arizona coral snake (Micruroies euryranthus) lives in that state and Mexico. Some herpetologists think the eastern coral snake and the Texas coral snake are the same species.
Pleistocene fossils of corals snakes are scarce. Coral snake fossils dating to the Pleistocene have been found in at least 3 sites in Texas including The Cave without a Name site, and Fyllon Cave; and they've been found in at least 4 sites in Florida–Vero Beach, Williston, Reddick, and Inglis. Some unidentified snake vertebrae from various fossil sites across the southeast may be of this species. More than 3 species of corals snakes probably occupied North America during the Miocene and early Pliocene, but Micrurus fulvius or its immediate ancestor must have been the only one that evolved the ability to survive frosts by moving to underground burrows when the weather turned cold. Burmese pythons and American crocodiles often make the fatal mistake of basking in the sun on cold days rather than seeking shelter. This habit is what limits the range of many tropical species of reptile.
This beautiful strip of land on the border between Kentucky and Tennessee was originally known as land between the rivers. The Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers flowed parallel to each other and often flooded the land in between. The floods enriched the soil, creating fertile farmland, but they were disastrous to homesteads. By the 1920's a once-thriving iron smelting industry began disappearing because the trees being used to fire the blast furnaces had largely been felled. During the Great Depression the people living here had depleted most of the natural resources, and floods were ruining their only other remaining source of income–agriculture. The Federal government saved the region by creating the Tennessee Valley Authority. The TVA dammed the 2 rivers, creating Kentucky Lake and Lake Barclay, and in the process provided many much needed construction jobs and a long term source of hydroelectric power and flood control. The Land Between the Lakes was protected and trees grew back.
Black walnut trees are once again common in the forests of Land Between the Lakes. This surprised me.
Thanks to the public works projects of the 1930's, thousands of hillbillies and rednecks were elevated above poverty. Ironically, today this region is a stronghold of Ron Paul followers who believe in free market Laissez-Faire economics, lax regulations, and no taxes–a return to the policies that wrecked this region almost 100 years ago. They reject the federal government, the entity that literally saved their lives then. The stupidity and ignorance of Ron Paul supporters is astounding. If these tea baggers think the government is so bad, why do they want to be in it?
Land Between the Lakes is the greatest natural area I've ever visited. From my cursory 5 hour survey, I estimate the upland is covered in about 80% hardwoods, 15% meadow, and 5 % pine.
Much of 18th century North America from Ohio and Pennsylvania south to middle Georgia and Alabama looked like this. Note the buffalo wallow. There were buffalo wallows all along the road that went through the Elk and Bison Prairie within Land Between the Lakes.
Biologists use fire to establish these 18th century-like landscapes. Imagine bigger trees and this is what much of the eastern half of the continent looked like when the pioneers first crossed it. Many Pleistocene landscapes probably looked much like this as well.
Dominant trees include white oak, post oak, southern red oak, black oak, shagbark hickory, pignut hickory, sycamore, black walnut, sugar maple, red maple, mimosa, and cottonwood. Willow grows in the low areas. There are some wetlands but most were inundated by the reservoirs. I recognized 3 species of pine–shortleaf, white, and Virginia. I notice on the range maps that this population of Virginia pine is a disjunct one. Birch, juniper, and ash are also present. I forgot to try and identify the kinds of grass that grows in the meadows here but purple coneflowers and various species of coreopsis were blooming in abundance.
Coreopsis is abundant in meadows this year everwhere from Augusta, Georgia to LBL. Heavy spring rains made for a good wildflower year.
Most of the mature trees look to be about 80 years old, but I did see 1 exceptionally large white oak growing on land within "The Home Place," a replica 1850 farm. This oak may have been growing on private property, and landowners saved it from the shortsighted iron smelters who were cutting all the trees down from 1870-1925.
I estimate this white oak to have a diameter of almost 6 feet. Primeval forests consisted of widely spaced trees such as this. Imagine the photo of the bison wallow above juxtaposed with bigger trees like this one. Many shagbark hickory sapling grow in the shade of this oak. Several nice specimens of mature shagbark hickories grow nearby.
LBL is 250 square miles, and there probably are other trees surpassing this one in diameter.
I enjoyed LBL much more than my trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The latter is crowded and holds little wildlife accessible to the public. We saw only a few people in LBL during mid-morning hours and maybe a few more in mid-afternoon. Despite the heat wave, an unfortunate stroke of luck, we saw lots of wildlife. At the Elk and Bison prairie we ran into a herd of bison and a flock of cattle egrets. They hardly noticed us. We also saw 2 small flocks of turkeys.
These bison must be used to cars. They didn't budge, though the nursing calves hid behind the cows. Note the cattle egret, and the bison's coat in the process of shedding. Bison wallows occur all along the road and flattened bison patties are visible.
Cattle egrets, an African species, naturally colonized North America within the last century. Nobody knows exactly when or how. Presumably, a few flew here.
This is a mounted elk at the visitor's center. Unfortunately, I must be destined to never see a wild elk. The hot weather forced the elk to bed down in the shade where I couldn't see them.
We saw several wild white-tailed deer in broad daylight, despite the heat, but they wouldn't stay still for a photo. They are in their beautiful red summer coats. This is the time of year 18th century market hunters killed them for their hides. A buck skin was worth a dollar then, hence the slang "buck" for dollar. I suspect a person traveling through the length of LBL during dusk or dawn would see dozens of deer–LBL is just ideal habitat for them and so is the adjacent Fort Campell and Fort Donelson Battlefield Park.
In addition to turkeys and cattle egrets, I saw brown-headed cowbirds, bluebirds, purple martins, eastern kingbirds, black vultures, turkey vultures, an unidentified hawk, a great blue heron, cardinals, and crows. The Woodland Nature Center is a little zoo within LBL for orphaned and injured animals.
Timber rattler. Accounts of early white explorers suggest rattlesnakes were abundant in pre-Colonial Kentucky.
LBL is 20 miles from any town that is big enough to have a decent hotel. From Augusta, Georgia a traveler can choose from hotels in Clarkesville, or Paris, Tennessee. (There are plenty of campgrounds within LBL, but I like to sleep behind locked doors where tv is available.) We stayed at the Westgate Inn in Clarkesville and enjoyed a spacious clean room, a reasonable rate, an indoor swimming pool, and a generous breakfast bar, plus we got to witness a loud dispute between a tattooed customer suffering from a severe case of PMS and the hotel management who with the help of the police were trying to evict her and her family.
Jim Oliver's Smokehouse Restaurant in Monteagle, Tennessee. The food was so good we ate here for lunch on the way to LBL and on the way back to Augusta. It's like a museum inside.
This restaurant deserves high praise for serving authentic fried pies.
Fried chocolate pie !!! Words can't describe how good this is.
The fried pies sold in grocery stores are made with regular pie crust and taste like cardboard. Real fried pies are made with fluffy biscuit dough and resemble doughnuts. Jim Oliver's Smokehouse offers apple-pecan, peach, coconut, chocolate, and blackberry. I had the peach. On request they serve it with homemade ice cream. One of the waitresses told me the fried pies sell out everyday.
Mounted bobcat, ruffed grouse, and gray fox on top of an antique piano. That's a particularly large specimen of bobcat (and fox). This bobcat's hind leg is bigger than my pet cat's entire body.
While traveling home on I-24 through Nashville, we drove alongside Mitt Romney's tour bus by accident. What a coincidence.
Yep, it is. If the American people are stupid enough to vote for a man who says "Corporations are people too, my friend," than they deserve what they get.
For those readers who don't regularly follow my blog but might come across this entry on a random engine search, it's necessary to resummarize my favorite fantasy which I irregularly discuss here. I fantasize that I live in east central Georgia 36,000 years ago before there were people in North America. I live in an adobe brick home with a garden, pasture, and fruit orchard surrounded by a stone fence designed to keep animals from consuming my food supply. I try to live as rustic as possible, but I did bring some modern conveniences back in time with me such as electrical generators, refrigerators, and televisions. I'm connected to the present day through a time tunnel in case I need to see a dentist or doctor and with cables running back and forth so I can communicate through internet and satellite television with the present day. The climate 36,000 years ago was an interstadial with pleasant conditions–much cooler than the present in summer, but only a little cooler in winter. I have a lighthouse-like tower connected to my home so I can view the surrounding countryside, and I make forays outside my protected area for scientific research, hunting, fishing, and nature photography. The land behind my homestead is a mesophytic slope forest consisting of beech, hickory, Critchfield's spruce, and many other species. The land in front of my home is a dry upland savannah with oak, pine, and grass. Canebrakes grow along the streams, chestnuts forests grow on the high dry ridges, and there are many other interesting environments including virgin white pine forests, and an extensive burned over area where berry bushes and other second growth are resprouting. The whole vicinity is rich in pre-historic wildlife.
Because I don't want to return to the present, unless there is an extreme emergency, I try to be completely self-sufficient. This requires knowledge of applied chemistry. I need to make ethanol, lye, ammonia, and saltpeter. Woodstoves would greatly reduce my need for electical energy, yet I would need to generate some electricity for refrigeration and entertainment. Therefore, ethanol would be my most critical need.
These woodstoves are at least 100 years old. They put out an amazing amount of heat. A person could lay in this pavilion in the middle of a windy winter's night and still stay warm, thanks to just 1 of these stoves. There is a thermometer attached to the front, but I think I'd also have an electric stove for convenience and more accurate cooking.
Wood stoves put out an incredible amount of heat. I would have several of these in my adobe house, and in my backyard under a pavilion in case the electrical power wasn't working, and I needed to cook during the summer when it would be too hot to burn wood inside. Wood stoves strategically placed in the kitchen, living room, hallway adjacent to the bedrooms, and near the bathtub and toilet would preclude the need for central heating, and thus save a lot of power. However, in my kitchen I'd also have an electric stove for convenience and precision.
I'd also have parabolic solar trough collectors to generate electricity, but solar heating doesn't work at night nor during cloudy days, necessitating an electrical generator that uses fuel. In previous incarnations of this fantasy I've suggested that I would manufacture wood alcohol (methanol) from the abundant available wood. However, I actually studied the manufacture of wood alcohol and learned that it produces poisonous waste products and requires difficult to manufacture acids. The thought of manufacturing wood alcohol began to aggravate and eventually ruin my fantasy. Instead, I've switched to ethanol or grain alcohol (ethanol). I learned that Jerusalem artichokes, also known as sunchokes, yield the most ethanol of any cultivated plant–more than sugar cane, sorghum, or corn. This wonder vegetable can produce up to 1200 gallons of ethanol per acre which is probably far more than I'd need. Sunchokes grow like a weed and need little to no cultivation. They grow in my real life yard, and I did nothing to propagate them after originally planting about a half dozen tubers 10 years ago. They're in the sunflower family but produce no edible seeds. Instead, little tubers that taste like water chestnuts (but much superior in taste to the canned ones) grow at the ends of the roots. Some little tubers always remain in the ground after harvesting, so there is never a need to replant because they regrow thickly no matter how thoroughly they're dug. In fact, I've accidentally spread them to other parts of my garden from sunchoke peels I put in my compost.
Diagram of a still to make ethanol. Much safer, cleaner, and easier to make than wood alcohol (methanol), the substance I originally fantasized about making to run my Pleistocene electrical generators. Jerusalem artichokes produce the best ethanol yield of any plant–1200 gallons per acre. Jerusalem artichokes grow like a weed and need little to no cultivation.
Converting sunchokes to ethyl alcohol is a simple process. Add yeast and a little sugar to crushed sunchokes to instigate fermentation. Then boil the "sunchoke wine" and condense the steam in a still to distill the alcohol (C2H6O) into a more pure form. Incidentally, if I was desperate for alcohol to get drunk, both the wine and the liquor would be drinkable, unlike wood alcohol which is a deadly poison. This alcohol is good to use for my generator and vehicles.
Making my own soap requires the manufacture of lye (NaOH). Again, this is simple applied chemistry. To make lye, add rain water to wood ashes collected in a barrel. Ground water has too many dissolved minerals that might interfere with the chemical reaction. Let the ashes dissolve in the rain water. Then to make soap mix grease (animal fat, peanut oil, or etc.) to rain water. Boil with a mixture of ammonia, borax, salt, and sugar. When cool add the lye diluted with rain water. (If lye is added when the mixture is hot, it will explode.) Shape into bars. If a perfumed soap is desired, pine needles or flowers can be used to infuse the soap early in the process.
This is about all the equipment necessary to manufacture ammonia.
Ammonia (NH3) may be the simplest chemical compound to make. Urinate in a bucket and add water. Cover the bucket with a top that has air holes. Evaporation converts the urine to ammonia, a strong base that can be used as a cleaning agent and an ingredient in soap.
Colonial manufacture of saltpeter, an ingredient in gunpowder.
I suppose I could easily bring back in time a lifetime supply of saltpeter, but let's imagine I forgot it and want to avoid a return trip through the time tunnel. Used in small quantities, saltpeter helps preserve meats such as bacon, smoked sausage, corned beef, and ham. It's the ingredient that makes those meats turn an appetizing red from what otherwise would be a dull gray. It can also be used as an ingredient in gunpowder which I wouldn't need because I'd use bows and arrows. To make saltpeter (KNO3), it's necessary to collect the nightsoil underneath the chicken and goose houses and milk cow barn. Put the nightsoil on top of a layer of sand in a vat with an outlet hole. Add water and collect the effluvium that exits the outlet hole in a copper pot. Boil this liquid and saltpeter is the precipitate. It can be scraped off copper sticks and the bottom of the pot.
I wouldn't need gunpowder, but for the record it's made from saltpeter, charcoal, and sulphur. To make charcoal (which I would make once a year for grilling) all that is needed is a type of smokestack known as a retort. Stack pieces of wood in the bottom half of the smokestack and let burn slowly. Vents need to be on the bottom half of the smokestack, so enough oxygen can enter and keep the slow burning fire going. Sulphur is supposedly abundant, but I'd need to locate a sulphur spring and evaporate the water to concentrate the element. The only sulpur springs in Georgia I'm aware of is clear on the other side of the state. But I doubt I'll have any use for gunpowder in my fantasy Pleistocene world.
Nice illustration of male and female cowbirds. During the Pleistocene there were twice as many species of cowbirds as there are today. Cowbirds require fragmented habitat with a mixture of woodland for nest parasitism and grassland for foraging.
70% of large mammal species became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, but very few birds did–evidence supporting overkill models of extinction over those of climate-induced ecological change. Of the few species of birds that did become extinct, almost all were commensal species dependent on the existence of abundant populations of large mammals. Most of the extinct Pleistocene birds were condors, vultures, and eagles–the scavengers that relied on carcasses of mammoths, mastodons, and other megafauna. But there were also 2 species of cowbirds that depended on large herds of grazing animals, and they couldn't survive the North American extinctions of the grass-eating mammoths and horses.
Cowbirds are in the blackbird family. There are 2 extant and 2 now extinct species. The brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) occurs all across the continent, while the bronzed cowbird (Molothrus aeneus) is restricted to the southwest. Fossils of the Pleistocene cowbird (Pandaneris convexa) have been found at the La brea tar pits in California, at least 2 sites in Florida, and 1 in Virginia, so evidentally it was widespread. Pyelorhampus sp., another Pleistocene species, left fossil evidence in New Mexico. Its geographic range is unknown. Fossil evidence of the 2 extant cowbirds has also been found in Pleistocene fossil sites. Cowbirds abounded in the world of the Pleistocene because ecological conditions were ideal for their lifestyle which is a fascinating one.
During spring and early summer cowbirds spend early morning hours hunting woodlands for other bird's nests. When they find a nest filled with eggs, they carefully wait for the parent to leave. As soon as they have a chance, the cowbird will lay her egg on the other bird's nest and abandon it to be cared for by the unwitting other bird. This is known as obligate brood parasitism. Non-obligate parasites are birds that parasitize nests of their own species. The cowbird is an indeterminate egg layer capable of laying 30-40 eggs over a 2-3 month period. That equates to at least 30 parasitized nests per cowbird. No wonder they're so plentiful. The cowbird chick usually hatches first and is so much bigger than the other nestlings that they outcompete them for food and may even shove them out of the nest.
Cowbird chick in the nest of another bird species. Note it's about 4 times bigger than the host nestlings. Few nestlings survive the competition with the bigger chick.
Very few nestlings ever survive a parasitized nest. Cowbirds are known to successfully parasitize 144 out of 220 bird species, but many birds have developed successful defensive strategies. Shrub nesting birds such as kingbirds and mockingbirds mob and drive off cowbirds before they can lay their eggs. Birds that live in deep forest are more naive than shrub-nesting birds, but some learn to recognize a cowbird egg and will knock it out of the nest. Others build a new nest over the old one and lay a new clutch of eggs. One report mentions a 5 story nest built over repeated parasitic attempts. And a few species simply abandon the nest and build a new one elsewhere. Some parasitized nests are doomed to failure because the diet of the host species is too dissimilar. Cowbird nestlings can't eat food brought by gulls and hawks because it's too meat-centric, while that brought by house finches is all seeds and not enough insect. Nevertheless, cowbirds are so successful that in 1 year they replace 100% of numbers killed in biological control programs meant to protect endangered species such as Kirtland's warbler.
Efforts to control cowbird populations are probably misguided. Anthropogenic habitat destruction is the cause of every single listing of a bird on the endangered species list. Cowbirds are only part of the natural mortality these birds have evolved with for millions of years. Some ecologists fret about the habitat fragmentation caused by modern development and how this creates habitat favorable to cowbirds but detrimental to deep forest species such as vireos and warblers. However, Pleistocene environments in North America south of the ice sheet are interpeted through pollen records as having been a patchy fragmented mixture of woodland and grassland–the ideal habitat for cowbirds.
After spending spring and early summer mornings searching though the woods for a nest to parasitize, the females fly to the grasslands and join the males. They closely follow herds of bison (formerly) and cows (more commonly since the 19th century) because they prefer short-grazed grass over tall grass. Although insect diversity is higher in tall grass, grasshopper and leafhopper density increases in short-grazed grass, providing the birds with a banquet. The shorter grass also gives the cowbirds greater visibility, so they can avoid predation. The cows themselves give the cowbirds a place to perch where they can get an even better view of possible danger.
Brown-headed cowbirds survived the end of Pleistocene extinction because of their close attachment to bison. Pandaneris convex may have had a closer attachment to mammoths and/or horses–the 2 other great grass-eating beasts of the Pleistocene. And when they became extinct in North America so did this species of cowbird. Perhaps, the paleoindians even saw them perched on the backs of mammoths and knew them as mammothbirds.
In late fall and winter different species of blackbirds (cowbirds, red-winged, rusty, grackles) flock together. They are the only large flocks of birds I ever see. Most other flocking birds have been decimated and are rarely seen in the numbers of yesteryear.
A ~15 pound snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) crossed Hephzibah-Mcbean Road a few weeks ago. I decelerated my Toyota Corolla and took a closer look, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera and couldn't take an original photo. This part of the road is at least a mile from any body of water, so it was surprising to see an aquatic animal that far from any creek or pond. The encounter inspired a little research of chelonian literature. I now know the turtle was a female. Male snapping turtles never leave water unless their pond dries up. But females travel as much as a mile from water to dig a nest where they deposit their eggs. This habit seems like an evolutionary disadvantage because the long slow trek to water for hatchlings and mother increases the risk of predation. Birds and small mammals take a heavy toll on hatchlings. One report in the Journal of Mammalogy notes a case of a black bear tearing the shell off an adult snapping turtle, a potential problem in wilderness areas, though in today's developed world, automobiles pose the greatest risk to adults. Yet, the risk is worth it to avoid inbreeding and to facilitate the spread of the species over a wide geographic area, ensuring there will be turtles in place to inhabit newly created ponds. Apparently, the decrease in fertility from inbreeding combined with the chance of becoming isolated in ponds that eventually dry out eliminated more turtles from the gene pool than predation of turtles on their long overland colonizations.
This snapping turtle must be a female looking for a place to lay eggs.
Snapping turtles are omnivores, eating aquatic plants, small invertebrates, fish, frogs, small mammals, and ducks. Their horny beaks are dangerous weapons capable of destroying a duck or removing a finger from a careless human. They can grow up to 45 lbs. and live to be 50 years old. After they reach 5 lbs. or more they become a top predator in their environment. They are still common everywhere, even in city and suburban ponds, and they were even more plentiful in pristine Pleistocene times. So plentiful in fact that along with other turtle species, they were probably a more common item in the diet of the paleoindian than the extinct megafauna were. Turtle shells have been found associated with Clovis tools at many archaeological sites including Aubrey, Texas; Blackwater, New Mexico; Kincaid Shelter, Texas; Levanille, Texas; Shawnee Minisink, Pennsylvania; and Sheridan Pit, Ohio. Turtle remains from the latter site were specifically identified as snapping turtle. Turtle was an abundant and easily procured source of protein for paleoindians, and nutritionally served up a double bonus. In addition to the meat female turtles traveling overland carried 30-40 eggs–an important source of fat, vitamins, and minerals. Turtle eggs are supposedly every bit as delicious as chicken eggs. However, there is a curious characteristic about them that differentiates them from chicken eggs. When boiled the yolks turn solid, but the whites remain runny no matter how long they're boiled. Georgia Leonard Herter, author of the Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices, claims turtle eggs are superior to chicken eggs for baking.
I've never eaten turtle meat, and I rank it second only to squirrel of wild game meats I'd like to try. (I collect vintage cookbooks. They all have nothing but good things to say about squirrel which is reputed to make an excellent gravy.) 100 years ago, turtle was popular across the country, and every fine restaurant served turtle soup. Now, it is relegatd to regional delicacy, popular only in Louisiana and a few mid-Atlantic states. Most kids today, raised on a sanitized diet of pizza and chicken nuggets, would probably be revolted by the idea of eating turtle. I was amused to read some woman complain on her blog when she bought snapper soup, mistakenly believing she was buying red snapper soup, not turtle soup. (Fish soup in a can didn't sound bad enough?) When she came home and carefully read the ingredients, she was outraged and grossed out. She blamed the company making the soup as if they were being deliberately deceptive. She thought it bizarre that anyone would eat turtle. My objection to turtle meat is the price and availability. There is none, not even canned turtle soup, sold in any Augusta, Georgia supermarket at this present time. I used to see the canned soup, but not anymore. Online prices are $18 a pound, not including shipping. I'm not paying that kind of price for meat that's probably tough and best put through a meat grinder.
I suppose I could always catch one. The way to kill and clean turtle is gruesome. One is supposed to tease the head with a stick. When the turtle snaps and latches on the stick, its neck is extended, and a short hatchet can be used to chop off the head. Euell Gibbons then suggests scrubbing the shell down with soap and water to wash off the mud before butchering. I may have to wait for the apocalypse and desperate circumstances to go to that much trouble for protein.
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Forget Holiday Debt — This Should Be Your Top Financial Priority Right Now
Pandemic sparks surge in home appliance sales | Yle Uutiset
State resumes requiring job searches to get benefits
October 20, 2020 admin	0 Comments
Texans receiving unemployment benefits will need to show an active effort to find a job starting Nov. 1.
The Texas Workforce Commission suspended the requirement in March as the pandemic started. More than 3.6 million have filed for unemployment relief since then, according to Texas Tribune research.
Workforce Executive Director Ed Serna said the state continues to suffer from the pandemic, "but we're seeing employment opportunities begin to bounce back in Texas as our economy restarts. There are opportunities out there, and getting Texans back to work and businesses up and running again will create even more."
Abhi Rahman, Texas Democratic Party communications director, called the action "wrong and emblematic of Republicans who will do the most cruel thing imaginable every chance they get."
"These are Texans who are struggling to put food on the table or fighting off evictions," Rahman said. "These are Texans who have lost everything due to no fault of their own."
Workforce officials report 695,000 jobs are available at WorkInTexas.com, the state's online portal. Texas Workforce also reported the state's unemployment rate jumped to 8.3% in September, up from 7% in August.
Big-time advocate in small town
A small-town Texas librarian is making big waves as an advocate for universal broadband access.
Dianne Connery, director of the Pottsboro Area Library, is spotlighted in Arizona State University's ShapingEDU's blog for her efforts to make high-speed internet available in her town of 2,000. Pottsboro is about 75 miles north of Dallas.
The article notes she helps library users with their online medical appointments, works to create wifi hotspots around Pottsboro for students during the pandemic, and teaches people how to use Google Drive. She also drives around town testing to show where broadband coverage has been exaggerated by service providers.
"Working in a rural library, I talk to people every day who struggle with not having access to broadband," Connery said. "Their stories inspired me to work to improve conditions. In particular, I saw how young people do not have the same experiences and opportunities as kids in the suburbs and urban environments."
Burning like a heat wave
La Niña conditions threaten to make this a dangerously dry and warm winter and spring in much of Texas.
A La Niña event could lead to a drought and a summer heat wave similar to the weather pattern that smacked the state in 2010-11, according to Nelun Fernando with the Texas Water Development Board. Other factors might affect the amount of rainfall between now and the summer, he said, but already 18 counties in West Texas and the Panhandle are experiencing exceptional drought.
"We can say with some certainty, though, that the die is loaded toward drought persistence over West Texas through the winter and possibly through spring," Fernando said.
Giving Texas the business
The Aggies and the Longhorns aren't likely to finish No. 1 in football this season, but Texas can celebrate a national championship in economic development.
The state ranked No. 1 for the eighth consecutive time in a survey of U.S. corporate executives. The survey was announced at the International Economic Development Council's annual conference, which was held virtually in Dallas.
Executives preferred Texas over No. 2 Georgia by a wide margin. North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee round out the top five. Factors cited in the ranking: overall business climate, a favorable tax climate, a pro-business environment, and access to talent.
Carve out Halloween fun with care
Halloween activities will need to be more thoughtful this year to be safe during the pandemic, the Texas Department of Health Service advises.
Trick-or-treating from door to door is considered a high-risk activity for spreading COVID-19 and should be avoided, according to the state health department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People also should avoid attending crowded indoor costume parties and going to an indoor haunted house or on a hayride with those who are not part of their household.
Instead, the state and federal health agencies recommend lower-risk holiday activities such as carving pumpkins, decorating at home and having a virtual costume party. Moderate-risk activities include participating in one-way trick-or-treating where goodies are left at the end of the driveway; having a small group, outdoor, open-air costume parade where people are 6 feet apart and wear protective masks; and visiting pumpkin patches where people use hand sanitizer, wearing masks is encouraged or enforced, and people are able to maintain social distance.
Costumes with facial coverings are not sufficient replacements for proper cloth face masks, officials said.
"Do not wear a costume mask over a protective cloth mask because it can be dangerous if the costume mask makes it hard to breathe," the CDC advises. "Instead, consider using a Halloween-themed cloth mask."
Chris Cobler is a board member and past president of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. He welcomes email at ccobler@texaspress.com.
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Harry Winston to open salons in Las Vegas and Taipei
January 6, 2004 by JCK Magazine
The House of Harry Winston, America's premier jeweler and one of the world's largest and most prestigious jewelry empires, will open two new salons in 2004 in Las Vegas and Taipei, Taiwan, Ronald Winston, chairman and managing director of Harry Winston, said Tuesday in a statement.
The 1,000-sq.ft. Las Vegas salon will open in fall 2004 in the new extension of the celebrated Forum Shops at Caesars. The 800-sq.ft. Taipei salon will open at the Regent Formosa Hotel. Both will feature the Harry Winston trademark arched doorways and sycamore wood panel interiors, similar to the firm's Tokyo and New York salons.
"With the openings in Taipei and Las Vegas, where many of the great brands of the world are located, Harry Winston will add another set of gems to the Harry Winston constellation of salons," said Ronald Winston. In addition to Tokyo and New York, Harry Winston has exclusive retail salons in Beverly Hills, Geneva, Paris, and Osaka.


Melted plastic, organic material, expanded foam, honeycomb cardboard, and pigment. 46" x 38" x 17"
Pigmented expanded foam, burnt wood, paper, branches, cardboard. 59" x 18" x 72"
Ceramic pot, branches, pigmented expanded foam, leaves, wood, metal stand. 97" x 34" x 26"
Melted plastic, paper, pigmented expanded foam, acrylic, resin. 31" x 30" x 18"
Melted plastic, pigmented expanded foam, acrylic, resin. 48"x 48"


of existing W3C work in this space.
could imaging that browsers would use DANE to get information about e.g.
of requirements for that work.
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text:
A Cabinet Reshuffle for a Much Needed Course Correction
Posted by harimpeiris on August 19, 2021
(Published in Groundviews on 18th August 2021)
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, approximately a third of the way into his term of office, carried out the most significant mid term cabinet reshuffle in recent Sri Lankan political history. The closest in scale and scope was about 18 years ago when President Chandrika Kumaratunga arrogated to herself the ministries of Defence and Internal Security and inducted Lakshman Kadirgamar as Media Minister into the rather difficult co-habitation government with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, a precursor to the latter's even more tortuous relationship with another SLFP president, Maithripala Sirisena.
However the SLFP's effective political successor, the SLPP, has carried out an even more significant political reshuffle. Considering the preceding induction of Basil Rajapakse as Minister of Finance, with the same portfolio being divested from the Prime Minister and the current reshuffle, signifies some changes in government tactics at least, a change in the batting order, if not in the team, and some possible changes in the game plan.
When Covid-19 first made its appearance in Sri Lanka, in March 2020, the new administration elected in November 2019 and facing an unsympathetic lame duck parliament was intent on conducting the general elections and a lockdown was declared only after nominations were received. Similarly, as the latest and most virulent Covid-19 wave surges in the country with record number of daily deaths and infections, the focus of the Administration seems to be on more political rather than public health concerns. However, in the current context, good public pandemic management would be good politics. However, social media seemingly indicates that there is quite a bit of skepticism regarding the Government's pronouncements and actions especially with regard the real Covid situation in the country.
Taking over the mantle of the Health Ministry is Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, whose claim to fame was as Media Minister during the war years under President Mahinda Rajapaksa where he worked well with the military. Clearly the new Health Minister will continue to be a good spokesman and speak his lines clearly in the military dominated, public health exercise. He could perhaps use the trust he has built up with the military hierarchy to reassert the primacy of the health sector professionals in the fight against the pandemic. After all fighting against viruses requires an altogether different skill set to fighting against terrorists. Hopefully the maiden November budget of Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa would see a shift to public health care and indeed education instead of increasing peace time defense expenditure.
The most significant of the political changes wrought by the cabinet reshuffle, is the inducting of young Namal Rajapaksa as Minister in Charge of Development Coordination and Supervision. If, as the Duke of Wellington famously claimed, the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eaton, it may well be that at a future date the new Development Coordination Minister would claim that the development battle for Sri Lanka was shaped on the rugby grounds of that school by the sea in Mt. Lavinia. The development challenges facing the young minister are considerable. Poor fiscal policy keeps Sri Lanka at the lowest rung of tax revenue as a percentage of GDP while a loose money policy is fueling inflation and putting enormous pressure on the exchange rate, which cannot be contained by banning imports. A political ideology, which declines American financial grants not loans (MCC) and denies foreign direct investment from India (East Container Terminal/ECT) while we are starved for foreign exchange, does not leave the new minister or indeed his uncle the new finance minister, much scope for action. The shock therapy of the overnight organic fertilizer only policy, six decades after its better-known language equivalent, may well have similar profound effects, this time on Sri Lanka's still agrarian economy, as yields and production begins to decline.
Foreign policy is another area that shifts to yet another distinguished old Thomian, Professor G.L. Peiris, the devolution package advocate for President Kumaratunga, the former peace negotiator with the LTTE for Ranil Wickremesinghe and of course in his most recent avatar, the chairperson and an ideologue of sorts for the majoritarian ethno nationalist Sri Lanka Podujana Perumana (SLPP), the political vehicle of Sri Lanka's first family. Foreign policy has been, one suspects, largely shaped for the SLPP by the generals, or rather, the admiral running the show at the Republic building; it will be interesting to see if the new minister will seek to remake Sri Lanka's foreign policy by rebuilding our relations with India, strengthening our traditional non-alignment and improving relations with our largest export markets nations of the West. The as yet unresolved issues of post war reconciliation also find their locus now in the Foreign Ministry, as human rights and reform of the PTA drive the GSP+ process and Sri Lanka continues to be on the UNHRC agenda through our country specific resolution. Engagement, or the absence thereof, with Sri Lanka's diaspora community is also in the purview of foreign affairs.
The good professor's predecessor at the Foreign Ministry, Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, takes over education at the time when the school teachers are on strike, demanding the rectification of all their long running salary and service anomalies. It remains to be seen if the scion of the Boralugoda lion can use his vast public service experience and political acumen to resolve the issues faced by teachers, the largest category of public servants by far. Sending the president of the teacher's union for enforced quarantine is best not repeated. We are still a multi-party democracy governed by the rule of law and not an absolute monarchy nor a military dictatorship. As the courts recently observed, quarantine regulations do not override the constitutional liberties and rights granted under the constitution.
The first SLPP Administration at the end of about a third of its term of office signals some desire for a tactical if not a strategic rethink and an operational regrouping and redeployment. It remains to be seen if the significant personnel changes it has made will translate into policy changes. All Sri Lankans, for our collective well-being, should wish our new ministers every success in their future endeavours.


text:
Christmas miracle: Cat reunited with family after 3 years
Allen Cone
Raja was reunited with Sean, his wife Stephanie and daughter Emily in Delaware are disappearing three years ago in Florida. Photo courtesy of Brandywine Valley SPCA
Dec. 25 (UPI) -- A family received an unexpected present before Christmas -- they were reunited with their cat after it was missing for three years.
A 6-year-old Bengal mix disappeared from the Florida home of Sean, Stephanie Emily Tuttle in 2014. They searched for Raja but ultimately assumed the animal was stolen.
But the cat turned up in Georgetown, Del.
A man had brought a stray cat into the Brandywine Valley Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' Georgetown campus. Staff at the no-killed shelter identified the cat through its microchip.
The family was tracked down to its home, which now is in Virginia.
"This is certainly one of the most amazing reunifications I've experienced - a Christmas miracle," Walt Fenstermacher, director of operations at the Georgetown Campus of the BVSPCA, said to The News Journal in Delaware.
The family came to the Georgetown Campus on Friday to finally bring Raja home.
The Georgetown campus of the Brandywine Valley SPCA opened this year. The BVSPCA started operations in Chester County, Pa., in 1929.
Snake catcher removes venomous serpent from Christmas tree New Jersey police officer goes out onto the ice to rescue dog Florida cat recovering after being impaled by crossbow bolt
P. Diddy
Preparing for inauguration of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris


text:
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Displaying 30 course results
1-10 of 30 courses
Cities: Governance, Planning and Design
London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Executive Education
London TBD 1 week
Oxford Programme on Negotiation
Oxford June 19-23, 2022 5 days
Mastering Design Thinking
February 3 - May 9, 2022 3 months
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, CUHK Business School
Hong Kong S.A.R., China TBD 1 year
Master's in Strategic Digital Transformation
Washington, D.C. TBD 2 years
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Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics
Portugal TBD 81 hours
International Executive Master's in Emergency & Disaster Management
Personality, Authenticity & Leadership Presence
Zürich July 4-6, 2022 3 days
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Problem Solving and Critical Thinking for Leaders
Saint Mary's University, Sobey School of Business
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CAD $4,950
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York University, Schulich School of Business
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Keyword: master in public management


QWhen Do I Start Paying A Stafford Loan?
A After you graduate, leave school, or drop below half time enrollment, you have a six-month grace period before you begin repayment on your Stafford loan. Your loan servicer will send you a repayment schedule and monthly statements before your first payment is due. Please note that even if you do not receive this information, you are still responsible for beginning repayment on time.


1964 Fender Twin Reverb (pre CBS)...this amp is in everyone's top ten list of great amps.
Divided by 13 FTR37... probably my favorite amp. hand built by Fred Tacone in LA.
Dr. Z Carmen Ghia... two knobs, volume and tone. What else could you need?
2003 Bogner Shiva... Marshall-like tone but clear and solid on the low end.
Victoria 45410... an exact replica of a Fender '59 Bassman.
Orange PPC412 Cabinet... 4-12 cabinet will make your Marshall sound better.
OK, if you're a guitar player and don't know these basics, then you deserve Amp Farm™. This is the foundation on how to get and develop your tone.
First, always turn on the power switch and wait for about a minute before switching the standby on. This allows the tubes to heat up a little which will extend their life. Reverse the process to shut down. Never turn an amp on without a load (speakers) or you may damage the output transformer and power tubes. Always match the impedance of the amp with the speaker cabinet.
The Studio – live to the left, dry to the right.
My studio was designed by Rosati Acoustics (Boston, MA). The control room features Kii Three's for stereo mix down. For surround, Genelec 1031's (LCR) and Genelec 1030's for the rears. This is all bass managed with dual Genelec 7071 subwoofers. The soffits house a pair of Genelec 1038's. I have Amphion One15's (powered by an Amphion Amp500) and Auratones on a Sound Anchors powered lift. (NS10s available) The room was tuned by acoustician Mike Chafee.
Separate machine rooms isolate the noisy equipment from the mixing area. I have a set of ASC Tube Traps and Taytrix StackIt gobos.
The studio features a live area that is all red oak and stone. It's very quiet. A separate vocal booth doesn't have to be for vocals. It actually sounds good for drums! Tons of mics, tons of pre's, tons of fun.


Protect your employees from the sun, heat, and rain with a heavy-duty commercial pop-up tent or industrial umbrella from AFT Fasteners. These versatile products provide instant shelter while on the job site and are easy to take down and move as needed. Our tents and umbrellas meet CPAI-84 flame resistance code, which is mandatory for many construction and industrial related job sites. Order online today or contact us if you're looking for a product not currently listed on our website.


This Christianity beliefs video from The Fuel Project explores the coming New World Order from a Biblical perspective.
In this part we begin looking at the insidious Jesuits and their founder Ignatius Loyola. Here are the links referenced in the video.
To see images of Roman Catholic worship of Babylonian and Egyptian gods, worship of the Sun, the all-seeing eye of Satan, Dagan the fish god, and the Satanic hexagram which represents 666, click on Roman Catholic antichrist.


Set in an attractive cobbled courtyard, this candlelit bistro/wine bar is a taste of an older, more civilised world. Uniformed French waiters glide unobtrusively between tables where small groups of pinstriped gentlemen and glamorous ladies enjoy a refuge from the bustle of the city. Open only on weekdays, the Bleeding Heart also offers excellent French food, a superb selection of wines, and a groaning cheeseboard.
Bleeding Heart Bistro clubs, bars, cabaret nights, casinos and interesting nightlife.
What are the best dining options near Bleeding Heart Bistro London?
Bleeding Heart Bistro gyms, sporting activities, health & beauty and fitness.
The best pubs near London Bleeding Heart Bistro.
Where to have your meeting, conference, exhibition, private dining or training course near Bleeding Heart Bistro.
From cheap budget accommodation to luxury 5 star hotels see our special offers for Bleeding Heart Bistro hotels, including The Zetter Hotel London from 77% off.


My Online Presence is a dynamic, energetic and innovative software development company based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Co-founded by Andrei and Daleen Dimitriu, we specialise in creating the ideal custom software solutions for small, medium and large enterprises in South Africa and abroad. We provide services in business analysis, consulting, custom software development and maintenance of our custom-developed systems.
At My Online Presence, your business is always our first priority. We specialise in building and developing iOS and Android Mobile Applications, Customer Relationship Management Software (CRM), custom internal business solutions, Content Management Systems (CMS), eCommerce solutions, as well as SMS and USSD services. We will ensure that it comes in a good-looking package too! Our applications and products are visually appealing, user-friendly, and will give your brand the edge it needs to stand out. Whether you are a business looking for customised digital solutions, or if you are simply looking for a consulting partner to advise you on your existing software, My Online Presence can be your independent software partner.
So, you are not based in Johannesburg? No problem! The benefit of working online is that we can offer you services in the comfort of your own office, anywhere in the world. We are dedicated to helping you find the best digital solution you need and building long-term relationships, no matter where you are. Contact us today for more information and find out what we can do for your business.
My Online Presence is a dynamic, innovative and honest company shaped by our founders as well as by our loyal clients. We approach every project with dedication and hard work to ensure you are provided with quality solutions. It is in our interest to see your business prosper and grow.
We want to provide our clients with a reliable solution to their software requirements and become their number one technical partner. We strive to not only provide our clients with a powerful online presence, but also empower them to create and promote their own digital ecosystem by using our expert tools and services.
We want to remove paperwork, and convert complicated manual business systems into a simple digital business solution. We are all about creating user-friendly systems that our clients and their customers love to use.


text:
Dunn Deal? Slugger to Sign With Nats
By Matthew Stabley	• Published February 11, 2009 • Updated on February 11, 2009 at 4:30 pm
WASHINGTON -- Looks like D.C. baseball fans will have something else to cool them off at the park next season: The Nationals appear to be on the verge of adding a big, oft-errant swing to their lineup.
Sources told the Washington Post that slugger Adam Dunn will sign a two-year, $20 million deal with Washington, possibly as soon as Thursday.
Dunn would be the big bat the Nats lack. Last season, the team was second worst in the National League with 117 home runs in 2008.
Dunn's known almost as well for his low batting average (career .247), high strikeout rate and questionable defense as he is for his power, but that offensive production is hard to ignore. He has hit at least 40 home runs in each of the past five seasons and driven in at least 100 runs in four of those season.
Like most power hitters, that pop is accompanied by a lot of strikeouts, but it also means pitchers try to stay away from his wheelhouse. Dunn draws a lot of walks and has a .381 career on-base percentage to show for 'em.
Dunn, who seems like an ideal designated hitter, primarily has played first base and left field. The Nats' outfield already is crowded enough.


Half the fun of house hunting is visualizing the fun you'll have when the seller clears out and the place is yours, all yours. But wait one second, partner - once the seller is gone, so is a rich repository of information about your new home. Most sellers know things about their/your home, and the neighborhood, which could make your life much easier, for years to come.
1. What's the history of the house? Many state disclosure forms and laws require the sellers to divulge a number of things about the history of the property, from how it's been maintained, to what systems have broken down, to whether someone has died on the property. However, you might like to go deeper, finding out such things as whether the property was a rental, whether they recommend a set maintenance schedule (grab the gardener's number, if you like the lawn!) for any part of the property, or whether they are aware of any interesting stories about past inhabitants or uses of the property that might provide useful or just plain old interesting information.
b) learn about any upgrades or improvements the seller has done to the property, and request everything from names of paint colors, to warranties, receipts and instruction manuals for appliances that sometimes get inadvertently packed away, moved and tossed away.
2. Where to go and who to know? Home sellers can be the best source of infomation that doesn't seem super important, but can actually take a long time to figure out yourself, like which of the 6 dry cleaners on the main drag does the best alterations, or which neighbor organizes the Neighborhood Watch or the pug playgroups.
If your home is in a homeowner's association, or HOA, of course you received several hundred pages worth of HOA disclosures, but the seller might be able to just point you to the community's DVD library or the board meeting room, or show you where you can find the carts you can use to bring bulky items up in the elevator from the parking garage. I've even seen above-and-beyond sellers leave binders full of menus from their favorite neighborhood delivery spots.
3. What surprised them when they moved in? Pleasantly or otherwise - moving in is always the occasion for a surprise (or a dozen!). They might have been surprised at how friendly the neighbors were, how much light a particular room gets at a given time of day, how many people could fit around the table in the dining room at Thanksgiving or how noisy/quiet the school across the street is. If they were surprised, you might be, too - so it's great to know what shocked them before you move in.
4. Where is it and how does it work? Where do you take the trash out to, and on what day of the week? Where are the emergency water and electrical shutoffs, the breaker box and the utility meters? Where's the thermostat or the special wrench that turns on the gas fireplace? How does that work? Some of these are things a good home inspector will cover, but if yours didn't or you weren't able to make the inspection, some kind home sellers will happily brief you on these items.
5. Is there anything you'd like to leave? There are really two flavors of this question. First, you might have your eye on some item of the seller's personal property, like a perfectly-sized print or perfectly-shaped breakfast booth, that you'd like to buy from them - if so, make an offer!
And second, the seller might get partway through their move when they realize they want no part of patching up the wall behind the flat-screen or trying to angle that impossibly long couch back out the window they had to bring it in through, so they'd rather just leave it. I've seen sellers offer very nice pieces of furniture and electronics to buyers, gratis or for a price, when offered the opportunity, via just this question.
6. What did I forget to ask? Whether you're a new homeowner or new to the area, this is where you throw yourself on the seller's mercy and ask them to tell you anything you might have forgotten to ask. It's not overkill to exchange phone numbers or email addresses - now, every transaction isn't this friendly or cordial, but many are or could be. It's definitely in your best interests to leave the transaction on good terms with the seller, if possible, for reasons karmic and utilitarian.
Okay - that's just stuff I've personally learned when asking sellers this catchall question, but I can't recommend it strongly enough!
Despite the fact that real estate transactions can get adversarial on occasion, the fact remains that the average home seller wants to be helpful, and wants their home's buyer to be happy. When these two wants collide, if you ask the right questions (okay, so there are more than 6 - but you get the gist!), you can save yourself untold amounts of research, time and energy! P.S. - You should follow Trulia and Tara on Facebook!


We're celebrating International Women's Day on Episode 433 of Folk Roots Radio as we sit down with Canadian singer-songwriter Emily Jean Flack to chat about her music and new E.P. "Throwing Shapes". We also check out more music from female artists including new releases from Carly Thomas, Madison Violet, Our Native Daughters (Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell), Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage, Jen & John, Tret Fure and Kat Danser. It's a great episode. We hope you'll take a listen. Check out the full playlist below.


The photos below are of Alan. He is a stunning male seal mink spotted Bengal kitten. His coat soooo soft! He loves attention and will make a wonderful addition to a new family. Contact us now if you are interested in him. UPDATE: Alan is now on hold for Kelly. The photos below show Alan at 6 weeks old and at 3 weeks old. He is truly a stunning mink and a lot of fun. The photo of him standing is not retouched. He does things like this and I was lucky enough to catch it on camera :-).
The photos below are of Alan at 3 weeks old.


Keep all your valuables tucked away nice and secure even when you're in a firefight in the Venetian Alps. We don't recommend getting in a firefight if you can help it, but we suppose it doesn't hurt to prepare.
Being prepared for battle means having all the tools you need attached to your hip. Your battlefield may actually be a boardroom or lecture hall and not necessarily the streets of Amiens, but the point stands. You need to be able to carry all the essentials for whatever you may be dealing with.
The Battlefield 1 Satchel comes with four total compartments, including the main one, for holding all the daily necessities you require. The bag is black with accents of orange on the trim. Adjustable carrying strap for your comfort so you don't lose all those secondary weapons when you're dashing across the parking lot because you're late for work.
Black canvas bag with orange trim.
1 open front pocket 12" x 11 1/2"
1 front 2-zip pocket 11 1/2" x 10 1/2"
1 pocket inside the satchel for carrying your laptop 11 1/2" x 11"
Main compartment 12" x 14 1/2"
Care Instructions: Hand wash only. Do not iron.


text:
247 F. 2d 410 - Abbate v. United States
247 F2d 410 Abbate v. United States
Louis Joseph ABBATE, Michael Louis Falcone, Charles G. Perry and James Shelby, Appellants,
UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
No. 16226.
United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.
Rehearing Denied September 9, 1957.
Charles A. Bellows, Chicago, Ill., Frank F. Mize, Forest, Miss., Quitman Ross, Laurel, Miss., and Jason Ernest Bellows, Chicago, Ill., for appellants, Louis Joseph Abbate and Michael Louis Falcone.
Robert E. Hauberg, U. S. Atty., Richard T. Watson, Asst. U. S. Atty., Jackson, Miss., for appellee.
Before RIVES, JONES, and BROWN. Circuit Judges.
RIVES, Circuit Judge.
The four appellants were jointly indicted for conspiring1 to commit the offense denounced by 18 U.S.C.A. § 1362,2 that is, willfully or maliciously to injure or destroy means of communication operated or controlled by the United States. The overt acts charged extended over a period of ten days, from April 19 to April 28, 1955. A strike was then going on by the Communication Workers of America, CIO, against the Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company.3
The defendants Shelby and Perry were officers of the Communication Workers of America, Shelby being an assistant to a vice-president stationed in Washington, D. C. and Perry being President of the Jackson, Mississippi local of that union. Abbate and Falcone were residents of Chicago, Illinois. Norman D. McLeod, also named in the indictment as a co-conspirator but not indicted, was on parole from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary where he had been serving a sentence for armed robbery. He turned state's evidence and was the first and perhaps the principal witness for the Government.
Prior to arraignment, Shelby and Perry filed a joint motion for a severance and separate trial, setting out that Abbate and Falcone had been convicted in the Criminal Court of Cook County, Illinois4 for a crime based upon the identical acts charged in this case, and that, subsequent to their arrests in Illinois, Falcone and Abbate had made lengthy confessions and statements implicating Shelby in the alleged conspiracy. Their motion for severance was overruled.
McLeod's testimony consumes nearly 200 pages of the typed record. He testified in detail to the formation of the conspiracy and to the acts of each of the conspirators. If believed by the jury, his testimony sufficed for the conviction of all four defendants. Its credibility, however, was severely attacked, not only because of its inherent weakness as the testimony of a co-conspirator, but also because of his conviction of grand theft in California and of armed robbery in Oklahoma. Further, McLeod admitted to a long career of criminal dynamiting, and had refused to testify for the Government until assured by one of the attorneys for the telephone company that "he would see to it" that McLeod was not indicted for conspiracy, and, apparently, that promise had been kept. The Government, therefore, made every effort to corroborate McLeod's testimony.
The taxicab driver who had transported McLeod from Canton, Mississippi to Jackson, Mississippi was produced, as was the Chicago bartender in whose tavern the conspiracy had been hatched. Abbate was the only conspirator other than McLeod whom the bartender could definitely identify. The Government then introduced an investigator for the Illinois Bell Telephone Company and a detective attached to the Chicago Police Department, who testified at great length concerning the statements and admissions of Abbate which did corroborate McLeod in many particulars, including operation sheets and maps showing details of the planned criminal dynamiting. Over the strenuous objections of Shelby and Perry, the testimony as to Abbate's statements and confessions was admitted for the time being as against all four defendants, with the court stating,
"After its over, I shall tell the jury as to how to weigh the evidence. It's incomplete at this time. The case is incomplete and I, myself, I am not fully informed to instruct the jury."
This testimony was received about the middle of the week-long trial.
The Government continued to present a most impressive case. It introduced experts to prove that the Government operated and controlled many of the telephone circuits planned for destruction. It showed by former co-workers of Shelby and of Perry that they had worked on Government circuits and were familiar with their operation and control. It proved Shelby's transportation to Chicago and his registration at a hotel there under an assumed name. It proved by a stenographer that she had retyped the operation plans at the instance of Abbate and Falcone. It proved by two young women residents of Jackson, Mississippi, that, at Perry's request, one of them had accompanied McLeod on a tour of inspection to familiarize himself with the installations to be dynamited, the young woman posing as his wife to allay suspicion in the event they were questioned. As an impressive closing witness, the Government introduced Frank Furlic, Esquire, Assistant State Attorney of Chicago, Illinois, who had interviewed Abbate and Falcone. The court again declined a mistrial and separate trial as to Shelby and Perry, and declined to limit the consideration of Abbate's and Falcone's statements to the one making the statements, stating that "* * * when it comes time to charge the jury, then, I will tell them what the law is."
At four fifteen on Friday afternoon, the last day of the trial, the court commenced its lengthy (more than forty typed pages) charge to the jury. When that charge had been more than half completed, the court finally got around to instructing the jury as follows:
"Now, as to these two men, when they were arrested by the officers and were placed in prison, they no longer had any power to commit acts or to do things that might bind the others and for that reason, while I had some question in my mind at first, a careful examination of the law has convinced me that I should charge you that insofar as their statements to the police officers up there are concerned, and to the extent that they may involve anybody else, it is not to be considered against the other person. In other words it can be considered against them alone and it can, even though they were out of the conspiracy that evidence is admissible against them for the purpose of proving that they were parties to the conspiracy. In other words, they can make admissions insofar as they are concerned and it is receivable in evidence to be received along with all the other evidence to determine whether they were parties to the conspiracy."
It is not necessary now to rule on whether the district court abused its discretion in overruling the joint motion of Shelby and Perry for a trial separate from that of Abbate and Falcone,5 for upon the plainest of principles it is clear that the judgments of conviction against them must be reversed. At the time of their statements, Abbate and Falcone were no longer parties to the conspiracy. Permitting their statements to be received in evidence against Shelby and Perry was error which could not be cured by the mild admonition contained in the court's final charge to the jury.6
As against Abbate and Falcone, the case is different. They undertook to withdraw from the conspiracy and to secure a bid of some six thousand dollars from the telephone company for the maps and operation plans. They had themselves, however, already committed overt acts and had dispatched McLeod on his mission of criminal destruction. Their crime was then complete,7 and their subsequent withdrawal could be considered only in the fixing of their punishment.
While the conspiracy was in progress, Abbate and Falcone were bound by the knowledge of Shelby and Perry that many of the circuits to be destroyed were operated and controlled by the Government. Further, the jury could well find that they conspired to stop all communications over any of the cables or facilities regardless of who operated or controlled the circuits, and were bound by what would have been the natural consequences of their conspiracy.8
The destruction by dynamite of some of the facilities near Jackson, Mississippi occurred on April 28, two days after Abbate and Falcone had been arrested in Chicago. Such acts, however, stand upon a different footing from declarations of co-conspirators, and were relevant as additional proof of the conspiracy.9 The facilities destroyed were among those included in the criminal plans. Shelby and Perry were still at large, and the jury could reasonably infer that they were still acting pursuant to the conspiracy.
There was ample evidence from which the jury could have found that, though the facilities were owned by the telephone company, many of the circuits were under full time operation and control by the Government, and that the telephone company could not even make repairs on such circuits without first obtaining the Government's permission. The statute, 18 U.S.C.A. § 1362, Footnote 2, supra, does not require that the Government own the lines or means of communication, but only that they be "operated or controlled by the United States." At least six witnesses testified to facts from which the jury could find such operation or control. Since that issue was so strongly controverted, we find no reversible error in admitting the testimony of the two Army officers stressing the importance of the lines of communication to the National defense.
As to Abbate and Falcone, the judgments are affirmed, and as to Shelby and Perry, the judgments are reversed and the cases remanded.
Affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part.
In violation of the general conspiracy statute covering a conspiracy "to commit any offense against the United States." 18 U.S.C.A. § 371
"§ 1362Communication lines, stations or systems
"Whoever willfully or maliciously injures or destroys any of the works, property, or material of any radio, telegraph, telephone, or cable, line, station, or system, or other means of communication, operated or controlled by the United States, whether constructed or in process of construction, or willfully or maliciously interferes in any way with the working or use of any such line, or system, or willfully or maliciously obstructs, hinders, or delays the transmission of any communication over any such line, or system, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than three years, or both."
According to the testimony, the strike began about March 14 and continued until about May 20, 1955
In their pre-sentence hearing it was brought out that they pleaded guilty and received sentences of three months
See Schaffer v. United States, 5 Cir., 1955, 221 F.2d 17, 19
Delli Paoli v. United States, 1957, 352 U.S. 232, 77 S.Ct. 294, 1 L.Ed.2d 278; Lutwak v. United States, 1953, 344 U.S. 604, 617, 618, 73 S.Ct. 481, 97 L.Ed. 593; Krulewitch v. United States, 1949, 336 U.S. 440, 443, 69 S.Ct. 716, 93 L.Ed. 790; Fiswick v. United States, 1946, 329 U.S. 211, 217, 67 S.Ct. 224, 91 L.Ed. 196; Scarborough v. United States, 5 Cir., 1956, 232 F.2d 412, 415
See United States v. Britton, 1883, 108 U.S. 199, 2 S.Ct. 531, 27 L.Ed. 698; United States v. Beck, 7 Cir., 1941, 118 F.2d 178; Eldredge v. United States, 10 Cir., 1932, 62 F.2d 449
See Pereira v. United States, 1954, 347 U.S. 1, 74 S.Ct. 358, 98 L.Ed. 435; Clark v. United States, 5 Cir., 1954, 213 F.2d 63, 65; Williams v. United States, 5 Cir., 1923, 295 F. 302, 305; United States v. Anderson, 7 Cir., 1939, 101 F. 2d 325, 330
Lutwak v. United States, 1953, 344 U.S. 604, 617, 73 S.Ct. 481, 97 L.Ed. 593; Eldredge v. United States, 10 Cir., 1932, 62 F.2d 449, 451


Boosting skin for brighter complexions in Bexley, Kent.
We all feel that sometimes our skin looks a little lackluster and a dull complexion is one of the most common skincare complaints.
When we talk about dull skin, we are generally describing skin that lacks radiance or glow like that associated with young, healthy skin.
Common factors that cause dull skin include smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, dehydration, poor diet, lack of exfoliation, the natural ageing process and a poor home care regime.


In-Home Mentoring – Volunteers work with refugee individuals and families to provide positive interactions and assistance with areas like life skills training, navigating the unfamiliar American culture, school support and English language tutoring. Our heart is to develop lasting relationships as brothers and sisters in Christ and let our refugee friends know that they are loved and welcome.
Transportation – We have a core of volunteers who assist with all things transportation-related: finding reliable and affordable cars, navigating the public transit systems, auto maintenance, assisting with insurance paperwork and driving the church bus route to enable families to attend community events and services.
Teaching Life Skills and English Classes – We meet at the Boise Vineyard church, in homes and apartments, and at various other locations around the community to provide practical classes and group discussions on day-to-day life in America. In these sessions we have informal conversations about everything from banking to nutrition to football and everything in between.


The Sky High at the revamped Ansal Plaza has an apt because it boasts of one of the most spectacular views, being a rooftop restaurant, occupying the third floor and a picturesque terrace.
There are quite a few decent terrace eateries in Delhi and The Sky High has to be one of the best of the lot with its vintage lamps, pebble-laden walkway, vaporizers, and even fountains at one corner of the terrace.
Apart from the nicely done ambiance, the food is fantastic and there is foot-tapping music being played by their in-house DJ to enhance the experience. I was here last weekend for lunch and even spotted a band prepping up for their performance later in the night.
The Menu has a considerable variety showcased across a multitude of cuisines - be it Indian, Italian, Oriental or Mediterranean. The nomenclature of various sections is also quite catchy.
Here's a lowdown on the dishes worth a try at The Sky High.
Peach Treat as the name suggests was a peach based concoction that was smooth on the palate.
The Sky High was a potpourri of fruits blended with Vanilla ice-cream.
Black Currant Shake was high on the berry flavor and was a somewhat thick shake done right.
Cajun Fishy Bites were crisp and flavorful when paired with the in-house tartar sauce.
Harissa Grilled Prawns were high on the flavor and had been aesthetically plated with grilled veggies.
Grilled Sole had a generous layer of Almond Butter Sauce with a crunch that lent the dish a different level altogether.
Provencal Baked Red Snapper was sandwiched between a tomato-based ragout and a spinach-based sauce and the chunk was altogether melt-in-mouth.
Akhrot Aur Subz Ke Seekh is one of the well-received dishes from their Indian Cuisine section, and I could taste why it is so. The crunch of walnuts paired with the vibrant hues of veggies was what had elevated the dish.
Chutney Wali Whole Baby Pomfret was a Main Course preparation layered with lemon slices and was a bony one that had to be consumed with some amount of caution. It was flavorful nonetheless.
Badami Murgh Ka Shorba was the best of the lot - high on flavor - with its elements right in place.
Hawaiian Supreme was a Thin Crust preparation layered with pineapple, olives, chicken chunks, onions, and bell-peppers. One of the stellar dishes.
Both of the sweet conclusions completely stole the show with their aesthetics as well as delicious preparation.
Ice-Cream On Fire was The Sky High's take on Fried Ice-Cream.
With ice-cream balls placed on a bed of brownies, layered with berry and chocolate sauce, it was a dessert par excellence.
Eclairs Of Gulab Jamun was a contemporary take on an Indian desert comprising pistachios, Rabri, and Khoya with a drizzle of chocolate and kiwis and cherries on the side.


This Disco Invitation is perfect for your retro party.
The Disco Invitation features a funky purple disco ball design that will match your disco event. Each Personalized Disco Invitation measures 6 1/2" long x 3 1/4" wide. This Vertical Disco Invitation is printed on heavy paper and includes white envelope for mailing. Add your own personalized wording to invite your guests in style.


text:
Myoglobin (symbol Mb or MB) is an iron- and oxygen-binding protein found in the cardiac and skeletal muscle tissue of vertebrates in general and in almost all mammals. Myoglobin is distantly related to hemoglobin. Compared to hemoglobin, myoglobin has a higher affinity for oxygen and does not have cooperative binding with oxygen like hemoglobin does.  In humans, myoglobin is only found in the bloodstream after muscle injury.

High concentrations of myoglobin in muscle cells allow organisms to hold their breath for a longer period of time. Diving mammals such as whales and seals have muscles with particularly high abundance of myoglobin. Myoglobin is found in Type I muscle, Type II A, and Type II B; although many texts consider myoglobin not to be found in smooth muscle, this has proved erroneous: there is also myoglobin in smooth muscle cells.

Myoglobin was the first protein to have its three-dimensional structure revealed by X-ray crystallography. This achievement was reported in 1958 by John Kendrew and associates. For this discovery, Kendrew shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in chemistry with Max Perutz. Despite being one of the most studied proteins in biology, its physiological function is not yet conclusively established: mice genetically engineered to lack myoglobin can be viable and fertile, but show many cellular and physiological adaptations to overcome the loss. Through observing these changes in myoglobin-depleted mice, it is hypothesised that myoglobin function relates to increased oxygen transport to muscle, and to oxygen storage; as well, it serves as a scavenger of reactive oxygen species.

In humans, myoglobin is encoded by the MB gene.

Myoglobin can take the forms oxymyoglobin (MbO2), carboxymyoglobin (MbCO), and metmyoglobin (met-Mb), analogously to hemoglobin taking the forms oxyhemoglobin (HbO2), carboxyhemoglobin (HbCO), and methemoglobin (met-Hb).

Differences from hemoglobin
Like hemoglobin, myoglobin is a cytoplasmic protein that binds oxygen on a heme group. It harbors only one globulin group, whereas hemoglobin has four. Although its heme group is identical to those in Hb, Mb has a higher affinity for oxygen than does hemoglobin. This difference is related to its different role: whereas hemoglobin transports oxygen, myoglobin's function is to store oxygen.

Role in cuisine
Myoglobin contains hemes, pigments responsible for the colour of red meat. The colour that meat takes is partly determined by the degree of oxidation of the myoglobin. In fresh meat the iron atom is in the ferrous (+2) oxidation state bound to an oxygen molecule (O2). Meat cooked well done is brown because the iron atom is now in the ferric (+3) oxidation state, having lost an electron. If meat has been exposed to nitrites, it will remain pink, because the iron atom is bound to NO, nitric oxide (true of, e.g., corned beef or cured hams). Grilled meats can also take on a reddish pink "smoke ring" that comes from the heme center binding to carbon monoxide. Raw meat packed in a carbon monoxide atmosphere also shows this same pink "smoke ring" due to the same principles. Notably, the surface of this raw meat also displays the pink color, which is usually associated in consumers' minds with fresh meat. This artificially induced pink color can persist, reportedly up to one year. Hormel and Cargill (meat processing companies in the US) are both reported to use this meat-packing process, and meat treated this way has been in the consumer market since 2003.

Role in disease
Myoglobin is released from damaged muscle tissue (rhabdomyolysis), which has very high concentrations of myoglobin. The released myoglobin is filtered by the kidneys, but is toxic to the renal tubular epithelium and so may cause acute kidney injury.  It is not the myoglobin itself that is toxic (it is a protoxin), but the ferrihemate portion that is dissociated from myoglobin in acidic environments (e.g., acidic urine, lysosomes).

Myoglobin is a sensitive marker for muscle injury, making it a potential marker for heart attack in patients with chest pain. However, elevated myoglobin has low specificity for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and thus CK-MB, cardiac troponin, ECG, and clinical signs should be taken into account to make the diagnosis.

Structure and bonding
Myoglobin belongs to the globin superfamily of proteins, and as with other globins, consists of eight alpha helices connected by loops.  Myoglobin contains 153 amino acids.

Myoglobin contains a porphyrin ring with an iron at its center. A proximal histidine group (His-93) is attached directly to iron, and a distal histidine group (His-64) hovers near the opposite face.  The distal imidazole is not bonded to the iron, but is available to interact with the substrate O2.  This interaction encourages the binding of O2, but not carbon monoxide (CO), which still binds about 240× more strongly than O2.

The binding of O2 causes substantial structural change at the Fe center, which shrinks in radius and moves into the center of N4 pocket.  O2-binding induces "spin-pairing": the five-coordinate ferrous deoxy form is high spin and the six coordinate oxy form is low spin and diamagnetic.

Synthetic analogues
Many models of myoglobin have been synthesized as part of a broad interest in transition metal dioxygen complexes.  A well known example is the picket fence porphyrin, which consists of a ferrous complex of a sterically bulky derivative of tetraphenylporphyrin. In the presence of an imidazole ligand, this ferrous complex reversibly binds O2.  The O2 substrate adopts a bent geometry, occupying the sixth position of the iron center.  A key property of this model is the slow formation of the μ-oxo dimer, which is an inactive diferric state.  In nature, such deactivation pathways are suppressed by protein matrix that prevents close approach of the Fe-porphyrin assemblies.

See also
 Cytoglobin
 Hemoglobin
 Hemoprotein
 Neuroglobin
 Phytoglobin
 Myoglobinuria - The presence of myoglobin in the urine
 Ischemia-reperfusion injury of the appendicular musculoskeletal system

References

Further reading

 . Also see Proteopedia article about this finding

External links
  human genetics
 The Myoglobin Protein
 RCSB PDB featured molecule
 "Which Cut Is Older? (It's a Trick Question)", The New York Times, February 21, 2006 article regarding meat industry use of carbon monoxide to keep meat looking red.
 "Stores React to Meat Reports", The New York Times, March 1, 2006 article on the use of carbon monoxide to make meat appear fresh.

Hemoproteins
Human proteins

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: What is the guidance for staff/student COVID-19 cases?
A: Students and staff:
• Who test positive for COVID-19
• Show symptoms of COVID-19
• Had contact with a person with COVID-19 Should stay home and not come to school or report to work in the school facility until certain criteria has been met.
Q: What is the criteria for returning to school or work at a school or office facility (adhere to the following process for allowing a student or staff member to return to school).
A: If a person has had a negative PCR COVID-19 test, they can return to school once there is no fever without the use of fever-reducing medicines and they have felt well for 24 hours.
If a person is diagnosed with COVID-19 by a medical professional based on a test or their symptoms or does not get a COVID-19 test but has had symptoms, they should not be at school and should stay at home until they (or a family member if younger
child) can answer YES to the following three questions:
1. Has it been at least 10 days since the child first had symptoms?
2. Has it been at least 24 hours since the child had a fever (without using fever-reducing medicine)?
3. Has there been an improvement, including cough and shortness of breath?
A person can return to school if there is a confirmed diagnosis other than COVID-19 (e.g., stomach virus, ear infection). Persons should follow normal school policies to return to school.
• If a student/employee has been diagnosed with COVID-19 but does not have symptoms, they must remain out of school
until 10 days have passed since the date of their first positive COVID-19 diagnostic test, assuming they have not
subsequently developed symptoms since their positive test.
• If a student/employee that has been diagnosed with COVID-19 or has been presumed positive by a medical professional
due to symptoms, they are not required to have documentation of a negative test in order to return to school.
• If a student/employee has been determined to have been in close contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19, they
must remain out of school for 14 days since the last date of exposure unless they test positive. In which case, exclusion
criteria above would apply. They must complete the full 14 days of quarantine, even if they test negative.
Q: What are procedures for staff, students and visitors who enter a school or facility?
A: All schools and facilities will:
• Temperature check any student, staff, or essential visitor entering the building or facility. Anyone with a temperature of
100.4 degrees or greater will not be allowed to enter the school building or facility.
• Screen for COVID-19 symptoms anyone entering a building or facility utilizing the screening tool provided by
NCDHHS/NCDPI.
• Limit non-essential visitors entering the building or facility.
Q: Will social, emotional and mental health support be available for students and staff? Is the support available in a face-to-face, remote and/or virtual setting?
A: Yes. Social, emotional, and mental health support will be available at each school. School counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, and school-based therapists will provide needed support for students and staff in crisis or as needed on
an ongoing basis. Social, emotional, and mental health support will be available in face-to-face, remote, and/or virtual settings.
Q: Is a face covering/face mask required?
A: Yes. According to state guidelines, all students from Kindergarten through 12th grade and all teachers, staff, and adult visitors are required to wear face coverings in school buildings on buses and on school grounds when they are or may be within 6 feet
of another person. Unless the person (or family member, for a student) states that an exception applies, is eating, or is engaged in strenuous physical activity and able to maintain 6 feet distance from other people.
Q: Are there exceptions to wearing face coverings/face masks?
A: Yes. Cloth face coverings should not be placed on:
• Anyone who has trouble breathing or is unconscious.
• Anyone who is incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the face covering without assistance.
• Anyone who cannot tolerate a cloth face covering due to developmental, medical or behavioral health needs.
• Other health exceptions may also apply.
Q: Are face shields allowed instead of face coverings/masks?
A: Yes. Face shields are an allowed substitute for individuals who have difficulties wearing a cloth face covering/mask. If face shields are used without also wearing a mask, they should wrap around the sides of the wearer's face and extend to below the
chin. Disposable face shields should only be worn for a single use. Reusable face shields should be cleaned and disinfected after each use.
However, for certain individuals, the use of cloth face coverings by teachers or others may pose a challenge, such as students who are deaf or hard of hearing, students receiving speech/language services, infants and young students in early education programs, students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and English-language learners. There are products such as transparent/clear masks or face coverings with a see-through panel in the front, but availability may vary depending on the setting and supply. If available, a transparent face mask may be a better option for protection that allows visibility. However, if a transparent face mask is unavailable, a face shield may be used as a substitute until or unless a transparent mask becomes
In addition, per Governor Cooper's Executive Order No. 147 frequently asked questions, face shields are an allowed substitute for individuals who have difficulties wearing a cloth face covering.
The CDC does not currently recommend a face shield as a replacement for a cloth face covering.
Q: Are mask breaks for students, teachers and staff recommended?
A: Yes. It is recommended schools consider building in time throughout the day when students, teachers, and staff can take short breaks from wearing face coverings at times and in settings where risk for transmission is lower (e.g. outside, when air
circulation is increased by opening windows, and when people are consistently 6 feet apart.
Q: Will all schools have nurses for the 2020-2021 school year?
A: Yes. All 53 schools will have an assigned nurse for the 2020-2021 school year.
Q: Is there potential for classrooms or school facilities to close due to COVID-19?
A: Yes. UCPS will continue to work closely with the Union County Health Department to take appropriate steps in the event a student or staff member tests positive for COVID. Each situation is unique and may require cleaning of a classroom/area, school
facility, closure of a classroom, or closure of a building.
Q: Are fire drills, lockdown drills and tornado drills required?
A: After conversations with law enforcement, fire marshal's office, and emergency management, a decision was made to complete all drills in a simulated manner. Students and staff will remain in the classroom and review procedures and guidelines
for fire, lockdown, and tornado drills. This would be completed with groups of students during the first week of school and once per month. This process will be followed until further notice.


text:
Home / Local / D/Speaker orders UPND MP to stop mentioning HH's name in Parliament
D/Speaker orders UPND MP to stop mentioning HH's name in Parliament
By Zondiwe Mbewe on 16 Nov 2017
Catherine Namugala
Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Catherine Namugala yesterday threatened to stop leader of the opposition Jack Mwiimbu from debating after he mentioned Hakainde Hichilema on the floor of the house.
This was when Mwiimbu, who is also Monze Central UPND member of parliament rose to debate the 2018 budget allocation for the Ministry of Mines and later on said Hichilema had never sold any mines on behalf or government.
"And I want to make it very clear that the individual who is being mentioned on the floor of this house and outside, Mr Hakahinde Hichilema never sold any mines on behalf of government in this country," Mwiimbu said.
But when guiding the debate, Namugala warned Mwiimbu to desist from mentioning names of people who could not defend themselves in the House.
"Honourable leader of opposition, you have enough experience to know that when you start mentioning names of people who are unable to come here, and defend themselves, there will be a reaction. They will be mentioned and you will be the first one to complain. Please desist from that," she said.
However, Mwiimbu insisted that it was only him and his colleagues from the opposition who could defend Hichilema since he was not a member of the house.
"Madam chairperson it's a fact that members on your right have mentioned the name "Hakahinde Hichilema" on the floor of this house and it's only me and my colleagues who can defend him on the floor of this house," Mwiimbi said.
Namugala then threatened to stop Mwiimbu from debating if he continued disregarding the advice given to him.
"Not in that manner Honourable leader of opposition. If you continue to mention the name of that individual I'm afraid I will have to stop you from debating because the rules are very clear. Very very clear. He is not one of us, he cannot defend himself so we cannot expose him to that kind of debate as I have said. There will be a reaction from government, you will be exposing him in such a manner that he will not be able to defend himself. Please continue with the debate in the manner you know you should debate," said Namugala.
About Zondiwe Mbewe
Zondiwe has interest in writing political and current affairs on issues which affect every Zambians. She draws inspiration from journalists who stand for what is right and are not afraid to tell and show the truth to the people.
Email: zondiwe [at] diggers [dot] news
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The Ross Fountain is a popular landmark in Princes Street Gardens. It was built in France in the early 1860's and has been in its current location in Edinburgh since 1872.
I'm a world wanderer with a passion for food, adventure, and all things travel. Originally from Canada - currently living in Edinburgh, Scotland.