To preface my report I have tripped on ayahuasca 2 times before to varying degrees but this experience was the only time I feel I obtained the full medicinal value of the drug.
T=0: I swallow the tea in two large gulps, it tastes very bitter so I mask it by sucking a lemon. I am in a dark room with my brother, who is much more experienced than I am with the drug, he sips it over the course of a half hour.
T=10: As always when I take the drug my stomach becomes immediately queasy. For some reason I am convinced I will not trip.
T=20: To soothe the come-up I get the guitar out and begin to play music, almost immediately the notes become 3-dimensional and immerse me. I become the music, my brother becomes the music.
T=30: My brother has finished his dose and is beginning to feel it, rather, I am beginning to feel as though he can feel it. I play the guitar more, singing my favorite songs to play (Karma Police, Styrofoam Boots, Third Planet, and Float On. Yeah, lots of Modest Mouse). I feel like the music could be so much more if my brother would sing along and as soon as the thought crosses my mind he begins singing.
T=45: The body feeling is peaking, I know the purge will come soon so I leave my brother in the room and walk downstairs. Sitting on the sofa I begin to feel awful, my hands begin to swell, my nose begins to run and my mouth starts watering: I am about to purge myself so I move to the toilet. I sit there, knowing that soon it will be over and this horrible pain across my whole body will disappear and the world will be new once again. I wait, but nothing comes. The pain is excruciating and I am sweating and sobbing, wishing for it to leave but it won't yet.
T=60: My muscles, joints, eyes, everything I feel with utmost detail, however, it is all pain. No matter what I do I cannot force the purge. I am beginning to think that this is death, that my body is dying and that my spirit is going to force its way out and into the ethereal world, leaving me like this forever. Then it comes: it is forgiving. As vomit wrenches my body I am literally thrown forward as every last bit of substance from my stomach is purged. My sinuses unclog and mucus runs out of my mouth and nose and eyes. I still feel horrible. I cry more and feel old uncried tears finally escape. I am finished with this part, now it is time for the rest.
I begin to clean up and evacuate my bladder and bowels. I have been given the ability to move muscles I didnt know I could and am positive that all the waste in my body is gone. I feel absolutely pure and as I clean the residual vomit and mucus from my face I am embraced by the world. All of a sudden the experience has changed from the most horrible sickness of my life to the most peaceful feeling I have ever had. I walk outside and can do nothing but look up at the night sky and cry with joy.
T=100: Two of my friends have joined me and I am being unusually positive. I decide that it is ok to drink one beer as it just feels right. After halfway I feel the alcohol and am done drinking (which is very odd on account of I usually drink 5 beers to feel the alcohol). I think to myself that I would like to smoke some herb and as soon as I have the thought my brother comes down and says 'It's in my jacket pocket'.
T=120: The marijuana taste so good, it feels like I am inhaling healing smoke into my lungs and I don't feel so much 'stoned' as pleasant and more comfortable.
The rest of the experience was uneventful and irritating. As with the other ayahuasca experiences I have done the pleasantness fades and I start having internal dialogues which become VERY irritating after awhile because it turns from conversation to thoughts like 'Now I am wishing that I wasn't thinking about everything I'm doing' and shortly thereafter 'Oh I did it again, I wish I would stop' and so on until I am so fed up with myself that I just want to sleep, which I did.
In retrospect it was positive overall, but will be my last experience as I cannot handle the internal dialogue anymore. I honestly wanted to drill into my skull to make my brain shut up.
A warning to those of you considering ayahuasca: IT IS NOT SOMETHING YOU DO RECREATIONALLY, I cannot express this enough. Literally everything that happened to me that month came forward in my experience. I had planned for it weeks in advance and still don't think I was fully prepared.
With that I will let you go!!


Family Portrait Sessions include up to four people.
Sessions include a DVD of high resolution images.
and are not included in the session fee.
minimal travel feel will be applied for longer distances.
Digital photo retouching is available for $25 per image.


In the event that the primary Cluster replication process fails, it is possible to switch over to the secondary replication channel. The following procedure describes the steps required to accomplish this.
In a circular replication topology, with a master and a slave running on each host, when you are using ndb_log_apply_status=1, NDB Cluster epochs are written in the slave binary logs. This means that the ndb_apply_status table contains information for the slave on this host as well as for any other host which acts as a slave of the master running on this host.
In some cases, it may be simpler or more efficient (or both) to use a list of the server IDs to be included and server_id IN server_id_list in the WHERE condition of the preceding query.
Using the information obtained from the query shown in Step 1, obtain the corresponding records from the ndb_binlog_index table on the master cluster.
These are the records saved on the master since the failure of the primary replication channel. We have employed a user variable @latest here to represent the value obtained in Step 1. Of course, it is not possible for one mysqld instance to access user variables set on another server instance directly. These values must be "plugged in" to the second query manually or in application code.
You must ensure that the slave mysqld is started with --slave-skip-errors=ddl_exist_errors before executing START SLAVE. Otherwise, replication may stop with duplicate DDL errors.
Again we have employed user variables (in this case @file and @pos) to represent the values obtained in Step 2 and applied in Step 3; in practice these values must be inserted manually or using application code that can access both of the servers involved.
@file is a string value such as '/var/log/mysql/replication-master-bin.00001', and so must be quoted when used in SQL or application code. However, the value represented by @pos must not be quoted. Although MySQL normally attempts to convert strings to numbers, this case is an exception.
Once the secondary replication channel is active, you can investigate the failure of the primary and effect repairs. The precise actions required to do this will depend upon the reasons for which the primary channel failed.
The secondary replication channel is to be started only if and when the primary replication channel has failed. Running multiple replication channels simultaneously can result in unwanted duplicate records being created on the replication slaves.
If the failure is limited to a single server, it should (in theory) be possible to replicate from M to S', or from M' to S; however, this has not yet been tested.


Recent price increases are concentrated in products over which central banks have little control. When product price change causes are beyond a central bank's control, monetary policy gets frustrated fast.
"Inflation is back" has been a big headline. Is that true?
The dramatic change came in the mid-1990s when the average of all durable goods prices began falling and shoppers bought more. This reflects decades of falling global costs. The flip-side is that higher prices tend to cut purchases – stagflation, an up-and-back move on a downward-sloping curve.
Focusing only on price, the eight-quarter moving averages for services and durables have been on relatively consistent trends since the mid-1990s, with services dropping more in 2009.
Nondurables are at the mercy of energy price dynamics, including exports of U.S. oil while U.S. prices are rising and geopolitical speculation.
Of interest is whether services will continue to rise as into the 2008 crash. Services are sensitive to housing, health care, and wages (more than in goods production). In measuring price change, a key question is whether higher prices (especially in health care) are for better services or just pure price increase.
Zooming in on the time since 1Q2009, there has been a slight uptrend in services and slight downtrend in durables.
As services are about 6.3 times the size of durables, the services trend dominates. Adding to average price increase has been the jump in nondurables (mostly energy) that are almost double the size of durables.
The recent upward price pressures started mid-2016, primarily energy, then some in food and services.
Top product price increases come from comparing the 1995-2016 trend (1995 a pivot point from the global tech and trade transformation) with the trend since 2016.
To see what tugs on the longer-term average, look for prices that changed most since 3Q2016 – products farthest left or right. For example, the audio equipment average annual change was -2.8% from 3Q1995 to 2Q2016, then -12.7% from 3Q2016 to 1Q2018.
Central banks have little influence beyond foreign exchange rates on the prices of products that have changed most from their longer trends — Audio equipment, Televisions, Games, toys and hobbies, or fuel. In its regulatory capacity, the Fed has influence over financial services prices.
By contrast, looking at hundreds of products reveals specific technology, management technique, trade, online shopping, and regulatory, tax, and subsidy causes of product price changes.
Products with price increases since 3Q2016 that far exceeded their increase since 1Q2009 include: Eggs, Children's and infant's clothing, Gasoline, Fuel Oil, Flowers, seeds, and potted plants, Sewing items, Electricity, Home health care, Intercity buses, Membership clubs and participant sports centers, Repair of consumer electronics, Trust, fiduciary, and custody activities, and Homes for the elderly.
Of course, products have different trends over decades – some up, some down, and some widely fluctuating. These differences are shown with price-quantity plots in "Solved – the missing inflation mystery," "Epic Econ: "Breaking the back of inflation" – lessons for today," "Is this the Fed's inflation trap?" and more in our Money and Prices section.
In addition to concentrated product price changes, price changes are concentrated geographically.
These stark product and geographic differences create a central bank's "inflation trap" – distortions and inequities of inflation-targeting that have increased since the 1980s. This is simply because price level increase isn't felt equally by people because it depends on what a person buys. And, prices of what they buy are influenced by real estate costs paid by sellers of products.
Digital data from analytics groups at Adobe and Amazon illustrate lower price growth. Recently, research from Austan Goolsbee (Chicago) and Peter Klenow (Stanford) using data from Adobe Analytics found online price level increase was about 1% lower than in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the same categories from 2014–2017. The increased variety sold online implies an additional 90-150 basis points lower price level increase than in the matched model/CPI-style indices. And, CPI runs higher than the PCE deflator.
"Inflation" is personal – people feel price changes based on what and where they buy. Avoiding price increases is about shifting to lower cost locations, sellers, and products. For example, comparing the 2016 trend to the 2009 trend, for lower prices, eat more Cereals, Processed fruits and vegetables, and Fresh milk. Eat fewer eggs and use apps like GasBuddy. Online shopping finds prices that are lower and often are not based on location.
Invest with funds flow – follow the money. Since the late-1980s with increasingly globalized financial markets, and especially since 2009 with the Federal Reserve's large-scale asset purchases (commonly "quantitative easing" or "QE") a winning approach has been to follow the funds flow, primarily QE bubbling the public equity markets, with more injections from household savings and "rest of the world." With large investors cautious of the size of the public equity bubble, funds are flowing into private equity and, more recently, direct investments in operating companies to avoid the private equity firm fees. Importantly, typical risk metrics can mislead because they were not designed for an era where funds flow dominates.
Compared to before 1981, price level change reported by statistical agencies cannot be assumed as primarily monetary-driven "inflation." Price level change from non-monetary causes has increased.
With price level change lower, real interest rates are higher. In the U.S., this means that the assumption of a roughly 0.25% negative real Federal Funds (FF) rate would be a roughly 1% positive real FF rate.
Data Geek Note: In the bubble chart, fluctuations are hidden in annual averages. Yet, this rough approach visually flags recent changes and lack of widespread price increases.


The Welch Dental Group has the perfect solution for you to have an enhanced smile in signficanly less time than it takes metal braces to straighten your teeth. Invisalign™ is one of the newest, most innovative methods of teeth straightening in the market today. It involves the use of a series of simple clear plastic aligners. This system has gained huge popularity due to its effectiveness as an accelerated teeth straightening treatment.
What are the advantages of using Invisalign™?
Aligners are virtually undetectable when placed inside the mouth.
The aligners are conveniently removable, doing away with most food restrictions.
Invisalign™ aligners now only takes between 12 to 18 months before the desired results are achieved.
First, the dentist takes x-rays, photographs, and dental impressions of the patient's teeth to use as a basis to make the aligners.
At the Align Technology laboratories, these images will be put into a scanner that will make a 3D recreation of your teeth.
The software then creates a virtual treatment plan for you. This simulates the movement of the teeth in stages allocated within the prescribed treatment period. A corresponding plastic aligner will be created for each stage of the treatment plan, .
The first set of aligners will be inserted into the mouth and used for about two weeks before switching to the next set. This switching process will be repeated within a two-week interval for the rest of the treatment period, until the desired results are obtained. Teeth are moved gradually into their proper positions.


text:
Q: Warning:"pointless comparison of unsigned integer with zero" cuda On doing
if(blockIdx.y-threadIdx.y >=0){
//some operation }

I get the above warning. Can anyone tell me why the CUDA compiler throws this as a warning. I am just trying to allow only those threads which meet the above criteria into the if statement.
And if I ignore it , will it have any consequences?
Note that i am launching multiple blocks as:
dim3 nblocks (7,7)
dim3 nthreadsperblock (256,256)
kernel<<<nblocks,nthreadsperblock>>>(...)

A: You should cast the variables to signed ints or change the expression to if(blockIdx.y>=threadIdx.y){ which is mathematical identical to if(blockIdx.y-threadIdx.y >=0){.
Shortly you can replace all (a - b *op* 0) to (a *op* b) where *op* is one of the comparison-operators.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Jul 30, 2021 - Politics & Policy
Former Michigan Sen. Carl Levin dies at 87
Anya van Wagtendonk
Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) in 2014. He died Thursday. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) died Thursday, his family and the Levin Center at Wayne Law — which bore his name — confirmed. He was 87.
Why it matters: The Detroit native served for 36 years in the U.S. Senate, serving twice as chairman of the Armed Services Committee and is credited with helping overturn the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rule.
What they're saying: "He had a penchant for seeing the world through the eyes of people who struggled against injustice and was called to hold our democratic institutions accountable to everyone – first as a student activist, then as a young defense attorney, Detroit City Council member, and U.S. Senator," reads the family's statement.
"In whatever he did, he defended the uniquely American proposition that all of us, no matter the color of our skin, how we worship, whom we love, the privilege of our parentage, or the size of our bank accounts, are created equal."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Celebrate Recovery is a Christ-centered recovery program where many have come to find hope, help, and healing from all types of hurts, habits, and hang ups.
At Celebrate Recovery, we place an emphasis on anonymity, confidentiality and personal responsibility. We're a loving and caring community of people who are aware of their brokenness. You'll find acceptance and significance in the Celebrate Recovery family!
Celebrate Recovery is kicking off it's 14th year by celebrating Jr. High and High School students with the first year of THE LANDING!


Indy MCasa del Arbol and Las Cascadas tour!
I went on two tours with Chebastour and both were amazing! We had only limited time in Baños and this weekend was very busy because of Carnival. The owner, Sebas, helped us a lot with making the 2 tours fit in our schedule. He also made some recommendations about when to do what. We booked the private shuttle to the Casa del Arbol around 4pm. This was together with 5 other people which was perfect. The las Cascadas tour we booked with the bigger tour bus, but I got a call from Sebas that there were some troubles with the bus and he offered us to take us with the private shuttle as well! This was a very nice surprise which I did not expect. Sebas is a very nice and thoughtful person!!!
La atención de Sebastián a los turistas fue acogedora, amable y nos hizo sentir cómodos a los extranjeros y a mí en en Tour de las cascadas y luego con el servicio a la casa del árbol. Los precios son módicos. Les recomiendo que contraten el servicio personalizado en las dos rutas para que tengan tiempo de hacer todas los deportes extremos que Baños ofrece en la ruta de las cascadas y en la casa del árbol, porque en otros toures el tiempo es limitado.
El tour fue lo máximo, Sebas nos guió durante todo el viaje, nos tomó fotos y vídeos espectaculares, nos encantó toda la experiencia, muy profesionales en todo, el costo de igual manera está al alcance de cualquier bolsillo. Se lo recomiendo a todos, la personalización del viaje y de la guía turística es lo máximo.
We were lucky enough to get Sebastion booked for us for 2 tours. He was on time and very friendly and spoke quite good english. Both tours included more than expected with information and time. We could not recommend him any higher. Sebastion also has a sister in Banos, you should visit her restaurant too. We had a quick pizza lunch one day, then back for Fillet Mignon on our last night. Cana Mandur I think it was called.


This was the original mage PvP robe from ranking. I had the entire set, though I eventually destroyed it when the new Champion's gear came out. I regret doing that now. I still have the second set of Champion gear.


You are surely stupid, Blessed Muruga!
Irreverence is the hall mark of Tamils. No one is immune to it, even Murugan, the foremost God of Tamils. Take this 2000 year old poem from Nattrinai for example. She has fallen in love with the man from the hills. Now that she is away from him, she pines for him and is lovesick. Her mother, unaware of this, calls the faith healer to cure her. The healer says she is afflicted with the spirit of Murugan, God of the Hills. Her friend knows the real reason castigates Murugan and hints to her mother about the love affair.


Infill construction is one method of redeveloping obsolete or underutilized land that is helping to revitalize urban communities. Infill breathes new life into empty buildings, vacant parking lots and unused parcels.
Homes located in urban neighborhoods are in higher demand than larger homes in the suburbs. One reason for this trend is that today's young professional want to live closer to work as well as the amenities that city living offers, such as a variety of shopping and dining within walking distance.
The renewed focus on work centers in central business districts has led not only to residential towers going up in downtown areas but also to infill development. Good city planning might even use zoning to require that multi-story apartment buildings and commercial areas be within a certain proximity of public transportation or main thoroughfares.
Just like many other communities throughout California, San Diego has seen numerous master-planned large-tract developments in outlying suburban areas. As homes have been built further and further away from the city, developers have turned to infill development as an option.
The reasons to support infill are varied. Let's look closer at some of these pros.
Infill projects place residents closer to jobs and community services.
New construction revitalizes the area and boosts the neighborhood's economy.
Infill often utilizes existing infrastructure and facilities.
In some cases, infill saves historic structures, including preserving them or bringing a new appreciation for them.
City centers typically offer more transportation options than the suburbs.
Businesses are closer to residents and existing facilities.
Landscaping is mature landscaping, which reduces cost and increases property values.
Infill invests back into the existing community.
Local or state agencies sometimes provide financial incentives.
Although there are many good reasons to support the idea of infill construction, there is a downside, too. Let's consider some of those "cons".
Infill development can affect established communities and the people who live there. Not only is construction messy, but traffic patterns often are altered and there is a dirt on the road, noise during construction and blocked lanes or driveways.
New construction in the city usually is more costly than suburban development. The cost of updating and/or upgrading infrastructure can be a challenging as well. Sometimes existing infrastructure has to be updated or relocated.
Zoning changes can create angst for neighborhood residents and businesses. The permitting processes usually requires multiple hearings, increased building/zoning requirements and parking requirements. Area residents who oppose projects typically are more vocal than those residents who support the idea.
Overall, most city officials and developers will agree that the concept of infill is a reasonable and sensible approach to increasing housing options. Not only does infill revitalize, it also takes advantage of infrastructure and services that exist. For developers, the value and return on investment of infill usually outweighs the inconveniences such as waiting for permit approvals.
Murfey Company specializes in residential and commercial construction services. For more information visit www.murfeycompany.com.


BATALHA, M. A. and MANTOVANI, W.
A natural vegetation area, with 1269 ha, composed mainly by cerrado, located at Santa Rita do Passa Quatro Municipality, São Paulo State, southeastern Brazil (21°36-39'S, 47°36-38'W), was studied. From September 1995 to February 1997, a floristic survey was carried out, when all vascular plant species at reproductive stage were collected. The flowering and fruiting patterns of the community were studied, comparing the herbaceous and the woody species. In the herbaceous component, 239 species were found and, in the woody one, 108 species. The woody species flowered mainly at the beginning of the rainy season, while the herbaceous ones produced flowers generally at the end of that season. The proportion of anemo and autochorous species was greater in the herbaceous component. The zoochorous ones, on the contrary, were more frequent in the woody component. At the dry season, when their dispersion is more efficient, the proportion of anemo and autochorous species producing fruits was higher. During the rainy season, when their fruits become attractive for longer time, the zoochorous species fruited more intensely.
Key words: cerrado, savanna, phenology, Pé-de-Gigante, São Paulo, Brazil.
Foi estudada uma área de vegetação natural, de 1269 ha, composta principalmente por cerrado, situada no munícipio de Santa Rita do Passa Quatro, estado de São Paulo (21°36-39'S, 47°36-38'W). Entre setembro de 1995 e fevereiro de 1997, realizou-se um levantamento florístico, em que foram amostradas as espécies vasculares de plantas em fase fértil. A partir dos dados desse levantamento, estudaram-se os padrões de floração e frutificação da comunidade, comparando as espécies herbáceo-subarbustivas com as arbustivo-arbóreas. No componente herbáceo-subarbustivo, foram encontradas 239 espécies e, no componente arbustivo-arbóreo, 108 espécies. As espécies arbustivo-arbóreas floresceram principalmente no início da estação chuvosa, enquanto as herbáceo-subarbustivas produziram flores, de modo geral, apenas no final da estação úmida. A proporção de espécies anemo e autocóricas foi maior no componente herbáceo-subarbustivo, ao contrário das zoocóricas, mais freqüentes no componente arbustivo-arbóreo. Na estação seca, quando sua dispersão é mais eficiente, a proporção de espécies anemo e autocóricas em frutificação foi maior. Já durante a estação chuvosa, as espécies zoocóricas frutificaram com maior intensidade, uma vez que seus frutos carnosos podem se manter atraentes por mais tempo.
Palavras-chave: cerrado, savana, fenologia, Pé-de-Gigante, São Paulo, Brasil.
Savannas are tropical and subtropical formations where the grass layer is continuous, interrupted by shrubs and trees in varying proportions, and where the main growth patterns are closely associated with alternating wet and dry seasons (Bourlière & Hadley, 1983). In tropical savannas, the temporal patterns in growth and reproduction are linked to the climatic seasonality (Williams et al., 1997).
The so-called "cerrado" occupies approximately 2 millions km2 of the Brazilian territory (Ratter et al., 1992). It refers to several structural types, from grasslands to tall woodlands, most of which fit the definition of tropical savannas (Sarmiento, 1983).
Coutinho (1978), in his "woodland-ecotone-grassland" concept of cerrado, stated that there are in this vegetation type two floras, the herbaceous and the woody ones, which are perfectly distinct and antagonic.
The cerrado species, like those of other savannas, present periodic variations concerning flower and fruit production that may represent adaptations to biotic and abiotic factors (Schaik et al., 1993), determined by intrinsic genetic characters (Salisbury & Ross, 1992).
The relation between the phenological patterns of the cerrado plant species and seasonality has already been discussed by Warming (1892). Since this pioneer study, several papers discuss some aspects of the cerrado species phenology (Barradas, 1972; Coutinho, 1977, 1982; Aoki & Santos, 1980; Barros & Caldas, 1980; Ribeiro et al., 1982; Gottsberger & Silberbauer-Gottsberger, 1983; Oliveira & Sazima, 1990; Oliveira & Moreira, 1992; Miranda, 1995), but few of them do it at the community level (Mantovani & Martins, 1988; Batalha et al., 1997).
Scholes & Archer (1997) hypothesized that the climate seasonal pattern of tropical savannas, with alternating warm dry seasons with hot wet seasons, provides a potential axis of niche separation by phenology for the herbaceous and the woody components.
The aim of this study was to observe the reproductive phenological patterns of the plant species in a disjunct cerrado area at the community level, comparing the herbaceous and the woody floras.
This study was carried out at the Pé-de-Gigante Reserve, at Santa Rita do Passa Quatro Municipality, São Paulo State, between 21°36-39'S and 47°36-38'W, under Köppen's Cwag' climate, at 660 to 730 m high, on Red-Yellow Latosol (Pivello et al., 1998). Its name ("Pé-de-Gigante" or "Giant's foot") was given after a foot-shaped geomorphological formation decurrent in the Paulicéia Stream drainage. The study area has 1,269 ha, 1,060 of which constitute the Reserve. According to Brazilian legislation, it's classified as an ARIE ("Área de Relevante Interesse Ecológico" or "Area of Relevant Ecological Interest"). The main vegetation type in the Reserve is the cerrado, covering 98% of the total area. A more detailed characterization of the study area can be found in Pivello et al. (1998).
The flowering and fruiting patterns of the cerrado species were analysed from data obtained in the floristic survey carried out from September 1995 to February 1997 (Batalha & Mantovani, submitted). The botanical material at reproductive stage was collected with the walking-and-gathering method. The collected exsicata were deposited at São Paulo State Botanical Institute herbarium (SP), with doubles at São Paulo State Forestry Institute (SPSF) and Biosciences Institute of São Paulo University (SPF) herbaria.
The species at reproductive stage were observed whether they were flowering or fruiting. The observations were simply qualitative: for example, on a certain month, if at least one individual of a determined species was found producing flowers, the species was considered to be in its flowering period.
These informations were compared with climatic data collected from 1986 to 1995, at the Santa Rita do Passa Quatro meteorological station (21°43'09''S and 47°28'22''W), from which a climatic diagram following Walter (1986) was constructed.
Pteridophytes were classified following Tryon & Tryon (1982), while angiosperms were included in families according to Cronquist (1988). The species were classified in life forms in accordance with Raunkiaer's system adapted by Mueller-Dombois & Ellenberg (1974). The dispersion syndromes were classified according to Pijl (1972). The chamaephytes, epiphytes, geophytes, hemicryptophytes, lianas, vascular parasites, vascular hemi-parasites and therophytes species were considered as belonging to the herbaceous component, while the phanerophytes species as belonging to the woody one.
The flowering and fruiting periods were related to climatic variations and diaspore dispersion syndrome, comparing the herbaceous and the woody floras.
The climatic diagram (Fig. 1) shows that the dry period of the year lies between June and August, and the wet one between September and May. Mean annual rainfall and mean monthly temperature are, respectively, 1499 mm and 21.5°C.
During the floristic survey, 239 herbaceous species (Table 1), belonging to 57 families, and 108 woody species (Table 2), representing 44 families, were found at reproductive stage.
The proportion of flowering herbaceous species was lower on August, increased till February, and decreased till August (Fig. 2). The proportion of flowering woody species peaked on September, and remained high until December. The lowest proportions of flowering species in this component were found from March to August. In the herbaceous component, the flower production was more intense at the end of the rainy season, while in the woody component it was concentrated at the beginning of this season.
The fruit production presented a similar pattern than the flower production, but slightly delayed (Fig. 3). The proportion of fruiting herbaceous species was lower on August, when it started to rise, reaching its peak on April, and then falling till August again. In the woody component, the lowest proportion of fruiting species was found also on August, when it quickly increased, peaking on November. From December to February, the proportions remained high, when it decreased quickly till August.
Of the total herbaceous species, 38.07% are anemochorous, 36.98% are autochorous and 25.95% are zoochorous (Fig. 4). In the woody component, 25.92% of the species are anemochorous, 12.04%, autochorous and the majority, 62.04%, are zoochorous. Of the total anemochorous species, 76.47% belong to the first component, as well as 86.87% of the autochorous species. On the other side, the zoochorous species were distributed more evenly among the components, with 48.06% of them in the herbaceous component and 51.94% in the woody one. In the herbaceous component, the anemochorous species fruited specially from June to October, the autochorous ones from February to June, and the zoochorous ones from November to May (Fig. 5). In the woody component, the anemochorous species fruited mainly from September to November, the autochorous ones from June to September, and the zoochorous ones from October to February (Fig. 6).
During the dry season, in both components, the proportions of fruiting anemo and autochorous species were higher than those of zoochorous species.
The flowering and fruiting patterns of the herbaceous species, late in the rainy season, are found in other tropical savannas too (Sarmiento & Monasterio, 1983).
Tenório (1969) observed that the vegetative development of grasses allows carbohydrates accumulation that will be used in flowering and fruiting.
The carbohydrates accumulation of herbaceous species before flowering was also observed by Figueiredo & Dietrich (1981). Sarmiento & Monasterio (1983) hypothesized that this strategy would guarantee the reproduction in the safest period in respect of water availability: during the period of water shortage, the aerial biomass rapidly decays, and then as the rainy season progresses they gradually develop their shoots and reproductive structures, to reach the maximum growth rates during the reproductive phenophases that occur in the period with higher water availability.
This strategy shows the importance of vegetative reproduction in mantaining the space occupied by the individual, since the underground storage reserves are utilized in flushing (Figueiredo & Dietrich, 1981; Sarmiento & Monasterio, 1983; Mantovani & Martins, 1988).
The reproductive pattern found in the herbaceous species were quite different of those observed in the woody ones. The flowering period of the woody species was concentrated at the beginning of the rainy season. These results are in agreement with Mantovani & Martins (1988) and Batalha et al. (1997). At lower latitudes, however, a distinct pattern was found: at Federal District (Aoki & Santos, 1980) and at Pará State (Miranda, 1995), most species flower at the dry period of the year, what could be explained by the lower variations in temperature and day length through the year at these regions. Sarmiento & Monasterio (1983) suggested that if trees and shrubs, through development of deep root systems, have water access during the whole year, what was observed by Rawitscher (1942) and Ferri (1944), there would be an advantage in reproducing during the period of water shortage, and leaving to the rainy season the function of storing reserves to support the dry season's activities. In accordance with Janzen (1980), the pollinating insects activity would be favoured at this time of the year, due to the lack of heavy rains that would damage the flowers and to the leaf fall that would make the flowers more visible.
Although several phenological patterns can be outlined within each component (Sarmiento & Monasterio, 1983), a major distinction between them seems to exist. Scholes & Archer (1997) stated that the coexistence of herbaceous and woody species in the savannas is a result of the interaction of several stresses and disturbances, acting differentially on each component and patchily in time and space. According to these authors, niches of herbaceous and woody species differ in both rooting depth and phenology, but there is more opportunity for phenological separation.
The diaspore syndrome proportions found at Santa Rita do Passa Quatro were close to those obtained by Batalha et al. (1997) at Pirassununga. Mantovani & Martins (1988) found at Moji Guaçu a higher proportion of autochorous species and a lower one of zoochorous species. These authors, however, considered many grass species, here treated as zoochorous, autochorous. Gottsberger & Silberbauer-Gottsberger (1983) found also a higher proportion of anemo and autochorous species in the herbaceous component and of zoochorous species in the woody one.
During the driest months, in both components, the proportion of fruiting anemochorous and autochorous species was higher than those of zoochorous ones, what was also found by Gottsberger & Silberbauer-Gottsberger (1983), Mantovani & Martins (1988), Miranda (1995) and Batalha et al. (1997). The anemochorous and autochorous fruits are generally dry and therefore their pericarp dehydrate in the drought, releasing the seeds. Augspurger & Franson (1987) observed that, at seasonal climate areas, the anemochorous diaspore dispersion is more efficient at the dry season. The leaf fall observed mainly in the anemochorous species facilitates the diaspore dispersion as well (Matthes et al., 1988).
It could be noted for the zoochorous species that they fruited principally during the wettest and hottest period of the year, when their fleshy fruits can be kept attractive for a long time, showing the same pattern observed by Gottsberger & Silberbauer-Gottsberger (1983), Mantovani & Martins (1988), Miranda (1995) and Batalha et al. (1997).
Previous works with the woody component in other seasonal vegetation types (Frankie et al., 1974; Morellato et al., 1989) showed similar patterns, that is, flowering after first rainfalls, fructification of anemo and autochorous species at the dry season, and fructification of zoochorous species dispersed along the whole rainy season. Frankie et al. (1974), however, found more species flowering at the dry season than at the rainy one, as in other cerrado areas located at lower latitudes (Aoki & Santos, 1980; Miranda, 1995).
The results found at the Pé-de-Gigante Reserve show the distinct flowering and fruiting patterns of the herbaceous and woody species. The herbaceous species flowered mainly at the end of the rainy season, while the woody ones at the beginning of this season. The proportion of anemo and autochorous species was higher in the herbaceous component, but the zoochorous species were more frequent in the woody component. During the dry season, the proportion of anemo and autochorous species producing fruits were higher, since their dispersion is facilitated at this time of the year. During the wet season, on the other hand, the zoochorous fruited more intensely, since their fruits can be kept attractive for a longer time.
These results, however, are only qualitative and therefore cannot provide secure answers to the questions raised. To accept or reject the hypothesis of niche separation by phenology for the herbaceous and the woody components, quantitative and experimental work is needed. Anyway, the results here presented can be taken as guidelines for some phenological patterns of the cerrado plant species, principally at the community level, where few works have been carried out.
Acknowledgments — We are grateful to Paulo César Fernandes for field assistance and to FAPESP for the financial support conceded to the first author (process 95/4290-3).


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Budapest, December 5 (MTI) – Hungary devotes 4.7 percent of its gross domestic product to family support schemes and thereby tops the list in Europe, the minister of human resources told a parliamentary committee hearing on Monday.
Various family benefits over the past six years have added up to 1.1 million forints (EUR 3,500) per family on average, Zoltan Balog told the welfare committee.
The government has kept to a promise made in 2010 that improvements would be made to the country's social conditions based on the possibilities allowed by the extent of economic growth. "We cannot offer a good solution by taking up loans because that leads to the country's indebtedness," he said.
Balog said that several hundreds of billions of forints had been spent on various infrastructure developments in the sphere of social and health care, and this has been coupled with wage hikes in the public sector.
Job subsidies have doubled from 24 percent of a wage in 2010 to what will be 52 percent next year, he said.
The minister said that an extra 200 billion forints would be pumped into the health-care system next year compared with the current one. Balog said he hoped that spending in the sector would reach the average of the Visegrad Group of countries by 2018-2019, which would mean a 40 percent increase in resources over six years.
Speaking about the demographic situation, Balog said that 2011 had been a low point. Then, the fertility rate had been 1.24 percent as against 1.44 percent in 2015. The number of marriages has hit a record high, and last year grew by 19 percent compared with the previous one, he said. The number of abortions has declined by 23 percent since 2010, but Hungary still leads the indicator in Europe on this score, the minister said.
Balog said major advances were needed to make up for a shortage of manpower in the health-care sector, especially in primary care. More funding will be channelled towards employees in primary care and for general practices, he said.


Guangzhou, neighboring Hong Kong and Macao, is the capital of Guangdong Province, and the largest city in South China as well. The city has eight districts and four counties, with a population of 6,290,000 people. Guangzhou has been listed in China's 24 historic and cultural cities. It has long been one of China's ports of foreign trade and friendly exchanges. The past decade has seen great economic achievements in the city thanks to the policy of reform and opening to the outside world which was first carried out in Guangdong. Now the city has become a well-known industrial city.
Rapid progress has also been made in the tourism industry. Many hotels, restaurants and night markets have been opened in the city. A continuous stream of visitors including overseas Chinese, compatriots from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao and foreign travelers come to the city every year.
Located on Dongfeng Road, it was built between 1929-1931, with the fund from overseas Chinese and the local people to the memory of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who led the overthrow of the last dynasty in 1911 and founded the first republic ever in China in 1912. It houses an assembly hall with a seating capacity of 4,700 people.
Located on Zhongshan Qilu, also known as the Chen's Academy of Learning, it was built between 1890-1894, to serve as the ancestor temple of the Chens in 72 counties in Guangdong, as well as a learning academy for their descendants. It was well furnished with a strong local architectural style.
Also called Flower Pagoda 1000-Buddha Pagoda, it was first built in 537. It was named Liurong/six-banyan because the famous song writer Su Dongpo wrote the two characters here. It is 57.6 meters high, nine stories on the outside and 17 stories inside. A climb on the pagoda can give a full view of the city.
The earliest temple in Guangzhou, it got its current name in 1151. Many famous monks from India and China have carried on Buddhist activities there.
Located on Guangta Road, also known as Huaisheng Mosque or popularly known as Light Tower, it was said to be built by two Arabian missionaries in 627 in memory of Mohammed. It was called Light Tower because it is smooth and was once used as a beacon for the boats on the Zhujiang River.
Located on Dahei Road, 920,000 square meters in area. It is the largest park in Guangzhou, including seven hills, three artificial lakes, Conquering the Sea Tower, the Monument to Sun Yat-sen, the Statue of Five Rams, the Seaman's Pavilion, the Jinyin Children's Amusement Ground and a swimming ground.
Located on the west of Liuhu Lake, it is a small park featuring orchids. The garden grows more than 10,000 pots of orchids in over 100 varieties. With trees and flowers and winding paths, the park presents a scene as beautiful as a painting.
A biannual event, which, usually referred to as the Guangzhou Spring Trade Fair (April 15-30), and the Guangzhou Autumn Trade Fair(October 15-30), brings thousands of traders from around the world. It is so far the biggest and the oldest international trade fair in the mainland of China.


This post needs no words …. that we all enjoyed being surrounded by green forests, pristine lakes and wood fired saunas, is an understatement. We loved every precious moment!
Our cousins appeared from everywhere on our first full day at Mikko's to help prepare the Juhanuus meal and arrange seating for everyone and by 5 pm, the cottage was full of Leppanens … about 40 of us !! ….. had my head spinning with all the introductions …. a challenge trying to remember all the names of the generations that follow mine!
But no problem at all, despite the decades, recognizing our first cousins: Mikko and his twin sister Anna-Maija, Heikki, Lassi, Pekka, Marti, Jukka and Sirkka! They are all the children of my Uncle Kyosti, my father's younger brother and his wife, Aunt Vieno, both now passed. It was a pleasure to also meet relevant spouses and children … and a few grandchildren for Aliana to mingle with …. just such a fun evening!! …. full of good food and drink, story sharing, revisiting old memories and lots of laughter.
A break in the evening was made to honour and celebrate our cousin Pekka's 60th birthday …. a shy man apparently loath to be acknowledged …. but his siblings would have none of that! Asta, Lassi's wife gave Pekka a warmly poignant and funny poetry reading describing the decades of our lives …. I think I have heard it in English at some point but a delight to hear it read in Finnish. This was followed by a group gift certificate presentation from his siblings. He may not have wanted anyone to acknowledge his birthday, but like all Leppanen men, soft in the heart as they are, his tears flowed freely as he was being honoured and he was very touched. I know when we hugged, our tears mingled. That we share the DNA of this awesome arm of the Leppanen family leaves me humbled. 'My cup runneth over'. We will be meeting more of the other members of the Leppanen family in the days to come.
I know it must have been lonely for my parents in those early years, with no extended family in Canada and I know my own life would have been enriched with time spent around these many many cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents, but such is life and I am just as proud today to be a Canadian and all that it entails as I am of my Finnish heritage. They merged well. Finnish sisu lives within us.
Finland is known as the 'Land of the Midnight Sun' during these precious summer months and June 21 being the longest day of the year, the sun sets briefly around midnight, scans the horizon and by 3:00 am, it is light again! We all head to the water's edge to enjoy the Juhannus bonfire, kept alive until sometime after 5 am, when it is left to flicker out. Everyone appears to make a contribution to the fire …. Aliana threw her little stick in as well, thrilled to be part of the ritual. Margaret and Jennifer stay later with everyone else but Sarah, Aliana and I turn in sometime before 2:00 am. It was the first Juhannus experience I can remember and one I am unlikely to ever forget. A feeling of absolute gratitude fills my heart.
The pictures tell the story …..
Having my sister Margaret, niece Jennifer, Sarah and Aliana along, has truly been beyond wonderful …. what unmitigated joy to share this journey into our roots, heritage and find out how 'sisu', a quality much valued by Finns, also developed in us, so far from the source!
We met up with Johanna Lukkari, our cousin Sirkka's daughter in Helsinki. Helli, another second cousin who lives and works in Helsinki, joined us for lunch on our first afternoon. Johanna is here for a month's holiday from Los Angeles where she has been in film studies for the past five years. After magician calibre finagling, we all managed to squish into our van amongst the multitude of travel bags, various toddler paraphernalia and drive the six plus hours from Helsinki to Joensuu with Johanna as our guide. The seemingly endless pine green forests, broken up by a scattering of small towns, farms, and the vast watery landscape beyond, fills our senses as we drive along freeways that often merge into two lane country roads. Throughout, it is all framed by a lush wildflower carpet, predominantly deep pink and purple lupin. We arrive at Johanna's parent's Sirkka and Mauno's beautiful home in time for dinner, where their lush gardens were also in full bloom! I am totally in the aaaahing and oooohing mode with all this abundance of natural beauty everywhere!
It had been a full 43 years since Sirkka and I last sat together, sweating in her parent's sauna, sharing and comparing stories of our lives in Canada and Finland. We were 19 year olds then, just starting out in our adult lives. As though no years had passed at all, we bonded as sisters, discovering once again how similar we really are, not just physically but emotionally as well! We cried at the drop of a hat … the same thoughts and experiences could set off our waterworks simultaneously! Genetics cannot be denied, regardless of a vast ocean between us! Sirkka's husband Mauno was born in Lapland, Northern Finland, unlike most of the Leppanen family and their spouses who seem to all be from the Central and more Eastern regions of Finland. Mauno is just a delightful man, sharing great stories while we enjoyed a very Karelian style dinner complete with our much coveted piirakaat!! Unfortunately, their twin sons, Sami and Juho were not there but will meet them at Juhannus I would think. Sirkka and Mauno made us feel so welcome on this long overdue visit to our homeland … I tear up at the thought of their gentle kind-hearted graciousness.
Sirkka and Johanna offer to guide us to Mikko's kesamokki after dinner. It was about a twenty minute drive to the Leppanen homestead lands where our cousins all have cottages built lakeside. Woodsmoke could be seen coming out of the lakeside sauna as we drove up …. a warm welcome indeed! Mikko is there to greet and welcome us to his awesome 'mokki' ….. He stayed at another family cottage nearby, freeing his own up for our little troop. Yet another sweet kind generous relative. There is an abundance of them, as we are about to discover.
We arrive in time for the much celebrated Juhannus (Mid Summer's Eve), the longest day of the year, which is almost as big a celebration in Finland as Christmas! It is a national holiday weekend where most head to their cottages to spend time with family, sweating it up in the requisite wood fired saunas by lakesides, where piers are available for a cool-off in the frigid lakes. Everyone assures us it is usually warmer but the weather has been unseasonably cool this year, the temperature hovering in the low to mid teens with periods of rain. Well, no different from what we are used to in Canada some years 🙂 There were enough sunny warm days mixed in with the cool ones … all good.
Juhanuus was always our parent's favourite time of year. Finns may be known as a reserved quiet people as a whole, (there is a saying that Finns know silence in two languages :)) … but boy, not a hint of shyness when it comes to stripping down for a sauna … so, with only the tiniest of hesitations, we reacquainted ourselves with this most quintessential of Finnish rituals 🙂 …. the sauna sweat, lake dip/swim and wash!! Young Aliana joined in with zero hesitation and I know she will, as will we all, miss this kind of organic human connection … sitting naked in a sauna, sweating together, washing together, pretty much in the same manner we did with our parents long ago. It is said there are over a million saunas in Finland, most of them by lakeside cottages. That would be one sauna for every five people as the population of Finland hovers at 5.4 million hardy souls.
So started our journey into the heart of our roots … I am totally humbled by the kindness and generosity of our kinfolk and am moved to happy tears at every juncture. A few pictures of our first days …..


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June 4, 1966: A Share of Problems
June 4, 2018 May 31, 2018 jbLeave a comment
(Pictured: Gemini 9 astronauts Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan. The two would also fly to the moon on Apollo 10; Cernan would be the last American to walk on the moon, aboard Apollo 17.)
June 4, 1966, was a Saturday. Today, the New York Times carries a three-page anti-Vietnam ad signed by hundreds of college professors; yesterday, a group of about 20 students walked out of commencement exercises at Amherst College to protest an honorary degree given to Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. Astronauts Gene Cernan and Tom Stafford are in orbit aboard Gemini 9, which was launched yesterday. The mission has had its share of problems: Cernan and Stafford are the backup crew, flying because astronauts Elliott See and Charlie Bassett were killed in an airplane crash in February; a scheduled May 17 launch was postponed when an unmanned vehicle that would be part of a docking exercise was lost in a launch failure. On this mission, the unmanned vehicle launched properly but the docking mechanism on it failed. (Docking maneuvers will be a critical part of any upcoming mission to the moon.) Tomorrow, Cernan will take a two-hour spacewalk, the second ever by an American, although it will be plagued by technical problems also. Gemini 9 will return safely to Earth on Monday. Civil rights activist James Meredith begins what he calls his March Against Fear, intending to walk 220 miles through Mississippi, to challenge the climate of intimidation and fear among black Mississippians registering to vote. Tomorrow, Meredith will be hit by three loads of buckshot and spend three weeks in the hospital. In northeastern Wisconsin, two F2 tornadoes strike near the Oconto county community of Gillett. Future opera singer Cecelia Bartoli is born.
Yesterday, Amberoid won the Belmont Stakes. Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Kauai King finished fourth to continue the drought of Triple Crown winners going back to 1948. In major league baseball today, the Cleveland Indians retain a half-game lead on the Baltimore Orioles in the American League; both teams win today, although the second game on Baltimore's doubleheader against the Kansas City A's will be suspended by curfew in the top of the 12th; the Orioles will win the completed game tomorrow. The National League-leading San Francisco Giants lose to Philadelphia 6-1; Giants starter Juan Marichal gets the loss, his first of the season after winning 10 straight.
Andy Griffith is on the cover of TV Guide. Guests on today's American Bandstand are Roy Orbison and the Sunrays. In San Francisco, the Grateful Dead plays the Fillmore and the Jefferson Airplane plays the Civic Center. In London, the Yardbirds work in the studio on an album that will be released in July and called Roger the Engineer.
The teen magazine KRLA Beat dated June 4 shows "A Groovy Kind of Love" by the Mindbenders atop the KRLA Tunedex, but a record store survey published by the station, also dated June 4, shows the #1 song in Los Angeles as "Searchin' for My Love" by Bobby Moore, which does not appear among the 40 songs on the Tunedex list shown in KRLA Beat. Both show "Paint It Black" by the Rolling Stones at #3, although the survey also lists the B-side, "Stupid Girl." Other songs found in the Top 10 of one or the other: "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge, "Along Comes Mary" by the Association, "Hey Joe" by the Leaves, "My Little Red Book" by Love, "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind" by the Lovin' Spoonful, "Monday Monday" by the Mamas and the Papas, "Funny How Love Can Be" by Danny Hutton, "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" by the Walker Brothers, "Double Shot" by the Swingin' Medallions, "Dirty Water" by the Standells, "Hold On I'm Comin'" by Sam and Dave, and "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" by Dusty Springfield. Variations in the two surveys are likely because KRLA Beat is a national publication and goes to press well before its street date.
Perspective From the Present: "Searching for My Love" by Bobby Moore and the Rhythm Aces would get to #27 on the Hot 100. Danny Hutton's "Funny How Love Can Be" bubbled under at #120. The song would eventually see the Hot 100 in a version by the English studio group First Class; Hutton would make it as one of the three lead singers in Three Dog Night. On the same page of KRLA Beat showing the Tunedex are head shots of the station's DJs: Dave "the Hullabalooer" Hull, Bob Eubanks, Dick Biondi, Johnny Hayes, "Emperor" Bob Hudson, Casey Kasem, Charlie O'Donnell, and Bill Slater—enough major broadcasting talent to fill a Hall of Fame.
September 25, 1966: Brand New Model
September 25, 2017 September 6, 2018 jbLeave a comment
(Pictured: the Supremes on stage, 1966.)
September 25, 1966, was a Sunday. A Minnesota man is being held for questioning in the murder of Valerie Percy, the 21-year-old daughter of U.S. Senator Charles Percy of Illinois earlier this month. (Fifty-one years later, the case will remain unsolved.) People from Virginia to Wisconsin are still abuzz over the unexplained bright lights seen in the sky early yesterday morning. NASA says it ejected chemicals into the atmosphere as part of a missile test, and the lights must have had something to do with that. In the Chicago suburb of Alsip, the village holds an open house to show off the new garage built to house its municipal vehicles. Newspapers around the country carry the first ad for the Chevrolet Camaro, a brand-new model for 1967, which will go on sale on Thursday.
Ken Holtzman of the Chicago Cubs takes a no-hitter into the ninth inning at Wrigley Field against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Holtzman will lose the no-hitter and the shutout but win the game 2-1. The losing pitcher is Sandy Koufax, who also pitches a complete game. The game takes one hour and 50 minutes to play. The Dodgers will clinch the National League pennant this week; the Cubs will finish dead last with 103 losses; after the Dodgers lose the World Series, Koufax will retire. The American League cellar-dwellers, the New York Yankees, finish their home schedule with a 3-0 win over the Red Sox in front of a crowd of about 16,000; the previous Thursday, attendance for a game against the White Sox was announced as 413. Jim Stevens, who played two games for the Washington Senators in 1914, dies in Baltimore at age 77, and Army PFC Gary Dopp of Almond, Wisconsin, is killed in Vietnam. The Green Bay Packers win their third game of the season, beating the Los Angeles Rams 24-13.
On TV tonight, ABC airs the 1957 film Bridge on the River Kwai and almost 28.5 million homes tune in. It's the highest rated movie in TV history, and a good thing, too. ABC paid a record $2 million to Columbia Pictures for the right to show it. NBC has Bonanza and The Andy Williams Show, with special guests Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. On CBS, Ed Sullivan welcomes the Supremes and Ethel Merman. In Wisconsin, a first-grader is watching The Ed Sullivan Show on the new color TV at his grandparents' house when he is called to the telephone—a very rare occurrence. It's his father, who tells him that his new baby brother was born today.
At the Empire Theater in Liverpool, the Rolling Stones are on their biggest tour of Britain to date, headlining with the Yardbirds, and Ike and Tina Turner. Because it's a Sunday, the bands play two shows. The Jefferson Airplane, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and Muddy Waters wrap up a three-day stand at the Fillmore in San Francisco with an afternoon show. The Kinks play Vienna, Austria. Gordon Lightfoot wraps up a three-night stand at Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a venue that seats 150 people. At WLS in Chicago, the top 3 songs on the latest Silver Dollar survey are unchanged from the previous week: "Cherish" by the Association, "Sunshine Superman" by Donovan, and "You Can't Hurry Love" by the Supremes (which they perform on The Ed Sullivan Show tonight). New in the top 10 is "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by the Beach Boys; the biggest movers are "Mr. Dieingly Sad" by the Critters and "Cherry Cherry" by Neil Diamond. Among the new songs on the survey this week: "Reach Out I'll Be There" by the Four Tops and "Poor Side of Town" by Johnny Rivers.
Perspective From the Present: My four-year-old brother and I were rousted in the wee hours of what was probably Saturday morning to go along when Dad took Mother to the hospital. He parked the car at curbside and took her in, leaving us in the back seat by ourselves. (It was a different time.) Sleepily, my brother asked me, "What's going on?" "Mom's gonna have a baby," I told him. I remember being quite proud to have a baby brother. He's still my baby brother today, and although he's not nearly as cute as he used to be, his own kids have made up for it.
And sweet fancy Moses, the music in September 1966. Unbelievable.
July 24, 1966: Soldiers
July 24, 2017 July 31, 2017 jb1 Comment
(Pictured: National Guardsmen on patrol in Cleveland after rioting in July 1966.)
(Most posts at this blog have previously appeared in some form at either The Hits Just Keep on Comin' or Popdose. Here's a brand-new post that's never appeared anywhere before. Find others here.)
July 24, 1966, was a Sunday. Newspaper headlines this morning include President Lyndon Johnson's speaking tour stops yesterday in Indiana and Illinois, during which he addressed the recent race riots in Chicago and Cleveland and defended his administration's policy in Vietnam. National Guardsmen have been patrolling Chicago's troubled west side since July 15th; the last units will be sent home from the area tonight. Johnson was accompanied on his trip by Democratic officials facing reelection in the fall. Richard Speck, accused of murdering eight student nurses in Chicago on July 13, remains hospitalized after attempting suicide while hiding out after the murders.
Also yesterday, actor Montgomery Clift died at age 45 after suffering a heart attack in his New York apartment. Today, pro golfer Tony Lema is killed when his private plane crashes into a golf course near Chicago. Lema is 32. Al Geiberger wins the PGA Championship in Akron, Ohio, by four shots over Dudley Wysong. Sixteen games are played in the majors today, including six doubleheaders. The American League-leading Baltimore Orioles lose to the Chicago White Sox 4-0; their lead over the Detroit Tigers is 12 games. The National League race is much tighter. The Pittsburgh Pirates maintain a one-game lead over San Francisco after both teams win today; the Los Angeles Dodgers gain ground with a doubleheader sweep of the New York Mets, 5-0 and 6-0, but they remain 2 1/2 games behind.
In Peanuts today, for the first time in the strip's history, the World War I flying ace enjoys a root beer at a sidewalk cafe. The fiction best-seller list is topped by Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls. On TV tonight, CBS opens prime-time with Lassie and My Favorite Martian, followed an Ed Sullivan Show repeat from February starring the Supremes, the Dave Clark Five, Stiller and Meara, and Allan Sherman. Perry Mason, Candid Camera, and What's My Line follow Ed on CBS. NBC airs The Wonderful World of Disney, Bonanza, and The Wackiest Ship in the Army. On ABC, its Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The FBI, and The Pony Soldier, a 1952 Western set in Canada starring Tyrone Power and Cameron Mitchell.
The Newport Folk Festival closes with performances by Richie Havens, Tom Paxton, and Pete Seeger. Other headliners on the four-day bill included Judy Collins, Chuck Berry, the Lovin' Spoonful, Skip James, and Phil Ochs. The Rolling Stones, touring in support of their album Aftermath, play an afternoon show in San Bernardino, California, before going on to play two shows in Bakersfield, California, that night. The Animals and Herman's Hermits play New Orleans. At KSTP in Minneapolis, Don DuChene does an afternoon show featuring Barbra Streisand, Count Basie, Herb Alpert, Bob Newhart, and others. At the Top 40 stations across town, WDGY and KDWB, "Hanky Panky" by Tommy James and the Shondells tops both stations' surveys. The Beatles' "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" is at #2 on KDWB; WDGY charts only "Paperback Writer" and lists it at #5. "Wild Thing" by the Troggs, "The Pied Piper" by Crispian St. Peters, "Lil' Red Riding Hood" by Sam the Sham, and "Hungry" by Paul Revere and the Raiders are in the Top 10 on both stations. The hottest songs at WDGY are "Sunny" by Bobby Hebb, up to #15 from #30, and "They're Coming to Take Me Away" by Napoleon XIV, debuting in the Top 3o at #16. At KDWB, "Lil' Red Riding Hood" is the biggest mover within the Top 40, zooming to #7 from #36 the week before. "Summer in the City" by the Lovin' Spoonful is up 18, to #15 from #33.
Perspective From the Present: At our house, Lassie was a frequent viewing choice on Sundays, but we rarely missed The Wonderful World of Disney. We had to be on our way to bed when Bonanza came on, and for many years I couldn't hear that familiar theme song without remembering how it felt to have to go to bed before I wanted to.


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Граф Альвизе III Себастьяно Мочениго (, 29 августа 1662, Венеция — 21 мая 1732, там же) — 112-й дож Венеции с 24 августа 1722.

Сын графа Альвизе (III) Антонио (1624—1688) из ветви Сан-Самуэле рода Мочениго, прокуратора Сан-Марко в 1657, и Чечилии Микель (Микеле). Был восьмым из 13 детей, рожденных в этом браке. Четверо его братьев, в том числе брат-близнец Альвизе (IV) Леонардо (1662—1744), также были крупными чиновниками.

Карьеру начал во время Морейской войны: с 1688 капитан галеры, воевал под началом Джироламо Корнаро. В 1691 назначен капитаном лагуны с функциями временного администратора (проведитора). В июле — августе 1692 участвовал в неудачной осаде Ханьи, в 1693 стал капитаном галеаса. В октябре 1694 — феврале 1695 в должности экстраордионарного проведитора принимал участие в оккупации Хиоса вместе с генералом А. Г. фон Штейнау.

22 августа 1696 командовал отрядом из трех галер в сражении с турками у Андроса.

С ноября 1696 по октябрь 1702 — генеральный проведитор в Далмации и Албании. Боролся с пиратами и войсками боснийского паши. После заключения Карловицкого мира противостоял попыткам австрийцев оккупировать очищенные турками районы.

В апреле 1708 — июле 1711 — генеральный проведитор заморских владений (provveditore generale da Mar). Из своей резиденции на Корфу совершал инспекционные поездки по Ионическим островам и крепостям Мореи, а также занимался организацией борьбы с пиратами.

В феврале 1714 — июле 1715 — капитан Падуи.

В апреле 1717 вновь вступил в должность генерального проведитора Далмации и Албании, сменив Анджело Эмо. Продолжал начатые последним успешные военные действия, захватив в конце июля Имотски. Летом следующего года операции пришлось прекратить из-за подписания Пассаровицкого мира, хотя фельдмаршал И. М. фон дер Шуленбург уже готовился взять Дульчиньо.

По условиям мира к Венеции отходили Стерница, Пролог и Имотски с прилегающей округой. Таким образом венецианские владения в Далмации достигли своего максимального расширения. Договор о разграничении был подписан Альвизе Мочениго с турками и австрийцами 10 июня 1721. Новая граница получила название Линия Моченига.

После возвращения в Венецию был избран дожем (24 августа 1722). В период его догата не происходило каких-либо важных политических событий. Республика продолжала следовать политике нейтралитета, к тому же в Европе в целом сохранялся мир.

Был холост.

Ссылки
 MOCENIGO, Alvise

Персоналии Италии XVII века
Персоналии Италии XVIII века
Правители Европы XVIII века
Флотоводцы Венецианской республики
Альвизе III

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Géographie

Territoire
 Le Brandebourg est un État fédéral d'Allemagne.
 Le Brandebourg-Prusse est une union personnelle conclue en 1618 par la marche de Brandebourg et la Prusse ducale, regroupant les deux États sous l'autorité du souverain de la dynastie des Hohenzollern.
 La province de Brandebourg est une ancienne province du royaume de Prusse.
 La marche de Brandebourg est un ancien État du Saint-Empire romain germanique.
 Liste des souverains de Brandebourg

Ville
 Brandebourg-sur-la-Havel, également appelée Brandebourg, est une ville d'Allemagne.

Monument
 La porte de Brandebourg se situe à l'ouest de Berlin et est un symbole de la ville.

Personnalités
 Pierre Brandebourg (1824-1878), peintre et photographe pionnier luxembourgeois.
 Elisabeth de Brandebourg (1403-1449), princesse allemande.

Couture
 Les brandebourgs sont des broderies décorant les uniformes militaires.

Armée
 Les Brandebourg également appelés Brandebourgeois sont une unité militaire, la division Brandebourg, de la Seconde Guerre mondiale.
 La classe Brandebourg est une classe de frégates de la marine militaire allemande.


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In the Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Gods in My Home: Chinese New Year with Ancestor Portraits and Deity Prints.
Treasures of a Desert Kingdom: The Royal Arts of Jodhpur, India.
Being Japanese Canadian: reflections on a broken world.


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The grapes for our 2016 Pinot Noir come from our house block on our cool climate Estate. After picking, the grapes are gently pressed and fermented in seasoned French oak barrels, where the wine remains for 13 months before bottling.
The result is a well-balanced wine displaying an earthiness and cherry aroma. Enjoy now with friends and good food.
Our Lot 41 estate range embraces our philosophy that good wine can only be made from good grapes. And with patience. We coax the best possible vines from our soils and the best wine from our grapes. Then we allow the wines to gently mature in oak, for months at a time. The result: perfectly crafted, regionally distinctive and vineyard expressive wines. Well worth the wait.
Our Saint Series stable of wines celebrates everything good about life at St. Maur and the things we hold dear. Family and friends. Time honoured practices. Our local and regional community. And of course, the treasured animals on our estate. Our expression of the good life.
We like life in the slow lane. In fact, we don't do change too well at all, which is why our wines are still made using traditional methods. We find that this process produces wines that are of wonderful colour, full of flavour. Call us sticklers for routine.
At St Maur with the festive season upon, we have some wonderful gift boxes to share with your friends and loved ones. Our festive season gifts.


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As I was reading through the pages of Dancing with Destiny by Jill Austin, while I travelled back home today, God reminded me of a lesson learned a few years ago. A lesson that had caused my heart to love Him in a way I had never before.
He stretched out His hand in front of me asking me to dance with Him. With my eyes still closed, I saw myself reach out and fall into His strong arms. He steadied me and we stood still for a while. Then, He with the gentle nudging of His hand, He tenderly moved me to the rhythm of music I could not hear.
It was so effortless. I was captured by His gaze that moving along the dance floor seemed so easy. Without any conflict. I learned that to dance with Him was to trust Him. To be led by Him. To be captured by Him. My heart was awakened to love!
That was that day and this is now.
Even the best of us, after a while, resort to Christian clichés and forget the power that those very revelations once held. And, I have found myself at such a place where words spoken from my mouth ring untrue in my ears. My hope deferred heart finds no solace. This is not some sort of feigned humility. It is the state of my heart.
There is no better way to explain this. Mentally. Physically. Emotionally. Spiritually. I am exhausted to the point of hopelessness. Didn't He say that He wouldn't leave me? Nor forsake me? Hadn't He promised me strength to endure?
Then why do I feel so distant? Why does it feel like I have lost sight of who I am supposed to be? Why does giving up seem so easy when once the only thing I was ready to give up was my life if that is what it took to see Your purpose fulfilled on earth?
In answer to all my questions, He is calling me to dance with Him again.
You see, Jesus' love causes Him to deal with the things that are holding us back. Somewhere along the way, I decided to take lead and move to the familiar sounds of what I had heard before. I wanted things done my way. But before I knew it, I found myself in the wilderness. For those who know me, you might have heard me talk about the wilderness for the longest time. Only I now realize that I did not get here because I wanted to. It was His Spirit that led me here in the first place.
I believe the wilderness to be a place of absolute dependence on God. You depend on Him for your every meal, your next drop of water, your next step and direction. It is also the place where God disciplines you in isolation. He also speaks to you the things on His heart. He allows your flesh nature to die so that when you step out of this place, you are then empowered by the Holy Spirit. It is here that purpose in purified.
Why should I have to go through something like this, you might wonder? Remember that Jesus went through it as well. He had moments even after his temptation where He had to deal with the wilderness. The garden of Gethsemane was one more such experience in His life. He went through the wilderness of death but emerged victorious and resurrected.
As I sit here writing I have decided to not walk through the wilderness anymore. Instead, I will dance. And dance through it with His hand in mine, looking into His eyes. We will dance.
Wow, blessed by the post! How often we forget the initial wonder and intimacy we used to enjoy! I pray that none of my wilderness stops me from celebrating God's love and trusting 100% in His purposes for my life. Thanks for writing Virginia. Bless you.
Blessed by this post. As a mum, here all alone in Mumbai, after a big move from the Gulf after 17 years, bringing up two growing kids one 18 and one 13, with my husband still overseas on work, I often get to that place of hopelessness and just drag myself literally to the next day.
I have also decided now not to walk through the wilderness anymore but to just fall into those loving arms of His and dance and follow as He leads me.
I knw wat ur talking,..this is wat im goin thru now..
Jesus has made me read this at the right time! Thanks for posting Virginia 🙂 It's a blessing!
Wow….thats really amazing! Psalm 84 speaks of it. If every wilderness can draw us back to the lover of our soul….wow…..isn't it awesome. Thanks for the post, bless you.
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Rare Videos of STEVE
April 12, 2018 July 17, 2018 / Dr.Tony Phillips	/ Leave a comment
April 11, 2018: Yesterday, a G1-class geomagnetic storm was brewing over Canada as a stream of solar wind buffeted Earth's magnetic field. Matthew Wheeler of Robson Valley, British Columbia, stepped outside to see what was up–and STEVE appeared. "My dog barked at it for the entire hour it was visible," says Wheeler. "It was flowing like a river at astonishing speed." Click to play his must-see video:
STEVE may look like an aurora, but it is not. For one thing, it is soft purple, not green like typical auroras. And it has its own special form–tightly collimated into a narrow ribbon that can bisect the entire sky.
Researchers are only beginning to understand the phenomenon–aided by a chance encounter between STEVE and a European satellite a few years ago. In situ measurements revealed that STEVE is a hot (3000 degrees C) ribbon of ionized gas slicing through Earth's upper atmosphere some 300 km above the ground. It appears unpredictably during some, but not all, geomagnetic storms.
Another video–"my best yet," says Wheeler–shows the beautiful interaction between the soft-purple ribbon and nearby green "picket fence" auroras:
"The purple ribbon was moving much faster than the green pickets," says Wheeler. "And while their forms varied from smooth to ragged and back again, their path across the sky was almost constant for the whole hour–as it has since I first noticed STEVE over this valley in the 1980s."
Does STEVE really make dogs bark? "Mine does," says Wheeler. "In addition to barking at STEVE, my giant Akbash astronomy dog, Patch, has barked at the space station since he was a pup, and proudly seen it off the farm every time. He is also a valuable spotter of meteor showers. When I hear him barking upwards, it is time to go outside."
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Strange Aurora-like Arc Sighted over Alaska: It's "Steve"!
March 27, 2018 March 27, 2018 / Dr.Tony Phillips	/ Leave a comment
March 25, 2018: Last night, something happened at the edge of space over Alaska. More than 200 km above Anchorage, a hot ribbon of ionized gas sliced through Earth's magnetosphere, creating a luminous arc that rivaled the Moon in brightness. Sanjana Greenhill witnessed the apparition:
"We noticed this perfect arc developing across the sky," says Greenhill. "It didn't seem like the aurora since it wasn't moving much. The arc got brighter and then faded and then got brighter again. And then it dawned on me, this is STEVE!"
STEVE is an aurora-like phenomenon that researchers are only beginning to understand. For many years, northern sky watchers reported the form occasionally dancing alongside auroras. It was widely called a "proton arc" until researchers pointed out that protons had nothing to do with it. So members of the Alberta Aurora Chasers group gave it a new name: "Steve" (since upgraded to STEVE, an acronym for 'Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement').
The first clues to the nature of STEVE came in 2016 when one of the European Space Agency's Swarm satellites encountered the phenomenon. "As the satellite flew straight though 'Steve,' the temperature jumped by 3000°C and the data revealed a 25 km-wide ribbon of gas flowing westwards at about 6 km/s (13,000 mph)," reports Eric Donovan from the University of Calgary.
Donovan and a team of colleagues led by Elizabeth MacDonald of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have just published a paper on STEVE. In it, they confirm that STEVE is distinct from ordinary auroras, usually forming to the south of active Northern Lights. The mauve and purple colored arcs, they say, are related to supersonic rivers of gas called "subauroral ion drifts" (SAIDs), which flow through Earth's magnetic field. Earth-orbiting satelites have tracked thousands of SAIDs: they tend to appear near latitude +60 degrees, and occur more frequently during spring and fall than summer and winter.
This last point means that now is the season for STEVE. The onset of northern spring seems to lure the arc out of winter hiding.
"I saw STEVE for the first time on March 18th," reports Giuseppe Petricca , who took this sequence of pictures from the Isle of Lewis in Scotland:
"It was an ever-changing tornado, with violet tones, always in movement, always with different shapes," he says. "Another wonder of Nature!"
The mystery of STEVE is far from solved. Researchers still don't understand why STEVE is purple–or for that matter why the underlying rivers of gas should glow at all. "Further spectral analysis and modeling are needed," say MacDonald et al.
In other words, keep an eye out for STEVE.
Realtime "Steve" Photo Gallery


The most recent horrendous massacre that occurred in Sandy Hook, Connecticut was an inconceivable act by a madman! Those innocent children with so much to look forward to ended in a flash! This atrocity goes down in history as the worst event to touch the US, second only to Columbine.
This act of violence coupled with natural catastrophes such as Japan's nuclear meltdown, Katrina, the multitude of earthquakes, floods, tsunami's, tornados and hurricanes as recent as Sandy are not within our control and that makes them even more frightening! Yet the things within our control such as manmade disasters of environmental magnitude, as well as multiple wars, world hunger, dictatorships abusing their people with starvation and deprivation, gun violence and the rising numbers of horrendous crime, many find themselves comparing the future to what they remember in the past. Life seemed easier, freer, safer, and calmer when they were kids, but was it really?
After all, we grew up with the threat of the world ending with nuclear war. Air raid drills were part of our weekly practices, and there was no environmental consciousness. People threw trash out of their car windows while driving, polluted our waterways and wasted precious energy. Don't forget the "Me Generation" where it was acceptable to be self-centered and selfish. We had our wars and atrocities of world famine, gorilla and chemical warfare, as well as the loss of many great leaders such as Martin Luther King, Ghandi, John F. Kennedy and music greats, John Lennon, Jimi Hendix, Janis Joplin and Brian Morrison. The grass may seem greener, but it isn't. We all have our set of balance to live through.
Balance is the key word for with every catastrophe comes an achievement, a breakthrough, a miraculous achievement and a time to look at 'the beauty' that's happen in our lifetime. We progressed in science enough to land men on the moon and do space travel. Medicine advancements cured diseases that use to kill multitudes of people in the past. We wiped out epidemics, stopped plagues and offered hope to those suffering with cancer, HIV and many mental health issues.
Communism was thwarted with the breakdown of the iron curtain, civil rights were born and equal rights for women followed. Labor laws saved many abused children and immigrant workers and we made tremendous progress in environmental consciousness.
Do you remember the unsettling 1964 presidential campaign commercial for Lyndon B. Johnson of the daisy and the little girl and nuclear threat? Perhaps the threat is still with us, but we have had disarmament and are much wiser. We can't forget the the Native American on horseback, a single tear in his eye, as garbage from a passing by car is thrown at his feet? Now we conserve energy, recycle and do everything 'green.' We've come a long way in many instances.


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St Lawrence Church Bells
by Jim Platt, July 2018
August 2018 marks the 20th anniversary of the occasion when the present installation of 6 bells was first rung - 12 August 1998. It is a significant event in that they have been rung for every service since then. This was thanks to David Todd who drove through their installation and was Tower Captain up to his death in 2017.
David Todd played a pivotal role in organising the fund-raising and then fighting the bureaucracy to get authority for the bells to be put in the ancient tower of St Lawrence. Once the project was approved, Nicholson Engineering of Bridport were contracted to design and construct the new bell installation. David worked tirelessly with the contractor to extract the old bells and wooden bell frame, and install the new steel frame. This involved strengthening the existing walls and support.
There were two bells before 1998 - one cast in 1594 and the other in 1767. This latter bell was found a home in another tower. The 1594 bell has been retained and is the number 4 bell of the present ring. Five new bells were cast in the world-famous Whitechapel Foundry and other members of the church visited during the casting process to make sure it was all done properly. The tenor (heaviest bell) weighs 5 cwt 3 qtrs and 6 lbs (650 lbs or 295 kg).
Information from
Doves Guide for Church Bell Ringers
accessed 12/10/18
Despite the person ringing the tenor moving over a quarter of a ton of metal, this is considered a light bell installation. In contrast the tenor in St Thomas Church in Salisbury weighs 25 cwt or one and a quarter tons. The tenor has cast on it the names of the incumbert, The Venerable Barney Hopkinson, and churchwardens at the time, Paddy Coggan and Michael Parker. It is the tenor bell which is struck every hour by our 18th century clock, Michael Parker's pride and joy.
L-R David Todd, Paddy Coggan, Michael Parker
Image kindly provided by Michael Parker.
Having got the bells in position there was a service of dedication to bless the bells conducted by Barney Hopkinson. The process of installing the bells, including the service of dedication, was captured on a video - 'Six Bells for St Lawrence' - made by Dick Fox, the late husband of our oldest village resident, Yvonne Fox.
David's death left a large hole in the village where he had produced the Parish Magazine for 27 years and had been the go-to-person to get anything technical done on the Church or Reading Room. He had been a ringer for 66 years and his passing left a large hole in the ringing community and particularly in our tower. Harry Brockway very kindly took over the role of Tower Captain on David's death and has worked tirelessly to motivate and build up the band of ringers.
We now have an enthusiastic home team who ring for all the services and weddings to keep up the tradition established by David Todd. Unlike many towers we seem to have an increasing number of people interested in joining us. This is largely due to the great atmosphere Harry has created in the ringing room.
View information about the Bellringers of St Lawrence Church including details of the Quarter Peal rung in October 2018.


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A Texas Town Votes to End 'Drag Queen Story Hour'
Rachel del Guidice / @LRacheldG / September 03, 2019
Drag queens Athena Kills, center, and Scalene Onixxx arrive June 22 for "Drag Queen Story Hour" at Cellar Door Books in Riverside, California. (Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)
A city council in Texas has voted to stop renting out space at the local library to public organizations, essentially canceling the town's ability to have a "Drag Queen Story Time" for children, a move hailed by pro-family advocates.
"These are people who are actually employed at adult nightclubs," Mary Elizabeth Castle, a policy adviser for Texas Values, a nonprofit organization that promotes faith, family, and freedom, said of the drag queens.
The City Council of Leander, Texas, 22 miles northwest of Austin, voted 5-2 at its Aug. 15 meeting to stop renting out meeting rooms at the library to the public.
"We brought in $1,800 in rental fees and we spent $20,000 in security," Leander Mayor Troy Hill said, apparently referring to the drag queen event. "That's not good math to me."
While "Drag Queen Story Time" didn't end up happening in Leander due to a scheduling conflict, it came very close.
"Originally the Leander Public Library scheduled a 'Drag Queen Story Time,' but that event was canceled by the City Council," James Wesolek, a communications associate for Texas Values, told The Daily Signal in an email.
"Then a so-called 'church' rented the library and scheduled their own 'Drag Queen Story Hour'; however, the drag queen canceled at the last minute due to an unavoidable work conflict, and the event became a family pride festival."
The idea of a drag queen event for children in the town of about 49,000 sparked protests, The Austin Chronicle reported.
Castle, of Texas Values, said the drag queens who often headline such events are not family-friendly or child-friendly.
"I've done some research and … their day job, without going further into, you know, anything personal, if you just Google them you can find out that they work at adult nightclubs," Castle said. "And so those people shouldn't be reading to children."
Council member Jason Shaw, who voted to end the practice of renting out space, said that doing so was not only economically sound but a socially wise choice.
"I hate that we're having to do this, to take it away," Shaw said of the vote to stop renting out space.
"But people are going to attack. If we don't just make it even across the board, people are going to attack and they're going to probe," he said. "It's going to cost the city and eventually somebody's going to get hurt. Things are going to escalate and somebody's going to get hurt."
Council member Christine Sederquist, who voted against the change, said the new policy is not inclusive.
"We already have things in place to protect our citizens and ensure costs," Sederquist said during the debate. "There's no reason to take away something from them."
Castle told The Daily Signal that the content of the drag queen story hours is inappropriate, but the American Library Association is "pushing" the event.
The American Library Association, Castle said, "has been behind a lot of the story hours along with the national 'Drag Queen Story Hour' nonprofit and trying to have these 'Drag Queen Story Hours' across the country."
The Daily Signal sought comment from the American Library Association, but it did not reply by publication time.
Castle said the events are woefully inappropriate for children.
"These drag queens are told to read stories, you know, about gender transitioning and about sexual orientation to young kids as young as infant age," she said.
Leander as a whole also wasn't too keen on the development, Castle said.
"I think the majority of the city disagrees with these events because of the cost and kind of the chaos that came with having that event," she said. "I think the city … wants to protect their children, and for the most part they seem to be against the 'Drag Queen Story Hours.'"
Emilie Kao, director of the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal in an email that the trend of "Drag Queen Story Hours" is doing everything to harm and nothing to help children.
"'Drag Queen Story Hours' are contributing to the inappropriate and early sexualization of children," Kao said. "Parents, communities, and local libraries have the right to protect their children by refusing to host adult entertainment in spaces designed for kids."
@LRacheldG
Rachel del Guidice
Rachel del Guidice is director of communications for Rep. Mark Green, a Republican who represents Tennessee's 7th Congressional District. She previously was a congressional reporter and podcast host for The Daily Signal.