text:
Foreign Office relaxes travel advice for holidaymakers visiting Kenya's coastline
For months, it has been deemed a no-go area in the wake of kidnappings and violence that have seen western nationals seized on the beachfront.
But – in a move that will come as a boost to tourism in the east African country – the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has relaxed its guidelines on travelling to certain areas of Kenya's Indian Ocean coastline.
FCO advice now states that travellers should avoid 'all but essential travel' to within 60km (37 miles) of the border with Somalia 'due to the threat of kidnap and continuing instability in these areas.'
Previously, the FCO's exclusion zone had extended a full 150km (93 miles) south of the Kenya-Somalia border – a wider advisory that was introduced last October in the wake of increased activity by Somalian pirates in the waters around the frontier.
Most notoriously, last September, a British couple – Judith and David Tebbutt – were attacked as they holidayed at Kiwayu Safari Village, 31 miles below the border.
Mr Tebbutt was shot and killed by his assailants. Mrs Tebbutt was forcibly abducted and transferred into Somalia. After six months in captivity, she was finally released in March amid reports that a ransom of around £600,000 was paid to those holding her.
And in October, Marie Dedieu, a 66-year-old French national living in Kenya, was seized from her home on Manda Island, despite being confined to a wheelchair. French authorities revealed that she died in captivity later that month.
The new FCO advice will not affect Kiwayu Safari Village, where the Tebbutts were staying. This remains within the exclusion area, as does Garissa District and coastal areas north of Pate Island.
But it brings the tourism hotspot of Lamu back onto the radar.
A small island immediately off the Kenyan mainland, Lamu has been an increasingly popular option for holidaymakers.
Its capital, also called Lamu, is the oldest continually inhabited town in Kenya, with its historic districts recognised as a Unesco World Heritage Site.
However, the FCO still recommends caution when staying in northern Kenya.
'Piracy is a significant threat in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean,' its advice continues.
Somali immigrant visa petitions stalling over identity paperwork - CityPages
Breakaway Somali regions boost education to deter militancy - Al Arabiya
Somalia regime targets al-Shabaab - UPI
Gulf of Aden Security Review - May 9, 2012 - Critical Threats
Trial of British terror suspect in Kenya postponed - AP
"Bad day for pirates" video up - Marine Log
Lawmaker: At Least 17 Killed in Somalia Fighting - VOA
Shooting to Kill Pirates Risks Blackwater Moment - bloomberg
Jamal Osman named One World media journalist of the year - Channel 4 News
Sri Lanka rescues drifting Somali men - The News International
Somali refugee survivors land on Malta beach, 7 reported dead - UNHCR
Navy 'forced to drop year-round Somalia piracy patrols' - Telegraph


text:
Portage County Crime Reports
David A. McLean Sr., 54, of 5616 Brave Chief Lane, was arrested Dec. 26 and charged with one count each of felonious assault, a second-degree felony, and domestic violence, a first-degree misdemeanor. On Dec. 21, McLean allegedly kicked a female family member while she was on the ground at his residence, breaking bones in her left leg and right hand, according to the Portage County Sheriff's Office.
A 46-year-old McClintocksburg Road woman was arrested Dec. 26 and charged with domestic violence, a first-degree misdemeanor, after she allegedly scratched, kicked, bit and tackled her daughter, twice used a stun gun on the victim, broke a mirror over her back and pulled her hair, according to the Portage County Sheriff's Office.
A 62-year-old Liberty Street man was arrested Dec. 26 and charged with domestic violence, a fourth-degree misdemeanor, after he allegedly caused a female family member to believe he would harm her, according to Ravenna police.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
https://www.nist.gov/topics/disaster-failure-studies/hurricane-maria
Disaster & failure studies
Expand or Collapse
Hurricane Maria Projects
Hurricane Maria Team
Cooperating Organizations
NIST's Authority
Hurricane Maria Program Fact Sheet
NIST Research and Investigation
Español sitio web
On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated much of Puerto Rico, damaging buildings that its communities relied on for medical care, safety, communications and more. To better understand how the buildings and infrastructure failed, and how we can prevent such failures in the future, in 2018 NIST launched a multi-year effort to study how critical buildings performed during the storm, as well as how emergency communications systems worked.
The goal of this effort is to make recommendations to improve building codes, standards and practices to make communities across the U.S. more resilient to hurricanes and other disasters. NIST has a long history of studying disasters so that we can learn from them and improve our buildings or procedures. For example, after the World Trade Center disaster, NIST's recommendations led to changes in how we build buildings and respond to emergencies. Additionally, thanks to NIST's work studying the effects of tornadoes, building codes and communications practices have been changed to keep people safer.
In Puerto Rico, NIST seeks to understand Hurricane Maria's wind environment and the conditions that led to injuries and deaths; how critical buildings and designated safe areas within them performed—including their dependence on electricity, water, transportation and other infrastructure; how emergency communications systems performed and the public's response to such communications; and the impacts to, and recovery of, selected businesses, hospitals and schools, as well as the critical social functions they provide.
The NIST team is involving local and regional emergency management officials; building departments, transportation and other public utilities; education and healthcare officials and staff; and local, regional, and Commonwealth elected officials and civil servants as well as individuals. NIST also is coordinating its work with other federal agencies, private sector organizations, and academic institutions. Several contractors are assisting the NIST team's engineers, sociologists, economists, meteorologists, and other researchers. Because NIST is not a regulatory agency, it does not issue new codes or standards. However, NIST will work with all relevant public and private citizens to encourage voluntary implementation of the recommendations in its final report.
Resilience and Disaster and failure studies
Jennifer Huergo
jennifer.huergo@nist.gov
ALL OTHER INQUIRIES
HurricaneMaria@NIST.gov
Created October 25, 2018, Updated March 10, 2020
News and Updates ›


text:
THE WORLD'S LARGEST GAY NEWS MAGAZINE
(note: covers, article text, and other info to be updated in the future)
published by Liberation Publications
• #913 (April 27, 2004)
— "What's Funny About Gay Marriage?" Buzz article on gay marriage in the newspaper comic strips (1pp.)
• #910 (March 16, 2004)
— "From Queer To Eternity" exclusive interview with writer Alan Moore and Jose Villarrubia about their exquisite book, The Mirror of Love. (3pp.)
• #900 (October 14, 2003)
— "The Last of Leonard & Larry" interview with cartoonist Tim Barela (2pp.)
• #891 (June 10, 2003)
— "Putting the Fringe on Top" interview and profile of singer Mark Weigle (2pp.)
click here to read the internet version
• #890 (May 27, 2003)
— "Drawing Conclusions" interview with author Greg Rucka about DC's Gotham Central comic
— Michael Glitz's "X-Woman" interview with Rebecca Romijn-Stamos about X2 includes quotes by Andy Mangels
click here to read page 1
• #882 February 4, 2003)
— "Buzz: The Wilde West" article about Marvel's Rawhide Kid comic with quotes from Axel Alonso and Rob Rodi (1 pp.)
• #869/870 (August 20, 2002)
— "Lesbian Sex = Death?" interview with Joss Whedon and Marti Noxon about Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2 pp.)
• #867 (July 9, 2002)
— "Buzz" article about Codename: Knockout comic with quotes from Rob Rodi (1 pp.)
— "Playing Cowboy and Indian" interview with Felipe Rose and Randy Jones of Village People (3 pp.)
—"Avant-Guardians" profile of Gabrielle Antolovich, International Ms. Leather 1990 (1 pp.)
• #532 (August 29, 1989)
—"Opinions" response to Max Collins' Letter to the Editor (1 pp.)
click here to read the letter and response
• #530 (August 1, 1989)
—"Lavender Crusaders: A New Generation of Superheroes Steps Out of the Closet and Into the Comics" article (6 pp.)
—"Comic Relief" review of Gay Comics trade paperback (2 pp.)
and others to be updated
THE ADVOCATE TRAVEL GUIDE
The Advocate Travel America 1992 Travel Guide (1992)
—" Portland [Northwest]" article (2 pp.)
The Advocate TravelAmerica Summer 1991 Travel Guide (1991)
The Advocate 1991 Travel America Guide (1991) Vol. 1 #1
—"Portland [Northwest]" articles (2 pp.)
— photo of Index campground by Andy Mangels
click pictures below for larger versions
Send Email to Andy Mangels


text:
High Grade Gold From Additional Lobo Trenching; Drilling Has Commenced
Continuing high-grade gold from trenching of SW Breccia Zone
11 m of 19.1 g/t gold (open)
5 m of 17.58 g/t gold (open)
Tony Climie, P. Geol., President of Mindoro Resources Ltd. ("Mindoro") is pleased to provide an update of exploration results on the Lobo Project, Philippines. As previously reported (release of September 16, 2002), there are two major epithermal vein / breccia systems at Lobo: the Sampson and Camo Trends, about 0.8 km apart and each extending for at least 2 km. Work is currently focusing on the SW Breccia Zone in the southwest of the Camo Trend (see accompanying figure). Results, including significant assay results, are summarised below. A full listing of all samples taken to date will be available later this week on Mindoro's website (www.mindoro.com) and on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).
SOUTHWEST BRECCIA ZONE ("SWB")
SWB consists dominantly of gold-silver mineralization (eg. Dita Area), with copper as well in the Jap Tunnel Area. Historical investigation consisted of limited selective mining of high-grade copper ore by the Japanese during World War II (Jap Tunnel Area), and of barite (Dita Area) by Pan Philippines in the 1950's.
Rock exposure is only 10-15% in the general area, and much less in SWB itself. Ongoing detailed boulder mapping has traced mineralized boulders over at least 500 m along-strike to the northeast and southwest (open in both directions along the Camo Trend). SWB appears to consist of a series of closely-spaced mineralized breccia bodies that may be circular, lensoidal, and partly tabular in places. They have been only partially defined due to lack of outcrop and overburden cover. The accompanying figure shows the inferred outline of the breccia bodies based on information to date. Shape and internal continuity are uncertain at this time. Significant assay results of rockchip/channel outcrops and trench exposures include (see accompanying figure):
Dita Trench 1: 14.5 meters (m) of 24.67 grams per tonnes (g/t) gold (previously reported March 19, 2003). Mineralization is open at both ends of the trench.
Dita Trench 2: (80 m NE of Trench 1); 11 m of 19.1 g/t gold. Mineralization appears to be open at both ends of the trench.
Dita Area-outcrop: 5 m of 17.58 g/t gold. Mineralization is open in all directions.
Jap. Tunnel outcrop: 5 m of 6.63 g/t gold, 9.9 g/t silver, and 1.15% copper (previously reported). Mineralization appears to be open in all directions.
SWB is structurally-controlled, epithermal mineralization, as it is through the entire Camo and Sampson Trends. SWB is interpreted as a linear series of multiple, probably coalescing, hypabyssal breccia pipes occurring at the top of a mineralized porphyry intrusive.
DRILLING COMMENCED APRIL 5, 2003
The initial drilling program will focus on the high-grade gold mineralization encountered by trenching in SWB, and will extend to other epithermal targets on the Camo and Sampson Trends, and then to the deeper porphyry targets in later drill programs.
McPhar Geoservices of Manila (ISO 9002 accredited), using standard procedures, analysed all samples. McPhar carries out routine check assays on all high-grade samples. Check samples are being sent to another laboratory.
Mindoro management is highly encouraged by exploration results to date.
Mindoro is a Tier One Company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (symbol MIO). The Company is exploring for gold and gold-copper in the high-potential magmatic arcs of the Asia-Pacific Region and is presently focussed on six promising projects in the Philippines.
For further information, contact Penny Gould, Executive Vice President:
Phone: (1-780) 413-8187
Fax: (1-780) 426-2716
Email: mindoro@mindoro.com
Website: http://www.mindoro.com
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the
adequacy or accuracy of this release.
You can view the Next Press Releases item: Mon Apr 28, 2003, Increased Market Activity
You can view the Previous Press Releases item: Thu Mar 27, 2003, Change Of Auditor


text:
November 27, 2014 November 28, 2014 ~ Neel Burton
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. —Psalm 137 (KJV)
Nostalgia is sentimentality for the past, typically for a particular period or place with positive associations, but sometimes also for the past in general, 'the good old days' of earlier life.
At the end of André Brink's novel, An Instant the Wind, the character of Adam memorably says, 'The land which happened inside us no one can take away from us again, not even ourselves.' Nostalgia combines the sadness of loss with the joy that the loss is not complete, nor ever can be.
'Nostalgia' is a portmanteau neologism coined in 1688 by Swiss medical student Johannes Hofer from the Greek nóstos (homecoming) and álgos (pain, ache). Nóstos is, of course, the overriding theme of Homer's Odyssey, in which Odysseus strives to get home to Penelope and Telemachus after the Trojan War.
In Virgil's Aeneid, Aeneas, another survivor of the Trojan War and the ancestor of Romulus and Remus, gazes upon a Carthaginian mural depicting battles of the Trojan War and the deaths of his kin. Moved to tears, he cries out, sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt: 'These are the tears of things and mortal things touch the mind'.
Johannes Hofer intended 'nostalgia' to refer to the homesickness of Swiss mercenaries fighting in foreign lowlands. The symptoms of this homesickness, also known as Schweizerheimweh or mal du Suisse and attributed by military physicians to ear and brain damage from the constant clanging of cowbells, included pining for Alpine landscapes, fainting, fever, and even, in extremis, death. In the Dictionnaire de musique (1767), Jean-Jacques Rousseau claims that Swiss mercenaries were threatened with severe punishment to prevent them from singing their Swiss songs and thereby exacerbating their nostalgia. By the 19th century, nostalgia had become a topos in Romantic literature, inspiring a fashion for alpinism among the European cultural elite.
Today, nostalgia is no longer looked upon as a mental disorder, but instead as a natural, common, and even positive emotion, a means of escaping the deadening confines of time and space. Bouts of nostalgia are often prompted by thoughts about the past; feelings of loneliness, disconnectedness, or meaninglessness; particular places and objects; and smell, touch, music, and weather.
When I was 14, I kept a lock of the fur of my English sheepdog Oscar after he got run-over by a tractor and had to be put down. Like the books and toys of our childhood, or our childhood home, the lock became like a time portal, which, for many years, helped me to nostalgize about Oscar.
I say 'help' because nostalgia does have a surprising number of adaptive functions. Everyday life is humdrum, often even absurd, but nostalgia lends us context, perspective, and connectedness, reassuring us that our life is not as banal as it seems, that it is rooted in a narrative, and that there have been (and will again be) meaningful moments and experiences.
In that much, nostalgia serves a similar function to anticipation, which can be defined as enthusiasm and excitement for some expected or hoped-for good event. The hauntings of times gone by, and the imaginings of times to come, strengthen us in lesser times.
Nostalgia is nothing if not paradoxical. In supplying us with substance and texture, it also reminds us of their lack, moving us either to creativity or restoration. This restoration often takes the form of spending, and marketers rely on nostalgia to sell us everything from music and clothes to cars and houses.
Nostalgia also serves important social functions. Many friendships and connections endure solely or mostly out of nostalgia, so much so that inducing or sharing in a nostalgic moment can at once revive a flagging relationship.
Nostalgia is commoner in uncertain times or times of transition or change. According to one recent study, it is also commoner on cold days or in cold rooms, and actually makes us feel warmer!
On the other hand, it can be argued that nostalgia is a form of self-deception in that it invariably involves distortion and idealization of the past, not least because the bad and boring bits fade from memory more quickly than the peak experiences. The Romans had a tag for the phenomenon that psychologists have come to call 'rosy retropection': memoria praeteritorum bonorum, 'the past is always well remembered'.
If overindulged, nostalgia can give rise to a utopia that has never existed nor can ever exist, and yet is pursued at all costs, sapping all life and joy and potential from the present. For many people, paradise is not so much a place that you go to as the place that you come from.
Nostalgia ought to be distinguished from homesickness and from regret.
Although homesickness is a loan translation of nostalgia, it refers more specifically to the distress or impairment caused by an actual or anticipated separation from home.
Regret is a conscious negative emotional reaction to past actions or lack thereof. Regret differs from disappointment in that regret is of actions, disappointment of outcomes. Guilt is deep regret for actions because they fell short of our moral standards. Guilt is a prerequisite for remorse, which is more mature and turned out than guilt in that it includes an impulse for repentance and reparation.
Nostalgia can more fruitfully be compared to a number of similar or related concepts including saudade, mono no aware, wabi-sabi, dukkha, and Sehnsucht.
Saudade is a Portuguese and Galician word for the love and longing for someone or something that has been lost and may never be regained. It is the desolate incompleteness or wistful dreaminess that can be felt even in the presence of its object, when that presence is threatened or incomplete (a great example is contained in the famous final scene of Cinema Paradiso). The rise of saudade is associated with the decline of Portugal and the yen for its imperial heyday, a yen so strong as to have entered the national anthem: Levantai hoje de novo o splendor de Portugal ('Let us once again lift up the splendor of Portugal').
The literal translation of the Japanese mono no aware is 'the pathos of things'. Coined in the 18th century by Motoori Norinaga for his literary criticism of the Tale of Genjii, it refers to a heightened consciousness of the transience of things coupled with an acute appreciation of their ephemeral beauty and a gentle sadness or wistfulness at their passing—and, by extension, at the realization, reminder, or truth that all things must pass. Although beauty itself is eternal in its recurrence, its particular manifestations are unique and special because they cannot in themselves be preserved or recreated.
Related to mono no aware is wabi-sabi, an aesthetic of impermanence and imperfection that is rooted in Zen Buddhism. Wabi-sabi calls upon the acceptance and espousal of transience and inadequacy to foster a sense of serene melancholy and spiritual longing, and, with it, liberation from material and mundane distractions. Hagi pots with their pockmarked surfaces, cracked glaze, and signature chip embody wabi-sabi. With age, the pots take on deeper tones and become even more fragile and unique. Also embodying wabi-sabi are haiku poems that evoke transience and loneliness. Here is a pair from me.
The sunlit seabed—
A golden reticulum
Of racing ribbons.
The moonlit lagoon—
Silver scales scintillating
On quivering brine.
The Buddha is reputed to have said, "I have taught one thing and one thing only, dukkha and the cessation of dukkha." That dukkha, or 'suffering', is inherent in all life is the first of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism. The second of the Four Noble Truths is that the cause of all suffering is lust, that is, coveting or craving. The deepest form of dukkha is the sense of dissatisfaction that things, being impermanent and insubstantial, can never measure up to our standards or expectations. When we understand this truth, we stop struggling in hope and fear, we stop craving, but instead open up to the ways of the world. It is not that we no longer suffer, but that the sting has been removed because, for want of better expression, we no longer think that our suffering has to do with us.
Sehnsucht is German for 'longing', 'yearning', or 'craving'. It is dissatisfaction with an imperfect reality paired with the conscious or unconscious yearning for an ideal that comes to seem even more real than reality itself, as in the final lines of Walt Whitman's Song of the Universal.
Is it a dream?
Nay, but the lack of it the dream,
And, failing it, life's lore and wealth a dream,
And all the world a dream.
CS Lewis called Sehnsucht 'the inconsolable longing' in the human heart for 'we know not what'. In the afterword to the third edition of The Pilgrim's Regress, he describes the feeling as 'that unnameable something, desire for which pierces us like a rapier at the smell of bonfire, the sound of wild ducks flying overhead, the title of the The Well at the World's End, the opening lines of Kubla Khan, the morning cobwebs in late summer, or the noise of falling waves.'
Lewis redefines this feeling as 'joy', which he understands as 'an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction', and which I like to think of—in the broadest sense—as our aesthetic and creative reservoir.
The paradox of 'joy' arises from the self-defeating nature of human desire, which might be thought of as nothing more or less than a desire for desire, a longing for longing.
In The Weight of Glory, Lewis illustrates this from the age-old quest for beauty,
The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have not visited.
Zhou X et al: Heartwarming memories: Nostalgia maintains physiological comfort. Emotion. 2012 Aug; 12(4):700
Posted in Philosophy, Psychiatry/psychology
‹ PreviousWhat Is Courage Made Of?
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text:
package net.jflask.test.util;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.net.CookieHandler;
import java.net.CookieManager;
import java.net.CookiePolicy;
import java.net.HttpCookie;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.URISyntaxException;
import java.net.URL;

import javax.xml.ws.http.HTTPException;

import net.jflask.sun.WebServer;
import net.jflask.util.IO;

/**
 * Minimal HTTP client that mimics the behaviour of a browser, eg. by allowing
 * cookies.
 *
 * @author pcdv
 */
public class SimpleClient {

  private final String rootUrl;

  private CookieManager cookies;

  public SimpleClient(String host, int port) {
    this("http://" + host + ":" + port);
  }

  public SimpleClient(String rootUrl) {
    this.rootUrl = rootUrl;
    this.cookies = new CookieManager(null, CookiePolicy.ACCEPT_ALL);
    // WTF: there is no non-static way to bind a CookieHandler to an
    // URLConnection!
    CookieHandler.setDefault(cookies);
  }

  public SimpleClient(WebServer ws) {
    this("http://localhost:"+ws.getPort());
  }

  /**
   * GETs data from the server at specified path.
   */
  public String get(String path) throws IOException {
    URL url = new URL(rootUrl + path);

    HttpURLConnection con = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
    con.setDoOutput(false);

    // https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4633048/httpurlconnection-reading-response-content-on-403-error
    con.getResponseCode();
    InputStream err = con.getErrorStream();
    if (err != null) {
      byte[] bytes = IO.readFully(err);
      throw new HttpException(con.getResponseCode(), new String(bytes));
    }

    return new String(IO.readFully(con.getInputStream()));
  }

  /**
   * POSTs data on the server at specified path and return results as string.
   */
  public String post(String path,
                     String data) throws IOException, URISyntaxException {
    URL url = new URL(rootUrl + path);
    HttpURLConnection con = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
    con.setDoOutput(true);
    con.getOutputStream().write(data.toString().getBytes());
    con.getOutputStream().close();
    con.connect();

    String resp = new String(IO.readFully(con.getInputStream()));
    return resp;
  }

  public void addCookie(String name, String value) {
    HttpCookie cookie = new HttpCookie(name, value);
    cookie.setPath("/");
    cookie.setVersion(0);
    cookies.getCookieStore().add(URI.create(rootUrl), cookie);
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
No Water, No Power and Freezing Temperatures for Some Texas Employees
Photo: Thomas Ryan Allison/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
When the cold storms hit Texas, some wondered how bad could it get. Three Amgen staffers share their experiences from Austin, San Antonio and Houston areas.
Patrice Biermann was cold and desperate for kindling for the fireplace. Would the cylinders at the center of paper towel and toilet paper rolls work? How about some broken-down cardboard boxes? At one point, she finally made a trade with a neighbor: A bottle of wine for some firewood.
The temperatures outside her home near Austin were in the single digits. Inside the Amgen sales representative's house, it didn't feel a whole lot warmer. The firewood didn't last long.
"I had this Eddie Bauer jacket – I never wear that thing – that said it was good for temperatures to minus 60," Biermann said. "Sure was glad I had that."
The snow and ice storms that gripped a swath of the country last week led to several states declaring a state of emergency, put almost 70 million people under wind chill warnings or advisories and left millions without heat and power.
But few bore the brunt like Texas did.
The Lone Star State was paralyzed, with cities such as Dallas, Austin and San Antonio blanketed with as much as 6 inches of snow, while Houston got as much as 3 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
Amgen had 2,900 staff members who were issued alerts by text and email about the storms – 377 of which were located in Texas, according to vice president and chief security officer, Global Security Christopher Davis.
He said as the storm Uri left its icy trail across the state, about 10 staff members called into the Global Security Operations Center seeking information or assistance. Davis said his primary concern was for the safety of those staff members.
"A severe weather event like this is uncommon in the state of Texas and presented significant challenges to everyone," Davis said.
Including Biermann.
Biermann began working for Amgen more than five years ago and has lived in Texas for almost four times as long. She grew up in Kansas and went to school in Nebraska. She knew a thing or two about cold winters. The difference, she said, was preparedness.
"This sort of thing doesn't happen in Texas," she said. "We weren't ready for it."
It started badly for her when the first wave of cold struck Texas. She said there was some ice and sleet when she walked outside to check on the well that was also her home's water supply.
She slipped.
The pain was immediate. She had dislocated her kneecap. Lying in the middle of her back yard, she tried to yell to her brother inside the house, but he didn't hear her. She started to crawl through the sleet, pulling her body toward the garage.
When she got to the door, she pulled herself up just enough to punch the code into the keypad. Her brother heard the door open and saw his sister.
"At first they thought I was laughing," she said. "But I was crying in pain."
She called an orthopedist and made an appointment for the next morning. Biermann said when she got there, she managed to get a brace and kept her limp for the duration of the storm. Luckily, Biermann said, she got there then because for the rest of the week, the office would be shut down like the rest of the city.
Jeremy Breehne lost power at around 2 a.m. on Feb. 15. He said the temperature in the house began to fall immediately.
By 6 a.m. he said he could see his breath when he'd exhale. And that was indoors.
"It got super real at that point," he said.
The Houston-based district manager who had a team of about 10 employees tried to text them to see how they were doing and to make sure they were taking care of themselves and their families. But sending and receiving texts was spotty at best.
He made sure the fireplace was going and as the hours dragged on without power, he began to wonder how long it might be before they'd have heat again.
With four children ages eight, five, two and four months, he decided to focus on keeping the living room warm. They moved couches together, rounded up every blanket in the house and turned the area into a bedroom for six.
Jeremy Breehne's children bundle up by the fire during the cold storms that hit Texas and other states. Photo courtesy of Jeremy Breehne.
With limited cell phone service, he tried to text and get information about the storm, how long power might be out for and to see how his staff was faring. Occasionally, power would flicker on in the house and might last for a several minutes before going out again.
"Our cars became charging stations," he said. "We'd bundle up, go into the car and charge them. The only problem was, I hadn't filled up the tanks with gas and they were pretty low already."
Breehne said he knew he'd have to try and get to the gas station soon since power wasn't coming any time soon. But the roads were icy and there were lines at the gas station. He couldn't afford to idle in the car and sit in the cold.
So, for the first 24 hours, he waited it out.
Anna Velasco-Neaves got the video from her daughter, who was stuck at work.
It showed Gabby, 24, preparing a makeshift sleeping quarters at the grocery store where she worked. The icy roads had made it too treacherous for her to attempt the drive – normally 25 minutes away – home.
She lined three packs of paper towels to make a mattress. She layered some doggy pads from the pet section on top of them as an extra layer of cushion. She happened to have a blanket and beanie to round things out.
"Good night everyone," she said at end of the video.
Velasco-Neaves said she wouldn't see her daughter for several days. Gabby instead headed to her in-law's house which was closer to the store. Velasco-Neaves, her husband and 16-year-old son, hunkered down at the house.
But they were more prepared because of COVID.
She said her husband had, during the quarantine, begun stocking up on supplies; canned food, extra propane tanks and extra water. And last summer, he bought a generator.
"That proved to be important," she said.
They decided to use the generator for the stove for the first couple of days rather than for space heaters. But by Tuesday, they were all out of firewood. They also needed to be careful about using the generator too much since it ran on gas, of which they had a limited supply.
Her husband decided to drive to the gas station to fill up a five-gallon cannister.
She said it took him three hours in what normally would have taken a half-hour.
When he came back, power was mostly out – with occasional teases of electricity for a few minutes. On a couple of occasions, they got it for as long as 30 minutes before it would shut down again.
"We learned to do things quickly when it came on," she said. "Showers, charging devices – you just made sure the time didn't go to waste.
Anna Velasco-Neaves measured almost five inches of snow at her residence in San Antonio during the storms that swept through Texas and other states. Photo courtesy of Anna Velasco-Neaves.
Patrice said nights were the creepiest.
Her yard is filled with large trees and, in the cold and dark with no power in the house, it was eerily quiet.
Then the air suddenly would be filled with creaking, followed by large snapping sounds of the trees made brittle by ice. Then heavy thuds as they hit the ground.
"Huge branches were popping and falling," she said. "You realize you're at the mercy of nature at that point."
After a week of sub-freezing weather, her property was covered by felled the big trees and ice-covered branches.
"It was like an ice tornado," she said.
Patrice Biermann's trees iced over and several fell during the cold storms that swept through Texas. Photo courtesy of Patrice Biermann.
Breehne said on the first morning of the snow, the kids wanted to play in it. But over the course of the days, that didn't last long as the temperatures stayed below freezing. With no power, his wife got the kids to draw pictures while he also saw it as an opportunity to teach his kids about the importance of being prepared.
"I didn't think my kids were in jeopardy and we actually had plenty of food," he said. "But going on 48 hours without power is when you start to wonder how long it might actually last."
He said meals were like one of those reality TV cooking shows where random ingredients are gathered to make meals. He grilled a lot on the barbecue, too.
Breehne and his oldest set up light stations around the house – candles and flashlights – so getting around in the dark would be easier. At night, though, even with the gas-powered fireplace, sleep was hard to come by and he recalled his 2-year-old crawling on top of him to try and stay warm.
Jeremy Breehne's children drew pictures to pass time during power outages due to the snow storms that hit Texas. Photo courtesy of Jeremy Breehne.
The pipe burst in Velasco-Neaves' kitchen was a cold, sopping mess.
Velasco-Neaves said she would lay 10 towels down to soak up the icy water, but then had no place to dry them. With no running water, she said she would wait for the occasional few minutes of power to come back on and try to heat up two kettles of water to have water to clean dishes.
"Mostly my hands were freezing," she said.
At night, the three of them would sleep all together on a king size bed with blankets, beanies and layers of jackets. A small generator provided just enough power to run a space heater in the bedroom.
She said during the day, they tried to play cards or board games, but the cold made focusing too difficult. But, by Wednesday night, the power had come back on – though she said she was jittery and moved fast out of instinct to heat things up in case the power shut off again.
And for the first time in three days, it didn't.
Thawing Out
Davis said over the course of the week, two identical alerts were sent to nearly 2,900 Amgen staff members in the path of the storms. A second alert was sent out due to concerns over whether staff members were in a position to receive communication due to widespread power, cell phone and internet outages.
He said now that the storms have passed, global security will conduct a lessons-learned review.
"You always learn from any event," he said. "This is no exception."
Breehne said he is planning to get a generator now – something he said he probably should have anyway given Houston's history with hurricanes. He also said he learned something about his Amgen team during the storm.
"I checked in with my team to see how they were doing the best I could," he said. "But I also found they quickly flipped the script and were concerned for my young family."
Velasco-Neaves said the pipe has been fixed and her daughter is back at home now. Work is slowly ramping up as some offices where she would make sales calls are open – but are backed up after being shut down for about a week.
And Biermann said she has begun getting estimates to clear the trees from her yard and is in the process of getting repairs from a cracked pool pipe that iced over during the storm. Her knee is healing, though she still limps around and said she has learned a few things: Have extra water on hand. Extra candles and flashlights.
And plenty of firewood.
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Margaret Chu-Moyer Honored with Prestigious Portoghese Lectureship


In mid-February 2019, the U.S. Army's Product Manager for Cyber Resiliency and Training (PdM CRT) office gathered Cyber Mission Forces (CMF) from all of the services to operationally utilize the Persistent Cyber Training Environment (PCTE) prototype vB platform for a concurrent, distributed collective and individual level training exercise from the command post set up at Johns Hopkins University – Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU-APL) in Laurel, Maryland. The training exercise, CYBER ANVIL, included elements of the CMF across the Navy, Air Force, Army and Marines as well as the Air Force National Guard and Air Force Reserves operationally aligned to support several combatant commands.
Personnel operated from Maryland, two sites in Florida, Georgia, Texas and Hawaii all connected to the PCTE working prototype. Many Navy and Air Force teams trained on site in Maryland while Army personnel supported distributed execution remotely from Fort Gordon. Marine and Coast Guard non-commissioned leaders attended the event at JHU-APL to evaluate the platform on site for future use of the prototype. In total, CYBER ANVIL encompassed nearly 100 participants across five time-zones and seven distributed sites with the joint cyber force.
Collectively, these users (planners, operators, training managers, etc) operated the prototype to provide operational feedback on PCTE platform that enabled them to directly plan-prepare-execute-assessment of several cyber mission force training events across its lifecycle. Trainees accessed a cyber team hunt scenario and a Kibana Elastic Skills Builder (ESB) individual threat hunting tool module, both developed by the Navy organically within the prototype, as well as Capture-The-Packet (CTP) external individual skills training content for forensics and traffic analysis.
The product manager is applying Development Operations, or Dev Ops, based on commercial industry processes that are not like traditional processes that follow a rigid timeline and process to achieve initial and final operating capabilities. Instead, the DevOps process connects the developers from several vendors and the government engineering team in a very collaborative way to manage configuration updates and changes and allows them to adapt to input received from the operational community in a rapid way to ensure platform relevancy.
On day One kicked off at JHU-APL the hunt teams laid out the daily schedule to maintain a continuous presence in skill sets throughout the day. The team leader shared his screen while the team worked in pairs and called out notable activities to each other. Behind the scenes, the product manager team initiated monitoring with technical operations to compute, network and store.
The Navy has been the advocate for these training solutions and has contributed the necessary content in this event for foundational cyber training. In the middle and right cubicle sections, Navy and Air Force teams trained on the individual ESB and CTP training content. Across most Department of Defense cyber ranges and training environments, quality content remains a challenge. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of Chief Warrant Officer Five Jeff Fisher, from Fleet Cyber Command, the content developed by the Navy was imported into the PCTE working prototype and now is available for reuse by the collective joint cyber mission force.
To keep the PCTE working prototype running for the Hunt, ESB and CTP training events, the PCTE engineering team used collaborative chat capabilities to respond to operator questions. This allowed engineers and users to share situational awareness as to the prototypes' overall performance and the status of issues. All operators accessed the platform through a virtual private network to maximize prototype availability and cyber mission force participation.
As a winter storm approached central Maryland and the forecasts for rain changed to snow that Tuesday afternoon, Deputy Product Manager Liz Bledsoe let the team know, "There will be no snow days in cyber." By the end of the business day Tuesday, most local and federal governments closed for Wednesday. Undeterred, the product manager planned for a contingency CYBER ANVIL operations cell in the nearby hotel used for billeting.
While the National Capital Region shutdown, the Orlando-based PdM CRT team plowed through the snow storm to provide cyber training to remote teams in Hawaii, Texas, Georgia and Florida. Hunt teams in Hawaii picked up where they had stopped the day prior. The CRT stayed online while Hawaii hunt teams went back and forth in pursuing the adversary. Hunt team training occurred without a hitch as the PdM CRT prepared to resume full operations the next day.
Day three resumed where day one ended. Thanks to the staff at JHU-APL, the training facility resumed its buzz as Hunt, ESB and CTP training went full throttle. The Navy hunt team outlined its processes on the white board: Recon, Weaponize, Exploit, Install, Command and Control, and Action. Navy and Air Force teams continued ESB and CTP training.
CYBER ANVIL was a healthy initiation for the prototype. Following the DevOps process is enabling PdM CRT's utilization and ensuring relevancy of its rapid prototyping initiatives across a multi-faceted CMF user base and mission sets. PdM CRT is expected to pick-up the OPTEMPO of these unit-driven touchpoints increasing in scope, size and scale across the services to rapidly battle-harden the platform for its v1.0 release in Jan 2020.
The end state PCTE platform will be accessible to all service cyber components. The next PCTE prototype event was CYBER VALHALLA held in March at JHU-APL for offensive cyber operations (OCO) teams to again battle test, harden and iterate on the platform. The success of the CYBER VALHALLA event was another step forward as PdM CRT battle-hardens the PCTE prototype in preparation for the Jan 2020 version 1 release.


Rent a Dumpster in Foster Now!
Simply give us a call and we will answer any questions you may have about the Foster dumpster rental procedure, allowed materials, size you may need, etc.
Our roll off containers can usually be delivered in Foster the day after you place your order. Make sure to call us early to ensure timely delivery.
Most dumpster rental firms in Foster have straightforward policies that will help you understand just how much it costs to rent equipment. Following this advice will help you avoid hidden fees when renting a dumpster in Foster.
What Size Dumpster Should I Get for a Residential Clean Out in Foster?
Residential clean outs generally do not require big dumpsters. The size that you just require, however, will be contingent on the size of the project.
Whenever choosing a dumpster, though, it's frequently wise to ask for a size larger than that which you think you'll need. Unless you are a professional, it's difficult to gauge the exact size needed for your job. By getting a slightly larger size, you spend a little more money, but you also prevent the possibility that you will run out of room. Renting a larger dumpster is almost always cheaper than renting two little ones.
Most cities or municipalities do not have many regulations regarding dumpster rental in Foster as long as you keep the dumpster totally on your own property during the rental period. In the event you have to put your container on the street in any way, you'll likely need to get a permit from the appropriate building permit office in your town.
Most dumpster rental companies in Foster will take care of securing this permit for you if you rent from them. Make sure that in case you're planning to place the dumpster on the street, the firm has made the appropriate arrangements. You must also guarantee that you get the permit in a timely manner and at the correct price. In the event you believed the dumpster company was getting a permit and they did not, you'll be the person who will have to pay the fine that's issued by the authorities.
If you rent a 30 yard dumpster, you'll be getting a container which will carry 30 cubic yards of waste or debris. Your 30 yard container will measure about 22 feet long by 8 feet wide by 6 feet high. These numbers could change somewhat determined by the dumpster rental firm in Foster you pick. A 30 yard dumpster will carry between 9 and 15 pickup truck loads of waste, therefore it is the ideal choice for whole-house residential cleanouts as well as commercial cleanup projects.
Picking a dumpster size necessitates some educated guesswork. It's often difficult for individuals to estimate the sizes that they need for roofing projects because, realistically, they do not know how much stuff their roofs feature.
There are, however, some basic guidelines you can follow to make the ideal alternative. If you're removing a commercial roof, then you will probably require a dumpster that provides you at least 40 square yards.
Many people order one size larger than they think their projects will take since they want to stay away from the extra expense and hassle of replacing complete dumpsters which weren't large enough.
The cost to rent a dumpster in Foster depends on several variables such as the size you need and how long you need to keep it to complete your job. Usually, you can expect to spend more cash for bigger dumpsters. Keeping the dumpster for a longer amount of time will even increase the cost.
Getting estimates is one of the most effective ways to compare dumpster prices to ensure you get a fair deal. Since some companies may charge extra fees, it is vital that you be sure the price quote comprises all of the gear and services that you need.
Generally, renting a dumpster in Foster is an affordable way to remove debris from a building, remodeling, or clean out project. As long as you get price quotes so you can compare your options, you need to find that you can get a superb deal on a dumpster rental in Foster.
Most residential areas allow roll-off dumpsters. For those who have a driveway, then you can certainly generally park the dumpster there so you really do not annoy your neighbors or cause traffic problems by putting it on the road.
Some projects, though, will necessitate putting the dumpster on the road. If this applies to you personally, then you should talk to your city to learn whether you are required to get any licenses before renting the dumpster. Generally, cities will allow you to keep a dumpster on a residential road for a short period of time. Should you believe you'll need to be sure that it stays to the road for a number of weeks or months, though, you may need to get a permit.
You can fill your dumpster as high as you like, provided that you really do not load it higher compared to the sides of the container. Over-filling the dumpster could cause the waste or debris to slide off as the dumpster is loaded onto the truck or as the truck is driving. Overloaded or heavy dumpsters are simply not safe, and businesses will not take unsafe loads to be able to safeguard motorists and passengers on the road.
In some places, dumpster loads must be tarped for security. If your load is too high, it will not have the ability to be tarped so you'll need to remove a number of the debris before it can be hauled away. This may lead to additional fees if it demands you to keep the dumpster for a longer amount of time. Don't forget to keep your load no higher compared to the sides of the dumpster, and you will be fine.
All major credit cards accepted for dumpster rentals in Foster.


text:
Max Ruhbaum (* 1976 in Berlin) ist ein deutscher Schauspieler, Hörspielsprecher und Kabarettist.

Leben
Max Ruhbaum wurde im Berliner Ortsteil Steglitz geboren. Nach dem Abitur 1995 studierte er von 1997 bis 2001 an der Hochschule für Schauspielkunst "Ernst Busch" Berlin. Stationen seiner Bühnenlaufbahn waren bislang unter anderem das Theater Magdeburg, das Theater Freiburg und das Essener Grillo-Theater. Zu Beginn der Spielzeit 2005/06 wechselte er an das Theater Baden-Baden, dessen Ensemble er bis heute angehört.

Einige von Ruhbaums Rollen waren die Titelfigur in Georg Büchners Woyzeck, Estragon in Warten auf Godot und Clov in Endspiel (beide von  Samuel Beckett) oder Benedikt in der Shakespeare-Komödie Viel Lärm um nichts.

Daneben arbeitet Ruhbaum als Kabarettist und tritt mit Solo-Programmen am Theater Baden-Baden auf, gastierte aber auch am Kammertheater Karlsruhe, in der Berliner Bar jeder Vernunft und im Quatsch Comedy Club.

Seit 2007 steht Ruhbaum gelegentlich vor der Kamera und war wiederholt in Beiträgen der Tatort-Reihe zu sehen. Seit Beginn der 2010er-Jahre ist er auch immer wieder als Hörspielsprecher tätig, vorwiegend in Produktionen des Südwestrundfunks.

Filmografie
 2007: Der Kronzeuge
 2009: Von ganzem Herzen
 2010: Tatort: Die Unsichtbare
 2010: Sechs Tage Angst
 2011: Tatort: Der schöne Schein
 2011: Unter Nachbarn
 2012: Bloch: Heißkalte Seele
 2013: Der Vollgasmann
 2013: Tatort: Kaltblütig
 2014: Ein offener Käfig
 2016: Tatort: HAL
 2016: Emma nach Mitternacht – Frau Hölle
 2016: Dimitrios Schulze
 2017: Die Reste meines Lebens
 2018: Wir haben nur gespielt
 2019: Sechs auf einen Streich – Die drei Königskinder (Fernsehfilm)
 2019: Big Manni
 2022: Tatort: Der Mörder in mir

Hörspiele
 2010: 2pac 4ever. Viktor Berger und der Gangsta Rapper – Autorin: Carla Spies – Regie: Thomas Doktor und Carla Spies
 2011: Alpha 0.7 – Der Feind in Dir – Autoren: Sebastian Büttner und Oliver Hohengarten – Regie: Leonhard Koppelmann, Benno Schurr und Susanne Franzmeyer
 2011: Radio-Tatort (Folge: Gute Besserung) – Autor: Erhard Schmied – Regie: Stefan Dutt
 2011: Anders altern – Autorin: Daniela Böhle – Regie: Alexander Schuhmacher
 2012: Ida, Paul und die fiesen Riesen aus der Dritten – Autor: Mikael Engström – Regie: Mark Ginzler
 2013: Nullzeit – Autorin: Juli Zeh – Regie: Mark Ginzler
 2013: Ida, Paul und die Dödeldetektive – Autor: Mikael Engström – Regie: Mark Ginzler
 2013: Die Manon Lescaut von Turdej – Autor: Wsewolod Petrow – Regie: Bete Andres
 2014: Die ehrenwerte Gesellschaft – Autoren: Dominique Manotti und DOA – Regie: Ulrich Lampen
 2014: Herr Lundqvist nimmt den Helm ab – Autor: Jochen Weeber – Regie: Mark Ginzler
 2015: Nennt mich nicht Ismael! – Autor: Michael Gerard Bauer – Regie: Nicole Paulsen
 2015: Bierleichen – Autor: Roland Weis – Regie: Tobias Krebs
 2016: Simpel – Autorin: Marie-Aude Murail – Regie: Cordula Dickmeiß
 2016: Radio-Tatort (Folge: Aladins Wunderlampe) – Autorin: Madeleine Giese – Regie: Stefan Dutt

Hörfunk-Features / -Dokumentationen
 2007: Ich wollte kein Verräter sein – Der Fall Paul Merker und die SED – Autor: Thomas Gaevert – SWR2, 49 Min.
 2010: Otze – Vom Leben und Sterben eines deutschen Punkidols – Autor: Thomas Gaevert – SWR2 Dschungel, 30 Min.

Weblinks

 Max Ruhbaum Website
 Ich wollte kein Verräter sein - Der Fall Paul Merker...
 Otze - Vom Leben und Sterben eines deutschen Punkidols

Einzelnachweise

Filmschauspieler
Theaterschauspieler
Hörspielsprecher
Kabarettist (Deutschland)
Deutscher
Geboren 1976
Mann

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Over 100 companies participated in Xactly's inaugural Sales Compensation Administration Best Practices Survey and provided us with information around the processes, approaches, and technologies they use to design and administer their sales compensation programs. The primary focus of this study was to better understand how sales compensation programs are typically managed and to provide companies with information so that they can self-assess where they stand in relation to their peers.
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Optimizing incentive compensation: aligning what you say with how you pay CSO Insights' ICPM study* found that 69 percent of organizations use three or more metrics to build their sales compensation plans, but modeling and planning this sales strategy can quickly become too complex as a spreadsheet-driven exercise. It is crucial to get these incentive compensation structures right, because sales reps receive up to 60 percent of their income from incentive comp. In this white paper, we discuss the disconnect between sales behavior and incentive compensation structure and provide recommended steps towards optimizing your compensation plan.
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text:
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 2004 Something wicked this way comes.
Title: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Country: United Kingdom, United States of America
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures, 1492 Pictures, Heyday Films, P of A Productions Limited
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Robbie Coltrane, Michael Gambon, Richard Griffiths
Crew: John Williams (Original Music Composer), Jina Jay (Casting), Richard Beggs (Sound Designer), Stephanie McMillan (Set Decoration), Stuart Craig (Production Design), Lorne Orleans (Producer)
Keyword: flying, traitor, magic, school friend, child hero, school of witchcraft, black magic, time travel, friendship, school, best friend, werewolf, muggle, aftercreditsstinger, school class, based on young adult novel, magic spell
Overview: Year three at Hogwarts means new fun and challenges as Harry learns the delicate art of approaching a Hippogriff, transforming shape-shifting Boggarts into hilarity and even turning back time. But the term also brings danger: soul-sucking Dementors hover over the school, an ally of the accursed He-Who-Cannot-Be-Named lurks within the castle walls, and fearsome wizard Sirius Black escapes Azkaban. And Harry will confront them all.
Release: May 31, 2004 Runtime: 141 minutes Quality: HD IMDb: 3 / 10 by 17348 users Popularity: 307.024 Budget: $130000000 Revenue: $789804554 Language: English
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End


text:
Diario de thomaseverest
A Note on Banana Slugs
In December 2019 I noticed that there were significant inconsistencies in the identification of the banana slugs (genus Ariolimax) on iNaturalist. Since then, I have gathered a collection of literature and reviewed each of the 12,500 or so observations present as of May 2020, correcting and confirming where I could improve the Community Taxon. I will continue to to do this into the foreseeable future. My identifications have yielded some questions, and I hope to explain these below. The first thing I should say is that I am by no means an expert on banana slugs. I have taxonomic and field experience with Californian terrestrial gastropods and other mollusks in general, but my field experience with banana slugs is limited to four short encounters, all but one of which occurred before I discovered iNaturalist in May 2019. I have neither dissected a banana slug nor done any genetic work with one, although I'm sure both of those would be quite interesting. In preparing this, though, I have read a considerable amount of the literature on banana slugs.
Banana slugs are some of the largest terrestrial slugs on earth, reaching up to 260 mm when fully extended (Pilsbry, 1948) and weighing up to 150 g (Leonard et al., 2002). They are common in moist habitats along the West Coast of North America (Leonard et al., 2007), ranging from Juneau to San Diego (Leonard et al., 2002). The population on Palomar Mountain near San Diego represents a new species, as does the population on Fremont Peak near Salinas (Leonard et al., 2009*, 2013*; Pearse et al., 2010*; Pearse & Leonard, 2010, unpublished data; JL Leonard, personal communication, 2020). On iNaturalist we have records along this entire range, including individuals from both purportedly undescribed species. Like many slugs, banana slugs are herbivores, eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, both wild and cultivated, possibly playing a significant role in seed dispersal (Pearson et al., 2005; Gervais et al., 1997). They also eat mammal feces (Gervais et al., 1997) and mushrooms (Leonard et al., 2002). In turn, they have a variety of vertebrate and gastropod predators (Pearse & Leonard, 2010, unpublished data). In the lab, animals can live for over 2 years but sexual maturity can be reached in less than 1 (Leonard et al., 2002, 2007). Mating seasons have not been well studied, but it appears that mating is most common in the spring and summer and egg-laying occurs in the fall and winter (Cooper, 1872; Leonard et al., 2002, 2007). Egg clutches range from 1 to well over 100 and eggs can take from 3 to 11 weeks to hatch; sometimes more than one individual can hatch from the same egg (Leonard et al., 2002, 2007).
Perhaps the most studied and most bizarre aspect of banana slugs is their mating habits. Like other land snails and slugs, banana slugs are simultaneous hermaphrodites—meaning they have male and female sexual organs at the same time. That being said, sexually mature individuals can have no male reproductive organs (aphally), reduced male reproductive organs (hemiphally), or normal male reproductive organs (euphally) (Roth, 2004; Leonard et al., 2007). Euphallic banana slugs can mate either as a male or a female (unilateral reproduction) or they can perform both roles at the same time (simultaneously reciprocal reproduction), the latter only occurring in pairs (Leonard et al., 2002, 2007). Mating behavior begins with biting and head-swinging as the individuals twist together to align their genital openings, forming a yin and yang shape (Heath, 1916; Leonard et al., 2002). Copulation can then last almost 24 hours before separation, although precise behaviors appear to be dependent on species (Leonard et al., 2004a*, 2007, 2010*, 2011*). The bizarre part is this: during copulation, sometimes one or both individuals will proceed to chew through the penis or penes that connect them; this is called apophallation (Heath, 1916). The precise reason for this behavior is unknown, but a variety of explanations have been hypothesized. Perhaps the penis recipient benefits by forcing the penis donor to reproduce only as a female and thus focus on laying eggs (Reise & Hutchinson, 2002). Maybe the penis donor stands to benefit by stoppering its sperm with a "plug" (Heath, 1916) and, I might add, preventing competition with other slugs' sperm. However, this seems unlikely as the penis severer usually eats the penis after it is dismembered (Leonard et al., 2002). Apophallation, then, would be a nutritional benefit to one or possibly both slugs. Maybe the slugs are unable of withdrawing an everted penis back into their body (Pilsbry, 1948). It may be important to note that apophallation has only been observed in A. californicus and A. dolichophallus (Leonard et al., 2002) and that regeneration has never been observed, but it seems unlikely in such short-lived animals. In addition to sexual reproduction, banana slugs can also successfully self-fertilize (Miller & Sinervo, 2007; Leonard et al., 2007).
The genus Ariolimax was described in 1859 with A. columbianus as the type species (Mörch, 1859). The genus is a combination of the generic names Arion and Limax, Arion being the closer relative but Limax being the original genus under which A. columbianus ("of Columbia") had been described (Mead, 1943). The type locality was Puget Sound (Gould, 1851). The next species described was A. californicus ("Californian") from the "coast range" of the San Francisco Peninsula (Cooper, 1872; cf. Mead, 1943). Ariolimax stramineus was described next from Santa Cruz Island as a variety of A. columbianus (Hemphill, 1891). Pilsbry & Vanatta (1896) described A. buttoni ("of Button") from Oakland in a new genus, Aphallarion ("Arion without a penis"). This work was the first thorough treatment of the genus, giving detailed descriptions of the genitalia, which have proven to be the only reliable way to distinguish species morphologically (Mead, 1943). Aphallarion was described on the basis of the complete lack of a penis—an organ that would be expected in every individual because they are simultaneous hermaphrodites. Ariolimax buttoni was the type species of this monotypic genus. However, Heath (1916) discovered that banana slugs will chew through penes while mating (apophallation), suggesting that the individuals described as A. buttoni did not have penes because they were apophallated, not because they never had one to begin with (cf. Pilsbry, 1948). Mead (1943) and Pilsbry (1948) agreed, the latter following this treatment of the genus in his monumental work on the terrestrial gastropods of North America. Mead (1943) also described 2 new taxa: A. dolichophallus ("long penis") from Saratoga and A. californicus brachyphallus ("short penis") from Mt. Davidson, San Francisco. Mead (1943) stated multiple times that a "later paper" would discuss the "genital physiology of the genus" in more detail. This could be a reference to his PhD dissertation, which I have not been able to find; otherwise it was never published (cf. van Bruggen & Mead, 2011).
This taxonomy of 3 species and 2 additional subspecies remained unchallenged for over 60 years until Roth & Sadeghian (2006) resurrected A. buttoni from synonymy with A. columbianus and elevated A. stramineus to species level following the evidence presented by Roth (2004), Leonard et al. (2004a*, 2004b*), Pearse et al. (2010*), and additional unpublished work. Roth (2004) had shown that the original description of A. buttoni did indeed show aphally as opposed to apophally. He also found aphallic and hemiphallic individuals of this species that were sexually mature. Moreover, these were only found in the southern population of A. columbianus—the population that included the type locality of A. buttoni—and not in the population of the Pacific Northwest (Roth, 2004). When it was suggested that this southern population was genetically distinct (Pearse et al., 2010*), Roth & Sadeghian (2006) resurrected A. buttoni. Given that the genetic data remains to be formally published, this is up for questioning. Even so, Leonard et al. (2007) showed that A. buttoni exhibited aphallic, hemiphallic, and euphallic (normal penis) individuals, confirming the phally polymorphism proposed by Roth (2004).
Ariolimax stramineus was also elevated in Roth & Sadeghian (2006) based on the genetic data proposed by Pearse et al. (2010*) and personal correspondence with JS Pearse. This is corroborated by the phylogenetic trees in Pearse & Leonard (2010, unpublished data): if A. stramineus is treated as a subspecies of A. columbianus, A. buttoni must also be a subspecies of A. columbianus and A. columbianus would be polyphyletic. Both A. stramineus and A. buttoni must be elevated to species level to make A. columbianus monophyletic. Note that the use of the genus Aphallarion for A. buttoni would make Ariolimax paraphyletic and so it remains in synonymy with Ariolimax (most appropriately the subgenus Ariolimax), although it could potentially be used as a subgenus. The subgenus Ariolimax also appears to be paraphyletic (cf. Pearse & Leonard, 2010, unpublished data), and resurrecting Aphallarion as a subgenus could be part of a potential solution. Personally, I find subgenera unnecessarily excessive and they are not used on MolluscaBase.
The status of Ariolimax brachyphallus is a rather peculiar situation. It was described as a subspecies of A. californicus (Mead, 1943) and this is the status in Roth & Sadeghian (2006). However, some had already been referring to it as a full species as early as 2005 (Leonard et al., 2010*). This continued in Leonard et al. (2007) and all subsequent presentations. The phylogenetic trees in Pearse & Leonard (2010, unpublished data) are somewhat contradictory. The one on p. 27 indicates A. californicus is closer to A. dolichophallus than A. brachyphallus, meaning that if A. dolichophallus is a full species, A. brachyphallus should be too. However, this is not the case on p. 25, and that tree could support A. brachyphallus as a subspecies of A. californicus. MolluscaBase lists A. brachyphallus as a subspecies of A. californicus, which I think is appropriate given that there was no explanation for its elevation—published or otherwise. However, A. brachyphallus was added as a full species here on iNaturalist and I think I prefer this given the nasty complications inherent in subspecific identifications (see the discussion here). Ariolimax brachyphallus would not present a major problem as there are relatively few observations, but demoting it to subspecies would require demoting A. californicus to the nominate subspecies. This would affect over 1500 observations and the sort of upheaval that would cause seems unnecessary when precise relationships are unknown and research is currently being conducted that so far suggests A. brachyphallus is a valid species.
As of 2008, John S Pearse of University of California, Santa Cruz was working on describing the new species present on Fremont Peak (Leonard et al., 2009*). Currently, this description is still in progress, as is the description of the Palomar Mountain species. There have been some hiccups in publishing the genetic data for the whole genus, but work on that has recently resumed (JL Leonard, personal communication, 2020). Some of the more interesting findings indicate that euphallic individuals of A. buttoni are identical to A. columbianus, but they are still genetically distinct. The opposite is true of A. californicus and A. dolichophallus, which are not molecularly distinct but show markedly different sexual behavior and genitalia, suggesting there has been rapid evolution (Mead, 1943; Leonard et al., 2002, 2004a*, 2009*, 2010*, 2011*, 2013*; Pearse et al., 2010*; Pearse & Leonard, 2010, unpublished data).
My Identification Philosophy
My top priority in identification is consistency. The only thing consistent about the state of the genus on iNaturalist as of December 2019 was AI suggestions, which is synonymous with chaos when species are only differentiable by internal morphology and perhaps molecular sequencing. I generally do not identify observations by others that I cannot independently verify in the literature. I do not disagree with identifications that are potentially but unverifiably incorrect. I generally do not add identifications that will not improve the Community Taxon, unless the Community Taxon is above species and, at this point, cannot be refined any further. However, I do not mark the Community Taxon as "No, it's as good as it can be" unless it has been proven that there is no way (including range) to distinguish one or more species. This is not yet the case for banana slugs, but it could be in certain regions upon publishing of further research. I do not prefer to rely solely on range to identify species, but when no other traits are available and ranges are clearly defined (as with banana slugs), I do not find it inappropriate. This is how Leonard et al. (2002, 2007) selected specimens for study and it is supported by Mead (1943). Moreover, if range was not important in identification, atlases would not be used for splitting taxa. Although unpublished, almost all of the map data in Pearse & Leonard (2010, unpublished data) are supported by other references; they just provide the most accessible, inclusive, and precise ranges. The ranges for each region, north to south, are listed below. Please let me know if you find any of my identifications that do not align with these parameters, or if you would like to debate the boundaries provided. In no way do I have a monopoly on identifications.
The Pacific Northwest only contains the type species: Ariolimax columbianus. It ranges from southeastern Alaska through British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Del Norte and Humboldt Counties in Northern California (Roth & Sadeghian, 2006). I have also included Siskiyou County because the banana slugs found there are very close to these other 2 counties. This species also ranges east into Idaho (Frest & Johannes, 2000). I identify all observations within this range as A. columbianus, except observations in southeastern Humboldt County as these are close to the range of A. buttoni; I refrain from identifying such ambiguous observations.
The majority of Northern California contains A. buttoni. The counties listed by Roth & Sadeghian (2006) include Trinity, Mendocino, Nevada, Sonoma, Napa, Yuba, Sacramento, Marin, Contra Costa, and Alameda. They state that populations in Shasta, Plumas, Butte, Lake, Placer, El Dorado, Yolo, Solano, Calaveras, and Tuolumne Counties also represent A. buttoni. Mead (1943) confirms much of this in his documented range of A. columbianus, which we now know as A. buttoni in these areas (Roth, 2004; Leonard et al., 2007). I do not think it unreasonable to also add Tehama, Glenn, Sierra, Colusa, and Amador Counties to fill in these gaps, which is consistent with Pearse & Leonard (2010, unpublished data). As of right now, all of these counties contain banana slug observations here on iNaturalist except Sacramento. Perhaps that is an old museum record collected before significant development, or perhaps there is a relict population still alive somewhere in the Central Valley. This would somewhat validate the San Joaquin County observation. The Fresno County observation is also somewhat unusual. If an accurate location, it is presumably most closely related to A. buttoni given that this is the only species in the Sierra Nevadas. We may also expect to find A. buttoni in Stanislaus, Merced, Mariposa, and Madera Counties; Pearse & Leonard (2010, unpublished data) would support this. I identify all observations within this whole range as A. buttoni, except observations in northwestern Mendocino County and western Trinity County as these are close to the range of A. columbianus; I refrain from identifying such ambiguous observations.
San Francisco County contains A. brachyphallus, A. buttoni, and possibly A. californicus. Ariolimax brachyphallus and A. buttoni have been found on the mainland while the individuals on Alcatraz Island appear to exhibit a new genital morphology that is closest to A. brachyphallus. Genetically, however, these island individuals cluster with A. californicus. An individual with that morphology has also been found on the San Francisco mainland (Leonard et al., 2009*). I refrain from identifying any San Francisco County observations to species, except the spotted individuals, which I identify as A. buttoni, although this species can also be spotless (Mead, 1943; cf. Roth, 2004; cf. Leonard et al., 2007).
San Mateo County contains A. californicus and probably A. brachyphallus. Mead (1943) stated that A. brachyphallus is restricted to the San Francisco Peninsula, which is not extremely precise. The only exact localities he listed are Mt. Davidson and Mt. Sutro, although these would likely be the only localities in which he had actually found it. The range he provided is broader and presumably reflects his acknowledgement that the species was likely found outside of just these two peaks. It is no surprise, then, that Pearse & Leonard (2010, unpublished data) reported A. brachyphallus from northern San Mateo County. Roth & Sadeghian (2006) reported A. stramineus from San Mateo County, but this would seem to be either a typographical error or labelling error copied from a museum lot as no other records (published or otherwise) have documented A. stramineus anywhere near here. Mead (1943) listed a questionable record of A. columbianus from San Mateo County. This has not been verified so I do not believe it is accurate, but any records of A. columbianus in this area we now know to be A. buttoni (Roth, 2004; Leonard et al., 2007). I identify all observations in San Mateo County north of Pacifica as A. brachyphallus and all observations between Redwood City and Pescadero as A. californicus.
Santa Clara County contains A. californicus, A. dolichophallus, and A. buttoni. The only precise record of A. californicus is from Stanford University (Mead, 1943). Mead (1943) described A. dolichophallus from Saratoga and he also listed it from Congress Springs and Los Gatos. He listed A. columbianus from Alum Rock Park, and we now know all records from this area to be A. buttoni (Roth, 2004; Leonard, et al., 2007). Pearse & Leonard (2010, unpublished data) also indicated A. buttoni is found farther east and south in the county. It would seem, then, that A. californicus and A. dolichophallus are found on the borders with San Mateo and Santa Cruz Counties, respectively, and A. buttoni is found in the eastern half of the county. However, it appears that A. buttoni extends farther west into Santa Clara County than has been reported (published or otherwise). Only A. columbianus and A. buttoni have spots, although these species can also be spotless (Mead, 1943; cf. Roth, 2004; cf. Leonard et al., 2007), so spotted individuals in Santa Clara County are A. buttoni but spotless individuals are ambiguous. There are observations of spotted individuals west to Hwy 17 and a few in the vicinity of Saratoga. I refrain from identifying observations in Santa Clara County to species, except spotted individuals and observations north and/or east of Hwy 101, which I identify as A. buttoni.
Santa Cruz County contains A. dolichophallus and probably A. californicus. Mead (1943) only listed A. dolichophallus from Santa Cruz County but Roth & Sadeghian (2006) also listed A. californicus. Pearse & Leonard (2010, unpublished data) showed 1 individual of A. californicus from the extreme western edge of the county. It would not be surprising that A. californicus is found here because it is found in the neighboring San Mateo County, although Mead (1943) stated that the boundary is quite distinct. It is possible that A. buttoni is found along the northeast border with Santa Clara County, but no one has reported this. I identify all observations in Santa Cruz County as A. dolichophallus, except for those both north and west of Boulder Creek as this is close to the range of A. californicus; I refrain from identifying such ambiguous observations.
San Benito County contains A. buttoni and a new species. Roth & Sadeghian (2006) only listed A. buttoni from San Benito County, but a new species has been recently discovered on Fremont Peak. Ariolimax buttoni has also been found on Fremont Peak. This new species is currently being described, and it may also be found in Pinnacles National Park (Leonard et al., 2009*, 2013*; Pearse et al., 2010*; Pearse & Leonard, 2010, unpublished data; JL Leonard, personal communication, 2020). Roth & Sadeghian (2006) could not have overlooked this new species because it is mentioned in Pearse et al. (2010*), which they cite, so it is somewhat surprising that they did not list it. I identify all observations in San Benito County as A. buttoni, except those from the Fremont Peak area, which I refrain from identifying.
Monterey County contains A. buttoni, A. dolichophallus, A. stramineus, and possibly A. brachyphallus. Mead (1943) reported A. columbianus and A. dolichophallus reaching south to Salinas Valley, and we now know records of A. columbianus in this area to represent A. buttoni (Roth, 2004; Leonard et al., 2007). Roth & Sadeghian (2006) listed A. buttoni from Monterey but they did not list A. dolichophallus. It is likely that the species reaches a little farther south into Monterey County. Both Mead (1943) and Roth & Sadeghian (2006) listed A. stramineus, the former stating it ranges north to Salinas Valley, indicating Salinas Valley to be a zone of sympatry for these 3 species. The findings of Pearse & Leonard (2010, unpublished data) corroborate all of this, but indicate Monterey Peninsula is the zone of sympatry. They also state that a disjunct population of A. brachyphallus lives on the Peninsula, which is rather odd. The record of A. californicus californicus in Monterey County (Roth & Sadeghian, 2006) is likely a typographical error, or a museum lot collected before the description of A. dolichophallus and A. brachyphallus that has not been reidentified. It could potentially be a misidentified record of A. brachyphallus, which they rightly call a subspecies of A. californicus (see Taxonomy). I identify all observations south of Point Lobos as A. stramineus and refrain from identifying those north of Point Lobos to species.
Banana slugs in San Luis Obispo County have not been well-documented. Roth & Sadeghian (2006) did not list San Luis Obispo for any of the species, suggesting there are no lots from this county in museum collections. Mead (1943) listed one record of A. stramineus from Little Pico Creek, likely collected by WH Lange. If his collection survives, it should be searched for such specimens. Pearse & Leonard (2010, unpublished data) also indicated very scant information on this county. Curiously, they listed A. brachyphallus from here as an isolated population in the vicinity of Cambria, which would include Lange's Little Pico Creek record. They say nothing about populations in the other part of the county, so it would appear that such observations on iNaturalist represent previously undiscovered populations. If we only looked at published records, the entire county would presumably just contain A. stramineus. However, Pearse & Leonard (2010, unpublished data) are the only ones who have studied this region in any detail and they only document A. brachyphallus. I refrain from identifying observations in San Luis Obispo to species unless they occur in the extreme northwest corner, in which case they are probably A. stramineus.
Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties both only contain A. stramineus (Mead, 1943; Roth & Sadeghian, 2006). This species has also been found on Santa Cruz (from where it was described) and Santa Rosa Islands, but it is present on none of the smaller islands. This makes sense given the ecology of the Channel Islands (Mead, 1943). I identify all observations in these counties as A. stramineus.
San Diego County contains a new species on Palomar Mountain (Pearse et al., 2010*; Pearse & Leonard, 2010, unpublished data; Leonard et al., 2013*; JL Leonard, personal communication, 2020). Roth & Sadeghian (2006) could not have overlooked this new species because it is mentioned in Pearse et al. (2010*), which they cite, so it is somewhat surprising that they did not list it. This population is very far removed from the others so its presence is somewhat surprising. However, Mead (1943) speculated that there could be a population in San Diego County that "migrated along the coast ranges" when he found a record of Orcutt having discovered banana slugs there. I have not been able to locate a publication of this record and it may simply represent a museum lot. However, Mead (1943) suspected it was inaccurate. Mead's coast range hypothesis would not be consistent with the genetic data in Pearse & Leonard (2010, unpublished data), which indicates this new species is closer to A. buttoni (the nearest population being from the Sierra Nevada Mountains) rather than A. stramineus (the coast range species). The Fresno County observation could represent a link between A. buttoni and this new species. Naturally, I refrain from identifying any San Diego County observations to species.
Summary of Ariolimax Species by Region
Pacific Northwest: Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Oregon
California Counties: Del Norte, Siskiyou, and Humboldt (map) A. columbianus Individuals can be spotted or spotless.
California Counties: Trinity, Shasta, Tehama, Plumas, Butte, Mendocino, Glenn, Sierra, Yuba, Lake, Nevada, Colusa, Placer, El Dorado, Yolo, Sonoma, Napa, Sacramento, Amador, Solano, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Marin, San Joaquin, Contra Costa, Alameda, and Fresno (?) (map) A. buttoni Individuals can be spotted or spotless.
San Francisco County, CA (map) A. brachyphallus
A. buttoni
A. californicus? A. brachyphallus and A. buttoni (some of which are spotted) are found on the mainland. The individuals on Alcatraz Island may be A. californicus, or possibly A. brachyphallus or something new.
San Mateo County, CA (map) A. brachyphallus
A. californicus San Mateo proper divides A. brachyphallus (to the north) from A. californicus (to the south).
Santa Clara County, CA (map) A. buttoni
A. californicus
A. dolichophallus A. dolichophallus and A. californicus are found next to San Mateo and Santa Cruz Counties, respectively. The western extent of A. buttoni (some of which are spotted) is unclear, but it is the only species northeast of Hwy 101.
Santa Cruz County, CA (map) A. dolichophallus
A. californicus? A. californicus would only be found near the northwest border with San Mateo County.
San Benito County, CA (map) A. buttoni
New species The new species (which is in the process of description) is restricted to Fremont Peak, where A. buttoni is also present.
Monterey County, CA (map) A. buttoni
A. dolichophallus
A. stramineus
A. brachyphallus? A. stramineus is the only species south of the Monterey Peninsula and the other 3 are all present on and north of the Peninsula.
San Luis Obispo County, CA (map) A. brachyphallus?
A. stramineus? Ranges are poorly documented here.
California Counties: Santa Barbara and Ventura (map) A. stramineus This includes Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands.
San Diego County, CA (map) New species Restricted to Palomar Mountain; in the process of description.
At the end of the day, this genus is a work in progress. Every genus is a work in progress. Ariolimax is still one of the better known genera of native terrestrial gastropods on the West Coast—both scientifically speaking and as far as the general public is concerned. I hope to condense the literature into one place and provide an easy reference point for identification. At the very least, I got to read some cool papers, learn some HTML, and add every applicable observation to the Molluscan Mycology project. Additionally, if and when more research is published, it will be much easier to curate the taxa. If you're ever in Santa Barbara, let me know and perhaps we can go looking for some banana slugs. Who knows what we might find!
*Some of these references are presentation and poster abstracts. The date listed is the date in which they were published, not presented, because I was not present at the conferences (unlike some authors who cite them with the presentation date). While they technically have been published, at least some were not peer-reviewed.
Cooper JG 1872. On new Californian Pulmonata, etc. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 24: 143-154.
Frest TJ & Johannes EJ 2000. An Annotated Checklist of Idaho Land and Freshwater Mollusks. Journal of the Idaho Academy of Science 36(2): 1–51.
Gervais JA, Traveset A, & Willson MF 1997. The Potential for Seed Dispersal by the Banana Slug (Ariolimax columbianus). The American Midland Naturalist 140: 103–110.
Gould J 1851. Pneumobranchiata: Limacidae. The Terrestrial Air-Breathing Mollusks of the United States, and the Adjacent Territories of North America, ed. A Binney, Boston, Mass. 2: 1–44.
Heath H 1916. The conjugation of Ariolimax californicus. The Nautilus 30(1): 22–24.
Hemphill H 1891. General Notes. The Nautilus 4(10): 120.
Leonard JL, Pearse JS, & Harper AB 2002. Comparative Reproductive Biology of Ariolimax californicus and A. dolichophallus (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora). Invertebrate Reproduction & Development 41: 83–93.
*Leonard JL, Pearse JS, Breughelmans [sic] K, & Backeljau T 2004a. Rapid Evolution in Banana Slugs (Ariolimax spp.) (Gastropoda; Stylommatophora: Arionidae): Sexual Behavior Indicates the Direction Of Evolution. Integrative and Comparative Biology 44(6): 591.
*Leonard JL, Pearse JS, Breughelmans [sic] K, Backeljau T, Diep PJ, Robles M, & Townsend RC 2004b. Rapid Evolution in Banana Slugs (Ariolimax spp.) (Gastropoda; Stylommatophora: Arionidae): Life History Parameters. Integrative and Comparative Biology 44(6): 718.
Leonard JL, Westfall JA, & Pearse JS 2007. Phally polymorphism and reproductive biology in Ariolimax (Ariolimax) buttoni (Pilsbry and Vanatta, 1896) (Stylommatophora: Arionidae). American Malacological Bulletin 23: 121–135.
*Leonard JL, Pearse JS, Breugelmans K, Backeljau T, & Long JM 2009. Banana Slugs in the Bay Area National Parks: Distribution of Ariolimax (Stylommatophora: Arionidae) Species. The Western Society of Malacologists: Annual Report for 2008 41: 29–30.
*Leonard JL, Westfall JA, & Pearse JS 2010. Sexual Selection and Mating Systems in the Genus Ariolimax (Stylommatophora: Gastropoda). The Western Society of Malacologists: Annual Report for 2005 38: 41.
*Leonard JL, Pearse JS, Helsen S, Van Houtte N, Breugelmans K, Jordaens K, & Backeljau T 2011. Evidence for rapid evolution with diversification of sexual behavior in the genus Ariolimax (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora). The Western Society of Malacologists: Annual Report for 2010 43: 55.
*Leonard JL, Pearse JS, Elejalde A, Helsen S, Van Houtte N, Breugelmans, K, Jordaens K, & Backeljau T 2013. Phylogeography and Rapid Evolution in Banana Slugs (Arionidae: Ariolimax spp.). The Western Society of Malacologists: Annual Report for 2011 44: 218–220.
Mead AR 1943. Revision of the Giant West Coast Land Slugs of the Genus Ariolimax Moerch (Pulmonata: Arionidae). The American Midland Naturalist 30: 675.
Miller BLW & Sinervo B 2007. Heritable body size mediates apparent life-history trade-offs in a simultaneous hermaphrodite. Journal of Evolution Biology 20: 1554–1562.
Mörch OAL 1859. Beiträge zur Molluskenfauna Central-Amerika's. Malakozoologische Blätter 6: 102–126.
*Pearse JS, Breugelmans K, Backeljau T, & Leonard JL 2010. Phylogeography of banana slugs (Ariolimax spp.) (Gastropoda; Stylommatophora: Arionidae). The Western Society of Malacologists: Annual Report for 2005 38: 56.
Pearse J & Leonard J 2010. All About Banana Slugs. Unpublished 56 pp.
Pearson AK, Pearson OP, & Ralph PL 2005. Growth and Activity Patterns in a Backyard Population of the Banana Slug. The Veliger 48(3): 143–150.
Pilsbry HA 1948. Land Mollusca of North America (North of Mexico) Volume 2 Part 2. Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Penn. 1113 pp.
Pilsbry HA & Vanatta EG 1896. Revision of the North American Slugs: Ariolimax and Aphallarion. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 48(2): 339–350.
Reise H & Hutchinson JMC 2002. Penis-biting slugs: wild claims and confusions. TRENDS in Ecology & Evolution 17: 163.
Roth B 2004. Observations on the Taxonomy and Range of Hesperarion Simroth, 1891 and the Evidence for Genital Polymorphism in Ariolimax Mörch, 1860 (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Arionidae: Ariolimacinae). The Veliger 47(1): 38–46.
Roth B & Sadeghian PS 2006. Checklist of the Land Snails and Slugs of California. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, Calif. 82 pp.
(also in spreadsheet version)
Van Bruggen AC & Mead JI 2011. Albert R. Mead, 1915–2009, noted American malacologist: An obituary. The Nautilus 125(4): 228–233.
Potentially helpful resources that I do not have:
Harper AB 1988. The Banana Slug: A Close Look at a Giant Forest Slug of Western North America. Bay Leaves Press, Aptos, Calif. 32 pp.
Mead AR 1942. The Taxonomy, Biology, and Genital Physiology of the Giant West Coast Land Slugs of the Genus Ariolimax Mörch (Gastropoda: Pulmonata). Abstracts of Theses, Cornell Univ., New York 312–314.
Waste RJ 1937 (or is it 1940?). The land slugs of California. MA Thesis, Univ. Calif. Berkeley., Calif. Unpublished 111 pp.
See also these pages:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/1112411
https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/363458
https://banana-slug.soe.ucsc.edu/
Ingresado el 16 de mayo de 2020 por thomaseverest | 1 observación | 23 comentarios | Deja un comentario
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Moving forward from suicide loss demands everything of you. You might have been told that you need to let yourself feel grief – to let the pain be pain. It sounds right, but it's easier said than done when things get overwhelming, exhausting, excruciating or hopeless. In the moments when it feels like we're drowning in overwhelming pain, we tend to either collapse or try to numb the feeling out. Recommendations for self-care can sometimes, counter-intuitively, encourage numbing out by trying to replace pain with something more pleasant, missing something important along the way. Distinct from self-care, self-compassion involves not just tolerating, but also getting to know what hurts so that you can truly respond to your own pain. Self-compassion – so important, and so often under-emphasized in our lives – is crucial for coping and moving with grief and pain.
This experiential workshop will help participants better understand the self-criticism, anxiety and anger that complicate grief. It will also introduce participants to grounded and practical ways of working with these challenges, including guided trauma-informed yoga and meditation practices. Practices that emphasize embodied awareness of what we're experiencing help connect us to the present moment and cultivate self-compassion and self-soothing skills, which ultimately help us move with grief.
*No experience with meditation or yoga is required. Practices will be brief and accessible (no special clothes or mats required).
Through large group discussion, the facilitator will explore the benefits and risks of writing as a therapeutic tool to work through emotional pain, as well as strategies to reduce the risks. Short, focused writing exercises will be facilitated, allowing participants to experience the act of writing, followed by reflection on the experience of writing about grief.
The session will close with an offer of handouts with additional writing exercises and prompts for continued practice if participants so desire.
The human experiences of grief and heartbreak are always painful, yet additional challenges come with navigating grief related to a death from suicide in a society that struggles with both mortality and emotional expression. This presentation will explore these challenges while exposing common misconceptions about grief. Practical strategies for supporting a healthy grief process in both ourselves and those who we are closest to will also be shared, including the importance of finding ways to maintain an on-going connection to the person who died.
This workshop will explore the impacts of trauma and traumatic grief on our whole being, the various ways we heal through trauma and loss and the complexities that can hinder recovery. It will also delve into the healing aspects of supporting one another as well as the vulnerability of wading through wounds and sorrows that are akin to our own lived experiences. It will endeavour to explore how we heal collectively while also honouring the individual's needs for care and self-care.


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Q: How to inject a parameter from redux to a function in React I have a class like the one below, I added a new parameter in mapStateToProps, and I can see it when rendering. I don't know how to pass it to the onClick method. Any Idea? I prefer not to pass it directly when I call the function, there are other parameters already accessible that are not passed directly.
class A extends Component{
  static propTypes = {
    myValue: PropTypes.string.isRequired
  }

  onClick = (param1, param2) => {
    >>>I want to access myValue here<<<
  }

  render() {
    const { myValue } = this.props
      return (
        <MyCompoment
          onClick={this.onClick}
        >
      )
  }
}

const mapStateToProps = (state, props) => ({
  myValues: getMyValue(state),
})

A: You can access it like:
onClick = (param1, param2) => {
    const test = this.props.myValues;
}

or like render method:
onClick = (param1, param2) => {
    const { myValue } = this.props;
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange