The Unaverz Crew has helped Sheri bring Farfalle Gustose out a number of times since Burning Man. The reception has been incredible each time. People simply love the artwork Sheri has created – and it has been fun to assemble and break down the truck each time.
Sheri and I have had long discussions about the Lobata art. The jelly is the second art manifestation of Unaverz. The first was Ra, The Sun God, which lasted a single year. We were never really satisfied with how it looked. While it was a good first effort, the final execution just wasn't there.
We now have worked with the Lobata for three years and, similar to Ra, we were never able to bring it to a level of artistic expression that made us happy.
Two weeks ago we decided to scrap it and start with new art. After the amazing response to Sheri's butterflies this past Sunday at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire, we just knew the time had come.
As sad as it is to turn the page, I said my last good-byes and attacked the art with the portoband. A couple of hours later and we now have a hundred pounds of recyclable aluminum.
I end this post with what may be the final photo of the Lobata on the playa this year. This shot was taken by Toni Martin of The Lost Tea Party while she was up on Mayan Warrior the morning after the Man Burn. In it, you can clearly see Sean Davis (one of the original Four Musketeers who built Unaverz the first year) and Erich Rienecker (one of our 6 captains in 2015).
And a two last videos from Nicky Nicky.
I started designs for a giant jellyfish. About a 12′ tall structure with an 8′ wide jellyfish propped on top with a dj booth inside. Please let me know how I can get involved, I'd love to help on a project this year!


In the year 2045, the real world is a harsh place. The only time Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) truly feels alive is when he escapes to the OASIS, an immersive virtual universe where most of humanity spends their days. In the OASIS, you can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone—the only limits are your own imagination. The OASIS was created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance), who left his immense fortune and total control of the Oasis to the winner of a three-part contest he designed to find a worthy heir. When Wade conquers the first challenge of the reality-bending treasure hunt, he and his friends—called the High Five—are hurled into a fantastical universe of discovery and danger to save the OASIS.
Join us at the Field Library for the second of our Teen Movie Nights on Monday, April 8, 2019 at 3:30 pm.


text:
/*
 * InformationMachineAPILib
 *
 *
 */
package co.iamdata.api.controllers;

import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.type.TypeReference;

import co.iamdata.api.http.client.HttpClient;

import co.iamdata.api.http.request.HttpRequest;
import co.iamdata.api.http.response.HttpResponse;
import co.iamdata.api.http.response.HttpStringResponse;
import co.iamdata.api.*;
import co.iamdata.api.models.*;

public class ProductsController extends BaseController {

    //private fields for configuration

   /** Id of your app */
    private String clientId;

   /** Secret key which authorizes you to use this API */
    private String clientSecret;

   /**
    * Constructor with authentication and configuration parameters */
    public ProductsController (String clientId, String clientSecret) {
        this.clientId = clientId;
        this.clientSecret = clientSecret;
    }

   /**
    * Constructor with authentication and configuration parameters */
    public ProductsController (HttpClient _client, String clientId, String clientSecret) {
        super(_client);
        this.clientId = clientId;
        this.clientSecret = clientSecret;
    }

    /**
     * You can query the IM product database by either product name or UPC/EAN/ISBN identifier. Note: If both parameters are specified, UPC/EAN/ISBN has higher priority.
     * @param    name    Optional parameter: Product name (or part)
     * @param    productIdentifier    Optional parameter: UPC/EAN/ISBN
     * @param    page    Optional parameter: TODO: type description here
     * @param    perPage    Optional parameter: default:10, max:50
     * @param    requestData    Optional parameter: Additional request data sent by IM API customer. Expected format:"Key1:Value1;Key2:Value2"
     * @param    fullResp    Optional parameter: default:false (set true for response with nutrients)
	 * @return	Returns the GetProductsWrapper response from the API call*/
    public GetProductsWrapper productsSearchProducts(
            final String name,
            final String productIdentifier,
            final Integer page,
            final Integer perPage,
            final String requestData,
            final Boolean fullResp
    ) throws IOException, APIException {
        //the base uri for api requests
        String baseUri = Configuration.baseUri;

        //prepare query string for API call
        StringBuilder queryBuilder = new StringBuilder(baseUri);
        queryBuilder.append("/v1/products");

        //process query parameters
        APIHelper.appendUrlWithQueryParameters(queryBuilder, new HashMap<String, Object>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 5110123356654213201L;
            {
                    put( "name", name );
                    put( "product_identifier", productIdentifier );
                    put( "page", page );
                    put( "per_page", perPage );
                    put( "request_data", requestData );
                    put( "full_resp", fullResp );
                    put( "client_id", clientId );
                    put( "client_secret", clientSecret );
            }});
        //validate and preprocess url
        String queryUrl = APIHelper.cleanUrl(queryBuilder);

        //load all headers for the outgoing API request
        Map<String, String> headers = new HashMap<String, String>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 5347297177510290398L;
            {
                    put( "user-agent", "IAMDATA V1" );
                    put( "accept", "application/json" );
            }
        };

        //prepare and invoke the API call request to fetch the response
        final HttpRequest request = clientInstance.get(queryUrl, headers, null);

        //invoke request and get response
        HttpResponse response = clientInstance.executeAsString(request);

        //Error handling using HTTP status codes
        int responseCode = response.getStatusCode();
        if (responseCode == 404)
            throw new APIException("Not found", 404, response.getRawBody());

        else if (responseCode == 401)
            throw new APIException("Unauthorized", 401, response.getRawBody());

        else if ((responseCode < 200) || (responseCode > 206)) //[200,206] = HTTP OK
            throw new APIException("HTTP Response Not OK", responseCode, response.getRawBody());

        //extract result from the http response
        GetProductsWrapper result = APIHelper.deserialize(((HttpStringResponse)response).getBody(),
                                                        new TypeReference<GetProductsWrapper>(){});

        return result;
    }

    /**
     * Get details about a single product in the IM database by specifying a Information Machine Product ID.
     * @param    productId    Required parameter: TODO: type description here
     * @param    fullResp    Optional parameter: default:false (set true for response with nutrients)
	 * @return	Returns the GetProductWrapper response from the API call*/
    public GetProductWrapper productsGetProduct(
            final String productId,
            final Boolean fullResp
    ) throws IOException, APIException {
        //the base uri for api requests
        String baseUri = Configuration.baseUri;

        //prepare query string for API call
        StringBuilder queryBuilder = new StringBuilder(baseUri);
        queryBuilder.append("/v1/products/{product_id}");

        //process template parameters
        APIHelper.appendUrlWithTemplateParameters(queryBuilder, new HashMap<String, Object>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 4959448257319652796L;
            {
                    put( "product_id", productId );
            }});

        //process query parameters
        APIHelper.appendUrlWithQueryParameters(queryBuilder, new HashMap<String, Object>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 5573271137624629270L;
            {
                    put( "full_resp", fullResp );
                    put( "client_id", clientId );
                    put( "client_secret", clientSecret );
            }});
        //validate and preprocess url
        String queryUrl = APIHelper.cleanUrl(queryBuilder);

        //load all headers for the outgoing API request
        Map<String, String> headers = new HashMap<String, String>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 4840105236451837746L;
            {
                    put( "user-agent", "IAMDATA V1" );
                    put( "accept", "application/json" );
            }
        };

        //prepare and invoke the API call request to fetch the response
        final HttpRequest request = clientInstance.get(queryUrl, headers, null);

        //invoke request and get response
        HttpResponse response = clientInstance.executeAsString(request);

        //Error handling using HTTP status codes
        int responseCode = response.getStatusCode();
        if (responseCode == 404)
            throw new APIException("Not found", 404, response.getRawBody());

        else if (responseCode == 401)
            throw new APIException("Unauthorized", 401, response.getRawBody());

        else if ((responseCode < 200) || (responseCode > 206)) //[200,206] = HTTP OK
            throw new APIException("HTTP Response Not OK", responseCode, response.getRawBody());

        //extract result from the http response
        GetProductWrapper result = APIHelper.deserialize(((HttpStringResponse)response).getBody(),
                                                        new TypeReference<GetProductWrapper>(){});

        return result;
    }

    /**
     * Get all purchases a user has made for a product by specifying the associated product ID.
     * @param    productId    Required parameter: TODO: type description here
     * @param    page    Optional parameter: TODO: type description here
     * @param    perPage    Optional parameter: default:10, max:50
	 * @return	Returns the GetProductPurchasesWrapper response from the API call*/
    public GetProductPurchasesWrapper productsGetProductPurchases(
            final String productId,
            final Integer page,
            final Integer perPage
    ) throws IOException, APIException {
        //the base uri for api requests
        String baseUri = Configuration.baseUri;

        //prepare query string for API call
        StringBuilder queryBuilder = new StringBuilder(baseUri);
        queryBuilder.append("/v1/products/{product_id}/purchases");

        //process template parameters
        APIHelper.appendUrlWithTemplateParameters(queryBuilder, new HashMap<String, Object>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 5622309655448009993L;
            {
                    put( "product_id", productId );
            }});

        //process query parameters
        APIHelper.appendUrlWithQueryParameters(queryBuilder, new HashMap<String, Object>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 5639406569362787034L;
            {
                    put( "page", page );
                    put( "per_page", perPage );
                    put( "client_id", clientId );
                    put( "client_secret", clientSecret );
            }});
        //validate and preprocess url
        String queryUrl = APIHelper.cleanUrl(queryBuilder);

        //load all headers for the outgoing API request
        Map<String, String> headers = new HashMap<String, String>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 5315743090767428237L;
            {
                    put( "user-agent", "IAMDATA V1" );
                    put( "accept", "application/json" );
            }
        };

        //prepare and invoke the API call request to fetch the response
        final HttpRequest request = clientInstance.get(queryUrl, headers, null);

        //invoke request and get response
        HttpResponse response = clientInstance.executeAsString(request);

        //Error handling using HTTP status codes
        int responseCode = response.getStatusCode();
        if (responseCode == 404)
            throw new APIException("Not found", 404, response.getRawBody());

        else if (responseCode == 401)
            throw new APIException("Unauthorized", 401, response.getRawBody());

        else if ((responseCode < 200) || (responseCode > 206)) //[200,206] = HTTP OK
            throw new APIException("HTTP Response Not OK", responseCode, response.getRawBody());

        //extract result from the http response
        GetProductPurchasesWrapper result = APIHelper.deserialize(((HttpStringResponse)response).getBody(),
                                                        new TypeReference<GetProductPurchasesWrapper>(){});

        return result;
    }

    /**
     * Get prices (from available stores) for specified product IDs. Note: It is possible to query 20 product IDs per each request. Please separate IDs with commas (e.g.: "325365, 89300").
     * @param    productIds    Required parameter: TODO: type description here
	 * @return	Returns the GetProductPricesWrapper response from the API call*/
    public GetProductPricesWrapper productsGetProductPrices(
            final String productIds
    ) throws IOException, APIException {
        //the base uri for api requests
        String baseUri = Configuration.baseUri;

        //prepare query string for API call
        StringBuilder queryBuilder = new StringBuilder(baseUri);
        queryBuilder.append("/v1/products_prices");

        //process query parameters
        APIHelper.appendUrlWithQueryParameters(queryBuilder, new HashMap<String, Object>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 5238679982564551265L;
            {
                    put( "product_ids", productIds );
                    put( "client_id", clientId );
                    put( "client_secret", clientSecret );
            }});
        //validate and preprocess url
        String queryUrl = APIHelper.cleanUrl(queryBuilder);

        //load all headers for the outgoing API request
        Map<String, String> headers = new HashMap<String, String>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 5534605503758809855L;
            {
                    put( "user-agent", "IAMDATA V1" );
                    put( "accept", "application/json" );
            }
        };

        //prepare and invoke the API call request to fetch the response
        final HttpRequest request = clientInstance.get(queryUrl, headers, null);

        //invoke request and get response
        HttpResponse response = clientInstance.executeAsString(request);

        //Error handling using HTTP status codes
        int responseCode = response.getStatusCode();
        if (responseCode == 404)
            throw new APIException("Not found", 404, response.getRawBody());

        else if (responseCode == 401)
            throw new APIException("Unauthorized", 401, response.getRawBody());

        else if ((responseCode < 200) || (responseCode > 206)) //[200,206] = HTTP OK
            throw new APIException("HTTP Response Not OK", responseCode, response.getRawBody());

        //extract result from the http response
        GetProductPricesWrapper result = APIHelper.deserialize(((HttpStringResponse)response).getBody(),
                                                        new TypeReference<GetProductPricesWrapper>(){});

        return result;
    }

    /**
     * Get product alternatives for a specified alternative type (e.g.: "type_id: 7" will display alternatives of the "general" type) for a list of products specified by product IDs. Note: See "Lookup" section, "product_alternative_type" for list of all possible alternative types. List of product ids must not contain more than 20 ids or else Bad Request will be returned.
     * @param    productIds    Required parameter: TODO: type description here
     * @param    typeId    Optional parameter: TODO: type description here
	 * @return	Returns the GetProductsAlternativesWrapper response from the API call*/
    public GetProductsAlternativesWrapper productsGetProductsAlternatives(
            final String productIds,
            final String typeId
    ) throws IOException, APIException {
        //the base uri for api requests
        String baseUri = Configuration.baseUri;

        //prepare query string for API call
        StringBuilder queryBuilder = new StringBuilder(baseUri);
        queryBuilder.append("/v1/products_alternatives");

        //process query parameters
        APIHelper.appendUrlWithQueryParameters(queryBuilder, new HashMap<String, Object>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 5324411952518747212L;
            {
                    put( "product_ids", productIds );
                    put( "type_id", typeId );
                    put( "client_id", clientId );
                    put( "client_secret", clientSecret );
            }});
        //validate and preprocess url
        String queryUrl = APIHelper.cleanUrl(queryBuilder);

        //load all headers for the outgoing API request
        Map<String, String> headers = new HashMap<String, String>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 5345161018274828378L;
            {
                    put( "user-agent", "IAMDATA V1" );
                    put( "accept", "application/json" );
            }
        };

        //prepare and invoke the API call request to fetch the response
        final HttpRequest request = clientInstance.get(queryUrl, headers, null);

        //invoke request and get response
        HttpResponse response = clientInstance.executeAsString(request);

        //Error handling using HTTP status codes
        int responseCode = response.getStatusCode();
        if (responseCode == 400)
            throw new APIException("Bad request", 400, response.getRawBody());

        else if (responseCode == 404)
            throw new APIException("Not found", 404, response.getRawBody());

        else if (responseCode == 401)
            throw new APIException("Unauthorized", 401, response.getRawBody());

        else if ((responseCode < 200) || (responseCode > 206)) //[200,206] = HTTP OK
            throw new APIException("HTTP Response Not OK", responseCode, response.getRawBody());

        //extract result from the http response
        GetProductsAlternativesWrapper result = APIHelper.deserialize(((HttpStringResponse)response).getBody(),
                                                        new TypeReference<GetProductsAlternativesWrapper>(){});

        return result;
    }

    /**
     * Get full history of products purchased by a specified user at connected stores, must define "user_id".
     * @param    userId    Required parameter: TODO: type description here
     * @param    page    Optional parameter: TODO: type description here
     * @param    perPage    Optional parameter: default:10, max:50
     * @param    fullResp    Optional parameter: default:false (set true for response with nutrients)
     * @param    foodOnly    Optional parameter: default:false (set true to list food products only)
	 * @return	Returns the GetUserProducts response from the API call*/
    public GetUserProducts productsGetUserProducts(
            final String userId,
            final Integer page,
            final Integer perPage,
            final Boolean fullResp,
            final Boolean foodOnly
    ) throws IOException, APIException {
        //the base uri for api requests
        String baseUri = Configuration.baseUri;

        //prepare query string for API call
        StringBuilder queryBuilder = new StringBuilder(baseUri);
        queryBuilder.append("/v1/users/{user_id}/products");

        //process template parameters
        APIHelper.appendUrlWithTemplateParameters(queryBuilder, new HashMap<String, Object>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 5641492998033473054L;
            {
                    put( "user_id", userId );
            }});

        //process query parameters
        APIHelper.appendUrlWithQueryParameters(queryBuilder, new HashMap<String, Object>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 5204830888678411953L;
            {
                    put( "page", page );
                    put( "per_page", perPage );
                    put( "full_resp", fullResp );
                    put( "food_only", foodOnly );
                    put( "client_id", clientId );
                    put( "client_secret", clientSecret );
            }});
        //validate and preprocess url
        String queryUrl = APIHelper.cleanUrl(queryBuilder);

        //load all headers for the outgoing API request
        Map<String, String> headers = new HashMap<String, String>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 5460869066474141349L;
            {
                    put( "user-agent", "IAMDATA V1" );
                    put( "accept", "application/json" );
            }
        };

        //prepare and invoke the API call request to fetch the response
        final HttpRequest request = clientInstance.get(queryUrl, headers, null);

        //invoke request and get response
        HttpResponse response = clientInstance.executeAsString(request);

        //Error handling using HTTP status codes
        int responseCode = response.getStatusCode();
        if (responseCode == 404)
            throw new APIException("Not found", 404, response.getRawBody());

        else if (responseCode == 401)
            throw new APIException("Unauthorized", 401, response.getRawBody());

        else if ((responseCode < 200) || (responseCode > 206)) //[200,206] = HTTP OK
            throw new APIException("HTTP Response Not OK", responseCode, response.getRawBody());

        //extract result from the http response
        GetUserProducts result = APIHelper.deserialize(((HttpStringResponse)response).getBody(),
                                                        new TypeReference<GetUserProducts>(){});

        return result;
    }

    /**
     * Request POST model is simple list of strings. Each list item can be submitted in two variations: name only OR name+store [use semicolon ';' as name and store separator].Use "result" property in response, received after successful request submission, to list resolving results (endpoint below... GET v1/products/upc_resolve_response/{request_id}). Webhook JSON model example: { "name":"UB RDY RICE WHL BROWN", "store":"", "resolve_status":"Finished", "upcs":"123456789012,123456789012" }
     * @param    payload    Required parameter: TODO: type description here
     * @param    webhookUrl    Optional parameter: URL we'll use to ping you as soon as product name is resolved to UPC. Please find POST body above.
	 * @return	Returns the GetUPCsByNameRequestWrapper response from the API call*/
    public GetUPCsByNameRequestWrapper productsSubmitProductNamesForUpcResolve(
            final NameResolveRequest payload,
            final String webhookUrl
    ) throws IOException, APIException, JsonProcessingException {
        //the base uri for api requests
        String baseUri = Configuration.baseUri;

        //prepare query string for API call
        StringBuilder queryBuilder = new StringBuilder(baseUri);
        queryBuilder.append("/v1/products/upc_resolve_request");

        //process query parameters
        APIHelper.appendUrlWithQueryParameters(queryBuilder, new HashMap<String, Object>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 5265890781876160331L;
            {
                    put( "webhook_url", webhookUrl );
                    put( "client_id", clientId );
                    put( "client_secret", clientSecret );
            }});
        //validate and preprocess url
        String queryUrl = APIHelper.cleanUrl(queryBuilder);

        //load all headers for the outgoing API request
        Map<String, String> headers = new HashMap<String, String>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 4759288500912366921L;
            {
                    put( "user-agent", "IAMDATA V1" );
                    put( "accept", "application/json" );
                    put( "content-type", "application/json; charset=utf-8" );
            }
        };

        //prepare and invoke the API call request to fetch the response
        final HttpRequest request = clientInstance.postBody(queryUrl, headers, APIHelper.serialize(payload));

        //invoke request and get response
        HttpResponse response = clientInstance.executeAsString(request);

        //Error handling using HTTP status codes
        int responseCode = response.getStatusCode();
        if (responseCode == 401)
            throw new APIException("Unauthorized", 401, response.getRawBody());

        else if ((responseCode < 200) || (responseCode > 206)) //[200,206] = HTTP OK
            throw new APIException("HTTP Response Not OK", responseCode, response.getRawBody());

        //extract result from the http response
        GetUPCsByNameRequestWrapper result = APIHelper.deserialize(((HttpStringResponse)response).getBody(),
                                                        new TypeReference<GetUPCsByNameRequestWrapper>(){});

        return result;
    }

    /**
     * Use request ID recevied in "v1/products/upc_resolve_request/" [request initiate].Response model has four properties: "name" - product name submitted for UPC resolve"store" - store submitted (in combination with name)"resolve_status" - "Queued" or "Finished""upcs" - list of UPCs that correspond to submitted name or name+store request
     * @param    requestId    Required parameter: TODO: type description here
	 * @return	Returns the GetUPCsByNameResponseWrapper response from the API call*/
    public GetUPCsByNameResponseWrapper productsGetUPCByProductNameAnswer(
            final String requestId
    ) throws IOException, APIException {
        //the base uri for api requests
        String baseUri = Configuration.baseUri;

        //prepare query string for API call
        StringBuilder queryBuilder = new StringBuilder(baseUri);
        queryBuilder.append("/v1/products/upc_resolve_response/{request_id}");

        //process template parameters
        APIHelper.appendUrlWithTemplateParameters(queryBuilder, new HashMap<String, Object>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 5295344767268234963L;
            {
                    put( "request_id", requestId );
            }});

        //process query parameters
        APIHelper.appendUrlWithQueryParameters(queryBuilder, new HashMap<String, Object>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 5299397772401768281L;
            {
                    put( "client_id", clientId );
                    put( "client_secret", clientSecret );
            }});
        //validate and preprocess url
        String queryUrl = APIHelper.cleanUrl(queryBuilder);

        //load all headers for the outgoing API request
        Map<String, String> headers = new HashMap<String, String>() {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 5466361722712504091L;
            {
                    put( "user-agent", "IAMDATA V1" );
                    put( "accept", "application/json" );
            }
        };

        //prepare and invoke the API call request to fetch the response
        final HttpRequest request = clientInstance.get(queryUrl, headers, null);

        //invoke request and get response
        HttpResponse response = clientInstance.executeAsString(request);

        //Error handling using HTTP status codes
        int responseCode = response.getStatusCode();
        if ((responseCode < 200) || (responseCode > 206)) //[200,206] = HTTP OK
            throw new APIException("HTTP Response Not OK", responseCode, response.getRawBody());

        //extract result from the http response
        GetUPCsByNameResponseWrapper result = APIHelper.deserialize(((HttpStringResponse)response).getBody(),
                                                        new TypeReference<GetUPCsByNameResponseWrapper>(){});

        return result;
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
The benefits of a probiotic witch hunt
27-Sep-2009 - Last updated on 30-Sep-2009 at 09:57 GMT
Related tags: Probiotic
Get your pitchforks ready! There are evil-doers out there! We've been conned: Probiotics don't work. Dannon's settling out of court, EFSA's rejecting health claims, and the media is starting a witch hunt.
So is this the beginning of the end for probiotics? No, it is merely the end of the beginning.
The recent media attention and apparent backlash should, despite short-term bruises, lead to a better regulated industry with strains that actually stand up to scrutiny.
People have spoken out about this before, and associations like ISAPP (International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics) and IPA (International Probiotics Association) are working hard on ensuring that players stick to the rules, but more needs to be done.
Trust problems already exist: A recent Datamonitor survey of Brits found that, while more consumers are able to understand and differentiate between the varying health benefits attached to probiotic strains, only 27 per cent said they believed the claims. On the other side of the Atlantic, 86 per cent of American respondents said the claims were trustworthy. But then again, a national survey carried out in the US by Opinion Research Corporation revealed that 85 per cent of respondents knew "little to nothing" about probiotics.
Follow this up with mainstream press articles such as the one published in Canada's Globe and Mail this week entitled 'Questions raised over probiotic benefits', and in Britain's The Guardian (July 2009) entitled 'Are probiotics really that good for your health?', and you have consumers' confidence wavering.
These are warning signs – the canary in the yoghurt pot – and standard bearers in the industry and academia need to react, and need to be seen to react. The bandwagon has been trundling on for a while now, with too many pretenders jumping on.
The big boys named
One of the most surprising developments in recent times has been the spotlight on Danone, held up by many as the probiotic torch bearer. The company withdrew its initial health claims dossiers with EFSA early this year. The French giant said it would resubmit all three before the end of the year with additional trials added to the dossiers to strengthen their claims. There are suggestions that their original science was lacking.
In the US its American reincarnation Dannon settled out of court over alleged misleading probiotic claims, leading some to question the scientific integrity of its claims. Despite the settlement, Dannon is sticking by the veracity of its claims.
Danone/Dannon will come back stronger than ever, with the studies to back up its products, of that I have no doubt. Along with Yakult, it has invested too much in getting the probiotic market on its feet.
These very public incidents offer a cautionary tale for many in the probiotic field – make sure the claims stand up to scrutiny.
Sharpen those pitchforks
Now is the time for action. The promise of probiotics is immense, from boosting immune health to helping fight obesity, from reducing the risk of certain cancers to influencing brain function. Such benefits are based on one thing: Science.
But it is too easy for a company to supply or market strains without the scientific proof. While EFSA is saying that companies cannot make claims on the labels about health benefits, it (and similar authorities) must go further and stamp down on anyone who markets a 'probiotic' if it isn't one.
The mere definition of probiotic, according to FAO/WHO, promises a health benefit – "Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host".
It doesn't matter whether there is an additional claim attached – probiotic implies health benefit. No health benefit? It's just a strain that doesn't help you. Not many consumers will pay to put that down their throats.
Get your pitch forks ready, but not for an indiscriminant witch hunt. We'll need them to sort the wheat from the chaff.
Stephen Daniells is the Science Editor for NutraIngredients.com and FoodNavigator.com. He has a PhD in Chemistry from Queen's University Belfast and has worked in research in the Netherlands and France.
If you would like to comment on this article please contact stephen.daniells'at'decisionnews.com
For more information on probiotics, please click here for an excellent recent review on the definition in Functional Food Reviews by ISAPP's Mary Ellen Sanders.
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Article 13.1: winners and losers
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By Prinova Europe LimitedA thirst for cognitive focus: The growing market for nootropic beverages

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Richland Northeast High School welcomes Coach William Richardson as our new Head Varsity Football Coach!
Coach William Richardson is a native of Sumter, SC. As a graduate of Sumter High School in 2004, Richardson was a member of the 2003 State Runner-Up team as a quarterback. He continued his collegiate playing career at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC. While there, he was a member of 3 consecutive Big South Conference Championship teams from 2004 – 2006. After graduating from Coastal in 2008, he moved to Atlanta, GA to begin his coaching career. While there he's coached at several metro Atlanta high schools. His most current previous position was at Westlake High School where he served as the Assistant Head Coach among other roles from 2016 – 2018. During his time at Westlake, his teams won 3 consecutive Region 2-7A titles along with the deepest playoff run in school history in 2016 (4th round). Coach Richardson is excited to return home for his first head coaching assignment and looking forward to the work of making Richland Northeast football relevant again.


Teaching college has been an energizing event. It's a nice reminder as the grown-ups have difficulty getting along that there is a great batch of excited, imaginative youth coming up the road – ready to disrupt with gusto.
What I'm seeing up close now is the impact new tools have on the ability jump-start ideas. Wasn't that long ago that the VC's of Silicon Valley were the enlightened financial doorkeepers to the innovation community. They're still driving – but new tools are bringing the ability to drive entrepreneurship downstream. Moving from a technical focus to all things business.
A few years ago I described Cardboard Theatre, a production my daughter helped initiate. She's at it again this time using the latest start-up tool on the net – KickStarter.
It's a great pre-order tool – allowing start-ups to get the customers they need before investing in production.
It's a great Creative's Tool – Many art and theater projects are finding funding through the site. It's provides 'patrons' for performances just getting off the ground.
It's a great social tool – The goal is to raise money for something you would like to see happen. Sometimes there is a deliverable (a product) sometimes a happening, always a thank you.
By creating a way for interested parties to invest in an idea – with clear indications about what they can expect if it is accomplished – a whole new world is opened for getting imaginative projects off the ground.
Sarah's latest project is the Stillwaters Street Theater Project (Kickstarter link) – bringing voice to the millennium generation.
"A generation shaped by the advent of Myspace, Facebook, blogging, and twitter we [the millennial generation] find ourselves surrounded by a wealth of opportunity to communicate. Suddenly supporting a cause is as easy as hitting a "like" button and just as easy to forget. Where generations before us had to step onto the streets to express their voice ours does it from the safety of a computer keyboard. Our voices merge into the deceptively still waters of our generation.
Advanced communication explored through the oldest form of communication where the revolution began. I find it to be an interesting confluence of ideas made possible by an advanced method of funding.
Warning – I'm tying together a few loose ends here. Things may get tangled.
The application of scientific process to business practice has been one of the critical drivers in the success of modern enterprise. Observe, hypothesize, measure, analyze, apply, repeat. It drives efficiency and progress. Unfortunately things get dicey at the edges. There is an art to being a breakthrough business, in being able to observe the unobservable.
Sometimes our ability to envision surpasses our ability to measure. Sometimes you just have to leap.
"Leave space for things to come to you," says Janice Cartier in her discussion of artistic process.
In a way, creativity's feeling of random discovery is a scientific process we have not yet come to terms with. Robin Dickenson commented that for him the creative and scientific processes were modes of thinking that can be switched between. Kay Plantes commented that both the scientific and artistic states-of-mind need to recognize the value each brings to the toolbox of business thought. And then she brought Jeopardy Champ Watson into the discussion.
Is Watson imitating human intuition or have programers learned how the old synapses fire. Don't know. Makes me feel vulnerable though.
Understanding and nurturing creative process is a critical competitive advantage, one that the US thought it had pretty much locked up. 'Sure take our manufacturing jobs, we'll all be imagineers.' Now the alarm bells ring for U.S. creativity with a key measure (the Torrance score), falling each year since 1990.
"Instead of solving problems, our current mentality is to postpone dealing with them, either by ignoring them or trying to spend our way out of them," Brad Shorr observed when commenting on the decline.
That particular methodology could be seen as a symptom of creative decline in and of itself. Creativity is all about solving, adding, discovering.
Maybe a part of the problem is that our ability to measure has suddenly surpassed our ability to absorb. The amount of data flying at the average manager is much higher than ever in history, does it free managers to move or lock them in a narrow pathway?
"What if I had been taught that the science of writing is also an expression of art?" Deb Brown asked.
We all need to be reminded that some aspect of what we do is art — is creative. No matter how hard we try to bury it. Diane's question reminded me of this Postcard Project image from Joanna Paterson's Confident Writing site where she was reminded that "Your Words Are Art." I like that. More wisdom form Janice, by the way. Learn from the artist. They are closest to the paint.
This post has the distinct feeling of a random walk, but sometimes my ideas do come from strange places, so walk with me a moment longer please.
If someone beats a drum and says, "Don't disrupt the production line. You are not creative. You should not be creative. It is not your job to be creative." Most of us would laugh, and consider the drummer to be silly.
As a matter of fact, I've never met anyone who would knowingly drum such a beat.
But the drummer exists. Self-doubt. Social mores. Wave avoidance. 'Go with the flow.' Odd reward structures.
Recognize the beat. It's background noise which we all hum without realizing.
Makes you want to cover your ears and run screaming for the woods. Thoreau did. He was on to something.
"Imagination is at the heart of great strategy — we need to reconnect with the 9 year old kid living in the back of our head," commented Bill Welter.
I'd say it's at the heart of a great life as well.
I've had the pleasure to speak with a number of individuals over the past few months who have brought a deep sense of imagination to solving problems others shy from. Dean Cycon changing the world through coffee, Raphel O Tyson through microfinance in Ghana or Jon Rycek through play. (I owe posts on the later two. Jon just left for Peru to train individuals who plan to build playgrounds for schools in the country as part of Playground Ideas.) They understand the traditional bottom-line, but believe there is something more that a company needs to be measured by.
Know anyone who is making a difference bringing social entrepreneurship to life? My students and I would be interested in knowing about them. Let me know in comments or by email. Thanks!
Bringing about change is a lot like swimming upstream. Everything and everyone pushes you to run fast with them promising safer, faster, easier waters via alternative compass headings. But changemakers in the world not only swim against the current, they pull thousands upstream with them.
Motivating movement with the force of an idea.
Guy Kawasaki takes on this force in his latest book Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. I've long enjoyed reading Kawasaki for his ability to present ideas that can help you move mountains in ways that are both motivating and realistically grounded. So I was delighted to receive a pre-release copy from his publisher last month to review if I felt so inclined.
You have to enjoy a book that wraps up with a chapter on how to avoid being wrongly captivated by individuals who use the Enchantment techniques just outlined against your better interests. Reminds you that in this world of ours there is always someone looking to sway and influence — You are the only gatekeeper who can wholly own the decisions of what is in your own self interest. An important item to remember so that you honestly evaluate the opportunities that come your way as well as avoid becoming cynical about techniques that used honestly can improve your ability to understand, communicate, and motivate.
So much better than yawning through a powerpoint deck.
I enjoyed the read and can recommend it. It provides ideas and techniques in a comfortable context that makes you feel they can be integrated into what you are doing today. So in the best of worlds, it may just help you change your world and that's a good thing.
Until midnight on the 7th you can get a copy of his previous book Reality Check free with the purchase of Enchantment. Details are here.
I just clicked 'checkout' for a few pounds of Dean's Beans. Haven't tried them before, but wanted to after hearing Dean Cycon, CEO of Dean's Beans and author of Javatrekker: Dispatches From the World of Fair Trade Coffee , speak tonight at Indiana University.
Passionate and positive, he shared his ideas on how socially responsible business practice and respect for quality of life can help change the world.
Interesting take. Old business models are often replaced by new thinking. Some organizations transform, but more often they decline and are replaced. A core difference between old and new thinking is the idea of profit maximization and value maximization for shareholders. The difficulty has been and continues to be a question of measurement and recognition. The ability to recognize the value of social responsibility for shareholders is key to the idea's growth.
Efforts to elevate sustainability and Corporate Responsibility are being highlighted publicly by companies in annual reports (See Inditex's annual report here pg 57), special reports (Apple recently released this supplier responsibility report) and in the media. Right now much of this work is justified to protect corporate reputations (avoiding negative customer reaction), as well as to improve operations (social problems impact supply chains). This transparency helps, but the efforts show differences from Dean's.
Dean says his company takes a three tier approach to meet the corporate responsibilities they have set for themselves. Environmental, Economic, and Social. I had not realized the extent of pesticide use in the coffee industry, second only to cotton, and including multiple chemicals that have been banned for use in the United States. Dean's Beans helps the co-ops they buy from go through the process of becoming Organically Certified (as he says, 'organic by design.') This is more than just ending pesticide use (something he calls 'organic by neglect').
Dean's Beans also internally funds what Dean calls People Centered Development. I found the approach interesting: they work with the community itself, they listen and observe, and then help facilitate something the community is going to run. The variety of projects highlights the community specific approach. For example a revolving well fund in Ethiopia called Miriam's Well, a tree planting project (over 100 thousand trees planted) in Peru, and a prosthetic program in Nicaragua. The goal was to start projects that would self fund over time and last. This approach appears to rely heavily on a very personal relationship between company and community and a belief that the programs must outlast the start-up efforts of Dean's Beans.
So, a great evening even if I was drinking the wrong brand of joe. In the next few days I hope to be enjoying a cup of Uprising!


Aug 04 George Washington becomes a Master Mason in the year 1753.
Sep 09 1st steam engine arrives in US colonies in the year 1753.
Oct 14 Franz Anton Dimmler, composer on this day in history.
Nov 06 Jean-Baptiste Sebastien Breval, composer on this day in history.
Nov 30 Benjamin Franklin receives Godfrey Copley-Penny on this day in history.
Nov 30 Johann Baptist Schenk, composer on this day in history.
Dec 19 John Taylor, Virginia, philosopher (Jeffersonian Democracy) in the year 1753.
Jan 22 Peter Fuchs, composer was born on this day in history.
Feb 05 Coert L van Beyma thoe Kingma, Frisian regent/patriot was born in the year 1753.
Feb 06 Evariste Desire Desforges chevalier de Parny, French poet was born in the year 1753.
Feb 07 Rhijnvis Feith, Dutch mayor/writer (Zwolle/Thirsa) was born on this day in history.
Feb 12 Lambert-Francois Godecharle, composer was born in the year 1753.
Feb 12 François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers, French admiral (d. 1798) was born on this day in history.
Feb 20 Louis Alexandre Berthier, French marshal (d. 1815) was born in the year 1753.
Jan 01 Louis-Maurice de La Pierre, composer, dies at 55 in the year 1753.
Jan 11 Hans Sloane, English physician (British Museum), dies at 92 on this day in history.
Mar 06 Gerhardus Havingha, composer, dies at 56 on this day in history.
May 26 Willem Maurits, earl of Nassau/gov of Zeeuws-Flanders, dies on this day in history.
Jul 17 Andre-Joseph Panckoucke, French book publisher/merchant, dies in the year 1753.
Aug 06 Georg Wilhelm Richmann, Russian physicist (struck by lightning) (b. 1711) died on this day in history.


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WV Adopts "Substantially Younger" Rule in Age Discrimination
West Virginia employment law for age discrimination has now come into line with federal precedent. In Knotts v. Grafton City Hospital, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals formally adopted the "substantially younger" rule as recognized by the United States Supreme Court in O'Connor v. Consolidated Coin Caterers Corp., 517 U.S. 308 (1996). This decision is very important for West Virginians pursuing age discrimination cases.
To show a prima facie case of age discrimination, a plaintiff must show: (1) the plaintiff is over the age of 40; (2) the employer made an adverse decision concerning the plaintiff; and (3) but for plaintiff's status as being over the age of 40, the adverse decision would not have been made. The third prong is merely a threshold where the plaintiff is required only to show an inference of discrimination.
Under Knotts, a plaintiff can satisfy the third prong by presenting evidence that he or she was replaced by a "substantially younger" employee, or by presenting evidence that a "substantially younger" employee, who engaged in the same or similar conduct for which the plaintiff faced an adverse employment decision, received more favorable treatment.
Previously, West Virginia applied the "over40/under40" rule. This meant that a plaintiff could only show an inference of age discrimination by offering evidence that an employee under 40 replaced the plaintiff or received more favorable treatment.
The "substantially younger" rule is the better rule. For example, assume Bill is a 63 year old manager at ABC Company. Bill is terminated and replaced with Jeremy, a 41 year old. Under the old rule, evidence that a 63 year old was replaced with a 41 year old was not permissible because Jeremy was not under 40. Now, such evidence can be used to show age discrimination because ABC Company replaced Bill with a substantially younger employee.
If any adverse employment action has been taken against you, including termination, because of your age (over 40), contract The Moore Law Firm to discuss your options. We fight hard to ensure your employment rights are protected.


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Timeline | Site created by: Ro | |
Murder in Mind .. 2002
Lee appeared briefly in the final episode of Series 2 of TV drama series Murder in Mind - Regrets - which was screened on 28 May 2002.
He played one of two young thugs who were arrested and then legged it, still in handcuffs, when the police had to attend to the drunk driver who had just ploughed into their parked patrol cars. First, a few screencaps (click for LARGER images) and below... the action!


I see your point, but if you're not baptized, your mom has no reason to "shun" you. Does your mom think that you have contact with other dubs who may have told you about the UN? Could you act all innocent as in "well, what's the big deal about the UN and f&&king hypocritical Witchtower society?" Oh I guess you couldn't say it that way.
Too bad you don't know my self-righteous, blind "friend", then you could just pass the buck and say "well it was so-and-so who told me".
IF anyone tried to make a big deal of it... you could actually interpret your letter to make it sound like you are defending the WT's actions. Play innocent... "Well, they needed to be heard to promote religious freedom!" or something like that.
Honestly, though, since you're not baptised or anything, I doubt anything will come it. Best of luck to you - and awesome job!!
I don't think u have a thing to worry about. Your letter just came across as checking things out to "make sure of all things" (lol) How could they fault u for that? It would offend no one. I'm a mom and if u had sent me that, i would maybe have thought"oh my naive daughter, " but i would not have thought u an apostate.
That is so good it should be published somewhere--freeminds at least!
Well, I guess I am naive, although (IMHO) not in this particular context! Until I read your comment, it never occurred to me that she would take it any other way but that I spoke truth and logic! Wow! I can be so full of myself sometimes! *humbly shuffling feet* Now I not only want to hear back from her just so I know she can still talk to me, but also to know if she thinks I have no idea what I am talking about! Hmmmmph! I'm glad you brought this up - it would have thrown me for a loop if she called me with this point of view, and I didn't have recovery time like I would with an e-mail. I will definitely keep my eyes open!
Could you act all innocent as in "well, what's the big deal about the UN and f&&king hypocritical Witchtower society?"
I probably wouldn't use those exact words... (!), but I plan on playing dumb. In fact, I tried to "dumb myself down" in the e-mail. I really think it is the only way she will listen - if she does at all.
As usual, I like the way you think! I wouldn't have thought of it this way. I hope she can see the the WT is spinning this, but after Wednesday's post, now I am not so sure. I just need to keep praying....!
My dad sent me the same information... and he didn't copy and paste, so I got to see the pages of people it went through to get to him first, and it is certainly making the rounds.
Speaking of, I sometimes wonder if she lurks here. I doubt it, but if she does, I guess I am SO busted!
Bravo, Bravo I'm allgrowedup! You sneaky little devil, you! <watches ImAllGrowedup roll in the Trojan horse> Hehhehe.
U B all growed up fer shur!
If it were, I doubt you'd be able to fit her in *any* door... heheh. She's too fat!
LOL! Skinny horse or fat horse, even if the door is merely cracked open - I'll just be grateful for the opening!
I want to make sure u understand what i was saying. She will see u did all this research, and may still feel u are navie, and such b/c u know the bible does prophecy this very thing and see it is coming true. I know that is what i'd think if i were the jw mom getting this letter.. I'd probably write u back and remind u u can't believe everything on the net and we can for sure believe everything in the bible. She may say"well maybe God is using these strange bizzare people to accomplish His will". Yes, i bet that is what she says.
Great letter, I think you were too subtle on the JW/NGO thing.


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Tag Archives: tom demerly slow twitch
Is Michigan Bicycle Retail Dying?
Bike Reviews, Commentary., Gear Reviews., News, Outdoor Gear Reviews
Two bicycle specialty stores closed in Metro Detroit this year. Three more suddenly changed "ownership" in November on their way to eventual closure.
On the national scale, Advanced Sport Enterprises, parent company to Performance Bicycle and Bike Nashbar, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month.
After decades of failure to adapt, Southeastern Michigan bicycle retail is in a brutal phase of enforced transition. Despite an overall economic boom many bike shops are a bust. Southeastern Michigan bike store closures and hasty ownership spin-offs that precede further closings confirm that.
The questions are; how did this happen; how can it be avoided and what will the industry look like once the rules of business exact their toll?
Like most significant shifts in business there is no singular cause. A conspiracy of factors combines to weigh heavily on traditional bicycle retail. The reality that the industry has ignored these factors for so long manifests itself in this crisis.
Not every bicycle retailer is in crisis though, and some old-skool bike shops not only survive but are capitalizing on the increasing failures of retailers who thought they knew it all but had neither solid financials or enough vision to adapt in the changing retail landscape.
Southeastern Michigan bike shops like Jack's Bicycle and Fitness, Roll Models in Allen Park, Michigan, Brick Wheels in Traverse City and Wheels in Motion in Ann Arbor are still there, still doing business and quietly surviving and growing as the others collapse around them.
In the renaissance of downtown Detroit, a new generation of bike family businesses has emerged on the shoulders of men like Jon Hughes of Downtown Ferndale and Downtown Detroit bike shops. Hughes also leads the family effort to grow the Lexus Velodrome and launch a new demi-empire in media and cycling in post-recession Detroit. He comes from a dynasty of bicycle business that stretches back three generations to Mike Walden and the formation of the country's second oldest cycling club, the Wolverines. Even Bob Akers, who runs the decades-old, dingy, crumbling International Bike Shop in Garden City has survived as the shiny newcomers who thought they knew it all have tumbled.
Why do some shops survive while others fail? One factor common in the surviving Michigan bike retailers is they own their own real estate. But the ingredients for success, not just survival, are more complex than just owning your building.
Harvard MBAs don't start bike shops. Bike shop owners don't have business degrees. They start bike shops because they love bikes or have no other opportunity. They're hobbyists. Not businessmen. The barriers to entry are low. Got $100K? You can open a bike shop. You'll never tell a bike shop owner he doesn't know business. As far as bicycle retail store owners are concerned, they are experts at retail. The crash of Michigan high-end specialty retailers proves otherwise.
I was this guy. I lost my own store after 17 successful years during the recession. Then, like a scene from a movie where the plot repeats again and again, I went to work for two other retailers around the U.S. who, like me, thought they knew everything and couldn't be told anything. They're gone now too. More will follow.
Failure is only failure if you fail to learn. But in bicycle retail, no one listens. The first bike shop I worked for when I was 15 years old went out of business because the owners failed to adapt. The last bike shop I worked for four decades later did exactly the same thing. The owners refused to adapt. In a repetitive pantomime, I tried to convince the owners of the last shop I worked at to move the cash register to facilitate better customer traffic flow. It was a minor change that may have resulted in a minor improvement. I tried for a year. They never moved it. They went out of business months after I finally quit in frustration and left to work in another industry.
I take some small satisfaction in knowing the store that lasted the longest was mine. But business is pass/fail. You can run a successful business for 6,205 days like I did, but if you fail on the 6,206th day, you are a failure.
The first lesson I learned in losing my own store is you have to own your failure. Mine was my fault. While there were factors including a global recession that contributed to my 17-year-old store failing, I could have moderated them. Others did. I wasn't smart enough or humble enough at the time. Some people pay college tuition for an education. I paid in bankruptcies and a modern day "Grapes of Wrath" by losing everything. While the second way may be a more durable education, it's also more painful.
I went on to work for two more bike retail owners who made exactly the same mistakes I did while ignoring the changes that could have saved them. But bike shop owners don't listen.
The specifics on what is killing some of Michigan's bicycle retailers is a fascinating case study in the evolution of business that could fill a book. Bike shop owners and bike shops are, in many ways, indicative of the American economic condition. They are the epitome of small business America. As the small, independent bike goes, so goes all of small retail- good and bad. Small restaurants, pet stores, book retail, independent jewelers and all small retail can learn something from the enforced evolution and bizarre non-evolution of bicycle retail.
Small bicycle retail has been quick to scapegoat the big, ugly mega-retailer and the .com as the reason for their bust. That is a lie. In the broad sense, bicycle retailers are killing themselves by failing to adapt and innovate. They do it in hundreds of small ways every day they continue to do the same tired things over and over and over. Even the bicycle retailers who have survived could do better. For most of the survivors a major reason they still exist is they own their own real estate and remain impervious to swings in the volatile southeastern Michigan economy. But even their future is increasingly in doubt as forward-thinking innovators understand new opportunities in the age of Amazon One-Click.
What will happen to Michigan small bicycle retail? One thing is certain: it will continue to change at a rate that outpaces the ability of most shop owners to adapt. That means we'll see more southeastern Michigan bike shops closing. Unless they learn from someone's mistakes the cycle of failure in Michigan cycling retail will continue.
Tom Demerly is a 42-year bicycle industry veteran who owned his own business for 17 years. Today he is a defense and aviation analyst for several international publications including TheAviationist.com published in Rome, Italy.
GORUCK Light Detroit, the Mexicantown Mile and A New Wave of Team Endurance Sports.
Commentary., News, Travel and Adventure., Triathlon Tips
By Tom Demerly for tomdemerly.com.
There's no politically correct way to express this, but, yeah… ahhh. I feel a little out of place.
I'm a 56-year old conspicuously Caucasian guy in the crowd-packed center of the massive Mexicantown Cinco de Mayo street celebration late on a hot May afternoon in Detroit.
There's heavy ganja haze in the air. It's thick enough for a contact buzz. I'm carrying a huge U.S. flag in my hand, and feeling like I'm not particularly understood or appreciated here. Other than the double file line of about 50 quasi-military, tacticool, mostly white guys and girls with a distinctly law-enforcement look that are behind me, I feel pretty isolated. And pretty conspicuous with my flag and backpack as we navigate the tightly packed downtown party crowd of tens of thousands. There is almost no room on sidewalks, the streets are bumper to bumper and packed with crowds. And smoke.
We're doing GORUCK Light Detroit 2018.
In the evolution of participation sports GORUCK events have emerged. With approximately 500 events scheduled in 2018, GORUCK challenges are huge now. Today I'm in my first one. I'm wondering if it's coming slightly off the rails.
GORUCK Light is a team endurance event that includes military style calisthenics, running and a lot of walking or "rucking" between 8 and 12 miles in group formation while you wear a weighted backpack. Think basic military training, then add your new constant companion, a 10- 40-pound weighted backpack that makes everything that would have been easy for a reasonably fit person, a good bit tougher.
GORUCK events are inspired by contingency training for military special operations units.
Jason McCarthy, a fit, chiseled, dark- haired guy with that bolt upright posture that screams former military, founded the GORUCK brand in 2008. There are a lot of remarkable things about GORUCK, but the single most remarkable thing is its growth. In only ten years GORUCK has become huge.
McCarthy founded GORUCK while still in U.S. Army Special Forces and deployed in the Middle East during the Global War on Terror (GWOT). He made an emergency survival and evacuation "Go Bag" backpack for his wife who served in the Foreign Service. If there was a coup d'état, an IED attack, or any other threat in one of the most dangerous places on earth, Jason's wife Emily could grab her "Go-Ruck" and evacuate with the essentials of food, water, additional clothing and rudimentary survival gear.
GORUCK founder Jason McCarthy (center), a former member of U.S. Army Special Forces.
Without knowing it, McCarthy had conglomerated an idea that had been around for a long time into a saleable brand, then began to parlay that brand into an image, an event and even a lifestyle.
GORUCK could have become just another military backpack brand, and in the wake of the 9/11, there are a lot of them. But Jason McCarthy also built something else along with his simple, sturdy, square, tech-free backpacks. He built a vibe.
The GORUCK vibe is a learned responsibility. It's isn't politically yawed, it's not a "movement". It's an insight and acceptance of the real world in accelerated change. A change that in the post-9/11, Arab Spring and polarized U.S. political world can just as easily come off the rails as it can evolve into a new unified world. Either way it goes, the GORUCK ethos is adaptable. And capable.
Most participant endurance sports are compensation. Compensation for a sterile life lived too easily, too slowly, too conveniently. Our culture has become overweight and underprepared. If most Americans got a flat tire in a rural setting and had to walk six miles in hot weather to find a tow truck they would be in deep trouble, especially if their smart phone battery died. GORUCK Light acknowledges that. So, you train for the "real world" and gain some functional fitness and endurance while meeting friends and re-connecting with how to cooperate on a team. GORUCK events are no different in terms of compensating. They offer a "synthetic" or contrived set of discretionary challenges. But much of what you learn and practice at GORUCK is practical, and it may come in handy if you are ever have to walk your way to safety, or even make a connecting flight across the airport after the shuttle has left.
GORUCK Light Detroit on Saturday, May 5, 2018 in Hart Plaza.
In December, 2016 CNN reported that, "Karen Klein, 46, was headed to the Grand Canyon National Park with her husband Eric and their 10-year-old son. State Road 67, which leads to the canyon's north rim, is closed for the winter and their car's GPS detoured them through forest service roads." Klein was stranded in her car and forced to endure a brutal, freezing 26-mile solo hike for 30 hours. CNN reported she, "Subsisted on twigs and drinking her own urine, to get help."
In December, 2006 Daryl Blake Jane was stranded in snow in his Jeep Cherokee on a remote U.S. Forest Service road west of Mount Adams, Washington. He was forced to survive in his vehicle, in the depth of winter, for nearly two weeks.
In between these instances there have been many more when people had to rely on basic fitness and skills to survive. This isn't the fringe "prepper" or "survivalist" mindset. This is basic responsibility for your own life and the people around you. GORUCK teaches and tests that responsibility.
Different from the vibe of Ironman triathlons with their finisher photos and individual stories, GORUCK is about the group. It's about cooperation, teamwork, unity and acceptance. It is about admitting your shortcomings and about doing more than your share while not expecting an extra pat on the back. It's about carrying someone else's ruck when the going gets tough, and having them carry yours. Everyone has a bad moment in GORUCK. There are no solo finisher photos in front a branded banner, no medal around your neck. You get a Velcro patch for making it as a team for the hook and loop section of your GORUCK. Every tribe has its icons.
GORUCK events include a community service component where participants have to plan and execute a project that benefits the community. Every participant is required to play a role in the community service project. Our event participants collected food and clothing for homeless people in Detroit and raised cash donations for shelters.
GORUCK events vary in intensity from the GORUCK Light, the easiest and shortest introductory event, to the difficult long distance, non-stop GORUCK events like GORUCK Tough and GORUCK Heavy. GORUCK also provides practical skill training events.
The GORUCK events mesh well with the Crossfit, veteran, law enforcement, emergency services crowd but don't have an exclusive mindset. This is about teamwork, integration, doing more than your share and accepting help when you inevitably have a weak moment. And everyone has a weak moment sooner or later. But the sum of the parts is greater than the whole, and that is one of the lessons of GORUCK. Two is one, one is none, and synergy gets everyone to the finish as a group. In GORUCK, you are never more than an arm's length from a teammate. Stray too far, and you are doing another combination of push-ups, bear crawls or eight-count body builders. You don't even go the bathroom in a GORUCK event by yourself.
We're through Mexicantown now in full Cinco de Mayo swing. Now we're making our way at a fast trot along Vernor Highway, underneath the iconic Detroit ruins of the Michigan Central Train Depot. We hump our packs up from underneath the train tracks and through Roosevelt Park where we pose for a group photo. From there it is double-time east on Michigan Ave. as we enter the final miles of the event at a fast clip.
Our team carries a simulated casualty on an improvised litter in the final miles of the event.
But one man goes down from heat, dehydration and the workload of moving fast with a heavy pack. Our "cadre", the instructor/administrators of a GORUCK event, show us how to rig an expedient casualty litter from an eight-foot section of 1" tubular nylon climbing webbing. In only minutes, we have the "casualty's" ruck off, I wear it on my chest with my ruck on my back, and we continue east at combat speed on Michigan Ave. You never know the distance or course in GORUCK. We may have another three miles to go, or another five. We may have to climb four parking structures, or one. We may have to cross open waterways (the GORUCK Light event earlier in the day in Detroit was in the Detroit River four times). Not knowing the course or distance is a component of the event.
Finally, we reach Washington Blvd. and take a right, still moving fast, still carrying our "casualty", a roughly 230-pound lad who is finding out that riding in a field-expedient improvised litter isn't much more comfortable than humping a 40-pound ruck. Everyone is out of water. There are no aid stations in GORUCK. No support. No mile markers. No course map before the event. Like selection for the most elite special forces units you never know when the instructors will stop the "class", circle you around, and declare "ENDEX" or "end of exercise".
The GORUCK baby elephant walk.
One of our scouts veers off into a parking structure two blocks from the Detroit River. It's dark now and I wasn't looking forward to figuring out how to move our "casualty", our rucks and ourselves through the dark water of the Detroit River as the air cools way off. So, I'm glad when our team hits the stairs and begins to run up eight flights to the roof of the parking garage. I'm glad until I realize I am at the front of the group running up flights of stairs wearing two 35 pound rucks. By the fifth floor I am destroyed. Three to go.
At the top of the parking garage our instructors "Wild Will" and "DS", one a former U.S. Air Force Special Operations Combat Controller, the other a former U.S. Marine Corps Special Operations member, both with combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, circle us around. What now? When does this thing end?
Wild Will unzips one of the team weights we have been carrying over the last 8 or nine miles, a massive and awkward cordura duffel, and produces a can of Dos Equis. We've learned a lot today at GORUCK Light Detroit, and perhaps the best lesson is that, whether it is in a big party crowd in Mexicantown on Cinco de Mayo or carrying your new buddy in an improvised litter down Michigan Ave in Detroit, GORUCK Light brings people together. Then we hear those magic words:
"ENDEX! You made it."
GORUCK Light Detroit 2018 ENDEX, "End of Exercise.
Author Tom Demerly is a former member of a U.S. Army National Guard Long Range Surveillance Team (LRS) and Company Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He has raced endurance events on all seven continents including Antarctica and completed over 200 triathlons including the Ironman Triathlon World Championships in Kona. Hawaii. His articles have been published in Outside, Business Insider,Velo-News, Bicycle Guide, Bicycling, Inside Triathlon, Triathlete, Triathlon Today!, USA Triathlon Magazine and many other publications around the world.
The Strugglers.
Commentary., Travel and Adventure., Triathlon Tips, Uncategorized
By Tom Demerly for tomdemerly.com (originally published in 2004)
The weather report said the sun would go down today at 7:49 pm. And it did.
Now it is dark.
In the street there is a sporadic, somber procession. It is a black and white picture. There is no color, no pageantry, and no grandeur. The grace is gone and now and it is down to gritty reality.
It is the time of The Strugglers. 11:18 pm, Taupo, New Zealand- the 20th, 2004 Anniversary Bonita Banana Ironman Triathlon.
The Pros are asleep. Their stomachs are full, their muscles are massaged. Their performances are a matter of record now. They are done. Have been for quite some time. They finished in the sunlight in the front of cameras and microphones racing for paychecks and trophies.
It's easy to understand why they race. They should race. They look like they should. Lithe and toned and buff and tan and serious, the Pros and the other talented athletes reap the generous gift of genetic athletic abundance, meticulous preparation and clear-cut motivation. They are here to kick ass. It doesn't take a psychologist to decode their motives. They're athletes, and this is the big show. It's what they do.
The pros' time is over. Now it is time for The Strugglers.
There are no levels of performance for The Strugglers. You either are or you aren't one. If you haven't finished by now and you're still out under the lights you are a member of this vaunted fraternity, The Strugglers. Just as the stark street lights leave either harsh illumination or black despair for The Strugglers this is a matter of finish or not finish, victory or defeat, do or die, pride or humiliation, success or failure. It is all the chips on one square, all the cards face up on the table, and all the aces have already been dealt today. The Strugglers play high stakes with a bad hand.
It may never have been pretty for The Strugglers. Most of them may not be athletes in the sense that they spend hours and hours every week training, but they line up nonetheless to do this race. The downtrodden, the meek, the ones with something to prove or something to defeat. Whatever it is they bring it here and beat it into ugly submission over 140.6 miles, each one a full 5,280 feet. The Strugglers earn every inch of every foot of every mile.
In a day so daunting and fearful they line up on the beach as if bravely facing the gallows. A cannon sounds the beginning of their trial and there is little known at the onset about how matters will be resolved, except to say it will be hard and uncomfortable and then downright painful. That may be the most frightening part: The not knowing. Some will find absolution, some will teeter and wobble and fall. There will be polite acknowledgement of their ambition, but ultimately, for The Strugglers the only thing that matters is Finishing. It's what they're here for.
So for The Strugglers, this is a huge gamble. Hero or failure. No in between.
And struggle they might, against awful odds and distance and poor conditioning and genetic poverty, but in bravery they are absolutely peerless. Without equal.
The Strugglers know it will not be pretty. They know it is not a sure thing. They do not have the luxury of prediction or past performances or experience. This is not their aptitude. But this is their choice and their bold dream.
Imagine being sent to do something, something beastly difficult. You know in your heart of hearts you are not prepared, maybe not even suited for this. You know the stares of others less brave and more envious fall heavily on your effort. They want The Strugglers to fail. For every Struggler who crosses the finish line it is a failure for those who never dared try. For every Struggler who sadly and reluctantly succumbs to the distance before the finish line and is carried off the course it is a victory for those who never started. They take sick pleasure in that. Shame on them.
Those who never had the courage to try have no right to cast judgment on The Strugglers.
The Pros are comfortable and resting. But the Strugglers have not left their sacred vigil. They soldier on, unswerving in their oath to finish, No Matter What. People marvel at the Pros performance, but I say The Strugglers are the real athletes. Explorers on the terrible frontier of self-doubt, fear and potential embarrassment on a grand scale. They bring less to the start line and they do more. Longer, harder, more painful: It is a different race for The Strugglers.
It is a parade really. A parade of people so brave and tough and fearless that they don't care if it might not work. They bank on the fact that it could. They don't back away from the possibility of failure. Imagine their performance as set against the backdrop of the very best in the world and they are not self-conscious about their version of the very same dance. Ask yourself, would you take the stage at the Kennedy Center after Barishnikov or Pavoratti? Are you that brave?
The Strugglers are.
Their performance is tedious and grinding. It is utterly relentless in its duration. The distance, the time, the struggle cannot be compromised. The Strugglers know this, they accept it- embrace it even. And they never succumb. Under the street lights, through the cool air, in filthy clothes streaked with their own discharge of minerals and fluids and sometimes even tears and blood.
The Strugglers do a different kind of race. A harder one. And they are Elite. It takes longer. It is less practiced. It seems to never end, and it does more damage.
Decode their motives if you will. But I decode yours as trying to explain more why you didn't try than why they are. Instead, I respectfully suggest, salute them. Unless you have walked with The Strugglers until midnight on the Ironman course they stand above you in the athletic arena. Struggle as they may, they mustered the courage to try.
Tom Demerly has been doing triathlons since 1984, still does them (but slower and fatter now) and just completed the Detroit, Michigan GORUCK Light event. He worked in the triathlon industry since it began, and the bicycle industry from the age of 15, over 40 years. Today he is a correspondent for TheAviationist.com in Rome, Italy.
Cannondale, Damon Rinard, Andy Potts and the Missing Cervelo.
Bike Reviews, Commentary., Gear Reviews.
German pro Maik Twelsiek had the fastest bike split at the Ironman World Triathlon Championship in Kona, Hawaii in 2015 on a Dimond beam bike. It may suggest the re-emergence of the beam design.
In a different life I gathered intelligence for the U.S. Army.
On some missions we would watch something, say a building or a road intersection, for hours or days. And nothing would happen.
Sitting on a target for days and seeing nothing happen may seem like an intelligence failure. But it may not be. It is in the empty spaces that most possibilities exist. And when the silence is deafening, there is often a reason.
Such is the case with a seemingly innocuous set of events in the bike industry over the past two years.
Before I begin, I want to state the standard diatribe about predicting anything in any setting, the analysts' safety net: I will state facts and from these facts I will make some vaticination about an outcome. This outcome is neither assured nor probable. You may or may not recall what Victorian journalist George Eliot wrote about such insights as I am about to proffer: "Vaticination is only one of the innumerable forms in which ignorance finds expression."
Exhibit A.
On January 5th, 2015, nearly a year and a half ago, Cannondale hired a man named Damon Rinard.
Rinard is a quintessential geek. Seemingly uncomfortable in his skin, he frequently glances at the ground when talking until the conversation turns to his field: engineering. Specifically, bicycle engineering. Most specifically, aerodynamic bicycle engineering.
When Rinard orates about bicycle aerodynamics and frame engineering his chin is held higher, his voice drops an octave and he commands attention. Rinard is arguably the most sought after engineer in the niche of a niche that is aerodynamic road bicycle design, including most significantly, triathlon bikes.
Rinard was instrumental in the development of the Trek Speed Concept and contributed to the current generation of Cervelo aerodynamic designs. These two brands sit number 1 and 2 atop Lava magazine's "Kona Bike Count" for 2015. Rinard's influence touched a staggering 797 bikes at Kona in 2015, nearly half the field. As such, Damon Rinard owns the place as the most important man in triathlon bike design that no consumer has heard of. Your concept of what a triathlon bike looks like is shaped by what Damon Rinard has already done.
When Rinard went to Cannondale at the beginning of 2015 the brand had a strong line of road bikes. These include (arguably) the most advanced aluminum road bikes available since Cannondale is a pioneer of the oversized aluminum road bike and has continued to develop the niche even in the carbon fiber era. Additionally, Cannondale has numerous carbon fiber road and triathlon bike models.
But Cannondale has no aerodynamic bikes.
Enter Damon Rinard. One glaring omission from Cannondale's current line-up is an aerodynamic road bike platform. A second, more significant, omission is an aerodynamic triathlon bike.
Cannondale has an offering in the "third generation" triathlon bike, the "Slice", that occupies a nice niche' for the company. The Cannondale Slice is a short-reach, moderate stack tri bike that excels in fit for short torso riders and in low frame weight. But Cannondale does not have a fourth generation triathlon platform developed using CFD (computational fluid dynamics) with visually conspicuous aerodynamic styling. Nor does Cannondale have an aerodynamic road bike analogous to the Felt AR or Cervelo "S" series bikes.
Rinard is an expert at engineering both the aerodynamic triathlon and aerodynamic road categories.
Was Rinard hired eighteen months ago by Cannondale to introduce new models in the aero road and aero tri categories? Because these two categories, one of them a prominent one (aero tri), are so conspicuously absent from Cannondale's line-up?
Exhibit B.
If Andy Potts isn't the most likeable professional triathlete in the sport, then he is among the top three. Potts is articulate, aware of his image, handsome, affable and fast on the racecourse.
Although Potts has never won the Ironman World Triathlon Championship in Kona, Hawaii, and likely never will, he brings much more to the table than race results. Potts knows what to say, and when to say it. He is also conspicuously American, a trait valuable to a brand that originated in the U.S.
Andy Potts is the perfect front-man for any triathlon brand.
On January 5th, 2016- exactly one year to the day Cannondale hired aerodynamic bike super-engineer Damon Rinard, Cannondale announced sponsorship of Andy Potts.
Exactly one year.
I briefed a private intelligence analyst on this information about Cannondale, Rinard, and the Andy Potts sponsorship and asked them for their calculation, based on my briefing, of the probability of Cannondale releasing new aerodynamic road and triathlon bikes in the next 18 months. The analyst's probability: "80%".
The Missing Cervelo.
There is an argument to be made that more things are related in the bike industry than are not.
Only 279 days after Rinard's announcement that he is going to Cannondale, Cervelo announced they were… announcing a new bike in six more months. That bike introduction has since been delayed.
It is worth merging, for the purpose of discussion, these facts:
German athlete Maik Twelsiek set the fastest bike split at Kona in 2015 on a beam bike. Twelsiek rode 4:25:10 at the Ironman World Triathlon Championships in Kona with an average speed of 25.34 MPH for 112 miles. He rode a Dimond carbon fiber beam bike.
Damon Rinard's third bike ever, the "Rinard DR-X", a one-off technology demonstrator handmade by Rinard years ago, was a beam bike.
Beginning with Softride bikes in 1996, beam bikes have already been used in triathlon competition. In an early article about Softride beam bikes published years ago (date unlisted) in Slowtwitch.com, the publication wrote, "They're more aerodynamic than almost all other bikes, if wind tunnel tests have any validity at all- Softrides always 'win' or come very close to winning these tests when they're applied to a wide variety of bikes."
In an article also published in Slowtwitch.com Damon Rinard told journalist Herbert Krabel that in 2009 he had worked on "…measuring comfort (vibration transmission and human perception)."
The amalgamation of these facts could be used to support an argument that Cervelo's delayed new bike design may be, and probably is a beam bike.
Additionally, a similar beam bike concept could conceivably be in the works at Cannondale, a dividend of the Rinard "brain drain" from Cervelo to Cannondale.
While the idea that Cannondale is working on a new beam bike under the engineering influence of Damon Rinard's recent arrival at the company may be a stretch, especially for a 2017/18 model year intro, it is more likely the Cervelo intro may be beam-shaped.
Any Cannondale move to a new triathlon fuselage design would likely have to span several price points, from about $2000-$2500 for the entry range to a full "superbike" spec with race wheels, carbon aero cockpit and electro-mechanical transmission controls (Shimano Di2 or SRAM ETAP) at the lofty $7000-$11,000 price range. This alone may constrain Cannondale and Rinard's potential new tri bike design to a conventional blade-shaped triple triangle configuration.
In any event the quiet machinations of the industry behind the scenes will certainly lead to a season of significant new introductions during the next 700 days.
Mr. Ryan, meet Mr. Bond, Mr. Hunt and Mr. Bourne in "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit"
By Tom Demerly
The greatest fear I had going into Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit was that it would be a sad eulogy to Tom Clancy's genius. I'm pleasantly surprised to be wrong.
Director Kenneth Branagh did his homework and borrowed subtle and successful elements from each of the Jason Bourne, James Bond, Mission Impossible and Tom Clancy franchises to weave a surprisingly good story thread that is visually well done.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a tight and snappy spy thriller. It's well written, tightly shown and quickly paced. Camera, sound and production techniques are tasteful and pay homage to its influences. Very little is over blown. Even the sets are well dressed and chosen.
Writers David Koepp and Adam Cozad used Tom Clancy's character Jack Ryan with reverence for Clancy's original vision of Dr. Ryan, the nerdy analyst turned reluctant but capable action hero.
Jack Ryan gets his first kill James Bond style, in a bathroom.
Chris Pine as Jack Ryan is fantastic as is Kevin Costner as Thomas Harper, his CIA boss. And because no great spy film is a success without great villains, it is a pleasure to have Kenneth Branagh as the dangerous Russian, Viktor Cherevin.
The plot hits ominously close to home, literally and figuratively, with a story line that weaves into the little known world of economic warfare. Villains originate from Dearborn, Michigan in the shadow of Ford World Headquarters. The plan is to crash the stock market in a combined terror and economic attack; a scenario everyone hopes will remain fiction.
But Tom Clancy's fiction has an ominous way of weaving its way into the headlines.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit never sags and builds well to a strong climax. There are a few corny moments but remember, this isn't a strict Clancy plot. It weaves influences from every corner of the spy thriller genre, and does it with respect and tribute to each. While these stories do become somewhat cookie-cutter this one is flavored uniquely and with enough craft to make it a snappy 105-minutes. And yes, there is a sequel planned that hopefully continues with this fine cast in the upcoming Without Remorse.
Tom Clancy would have loved Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. It is tight, quick and nice looking. This is a pleasant surprise after the painful loss of a great author and storyteller who created these characters. That new writers are able to execute on Clancy's vision confirms their talent and reverence for his mastery.
Taking to the streets with a nod to Bourne franchise in "Shadow Recruit".
52 Years: Understanding the Navy SEALs.
By Tom Demerly.
Cmdr. Brian W. Sebenaler, commanding officer of Naval Special Warfare Basic Training Command (BTC) speaks at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kevin S. Beauchamp)
52 years ago today President John F. Kennedy signed into law the formation of a new special operations unit called the U.S. Navy SEa, Air and Land" or "SE.A.L Teams"; the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Teams, the Navy SEALs.
No military unit is more misunderstood, misrepresented or misquoted. The Naval Special Warfare Teams are also justifiably celebrated as one of the most vigorous, capable and successful combat units in the entire U.S. arsenal.
Over the past 30 years I've been occasionally privileged to work and socialize with members of the Naval Special Warfare community. I've never failed to be impressed by their internal standards, training and capabilities. And by their humility.
The history books tell you the Naval Special Warfare Teams were born from the Underwater Demolition Teams, the "Frogmen". Since then their mission and capabilities have expanded to include intelligence gathering, direct action, rescue, security, reconnaissance, technical and operational development and a host of other missions so diverse it has presented major challenges to these units.
(left) Athletes participate in the Navy SEAL Fitness Challenge in Dearborn, Michigan. (right) Naval Special Warfare Operator Mitch Hall wins the annual SuperSEAL triathlon in Coronado, California. (Photos by Tom Demerly).
Another great challenge facing the Naval Special Warfare community is the media's love affair with them. Officially and unofficially the Navy has fed into this, with everything from support of Hollywood film projects to unsanctioned technical support of computer games and thousands of books. In 2008 and 2009 Naval Special Warfare promoted a national fitness competition called the "Navy SEAL Fitness Challenge". Naval Special Warfare has supported an annual triathlon called "SuperSEAL" and "Superfrog". Naval Special Warfare also sponsored the Ironman World Championship along with several triathletes who are active members of The Teams. Next week a new Hollywood movie, "Lone Survivor", joins over 40 popular movies featuring Naval Special Warfare operators as diverse as "G.I. Jane", "Transformers" and "Act of Valor" that featured cast members from the Naval Special Warfare teams.
In the past decade there has been tremendous growth in the Naval Special Warfare community. The last time I visited the Phil Bucklew Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado, California during 2007 there was a construction project underway to house new Basic Underwater Demolition School students and expanded administration activities.
Naval Special Warfare has also seen its share of controversy. In 2010 a west coast Naval Special Warfare operator and instructor was arrested for trafficking weapons smuggled from Afghanistan and sentenced to over 17 years in prison. In 2013 Esquire magazine ran a feature story alleged to be an interview with a Naval Special Warfare Operator who claimed to have killed Osama bin Laden during a U.S. raid on Pakistan. The interview was sharply critical of treatment of Naval Special Warfare veterans.
What I've learned from the Naval Special Warfare Teams and their members is that they are human. While they are exceptionally dedicated, incredibly well trained and maintain an impressive level of proficiency in a vast array of skill sets they still suffer the fallibilities of the common man. They have difficulty in personal relationships like the rest of us and struggle with divorce and emotional challenges.
(left) At the Phil H. Bucklew Naval Special Warfare Center for SuperSEAL triathlon. (center) On board an 11-meter RIB off Coronado Island. (right) With Naval Special Warfare Development Group original member and author Chuck Pfarrer.
One of many things that makes them exceptional is they do all this set against the backdrop of a necessity to maintain operational security and rarely disclose their true challenges among non-military relationships. This makes their tremendous burden even greater.
Naval Special Warfare is a community worthy of effusive praise and recognition. They have shouldered a mighty share of the burden of the Vietnam Conflict, numerous "peace time" actions, Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Global War on Terror and other conflicts while maintaining a level of inter-unit quality almost unmatched in the world. On their 52nd birthday it's worth acknowledging their contribution.
Authors Note: If you are a fan of books about the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Teams you may find my review for MILTECHREV.com of Greg E. Mathieson Sr. and David Gatley's impressive new book, Naval Special Warfare here of interest. It is the definitive work on Naval Special Warfare available to the public: