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Blended Learning as a Potentially Winning Combination of Face-to-face and Online Learning: An Exploratory Study
Blended learning, in the form of screencasts to be viewed online outside of class, was incorporated into three sections of an introductory sociology course in a liberal arts college setting. The screencasts were used to introduce concepts and theories to provide more time for discussion in class and more opportunity for students to review concepts and theories outside of class. Students' use and their perceptions of the impact of the screencasts were assessed with an in-class survey instrument in addition to a web-based college-administered survey.
Private Journals versus Public Blogs: The Impact of Peer Readership on Low-stakes Reflective Writing
This article isolates and observes the impact of peer readership on low-stakes reflective writing assignments in two large Introduction to Sociology classes. Through a comparative content analysis of over 2,000 private reflective journal entries and semipublic reflective blog posts, I find that both practices produce distinct forms of reflection. I argue that these differences can be understood in terms of the risks that students take in their writing.
Toxic Ties: Networks of Friendship, Dating, and Cyber Victimization
We examine instances of youth cyber aggression, arguing that the close relationships of friendship and romance substantially influence the chances of being targeted. We investigate networks of friendship, dating, and aggression among a sample of 788 eighth- to twelfth-grade students in a longitudinal study of a New York school. Approximately 17 percent reported some involvement in cyber aggression within the past week. LGBTQ youth were targeted at a rate over four times that of their heterosexual peers, and females were more frequent victims than males.
Pulling Closer and Moving Apart: Interaction, Identity, and Influence in the U.S. Senate, 1973 to 2009
This article reconciles two seemingly incompatible expectations about interpersonal interaction and social influence. One theoretical perspective predicts that an increase in interaction between two actors will promote subsequent convergence in their attitudes and behaviors, whereas another view anticipates divergence. We examine the role of political identity in moderating the effects of interaction on influence. Our investigation takes place in the U.S.
Fitting In or Standing Out? The Tradeoffs of Structural and Cultural Embeddedness
A recurring theme in sociological research is the tradeoff between fitting in and standing out. Prior work examining this tension tends to take either a structural or a cultural perspective. We fuse these two traditions to develop a theory of how structural and cultural embeddedness jointly relate to individual attainment within organizations. Given that organizational culture is hard to observe, we develop a novel approach to assessing individuals' cultural fit with their colleagues based on the language expressed in internal e-mail communications.
A Member Saved Is a Member Earned? The Recruitment-Retention Trade-Off and Organizational Strategies for Membership Growth
Is There a "Ferguson Effect?" Google Searches, Concern about Police Violence, and Crime in U.S. Cities, 2014–2016
Between 2014 and 2016, the rate of homicide and other violent crime in the United States rose. One hypothesis discussed in the press and by some social scientists is that this increase was tied to political mobilization against police violence: As the Black Lives Matter movement gained support following protests in Ferguson, Missouri, perhaps police officers, worried about the new public mood, scaled back their law enforcement efforts, with crime as a consequence.
Sources of Segregation in Social Networks: A Novel Approach Using Facebook
<p>Most research on segregation in social networks considers small circles of strong ties, and little is known about segregation among the much larger number of weaker ties. This article proposes a novel approach to the study of these more extended networks, through the use of data on personal ties in an online social network. We illustrate this method's potential by describing and explaining the degree of ethnic and gender segregation on Facebook among a representative survey of adolescents in the Netherlands (N = 2,810; ~1.1 million Facebook friends).
(-) Remove Biosociology filter Biosociology


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Q: Expand the width of Dash dropdown options beyond parent Div I've built a dashboard using Dash (2.0.0) in Python and run into an issue. In my appp I have a side bar with several dropdown menus that needs to be narrow. Unfortunately, some of the dropdown option names are longer than what can fit in the sidebar. I'd like to have the dropdown options extend beyond the parent container when open, but I'd like the dropdown button itself to remain within the container. It's fine if the selected option appears truncated in the button, but I want the full options text visible when the dropdown is open.
Illustration
Dash Bootstrap Components dbc.Select() handles this perfectly, but unfortunately I need to use dcc.Dropdown(). Below is a simple example.
from dash import Dash, dcc, html

app = Dash(__name__)

dcc_dropdown = dcc.Dropdown(
    options=[
        {'label': 'short name', 'value': 0},
        {'label': 'normal-length name', 'value': 1},
        {'label': 'annoyingly long and verbose name', 'value': 2},
    ],
    style={
        'white-space': 'nowrap',
        'text-overflow': 'ellipsis',
    },
)

app.layout = html.Div(
    children=[dcc_dropdown],
    style={
        'width': '200px', # Div width is fixed
        }
)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)

Adding style={'width': '300px'} to dcc.Dropdown affects both the width of the dropdown options (desired) and the dropdown button itself (undesired), so the solution to the similar question here doesn't work for my scenario.

A: You could have a callback that calculates a new width based on the value that is selected in the dropdown. Experiment with some much width you'd give each letter to your suiting. If you don't mind a bit of each space, then about 11-13px per letter will do the trick. Here's an example:
app.layout = html.Div(
    id="div",
    children=[
    dcc.Dropdown(
        id="dropdown",
        options=[
            {'label': 'short name', 'value': 0},
            {'label': 'normal-length name', 'value': 1},
            {'label': 'annoyingly long and verbose name', 'value': 2},
        ],
    ),
    ])

def adjust_dropdown_width(value, options):
    print(value)
    width = (
        # default width if you erased the value
        "100px"
        if value is None
        # this assumes that each letter in the label is 11px wide, you can
        # change this to your preference
        else f"{len(options[value]['label'])*11}px"
    )
    return [{'width': width}]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


We display and sell a number of art from the works of famous artists to the works of artists of the ground on the second floor. We pick up from among them and introduce.
If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me and there I am.
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text:
Monday, November 2 / 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Fisheries 1 Landscape-level in-stream habitat mapping: "Side Scan Sonar"
Cameron Bodine, Jennifer Bock, Reuben Smit – Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Side scan sonar for benthic habitat mapping is an efficient, low-cost approach for mapping habitat features in navigable rivers and streams. It provides a means to create high resolution, spatially detailed maps of continuous, instream habitat across broad aquatic landscapes. The sub-basins selected for this project include: Lower Choctawhatchee, Lower Ochlockonee, Withlacoochee, Peace, and Lower Suwannee. The habitat maps produced will provide valuable information that can be used to identify critical habitat for numerous species. The benthic habitat maps will provide the baseline data needed for instream habitat monitoring. These maps, depicting substrate and large woody debris, will provide a measure of location and amount of various habitat types for aquatic species. Temporal changes in the location and amount can be tracked and provide a means of habitat monitoring. These maps will also identify potential areas for restoration. Additionally, mapping pre- and post-restoration efforts can aid in monitoring the outcomes of those efforts.
Sonar imagery will be presented in poster format, classified according to the classification scheme developed for this project, and compared to actual substrates encountered in the field. The poster will serve as a guide to those wishing to implement a substrate mapping and classification project on their streams/rivers.
Fisheries 2 Ecosystem Response to Freshwater Inflow: Determining a Link between Freshwater Pumping Regimes and Ecological Benefit
Elizabeth A. Del Rosario, Evan L. Turner, Paul A. Montagna –Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
The demands of freshwater worldwide have roughly tripled since 1950 and the allocation of environmental flows for bays and estuaries has become an emerging issue for water resource management. Important links between estuaries and their catchments have become recognized and it is now agreed that effective management of freshwater resources must consider the potential impacts of alterations to natural flow regime on estuarine environments. Freshwater inflow serves a variety of important functions such as creating and preserving low-salinity nurseries; transporting sediments, nutrients, and organic matter downstream; and affecting estuarine species movements and reproductive timing. The amount of freshwater reaching Rincon Bayou, Texas, located in the Nueces Estuary of the Gulf of Mexico, has been reduced by 99% due to the construction of dams on the Nueces and Frio Rivers. This has led to high salinities in the bayou causing decreased shrimp and oyster populations. A pumping system has been installed to meet Texas Environmental Flow requirements for bays and estuaries, and is the primary freshwater source to the bayou. Analyses of benthic macrofauna and physical parameters have found a strong relationship between indicator species to salinity and depth during pumping events. Using a benthic ecology model, effects of salinity changes can be related to pumping regime. Results indicate the duration and quantity of pumped inflow strongly affect benthic community composition. Results of this study can be used in the facilitation of adaptive management for dam reoperation in providing a basis for freshwater release regimes needed to maintain optimal environmental conditions.
Fisheries 3 Is The Ironcolor Shiner a Vanishing Species with a Message?
Brena K. Jones, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
Currently, nearly 50% of 1,213 freshwater fish species in the US are imperiled, primarily due to habitat degradation. In North Carolina, approximately 26% of our fishes are listed as endangered, threatened, or meriting special concern. Upon initiation of this status survey in 2010, distribution records for these priority fishes, were sparse and dated. Statewide surveys completed by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC) in the 1960's showed the Ironcolor Shiner (Notropis chalybaeus) to be widespread across the entire coastal plain ecoregion. Five decades later, a targeted search in the lower Cape Fear, Lumber, and White Oak river basins failed to capture the species from many previously recorded locations. From 2010 to 2013, 119 sites were sampled and only three stream reaches yielded Ironcolor Shiners. A single individual was also incidentally collected in the Waccamaw River in 2014. Reasons for this apparent disappearance are currently unknown, but this may be an indicator of a pattern of degradation affecting Atlantic Coastal Plain and Gulf Coast aquatic communities rangewide. Sources of historical and current stream impacts are numerous, including now-defunct textile mill effluents, 50 years of development and agricultural impacts, as well as, most recently, hurricanes, extreme algae blooms and extended zero-dissolved oxygen conditions. The WRC plans to continue investigation of the Ironcolor Shiner, including the exploration of new survey methods, such as the use of environmental DNA.
Fisheries 4 Patterns of Fish Community Structure and Diversity Along the Longitudinal Gradient of the Kiamichi River, Oklahoma
Clayton Porter, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation; Tim Patton, Southeastern Oklahoma State University
In riverine systems, patterns of fish community structure and diversity often change along the longitudinal gradient (e.g., from upstream to downstream). Previous research has shown longitudinal patterns may include species addition and species zonation, as well as changes in various measure of diversity, such as species richness and species abundance. In this project we studied the longitudinal patterns of fish communities in 100 km of the Kiamichi River in Southeastern Oklahoma. The objectives were to see if this system showed (1) patterns of species addition or zonation, and (2) increased species diversity (as measured by species abundance, species richness, and Shannon Diversity) along the longitudinal gradient. We collected fish via electrofishing from 11 sites during 2012-2013. We standardized sampling based on 30 minutes of electrofishing and 200 meters of seine hauls at each site. A total of 8,725 fish were collected representing 39 species. Patterns of species zonation or addition were assessed using an arranged data table. Patterns of diversity were assessed using regression analysis. As of this writing, we are analyzing data, and will present preliminary results.
Wildlife 1 Review of Black Bear Hunting in North America and Applications for Florida
Sarah Barrett, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; Forest Fernandez, Josh Bell – Florida State University; David Telesco, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) passed the Florida Black Bear Management Plan in 2012, which called for an exploration of hunting as a tool to manage and stabilize Florida's bear populations. As bear hunting has been closed since the early 1990's in Florida, FWC wanted to review data on how bear hunting is done elsewhere in North America before moving forward with proposing how a black bear hunt might be conducted. College interns and FWC staff compiled information from state and province natural resource agencies in North America on black bear population estimates, if the locale allowed hunting, and if so, methods of take, laws governing sale of parts, permit requirements, costs of permits, take limits, and season length and timing. All 11 Canadian provinces and 32 of the 41 U.S. states with resident black bear populations have bear hunting seasons. The results were varied, with some well-defined groupings. FWC used these findings to help inform how bear hunting would be conducted in Florida in Fall 2015.
Wildlife 2 Predicting Available Hunting Land and Hunter Density and Distribution in North Carolina
Conner Burke, Nils Peterson, Chris Moorman, Chris DePerno –North Carolina State University; David Sawyer, Christopher Serenari –North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
North Carolina, like many other states, is experiencing rapid human population growth and urbanization. Development levels and shifting landowner preferences create barriers to huntable land beyond those associated with public policy. This study will identify the combination of variables associated with human development that best determine whether properties in North Carolina are huntable or unhuntable. This knowledge gap will be addressed with 7,000 surveys of North Carolina landowners from around the state. The objectives of our study are to develop a model using social and geographic variables to predict whether privately owned land in North Carolina is huntable or unhuntable, to estimate both huntable land area and what area is actually hunted, to estimate hunter density and distribution, and to ascertain historical reasons for landowners choosing to stop hunting where it was previously allowed. Survey responses will be spatially linked to respondent's physical address to investigate relationships between responses and characteristics of the surrounding environment. This study will identify areas of North Carolina where the efficacy of traditional hunting is no longer sufficient for managing game species, and where novel approaches need to be formulated and examined. Furthermore, the development of a predictive model will allow for periodic adjustments to the North Carolina huntable land estimate as urbanization increases.
Wildlife 3 Summer Roosting Ecology of Tricolored Bats in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Grace M. Carpenter, Emma V. Willcox, Riley F. Bernard –University of Tennessee; Bill H. Stiver, National Park Service
Due to the threat of White-nose syndrome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, we are studying relative abundance of tricolored bats (Perimyotis subflavus) pre and post outbreak, as well as roost site selection to better inform management strategies and aid species recovery. Little is known about this species and it is being considered for federal listing due to the disease. To determine whether the relative abundance of Tricolored bats within the park has changed since the arrival of WNS, we are surveying bats at 20 locations for 40 net-nights, and will be comparing our data with results from a study conducted at the same sites in 2001-2003, prior to the outbreak. To investigate roost site selection, we are using radio telemetry to locate day roosts selected by individual bats. Selected roosts will then be compared to randomly selected trees to determine if there is a significant preference for tree species and habitat within a 0.1-ha plot. From May 13, 2015 to July 1, 2015, seven roost trees have been located; three white oak (Quercus alba), two red oak (Q. rubra), one chestnut oak (Q. prinus) and one red maple (Acer rubrum). Preliminary results from this season will be presented at the time of the conference.
Wildlife 4 Acoustic Monitoring of Neotropical Migrant Bird Arrivals on the Talladega National Forest and Mountain Longleaf National Wildlife Refuge
Robert Carter, Zane Alexander, Chris Pellecchia, Logan Miller –Jacksonville State University
Acoustic recordings with microphones placed in three habitats on the Talladega National Forest were used to determine the arrival date and activity of neotropical migrants. Recordings occurred in a longleaf pine grassland, mountain top (Mountain Longleaf National Wildlife Refuge, Chimney Peak), and creek valley (Dugger Mountain) from late March through late May. Analysis of recordings indicated that first arrivals included black-and-white warbler, worm-eating warbler, and blue-headed vireo. Summer tanagers arrived by the second week of April and scarlet tanagers by the middle of April. By mid-April, many of the common breeding migrants, such as indigo bunting, wood thrush, and red-eyed vireo, were migrating through the study area. Bachman's sparrow was detected in the longleaf pine habitat prior to the breeding season indicating the habitat is used for foraging outside of the breeding season. Red crossbills randomly were detected in the longleaf pine grassland throughout the monitoring period. Continued monitoring in subsequent years will contribute to understanding changes in populations and shifts in migration times.
Wildlife 5 Breeding Bird Populations of a Highly Fragmented Urban Habitat in Alabama
Zane Alexander, Cory Shands, Chris Pellecchia, Logan Miller, Robert Carter –Jacksonville State University
Point counts were conducted in a highly fragmented urban environment adjacent to Choccolocco Creek to determine breeding bird habitat use in 2013 and 2014. The narrow riparian zone is dominated by a hardwood overstory and understory of Chinese privet and surrounded by urban development including an airport, interstate, and mall. The breeding birds were compared to an intact forested landscape adjacent to Shoal Creek on the Talladega National Forest (TNF). The urban environment avian species richness was 43 compared to 54 for the TNF. The total number of individuals was 339 on the TNF compared to 275 for the Choccolocco Creek area. Fragmented habitats had fewer species but included some species, such as European starling, killdeer, Eastern meadowlark, and swallows, not found on the TNF.
Wildlife 6 Incidental Captures of Eastern Spotted Skunk in a High-Elevation Red Spruce Forest in the Southern Appalachians
Corinne A. Diggins*, Virginia Tech; David Jachowski, Clemson University; Jay Martin, USDA Forest Service; W. Mark Ford, U.S. Geological Survey, Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Virginia Tech
The Eastern Spotted Skunk (Spilogale putorius L.) is considered rare in the southern Appalachian Mountains and throughout much of its range. We report incidental captures of 6 skunks in a high elevation red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) forest in southwestern Virginia during late winter 2014. These observations are the highest elevation records for this species in the Appalachian Mountains at 1520 m. They are also the first known records of Eastern Spotted Skunks using red spruce forests in the southern Appalachians. These observations highlight new information on the distribution and habitat use of this species, which are both important for conservation of this declining carnivore.
Wildlife 7 Survey and Management of Buildings Used as Summer Roosts by Bats in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Kirstin Fagan, University of Tennessee
Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) is the most heavily visited national park in the country, and the summer months attract tourists with opportunities for wildlife viewing and exploration of historic structures. During this time, visitors and employees regularly report bats and bat sign in historic and non-historic buildings. In light of catastrophic bat population declines due to White-nose Syndrome (WNS), it is essential that management of these buildings balance the need for public safety and preservation of cultural resources with conservation of threatened bats. As a taxon with small litter sizes and low recruitment, the persistence of bats on the landscape is dependent upon individual survival and reproduction, and therefore the availability and quality of summer roosts, including buildings, where post-natal development and preparation for hibernation can take place. The goals of our study are to assess which buildings in GSMNP are being used by bats as summer roosts; determine why structures are selected for roosting; and develop recommendations for the management of structures when bats are present. To date we have surveyed over 150 buildings. For buildings used as roosts, as evidenced from observation of bats or presence of guano, and paired, randomly selected, unused buildings, we evaluated a variety of microhabitat features and structural attributes. We collected guano from used buildings for DNA analysis to identify bat species when not observed. We will present preliminary findings regarding use and selection of buildings in GSMNP by bats as summer roosts and initial management recommendations.
Wildlife 8 The Impact of Feral Hogs on Producers in Alabama
Sierra Horsey, Olga Bolden-Tiller –Tuskegee University
Feral Hogs are an invasive species that caused $800 million dollars worth of damages in Alabama and over $1.5 billion dollars worth of damages in the United States last year. Brought over in the 1400s as a food source, the feral hog population has capitalized on the fact that they have very few predators and their population has reached over four million. Their increasing numbers and locations are of great concern to numerous state holders including the USDA, Alabama producers as well as producers in other states. Feral hogs consume the roots of seedling, destroying the crops. They are also carriers of diseases such as pseudorabies and tuberculosis which can spread to livestock as well as humans. This project identifies (1) the ways in which feral hogs negatively impact the land; (2) the diseases feral hogs can have, and spread to livestock and humans; (3) current techniques used to control the feral hog population and; (4) the obstacles game managers face in regards to the increasing and spreading population. In conclusion, we look at cost effective and successful techniques employed to manage the feral hog population as well as how to reverse the adverse affects feral hogs have on the ecosystem: affects such as soil erosion.
Wildlife 9 Roost Tree Use by Female Indiana Bats on the Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee During the Spring Pre-Maternity Period
Reilly Jackson, Emma Willcox – University of Tennessee; Dustin Thames, Josh Campbell, Chris Simpson – Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency
The characteristics of trees used as day roosts by the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) during the spring pre-maternity period (mid-April through May 15) have not been extensively examined. Individuals are vulnerable during this period, as they are emerging from winter cave hibernacula with low energy reserves and often recovering from White-nose Syndrome. Determining the characteristics of trees used by this species during this time may help ensure the implementation of habitat management activities that retain sites on the landscape, promoting survival of WNS affected individuals. In April 2013 and 2014, we tracked 16 bats by air and road from caves in White and Hickman Counties to maternity areas in Benton, McNairy, and Wilson Counties, Tennessee, where we monitored them until May 15, the beginning of the maternity season. We documented these 16 bats using 24 trees as day roosts. Two of these trees were still occupied at the beginning of the maternity season. All documented roosts were located underneath exfoliating bark, with 76% in snags (shagbark hickory [Carya ovata], mockernut hickory [C. tomentosa], white ash [Fraxinus Americana], red oak [Quercus rubra], or red maple [Acer rubra]. The remaining 24% of roosts were located in live shagbark hickory. Sixty-six percent of roost trees were located more than 10 m away from the edge of agricultural fields. We will present additional results from this study and outline avenues for future research that will provide the information needed to maintain Indiana bats roost trees during the vulnerable spring pre-maternity period.
Wildlife 10 Tick-borne Illnesses of Alabama: A Look at Relationships Among Hosts, Habitats and Ticks Throughout the State
Emily Merritt, Graeme Lockaby, Derrick Mathias – Auburn University
Ticks are the foremost parasites of wildlife and humans in the United States. In the Southeast, lone star, black-legged, American dog, and Gulf Coast ticks may carry and transmit pathogens associated with Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, spotted fever rickettsiosis, and others. Despite the high occurrence of ticks throughout Alabama, little is known about their distribution within the state or the degree to which they carry pathogens. Additionally, rapid urbanization in Alabama has caused forest fragmentation in many areas, and changes in the extent and spatial distribution of forest cover have ramifications for disease transmission as tick and host habitats shift. However, the relationships between particular climate-habitat associations and risk of encountering infected ticks in the state are largely unknown. For this project, we will improve our understanding of those relationships by collecting tick and blood samples from white-tailed deer, and ticks by cloth dragging in urban, agricultural, and forested habitats throughout Alabama. These samples will be screened for pathogens using polymerase chain reaction. From each of the sites, we will collect vegetation, soil, and climatic data. We will map the distribution of several tick species and tick-borne diseases within the state, and develop a predictive model for tick density and disease risk with respect to changes in habitat, season, and climate. These tools can be used by state agencies, medical professionals, and people who spend time outdoors for tick-borne illness prevention. We thank the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the United States Forest Service for funding this research.
Wildlife 11 The South Atlantic Conservation Blueprint: From Planning to Action
Hilary Morris, Rua Mordecai, Amy Keister, Louise Vaughn, Bradley Pickens –South Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative
The South Atlantic LCC is a partnership of federal, state, and local organizations committed to sustaining the region's natural and cultural resources for current and future generations. The Conservation Blueprint is a living spatial plan for the conservation actions needed to accomplish that goal---a shared vision of the future of the South Atlantic. Data-driven Blueprint Version 2.0, released in June, uses indicators to identify priority conservation areas by measuring the integrity of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. It considers future change by explicitly modeling the threats of sea level rise and urbanization. So far, more than 400 individuals from over 100 organizations have actively participated in the development of the Blueprint. The South Atlantic Blueprint will integrate with neighboring LCCs' spatial priorities in a Southeast-wide plan as part of the Southeast Conservation Adaptation Strategy (SECAS). Partners have already used the Blueprint to attract national fire resilience funding to the region, compete for coastal wetlands protection and climate-smart wildlife management grants, provide landscape-scale context for public lands planning, and prioritize fish passage efforts. Partners are also working to incorporate the Blueprint into local land acquisition criteria, ecosystem-based fishery management, and bobwhite quail habitat restoration. Through a transparent process, a science-based plan, and a user-friendly product, the Cooperative intends the Blueprint to eventually become a "gold standard" for large landscape conservation tools.
Wildlife 12 Amphibian Use of Road Ruts as Breeding Wetlands Located in Upland Hardwood Forests on the mid-Cumberland Plateau
Lacy E. Rucker, Yong Wang –Alabama A&M University; Callie J. Schweitzer, USDA Forest Service
Amphibians have been known to use a wide array of temporary and permanent bodies of water as breeding wetlands. The use of road ruts by amphibians as oviposition sites has yet to be fully explored. The purpose of this study was to evaluate road ruts located on a property access road with a wide variety of traffic. Our study site was located in an upland hardwood forest system on the mid-Cumberland Plateau in Grundy County, Tennessee. Road ruts were marked using a GPS unit prior to the 2015 field season, and randomized in Excel. Half of the marked road ruts were sampled during the peak breeding season of 2015 (May-September). Sampling events consisted of opportunistic encounter surveys, visual encounter surveys, hand captures, and dip-net surveys, and were conducted every 6-9 days. Damage for each road rut was delineated into one of five categories before each sampling event with I being little to no damage and VI being severe damage. The maximum length (m), width (m), and depth (mm) were recorded at every sampling event. Morphometric measurements was recorded on all collected individuals. The results of this study will improve our understanding of amphibian breeding in high traffic areas on primitive roads. This information will also provide land managers and private landowners the knowledge to help reduce negative impacts of road rut damage on amphibian populations on the Cumberland Plateau.
Wildlife 13 Ecology of Black bears (Ursus americanus) in Urban/Suburban Habitats
Jennifer Strules, Nicholas P. Gould – North Carolina State University; Colleen Olfenbuttel, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
In North Carolina, American black bear (Ursus americanus) populations occupy 60% of the state and their range continues to expand. Additionally, the human population in North Carolina has increased and growth continues unabated. Humans and black bears are now living in closer proximity to each other, resulting in increased human-bear interactions and some areas of the state may have reached or exceeded the social carrying capacity. In several of these areas, population management options appear limited, as hunting is often restricted in residential and urban developments. We used Global Positioning System technology with fine-scale locational data on black bears in Asheville, North Carolina to address questions about whether urban areas function as a source or sink for bear populations; to what extent do bears use urban areas; and if bears in urban areas are vulnerable to harvest. A total of 83% (59/71) of GPS-collared bears had > ~5% (range: ~5 – 92%) of their locations inside the Asheville city limits. Thirteen percent (9/71) of yearling/subadult bears dispersed from the city limits. Forty-four percent (4/9) of the yearling/subadult bears died after leaving the city limits. Overall, 18% (13/71) of GPS-collared bears died (6 vehicle-killed, 7 gunshot). Lastly, 94% (17/18) of females produced 45 cubs ( = 2.5), and 40% (8/20) of den sites were located inside the city limits. Ultimately, the results from this project will be used to develop science-based management strategies for bear populations in North Carolina.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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ABOUT FAQs VENUE
//NAVBAR CONTENT END
Moodswings LLC, Poseidon Music Ltd and Vortex Immersion Media Inc present
a WORLDS™ production
Where Will it Take You?
Mesmerica 360 Fort Worth
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, Fort Worth TX
Mesmerica is a visual music journey that brings the mesmerizing music of Grammy-nominated composer and percussionist James Hood together with visually-hypnotic, 3D animated art curated from artists around the world, creating an immersive experience designed to transcend time, relax, soothe, and stimulate your mind and senses...
"I want 'Mesmerica' to inspire you into taking a journey with me inside the mind, to engage your senses and feelings with a miraculous alchemy of sound and light!"
- James Hood, Show Creator
360° FULLDOME PROJECTION
7.1 SURROUND SOUND
3D ANIMATED VISUALS
OVER 300,000 TICKETS ALREADY SOLD ACROSS 30+ LOCATIONS WORLDWIDE
BOOK TICKETS NOW
Previous visitors to Mesmerica said:
An amazing experience that I will never forget...
Left me speechless... I've seen Mesmerica twice now, it makes me feel full of love and life, optimism and relief.
Brought me to blissful tears...
The first time was life-changing! Seeing it again will be absolutely amazing!
Meet James Hood
the artist behind Mesmerica...
James Hood is renowned as a vital and versatile musical pioneer - especially with his work on the PanART hang, a uniquely mesmeric melodic instrument, and for his collaborations with international animation artists.
His lengthy and varied musical resumé includes playing drums in The Pretenders, an ongoing two-decades-plus run as mastermind of the visionary ambient/electronica act Moodswings, and an expansive array of production and soundtrack projects.
Book Your Tickets...
If few dates seem available, check the next month.
What is Mesmerica?
This family-friendly, mind-expanding projection experience is designed to relieve stress, and is suitable for all ages 6 years and above.
Come and leave your troubles at the door as we take you on a fantastic journey into awe-inspiring imaginary landscapes.
How do I book tickets?
Tickets for Mesmerica can be purchased here
A limited number of seats are available each performance, so to avoid disappointment please book your Mesmerica tickets early, especially if booking groups.
Are there any promo codes?
Yes! We offer 10% off discounts for families, groups and returning guests.
When selecting your tickets look for 'Redeem coupon/voucher' text below your Shopping Cart, underneath your carts Total. Discounts apply to the entire cart.
MESMERICAFAMILY - 10% off for adults booking with children
MESMERICAGROUP - 10% off when booking 6 or more tickets
MESMERICASOUL - 10% off if you have seen Mesmerica before
Planning a visit for a large group?
We have the following discounts available;
15% off for bookings of x30-x80 tickets
Simply add any combination of ticket types and the discount should apply automatically once you reach the correct number of tickets in your shopping cart.
How do I contact the Box Office?
Please direct all customer service enquiries to our Mesmerica Box Office Team
All tickets are 100% refundable up to 30 days prior to the date of your event.
Our Customer Service Team aim to reply within 5 hours between the hours of 10am to 10pm (PT).
Is the show suitable for guests who are prone to seizures or motion sickness?
There are no strobe lights used in the production but there are some fast image and light transitions, so we would advise caution for those who suffer from seizures. Equally, while the vast majority of our patrons have an amazing time with no issues, a small minority who are very susceptible to motion sickness find immersive entertainment slightly uncomfortable, so we would advise caution if you fall into this camp.
Is the show suitable for autistic people?
We have found that autistic people LOVE our shows! Please note the venue is dark and there is surround sound. We advise sitting at the end of a row if you think a quick exit might be required. Our on-site staff will assist if you alert them at check-in.
What are your Covid safety policies?
We are committed to following state and federal guidelines.
Should any precautions be required for a particular show, you will receive an email confirming the policies in place for the show you are attending.
If you are not comfortable with these our customer service team will gladly assist you moving your tickets to a later showing.
For further information, see our Covid Safety Guidelines
Show Times & Seating Schedule
VIP Guests & Wheelchair check-in 45 minutes before showtime
General Admission check-in 30 minutes before showtime
Please arrive promptly, seats within ticket classes are first-come-first-served. Latecomers will not be admitted.
Mesmerica's run time is approximately 1 hr
Additional Venue Information
Please plan to arrive on time as due to darkness in the theater and safety concerns, there will be no late seating after the show starts or re-entry.
Seating is open & operated on a "first come first serve" basis; arrive early to have the best pick of the seating!
Concessions are not available during the event. Food, drink, and chewing gum are not allowed in the Noble Planetarium.
Details for parking can be found below.
The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History was established in 1941 by educators. It was one of the first children's museums in the country to be accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History is located in the city's Cultural District. The current building, finished in 2009 by Legorreta + Legorreta, houses attractions such as hands-on learning studios, a children's museum, the Noble Planetarium, and the Star's Café, in addition to both traveling and permanent science and history exhibits. The Museum offers Pre-K - 12 and multi-generational experiential learning that embraces history, science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM).
The Noble Planetarium
The Noble Planetarium is named for Charlie Mary Noble, an educator, astronomer, and scientist. The 80-seat planetarium shows a combination of live and recorded shows, taking guests on a wide-ranging exploration of space, flight, and the "Texas Sky Tonight."
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History 1600 Gendy Street, Fort Worth, TX 76107
PARKING INFORMATION JAN 13 – FEB 4, 2023
DURING FORT WORTH STOCK SHOW & RODEO
Parking lots during the FWSSR 2023 are part of the Stock Show grounds and cost $17 per car. ADA parking is available at all lots and major credit cards are accepted for payment.
The intersection at Montgomery and Lansford Lane will be closed during the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. All guests should enter through the gate located at Gendy and Lancaster (Image below on the left). Please make note of the level on which you park your vehicle. Garage elevators are located in the southeast corner of each level.
Parking is not guaranteed in the Western Heritage Garage. If the Western Heritage Garage is at capacity, FWSSR parking attendants will direct you to available parking. DOWNLOAD THE PARKING MAP HERE
RIDE SHARE SERVICES
Will Rogers Memorial Center
Pick Up and Drop Off - 3400 Will Rogers Road South
Dickies Arena
Drop off: 1911 Montgomery St. Dickies Way
Pick up: 3596 Harley Ave.
Ride Share services do not have access to the Stock Show grounds and cannot drop off or pick up at alternative locations.
MUSEUM ENTRANCE
Guests will enter the Museum through the Museum School Entrance located facing the Western Heritage Garage. (Image below on the right).
PARKING (Except during JAN 13 – FEB 4; see above)
- Parking for Mesmerica 360 is available at any of the Cultural District parking lots surrounding the Museum.
- All parking lots in the Cultural District are owned by the City of Fort Worth and managed by Trail Drive Management Corp. The Museum is not responsible for parking costs associated with these lots. On busy days, some lots may fill early.
- Payment for parking using a credit card is encouraged.
- Please use the main entrance on Gendy Street for entry. The Omni entrance is closed. Guests parking in the Lansford Parking Garage will need to walk to the main entrance on Gendy Street.
The Museum is accessible via Trinity Metro. From downtown, ride Route 2 or the DASH. Both routes are accessible from DFW Airport using TEXRail or Dallas using the TRE (no Sunday service).
Admission & Opening Hours
General Museum Admission includes access to all permanent exhibits, daytime Noble Planetarium shows and the Cattle Raisers Museum.
Senior (age 65+): $14
Adult (age 12 – 64): $16
Junior (age 3 – 11): $12
Child (age 0 - 2): Free
The Museum is open:
Tuesday - Saturday | 10 AM – 5 PM
Sunday | Noon - 5 PM
Wheelchair spaces are available to anyone with this requirement. Please purchase a Wheelchair ticket whilst buying your tickets.
To learn more about the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, visit us at https://www.fwmuseum.org/
CONTACT OUR BOX OFFICE
Deep Blue™, WORLDS™ and Change Worlds™ are pending trademarks of Moodswings LLC. ©2022 Moodswings LLC. All rights reserved.
changeworlds.org
//MOBILE


Huarancayo South, first ascent. Tony Barton returned [AAJ 2006, pp. 249-250] to the rarely visited and still partially unexplored subrange of Cordillera Huagaruncho, but unusually poor weather thwarted ambitions. With Andy Houseman he made the first ascent of Huarancayo South (5,150m) via the southeast ridge and southeast slopes. Starting from a base camp at 4,200m, the British pair found the only technical climbing was limited to four mixed pitches near the summit and rated the ascent PD. They then established a high camp at ca 4,800m below the unclimbed southwest ridge of Huagaruncho Chico (ca 5,445m; photo in May 2006 INFO) but bad weather and unstable snow conditions forced a retreat. The mountains were well covered with new snow, and there were only six days of good weather in the two weeks they were at base camp. Returning from their high camp on June 28, they found that base camp had been raided, with the theft of food and the camp stove. This and continuing poor weather forced a conclusion to the expedition.


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Re: On the Radio#580276
By Kreuzberger
- Sun Jul 07, 2019 10:07 pm #580276
Nurse, nurse, the pigeon is playing chess again!
Jack believed in the inherent goodness of humanity, and felt a deep social responsibility to protect that. Through us all, Jack marches on.
🧥
Upsetting
Location: Dirty XBerg 36
By Winegums
The O'Brien defenders have logged on.
e: the Blairite one and the racist one.
"Let me make my position clear: I wouldn't want to win on an old-fashioned leftist platform. Even if I thought it was the route to victory, I wouldn't take it. "
-Anthony Charles Lynton Blair
Winegums
By Andy McDandy
- Mon Jul 08, 2019 7:18 am #580283
Thing is, he's right. They are all cults.
"It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail." - Gore Vidal.
"I proved that you're wrong. And if you're wrong, I'm right." - Aaron Eckhart.
Andy McDandy
- Mon Jul 08, 2019 4:23 pm #580330
"All these people are cults" I scream as I tattoo #FBPE onto my arm.
By crabcakes_windermere
- Fri Jul 12, 2019 9:53 am #580748
Winegums wrote: ↑
Health - fully supports NHS. Wants greater investment in NHS, removal of obstructions such as internal market, PFI.
Housing - supports significant council house building projects. Supports legislation limiting # of homes anyone can own (no more professional landlords). Supports better legislation protecting tenants
Jobs - Wants to improve employee rights and strengthen trade unionism
Education - close gap between wealthy and poor. End creeping privatisation of schooling
Justice - ensure timely access to legal system and justice for the accused and victims. Have community policing fully integrated to communities. Destroy the London Met and salt the earth so that nothing can ever grow there again.
Defense - Stop Western imperialism.
I'm for all of those things (though a question mark over the last one - stopping Western imperialism isn't synonymous with defence. You can stop needless adventures for oil without giving Putin free rein to do what the fuck he wants, for example).
Thus, I'm left wing by any reasonable definition of left wing - something I'm sure Winegums would find laughable, but then we're all well versed on how the only people Corbyn fans consider 'proper' leftwingers are themselves. But regardless I also think Corbyn is awful and wouldn't deliver a lot of these even if in power as he'd be too distracted by (for want of a better phrase) 'socialist vanity projects' that chew up time and energy and capital. For example renationalisation of everything, even if it's a sector doing well.
It's that simplistic black-and-white absolutism that still sees him clinging to lexit, because the EU is vaguely capitalist and so *must* be the worse option. It's incomprehensible it couldn't be. It's also what's doing for him on antisemitism - Israel is bad, therefore all criticism *must* be allowed, even if it's clumsy or badly worded, and the most generous, optimistic take *must* be made every time because these people just want a free Palestine, so how could they *possibly* be bigoted? How could Jeremy be a bad person, look at all these good things he has done? And so on.
I also think there are plenty of examples of his behaviour matching Johnson in awfulness, in no small part due to this absolutism. Sure, he protested against apartheid (and through his arrogance and need to be seen doing 'the right thing', famously made things worse, of course:
But he also turned a blind eye to atrocities if his chum in Moscow was involved (https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comme ... pocritical) because it was against the hated USA, so how could he be wrong?
So sure, you could make a sound case he's not as big a dangerous, arrogant wanker as Johnson - but he's still a dangerous, arrogant wanker, and not fit to be PM.
lord_kobel, Oblomov liked this
crabcakes_windermere
By Tubby Isaacs
- Sat Jul 13, 2019 8:52 pm #580881
The internal NHS market has been abolished in Wales and Scotland. How much difference does it actually make? Isn't a lot of that sort of stuff going to be done as management accounting anyway?
Tubby Isaacs
We need a political heavyweight to get on the case.
https://fullfact.org/health/cost-creati ... arket-nhs/
"The internal market that was originally created by the Conservatives, I think back in the late 1980s is currently costing in the order of £10 billion a year."
Chris Williamson MP, 25 January 2018
The NHS internal market, created in the 1990s, costs around £10 billion a year.
There's no evidence to prove this. Research that arrives at this figure just estimates increases in admin costs over time, rather than trying to single out what impact the internal market has had.
This claim has been circulating for years, and there's no good evidence we've seen that supports it.
None of the research that has been used to reach this figure actually tries to estimate the cost of the 'internal market' in England that was introduced to the NHS in 1991.
The figures behind it are estimates of the changing cost of administration to the NHS in England. The sources of those figures are either untraceable, subject to a lot of uncertainty, or no longer relevant to the way the NHS works today.
We don't know the answer to this question, whether it turns out to be £10 billion or something very different.
By youngian
Before 2016 I was OK with a few slippery figures bolstering your cause if it helps you win (illustrative figures as Rory Stewart calls them). But no never again.
youngian
By Boiler
- Fri Jul 19, 2019 6:47 pm #581476
Just listening to British Troll Farm on BBC Sounds; "a new sitcom set in a secret British military unit dedicated to fighting the social media cyberwar. Badly."
If nothing else, it features my favourite actress from Derry Girls - Nicola Coughlan.
I know I ain't common 'cause I got class I ain't never used yet.
By Abernathy
- Tue Aug 20, 2019 10:45 am #584088
The Kindle reader edition of James O'Brien's book How to be Right (In a World Gone Wrong) is available on Amazon - apparently today only for just 99p.
If you'e not read it, it's well worth a quid of your cash.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Be-Right-w ... e_0&sr=8-1
oboogie, Samanfur liked this
"The opportunity to serve our country. That is all we ask." John Smith, Leader of the Labour Party, 10 May 1994.
Location: Up my own arse.
- Sun Aug 25, 2019 12:48 pm #584295
Listening to The Reunion (partly) on Radio 4 whilst driving into town today: it concerned the fallout around the broadcast of Death On The Rock.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0007wrv
oboogie liked this
By oboogie
- Sun Aug 25, 2019 9:27 pm #584302
Boiler wrote: ↑
I heard a little of that too, I've made a mental note to listen to it properly on iplayer.
That subtle admixture of the absurd and the surreally plausible...
oboogie
- Thu Aug 29, 2019 11:59 am #584497
LBC are running an ad/trailer for a podcast by Floella Benjamin, the lass notable, as far as I can tell, only for once having been a kids TV presenter on Playschool. h
It opens with La Benjamin herself, intoning "Hello. I'm Baroness Floella Benjamin..."
Now, maybe it's only me that thinks this, but when I hear that sort of pish I immediately think "How up her own arse is she ? Yes, she was elevated to the Lords by the Lib Dems, but really? Introducing yourself in that way doesn't make me, at least, want to hear what she has to say in a podcast (I just might have done if she'd just said "I'm Floella Benjamin") is a "yuck" moment for me.
Got me thinking and I realise that I know personally one member of the house of lords, and one bloke with a knighthood.
They never EVER refer to themselves as "sir" or "lord" - they're just Phil and Albert - as I've known them as for several years.
- Thu Aug 29, 2019 3:33 pm #584506
I had a neighbour who was in the House of Lords. It was Floella Benjamin who could be seen out leafleting for the Streatham Hill Lib Dems. I think she's worked in educational charity type stuff for years.
You mean Baroness Floella Benjamin ?
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The human body consists of 206 bones, 26 of which are in each foot. That means that more than a quarter of our bones reside in the feet. That being said, there are numerous issues that involve the foot bones. Most foot conditions can go unnoticed for months to years, and present as dull achy pains in the foot or ankle.
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But what if I just forgot or didn't leave out the information on purpose?
The current law does not make a distinction between innocent or deliberate non-disclosure. This means that, even if you left out the information on the application by accident or unintentionally, your insurer can still avoid your policy.
Why has my insurer only raised this issue about lack of information now, when I have made a claim?
When you make a claim, your insurer will ask you more questions or check up on your history. This can lead to your insurer finding out information which it should have been given when you applied for insurance.
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Essay AfricaEconomy
Mozambique's Mining Boomtown
The discovery of a massive coal basin in Mozambique has kicked up a frenzy of investment, but this steroidal economy comes with a cost.
By Rowan Moore Gerety
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By the time people in Moatize learned of the coming mega-project, in 2009, it was already a fait accompli. Moatize, a rural district in the western reaches of Mozambique, would soon be home to the world's largest opencast coal mine. The Brazilian mining giant, Vale do Rio Doce, and an Australian company, Riversdale, had already leased concessions in the area; more than two thousand families would have to move. But local officials assured village leaders that resettlement would bring the displaced a better quality of life—casas melhoradas, or "improved houses," with concrete foundations, electricity and running water, as well as money for schools and medical clinics. And, of course, the mines would bring jobs.
Isabel Pedro, a farmer from the village of Malabo, remembers being skeptical about resettlement from the start. Now in her late forties, Pedro has cracked feet and strong, lined hands. She has grown food her whole life—corn, bananas, pigeon peas, cassava—using little more than a machete and a broad hoe to work her machamba, or garden, on the banks of the Revuboe river. In Tete province, arid and hot, land by the river makes farming viable. Selling sacks of charcoal to supplement their farming, over the years, Pedro and her husband built a house so big it took twenty-two sheets of zinc roofing to keep the rain out. Pedro knew Cateme, where the largest resettlement was planned, and she didn't want to live there. Cateme lies 25 miles down the road from Moatize, where there is no town and no river. Pedro and her husband refused to move. And then, as her neighbors packed up and left, accepting the terms the government had negotiated with Vale, it dawned on Pedro that the mine would be built whether she moved or not. Estado é estado, branco é branco, she told me later, squinting at the sun: "The state is the state, white people are white people."
In 2008, visiting geologists made a startling discovery: the district of Moatize, where coal had been mined only intermittently since the 1930s, was actually the largest undeveloped coal basin on the planet… enough to fire all the coal plants in the United States for twenty-five years.
Manuel Guimarães, who became Moatize's District Administrator in 2010, around the time of resettlement, put it this way: "We all need to understand that mining in Moatize is irreversible. We have to learn to deal with the process because we have no way to stop it. The world needs the resources that Moatize has." And Guimarães was bullish about the district's prospects. "Already, Moatize is advancing," he told me, "and it's advancing in big steps." Vale's mine brought foreigners to Moatize by the thousands. The road through town was re-paved, and the colonial railroad to the sea was being rehabilitated. Moatize, a backwater since the colonial shaft mines shut for good in 1997, was the focus of renewed interest.
When I met Pedro, in August 2011, she and her neighbors strained to see the progress Guimarães had outlined. It was true that Moatize was changing. Half-built hotels rose from the savannah. An overgrown colonial cotton warehouse had found a second life housing brand new Mitsubishi pickups. Small boys lined back roads and hailed trucks to collect foreigners' discarded plastic water bottles. But instead of enjoying the comforts of a casa melhorada, Pedro and her family have been unable to match the meager living they enjoyed in Malaboe.
In October 2012, the World Bank noted that oil-producing countries in Africa perform worse than any other group of countries on measures of political stability, corruption, accountability, and rule of law.
The resettlement zone in town, called 25 Setembro after Revolution Day, the anniversary of Mozambique going to war with Portugal for their independence, is a bare neighborhood of tidy yellow houses with no trees and no space for farming. Instead of working the land, Pedro's family now makes ends meet by renting out their casa melhorada to a man from out of town who has a job at the mine. Pedro, along with her husband, five children, and one grandchild live in what was intended to be their outdoor kitchen, a small building the size of two double beds adjacent to the house. One of her sons had a construction job during the first phase of mine construction, but that lasted less than a year. The kitchens in the resettlement zone were built as open structures, with a front wall that ends at waist-level, but nearly half of them have been closed up with brick and cement like Pedro's, with tiny padlocks affixed to improvised, rough-hewn doors.
"What can you do?" Pedro shrugged. "There's no food. Before, I didn't pay anything for cornmeal, and I didn't pay anything for firewood." Though she now has access to running water and electricity, Pedro views these amenities in terms of the added expense. She spends 500 meticais a month on water and 200 a month on electricity, roughly twenty-five U.S. dollars, or a third of the rent she collects from her tenant in the main house. Even so, Pedro insists that she was right not to move to Cateme. "There's no water there," she said flatly—for a farmer, water is all that matters.
Vale, the Brazilian mining company, first bid on concessions in Moatize at a time when no one quite knew what lay underground. Coal has been mined intermittently in Moatize since the 1930s, but by the turn of the twenty-first century, mining in the region was confined to villagers who fired bricks using coal from the abandoned mines of Carbomoc, Mozambique's defunct state-owned coal corporation, and to young men called garimpeiros who panned for gold in nearby streams and rivers. Vale's 2004 bid on old Carbomoc concessions made headlines in investors' briefs and trade magazines around the world. With coal prices near all-time highs, the entry of a major player in a previously unknown mining region was big news. Then in 2008, visiting geologists in Tete made a startling discovery: the coal seam beneath Moatize is part of the largest undeveloped coal basin on the planet. As estimates currently stand, the basin below Moatize and the surrounding districts holds more than 23 billion metric tons of coal—enough to fire all the coal plants in the United States for twenty-five years.
In the years since this discovery, fortune seekers from around the world have descended on Tete province to develop the region's natural resources as quickly as possible: Chinese and Indian investors, South African hydraulics techs and geologists, Portuguese construction firms, Australian drillers, British crane operators, and American salespeople specializing in mammoth trucks and excavators. Between 2001 and 2011, investment in Mozambique's mining sector grew from $20 million to more than $1 billion annually, helping to make Mozambique one of the world's fastest-growing economies. This trend was part of a broader resource boom fueled by surging demand and dwindling resources in India and China. In Mozambique, as in the rest of Africa, high commodity prices have driven a new wave of foreign investment in mining, gas, and oil exploration, often in places once considered unprofitable, or even impossible: remote areas without existing infrastructure, countries hampered by political instability. In addition to coal, prospectors in Mozambique have discovered deposits of titanium, zirconium, iron ore, gemstones, ilmenite, tantalum, bauxite, and gold. With an estimated value of $350 billion USD, Mozambique's natural gas reserves could soon dwarf the scale of Tete's coal projects. But in Tete—the leading edge of Mozambique's resource boom—there are signs the local economy is growing too fast. In its eagerness to attract foreign capital, the Mozambican government has opened the door to a flood of investment for which it now seems unprepared. Government offices are overwhelmed, local companies outmatched, and thousands of farmers like Isabel Pedro appear to have given up their land for slim rewards.
If the model in Tete offers a national precedent, Mozambique may fall victim to the "resource curse" that afflicts countries like Angola, which suffers from increased inequality and an authoritarian regime despite massive wealth from oil and gold, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where mining revenues, passing through the sieve of corruption, have been used to fuel civil war. Mozambique's peers on The Economist's top ten list of the world's fastest-growing economies between 2000 and 2010—Angola, Chad, and Nigeria—can each be read as a cautionary tale about the mixed blessings of mineral wealth. In October 2012, the World Bank noted that oil-producing countries in Africa perform worse than any other group of countries on measures of political stability, corruption, accountability, and rule of law.
As Roger Nord, the IMF's Deputy Director for Africa, warned at a meeting last May, "What are countries going to do to avoid being the Nigerias and Angolas of the next generation?"
One key difference, Nord observed, is that countries like Mozambique, Uganda, and Tanzania have developed "more robust democratic institutions… than the early oil producers had."
After more than twenty-five years of nearly continuous armed conflict, Mozambique has now been at peace for nearly as long as it was at war, with a record of four free and reasonably fair presidential elections and peaceful transfers of power. The government is beginning to uphold its commitment to providing basic public services at a national level: rural healthcare, primary education, and agricultural support.
In this, Mozambique seems well-placed to avoid the pitfalls of war and authoritarianism that can stem from large mineral reserves. Mozambican president Armando Guebuza, one of the original guerilla leaders who toppled Portuguese colonialism in 1975, seems unlikely to become another José Eduardo Dos Santos—who's maintained a iron grip on power as Angola's president since 1979—or Idriss Déby, President of Chad, who has used oil revenues earmarked for health and agriculture projects to consolidate military power and fund sectarian warfare along the border with Sudan.
Yet even in peacetime, and even in a democracy, corruption has crippling effects. Nigeria, for example, has long been a leading African producer of crude oil, but because of chronic mismanagement in the industry, the country now imports 85 percent of its fuel while its refineries lie dormant. A small group of wholesalers and public officials has reaped tremendous profits, but most Nigerians have seen few of these benefits—the BBC estimates that corruption has siphoned off $400 billion in oil revenue since the country's independence. When the Nigerian government moved to end longstanding fuel subsidies in January 2012, protestors took to the streets with slogans like "Remove Corruption, Not Subsidies," echoing recent protests in Guinea, South Africa, and Uganda, also aimed at corruption in the mineral sector.
Other African countries offer a more hopeful example. Botswana has used the world's leading diamond reserves as a springboard to promote tourism, agriculture, and manufacturing, and its standard of living is now one of the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Botswana achieved this outcome thanks in part to the government's independence from the diamond companies that have helped to drive the country's growth. In dealing with the South African diamond cartel DeBeers, Botswana has repeatedly renegotiated contracts to ensure that mining projects remain in the national interest, eventually gaining a 50 percent share of equity in the country's mines, and in September 2011, prevailing on DeBeers to shift its diamond sorting operations from London to its own capital, Gaborone.
But winning such concessions has required considerable political will and expertise on the part of Botswana's leaders. Does the Mozambican government have the mettle to achieve the same result?
As the first trainloads of coal left Tete for port, in September 2011, Lagos Correia was in his office, laboring alongside a decrepit air conditioner in the high noon heat. Correia is the chief engineer in the mineral resources section of Tete's Department of Mineral Resources and Energy. A Vale representative sat across from him. Together, they were making arrangements for two 30-ton loads of coal to be flown by chartered jet to laboratories in Germany and Australia.
Correia, an alert, smiling man with a tapered mustache and a jockey's build, seemed near the limits of his patience. He filled in long codes on page after page of dispatch forms while the Vale rep looked up the relevant numbers on his laptop, open on Correia's paper-strewn desk. The coal leaving Tete by the trainload was high-quality coking coal, used in steel manufacture; the laboratories would perform tests to see whether Tete's cheaper, thermal coal could be turned into gasoline. The whole operation was hurried: Correia needed his boss's signature, but his boss was out. The Vale rep couldn't wait. "You see," Correia said, "when the government needs something, you can forget about it. But these companies are always in a rush." The Vale rep left once he got what he wanted. "When I began in 1992," Correia told me, "you might have time to drink a soda or have a cup of coffee." He shook his head. "Now, we have much more work, and it's more complicated."
Correia's once-sleepy office is now responsible for overseeing deep-pocketed multinationals operating in the province, supervising matters ranging from disputes with the local population to "geology, mapping, inspection, laboratory analysis, and seismology," he said. Yet on some level, not much has changed: Correia's team still works on the sixth floor of a building whose plumbing and elevator stopped working years ago. "The support the Department has gotten," Correia told me with characteristic understatement, "is not at the level currently required by the province." They have fifteen employees, and their motorcycles are still broken, exposed to the elements in a gravel parking lot beside the office entrance. Along with other offices in the building, Correia's team shares one lone pickup truck.
If mega-projects like Vale's mine in Tete are to drive broader job growth and development in Mozambique, it is up to the government to ensure that profits are accurately reported, that taxes are paid to support other industries, that the rivers remain free from pollution. To insure Moatize's future after coal, the government must be the guardian of social returns on foreign investment. Instead, Mozambique's government seems headed towards what some have called "mineral dependence," where the influence of mining money leads the interests of public officials to align with foreign corporations rather than their own citizens. Correia describes his field visits to the companies he oversees:
"If I go to inspect a business with better working conditions than my own, for example, I'll have to get there by bike, or motorcycle, or car, but I'll have to fill the tank. And they have Toyotas—nice, new cars. I'll arrive there and develop a sort of inferiority complex, because when I get there, they'll say, 'leave your car here—and get in this one.' And they'll offer you water, or apples… Afterwards, maybe they'll say 'Let's go have lunch.' And they'll chitchat and say, everything's good, and I'll have to go produce a report about this. Now, do you write a report on what you saw or on what they said?"
Underlying Correia's "inferiority complex" is the fact that multinational mining corporations—in addition to having the resources to pay for nice Toyotas, apples, and bottles of water, have deep reserves of human capital. Vale, for example, employs nearly 200,000 people around the world and has annual profits equivalent to nearly four times Mozambique's state budget. It can recruit, train, and compensate employees to represent its interests on a scale far beyond what the government can do. Without Vale's capacity for number crunching, Mozambique's regulators lean on the companies they oversee for all manner of important data.
In 2011, the Mozambican government published an independent study of the country's mining, oil, and gas industries. Conducted by a Ghanaian consulting company, Boas and Associates, the report was part of Mozambique's application to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, a World Bank-funded program designed to encourage an honest accounting of mining revenue and payments by participating countries and corporations alike. Mozambique's candidacy was ultimately denied on the basis of its failure to publish what it earned from the companies involved, but the report also noted a lack of qualified personnel in the agencies governing almost every aspect of the extraction of Mozambique's natural resources: licenses, prospecting, mining and drilling, sales, export.
According to the report, the Mozambican government has no way of verifying the quality and quantity of minerals in the concessions it leases to private companies, and it depends on those companies for data on what is ultimately mined and exported. Worse, the government has no system for monitoring global commodity prices or of tracking companies' investment costs, which means it cannot independently verify a company's profits.
The Ministry of Mineral Resources recently announced plans to train 4,000 technicians inside and outside Mozambique to improve the government's capacity to regulate the extractive industries. But the program relies to a large extent on financial support from mining and oil companies, including scholarships for Mozambican students to study in the companies' home countries. Given the picture Correia paints of a typical field visit by his office, this initiative seems likely to make the Mozambican government even more dependent on the companies it is supposed to regulate.
"No one wants to work for the government," Correia told me. After twenty years in the civil service, Correia is a técnico superior earning about 500 US dollars a month. If he were working at Vale or Rio Tinto, he might earn upwards of 3,000 a month. "Everyone wants to work in the private sector," Correia said, "because after all, we work to improve our quality of life."
Today, the mine that Vale built over Carbomoc's old concession produces more coal in two months than Carbomoc mined in a year at peak production. One Australian firm, Baobab Resources, estimates that mines in Tete could produce up to a quarter of the world's supply of coking coal by 2025.
All day and all night, Moatize is filled with the sounds of enormous machinery churning in the hills, and Tete city is awash with the supporting industries of the mining boom—hotels, banks, logistics firms. On weekends, the bars fill with beautiful women courting foreigners thirty years their senior. But most of the business generated by the mining rush has gone to foreign firms. "It's like the Wild West here," Manish Kotecha, the British chief financial officer for Ncondezi Coal Company, told me in his office near Tete. "All the suppliers have started to come, so we have no trouble getting most services." Ncondezi's food, for instance, is flown in from Johannesburg by a South African company called Servco: "We had strawberries and Greek yogurt for breakfast this morning," Kotecha said. "That's not from here—we're all using Serveo because it's either Servco or it's nobody. We want to hire as many locals as we can," Kotecha added. "Right now, education is an issue. I hope that in the future that will be different."
When Vale's mine opened for business, Manuel Guimarães, the district administrator at the time, boasted that mining had already created more than 10,000 jobs in Moatize. Consistent with quotas on foreign hires, he said, most of them went to Mozambican nationals. In his smooth baritone, Guimarães eagerly pointed out that mining jobs have been the engines of growth in Tete's informal sector: the sidewalks teem with teenagers selling phone credit and ice cream.
Residential construction is everywhere, and public transport, such as it is—in minibuses crowded with more passengers than the law allows—is expanding. But the accounting firm Ernst and Young offers a starkly different way to think of Guimarães' figures: in 2012, more than $7 billion in estimated foreign direct investment created only 8,000 jobs, a cost of nearly a million dollars per job. As more than 300,000 young Mozambicans enter the job market each year, Pinto de Abreu, Executive Director of Patrimony and Foreign Affairs at Mozambique's national bank, warns that "employment in the informal sector is a long-term fallacy. We cannot be satisfied that people are selling in the street—those who are in business today have no way of knowing whether they will have business tomorrow."
Over twenty years of peacetime, Mozambique's rapid growth has been fueled by capital-intensive projects run by businessmen with ties to the ruling party as silent partners. As a small minority has grown steadily richer selling Toyotas and construction services to foreign corporations, agricultural productivity and rural standards of living have remained essentially unchanged.
Job growth has lagged far behind the flow of foreign capital into the country, an imbalance that reflects the government's generous terms for investors in mega-projects. Tax breaks for Fortune 500 companies—BHP Billiton, Vale, Anadarko—are estimated to cost Mozambique upwards of half a billion dollars a year in lost revenue, or nearly 4 percent of GDP.
Carlos Nunes Castel-Branco, a leading Mozambican economist, calculates that less than 5 percent of profits from FDI is reinvested within Mozambique, while more than $1 billion in profits from mega-projects is repatriated every year. As a result, the governor of Mozambique's national bank, the economist Jeffrey Sachs, and even the IMF have called for the renegotiation of contracts for Mozambique's mega-projects.
On the streets of Tete, the government's tax incentives have led to rumors which locals retell with almost religious conviction. At Sundowners, a dimly-lit bar popular with the mining set, I met Edson, a young mechanic who repairs the excavators that dig the coal from Vale's mine. Along with two friends from Maputo, Edson had ridden the mining wave into Tete, and he spends his weekends drinking, he said, for lack of a better alternative. Many newcomers seem to regard time in Tete as a well-paid prison sentence. Sundowners' thatched sitting area, dimly-lit by rugby on flat screens, was full of single men from out of town. "Do you know why it's so hot in Tete?" Edson asked. "Because it's close to hell." His friends laughed loudly. "It's common knowledge that Guebuza"—Mozambique's current president—"is getting a cut from Vale," Edson assured me. No one knows how much, he acknowledged, but after all, Guebuza's predecessor is taking a cut too. In other words, why wouldn't he? Significant, if less dramatic, conflicts of interest are well-documented. Many high-ranking officials in the agencies regulating Mozambique's mining industry are also executives of private companies within the same sector, making them both regulators and businessmen.
To cite one example, the tax judge Aboobacar Changa has served concurrently on a tribunal tasked with auditing state corporations, as director of one corporation subject to audit, and as a private business partner of several other public officials who also worked for public entities subject to his legal review.
Still, it is unclear how much of Mozambique's friendly treatment of the mining industry has to do with conflicts of interest or corruption—essential ingredients of the resource curse—and how much has to do simply with a broader lack of vision on the part of the government. In 2011, Rio Tinto, the third largest mining corporation in the world, bought the Australian firm Riversdale for $3.6 billion. The price was based almost entirely on a pair of mining concessions that Riversdale leased just a few kilometers down the road from Vale's, in Moatize. But the transaction took place outside the country, and Mozambique had no capital gains tax in place at the time. Measured on the basis of the 32 percent tax the government passed soon afterwards, it lost an estimated $450 million on the deal—the equivalent of building one hundred new high schools. Yet sales like these are a common feature of the mining industry around the world. Why didn't the government anticipate the potential for loss?
The people who were displaced by the mines in Moatize now wonder the same thing. The main resettlement area in Cateme lies a mile off the road that goes from Tete to the Malawian border, down a rutted dirt track which turns to mud in the rainy season. It consists of several hundred stucco homes nearly identical to Pedro's, and a few larger buildings, arranged on a grid and surrounded by scrubby gray veldt. In Cateme, I met Raul Coelho, Malaboe's régulo or headman, along with two other régulos from displaced communities near Moatize. We sat on small wood benches against the shaded wall of Coelho's new home, built by a Vale subcontractor.
After a long overture, Coelho went into an account of the resettlement process, speaking in a guttural voice marked by extravagantly rolled Rs. "The whole process was a solid collaboration," he began. The only problem with Cateme, Coelho said, is that "the company hasn't honored the deal." In the two years after resettlement began, Vale's pledges came undone. The 2,000 dollars Vale offered each family who moved was quickly spent on food and other necessities in their first year in the resettlement zone—their crops barely grew, and transport to Moatize, or to Tete city, where many had worked in the informal sector, made working in town prohibitively expensive. Rather than the concrete reservoir they were promised, Cateme's water supply depends on plastic tanks that require electricity to be filled. When the power goes out, as it often does, people in Cateme are left without water, sometimes for more than twenty-four hours. Rather than the two hectares of farmland promised to each family, Coelho said, they have received one hectare per household, and the land is poor at that. "This is a problem that's known at all levels of government," Coelho said. "So here, people in the community are lifting their heads to the sky wondering, 'How and why is it that this second hectare hasn't been given? When will the government intercede? What is the company thinking, if they're not going to give us the second hectare?' The people are starting to get worked up with us, too," he added, gesturing at the other régulos. After several requests for meetings and letters sent to Vale and the government both, the régulos were still without response.
Coelho stood up to show me the pale yellow walls of his house, in which I could make out dozens of tiny fissures in the concrete. Almost every one of the houses, all of them less than two years old, Coelho said, had similar problems. The roofs leaked when it rained, and water came seeping through the walls. Vale came once to make repairs earlier in the year, but the same cracks re-opened within weeks. "The houses were not well-built," Coelho concluded.
Over the next few months, dissatisfaction in Cateme intensified. In August 2011, farmers planted crops in poor soil for a second year. In September, the first trains of coal rattled out of Moatize on the rehabilitated colonial railway, and still, there was no response to their letters and requests for information about the collective second hectare. One morning in January 2012, people in Cateme opted for a different strategy. A crowd of 500 gathered by the Sena railway, which brings coal from Moatize. They hauled logs across the tracks and piled rocks on a road nearby, and threatened to destroy the train that hauls coal to port. The government responded with riot police, but for twenty-four hours, the people from Cateme halted the flow of Vale's coal, and made the corporation wait as they had. Finally, they had some traction: Vale agreed to resolve their complaints within six months. And Manuel Guimarães, then district administrator, reconsidered his initial optimism about development in Moatize: "This has been a lesson to me," he told a local paper, O País. "We were wrong to trust Vale. Vale promised things, but did not keep their promises."
The protests in Cateme echoed earlier periods of unrest in Mozambique's capital, Maputo. There, as in today's Tete, Mozambique's burgeoning wealth is on lavish display in the form of luxury cars, sumptuous homes, and cafés where an espresso costs more than a day's wages in the informal sector. In 2008, 2010, and again in 2012, thousands of residents took to the streets of the capital to fight government proposals to reduce subsidies for flour and public transportation, blocking major roads with burning tires, and lamenting the government's failure to better support the working poor. Each time, the protests resulted in incremental gains—the subsidies were prolonged, rate hikes forestalled. Mass protest is a blunt instrument for improving policy, but it may be Mozambican citizens' best chance to push their leaders towards a more equitable way forward.
In February, the Sena railway was shut down once again, this time because of a spate of derailments and technical failures, followed by heavy rains that washed away several kilometers of tracks. While shipments were interrupted, massive piles of glinting coal began to accumulate beside Vale's bright blue processing plant in Moatize, like a new mountain range in miniature, growing by the day. Vale was unable to export more than a quarter of a million tons of coking coal, and Rio Tinto's office in Moatize suspended production altogether for weeks on end.
But it is unclear who is to blame for the chronic technical failures on the Sena line: the World Bank, which financed the railway's rehabilitation; RICON, the Indian subcontractor that carried it out; Vale, which imported faulty locomotives; or the Mozambican government, responsible for overseeing all three. Though there are four other railway projects now in development to help carry Tete's coal, the barriers to export could soon multiply. Mines in the province are expected to produce as much as 50 million tons of coal annually by 2015, yet even with a planned expansion that would double its capacity, the Sena line will be able to transport only a fraction of that—6 million tons a year. And so, for now, Tete's breakneck development has slowed to the pace of Mozambique's eroding infrastructure. For the people who were displaced, even that is not slow enough: within weeks of reopening in March, the railway was blocked once more, barricaded with empty oil drums, and a truck belonging to residents of Moatize. They demanded further compensation for the families who had to move, and insisted that Vale agree to pay before shipments could resume. Though Vale has enlisted the help of the police, citizen protests continue to block access to the mine.
Rowan Moore Gerety
Rowan Moore Gerety is a freelance print and radio reporter based in Los Angeles, now working on a book about Mozambique. He is a regular contributor to Marketplace, and his work has also appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, the Revealer, and PRI's Living on Earth, among others. This story was made possible by a 2011 Fulbright scholarship to Mozambique. Read and listen to more of his work here, and follow him on Twitter here.
http://www.rowanmg.com/
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3 Comments on "Mozambique's Mining Boomtown"
J. Steven Livacich says:
It seems odd that in this time of a coal glut–that nations are required to surrender there landscape to cheaper coal and foreign companies.
Beyond that –it seems that more debt was incurred to do and that the
World Bank makes all of us responsible and involved.
The international corporations are generally larger and more sophisticated
than any government.
J.S. Livacich
Abel Silva says:
In the sixties and seventies of XX century, the coal in the Moatize basin was known as having one of the greatest reserves in the world, and was being mined regularly. After the independence and because of the civil war that followed, the mines were closed and "forgotten". But the coal remained and the "discovery" was not but taking advantage of the rise of the coal prices on the international markets. And the coal was not the only wealth that was forgotten. It was known that Mozambique had, at least, uranium (Mavuzi), bauxite, marble(Cabo Delgado), gas (Pande), gold, gems. They were not fully explored during Portuguese colonial ruling and the civil war helped to keep that wealth buried, literally. Now, with peace and good prices on the international markets, it is easy to "discover" the natural wealth of Mozambique.
With all due respect to Africa, if not for mining and harvesting natural resources, you would be living in the Jungle with life expectancies of 40 years max. Civilization comes at a price. VALE and the other miners supply materials to build infrastructure and run civilizations. Africa doesn't have the money, people or technology to procure these resources. They have been sitting on them for a million years; a million years of stone aged nothing. The minute somebody else discovers them and licenses to capture them, out come the parasites in the name of local government. Where was your government 50 years ago? Were they helping you grow your crops, or hunt your game? NO. They were content to watch Africa remain a stone aged culture while the rest of the world grew cities, factories and modern civilizations. So get off the wagon that says government is here to help you. Capitalism is here to help you.
Vale hires workers. With that money you can live better and invest and do something with it. Start a business on the side, this is how commerce begins. If you have shortages of items, then import them, start a store, do something besides sitting around with your hands out or complaining that the local cost of goods is high. If the local costs of goods is high then you have a robust market and can sell into it. That creates prosperity.
And what is the government complaining about? Did they care about schools or technology 50 years ago. No. They only care after they see somebody else making money then they jump for the money claiming they are doing it for the people. Gov is corrupt. At least with the businesses, you get a nice fat paycheck and you learn skills. Did the government teach you those skills? No. Did the gov care about your water or your electricity? No. The companies that brought the technology brought it to you as a means to develop the resources.
Quit bellyaching Africa and wake up and get to work and quit looking for something for nothing. Obama your black brother is trying to kill the coal industry in American. He is a politician. He knows nothing. But if it were up to him, your coal reserves would be worth nothing. He would like to see Africa stay in the stone age. When you create government that starts to suck the life out of businesses for handouts for votes, businesses leave and leave you high and dry.
The key to civilization is work, labor not creating impediments to work and sitting on your backside waiting for government to bring you a bowl of soup. Capitalism is the only thing that will save Africa from the stone age or slavery under the gov ruler.


Here we are again, in observance of the misadventures of the sluggard. The Father's been showing us throughout the book of Proverbs, that there's more than one way to skin this cat.
Needless to say, the Lord has had nothing good to say in reference to the sluggard, nor will he from here forward. This is true for several reasons, none the least of which, is due to the damages being that way causes the person, and how it can extend out affecting others.
Being sluggish in our ways is a blight upon us in the eyes of a very busy God. We were not created to be sluggish people. In a fallen world that requires for us to toil in various ways, there is no room for sluggishness without causing problems.
We can argue, that the reason above is a great one. Because of the excuse (the cold) he didn't get done the things that he should have. He rested in what he had at the time, keeping warm and well fed from previous labors.
How about lunch at work? Ever not want to take the time to make yourself a lunch for work either the night before or that morning? I've done that more times than I can remember.
Personally, if I wasn't hungry in the morning, I wouldn't bother to make anything, and instead take my time doing something else, like catching a bit of TV before leaving, or fooling around on the computer before leaving.
But then lunch time comes around… And I'd find myself paying for food that I could have otherwise brought in from home for free, or sit around kicking myself because I was too lazy to take care of something when I had the time to do it.
That is a relatively harmless and simple example. But how about the big things? The more responsibility required for whatever it is, the worse the repercussions are when we're too slotherly or sluggish to follow through and get the ball rolling.
But then again, the greater the reward is when we are faithful to do the things that we set out to do, and follow through with things that we've been charged with. If the sluggard had simply rejected the temptation to stay in from the cold, he wouldn't have later on found himself being brought to beg in harvest. Instead, he would be reaping the fruit of the land.
The cold was the sluggard's excuse. When we look deeply at the different things that we either procrastinate or ignore doing, what's the excuse that we rely on to try to make ourselves feel better for not doing what we're supposed to do?
Thank you for the wisdom that is found in your Word. Thank you for it, as it replenishes our soul, and brings strength to the bones! When we are tempted to behave as a sluggard or to do things in a slotherly manner, please stir into our remembrance all of the different things you've had to say about being that way, and also what you've had to say about being diligent. This we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Have you ever been forced to beg in harvest due to inaction?
Thanks Brian…once again, the Lord shows his displeasure with the sluggard. The laziness of the sluggard hurts him, for sure. But what if others are depending on him? What if he's a father, and he lets down/disappoints his family? As a husband and a father, I would rather be raked over the coals, than to let my family down. And I feel the same way about letting down our Lord…this is something that I would not relish. But admittedly, we all have let Him down, from time to time. If we repent, and ask for His forgivness, He makes it all right again. I do want to be steadfast in the Lord. Stay strong brother.
Amen and amen. No matter how you slice it, the sluggard is a problem to himself and others. Well said on all counts Brother! God bless!


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OBOD Summer Gathering 2023
Glastonbury Town Hall
Over the weekend of the 3rd and 4th June, we will be returning to the Glastonbury Town Hall for the Order's Summer Gathering. Groves, a ceremony on the Tor, Stonehenge dawn ceremony and full Order events on Sunday morning. Please be aware that the capacity of the Town Hall is only 180 so this event will sell out very quickly once tickets go on sale early in 2023. There are no trading stalls at the Summer Gathering. The date tickets will go on sale and booking details will be sent out with the Gwersi and Touchstone towards the end of February 2023.