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The following excerpt is taken from the new book, The Secret Pleasures of Menopause, by Christiane Northrup, M.D. It is published by Hay House (October 15, 2008) and is available at all bookstore or online at www.amazon.com.
Chapter Two
Experience Unlimited Pleasure
We humans were born to experience unlimited pleasure and joy. It's our birthright. Pursuing pleasure and also allowing ourselves to receive it on a regular basis are absolutely essential to creating and maintaining vibrant physical and emotional health. That's right—the pursuit of good feelings is not an indulgence. It's a life-affirming necessity! Pleasure in all its many forms literally stokes our life force (our chi or prana) in the way we'd stoke a fire by throwing another log onto it.
Think about the last time you really steeped yourself in something pleasurable—when you took that positive feeling right into your bone marrow. Maybe it was savoring a bite of gourmet chocolate, the smell of salt air at the beach, or an exquisite back rub. Everyone has a distinct pleasure profile, and you can count on your senses to let you know when you've dialed into yours. Remember the intensity of your pleasure. (If you can't remember what it feels like to lose yourself in bliss, hang around a two-year-old for five minutes.) When you're lost in the joy of pleasure, you are, in that very moment, renewing your cells, increasing your blood circulation, and creating health on all levels—body, mind, and spirit. In fact, you're probably getting a healthful boost right now just imagining that wonderful experience all over again!
Another way to understand how potent pleasure is as a health enhancer is to imagine what happens when you aren't feeling any of it. Think about a time when you were totally burned out. You probably felt like you were running on empty, right? Guess what? You were! It wasn't just energy you were lacking; it was vital life force. Compare them in this way: Energy is what it takes to get through the day. Vital life force is what it takes to put spring in your step as you get through the day. See the difference?
Because pleasure fuels your life force, you're naturally drawn to it by Divine design. Your body is actually programmed for joy! But before I go any further, let me explain what pleasure is not. Pleasure isn't getting drunk or high and doing things that will embarrass you the next day; and it doesn't mean renouncing your family and job to go live in a spa or escape to a desert island. Even though cutting loose once in a while can provide you with a temporary high that relieves tension, getting high, drunk, or going on a sugar binge won't provide you with sustained pleasure—or vibrant health. Most likely, you'll end up feeling worse. Avoiding responsibility and being physically, emotionally, or even financially reckless actually undermines your ability to maintain positive feelings.
When I recommend the pursuit of pleasure, I'm talking about learning how to recognize and value the things that bring you lasting joy, and then bringing them into your life deliberately on a regular basis. Think of it this way: Your body itself was conceived in orgasm—the most exquisite pleasure humans are capable of experiencing. From that perspective, how could pleasure not play a vital role in the optimal functioning of your body?
Why Pleasure and Health Are Related
Just as any piece of machinery works better when it's properly lubricated, your organs (and the rest of your body) work better when you're thinking thoughts and feeling emotions that bring you pleasure or when you're pursuing enjoyable activities. That's true in several ways.
First of all, experiencing pleasure improves blood flow. Healthy blood flow is important because the bloodstream brings nutrients to all of your body's cells and carries away the cells' waste products. It's like stocking the fridge and emptying the garbage at the same time.
All of this happens by virtue of a gas called nitric oxide. When you're experiencing pleasure or feeling calm, vibrant, and healthy, nitric oxide is released in little puffs mostly from the lining of your blood vessels.
Because it's a gas, it diffuses rapidly in all directions—right through cell walls. It's equivalent to e-mail blasts occurring almost instantly all over your body. Not only does this result in increased circulation, but nitric oxide also turns on the production of special chemicals in your body called neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters carry myriad messages between the brain and nervous system, helping your body work and feel better.
One of the neurotransmitters that pleasure increases is called beta-endorphin, which acts sort of like morphine—it dulls pain and creates feelings of euphoria. This not only improves your mood, but it also helps you deal more effectively with the stresses of life. Another neurotransmitter that pleasure boosts is called prolactin (which is also known as the hormone of bonding). Prolactin is released when you nurse a child, have an orgasm, or even get together with good friends. It makes you feel bonded to the person (or people) you're interacting with at the time. Prolactin supports loving feelings between mothers and their infants, women and their mates, and even between friends.
Speaking of orgasm and sex, perhaps the most obvious proof that our bodies were designed for pleasure is the existence of the clitoris. This fleshy little budlike organ, which is connected to deeper erectile tissue in the pelvis, sits right above the vaginal opening, partially covered and protected by a hood of skin. Despite its small external size (it's no bigger than a pencil eraser), it contains 8,000 nerve endings that increase sexual excitement and ultimately bring on orgasm.
Although some people mistakenly assume that women urinate through this organ, thinking it does double duty like a man's penis, this isn't the case. Instead, women urinate from a tiny hole located between the clitoris and the vagina. The clitoris has nothing to do with urinating—or even with conception or reproduction. It's actually the only organ in the human body whose sole purpose is pleasure. (Talk about being hardwired for good times!)
Every time you feel pleasure in your clitoral area, you're also flooding yourself in nitric oxide, which, as we've just seen, radically improves the health of your whole body. We'll talk much more about the life-enhancing effects of nitric oxide in the next chapter, including how you can increase the levels of this miraculous molecule in your body. But for now, just know that this is yet another way that pleasure enhances your health on many levels and in many ways!
If you've ever read my other books or heard me speak, you know that I talk a lot about the fact that your body has wisdom to share with you. If you listen to the language of your body through the various physical symptoms you experience, you'll be better able to understand your heart's true desire and create vibrant health both physically and emotionally.
Well, ladies, the truth is that our orgasms have wisdom to share with us, too! Female orgasms are, in fact, a metaphor, illustrating how pleasure works both in our bodies and in our lives.
Let me explain what I mean by that. To begin with, you can't experience orgasm when you're tense and upset. And it's not even enough just to be relaxed. To climax, nothing less than total surrender to pleasure is required. You must give yourself over fully to the sensation of pleasure, or the bell doesn't ring. It's as simple as that!
This requires getting out of your head and into your body. You can't force yourself to have an orgasm by willing it with your mind, but when the frontal lobes in the brain are turned off during sleep, it's not only possible, it's also normal to reach climaxes while dreaming. This is proof that your body knows how to receive such pleasure! You just have to learn to allow those 8,000 clitoral nerve endings (and the other pleasure circuits in the body that are connected to them) to do their job so that you can experience as much pleasure as possible. There's no ceiling on sensual delight. You can even learn how to become multiorgasmic!
It's the same way with cultivating joy in your life. If you really desire the rejuvenating magic of pleasure, you have to open up to it, trust it, and allow it to flood your being. The journey starts by simply noticing and enjoying the sensation of a gentle breeze on your skin!
Because women often need time to become sexually aroused and climax, some feel like there's a flaw in the system or that the design doesn't work quite right. But exactly the opposite is true. What your body in its infinite wisdom is trying to tell you is that it's okay to take your time! Your body was designed to take the slow route, not the fast-track shortcut. You deserve all the love and attention that it takes for you to get there. In fact, the key to experiencing more orgasmic pleasure is, ironically, learning to enjoy every stroke and sensation along the way without even thinking about the "goal" of orgasm. You reach your optimal peak of both pleasure and health not through the quick fix, but through a long-term, sustained attention to cultivating pleasure. This is as true in life as it is between the sheets.
Why We Push Pleasure Away
But this isn't the message we've been getting from society, is it? Unfortunately, most of us are used to thinking of pleasure as a dessert we can eat only if we have the time, money, and room for it, instead of as one of the major food groups. The majority of us don't make pursuing pleasure a priority in our lives because our pleasure-starved culture talks us out of it. We say that we don't have the time and that other things are far more important. We're made to feel guilty for even thinking about doing something solely for our own pleasure. (Where do you think the expression "guilty pleasure" came from?)
Our culture (or sometimes our family) definitely gives people bonus points for pain and suffering. In fact, many individuals try to outdo each other in this regard. ("That's nothing," someone says after listening to a hair-raising tale. "Listen to what happened to me!") After all, we're living in a society where one of the major mottos is "No pain, no gain."
Society teaches the belief that there's a lot of value in blood, sweat, and tears; and suffering and playing the martyr are holy. That's half right. Hard work and effort can indeed be good for anyone. When you push yourself to be all you can be, going past what you thought were your limits, you benefit enormously. But suffering has never been a necessary part of the equation. Making it a way of life or wearing it like a badge of honor does nothing but attract more misery to you. And being a martyr never made anyone a better person (except maybe Joan of Arc, and look what happened to her!)
The key is balance. Too much of anything isn't good for you, and that includes hard work and effort. When you work too hard, push yourself too far, and allow yourself to become stressed over everything you think you have to do rather than giving serious consideration to what your heart is longing to do, you're doing yourself a grave disservice. When this imbalance continues long enough, the results are often disastrous to your well-being.
The effect of denying yourself pleasure or pushing it away is sort of like what happens when you hold your breath. At first it feels uncomfortable, and then it gets downright unpleasant as your body screams for what it needs. You can easily imagine what would happen if you denied your body air. But what you might not realize is that by denying yourself pleasure, you're doing something that is similarly damaging.
Damage Report
Here's how the damage happens: When you lead a stressful lifestyle and don't concentrate on bringing pleasure into your life on a regular basis, your body makes stress hormones that restrict blood flow and your nitric oxide levels plummet. As a result, so do your levels of the neurotransmitter beta-endorphin (that's the one that's like morphine). You're likely to feel sad, depressed, and maybe even edgy or angry. You get irritated easily. And chances are, you reach for something to make you feel better.
Often what you reach for is a quick ecstasy fix through sugary junk food, alcohol, coffee, cigarettes, or drugs. You might even tell yourself that because of how hard you're working or how much stress you're under, you deserve this little treat. And because you really do feel better momentarily after you eat the doughnut or drink the wine, you convince yourself that it really does help. But what's really happening when you indulge in overeating, smoking, drinking to get drunk, or taking drugs to get high (or even such practices as sadomasochistic sex) is that you're numbing yourself out so that you don't have to feel any of your unpleasant, or even downright painful, feelings. And the more you turn to numb those quick fixes, the more numb you become over time.
That kind of "help" backfires in the long run because your body gets used to your mood-altering substances of choice. And then you need more in order to achieve the same effect. It becomes a vicious cycle—not the best route to optimal health! In fact, that's how addiction and disease get started. Pursuing pleasure and allowing yourself to receive it in your day-to-day life, on the other hand, produces significantly better and more long-lasting results.
Saying Yes to Pleasure
So how do you invite joy and pleasure into your everyday life? By bathing your brain and body in a constant supply of nitric oxide! And there are many ways to do this that don't involve drugs, alcohol, or sugar. These include anything that gives you sustainable pleasure and creates vibrant health in your body. In addition to following your bliss, the list includes exercise, meditation, and orgasm. (At the moment of orgasm, there's a blast of life-giving nitric oxide—which also bumps up levels of all the other feel-good neurotransmitters.)
Regularly engaging in any or all of these activities keeps your nitric oxide levels high. But the trick is the word regular. It's like putting money in your retirement account: If you only make a deposit once in a while, it won't really do much for you, but if you're disciplined enough to make annual contributions, you'll be surprised and pleased by how much your money has grown! So that's the good news: Pleasure (including sex and specifically orgasm) isn't just a good time. It's part of the way your body resets its electromagnetic grid to maintain vibrant health and well-being.
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BOSTON—Road Scholar is pleased to award the Road Scholar Asa Grant Hilliard III Award for Lifelong Learning to Huberta Jackson-Lowman, Ph.D. The award provides $5,000 toward a learning adventure offered by not-for-profit Road Scholar, and honors the late Dr. Asa Grant Hilliard III, world-renowned Pan-Africanist, educator, historian, psychologist and advocate for learning through travel. Kathy Taylor, Associate Vice President at Road Scholar presented the award on behalf of Road Scholar and the Hilliard family during the National Alliance for Black School Educators (NABSE) Annual Conference recently held in New Orleans.
Dr. Jackson-Lowman is an associate professor of Clinical and Community Psychology and recent past Chair of the Department of Psychology at Florida A&M University. Prior to joining Florida A&M in 1996, Dr. Jackson-Lowman served as executive director of the Mayor's Commission on Families in Pittsburgh, Pa., focusing on the implementation of strategies for reducing the high African American infant mortality rate, and as Co-Director of the former Institute for the Black Family at the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Jackson-Lowman's research interests include using African proverbs as a socialization tool with African American children; examining the use of proverbs as a tool for value transmission among African American elders; the relationship between cultural identity, spiritual orientation, and the mental health and psychological functioning of African American women and factors impacting African American male-female relationships. She is also interested in multi-cultural clinical and community intervention methods.
Currently Dr. Jackson-Lowman serves as the Southern Regional Representative for the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) and has served in various roles within that organization. She is also a board member of the Ujamaa Collective, a women's cooperative in Pittsburgh. She is a certified diplomate and fellow in African-centered psychology. In 2008, she was awarded the Scholarship Award for her research and presentations by ABPsi.
"Education and lifelong learning are crucial to African Americans," says Dr. Jackson-Lowman. "I am thrilled to receive the Road Scholar Hilliard Award. Understanding, respect and compassion must become integral components of education and the lifelong learning processes that we establish for future generations. I look forward to raising awareness about Road Scholar and the importance of lifelong learning throughout our community."
Road Scholar awards this competitive scholarship annually to an educator with at least 10 years of experience, who is a member of NABSE; a member of Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH); is on the faculty of a Historically Black College or University; is a professor of African American studies; or is a supporter of lifelong learning. The scholarship provides an opportunity to experience a Road Scholar program anywhere in the world.
"The Road Scholar Asa Grant Hilliard III Award for Lifelong Learning honors the legacy of a true lifelong learner. Through this award, Road Scholar is delighted to recognize an educator who shares our commitment to promoting lifelong learning," says James Moses, president and CEO of Road Scholar. "We are pleased to recognize Dr. Jackson-Lowman's longstanding dedication to her field and look forward to welcoming her on a Road Scholar adventure."
The Asa Grant Hilliard III Road Scholar Award for Lifelong Learning is part of a national outreach initiative to build awareness of Road Scholar's educational adventures in the African American community and to promote the benefits of learning through travel. For more information, visit www.roadscholar.org/hilliardaward.
Road Scholar is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to inspire adults to learn, discover and travel. Our learning adventures engage expert instructors, provide extraordinary access, and stimulate discourse and friendship among people for whom learning is the journey of a lifetime. Since its inception, more than 5 million people have enrolled in its more than 7,000 iconic educational adventures offered annually in 50 states and 150 countries around the world.

subset: commoncrawl


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In the early 1980s, I got a call from Larry Norris who was conducting a Biological Assessment of the area below Terminus Dam on the Kaweah River for the US Army Corps of Engineers who were in the early stages of exploring alternatives to increase storage of Kaweah River runoff. Over the phone, Larry was trying to obtain permission to access a flat area of about 300 acres in Section 26 that, according to the maps he was given, belonged to the USACE where he had found a large population of Kaweah Brodiaea, a species that had been presumed extinct since the 1920s. We agreed to meet and go to the site together.
In the late 1950s, my father and grandfather were embroiled in a condemnation action with the Feds over the initial construction of Terminus Dam in which they prevailed, requiring the USACE to revest some of the condemned property back to the family. Larry Norris had been given one of the old maps for his survey. As was typical of Corps projects in those days, the take was more than needed for the clay core of the dam.
Since Norris' discovery, the Kaweah Brodiaea has been found elsewhere in the Kaweah River watershed, especially in the Three Rivers area, where it halted or slowed both private and public development and construction, even home remodeling. Though most people could not identify the wildflower, or distinguish it from the plentiful Harvest Brodiaea, Brodiaea Elegans, it was an unpopular species in the Kaweah River watershed nonetheless.
It was early summer when Larry and I went to the site and the Brodiaea had already gone to seed, which he identified for me, scratching through the dead debris of fillaree and foxtails, the details of an exercise I can no longer remember. But to have a large population of a rare and endangered plant listed by the California Native Plant Society and the State of California on the ranch, I thought it important to be able to identify it, but it wasn't until the first of May in 2011 that I actually found and photographed it, aided by the memory of where Larry Norris had found its seeds. Though the Jepson manual cites livestock grazing as a threat to the Kaweah Brodiaea, its seeds survived the Drought of 1977 when Section 26 was grazed down to the dirt.
Part of the difficulty of finding the Kaweah Brodiaea is that it blooms prior to the Elegans or common Harvest Brodiaea and that its blooming period is much shorter, depending on temperatures in the first week in May. In 2011, the bloom period for the Insignis was ten days, where as the Elegans can last over a month, quite showy over dry grasses. Secondly, its on a much shorter stem and oftentimes difficult to find or see among all the other grasses.
I have included photographs below to help distinguish the Insignis from the Elegans. Noticeable differences are the flat petals and convex stamen of the Insignis.
May 11, 2012 post: I'm attempting to document my unsubstantiated thesis that the bloom period for the Kaweah Brodiaea is extremely short, making it pretty tough to find and identify. Additionally, I've found it blooming in the canopy of other grasses. I could only find the wildflower in one place this morning, the number in bloom substantially decreased, no evidence at all in the other three locations I've been visiting. Temperatures have been in the mid-90s. I suspect in a day or two, their bloom will be over. Meanwhile the Harvest Brodiaea is popping up everywhere.
May 12, 2012: Near the end of bloom
May 13, 2012 Few and far between, there are some Insignis left still blooming.
May 21, 2012
Note: My current hypothesis regarding the bloom period for Brodiaea Insignis is not only that the bloom period for the species is short, 10 days or so, but also that each individual flower blooms only for a day or so, as opposed to the bloom of the Elegans that may last weeks. I am not a botanist, but few people have ready access to such a large tract of Kaweah Brodiaea. My plan is to journal my observations with photographs next year, flagging individuals to prove, or disprove, my theory. I might even learn a little botany in the process, if not before.


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AT&T is remaking its infrastructure as a "user-defined network cloud" in the pursuit of greater flexibility, lower costs and faster response to user needs, the carrier's infrastructure chief said.
"We're doing with the [wide-area network] what the world has done with the data center," said John Donovan, senior executive vice president of technology and network operations, in a keynote address at the Open Networking Summit in Santa Clara, California. AT&T wants to be able to quickly develop new services and applications and adapt to changing network demands with the kind of agility that cloud service providers have today.
In a forceful statement of direction, Donovan gave more details about AT&T's move to open up its network to new ideas and small vendors, which the company sees as critical to remain relevant in the future. Traditional carrier networks aren't adaptable, are hard to scale up and aren't as cost effective as they could be, Donovan said.
"A time like this requires an urgent call to action," he said.
His message played well at the conference, a major annual event for researchers and vendors pursuing SDN (software-defined networking), which shifts the control of networks from hardware to various layers of software. AT&T and other service providers have moved more quickly than enterprises to adopt SDN, partly because their networks are the tools of their business.
AT&T kicked off the migration with its Domain 2.0 initiative late last year, sending out a Request for Information to ask vendors how they would support SDN and NFV (network functions virtualization). That process produced four names, which conspicuously didn't include networking colossus Cisco Systems. Instead, the initial group consisted of Ericsson, Metaswitch Networks, Tail-F Systems, and startup Affirmed Networks.
The carrier is going to continue seeking out new vendors and other partners, including university researchers, for input on how to build and run this new type of network, Donovan said. He called it an "open process" and a "radical" departure from the way things were done in the past. "It's not just a closed room with a handful of networking companies making decisions," he said.
It will also be a new day for development within the company, shifting from a slow, deliberate telecommunications model to a so-called "devops" approach, where the developers of new tools work closely with operations professionals.
Still, a service provider the size of AT&T can't exactly turn on a dime. The network evolution will happen in a series of steps, Donovan said. This year, the carrier will embark on "beachhead" projects to test the new architecture and extend the useful life of current systems. To do that, it will put new software controllers on existing platforms. Next year it will start deploying completely new systems based on the new Domain 2.0 architecture, he said.
The company has its work cut out for it, particularly in its OSS (operational support system), the collection of software used to control and manage its network, Donovan said. AT&T has identified more than 1,000 OSS applications to retire, he said. As they go away, APIs (application programming interfaces) will open up the network to more third parties.
The migration will begin with core functions such as policy and authentication and in later years move to the edge of the network, including its wireless infrastructure.
With Domain 2.0, the carrier aims to cut by two-thirds the time it takes to qualify new technologies for use in its network, Donovan said. With an average approval time of 18 months, that could become six months. AT&T isn't funding startups, but it has met with more than 1,200 young companies in its pursuit of new capabilities, Donovan said.
The changes in AT&T's network are also changing the carrier's internal culture and job roles, but the company aims to keep its existing workforce in place. "The objective here is to leave no person behind who wants to make this journey," Donovan said. In his address, he said twice that AT&T is recruiting people with relevant expertise.
One thing the new architecture probably won't affect is network neutrality, because the scheduling functions that determine quality of service already exist and will only be automated under Domain 2.0, Donovan said.
Stephen Lawson covers mobile, storage and networking technologies for The IDG News Service. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @sdlawsonmedia. Stephen's e-mail address is email@example.com


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By far, the best fortune I ever got out of a fortune cookie was: "Don't worry about it, we all have flaws." Reassuring!
These days, I mostly get aphorisms that aren't fortunes at all. As a nation, our fortune cookie writers are experiencing a severe decline.
But these porcelain fortune cookies contain fortunes written by ACTUAL PSYCHICS, as opposed to those generated by the Acme Corp. Prognosto-5000 Automatic Fortune Generating Machine and Cappuccino Maker. I want to have a big bowl of them on the table during my next dinner party (by which I mean "my first dinner party," because I never throw dinner parties). I wonder if all the fortunes are upbeat, or if someone will end up with something realistic, like "The canker sore on your bottom lip will negatively impact the blind date you finally agreed to after your sister nagged you for years about her co-worker's brother," or "Sorry your cat died. Maybe you should get home now."


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Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Phil Lesh
This is listed in Robert Hunter's book "Box Of Rain" as one of his new songs for the Grateful Dead, with music by Phil Lesh. But it was never played live by the Dead, nor - so far as I know - recorded by them.
Blair Jackson asked Phil Lesh about it in an interview published in the Spring 1994 edition of "Dupree's Diamond News". Phil said "That one's not going to come out at all. I wasn't satisfied with how that was going musically."
Walk right through the door
Don't bother to knock or ring
The ghost of a chill breeze stirring
It was a day in May
close to the first of June
Red was strolling along Broadway
humming Blue Moon out of tune
He was late for a date
Didn't faze him too much
Liked to serve up his nerve on a plate
Prove he hadn't lost his touch
It was a stark affair
Twist of fate by proxy
Backstage on the stairs
between sets at the Roxy
Red was feeling no pain
Right on top of the world
Around his neck hung a solid gold chain
on his arm clung a peach of a girl
A lower East Side pearl
name of Anna May Lark
tall and thin with a cleft in her chin
known to be an easy mark
for a drink and a gin
There was a flurry of words
Words that should never be said
A scuffle of knives ocurred
An offending man fell dead
When the cops finally came
they laid the matter to rest
The stiff was dressed in a skin-tight suit
red and yellow checkered vest
Blue patent leather shoes
What's there to say?
No man of taste at best
One more pimp at the worst
A bubble waiting to be burst
When the sun rose next morning
Red was lying in bed
Tossing and turning in terrible dreams
visions of the man lying dead
over what should not be said
Red was awakened by a telephone call
ringin' like a drill in his head
He yanked the cord right out of the wall
I won't repeat the words he said
Turned on the faucet and the shower ran blood
Gonna be another one of those days
Tipped the percolator, poured a full cup of mud
toast popped up ablaze - nothing behaves
Attempt to kill the day ...
Red split his tenament room
Stopped to buy a bouquet -
baby's breath, one rose in bloom
Head over to Annie May's
Lower East Side twenty-nine
Coulda took the El but what the hell
the weather was cool and fine -
A way to kill the time
One foot in front of the other
Shiny blue patent leather
Checkered vest if you please
Skin-tight suit, no bag to the knees
Show tonight at the Roxy
You bet she'd love to attend
Hang on his arm looking cool and foxy
Make good a little dare on a boast -
Disappear like a ghost
Walk right through her door
Don't bother to knock or ring
a chill breze on her cheek - but not a thing was seen


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Mary J. Blige Graces 'American Idol' Stage With 'Why'
This week's 'American Idol' mentor Mary J. Blige took to the stage tonight to perform her hit 'Why.' All class, dressed in a pants suit and some chunky jewelry, the living legend totally killed it. But were the judges into it?
The Queen of hip-hop soul was backed by a choir, gospel style, making everyone feel like they were in the Church of Mary. Mary proved that she's still got it, even if her song was a bit shortened due to the fact that Rick Ross wasn't around to perform his verse. The crowd obviously wasn't missing him, as they went nuts following the performance.
Unlike the positive reactions from the crowd, the judges actually seemed a little lukewarm on the whole thing. They seemed to only stand reluctantly, as opposed to the massive support they gave to Lauren Alaina. Is it just because they feel like she's had her time in the spotlight?
For us at PopCrush, this performance will probably stand as one of our favorites from this season of 'American Idol.' It seems that Mary can do no wrong.
Watch Mary J. Blige Perform 'Why' on 'American Idol'


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Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman Get Back Together
Following their shocking separation in October, longtime Hollywood couple Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman are back together, People reports.
Celebrity couples: Can you believe they dated?!
DeVito, 68 and Perlman, 64, have been quietly working on their relationship in recent months and have called off their separation. "They love each other," a friend of the couple told the magazine. "Always have and always will."
The couple, who first started dating in 1971, married in 1982 and have two daughters, Lucy and Grace, and one son, Jacob, together. Over the years, the actors played a couple on the TV show Taxi, and also co-starred in the 1996 film adaptation of Roald Dahl's Matilda.
View original Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman Get Back Together at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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Feature Interview - Wayne Houchin:
Wayne Houchin tells Kozmo that hanging upside down in a straightjacket can really change your perception on life!
Jon Armstrong - Sessions, Las Vegas Pt. 2
Watch Terry Ward "kill" Jon Armstrong and the rest of the sessions group with his version of an old trick.
Silly Billy - Reel Comedy segment premier!
RMZ, surprising magicians at Magic Live!
Simon Lovell - Ask Simey!
Simon answers your questions, this issue - Simon tells the worst/best Christmas story EVER!
David Roth - ROTH!
the pocket handkerchief vanish - perfect for a party!
David Regal - Tricks of the Trade
In this bi-polar segment, sometimes he EXPOSES SECRETS! and sometimes he just let's you suffer.
Wayne Kawamoto - Choice Cuts
Reviews David Solomon's card solutions as well as Handle with Care by John Carey.
Shawn Farquhar "S.T.E.P. 2" a Reel Magic exclusivefrom Shawn Farquhar's S.T.E.P. project!
David Solomon from The Card Solutions of David Solomon published by Big Blind Media
John Carey "BTB" from "Handle with Carey" published by RSVP Magic
Derek Ostovani "Cant Change"
Donald Carlson "Facedown TopShot"
Herb Scher "Cris-cross-double-coin-roll"
Including the .pdf file, Magicseen, a european publication.
Running Time Approximately: 1hr 46min
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June 27, 2001 -- It has happened to all of us. We remember something out of our distant past so vividly that it seems like it happened yesterday. Then we learn that it never happened at all.
Our memories can be very selective, and it turns out, very creative.
"Memory is not like a tape recorder," says Jacquie Pickrell, a doctoral candidate in psychology at the University of Washington, who has come up with evidence that it may be possible for outsiders to "implant" memories of phony events in our brains. Her research suggests it doesn't take much, maybe just the right advertisement.
Working with psychology professor Elizabeth Loftus, Pickrell came up with an experiment that would seem to prove her point. The researchers turned to the world of advertising for the project because it is so pervasive. It's something we all experience, over and over again, every day of our lives.
Bugs Bunny Invades Disneyland
Pickrell and Loftus lined up a group of 120 persons and told them they were going to participate in an advertising evaluation program, one of those group meetings where you're supposed to sit around and tell what works and why.
All of the participants had visited either Disneyland or Disney World. (The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of ABCNEWS.)
"The subjects thought we were working for Disney," Pickrell says, but they weren't. They just wanted to find out if they could toy with someone else's memories.
The participants were divided into four groups, and asked to read a printed ad for Disneyland.
The first group read an ad about the theme park that made no mention of cartoon characters.
The second group read the same ad, but a 4-foot-tall cardboard cutout of Bugs Bunny was placed in the room.
The third group, which the researchers refer to as the "Bugs Group," read a fake Disneyland ad featuring Bugs Bunny.
The fourth group got a double whammy: both the Bugs ad and the cardboard cutout.
After reading through the ad, which featured a picture of Bugs just outside the Magic Kingdom, the participants were asked whether they had met Bugs while on a visit to the theme park, and whether they had shaken his hand.
About one-third of the participants who had read the phony ad featuring Bugs said they either remembered, or at least knew, they had indeed met Bugs at Disneyland and shaken his hand. Or foot, as the case may be.
But here's the rub. Bugs Bunny wouldn't be caught dead at Disneyland. He belongs to Warner Brothers.
Measuring Memory's Vulnerability
By contrast, only eight percent of the first group, and four percent of the second, thought they had met the Wascally Wabbit at Disneyland. The difference, the researchers say, was in the ads. The mere suggestion of Bugs invading the land of Mickey was enough to convince a surprisingly high percentage of the participants that they had met him there.
The specific tally for those with memory implants was 30 percent for the third group and 40 percent for the fourth.
"Thirty or 40 percent is a very significant number," Pickrell says.
"The frightening thing about this study is that it suggests how easily a false memory can be created," she adds. "Memory is very vulnerable and malleable."
Loftus says advertising people have focused for years on something called autobiographical memory. If an ad brings something out of our memory that is pleasing to us, maybe we'll be more likely to take the bait.
That's one of the reasons for those black and white commercials that have been dredged up from the past, Loftus says. Just maybe they will conjure up fond memories. And if the memories aren't there, maybe … .
Traumatized Minds More Vulnerable
The fact that our memories are faulty is not exactly astonishing. Those of us in the news business frequently encounter people who remember the same event in such different ways that it's hard to believe they were witnessing the same thing. That's especially true in the case of a violent crime, or a heartbreaking tragedy. Such events can traumatize us to the point that our memory becomes very selective.
But the research suggests that it doesn't take a traumatic event to twist our memory. And that will probably be troubling to many people. Especially if it can be done by someone else.
"You can truly implant a memory for an entire event that never happened," Pickrell says.
Still, as someone noted a long time ago (my memory fails me on who, but I think his first name was Abe) you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
At least 10 percent of the persons who were expected to participate in the Pickrell-Loftus study saw through the scheme as quick as a bunny. They noted that Bugs had no business in Disneyland. His heart, or at least his image, belonged elsewhere.
These folks knew they had never shaken paws with Bugs in Disneyland, so the researchers kicked them out of the study because they knew they couldn't trick them.
The disappointment is something they will remember for a long time, no doubt.
Lee Dye's column appears weekly on ABCNEWS.com. A former science writer for the Los Angeles Times, he now lives in Juneau, Alaska.


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09/02/2016 Liebherr at SMM 2016
At the international trade fair for shipbuilding, machinery and marine technology SMM 2016, the Components division of the Liebherr Group will present a selection of products in the fields of hydraulics, rope winches, large diameter bearings, gearboxes and fuel injection systems. The focus will be on the display of application-specific solutions. The Liebherr Group will also be represented from 6 to 9 September by the Maritime Cranes division, which will present its new simulation software for the CBG ship crane series.
Components for the maritime industry
On their 70 m² exhibition stand in Hall A3, Stand 411, the Components division of the Liebherr Group is showing, amongst other things, possible applications of axial piston motors and pumps in the onshore and offshore sector. The advantages of these are especially beneficial in crane applications. For the longevity that is demanded in the maritime field, hydraulic components display a very robust design and offer high performance and efficiency.
Another highlight at this year's fair is the 11.5 Common Rail fuel injection system, which is ideally suited for marine propulsion as well as for Gensets, mining and railway applications. The Common Rail injection system offers proven performance with constant power and low emissions through precise multiple injection at a pressure of up to 2,200 bar. Liebherr's injection technologies have already been certified for marine use by German Lloyd.
In addition to hydraulic components and injection systems, Liebherr is also demonstrating its portfolio of advanced large diameter bearings, which includes a segmented bearing with a diameter of more than 6,000 mm. The exhibited system solution consists of a three-row roller bearing slewing ring, a slewing drive and a hydraulic motor and demonstrates Liebherr's expertise in maritime components solutions.
Visitors this year will also be able to see components and system solutions for lifting systems. Liebherr presents a complete system with its derrick rope winch, which is particularly suitable for lifting applications in the maritime sector. It consists of the motor, gearbox, brake, rope drum, frame and controller.
New ship crane simulator LiSIM®
Beside new components, Liebherr will also present the extended LiSIM simulation software from the Maritime Cranes division in Hamburg. In Hall A1, Stand A4.304, visitors will be able to experience the application live in the form of a simulator. The software developed by Liebherr, which is now also available for the CBG four-rope grab crane series, comprises a wide range of application scenarios that covers practically any possible combination of applications of the Liebherr CBG series.


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It's been a fairly big week for Pokémon stuff so far, or at least for me it has been. The demo for Sun and Moon has been far more fun than I expected it to be, showing off some cool content and easily succeeding in its goal of getting me hyped for the game by throwing in small secrets to keep me coming back. Pokémon GO's Halloween update has gotten me back into playing quite a bit, as I've caught at least three Pokémon in the last two days that I hadn't even seen once in the months before it dropped. I'm getting close to finally completing the Generation 6 puzzle game Pokémon Picross, which I've been playing for literally way too long in my stubbornness about not paying for micro transactions to advance myself. On top of all that, probably one of the best Pokémon animations ever made in the history of anything was given to the world last Friday.
Then, this trailer dropped. My god is it a special one, to say the least.
Not only does it officially reveal the final evolutions of the Alolan starter Pokémon (with some plot twists here and there), it also shows off some new Pokémon and a brand new gameplay aspect adding to what already looks like an extensive postgame. Having a week off from my work on the Daily Titan, I have a little bit of extra time to dedicate to this trailer, but I've made myself so busy with other stuff that I'm still a bit late. So, let's jump into it shall we?
Continue reading "New Sun and Moon information: Final starter evolutions and endgame content"


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Viking River Cruise, Heidelberg Germany
A highlight of the Viking "Cities of Light" river cruise was a visit to Germany's oldest university town, Heidelberg, situated in the Neckar Valley just east of the Rhine. Known as the cradle of the German Romantic art movement, it also is home to the imposing Heidelberg Castle, which dates back to the 13th Century. The castle is a perfect spot from which to view the magnificent city of Heidelberg below. Legend has it that Heidelberg's cityscape is so beautiful and so admired as a world heritage site that American forces deliberately chose to avoid bombing it during World War II.Read More
For more information: VIKING RIVER CRUISES
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Heidelberg Germany, Panorama


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Cycle the Well Field
May 16, 2014
On May 31, grab your bike, friends, and family, and head out for a free, guided riding tour of the Columbia South Shore Well Field!
Join staff from the Portland Water Bureau and the Columbia Slough Watershed Council for a slow-to-moderately paced 16 mile ride. On the tour, you'll coast through the beautiful, flat terrain and learn all about the safety, hydrology, and history of Portland's underground drinking water system.
The Columbia South Shore Well Field is used as backup for the Bull Run Reservoirs, and can produce nearly 100 million gallons of water per day. During the summer months, when the demand for water is higher, the well field provides an additional source for our community's water needs.
Thanks to this great groundwater source, the incredible Bull Run can be maintained as an unfiltered water system – providing Portland with some of the best drinking water in the country.
Check out PWB's website to learn more about the Columbia South Shore Well Field.
Along with your bike, don't forget to bring your helmet, a water bottle, and lunch. Hope for sun, but just in case check the weather and dress accordingly!
The ride is suitable for beginners to advanced cyclist, but recommended for riders ages 12 and up.
To register for the tour, visit the Columbia Slough Watershed Council's website.
Saturday, May 31
8:45 am – 1:30 pm
Aloft Portland Airport at Cascade Station
9920 NE Cascades Pkwy
Photo courtesy of the Columbia Slough Watershed Council


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Daniel Cormier and Dan Henderson aren't that much different.
Both are ranked among the top light heavyweights in the UFC. They are two-time Olympic wrestlers. They are aggressive, in your face, pushing the pace.
And they love a good challenge.
No wonder their co-main event bout at UFC 173 — on Saturday at MGM Grand in Las Vegas — figures to be the night's most-anticipated fight, right up there with the headliner of bantamweight champion Renan Barao vs. T.J. Dillashaw.
The Cormier-Henderson winner puts himself in line for a potential shot at 205-pound champion Jon Jones.
"The older I get, the bigger the challenge is. And these guys are getting tougher, younger and tougher," said the 43-year-old Henderson (30-11), regarded as one of the legends of MMA. "It's fun and motivating at the same time. The bigger the challenge, I love it. And this is definitely gonna be one of the biggest challenges I've had."
Meanwhile, Cormier, 35, will look across the cage Saturday and stare at an opponent who is a peer in every sense of the word.
"There aren't many circumstances where I go into the Octagon and I'm against a guy that's accomplished things at the level that I've accomplished things," Cormier (14-0) said. "Meaning, went to the Olympic Games, has competed at a higher level than I have in MMA. I don't really get that.
"So for the competitor in me, it's like, I love it. For me, I love it. This is what I'm here for."
Cormier, who fights out of San Jose, also knows he's in against an opponent with one of the most powerful punches in the division. Not only has he never lost a fight or a round, Cormier has never been leveled by a punch — though he does credit Josh Barnett for wobbling him with a knee that cut his eye in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix two years ago.
But he can only imagine what Henderson's lethal right hand — which produced a highlight knockout of Michael Bisping in 2009 and put a serious dent in Mauricio Rua's nose in March — must feel like.
"Just numbing. I bet he's one of those guy that hits you and everything kind of goes, 'Brr-rrr-rrr-rrr,' " Cormier said. "He seems like he's the type of guy that hits you and everything's like putting your head in a bell and hitting it on the side."
Henderson acknowledges he does have the edge in power, but it's not just about catching Cormier with his "H-bomb."
It's being in the position to do it.
"The challenge is … setting it up and making sure your fist gets in the right spot. I know I'm capable of doing it," the Temecula resident said. "But he moves well. He's fast, he's quick and that's probably why he hasn't been tested."
What also sets them apart is their wrestling background. Henderson was on the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling teams. Cormier made his name as a freestyle wrestler on the 2004 and 2008 Olympic teams.
"I think he uses his wrestling a little more than I do, just I guess a different way," Henderson said. "He gets in there, picks guys up and throws them on their head. I try to take them down the old-man way, trip them a little bit."
With Henderson's storied legacy in MMA as a former PRIDE middleweight and welterweight champion and Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, there is no lack of footage for Cormier to scour.
And through his work as an analyst for the UFC, Cormier has been behind the desk for Henderson's past four fights. The objectivity with how he approached studying Henderson has proved to be an asset.
"So now if I go back to watch the same fights, I'll try to find holes in his game. But before, I just go look at my notes and I realize I was watching it as an analyst," he said. "Now I take those notes and pay attention to those notes. Because then I had nothing to gain. I wasn't trying to find every bad thing that he does."


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From cyber-terrorism to over-the-shoulder browsing, there are now more ways than ever that your organisation's data can be harvested and compromised. Read on to find out how the experts are taking advantage of lax online security – and what you can do about it.
Cyber security should be your Number One priority.
As we become more and more dependent on technology, the risks associated with that technology become higher, and the potential for human error and deliberate acts of cyber violence increase. New opportunities are opening up for scammers, with mobile data, cloud computing and more being targeted regularly.
The stats make worrying reading
Statistics show that small businesses are at more risk of being hacked than ever before.
Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) advises that at least 20% of small businesses in Australia have been affected by cybercrime – in the past year!
The Cyber Security Review, led by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, found that cybercrime is costing the Australian economy up to $1 billion annually in direct costs alone.
Hacking is a huge, global business.
It is not just disgruntled ex-staff and criminal opportunists who are targeting businesses with malicious programs and code. Cybercrime rings are operating all over the world, often at the behest of business conglomerates and even governments. And no one's data is off limits.
Casual data theft is alarmingly easy.
How often do you get up to make a coffee or chat with a colleague and leave your desktop open? Or go through some spread sheets on the train home? Who else is browsing your data – either physically looking at it over your shoulder, or hacking into your unguarded laptop? They might not be targeting you specifically, but any data's good data – so don't let them have yours.
ThinkShield by Lenovo can save you stress, time and money.
ThinkShield is Lenovo's portfolio of secure hardware, software and services. It offers comprehensive and customisable end-to-end protection that secures your business, without slowing down your people.
Fingerprint ID, webcam shutters and a whole raft of innovative features give you the peace of mind of knowing that, wherever they're working, your people and valuable data are in the safest hands.


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Higher Education is sold out. We recommend the book box wakeboard instructional set as a better replacement for this DVD. Higher Education is no longer available from our distributor.
From the makers of Class In Session, Bump Films brings you the newest DVD to help you improve your wakeboarding way!
Higher Education teaches you every aspect of wakeboarding. The best pro riders and instructors in the sport give you the skills you need to be up and ripping in no time.
Instructors break down each trick for you and you get to see slow motion footage of top pros from different angles performing the tricks. This DVD takes you step by step through the series and with this extended DVD you get both Volumes 1 & 2.


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Patricia Nadeau
US Geological Survey
- Email:
- email@example.com
- Phone:
- 212-769-5314
- Michigan Technological University, Ph.D., 2011
- Simon Fraser University, M.Sc., 2006
- McGill University, B.Sc. Hons., 2004
Research Interests
Dr. Nadeau specializes in volcanology and focuses on studying the roles of degassing and outgassing in various types of volcanic activity. In her graduate research, she helped to develop an ultraviolet camera for measuring high-temporal resolution measurements of volcanic sulfur dioxide. By combining such ground-based remote sensing of volcanic gas with other geophysical datasets--like seismicity, infrasound, and deformation--she was able to develop models of shallow conduit processes at Fuego (Guatemala) and Kilauea (Hawaii) volcanoes. At the American Museum of Natural History, Dr. Nadeau will investigate the petrology and volatile contents of eruptive products in tandem with remotely sensed gas and geophysical data in order to better understand eruptive phenomena at both explosive and effusive volcanoes.
Nadeau, P.A., Palma, J.L., and Waite, G.P., 2011. "Linking volcanic tremor, degassing, and eruption dynamics via SO2 imaging." Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L01304, doi:10.1029/2010GL045592.
Dalton, M. P., Waite, G.P., Watson, I.M., and Nadeau, P.A., 2010. "Multiparameter quantification of gas release during weak Strombolian eruptions at Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala." Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L09303, doi:10.1029/2010GL042617.
Dalton, M.P., Watson, I.M., Nadeau, P.A., Werner, C., Morrow, W., and Shannon, J.M., 2009. "Assessment of the UV camera sulfur dioxide retrieval for point source plumes," J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., 188:358-366, 10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2009.09.013.
Nadeau, P.A., and G. Williams-Jones, 2009. "Apparent downwind depletion of volcanic SO2: Lessons from Masaya Volcano, Nicaragua." Bull. Volcanol. 71(4), 389–400, doi:10.1007/s00445-008-0251-9.
Nadeau, P.A. and Williams-Jones, G., 2008. "Beyond COSPEC: Recent advances in SO2 monitoring technology." In: Stix, J., Williams-Jones, G., and Hickson, C. (Editors), The COSPEC Cookbook: Making SO2 Gas Measurements at Active Volcanoes, Proceedings of Volcanology, IAVCEI.
Williams-Jones, G., Stix, J., and Nadeau, P.A., 2008. "Using the COSPEC in the field." In: Stix, J., Williams-Jones, G., and Hickson, C. (Editors), The COSPEC Cookbook: Making SO2 Gas Measurements at Active Volcanoes, Proceedings of Volcanology, IAVCEI.
Teaching Experience
Volcanology (lab section), Simon Fraser University, 2006
Introduction to Mineralogy (lab section), Simon Fraser University, 2004-2005
Physical Geology (lab section), Simon Fraser University, 2004
Exhibition and Outreach Activities
Workshop Organizer/Instructor, Michigan Technological University (Workshops in Costa Rica, 2007 and 2011)
Guest Lecturer, Michigan Technological University, for "Fundamentals of Remote Sensing" and "Topics in Volcanology" classes (2009 – 2010)
Peer Mentor, Michigan Technological University (Instructed undergraduate, visiting summer, and other graduate students in the use of the UV camera at volcanoes, 2008 – 2010)


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A link led me to his website and I was very impressed by his portraiture and even his wedding images. (A confession: I don't generally like wedding photography). His lighting is very, very modern and most of the time you can barely tell from the images he presents that he's lit them at all. It's almost as if his models just happen to stumble into spontaneously beautiful light just as he's ready to click the shutter on his camera. I was so impressed that I got in touch with him and asked him to contribute photographs and a bit of writing about his use of LED lights for my book, which he graciously did.
His first book for our mutual publisher was On Camera Flash Techniques. It quickly became a bestseller because he writes well and shoots even better. He followed it up a year later with a book called, Off Camera Flash Techniques which was as good as his first. I recommend both of those books if you are looking for lots of tips and techniques for using small flashes to create portraits and to cover events and wedding. Especially if you are interested in doing those things in a thoroughly modern idiom.
I am interested in this book, Direction and Quality of Light, because I feel that Neil is working to re-invent our concepts of good portraiture and he's pushing away from the time weathered "rules and conventions" that main street studios and legions of mid-brow photographers have been repeating and recycling for decades.
He uses bright, fresh and very lovely models. He also uses a variety of lighting. His camera gear is state of the art but the real state of the art is his approach to lighting portraits. This is a book I wish I had done. It's that good. It is currently the #1 ranked book on lighting at Amazon.com...enjoy.
Please use this link to order a copy from Amazon.com and help support my writing habit...


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As we predicted earlier today, Apple released the 8.1 update to iTunes tonight. Though Apple clued us in on a few of the new features of iTunes 8.1 earlier today, the release notes that come with Software Update added a few more.
Aside from speed improvements when importing large libraries, an updated Genius sidebar that does movie and TV recommendations, and improved parental controls, iTunes 8.1 also supports syncing with the just-released third-gen iPod shuffle. But that's not really new and exciting. Among other things, the new version "allows friends to request songs for iTunes DJ" (eh?),�improves performance when downloading iTunes Plus songs, and "includes many accessibility improvements."
The question remains: what exactly is iTunes DJ? From the iTunes feature page:
The iTunes DJ feature automatically picks songs from your entire library or from a specific playlist to create a continuous mix of music. Review upcoming songs to reorder or remove on the fly, or add songs to the playlist at any time.
So there you go, have fun DJ'ing.�
To go along with the release of iTunes 8.1, Apple also pushed out Front Row Update 2.1.7. The Software Update description says that the update merely brings iTunes 8.1 compatibility to Front Row, so there's likely not much new there. If you're jonesin' to test out these alleged performance improvements, get to downloading already and let us know if you find any other gems.


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The government last week revealed new details about the iPhone that is at the center of an increasingly bitter dispute between federal authorities and Apple.
In an affidavit submitted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) last week, an agent spelled out the steps his team took to access the content on the iPhone 5C used by Syed Rizwan Farook, who with his wife, Tafsheen Malik, killed 14 in San Bernardino, Calif. on Dec. 2, 2015. The two died in a shootout with police later that day.
The government has labeled the attack an act of terrorism, and has acquired a court order requiring Apple to help the FBI break the iPhone's passcode so that investigators can pull data from the device. Apple has contested the order.
The FBI's Christopher Pluhar, a supervisory special agent, said that Farook had changed his iCloud password several weeks before the attack, and with the device locked with a four-digit passcode, the FBI's forensics team was unable to get into the iPhone to extract its contents.
The mention of a four-digit passcode was important: If the FBI could circumvent the device's security safeguards, it would be able to "brute force" such a passcode in just hours.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has demanded -- and a federal court has granted the request -- that Apple craft a special version of iOS that would disable the safeguards, then plant the code on Farook's iPhone. Apple has been asked to switch off the auto-destruct feature that wipes the phone after 10 incorrect passcode entries, remove the lengthening delays between each guess, and make it possible for the FBI to electronically bombard the iPhone with passcodes instead of having to manually enter them on the lock screen.
Pluhar added to the government's contention that it did not screw up by changing the password for Farook's employer-controlled iCloud account in an attempt to force the device to back up after the FBI found it in a vehicle used by Farook. By restoring the iCloud backup to other similar iPhones, the FBI acquired the contents of the last backup, which was dated Oct. 19, 2015.
But Farook had changed the iCloud password on Oct. 22 -- perhaps from the one assigned him by his employer, the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, and the putative owner of the iCloud account -- just days after the last backup was successfully saved to Apple's servers. At the same time, he disabled the auto-backup feature of iOS 9, the DOJ claimed.
However, Pluhar had not said that, had, in fact, said nothing of auto-backup being switched off in his sworn statement.
According to the DOJ's brief, Apple's contention that if authorities had simply let the device reconnect to a known Wi-Fi network -- Farook's home network, for example -- and waited for a backup to initiate, was moot. The government cited the changed iCloud password, the disabling of auto-backup, and the fact that the phone was found powered off as reasons.
"A forced backup of Farook's iPhone was never going to be successful," the government claimed in its brief last week which rebutted Apple's objections to the court order.
The San Bernardino County Department of Public Health may not have had the iCloud password for the account Farook used, but it did have the ability to reset the password; it was that password reset that the FBI leveraged to access the Oct. 19 backup to iCloud.
But significant parts of the content on Farook's iPhone were not backed up to iCloud, said Pluhar. "Each of the restored exemplars [the target iPhones which were loaded with the Oct. 19 backup] includes restored settings, and those settings showed that, for example, iCloud back-ups for 'Mail,' 'Photos,' and 'Notes' were all turned off on the Subject Device," Pluhar said.
The FBI agent also contended that some data was available only on the iPhone, including the keyboard cache, a record of the recent keystrokes. "The keyboard cache, as one example, contains a list of recent keystrokes typed by the user on the touchscreen. From my training and my own experience, I know that data found in such areas can be critical to investigations," Pluhar swore.
Interestingly, Farook's iPhone had the remote-wipe feature of the "Find My iPhone" service disabled. "The remote-wipe function was not activated for the Subject Device," he said.
Remote-wipe is different than the auto-wipe the government has cited in its arguments that only Apple can get into Farook's phone. The former may be used by iPhone owners to delete all content on a device that has been lost or stolen, through the Find My iPhone location service, which is part of iCloud. The latter is connected to the device via its passcode, and when enabled, erases all content if 10 incorrect passcode guesses are tried.
The government has implied it does not know whether the auto-wipe function was switched on by Farook. When a user engages iOS's passcode, auto-wipe is off by default.
Pluhar's affidavit was just the latest in a long series of DOJ filings that have urged the court to compel Apple to assist the FBI, all which have argued that only with the Cupertino, Calif. company's help can investigators retrieve the iPhone's data.
A hearing before a federal magistrate on Apple's objections will be held March 22.


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Please Be Sure To
well today is the last hit with Chemo in theory!
We arrived on time but unsure whether to go straight to 'Bloods' or to CDU (Chemo Day Unit) – we opted for CDU and as we walked in Louise was by the door with a cheery greeting and Carmen came over with a big hug and how is it going 😉
I asked if they wanted me to go to bloods but they did it on the unit for me and sent them off as they thought it would be quicker.
Meanwhile rather than hang around Lee and I went off to RadioTherapy booking to see if we could get a better appointment – 09:50hrs. on a Friday Morning seemed a bit like victimisation from Chepstow!!!
No problem atall and we are now booked for 11:50hrs. which seems a whole lot more civilised!
The secretary was great and gave us a couple of very good leaflets in an attempt to explain RadioTherapy and the procedures – I gather I get a tattoo for them to spot focus on! I thought a bat would be better than a butterfly but apparently all I get is a dot!
I must admit tattoos have always mystified me and why would ANYONE think they are a lavatory wall and cover themselves with graffiti? Almost as foolish as filling yourself with nuts, bolts and rings with piercings which virtually without exception look revolting.
Well back to the CDU dropping off a box of chcolates at 'Phlebottomy' and then via the information unit with all its leaflets and computers for patients to use – to CDU where a box of chocolates was most welcome!
A few minutes later and having chatted with a couple of anxious looking newcomers it was off to my chair and plug up for this weeks dose ofChemo. The cannella seems easier each time and then a quick flush with saline to clear the vein and ensure it is OK, whilst The Gemcitabine is set up on the stand for delivery.
It is tedious waiting for this dose of toxin to be pumped into you – well aware that MAYBE it will make you better but for sure it will make you feel ropey! However the atmosphere on the unit seems to take a lift when Lee and I arrive with all these angst ridden folk looking concerned by the end of the session we seem to have them all telling jokes and chatting together comparing notes!
I must say I find it so much easier to cope with having some black humour and banter – Otherwise it can be rather unrelenting gloom, as lets face it none of us are exactly well!
On completion, with no drugs to collect we have been berrated by all the staff to drop in whenever we are back for RadioTherapy or clinics – and we will because these cheery folk have made what could have been a daunting and scarey ride more of a party!
If YOU want to follow my fight against Cancer from when it started and I first presented with symptoms see The TAB just below the Header of this Blog. called >DIARY of Cancer< just click and it will give you a long list of the main events in chronological order.
Thoughts and comments will be in chronological order in the main blog and can be tracked in the >ARCHIVE< in the Right Sidebar. You may find the TABS >MEDICAL LINKS< and also >CANCER LINKS< of help.
YOU are welcome to call me if you believe I can help in ANY way.


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[Big Punisher]
Aiyyo it's funny dunn
The two nicest niggas unite as one
Collide the sun wit the moon, BOOM!!
I leave you brighted from
My full of clips, hawk the world into hell when a bullet spit
Crucifix myself to the sun, now who you wit?
Enter my world of doom, consume fear and feel the panic
I ram a lightning bolt between the earth and moon
And curl the planets
I'm ?palanatic? wit lyrics spannin for galaxies
Battle me, mathematically, I'm givin your wisdom a cavity
Rapidly flowin, controllin the time
Flip over the line, I'm blowin your mind wit just a flow and a rhyme
I'm Hogan in his prime, strong and fast
You can bomb and blast, c'mon, you'll still be on your ass
It's satisfaction guaranteed
Wit Fiction like Quentin Tarantin'
Kickin your baddest dreams, shit you haven't seen
I have to be perfectly honest
You should have an anniversary to acknowledge the way I work the ebonics
I verbally vomit on how much niggas try to get us
With garbage lyrics, my style delivers it as the Outer Limits
I'm like the pyramids cuz every point is precise
Now you know me for life
Six Pun, Cuban flooded wit ice
Chorus [Big Punisher] (Milano)
If I ain't home wit my fam (Where you at?)
Stash crib, cuttin grams (Where you at?)
Hung wit my niggas and we're rollin and controllin, hold that!
If I ain't deep in some ass (Where you at?)
I'm in the jeep wit the stash (Where you at?)
Hung wit my niggas and we're rollin and controllin, baby!
Yo I camel-clutch mics, a truce gahzuntite
Guess I'm allergic when shit ain't done right
You spread disease while the vaccine is what I write
Couldn't avoid this, sit tight
All aboard ship, on my voy-age
Purple Explorers, seven warriors my aura
You tied a ? and boredom, Milan bring more than offer
High exalted, boned a Lazarus scultptor
You penny-weight style
While my piece alone around three pounds
I had to serve nerds, and throw it down, stuck for a reason
Laid up a whole season, pen and pad style
Honeymooners like Jack Gleason
Blessin the whole reason
Until my niggas max out, hold the axe out
Whoever front, saw the procedure
All you thugs now wit misdemeanors
I seen ya'll in clubs, poppin Zima
Fake minks wit ninety percent of it beaver
Thought you was killin em?
I played the back wit two dime Brazilians
Cogniac and ice buckets, puttin a slight chill to them
Rock platinum like I sold a million
Trapped on my island like Gilligan
Really, Manhattan niggas here, you gotta feel em
It ain't hard, sent to Parkwest Hall
Straight up the Malcom Boulevard
Wit no bars, I write scriptures
Me on beats is a fatal attraction when I give you the business
Caught a dough virus for spittin sick shit
Got niggas like "Who is this?"
On this '99 classical edition


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Missing the cheesy, wise-cracking antihero action flicks of the 90s? Well, have we got a movie for you. Watch Guy Pearce channel his best Bruce Willis in this trailer for MS One: Maximum Security. When a maximum security SPACE PRISON riots, the only righteous person left is the wise-cracking cop with great arms and a problem with authority. Oh cheesy science fiction action movies, where have you been the last few years?
Originally titled Lockout, the film has now been renamed in this European trailer as MS One: Maximum Security (and we're hearing that it will be re-titled Escape From M.S. One in the US). This double director feature is spearheaded by James Mather and Stephen St. Leger. It was also co-written and produced by Luc Besson, which is where the decidedly Fifth Element vibe is coming from.
As much fun as this feature looks, we're still not sure what to make of it just yet. We've already seen a much more serious trailer for the same movie (although it utilized a lot of the same jokes). And we think it's safe to say that this version looks infinitely more fun. But will this movie be serious or silly? We're not sure. It's hard to straddle the cheese/drama line in action films, but if anyone can, it's Besson.
Here's what it's about:
A man wrongly convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage against the U.S. is offered his freedom if he can rescue the president's daughter from an outer space prison taken over by violent inmates.
Last we heard, Lockout would be out in theaters on April 20th 2012, but we're pretty sure it will have a new title by then.
[via Allocine]


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Hello darling friends and readers! Sunday is here and I'm wondering where the weekend went. I said to myself on Friday that I would spend my weekend outside, preferably taking some nature walks with Loke, maybe even visit Sammallahdenmäki again. I imagine it's so beautiful right now — all that moss and lichen crawling over the ancient burial grounds beneath a vibrant canopy. Lilli wanted to go into Lappi to play with her friends, so I thought it was a brilliant plan.
And then the rain came.
On Friday afternoon, Jay sent me a message from the fields to alert me to big droplets falling from sunlit skies. Even if his visions and opinions of what is a great photo don't always match mine, it makes me really happy that he has taken such a big interest. At times it has seemed he doesn't even notice, but he really does. He just isn't the kind of person to verbalise or even show it very often. I tend to forget, but then it's all the more precious when I remember. Do you know what I mean?
I sat in the doorway again to shoot. This zoom lens is amazing, but I have also noticed that I have gotten a little lazy with moving around. When I can get to my targets by a mere twist of my wrist my feet stay in one spot. No change of angle, no circling the scene — this hit me as I sat on those steps. But my camera isn't waterproof, nor does the lens repel water droplets, so I wondered once again how other photographers manage to capture all these wonderful rainy moments. I gave the old umbrella in our foyer a skeptical glance. I already knew I am far from steady with my hands, so to balance an umbrella while keeping the camera still seemed so daunting, but I did give it a try.
What I thought I would do, then, this weekend, since I have been stuck inside, was to gather some of my rain photos and blog about it. And then I remembered I didn't join the Weekly Photo Challenge last week. So I looked up the prompt, and when I saw pedestrian, I knew my time had come to finally share my photos from VanhaRauma. Conveniently — or meant to be? — I was in Rauma on Friday, too. I had my camera with me and got a few captures of Vanha Rauma dressed in autumn's golden autumn tones.
I love these little "coincidences". Twists of fate. I release a wish and, suddenly, out of nowhere, there it is. Like the mushrooms I talked about with some friends on Thursday, how I seem to find mostly soggy or frayed specimens. For the longest time I wanted to find and capture a round little fly amanita (fly mushroom in Swedish) without much luck. And then I found one only a few steps from where I parked my car in town! The last place I would have expected to find one.
I can't even recall how many times in my life I seem to have stumbled into these moments. Let it go, let the pieces fall as they may. Give up the search and whatever I sought has been found. Even blog posts, now that I think about it. They hardly ever turn out according to plan, and most of the time when I make an outline in my head I can't even begin. So I open up a draft and just write. That is when it all comes together. Maybe not always with the greatest coherence or a neat, red line.
Yesterday morning I was so tired I could hardly open my eyes, but I went straight to work on editing once the coffee was ready. As I sat there, I wrote in my journal if I start the day with housework, creativity suffers. If I start the day with creativity, housework suffers. This is something I have thought about a lot lately. The state of this place slowly falls into mess and disorganisation, and I think right, time to get on top of it again. Once I put my mind to it, I am efficient. But as the floors shine, the sofas are free of clothes, and the countertops in the kitchen sparkle, my camera and my computer stand untouched. There is no mud on my shoes to tell the story of long walks through the forest.
Anything that requires a plan, an outline, a well thought out step-by-step schedule swallows all those things needed for my artistry. Ideas and inspiration fade into the background. My entire creative process suffers. I have yet to find the balance, and I sometimes wonder if it is even possible. Just like with those moments when things just happen because I let them go, I know that when I try too hard, look too closely, I go blind. I lose my sense of touch. That feeling and emotion goes numb.
Ever since this spring, when I visited Sammallahdenmäki (a UNESCO World Heritage site and Bronze Age burial ground on the outskirts of Lappi), I got the idea to take you on a walk through Vanha Rauma. Another World Heritage site. I thought I would do it during Rauman Pitsiviikko — an annual culture event. Pitsi translates to lace, and this event came about from the making of bobbin lace. It was once a big thing here, and I think it still might be. During Pitsiviikko there are people and markets everywhere, from all parts of Finland. I couldn't think of a more perfect opportunity to capture the beating heart of Finnish history and culture mingling. I painted up a mental plan in my head of what types of photos I would take and got really excited about it. It seems as though I completed it so beautifully in my head that when Rauman Pitsiviikko rolled around, I had nothing left to draw from, and in the end I went without my camera.
On both occasions from where these photos are taken I had no plan, no goal. I did want to take some self-portraits and dressed for the occasion, but once I wandered among these buildings that thought vanished.
I may be a big lover of nature, but Old Rauma is very special. I have mixed emotions about Stockholm, but I love walking through Old Town and along the canals. Old buildings and architecture like this gives me a feeling of hovering in-between now and then. I imagine horses and carriages, market stalls, gentlemen in long coats and hats, ladies in their dresses and timeless hairdo's. There is something about street musicians that always adds to this magic. Unfortunately none were seen on this day.
Sometimes I wish I could go on these adventures with all things required packed into the car. My camera gear, my laptop, and do my blog posts on moving foot, so to speak. It is when I am in the moment that the impressions of my experiences and senses have most vibrance. They are fresh in my mind and the emotion that goes with it alive.
On these days I thought how cozy it would have been to at the end of my photo walk go to my favourite café. To sit there with a cup of coffee and my laptop to go through the photos, then write about it. Still surrounded by the sights and smells.
So, with all this said, I think the definition of pedestrian according to the dictionary is so strange. Boring, tedious, uninspired, uncreative, unimaginative, monotonous. Being a pedestrian is anything and everything but lifeless or uneventful. Being the pedestrian in the moment, no matter the scenery, is to me one of the best parts of any journey. Planning and speedy results are to me dull. But then I didn't always see it that way. Once I wanted to get to my destination fast and without delay. And of course I still find my way back to drumming my fingertips and drawing deep sighs, checking my wrist watch and wanting time to speed up.
Luckily, these days I do have my camera. I can and even want to capture these moments. Prolong them. Enhance them. Immortalise them. And I think that it is all there in the light and shadows, the tones and stilled movement, even if I can't always remember every aspect of what it was truly like.
Now, my dears, I would like to wish you a wonderful remainder of this Sunday, and a good week ahead. Much love. ❤


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I became a first time home buyer as of this summer, falling in love with a house that had great bones, a lot of potential, but some wacky aesthetic choices. The home had a single owner which was great … except that owner looked to have not made any design changes since she first moved in.
My boyfriend and I are both young-ish and not super rich, but there was no way we could live in this. So began a journey of creativity, (some blood while ripping out tack strips and carpet staples), sweat, and tears.
Bathrooms can be hands down the most expensive rooms to renovate. We really had to scrimp in some areas since we were trying to renovate an entire house in a little under 6 months. If you have a bathroom you hate that at least has fixtures that are in working order, it is completely possible to get creative and change the look without having to replace major features such as the toilet, tub, vanity, or even lighting.
This is what we started with. You can't tell as much in the photos, but NOTHING matched! The stain on the door was different than on the paneling which was different than on the vanity. Mixing wood tones can be cool, but in a room this small … yikes! There was also silver in the (actually pretty nice) foil wallpaper as well as chrome hardware in the room but the mirror and lighting fixture were a brushed brass. The window was painted white as was the trim and the door to a small cabinet set into the wall, which was a bit odd, and the window had a scalloped decorative molding around it that just wasn't doing anything for the overall look. The floor was just unfinished cement which we took as a blessing since we figured if there had been floor, we just would have been ripping it out :P. To me, the vanity and the lighting fixture were the biggest eyesores. However, we ended up spending over our predetermined lighting budget on new lighting fixtures for the rest of the house. Also, after many agonizing trips to every hardware and "everything" store in the area as well as many online perusals, we learned that it was going to be more costly than expected to have a vanity at least as big as the one we already had in the room. We were going to have to end up sacrificing either size or quality or both, and it just didn't make sense to replace our current vanity with something smaller and less functional or with less longevity just to have a more modern look.
Just like The Rolling Stones said, Paint it black!
People seriously underestimate the difference a coat of paint can make. They always say you aren't supposed to paint small rooms in dark colors, but rules were made to be broken. I have always loved black and golden yellow together, and I knew I wanted to keep the wallpaper in this room as the one thing original to the house. Keeping the room from being broken up into a bunch of smaller sections by having the half paneling flow right into the floor by using a deep black on both helps make the room feel less closed in. Painting the paneling a modern gloss black turns it from grandma's house to vintage chic. I used the same gloss black on the vanity, which downplayed some of the carving and details on it I'd felt were too old-fashioned for my taste. All the molding and window trim in the house is white, so we wanted to keep that still. To tie that in as well as the white and cream swirl finish on the counter and the white tile in the shower, I spray painted the hardware with white lacquer spray. I used Rustoleum black gloss enamel on the mirror and lighting fixture. We used stick-on floor tiles in a black marble for the floor, which are super inexpensive but look way nicer than just putting in linoleum. They are not at all complicated to install oneself as they are literally like giant stickers and you just keep building around the first tile you put in, keeping one flush to the other.
I made the funny (yet super convenient) little closet just a part of the woodwork by painting it in the same black as well, and following the design of the vanity by keeping the hardware gloss white. The bathroom window is very large, and people tend to be nude in the bathroom so we definitely needed a curtain. I didn't want to add in another pattern with the wallpaper being so wild already but didn't want it to look like we just had a big black sheet over the window either. So, I opted for a matte-on-shiny subtle pattern, in black again for consistency. You can't see it, but FYI, we removed the scalloped edge on the window! The fun black and white artwork is actually a matted and framed page from an art magazine. Magazines are some of the best sources for inexpensive artwork if you need something in a smaller size.
I am well aware that not everyone would want to make friends with this wallpaper, but the same techniques I used can be adopted to fit any style. There were so many different simple choices that could have been made to lend vastly different results in this room. If someone wanted to keep the wallpaper but give the room a more cute, shabby chic, cottage look they could have painted all the woodwork white instead of black. A soft grey would have also been an option. The mirror and vanity lighting could have been painted white or grey to compliment the paneling color choice, or just finished in chrome to match with the sink and shower hardware. The wallpaper could have been ripped down and any color paint imaginable could have been put in its place for a more simple, traditional look without the retro nods. Or, it could have been painted and wall stamps, decals, or stencils could have been used over-top to add some pattern. The ideas could go on and on, and all without having to do any major construction or buy a bunch of new stuff. Remember, something like this can also be a great intermediary step so you can still be comfortable while you wait and save up for a complete overhaul. You don't have to wait to win the lottery before you can love your home! 🙂


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3" (3D PRINTED) Low-Profile Toothpick/Twig Universal Ducted Propeller Guards (FULL SET + 1 FREE!)
*Increased Safety
*Increased Efficiency
*Quieter Flight Noise
*Increased Load Abilities
*Smoother Flight Performance
*Acro-able (indoor/outdoor)
*Aesthetic AND Functional Drone Accessory
*Universal Fit
*FREE SET of HQ Props INCLUDED!
FREE USA SHIPPING! (Discounted International Shipping!)
Frame: 3" Toothpick / Twig Frame
Motor Size/ Bolt Pattern: 1102-1106 / Micro 3 Bolt & 9x9 4 Bolt
Propeller Size: 2.5"
Easily convert your current low-profile 3" Toothpick and Twig micro drones into safe smooth powerhouses! Indoor or outdoor, HD cam or just fun flying! They fit right onto the bottom of your tiny 3 bolt motors as well as 9x9 4 screw motor mount motors and are much lower than the original UDP-Guards to fit the lower smaller motors used in this category! They are shipped with multiple sizes of rubber spacers to lock in the perfect height while also dampening the whole system and keeping tension on the bolts to keep them tight.
A Toothpick/Twig frame that holds a 3" prop will fit these UNIVERSAL DUCTED PROPELLER GUARDS! Simply bolt them onto the bottom of each arm with the motor bolts. When tightened, the bolts are then recessed to give you BUILT-IN non-metal landing skids (soo useful and FUN!) This set-up uses a 2.5" propeller in place of the bigger one and outperforms in almost every way! It lets the motors work less with the same performance which enables our propellers to handle a higher load and give better flight times because of the increased thrust and efficiency! They more than make up for the weight of themselves while providing safety and smoother flight feel.
Having these on will make your quad quieter too! Aero and sound wave flow was taken into consideration and implemented here, actually REDUCING prop noise! It's literally like magic and one of the best features about this design. The sounds aims up and down, reducing perceived side noise.
And THE most important feature of all.. SAFETY!! Before these I flew without protection and was sliced multiple times by a propeller blade, the worst being on my calf and that sent me on a mission to protect others from harm and to help give drones a good, safe name. These guards were months in the making, I literally put thousands of hours into making these what they are today.. And let me tell you - THEY DELIVER!
And although these things will shock you with how strong they are and can take more of a beating then I ever intended them to take, in no way am I going to tell you these things can't break! Anything is breakable! These guards are designed to break right before the arm would, to save you money and time. Replacing a guard is 6 screws, cheap and painless, while replacing an arm or even worse a unibody frame, can be a timely task and even a few days without flying! I've broke and had to order and wait to replace tons of micro parts before these prop guards and now it's just straight to the fun! And if I do crash too hard it's a super easy fix and it saves my frame and even props from breaking. (Note: the smaller size the guard/drone, the more durable it will be in crashes)
They come in a variety of colors! A perfect way to express yourself thru your drone! Coordinate GUARD COLORS with your PROPS to make the COOLEST, SMOOTHEST and most VERSATILE drone ever! Get creative and make your drone look as awesome as it flies! These do ACRO like a beast too!
Cinewhoop flying anyone?! No need to go out and buy a whole new drone to get great footage. These convert your current Toothpick/Twig into a film making BEAST! Smooth out the flight of your current rig for some amazing cinematography potential in a VERY LITTLE package!
There's really no downside to these. It's a win-win-win-win! If you fly 3" micro toothpick/twig drones, then you need these. Either way they are now an invaluable tool in my filming/fun-safe-flying arsenal!
What's Included:
A set of (4) guards + (1) FREE spare! = (5) GUARDS
(5) 2mm Rubber Spacers
(5) 1mm Rubber Spacers
(1) Set of 2.5" HQ Props
2" & 2.5" Lo-Pro & 2.5", 3", 4", 5" & 6" Original UDP-Guards ALSO AVAILABLE!
*Bolts are not included with this version of guard due to the extreme variance in sizes used in the motors of this size. In my testing it varied from M1.4 to M2 tho so I recommend getting a set of glasses screws off of amazon that has a bunch of small sizes, it's VERY convenient and if enough people need them I'll start offering them on the site!
*Longer motor bolts necessary and NOT included with this size due to the extreme variance of the bolts used with these size motors (2mm-4mm longer depending on your rubber spacer configuration and frame thickness. Likely to be 2mm-4mm increase in bolt length)
*Fly responsibly and within your skill level.
*Don't risk other's safety in any way.
*A heavy quad can break things when it crashes even if it doesn't break a nail doing it.. SO ALWAYS BE CAREFUL EVERY FLIGHT!
*I am in no way responsible for any damages that you may cause with your new confident flying. INDOOR FLYING is CRAZY and HARD and DANGEROUS even with these guards. FLY AT YOUR OWN RISK.
*So again.. FLY SAFE! and HAVE FUN!!


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Reindeer being fed in Aviemore. Photograph by David Tipling
Imagine the comical mating ritual of the capercaillie bird, the flash of a red squirrel sprinting by and the grunt of a reindeer -- all set against the backdrop of an ancient Caledonian forest, remnants of a landscape that once covered the British Isles.
Cairngorms National Park is nearly 4,500 sqkm of mountain wilderness in northeastern Scotland and is the country's largest protected area. The diversity of its fauna and flora is often overlooked due to its renowned status as Britain's top ski destination. But its isolated location, far from any big cities, means that the Cairngorms are less visited than most other national parks in Britain. A mere 1.5 million visitors (as opposed to the Lake District's 15.8 million) make the journey each year.
Arctic voyage
From the park's main town, the ski centre of Aviemore, valleys of lofty pine trees and pristine lochs cut dramatically into corrie-riven mountains and the United Kingdom's most extensive plateau. This granite massif retains the characteristics of an arctic-alpine tundra ecosystem, where high-altitude forest and wild, rocky plains combine with cold winds and low temperatures to provide a habitat found nowhere else in Britain. This remoteness has allowed rare animal, bird and plant species to thrive, and its mountains are among the world's last sanctuaries for many Arctic birds and plants outside of the Arctic Circle.
Walk on the wild side
The Cairngorms is famed for two creatures: the osprey, which nests on a reserve after declining to near-extinction in Britain during the 20th Century, and the United Kingdom's only herd of reindeer, which ranges free in the Reindeer Park above Aviemore. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds runs guided walks around the Loch Garten reserve north of Aviemore between April and August to see ospreys and other seasonal incumbents such as siskins, crossbills, sandpipers and otters. Ask at the Reindeer Park about joining the herder and leading your own reindeer on a half-day trek to their mountain enclosure (possible between June and August only).
The Rothiemurchus Estate, one and a half miles from Aviemore Railway Station, provides a host of family-friendly safaris themed around the distinctive, shaggy ginger Highland "coos" (cows), red squirrels and red deer. Meanwhile, nearby Atholl Estates whisks you off by Land Rover on safaris which take in various birds of prey, mountain hares and deer, in stunning forest and moorland terrain. If you are looking for more than just wildlife-watching, Alvie Estates offers a glimpse into life on the other side of the fence: human management of the land and its potential conflicts.
High-altitude wildlife
The hikers and climbers that make it to the most remote Cairngorm forest and plateau can expect to see even rarer species.
The Scottish crossbill, Britain's only endemic bird, has the park's pine trees as its sole stomping ground. The capercaillie, a large, colourful bird with one of the natural world's most entertaining courtship displays, uses these forests as one of its last European breeding grounds. Wildcats and pine martens also roam. Higher up on the plateau, Arctic buntings, ptarmigan and golden eagles can be glimpsed, while the mountain scrub is adorned with rare plants such as globeflower and roseroot.
Recently, the reintroduction of once-native species to Scotland (such as elk, boar and wolves) caused fierce controversy at the Highland estate of Alladale, an idea that could seem laughable to the locals around Cairngorms National Park. With so much prestigious, flourishing wildlife of its own, it is ironic that the national park does not get more international attention. But the laughter ricocheting through the valley is far more likely to be the capercaillie, attracting its mate. Listen out: it will sound like a quickening drum beat followed by a bottle of champagne being uncorked and poured. It is a one-of-a-kind experience, to be sure.
Find out what's 'Great' about Britain with one of our mini-guides.