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Here in the United States, headlines have been blaring over the last few weeks about the 29 coal miners killed in West Virginia at the Upper Big Branch Mine. Even the President was outraged, and the public attention may result in a push to reform the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to give it some more regulatory teeth, although there are legitimate questions to be asked about how easy it will be to enact tougher regulations when there's a revolving door between the mining industry and Congress. Massey Energy Company, which owned the mine, had a history of safety violations but regulators were powerless to do much about them.
52% of the electricity generated in the United States comes from coal. The coal industry in the United States has been criticized for being highly corrupt, for engaging in horrific environmental practices such as mountaintop removal, and, of course, for significant safety violations which put worker health at risk. The mining industry has become more aggressive and more sophisticated to feed the demand for coal in the United States, resulting in longer hours for miners and much more occupational exposure to hazards.
Over 130,000 people work in coal mines in the United States so that we can run our refrigerators, turn our lights on, and, yes, type at our computers. Disasters like the incident at the Upper Big Branch Mine are awful, and they should not happen, and they would also be preventable if MSHA had more regulatory teeth.
But there's another problem which affects coal miners in the United States, and it's one which doesn't get a lot of press. It kills an estimated 700-1,000 miners every year. In the 1970s, death rates from this problem started to decline, but in the 1990s, they rose again, a reflection of changing practices in the coal industry.
That problem is black lung.
Black lung is an occupational and fully preventable disease caused by inhaling coal dust. Miners are more likely to inhale coal dust now than ever before due to changes in mining techniques. Long shifts, increased production, and very deep mining all contribute to a rise in black lung rates. Black lung used to be observed primarily in older miners with a long work history, but today it is increasingly common in younger miners who have not been working in the mines for decades. This illustrates, starkly, that coal miners are inhaling more coal dust than ever before.
Also known as coal worker's pneumoconiosis or miner's pneumoconiosis, black lung occurs as inhaled coal builds up in the lungs. The lungs cannot express the coal, and over time this leads to inflammation and scarring. Parts of the lung tissue may die because the trapped coal cuts off the blood supply to the lung. In the early stages, people with black lung experience shortness of breath and a recurrent cough which does not resolve. As the disease progresses, damage spreads to the heart and the miner can also develop autoimmune diseases.
Black lung does not kill right away. Numerous miners are disabled by this disease and in fact benefits are specifically made available by law to miners who have been disabled by black lung. There has also been a move to renegotiate the terms of those benefits to make them more comprehensive. The health insurance reform bill which recently passed in Congress included a clause which:
…reversed 1981 legislation that put the burden on a miner of 15 years or more to prove that his or her disability is caused by black lung, a collection of respiratory illnesses caused by inhaling dust. The new changes also automatically transfer benefits to spouses and other dependents after a miner dies — accepting the presumption that black lung contributed to the death of a miner of 15 years or more. (source)
These changes were resisted by the coal industry and the insurance industry, naturally.
There are two mechanisms for protecting miners from black lung. The first is the use of respirators to limit the amount of coal dust inhaled. The second is the use of monitors to track levels of coal dust in mines. When levels rise too high for respirators to provide protection because they clog the respirators, the monitors send an alert. The monitors are expensive, however, which has made mines slow to adopt them.
In the wake of this most recent disaster, some people have wondered where the Union was; surely, one of the functions of a union is to protect the health and safety of workers, right? I hope it comes as no surprise to learn that the coal industry is also anti-union. The Upper Big Branch Mine is a non-union mine. Not, I would note, by choice of the workers. The workers have voted for a union and were threatened by the CEO of Massey Energy until they backed down.
There are numerous other industries in the United States characterized by dangerous working conditions which lead to illness, disability, and death for their workers. Workers in these industries enjoy few protections. Meat packing plants, for example, are staffed heavily with undocumented workers who are afraid to file complaints for fear of being deported. Workers who do complain are simply fired and replaced with new ones.
Occupational health and safety are disability issues. Rights for workers is a social justice issue. People are injured, disabled, and killed every day in the United States by preventable working conditions and this primarily only attracts attention when mass casualties are involved.


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Dayton taking budget message across Minnesota
ST. PAUL -- Gov. Mark Dayton hits the road this week in an effort to convince Minnesotans that it is worth shutting down state government to get a better budget from the Republican-controlled Legislature.
ST. PAUL -- Gov. Mark Dayton hits the road this week in an effort to convince Minnesotans that it is worth shutting down state government to get a better budget from the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Also, the Democratic-Farmer-Laborite governor on Monday said he would consider increasing alcohol and cigarette taxes, and broaden the state sales tax, if Republicans propose those measures.
Republican legislative leaders rejected Dayton's ideas as just more tax increase proposals and renewed their call for him to order a special legislative session to begin immediately so that lawmakers could pass a temporary budget to put 22,000 state employees back to work and reactivate the programs they run.
Dayton and top legislators did not meet Monday and no talks are scheduled. Each side indicated it was waiting for the other to present a new budget offer.
The government shutdown enters its 12th day today, the longest in Minnesota history and the longest of any state in at least two decades.
Top lawmakers and Dayton have met for less than two hours since the shutdown began on July 1, disagreeing about whether the state needs to spend more than the $34 billion Republicans want in the next two years.
Dayton said he is traveling the state to get out his message, which is in part that Republicans refuse to compromise.
"When the voters deliver a split verdict, as they did in Minnesota last November, then neither side is entitled to have it all their way," Dayton said in a YouTube video.
His message this week will be that a Republican budget of $1.8 billion less than what he wants would hurt Minnesotans who depend on state-funded health care and could turn the state's schools into a "mediocre state educational system"
Dayton, standing in front of the closed state Capitol, told reporters that he will be in St. Cloud today, hopes to visit the southeast on Wednesday and tentatively plans a Moorhead stop Friday. Today's meeting is in a St. Cloud school with Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius.
Dayton sent a letter to GOP leaders Monday saying that he is willing to discuss the alcohol and tobacco taxes, even though they are not his favorite ways of raising money, and to add a sales tax to more goods and services, although he does not favor taxing food or clothes.
Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, R-Buffalo, asked Dayton to call lawmakers back into special session before he leaves on his state tour. Only the governor can call a special session.
Six budget bills could be passed soon, Koch said, and a temporary budget approved for the tougher budget areas. Dayton insists on an overall agreement before allowing any budget bills to pass.
"First and foremost, we would like to have a lights on," Koch said about the temporary funding bill.
GOP leaders also asked for Lt. Gov. Yvonne Prettner Solon to get involved in budget talks.
Koch said Prettner Solon has a good relationship with lawmakers since she left the Senate to become Dayton's No. 2. "People see her as a colleague."
Dayton's spokeswoman said that Prettner Solon has been involved in various aspects of budget talks, even if not when Dayton meets with only Koch and House Speaker Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove.
While leaders do not negotiate, two-thirds of the Dayton administration employees are off work because the old budget ended June 30 and only those who a judge determines are essential may stay on the job.
Koch said the shutdown costs $65 million a week, including items ranging from unemployment benefits for those laid off to construction delays to loss of private sector spending.
Also Monday, Minnesota Chief Justice Lorie Gildea scheduled a July 27 Supreme Court hearing in a lawsuit six Republican lawmakers filed claiming that the court system has no authority to authorize state spending. The lawmakers say the state Constitution gives the Legislature sole authority to authorize spending. Judges have allowed the judicial and legislative branches to remain operating, as well as a third of the Dayton administration employees.
Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin of Ramsey County late last month ordered the state to continue funding what she termed essential programs. Her order, which approved Dayton's suggestions for what to keep open, laid the framework for a appointing "special master" who recommends specific programs that should remain open.
Gearin heard an argument from Polymet, a company that wants to begin copper and nickel mining on the Iron Range but needs an environmental study done before it can begin work. Polymet asked Gearin to allow state workers to continue doing their work on the study.
Today, northern Minnesota loggers who want to keep cutting timber on state land during a shutdown go in front of Gearin. And on Wednesday, state legislative transportation chairmen Sen. Joe Gimse of Willmar and Rep. Michael Beard of Shakopee, along with road contractors, ask the judge to allow road constructing projects to resume.
Gearin accepted former Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz's recommendation that the state continue funding nutritional programs for the elderly.
On the Internet: www.youtube.com/govmarkdayton
Don Davis reports for Forum Communications Co.

subset: commoncrawl


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A shot across the bow of Beltway Republicans on Gay Marriage Day at the Supreme Court.
Alternate headline: "Huckabee's running in 2016."
When asked if he believes the Republican Party will change its position and support gay marriage in a Wednesday Newsmax interview, Huckabee remarked, "They might, and if they do, they're going to lose a large part of their base because evangelicals will take a walk."…
"And it's not because there's an anti-homosexual mood, and nobody's homophobic that I know of," he continued, "but many of us, and I consider myself included, base our standards not on the latest Washington Post poll, but on an objective standard, not a subjective standard."…
"If we have subjective standards, that means that we're willing to move our standards based on the prevailing whims of culture," he said. "I think politicians have an obligation to be thermostats, not just thermometers. They're not simply to reflect the temperature of the room, or the culture, as it were. They're to set the standards for law, for what's right, for what's wrong, understanding that not everybody's going to agree with it, not everybody's going to accept it."
I've read a bunch of pieces lately claiming that SCOTUS striking down gay-marriage laws will actually be a gift to GOP politicians because it'll take this issue off the table. Rubio and Paul and Jindal et al. won't have to squirm over whether to endorse SSM, back a federalist approach to the issue, or oppose it on the merits. They can just shrug and say "The Court was wrong but whaddaya gonna do?" and move on to other business. Take it from Huckabee: That won't happen. Abortion's technically been "off the table" for 40 years and yet it's still an absolute litmus test for any potential GOP nominee (and any potential Democratic nominee too). To keep social conservatives onboard, candidates will be asked to promise (a) that they'll appoint Supreme Court justices who are committed to overturning any gay-marriage rulings and (b) that they'll endorse some sort of constitutional amendment that would either ban SSM outright or, at a minimum, return the issue to the states. (The amendment will go nowhere but that's beside the point here.) Think a prospective nominee won't do some squirming over whether they should sign on to those propositions, especially given the GOP's panic over losing young voters? Come 2016, this won't be just about gay marriage anymore; it'll be a test of whether social conservatives retain the same influence over the party platform that they've had for the last few decades. That's why Huck's framing this in apocalyptic "stick with us or we walk" terms. It's their party, at least on social issues.
With respect to what's best for other GOP pols, the simple explanation is the correct one: They're better off if the Court surprises everyone and upholds Prop 8. Then the 2016 field can take the position that they're personally opposed to SSM in order to placate social cons while insisting that, as good federalists, they want local voters to decide this issue for themselves. That sort of squishy middle-way stance won't dazzle anyone on either side but it might hold the Republican coalition together by reassuring Huck and his supporters that red states will still get to chart their own course. It might also be acceptable to young voters in the sense that the potential GOP nominee won't be standing in the way of gay marriage in states when the votes are there. But note: The squishy position won't work if the Court does end up legalizing gay marriage this summer. In that case, taking the federalist position via a constitutional amendment will be seen as an attempt to roll back marriage rights that gays have already won. Young voters likely will find that alienating, and social cons may reason that an amendment to return power to the states on the subject simply doesn't go far enough as a rebuke to a judiciary that's out of control. What politicians cherish is room to maneuver, and a pro-SSM ruling leaves the GOP with less of that than an anti-SSM ruling would.
Anyway. Across the aisle, Mark Begich magically decided last night that he too is now pro-gay marriage, which makes three Democratic senators who have "evolved" in just the past 24 hours. I'm starting a pool as of right now: At what time today will the next Democratic holdout formally declare his support for SSM? I'll take 2 p.m. ET.
Update: Interesting choice of words from Reince Priebus:
"We do have a platform, and we adhere to that platform," Priebus said in an interview Monday on USA TODAY's Capital Download video series. "But it doesn't mean that we divide and subtract people from our party" who support the right of gay men and lesbians to marry.
"I don't believe we need to act like Old Testament heretics," he said, saying Republicans "have to strike a balance between principle and grace and respect."


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That Other Power Hour
By BY
Around the end of the 19th century, the French were fond of christening cocktail hours "l'heure verte" in honor of all the absinthe people were knocking back. I've loitered with the green fairy myself, but if I ever spent a full hour in its company, it's likely I'd be interred in some quaint Czech hillside. While absinthe isn't technically classified as a hallucinogenic, the ingredient in wormwood--terpene thujone--is what causes all the upset. Strangely, it's also found in tarragon and sage, and is part of the chemical team present in vermouth. On its own, the silvery leaves of wormwood have been rumored to fight malaria, improve digestion (a good thing when you're wanting for stomach lining), and, of course, to conquer worms!


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The country is like a volcano that is ready to erupt. Smoke is billowing. If the eruption comes, it won't matter if one is a man or a woman, a Democrat or a Republican, a Conservative or a Progressive, everyone will suffer.
The Senate confirmation hearings on President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh have exposed deep fault lines that run through our nation. In the past decade, the uneven ground between races has caused Americans to stumble. With the Me Too movement, the tectonic plates of gender have collided, and everyone has been shaken.
It is clear that Democrats have one take on the confirmation hearings and Republicans have another. Is it possible for Christians to think about Judge Kavanaugh, his accuser Dr. Ford, and the broader issues of justice and peace in today's society in a way that transcends political party affiliation and even gender? And, if it is possible, what would characterize such thinking?
Such thinking would place a higher priority on truth than on potential outcomes. Right now, the people who want a conservative justice on the Supreme Court believe that Brett Kavanaugh did not assault Dr. Ford or they believe that it doesn't matter – that if he did it he was young and inebriated and has, in all likelihood, matured. The people who do not want a conservative justice on the court believe Kavanaugh is guilty of assault and is unfit for service.
It is more that suspicious that opinions should coincide so exactly with potential desired outcomes. It indicates that the mind is serving an agenda rather than the truth. Christians must never elevate desired outcomes above truth. We are not responsible for outcomes, we are responsible to be true. I would very much like to see a conservative jurist on the Supreme Court, but what I want does not change what happened.
The FBI investigation is a good thing, as long as it is not biased. If the facts can be uncovered, they should be. Christians should never be afraid of truth.
But we must remember that truth involves people's lives. Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford are real people, with families, friends, and careers. Demeaning either of them is strictly unacceptable for Christians, who are instructed "to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men."
Christians must not stir up hatred. They must not say things like the university professor who hatefully stated that white Republican senators "deserve miserable deaths." Such a comment can only issue from a well of hatred, which is the opposite of the love and justice God desires from people.
Not that it is hard to understand how that well of hatred overflowed. Thousands of years of the sexual mistreatment of women has raised the level of hostility and mistrust to flood level. Women have been treated as sexual objects for ages and never more so than now, in the Hollywood era.
I have officiated at many weddings over the years, and it is my preference to use the traditional ceremony of the church, with its strong and beautiful vows. But before the vows comes "The Declaration of Consent." In medieval Europe, the soldiers of one city-state would raid the villages of another. They would carry off young women as plunder, take them to a priest, and force them to marry them. The church, recognizing the illegitimacy of the practice, instituted the "Declaration of Consent" for the protection of women.
After thousands of years of the sexual mistreatment of women, it is not odd that the professor would say what she did. It is not odd, but it is not right either. "Othering" people, whether white GOP senators or female college professors, treating them as a class and not as persons, dehumanizes them. It is not the way Christ taught us to think about others.
How should Christians approach the Senate confirmation hearings? They should be both truth-seekers and peacemakers. Anything less is less than Christian. They scrupulously should avoid adding to the hatred. Only so, can they be a light in our world, and only if their primary allegiance is to God, not to political power.
First published in The Coldwater Daily Reporter, 10/6/2018


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Silver Hawks' Pena cycles on birthday
Fidel Pena didn't have time to celebrate his 22nd birthday on Friday night because his Silver Hawks had to get on a bus to Burlington, Iowa. Instead, he gave himself quite the gift on the field.
The D-backs prospect hit for the cycle and scored three runs in Class A South Bend's 7-5 loss to Peoria at Dozer Park.
"[Hitting for the cycle] feels amazing. It's the best, the best, the best birthday gift ever," Pena said.
Pena led off the game with a triple and scored on a wild pitch. He doubled in the third inning and hit his seventh homer of the season with two outs in the fifth. Aware that he needed a single for the cycle when he came to the plate in the eighth inning, the native of the Dominican Republic knew better than to head toward second base if he got a hit.
"My teammate [Blake Perry] told me, 'If you get a hit, don't pass first base. If you [mess] it up, I'm going to kill you,'" Pena said.
The cycle was the latest notable outburst by Pena, who drove in a career-high eight runs and fell a double shy of the cycle in a 16-10 loss at Fort Wayne on July 5. On Friday, he became the first Minor Leaguer this season to hit for the cycle in a losing effort.
Friday's four-hit night raised Pena's batting average to .260, and the switch-hitter said he hopes to perform more consistently by improving his plate discipline.
"When I'm anxious I tend to chase a lot of bad pitches," he said. "When I'm feeling all nice and easy, I stay on those pitches."
Pena has been a better hitter in the second half of the season. He had a .623 OPS before the Midwest League All-Star Game but entered Friday night with a .781 mark after the break. He has six hits, including four for extra bases, in his last two games.
"It's just pitch selection and maintaining balance and rhythm," Silver Hawks manager Mark Haley said earlier this month. "[Pena] needs to make sure he hits it where it's pitched, zones up pitches, controls at-bats, has a plan at the plate and executes it."
Pena also has an interesting home/road split. He's hitting .317 on the road but .201 at South Bend's Coveleski Stadium.
"I feel as though it's not really hitter-friendly [at home] and I've had bad luck. Maybe I'm trying a little too much," he said. "We have a lot of fans that are there all the time and are good friends with me and trying to support me and maybe I'm trying a little too hard."
Pena also is getting used to playing every day at second base after alternating between catcher, second base and designated hitter last season. He's also played first, third, shortstop and right field since signing with the D-backs in February 2009 but said he's comfortable with the transition.
"That's all I did all my childhood, all I played was shortstop and second base," he said.
"He's always been a pretty damn good infielder, he has good hands and good feet, an idea for the game," Haley said. "He could probably do anything he puts his mind to. He was a decent catcher, too, just the wear and tear is hard on anybody."
First baseman Rudy Flores hit his team-leading 12th homer and drove in a pair of runs for South Bend. But Charlie Tilson went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Nick Martini doubled twice and also drove in two runs for Peoria.
Brandon Simes is a contributor to MiLB.com.


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Because Disney, who owns Pixar, now owns Lucasfilms and because they got J.J. Abrams to direct Star Wars even though he's already directed Star Trek, it's not out of this world to imagine a Star Trek animated series by Pixar (as incestuous and sacrilegious as that may be). Canadian artist Phil Postma wondered the same and animated the cast of Star Trek: The Original Series. Is it weird that I would want to watch this?
Check out more of Postma's excellent work at Minion Factory. [Minion Factory via BuzzFeed]


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By Los Angeles News Group editorial board
Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, revving his engine for an intended run against Gov. Jerry Brown for governor next year, announced Thursday that he and gun-rights activists will launch a recall effort against several state legislators who voted for gun legislation that Brown signed into law.
Donnelly, R-Hesperia, will be joined in the recall effort by Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, and adviser Tim Knight, who was part of the successful recall effort in Colorado and gun measures were passed there in the wake of the Aurora theater massacre.
Knight's involvement could mean there's a glimmer of hope that the recall effort might work against one or two of the targeted lawmakers. Unlikely, but more probable than Donnelly's quest for the governorship, for example.
Asked which legislators might be targeted, recall activists mentioned five — each one with a Latino surname. That drew a rebuke from the California Latino Legislative Caucus: "Californians will not stand for any campaign that is clearly racist and devoid of any political or legal legitimacy," said Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens.
Given Donnelly's background as a former Minuteman, the appearance of targeting Latinos with the recalls is particularly unwise politically.
For the record, the five lawmakers mentioned as possible recall targets were Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, who will be termed out next year anyway; Assemblywomen Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton, and Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego; and Sens. Norma Torres, D-Chino, and Ben Hueso, D-Chula Vista.
Expect that roster to change by the time the gun-rights activists make their final recall selections in a few weeks, so that it doesn't look as though they're just out to dump just Latinos from the Legislature. Besides being out of step with most Californians, who support sensible gun restrictions, Donnelly and crew stumbled right out of the gate into looking like racists.


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Legendary broadcaster John Madden announced his retirement on Thursday, but the his legacy will carry on in the virtual world. EA confirmed to The Business Insider that the company has a "long-term contract" with Madden to continue the Madden NFL video game franchise:
"We've been working with John for a very long time, and he'll continue to lend not only his name but his creative input into the game," EA tells us.
Madden NFL 10 comes out in stores on August 10, but as always, the biggest news will be when the game's cover star is announced. Slowly, EA Sports has been releasing the names of nine possible cover athletes -- Ed Reed, Adrian Peterson, Brandon Jacobs, Ben Roethlisberger, DeMarcus Ware and Matt Cassel are the current candidates. The final decision will be revealed on April 24 at the draft.
There's no word yet as to whether Madden will continue to lend his voice to future versions of the game, or simply his name. Someone call Frank Caliendo.


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A serious climate opportunity
By Greg Walcher
For years, politicians have waged war on coal, stifled oil and gas production, and advocated carbon taxes and other extreme measures to reduce carbon dioxide, while ignoring one of the most important things they could do to help.
It reminds me of my own lifelong battle with weight and the associated health issues. I get so frustrated that I sometimes swear I would do anything – anything! – to lose weight. Well, anything except eat less and exercise. But anything else.
That same kind of hypocrisy surrounds rants about our carbon dioxide emissions. Even people who are "deeply concerned" about dangerous manmade climate change drive cars, heat their homes, and sometimes even turn on lights. They embrace modern living standards, while also embracing faddish environmental claims and policies that contribute mightily to problems they insist disturb them greatly.
A popular bumper sticker screams, "TREES ARE THE ANSWER." Yet when it comes to managing our national forests, many of those same advocates look away, while millions of acres of once healthy trees die, fall down, rot or burn up.
It's ironic, because those forests provide the world's greatest resource for cleaning carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere; because the rotting and fires themselves emit greenhouse gases; and because atmospheric carbon dioxide makes all plants grow faster and better and with improved tolerance to drought.
As Colorado State Forester Mike Lester testified recently before a state legislative committee, "When so many trees die and large wildfires follow, our forests quickly turn from a carbon sink into a carbon source." Trees absorb carbon dioxide as people absorb oxygen, and that balance is critical to sustaining life, as we all learned in grade school.
Yet instead of doing everything in our power to make sure we have abundant thriving forests of healthy trees, we allow them to die and burn and thus belch millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the air.
Lester's excellent testimony accompanied the release of the Colorado State Forest Service's annual Report on the Health of Colorado Forests. This year's assessment is the worst ever, and hardly anybody noticed. There was no outcry from global warming alarmists around the world, as there should have been. In fact, their silence on this issue is deafening. And it's not just Colorado. It's every state, and beyond.
The more concerned people are about climate change, the more they should be interested in active management to restore forest health. Yet many of the groups pushing urgent climate policies are the same groups that continue to fight logging, tree thinning and other management necessary forhealthy forests. The result is more of the same disasters we have seen unfolding for over 20 years: dead and dying forests, catastrophic wildfires, habitat devastation, loss of human property and lives, and destruction of wildlife.
The new forest health report shows that over the last seven years, the number of dead standing trees in Colorado forests increased almost 30 percent, to an estimated 834 million dead trees. There are billions across the other Rocky Mountain States.
The report makes clear that this continuing trend of tree mortality can lead to large, intense wildfires that totally incinerate and obliterate forests, soils and wildlife. In fact, it is only a matter of time before this happens, if the U.S. Forest Service does not act.
Ironically, the most productive forest health restoration projects in Colorado have been partnerships of the State Forester with water providers like Denver Water, Northern Water Conservancy District and Colorado Springs Utilities. That's because 80 percent of Colorado's population depends on water that comes from the national forests.
However, the U.S. Forest Service, which owns almost all of the forestland in the State, continues to work with its hands tied behind its back, its timber programs woefully underfunded and vast sums syphoned off every year for fire suppression. Fire control ought to be funded separately, so that active management of healthy forests is not the perpetually lowest priority.
The Forest Service spends a fortune on planning, writing reports, and defending itself against environmental lawsuits, leaving few funds for what it is really supposed to be doing.
What a golden opportunity for the new Congress and Trump Administration. Reversing this demoralizing trend would restore forests, protect and increase wildlife, bring back thousands of forest products jobs, revitalize rural economies, and do more to reduce carbon dioxide than any previous policy.
The previous Administration created the Office of Sustainability and Climate Change, and Regional Climate Change Hubs, maintained a Climate Change Adaptation Library, mapped drought frequency and intensity, and created massive reports blaming humans for climate change. One study was a vulnerability assessment for the Southwest and California, titled "Southwest Regional Climate Hub and Climate Subsidiary Hub Assessment of Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies."
All this activity is impressive, and scientific study will always play a role. But none of it actually affects climate change. Growing healthy trees would. Can we get back to that?
Or like me and my weight problem, are we willing to do anything to address climate change and improve our forests and wildlife habitats, except the one thing that might help the most?
Greg Walcher is president of the Natural Resources Group and author of "Smoking Them Out: The Theft of the Environment and How to Take it Back." He is a former secretary of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.


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The Arc Attic Treasures thrift stores carry a wide array of new and gently used merchandise, including brand-name items.
Visit our north or south Fargo store to find:
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Like a treasure hunt, you never know what you will find, with new merchandise arriving every day.
Come discover the savings today!


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Elk Grove Concrete Contractors & Paving Specialists
Elk Grove Concrete Contractors & Paving Specialists
The concrete pavers in Elk Grove California provide a durable, functional circulation surface that can withstand any load and pressure imposed on them. The friction they produce helps users of spaces by transferring traffic from above ground level down below natural soil levels at an affordable price while still providing high-quality services!
Business Name:
Elk Grove Concrete Contractors & Paving Specialists
6821 Fall Breeze ctElk Grove California 95758United States
About Elk Grove
Elk Grove is a city in Sacramento County, California, United States. Located just south of the state capital of Sacramento, it is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 Census, the population of the city was 176,124. A 2021 Census estimate puts the population of the city at 178,997. Elk Grove has many wineries, wine cellars, and vineyards.
Neighborhoods in Elk Grove, California
Alhambra Triangle, Ben Ali, Brentwood, Central Oak Park, College/Glen, Colonial Heights, Colonial Manor, Colonial Village, Cresleigh Ranch, Curtis Park, Elmhurst, Fallbrook, Florin Fruitridge Industrial Park, Freeport Manor, Fruitridge Manor
Things to do in Elk Grove, California
Our Newest Profiles


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Jeju Island, Republic of Korea, 11 September 2012 (IUCN)
At the 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) is warning of the growing threats faced by many existing World Heritage sites and is calling for stronger measures to guarantee their future.
Despite considerable successes over the last four decades, the Convention cannot afford to rest on its laurels, according to IUCN, the World Heritage advisory body on nature. For the decade to come, IUCN is calling for increased resources to protect World Heritage sites and to fill the gaps on the prestigious list by applying the gold standard of World Heritage listing.
"Too many World Heritage sites are left with few resources to ensure their proper management, risking their role as natural flagships for the protection of critical habitats and unique wildlife vital to the future of our planet," says Tim Badman, Director of IUCN's World Heritage Programme. "Many face a barrage of challenges, not least from mining and oil exploration."
In addition, IUCN says the Convention must remain an effective mechanism for conserving places of natural wonder and uphold its high standards. In what was considered a retrograde step, none of the four sites that IUCN recommended for inclusion on the Danger list at this year's World Heritage meeting were accepted by the UNESCO Committee that governs the Convention. Inscription on the Danger list is not a black mark for countries, but a way of drawing attention and providing support to sites at critical risk of losing the wildlife and landscapes for which they first gained global recognition.
"The success of World Heritage has been the way it has recognized exceptional places and focused international attention on their protection," says Badman. "But there are worrying signs that the Convention could become less effective if it does not uphold its standards and it will need decisive action to remain relevant to the growing conservation needs of the 21st century."
Nearly 8% of the 217 natural World Heritage Sites are on the World Heritage Danger List, while 25% are affected by serious conservation issues and the status of many other sites is not known. Over 60% of West and Central African sites are on the Danger list, and one in four of these iconic areas are threatened by planned mining, oil and gas projects. This includes Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, home of the world's last mountain gorillas.
The IUCN was instrumental in creating the World Heritage Convention in 1972 and has a unique advisory role in supporting the Convention in achieving conservation results. Natural heritage sites are recognized as among the world's most precious environments. There are 217 of them in total, protecting more than 250 million hectares of land and sea in over 90 countries.
About IUCN
IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges. IUCN is the world's oldest and largest global environmental organization, with more than 1,200 government and NGO members and almost 11,000 volunteer experts in some 160 countries.
Source: IUCN


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3 Dec 2012
Last Shop Standing: the rise, fall and rebirth of the independent record shop: an interview with Graham Jones
I recently watched a fantastic documentary, 'Last Shop Standing: the rise, fall and rebirth of the independent record shop' and found it very inspiring. Here is the trailer:
It's fantastic. Get a copy. It made me wonder whether the recent revival of independent record shops have a few things to teach us more generally about vibrant local economies? As a vinyl junkie and as someone who grew up in independent record shops, I wanted to explore some of the issues in the film in more depth. I was therefore delighted to be able to start out by interviewing Graham Jones, author of 'Last Shop Standing' and presenter of the film. As lovers of music, vinyl and independent shops we could have talked all day, but luckily for you we kept it brief.
Graham has worked for many years as a record salesman, visiting record shops up and down the country, and was moved to write the book after seeing more and more independent record shops shutting their doors and going out of business.
I began the interview with a quote, from the film, from Johnny Marr (former guitarist in the Smiths, see above):
"There seemed to be this idea that record shops disappeared because people didn't want to buy vinyl, when I wonder if it isn't the other way round, because people don't buy vinyl because their record store's disappeared".
I asked Graham what were some of the key drivers behind the decline of independent record shops. "One of the key ones", he told me, "was the vast abuse from Jersey where stuff was being sent from the Channel Islands by the online retailers VAT free. They weren't paying VAT on anything under £18, and one thing I try and point out is that that has been the silent killer of the high street because it gave the online retailers a 20% advantage on people trading on the high street. That loop hole was closed this year but the damage had been done. Hundreds of shops have closed and that's had a major contribution to it.
I grew up in independent record shops. Revolver Records on the Triangle in Bristol was my second home really from 14 onwards. How, for you, does the quality of shopping in an independent record shop vary from going to a big chain retailer like HMV?
The difference is choice. I recently did a talk in Frome and the independent record shop there, between two stores they have 120,00 different titles on CD, DVD, LP single, even cassette, you know the choice they offer. The other choice in Frome was ASDA, where I went in to check before I came down, who offer you 200 different CDs of which they didn't have a single folk CD and their jazz section consisted of The Best Jazz Album in the World…Ever and that was it.
That's what independents give you, they give you choice. It's also the fact that when you go into an independent record store 50% of their sales are impulse purchases, it's where people will just flick through the racks or see something at a bargain price or speak to the owner. When a record store closes, you lose 50% of those sort of sales in that town.
I love it when Martin Mills of the Beggars Group, says in the film "we're not trying to sell people what they want, we're trying to sell people what they don't want … yet".
That is so true, because that's what we do and that's what independents do. The great thing for me about independents, and this applies to all independent businesses, is they support local music, local bands, sell their tickets, in many cases they're putting on performances by the local artists. There was something in the book that struck home with me.
There's a shop called Spillers in Cardiff and I asked them what was their best seller. They told me it's a CD called Twisted by Design, which I was unaware of, and they've now sold nearly 1000 copies of this CD. It's a compilation of local Cardiff bands. You'd never get that support from HMV or Tesco. All that new music and local music wouldn't have been introduced to people without the independent record store.
One of the things that watching your film inspired in me was for me to get my turntable out and rig it up in the kitchen, and I've been rediscovering all the stacks of vinyl that are in my sitting room that I haven't listened to for a while, so I'm very grateful for that. It was a thing that I was really amazed by in the film – the resurgence of vinyl, a medium which as far as most people are concerned has been long discarded to the dustbin of history and car boot sales, and it's an incredible revival of a medium which everyone thought had disappeared. Where's that come from and what wider lessons do you think we can learn from that?
I think it's fantastic that you've dug your record player out and that's been the case all over the country at the moment. I was speaking to a turntable manufacturer who was saying that he's having to take on extra staff to cope with demand this Christmas because the record player is seen as this retro gift.
I work for a record company, that's my day job, and just 5 years ago we would put less than 5% of releases out on vinyl, but now every single major release that we put out comes out on vinyl, on CD and as a download. I think vinyl has, in a way, turned things around for the independent record store because you're never going to see the supermarkets rack out LPs next to the baked beans. The CD was a great format for them because it was small, it was compact, and they could rack it out and it wouldn't take up much space.
I think that people realise the music industry conned everybody really, that's the only word I can think of. When the CD came out they convinced us all that the quality was better but it was in their interests because what the music industry did was say to the artists "we've invented this great new format, but we can't pay you as much royalties as we've been paying you on records". Of course the music industry wanted to push the CD everywhere because they were paying the artists less money and there was an opportunity for them to sell us all our own record collection all over again.
People treasure records. Johnny Marr says in the film something like "vinyl is like the deluxe version of this crappy little thing, the CD", which it is. I think it's like comparing instant coffee with proper coffee, there's a quality about it. I know myself, in my car, I've got CDs that are not in their cases – I've listened to it and just put it in the glove compartment so it's not in its case. I'd never dream of doing that with a record, that you actually treasure.
The lesson is clearly that the independent stores have got to offer things that you're not going to get at the supermarket. Many of them do that anyway, with the service and making it a good shopping experience, and that's what so many record stores are doing now. If you go in they serve coffee, they'll have chairs, they'll have magazines for you to read and lots of local events. The shops have had to make their stores a place where people will meet and make it a great shopping experience, part of the community really.
The subtitle of the film is "the rise, fall and rebirth of the independent record shop". What have been the qualities of that rebirth and what do you think we could learn from the rebirth of independent record shops? What can it teach us about the rebirth of local economies in the wider sense do you think?
What's happened is we've gone from 2,200 record stores to 280 now, which actually is an improvement on 2009 where more record stores have opened over the last few years than actually closed down. You've got to think first of all, all the record stores that vanished, many of them weren't offering great service, many of them were just relying on the major record companies.
Many people who shop in record stores can remember many record shops where you probably felt a little bit uncomfortable when you went in, they were not welcoming. Those times have changed since the demise of Woolworths. Lots of people used to shop at Woolworths, they'd go in and buy Daniel O'Donnell and artists like that. Most record shops 5 or 6 years ago wouldn't stock that sort of product but now they do, because they have to cater for their whole community. They can't be niche and just cater for a certain type of the community really.
What's your favourite record shop and why?
I can't say, because I once made the huge mistake of saying that on Radio 2, and the next day about 7 record shops got back to me saying that they thought that they were my favourite record store! The nice thing about record shops for me is that they are independent, so every one is different. Every record shop I go into, I'll discover something different.
A great example is when we did the filming of the shops for the film, between myself and the producer and the camera man and the sound man, we spent over £500 on records whilst we were touring the country. And that's a great example as all four of us set off on the journey, never intended to buy any records or anything, but just while we were waiting, while somebody else was filming or in a free moment, we'd flick through the racks and find things. For me, that's the joy. Every shop is different and you're always going to find something that you like.
I always loved that thing when I was about 14 of going in to buy some particular record that I wanted to buy and taking it up to the counter and the person behind would say "you don't want to buy this shit! You want to listen to this!" And proceed to play some life changing, incredible thing you'd never have come across otherwise …
Again, there's lines in the film … I think Ashley from Spillers says that nothing beats giving somebody something over the counter and saying "have you heard this?" and it's so true, when that person comes back and goes "wow" it's absolutely fantastic – that's what record stores do. There's no hype, people have not paid for marketing space in the stores.
The nearest supermarket to me is a Sainsbury's and next to the tills they're always racking out one CD that they're promoting. Of course it's always something like Darius or Liam Jackson or Alexander Burke or some X Factor failure. That's always their big priority. I can remember record stores pushing Adele when she first came out, Florence and the Machine, whichever band made it, unless it's a TV reality type thing it's normally the independent record store that's picking up on it first and promoting it first.
I remember Revolver always used to have this blackboard outside with 'new in this week', all sorts of exciting stuff all handwritten in chalk. I could never walk past without going in …
That's a great example. I would always go to Bristol and visit 6 record stores in a day. Now I go to Bristol and sell to one record store, that's how times have changed, how tough it has got for independent record stores.
What I love about the film is that you don't propose that somehow record shops and independent shops should be pickled in aspic as a national treasure, or that they should be protected from predatory markets. The tone of the film is very upbeat and that actually on their own terms they're coming out fighting and finding a new way of doing things. In the wider context I suppose there's all the upsurge of micro-breweries and pop-up shops and all those kinds of businesses very much along the same lines. Do you get a sense that in the rebirth of the independent record shop there's a wider message for the economy?
I think what we're trying to do with the film, and it's definitely worked to that extent, is we wanted people to go back into a record store and check it out. If you've not been to a record store for a long time, go in and check it out, because these guys have been having an unfair playing field for many many years. With the scrapping of the low value consignment release they're now playing for the first time on a virtual level playing field.
It's also that we just felt that there's a movement of people who want to support independent businesses. We're sick of the big companies with their tax avoidance and their limited choice, and trying to force you to buy things that they want you to buy as opposed to what you're trying to buy.
With the film, we weren't saying you must only buy your stuff from an independent record store. What we were saying was, when you're buying music, the independent record store should be part of the way we buy our music.
There's nothing wrong with downloading and if people want to listen to Spotify then that's great, they're all good things. But it goes back to downloading versus buying a physical product, it's like the difference between instant coffee which I drink and proper coffee which I much prefer.
I'd like to think that anybody who sees the film and they run an independent business or are involved in an independent business, it would inspire them to feel that there's so much warmth out there for independent businesses. The one thing I've found from doing the film is that there are thousands and thousands of people like me who want to shop in an independent store and whose music taste goes beyond the X Factor!
Here in Totnes we've got The Drift Record Shop who are fantastic. One of the best record shops I've ever been to and they're just in our little town here. They're wonderful.
Fantastic. This week there's a new record shop opening in Plymouth. A couple of weeks ago there's a new record shop open in Cambridge. It's hard to believe that a university city like Cambridge hasn't had an independent record shop for 5 years. People are seeing there are opportunities in the country to open a record store if you're in a town that will have a demand for them. I generally feel that the numbers are going to stay a bit similar to what they are at the moment. I think the decline has definitely been halted. Between 2005-2009, 541 independent record stores closed down. Since 2009, we've actually had 12 more open than closed, which is fantastic news for me.


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Seats are still available in Ellen Chester's classes in April and Kathleen Littleton's classes in June. See details under Events. Location: 1212 NW 12th Avenue, Suite C2, Gainesville, FL 32605. Phone 352-275-7870. Hours Wednesday through Saturday, 10:30 to 3:30. Market party will be March 25th. International shipping has resumed.
My Big Toe sugar skull thread keep with diamond shaped charm.


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Rule #1 - Be Patient - Rule #2 - Don't ask when, if you don't contribute - Rule #3 - You have coding skills - LinuxMCE's small brother is available: http://www.agocontrol.com
Quote from: cirion on February 28, 2008, 04:45:31 pmAs VDR is now, it works only on the core and the menus are not finished.The EPG works fine. DVB cards must be installed in the Core only.Just to make it clear: So I must have my cards in the core, but it is also the only place I can watch Tv?
As VDR is now, it works only on the core and the menus are not finished.The EPG works fine. DVB cards must be installed in the Core only.
zaerc has a good point about the update part. will there be/is there a good update mechanism for patching things like that in lmce 0710? a new release and then a few patches every month to fix some stuff would be nice.
Andrew, I have installed Beta 4 but can't get Tv on my MDs. Do you still need to do the manual hack which slaves the video to the backend video - or can the MDs watch TV independently now?Chris
hi, any update on the 0710 final release? I'm kinda holding off a final install untill then.Will beta4 auto update to the final version?
Looks like there will be an RC1 (release candidate) release next week by the way
Quote from: totallymaxed on March 21, 2008, 12:27:57 pmLooks like there will be an RC1 (release candidate) release next week by the wayWe were just talking about it on IRC this morning. We have the 100% Xorg CPU usage under control now (using the config+driver combination tkmedia and hari tested), and ZWave is working about as well as we can expect until we do some major ZWave work. Unfortunately, the VIA issues don't look they are solvable by us, we need better drivers either from OpenChrome or VIA themselves, but this shouldn't hold up the release now that it has been investigated. Razvan is looking at the disked MD problem today, this looks like it is mostly an installation issue (I accidentally made a disked MD last week when making a former core a netbooted MD.)Some more testing needs to be done before a release candidate is cut, but the issues that remain are not really blockers.Hopefully we can begin working on 0804 soon...


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As the sun sets over Takoma Park, the customers start to arrive — a mother and son looking for early "Seinfeld" episodes, an illustrator hoping to find a cult horror film on VHS, a writer searching for a movie about someone who overcomes a physical or emotional challenge.
"Oh, I have this beautiful documentary about a rebirth through art called 'Marwencol,' " says Annie Solan, who, with her husband, Barry, has owned Takoma Park's Video Americain for the past 18 years.
She rushes to find the DVD amid haphazard stacks of movies. "Yes, here it is!" she calls out. "You see, it's about this broken man with no will to live. He creates these amazing replicas of an imaginary French community during World War II. It's just so moving."
A small group of customers and young clerks — cineastes, all — swarms around Annie, who, at 60, has long, wizardly gray hair, pink cheeks and a gentle, motherly manner. She starts to brainstorm a possible double feature.
"Maybe 'Crumb,' about the cartoonist," she suggests. "They're both about taking your issues and working through them with art."
This sort of film-school moment is a regular occurrence at Video Americain, which stocks everything from "La Dolce Vita" to "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey." Here, the movies are organized by director, and sections are devoted to everything from "Silent" to "Film Noir" to "British Kitchen Sink" (in which, explains Barry Solan, "the main character — a working-class antihero — usually gets sick in the sink at some point").
But this is Video Americain, and it's 2012. Last week, to no one's surprise, the Solans announced that they will close their doors at the end of next month. The store recently rented its final video and is now focused on selling off inventory. A committee of longtime customers is organizing a party Jan. 11 in the store's honor. Takoma Park TV will be on hand to record customers' memories.
In the heyday of video rental — the 1990s — the video store was one of six owned by the Solans. There is a surviving store in Baltimore's Roland Park neighborhood, but it, too, will soon have to move or close, Barry, 61, says. "I've run a lot of businesses that have failed spectacularly, and I've always been a buy-high-and-sell-low guy who's never had an interest in making a lot of money," he says.
On a recent afternoon, the couple collapse onto the lumpy sofa in the middle of the store for a chat. Beneath their feet is a worn carpet sprinkled with stray pistachio shells and crumbs from the mini-pretzels that Barry offers to customers. In front of them is a chipped coffee table piled high with movie catalogues, and above them is an aging flat-screen TV playing an episode of the 2003 BBC drama "The Lost Prince." They commute to the store from their home in Newark, Del.; a local couple often lets them sleep over in Takoma Park to save them the commute. And there's always that lumpy sofa.
Annie says the first movie she saw by herself was Franco Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet" (1968). She was 16, and she loved the film so much that she called her mother from a pay phone to ask if she could see it again. Barry says that he saw that same movie on one of his first dates.
The two met in 1975 at the State Theater in Newark, which Barry says was "a raggedy old vaudeville theater."
"I liked the cut of her jib," says Barry, who was running a small fleet of ice cream trucks that sold, among other treats, "Barry's Jewish-Italian water ice." She was a waitress at the local greasy spoon.
In 1979, after the ice cream truck business failed, Barry became a co-owner of the State Theater, where he proceeded to screen films such as "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Our Hitler," an eight-hour meditation on Nazi Germany.
"I didn't have looks. I didn't have prospects. I was living with my mother. So I thought I better be able to talk to girls about movies and life," says Barry, who is part self-deprecating stand-up comedian, part disheveled film professor.
Annie and Barry's first two dates were . . . movies. " 'The Passenger' and 'Woman Under the Influence,' perhaps a precursor to our married life," Barry laughs as Annie rolls her eyes.
They were married in 1981. Soon after, Barry bought several other theaters, including the Roxy in Philadelphia. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, with repertory movie theaters being overtaken by video, the couple began opening video stores. During that time, they also had three children — none of whom, Barry notes with a chuckle, works in the film industry.
Barry says he sees his parents' marriage duplicated in his own. "I'm the babbling frontman, and my wife's in the back doing all the work," he says as Annie, right on cue, jumps up to answer a customer's questions.
She doesn't mind.
"My great pleasure in life is creating double features," she says, adding that the combo of 1966 French comedy-drama "King of Hearts" and the 1971 black comedy "Harold and Maude" is one of her favorite suggestions to customers. "Or when people come in for two movies and they are looking for that third — there's something special about helping them find it."
Many of the Solans' past employees are self-described movie freaks who went on to become filmmakers. Sean Williams, 35, now a cinematographer, was dropped off by his mom every Saturday and spent hours amid the titles. "My entire high school experience was devoted to consuming high-quality cinema," he wrote in an e-mail from Cuba, where he is filming a movie. "I still have a hard time distinguishing the benefit of doing things rather than watching a movie."
Soon after he started to work for the Solans, Williams says, he realized that discussing movie plots with them was a great way to talk about life.
These days, Barry and Annie are the sort of counterculture parental figures whom everyone wants to hang out with, the kind of people who believe that life should always be about doing something that's intellectually and creatively fulfilling, even if it fails economically almost every time.
"Barry always offered his flaws upfront," Williams said. "But his attributes were so strong that the imperfections were simply a way for me to find the human element."
Part of the reason Video Americain endured was Takoma Park itself, the sort of progressive, offbeat town that's home to such customers as Pierre Perolle, who recently embarked on "a retirement project to view every French-language video that the store has." He made it through 462 and had about 100 to go when he heard about the closing.
"I knew it was coming, but I was devastated when it happened," Perolle said.
Denny May, 66, a Northern Virginia Community College English professor who lives two blocks from the store, made the very last video rental: "the very-food-conscious-Takoma-Park documentary 'King Corn.' " May says he always entered the store knowing "it was entirely possible we would never be able to find anything because of their system of shelving things by director or theme — but it was also so charming."
Neither Barry nor Annie is sure what the future holds. "If I'm really lucky, I'll work in film programming at some place like AFI," Barry says with as much hope as a Hollywood ending. "But," he adds with a dose of stark art-house realism, "I'll likely just end up working at Costco."
READ MORE: Video Americain's owners share their top 10 movie picks


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Located in the heart of Edinburgh City, an ideal base for exploring the Edinburgh Festival. A fabulous, secure modern complex with a good choice of apartment sizes suitable for both individual or group bookings.
Situated very close to Edinburgh Castle and the festival venues at George Square (Gilded Balloon, Udderbelly, Festival Theatre, Bedlam Theatre). This property offers double bedded ensuite rooms in either a four or five bed apartment and can be booked for both individual or group bookings. We also offer double occupancy ensuite studio apartments. Each apartment has a fully equipped kitchen and lounge area.
Property Features include,
24/7 Onsite Team
Common Room with Digital TV and DVD
Pay Phone
Pool Table
Secure Door Entry
Vending Machine
Onsite Laundry Room
Bike Storage
Features in the accommodation include,
Bedroom / Bathroom Features
Small Double Beds
Chest of Drawers
Desk & Chair
Double Bed in Studio
Shaver Point
Wash Basin
Independent living with no curfews, and secure keycard access to the builiding and to your own room.
Guests also have access to the common room with widescreen TV, pool table and laundry facilities.
Please note that the balance paid at Portsburgh Court will have a surcharge of 2% added if paid by credit card. There is no charge for debit card / cash.
Check in is from 2pm to 10pm. Please contact Portsburgh Court if you would like a late check in.
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14986 Hostels in Edinburgh (Scotland)
starting from €
Our team is your service to help you with your booking issues or answer any related questions


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Home » Electroacoustic/Contemporary » ROBB, J.D.: Rhythmania
ROBB, J.D.: Rhythmania
From 'Electronic Music: from Razor Blades to Moog', originally released in 1970 on Folkways, with the title track taken from Typtich, also on Folkways - all by J.D Robb, this is a collection of pieces by an American pioneer seldom mentioned or reissued but whose eccentric approach is certainly worth a hearing. These are sketches, classic bloops and bleeps, lots of echo, science fiction trilling pulses and distressed melodies. And a piece called Les Ondes Martinot but not played on one.. Not earth shattering but a useful missing piece in the jigsaw.
Code: L37
Price: £14.50


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Wednesday Wraparound
Wine and health? Don't worry, just drink the stuff
Red wine prevents cancer. White wine prevents cancer. It doesn't matter.
Wine is good for your bones. Wine is bad for your bones.
I don't know about you, but I'm bored with this constant bombardment of the latest, contradictory medical bulletins on wine's effect on health. People, get a grip! Don't drink wine just because you think it's good for you, and don't not drink wine just because you think it's bad for you. Drink wine if you like it. You'll die when you die.
Hello, how are you, now bugger off
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, in its wisdom, has decided that state store workers have to be more courteous, and is paying a consulting firm $173,000 to train them to say "hello," "thank you" and "come again."
This is what you get when you don't trust the free market to sell alcohol, but give it to state bureaucrats. Well, I'd like to thank you all for reading my blog (and pardon me if I forgot to welcome you). And at the end of this, I'll say goodbye, and give you a big, bright smile. Please come again, say hi to the Missus/Mister, pat your dog, and don't forget to have a nice day!
If Bernie Madoff sold wine
he might have come up with something like this, which would justify the life sentence he's likely to receive:
Seems a British investment bank is seeking wealthy investors to put up a minimum of 500,000 pounds (about $692,000) to buy into a "Bordeaux fund."
Well, if the conventional wisdom is to buy low, sell high, then Bordeaux just might be a good buy these days. After all, sales are plummeting, and the latest vintage, 2008, seems questionable.
Thoughts on Bill Foley
I wondered why Bill Foley bought Kuleto because, to be honest, the brand hasn't exactly been a superstar. The Cabernets are all right, but are under-performing for their price bracket, and the other reds are hit-and-miss. But then, Foley seems to like investing in wineries that aren't living up to their potential, like Firestone and Sebastiani. It's too early to say if he can turn things around, but I think he can. The guy's got good taste; without taste, all the money in the world is worthless.
Goodbye! Have a nice day, and don't forget to come again tomorrow!
Here's how 'free market' the PCLB is. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Buddy Hobart, president of Solutions 21 (the consulting firm that was awarded the courtesy training contract)…is married to Susanne Hobart, the Western Pennsylvania regional manager for the state store system."
Wine prevents cancer.
Wine causes cancer.
It sounds like a Democratic | Republican thing…
(I once had someone who works in the Pentagon – and loves wine – tell me that when the Republican's are in office, the taps close; and, when the Democrats return, the corks pop, again.
Post-Gazette: a reason to support your local newspaper. At least support good journalism, whether you read it on the internet or not.
While I ponder this good investigative reporting, wouldn't this revelation by the P-G run contrary to the "librul" media exposing a fellow "librul" bureaucracy and it's questionable contracts? Don, where are you on this one?
Love the health story roundup, Steve. I'm with you: drink because you like it. Everyone dies of something. Wine is a much better way to go than, say, high-fructose corn syrup.
I've followed the wine health newsline for a while now on my blog, and I've basically given up except for when I think the topic makes good fodder for poking fun at the entire situation.
As for the PLCB… don't get me started… have you seen my "the PLCB are Communists" thread at 1WineDude.com? Believe me, it's a LOT harder to stomach them when you actually live in the Communist-wealth of PA!
For physicians, this is an age old problem. The proclamations are as disparate, and problematic(see below) as any fool could dream up. Post knee replacement used to be followed with do lots of stairmaster exercise. Later proved to be the opposite (and some litigious souls sued both physical therapists as well as docs who ordered the exercise), yet that is what expert recommendations were at the time.
Olive oil is bad for your cardiovascular system…but Italians live very long lives because of olive oil in their diets.
Estrogen is good for menopausal symptoms, and no side effects…has become estrogen in small dosage is useful for menopausal sx, but can make females at higher risk for stroke, clots, breast ca.
As I said, "DISPARATE", and that is no joke. The list is endless, with Vit C, E, A, D, Zn, etc all mentioned in good/ bad scenarios. The wine thing is not the latest, but is just one of the latest. Just reading any medical journal anymore, one wonders exactly what to believe… and that's with physicians, mind you.
If you want to be the epitome of good health, high colonics are the thing, baby…just like LOUIE the XIV with his daily cotton ball enemas. (Really)Alternative health care is so far out there on some things it would be laughable if it weren't so absurd. The problem is that with many things there is a modicum of truth in it, so it makes it that much harder to refute, plus, some folks believe anything if they see it in print.
Part of this is the 24 hr news cycle, wherein any early controlled studies are verbally (or videocam) released before the peer review process sets in. Many of these one night wonders with recanting-the-next-day scenarios, are come-ons, intentionally released to scam people. With U-tube, the internet in general and cable news, the problem will not go away. Best way to deal with this "what am I supposed to believe" issue, is to give it some good thot, then do what seems best to you. But don't think this is going away any time soon…Too many people can grab a moment of stardom by coming up with some absurdity that eating X causes Y. And the more the cable networks cover this stuff, the more prevalent it gets.
As far as red wine goes, I agree that it can be bad for your health…if used frequently to excess, or even worse, if it smells and tastes like kerosene. We have all had some of those. But a really nice Cab/Syrah blend, like our Cerro Prieto Paso Bordo…man, how could that possibly NOT be good for you?
Really, all these studies drive me crazy (I do look at the studies). And miss the point.
Laugh and love when you drink and you will love longer or die happy.


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Iowa livestock farmers who've seen their pastures dry up and their hay supply dwindle may be able to find another source to feed their animals. Corn stalks can be chopped up and turned into silage.
Daniel Loy, a livestock specialist with Iowa State University's Extension Service, says the corn stalks must have about 60 to 70 percent moisture and stalks that look dry often have that much moisture inside.
"The key to quality harvest of silage is to exclude the oxygen…cover it with plastic or other material so that they can exclude as much oxygen as possible, and then it goes through a fermentation process which is almost exactly like pickling," Loy says.
That pickling process takes about three or four weeks.
"It will develop enough acidity and drop the pH to a level that actually will fight off the microorganisms that might cause it to deteriorate," Loy says. "It becomes stable at that point and that's why, if you've ever smelled corn silage, it has that sweet/sour aroma which is very much similar to what you would find in your pickle jar."
You can't just go out in a field and start chopping with a mower, however. It takes special equipment to cut silage.
"There are custom operators that will bag silage and put it into a big plastic bag which is kind of a silo-on-the-spot and there are also custom operators that will do the chopping and delivery," Loy says, "so if producers aren't really set up to harvest and store silage, there are opportunities for custom operators to help them do that."
But not every corn field that's judged a total loss for the farmer who wanted to harvest the corn in bushels can be sold as tons of silage. Some crop insurance policies bar farmers from chopping the corn plants for resale as silage. In other fields the nitrogen content of the corn stalks may be too high to be fed to livestock. But Loy says that four-week process of converting the chopped corn into pickled silage cuts the nitrogen levels.
"That can reduce the nitrates that (are) in the plant material by 30 to 80 percent, depending on the quality of the fermentation," Loy says. "So between diluting with other feed stuffs, between the reduction in nitrate that occurs during the ensiling process, the risk can be decreased quite substantially."
Loy advises farmers to visit with an expert if they've never chopped silage before and to check with an advisor before feeding silage to their livestock for the first time. ISU's Extension Service also has information posted online about silage, as well as other drought-related issues.


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Dear word sommelier: I recently read an article on the AMA Insider about usage of around, about, and approximately. The author counsels people to reserve around for casual contexts and to prefer approximately almost all of the time in technical or formal writing. And the author says that approximately is the most precise and around the least. Is it really that clear-cut?
The author is, without naming it, discussing what linguists call register – variation in style of English usage according to context. He (or she) is quite right that around, about, and approximately bring with them a generally decreasing amount of casualness (respectively) when used in their interchangeable sense.
Now, that casualness is the tone of the utterance, but presenting something with a casual tone also connotes a casual attitude towards the topic. I think if we were to look at usages of the three words, we would probably find that the degree of precision they communicate mathematically is actually pretty much identical – for any given user, "about 3:00," "around 3:00," and "approximately 3:00" will likely indicate pretty much the same time span. (I do lack hard data for this assertion, however; this is my unscientific observation. It's worth a real study.) It's really the level of concern communicated about precision that varies – a more casual usage conveys a more casual attitude. Also, about is the most standard option, and is thus more plain-vanilla than the other two. If about is ordinary daily-wear clothes, approximately is like putting on a suit with a tie, and around more like putting on your comfy old jeans with rips and frays.
So let's look at what the different words tend to convey in comparative usage:
"I'll be there at around three o'clock": I'll get there between 2:50 and 3:10, and I don't consider it a matter of great concern exactly where in there I arrive.
"I'll be there at about three o'clock": I'll get there between 2:50 and 3:10, and I perhaps consider it a matter of courtesy to try to look like I've made an effort to arrive close to 3:00.
"I'll be there at approximately three o'clock": I'm trying to sound technical and impressive. I'll get there between 2:50 and 3:10, and I want you to know that whatever time I arrive, it will be within the time period I specified; therefore, you may consider me punctual and scrupulous as long as I do not arrive outside of that time frame.
Let's try some more:
"That's about right." In my estimation, that is pretty much right – close enough, at least. It may in fact even be precisely right.
"That's around right." I don't think anyone would likely even say this; if they did, the hearer might not be sure of the meaning at first, thanks to the different meanings available for around.
"That's approximately right." That is not precisely right, and I want you to be aware that while it is within a not unreasonable margin of error of right, it could be more accurate.
"In any given week, approximately 175,000 Canadians are absent from work due to mental health issues." This is a formal report, and we want you to take these numbers as authoritative; our estimates are rounded to tidy numbers because it's not feasible to get exact figures on this, but you can assume that the real figure is likely within 5,000 of this.
"In any given week, about 175,000 Canadians are absent from work due to mental health issues." This is an article in a magazine or newspaper, and we want you to know that we have this number that is not precise but is reckoned to be within something like 5,000 of the real number.
"In any given week, around 175,000 Canadians are absent from work due to mental health issues." This is an article in a tone that is intended to be friendly and readable, and we want you to understand that this number is not precise – it may be off by as much as 5,000 or so – but it's suitable for giving you an impression and so we can get away with using it.
"Mom, we're heading out now, but I'll be back in around an hour." Don't fret if we're running late, because we're not that concerned, but it's likely going to be an hour plus (or maybe minus) 15 minutes.
"Mom, we're heading out now, but I'll be back in about an hour." I'm making you a promise, but not a precise one; I could be up to 15 minutes late (or early).
"Mom, we're heading out now, but I'll be back in approximately an hour." I want you to know that I'm paying attention to the time, but there are other factors that cannot be perfectly foreseen that may delay (or accelerate) or return by up to 15 minutes, and you can't start tapping your watch in 61 minutes because I have told you this is not a precise prediction.
The thing to remember (aside from that words are known by the company they keep) is that every utterance always takes part in a definition of the circumstance, the relation of the speaker and hearer, and their attitudes towards each other and towards the circumstance and topic. (This is why people who defend rudeness with "I'm just being honest" are lying to you and to themselves. They could communicate the same information with greater respect for the other person. They just want to convey contempt and get away with it.)
So if you use around in a technical document, it will always seem like an injection of lightness or unconcern, a bit of a hand-wave. That has its place, but one has to be careful. On the other hand, using approximately in casual conversation is also potentially humorous due to its insistence on sounding responsible, but in any context it conveys that you're covering your butt. As to about, it's not especially technical but it's not explicitly anything else either.


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In light of the "pandemic panic" which is presently creeping through our nation, and the world, I think it is important to step back, and put things into proper perspective.
Nothing captures the imagination like a new scourge, and too often we worry about remote risks while ignoring real dangers…The best antidote for this kind of fear is the facts – Marc Seigel, MD, NYU School of Medicine
Let's take a look at just a few of those facts. Globally in developed countries the yearly leading cause of death is Heart Disease (over 3 million) , and in Developing Countries: HIV/AIDS (over 2 1/2 Million) In America alone, the average annual death rate from heart disease is over 650,000. Cancer: 550,000. Our alcohol related deaths are over 75,000. And regular old influenza and pneumonia: anywhere from 36,000 to upwards of 64,000 nationally (due to conflicting data). Now, contrast that with the recent "Swine Flu" tally. Mexico = a few hundred. USA = 1. A Mexican toddler visiting Texas, who contracted the virus in Mexico and had "underlying health problems".
Bottom Line: No Need To Panic.
What the world needs now is healing by staying calm, and coming together. That can only happen if we refuse to buy into the media rumor mongering. We must reject panic & fear, and embrace peace & faith.
Are these perilous times? They are. But there is no need to fear. We can have peace in our hearts and peace in our homes. We can be an influence for good in this world, every one of us. – President Gordon B. Hinckley, 2002
One "influence for good" I find inspirational is a non-denominational organization formed four years ago called Playing For Change. The PFC team travels throughout the world, finding local street musicians, recording them, and then remixing the pieces into amazing works of art.
"Don't Worry" is the first original work recorded which was written by Pierre Minetti in Barcelona, Spain and speaks of the unity we all share on this planet. As the song states. "Let's don't worry my brother, in this world we are all the same, we must find peace…" The video features over 20 musicians from 4 continents who have never met in person, but are connected through the message and the music.
As children of God, each human being has unlimited power within themselves to create peace. We each can heal and lift and change the world for good, one person at a time. In short, let us choose to spread a "Pandemic of Peace" through word, deed and song.
Vodpod videos no longer available.


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By Caitlin Kelly
It's shocking and depressing that so many young people, struggling with their sexuality, identity, self-confidence and future wonder how they'll even survive the next few hours — bullied 24/7 by peers whose toxicity is relentless, vicious, heartless and widespread.
Yesterday's New York Times carried two stories about the aftermath of teens who killed themselves after having been bullied, one about Joe Bell, the father of 15-year-old Jadin Bell,who committed suicide, who was struck and killed as he walked across the U.S. to draw awareness to the issue, the other about two girls, 12 and 14 (WTH?) arrested in Florida for their behavior after their bullying led to the suicide of Rebecca Ann Sedwick:
In Internet shorthand it began "Yes, ik" — I know — "I bullied Rebecca
nd she killed herself." The writer concluded that she didn't care, using
an obscenity to make the point and a heart as a perverse flourish. Five
weeks ago, Rebecca Ann Sedwick, a seventh grader in Lakeland in central
Florida, jumped to her death from an abandoned cement factory silo
after enduring a year, on and off, of face-to-face and online bullying.
The Facebook post, Sheriff Grady Judd of Polk County said, was so
offensive that he decided to move forward with the arrest immediately
rather than continue to gather evidence. With a probable cause affidavit
in hand, he sent his deputies Monday night to arrest two girls, calling
them the "primary harassers." The first, a 14-year-old, is the one who
posted the comment Saturday, he said. The second is her friend, and
Rebecca's former best friend, a 12-year-old.
Both were charged with aggravated stalking, a third-degree felony and will be processed through the juvenile court system.
What on earth is driving these wretched children to torment one another to death?
"As a child, I can remember sticks and stones can break your bones but
words will never hurt you," the sheriff said. "Today, words stick
because they are printed and they are there forever."
I've blogged about this before and will likely return to it because, as someone badly bullied in high school for three years, I've lived this firsthand. It was long before the Internet, so my bullying was only daily, public and within the physical confines of my Toronto high school.
I arrived at my school at 14, reeling from the sudden move into my father's home after seven years with my mother; arriving halfway through the year into a group of people who had all grown up together in neighborhood schools and a girl both plagued with acne and intellectual confidence.
Bad combo.
I was nicknamed Doglin, barked at in the hallways and a dog biscuit was laid on my desk. Three boys spent a lot of time and energy making sure I was as miserable as they could possibly make me.
Thank heaven for dear friends, male and female, who kept me going. Thank heaven for winning awards for my writing, which buoyed my confidence. Thank heaven for a teen quiz show (then hosted by Jeopardy's host Alex Trebek) which I competed on two years in a row, taking our school to the semi-finals.
But once bullied, scarred for life.
Here's my USA Today essay about it.
If you have children you hope to protect from bullying, here's a link to a free webinar being offered Thursday October 17 at 8pm EST, 5pm PT.
Have you — or you kids — been bullied?
Are you working to prevent teen bullying?


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8696.0 - Community Services, Australia, 1995-96
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 10/02/1998
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Community services data reveals a large industry
At the end of June 1996, there were 8,058 employing businesses and organisations in Australia involved in providing community services, according to figures in a new report Community Services, Australia 1995-96 released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
These enterprises employed 321,059 people at the end of June and had a further 239,390 volunteers during the month of June 1996. Total expenditure by them was $9,736 million of which $8,515 million was spent on the direct provision of community services.
"Not for profit" organisations accounted for 49 per cent ($4,213 million) of the expenditure on direct community service activity. The remaining expenditure was by government organisations ($2,488 million) and "for profit" organisations ($1,814 million).
The major areas of expenditure on direct community service provision during 1995-96 were residential care and accommodation support ($5,005 million), personal and social support ($1,567 million) and child care ($1,026 million).
Nationally, government organisations pay private sector organisations $4,945 million for community service purposes and spend $211 million on social planning and policy development. Government organisations spend $2,488 million on direct community service delivery.
At the State and Territory level, direct community services expenditure in New South Wales ($3,327 million) was slightly higher than its share of the resident population, while expenditure in Victoria and Queensland was below. "Not for profit" organisations provided the majority of direct community service expenditure in all States and Territories, however, expenditure of "for profit" organisations was a relatively high 23 per cent of all direct community service expenditure in each of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.
The community service industry was dominated by female and part-time employees. Of the 98,897 persons working in the nursing home industry at the end of June 1996, 70,542 were part-time females. Similarly, 94 per cent of total employees (36,135) in the child care industry were females, of which 57 per cent worked on a part time basis.
Details are in Community Services, Australia 1995-96 (cat. no. 8696.0) available from ABS bookshops.
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Browse all 93 titles in Little Roaches series
Flea had an urge very deep inside. He would like to fly, only they said he couldn't. For anyone who dares to dream! Yvonne Jagtenberg (b. 1967) became known to pre-schoolers and their parents with her quirky and independent picture-book heroes Balotje and Herman, characters with a tough and infectious contrary nature. She trained as a teacher before going to study at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, an art school in Arnhem. She started work as an artist and soon chose to work in the field of children's books. Jagtenberg received the Charlotte Köhler Stipendium for her oeuvre and participated in Dutch Treats at the Eric Carle Museum in New York in 2006. In 2019 and 2020, she won the Gouden Penseel two years in succession, the top Dutch prize for the best illustrated book. In 2022 she won a Bronzen Penseel. Her picture books are also published in the US, England, France, Australia and Belgium and Japan. Little cockroaches is a new collection by Loopvis that will start in June 2019. Loopvis plans on a grand entrance in the Netherlands and Belgium bookshops where they will roll a complete card mill, filled with 32 little Cockroaches. Each booklet comes with a matching envelope. Themed Little cockroaches will become small collectibles. As for Themes, think of a story to comfort someone who has a hard time, something about birthdays, being sick or sad, about the death of a relative or pet, about moving, about friends (or the lack of, about getting used to a new school or sister, or about a safari in your own back yard... the list is endless. Categories: There will be 4 categories: fiction, poetry, young and culinary. The aforementioned topics can be found in all these categories. A collection of poems about death in the poetry category, a story about friendship in Young, consoling recipes in a culinary booklet and celebrating a literary treatise on birthday in Literature. Illustrations The most important thing of course is the content. Each booklet is illustrated in 2, 3 or 4 colors, in comics style, or line drawing, or 4 color illustrations. All styles and art are welcome! Frequency: after the first batch of 32 little cockroaches, every two months four to eight new titles come out, divided over the different categories. In addition, a series of 'special editions' will appear at various times during the year. A series of cockroaches around a certain (current) theme such as sports, public holidays and so on. Specifications The booklets are 12x17 cm and count 16 pages with a cover of thicker paper. They are bound with a bindrsstitch, which makes them considerably more elegant than stapled booklets. Everything is produced within the Netherlands. The printing is done by a sustainable printer in Groningen and all paper comes from Europe. The name: even should the earth be devastated, cockroaches will survive. The same applies to us, makers of texts and illustrations: however difficult and how minimal the earnings are, people will always keep writing, drawing, dancing, etc. We hope that our Little cockroaches will spread all over the world, just like a plague. And finally: the name lingers. Whether you are horrified by cockroaches or not, it is something that you won't immediately forget!