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Redesigned protein opens door for safer gene therapy
A fusion protein engineered by researchers at KU Leuven combining proteins active in HIV and Moloney murine leukaemia virus (MLV) replication may lead to safer, more effective retroviral gene therapy.
Gene therapy involves inserting healthy genetic material into a diseased cell. Using a carrier derived from a retrovirus, the genetic material is smuggled into a human cell where, once inside, it integrates itself into the cell's DNA. But gene therapy is not without risks. If integrated too near a carcinogenic gene, the newly introduced genetic material can also induce disease-causing mutations.
In gene therapy, the delivery vehicle is not the retrovirus itself, but a viral vector: a derivative form of the retrovirus that retains its proteins but not its DNA. One of the most widely used viral vectors is derived from MLV. But this particular virus-borne carrier is both a weapon and a risk. It can cure disease but, if inscribed in the wrong place in a cell's DNA, it can also cause leukaemia.
A separate protein, which plays a role in HIV, does not have that problem. It only integrates itself in 'safe' places in the host cell's DNA.
The researchers put one and two together to create a safer viral vector: "We developed a fused protein with the head of the protein that HIV uses and the tail of the protein that MLV uses," Dr. Rik Gijsbers explains.
Writing in Cell Reports, the researchers say their retrofitted retroviral vector works: "Our experiments with cell cultures show that in the presence of this protein, the viral vector always inscribes itself in a safe place, just as it does in the HIV virus," says Dr. Gijsbers.
Several years ago, scientists successfully used viral vectors derived from MLV to treat a congenital immune system abnormality in children. Some of these children later developed leukaemia. "In these cases, the viral vector embedded itself near a carcinogenic gene," explains Professor Zeger Debyser, the corresponding author. "This disrupts the gene and leads to a higher leukaemia risk – a serious setback for gene therapy. It put a heavy damper on gene therapy's future development."
Until recently, it was not known how or why retroviruses inscribed themselves near cancer genes. Research by the Molecular Virology and Gene Therapy research group at KU Leuven sheds new light on this enigma. Their previous research into HIV proved essential, says Dr. Jan De Rijck: "In 2003, we discovered that HIV uses a particular protein as an anchor to embed itself into the host cell. We asked ourselves whether MLV used a different protein in a similar way, and that was indeed the case. The BET (bromodomain and extraterminal, eds.) proteins we found are the anchors of MLV." This discovery led the KU Leuven researchers to develop the fusion protein.
Though the initial results are promising, more research is needed to refine them, says Dr. Gijsbers. "But this definitely opens new avenues in the search for a new generation of safe viral vectors in gene therapy, particularly for various blood diseases."
More information: www.cell.com/cell-reports/full … 2211-1247(13)00563-9


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- 2.6g tube of 100% natural Lip Shimmer in Cherry
- Conditions with shea butter, beeswax and vitamin E
- Rich fruit oils nourish and peppermint invigorates
Treat your lips to a vibrant, juicy red hue, a blend of rich conditioners and a smooch of invigorating peppermint flavour, all with a tube of Burt's Bees® Lip Shimmer in Cherry. This 100% natural, luminescent lip colour moisturises and softens lips with shea butter, beeswax and nourishing fruit oils.
And like all Burt's Bees® Lip Shimmers, from neutrals, to pinks, to plums and reds, it contains no parabens, phthalates, petrolatum or SLS, so you can feel good about using it. No one knows colour better than nature, and nobody knows natural lip colour better than Burt's Bees®.
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ricinus communis (castor) seed oil, helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, beeswax, euphorbia cerifera wax, mentha piperita (peppermint) oil, lanolin, theobroma cacao (cocoa) seed butter, copernicia cerifera wax, butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, fragaria ananassa (strawberry) seed oil, prunus armeniaca apricot) kernel oil, ribes nigrum black currant) seed oil, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, sambucus nigra (elderberry) seed oil, tocopherol, canola oil, glycine soja (soybean) oil. +/-: mica, iron oxides, carmine, alumina, titanium dioxide.
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A Song About Eponyms
NPR brings us "Wanna Live Forever? Become A Noun" -- a song about eponyms. It's a nice introduction to the term, and includes one I hadn't heard about before: the origin of the word "dunce." Enjoy, my fellow word nerds:
Music and animation by Adam Cole.
For further reading, check out our extensive coverage of eponyms: The Eponym Quiz; Eponym Vocab Rehab; Weekend Word Wrap: eponyms; Debunking Etymological Myths; and 10 Awful Words and the People They're Named For.


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Casey unlocked a badge!
Brewery Pioneer (Level 4)
There's beer in them thar hills! You're setting off on your journey through the world of beer, but be sure to take a little time to get to know each brewery as you go. That's a beer from 20 different breweries. Try 5 more for Level 5!
Wed, 01 Feb 2023 01:40:39 +0000


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Expert's Rating
- Watch your home HDTV content on any PC, Mac, iPad, or smartphone with a decent broadband hookup
- $100 device supports live, recorded, and on-demand programs
- Control with a virtual remote
- Can only stream analog output from your set-top box; no 5.1 or 7.1 audio support
- Remote control suffers from serious lag
- Limited DVR functionality
Our Verdict
If you've ever spent any time channel surfing in a hotel room, chances are you'll immediately see the appeal of place-shifting technology, which allows you to watch your home TV programs remotely by streaming them over the Internet to a PC, Mac, or smartphone. One of Monsoon Multimedia's latest offerings in this category, the Vulkano Flow, costs $100 (as of 7/7/2011), supports high-def video, and works pretty well if your remote broadband connection meets its modest bandwidth demands. But you have to accept some image quality compromises, and its controls for remote access generally work extremely slowly.
Like the more full-featured (and pricey) Vulkano Deluxe ( ) I reviewed earlier this year, the Flow works by intercepting the video stream that travels between your cable or satellite box and your HDTV, and making it available via the Internet to player software that you can download and install on a PC, Mac, smartphone, or tablet. The Mac and PC players are free, but you have to pay $13 for the Vulkano Player for Flow and Blast iOS app, as well as apps on other platforms.
The main drawback of this scheme is that most current HD cable or satellite boxes connect to HDTVs via an HDMI cable, which securely delivers both high-def digital video and 5.1 or 7.1 audio, too. Copy-protection technology doesn't allow an unauthorized third-party device such as a Vulkano to grab a copy of the digital signal en route to your set. So the best a Vulkano can do is to use the set-top box's analog outputs, which don't have those security issues but also can't deliver the pristine quality of the digital video signal. For audio, meanwhile, the Vulkano can only use the box's analog stereo outputs—forget 5.1, let alone 7.1.
This isn't ideal, but on a small smartphone or laptop display, the video quality issues are less apparent than they would be on a big HDTV screen.
Like its predecessors, the Vulkano Flow is a black, keyboard-sized slab. It comes with cables to connect to a set-top box's analog outputs for either component or composite video, and for stereo audio. Component video, which uses three separate cables, delivers the best quality analog connection; composite video carries all the image info on a single cable and isn't quite as good.
You must provide your own cables for connecting the Flow to the HDTV. The quick setup guide blithely declares that you can use the same cables you previously used to connect the set-top box directly to the TV, but if you have been using an HDMI cable, you can't do this—the Flow has no HDMI port (as did the Deluxe). So you're on your own for finding another set of analog cables that match the ones you use to connect the Flow to the set-top box (the instructions say the two sets of cables must be the same).
Aside from the setup guide's failure to address this issue, however, the lack of a second set of analog cables may not be as stingy as it sounds: Many HDTVs do come with component cables that sit unused because HDMI does deliver superior quality. Check your set's manual to see if there should be one kicking around someplace, or pay a few dollars to get the second set of cables. Also, you can still enjoy the superior quality of digital video once you finish the setup routine: Simply keep the HDMI connection between the set-top box and the TV, and use the HDMI input as the TV's video source.
You must also connect the Vulkano Flow to your home network. I ran an ethernet cable between its gigabit ethernet port and a free port on a HomePlug AV switch, but the Flow also has integrated support for 802.11n Wi-Fi. However, I experienced problems trying to watch TV remotely over a Wi-Fi connection, especially when the remote connection also used Wi-Fi. In general, I strongly recommend using a wired connection for streaming media.
Once all the connections are in place and you've pugged the Flow's AC cord into a wall outlet, you must switch the TV to the input the Flow uses, and then complete setup through either the PC or Mac software player. The player detects the presence of a Flow on the network and prompts you to give it a name and a password. You must also enter your location and cable or satellite service provider, so that the unit can download the appropriate electronic program guide.
You must specify the brand and model of your set-top box so that the software players can control the set through virtual remotes that prompt the Flow to send commands via infrared, the same way an actual remote does. The Vulkano Flow can emit infrared signals on its own, but if the box doesn't respond to them (mine didn't), you can plug in an included infrared blaster cable to focus the signals more precisely.
With the blaster connected, my set-top box responded accurately to all commands sent from my players. But several seconds of lag always occur, during which the player screen blacks out as it processes the command and buffers content. This can be particularly annoying when you are using a virtual jog wheel to scroll through menus embedded in other menus. You have to wait several seconds for each and every scrolling operation, so it can take half a minute or more to get to a program choice, for example.
Once video playback began, however, the quality was quite good on the shows I watched on a notebook PC and on my iPad over a hotel Wi-Fi connection. With my iPhone, quality varied widely depending on the quality of my data connection. It was generally good with Wi-Fi, but over AT&T's 3G network, I sometimes got messages saying there wasn't enough bandwidth for video (in which case the player simply provided audio without images until it was able to add the video). The players show you what sort of speed they're getting, and when the video can play at roughly 400 kpbs or faster, it was at least watchable if not surprisingly good.
The player app now allows recording directly to a mobile device. This is available first on the iPhone and iPad, and is coming soon for Android. The app adds full DVR capabilities, so you can pause, rewind, and fast-forward through video you've recorded. On iOS, it records as an H.264+AAC MP4 file, at either 640-by-480 or 352-by-240 resolution. If you get record-happy, don't worry—you'll get a warning that you have insufficient memory.
What I really like about the Vulkano system is that it lets you watch pretty much anything you could see sitting in front of your TV. Using the virtual remote, you can not only change channels but also access shows recorded on the integrated DVR, or even Comcast's on-demand content. I was able, for example, to watch the first episode of HBO's Game of Thrones in a Seattle hotel room with no real problem. The quality certainly fell short of the digital version on my 42-inch 1080p plasma (resolution tops out at 720 by 480 pixels, and Monsoon recommends using lower resolutions when outside your home network), but I encountered practically no skips or stutters.
The experience was best on my notebook PC because the player includes an actual visual replica of the Comcast remote I use at home, complete with some (but not all) clickable buttons. On the iPad and iPhone players, you get generic remote menus that don't provide all the controls available on the PC player's remote. On the mobile devices, for example, I wasn't able to figure out how to pause and restart or rewind a recorded or on-demand program.
The players give you some context-sensitive settings options, including screen resolution and aspect ratio. Although the Flow lacks built-in storage (which was included in the earlier model I tested), the players can still record programs while you're watching them and save them to the hard drive or flash memory of the device running the player. However, you can't schedule recordings using the electronic programming guide, so the DVR capability is more like a backup for when you have to walk away from a show in progress.
Macworld's buying advice
Overall, I enjoyed watching my TV remotely using the Flow and various software players. The quality was better than I'd experienced with older versions, and I particularly liked being able to access my DVR recordings and on-demand content, since that's the content I watch most frequently (I rarely watch live TV at home). The only thing that really can be irritating is having to wait for the remote to get through menus that at home you'd be able to navigate in a few seconds.
Of course, audio and video quality takes a hit (and I'd highly recommend listening to the audio with a headset since the volume through speakers tends to be rather low, even when turned up all the way). But that hit is not big enough to preclude enjoyment, especially when your only other options are the generally limited TV lineups you get when you travel. Also, when I'm at home, I can still watch the best quality HDTV using the HDMI input from my HD cable box—there's no reason to disconnect it, and you really only need to tune to the analog input from the Flow during setup. The only conceivable problem that might arise is if two people attempt to control the set-top box simultaneously, one at home and one using a Vulkano player remotely.
Monsoon's decision to drop some features (most notably the more elaborate DVR functionality and built-in storage) and market a lower-priced unit seems like a good one. When I'm on the road, a price of $100 (with no service charges) seems like a bargain for a product that allows you to watch pretty good versions of the programs I enjoy at home.


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PLT Health Solutions
P.L. Thomas, a New Jersey based ingredient supplier, offers more than fifty years of innovation in securing science-based, quality raw materials for the cosmeceuticals, dietary supplement, food, industries. PLT specializes in science-based, value added natural ingredients for both topical and oral nutricosmetics.
PLT's portfolio of brands includes SkinGestPSOR, Lipowheat natural ceramides, MyraCetill which reduces appearance of cellulite, GliSODin for UV protection, nudremyl which smoothes wrinkles and preserves facial expression (un-botox-like effect).
PLT, home of the "Fibroblast The Skin Treasure Cell". Fibroblast is the multi-tasking mechanism which produces the major components of the extra cellular matrix: collagen, elastin, GAGs, and participates in skin regeneration, healing and immune defense.


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Lindsay Lohan's Siblings -- Our Dad Is a Liar
Lindsay Lohan's Siblings Our Dad Is a Liar
Michael Lohan's OTHER children have a clear message for their dad -- he needs to stop spreading lies about Lindsay and their family ... because they want nothing to do with him.
TMZ spoke to Michael Jr., Ali and Cody Lohan about their father's recent antics, specifically his LiLo "intervention" -- and they tell us, it's just a desperate attempt to destroy their family.
Michael Jr. says, "I think it's unfortunate that the public had to be unwittingly invited into the lives of my family members due to my father's lies" -- then adds he and his siblings no longer associate with their dad.
Ali tells us ... Michael's recent attacks against Dina Lohan were the last straw, saying "Please stop waging your own personal war against my family. We don't need you to intervene because we can take care of ourselves without you, as we have been all these years."
Cody added "I have no good memories of my so called father. He has never been part of my life, he needs to leave my family alone."
From the mouths of babes.


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Assisted Reproduction Centre
In-vitro fertilisation (IVF):
1) stimulating the maturation of several follicles in the woman
2) removing oocytes via ultra-sound guided transvaginal puncture
3) placing them in a culture medium
4) adding a sperm suspension
5) leaving the mixture to fertilise spontaneously in an incubator.
After embryo culture lasting 2 to 5 days, a limited number of embryos are placed into the uterus in accordance with legal provisions.
Embryo in different stages: 2-cell and 4-cell stage:
IVF is used in the treatment of tubal obstructions, endometriosis, moderate sperm deficiency and idiopathic and immunological sterility.
The success rate can be expressed in various ways and depends above all on the age of the woman and the number of embryos replaced. Overall, for a case under the age of 36 and with a single embryo (legal stipulation during the first two cycles at least), the rate of delivery is around 20% per cycle, which is approximately identical to the success rate for a couple of the same age who do not have any difficulties reproducing.
There are few complications with IVF. Possible complications are:
- In less than 2/100 of cycles stimulated: ovarian hyperstimulation resulting in swelling of the abdomen (which fills with liquid), which, in rare cases, requires hospitalisation for several days with punctuation extraction and an infusion to restore the altered hydromineral balance.
- In less than 2/1000 cases: oocyte puncture which causes an old infection of the tubes to flare up again requiring treatment with antibiotics and hospitalisation for several days.
- And also very rarely (1/1000), IVF can lead to delayed bleeding from the various follicles punctured.
Children born through IVF have a frequency rate of congenital malformation or chromosome alteration equal to the normal rate, i.e. approximately 2/100.
The highest risk linked with IVF was previously twin pregnancy (20% of pregnancies until 2003) and triplet pregnancy (previously 2% of pregnancies); under current provisions (transfer of a single embryo for young women) these risks are reduced to approximately 10% and 0.2% respectively.


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"Anyone who nonconsensually violates your brain/mind/mentation using Mengele-like methods is a Nazi pig. You do not care what a Nazi pig thinks. You do not care about a Nazi pig's opinions. You do not respond to a Nazi pig ridiculing you, threatening you, trying to distract you, or otherwise trying to manipulate you. You work to get a Nazi pig hanged." - Allen Barker, NPT Theorem
Friday, April 3, 2015
Targeted Individuals Speaks! (1/4)
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
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I always find it interesting when people substitute alternate words for curse words. I can understand it with children, or in published materials like here on the blog, but in most cases isn't the thought of the original curse word and substituting it just as bad as uttering it? With that, if I stay on this line of thought and don't get on to Maggie, I'll be in a bunch of HECK! Here's Maggie….
My friend Paul shared this recipe with me about 20 years ago, and I make it all the time. This salsa and chips is one of my favorite meals. I make this every time we have a party or guests of any sort. Our friends expect it, and there would be H-E- double hockey sticks to pay if I didn't have a big bowl of it at every gathering.
There are lots of similar recipes out there, but this one is my favorite- I like the corn and tomatoes and the kick of the vinegar and lime. Sometimes when I am feeling extra sassy I buy the diced tomatoes with Jalapeno peppers. Also yummy!
Fine with me because I love to eat it, it is super-healthy, and requires no cooking. The hardest part is pitting and dicing the avocados! One of my friends with whom I share the recipe insists that I gave her the wrong one because it doesn't taste as good as mine. My theory is anything someone else makes for you is always better! Sorry, Tammy! This one's for you!!
Black Bean and Avocado Salsa
What you need:
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of white shoe peg corn
2-3 avocados, diced
2-3 small tomatoes, diced, or 1 can of diced tomatoes, drained
¼ cup olive oil- spring for the good stuff
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
Juice from one lime
4 Tbs chopped cilantro
What you do:
Mix all ingredients. Serve with tortilla chips. Chill any leftovers.


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I had several readers write and ask about the bowl in yesterdays picture post. There was enough interest that I sat down and designed my version of the bowl. There are two bowls in the pattern book. One is 5 1/2" and the other is 7".
I used 1/4" thick wood for the 5 1/2" bowl in the picture above. If you make the 7" bowl I suggest you use 3/8" thick wood. That would make the larger bowl stand a little over 2 1/2" tall. These are just suggestions. Experiment and see what pleases your eye.
One way to add a little contrast is to make two bowls from a light colored wood and a dark wood. Then mix and match the pieces when you put them together. You might as well stack cut the two bowls and get two for the price of one.
Here is my monthly plea to be patient if you are expecting a reply to an email. As usual I am way behind.
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Fong Sam of Los Angeles has organized Blacksparrow Auctions to sell collectibles within the categories of pop culture, posters, entertainment memorabilia, 20th century, contemporary and historical memorabilia. His first sale, on February 10th, is The Arthur Ronnie Collection: Books & Autographs, and in a uncommon departure from auction house custom, will be fully unreserved. It begins at 11:00 am PST. "The material is very appealing and every item will be sold." This will not be Mr. Sam's first experience in the rooms. For the past 14 years he's been involved in all aspects of the auction trade working for and working his way up at Profiles in History.
Public viewing is from February 4th to the 9th at the James Gray Gallery in the Bergamot Station Art Center, 2525 Michigan Avenue, Building D4, Santa Monica, California 90904. The sale will also be conducted here.
The following description of the material is taken from a news release prepared by the firm.
This is an unprecedented selection of over 200 lots assembled by an individual collector who personally interviewed many of the authors and obtained autographs for over 70 years throughout his career as a newspaper reporter and as a publicist in the entertainment field. The collection features presidents, explorers, aviation, and Hollywood entertainment. A few of the many highlights include:
· Under the North Pole: The Wilkins-Ellsworth Submarine Expedition, Lincoln Ellsworth's copy
· 20 hrs. 40 min. Our Flight in the Friendship. The American Girl, First Across the Atlantic by Air, Tells Her Story, Amelia Earhart's personal copy with piece of fabric from the Friendship
· The Fun of It: Random Records of My Own Flying and of Women in Aviation, Amelia Earhart's copy with her bookplate and signature, as well as the signatures of other early aviatrixes
· The Spirit of St. Louis, Presentation Edition signed by Charles A. Lindbergh, T. Claude Ryan, Otto W. Timm, and Bud Gurney
· WE. The Famous Flier's Own Story of his Life and his Transatlantic flight, together with his views on the future of Aviation, Signed Limited Edition, additionally signed by T. Claude Ryan, Otto W. Timm, and Bud Gurney
· Memoirs by Harry S. Truman, both volumes inscribed
· The White House Years: Waging Peace, 1956-1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Signed Limited Edition
· Listen! The Wind and North to the Orient, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, each book signed by Anne Morrow Lindbergh and Charles Lindbergh


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Does Hysterical Strength Really Exist?
You hear about cases every so often: a mother lifting a car to rescue a pinned child, performing a feat of strength not usually available to humans. Evidence is almost always anecdotal -- like when a man in Arizona lifted a car to free a cyclist who'd been hit and dragged in 2006, witnessed only by those involved in the accident -- but these things happen so rarely (if they do indeed happen at all) that it's difficult to observe them under repeatable, scientific circumstances. But while proof of the events themselves remains hearsay, there is a theory, at least, among researchers that such things are at least possible.
It's all about adrenaline. Some believe that on a day-to-day basis we only use a small percentage of our muscles' capability. But adrenaline and noradrenaline, hormones that creates a state of fight-or-flight readiness in stressed humans, have the capability to raise the heart rate, dilate the pupils, increase respiration, slow digestion and, yes, allow muscles to contract more than they would normally. Here's a more technical blow-by-blow from Discovery Health:
When adrenaline is released by the adrenal medulla -- an interior region of the adrenal glands, which are located just above your kidneys -- it allows blood to flow more easily to your muscles. This means that more oxygen is carried to your muscles by the extra blood, which allows your muscles to function at elevated levels. Skeletal muscles -- those attached to bones by tendons -- are activated by electrical impulses from the nervous system. When they're stimulated, muscles contract, meaning they shorten and tighten. This is what happens when you lift an object, run or throw a punch. Adrenaline also facilitates the conversion of the body's fuel source (glycogen) into its fuel (glucose). This carbohydrate gives energy to muscles, and a sudden burst of glucose also allows muscles to strengthen further.
So does that mean it's possible to perform superhuman feats of strength? The evidence is frustratingly thin here -- but there's one example of our muscles' amazing capabilities that may point to the possibility of hysterical strength, and that's what happens when our bodies are shocked with electricity. You've heard of people being thrown across rooms by shocks, or their hands clamping down on live wires so hard they can't be loosed? It's not the current that causes it, but our muscles' reaction to the current. If nothing else, it demonstrates the potential for muscle use that's not normally available to us.
So the verdict is: maybe! But until scientists begin staging lab experiments where moms have to pull their children out from underneath cars, we may never know for certain.


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From Kenya to Washington: Who's to Blame for Wasted Food Aid?
Special interest lobbyists are working to impose rules that require food aid to be purchased from preferred growers in the U.S.
Abdoulai Mohamed is a 60-year-old small businessman in Turkana, Kenya. Abdoulai did not follow the traditional pastoralist way of life as generations of his family had done before. Instead, he took out a loan and set up one of the first shops in his community, selling basic food staples like corn and flour.
When drought spread across the region in 2011, Abdoulai and his wife, Asinyen, gave food to their customers on credit, allowing many poor farmers to borrow what they needed to get by. As the crisis worsened some struggled to settle these debts and it was difficult to keep the store's shelves stocked without paying customers.
But thanks to a program funded in part by USAID, which helps make food available by assisting local businesses and ensuring food supply chains are intact, many of these outstanding balances were repaid, and families were able to buy the food they needed. This program has helped more than 5,500 drought-stricken families survive, keeping the local economy alive with food flowing from local farmers through local businesses and into poor households.
Abdoulai's story is one of community perseverance, but it is also an untold story about the effective role U.S. assistance and Washington can play. In a sense, Washington and the Horn of Africa are very much alike. From afar it is hard to know that there are any success stories to be told. In the Horn, where millions have been impacted by famine and conflict, news reports consistently highlight the suffering and sorrow. From Washington, we hear only the tales of endless dysfunction and partisan warfare.
Surely both places have problems. But as I've witnessed first-hand, the view from up close is much more complex. I've seen unimaginable ingenuity and generosity as communities work together to tackle crises and find hope in disaster. Because of the support of the American people and the hard work of a few unsung heroes, Abdoulai and Asinyen got the tools and opportunity to forge their own solutions. Now they and many others are weathering this crisis and have real hope for their children to pursue a better future.
Sadly, Washington does not always work this way. Too often our aid programs suffer from the same insider games by D.C. operators that Americans complain about. Take the U.S. food aid program. Helping hungry people during food crises is an essential part of U.S. foreign policy; it reduces instability around the world and protects the most vulnerable communities from catastrophe.
But right now special interest lobbyists are working to impose rules and regulations that benefit themselves, cost lives, and waste taxpayer dollars. Under our current program a group of lobbyists and trade organizations, representing businesses and industries that stand to profit from aid dollars, have convinced Congress to write the rules to work in their favor.
These rules require that food aid be purchased from preferred growers in the U.S. and shipped from the U.S. on preferred ships instead of finding the best prices and sources of food that will save the most lives at the lowest cost. This red-tape is not about empowering people like Abdullah to help themselves, it's about big business cashing in. The result is that less food gets to hungry people when they need it. Because of these rules up to 32 cents of every $1 spent on food aid goes to waste.
Some will hear this and say that the U.S. should get out of the aid business altogether. They are wrong. America is better than that. We cannot turn a blind eye on the millions of people whose lives are on the line and expect to live in a safe and stable world.
But we do need to heed the lessons of our own successes. The hard truth is that if we want our aid programs to work, we are going to have to stop treating them like corporate welfare. We need to cut the red tape that prevents aid agencies from buying food aid locally and regionally from farmers in developing countries. This will require courage from legislators to stand-up to powerful lobbyists and keep their hands out of the food-aid cookie jar.
This month Congress will take up the issue as part of negotiations over the Farm Bill. That will be their opportunity to do what Abdoulai and Asinyen have done for Kenya and prove that our perceptions about Washington are wrong.
Image: M. Cornelius/Shutterstock.


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Baltimore County passes stormwater fee schedule
Stormwater fee money meant to fund cleanup of runoff
Residents are upset and confused over the proposed stormwater fees based on the amount of hard surfaces on property.
The money will be used to curb stormwater pollution that ends up in the Chesapeake Bay. Critics call it the rain tax, making some people think residents will be taxed every time it rains, but that's not the case.
Ten of the most populated areas of Maryland are required to have a storm management program and a funding source for it by July 1.
Nonprofits, such as churches and associated charities, will be hit hard.
"It's not like we have customers or consumers that it can be passed onto," said Bill McCarthy, of Catholic Charities. "Either exempt nonprofits or at least apply a smaller rate."
The Baltimore County Council passed the schedule of stormwater fees Monday night with amendments, which were not immediately available.
Baltimore County anticipates generating more than $24 million a year to help reduce pollution runoff into the bay. Their fee schedule is expected to take effect April 29 at a rate of $69 per 2,000 square feet of impervious or hard surfaces for nonresidential properties, which includes office buildings, hotels, retail outlets, warehouses, apartment complexes and other commercial properties.
The rate will be a $36 flat rate for single-family detached homes per 2,000 square feet and nonprofit organizations -- including churches. The fee would be a $29 flat fee for condo owners and an $18 flat rate for townhouses and duplexes.
According to the state law that passed last year and takes effect in July, only volunteer firefighters are exempt.
A property owner can appeal the fee to the county administrative officer if the property was incorrectly classified, or if there were errors in calculating the impervious surface.
There's also an exemption for hardship: If a commercial property owner can demonstrate they are engaged in practices that reduce storm runoff, they may get a reduction in fees. Nonprofits, such as churches, could receive 100 percent reimbursement for capturing or significantly reducing stormwater runoff. Those efforts could also be awarded by a reduction in fees.


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Inside Line Promotions
– COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (May 16) – Two nights, two wrecks, too many obstacles.
That pretty much summarizes last weekend for Trey Starks, who was anything but happy after crashing in both nights of the ASCS Northwest Region's opening races at the Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore.
"I couldn't figure out how to drive the car and we couldn't figure out how to set it up well," he said. "It was one of those weekends that you don't want to remember."
The 15-year-old from Puyallup, Wash., opened the weekend when he spun out while battling another driver during the heat race on Friday. Starks then drove from 10th to fifth in the B Main, missing a transfer by only one position.
However, this year the ASCS Northwest has established a Last Chance Race, which is an eight-lap dash for the final position in the feature. Starks led all eight laps for the win and transferred to the main event.
That was the positive moment of the night as Starks slid off the track in turn three, hitting a U-tire and ending his race in 20th several laps into the feature. The impact damaged the front axel, bent the engine plate, ripped the torque tube out of the rear end and bent up the wings and panels among other things.
The team pieced the car together for Saturday's race and it ran well in hot laps; actually, three-tenths of a second faster than anyone else. However, Starks, who started third in his heat race, struggled to get to the top line quickly and a fifth-place finish relegated him to the B Main.
He was scheduled to start on the pole, but he spun out on the warm-up lap and had to start in ninth. That lit a fire under the teenage driver, who rocketed to a top-three finish to earn a transfer to the feature.
Starks then drove from 18th to 13th before turn three bit him again. As he was trying to power by another driver on the top, Starks spun around and backed into the wall in turn four. With a damaged tank and rear nerf, Starks restarted in the back and finished 16th.
"We were just off this weekend," he said. "I was definitely not on top of my game either."
Starks will stay in Washington to race Saturday at either Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma or at Skagit Speedway in Alger.
"I just hope this week goes better," he said.
May 13 – Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore. – Heat race: 8 (3); B Main: 5 (10); Last Chance Race: 1 (1); Feature: 20 (20).
May 14 – Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore. – Heat race: 5 (3); B Main: 3 (1); Feature: 16 (18).
17 races, 15 features, 0 wins, 1 top five, 4 top 10s, 7 top 15s, 13 top 20s
Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash., or at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash.
8: Laps Starks led to claim the ASCS Northwest Region's first-ever Last Chance Race to advance to the feature last Friday at the Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore.
Website: www.treystarksracing.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TreyStarks55
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TreyStarksRacing
Starks has shirts, sweatshirts and beanies for sale. The colors are black and gray for the shirts and hooded sweatshirts. Shirts are $15, sweatshirts are $30 and black beanies are $15. All sizes range from small to XL. For ordering information, visit www.treystarksracing.com.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Starks Timber Processing
Starks Timber Processing is a logging business owned by Trey's father, John, who is a third-generation logger. It has been based out of Washington for the last 15 years.
"Starks Timber Processing is what provides me the opportunity to race," Trey said. "It has played a huge role in my life, both on the track and away from it."
Starks would like to thank his sponsors, including Blue Dot Fabrications, Northwest Powder Coating & Sandblasting, Masco Petroleum and SpeedMart for their continued support.


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I met Chris Goplerud at Rifle during a photo shoot, when I asked him to spray Josh Wharton in the face with a Super Soaker.
I met Chris Goplerud at Rifle during a photo shoot, when I asked him to spray Josh Wharton in the face with a Super Soaker.
"It would be my pleasure," said Goplerud, whose nicknames (Gopledanger, Gople Dude and G-Money) are as diverse and eccentric as he is. "This will be payback for all of the times Josh dragged me to the Black Canyon."
After G-Money, sporting his wide grin, drenched Josh without mercy, he checked out the shots on my camera and offered surprisingly apt critiques of how to improve them. Though at the time I thought Goplerud's feedback was merely a ploy to hose Josh again, in fact it was expert advice from an ex-professional commercial photographer, with clients as large as L.L. Bean. The more I asked, the more I learned that Goplerud's photographic expertise was only the beginning of his extraordinary background in which he has mastered skills in music, carpentry, skiing and climbing.
For 44 years, Goplerud has played drums, a passion he developed in his hometown of Buffalo, New York, at the age of 8.
"When I was growing up, music played constantly in my house," he says. "Everyone in my family plays an instrument. My brother is a well-respected composer, and a great bass player who works at Julliard. He turned me on to the players and tradition of jazz."
As a student in 1975, he majored in music performance at Virginia Commonwealth University. Goplerud started climbing with his friends at the VCU outing club, toproping bridge pillars on the James River in their hiking boots, and taking weekend trips to Seneca Rocks, in West Virginia. His passion for climbing took him to Jackson Hole, where he worked as a ski guide and a musician, playing all types of gigs in many genres. By 1978, Goplerud, then 21, landed in Colorado and over the last decade has mainly focused on developing new bouldering at Independence Pass and Unaweep Canyon and in his beloved hometown of Redstone, where, in a typical show of grit, he has worked one move on one project for a solid two years.
Listening to G-Money talk about music is fascinating, but hearing him play is flooring. During this photo shoot, he set up his drum kit and fired out a rad two-hour performance despite his recently broken foot, sustained while courting a new girlfriend whose passion is wild dirt-bike rides. He has played internationally for audience members that have included the Clintons and B.B. King.
"The gigs are always different. One night Robert De Niro is in the audience, and the next night you're playing for six drunks in a dive bar. It's always good, it's always music, you play from the heart."
This shoot took place during the Rock and Ice photo camp (see feature on page 46). Keith Ladzinski, the clinic instructor, showed each student how he sets up and shoots the portraits that appear in this column. To see the students' shots of G-Money, please log on to www.rockandice.com/gmoney.


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Mecalux to centralise logistics at Nupik International
A new logistics centre installed in Polinyà has allowed Nupik International to centralise logistics operations, concentrating the activity of five warehouses into one fully-automated facility with an incredible capacity of 28,000 pallets.
Video transcription
Nupik Internacional, a leading company in the manufacture of single-use tableware, has consolidated 5 of its warehouses in its headquarters in Polinyà, Barcelona.
A fully automated warehouse with an area of 8,000 m2, that can respond to the order peaks generated by seasonal demand.
The new automated warehouse designed by Mecalux is comprised of one building for storage, picking and shipment of orders.
Next to this there is a tall, Rack-clad warehouse enabling a total storage capacity of 28,000 pallets.
The processes of storage, reception and shipment are fully automated and optimised using the Easy WMS warehouse management software from Mecalux, enabling permanent inventory and full traceability of merchandise
Reception of merchandise to the store may be carried out automatically and manually.
A zone in the shipment area has been prepared for the manual reception of pallets from other production or handling centres.
A tunnel links the production lines to the warehouse through an automatic transport system that enables a continuous flow of pallets. This is a two-way system as it also allows goods to be carried to the production area.
A total of 6 lifts smoothly and effectively connect the different warehouse levels, the production warehouse and the shipping area.
Pallets are grouped on friction accumulation conveyors and automatically move to the identification and control point.
A scanner does the reading and the Easy Warehouse Management software selects their placement.
If necessary, the pallet is wrapped in order to prevent uncontrolled movement of the load.
The reception identification point measures, weighs and verifies the perfect status of each pallet.
Within the facility, pallets may have different destinations: the storage area, the picking area or directly to shipping.
The Nupik automated warehouse is serviced by double-bottom stacker cranes with Shuttle Car, using the most advanced technology.
In the double bottom storage area a total of 5 stacker cranes are installed that place pallets to be sent to the picking area with average turnover references.
Telescopik forks are able to place and pick up a load located at the second deep.
The entry and exit of material may be carried out in a single movement, enabling 229 combined cycles per hour.
The automated warehouse is also equipped with 3 stacker cranes with a shuttle car, enabling the storage of a large number of pallets by reference and also those that are issued complete. This storage system maximises available space.
The stacker cranes lift the merchandise while moving longitudinally at the same time, improving location and collection times.
The shuttle car moves the pallets from the entry point to the placement position that the Easy WMS management system has specified.
By using the shuttle car, the operating time of each manoeuvre is reduced and the LIFO system is applied, in which the last pallet in is the first out.
A corridor physically connects and integrates the different areas: production, picking platform and storage area.
In the picking preparation area automatic and manual orders are carried out and a total of 32 simultaneous orders is possible.
In the central area, the pallets that the robot handles accumulate according to the requirements of the subsequent orders.
The monitor indicates which layers must be released and the operator cuts the protective film.
Subsequently, the robot or the shuttle places the empty pallets on preparation points.
The anthropomorphic robot can prepare three orders simultaneously and is capable of handling up to 150 layers/hour or, in other words, more than 1,000 boxes/hour.
The Easy WMS management software optimises the stackability and sequencing of loads, thus increasing effectiveness, saving time and minimising costs.
Some orders are carried out semi-automatically, the robot begins its preparation and the shuttle moves the pallet to the operator in order for the operator to complete it.
Manual picking consists of 2 platforms with a total of 16 preparation posts that enable the handling of many different references quickly and easily.
This process is always guided by interactive visual indications.
The system is equipped with safety measures ensuring the protection and integrity of installation personnel.
The shuttles take the prepared orders and transfer them to the wrapping area.
Merchandise is wrapped at a rate of 70 pallets/hour.
Finally, the pallets are labelled and transferred to the shipping area using lifts.
Complete pallets that do not pass through the picking area are labelled in the shipping area.
All pallets arrive at this area and are then transported to a double shuttle, which places them into dynamic channels, enabling grouping and sequencing of the merchandise.
The Easy WMS management software groups the merchandise by route, vehicle, customer, delivery order or other characteristics.
This automated warehouse management system is a high-level technological solution, which enables Nupik to provide rapid service to its customers and to consolidate its international expansion.


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– Story by Devon MacKenzie
For many, Christmas is a celebratory time of year filled with friends, family and traditions. For Heather Dickson it is exactly that, with a big emphasis on the tradition of decorating her picture-perfect little home on Monterey Avenue.
|Heather Dickson reads a Christmas book in the front room of her Oak Bay home decorated for Christmas. Don Denton photography
"It all started when I was young," explains Heather, sitting in her cozy kitchen sipping a cup of tea.
"My father, who was a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, was stationed in Metz, France, when I was a child. We spent a lot of time wandering the Christmas markets, which have been a staple of the city since the 1600s, and I embraced all of it. I became this little Christmasophile," laughs Heather.
Heather, who was around nine-years-old when they first arrived in France and 13-years-old when they left, was enamored by the sights, sounds and smells of a traditional European Christmas and has continued the tradition to this day in her own way.
Now retired, she has much more time to spend preparing and organizing for the season, which her family and friends have come to expect.
|Table set for guests in Heather Dickson's Oak Bay home decorated for Christmas. Don Denton photography
"I host a big decorating party at the beginning of December, and then another Christmas party later in the month," she explains.
"I love hosting people, I have such fond memories of my parents, who were very gregarious people, hosting big holiday parties and all the cooking and baking that went along with it. So every year I try to re-create that same feeling."
From the decorations, to the ambiance, and even down to the china her holiday food and baking is served on (a 10-piece setting of the traditional Spode Christmas Tree pattern china just for the occasion), every facet of the holiday is covered in Heather's house.
|Nutcracker collection on the mantle in the front room in Heather Dickson's Oak Bay home decorated for Christmas. Don Denton photography
But where has all of her exquisite, traditional décor come from?
"Believe it or not, I still have many of the pieces from when I was young," she says. "A lot of the traditional European decorations are so well-made they last for years."
Heather's collection is also added to by friends and family who come to her annual decorating parties — people normally bring a decoration — and also through her travels around the world.
"Since I've been retired, I've been enjoying a lot of travel and I really get to add some fantastic pieces to my collection through that," she says.
|Angel collection in Heather Dickson's Oak Bay home decorated for Christmas. Don Denton photography
Some of her favourites include a set of small, German-made angel ornaments which she brought back to Canada as a child.
"That's probably my largest themed collection of ornaments, the angels, and it all started with a Hummel cherub ornament when I was around nine-years-old," she says, smiling. "I love angels, and I usually try to find an angel ornament when I'm travelling. I have angels from all over the world and every one has a story. It's a great way to re-live those fond memories."
Even the smallest of details — like wrapping all her paintings on the wall in gift wrap and donning them with bows — turn her home into an immersive Christmas experience.
"I think the most important thing with a collection like this is to be very judicious with what you bring into your home," Heather says of her holiday assemblage. "Everything I collect has meaning and I try to change it up each year so it looks different. I've had to learn that not everything has to go out every year. It's more important to me to create beautiful scenes and vignettes, and you can't always do that if you're trying to incorporate everything."
Heather says she begins to pull out decorations in mid-November and starts to get organized with her plans for the various vignettes.
|Family christening cups filled with red balls in Heather Dickson's Oak Bay home decorated for Christmas. Don Denton photography
Around December 10th, Heather puts up the tree (real, of course) and the last touches go on around the house. But by Boxing Day, the takedown has already begun and by New Year's Day, there isn't a trace left and everything has been safely tucked back into boxes for the following year.
|The front room in Heather Dickson's Oak Bay home decorated for Christmas. Don Denton photography
"It's always a little sad, but because we live in Victoria, I always declare that day the first day of spring and it helps to bring my spirits up," laughs Heather.
|Decorations in the laundry room in Heather Dickson's Oak Bay home decorated for Christmas. Don Denton photography


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Yorkshire, which boasts some of England's most scenic countryside, as well as former industrial towns such as Leeds and Bradford, has been lobbying intensely to host the start of the race. Tour organizer Amaury Sports Organisation selected Yorkshire over a bid from Edinburgh, although the Scottish capital remains in the running to host a future overseas start.
Full route details will be announced next month but the race will start in Leeds on July 5, 2014, before a stage finish in London.
Tour director Christian Prudhomme: "Since the resounding success of the Grand Depart in London in 2007, we were very keen to return to the United Kingdom.
"Bradley Wiggins's historical victory last July and the enormous crowds that followed the cycling events in the streets of London during the Olympic Games encouraged us to go back earlier than we had initially planned.
"Yorkshire is a region of outstanding beauty, with breathtaking landscapes whose terrains offer both sprinters and attackers the opportunity to express themselves.
"We have encountered a phenomenal desire from the Yorkshire team to welcome the Tour de France and have no doubt that passion and support will be particularly evident for the Grand Depart of the Tour de France 2014." Some one million people lined the streets when the Tour last crossed the Channel from France five years ago, when the prologue was held in London and a stage from the British capital to the southeastern city of Canterbury. Before that, the race visited in 1974 and 1994, both times in and around the southern English coast, which is the closest part of Britain to mainland Europe. Next year's race—the 100th edition—starts for the first time on the Mediterranean island of Corsica.
Defending champion Wiggins this year became the first Briton to win the Tour. Just weeks later, crowds several deep turned out to watch the Team Sky rider win gold in the Olympic time-trial races in and around king Henry VIII's Hampton Court palace, southwest of London, compounding track success for Britain's cyclists.
Those wins have contributed to the steady rise in popularity for the sport in Britain, both as a form of exercise and transport.
In a study published this month, sports funding and promotion body Sport England said some 200,000 more people were now cycling at least once a week than in 2011, bringing the total number of people cycling to nearly two million.
The Yorkshire bid was supported by former world champion Mark Cavendish, double Olympic track gold medalist Ed Clancy and Brian Robinson, who was the first British rider to win a stage of the Tour de France in 1958.
Eight-times stage winner Barry Hoban and Malcolm Elliott, the first Briton to win a points jersey on a Grand Tour, also lent their support.
Gary Verity, the chief executive of the county's tourism agency, Welcome to Yorkshire, predicted that cycling fans would "come to Yorkshire in their millions" on a wave of enthusiasm sustained since the Olympics. "Yorkshire is a passionate county of proud people and I am sure they will guarantee that their Grand Depart raises the bar in terms of expectations for all future hosts to come," he added.


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If you missed the listening party you can still listen on demand 24/7 - Happy Holidays!
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Join us on Monday December 13, 2010 at 9:00 PM EST
for a Live Chat & Holiday Listening Party!
DJ Wave Will Spin the Best in 80s Alternative and
New Wave Holiday Tunes featuring the new release from
The Superions "Destination Christmas"
with a chance to win signed copies!
PS: you never know who may pop on to chat!
Merry 80s New Wave Christmas - Listen on Demand
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26 July 2010
As expected, the NHLPA filed a grievance against the NHL on the part of Ilya Kovalchuk, who had his 17-year, $102 million contract rejected by the NHL July 20.
The NHLPA announced the decision in a statement this afternoon.
"The NHLPA has filed a grievance disputing the NHL's rejection of the Standard Player Contract between the New Jersey Devils and Ilya Kovalchuk," NHLPA spokesperson Jonathan Weatherdon wrote in the statement. "Under the terms of the CBA, the NHLPA and Mr. Kovalchuk are entitled to an expedited resolution of this matter. The NHLPA will have no further comment until this matter has been resolved by an arbitrator."
Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly responded to the NHLPA's statement.
"We have received formal notice that the NHLPA is grieving the league's rejection of Ilya Kovalchuk's contract with the New Jersey Devils," Daly said in the statement. "Although there is no defined timetable at this point, we intend to work with the players' association to ensure an expeditious resolution of this dispute. The league looks forward to the opportunity to establish its position before the arbitrator. We will have no further public comment pending completion of the process."
The next step will be for both the league and the player's association to find a "systems" arbitrator to rule on the case. The arbitrator will have 48 hours to decide whether to uphold the NHL's rejection or deny it.
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New exhibit places Hopper in the context of 'His Time'
Whitney takes a fresh look at the artist of isolation
NEW YORK — Edward Hopper's imagery is so deeply ingrained in the American imagination that the impulse to associate it with hackneyed states of alienation is by now difficult to undo. And yet, just as Ingmar Bergman was more than a tormented Swede shaking his fist at God — he was also a filmmaker of surpassing gentleness and sensual, mischievous humor — Hopper was much more than a poet of depression and loneliness. You simply have to look at his work to realize how various his moods are and how capacious, how richly ambivalent his images.
He is an artist who can douse you with spiritual desolation one moment and evoke the caressing loveliness of night or the excitement of erotic possibility the next.
His paintings toy with storytelling but come to us, finally, like smoke signals blown asunder in a clear blue sky. Yet they have inspired a veritable Decameron of narrative elaboration, in the form of half a century of movies, short stories, and novels, all of them competing in bleakness and spelling out much more than Hopper was ever prepared to.
Right now, Hopper is the subject of a concise but revealing show at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. He's not, however, the only subject, and that's a good thing. There have been numerous Hopper retrospectives of late, including at the Museum of Fine Arts in 2007, at Tate Modern in 2004, and at the Whitney itself in 1995. The chance to see him in the context of his peers, as the Whitney now offers in "Modern Life: Edward Hopper and His Time,'' is salutary: It relieves Hopper from his "lonely,'' iconic status, clarifying his indebtedness to his time and honing our understanding of his originality.
The result, adapted from a show the Whitney recently sent to Germany, is enlightening — not the fullest but the freshest view of Hopper I've seen.
The show opens with the projection of a freshly scrubbed black-and-white film by Paul Strand and Charles Sheeler. Called "Manhatta'' (after Walt Whitman's poem, "Mannahatta''), it was made in 1921, and shows a series of lyrical, Olympian views — plumes of smoke, glistening harbors, chugging boats, soaring bridge cables — of the city that Hopper and his fellow artists were showing from street-level in gritty, tightly framed close-ups.
Near the projection hang two early Hoppers showing motifs that relate to the film: "Tugboat With Black Smokestack'' (1908) and "Queensborough Bridge'' (1913). The suggestion is that the possibilities inherent in urban, almost documentary-style realism loomed large in Hopper's formative years.
And they certainly did. The show's first large gallery places early Hoppers among works by his Ashcan school peers: John Sloan, William Glackens, and Everett Shinn, and their mentor Robert Henri, who also taught Hopper. The Ashcan painters were Philadelphia newspaper illustrators molded by Henri into urban realists. Inspired by Manet, Degas, and more directly by the exploding populations and teeming sociability of American cities, they rejected Gilded Age gentility and sought to get to grips with the realities of class, construction, and commerce.
Hopper, who went to Europe three times between 1906 and 1910, was watching all this and interested in getting it down. And early works, such as the 1906 crayon drawing "Untitled (The Railroad),'' and the 1906 painting "Untitled (Woman Walking),'' do give a sense of an artist intrigued by the urban melee.
But Hopper seemed to have an inbuilt resistance to anecdote and crowded pictorial fields, and would never have painted a picture like Glackens's "Hammerstein's Roof Garden'' — a hectic nighttime entertainment — or Sloan's "Backyards, Greenwich Village.''
Looking at the Sloan, especially — a wonderful, lushly painted image of a leaping cat, two long rows of drying clothes like bunting, and two boys playing with a snowman — this can seem like Hopper's loss. Rebecca Zurier, writing in the catalog, notes that, while the Ashcan painters "fail to ask . . . existential questions about the possibility of communication between people in a city,'' Hopper's own vision is, in a different way, "somewhat limited. It fails to consider the ways in which cities have brought people together'' and to address complexities of class and race.
Was this a failure? Let's just say it's something Hopper was, for his own reasons, uninterested in doing. To criticize, for instance, Hopper's "New York Interior'' (c. 1921) — a woman, sewing, seen from behind, her long hair parted at the back to reveal the nape of her neck, her shoulders pale and muscular, her two needle-holding fingers grotesquely tensed, her petticoat vivaciously white against an interior in which every individual item is cut off or partially occluded — to criticize it for failing to consider the ways in which cities bring people together . . . well, why not blame Vermeer for not getting out more?
The most surprising of these early Hoppers is a superb painting that anticipates with uncanny precision his later concerns. It shows from behind a solitary figure in a theater, the dark blob of his or her head intersecting the vast frame of the stage but making no real incursion into the huge gray vacancy it frames.
Dated between 1902 and 1904, when Hopper was only just out of his teens, this small, penumbral painting rather complicates the myth that he was a slow starter, who didn't really get going until his 40s. In spirit, it feels remarkably close to the work of his older contemporary, the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershoi, a poet of empty interiors, unpopulated city architecture, and solitary women, often seen from behind.
Subsequent rooms combine masterpieces and lesser-known works by Hopper — from the incomparable "Early Sunday Morning'' and "Night Windows'' to the marvelous etching "Night Shadows'' — with examples of urban realism that, under the influence of avant-garde trends, was becoming increasingly stylized and abstracted.
George Bellows's "Dempsey and Firpo,'' for instance, introduces unexpected concordances of dynamic line and shape into that artist's earlier, grittier approach to the boxing ring, while Guy Pène du Bois's "Opera Box'' shows a tall and effulgently lit flapper leaning out of her dark opera box. She has a stillness and serenity about her that are vaguely Hopperesque; but she is monumental, stylized, and attuned to the theater of being watched in a way that Hopper preferred to suppress.
The show's next room is given over to pairing Hopper with the Precisionists — artists like Charles Demuth, Stuart Davis, Sheeler, and Ralston Crawford — who took urban and rural structures as inspiration for abstracted, hard-edged images that celebrated industrial and agricultural architecture and machinery as something uniquely American.
Given Hopper's own love of geometry, architecture, and pictorial reduction, the comparison makes brilliant sense; it's very revealing. But one of the things it reveals is Hopper's sensitivity to the atmosphere of the real world. Yes, he loved geometry and strove for simplicity. But his lines tremble, his touch is humanly imperfect, his brushstrokes breathe. (The fact that most of the works in this room are watercolors tends to emphasize the point.)
We're reminded in the next gallery that Hopper's vision of America was by no means restricted to cities and industry. In 1930, he and his wife, Jo, started spending summers on Cape Cod. There he painted some of his best known works, such as "Gas,'' "Seven A.M.,'' and "Cape Cod Sunset,'' all included here alongside works by his friend and fellow "American Scene'' painter, Charles Burchfield.
Burchfield's "Ice Glare,'' a masterpiece in watercolor from 1933, reminds us of Hopper's limitations. As hauntingly empty and eerily humdrum as any Hopper, it also has a compositional jauntiness and an optical intensity that were beyond Hopper, just as limber, properly weighted figures often eluded him (especially in paint).
The final room returns us to the city. Hopper's "Barber Shop,'' a stiff and somewhat over-cooked study in diagonals, and "The Sheridan Theater,'' a marvelous study of silent intimacy in a setting of shabby grandeur, are seen alongside a honky-tonk parade of illicit entertainments by his peers. Thomas Hart Benton depicts a poker game (illustrating a scene from "A Streetcar Named Desire''); Paul Cadmus, sailors with whores; and Demuth, in a hilarious watercolor I had not seen, a homosexual couple in an art gallery admiring a conspicuously phallic sculpture by Brancusi.
None of these images could ever be mistaken for a Hopper. But they were made at a time when the question of what constituted true American art was intensely alive, and very much up for grabs.
Hopper, like Hammershoi, is one of those singular artists we are always wanting to lift out of history. He seems more pure, more porous for our imaginations that way. But he was not himself a recluse. He was engaged with the art and life of his time, and his painting can't hide that.
The impulse to dissociate Hopper from his time and associate him instead with timeless, existential states depletes his art's power, and draws perilously close to kitsch. But of course, it's hard to avoid: Hopper's figures really are isolated — in space, and from one another.
His manner of painting evokes reality, but with an uncanny degree of stillness, an unnerving detachment. It can conjure shivers of agoraphobia or a stalled-dream, De Chirico-like dread.
But light comes into his pictures like a beneficent hand, warming its strong local colors, and making tangible and specific what might otherwise seem general and abstracted. Again and again, Hopper's pictures conjure feelings — only some of them dire — that we all recognize, if ever we have gone solo to a movie, traveled through twilit landscapes by train, or let ourselves, unaccompanied, into an empty hotel room, enfolded in silence.
Sebastian Smee can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.