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The 23 Best Dinners in Seattle
Make your biggest meal your best with these 23 dishes
By Chelsea Lin & Naomi Tomky
February 1, 2019
Pike Place Market
The city’s most beloved French restaurant earned its reputation with its excellent roasted chicken and ultrarich hot chocolate as well as with this decadent pool of melting cheese.
“My husband and I have a running yearly date with the raclette from Le Pichet ($23). It all started nearly 15 years ago when we tucked into this unknown-to-us French restaurant to escape the rain.…The bartender led the way and introduced us to the Swiss mountain cheese that landed in front of us in a small cast-iron skillet, melted and just bubbling at the edges. To its right, a platter of things for dipping: potatoes, thinly sliced ham, apples, pears and walnuts. The cheese has a soft funk and smells of sweet cream. In that moment, a tradition was born; something delightful to anticipate in the gray winter months.” Ashley Rodriguez, cookbook author and blogger at notwithoutsalt.com
Pepperoni Paint Job
Breezy Town Pizza
Windy City Pie’s younger sibling boasts a menu of pan pizzas not as hefty as traditional Chicago deep dish, meaning you can eat more than one slice of this insanely good pie ($21) with the signature caramelized cheese edge.
Heaven Sent Fried Chicken
There’s fussier—some may argue better—fried chicken in town, but for quick and reliable, the crispy, salty bird at this regional chain ($7.50/leg and thigh combo), from the original owner of Ezell’s Famous Chicken, is our go-to.
Khao nam tod
Amazing Thai Lao Cuisine
Head straight for the Lao menu here and order this textural wonder: a salty, citrusy do-it-yourself wrap ($9.50) involving crispy rice, herbs, crushed peanuts and peppers.
The very best beef stars in this deceptively simple burger ($17)—please don’t order it well-done—at Renee Erickson’s stunning, award-winning steak house.
Little Ting’s Dumplings
These classic little parcels ($8.59 for 15) at this bare-bones restaurant are handmade—you can watch the chefs fold them as you eat—and as satisfying as they come.
A tried-and-true favorite for vegetarians, this lovely eatery makes the very best meat-free Wellington ($20)—an umami bomb wrapped in puff pastry.
Mole negro Oaxaqueño
La Carta de Oaxaca
The smoky-sweet regional specialty, served with chicken or pork and a plate of rice
and tortillas ($15), at this neighborhood institution has been a thing of legend long before other Oaxacan restaurants moved to town.
Salad of Dungeness crab
As beautiful as it is delicious, the bright, delicate crab salad ($18) at this reliably impressive restaurant is a must to start any meal.
Wild boar shoulder
FlintCreek Cattle Co.
The picture of braised perfection, this rich stew ($28) at one of the neighborhood’s best restaurants is at once homey and refined, excellent over Parmesan-potato gnocchi.
This Kerala-style Indian restaurant wows with its seafood, such as this complexly flavored sea bass fillet cooked in a banana leaf ($18).
Bacon and onion pizza
Brandon Pettit’s Goldilocks-like amounts of char gained his pizzas fame, but the toppings deserve equal billing, especially the crispy bacon contrasted by sharp onion ($14).
Hommous bil lahm ou snobar
Hummus is ordinary; this hummus (plated with flavorful lamb cooked in spices) is exceptional, even on a menu with so many exciting options.
“This is special. It arrives at the table sizzling and sputtering with the aroma of lamb, nutty brown butter and spices ($7). It’s intoxicating. This dish literally hits all of your senses. It is served with house-made flatbread, also beautifully prepared.” Dustin Ronspies, chef and co-owner of Art of the Table
Straw-smoked red snapper
The unique flavors of Kotaro Kumita’s sushi brings sushi aficionados to his omakase counter, but the star is the low-temperature-smoked snapper, with its subtle sweetness and tender texture ($3.75).
An Indonesian take on fried rice, this intensely flavorful dish is one of the stars at this creative restaurant with top-notch cocktails.
“Kedai Makan has to be one of, if not my favorite restaurant in Seattle. The reason that I always get the nasi goreng ($13.50) is that they always have it on the menu and it’s so flavorful! Also, if you put a fried egg with a runny yolk on anything, I’m down.” Jeff Vance, executive chef at No Anchor
Among the many retro charms here (namely, Cheez-its on the salad) is a steadfast adherence to the traditions of old-school steak houses—including using the same cuts to carve into sandwiches, such as this dip ($11.50).
‘Long Bone’ rib eye
The closer to the bone, the better the flavor of the meat. That’s why this rib eye
tastes so good: 40 ounces of wildly marbled, boldly flavorful meat—plenty to share, or save for tomorrow’s lunch and dinner ($140).
Pike Place Market
The mussels at this Market hideaway are the simplest of pleasures ($20). Savored from the patio, which looks out over Elliott Bay, the local bivalves taste only of butter, wine and the saltwater below.
Vegetarian combo from Meskel
Seattle is blessed with more than a dozen Ethiopian restaurants serving a great combination of stews and salads (vegetarian combination, $15.99), but nowhere is it more pleasant to dig into than at this restaurant in a remodeled house.
The line at Franklin Barbecue in Austin stretches for blocks for the tender, smoky central Texas beef barbecue, but in Seattle you’ll find the closest thing this side of
Route 66 at Jack’s ($18)—and it tastes even better without the wait.
There’s no restaurant in town serving Polish dumplings ($11) this good. You have to descend into this private community cultural center basement on a Friday night for these crescents, filled with sauerkraut and mushroom, meat, potato or sweet cheese.
Louisiana flavors meet those of Vietnam in the seafood boils at this scrappy spot, which works hard to keep the local and imported fresh mudbugs aboiling in the secret, many-starred spicy sauce—if you dare (market price).
Ahadu Ethiopian Restaurant
Steak tartare gets a flavor upgrade in this Ethiopian version at a combination butcher shop and restaurant, so you know the meat is fresh before it gets mixed with clarified butter, spices, peppers and onions ($17).


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Sweet oha soup with two beef and one swallow
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Hot bitter leaf soup served with two beef and one swallow.
African breadfruit served hot
Hot moi moi with egg.
Hot tasty ogbono soup served with swallow and two beef

domain: food


Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently announced that if Joe Biden won’t protect the southern border, he will do it.
Abbott is using state resources to finish building the wall on the border and construction has already begun.
Abbott recently shared a video of it on Twitter.
Breitbart News reports:
WATCH: Texas Military Forces Begin Border Barrier Construction
Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted a video showing the beginning of the State’s new border barriers. The building of fences along unsecured sections of the Texas-Mexico border is part of the plan recently announced by the governor to begin arresting and jailing migrants for violating Texas law.
Governor Abbott tweeted a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) showing Texas Military Forces work crews beginning the process of building fencing along an unsecured section of the state’s border with Mexico.
Abbott said the fencing is being built along private property with the permission of the landowners.
“Texas will keep communities across the state safe.” the governor wrote in his message.
Officials with the governor’s office told Breitbart Texas the construction is taking place in the Del Rio Sector. The first project will add about 1.2 miles of fencing in the unsecured area.
“The influx across the border is out of control, and the Biden Administration has shown that is not going to step up and do its job,” Governor Abbott told Breitbart Texas in an exclusive interview in June. “And amidst reports of even more people coming in across the border, we know we have to step up and do more.”
Take a look at the video below:
Texas Military Forces are making progress on building the border barrier.
Land owners along the border have agreed to allow the state to put up temporary fencing.
Texas will keep communities across the state safe.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) July 3, 2021
Thank goodness someone is willing to defend America’s southern border.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris certainly aren’t going to do it.


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Japan is capable of overcoming its deep-seated economic problems, according to experts attending a recent symposium in London, but Western-based analysts were less optimistic than their Japanese counterparts that there is sufficient resolve at the political and boardroom levels to make the transition a smooth and simple one.
The symposium, held at the London Business School and sponsored by Japan’s Keizai Koho Center, opened with moderator Anthony Loehnis emphasizing that whatever route Japan takes to shake off its crises is “beset with dangers.”
“The contrast between today’s Japan and that of the 1980s is stark,” said Loehnis, executive director of the U.K.-Japan 21st Century Group.
Describing Japan at its peak as an “unstoppable juggernaut” that Britain looked to for economic inspiration, Loehnis detailed today’s stagnation in domestic consumption and business investment. He spoke of the failure of businesses to adapt and grow, the vicious cycle of rating agencies’ downgrades and, on the political front, the rise of leaders promising change but leaving the electorate’s hopes unfulfilled.
“Yet,” he emphasized, “Japan is still the second-largest economy in the world and its prosperity has implications for Asia and the wider international economy.”
Japan has rebuilt itself three times in modern history, he said: after the Meiji Restoration, at the end of World War II and following the 1974 oil crisis. Will this current bout of globalization be the fourth era of regeneration?
The first session of the symposium was devoted to corporate governance in Japan and ways to regain business vitality, with NEC Corp. Chairman Hajime Sasaki focusing on information technology within Japanese companies and their distinctive management style.
The two concepts of globalization and IT only emerged in the 1990s but have since become indivisible, he said. The United States and Japan, however, differed in their approaches to these new concepts, Sasaki added.
“It goes without saying that the U.S. enjoyed continuous prosperity during the period, in spite of stagnation at the start of the 1990s,” he said. “On the contrary, Japan’s economy has suffered continuous stagnation. The term ‘lost decade’ has become widely used in Japan, and globalization and IT have been used to describe the reasons behind victory and defeat.”
It is widely accepted that the U.S. decision to promote globalization and IT enhanced its growth by increasing efficiency in distribution, he pointed out, while Japan was slow to catch on, failed to adopt global standard management and suffered as a result.
But is the problem that simple? IT has been a booming sector in Japan, he said, with the Internet and cell phones “shooting stars” that are now common around the world. With the end of the ’90s, however, IT has hit a wall and we are left with the “IT recession.”
Initially, Japan’s IT sensation was based on three main factors, he said: the direct effect of capital increasing by IT investment; IT productivity improvements; and an increase in demand for IT-related industries, such as capital investment and consumption.
As a result, the proportion of IT in Japan’s total GDP increased from 15.9 percent in 1985 to 32.7 percent in 2000. The down side, he pointed out, was that it accelerated the descent into recession when the IT bubble burst, with falling IT demand hurting exports and capital investment, making the recessionary curve steeper.
“Today’s Japanese economy has a structure that is sensitive to the production phases of the IT industries,” Sasaki said. “Therefore, it is essential to promote structural revolution.”
Failure to radically reform the current employment situation and reorganize industry will leave Japan facing its “greatest challenge since the end of World War II,” he said.
Bill Emmott, editor of The Economist, considered macroeconomic change and paralysis by examining reform and corporate governance, and whether one is more important than the other within an economy.
“How can we tell if it is working well?” he asked. “By looking at profitability, the stock market and GDP growth. In Japan, when the economy was doing well it was thought that corporate governance was outstanding, but now we’re at the opposite extreme because the economy is doing badly and commentators say everything is doing badly.
“The TSE figure is a sign of wholesale corporate breakdown,” he said, “but the pendulum will swing back.”
Emmott identified the major problems as lying with the vast bad debts at banks and insurers, rather than the lesser debts of individual companies, along with scandals that have tarnished financial institutions, politicians and brokerages.
“So is there anything wrong in Japanese corporate governance? No. The real problems are in the labor laws, the macroeconomic climate, regulatory barriers and the structures and behavior of financial institutions,” he said.
Emmott identified macroeconomic areas where events are “making me optimistic.”
The first is in Japan’s labor market, where the rise in unemployment has not been as spectacular as expected and lifetime employment has “not really ended.” There is also an ongoing search for talented employees who are paid well and which, when coupled with the introduction of merit-based pay, is evidence of the underlying vitality of the economy.
The second positive indicator is the steady number of IPOs on Japan’s stock markets, despite the end of the dot-com boom and general stagnation of the market, he said.
Third is the successful restructuring in corporate Japan, Emmott said, citing the example of Carlos Ghosn at Nissan as well as changes for the better at NEC Corp., Toshiba and Fujitsu.
“Japan has ceased to play the role that it used to, but I believe I have good reason to be optimistic,” he ended.
The session concluded with questions from the floor, including one query to Sasaki concerning specific measures that NEC has taken to rework its corporate governance.
The NEC chief pointed out that his company has already made changes, adding that it is committed to “regaining its vitality and building up its business sector.”
Emmott was more cagey on future prospects, saying progress depends on a new commercial law. If that is not forthcoming, he said, there could be a “banking crisis that forces a complete clean-out of banks.”
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
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domain: news


Directed by: John Miller
Starring: Bernard Hill, Simon Callow, Philip Davis, Virginia McKenna
Swapping partitions for pensioners, ‘DIY SOS’ presenter Nick Knowles make his screenwriting debut with this madcap crime caper. Blending light-hearted laughs and social-realist concerns, the ever-present daytime TV personality clearly aspires to capture the sharp spirit of classic Ealing comedies in his text, and no doubt hopes to emulate their success, but its staging is so flatly indifferent that it’s unlikely Golden Years will cause much of a carry-on.
The loaded subject of our Nation’s ongoing pensions crisis forms the framework: retirees Arthur and Martha Goode (Bernard Hill & Virginia McKenna) lead simple lives – bowls, bingo and bed by 10. But things become much more complicated after Arthur discovers that his pension has been lost by the bankers.
A lazy reliance on radio broadcasts to supply exposition has us regularly informed that this is a setback suffered silently by many of their generation, but Arthur and Martha refuse to accept such injustice. Faced with financial uncertainty, the couple turn to a life of crime, replenishing their retirement pot by carrying out bank heists across the South West. It isn’t long, however, until they find themselves being pursued by a determined local detective (Alun Armstrong, sadly more convincing when complaining about the cracked yolk on his breakfast than when trying to catch the criminals).Knowles liberally seasons his prose with hackneyed humour and silly sitcom slapstick that forever falls flat, but aided by the plucky performances of Hill and McKenna – their screen chemistry sparkling like the sun as it hits the ripples of the River Avon on a midsummer’s day – the film finds fun, and even brief moments of tension, in the couple’s chaotic execution of their planned robberies.
Weakness, however, takes an all-consuming genesis in the barely functioning direction of John Miller. His inconsistent tone veers so wildly between sunny and sombre dispositions that their combined impact is less than minimal, while the luminous portrait of British suburbia he paints appears so artificial that it strikes as artistically shallow.
More problematic is the fundamental lack of honesty and pathos within Miller and Knowles’ musings on the realities of late life (the pair co-wrote the script with Jeremy Sheldon): an awkward contrast with the eminently popular Marigold Hotel franchise, of which this is a hollow imitation. Here the generational divide is solely defined by a viciously stereotypical inability to understand one another, an ignorant attitude so lazy and brash that it sometimes borders on offensive. For a film so rich with potential, it’s almost astonishing to discover how diminutive the payout is here.


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Crazy title right? I couldn't resist this book when I saw it on the "new books" shelf at my library. It is a beautiful, quirky little book complete with detailed sketches of, well, a wild snail. Page by page, this little snail roams across the text, raises its antenna, stretches, explores, and accompanies you through the book.
While on vacation in Europe, the author contracts a strange and debilitating bacterial infection and finds herself bedridden. On a whim, a friend finds a small woodland snail and brings it to her in a pot of violets. This small gift, this tiny creature, becomes an endless source of entertainment and companionship for a woman who feels as if he life has been taken away. She becomes enraptures with the tiny creature's physique, habits, and preferences. Before long she is requesting any material in print about these woodland creatures and is carefully observing and appreciating the life cycle of her snail.
Over time, her illness abates slightly and she is able to slowly return to normal life. However, her prolongued exile with only a mollusk as company has made her a quieter, more intuitive individual.
Heavily footnoted, each chapter and section of this book contains a small quote, exerpt, or poem about the life of the mollusk. I was surprised and entertained about how carefully observed and appreciated these tiny creatures have been. This is a quick and relaxing read, almost like an extended poem. It is a good reminder of the importance of taking life more slowly, stopping to observe and appreciate the wonders of the world, large and small.

domain: library


text:
Ozone layer shows signs of thickening
September 11 , 2014
After years of a worrying depletion, the ozone layer has shown first signs of thickening, according to a study by the United Nations.
This shows that a ban in 1987 on gases responsible for damaging the fragile layer is proving effective, experts said. The vital layer is a natural barrier to the deadly ultraviolet rays that cause skin cancer and other ailments.
Another positive news reported by the study is that the ozone hole over Antarctic has stopped getting bigger.
Michel Jarraud, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, described the findings as an important “environmental success story”.

domain: geography


SUN-FSW-1x2 Optical Switch is famous for its high performance, low insertion loss, and compact dimension: (L)27.0×(W)12.6×(H)8.2mm. This fiber optic switch is an ideal component for OADM, OXC, system monitoring, and protection. With compact package, it can be easily integrated into a high density optical communication system.
|Fiber Configurations||1x2||Fiber Type||SM, 9/125 um|
|Test Wavelength||1310/1550 nm||Operating Voltage||5V|
|Switch Type||Latching||Fiber Length||0.5m|
|Operating Temperature||-20°C ~ +70°C||Storge Temperature||-40°C ~ +85°C|
Fused Fiber Testing


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It’s during those cold winter days I welcome chocolate in my life more than ever. And these last days it has been especially cold in my City. I believe chocolate is one of the most affordable luxurious foods one can have and for this recipe in particular I combined the chocolate with a banana and curry puree to give it an exotic twist with a punch of liqueur. The combination of these ingredients creates for a somewhat sexy-exotic adult recipe. On top of this, this must be the ultimate anti-depressing-feel-good-energizing dessert since chocolate, bananas & curry are considered to have these contributes. I think I made my case.
Ingredients: (12 servings)
3 ripe bananas
1 tablespoon butter
30 gr. icing sugar
2 teaspoons Madras curry
8-10 g of colorless gelatin sheets
300 g of black chocolate (75%)
100ml liqueur chocolate + banana (or amaretto)
1 tbsp caster sugar, 25 g butter, 100ml double cream, 50 g of black chocolate (75%)
- Let thebutter over low heatin a skilletmeltand addthe bananasinto thin slices.
Smash the banana up to a puree, add the icing sugar and madras curry. Let the banana caramelize for 2-3 more minutes and remove from Pass the puree into small molds or cups.
- Melt chocolat au bain mari, add the Boil the milk and let it stand for 2 minutes and add it to the chocolate.
- Breakin a bowl the gelatin andcover with water until it is Drain theexcess water and add it to the chocolate stirring gently.
- Heat ingredients of the chocolate sauce in a small saucepan over low fire until evenly combined. Let it cool down and serve with the chocolate gelatin mousse.
I hope you will try this out and share it with someone dear to you!
x Josune, Your Beauty Script


TC-Helicon introduces VoiceTone Double, a new model in the VoiceTone line of vocal effects pedals, which allows singers to recreate multitracked doubled studio sounds in live performance. VoiceTone Double enables performers to produce up to four virtual overdubs of their voice in real time, giving them control of their sound right from the stage. Ten effects banks offer a slightly different take on the various natural and effected doubling sounds and include pristine emulations of classic microshift, chorus and detune. The pitch and timing of overdubbed vocals can be customized to be "tight and intimate" or "loose and lively". VoiceTone Double will be available in March 2008 at a suggested retail price of &euro:249.
The 10 professional authored effects banks offer three patches each and include Two Voices, Four Voices, μMod, Overdub+μMod, One Octave, Group Octave, Subtle, Effected, Showcase and even Rap. VoiceTone Double gives the singer creative control of the pitch, timing and levels of each patch. During performance singers can toggle between two patches with the Part A and B switches. VoiceTone Double is easy to connect and use. Mic level XLR I/O in stereo and mono provide a wide input range for dynamic mics and extra hot condensers. The clean studio-quality mic preamp includes phantom power. Simply by plugging in a microphone, singers can easily produce a combination of natural and effected doubling that finally makes live vocals sound like the CD.


Parliamentary Secretary Michael Farrugia has announced that MEPA will be launching the process which ought to lead to a revision of all seven Local Plans.
The Environment and Development Planning Act 2010 provides for such a revision which in the view of many is long overdue. The difference of opinion will arise when the nature of the revisions to be put in place are announced.
It is obvious that the proposals for revision will result from the process of consultation just launched. But it is also pretty obvious that the direction which government would like such revisions to take is one which encourages the construction industry. This is where we part company.
Any environmentalist worth his salt is aware that the unbridled development encouraged during the past years has resulted in a large stock of vacant residential properties. It is estimated that this is well in excess of 70,000 and still rising, even though at a reduced rate.
This glut of vacant residential properties should be the primary motivation directing those seeking the way forward for the seven Local Plans.
It is in view of Malta’s small size that as a Nation we cannot afford to take up more land for building development. We should rather seek to maximize the use of the building stock already in hand. This signifies that revised Local Plans should restrict additional development of virgin land. This can be done by reversing the rationalisation exercise carried out in 2006, by declaring a moratorium on large scale residential development and by reducing permissible heights to what they were in 2006.
The revised Local Plans should focus on the utilisiation of the existing building stock, with an emphasis on rehabilitation and redevelopment where necessary.
The revised Local Plans must also protect solar rights. This aim can be achieved through discarding the increased permissible building heights introduced in 2006 as well as by subjecting the possible development of penthouses to the solar rights of residents in the same residential block.
Reducing the potential for development means that the building construction industry would reduce its activity to a sustainable level. It will require help to pursue such a road. This would be the first step which should not be postponed. The revision of the Local Plans is the optimum time for such a step: to commence the restructuring of the building industry.


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We've got a yellow Playdate, a yellow Rivian, a new yellow iPhone, and now a limited edition yellow Roccbox:
I'm sensing a trend.
Kansas City, small communities, a couple of Rocbox, and pizza. Chef Jhy makes it happen.
We've got a yellow Playdate, a yellow Rivian, a new yellow iPhone, and now a limited edition yellow Roccbox:
I'm sensing a trend.
I made a couple of amazing loafs yesterdy inspired by Maurizio Leo's Dark Chocolate-Cherry Sourdough Bread recipie (inspired, because I was too lazy to follow his instructions).
It's mostly whole wheat, I've already forgotten what hydration was (maybe about 85%?), and mostly Cairnspring Mills flour. I say mostly, because I dumped a whole bunch of leftover flours together and … tada! Bread.
I'm already planning on my next bake with dark chocolate chips + cherries. It was sooo good.
Last Saturday the WSU Bread Lab had a Pop-Up Bakery sale up in Burlington, WA, and as luck would have it I was going to be around the corner with a friend to pickup some flour I had ordered from Cairnspring Mills. The area is like a little bread complex - there's the King Arthur baking school (which is connected to the Bread Lab), there's the Water Tank Bakery, and of course Cairnspring Mills, all within two blocks of each other.
I've always wanted to see the Bread Lab and their cool pizza oven and wow I can get some bread too? Sign me up.
Of course, I wasn't the only one, and when I showed up they had just recently sold out of everything. Boo!
But Dr. Stephen Jones*, the director of the Bread Lab, was outside talking to folks and took pity on me and said "Are you a baker? Would you like some flour?". Of course I would. Jones took us into the lab, chatted with us a bit, I got to ask about a nifty oven they had, and he gave me 4lbs of their flour "Doris", which is named after Doris Grant. It's a 100% whole wheat variety they've been making specifically for growing in the Pacific North West.
So that's what today's pizzas were made with - 100% Doris whole wheat at just a little over 70% hydration. Baked in my Gozney Dome, at around 900°.
The crust tasted god damn amazing. I wonder if that's because it was so fresh (it was pulled right out of a giant tub sitting in the lab), or is it the grain, or both?
The flour was a little hard to shape and probably isn't best suited to neapolitan style pizza - but I made it work. I have a little over 2lbs left of the flour, and I think I'll make some loaves with it next. (I bet with a lower hydration, it would make a great NY style pizza as well).
Happy National Pizza Day everyone!
* I'm 95% sure I was talking with Dr. Stephen Jones. I never actually verified. We'll just go with it.
The Everett Hearld has a nice article on The Cottage, a local bakery:
O’Neill can smell when the bread is ready to pull. One by one he takes the loaves out — this first round is The Cottage’s traditional country sourdough — inspecting each before loading them on a rack to cool.
Twelve loaves down. Three hundred and thirty-eight to go.
It also has a bit about Cairnspring Mills, whose's flour I've been using more and more of lately:
Cairnspring Mills is surrounded by Skagit Valley farmland amid a backdrop of Mount Baker. Every day Morse drives to his mill, he sees swaths of forested wetlands he helped to permanently protect as The Nature Conservancy’s former lands program director.
When he turned 50, Morse left that job to go into the flour business. People thought he was crazy. They tried to reason with him, saying things like, “It’s a ubiquitous commodity product with no profit margin and no differentiating qualities.”
I wanted to try a higher hydration (84%) and at the same time bump up the amout of whole wheat (80%). I also wanted to try cooking three loaves at once, all without the combo cooker, in my smaller oven.
So that's what I did. I preheat the oven to 540°,convection fan off, threw the loaves in there (on baking stones), and then added about 6 ice cubes underneath it all. After about ~13 minutes of baking, it didn't look so good in there. The amount of rise that I was expecting didn't quite happen and it wasn't browning.
I opened the door to feel how humid it was in there and also to use a laser thermometer on the stones. The temperature was around 440°, but it was quite humid. So I turned on the convection fan and bumped the temp up to 550°. Things started cooking a bit better but I think it was also a bit too late. I usually cook at 505° with the combo cooker + convection. I was hoping the higher temp would offet the ice and extra loaves. Maybe next time I'll just start everything at 550° with the convection fan and see what happens.
80% whole wheat (Hi-Pro of some sort) and then 20% Expresso from Cairnspring. 82% hydration. Here's the recipe on my dough calculator.
Madeline wanted to make a starter a couple of weeks ago (after hearing me complain loudly about how my friend George's starter was superior to mine). So we made one and used some rosemary in the garden as a little catalyst to get it going (assuming there was good local wild yeast on it). It was pretty uneventful and the easiest starter I've ever made.
And these are the first loaves made with it.
60% whole wheat (Shepherd's Grain that I've had frozen) and then 40% Grain Craft Neapolitan Pizzeria 00 flour. 82% hydration. Here's the recipe on my dough calculator.
I decided to cook the loaves in the bigger chamber oven (I have a 48" Wolf range with two ovens - 18" and 30"). I'll usually use the smaller oven and bake the bread in a combo cooker, but this time around I wanted to use the bigger oven and cook two loaves at once.
The first loaf I cooked used the combo cooker (and I throw in two ice cubes) at 15 minutes covered, 8 uncovered. That's the loaf on top. The second two I threw on my pizza stones at the same time and baked for a total of about 20 minutes. I also added four ice cubes below the stones to give the dough more time to expand, which I think helped, but not as much as I was hoping. Maybe I'll add more ice next time?
At any rate, the second two cooked better than I expected but not quite what I'm going for. Eventually I'd like to be able to cook 4-8 at a time, but I'm not sure this is the right oven for that.
I'm taking two loafs to the climbing gym tonight for the employees there. Might as well bring a bread knife with me, because they otherwise end up using a dirty pocket knife to slice it.
Dough recipe, 85% Cairnspring Trailblazer Select, 15% Expresso blend.
Unlike what I had planned to do when I wrote my last notes, the hydration on this was only 70%, not 72%. But - I think that's kind of good. Again, the dough was much more elastic than I was expecting. I think pushing the hydration any higher might have been bad (though, I'm certainly going to try it anyway).
For Madeline's and Aiden's pizzas, I turned the flame down in the oven a little bit, since Madeline likes her's cooked a little bit longer than traditional neapolitan, and I did Aiden's the same. Mine I cooked on full flame + the help of some extra wood in the oven too. It felt like it cooked under a minute, but I wasn't timing it.
I always throw a little bit of sea salt on top of the pizza, this time I used some which had some dried rosemary in it. When I was eating the crust I could really taste it, and it was just delightful.
I give my pizza an 8.9 (out of 100).
Toppings: Absinth salami, little bit of pepperoni, artichoke hearts, fresh(ish) mozzarella, fresh basil. Recipe for the dough
Last weekend I drove up to Burlington to pick up 104lbs of Cairnspring Mills flour (and a hat). I purchased 50lbs each of their Trailblazer and Expresso blends, and then a little rye and whole grain Expresso.
This pizza was made with 100% Trailblazer. It was pretty good! It stretched a bit more than I thought it would (a good thing) and takes lots of water (this was a 68% hydration, I’m going to go for 72% next time). Next time I’m going to try mixing in a little Expresso to see what happens. The flavor of the dough was pretty awesome.
When I went to pick up the flour, I noticed that they had a Gozney Dome in their warehouse. I chatted with the worker there a little bit about it and they really seem to like it. I love mine as well, and this pizza came out of my Dome at home.
The Seattle Times: The best pizza in Washington state is in a former coal town 20 miles from Mount Rainier.
I’ve eaten hundreds of pizza slices around the Seattle area in the last year in search of pizza excellence. I’ve had tavern pies, Neapolitan, Detroit-style and pizzas that seem to defy definition. My verdict: The pizza that comes out of this oven in a small town nestled close to the base of Mount Rainier might be the best pizza I’ve had in the state of Washington.
This article about The Carlson Block came out last year, and I finally got a chance to try out the pizza this past weekend. I took an hour long detour on my way to climb at Tieton to try this pizza, and it was worth it. The owner, Ian Galbraith, makes very, very good pizza and it absolutely deserves the reputation it gets. (I had the fennel and sausage, it was amazing.)
After eating, I poked my head back into the kitchen to chat with Ian for a few minutes (it wasn't busy at the moment so I had no guilt in doing this). We talked mostly about flour and he happily told me what blends he uses from Cairnspring Mills. I've been using Cairnspring flour for years now when making bread or NY style pizza, but I haven't made any Neapolitan style pizza with it. That's going to change soon*.
I really don't know what else to say about this pizza, other than it was amazing and I'm completely jealous of what he has going on here. It's an awesome little restaurant, he seems completely stoked about what he does, and I can't wait to go back again. He's like the Pacific North West's version of Anthony Mangieri .
If you haven't already read the Seattle Times article, you should. It goes into the history of the town, as well as the building Ian and his wife own. There are also some great photos there.
Or if video is your thing, you can watch a short video about The Carlson Block on YouTube. And their Instagram page is on point.
* The flour I normally use for neo style is Shepherd's Grain High Gluten, which is also amazing. But their main mill just burnt down and it's super hard to get any now.
Shepherd's Grain, one of my favorite flour producers, has a new flour geared towards pizza makers: Napoletana “00” Pizza Flour. I've been using it for a couple of weeks now, and it's pretty amazing.
Here's the TLDR on this flour for the impatient: If you're using Caputo Pizzeria 00 or any other 00 flour, you really should try Shepherd's Grain Napoletana 00. It's local to the Pacific North West, which means (for me at least) it's fresher which makes for better tasting pizzas. It browns way better in a home oven than other 00 flours, and you can use it for bread making as well! And if that's not enough, it's also much more affordable than Caputo or shipping another 00 flour from across the country.
Now read on for story time, the longer review, and eventually more pictures.
66% hydration, 2.6% salt, 2% starter. recipe
I've been using Shepherd's Grain high gluten flour for at least 5 years, possibly longer. I came across it in a local restaurant supply store and picked up a 50lb bag for a little over $20. It was cheap, so why not? And I needed some high gluten flour for New York style pizzas which I was making in my home oven.
My main flours for Neapolitan style pizzas in my wood fired oven at the time were either Caputo 00 Pizzeria (which I could pick up down in Seattle for $45 for 50lbs) or Central Milling's Reinforced 00, which I could have shipped to me.
If you look online you’ll find a lot of people consider Caputo Pizzeria the king of 00 pizza flours. It certainly has the mind share when people refer to "00" flour at any rate. But my experience with Caputo was a bit spotty. It was sometimes good, but I'd occasionally get a bag that was just… off. It wouldn't raise, or no matter how much I kneaded the dough it was always sticky. I assume the bags just went bad. Who knows how long it took to be shipped over to the US? And how long was it sitting in storage before I bought it? And now what am I supposed to do with 50lbs of unusable flour?
I also bought a number of bags of Central Milling's Reinforced 00, which was way more consistent than Caputo at least. But shipping large bags of flour via FedEx wasn't exactly cheap. Total cost was around $75 for 50lbs shipped to Mukilteo, WA from California.
So you can see why Shepherd's Grain high gluten was attractive to me. It wasn't 00, but I had the aforementioned flours to use in my various WFO or other high temp ovens. Plus the SG high gluten would brown way better than the 00 flours in my home ovens.
So pricy inconsistent flour for the high temp ovens, and then Shepherd's Grain high gluten for NY style in the home oven and making bread.
And then one day, after doing some reading on the pizza scene in Tokyo and being a bit inspired by what was going on there, I decided I was going to see if I could do some really high hydration pizzas (around 70%). Since the 00 flour was expensive and this whole idea was likely to fail, I figured I would use the Shepherd's Grain HG flour. Sure, it might burn because it's not 00, but let's see what'll happen in my Roccbox anyway.
What happened is that I made some damn amazing pizzas.
I was blown away. The Shepherd's Grain wasn't "00", how the heck did it just survive 900° temperatures and come out of the oven amazing?
And so after that, I never ordered another bag of 00 flour, used up what I had, and it's been Shepherd's Grain High Gluten for my pizza making since then.
I guess, until a couple of weeks ago.
And now we finally get to the new flour.
Shepherd's Grain new Napoletana 00 is like the High Gluten, but turned up a couple of notches.
The texture of the two flours are a little different, the 00 is softer and has less ash in it. The 00 is also finer (hence the 00 designation) which I presume comes from the new partnership Shepherd's Grain has with Grain Craft, which is milling the flour now.
But as far as working with the dough, it's pretty much the same. The 00 took the same hydration that I'd usually use with the high gluten flour, and shaping and putting toppings on the pizzas was the same. I could shape my pizzas without any problem after a 16 hour rise for the first batch (I was impatient!), 24 hours on another bake, and then even a week later after sitting in the fridge. I was expecting the 8 day old dough to be a bit weaker after being in the fridge for 7 days, but it felt just like it had the week before.
How does it taste though? As good as the best pizzas I’ve made. Soft on the outside for the Neapolitan style bakes in the Roccbox, and perfect texture for NY style with the home oven. It's a 00 flour that cooks correctly in a home oven! How amazing is that?
Since I'm using my sourdough starter, the taste was a little bit different (and better) the longer the raise, but it was always good. Madeline gave it two thumbs up (which she doesn't always. She's more picky about pizza than me).
OK, time for pictures, and some more words after that.
Chicken sausage, mushroom, fresh moz baked in the Roccbox ~1.5-2m.
NY style, absinth salami, red onion, moz in my home oven under the broiler. ~3.5-4m.
Cooking in the Roccbox with gas and cherry wood behind the burner. ~1.5-2m.
Absinth salami, jalapeño, moz in the Roccbox. ~1.5-2m.
00 with 30% whole wheat, chicken sausage, mushroom, garlic olive oil, moz in the Roccbox. ~1.5-2m.
Technically, how does it compare to Caputo, or other 00 flours?
On paper, the flours are pretty much the same. The ash and protein numbers are almost identical (0.46% and 12.3% respectively). But if you're living in the Pacific Northwest you're probably going to want to use SG's Napoletana 00 since it is local, and that means it's going to be way fresher. And fresh flour makes for better bakes. And it's cheaper!
Is it just for pizza?
No! When I bought the SG 00 I also picked up 50lbs of SG Whole Wheat. I made bread with it, and it was also awesome.
A couple of loaves mixing 00 with whole wheat.
How do I get some?
This is the tricky part. It’s brand new, but I was able to buy some because I live close to a marketing person from Shepherd's Grain. Merlino Foods in Seattle is probably carrying it, but with Covid I think things are a bit shut down for them right now (but maybe not in the future!). If you call up your local restraunt supply store and start asking for it, maybe they’ll start carrying it? I will certainly update this post with availablity once I find out more.
Short film by Craig Mod:
Pizza Toast & Coffee (2021) is a short documentary about kissaten — Showa-era (1926-1989) Japanese cafe — culture. Būgen is a small kissa in a suburb south of Tokyo. It was featured in the book Kissa by Kissa. Proprietor Yamane-san has survived four bouts of cancer and has run his cafe for close to forty-five years. He makes a mean pizza toast with a unique cutting style. Pizza toast is a staple of kissa culinary culture.
Lovely little film about a style of Japanese pizza I had yet to come across. Found via Mod's guest appearance on Daring Fireball's The Talk Show episode 312.
When Alexander Roman first experimented with sourdough, he hung a plum, presumably covered with yeast, above his starter. He has used grapes to jumpstart batches at home and has even heard of bakers adding cabbage leaves to their ferments. Now, as head baker of High Street Hospitality in Philadelphia, he doesn’t use any tricks to propagate yeast. “It’s everywhere. In a bakery, no matter what, flour and water turns into starter.”
PMQ Pizza Magazine: Tom 'The Dough Doctor' Lehmann Passes Away from COVID-19:
Recalling Tom’s life and unparalleled contributions to the pizza industry, a famous quote by Sir Isaac Newton springs to mind: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Tom was, like Newton, a scientist, with an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the chemistry and physics that underly the dough making and baking processes. And in our industry, he was a giant. It’s safe to say that countless pizzeria owners and pizza chefs have gotten far in this business by standing on Tom’s shoulders.
If there was ever a pizza version of "The Wolf" from Pulp Fiction, it was Tom Lehmann. For years Tom was super active and incredibly helpful on the PizzaMaking forums. He even has his own board called "Ask The Dough Doctor".
There's a ton of cargo culting and magical thinking in the online pizza making communities. Tom didn't have any of that. Whenever he brought answers to questions it was always backed by knowledge and experience and science, and most importantly kindness. The type of person Tom Lehmann was is rare, and he'll be missed.
My Roccbox Wood Burner 2.0 showed up yesterday, and I just made three pizzas with it today over lunch. I've got some pics up on Instagram if you'd like to see the results.
Here are some quick impressions.
It's way better than the original wood burner that previously came with the Roccbox. The original burner was frustrating to use, even with kiln dried wood, and the hopper would fill up with ash. The 2.0 burner doesn't have this problem at all.
The wood I used was a mix of short cut kiln dried oak, as well as some very seasoned cherry and apple wood (also cut pretty short, about 3"). In the future, I'll be making the cuts for the wood a bit longer. Gozney recommends 5" x 1" x 1".
It took about a half hour to get up to the temps I was after (~800°). The wind was blowing a bit unreasonably at first (so much so that I almost put off doing the first run till tomorrow) and it was a bit smokey, but once the burner got going the smoke leveled off (though it produced more than with the gas attachment).
It uses way more wood than I was expecting. Once it was roaring, I had to feed it about every 4-6 minutes. I had to coordinate prepping my pizza with feeding the fire, so the flames wouldn't die down when I was baking a pizza. Once I figured out the rhythm after the first bake, it was easy to do.
It's hotter in there than I was expecting, and you really have to be on your toes and ready to turn your pizza or you'll burn your crust. By the third pizza however, I had it pretty much figured out.
I got some serious WFO vibes from it that I haven't felt by just using the gas burner. I used to have a wood fired oven, and I didn't realize how much I missed the smell of the cherry and apple wood burning. The wood burner brought all those memories back in a good way.
Is it more convenient than the gas burner? Of course not. The gas burner you turn on, walk away, and come back on 25 minutes. With the wood burner you're going to have to watch the flame and feed it wood as needed.
It's different than the gas burner, and in a good way. I enjoyed cooking with the wood and I'll be using it a bunch more in the future. Plus, it's great to have a backup if I ever run out of gas.
Andrew Janjigian (aka @Wordloaf) is spending the month of November writing about pizza. His first post is all about thin crust pizza.
Janjigian is incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to all things having to do with bread baking, and his posts on pizzas so far have been crazy informative. This series is a must read if you are into making pizza at all.
The Gozney Dome is a new outdoor oven coming in March from the folks who make the Roccbox. $1,299.00 for the wood burning version, $1,499 for wood and gas. The Dome is billed as being good for baking pizza, bread, roasting, slow cooking, etc. It has a digital thermometer, a pretty thick stone floor, and some neat optional accessories like a steam injector, an adjustable door, and a stand.
If this was available back when I was building a wood fired oven, I probably would have purchased it. It's quite a bit cheaper than a traditional wood fired oven, the heat up time is a fraction of what it takes to fully heat a brick oven, and at 128lb you can take it with you should you ever want to move houses.
I've often thought of Gozney as the equivalent of Apple for today's consumer pizza ovens. The Roccbox, while more expensive than most of its competition, is a really good oven and will work for years without any problems (as I've experienced firsthand). Gozney has obviously put a lot of work into this oven, and it shows.
Anytime I'm making pizza outside of the kitchen, I've had a 3/4" marble slab that I use to prepare and dress my pizzas on. It's pretty nice, but it's also super heavy. So for a while I've been on the lookout for something to replace it with. And then recently I came across a very large cutting board from Ikea called the LÄMPLIG ($20 USD). So I grabbed one and tried it out.
I'll throw a little bit of flour on the board, shape my pizza and add toppings, then slide my Roccbox peel under the dough and take it the oven. It couldn't be easier. So if you find yourself in a situation where you don't have a smooth flat surface to prepare your pizzas, I can recommend this board or one similar to it.
1) The LÄMPLIG is also available on Amazon, but at a much higher price.
2) Personally, I think you should always prepare your pizzas on a flat surface that isn't the peel which is taking your pizza to the oven. You avoid issues where your pizza can stick from sitting too long, and it keeps your peel cleaner if you're making multiple pizzas.
Long before every New York corner had a slice joint, before Wolfgang Puck was topping salmon pizza with caviar in California and before every frozen shopping aisle was stocked with approximately 999 versions of exactly the same thing, there was Neapolitan pizza. If we were to create a family tree of pizza styles there would be a clear and obvious head of the family.
The Godfather, if you will.
Here's a couple of lunch pizzas I made today for myself and Madeline. I pushed the Roccbox a bit hotter than usual by throwing in some chips of apple wood and cranking the gas regulator up. The dough turned out nice and soft, you just have to really pay attention so nothing gets burnt.
First up is Jalepeno, absinthe salami from Zoe's, garlic olive oil, and basil. Probably a 60-70 second bake.
And then we have Madeline's favorite which I've been calling "The Madinara": red sauce, garlic olive oil, and kalamata olives. Hold the chease please.


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A crate is a great way to give your pup a perfect spot to curl up and snooze, while also helping you train them to understand boundaries. But there's no reason that crate can't deliver on-trend style as well! Perfect for an understated accent that can double as an end table, this piece is crafted from wood with a white finish. Slim bars round this piece out with abundant ventilation, sure to help your pup keep cool. A latch closure helps keep the front-facing door closed when you need it shut.
PetPeppy dog travel carrier is not waterproof or water-resistant and may be difficult to clean due to its construction and the materials used. The main reason a pet owner would buy this is due to how easy it is to carry it, especially if you have small dogs. The expandable space is also a huge advantage since you can store your dog's toys and other supplies without having to carry them with you, but that obviously makes the crate less ergonomic and expands its sides, which makes it less easy to carry.
This versatile crate functions both as an end table and a safe place for your furry friend to rest when you're out. With a traditional-inspired design, this pet crate is constructed of manufactured wood, with stainless steel hardware and accents. Featuring ventilation windows, and a latch locking mechanism, this piece accommodates medium sized animals (25-50 lbs.). It measures 23.5'' H x 21.65'' W x 35.43'' D. We recommend cleaning by wiping clean with a damp cloth.
Aside from selecting the best wire dog crate for your pooch, you should also consider accessories that add to their level of comfort and security. If your dog needs a little more privacy or warmth, a wire dog crate cover is simple to attach. A majority of containment options come with a slide out pan for easy cleaning and divider panels to adjust the space as your pup grows. For senior dog’s that suffer from joint pain, orthopedic and memory foam dog crate beds offer them much-needed support. Browse the complete collection at Petco to give your canine safe and cozy containment.
Plastic crates are maybe not the first choice for an in-home crate as they provide less visibility to the pup that calls it home, however, if you plan to do quite a bit of travel by plane, this is a great option as all airlines require this type of crate to transport your animal. Plastic crates are also great for pups that need a little more security, or for a home that has a higher level of activity (think on-the-go kiddos), as it gives your pup a bit more privacy.
Create a cozy space for your dog at home and on-the-go. With large dog crates, small carriers and everything in between, we make living – and traveling – with your best friend simple. Crate-training your puppy while they're young can help avoid destructive behaviors, potty accidents and separation anxiety when you provide them a secure crate with access to food, water, and safe toys. Shop our collection at PetSmart to find the latest dog carriers and enclosures, as well as durable and versatile dog cages, crates and kennels.
Another feature that I like is the fact that it has a top, side and front door for easy accessibility. The EliteField 3-Door soft dog crate is also equipped with two convenient accessory pockets. It has a strong steel tube frame and is very well ventilated just like most types of soft dog crates out there. EliteField travel dog crates come in several different sizes and will fit majority of dogs except for extra small or extra large breeds. You can also pick from a ton of different crate colors.
Most dogs love to ride in the car. The wind rushing by carries all kinds of interesting smells that your dog just can’t take in quickly enough, while every stop gives your dog a chance to take in an interesting scene. Add to this the fact that usually going in the car means your dog is going to a fun destination, and it makes perfect sense that being in the car would be a very exciting thing for your dog.
Our 48-inch XXL Dog Crates accommodate dogs weighing 91-150 pounds. See dog crates size guide if you are unsure if the XXlarge dog crate is appropriate for you pet. Manufacturers of dog crates have their own measure of Large, XL, XXL crates - please check the dimension of our XXL dog crates when making a purchase. See all dog crate sizes on our Dog Crates and Dog Cages page.
Continuing the trend with leaders topping our list of best travel dog crates, MidWest are best known for their top quality metal dog crates. This Midwest Life Stages folding metal dog crate in particular can be used throughout the life of your dog, and it's a great alternative to soft travel dog crates. Normally, it's recommended to buy the crate for regular use as opposed to just travel, and when looking for it, make sure to buy one for your dog's adult size (if you still have a puppy that is). Metal dog crates are good for both plane and car travel if you know how to use them. Some dogs prefer metal crates over soft, but they're not always the best option. A divider panel is included with the crate to adjust its size as your dog grows. This gives the option for the crate to be used for more than one dog, as the size of the cage can be adjusted for each dog.
All MidWest Life Stages travel dog crates include handles for easy carrying and a plastic pan for comfort inside the crate so your pup isn't sitting on the metal bars. Metal crates like this one are great because you can see your pet from all angels since there there are no hidden sides. Midwest has seven different sizes for your dog that adjust to his growth and the divider panel is a huge advantage over soft dog travel crates. Overall, metal dog travel crates are the most optimal option for many pet owners, especially those who travel in cars very often.
Researching your options will be the next step, and I've done a ton of legwork for you with the above list of twenty best dog travel crates, listing their specifications and the modes of travel they are best used for. These travel dog crates are all safe, comfortable choices for your canine, but you'll have to find out if they meet the traveling guidelines that you need to follow and pick the right size after measuring your dog.
I love the size of this crate and the tray on the bottom it's a great thing to have when a "time out" needed. However, we experienced some of the same problems as others; puppy tearing it apart because of small gage wire, welds not holding, needing to use zip-tries to hold the walls together and problems opening the door latches - this is why it received 3 stars for this review. My husband called the company and they readily fixed the issue without a hassle or argument; the company itself gets 5 stars for their customer service.
5% Auto Ship - Sign up for Auto Ship and have products conveniently delivered to you at the frequency you choose! Save 5% on your initial order and 5% on recurring orders. Plus enjoy free shipping on orders over $49. Discounts will automatically apply at checkout once the customer has enrolled. Maximum value $150. Offer not valid on gift cards, gift certificates, previous purchases, or charitable donations and may not be valid on all merchandise. Offer may not be combined with other promotional offers or discounts. Terms and conditions of this offer are subject to change at the sole discretion of PetSmart.

domain: pet


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Where to download pokemon black and white episodes - White pokemon
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A new land new challenges, new rivals all- new Pokémon make the 14th season of the Pokémon animated series one of the most exciting ones yet! Pokémon: Black & White is the fourteenth season of the Pokémon animated series, covering the continuing adventures of series protagonist Ash Ketchum as he travels to the new region of Unova.
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domain: hobby


Chesterfield Threatening to Strip Citizens of Right to Defend Property
The City of Chesterfield is considering a new ordinance that would allow citizens to be punished for discharging a firearm in defense of their homes. Dave Roland recently offered testimony to the City Council (below,) pointing out that the Missouri Constitution explicitly states that “the right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person and property… shall not be questioned.” The debate on this bill is starting to heat up, and we expect there to be a lively discussion of this constitutional provision at the next Chesterfield City Council meeting on January 18.
Open publication – Free publishing – More constitution
One thought on “Chesterfield Threatening to Strip Citizens of Right to Defend Property”
Hello, I’m am a person who study the law and the constitution. This ordnance (bill) in Chesterfield is a gateway to strip gun rights from citizens. And I must say, these left-wing supporters is the blame for this bill and other wrongful restrictions of firearm. If anybody wants my vote, and a lot of other votes, they must introduce a bill that should enforce any and all established exceptions to state and federal gun laws.


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National Scoliosis Foundation NSF
The National Scoliosis Foundation (NSF) is a patient-led nonprofit organization dedicated since 1976 to helping children, parents, adults, and health-care providers to understand the complexities of spinal deformities such as scoliosis.
Severe scoliosis impacts the quality of life, putting pressure on the heart, diminishing lung capacity, and limiting physical activity. Thankfully, through early detection and treatment advances, the worst effects of scoliosis may be prevented.
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domain: medical


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By Kathy Hardy
Vol. 20 No. 3 P. 24
Focused ultrasound and microbubbles show promise for delivering therapy through the blood-brain barrier.
Researchers are looking at tiny spheres of lipids full of gas as the key to using focused ultrasound to temporarily unlock the brain’s protective layer of cells, allowing the targeted application of drugs for the treatment of brain tumors or neurological diseases.
These microbubbles, used as an ultrasound contrast agent, are being used to create a temporary opening of the blood-brain barrier to enable the treatment of conditions such as primary or metastatic, malignant or benign tumors or neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. By disrupting the barrier, agents such as chemotherapy drugs, immunotherapy drugs, or therapeutic drugs are better able to reach the affected areas of the brain.
Adjusting the Focus
According to Neal Kassell, MD, founder and chairman of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation in Charlottesville, Virginia, the blood-brain barrier is a single layer of cells that lines the blood vessels of the brain. The cells are held together by protein structures called tight junctions, which prevent the diffusion of most molecules between cells. This is unique to the brain, as no other organ in the body has such a barrier. The barrier keeps bacteria, viruses, and toxins from entering the brain.
“This barrier does such a good job of keeping out germs,” Kassell says. “However, it also keeps medications from being applied to areas of the brain.”
While microbubbles open just enough area to breach the barrier, the opening is not permanent, Kassell says. There is a four- to six-hour window before the barrier cells rejoin.
“Focused ultrasound is a targeted way to reversibly and repetitively open the blood-brain barrier, as needed, to allow the application of drugs to an area of the brain,” he says.
Focused ultrasound also locates the bullseye in the brain where the drugs can do their work. When considering breakthroughs in the treatment of conditions in the brain, focused ultrasound not only plays a role in the application of drugs but could also bring new life to drugs previously considered insufficient for treating cancer and neurological diseases.
“New techniques to open the blood-brain barrier also open up possibilities of new treatments with existing drugs,” says Nir Lipsman, MD, PhD, a neurosurgeon at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Canada. Lipsman was part of a team at Sunnybrook that was involved in the first case of noninvasively opening the blood-brain barrier in a patient in 2015. Doctors used focused ultrasound to enable a temporary and targeted opening of the blood-brain barrier of a female patient, allowing more effective delivery of chemotherapy drugs to her malignant brain tumor.
As Lipsman explains the process, energy is needed for focused ultrasound to “break open” the blood-brain barrier on its own. Adding microbubble ultrasound contrast agents prior to the focused ultrasound treatment reduces the amount of energy needed to disrupt the barrier.
With focused ultrasound, a neurosurgeon infuses the chemotherapy agent, or other drugs, and the tiny gas-filled microbubbles—smaller than one-hundredth of a millimeter—into the patient’s bloodstream. A technologist then applies focused ultrasound to the target areas in the tumor and surrounding areas of the brain, causing the bubbles to vibrate. The vibration loosens the tight junctions of the cells that make up the blood-brain barrier, opening small areas that will allow high concentrations of chemotherapy or other medications to enter the targeted tissues.
Kassell, a neurosurgeon, says the equipment is “relatively easy to use,” referencing the skill set to that of a “kid with video game experience. It’s not like learning something new,” Kassell says. “It’s all image guided and in real time, whether you’re using ultrasound or MRI. It’s all about how you want to look at the area in question.”
Not all focused ultrasound is MR guided. Right now, however, researchers say that focused ultrasound procedures such as penetrating the blood-brain barrier are best performed with the use of MRI for guidance.
The most well-known mechanism of MR-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) is the deposition of heat from a high-intensity, focused ultrasound beam to deposit energy in a desired anatomic target. This noninvasive alternative to surgery kills only targeted cells and comes with fewer side effects than other noninvasive treatments, such as radiation.
MRgFUS is seen as having the potential for use beyond its FDA-approved treatments of uterine fibroids and pain relief for patients with bone metastases. Clinicians began looking at applications where MRgFUS could help treat areas of the brain that control movement disorders from essential tremors to Parkinson’s disease. These treatments recently received FDA approval, and others are investigating this technology for disorders such as neuropathic pain, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depression.
In the case of Alzheimer’s disease, Kassell says the idea is to open the blood-brain barrier to enable the delivery of antibodies into the brain, as a way of reducing the proteins that collect between neurons and inhibit cell function by forming plaques.
“There’s also a theory that just opening the [blood-brain barrier] alone reduces the concentration of proteins that lead to Alzheimer’s symptoms,” Kassell says.
With Parkinson’s disease, opening the blood-brain barrier allows for the direct application of genetic or growth factor agents, he adds.
“The focus now needs to be on tracking results from preclinical trials and advancing to actual clinical trials,” Kassell says. “Trial results need to be rigorous enough to impress the FDA and payers that this is the best method of treatment for these diseases. Then we can move to educating physicians, health care organizations, and the public.”
As clinicians follow what Kassell sees as the natural evolution from surgery to minimally invasive to noninvasive treatments, there will be challenges along the way. As with any new medical treatments, advancement revolves around evidence. Researchers need to look at safety, feasibility, and outcomes.
“There are many hurdles to overcome in the process of using focused ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier for the treatment of conditions in the brain,” Kassell says. “We’re just at the beginning of the path that could lead to a new approach to brain tumors and neurological conditions.”
One hurdle is the impact a noninvasive drug delivery method may have on drug manufacturers’ approach to research and development. Nathan McDannold, PhD, a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, has spent the last 20 years researching ways to use focused ultrasound to safely disrupt the blood-brain barrier. McDannold says this work began in the late 1990s with physicist Kullervo Hynynen, MSc, PhD, who now leads the focused ultrasound research program at Sunnybrook and Women’s, when they asked a neuro-oncologist whether there was a drug they should try in their research. They started with a chemotherapy agent that had not been beneficial previously but could be more successful with focused ultrasound to disrupt the blood-brain barrier.
“There is the potential for greater success with the enhanced delivery enabled by focused ultrasound,” McDannold says. “Going forward, there are drugs being used in preclinical trials that seem good but don’t work well and are being dropped. We could rescue some of those drugs, try a new delivery method, and maybe now they will work.”
While focused ultrasound and microbubbles bring new hope for gaining access to targeted areas of the brain, they also have the potential to reinvigorate the effectiveness of certain drug applications for various tumor and neurological disease treatments. Kassell refers to drug treatments that were tried and failed, due to the inability at the time to break through the blood-brain barrier, and apply them directly to the targeted areas of the brain where they could do the most good.
“There are 350 drugs for Alzheimer’s disease that have been tried and failed at the clinical trial stage,” Kassell says. “There’s a theory that some of those drugs didn’t work because they couldn’t reach the brain in adequate concentrations. The use of focused ultrasound could shift the emphasis from drug development to drug delivery.”
McDannold says the introduction of a new drug delivery method is a different approach for drug manufacturers.
“Changing the drug manufacturers’ mindset could be an issue,” he says. “This is a regulatory area. When you have a new drug and a disease it’s meant to treat, there could be a problem if testing doesn’t go well. But then there’s a chance to bring that drug back with a different delivery method.”
A challenge that McDannold sees on the radiology side is in determining how best to approach tumors with focused ultrasound. With the complexity of tumors, there is a need to determine the best methods for effectively breaching the blood-brain barrier as well as which contrast agents to use.
“Looking at the advancement of tumors is different in people,” McDannold says. “But with image-guided drug delivery, using MRI methods and contrast agents might help predict how much drug to target to different parts of the brain.”
Establishing clinical trials is another challenging aspect of advancing the use of focused ultrasound. Lipsman notes that funding is a key factor, along with patient recruitment. There are also a number of variables to consider, particularly as researchers look at different diseases.
“It’s important to capture the best data possible,” he says. “With focused ultrasound, we need to prove that it’s safe. When it comes to Alzheimer’s disease treatment, we’re finding in animal models that opening the barrier alone may be beneficial, without using any drugs. There also needs to be consideration of the types of patients who should be included in any clinical trials. If the patient isn’t healthy enough for surgery, they may also not be healthy enough for focused ultrasound. There are so many factors to consider.”
Because of all these variables, Lipsman finds it even more important to take a group approach to determining best practices.
“This is why teamwork is important as we research this noninvasive approach to treating conditions in the brain,” he says. “Multidisciplinary teams should be the constant in the equation.”
Looking to the future, McDannold says it’s important to gain a better understanding of what’s happening at the point of focus within the brain. For example, the microbubbles do the job of creating a disruption in the blood-brain barrier, yet they also have the potential to pop, which could damage the blood vessels.
“It’s important to understand what the disruption does afterward,” McDannold says.
Lipsman says research is still in the early stages, with phase 1 trials underway.
“We need to determine the safety of focused ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier in humans, as well as the feasibility of the technology,” he says. “We need to optimize use of the microbubbles, considering the best frequency of use, the medication dose, and the time between application of the microbubbles and the ultrasound. We need to look at how the microbubbles interact with the ultrasound.”
— Kathy Hardy is a freelance writer based in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. She is a frequent contributor to Radiology Today.


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With the month's first drops of rain on Monday, many farmers relaxed a bit about the year's longest and most intense dry spell, and get back to the problem that plagues them rain or shine: earning enough from their crops to stay afloat.
And that boils down to the farmer's golden rule: entwined as they are, prices are still far more variable than weather.
''The quality of the produce does not have anything to do with your income,'' explained Mark Malench, a 38-year-old farmer who grows lettuce, peppers, eggplant and more than a dozen other crops on his family's 60-acre spread in Vineland. ''It's supply and demand. I've made more money with junk than with quality produce.''
The state's farmers receive, wholesale, about $800 million annually from sales the state Department of Agriculture groups into livestock, about $195 million; field crops, $69 million; vegetables, $177 million; fruits and berries, $102 million, and greenhouse, nursery and sod, $257 million.
Of those, only field crops -- feed corn, soybeans and grains -- are suffering badly from the heat because they sell at such low margins that irrigation does not pay, as it does for the state's high-quality fruit and vegetable farms.
''I'm going to lose about 200 acres of field corn,'' said John Rogolizzo Jr., the president of the New Jersey Farm Bureau, an advocacy group with 15,000 members. ''But the food products are not really suffering.''
And the problem, even with the corn, isn't just weather; it's competition.
''All grain prices are very low,'' said J. David Holmes, vice president of the Grain and Forage Producers Association of New Jersey. ''Hay is holding steady, but the yield is down.''
Low yields can sometimes force prices higher, but competitors, like Brazil and Argentina, are planting more and more such crops, pushing prices lower than usual.
''Usually, we get good prices and poor weather, or poor prices and good weather,'' Mr. Holmes said. ''But this year we have both poor weather and poor prices.''
El Nino, the weather phenomenon that brought floods in Wisconsin and a murderous heat wave in Texas, gave New Jersey a mild winter, an early growing season, a wetter-than-usual June, and a very dry July and, so far, August. Although July was the hottest month ever recorded on the planet, in New Jersey it was only the 24th hottest July on record, with an average of 75.1 degrees, 1.5 degrees above the norm.
In the face of dry weather, most farmers fight back: many have turned to drip irrigation, which involves burying a hose in the planted rows. Drip irrigation is more expensive to install than traditional overhead irrigation, but it uses much less water.
The plants, once protected from dehydration, actually benefit from the hot, dry weather, which keeps many pests and plant diseases at bay. Then, as far as price is concerned, the crucial factor is competition.
The competition was active last week at the Vineland Produce Auction, the largest auction of its kind on the East Coast. About 40 brokers from chain stores and large distributors sat in stepped rows in the tiny auction room as samples were piled onto a bench in front of them. The brokers waved and nodded as the auctioneers sang out prices, bidding $5.30 for boxes of plum tomatoes, $10 for a bushel of bell peppers, $15 for a bushel of perfect cucumbers -- prices that are above average.
''The farmers are having a good year,'' said John Mangano, a retired farmer who brought in samples from August C. Wuillermin, a farmer in Hammonton. ''These farmers don't want all that rain, not these,'' he said, patting his boxes of produce.


text:
- Aluminum orthophosphate
white rhombohedral plates
Used as a cement in admixture with calcium sulfate and sodium silicate.
Registry Numbers and Inventories.
Japan ENCS (MITI)
Melting point, °C
6.75E-5/K (25 C)
Hazards and Protection.
Keep container closed when not in use. Store in a tightly closed container. Store in a cool, dry, well-ventilated area away from incompatible substances.
Wash thoroughly after handling. Do not get in eyes, on skin, or on clothing. Keep container tightly closed. Do not ingest or inhale. Use with adequate ventilation. Use only in a chemical fume hood. Discard contaminated shoes.
Eyes: Wear appropriate protective eyeglasses or chemical safety goggles as described by OSHA's eye and face protection regulations in 29 CFR 1910.133 or European Standard EN166. Skin: Wear appropriate protective gloves to prevent skin exposure. Clothing: Wear appropriate protective clothing to prevent skin exposure.
Follow the OSHA respirator regulations found in 29CFR 1910.134 or European Standard EN 149. Always use a NIOSH or European Standard EN 149 approved respirator when necessary.
Absorb spill with inert material, (e.g., dry sand or earth), then place into a chemical waste container. Wash area with soap and water. Clean up spills immediately, using the appropriate protective equipment. Provide ventilation.
Stable under normal temperatures and pressures.
Strong oxidizing agents.
Phosphine, oxides of phosphorus, aluminum oxide.
Wear a self-contained breathing apparatus in pressure-demand, MSHA/NIOSH (approved or equivalent), and full protective gear. During a fire, irritating and highly toxic gases may be generated by thermal decomposition or combustion. Extinguishing media: Use dry chemical to fight fire.
May cause severe and permanent damage to the digestive tract. May cause severe gastrointestinal tract irritation with nausea, vomiting and possible burns.
May cause irritation of the respiratory tract with burning pain in the nose and throat, coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and pulmonary edema. Causes chemical burns to the respiratory tract.
Causes skin burns.
Causes eye burns.
Do NOT induce vomiting. If victim is conscious and alert, give 2-4 cupfuls of milk or water. Never give anything by mouth to an unconscious person. Get medical aid immediately.
Remove from exposure to fresh air immediately. If breathing is difficult, give oxygen. Get medical aid. DO NOT use mouth-to-mouth respiration. If breathing has ceased apply artificial respiration using oxygen and a suitable mechanical device such as a bag and a mask.
Get medical aid immediately. Immediately flush skin with plenty of soap and water for at least 15 minutes while removing contaminated clothing and shoes. Wash clothing before reuse. Destroy contaminated shoes.
Immediately flush eyes with plenty of water for at least 15 minutes, occasionally lifting the upper and lower eyelids. Get medical aid immediately. Do NOT allow victim to rub or keep eyes closed. Extensive irrigation is required (at least 30 minutes).
Std. Transport #

domain: chemistry


text:
Prisma 4-Star Swivel Chair | Dark Grey Camira Wool
Featuring steel seat's structure, matt brushed nickel 4-star base that swivels, and steel frame molded by injecting polyurethane foam, Prisma chair can be used as a dining office or accent chair. Camira wool upholstery offers a unique blend of natural wool and nettle fibre.
- Prisma collection / 4-star
- Comfortable upholstered seat and backrest
- Dark Grey Camira wool
- Swivel base / matt brushed nickel finish
- Seat has a steel structure
- S shape springs for extra flexibility and strength
- Steel frame is molded by injecting polyurethane foam
- Suitable for both residential and commercial use
- Designed by Tayfur Ozkaynak
Dimensions: H 33" x W 17" x D 20", Seat H 16-20"
Product's SKU: SOHO-PRISMA-4STAR-CHAIR-DGRY

domain: design


text:
Depression among girls and young women calls for awareness among public, private, or community organizations
Girls and women are at the highest risk for depression compared to their male counterparts. According to the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality 2012 report, diagnoses of depression triples for adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 years old. The American Psychological Association publication titled, “Explaining the Gender Difference in Depressive Symptoms,” suggest the trend persists well into adulthood. For adolescent girls, puberty, transitioning from elementary to middle school, emerging sexuality, and increased conflict with parents may contribute to mood swings and depression. The change to adulthood is laced with another set of challenges, which include low self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, romantic relationships, and workplace stress.
The above links are pdf files. To view, download Acrobat Reader.
Depression and Adolescent Girls
The growing crisis of depression in girls and young women necessitates awareness by parents, guardians, teachers, school counselors, clinicians, and work supervisors. Parents or guardians need to be aware of the symptoms of depression in their daughter(s) to ensure that help is sought and mental health issues are addressed in order to reduce the source of the depression. Depressive symptomology is not restricted to the home or school setting for young and adolescent girls. School counselors and clinicians are often the frontline providers for adolescent girls and must be cognizant of the ever-changing treatment modalities, given that treating depression in adolescent girls may require a different focus.
Depression and Young Adulthood
Depression is considered a chronic, progressive disorder that typically extends into adulthood. As the problem persists, it may become a prevalent challenge in the workplace. For supervisors, employee depression may be uncharted territory. How do the supervisors balance professionalism, sensitivity, and Human Resource rules and policies with workplace culture while ensuring employee success and workplace productivity? At what points must supervisors identify signs of abnormal workplace demeanor and refer employees for higher levels of resolution to mediate possible depression? What is an appropriate balance of workplace strategies that supervisors can use to assist employees in coping with depression in the workplace?
What are the first steps needed to help our daughters, girlfriends, mothers, sisters, female students, female clients, and female employees implement work-life balance? Becoming aware of the problem and knowing what the face of depression in girls and young women looks like is an important first step.
ARDX Raises Awareness to Address Gaps in Behavioral Health
ARDX believes strongly in creating innovative ideas that foster integrated systems of change to promote overall health and well-being. This year’s 9th Annual Women’s Wellness Celebration is themed “Mental Health Matters: Opening Eyes. Opening Minds.” ARDX hopes to raise awareness and promote action about the mental health well-being of girls and women by integrating the roles of policymakers, community leaders, practitioners, and families.
It is worth everyone’s time to attend and hear expert speakers and panelists from varying local and national organizations address these modern-day mental health issues. The information received at the Women’s Wellness Celebration conference will be life-changing. Don’t miss out on this opportunity!
About the Author
Rolande Murray, Ph.D. – Dr. Murray is an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology and Rehabilitation Counseling at Coppin State University in Baltimore, MD, and serves as a Behavioral Health Expert on the ARDX Healthcare Expert Advisory Board (HEAB).

domain: sociology


text:
WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
Headlining hit touring stage show An Evening of Burlesque, Rotherham lass Amber Topaz describes herself as "The Yorkshire Tease" and says she was born to perform. The fun-loving beauty reveals she has slipped into her role as one of the top artistes on London s thriving West End burlesque scene just as easily as she slips out of her many couture costumes in the An Evening of Burlesque.
By providing information about entertainment and cultural events on this site, WhatsOnStage.com shall not be deemed to endorse,
recommend, approve and/or guarantee such events, or any facts, views, advice and/or information contained therein.

domain: artistic


After A Long Wait, Syrian Rebels Hope The Weapons Will Now Flow
President Obama has long been reluctant to provide substantial aid to Syria's so-called moderate rebels, often dismissed as weak and disorganized. But the rapid rise of the group that calls itself the Islamic State has changed many calculations.
The CIA has been running a small-scale covert weapons program since early this year, according to rebels who have been trained and are now receiving arms shipments. The modest program has strengthened moderate battalions, according to Western and regional analysts, even as rebel commanders complain about the meager arms flow.
The first American anti-tank missiles, known as TOWs, arrived in northern Syria early this spring. There were just a handful, delivered to only one rebel group carefully vetted by the CIA.
The group, Harakat Hazm, or the Steadfast Movement, showed off the new weapons system by posting the first successful strike on YouTube in April.
Harakat Hazm's media team works out of a well-furnished apartment on the Turkish border. Ahmed Abu Imad says he's just back from the battlefield in Syria to upload videos of the latest hit — a strike on a Syrian army artillery cannon.
"It was huge for us," he says, grinning, "because it was bombing a lot of sites." He believes the Syrian military has had to adapt to the new weapons systems.
"They started to get afraid," he says. Imad uploads videos of every strike on Facebook, Twitter and the battalion's official website.
The videos are more than just an accounting of the battalion's success. It's part of the complex program that is run from the joint Military Operations Center near the front lines. The U.S. is a "leading participant" in the MOC, according to a report by the International Crisis Group, confirmed by rebels who are recipients of the program.
Tight Control Over Weapons
The CIA keeps a tight rein on the rebels and the weapons. Rebels say they have to document every strike by a vetted video team and turn in the documentation, even the spent canisters from the weapons they've used before they can be resupplied.
The resupplies are limited — no more than five at a time — say rebels who chafe at this "lending library" approach to fighting a war. But U.S. support has benefits and has boosted the ranks of moderate rebel groups, says Noah Bonsey, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.
"Harakat Hazm quickly went from not existing to being one of the most powerful groups in the north," says Bonsey.
Since the first weapons arrived in the spring, more than a dozen groups have been deemed moderate enough to qualify for training on sophisticated weapons systems.
"More groups have been steadily making their way through the vetting process and receiving various kinds of material support, including anti-tank weapons," says Bonsey.
Fighting On Two Fronts
Still, the weapons flow remains modest, and rebels say it is not enough to change the battlefield dynamics against the Syrian regime. Rebel demands have grown more insistent, as they fight on two fronts, against the Syrian army, as well as the powerful militants of the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS or ISIL.
At the media office for the Free Syrian Army, an umbrella for dozens of battalions, Hussam al-Marie rolls out a map of the front lines around the northern city of Aleppo. The rebels have been battling regime forces for more than a year, but now, Islamic State fighters are challenging them, too.
"So you can see this front line against ISIS is here," says al-Marie pointing to the villages northwest of Aleppo, where Islamic State fighters have captured positions from other factions. He repeats again the message he wants to get out.
"ISIS is defeatable," he says. "We have done it before, and we can do it again."
These rebel battalions declared war on the Islamic State in January, pushing them east toward the Iraqi border. But the victory was short-lived. In June, the Islamic State came back to Syria flush with weapons. Many were U.S. weapons, seized in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, where Iraqi forces fled. Now, the Islamic State is stronger than ever, he says.
"I saw by my own eyes, ISIS using the yellow tank, the American tank," he says, when he was on the front lines near Mara, a town in the countryside of northern Syria.
Al-Marie makes the argument that many commanders make, that the Islamic State cannot be defeated with airstrikes alone. These Free Syria Army battalions are a key part of any strategy, but they need weapons and support quickly, he insists.
"Airstrikes won't tackle ISIS; it will only tickle ISIS," he repeats more than once, a line he crafted to make his point.
Since January, the Islamic State threat has galvanized FSA battalions, forcing them to step up battlefield coordination and cooperation, say Western sources. However, they still lack a coherent military structure as well as command and control, says analyst Noah Bonsey, who tracks rebels movements.
"This is a modest improvement that we've seen so far. There's still a long way to go," he says, "if they are to hold their ground against the regime and ISIS, and eventually regain territory from ISIS."
Obama may be betting on the rebels, but unless the support is ramped up quickly, Bonsey says the rebels will continue to lose ground.
"We are crying for weapons," says a rebel known as Abu Abdullah, with the Mujahedeen army, the latest group to undergo vetting by the U.S. for training and eventual weapon supplies.
This group was the first to publicly declare war on ISIS back in January, and has finally gotten the green light from the U.S. for training and weapons.
"We have a lot of good fighters," says Abu Abdullah, "but sometimes we don't have the means, no matter how brave our fighters are."
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


The New Establishment made an impressive showing at the 2009 Oscars. Penelope Cruz thanked Harvey Weinstein (No. 87) when she won the award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Dreamworks star Jack Black teased Jeffrey Katzenberg (No. 53) that he was betting his Kung-Fu Panda money on Pixar's likely win. Black's co-presenter, Jennifer Aniston, apologized for him, "I'm so sorry, Mr. Katzenberg. I don't know why we let him out of the house." The makers of Wall-E thanked Steve Jobs (No. 4) when the robot took home Best Animated Film. Steven Spielberg (No. 14) presented the biggest award of the night, Best Picture. And the camera spent nearly as much time focusing on Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt (No. 9) as on host Hugh Jackman. All of which is a bounty of good news for a crowd otherwise addled by economic woes.
Rupert Murdoch (No. 2) continues to take heat for publishing that terrible, tasteless cartoon. The NAACP leads the charges, launches a protest.
Bono (No. 36) anticipates the official March 3rd release of U2's new album, No Line on the Horizon, although it has been leaked. The band announces that their tour will feature cheap tickets and 360 degree seating.
George Clooney (No. 55) fields rumors of a bromance with David Beckham, as the tabs speculate that the soccer star is taking a respite in Clooney's Lake Como villa.


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SALEM, Ore. (AP) — An investigator with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission has concluded that Cylvia Hayes, the girlfriend of former Gov. John Kitzhaber, used her official position for personal gain.
The report, released Wednesday, recommended that the commission make a preliminary ruling that Hayes violated state law.
Kitzhaber resigned just over a month into his fourth term, in 2015, amid allegations he failed to publicly declare a potential conflict of interest between his elected position and Hayes’ work as a clean energy consultant.
The ethics commission recently rejected a proposal that he be fined $1,000 fine, with some members believing it was too low and that he hasn’t shown sufficient contrition.
On the commission’s agenda when it meets in Salem on Friday is the Hayes matter.

domain: politics