Feeling down? How about an electric pick-me-up for your brain?
by K.E.D. Coan
More than 10% of American adults take antidepressants, according to the CDC’s last survey, but these drugs can come with a variety of unpleasant side effects. As an alternative, a team at Swansea University is developing an approach using electrical brain stimulation to alleviate stress and depression.
Past studies have shown this method can relieve depression, but their most recent study presents the first evidence that it can also give healthy people a little boost when they’re feeling down.
“We’ve shown that weak electric stimulation is effective to improve the mood of those who are not depressed, but are still affected by the consequences of a stressful, restless, and demanding lifestyle,” said Dr. Frederic Boy, Head of Translational and Consumer Neuroscience at Swansea.
Although the idea of electric brain stimulation may give you pause for thought, researchers have safely used transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) for over a decade. Last year, the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) also approved tDCS for the treatment of depression.
The treatment passes a small electrical current through the brain via two electrodes attached with sticky pads to the participant’s head. Volunteers feel only a weak tingling sensation at the beginning of the session.
Boy’s team selected healthy volunteers, with no history of depression or psychiatric treatments. The participants received tDCS for twelve minutes each day, for a total of five days. Boy’s team specifically targeted the brain’s prefrontal cortex—the region known to be active during negative emotions and stress. Afterwards, they asked participants to complete mood questionnaires assessing mental states such as anxiety, depression, anger, and fatigue.
“We saw an improvement across the whole scale,” said Dr. Nick Davis, a co-author on the study at Manchester Metropolitan University. After the first sessions, participants began to feel more positive overall, while those who received a mock treatment reported no noticeable change.
This work may lead not only to a new treatment option for mood disorders, but also to a pick-me-up for healthy individuals dealing with the stress of everyday life. One of the leading causes of clinical depression is the gradual buildup of such day-to-day negative emotions, and so the treatment might also help prevent depression in the first place. The team even envisions the development of an over-the-counter device for stress reduction at home.
“People could give themselves a mood boost as needed,” said Davis.
But he doesn’t recommend that people try DIY brain stimulation until all of the results are in.
Researchers are still considering safety and ethical questions such as: Could people become dependent on the mood boosts? What are the consequences of long-term mood modulation?
Nevertheless, the potential to help people be happier is worth further exploration.
“This could absolutely change people’s lives,” said Boy.


text:
Individualism, collectivism, selected personality traits, and psychological contract in employment
A comparative study
College of Business and Public Administration, Governors State University, University Park, Illinois, USA, and
College of Public Administration, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China
Purpose – This study seeks to examine the relationship between individual’s cultural values of individualism, collectivism, selected personality traits and the psychological contracts they tend to form. Design/methodology/approach – Surveys were used to collect data from China and US sample sets. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to explore the impact of selected cultural values and personality traits on individuals’ tendency to form transactional contract or relational contract. Findings – Personality characteristics of equity sensitivity and external locus of control were found to be positively related to transactional contract type for both samples, and conscientiousness was found to be positively related to relational contract, but the relationship was only found for the Chinese sample. The impact of the individualistic cultural value on the type of psychological contract one forms with the employer is uncertain, but the individualism value was found to have a mediator effect between age and transactional contract type for the Chinese sample. Practical implications – The study contributes evidence that can help explain why employees who face the same job conditions and employment relationships may develop different psychological contracts with their employers. The finding on the mediating effect of individualism between age and transactional contract highlight challenges faced by managers in China’s changing economy in terms of motivating and
References: Barrick, R.M. and Mount, M.K. (1991), ‘‘The big five personality dimensions and job performance: a meta-analysis’’, Personnel Psychology, Vol. 44, pp. 1-26. Costa, P.T. and McCrae, R.R. (1988), ‘‘Personality in adulthood: a six-year longitudinal study of self-reports and spouse ratings on the NEO personality inventory’’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 54, pp. 853-63. Costa, P.T. and McCrae, R.R. (1992), Revised NEO Personality Inventory and NEO Five-Factor Inventory Professional Manual, Psychological Assessment Resources, Odessa, FL. Coyle-Sharpiro, J. and Kessler, I. (2000), ‘‘Consequences of psychological contract for the employment relationship: a large scale survey’’, The Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 37 No. 7, pp. 903-30. Goldberg, L.R. (1990), ‘‘An alternative ‘description of personality’: the big five factor structure’’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 86, pp. 1270-9. Hui, C., Lee, C. and Rousseau, D.M. (2001), ‘‘Psychological contract and organizational citizenship behavior in China: investing generalizability and instrumentality’’, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 89 No. 2, pp. 311-21. Huseman, C.R., Hatfield, D.J. and Miles, W.E. (1987), ‘‘‘A new perspective on equity theory’ The equity sensitivity construct’’, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 12, pp. 222-34. James, L.R. and Brett, J.M. (1984), ‘‘Mediators, moderators, and tests for mediation’’, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 69 No. 2, pp. 307-21. 302 Judge, T.A. and Bono, J.E. (2001), ‘‘Relationship of core self-evaluations traits – self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and emotional stability – with job satisfaction and job performance: a meta-analysis’’, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 86, pp. 80-92. Kickul, J., Lester, S.W. and Belgio, E. (2004), ‘‘Attitudinal and behavioral outcomes of psychological contract breach: a cross-cultural comparison of the United States and Hong Kong Chinese’’, International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, Vol. 4, pp. 229-52. King, R.C. and Bu, N. (2005), ‘‘Perceptions of the mutual obligations between employees and employers: a comparative study of new generation IT professionals in China and the United States’’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 46-64. Lee, C., Tinsley, C.H. and Chen, Z.X. (2000), ‘‘Psychological normative contracts of work group members in the US and Hong Kong’’, in Rousseau, D.M. and Schalk, R. (Eds), Psychological Contracts in Employment: Cross-National Perspectives, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. Li, H.Z., Zhang, Z., Bhatt, G. and Yum, Y.K. (2006), ‘‘Rethinking culture as self-construal: China as a middle ground’’, Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 146 No. 5, pp. 591-610. Liao-Troth, M.A. (2005), ‘‘Are they here for the long haul? The effects of functional motives and personality factors on the psychological contracts of volunteers’’, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol. 34 No. 4, pp. 510-30. Meyer, J.P., Stanley, D.J., Herscovitch, L. and Topolnytsky, L. (2002), ‘‘Affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization: a meta-analysis of antecedents, correlates, and consequences’’, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 61, pp. 20-52. Miller, D., Kets De Vries, M.F.R. and Toulouse, J.M. (1982), ‘‘Top executive locus of control, and its relationship to strategy-making, structure, and environment’’, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 25, pp. 237-53. Morrison, E.W. and Robinson, S.L. (1997), ‘‘When employees feel betrayed: a model of how psychological contract violation develops’’, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 16, pp. 92-120. O’Neil, B.S. and Mone, M.A. (1998), ‘‘Investigating equity sensitivity as a moderator of relations between self-efficacy and workplace attitudes’’, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 83, pp. 805-16. Raja, U., Johns, G. and Ntalianis, F. (2004), ‘‘The impact of personality on psychological contracts’’, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 47 No. 3, pp. 350-67. Ramamoorthy, N. and Carroll, S.J. (1998), ‘‘Individualism/collectivism orientations and reactions toward alternative human resource management practices’’, Human Relations, Vol. 51 No. 5, pp. 571-88. Ramamoorthy, N. and Flood, P.C. (2002), ‘‘Employee attitudes and behavioral intentions: a test of the main and moderating effects of individualism-collectivism orientations’’, Human Relations, Vol. 55 No. 9, pp. 1071-96. Ramamoorthy, N., Gupta, A., Sardessai, R.M. and Flood, P.C. (2005), ‘‘Individualism/collectivism and attitudes toward human resource systems: a comparative study of American, Irish, and Indian MBA students’’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 16 No. 5, pp. 852-69. Rotter, J.B. (1966), ‘‘Generalized expectations for internal vs. external reinforcement’’, Psychological Monographs, Vol. 80 (whole no. 609). Rousseau, D.M. (1989), ‘‘Psychological and implied contracts in organizations’’, Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, Vol. 2, pp. 121-39. Rousseau, D.M. (1995), Psychological contracts in organizations: Understanding written and unwritten agreements, Sage Publications, Newbury Park. Psychological contract 303 MRN 31,4 304 Rousseau, D.M. (1997), ‘‘Organizational behavior in the new organizational era’’, Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 48, pp. 515-46. Rousseau, D.M. and Schalk, R. (2000), ‘‘Introduction’’, in Rousseau, D.M. and Schalk, R. (Eds), Psychological Contracts: Cross-national Perspectives, Sage, London, pp. 1-28. Rousseau, D.M. (2001), ‘‘Schema, promise, and mutuality: the building blocks of the psychological contract’’, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 74, pp. 511-41. Sauley, K.S. and Bedeian, A.G. (2000), ‘‘Equity sensitivity: construction of a measure and examination of its psychometric properties’’, Journal of Management, Vol. 26 No. 5, pp. 885-910. Semykina, A. and Linz, S.J. (2006), ‘‘Gender differences in personality and earnings: evidence from Russia’’, Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol. 28, pp. 387-410. Spector, P. (1988) ‘‘Development of the work locus of control scale’’, Journal of Occupational Psychology, Vol. 61, pp. 335-40. Stewart, G.L. (1996), ‘‘Reward structure as a moderator of the relationship between extraversion and sales performance’’, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 81, pp. 619-27. Thomas, D.C. and Au, K. (2002), ‘‘The effect of cultural differences on behavioral responses to low job satisfaction’’, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 33 No. 2, pp. 309-26. Thomas, D.C., Au, K. and Ravlin, E.C. (2003), ‘‘Cultural variation and the psychological contract’’, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 24, pp. 451-71. Triandis, H.C. (1995), Individualism and collectivism, Westview, Boulder, CO. Westwood, R., Sparrow, P. and Leung, A. (2001), ‘‘Challenges to the psychological contract in Hong Kong’’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 621-51. Further reading Grimmer, M. and Oddy, M. (2007), ‘‘Violation of the psychological contract: the mediating effect of relational versus transaction beliefs’’, Australian Journal of Management, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 153-74. Judge, T.A., Bono, J.E. and Locke, E.A. (2000), ‘‘Personality and job satisfaction: the mediating role of job characteristics’’, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 85, pp. 237-49. Miles, E.W., Hatfield, J.D. and Huseman, R.C. (1994), ‘‘Equity sensitivity and outcome importance’’, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 15, pp. 585-96. About the authors Jun Zhao is an Associate Professor of Management within the College of Business and Public Administration, Governors State University in University Park, IL, USA. She received her DBA from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Her research interests include corporate restructuring, organizational downsizing, psychological contract, and cross-cultural management studies. She has published papers in the Academy of Management Review and various national and international conference proceedings. Jun Zhao is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: firstname.lastname@example.org Lijun Chen is an associate professor in the Government Department of the College of Public Administration, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China. She received her PhD from the College of Science, Zhejiang University Psychology Department. She is a 2006-2007 Fulbright Research Scholar in the Raj Soin College of Business, Wright State University, USA. Her research interests include individual and organizational integrity, integrity tests, business ethics, psychological contract, and cross-cultural management. To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: email@example.com Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

domain: psychology


Planning Happy New Year Which PC system configuration to meet next-generation hardware
There is always an idea and goal just before the year-end or the sun goes. Although it can be thought of as a diet or savings, but it is done to replace PC components such as graphics cards, such as I can not help but have a CPU or a rather than that than I was ducking than it.
Of course, the graphics cards mentioned above have been quiet this year, and the price was more rather than thought, and it is difficult to touch because it has been more than a few days. Fortunately, the monitor has not changed yet, so there is no big problem because I can not change the graphics card that I’m holding because I do not change the monitor.
Except for the graphics card, the components that make up the PC can be a variety of ways to construct a variety of functions from different parts to each other. Recently, Intel has released the 12th generation CPU ALLAN, which has grafted new technologies, which has also changed the standard as an LGA 1700 socket in an existing LGA 1200 socket through a more precise NATO design (10 nm process, Intel 7).
The period of about 10 years has passed and the standard of RAM has changed. DDR4 specifications have been standardized in 2012, now the DDR5 standards are emerging by one of them. The newly emerged DDR5 RAM showed a global semiconductor standard start clock 4,800mt / s, showing an improvement of about 1.5 times compared to the previous DDR4 RAM, and the efficiency was lowered by lowering the power to a 1.1V voltage.
Through this new technology, CPU and RAM from the world have made a lot of changes to the hardware market, and the main board has changed accordingly as sockets and arrangements vary. LGA 1700 Socket specifications, and the main board to meet next-generation hardware accommodating DDR5 RAM.
The next-generation PC system component described above (12th generation CPU and DDR5 RAM) is to learn a variety of performance, and to do direct benchmarks and games. The previous main board used the Z chipset main board Gigabyte Z690 Across Master compatible with both the 12th generation CPU and DDR5 RAM.
Compatible with Intel’s top-level chipset, Gigabyte Z690 Across master compatible with the Z chipset, supports DDR5 4000MHz / DDR5 4800MHz memory modules and is the main board that is released to the LGA 1700 socket. High quality ALC1220 audio chipset was applied, and it shows a stable and stable by equipped with a direct digital power supply of 19 + 3 phases suitable for the performance-efficiency core structure of the 12th generation Intel CPU (and similarity to other big-little structures).
■ Test Next Generation Hardware System Configuration
■ Complete mounting! Do you want to see it from performance?
Cine bench R23
CPU-Z computation performance test
■ Performance confirmation, let’s feel directly, let’s feel it.
Diablo 2 reservoir
I have configured a PC system through the 12th generation CPU, DDR5 RAM, and the main board that came accordingly. The performance is performance, and the game tests were all advected to the high quality environment, and they were able to enjoy it comfortably despite the progress.
There was certainly not a part of the system consisting of a system consisting of yet crazy new technologies, or it has not yet been able to use or optimize. For example, in the case of a hybrid architecture used by the 12th generation CPU, there is a part of the Bios phase, which should be initially set in the biostracteria, which should also consider that settings may be difficult if the hardware or software is not much interested in the software.
In addition, as a result of the game play, it has been used for a long time through various tasks, and it was certainly a lot better than thought that considering the rumor or performance that was listed here and there.
Of course, in order to use the current performance as described above, the settings or updates of the bios are required to fully use. In addition, a few of the prices such as graphics cards and memory suitable for this configuration have been released, and the prices are also high and the products that are not available on high are also available.
However, if you are optimized and a variety of parts that meet your new product, if the price is stabilized, you will be able to be a good judgment when you think in a long period of time. For the time being, I would like to wait for a bullet until I drop the price.


Many Democratic House members are considering a vote for the Senate Bill with the expectation that there will subsequently be fixes. But such fixes would require at least a modicum of GOP support, especially if the fixes cannot be done through “reconciliation.” So, I’d suggest that the GOP should say this right now:
We promise that if the Democrats ram through this huge monstrosity of a Senate Bill, then we would subsequently support repeal of the whole thing, but we would oppose or abstain from any vote to make partial fixes, at least during this Congress.
This would likely scuttle the whole bill. Even if it doesn’t, the full bill would then essentially be put to a referendum vote during the November elections.


text:
Country star Jason Aldean isn’t lying down after cancel culture came for him.
Now he’s going on the offensive with his latest move.
And Jason Aldean made one big announcement that left the woke mob seething with rage.
The woke mob tried to manufacture a controversy over the music video for country star Jason Aldean’s hit song “Try That in a Small Town.”
The video was smeared as being “racist” and “promoting violence” with its lyrics.
The song was first released back in May, where it remained under the radar until the controversy broke out over its music video.
The woke mob and their media allies tried to cancel Aldean but he stood his ground against their frenzy.
Cancel culture backfired in spectacular fashion against him and he came out of the other side bigger than ever.
Country Music Television (CMT) caved to the woke mob and took his music video off of the airwaves.
That sent his fans to YouTube to watch the video where its views jumped from 350,000 to over 16 million in a matter of weeks.
Fueled by the woke backlash, “Try That in a Small Town” became the most successful song of his long career.
It became his first hit to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart beating his previous high of 7th with 2011’s “Dirt Road Anthem.”
Aldean is using the success of his number-one hit to launch his new album this November.
“Try That in a Small Town” will be the lead single for Aldean’s 11th studio album Highway Desperado.
He’s capitalizing on the increased interest in his music to release what could be one of the biggest albums of his three-decade career.
Aldean told fans on his website the album’s title was inspired by his band’s early days of touring on the road.
“I think when I look back on it, I built my career early on my live show, and have been on the road touring since I was 18 years old,” Aldean said. “For us, touring is our favorite part. Getting on the bus and going town to town and playing our shows and doing our thing and seeing the fans . . . the title for the tour and album was really inspired from that.”
The controversy surrounding “Try That in a Small Town” didn’t work out like the woke mob planned.
And Jason Aldean will be able to use the free publicity the woke mob gave him to generate even more interest in his new album.

domain: celebrity


Feared in Bengaluru's underworld and considered one of the richest goons in the city, Rowdy Lakshmana was hacked to death in broad daylight by a gang of five men on Friday near the ISKCON temple in the city.
The murder has raised questions about the motive and sources suggest his rivals exacted revenge for a murder that he had committed 14 years ago. On Friday evening, the Central Crime Branch, which took over the probe into Lakshmana's murder, detained two men, Srikanta and Cat Raja, who are both rowdy-sheeters with cases of murder, attempted murder and extortion registered against them in the Soladevanahalli Police Station.
CCB sources say that Cat Raja allegedly confessed to being a part of the 5-member team that killed Rowdy Lakshmana. Cat Raja allegedly told the police that the murder weapons and bloodied clothes were hidden in Kareem Saab Layout. On Saturday morning, DCP North N Shashikumar and Mahalakshmi Layout Inspector Prashanth, took Cat Raja to Kareem Saab Layout when he tried to attack the police and escape. The police fired two shots at Cat Raja, who was injured and is now undergoing treatment.
Police say that two other gangsters – Kalla Jagga and Hemanth alias Hemi – have absconded and that they are being traced. "Cat Raja, Srikanta, Hemi and Kalla Jagga are all close associates for Machchu Manja, who was killed 14 years ago by Lakshmana and his men," police said.
In 2005, Machchu Manja, a local gangster, was returning home after distributing his wedding invitation. He was chased down by twin brothers Rama and Lakshmana along with 40 others in Yelahanka. Machchu Manja was hacked to death with sickles and machetes.
"According to Cat Raja, the murder was committed due to both personal rivalry and also because of certain land grabbing cases which Lakshmana was involved in. We have reason to believe that the assailants had planned the event well in advance and that a woman friend of Hemi was roped in as well," police said.
Police found a hotel room key in Lakshmana's car and suspect that Lakshmana was on his way to meet Hemi’s friend. "We think she may have tipped the others off. This was well planned. The day before Laksmana was killed, Cat Raja and Kalla Jagga had performed a puja at Machchu Manja's grave in Solur. Although we do not have adequate evidence about whether it was a revenge killing, we have reason to believe it was due to the suspects in the case and the events which led up to Lakshmana's murder," the police added.


text:
These programs are designed for
families with children of all ages and grade levels. Cost: $5 per child. Adults free.
Fridays 10 a.m. - noon.Details: Bryan Truzzie at 751-4946 or
To register, visit PayPal on this site.
Johnny Reb and Billy Yank: This
program will address the hardship of the commomn soldier during the
Civil War. Students will learn about the food the soldiers ate, how
they dealt with boredom, what motivated the soldiers to fight and
understand the causes of the war. Students will gain an
understanding on how the soldiers trained and equipment they carried
on the march. ChesterfieldMuseum,
6813 Mimms Loop, Chesterfield,
VA23832 Friday, February 24, 2017 10 a.m.
$5 and Friday, March 31, 2017 10 a.m.
- From Fossisl Fuel to Electicity:
Did you know that Midlothian was the site of the first
commercial coal mines in North America? Take a guided tour and
discover what coal mining was all about. Explore the inpact
this community had on the region. This activity addresses
geology and cola mining. Program meets in the amphitheater
parking lot. Midlothian MInes Park, 13286 North Woolridge
Road, Midlothian, VA 23114 Friday, February 10, 2017 10 am-Noon $5,
Friday, March 10, 2017 10 am-Noon $5
and Friday, April 7, 2017 10 am-Noon $5
Life on the Plantation:
Take a tour of Magnolia Grange and experience what
19th century was like on a plantation. Tour the herb garden and learn
about the importance of herbs for flavor, medicine, fragrance and pest
control. Make a fragrant sachet to take home and learn to play period
children's games. Magnolia Grange House Museum, 10020 Ironbridge
Road, CHesterfield, VA 23832 Friday, March 24, 2017 10 am-Noon $5
and Friday, April 28, 2017 10 am-Noon $5
1892 Historic Jail is opened for tours. The adjacent Museum houses exhibits
pertaining to the history of Chesterfield County. Rotating exhibits are
themed along historical events that affected county residents. Please take
a tour of the Museum. Admission is free and $2 donations are accepted.
A Tour of Midl-Lo Mines in Chesterfield County, VA
The Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia
Headquarters and research library has moved into the old historic Trinity
Church . See the
news media information. Please contact us: (804)796-7121.
Hours of Operation: Monday-Friday from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm.

domain: history


text:
Source: US Department of Homeland Security
Headline: Acting Secretary Wolf’s Statement on Extension of Non-Essential Travel Restrictions with Canada and Mexico
The Department of Homeland Security will ensure that the measures taken at our borders will protect America from all threats, including threats against the health and safety of our citizens. Based on the success of the existing restrictions and the emergence of additional global COVID-19 hotspots, the Department will continue to limit non-essential travel at our land ports of entry with Canada and Mexico. This extension protects Americans while keeping essential trade and travel flowing as we reopen the American economy.

domain: geography


text:
One of the heart breaking things about most of the research done on Alzheimer’s is that no matter how promising a certain experimental approach may seem, practical availability is still years, if not a decade, away. People with Alzheimer’s, or those at particular risk of developing Alzheimer’s, don’t have time to wait.
Because of this immediate need, the news that an already available drug used to control high blood pressure may help stem the degenerative effects of Alzheimer’s especially exciting.
The drug is carvedilol (brand name Coreg). And it’s already on the market. In a story titled, “Antihypertensive Drugs May Protect against Alzheimer’s Disease and Promote Healthy Memory,” on the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Web site, authors state that new research showing the antihypertensive drug carvedilol may become a way to help those with Alzehiemer’s.
“The Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that the drug carvedilol, currently prescribed for the treatment of hypertension, may lessen the degenerative impact of Alzheimer’s Disease and promote healthy memory functions. The new findings are published in two studies in the current issues of Neurobiology of Aging and the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.”
The study on mice showed that, “The scientists conducted behavioral and learning tests with each group of mice, and determined that it took the mice in the carvedilol significantly less time to remember tasks than the other group.”
The Mount Siani story implies that other blood pressure medications may also be effective, and the mice studied showed no signs of having their blood pressure reduced in a negative way.
It’s been long surmised that keeping blood pressure low is not only good for the heart, but good for the brain. However, that advice was mainly aimed at controlling stroke risk. When you think of the millions of people on blood pressure medications already, it gives one hope that there will be studies concerning many of these drugs.
If a study could be conducted dividing people into groups taking different types of antihypertensives, it would seem to me, a non-scientist, that these vast numbers should be telling. Is there only one drug that points to less Alzheimer’s developing in the patients who take that drug? Is it blood pressure drugs in general that work?
People already taking the drugs for their blood pressure are already aware of side effects, and would need the drugs regardless of the effect or potential effect on Alzheimer’s. That seems like a pretty safe study to me.
Often, it’s hard for researchers to get money to study already existing drugs for new purposes, just as it is hard to get money to study natural products, because the monetary rewards aren’t as great as when a new drug is discovered.
A newly developed drug would be a goldmine for any company, so that type of research seems to be where the money goes. That’s not bad, but studies on existing drugs are vital. Let’s hope that the research money is in place to study these antihypertensive drugs intensely.
Since doctors can prescribe drugs “off label,” if enough evidence mounts that antihypertensive drugs could slow degeneration from Alzheimer’s, I would think doctors would be trying them on at-risk patients. Again, I am not a scientist or a medical person. I’m just looking at this from the angle of what seems logical to me.
I find any steps forward in research that prove something already available may help people with Alzheimer’s, or those to be especially at risk for the disease, to be of huge importance. I would be bringing this up to my doctor soon if I needed the drug for either reason.
Published On: June 29, 2010

domain: medical


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text:
Changes to the admission policies at Harvard Business School are expected to encourage more people to apply to its prestige MBA program but are unlikely to quell the anxiety of applicants who sorely want to get into the school. That’s the fairly unanimous view of several leading MBA admission consultants.
The consultants believe that Harvard’s decision to cut in half the required number of application essays will likely reverse a two-year, post-recession fall in applications. But they argue that a new 400-word essay for applicants invited to interview will ratchet up the pressure on MBA candidates due to the 24-hour deadline Harvard is imposing to get the essay filed online.
The admission changes, the most significant since 2002 when Harvard made interviews with admission staffers mandatory for applicants who passed a first cut, were announced yesterday by “Dee” Leopold, managing director of MBA admissiona and financial aid. She said the changes were in sync with significant changes in Harvard’s MBA curriculum as well as her belief that essays have been given too much emphasis in admissions. Leopold told Poets&Quants that she thought the changes would eliminate some of the anxiety MBA applicants typically feel as they go through the application process.
‘HARVARD APPLICANTS WILL BE MUCH MORE ANXIOUS’
“As far as reducing anxiety, I’m underwhelmed both with the goal and the execution,” said Linda Abraham, founder of Accepted.com. “The writing contraints can provoke more anxiety than the ability to tell one’s story,” said Linda Abraham, founder of Accepted.com. “And I think that applicants will be much more anxious about the 30-minute interview and the 24-hour-max ‘written reflection of the interivew experience’ than they have been about the two essays that they no longer need to write without time pressure.”
Abraham believes that any school would be hard-pressed to diminish the pressure most candidates at top schools feel over the application process. “Applicant anxiety is an outcome of an opaque, subjective, intensely competitive admissions process where a prized, scarce resource is allocated among largely Type A millenials,” added Abraham. “Harvard’s change, no matter how sincere and noble the motives, hasn’t changed anything about that process.”
‘A WELL-CRAFTED THIRD ESSAY WILL HELP CLOSE THE DEAL’
Other consultants agreed. “The 24-hour timeframe for the third essay adds some pressure for the applicant, but also is very appealing,” believes Dan Bauer, a Harvard MBA who is founder and managing director of The MBA Exchange. “This is an unprecedented opportunity for the individual to respond to rather than just speculate on what is most important to the admissions board as revealed in the interview. A well-crafted essay here will help close the deal for an astute applicant.”
Chioma Isiadinso, who had been assistant director of admissions at Harvard Business
School before launching her consulting firm EXPARTUS, thought the changes would lighten the school’s workload because it would require admission staffers to read fewer essays.
“I think this is good for HBS and not necessarily for applicants,” she said. “These changes are about helping HBS manage their admission resources effectively, weeding out too much outside influence and increasing application numbers given two years of declining application figures. I doubt applicants will consider a 24-hour, shot-gun essay reflection a stress-free application experience.”
‘EVERY THOUGHT AND WORD WILL COUNT EVEN MORE’
Some consultants, in fact, suggested that reducing the initial applicant’s essays to just two 400-word statements imposes a different kind of pressure on MBA candidates. Bauer said it “means that every thought and word will count even more in making that critical first impression. Those individuals who know themselves and can integrate their past, present and future best will thrive.
“The focus of these new essay questions is similar to Stanford’s infamous question, ‘What matters most to you and why?,’ he added. “HBS is now providing a canvas for the applicant to paint a compelling picture rather than just respond to a narrowly defined, tactical query. Rather than just expanding on the resume, these new essays will reveal the individual’s values, awareness and priorities in ways never before possible.”
Comments or questions about this article? Email us.

domain: news


text:
Company displeased with scientists' skepticism
A company that develops "stem cell enhancers"
A company that develops "stem cell enhancers" as dietary supplements posted a linkurl:complaint;http://tinyurl.com/ypmjdy over 1,000 words in length on its website regarding an linkurl:article;https://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/53194 I wrote in May about its product. StemEnhance is an algal extract linkurl:promised;https://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/53186/ to enhance circulating stem cells and promote wellness. In my article, responses from stem cell researchers on whether the product seemed like a plausible way to improve health ranged from "we simply don't know" to "great skepticism."
The company, StemTech, did not enjoy the response. According to StemTech's comment, "We deplore the disinformation they offered their own readers." The comment accuses me of representing only the views of scientists who oppose their theory. "It seems rather obvious that if one wants to get a relevant answer about a product one should seek the opinion of scientists having knowledge and experience with that product. We could have given Grens the reference of many doctors and clinicians using StemEnhance in their practice."
I appreciate StemTech's helpful offer, but in addition speaking with the developer of the product and representing the positive testimonials of users, I sought outside reviewers with an expertise in the field to comment on the merits of this product. Practitioners who give patients StemEnhance likely believe it works, and using them as a source would be biased reporting.
The comment mentions an upcoming publication from an independent clinical study validating the effects of StemEnhance. As one of my sources mentions in my article (and about which StemTech did not complain), the mechanism of the extract seems plausible. I look forward to reading the results.
October 18, 2007
I, too, am quite skeptical about this product and it's claims. If this product was such a home-run, why wasn't this in Nature or Cell instead of the journal (previously unheard of to me) Cardiovascular Revascularization Medicine? Of course, that alone isn't an argument against StemEnhance. Look at the data for yourself. I did, and found it lacking. You can read my thoughts on the product and the paper here: \n\nhttp://bayblab.blogspot.com/2007/10/quack-of-week-christian-drapeaustem.html

domain: biology


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|Steve Diggle & Pete Shelley|
British college student Howard Trafford posted a notice looking for musicians sharing a liking for The Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray." Fellow student Peter McNeish responded. Trafford renamed himself Howard Devoto, McNeish renamed himself Pete Shelley, and they recruited a series of drummers and bassists to form The Buzzcocks in 1975. Stabilized with bass guitarist Steve Diggle and drummer John Maher a year later, the Buzzcocks opened for The Sex Pistols in Manchester, England, and became among the leaders of the nascent British punk rock movement in 1976. Devoto left the band early on and Diggle joined Shelley as co-singer/songwriter/guitarist. After three successful albums, the Buzzcocks disbanded in 1981, but reunited several times beginning in 1989. Since 2008, the Buzzcocks consists of Shelley, Diggle, drummer Danny Farrant and bassist Chris Remington. The band's ninth studio album, The Way, was released in Great Britain in May 2014 but is not yet available in the United States.
At Webster Hall's Grand Ballroom tonight, the Buzzcocks stormed through 25 songs in 80 minutes. The set opened with "Boredom," a song from early in the band's career that announced punk's attitude through a musical minimalism of three high speed chords and a two-note guitar lead. Older songs "Fast Cars" and "I Don't Mind" and new songs "Keep on Believing" and "People Are Strange Machines" followed with very British-sounding pop vocal lines backed by a fast and pounding rhythm section. While the set was comprised mostly of older songs, the new songs were crafted from the same fabric. A handful of songs featured extended guitar solos, including "Nothing Left," but most were verse-chorus-repeat powered by high-octane rapid-fire guitar riffs. The formula carried the band through to the encores of "Harmony In My Head", "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" and "Orgasm Addict." As one of the forefathers of the early punk rock scene, the Buzzcocks recreated a very authentic revival of a 35-year-old music revolution.
Visit the Buzzcocks at www.buzzcocks.com.

domain: entertainment


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TELEVISION; Of the South and Its Imprint on Literature
By ARIEL SWARTLEY
Published: August 2, 1998
TO drop the term ''Southern writers'' in a roomful of literati is to find oneself momentarily in possession of a staff as powerful as Moses'. Opinion sucks itself up into two formidably glittering walls, while faces turn, some alight in passionate defense, others with chins drawn in and hackles visibly raised. The dispute goes well beyond whether William Faulkner was the American Shakespeare or a suffocatingly long-winded chronicler of characters who were the same way themselves. It also goes beyond ideas about the region itself, though these are apt to cloud the issue.
Although not always acknowledged, traces of this divide are evident in ''Tell About the South,'' a documentary on Southern literature from 1920 to the 1940's that interviews or profiles more than two dozen writers, black and white. (The first of what is planned as a three-part series, the film, written, directed and produced by Ross Spears, will be shown Thursday at 10 P.M. on PBS.)
Arms crossed and facing the documentary's cameras from the center of a striped sofa, the novelist and journalist Willie Morris describes an encounter he had in 1960 while a Rhodes scholar at Oxford with the poet Robert Frost. Noticing Mr. Morris's accent, Mr. Frost asked where he was from. ''Mississippi?'' the poet exploded on being told. ''Hell, that's the worst state in the Union.'' Well, it had produced some fine writers, a shaken Mr. Morris allowed. ''But can anyone there read them?'' Mr. Frost returned.
At bottom, threading like a narrow spit of sand between the Red Sea waves of opinion lies the very notion of a regional literature, and the issues it raises are peculiarly American. Does the convening of so many disparate voices under a single banner enhance or diminish the individuals involved? Or, more fundamentally, are writers born or made? And if the answer is the latter, then what is responsible for their making: the landscapes of their youth, culture and traditions, or some central validating literary establishment? The questions become more urgent when the voices are drawn from a region as racially divided as the 20th-century American South.
In her influential 1956 essay ''Place in Fiction,'' the Mississippi-born novelist Eudora Welty allowed that ''it is both natural and sensible that the place where we have our roots should become the setting, the first and primary proving ground, of our fiction.'' At the same time she spurned the ''regional'' designation, calling it ''a careless term, as well as a condescending one.'' Condescending, because it was a judgment passed by outsiders. But, in fact, the passing was a bit more complicated.
The song ''Dixie'' was written in New York by an Ohio native -- information that depending on your point of view illustrates either the transformative power of myth or a willingness to disregard inconvenient truths. Similarly, ''Southern,'' as applied to writers, is an attribution that is open to interpretation. Edgar Allan Poe, reared and schooled in Virginia, left the South both literally and figuratively. Thomas Wolfe wrote most of his books in Brooklyn but his affiliation remains clear. The author of ''Roots,'' Alex Haley, brought up in Alabama and Tennessee, remained, perhaps by virtue of his journalism, the consummate New Yorker.
Few regions have had critics as vituperative as the Baltimore journalist H. L. Mencken, who in 1917 wrote off the economically depressed world south of the Potomac as ''a vast plain of mediocrity, stupidity and lethargy.'' And yet not even New England has been as successful as the South in promoting itself as the home ground of a distinctive literature. One might argue that New England sidestepped the need by presuming its tastes and standards to be those of the nation as a whole, a feat made easier by the powerful opinion makers that called the region home: Harvard, for instance, and Yale, and The Atlantic Monthly. The South, on the other hand, had considerable practice in making a virtue out of adversity.
''Tell About the South'' focuses first on the Fugitive poets, including Allen Tate, John Crowe Ransom and Robert Penn Warren, who took their name from the literary magazine they founded at Vanderbilt University in Nashville in 1922. Young, gifted, white and relatively privileged (all three were Rhodes scholars) they turned ''regional'' into a badge of distinction. In addition to being poets, the Fugitives were articulate critics. From Vanderbilt, founded to be the South's answer to Harvard and liberally endowed by the railroad baron (Cornelius), their academic influence radiated outward, fueled by the 1930 publication of ''I'll Take My Stand.''
Subtitled ''The South and the Agrarian Tradition,'' this essay collection provided a philosophical and political rationale for literature that drew its sustenance from the land and the farmer's virtue, cultivation, and was therefore a moral counterweight to empty technology, rootless modernity and other Northern contributions. By the 1960's and 70's, leading figures of the group were fugitive no longer, but well-placed members of the literary establishment, with professorships at Yale and Kenyon, books of criticism and prestigious awards. Last month's strong showing of white Southern writers (including relatively minor figures like Carson McCullers and Erskine Caldwell) on Modern Library's recent list of the century's best novels (as well as the complete absence of black women) is evidence of how powerfully certain sorts of Southerness have become identified with literariness per se.

domain: library


text:
Þessi samsetning er ekki til.
Manucurist - Indian Summer
Out with petrochemicals, in with nature and the Green range!
It’s the setting sun at the end of summer: ember red.
It’s a trip through a dusty desert: red ochre.
It's a warm breeze blowing through Mumbai: brick red.
Indian summer, you belong to me...


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Expats living in the United States enjoy greater financial comfort than U.S. expats living abroad, according to a recent HSBC survey.
Financial findings from the report, “Expat Explorer: Balancing Life Abroad,” revealed key differences between expats living in the U.S. and U.S. citizens living abroad.
According to the report, expats living in the U.S. benefit from higher net incomes. The report finds that, among expats living in the U.S., 27% make less than $60,000 a year, 26% earn $61,000 to $100,000 and 40% make more than $101,000.
Meanwhile, the story is flipped for U.S. expats living abroad, with 46% making less than $60,000, 17% earn $61,000 to $100,000, and 28% earn more than $101,000.
The report also finds that Americans in particular found it harder to organize their finances abroad (38%). Meanwhile, a number of expats living in the United States (39%) report that setting up their finances became easier.
It’s important to note that nearly three-quarters (74%) of all expats say at least one part of their finances has become more complex living abroad, whether that concerns new currencies, taxes or moving money abroad.
“With three out of four expats finding some part of personal finances more complex, the expat life clearly brings with it personal benefits as well as many complications, often times from unfamiliar financial regulations and tax obligations,” Jacques Herman, head of international retail banking and wealth management at HSBC Bank USA, said in a statement.
For American expats, some of their financial struggles may be in part from the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which aims to ensure that Americans living overseas pay their fair share of U.S. taxes.
Signed into U.S. law on July 1, 2010, FATCA took effect in July 2014. The first international exchange of taxpayer information between the IRS and foreign financial institutions, which is part of the IRS’ overall efforts to implement FATCA, took place in late September.
The information exchange involves certain intergovernmental agreements that not only enable the IRS to receive information from foreign financial institutions but also enable more efficient exchange by allowing a foreign tax administration to gather information and provide it to the IRS.
Many critics and expatriates argue FATCA is a compliance headache that often makes it difficult for Americans living abroad to maintain legitimate bank accounts — and curbs banks’ willingness to serve expats.
Herman notes another important challenge for American expats abroad that can complicate their finances is they are more likely to move back home compared with their expat counterparts.

domain: sociology


text:
They move at terrifying speeds of 6 kilometres per hour. [Read More]
Summary… * Machine-Made
Buddy MobilityWhen you think about robots stealing jobs, you think about AI, about new technology that supercedes the bounds of humanity.
But the Norwegian postal service, #Posten, has just signed a partnership with a San Francisco startup called Buddy Mobility to provide a robot that literally delivers your mail.
According to Buddy Mobility's official webpage, this partnership will provide #Posten with "cost savings to offset revenue losses" and will "dramatically" decrease mail volumes.
The robots won't deliver mail directly to your house, and will instead send recipients a notification through an app.
You can walk up, pick up your mail and the #Posten robot will be on its merry way, back to the post office for a recharge.
Opinion… * Man-Made
The Norwegian postal service (#Posten) has just signed a partnership with a San Francisco startup (#BuddyMobility) to provide a robot that literally delivers your mail to your door. Kinda. #Robotics #Trend


text:
Colorado to test digital driver's licenses
Colorado will soon become one of the first states in the nation to offer drivers a digital version of their driver's license.
The Colorado Department of Revenue announced Tuesday the state's DMV has been selected to participate in a two-year pilot program.
The digital driver's licenses would be displayed through a mobile app.
The program in Colorado would not immediately do away with physical driver's licenses.
Read more from our partners at 9NEWS.


text:
It’s called Laguna Shimmer. The ocean sparkling in the summer sunlight is exactly what this beautiful metallic cross-body bag by Mary Jo Matsumoto calls to my mind. More than a stylish accessory, it invokes a relaxed attitude and the freedom of spare time. Isn’t this what luxury is about today? I would wear it all summer long, with greys, and blues, and whites, too. A simple, flowy grey dress, or white/blue jeans and white t-shirt, or a white linen dress – because I believe luxury also means understated style.
collage by me / Laguna Shimmer cross-body bag by Mary Jo Matsumoto / illustration: Decade Diary

domain: artistic


text:
It’s tempting to give up basic hygiene when you’re feeling under the weather but these tips for caring for your mouth can help you feel better sooner.
Everyone knows that one of the best ways to prevent getting a cold is by washing your hands. But what if despite your best efforts, you find yourself sniffling and sneezing your way into the winter season? You may be tempted to skip brushing your teeth if you experience any discomfort.
Here are some tips to make cold and flu season a little easier:
Cover Your Mouth and Nose - If you don’t have a tissue handy when you need to sneeze or cough, in a pinch, sneeze into the crook of your elbow. It makes you look a little like a vampire but it helps to prevent the spread of germs. Cold and flu germs can’t survive on clothing for long. Just remember to wash your hands afterward to avoid the spread of bacteria so that the office bug doesn’t keep making the rounds.
Consider Replacing Your Toothbrush - If you’ve just had a routine cold that lasts a week or so, you can keep your toothbrush. But, if your brush is 3-4 months old or you’ve had the flu or other sustained illness like bronchitis or pneumonia, consider tossing it and getting a new one. Toothbrushes are a prime candidate for bacterial growth, so never share them even when you’re healthy. You can also sterilize your toothbrush by placing it in a few inches of water in a microwave-safe container and heating it for 2 minutes.
Use Sugar-Free Cough Syrup and Throat Lozenges - Some brands of cough drops are hard candies in disguise, loaded with sugar and not much else. While they may soothe the soreness by making your mouth produce saliva, they are bathing your teeth in sugar that oral bacteria feed on. If taken several times a day over the course of a week, you could develop a cavity. If you opt to take cough syrup, be sure to read the label and avoid products sweetened with sugar or high fructose corn syrup.
Hydration, Hydration, Hydration – Even when your body is well, getting enough fluids is essential and when you’re sick, it’s even more important. Staying well-hydrated also helps thin mucus and drain the sinuses. If you’re taking antihistamines or decongestants, be sure to drink a little extra water because they can dry out your mouth, making you more susceptible to cavities. Water is the best choice to stay hydrated, but breathing in the steam as you sip a nice cup of hot broth or tea with raw honey may help soothe a raw nose.
Consider Canceling - We hate for you to miss an appointment, but if you have a fever or have vomited in the last 24 hours, we ask that you consider rescheduling your appointment, so you don’t risk the spread of germs to our team.
While chances are you will get at least one cold this season, there are steps you can take to lessen the symptoms so you can feel like yourself again.


A $2,000 outdoor saunas in California will cost you $4,500 if you plan to spend $2.50 per hour outdoors, according to a new study.
Costco has not yet responded to requests for comment on the study, but it has long touted its outdoor sauns as affordable and safe.
The study looked at the cost of a single outdoor saunga in California, and the average cost of one in the state of Texas.
A total of 5,936 people were surveyed, including 5,895 who spent more than $100.
A total of 2,938 people were asked about their outdoor saunning experiences.
Costa Rica’s outdoor sauas are among the best in the world, according an article from the Wall Street Journal in 2014.
It says that Costa Rica has more than a million outdoor sausages per year, and one sauna costs about $4.
Costo Rica is also a favorite of celebrities and athletes, and is one of the hottest destinations in the country for gay sauners.
A number of gay sausas are available for purchase in the United States.
For a couple of weeks in April, a man named Robert L. was featured in the TV series, “The Price is Right.”
Lather, rinse, repeat.
The American sauna is one that’s been around for over 100 years.
And while the saunters are pretty good, the idea of having a hot tub is a bit of a turn-off for gay men.
Gay men also don’t feel comfortable getting nude in the sauna.
In a survey of gay men in California’s San Francisco Bay Area, a survey found that only 40% of them wanted to do so in an outdoor sautery, and only 25% of those who did want to do that said they would prefer to do it in a hot bathtub.


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As we previously reported, Europe announced that they will be publishing on Facebook videos of re-recordings of songs from their back catalogue that took place during their pandemic.
Below you can watch their first video for the song “Got To Have Faith”, from their album “Start From The Dark”, which was released in 2004.
“We wanted to do something special for our fans and rock enthusiasts”, says Joey Tempest.
“We have re-recorded and filmed some uplifting songs from our back catalog, done during lockdown and over the summer in our home studios and rehearsal spaces.
“We had a blast just playing together again. Knowing we would start up our ‘Friday Nights With Europe The Band’ on our social media this autumn made it extra special.
“We hope to keep these exclusive evenings going for our fans for a long time. At the same time, keeping our name out there during this non-touring era by streaming and posting exclusive material.
“Let the madness begin!”


text:
Underground rap crew Grumpy Old Men (Mike Schpitz, Pete Sayke) and Indianapolis, Indiana beatsmith LONEgevity have come together with The DJBooth to bring listeners their new remix project, Sunday Brunch.
The project packs 10 fresh remixes of tracks originally featured on Grumpy Old Men's 2011 street album, Sunday Skool, and 2012's Free Lunch. Included are reader-acclaimed revamps of "Kick Rocks" and "Where It Go." In addition to providing all instrumentals, LONEgevity contributes vocals to track three. Additional guest appearances come courtesy of Grade APlus, Scheme, Sin Castle and Tona.
Stream Sunday Brunch
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Fresh off inviting rivals to Kick Rocks on the inaugural release off their forthcoming remix tape with beatsmith LONEgevity, Grumpy Old Men return to give their competition another kick in the shins on single number two....
Not a fan of Grumpy Old Men? Then I have no idea how you ended up on this page—but in any case, you’re kindly invited to Kick Rocks. For those still here, I’m proud to present the world premiere of the...
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Energy Collector (Equivalent Exchange 2)
- This page is about the Energy Collector added by Equivalent Exchange 2. For other uses, see .
|Mod||Equivalent Exchange 2|
|EMC value||82,953 EMC|
|EMC storage||10,000 EMC|
|EMC creation||4 EMC/second|
The Energy Collector is the first tier of Energy Collectors from Equivalent Exchange 2. It is used to convert light to EMC, and upgrade fuels (see Usage). If it is not upgrading fuels, it will export its EMC to an adjacent device, such as an Energy Condenser or Anti-Matter Relay. It can be upgraded into the Collector MK2.
The Energy Collector is not limited to sunlight. It has an EMC value of 82,953, can store 10,000, and will create 4 per second at maximum efficiency.
The GUI has 11 slots. The eight left slots are a buffer for fuels to be upgraded. The lower right slot is the fuel being upgraded at that time. The far right slot is the upgrade cap; the item that is placed in it is the maximum tier fuel that the buffer items will be upgraded to, in the following order:
then the cycle restarts. It will not send power if it is upgrading fuel.
The small right square shows the light level. The light level will determine the Energy Collector's efficiency. It will run at X/16 efficiency depending on the light level (2 light level will be 2/16 efficiency, 3 light level will be 3/16, etc.).


Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller will star in Danny Boyle’s forthcoming National Theatre debut, Frankenstein.
In an ambitious twist, Lee Miller and Cumberbatch will share the roles of Dr Frankenstein and the monster he creates, alternating parts each night. Boyle’s take on Mary Shelley’s literary classic will also tell the story from the monster’s point of view in a new version by playwright Nick Dear.
Set to be staged in the Olivier theatre, Cumberbatch will return to the National after starring in After The Dance earlier this year, earning him a nomination on the Evening Standard Theatre Awards long list. The Laurence Olivier Award nominated actor was much acclaimed for his recent title role in BBC drama Sherlock, and has been confirmed as the star of Steven Spielberg’s forthcoming film adaptation of the National Theatre’s drama War Horse. His past theatre credits include The City, The Arsonists and Rhinoceros for the Royal Court, Period Of Adjustment and The Lady From The Sea at the Almeida theatre and plays at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre including Romeo And Juliet and Oh, What a Lovely War!
Lee Miller is reunited with Boyle having starred in the director’s seminal 1996 film Trainspotting. His theatre credits include Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Beautiful Thing and The Play What I Wrote in the West End, Feston at the Almeida theatre and, most recently, After Miss Julie on Broadway. The actor is best know for his work on screen, appearing in television series including Dexter, Emma, Eli Stone and The Canterbury Tales, and films including The Flying Scotsman, Melina And Melinda, The Escapist and Mansfield Park.
The National theatre has yet to confirm dates and further casting details for Frankenstein.


text:
Should the united states observe an essay on whether american aid to great britain made actual great debate: internationalists vs isolationists:. Is “hiv” really the cause of aids aids debate, boston dig, 2003 it should be easy to tell whether aids has, as predicted.
The united states of america believed that individual states had the right to decide whether or not the united states is made up of many diverse. Whereas butter is made from the butterfat of milk, modern margarine is made mainly of refined vegetable oil and water, and may also contain milk in some places in the united states, it is colloquially referred to as oleo, short for oleomargarine. The latest big government news, opinion, and analysis from breitbart.
With the world health organization made the aids has been brought to the united states from is no room for debate about whether. Six experts debate whether the obama administration first, the united states’ ever the need for treasury to label china a currency manipulator this. Try going a day without exposure to artificial colors kool-aid and jell-o in the united states whether or not external been made illegal, and.
Does the government have the right to prolong your life by artificial means whether right-to-die debate has of the united states. Can foreign aid reduce poverty made in most of the world—including significant improvements made in east united states or in europe). I made a study of the taste of my ejaculate in my younger and that is why small quantities or artificial sweetner is so effective united kingdom united states.
Tell the world whether you believe the united states should provide start a new debate the united state’s foreign aid hasn’t just made the kids. This part of the globalissuesorg web site looks into the issue of mainstream media in the united states those problems have made it very not whether such. Heavy rains continue along the east coast with 9 states under rhino pregnant through artificial insemination could infinity war' goes made in america.
China, a demographic time bomb such as the united states and australia a professor of robotics and artificial intelligence at the university of birmingham. 10 harrowing examples from a new report on how artificial intelligence including the suppression of debate highly realistic videos are made the united states. Debateorg is the premier online debate website where individuals from around the world come to debate with one another and educate themselves on popular. Chapter 5 - the ethical debate medicine first appeared in the united states and england in time of the suicide and directly aids or.Download


text:
Zolushka Film Smotret Online
Living Room Remodel
You just landed a new client who needs their living room completely made over. Use your decorating skills to change the room around until you are...
Discover a new delicious pizza recipe. A game for kids who enjoys preparing Italian recipes and testing their cooking skills with new cooking games....
Castle of Princess
The magic fairy brings you to this incredible colorful landscape with the most beautiful princess and castle you ever seen. The golden-haired...
Run Jerry Run
Tom has caught Jerry stealing a block of cheese from the fridge. Help Jerry reach his mouse hole before Tom catches up to him.
Sara's Super Spa 2: Vegas Style
Sara's taking a gamble and moving out West to Las Vegas to open a brand new spa. Help Sara succeed with 8 all-new mini-game treatments like...
Start the engines on the cars, trucks, buses and trains. Drive your vehicles and smash all the people on the course.
Shoot the Ragdoll out of the cannon at the balloons. Pop all the balloon is you mission. Lets see if you can help this Ragdoll beat every level.


text:
The cryptocurrency industry is starting 2023 amid growing fraud concerns.
The FBI and other agencies raise concerns about an online scam called “pig butchering.”
FBI Public Affairs Officer Frank Fisher says “We’re not talking about what’s going on on farms, we’re talking about a cryptocurrency investment scam that is sweeping the country. It is costing Americans billions of dollars in losses.”
Authorities are urging you to be careful when getting random texts or messages through social media with invitations to start investing in cryptocurrencies.
Fisher says when you finally ask for your money — it’s disappeared.
In the past few days, several crypto-related headlines have sent a chill through an already anxious community.
Sam Bankman-Fried — the founder of failed crypto exchange platform FTX — pleaded not guilty this month to federal fraud and conspiracy charges linked to his company’s meltdown.
Then, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged six people in an investment scheme called “coin-deal” that raised more than $45 million on false promises of access to blockchain technology.
Also this month, US regulators have issued their first joint statement warning banks and others about the risks of fraud, volatility, and poor risk management in the crypto world.
So, what can you do to avoid becoming a victim?
Law enforcement officials say scammers usually target their victims by sending mass texts hoping someone takes the bait.
According to Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeffrey Rosen, these criminals have been trained in physical deception techniques — “in techniques to gain people’s trust.”
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domain: economics


text:
Definitely other - buffalo hot wing sauce.
Ranch, blue cheese, buffalo hot wing sauce, or buffalo ranch. Sweet and sour is good, too, but it wouldn’t be my first choice. I like honey mustard, too. Lol. I guess everything but bqq.
Honey mustard works for me.
Sweet and Sour.
I like honey mustard best .... otherwise, ranch or sweet & sour.
I never get those things, Burgers and fries are always my pick.

domain: food


text:
Sunlight Games is releasing Idle Game Tycoon for Android and iOS soon, giving players a feel for what it’s like to develop and market games. The meta idle simulator lets you expand your own company in the games industry, featuring low poly graphics set in a 3D isometric view.
Developing and launching games is anything but easy, and Idle Game Tycoon aims to give players first-hand experience on the ins and outs of the making of a game. Of course, while video games are supposed to be fun, it’s not always a walk in the park behind the scenes.
To build a successful games company from the ground up, you’ll have to manage employees, hire great staff, and find not only talented workers but also those who can help make your dream a reality as you build your development studio out of a garage and into the corporate world.
Exciting and creative opportunities for expansion abound, along with tons of ways to optimize output and to innovate by researching new technologies. You’ll have to stay updated on the latest developments in every genre, as well as keep an eye out for the competition. Of course, you’ll also have to spend time decorating the office, because having a lovely workplace is always helpful for boosting employee morale.
Idle Game Tycoon also features a fun soundtrack and an option to assist with more accessible gameplay for left-handed and right-handed players. There’s no word yet on the official release date as of this writing, but you can find out more about the game (including screenshots and frequently asked questions) over at the official website. It will be available for both Android and iOS devices.
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South Africa’s Last Breath of Maritime Steam
My story of the steam tug ALWYN VINTCENT
By Cedric Hunter
An abiding interest in the designs and workings of ships’ engines compelled me in late 1990 to join a small team of volunteers who had begun to restore the South African Maritime Museum’s steam tug, Alwyn Vintcent. Our task for the maritime museum was to get her back to working order under steam power, after years of neglect, and prepare her for safely taking passengers on harbour excursions.
The A.V., at an overall length of 90ft (27m), was built in Italy as one of five sister tugs for service in South African ports. Though built as late as 1958, not only were these tugs steam propelled (as opposed to diesel), each fitted with the orthodox triple-expansion engine, but their boilers (all of 3.3m in diameter) were of the hand stoked, coal-fired type, as opposed to the oil-fired boilers of virtually all new steam ships of that time. Yet, this archaic power plant with its modest output of 360hp (at 130 revs./min.) was, despite the Vintcent’s 200 displacement tons, able to drive her deep hull through the water at a very respectable ten knots, and much more quietly than a diesel engine would have.
The classic marine steam engine’s enormous torque (turning power) and direct reversibility enabled it to be directly coupled (i.e. without intervention of any gears) to the shaft of a big efficient propeller – in the Vintcent’s case of 2.1m diameter. The A.V. and her sisters were therefore endowed with powerful and rapid maneouvering ability, enough to rouse the envy of the crew of any present day single-screwed diesel tug.
Thoughts of such tug performance inspired us volunteer workers as we laboured on, weekend after weekend, below decks in the engine room and boiler room. Sadly, over the first three months at least, our onboard workforce seldom exceeded four, which at times rather taxed the general morale. One of our paltry number was retired ex-Royal Air Force engineer, Richard Carne, who headed our A.V. project and chaired its committee, apart that is, from being our boss aboard and very hard working himself. Another was Tim Parks, a Welshman in his mid-30’s, who was some years later to become a sea-going engineer. Equally devoted, he had joined Richard some weeks before a small appeal in the press (four volunteers), had my wife drop me off at the V&A Waterfront, to board the tug and look in on the action.
The two of them were on the main engine’s catwalk and had just unbolted and lifted off the cover to the valve that transfers exhaust steam from the high pressure cylinder to the medium pressure cylinder. My obvious interest, and more than a hint at knowing exactly what I was looking at (from that ample book-learned knowledge of ships’ engines to which I like to lay claim), hardly drew any gesture of welcome from them. I was surprised therefore, when leaving a while later, to be stopped in my tracks, by Richard’s abrupt command that I join them on the following Saturday morning.
After some weekends aboard, toiling in old shabby clothes, I donned a spanking new boiler suit, to such applause from R and T, that I promptly ordered Richard to reserve only the cleanest jobs for me. His expected scoff was telling enough, for a week later I was in the boiler’s smoke box using a long iron bar to ram repeatedly at the uptake’s great “butterfly valve” above, which was jammed shut. The reason? Years of accumulated carbon and rust deposited on the valve from inside the tug’s tall funnel. The valve eventually yielded and Tim, who had eagerly awaited that moment, yanked at its external lever above the boiler causing the valve plate to jettison all its smothering sediment down into the smoke box overwhelming its forgotten occupant. He, gasping, and his prized boiler suit, then emerged, blacker than the Ace of Spades. But, as it had been a good productive day, I couldn’t help but join in the all round laughter, and probably smiled my way into sleep that night – not before at least three baths in a row, of course.
The success of our project so seriously depended on the soundness of the tug’s boiler, that its reconditioning was priority no 1. Of about fourteen valves bolted to it, ranging from its big main and safety valves right down to the connections serving the water-level gauge glass, some needed to be disengaged in order, at least to reseat them on fresh steam-tight gaskets. But many of the nuts and studs holding the valves down were so rust-jammed, that they sheared off at efforts to unscrew them, leaving their threaded bases embedded in the boiler shell.
This grave problem had to be handed over to specialised boiler fitters who actually materialised some weeks later, courtesy of an engineering company kindly disposed towards our A.V. project. Though the fitters managed soon enough to rectify the problem, I think a further couple of months went by before the boiler was finally deemed ready for its crucial hydraulic pressure test. On the appointed day, a long-levered pump was connected to the boiler’s prefilled water space. Then, in the presence of an officially appointed inspector and others, four of us, taking turns at the lever, got the water pressure up to the test-required 300 psi, being 50% over the boiler’s designed maximum working pressure of 200 psi. As the boiler had held up well throughout the test, the inspector declared it fit for service, to the great relief of all concerned.
A major focus of work all along, had been of course the Vintcent’s complicated engine room, which besides its 3m high main engine, boasts six steam driven auxiliaries, and a vast maze of live and exhaust steam pipes. Many steam space cover plates and fittings had to be unbolted and lifted so as to fit new steam-tight gaskets, studs and nuts, etc. Sections of loose asbestos insulation were in urgent need of rebinding. Pump valve chambers, including that of the big main-engine-driven Edwards “air” pump, had to be opened for inspection as did various pump-suction filter boxes, for cleaning. The hot well’s louvre cages had to be cleaned and repacked with fresh oil-absorbing material, not to mention the pipe and tank repair, electrical and many other jobs, both below decks and above, begging our attention.
Our seemingly intractable list of tasks was coupled with mounting concern over whether or not the buoyancy figures of our heavy-displacement tug would be officially acceptable for its vitally needed passenger-carrying certificate. Such was our need therefore for a surge of renewed confidence in the weeks leading up to the pressure testing of the boiler, that its hard-earned stamp of approval couldn’t have been better timed.
Almost immediately, our weekend workforce was boosted, not only by the more regular appearance of occasional volunteers and new ones, but also by the addition of none other than one Garnet Audie, the Vintcent’s chief engineer during her Mossel Bay years until she was finally decommissioned by the then owners of all our national tugs, the S.A. Railways and Harbours Administration. Garnet, employed by Portnet as a key manager of Cape Town’s harbour tugs, joined our committee in its early days, so he had already been of great value to the A.V. project by the time of the boiler test, given his wide circle of contacts in marine engineering and other fields of maritime service. But following the test, Garnet joined us on board where, for obvious reasons, his input was of the utmost importance as we feverishly pressed on preparing the tug for her eagerly awaited trials under steam power.
After a few weekends (+ some week days) of intensive making ready, including of course the charging of the Vintcent’s bunkers with several tons of coal (about 25% of full capacity) and filling her reserve feed water tank, we started up the boiler fires at about 4pm one Saturday. It was strict practice when heating the Scotch boiler from cold, to do so very slowly, over at least fifteen hours to working pressure. Richard and Tim with much sound advice, took turns through the night at tending the fires in both furnaces, until a couple of us took over from them early the following morning, freeing them for a breakfast break.
Garnet arrived later, as the most watched gauge was already telling of rising steam pressure. Hamish Matheson also joined our below-decks team on that momentous morning. As a professional ship surveyor, he was certainly an important member of our committee, but of consequence to us on-board workers then, was his background as a marine steam engineer, and that in his quiet way, he had very often toiled alongside us before.
There were about eight of us below, most moving between attending to something in the engine-room (oil can in hand), and helping in the boiler room, when a furnace door was opened to allow the blazing coal bed within to be raked, and then added to with shovel loads of fresh coal. Palpable all-round excitement mounted with the rising steam pressure; until Garnet finally ordered the “cracking” open of all the boiler’s steam supply valves and its feed water inlet valves.
Test starting of the steam auxiliaries then followed, beginning with the condenser’s circulating pump and the reserve feed water pump. This latter was of the non-rotative type as was our G.S. pump which we later put to pumping out the tug’s bilges. Starting any of our three rotative auxiliary engines had to be aided (after opening its throttle valve) by turning its single crank off centre for the steam to take over, by which instant it was of course vital to have withdrawn the turning-bar from its notch on that engine’s heavy flywheel.
The most awaited moment that morning, was heralded by Garnet’s opening of the main engine’s big stop valve. In silence and with bated breath, we watched as he then edged open the throttle and rocked the bypass lever. Fully visible on such steam engines, the big cranks, rods, crossheads, eccentrics and quadrants, all started to move together, to everyone’s great delight. But the motion was abruptly arrested by Garnet’s handling of the ahead/astern control, forcing the cranks to reverse their turning. This procedure, coupled with the frequent opening of the noisy cylinder drains, was repeated a number of times for the required warming through of the engine, after which Garnet set it to continue turning in the dead-slow ahead mode. The propeller was turning at about 30rpm, causing both our mooring lines to take gentle strain, and those of our fellow museum ship S.A.S. Somerset, alongside which the A.V. had been moored for some months. While some of us were still watching the mechanical motion, a few wonderfully stentorian blasts, way above us, signalled to all Cape Town that our tug’s steam whistle was in fine working order. And so too were found to be the stern steering gear and anchor’s windless, that morning.
“Ready for sea trials,” was finally declared to the appointed tug captain for the day, on whose subsequent orders, from the wheelhouse, the deck hands began to slip the mooring ropes. The alarm-like bell of our engine-room telegraph signalled the first order down to us, the dial indicating “slow astern”, then, after the A.V. parted company with the Somerset, by “slow ahead”. At this pace we left the Alfred basin through The Cut, in which an important blast of the tug’s whistle was always to give unsuspecting onlookers ashore a very evident fright.
We then at “half ahead” steamed through the Victoria Basin to the open water beyond, where the captain’s order for “full ahead” allowed Garnet finally to open the throttle to its limit. As there was no shortage of us below on that day, we took it in easy turns to enjoy the thrills on deck as the A.V., in typical heavy steam-tug fashion, ploughed its way through the water at about nine knots, its voluminous bow wash and boiling of the sea astern inspiring awe to say the least. An experienced stoker aboard helped us novices to keep the fires burning cleanly and strongly enough to sustain the demand for steam while our tug was being put through its paces. These included also a sharp turn or two to port and to starboard, and I think even, the anti-collision measure (when at full ahead) for rapidly stopping the ship by “slamming” the engine into full astern.
The Vintcent’s performance on that historic Sunday of her trials was hailed as a great success, the date being 28 April 1991, as on record in a letter to each of us committee members from Tom Graham, then curator and head of the Maritime Museum. The euphoria was of course short-lived, given all that had yet to be achieved for the tug to obtain its necessary classification for passenger carrying. Though we had occasionally steamed the A.V. in the interim, it was only in October that she was granted a certificate to carry a slightly disappointing maximum of 54 passengers, based on the findings of the buoyancy/stability tests. But in good faith, work had continued all along boosted too by input over the weekdays from the museum’s workers who did all the above-deck cleaning, scaling and painting, and by the generosity of the growing number of companies which between them, donated specialised services, materials and equipment, and even free use of the syncrolift for our painting of the hull, down to its keel.
All of which resulted in an immaculate looking steam tug, by the beginning of her first season as a harbour-excursion ferry, being the December holiday period of that year (1991). Regulation required that the A.V. be crewed by a captain and a chief engineer, both fully qualified, a “coxswain” (for steering), an engineer’s assistant, two stokers and four deck hands. She was therefore to steam only on those days for which commitments had been obtained from enough appropriate volunteers, to make up the full crew. The list, boosted a bit by offer of a very modest rank-based, earning per steaming day, had grown ample enough to allow for an easy spread of on-duty days between us.
There were at least three available ex-tug captains, and even more “chiefs” (engineers). And, as for deck hands, three of the Maritime Museum’s pre-trained staff were to be available for most steaming days, much reducing dependency on volunteers for that task. Hopefuls, without any relevant skills to offer, were to be assigned to on-the-job training as stokers, many of whom, as it turned out, becoming so disillusioned by the heat and arduous labour over long hours, they very soon deserted, leaving only a few dependable listed stokers. It was to ease this shortage that I was called upon to serve most of my on-duty days that season, as a stoker, on the remaining day or two, assisting instead in the engine-room.
Each steaming day began with the arrival of the stokers who had first to bring back to life, the “banked up” (ash smothered) glowing remains of the previous day’s coal beds. Then, with the arrival of the chief, and later the captain, standard procedure followed (as earlier described), leading of course to the day’s first trip, solely for dumping the previous day’s ash at sea, and steam-blasting the carbon dust from the boiler’s fire tubes. Our paying passengers joined us on the hourly trips that followed,
during which the A.V. steamed in both the Victoria and Duncan Basins, on occasion briefly loitering near a visiting sailing ship, or some other special attraction. One such was the vast cavernous remains of the bow of a massive tanker (in port for temporary repairs) that had lost most of its bow to very heavy seas off our notorious south coast.
The first steaming season (of over four weeks) went very well, due in no small part to the excellent all-round handling of the A.V. by captain Peter Moon, who had been appointed as her primary master, and as new head of our committee. Richard Carne had gladly stepped down, in favour then of restricting himself to being one of our crewing engineers.
Because of my reputation of enjoying it, I was generally tasked (whether on engine-room or stoking duty) with inviting small groups of curious passengers down to tell them briefly what they were looking at, and how it all worked, which usually led to amazement all round, most of them having probably never before imagined an engine other than a car’s. A little more knowledgeable, on another occasion, was a refined old lady who, professing to be in her mid-80’s, and to have sailed on steamships in her youth, requested an exclusive engine room tour. So the day’s chief and I helped her down the ladder. For quite a while, she watched the engine working and then asked such intelligent questions as greatly impressed us. She then, in the fierce heat of the boiler-room, watched the stokers at work, before finally thanking us, and being reunited with her anxious family.
Equally memorable was a day with my wife and 22-year-old daughter aboard. Among the least mechanically-minded people I knew, I was delighted to see them entranced for some time by the motion of the engine’s cranks and rods. After which, at Peter Moon’s invitation, we joined him for a chat in the tug’s beautiful wheelhouse, with its abundance of varnished wood and polished brasswork. There was also the time when Tim Parks (one of our chiefs by then) abandoned the engine room for an entire docking procedure, leaving me alone to man the main-engine controls. A dangerous trick as I had only ever been at those controls in steaming situations, between the manoeuvring spells.
Avoiding the winter months, those anecdotally-rich steaming seasons of the A.V. came and went, until finally came a day, one of engine room duty for me, on record as 10th January 1994, singled out to be the final day of that steaming season. Shutting down our tug’s steam plant took rather longer than the other day-end jobs aboard. So, on my days of duty, being commonly the last to leave the ship, I was the one targeted late that day with the instruction to “close down ship” for the season.
Not long after our docking, I was alone aboard, dismayed by the stokers having left fires far too ample for when no more steam is needed. Its rising pressure, halted briefly by my use of the reserve feed pump, compelled me finally to rake out the fires, dousing down (with piped sea water) the loads of burning coals as they piled up on the floor plates, spewing plumes of sulphurous ash and steam.
As the A.V. has never again moved under steam power in fifteen years since then (my writing now in 2009), and was the last South African-based ship (as opposed to launch) to do so, through my actions aboard that evening, I unknowingly gained the poignant distinction of being the one to have physically closed down the era of South African maritime steam – dating right back to the 1830’s. This is assuming of course, that none of our four remaining steam ships afloat, three being museum ships, is ever to steam again, highly unlikely given all it took to get the A.V. to do so, being the smallest of them by far.
Yes, she is still afloat, but not without a thwarted post-steaming history to say the least. With dwindling benefactor input, the A.V. eventually proved too expensive under steam power to earn her own keep, which obliged the cash-strapped Maritime Museum, later in 1994, to lease her to a private Waterfront-based company. Which with the Museum’s blessing installed a diesel-hydraulic propulsion unit in the tug’s after cabin. This unit was to infuriate many a passenger lured aboard by the sign’s “Steam Tug Rides” only to hear a diesel engine piping up below. But the venture managed to drag on until the tug was finally returned, in 1999, to the Museum, by then too short of staff and in serious financial straits.
So, unable to be cared for, and up for grabs, the A.V. languished at an isolated mooring, attracting little more than sea birds, and the mounting impatience of the Waterfront management. Word got around on the internet, attracting two Dutchmen who flew here in 2007 to inspect her, with a view to having her shipped back to their team of volunteer tug restorers in Holland. Though disgusted by the tug’s filthy state, they agonised for three weeks over estimated costs before finally withdrawing. Then, three Italians flew out. They were the captain, the mate, and the chief engineer of a steam tug owned by their employers, who wished to acquire a second one for use as a steam yacht. They too declined the offer, but only after the exchange of many anxious emails over at least two months. The only S.A. contender was the Mossel Bay Museum, wanting the Vintcent back in her home port as a shore-mounted heritage attraction. It was the red tape-linked failure of this mission that finally broke the patience of the Waterfront Company.
In April 2008, just when the Vintcent’s scrapping was about to commence, word came that Australian shipping magnate, Gordon Bashford, had paid the Maritime Museum the token sum of R2 000, simply to procure formal ownership of the A.V. Since then, through the efforts of Gordon’s appointed Cape Town-based manager and contractors, she has been thoroughly cleaned and spruced up for her grand trip to Australia aboard a heavy-lift ship of his. There, the A.V. is to be restored to steaming order, before joining Gordon’s two other, and much bigger, commercially operating steam tugs.
The lifting of the Alwyn Vintcent out of S. African water by Gordon’s ship presents the most fitting moment for me, not only to bid our small ship farewell, but also on which to round off the story, based as it is almost entirely on my own first-hand experiences. However, that moment is still being awaited, Gordon’s big ship having yet to drop by. Various unforeseen delays have intervened, so we can only hope that all is ultimately still to go according to plan.
My connection with the SA Maritime Museum survived the disbanding of the A.V.’s volunteer steaming crew, one reason being my long-standing employment at the SA Museum, Cape Town. So, remaining the most immediately available of them even after my retirement in 2002, I was requested by Iziko Museums’-employed maritime archaeologist, Jaco Boshoff, to show the Dutch and the Italian visitors around on board the A.V.
Iziko is today the name of the umbrella body of 13 listed museum “sites” in and around Cape Town, examples being Iziko SA Museum, Iziko Slave Lodge, and Iziko SA Maritime Centre. This latter is, in terms of space and viewable collections, the very much shrunken descendant of our former maritime museum. Having been squeezed into rented upstairs space in an office building, the Maritime Centre shares a small main entrance below with a bank. And this, amidst the vast and lavish developments of the V&A Waterfront. A shame, to say the least, given that Cape Town is indisputably the mother city of South Africa’s maritime heritage.
Cape Town, March, 2009.


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Image source: Getty Images.
Shares of SM Energy (NYSE: SM) slumped by double digits last month. While a dip in oil prices did not help, the primary culprit was the company's decision to pay a hefty premium for land in the Permian Basin.
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