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By Laurel Neme, special to mongabay.com
This interview originally aired June 7, 2010 and was rebroadcast June 13, 2011.
Dung beetles live all over the world (except in Antarctica) and thrive in virtually every type of habitat, from deserts to rainforests. Their main food source is dung, which provides nutrients and water for both the adults and young.
As a group, dung beetles are incredibly diverse, with many specialized to eat feces from specific animals. For instance, the species Uroxys gorgon clings to the furs of sloths waiting for their ride to defecate. When it does, the beetles drop down with their prize. An Australian dung beetle is adapted to do the same with koalas.
Dung beetles are a critical part of nature’s “clean-up crew.” They not only remove manure, which is a magnet for flies and other pests, but also recycle nutrients back into the soil. In parts of Texas, for example, dung beetles bury 80 percent of the cattle dung. Given that a single domestic cow drops about 12 “pats” a day, the range would be littered with feces were it not for these “workhorses.”
Despite their big job, dung beetles themselves are relatively small. The smallest is less than 0.1 inch (2 mm) and the largest around 2.5 inches (6 cm). Yet they’re surprisingly strong for their size. They typically can roll 50 times their own weight, but often it’s much more. For example, a Onthophagus taurus male can pull over 1,140 times its body weight. That’s the equivalent of a 180-pound man pulling over 200,000 pounds (90 metric tonnes).
This sewage “SWAT” team works quickly. In Panama, for instance, Emlen notes that “fifteen to thirty seconds after howler monkey dung appeared on the ground, you'd already have the first beetles coming in.” Other researchers observed groups of 16,000 dung beetles processing 1.5 kilogram pats of elephant dung and making it disappear in under two hours.
Douglas Emlen is a biology professor at the University of Montana. His research on the evolution and development of extreme morphologies in insects started with his PhD research, when he studied a Panamanian dung beetle specialized in howler monkey scat. Emlen even “mimicked” the dung beetles when he learned to track the monkeys by smell so that he could locate their first feces of the morning – and thus find the dung beetles that were the real object of his desire. He has studied dung beetles all over the world, and has a particular interest in the patterns of their weaponry. More recently, he has expanded his focus to the evolutionary forces that make animal armaments – from dung beetle horns to elk antlers to rhino horns – so diverse.
DUNG BEETLE DIVERSITY
Laurel Neme: What are dung beetles?
Doug Emlen: Technically, they are a group of scarab beetles in the Scarabaeidae family. The entire group of these beetles feeds on dung in one way or another, although there are a few who have branched out into fungi and other crazy things. But most of them feed on dung, both as adults and also when they are larvae. …
Dung is actually a very nutritious food source compared to plant leaf material or other things like fungi that they might feed on. Dung is nutrient rich. In particular, it is rich in nitrogen, which an immature animal needs to grow. You need nitrogen to build proteins, and you need proteins to build tissue. Growing animals need nitrogen, and dung is a far better source of that than anything they can feed on except maybe carrion.
Laurel Neme: Do different types of dung beetles feed on different types of dung?
Doug Emlen: Dung beetles have diversified spectacularly to colonize and to feed on pretty much any type of dung you can imagine. One of the things that is neat about dung beetles is their diversity. There are dung beetles that are only ever found in pack rat burrows, feeding on the dung of pack rats, and others found only in marmot burrows. You can find dung beetles that cling to the fur of sloths, riding around on their backs [and then dropping off to] feed on sloth dung when the [sloths] go to the bathroom. You can find independent parallel lineages of dung beetles that do the same thing on koalas and ride around in the fur of koalas in Australia and feed on koala dung. There are dung beetles that are specialized for just about any type of dung you can imagine. That’s one of the reasons there are so many species of dung beetles.
Laurel Neme: How many dung beetle species are there?
Doug Emlen: There are probably over 10,000 species of dung beetles, all told. In the genus I work on, Onthophagus, there are over 2,000 species already described by taxonomists, and they estimate there's another 2,000 species yet to be described. As far as I can tell, it is the largest single genus of anything anywhere. Period.
ROLE OF DUNG BEETLES
Laurel Neme: What role do dung beetles play in the ecosystem? Would we miss them if they were gone?
Doug Emlen: The simple answer to that is: yes, we would miss them a lot. For the simple reason that there are a lot of animals, particularly large herbivores, producing copious quantities of dung and it would pile up. In fact, historically it did pile up.
Laurel Neme: Is there a true-life example of what happens without dung beetles?
Doug Emlen: The best story I can give on this one took place in Australia a number of years ago, when they cleared back forests and created pastureland for cattle. It just so happened that the native dung beetles in Australia were all forest specialist species, and none of them would go out into the open. They couldn't handle the dry open habitats of pastures. They weren't acclimated or adapted to those types of environments.
So, you had all these pasture lands with no dung beetles, and you had all these cattle populations in the pastures producing manure with no dung beetles to process it. There are photographs that are pretty frightening of essentially cow pie to cow pie as far as you can see. They just got smothered in manure. There was nothing in the ecosystem burying it or taking those nutrients and getting them off the surface and down into the soil. Not only was it really detrimental to the forage, because they were literally covered with manure, but pest fly populations started to explode. Flies also feed on manure, and their populations grew to incredible numbers and drove everybody crazy. There was a dung beetle biologist I met when I was down there a few years ago that had a picture of his daughter sun-bathing in the back yard – and she had thousands of flies all over her body.
The fly density got really bad and Australia realized they had to do something to get rid of the manure. The Australian government’s equivalent of the US Department of Agriculture here went to great lengths to find ecologically sustainable species of dung beetles that they could pull from Europe or Africa and introduce into Australia to get rid of the problem. My recollection is that it was in the late 1960s or early 1970s when they went actively into the process of mastering and releasing these beetles. They've now been established in many parts of Australia for the last 30-40 years. So, we actually know from human history precisely what happens when you remove the dung beetles, and it’s not pretty.
Laurel Neme: Was there any negative impact from that introduction?
Doug Emlen: I'm sure there must’ve been some. But I'd have to say, compared to other types of biological introductions that I’m familiar with, this is the best success story I can think of. The reason I think it was a success story is that they actually paid attention to the biology of the animals. They didn't just, quick and dirty, go grab some beetles and throw them into the ecosystem. They did their homework, and what they found out is that the species in Australia were all forest specialists and none of them would cross that barrier into the pastures. So they went to Africa and Europe and said, “let’s find pasture specialists that won't cross into the forests.”
They [also] did all these trapping grid tests. They tried to find species they could find in the open. Then they would also set traps up in the woods and if they ever caught these same species in the woods, they'd reject that species as something that wouldn’t stay in the pastures. They were able to find the inverse – pasture specialists – species that were reluctant to go into the shaded, more humid understory of forests. These were the species they focused on.
They also went through all kinds of quarantine procedures. I think they treated all the eggs with formaldehyde and things to make sure they didn't introduce any pathogens or soil microbes that would have been detrimental.
They brought these things in and reared them in captivity until they had huge numbers and released them. And as far as I know, it’s worked – they've been able to establish non-native dung beetles in the pastures, but the non-native species have not had a detrimental impact on the native species because they haven't crossed that barrier and moved into the forest.
Now, some of the native species are in trouble but it’s not because of the new beetles. It’s because of habitat destruction and the fact that there’s not as much forest as there used to be. But the species they introduced, as far as I know, worked. They did the job that was asked of them, and they did not detrimentally impact the native dung beetle species.
THE STOUT LITTLE DUNG BEETLE
Laurel Neme: What do dung beetles look like?
Doug Emlen: ...The genus [of dung beetles] that I work on stands out because they are like little squat tortoises. They are very stout, round beetles and they waddle in this deliberate, awkward way. We've looked for these beetles on five continents and in 15 different countries, and once you know the look, it doesn't matter what species your dealing with out of the 2,000, you can spot them in a heartbeat. They are these squat beetles that waddle in this very characteristic awkward style that makes me think of little turtles walking around under the manure.
Laurel Neme: How big are they?
Doug Emlen: Often they’re tiny. [A lot of the species in this genus] are the size [and shape] of an eraser on a new pencil. In some environments and habitats they get quite a bit bigger, so you could be dealing with ones that are the size of a marble, but most of them are pretty small.
DUNG BEETLE HORNS
Laurel Neme: What is unique about the Onthophagus genus of dung beetles?
Doug Emlen: This genus is the most diverse.… [Also] noteworthy is how many of the species have these really cool horns. … Males compete with each other over access to females, and this has generated very strong selection for weapons. Analogous to antlers in deer or elk or moose, the beetles have male horns. The horns vary a lot. They can be curved or straight, and branched and forked. They can come from the front of the head, the middle of the head, or the back of the head, and from the thorax. There are so many kinds of horns coming off of these beetles.
A few years ago we reconstructed the evolutionary history of this genus. We sampled species from around the world. We collected tissues and ground them up and sequenced the DNA. We then used the genome, the DNA, to reconstruct a phylogeny, [like a family tree that tells] the history of evolution of a group of species, including lines of descent and relationships among the different species. …[You’d expect that] all the beetles that are close to each other in that tree would all have the same type of horns. … But that’s not what we find. We find that horns were gained and lost and gained and lost and gained and lost again and again and again. They changed in all kinds of crazy directions—so that even very close relatives, sister species that had only split off from each other very recently, can have totally different horn morphologies. When you look at how the horns have changed over the history of the beetle, it’s a mess. They've gone all over the place.
For a biologist like me, that’s amazing. It tells us that something special is happening. They’re evolving and changing much faster than all the rest of the beetle bodies. That is what we're trying to figure out: what is going on with these weapons? How is it that they change so fast when the rest of the beetles look pretty much the same.
Laurel Neme: How big are their horns?
Doug Emlen: The horns can be pretty impressive. They can be huge. Again, the analogy I'd like to use is that some of these horns are easily 15-25 percent of the body weight of the animal. That’s not trivial. If you do the math, that is equivalent to a human producing another leg and wearing it around on their head for their entire adult lifetime. That's about how much weight and mass we're talking about that these beetles are allocating to the horns. They are not trivial structures.
Laurel Neme: How does that compare to other animals, like a moose or an elk?
Doug Emlen: I'm going to get in trouble here but I'll guess that even the best bull elk would have a rack that is probably less than five percent of it's body weight. So, in terms of bulk, the beetle horns are bigger but in terms of length, not necessarily. Some of the full six and seven point bull elk have antlers that are probably almost as long as the rest of the males’ body, and that is on par with these beetles. The horn lengths would be about the same. But in terms of the proportion of their body mass, the beetles take the cake. They win.
EXTREME WEAPONS OF DUNG BEETLES
Laurel Neme: What are some of the horn varieties you might find on dung beetles?
Doug Emlen: There are species that have a single horn, like a unicorn, on their heads. [The horn] comes up and wraps all the way over their backs. In some of these, the horns look like little toothpicks crawling up over the backs of their heads. The horn is actually almost twice as long as the rest of the beetle. It extends the full body length beyond the beetle behind it.
Laurel Neme: How can it then maneuver around and walk?
Doug Emlen: That's a good question. They’re not very agile animals. As I said, they walk like tortoises.
Laurel Neme: So, they’re not the most athletic of beetles.
Doug Emlen: It depends on how you define athleticism. They are athletic, in the sense that a weightlifter is athletic, because they are very strong for their body size. But they are not agile or fast.
Laurel Neme: What's your favorite dung beetle?
Doug Emlen: My favorite is an East African species that is blue green to purple green, depending on the light, and they have a pair of horns, the way most African antelope would have. [The horns] come up and curl around the body, and then they have a tine coming off of them. They fork just like deer antlers would fork, … and the tips broaden into these palm-y extensions that are much more like what would occur in the antlers of a caribou or a moose. It’s this curved, branched set of horns that flattens out into these triangular tips at the end. They also are extremely long, wrapping all the way around the animal and extending the full length of that animal all the way to the back. A huge rack.
Laurel Neme: What are some other strange horn types?
Doug Emlen: [There] is a species that is African but it's been introduced to Hawaii, and it has a horn that comes from the thorax. … If you picture yourself like a tortoise-shaped dung beetle, the thorax is the shoulder blade behind your head. [The horn would] come from between those shoulder blades and extend over your head. It’s a long curved horn, again like a toothpick, that extends in front of the beetle. In this case, these horns can be longer than the rest of the beetle. It's like having a jousting javelin or spear in front of your body all the time.
There are others that have a horn coming from the thorax. In these beetles the horn is like a big wide shelf, instead of a spear. It’s like a huge board coming forward over their heads that ends by splitting into a series of branches or tines, but it’s really like a wide shelf.
There are [also] horns that are like tusks that come off of the front of the head. They look like the tusks you'd have on a wild boar. And there are species that have a horn that looks like a spatula coming out from the front of the faceplate or the lip of the front of the head. Honestly! It’s like a curved spatula. You wouldn't use it for pancakes because it curls around, but it’s the shape of a big triangular spatula and it sticks in front of the face of these things. There are all kinds of variation in the shapes of the horns.
WHAT’S THE LOGIC?
Laurel Neme: What's the purpose of these different horn shapes?
Doug Emlen: You're not allowed to ask that! After all these years, I still don't have a good answer. [Laughs] Not for a lack of trying! That question is the thorn in my side. But it’s okay. That’s what scientists want. It keeps us challenged.
There are some things we can answer and there are some things we can't. One thing we're fairly confident about, that we think we understand, is why they're big.
Laurel Neme: Why are dung beetle horns so large?
Doug Emlen: For most of these beetles, the way the mating system works is that the females will find the dung and they'll dig a tunnel into the ground underneath the dung. This is a species with parental care. Once they've dug the tunnel, the female will spend days pulling pieces of dung down into the ends of the tunnel and packing it into a sausage-like brood mass or brood balls. … [Then,] once she's made it, she'll hollow out a chamber at the end and make a little tiny stalk, and then lay an egg in this stalk. So [a single egg sits] inside this little chamber, not touching the sides of anything. … Once the egg hatches, the larvae lives inside that sausage-like brood mass and it eats it completely as it develops. It does its entire developmental period on that amount of food that the female has stored underground. When it’s done developing, it will crawl to the surface and repeat the cycle.
A female can spend a lot of days and make hundreds of trips pulling dung into the tunnel and making these different brood balls. Then she will fill the tunnel behind her and she'll make another, and fill the tunnel in behind that and make another.
As this type of provisioning behavior is going on, a male will try to guard that tunnel and try to keep everybody else away. He'll [also] mate with the female as often as he possibly can. Every time she comes up to the top to get dung, he'll try to mate with her. He'll often try to keep her in the tunnel. This is one of the ways that you get bi-parental care in this system. The males will go out into the dung and pull fragments of it back and cram it into the tunnel just [it appears] to keep the female trapped. The males will help provision the tunnels, and then the females will take the dung from the top of the tunnel all the way to the end of the tunnel and actually make the brood balls.
So, you've got this tortoise-shaped beetle guarding this cylindrical tunnel, and the job of that male is to keep all other males out. That’s where the horns come in. They use the horns in fights. Rival males will challenge these [guard] males and try to get past them into the tunnel. That’s when the fights take place. These beetles fight surprisingly viciously. They’re really fun fights to watch.
DUNG BEETLE BATTLES: NOT AN ELEGANT DANCE
Laurel Neme: Can you describe a fight? [Laughs] It sounds like Gladiator or Robin Hood...
Doug Emlen: Except they’re not quite as agile. They fight like turtles. They aren't the most impressive things to watch because you're looking at two eraser-sized black animals in the dark. But the fights are pretty interesting. The best descriptor I can use is chaos.
[I had expected] the males would lock together, like a lock and a key, and the two opponents would fit together in a very precise fashion and then they would push and push and push and it would be a strength contest. There are some beetles that do that but these guys don't seem to. [Laughs]. Instead, its pandemonium!
They push and they pry and they twist and they try to dig past each other and the other ones are prodding and prying with horns and they scramble. Sometimes these beetles are so awkward in these tunnels that they can't even turn around. A big male can't turn around. Sometimes, if he’s facing down the tunnel and another male comes up and bumps into him from behind, he can't even turn around to engage that male. What he has to do is back out of the tunnel, forcing the other male with him until he gets to the surface. Then he can turn around and back into the tunnel and then they can actually fight proper. So they twist and pry. And sometimes they can push the sides of tunnel so far apart that they can turn around or twist.
DOES HORN SHAPE MATTER?
Laurel Neme: What does that mean for the horn shapes?
Doug Emlen: We thought when we saw those fights we'd get magical answers as to why you'd want a twisted horn or a long horn or a horn with branches or a spatula horn on the front of your face and [laughs], we've come up empty. The male with the bigger horns usually wins.
Laurel Neme: So size does matter? [Laughs]
Doug Emlen: Size does matter. Body size really matters. The bigger beetle always wins, to a close approximation. But once you control for size, if you have two beetles the same size, then weapons matter, and the males with the bigger weapon wins. There have been a number of studies done by a number of people who have found the same things. The big horns really do matter, and they help the males win.
We have a system we would call directional sexual selection for weapon sizes that are big. If your weapons are bigger than everybody else's, then you've got an edge. You can win these contests over the tunnels and keep everybody else at bay. You can mate with the female and, presumably, there’s a reproductive advantage.
Laurel Neme: Does horn shape make a difference?
Doug Emlen: We have no way of knowing why one horn shape works better than another. If they locked together in that lock and key fashion, then you can envision how horn shape could matter a lot. … But these things don't do that. … There’s no obvious reason for a particular shape. As near as I can tell, horns are like bars on a jail cell. They help anchor the beetle into the tunnel and make it more difficult for the other beetle to get past. Pretty much anything that can be stuck into the side of the tunnel helps. With these things, bigger weapons seem to work better than smaller weapons, but why one species has a triangle and another has a branched horn we don't know yet.
Laurel Neme: Do you find any species fighting with another species?
Doug Emlen: Not as often as we'd like. That's one of the reasons we haven't been able to do really well [at figuring out] why horns have different shapes. We can't just pick a species with a thorax horn and a species with a head horn [and see who wins]. … Because we don't get multiple horn types within a single species, and because males of different species rarely engage in fights, we haven’t been able to test what happens when one horn type fights another.
Laurel Neme: Could you stage fights between species with different horn shapes?
Doug Emlen: We have tried to stage them that way, and we’ve tried gluing horns on the beetles. We probably will be able to see that with the rhinoceros beetles because they’re very big. But these little dung beetles [are too small]. We tried superglue but we have not been able to engineer or manufacture a biologically plausible version of a dung beetle with the wrong type of horn yet.
So the answer is no, we don't get species fighting each other as much as you would like. We haven't seen circumstances [that can tell us] if shovel horn will win over a curved horn or a straight horn.
DUNG BEETLE ADAPTATIONS
Laurel Neme: What adaptations do dung beetles have for their life underground?
Doug Emlen: They spend a lot of their life underground. First of all, as larvae. Their entire developmental period is spent underground. Then they come above ground and they have to disperse. These things can fly. These are flying turtles with horns.
Laurel Neme: [Laughs] You forgot to mention that part!
Doug Emlen: They definitely can fly. [Laughs] These aren't swallows or agile birds, but they can fly—and they need to fly. It’s essential because dung isn't a resource (except for in Australia after decades of no dung beetles) that is everywhere. You have to spend time [finding it]. Dung appears suddenly on the landscape – over here and then it appears over there on the landscape – but the beetles have to find it.
They’re able to use the odor cues to find the food sources, and they can find them really fast.
Laurel Neme: How fast?
Doug Emlen: In the tropics, where I was studying them, …15-30 seconds after howler monkey dung appeared on the ground you'd already have the first beetles coming in. They’re very good at finding this food source because they have to compete with all these other animals to get to it, and so they do fly. They’re above ground for that time period. But once they find the food [dung], they burrow into the ground and hangout underground.
All the interesting stuff that we were focusing on—who’s mating with whom, what are they doing in terms of parental care, who’s fighting with whom, why the horns, all that stuff – happens underground.
Laurel Neme: What happens after that?
Doug Emlen: Well, the dung only lasts a few days until its gone. At that point, once they've buried all they can, the process repeats. The males and females will disperse and the whole cycle repeats itself when they find another piece of dung. They alternate between being below ground and above ground.
SENSE OF SMELL IN DUNG BEETLES AND OTHER INSECTS
Laurel Neme: Do they have special adaptations for smelling, to be able to detect dung?
Doug Emlen: Yes. They definitely have an exquisite sense of smell. Although I haven't worked on this, and I'm not sure that I can think of anyone who has directly worked on this, they almost certainly have had to specialize in the chemical receptors that they have on their antennae that they use for smell. If one of the main ways for these dung beetles to diversify is by specializing on different types of dung – so that there are some that will feed on wildebeest dung and some on seabird dung and some on giraffe dung and some on elephant dung – if they’re specializing like that, it’s almost certain that the characteristics are different among the dung sources, especially with respect to smell. Since they use odor cues to find their food, one of the key traits that has got to be differentiated among these different species of beetles is the particular smells that they hone in on to find their food source. Although I'm guessing on this, I'm willing to bet there has been a ton of evolutionary specialization for their olfactory capabilities. They’re all good at finding dung. But the particular types of dung they find differ depending on the biology of each species.
Laurel Neme: Are hairs the chemical receptors or do they have noses?
Doug Emlen: One of the chemical receptors you find in insects generally is on the hairs that they have on the outsides of their bodies. The hairs often have pores in them, and the chemoreceptors inside those pores are hooked up to neurons. ... Another thing that’s neat about insects in general, and these beetles for sure, that’s very different from ourselves and vertebrates is that we smell with our noses and taste with our mouths. Our chemoreceptors are concentrated within our mouths and our noses. [In contrast,] insects can taste and smell all over their body. There are insects with chemoreceptors on their heads or their wings, so they can pick up chemicals from the air as they fly. Many insects have pads on their feet covered with these sensory hairs, so they can essentially taste and smell and respond to chemicals on everything that they land on. [For example,] the housefly that lands on the edge of your glass can taste the residues on the edge of that glass through their feet. They will often have hairs on the undersides of their body, all around their mouths, because that’s a very logical place for them to be tasting.
But the primary organs of smell in insects are thought to be the antennae. The antennae are thought to be covered with sensory hairs that all have these pores, these chemoreceptors, on them.
Some of the studies on insects, for example male moths, [have found] they’re phenomenally sensitive to chemicals. If I'm not mistaken, they've found moth antennae that are so sensitive that they can detect individual molecules of the mating pheromone of that species. I don't think we've been able to engineer artificial sensors even within orders of magnitude of that level of biological sensitivity. So, insect antennae are impressive.
I'm not sure dung beetle antennae have been studied as extensively as the moths, but they clearly are master organs of smell. They really live and die by smell. They find their food by smell. They spend a lot of their lives trying to track down food. There is so much competition for dung that they've got to find food sources very fast. That means there is going to be a selective premium on individuals that are unusually good at detecting smells. You put that on to a history of animals that for the last forty million years or so have been specializing on all different types of dung and they have an incredible sense of smell.
DUNG BEETLE BULLDOZERS
Laurel Neme: What adaptations help dung beetles dig?
Doug Emlen: This is where the turtle shape comes in because they actually are like little bulldozers.
Laurel Neme: How does their turtle-like shape and biology help dung beetles dig?
Doug Emlen: A turtle is a robust animal with a big stiff shell on the outside. If you're going to work your way down into the soil you need to have some tough architecture or armor on the outside or you're going to get torn to shreds. Dung beetles, too, have very robust, thick exoskeletons. They have very strong forelegs, and the forelegs of the dung beetles have blades or “teeth.” One of the diagnostic [characteristics] of the genus Onthophagus is that there are four teeth on the front legs of these beetles, they look like triangular blades, and they literally carve out the clay and the soil underneath them. They’re very, very fast and efficient at it.
A bulldozer is a good analogy because a bulldozer has a big curved blade down the front and it can push through the soil, and you don't get all that dirt clogging the engine, tearing up the axles on everything, and destroying the path where you are because the blade protects it. The dung beetles’ head is really like a bulldozer blade. If you look at them closely under a microscope, the front of these animals really is a bulldozer blade, and that’s the top of the head. You can see a tiny bit of the eyes. There is a little slit that pokes through on the front of that blade, but pretty much everything else that matters is underneath—its compound eyes, mouth parts and antennae are all things that can fold up underneath that blade.
These things are built like bulldozers. They've got the front legs that they can carve into soil with, and they've got this big, curved flat slab of a head that’s like the blade of a bulldozer they can use to plow through the soil or to push again the walls of the tunnel, and it protects all of the delicate sensory structures of their head underneath.
Laurel Neme: How strong are they?
Doug Emlen: These things are strong. You can take a pencil eraser-sized dung beetle and hold it in your hand as tightly as you possibly, and I guarantee you that beetle can crawl out of your hand no matter how many pounds you can bench press. I’ve done this and I’ve challenged bigger, stronger men than me to do this. I promise you, that beetle is so strong that it can force its way out of your hand. These are things that are used to digging into hard packed clay.
Laurel Neme: I'm imagining you challenging this beetle [Laughs] …
Doug Emlen: [Laughs] Who’s stronger! It's a very humbling challenge because I always lose.


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COMMITMENTS OF TRADERS COT REPORTS | RELEASE SCHEDULE 2023
The “Commodity Futures Trading Commission” publishes the (COT) reports to help the public understand market dynamics. Generally, the data in the (COT) reports is from Tuesday and released Friday. The CFTC receives the data from the reporting firms on Wednesday morning and then corrects and verifies the data for release by Friday afternoon (*according to CFTC).
Please note that these reports cover Non-Commercial Futures Only data. If you’re interested in other COT Reports markets, feel free to reach out, and I’ll include them in my weekly posts.

domain: finance


text:
the netherlandsAccess for All
23 November, 2009
ABOUT THE PROJECT
‘Access for All’ was the theme of the biennial International Aids Conference held in Bangkok in 2004. In conjunction with the conference, Han Nefkens and Hilde Teerlinck, then director of the CRAC Alsace in Altkirch (FR), asked each of ten artists from different countries to design a work based on this theme. The results were ten special works of art, each reflecting the artist’s personal view of the Aids problem. These high-quality pieces were produced by the Ecole Supérieure d’Art Le Quai in Mulhouse and Imprimerie Bieler in Huningue in a limited edition of fifty sets. During the conference the works were displayed in the famous Queen’s Gallery in Bangkok and were subsequently presented at the CRAC in Altkirch.
In the spring of 2006, the works toured four Dutch museums: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, Museum Het Domein in Sittard, the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden and the Museum Jan Cunen in Oss. A series of talks with schoolchildren were organised in conjunction with the exhibitions in order to stimulate the discussion of the Aids problem.
ArtAids continues to sell the portfolios of prints (see below).
INTRODUCTION BY HAN NEFKENS
[Published in the 2006 book that accompanies each portfolio]
As part of the presentation of Access for All in the Centre Rhénan d’Art Contemporain (CRAC) in Altkirch, a small town in the Alsace, I was invited by the local high school to talk to the students about HIV in the world and HIV in my own body. As I stood before the class, I suddenly realised that on that very day, exactly eighteen years before, I had first been given the news that I was HIV positive. After the students had asked all their questions, I had something to ask them. I wanted to know what their reaction would be if they were to hear that they were infected with HIV. ‘I’d rather die right away,’ was one of the reactions, ‘because everybody would find out that I had done something bad.’ I thought ‘bad’ wasn’t quite the right word. ‘Stupid’ seemed better to me. It’s stupid to do something that can have such serious consequences when the consequences are so easy to prevent. Sometimes the consequences of such stupidity are way out of proportion to the act itself.
The drawings the students made after their visit to the exhibition hung on the classroom wall. One of the drawings featured the hands that Shirin Neshat had photographed for Access for All, with the word ‘solidarity’ written around them. All the students agreed you ought to show solidarity with people who have HIV, yet they were afraid of how others would react. My proposal that perhaps there should be more of a discussion about HIV and Aids was rejected as a not very interesting option. They thought a vending machine with condoms in the recreation room would be much more important ï€ and collecting money for the children suffering from Aids in Thailand, such as my little friend Note, whom I had just told them about. They immediately came up with dozens of ideas for raising money.
So that’s how the virus and I celebrated our birthday: with the students of Altkirch in honour of little Note in Bangkok. The words of ‘Happy Birthday’ rang out in France and could be heard all the way to Thailand.
ArtAids thanks the artists who contributed to the Access for All portfolio:
The Access for All series is sold in a portfolio.
Contents of the portfolio:
- 10 prints (offset and silkscreen) measuring 64.5 x 50 cm
- a white sheet of paper measuring 64.5 x 50 cm, with the text ‘for all those who can no longer participate in this project’ printed in white
- a signed and numbered certificate
- a 10-page book intruducing each artist
The price of a portfolio is €1,950.00 (excl. 19% VAT).
For all inquiries, please contact ArtAids at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Illustrated: Acces for All on display in highshool Hooghuis West in Oss, The Netherlands.
Photograph: © Ingo Gotz

domain: artistic


text:
|Director: Prof. at AMU Piotr W. Juchacz, PhD. Habil.
Programme coordinator: Marcin Byczyński, PhD
The Centre for Transdisciplinary Research on Lay Judges and Courts DIKASTAI:
- performs comparative research of different models of lay adjudication in Europe and worldwide
- performs original research to determine what works (and what doesn’t) in Polish system of justice, and provides expert assistance to justice reformers, especially supporting all initiatives to broaden and deepen the citizens involvement in the exercise of justice.
- provides hands-on, expert assistance to citizens’ associations aiming at improving the institutions of lay participation of citizens in the exercise of justice.
- is dedicated to disseminate information concerning lay adjudication through educational programs and public outreach.
We put the idea of collaboration with interested stakeholders, especially the community of lay judges, at the centre of our work. We have a strong relationship with the Association National Council of Lay Judges in Poland and independent representatives of Lay Judges Councils in main Polish courts, for which we provide ongoing strategic advice and programming.
Presently, the key programme realized by the Centre within the scope of Transdisciplinary Research Group in Ethics of Lay Judges concerns the construction of The Code of Ethical Conduct for Lay Judges in Poland.

domain: law


text:
When active, the Draw Tool will stay in ‘lock mode’ and the icon on the tool bar will turn blue showing it is locked. Lock mode makes it easier to draw multiple drawing strokes back-to-back.
Draw Tool Group Drawing
When you have completed a drawing, you can immediately group all of the drawing strokes together into a single drawing object by tapping the ‘group drawing’ button in the bottom toolbar. The ‘group drawing’ button is only displayed when the Draw tool is active. After you press the 'group drawing' button, a thin red box is displayed around your drawing to confirm that you have created a new group of drawing strokes. For example:
While you are creating a drawing, you can Undo (and Redo) up to 20 previous drawing strokes while the whiteboard is open. You can also use the Eraser tool to selectively delete individual drawing strokes.
In what ways can I modify a drawing I created?
- Each drawing stroke is separate and unique. For example, you can change the color of each individual drawing stroke by selecting different properties, like pen type, variable or fixed width, stroke width, opacity or color.
- After you have drawn something, you can modify individual drawing strokes (including layer setting, duplicate, copy, and properties) by doing a tap and hold on a drawing stroke.
- Properties (colors, thickness, etc.) can only be changed for individual drawing strokes. It is not possible to select several strokes or grouped strokes and change their properties at the same time.
- When you select a drawing stroke or group of strokes, a ‘selection box’ is displayed around the object. The selection box may be considerably larger than a drawing stroke especially if the stroke is drawn at an angle. This is important to remember when performing selection operations, to ensure the desired drawing strokes are selected.
- And don’t forget that like other objects in a whiteboard, you can move and resize drawings.

domain: design


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Ok ill try...im assuming that i wont have to unbolt anyhing, and its farily simple?
Yes, it's simple. Did you put the exhaust on, or did someone else? Because if you paid to have someone else put it on, then take it back to them and demand that they fix it, because it's not mounted right.
The hangers are attached to the car, and made of metal that is somewhat flexible, yet strong. Attached to the hangers on the car are rubber pieces with two holes in them. One hole for the hanger on the car, and one hole for the hanger on the exhaust. There are three hangers I believe. You should be able to bend the hangers with moderate force, and once you get under the car, you should be able to see what I am talking about.
Check the install section for exhaust installs, and you should be able to see pics of the hangers, if they are already not labeled for you. Perhaps someone would be nice enough to post a pic or two here for you. I would, but I'm at home on dial up and it would take me a few hours.
Anyways, adjust the hanger that is closest to the rear of your car, and since your exhaust is hitting your bumper, you want to bend the hanger DOWN towards the ground ever so slightly. Don't go too overboard.
Also, your exhaust should not be vibrating like it is, so check to see that your exhaust is attached to ALL HANGERS, and once again, there should be three.
If you don't feel like doing this yourself, then take it back to whoever did the initial install, and they should fix it without any complaints, since they may have not done it right the first time.


text:
According to a new study, international students enjoy teamwork more than American students. Why?
When I read the results of a latest survey sharing that American students do not prefer to work in teams, I whole-heartedly agreed. Thinking back to my days of group projects while in college, I immediately thought of those people who “didn’t pull their weight”, meaning they didn’t do their share of the work. Heck, sometimes even I was that person. Sure, I’ll admit it. Sometimes in the group the opposite occurred where we had three or four people who wanted to be the leader and do everything! Just a few reasons why I didn’t like group projects.
According to a Graduate Management Admission Council survey of MBA students, only 13 percent of American citizens said they preferred working in teams as a teaching method.
However, international students felt differently.
25 percent of students from Africa and the Middle East preferred working in groups.
20 percent of Chinese students liked working in groups too.
So, how do American students like to learn?
35 percent of Americans said they like both lectures and discussions.
So, what’s the deal? Why do Americans not like working in groups?
[typography font=”Cantarell” size=”18″ size_format=”px”]“Americans resist the notion of their success and livelihood being tied to someone else’s performance. People want to know that when they work hard, they get the reward. Other cultures are about harmony in the group,”[/typography] said Bradley Kirkman, head of the management, innovation, and entrepreneurship department at North Carolina State’s Poole College of Management who has published research about teamwork. “That’s why you’ll see push-back in U.S. MBA programs.”
Peter Rodriguez, senior associate dean for degree programs at Virginia’s Darden School of Business said international students rarely complain about group projects.
“What I know about international students is most of them came here seeking closer networks with U.S. students, so they enjoy the opportunity to do close-up work with them,” he said.
However, the reality is in most careers, we need to know how to work with others. Employers want to know you have the ability to work with others and no matter what, get the work done. Now I can look back and see how those group project experiences prepared me for my career. Even though I didn’t like it at the time, it has proven to be beneficial.
Editor in Chief

domain: news


text:
Emotional intimacy dating
- Are you emotionally intimate in your relationship?
- What are the signs of emotional intimacy?
- Why is emotional intimacy important in marriage?
- Does intimacy exist outside of a relationship?
- What is emotional intimacy in a relationship?
- How fast can you build emotional intimacy?
- Are You Afraid of emotional intimacy?
- Do you need an intimacy boost in your relationship?
- What is the power of emotional intimacy?
- What are the emotions associated with relationships and marriage?
- Is a marriage with no emotional intimacy possible?
- Why is intimacy important in a marriage?
- What is intimacy in a marriage?
- How to be intimate in a relationship without being physical?
- What happens if there is no intimacy in a relationship?
- Why is physical intimacy important in a relationship?
Are you emotionally intimate in your relationship?
Greater the emotional intimacy, the more fulfilling the relationship and marriage will be. With that said, you may have trouble pinpointing the characteristics of an emotionally intimate couple. You know that’s what you want, but aren’t sure how to create it in your own life and relationship.
What are the signs of emotional intimacy?
What Are Signs of Emotional Intimacy? 1 A feeling of safety and trust in your relationship 2 Physical affection and warmth 3 Feeling that you know each other on a deep, meaningful level 4 A sense of fun, playfulness, and shared humour 5 A willingness to communicate and share your inner worlds
Why is emotional intimacy important in marriage?
In relation to marriage, emotional intimacy is highly important. It regards the spiritual, physical, and emotional bond that lovers have. Its focus in marriage can vary from couple to couple, comprising communication, feelings, and needs.
Does intimacy exist outside of a relationship?
While intimacy can undoubtedly exist outside of romantic relationships, it most commonly pertains to dating and marriage. The word intimacy is derived from the Latin word intimus, which means inner or innermost. 1 In most romance languages, the word for intimate refers to a persons innermost qualities.
What is emotional intimacy in a relationship?
Emotional intimacy can be one of the most important factors of a relationship. One journal defined emotional intimacy as involving a perception of closeness to another that allows sharing of personal feelings, accompanied by expectations of understanding, affirmation, and demonstrations of caring. 2
How fast can you build emotional intimacy?
So building emotional intimacy can happen as fast as a single conversation. This means that almost every interaction you have with your partner is an opportunity to create intimacy. Are you ready to deepen the intimacy in your relationship? Obvious, right?
Are You Afraid of emotional intimacy?
We all long for intimacy, but some of us are too afraid to do the work required. It takes vulnerability with each step towards the person you’re becoming intimate with. Emotional intimacy is not for the strong-willed or stubborn.
Do you need an intimacy boost in your relationship?
Couples who are intimate have deep trust for one another. Emotional intimacy means you can rely on each other and work as a team. If you’re not in an intimate relationship or your current relationship needs an intimacy boost, don’t panic!
What is intimacy in a marriage?
For any relationship between two people, or one person and a group, to be deeply meaningful, intimacy must exist. Now, for the purpose of the context which addresses intimacy in a marriage, the definition of intimacy is limited to a committed intimate relationship between couples.
How to be intimate in a relationship without being physical?
Apart from physical and emotional intimacy, a relationship needs a certain degree of intellectual homogeneity between the partners for a relationship to thrive. Ways to be intimate without being physical include intimacy of many other types. It is a type of intimacy that is very crucial.
What happens if there is no intimacy in a relationship?
Without intimacy, there isn’t the security in the relationship of knowing that the other person is there for you, or of knowing that they truly love you.
Why is physical intimacy important in a relationship?
It’s in a human being’s nature to require physical intimacy - this is why simple physical affection, such as hand-holding, cuddling, hugging and kissing is important to your relationship - alongside emotional understanding and capability. What happens when one partner is more intimate?

domain: sociology


text:
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domain: food


text:
Naira on Monday fell against the U.S. dollar at the Investors and Exporters window as well as the parallel market, as the federal government said it has adopted the rate for the I&E window for its official transactions.
It was the second big fall recorded this month at the black market, according to data posted on abokiFX.com, a website that collates parallel market rates in Lagos.
According to the data posted, the currency closed at N486.00 on Monday, a N1.0 or 0.21 per cent devaluation from N485, the rate it stood since March 12.
The margin is significant as naira had been at or below 480 for months, after touching an all-time low at the unofficial market on November 20 last year, when it traded at the black market for N500.
This occurred as Nigeria adopted a new flexible exchange-rate policy for official transactions, a move that effectively marks the third devaluation of the local unit within year, Bloomberg reported.
“The government will start to use the flexible rate, that has until now applied to investors and exporters, for government transactions too,” the report quoted Zainab Ahmed, Finance Minister, to have said while briefing journalists in the state house on Monday in Abuja.
Mrs Ahmed said “Within the government and the central bank, there is only one official rate and that’s the Nafex rate,”
Since the beginning of the year, the Nafex rate has been pegged at an average of N410 to the greenback currency, as against the Central Bank of Nigeria’s initial rate of N379.
On Monday, the currency fell slightly against the U.S. dollar at the I&E window, data posted on the FMDQ Security Exchange where forex is officially traded showed.
The currency closed at N410.13 at the trading session of the I&E window, Monday. This represents N0.13 or 0.03 per cent depreciation from N410.00 the rate at which it closed at the previous session on Friday.
The fall occured as the naira saw an intraday high of N401.00 and a low of N412.00, before closing at N410.13 on Monday.
The slight devaluation seen by the domestic currency became pronounced as turnover dipped by 44.30 per cent, with $25.88 million recorded as against the $46.43 million posted on Friday last week.
This leaves the spread between the unofficial market and the I&E window exchange rate at N75.87, which translates to a gap of 15.61 per cent.
The CBN’s official rate on Monday was still N379 per dollar.
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text:
Just weeks before the start of fall practices, Mark Ecke has resigned as Danbury’s football coach, athletic director Chip Salvestrini announced Wednesday.
Ecke, who was a blockbuster hire for the struggling Class LL program just over a year ago, resigned to take a job at the new Capital Prep Harbor School in Bridgeport.
EDanbury was 8-3 in Ecke’s one season. It was the school’s best football season since the Hatters’ last state playoff berth in 2003. He had previously won 118 games and four state titles in 17 years at Cheshire high School from 1995-2012,
Salvestrini said Ecke called at 8:40 a.m. to resign. “I’m still picking myself up off the floor,” Salvestrini said.
“It was devastating for me,” said Ecke, who will teach Social Studies at Captial Prep Harbor Magent. “It’s killing me. I feel bad for the school and the kids. I love Danbury, it’s a great school with great kids. But it just didn’t work out for me getting a job there and it was a decision I had to make.”
Defensive coordinator Alex Trasacco, a Cheshire resident and longtime assistant coach for all three New Haven football programs who came to Danbury with Ecke last year, will take over as interim coach.
This is Trasacco’s first head coaching job. The 57-year old has been a high school football coach since 1985 when he started with Hillhouse. He’s also coached at East Haven with Rusty Dunne, at Hyde with Melvin Wells and at Wilbur Cross with John Acquavita.
“I’m happy for Alex,” Ecke said. “He’s been at this a long time and he deserves it. I hope they have a great year.”
Ecke, who had just renewed his teaching certification, had been working as a tutor at Danbury. Salvestrini said he was working with the school district to secure a full-time job for the coach.
“He was coming back (as a tutor) and did very well with that and we were working toward helping him become a teacher,” Salvestrini said. “But I didn’t know this would happen as quickly as it did.
“The timing isn’t good, that’s for sure. But from a standpoint that a guy needs a full-time gig, I understand. He also has a son in college. But we have a good replacement and a person who we think will pick the ball up quickly and be ready for August 21st.”
Salvestrini met with some of the Danbury players soon afterward to give them the news. He consulted with Danbury Superintendent Dr. Sal Pascarella, who approved Trasacco’s appointment to head coach.
Trasacco played football at Hillhouse, from where he graduated in 1976, at Cheshire Academy and at Southern Connecticut State where he played quarterback, defensive back and was a kicker. He began his coaching career at WestConn with Paul Pasqualoni. He was teammates with and then coached with Staples’ Marce Petroccio. He began coaching at Hillhouse in 1985. He also coached Wilbur Cross’ boys lacrosse team and coached Ecke’s sons in the Cheshire youth lacrosse program.
Trasacco spoke with Ecke on Tuesday night and was prepared when he got the call from Salvestrini.
“When Chip called this morning to offer me the job, before he could even get the words out of his mouth I said ‘I want it,'” Trasacco said.
Trasacco, who said he jumped at the chance to go to Danbury with Ecke, was able to get a job at Danbury as a technical education teacher. He said almost the entire staff will remain at Danbury, including his son, Casey, who helped Ecke design and run last year’s offense.
“It’s unfortunate Mark had to go, but you have to do what’s best for your family,” Trasacco said. “I heard the kids were pretty devastated when they found out, but when they found out I was taking over, they felt better about it.
“We want to keep what we started here going. The coaching staff has a good rapport with the kids. We want to keep building the family atmosphere here. Keeping it consistent is key. Having grown up in a city and having coached city teams, I understand what we have to go through to be successful.”


The American Battleship: New York
Developed from the blueprint of Wyoming-class battleships, the New York-class battleship took up the legacy by showcasing even greater prowess and arms supremacy. Often lauded for its fortified armor, these battleships constituted an indispensable part of the U.S. Navy's Battle Fleet during the substantial maritime conflicts of the early 20th century.
Two vessels in this class, the USS New York (BB-34) and USS Texas (BB-35), served as representation for the entire class and played pivotal roles in both World Wars. The USS New York was particularly notable for its contribution in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters during World War II.
Design and Armament
In contrast to the experimental designs of her predecessor, the New York-class battleship boasted reinforced armor and main battery guns of a larger caliber. The five dual mounted 14 inches/45 caliber guns in central line casements were an upgrade from the Wyoming-class, which had 12-inch guns. In addition, the New York-class was the first to employ the "all or nothing" armor scheme that became the standard for all following US battleships.
As part of the ships' mid-life upgrades, they were equipped with anti-torpedo bulges and blisters to provide a substantially improved torpedo defense system. In addition, armor thickness around vital sections of the ship was increased, reflecting the evolving field of naval warfare's focus on protection and longevity.
Improvements and Upgrades
Additionally, the ship received reasonably good Anti-Aircraft (AA) defenses as part of numerous modifications and updates. Multiple AA guns that varied from .50 caliber machine guns to 5"/38 caliber guns were added, enriched the ship's defense against potential air attacks.
The New York-class battleships also received numerous propulsion upgrades for increased speed and operational range. These innovations contributed to the durability and versatility of these naval behemoths in the adverse realities of naval warfare.
Legacy of the New York
Through all these improvements and dedicated operation, the New York-class battleships became a symbol of naval strength and technological innovation. Despite the USS New York being decommissioned in 1946, her legend lives on in the annals of American naval history, echoes of her armaments still reverberating in the memory of naval engagement.


- This event has passed.
Live ETTG-IDDRI webinar event: Africa Post COVID 19 – Leapfrogging to sustainable, climate compatible development
June 24, 2020 @ 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Climate change and the green agenda are top priorities for both the African and the European continent. This has been clearly spelled out in the EU Comprehensive Strategy with Africa (March 2020) and in the African Union’s Climate Change Strategy (to be published soon). It can be assumed that these topics will be at the center of the upcoming 6th EU-AU Summit in October 2020.
Meanwhile, as the Covid-19 crisis erupted and has had important health and socio-economic impacts, this may have important implications on climate change, green transition, sustainable energy and food security agendas.
The aim of this webinar is to propose an in-depth exploration of the possible impacts of the Covid-19 crisis on greener and climate friendly economies in both Europe and Africa:
- Has Covid-19 made it more difficult or easier to work on a green transition and sustainable energy access?
- What can be expected from the African Union’s Climate Change Strategy and what will be the key areas of convergence and divergence with the priorities of the EU as set out in the Green Deal? How will Africa be able to reconcile its ambitions to restore economic growth, create value chains, development and jobs with the transition towards green economies?
- What role could and should the EU play in supporting this complex transition process?
90 minutes session, consisting of introduction by the moderator; thirty minutes reflections by the speakers; and Q&A, with questions from the moderator as well as from the audience; and wrap-up.
Moderator: Christine Hackenesch, DIE
Introductory remarks: Geert Laporte, Director, ETTG
– Carla Montesi, Director, DG DEVCO, Planet and prosperity
– Youba Sokona, Vice-Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
– Jean Paul Adam, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Director, Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resources Management Division
Closing remarks: Sébastien Treyer, Director, IDDRI
Register to watch online here.
For French version of the invitation press here.
Image courtesy of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade via Flickr.


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December 6, 2016 by Joseph Krohn
Nicholas was born on March 2, 270 AD. He was his wealthy parent’s only child. When his parents died, he was left with a large inheritance and gained a reputation for generosity and giving to the poor. He entered a monastery and was eventually ordained the Bishop of a coastal city in Asia Minor named Myra (in modern day Turkey).
The Bishop of Myra was known for his strong defence of Christ. He opposed aggressively and confrontationally the worship of the pagan god Diana. When Emperor Diocletian came to the throne, Bishop Nicholas was imprisoned and suffered greatly, because he refused to pinch incense and declare the Roman Emperor to be god. Nicholas not only faced the enemies of the Cross of Christ from without, but he also boldly withstood them from within. He stood with Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria and denounced Arianism (which challenged the deity of Christ). He was there at the council of Nicaea and when Arian read his blasphemy, Nicholas was one of the Bishops the screamed “heresy” and stomped upon those rebellious words. He also helped to write the Nicene Creed, which defended the hallmarks of the Christian faith.
In his most famous exploit, a poor man had three daughters but could not afford a proper dowry for them. This meant that they would remain unmarried and uncared for after their father’s death. Hearing of the girls’ plight, Nicholas decided to help them, but being too modest to help the family in public (or to save them the humiliation of accepting charity), he went to the house under the cover of night and threw three purses (one for each daughter) filled with gold coins through the window opening into the house. Another telling of the account has him climbing the roof and throwing the bags of money down the chimney, which landed in the girl’s stockings which were drying by the fire.
According to another legend, during a great famine that Myra experienced in 311–312, a ship was in the port at anchor, which was loaded with wheat for the Emperor in Constantinople. Nicholas invited the sailors to unload a part of the wheat to help in time of need. The sailors at first disliked the request, because the wheat had to be weighed accurately and delivered to the Emperor. Only when Nicholas promised them that they would not suffer any loss for their consideration, the sailors agreed. When they arrived later in the capital, they made a surprising find: the weight of the load had not changed, although the wheat removed in Myra was enough for two full years and could even be used for sowing.
Bishop Nicholas died on December 6, 343 AD at the age of 73. In Holland they remember Bishop Nicholas on December 6, with a special holiday marking his death. His Dutch name is Sinterclause – meaning “The Good Holy Man.” In Holland they depict Nicholas as an elderly bishop of the church, dressed in the regal ropes of his office bearing a shepherd’s crook.
Bishop Nicholas stood for truth; defended his Lord and Saviour and now waits for the calling of His Lord in the final resurrection where he will hear those words: “Well done my good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord.”

domain: history


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It is true that white Spanish wines are less well known than reds. Nevertheless, they are equally good in quality, and sometimes their beauty can surprise. Do not hesitate to try them. We offer you the best white Spanish wines which you should try. Some of them will surely become your favorite.
The name of this wine means “wheel.” It is the most famous Spanish white wine grown in the cities of Avila and Segovia, as well as in the wine growing region of Castilla y Leon. This wine is made from the variety of grapes Verdejo, and it is often mixed with the Sauvignon blanc variety. It is very certain that this type of wine enjoys such a great success around the world precisely because the local clay is used in the clarification process.
The wine region of La Rioja, Spain, is best known for the production of red wine. But this renowned region certainly produces a very good white wine. If you’ve ever heard of Rioja Blanco, this is exactly that. It is made from Virua (Macabeo) grapes that are mostly mixed with Garnacha Blanca or Malvasia. What makes this wine special is the aroma of mild fruitiness and acidity that is obtained from Virua, and which blends perfectly with the aromas of other grapes in the wine.
And the rest
Cava and Sherry are drinks from Spain, and it is very likely that you have surely tried them so far. Sherry is a drink made in Andalusia, in a city that has been the center of vinoculture since 1100 B.C., in the city of Jerez. The name of this wine originates from the name of the city because Jerez is pronounced “Sherish” in Arabic. Cava is a type of champagne, and it was created in Catalonia in response to French champagne. This wine is much cheaper than French champagne, but it is surprisingly of equal quality. Other high-quality Spanish wines are Riberio and Basque txakoli. The first one is from Galicia region that is known for this kind of wine, and the second one is climbing very fast upmarket.

domain: geography


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Mon, 21 February 2022
Chris Manderino is a former NCAA and NFL professional athlete who pursued an opportunity to live abroad while playing football in Italy post his NFL career. He is the founder of LYFE FUEL, a whole-foods plant-based company that helps people achieve optimal health.
While in Italy, he was struck by the vast cultural differences between the Italian approach to food and the American approach. Italians, even with all the pizza, pasta and high carb lifestyle seemed a much healthier population than the US. Chris boiled it down to this striking difference: in Italy, food was simpler. The Italians used higher quality, mostly plant-based ingredients and had smaller portion sizes. His revelation inspired a career change and he ended up taking a job in the nutraceutical industry.
Later on, Chris decided to study dietary and training theories, and while most nutritionists and food experts disagreed on just about everything else, there was one thing everyone seemed to agree on: eating a plant-based diet is the most important thing you can do for your health.
Using this knowledge, Chris co-founded LYFE Fuel, where every aspect of the company is backed by science, right down to the amounts of each ingredient. Instead of simply throwing healthy ingredients together, LYFE’s products are engineered with the specific purpose of aiding absorption to make sure the body receives the full benefits of each life-sustaining nutrient.
After speaking with Chris for almost an hour, I am convinced that LYFE Fuel is one of the best plant-based nutrition products on the market, and I can’t wait to try it for myself.


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So Rob always has his top ten Brighton albums of the year and it’s always very good and there are usually one or two overlaps with Jon’s but they’re never the same, so in the spirit of diversity and a reflection of the excellent year 2016 has been for music, Jon thought he’d drop a few Rob failed to mention and which happen to be top of his list. Continue reading
On Friday night, Brighton’s Willkommen collective hosted another of their mini-ECHO festivals with a headliner Damo Suzuki of CAN backed by some of Brighton’s finest young musicians.
The show featured an amazing supporting line up: Sons of Noel and Adrian, Soccer 96 and (from London) Eyes & No Eyes, all perfect headliners in their own right. The music was amazing, and there were also visuals supplied by the Innerstrings Psychedelic Lightshow. A definite candidate for one of the gigs of the year.
Jon Southcoasting was there to take some pictures.
A lovely short video of the Sons of Noel and Adrian story. They’re playing in support of Damo Suzuki tonight at a SOLD OUT gig at the Green Door Store. If you were lucky enough to get tickets it’s going to be better than awesome. Get there early to see Soccer 96, and Eyes & No Eyes who kick things off at 6:45pm.
Isn’t the weather meant to be getting better by now? And aren’t the days meant to be getting longer? It’s still dark when I get home from work. At least it’s almost the weekend, which means it’s time for us to flag up the local bands we think you ought to see over the next few days.
On Thursday night Clowns play at the Green Door Store, supported by Frank Melena Band and Victorian Hunter. As front men go, they don’t come much better than Clowns’ Miles Heathfield, so this comes highly recommended. And it’s free! Over in Hove at the Bee’s Mouth, Zoe Hazel Hedderwick headlines the first Lipstick & Picks night – a new monthly night showcasing female musicians, which is also free.
Friday night’s biggest gigs to mention are some musical legend supported by local bands – Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band headline the Concorde, supported Son Belly, and Damo Suzuki from Can headlines the Green Door Store. Not only is he supported by Sons of Noel and Adrian, Soccer 96 and Eyes & No Eyes, but members of each of these bands will also be playing with him for his set. Friday is also Lout’s next Brighton Rocks night at Sticky Mike’s, with Saint Savanna, The Dancers, Farrow and Pizzabones.
There’s also another Brighton Rocks on Saturday at Sticky Mike’s – Ham Legion, The Creaking Chair, The Evil Son and LSD-25 are on the bill. House of Hats host another Harvest Session at the Brunswick, with support from The Self Help Group and Katharine Rose. Later in the evening Kovak host Club Kovak at the Blind Tiger, where you’ll have one of your first opportunities to see them playing tunes from their upcoming album live. Support comes Paper Playground and a DJ set from Youth. I suppose we ought to mention that Woodingdean’s finest X-factor contestant Frankie Cocozza is playing at the Haunt too.
Just the one gig to mention for Sunday, but it’s one we bought a ticket for before we even realised that the support would be a local act. Melody’s Echo Chamber plays at The Haunt (not Green Door Store where tickets were originally on sale for), and we’re looking forward to see them almost as much as we’re looking forward to Fear of Men who are supporting.
It’s been a strange year for Brighton’s neo-alt-folk-rock collective Willkommen Records. A busy year, but it’s felt like a label that’s been growing up, some of the kids moving on, some of them moving out…
The Willkommen monster band The Sons of Noel and Adrian released their second album ‘Knots‘ in the Spring, and in spite of building beautifully on the frantic neo-folk rock orchestration of the first album managed to stay well under the radar. A shame, as this band deserve to be heard and are a must-see experience on stage.
They also released a stunning compilation of various singles and odd tracks that found their way onto other things with the bizarre title of ‘Your Tunnel That Connects My Arm To A God-Fearing Woman Who Lives In The Dark‘. It’s a terrific introduction to the band who will be back playing in Brighton on March 1st at the Green Door Store after a short European tour early next year, beginning in London on 15th February.
Check out the video for ‘Come Run Fun Stella Baby Mother of the World‘ from the album Knots, below.
The Sons of course aren’t the only child of the collective by far. Most of the band’s members feature in other acts associated with the label, all of whom offer a wild variety of musical treats. Some links to check out follow.
Daniel Green’s Laish was completely remodelled this year, and features the softer playful side of Martha Rose and Emma Gatrill coupled with a more powerful rocking rhythm section, all in support of Dan’s superlative songwriting. Their Obituaries EP this year was a great introduction to their new songs and sound, and judging from their live shows Laish’s second album when it drops early in 2013 should be highly anticipated.
To keep you going until then, Laish have a sweet Christmas song ‘A Poor Man’ Christmas‘ which is free to download over on bandcamp. It was recorded last Christmas, but Christmas is Christmas, right?
Other adventures from the Willkommen clan this year, included the beautiful harp-driven folksongs of Emma Gatrill, who launched her album ‘Chapter 1‘ in the delightful Church of the Annunciation in Hanover.
Marcus Hamblett has been busy as ever, not least helping out on Emma’s album and in producing and playing on the amazing ‘The Birdschool of Being Human‘ album by Woodpecker Wooliams.
Marcus has also edited together a massive 14 minute ‘Patchwerk’ of music with contributions from pretty much everyone who is associated with the label – it’s very beautiful, sounding a bit like one of the early Mothers of Invention albums to my ears, as well as a dozen other things. You can download it for free via Soundcloud – or listen below.
Cathy Cardin has been writing new songs under the moniker Redwood Red. Some of these songs have begun to emerge quietly unannounced but sound beautiful. There’s a possible album in the pipeline which will be something extraordinary I think judging from a short live set as part of the alternative Great Escape Festival in May and the few songs over on bandcamp.
The wonderful madcap genius of Hamilton Yarns slipped out yet another album – Calm Down Grandad – apparently more pop and less free jazz, but with the Yarns one always knows any album will not be quite like anything else. And that followed their 32-track double-CD compilation/introduction called ‘Are You Still There?’ earlier in the year.
And former Willkommen associate and Brighton resident, but now world-roaming minstrel, Rowan Coupland slipped out an album called ‘Slow Wave of the Future‘ which after a series of intriguing EPs represents his first full-length collection. With no promotion to speak of, you could blink and miss it – but don’t, because it’s a fantastic and highly original achievement, and my album of the year.
Finally, and sadly, at the end of November one of Willkommen’s and Brighton’s finest bands The Miserable Rich announced they were going to hang up their bows and bells. I guess having produced three stunning albums of beautiful lush string-driven pop songs to only modest interest in the UK (a little more in Germany), there’s only so long you can live on praise and kudos alone. Nevertheless, their final gig to a packed house as part of Brighton Source magazine’s new music night in November was a fitting send off, and I am sure we will hear new things from the band members soon enough.
The Sons of Noel and Adrian are back, with not one but two albums plus a hometown live outing at The Haunt on Saturday night. This can only be good news.
The new album from Sons of Noel and Adrian, Brighton’s “multi-tentacled psych-folk behemoth” (as they are known), is called Knots and will be officially released on Broken Sound on 21st May. It’s their second full album release, following on from their raucous cacophonous self-titled debut from four years ago.
Knots takes the Sons distinctive sound but expands its range, adding some beautiful orchestrated flourishes to their usual gypsy-psych-folk arrangements. The numerous Sons players mesh and meld together well, Tom Cowan’s distinctive guitar sound is in the fore, and Jacob Richardson’s gravel-some voice is wrapped around typically obscure but beautiful lyrics. This is what we expect of course, but the new album adds in some beautiful and complex musicality, with an echoing female chorus in songs like Come Run Fun Stella Baby Mother Of The World bringing a richer warmer contribution to the mix. Songs range from the mournful Black Side of the River, long-featured in their live set and in a different simpler form on the ‘Rivers’ EP, the almost funereal Matthew (available to hear here), the complex pacy opener The Yard with the Sons’ trademark swirling strings and military beat, a rousing reverberating Big Bad Bold and the beautiful end-song Heroine. Knots is available May 21st, or on pre-order now.
But as if one new album wasn’t enough, the Sons have also just released the rather awesomely titled ‘Your Tunnel That Connects My Arm To A God-Fearing Woman Who Lives In The Dark‘ which compiles various singles, obscure compilation tracks and some unreleased rarities including the aforementioned earlier version of Black Side of the River, a Leisure Society cover, a newly discovered recording with Kristin McClement and the song Rise from the Brighton SeaMonsters compilation released earlier this year. This makes a great introduction to the band, as well as an essential purchase for the completists. Available now at gigs or online here.
Sons of Noel and Adrian are also on tour this week. Tonight (5th April) they play London’s Bush Hall, and on Saturday (7th) they are back home at the Haunt in Brighton, with support from Laish and Emma Gatrill. It should be an excellent night.
(Photo of Jacob, Marcus and Cathy bySouthcoasting)
Fresh from headlining last monday at One Inch Badge’s Sea Monsters festival at the Prince Albert, The Sons of Noel and Adrian have announced a tour:
Monday 2nd April 10 Feet Tall, Cardiff (with Winter Villains)
Tuesday 3rd April The Fleece, Bristol (with Laish & Emma Gatrill)
Wednesday 4th April Arts Centre, Norwich (with Laish & Emma Gatrill)
Thursday 5th April Hoxton Bar & Grill, London
Saturday 7th April The Haunt, Brighton
They’re touring to promote their next album Knots, which should be out later this year, which we will no doubt be writing more about when it comes out.
OK then, a very quick round up of the first night of the Sea Monsters 2 festival (is it a festival or a series of gigs?) at the Prince Albert.
First up, Heliopause, who I was mightily impressed by. Two guys on stage making dreamy music which was somewhere between folk and post rock. A very big sound from a very small band. They were giving away their cd from a couple of years ago, which I’m very much looking forward to listening to. I’d say out of tonight’s three bands, they’re the one I’m most likely to go and listen to again.
Next up was Robert Stillman. Before tonight, I’d scanned over the program and seen the words composer, multi-instrumentalist, and folk, so I wasn’t expecting half an hour of avant garde contemporary music. Maybe I should have also read the words “sonic arts” and “American pre-jazz”. It was incredible though, and fascinating to watch so close up. Robert Stillman is an amazing pianist. Congratulations to One Inch Badge for having the balls to put something like this in the middle of their gig, and congratulations to the audience for being so broad minded as to lap it up.
Headlining were The Sons of Noel & Adrian, who squeezed eight people onstage. Apparently the full band has twelve members – thankfully they didn’t try and get them all onto the stage. They describe themselves as folk noir, which translated into folk with lots of added instrumentation (three guitarists, clarinet, oboe, trumpet, two drummers). They were the only act of the night to play songs in the more traditional sense of having verses and structure, but it was only as a measure against the other acts of the night that they seemed more traditional.


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Come and enjoy the beauty of our Flower Field and bring home a personally picked arrangement that is professionally assembled. Florists from Another Season Floral Shop will create arrangements in The Harvest Market with the flowers you hand-picked from our field, while you shop or enjoy a selection of soda, beer, wine and cheese for purchase!
This year we have expanded our flower field from just Sunflowers! Come and see our beautiful Cosmo and Zinnias growing in the field as well. Pick an array of flowers to add in your personal arrangement!
Choose from any of the following arrangements…
Large Vase: 6 Sunflowers, plus 6 Cosmos or Zinnias
Medium Vase: 3 Sunflowers, plus 4 Cosmos or Zinnias
Wrapped: 2 Sunflowers, 3 Cosmos/Zinnias
We love partnering with our local businesses! The exceptional florists from Another Season Floral Shop will be creating beautiful arrangements in our Flower Field from 2PM – 6PM CST. Visit their work here!
Is this event rain or shine?
Yes! There will be prepicked flowers in The Market to choose for your arrangements in case of rain.
How do I buy tickets?
Please go to the Harvest Admissions Booths on the West side of the Harvest Market to purchase an Admission Ticket!
How much do tickets cost?
Entrance to the field is $3.00 for kids ages 3-12, and $5.00 for guests ages 13 and over, There will be three different tiers of additional pricing to have a florist create an arrangement for you!
Are children free?
Children 2 and under are free!


Who Enjoys Sex Most Men or Women
This entry was posted on 15th January 2015.
Check Out a Few Statistics
First, here are a few statistics to jump start the discussion:
* A recent survey indicates that a women's 'peak' sex age is 28 while their male counterparts lag five years behind.
* Men typically have to wait until they're 33 to reach their sexual peak.
* Previous researches, however, indicate that the peak sexual age of men and women are 18 and 30, respectively.
* In an online article from the HuffingtonPost, it says that the way a woman feels about her body can directly affect how much she enjoys sex.
* As compared to the 8% of women who can reach orgasm through vaginal sex alone, almost all men can reach their sexual climax through penetrative sex.
* For the average woman, it takes about 10 to 20 minutes for them to reach an orgasm during foreplay and vaginal intercourse. For men, it takes only around seven to 14 minutes to climax. Unlike men who can reach orgasm through almost any kind of sexual encounter, most women need a variety of sexual acts to reach their sexual climax.
In a culture which values male pleasure more over female pleasure, it should not really matter who enjoys sex more. The fact is that women do enjoy sex as fully as men. However, they are not wired to immediately orgasm or achieve orgasm at all, especially through penetrative sex alone. If you're part of the male populace and you care about your partner's pleasure, make sure to ask her about what she wants. Again, women do enjoy sex as much as men – it's all a matter of having a partner who cares about their sexual pleasure, so that the experience can be, well, pleasurable for both parties.


On the small motorcycle radiator, the market is more common in the main air-cooled, water-cooled, oil-cooled three types. In fact, the cooling technology used on motorcycles and cars are basically the same principle, which is mainly to ensure the normal operation of the engine, so as not to be damaged due to overheating. Of course, different models of small motorcycle radiator will have different adjustments.
This is mainly to ensure the reliability and stability of driving as much as possible. Among them, the cooling effect of water-cooled motor scooters is relatively good, which is an ideal cooling method. Its main advantage is that it can effectively dissipate heat for engines with high power and high speed. However, if you use this cooling method, then you need to assemble a water tank, the structure is more complicated.
In contrast, the oil-cooled small motorcycle radiator cooling effect is more stable. This cooling method is actually mainly through the oil radiator to achieve cooling effect. There is a good advantage to using this type of cooling method, which is that you can rest more on the muddy road without worrying about the cooling plate being affected by mud.
However, from the current market conditions, small motorcycle radiator is mainly used in the form of air-cooled cooling. When using this cooling method, the engine used needs to have high heat resistance. And the engine will be designed heat sink, mainly to increase the contact area of the engine and air, so as to achieve faster cooling effect.
After the above introduction, I believe we all have understood that, in fact, regardless of which form of small motorcycle radiator, which has its own advantages and disadvantages. In other words, only with proper, it can take the maximum heat, to ensure that the engine at the best temperature work. For example, some motorcycles are water-cooled + oil-cooled small motorcycle radiator.


We develop, manufacture and supply spiral-welded, quick-coupling galvanized steel pipe systems that are stronger, lighter, have lower flow resistance, better anti-corrosion properties than stainless steel and give better total cost effectiveness. Of course we can also provide you with special solutions that we tailor to your needs.
We call it Performance in Piping and it means that you can:
- Reduce energy consumption by up to 50%
- Obtain the lowest possible life cycle costs (LCC)
- Buy "green" pipes – whatever the colour!


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August 26th, 2021 3.00pm
Ali Jaafar was thought by many to be one of the luckiest men in Massachusetts, but it turned out luck had nothing to do with it.
The 62-year-old man and his two sons are now facing severe charges after the state’s authorities have accused them of committing fraud. Over the last eight years, the three cashed nearly 13,000 lottery tickets, claiming more than £15 million.
Their Scheme Ran Out of Luck
Ali, Mohamed and Yousef are charged with conspiracy to defraud the US revenue service, money laundering, and several counts of submitting false tax returns.
From 2011 to 2019, the Watertown resident cashed over 10,000 lottery tickets, amounting to £11 million. His eldest son Mohamed cashed around 2,500 tickets to claim nearly £2.5 million, while Yousef took home around £1.8 million after cashing in 1,360 tickets.
The US Attorney’s Office explained that the three used a “ten percenting” practice to avoid paying their taxes. They sold their winning tickets to other individuals at a 10% to 20% lower price. They kept the cash, avoiding the attention of the revenue service.
Back in 2019, they sold a winning ticket to a convenience store worker in a nearby town at a discount. The man cashed in the ticket a day later, signing a form required by law to confirm he was the sole recipient of the prize.
Court documents also reveal that Ali and his sons cashed in multiple tickets at once on several occasions. Ali once cashed ten winning tickets, Mohamed chased nine, while his brother Yousef cashed six.
They received unexpected help from the pandemic. The Massachusetts State Lottery shut its claim centres, allowing lottery winners to send their claims by mail. From March to June last year, the Jaafars claimed more than £260,000 that way. In total, they claimed 215 tickets during that period. Ali submitted 190 claims, Mohamed claimed 12 tickets, and Yousef claimed 13.
Three of those winning tickets exceeded £7,000, while one of those was for £14,000.
Despite the overwhelming evidence, the three men have pleaded not guilty to all charges made against them. The Jaafars rejected accusations that they ran a so-called discount scheme.
False Tax Returns
At the same time, all three of them filed false tax returns. Ali Jaafar reported the tickets as his own gambling winnings, saving around £18,000 in taxes and receiving a refund of £645,000 for a period from 2011 to 2019.
Mohamad Jaafar paid less than £16,000 in taxes on his winnings, getting around £78,000 in tax returns. His brother Yousef paid nearly £8,000 in taxes and later received a refund of approximately £135,000.
In 2019, the state’s Lottery Commission issued a ban that prohibited the Jaafars from cashing out. The ban ensued after the authorities realised the trio was topping the list of individual lottery ticket cashiers.
The Jaafars filed a lawsuit against the Lottery to lift the ban, but they didn’t succeed.
According to Michael R. Sweeney, the State Lottery’s executive director, there are many similar cases of lottery fraud that are being investigated by the authorities. Massachusetts State Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg thanked law enforcement agencies for their help during the case’s investigation.
Two years ago, an 81-year-old Clarance Jones from Massachusetts was found guilty of fraud and was sentenced to two months in prison. Jones cashed thousands of winning lottery tickets, claiming over £7 million. He used the money to fund his gambling addiction.


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The #1 Reason Why Author’s Don’t Make Much Money
It is a complaint I have heard hundreds of times. Good authors just can’t seem to make much money.
Well, it isn’t easy these days. The good news is that just about anyone can publish a book. That reality is also the bad news.
Just how does an author stand out from the rest? How can your work be seen when countless others are clamoring to be read, too?
In my eBook “The #1 Reason Why Author’s Don’t Make Much Money” I will show you
- What Ernest Hemingway And Ian Fleming Show Us About the Real World of Writing
- The Genre That Sells Better than Any Other
- The 3 Questions You Must Ask…and Answer…BEFORE You Write Anything to Sell
- Why an Author’s Platform is Absolutely Essential…and the 4 Things It Must Do
- Don’t build your business on a book. Build it around a book…or2…or 3
- Why Most NYT Bestsellers Must Have Day Jobs
- The What, Who, Where, and How of Successful Publishing
- The Ups and Downs of Traditional Publishing and Independent Publishing
And it costs you nothing. Just sign up below. Full disclosure – by signing up you are also signing up to receive our free newsletter designed especially for authors and those wanting to be.

domain: literature


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Business, brains and beer!
It might be cold outside at the moment, but at David Gray Solicitors we’re already looking forward to the promise of some cool beer at the Tynedale Beer & Cider festival in the summer.
This years’ festival takes place from Thursday 16 to Saturday 18 June 2016 at Tynedale Rugby Club, Tynedale Park, Corbridge. We’ll be supporting the event by sponsoring one of the champion beers – ‘Revelation’ by Dark Star Brewing Company, so why not join in the fun while also supporting local businesses and the UK’s brewing industry.
Find out more by visiting www.tynedalebeerfestival.org.uk

domain: entertainment


The JCPenney department store in Easton will close, likely by June, as part of the retailer's plans to shutter 138 stores nationally.
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. had announced plans last month to close two distribution centers and 130 to 140 stores in a move to cut costs and boost sales at stronger locations, but it had not disclosed specific locations.
The Easton store in the Easton Marketplace is the only closure in Maryland, according to a list JCPenney released Friday. JCPenney has six Baltimore-area stores.
The company also will close a distribution facility in Florida.
About 5,000 workers will be impacted by the national store closings, most of which are slated for June.
"We believe closing stores will...allow us to adjust our business to effectively compete against the growing threat of online retailers," said Marvin R. Ellison, JCPenney chairman and CEO, in last month's announcement.