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Well, let me try to update you on the wonderful time we had while the Snellings were here. First of all, we were very disappointed that the Craycrafts could not come, and we are already planning their rescheduled visit!
When Brian and Janella arrived on Friday night, we enjoyed a meal together in our home, then just visited and spent some time catching up since we hadn't seen each other for many months.
On Saturday, we visited the market here in Salamanca, took lots of pictures (this can be said about every day) and then ate supper at La Herradura - those delicious tacos al pastor. They loved them as you can tell!
On Sunday we all attended the HIM church here in Salamanca together, enjoyed lunch here in our home with Philip and Collette Burch, then attended the Sunday night service at our Bible Methodist Church in Cuchicuato where Bro. Refugio Sanchez is the pastor. Jacob wasn't feeling well on Sunday, so at the end of the service, so Bro. Sanchez asked if we would bring Jacob to the front to have special prayer for him. It was a really neat time.
We gave the church children several copies of the Jesus, My Very Best Friend book and you can see that they were pleased to receive them.
On Monday, we went with the Burches and Snellings to Guanajuato, a beautiful town about an hour from Salamanca. We had fun looking around at the colorful buildings and walking the streets.
After that we drove many miles up the mountain to see the Cristo Rey, the huge statue of Jesus that marks the geographical center of the country of Mexico. We thought we would never get there up the very winding mountainous dirt roads but we made it and it was worth the drive. The view from the top was incredible.
Tuesday was spent relaxing and visiting here at home, enjoying a delicious meal at the Burches' home, then driving about an hour or so to the Volcano. What a cool experience - we all just loved it. This was our first time to visit this particular volcano. We walked through a tunnel (1/3 mile long) and came out in this amazing inactive volcano. You can check Cameron's post "Cool Volcano" for pictures of this. The kids had a blast running and playing around in the "moon dust".
Wednesday, we were hosted for a delicious Mexican meal and fellowship by our Bible Methodist Institute President and wife, Eli and Isela Balderas. She made incredible tamales - everything she fixes is delicious but she outdid herself this time. We ate and ate, while Spanish and English were flying around everywhere. What fun!
Thursday morning was a sad time as the Snellings packed and loaded our van and Marc drove them to Mexico City to catch their return flights. There is no way we could thank them enough for taking time out of their busy lives to come here and bless us with a visit. We were so encouraged and uplifted through their fellowship and friendship. Thanks, Brian and Janella, Jacob and Jenna. We love you!
Marc and Melodie and boys


March 10, 2004
I just started reading Jane Jacobs' The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Joey deVilla recommended it), and already in the introduction there's this great paragraph where she's talking about the misguided idea that all we need to get rid of slums and decaying urban centers is more money, and she lists what we've gotten for the money we've already spent:
But look what we have built with the first several billions:
Low-income projects that become worse centers of delinquency,
vandalism and general social hopelessness than the slums they were
supposed to replace. Middle-income housing projects which are truly
marvels of dullness and regimentation, sealed against any buoyancy or
vitality of city life. Luxury housing projects that mitigate their
inanity, or try to, with a vapid vulgarity. Cultural centers that are
unable to support a good bookstore. Civic centers that are avoided by
everyone but bums, who have fewer choices of loitering place than
others. Commercial centers that are lack-luster imitations of
standardized suburban chain-store shopping. Promenades that go from
no place to nowhere and have no promenaders. Expressways that
eviscerate great cities. This is not the rebuilding of cities. This
is the sacking of cities.
“Luxury housing projects that mitigate their inanity, or try to, with a vapid vulgarity.” Just awesome.
I'm reminded of two things:
First, Howard Kunstler's Eyesore of the Month, full of “fried food ghettos”, “post-cheap-oil clusterfucks” and “innumerable” “monkeyshit brown” “places not worth caring about which someday will add up to a nation not worth defending.” (Excuse me, I got all Zagat there for a second.)
Second, a little more tangentially, the CLUI's beautiful exhibit on Los Angeles' ground traffic control systems.
Posted by jjwiseman at March 10, 2004 10:14 AM
E. Michael Jones, in his latest book , The Slaughter of Cities, also talks about "the sacking of cities." His take on the matter is probably very different from that of Jane Jacobs.
Jones argues that the destruction of America's cities was intentional on the part of those who controled the Federal Government and the non-profit foundations. They felt threatened by the growing demographic dominance of the white ethnics who lived in the cities; ethnics whom they could not control.
Jones says that Southern Blacks were forced into those neighborhoods in a block-busting effort to encourage the ethnics to flee to the suburbs (which were being built for this very purpose). The suburbs were designed to keep people socially isolated, so that they would be more vulnerable to further social engineering via television and other media.
Some links to Jones' book are here: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=The+Slaughter+of+Cities
I believe it's much easier to subscribe the problem to some hack draughtsman who's never even heard of _A Pattern Language_ passing himself off as an architect. Still, the conspiracy theory sounds very intriguing. But we mustn't blame the incompetent architect alone - I've heard somewhere that upwards of 90% of all residential construction in the US happens from recycled blueprints. Obviously the development planners don't bother talking to the architects or looking at maps, as in every new commercial development I see in my city (I am in Western Canada, where in some ways the problem is even worse) there are houses with windows and entrances facing each other every which way, and recently a brand-new development experienced a terrible flooding problem due to unmanaged drainage (who would have thought, with it being at the bottom of a gulley and all). Judging from the custom McMansions built by the newly rich and poorly cultured, it looks as though the consumer is at fault as well - people actually seem to aspire to live in peach-colored barns.
You would think that Eyesore of the Month's creator would have a readable front page, for someone criticizing architecture.
It's not ugly, but it has one too many colors screaming for attention, and no coherent lines. Eyesore of the Month is cool though.
Still, much of the US is an experiment. An artificial place in many ways. We barely had time to develop artists who can say interesting things and still make a living. And if you look at Europe, which has instances of successful architecture over wide regions, you'll find a history full of people like da Vinci and Oscar Wilde jailed or charged for various random reasons. Yet sadly it is obvious my country has too much power and corruption right now, and criticism is the thing we most need. A dark age combined with byzantine technology sounds cool, but I probably don't want to live in it.
Incidentally, "Conspiracy theory" is an interesting label. It's often applied to situations where people have incentives to act in a certain obvious way. Another label might be "economics."
I'd be interested in hearing what you think of the book after you're done with it. With one thing and another, the Jacob's book has been on my reading list for a while. I think the most recent reason to read it was reading David Brooks' "Bobos in Paradise".


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Dive into this cool and comfortable jersey knit sheet set. Made from 50% nylon and 50% polyester, this blended fabric feels cool and breathable to even the hottest of sleepers. This silky smooth sheet set features heathered yarns to create a chic tonal look that pairs easily with any bedding set. Set includes 1 flat sheet, 1 fitted sheet and 2 pillowcases (1 in Twin size). Machine washable for easy care and wrinkle resistant. Fitted sheet fits up to 16" of mattresses.
- Nylon blend jersey knit sheet set (50% nylon, 50% polyester)
- Cool to the touch and lightweight, perfect for hot sleepers
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- Heathered yarns used for extra flair in style
- Fitted sheet fits up to 16" mattresses, comes fully elasticized for better coverage and fit
- Set includes: 1 Flat Sheet, 1 Fitted Sheet, and 2 Pillowcases (1 Pillowcase for Twin size)
- Machine washable for easy care
Product Details :
- 1 Flat Sheet:90"W x 102"L
- 1 Fitted Sheet:60"W x 80"L + 14"D
- 2 Pillowcases:20"W x 30"L (2)


Finà Не хочу с тобой - Single
You can find here track previews from artist Finà new album Не хочу с тобой - Single, released 29.07.2018 and containing 1 tracks. Listening online to Finà - Не хочу с тобой - Single track previews is free and does not require registration. If other releases and albums by Finà, are available here, those previews can also be listened to free online. Additionally, you can subscribe to all new albums by Finà and thus not miss a release.


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Texas A&M AgriLife Research
6500 Amarillo Blvd W
Amarillo, TX 79106
My research and teaching interests are focused on integrated crop management with a particular emphasis on soil-plant-water-environment relationships, and issues related to biotic and abiotic stresses on crop production under both rainfed and irrigated conditions. I love working with agronomy and crop physiology using a systems approach, and believe – Sustainable and resilient agriculture is the way of the future.
Assistant Research Scientist (October 2018 – Present), Texas A&M AgriLife Research at Amarillo, Texas
Postdoctoral Research Associate (June 2016 – September 2018), Texas A&M AgriLife Research at Amarillo, Texas
Graduate Research Assistant (Aug. 2012 – May 2016), West Texas A&M University, Canyon, Texas
Lecturer of Crop Science (Sept. 2009 – Aug. 2012), Purbanchal University, Kathmandu, Nepal
Agriculture Officer (Jan. 2005 – Aug. 2007), Collaborative project between ICCO-the Netherlands and WOREC-Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal
AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS
Award of Excellence – Non-Professional Researchers/Specialists, 2017. Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Amarillo, Texas.
Special Achievement Award for Research Collaboration, 2017. Soil and Crop Sciences Department, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
First Place Research Award (oral), 2016; Second Place Research Award (poster), 2015; Third Place Research
Award (talk), 2014. West Texas A&M University, Canyon, Texas.
B.A. and Jane Ann Stewart Dryland Agriculture Scholarship, 2013, 2014 and 2015. West Texas A&M University, Canyon, Texas.
Future Leaders Forum Scholarship, 2013. Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development (AIARD), Washington, D.C.
Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) Award, 2012. Executive Program in Project Management (21 days) at Maastricht School of Management, the Netherlands.
Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) Award, 2007-2009. M.S. in Agro-ecology at Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands.
Ministry of Commerce, P.R. China Fellowship, 2006. Training on Farming Systems and Dryland Farming Techniques (60 days) at the Agricultural University of Hebei, P.R. China
PUBLICATIONS (2016 – Present)
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
Thapa, S., Q. Xue, K.E. Jessup, J.C. Rudd, S. Liu, R.N. Devkota, and J. Baker. Stem carbon reserve remobilization contributes to grain yield in winter wheat. Crop Sci. (under review)
Thapa, S., Q. Xue, T. Marek, W. Xu, D., Porter, K. Jessup. Corn production under restricted irrigation in the Texas High Plains. Agron. J. (accepted)
Jiang W., S. Thapa, Q. Xue, K.E. Jessup, T. Marek. Corn response to later than traditional planting dates in the Texas High Plains. Crop Sci. (accepted)
Shrestha, R., S. Thapa, Q. Xue, B.A. Stewart, B. Blaser, and E.K. Ashiadey. Winter wheat response to climate change under irrigated and dryland conditions in the U.S. Southern High Plains. J. Soil Water Conserv. (accepted)
Thapa, S., Q. Xue, K.E. Jessup, J.C. Rudd, S. Liu, R.N. Devkota, and J. Baker. Soil water extraction and use by winter wheat cultivars under limited irrigation in a semi-arid environment. J. Arid Environ. doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2019.104046 (in press)
Thapa, S., J.C. Rudd, Q. Xue, M. Bhandari, S.K. Reddy, K.E. Jessup, S. Liu, R.N. Devkota, J. Baker, and S. Baker. 2019. Use of NDVI for characterizing winter wheat response to water stress in a semi-arid environment. J. Crop. Improv. 33(5): 633-648. doi:10.1080/15427528.2019.1648348
Thapa, S., Q. Xue, K.E. Jessup, J.C. Rudd, S. Liu, T.H. Marek, R.N. Devkota, J.A. Baker, S. Baker. 2019. Yield determination in winter wheat under water limited irrigation. Field Crops Res. 123:80-87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2018.12.01
Stewart, B.A., S. Thapa, Q. Xue, and R. Shrestha. 2018. Climate change effect on winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yields in US Great Plains. J. Soil Water Conserv. 73(6):601-609.
Thapa, S., B.A. Stewart, Q. Xue, M.B. Rhoades, B. Angira, and J. Reznik. 2018. Canopy temperature, grain yield, and harvest index in corn as affected by planting geometry in a semi-arid environment. Field Crops Res. 227:110-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2018.08.009
Thapa, S., S.K. Reddy, M.P. Fuentealba, Q. Xue, J.C. Rudd, and S. Liu. 2018. Physiological responses to water stress and yield of winter wheat cultivars differing in drought tolerance. J. Agron. Crop. Sci. 204(4):347-358. doi:10.1111/jac.12263
Thapa, S., Q. Xue, K.E. Jessup, J.C. Rudd, S. Liu, R.N. Devkota, and J. Baker. 2018. Canopy temperature depression at grain filling correlates to winter wheat yield in the U.S. Southern High Plains. Field Crops Res. 217:11-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2017.12.005
Thapa, S., Q. Xue, K.E. Jessup, J.C. Rudd, S. Liu, G.P. Pradhan, R.N. Devkota, and J. Baker. 2017. More recent wheat cultivars extract more water from greater soil profile depths to increase yield in the Texas High Plains. Agron. J. 109:1-10. doi:10.2134/agronj2017.02.0064
Thapa, S., and E.A. Lantinga. 2017. Growing coffee in shade: A strategy to minimize the prevalence of Coffee White Stem Borer, Xylotrechus quadripes. Southwestern Entomol. 42(2): 357-362. doi: 10.3958/059.042.0205
Thapa, S., B.A. Stewart, Q. Xue, and Y. Chen. 2017. Manipulating plant geometry to improve microclimate, grain yield, and harvest index in grain sorghum. PLOS ONE 12(3): e0173511. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0173511
Thapa, S., B.A. Stewart, and Q. Xue. 2017. Grain sorghum transpiration efficiency at different growth stages. Plant Soil Environ. 63: 70-75. doi: 10.17221/796/2016-PSE
Thapa, S., B.A. Stewart, Q. Xue, P. Pokhrel, T. Barkley, and M. Bhandari. 2016. Growing corn in clumps reduces canopy temperature and improves microclimate. J. Crop Improv. 30: 614-631. doi.org/10.1080/15427528.2016.1217445
Thapa, S., and E.A. Lantinga. 2016. Infestations by Coffee White Stem Borer (Xylotrechus quadripes) in relation to soil and plant nutrient content and associated quality aspects. Southwestern Entomol. 41 (2): 331-336. doi: 10.3958/059.041.0209
Stewart, B.A., and Thapa. 2016. Dryland farming: Concept, origin, and brief history. In: Innovations in Dryland Agriculture, M. Farooq and H.M. Siddique (eds). Springer International Publishers. p. 3-29.
More than 20 scientific abstracts and presentations, and more than 10 newspaper and online articles.

domain: agronomy


New Benchmade 533BK-1 Mini Bugout AXIS Lock Knife with Cpm-S30V Plain Edge is ultra-lightweight thin knife. The Mini Bugout knife is built smaller then the larger model. The 553 mini has White Grivory handle and S30Vblade with a pattern handle helps keep the knife's weight light to carry. The AXIS lock, dual thumb studs and reversible pocket clip make it for right and left handers. The Mini Bugout 533 features a grey finished CPM-S30V blade with a plain cutting edge.


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This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #VivaLaMorena #CollectiveBias
I’m counting down the days until Christmas. I’m not going home for the holidays this year so it will be just Adam, Mango, and I. It will be my first Christmas in Los Angeles without the family. Growing up, I looked forward to Christmas traditions at home. On Christmas Eve we would head over to my Grandma’s house and she would serve delicious seafood. For us, seafood is a treat since we don’t eat it all the time.
There is nothing like a warm bowl of clam chowder on Christmas Eve. I want to to make my own holiday meal traditions here in California. I decided to kick up Grandma’s clam chowder and put my own spin on it. Meet my chipotle shrimp chowder – it’s packed with plump shrimp, zesty chipotle flavor, and lots of vegetables.
La Morena® Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce make this recipe a success. These flavorful peppers should always be a kitchen staple. I buy a few cans at a time from my local Ralph’s because La Morena® Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce make every dish taste better.
You can find your favorite La Morena® products in the Latin food aisle.
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 1 cup thinly sliced carrots
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 2 cups diced red potatoes
- 2 cups frozen corn
- 1 cup butter
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 quart half and half
- 1 7 ounce can La Morena® Chipotle Peppers in Adobo
- 1 pound peeled shrimp
- cilantro for garnish
- Add the onion, carrots, celery, potatoes, and corn to a large skillet. Cover with water and cook until tender.
- Meanwhile melt the butter in a large pot. Whisk in flour until smooth. Stir in half and half and whisk slowly until thick over a medium heat.
- Mix in the Chipotle Peppers in Adobo, chopping up the large peppers.
- Drain the vegetables, reserving one cup of vegetable water. Add the water and vegetables to the large pot.
- Finally add in the shrimp, cook for just a few minutes and serve.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with cilantro and serve with chips.
I cannot wait to make this delicious meal again for Christmas Eve. It’s rich, and satisfying. It has the texture and creamy goodness of a clam chowder with a nice heat and flavor from the Chipotle Peppers in Adobo.
I hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as I did and try serving it at one of your own holiday meals.

domain: food


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Our curated list of the best things to do in Raleigh the weekend of July 12-July 15!
Frolic in the grass, stroll through the rose garden and catch a movie under the stars on Thursday nights in July and August at The Raleigh Little Theater.
Share your skills with participants in Passage Home's Job Club on Thursdays from 1-3pm every week. Even if you cannot commit to every week, the Club would love to have you help out!
Put on your dancing shoes and get ready to do the shag! Every Thursday night this summer, get ready for beach music vibes under the stars at North Hills.
Welcome the weekend with NCMA's new evening experience, Iris After Dark! Every Friday night, roam the galleries while you sip wine & beer, enjoy small plates and jam to local music with friends.
Free concerts = summertime bliss! Jam out to a variety of hits at this gorgeous outdoor venue.
With a passion for bikes and brew, Crank Arm brings another spin into the mix—Sunday morning yoga!
Celebrate this incredible Durham native. You'll get to see Ernie Barnes' iconic paintings, important artifacts to Ernie's history, and even some pieces that have never been seen by the public before.
When school is out bellies go empty. Families Together needs YOU to help keep bellies full this summer. Be a summer superhero this year and sign up to help us feed hungry children in our community.
This expansive exhibit full of intriguing visuals and mixed media pieces featuring creates an immersive and participatory environment, where viewers are encouraged to engage with the works on display.
Sick of straws (or have no idea what we're talking about)? Come to this documentary screening and panel discussion to learn more about why straws are an environmental problem—and alternative options.
Get your nerd on at this epic Nerdlesque event. Start off the night with a Cosplay Fashion Show, before diving into a Nerdlesque show featuring a variety of performers.
Celebrate the new sunflower fields at Dix Park! Enjoy local food trucks, arts and crafts, live bluegrass—or just a wandering through the five-acre fields of sunnies.
Who said Halloween only comes once a year? Have a night of spooktacular fun dancing to a selection of DJs. Costumes highly encouraged!
Everything will be peachy keen on this day filled with celebrations in honor of the North Carolina peach season. Grab some food, and make sure to save room for FREE peach ice cream!
Summertime means the return of outdoor movie series! Grab your lawn chair and enjoy the latest installment of the Star Wars trilogy with a screening of The Last Jedi at Cary's Booth Amphitheatre.
Take your berry picking outing to the next level with this competitive berry foraging event for a cause. Gather your friends and pick berries around town to win, then take them home or donate them.
Come be a connoisseur of everybody's favorite dish. Bring your own award-worthy mac for a chance to win, or taste all the cheesy goodness and be the judge yourself for just $10.
Bring your kids age 5-11 to this day of hands-on learning at the art museum. You'll get a gallery tour to help inspire your creativity, and then an arts and crafts workshop that's fun for the family.
Enjoy an afternoon of free beer and wine tastings while noshing on your favorite local food and listening to live music from The George Fuller Band.
Explore food and health during this 'Dinner Theater Series.' You'll enjoy performances and talks about veganism while dining on a delicious vegan meal by Irregardless Cafe.
Get 'em while they're hot! Only $10 for all the wings you can eat (while they last)—or register to cook your own and compete for a $500 prize.
Celebrate French Independence day with crepes, French-inspired live music, aerial demonstrations—and the opportunity to give back to Camp High Hopes.
Hear the songs of Tom Petty like you've never heard them before! Enjoy music under the stars as the North Carolina Symphony performs Petty's iconic songs at the Koka Booth Summerfest Series.

domain: hobby


2022 Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament, presented by New York Life, set for March 2-6 at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas
Jan 20, 2022
The 2022 Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament, presented by New York Life, will take place March 2-6, returning to Michelob ULTRA Arena (Mandalay Bay Events Center) in Las Vegas. Live coverage will be featured across Pac-12 Networks with the championship game airing on ESPN2. Additional coverage of the tournament will also be featured across Pac-12.com and the Pac-12 Now app. The Stanford Cardinal, led by legendary coach Tara VanDerveer, is the defending Pac-12 and NCAA Champion.


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Work-related cancers costs between €270 and €610 billion (£240bn to £543bn) a year across the EU, the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) has said.
The trade union health and safety thinktank says occupational cancers are the primary cause of work-related deaths in industrialised societies, with more than 100,000 people losing their lives each year as a result of exposure to workplace carcinogens.
A new book from ETUI, Cancer and work, calculates the human and financial cost of occupational cancers and spells out the steps needed to prevent them. “These cancers are morally unacceptable, as they could easily have been avoided through adequate prevention measures,” said Laurent Vogel, senior researcher at the ETUI and co-editor of the book.
ETUI chemicals specialist Tony Musu, the book’s co-editor, added: “They are also unfair. Exposure to carcinogens at work are the cause of major social inequalities in health in Europe, as in the rest of the world.
Labourers or nurses are much more likely to contract an occupational cancer than engineers or bankers. Indeed, a socio-occupational map can be drawn for the different types of cancer, tracing them back to these social inequalities.”
The problem is not treated with the necessary seriousness, ETUI warns. It says when comparing the research budgets assigned to studying genetic factors and occupational factors, the former has considerable resources allocated to it while the latter has to make do with ‘peanuts’.
- Cancer and work: understanding occupational cancers and taking action to eliminate them, ETUI, December 2018: Free pdf download.
- HesaMag 18, Work-related cancer: emerging from obscurity, ETUI, December 2018.

domain: news


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Nearly 1,000 excess winter deaths were recorded in West Yorkshire in 2015/16, according to shocking government statistics.
And, more worryingly, provisional data for 2016/17 suggests the numbers for last winter could be even higher.
Excess winter deaths are defined as the difference between the number of deaths in the winter months (December to March) compared with the previous (August to November) and following (April to July) three months.
In 2015/16 990 excess winter deaths were recorded in West Yorkshire during 2015/16. Unconfirmed statistics for last winter (2016/17) show a significant rise in winter deaths across the region with 3,800 recorded in Yorkshire – the second highest level for five years.
The full figures for West Yorkshire could be considerably more when the verified data is released next year.
The Excess Winter Mortality Data produced by the Office for National Statistics points to people in rural parts of the country being disproportionally affected because their homes tend to be older with poorer insulation and so are harder to keep warm.
This issue is highlighted in the report, which states that cold temperatures are associated with increased blood pressure and a lower immune system that puts older and vulnerable people most at risk.
As Kirklees experiences its first heavy snowfall, the Oil Firing Technical Association (OFTEC), which represents the oil heating industry, has produced a free information guide including tips and advice on staying warm, essential phone numbers, help with finding a local heating technician and guidance on applying for heating payment schemes.
The ‘Keeping warm this winter’ guide also recommends:
* Keeping the main living room heated to a temperature of at least 21 degrees.
* Adjusting timers on thermostats as the weather changes.
* Bleeding radiators to ensure the heating system is running efficiently.
* Turning off radiators in unused rooms to save money.
Local households are also being urged, if they haven’t already done so, to have their heating system serviced by an OFTEC (for oil or solid fuel) or GasSafe (for mains gas) registered technician. These professionals have been certified as fully competent and will check everything is working correctly, safely and efficiently.
Malcolm Farrow from OFTEC said: “The government’s statistics reveal that, once again, a shockingly high number of people have died unnecessarily. There is clearly still much more to do to ensure the most vulnerable in society are kept warm and well during the winter months.”
Read the OFTEC guide here: https://oftec.org.uk/Media/Default/DocGalleries/Marketing/OFTEC_Keep_Warm_This_Winter_Guide.pdf


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StudySphere provides fast, easy and free access to a wide variety of research-quality child-safe websites organized for education online from home, school, study abroad and home school. StudySphere’s goal is to help students, teachers, librarians, and other researchers find both highly targeted and closely related information quickly.
Votes:0 Quick Facts: Wisconsin Wisconsin's Web Site and Kids Page Capital City: Madison See a picture of your Congressperson in the Congressional Pictorial Directory ! Requires Adobe Acrobat. Nickname: Badger State / America's Dairyland Motto: Forward Statehood: May 29, 1848 (30th) Origin of State's Name: Based on an Indian word "Ouisconsin" believed to mean "grassy place" in the Chippewa tongue Largest Cities: Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha, Racine Border States: Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota Land Area: 54,314 sq.mi., 25th largest State Bird: Robin State Flower: Wood Violet (viola papilionacea) State Tree: Sugar Maple (acer saccharum) State Song: On Wisconsin E-mail your Congressperson: U.S. House: 110th Congress U.S. Senate: 110th Congress Or look up your Congre Read More Go to Site
Votes:0 Timms Hill is located in a county park. It is well marked and easy to find. The park is open 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. The area is heavily wooded, with rolling terrain. There are several hiking trails in the immediate area if you have the time. Camping, and additional hiking opportunities, are available close by in the Chequamegon National Forest. The hike to the highpoint is very short. At the top is a benchmark, an abandonded fire tower, and a wooden observation tower. A local couple told me the view is very beautiful, but when I was there it was rainy and foggy. Read More Go to Site
Votes:0 Hosting.com - First Name in Hosting Support: supportcenter.hosting.com home hosting solutions services affiliates/partners support about us contact us Read more about Hosting.com: Server Colocation Windows Dedicated Server Dedicated Linux Server You have landed on one of our shared hosting servers, we are currently experiencing issues please check back soon. For more information contact technical support . Below are links you may find useful. Online Support Center Visit our convenient online Support Center anytime for 24-hour assistance. Phone Support Toll-free round-the-clock technical support is offered for all dedicated and co-located clients and during business hours seven days a week for shared clients. Customer Care Center Manage all your account and billing details in one place. Pay Read More Go to Site
Votes:0 Go to the home page for this website. Go to the main content for this page. Go to main navigation for this page. Go to the top of this page. Go to the search tool for this website. Go to the contact page for this website. Go to our Ask A Question reference service. Go to the accessibility information page for this website. IPL KidSpace All of the IPL Advanced You are here: Home » Special Collections » KidSpace » Stately Knowledge KidSpace Home Ask a Question Subjects Reference The World Computers Health & Nutrition Reading Zone Math & Science Art & Music Sports & Rec. Fun Stuff Features Science Fair Stately Knowledge Learning HTML Orca Search Poison Prevention Author Page Culture Quest Story Hour Say Hello U.S. Presidents IPL Outage Notice: Due to scheduled server maintenance, the Internet Read More Go to Site
Votes:0 Packer Links Official Sites Green Bay Packers Lambeau Field Player Sites Gilbert Brown Donald Driver Brett Favre Ahman Green Vince Lombardi Don Majkowski Bart Starr Mark Tauscher Reggie White Jerry Parins Local Media Green Bay Press-Gazette Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Packer Report Wisconsin State Journal National Media CBS Sportsline FOX Sports ESPN NFL Sports Illustrated Yahoo Sports Shopping Packers Pro Shop NFL Shop Tickets eBay Fan Club Sites Buckeye Packer Backers Central Florida Packer Backers Cheddarhead Pack of Houston Greater Baltimore Cheeseheads Indy Packer Backers Northwest Packer Backers Packers Pacific SoCal Packer Backers Tulsa Packer Backers Welcome to Packer.com! Official Packer.com Message Board Talk football with Packers fans from around the world on the Packer.com messa Read More Go to Site
Votes:0 Home Page Search the Web Contact Us New Sites Premium Services FAQ Signup Login Search This Website: Example: cook county illinois property Advanced Search | Preferences | Helpful Hints If you have a DirectPass account, sign in here. Username: Username Help Password: Password Help • Upgrade your Premium Account to DirectPass: Click Here Subscribe Now The SearchSystems.net Public Records Directory Welcome to Search Systems - the original, largest, most up-to-date and reliable directory of public records on the Internet. Online since 1997, SearchSystems.net continues to be by far the best resource of business information, corporate filings, property records, deeds, mortgages, criminal and civil court filings, inmates, offenders, births, deaths, marriages, unclaimed property, professiona Read More Go to Site
Votes:0 Wisconsin Weather [ Observations | Forecasts | Model Text | Climate | Marine | Hydro Met ] Observations METAR Reports (By Station) Hourly Weather Roundup Temperature/Precip Table Area Weather Summary (Green Bay) Area Weather Summary (La Crosse) Area Weather Summary (Milwaukee) Forecasts State Forecast Short Term Forecasts Green Bay La Crosse Milwaukee Area Forecast Discussions Green Bay La Crosse Milwaukee Zone Forecasts Northwest Southwest South-central/Southeast Northeast Coded Cities Forecasts Green Bay La Crosse Milwaukee Hazardous Weather Outlook Green Bay La Crosse Milwaukee Fire Weather Green Bay La Crosse Milwaukee Model Text AVN MOS Appleton Eau Clarie Green Bay La Crosse Madison Milwaukee Wausau MRF MOS Appleton Eau Clarie Green Bay La Crosse Madison Milwaukee Wausau NGM MOS Appl Read More Go to Site
Votes:0 Wisconsin In 1634, Frenchman Jean Nicolet became Wisconsin's first European explorer. The French controlled the area until 1763, when it was ceded to the British. The state's name is an English version of a French adaptation of an Indian name said to mean "the place where we live." The Wisconsin Territory was formed in 1836 and was admitted into the Union as the 30th state in 1848. With the nickname "America's Dairyland," it's no surprise that Wisconsin is one of the top producers of milk, cheese, and butter in the country. In fact, the loyal fans of the Green Bay Packers football team call themselves "cheeseheads." Milwaukee, the state's largest city, helps make Wisconsin one of the largest manufacturing states in the nation. The state capital, Madison, is home to the University of Wiscon Read More Go to Site
Votes:0 || HOME || INTRO || SYMBOLS || ALMANAC || ECONOMY || GEOGRAPHY || STATE MAPS || PEOPLE || FORUM || NEWS || COOL SCHOOLS || STATE QUIZ || BOOK STORE || MARKETPLACE || STATE LINKS || NETSTATE.STORE || NETSTATE.MALL || GUESTBOOK || CONTACT US Hotels in Wisconsin Wisconsin Dells Hotels Milwaukee Hotels Madison Hotels Green Bay Hotels Recommend this page to friends State Capital, Madison Photograph by Karry L. Ritter I n the north woods of Wisconsin, clear, clean lakes abound. Fishing is fine, and wildlife is plentiful. Outdoor recreation and adventure is a main draw for out-of-state visitors. 15,000 lakes are enjoyed by swimmers, fishermen and fisherwomen and boaters. The deep, cool woods provide wonderful hiking and horseback riding trails. B elow the wooded north country lies America's dairy Read More Go to Site
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Votes:0 Search: [ 50states.com ] [ Yellow Pages ] [ White Pages ] [ Biographies ] [ Birds ] [ City Guides ] [ Facts ] [ Colleges ] [ Countries ] [ Flags ] [ Newspapers ] [ Site Map ] [ Songs ] [ Study Tools ] [ Tax Forms ] [ Search ] [ Back ] [ Next ] Capital City: Madison City Guides: Wisconsin City Guides Location: 43.044N, 89.409W Capitol Tour Wisconsin Yellow Pages Category: Name: City: State: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut D.C. Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee T Read More Go to Site
Votes:0 Site Map | FAQ in All Infoplease Almanacs • General • Entertainment • Sports Biographies Dictionary Encyclopedia Spelling Checker Daily Almanac for Nov 23, 2007 Search White Pages Skip Navigation Home Almanacs Atlas Encyclopedia Dictionary Thesaurus Features Quizzes Timelines Countries American Indian Heritage Month World & News United States History & Gov't Biography Sports Arts & Ent. Business Society & Culture Health & Science Homework Center Fact Monster Kid's reference, games, quizzes Daily Almanac This Day in History Today's Birthday Word of the Day Editor's Favorites American Indian Heritage Month Thanksgiving Advent Hanukkah Pearl Harbor Day Campaign 2008 Pakistan Country Profile Iraq Timeline Presidential Factfile NFL Team Profiles Daylight Saving Time 2007 Current Read More Go to Site
StudySphere is an outstanding resource for homework help, special education, music school, cooking school, charter schools, art schools, technical schools, traffic school, film schools, catholic schools, etc.

domain: geography


text:
Download CodyCross: Crossword Puzzles MOD Apk Free Download For Android under here you easily play this game and use unlimited coins, upgrade till MAX. This is awesome for new guys here you can download the official apk it is 100% safe, and this Download CodyCross apk is amazing now enjoy. Here you got its working hurry up guys.
Cody Cross is the best word-search puzzle game available on the Internet. The best features of this game include its amazing picture-perfect puzzles, amazing sound effects and great user interface. It is the best choice for those people who love to solve crosswords on the Internet or those who simply like solving puzzles. It is available for both Windows and Macintosh computers.
If you love to play word-search puzzles, then you will love this codycross game. It comes with a number of exciting features that will really help you enhance your skills and enjoy the game even more. There are five different difficulty levels, which make this game a challenge for even the most advanced users. The various categories of the puzzles make them suitable for different people.
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In the Cody Cross Game, the player has to find the missing cat in each of the five rooms. In every room, there are three cat puzzle pieces, which have different shapes. Once you find the correct piece, it will turn into an active mystery piece, revealing the cat’s hiding place. You can also find a new puzzle, which is based on an even harder riddle. There are also five categories of puzzles, ranging from easy to difficult. These include all the categories that have been added in the latest update of the Cody Cross Game, namely: Easy, Medium, Hard, Very Hard and Ultimate.
One of the newest additions is the ‘secret word’ category. Secret words make up a very important part of the game. The first two secret words are hidden in the center of the board. Every time you enter one of these two secret words, a question will appear, asking you to guess what the secret word is.
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In the “Best of Cody” category, the latest “waves” of the game are being introduced. To win, you need to solve as many waves as possible. Waves run in a random manner, and the best place to find them is the search engines. Waves are grouped into easy, medium and hard categories. The best feature about these waves is that there is a single clue in each wave, which helps a lot to keep you interested in trying to solve the puzzle.
The best tokens are not the only thing you can get in the “Best of Cody” category. These tokens can be used for solving the puzzles in “Cody Cross Arena” and for playing in the “Dogs vs. Robots” challenge. The “Dogs vs. Robots” game has to do with the dog versus the robot. This makes the game more interesting because one can pit their own robot against that of the other robot. The best tokens available in this game are the ones that will help you build the best robots.
You can also find freebies in the “Cody Cross Game” free update packs. These free update packs are available for two months, after which you will have to purchase the whole pack again. This is why it is important to go for the two-month membership, since it offers a great deal of value for such a low price. There are various levels of difficulty, and this is what keeps the game exciting.
New Update 2021
Some people are concerned about getting the “best tokens” in the free updates, but this is something that can’t really be compared. The free “wave” packs are usually the best tokens, and they will keep you busy for quite some time. There are other sites where you can get the best “packs” for very little money, but this doesn’t really make much of a difference in the quality of the tokens. In any case, it doesn’t cost anything to get the free access to the best wave packs. As long as you have the premium access, you’ll never miss an opportunity to enjoy the best adventure games on the internet.

domain: entertainment


This year’s Glamorama, themed “Fashion Rocks,” featured what’s hot off the runway, as well, with Jason Derulo as the musical headliner Friday night at the State Theater in Minneapolis. Glamorama offered plenty of glitz and glamour for fashion lovers, with 150 runway looks from fall collections of top design houses including Calvin Klein, Weekend Max […]
For a fun family experience, try one of the quarterly Free Ink Days at the Highpoint Center for Printmaking in Minneapolis. The next event is 1 to 5 p.m. July 26.
Tired of what seems to be the never-ending winter? Take a look behind the scenes with us at the Macy’s Flower Show, “The Secret Garden,” which opens Sunday and runs through April 6.
Photographer David Bergman spent time over the last three and a half years with the rock band Bon Jovi, going behind the scenes during their recent world tours in more than 30 countries on 6 continents.
Our daily countdown of the top newsmakers, groundbreakers and world-class fakers by Kevin Cusick
Goalie Darcy Kuemper stopped 26 shots for this third shutout in four starts as the Minnesota Wild beat the Arizona
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton rallied a DFL crowd Thursday, October 23, 2014, at Macalester Coll


Guwahati: Reaffirming the BJP-led NDA government’s intention to pass the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the government will ensure that the Bill does not cause any harm to Assam and other parts of the Northeast.
The Prime Minister was addressing a public rally at Changsari near Guwahati while inaugurating several development projects amid protests by various organisations across the region which showed him black flags on Friday.
“The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 is not for Assam or northeastern states. It is for the whole country. The Bill is a national commitment considering the plight of the persecuted minorities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The passage of the Bill will ensure that those who were left out during the Partition and who still love India more than their lives are accommodated in the country. It is the responsibility of India to accept those people,” he said.
“I am here to assure you that the Bill will not harm Assam or any other state in the region. The Bill will only allow those persecuted minorities to apply for citizenship. There is no question of granting citizenship without verification,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister said the government is committed to ensuring that there are no illegal foreigners in Assam and the country.
“Our government has started work for updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) under the supervision of the Supreme Court, which the previous government was not doing. Our government is also working at a faster pace to seal the India-Bangladesh border,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister attacked the Congress by holding the opposition party responsible for the delay in conferring Bharat Ratna to the late Bhupen Hazarika and Gopinath Bordoloi.
“Although music maestro Bhupen Hazarika and Gopinath Bordoloi were worthy of Bharat Ratna, the conferring of the honour to them was delayed for decades by the previous governments. It is the BJP government during whose tenure Bharat Ratna was conferred to both the worthy sons of Assam,” he said.
“I want to ask them why the real jewels had to wait for decades to be recognised as Bharat Ratna, while for some the honour was fixed immediately after their birth,” said the Prime Minister, adding that the previous governments in Assam also failed to implement the Assam Accord for over 30 years.
“Our government has already instituted a committee to implement the Clause 6 of the Assam Accord and I firmly believe that the committee will be able to fulfill all the aspirations of the people of the state,” he said.


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Crypto Twitter reacts to Binance CEO’s deleted tweet about Coinbase’s Bitcoin Holdings
Bitpanda secures crypto licence in Germany, claims to be the first “European retail” crypto investment platform to do so
Approving a spot crypto ETF is 'all about political power' — Perianne Boring
Shiba Inu developer says WEF wants to work with project to 'help shape' metaverse global policy
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domain: economics


text:
Urology is a surgical discipline that deals with the organs responsible for urine production. In males and females, this includes kidneys, bladder, urinary tract, as well as urethra for females and prostate, testicles and penis for men.
What We Do
Urology also covers the male reproductive system. There are many subdivisions of it, like uro-oncology (for tumors), uro-gynecology (for gynecological-urological problems), neuro-urology (for nerve-related voiding problems), and so on.
In both sexes, the urinary and reproductive tracts are close together, and disorders of one often affect the other. Urology combines management of medical (i.e. non-surgical) problems such as urinary tract infections and benign prostatic hyperplasia, as well as surgical problems such as the surgical management of cancers, the correction of congenital abnormalities, and correcting stress incontinence.
What Are The Most Common Urology Problems?
The most common urological problems:
Cystitis (UTI) or kidney stones
A testicular tumor is the most common malignancy among young men, (under 45)
Prostate cancer is the second most common in older males, (over 45)
Middle-aged and older men and women often seek urological assistance for incontinence issues.
What Should I Expect From My Urology Consultation?
Interview. The urological examination starts usually with an interview to identify the problem. It involves taking a urological and medical history, sometimes with questionnaires and scales.
Physical examination. Palpitation of the kidneys, abdomen, and genitals. A digital rectal examination may be performed to measure the consistency and size of the prostate.
Urine test. Ordered provide proof of infection or hematuria.
Lab test. Kidney function, PSA, etc. may be ordered to measure the state of our urological functions.
Diagnostics. If needed, the kidney, bladder, and other urological organs can be visualized with ultrasound or a CT scan can be arranged.
Special Men’s Health Screening
Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in men. Typically prostate cancer grows slowly and is initially confined to the prostate gland, where it may not cause serious harm. While most types of prostate cancer grow slowly, needing minimal or even no treatment, other types are aggressive and may spread to other organs quickly.
Why is important to get tested every year?
Prostate cancer that is detected early, while still confined to the prostate gland, has a better chance of successful, less invasive, treatment. The examination itself is totally painless and takes only a few minutes of your valuable time.
Providing you with the best doctors for the best care
Dr. Manlio Schettini
Urology, Digestive System Surgery, Oncological Surgery
Università di Napoli
Laurea in Medicina e Chirurgia con 110 & lode nel 1977
Università di Roma La Sapienza
Specializzazione in Urologia nel 1980
Society of Private Hospital Urologists (UROP)
Società Italiana di Urologia (SIU)
Società Italiana di Urodinamica (SIUD)
Associazione degli Urologi Ospedalieri (AURO)
Associazione Italiana di Urologia Ginecologica (AIUG)
International Continence Society
English, French, Italian, and Spanish

domain: medical


A traditional economy is a system that relies on customs, history, and time-honored beliefs tradition guides economic decisions such as production and distribution traditional economies depend on agriculture, fishing, hunting, gathering, or some combination of the above. Following are characteristics of lean manufacturing systems just-in-time inventory systems and lean staffing that minimize production buffers rapid machine setups to permit small production runs by reducing changeover times. An energy system may be thought of as an interrelated network of energy sources and stores of energy, connected by transmission and distribution of that energy to where it is needed the transformation from stores of energy in food to work, and subsequent dissipation of energy is an example of such a system.
Major characteristics of us health care delivery introduction the united states has a unique system of health care delivery for the purposes of this discussion, “health care delivery” and “health services delivery” can have slightly different meanings, but in a broad sense, both not for sale or distribution. Start studying chaper 2 learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. “socialism refers to the government ownership of the means of production, planning by the government and income distribution”-samuelson meaning: socialist means the system under which economic system is controlled and regulated by the government so as to ensure welfare and equal opportunity to the people in a society.
Pure capitalism: is an economic system in which individuals own productive resources, and those individuals can use resources in whatever manner they choose, subject to common productive legal restrictions in other words, it is the private ownership of productive resources including labor and the use of market mechanism and prices to. A sustainable food system also encourages local production and distribution infrastructures and makes nutritious food available, accessible, and affordable to all further, it is humane and just, protecting farmers and other workers, consumers, and communities. Plantation agriculture: location and characteristics the tropical plantation is one of the world’s oldest systems of commercial agriculture since 1500 ad, the products from over a dozen tropical crops have been in constant demand by people in the temperate regions. Production bases, milk-run logistics in the local country and the above-mentioned international distribution system are combined, and a global procurement logistics system is. A contractual vms is a vertical marketing system in which independent firms at different levels of production and distribution join together through contracts to obtain more economies or sales impact than they could achieve alone coordination and conflict management are attained through contractual agreements among channel members.
A corporate vertical marketing system streamlines the process by bringing all of the elements of the distribution channel, from manufacturing to the stores, under the ownership of a single business. Direct store delivery (dsd) is the term used to describe a method of delivering product from a supplier/distributor directly to a retail store, thereby bypassing a retailer’s distribution center dsd products are typically, but not always, fast-turning, high velocity, and high consumer demand merchandise. Distribution of the commercial building floorspace among building type, system type, and region was based largely on the 1995 commercial building energy consumption survey (cbecs95, reference 3. It is, therefore, one of the best examples of an export-oriented system among the most important crops found on plantations are cotton, sugarcane, coffee, rubber and tobacco iii. This is a time-tested system with many well-established members at all levels the conventional distribution model, however, calls for all parties in the channel to protect their own best interests.
Distribution and characteristics of duck-fish farming systems in eastern china smallholder poultry production miao weimin fao regional ofﬁce for asia and the paciﬁc1 1 formerly deputy director, research professor, freshwater fisheries research centre of the chinese academy of fisheries sciences. This paper will describe the characteristics of three-phase power and outline the advantages of distributing power with a three-phase circuit for power transmission, in general, and more specifically distribution system over a single-phase system can be demonstrated in the following circuits hp c-class power offers three variations for. The purpose of this module is to provide you with an overview of the characteristics of the products sold and their applications to gain an understanding of the products distribution system and the structure of the marketplace and to identify the main players in this segment of the business and how they create value. 11 what are food supply and distribution systems to cities food 1 supply and distribution systems (fsdss) to cities are complex combinations of activities, functions and relations (production, handling, storage, transport, process 2 , package, wholesale, retail 3 , etc) enabling cities to meet their food requirements.
Just-in-time (jit) manufacturing, also known as just-in-time production or the toyota production system (tps), is a methodology aimed primarily at reducing times within production system as well as response times from suppliers and to customers its origin and development was in japan, largely in the 1960s and 1970s and particularly at toyota. The centralised production system is the modern methods used in understand different food and beverage production and service systems 2 21 discuss the characteristics of food production and food and beverage service systems 2 12 discuss factors affecting purchasing, production, assembly, distribution american chinese cuisine. What is 'capitalism' capitalism is an economic system in which capital goods are owned by private individuals or businesses the production of goods and services is based on supply and demand in.
There are 4 types of economic systems first, traditional, based on a barter economy production, exchange and distribution are based on customs and traditions. A good distribution system quite simply means the company has greater chance of selling its products more than its competitors the company that spreads its products wider and faster into the market place at lower costs than its competitors will make greater margins absorb raw material price rise better and last longer in tough market conditions. At hp, marketing is evaluated on revenue growth, r&d on a product’s functionality and the cost of its components, and manufacturing and distribution on the cost of assembling and delivering a. Hvac chilled water distribution schemes a chilled water system is a cooling system in which chilled water is circulated throughout the building or through cooling coils in an hvac system in order to provide space cooling.


CircuitLab today released a browser-based schematic editor and circuit simulator for the online electronics community. SPICE-like device models and mixed-mode simulation support allows engineers and hobbyists to tackle a wide range of board-level design problems. While most EDA software is Windows-only, CircuitLab is 100% web-based, Windows/Mac/Linux cross-platform, and requires no installation or plug-ins. Instead of today’s typical forum posts with static screenshots from different desktop tools, the online electronics community can now use CircuitLab to share useful URLs (as well as PNGs and PDFs) which link directly to interactive, editable, runnable schematics. In just a few clicks, another designer can open that circuit, make a change, simulate it, and post the new version back to the community.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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MOES-G1100 photoelectric servo turntable is a photoelectric servo turntable designed by our company for land fixed bases. It is mainly installed around airports and aircraft flying areas to observe the flight attitude, flight flap status, and landing gear of various aircraft. Status, etc. This product uses a 1100mm ultra-long focal length design, which can clearly observe medium and small fighters from 40km away, and is equipped with a high-frequency laser rangefinder, which can grasp the target distance information in real time. It can be applied to various civil airports, military airports, aircraft test flight observation areas and other areas.


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The Bibi-Heybat Mosque in Baku, Azerbaijan, undergoing renovation in 2006. The original mosque was built in the 13th century and destroyed by the Bolsheviks in the 1930s during an anti-religious campaign. This new mosque was built in the same site in the 1990s, following Azerbaijan’s independence from the Soviet Union.
It’s no wonder the Abşeron Peninsula is considered to be one of the most polluted areas in the world. Years of drilling with little regard for the surrounding environment have left the area resembling an apocalyptic wasteland. In July 2006, we drove through these famed old fields of Baku – the same fields upon which the Nobel family earned their fortune and Royal Dutch Shell rose to prominence. Now, these fields are dotted with homes (mere shacks, really) and the rusting equipment acts as makeshift goals for the local kids playing soccer on the thick, oily sand, surrounded by pools of crude oil and broken pipelines.
Despite being born and raised in the Great State of California, I was never a big fan of wine, one of our most popular exports. I always prefer a pint of beer. Barbaric, I know.
So, for this reason, I don’t have a very large collection of wine. In fact, I own only one bottle, as pictured below:
This is a bottle of Baku-Ceyhan wine produced by Tovuz-Baltiya Ltd, an Azeri wine company. I had some leftover manat burning a hole in my pocket and decided to waste a few minutes in the Baku airport duty free store while waiting for my flight back to Tbilisi. The store products consist mainly of caviar, vodka, and more caviar. I was hoping for a few oil-related souvenirs (I mean, seriously, this is Azerbaijan. What’s a girl gotta do to get a mini barrel of authentic Azeri crude with Aliyev’s face plastered on it?) but was thoroughly disappointed until I came across this bottle of Baku-Ceyhan wine. It’s named after (and the label has a map of) the 1,099 mile Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which begins at the Sangachal Terminal near Baku, runs through Georgia, and terminates at the Turkish port of Ceyhan, where Azeri crude is loaded onto tankers and transported to market. Having completed my master’s degree by writing a dissertation on the BTC pipeline, you could say it’s rather close to my heart. Not a bad souvenir for a few manat.
Poor Baku just can’t get a break. It’s like the Houston of the Caucasus. Forbes magazine recently listed it as the dirtiest city in the world, which is quite a blow to their long shot aspirations of hosting the 2016 summer Olympics:
Unless you’re in the oil business, there’s little reason to brave the choking pollution of Baku, Azerbaijan. Fetid water, oil ponds and life-threatening levels of air pollution emitted from drilling and shipping land the former Soviet manufacturing center at the bottom of this year’s list as the world’s dirtiest city.
On the contrary, I found Baku an interesting city to visit. It’s not all leaking pipelines and fetid pools of oil (but yes, there is plenty of that to see).
This is a view of Old Town Baku from the top of the Maiden Tower. Besides a large population of carpet salesmen, the Old Town consists of the aforementioned Maiden Tower (12th century), the Palace of the Shirvanshahs (15th century), and beautiful, narrow streets that would rival those in Dubrovnik. In 2000, the Walled City of Baku, the Maiden Tower, and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs were deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
If this doesn’t quite win you over, you could always visit the gigantic Dubai like “Death Star” hotel they are building on the shores of the Caspian Sea. The beach, as shown in the artistic rendering of the hotel (complete with tiki torches and beachside dining), sure does look tempting.
And finally, continuing part whatever of our trip to the South Caucasus…which took place in July…
It was our last day in Baku, but our plane wasn’t leaving until the afternoon so we had some time to kill. The day before, we found a travel agency that offered a tour of sights outside the city, so we signed up for a morning tour of the Abşeron peninsula. What better way to spend your last day in Baku than by gallivanting around an industrial wasteland? Yeah, I couldn’t think of anything better, either.
Our first stop was the Ateşgah Fire Temple, located in the village of Surakhany.
Entrance to the temple
This temple was built in the 17th century by Indian fire-worshippers who were attracted to this particular site due to the multitude of natural gas seeps in the area. Pilgrims would travel for thousands of miles to worship at the altar of the gas fed flames, and, if the bizarre wax figures on display were any indication, engage in incredibly painful self-mutilation.
Cells where pilgrims slept and mutilated themselves
By the late 19th century, however, the gas vents were exhausted (oops!) so the flames you currently see at Ateşgah are actually fed by Baku’s local gas lines.
Great job covering up those pipes, guys
Oh natural gas, you are so good to meeeeee, you are the reason I was able to come to Baku!
Our next stop was a beautiful Shi’a mosque in Ramana. I had never visited a mosque before, so the tour was extremely interesting. At the same time, however, I was unsure of the proper etiquette. Are we really supposed to be in here? Well, our guide talked to the caretaker and he welcomed us inside…even told us we could take photos, but on that point we demurred, as I just didn’t feel comfortable photographing inside the mosque. Odd, considering I ran around St. Peter’s in Rome taking as many photos as possible of the dead Popes.
After visiting the mosque, we made a quick stop at a small castle built in the 14th-century.
The castle was closed for “renovations”, but there were some great views of the oil fields below.
It’s no wonder the Abşeron Peninsula is considered to be one of the most polluted areas in the world. Years of drilling with little regard for the surrounding environment have left the area resembling an apocalyptic wasteland. We drove through these famed old fields of Baku – the same fields upon which the Nobel family earned their fortune and Royal Dutch Shell rose to prominence. Now, these fields are dotted with homes (mere shacks, really) and the rusting equipment acts as makeshift goals for the local kids playing soccer on the thick, oily sand, surrounded by pools of crude oil and broken pipelines.
We eventually made our way to our final stop, Yanar Dağ, or “Fire Mountain.” According to local legend, the mountain is “on fire” because a young shepherd accidentally lit a natural gas seep when he carelessly tossed his cigarette (or something like that) and the steady flow of natural gas has kept the mountain burning ever since. It was a pretty cool sight…not something you see everyday, for sure, but all I could think of was, wow, look at all that natural gas just going to waste.
Perfect for smores?
Across from “Fire Mountain” was this billboard of Heydar and Ilham Aliyev. As you can see, a Soviet-esque cult of personality is alive and well in this country. Billboards and posters of the Aliyevs adorn buildings throughout Baku and line the streets of even the smallest villages. More than once our driver would point out the window and remark that the particular sight was “named after our former president.” Of course, because name one thing in this city that isn’t?!
We climbed to the top of a small hill in order to take in the surrounding area. Off in the distance you could see the glimmering Caspian. It looked clean from afar. Our guide asked us if we went swimming in the Caspian. “Er…well, no.” He seemed taken aback. “Well, next time you must. You know, the oil is good for your skin.” Right, if I remember correctly, the latest craze to hit the skincare world was the inclusion of Azeri light crude in Estée Lauder’s “Intense Hydration” moisturizer. “Now, with 25% more crude oil!” Or not.
Our tour of Abşeron complete, we headed back to the airport. After experiencing the clusterfucks that were Tbilisi International Airport and Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport, I was amazed at the efficiency and cleanliness of Baku’s Heydar Aliyev Airport (told ya they named everything after him!). After the ticket agent handed us our boarding passes, he placed two pens on the counter. Laura and I stood there like idiots. “Uh, are we supposed to sign something?” No, he replied, they were a gift. Sweet, I got a Heydar Aliyev International Airport pen. Glad to see those petrodollars being put to good use.
As to be expected, our plane was an hour and a half late taking off, so we had a lot of time to sit around and do nothing. A lady sitting across from us asked if we were in the Peace Corps. Much like the Peace Corps volunteers we ran into earlier in our trip, she did not believe that someone would visit Baku for fun. If you were a foreigner in Baku, you were either working for the Peace Corps or an oil company. It turned out that she was a contractor working on the BTC Pipeline, so we talked for awhile. Having written by master’s dissertation on that very pipeline, you could say I was a bit familiar with her employer.
Our plane finally got off the ground, and we were on our way to Tbilisi. Goodbye Baku! I’ll be back when I’m running BP Azerbaijan! I highly recommend visiting Baku if you find yourself in the South Caucasus. My particular reason for visiting was to finally see the damn place after spending god knows how many hours in the LSE library attempting to write a coherent dissertation about the BTC Pipeline and Russian energy policy. For the average visitor who may not have a slight obsession with Caspian oil production, you will still find that there is much to do in Baku and the surrounding region. And if you run out of things to do, well, there’s always caviar and vodka, right?
After a short flight, we soon found ourselves fighting our way through the tremendously long lines at passport control in Tbilisi. In between pushing and shoving some testy Eastern Europeans trying to cut in line, I was silently praying that our ride to Armenia was waiting outside…because if he wasn’t, we would be totally screwed. Before leaving Baku, I contacted a Tbilisi-based travel agency and arranged, via e-mail, to have a taxi take us back to Yerevan. Taking a taxi from Tbilisi, Georgia to Yerevan, Armenia? Lindsay, you outta your mind? Well, the trains don’t run too regularly between the two cities, and several people advised me that a taxi was the way to go. Besides, Crystal and I had taken a taxi from Bosnia to Montenegro to Croatia and weren’t killed or seriously injured (and Christ, that trip involved landmines, so what’s a five hour drive between two friendly nations, right?).
Laura spotted a guy holding a sign with my name on it, so we said hello to him, threw our luggage into his tiny SUV, and started on our way to Yerevan. I once again spotted the billboard of Bush waving and grinning like a goddamn idiot, announcing that we were travelling into the city via “George W. Bush Street” (Sorry, I still can’t get over the absurdity of it all). Our driver was a quiet fellow, so I decided the best way to strike up a conversation was by asking him, in Russian, “So, this is George Bush street, eh?” It was one of the few times I saw our driver smile. “Yes, our President Saakashvili looooooooves George Bush.” The way he said it in Russian, though, was quite amusing. The “love”, in this case, was not the kind of “love” that English speakers interject so carelessly into their sentences. It wasn’t like “Oh man, I loooove Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups” but rather more like “I looove George Clooney and wouldn’t kick him outta my bed, ya know what I’m sayin’?” According to our driver, it was that kind of love between our respective leaders. Uh, thanks but I’d rather not have that mental picture.
Our driver drove like a bat out of hell, cigarette dangling from his mouth, swerving to avoid the corpses of dead livestock, speeding through villages laden with idle men in 1980s Adidas tracksuits, and past the vast fields of sunflowers. It was 8pm by the time we arrived at the border crossing, and hence not very busy. We were stuck in Georgia for a few minutes while our driver argued with a malnourished teenage soldier manning the gates. The soldier finally relented and opened the gate after a Mafioso type sitting in a plastic chair (most likely stolen from an outdoor café) ordered him to let us through. We drove between the no-man’s land separating Georgia and Armenia and sat in the car for 45 minutes while our driver spoke with the Armenian guards and attempted to find the driver who would take us the rest of the way to Yerevan (the company told me that we would have to switch drivers once we arrived in Armenia). This was definitely a lot easier when Liz and her diplomatic passport were accompanying us.
No man’s land between Georgia and Armenia. Photography strictly forbidden, what?
Waiting for Armenia to let us in
Our driver finally came back for us so that we could start the process of acquiring an Armenian visa.
Compared to the Georgians, the Armenians make it such a complete pain in the ass to get into their country. I hadn’t a clue why it was taking so damn long to get our visa, considering we were the only people there waiting in the visa line. While the gruff border officer attended to his oh-so-important business out there in the middle of nowhere, I entertained the two Armenian soldiers with my horrible Russian. One of them kept asking me if I had a kartochka (small photo for the visa), but I thought he said kartoshka so I was wondering why the hell he was asking me for a potato. These dudes that hungry out here? The officer finally gave us our applications, and while Laura was filling hers out one of the soldiers continually remarked that Laura had a “pretty” pen. I was like, Dude, what pen are you using that this guy thinks is so pretty? “Well, you know…the only pen I have.” Ah yes, she completed her application for an Armenian visa with her official Heydar Aliyev International Airport pen. Classic. These guys are never gonna let us in the country now.
Well, the Armenians did eventually place a shiny new Armenian visa in our passport, so we were finally allowed to enter the country. We bid farewell to the soldiers, who were by then wholly neglecting their guard duties in favour of talking to us, much to the chagrin of their senior officer and the family in the Trabant waiting to be let through. We said a brief hello to our driver, but that was about it. My Russian had regressed to the point where I sounded like a three year old peasant girl with a limited vocabulary, (only, the peasant girl would have had a far better accent) and I just didn’t feel like attempting any discussion with my brain in a state of incoherent mush. I much preferred to sit back in the creaking 1980s era BMW and watch the sun set behind the mountains. The road we started out on was windy and treacherous, but our driver was great (something you don’t come across very often in this part of the world). Obviously, this was not the same road that we had taken to Tbilisi, as I didn’t recognize anything. And then I saw the sign for Noyemberyan. Ah yes, I suddenly remembered….this is the road the State Department told us we weren’t supposed to take due to random sniper fire:
Travelers should avoid the old highway between the towns of Ijevan and Noyemberyan in the Tavush region, as well as the main highway between the towns of Kirants and Baghanis/Voskevan. The U.S. Embassy has designated this portion of the road off-limits to all U.S. government personnel because of its proximity to the cease fire line between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces, a line which has seen numerous cease fire violations over the years.
Yes, twelve years after the cease-fire was announced, the Azeris and Armenians are still taking the occasional shot at each other. We drove past a few military bases and the ruins of several homes…relics from the war, I guess…courtesy of Azeri artillery shells. Remember, it’s not a true Lindsay vacation if it doesn’t involve landmines or massive displays of firepower.
I dozed off for a bit and woke up just as we were coming out of the mountain tunnel that leads to Lake Sevan. Our driver turned to me, with a toothy grin and said, in his thick accent “Good morning!” I just started laughing, it was so surreal. He offered a cigarette (No thanks, I’m from California. Christ, why do these people smoke so goddamn much?), and we started talking in a mixture of Russian and English. His name was Stefan. Cool guy. He has two sisters in….where else? Los Angeles – North Hollywood to be exact. Like I said before, you’d be hard pressed to find an Armenian who doesn’t have a family member or two in LA. We finally got into Yerevan around 1:30am.
THREE COUNTRIES IN ONE DAY…AGAIN! And the hardest part of the trip? Trying to unlock the door to Liz’s apartment. Sorry we woke ya up, dude. Those Eastern Euro locks confuse the hell outta me.
(Wow, that was a long post and it took me entirely too long to write it. I blame it on my laziness. I would write three sentences, say “Whatever, I’ll finish it later” and then find something more entertaining to do. My next posts won’t be as long…I think I still have three days to cover, but they’ll be short…except for perhaps the post on London. It may turn into some long-winded diatribe about how great of a city London is and how much DC sucks. Also, some people have asked me how I can remember everything even though I took this trip in July. It’s simple…whenever I travel, I carry a small notebook along and write a short sketch at the end of each day so that when I get home I can write a somewhat semi-coherent account of the trip. Secondly, some friends have asked what’s up with the Californian wearing the Texas shirts. I like that burnt orange color, alright? And, I dunno, maybe a bit of irony?)
The South Caucasus: Old Town Baku, the polluted Caspian, and conversations with an Azeri carpet salesman
Don’t you love how my “New Baku post will be up in a few days” turned into a few weeks? Anyways…When I last left you, Laura and I had just arrived in Baku, the lovely capital city of Azerbaijan, situated on the Western shore of the Caspian Sea.
We woke up early and took advantage of our awesome hotel’s free breakfast. Fresh fruit, French toast, white linen, and the Gypsy King’s cover of “Hotel California” playing over the speakers. Where the hell am I again? I sized up the other hotel guests, and if their wardrobes were any indication, Laura and I were definitely the only people visiting Baku who weren’t there to sign multi-million dollar contracts regarding the extraction of Azerbaijan’s plethora of hydrocarbons. When we checked into our hotel the evening prior, the clerk asked us what company we were with. “Uhhh…we’re not here on business. We’re tourists.” (Although if I had actually answered with where I worked, I would have fit in quite well with the other guests). Yep, doesn’t seem to be many tourists in good ol’ Baku.
Our first stop was the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, located in Baku’s old city. Much of the Palace was built in the mid-1400s by the Shirvanshah dynasty (hence the name). The Palace is currently undergoing a major restoration project, so everything looks quite new. The place was devoid of tourists, so we basically had the place to ourselves.
Our next stop was Maiden Tower, built in the 12th century. No one is exactly sure why it’s called Maiden Tower, but there are several local legends you can choose from. Did a young Maiden throw herself off because her father wanted to marry her? Was it built as a fire-worshipper’s temple? The more pressing question, though, is why the hell did these guys not install an elevator when they built this thing? It was a long, winding walk to the top, but the view was well worth it. At the top, two Azeri guys started talking to us, asking us if we liked Baku, where we were from, etc. They said that someday they hoped to visit the U.S., but they were planning on avoiding California because there were too many Armenians there, and they hated Armenians. Avoiding the Great State of California because of its Armenian population? Are you guys out of your minds? We’ve got Disneyland, and beaches, and In-N-Out! Nothing could sway them, however. I was immediately reminded of a seminar at LSE that I attended…was forced to attend, I should add, but the promise of several pints afterwards was indeed tempting. This particular seminar was on the Armenian-Azeri war over Nagorno Karabakh (click here for the Wikipedia entry, because I’m too lazy to write about the conflict). Entire cities were razed, hundreds of thousands of refugees fled the area, and over 35,000 people were killed. Needless to say, there is still a lot of resentment on both sides, and at this particular seminar I was convinced a fistfight was going to break out amongst the Armenians, Turks, and Azeris. Here were some of the most educated members of their respective countries, sitting in a classroom at the London School of Economics, and almost coming to blows over a war that “ended” in 1994. If these students were going back to their countries to work for the government, then I’ve just about lost hope that the region will ever find peace.
View from the top
We bid farewell to our new Azeri “friends” and told them to look us up if they ever come to D.C. I should also mention that we never told them that we were actually using Armenia as our base of operations and merely stopping over in Baku for a few days. “Uh yeah, we came from Tbilisi…and then we are going back to Tbilisi. But we love your city, it’s beautiful.” There were no lies in that sentence, so it’s all good.
I didn’t really have a next destination in mind, so I dragged Laura on an incredibly long walk that took us along the side of a highway and into the slums of Baku. If you’re ever going to travel with me, you better be prepared to walk A LOT because I will drag your ass all over whatever city we are visiting. No joke. Katerina nicknamed my penchant for walking everywhere the “Lindsay Fincher diet” because you will probably drop a few pounds, no matter how many crepes you eat.
I suggested we grab a taxi and check out a Caspian beach. My trusty Lonely Planet said the Crescent Beach hotel had a decent beach so we hopped in a taxi and were soon speeding down the freeway towards suburban Baku, which is NOTHING like suburban D.C. Instead of TGIFriday’s and California Pizza Kitchen, suburban Baku mainly consists of ramshackle houses and rusty nodding donkeys.
Once we arrived at the Crescent Beach Hotel, we headed straight for the restaurant because we were ridiculously hungry. I had a rather decent pad thai and a great view of the Caspian. After lunch we made our way down to the beach and stuck our feet in the Caspian while bewildered hotel guests watched. Perhaps they, too, read the Lonely Planet entry that stated “The beach may look clean, but the water is heavily polluted both by oil extraction and one of Baku’s main sewage outlets.” And yes, I did read that warning, and yes, I totally ignored it and still stepped foot in the Caspian. I’m still alive aren’t I?
After semi-frolicking in the cesspool that is the Caspian, we decided to go back to Baku proper. We grabbed a taxi, and in my horrible Russian I asked him to take us back to the city, but to first stop near the mosque on the side of the freeway, not because I wanted to take photos of the mosque, but rather wanted a few of the oil fields nearby. Yes, he thought I was crazy, but understood my request and that’s all that really matters. He was a cool guy, trying his best to narrate the drive in the few English words he knew.
Our next destination was the carpet museum, which on the surface sounds incredibly boring but actually turned out to be very interesting. So while I was on this “OMG look at all these beautiful Azeri carpets” high, I did what any respectable tourist would do and bought one.
As we were exiting the carpet shop, we were accosted by two Peace Corps volunteers who were spending the weekend “in the big city.” They were a bit surprised to run into some fellow Americans and asked “Uh, are you guys…tourists?” Yeah, why? “Well, you don’t see many people who come to Baku as tourists.” Damn, really? It was just dawning on me that Baku wasn’t considered a vacation hotspot.
We ended up having dinner at a restaurant near Maiden’s Tower. The food was stellar, and the restaurant itself was located in a courtyard dotted with trees and fountains. There were several small shops on the second floor, and after dinner we headed up there to see if there was anything we wanted to waste our manat on.
The salesmen were, of course, interested in showing us more carpets even though I explained that I had just purchased one. My protests were futile, though, as they kept throwing the carpets on top of each other, turning them over to show you the high-quality materials and craftsmanship. The stack became so high, and my eyes grew so large, that I had to restrain myself from purchasing another. They were so incredibly beautiful that I wanted them all. Wood floors be damned, I was ready to cover the entire area of my room back in D.C.! Instead of buying another carpet, though, we opted to purchase a few tablecloths. The salesman invited us to have tea with him, sat us down on the balcony overlooking the restaurant, and ran downstairs. He returned with scalding hot chai, which turned sickingly sweet as we dumped large sugar cubes into our glasses.
We ended up talking to this guy for an hour or so, listening to stories of his time in the Soviet Army, and answering questions about life back in the States (again, all this done through my paltry Russian skills). He showed us a hand woven map that displayed Nagorno-Karabakh as firmly a part of Azerbaijan. Unlike the younger Azeris we had encountered earlier in the day, though, there was no hatred or anger in his voice, just sadness at this loss of “their” territory. He wanted to know what we thought of his country, his fellow citizens, and more importantly, his hometown, Baku. “I love it!” I told him. Really? “Oh yeah, I think I’d like to work here someday…for BP!” I partially joked. “Ah,” he grinned, “like David Voodvard!” I was a bit amazed he knew the name of the President of BP Azerbaijan. “Yes, like David Woodward!” When it finally came time to bid him farewell, I promised that I would stop in to purchase some carpets when I started working in Baku, whenever that may be. It could happen, right?
On our way back to the hotel, I was almost killed by several children driving recklessly around the boulevard in their rental Power Wheels cars. Where are the traffic cops when you really need them?
(Next up: We visit a fire worshipper’s temple, mosque, and “fire mountain” on the outskirts of Baku, hop a plane back to Tbilisi, and drive back to Yerevan on a road that the U.S. Government, like, totally told us to avoid…yeah, all in one day!)
For breakfast I had a chocolate croissant and a Coke float. Not quite the healthiest meal, but when you’re on vacation you can pretty much do whatever the hell you want, right? We were at a quaint little coffee shop/bookstore that specialized in English language books. Liz and Taline stocked up, and I purchased a mini Russian language dictionary because the phrase book I bought in Heathrow just wasn’t cutting it. As it would later turn out, this was a brilliant move on my part.
We bid farewell to Taline and Liz later that day, as they had to head back to Yerevan (work and all). Laura and I wandered around the old city, stopping in front of a synagogue to take some photos. An old man sitting nearby bid us to come inside, so we went, following him around as he pointed out the various features. The only language we had in common was Russian, so I did my best to translate.
We continued down the old city and stopped again to take photos of a beautiful mosque, the only one in Tbilisi, in fact, as Beria ordered the others destroyed in the 1930s.
While walking away, I was accosted by a woman across the street shouting “Devushka! Devushka!” Ah, devushka (young woman), a word familiar to anyone who has spent some time in Russia. I thought that perhaps she wasn’t happy with me taking photos of the mosque, so I shouted back “What?!” She started walking across the street towards us. “Are you a journalist?” she asked, pointing at my camera. “Uh…no.” (Keep in mind, this entire conversation is being shouted across the street in Russian.) She was an older woman, with bright purple hair and makeup so thick that it looked like it would just fall off her face in large slabs. “Oh, I am a journalist.” She proceeded to tell us her life story, describing how she used to work in Moscow when she was a “Soviet citizen.” She then startled rattling off the names of various American newspapers, asking if I read them. The New York Times? Yes, every day. The Los Angeles Times? Sometimes, but usually only when I’m back in California. Well then, did I know her friend so-and-so, who works for the NYTimes, or her other friend who works for the LATimes? When I sheepishly replied that no, I did not know who these people were, she seemed almost disgusted. The discussion then turned to politics, and I asked her what she thought of President Saakashvili, expecting to hear some praise for the “Rose Revolution.” Wrong again, Lindsay. She railed against Saakashvili and bemoaned the fact that he was “without talent.” Well, Misha, I guess you can’t win them all over, now can you?
Advertising the Rose Revolution
Parliament. Georgia isn’t in the EU, but they fly the flag anyways
That night we had more greasy, cheese laden Georgian food for dinner and watched Italy win the World Cup amongst the diplomats and NGO workers at our hotel. I was rooting for France until Zidane headbutted Materazzi. I don’t care what Materazzi said, Zidane – that was just a ridiculously stupid thing to do to your team mates.
We were leaving for Baku the next day, so we only had a few hours left in Tbilisi until we had to head to the airport. Laura wanted to see Narikala Fortress since she was asleep when Crystal and I went a few days earlier, so we went there. We were the only people there, besides the babushka that kept following us around begging for money for eye medicine. Because I’m a complete sucker, I gave her a few lari.
We collected our bags from the hotel and hopped in a taxi to the airport. It was one of the fastest taxi rides in my entire life. When riding in a taxi in the former USSR, I often feel like I’m in a go-kart race on steroids, with the constant swerving in and out of lanes, and the drivers sticking their heads out of their windows to smirk at the slower cars. The main road to the airport was a smooth ride, not a pothole in site! Imagine our surprise then, when we passed by a large sign declaring that we were on “George W. Bush Street”! Jesus Christ, the Georgians named a street after that asshole? I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
The Tbilisi airport was a typical, dull structure that contained a few gift stands, a duty-free store, and the requisite bar where “biznesmen” passed the time watching old Soviet movies and drinking cheap Georgian beer. As we sat waiting to board our flight, other passengers would come up to us and ask questions “What time is it?”, “What flight is this gate for?” Why, in a room full of Georgians, do these people insist on asking the two Americans what the hell is going on? By that time, my brain was slowly turning into mush. I could hear the people addressing me in Russian, but my brain was refusing to translate it. I soon became incapable of saying anything other than “Uhhh….I….don’t…know.” God, Lindsay, this is not good. I hope they speak English in Baku.
We flew Azerbaijan Airlines to Baku. Except for the overriding fear that we would plummet to our deaths and some poor U.S. embassy worker would have to identify my remains, I was actually quite impressed with AZAL. The leg room was the most spacious I’d ever experienced, and they had those cool little maps on the TV screens in front of you so that you could track the progress of the flight. The flight was a little under an hour, and before we knew it the plane was banking over the Caspian Sea and preparing to land. There it was, the Caspian Sea! Offshore oil rigs all over the place! It was just as I had imagined.
The airport was modern and the customs procedure very orderly, much more so than in Yerevan. (For those of you who may stumble upon this via googling for Azeri visa requirements, all you have to do is fill out an application when you arrive at the airport and hand over $40 and two passport photos. If you don’t have passport photos, you can take them there for $6).
We hired a taxi (another NASCAR driver-in-training) to take us to our hotel, and we were soon on our way to the city center. Freshly planted trees lines the highway into Baku, most likely placed there to hide the ramshackle housing and rusting oil rigs. Don’t worry, President Aliyev, in a few more years they’ll grow a bit taller and your foreign investors won’t be able to see anything!
Once we arrived in Baku, I immediately noticed how different this city is from Yerevan and Tbilisi. High rise apartment buildings were being constructed on almost every street, and luxury cars seemed to outnumber Soviet Volgas and Ladas. It’s amazing what a few billion barrels of oil can do.
The hotel we stayed at was the Park Inn, which had only opened a few months earlier. The staff was incredibly friendly, and our room was awesome. Was I really in Baku?
Our hotel – the white building with lots of glass
A flat screen TV, mini-bar, and comfortable beds…whoa.
It was getting late, and we needed some dinner, so we set off in search of food. Our hotel was right on the Caspian Sea, so we walked along the seaside boulevard. We settled on a café, where a doting waiter was highly amused at our attempt to order off the menu. I had the usual meat, lavash, veggies, and beer. Simple fare, but I love it.
After dinner, we walked along the boulevard for a few minutes. Apparently this was the place to be in Baku, as there were many people strolling along the boulevard and enjoying the beautiful summer night. I liked being near the water, even though it stank of petroleum. The only light came from the full moon reflecting off the water’s oily surface and the distant lights of the offshore rigs. I had only been in Baku for a few hours and had already fallen in love with the city.
(Next up: More Baku-ey goodness, including a visit to a Caspian Beach)
As always, here is a small sample:
The album is located here.
I actually have a few more I need to upload, and I will get those up soon (You’re probably thinking, “MORE?!”…yes, more)
Now comes the fun part, though…writing the travelogue of our trip around the South Caucasus. I promise that I will try to make it as entertaining as possible.
Also, Crystal and I are convinced that the NYTimes is stalking us. EVERY TIME we go somewhere, an article will appear in the NY Times travel section soon thereafer. Take, for instance, this article on Georgia that recently came out: “Dodging Traffic and Pitfalls in Gourmet Georgia”
Trendsetters? Yes we are.


text:
- The CEO of CD Projekt Red, Adam Kicinski, has denied rumors of any acquisitions in a new interview.
- The studio plans to remain independent and does not want to come under the umbrella of any major company.
- He claimed that the team has worked hard to reach their current position and plans to grow more.
CD Projekt Red has emerged as one of the most famous studios in the AAA gaming scene since the last decade. Many notable conglomerates are often eyeing down such talent from time to time. However, the CEO of the studio, Adam Kicinski, has now solidified its stance on future acquisitions and any potential buyouts. In a new interview with Parkiet, Adam claimed that CDPR is not interested in securing any more purchases in the future.
At the moment, we have no plans for acquisitions. Of course, we are open to ideas that could accelerate our strategy. But we are not interested in acquisitions that would simply integrate acquired companies into our group and consolidate their financial results. We do not see the value in that.” says the CEO. [machine-translated]
Additionally, The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 franchise dev wants to stay clear of falling under the umbrella of a larger conglomerate. The CEO clarifies that “independence is really appealing” and touts it as another word for freedom. CD Projekt Red would have to abide by the rules of its new owner if it were to be purchased for a large sum of money. The devs are supposedly satisfied, and the studio wants to continue evolving over the years.
We are not interested in being incorporated into some larger entity. We have worked all our lives to achieve the position we have now. And we believe that in a few years we will be even bigger and even stronger. We have ambitious plans, and we are strongly passionate about what we do. We value independence.”
- CD Projekt Red Dev Defends Starfield Over Criticism On Dialogue Animations.
- CDPR Devs Never Considered Abandoning Cyberpunk 2077; 2.0 Update Was Always “Loosely Mapped Out.”
- Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.1 Brings New Gameplay Elements & More.
As a result, many gamers on forums online have wondered whether a hostile takeover is possible. CD Projekt Red is a public company, after all, and over 66 percent of its stocks are owned by other entities. Rest assured, certain rules already in place would prevent such a situation from occurring. The CEO has clarified about any potential hostile takeovers. It would be hard to pull off for anyone against a studio like CDPR.
We have always had a clear position, which is also supported by the regulations included in the articles of association (they are intended to prevent hostile takeovers).”
While answering another query, Adam also acknowledges the struggles CD Projekt Red has faced in the past. Nevertheless, the studio is feeling safe with the amount of cash it possesses to invest in its projects. In other words, it is confident in working on several major entries at any given moment. CDPR will supposedly not have to rely on any outside party for additional finances.
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