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CLOUDLAND CABIN JOURNAL - May 2016 (Part B - May 17 to present; see Part A here)
Cloudland Cabin Cam, May 31 - baby clouds being born this morning in the canyon below
Journal updated Tuesday the 31st
CLOUDLAND FOR SALE - info here
05/19/16 Nice cool rain tonight, and the canyon below has already filled with a sea of clouds. We heard deep thunder for several hours before a drop fell, and the landscape seemed to be holding its breath just waiting for that drink. There are smiles all around outside now - even a little rain is great, especially for wildflowers.
I spent about an hour lost in an open meadow near our cabin late today, just wandering around waves of daisies. This is the best daisy bloom I've seen here in decades, at least in some of the high meadows. There were breezes much of the time while I was there, and I shot a couple hundred photos, but never was satisfied with much - tough to shoot wildflowers when they are moving. As I was leaving the meadow and ready to pack it in (just as those first raindrops arrived), I knelt down in the flowers and saw a scene just for an instant. But my eyes had been zoomed all the way in, and I needed to go back to the van and get a different camera system and long telephoto lens.
So instead of having everything in focus like I normally like to do. I set up the camera very low to the ground so it could look through many of the flowers to focus on a plane of flowers back there in the middle. Tough to judge what the camera captures sometimes, so I shot away for a while hoping my vision would work out. Time spent on your knees in a wildflower meadow is never wasted!
We decided to upgrade the well water pump and had a larger, more powerful, and more effecient pump and support system installed at Cloudland today - YIPPIE! Our well is just over 800 feet deep and has never gone dry. Our ace well pump guy, Kent Patty, pulled everything up - pipes and electrical wire - then replaced with brand new. He also replaced all the controller hardware, so we are now pumping with a completely new system! This pumps into a 1,000-gallon holding tank, which is gravity-fed downhill a couple hundred feet to the cabin. It has been a great system, with the best water in this area (no iron or sulphur).
Yesterday afternoon I headed into the headwaters of the Little Mulberry Creek near Red Star. Soft clouds covered the sky, and it was cool and beautiful in the wilderness. I hiked a couple of miles downhill and found the creek running well and clear. First thing I found was a waterfall - not very tall, but it spanned the entire creek, with lots of personality. I photographed it from both sides of the creek, and one time crawled back in an overhang - 'twas the sort of place snakes love to hide out, but I didn't see any.
I spent a little bit of time to get another in my series of "polished river stones" series. I just love doing these, and especially looking up close at the stones. It is amazing how much beauty these tumbled sandstone jewels have. It was dry so I had to splash some water on the stones, then set up my camera pointed straight down from above. shhh, don't tell anyone, but the rocks don't look as good when they are wet and shiny - best to let the water soak in for a while, but not so much that they begin to dry out. This particular group of rocks had one with a little basin in the middle, and there was a little red rock with swirls bathing there. I realize this photo may offend some folks who believe you should never put the subject in the middle of a frame, but for some reason I kind of like it there. I've done photos in this series from four different major river drainages, and hope to get three or four more done before I complete work on the new picture book.
I kind of spent too much time taking pictures down on the creek - when I finally looked up to see what time it was, darkness had already begun to fall - no wonder some of my exposures were getting really long! So I packed the bag up, strapped on my big tripod, and headed up the steep two-mile hike back out to the van. It was an easy trail, and I rather enjoyed getting to lean into the hill and give it some gas - I made it all the way to the top without stopping a single time. Not bad for an old guy, who has now clicked another one to 61.
We had a Cloudland Moment of sorts late last night after I got home from the photo hike. Both my lovely bride and I left the cabin early and were gone on the road all day. I was a bit tuckered, wet, sore, and hungry when I stomped into the cabin and started pulling off my dirty woods duds. Pam was already in bed reading after a 14-hour work day. I grabbed a bag of frozen veggies and tossed them into the microwave, then went up into the loft and began a conversation with Mia about borrowing "her" chair so I could lean back and munch on my veggies and get to talk to my bride about the events of her day. We hadn't seen much of each other all week in fact, and it was GREAT to get to catch up. Funny how sometimes when you live so close sometimes 24/7, you still don't get to know what all is going on. Mia was quite patient and let me finish my veggies. But I just had to laugh about having to borrow her dog bed so I could eat dinner!
No progress on our new gallery/warehouse building - it doesn't take much rain to delay the completing of the concrete slab work. We still hope to have the building ready to move into sometime this summer. We might even have an open house to celebrate!
The forest continues to be lush and vibrant, and with another round of rainfall tonight the lushness will continue. Hope you get the chance to get out and enjoy some of it this weekend...Rainfall is falling on our tin roof once again, and I think it is going to lull me to sleep.........
05/22/16 Took my girlfriend out for a hot date Friday evening. Good thing she is a very understanding wife. We drove into a remote valley that I'd never been to before - 12 miles of very narrow county road that wound through lush pastures and a lot of dense forest. There were a number of farmsteads and cabins along the way, and it was easy to figure out why they choose that area to live in - quite beautiful, peaceful, and remote - not much traffic, just a handful of cars/trucks a day (through Walnut and the headwaters of Big Piney River). Since almost all of the land was private, I never found anything that I could photograph, but it was great just finally getting to see this place that I've wondered about for a long time.
When we climbed out and got back to pavement again, I had a choice - turn right to head back home, or turn left for a short detour to the only place in the region with ICE CREAM! Hey, it was Friday night, and this was a date, so my lovely bride was treated to a frosty cone from the Burger Barn in Ozone (I forced down a handmade chocolate milkshake, one of my weaknesses). It probably was a good idea that we had already eaten dinner before we left on the trip at 4pm, since the dinner we really wanted to get at the Burger Barn would have been about 2,000 calories - before the ice cream. We were happy campers all the way home.
Saturday evening near dark found me a mile or two upstream into the Buffalo River Wilderness with camera in tow, wandering around looking for a great scene and beautiful light. I had arrived early, when harsh sunshine flooded the area, but that gave me time to explore around a bit. Only when the great light did arrive, it all seemed to come at once, and I was in one of those situations where there were so many compositions in every directions I didn't know which one to point the camera at! I prefer just ONE great scene at a time.
Only there was a problem. I had a vision of what a particular scene would look like in this exact light and how I would photograph it. But somehow I had hit the wrong button and switched the "scene mode" of the camera capture to BLACK & WHITE, so every time I took a picture, all I saw was a small black & white image on the back. With digital, it is easy for me to adjust my exposure and shooting techniques on the fly to make sure I'm capturing the right color, and color was critical for this photo. I was shooting long exposures of one or two minutes each, and at that time of day the colors change rapidly and mix with each other, and you never know how the camera is going to capture that color. So I just kept shooting away and hoping something would turn out. The first photo below was taken when I first arrived during harsh light; the second one taken after sunset with beautiful soft ight...
I kept shooting until it started to get pretty dim in the forest around me, then I packed up and began a mile bushwhack through the forest downstream, with two crossings of the Buffalo River thrown in for good measure. I had a headlamp with me, but really didn't want to use it. Several times I moved through brush so thick that I simply had to duck and just plow through, hoping I was going the right direction. Then there is one spot where you just have to guess at where to turn and leave the forest, and luckily I ended up within just a few feet of where I needed to cross the river a final time. There seemed to be more light once I got on the other side, then another very short and easy half mile hike across meadows to reach the van.
As I climbed up out of Boxley Valley on the steep Cave Mountain Road headed home I saw the rising full moon, all orange and glowing like crazy. And right next to it was Mars, something we are not used to seeing rising with the moon - although it has been in all of the Milky Way photos I've been taking this past few weeks. There was a particular tree I had made a mental note about once when I was standing next to it - COME BACK HERE during a full moon rise sometime, and so I sped up just a little bit and made it to the tree in time to photograph the colorful moon rising behind it.
Later on after I had downloaded the pictures from the river did I get my first look at the color of the water - the camera did a great job of capturing the mix of color and emotion that Momma Nature tossed our way - YIPPIE! Almost as good as ice cream...
The alarm went off at 4am this morning, and I had somewhat of a panic - I was out of coffee! That was OK - I was pretty excited about a field of wildflowers my bride had told me about, and so I splashed my face with some cold water, packed my gear, and headed out the door - and followed the setting full moon all the way into town and through sunrise. I don't remember always being so aware of the rise and fall of the full moon as a child, but I sure do notice and keep track of it now every chance I get.
The wildflower field was even better than Pam had described, and I spent the next hour with kind of the same situation I had been in the night before on the river - so much incredible beauty in all directions (i.e., what looked like a MILLION flowers!), I didn't know where to point the camera. And this field was right next in between the main highway and a paved hike/bike trail in beautiful Bella Vista, so I didn't have to hike very far to get to it. With perhaps a time or two near Ouray, Colorado, this was easily the most PURE COLOR in one place I'd ever seen - oh my goodness! I took three cameras with me and I used them all. But the light was changing rapidly and so I had to work fast. I also had a meeting back at the Cloudland Gallery so I had to work even faster to get back home in time. Shooting these flowers turned out to be pretty easy - but picking just one or two to show you has proven to be impossible! This was obviously out of the 12-mile circle of the new picture book I'm working on, but I hope to be able to include one or two of these flower images in the 2017 Arkansas calendars. If you see one in your calendar next year, you will know it was taken today!
This evening I headed back out again near dusk to see what I could find, although I mostly stuck to the local roads up here on the mountain. The moonrise was about an hour after sunset, and it was brilliant golden again, but the landscape all around was mostly silhouetted and I'm not sure I got any keepers. But it was great to be out - and anytime you get to watch a moonrise your life will be a little big happier.
05/24/16 It was a lovely afternoon out on the back deck grilling an early dinner - fresh asparagus (stolen from Benny/Mildred's garden) and other veggies along with some pig and chicken. Rainfall singing a lovely tune. Wisps of clouds drifting on by. Then BAM!!! The sky lit up. POW!!! The ground rumbled. CRACK!!!!!!!!!!! The earth shook, and so did the cabin. This was just the first round fired over the bow. We had about 45 minute more of the same, sometimes more severe, with heavy rain. One BOOMER hit about five seconds after the sky lit up, then shook the ground for nearly ten seconds! The brats got a little well done, which is exactly how I like them!
I got caught out in the rain yesterday, another activity I like, in fact LOVE - being outside during a summer thunderstorm. I had set up my tripod looking straight down at the polished river stones spread out on the banks of the Little Buffalo River when the rain began. It wasn't a thunder-boomer like today, rather just a gentle, steady rain, soft and beautiful. Wet rocks are saturated rocks, and as the rain continued the rocks got really colorful. I let them get nice and wet while my hat covered the camera to keep it dry, but pulled out an umbrella to attache to my tripod to keep the rocks from getting any wetter. Shiny rocks are not as colorful. So I let the rain drops soak into the rocks, and when the shine began to fade I started taking pictures. This group of rocks was the fifth one in a series from different river drainages I'm working on for my new picture book. The rocks in this photo seemed to be mostly smooth, organized, calm; peace and harmony - I was only 1/4 mile from a Buddhist retreat center so it was no wonder they were acting this way.
We had our first unannounced visitor at the new warehouse/gallery building site over on our new property. No walls or floor yet, but progress has been made bringing in some utilities. Anyway, a big old fat bear wandered through what will become the front door to the building, walked through the gallery part, then exited on out through what will become the back door of the warehouse part - leaving his tracks all along the way. Nice of him to use the future doorways instead of just breaking down the future walls! I wonder if he noticed any of the future canvas prints that will be on the walls?
CRASH. BOOM. BANG!!! Another round of thunder-boomers is passing overhead...
05/25/16 Long night with lots of noise and rainfall, and we awoke to the sound of the mighty Buffalo River roaring up from below. I had a very long and exhausting day and just got home late tonight and kind of resemble a drown, stinky, starving rat. (I had a bowl of cereal at 6am and have not eaten a thing since then - it's about 10pm now and I'm getting ready to heat up some of the leftover brats from the grill! And I hear my lovely bride brought some sweet treats for me from town.) So this will be a quickie update - I've not seen any of my real photos from today, only a few snapshots.
I left the cabin early and headed out for what I thought was going to just be a quickie waterfall shoot and then back to the cabin for normal work. There seemed to FINALLY have been enough rainfall to get the creeks up and running (many were just a trickle after yesterday's rainfall, but the overnight storms brought the levels and flow up.) I hiked into Little Pine Hollow just across the valley from our cabin and slide down to the base of a nice waterfall there, set up my tripod and took a few pictures. Then I wandered into the back of the overhang there and started to shoot more pictures.
Then it started to get DARK - I mean REALLY dark! It got so dark in fact that I was unable to see to walk around back under there and had to pull out a flashlight -and it was 9am! Along with the darkness came lightning, thunder boomers, and heavy rain. And along with that came a large waterfall. I shot the basically the same scene of the waterfall from underneath the overhang for more than an hour, and the size of the waterfall increased at least triple - it was rockin' and rollin' by the time the rains stopped!
And I had somewhat of a dilemma. I've always been an "overhang" dweller - camped and explored and escaped many downpours beneath bluff overhangs. But I've heard the opening can act as a "spark gap" like in a spark plug if lightning hits nearby - and anyone hiding under the bluff can get FRIED! Well, today, it was pouring pretty hard, with lots of fireworks going on all around, yet I was snug and happy and working away with my cameras under that bluff overhang. But did I need to get out from under there and go stand in the pouring rain? I elected to just stay put and keep working until the storm passed - and daylight returned!
Next I headed towards Waterfall Hollow near Fallsville - with names like that this should be a killer combination for waterfalls! Ya think? Well, in all these years of hiking that portion of the Ozark Highlands Trail that goes through Waterfall Hollow, doing a guidebook entry about the three main waterfalls there, and now making three attempts this year to go photograph one of them for my new picture book, I STILL have not found good flow. Until today - all three waterfalls were running just great - ONLY the clouds all disappeared and all I had was HARSH SUNSHINE - YUCK!
I hiked to the middle waterfall and set up my tripod and camera, then began to clear away tons of limbs still leftover from the 2009 ice storm (Roy Senyard and I worked several days with chain saws just to get the trail corridor open through this hollow back then - it was hit really hard by the ice damage). And right off the bat I slipped and fell hard on the rocks - really hard. Lucky I came down on my elbow and hand, and I thought I had cracked bone in my elbow - I was unable to move it for a while, and I spent the next 30 minutes clearing the ice storm debris with one hand.
Still nothing but clear blue skies in all directions, but being the eternal optimist that I am, I was still counting on a few clouds to roll through so I could finally get just one photo of this waterfall! I also spent some time looking at the other waterfalls and trying to make sure I had the best composition in case that cloud did happen to drift overhead - so I would be ready.
And I contemplated which helmet would be the best to protect my hard head for the future falls that certainly will come. Had I hit my head instead of my elbow this might have been all over for me. Bike helmet, rock climbing helmet, kayaking helmet - anyone have an idea?
About an hour later some thin clouds drifted by and I was elated and shot away. The more clouds and more pictures, then finally a solid cloud cover and I really went to town. Same exact scene you understand, I just had to shoot it under every single cloud that produced beautiful light. OK, done - I got my Waterfall Hollow waterfall picture - YIPPIE!
Next I headed for Lichen Falls - lots of water flow there and overcast skies so this one would be easy since it is located right along the Ozark Highlands Trail. But when I arrived just above the falls there were two photographers already down there at the base of the falls - I'm pretty anti-social in social matters, but downright a hermit when I'm working, so I try to avoid all over photographers and people in general when I'm out taking pictures. So I just motored right on by the waterfall and kept going along the trail until I got to Lynn Hollow, which has always been a beautiful spot. Only today would be different.
It was SPECTACULAR! I had to get out into the middle of a narrow canyon with swift whitewater, and had to use my tripod as a "walker" to navigate the swift currents, but I was able to find a spot with three different waterfalls all coming together and pouring into the narrow canyon - it was a special scene that I'd never seen before. And then the sun came out. Go figure! I stood in the middle of the canyon and waited patiently (not really, but it sounds better to say patiently). Eventually the light got softer and finally total cloud cover, and I was all set! I have not seen any of these pictures yet, but I'm assuming one of them will turn out well - it was a very interesting scene with beautiful light.
OK, I had given the other guys at least an hour so I returned to Lichen Falls and found they had gone - just the crowd I like to work! I spent the next hour shooting from two or three different spots, the last one being very low to the ground with a smaller cascade in the foreground - which is now my favorite shot of the day I think.
The final stop of the day was to Sweden Creek Falls Natural Area. I'd shot here many times but never can get enough of this place. And this time was no exception - the tall waterfall, light, and especially the lush FERN everywhere were just wonderful. BUT the wind was blowing pretty hard and made for difficult shooting conditions. It was tough for me to work his scene, and while I shoot a couple hundred photos there, I don't know if I'll like any of them or not. Towards the end of Sweden Creek my thoughts turned to FOOD - 15 hours already since my last meal and I still had to hike out and drive home.
And so here I am with hot brats and BBQ sauce now waiting on my to finish up this blog post (Ugggg, I used that word BLOG - I hate that word...). JOURNAL post, that is what I meant to say. I have pressing work to do here in the morning so probably won't go out waterfall shooting tomorrow, but more rain is on the way this week, and I should be all dried out by then...
05/27/16 Made a quick trip down into Amber Falls near our cabin yesterday evening - we had a nice thunderstorm dump a good amount of rain. Seemed like most of the wet stuff was still in the trees/brush - I was totally soaked to the bone after only five or six steps from the road! Bumping into a limb or bush brought at least a gallon of cool water down on ya. It was a REFRESHING hike for sure! And for the first time that I can recall, I actually heard the waterfall the moment I stepped out of the van - sound travels uphill pretty well.
When I arrived at the roaring creek I found a river of chocolate milk. I figured since the ground was pretty saturated that the flow would be high, but also that there would not be much mud - WRONG! Oh well, I just admired all the new waterfalls in the canyon that only run when flooded, then turned around and hiked back up to the van. It is only a ten-minute or so hike. And now there is a narrow beat-down path from the "wilderness" sign on Cave Mountain Road almost all the way down to Amber Falls (shhhh, don't tell anyone - been a lot of folks visiting this falls).
For some reason I had a tough time waking up and getting going this morning - took me two cups of coffee and a couple of quick naps before I was ready to head out for a day of work in the woods. The waves of thunderstorms that were supposed to have come through during the night never arrived - not a single drop. But when I arrived at Amber Falls it was still roaring, and the river and falls were clean and clear and just terrific! I spent the next couple of hours there taking pictures - first from downstream, then from up close, shooting through one of the big umbrella magnolia trees that was hanging in front of the falls.
The water was so high that the waterfall produced its own wind, which meant the giant leaves on the magnolia tree would never stop moving. So even exposures of 1/4 to 1/2 second long would blur at least some of the leaves/limbs. But the light was so interesting I didn't care (nor could I stop the waterfall wind, so why worry about it). A quick hike back up and out and I was ready for my next chore - I was a lot drier than the night before since the forest was not soaked with rain.
I could have easily spent the entire day in the Whitaker Creek drainage - there were at least eight named waterfalls within my reach, and many more along the way. But I opted instead of drive on over and explore Knuckles Creek some more - my third visit there in the past month or two.
I started off on one of the mountain bike trails (old road), but quickly took off hiking - then splashing - upstream on an unnamed drainage. It was a beautiful clean and clear creek that was running well with many pools and sections of whitewater, plus a waterfall here and there. And the forest all around was THICK and LUSH! While I was hiking it rained a time or two just upstream from me - I never actually got rained on, but I was pretty soaked from the wet forest.
The very first of at least a dozen times I crossed this stream I decided what the heck - just plunge right on in and fill my boots with water, then not worry about trying to cross dry the rest of the day. And so I did. The water was cool, but not cold - in fact it felt pretty good.
I found a tall double-decker waterfall that poured directly into the creek, and while I climbed around to the upper level too I didn't think it was flowing enough to warrant a photo stop. Seems odd that it wasn't flowing any stronger since everything else was, yet it looked like it flowed most of the time.
Several times I found scenes while standing in the middle of the creek, and I set up my tripod and camera in a foot or two of water - so it was a good call to go ahead and get my boots flooded right off the bat since I would fill them up dozens of times!
One time I came upon this amazing stream scene that had a lot of fog rising - it looked quite magical! I hurriedly set up my tripod and camera and before I could even look through the lens to make a test exposure, POOF, the fog disappeared! And it never returned. This was one spot where it had just rain ahead of me.
Another time I crossed the creek and was stepping out on the other side when I looked up and saw two giant moss-covered trees. The close one had some really thick moss on a large exposed root, and then there was some nice white-water in the distance. And all around was lush, LUSH! I decided to set up my camera pretty low to the water surface and very close to the tree root, putting it in the foreground just a few inches from the front of the lens. With the moss so close, I could not get the rest of the scene in focus at the same time, so I ended up doing what we call a "focus stack" of the scene - I shot about a dozen pictures of exactly the same scene and exposure, only I moved the focus a little farther away each time. This is something we could never do with film, but it is possible with software now, and in fact pretty easy to do if you use proper technique. (And I did manage to get everything in focus from front to back - you can see how sharp and detailed the moss is, and how lush everything was! Actually you can't see all the detail in this small photo - but if you are ever at my gallery and are curious, ask to see a full-size view of this on my computer!)
After exploring for several hours I decided to make a giant loop back to the van, and I took off upstream on a side canyon that went for nearly a mile - the last part of it being pretty steep - but it felt great to get some exercise in and work off some of the chocolate/peanut butter granola bars that my lovely bride bought me!
One funny note - after spending several hours bushwhacking through some really thick and at time difficult and steep backcountry without any issues, I slipped and fell pretty hard while waking across a level and open part of the forest! I came down hard on the other elbow (not the one I injured the other day in a fall). While I was laying there on the ground cursing, I had to laugh a little bit too - what brought me down was a one-inch dead tree limb on the ground - it just rolled me when I stepped on it.
These two falls this week got me to thinking about wearing #1) elbow pads (both my elbows really hurt tonight), and #2) a helmet. While of course it is terrible to hear about and see a hiker fall from a tall bluff to their death, one can also die while walking on level ground and hitting your head on a rock - I've always worried about that. So now I'm wondering if a rock climbing helmet might help save you from serious injury or even death from a short fall like that? Anyone have an opinion on this? I say rock climbing helmet vs. bike helmet because I would not need the added shape and weight of a helmet that is designed for aerodynamics (I DO hike pretty fast at times, but not that fast). Anyway, if you happen to see a soaked dude bushwhacking through the forest one of these days wearing elbow pads and a helmet - and a camera backpack and tripod - it might be me.
I returned to Knuckles Creek and hiked upstream for a mile or so to a nice shelf waterfall that spanned the creek. What was visually interesting to me about this waterfall was the fact there was a tree arching over the entire waterfall - it looked really different.
It was a textbook day for waterfall photos - clear water and lots of it! Just wish there were many more of me to be able to visit a lot more falls! Saturday should be pretty good as well, unless the sun comes out, then things won't be as lush or as colorful - but a great day to be waterfall hunting for everyone I hope!
05/29/16 The alarm went off at 3:30 this morning, and soon I was standing knee-deep in the Bella Vista poppy field a couple of hours away. The pre-dawn light was beautiful, but there was a problem with the poppies - they were EVERYWHERE, and the COLOR was INTENSE!!! I didn't have a clue which direction to point the camera.
Two hours later I gave up and left. It was kind of like eating the most wonderful flavor of ice cream - two gallons of it. And then someone hands you another gallon. I wandered around the poppy field with three different cameras - one was my little snapshot camera; second was a normal 35mm camera with long telephoto lens, which I use to isolate individual flowers against a sea of color; and finally I had my really big camera - it's the standard camera that is my first choice if I'm able to use it. I used them all.
Just now after downloading and looking through the photos that I took, I realized that I came back to the very same scene five different times - that's often a good indication that I probably liked that scene and should use it somehow. And each time I did a number of identical photos to combine later as a "focus stack" - i.e., so that all the flowers from the very front to the very back will be in focus. So what I think I ended up with will be a very high resolution image of my favorite scene with every flower in focus and can be printed mural size - and you'd be able to reach our and touch any flower in it since they would all be sharp! (part of that image is below)
On the way home I stopped and bought a helmet to protect my hard head. So now if you come across me hiking in the woods I will most likely be wearing it instead of a normal hat. And if someone asks why I'm wearing such a funny helmet in the woods, I'll just tell them it is my thinking cap!
05/31/16 A very quick update since I'm about to run out of room for this month. Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! I spent an hour yesterday morning shooting wildflowers in neighbor Kennie's yard and meadow - with all the rainfall lately we're having tons of wildflowers in many places - LUSH!
Yesterday afternoon I bushwhacked into the headwaters area of the Big Piney River (or is it Creek?). I spent some time working on the next in the series of "polished river rocks" and it turned out really nice. Lots of darker stones in this drainage. There was rainfall on and off, and every time it rained the river would produce fog, which looked and felt kind of eerie - and also quite beautiful!
I had to fight my way downstream in search of other scenes - sometimes the forest was so thick I could not see a route through, and I ended up just trying to head towards a lighter part of the forest - where a tree had probably fallen and opened up the canopy a bit. The last 1/4 mile was some of the thickest jungle I'd ever encountered in Arkansas - not only trees and brush, but also vines of all shapes, thorns or not. MANY times I would get entangled in vines and they would bring me to the ground - though I spent a lot of time very close to the ground just trying to push through the jungle so I did not have far to fall! I found myself lowering my head and bowling my body through some of the thickest parts, using my new helmet as a ramrod to push through.
I started counting how many times I got tangled up in vines that stopped my progress - or threw me to the ground. 37 TIMES! They should call this the "Viney River" instead of Piney. Sometimes I just rolled onto the ground in laughter - more of the vines were smooth grape vines rather than thorny briars, although they did punch a few holes in me and I would notice streams of blood down my arm now and then, but rainfall and soaked bushes would usually take care of that.
I went as far as I could and landed down next to the river on a rock slab, and stood there in the pouring rain shooting a neat pair of rock slabs out in the water. If you look close you can see all the rocks on the far river bank are wet and shiny and saturated from all the rainfall. The river was flowing by quickly, which smeared all its details during my 30-second exposures, and the beautiful color just got richer and more saturated. Fog would form and lift, and in between would swirl around and come pay a visit to my location, then rise off into the clouds.
Just before the heavy rains I found an old, twisted ceder living just above the river, and somehow managed to get my camera on tripod about eight feet up and above an interesting part of the tree. I urge my workshop students to buy a TALL tripod and most just look at me and say "this is what the salesman sold me and said would work just fine" - and those tripods might work just find if you are shooting in a parking lot, but short tripods just don't cut it out in the real world of nature photography. Anyway, the cedar tree twisted detail was very nice, although I think with many of the images I'm shooting these days it would look better in a large print - I hope we have enough wall space in the new gallery!
The trip back to the van as darkness began to fall was much quicker than my trip in - I elected to go high on the hillside, just below a tall sandstone bluff - more rocks underfoot, but not so many vines.
This will be my last post for May - my goodness it has been a full month, yet I fell like I've wasted a great deal of time and could have visited many more places. June will be the last month to take pictures for the new picture book, and I still have a long way to go. I hope it's not too boring for you, and I will try and post as much interesting stuff as I can. HAPPY MAY TO YOU!


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In today's ExchangeWire news digest: Coinbase faces legal action for violating US securities law; Spotify cuts 200 jobs as it revises its podcast offerings; and new data indicates funding for European start-ups will decline 39% this year.
Coinbase sued for crypto brokering
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sued Coinbase, accusing the company of violating US securities laws. The SEC claims Coinbase acted as a broker, exchange, and clearing agency for the trading of digital assets without registering with the regulator beforehand, depriving investors “of the disclosures and protections that registration entails.” The case against Coinbase came just one day after the SEC brought a lawsuit against crypto giant Binance for “mishandling billions of dollars”.
Spotify cuts 200 jobs, revamps podcast division
Spotify is making a “fundamental pivot” towards creator-focused podcasting, cutting about 2% of its workforce in the process. Under the new strategy, two podcast studios acquired by Spotify in 2019, Parcast and Gimlet Media, will be combined into “Spotify Studios”. The move follows the Stockholm-based company’s cancellation of 11 shows produced by Gimlet and Parcast last year and a recent shift in focus to personality-based podcasts.
Funding for European start-ups to plummet 39%
New data from venture capital firm Atomico has forecast that funding in Europe’s tech start-ups will fall a further 39%, marking a second consecutive year of decline. Expected to slide from USD$83bn (~£66.8bn) in 2022 to USD$51bn (~£41bn) in 2023, the drop is largely attributed to US investors’ retreat from Europe amid a cooling tech sector.
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Fact of the Day
USD$106bn (~£85.3bn) – the amount invested into European tech start-ups in 2021.

domain: news


Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Central KY
Car Year: 2004
Car Model: Forester XS
Feedback Score: 0 reviews
Getting ready for new Timing Belt, Coolant Flush, etc.
Hey guys. I've been a VW guy for a while, and have done various repairs on my vehicles over the years from oil changes to timing belts and clutches. Suffice it to say I've done plenty of work and feel comfortable with any maintenance I have coming up, but wanted to clarify a few points before I begin.
We bought our 2004 Subaru Forester XS with about 185k miles, and it's now closing in on 200k. If the timing belt was done at the last proper interval I should be good for about 10k miles longer, but I don't know how long ago it has been, and I'd rather change it now than chance it. There doesn't seem to be many Subaru-Specific parts sites like there is for Volkswagen, so am I pretty much fine sourcing parts from RockAuto and local B&Ms? RockAuto isn't coming up at the moment so I can't link to a kit, but can someone point me toward a good one with quality components? I want to do water pump as well.
I've also seen various things about bumping the starter to break the crank bolt loose, etc. Is it recommend I buy a special high-mass socket for it or is it really all that bad?
I've over-researched this to death. Pretty sure my car still has the blue OEM coolant in it, but I want to flush it all with the timing belt change. I have loads of pink Pentofrost SF laying around (red cap), could I flush my system out with a hose and refill with Pentofrost just to use the same in both my vehicles? Or should I just buy a gallon of whatever concentrated blue coolant I can find?
My driveshaft just crapped out completely, and I managed to find one in a pick-a-part with 136k miles for $100. I went ahead and installed it with a marked improvement in road noise and smoothness of acceleration. I'm planning to replace the old U-joints in my stock drive shaft per a YouTube video I found with an appropriate P/N for new joints. The new shaft is much better than the old one, but is still a bit noisy. I'd like to at least have a spare around if and when I need it.
While I had my car on the rack for the driveshaft, I checked all four wheels for play and found none. My tires are pretty crappy, so those will be up for changing soon. I don't need anything too grippy, we've had some decent snow in KY over the last two winters, but our Subie did fine with the road tires. But suggestions are welcome for something that will have good traction and still maintain decent fuel mileage.
If I'm not getting engine codes for emissions, should I just leave everything alone? The exhaust on this thing seems more complicated than it should be, and I can't help but think it would help things along to cut out everything not completely necessary and put in a more free-flowing cat. But I'm used to my straight-piped diesels.
I replaced my rear struts immediately after buying the car to fix the clunking issue. Is there any reason to replace the fronts yet if they pass the bounce test and don't make any noise? And should I get it re-aligned before new tires?
I think this is it... I'm sure there are loads of threads I haven't read yet, but I would also like to dampen down the road noise a bit more. The plastic tubes in the window seals helped, as well as the new driveshaft, but there's definitely more wind noise to take care of. I'll keep reading, but tips are still appreciated.
Thanks for hosting such a great forum - I've been reading a lot here over the last couple of years, and now it's time to really dig in on some stuff.
2004 Forester XS
1997 VW Passat Diesel


A world company-tax pact would damage a profitable business mannequin. A deep dive into the large business story of the week, in addition to professional evaluation of markets and trends, curated by Fin24 editor Helena Wasserman. The EU is a crucial and thrilling region filled with businesses and people creating unique improvements, supporting their clients around the world and, finally, driving change. As such, EU Business News aims to provide an absorbing overview of this exciting area and the companies and individuals working within it.
- SeekingAlpha is offered to subscribers at no cost or on a premium foundation.
- With business groups questioning whether or not correct processes are being adopted to determine the mandatory infrastructure.
- The first merchandise in the news at present is the current elections that happened across the country.
- The federal authorities has not prolonged the April 30 tax deadline for 2020 returns, and accountants say that’s leaving some Canadians in a lurch.
Biden has put unions at the middle of coverage — as automobiles to rebuild center-class jobs and handle local weather change and racial and gender inequity. You won’t need to fork over any money to file your taxes on-line. Here are websites that allow you to file for free as the May 17 IRS submitting date nears. It could also be July earlier than ACA exchanges reflect tax credit to make insurance free for these getting unemployment benefits in 2021.
How Hospitality Businesses Can Thrive In A Publish
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U.S. fairness markets were lower Thursday as traders digested strong employment data and what that might mean for future inflation. A conservative group representing small businesses says the MLB’s choice to boycott Atlanta as the site of its All-Star sport over its objection to Georgia’s voting legislation is grounds for a lawsuit. The city of Springboro, Ohio is utilizing COVID-19 aid funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to pay for the water, sewage and trash bills of its residents and businesses that can come due on June 20.
Business & Investment
More than three quarters of youthful New Zealanders worry about money no less than monthly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, a survey has discovered. Average house values in the Wellington region have topped $1 million however the newest CoreLogic House Price Index shows some slowdown in the progress of those values. Complaints about banking behaviour and service fell by 6.6 percent to 26,020 for the three months ended March. The banking ombudsman says there’s extra work to be done to capture all complaints. The impact of the pandemic on New Zealanders’ on-line shopping habits is clear in new spending numbers.


Michigan's top medical officer admitted to NBC News on Wednesday that an email from a state health worker — raising the alarm about lead poisoning in Flint six months ago — was a "missed opportunity" to attack the crisis that may have sickened thousands of small children.
The epidemiologist identified a spike in kids' lead levels in July, August and September 2014, which was soon after Flint switched water sources to save money. She got the same results when asked to take a broader look at the numbers.
"This doesn't say anything about causality, but it does warrant further investigation," the epidemiologist, Cristin Larder, wrote in the July 2015 email to higher-ups at the state health department, which was obtained by Virginia Tech researchers.
"There are several steps we can employ if the folks upstairs ask us to look deeper into the data."
Instead of digging deeper, the agency decided the fact that the levels had slipped back down in October meant the surge that Larder found significant was merely seasonal, Michigan's chief medical executive, Eden Wells, told NBC News.
It wasn't until October, more than two months after the email, that the state acknowledged the water coming out of taps in Flint could be dangerous for the 99,000 people who live there, especially young children. A state of emergency wasn't declared until this month.
In hindsight, Wells said, she wishes Larder's email — which was first highlighted in the Detroit Free Press — had sparked a closer look and quicker action.
"Can I look back and say that was a missed opportunity?" she said. "Absolutely."
The impact of the missed opportunity is difficult to quantify.
Wells said that health officials are now tracking nearly 10,000 children under the age of 6 who were likely exposed to lead, which can be fatal in extreme cases.
The more lead that builds up in a child's system over time, the greater the chance they will have mental or physical problems, some of which may not become obvious for years. Medical authorities agree there is no safe level of lead.
Health officials said they did not know whether Larder had taken any action beyond sending the email and suggestion for followup.
"She did her job and provided her analysis to her superiors," said Jennifer Eisner, a spokeswoman for the health department.
The water crisis dates to April 2014, when the city, in a cost-cutting move, stopped getting its water from Detroit in April 2014 and began sourcing it from the Flint River.
The new water supply was saltier. So in addition to problems with bacteria and other impurities, corroded pipes that leached lead into the water became an issue across the cash-strapped city.
Officials who initially assured citizens that the supply was safe now acknowledge the water was dangerous for 21 months and is still unsafe to drink.
Gov. Rick Snyder, who this week activated the National Guard to distribute bottled water and filters to Flint residents, has been under fire for his handling of the contamination.
Another email from July revealed that Snyder's own chief of staff, Dennis Muchmore, had told the state health department that Flint's residents were "rightfully" concerned about lead levels.
"These folks are scared and worried about the health impacts and they are basically getting blown off by us," Muchmore wrote.


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A dental an infection is commonly a pus-filled location like a sac or boil which has been brought about thanks to bacterial exercise brought on by unfavourable ailments in the oral environment which contains lousy oral cleanliness, extreme sugar intake, and tobacco and alcoholic beverages use. So, if you’re wanting to know how to protect your teeth from an infection, you are going to discover the option in this article.
Go through the causes of dental infection
Dental bacterial infections can originate in several circumstances, these as:
1. Weak oral hygiene can direct to cavities, gum disease, and other dental troubles, such as an infection.
2. Infections can be contracted from processes or devices in the mouth hence sterilization and an infection manage protocols should really be strictly adopted.
3. Additional probably in sufferers who have diabetic issues or any autoimmune conditions.
How to place an oral an infection?
Dental infection, once initiated in the mouth, can unfold rapidly and problems the adjacent supporting structures and even lead to eventual tooth decline. For this reason, it is critical to defend your teeth from an infection and place the early symptoms.
Widespread signals of dental an infection include:
- Bleeding from the gums
- Pus discharge
- Foul odour from the mouth
- Foul style in the mouth
How to treat dental infection?
If you have been diagnosed with an an infection, there are techniques to treat it. These could include treatment or specified dental methods which can bodily drain the infection.
Also examine: Do your tooth damage in the course of winter? Adhere to these 7 expert strategies to avert it
Antibiotic treatment is generally the initially line of treatment for an an infection.
Some infections are unresponsive to treatment or will need even more physical remedy which can be accomplished with various dental procedures.
A dental laser is quite helpful in treating gum infections and generating a sterile setting and root canal or endodontic cure allows in managing tooth-linked bacterial infections.
How to avoid an oral an infection?
As they say, avoidance is always improved than overcome. For that reason, fantastic oral cleanliness is crucial for maintaining your teeth healthier and totally free from infection. In this article are 5 tips to guard your enamel:
1. Use a fluoride-made up of toothpaste to brush your tooth twice everyday. Fluoride assists to reinforce your tooth enamel and shield from tooth decay.
2. Floss at least once a day. Flossing removes plaque and food particles from the spaces between your enamel that your toothbrush cannot access.
3. Use an antiseptic mouthwash to support eliminate germs that can direct to infection.
4. Eat a balanced diet regime that incorporates crunchy fruits and veggies, which support to clear your enamel and gums. Steer clear of sugary and starchy meals, which can maximize your threat of cavities and gum ailment.
Also browse: Say bye to yellow tooth with these 5 property remedies for glowing white teeth
5. Stop by the dentist often for cleanings and exams. Your dentist can detect early indicators of an infection and offer remedy before it becomes a a lot more serious dilemma.
By using these techniques, you can enable protect your enamel from infection and preserve a balanced, stunning smile.
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Dental hygiene for kids: Simple ways to continue to keep your child’s teeth microbes-totally free | Health

domain: medical


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With almost half of the City of Santa Barbara Planning Commission leaving the room due to conflicts of interest, the Commission heard a proposal by Santa Barbara businessman John Price to build what he calls the Coast Village Road Gateway Project. The site-at 1298 Coast Village Road, on the corner of Coast Village and Olive Mill Roads-is currently home to a 76 gas station.
Price stated that of the two development options he has-installing new petroleum tanks and building a new, larger filling station, or, alternatively, building a three-story mixed-use condominium-the latter option is better for the community. “I’d like to use this opportunity to do something special with this property,” he said. “We feel that this is a fitting gateway to Coast Village Road.” Price has also stated that the height of the building-35 feet with a 40-foot tower-is below the 45-foot building height limit set by the City.
The development proposed by Price includes eight units and 38 parking spaces, with the streetfront units on the ground floor to be used for commercial uses. Residential units would be included on the upper floors, and the building would include street, underground, and covered parking spaces. It would include solar electric panels on the roof and adobe with red tile roof styling.
The site’s neighbors, Sandy and John Wallace, are opposed to the development, saying that it will destroy their privacy. And while members of the Planning Commission stated that they have received about 200 letters from the public, with the majority of them being in favor of the development, the majority of the public speakers at today’s hearing were in opposition. “We think the city staff has applied city standards to this project, when it should be more sensitive to the needs of Montecito residents,” said Derek Weston, a Montecito resident. “The architecture is beautiful, but there’s too much of it. We believe the scale of this project to be inappropriate.”
Activists from Save Coast Village Road – a grassroots organization aimed at keeping development in check – showed in force, and are vehemently opposed to the proposed project, opining that its proximity to the three-story Montecito Inn will cause a “canyonization” of Coast Village Road. The Montecito Association supported the project two years ago, but sent in a comment letter recently opposing it.
After hearing several hours of testimony, the Planning Commission unanimously decided to continue the item until Thursday, March 20 at 1 p.m., stating that they needed more time to review the project’s details. “We’ve had enough testimony today to choke a horse,” one man was heard saying. The Commission reminded members of the public that the comment period on this issue is over, and the Commission should not be contacted in regards to its consideration of the project.
Having annexed the land in the 1950s, the City of Santa Barbara has jurisdiction over 1298 Coast Village Road. Some Montecito residents stated that they would like the Montecito Planning Commission have some input.

domain: politics


The local Walmarts that still sell guns have their ADL composites with a clean barrel for $325. I previously owned a walnut ADL, and later a composite ADL, and the earlier walnut version was far slicker. The composite's action was kinda "raspy" if you know what I mean. This can be improved upon somewhat by honing, and/or polishing. Also, the stock was hollow and very loud to the touch(thump). I solved that by filling the hollow space with compacted cardboard. IMO still a better built rifle and therefore a better buy than the 710, as are even the bottom of the line Savage/Stevens rifles. I like those for the money.


The documentary Mal’s Big Green Hell, the adventures of a group of Australian racers, featuring Aussie NÃ¼rburgring pioneer Mal Rose, at Germany’s famous ‘Green Hell’ race circuit during the 2006 NÃ¼rburgring 24 hour race, will be telecast on Channel 31 in Melbourne. The first episode went to air tonight at 9:30pm, so keep an eye […]
Archive for the ‘GM’ Category
Congratulations to Mal Rose and his team for bringing their VY Commodore V8 Supercar home in the 2008 NÃ¼rburgring 24 hour race. The Mal Rose Racing Commodore finished 31st outright from the 230 entries and was the highest placed of the Australian entries. A few facts and figures from their race follow. The team’s best […]
As mentioned previously, here is the clip of the Cadillac CTS-V lapping the NÃ¼rburgring Nordschleife in sub 8 minutes. A time GM claims is a Nordschleife record for a production based 4-door saloon.
American car. Nordschleife. Record. Hmm, okay, this is not a joke, a 2009 model Cadiallc CTS-V with GM Performance Division’s John Heinricy behind the wheel has reportedly lapped the NÃ¼rburgring Nordschleife in under 8 minutes, or 7:59.32 to be precise. This time is now being claimed as the fastest ever lap around the NÃ¼rburgring by […]
Autoblog recently published a story about the new Chevrolet Camaro being tested at the NÃ¼rburgring. While clearly designed for the North American market, much of the engineering of this car has been undertaken at Australia’s Holden facilities, a fact highlighted by the Victorian registration plates on the car spied in testing. Surely we won’t, finally, […]


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In the bustling world of business, standing out from the competition is essential for success. One powerful way to make a lasting impression and attract customers is through effective business signs reading pa. Business signs serve as the face of your brand, conveying important messages and capturing attention. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the power of business signs and share valuable tips on how to make your brand stand out in the crowded marketplace.
Unveiling the Impact of Business Signs
Before diving into strategies for making your brand stand out, let’s first understand the significance of business signs and their role in shaping customer perceptions:
Visual Identity: Business signs serve as a visual representation of your brand identity, including your logo, colors, and typography.
Brand Recognition: Well-designed business signs help customers recognize and remember your brand, fostering trust and loyalty over time.
Marketing Tool: Business signs are a powerful marketing tool, attracting attention, driving foot traffic, and communicating important information such as products, services, and promotions.
Harnessing the Power of Business Signs: Strategies for Success
Now, let’s explore effective strategies for making your brand stand out with impactful business signs:
Design for Impact:
Catchy headlines, bold colors, and eye-catching graphics are essential elements of effective business sign design.
Choose fonts and colors that align with your brand identity and are easy to read from a distance.
Location, Location, Location:
The placement of your business signs king of Prussia PA can significantly impact their effectiveness. Position signs where they will be easily visible to your target audience.
Consider factors such as foot traffic, vehicle traffic, and sightlines when determining the optimal location for your signs.
Invest in high-quality materials and craftsmanship for your business signs to ensure durability and longevity.
Quality signs reflect positively on your brand and convey a message of professionalism and attention to detail.
Consistency is key to building brand recognition and trust. Ensure that your business signs are consistent in design, messaging, and branding elements across all locations and platforms.
Tips for Making Your Brand Stand Out
In addition to the strategies mentioned above, consider the following tips for making your brand stand out with business signs:
Be Unique: Find creative ways to differentiate your business signs from the competition. Whether it’s through innovative design, quirky messaging, or unique placement, strive to stand out from the crowd.
Tell a Story: Use your business signs to tell a story about your brand, values, and offerings. Engage customers with compelling narratives that resonate with their emotions and aspirations.
Stay Relevant: Keep your business signs up-to-date with current trends, promotions, and seasonal themes to maintain relevance and capture attention.
In conclusion, business signs are a powerful tool for making your brand stand out and attracting customers in today’s competitive marketplace. By designing eye-catching, high-quality signs, strategically placing them for maximum visibility, and maintaining consistency in branding and messaging, you can elevate your brand and leave a lasting impression on customers. So, invest in the power of business signs and watch your brand soar to new heights of success.

domain: design


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Reduces fine lines and wrinkles
Does your skin need a boost? Christian Breton’s masks are for you! Our anti-wrinkle face masks are formulated with adenosine and elderflower and work to delay the appearance of wrinkles and the signs of aging. Packed with active ingredients, they guarantee maximum results. They’re the ultimate face masks!
✓ Dermatologically tested
All skin types. 30 years old and over.
Packed with active ingredients, face masks brighten the skin as soon as they are applied. They significantly reduce signs of fatigue while being gentle on delicate skin. An excellent addition to daily skincare, these masks provide intense hydration with their rich and creamy texture. Apply once or twice a week and leave to work for 15 to 20 minutes. Rub in any excess product, without rinsing off. For a refreshing effect, remember to put your mask in the fridge! We’ve created tailor-made masks with unique and innovative formulas for all your skincare needs: collagen, charcoal, Q10, hyaluronic acid and more. Make your choice!
Josephine Aguerre –
Je l’utilise 1 fois par semaine et c’est vraiment un moment de détente intense. Après, je mets celui pour les yeux pour éviter d’avoir les cernes marqués.

domain: health


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The only thing I can say about this piece is that you will not be disappointed. It's sturdy, well made, cute, sophisticated, jazzy, and adds a little bit of fun to any space. I am so glad I ordered it. The color in the screen image is exactly on point. I wish it came in a solid color because I would definitely order another one. It sits better than most of the chairs we have in our home. A must-buy if you need an ottoman.
This item arrived quickly with no damage. The colors are fairly true to the picture except that the orange is a bit more rusty than bright orange. All you have to do is screw in the four legs. The ottoman is a bit larger than I expected, which is good because it can serve two arm chairs at once or serve as an extra seat in a pinch. The top could use a little more padding, but overall it's well made. It adds a nice pop of color and goes well with my contemporary decor and I'm happy with it.
Love the 50's/60's design of this ottoman. Very sturdy. The fabric is like an indoor outdoor quality. Withstand a lot! Easy to keep clean. All I had to do was screw the feet on when it arrived. It was a bit bigger than I expected, which worked better for my design. Bold design, excellent quality. Highly recommend!
We purchased 2 stools for use with our love seats in our living room. The gray is more beige, but the colors are great. Assembly is very easy, only need to attach 4 legs. Feels sturdy, but the cushions are firm and thin as you can feel the structure through the cushion.
Hard as a rock. Not that comfortable for your legs without a throw or something to add a little cushioning. I use them more for the look that I like and as a way to have serving trays. I ordered two for the living room. The color on my monitor looks like a lighter gray and orange, but they are actually a rather dark burned orange and a little darker gray.
Like many who reviewed this item, this ottoman is very darling. The fabric is a woven material and it slightly textured, almost like canvas. Based on my computer screen, I expected a very vibrant orange and a greyish grey. Instead the colors are deeper and more saturated. The orange is persimmon-y and the grey is more taupe-y. For me, these weren't the hues I was expecting though they are lovely...and this may be completely due to difference in computer monitors. The top is quite firm and not at all squashy, soft. The whole look is very structured and tailored rather than loose and casual. It is super simple to assemble, just screw in the legs. The seam along the side was a bit gap-y at the very bottom, but not enough of an imperfection for me to return. Overall, it is super cute. I am still waiting for the rug that goes under this ottoman. I hope that the greys fall into the same hue so that they are complimentary rather than clashing. For the price and look, I am very pleased.
Love this ottoman! Stylish and sturdy! I put it in my den with a faux leather sofa. The size was exactly as described and the picture posted of the product is right on. Color is exactly as pictured. It does say in the description that it is button tufted. It is not. The picture does not show buttons, so the picture is accurate. When it arrives, all you have to do is screw the four wooden legs (nice espresso finish) on the bottom in the pre-drilled holes. Very easy. The fabric is heavier and more durable than I expected. It is wipe down washable which will be perfect for a house with children and a German Shepherd. The legs are strong and stable enough to use this as another seat for adults. This is terrific bang for your buck!
Very cute and well made. Bigger than I thought - I had planned to use it as an ottoman for a vintage chair, but it is too tall, so I am using it as extra seating.
- How did the color on site compare with the actual product? Accurate
- Please tell us about the quality of the product. Well made
- How accurate was the on site description of the product? Accurate


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Optillion, a leader in fiber-optic transceiver technology, has received ISO 9001:2000 certification for sales, manufacturing and development of fiber-optical transceivers and subsystems, essentially covering Optillion' entire business operation. Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQI), an internationally recognized certification organization, confirmed certification after an extensive audit. "Optillion has been shipping fiber optic 10 Gb/s Ethernet transceivers since December 2001. The addition of a ISO certificate provides assurance that Optillion's customers' expectation of supplier quality will be met", said Patrik Evaldsson, CEO and president.
Stockholders of ProBusiness Services, Inc. approved the merger of ProBusiness with a wholly owned subsidiary of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. Approximately 70% of the total outstanding shares, or over 95% of the votes cast at the special meeting, were voted in favor of the merger. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including expiration or termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976.
Cisco Systems is acquiring the The Linksys Group. Linksys is the leading provider of home networking products with a broad line of wired and wireless products for consumers and SOHO (small office/home office) users. This acquisition represents Cisco's entry into the high-growth consumer/SOHO networking market, which is expected to grow from $3.7 billion in 2002 to $7.5 billion in 2006-2007 worldwide (sources: compiled from Dell'Oro Group, Synergy). The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2003.
Countrywide Financial Corporation, a member of the S&P 500, has been recognized by both Fortune and Forbes in their annual corporate rankings as one of the nation's top performing companies in 2002. Forbes ranked Countrywide number 110 in its listing, up from the previous year's ranking of 183. Countrywide was ranked number 209 in the most recent Fortune 500 ranking, up sharply from its 345 spot on last year's list. In addition to these rankings, Fortune listed Countrywide 15th in percentage of annual revenue growth for the past five years.
U.S. Bancorp, parent company of U.S. Bank, ranked 26th among companies evaluated in the seventh annual BusinessWeek 50 listing of top performers on the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, and earned a third place showing among 29 banks listed. U.S. Bancorp earned an A in five of the eight key criteria of financial success: one-year total return, sales growth over the past three years, one-year profit growth, three-year profit growth and net margin.

domain: economics


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2023 is an exciting year for creators because there is a massive opportunity yet to be understood by many. Are you curious exactly how Logan Paul made $5 million in a week, or how musicians also raked in millions selling NFTs?
This post will discuss everything you need to know about NFTs and how you can make money out of this multi-billion dollar NFT marketplace. Everything from the basics of defining what NFT is, to discussing the process of creating, minting, and selling NFTs, and the best marketplaces to check out for talented creators like you. Let’s get it on!
Before we learn and understand what is NFT marketplace, it’s important to know what is NFT in the first place. Why do some people hate it and think it’s stupid, while others believe this is another global phenomenon that would change the way we do eCommerce, gaming, and other online transactions?
We will go through the entire process to find out. Speaking of eCommerce, what better way to start your online marketing journey than with the help of a social media management application to help you create, publish, manage, track and scale your content? Learn about it in our Lately review.
What Is An NFT?
NFT or non-fungible token represents a unique digital item that cannot be replaced or replicated. The painting of The Last Supper for instance is non-fungible since there can only be one original painting of it. And this original painting has a very high value because not only is it known on a global scale, there is a demand for it as well.
It’s the same thing with non-fungible tokens. Everything from art, music, movies and even tweets in the digital world can be non-fungible because of how blockchain stores information. You can pick out an IG post and make thousands of copies of it, just like you can make prints of The Last Supper, even very good painted versions of it. Still, it’s not the original copy, is it?
The same is true for your digital file. No matter how many times people take a screenshot of it it’s still not the original. So how do you make an original copy of this digital file and make sure it cannot be stolen? The process is called Minting.
The Minting Process
The minting process is an important first step to earn money in the NFT marketplace. This happens by taking a digital file, e.g. a GIF, JPEG, MP3, or MP4, letting it go through the minting process then selling it on the NFT marketplace. Minting will take your digital file and place it on the Ethereum Network to store it as a non-fungible token.
You can think of it as a large safety deposit box that cannot in any way be altered. It holds your file and the movement of this file can be tracked forever. Therefore, you can be sure that what you are seeing is the original item. Just like how traditional art is kept in a vault, it is kept an eye on 24/7 to make sure it is safe and no one steals it.
With NFTs however, there is no need for human intervention. All the watching and tracking are done by the blockchain for you. So all NFTs have this one real, original version therefore it can hold value. And those that hold tremendous value, owners were able to make a fortune out of. Imagine, Jack Dorsey was able to turn his five-word tweet into a digital file and store it in the blockchain. The NFT was born and within a few months, this static image sold for a whopping $2.9 million. The GameStop NFT Marketplace is also a popular platform that allows minting and trading of collectibles on the platform.
Level Playing Field
So, is there any guarantee that the NFT marketplace is here to stay? Not exactly. Are we sure that this isn’t merely a digital trend and that all the hype will eventually die down in a couple of months or years? No, we are not. However, you need to stay open-minded because you could be missing out on a life-changing event that would leave you banging your head against the wall while reciting your “should’ve, would’ve, could’ve” of regrets for not giving it a shot.
Imagine, musicians now can sell their original mp3 song to their top fans for a lot of money, without the need to belong to a famous label or record company. The same thing is true for writers who can now sell original digital books or gamers who can choose to buy land in games. Now they will now own the land, built things on them, make their own characters, and have the option of selling them in the future. All these things will become very valuable since there is a demand for them and they are all original.
The best part about it is when you put your NFT up for sale, you can decide the percentage you wish to earn. So when someone resells your NFT you can have a cut of 10%, making you money that you cannot get with traditional sales. And speaking of sales, what better way to increase your presence on social media than getting a social media management platform that allows brands, marketers, and agencies to schedule posts, and manage multiple accounts across all platforms? Learn about it in our Postify review.
Things to Consider Before Choosing An NFT Marketplace
Which marketplace is best for NFT? That will depend on several factors, including the niche that you are in. It’s so easy to get lost in this virtual realm and there are so many NFT marketplaces to choose from. Thus, you need to know what to look for before deciding on one. So here are the important things to consider when choosing your marketplace.
Since your non-fungible token represents ownership of a digital asset, you need to decide what kind of digital asset you’re interested in before you can choose the marketplace for your NFT. Creating, buying, or selling anything in the digital space like digital art, video games, or avatars can be tokenized on a blockchain like Ethereum. This is the most common blockchain network that NFTs are built on. So you need to narrow down your interests before you begin.
Consider Your Token
There are various tokens supported on a specific marketplace. Those that support a wide range of tokens, and those that only use a specific kind. When you open your marketplace account you need to be sure your blockchain wallet is funded with the correct token or crypto that is required in the platform’s activities. Afterwhich, you will be guided on linking your wallet to the marketplace once you open an account.
Check the Security
Last but not the least, know what type of security the platform has enforced, and research if they have had security issues with users in the past before making a decision to sign up with them. If you don’t, you may end up getting scammed, losing money, or wasting your digital creation.
Best NFT Marketplace
Now that the basics of the marketplace have been discussed, it’s time to show you the leading NFT marketplace. It will answer important questions such as how much does an NFT marketplace cost or do NFT marketplaces make money? The term ‘best marketplace’ could be relative as it really depends on your niche and your needs, and ultimately the type of platform that suits you best. So for instance, just because Open Sea lands on the top spot, doesn’t mean that it’s the most ideal marketplace for you.
This is one of the oldest and most widely used marketplaces for NFT. Open Sea also hosts virtually everything from art, photography, to music, and sports collectibles. You can set up an account totally free and begin minting, selling, and browsing within minutes.
This is great news for beginners who are looking for ease of use. Best of all, it is now gas-free through the cross-blockchain. Because it is supporting the Polygon cryptocurrency, there is no need to pay fees when trading. Now artists can earn handsomely in crypto.
Then there is Rarible, which is considered one of the best marketplaces for NFT art investors. You can choose from a vast collection of not only digital art but also photography, games, music domains, and even metaverse items. There is a 2.5% fee for sellers and buyers.
But most users see this as negligible since Rarible has multi-chain support that can host NFTs that are built on Ethereum, Flow, and Tezos. You have the option of selling single NFTs or full collections. And because it supports Tezos, you can save on gas fees because you will need to pay only 50 cents for NFT minting on Tezos.
This is one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges globally. Thus, Binance’s NFT marketplace is the ideal choice for someone looking to mint on a future-proof marketplace. What’s more, it only charges 1% per transaction and gives you the option of cashing out the money in fiat currency.
So far, Binance has entered into excellent partnerships with several NFT creators, proving it is as good as any other marketplace. It charges 0.005 BNB to mint one NFT on the platform, but your first 10 are free of charge.
Binance is not the only major crypto exchange who forayed into NFT. Coinbase also offers the Coinbase NFT Marketplace as a user-friendly platform for buying and selling digital collectibles.
This platform is behind some of the most expensive NFT sales. Take Beeple Crossroads as an example, which sold $91.8 million. Artists who are working on premium collections should consider it as a place for launching. It also utilizes open editions, which means there is an unlimited number of variants created for a short period and retails for a fixed price.
This elite marketplace is run by Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange under the Winklevoss twins. Their Ethereum-based platforms let users buy, sell, and mint premium and exclusive crypto arts as long as they follow the platform’s strong policy on creativity and authenticity.
Bear in mind that Async Art only supports your NFT creation via the Ethereum blockchain and mainly focuses on programmable art. The full NFT is the separate master, while the layers are the discrete elements utilized to customize your NFT.
Each layer is tokenized thus, several artists can join in to modify the master NFT, which is a great way to innovate and collaborate on a piece. Nifty Gateway allows anyone to mint their NFTs for a base price as long as it hasn’t reached its maximum limit. When it does, the price will then vary based on market conditions.
This platform works with a limited number of hand-picked artists, but this should not deter you from submitting your profile as an artist if you wish to get on their radar if they have an up-and-coming full launch.
This is the official marketplace for NFTs that are Enjin-based and it has its own currency. Over $43 million in Enjin coin have been spent on digital assets that involve around 2.1 billion NFTs. Their Enjin wallet makes it super easy to list and buy gaming items and collectibles.
This specialist platform is specially designed to allow digital creators, crypto natives, and collectors to come together. The Foundation refers to itself as the new creative economy and focuses primarily on digital art. Every time an NFT trades on Foundation, the artist can make 10% on the secondary transaction or in other words, resell.
These are collectible digital art pieces that have been generated algorithmically each with its own unique traits and attributes. There are 10,000 crypto punks and each is 100% unique. CryptoPunks was launched back in 2017 at a time when there was zero NFT hype, thus, they were given away for free.
But over the years they became more and more popular and reached an all-time high when the auction sales raked in a total of $7.5 million in 2021. Larva Labs was the original creator of CryptoPunks. Founders Matt Hall and John Watkinson were inspired by the punk rock scene that resembled the up-and-coming blockchain phenomenon.
If you wish to start out with a smaller alternative as a beginner in the NFT platform, you could give Known Origin a try. Known Origin provides a user-friendly interface, making it super easy to connect your wallet and start the bidding in no time. So if you’re looking for an efficient and low-cost distribution of your rare assets, come check out Known Origin.
NFT Marketplace: Should You Ride the Bandwagon?
Over the past two years, NFTs have massively changed the art world and made a truckload of money from it. Yes, to some it may sound really stupid and ludicrous, even too good to be true. However, if you are creating digital art in any form, it would be to your great advantage to understand what crypto art is and the kind of opportunities it could bring in for your work. For more tips and tricks about the NFT, realm check our post What is NFT? Uses, Benefits, and Examples.

domain: finance


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Midnight - 'Pressure Reprise'
US producer showcases his latest EP with this dark and atmospheric RnB-inspired groove
Ponytails - 'Too Long'
Vancouver-based outfit deliver a wonderfully chilled and laid-back pop-rock swoon, with nods to Broken Social Scene
Colour Tongues - 'Feel Right'
Vancouver-based outfit bring the indie-pop energy to their latest jam, with hints of Two Door Cinema Club
Blood Child - 'Shivers Home'
Danish outfit preview their debut EP with this dark yet thunderous post-punk-inspired release
Nidam - 'You Think It's Like A Fire'
Danish frontman takes his cues from Hurts with this brooding and soulful post-punk groove
Brad Paradise - 'Like A Bullet I'm Coming'
Australian frontman gets us ready for summer with this bright and uplifting pop-rock release
David Tristan - 'Traces'
French producer takes influence from How To Dress Well with this warm and ethereal new swoon
Oxen - 'Matrix Moves'
Swedish outfit return with this bright and vibrant Parquet Courts-inspired belter
Ala Ghawas - 'Ember'
Bahraini frontman channels the wistful sound of Damien Rice on his latest lo-fi croon
Tommy Ashby - 'Apollo (New Love)'
British singer-songwriter returns with his latest bold and uplifting acoustic-led release
Risky Mondays - 'Talking'
German outfit take inspiration from Two Door Cinema Club for this fresh and exciting indie-pop delight
Mauno - 'Really Really'
Canadian duo preview their new album with this sweet and swooning indie-pop groove
Datach'i - 'Rockledge 3A'
US producer takes his cues from Boards Of Canada with this warm and ethereal electronic release
Nasty Cherry - 'What Do You Like In Me?'
US outfit return with a blissfully smooth and euphoric 80s-inspired indie-pop swoon
Paden - 'Have I Found My Home'
Nashville-based duo serenade us with this beautifully composed and uplifting new release

domain: artistic


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Health Robotics reported today that Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa issued today a press release to celebrate the launch of the first i.v.STATION ONCO in North America, and uploaded a video testimonial from Desmond Waters , Director of Pharmacy to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2GGBUHe32Q
"We're pleased that Mercy is the first to launch this advanced technology in the U.S.," said Desmond Waters , Pharmacy Director at Mercy. "The oncology robot is yet another example of Mercy leading the way with world-class cancer care. We provide 11,000 i.v. chemotherapy preparations each year so the benefits of having this precise, state-of-the-art equipment for our patients will be far-reaching."
Gaspar DeViedma, Health Robotics' Executive Vice President and Board Member, stated: "I'm very pleased to see our second-generation i.v.STATION ONCO Robot finally launched in the United States. Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids has been and continues to be an excellent Health Robotics' partner in this endeavor, and Mr. Waters and Mercy's executive management team looks forward to host visits from other world leading Oncology institutions. Health Robotics' second North American installation of i.v.STATION ONCO is currently scheduled for Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston. Besides its small footprint, speed/throughput, and cost advantages over its competitors, i.v.STATION ONCO is the only Oncology robot that both automatically puts a tamper-evident syringe cap and safely attaches a patient label to chemotherapy and monoclonal antibody therapy IV doses."
Mercy Medical Center's press release continued: "This technology removes the element of human error in mixing chemo drugs and allows for precise mixtures, which increases patient safety. Care providers at the Hall-Perrine Cancer Center will be able to remotely and automatically observe, manage, audit, approve and dispense injectable medications without unnecessary exposure to the drugs. If needed, pharmacy staff can supervise and dispense i.v. medications from locations outside the pharmacy via secure intranet access. In addition to the new oncology robot at the Hall-Perrine Cancer Center, Mercy has the only inpatient pharmacy i.v.STATION robot in Iowa, installed in 2009."


Prediction: Too many buzzwords, not enough genuine forecasting will result in Gartner's predictions getting a big yawn from the community.
If you're wondering what the next big buzzword for supply chain management is, there's a good chance it could be “orchestrate.” True, the word tends to be more closely associated with musical arrangements than logistics operations, but never let it be said that a perfectly good word can't be appropriated to fit whatever definition it might be needed for. Analyst firm Gartner, in particular, seems to have jumped on the orchestration bandwagon with reckless abandon.
In its latest ranking of the 25 most popular supply chain organizations of 2012, for instance, Gartner singles out online retailer Amazon (ranked # 2) as “a great example of an orchestrator that goes beyond simply borrowing and adapting others' best practices and consistently defies conventional wisdom.” Similarly, Hewlett-Packard (ranked # 24) is described as “breaking with established convention in true orchestrator mode” because it moved from coastal to western China in 2008.
Do you see what Gartner did there? Apparently, the word “orchestrator” as used by them means “to expand upon an industry's best practices by creating new best practices,” which is a definition that no currently published dictionary has yet adopted. But of course, coining new phrases – and especially, new three-letter acronyms (TLAs) – is exactly what analyst firms excel at. Take the reliable old chestnut original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Gartner says forget about it; we should now be thinking in terms of an original solutions orchestrator (OSO). One might say then, if one were so inclined, that Gartner itself has orchestrated the meaning of the word orchestration. I certainly hadn't heard the term so used when I wrote my book on supply chain management best practices back in 2010.
In any event, I mention all this because Gartner has just issued a series of predictions related to global logistics, specifically looking at what changes are in store over the next several years, out to the year 2016. And sure enough, wouldn't you know it, our new friend Mr. Orchestration will play a big part in the coming evolution of global logistics. Let's take a look at the predictions.
Prediction 1: By 2016, more than 50% of Global 1000 logistics organizations will be required to systematically report verified emissions and environmental data.
As predictions go, this one is kind of a yawner. Companies will be expected to report their sustainability efforts? That might've made a pretty bold prediction had it been made back in, I don't know, 1991 maybe. Today, you'd have to go pretty far to find somebody who didn't expect this happen. In a recent interview I conducted with Gavin Neath, Unilever's senior vice president of sustainability, he pointed out to me that his company was already so far ahead of some of its stated green goals that Unilever recently reset the bar higher, to stretch even further in its sustainability initiatives.
Prognostication Grade: F, on the grounds that Gartner is predicting something to happen that's already happened.
Prediction 2: By 2016, less than 10% of logistics organizations will have a chief compliance and risk management officer.
This prediction is much more interesting, though Gartner doesn't really explain exactly how they plan to monitor this de-evolution. For instance, what's the percentage of companies that have an executive with this title (or something close to it) right now? Are we to believe that risk itself will diminish over the next few years to the point that nobody will care much about it? That hardly seems likely, given the enormous importance risk management has assumed over the past year or two, with tsunamis, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, nuclear meltdowns, floods, hurricanes and the financial collapse of entire economies dominating the news. It's probably far more likely that, rather than creating a new C-level title for risk managers and effectively creating another silo department, that risk management will become part of the job description of several high-level executives within an organization.
Prognostication Grade: C-, due to an insufficiently explained premise.
Prediction 3: By 2016, 20% of supply chain management organizations will adopt a supply chain execution convergence application strategy.
Wow, try saying that three times fast: supply chain execution convergence application strategy. What exactly does it mean, though? Back in the old days, before Gartner gobbled them up, AMR Research used to talk about supply chain execution as being the logistics/warehousing end of the supply chain. That's where all the TMS (transportation management systems) and WMS (warehouse management systems) vendors ended up, on the supply chain execution (or in TLA-speak, SCE) side. I'm really not sure if Gartner is defining SCE in the same way, or if they're talking about something else entirely. Here's what they say: “Supply chain execution convergence will play a role in helping SCM organizations adopt a platform that allows them to model, orchestrate and synchronize end-to-end logistics processes.” The only thing missing in that explanation is the use of the word “synergy.” If you're going to load up on buzzwords, might as well use all of them.
Prognostication Grade: B+, because even if nobody can figure out exactly what Gartner is talking about, they managed to work “orchestrate” into yet another coming trend.
Prediction 4: By 2016, slower global trade growth will force shippers to adjust from proliferation to optimization of international flows.
Gartner believes that the growth in global trade has slowed down, which is slicing the cheese very thin since all they're really saying is that global trade as a percentage of global GDP will continue to grow, but just not as rapidly as it has in the past. Certainly the global recession (“recession” being optimistic in some instances; “full-scale meltdown” might be closer to the truth for some countries) has slowed growth everywhere, but international trade itself continues to grow. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for instance, the global economy is expected to grow slightly more in 2013 than 2012. The other half of Gartner's prediction – that companies will turn more to supply chain technology to improve their logistics performance – could have been written at any time over the past two decades because, after all, when hasn't it been a good time to improve logistics performance?
Prognostication Grade: C+, on the “tell me something I don't already know” scale.
Final Grade: C. I predict that if Gartner concentrates more on real-world corporate initiatives and less on creating new buzzwords, their predictions will get a better reception from the supply chain community.


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in this issue
World News and Views :: Top of the News
Distributor IMCD confirms IPO plans
June 3, 2014 | Ian Young
Specialty chemicals distributor IMCD Group (Rotterdam) has, as expected, announced plans for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange. The offering will consist of newly issued shares and a secondary sale of existing shares held by current shareholders. The listing will take place in the coming months, subject to market conditions, IMCD says. The announcement follows months of press speculation that IMCD is planning an IPO. IMCD says it intends to offer new shares in the amount of about €270 million and that, together with the sale...
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Wow! I am completely enthralled by this album! That needs to be made clear right off the bat. For those who don’t know, MIRRORTHRONE is a Swiss one-man project lead by Vladimir, and plays a deeply satisfying and intelligent style of Black Metal with Symphonic and experimental touches. As far as one man bands go this might very well be one of the very best bands I’ve heard in a very long time. On to the music shall we…
The four tracks on here are all long and epic pieces (barring the shorter yet no less brilliant “Mortphose”) and they take the listener on a journey through the beautiful and the grim with so many twists and turns along the way that it is just unbelievable. I guess musically this can be described as a cross between CRADLE OF FILTH (Cruelty And The Beast era), DEATHSPELL OMEGA, and BORKNAGAR. So obviously this will appeal to fans of both sides of the Black Metal spectrum, although anyone with a taste for precise and thought provoking music will sure as hell lap this stuff up.
The first track starts off with keyboards that sound like very eerie church organs and howling wind effects played over in the background – this sets an epic and dark tone for the rest of the song, ands the moment the savage vocals come in this is pure hell (in the good way…), but it is not just pure Black Metal all the way through. At about some great Folk-y synths and chanting is introduced, and this reaches a climax about halfway through the song where we get some great BATHORY meets TURISAS passages, before yet again plunging back into symphonic-but-grim Black Metal. In about 9 minutes this song has gone through a multitude of tempo and style changes while never losing focus and character. Clearly the sign of song writing at its peak!
Next up is the shorter “Mortphose”, a more straightforward and to-the-point song featuring some very Death Metal-like vocals at the beginning, while later morphing into total SATYRICON-esque madness. It has to be noted that the drums are programmed throughout the album, but it has been done exceptionally and only the pickiest of listeners will have any gripes about it. Speaking of which – at around the mark we get some of the most furious and effective drum sequencing I have ever heard, just adding to the overall more Death feel of this song. As good as this song is, it feels a slight bit “rushed’, especially since it’s book-ended by such brilliant tracks. Don’t get me wrong, it is still a classic song, but I feel that it could’ve been expanded a bit more. That’s the only reason I’m not giving this album full marks.
But I digress. The final two songs are the centerpieces of the album for me, with the last track (I’m too lazy to re-type the title againJ) clocking in at 22 minutes. The penultimate track starts off with that eerily atmospheric church organ effects (well, they’re keys actually) replete with monk-like chanting. At about the 1:40 mark I almost fell over when I heard the very LUCA TURILLI/RHAPSODY-like keyboards – for a moment I thought that this song might degenerate into wimpy Flower Metal, but thankfully this part segued nicely into total Black Metal-ness with very effective militaristic drumming and even more blasting, with furious riffing to boot. Man, this Vladimir is a genius song writer!! Anyway, near the end of the song we shift styles again; as we get some technical Death Metal riffs before some of the most beautiful (can I say that in a Black Metal review? Heh) clean vocals I have ever heard. This continues through till the end of the song, while the heaviness is amplified all the while, yet still maintaining a serene atmosphere at the same time. Brilliant stuff.
As much as I want to I am not going to dissect the final track. It is definitely a song that you have to experience on your own, and drown yourself in its infinite greatness. It runs the whole gamut of extreme metal, from Doom to Black to Folk – you get it all on here. The best part of this song was the underlying riffs that came in at about the mark – it sounds a lot like the riffs from DARKTHRONE’s “As Flittermice As Satans Spys”, and that is for sure a big plus. This song belongs in the Olympus of Metal epics…
If you give the album cover a quick glance you might actually be misled into believing that this was going to be some trite Gothic album, but nothing could be more from the truth. Of course you get a lot of atmospheric Goth touches on here but overall this album is firmly rooted in the Symphonic/Avant-Garde Black Metal realm, while at the same time carrying an undeniable rage and grimness that gives it that extra ‘something’ to ensure that this is an album with a sound all of its own.
Vladimir absolutely outdid himself with this album. I heard a couple of tracks from the previous MIRRORTHRONE album (“Of Wind And Weeping”), and much to my satisfaction this album is miles ahead of that one. As mentioned earlier, Vladimir plays all the instruments on here, did production (to my knowledge) and even designed the beautifully thorough packaging/booklet himself! A workhorse he sure is…
…and we’re all the better for it!
This one’s already on the best of 2006 list. An essential listen. (Online May 11, 2006)

domain: entertainment


Produce model matrices or penalty matrices for a tensor product smooth from the model matrices or penalty matrices for the marginal bases of the smooth.
a list of model matrices for the marginal bases of a smooth
X[[m]] are the model matrices of the marginal bases of
a tensor product smooth then the ith row of the model matrix for the whole tensor product smooth is given by
X[][i,]%x%X[][i,]%x% ... X[[m]][i,], where
%x% is the Kronecker product. Of course
the routine operates column-wise, not row-wise!
Either a single model matrix for a tensor product smooth, or a list of penalty terms for a tensor product smooth.
Simon N. Wood [email protected]
Wood, S.N. (2006) “Low Rank Scale Invariant Tensor Product Smooths for Generalized Additive Mixed Models”. Biometrics 62(4):1025-1036
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New Music: Rich The Kid – ‘Yeh Yeh’ feat. Rema, Ayra Starr & KDDO
American rapper Dimitri Leslie Roger, professionally known as Rich the Kid, shares his new single “Yeh Yeh” produced by KDDO featuring Mavin duo, Rema and Ayra Starr.
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