Well, another not-particularly-summery Sunday in London has passed – but at least it stayed dry and the sun did shine at intervals, so it was possible for us to do a proper barbecue for IMBB6! As I said at the time when the date was announced, I was positively thrilled to discover that the theme chosen by the crew at Too Many Chefs for the July edition of Is My Blog Burning? was barbecues and grilling. At last – a quintessentially South African cooking activity and one with which my husband could join in! Let me start by explaining that South Africans do not barbecue – they BRAAI (say "bry", to rhyme with eye)! This is short for the Afrikaans word "braaivleis" (say "bry-flays") which literally means a meat-grill. Incidentally, the word braai can mean a number of things: it can be a verb as in "please braai my steak for me"; a noun referring to the barbecue structure as in "I'm going to do my chicken on the braai"; or a noun referring to the entire social occasion as in "We are having a braai on Sunday". But the South African braai goes way beyond linguistics or a simple cooking method – it has been elevated to the status of a social and cultural institution! (Few South Africans will forget the 1970s advertising slogan of "braaivleis, rugby, sunny skies and Chevrolet" used to sum up the quintessential white South African lifestyle…) Formerly the preserve of white and mainly Afrikaans South Africans, the braai today crosses all cultural and socio-economic barriers and is universally loved – and given the South African climate, it is an activity that we indulge in all year round, with gusto. Traditionally, the braai was the cooking method of the Dutch pioneers, or Voortrekkers, who travelled inland from the Cape Colony into the unknown wilderness and had no choice but to shoot fresh meat and cook it on open fires. So today, there are still braai puritans who insist that to be a "proper" braai, the meat has to be cooked on an open wood fire (doringhout or rooikrans will do nicely). The making of this fire is usually a skill passed down from father to son – how to pile the wood, where to put the newspaper or kindling and of course, how to tell when the fire is ready for cooking, which usually involves counting how long you can leave your hand above the coals before yanking it away in pain (I'm told anything below about 8 seconds is too hot). And woe betide anyone who casts aspersions on a man's ability to make a good braai fire – this is tantamount to questioning his manhood… The fire is traditionally started hours before any cooking is due to be done, using about 10 times more wood than is, strictly speaking, necessary. This is the "kuiervuur" (literally "socialising fire") which is built purely as a backdrop against which the braaiers can stand and chat about rugby (or braaing techniques!) until the requisite amount of Castle Lager has been consumed! These braai puritans also have fixed ideas on the type of structure to be used for a braai and will pooh-pooh the idea of Weber charcoal grills or fancy grills as "for sissies". The Real Braaier has been known to make a fire in an old wheelbarrow or in an old washing machine drum – the drum's little holes provide the correct degree of protection and ventilation! There are also traditional conventions as to what can go on a braai. Traditionally, braai food consisted of lamb or pork chops, beef steaks of some description, boerewors (literally "farmers sausage – see my previous posts here and here) and marinated pork spare ribs if one was feeling adventurous. Fish might be permissible in the Western Cape but chicken was for sissies. The braai was essentially a protein-fest – vegetables were confined to the odd whole potato or onion, wrapped in foil and tossed into the coals, to emerge steaming and delicious when they yield to a sharp poke with a knife. My father (who was born in 1922 and qualifies as a braai traditionalist in my book!) also always insists on white bread spread with apricot jam to accompany his braaivleis – but more usual traditional side dishes include potato salad, roosterkoek (rolls done on the grill – I may post the recipe in a subsequent post) or mealie pap and 'train smash' (again, you will have to wait for a subsequent post to hear all about that!). And the golden rule of the traditional braai is this: while the women may congregate in the kitchen and make side dishes and conversation, it is the men who prepare the meat and do the braaing. They huddle around the fire comparing braai tongs (really, they do!!), marinades and braai technique, and all shake their heads sadly when someone deviates from the braai norm by, say, putting their meat on the fire too early/late/at the wrong angle. Hmm… the mingled smell of smoke and testosterone. Witness the wild beauty of these gorillas in the smoke. OK, so some South Africans have moved forward since the days of the Voortrekkers, and one often encounters very progressive and innovative braaiers these days (my husband, luckily for me, being amongst them!). Modern braaiers will quite happily use a Weber or other commercially available grill – although gas grills are still seen as not the Real Thing. They are also quite happy to braai on charcoal briquettes as opposed to wood (although for a kuiervuur, wood is still the material of choice!). Their repertoire of dishes has also been considerably extended and in addition to the traditional braai fare, these days you will often encounter marinated chicken portions, a whole fillet of beef, spatchcocked chicken, leg of lamb marinated in yoghurt and garlic, whole fish, and various types of sosaties – it all depends on the culinary ambition of the braaier. As appetisers, we can now enjoy chicken sundowners (sadly, a South African innovation that has not travelled) – chicken wings laid out straight and then skewered lengthwise to keep them straight before being marinated, braaied and eaten off the stick while congregated around the fire. We have also discovered the potential of braaied vegetables – who can resist a half a stuffed butternut squash, wrapped in foil and cooked amongst the coals? And of course, the salads have now extended way beyond the traditional potato salad (but don't you dare invite me to a braai and NOT serve potato salad!). Some things, of course, have not changed. The Castle Lager still flows freely (it can also be used in an emergency to douse flames caused by dripping fat – but this is generally seen as a shameful waste of a good beer and a jug of water should be at hand for such emergencies) and the kuiervuur remains popular, especially at winter braais. The women are generally seen outside the kitchen at modern braais, sipping on their Sauvignon Blanc (or Bacardi Breezer, depending on the average age of the party!). But to whatever extent women have gained social equality in the New South Africa, one constant remains – the men do the braaing!! To deny them this would be to deny them their manhood. And besides, it is one of the few times a red-blooded South African man will volunteer to cook… 😉 So against this background, you can imagine my excitement about this IMBB topic – and you can imagine how pleased I was when we were invited to a South African braai by friends of ours on the 18th! We trekked clear across London to join Donald and Christelle (see pic below!) and a dozen other South Africans for a proper braai, surrounded by our countrymen. At the risk of offending everyone, I just have to say a few words about nationality and braaing ability. In South Africa, every little boy grows up learning to braai. The first food you eat NOT made my grownups is usually on a school or university weekend away when some teenage boy chars his first lamb chop – so you could say braaing is in our blood and if I say so myself, damn, we're good at it. Here in London, when we are invited to a barbecue (i.e not an exclusively South African gathering!), it is almost always the South African men that gravitate towards the fire and end up doing all the cooking of meat, while the Aussies and Kiwis make lots of suggestions from the sidelines (but don't actually DO anything ;-)) and the Brits nervously clutch their mobile phones, wondering whether the smoke levels warrant a call to the fire brigade. But to be fair, the Brits don't really stand a chance in the barbecue/braai stakes – and it stems from a traumatic childhood introduction. I mean, Nick and I nearly laughed our heads off the first time we saw a "disposable BBQ" in the supermarket here – a foil roasting pan filled with (useless) lumpwood charcoal and a single firelighter, covered with a flimsy grid. The idea is that you tuck this item under your arm, head out into the glorious English countryside and just toss in a match to start your BBQ and within minutes, you'll be grilling. In reality, however, these disposables lead to two very unhappy consequences. Firstly, the lumpwood charcoal burns at 451 degrees Fahrenheit (ho ho ho) for about 10 minutes and then the lumps disintegrate and the temperature drops to nil. This means that anything you cook on it will be black as coal on the outside and bloody on the inside, and leads to Brits trying to cook over open flames as opposed to glowing coals long after they have abandoned disposables. The second consequence is that, because of the tiny available grid area, you end up cooking tiny things, like pork sausages and hamburger patties and nothing else! So your average British barbecue combines undercooked food with processed meats and the end result is just horrid. Oh yes, and summer only lasts about a week, so there is hardly any time to practice and get really good. (There are notable exceptions to this rule, but few can argue that the British are not naturally inclined to be barbecue greats!) But enough wrecking of international relations – on with IMBB6! Nick very kindly agreed to help me make our signature braai dish – a whole stuffed beef fillet – far from traditional, but a sure-fire BBQ show stopper. The recipe comes from the rather marvellous South African Kettle Braai Cookbook and requires a Weber charcoal grill (or similar kettle BBQ) and an indirect fire. This is an idea pioneered by Weber and is discussed in most cookbooks featuring Weber recipes, but in case you don't possess such a book, here's how. Make a fire using 16 charcoal briquettes and light them all in a pile on one side of the barbecue kettle. Once the briquettes have had time to ash over (about 40 minutes), transfer half of them to the other side of the barbecue. Position a foil drip tray between the two piles to keep them apart. Place the grill on the barbecue and voila, you are ready to cook. What the recipe does not require, but which we often add, are hickory chips soaked in water for about 30 minutes and then sprinkled on the coals before cooking commences. This gives the meat a lovely smoky flavour that I can highly recommend – but it's not essential by any means. So without further ado, here is my recipe for IMBB6 – pictures to follow when our hosts e-mail them to me! Oh and one last thing – the question you've all been dying to ask: how did it turn out?? Well, there were some teething troubles because everyone else had brought chops and chicken and boerewors and were so fascinated by our parcel of fillet that they kept opening the Weber to look at it. This made the heat dissipate and the meat just did not want to sear (as it should) on the outside or cook on the inside. In the end it stayed on at a very moderate heat for over an hour (and it was only a tiny 1/2 kg fillet!) and was removed with great trepidation. But once Nick started carving we realised it was just perfect – just pink around the centre and as tender as can be. You could probably have eaten it using only a fork! Here are 2 pics – one when the fillet came off the grill (note lack of searing – see above!) and one after it had been cut. Clearly I have some way to go on the food stylist learning curve… but at least you get the general idea! STUFFED BEEF FILLET ON THE BRAAI (serves 6) Ingredients 1.5kg (3lb) beef fillet, trimmed Salt & black pepper 2 Tbsp melted butter (I substituted olive oil) For the stuffing: 100g canned smoked oysters (I have also substituted smoked mussels in the past to good effect) 3 Tbsp fresh breadcrumbs 3 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped ½ tsp dried thyme (I also added ½ tsp rosemary) Salt & black pepper 2 Tbsp melted butter 1 small onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, chopped (not called for in the original recipe, but I like it!) 2 Tbsp dry sherry 3 Tbsp sour cream Method 1. Make the stuffing first. Melt the butter (or heat the oil) & sautée the onion and garlic. Combine the oysters, breadcrumbs, parsley, thyme, salt & pepper. Add the onion, garlic (together with the oil/butter in the pan), sour cream and sherry and mix well. 2. Make an incision to create a pocket down one side of the fillet leaving, the 2 ends closed if possible. Alternatively, use a sharpening steel to make a hole down the middle of the fillet. Stuff the meat. 3. Using a needle and thread, sew up the opening if the meat has been cut and tie with string to keep in shape. Season lightly and brush with melted butter. 4. Prepare an indirect fire and fit a foil drip tray between the coals. Place meat in a roast holder (we didn't have one – not really necessary) and position it on the grid over the drip pan. 5. Cover the kettle and cook for 25-30 minutes, depending on the degree of rareness required. Cover with foil and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before carving.
« Biltong – it's what makes us South African!
Lovely description and very interesting. On to grilling in Britain. I lived in Surrey from 1965 to 1983 and admittedly we didn't do much grilling and admittedly we weren't a very typical British family since Mum was from New York, Dad from Louisiana and we were almost all born in the US. BUT, we had a memorable barbecue on July 4th 1976 for the bicentennial. My dad dug a pit four feet by four feet by two feet in the centre of the back lawn. He lined it with rocks, laid a very serious and large oak fire that filled the whole pit and then let it burn down to a very large mound of glowing embers. Then he wrapped half a pig in foil, threw it on top and buried the whole lot under dirt with strategic air shafts left behind. I forget how long it was left like this – probably five hours or so. He had already brewed a wooden barrel of root beer and he made a vat of potato salad, a vat of greens and a big pile of corn. Then he hung up a flag and opened the house to ANYONE at all passing by (we had invited about 200). It was very, very good.
Owen – beautiful, we call them a hungy down here and 1976 was probably the last time I saw one too. Very noble but no need to stick up for the Brits, bagging them is an ex-colonial birthright. Friend back from England told me about the dispoasable BBQs and we damn we wet ourselves with laughter.
Fantastic write-up. I'd built up quite a hunger by the time I got to the recipe. Good to see BBQ sexual politics are near universal. Keep up the good Braai evangelising- as Ghandi said "Be the change you want to see".
BTW : Football, meat pies, kangaroos, and Holden cars!
Owen – your Bicentennial Barbecue sounds awesome! But as you say – this is not exactly typical British fare! Your ox barbecue story is interesting and I DID say in my post that there are some notable exceptions to the Brit-can't barbecue rule – this must be one! However in the 4 years we've been here, I have never heard of anything like this taking place and certainly it's inconceivable in London. Also, I guess 20 years is 20 years and traditions may have been lost in that time. So let me rephrase: modern urban Brits are seriously handicapped in the BBQ skills department!
Anthony – thanks for the compliment, mate! Sexual politics and barbecues go together like beer and rugby. Inextricable.
Since I'm kind of mid-Atlantic (born in the US, grew up in England, sound and am somewhat culturally English, live in the US) I end up getting it from both sides. I should probably move to Greenland or something.
I, too, never understood those tiny portable barbecues – and since you need lighter fluid (usually built-in) to light them, the food is burnt, raw and covered in petrol!
On the other hand there are little portuguese barbecues and Japanese hibachis that aren't any bigger but are muc more effective. They are made of cast iron and you just use a very small amount of charcoal/wood to get embers and then grill little things (sardines or yakitori) on them.
Back to the ox roast – yes it was 20 years ago and it was out in Hampshire. Your description of the Brits with mobiles standing around nervously sounds just like London.
Here in the US there's plenty of grilling but also a lot of smoking – hours of cooking inside enclosed drums. Haven't tried it myself (you need more specialised equipment) but it looks like fun. Anyway, the American barbecue snobs tell you that grilling isn't barbecue — all real barbecue is smoked.
Thanks again for the lovely write up.
You are right about the disposable BBQs – it is quite an art to produce food that is raw, burnt AND covered in some sort of flammable liquid. And yet, they manage it!! I have seen some of the small metal barbecues you mention – they are very cool and also don't leave a nasty patch of dead, singed grass like the disposalbes do. Altogether a better idea.
Dankie dat jy kom inloer het & geniet all die gebraaiery diè somer.
I had a great laugh at the descriptions above! We've been in Ireland for a while now and the "barbeques" here pale in comparison to the SA braai!!! It took us a long while to get used to the fact that no-one "braais' with wood!!!
However we bought our own wood and a braai unit and proceeded to do it SA style – albeit under an unbrella in sometimes sub zero temperatures!!! There's nothing like it!! AAAH!!
Hey, nice posting here. I really enjoyed watching it and thinking if I can make it. I will try it on in my next bbq party that seems something different than other bbq ideas recipes. I'll try to make it my masterpiece. I was taking cooking courses from this site they have some good bbq recipes and fresh bbq ideas. I just thinking of sharing it here.


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2018 Lifetime Achievement Award: Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann
The Fulbright Association is pleased to announce the 2018 Lifetime Achievement awardee, Ms. Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann, in recognition of her accomplishments in fostering intercultural relations between Mexico and the United States both within the business sector as well as within the community. The Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Award honors Fulbright alumni whose distinguished careers and civic and cultural contributions have sought to expand the boundaries of human wisdom, empathy, and perception. Recipients of the Award show exemplary commitments to creative leadership and liberal education. She was a Fulbright Scholar to Finland. The Association started the Lifetime Achievements Awards program in 2000.
"Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann is a leader in banking both in the United States and Mexico, and has affected people from all walks of life," says Dr. Manfred Philipp, President of the Fulbright Association. "Her work has helped foster and maintain good relations between both our countries. For this, she fully deserves the Lifetime Achievement Award."
Ms. Macieira-Kaufmann has been named an Influential Woman in Bay Area Business and a Forever Influential Woman by the San Francisco Business Times, and was additionally recognized as the 2010 Financial Woman of the Year by the Financial Women's Association of San Francisco. In 2007, the National Coalition of 100 Black Women presented her with the Women Leading Change Award.
She works as the Head of Citibank's International Personal Bank US, where she manages offshore wealth needs of multi-national clients, and serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for BUSA Servicing Holdings, Inc. She worked previously as the President and CEO of Banamex USA, an affiliate of Citibanamex, one of the largest banks in Mexico. Her history within the banking world additionally extends to serving as President of Citibank's retail banking business in California and Nevada, as Chair of Citi's California Leadership Council, which oversaw the company's engagement and support with philanthropic, educational, and other community-driven organizations. Prior to that, she was the Executive Vice President and Head of the Small Business Segment at Wells Fargo, and has also served as the Senior Engagement Manager at Retail Solutions Management Consultants in London.
Her record of community service is equally impressive. She is actively engaged with a range of business groups, including the Financial Women of San Francisco, the World Presidents' Organization, and the 2020 Women on Boards campaign. She is also active in community organizations, and is currently a member of the San Francisco Symphony's Board of Directors. She has also previously served on the Board of Directors for Jewish Vocational Service, Congregation Emanu-El San Francisco, the Jewish Community Federation, the California Chamber of Commerce, the Bay Area Council, and the Advisory Board of the Asia Society of Northern California. Additionally, she was a 2003-2005 Fellow for the Wexner Heritage Foundation. She frequently gives presentations at business schools and national organizations on leadership, team-building, and business transformation and culture.
Ms. Macieira-Kaufmann earned her Master of Business Administration at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Semiotics at Brown University, where she graduated cum laude, and went on to complete her Fulbright grant at the University of Helsinki.
"My Fulbright experience in Finland was profoundly enriching – academically and culturally," says Ms. Macieira-Kaufmann, who has had a long history of volunteer service with the Fulbright Association, including serving on the National Board of Directors from 2005 to 2011. "I have long been interested in meaning and particularly how meaning is derived or constructed across different cultures. My passion for cross-border and cultural insights drives both my vocation and my avocations."
The Fulbright Association will present Ms. Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Annual Conference Gala scheduled on November 2 at the San Pedro Art Museum (San Pedro Museo De Arte), in Puebla, Mexico. To learn more about the conference and how to register, visit https://fulbright.org/2018-conference/.
For information on becoming a Lifetime Achievement Award sponsor, please click here.
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INTRODUCING "OLD MANHATTAN" – A BARREL-AGED MASHUP OF TWO CLASSIC COCKTAILS
Paso Robles, CA: Get ready for the inaugural release of Old Man Hattan—an eccentric barrel-aged mashup of two classic cocktails: the Old Fashioned and the Manhattan.
First conceived last year as a brewery-only Black Friday limited release, Old Man Hattan now makes its debut as one of only six Proprietor's Vintage releases for 2019. It begins rolling out to all Firestone Walker markets this week in individually boxed 12-ounce bottles.
The base beer of Old Man Hattan is a blend of signature Firestone Walker component beers, including Velvet Merkin, Bravo and Stickee Monkee aged in whiskey barrels. The twist comes from select lots of Parabola and Helldorado that were aged in barrels previously used to mature cherry, orange and aromatic bitters.
The result is a barnstorming beer that exhibits pronounced whiskey notes while artfully expressing essences of both the Old Fashioned and the Manhattan cocktails.
"Old Man Hattan is really true to its dual influences," said Eric Ponce, Firestone Walker's barrel program manager. "On the nose, you get hints of cherry, orange and clove spice. It's extremely smooth and drinkable, with traditional whiskey characters of tobacco and bitter chocolate."
As a cocktail enthusiast, Ponce had been toying with idea of Old Man Hattan for years. But since many bitters are made in stainless steel tanks, bitters barrels are hard to come by—which is why it took time for the idea to come to fruition.
Lightning finally struck when Ponce gained access to barrels retired from an artisan bitters program. "These bitters barrels are beautifully potent," he said. "We really played around with the different component beers and barrel ratios to get everything just right."
He added, "If you're a fan of the Old Fashioned, Manhattan or other whiskey-based cocktails, you're going to love this beer."


September is Fruits & Veggies More Matters ® Month and the theme is Grab N' Go!! Fruits and Veggies are the perfect Grab N' Go snack for anyone – and it doesn't always have to be a banana or an apple!
--Try jicama peeled and sliced into strips, tossed with fresh lime juice and chili powder – have them ready-to-go in small containers that are easy to Grab N' Go!
--Try making fruit nachos with sliced Asian Pear or Fuji Apple topped with peanut butter, raisins, and slivered almonds – have these plated up and ready to Grab N' Go for a healthy dessert or snack!
--Use toothpicks to skewer mini mozzarella balls, yellow & red cherry tomatoes, & fresh basil for mini caprese bites for an afterschool snack or appetizer that is easy to Grab N' Go – you can dip them in balsamic dressing if you like or eat them plain.
--Sugar snap peas, bell pepper strips, & cheese cubes are the perfect crunch, savory, & colorful Grab N' Go snack combination – have them ready-to-go in bags for the kids and the adults!
Here is a Grab N' Go inspired recipe that is perfect for a Labor Day weekend bbq or party that everyone will love!
1. Place a pineapple chunk onto a skewer followed by a strawberry and then a chunk of cantaloupe. Repeat the pattern with another chunk of pineapple, strawberry and cantaloupe and place one more pineapple chunk at the end of the skewer. Set aside on a tray and repeat step 1 with the remaining 5 skewers.
2. Mix the lime juice and honey together in a small bowl and evenly drizzle over the fruit kebobs or use a basting brush to evenly coat the fruit.
3. Grill for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until the pineapple has slightly browned (with grill marks into the honey glaze on the fruit).
4. Enjoy alone or serve with your favorite yogurt!
Try using different fruit such as apple slices, peaches, plums, nectarines, or any other hardy fruit that won't turn to mush on the grill.
Skip the skewers and place fruit inside of an aluminum foil pack (just be sure to spray the inside with non-stick cooking spray where the fruit lays).


January is always a good time for reflection, with the New Year providing the perfect opportunity to look back on the past year and focus on setting goals and targets for the year ahead. It's always good to have aims in life and things to strive towards, as this can help you stay focused and motivated as well as generally creating a more successful life to lead.
We are constantly warned about the negative impact of unhealthy habits by both the media and those around us, and in an increasingly sedentary society, keeping fit has never been more important. Now, I'm far from the healthiest person (I've never been to the gym in my life) so I'm well aware that I'm far from a leading authority on healthiness, but at the same time, what better time to turn over a new leaf than the start of a new year?
Although I eat fairly well on average, I do struggle with finding time for exercise – especially with my office job during the week. So, this year, I'm determined to make some changes and begin leading a healthier life. These won't be massive changes, but small steps are always beneficial and everyone's got to start somewhere, right?
Here are five healthy habits I intend to keep up during 2019.
My biggest personal goal for 2019 is to get out and walk more. With the hectic nature of last year, some of my interests got a little less attention that I would have liked, and walking was definitely one of them! This year, I hope to spend more time walking in the great outdoors, especially once the weather gets a little warmer. This goes hand in hand with another of my 2019 goals – to get back into geocaching, another hobby that I've neglected over the last year or so.
This is a big one for me this year. As I've got older, I've become more accepting of the fact that sometimes it's okay not to be okay, as well as becoming more aware of my triggers and what can help improve my mental health when I'm feeling low. In 2019, I've taken the decision to try and put less pressure on myself to blog – a decision which was definitely not taken lightly, but one that I feel will have a big impact on my mental health. For the last few years, I've desperately been trying to churn out five blog posts a week on top of my day job, a social life, buying and moving into a new house and everything else! By no means am I looking to close The Writing Greyhound, but regular readers will probably notice a reduction in the frequency of my posts. Similarly, I've also decided to try and stop myself from feeling guilty for doing what I want. Say I want to finish reading a book - no problem – emails can wait until tomorrow. It's a massively overused cliché, but we only get one life, so why spend it forcing yourself to do something you don't feel like doing?
Caffeine is brilliant when it comes to a little pick-me-up after a poor night's sleep, but too much caffeine can lead to a whole host of problems. From sleeping problems to heart palpitations, caffeine is best in small doses – saved for when you really need it! Although I didn't start drinking coffee until fairly recently, I became a lot more dependent on it when I was doing my best to recover from glandular fever. Now, several years on, I think it's high time to cut down on the amount of coffee I drink and get back to a healthier routine.
I like to think that I have a pretty balanced diet, and while I've never been one for strict diets, calorie counting and watching what I eat, I know that, on the whole, I eat fairly well. However, the biggest food-related issue for me is portion sizes. Since moving in with my partner last year, I've been eating bigger portions than I used to at mealtimes as we have tried to adapt to cooking just for the two of us. So, this year I'm determined to break the habit and get back to slimmer, healthier portion sizes.
This last one might seem a bit counter-productive for a blogger, but towards the end of last year, I really started to notice the toll that near-constant computer usage was taking on my body. I would go to bed at the end of the day and despite being tired, not be able to fall asleep due to too much blue light, my eyes would be sore and itchy 24/7 and I had a lot of problems with my back, shoulders, wrists and hands due to poor posture and a lack of movement. This was a real wake-up call for me, and while I can't escape the shackles of the computer at work, I can focus on cutting down my computer time at home. As a result, this year I'm determined to spend less time on the computer and more time doing other things – which should also tie in with my second goal on the list!
Of course, leading a healthy life incorporates everything from diet and exercise to sleep and mental health, so these five habits are barely scratching the surface! However, I'm happy with working forwards in small steps, so let's see where 2019 takes me!
What healthy habits are you hoping to keep up in 2019? Let me know in the comments below!
The caffeine aside as I don't drink that much coffee, I have all the same resolutions! The computer time in particular is an important one for me. I love working so I tend to spend far more time on the laptop each day than I should. Working from my desk only and then leaving my laptop there from dinner time onward is helping me a lot though!
That sounds like a good way to make sure you cut down on computer time - I might try it myself!
I love your list. I have a pedometer on my phone and try to do 25,000 steps a week. I also try to do a daily crossword. It is much easy to be motivated to stay healthy in the summer when the weather is better though is not it?
Oh definitely, I'm always out and about in the summer!
Thanks so much, and here's to a happy and healthy 2019!


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News on Dwayne Wilcox's exhibition, "Skipped the Light Fandango"
Now showing at the Harwood, "Dwayne Wilcox: Skipped the Light Fandango," features twenty-one works made with colored pencil on antique ledger paper. Mr. Wilcox's work gives us a glimpse into the creative musings of a contemporary Native American artist. Using biting satire while addressing long-standing issues of social justice, Wilcox creates work that is thought provoking and darkly comic.
The following is from a brochure published by The Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire that has recently exhibited Mr. Wilcox's work:
"Ledger Art represents a transitional form of Plains Indian artistry corresponding to the forced reduction of Plains tribes to government reservations roughly between 1860 and 1900. Due to the destruction of the buffalo herds and other game animals of the Great Plains by Anglo-Americans during and after the Civil War, painting on buffalo hide gave way to works on paper, muslin, canvas, and occasionally commercially prepared cow or buffalo hides.
When the Southern Plains Indian Wars ended in 1875, U.S. troops captured seventy-two of the most influential Kiowa, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Caddo, and Comanche warriors accused of suspected crimes against settlers and soldier, and for the next three years imprisoned them at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida. Their internment intended to ensure the peaceful conduct of their tribes on the reservations. Unexpectedly, it also supported ledger drawing as a popular new genre of Native arts. Recognizing their talent, Capt. Richard C. Pratt, officer in charge of Ft. Marion, provided his captives with pencils, crayons, pens, watercolors, ledger books, autograph booklets, and sketchbooks, encouraging them to draw their memories and recent experiences.
Recording their new impressions, the ledger artists expanded the pre-reservation repertoire from autobiographic and nostalgic depictions of traditional Plains life to observations of landscapes, cityscapes, education, regimentation, and processes of assimilation.
While the Fort Marion captives often gave ledger drawings to their teachers and local families with whom they developed close ties, Pratt gave drawings to official delegates to promote his theories on Indian education. He also encouraged St. Augustine townspeople and vacationing tourists to the area -- mostly New Englanders -- to support this new art form by purchasing the ledger books as souvenirs and employing his prisoners. Pratt argued that the prisoners' close interaction with the community, which he called the "outing system," was an important step in their assimilation. The commercialization of ledger art not only immersed the prisoners into the capitalist economy but also provided evidence of the success of their Americanization. The prisoners used the income to support their impoverished families on the reservations or to buy extra comforts during captivity.
These processes of assimilation were visibly evident in the ledger drawings created at Fort Marion, as artists increasingly moved away from pre-reservation pictographic conventions. Due to their intensive interaction with their American patrons in St. Augustine, the Fort Marion artists developed a drawing style that differed from ledger art created on the reservations at that time. The artists experimented with new pictographic conventions that not only merged western techniques of scale, perspective, representation, and composition with Plains conventions but also reflected the prisoners' rigorous exposure to Pratt's assimilation and indoctrination methods."
Mr. Wilcox is an Olgala Lakota born in South Dakota in 1957 and enrolled on the Pine Ridge Reservation there. He is entirely self-taught, learning from friends and family. "I lived in Washington DC for a few years and I managed to go through every museum archive I came across that contained ledger art," Wilcox explains. "Ledger art has such a deep feel and I found it the most versatile of all Lakota arts."
"What a delight to find a contemporary artist who has taken the medium to the next level," says curator Brenneman. "Comedic, clever and profound, Dwayne Wilcox's ledger drawings are entirely about what life is like at the 'moment,' using a medium that has great historical significance. We eagerly welcome him to the Harwood Museum!"


text:
NT fracking debate: Farmers divided as environmental questions remain unanswered
Analysis Lateline By the National Reporting Team's Jane Bardon Updated Fri 7 Apr 2017, 7:15 AM AEST
Colin Ross's station Maryfield is in the Beetaloo Basin where 6 trillion cubic feet of shale gas has been found.
ABC News: Jane Bardon
When Origin Energy approached Northern Territory pastoralist Rod Dunbar in 2014 with a request to build a test gas well on his property, he was deeply concerned.
During negotiations over the next three years, that concern turned to alarm as he discovered more about the company's proposal for his 405,000 hectare cattle station, 500 kilometres south-east of Darwin.
Origin's own environmental report assessing the risks of drilling test wells at several sites on the Beetaloo Basin, said fracking — the method of extracting the gas — could pose a risk of causing aquifers under his property to leak into each other.
Origin's report rated the risk of leakage as "medium to high, and likely" with "serious consequences".
That was enough for Mr Dunbar. Despite assurances by the company, he refused Origin's request to drill a test well.
"If another aquifer's got a high salt content, or some other content in it, it could damage the aquifer that we're using to water 25,000 cattle," he said.
Video 7:36 Rod Dunbar is worried about the risk of drilling to aquifers on his farm.
Less than 50 kilometres away, another prominent pastoralist, Rohan Sullivan, took a different view.
Two years ago, the former Cattlemen's Association president allowed gas company Pangaea Resources to frack a test well on his Birdum Station, part of a family operation dating back generations.
He accepted the company's assurances, and he said the gas explorers "have behaved pretty well in comparison to the mining explorers".
Photo Rohan Sullivan agreed to allow Pangaea Resources to drill for gas on his property
Opposite sides of NT's fracking debate
The NT Labor Government is grappling with whether to lift the fracking moratorium it brought in last August as a key election commitment.
Lifting the moratorium would unlock the huge reserves of gas discovered in the Beetaloo Basin, where Mr Dunbar and Mr Sullivan farm.
"The state of the Territory economy is such that I don't think we can afford to say, 'We're not going to look at this resource, we're going to leave it there, and not do anything with it'," Mr Sullivan said.
The fracking industry has promised up to a billion dollars worth of investment in the NT, including remote roads, and up to 6,000 jobs.
But many landholders believe the companies and the NT Government still have outstanding environmental questions to answer.
Origin's environmental report for 10,000 square-kilometres on the Beetaloo Basin warned:
"Potential exists for the deterioration in groundwater quality, which in turn could impact existing groundwater users."
External Link Origin alone has plans for 400-500 wells on the Beetaloo Basin.
Mr Dunbar's neighbour Colin Ross, who owns a $200 million domestic and export family cattle business, North Star Pastoral, shared his concerns.
Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting has the gas rights to Mr Ross' Maryfield Station.
"The majority of the water we use, we pump to the surface. Obviously we are extremely worried about contamination and we're worried about the depletion of the aquifer," he said.
"If we lose our water, the cattle will have to go, and that will be the end of our livelihood."
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Photo Colin Ross (L) and Rod Dunbar (R) share concerns about plans for fracking on their cattle stations.
Origin Energy's chief geologist and unconventional exploration manager David Close said once the company identified the risks in its report, it developed solutions to mitigate them, including specially designed steel well casings.
It used these last year to drill the test well on the Amungee Mungee Station Station, which confirmed there is at least 6.6 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Beetaloo Basin.
"What Origin did was engineer and design our [well] casing so there was no possibility for crossflow between those two aquifers. That risk was eliminated through engineering," Mr Close said.
"We are constantly monitoring to ensure that the gas coming out of the well bore is only coming up through the production casing and there is no pressure or gas released anywhere else."
Origin alone has plans for 400 to 500 wells on the Beetaloo Basin.
No guarantee abandoned wells won't leak
Photo Farmers on the Beetaloo Basin are worried that fracking could damage the area's network of aquifers and rivers.
But Mr Ross is questioning how the gas companies can guarantee that abandoned wells will never leak.
"Nothing lasts forever. Where they're going down to is acidic, and steel won't last once it's in contact with water and acidic material. It will start deteriorating. We see that with our own water bores. And these companies won't be around to fix it," Mr Ross said.
Origin's environmental report said there could be a small risk of water or gas leaking from deep formations into freshwater aquifers through abandoned wells.
Mr Close said Origin was sure its wells would remain sound once they were filled with concrete and abandoned.
"Even if there was degradation at the very near surface that does not extend into the deep sub-surface," he said.
"I don't know if any scientist will ever tell you that anything lasts forever.
"We risk assess. We design. We expect that this will have integrity for the life required of the well, similar to the rock formations around them."
Photo Some cattle producers are worried about the aquifer water they use for their cattle.
Rod Dunbar is also concerned that the question of who would compensate for any environmental damage, after gas projects conclude, has not yet been resolved.
"Damage may not be apparent until some time after an actual incident," he said.
Mr Close said Origin would insure farmers against environmental damage for the life of projects and their remediation, but the NT Government will have to decide what happens after that.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner has committed to waiting until after his Government's independent inquiry into the risks and benefits of fracking reports some time this year, before deciding whether to lift the moratorium.
Posted Thu 6 Apr 2017, 3:35 PM AEST


Currently on the falconry station there are about 30 birds. There are among them native species such as red kite, black kite, common buzzard, hawk, golden eagle or falcon. We also have interesting birds from different parts of the world such as: bald eagles, laggar falcon and the only one in our country Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle from South America. Most of them are birds on the exposition, which we can watch in specially prepared aviaries. The greatest attraction of falconry station are falconry shows, which are ideal opportunity to get real close to birds of prey. This is also a chance to photograph them outside cages so we recomend to get your camera. By the show there are presented different species what makes the demonstration very attractive.
from November to March: 11:00, 14:00.
Panoramic photo of the shows in our park.


text:
Kipu appoints health technology veteran Anita Pramoda to its board of directors
By Becca Roberts Last updated Aug 25, 2021
CORAL GABLES, Fla., August 25, 2021 / PRNewswire / – Kipu, maker of KipuEMR, an advanced SaaS-based electronic health record (EMR) system for substance use disorder treatment (SUD) and behavioral therapy organizations, today announced the appointment of health technology veteran Anita Pramoda to its board of directors.
"Kipu has proven software solutions for addiction centers and continues to invest in innovation to help providers improve outcomes and manage reimbursement changes. Now is the time to accelerate our market leadership. We are pushing for innovation and integration of our technology platform, to enable world-class performance for our customers and their patients. With her many years of experience in advising growth technology companies, Anita is ideally suited to support us in this task, "commented Kipus CEO, Paul Schreiner.
Pramoda is a veteran healthcare IT leader and the founder and CEO of Owned Outcomes (O2), a software company that helps participating organizations win on various forms of value care, including bundled payments. Previously, she was the CFO of Epic Systems Corporation, an over $ 3 billion healthcare IT company that provides electronic medical records to over 50% of the US population. Pramoda has helped lead a period of significant growth in the domestic market, Epic's expansion into state and international markets, and its adoption of mobile healthcare IT. Pramoda also brings extensive healthcare IT board experience, serving on the boards of leading companies such as Allscripts, Health Catalyst, Press Ganey and HealthEdge.
Commenting on the new opportunity at Kipu, Pramoda said, "This is a company targeting an underserved area of healthcare, helping patients cure addiction and other harmful behaviors – which were at all-time highs during the pandemic. Behavioral health and drug abuse treatment represent nuanced, highly regulated, and complex areas of healthcare. Kipu's fundamental strength is its absolute focus on developing a purpose-built EMR solution and suite of applications that are solely focused on this market These specific needs make Kipu's business important and special, and it's exciting to be part of the company's journey. "
The appointment follows the company's June announcement of TCV's strategic investment in Kipu as the market momentum for SaaS solutions in behavioral healthcare accelerates.
About kipu
Kipu is the leading enterprise software provider serving the substance use, mental health and eating disorders communities with its cloud-based technology platform. KipuEMR, a fully configurable electronic health record and integrated billing platform designed for – and within – the behavioral health industry, is the largest and most widely implemented EMR designed specifically for the addiction treatment industry. Kipu's platform is used daily by more than 80,000 users in more than 1,600 facilities worldwide. The KipuCRM is a companion platform that manages the entire patient lifecycle from first call to admission and integrates call center, referral and marketing campaign management. To read the latest news about Kipu, please visit https://www.kipuhealth.com/kipu-news/ and connect with us on: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn.
Sue Yap
SOURCE KipuHealth
similar links
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text:
Lady Lions' split of the Hoosier State won't help break into the polls
Posted by Mike at 7:00 AM
Nikki Greene (Photo: PSU)
It was an up-down end of the week for Penn State, but it's always better to finish strong. That's just what the Lady Lions did against Indiana in the BJC on Sunday, pulling away from the Hoosiers for an 82-69 win. The W came after a rather deflating performance in West Lafayette on Thursday, as the Boilermakers downed PSU 79-69.
Before this weekend, I started hearing grumbles--fully justified, I might add--about Penn State's lack of recognition in the major polls. Coming into the Purdue game, Penn State had a nice 31 spot in the RPI, with the 65th toughest schedule in women's hoops. That included a victory over a Texas Tech team that started the season 16-1 before dropping the past two to No. 13 Oklahoma and No. 2 Baylor.
Of course, losing to a mediocre Purdue team by 10 doesn't exactly do much to get you into the polls. The Boilermakers are a traditional power in the Big Ten, but now sitting at 13-7 with a loss Sunday to Michigan, there was really no excuse for Penn State to drop the game to Purdue. It's that kind of loss that prevents a team like Penn State from breaking away from the conference pack--something that was totally doable this week.
Penn State is now eligible for the Tournament, but with another bad loss like the one at Purdue, the Lady Lions can kiss goodbye what should be a locked up spot in the NCAAs.
Purdue 79, Penn State 69:
Sophomore guard Alex Bentley (Indianapolis, Ind.) paced four Lady Lions in double figures with 14 points.
Bentley also added five assists, four rebounds and three steals. Freshman guard Maggie Lucas (Narberth, Pa.) was 4-for-6 from the field en route to 13 points and a pair of steals, while senior guard/forward Julia Trogele (Devon, Pa.) accounted for 12 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Junior guard Zhaque Gray (Chicago, Ill.) chipped in 12 points and sophomore center Nikki Greene (Diboll, Texas) accounted for eight points, a game-best 11 rebounds and two blocks. Greene becomes just the seventh player in school history to surpass the 100-block mark for her career.
Penn State 82, Indiana 69:
The Lady Lions had a Jordan Center record 61 rebounds, while the Hoosiers had 36 boards. Sophomores Mia Nickson (Ashburn, Va.) and Nikki Greene (Diboll, Texas) combined to outrebound the Hoosiers with 17 and 20 caroms, respectively.
Nickson posted her third career double-double with 25 points and a personal-best 17 rebounds, including 14 offensive boards. The sophomore tied her career high with six steals against the Hoosiers. Sophomore Alex Bentley (Indianapolis, Ind.) added 15 points, four rebounds and five assists in the win, while freshman guard Maggie Lucas (Narberth, Pa.) had 16 points and four rebounds.
Greene's 20 boards are the most by a Penn State player since Vicki Link pulled in 20 boards against Rutgers on Feb. 16, 1987. She ties Michigan State's Kristen Rasmussen (12/30/97) for the Bryce Jordan Center rebounding record. Greene also blocked five shots and tallies six points in the win. The Lady Lions pulled in 33 offensive rebounds, but only managed 19 second-chance points.
The Lady Lions travel to Champaign to face Illinois on Thurs., Jan. 27 before returning to home to face Ohio State on Sunday, Jan. 30 at 2 p.m.
Labels: Indiana, Lady Lions, NCAA Tournament, Purdue, Women's College Basketball


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Kraken Robotics Inc. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Kraken Robotic Systems Inc. has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The data and information OER collect can be used to enhance ocean research, inform policy and management decisions, develop new lines of scientific inquiry, and advise NOAA and the United States on critical issues.
The agreement signed between Kraken and NOAA's OER defines a joint research and development partnership exploring the application of Kraken's underwater sensor and robotic technologies and systems to NOAA's ocean observation charter in potentially more effective (less expensive, better results, more environmentally friendly) ways. The collaboration is directly responsive to NOAA's OER mission of reducing unknowns in deep-ocean areas and providing high-value environmental intelligence.
Testing of Kraken's AquaPix Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) system aboard an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and/or towed system (KATFISH) on a NOAA vessel. This test would involve the integration and in-situ test of this technology aboard a NOAA vessel. This test will provide both parties with experience at sea while collecting data for further analysis, with NOAA providing sea time and Kraken will provide mapping sensor equipment. Mapping data will be shared by both Kraken and NOAA for analysis.
Testing of Kraken's SeaVision laser scanner integrated aboard NOAA ROV systems and/or a Kraken ROV. Testing this technology in the field will give both Kraken and NOAA the opportunity to evaluate this new technology in the field at depths as great as 6,000m and advance underwater scanning technologies. NOAA will provide sea time and Kraken will provide mapping sensor and equipment. 3D scanning data will be shared by both Kraken and NOAA for analysis.
Testing of other Kraken mapping systems, sensors, batteries and robotic systems at sea, and transferring of data in real time from NOAA vessels to land based monitoring and command stations which will further benefit ocean exploration and the development of technologies.


text:
10 questions for Loudmouth Collective's…
10 questions for Loudmouth Collective's producting artistic director Natalie Novacek
Natalie Novcacek
"Bright New Boise" with Adam Whisner and Karen Wiese-Thompson
PUBLISHED: January 14, 2015 at 11:01 pm | UPDATED: October 29, 2015 at 3:10 am
Natalie Novacek describes herself as a "theatrical Sherpa."
The director does not haul sleeping bags up the side of Mount Everest, but Novacek does get a charge out of assembling a group of collaborators and helping them climb to their ultimate goal: the truth of a play.
Novacek is producing artistic director of Loudmouth Collective, whose production of Samuel D. Hunter's "A Bright New Boise," opens Friday. Founded in 2012 by Novacek and Christian Carter, who has since moved to Seattle, Loudmouth became a thing almost by accident.
"Christian was a super-good friend and we gelled as far as the plays we were interested in and how we wanted to do them, so we thought, 'Let's make a show,' " says Novacek, 30, a native of Roseau. That show was "Gruesome Playground Injuries." It led to more productions and, "next thing we knew, we had a theater company."
Loudmouth Collective does two shows a year, usually new work, always by living playwrights. Novacek emphasizes collaboration, both artistically and financially (55 percent of Loudmouth's budget goes to stipends for its artists), and she is intent on creating rehearsal rooms where everyone feels comfortable sharing whatever they want to share.
"Often, it's people you would all take to the same dinner party," Novacek says. "It's about listening to their ideas and personal connections, if they want to share them. I want to allow space for ideas that are not mine. A place where you're being heard does a whole lot — not only for bonding people — but also for making them feel like they want to be in the room with you."
Ironically, "A Bright New Boise," which is directed by Novacek, is about people who don't seem to belong in a room together. The second Hunter play to have its Twin Cities premiere in the last three months (the other was Walking Shadow Theatre's "The Whale"), "Boise" is about a man who returns to the town — and to the son — he abandoned as a young man.
"The thing I love about Sam Hunter is he puts people in a room together who would actually never be together," Novacek says. "That's what I think is interesting about his plays: They're stories we haven't heard and people we haven't seen on stage. So, making the play is about figuring out how these characters, who don't seem like they should be together, fit."
Novacek became aware of Hunter at the University of Texas, where she is in the graduate theater program (she has undergrad degrees in theater and psychology from Moorhead State). Novacek splits her time between Austin, Texas, and the Twin Cities.
One of the challenges of her work is getting the rights to plays. Loudmouth ended up with "Boise" only after the company abandoned plans to produce "A Steady Rain," for which the Guthrie won the rights, and "The Flick," an off-Broadway smash whose rights were pulled after producers decided to give it a return engagement in New York.
"Everyone has their eyes on the prize, so a lot of us are looking at the same plays," Novacek says. "I think that's really exciting, because it means we're getting new work here in the Twin Cities that they're talking about across the country but I'm hoping, at least for Loudmouth, that we can become a part of developing new work, too."
One thing that may help Novacek as she wrangles for plays is that she says Loudmouth is aptly named.
"People who know me and Christian would say, 'Of course that's what those two call their theater company,' " Novacek says with a chuckle. "But I think it's also about an honesty and bluntness and a desire to say the thing you want to say without skirting around it. That's how we all work with each other and that's what the work we're interested in is like: It cuts to the core. It's a little loud."
Even so, as Novacek's answers to our 10 questions reveal, there are times when she clams up:
Q. What are you thinking when a performance is about to begin?
A. I usually have to do some sort of speech and that is my least favorite part of the job. I tend to be far more nervous about standing in front of people than having them see the play we've made. So I'm probably at the box office, taking a shot of whisky or vodka or whatever is handy.
Q. What's your motto?
A. There's this incredible quote from Emile Zola: "If you ask me why I came here, I will tell you I came to live out loud." I think that's my motto. That or, "Suck it up, Novacek."
Q. What would you do if you had a million dollars?
A. I would pay off my student loan debt. Then, I would spend a lot of money to make beautiful theater for all of my lovely artist friends to come and work for real money.
Q. Where is your favorite place to be?
A. On my couch.
Q. Who would play you in a movie?
A. Who is the loudest, brashest gal I can think of? You know what? I'm going to say Fran Drescher.
Q. What's the scariest thing you've ever done?
A. I moved across the country to go back to school. That was terrifying. I had one friend from high school who lived (in Austin, Texas).
Q. When did you know you wanted to be in the theater?
A. I was in high school and we used to take these field trips to Minneapolis to see shows at the Jungle and the Guthrie. I went to a performance of "Amadeus" at the Guthrie and, as I was sitting in the audience, listening to one of Salieri's big monologues, I knew that was what I wanted to do with my life.
Q. What was your first job?
A. I made pizzas at Pizza Ranch.
Q. What's the best thing about your job?
A. Now that I'm in school, I get to do so much traveling because we have fabulous entrees provided by our faculty members. My favorite thing is to see amazing work around the country and meet all of these fabulous and generous people who have weirdo connections to each other. I love going around the country and inevitably meeting someone who knows someone with whom I'm a dear friend.
Q. Who do you admire most?
A. I've always been a big fan of Julie Taymor (who co-created the stage version of "The Lion King" and the film "Across the Universe"). She makes these stunningly beautiful, visually amazing productions that are inspired by established stories or brand-new stories. I've always loved her. The thing I most admire is I know nobody can think of her name now without thinking, "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark." So, yeah, she fell flat on her face with that. But she got back up and kept doing it.
Chris Hewitt can be reached at 651-228-5552. Follow him on twitter.com/ChrisHMovie.
What: "A Bright New Boise"
When: Through Jan. 25
Where: Open Eye Figure Theatre, 506 E. 24th St., Mpls.
Tickets: $15-$10, 612-643-1231, loudmouthcollective.com


text:
Aguero brings City closer to Premier League title
Emery puts up a brave face as Arsenal humbled by the Foxes
Published: April 28, 2019 20:15 AFP
Manchester City's Sergio Aguero (left) celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Premier League match against Burnley at Turf Moor in Burnley on Sunday. Image Credit: AP
Burnley: Sergio Aguero's 20th Premier League goal of the season left Manchester City just two wins from the title after a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Burnley at Turf Moor on Sunday.
Aguero, who has now scored nine times in his past eight appearances against Burnley, struck in the 63rd minute, with a shot that only just crossed the line despite the best efforts of defender Matt Lowton to keep it out, although goal-line technology was needed to award the goal.
The win takes City on to 92 points, one ahead of Liverpool, with two games to play.
Victories at home to Leicester a week on Monday, and away at Brighton the following Sunday will see Pep Guardiola's side retain their English title.
For the first time in months, City's elimination from the Champions League means they will crucially have a free midweek to prepare for those key matches.
By contrast, Liverpool must travel to Newcastle next weekend, either side of the two legs of their Champions League semi-final against Barcelona, before hosting Wolves on May 12.
City have now won 12 consecutive Premier League games but they had to work to maintain their composure against the Clarets.
Earlier, Arsenal manager Unai Emery insisted he was "proud" of his players after they were humbled for the third time in a week, losing 3-0 at Leicester.
The Gunners conceded three goals in three successive top-flight matches for the first time since 1967 in defeats to Crystal Palace, Wolves and Leicester leaving their top-four hopes hanging by a thread.
Guardiola's side enjoyed the bulk of possession, but found creating clear chances difficult. When they did, Burnley goalkeeper Tom Heaton was in excellent form.
Heaton, a former Manchester United reserve, made two excellent saves in the opening minutes of the second half. He was alert at his near post to beat away Aguero's shot, after Raheem Sterling's neat flick had created the opening, before beating out Bernardo Silva's snap shot at the end of a goalmouth scramble.
In the closing moments of the first half, Aguero over-hit a pass down the left for Leroy Sane, resulting in the ball rolling out of play, and the German responded by turning to his teammate and flinging his arms out in despair.
Eventually, though, City's patience was rewarded. Bernardo Silva's low ball into the middle found Aguero, who, with his back to goal and minimal space to work with, managed to fashion a shot that beat Heaton.
Lowton, on the line, looked to have blocked the shot with his chest, but the ball looped up and just crossed the line before he could recover to clear it.
Praising his players, Emery nevertheless blamed the first-half red card shown to defender Ainsley Maitland-Niles for the latest loss.
Maitland-Niles was booked for a shove on Ben Chilwell before collecting a second yellow card for a foul on James Maddison at the King Power Stadium.
"I don't agree with the first yellow card," said Emery. "I don't think it was a yellow card.
Jamie Vardy scored twice as Arsenal's hopes of Champions League football suffered another serious setback as familiar failings saw the 10-man Gunners lose 3-0.
Leicester's Youri Tielemans opened the scoring at the King Power Stadium in the second half and Vardy netted twice for the Foxes after the visitors had defender Ainsley Maitland-Niles dismissed for two bookable offences before half-time.
It's Mahrez's Algeria versus Mane's Senegal in final
du LaLiga HPC emerge champions of Iber Cup in Spain
Nicolo Cugilanich topscorer of the tournament with 12 goals
Pogba sets up Rashford in United's win over Perth
Neymar renews war of words with Paris St Germain
BCCI to check on Kohli-Rohit rift
England 'mistakenly' awarded extra run in final
We had Allah with us: Eoin Morgan
Cricket World Cup: A farce that had no boundaries
Ben Stokes redeems himself from zero to hero
England is the new king of cricket through thriller


text:
Space Junk Could Provide a Perfect Hiding Spot for Tiny Spy Satellites
Han Solo hid the Millennium Falcon in a cloud of trash, and the same method could hide satellites in low-Earth orbit.
By Joe Pappalardo
United Launch Alliance
As long as we've been launching spy sats into space, we've been trying to find ways to hide them from the enemy. Now, thanks to the small sat revolution—and a growing amount of space junk—America has a new way to mask its spying in orbit.
One of the emerging trends of the 21st century is the shrinking size of space satellites, and the hope of replacing large spacecraft with constellations of smaller ones flying in lower orbits. It's no secret that the same pattern holds true for spy sats. The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has not been shy about funding small sat launchers to loft payloads into space—payloads that could hide amid the thousands of objects now in low-Earth orbit.
"The part of my career I don't talk much about was working with the military on small sats," says Jim Cantrell, industry veteran and founder of the launch company Vector. "We were trying to work with the military to find out the utility of these very small things, including CubeSats ... one man's space debris is another man's weapons system, right?"
A Mission Cloaked in Secrecy
ULA's Atlas V rocket is theNRO's preferred method for sending satellites into low-Earth orbit.
Patrick H. Corkery / United Launch Alliance
Public discussions about the military benefits of small satellites usually focus on the launches. CubeSats are indeed cheaper to fly and can be flown with fewer delays, since the space rockets are smaller and can even be shot from airplanes.
But the actions and tactics of the orbital spycraft themselves are often left unmentioned, since it's so sensitive. "Observability of objects in space is not a topic that most people talk very much about, and I really don't want to go into it," said Cantrell, whose company Vector has current DoD contracts. "Suffice to say there's a great military interest."
The National Reconnaissance Office, the operator of many of the U.S.'s spy sats, refused to answer any questions about ways to hide small sats in orbit. Officials there did acknowledge that they are interested in all sizes of spacecraft if it helps their jobs, especially if the private sector is developing them anyway.
"One man's space debris is another man's weapons system, right?"
"The NRO uses small satellites today—along with big satellites, medium satellites and CubesSats," NRO spokeswoman Loretta DeSio told PM in an email. "Physics sometimes demands a bigger satellite to fill mission requirements. However, the mission capability small satellites are able to provide has significantly improved with advances in parts and components, and investment from private industry. We would expect that trend to continue —and we will continue to leverage the opportunities those improvements offer us."
It's getting clear, even in these carefully couched terms, that things are going to get spooky in low-Earth orbit.
Hiding in Plain Sight
1986 DIA illustration of a Soviet anti-satellite weapon.
Defense Intelligence AgencyWikimedia Commons
In 2014, Russia launched a trio of communications satellites. Like any other launch, spent stages and space debris were left behind in space. Air Force Space Command dutifully catalogued them, including a nondescript piece of debris called Object 2014-28E.
Nondescript until it started to move around in space, that is. One thing about orbits; they are supposed to be predictable. When something moves in an unexpected way, the debris is not debris but a spacecraft. And this object was flying close to the spent stages, maneuvering to get closer.
This fueled speculation that the object could be a prototype kamikaze-style sat killer. Other less frantic speculation postulated that it could be used to examine other sats in orbit, either Russia's or those operated by geopolitical foes. Either way, the lesson was learned.
"It's not hard to make it look like space debris from the upper stage," says Todd Harrison, director of the Aerospace Security Project at the think tank CSIS. "That's the hard part about space situational awareness. You're not up close, looking at these things with the naked eye. You're relying on radar reflections and reflections of light from the sun from a certain angle, things like that to deduce what they are."
Whenever a satellite is launched, government uses radar to track whatever goes into space. The U.S. Air Force maintains the official database of orbital activity, examining the way things in orbit change each time it passes overhead.
"The tricky thing about small satellites when we're talking about really small ones, nanosats or CubeSat-sized, is that they start to get difficult to track," says Harrison. "Even in low-Earth orbit, it can be tricky to make sure you're picking them up and tracking the same object every time is passes through. And it can be difficult to distinguish those small sats from other pieces of debris that might be floating around."
Earth's orbit is getting pretty thick with material, so a small spy sat has plenty of places to hide—and it's an environment that changes all the time. "The thing about debris is that it can break up on its own," Harrison says. "There could be a piece from a previous satellite breakup that spontaneously separates into more than one piece and it won't be clear what happened. Are these new objects?"
Eyes Toward the Skies
Illustrated example of satellite tracking via Space Fence.
Modern tracking radar is supposed to map space junk better than ever before. But small spy sats that will hide in the cloud of space debris may go undetected, even by the most sophisticated new radar or Earth-based electronic signals snooping.
The first of two USAF "Space Fence" installations is being built in Kwajalein Island in the deep Pacific while the other will be built in Australia. Because Kwajalein is so close to the equator, the radar screen it projects is well positioned to catch the overhead traffic. Most satellites in low-Earth orbit pass through the fence multiple times a day.
The space surveillance radar it replaces could track 2,000 pieces of space debris, but the S-band radar of the new Space Fence is expected to detect five to ten times more. "No one knows how much, exactly," Bruce Schafhauser, Lockheed's Space Fence program director, told Popular Mechanics earlier this year. "We'll see how much is up there."
Space Fence facility at the Kwajalein atoll.
And that's a problem when it comes to spotting small sats posing as space junk. With all of those new bits of junk plotted, it will be harder to spot strange activity amid the clutter. The same way that turning on your headlights in a snowstorm obscures visibility, seeing more of the space junk environment may make it harder to see the big picture. Officials at Lockheed Martin, maker of the Space Fence, declined to comment for this story.
And the solution isn't just making our scanning technology even better. Ironically, seeing more space junk may make it harder to spot the small spy sats lurking among the debris.
"When it comes online it will be able to pick up objects that are much smaller," Harrison says. "We're probably going to realize there is more debris out there. That's good and bad. Picking up smaller things makes it harder to hide, then again, when you are picking up lots of debris that we never had to track before that can make it easier to hide in the noise."
So What Good Are They?
The Hubble Space Telescope. The NRO's "Key Hole" reconnaissance sats are believed to be a similar size and shape.
RuffnaxWikimedia Commons
Not all sats travel in the same orbits. The NRO's marquee Key Hole–class spy sats are in highly elliptical orbits called Geo Transfer Orbits (GTO). These powerful sats can capture details on the ground with five-inch resolution and pass over every spot on Earth twice a day.
The problem is that these passes are predictable, as orbits tend to be. That gives foes a chance to hide their activities or target the satellite with anti-sat (ASAT) weapons. Small sats make harder targets, and since there are many of them, and more easily replaced, they are considered safer from ASAT attacks.
Small sats don't offer the coverage that comes with a higher altitude. They are at their best in low-Earth orbit, where their operation requires less power. However, chaining a constellation of small sats so that they pass overhead at nearly seamless intervals could cover one area of Earth with persistence.
They can also respond to a crisis. In March, DARPA director Steven Walker listed "very capable low-Earth-orbit satellites" as a way to enhance intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance when troops are deployed.
To combat a spy sat network could mean developing a rival constellation tasked with hunting their signals.
Small sats can also make a big difference as data relays. One thing that every CIA analyst and military user of satellite imagery wants is to get data from space in near real-time. Satellites in various orbits, including spy sats, pass information to each other. Small sats in a lower orbit could send their data to ones in higher orbits, which have broader lines of sight with receivers on the ground, enabling a speedy delivery.
There's an interesting role for small sats that are tasked with signals intelligence missions: they could be ideal for intercepting electronic signals from other satellites.
These snooping sats would be hard to spot because they would be passive, not moving or maneuvering but just drifting in formation, hiding amid the space debris. A network of small sats could act in concert, a synthetic aperture acting as one large antenna to capture RF signals from other sats.
"They could be networked to provide a capability much greater than what a large satellite could provide," Harrison says. "And each one would be difficult to detect and, in theory, could appear to be debris."
The Tiny Satellite Revolution
'Space Fence' Spots Satellites and Orbital Weapons
The Hidden History of the Soviet Satellite-Killer
How Tiny Satellites Will Reveal a Big Universe
Like any other piece of surveillance hardware, there is an opportunity to catch a small spy satellite when it communicates, but there are ways to mask those signals, too. "If you have your small satellites transmit to another satellite, you can use certain parts of the frequency spectrum that the Earth's atmosphere blocks almost completely, like 60 gigahertz, and so no one could detect that from Earth," says Harrison.
The relay would obscure the original source of the information, like laundering money through a bank. The signal could then be beamed down within a routine transmission. Of course, a small satellite could intercept such a signal, so to combat a spy sat network could mean developing a rival constellation tasked with hunting their signals.
That conjures up an interesting vision of the future in low-Earth orbit with shadow networks of disguised sats spying on each other. Like any good spy game, it will happen in silence and in secrecy, but in this case the kind that only space can truly provide. We won't know when it starts and we won't know who's winning. In fact, the game may have already begun.
Joe Pappalardo Joe Pappalardo is a contributing writer at Popular Mechanics and author of the new book, Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight.
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In mid-November, a woman approached me via Flickr, asking permission to use one of my photos (see above) as part of a book interventions and architecture exhibit that would accompany a book fair in Moscow.
After taking an informal poll of my friends, I decided I was being a self-defeating control freak, so I said "yes," as long as she was willing to name the rural bookstore where I'd taken the photo. She agreed.


Chronic will trick us to a place of self-first-ness. We get baited to go there all the time. I just hate it. It's hard to think about much of anything else when chronic pain or disease is right in your face all the time.
Chronic permeates every single thing we try to do. Even the little stuff. Ridiculous stuff. Like, I can't hold my toothbrush. I can't pick up that plate. I can't pull off the toilet paper. The shirt button won't get through the hole and I can't tie my shoes. My hands hurt. My BP is low. My…my…my....I…I….I..... I get it.
I promise, I get it.
Before we know it, everything we do, say, and think automatically runs through the filter of our chronic. RA. Sjogrens. Lupus. Addisons. <insert.the.right.term.> But we are not meant to be self-first people, even when it really is quite justified. At least, in our human thinking.
Fellow CDP's, on the contrary, we are meant to be in community and serve one another. Thinking of others helps us not to think about ourselves so much. A change in mindset. A change of focus. Sometimes the best way to get past the "ick" of a chronic day is to just serve it out. Serve. Service. Others. It just works. Every time. It elevates our mood, helps us eliminate the accidental "lazies" (by calling it "I'm sick today"), and it blesses other people, which we're supposed to do.
Write that thank-you card. Chances are, someone needs this blessing from you.
Make that phone call. A friend or family member probably would love to hear your voice.
Bake those cookies. A piano student brought me cookies just today!
Call that friend for lunch. They'd probably love to see you and you'll enjoy the company!
It slips up on us, friends. It's hard to not let it be the forefront thought of everything. Our battle is different than the average Joe's, and we have to work harder to bypass the thing that's in our face all the time. But be encouraged, it is do-able! You can't be in first position if someone else is in first position. There can only be one "first" and all others are... well... not. So when you find yourself in that tricked place of unintentional, slipped-up-on-me, baited.... Me, Me, Me, I, I, I, .... bust out of it for a little while by investing in others.
Oh – and rock that smile while you're serving…. it looks good on you!
Welcome to the group! Where do I send your updates and free resources ?
Protecting your privacy is very important. I never share your information.


Veracruz, officially known as Heroica Veracruz, is a major port city and municipality on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Veracruz is Mexico's oldest, largest, and historically most significant port since European colonization.
When Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico in 1519, he founded a city here, which he named Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, referring to the area's gold and dedicated to the "True Cross", because he landed on the Christian holy day of Good Friday, the day of the Crucifixion. It was the second Spanish settlement on the mainland of the Americas but the first to receive a coat-of-arms.
The name Veracruz (originally Vera Cruz), derives from the Latin Vera Crux (True Cross). Having established the settlement of Villa Rica (Rich Village) on Good Friday 1519, Cortés dedicated the place to the True Cross as an offering.
During the colonial period, this city had the largest mercantile class and was at times wealthier than the capital of Mexico City. Its wealth attracted the raids of pirates, against which fortifications such as Fort San Juan de Ulúa were built. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Veracruz was invaded on different occasions by France and the United States; the last invasion occurred in 1914 (Tampico Affair).
Venustiano Carranza de la Garza (29 December 1859 – 21 May 1920) was one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution. He ultimately became President of Mexico following the overthrow of the dictatorial Victoriano Huerta regime in the summer of 1914, and during his administration the current constitution of Mexico was drafted. He was assassinated near the end of his term of office at the behest of a cabal of army generals resentful at his insistence that his successor be a civilian.


Plenty Of Friendly Competition At An Incredible Value.
Catering to highly skilled through novice tennis players, the Westfield Tennis Club provides men, women, and children the chance to improve their games, enjoy competitive play, and forge new friendships. The club's 15 tennis courts, 11 of which feature Har-Tru Green Clay surfaces, are meticulously maintained by a full-time groundskeeper. With plenty of tournament, league, and social playing opportunities as well as a friendly, active membership base, the Westfield Tennis Club is a boon to individuals of all ages who want to play tennis at an exceptional facility for an affordable price.
1.5 This player has had limited experience with stroke development and is still working primarily on getting the ball into play.
development/lessons and is not yet familiar with basic positions for singles and doubles.
3.0 This player is fairly consistent when hitting medium-paced shots, but is not comfortable with all strokes and lacks accuracy when trying for directional control, depth, pace or altering distance of shots. Most common doubles formation is one up, one back.
occasionally forces errors when serving. Points may be lost due to impatience. Teamwork in doubles is evident.
player tends to overhit on difficult shots. Aggressive net play is common in doubles.
5.0 This player has good shot anticipation and frequently has an outstanding shot or attribute around which his or her game can be structured.
shots, half volleys, overheads, and has good depth and spin on most second serves.
situations and hit dependable shots in stress situations.
6.5, 7.0 The 6.5 and 7.0 are world-class players.
Do you have a sibling in the club?
Is your spouse a WTC Member?