Once again your team at TGFU saved me. I just wanted to say thank you once again... because you have been there for me at every moment of need that I could ever have.... and you and your company have helped me out with flying colors. Thank you!
Dave is a tremendous asset to your business, which I am sure you are told quite often. I look forward to telling others about my discovery of your shop.


text:
News: The Rotherham restaurants where you can Eat Out to Help Out
By Tom Austen
A smörgåsbord of Rotherham restaurants, bars, cafes and other establishments are taking part in a Government scheme to offer discounts throughout August.
The offer is a 50% discount on food or non-alcoholic drinks to eat or drink in (up to a maximum of £10 discount per diner) every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday between August 3 and 31, as many times as you like.
You don't need a voucher to use the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme and you can use it at the same time as other offers and discounts. There is no minimum spend but alcoholic drinks and service charges are excluded.
Participating establishments will just remove the discount from their bill. Businesses simply reclaim the discounted amount through an online service, supported by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Rotherham venues that have so far registered for the scheme include:
Aston Hall Hotel
Ricardo's Cafe and Bistro
The King Henry
Sir Jack
Brecks
Bay Tree Bistro
Brecks Social Club
Brinsworth
The Centre Community Cafe
JoJo's Cafe
Phoenix Pavillion
No.21 coffee shop & bistro
The Three Magpies
Canklow
Catcliffe
BB's Coffee Shop
Whitby's
Aroma Coffee Shop
Dolcetti Coffee House and Bistro
Monks Bridge Farm
Paulo's
The Royal Elephant
Whiter's Cafe & Bistro
East Dene
Clarky's Sandwich Shop
Yoh! Burger
The Black Lion
Greasbrough
The Mill Dam
Hellaby
Hellaby Hall Hotel
Herringthopre
Kimberworth
Akbar's
The Drawbridge
The Droppingwell
Manor Barn
Kimberworth Park
Ring o Bells
Tuck In Cafe
Kiveton Park
The Cove Coffee House
The Haynook
Queens Hotel
Manvers
Blue Bell Inn
Coffee St.
Manvers Lake Cafe
Onyx Fish Bar
Thai Garden
Brentwood Hotel
North Anston
Little Mester
Parkgate
Caffe Cristinacce
The Fitzwilliam Arms Hotel
Greetings Cafe
Jump INCflated
Parkgate Fisheries
Urban Burger
W&J Bakery & Cafe
Big B's
The Earl Grey
The Marquis
The Bay Horse
Cuccinis
Swallownest
The Cafe at the Corner
Elmwood Farm
The Alder Tree
Broadway Diner
Cinimon
Foodiez
The Kings Head
The Little Siam Tea Room
Potteries Tea Rooms
Spice Lounge
Templeborough
Thorpe Hesley
The Masons Arms
Thorpe Salvin
The Parish Oven
Thurcroft
Thrybergh
Earl of Strafford
The Lord Reresby
Todwick
Greenbean Coffee Shop & Bistro
Churchills Bistro
Ginge's Snap
George Wright Boutique Hotel Bar & Restaurant
Guests Tea Room and Coffee Shop
E'Lupo's
Interchange Cafe
Mecca Bingo
Pantry Green
Rajas
Sabirs Grill
The Plaice To Be
Asia Palace
Aston Springs Farm
Rother Valley Golf Centre
Wath
Cafe Naaz
The Church House
G J's Cafe
The Glasshouse
The George & Dragon
Rockingham Arms
Village Tea Room and Garden
Whiston
The Chequers Inn
The Golden Ball
The Hind
The Sitwell Arms
Wickersley
Chaudrys
Masons Arms
The Olive Lounge
Gas Lamp
Woodlaithes
Woodsetts
The Butchers Arms
The list will be updated as some venues may not have registered yet, or have not re-opened for dining.
Eat Out to Help Out website
Images: HMRC
Labels: business support, food, government, leisure, Rotherham
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Dominion Energy has announced the construction of six new solar farms — three in Virginia and three in North Carolina – to offset the electricity demand of Facebook data centers in the two states. The 590 megawatts of new renewable energy generation will be enough to power 147,000 homes at peak output.
A force for centrism and pragmatism. While Virginia increasingly emulates the hyper-polarized politics of Washington, D.C., a new group has entered the fray. Unite Virginia, an arm of Unite America, held a "Unity breakfast" yesterday in Richmond to honor four Republican and Democratic legislators for their bipartisanship. Unite America, launched in 2013, says it is building a movement to "elect common-sense, independent candidates" to serve people, not party bosses or special interests, reports The Virginia Mercury. The organization will make endorsements and contribute to Virginia General Assembly campaigns this year.
Conservation easements don't just block projects like pipelines, highways and electric transmission lines. As demonstrated in Powhatan County Monday, they can block solar farms as well.
Faced with skepticism from the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors, Cartersville Solar LLC has withdrawn a proposal to build a solar farm on a 3,000-acre tract of property, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
The proposal had encountered opposition from Powhatan residents. Citizens commenting at public hearings cited negative ecological impact on protected wetlands — the only remaining wildlife corridor connecting the James and Appomattox rivers — and on rare and endangered species.
Where are the social justice warriors? SJWs are super sensitive to subtle signs of "institutional racism." Perhaps they should focus on the widespread incompetence in Virginia's local foster care systems. For instance: A Virginian-Pilot investigation has found "a pattern of mismanagement, retribution and poor performance" in Norfolk's foster care program. "Employees say they saw the foster care program go from bad to worse. It started with children languishing in foster care for years, with little done to get them adopted. In more recent years, case workers say they've been pressured to get kids off the foster care rolls by any means necessary, even if that sometimes meant putting the children in harm's way." Sometimes foster children have been placed in situations where they have been assaulted and sexually molested. These children are disproportionately African-American. Why hasn't this failed system become a cause celebre of the Left? Could it be that it doesn't fit The Narrative?
Metro free falling. Ridership on the Washington Metro system continues its steady decline, sinking to fewer than 600,000 average weekday trips for the first since since 2000, according to the Washington Post. Ridership peaked in 2008 at 750,000 weekday trips. The passenger rail system, plagued by safety and maintenance issues, has been engaged in a SafeTrack rebuilding program that may account for some of the loss. But the system suffers chronic problems, such as too few trains, too many service disruptions, and the emergence of ride-hailing alternatives such as Uber and Lyft.
Environmentalists have created a monster. They have engendered a climate of hysteria by hyping risks for everything from global warming to coal ash, water quality to environmental racism. They have mastered the art of throwing every conceivable objection against the wall to see what sticks. They have perfected the strategy of question, question, delay, delay, obstruct, obstruct, sue, sue. Now, in the Spotsylvania County controversy over a solar farm, their tactics are biting them in the hindquarters.
After a nine-hour meeting at which more than 100 people spoke, reports the Virginia Mercury, the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors delayed yesterday a decision on whether a 500-megawatt solar facility will be built in the western part of the county.
Source: "Lazard's Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis." Click graphic for more legible image.
As Virginia hurtles towards a renewable energy future with lots of solar and wind power, ratepayers and taxpayers should acquaint themselves with the complexities of Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) analysis. LCOE incorporates the costs associated with electricity generation — up-front capital costs, fuel costs, ongoing operations and maintenance costs — to compare the economic viability of conventional and renewable energy sources with very different characteristics.
In almost anybody's analysis, the cost of utility-scale solar power in Virginia is highly favorable. The up-front capital costs are modest, fuel costs are zero, and ongoing operations and maintenance costs low. A heavy reliance on solar, an intermittent energy source that varies with the level of sunlight, does raise issues of system reliability. But as an energy source, it's the cheapest around. However, the same cannot be said of smaller-scale solar projects or wind power.
The Lazard Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis is widely regarded as one of the most authoritative comparisons of LCOE. The chart above shows Lazard's calculation of LCOE for the major categories of conventional and renewable energy. Utility-scale solar is the least expensive. Community solar and commercial & industrial rooftop solar are considerably more expensive but potentially competitive, and residential rooftop are not remotely competitive on cost. Nearly all of Virginia's solar is utility-scale. Although environmentalist and activist groups are fighting for more community and residential solar, those categories are likely to remain marginal contributors to Virginia's energy mix — options for those whose environmental consciences weigh heavier than their pocketbooks.
Wind power is a trickier issue. Lazard shows the LCOE ranging from $30 to $60 per megawatt/hour (or 3 to 6 cents per kilowatt/hour). Even the higher-cost wind is cheaper than all conventional sources excepting combined-cycle natural gas (large gas plants that burn gas with jet-like turbines and recycle the waste heat to run steam generators).
However, LCOE analysis depends upon various assumptions that may or may not pan out. Lazard's "wind" numbers are based primarily upon the cost of generating wind on land, not establishing an offshore wind sector on the Atlantic Coast from scratch. The only thing we know for certain is that early adopters of offshore wind, who build before a supporting infrastructure is fully established, will pay more.
Another critical question is how many years wind turbines last before they must be retired. Coal, gas, and nuclear power sources are assumed to last 30 to 40 years, although some have lasted longer. The National Energy Energy Laboratory, accused by some of having a fossil fuel bias, says solar has a 25-year to 40-year economic life, but wind turbines only a 20-year life. I don't know what life span Lazard assumes for wind, but I did find a LCOE analysis for wind power in Iceland that assumes a 25-year life.
Writing in the Center of the American Experiment, Isaac Orr notes, however, that 14 turbines in an industrial wind facility in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin, "has been decommissioned after just 20 years of service because the turbines are no longer cost effective to maintain and operate" — confirming the NREL assessment.
If the NREL numbers are accurate, the implications for Virginia's energy future are significant. The Grid Modernization and Security Act of 2018 enshrined the goal of increased wind power as in the "public interest." The State Corporation Commission has protested the cost of electricity generated from two proposed experimental wind turbines would be astonishingly high but approved the project anyway because the General Assembly, without conducting any of its own analysis, had declared it to be necessary.
The two experimental turbines are mere prelude to development of a much larger, 2-gigawatt offshore wind farm at cost of billions of dollars. Thanks to economies of scale in erecting offshore turbines, the levelized cost of the larger wind project will be a fraction of that of the experimental project. But if the 20-year life span of the Wisconsin turbines is any guide, wind turbines may not last as long as assumed, and may cost more. Moreover, we still don't have any data on how well wind turbines will hold up in East Coast conditions — especially when buffeted by hurricane winds and waves.
Complicating the analysis, a kilowatt of electricity generated by a conventional fuel source upon command is worth more for maintaining grid reliability than a kilowatt generated by a renewable energy source delivered only when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing.
Not that it matters. In its wisdom, the General Assembly has mandated wind generation with no clear idea of what it will cost.
The Northam administration's 2018 Virginia Energy Plan is the environmental movement's dream come true. The administration is going "all in" for solar power, offshore wind energy, distributed energy resources, energy efficiency, and electric vehicles. Under the plan, Virginia won't be as aggressive as California, which has set a goal of a 100% carbon-free electric grid by 2045, but it would follow the same trajectory.
Solar and onshore wind. Of the 5,000 MW of solar and wind resources deemed in the public interest under Senate Bill 966, 3,000 MW should come from solar and onshore wind. Specific proposals include expanding corporate clean energy offerings; enhancing collaboration on the siting of large solar and wind facilities; and expanding the net metering program, the power purchase agreement program, and the community solar program. The Energy Plan recommends increasing the Commonwealth's renewable energy procurement target to 16% by 2022.
Offshore wind. The Energy Plan calls for building the 12 MW offshore wind demonstration project — two test turbines to show how well novel designs can withstand hurricane conditions — and then to develop 2,000 MW of offshore wind potential by 2028.
Energy efficiency. The plan calls for increasing utility-funded energy-efficiency programs to $100 million per year for Dominion Energy and $15 million per hear for Appalachian Power Co., as well as expanding state-sponsored energy-efficiency programs. The Commonwealth should set a goal of reducing retail electricity consumption by 10% by 2022 (using 2006 as a baseline) and consumption in state buildings by 20%.
Energy storage. Recognizing that intermittent wind and solar energy sources pose threats to the stability and reliability of the electric grid, the Energy Plan discusses pumped hydroelectric storage, lithium-ion batteries, and solid-state batteries. However, the plan makes no specific recommendations on which technologies or approaches should be adopted.
Electric vehicles. The Energy Plan calls for promoting the deployment of electric vehicles and using their battery storage capabilities to shift electric load to times that better align with solar and wind output. The state should adopt the Advanced Clean Cars program, develop a comprehensive electric-vehicle transportation plan, and set targets for building an electric-vehicle charging infrastructure.
The Energy Plan provides no estimate of what the sum total of these initiatives would cost nor who would pay for them. While the plan does address the challenge of matching solar and wind output with daily electric load, it does not explore how the system would hold up under rare-but-recurring extreme weather events such as hurricanes or the Polar Vortex. The document can best be seen as a roadmap for where the Northam administration and its allies in the environmental movement would like to take the state.
Solar power is looking better and better by comparison to wind power, and that's a good thing for Virginia.
Problems with an energy-production source often don't become evident for decades. That certainly was the case with coal and oil. Now, a couple of decades after the widespread deployment of wind turbines, we're learning about a downside of wind. Compared to Deepwater Horizon-scale oil spills and mountaintop-removal coal mining, flying turbine debris may be small potatoes. But as we think about our energy future, the comparison isn't between wind and coal or oil — no one is building new coal or oil plants — it's between wind and solar. The great virtue of solar panels is that they just sit there… except when hurricanes tear them off their mountings. But, then, high winds are a problem for wind turbines, too.
Assuming we can design and test turbines to withstand hurricane-force winds, there will be a place for wind in Virginia's long-term energy future. Wind turbines work at night, which solar panels do not, so they can partially offset the daily drop-off in solar production. Furthermore, if Virginia taps large-scale wind resources, most turbines will be located offshore. Flying turbine blades are less of a problem when people are 20 miles away. But solar power poses none of these issues, and solar is being rolled out on a large scale today. Right now.
The biggest barrier to solar power in Virginia isn't technology, it isn't grid reliability (not at this stage of development) and it isn't obstruction in Richmond. State law now proclaims large volumes of renewable energy to be in the public interest, and Virginia's largest utility, Dominion Energy Virginia, is forecasting the deployment of more than 5,000 megawatts of solar in its service territory alone. The biggest barrier is local zoning codes, as we are reminded by a story today in The News Virginian.
The Augusta County Board of Supervisors adopted an ordinance yesterday by a narrow 4-3 vote that allows for the leasing of county land for solar energy use. However, critics said the requirement for a 1,000-foot setback from other residences will discourage solar development. The ordinance also does not allow for solar projects on land zoned industrial.
Roger Willetts, who owns the 44 acres in Stuarts Draft, said his property is taxed $6,000 a year by the county. But he said if a solar farm is allowed, he could generate $60,000 in revenue a year. "I think it is an appropriate use. It won't employ anybody and it won't have any bathrooms," Willett told supervisors.
But under the ordinance approved Wednesday, Willetts' property would be excluded because solar energy on industrial land is not allowed.
Augusta County, situated in a once-beautiful stretch of the Shenandoah Valley, is not a "rural" county with pristine viewsheds of farms and forests. It is characterized by what I call "rural sprawl" — scattered, low-density residential, commercial and industrial development smeared across the countryside. The viewsheds are despoiled already. Sad to say, solar farms aren't any uglier than what's already there.
Everywhere a developer proposes to build a solar farm — arguably the most benign form of energy production known to man — the NIMBYs come out and call for restrictions. NIMBYs don't want gas pipelines. They don't want electric transmission lines. They don't want wind turbines. They don't even want solar farms.
Ironically, solar power could be a boon to the sluggish economies of Virginia's non-metropolitan cities and counties. Not only do Virginia's electric utilities envision more solar, the potential exists for Virginia, long a net importer of energy from other states, to export solar power. Virginia is the southern-most state (excluding the northeast corner of North Carolina) in the PJM electric transmission region. For both political and business reasons, there is an insatiable demand for more renewable power within that 13-state region, which stretches from Virginia north to New Jersey and Illinois. Much of that demand comes from Virginia itself, the nation's leading location for data centers, because West Coast cloud providers insist upon renewable energy sources. PJM creates a wholesale market for that region, which makes it easier for energy producers located within it to sell into the wholesale market than it is for energy producers on the outside.
While wind-swept Midwestern states in the PJM region are better situated for wind, Virginia is the best situated for solar. As the southern-most state, the Old Dominion has greater solar energy potential — more sunny days and a latitude closer to the equator — than its northern neighbors. As seen in the table above, Virginia has the highest percentage of sun — defined as the percentage of time between sunrise and sunset that sunshine reaches the ground — as well as the largest number of annual hours of sunlight of any PJM state.
Local government officials in Virginia should think of solar power as an economic development tool. Solar farms provide a royalty-income stream to landowners, and they augment the local tax base. While they create few long-term jobs, they do deliver a burst of short-term construction work. As utilities invest in grid modernization, Virginia can provide solar energy for its own needs — up to 30% of the electricity supply, some say, without diminishing grid reliability — and it can export green power to states to the north. This looks like a once-in-a-generation economic opportunity for rural Virginia. Let's not blow it!
Governor Ralph Northam is committed to solar energy in Virginia. So is the General Assembly. So are Virginia environmentalists, investor-owned utilities and entrepreneurial solar developers. Now all we have to do is convince the people of rural Virginia that installing massive arrays of solar panels in their neighborhoods poses no threat to their quality of life.
I've documented numerous instances of resistance to solar projects around the state on this blog. Here are a couple more.
Campbell County. The Campbell County Board of Supervisors is moving forward with an ordinance to regulate solar farms, three of which have been proposed for the Central Virginia county, reports the News & Advance. Much of the discussion at a hearing yesterday focused on the noticeable hum emitted by solar inverters, which convert the electricity from solar panels into a form that can enter the electric grid. One supervisor argued for a 200- to 300-foot setback for the devices, which can generate noise at a level comparable to an air conditioner or dishwasher. Other supervisors rejected the idea, but the ordinance does require solar projects to conduct traffic studies and decommissioning studies.
Culpeper County. Meanwhile, a standing-room-only crowd turned out for a public hearing yesterday on a proposed 1,900-acre solar farm in Culpeper County. Concerns included impacts to view sheds in the area, screening, construction noise, setbacks and property values, reports the Free Lance-Star.
Bacon's bottom line: I find noise concerns laughable. If inverters required 200-foot setbacks to mitigate an air conditioner-level hum, so would every new house constructed in Campbell County! Is construction work on solar panels louder and more objectionable than construction work on convenience stores, housing subdivisions and manufacturing plants? As for traffic impact, c'mon, a solar farm might generate two or three trips on a typical day. Solar farms are about as low-impact an activity as it's possible to get. Even cemeteries see more action!
Even more non-solar visual blight.
People may have a point about the aesthetic impact of solar farms upon bucolic rural views. But, dude, why just pick on solar farms? I've seen plenty of run-down shacks, gas stations, and industrial structures barns in rural Virginia that no one gets exercised about. Why not clean them up, too?
Solar's time has arrived. Virginia was prudent to not mandate solar power when the technology was more primitive and the electric output far more expensive than it is today. But costs have plummeted, and a big chunk of solar in the electric-generating mix makes economic sense. Plus, solar is clean. Even if you don't lay awake at night worrying about global warming — which I certainly don't — that's a major bonus. Get with the program, people! Solar farms bring tax and royalty revenue into your community. Find something else to worry about!
There's a good chance that Virginia will participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to cut utility CO2 emissions. The impact of the cap-and-trade system would be mostly symbolic.
Barring litigation, Virginia could start participating later this year in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI, pronounced Reggie), a cap-and-trade program designed to reduce CO2 emissions of electric utilities and large industrial customers by 30% over a 10-year period. All it will take is for the State Air Pollution Control Board to approve regulations, now undergoing public comment, that have been drafted by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
Cap-and-trade programs have proven highly cost effective at bringing down emissions in sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide, and proponents say that a similar approach could work just as well for carbon-dioxide, widely held to be the primary driver of global warming. Cap-and-trade, they say, avoids the inefficiencies of bureaucratic command-and-control regulations. Instead, the auction arrangement steers power output to entities that can reduce CO2 emissions the most cost effectively. Not only will RGGI cut emissions, they contend, it will flatten electric rate increases, lower electric bills, and stimulate economic growth.
The program could impose $530 million in additional costs on Virginia customers between 2020 and 2030.
In effect, Virginia will subsidize other RGGI states through lower compliance costs to the tune of $876 million over the decade.
Virginia's linkage to RGGI will not reduce CO2 emissions. To the contrary, the auctions will increase CO2 output by 5.7% more than it would have been otherwise.
A big reason RGGI proponent's optimistic forecasts won't pan out, Dominion says, is that there is a geographic mismatch between the RGGI states and PJM Interconnection, the wholesale market of which Virginia is a part. The nine RGGI states are concentrated in the Northeast; the 14 states of PJM are located in the Mid-Atlantic and the Midwest. The only overlap between the two are Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. Because Dominion, Appalachian Power Co., and other electricity producers don't control which power sources are dispatched to meet electric demand — PJM does — generators in Virginia would suffer a cost disadvantage compared to competitors in neighboring states not subject to RGGI, such as North Carolina and West Virginia.
"The effect of RGGI-equivalent reduction requirements in Virginia is likely to limit the dispatch of highly-efficient and lower-emitting [natural gas combined-cycle] facilities in Virginia and to encourage the dispatch of higher-emitting resources and increased emissions in neighboring states outside of the RGGI region," states the IRP.
But environmentalists insist the cap-and-trade program will be beneficial. "Carbon pollution is a big contributor to climate change. Cap-and-trade is a market-based way of dealing with that environmental problem," says Will Cleveland, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.
In 2009 ten Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states accounting for one-eighth of the U.S. population and one-seventh of its economic activity created the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative as an interstate cap-and-trade program. Broadening the geographic scope of the trading system beyond the boundaries of a single state, it was thought, would create a bigger pool of CO2-cutting opportunities.
Under RGGI's "direct" auction trading system, RGGI sets a regional limit on the total amount of CO2 that power plants in member states are allowed to emit. Owners of fossil fuel power plants with capacity greater than 25 megawatts are assigned an allowance to release a certain amount of CO2. Then they are required to purchase pollution permits at quarterly auctions sufficient to meet that output. The plan is for RGGI to ratchet the CO2 allowances by 3% each year over a decade. Utilities and big industrial producers who can't find ways internally to cut their CO2 emissions can go to the auctions to buy extra allowances. Power generators who can find ways to cut emissions economically can sell their excess allowances to those who need them.
Four percent of the nation's power supply is used to power data centers. That figure will increase to 10% within the next decade. Meanwhile, major cloud providers are demanding clean energy sources consistent with their corporate values. For example, Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Facebook have joined the RE100 initiative committing them to generate 100% of their power from renewable sources.
Those numbers come from Garret Bean, vice president of development for sPower, the group behind Sustainable Power Group LLC's proposal to build a 500-megawatt solar farm in Spotsylvania County. He spoke yesterday at the 2018 Virginia Energy Conference. Virginia Business has the story here.
It's a lot easier to "live your values" when the price of generating a kilowatt of solar power has dropped from $96 in 1970 to about 4 cents today. Between developments on the supply side and the demand side, the potential exists to build a whole lot of solar in Virginia. Indeed, Bean counts some 212 solar companies and 22 manufacturers in Virginia vying for a piece of the action.
What makes Virginia a particularly attractive place to prospect, despite solar's slow start here, is that the state is ground zero for building new data centers. High bandwidth connectivity is critical infrastructure for data centers, and 70% of the world's internet traffic flows through the commonwealth.
At present Virginia gets about half of one percent of its electricity from the sun. Inherently variable solar output doesn't create grid reliability issues until it accounts for 20% or more of the electricity supply, so there's plenty of room to grow.
Industrial-scale solar farm in California.
If you're curious what an industrial-scale solar farm will look like, check out Sustainable Power Group LLC's proposed 3,500-acre solar facility in Spotsylvania County. The Utah company wants to build a 500-megawatt electric power generating station that would entail building approximately 1 million solar panels.
The proposed facility would produce enough energy to power all of Spotsylvania's nearly 46,000 homes nearly twice over, but the company plans to sell the power to corporations throughout Virginia and possibly other states. Microsoft Corp. has said it plans to buy more than half of the energy produced by the solar farm to power its data centers in Virginia.
Think about it: 3,500 acres is more than five square miles. That's a lot of land. Virginia, by way of reference, is 42,775 square miles. Let's say the solar farms can supply electricity to 90,000 homes (at peak sunlight). It would take nearly 500 square miles of solar panels to supply all the homes in the state — and considerably more to supply all the businesses. We could be talking about solar panels covering 1% of Virginia's land mass. This is a major land use issue.
In the early stage of Virginia's solar development, developers are cherry-picking the prime sites — land located near existing transmission lines that spares the necessity of building power lines to tie into the grid. Rural residents seem to be highly ambivalent about solar farms as it is. Just imagine what will happen if all the good sites are taken and developers have to begin building transmission spurs to connect to the grid. Not only would that add a significant cost, it would require running the regulatory gamut. Inevitably, landowners would complain, especially if the solar developers resorted to eminent domain to cross their property. Opponents would draw upon the array of legal, regulatory and P.R. innovations pioneered to thwart projects initiated by Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power. Under such conditions, would independent solar developers have the financial staying power to slog through those battles?
Perhaps the question is academic. Solar will not likely exceed 25% of Dominion's electric power generation over the next couple of decades. I have no idea if developers will run out of suitable sites for solar farms by then. But who knows? If the Sustainable Power Group is talking about selling green power into the PJM grid, and if other developers follow its lead, perhaps the market for solar is bigger than what it would take to supply Virginia residents alone. The day the Old Dominion runs out of easily cherry-picked sites might come sooner than we think. Once solar reaches critical mass, it could well create a new set of conflicts and controversies.
Dominion's 15-year plan affirms more solar in Virginia's energy future.
Dominion Virginia Energy filed this afternoon its 2018 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), an updated 15-year strategic plan. The IRP reiterates the utility's commitment to more natural gas and more solar power as a path to a lower carbon future. There's a lot to cover here, so I will just hit the highlights today, and I'll dig deeper into the report tomorrow.
A proposed regulation from the Department of Environmental Quality, if adopted by the State Air Pollution Control Board, would make Virginia a participant in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which would ratchet down carbon dioxide emissions by 30% over 10 years. "Compliance with carbon regulation could, unless mitigated by other public policies, lead to an increase of between $2.23 and $5.81 in 2018 dollars in the typical residential customer's monthly electric bills by 2030," stated the company in a press release.
The IRP also incorporates legislation enacted by the General Assembly this year, the Grid Transformation and Security Act of 2018," under which earnings above the allowed return on investment would be plowed back into investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and smart grid upgrades. The plan contemplates construction of the 12-megawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project to demonstrate the viability of wind turbines off the Virginia coast, license renewal for the Surry and North Anna nuclear units, the roll-out of new energy-efficiency programs, and the possible retirement of older, less-efficient coal, oil and gas power plants.
Dominion's press release highlighted the growing role for solar energy. Depending on Virginia's regulatory path, the company could add 4,720 megawatts of solar capacity over the next 15 years — enough to power 1.18 million homes at peak sunlight, and a nearly 50% increase over last year's 3,200 forecast.
To back up the solar farms when the sun isn't shining, Dominion forecasts the need to build eight new gas-fired combustion-turbine (CT) units capable of producing up to 3,664 megawatts of electricity, enough to supply the needs of more than 900,000 homes. Unlike combined-cycle gas plants, which ramp output up and down slowly, the CT units provide surge capacity that can nimbly adjust to fluctuating solar and wind output.
No CO2 tax — no new regulations, the least-cost baseline.
RGGI participation — compliance achieved by importing "more carbon intensive out-of-state energy and generating capacity;" $1.5 billion more expensive than the baseline plan.
RGGI (unlimited imports) — Virginia becomes a full RGGI member, CO2 allowances cost more; costs $3.71 billion more than the base-line plan.
RGGI (limited imports) — Virginia becomes full RGGI member, but builds low-carbon capacity rather than imports it; costs $4.04 billion more than the base-line plan.
Federal CO2 program — assumes federal CO2 legislation beginning in 2026; costs $3.09 billion more than the base-line plan.
Predictable flashpoints. Inevitably, there will be pushback in the environmental community to Dominion's plan. First, skeptics likely will dispute the utility's forecast for increases in peak electricity demand and the need for more generating capacity; Virginia, they will say, needs to deploy energy-efficiency measures more aggressively. Second, they will argue that the re-licensing of the four nuclear units is unneeded. Third, they might contend that battery storage will be more cost effective than gas-fired CT units in offsetting fluctuations in solar production. Fourth, they will say that Dominion is exaggerating the cost of CO2 regulation; indeed, they will argue that the RGGI carbon trading regime will have little impact on costs to rate-payers, and might even reduce their monthly bills.
I'll dig into each of these issues in the days and weeks ahead.
PJM Interconnection, operator of the regional transmission grid of which Virginia is a part, says the electric grid handled the 12-day bout of extreme cold weather in January with plenty of margin to spare. But given the evolving energy mix in the multi-state region serving 65 million Americans — more gas, wind and solar, less coal and nuclear — PJM has embarked upon an analysis to assess future fuel security.
PJM's initiative follows findings by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) last month that a surge in coal-generated electricity helped the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions get through the Bomb Cyclone deep freeze, while nuclear, gas, wind and solar output remained largely static. NTEL argued that gas-fired electricity output was somewhat constrained by pipeline capacity and the necessity of competing with natural gas as a home heating fuel. PJM responded that demand for gas pushed up the price to the point where coal became cost competitive to burn, but there never was a shortage of gas.
That's this year. What about the future as the energy mix continues to evolve? Virginia appears poised to participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cap-and-trade market designed to ratchet down utility carbon emissions by 30% over 10 years. For participating states, that will require the phasing out of power plants reliant upon the most carbon-intensive energy sources, coal and oil. Furthermore, increasing production of wind and solar power continue to undermine the economics of nuclear power. Here in Virginia, environmental and left-wing activist groups have signaled their opposition to re-licensing the Surry and North Anna nuclear plants over the next decade or two. Bottom line: the long-range energy mix could be far more dependent upon gas and renewables than it is today.
However, in an analysis of a wide variety of power-source portfolios with different mixes of coal, nuclear, gas, wind, solar and "other," the study found that "natural gas and, to a lesser degree, coal" contributed more to system flexibility and reliability than the competing power sources. The study drew no conclusions regarding an ideal power-generating portfolio. In other reports, PJM has said that the existing transmission system can accommodate up to 30% contribution from wind and solar.
Identify system vulnerabilities and determine attributes such as dual-fuel capability that can ensure that peak demands can be met during extreme scenarios.
Model those vulnerabilities as constraints in PJM's wholesale market for guaranteed capacity.
Work with federal agencies to ensure that PJM is meeting security needs for military installations.


My head is heavy, I'm zoning out, yet I feel no need to sleep even though I want to. I very much desire to sleep 24 hours straight but atlas I cannot. I believe I have homework in all my classes! What homework shall I do? I don't know. But my essay needs to be written ASAP and I guess my physics and MATLAB and calculus homework needs to be done as well. I'm yawning. Why am I writing in such a weird voice. It must be the lack of sleep. Or maybe it's because I've been reading Dracula and it's diary-like style is rubbing off on me. I'm feeling very passive.
Agh. I have been really unhealthy today. I don't think I ate a proper meal – not that there are proper meals in the dining hall if I had decided to go down to eat.
The television is on and my roommate is asleep and I'm just sitting here.
Well, I will now go shower.
Postscript: I just thought of something. I lied. I will not be posting my story idea until gawd knows when.


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Inexpensive Things to Do in Puerto Rico
There are so many things to do in Puerto Rico
La Venta Park has the only free outdoor beach shower in Condado
The park and beach is populated by hotels and restaurants in the area that provide its residents with a place to find food, drinks, local attractions, or a beach-front view to enjoy the scene. Also, if you don't have a place to shower, La Ventana al Mar provides one of the only free outdoor beach-front showers you can use to clean up any sand and refresh yourself.
La Ventana al Mar Park is a 5-minute walk from the Condado Tourism Center.
Visit La Ventana al Mar Park & Beach
Arts & culture meet entertainment with scenic waterfront views.
La Ventana al Mar Park & Beach on Ashford Avenue in the district of Condado, of San Juan, Puerto Rico is a large public space built in 2004 fronting the Atlantic Ocean.
The park is flanked by two of Condado's landmark hotels: to the west by the Condado Vanderbilt Hotel, and to the east by the La Concha Hotel (1957). The 1.8 hectare public space was developed by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico's Tourism Company, and has been credited as one of the principal motors steering the district's urban revitalisation efforts.
Designed by Puerto Rican architect and urbanist Andrés Mignuc-ci, La Ventana al Mar has won numerous awards for design excellence including awards in the American Institute of Architects Puerto Rico Chapter Design Awards, the Puerto Rico Architecture Biennale, the Miami + Beach Architecture Biennale (Bronze Medal) and the Iberoamerican Architecture Biennale. In 2016, La Ventana al Mar was exhibited at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin as part of the Demo:polis–the Right to Public Space exhibit.
Come visit La Ventana al Mar for a sampling of things to do featuring Puerto Rican culture with its free local events and concerts alongside the beach. The park has been the site for music festivals like "La Ventana al Jazz" and weekend markets and fairs.
Visit Castillo San Felipe del Morro in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
Also known as Fuerte San Felipe del Morro, is a 16th-century citadel located in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
El Morro or 'the Promontory,' was designed to guard the entrance to the San Juan Bay.
On the northeastern-most point of the islet of Old San Juan, Castillo San Felipe del Morro is named in honor of King Philip II of Spain. The fortification, also referred to as el Morro or 'the promontory,' was designed to guard the entrance to the San Juan Bay, and defend the Spanish colonial port city of San Juan from seaborne enemies.
Fun Film Fact
El Morro was used as a film set in the 1996 motion picture Amistad. Steven Spielberg staged it to represent a fort in Sierra Leone where African slaves were auctioned in 1839.
Bike Map with Local Attractions
#1 Condado Lagoon and Bike Path
#2 El Mercado de Paseo Caribe
#3 Escambron Beach, Old San Juan
#4 Luis Muñoz Rivera Park
#5 Castillo San Cristóbal
#6 Cuartel de Ballajá
#7 Castillo San Felipe del Morro
#8 Paseo De La Princesa


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Kathleen S. Reid
April 26, 1960 – April 9, 2022
Kathleen "Katie" S. Reid. 61, of Dallas, TX, passed away April 9, 2022. She was born April 26, 1960, to James and Diane Streitz in Watertown, MN. She was a dedicated sales representative for 18 years and found comfort in volunteering to rock newborns in need. Katie had two children, Sam and Sue. They have always been Katie's greatest sources of joy. You could hear that when she shared details of Sam's solo hiking adventures through the mountains of the western United States or Sue living and working abroad. Katie was passionate about life and that included running, CrossFit and work, but particularly, family. It all started with Sam and Sue, but her love extended to encompass siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and friends. For someone so tiny, Katie had a huge personality but didn't want to be the center of attention. She loved to know about other people's lives and what was important to them. Whether they were family or friends, Katie was true and loyal. She was preceded in death by her father, James Streitz. Katie is survived by her children, Sam Reid of Allen, Texas, Suzanne Reid of Dallas, TX; siblings, Suzanne Streitz of Chicago, IL, Steve Streitz of Hudson, Wisconsin, Gretchen Ziegler of Dallas, TX, Teresa O'Brien of Glen Ellyn, IL, and her mother, Diane Streitz of Woodbury, Minnesota. Funeral Mass for Katie will be at 12:30 PM on Thursday, April 28, at St. Rita Catholic Church, located at 12521 Inwood Road, Dallas, TX 75244. In lieu of flowers, please consider a charitable donation to the American Cancer Society - https://donate3.cancer.org Also, as Katie received numerous blood transfusions, a donation to your local blood bank would be meaningful. Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.Sparkman-Hillcrest.com for the Reid family.
In Memory Of Kathleen S. Reid


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Tag Archives: Jefferson Airplane
Suki Rae & Company Channels Lightheartedness Within Album Can't Stop Now
Suki Rae & Company brings an aura of activism and a free spirit within her album Can't Stop Now. Mixing the elements of eclecticism and easy listening melodies, Suki's music has all the characteristics of traditional folk music with an eclectic twist. Within Can't Stop Now, powerful vocals and a robust musical arrangement crafts an universal sound. Having a background in musical theater adds to the sound as well on the album, characterized by larger than life vocals and elaborate storytelling. From singing about struggles, powering through, and appreciating the world, Can't Stop Now not only inspires, but reveals the many styles and sounds of Suki Rae & Company.
For more listening:
Tags: 2018, Ani Difranco, Can't Stop Now, Crosby Stills & Nash, Gospel Blues, Jefferson Airplane, Suki Rae, Suki Rae & Company
The United States of America…According to Joe Byrd
Try to picture this. You are recording music in 1967. The Beatles just released a little album entitled Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane and The Doors are setting the psychedelic scene on fire and Jimi Hendrix is pondering whether or not you are experienced (and setting his own guitar on fire). You cut an album to compete in one of the greatest years for music ever…and you don't use a guitar!
Sure fire failure, right? Wrong. Utterly wrong. What you do get is a psychedelic record way before its time. A record that shattered preconceived notions of rock n' roll and challenged listeners to understand its pulchritudinous and spatial splendor. And, like many great works of art, it was smothered by the popular music of the time and left to rot on the discount racks. But, it has been received well by recent reviewers and will now be featured as one of the most underrated albums of all time on the Music Court. It is the eponymous United States of America.
Straight out of LA, CA, US
The USA only released this one album that hit #181 on Billboard's Top 200 in 1968. Afterwards, the band went their separate ways. Joe Byrd, the main electronic music man, went on to form his field hippies and go on creating psychedelic works. While it may not have looked like it at the time, the USA seriously quit while they were ahead of the psychedelic game.
The album was influential more for the band's adroitness with the emerging electronic sound that was about to become pervasive in the 60's music scene, rather than Byrd's radical lyric that made the band name rather humorous). And, because the technology was obscenely expensive at the time, the band was left with whatever oscillators and other devices they could get their hands on. But, the sound that they produced. Wow.
Also, because Byrd was really into early American music (dixieland jazz and marches for example) he included clips of these pieces in USA's elaborate compositions. Therefore, the listener is bombarded with a sound attack that combines old-time America mixed with the newer psychedelic sound and vocalist Dorothy Moskowitz's freaky voice.
Just check out "The American Metaphysical Circus."
The rap on USA at the time of this album's release was that they were too mechanical. But, truthfully, they were just moving into a different realm of psychedelia. This was an experiment and it blew the top off of the conventions of an electronic sound.
Tags: Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Moby Grape, Music, United States of America
Categories The Underrated Album


I was immensely frustrated by the writing in this book. It is so terribly overwritten and full of redundancy and repetition that it made it a bit of a slog to read. Descriptions maundered on for far too long, dialogue was just a bit too long winded to be taken seriously, everything was drawn out and repeated over and over in an attempt to establish setting and theme while failing to do either. Like the opening scene of the book is Ari being upset about a dead child – but she maunders on for so long, repeating herself in the most melodramatic way that any actual emotional impact the scene could have is just rather lost.
Good gods WHY?! Even aside from the fact the mere description of the draperies being lined in the very first sentence gave us ALL the information we needed to know, this vast dump makes no sense (even ignoring the sentence that suggests the author doesn't know what "not impervious" actually means). Is the vulnerability an allergic reaction, chemical make up or dehydration? If the latter how do they "blister and boil". If allergic, how do they turn to dust. If burning how come they smell rotten? Don't try to EXPLAIN a supernatural element if you don't actually have an explanation and are just throwing word salad around (also, Seattle is in Washington there's no need to specify).
This is how the whole book is written – the same thought will be reworded 4 or 5 times to hammer home points that really don't need hammering home.
The worst part of this is that it's not actually a very long book and so much of it is spent on redundancy that there's a sore lacking in development. A character dies, for example, and clearly this is supposed to be a devastating loss to Ari but we've had very little development of this character and of his relationship to Air.
There are also lots of things hinted at that haven't really been expanded on. When the supernatural was revealed to the world (how? Why?) society and civilisation seemed to collapse. Now one thing that was really well done was presenting all these little hints to the dystopian world without overwhelming it (such as treating pain killers as a huge luxury) but there's no real indication WHY society collapsed. Another example is where Ari's father decided to train her how to fight as soon as he learned she was a psychic, even criticising her for having long hair that was a liability in combat. But there's no connection as to why learning she was a psychic drove him to train her in battle – no indication she would be attacked or that her attackers couldn't simply be burned to death or even if fighting techniques were a way to focus and control her powers. It's like someone saying they realised they had a legendary talent for bass so their dad taught them the intricacies of fly fishing; it's just presented as an obvious thing when the connection completely eludes me. Or there's her panicky claustrophobia which, again, begs for some explanation or development (though "tragic past" is stamped large all over her).
To finish that off, the actual mystery wasn't that mysterious (you want your organisation to sound like something a character would want to join? Don't call it PsyShade. Seriously. Evil Geniuses United or Bad Guys Social Club would be more subtle). Most of it was predictable and Ari solved what she did simply because the Coven (vampires) and Pack (shapeshifters) were apparently so gung-ho for war (or written as lacking logic simply because it makes Ari look better) that they missed the blatant attempt to drive them both into a mutually destructive battle. The actual big bad that is behind it all appears briefly but, again, isn't really developed – and the book ends without really addressing anything. The murder isn't solve, some monsters that attacked Ari are never really explained, the defeat of the enemies is more of a twist you'd normally find in the middle of the book. This is didn't feel like a cliffhanger set up for book 2 – it felt like book 1 simply hadn't been finished.
In terms of diversity our protagonist is Aria Naveed, a WOC (mentioned tangentially and with no sense of culture or experience though also free from stereotype). She's obviously powerful and independent with your standard tragic past, dangerous woo-woo and super skill in weapons. She manages to avoids a lot of tropes about sexual purity or rage for no reason – there's really nothing wrong with her. I can't champion her particularly because I can't think of any moments that made her especially compelling either.
There is a poke at the idea of shapeshifters being super protective of women and how sexist and silly that is, but at the same time there's no explanation as to why. I don't see why, especially since these shapeshifters seem to have at least some female warriors, as well as physical super strength, they'd develop this paternalistic attitude.
More intriguing elements are some very brief poking at the idea of people, especially poor people, doing what they can when society collapse and a nice moment when Ari hears that an alcoholic werewolf is being forcibly entered into rehab and is uncomfortable – naturally wanting him free from addiction but not at all on side with it being done without his consent.
There are no LGBT characters in this book. There are also so dubious comparisons made between an anti-supernatural organisations and real world hate groups. There's a world of difference between hating creatures that kill and eat people and hating POC.
I will say the world setting is somewhat interesting if not original (I have to say there were a few turns of phrase – like being a werewolf being caused by "lyc-V", or the way the larger wereanimal pack is divided into individual clans by species which I have seen in other books, but that could simply be because of the amount of this genre I've read) it has a lot of elements that could make for a fascinating story. We have the vampires and wereanimals on the brink of war. A human society that has been virtually destroyed by the revelation of the supernatural has so much depth to explore. An organisation of humans trying to fight back the supernatural and restore humanity to prominence – or at least to holding their own, could have so much nuance as people fight to find the balance between hate group and self-preservation. The psykers being caught in the middle – purely human but with supernatural abilities, would be perfectly placed to have so much conflict and confusion. Drop a lot of politics between the different factions on the edge of war and throw in some fun extra creatures like the Harpy Melody and her wonderful quirks and there's a lot of potential here.
This book could have been amazing, it has all the elements necessary to make it an excellent book and the foundation of a really compelling series. The main character is decent, the world setting rich and an excellent backdrop to tell a whole array of stories all with some epic meta. But it is completely destroyed by its terrible, repetitive writing. The plot is murdered by being simplistic and under developed, the characters and their relationships are too rushed and nothing actually goes anywhere. It's a real shame.


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Collection 014 Records of the World Congress on Evangelism
Scope and Contents Biographical sketches, participants' lists, form letters, programs, audio recordings of speeches, and study papers relating to the World Congress on Evangelism held in Berlin on October 26 to November 4, 1966. Besides the English materials, there are study papers in French and German and there are programs, correspondence and speech transcripts in German, French, and Spanish. Thirteen audio tapes contain speeches by various individuals including Billy Graham, Carl Henry, John Stott, Oswald...
Collection 021 Records of the Congress on the Church's Worldwide Mission
Scope and Contents Materials relating to the Congress on the Church's Worldwide Mission which was held on the Wheaton College campus in 1966 and was jointly sponsored by the Evangelical Foreign Missions Association and the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association. Audio tapes document various sessions of the Congress, including biblical expositions, study papers (on subjects like syncretism, church growth, cooperation, the Catholic Church and social issues), reports on missions on the world's continents,...
Collection 086 Records of the International Christian Broadcasters
Scope and Contents Correspondence, audiotapes, photographs, financial reports, slides, blueprints, and memos related to ICB's activities as support organization and professional association for Protestant Christian radio and television broadcasters, largely engaged in evangelism.Materials include data on the International Communications Congress in Tokyo (1970), Muslim Conference (1974), and survey questionnaire for ICB's WORLD DIRECTORY OF RELIGIOUS RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTING (1973). ...
Collection 091 Records of the Committee to Assist Ministry Education Overseas
Scope and Contents Correspondence, minutes, reports, monographs, financial records, mailing lists, questionnaires, and photographs related to the origin and activity of CAMEO.Subjects covered include theological education in developing countries throughout the world, programmed learning, a self-evaluation program for institutions, Theological Education by Extension (TEE), education of prospective pastors and Christian workers, IFMA and EFMA as the sponsoring bodies of CAMEO and activities of US-based...
Collection 096 Oral History Interview with Wayne G. Bragg
Identifier: CN 096-096
Scope and Contents Oral history interviews with Wayne G. Bragg (1931-2009), in which he describes his missionary experiences in Brazil and the Caribbean working with university students, his student days at Wheaton College, and his experience at Wheaton College as a faculty member. Dr. Bragg was interviewed by Mary Ann Buffington at Wheaton College on February 15 and May 9, 1980.
Collection 111 Papers of Charles H. Troutman, Jr.
Scope and Contents Correspondence, minutes, reports, manuals, and other records that have to do with Troutman's career in Christian work among university students, first with Inter-Varsity in the United States and Australia and then with Latin America Mission. This collection also contains a great deal of information on evangelical Christianity in the United States, Australia and Latin America; Troutman's letters from his service in the Pacific in World War II; and reports and other information relative to the...
Collection 136 Records of Mission Aviation Fellowship
Scope and Contents Office files of MAF, a mission agency that provided transportation, radio contact and other support to missions working in remote areas, as well as some services to non-mission agencies.Materials, including correspondence, minutes, reports, prayer letters, personnel files, and budgets, that document the administration and activities of MAF, especially the regional offices in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, the Development division (extensive individual prayer letters from...
Collection 165 Records of Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies
Scope and Contents Correspondence, reports, minutes, audio tapes, clippings, photographs, maps, posters, etc., related to EFMA Administration and its service to its member missions.Includes documentation of persecution of Protestants in Roman Catholic Colombia, Italy and Spain; efforts to broaden American awareness of conditions; and attempts to apply pressure through the US State Dept. Persons prominently featured include EFMA's Executive Directors Clyde Taylor, Wade Coggins, and Paul McKaughan. ...
Collection 168 Records of the American Sunday School Union
Scope and Contents Correspondence records social and political history, including slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction period. Also documented is outreach to African and Native Americans, missions in Canada, China, France, Germany, Russia, India, and South America.
Collection 179 Records of Short Terms Abroad
Scope and Contents Dossiers and correspondence, photographs, newspapers, general correspondence, minutes, mailing lists, personnel files, research files used and compiled by Short Term Abroad.
Dossiers are for those placed in short-term mission assignments. General files document Short Term Abroad administration, including data that was used by the International Congress on World Evangelization, 1974. Research project LAYMEN ABROAD IN CHRISTIAN MISSION is also included.
Collection 184 Records of the Campus-in-the-Woods
Scope and Contents Correspondence, prayer letters and photographs.Correspondence documents a 19-year span of the lives and careers of a group of former university students who attended the summer camp together and later served as missionaries; second group of correspondence includes letters from individuals not in full-time Christian service but who lived in foreign countries as professionals. These letters were compiled by Ottaway for the annual Campus-in-the-Woods newsletters. The collection does...
Collection 204 Records of the South America Mission
Scope and Contents Legal documents, reports, linguistic materials, correspondence, publications, organizational documents of SAM, chiefly 1921-1955.Materials document the mission's beginning as the Inland South America Missionary Union. In-depth reports cover all aspects of mission activities including missionary life and descriptions of their encounters with and observations of Indian tribes, methods of evangelizing, use of linguistic materials relating to Indian languages, personnel policies, social...
Collection 218 Records of the Evangelical Missions Information Service
Scope and Contents Correspondence, press releases, minutes, financial statements, reports, photographs.
Materials document EMIS' publication, and arranging conferences and travel, including: production of EVANGELICAL MISSION QUARTERLY, MISSIONARY NEWS SERVICE; conferences including the 1971 Missions in Creative Tension and the 1967 Think Conference; Affinity Travel, a charter flight service; and interaction with various mission boards working in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
Collection 222 Records of the OC International
Scope and Contents Correspondence, reports, minutes, manuscripts, handbooks, directories, photographs, etc., relating to the mission's work of evangelism, church planting and development of national leadership in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America since its origin in 1950.Documents describe the founding and expansion of the mission, administrations of Dick Hillis (first president from 1951-1976, but also including files dating back to 1933 on his years as a missionary in China with China Inland...
Collection 237 Records of the Slavic Gospel Association
Scope and Contents Correspondence, minutes, prayer letters, audio tapes, films, and other materials documenting the work of the Slavic Gospel Association. Records deal with the early career of Peter Deyneka Sr.; work of individual missionaries; long range planning for the mission; radio ministry; literature publication and distribution; and evangelism in Europe, North America and South America. Collection contains significant information about the church in eastern Europe. Most of the documents in the collection...
Collection 277 Papers of Jim Elliot
Scope and Contents Correspondence, journals, notebooks, school records, poems, clippings, drawings, and other materials describing the ministry of Jim Elliot and his spiritual preparation for the mission field and death at the hands of Waorani Indians. Microfilm edition of materials available for researcher use.[Note: In the Scope and Content description, the notation "folder 2-5" means box 2, folder 5.]The materials in this collection consist of...
Collection 278 Papers of Elisabeth Elliot
Scope and Contents Correspondence, slides, clippings, publicity releases, reviews, manuscripts, video and audio tapes relating to Elliot's careers as a missionary in Ecuador, author, teacher and speaker; videos of an oral history interview and several of her lectures on marriage, loneliness, suffering, and other topics. The collection is particularly rich in material relating to the so-called Auca Incident and her own work the Waorani, whose enemies called them the "Auca."
Collection 349 Papers of Clarence W. Jones
Collection — Box: 7
Scope and Contents Collection includes correspondence, reports, sermons, memos, minutes of meetings, clippings, photographs, videotapes, slides, and other materials relating to the career of mission executive Clarence W. Jones. The materials deal mainly with his work at the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle and the growth and development of the organization he helped found, the World Radio Missionary Fellowship, and especially its primary broadcasting station, HCJB in Ecuador. There is also an extensive amount of...
Collection 352 Records of the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association (IFMA)
Scope and Contents Correspondence, form letters, financial and statistical reports, minutes, memos and promotional material related to IFMA administration and its service to its member missions.The files on IFMA members and numerous other Christian agencies predominate. Also includes series of maps of Latin American countries identifying nondenominational and denominational mission activity. Numerous mission-related subjects are documented. Persons prominently featured include Jack Frizen, Billy...
Collection 358 Papers of Charles P. Wagner
Scope and Contents Correspondence, memos, minutes, reports, promotional materials, news releases, clippings, article and address manuscripts, photographs and negatives. The materials document Wagner's activities as a member of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization and its Executive Committee; as chairperson of its Strategy Working Group; as co-editor of the annual books, UNREACHED PEOPLES '79, '80, and '81; as a missionary educator and theologian in South America; and his appointment to Fuller...
Collection 414 Papers of Wade T. Coggins
Scope and Contents Oral history interviews, papers and speech manuscripts relating to the ministry of Wade T. Coggins, Christian worker with the Christian and Missionary Alliance and the Evangelical Foreign Mission Association.
Collection 599 Ephemera of the "Auca" Incident
Scope and Contents Audio tapes, comic book, film, filmstrips, oversize materials, phonograph records, postage stamps, and video tapes documenting the martyrdom of five American missionaries in Ecuador by the Huaorani Indians in 1956.
Documents describe the deaths of the missionary, the response by Protestant evangelical Christians in the United States, and later missionary work with the Indians by Rachel Saint and Elisabath Elliot.
Collection 646 Records of the Evangelical Committee on Latin America (ECLA)
Scope and Contents Financial records, correspondence, reports, committee memos, minutes, articles and newsletters related to the work of the Evangelical Committee on Latin America especially pertaining to its visits to and consultations with Latin and South American organizations. Also contains many advisory reports given to the Board of ECLA.
Gospel Tract Collection
Subject: Missions -- South America X
Billy Graham Center Archives 23
Buswell Library Special Collections 1
Evangelical Foreign Missions Association. 8
Graham, Billy, 7
Wheaton College (Ill.) 7
Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association of North America. 6
McCully, Theodore Edward, 6
Committee to Assist Missionary Education Overseas. 5
Fleming, Peter, 5
Latin America Mission. 5
Elliot, Jim, 4
Far East Broadcasting Company. 4
HCJB (Radio station : Quito, Ecuador) 4
Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. 4
Mission Aviation Fellowship. 4
National Association of Evangelicals. 4
Norton, Hugo Wilbert, 4
Saint, Nathaniel, 4
Saint, Rachel. 4
Taylor, Clyde W. 4
Youderian, Roger, 4
Africa Inland Mission. 3
Association of Church Missions Committees. 3
Bowman, Robert H. 3
China Inland Mission. 3
Coggins, Wade T. 3
ELWA (Radio station : Monrovia, Liberia) 3
Elliot, Elisabeth. 3
Evangelical Committee on Latin America. 3
Frizen, E. L. 3
Henry, Carl F. H. 3
Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. 3
Jones, Clarence W. 3
Padilla, C. Rene. 3
Schaeffer, Francis A. 3
Wagner, C. Peter. 3
Winter, Ralph D. 3
World Council of Churches. 3
World Evangelical Fellowship. 3
Wycliffe Bible Translators. 3
Armerding, Hudson T. 2
Association of Evangelicals of Africa and Madagascar. 2
Bayly, Joseph. 2
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. 2
Bright, Bill. 2
Buker, Raymond B. 2
Campus Crusade for Christ International. 2
Christian Broadcasting Network (U.S.) 2
Christian and Missionary Alliance 2
Cook, Clyde. 2
Dayuma, 2
Epp, Theodore H. 2
Evangelical Literature Overseas. 2
Fenton, Horace L. 2
Freed, Paul E. 2
Gerber, Vergil. 2
Hillis, Dick. 2
Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association. 2
International Christian Broadcasters. 2
International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. 2
Keyes, Lawrence E., 2
King, Louis L. 2
McKinney, Lois. 2
Montgomery, James H., 2
OC International. 2
OC Ministries. 2
Ockenga, Harold John, 2
Orient Crusades. 2
Overseas Crusades. 2
Palau, Luis, 2
Plymouth Brethren. 2
Reapsome, James W. 2
SEND International. 2
Saint, Nathanael, 2
Short Terms Abroad (Organization) 2
Slavic Gospel Association. 2
South America Mission, Inc. 2
Sports Ambassadors. 2
Sudan Interior Mission. 2
Thiessen, Abe G. 2
Tidmarsh, Wilfred G. 2
Trans World Radio. 2
Van Der Puy, Abe C. 2
Voice of Tangiers (Radio station : Tanger, Morocco) 2
Woods, C. Stacey, 2
Wyrtzen, Jack, 2
Youth for Christ International. 2
Abdul-Haqq, Abdiyah Akbar, 1
Africa Evangelical Fellowship. 1
Afromedia. 1
Alexander, John W. 1
American Leprosy Missions. 1
American Sunday-School Union 1
Andrew, 1
Appelman, Hyman Jedidiah, 1
Arctic Missions, Inc. 1
Armstrong, Ben. 1
Armstrong, Philip E. 1
Assemblies of God. 1
Australian Christian Student Movement. 1
Australian Council of Churches. 1


Spray on this refreshing eau de parfum from Perry Ellis and find yourself ready to face anything your day has in store. This sultry scent blends patchouli, ginger and oak moss to create a crisp and distinct fragrance bold enough to last into the evening. Don't be surprised when people ask you what scent you're wearing or when you find yourself attracting even more attention than usual. This alluring fragrance is perfect for a hot summer evening that lingers long after sunset.


To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Spin Master, and to recognize our relentless drive to push the boundaries of innovation, creativity, and fun, we created this documentary looking back at our exciting journey.
Spin Master has achieved significant growth over the past two decades, transforming itself from a small, single-product toy company into a leading global, diversified, multi-platform and highly innovative children's entertainment company. The business has progressed through key stages, from start-up growth, building the base, Bakugan growth, refocusing to diversified growth, and now operating across all toy industry super categories.
In 1998, Spin Master launched its Air Hogs brand, the first products designed to be easily flown by children and required limited assembly. The brand came to the company from two British inventors based on an innovative design involving a miniature engine powered by compressed air. Air Hogs has come to represent affordable, technologically-advanced, and innovative vehicles with hobby-grade remote control performance, designed and priced for the mass market.
From 2002 - 2007, Spin Master expanded its international footprint, establishing sales and distribution offices across western Europe. The company also opened its Los Angeles marketing and design hub, allowing the company to access deep local toy design, marketing, and engineering talent. During this time of growth, Spin Master made its first significant acquisition, acquiring X-Concepts, Inc, maker of Tech Deck. This growth allowed expansion of the company's licensing capabilities and relationships with major entertainment companies. In late 2007, Spin Master launched the most successful product in its history, Bakugan. The Bakugan brand started out as an inventor's sketch of a ball that could be opened up to reveal a character inside. The brand immediately attracted a large following among five to ten-year old boys and the richness of the Bakugan characters, story and game play provided Spin Master the opportunity to extend the brand with the co-development of a global animated television series.
But as Bakugan approached the end of its product lifecycle and the company experienced a significant decline in sales, it needed to take swift action to rightsize the business, and reorganize and reduce operating risk. The roles of its founders were refined, and the company strategically complemented its executive management team with the addition of executives, including a new Global President and Chief Operating Officer, Ben Gadbois. These swift actions put Spin Master back on course for growth.
Today, the company has resumed its history of growth, with a renewed focus on diversification and increased operational and financial discipline. It has expanded into a number of new toy categories, organically and through acquisitions. The company's acquisition of Spy Gear expanded the company's offering in boys action and outdoor toys; the acquisition of Meccano provided an entry into the building sets category; and, the acquisition of Cardinal Games has made Spin Master the #2 manufacturer in the games & puzzles category in North America.
Since 2000, Spin Master has received 103 Toy of The Year (TOTY) nominations with 28 wins across a variety of product categories, including 13 TOTY nominations for Innovative Toy of the Year, more than any of its competitors. Spin Master has been nominated for more Innovative TOTY awards than any other toy company.
The company's continued investment and support of its entertainment division has also yielded meaningful results. To date, Spin Master has produced six television series, including the 2007 success, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, and current hit PAW Patrol, which is broadcast in over 160 countries and territories globally.
When Spin Master began to chart its course in the children's entertainment industry, the founders recognized that in order to compete successfully with the established brands of larger companies, they had to design and market innovative products that would "wow" consumers and disrupt the traditional toy market. With the inspiration of its founders, who remain actively engaged in the business, Spin Master has maintained a deeply rooted culture of creativity, partnership, and passion.
Pushing the boundaries of innovation, creativity, and fun!
Watch PAW Patrol, Rusty Rivets and Abby Hatcher on Nickelodeon!
Visit spinmaster.com for more information about Spin Master.


The first leg of the Diamond League Meeting in Doha, Qatar was a full success. The meeting records, world leading throws and national records let the Diamond League of Doha shine.
Sandra Perkovic was able to throw a new meeting record and a massive world lead of 68.23m (223′ 10″). Her complete set was: 67.37m (221′), 66.36m (217′ 8″), x, 65.70m (215′ 6″), 67.13m (220′ 2″), 68.23m (223′ 10″). Zinaida Sendriute placed 2nd with 63.92m (209′ 8″) and Anna Rüh 3rd 63.01m (206′ 8″).
The men's shot put competition was blessed with a meeting record and massive world lead as well. Ryan Whiting threw a massive bomb of 22.38m (73′ 5″) which moved him to the top of the world ranking again. His complete set: 21.14m (69′), 21.62m (70′ 11″), x, 21.37m (70′ 1″), 22.28m (73′ 5″), 21.99m (72′ 1″). Germán Luján Lauro placed 2nd with 21.26m (69′ 9″) which also means a new argentian record. Reese Hoffa became 3rd with 21.01m (68′ 11″).
The javelin competiton was completed with neither a meeting record nor a world leading throw. Vítezslav Vesely won the competiton with throwing 85.09m (279′ 2″), Tero Pitkamäkäki was able to throw 82.18m (269′ 7″)and Andreas Thorkildsen placed 3rd with 81.51m (267′ 5″).
The second leg of the Diamond League meeting held in Shanghai, China is as promising as the one in Doha, Qatar. The current startlist as of 14th of May of the women shot put includes Lijiao Gong, Michelle Carter, Christina Schwanitz and Olesya Sviridova.
The men's discus field is a special one as well. The current world leader Benn Harradine is still in listed in the start list. We all heave heard that he has still some problems and he said if he does not feel better he will not compete. The 3rd best discus thrower of all-time Gerd Kanter is also in the current start list. The list also includes Piotr Malachowski, Rutger Smit, Mario Pestano, Vikas Gowda, Erik Cadee and Yennifer Frank Casanas.
There are some well known javelin throwers in the men's field too. The Olympic Champion Keshorn Walcott who managed to throw 84,58m (277′ 5″) earlier this year will compete once again against the big guys. The number one of 2013 so far is Tero Pitkämäki with with 86.40m (283′ 5″), followed by Dmitriy Tarabin 85,63m (280′ 11″) and Vitezslav Vesely 85,09m. Andreas Thorkildsen said he is in a good condition to fight for the World Championships Title later this summer in Moscow, Russia.


A week ago I left for one of my favorite weekends of the year, a quilting retreat, Quilting in the Pines, put on by our local quilt shop, at a mountain lake about an hour away from Fresno. Over the years (this was the 12th annual), we have become friends with other quilters that we see this one time a year. We catch up, sew, eat, laugh...it's a great weekend.
Each year, Jennifer makes us a personalized place card, with a scrap of the challenge fabric (more on that later).
Our quilt shop gives each of us 1/2 yard of a challenge fabric, to be used to make a quilt or another type of project. Jennifer and Dotty accept the challenge every year, for good reason. The projects are posted with only a number, and then everyone votes on their favorites for a chance to win a gift certificate at the LQS. Dotty and Jennifer are nearly always in the top three. This year, Jennifer won the top prize. I wish you could see this close up. The quilts on the clothesline are 3D.
Dotty came in third place.
I also really liked this entry.
This cool chess set didn't come in first in the "other" category, but it was my top pick. So clever.
I worked on these projects. The first was The Cascade Quilt (pattern by Initial K Studio), using the ombre fabric line by V and Company.
I had a hard time getting to sleep the second night. I think it was all those pretty scraps keeping me awake, begging to be sewn into a mini. The scraps even included a name for the mini--Detour. It didn't turn out the way I kept seeing in my brain all night long, but I'm pretty happy with it anyway.
Then I made these Basket Case blocks (pattern by Cluck Cluck Sew). Six more blocks to go and I'll be ready to sew the top together.
My friend, Jullie, had her sewing machine on this little selvage mat--a pattern I designed and which was part of the book Make It, Take It by Krista Hennebury. It's always so fun to see someone else's version. Also, isn't that pincushion/scrap bag cute?
While I was away sewing, a sweet note came in the mail. Mark and I have scheduled a date to take Gabe to the zoo. He didn't want us to forget. "Grandma and Grandpa, Don't forget that we are going to the zoo." *sigh* This just melts my heart.
And my QuiltCon quilts arrived back home, along with the judges' comments.
The third comment made me laugh. The quilting motif was chosen for the actual front of the quilt, which is the reason it didn't accentuate the back of the quilt, which is what I submitted to the show. However, I read (more about the judging process here) that if there was a plus mark next to specific judging considerations, it meant the judges thought that specification was particularly well done. So they liked the innovation/creativity and the binding, even if they didn't feel the quilting enhanced the design.
They appreciated Darby's quilting. And I was the one who chose the Baptist Fan motif since I got my initial inspiration from upholstery of a church pew. And I'm still glad I chose the Baptist Fan--I like the curviness of it against all the sharp points.
All in all, I'm very happy with the comments. It was a fun experience to have these three quilts included in QuiltCon West 2016.
Looks like a great time with friends for sure....interesting to see all the jusdges comments. ANd well, I wouldn't have been able to resist that closing picture if I were a red head too...so cute!
Interesting Quilt Con comments, and I tend to agree. A little funny about the quilt design not enhancing (the back of) the quilt, but it goes to show you're a great artist coming and going!
Thanks for sharing your Quilting in the Pines photos. Looks like so much fun and it would be great to be involved in an annual retreat like this with some friends. What is your local quilt shop? Love the sewing machine mat AND I have the book! I better go check it out.
Great post thank you Cindy. I'm very interested in those mini quilts. I haven't made any that small, but we have an exhibition of minis coming up in 2017 and I'd like to enter. I've saved that clothes line one - I love it.
Ah! You are in the neighborhood! I love seeing the challenge entries! Your Basket Case quilt is bright and fun! I love CCS!
Thanks for sharing your Quiltcon comments. Looks like they couldn't fault your design choices or construction. It'll be the big prize next year!
I think I'm jealous of all your quilty friends and retreats. Thanks for sharing the QuiltCon comments. I never find judging comments all that helpful as they don't always 'get' why you chose something. I agree the curves work nicely in contrasting the sharp points of Delta Breeze.