I'm about to embark on a great social experiment with you. I spent the last 11 hours refolding all the articles of clothing that I own and I discovered in the 10th hour that I have an obscene amount of clothing. The number is somewhere north of 1 year of shirts and sweaters.
What will happen over the next few weeks. I'll take pictures of all my shirts, sweaters and jackets to Google Plus and allow you to vote whether I keep it or you bid on it if you want it it. All proceeds go to Goodwill of North Georgia.
I will exclude purchases within the past 12 months. I have ultimate veto rights. No articles that are green, seersucker or both will be donated.
It solves multiple things. I get to have an out of cycle yearly Purge. I thought of that name long before it became a movie. It will get people to use Google Plus. Ladies and Gents you should be using google for your email, messaging and social needs anyway. If you're still using AOL or yahoo as your primary email you should be forced to remove your pinky finger on your non-dominant hand.


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RAW BEAUTY OR BARREN LANDSCAPE? THE CASE FOR MORE TREES
Published 22nd October 2018, 15:30
I WAS standing high on the ridge framing the layered beauty of the landscape beneath my feet, just another mountain day in Bonnie Scotland.
From the rocks in the foreground to the pale lochan cradled in the hollow below, past the long, rough ridge stealing in from the left, and beyond, over the waters of Loch Hourn, the soaring peaks of Knoydart, all wrapped in autumnal shades.
The isolation and the silence only added to the ambience. It felt like perfection. It was only a couple of days later when showing off the photograph that another pair of eyes spotted the flaw: There's not one tree in sight.
I simply hadn't noticed. Now maybe that was because I had spent the first two hours walking pleasantly through a relatively healthy mix of trees and bushes, and the lower slopes on the initial climb were also well stocked. I certainly hope it's not the fact that we are now so conditioned to seeing a more barren, rawer landscape that the lack of trees has become the norm to our eyes and passes largely unnoticed.
The ancient Caledonian Forest was estimated to have covered more than 3.5 million acres, a vast wilderness of Scots pine, birch, rowan, aspen, oak and juniper. It was was home to bears, wolves, beaver, boar and many other species. Birds and insects were in abundance. A long history of deforestation has reduced it to small struggling pockets, disconnected fragments often filled with dead and dying trees and little young growth to replace it.
It's simple: We need more trees. And we need more joined-up thinking to make that happen. That's why the news that the restoration of parts of this once-great forest may be possible as part of a £23million Europe-wide project. The Endangered Landscapes Programme has the backing of a variety of conservation groups and individuals and will focus on the Cairngorms.
Only time will tell if this lives up to expectation – forests don't spring up overnight, after all. It does seem incredible that it hasn't happened long before now considering the posturing of politicians of all hues over environmental concerns.
The recent floods and landslides have once again shown that denuded slopes are no match for heavy rainfall, but the pace of action remains that of the snail. Bald may be beautiful in some people's eyes, but not when thousands of tons of mud are thundering down unchecked.
There never seems to be the same delay when it comes to getting permission for wind farms or golf courses or the industrial vandalism being carried out in our glens for run-of-river hydro projects with the promise of mere trickles. But then there's no comparative subsidies on offer for the planting of mixed woodland.
When there was money available for planting it was shelled out to millionaires and TV stars who benefitted from rows and rows of the dreaded conifers lined up in formation like Roman legions on so many of our hillsides.
There appears to be a silent official nod to creeping industrialisation of our wild lands. Flamingo Land, anyone? Soon we will all be told where to walk and when, bussed in and out of central hubs with exhorbitant parking charges, clutching our souvenir mugs.
Meanwhile, the grouse moors stretch on unchallenged, barren landscapes for the shooting set to blast away the remaining wildlife and woe betide any hare that pops its head above the heather, while birds of prey continue to mysteriously disappear in our avian Bermuda Triangle.
I'm not an optimist, but I do like to think the tide is finally turning. For instance, I was pleasantly surprised while walking on the otherwise dreary Cauldcleuch Head near Langholm to see so many recently planted young trees on the surrounding hillsides.
The best hill days are often those which have an approach through mixed woodland, a gentle introduction to the rigours of the day ahead with birdsong, butterflies and wild flowers.
Glen Affric still delights despite not being fully recovered from the recent assaults by heavy machinery, and the reinforcement of the straggling Crannach Wood at the foot of Beinn Achaladair and Beinn Chreachain is encouraging. It's time we all joined the green party – note the lower case 'g' – and erected a bigger canopy over the whole country.
Beinn Achaladair
Beinn Clachach
Cauldcleuch Head

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Conservatives supposedly hate freeloading. So why are they trying to legalize it?
Oct. 17, 2017 1:43 pm
Conservatives supposedly hate freeloaders.
So why do they support right to work laws - which literally legalize freeloading?
Our nation's nine unelected monarchs on the Supreme Court are poised to deal yet another blow to organized labor.
Recently they agreed to hear the case of Janus v. AFSCME, which challenges an Illinois law that requires public sector workers to pay what are known as "agency fees".
Agency fee laws are essentially a check against freeloading.
All workers who work in a union shop have to pay them -- even if they don't belong to the union -- to help cover the cost of the collective bargaining agreement that the union negotiates on their behalf.
Workers in states with right-to-work laws make around $6,000 less per year than workers in states that defend unions.
I thought conservatives were against freeloading.
Why are they trying to legalize it in Illinois?
ErinRose • 5 years 15 weeks ago
I have lost ALL respect for our SCOTUS. What a pack of thugs and thieves. They don't represent the American people, yet they draw salaries based on taxpayer money. They don't represent the law; they bend it, twist it, and sell it like (blanks). They are an international disgrace and they haven't even got the common sense to realize what a bunch of degenerates they really are. They hold themselves out as pillars of society when the truth is, they are nothing but pillars of rank corruption. If they want to be respected, I have two words for them: "Earn it."
Outback • 5 years 15 weeks ago
All "lawyers' lawyers", ErinRose. So much for the Socratic elite.
Hephaestus • 5 years 15 weeks ago
George Orwell: "In an age of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act"
Outback - You can not have a Socratic anything when money infects decision making
Socrates pointed out the foolishness of uneducated voters
He was put to death for this
deepspace • 5 years 15 weeks ago
Whether they cross a picket line or work in a union shop without paying dues, in union parlance, another name for freeloader is "scab." No creature lower ...except a Trump troll.
Arrgy • 5 years 15 weeks ago
Where the hell is the war on Reaganomics! I want our country back!!!
2950-10K • 5 years 15 weeks ago
There's actually a second component to Thom's legalized freeloading comment. The states with right to get paid less laws are more dependent on government handouts...aka taker states. In other words they get back more from the the big bad government than they pay in. This makes sense because with massive low income as the norm, less revenue is collected. The fat unregulated capitalist wins again.
As an extremely proud union member I fully agree with deepspace...the only people more clueless/lower than a scab are Crooked Donny trolls.
Edward Dodson • 5 years 15 weeks ago
Self-proclaimed conservatives have a deep interest in protecting the long-standing socio-political arrangements and institutions that secure privilege that brings considerable economic advantages to them. Such is the nature of our systems of property law and taxation. Efforts to change our laws and tax policies have been effectively undercut even during decades of apparently progressive legislation. This occurred, in part, because most of those who have proclaimed themselves to be Liberals or Progressives have never fully understood the depth of the problem. Thus, reform efforts consistently attacked the edges rather than the core of privilege.
Our founding fathers hoped they had set down a foundation upon which a just society would emerge. They failed because they ignored a problem as serious as the enslavement of persons of color. What they ignored was landed privilege. Rather than fund public goods and services from the societally-created "rent" of land (i.e., the potential annual rental value of location and land-like assets, such as the broadcast spectrum), the powerful in the United States saw to it that government was paid for by the taxation of income earned by producing goods or services, by the taxation of actual capital goods (e.g., buildings, machinery, technology) and by the taxation of commerce. And, when this did not produce enough revenue (as during a time of war) the nations rentiers stepped forward to lend the nation money at interest.
Edward J. Dodson, Director
School of Cooperative Individualism
www.cooperative-individualism.org
Howard Laverne ... • 5 years 15 weeks ago
It's Union busting by diminishing Union treasuries.
The Corporatiions may be Lobbying to bust unions and that in turn defunds Democrats.
With well crafted TV and Radio commercials,
Democrats could Raise campaign Funds from small dollar donations.
changeX • 5 years 15 weeks ago
State of emergency (really?) declared by a Gov due to expected protests by WHITE super duper SUPREMACIST Richard lol Spencer at the University of Florida.
It seems this guy is freeloading State Universities. Will they play the National Anthem?
ikeberltersen • 5 years 15 weeks ago
Erin (#1): I never had any respect to lose for Trump. He was a scumbag long before he was a so-called president. Too many Americans bought into the Republican myth that someone who hasn't held elected office must not be corrupt.
'Right to work' is another example of Republicans' using a phrase that destroys the conversation. Thom is right, it should be called right to freeload, since all employees must, by law, enjoy the benefits of a union contract but by another law called 'right to work' are excused from their obligation to support the organization that provided them with a decent work arrangement. One more example of how Republicans twist language to their benefit. My answer to 'right to work:' if an employee doesn't want to pay union dues, let's have a law that stipulates that the employee negotiates his or her own contract with the company.
Kend • 5 years 15 weeks ago
i am not a union guy but I believe in them. I think workers should have the right. I do not think that the employer should have to collect the union dues. Opps agency fees. To me that is just wrong in every way. I personally think that union workers are great but union bosses are as crooked as it gets. It used to be the business owners where taking advantage of the employees now it's the unions.
Combad57 • 5 years 14 weeks ago
The U.S. military is a huge freeloader. Taxpayers are paying for a 40 billion dollar cost over run for the F35 fighter from Lockheed and that figure is growing every day. The Abrams tank is an unwanted commodity by our army but Congress demands it still must be built as most representatives have constituents that depend on it for profits.
Don't forget about the bailouts amounting to about 750 or more billion dollars for Wall Street banksters in 2008, 18 billion going for yearly bonuses in that same year. Monsanto has been handed a monopoly market in seed by our government.
Then there's agribusiness where corporate welfare recipients lurk everywhere.
http://investigatemidwest.org/2015/05/12/agribusiness-companies-capitali...
If you paid a tax bill of about $8000, about $36 of that went to individual welfare recipients. Another $6 went for food stamps. Corporate welfare accounted for $750-$800 of your tax bill. Republicans constantly complain about the $42 going for individual welfare and are blithely ignorant of the $800 for corporate welfare.
DFMM • 5 years 14 weeks ago
About respect for Trump;
Trump referred to Un as "rocket man," I thought of what we would call Trump ---besides the usual--- and came up with this parody. Pass it on.
BLOCKHEAD MAN (parody of Rocket Man)
His eyes are sagged, it's dark outside
Tweetin' now, it's 3am
White House is qui----et, no one, to stop his hands
It's not the tower, where he could be a king
In Washington, that's not the case
He hates this ki----- ind of life, it's not his thing
Only months but it seems a much longer time
We need someone who hasn't lost his mind
The childish man needs to be sent back home, oh woe woe woe
He's a blockhead man------
A blockhead man, turning our stomachs 'til he's gone
Was he dropped on his head when he was just a kid?
If he has a heart, it's cold as hell
And a blow to his ego, will make him, flip his lid
And all the things, he doesn't understand
He doesn't care, he thinks that he's a king
What a blockhead man---------------, a blockhead man
'Cause the blockhead man
Should be in the docket and, we will be so happy when he's gone
We need someone who hasn't lost their mind
'Cause he's been there too much a long long time
#1 - Seems Founders basically followed the Brits... most were landowners I believe
Please correct if wrong...
Most of our commercial entities nowadays have origins during the reign of british queen elizabeth the first
Moreover, interests of the banking empire ever underlie enormous influence in human events
With notable effect I believe
#1 Sorry - my comment at #15 does not apply to your comment
I have no idea what goes wrong with this blog from time to time
My comment is totally out of context
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text:
Biochemistry (Moscow) (v.79, #3)
Geological evidence of oxygenic photosynthesis and the biotic response to the 2400-2200 Ma "Great Oxidation Event" by J. William Schopf (165-177).
Fossil evidence of photosynthesis, documented in the geological record by microbially laminated stromatolites, microscopic fossils, and carbon isotopic data consistent with the presence of Rubisco-mediated CO2-fixation, extends to ∼3500 million years ago. Such evidence, however, does not resolve the time of origin of oxygenic photosynthesis from its anoxygenic photosynthetic evolutionary precursor. Though it is evident that cyanobacteria, the earliest-evolved O2-producing photoautotrophs, existed before ∼2450 million years ago — the onset of the "Great Oxidation Event" (GOE) that forever altered Earth's environment — O2-producing photosynthesis seems certain to have originated hundreds of millions of years earlier. How did Earth's biota respond to the GOE? Four lines of evidence are here suggested to reflect this major environmental transition: (1) rRNA phylogeny-correlated metabolic and biosynthetic pathways document evolution from an anaerobic (pre-GOE) to a dominantly oxygen-requiring (post-GOE) biosphere; (2) consistent with the rRNA phylogeny of cyanobacteria, their fossil record evidences the immediately post-GOE presence of cyanobacterial nostocaceans characterized by specialized cells that protect their oxygen-labile nitrogenase enzyme system; (3) the earliest known fossil eukaryotes, obligately aerobic phytoplankton and putative algae, closely post-date the GOE; and (4) microbial sulfuretums are earliest known from rocks deposited during and immediately after the GOE, their apparent proliferation evidently spurred by an increase of environmental oxygen and a resulting upsurge of metabolically useable sulfate and nitrate. Though the biotic response to the GOE is a question new to paleobiology that is yet largely unexplored, additional evidence of its impact seems certain to be uncovered.
Keywords: carbon isotopic fraction; cyanobacterial evolution; microfossils; oldest eucaryotes; oxygen-requiring biosynthesis; Precambrian; stromatolites
Thirty years of chlorophyll modeling by G. R. Seely (178-184).
This paper summarizes the progress over approximately thirty-year's work of the author in developing a model of photosynthesis involving chlorophyll on polymeric substrates that would photosensitize endergonic electron transfer. The system finally achieved might, with proper modifications, serve as a means of generating power from solar energy.
Keywords: chlorophyll; polymers; photosensitization; electron transfer; hydrazines; nitro compounds; surfactants
Photosystem II: Its function, structure, and implications for artificial photosynthesis by James Barber (185-196).
Somewhere in the region of 3 billion years ago an enzyme emerged which would dramatically change the chemical composition of our planet and set in motion an unprecedented explosion in biological activity. This enzyme used solar energy to power the thermodynamically and chemically demanding reaction of water splitting. In so doing it provided biology with an unlimited supply of hydrogen equivalents needed to convert carbon dioxide into the organic molecules of life. The enzyme, which facilitates this reaction and therefore underpins virtually all life on our planet, is known as Photosystem II (PSII). It is a multisubunit enzyme embedded in the lipid environment of the thylakoid membranes of plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Over the past 10 years, crystal structures of a 700 kDa cyanobacterial dimeric PSII complex have been reported with ever increasing improvement in resolution with the latest being at 1.9 details of its many subunits and cofactors are now well understood. The water splitting site was revealed as a cluster of four Mn ions and a Ca ion surrounded by amino acid side chains, of which seven provide ligands to the metals. The metal cluster is organized as a cubane-like structure composed of three Mn ions and the Ca2+ linked by oxo-bonds with the fourth Mn attached to the cubane via one of its bridging oxygens together with another oxo bridge to a Mn ion of the cubane. The overall structure of the catalytic site is providing a framework on which to develop a mechanistic scheme for the water splitting process and gives a blue print and confidence for the development of catalysts for mimicking the reaction in an artificial photo-electrochemical system to generate solar fuels.
Keywords: photosynthesis; photosystem II; structure; water splitting; artificial photosynthesis; manganese cluster; oxygen evolving complex
Primary radical ion pairs in photosystem II core complexes by V. A. Nadtochenko; I. V. Shelaev; M. D. Mamedov; A. Ya. Shkuropatov; A. Yu. Semenov; V. A. Shuvalov (197-204).
Ultrafast absorption spectroscopy with 20-fs resolution was applied to study primary charge separation in spinach photosystem II (PSII) reaction center (RC) and PSII core complex (RC complex with integral antenna) upon excitation at maximum wavelength 700–710 nm at 278 K. It was found that the initial charge separation between P680* and ChlD1 (Chl-670) takes place with a time constant of ∼1 ps with the formation of the primary charge-separated state P680* with an admixture of: P680*(1−δ) (P680δ+1Chl D1 δ− ), where δ ∼ 0.5. The subsequent electron transfer from P680δ+Chl D1 δ− to pheophytin (Pheo) occurs within 13 ps and is accompanied by a relaxation of the absorption band at 670 nm (Chl D1 δ− ) and bleaching of the PheoD1 bands at 420, 545, and 680 nm with development of the Pheoband at 460 nm. Further electron transfer to QA occurs within 250 ps in accordance with earlier data. The spectra of P680+ and Pheo− formation include a bleaching band at 670 nm; this indicates that Chl-670 is an intermediate between P680 and Pheo. Stimulated emission kinetics at 685 nm demonstrate the existence of two decaying components with time constants of ∼1 and ∼13 ps due to the formation of P680δ+Chl D1 δ− and P680+Pheo D1 − , respectively.
Keywords: P680; chlorophyll; pheophytin; photosystem II core complex; primary charge separation; reaction center
Interaction of molecular oxygen with the donor side of photosystem II after destruction of the water-oxidizing complex by D. V. Yanykin; A. A. Khorobrykh; O. M. Zastrizhnaya; V. V. Klimov (205-212).
Photosystem II (PSII) is a pigment-protein complex of thylakoid membrane of higher plants, algae, and cyanobacteria where light energy is used for oxidation of water and reduction of plastoquinone. Light-dependent reactions (generation of excited states of pigments, electron transfer, water oxidation) taking place in PSII can lead to the formation of reactive oxygen species. In this review attention is focused on the problem of interaction of molecular oxygen with the donor site of PSII, where after the removal of manganese from the water-oxidizing complex illumination induces formation of long-lived states (P680+· and TyrZ·) capable of oxidizing surrounding organic molecules to form radicals.
Keywords: photosystem II; reactive oxygen species; manganese; hydroperoxides
Long-wavelength chlorophylls in photosystem I of cyanobacteria: Origin, localization, and functions by N. V. Karapetyan; Yu. V. Bolychevtseva; N. P. Yurina; I. V. Terekhova; V. V. Shubin; M. Brecht (213-220).
The structural organization of photosystem I (PSI) complexes in cyanobacteria and the origin of the PSI antenna long-wavelength chlorophylls and their role in energy migration, charge separation, and dissipation of excess absorbed energy are discussed. The PSI complex in cyanobacterial membranes is organized preferentially as a trimer with the core antenna enriched with long-wavelength chlorophylls. The contents of long-wavelength chlorophylls and their spectral characteristics in PSI trimers and monomers are species-specific. Chlorophyll aggregates in PSI antenna are potential candidates for the role of the long-wavelength chlorophylls. The red-most chlorophylls in PSI trimers of the cyanobacteria Arthrospira platensis and Thermosynechococcus elongatus can be formed as a result of interaction of pigments peripherally localized on different monomeric complexes within the PSI trimers. Long-wavelength chlorophylls affect weakly energy equilibration within the heterogeneous PSI antenna, but they significantly delay energy trapping by P700. When the reaction center is open, energy absorbed by long-wavelength chlorophylls migrates to P700 at physiological temperatures, causing its oxidation. When the PSI reaction center is closed, the P700 cation radical or P700 triplet state (depending on the P700 redox state and the PSI acceptor side cofactors) efficiently quench the fluorescence of the long-wavelength chlorophylls of PSI and thus protect the complex against photodestruction.
Keywords: antenna; long-wavelength chlorophyll; P700; reaction center; fluorescence quenching; photosystem I; cyanobacteria
Mechanism of primary and secondary ion-radical pair formation in photosystem I complexes by G. E. Milanovsky; V. V. Ptushenko; D. A. Cherepanov; A. Yu. Semenov (221-226).
The mechanisms of the ultrafast charge separation in reaction centers of photosystem I (PS I) complexes are discussed. A kinetic model of the primary reactions in PS I complexes is presented. The model takes into account previously calculated values of redox potentials of cofactors, reorganization energies of the primary P700+A 0 - and secondary P700+A 1 - ion-radical pairs formation, and the possibility of electron transfer via both symmetric branches A and B of redox-cofactors. The model assumes that the primary electron acceptor A0 in PS I is represented by a dimer of chlorophyll molecules Chl2A/Chl3A and Chl2B/Chl3B in branches A and B of the cofactors. The characteristic times of formation of P700+A 0 - and P700+A 1 - calculated on the basis of the model are close to the experimental values obtained by pump-probe femtosecond absorption spectroscopy. It is demonstrated that a small difference in the values of redox potentials between the primary electron acceptors A0A and A0B in branches A and B leads to asymmetry of the electron transfer in a ratio of 70: 30 in favor of branch A. The secondary charge separation is thermodynamically irreversible in the submicrosecond range and is accompanied by additional increase in asymmetry between the branches of cofactors of PS I.
Keywords: photosystem I; reaction center; electron transfer; primary reactions; kinetic modeling
Efficiency of photochemical stages of photosynthesis in purple bacteria (A critical survey) by A. Yu. Borisov (227-234).
Based on currently available data, the energy transfer efficiency in the successive photophysical and photochemical stages has been analyzed for purple bacteria. This analysis covers the stages starting from migration of the light-induced electronic excitations from the bulk antenna pigments to the reaction centers up to irreversible stage of the electron transport along the transmembrane chain of cofactors-carriers. Some natural factors are revealed that significantly increase the rates of efficient processes in these stages. The influence on their efficiency by the "bottleneck" in the energy migration chain is established. The overall quantum yield of photosynthesis in these stages is determined.
Keywords: photosynthesis; purple bacteria; efficiency of energy migration and trapping
Singlet-triplet fission of carotenoid excitation in light-harvesting LH2 complexes of purple phototrophic bacteria by I. B. Klenina; Z. K. Makhneva; A. A. Moskalenko; N. D. Gudkov; M. A. Bolshakov; E. A. Pavlova; I. I. Proskuryakov (235-241).
The current generally accepted structure of light-harvesting LH2 complexes from purple phototrophic bacteria conflicts with the observation of singlet-triplet carotenoid excitation fission in these complexes. In LH2 complexes from the purple bacterium Allochromatium minutissimum, a drop in the efficiency of carotenoid triplet generation is demonstrated, which correlates with the extent of selective photooxidation of bacteriochlorophylls absorbing at ∼850 nm. We conclude that singlet-triplet fission of carotenoid excitation proceeds with participation of these excitonically coupled bacteriochlorophylls. In the framework of the proposed mechanism, the contradiction between LH2 structure and photophysical properties of carotenoids is eliminated. The possibility of singlet-triplet excitation fission involving a third mediator molecule was not considered earlier.
Keywords: purple phototrophic bacteria; light-harvesting complexes; structural organization; carotenoids; singlet-triplet excitation fission
From localized excited states to excitons: Changing of conceptions of primary photosynthetic processes in the twentieth century by R. Y. Pishchalnikov; A. P. Razjivin (242-250).
A short description of two theories of the primary photosynthetic processes is given. Generally accepted in 1950s–1990s, the localized excited states theory has been changed to the modern exciton theory. Appearance of the new experimental data and the light-harvesting complex crystal structure are reasons why the exciton theory has become important. The bulk of data for the old theory and outstanding experiments that have been the driving force for a new theory are discussed in detail.
Keywords: photosynthesis; energy transfer; excitons; light-harvesting antenna; Redfield's theory
Size variability of the unit building block of peripheral light-harvesting antennas as a strategy for effective functioning of antennas of variable size that is controlled in vivo by light intensity by A. S. Taisova; A. G. Yakovlev; Z. G. Fetisova (251-259).
This work continuous a series of studies devoted to discovering principles of organization of natural antennas in photosynthetic microorganisms that generate in vivo large and highly effective light-harvesting structures. The largest antenna is observed in green photosynthesizing bacteria, which are able to grow over a wide range of light intensities and adapt to low intensities by increasing of size of peripheral BChl c/d/e antenna. However, increasing antenna size must inevitably cause structural changes needed to maintain high efficiency of its functioning. Our model calculations have demonstrated that aggregation of the light-harvesting antenna pigments represents one of the universal structural factors that optimize functioning of any antenna and manage antenna efficiency. If the degree of aggregation of antenna pigments is a variable parameter, then efficiency of the antenna increases with increasing size of a single aggregate of the antenna. This means that change in degree of pigment aggregation controlled by light-harvesting antenna size is biologically expedient. We showed in our previous work on the oligomeric chlorosomal BChl c superantenna of green bacteria of the Chloroflexaceae family that this principle of optimization of variable antenna structure, whose size is controlled by light intensity during growth of bacteria, is actually realized in vivo. Studies of this phenomenon are continued in the present work, expanding the number of studied biological materials and investigating optical linear and nonlinear spectra of chlorosomes having different structures. We show for oligomeric chlorosomal superantennas of green bacteria (from two different families, Chloroflexaceae and Oscillochloridaceae) that a single BChl c aggregate is of small size, and the degree of BChl c aggregation is a variable parameter, which is controlled by the size of the entire BChl c superantenna, and the latter, in turn, is controlled by light intensity in the course of cell culture growth.
Keywords: photosynthesis; structure and function; peripheral antennas
Chlorophyll fluorescence induction, chlorophyll content, and chromaticity characteristics of leaves as indicators of photosynthetic apparatus senescence in arboreous plants by V. V. Ptushenko; O. S. Ptushenko; A. N. Tikhonov (260-272).
Parameters of chlorophyll fluorescence induction (CFI) are widely used for assessment of the physiological state of higher plant leaves in biochemical, physiological, and ecological studies and in agricultural applications. In this work we have analyzed data on variability of some CFI parameters — Φ PSII max = F v/F m (relative value of variable fluorescence), q NPQ (non-photochemical quenching coefficient), R Fd ("vitality index") — in autumnal leaves of ten arboreous plant species of the temperate climatic zone. The correlation between the chlorophyll content in the leaves and fluorescence parameters characterizing photosynthetic activity is shown for two representative species, the small-leaved linden Tilia cordata and the rowan tree Sorbus aucuparia. During the period of mass yellowing of the leaves, the Φ PSII max value can be used as an adequate characteristic of their photochemical activity, while in summer the q NPQ or R Fd values are more informative. We have established a correlation between the Φ PSII max value, which characterizes the maximal photochemical activity of the photosystem II, and "chromaticity coordinates" of a leaf characterizing its color features. The chromaticity coordinates determined from the optical reflection spectra of the leaves serve as a quantitative measure of their hues, and this creates certain prerequisites for a visual expert assessment of the physiological state of the leaves.
Keywords: photosynthesis; chlorophyll fluorescence; chromaticity characteristics of leaves
Long-distance signal transmission and regulation of photosynthesis in characean cells by A. A. Bulychev; A. V. Komarova (273-281).
Photosynthetic electron transport in an intact cell is finely regulated by the structural flexibility of thylakoid membranes, existence of alternative electron-transport pathways, generation of electrochemical proton gradient, and continuous exchange of ions and metabolites between cell organelles and the cytoplasm. Long-distance interactions underlying reversible transitions of photosynthetic activity between uniform and spatially heterogeneous distributions are of particular interest. Microfluorometric studies of characean cells with the use of saturating light pulses and in combination with electrode micromethods revealed three mechanisms of distant regulation ensuring functional coordination of cell domains and signal transmission over long distances. These include: (1) circulation of electric currents between functionally distinct cell domains, (2) propagation of action potential along the cell length, and (3) continuous cyclical cytoplasmic streaming. This review considers how photosynthetic activity depends on membrane transport of protons and cytoplasmic pH, on ion fluxes associated with the electrical excitation of the plasmalemma, and on the transmission of photoinduced signals with streaming cytoplasm. Because of signal transmission with cytoplasmic flow, dynamic changes in photosynthetic activity can develop far from the point of photostimulus application and with a long delay (up to 100 s) after a light pulse stimulus is extinguished.
Keywords: Chara corallina ; transmembrane H+ fluxes; chlorophyll fluorescence; photosynthetic electron transport; intracellular diffusion; action potential; cytoplasmic streaming
Role of ascorbic acid in photosynthesis by B. N. Ivanov (282-289).
Experimental data concerning the role of ascorbic acid in both the maintenance of photosynthesis and in the protection of the photosynthetic apparatus against reactive oxygen species and photoinhibition are reviewed. The function of ascorbic acid as an electron donor in the "Krasnovsky reaction", as well as its physiological role as a donor to components of the photosynthetic electron transport chain, which was first studied by A. A. Krasnovsky in the 1980s, is discussed. Data on the content and transport of ascorbic acid in plant cells and chloroplasts are presented.
Keywords: plants; photosynthesis; ascorbic acid; Krasnovsky reaction; chloroplasts; thylakoids; photosynthetic electron transport chain; cyclic electron transport; reactive oxygen species


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Playlist: Jack White
Spectrum Culture Staff
For this feature, we are tasked to pick the best song from each album in an artist or band's discography. There can be only one winner. We are confident this is the best of the Jack White, album by album. We are proud to present PLAYLIST: Jack White.
"Stop Breaking Down" from The White Stripes (1999)
It may be perceived as an insult to label a cover tune as the standout track from a band's debut album. But with the White Stripes' eponymous record, it is entirely appropriate that "Stop Breaking Down" earns this distinction. On an album full of primitive garage ravers, this Robert Johnson cover stands as a crossroads, harkening back to the Stripes' musical heritage and casting a jittery eye to the future.
In its original 1937 rendition, Johnson delivered the song in his distinctive spookiness but with a desperate libidinousness. "The stuff I got will bust your brains out, baby/ It'll make you lose your mind," Johnson sang with cocksure temptation, begrudging the woman hounding him for whatever mojo he was hawking. Featuring Johnson on slide guitar and his warbling high voice, a chugging rhythm and lyrics rife with hokum, the basic blues number has found itself reinterpreted god knows how many times — as did just about every Johnson cut — before the White Stripes tackled it. Perhaps most notably, the Rolling Stones injected some grease into the ditty on Exile on Main St., giving it an even more lecherous drive.
With Jack and Meg White's hands on it, though, the "Stop Breaking Down" gains a whole new vivacity and color. If the Whites were daunted by the song's lineage, they don't show it. Meg's drums hit heavy and sonorous, metronomic without being dull, and the tambourine rattle adds a rickety touch. Jack's guitar tone sounds as though he's using the electricity powering it to part a sea of crude oil. His voice, unrefined, high and reedy, is the perfect vehicle for making his narrator sound as though he's spewing demented ramblings. When he delivers the anchoring line of "The stuff I got will bust your brains out/ Yeah, it'll make you lose your mind" it doesn't come across as enticement as it did with Johnson, but as a threat.
Brash and incendiary, the song has the nascence of a toddler taking its first steps. While it's impulsive and without a concern for posterity, it serves as a totem to both the blues legacy the Stripes were championing and gave that legacy a dirty, late '90s update, showing how timeless that genre truly is. — Cole Waterman
"Hello Operator" from De Stijl (2000)
White Blood Cells and Elephant are the White Stripes' defining works, but much of what makes those records so successful was already evident on the band's first two records. De Stijl sounds more intentionally constructed than the band's debut, artfully disheveled instead of just raw and noisy, but both channel a Detroit font's worth of blues and punk through Meg White's simple drumming and Jack White's unhinged guitar. Like the duo's later albums, De Stijl achieves a diversity of styles within a seemingly narrow formula: bouncy guitar pop on "You're Pretty Good Looking (For A Girl)," a whimsical performance on the ballad "Apple Blossom" and grizzled clatter on rockers like "Why Can't You Be Nicer To Me?" and the standout garage cut "Hello Operator."
"Hello Operator" is the kind of basic, contagious guitar romp White seems to create with ease, and it's a highlight of De Stijl. Starting with that raving guitar intro, "Hello Operator" is built around solos from both band members: Meg's timekeeping drum fills are skeletal to the point of rudimentary, but they emphasize the giddy showmanship White brings to his most memorable performances. It's easy to forget that Meg was more than just a songwriting partner that rode on her bandmate's chops and exhaustive musical output. Meg's reserved instrumental approach was a conscious stylistic choice that provided a much-needed foil to White's charged delivery. "Hello Operator" demonstrates this interplay at its most explicit, structuring the song's stomp around dramatic repeated hand-offs. The White Stripes developed a more mature synergy on their final four albums, but it was just as impressive on this early track. – Mike Merline
"Jolene" from "Hello Operator" Single (2000)
The only non-album track to make our list is the White Stripes' cover of Dolly Parton's 1973 song "Jolene." First surfacing as the B-side to "Hello Operator" in 2000, White would release two raucous live versions, first as a stand-alone single in 2004 and again on the 2010 live album, Under the Great White Northern Lights. In concert, White pushed the song to its plaintive limits with emotionally raw vocals, while the studio version is more refined and restrained.
"Jolene" is a Parton original that echoes the old folk songs White has emulated throughout his career. It is told from the perspective of a housewife who has finally confronted a more beautiful woman she believes has seduced her husband. In an interesting twist, White keeps the gender of the narrator female in all his versions.
"You could have had your choice of men/ But I could never love again/ He's the only one for me, Jolene," White pleads towards the middle of the song before finally breaking down with, "I'm begging of you please don't take my man." White hits the right emotional nuance, elevating the song beyond mere tongue-in-cheek gender bending to something visceral and gripping.
The best bands can take cover versions and make them their own. The White Stripes did this early in their career with takes on Bob Dylan's "One More Cup of Coffee" and Son House's "Death Letter." "Jolene" is easily the best band's best cover song, taking the fury and despair of Dolly Parton's original and adding muscle to its vitriol and sadness. – David Harris
"Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" from White Blood Cells (2001)
White Blood Cells finds the White Stripes building up momentum for their rapid rise. Either heralding that climb or stumbling on an appealing formula, the band shifts direction slightly, away from the traditional sound they had been polishing. The album muddies the bluesy waters they had been treading with songs like the hit single, "Fell in Love With a Girl," which thrusts an English new wave beat into the low-fi realm of the garage. Although the Brit-wave thrash doesn't dominate the album, it sets up the choppy drive that the White Stripes would sharpen over their next couple of releases. The bulk of the songs still draw on their blues rock idols, but start taking a more riff-driven approach. White Blood Cells jumps right to it with "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground," which features an opening run that sizzles with a dark aura of doom anchored in Led Zeppelin's heyday. The White Stripes' obsession with that band is in full display, embodying the chain of influences; just as Zepp borrowed heavily from the classic bluesmen, the White Stripes scamper up their shoulders to launch this tune.
But it's a raw, primitive version of their forebears. The drumming is far simpler and they embrace a rough sound, unconcerned with clarity. Jack White makes a fair attempt to cover Robert Plant, which he's not quite up to, but his quavering voice seems truer to the blues roots and he manages to cram in a double measure of forlorn regret every time that his voice cracks. In homage to Jimmy Page's deft sense of dynamics, the thickly distorted guitar drops into a cleaner tone for the verses, but the growl and feedback quickly spring free to fill the interstices. The complete package is a stew of allusions: the gut-punch lurch of "Dazed and Confused" warps with "Wild Thing"-inspired head-banging and the lyrics mutate the usual blues tropes into surrealistic proclamations. This weird Franken-blues creation serves as a fine stepping stone to the muscular drive they'd create for Elephant. – Jester Jay Goldman
"Seven Nation Army" from Elephant (2003)
In the perpetual debate about which White Stripes album is the best, Elephant often comes out on top. There are plenty of fans who prefer the Stripes' earlier rawer garage sound. But Elephant represents the band's true ascendency into the heart of American popular culture. The Stripes' fourth record won Best Alternative Music Album and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 46th Grammy Awards. Rolling Stone named it the 390th greatest album of all time. Does this critical and cultural ubiquity mean that the Stripes sold out in the name of popular success or that their authentic brand of rock 'n' roll was rightfully finally recognized by the masses? It would be easy to assert the former if it weren't for Elephant's strange, decidedly non-mainstream quirks. Sure, barn burning crowd-pleasers like "The Hardest Button to Button" and "Hypnotize" dominate the album, but the Stripes also give us the countryish Burt Bacharach pastiche "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself," not to mention Meg's decidedly non-rock 'n' roll vocal feature "In the Cold, Cold Night," which evokes the immature, out-of-tune charm of Maureen Tucker on the Velvet Underground's "After Hours." Then there's album closer "It's True That We Love One Another," a brilliant Vaudevillesque deconstruction of rumors regarding Jack and White's relationship, or a jokey piece of throwaway hokum, depending on one's viewpoint.
Despite these album oddities, no song on Elephant is more emblematic of the Stripes' leap into the mainstream than opener "Seven Nation Army." While it's easy for hardcore Stripes fans to hate on this track—it is, after all, the ONE White Stripes song that virtually every living, breathing human being knows—a fresh listen reveals why, in fact, it is so damn popular. The "bass" line (it is actually Jack's acoustic guitar run down an octave through an effects pedal) is so dramatic and catchy that it is chanted as a kind of tribal ritual at any number of professional and amateur sporting events. Despite the pure bliss of Jack's guitar riff, the drummer is the unsung hero of "Seven Nation Army." There are few moments in the whole Stripes catalog as thrilling as when Meg, halfway through the first verse, adds the snare drum on beats two and four to the four-to-the-floor kick drum pattern she has already established. From the Queen of England to the hounds of Hell, "Seven Nation Army" is rightfully irresistible. – Jacob Adams
"Forever for Her (Is Over For Me)" from Get Behind Me Satan (2005)
The White Stripes' fifth LP, Get Behind Me Satan, will forever be known as the one with the marimba. While some may view the prominence of this instrument as a bold artistic move on the part of the duo, Jack White has asserted that it is all over the record because a marimba happened to be sitting in the studio while he and Meg were laying down tracks. Whatever the reason, Get Behind Me Satan is less guitar-driven and more piano- (and certainly marimba-) based than previous Stripes efforts. Some Stripes fan view this change with outrage (Jack's rocking guitar riffs, after all, formed the basis of their signature sound pre-2005), whereas others accept it as part of the band's ambitious evolution. Although Satan is overall a mellower effort than the Stripes' first four albums, there is no doubt that the piano can rock just as much as the guitar (see "My Doorbell" and "The Denial Twist" as Exhibits A and B). Satan is also one of the most musically diverse records in the Stripes' discography. Typical Stripes rockers like "Blue Orchid" and "Red Rain" stand alongside the self-deprecating acoustic ballad "As Ugly as I Seem" and the playful mountain folk song "Little Ghost." Album closer "I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)," a sloppy blues-inflected piano tune that evokes both the great American songbook and Robert Plant in balladeer mode, finds Jack White at his most vulnerable.
Get Behind Me Satan has many standout tracks, but "Forever for Her (Is Over For Me)" shines the brightest. The minimalist sonic palette of Meg's steady drums, a shaker, a piano, the marimba and a touch of acoustic guitar serves as a perfect backdrop for Jack White's musings on lost love and life change. Over the course of three minutes, Jack conjures up a multitude of emotions, from exasperation due to personal failure ("I blew it/ And if I knew what to do, then I'd do it" to tortured romantic passion ("Their love is only a fraction of what I can give to you") to Springsteenesque wanderlust ("Let's do it/ Let's get on a plane and just do it/ Let's get out of town and forever be free)." Through it all, Jack delivers one of the most dynamic vocal performances of his career, invoking tender vulnerability on the verses and unbridled passion on the choruses. "Forever for Her" represents the Stripes at their most emotionally resonant. – Jacob Adams
"Steady, As She Goes" from Broken Boy Soldiers (2006)
The Raconteurs sparked to life on the back of a single song. If you believe the origin story, Jack White and singer-songwriter pal Brendan Benson wrote "Steady, As She Goes" in an attic during the sweltering heat of summer. What began as musical back-and-forth between old friends grew into a full album when Greenhornes garage rockers Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler joined the mix. The Raconteurs shunned the term "supergroup," choosing to define their union as an entirely new band. Broken Boy Soldiers was recorded in Benson's in-home studio, and the album would go on to earn a Grammy nomination, while "Steady, as She Goes" topped the Modern Rock Tracks chart and even broke top 10 in the United Kingdom.
This side project was a new creative outlet for White, one that did not rely on a stripped-down garage sound, but rode a conventional quartet lineup to a more robust indie rock sound. Broken Boy Soldiers also gave White the chance to share the microphone, and his vocal interplay with Benson on "Steady, As She Goes" gives the hit single an added dimension. White sings of an urge to settle down with the right girl, but is unable to stave off restlessness, which may well have expressed the sympathies of a band full of prolific musicians who were clearly gathering no moss. White has taken on the role of trendsetter (just ask him why the Black Keys are so successful) even while maintaining a certain outsider image. Like most of Broken Boy Soldiers, "Steady, As She Goes" is a kickass rock song by a group of guys who are having way too much fun playing off each other's energy. Music needs more of this. – Josh Goller
"Icky Thump" from Icky Thump (2007)
Jack White's successful foray into the Raconteurs' boys club did not stop him from returning to his "big sister" Meg to release another album a year later. No one knew at the time that this would be the White Stripes' final studio album, but you'd be hard-pressed to imagine a more fitting swansong. After expanding their sound with piano and even marimba on 2005's Get Behind Me Satan, Icky Thump brought the White Stripes back to their roots. This is a bluesy garage rock album, purely encapsulated in its self-titled lead single.
Borrowing its title from a British expression that means something like, "Oh God!," "Icky Thump" merges full-throttled American garage rock with an exotic international feel, due largely to liberally applied Univox synthesizer solos that make the track sound folksy and mysterious. Despite their current estrangement, Jack long maintained that Meg was the heart of the band, and her driving drum beats fuel "Icky Thump." The song has earned comparisons to Led Zeppelin (especially the guitar thrum of "Whole Lotta Love"), and "Icky Thump" may be familiar, but it is definitely its own beast.
The lyrics dip into a stream-of-consciousness that sees White preaching about immigration issues as well as proclaiming, "you can't be a pimp and a prostitute too." This exercise in blending experimentalism with garage rock methodology hits the mark. Shockingly, "Icky Thump" was the first White Stripes single to climb into the Billboard Top 40, even though the opening riff to "Seven Nation Army" is now routinely chanted by entire stadiums at NFL games and World Cup soccer matches. "Icky Thump" defines Jack White's musical approach: simple yet complex, familiar yet experimental, a perfect blend of style and substance. – Josh Goller
"Carolina Drama" from Consolers of the Lonely (2008)
Despite mostly positive critical reviews at the time of its release, in retrospect, Consolers of the Lonely is not a great record. With White's blues proclivities cleaving against Brendon Benson's power pop inclinations, the whole affair feels more muddied and scattered than a pleasant bevy of variety. That this manifests in a bloated tracklist comprising too many mundane songs means that the album forsakes the charm of its predecessor, Broken Toy Soldiers. Come the end though, a great reward arrives in the form of "Carolina Drama."
A classic murder ballad that owes as much to traditional blues as it does to the novels of Harry Crews and Flannery O'Connor, it digs its hooks in you from the opening notes. White sings in a plaintive manner, his voice sounding strained as he introduces the yarn he's about to spin, an acoustic guitar behind him establishing a rustic melody. It's soon joined by an eerie electric counterpart, adding a haunted ambience. When the drums join and the narrative proper unfurls in the second verse, it flows like a black river winding its way into a kudzu- and gator-infested swamp.
Heavy fog and the smell of whiskey seem to permeate the piece as White relates his tale of duplicity and licentiousness in a mossy boondock shack. A South Carolinian family composed of a young boy, his teenager brother Billy, their mother and her reprobate boyfriend is beset with strife when two murders are committed in their midst. First, the boyfriend kills a priest who is fornicating with or attacking the mother, only in turn to be killed by a drunken Billy who believes said priest is his father. Told with a focus on Billy's addled perception, the story is impressionistic and with an unreliable narrator, amounting to a puzzle as to what is really going on. The lyrics gel perfectly with the music to steadily build the tension and the sense of dread, the gaps between verses filled with ghostly feminine vocals flitting about, light key plinking and an aching Civil War-era violin (or maybe fiddle is more apt in this case). It all comes down in the final extended verse, the drums crashing and the other instruments swirling in a maelstrom in synergy with the story's violence. Wide-eyed derangement takes over in the form of a choir of la-la-las, all before fading back out with a bookended ambiguity. Not just the best song on Consolers of the Lonely, it is one of the finest numbers in White's oeuvre. — Cole Waterman
"Hang You from the Heavens" from Horehound (2009)
Arguably the darkest offering to come out of Jack White's catalog of rotating musical rosters, Horehound found White behind the kit for the first time in years, and you can hear him lurking in the background of these murky, snarling tracks. On its surface, The Dead Weather sounds more like Alison Mosshart's work with the Kills than anything out of the White Stripes playbook, but there's a sinister, animated grime all over its trashy blues that goes well beyond that of the four musicians' regular gigs. Horehound sounds evil, sexualized, aggressive and frenzied, real devil's music compared to the White Stripes' candy-coated blues. These songs haunt instead of boogie, with Queens of the Stone Age keyboardist and guitarist Dean Fertita oozing swampy organ parts that combine with drawled guitar (courtesy of Fertita and the Raconteurs' Jack Lawrence) for a heady murk. The White Stripes records are exhilarating, the Raconteurs' nostalgic, but Horehound is powerfully unsettling. White relegates himself to a supporting role, letting Mosshart take most of the vocals and rarely making his presence known. On lead single "Hang You from the Heavens," Mosshart spits fire over mammoth buzzsaw guitars that grind forward mechanically in an ominous two-chord riff. She sums up the album's attitude with the line, "I'd like to grab you by the hair/ and sell you off to the devil," a whisper more threatening than her raging banshee cries. White punishes the high-hats, throws in a few distant fills, and his strangled bass drum part lurks in a strategic void at the middle of the track, his performance reserved even as the song's buildup explodes. The Dead Weather brings a lot of talent to a project that arrived fully formed, but White is a formidable contributor even as a supporting player. – Mike Merline
"The Difference Between Us" from Sea of Cowards (2010)
That Jack White is susceptible to illness seems improbable – and yet a case of bronchitis is partly to thank for the formation of the Dead Weather. When White found himself unable to keep up towards the end of the Raconteurs tour in 2008, Kills frontwoman Alison Mosshart was recruited to take over some of his vocal performance. The chemistry was too good to resist, and so White transitioned out of one supergroup into another, leaving Raconteurs nostalgia behind in favor of this slicker, sexier, grimier collaboration with Mosshart, Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Dean Fertita and bassist Jack Lawrence (also of the Raconteurs). Sea of Cowards was their second release in the space of a year, which just goes to show how quickly ideas can coalesce when alpha meets alpha.
Though Horehound bears the stamp of a White production, his presence was largely executed from behind the drumkit. He rises up in the compositions of Sea of Cowards, this time sharing lead vocal duties with Mosshart. The album reeks in a way that quickens the pulse – the danger is so provocative, it neutralizes the instinct to run. In the end, the contrast between White and Mosshart is almost anti-contrast: aside from the male/female dynamic, these two sound like iterations of the same impish creature. It's only once they've led you some distance down a darkening path that you notice the flicker of forked tongues.
"The Difference Between Us" embodies this creepitude perfectly. The first few seconds are an innocent lure, a spattering of keyboard sounds playfully 8-bit before morphing into a crawling organ riff transmitting straight from 22nd century Transylvania. This is all Mosshart's freakout; she repeats the same verse time and again, each time more intense and disorganized, like a crazy person who asks the same question over and over, desperate for that impossible yes. "Let's go walk to the border/ Let's go walk along the edge/ Let's go where no one can see us/ And find the difference between us." Squiggles of keyboard frequencies and abrupt drum fills – sometimes just on the rim – poke through this boggy deathwish. "Just let me do what I need to/ It might be to me or to you" – with this, the Dead Weather leaves you bobbing in the froth of madness. – Stacey Pavlick
"Sixteen Saltines" from Blunderbuss (2012)
There's an extra measure of electricity in the anticipation of an artist's first solo release. The White Stripes came on the scene just before the turn of the millennium, and in the foundling years of the 21st century, Jack White owned a good part of the scene, establishing himself culturally as an It Guy and artistically as an auteur. 2012 saw the release of Blunderbuss, White's first to be billed as a solo album. Would it be much different than the output of the Jack White persona we'd come to expect? The album cover suggests a maybe, a high contrast shot of White against an industrial background, unfocused with a heavy bluish saturation. Which is to say, decidedly not peppermint red.
And yet Blunderbuss falls squarely within the confines of the Jack White catalog, which by no means is indicative of it being a disappointment. More Stripes, less Weather. Predictably (by this point) eclectic, White's tracklist varies between country, blues and rock traditions. But he doesn't just visit the past by setting up a stool there and singing a little ditty – it's as if he flings it over his shoulder and drags it with him into the now. He thrashes, he stomps, he pours himself into a lover's lament. It's meticulously orchestrated and lyrically purposeful; still, Blunderbuss retains the unabashedness of a prodigy's mad improvisations.
A record about fracture and poisonous burn, White does nothing to self-soothe. "Sixteen Saltines" pokes at this blister, and White's feeling masochistic and all but predatory: "She's got stickers on her locker/ And the boy's number there in magic marker/ I'm hungry and the hunger will linger/ I eat sixteen saltine crackers then I lick my fingers." The lyrics are so clever and direct, and the negative space between isolated call-and-response licks make the subsequent fractious clatter all the more rallying. He slips into delusion, shaking you by the collar when he gasps, "Who's jealous who's jealous who's jealous who's jealous of who?" He's a straight-up menace, and "Sixteen Saltines" is indeed Blunderbuss's saltiest track. Makes you want to reach for another cracker. – Stacey Pavlick
"That Black Bat Licorice" from Lazaretto (2014)
On Lazaretto, Jack White shows off how much he's evolved since the early days of the White Stripes. His extensive production work and collaborations with the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather has broadened his palette well beyond his blues rock roots. White's latest album is his most polished, but he hasn't sacrificed his edge to get there. It's filled with quality material, from the brooding "Would You Fight for My Love?" to the Kid Rock funk-rap of the title cut. He still can't let go of the blues – the opening track, "Three Women," is his take on a Blind Willie McTell tune – but he warps the form to integrate updated textures, like the back masking on "High Ball Stepper."
White continues to expand his instrumentation over his previous minimalist approach; Lazaretto features a fair amount of keyboard work and integral backing vocals. In compensation, he's less reliant on simple tagline riffs to hold the songs together, giving him the freedom to break new ground. "That Black Bat Licorice" is a fine example. The manipulated vocal intro sets up a more modern pop arrangement, with overdubbed vocal punches and electronic textures. The main vamp gives the tune a cabaret feel, partly from the bump-and-grind rhythm, but also because of how the percussion follows the vocal phrasing. It's theatrical and flashy. Like "Lazaretto," White pseudo-raps his way through the piece with a deliberate step-wise pace. His flow is packed, but some lines jump out like, "She writes letters like a Jack Chick comic/ Just a bunch of propaganda, make my fingers histrionic." He gives a nod to a bluesy call and response, but the interlocked guitar/synth-line reply to his prodding crackles with noisy electricity. Despite the pop production, the quintessential Jack White sound and feel is still in effect, especially in how he blurs the line between bombast and camp. His intent, as always, is to keep the listener off-balance. The beat and White's attitude set a serious tone, but he gives us a knowing wink at the production excess when he sets up the violin solo with an offhand, "I never liked it, I never will/ Now state the same damn thing with the violin." The taste of subversion in that slip of the mask is just another touch of showmanship from this compulsive performer. – Jester Jay Goldman
Tagged: jack white
The Spectrum Culture Staff loves you. Just go with it.
The Raconteurs: Help Us Stranger
Jack White is capable of inflicting more compelling strangeness than we get
Jack White: Boarding House Reach
Boarding House Reach is just crazy enough to make it work.
The Dead Weather: Dodge and Burn
In order to attempt to enjoy most Dead Weather songs one is forced to basic
Jack White: Lazaretto
Jack White is rock 'n' roll's mad scientist. In this age
Revisit: The Kills: Keep on Your Mean Side
Revisit is a series of reviews highlighting past releases that now deserve


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Vladas Didžiokas
Born on 1 September 1889 in Vilnius, died on 7 October 1942 in Kaunas. In 1907–1908, he attended the Vilnius Drawing School. In 1917, he finished the Baron Stieglitz Central Technical Drawing School in St. Petersburg, from 1917 to 1818, studied painting at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, and in 1922, improved his skills in Leipzig and Berlin. From 1922 to 1940, he taught at the Kaunas Art School, and from 1931 was the head of its Decorative Painting Studio. He created some set designs for Vitebsk and Kaunas theatres, but mainly worked in the field of painting. Didžiokas painted portraits, figurative compositions, landscapes and still lifes. His early paintings are realistic, and later the artist tended to more generalized forms and postimpressionistic style. He created linocuts, lithographs and etchings, took part in the activity of the Lithuanian Art Creators' Society and Lithuanian Artists' Society, and published some articles about art.
Reference: Académie de Vilna. VILNIUS DRAWING SCHOOL 1866–1915. Exhibition Catalogue. Compiled by dr. J. Širkaitė, Vilnius 2017, P. 131.
V. Didžiokas devoted much of his time to scenography. After he finished studies of ornamental painting, he worked from 1918 as a theatre scenographer and taught stage setting art at the Kaunas School of Art. His legacy is not numerous and varies in artistic value. After finishing his studies in St. Petersburg (A. Stieglitz's School of Drawing and the Academy of Art), he was drawn towards academic art. During 1922–1923, after half a year of training in Berlin and at the studio of Latvian artist J. Walter-Kurau, he became a follower of post-impressionism and his paintings became more ornamental, clear and colourful. Nature in his landscapes was interpreted more freely than in portraits.
Reference: Art album "The World of Landscapes" (Volume I). Compiled by N. Tumėnienė. Vilnius, LAWIN, 2010, P. 48.


Tuesday celebrated what the world needs a little more of: Kindness.
November 13 marks the observance of" World Kindness Day," which is dedicated to committing acts of good faith and establishing connections with other people of the global community.
RAK is one of the original founding members of the World Kindness Movement (WKM), an organization with 28 member countries around the world, including Mexico, China, France and Canada.
According to Jones and the WKM website, World Kindness Day was born out of the organization's 1998 conference in Tokyo.
"You're kind you're helping the other person, but you're also helping yourself as well," said Jones, who claimed she was making her way out of the office Tuesday evening to hand out hot coffee and treats to unsuspecting individuals in downtown Denver.
Since the Tuesday morning, people both real and fictional, took to social media to spread the message of good cheer.
"Happy #WorldKindnessDay! Don't forget that something as small as a smile or saying hello to a friend can make a big difference to others," said the famous character Hello Kitty out of her U.S. Twitter account.
"This #WorldKindnessDay, remember that when we're good to one another, the world is a little bit brighter," Kermit the Frog tweeted.
But for others, the day was an opportunity for organizations to share random acts of kindness.
Elsewhere on the streets of New York City, a kaleidoscope of people from different countries said the world could use more days like these.
"It shouldn't be just a day," said 21-year-old Marianne Volichen, a tourist from Philippines. "There should be kindness everyday."
New York resident Jacob Roscoe, who didn't know it was World Kindness Day, also agreed.
"I think we could definitely use more kindness," Roscoe said. "I definitely think it comes from people being more thoughtful with their actions."
For 48-year-old Alberta Archie, looking toward the generosity of children may be the answer.
"Kids, in general, children really teach us," the Canadian tourist said, looking at the young girl playing next to her on a bench outside of Rockefeller Center.


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Enes, anyone? Thunder can't stop Kanter in Game 1 defeat
by Berry Tramel
Published: Mon, April 15, 2019 1:04 AM Updated: Mon, April 15, 2019 1:15 AM
PORTLAND, Ore. — Enes Kanter tried to chat with Steven Adams. Knowing Kanter, there's no chance it was trash talk. The international man of peace wants only to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. Kanter was just glad to see his old pal, his 'Stache Brother for life.
But Adams didn't even look at Kanter. We don't call him Stone Cold Steven Adams for nothing. Adams had on his game face. Kanter knew Adams wasn't going to go Auld Lang Syne.
So Kanter had no other option than just to play.
And play he did. Kanter looked nothing like the weak link he was pegged to be in Portland's lineup. The missing link was more like it. The Blazers, swept in back-to-back playoff series the previous two years, beat the Thunder 104-99 Sunday in the Moda Center, and the hero was Kanter.
Traded by the Thunder 19 months ago for Carmelo Anthony. Cast off by the Knickerbockers, who banished Kanter to the bench so they could lose games in the Zion Williamson Derby. Signed by Portland in February as an insurance policy.
There's a reason the insurance exists. Sometimes you need it.
When Jusuf Nurkic suffered a broken leg in March, the Blazers needed a center, and what a center Kanter was Sunday: 20 points, 18 rebounds, a game-best plus-15 in point differential. Kanter at the minimum neutralized his old buddy Adams, who had a big game himself, 17 points and nine rebounds, but didn't dominate the paint the way the Thunder needs in this series.
"The MVP of the game," Portland star Damian Lillard called Kanter. "He had a huge presence down the stretch."
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Video: Thunder vs Blazers Game 1: Enes Kanter
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Billy Donovan famously said "can't play Kanter" during that Thunder-Rocket playoff series two Aprils ago. But Portland couldn't play without him Sunday. Kanter sat for 13 minutes, 41 seconds, during which the Thunder outscored the Blazers 35-25.
"He does what he always does, offensive rebounds," Donovan said. "It's where a lot of his points came from — but Enes has been doing that for a long time."
Kanter is such a sweetheart, he declined to pop Donovan for past sins.
Kanter effectively sealed this game for Portland. On back-to-back possessions in the final two minutes, Kanter rebounded Blazer misses, allowing Portland to run off 36 and 35 seconds of valuable time. And with the Thunder trailing 98-94 and the shot clock winding down, Kanter drove to the basket and made a left-handed scoop shot. With 11 seconds left, the Blazers had Game 1.
Kanter spent 2 1/2 seasons with the Thunder and endeared himself to everyone from Elk City to Broken Bow. Teammates, fans, media. Didn't matter. We all loved Kanter. And Kanter loved us back.
"I'll be honest," Kanter said. "It did feel very awkward and very weird, playing against them in a big game like this. I was very nervous before the game."
The loss was a gut punch to the Thunder, but everyone in Oklahoma had to feel a little pleased for Kanter. The Thunder was supposed to take advantage of Kanter's defensive liabilities, and that happened often Sunday, with Russell Westbrook routinely getting to the basket with Kanter's feet stuck in mud. Kanter was supposed to be the reason the Thunder would win this series, but the Blazers won Game 1 in part because of Kanter's play.
Kanter reflected on his journey.
"After we got a win, I was walking to the locker room, I saw the GM, (general manager Neil Olshey)," Kanter said. "He told me, 'What a great decision, right? I said, I appreciate it. Thank you so much.
"You look at it, I was with the worst team in the league, and I wasn't even playing, because they thought I was too old to play. Just so frustrating. Couple of days ago, I looked at the mirror and said, 'Man, I'm blessed to be here with an amazing organization and amazing teammates."
That's the kind of stuff Kanter used to say about Oklahoma City. Heck, he still says it.
Until Sunday, the guy still could have been elected mayor of OKC. And truth is, despite this Game 1 wound, Kanter still deserves a rousing ovation when he's introduced as a Blazer starter in Game 3 back at Chesapeake Arena.
"I can't say enough about how amazing the Thunder fans mean to me," Kanter said. "I think they're going to cheer for me. But I don't know, it's a playoff game. I'm not sure."
I'm not sure, either. But we all should wish Enes Kanter well.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok.com/berrytramel.
Portland Trail Blazers center Enes Kanter, center, grabs a rebound as Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams, front left, and Thunder forward Paul George, right, defend during the second half of Game 1 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series in Portland, Ore., Sunday, April 14, 2019....
Portland Trail Blazers center Enes Kanter, center, grabs a rebound as Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams, front left, and Thunder forward Paul George, right, defend during the second half of Game 1 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series in Portland, Ore., Sunday, April 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Steve Dipaola)
Berry Tramel
Berry Tramel, a lifelong Oklahoman, sports fan and newspaper reader, joined The Oklahoman in 1991 and has served as beat writer, assistant sports editor, sports editor and columnist. Tramel grew up reading four daily newspapers — The Oklahoman,... Read more ›
CommentsEnes, anyone? Thunder can't stop Kanter in Game 1 defeat


The Precipitated Calcium Carbonate cycle begins with the limestone extraction from our own quarry, followed by the Calcination and Hydration of selected materials which obtains the different lime qualities. The cycle is completed by carbonating the top quality lime with the CO2 generated in the previous calcination step to obtain the customized Precipitated Calcium Carbonates.
The first process is the extraction of the Calcium Carbonate mineral (limestone) from the quarry. After crushing and classification, a selected raw material is obtained which is then used in the process of calcination.
The calcination step is carried out in energy efficient regenerative kilns where Calcium Oxide (quicklime) is obtained. This product becomes the raw material used for the rest of the manufactured products.
Calcium Oxide slaking takes place in a continuous hydrator where Calcium Hydroxide (slaked lime) is obtained.
Customized Precipitated Calcium Carbonate (PCC) is obtained by reacting in adjusted physico-chemical conditions slaked lime with CO2 coming from the calcination process.
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It includes 6 out of the 7 cities in the county and portions of Vancouver and includes all or part of nearly every school and port district in the county. The 18th LD has a rich diversity of small and family-owned businesses, farms, wineries, manufacturers, and retailers. When it comes to outdoor recreation, you name it and we probably have it here in the 18th, from the shores of the Columbia River to the highest mountains in Clark County.
Although the 18th LD's three state positions are currently held by Republicans, the 18th LD Democrats will be working diligently to give the residents of in the district a choice for fair representation.


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"May This Boy Be a Living Witness of the Blessed Jesus": Church of the Brethren Mission Work in India
By Kelley Brenneman
This past summer Warren Garner donated letters to BHLA that were written between his parents and his mother to her parents. These letters were written while the Garner family was living in India, and the letters were written while the Garner family was Church of the Brethren Missionaries in India. By the time the Garners arrived in India the Church of the Brethren already had a history of mission work in India. The Church started here in 1895 and continued until the Church of the Brethren in India became an independent church. The Garner family was in India from 1916 until 1932, and these family letters give us the chance to see the mission field through a different lens.
Bulsar Boarding School. Courtesy of BHLA
"Wilber B. and Mary Emmert Stover and Bertha Ryan (Shirk) opened what became the Church of the Brethren mission in India in Bulsar in Jan., 1895." Missionaries constructed an orphanage and residence place in 1899. The goal of the Brethren missionaries was two parts: spread the gospel and helping the people of the area. On April 3, 1898, 13 people were baptized at Bulsar, and by 1902 the mission work had expanded south into the Marathi language area, and the mission's boundaries encompassed more than 7000 square miles of the western coast of India. "In response to severe famine, orphanages were started at several stations in the early years. Elementary schools, training schools, and medical facilities soon followed." In 1912 The Bulsar Bible Training School was established. Missionaries also established a Vocational Training School and a Rural Service Center in Anklesvar. These places taught teacher training, carpentry, agriculture, adult literacy, public health and Christian service.
There were many challenges that faced the Brethren Missionaries in India; one was the rigid caste system in the country. "Because of the awful caste system of this country the people will not let us educate their children for fear they will break caste and become defiled."1 There were also difficulties for the families of the missionaries, but as Kathy Garner says in the same letter "They [incidents between the Indians and the missionaries] are funny to tell after they are over, but just at the time one does not always appreciate the joke."2 She goes on to tell a story about her cook; "On this occasion I have given this boy beans to cook and meat to be fried. I was busy in the house when I smelled something burning. Knowing that my boy was not reliable I feared it was something I should investigate. I went to do so and found Babu (the cook) standing by the stove turning the meat from side to side allowing no time for it fry and wholly unconscious of the fact that the beans in the vessel beside the pan over which he was working were burning to a crisp. When I asked him why he didn't look at the beans, he said, 'My whole attention was given to frying the meat how could I know the beans were dry.'"
Jasper and Warren in front of mission motor. Courtesy of BHLA
Despite the many challenges that faced the missionaries the Church of the Brethren were successful and in 1945 the Church of the Brethren in India became autonomous church. "It was after World War II and India's independence (1947) that major changes took place. Indian church leadership developed rapidly and the expatriate missionary staff declined in numbers. Most of the mission schools were turned over to the government. Goals of self-support were set. In 1970 the Church of the Brethren in India united with five other denominations to form the Church of the North India."
What was family life like in the mission field of India? The Garner family letters give great insight into what daily life was like and what it was like to raise a family. For example on July 7, 1922 Kathy Garner describes a wedding that Holly and she attended at the mission. "Last night Nettie Brown and Benjamin Summer were married. They had a very nice wedding. Every one pitched in and helped to make things go as nice as possible for them. Bro. Blough married them. For the dinner we had chicken salad, peas, sandwiches, pickles, oranges, bananas, mints, peanuts, and fruit punch…. Had a big white cake nicely decorated for the bride."3
Drawing done by Warren Garner for his grandparents. Courtesy of BHLA
The letters also contain happy news that Kathy and Holly sent back home. One from June 30, 1926 informed the Barkdolls that they were again grandparents; "We have been waiting for the arrival of the new member of our family… We have named this young gentleman Warren Kenneth Garner." And like any family when a new baby arrives there are always stories about how the older sibling reacts. "Jasper had been looking for a sister but he is now satisfied with a brother. However for a day or two he seemed to want to say "SHE" instead of "HE" when he spoke about him. Jasper is quite proud of him."4
This leopard was shot by Holly Garner at the back door of the bungalow where they lived in Ahwa, India. Courtesy of BHLA
Later letters in this collection show what schooling was like for the children of the missionaries. Jasper was sent to Woodstock School which was started to educate children of missionaries. Part of the BHLA collection contains a scrapbook full of newspaper clippings from the school. Jasper Garner also sent home letters while he was at school that show what school was like. "The A Class will start its fifth reader on Monday. The B Class is reading its third one now."5A later letter Jasper informs his family that the school received new coloring books that were a lot of fun.
The Church of the Brethren has a long history with mission work in India and still has ties with the Indian church today. Through the Warren Garner Letter Collection here at BHLA, we have the unique opportunity to see the mission field through the eyes of a family.
1 Kathy Garner, Letter to Co-Workers in the Lora, April 17, 1921.
3 Kathy Garner, Letter to her parents, July 7, 1922.
4 Holly Garner, Letter to his in-laws, June 30, 1926.
5 Jasper Garner, Letter to his family, September 26, 1930
Posted in Hidden GemsTagged Brethren Historical Library and Archives, Garner family, Hidden Gem, India, Letters, Missionaries, Missionary, Warren Garner
Ken Morse: Brethren Hymnist with a MessageThe Challenge of Military Camp Life for the Church of the Brethren during World War I


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JFK the Introvert: A Dinner Party Conversation
Three days after then-Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy announced his candidacy for president on January 2, 1960, he invited two Newsweek journalists, bureau chief Ben Bradlee (who would go on to be a legendary editor of the Washington Post) and correspondent James M. Cannon (who would go on to be an aide to Gerald Ford). Lucky for us Cannon brought a tape recorder.
Three days after then-Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy announced his candidacy for president on January 2, 1960, he invited two Newsweek journalists, bureau chief Ben Bradlee (who would go on to be a legendary editor of the Washington Post) and correspondent James M. Cannon (who would go on to be an aide to Gerald Ford). Lucky for us Cannon brought a tape recorder. A transcript of the session is in the October issue of Smithsonian magazine. Along with the Senator and the two reporters, Jacqueline Kennedy and Bradlee's wife Tony occasionally chime in.
B. BRADLEE: What about the projection of one's self? The only comparable field I canthink of is a movie star.
JFK: No, but I think I personally am the antithesis of a politician as I saw my grandfather who was the politician. I mean, every reason that I say, that he was ideal. What he loved to do was what politicians are expected to do. Now I just think that today…
CANNON: Don't you?
JFK: No, I don't. I don't enjoy. I'd rather read a book on a plane than talk to the fellow next to me, and my grandfather wanted to talk to everybody else. I'd rather not go out to dinner.
T. BRADLEE: You look as though you enjoy it. Which helps.
B. BRADLEE: But Jack, that whole projection that comes with modern times.
JFK: I think I just happen to fit now. I mean, I think people don't like this.
JACQUELINE KENNEDY: I think that's a nineteenth-century politician, don't you, like your grandfather, that you people are suspicious of ?
B. BRADLEE: Now the politicians have to be constantly on the air.
JFK: ... I have a particular type of personality which, I don't look like a politician, and all the rest, which helps me. Everybody isn't an extrovert in politics. I would say that a lot of the Senate certainly are not extroverts ...
B. BRADLEE: But Jack, I mean, you are! No?
JFK: No, I don't think I am, actually.
B. BRADLEE: But you like it. And you live on it.
JFK: All these things may be true. Listen, I'm just saying, what I would be doing, you know I don't go out to dinner.
B. BRADLEE: I know, I'm not trying to provoke you.
JFK: I understand. I'd be delighted if I had Hubert Humphrey's disposition. He thrives on this. He loves to go out and campaign for five days. It's a lot of work. I just don't think you have to have that type of personality to be successful today in politics. I think you have to be able to communicate a sense of conviction and intelligence and rather, some integrity. That's what you have to be able to do. This hail-fellow is passé in many ways. Those three qualities are really it. Now, I think that some people can do that. I think I do that well. I mean, I've been really successful, politically. I think I can do that. But it isn't anything to do with being able to go out and just love it…
CANNON: Does it ever concern you that you have lost your sense of privacy? You obviously can't have ... since everybody knows you now.
JFK: That's the real pleasure about Jamaica in a way. You really can't go any place par- ticularly now without ... But I don't mind, I think that's part of running, so I'm delighted, really. I used to walk down the streets in '45 and nobody knew me. Now that's fifteen years of effort has gone into getting known. I mean, it isn't pleasant for the person, but as an invest- ment of energy it represents some ...
CANNON: What's your reaction when someone comes up and says, "I saw you on television"?
JFK: They come from Massachusetts? [laughter] It's all right. I don't mind. I'm asking their support, so, you know.
CANNON: Do you take any special efforts to maintain a sense of privacy? Do you have a private phone? Unlisted?
JFK: I do. But everybody seems to have it.
It's fascinating to see Kennedy, who arguably redefined the Presidency in pop culture terms, discuss his natural introversion. It's even more unusual after reading Michael Lewis' recent profile in with Barack Obama for Vanity Fair in which a President half a century later voices some of the same complaints about losing his anonymity, privacy, and functioning as a pop cultural icon. While Lewis had to screen his quotes with the White House press shop before he could publish them, this conversation between the future President and two journalists has stayed under wraps until now. Smithsonian has the whole transcript here.


The ortice olive's fine reputation goes back 1000 years. Today the Romano family has created an oil rich in hints of fresh cut grass, and tomato leaf. The oil is fresh tasting and while full and strong it is still very well balanced. It would pare well with BBQ meats, hard mature cheeses, casseroles and bean soups and salads.


The Ultimate Search for the Best Online Marketplace: COMPLETE!
For the past few weeks, we've been exploring online, worldwide marketplaces in search of the best of the best: the one that offers the most quality experience, the most quality product, and the best shipping. We've considered clothing retail, cosmetic retail, and general retail marketplaces, and many have been neck-in-neck. Amazon offers exclusive, never before seen quick shipping on an unbelievable inventory, and Forever21 has hit the nail on the head with a vast selection of affordable clothing, and still other retailers have unique things to offer.
In reviewing clothing retailers, we've discovered some pretty unexpected, pleasant experiences. Grana, a company that cuts out the middle man and offers luxury clothing at a fraction of the price, astounded me with their quality and fast shipping from the other side of the world. Free People, who receives very mixed reviews on many of their products, offers unique pieces that can't be matched anywhere else and product details that make selecting products a breeze. And Forever21's plethora of styles and low prices were surprisingly impressing.
When analyzing general marketplaces, I took the internet's word for it in choosing Amazon and Walmart, and my experience at each was extremely similar. I'm an Amazon Prime membership holder, so I receive free 2-day shipping on most items, and Walmart - who offers the same service for free on many products – took me by surprise in winning my favor as well.
The most intimidating experience for me, and perhaps the most rewarding, was shopping for online cosmetics through Ulta and YesStyle. Ulta, a Western-based company who offers Western cosmetics, delivered promptly and carries brands I trust. YesStyle, on the other hand, was in no rush to deliver my order, but their unique-to-me products were exciting and pleasant to try.
Amazon. It's not that the other marketplaces I experienced weren't fantastic. They were. I was blown away by some, and others met my expectations. But no one can compete with a marketplace that sells practically everything in the world, and with free two-day shipping for members. While Amazon has its small downsides (it's important to make sure that items marked "Prime eligible" actually offer 2-day shipping, because just a few aren't actually in stock), it's overall an innovative, unrivaled platform that caters to anyone and anywhere. AmazonPrime is created for United States shoppers, but AmazonGlobal, which sells all Amazon-fulfilled products, is available internationally and ships much quicker than other US-based marketplaces.
You won't go wrong with any of the marketplaces I've reviewed if you know what to expect. They've each got their benefits, and if you choose the retailer that's best suited to your own personal desires you'll not be disappointed. But overall, Amazon takes the cake, and I believe it offers the best options for the most people.


After a great deal of thought, we designed an entirely new multifunctional mini-grader. Our Exaktplaner is not simply a version of an existing grader that has been proportionally reduced in size, but rather it is a completely newly developed device; developed with a completely new approach. A work machine on three wheels that can be telescopically extended and is incredibly agile and mobile at the same time.
The length of the grader can be extended hydraulically from 4.50 m to 5.70 m and provides a very precise grade without compromising its agility. A turning radius of only 2.5 m has been made possible thanks to its special design. Despite its low weight of only 2.8 tons, the Schwab Exaktplaner®, with its powerful 60 HP motor, is one of the most capable machines in garden and landscape construction. Not lastly, thanks to its 3-point hydraulics with power take-off, it can be combined with all attachments like reciprocating or power harrows, cultivators, Verti-Drain or fertiliser spreaders and thereby replaces a tractor at the site.
Its areas of application include all types of substructures in road construction, walkway construction and block paving, all work on subterranean garages and surfaces with low load-bearing capacity, installation and grading of base courses in sport field and riding arena building, to fine grading for lawns in larger gardens, pools and public areas. The Schwab Exaktplaner® can be demonstrated any time. Please contact us for an appointment.
3-point hydraulic system with power take-off for all attachments like power or reciprocating harrows, cultivators, Verti-Drain, etc.
In the extended state, the length of 5.70 m together with the long wheelbase and the all-wheel drive enables powerful work with the highest grading precision. Fully-automatic laser and ultrasonic equipment which automatically guide the blade are available on request.
In addition, attachments like cultivators, reciprocating harrows, scarifiers or lawn care machines can be attached to the 3-point hydraulics and power take-off. The 60 HP Perkins diesel engine installed in the Schwab Exaktplaner® has sufficient power in reserve in order to guarantee efficient and powerful work.
Crab steering can also be utilised for work by using the front wheel steering in combination with the articulated steering. This ensures that the front wheel always follows the already completed grading and thereby increases grading speed. Working in corners and tight spaces is possible thanks to the additional articulated steering. With a turning radius of only 2.5 m, manoeuvring around obstacles and turning in the tightest spaces are child's play.
Therefore the Schwab Exaktplaner® is well-suited for sporting facilities, riding stables, private gardens and even roof gardens for the highly-precise installation of all materials. The Schwab Exaktplaner® is so compact and agile that difficult and small-structured working situations are mastered and reworking by hand can be almost entirely eliminated. Therefore the Schwab Exaktplaner is a multifunctional work machine for small to medium-sized surfaces.
With a weight of 2.8 t, the Schwab Exaktplaner can even be transported on a car trailer.