text:
by Nathaniel Page
Neighborhood: Chelsea
Photo by Heather
WHAP! The paddle hit my ass.
The first time I recall getting spanked, I was four. I had stolen a box of matches and lit a fire behind my house. My father spanked me down the hall.
The last time I recall getting spanked, I was 25. I was in Paddles, New York City's main sadomasochist dungeon. Megan, my spanker, a fat chick with a tattoo of a pyramid on her chest, was steadily increasing the strength of her swats. "It's getting rosy red now," she said.
WHAP!
"You have a really nice ass," she continued, running her hands over my glutes sensuously. "I love the ass."
I had long wanted to become a libertine. I had been sexually frustrated since I was six, when I took up the habit of humping my stuffed walrus. All through my adolescence, the spectre of intimacy terrified me. I feared I would become the Forty Year Old Virgin. To transcend my fear, I solicited a fat chick on the internet. She sucked my dick behind a sand dune.
I spent several years of my young adulthood involuntarily celibate. "No one wants to fuck me," I thought bitterly over many bottles of liquor. I fell in love twice, was rejected twice. When I asked the object of my second infatuation to go out with me, she looked at me, turned around, and walked away. "In Buddhism, one of the best things that can happen to you is disappointment," she told me later. She ended up having a kid with some other guy. I still meditate regularly.
My problem, I deduced later, was that I had been too stiff and inhibited. Had I swept her off her feet like a Spanish knight, she would have loved me. I would lose all fear and shame, I decided. I would become totally virile. Furthermore, I would go to New York and establish myself as a recognized writer. I would follow the footsteps of Gay Talese through the sexual underground, attending orgies and patronizing massage parlors. I would write my magnum opus and prove wrong all the women who had once rejected me.
About a year previous to this paddling, at a friend's place back home in California, I watched Shortbus. The film opened with one of the main characters trying to suck his own dick while a neighbor spies on him through the window. The character then attended a series of orgies held at an underground club in New York. Overseeing the club was a transvestite named Justin Bond. I wanted to be part of that scene, I thought. I wanted to recapture the erotic spirit of the ancients.
First, I braved a sex party in my tiny home town. I was mortified that I'd see a friend's father there. To fit in, I wore nothing but a fez and boots, and carried a horse whip. One of the two attractive women present told me a rape joke, then spent the rest of the evening fucking her boyfriend. I remained a voyeur.
Shortly thereafter I moved to New York, where I figured I'd find the real scene. During my first months in the city, I dabbled in cross-dressing. Justin Bond once complimented my get-up at a party. I attended a queer film festival, where I saw a man's pectorals get skewered by a pair of sharp hooks and watched a film that combined war footage with gay porn. I attended a sex party advertised as "Brooklyn's nastiest." It was held in a squalid basement that stank of sweat. A man asked me through an intermediary to suck his dick. I left after about twenty minutes.
Another time, I attended The Pleasure Salon, a kinkster gathering hosted by a couple of Tantric sex coaches at a club called The Happy Ending. When I walked in, the first thing I heard was a guy telling another guy "I was physically abused as a child, so I'm not really much of a masochist."
There were about 50 people there, mostly in their 40s, none of them lookers. There was one tranny– an old, wrinkled, obvious one. A good number of men loitered near the walls. A computer programmer approached me haltingly and tried to start a conversation, but it petered out after a few exchanges.
I struck up a conversation with a middle-aged fat woman. She told me her name was Hectuba. She gave me her card. Just "Hectuba"; no last name. It listed her occupations as 2nd Degree Wiccan Priestess and Crystal Healer, and Level 1 Reiki Practitioner. She said that she was also a sadomasochist. She and her husband, Garry, maintained a dungeon in their Staten Island home.
Hectuba told me she became interested in the occult at age 13, when she found a thin booklet about it in the library. She got Tarot cards and a Ouija board. During this time she had several close scrapes with black magic. One time she was playing with her Ouija board and part of the room began to smell strongly of onions and liver, neither of which she was cooking.
Her ex-husband got her into S&M. They met when she was 22. He was 44, a virgin, and a conservative Jew. He convinced her to become Hasidic, and she followed the tradition strictly for ten years. She suspected that he had been sexually abused as a child, and that he was also schizophrenic, because he told her that he talked to angels. Whenever she would put her hands "down there," she said, he pushed them away. They lived apart for eleven years, then moved in together but slept in separate rooms. She had sex with him only once in fifteen years of marriage.
He enjoyed being beaten, especially while wearing a certain type of sandal. But he had no fortitude as a submissive. He would "safe word out" at the slightest provocation. That is, he would prematurely use the word they'd agreed on to cut off her abuse.
So Hectuba began venturing out by herself to find new partners. She met Garry on an S&M chat room in 2002. They began playing together. Hectuba's husband didn't like it, and asked her to stop. Hectuba dumped him and married Garry.
Garry was a quiet, gentle type. Like Hectuba, he was a "switch"; he could play either dominant or submissive, though he leaned submissive, while Hectuba leaned dominant. On FetLife, the big kinkster social media site that Hectuba suggested I join, he listed himself as "heteroflexible" with a "big messy fetish." His profile photos showed him in a bathtub, covered in chocolate sauce and whip cream. He was also interested in drowning, slave auctions, cock ridicule, mind control, abasiophilia, and capsaicin (the spicy chemical in chili peppers).
The couple considered themselves "on the verge of polyamory." Hectuba had sex with other men with Garry's knowledge. Garry also submitted to other women. A mutual friend of theirs, the druid who originally got Hectuba into Wiccanism, had recently dominated Garry during a trip to Disney World. "She forced him to ride a roller coaster," Hectuba said. Garry had a mortal terror of roller coasters. He cursed her the whole way up. "He couldn't handle it," Hectuba said. She called such over-aggressive domination "breaking your toys."
"You can't play with your toys if you break them," she said.
Garry said he wasn't jealous that Hectuba had other lovers, but he was jealous of her ability to pick up men. He was not so gifted in picking up women. I found Hectuba's success surprising, given her stout stature, greasy, unkempt hair, double chin and stubble.
But I was intrigued. I still hadn't explored the sadomasochism scene. A couple months later I attended a seminar held by the Eulenspiegel Society, the city's oldest S&M club. It was called "Knife Play with Master Z."
Twenty-six people came. One ancient guy in the audience was swaying back and forth; he later mentioned that he had so many neurological problems he didn't trust himself to wield a knife over a woman's jugular, but the fact that he might cut her got him off.
There was a guy wearing a thick soul patch who called himself Evil Sausage. "I'm dominant, sadistic and controlling," Evil Sausage said, and he called his ex-girlfriends "former slaves."
Master Z stood before a scaffold next to table covered in murderous shanks. His wife "lizbeth" wore a leather collar, eye shadow and fishnet stockings, but the only sartorial clue about Master Z's proclivities were his studded black boots.
He first discussed safety. Keep knives very sharp or a very dull, he said, so that you'd know exactly the limit of pressure that you could apply before you moved into "blood play."
"We're not going to be doing any blood play today," Master Z said. "Unless I change my mind midway through."
Master Z got out an eight-inch hunting knife with a serrated spine. Some of the audience members also got out knives. One guy in chaps kept his knife out the whole evening. He kept jabbing it towards Master Z.
A short, dark-skinned woman named Aden came up to the scaffolding. She had thick scars on her arms and tattoos on her hands and neck.
"It's important to negotiate limits beforehand," Master Z said. "Especially when you're a hair's breath from killing someone. So Aden and I have discussed her limits, and fortunately she has none."
Master Z strapped restraints to Aden's wrists and ankles and, while continuing to explain the importance of immobilizing your slave, he chained her to the scaffold so that she was standing, spread eagle, with her arms above her head.
"The best part about having a knife is that you don't have to worry about getting her clothes off," he said, and he cut her shirt and bra apart, breathing heavily. "This works great for a rape scene," he said.
Aden's wide dark areolas hung out and Master Z poked her armpits, ran the blade along the bottom of her tit, and then over the top. She squirmed and tried to move away from him. Then he dug the knife blade into her nipple, saying "Ah, you like that, huh? Do you like that?"
"Big knives and helpless naked women," he said. "It's the perfect combination."
These proceedings pleased me. I could really mix up a routine bout of sex with something like a katana sword, I reasoned. Maybe I had found my scene.
I went to Paddles for the first time one evening soon after that seminar. The club's entrance was set in a windowless wall perpendicular to the street, facing a parking lot. It looked like the door to a walk-in freezer. I passed a circle of smokers in black leather thongs and vests, descended a black stairwell, and emerged in a basement filled with the sounds of whips cracking and slaves shrieking.
At first I loitered uneasily at the Whips and Licks Cafe, which formed the center of the club. I could have used a dose of alcohol, but drinking and flogging is frowned upon in the community, so the cafe served only soda, cake, and ice cream. "You can cool down after a scene with a banana split," a kinkster once quipped.
A television above me played a video of a woman's nipples being hung with weights while she was whipped. A huge mural opposite the cafe depicted a dominatrix forcing a man to drink nuclear waste in an apocalyptic landscape of broken cinder blocks and skulls. A dead woman was tied to a huge penis with horns. In the background, Paddles was still open for business.
After a while a dominatrix approached me and introduced herself as Miss Muse. She asked if I was new to the scene. I said I was. She offered to give me a tour of the club.
We walked first to the main play room, which evoked an Inquisition-era torture chamber. The grey stucco walls were made to look like stone. Thick, split wooden beams supported the ceiling. Gas lamps illuminated the space with a reddish light. Devices in this room included a four-poster bed with a leather mattress and cuff restraints hanging from pulleys on its tester. Each cuff could be pulled taught by wooden cranks on the frame of the bed. "Theoretically, you could be quartered," Miss Muse said.
In the corridor leading to the back of the club, Miss Muse and I passed a naked man locked in a bird cage. We entered a stuffy room. A woman was hanging from by her hair from a hook in the ceiling, and a man was beating her. A chainsaw also hung from the ceiling. A kinkster named Ramon was blowing fire on his slave with a set of torches and an aerosol can. "Punieta!" his slave screamed. "No quiero mas!"
I can never go back to vanilla sex now, I thought to myself. Now, if I was really going to get off, I'd have to blast my partner's vagina with burning alcohol.
Back home, I set up a profile on FetLife and trolled the events section. I found Hectuba's profile. She suggested I attend a "munch" at Moonstruck, a mediocre diner in Chelsea popular amongst members of the sexual underground. A munch is a "vanilla" gathering at which kinksters eat and talk. I invited Evil Sausage to join me. Also present were Hectuba and Garry, a small, mousy man named Fred, his portly partner, and a guy with mutton-chop sideburns who called himself The Baron Von Brunk.
The Baron wore an American-flag tie. On his business card, which he also gave me, he was depicted wearing said tie. He was the chief executive officer of "Reel Splatter Productions," a film company, whose logo was a man in a gas mask chopping open someone's head with a machete. He said that he could reverse the the color scheme of this logo to transform the film company from one based on horror films to one based on zombie films.
Evil Sausage came in sweating, as he often did when he walked, wiping his brow with a handkerchief. He was rolling a suitcase behind him filled with floggers. He introduced himself to the others, using his real name, as always, and amending it with his FetLife name, as kinksters tended to do upon meeting. He had met Hectuba somewhere before.
Evil Sausage told me his awareness of his sadism had grown over many years. As a child, he went through his mother's clothing catalogs and drew ropes around the wrists and ankles of the models, "especially the women."
He had been estranged from his mother ever since he was a teenager, when she told his father that he was beating her. "You're thinking that my conflict with my mother has lead me to want to dominate women," he told me when he related this story. I told him I hadn't been thinking that. "Well, you would have thought of that eventually, and you would be right."
He got into the scene when he was in his thirties. He met his first S&M partner, Rebecca, on a website. "I beat Rebecca," he said, his tone deadpan, and he nodded once and paused for two beats, as he did every time he said he beat a woman. "Then I brought her home." She asked him to role play raping her, and he did so. After that, for the whole month that their relationship lasted, the couple's foreplay involved Evil Sausage crawling through Rebecca's window and assaulting her.
Evil Sausage had been polyamorous since his slave left him a few years previous, a betrayal that "left a scar." He was 39, and his girlfriend was 19. She had moved into his apartment in Flushing. He put a collar on her– Evil Sausage considered "collaring" equal in significance to putting on a wedding ring– and she became his slave, a "24-7″ arrangement. That is, she submitted to him at all times, not just during sex. The only thing he had to do himself during their time together was to use the electric knife to carve roasts, since she was scared of it, and to shop for groceries, since she made irresponsible decisions at the store.
However, she flew into rages for the slightest reasons, such as when he tried to show her how to cook a roast without drying out the stuffing. One day, after he accidentally broke her laptop, she left him for a man her own age.
He was presently seeing three women, ages 23, 32, and 39, and seeking a new slave. He had not yet beaten his oldest girlfriend, because her Master had indicated that he wanted to watch Evil Sausage play before he let him beat her. "So one day, he and I and her will all see one another at a party, and I will beat her," he said, and he nodded.
We spent much of the meal talking about tattoos. The Baron Von Brunk had tattoo of a Lego man on his arm. He had long been a Lego aficionado, and still built models, elaborate ones depicting such scenes as General Sherman's burning of Atlanta. On the middle of his chest Evil Sausage had a tarantula. To the left of the tarantula he said he would get a tattoo of Wolverine riding My Little Pony, surrounded by Care Bears wielding swords. He would get a second tattoo opposite the tarantula, that of a Smurf in a bloody smock, wielding a chainsaw.
Several of us went to Paddles. We sat awkwardly together for a long time. There were only about five other people there when we arrived, and there would only be about thirty through the whole evening. Hectuba blamed Passover and Easter. Evil Sausage blamed better parties elsewhere.
Hectuba donned a pair of high heels and Garry got into a leather thong and a vest. Frank and his partner came up to Hectuba and Frank stood there silently while his partner explained that he was into foot worship. She said that when Frank rubbed his stubble on her soles, she had a peak experience. So Hectuba sat in a leather throne and Frank worshiped her feet for ten minutes while she looked bored. "It's just not really what I'm into," she explained later.
Eventually a young woman new to the scene came in and two fat dominatrixes strapped her to the quartering device. While a man put ice in her panties, Evil Sausage, delighted, poked her with the end of a rod he told me he'd once given to a friend, hoping to entice him to beat his girlfriend, who had confided in Evil Sausage that she liked such things. The friend had then suffered a psychotic break, though, compelling Evil Sausage to steal the device back.
In another room a beautiful young black woman in a leather suit and heel boots, which made her about 6'4", was laying into a man's ass with a wide belt strap, throwing her whole shoulder into each flog and making the belt crack loudly. Every time he was flogged the man said "Thank you Miss Reign."
The voyeurs sat silently. A fat young man in schlocky clothes who lived upstate chewed his fingernails. He asked Miss Reign's sidekick, a worse-looking, fatter woman, also in leather, how he should approach the dominatrix. "She would have you crawl up to her and kiss her feet," the sidekick said. The man sat and kept looking at Miss Reign, his face sagging and expressionless, and when she came towards him to talk to her sidekick he scrambled away.
Later, I saw Miss Reign beating another fat man viciously. He was tied to a wall, writhing and moaning. "What's his safe word?" Miss Reign's sidekick asked her.
"He doesn't have a safe word!" Miss Reign said, laughing, and she flogged him again.
By this time, there were only about eight people and two scenes left in the club. I wandered between the two, feeling bored and alienated.
I hadn't yet tried sadism myself, but I thought I should. One time, before a play party in Brooklyn, I bought a cheap whip at the Pussy Cat Boutique. I spent forty minutes on the train to get to the party. I walked twelve blocks from the station to the warehouse venue.
Before I entered, I looked inside. The room was black lit. A fat woman dressed like a Medieval wench drank from a goblet. A woman in a white leather corset had her boobs hanging out over a flogging bench. A woman in a leather thong was locked in a cage. Several men stood around by themselves, looking like they weren't sure where to put their hands.
It was $35 to go in. I stood with my whip, pondering. I knew it would be a long, awkward evening, that I wouldn't enjoy myself, that the guests would be sexually unattractive. I turned around and went home.
The night I was spanked, though, I wasn't yet disillusioned with the scene. That night I had still found sadomasochism novel enough to pay Paddles' $40 cover charge for single men. (To discourage creeps, a single man is charged $15 more than a single women or a member of a couple.)
When I met Megan, I told her I was a writer, and she told me that she wanted to spank me.
I looked around, nervous. A saw a man bent over with his pants down and a dominatrix paddling him.
"What are you so scared of?" Megan said.
"Ah, um, I don't know," I stammered.
I wandered away, but she followed me. Everywhere I went, people were providing social proof that a spanking was the thing to get. I realized that I was running up against my old, limiting fear, the fear that kept me isolated and conventional.
"Can we start with my pants up?" I asked Megan.
We went into a corner. She bent me over a rack. She began to spank me with her hand, but I was wearing thick jeans and couldn't feel it.
"Can I take your pants down?" she asked after a few minutes.
"Yeah, okay, do it," I said.
She pulled my pants down but kept my boxers up, and continued to spank me, and this time there was a bit more of a sting to it. I looked down through my legs at the corridor behind us. A small audience of feet had gathered, encouraging Megan.
Megan kept running her hands up and down my thighs, around my scrotum, and up and down my torso. Her hands were soft and pudgy. It was all about "getting in touch with sensation," she explained. Once her hand strayed into my cock, and I said "Whoa!"
"Oh, sorry," she said. "I just meant to go up and down your thigh, but my hand slipped. Can I take your boxers down now?" she asked.
"Yeah, alright, sure," I said. "Now I can say I really did it."
"No more faking," she said, slipping my boxers down.
Megan eventually switched to her paddle. After about ten minutes, my ass was sore. I stuck it out another five minutes– WHAP! WHAP! WHAP!
The spanking satisfied me. It was sensual, like a massage. I felt high, like I had been working out. Most importantly, though, I was a new man, one capable of being spanked before all the patrons of Paddles and feeling no shame.
Nathaniel Page is a California writer who lives in Brooklyn.
Tagged: Art & Performance, Dating and Sex, fetishes, kinkster, Men, sex clubs, Sports & Recreation, underground, Women
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§ 5 Responses to "Spanked"
Rob Williams says:
This story really makes me laugh, particularly the mental image of Evil Sausage trudging around, sweating, with his rolling bag of floggers. Good stuff!
jamie corpuz says:
very informative,..
ssss says:
That Baron von Brunk guy sounds bad ass!
Julius A. von Brunk says:
That Baron von Brunk is in fact badass! He certainly knows how to rock! I love him like Liquid Plumr. His LEGO tattoos are certainly spiffy with the Midas touch.
Wow,that must be hurt to the kid….
§ Leave a Reply
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Home / About MU / MU News / Methodist University to Host 23rd Annual B.F. Stone Lyceum
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Guest Speakers/Lecturers
Methodist University to Host 23rd Annual B.F. Stone Lyceum
Methodist University announces that Dr. Scott Robertson, professor of biology, will present "The Biology of Monogamy" during the 23rd annual B.F. Stone Endowed Lyceum Thursday, March 28 at 7 p.m. in the Medical Lecture Hall in the Physician Assistant complex. The event is free and open to the public.
Every spring, a scholarly project from Methodist University's faculty is chosen to be presented at the Lyceum, a special lecture event. The B.F. Stone Lyceum consists of a lecture, two responses, and a question-and-answer period. Its mission is to foster scholarly interaction among faculty, students, and the community.
Dr. Matt Dobra, associate professor of financial economics, and Dr. Kevin Hoffman, assistant professor of philosophy and religion will present this year's response.
The B.F. Stone Endowed Lyceum was created to foster scholarly interaction among faculty, students, and the larger community.
In this talk, Robertson will detail what we know to be the driving factors behind romantic love and attachment and provide evidence that reproductive strategy is highly plastic in individual mammals.
"Moreover, I will show that individuals change their reproductive strategy based on the resource landscape in which they exist," he said. "Taken together, my data provides empirical evidence that resources drive monogamous behavior in mammals."
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I would describe my MU journey as an unending roller coaster ride of adventure. I tend to venture into every branch of study or involvement that I... READ MORE VIEW ALL
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If I had to summarize my experience at MU in one word, it would be "understanding." There are people from different backgrounds and countries, and... READ MORE VIEW ALL
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Chinese takeaway kitchen
Three articles look at China's influence in South-East Asia: first; resentment in Myanmar; second, Cambodian rivalries; third, Banyan on the strategic implications
AsiaJun 11th 2011 edition
MYITKYINA, KACHIN STATE
WAIST-DEEP in the muddy water, hundreds of people swirl their pans, scouring the black sediment for the sparkle of gold dust. They have come from all over Myanmar to Kachin state, where the N'Mai and Mali rivers merge to form the mighty Irrawaddy, knowing that a good day may yield $1,000-worth of gold—and that time for gold-panning is running out.
Across the river, the corrugated-iron roofs of a prefabricated barracks glint in the midday sun. They house hundreds of Chinese labourers working on the Myitsone hydropower project. This, according to Myanmar's government, will be the sixth highest dam in the world, and generate 6,000MW of electricity a year. On completion in 2019, the dam will flood the gold-prospecting area and displace more than 10,000 people. All the electricity will be exported to China. All the revenue will go to Myanmar's government. If an environmental and social impact study was conducted at all, it did not involve consulting the affected villagers.
A local Catholic priest who led prayers against the dam says his parishioners were moved to a "model" village, into tiny houses on plots too small for cultivation. The letters of concern he sent to Myanmar's leaders went unanswered. He says he will stay in his historic church "till the waters rise over the doorstep".
Those displaced are not the only ones worrying about the project. The project abuts territory controlled by the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), one of a plethora of ethnic insurgencies that have battled the central government for decades. Last year several bombs exploded at the dam site and in May the KIO warned that if the dam were not stopped it would lead to civil war. The KIO's armed wing recently engaged in skirmishes with government forces, despite a notional ceasefire.
The KIO was banned from last year's election in Myanmar because it refused to let its fighters join the government's "border security force". Its threat came as Myanmar's newly installed "civilian" president, Thein Sein, a former general, embarked on a state visit to China.
China has a big stake in Myanmar. It is the country's leading foreign investor. Myitsone is one of many hydropower, mining and infrastructure projects there. China's most ambitious undertaking is a new deep-sea port for oil tankers. Due for completion in 2013, it will take gas from Myanmar's offshore Shwe field and will have the capacity to satisfy 10% of China's oil-import needs.
These close ties are not entirely comfortable for either side. Between 1m and 2m Chinese citizens have moved into northern Myanmar. They dominate the jade-and-gem trade, push up land prices and flaunt their wealth in Mandalay and Myitkyina, where all the posh cars have Chinese number plates. Local resentment is growing. Church leaders in Myitkyina say Chinese people make up more than half the population. Many Burmese say their northern states are like a Chinese province.
China, for its part, worries about the security of its investments and people. In the past it has leaned on Myanmar's leaders to prevent fighting between the army and the ethnic insurgencies. When conflict broke out in 2009 with the Kokang, an ethnic-Han-Chinese minority, 37,000 people fled to China, provoking sharp criticism of the Burmese junta.
As its economic interests have grown, China has pressed for more access to Myanmar's harbours and territorial waters, to monitor the security of the new port and pipelines, and to keep an eye out for pirates. But this is a neuralgic issue for a country with a deep-seated suspicion of its powerful northern neighbour.
Myanmar's xenophobic leaders are trying to reduce their dependence on China by playing it off against India and the West. But India has been slow in trying to gain a toehold, while America and the European Union have recently extended sanctions on Myanmar. These include America's embargo on backing loans from the World Bank, which would impose higher environmental and other standards on big infrastructure projects such as Myitsone.
So the regime is being drawn into China's orbit as much from necessity as choice. That does not make China any more popular. In the words of an old Burmese monk: "We are China's kitchen. They take what they like and leave us with the rubbish."
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "Chinese takeaway kitchen"
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Home Health & Medicine Pumping iron: Lighter weights just as effective as heavier weights to gain...
Pumping iron: Lighter weights just as effective as heavier weights to gain muscle, build strength
New research from McMaster University is challenging traditional workout wisdom, suggesting that lifting lighter weights many times is as efficient as lifting heavy weights for fewer repetitions.
It is the latest in a series of studies that started in 2010, contradicting the decades-old message that the best way to build muscle is to lift heavy weights.
"Fatigue is the great equalizer here," says Stuart Phillips, senior author on the study and professor in the Department of Kinesiology. "Lift to the point of exhaustion and it doesn't matter whether the weights are heavy or light."
Researchers recruited two groups of men for the study — all of them experienced weight lifters — who followed a 12-week, whole-body protocol. One group lifted lighter weights (up to 50 per cent of maximum strength) for sets ranging from 20 to 25 repetitions. The other group lifted heavier weights (up to 90 per cent of maximum strength) for eight to 12 repetitions. Both groups lifted to the point of failure.
Researchers analyzed muscle and blood samples and found gains in muscle mass and muscle fibre size, a key measure of strength, were virtually identical.
"At the point of fatigue, both groups would have been trying to maximally activate their muscle fibres to generate force," says Phillips, who conducted the work with graduate students and co-authors Rob Morton and Sara Oikawa.
While researchers stress that elite athletes are unlikely to adopt this training regime, it is an effective way to get stronger, put on muscle and generally improve health.
"For the 'mere mortal' who wants to get stronger, we've shown that you can take a break from lifting heavy weights and not compromise any gains," says Phillips. "It's also a new choice which could appeal to the masses and get people to take up something they should be doing for their health."
Another key finding was that none of the strength or muscle growth were related to testosterone or growth hormone, which many believe are responsible for such gains.
"It's a complete falsehood that the short-lived rise in testosterone or growth hormone is a driver of muscle growth," says Morton. "It's just time to end that kind of thinking."
Researchers suggest, however, that more work remains to be done in this area, including what underlying mechanisms are at work and in what populations does this sort of program work.
The findings are published online in the Journal of Applied Physiology.
Source: McMaster University
Research Reference:
Robert W. Morton, Sara Y. Oikawa, Christopher G. Wavell, Nicole Mazara, Chris McGlory, Joe Quadrilatero, Brittany L. Baechler, Steven K. Baker, Stuart M. Phillips. Neither load nor systemic hormones determine resistance training-mediated hypertrophy or strength gains in resistance-trained young men. Journal of Applied Physiology, 2016; 121 (1): 129 DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00154.2016
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I picked up the newest Harry Potter book this weekend completely by accident. I knew there was a new installment in J.K. Rowling's beloved series, and I knew it was written as a play, but beyond that I hadn't done much research. I loved the Harry Potter series when I read it, just a few years ago, in my late twenties. I was mesmerized by the storytelling and fell deeply for the characters, but I never became invested it in the Potter world the way that many others have. So, when a new book was released I knew I'd get to it someday, but it wasn't an immediate priority.
As luck would have it, however, a friend had purchased a copy and knew she wouldn't get to it right away. As I prepared to head to the Jersey shore for the weekend, she asked me if I'd like to bring it along. And so, with absolutely no idea what to expect, I immersed myself in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and was immediately pulled back in to the magical world of Hogwarts.
There is no denying the fact that J.K. Rowling (this time joined by Jack Thorne and John Tiffany) is a masterful storyteller. Cursed Child has all the brilliant and terrifying twists and turns that we expect from Harry Potter. This time, the story focuses primarily on the offspring of the original characters, specifically the sons of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy find each other on the Hogwarts Express on their way to school in year one and instantly form a bond. As the play unfolds, these two find themselves in increasingly dangerous scenarios ultimately having to find the strength within themselves to make things right, much the way Harry had to again and again in the first seven books.
The circumstances Albus and Scorpius find themselves in are scary and compelling, but what really draws the reader in is the depth of the relationship forming between these two boys. It is clearly a love story from the very start. And yet, the play inexplicably ends with Scorpius giddily telling Albus that he'd asked Hermione and Ron's daughter Rose to the ball.
It is not that the play didn't include a gay storyline that I take issue with. It is that it did include a gay storyline and then decided to ignore it. It is impossible to read this script and not recognize that these boys are developing deeply special feelings for one another. It requires absolutely no imagination whatsoever to see that this is a classic romantic arc. The two love interests find each other, they grow close, they are pulled apart for reasons out of their control, they realize their need for each other, they reunite. It's all there, complete with needing each other to save the world and intense hugs that last far too long. To ignore the story that is explicitly set up makes absolutely no sense.
When I first put the book down after finishing it I felt a slight sense of disappointment. I really thought the script was heading in that direction, and I really wanted it to. I was bummed that I had been wrong and that I hadn't gotten the satisfaction of seeing them together. But as the minutes and hours passed, I grew angrier and angrier that the opportunity to tell such a beautiful and important story had been squandered. The universe of Harry Potter means so much to so many people, but a lot of them don't feel themselves represented by any of the characters Rowling has created. Here was a chance to include gay kids across the world in the magic of Harry Potter in an incredibly powerful way, and they didn't follow through.
Additionally, and perhaps even more importantly, it would have been an opportunity for non-LGBT youth to see gay kids in an exceptionally positive way. It's not just about representation, it's about acceptance and love. Hate and homophobia come mostly from ignorance and lack of exposure. How many children has Harry Potter reached/does it continue to reach? How groundbreaking would it be for some of them who have never met a gay person before to read this story and see the beauty of how this relationship came to be?
It's 2016. The world needed this story to be told right. I watch a lot of television and read a lot of books. I know what romance looks like. I am a hundred percent certain that if either Albus or Scorpius had instead been a girl the ending would have been different. I am a hundred percent certain that in writing this play the relationship being depicted was intended to appear as more than mere friendship. We were taken to the brink and then deserted in a way that made it feel like something to be ashamed of, rather than proud of. I am sure that many across the globe would have been upset had the ending happened the way I believe it should have. That's no longer a good enough reason not to do it, if it ever was at all.
# Albus Potter
#Harry Potter
#JK Rowling
#Scorbus
#Scorpius Malfoy
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One comment on "The Disappointing Heteronormativity of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child"
Becki	Aug 19, 2016
Well said! I just read the play and maybe it's because I was influenced by all the talk about it before reading but the whole time I was like "okay, when do they kiss?". That's probably my shipper heart speaking a bit, but all the references to them being heartbroken without each other and needing each other seemed like they should have been indicative of them being in a relationship. I was actually kind of surprised how blatantly obvious it felt. It's as if it was written with them in a relationship but in the end someone decided that Rose should be given more of a role and that Scorpius liked her instead. Truly baffling stuff.


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Lautman is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

 Albert Lautman (1908–1944), French mathematical philosopher
 Robert C. Lautman (1923–2009), American architectural photographer
 Rüdiger Lautmann (born 1935), German sociologist
 Victoria Lautman, American broadcast journalist

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Q: How to avoid subdirectory output in node-sass? I have following setup under my project:

*

*/assets/scss has many SCSS files organized under different subdirectories; including a root global.scss file. As you can imagine, global.scss will only have @imports.

*/assets/css is set as output directory. I am trying to output only one file under this folder - global.css.

package.json has this command
"scripts": {
    "scss": "node-sass --watch assets/scss/styleguide.scss -o assets/css --recursive"
  }

When I run npm run scss it outputs subdirectory CSS files as well. Does anyone know how to avoid output of subdirectory sass files?
Thanks in advance!

A: You are passing the --recursive argument to node-sass. That will mean that node-sass will search recursively on every directory under assets/scss and will compile all the scss files found. To avoid that behavior just remove the --recursive option:
"scripts": {
    "scss": "node-sass --watch assets/scss/styleguide.scss -o assets/css"
}

More about node-sass usages and options can be found here.

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PLAYS MY(SELF)
As Funny as it may sound but it all started after I totally by surprise discovered Mary Halvorson in her solo program (covering the music of many great artists and composers), included one of my pieces "Cheshire Hotel" (originally Recorded with Marc Ribot on "Lust Corner" (Winter & Winter), and soon after with Sam Rivers, Tony Hymas, Paul Rogers and Jacques Thollot on "Configuration" (Nato). Someone who saw her performing it live had told me before but I didn't pick on it up, cause its juste the kinda things I cannot believe somehow, so I thought i had got it wrong or something.
For a very long time it was more than painful to hear myself playing back on the broadcasts or records, I mostly avoided it passed studio time and post production where don't have to hear it as you but as an album to finish. It didn't matter how much people seemed to appreciate it, writing about it or telling me, I politely said thank you, but switched to the next topic. Quite few times something pretty funny happened, I was laying in the bed or listening to radio in the night half asleep, and then I heard a guitarist that, attracted by hear, I knew this guy, it was very familiar, it wasn't bad even, but it would also take quite a long time until I realized it was me on some record getting airplayed....
Time has passed since those days, and it sort of returned, I actually listened a lot to what I did lately, not at all because "I like it so much", but because something in me and my playing switched to being able to play more and more what I really wanted to hear. There are many many ways to listen to music, to listen to elements inside a group, an orchestra, a band, whatever you want.
Noël Akchoté: "Plays Himself" (New Compositions) by Noël Akchoté
So that after 40 years of trying hard, came a sort of peaceful moment now, where i'm into some sort of symbiosis, playing what I want, not having to think much about it, just straight from the individual into his phrasing. Like a direct link, like something as natural for me as water running from the tap, as simple as this.
Now that Mary has recorded this tune of mine, it really came in the best possible moment for me. I could really fully listen to HER playing IT, if you see what I mean. There wasn't any personal interface or wall in between anymore. Also suddenly her own style, approach, subjectivity, journey with it was totally her own, and I could totally detach from my piece to only listen to her. And I actually liked it a lot, both, what she did of it, and the tune too. It was the best possible present and gift someone could make at the most perfect time. When I started I actually studied composition and arrangement (for Big Band but not only), I went through all those courses during close to four years, then I started to play with my first Band (Unit), and naturally wrote some music for it (as well as covers from Ornette Coleman to other open, new or free music). We soon won a contest where I was given the Composition Price, and never thought too much about it after. I wrote regularly or when I had occasions for (film music, an album, special projects, etc), quitte simply.
Until I came to a point where on one side I discovered Free Improvised Music with Derek Bailey, and on another I started to follow more and people I considered as really achieved composers like Tim Berne, Steve Coleman, Anthony Braxton, Fred Frith... people who I saw as really going deep into the whole process, creating and crafting their own worlds. And slowly I stopped to write music, or less and less, it felt like why should I write something many people I loved would write much much better?
Early Works Under Various Early Influence(s) (Lost & Found) by Noël Akchoté
A bit like other occupations I still have but that I never would claim anything, any title or abilty for. Like I always did my own covers and own visuals, but this is totaly related to my own family story, both of my parents being architects and for long having their agency directly in the living room, so that from first age I got immediately a taste for papers, inks, all this incredible world for me, and I kept this need to draw, color, skectch, collage. And still today that the only approach I have and want for it.
And now Hearing Mary playing "Cheshire Hotel", show me a lot of other perspectives, a lot of other possibilities for me to reopen all my music note books, past and present, blank and Blackened with notes in fact. And this is how came (in production right now), a sort of "State of The Art" with it all. I decided to start with a diptych (New and Earlier Works), which soon enlarged as a Triptych opening on "early works under influences" too. That's the simple life story, how things goes and come back, how the same will never be the same, how nothing is forever nor gone nor fixed.
PS: Sometime Signs says more to you ... (well actually signs are here to show, but whether one can see them always is another story), When I received Mary's album, I realised without having the smallest possible clue, that both our artworks even had a certain proximity, although I had done mines couple weeks before not knowing anything about hers.
Noël Akchoté Compositions Now Available on www.noelakchote.org and Scribd
http://www.noelakchote.org/#!sheets--new/ctbf
https://www.scribd.com/nakchote
Noël Akchoté. French guitarist, violinist and producer, born December 7, 1968, in Paris, active in various experimental fields between drone, rock, jazz and contemporary classical music. Also music journalist and author as well as founder (together with Quentin Rollet) of the French avantgarde label Rectangle. Currently running the label Noël Akchoté Downloads. He is the brother of electronic musician SebastiAn.
Webpage | Bandcamp | Twitter | Facebook | Youtube | Soundcloud | Itunes | Myspace | Google+ | Wikipedia | Contact
Noël Akchoté 13 Questions
The Harmolodic Manifesto by Ornette Coleman
Prepared Guitar Facebook
Publicado por Miguel Copon en 10:31 AM


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All categories Assessing - Exemption Assessing - Motor Vehicle Excise Tax Assessing - Personal Property Tax Assessing - Proposition 2½ Assessing - Real Estate Community Preservation Committee Footer FAQs Health Department Sewer Commission Treasurer / Collector - Motor Vehicle Excise Tax Treasurer / Collector - Real Estate Tax Veteran's Services
Assessing - Exemption
Assessing - Motor Vehicle Excise Tax
Assessing - Personal Property Tax
Assessing - Proposition 2½
Assessing - Real Estate
Sewer Commission
Treasurer / Collector - Motor Vehicle Excise Tax
Treasurer / Collector - Real Estate Tax
1. Do I qualify for a real estate tax exemption?
A tax exemption is a discharge from the obligation to pay part of a real estate tax. State law determines exemption amounts and eligibility requirements. For example, if a person meets all the requirements of a particular exemption, he or she will receive the tax reduction allowed for that exemption. Application for exemption must be made annually.
The Board of Assessors mails applications to prior applicants in August. Applications must include all information requested, the signature of the applicant, and must be filed with the Board of Assessors on or before April 1, or 3 months after actual (not preliminary) tax bills are mailed for the fiscal year if later. The Board of Assessors will act on the application within three months of receipt. The exemption amount is usually used to reduce the balance of the 3rd and 4th quarter tax bills. Brochures are available in our office describing each exemption. Brochures are also available on the Massachusetts Division of Local Services Website.
2. Is there a list of exemptions?
Elderly (Clause 41C) - $1000.00
At least 70 years of age on July 1. Owns and occupies the property on July 1rst of the tax year. Lived in Massachusetts for 10 years and has owned property in Massachusetts for 5 years. Income and assets guidelines apply, so please contact the Assessor's office at 508-669-5043. View more information about the Elderly - Clause 41C Form (PDF).
Surviving Spouse or Minor Child (Clause 17) $331.30
Surviving spouse or minor child owns and occupies the property as a domicile. At least 70 years of age; owned and lived at property as a domicile for 5 years. Assets guidelines apply so please contact the Assessor's office at 508-669-5043 X6 excluding value and unpaid mortgage balance on the property. No limitations on annual income for eligibility under Clause 17. View more information about Surviving Spouse or Minor Child - Clause 17 (PDF).
Blind Persons (Clause 37A) - $577.20
Annual proof of blindness by providing either a Certificate from the Commission for the Blind attesting to legal blindness or a letter from a doctor certifying blindness in accordance with the commission. A blind person owns the property as domicile on July 1. View more information about the Blind Persons - Clause 37A (PDF).
Veteran (Clause 22) - $461.75
War service disability of at least 10% as determined by the Veterans Administration. Veterans who were awarded the Purple Heart. Gold Star Parents. Spouses and surviving spouses of veterans are entitled to exemption. View more information about Veteran - Clause 22 (PDF).
Veteran (Clause 22A) - $865.80
Suffered loss in line of duty or permanent loss of use of one foot, hand, or eye. Received the Congressional Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, or Air Force Cross. If the property type is other than single family, a portion of $865.80 - exemption which corresponds to the segment occupied by veterans will be allowed. View more information about Veteran - Clause 22A (PDF).
Veteran (Clause 22B)
Veterans and spouses who suffered a loss in line of duty or permanent loss of use of both feet or both hands or eyes. If the property type is other than a single family, a portion of exemption that corresponds to the segment occupied by veterans will be allowed. View more information about Veteran - Clause 22B (PDF).
Veteran (Clause 22C)
Veterans and spouses who suffered total disability in the line of duty or received assistance in acquiring "specially adapted housing" owned and occupied as a domicile. If the property type is other than a single family, a portion of exemption that corresponds to the segment occupied by veterans will be allowed. View more information about Veteran - Clause 22C (PDF).
Veteran (Clause 22D) - Full Exemption
Surviving spouses (who have never remarried) of soldiers, sailors, and guardsmen who died as a proximate result of a combat injury or disease, or who are missing and presumed dead due to combat. A surviving spouse must have lived in Massachusetts for at least 5 consecutive years before the tax year begins (or lived in Massachusetts for at least 1 consecutive year before the tax year begins, if the legislative body of your city or town has voted to accept this local option). If not, the deceased soldier, sailor, or guardsmen had to have been domiciled in Massachusetts for at least 6 consecutive months before entering the service. Surviving spouses of soldiers, sailors, or guardsmen who died or were presumed dead from combat on or after September 11, 2001, may also receive retroactive exemptions beginning as early as the fiscal year 2003. Eligibility depends on the date of death or presumed death, and the satisfaction of all other qualifications. View more information about Veteran - Clause 22D Full Exemption (PDF).
Veteran (Clause 22E) - $1,154.40
Suffered total disability in line of duty and incapable of working. If the property type is other than a single family, a portion of the $1154.40 exemption which corresponds to the segment occupied by veterans will be allowed. View more information about Veteran - Clause 22E (PDF).
3. I applied for an exemption on my property, but why didn't it show up on my bill?
Any application for exemption (veteran, widow, blind or elderly) must be received by December 1 for the exemption to show on your actual (January) tax bill.


Inspired by Molassiotis et al Integr Cancer Ther 2019.
Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy on Unsplash.
This is a medium-sized study with n=87 randomised to two arms, and the design is similar to the ARC studies of the Modellvorhaben Akupunktur. The waiting list control group were offered acupuncture at the end of the trial (20 weeks). Treatment involved two sessions per week for 8 weeks and the primary outcome was worst pain intensity on the BPI (Brief Pain Inventory) at 8 weeks.
Molassiotis et al Integr Cancer Ther 2019.
If the pain threshold of the patients was low, TE5 for upper limbs and/or ST41 for lower limbs were chosen.
I like the choice based on the individual sensitivity, although I would not choose to use 0.25mm diameter needles in the hands and feet. I prefer to use 0.16mm smooth Japanese needles in these areas.
The primary outcome showed a significant change from baseline in the treatment group, although not a significant between group difference. The effect wore off to some degree by 14 and 20 weeks in the treatment group but did not reach baseline, whereas the waiting list group deteriorated over the study period.
Looking at the graphs of the results, the effect of acupuncture does not seem wholly convincing, but this sample of patients had finished their chemotherapy over a year before on average, so the CIPN was established. My experience of late is using acupuncture during chemotherapy to prevent onset of CIPN or reverse the very early emergence of symptoms.
What about prophylactic use in high risk groups?
But this is a start, and hopefully it can lead to further use and evaluation of the technique, and even prophylactic use in high risk groups.
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Every human being has his own way, that the destiny has offered him to live. Alongside the life the people savour or endure the adventures, situations, that bring them a lot of emotions of all the coulours. Our relations, our professional roles and social responsibilities, all our behaviour create the very conditions of our Mother Earth living. All the deseases, all the ecologic events, these are all we. We are all our Planet Earth.
This exhibition is dedicated to the emotions of every soul, human, natural, that make our Planet.
Our planet Earth has the soul. As any soul, its state varies.It looks like water always in mouvement. It is able to run deep or behave like the mustang horse. It might change the power of its wave and destroy the old spirit to comme to new order.
It is up to each person to decide the level of changes, that it could impact or that it could bring the superior and more flexible development.
The situations through the emotions we live forge our experience. This is the way our vision and our perception is built. We are sometimes blinded by our « a prioris ».
– Why this evil ?
– Yes, it happens to me.
– Is this the end?
– Must I continue to struggle?
– Yes! I have this power in me like the Earth so powerful and so inspiring!
– I'm free finally of this imprisonment!
– I refind this desire to live, anchored profoundly in me.
-I'm serein in this fight, so is Athens, the goddess of wisdom.
– Nothing is impossible even to win the walls!
– I know that I will live tomorrow!
– I have this love to life, as any creature on this Planet!
– As if the boat in search of the equilibrium, that protects on the surface of the water, I'm in harmony with this world.
– That this spirit of fiesta always be with me like a rose in desert that lives!


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Articles Tagged: "Salmonella"
ToxicFree Foundation / Articles / Salmonella
FDA recalls Performance Dog Food over salmonella & listeria concerns
If you purchased frozen raw pet food from Performance Dog Food that was produced on or after July 22, 2019, do not use it. Don't feed it to your pet. It's best to just throw it away. This comes directly from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This food has…
All "pig ear" dog treats should now be considered hazardous
We wrote in July about a salmonella outbreak linked to certain "pig ear" dog treats. Well that warning has now been extended to "all" pig ear dog treats, after almost 130 people have become sickened with salmonella. It's unclear at this time if any pets have contracted salmonella.
The Centers…
Texas Tripe Raw Pet Food recalled over salmonella & listeria concerns
More than 800 lots of Texas Tripe Inc. raw pet foods have been recalled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration after testing positive for salmonella and listeria monocytogenes (L. mono). Salmonella and listeria pose a threat to pets and humans alike.
The Office of the Texas State Chemist (OTSC)…
Salmonella concerns lead to Dole baby spinach recall
Before you begin to make your favorite summer salad for company this weekend, ensure you're not going to be using Dole baby spinach. Dole and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have issued a "10-state recall" due to salmonella concerns.
A random test by the Department of Agriculture in Michigan…
FDA recall should help ensure a salmonella free Taco Tuesday
Before you begin prepping your ingredients for this week's Taco Tuesday, your going to want to double-check any seasoning mix you may have purchased. Williams Foods LLC has issued a recall of 2 varieties of taco seasoning due to salmonella concerns originating from the cumin spice they contain. Mincing Spice…
Salmonella outbreak linked to "pig ear" dog treats
Pig ear dog treats, sold in more than half of the United States, have been recalled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control over salmonella concerns. The source of the outbreak is unknown at this time. The CDC believes the dog treats are the cause…
Whole Foods issues recall of prepared foods due to salmonella concerns
If you're a Whole Foods shopper and love their prepared foods section (who doesn't?), you're going to want to read this. Whole Foods has recalled more than 50 prepared food items from stores in 8 states due to salmonella concerns. Fortunately, so far no illnesses have been reported.
Everything from…
FDA issues recall of Duncan Hines cake mix over salmonella concerns
If you plan on baking some holiday treats for your friends, family, or coworkers, you're going to want to avoid doing so using Duncan Hines cake mixes.
At the urging of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Duncan Hines has recalled more than 2 million boxes of its cake mix…
Ritz Crackers, Ritz Bitz recalled over salmonella concerns
We can now add the Ritz cracker brand to the growing number of companies that have had to issue food recalls this year due to salmonella contamination. Today, Mondelez Global LLC announced that "more than a dozen" Ritz brands of crackers have been recalled.
Sixteen Ritz brand crackers in total…
Salmonella Infections Linked to Kellogg's Honey Smacks Cereal
As parents we have enough to worry about when it comes to ensuring our children eat the healthiest foods, and breakfast cereal can prove especially difficult. Kids' breakfast cereal is delicious, brilliantly marketed, and full of sugar. And now comes news that for one of the most popular breakfast cereals,…
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Anti-Ice Systems Apparently Working Prior to Turboprop Crash
Feb 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
Reprinted from The Wall Street Journal
Written By: Andy Pasztor
Cockpit instruments apparently indicated that onboard anti-icing systems were operating normally on a Continental Connection turboprop shortly before it stalled and crashed near Buffalo, N.Y. Thursday night from what now appears to be deadly accumulation of ice on some critical flight surfaces, according to federal investigators.
The latest information released by the National Transportation Safety Board raises questions about the operation and design of the mechanical de-icing systems, or so-called rubber boots, that inflate to shed ice off the leading edges of the wings and some tail surfaces on the widely-used Bombardier Q400 aircraft. Steve Chealander, the safety board member serving as spokesman for the roughly 150 investigators, law enforcement officials and others sifting through the wreckage, told reporters earlier Saturday that the plane had "very sophisticated de-icing systems" that the pilots turned on.
Based on information gleaned from the cockpit-voice recorder, according to Mr. Chealander, there was no discussion of any kind before the crash indicating that the systems were not working properly. "We hear no indication thus far" that lights in the cockpit alerted the crew to problems with anti-icing equipment, Mr. Chealander said. Once turned on, the anti-icing systems are designed to cycle automatically until the pilots turn them off.
This image from television shows an aerial view of the crash site of Continental Connection Flight 3407 and the surrounding neighborhood on Feb. 13, 2009 in Clarence Center, N.Y.The findings are important because investigators Saturday described a sequence of events further buttressing preliminary indications the twin-engine turboprop lost its ability to fly due to severe icing.
In his press conference, for example, Mr. Chealander said a "cursory visual look" at the engines indicated they were operating before the impact. Investigators have said that so far they have found no indications of engine or flight-control system malfunctions.
Mr. Chealander also revealed that the plane's cockpit-voice recorder and flight-data recorder indicate that stall warnings came on immediately before the crash, which would be consistent with ice build-up causing the plane to lose lift.
The latest details released by the safety board shot down earlier speculation that some kind of mechanical problem delayed the plane's takeoff from Newark, N.J. the board determined that takeoff was delayed due to high winds.
In a surprise from what investigators may have expected to find, analysis of the wreckage shows that the 74-seat turboprop didn't smash into a house at a steep angle. Mr, Chealander said "all four corners" of the plane were in their proper position, indicating that instead of hitting nose first the plane struck the ground at a relatively flat angle.
Adding further support to the notion that icing brought down the plane, the safety board said the pilots had been flying using the autopilot during an earlier part of the descent toward the airport, when they noticed significant ice build-up on parts of the cockpit windshield and windshield wipers. The flight-data recorder indicates the plane went out of control almost immediately after the pilots disconnected the autopilot and started extending the wing flaps.
In a classic icing accident, such actions suddenly put a plane into a stall. The Q400 has anti-icing devices on the leading edge of its wings as well as parts of its tail, including the horizontal stabilizer. As a result, the investigators are expected to look at the impact of ice buildup in both areas, according to safety officials. A gradual loss of speed points to possible icing on the tail, portions of the wings and other aircraft parts, which would reduce lift and increase the weight of a plane.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123464964630388821.html?mod=googlenews_wsj


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Q: VSCode Snippets: Format File Name from my_file_name to MyFileName I am creating custom snippets for flutter/dart. My goal is to pull the file name (TM_FILENAME_BASE) remove all of the underscores and convert it to PascalCase (or camelCase).
Here is a link to what I have learned so far regarding regex and vscode's snippets.
https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/userdefinedsnippets
I have been able to remove the underscores nicely with the following code
    ${TM_FILENAME_BASE/[\\_]/ /}

I can even make it all caps
    ${TM_FILENAME_BASE/(.*)/${1:/upcase}/}

However, it seems that I cannot do two steps at a time. I am not familiar with regex, this is just me fiddling around with this for the last couple of days.
If anyone could help out a fellow programmer just trying make coding simpler, it would be really appreciated!
I expect the output of "my_file_name" to be "MyFileName".

A: It's as easy as that: ${TM_FILENAME_BASE/(.*)/${1:/pascalcase}/}

A: For the camelCase version you mentioned, you can use:
${TM_FILENAME_BASE/(.*)/${1:/camelcase}/}


I figured I touch each piece at least four times on its journey from its natural state to its final incantation. The tree it belonged to is a character. I want to properly recognize it for what it was, and what it is providing.
I study the details of grain and bark. The different textures of solid and brittle, dark and light, grooved and smooth, old and older make each section a treasure not like the one before.
The weights, shapes, and features are varied. This directly affects the way the flames behave when they're set ablaze. Each one hand-selected for a specific purpose stove side.
We aim to start cutting and hauling on July 4th when the breeze is warm and ground is soft. The dust flying from the saw fills our nostrils and lands on our lips. The sounds of cracking wood remind me of impermanence.
I cradle the forest's gifts for the value they hold and imagine how they started as a mere fleck of green all that time ago. What has passed beside, below, and overhead I will never know.
The work is quiet on the inside. Gathering and couriering across the rising and falling topography. There is assurance in the collection that results. A wide open space marked with chips is where the memories pass through and fade away.
Some split easily, and others twist and shred around hidden knots. You think you know what's inside until the wood shows you something different. I save the ones that are too rare for civilian duty to remind us of what we can't make ourselves.
Each season I think I'll remember where the severed pieces came from when I put them in the hot iron hole. In the end it doesn't really matter. Some embers glow brighter and fly farther than others. They all turn dark and gather in the low spots.
It is a cycle of cycles. Repeating but different. We change and age like the pine, oak, and juniper. Some will notice but we will all forget. The smoke lifts what was once underground and then itself fades to leave us all wishing for a flight as light and with a cause so noble.
Will we have enough to make it through?


Zero Archives - Wait, What?
We have winners! We have arguments! We have arguably our most unlikely topic of extended lengthy discussion! More adorable dog pics! Plus: some hasty kinda hasty, but very Youtube-y show notes, and probably a surplus of exclamation points. All after the jump!