Kinchela Boys' Home survivors tell of removals, sexual abuse and redemption

Updated

A vast old Moreton Bay fig tree stands on the grounds of what was once the notorious Kinchela Boys' Home — exerting a strange power over a group of Aboriginal men who once lived there.

Like a monstrous character, it looms in their collective memory, of a deeply scarred childhood.

"That tree — it felt our pain," Richard Campbell says.

Richard is a former inmate of the Kinchela Boys' Home, near Kempsey on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, where he was identified by the number 28.

The boys who passed through the iron gates of the home between 1924 and 1970 were not known by their names.

Indeed, they were prevailed upon immediately to forget who they were.

A Gumbaynggir and Dhungutti man from Bowraville, Richard remembers the first punishment he received, on the day he arrived at Kinchela.

The nine-year-old, charged just days before at Macksville with being a neglected child, was welcomed by the balled fists of a staff member.

"First thing, he just started belting into us," Richard says.

"He said 'you are not Richard Campbell' — bang. 'You are 28' — bang. 'You are not black, you are white' — bang. This was all in between hits around the head.

"Not with the hand, it was a fist. Imagine a grown man's fist. Welcome to Kinchela Boys' Home."

A cruel separation at Central Station

Michael "Widdy" Welsh was number 36 at Kinchela.

In 1960, the Wailwan man was taken from Coonamble in the far-north west of New South Wales when he was eight years old — one of seven children removed from his mother.

He still recalls life before Kinchela.

"I danced around the campfire, around my grandfather's hat, with my grannies and uncles," he says.

"I used to go cray fishing, used to go pig catching, saddle the horses up — before they took me."

Escorted by welfare officers, the Welsh family was forced apart on a train platform at Sydney's bustling Central Station.

"They told us we were going on a train and our brothers and sisters were going to come on a train behind us," Michael says.

"What they were telling me, I knew that wasn't true. I didn't know what the word bullshit was, but that's what it was."

The 'crime' of being a neglected child

Richard was taken from his mother with an older brother and three younger sisters in the 1960s.

Unbelievably, Aboriginal child removals were a police matter.

It was standard procedure to charge children — babies included — with the offence of being a neglected child.

In the harsh eyes of the law, these innocent children were, to all intents and purposes, criminals.

"We went to the court in Macksville that's where they charged us," Richard says.

"From there we drove straight across over to Kinchela. Then they held us there and took off with the three younger sisters. We could hear them crying [and] screaming going down the street."

Richard's three sisters were sent much further away — to the Bomaderry Children's Home, just outside Nowra on the south coast of New South Wales.

If the forced separation, being charged by police and then bundled into cars and trains under the supervision of complete strangers wasn't traumatic enough, much worse was yet to come.

Michael says when he arrived at Kinchela, his eldest brother, 10-year-old Barry — who he calls his protector — tried to comfort him.

"We were walking through the gates, he cuddled me as we went through, and he said 'it'll be alright brother'," Michael says.

"I knew this place was no good, it was evil."

That day, after being escorted to the manager's office, Michael recalls looking out an upstairs window and seeing a boy below digging what appeared to him to be a grave.

"He was on punishment. He was going to dig that all day ... so that added to the fear," he says.

'A bonzer bunch of kids'

In 1965, a glowing report on the conditions at Kinchela was published in the widely-distributed Dawn, a monthly magazine produced by the NSW Aborigines Welfare Board to promote its activities.

"It's almost like a country club at Kinchela," the article begins.

"The boys were neglected before coming to Kinchela, but now they receive truly dedicated care and real affection from the home's mum and dad, who are manager and matron at Kinchela."

The writer concedes though that "discipline at such an establishment must be reasonably strict".

The manager, Henry Henricksen, told Dawn that he had "the most bonzer bunch of kids in Australia".

In an interesting postscript, a year after Dawn visited the home, the same man appeared before a parliamentary joint committee inquiring into Aboriginal welfare in New South Wales.

Asked bluntly whether Kinchela was little more than a "holding station", until such a time as the boys were fit to work or be boarded out, Mr Henricksen replied: "Yes, it is a pretty harsh description of it, but I say that that fits the bill".

Crying in another room

Richard's account of his own childhood differs wildly from that of Dawn.

He doesn't hesitate when asked to recount the worst of his experiences at Kinchela.

"Getting raped … that was an ongoing thing," he says.

"When he was drunk you could smell him coming in. Not only myself, other boys used to get it too.

"He'd take someone else, and you'd be very thankful. You just don't want to think about it that way — but you could hear them crying and you knew what was going on."

When Michael returned home to Coonamble just before he turned 18, he was reunited with his mother and they were able to confront their grief.

While his cousins knew his face, they didn't recognise him.

"Soon as I started talking, you'd see something in their eyes. I'd think 'shit, what's wrong, what did I say?'," Michael says.

"I realised later as time went by, I didn't speak like them — I'd changed, they'd reprogrammed our brains to be assimilated."

From alcoholism to a healing alliance

A personal war raged inside Michael for the next 45 years, in and out of the jail system, as he battled alcoholism.

Twenty years ago, the national inquiry into the forced removal of Aboriginal children, presided over by former High Court judge Sir Ronald Wilson, handed its findings to the Commonwealth in the Bringing Them Home report, including 54 recommendations.

At the time, Richard was oblivious.

"I was still trying to kill myself with alcohol," he says.

"What came out of it? I don't know what came out of it because they're still taking the kids away."

The trauma the boys endured at Kinchela has had one positive effect — deepening the fellowship between them. They have established an incorporated Aboriginal organisation, the Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation.

"Now, I realise the importance of our stories," Michael says.

"We couldn't tell the story because we didn't think anybody would believe us. We thought everybody knew what was happening to us."

A silent witness to suffering

When the boys go back to Kinchela for commemorations, such as the 90th anniversary three years ago, both Richard and Michael zero in on that big old Moreton Bay fig tree in the grounds of the former home, which is now a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre.

As they talk, the story unfolds about why the tree is so significant to them.

Like animals, the boys were chained to the trunk of the tree overnight, as punishment for wetting the bed and failing to pass inspection, for dirty fingernails.

Worse still was done to them under the monstrous — or enfolding — limbs of the tree.

"That's where they used to chain the boys up in the night and do whatever they liked to them," Richard says.

But as they gather at the base of the tree on special occasions, redemption seems possible.

"Every time we go back, the tree has grown over the chain," Richard says.

He says almost like a sentient being, the magnificent old tree had borne silent witness to their suffering.

Most of the iron links of the chain have rusted away, or been absorbed by the tree, and only the loop and a few links remain.

"It felt our pain, and it's grown over our pain — it's grown over the evil of that chain," Richard says.

Michael says he hoped he lived to see the last link of the chain disappear, swallowed up by the tree.

"That tree is our power."

Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, indigenous-policy, community-and-society, children, child-abuse, kempsey-2440, nsw

First posted


One of the worst terrorist attacks in recent history is currently taking place across Paris. According to media reports, at least seven separate sites are under siege in a coordinated operation that has claimed over 100 lives. One of the most notable venues attacked in this operation is the Bataclan concert hall, where during a concert terrorists reportedly used Kalashnikov rifles to gun down concert-goers while shouting “Allahu Akbar” (source: Breitbart).

Information continues to be sparse about the attacks, though France’s President Hollande has already closed the borders and mobilized the military after declaring a state of emergency. As of Friday at 7pm ET, the death doll has reached above 140 in the Bataclan concert hall alone, with eyewitnesses describing the scene as one of utter destruction (source):

“It was carnage,” Marc Coupris, 57, told the Guardian, still shaking after being freed from being held hostage at the Bataclan, a popular concert venue. “It looked like a battlefield, there was blood everywhere, there were bodies everywhere. I was at the far side of the hall when shooting began. There seemed to be at least two gunmen. They shot from the balcony.” “Everyone scrabbled to the ground. I was on the ground with a man on top of me and another one beside me up against a wall. We just stayed still like that. At first we kept quiet. I don’t know how long we stayed like that, it seemed like an eternity. “I saw my final hour unfurl before me, I thought this was the end. I thought I’m finished, I’m finished. I was terrified. We must all have thought the same. Eventually, when a few gendarmes came in slowly we began to look up and there was blood absolutely everywhere. The police told us to run.”

Leftist media mouthpieces will be quick to caution sites like this one against drawing “hasty conclusions” from a heinously tragic event, but our media masters can only pretend for so long that the emperor of multiculturalism is still wearing any clothes.

Immigration has been a hot-button issue recently both domestically and abroad. Even larger than taking central stage in the US presidential election, the recent influx of Syrian immigrants across the European Union and the resulting cultural and economic upheaval has drawn massive criticism from grassroots media and native residents of the countries affected, but shockingly little mainstream media criticism. Why?

Our own Michael Sebastian reported on this issue recently, with a shocking revelation from Mark Zuckerberg and German Chancellor Angela Merkel colluding to wipe negative comments about German immigration policy from Facebook:

Merkel was complaining to Zuckerberg about posts by Facebook users who were critical to the hordes of Muslim migrants who are flooding Germany and other European countries. Zuckerberg responded that: “[W]e need to do some work” on curtailing anti-immigrant posts about the refugee crisis. “Are you working on this?” Merkel asked in English, to which Zuckerberg replied in the affirmative before the transmission was disrupted. What pretense will Facebook use to ban Germans from legitimately discussing the policy concerns of their country, which purports to be a democracy? Racism, of course: Loading... We are committed to working closely with the German government on this important issue,” Debbie Frost, a spokeswoman for Menlo Park, California-based Facebook, said via e-mail. “We think the best solutions to dealing with people who make racist and xenophobic comments can be found when service providers, government and civil society all work together to address this common challenge. But can a true democracy exist when the public, who are supposed to be ultimate authority for the government, are not permitted to frankly debate policies?

What they’re not saying

Roosh’s recent video about how the multicultural narrative is collapsing before our very eyes appears even more prescient in light of the last couple weeks, with refugee-accepting Sweden now counting itself as the rape capital of the West and dealing with the harassment of its citizens by Muslim immigrants. Tonight’s tragic events mark the next grim reminder that forced importation of a religious fundamentalist underclass is at odds with the self-preservation of any Western nation.

But why is it so controversial to say so? The media establishment clearly has a vested interest in keeping the average person ignorant of the dangers of mass cultural manipulation. Milo Yiannopoulos was one of the first to point out the media’s soft-pedaling of the Muslim terrorism angle in its coverage of the Paris terrorist attacks:

https://twitter.com/Nero/status/665313187735162881

https://twitter.com/Nero/status/665328369022578688

https://twitter.com/Nero/status/665328237048758273

It’s clear that the masters of our media, who themselves promote the destruction of distinct Western national identities through massive immigration initiatives, have instructed their megaphones to remain silent on this issue. A quick control-F of the top story on the New York Times, CNN, and ABC is shockingly absent of the words “Islam” or “Muslim,” despite strong circumstantial evidence and eyewitness accounts that almost inextricably link these actions to Muslim terrorism.

The only occurrence of the word came from the New York Times in this passing remark:

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Twitter erupted with celebratory messages by members and sympathizers of the Islamic State, the extremist group based in Syria and Iraq that is under assault by major powers including the United States, France and Russia.

ROK’s coverage on this issue will continue for the foreseeable future, but in the meantime you must question every source you see reporting on this issue. Why is the story being reported in a certain way, one that encourages “tolerance” and not “jumping to conclusions,” when similarly deplorable domestic incidents are immediately ascribed to racism and gun control issues? Why are they lying to us, when the facts show a cultural disaster in the making that has already cost hundreds of innocent lives just in the last few hours?

The most chilling thing is that this may only be the beginning.

Read More: Only White Countries Are Expected To Let In Hordes Of Illegal Migrants


A Taxpayer-Funded Brooklyn Principal Is Under Investigation For Promoting Revolutionary Communism

Eric Owens

Education Editor

The New York City Department of Education is investigating a taxpayer-funded secondary school principal in Brooklyn for allegedly promoting communism and recruiting students for radical political causes.

The principal, Jill Bloomberg of Park Slope Collegiate, has responded by filing a federal lawsuit seeking to stop the investigation, reports New York public radio station WNYC.

The New York City education department initiated its investigation into Bloomberg’s alleged communist and communist-recruitment activities based on a tip from someone who remains anonymous.

The tipster told officials that Bloomberg is affiliated with the Progressive Labor Party, a revolutionary communist political party based in Brooklyn.

Court documents filed by the education department say that the investigation is focused on allegations that Bloomberg has worked to promote the agenda of the Progressive Labor Party by recruiting students “to participate in organizational activities, including marches for her political organization.”

According to the Progressive Labor Party’s website, the group seeks to foment violent revolution. “Only the dictatorship of the working class — communism — can provide a lasting solution to the disaster that is today’s world for billions of people. This cannot be done through electoral politics, but requires a revolutionary movement and a mass Red Army led by PLP.”

Also: “Communism means the Party leads every aspect of society. For this to work, millions of workers — eventually everyone — must become communist organizers. Join Us!” (RELATED: These Mugshots Of Commie Trump Protesters Will Make Your Day)

The Progressive Labor Party “fights to destroy capitalism and the dictatorship of the capitalist class” by organizing “workers, soldiers and youth into a revolutionary movement for communism.”

Court documents filed by New York City’s education department allege that students who disagree with Bloomberg and her comrades “are not allowed to express” their political views.

In addition, the school district says, Bloomberg and her husband used footage of Park Slope Collegiate students and staff in documentary for a Progressive Labor Party-affiliated group “without authorization” from the students or staff members.

The policies of New York City’s school district “prohibit the use of school facilities, equipment and supplies on behalf of political organizations,” according to the education department’s court filing.

Bloomberg’s lawsuit concerning the investigation — filed Friday — contends that the investigation into her alleged communist activities is retaliation because she opposes racism and has criticized the New York City Board of Education for, she says, practices that amount to segregation.

Earlier this year, Bloomberg charged the education department with discrimination because, she said, a school with many white students received more sports equipment than Park Slope Collegiate did. The students at Park Slope Collegiate are primarily black and Latino.

Supporters of Bloomberg packed a Lower Manhattan courtroom for a hearing related to Bloomberg’s lawsuit. Many of them all wore the same t-shirts.

After the hearing, Bloomberg and her supporters spoke.

“What speech is prohibited?” Bloomberg asked, according to Chalkbeat, an education news outlet.

“The speech I am most known for is anti-racism,” the principal also said.

Bloomberg’s supporters recited her message in remarkably similar fashion.

A Park Slope Collegiate eighth grader named Maya showed up at the court proceedings to declare that Bloomberg only wants to fight against racism.

“It’s just upsetting that she’s being accused of stating her own political views when she’s just stating the facts that racism is here,” Maya informed Chalkbeat.

A special education teacher, Sarah Vega, swore that Bloomberg never tries to indoctrinate students with revolutionary communist propaganda.

“I’ve worked for her for over a decade,” Vega told Chalkbeat. “I’ve never seen her furthering any political agenda whatsoever. She fights against racism, but I don’t really consider that partisan politics.”

Bloomberg has indicated that she does not belong to the Progressive Labor Party.

This week, a federal judge is expected to decide whether to allow the investigation by school officials to proceed.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/03/a-taxpayer-funded-brooklyn-principal-is-under-investigation-for-promoting-revolutionary-communism/

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

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diff options context: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 space: include ignore mode: unified ssdiff stat only

author 2014-08-13 09:57:07 +1000 committer 2014-09-17 09:22:16 -0700 commit ba1f6592cb07d4d7025112e1ffcf279d904c7146 (patch) tree dc3845f5f3806921e3f0fe573b8aa17ff1789b2a parent 706d916414bf623b20c4626cc6096bb0839263dc (diff) download linux-ba1f6592cb07d4d7025112e1ffcf279d904c7146.tar.gz

md/raid6: avoid data corruption during recovery of double-degraded RAID6

commit 9c4bdf697c39805078392d5ddbbba5ae5680e0dd upstream. During recovery of a double-degraded RAID6 it is possible for some blocks not to be recovered properly, leading to corruption. If a write happens to one block in a stripe that would be written to a missing device, and at the same time that stripe is recovering data to the other missing device, then that recovered data may not be written. This patch skips, in the double-degraded case, an optimisation that is only safe for single-degraded arrays. Bug was introduced in 2.6.32 and fix is suitable for any kernel since then. In an older kernel with separate handle_stripe5() and handle_stripe6() functions the patch must change handle_stripe6(). Fixes: 6c0069c0ae9659e3a91b68eaed06a5c6c37f45c8 Cc: Yuri Tikhonov <yur@emcraft.com> Cc: Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@intel.com> Reported-by: "Manibalan P" <pmanibalan@amiindia.co.in> Tested-by: "Manibalan P" <pmanibalan@amiindia.co.in> Resolves: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1090423 Signed-off-by: NeilBrown <neilb@suse.de> Acked-by: Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@intel.com> Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>

1 files changed, 2 insertions, 0 deletions


Some farms use subsurface tile drainage systems, which can discharge into streams and ditches. (Photo: Bruce Chambers/The Drone Store LLC)

CATAWBA ISLAND - Since the resurgence of Lake Erie’s biggest monster over the last decade, harmful algal blooms, scientists have been working vigorously to pinpoint the root of the problem and what is causing it.

Over time, a lot of progress has been made on that front.

Having dealt with it in the 1970s, scientists were able to determine back then that excess phosphorus runoff making its way to the lake was feeding the algae and leading to the harmful blooms.

As a result, significant conservation efforts were taken to reduce the amount of total phosphorus being drained and discharged along Lake Erie.

It was not until much more recently, as the algae kept blooming despite those efforts, that a specific culprit was eventually found: dissolved reactive phosphorus.

An entirely new model for the study of the lake’s harmful algal blooms is based on the finding, according to Jeff Reutter, former director of the Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory on Gibraltar Island.

And researchers have made another disturbing discovery: That much of the action taken over the past several years to address the algae problems is not having the desired impact.

The 2015 bloom was the worst ever recorded for Lake Erie, and perhaps most concerning, the problem is getting worse, not better.

Questions remain about the where the leading sources of this more specific nutrient, dissolved reactive phosphorus, are coming from. Research has shown heavy rains exacerbate the problem by causing sudden significant influxes of nutrients into the lake.

Much of the discussion has been about chemical fertilizers used by farmers in Lake Erie's Western Basin, many of whom have been already taking those conservation efforts to reduce their phosphorus runoff.

An area not yet widely discussed is the dissolved phosphorus and other nutrients caused by manure runoff.

Pam Taylor, an environmental activist from Lenawee County, Michigan, and member of the Sierra Club’s “Less=More” coalition, spoke at a panel on harmful algal blooms hosted by the Lake Erie Improvement Association at the Catawba Island Club last week.

Taylor worked extensively on the Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan (ECCSCM) study titled, “Follow the Manure,” which examined the impact manure discharged by factory farms had on the Lake Erie algal crisis.

“We have less than 1 percent of the animals, but we send you about 18 percent of manure in the watershed,” Taylor said. “That’s because we have mostly dairy cows.”

She noted one dairy cow excretes the equivalent waste of between 20 to 23 humans every day. “So we’re sending you the equivalent waste of the City of Boston every day.”

The study monitored 46 different sites where 13 factory farms produce and apply manure in 20 different townships in Michigan.

When factory farms meet the threshold of total animals at a facility, they are classified as a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO), the “largest of the large” farms, and have to be granted a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for manure by the Environmental Protection Agency.

At the sites, edge-of-field water samples are taken and tested for E. coli, biological oxygen demand (BOD), dissolved oxygen, nitrates, phosphorus, ammonia and temperature.

Through October 2015, results of those tests from fields where manure was applied in Lenawee and eastern Hillsdale County areas of the Western Lake Erie Watershed showed 100 percent had phosphorus levels above 0.1 milligram per liter, a concern for aquatic life, and 89 percent met or exceeded 1.0 milligram per liter, Michigan’s water quality point discharge standard for total phosphorus.

“Those levels are increasing, not decreasing,” Taylor said. “Actually, every level increased this year. It was higher in everything.”

Thomas Van Wagner, a retired USDA employee now under contract with the conservation district in Lenawee County, said the “Follow the Manure” report is faulty.

He believes they are leveraging Lake Erie’s algae issues to point the finger at livestock, using a kernel of truth and twisting it around. He also said most of the very large operations referred to are already very highly regulated.

A total of 146 farms are in the Western Lake Erie Watershed — 57 in Ohio, 75 in Indiana and 14 in Michigan. In 2014, they held 11.6 million animals and produced 690.8 million gallons of manure.

ECCSM data includes permit violations since the year 2000, where the EPA or a state agency cited a farm for violating the Clean Water Act.

Van Wagner said many of those violations have not had anything to do with water quality.

“This could be something simple like a paperwork problem, didn’t submit the right paperwork on time,” Taylor acknowledged. “But it can also include something serious like a discharge where they were pumping manure basically right into the waterway, and we’ve seen that.”

Of the 230 permit violations from CAFOs in the watershed, 112 were discharges of pollutants directly into the waters of the respective state.

“Those are the ones we want to minimize,” Van Wagner said. “We can’t always eliminate all discharges, but we can try to minimize the risk as best we can. Sometimes we have some rain storms that will cause some issues that are above and beyond people’s control.”

Wyandot, Hardin and Defiance counties in Ohio have the highest concentrations of animals housed.

Despite the animal concentration numbers, Paulding County on the western border in Ohio and Lenawee County on the southern border of Michigan produce the most manure.

Farms in Lenawee also have had by far the most permit violations and illegal discharges since 2008.

“It’s important to note, the algae don’t care where the phosphorus comes from,” Reutter said. He said he does not draw a distinction between commercial chemical fertilizers and manure.

It isn't just the application of manure, but also whether the drainage systems are sufficient, Reutter said.

“Manure isn’t inherently bad, and sewage sludge isn’t inherently bad, but if you put on too much, that’s a big, big problem.”

“What happens," Taylor said, "is they apply the manure and it doesn’t even bother to run off, it just goes straight down and then out through the tiles.”

That means it also bypasses any erosion-control measures, which research has shown to be the case.

“Theses conservation practices were developed to reduce erosion and to control nitrates, which have a much larger particle size than dissolved phosphorus,” she said.

Taylor pointed to 15 years of subsidized erosion-control measures, such as no till, conservation tillage, buffers, grass strips, constructed and two-stage ditches, tile plugs and cover crops, especially in the winter.

“In spite of all these things, we’ve seen our phosphorus levels continue to go up.”

Application at the wrong time is a problem they’ve observed as well. Manure and waste applied to snow or frozen ground simply runs off.

“It just makes sense, right. It can’t go anywhere,” Taylor said.

One persistent message during the Lake Erie Improvement Association’s hosted panel last week was whether to declare the Western Lake Erie Basin officially “impaired.” It’s a distinction outlined in the Clean Water Act that would immediately trigger an assessment by the EPA, which would formulate and implement a recovery plan.

The plan would include much more rigorous restrictions for the amount of pollutants that can be drained into the lake, called total maximum daily load (TMDL), enforcing a standard for the basin that would cross state lines.

This is the first recommendation the “Follow the Manure” report offers toward addressing the algae problem.

State Rep. Steve Arndt (R, Port Clinton), who joined the panel, was asked if Ohio legislators will seek stricter sewage and septic requirements for factory farms, and while he said he believes it will be part of the discussions going forward, it is too premature to say for sure.

Another point discussed at length by the panel was an agreement by Ohio, Michigan, and Ontario, Canada, to reduce phosphorus runoff by 40 percent.

Taylor said they found out a few weeks ago there is no baseline data available for Michigan’s portion of the Maumee sub-watershed, questioning how a 40 percent reduction can be measured without that baseline.

Another recommendation, and one of the primary objectives of the “Less=More” coalition, is cutting subsidies to factory farms with violations and give the money to smaller farms that are genuine in their efforts to help solve this problem.

This effort, handing out less to the violators means more clean water, inspired its name.

“Maybe it’s time to look at where that money is going and maybe shift it to people who are doing the right things, instead of feeding the bad actors,” Taylor said. “Helping the people who are sincerely interested in doing things right.

“Especially the smaller farmers. They’re the ones getting crunched. The small livestock farmers are getting just crushed by this. And we’d like to see the money go to them so that they can buy the equipment, they can set up storage facilities they need.”

The best solution, according to “Follow the Manure,” is stopping the problem at the source.

“Don’t ever let it get into the water to begin with,” Taylor said.

jstinchcom@gannett.com

419-680-4897

Twitter: @JonDBN

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Source: iStock

Scientists have been mimicking nature for years, but few discoveries are this successful, or important. In an effort to develop clean, renewable energy sources, a team from the Australian National University has successfully duplicated one of the more crucial steps in photosynthesis, the process in which plants actively turn sunlight into energy.

Why’s it a big deal? Because it could ultimately open the door to harnessing the process for energy cultivation.

If scientists are able to successfully take the photosynthesis process — which turns sunlight into chemical energy — and apply it to industrial biological systems, sunlight could be used to manufacture hydrogen, which could then be used as fuel. Hydrogen is already used as a fuel in many instances, and if applied on a large scale, it could serve as a replacement for petroleum — all the while contributing no new carbon to the atmosphere. Not only are the two main components required for photosynthesis available in wide abundance, but they are also cheap.

“Water is abundant and so is sunlight. It is an exciting prospect to use them to create hydrogen, and do it cheaply and safely,” Dr. Kastoori Hingorani, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis in the ANU Research School of Biology told Science Daily. Not only are the ingredients abundant, but the process itself is sustainable for the long-term. Since there is no shortage of water or sunlight, if the photosynthesis process is completely harnessed, it could provide energy indefinitely.

“That carbon-free cycle is essentially indefinitely sustainable. Sunlight is extraordinarily abundant, water is everywhere — the raw materials we need to make the fuel. And at the end of the usage cycle, it goes back to water,” said co-researcher professor Ron Pace. “It’s the beginning of a whole suite of possibilities, such as creating a highly efficient fuel, or to trapping atmospheric carbon.”

The photosynthesis process — though often taught to schoolchildren, and simple enough on paper — is actually fairly complicated in practice, and often misunderstood. At the most basic level, the process simply converts light from the sun into usable energy in the form of chemicals. This is the basic way that plants produce energy, and release oxygen as a byproduct of the reactions happening within their structures. There are different types of photosynthesis that have been observed in varying types of life, including algae and even bacteria.

Essentially, duplicating the act of splitting water into its more base elements is what scientists are trying to mimic. Australian researchers did it by creating a protein that creates an ‘electrical heartbeat’ when exposed to light. Development of the protein does not require expensive components or even batteries, meaning the technology could be used in developing areas and impoverished countries to produce fuel.

Hydrogen has been one of the few energy sources touted as the next big thing and is used in a variety of different ways. It is commonly used in rockets and spaceflight, and is starting to gain popularity in consumer vehicles that use hydrogen fuel cells instead of petroleum or all-battery power. For example, Toyota just announced its new fuel-cell vehicle, the Mirai, which will use hydrogen as its primary fuel source.

As consumers have become more and more aware of the effects that petroleum products can have on the environment, clean-burning alternative sources have grown in popularity. With the impending effects of climate change also concerning many people, switching to zero-carbon alternatives is quickly becoming a priority.

For years, scientists have been putting in an effort to successfully replicate photosynthesis, and this latest breakthrough signifies the overcoming of a major hurdle. If researchers are able to make the process as easy and cheap as they hope, it could mean seismic shifts in the energy business. After all, the major problem that has led to the mass adoption of hydrogen-powered technologies has been the fact that producing hydrogen is not only difficult, but expensive.

There have been efforts by private companies recently that have shown promise, such as the case of HyperSolar, which had come close to developing technology to successfully split water into its base elements. Although they didn’t quite get there, the research from Australia is simply the next step in developing the technology. As ExtremeTech explains, the major interest in hydrogen stems from its versatility; unlike solar power, it presents an energy source that can be successfully stored and transported, all while providing no negative impact environmentally while it is produced.

Currently, the only methods of producing usable quantities of hydrogen have some serious setbacks. It can be produced from fossil fuels inexpensively, although the process of doing so has environmental drawbacks. The other method involves the electrolysis of water, which splits water molecules into its base elements. The problem with this process is that it requires a lot of energy — so much so that there is actually a net loss at the end.

It’s easy to see why the prospect of a photosynthesis-inspired hydrogen production process is so exciting. The system would be cheap, easy, and ultimately very lucrative. Not only that, but the environmental advantages would be immense, especially considering the challenges that await in the coming years due to climate change. Even in areas affected by wars and natural disasters, energy production systems that run off of simple resources like water and sunlight could be deployed, and successfully run by almost anyone.

While there is still some work to be done, there are plenty of reasons to get excited by this latest breakthrough in biomimicry. If the technology can be successfully developed and methods for distributing it are in place, hydrogen may finally be able to solve the world’s energy issues in a cheap and easy way.

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When Dani Weingarten first joined UB’s Alpha Phi sorority, the one thing she felt UB was missing was a Greek row – an area devoted to fraternity and sorority housing. She had visited her friends at other universities who lived in sorority houses located in a Greek row near the campus.

Weingarten may get her wish next fall.

Standard Ascension Tower Group Corp (SAT Corp), an investment corporation, is planning to create a “Greek village” near North Campus for UB’s fraternities and sororities. The $60 million project will involve four phases and the first phase – which includes erecting 30 houses, a community house and entertainment complex – is set to be completed next fall.

Depending on how many organizations move to the Greek row, the housing system will accommodate about 300 people.

Taqua Daniels, chief marketing officer of SAT Corp, said the project is not affiliated with UB in any way and Pamela Stephens-Jackson, assistant director of fraternity and sorority life at UB, said neither she nor the university is involved and that this is a private project.

At the time of publication, the university did not have a comment regarding the project.

Daniels said while SAT Corp would manage the houses, the company is willing to work with UB.

“The university will have the ability to work with our group to help maintain university caveats,” Daniels said in an email.

Many universities have a Greek row – a collection of houses for different Greek organizations located in the same area on and near the campus. The Greek organizations and its alumni, or the university itself, usually owns the homes.

Many UB Greek organizations – both legal and illegal – have homes located throughout the University Heights off South Campus. Student parties in the area, some of which are held by Greek organizations, have led to conflict between students and residents in the area. Daniels said SAT Corp hopes the project will remove Greek life from the Heights.

Weingarten, a sophomore speech and hearing major, said while a project like this will benefit UB sororities and fraternities, those who live near the potential village may not appreciate their new neighbors. Weingarten said it would be a “shock” and could change the dynamic in the neighborhood where the Greek village is built.

Some illegal fraternities are discussing becoming recognized with the university in order to partake in the Greek village.

Larry Jordan, the chief executive officer of SAT Corp, said the company chose UB because it is familiar with the location and the environment of the campus and because most “big schools” have a Greek row.

Jordan, the company itself and “state mutual funds” will fund the project, according to Daniels. In order to be developed, the company first plans to send the project to be bid on by local development contractors and architects.

Although there are two, 2.5-acre sites in Amherst where SAT Corp could develop the village, Jordan said the company wants to build it on the location closest to the North Campus. Daniels said it would be within walking distance of the campus.

Daniels said the project is a set plan, but SAT Corp is currently seeing which organizations “qualify” to move into the location.

“Qualified organizations will historically have a good standing with the UB campus, local community, academically and [national charter],” Daniels said.

The Spectrum obtained SAT Corp’s letter of intent to lease the homes. SAT Corp sent the nonbinding contract to UB Greek organizations in order to determine how many organizations would be interested in the project.

Jordan also presented the project to students in a classroom on campus last month. The Spectrum obtained photographs of the presentation, which included renderings of the potential village as well as prices.

Joshua Grove, Greek liaison for UB’s Inter-Greek Council, said the plan has only been in discussion for about a month and the “location, approval and zoning” have yet to be put into effect.

Weingarten said she thinks bringing a Greek row to UB’s campus will be a good way to increase Greek membership, however more awareness about Greek life should happen before the village is built.

“I think right now Greek life needs to work on expanding and needs to be recognized more on campus before building houses for each organization,” Weingarten said. “I think if it was to happen a few years from now it would be great to have a part of where our students live dedicated to Greek life.”

Once the first phase of the project is completed, roughly five organizations would be able to move into the village according, to Jordan.

SAT Corp would then move on to the remaining three phases, which include town houses for smaller organizations, a solar panel park for sustainability and a chapter monument museum.

Daniels said each organization has the option to design its own house and can choose between a modern or contemporary style. The Greek village will be in a gated community and each house will start at 25,000 square feet.

The houses – which will “be able to sleep up to 30 members” – will have three floors that hold a library, grand dining hall and ballroom. The sorority houses will additionally have powder rooms and a large community closet.

The houses will have a rate comparable to rent for on-campus apartments and SAT Corp plans to accept student financial aid. Daniels said historically, larger and “more established” organizations will have a purchase option from their national charter. Chapters who maintain a 3.5 GPA will be offered a rental and lease discounts.

Ultimately, Daniels said SAT Corp wants the Greek village to bring something new to UB by having a distinct area for the Greek life on campus.

“We believe that this location will be pinnacle to the growth and respect of [the] university and a grand capstone to the New York academia community,” Daniels said. “In general, Greek village adds another dimension to the university, enhancing its image as a major Division-I institution.”

Marlee Tuskes is a news desk editor and can be reached at marlee.tuskes@ubspectrum.com. Follow her on Twitter at @marleetuskes5.


The NBA schedule has just been released, and for Bulls fans across the world this day marks the first view of the upcoming season’s schedule, one which will prominently feature a return of some guy who won the MVP one time and who most of the staff here at DRaT has a pretty homoerotic crush on.

In quickly glancing over the schedule, a couple of things stick out as noteworthy:

The Bulls open the season October 29 in Miami against the defending champs. Nothing like having to watch your most hated enemy hang up a banner to kick off the season. Imagine if Mitt Romney had to go to the presidential inauguration while being force fed coffee and other hot drinks. Fucking nightmare.

The Bulls home opener is on Halloween, against the spooky scary New York Knickerbockers. This game, like the one against Miami, will be played in front of a national audience on TNT. Look for Thibodeau to come dressed as an angry troll who lives under a bridge.

The annual circus trip will span from November 21-30. The Bulls will get a crack at Denver, Portland, the Clippers, Utah, Detroit and will wrap up against the Cavs. My early estimate is that the Bulls will go 5-1, but I’m pretty irrationally excited and could be talked into a 75 win season.

The Bulls have one other long stretch of games away from the UC from January 29-February 6. that trip will be a bit tougher, with games against the Spurs, Pels, Kings, Suns, Warriors and Lakers. I’m a little higher on New Orleans than some, but man I’m excited to watch Rose tear it up. I’m not making any sense. Basketball.

With the postseason just around the corner, the Bulls have a brutal stretch that runs through the middle of March. Although all games will be in Chicago, Miami-Memphis-SA-Houston is going to be a challenging stretch. Hopefully the team is healthy. No better way to announce that you are a true title contender than by ripping through that brutal stretch of games.

The Bulls have a rough schedule. The Central division is the strongest its been in years. The Bulls could be considered co-favorites with the Conference Finalist Pacers. The Cavs look like they will be formidable foes, with another year of Kyrie development plus whatever they squeeze out of Bynum and his degenerating knees. The Pistons made several big splashes this offseason and will look to break into the top eight in the East. And Milwaukee has warm bodies that can run up and down a court.

Ladies and gentleman, let the countdown to the 2013-14 season officially begin!!!

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Over the weekend, I went to visit my mom and aunt to celebrate their birthdays. They were born one day and two years apart! We hung out at the National Harbor yesterday and I was surprised at how many shops are there now compared to how many there were when it first opened. My aunt loves to shop, so we ended up exploring many of the clothing and accessory stores at the harbor. Although I saw lots of lovely things that would look good on me, I walked away from that place empty-handed, as usual. I have little desire to buy “stuff” anymore, unless it’s something I actually need. I’ve been living this way for about two years now.

When I started working for myself full-time in 2010, I also began to adopt a minimalist mindset to my life. My main goal was to buy less, use what I had and save my money for experiences instead of stuff. As a result, I’ve spent very little on “things” over the past two years. Most of my income goes to housing, student loans, car payment, food and other monthly bills. The rest goes to activities that I gift to myself or other people: traveling, trying new restaurants, attending concerts and going to festivals.

The point of living with less, for me, is not about NOT buying things. It’s about prioritizing the purchase of things that truly matter to you and add to your life. For me, that shift began with ending my habit of buying things I didn’t need. Here are seven strategies I’ve used in that journey that you may wish to consider for your own growth.

Stop watching TV. Constantly seeing celebrities on TV with their beautiful hair, designer clothes and fancy homes does a lot of damage to the psyche. Not only does it conjure up feelings of inadequacy in our own looks, but it can prompt us to buy the exact same stuff they have to make ourselves feel like we’re living just a fraction of their fabulous lives. Please remember that everything on TV is FAKE. It is an escape from your day to day life, but when you start escaping with your credit card, you can end up with a bunch of expensive items that leave you feeling no better than you did before.

Stop watching commercials. Television advertising is insidious. In college, I learned about how car marketers are taught to “manufacture desire” for new vehicles that no one needs. Used cars will do you just fine, but to have commercials tell it, you have to have the latest model BMV to have an exciting, glamorous life. Most commercials are full of lies and manipulation to get you to feel incomplete and lead you to buy things you don’t need. But when you stop watching them, you lessen the power of corporate messaging on the decision-making part of your brain.

Don’t justify shopping because it’s “on sale” or you have a “coupon.” Remember that you’re only saving money if you would have needed to buy the item anyway. In other words, a sale on toilet paper is a score, but a sale on Jimmy Choos is not. My aunt cracks me up with all the DSW and Lane Bryant coupons she gets in the mail every month. She claims she’s “saving” money on all the clothes she buys, forgetting that the best way to save money is not to spend it in the first place. Tell your favorite clothing stores to stop sending you discounts and reserve your couponing culture for buying food or other essential items.

Limit your visits to the mall. I’ve been living in Charlottesville for a month now and I haven’t been to the mall once. I have no need to, unless I’m replacing an item of clothing that’s worn out or doesn’t fit me right anymore. Idle shopping usually results in idle purchases. If you must go to the mall, go in with a purpose – to find a new pair of black dress pants or to replace your favorite pumps.

Stop buying magazines. When I was in college, I used to buy Lucky Mag religiously. I fancied myself a fashionista and I wanted to keep up with the trends. Thing is, each magazine cost $5 by itself, let alone what it would cost to purchase something highlighted in its pages. Women’s magazines are blazoned with full-page ads that promise you instant beauty and weight loss and happiness if you just buy the latest product. And if it’s a reputable publisher like Oprah or Essence, you’re already pre-wired to trust the product recommendations, which can make you even more likely to buy something you see in those magazines. Just remember that you can get many of the same articles online these days, so there really is no need to read magazines anymore.

Stop reading fashion, makeup, natural hair and thrifting blogs. I feel so conflicted about this one, as I love the creativity and artistry with which my fellow bloggers put into their sites. But there are many that I just don’t read, not because I have a problem with the bloggers themselves, but because I know that the whole purpose of their site is to recommend that I buy new clothes, buy old clothes, buy more makeup or buy every new natural hair product line that comes out. If you read blogs to get new information, inspiration or to support the writers, great! But when you find yourself feeling like you have to buy every new lip gloss that beauty bloggers review, it may be time to switch up the blogs you give your attention to.

Avoid hanging out with shopaholics. When you see everyone else around you buying the latest fashions or electronics or accessories, it can be easy to fall prey to subtle peer pressure. Plus, shopaholics are usually the first ones to urge you to “buy that dress girl, it’s so cuuuuute!” with an urgency so fierce that it’s hard not to get caught up in their excitement. So if a shopaholic friend asks you to go to the mall with her, opt to meet her afterwards for lunch or coffee instead. That way, you don’t get tempted to mirror her out-of-control spending habits.

What other strategies have you used to keep yourself from buying things that you don’t need?

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Northern Electronics have just announced another quality release. This one is super solid. Anthony Linell puts together 8 tracks for his new release titled “Emeral Fluorescents” on the no bullshit label. Going by the 2 tracks shared only a few minutes ago it seems like Linell is exploring a darker heavier side than what he releases under his Abdulla Rashim moniker. To quote the press release accompanying the album, “Scattered fractal stabs revolve around quietly furious low-end fit outs with enough sharp edges to let you know it’s someone else’s space.”

The album (limited to 200 on wax) is available for pre-order on the Northern Electronics Bandcamp page.

Check out the two tracks here:

Anthony Linell – Fractal Vision

Anthony Linell – Emerald Fluorescents

For more updates, follow us on Instagram.


TOKYO: This year's Vivid festival attracted a record 2.33 million visitors, with national and international visitors to the Sydney light show up by 35 per cent.

Launching the dates for next year's Vivid to the Japanese tourism industry in Tokyo, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the world's largest light show would be 10 years old in 2018.

This year, 5000 Japanese tourists travelled to Sydney to attend Vivid, but Ms Berejiklian said the NSW government wanted to boost Japanese tourism around the event, and would host a large delegation of 50 travel agents at Vivid in 2018.

Toru Ikuta, chief executive of major Japanese tour company, JTB World Vacations, said 20 years ago, 800,000 Japanese visited Australia annually. But the number of Japanese tourists plummeted by half in the following decades as tourism promotions stopped, and airlines reduced flights.


ESPN Warriors reporter Ethan Strauss discusses the recent comments from Warriors players regarding those critical of their championship season. (3:09)

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Forward Draymond Green said Tuesday that teams questioning the Golden State Warriors' championship are bitter, pointing out that you don't hear such talk coming from teams such as the San Antonio Spurs.

Editor's Picks Pelton: Were Warriors just 'lucky' to win title? Yes, there was luck involved in the Warriors' championship run. But is that the whole story?

League MVP Stephen Curry, meanwhile, issued a mock apology for the Warriors' success.

Green and Curry made their comments Tuesday when they were asked about people discussing whether the Warriors "deserve" their title, possibly in reference to Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers saying to Zach Lowe of Grantland, "You need luck in the West. Look at Golden State. They didn't have to play us or the Spurs."

"If they saying that, they aren't the champs. It's simple. Gregg Popovich didn't say that. That's one organization I really respect. And you haven't heard anybody in they camp say that. You ain't heard anybody from OKC say that, some of the organizations that I really respect," Green said.

"You see the ring fitting man over there? Jason of Beverly Hills, he over there fitting us for our ring? That's pretty cool. So if they saying that, it's some bitterness and some saltiness going around. They obviously not the champs. So who cares what they say. It is what it is."

Stephen Curry, left, and Draymond Green, right, have had enough of teams like the Clippers questioning their merits as champions. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Curry "apologized" to critics of the Warriors' title on Tuesday.

"I apologize for us being healthy, I apologize for us playing who was in front of us. I apologize for all the accolades we received as a team and individually. I'm very, truly sorry, and we'll rectify that situation this year," he said.

"Bitter" is how Green's teammate Klay Thompson described Rivers' comments on Friday, when he also said of Rivers' team, "I wanted to play the Clippers last year, but they couldn't handle their business."

Last week, center Andrew Bogut also responded to the critics in an interview with KNBR radio.

"I've actually got my [championship] ring fitted for my middle finger, so they can kiss that one," Bogut said.

"It's just bad, man," Green said Tuesday, describing how he'd feel about questioning someone else's title. "I would feel bad about myself doing that. That's just crazy to me, but that just lets you know how many people didn't want to see us win. Because they sick."

Asked why he believes the Warriors are attracting this particular criticism, Green said, "People hate change. People don't accept change well."


VIDEO: Revenge-seeking crows terrorize an Istanbul neighborhood

ISTANBUL

A murder of crows has been attacking passersby for almost a week in an Istanbul neighborhood, creating scenes reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 masterpiece ”The Birds.”A nestling was killed under the wheels of a car last week, after it fell from its nest on top of a utility pole in Istanbul’s Asian-side neighborhood of Ümraniye. Since then, crows have been attacking people to avenge the death and protect the remaining nestlings.In addition to people who are regularly being hit on their heads, cats are being victimized by the rage of the crows as well. “They generally attack older people. We’re also afraid, but they haven’t attacked us,” one of the children who have to use the road every day to go to a nearby school told Cihan News Agency.


Dolphin + Whale Project

The Problem

Whales and dolphins continue to be killed around the world and need our help. Japan, Iceland, and Norway kill more than 1,000 minke, fin, and other great whale species every year, all for meager sales of whale meat. Thousands of dolphins are still killed every year in Japan for meat, and in Indonesia and Peru for shark bait. Whales and dolphins continue to be captured in Russia, Cuba, and Japan for export to captivity facilities. Despite a ban on captures and export, dolphins around the Solomon Islands still face threats of capture, slaughter and export, as is illustrated in the adjacent video, "Pillaging the Solomons".

Our Action Campaign

We have a long history of working within the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to end commercial whaling. In 1982, we helped pass a moratorium on commercial whaling. We publish a daily newsletter, ECO, at IWC meetings, which is the voice for whales and the environmental community. We work with grassroots groups to educate local fishermen about the need to stop the killing of dolphins and sharks. And we support the growing efforts for watching wild dolphins and whales rather than killing them. We support community efforts to replace dolphin killing with dolphin tourism in places like the Solomon Islands, and fight to block the import and export to captivity of wild dolphins, belugas, and orca whales.

Current Challenges

Commercial whaling, undertaken under the guise of “scientific” whaling, must be stopped. Japan is planning more illegal whaling in Antarctica, in defiance of the legal ruling against the country in the International Court of Justice at the Hague. Iceland and Norway are also defiant. We work to protect cetacean habitat from oil and gas threats as well as the Trump administration's plans to reduce the size of marine protected areas. We successfully worked to block the import of wild belugas captured in Russia for U.S. captivity facilities, and to blow the whistle on live dolphin exports from the cruel “cove” drive hunts to places such as Dubai and China. We continue to monitor the situation in the Solomon Islands to ensure that the current ban on the capture and export of dolphins is upheld.

Iceland Kills 11 Pregnant Whales, Says It's A Good Thing Mark Palmer, October 2018 Iceland is one of the few countries that continues to kill whales for profit. Over this summer’s hunting season, eleven pregnant whales were killed, their fetuses strewn across the flensing decks of the whaling ships. In an astonishing twist of logic, Kristján Loftsson, who runs Iceland’s one and only whaling company, said that killing pregnant females is a good thing, showing that whale populations will continue to grow. Read More >

The Truth About Whaling Audrey Lee, October 2018 Whaling is the practice of hunting and killing whales by humans for multiple purposes and has been going on for more than a thousand years. Throughout the centuries, whaling became increasingly intense and widespread, especially with the development of the exploding harpoon and better boat engines to chase down the whales. In the 1960s, due to over-hunting, most large whale populations collapsed. Read More >

CAMPAIGN HIGHLIGHTS Stop the Slaughter of Dolphins and Whales! Sign the Petition Demand that the IWC to include small cetaceans in their purview and advocate for increased cetacean protection. Sign Here > Faroe Island's Annual Pilot Whale Slaughter As Horrific As Taiji's Cove Pilot whales are killed each year in ways that are not humane. Watch the video and sign the petition! Read More > Watch Whales In Iceland, But Don't Eat Them! Tourism is among the biggest supporters of the Icelandic whaling. Learn what you can do to avoid supporting this inhumane practice. Read More >

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It’s commonly accepted that the majority of Americans do not properly hydrate themselves throughout the day, despite the avalanche of physical problems this can cause. A new water bottle called the ‘BluFit’ is using smart technology to combat that issue.

The Bluefit water bottle works in synchronization with a smartphone will help consumers maintain optimum levels of hydration. Through the smart bottle and app, BluFit will determine how much water you need, how much you have consumed and will alert you when it’s time to hydrate.

According to the product manufacture “Studies show that nearly half of Americans don’t drink enough water. Staying hydrated not only helps with your alertness, controlling appetite, improving activity and performance, but it also keeps everyday symptoms like fatigues, headaches and dry skin at bay.” When living a busy life, even simple tasks-like staying hydrated-can slip your mind. BluFit eliminates the guess work and does the job for you.

OleoApps, maker of BluFit, designed a one-of-a kind device to help consumers maintain a healthy lifestyle by monitoring and analyzing their daily intake of fluids. The smart water bottle features a sensor that automatically records the time and amount of water consumed. While there are many determining factors that play into each individual’s unique level of hydration, BluFit’s integrated app will provide users with a program customized to fit their needs.

The BluFit app collects a variety of data including weight, age, temperature and humidity to determine exactly what your daily intake should be. Through the customizable app, you can view your current level of hydration, set and monitor personal goals and adjust your daily intake based on your activity level and health status.

BluFit has customizable LED lights integrated into the bottle’s sleeve to provide real-time alerts. In addition, the app will send phone notifications to help keep you on track. The smart bottle’s interior setting includes a Bluetooth LE chip, compatible with iOS and Android devices, a built-in water flow sensor and a rechargeable battery that provides up to 6 days of continuous use.

The BluFit is available in Ocean Blue and Charcoal Black (exclusive Indiegogo colors). It will retail for $59 when it hits the market in March. You can also preorder the BluFit for reduced pledges on Indiegogo now.

more info: bluefit


August 10, 2020

It was 5 AM. The platoon had seen heavy combat the day before after 3 giant nevermores ambushed the command post followed by 6 other assorted Grimm. To rebuild the damaged post, a contingent of 50 sailors from the Naval Construction Unit worked through the night, keeping the platoon from falling asleep.

Along the front, things had been tough. The constant bombing of the forests had caused out-of-control forest fires, and now, water bombers were being flown in to help control the fires. Up to now, at least 350 Grimm had been killed at the cost of 16 deaths. The death of Oobleck had made national news and had generally reduced the morale of the hunters and the troops.

At precisely 5:30, Jaune woke up the entire platoon. "All rise and awake! Report to the briefing room now!"

Ruby tiredly got up and yawned, saying, "Another mission, sir?"

"Precisely. Now let's go."

At 5:40, Jaune sat everyone down in the briefing tent. "I have gathered my entire platoon here to inform them that we are to patrol the 3-mile-boundary until August 11. Squads Ruby and Cardin will patrol, and Squad Tan will standby and be flown in by helicopter if necessary."

The entire platoon grumbled. Yang said to Ruby, "Not this."

"Now, now, we have to do it. After all, who else will? Squads Ruby and Cardin ship out at 0615 hours."

Ren thought to himself, "Nothing better happen to Nora while I'm gone. She's gonna be handling radio communications for us, so as long as she keeps replying to us, she'll be safe."

As Squad Ruby patrolled the boundary zone, they kept watch for any active forest fires that may have been started by ordinance dropped from aircraft.

Weiss said to Yang as they walked over a creek, "Do you think we'll really clear out all the Grimm by November or December?"

"Not really," Yang replied. "This entire operation seems a little rushed. I only hope we don't lose anyone else close to us. Oobleck was hard enough to lose."

Ren said to the two of them, "Be careful, or you might jinx us."

Then, Ruby held her hand out and said, "Wait up! Shhh!" The entire squad then paused as they all heard rustling from a nearby bush.

Blake pulled out Gambol Shroud and Yang aimed her AR-7 at the bush. As Yang cocked her gun, the tension began building as to what was in or behind the bush.

Then, a feral cat walked out of the bush, looking at the squad for a few seconds before scampering off. Blake said, "Well that was disappointing."

"Uhhh," Yang said. "I don't think that thing will be, though." She then pointed at a boarbatusk charging at the group.

Ruby activated her semblance and sliced the beast in half by flying past it with Crescent Rose, killing it easily. "Piece of cake." She then spat on the ground beside her.

"That was still a disappointment," Blake replied.

"Well it was a figure of speech or whatever, alright?" Yang was a little annoyed at Blake's response.

"That isn't exactly a figure of speech, first off. Second, your tone of voice is a bit off, too." Blake fired back at Yang.

"My tone of voice was perfectly fine, thank you very much."

Weiss rolled her eyes and said to herself, "Oh boy..."

"No, it wasn't, Yang Xiao Long. It was VERY rude." It was clear by now that this would lead to an argument.

"Rude? Rude? Hahaha, Rude, right? That's all you can say?" Yang's eyes then changed colour.

"You're only making this shit worse, Yang!"

"Now that's rude, Blake. Maybe next time you should watch your definitions. I'm not in the fucking mood for this, considering I watched my old teacher die in front of me!"

"God damn it, he was mine too! We all saw him die, Yang! It isn't all about you, asshole! We all were hurt by Oobleck's death!"

Yang then flared in anger. "That does it!"

Ruby, extremely annoyed and angered by her best friend and sister arguing, then interrupted the argument by firing a round from Crescent Rose into the air before she screamed, "JUST MOTHERFUCKING STOP YOUR POINTLESS FUCKING ARGUING! YOU CUNTS HAVE DONE NOTHING BUT GIVE EACH OTHER DIRTY LOOKS, BARELY INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER, AND HAVE THESE STUPID FUCKING FIGHTS SINCE YOU BROKE UP! YOU TWO ARE SUPPOSED TO PUT THAT ASIDE AS TEAMMATES AND HUNTERS, OR ELSE YOUR CONFLICT WILL GETS US ALL FUCKING KILLED!" Ruby then took a deep breath. "Do you assholes even like each other as friends anymore?! Do you two wants all of us to go back in boxes like Oobleck?! Do you want Dad to have to cry for us like she did for Mom, Yang?! Do you want to die without redeeming your name from the White Fang, Blake?!"

Blake and Yang looked at Ruby, astonished at her outburst. Weiss and Ren's jaws dropped to the ground.

"If not, THEN STOP IT! Either you two stop arguing, or I will have you BOTH court-martialed for obstructing us from carrying out our mission objectives!" Ruby then broke down in tears, sobbing uncontrollably. "I just want my big sister and my best friend to all get along like we used to... Is that too much to ask? What happened to us? What the fuck happened to us?"

Weiss walked up to Ruby and said, "It's okay, it's okay."

Yang began to form tears in her eyes and said, "Sis..." She then walked up to her and hugged her as she also began to cry. "I... I'm... I'm so sorry I let that get between us... All of us... It's all my fault..."

Blake walked up to her and replied, "No, it isn't. It's both of us." Yang then separated from Ruby and hugged Blake. "Listen, Yang, we need to move on from our relationship. It's pretty clear by now you've moved on, and that George boy treats you like the goddess you are. And, I think I'm beginning to fall in love all over again with someone else as well. Let's bury the hatchet, metaphorically of course, and work together again."

Yang said, "Of course. I already knew I was a goddess beforehand, by the way." Yang and Blake then laughed. They then shook hands. "Now, who is it?"

"Who's what?" Blake looked confused.

"Who's the lucky boy or lady who has stolen your heart?"

Blake blushed. "Uhhhh... He's a faunus..."

"It's Sun, isn't it? And let me guess, he doesn't know?"

Blake then sighed. "Yes, and yes."

August 16, 2020

It had been less than a day after the team returned home. In their time in the operation, Jaune's platoon scored a total of 84 kills. In total, all forces had scored over 1500 confirmed kills, as well as countless unconfirmed ones.

Today would be the funeral of Doctor Oobleck. The platoon dressed themselves in their Ceremonial Uniforms and met in the centre of the academy grounds, where Team RWBY and Jaune had all first met just 5 years before.

"Before the service begins," Jaune started. "We've all been invited to see what was left of him in his coffin alongside his family and closest friends. I would like it if all of us could go. Now, they've said that his parts were pretty badly burned, so if you're uncomfortable with it, I will understand if you don't want to see his remains. To move on, I want everyone to remember Oobleck as a master at hunting, as an amazing teacher, and as a good friend. He will be missed dearly by all of us."

As the platoon made their way through the impromptu preparation room, Ruby, joined by Delwyn IV, said to him, "I wonder what they put in his coffin."

As Ruby and Delwyn went up, Ruby began to cry again. Oobleck, or what was left of him in various parts, was badly scarred and burned from the explosion Yang caused when she killed the nevermore that killed Oobleck. Alongside his remains was his thermos, badly charred but still in one piece, which as his weapon was to be buried alongside him as part of the Hunting Corps' custom for funerals and burial. Delwyn thought to himself, "I hope I never have to send someone out to war again, not if it will lead to this."

As Yang and George went up, Yang said to Oobleck's remains, "I'm sorry I couldn't save you in time, Doctor." She then gave him a salute and walked away, shaking her head in utter disbelief that he was actually dead. George held her hand as she walked.

Jaune saluted Oobleck's remains and said, "It's been an honour serving with you, Major." He then left a bouquet of flowers alongside his coffin. Weiss did the same thing right after him.

Blake and Sun went up together as well. Sun said, "Everyone from Team SSSN's still in utter shock. I bet he's already started his own coffee company in the afterlife by now."

Blake gave a short laugh and said, "I could see him doing that. I'm not even kidding. Didn't he once say that that would've been his plan B if he lost his job?"

"Oh yeah! I remember that! Good times, good times..."

The Amphitheatre was crowded with students, ex-students, family, and friends of Oobleck, as well as journalists from various news agencies, since Oobleck's death had made worldwide news.

On the stage was Oobleck's coffin, wrapped in the flag of Vale, alongside a picture of Oobleck in his military uniform. It listed him as "Maj. Bartholomew Joseph Oobleck, 1978-2020, Years of Service: 1995-2020." It also listed a quote from him, saying, "I am a Huntsman because there is nothing else in this world I would rather be." (A/N: The Hunting Corps adopted the gender-neutral term 'hunter' in 2017, though many older hunters will still use Huntsman and Huntress.)

After the beginning ceremonies, Ozpin took to the stand and began a speech. "My name is Brigadier General Michael James Ozpin. I am the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, and I have served my country as both a soldier in the army and as a huntsman in the Hunting Corps since I first went here as a student in 1985. I first met Ozpin when I was a teacher here. It was my first year teaching here at Beacon Academy. He was a very active student, and he often engaged in debates with other teachers and students involving various topics, such as faunus, campus policies, and foreign policy. He was one of several key participants in the fight to allow access to birth control on campus, and he also organised a petition with over 5,000 signatures to the Governing Council of Vale and the King of Vale at the time, Delwyn III, to pass anti-hate crime legislation for not only faunus, but also LGBT individuals, immigrants, and numerous ethnic and religious minorities. After he graduated from Beacon as a Valedictorian and served in active duty for several years, I contacted him and asked if he would consider becoming a teacher at Beacon. Of course, he took up the offer and became one of the most beloved teachers here."

Ozpin then looked at Jaune, confusing him.

"One example of how he impacted students would be a man who, when he first got here, was not a good fighter or leader at all. He had no control over his semblance or aura, and he reportedly faked his transcripts. Oobleck himself pointed out how he often did not pay attention in his class. Eventually, after improving his skills in his first year, Oobleck offered to give this man extra help outside of class. Multiple times, I let them fight Grimm by themselves in Emerald Forest. They ended up scoring many kills together. Today, this man is Lieutenant Jaune Arc, and he graduated at the number 22 spot in his class out of 678 students, an impressive feat considering he was at the very bottom when he first started." The audience then cheered and applauded.

Jaune smiled and said, "Thank you..."

"One of the last things Oobleck said to me was, pardon my language here, "I'm getting too old for this shit." I could tell he was saying it in a joking manner, but I still said to him, "Oobleck, you're 42 years old and have the energy of someone half your age. You won't be getting too old for this job anytime soon." He laughed and agreed with me. You know, I will always mourn his loss, but at the very least, I can take comfort in knowing that he died doing what he loved. Hunting Grimm was his life, and he was prepared to give up his life every time he went out onto the battlefield. And thus, the story of one of the greatest teachers in Beacon's history may be ending, but in all of you, a new story is just beginning. Thank you." The audience then applauded his speech and cheered.

After 6 more long speeches by Oobleck's family and friends, the amphitheatre fell silent. As the audience fell silent soon afterwards, the honour guard took the flag wrapped around his coffin and held it above the sleek and wooden coffin.

"Present, ARMS!" The cry of an honour guard captain pierced the air as all of the students, hunters, teachers, and other military personnel and royal family members gave a salute, while the civilians all placed a hand on their heart. Then, a lone bagpiper began playing "Going Home" to symbolise that Oobleck's soul was 'going home' in a sense.

After the song ended, the sound of pagers ringing and the Beacon Fire Company's nearby siren echoed throughout the area.

"Vale City Fire Alarm, per the request of Beacon Academy and Signal Academy, is activating the tones of Beacon Fire, Signal Fire, and Patch First Aid in memory of Major Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, who died serving the Kingdom of Vale on August 10, 2020, while fighting Grimm. May he rest in peace, and may his family and friends gain the strength to carry on. Time is 1006 hours, Alarm Operator 94."

Then, the honour guard folded the flag and presented it to Oobleck's older sister and her husband. They walked back to the coffin and then lifted it, carrying it down from the stage and through the middle of the amphitheatre as the crowd watched and continued to salute. Finally, once the coffin left the building, the captain shouted, "At ease!"

August 17, 2020

Today, the team met after working at their day jobs. Weiss asked as they all sat down in Ruby and Yang's apartment, "Did you guys remember to sign up for that makeup Basic Firefighter-CFR class tonight?"

Yang said, "We did after we came home yesterday. Me, Ruby, and Blake all went down to the station to sign up."

Weiss replied, "Good. You cannot miss a single class, or you'll fail the entire course. Say, how do you guys do during live burns?"

Blake said, "I have to admit, Ruby is the best one out of all of us. When we first all did it, I was actually scared shitless, but Ruby calmed me down."

"Awww," Ruby replied. "Thank you, Blake."

"I remember when I took it," Weiss said. "I was just 14 and I had been in the fire company for 2 years by that point. Those were some fun times. I still have my gear from when I first started. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit anymore since puberty and boobs happened, but I still keep it around as a memento to those days."

Yang laughed and said, "I'm sorry I'm laughing, it's just that part about puberty is both so weird coming out of your mouth, and I cannot imagine someone with a concave chest size."

Weiss laughed and said, "Oh shut up, Yang! Like any girl at 12 had a noticeable chest size. I have pride in my size or whatever I guess. I just don't give it much thought."

"Wanna see a picture of me at 12, Weiss?" Yang then took out her phone. "Here's me at Signal when I was 12. I had my hair in a ponytail back then because who the fuck cares. My chest size was B at the time. I was early, developing at 9 and getting a period just 2 months after I turned 11. I say my biological mom, Raven, was to blame, considering her chest size is F. Summer on the other hand was a C, explaining Ruby's growth or lack thereof compared to me."

"That... Is actually true..." Ruby was stunned. "I think you're right! I remember going through some of Mom's old clothes and finding some old bras while we were clearing out an attic at Dad's house."

Weiss was stunned. "Did you have any back pain?!"

"Oh hell yeah. Since I was DD by the time I was 15, I had back pain until the rest of my body caught up. The back issues stopped around the time I was 18." Yang then stretched.

Blake pointed at her chest and said, "It's odd how we suddenly began talking about these lumps of fat like there's no tomorrow. I think it says something about us."

"That we're very talkative?" Ruby asked Blake.

"No, that we're all a bunch of perverts." She then slowly held up Ninjas of Love 3. "And we're not at all ashamed of it."

Yang burst into laughter and said, "I love how Blake just confirmed that by holding up that book."

Ruby and Weiss also laughed hysterically. Weiss and Ruby then jokingly high-fived and said together, "Flat chests unite!"

They were then interrupted by their pagers all ringing, followed by several more tones.

"Vale City Fire Alarm on the air for Box 245 for 158 Exeter Street for a Box Alarm for Vigilant Fire 5, Goodwill Engine 6, Excellence Fire 7, and Enterprise Steamer 10. Caller reported that their family is trapped in a burning apartment on the 3rd floor. It's gonna be Apartment 3 Dash 7. Repeating, Vale City Fire Alarm on the air for Box 245 for 158 Exeter Street for a Box Alarm for Vigilant Fire 5, Goodwill Engine 6, Excellence Fire 7, and Enterprise Steamer 10. Time is 1756 hours, Alarm Operator 94."

The girls then all ran out of the apartment and down the stairs to the first floor. As they left the building, they saw the ambulance pull out from the Vigilant fire station. They ran like hell down the street to the station alongside several other volunteers as Car 5 sped past them. As the girls got their gear on, Ren ran into the station as well.

Within 3 minutes, Lieutenant Alfred Schnee hopped aboard the now-full Truck 201 and radioed, "Truck 201 to Fire Alarm, we're responding with 10, 6 interior." At the same time, Car 5 and Ambulance 201 were reporting smoke showing from the 3rd floor as well as multiple witnesses from the building telling them of the fire, upgrading the fire to a Code 99.

Iomhair Rolfe, driving the truck said, "We got a working one, fellas!"


Last week, in response to Martin’s questions about tunnel operations, Metro staff slipped in this quiet bombshell:

Metro continues to take actions to expand ORCA use throughout the system and reduce cash payments. [This includes…] working with our regional transit partners to implement a regional ORCA day-pass demonstration beginning in April.

A multi-agency ORCA-based day-pass is probably the most requested fare product in the Puget Sound region, and for good reason. Today, interagency transfers are free with ORCA but (mostly) not with cash fare. An ORCA-based day-pass, if priced right, holds out the concurrent possibilities of improved comprehensibility for visitors, and good value for residents who plan to make several trips in a day. For people like me, who want buses to not suck, it’s another weapon in the war against time-consuming on-board cash payment, and easily-abused paper transfers.

The devil, however, is in the details, which Metro staff supplied to us last week.

As you saw, the ORCA agency partners are planning a six-month pilot/demo of a regional day pass later this year, hopefully beginning sometime this spring. The day pass demonstration will target visitors using hotels and convention centers. But, because the regional day pass will be available at all our current sales outlets, anyone could load the product on their card. At the conclusion of the demo, the ORCA partners will assess how well the card was received and determine the future of the program depending on what we learn. Q: What agencies will or could be included?

A: All ORCA agencies except WSF Q: How much will it cost?

A: $9 sales price, $4 per trip value. Riders would use E-purse to supplement higher fares based on how much they plan to travel. Q: What modes and fare zones will it cover?

A: Good for any trip up to the $4 per trip value. Q: Is it a daily cap or a fare product you have to buy?

A: It is a pass product loaded on the card. Once tapped it is valid for that service day. Service days is 3 a.m. – 2:59 a.m. Q: Will it be issued on a disposable ORCA or just added to the existing $5 ORCA?

A: Existing card. We do not have disposable card stock in the system

Discussion after the jump.

So, there are a couple of good things here, and I’ll start with those:

The pass is mode-neutral and almost agency-neutral. Transit is about getting people places. The type of vehicle, and the agency logos on it, are important to passengers primarily as way-finding, not as a fundamental part of the service, as much as agencies might like to think otherwise. It’s great to see that in this case, most Puget Sound agencies are putting the passenger experience first, providing simplicity and comprehensibility rather than more arcane rules.

Transit is about getting people places. The type of vehicle, and the agency logos on it, are important to passengers primarily as way-finding, not as a fundamental part of the service, as much as agencies might like to think otherwise. It’s great to see that in this case, most Puget Sound agencies are putting the passenger experience first, providing simplicity and comprehensibility rather than more arcane rules. Agencies have (or will have) hashed out revenue-sharing and technical issues. Getting severely-cash-constrained agencies to agree on revenue-sharing from a single fare is genuinely challenging negotiating problem, as carving up a passenger’s regional fare is inherently a zero-sum game. Getting an agreement in this case could set a political and bureaucratic precedent for future day passes with different fare caps and prices. More generally, we’ll have a public proof-of-concept, making it clear in the political discourse that this is technically doable.

Here are the problems I see:

The day-fare cost is uncompetitive for most local riders, compared to using an existing ORCA card. Off-peak Metro fare is $2.25, peak is up to $3; the highest ST express fare is $3.50. Most other local bus services will be less than Metro. ORCA already provides a two-hour transfer window, and paper transfers are often cut much more generously. You have to ride a lot of transit trips, spaced out through the day, to add up to more than $9. Local riders will already be quite familiar with paying as they normally do, and if it doesn’t make financial sense, they won’t use day-passes, even if they were ubiquitously available. As they will require going out of the way, to a Metro sale partner, I suspect few locals will find them attractive.

Off-peak Metro fare is $2.25, peak is up to $3; the highest ST express fare is $3.50. Most other local bus services will be less than Metro. ORCA already provides a two-hour transfer window, and paper transfers are often cut much more generously. You have to ride a lot of transit trips, spaced out through the day, to add up to more than $9. Local riders will already be quite familiar with paying as they normally do, and if it doesn’t make financial sense, they won’t use day-passes, even if they were ubiquitously available. As they will require going out of the way, to a Metro sale partner, I suspect few locals will find them attractive. The card+fare cost is uncompetitive for weekend or convention visitors. $14 in a day, or $23 in a weekend, is significantly more than anyone is likely to spend on transit in the Seattle area just paying as they go. Visitors are perhaps less price sensitive and more hassle sensitive, but I suspect they’re also less likely to attempt all-day multi-hop trips around the city and region, which would be the only way to get close to $14. In groups, the numbers look even worse: for three people, $20 apiece would get you out and back to most outlying neighborhoods of interest to tourists in a cab, with far less hassle and time than Metro. People who intend to much spend time beyond the city, in the suburbs, are probably going to rent a car, because off-peak transit just isn’t much good outside of Seattle.

$14 in a day, or $23 in a weekend, is significantly more than anyone is likely to spend on transit in the Seattle area just paying as they go. Visitors are perhaps less price sensitive and more hassle sensitive, but I suspect they’re also less likely to attempt all-day multi-hop trips around the city and region, which would be the only way to get close to $14. In groups, the numbers look even worse: for three people, $20 apiece would get you out and back to most outlying neighborhoods of interest to tourists in a cab, with far less hassle and time than Metro. People who intend to much spend time beyond the city, in the suburbs, are probably going to rent a car, because off-peak transit just isn’t much good outside of Seattle. There’s no disposable-ORCA option, which would be useful regardless of the price premium. If there were a $9, pre-loaded, disposable ORCA day-pass card available, plenty of people, myself included, would keep a stash of them around the house, for use by visitors and or in case I lost my own card. It would be worth the premium, above and beyond the pay-as-you-go price, to be able to give someone a card that worked on any land-based transit in the region, and whose loss did not mean the loss of a $5 permanent card. This would be a genuinely useful service I would pay for, which cannot be emulated today by other means.

If there were a $9, pre-loaded, disposable ORCA day-pass card available, plenty of people, myself included, would keep a stash of them around the house, for use by visitors and or in case I lost my own card. It would be worth the premium, above and beyond the pay-as-you-go price, to be able to give someone a card that worked on any land-based transit in the region, and whose loss did not mean the loss of a $5 permanent card. This would be a genuinely useful service I would pay for, which cannot be emulated today by other means. The $4 fare cap seems arbitrary. The most expensive regular bus service in the region is two-county ST Express at $3.50, while the Water Taxi is $3.50 (West Seattle) or $4.25 (Vashon) and Sounder runs on a scale up to $5.75 (Lakewood). If the purpose is to cover any possible fare in the region, $4 doesn’t work. The only people who would lose out on a reduction of the fare cap from $4 to $3.50 would be a minute number of Sounder South day-pass riders; and if a reduction in the fare cap allowed the pass to drop in price, it would make the pass far more attractive.

I hope this trial goes smoothly, and meets whatever bar for success the project leaders have in mind. I’m not convinced, though, that the price and features of this day-pass have been thought out particularly well, and I fear it may underwhelm when presented to the public.


Liverpool FC training session at Rajamangala National Stadium before their first match of the 2015 Pre Season Tour in Bangkok against Thailand All Stars

Liverpool FC training session at Rajamangala National Stadium before their first match of the 2015 Pre Season Tour in Bangkok against Thailand All Stars

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The Liverpool squad were put through their paces in the searing heat of Bangkok as they prepare for Tuesday’s opening tour friendly against the Thai All Stars.

Brendan Rodgers led the evening training session at the Rajamangala Stadium in front of around 1,000 supporters with the temperature around 32 degrees and 65% humidity.

Rodgers was assisted by backroom duo Sean O’Driscoll and Pep Lijnders with new first team coach Gary McAllister not yet on the tour.

McAllister, whose appointment was only officially confirmed on Saturday, will link up with the squad in Brisbane on Wednesday or Thursday.

Watch: James Pearce reports from Bangkok

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Despite the pitch cutting up badly, all the players came through unscathed. Rodgers is expected to use most of his squad in the opening friendly with no-one expected to play more than 45 minutes as the Reds build up fitness levels.

“We had a great time in Thailand last time and it’s been a good start to this trip,” Rodgers said.

“Two years ago our visit here provided us with a wonderful foundation for a good league campaign and we hope it will be similar this time. We’re expecting a tough game.”

Midfielder Lucas Leiva added: “It’s been a long trip but we’re really looking forward to the game tomorrow.

“We want to get some speed into our game and give the fans a good game.

“With the weather it will be hard for us as it’s difficult to play here but it will benefit us going forward.”

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