World on brink of carbon trade war over flights?

Countries opposed to a European Union law forcing the world's airlines to pay for greenhouse gas emissions have agreed on a basket of retaliatory measures, adding to a series of threats that have raised the prospect of the globe's first carbon trade war.

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But the EU dismissed the threats as "hypothetical" and Russia's deputy transport minister also said the countries ? which include China, India and the United States ? were free to choose which of them they would actually carry out.

In Washington, the State Department said it would be "premature" to discuss specific retaliatory measures and voiced hope that the EU would reconsider its carbon emissions scheme.

The array of potential steps include barring national airlines from participating in the EU program, lodging a formal complaint with the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), ceasing talks with European carriers on new routes and imposing retaliatory levies on EU airlines.

"Every state will choose the most effective and reliable measures that will help to cancel or postpone the implementation of the EU ETS (Emissions Trading System)," Valery Okulov, whose ministry hosted the meeting attended by more than 20 nations, told a news conference.

Russia has a particular measure it can use against Europe. Okulov, the former chief executive of Aeroflot, said Russia could take out an old weapon against European carriers: overflight fees on routes over Siberia.

Forced to buy permits
Russia rescinded the onerous fees during the last decade, a move it linked to long-running talks for World Trade Organization membership, which it received late last year.

Since the start of this year, all airlines using EU airports are required to buy permits under the ETS, although they will not actually face a bill until next year. In addition, they will at first be handed 85 percent of allowances for free.

The European Commission reiterated it was standing by its law and said the Moscow meeting had delivered only negatives.

"Unfortunately, our question for Moscow meeting participants remains unanswered: What's your concrete, constructive alternative?" Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said in a tweet.

Those opposing the program have debated the issue within the official ICAO framework and also in informal talks ? dubbed "the coalition of the unwilling" ? such as the two-day Moscow meeting, which ended on Wednesday.

Tensions grow over EU aviation emissions

Okulov said Saudi Arabia would organize the next unofficial meeting later this year.

Many nations and the EU have said the best arena to resolve the dispute would be the ICAO, which has been working on developing its own plan to curb rising aviation emissions.

U.S. tells EU: Stop
Mark Toner, a spokesman for the State Department, said Washington still hopes the EU will reconsider.

"The U.S. position on the inclusion of its airlines in this emissions trading scheme has been very clear and consistent. We believe that the EU needs to cease application of this scheme to foreign airlines and engage meaningfully with the International Civil Aviation Organization to find and develop a global approach to this problem," he said.

European court defies US over airline carbon tax

The EU has always said it would have no need to make all airlines using its airports pay for carbon under its ETS if a comprehensive global program were in place.

At a regular briefing in Brussels, Isaac Valero-Ladron, EU spokesman for climate action, reiterated that the EU "will review its legislation if there is an ambitious global agreement in force because we would be covered by this agreement."

Earth warmed by trails of clouds that jets leave behind

Russia is among those to agree that the best forum would be the ICAO, but it still took a tough line at the Moscow talks.

"We have demonstrated our determination to ask for a cancellation or postponement of the EU ETS" in regard to airlines, Okulov said.

Video: As Siberian permafrost melts, methane seeps out (on this page)

For all the talk, there were hints of a softening.

A list of signatories seen by Reuters showed only 23 nations, compared with 26 at earlier "coalition of the unwilling" talks.

'Don't want a trade war'
The final "Moscow joint declaration" also dropped proposals from an earlier draft, including sending a letter to the EU stating individual nations' inability to join the EU ETS, as well as a clause on reopening trade agreements in other sectors to pressure EU industries.

As had been expected by many observers, the meeting also stopped short of invoking the ICAO'S formal dispute resolution procedure, a lengthy process which could delay the quest for an ICAO-based global program.

But feelings are still running high over what some nations view as an infringement on sovereignty.

Australia passes landmark carbon price laws

China's central government State Council, or Cabinet, earlier this month said all airlines were barred from taking part ? unless they had received government approval to do so.

The Commission has noted Chinese airlines have already signed up to a registry for eligibility for free allowances, while airlines have already begun passing on the extra costs to passengers through fare increases.

Representing the airlines, the International Air Transport Association called on the EU to be "sincere facilitators at ICAO" in the quest for a global framework.

"We don't want a trade war. But Europe's unilateral and extra-territorial EU ETS plans are clearly not acceptable to non-EU governments," Tony Tyler, IATA's director general and CEO said in remarks emailed to Reuters.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46493833/ns/world_news-world_environment/

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Elder Audience ? Blog Archive ? Albertina's Restaurant and Shops

Enjoy a Northwest-inspired, local Lunch or Saturday Brunch in a garden-cafe setting PLUS shopping for antiques and collectibles, elegant gifts and carefully selected, gently used items! Proceeds and tips from this volunteer-run restaurant and shops help support the work of Albertina Kerr for people with developmental disabilities and mental health challenges.

Join us for for a delicious Lunch during the week or Brunch on Saturday!

We are located at 424 NE 22nd Ave in Portland, less than a mile from downtown Portland, nestled in the Northeast Portland neighborhood.

**GET INVOLVED! We offer fun and meaningful VOLUNTEER opportunities in a variety of areas and skill sets. Learn more about Volunteering at Albertina?s Restaurant and Shops. Find out the latest happenings at Albertina?s Restaurant and Shops by signing up for our Newsletter: http://www.kerrshops.org/AlbertinasRestaurantShops/Newsletter.aspx

See our menus and other information at our website!

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Source: http://www.elderaudience.com/albertinas-restaurant-and-shops/

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For every presidential hopeful, a $1 million donor

(AP) ? For every presidential candidate, there's now at least one $1 million donor. Millionaire and billionaire executives have unlocked their personal bank vaults to write seven-figure checks to support the campaigns of President Barack Obama and Republicans Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.

"It's just so much easier for these people to make large contributions and play a much more prominent role than we've tended to see," said Brendan Glavin, a researcher with the Campaign Finance Institute, a Washington-based nonpartisan think tank.

Here's a list of each presidential candidate's wealthiest supporters:

?Even among seven-figure donors, nobody approaches the $11 million that Las Vegas casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson and his family have given to the group supporting Gingrich, which has just $13.1 million in total contributions. Adelson gave $5 million; his wife, Miriam, another $5 million. The rest came in smaller amounts from Adelson's daughters, Sivan Ochshorn and Yasmin Lukatz, and Lukatz's husband, Oren. Gingrich has said Adelson and his family support his strong pro-Israel statements. Adelson has important business interests in China, and his casino is under federal investigation by the Justice Department and a civil probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission for possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The company denies wrongdoing.

?The cofounder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook, Peter Thiel, has given $2.6 million to the group supporting Paul, the Endorse Liberty super PAC. Nearly 70 percent of the group's money comes from Thiel, the Silicon Valley investor. An ardent supporter of Libertarian causes, Thiel has donated to gay rights and religious organizations and also helped fund the Committee to Protect Journalists. His Facebook investment alone is now reportedly worth $1.3 billion.

?The chief executive at Dreamworks Animation, Jeffrey Katzenberg, has given $2 million to the group supporting Obama's re-election, Priorities USA Action, and accounts for nearly half the group's $4.5 million total. Katzenberg has hosted fundraisers for Obama and has been a long-time funder of liberal and Democratic Party causes.

?Hotel magnates and brothers Bill and Richard Marriott have given $1.5 million to the group supporting Romney, Restore Our Future. Bill Marriott heads Marriott International, while Richard Marriott heads offshoot Host Hotels & Resorts. Romney, whose first name is Willard, was named after the Marriotts' father, who was close friends with his own father, George Romney. Mitt Romney also served for years on Marriott's board of directors.

?Julian Robertson, the head of Tiger Management Corp., a major New York-based hedge fund, gave Restore Our Future $1.3 million to help Romney. Robertson's son is also a Romney donor, and both have co-chaired Romney fundraising events.

?Other rich executives who gave at least $1 million to help Romney's campaign include Paul Edgerly, a managing director at Bain Capital, and his wife Sandra; Edward Conard, a former Bain executive; Mormon businessman Frank VanderSloot; Paul Singer, founder and CEO of Elliott Management Corp., a top New York-based hedge fund; John Paulson, head of Paulson and Company, another major hedge fund; Bob Perry, a Houston real estate developer; Tulsa businessman Francis Rooney; Robert Mercer, co-chief of Renaissance Technologies, a New York hedge fund; and William Koch, head of Oxbow Carbon, LLC, a fossil fuel processor and mining firm.

?The group supporting Santorum ? the Red, White and Blue Fund ? collected nearly all its $2.8 million so far from just two major, $1 million contributions. Foster S. Friess, a mutual fund entrepreneur and conservative advocate, is a major funder behind the Daily Caller, a conservative web news aggregator, and has his own website advocating free enterprise and warning about militant Islam. Friess opposed the Obama administration's health care program and gave $100,000 to statewide GOP races and causes in 2008.

?The pro-Santorum group's other $1 million contribution came from William J. Dore, president of a Louisiana energy and real estate firm. Dore backed New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and other state Democrats, but he has also funded GOP politicians, as well as charities in Louisiana and Texas.

?The pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future also gained $1 million from Texas energy magnate Harold Simmons, a longtime GOP donor. Simmons also donated $12 million ? both personally and through his firm, Contran ? to American Crossroads, the GOP-leaning super PAC co-founded by longtime Republican strategist Karl Rove.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-02-22-Campaign%20Fundraising/id-50a508a001834690aa49392d0bda4f31

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Scientists seek partners for medical isotope process

TORONTO | Tue Feb 21, 2012 5:40pm EST

TORONTO

(Reuters) - Several companies are in talks with Canadian scientists on commercializing a new method to produce a crucial medical isotope without using feedstock from a nuclear reactor, one of the lead scientists said on Tuesday.

Researchers at the TRIUMF physics lab in Vancouver, British Columbia, say their method, showcased at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meetings in Vancouver on Monday, would produce technetium-99m without using feedstock molybdenum-99, which is mainly produced at nuclear reactors using enriched uranium.

Technetium-99m is used in medical imaging, particularly to diagnose cardiac problems, and is now usually created from decayed moly-99.

The new method uses cyclotrons, devices already installed in many research hospitals to produce other types of isotopes.

Principal investigator Tom Ruth said companies interested in working with the team include Canada's Nordion Inc, along with Lantheus Medical Imaging Inc, Covidien, GE Healthcare, General Electric Co's healthcare equipment unit, and Cardinal Health Inc.

He would not say what stage discussions were at with any party.

"They would be the ones that would take the technology and maybe they would contract the cyclotrons in a province or across Canada or whatever country, and run it as a business," Ruth said.

Ottawa-based Nordion is one of the world's largest suppliers of molybdenum-99. It processes it at an aging nuclear reactor at Chalk River, Ontario, one of the few reactors in the world that produces commercial quantities of the substance.

Canada closed the facility over safety concerns in fall of 2007 and again from May 2009 to August 2010, causing a worldwide shortage of the isotopes, pushing up prices and encouraging many of Nordion's customers to diversify suppliers. Nordion is still feeling the after-effects of the shutdowns.

The Chalk River reactor has been licensed to operate until 2016, but its future beyond then has not been decided.

Ruth said the shutdowns had inspired the project.

"The government of Canada said, let's find an alternative, because the medical community was up in arms," he said.

Natural Resources Canada funded four projects in a "friendly" competition to find a better way.

The alternative process starts with moly-100, rather than enriched uranium, and uses a cyclotron to turn it into technetium-99m. It's not yet known how much testing Health Canada would require before approving the process.

"From the medical perspective it's identical to what would be coming out of a generator," Ruth said.

At least a dozen Canadian hospitals have cyclotrons, and there are more than 100 in the United States, he said.

One hurdle will be to secure a steady supply of moly-100, a relatively rare isotope of molybdenum. But Ruth said the new process will be commercially viable.

"We feel that with the economic model our price for the technetium would be competitive with what's available now," he said.

(Reporting By Allison Martell; Additional reporting by Julie Gordon; editing by Janet Guttsman)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/bOBC7KuUMug/us-isotopes-idUSTRE81K22T20120221

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Source: http://refrigeratorx.com/direct-sales-home-party-%E2%80%93-how-to-host-the-right-one/

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A CUP OF JO: Motherhood Mondays: The hardest two months of my ...

In an effort to be authentic, I'd like to talk about something difficult I went through as a new mother. A year ago, I went though the worst two months I've ever experienced. I never mentioned it on the blog. I couldn't; I was too overwhelmed. But now that a whole year has passed, I want to share my experience with you...

Flashback: Toby was eight months old. It was a chilly January in New York, and we had just had a blissful Christmas vacation. But suddenly I started feeling bad. Out of nowhere, my mind started obsessing and worrying about inconsequential things; I had trouble sleeping (I'd wake up in the night and feel gripped with anxiety and fear); I began feeling very down, like that heavy feeling you get in your chest when you're sad about something. Why? I had no idea. But I knew it wasn't good.

Over the next couple weeks, I felt worse and worse. I felt guilty because I had a wonderful baby, a loving husband, and a great life on paper, yet I was inexplicably falling apart. Although I had loved taking care of Toby since he was born eight months before, it suddenly seemed exhausting to look after a child. I dreaded hearing his cries in the morning and having to get out of bed and face the day. I felt utterly overwhelmed and exhausted. Work projects seemed especially intimidating. Even the smallest work decisions seemed like insurmountable obstacles, and I was quickly moved to tears. I felt certain I would disappoint the people I was working with and for.

My self esteem plummeted, and I felt completely overwhelmed. I would read other blogs--Oh Happy Day, Swissmiss--and think, how are these women doing so much? How can they handle everything--job, family, life--and get it all done and seem so happy? What is wrong with me? I wondered.

Through my sad eyes, I read blogs and saw strangers on the street and just assumed everyone had a perfect life. When I told that to Alex, he swore to me that everyone, without exception, had their own true story, their own struggles, their own flaws, worries, concerns; everyone is human. And then he said, "Look at your own blog, after all. People would have no idea that you?re going through this. You come off like you?re handling everything effortlessly." That was true, I realized. (I mean, look at this post, for example; I was feeling terrible and insecure that day. It?s the type of event I would have normally loved, but instead I felt self-conscious and lame.)

To explain my sadness and worry, I looked at my life and tried to point to something?my career, right? It must be ending, I figured. Everyone would surely stop reading my blog and it would just fade away; people would stop hiring me for projects, and I?d never get work again; I convinced myself of these things. And I was a bad mother?I didn?t know if I was making the right choices about sleep, food, discipline, everything. And I was a bad wife?I was suddenly boring and cried a lot. Alex would get sick of me. My friends would stop hanging out with me, I would be alone from now on, and then how would I fill the endless days? My mind took on crazy scenarios, and life felt so bleak.

When you're feeling down, you often compartmentalize it, right? You have to get out of bed in the morning, so you try to take a deep breath and get through as much as you can--working, going to dinner with friends, watching TV. You try to put your sadness out of your mind and put one foot in front of the other. I didn?t want these feelings to bleed into my whole life, so I tried to keep them bottled up as much as possible.

At the time, I wasn?t able to mention my sadness on the blog. Even now, I don't know what I would have said if I had written about it. And I didn?t want to admit--even to myself--how lost I suddenly felt. It was disorienting and inexplicable, and I felt like it would never end. My sadness felt like my new way of being.

(I *almost* mentioned it in this post, which I wrote right after I was feeling better again, but I couldn't. It was still too close to home.)

Although I try to keep Cup of Jo as honest and true as possible (and am always happy to share personal things), I wanted to keep the blog separate while I was depressed--and keep it?a place where I didn't have to think about my sleepless nights and strange sudden deep sadness and self doubt.

Even most of my best friends had no idea. I told Alex (of course; it was obvious to him), my parents, my sister and brother, and just a couple friends. I remember my sweet friend Jason took an afternoon off work to come hang out with me. I barely talked. I kept thinking that he must think I was so boring and wouldn't want to be friends with me anymore.

It came in waves. Sometimes I'd feel better, almost like myself again. Other times, I'd feel so overwhelmed with sadness and hopelessness that I'd feel like I couldn't move or breathe.

Honestly, it's hard to think back, but here are a few of the tough moments I remember:
* One evening, I was crying on the phone with my sister Lucy, while holding Toby. I looked up and saw myself in the mirror and thought how sad I looked, and how worried Toby looked, even though he was still so little.
* My mom came to visit, and I sat on the sofa and looked at the floor and could barely manage to whisper, "I am so depressed." I would just lie with my head in her lap and she would stroke my hair.
* I was walking down the street with Alex and Toby on a sunny day, but it felt dark to me. And, even though I adore them, I didn't want to be there, I didn't want to be anywhere. And Alex said to me, "You're so sad, you can barely walk down the street."
* I was walking to a work meeting on a snowy day. The whole world felt grey. I just wanted to lie down on the street and fall asleep. It was hard to keep moving.

One afternoon, while taking a walk along the Hudson River, I told my mom, who was visiting us, that I wished that Toby had a different mother. He deserved more, I thought. I felt like such a failure: I had always wanted to be a mother. I always had baby fever. I always looked forward to having children. But now that I had a sweet, curious, beautiful baby, I suddenly couldn't handle motherhood. I felt exhausted and inept. I hated seeing or reading about families with more than one child, because that meant that they could handle having a baby...and even choose to have another. What was wrong with me? I didn't want Toby to be affected by this weighty sadness I was feeling.

Writing down these words feels strange now. That time feels so far away from me, now that a year has passed, but it was so rattling and all-consuming at the time. I felt like a totally different person. I thought it would never end.

Of course, I had ok moments, too. I felt some relief when watching TV in the evenings. I liked having friends over, as long as I wasn't expected to talk much. Every Saturday afternoon, Toby and I would go to the Upper West Side for a playdate with my friend Leigh and her two sons. Hanging out at Leigh's apartment was cozy, she's easy to talk to, her boys were charming, Toby loved playing with their toys, she'd make a delicious lunch. Leigh had no idea that I felt so bad. I once told her that I felt overwhelmed by "the juggle" of everything, but I only mentioned it in passing. (She was shocked months later, when I told her the full story.) It was a relief to hang out with her and NOT talk about it. I still felt sad underneath, but I enjoyed those days and found them refreshing and bolstering.

But overall, for six weeks--from late January to early March--life felt really, really dark. I couldn't bear thinking about the future. Every day felt long and exhausting, and I couldn't imagine making it through all the days ahead of me.

My mom, my sister and Alex kept telling me over and over: This is a clinical depression, not your life; you must have some sort of chemical imbalance, some sort of medical reason why you?re feeling like this. But I didn't believe them; I thought I was just sad because I was lame and going to fail in life, but a tiny part of me held a flicker of hope that maybe they were right.

The funny thing about depression is that you don't know that it's depression?like, chemical imbalance in your brain, or a hormonal crash. You just think it's your actual life--that your career really IS ending, that you really ARE a terrible mother, that your husband really WILL stop loving you, that friends DO think you're boring. At any time in your life, if you just start feeling bad in your mind and mood, you can always come up with a random reason to point to--oh, it's my job! Oh, it's my dating life! Oh, it?s my looks! Oh, it's just me being an awkward person! When your depressed, you don't realize that your life actually is fine--you're simply sad because you're depressed. The depression is the reason for the depression.

After about six weeks of feeling so low, a funny thing happened: I woke up one Tuesday morning, and it was over. Just over. It felt like I had been swimming in a pool, and suddenly?woosh!?I had resurfaced and my head had come back out of the water, and I could see the bright sun and breathe in the fresh air again. It felt like waking up from a bad dream. Suddenly, I was myself again. That Tuesday morning, I woke up, the sun was shining and I felt happy again. My depression had just...ended.

And the crazy thing was: I got my period the very next day, for the first time in over a year and a half--since before my wedding day, since before I found out I was pregnant. It was as if my hormones had finally figured themselves out, and boom! I was back to normal. And that's the first time that I realized what had happened. Suddenly, I looked back at the situation and slapped my forehead with the realization: Of course! My depression was related to weaning.

Here's what had happened, I realized: In late January, I had decided to wean Toby from breastfeeding for a number of reasons, so I quite abruptly weaned him within a week. But instead of feeling liberated, I began feeling tired and sad and went into a downward spiral. The timing of the beginning of my depression (weaning Toby) and the end of my depression (getting my period again) lined up perfectly.

Next, I researched depression related to weaning and it all made sense. I've also now spoken to many other women who have been through the exact same situation--including the wife of our friend C., whom he described as getting "hit by a mack truck" when she weaned their baby.

A lovely Cup of Jo reader, who went through the same thing, had written to me: "When some women wean, they experience a depression similar to postpartum depression, because of the drop in the hormones prolactin and oxytocin. (Studies have shown these hormones produce the same kind of 'feel good' as cocaine or ecstasy.) So, when I weaned, I was having a hormonal crash, similar to a withdrawal. It was something my counselor didn?t catch until I told her?and it was something I really hadn?t heard about before. There are tons of online articles about the benefits of breastfeeding and about postpartum depression, but unless you are really looking for 'weaning' and 'depression' on google, you won't find much. This is unfortunate because I suspect many moms just chalk it up to lack of sleep, not adjusting to the new situation, or a plethora of other things...If I had known that depression was something to look out for when weaning, it would prevented a lot of turmoil (my husband wouldn't have felt as helpless, I could have taken more proactive, preventative measures, etc.)"

And I agree: Even though there's a wealth of information about postpartum depression right after you have a baby, it was virtually impossible to find information about depression related to weaning. But now that I've spoken to other mothers who have experienced the exact same thing, with the exact same timing, I know that it's a real condition. I found a mention here, and a forum here. [Update: A reader recommended reading this post, as well, thank you!] But otherwise, depression around weaning seems to be a real gap in medical research and awareness. (One psychiatrist, whom I called for an appointment, actually said to me, "Well, I guess anything?s possible.") I hope that people will become more aware of it, and more research and preventative measures will be developed.

Thankfully, once the depression ended, it really was over. This past year has been wonderful. My energy and confidence are back, and I'm honored and thrilled to be raising Toby, who is such a joy and a funny, lovely little person. I love my family with all my heart. W'll surely go through more ups and downs in life, but this year has been great?and restorative?and now I feel ready and able to handle future bumps in the road.

I wanted to share my experience, since, hopefully other wonderful mothers who go through this will recognize it for what it is, and get help for clinical weaning-related depression, instead of just thinking that it's them, their own life or failure to handle motherhood. I would recommend being slow and careful around weaning, and if you do feel the blues, or a more intense depression, get support and know that you are not the only one who has gone through this. As my lovely friend said, "If I could spare anyone going through what I did, I would for sure want to."

Also I have a huge new respect and humility for people who suffer from depression, and I'll never again secretly think that someone should just "shake it off" or "snap out of it." People are heroes for getting through it. In a way, I'm glad that I went through this because if friends or family or even sweet Toby ever goes through a depression, hopefully I will better understand how they?re feeling and maybe know a few things to say to help them get through it.

What about you? Have you ever experienced depression or anxiety? Was it related to having a baby, a hardship you went through, life in general, or no reason in particular? We really are all in this together. Lots of love to you, as always. xoxo

Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting?
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
--Mary Oliver, Dream Work

P.S. Related: My own balance of work/baby/life, and the schedules of seven other moms...
(These photos are from last May, when I was already feeling much better:)

(Poem via Andrea)

Source: http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/2012/02/motherhood-depression-and-weaning.html

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Home Improvement: Tiles ? Jackalopepress Home and Garden

It is a matter of favorite knowledge that the proper estate market nowadays is aloof downhill. Conversely or perhaps this is the reason why, the home improvement outlet is booming. There is an apparently endless range of choices for interior and exterior home upgrading, yet not all alternatives meet our requirements and expectations. However, there are also versatile solutions that can add to the magnificent and pecuniary value of our houses, while improving our lifestyle and enhancing comfort.

On these lines, if you are looking for dressing up the floors and walls in the family well-liked places, the natural stone tiles are the ideal solution. They can be primitive practically anywhere and everywhere inside and around the house and are strongly recommended for intense traffic zones and excessively archaic areas due to their extensive durability and easy maintenance. Marble, limestone, travertine and granite are the awesome looking mod-con trend of the show and future current houses. In past times, distinguished architects and decorators largely promoted their usage in opulent palaces of high officials, first-class commercial hubs and public building (from luxurious banks to sanitation oriented units like hospitals) . Progressively, the beauty and special properties of these natural stones emerged on the domestic market and are now constantly gaining popularity.

There are many reasons to succor the natural stone tiles as one of the perfect home improvement choices from various perspectives, out of which the major are: costs, amenities, and aesthetics. From the monetary point of opinion, the stone tiles are not only affordable for any home decoration or renovation project, but are foremost a cost effective investment for your property.

Being a permanent home improvement, they add pecuniary value to your house while fetching it on the loyal estate market. In-between costs saving and amenities pros stand their extensive durability and their inexpensive, effortless cleaning and maintenance With stone tiles you will forget about renovating and reconditioning your walls and floors for ages (even for a lifetime) . However if scratches do happen, these tiles can be buffed out to peer as brand-new again. When it comes to cleaning, a simple mopping with any non-abrasive surfactant should do a titanic job (if regularly cleaned even bare water is enough) .

Nonetheless, the aesthetics of the natural stone tiles is perhaps the critical pro for bringing them into our homes. Marble is favored for its elegance and uniqueness that inspires a touch of splendor to any room. Granite in its fine dim color with reflective gloss conclude is the awesome choice for the contemporary kitchen and bathroom environment. The surface shrimp holes of travertine tiles give character and glowing watch to all setting, indoor or out. I lay my preference with the beige and honey hues of limestone tiles that enhance that nice welcoming and kind feel which gives one the impression of being in the correct state.

Source: http://www.jackalopepress.com/home-improvement-tiles/

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Autodesk's Hand in Oscar | Immersed in Movies

Artists using Autodesk?s Digital Entertainment Creation (DEC) software had a hand in many of this year?s Academy Award-nominated films.

?Great films depend on great storytelling and our technology is designed to enable artistic vision,? said Marc Petit, SVP, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. ?We congratulate the multitalented teams of artists from North America, New Zealand, Europe and Asia, and we are proud of Autodesk software?s role in helping them create these extraordinary movies.?

Best Visual Effects
?Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2? ? UK-based visual effects (VFX) studios Double Negative, MPC and Framestore each used Autodesk Maya 3D animation and rendering software to help create the visually extravagant effects for this final installment in the Harry Potter franchise. Double Negative VFX Supervisor David Vickery said, ?Maya has been the lynchpin of our pipeline since ?Goblet of Fire.? For this film, Maya helped us build a fully computer-generated (CG) Hogwarts in a massive 3D environment, including a spectacular mountain range and an animated fire-breathing dragon digitally modeled with Autodesk Mudbox software.? MPC VFX Supervisor Greg Butler added, ?From the first film in the ?Potter? series through to this film?s final shot, MPC has relied on Maya for modeling, rigging and lighting.? Andy Kind, Framestore VFX supervisor said, ?Autodesk?s Maya once again was our go-to tool, enabling us to bring to life the magic of the Chamber of Secrets for Ron and Hermione?s first kiss, as well as Harry?s vision of Heaven. We couldn?t have done any of the eight films without it!?

?Hugo? ? VFX studio Pixomondo managed a global production team across 10 of its 11 facilities in North America, Europe and Asia for this richly detailed reimagining of 1930s Paris. The worldwide team worked for over a year using a production pipeline comprised of Maya and Autodesk 3ds Max for animation, rendering, character rigging and modeling; as well as Autodesk MotionBuilder for motion capture and animation. VFX Supervisor Ben Grossmann said, ?The interoperability of Autodesk tools helped us meet tight deadlines and bring Martin Scorsese?s magical vision to the big screen.?

?Real Steel? ? Visual effects powerhouse Digital Domain, motion-capture specialists Giant Studios and virtual production innovators Technoprops delivered ?Real Steel? within an impressively efficient 71-day production schedule. The close collaboration between the three companies and an Autodesk toolset helped create this realistic and thrilling action movie with a believable and captivating robot and human relationship. VFX Supervisor Erik Nash said, ?The on-set real-time interoperability of Maya and MotionBuilder enabled tremendous creative freedom for the entire production team.?

?Rise of the Planet of the Apes? ? Caesar, the CG chimpanzee performed by Andy Serkis is a creative milestone for Weta Digital in New Zealand. Weta used Maya and MotionBuilder as the core of its creative production pipelines for its groundbreaking visual effects and performance capture. Sebastian Sylwan, chief technology officer at Weta said, ?Creating a believable and realistic CG character like Caesar required providing our artists with the right tools and innovative technology that allowed them to iterate and express their creativity. We developed our own software to perfect performance capture, hair, eyes and muscles amongst others, using Maya and MotionBuilder as a backbone.? Canada-based Image Engine contributed previsualization for the film and also took advantage of a Maya-based pipeline.

?Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon?
? The extraordinarily detailed Transformer robots contain up to 50,000 million polygons rendered in stereoscopic 3D by lead visual effects houses Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) with studios in San Francisco and Singapore and Digital Domain. ILM used the following Autodesk DEC software tools in its pipeline: 3ds Max for digital environment work; Autodesk Flame as part of its proprietary SABRE high-speed compositing system; and Maya as the core tool for animation, rigging and layout. Scott Farrar, visual effects supervisor on ?Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon? said, ?As effects work continues to grow in complexity, it is more important than ever that our artists have access to best of breed tools and by using Autodesk?s Digital Entertainment Creation software, ILM is able to continue to create groundbreaking visual effects.?

Best Animated Feature Film
?Kung Fu Panda 2? and ?Puss in Boots?? Both movies earned not only Academy Award nominations for Animated Feature Film for Dreamworks Animation (DWA), but also were two of the top three grossing animated films of 2011.* DWA continues to creatively push technology to imbue animated characters with huge personalities, and both films used Maya. Phil McNally, stereoscopic supervisor on both movies said, ?Either on our own or in concert with Autodesk, we can develop tools in Maya to specifically address the challenges of stereoscopic 3D. Maya gives us that intuitive flexibility, or the ability to see what we?re doing ? while we?re doing it ? in 3D.?

?Rango?
?Rango,? the story of a weird lizard?s quest for identity, was ILM?s first animated feature. The film presented some daunting creative and technical challenges: Rango?s face alone required over 300 controllers to achieve the range of performance needed for the 1,100 shots he appears in. On top of which, Rango was just one of well over 100 characters that populated the film. ?All of these characters had some combination of scales, feathers, or fur and all had clothing. We strove to create a very tactile world for Rango,? said ILM?s Hal Hickel, animator director on the film. ?We wanted to create the illusion that if you could reach out and touch objects in the frame you?d know exactly what they would feel like, so it was very important that our software enable us to show as much detail as possible at each phase of the process. This allowed us to make certain the performances would translate to the big screen. Maya was great at letting us do that.?

Other Categories
? ?The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore? ? nominated for Short Film (animated) ? Moonbot Studios in Louisiana used Maya to help create this poignant and humorous allegorical film.
? ?The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo?
? nominated for five awards ? Digital Domain created digital doubles, matte paintings, animation and set extensions using both Maya and 3ds Max. Method Studios contributed to 101 VFX shots, including a fully CG train sequence through a snow-covered landscape using Maya, Flame and Autodesk Flare software. Blur Studios created the amazing title sequence using a combination of 3ds Max for animation and Autodesk Softimage for keyframing.
? ?La Luna? ? nominated for Short Film (animated) ? Pixar used Maya and Pixar?s own Renderman to create this mystical coming-of-age story.
? ?The Muppets? ? nominated for Original Song ? LOOK Effects used a combination of Flame, Flare and Maya to help bring these beloved characters to life in this box-office hit.
?
?The Tree of Life? ? nominated for three awards including Best Picture ? Method Studios used Maya to help create the fully CG 4K (4096 ? 3112 pixels per frame) sequence for the film?s ?Microbial? section, which plays effectively alongside practical and mixed-technique approaches. Method?s EVP Dan Glass was also the film?s overall senior visual effects supervisor. Prime Focus used Maya, 3ds Max and Mudbox to create the wonderfully realistic dinosaur sequences, dedicating a team of 50 artists to achieving Terrence Malick?s vision for these scenes.
? ?War Horse? ? nominated for six awards including Best Picture ? UK-based Framestore used Maya to help create the equine digital double, barbwire VFX integration, digital environments and clean-up on 200 shots for Steven Spielberg?s epic drama. Hollywood and London-based The Third Floor also previsualized key sequences using a toolset that includes Maya.


Source: http://www.billdesowitz.com/?p=4384

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