"WWOOF stands for world wide opportunities on organic farms. It is a network which started in the UK in 1971. Now it has become an international movement that is helping people share more sustainable ways of living. WWOOF is an exchange. In return for volunteer help, hosts offer food, accommodation and opportunities to learn about organic lifestyles. Volunteers usually stay 2-4 weeks and work an agreed number of hours per day. Work is in our organic garden and helping with the continuing renovation of buildings. All volunteers need to be members of the WWOOF organisation."
Recession-fighting backpackers take green vacations on European farms By Jeannie Nuss (CP) - 2 days ago source
SANTA EULALIA DEL MONTE, Spain — Backpackers pining for European adventure have discovered life on the farm, shovelling manure, feeding pigs and making butter as a recession-beating way to sate their wanderlust.
Their ticket to an earthy taste of the Old Continent is an innovative Web site that connects travellers with a network of organic farms stretching from Portugal to Turkey and around the world.
World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, an organization founded in Britain, has been around since 1971 but has lured many more volunteer farmhands in recent years as hard economic times forced people young and not so young to seek a cheap way to take a European vacation.
This year 15,700 of them are scattered across Europe getting their hands good and dirty, compared to 6,400 in 2004, WWOOF says. The number of hosts is up, too, roughly doubling to 2,240 in that same time span. The organization also offers farm stays in the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.
For a few hours of work a day - other chores include milking goats, collecting honey and making compost - volunteers get a place to stay, fresh food to eat and a bargain.
"I didn't have enough money to stay on any other way," said Alex Mansfield, 21, a guitar-toting philosophy student from Massachusetts who traded in the city life of his study-abroad experience in Salamanca, Spain, for a few weeks on an isolated farm. "It gets expensive, having to eat and sleep under roofs."
Along with three other Americans and an Argentinean, Mansfield spent part of this summer on an ever-changing volunteer force at Centro Ammehula, a ghost hamlet transformed into an organic farm, tucked away on a craggy mountainside of Spain's northwest Galicia region.
The setting was scenic but the accommodations modest: several metal trailers and tents surrounding a bonfire area, all of it 14 kilometres from the nearest supermarket. But the volunteers, feasting on fresh lettuce and lip-staining strawberries from the farm, don't seem to mind.
"It feels so good to be right near the food you're about to cook," said former New York schoolteacher Talia Kahn-Kravis, 23, as she squirted milk from a goat's udder into a plastic bucket.
Like Kahn-Kravis, supporters of the slow food movement, which began in Italy as a backlash against fast food, are praising the return to the farms.
"It's one of the ways of recovering relationships with food," said Cinzia Scaffidi, director of the Slow Food Study Center in Italy.\
Centro Ammehula's owner, Martin Verfondern, 51, said WWOOF is not just about growing fresh produce. More importantly, he says, it fosters cultural understanding.
"WWOOF is the perfect anti-discrimination device," said the Dutchman born in Germany, who has lived on the Spanish farm for 11 years. "We have Germans and Israelis sitting at a table together without problems. It's a really great way of getting to know more of a country than only the national prejudices."
While Spain is seeing an increase in foreigners eager to take a stab at farming, it is hardly the only European nation attracting attention.
"It's a way to spend time in places without spending money," said WWOOFer Elliott Smith, 21, who has traveled to Italy and Belgium during vacations from an organic Beaujolais vineyard outside of Lyon, France. "Everybody wants to travel a bit and the big thing is to do it without going totally broke."
Aside from having a travel base camp among a crop of thin-skinned Gamay grapes, the linguistics student from Texas said his "farmer French ... increased tenfold."
Recent graduates and college students like Smith and Mansfield make up a significant portion of WWOOF's volunteers, although farmhands come from walks of life as varied as the chores they do, said Chemi Pena, spokesman for WWOOF in Spain.
"The profile of farms is really diverse," he said.
Julie Bateman, a mother of two and slow food advocate, packed up her 10-and 13-year-old children and left her home in Charleston, S.C., for a volunteer farming stint in Italy this summer.
"WWOOFing with the two children is certainly a twist on the normal travel and WWOOFing in general," said Bateman, 42.
For many volunteers, WWOOF is creating a class of green-thumbed do-gooders, more conscious of their carbon footprints.
"A lot of people maybe come here to do a cheap Eurotrip," said New York native Kahn-Kravis, as she picked strawberries. "But in reality, you can't do this without learning a bunch and having a more holistic approach to life."
If You Go...
WORLDWIDE OPPORTUNITIES ON ORGANIC FARMS: http://www.wwoof.org/. Food and lodging at an organic farm in exchange for volunteering to work at the farm. Annual registration fees vary by country, but are typically around $US30-35 (20-25 euros). Opportunities on every continent.
I remember sitting in our living room with my family and watching on television the moon landing. Was this real or an expensive 'movie' being shown?
July 16th, 1969, Apollo 11 was launched and we were told that the moon landing was four days later on 20 July with the American astronauts returning back to earth with a spash-down into the Pacific Ocean on July 24.
Is this the truth?
Some, including myself, think not. Actually, these days I question just about everthing and after much reasearch, I think we once again have been misled and sold a bill of goods!
Please watch the following video clips and decide for yourself.
40 years after the first faked moon landing, the truth is coming out.
"I firmly believe that the American and Russian space program secrets are twofold, one is that the Earth is definitely stationary and the other is space travel is bogus and is impossible beyond the Van Allen radiation belts...... nothing of human origin has passed that gate, so the prince of all lies is forced to create an entire imaginary universe and solar system based solely on images from land-based astronomical observatories! After all, we must accept that the "prince of the power of the air" has dominion here for a small time? Therefore I bow to every image coming from NASA as being "suspect" in its truthfulness."...... "Lots of people think Area 51 was created for the development of the U-2 [ military spy plane ] and stuff like the SR-71 [ sometimes called the "Blackbird" ], but it was really created to produce a fake universe and world for the USGS [ United States Geological Survey ] and mapping facilities all over the world." ...... "Every image it has (the Hubble Space Telescope) sent back has been nothing but rubbish, faked and spouting the futile doctrine of a universe in chaos...... which we know not to be the case!"
"To make interstellar travel believable NASA was created. The Apollo Space Program foisted the idea that man could travel to, and walk upon, the moon. Every Apollo mission was carefully rehearsed and then filmed in large sound stages at the Atomic Energy Commissions Top Secret test site in the Nevada Desert and in a secured and guarded sound stage at the Walt Disney Studios within which was a huge scale mock-up of the moon. No man has ever ascended higher than 300 miles, if that high, above the Earth's surface. No man has ever orbited, landed on, or walked upon the moon. The tremendous radiation encountered in the Van Allen Belt, solar radiation, cosmic radiation, temperature control, and many other problems connected with space travel prevent living organisms leaving our atmosphere with our known level of technology. Any intelligent high school student with a basic physics book can prove NASA faked the Apollo moon landings. If you doubt this please explain how the astronauts walked upon the moons surface enclosed in a space suit in full sunlight absorbing a minimum of 265 degrees of heat surrounded by a vacuum. NASA tells us the moon has no atmosphere and that the astronauts were surrounded by the vacuum of space."
HGTV Dream Home winners Cheryl and Joe Smith will not make Sonoma their new hometown. The couple announced Monday they plan to sell the farmhouse on Fifth Street East back to developer and Valley resident Steve Ledson. The couple also plans to donate all of the furnishings to Ledson's Harmony Foundation for Children.
"The Smith's are an incredible couple," Ledson said in a press release. "They had just retired to Florida when they won the house from over 40,000,000 entries. They really didn't want to move from Florida and leave their grandchildren though they loved their winning visit to Sonoma. For my family and me, our favorite part is the donation to our Harmony Foundation. The community could use this money right now due to all of the cuts to schools, activities and arts." In April, the Smiths were flown out on their first trip to California to see the three-bedroom home they had won in Sonoma's Armstrong Estates. The couple enjoyed a week of winetasting and soaking up life in Sonoma, but always said they weren't sure if they wanted to pick up and move across the country from their family back in Florida. Not to mention the house came with a hefty tax bill, which is the primary reason all the prior HGTV Dream Home winners have ended up selling their Dream Home.
Ledson said early on he would buy the home back from the couple if they chose not to take ownership of it. He plans to sell the home. The Harmony Foundation for Children works to help to the Valley's underprivileged children whose own families cannot. To date, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been donated by the Harmony Foundation to deserving individuals and organizations.
Back in 2005 when I was waking up to the deception all around me, I met a like-minded fellow who had been a Texas Ranger and who saw the FEMA plans. His main comment to me was whatever you do, do not get any vaccines as that is how 'they' plan to do their genocide to depopulate so they can better control the masses in the new world order.
By Kimberly Kindy and Ceci Connolly Washington Post Staff Writers Wednesday, May 6, 2009 source
The Obama administration is considering an unprecedented fall vaccination campaign that could entail giving Americans three flu shots -- one to combat annual seasonal influenza and two targeted at the new swine flu virus spreading across the globe.
If enacted, the multibillion-dollar effort would represent the first time that top federal health officials have asked Americans to get more than one flu vaccine in a year, raising serious challenges concerning production, distribution and the ability to track potentially severe side effects.
Another option, said Dale Morse, chairman of the advisory committee on immunization practices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is adding to the seasonal flu shot an ingredient targeted at the new virus.
Experts in and out of the administration are evaluating a raft of complicated issues, including who ought to receive an inoculation against the swine flu and whether private vaccine makers can simultaneously manufacture the standard 180 million doses as well as up to 600 million rounds of a new vaccine.
"We are moving forward with making a vaccine," said Robin Robinson, a director with the Department of Health and Human Services who oversees pandemic response programs. Robinson said that although a formal decision about the swine flu vaccine has not been made, if the government goes ahead, it would probably produce two doses for all Americans. If the threat diminishes, he said, health officials could decide to produce doses for only a portion of the population.
Vaccine and pandemic experts are working with the administration to determine how to produce, test, track and educate the public about two different influenza vaccines in the same flu season.
"They have never tried this before, and there is going to be a great deal of confusion," said William Schaffner, chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Memories of the nation's earlier experience with a swine flu vaccine present another challenge. In 1976, hundreds of Americans developed neurological disorders after they were vaccinated for a swine flu strain. The public was asked to receive one of two vaccines developed to combat the strain.
Health officials have asked manufacturers to ramp up production of the seasonal vaccine scheduled for rollout this fall to make way for the possible mass production of a swine flu vaccine.
A decision on whether to produce such a vaccine will have to be made soon, because it typically takes five months to produce a new vaccine and authorities would want it available for the next flu season.
Some medical experts said rolling out two vaccines would present additional challenges in terms of testing and tracking adverse reactions. Health officials and manufacturers will need to know what the negative reactions might be for each vaccine on its own and in combination with the other. Initial tests would be done on animals, and then clinical trials would be conducted with people to determine side effects before either vaccine is rolled out.
Harvey Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, said officials will have to weigh the risks of the time spent on testing.
"All this takes time, money and organization," said Fineberg, who led an investigation into the government's handling of the 1976 swine flu vaccinations.
The greater challenge will be tracking any adverse reactions as millions of Americans get multiple vaccinations in a matter of months this fall and winter.
"There will be adverse effects to any vaccine. That's just science," said Michael Hattwick, who ran the CDC's vaccine-tracking system during the last swine flu scare.
Hattwick said a "real-time" tracking system would need to be established to provide constant updates to the CDC about adverse reactions. That information, he said, should include lot numbers for the vaccines so health officials can trace each side effect to the manufacturer and the date of production. Routine flu vaccinations are not traced with such precision because reporting is voluntary and often delayed, Hattwick said.
Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he does not expect additional adverse reactions with two vaccinations. The traditional flu vaccine is designed to attack the three flu strains health officials believe to be the greatest threats in a regular season, he said.
"In a regular seasonal flu, you get three vaccines. Adding an additional one should not present a problem," Fauci said.
A record-keeping system would also need to be devised to track which doses patients have received, health experts said.
Without such a system, patients could lose track of which of the three shots they have received or could fail to get the second swine flu inoculation at the proper time.
"We will have to keep them straight and separate," Vanderbilt's Schaffner said. "This will be an enormous challenge, and we haven't figured out how to do it yet. That's one of the things we are trying to sort out."
--- end ---
WHO: No licensed swine flu vaccine til end of year
By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng, Ap Medical Writer – July 13, 2009 source
LONDON – A fully licensed swine flu vaccine might not be available until the end of the year, a top official at the World Health Organization said Monday, in a report that could affect many countries' vaccination plans.
But countries could use emergency provisions to get the vaccines out quicker if they decide their populations need them, Marie-Paule Kieny, director of WHO's Initiative for Vaccine Research, said during a news conference.
The swine flu viruses currently being used to develop a vaccine aren't producing enough of the ingredient needed for the vaccine, and WHO has asked its laboratory network to produce a new set of viruses as soon as possible.
So far, the swine flu viruses being used are only producing about half as much "yield" to make vaccines as regular flu viruses.
Last week, WHO reported nearly 95,000 cases of swine flu worldwide including 429 deaths. Most people who get the virus only experience mild symptoms and don't need treatment to get better.
In a presentation to WHO's vaccines advisory group last week, Kieny said a lower-producing vaccine would significantly delay the timeline for vaccines. That could complicate many Western countries' plans to roll out vaccines in the fall.
British Health Minister Andy Burnham promised that vaccines would start arriving in the U.K. in August — and predicted the country could see up to 100,000 cases a day by the end of that month.
Before countries can start any mass swine flu vaccination campaigns, the vaccines need to be vetted by regulatory authorities for safety issues. That means testing the vaccines in a small number of humans first, which can take weeks or months.
"I think it will be a very significant challenge to have vaccines going into peoples' arms in any meaningful number by September," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "At this point, it is still is an issue of when will it be available, who will get it, and what will be the dose?"
Kieny said many of those questions remain unanswered at the moment. But she said WHO's vaccine advisory group recommended that health care workers receive the first swine flu shots since they are on the front lines of the global outbreak.
On Monday, British health authorities said a family doctor died over the weekend after contracting swine flu.
WHO's vaccine experts recommend that countries decided that certain groups should get the vaccine first — like pregnant women, people with chronic respiratory problems or obesity, children, and possibly young to middle-aged adults, who have been disproportionately affected by the virus.
The decision to start vaccinating people against swine flu — which so far remains a mild virus in most people — will ultimately be a gamble, since there will be limited data on any vaccine. Until millions of people start receiving the shots, experts will not know about rare and potentially dangerous side effects.
The public health community may still be scarred by the U.S.' disastrous 1976 swine flu vaccination campaign, which was abruptly stopped after hundreds of people reported developing Guillain-Barre syndrome, a paralyzing disorder, after getting the flu vaccine.
Several drugmakers are currently considering using adjuvants, ingredients used to stretch a vaccine's active ingredient, which could allow for many more vaccine doses. But little or no data exists on the safety of vaccines with adjuvants in populations including children and pregnant women. And in the U.S., there are no licensed flu vaccines that use adjuvants.
--- end ---
Heed Flu Vaccination Warnings and Bad Omens
NaturalNews.com Sunday, July 12, 2009 by Paul Fassa, citizen journalist source
(NaturalNews) There has been a recent groundswell of warnings and bad omens about the dangers of vaccinations, man-made flu pandemics, and the enforced vaccinations. Not mentioned much on CNN or your daily newspapers or favorite magazines, but disclosed consistently through alternative, independent media and publications by courageous individuals and health experts, whose concern over public health and safety is more important than being part of the status quo.
Meanwhile, the mainstream media and established medical community are proclaiming an inevitable fatal pandemic, coming shortly, while assuring you that you will be protected by Big Pharma, the FDA, FEMA, the CDC, WHO, and your government. But lately there are holes being poked through this assurance. And those holes are becoming dots that turn the big picture darker as you connect them. This article will share some of those dots. Knowing actual danger is not negative thinking. It could help you save your health, or even your life.
A Personal Vaccination Tragedy Publicized
"An alarming number of U.S. troops are having severe reactions to some of the vaccines they receive in preparation for going overseas." This was not from the internet originally, though the video can be seen on the internet now. It was presented by a Cincinnati Ohio Target 5 local TV presentation in early 2007.
The story featured a local area young man 20 years of age in the Marine Corps, Lance Corporal David Fey, who had a strange experience at his Marine Base in California in November of 2005. "They asked us our name. We stood on these yellow footprints, and they gave us this shot, and we got the rest of the day off," he recalled. "After that shot, I started swelling up. I gained 30 pounds of water. My eyes swelled up where I couldn't see . . .."
David Fey almost died from kidney failure and was transported to a hospital in his home county. He had to undergo dialysis three times a week while waiting for a kidney transplant. His pain was so bad that his mother confessed praying for him to be "taken away in the night" to spare him of his misery.
All the attempts to uncover what was in the shot have leaded nowhere. David Fey's mother was told the information was classified or confidential. The military records didn't even show that David had been given any vaccination. After 11 months, flu shot was entered by hand into David's military medical record.
A military medical officer, who had his name withheld and identity obscured in the TV report, asserted that there are thousands of similar cases, ranging from arthritic pains to death after vaccinations, and when they complain they are usually told it's "all in their heads". The medical officer went on to say, "When the issue, I believe, of the use of the vaccine comes out, I believe it will make the Walter Reed scandal pale in comparison." He also speculated on the possibility that experimental vaccinations were being administered to military personnel.
Medical Mafia Author Speaks on Hidden Agenda Behind Swine Flu Vaccinations
French-Canadian medical doctor and author of The Medical Mafia, Dr. Guylaine Lanctot (pronounced "Ghee-Lane Lank-Toe"), speaks candidly about what she believes to be the hidden agenda behind the government's Swine flu vaccination hysteria.
Dr. Lanctot was prosecuted by the Canadian Medical Board for her expulsion from that medical community for her stance against vaccinations. She has reemerged with a sincere and frightening message regarding vaccinations.
"Since this trial, these same physicians have continued their career in public health, and now hold honorable positions. They are the very ones who are pushing the public toward a new world-wide epidemic. This A(H1N1) pandemic is concocted and orchestrated by the WHO (World Health Organization), and serves the same military, political and industrial interests as those of 1976. Have these physicians lost their memory, or were they serving those interests right from the beginning?"
"I am emerging from a long silence on the subject of vaccination, because I feel that, this time, the stakes involved are huge. The consequences may spread much further than anticipated. Here are the most important ones:"
* Compulsory inoculation of vaccines containing a deadly virus; * Massive and targeted reduction of the world population; * Through vaccines, possible introduction of tiny microchips for mind control; * Establishment of martial law and police state; * Activation of the concentration camps built to accommodate the rebellious; * Transfer of power from all nations to a single United Nations government; * Fulfillment of the New World Order.
This ends the copy of Dr. Guylaine Lanctot's message.
During her trial in 1995, she was given a copy of a CBS 60 Minutes TV investigative report to show as evidence on her behalf. She urges everyone to view it. It was never shown again after the first presentation in 1979. But now this episode is available on the internet for all to see.
Dr. Guylaine Lanctot has this suggestion if you view the video. Ask yourself: "Should I continue to trust physicians, politicians, and the World Health Organization?"
Note: The Link for the 60 Minutes Expose Will Be in the Sources Section Below.
More Warnings From A Recent Natural News Article
Dr. Guylaine Lanctot's conclusions about the swine flu vaccine echo similar allegations voiced by Austrian investigative journalist Jane Burgermeister, as presented by Natural News Staff Writer Barbara Minton's recent explosive article. Jane Burgermeister's charges and supporting documentation allege a high level conspiracy to unleash international bioterrorism and to commit mass murder against humanity, via an interlocking cartel of international, pharmaceutical and government entities.
Here is a segment from that article, "Journalist Files Charges against WHO and UN for Bioterrorism and Intent to Commit Mass Murder."
"Jane Burgermeister has recently filed criminal charges with the FBI against the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations (UN), and several of the highest ranking government and corporate officials concerning bioterrorism and attempts to commit mass murder. She has also prepared an injunction against forced vaccination which is being filed in America."
"These actions follow her charges filed in April against Baxter AG and Avir Green Hills Biotechnology of Austria for producing contaminated bird flu vaccine, alleging this was a deliberate act to cause and profit from a pandemic."
Prescience, or Inside Information?
Where did these guys get their crystal ball? A business share holder report, dated March 2008, from a Japanese Pharmaceutical manufacturer predicted a 531% increase in Tamiflu sales for 2009!
Quote from report: "For the year (2009), we forecast sales of Tamiflu to reach 53.0 billion, up 531.0%, due to expected resumption of government stockpiling in FY2009 and the ongoing recovery of the prescription rate for seasonal influenza"
It seems that the Obama administration is looking into the future as well. Just recently, an AP wire report picked up by Yahoo News reported that top Obama administration officials are meeting with six experts on the 1976 swine flu so "we can further prepare the nation for the possibility of a more severe outbreak of H1N1 flu," according to Obama.
This is the same 1976 swine flu that hardly got past the military base where it broke out! Where only four came down with the flu virus, and the lone death was the result of a young flu stricken soldier leaving his sick bed to go on a forced march!
Then, after a massive media campaign with president Gerald Ford as the primary spokesman, millions of Americans rolled up their sleeves for the vaccination. Over 300 died as a result of that vaccination, and several thousand had severe reactions, some crippling or debilitating for life. What kind of experts were consulted by the Obama gang?
Recent Bad Omens That Actually Occurred
2005 - A small team of CDC scientists used tissues from the frozen bodies dug up in Alaska of victims from the 1918 Spanish Flu to determine the genetic sequence and replicate that virus. They were successful. Many scientists were not only concerned by their recreating the lethal virus and having it stored in solution, but they were also alarmed that the genetic sequence was displayed in a database to be publicized!
2008-2009 - An informal flu vaccine test was done on 200 homeless people in Poland. Five died immediately and twenty more died a bit later. 15.5% of the test population were killed by the vaccination test. The doctors and nurses involved were charged with murder. Did you read this in any USA mainstream papers? Did you see this on CNN?
2008-2009 - Baxter International's Austrian laboratory released a Seasonal Flu vaccine to 18 European countries, which were never used, thanks to an alert lab technician in the Czech Republic who discovered that the vaccines were contaminated with a highly pathogenic strain of Bird Flu Virus. Many experts pointed out that this could not have happened accidentally because of the required safeguards. The Austrian Health Ministry claimed the tainted vaccines were all appropriately destroyed, but there is no documentation of that. A WHO investigation found no one culpable of even negligence!
2009 - This very same Baxter group is carrying the lead banner for developing the vaccination for the predicted Swine Flu for this fall. Baxter was given the seed virus for the swine flu in May of 2009. The company claims it will have the vaccine ready by the end of July 2009. It normally takes 12 to 18 months to produce a vaccine that is tested and proven effective and safe (if there really is such a thing).
But who needs to produce a safe and effective vaccine anymore? Legislation was passed during the Bush administration to exempt vaccination producers from liability when a pandemic is declared. Surprise! It has been declared already. Even though the original Mexican Flu death toll of 168 in Mexico was dropped to 16! So if you can't walk or barely talk anymore after your vaccination, or if your child drops dead at your feet, you won't be able to sue!
After massive lawsuits for severe reactions, life long debilitation, and deaths from the vaccinations promoted for the 1976 fake swine flu epidemic, those Big Pharma boys went to work lobbying. And they got what they wanted, a license to maim and kill for profit.
2008-2009 - The USA government has spent over a billion dollars for a swine flu vaccination, and Obama has hinted that they may be required in the fall. 77 million dollars has been spent on mapping every household and who is in it for possible FEMA and Homeland Security vaccination enforcement.
2009 - Canada, Norway, Sweden, and France have announced their intentions to vaccinate every one of their citizens, including toddlers, and they have shelled out the bucks for the juice!
2009 - A WHO container of Swine Flu virus from Mexico City exploded on a passenger train in Luzon, Switzerland. All of the current Swiss cases of Swine Flu are from the area where the explosion took place. Incidentally, it is illegal to ship pathogenic viruses this way.
2009 - A significant number of virologists and other scientists are on record stating that the Swine Flu was created in a laboratory and could not evolve naturally.
2009 - Every recent major catastrophic event, including 9/11, the Madrid bombings, and the London bombings, occurred simultaneously with a dress rehearsal drill mocking the actual incidents themselves! This managed to confuse everyone normally involved with preventing or minimizing such an event. Guess what? A major set of FEMA training exercises is scheduled for 27 July, 2009.
Are any dots connecting yet? Are there any emerging even faintly? Not to worry; more to come. View the video for starters.
Since many are living longer, we may as well work towards good health in the process. This morning, found the following article in the PD and am inspired!
Since moving to Santa Rosa in 1994, Dick Lewis, 80, has rarely missed one of his four-times-a-week swims at the Airport Health Club pool. (CHRIS CHUNG / Press Democrat)
Aquaman at 80
By PHIL BARBER Press Democrat Staff Writer Published: Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 8:28 p.m. Last Modified: Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 8:28 p.m. source
The training lanes at the Airport Health Club swimming pool operate on the same principle as an interstate freeway: faster swimmers in the far left lanes, slow-moving traffic to the right. Everyone works out regularly with a pace clock, so the instructors have a pretty good idea where to line people up.
When Dick Lewis joined the club 15 years ago, he was 65 years old. He was an accomplished master’s swimmer, in good shape, and he was placed in Lane 2, second from the left among six lanes. Now Lewis is 80, an age when many of his contemporaries are happy to be able to walk around the block a couple of times without wincing.
And he’s still swimming in Lane 2.
“He’s very stubborn in the pool,” said Karen Chequer-Pfeiffer, one of the Airport Club’s three master’s swim instructors and Lewis’ prime taskmaster for the past 15 years. “He doesn’t want to demote himself. He’s a tough old bird.”
Lewis doesn’t act or look 80, and the explanation for his longevity is clear, at least to him. Lewis has never smoked — though his parents, sibling, frat brothers and Army buddies all did — and he swims approximately seven miles a week.
“I enjoy the practices, I enjoy the company of the people,” he said. “And I sort of enjoy the challenge. It may be an ego thing. I want to keep up with the people in my lane. And I get sort of exhilarated. If I don’t get the chance to swim — like illness, or I couldn’t swim when I had my back operation, or my knee operation — my wife says, ‘You’re getting grouchy. Go get your gills wet.’”
At Washington High School in San Francisco, Lewis won the 50- and 100-yard races at the city swim championships in 1947. He swam at Cal, too, and played on the Bears’ excellent water polo team from 1947-1951. But after getting discharged from the Army in 1952, Lewis left the water for two decades. Eventually he decided he needed to get back into shape. He couldn’t really run, because a Chinese shell had gouged out part of his leg in the Korean War in October, 1952.
“That’s my souvenir,” Lewis said recently, pointing to the welter of scar tissue on the side of his left knee.
Lewis, a first lieutenant, was rushed to a MASH unit, and wound up spending seven months in stateside hospitals, waiting for the wound to heal from the inside.
It healed, and Lewis got a Purple Heart, but the leg remained a bit misshapen. The high school social-science teacher knew that if he wanted to shed his love handles and gut, he would have to return to the water. He joined the San Mateo Marlin Masters in 1972, a time and place that would prove to be the big bang of masters swimming. Lewis captured five sixth-place finishes at Masters Nationals for the successful Marlins, medaling in the 200 butterfly and the 400 individual medley.
Lewis and his wife, Anne, moved to her hometown of Santa Rosa in 1994, and he almost immediately found the Airport Club. Since then, he has rarely missed one of his four-times-a-week practices, even when the lip of the pool is icy.
Sure, Lewis took off a little time for surgeries (he had his left knee replaced in 2006). But even the stroke he suffered at 58 was treated as a minor setback. He was out of the pool just two weeks for that one.
Along the way, Lewis discovered another niche: open-water swimming. He competed at Lake Berryessa, Lake Sonoma, Spring Lake and Aquatic Park in San Francisco Bay, among other wavy bodies, and won his age group every time. Yes, sometimes he was the only person in his age group, but he sometimes beat everyone in the next-youngest group, too. Pacific Masters Swimming ranked him No.1 in the men’s 75-79 division.
“I’ve been coaching for over 25 years, and I’ve never seen anyone his age who is able to swim as fast as he does,” said Chequer-Pfeiffer, a long-time triathlete.
Lewis stopped entering races a few years ago. He just didn’t care to invest any more time (he prefers to watch his grandchildren play Little League baseball on weekends) or money.
“When I was in San Mateo, I swam a lot in the pool races,” Lewis said.
“I got a couple shoeboxes full of ribbons and medals. I have a coffee mug that says ‘Open Water Champion’ and gives the age group. It was made in China, and it cost me $500 to get it. Why bother?”
So Lewis is content to swim his 3,000 yards a week and compete not against the world, but against his own times and the other swimmers in his lane. And though he is modest about his accomplishments, Lewis remains an inspiration to the youngsters who swim alongside him.
“Both my parents died in their 70s,” Chequer-Pfeiffer said. “I always say to Dick, I want to be like you when I grow up. If I live to 80 and can be that fit and mentally sharp, I’ll be happy.”
Sonoma hometown girl Emily Kaplan of Emmy's Spaghetti Shack in Sonoma - Jeff Kan Lee/PD
This Shack Rocks
By JEFF COX FOR THE PRESS DEMOCRAT source Published: Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 3:00 a.m. Last Modified: Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 8:17 p.m.
We think of cocktails as a phenomenon of the past hundred or so years, but journeyman bartender Brian Scanlan at Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack in Sonoma serves one that dates back 300 years. He calls it the Barnacle.
EMMY’S SPAGHETTI SHACKWhere: 691 Broadway, Sonoma When: Sunday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. and to midnight on Friday and Saturday Reservations: Not taken. Call 933-3823 for takeout Price range: Inexpensive to expensive, with entrees from $9.50 to $18 Web site: http://www.emmysspaghettishack.com/ More Photos:Emmy's Spaghetti Shack
It’s made with lemon juice, rum and a touch of maple syrup — just what the sailing ships of the early 18th century would have been carrying back and forth between Boston and the Caribbean.
Such a drink is a little odd, kind of fun, and quite tasty, very much like Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack itself. The mistress of all the gaiety is Emily Kaplan — a hometown Sonoma girl who went off to the big city to seek her fortune, and a decade ago opened Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack in the Bernal Heights district of San Francisco. A friend described it as “a restaurant version of a good dive bar.”
That must be just what those wacky San Franciscans were looking for, because most nights you have to wait an hour or so to get a table. So with her success there, she decided to start a second Shack and returned to Sonoma to open up the town to her good times. Here’s what she has to say on her Web site: “We shouldn’t have to leave our town for some fun. I’m creating an atmosphere coming from the needs and spirit of my generation. Sonoma is ready for this type of establishment.”
Evidently it is.
The place has been swamped since it opened almost a month ago. As in the city, it’s first come, first served, and there’s usually a wait for a table at the height of the dinner hour, although not nearly as long as at her city venue.
A slightly louche atmosphere pervades the place, which may be part of its charm. A picture of a Bettie Page type pin-up hangs in the main dining room. A photo of Motley Crue graces a hallway. Even the sign outside announcing Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack has an image of a tousled Kaplan looking very relaxed. And to cater to Sonoma’s “night people,” it’s open to 11 p.m. all nights except Fridays and Saturdays, when it’s open to midnight.
The restaurant occupies the building that was Deuce. If you know that place, you’ll remember its late-hippie era architecture — swirling arabesques and mandalas — created in the early 1970s by Sausalito woodsmiths. A mix of country music and rock plays on the sound system. Gone are the white tablecloths. In their place, bare tables and paper napkins. The waitresses wear tank tops. A row of old-fashioned, flouncy aprons hangs from the ceiling in the dining room.
As for the food, let’s strike for the heart of the menu, the Spaghetti and Meatballs ($12.50, 2½ stars). It’s a mountain of food, easily enough for two unless the diner is a lumberjack. Three meatballs the size of handballs have the texture and flavor of meatloaf. A huge pile of big, thick spaghetti is doused with not quite enough red sauce, sprinkled with chopped parsley, and topped with shavings of parmesan cheese. OK, it’s not the greatest spaghetti and meatballs in the world, but it’s good in the kind of way that will please folks who are having a good time and aren’t too picky.
The place is about fun, remember? The menus are hand-scrawled and smothered with Emmy love, including lipstick impressions, hearts, XXXs and OOOs, and exclamation points. If you bring the kids, you’ll find a kids’ menu where the entrees are $6 each and include all the classics like spaghetti and meat ball, mac-n-cheese, burger with fries, mini meatball sandwich, and grilled cheese.
The wine list is short and inexpensive, but there are some good bottles. The 2007 Clarbec Pinot Gris is $30 a bottle, and for a wild blend of red grapes, who can resist the 2006 Homewood Flying Wizzbanger for $30? Beer and ale run the gamut from the dark, heavy, alcoholic Old Rasputin ale for $5 a bottle to light and frothy Jamaican Red Stripe at the same price. If you want to go downscale, Pabst Blue Ribbons are $3. The emphasis, however, is on Scanlan’s cocktails, each $9. His mint julep, made with sweet black tea, fresh mint, and a lot of Maker’s Mark bourbon, is fabulous, if dangerous. A cucumber gimlet sounds refreshing, and a layered black raspberry lemon drop sounds tutti-fruiti.
A Summer Corn Soup ($6.50, 3 stars) is one of chef Eric Center’s best creations. It’s a fresh-tasting sweet soup with pancetta and avocado topped with a drizzle of basil oil. A small order of Garlic Bread ($4.50, 2 stars) is a simple three slices of toasted Italian bread smeared with garlic butter. Nothing out of the ordinary, but if you like garlic bread, this will fill the bill.
Snap beans are dipped in batter and deep fried to make Fried Green Beans ($8, 2 stars). They’re served with a romesco dipping sauce made of tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic, olive oil and almonds. If the price seems a little steep, remember that portions at Emmy’s are very generous, and a light eater might find the bean dish all that’s needed for dinner. You might also consider the Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese Salad ($9, 3 stars) light fare, but be aware, it eats a little more robustly than it sounds. That’s because the earthy beets, both red and yellow, are interspersed with pebbly red mustard leaves and joined by pickled carrots and marcona almonds in a truffle vinaigrette.
The Flat Iron Steak ($18, 3 stars) may well be the best steak deal in the area. The inch-thick, tender steak is big enough to satisfy just about anyone. It comes with a load of mashed potatoes, a braised leek, and very spicy sautéed broccolini. Everything is given a royal trumpet mushroom demi-glace.
You’d expect a place like Emmy’s to offer a burger — and you’d be right. A current TV ad for a fast food hamburger chain shows a woman eating a hamburger in a manner so sensual that modesty requires one to avert one’s eyes. That may be the way to approach Emmy’s Burger ($11, 3 stars), an inch-thick burger cooked medium as ordered on a big crunchy bun. It’s so juicy you’d best hold it over your plate when you bite into it. To heighten the experience, cheddar or blue cheese, bacon and caramelized onions are available for a dollar more.
Betcha can’t finish the huge bowl of Orecchiette ($14, 2 stars), which is filled with “little ears” pasta disks mixed with a creamy sun-dried tomato and pesto sauce, and sprinkled with pine nuts.
The desserts are as good, if not better, than the appetizers and entrees. A Chocolate Truffle Cake ($7, 3½ stars) was decadently gooey and rich, served with almond brittle and a scoop of vanilla. Blueberry Bread Pudding ($7, 3 stars) featured a sweet bready biscuit stuffed with blueberries and finished with a sidekick of vanilla ice cream. The desserts are house-made.
To sum up: Emmy’s is down-home fun with good old Ital-American food and lots of it. The staff is out to make you comfortable, and if you can’t relax in this flamboyantly inelegant atmosphere, don’t blame Emmy.
Jeff Cox writes a weekly restaurant review column for the Sonoma Living Section. You can reach him at jeffcox@sonic.net.
While the city of Sonoma is preparing for its gala July 4th fireworks extravaganza tomorrow night, the explosion caused by Emmy Kaplan and her new restaurant,Emmy's Spaghetti Shack, will linger long after the smoke settles on the grasses of General Vallejo's field.
Kaplan, a Sonoma resident, and San Francisco restaurateur opened her latest location in the heart of this iconic wine country town "six weeks" ago and immediately came under fire for what she had done to one of the town's well-known spaces, Deuce. Kaplan decided the décor of Duce didn't fit her "shack" theme. Although signs of sledge hammers are not apparent she morphed the space with a remodel in mind from casually elegant to one step below Eddie's Ghetto in St. Martin. That didn't sit well with the locals. Whereas Eddie's is actually a sophisticated shack, Kaplan's is less on the smooth side.
Kaplan's San Francisco location, in Bernal Heights, has received mixed reviews on social networking sites but diners do comment on the "large portions" of spaghetti. Since she lives in Sonoma with her husband and young son, she decided to open a place in the town that she calls home. For those of us who have every opened a restaurant that was the least bit controversial, we will all agree opening a restaurant and pleasing everyone is not a n easy if ever-achievable task. However, Kaplan received more than her fair share of comments.
Of course, the town which boasts eateries of an ilk that would make the mouths of Mamaroneck resident's water, there has yet to be place like Emmy's within the city limits of this wine country bastion of palatable casual sophistication. Kaplan has caused a stir with her menu, her remodel, her garden redesign and her approach to a location in a town where the hottest happy hour is holding "Stop the war" signage park side, at the foot of Broadway just under the flags of city hall.
In a town where they arrested a man for having chickens, causing a stir with spaghetti and meatballs might not be so tough to chew. They don't take things lightly here. So when Kaplan decided – in the course of her remodel- to rip up the front yard gardens of Deuce, delete the roses, and cut down a tree or two, it was a thorn in the side of some of the "locals".
More obscene, in the eyes of town folk, was Kaplan's vision for the inside of the building once housing a mortuary where some relatives of the locals where laid to rest. In her quest, I presume, to "shack it up" Kaplan painted the inside of the once oak and mahogany space a deep rose tone- ironic isn't it? - mixed with a shade of blue-green that in varying degrese of sunlight could be consider, well, horrendous. But her concept is spaghetti shack- the key word being shack. And, she certainly has accomplished that goal. One would be hard pressed to find another operator who could perfect the art of theme by taking a space known for fine dining and transforming it into shack as quickly as Kaplan managed to do. It appears she is a master of conceptual focus through previous concept destruction. The question here is whether or not it will work?
The case study is going to be of interest to every restaurant owner who has ever spent fortunes on high priced interiors, lavish booths and banquets, equipment, lighting and artwork. Add highly paid culinarians and professional waiters, managers, and sommeliers. Tally up the overhead, add the rent, linen, taxes and salaries for musicians and entertainment and running a restaurant in today's world is a gamble of astronomical proportion.
Kaplan has also fired a shot across the bow of another famous shackster - Mary. Sonoma is home base to Mary's Pizza Shack a multi-unit family owned operation that is refined shack rather than shack, shack. Mary's offers casually professional accoutrements, throughout their concept and is more family oriented.
To take the concept full circle, Kaplan has posted her hours next to the entrance of her space on a five-dollar hardware store-hours sign, while not opting for the typical sign announcing closings and opening hours. And, for the piece de resistance, she has posted an employee, in the bike lane of Broadway, holding a sign that reads, "Yes, we're open", which in the world of dumbing-down a concept is at the top of the heap.
Will Kaplan's concept work? Only time will tell. There have been other shacks before, Joe's Crab Shack, Gump's Seafood, and Famous Dave's all began as shack concepts. However, none has perfected shackism as well as Kaplan.
This will be an interesting summer as we watch the Sonoma Spaghetti wars add spice to life in the valley.
Visted today with Sonoma resident, Lenny Coleman, who is on the mend after a near fatal bicycle accident in which he was hit by a car on Leveroni Road April 15, 2009. (link).
Close friends and neighbors, Vern and Rogena Angeli, are happy to see his improvement.
And so it continues... here's another article about the on-going saga of whether Emmy's Spaghetti Shack can play live music or not.
Council to mull music at Emmy's By David Bolling INDEX-TRIBUNE EDITOR June 29, 2009 source
Live music at Emmy's Spaghetti Shack is either the best thing to happen to Sonoma since wine, or a rude intrusion of unwanted noise in a quiet residential neighborhood.
Or both. Public opinion on the new restaurant's efforts to bring late-night live music to the old Deuce restaurant building at 691 Broadway, is divided partially along geographic and demographic lines, with 31 people, representing 24 homes and a somewhat older constituency, passionately opposed to the six-month temporary use permit for non-amplified live music approved by the Sonoma Planning Commission on May 14.
But in a packet of agenda materials running almost a half-inch thick, city staff present a profile of public opinion that tilts heavily toward approval of the use permit sought by Emmy Kaplan. Out of 86 letters included in the City Council packet, 60 favor the music permit, 26 are opposed. But the 31 people occupying the 24 homes lying in a semi-circle around the restaurant site filed an appeal of the Planning Commission's conditional approval, and Wednesday night the City Council must play Solomon without dividing the baby.
Grounds for the appeal include the following issues:
There is no objective evidence the proposed live music can be conducted in compliance with the city's noise ordinance. Because Kaplan's proposal was revised shortly before the Planning Commission's public hearing, the public did not have sufficient time to examine the revised proposal.
The revised proposal defines the permit as allowing a "restaurant with live music," rather then the original permit request for a "restaurant with nightclub/lounge." Opponents feel the original designation is more accurate and should have been retained.
The Planning Commission gave too much weight to the perceived need for an entertainment/dancing establishment instead of the impact it would have on residents in the neighborhood.
City staff recommend the council approve the permit as adopted by the Planning Commission, but outlined three other alternatives including denial of the permit, further restricting conditions of the permit, or sending the permit application back to the commission with direction to focus on specific areas of concern raised by the appellants.
While a two-to-one majority of letter writers favor the music permit, it's not clear how much influence public opinion will have over the four council members who must weigh the pro/con arguments. (Councilmember Joanne Sanders is vacationing in France and will not be present for the debate.)
The restaurant's location is in an area zoned for mixed use and if the music permit is ultimately granted it will remain with the land, not with the business, a fact that further enflames opponents' fears. Opponents also question how the proposed outdoor music nights can fail to exceed the city's noise ordinance which impose limits of 60 decibels in the daytime and 50 decibels at night.
In considering the permit application, the Planning Commission discussed the idea of hiring a noise consultant to conduct a study - at a projected cost of $2,500 to $3,000 - that would have been paid by Kaplan. That suggestion, however, was ultimately dropped.
But after consulting with the firm that prepared the city's noise ordinance, city staff concluded that live amplified music, or acoustic horn or brass music conducted outside on the patio, probably would exceed noise-ordinance limits.
The conditional use permit, therefore, was limited to live acoustic - non-amplified - music outdoors on Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (limited to one occurrence a week) and on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Indoor music could be played Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. Karaoke would be allowed inside only once each month.
The issue will be debated during a public hearing set to follow immediately after the consent calendar.
In other city business, the council will convene at 5 p.m. for a closed session to discuss a property negotiation, will then meet with legal counsel to discuss the lawsuit originally filed by Preston Cook's Argonaut Investments regarding the condo-conversion of Rancho de Sonoma, and will then convene a study session at 5:15 p.m. to hear a presentation from the Sonoma County Water Agency regarding the city's water supply.
The regular council meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the Community Meeting Room at 177 First St. W.
COMMENTS:
ANIPSEOJ@ATT.NET wrote on Jun 30, 2009 12:22 PM:
" The people against had better get at many more signatures before the wed night meeting as they can or they are going to lose. "
vze3p2y5@verizon.net wrote on Jun 30, 2009 10:28 PM:
" I would hope that anyone that would be opposed to entertaining music for local citizens would even rise to the higher order of controlling the loud noises of motorcycles that are coming into this town on the weekends and scaring tourists off the streets of the plaza and intruding on the peaceful nature of our wonderful community. A Sunday morning walk on The Overlook Trail becomes destroyed by the sound of motorcycles zooming thru the plaza. Let's keep Sonoma a quiet place to enjoy. City Council, please take this up as enforceable by the Sonoma police. Otherwise we will possbly have hundreds of tourists motorcycles ZOOMING thru town every weekend. "
tambourineman2@comcast.net wrote on Jun 30, 2009 11:32 PM:
" We should ban loud trucks, loud busses, loud cars, loud airplanes from flying over, sirens, big-rigs, bands, parades, tourists, people who complain, music in general, all speech except whispers. And you already have hundreds of m'cycles cruising Sonoma all week and weekends. They have the gall to stop and buy petrol, shop at stores, eat at restaurants etc etc. Where will it end?????? "
Over the years my opinions have changed but this will never change: Jesus Christ, Lord, God and Savior, died on the cross and rose from the dead to pay for my sin.
