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Superior Feed Crops

Two microbes hold key to superior feed crops

SCIENTISTS have identified two microbes that build bigger and more resilient feed crops, potentially boosting farmers’ bottom lines by millions of dollars.

The biotechnology research conducted at Flinders University in South Australia identified two strains of microbes that dramatically increase the ability of lucerne to fix atmospheric nitrogen, boosting the feed crop’s early growth and resilience, and ultimately its yield.

Research by medical biotechnology PhD student Hoang Xuyen Le drew on the hundreds of strains of endophytic actinobacteria, which grow naturally within legume roots. His research isolated and identified two strains of microbes that in laboratory and glasshouse trials were shown to promote growth in the shoots of the legume plants.

The research was supervised by Professor Chris Franco from Flinders and Ross Ballard from South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI). A patent has been lodged in relation to the two strains.

Nitrogen is absorbed by the plants through the formation of external nodules by symbiotic rhizobium bacteria that grow in the nodules. Professor Franco said that following the inoculation of the lucerne seeds with spores of the actinobacteria, the nodules grew significantly larger, fixing greater amounts of nitrogen.

“Up to 50 or even 70 per cent more nitrogen was fixed,” Professor Franco said.

The effect was to substantially improve the establishment of the lucerne, increase its resilience in drought conditions and also boost its yield.

“We found that our two main strains gave us a crop yield increase of 40 to 50 per cent in the glasshouse, and we would look for at least a 20 per cent improvement in the field,” Professor Franco said.

He said as much as 25 per cent of the higher levels of nitrogen persisted in the soil, improving the growing conditions for subsequent crops.

The Flinders biotechnologists will now expand their trials on lucerne in the field, and will also look for similar effects in other legume crops, including peas, chick peas and faba and soya beans.

Further research is required to understand the underlying mechanism of the bugs: while it is likely that their natural propensity to produce bioactive compounds is partly responsible for increasing the general robustness of the inoculated lucerne by reducing disease, they may also be encouraging the growth of rhizobium bacteria in the soil.

Professor Franco said that actinobacteria offer an environmentally friendly way of controlling disease, especially fungal root diseases such as Rhizoctonia, reducing the need for fossil-derived pesticides and fertiliser.

The potential to capture atmospheric nitrogen offers a major environmental benefit.

The legume seed crop, based in the South East of South Australia, is the basis of a national feed industry worth close to $100 million a year

“This is very good news all round,” Professor Franco said.

The Economic Taliban

You think that small-world, backward, ignorant, faith-based horseshit can’t take hold here? Wake up and direct your attention to a new organization that calls itself “Faith Driven Consumer”.

In their PR release they claim to be a “consumer advocacy organization representing 41 million Christian consumers who spend $2 trillion annually.” In this same release, they tout an ability to “rate the faith-compatibility of Hollywood films, measuring how they will resonate with faith-driven audiences, and predicting box office performance.”

At Variety’s recent #PurposeSummit, Chris Stone, founder of Faith Driven Consumer commented, “Hollywood has had some big hits, and some big misses, but the industry is working hard to get it right. That’s why we are excited to participate in this summit and engage entertainment professionals – helping them deliver the content that Faith Driven Consumers want.”

And when simple arm-twisting does not yield the desired result, “statistics” come to bear in the form of: “According to recent research from American Insights, 89% of Faith Driven Consumers (FDCs) feel they have different entertainment needs than the marketplace at large. Despite the increase in targeted content, 71% of FDCs feel that the entertainment industry currently doesn’t adequately acknowledge, welcome and provide for them as Christians.”

We pause from recounting current affairs to reflect on the past wisdom exhibited by European countries in expelling their religious zealots. Where did they end up? Here. God bless us. Are we amazed that the “darkness-which-is-religion” has not been attenuated in light of scientific and educational advancements made in the last few hundred years? Not really. Zealots never have been interested in change. Change threatens their power base.

From “the Moral Majority” to the block of people identified as “Christian Conservatives”, there have always been sociopaths who seek to leverage the weak-minded to advance their own agendas. The FDC and their Grand Poobah are just the latest incarnation.

Our nation has committed unfathomable resources (and a good number of citizen’s lives) to fighting overseas groups which are seen to be in opposition to our ideals of freedom. Let us not overlook those who seek to undermine our liberty at home through censorship, coercion and economic terrorism. We fight them overseas so we don’t have to fight them at home. Let us hope that we don’t open our front doors someday to a gun-toting, bible-waving, fanatic who will command us to believe what is “right” or face the consequences.

The Closer

What is your preference for your third date perfume? I suspect all women have one. It’s the one I save for the special, soon-to-be-intimate occasions…when a relationship is new and I’ve not yet had time to dwell on his semi-obvious but potential-deal-breaker faults. Mine happens to be “Boudoir” by Vivian Westwood.

I discovered it in 1998…and frankly by accident…as I was surfing the offerings at one of those “overstock” places in the local Mall. [Ed. – Lord knows how they get the smell of such establishments out of the building when they change tenants.] And it has become the only perfume I can wear. It is both hyper-floral yet subdued with a permanence that lasts all day. It also requires you to wash the sheets ladies – so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

It is dedicated to a strong, feminine woman whose sensuality borders on the overtly sexual. It’s the green light scent. The fragrance bloom creates a private, intimate space which is both charming and seductive. Imagine making your personal scent map to guide your lover to your points of interest.

The designer, Martin Gras, intended to create a fragrance that would make all men turn their heads…after the woman wearing it walks by. The top notes are aldehydes, sweetly-fresh bergamot, hyacinth, and orange blossom. The heart is sweet and opulent with jasmine, luscious rose, narcissus, carnation, orris root, cardamom and coriander. The base brings patchouli, warm and milky sandal wood, tobacco leaves, cinnamon and powdery soft vanilla.

The bottle was designed by Fabrice Legros. The cap is fashioned as a globe encircled by a ring, which symbolize the power of femininity.

[Our take: Until they invent a scent called “23”…which can create immediate interest in an otherwise “mature” “cooch”, this is the one. It delivers. Remember where you left your panties.]

Why Mr. Grey Needs to be Spanked

5 Reasons Why Mr. Grey Needs to be Spanked

The trilogy has sparked a national debate on multiple fronts regarding female sexuality, including commentary from feminists, the BDSM community and others.

Dr. Warren Shepell, a psychologist and founder and president of Warren Shepell Consultants Corp., which provided Employee Assistance Program services to more than 2,000 companies and where he counseled couples for more than 25 years before he sold the company in 2005, says plenty of the cultural focus inspired from the book is misplaced.

“Much of the commentary I’ve read seems to assume a sexually static role for men, that ‘men will be men’ and there’s really little hope for change, but men are not static; they can experience more than just a basic, primitive satisfaction,” says Shepell, who recently published “A Woman’s Pleasure,” (www.awomanspleasure.com), a novel under the pen name J.F. Kelly, which explores the emotional layers of physical relationships.

Shepell outlines some of the ways in which Mr. Grey misses the boat on the richness possible within female sexuality.

• BDSM is not the pinnacle of sexual adventure. “For all the bells and whistles involved in BDSM, including various fetishes, whips, chains or demands, I don’t think it’s all that interesting,” he says. “For one, it is role playing, rather than two people expressing their souls through a loving act. And, it’s pretty black and white, with one playing the boss and the other as the submissive. In the long run, it can be damaging, hurtful, and degrading, but what makes it interesting to people, I think, is that BDSM is unusual and that it caters to past scripts of control and domination learned early on in life. It is not liberating nor does it promote equality between men and women.”

• Mr. Grey is emotionally unavailable. Contracts for sex, gifts given from afar and a general take-it-or-leave-it attitude illustrate a man who is willing to serve his own needs, and only his needs.

“A psychologist could have a heck of a multiple-choice option from which to diagnose Mr. Grey – perhaps narcissistic personality disorder, among many others,” Shepell says. “My hope is that men and women can understand that this is not a desirable personality.”

• He is sexually uncompromising. While some young, immature and insecure women who are hungry for love may fall for a man who manipulates and one-sidedly dominate them, most women prefer lovemaking with romance, appreciation, respect and caring with plenty of foreplay, satisfaction and afterglow.

• Today’s woman is much more proactive than a man like Mr. Grey might admit. Women enjoy sex and lovemaking as much as men. This is a deceptively profound statement, because the conventional thinking among many is that men are much more sexual.

“Our society still likes its gender roles, and many are happy to conform to these roles,” he says. “Fortunately, I think there is increasing awareness that women fantasize about sex and lovemaking as much as men.”

• A woman’s pleasure is a man’s pleasure. Mr. Grey doesn’t seem to appreciate the joy of experiencing a woman’s satisfaction. A complaint from many old-school men is that their wife or girlfriend doesn’t give them enough sex. Men tend to reach orgasm four to five times faster than women. In order to make their wife or girlfriend happy, men should try being more attentive, passionate and take time in their sexual and lovemaking encounters.

“Why wouldn’t a man want a woman to be sexually fulfilled? – Her satisfaction usually means more enthusiasm and frequency of sex, in addition to stronger bonds within the relationship,” Shepell says. “If women were totally satisfied with their sexual and lovemaking experiences, women would welcome the lovemaking experience as much as men.”

Dr. Warren Shepell holds a Ph.D. in counseling psychology. He is the author of “A Woman’s Pleasure,” (www.awomanspleasure.com), written under the pen name J.F. Kelly, a work of erotica fiction that follow the sizzling hot, yet romantic and sensually adventures of twenty-five very different men as they encounter their first intimate, most erotic, and most sensual experiences in satisfying the desires of women in A Woman’s Pleasure.

A pioneer in the Employee Assistance Programs industry, through which corporations provide mental health counseling for employees and their families, Shepell earned the Silver Lifetime Achievement Award from Benefit Canada for his work. Find him on Facebook at J.F. Kelly, A Woman’s Pleasure and WShepell and Instagram at a_womans_pleasure and Twitter at @wswebstars.

If you would like to run the above article, please feel free to do so. I can also provide images to accompany it. If you’re interested in interviewing Warren Shepell or having him write an exclusive article for you, let me know and I’ll gladly work out the details. Lastly, please let me know if you’d like to receive a copy of his book, “A Woman’s Pleasure,” for possible review.

Pavel’s Documentary

Fine art documentary and travel photography by Pavel Gospdinov

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Pavel’s Documentary

I am documenting my travels, in any city, at any chance. For me, photography is a search for the real and the genuine.  makes me happy and compels me to smile!

My foremost passion is travel photography. I prefer traveling to off-the-beaten path destinations around the world capturing local life and local cultures, towns and streets, communities and people in their natural environment. I started to travel more frequently after I visited the Siwa Festival in Egypt a few years ago. The whole experience made me feel unbelievably happy. Since then I have been fortunate to travel to many remarkable places. I have visited twenty-six countries so far including Bangladesh, Egypt, India and Morocco.

I seek the unknown and I look for the light within the shadows. My gift is to explore the unexpected in the ordinary. My passion for travel photography transfers to capturing stories and documentary photography. There is always a story to be told and sometimes it reveals itself before my camera while I am traveling.

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Pavel’s Documentary

Naturally connected to travel photography is street photography. I believe that because of the personal, unfiltered nature of this style, the street scenes resonate to a universal level, they act as mirrors where the audience can see themselves reflected.

I like also photographic impressionism, minimalism, even surrealism sometimes and definitely adore black and white. Very often my travel photography is associated with colors but I think that black and white travel photography has its own unique charm and beauty.

Recently I started to experiment with long exposure and night photography. In that connection to the nocturnal, urban landscape photography became an interesting part of my work.

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Pavel’s Documentaryhttps://plus.google.com/114962744026762235716

My workflow involves conscientious attention to detail in my field technique, along with work in the digital darkroom to fine tune, optimize and adjust contrasts, colors, tonalities, luminosity, etc.
My influences are first and foremost everything I see, feel and experience

I love multimedia, digital story-telling, occasional sarcasm, the TV series “Two and a half men” and “Allo, Allo”. I am obsessed with reading books.

website http://www.pavelgospodinov.com/

Ultra Vision Art Contest

No, this is not a reason to run to your local ophthalmologist.

This is LG Electronics USA’s newest accomplishment – Ultra HD TV (UHDTV) – which is available on their high-end flat panel televisions. Instead of standard 1920 x 1080 “Full HD” resolution, LG’s UHDTV offers 3840 x 2160 resolution – quadruple the number of pixels – yielding an unprecedented level of image clarity and detail. To commemorate this technical achievement, LG Electronics has opened a digital artist’s competition titled “Art of the Pixel” for those skilled enough to utilize the full capability of their OLED TVs.

Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor, producer, director and modern art enthusiast Neil Patrick Harris will act as artistic advisor and ambassador for the endeavor, lending advice, encouragement and inspiration in various ways to both the students and LG over the summer.

He is a contemporary art collector and supporter, as well as a regular fixture at major art events such as Art Basel, Art Platform and Armory Fair. “I have an enormous respect for young artists who are out there taking chances and pushing boundaries with their work,” said Harris. “As an avid collector, I’m excited to see how advances in display technology open the door to a whole new art form and a whole new generation of digital artists.” Entrants have until July 13, 2014 to submit their work. Finalists from each participating school will be announced in August.

The program will culminate with an art gala event in New York City in September where Harris will help announce the winner and LG will provide more than $250,000 in student and university awards. Participating schools are: the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD), Maryland Institute College of Arts (MICA), Pacific Northwest College of Art (PCNA), Parsons The New School for Design, Pratt Institute, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) and School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (SMFA). As the first to introduce Ultra HD TV to the United States and as the industry leader in OLED TV, LG is uniquely positioned to provide the canvas for today’s digital artwork with its latest display technologies. LG’s Ultra HD TVs offer increased resolution – more than 8 million pixels – which means the finer details of artists’ work will come to life with incredible clarity and brilliant detail as compared to Full HD displays. LG’s OLED TVs offer incredible color accuracy and an infinite contrast ratio for brighter, more vibrant images. In addition to providing the ultimate display technology, LG OLED TVs offer an elegant design with a remarkably slim bezel and super-slim screen depth.

For more on The Art of the Pixel, please visit www.lgusa.com/LGSupportsTheArts.

 

Summer Photo Contest

Finalist photos will bee seen by our viewers in the USA and abroad. There is no criteria, for images, but keep in mind, are are seeking  artistic, and original captures. Good luck and thank you from all of us at Image and Style Magazine. Contest Rules:

  • Open to all photographers
  • Not open to Image and Style Magazine employees.

Click to submit your work here:  editor@imageandstylemagazine.com[:pt]We’re searching for the most talented photographers to lead the summer’s visual arts promtoion.  A jury of industry experts, will pick the top 5 photos which will be published in the 2014 anniversary issue of Style Magazine, included a four page feature article, and a two day Stay in beautiful Southern CA.  Finalist photos will bee seen by our viewers in the USA and abroad. There is no criteria, for images, but keep in mind, are are seeking  artistic, and original captures. Good luck and thank you from all of us at Image and Style Magazine. Contest Rules: