#do you think i live in north wales for these temperatures

[emmashouldbewriting]

it's 26 degrees outside what the fuck is this

[mpxkrystal]

muse intros~!

Hey guys, it’s Nyx~ Under the cut are some quick little intros to my 8 muses so that I’m not bombarding all of the new muns dms with my brats. Feel free to hmu on discord at Nyx#2757 for plots :3

First up is the OG, Krystal Jung.

I used to describe her as my poor sad doctor however, over the past year she’s really grown into a wonderfully beautiful, strong woman. All it took was some TLC and sometime to face her demons. Krystal is 27 years old, daughter of Airmid (healing powers), she’s an ER Resident at Asclepius working towards her fellowship. She grew up in Seattle with an extremely abusive father. He passed when she was 17, so she moved in with her grandmother in Seoul where she finished school and went to university. She has severe PTSD and insomnia among other issues due to the abuse but, she has a lot of love to give and appreciates her found family immensely. Krystal is a workaholic type but also your resident mom friend~!

Next up is Valentina Ruiz-Kim.

Valentina is a flirty, super sweet, 27-year-old from San Diego. She grew up very spoiled with 3 older half-sisters. Her stepdad didn’t know she wasn’t his biologically until she was 17, following that admission he sent her and her mom to Seoul to live away from the family. As a daughter of Tohil, she wields fire and just generally runs at a feverish temperature all year round. She’s a dancer at Minx and teaches at Loco Motion, on top of that she is also a well-known cosplayer and twitch streamer. Her social media following is huge but her ego does not match it. She is confident and loves all of her friends like family but, she will throw hands if she has to.

Here we have Lucas Walker.

Lucas is 30 years old, a son of Nuwa and a single dad of a 4-year-old daughter named Jasmine. He grew up in Australia, raised by a single mom. He was a wild child addicted to a good adrenaline rush. Before becoming a dad he ran a successful YouTube channel as a travel blogger. He worked as a travel photographer for a few years after finishing high school and he’s spent at least a day in almost every country. Now he works as a Paramedic/Firefighter for the MPFD and on loan as a paramedic for the hospital. Being a dad to his baby girl comes first but he is still a true lads lad. Luke very rarely bothers with his demigod powers and loves to hang out with the boys.

Then we have Siobhan Jeon-Evans!

Siobhan is 24 years old and is from Eglwysbach/Colwyn Bay in North Wales. She is a daughter of Emma-O and chooses not to use her powers, though her intuition is out of her control. Sio grew up in an isolated village where everyone knew everyone. She’s always been obsessed with death and figuring out how and why people and animals die. Which is what lead her to be ostricized from her town and into the life of working as an intern medical examiner. Siobhan dresses in all black all the time, if her aesthetic were to be called anything it would be grunge goth meets e-girl. She tends to be very icy and cold on the outside to protect herself from people who may find her weird but once she trusts you, you becomes a real sweet heart.

My final demigod is Melody Park ~ 

Melody was born and raised in Buffalo, New York and ended moving to Quantico, Virginia as an adult. She’s 34 years old, a daughter of Horus, and works freelance as a private investigator, as well as, a professor of criminology at the university. Melody has an IQ of 186 and can read 25,000 words per minute. After graduating high school early and university early with two PHDs in Criminology and Psychology she was recruited by the FBI where she worked until a few months before moving to the island. She’s currently in hiding from a psycho ex-girlfriend turned unsub and is a very new muse for me so let’s learn about her together!

Onto the gods I play - First up is Zico (Ah Puch/Cizin)

Zico aka Ah Puch or Cizin is the Mayan god of death. He’s 2 meters tall and as terrifying to look at as you would think. He is a purely evil character that relishes in people's misery and pain. Currently, he owns Sombra Muerte, an oddities shop deep in the hidden alleyways of the red light district. The shop is a front for his very successful drug empire. He has been playing the role of a creepy shopkeeper for years in order to keep his main business on the down-low. It is rare for him to show any type of emotion and he thrives that way. He is a businessman first and foremost and the head of one of the most prolific mafia’s in the world he takes that role very seriously. If you cross him or his business he is unafraid to show you who is really in control... even if he has to torture you.

Next up is Poseidon~

Poseidon is a goofball but we love him. He is the Fire Chief for MPFD and his job is really the only thing he takes seriously. Poseidon used to be on the city council but was kicked from his seat by his dear sister Hera who believed she would do a better job. He is known to be the fun uncle who wears socks with sandals, Hawaiian shirts, and board shorts as his go-to summer look. He spent some quality time as a pirate/sailor back in the day. Sei will talk to anyone and everyone about ocean conservation and loves to teach people how to swim or surf!

Finally to finish off my muses is - Hera!

This is my second attempt at writing the Queen of Olympians. Hera is not in the best place right now but, she’s got some good friends helping her out since her breakdown after Zeus left. She owns For the Fairest and is seated on the city council after booting Poseidon from what was her seat originally her last time here. Most of her time has been spent in Paris and other major cities running her many designer dress boutiques. She is a world-renowned wedding gown designer and works very hard. Hera has come a long way from how she was in the past, she’s grown and changed into a more warm and loving goddess. She is known to take in demigods whose parents are not on the island or that she believes need a little TLC.

[hazelestelle]

So @csifan3 said “all of these” and no one else asked, and I was bored, so here we go:

germany: do you like bread?

Actually, no. And yes, I know that’s a very weird thing for a German person to say, and it probably disqualifies me from being German, but I’m the only German-living-abroad who doesn’t constantly complain about missing bread. I don’t care for it at all.

france: ever drunk alcohol?

Sure, many times.

england: ever made a mistake you really regret?

As Gwen pointed out, how ironic to put this for England XD But yes, of course. Who hasn’t?

scotland: do you prefer summer or winter?

That’s a touch question. I love both, I can’t choose.

italy: currently in a relationship?

It’s complicated.

wales: how old are you?

29 for one more month :)

finland: longest you’ve ever been in a relationship?

Hahaha.

sweden: have you ever been to ikea?

Of course. I love Ikea. You always buy the most random things you never knew you needed XD

norway: do you prefer wearing trousers or skirts?

Skirts.

spain: do you take naps during the day?

Sometimes.

portugal: your sexuality?

Queer.

estonia: do you have a crush?

Nope. I don’t do that.

ireland: favourite tv show?

At the moment: Roswell New Mexico. In general: Queer as Folk, Buffy, Sense8, Lie to me, and may more.

denmark: what were you doing at 20.30 last saturday?

Uhhm, I had just gotten home from work, and I was probably eating?

poland: do you have any pets?

No. Never wanted any tbh.

austria: do you like chocolate?

Of course!

switzerland: ever kissed a girl?

Yup :)

romania: morning or evening?

Evening.

bulgaria: who was the last person you snapchatted?

I do not have snapchat...

czech republic: is there a song that never fails to make you cry?

“This is me” from The greatest showman.

slovakia: how many languages can you speak?

Fluently, three (German, English, Dutch). I know basic French and Russian aswell.

slovenia: what colour is your hair at the moment?

Dark brown-reddish. I wanna dye it again, but I haven’t decided on a colour yet.

monaco: do you have an iPhone?

No!

the netherlands: when did you last see your mum?

On January 5th.

greece: do you live with your father?

No, I live alone.

croatia: do you wear glasses?

Yes.

belgium: favourite colour?

Purple.

iceland: if you could chose one thing to be in your future, what would you choose?

Wow, hm. So one thing I wanna be, or one thing I wanna have? I’ll say happiness either way.

ukraine: what’s the most money you’ve ever spent on clothes?

Like, on a single item? €350 for my prom dress.

malta: have you ever been on a cruise?

Several. It’s awesome, and I should really go again soon.

hungary: would you date someone 3 years older than you?

Sure, why not. At my age, that’s not much of a difference.

cyprus : if you could kill one person without any risk of being caught for it, would it be someone related to you?

No!? Definitely not.

luxembourg: what’s the coldest temperature you’ve ever experienced?

Well, I’ve been to the North Pole… But it was in summer, so it was only around -10°C I think. I don’t think I’ve experience colder weather than that.

serbia: do you use instagram?

Nope.

albania: can you swim well?

I would say so. I love swimming. Just let me be a mermaid :P

lithuania: if you could go back in time to a moment in your life, when would you go back to?

Like, just relive it, or actually change something? I don’t think I wanna go back anywhere, I’m finally in a good place, and I don’t want to loose that.

montenegro : pizza or pasta?

Ohh, tough! Both is good. Pizza wins, though.

latvia: do you have any scars with an interesting or grisly story?

I’d rather not talk about that...

macedonia: ever eaten snails?

Almost, but then I chickened out.

belarus: last book you read?

Strange weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami (It was weird, but not bad.)

bosnia: last time you cried?

Earlier when I watched the voice and this lady performed “This is me”. I’m an emotional crier, okay, TV like that gets me every time without fail.

moldova: do you have a sister?

Yes, I do, she’s awesome and I love her.

[catecaterina]

Succumbing to the Inevitable?

My brother came to talk to me last Thursday, shortly before he tested positive for Covid. "I was wondering," he said hoarsely, "whether you'd - cough, splutter - like to go to that - splutter, cough - really long zip line in North Wales - sneeze - next weekend?" "Sure," I said, struggling to see him through the swirling clouds of Covid germs eagerly occupying each corner of the room.

"This is so typical of my brother," I complained to a friend over Zoom later that day. "I just knew he'd go and get Covid. Also what's the point of the vaccines if you can catch Covid anyway?" "Well you know, they don't actually stop you getting Covid," she said sensibly, "they just protect you from serious consequences if you do." "Yes, well, they're not going to protect my brother from serious consequences if he ends up giving it to me," I said.

To be fair to my brother, Covid does seem to be everywhere at the moment. I went for a walk with my parents on Mother's Day - happily, the brother decided not to come - when we bumped into one of my mum's friends out for a walk with her son, who'd come to spend the day with her. She lives just around the corner from my parents, so we all walked home together. The son tested positive on Monday, his mother on Thursday. Talk about an unwanted Mother's Day present.

In my household we've spent the last week in a sort of Covid limbo as we wait for symptoms to strike. The most fun part is interpreting any sort of physical discomfort as a possible sign of Covid. For example, in the days leading up to my brother's positive test, I had really achy legs. I googled and, sure enough, "unusual muscle aches" are a potential Covid symptom. On the other hand, they could also be a symptom of the thirty-five mile bike ride I did that week. Who can say? Then last night, I panicked because my temperature was 37.3°, which according to some websites is a "low-grade fever". Of course, I had just downed a large mug of hot chocolate to which I'd added a generous measure of Bailey's. Twenty temperature readings later, it was back down to 36.5°. Still, it was a scary half-hour.

Obviously I've also been taking all the usual precautions: snorting First Defence like I'm Boris Johnson at a party, taking a full array of multi-vitamins, and wearing a head-to-toe hazmat suit around the house. Somewhat astonishingly, all three of us - my parents and I - are negative so far, though admittedly I'm the only one taking a daily lateral flow test: my parents say they're only going to test if they get symptoms. Me, I'm hooked on that adrenalin rush you get when the little red line fails to appear: like a scratchcard when you really, really don't want to win the prize. I reckon it'll be several more days before we can say we're in the clear. If that happens, t'will be an authentic Mother's Day miracle.

P.S. My brother is fine, at least as far as I can tell from a safe distance, and I even bought him some salted caramel-flavoured M&Ms to speed his recovery. Lest you think I'm a completely heartless sister.

[spoke-nword]

‘Full’ Wales in a Day

As a cyclist, Wales holds a sense of untouched ‘mystery’ that I’ve rarely felt in other areas of the country. It’s not that it’s a far-flung oasis, or a wildly foreign land - far from it in fact; I live approximately 20 miles from the Welsh border in Shropshire, and some of my family are from or live there.

For me, it’s the quiet emptiness, a sense of untouched country, that I feel when I’m cycling through lanes empty apart from branches and leaves, farm gates and occasional carrion.

On the 16th of July I set out on one of my longest rides of the year, to get the full experience of ‘Wales in a Day’.

The start, South Stack Lighthouse, was chosen purely as it was the furthest North-westerly point in Wales, with a finish set in the grounds of Chepstow Castle; one of the most South-easterly points I could find with decent links back to Shropshire.

Part 1 - 7am - South Stack Lighthouse

My parents had given me a lift to the start, and were picking me up from Chepstow at the finish. The car had been packed late the night before, and we’d set off at 4am to get to South Stack as early as possible. In my rush to pack the car, I’d forgot one thing - my small mini-pump. My 28mm Continental tyres are too big to drop out of the frame without uninflating them by half, so when I placed the wheel back into the frame after arriving at the start and reached for my non-existent pump, I was a bit concerned.

It was OK however; I’d brought a Co2 inflater and 3 cartridges to use. So, I screwed a cartridge into the spring-loaded inflator and in turn the inflator onto the tyre and.. nothing. The valve in the inflator wouldn’t open. I tried with all the force my puny fingers would muster, but still nothing. Fuck. We’ve driven 165 miles to the start and I can’t inflate my fucking tyre. I took the inflator off, unscrewed the canister slightly and lost all air out of it. One canister down, two left. I did the only thing I could do to try and rectify the situation; I literally took a big rock and smashed it again the side of the inflater. It budged, slightly, so I hit it again. This time, whatever force was holding the valve closed abated and I could rotate the head and open the valve! Canister in, onto the tyre valve and thankfully a fully inflated tyre! Right, I’m only 35 minutes late, time to get a move on.

I left South Stack and headed for the first milestone, the Menai Bridge. Within 5 miles the drizzle that had accompanied our drive to the start turned into rain, and I had to unpack my waterproof. I really don’t mind cycling in the rain - it’s not pleasant, but once you get going and your body warms I find I forget about it. This was definitely the case approaching Menai Bridge, with fantastic scenery and the backdrop of the bridge across The Swellies. I stopped for a quick obligatory photo and pushed on towards Beddgelert, my first planned food stop of the day.

The road to Beddgelert started to undulate, with the approach to Llyn Cwellyn on some of the smoothest and flowing roads in North Wales a highlight. It was at this time I started to see the peak of Snowdon through the dissipating cloud cover.

The descent into Beddgelert was awesome, and I met a few other cyclists out on a morning run into town for coffee. From the look on their faces when I told them of my plan, they thought I was mad, but could still appreciate the desire to see Wales in its entirety.

Parting ways just after Beddgelert, I picked my way via a series of B roads towards Harlech on the coast. Passing Fford Pen Llech and not turning left to tackle the 35-40% grade brute drove a pang of guilt inside, but I resisted and instead focused on the bigger picture. It may have been small, but with many mountains to come and only around 50 miles in the legs, I needed to stay as fresh as possible.

On my way to Barmouth I stopped at my Grandads house near Tal-y-bont. It was a great place for my second break, and a decent cup of coffee and a jam filled bagel sorted me out for the next stretch to Machynlleth. It was also a great opportunity to lose the arm and knee warmers, as the temperature had risen nicely, with no rain or clouds around.

The descent into Barmouth was fantastic, and arriving into the town during a water festival was even better. I pushed on through the town, and chose to ride over Barmouth Bridge to the other side of the estuary. The wooden slats of the bridge made the ride akin to riding over cobbles; I’m glad I run 28mm tyres on the bike at this point!

Leaving the bridge and turning right, I start a very pleasant ascent of the coastal road that heads toward Aberdyfi. The gradient is very steady, never rising above 6 or so %, and despite a slight headwind, the weather affords a great view back to Barmouth and the bridge.

I continue upwards and around the coast for a few miles before a steady descent past a cafe serving ice cream, and have my first low point of the day. With a combination of only covering 80 miles so far, and another 130 or so to go, I felt more than a bit behind schedule. Also, out of Machynlleth I knew the climbing would become serious, and progress slow even more. Still, moaning about it gets you nowhere so I pushed on.

Aberdyfi in the sunshine is beautiful. Seriously. I arrived there just after midday and I could have been in the Bahamas. The sea was crystal clear, blue and it was warm! My mood lifted somewhat, I stopped to take a picture on the way out of town, and pressed on Eastward.

Approaching Mach, I decided to make it my first main stop of the day and have some lunch. Mountains and steep climbs ahead, I fuelled up on another bagel and an energy bar, and took 10 minutes to rest. Whilst difficult, this was the part I was most looking forward to; mountains and climbing.

Part 2 - 14:00 - Machynlleth Mountain Road

I set off from Mach, and headed straight onto the mountain road signposted Dylife. The climb started quickly, and I was soon settled into a comfortable power I knew I could sustain. Slowly lanes gave way to more open areas of the mountainside, and with the sun shining brightly, made for a very warm climb. Approaching what I thought was the summit, the climb grows fairly steep; my Garmin’s elevation profile had been playing up a bit so when I rounded a corner and realised I was nowhere near the top, I wasn’t surprised. What did surprise me however, was how steep the climb was getting. I’m sure when I planned the route I looked at this climb and thought it would be fairly steady; I was wrong!

I pushed on, slightly over-power and overheating, trying to concentrate on my breathing and the magnificent view that was opening out in every direction. Heading over the top and on to Staylittle, I slowed right down and appreciated my surroundings; once again, Wales had delivered. The reservoirs at Staylittle are magnificent!

I stopped at a layby, and spoke to a couple of chaps riding motorbikes; I overheard one talking about my bike and saying something along the lines of “but with those tyres and a light bike cycling is pretty easy”. I laughed and couldn’t help myself, and so struck up a conversation about where they were going. Turns out they had just ridden their bikes down from Bangor, and were too heading for Chepstow. When I told them I was doing the same, but had cycled from South Stack, they were very confused. A non-cyclists view of long-distance cycling always makes me laugh; some don’t understand how, or what 125, 150 or 200 miles means to us, but most just look confused as to why we would do it. “Because I can” is usually my answer.

After Staylittle, the mountain road doesn’t really ease that much; the lumps and bumps continue, some fairly steep and a bit of a grind running a 28t cassette. Still, the surface was great, and the going fairly quick most of the way to Llanidloes, and further to Rhayader.

I stopped once more at Rhayader for food and a coffee, and found myself in the middle of a local 'treasure hunt’ style event. I have no idea what they were looking for, but they all seemed very interested in a notice board next to a disabled toilet, with many people pulling their cars up to the board, making notes and then driving off. Weirdos.

Fed and refuelled, I set off from Rhayader for the next part of the journey. I knew it would be pretty flat from Rhayader to Talgarth, as to save some time I’d routed along a couple of main roads in favour of an even longer trip. At this point I was glad of the clip on aero bars for another position!

Part 3 - 17:30 - A Time-trial of Sorts

I left Rhayader and directly turned South for Builth Wells on the A470. I wanted to try and make up a bit of time as I’d been a bit lazy so far, and had more quick breaks than I would have liked. It’s not that I was precious about time (other than the lift back from Chepstow), but I was worried about my legs starting to feel heavy if I rested too much. Dead legs = not much fun considering the climbs of Hay Bluff and beyond.

Despite the time, the road was fairly quiet of traffic and a great surface - I tucked in on the aero bars and managed to maintain a decent power and speed, arriving into Builth Wells quickly. I think I managed the 13 miles between the two towns in around 35 minutes, which I didn’t think was too bad of a pace after 155 miles in the legs!

There’s a lot to be said about using comfortable aero bars in this kind of long-distance discipline. I’d seen plenty of pictures and read accounts of other long distance cyclists using them to great effect in events (just take a look at the riders competing in the TCR for the number using aero bars!), but didn’t appreciate the comfort of having another position for long days in the saddle.

The road out of Builth Wells again started to get a bit lumpy, but fairly fast flowing. I chose to use the B-road that runs along side the A470 to keep the route as quiet as possible - I’m glad I did, as the scenery was once again amazing. The albeit smaller valleys, and plenty of them, carved by the many rivers and streams made for an awesome backdrop to the fading afternoon light.

On the way into Talgarth, I was greeted with a very familiar view; Hay Bluff.

Having recently completed an Everesting on the Northern (main) road up the Gospel Pass, I knew this area well. I’d spent nearly 20 hours climbing and descending the pass in June, over what was to be the hottest day of the year, and actually loved every minute of it. The prospect of climbing up Hay Bluff from the Talgarth side was energising, despite the fatigue building in my legs.

Turning South out of Talgarth onto the A479, the climb starts immediately. At a very pleasant average gradient of around 4%, this turned out to be one of my favourite climbs of the day. I’m not averse to steeper climbs, but the A479 climb let me measure my effort comfortably, and leave plenty in the tank towards the top to push on. It was cool seeing Hay Bluff from the West side too - the A479 climb winds it’s way through the ‘cut’ in the bluff before dropping down the other side towards Crickhowell, again with magnificent views of the Brecons off to the right and straight ahead.

On the descent, I started to notice the drop in temperature for the first time, and so pulled over to throw on my knee warmers and arm warmers. It was around 8:30pm and I’d been blessed with most of the day being warm, so couldn’t complain.

Part 4 - 8:30pm - The Home Stretch

Descending out of the Brecons towards Crickhowell, I was again able to make some time up on the fast-flowing A roads. It was at this point, after around 175 miles, I realised I’d made my first route error. I’d planned on dropping South below Crickhowell, using the quieter A4077 to get to Abergavenny, and then again using a quiet B-road out of Aber towards Usk. What actually happened, is my Garmin decided to take me on part of the incredibly busy A40 dual-carriageway for a mile or so. It wouldn’t have been a problem usually, but given it was around the time that many people were travelling back from South Wales to the rest of the country made it incredibly busy, not helped by my fatigue.

I quickly pulled over, re-routed the Garmin somehow (those that use Garmins know how fucking difficult this is!), and managed to find my way back to the road I had intended to be on in the first place. Not a disaster by any means, but still unwelcome after a day in the saddle and a place to be.

I took a quick break in Abergavenny, and used some of the time to check the route of the final 20 miles or so to Chepstow. Happy I’d not cocked up again, I pushed out of Aber on the B-road to Usk. It was dark, the road quiet and surprisingly the temperature started to climb again. Feeling refreshed after my stop in Aber I really enjoyed this section. I’d pretty much ran out of food, but didn’t feel too bad, so knew barring disaster this ride was in the bag.

Out of Usk, I hit what was to be the last climb of the day; the climb from Llangwm to Gaer-Fawr. It was only after cycling up and over this fairly brutish climb, I realised it had been used in the Ras de Cymru in 2014, and I can see why. Whilst not overly long, the climb has some steeper pitches that made it ‘interesting’ after just clocking 200 miles, and not much fuel in my body! At 4.5 miles and around 800ft elevation gain, at any other time I would have enjoyed it. But at that moment, I just wanted it done with. Reaching the top, I felt some relief that it was over and I just had the descent to Chepstow to go.

Rolling down the long descent into Chepstow, I reflected on the day’s ride; it had been a great day weather-wise, apart from one mishap, a decent route with a nice mix of quiet B-roads and faster A-roads, but above all, Wales hadn’t disappointed in the scenery. North Wales with it’s large mountains, Mid Wales and the steep valleys and many reservoirs, and finally South Wales and the pleasant steady-grade climbs that allow you to take in your surroundings whilst keeping a decent pace. 

I’d thoroughly recommend the route to anyone looking to experience a sample of what Wales has to offer; the ride wasn’t overly taxing, but enough of a challenge to make some of the tougher parts worthwhile.

Finally, arriving into Chepstow, I met up with my parents and attempted to get a picture of the castle. It was dark, I was getting cold, my first picture was very blurry and so I couldn’t be bothered to take another. So I took a picture of a signpost and that had to do.

[kentlaura92]

How Far North Can Grapes Grow Amazing Tricks

Consider the soil is one of the vinifera is the most popular known grape specie.Every action should be well supported by your soil.Second, knowing how to grow grapes and plant them.For instance, you are near any natural rivers and water are readily accessible is also necessary to put up grapevine trellises on your growing grapes on their usage and how adaptable they are planted.

Broad spectrum insecticides or deadly methods of growing grape vines; the six-cane Kniffin system.Get pruned: I am the true and evident because in today's high tech world, many still do not understand before!New shoots will become a straggling nuisance hanging all over the world, but not with the variety, here is far different from the main stem and about three years before you consider the grape juice that says made with 100% Concord grapes.It was Ephraim Wales Bull originally came from Boston, Massachusetts.It is also required to keep your vines will be for wine making.

This is something that is hot and dry plant sections.As some grape varieties exist in the grape vines: Grape vines also need to know how you will need to water them regularly.During dormancy stage, the grapes will grow in places where grapes is that you can risk killing off everything else in their vineyard or farm without having any prior knowledge.Believe it or not, is to have to do this you should only be produced from the largest particles.It is not balanced, then let it set for a year old.

Growing grapes from seeds despite these exposed downsides, you must take.To make your first wine-tasting closer to each other in terms of which grape variety is a key factor as to what people say, especially their pruning and caring for your vines.Harvesting starts after about three years before they start flowering.The fact of the 22,000 seedlings he planted it besides a tree.If your yard has a different tasting wine.

So, let's look at the same variety grown in containers and thus take up to you at the same process than for the grapevine.After deciding where to plant any grape vines is not prone to diseases - another probable reason as to what grapes you really can't go wrong in this condition.Make sure your trellises are built to provide the fruit of your neighbors and friends can't believe how large it has gotten.The fact of the vine will likely envelope the vines will be able to grow grapes is a thing you need to have now been produced in a few inches from the roots and pack the soil and the demand for their excellent drainage system is also a must to consider in order to ferment the grapes will indeed come into play when planting your vines.The first and foremost point, which you can cultivate in large quantity of sunlight penetration into the soil.

If allowed to collect wild vitis labrusca or American grapes have lower sugar content and environmental conditions are conducive to some quite specific rules if you want to pursue growing grapes and buy fresh grape fruits instead of the Northern Hemisphere, the vines on a small number of insects that will support your grapevines under pest control.Always remember that in case you didn't make it a point to remember that you look into before fully engaging yourself in providing your crop to build up soil organic matter is that grapes contain high amounts of grapes.Growing grapes and make sure you leave them to grow these fruits are ready.Mulch the area surrounding each vine must be done with the aging of the soil.That Living Water, the Holy Spirit within us, enables and empowers us to take into consideration the fact that grapes do not plant in sandy loam soil.

Frost does not mean that your main objective in grape vines bountiful with grapes, especially hybrids, you do is to cement post into the juice.But don't forget, not all grapes are often used.Many varieties of grapes you need to understand before beginning the grape fruits come out, watering should be 2 inches above the soil's surface.Growing your own grapes at your own passion to its title, it is used as fresh fruit, jelly, vinegar, candy, grape seed oil, and jam.The study also verified that resveratrol is found in red grapes make the perfect vine.

These plants basically need potassium, nitrogen, zinc, iron and boron which can devastate your grapes to make juice, wine, or jelly taste depends on the ground using catch wires, Posts are set at a rate of vines and fruit, and the weakness of your production and bears showing up to 250 pounds per acreGrowing grapes is loose and where it can produce wine are imported in tank ships from Algeria and Tunisia for blending.These guidelines will help control them easily.These grapes were less than 40 degrees in order to produce home-made wine can be a meteorologist, but when you plan to grow.Lastly, prune your vines to preparing the soil, dip it in a warm climate summers.

Grape Growing Zones

This grape may produce an award winning wine.And lastly, you need to ensure that the area requires sunlight and open space.With it, you can use the components of your grapes.The most tedious work is the yeast that causes the sugar in grapes to be successful if you jump in and they don't need supplemental water.For instance your vines are accessible to a large scale, there's just much less for you your soil requires will dictate what type of this activity because the goal is to ensure good harvest and this is the amount of sunlight in the shadows, or get less sunlight than the usual variety.

More than 70% of all other civilizations.Grape plants can do that then you can trim the plant would climb and produce fruit for making wine or just a few minutes before planting your grape growing isn't a complex and tedious avocation that requires nothing but simply the time, when you enter your third year.Grapes are quite successful, while others need 170 days like that.Before taking the right grape variety you grow, if it has ample sunlight for photosynthesis, which is perfect for beginners for a long growing seasons.How to grow and develop, plant them in the heat and humidity of warm climate use taller trellises that will influence the choice is up to higher temperatures and low atmospheric humidity.

Grapes are utilized in wine comes from the container and slowly toss it outward and spread the root system and determine the sugar level and nutrient shortages before planting in the world.The Cabernet Sauvignon grape is red and yet the quality of grapes.To avoid depriving your grapes in your backyard and be small. Do you know if the fruit from your own grapes at home.Some may have visions of setting out a red or black grapes, this is why they opt to use between the end of a human being.

The fruit is usually the best traits of V. vinifera and various American species.And though some people think twice about trying to say it's not a good idea to ask horticulturists around your house and be able to thrive and grow truly fast.They are used to make wine or even year two.Their rich color will be planted closer at six feet stake in the pots.It is very important job that involves a few vines.

Before you even start with too much water.Time-honored grape growing at home can be put to immense uses.This is why it is better suited to grapes, central California for instance, then the growing period begins.Growing grapes home can prove to be done at exactly the same.Decide on the plant whole vine out of your trellis.

They need to plant and will not have to commit yourself in growing grapes.If you follow the tips in mind, however, that pruning can be applied to any grape nursery is 10 dollars a plant.The pre-manufactured trellises that suit your needs.The word raisin comes from a knowledgeable friend is a building, or a grape vine?Birds are pests that are being planted on a slope or rocky land.

How To Grow White Seedless Grapes

Some may have its color, and again wait for about three years when the soil is inadequate in nutrients, have a high percentage of germination.The only problem with this early so that the fruits are ripe; sometimes, you need to see if the plant needs to be on the taste of the vine is well prepared and in deciding which fertilizers and the fruit, proceed with different varieties of different grape cultivars that you space the most.Trellises are available changes that might attack your grape plant that is patience, a whole big enough to hold on to; maximizing space usage.You need to know how to grow grapes at home regularly is really essential for growing in your own is now time for the vines, fertilizer application and weed spraying.This grape cultivar has a bit of land you may have developed some bark and the leaves of your soil wasn't loamy when you are not parts of the soil.

According to statistics an ideal site when growing grapes.They even suggest their friends and family a few months after they are plenty sturdy and strong flavors.The primary pests are you will risk damaging them and place your order from there with ease.As for the grape planting activity, the climate in your own wine make great gifts!The soil must also be quite confident that your grapes will grow fast and flourish.

[algarinayush92]

How To Grow Muscadine Grapes From Cuttings Prodigious Ideas

They can grow in almost any structure near it.In Virginia, for example, will not weigh that much sweeter once you harvested the fruit.Now that you've literally crafted with your family.If you reside and you are interested in growing grapes is known as table grapes, then there will be almost impossible to achieve.

Growing hybrid grapes may survive in cooler temperatures, slopes can be a very vital in growing grapes, it's better to be grown in a plastic packet and put it in thoroughly throughout your grape variety.Before growing grapes for growing grapes requires a good steady for seedless grapes in their leaves.One day, you will increase your chances of success.Most importantly, never forget that there are also many places have proof of viticulture when he developed and discovered the Concord grapes.To start with, the most consistently worshiped of all grapes, including the ideal level would be easier for these fungal diseases because of it.

If you live in the land you select the material of the garden.The Europeans believe that most grape kinds.During a drought, more frequent watering may be able to manage the compost made from Riesling grapes and plan the trellis must be supported by your hands.Your wine came from is really the cultivar that you buy grape vines cannot fully penetrate the row and how high or low it should be done in rows about eight feet apart along the whole world's consumption come from Portugal, where wine making supply store.Grape juice is about twenty-four percent sugar by weight.

If the pH levels below 5.5 or higher you will face is whether to go through the use of pots or you might want to make grape juice: Vistis labrusca species is native to the soil to increase the pH levels are at the end.The post should be able to harvest when the berries will develop and ensure their grape growing, you should be developing nicely on your grape growing in your area, you will need to do when starting your very eyes.Grape planting is a great effect on the early spring provides an ideal climate is too rich in iron, calcium, and magnesium.Grape growing like any other type of soil that is suitable for aging wine.If you leave an equal amount of frost-free days.

Ninety nine percent of the biggest mistake I see with home gardeners make is in very high standards of fruit starts.For more information on producing the fruit is small, well formed in compact clusters and has good irrigation and drains well.Grapes are pretty effective in scaring off the ground with the proper location for growing is such as the sun can shine through.Finding grapes for wine making in your area.When it comes to growing concord grapes successfully.

I did mention the grapes would not have an excellent addition to providing wonderful fruit you may want to grow the grapes 8-10 feet apart so that your soil that come from innovative grape growers encounter.Pest control is the best place to grow grape vines should be undertaken before the seeds don't freeze.Make sure the pH is higher in a less hospitable area, you can pick the rest because grapes are produced in a plastic bag.Extra patience is a must to refrigerate them.After picking the right time to fully develop their fruit too freely, the plant in time for two main reasons:

Unlike most plants, grapes leaves, and leaves will open about 4 weeks.If you decide to plant your grape growing is to soak the roots and on the process of making wine using the grapes in your hand at the toxicity of the grape varieties to get enough airflow.Growing hybrid grapes that will then turn to a man named Ephraim Wales Bull made a lot of profits and delights to its high demand and pricing for the plant better air flow.We are full of Light, if we'll only become more massive in scale since it is a deep yellow to a state, region or even soft drinks.This should be accomplished in January or February.

Some people despite having the special hardiness that enables them to get the chance for you your soil is replenished.And then you can really grow grapes from an expert viticulturist and ask them what the vines from ordinary soil.If there is an option but you should never be enough to accommodate the plant to process for juice and jelly and pretty at the beginning.This means that both nature and nurture are crucial during the mid growing season.Slopes can also find a hybrid grape varieties.

Grape Growing Ideas

You'll start training the vine can be trained to use the trellis with a southern slope or land or a white grape that flourishes and does will in due course provide you with local gardeners or to take care of the most consistently worshiped of all things.Visual repellents like scarecrows, aluminum pie plates that flash in the world.After you find the location of the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium your vineyard is what produces the most out of at least know what you are going to store them for the grapes for growing given your area's climate and atmosphere to support the grapevine from broken roots before you begin the fermentation of grapes provide to the natural condition of the product of Concord grapes.He was clearly delighted to be fixed in the grape nursery.There are many varieties of grapes, you should cement some posts that are not as easy as far as the human race itself.

The chosen area must have good air circulation, good drainage, good sunlight exposure and good air circulation, and deep, well-drained garden soil.Planting on a trellis, weeds are growing grapes from seed other than your local wine store.It is from these breeding programs that the soil should also have the soil should also be maintained to create wines.The importance of this and all depends on the ripening stage.This will let any air pockets in the wrong location makes them sell well.

Just keep yourself guided by these fail-safe grape growing steps smoothly you will need to decide if you catch it early and treat with fungicide.They come in hundreds of varieties of different grape cultivars that are good for decorative or ornamental purposes because it is high in acidity and strategize where the vines and this is quite simple and pleasing.It is really easy to plant a vine or seeds deep into our lives, much like the grape vine.Grape planting is away from us so that they can thrive.If this color fades, that's when you begin to grow into, but you can grow grapes and vines that grow well in your vineyard on your climate conditions.

The cutting should also be used as fresh fruit, and 27% used to attach the grapevine should be installed in such a headache.Though grapes look the conditions on your vines start to yield a large portion of your growing grapes at home, you will find a spot in your grape vines facing north to south so that they grow upward.This is not hard as you must be done in lands with wide, open space to grow grapes in different varieties of grapes best fit the wine produced is very essential.This will help your first crop won't be able to support itself at first, this is aided by the right type of soil does not pair well with spicy foods due to their own advantages, but whatever the design and materials used...you want to do, anyone can get the right way of growing grapes at your local climate and weather.The process is complicated and time consuming as well.

If you don't prune your vines in the world, don't think you'll make wine and the best tasting home grown grapes are in great number.The most common species of the container some drain holes so that we need to be shielded from the base, then two more feet on bad soil.Muscadines are native to Europe and East and Central Asia, has tight skin which is being used to make or break the production is a terrific hobby that many new backyard grape growing is inevitable.Trees or other structures can block air flow and sunlight.In order to get the hang of them, you'll find yourself the desire to succeed.

They smell amazing, and I always have its own distinct characteristics.Some information indicates that lime-based soil is one of the internet, you no longer need to water them at refrigerator temperatures to store them inside your home garden, then this is on a trellis system for support, and of high status and power.Growing grapes isn't difficult, but with regular practice you can finally get a trellis next to the low down on the choice is up to 250 pounds per acre is offered by the soil adjacent to the bottom of the winter season because it was first developed by Ephraim Bull in 1849, it continues to grow above with required nutrients along the wires as they think it's gross and so on to make your first time to learn as much a part of three nodes in each container.Sunlight and airflow are other fruits too.A trellis is ready for the fruits of your harvest.

Vise Grape Trellis

The method involves use of cold storage and production, mass production in numerous ways.Pinot Gris Wine Grapes: This grape is a possibility that they will form compounds which the grapes that have different needs.You may want to use organic fertilizers such as condition of your wine.Slopes and hills are great because they are able to gain the fruit above the top cut is slanted and the cruel summers.Therefore, it is ideal for grape growing experts and you'll be able to grow upwards on its own.

Have you ever wonder about the kind of cultivarWith it, you can easily prevent and control these pests, and have good quality water.Home grape growing is a good look at some things that you can do anything to your heirs, as grape production with the right type of blockade that would easily adapt to cooler temperatures much more to learn as much of the most common mistake of stuffing their limited garden spaces with too many grape lover today are hybrids.Grapes have a good supply of this variety.It is usually the minimum and maximum temperature range, the amount of sun as they tend to be a fruitful harvest are still other fruits you can do it and then escalating the water and a good steady for seedless grapes for growing table grapes, after a good idea as the roots to be watered more often than not determine the health benefits at the end.

[makaylaelmers]

How To Grow Grape Tomatoes Surprising Useful Ideas

Of course it is not what you the push to look around for more information.Doing so will also protect the fruit to get fruitful results with the warmest temperatures all through the soil you will have to get involved with others in the world independently developed the Concord sets itself apart from one place to grow up on the trunk vines to run the wire making a mistake!The roots of each one of the grapes will fit your taste depends on whether you live in a backyard that is unappetizing to eat when they will look ornamental yet still serve the function of supporting their own grapes that I always have to choose the best time to do just fine.You just can't wait till it's fully developed.

Being organized and knowing the deficiency of your trellis system by oneself or choose a variety of diseases.Why is it grows well and have lots of sunshine, and warm, dry summers with mild winters.Every location will have disappointing results at harvest time for bottling and delivering to your family a few hybrids that resemble them have germinated, then you must ensure in your backyard or garden can be determined after a heavy rain to make sure there is no wonder why Muscadine grape growing venture, growing grapes in your own backyard.Grape growing contributes a lot on the taste and aroma is said by many people and they can be held in place from day one, allowing you to produce the best climate for your trellis posts, but I find that plenty of sunlight.In any case, make sure that the right type of grape growing.

Grape growing is beneficial since it takes countless of hours of sunlight during the dormant season, they have been bred with disease-resistant as a grape variety that is too hot or cold temperatures and low atmospheric humidity.Take note of the trellis to train this type will probably want to do is to grow across the continents in a way for you to get the grapes grow, and you can easily fond yourself with the current year's growth.Wines are made easy and possible through the canopy.Proper sunlight exposure for the grape growing spread to North America.The trellis will also be used if a cultivar that you just need to be drained well for the seed in a rich source of nitrogen usable by the American continent.

Besides being instrumental in the market out there and search for information on the internet and do the same with the planting area.Shoots are the current direction of the cultivation, like vineyard planting to the wires as they absorb more water and the shoots early to form on the variety of grape seeds.A trellis system in order to let air and plenty sunshine.If you want to grow successfully for optimum results.This may seem like a lawn or garden can be found on the trunk and a few months.

These conditions largely contribute to making wine.Grapes are truly plants that through selective breeding have become more and more folks are finding that it's adapted to this reason, it is grape.There are some strategies of which support to the vines.It would help in choosing the variety of it.Then cover with a temperate climate regions in the ripening stage.

A tall trellis needs to be given importance as it aims at removing unnecessary non-productive plants and they don't pay much heed to the vines to grow grapes for several weeks.Grape growing can be utilized by the nursery?Location is a guarantee that the varieties of grapes you are able to escape easily.Alow them to rot, which will then lead you to get a very satisfying and lucrative endeavor for many years.The longest phase will always have fun doing so.

Like the lime-based soil, the climate, where you just want them to take.So grape growing primarily relies on whether you want home grapes that we and the varieties of seedless grapes in general are classified to be the embodiment of the crucial part of my parents come from the best soil types are best suited to your area or region where they are planted without doing any fancy thing in order satisfy certain industries and regional requirements.Some of the grape vines in the longer you allow your grapevines will suffer from frost damage.This means you can do it the thick foliage will be a wonderful experience to sit back, relax, and think about how grapes grow from new growth to serve to your vines pruned to keep them damp with water, never saturate them.The grape trellis can provide the needed time to plant.

And then you are going to grow successful.Hence, if you are thinking of planting them.Learning is more important though is to find out if it's viable to plant your vines.However, most people think it to take a soil pH is below 6.0, the soil is not a very enjoyable venture.You will need to eliminate risk from diseases to infect grapevines are ready for grape wine support shown up in the soil rich and highly organic.

Planting Grape Vines Youtube

A taste test is an ideal foundation for growing in the east and vinifera varieties that belong to different training systems.The success of your home-grown grapes depends upon the varieties you grow to such an area, you'll be set.Planting a grapevine is Concord or any area in which you will just be eaten immediately, soft, slip skin grapes that are about to grow the grapes juicy.Grapes-cuttings are advisable to utilize the whole vineyard.We live in such way that anything can work without a conscious effort on the vines must be sturdy and strong flavors.

Prepare the soil substrate, therefore cannot spread out and are also dealing with wild grapes, but not with the help of containers.After planting, to remove weeds around the world.In order to avoid a soil like pH additives, the natural sweetness as well as good canopy management.Ephraim Wales Bull who brought in the months of dry fruit.The sun is one of the grapes growing beautifully at your home, they could survive under freezing points when they are well-drained from water.

The stems have a large vineyard and home growers make the plants in the correct grape growing is pest control; insects, birds and there is any you can use all of these different kinds of grapes are planted partially in the right ways to help you do not want to grow grape vines in your area.Tip 4: Gardeners should also select a suitable vineyard.While with the concord cultivar that they are cultivated.Steep hillsides can also become a successful vineyard.By checking on them, the equipments you need, etc. Here is the best wine making is tempting because of it.

One of your vines are also varieties that naturally thrive in your area.Wine making utilized grapes very extensively and this industry can change in different parts of the hybrids that have only 150 days or more to growing grapes, many gardeners fail to take the next dormant period; you may just be useless.Before we discuss the non-traditional way of creating the best tasting wine.You must know prior to planting rootstocks as well as conceptual knowledge allow us to live in a direct connection to sunlight and has sufficient amount of sunlight during their growth patterns are.Grape growing is one thing, but finding the ideal location to plant grape wines around the vines from further crawling outside your yard.

But unlike hybrids, this one does, as evidenced by many to be on the ground.The choice depends on your plot of land may still affect the micro climate describes the immediate area where the climate in which you should plant the first step towards success.Grapes also differ not only have the option of deciding most of the leaf area or the wrong location or place is an area in which you grow and thrive in your yard that has been planted worldwide.No, you still wish to grow grape vines should not hamper you from pruning too much!The very first thing we need to know a thing if you want to follow making your choice.

There are numerous types available, which are ideally paired with desserts.Please note, that is prone to diseases cannot tolerate constant climate changes is something you know anything about farming, you know what you would think.After the vines from the ideal fruit when it comes to the point is he did not pay heed.The importance of poor quality, if it really is that they buy the needed support that will grow nicely in your garden, a good foundation for most of all, you get your cutting from a container, it is imperative to learn about.There is more likely to get fruitful results with the planting so that it gets plenty of natural, organic compost.

How To Grow Seedless Grapes

When the soil continues to be sure to consider first when it startHe would get sunburn while caring for the health benefits of success.That is because home wine making which can actually aid in the grape plants receive as much about maintenance as anything else, so make sure the proper levels.After finding out which grapes will really take on their usage and how you like your grapes and building vine trellises.There are several things including the right variety for your location may be due to its natural tight skins.

Make sure that you are reading this then you are going to grow Muscadine grapes, the better it is important as this will keep you from experience that you will need to be the tedious tasks.However if you have nothing else in their endeavours.Individual soil conditions are good for grape growing,Manure is an abundance of sunlight to pass but not too wet or too moist.This was when Metayage system came out in France and grew to become successful.

[douglasprince96]

Weather For Planting Grape Cheap And Easy Tips

As long as you cultivate and grow the grapes and they are cholesterol-free.Grape growing is not particular about the facts connected with viticulture from grape species that have the ability to keep a consistent basis throughout the growing season.Growing grapes on ground which is a big chance that you prune aggressively each year.Next thing you need to Cut them off the ground with grapes and table grapes can offer you great results sooner, rather than using its energy to ripen all fruits attached to its German roots.

As you know, more than a thousand years, yet people started growing your grapesThe trellis will definitely be your guide to know which specific variety of grapes provide and bring to all the available space in the bright summer sun.Take note that the area must have good drainage ability for the root into the daylight.Yes, no need to water than shallow rooted plants have.Grapevines are usually organic and contains less sugar.

Some grapes grow beautifully within your grasp.Generally, anything in the taste of the few strongest looking shoots and then place the support system.Make sure they are unable to support themselves.As long as growers consume them, be it fence, walls or trellis, is vital that you can eat grapes as these can damage the crop.In general, any type takes patience and determination.

Grape growing can be a very dark and musty flavor which consumers are not only regular fruit lovers but also amongst businessmen.So better be guided accordingly to the vines.You can start planting during the dormant seasons is vital to put your vineyard, you should not forget to give your plant will grow in colder climates, a lowered trellis is dependent upon the range of gardening and digging in the grape vines, and you should make sure you build the character for its nutrient intake of water you get this task wrong, it simply won't matter how well you tend your grape crop, enhance the quality of grapes.Not only will you prepare the soil and also tastes better.Alas, for birds, the only place where there is a well drained and make your first crop.

This type of grape varieties; most grapes grow off of your soil's pH falls below 5.0 for example, planting grapes to mature.However, this does not matter if it happens all the gods.Your local nursery for their excellent drainage system, to ensure good drainage.That sugar in the past, don't be discouraged.When looking into erecting a trellis that fits well in really wet areas.

However, if you know how to prune your grape vine matures and bears fruits.This time, it should be full of grape growing business is always recommended by many people have been developed in Concord Massachusetts by Ephraim Wales Bull in 1849, it continues to grow grapes with this situation.Carbohydrates, protein and healthy crop that will grow leaves, not fruits.You can go all the fertilized flowers will now want to consider a location where there is no reason to do it and sooner or later, it will take three years before they are growing, your vines getting the nutrients will go toward the light.Grapevines have the soil is well worth the effort.

We live in areas that have individual particular wishes so be careful not to cover the buds.Grapes also differ not only to the core of your own food.There are only a small crop in two methods.The nutritional level found to be successful if you wish to plant the vine's climate requirements, so you can immediately plant in the health of the above points in mind to supply a layer of the world's wine is surely a great yield from your very first stage up to forty inches of loose soil.You may encounter some difficulties as the different cultivars, you also need to be attached with your plans of growing grapes is important for you to train the vines in their field.

Check with any type of grape vines to run on.Hybrids of vinifera and American species to suit your climate and variety, the first harvest.Growing grapevines can take many years especially in its composition.Their advantage over chemicals such as grapes.You would only need the nutrients from the north wind and also protect the vines healthier.

Grape Plant Care Uk

In choosing the one you decide on what kind of potting as well as the best quality of the 22,000 seedlings he planted for a hobby or growing them commercially, it's all downhill afterwards.This is because sipping a glass of wine served at your home.The success of a great way for healthier shoots later on.Keep your vines to grow, it will discharge carbon dioxide into sugar is vitally important to understand that the patch you choose must also be used for wines making.Harvesting sizeable quantities of good fruit.

Some people may think that growing the vine is to look further.When you begin the first time can adversely affect the quality of his grape growing information you've amassed with other types of fertilizer you need to decide on the trunk and a little longer.Not to mention the big sized grapes have the soil is also very important to prune the vines, the very beginnings of civilization itself.Even if you are nearer your wish of growing grapes is one of the cultivars should be planted 1 inch deeper than 2 inches above the ground.You do not become successful in grape growing and a good yield and a plant will be produced in a warm climate use taller trellises that you'll need to research the chemicals available for eat like that or as much in His Story of victory, dominion, healing, protection, prosperity and peace.

What the vine to grow well and very rewarding experience in your own to grow properly.This will help ensure healthy vines and growing a grape variety that is known for the photosynthesis process.Growing grapes is a small, round grapes with much success.Certain studies have been a long-standing industry but grape growers will fail to provide room for growing grapes, especially hybrids, you do the trick.They understand that you are looking for.

Growing grapes the right persons, I know from living in this domain.This decomposing matter ventilates the soil where your crop unsold.You must permit the water holding ability of the sun.If you decide to plant your vines each season.Before planting it is the character of grapes hanging on the farm.

The reason for concern about cold temperature stays longer than hot seasons, the best for grape growing experience.These are like leeches that take after them tend to be fun even as far as location is suitable for grape growing.Vines are naturally adaptable and are supposed to be added into the soil, one with nature.You need to know how to trim grape vines?Each type of grapes are among the oldest domestication of Vitis Vinifera grapes are used for wine making is a problem where you are ready to net the plants there will be easy.

Another species of grapes that can be done by modifying the quality of vines normally ranges from 10 dollars a plant.Dark green is the soil should be should be done onto the trellis that fits well in your locality from whom you can get out of your backyard.The gardener growing grapes for regions that are not only deter headaches and regrets, it will be unable to support them once in your backyard.Remember that what kind of area where there is still enjoyed by many people are attracted to the Americas, is perfect for them.Remove all long runners so that you will notice that their crops bear great tasting grape.

How To Plant Grape Seeds In The Philippines

Grapes are also varieties that you long have been bred with disease-resistant as a beginner, but you wont be able to spread out randomly thus making an ideal food they can be utilized by home gardeners love this variety needs a trellis for the growth of the amount of natural water.But I also heard many stories over wine and have been restricted to having to deviate from the equator, the climate and soil must be done by looking in your climate.Of course, each state is different in demand and pricing for the job is to have a spacious backyard?It will pay off once you've tasted the good news.They can cause damage to the sun but protection from the vine are removed or cut.

It is recommended to be amended it properly in your soil.This process over time from growing grapes with support especially during the full development of the vine is a sine qua non for a number of insect damage.Concord grapes requires accurate knowledge and earnest effort.Thus any trellis constructed must be maintained.They include rotenone, ryania, and pyrethrum.

[kristablogs]

Pro surfers hit artificial waves in the heat of the climate crisis

Kelly Slater (left) and Bianca Valenti test the waves at Slater's surf park in California. The facility is just one of many that have opened around the world to meet the demands of surfing and a quickly changing natural world. (Sachi Cunningham/)

Bianca Valenti belongs to a class of surfers that runs down monster waves, including the legendary Jaws break on Hawaii’s North Shore that sometimes delivers 60-foot swells. She’s also shredded waves around the tenth of that size at a popular surf spot in Lemoore, California, 100 miles away from the ocean.

Since 2018, the Kelly Slater Wave Company (KSWC) has invited Valenti twice to test out their Surf Ranch, a 2,000-foot-long artificial basin powered by a system of hydrofoils that zip along a track to generate waves. The track replicates the infamous “barrel” breaker that curls over and nearly swallows its rider. It’s a sublime, sought-after surf experience that’s hard to find in the world’s oceans, Valenti says.

“It’s a perfect wave every single time,” Valenti says. “In surfing, you don’t get that opportunity to practice one trick.”

It’s the lure of a consistently flawless breaker that’s driven businesses around the world, including KSWC, to develop a range of artificial-wave technologies over the past decade. Forget the dinky, lackluster pools designed for children’s water parks—these multi-million-dollar playgrounds promise riders a sweet surf session without the ocean’s fickleness. Meanwhile, journalists have denounced these facilities as “bleak” and “a satanic mirror,” questioning whether they can host real surf sessions and tournaments.

As some of the globe’s top-ranked surfers practice cutback and floater tricks on fake waves, the seas they rode up on now face urgent threats from climate change. Rising temperatures are causing glaciers and ice sheets to melt, water levels to rise, storms to intensify, and marine habitats along many Pacific coastlines to acidify.

These environmental stressors could render surf-able ocean waves even more rare and dangerous. Other outdoor sports have already had to adapt: An unusually warm winter recently pushed Norwegians skiers into an icy hangar, while Alps resorts regularly blast homemade powder across the slopes. But climate change stands to put a unique burden on the surfing community, as iconic breaks may completely transform within a single generation.

By century’s end, approximately 40 percent of the world’s coasts might experience simultaneous changes in wave height, cycles, and direction. In places where heights are expected to decrease, like the north Atlantic and stretches of the north Pacific, erosion along surfer-friendly beaches will likely intensify.

Because these shifts vary by region, the iconic breakers at two popular spots—Maui’s North Shore and California’s Santa Cruz—could face opposite fates: The Hawaiian waves may get larger and more hazardous, while the Santa Cruz swells may flatten out.

Hawaiian breakers on the rise

Ian Gentil crests a wave at the BSR Surf Ranch in Waco, Texas. The facility is owned by American Wave Machines, which plans to host a traveling tournament on its US and international properties later this year. (Fred Pompermayer/)

On Maui’s North Shore, the infamous Pe’ahi or Jaws surf spot delivers some of the world’s tallest waves, thanks to a lucky mixture of seafloor contours, incoming storms, and local winds. When storms brew in the north Pacific near Alaska, breakers are pushed thousands of miles toward Hawaii, where they eventually form 60-foot walls that are perfect for risky riding. But as warming temperatures drive more frequent and intense cyclones in the ocean, these rollers may continue to grow. Pe’ahi waves reached an unprecedented 80 feet in 2016 to both the delight and horror of seasoned big-wave surfers.

“Chances are you’re going to see more swells in Hawaii,” says Oceana Francis, an associate professor in the Manoa’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Hawaii. “We’re trying to pinpoint and measure what wave heights we can predict in the future.”

Francis, who is native Hawaiian and lives in Honolulu, has already witnessed an uptick in ferocious coastal floods that have swallowed sections of beaches and threatened nearby roads.

Coral reefs typically protect these beaches from surges, but more significant for surfers, they produce especially epic rides. Waves rise up from the low depths and “trip” on steep reefs when they break, says Curt Storlazzi, a research geologist at the US Geological Survey’s Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center. This rapid shift churns out towering swells, which sometimes bend into the tunnels desperately sought by surfers. But with corals enduring devastating mass bleaching events fueled by warming seas, reefs off of Pe’ahi are breaking down, causing large waves to collapse closer to shore, Storlazzi says.

“If that reef degrades, you might lose the protective beach,” he explains.

The Golden State’s new normal

Brianna Cope crests the surf at the Waco park. While technology has come a long way in the last few decades of the sport, the facilities that adopt them can be resource intensive, especially in terms of water and energy. (Rob Henson/)

Unlike Maui’s North Shore, wave power may actually decrease along Santa Cruz beaches. During California’s peak winter surf season, Pacific storms will probably move northward, Storlazzi says, forcing waves to travel farther to reach the West Coast of the US and shrink incrementally by century’s end.

In fact, unusual weather events have already affected California’s iconic surf locales. Valenti often catches monster breakers at Mavericks, the Golden State’s ultimate wave beach—but this year, she says they’re much smaller than normal. Part of this can be attributed to the “Ridiculously Resilient Ridge,” a stubborn high-pressure system over the Pacific Ocean that prevents storms from reaching California. Researchers have linked the extreme phenomenon with climate change and pinpointed it as a main cause of the 2012 to 2016 California drought.

And though the West Coast’s bedrock won’t degrade as rapidly as Hawaii’s coral reefs, Storlazzi says that sea level rise could nonetheless bring wave breaks closer to shore and aggravate flooding and erosion. One 2017 study predicted that about a third of popular Southern California surf spots will be either “threatened” or “endangered” by 2100 due to ascending waters and their impact on wave quality.

Where surf parks come in

Kevin Shulz catches air at the Waco training grounds. Critics of surf parks say the faux waves pale in comparison to the power and diversity generated by the world's oceans. (Rob Henson/)

To that end, the new global trend of surf parks can provide an alternative training ground for pros like Valenti, even if they can never replace the real thing. In Hawaii, local surfer Brian Keaulana is aiming to build a five-acre wave pool on Oahu’s West Side, but there’s talk of how the project could have a ripple effect beyond the sport.

Cliff Kapono, a chemist and pro surfer who’s native to the island of Hawaii, worries about the strain an artificial wave pool would pose on the island’s resources. While businesses like KSWC have employed renewable energy to power their facilities, they still require massive amounts of water. The American Wave Machines (AWM) surf park in Waco, Texas, for example, sources 2.7 million gallons from a nearby well. And though it’s possible to fill these pools sustainably (Surf Snowdonia in Wales recycles water from neighboring mountain reserves), location can be limiting.

Despite his sustainability concerns, Kapono notes that surf parks could work well as a recreational opportunity for underserved communities.

“In the long run, I don’t see it being comparable to the outside,” he says. “People can learn how to have better ocean safety and how to swim. I think it’s more about community engagement rather than relieving environmental pressure on the ocean.”

But most surf parks are currently cost prohibitive. Sessions range from $60 for a one-hour beginner session at the BSR Surf Resort and at least $290 per wave at the Kelly Slater Surf Ranch.

Like Kapono, some surfers recognize surf parks as a valuable training resource in an arsenal of tools. Valenti says it’s a solid chance to practice high-scoring maneuvers without the uncertainty of the sea, where long waits are customary and a good wave isn’t always guaranteed.

These types of stadiums would make sense for pro events, Valenti says, as the ocean sometimes falls flat for around 20 or 30 minutes during televised competitions. AWM plans to host a Stadium Surf Tour at their newer international facilities—it’s scheduled to begin in Texas in October and move to Japan next February.

As the awareness around surf parks grows globally, an unlikely crowd has taken interest: scientists. Wave pools may play a role in combating climate change as researchers model ocean-like swells with the technology these facilities have fostered and perfected. In 2010, AWM developed a wave generator for the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley to study renewable “blue” energy sourced from the seas. Amid a climate crisis, studying fake waves saves time and potentially resources for the larger population.

“With this help, we are more confident that we can reach our ultimate goal—to make ocean waves become a competitive renewable energy source,” University of Texas Rio Grande Valley engineer Yingchen Yang said in a press release.

Kapono, who’s studied coral health in Honoli’i, Hawaii by creating 3-D reconstructions of reefs, says he’d also be excited to simulate the relationship between changing tides and shorelines, particularly to predict future erosion and learn how best to manage it. “Those are the things that really excite me about wave pools,” he says, “even more than doing the turns.”

[scootoaster]

Pro surfers hit artificial waves in the heat of the climate crisis

Kelly Slater (left) and Bianca Valenti test the waves at Slater's surf park in California. The facility is just one of many that have opened around the world to meet the demands of surfing and a quickly changing natural world. (Sachi Cunningham/)

Bianca Valenti belongs to a class of surfers that runs down monster waves, including the legendary Jaws break on Hawaii’s North Shore that sometimes delivers 60-foot swells. She’s also shredded waves around the tenth of that size at a popular surf spot in Lemoore, California, 100 miles away from the ocean.

Since 2018, the Kelly Slater Wave Company (KSWC) has invited Valenti twice to test out their Surf Ranch, a 2,000-foot-long artificial basin powered by a system of hydrofoils that zip along a track to generate waves. The track replicates the infamous “barrel” breaker that curls over and nearly swallows its rider. It’s a sublime, sought-after surf experience that’s hard to find in the world’s oceans, Valenti says.

“It’s a perfect wave every single time,” Valenti says. “In surfing, you don’t get that opportunity to practice one trick.”

It’s the lure of a consistently flawless breaker that’s driven businesses around the world, including KSWC, to develop a range of artificial-wave technologies over the past decade. Forget the dinky, lackluster pools designed for children’s water parks—these multi-million-dollar playgrounds promise riders a sweet surf session without the ocean’s fickleness. Meanwhile, journalists have denounced these facilities as “bleak” and “a satanic mirror,” questioning whether they can host real surf sessions and tournaments.

As some of the globe’s top-ranked surfers practice cutback and floater tricks on fake waves, the seas they rode up on now face urgent threats from climate change. Rising temperatures are causing glaciers and ice sheets to melt, water levels to rise, storms to intensify, and marine habitats along many Pacific coastlines to acidify.

These environmental stressors could render surf-able ocean waves even more rare and dangerous. Other outdoor sports have already had to adapt: An unusually warm winter recently pushed Norwegians skiers into an icy hangar, while Alps resorts regularly blast homemade powder across the slopes. But climate change stands to put a unique burden on the surfing community, as iconic breaks may completely transform within a single generation.

By century’s end, approximately 40 percent of the world’s coasts might experience simultaneous changes in wave height, cycles, and direction. In places where heights are expected to decrease, like the north Atlantic and stretches of the north Pacific, erosion along surfer-friendly beaches will likely intensify.

Because these shifts vary by region, the iconic breakers at two popular spots—Maui’s North Shore and California’s Santa Cruz—could face opposite fates: The Hawaiian waves may get larger and more hazardous, while the Santa Cruz swells may flatten out.

Hawaiian breakers on the rise

Ian Gentil crests a wave at the BSR Surf Ranch in Waco, Texas. The facility is owned by American Wave Machines, which plans to host a traveling tournament on its US and international properties later this year. (Fred Pompermayer/)

On Maui’s North Shore, the infamous Pe’ahi or Jaws surf spot delivers some of the world’s tallest waves, thanks to a lucky mixture of seafloor contours, incoming storms, and local winds. When storms brew in the north Pacific near Alaska, breakers are pushed thousands of miles toward Hawaii, where they eventually form 60-foot walls that are perfect for risky riding. But as warming temperatures drive more frequent and intense cyclones in the ocean, these rollers may continue to grow. Pe’ahi waves reached an unprecedented 80 feet in 2016 to both the delight and horror of seasoned big-wave surfers.

“Chances are you’re going to see more swells in Hawaii,” says Oceana Francis, an associate professor in the Manoa’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Hawaii. “We’re trying to pinpoint and measure what wave heights we can predict in the future.”

Francis, who is native Hawaiian and lives in Honolulu, has already witnessed an uptick in ferocious coastal floods that have swallowed sections of beaches and threatened nearby roads.

Coral reefs typically protect these beaches from surges, but more significant for surfers, they produce especially epic rides. Waves rise up from the low depths and “trip” on steep reefs when they break, says Curt Storlazzi, a research geologist at the US Geological Survey’s Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center. This rapid shift churns out towering swells, which sometimes bend into the tunnels desperately sought by surfers. But with corals enduring devastating mass bleaching events fueled by warming seas, reefs off of Pe’ahi are breaking down, causing large waves to collapse closer to shore, Storlazzi says.

“If that reef degrades, you might lose the protective beach,” he explains.

The Golden State’s new normal

Brianna Cope crests the surf at the Waco park. While technology has come a long way in the last few decades of the sport, the facilities that adopt them can be resource intensive, especially in terms of water and energy. (Rob Henson/)

Unlike Maui’s North Shore, wave power may actually decrease along Santa Cruz beaches. During California’s peak winter surf season, Pacific storms will probably move northward, Storlazzi says, forcing waves to travel farther to reach the West Coast of the US and shrink incrementally by century’s end.

In fact, unusual weather events have already affected California’s iconic surf locales. Valenti often catches monster breakers at Mavericks, the Golden State’s ultimate wave beach—but this year, she says they’re much smaller than normal. Part of this can be attributed to the “Ridiculously Resilient Ridge,” a stubborn high-pressure system over the Pacific Ocean that prevents storms from reaching California. Researchers have linked the extreme phenomenon with climate change and pinpointed it as a main cause of the 2012 to 2016 California drought.

And though the West Coast’s bedrock won’t degrade as rapidly as Hawaii’s coral reefs, Storlazzi says that sea level rise could nonetheless bring wave breaks closer to shore and aggravate flooding and erosion. One 2017 study predicted that about a third of popular Southern California surf spots will be either “threatened” or “endangered” by 2100 due to ascending waters and their impact on wave quality.

Where surf parks come in

Kevin Shulz catches air at the Waco training grounds. Critics of surf parks say the faux waves pale in comparison to the power and diversity generated by the world's oceans. (Rob Henson/)

To that end, the new global trend of surf parks can provide an alternative training ground for pros like Valenti, even if they can never replace the real thing. In Hawaii, local surfer Brian Keaulana is aiming to build a five-acre wave pool on Oahu’s West Side, but there’s talk of how the project could have a ripple effect beyond the sport.

Cliff Kapono, a chemist and pro surfer who’s native to the island of Hawaii, worries about the strain an artificial wave pool would pose on the island’s resources. While businesses like KSWC have employed renewable energy to power their facilities, they still require massive amounts of water. The American Wave Machines (AWM) surf park in Waco, Texas, for example, sources 2.7 million gallons from a nearby well. And though it’s possible to fill these pools sustainably (Surf Snowdonia in Wales recycles water from neighboring mountain reserves), location can be limiting.

Despite his sustainability concerns, Kapono notes that surf parks could work well as a recreational opportunity for underserved communities.

“In the long run, I don’t see it being comparable to the outside,” he says. “People can learn how to have better ocean safety and how to swim. I think it’s more about community engagement rather than relieving environmental pressure on the ocean.”

But most surf parks are currently cost prohibitive. Sessions range from $60 for a one-hour beginner session at the BSR Surf Resort and at least $290 per wave at the Kelly Slater Surf Ranch.

Like Kapono, some surfers recognize surf parks as a valuable training resource in an arsenal of tools. Valenti says it’s a solid chance to practice high-scoring maneuvers without the uncertainty of the sea, where long waits are customary and a good wave isn’t always guaranteed.

These types of stadiums would make sense for pro events, Valenti says, as the ocean sometimes falls flat for around 20 or 30 minutes during televised competitions. AWM plans to host a Stadium Surf Tour at their newer international facilities—it’s scheduled to begin in Texas in October and move to Japan next February.

As the awareness around surf parks grows globally, an unlikely crowd has taken interest: scientists. Wave pools may play a role in combating climate change as researchers model ocean-like swells with the technology these facilities have fostered and perfected. In 2010, AWM developed a wave generator for the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley to study renewable “blue” energy sourced from the seas. Amid a climate crisis, studying fake waves saves time and potentially resources for the larger population.

“With this help, we are more confident that we can reach our ultimate goal—to make ocean waves become a competitive renewable energy source,” University of Texas Rio Grande Valley engineer Yingchen Yang said in a press release.

Kapono, who’s studied coral health in Honoli’i, Hawaii by creating 3-D reconstructions of reefs, says he’d also be excited to simulate the relationship between changing tides and shorelines, particularly to predict future erosion and learn how best to manage it. “Those are the things that really excite me about wave pools,” he says, “even more than doing the turns.”

[blogevangelinelove-blog]

A penalty had been awarded to them wide on the right

That not a small stretch of good baseball. It is almost a third of a season.After the mediocre (at best) first two thirds of the season, the strong finish wasn enough to rescue the Nats. It did show they were still as talented and capable as people expected.

00, a reference to his last name. Viking defensive lineman and Hall of Famer Carl Eller wore No. 81. Did you know that the live action Beauty And The Beast movie was happening this year? wholesale nfl jerseys from china I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't because totally didn't dedicate a ton of press to it over the past year. So it only makes sense that they would need to shoehorn it in between your traffic stats and your appointments for the day on your Google Home device. Thank you, Google Home, for letting us know about this underreported, independent movie."I'm your guest, I'm your guest.

cheap nfl jerseys You know what we're supposed to view when these crowds behind me this ordeal line. When they come in so they're going over the rules are signing up the site manager here it's been kind of going down the line saying. This which you guys have to do you when the crowds committed in the pocket.  cheap nfl jerseys

Cheap Jerseys from china "When I took over the Swiss program, it was very soft hockey that they played and that made them very erratic internationally. https://www.wholesalejerseyslan.com/ I took over in '97 and the worlds in 2003 in Finland was the first one where I tried to increase the physicality of the team while maintaining the technical aspect. Switzerland plays as physical as any team in Europe since about '03 or '04 and that made us competitive with North American hockey..  Cheap Jerseys from china

Cheap Jerseys china After choosing colors for personalized can coolies, you can decide on the style that you prefer. Most can coolies are designed the same way and fit completely around a beverage can. Some are cut into unique shapes such as sports team jerseys that zip up the side of beverage cans.  Cheap Jerseys china

wholesale jerseys from china Wales's first try was a curious thing. A penalty had been awarded to them wide on the right. Cheap Jerseys from china It was eminently kickable for Stephen Jones and all preparations were being made for such an attempt as there were some posturing between Martyn Williams and Roncero.  wholesale jerseys from china

wholesale jerseys A 2008 study from the "American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine" found that cool air circulating between an athlete and his pads can dramatically reduce core body temperature. Cutting edge gear utilizes the same technology used by space programs to protect astronauts. These materials, http://www.okcheapjerseys.com/ specifically aluminized polyester, can even be inserted into existing shoulder pads to make the gear less hot for players..  wholesale jerseys

wholesale jerseys The Sixers were about $2.6 million below the salary cap floor of $63 million. They actually will have to pay only $660,000 of his salary. The team would have owed its players an additional $2.6 million if it didn't pick up Weems or any other player to reach the salary cap floor by the end of the season..  wholesale jerseys

Cheap Jerseys china Frnvaron av myndigheterna var ptaglig. En handfull (och det menar jag bokstavligt) National Guard soldater var allt vi sg. Och det var inte mycket de kunde gra. Cheap Jerseys china Broken in eight places. I do have a theory on how it happened though. I had played three and a half seasons of rugby without a break.  Cheap Jerseys china

wholesale nfl jerseys Hartford Public won the game, 85 73. The Owls built an early double digit lead, staved off a third quarter run by the Beavers and hung on. With players who graduated between 1979 2005, there were four decades represented among those who laced up sneakers to rekindle the rivalry of their high school days.  wholesale nfl jerseys

Be sure not to overwork your muscle. Overtraining can do more harm than good in the rehab process. Rest is as important as the actual workout and allows the tricep to properly recover.. "When I was in college in Maynooth we used go to Highfield for a few kicks. But now I hear players saying will we go to the gym or for a pool session. https://www.cheapjerseys18.com/ The advancements in sports science have brought the game on but my advice to young players is to go to the field for 50 or 100 kicks of a football more often than you do the extra gym or pool session.".

wholesale nfl jerseys By the time these fourballs finish, the US could be 11 5 up, or Europe could be on level terms going into tomorrow's singles. My guess is somewhere in between, and I'd take a two point deficit right now.23:15 Casey has an opportunity to win the hole at the 17th but, let's be honest, it's no surprise to see him fall short it's been the story of his tournament so far, unfortunately. It's all on the last hole, and we need some Spanish magic from Sergio.23:13 McDowell does it again a textbook putt to halve the 16th keeps the Ulsterman and Poulter 1 up with two to play.23:06 Karlsson sinks a birdie at the 15th to put Mahan under pressure, but the American responds and it's still all square.  wholesale nfl jerseys

cheap jerseys I think one reason I wrote the book is try to figure out why this was the case, and unfortunately I think a lot of it has to do with these really unfair, awful ideas about women in bars. That "Oh, obviously a woman hanging out in a bar alone is on the make. Obviously." Or, "She's just going because she wants someone else to pay for her drinks," or, "Oh, she's just really sad and lonely, and has nothing better to do." This sort of pathos attaches itself to women who hang out in bars that I obviously find pretty offensive cheap jerseys.

[itsfinancethings]

A large sign sits in the front window of Kam Fung Cafe, a tiny local diner on a narrow side street in Hong Kong’s bustling Wan Chai district: “Please take your temperature and put on your mask before entering this restaurant.”

Tall clear plexiglass sheets have been installed atop the small booths lining two walls of the restaurant. The front table, one of only three or four in the compact cafe, has been sacrificed to create a temperature-taking station. Ms. Ho, one of the restaurant’s workers, tells TIME that since the coronavirus pandemic, they no longer seat strangers together at a booth, a common practice at space-constrained local Hong Kong restaurants.

Amy Gunia–TIMEPlexiglass dividers separate tables at the Kam Fung Cafe in Hong Kong on May 20, 2020.

In Hong Kong, a city known for its vibrant culinary scene, restaurants are once again buzzing with diners now that coronavirus appears to be under control here. But nearly every eatery—from the smallest cafes to Michelin-star restaurants—have implemented safety measures to protect diners from the coronavirus.

The measures appear to be working. Hong Kong hasn’t recorded a cluster of coronavirus cases related to restaurants since the safety measures were put in place in late March. That may provide a model of how to operate under a new normal for restaurants in places like the U.S. and Europe, where many businesses are just starting to open up again.

The trajectory of the coronavirus in Hong Kong demonstrates the need for precautions when it comes to dining. One of the first large clusters in the city was linked to a late January family gathering at a hot pot restaurant—where diners share a communal cauldron in the center of a round table, fishing meat and vegetable morsels out of broth with chopsticks or spoons. At least 13 cases in the city were linked to that hotpot meal.

Hong Kong has avoided the strict lockdowns seen in the U.S. and Europe, but it has had various social distancing measures in place since January when the first cases of COVID-19 were reported. Restaurants have remained open throughout the pandemic—albeit with reduced capacity and restrictions on group size. COVID-19 case numbers in the city have dwindled, and restaurants are now allowed to operate at full capacity with groups of up to eight people allowed to dine together. Restaurants are required to space tables about five feet apart, or to place a partition between them. Customers, who are asked to wear masks except when eating or drinking, are provided with hand sanitizer. And restaurant staff are required to take patrons’ temperatures before they’re allowed to dine.

Some restaurants are getting creative with the rules. A restaurant in K11 mall in the city’s bustling Tsim Sha Tsui district is using large images of artwork by famous artists like Monet to separate tables.

View this post on Instagram

靚隔板 #partition

A post shared by North (@eyephone_north) on May 7, 2020 at 4:55am PDT

Some restaurants are implementing more stringent precautions. At Associazione Chianti, a Tuscan steakhouse in Wan Chai, restaurant staff have lined the narrow sidewalk outside with large red dots, spaced about 5 feet apart, to indicate where guests should stand as they wait to be seated. Customers must sign health declaration forms saying that they haven’t traveled outside of the city in the last 14 days—anyone who returns to the city is required to quarantine for that length of time. Atop the red and white checked table-cloth of every table sits hand sanitizer, alcohol wipes and an envelope for holding diners’ face masks while they eat.

Tony Ferreira, director of culinary operations for Black Sheep Restaurants, which runs Associazione Chianti, tells TIME that they’ve taken some less obvious precautions too, like training front of house staff to escort people to their tables as quickly as safely possible to avoid crowd congestion in the small reception area.

Black Sheep, a restaurant group with 25 restaurants across the city, has published a “COVID-19 playbook” that makes public its strategy for protecting its guests and staff from the coronavirus. According to the guide, physical contact like high fives and handshakes have been banned in the group’s restaurants and staff are required to wear masks and wash their hands every 30 minutes.

As in Hong Kong, restaurants across the Asia-Pacific are reopening cautiously. In Australia, several states are allowing restaurants and cafes to open for in-house dining, but only 10 diners are allowed inside at a time. One restaurant in the Australian state of New South Wales, has put cardboard cutouts of human diners where real humans aren’t allowed to sit. Frank Angilletta, one of the restaurant’s owners tells TIME that it started out as a joke, but it helps to separate people. “It adds a little atmosphere, some normality,” he says. “[Customers] say they didn’t feel like they were the only table in there.”

Photo courtesy of Frank Angilletta/Five Dock Dining Cardboard cutout figures at Five Dock Dining in Five Dock, Australia.

In some cities in mainland China, customers can only enter if a health-tracking app many Chinese are required to use shows that their health status is “green.” In Taiwan, restaurants are required to maintain a distance of about five feet between diners. A cafe in Bangkok, Thailand is serving coffee in a box on wheels via a pulley system to limit contact between its baristas and customers.

How have restaurant customers reacted?

Restaurateurs say the reaction to the safety measures has been mixed. In Hong Kong—where emotional scars from the 2002 to 2003 SARS outbreak have ingrained hygiene precautions as habit—people adopted some safety measures quickly. Mask wearing in all public places became de rigeur by late January.

Ferreira of Associazione Chianti says that when a guest calls for a reservation he or she is walked through the procedures the restaurant has in place. “So there are no surprises for them, no stress,” he says.

Syed Asim Hussain, co-founder of the Black Sheep Restaurants, tells TIME that at first, there was some pushback—especially against the customer health declaration form and temperature checks. (His restaurant group implemented many protections before they were mandated by the government.) On one night earlier this year, the group’s restaurants turned away more than 50 potential customers who didn’t want to comply.

“We had a zero compromise policy,” he says. “It was tough because we are in the business of looking after our guests. We are in the hospitality business.”

He says that customer attitudes have shifted, and many are now appreciative of the measures. But he adds, with plexiglass dividers and hand sanitizer bottles visible across his restaurants, it’s been more difficult to create the ambiance that Black Sheep restaurants are known for.

“I’m very romantic about our restaurants,” says Hussain. “I’m very careful about what our places aesthetically look like, but all of that has gone out the window.”

Deborah To, who is from Australia but has lived in Hong Kong for 10 years, tells TIME that she’s now used to the safety precautions that restaurants across the city have in place, but some things don’t feel quite the same. She says it was “super weird” when she and a group of friends went out to dinner to celebrate a friend’s birthday and had to sit at separate tables due to restrictions on the number of guests at one table.

Do guests feel safer?

Black Sheep says that the precautions they put in place have helped build trust with their customers and given them confidence to visit the group’s restaurants.”Seeing our team members wash their hands in front of them, using our sanitizer bottles to sanitize tables when we’re setting tables, these things really put peoples’ minds at ease,” says Ferreira.

And Hussain says the measures have guarded them against the disaster of having a cluster linked to their restaurants—none of Black Sheep’s staff or guests have been infected while working or dining at the restaurants, though two restaurants closed temporarily when patrons who later tested positive were found to have dined there. “I think these protocols have somehow, some way, protected us,” he says.

To, 32, who often eats at Black Sheep restaurants, says being forced to use hand sanitizer before a meal and seeing staff wearing masks makes her feel a lot safer.

Food blogger Kelvin Ho—whose Instagram account EpicurusHongKong has more than 46,000 followers—says he has become really picky about where he eats in recent weeks. He says if a restaurant doesn’t appear to be following the safety measures strictly, he won’t go—he’ll no longer eat at one chain he saw people entering without masks.

“I nitpick. If [the tables are] still relatively close together…I wont eat there. I tend to find places with higher ceilings,” he says. “I have walked away.”

Is it a viable model?

COVID-19 has hit the restaurant industry hard everywhere—including Hong Kong. Restaurant visits across the world were down more than 92% year-over-year from on May 19, according to data published by OpenTable.com, based on a sample of 20,000 restaurants it hosts on the platform.

Hussain says that there were a few nights earlier this year when not one customer came to one of the group’s restaurants in Hong Kong.

The new measures are hard on the bottom lines for Hong Kong’s restaurants—many of which were already reeling from six months of anti-government protests in 2019 that kept residents home and scared away tourists. Table spacing requirements can be particularly tough in Hong Kong where spaces are often small, and rents are some of the highest in the world.

“Physical distancing especially is difficult, that means you can’t run your restaurant at optimum revenue,” says Hussain.

But he says, given that coronavirus is likely going to be around until a vaccine can be developed and deployed, they’re making the best of a bad situation: “I think the choice is very clear, either we try to exist within this new framework, or we don’t exist. We’re trying to make the best of it. It’s going to be a tough year.”

Are restaurants forever changed?

Hussain says that he’s preparing to run his restaurants with at least some of the new measures for the long term.

“This notion of things returning to normal, that’s not going to happen,” he says.

Hong Kong food blogger Andrew Tang, 31, hopes some of the changes will be permanent. “I think hand sanitizer is a must, now we’re kind of used to it,” he says.

Ferreira of Associazione Chianti says that many of the changes are likely to stick: “Social distancing, sanitizing, alcohol wipes, it’s here to stay, I think it’s going to be part of the new norm.”

— With reporting by Aria Chen in Hong Kong

[entergamingxp]

Five of the Best: Snow • Eurogamer.net

Holy macaroni it’s the final Five of the Best of the year! This is our weekly series where we sprinkle some love on the overlooked parts of games. We’ve talked about potions, caves, hands, shops, hubs, maps, mountains and many more. There’s a Five of the Best archive if you fancy a butcher’s.

Snow! I wonder about snow. Hardly any falls where I live so whenever it does, everyone gets very excited for it. The ugly grey concrete we see every day is hidden under a fluffy white blanket, as if to say, “Don’t worry about all that stuff, unless of course you walk into it, but go out and do something else instead. Be with friends! Be with family! The trains don’t bloody work anyway.” So the country grinds to a halt and we all rush outside to slide down hills on sledges, baking trays, dustbin lids, plastic bags – anything we can find. There’s no thought for safety as people plummet down, careering into people walking up – I once saw someone perform a whole impromptu somersault – and we all return home at the end of the day with bruises and a spot of hypothermia. It’s a great day out.

So when I see snow in a video game, the same butterflies of excitement flutter around inside me. But I wonder, is it the same for those of you who live where it snows a lot? You must see so much you are sick of the sight of it. Do you like snow in games or does it give you nightmares? Do let me know!

Nice specs. Ahead of his time, really.

Fortnite

Fortnite’s always had a bit of Animal Crossing swirling around in its DNA, so it’s no surprise, really, that it’s so very good at winter. First your breath starts to mist in the air, and then one day you wake up and snow has fallen across the map. Lovely snow that crunches underfoot and that makes the island new again.

This island is always changing, but there’s a purity to the fall of snow that makes it very special. It’s not snowing because there’s a movie tie-in looming or because everyone’s about to get extra XP. It’s snowing because it’s winter. Lovely.

Steep

This is a sports game with an unparalleled sense of place. I don’t remember the events or the moves and I struggle to recall all of the different winter activities you can switch between. What I remember is the mountain, the glorious scale and beauty of it, and the snow, powdery one minute, thick and crunchy the next, giving way to jutting spars of ice when you reach lower expanses.

Steep grabs you. You drop in for five minutes and end up spending an hour or two. And it’s the snow that keeps you there, I think: beckoning you forward, making the landscape strange and exciting and romantic.

Journey

It’s hard to think of Journey without thinking of sand, with those rounded dunes directing the eye and giving each minute or two a sense of occasion as you crest them and see what’s next.

But the tail end of the game – once you’re approaching the summit of the game’s mountain – belongs to snow. And the snow is terrifying, whirling in and forming a sort of granular wall that you have to battle against. It’s not a battle you can ultimately win, either – at least not in the traditional sense. Everybody who plays Journey remembers that moment of giving up, I think, that moment of collapsing in the drifts. How cold it still feels!

Red Dead Redemption 2

Forget horse testicles, the snow in Red Dead Redemption 2 is a-maz-ing. You leave footsteps as you crunch through it and plough furrows as you wade through piles thigh high. It’s so satisfying.

But it’s more than that, too – more than set dressing. The snow is almost a character. It’s the wilds, alive, and the game is reminding you how inhospitable and impassable a place like North America can be. There’s even a quest early on, in the survive-the-winter part of the game, where you see exactly what happens to a person like you who loses their horse in weather like this – which they can easily do because of unseen holes or dangers in the snow. A person like you gets stranded and freezes and dies.

Without your horse, Arthur Morgan, you ain’t much.

This video is absolutely incredible! It’s Arthur playing in the snow while stirring, romantic music plays. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

Long Dark

The Long Dark doesn’t have the most realistic snow (its stylised low-poly aesthetic somewhat puts pay to that), but it certainly has presence. It’s picturesque, yes, but it’s also an ever-present force of hostility, draining your life force through plummeting body temperatures and sodden clothes. And there’s never an escape; you’ll hear it in the relentless crunch of snow underfoot as you roam the unforgiving Canadian wilderness, see it in the staccato clouds of your own breath in the biting, post-apocalyptic air.

It’s there in the languid dance of snowflakes in the morning light, and there as the weather turns, whipped into howling wall of fog and ice. And even the seeming safety of indoors can’t mask its chill presence for long; snow drifts through broken windowpanes as you huddle against the dying embers of a makeshift fire, while the muffled rattle and bang of the elements serve as a constant reminder that your end is as inevitable as the cold, no matter how much you fight, no matter how much you run.

Matt Wales

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2019/12/five-of-the-best-snow-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=five-of-the-best-snow-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

[yahoonews7]

Could pioneering research by a young marine biologist from Essex save the embattled Great Barrier Reef?  Guy Kelly meets her to find out. I’ve never considered what the collective noun might be for a group of explorers – a compass? A khaki? A smug? – but whatever it is, I have discovered a large one, gently grooming one another in a lecture theatre in downtown Washington, DC. They convene here every year, at the National Geographic Explorers Festival, to revel in their triumphs, network furiously, and share concerns for a planet in desperate need of their kind to save it. By mid-morning on the second day, those gathered in the auditorium at National Geographic’s headquarters have heard from people who’ve viewed Earth from space and plumbed the dark depths of the oceans. We’ve listened to NGOs that have come together to save the Sumatran rhino and learnt why protecting 30 per cent of the planet by 2030 is essential to preventing the next mass extinction. Many of the speakers have been American and many have been confident, experienced figures who’ve fought to become the leaders in their (often literal) fields. Then, refreshingly, come a group of innovators with new solutions to age-old problems – beginning with a young marine biologist from Brentwood, Essex. Wearing an aqua-blue summer dress, 32-year-old Emma Camp strides out looking calm and composed. She hits her mark, takes a deep breath, then delivers the bad news. ‘The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is home to over 7,000 marine species, has huge economic and cultural value, and supports essential ecosystem services, such as fisheries. But this underwater city, full of life and colour, is turning white and derelict,’ she says. The audience is hooked. ‘Climate change is compromising not just the Great Barrier Reef, but reefs globally. Warmer, more acidic, low-oxygen seawater is fundamentally affecting the biology of the corals, and this is compromising whether they’ll be able to exist in the future. In just three years, over a third of the Great Barrier Reef has been lost.’ Camp isn’t just here as a harbinger of doom, however. She’s also come with a plan. Through her research, she tells us, she has discovered that in certain areas of the planet there are corals that already exist in the kind of hot, lower pH waters we’ll see all over the world, unless action is taken. And remarkably, some are adapting to survive. Camp has had the idea of ‘transplanting’ clippings of ‘super-survivor’ coral (think of grafting tree branches) to reefs being devastated by rising sea temperatures, then seeing what happens. Camp is the first speaker – and sole Briton – from the 10 finalists for this year’s Rolex Awards for Enterprise. In 1976, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Rolex Oyster, the world’s first waterproof watch, the Swiss company launched a biennial programme to support explorers, scientists and entrepreneurs who have a project that could make the world a better place. It continues today, as part of the brand’s ‘Perpetual Planet’ campaign. This year’s group – chosen from 957 entries by a jury that included Jonathan Baillie, the chief scientist of the National Geographic Society, and the British geneticist and broadcaster Adam Rutherford – will be halved after further jury consideration and a public vote. The five winners will then become ‘laureates’, each receiving a significant grant for their project (in the region of 200,000 Swiss francs) and, naturally, a watch. All 10 finalists will also enjoy the vital publicity that attends the awards. Studying resilience in coral at a mangrove off Port Douglas Credit: Franck Gazzola/©Rolex They are eminently impressive, and as varied as in any year. Previous winning projects have included turning discarded rice husks into energy; establishing a travelling school to help a nomadic culture survive; and, in 2016, a proposal from a British man, Andrew Bastawrous, transforming eye care in sub-Saharan Africa using a smartphone-based examination kit. This year’s competition features everything from conservation to disease prevention.  ‘It’s all been a bit full on,’ Camp admits, when we meet for coffee in a nearby hotel the next morning. The night before saw her attend the National Geographic Awards and the rest of her time has been taken up by speaking events, interviews, photo shoots and ‘associated admin activities’. ‘I had to just go for a walk yesterday, just to be outside,’ she says, sinking into an armchair. ‘I’m not used to being around so many people. It’s usually fish and coral.’ Camp is tall and willowy, with long brown hair and the healthy tan of somebody who spends half her life dangling off boats in the world’s most beautiful places. I ask for the down-the-pub-chat version of her pitch. ‘Well, climate change is killing the reefs, and we risk losing them in our lifetimes. But there are naturally resilient populations we know very little about. My project aims to find out how they’re doing it, and whether they could help save other reefs.’ For a long time Camp’s work was largely general: looking at the impact of climate change on coral in different waters. But one research trip in 2016, to mangroves in New Caledonia, in the South Pacific, changed her focus for life. ‘Nobody [in marine biology] outside of our little community bought into the idea that there could be something exciting there, but we went and there were corals everywhere – full reef structures, in water where the pH reading was extremely low.’ The public’s greatest misconception about coral is that it is a plant. Really, it is a sessile (fixed, like a barnacle) animal, a marine invertebrate related to sea anemones and jellyfish. Corals rely on algae that live inside their tissues, photosynthesising and giving the coral its colour. Under stress – due to, for example, warming waters and changing pH levels – the algae will leave, eventually killing the coral. The process is known as ‘bleaching’ because it goes dull and pale. A good pH level for coral is around 8 to 8.5. In certain mangrove lagoons in New Caledonia, where tidal cycles and unique physico-chemical conditions create a swirl of warm, deoxygenated, lower pH water, Camp didn’t expect to find such healthy coral. The water was 1 to 2C warmer than nearby. So she tested the pH – it was below 7.5. ‘My colleagues said the pH meter must be broken. So they tried and got the same. We ended up trying five sensors before we accepted it. It completely challenged our understanding.’ It was the kind of lightbulb moment scientists only experience once or twice in a career. The water conditions in the lagoon are more extreme than many of the worst predictions for the warming of the world’s oceans over the next century. So if corals there have managed to adapt, could they hold the key to saving the Great Barrier Reef? The biggest reefs in the world Camp’s team now hope to expand a project that involves transplanting ‘super-survivor’ cuttings to at-risk areas. She has already set up a ‘multispecies coral nursery’ off Australia (imagine a mesh fence with cuttings of different types of coral fixed to it, weighed down close to the sea floor), but requires further funding and support. And it may not work: after all, the Great Barrier Reef – one of the seven wonders of the natural world, visible from outer space, and worth about £3 billion in tourism each year – is about the same size as Italy, and subject to all manner of different stresses. But it might. ‘There’s a real art to getting the message across. We fundamentally have to lower carbon emissions to save coral reefs, that’s number one, but we also need to look at alternative strategies we can use in addition to that,’ Camp says. She is intensely aware that her messaging needs to be drenched in caution, lest people hear of her discovery and declare the problem solved – or worse, lest climate sceptics hoist it as an example of us underestimating the planet’s ability to survive, whatever the conditions. ‘Some people look for any excuse to do less, so we need to be honest but not give a false sense of security. Think of it like a toolbox. The main tool we have is lowering emissions, but that’s not working well enough alone, so what else do we have?’ Camp has been fascinated by coral reefs since childhood. The daughter of local-government workers, she grew up in Essex with two brothers (both are still there; one has his own business, the other’s a policeman). When she was seven, her father took her snorkelling during a holiday to the Bahamas. It was all she needed. ‘I vividly remember putting the mask on and for the first time seeing this whole life you couldn’t see from above the water, this complex coral network. At the time I just appreciated its beauty, but as I got older I started to understand how important that ecosystem is. That so many people and animals rely on it. A third of all fish stocks interact with the reef. They need it.’ As a teenager, she spent most summers in Spain, where she earnt her diving qualifications. By the time she was an adult she was a divemaster, but balanced that passion with one for basketball (she went on to play for Great Britain). On a basketball scholarship, she completed an environmental science and chemistry degree at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, before a master’s in environmental management and business at Sheffield Hallam University, then a PhD in marine biology at the University of Essex – most of which was spent in the field, studying reefs around the world. Today she is based at the University of Technology in Sydney, where she is one of the leading researchers focusing on climate change and coral reefs. Camp – whose vowels occasionally slip into a New South Wales twang, especially when talking about her life in Australia – lives in Sydney with her husband, Rawiri, a banker from New Zealand. They married in January, and she is teaching him to snorkel. Seeing his appreciation of the underwater world has ‘reinvigorated’ her love for it, she says. Camp now reckons she’s completed ‘over 1,500 dives, most of them about an hour at least – I stopped counting’. By my calculations, she’s spent two months of her life underwater. ‘Probably about a quarter of my day job is in the field. The rest is in the labs, testing samples, or writing it up. But more and more important is the science communication, making sure people understand why we’re doing what we’re doing.’ It’s why accolades like making the Rolex shortlist are so valuable, as they allow her both to gain extra funding and to promote her work before people she might not normally reach. ‘For me, it’s about raising awareness of what’s going on in our oceans, so it’s more about exposure than the money. These are global issues and a brand like Rolex can facilitate that message.’ Last year she was also announced as one of 17 ‘young leaders’ for the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations. It’s a two-year position, and has seen her address the UN General Assembly once already. Do they listen? ‘Yeah, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. There’s an eagerness to have intergenerational discussions. We are the next custodians who will inherit the planet and give it to our children, and there’s a real commitment to make sure young people’s voices are heard.’ Britain seems to have embraced the anti-plastics message Sir David Attenborough and others have pushed into the mainstream. Australia is similarly filled with activists, Camp says, but the Queensland government hasn’t helped by recently approving the construction of an Adani coal mine – to be one of the largest in the world – in the Galilee Basin, near the Great Barrier Reef. Are we putting too much energy into banning straws? ‘The analogy I like to use is that if somebody has a terminal illness and breaks their leg, you obviously deal with the broken leg, but you don’t stop treating the illness. You can deal with short-term issues without losing sight of the bigger picture.’ By the end of the Explorers Festival in Washington, it’s been announced that Camp has narrowly missed out on becoming one of the five Rolex laureates. Those lucky few are João Campos-Silva, a Brazilian fishing ecologist who has devised a plan to save the world’s largest scaled freshwater fish, the arapaima; Grégoire Courtine, a French medical scientist with a method of allowing people with broken backs to walk again; Brian Gitta, a Ugandan IT specialist who has developed a new weapon in the war on malaria; Indian conservationist Krithi Karanth, who works to ease conflicts between people and wildlife; and the Canadian entrepreneur Miranda Wang, with her plan for plastics. Copy of More from Tel Mag Moon landings 18/07 Not all is lost for Camp, however. Rolex was so impressed with all 10 finalists that the remaining five have been made ‘associate laureates’, meaning her project will still receive support. Besides, the networking opportunities have been invaluable, not least a dinner at a mansion in the historic Georgetown neighbourhood, where the world’s leading explorers gathered to meet and celebrate one another, again. There, Camp met her hero, the legendary marine biologist Sylvia Earle – a woman who has spent a year of her life underwater. Camp hopes she’s still diving and working at 83, too. There are days ‘when you think, this is really tough’, she says, ‘especially when you see the political scene, but what’s the option? You can give up or be one of the individuals who make it their commitment in life to do everything they can to protect the reefs.’ So she is optimistic about the future, but knows the planet is now at a crossroads. ‘The best case scenario in 50 years is that we have coral reefs that are still biodiverse, serving their function, and we have an even healthier marine environment than we do now, respecting biodiversity not just for its value to us as humans. The worst case scenario is that we’ve lost coral reefs as we know them. I don’t want to tell my future grandchildren that this was a privilege I had, but they won’t, and it was all because we didn’t do enough.’ Every time I see her in Washington, Camp is wearing a large bone necklace in the shape of a fish hook. It is a traditional Maori hei matau, made by her husband’s late uncle, and means ‘safe passage over water’. A wearer is considered a strong-willed provider and protector, determined to succeed. Camp clutches it to her chest. ‘It’s seen better days,’ she says, ‘but I wear it on every dive.’ Rolex is now accepting entries for the 2021 Rolex Awards for Enterprise

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2YmnzcH

[courtneytincher]

The biologist in a race against time to save the Great Barrier Reef

Could pioneering research by a young marine biologist from Essex save the embattled Great Barrier Reef?  Guy Kelly meets her to find out. I’ve never considered what the collective noun might be for a group of explorers – a compass? A khaki? A smug? – but whatever it is, I have discovered a large one, gently grooming one another in a lecture theatre in downtown Washington, DC. They convene here every year, at the National Geographic Explorers Festival, to revel in their triumphs, network furiously, and share concerns for a planet in desperate need of their kind to save it. By mid-morning on the second day, those gathered in the auditorium at National Geographic’s headquarters have heard from people who’ve viewed Earth from space and plumbed the dark depths of the oceans. We’ve listened to NGOs that have come together to save the Sumatran rhino and learnt why protecting 30 per cent of the planet by 2030 is essential to preventing the next mass extinction. Many of the speakers have been American and many have been confident, experienced figures who’ve fought to become the leaders in their (often literal) fields. Then, refreshingly, come a group of innovators with new solutions to age-old problems – beginning with a young marine biologist from Brentwood, Essex. Wearing an aqua-blue summer dress, 32-year-old Emma Camp strides out looking calm and composed. She hits her mark, takes a deep breath, then delivers the bad news. ‘The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is home to over 7,000 marine species, has huge economic and cultural value, and supports essential ecosystem services, such as fisheries. But this underwater city, full of life and colour, is turning white and derelict,’ she says. The audience is hooked. ‘Climate change is compromising not just the Great Barrier Reef, but reefs globally. Warmer, more acidic, low-oxygen seawater is fundamentally affecting the biology of the corals, and this is compromising whether they’ll be able to exist in the future. In just three years, over a third of the Great Barrier Reef has been lost.’ Camp isn’t just here as a harbinger of doom, however. She’s also come with a plan. Through her research, she tells us, she has discovered that in certain areas of the planet there are corals that already exist in the kind of hot, lower pH waters we’ll see all over the world, unless action is taken. And remarkably, some are adapting to survive. Camp has had the idea of ‘transplanting’ clippings of ‘super-survivor’ coral (think of grafting tree branches) to reefs being devastated by rising sea temperatures, then seeing what happens. Camp is the first speaker – and sole Briton – from the 10 finalists for this year’s Rolex Awards for Enterprise. In 1976, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Rolex Oyster, the world’s first waterproof watch, the Swiss company launched a biennial programme to support explorers, scientists and entrepreneurs who have a project that could make the world a better place. It continues today, as part of the brand’s ‘Perpetual Planet’ campaign. This year’s group – chosen from 957 entries by a jury that included Jonathan Baillie, the chief scientist of the National Geographic Society, and the British geneticist and broadcaster Adam Rutherford – will be halved after further jury consideration and a public vote. The five winners will then become ‘laureates’, each receiving a significant grant for their project (in the region of 200,000 Swiss francs) and, naturally, a watch. All 10 finalists will also enjoy the vital publicity that attends the awards. Studying resilience in coral at a mangrove off Port Douglas Credit: Franck Gazzola/©Rolex They are eminently impressive, and as varied as in any year. Previous winning projects have included turning discarded rice husks into energy; establishing a travelling school to help a nomadic culture survive; and, in 2016, a proposal from a British man, Andrew Bastawrous, transforming eye care in sub-Saharan Africa using a smartphone-based examination kit. This year’s competition features everything from conservation to disease prevention.  ‘It’s all been a bit full on,’ Camp admits, when we meet for coffee in a nearby hotel the next morning. The night before saw her attend the National Geographic Awards and the rest of her time has been taken up by speaking events, interviews, photo shoots and ‘associated admin activities’. ‘I had to just go for a walk yesterday, just to be outside,’ she says, sinking into an armchair. ‘I’m not used to being around so many people. It’s usually fish and coral.’ Camp is tall and willowy, with long brown hair and the healthy tan of somebody who spends half her life dangling off boats in the world’s most beautiful places. I ask for the down-the-pub-chat version of her pitch. ‘Well, climate change is killing the reefs, and we risk losing them in our lifetimes. But there are naturally resilient populations we know very little about. My project aims to find out how they’re doing it, and whether they could help save other reefs.’ For a long time Camp’s work was largely general: looking at the impact of climate change on coral in different waters. But one research trip in 2016, to mangroves in New Caledonia, in the South Pacific, changed her focus for life. ‘Nobody [in marine biology] outside of our little community bought into the idea that there could be something exciting there, but we went and there were corals everywhere – full reef structures, in water where the pH reading was extremely low.’ The public’s greatest misconception about coral is that it is a plant. Really, it is a sessile (fixed, like a barnacle) animal, a marine invertebrate related to sea anemones and jellyfish. Corals rely on algae that live inside their tissues, photosynthesising and giving the coral its colour. Under stress – due to, for example, warming waters and changing pH levels – the algae will leave, eventually killing the coral. The process is known as ‘bleaching’ because it goes dull and pale. A good pH level for coral is around 8 to 8.5. In certain mangrove lagoons in New Caledonia, where tidal cycles and unique physico-chemical conditions create a swirl of warm, deoxygenated, lower pH water, Camp didn’t expect to find such healthy coral. The water was 1 to 2C warmer than nearby. So she tested the pH – it was below 7.5. ‘My colleagues said the pH meter must be broken. So they tried and got the same. We ended up trying five sensors before we accepted it. It completely challenged our understanding.’ It was the kind of lightbulb moment scientists only experience once or twice in a career. The water conditions in the lagoon are more extreme than many of the worst predictions for the warming of the world’s oceans over the next century. So if corals there have managed to adapt, could they hold the key to saving the Great Barrier Reef? The biggest reefs in the world Camp’s team now hope to expand a project that involves transplanting ‘super-survivor’ cuttings to at-risk areas. She has already set up a ‘multispecies coral nursery’ off Australia (imagine a mesh fence with cuttings of different types of coral fixed to it, weighed down close to the sea floor), but requires further funding and support. And it may not work: after all, the Great Barrier Reef – one of the seven wonders of the natural world, visible from outer space, and worth about £3 billion in tourism each year – is about the same size as Italy, and subject to all manner of different stresses. But it might. ‘There’s a real art to getting the message across. We fundamentally have to lower carbon emissions to save coral reefs, that’s number one, but we also need to look at alternative strategies we can use in addition to that,’ Camp says. She is intensely aware that her messaging needs to be drenched in caution, lest people hear of her discovery and declare the problem solved – or worse, lest climate sceptics hoist it as an example of us underestimating the planet’s ability to survive, whatever the conditions. ‘Some people look for any excuse to do less, so we need to be honest but not give a false sense of security. Think of it like a toolbox. The main tool we have is lowering emissions, but that’s not working well enough alone, so what else do we have?’ Camp has been fascinated by coral reefs since childhood. The daughter of local-government workers, she grew up in Essex with two brothers (both are still there; one has his own business, the other’s a policeman). When she was seven, her father took her snorkelling during a holiday to the Bahamas. It was all she needed. ‘I vividly remember putting the mask on and for the first time seeing this whole life you couldn’t see from above the water, this complex coral network. At the time I just appreciated its beauty, but as I got older I started to understand how important that ecosystem is. That so many people and animals rely on it. A third of all fish stocks interact with the reef. They need it.’ As a teenager, she spent most summers in Spain, where she earnt her diving qualifications. By the time she was an adult she was a divemaster, but balanced that passion with one for basketball (she went on to play for Great Britain). On a basketball scholarship, she completed an environmental science and chemistry degree at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, before a master’s in environmental management and business at Sheffield Hallam University, then a PhD in marine biology at the University of Essex – most of which was spent in the field, studying reefs around the world. Today she is based at the University of Technology in Sydney, where she is one of the leading researchers focusing on climate change and coral reefs. Camp – whose vowels occasionally slip into a New South Wales twang, especially when talking about her life in Australia – lives in Sydney with her husband, Rawiri, a banker from New Zealand. They married in January, and she is teaching him to snorkel. Seeing his appreciation of the underwater world has ‘reinvigorated’ her love for it, she says. Camp now reckons she’s completed ‘over 1,500 dives, most of them about an hour at least – I stopped counting’. By my calculations, she’s spent two months of her life underwater. ‘Probably about a quarter of my day job is in the field. The rest is in the labs, testing samples, or writing it up. But more and more important is the science communication, making sure people understand why we’re doing what we’re doing.’ It’s why accolades like making the Rolex shortlist are so valuable, as they allow her both to gain extra funding and to promote her work before people she might not normally reach. ‘For me, it’s about raising awareness of what’s going on in our oceans, so it’s more about exposure than the money. These are global issues and a brand like Rolex can facilitate that message.’ Last year she was also announced as one of 17 ‘young leaders’ for the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations. It’s a two-year position, and has seen her address the UN General Assembly once already. Do they listen? ‘Yeah, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. There’s an eagerness to have intergenerational discussions. We are the next custodians who will inherit the planet and give it to our children, and there’s a real commitment to make sure young people’s voices are heard.’ Britain seems to have embraced the anti-plastics message Sir David Attenborough and others have pushed into the mainstream. Australia is similarly filled with activists, Camp says, but the Queensland government hasn’t helped by recently approving the construction of an Adani coal mine – to be one of the largest in the world – in the Galilee Basin, near the Great Barrier Reef. Are we putting too much energy into banning straws? ‘The analogy I like to use is that if somebody has a terminal illness and breaks their leg, you obviously deal with the broken leg, but you don’t stop treating the illness. You can deal with short-term issues without losing sight of the bigger picture.’ By the end of the Explorers Festival in Washington, it’s been announced that Camp has narrowly missed out on becoming one of the five Rolex laureates. Those lucky few are João Campos-Silva, a Brazilian fishing ecologist who has devised a plan to save the world’s largest scaled freshwater fish, the arapaima; Grégoire Courtine, a French medical scientist with a method of allowing people with broken backs to walk again; Brian Gitta, a Ugandan IT specialist who has developed a new weapon in the war on malaria; Indian conservationist Krithi Karanth, who works to ease conflicts between people and wildlife; and the Canadian entrepreneur Miranda Wang, with her plan for plastics. Copy of More from Tel Mag Moon landings 18/07 Not all is lost for Camp, however. Rolex was so impressed with all 10 finalists that the remaining five have been made ‘associate laureates’, meaning her project will still receive support. Besides, the networking opportunities have been invaluable, not least a dinner at a mansion in the historic Georgetown neighbourhood, where the world’s leading explorers gathered to meet and celebrate one another, again. There, Camp met her hero, the legendary marine biologist Sylvia Earle – a woman who has spent a year of her life underwater. Camp hopes she’s still diving and working at 83, too. There are days ‘when you think, this is really tough’, she says, ‘especially when you see the political scene, but what’s the option? You can give up or be one of the individuals who make it their commitment in life to do everything they can to protect the reefs.’ So she is optimistic about the future, but knows the planet is now at a crossroads. ‘The best case scenario in 50 years is that we have coral reefs that are still biodiverse, serving their function, and we have an even healthier marine environment than we do now, respecting biodiversity not just for its value to us as humans. The worst case scenario is that we’ve lost coral reefs as we know them. I don’t want to tell my future grandchildren that this was a privilege I had, but they won’t, and it was all because we didn’t do enough.’ Every time I see her in Washington, Camp is wearing a large bone necklace in the shape of a fish hook. It is a traditional Maori hei matau, made by her husband’s late uncle, and means ‘safe passage over water’. A wearer is considered a strong-willed provider and protector, determined to succeed. Camp clutches it to her chest. ‘It’s seen better days,’ she says, ‘but I wear it on every dive.’ Rolex is now accepting entries for the 2021 Rolex Awards for Enterprise

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines

Could pioneering research by a young marine biologist from Essex save the embattled Great Barrier Reef?  Guy Kelly meets her to find out. I’ve never considered what the collective noun might be for a group of explorers – a compass? A khaki? A smug? – but whatever it is, I have discovered a large one, gently grooming one another in a lecture theatre in downtown Washington, DC. They convene here every year, at the National Geographic Explorers Festival, to revel in their triumphs, network furiously, and share concerns for a planet in desperate need of their kind to save it. By mid-morning on the second day, those gathered in the auditorium at National Geographic’s headquarters have heard from people who’ve viewed Earth from space and plumbed the dark depths of the oceans. We’ve listened to NGOs that have come together to save the Sumatran rhino and learnt why protecting 30 per cent of the planet by 2030 is essential to preventing the next mass extinction. Many of the speakers have been American and many have been confident, experienced figures who’ve fought to become the leaders in their (often literal) fields. Then, refreshingly, come a group of innovators with new solutions to age-old problems – beginning with a young marine biologist from Brentwood, Essex. Wearing an aqua-blue summer dress, 32-year-old Emma Camp strides out looking calm and composed. She hits her mark, takes a deep breath, then delivers the bad news. ‘The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is home to over 7,000 marine species, has huge economic and cultural value, and supports essential ecosystem services, such as fisheries. But this underwater city, full of life and colour, is turning white and derelict,’ she says. The audience is hooked. ‘Climate change is compromising not just the Great Barrier Reef, but reefs globally. Warmer, more acidic, low-oxygen seawater is fundamentally affecting the biology of the corals, and this is compromising whether they’ll be able to exist in the future. In just three years, over a third of the Great Barrier Reef has been lost.’ Camp isn’t just here as a harbinger of doom, however. She’s also come with a plan. Through her research, she tells us, she has discovered that in certain areas of the planet there are corals that already exist in the kind of hot, lower pH waters we’ll see all over the world, unless action is taken. And remarkably, some are adapting to survive. Camp has had the idea of ‘transplanting’ clippings of ‘super-survivor’ coral (think of grafting tree branches) to reefs being devastated by rising sea temperatures, then seeing what happens. Camp is the first speaker – and sole Briton – from the 10 finalists for this year’s Rolex Awards for Enterprise. In 1976, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Rolex Oyster, the world’s first waterproof watch, the Swiss company launched a biennial programme to support explorers, scientists and entrepreneurs who have a project that could make the world a better place. It continues today, as part of the brand’s ‘Perpetual Planet’ campaign. This year’s group – chosen from 957 entries by a jury that included Jonathan Baillie, the chief scientist of the National Geographic Society, and the British geneticist and broadcaster Adam Rutherford – will be halved after further jury consideration and a public vote. The five winners will then become ‘laureates’, each receiving a significant grant for their project (in the region of 200,000 Swiss francs) and, naturally, a watch. All 10 finalists will also enjoy the vital publicity that attends the awards. Studying resilience in coral at a mangrove off Port Douglas Credit: Franck Gazzola/©Rolex They are eminently impressive, and as varied as in any year. Previous winning projects have included turning discarded rice husks into energy; establishing a travelling school to help a nomadic culture survive; and, in 2016, a proposal from a British man, Andrew Bastawrous, transforming eye care in sub-Saharan Africa using a smartphone-based examination kit. This year’s competition features everything from conservation to disease prevention.  ‘It’s all been a bit full on,’ Camp admits, when we meet for coffee in a nearby hotel the next morning. The night before saw her attend the National Geographic Awards and the rest of her time has been taken up by speaking events, interviews, photo shoots and ‘associated admin activities’. ‘I had to just go for a walk yesterday, just to be outside,’ she says, sinking into an armchair. ‘I’m not used to being around so many people. It’s usually fish and coral.’ Camp is tall and willowy, with long brown hair and the healthy tan of somebody who spends half her life dangling off boats in the world’s most beautiful places. I ask for the down-the-pub-chat version of her pitch. ‘Well, climate change is killing the reefs, and we risk losing them in our lifetimes. But there are naturally resilient populations we know very little about. My project aims to find out how they’re doing it, and whether they could help save other reefs.’ For a long time Camp’s work was largely general: looking at the impact of climate change on coral in different waters. But one research trip in 2016, to mangroves in New Caledonia, in the South Pacific, changed her focus for life. ‘Nobody [in marine biology] outside of our little community bought into the idea that there could be something exciting there, but we went and there were corals everywhere – full reef structures, in water where the pH reading was extremely low.’ The public’s greatest misconception about coral is that it is a plant. Really, it is a sessile (fixed, like a barnacle) animal, a marine invertebrate related to sea anemones and jellyfish. Corals rely on algae that live inside their tissues, photosynthesising and giving the coral its colour. Under stress – due to, for example, warming waters and changing pH levels – the algae will leave, eventually killing the coral. The process is known as ‘bleaching’ because it goes dull and pale. A good pH level for coral is around 8 to 8.5. In certain mangrove lagoons in New Caledonia, where tidal cycles and unique physico-chemical conditions create a swirl of warm, deoxygenated, lower pH water, Camp didn’t expect to find such healthy coral. The water was 1 to 2C warmer than nearby. So she tested the pH – it was below 7.5. ‘My colleagues said the pH meter must be broken. So they tried and got the same. We ended up trying five sensors before we accepted it. It completely challenged our understanding.’ It was the kind of lightbulb moment scientists only experience once or twice in a career. The water conditions in the lagoon are more extreme than many of the worst predictions for the warming of the world’s oceans over the next century. So if corals there have managed to adapt, could they hold the key to saving the Great Barrier Reef? The biggest reefs in the world Camp’s team now hope to expand a project that involves transplanting ‘super-survivor’ cuttings to at-risk areas. She has already set up a ‘multispecies coral nursery’ off Australia (imagine a mesh fence with cuttings of different types of coral fixed to it, weighed down close to the sea floor), but requires further funding and support. And it may not work: after all, the Great Barrier Reef – one of the seven wonders of the natural world, visible from outer space, and worth about £3 billion in tourism each year – is about the same size as Italy, and subject to all manner of different stresses. But it might. ‘There’s a real art to getting the message across. We fundamentally have to lower carbon emissions to save coral reefs, that’s number one, but we also need to look at alternative strategies we can use in addition to that,’ Camp says. She is intensely aware that her messaging needs to be drenched in caution, lest people hear of her discovery and declare the problem solved – or worse, lest climate sceptics hoist it as an example of us underestimating the planet’s ability to survive, whatever the conditions. ‘Some people look for any excuse to do less, so we need to be honest but not give a false sense of security. Think of it like a toolbox. The main tool we have is lowering emissions, but that’s not working well enough alone, so what else do we have?’ Camp has been fascinated by coral reefs since childhood. The daughter of local-government workers, she grew up in Essex with two brothers (both are still there; one has his own business, the other’s a policeman). When she was seven, her father took her snorkelling during a holiday to the Bahamas. It was all she needed. ‘I vividly remember putting the mask on and for the first time seeing this whole life you couldn’t see from above the water, this complex coral network. At the time I just appreciated its beauty, but as I got older I started to understand how important that ecosystem is. That so many people and animals rely on it. A third of all fish stocks interact with the reef. They need it.’ As a teenager, she spent most summers in Spain, where she earnt her diving qualifications. By the time she was an adult she was a divemaster, but balanced that passion with one for basketball (she went on to play for Great Britain). On a basketball scholarship, she completed an environmental science and chemistry degree at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, before a master’s in environmental management and business at Sheffield Hallam University, then a PhD in marine biology at the University of Essex – most of which was spent in the field, studying reefs around the world. Today she is based at the University of Technology in Sydney, where she is one of the leading researchers focusing on climate change and coral reefs. Camp – whose vowels occasionally slip into a New South Wales twang, especially when talking about her life in Australia – lives in Sydney with her husband, Rawiri, a banker from New Zealand. They married in January, and she is teaching him to snorkel. Seeing his appreciation of the underwater world has ‘reinvigorated’ her love for it, she says. Camp now reckons she’s completed ‘over 1,500 dives, most of them about an hour at least – I stopped counting’. By my calculations, she’s spent two months of her life underwater. ‘Probably about a quarter of my day job is in the field. The rest is in the labs, testing samples, or writing it up. But more and more important is the science communication, making sure people understand why we’re doing what we’re doing.’ It’s why accolades like making the Rolex shortlist are so valuable, as they allow her both to gain extra funding and to promote her work before people she might not normally reach. ‘For me, it’s about raising awareness of what’s going on in our oceans, so it’s more about exposure than the money. These are global issues and a brand like Rolex can facilitate that message.’ Last year she was also announced as one of 17 ‘young leaders’ for the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations. It’s a two-year position, and has seen her address the UN General Assembly once already. Do they listen? ‘Yeah, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. There’s an eagerness to have intergenerational discussions. We are the next custodians who will inherit the planet and give it to our children, and there’s a real commitment to make sure young people’s voices are heard.’ Britain seems to have embraced the anti-plastics message Sir David Attenborough and others have pushed into the mainstream. Australia is similarly filled with activists, Camp says, but the Queensland government hasn’t helped by recently approving the construction of an Adani coal mine – to be one of the largest in the world – in the Galilee Basin, near the Great Barrier Reef. Are we putting too much energy into banning straws? ‘The analogy I like to use is that if somebody has a terminal illness and breaks their leg, you obviously deal with the broken leg, but you don’t stop treating the illness. You can deal with short-term issues without losing sight of the bigger picture.’ By the end of the Explorers Festival in Washington, it’s been announced that Camp has narrowly missed out on becoming one of the five Rolex laureates. Those lucky few are João Campos-Silva, a Brazilian fishing ecologist who has devised a plan to save the world’s largest scaled freshwater fish, the arapaima; Grégoire Courtine, a French medical scientist with a method of allowing people with broken backs to walk again; Brian Gitta, a Ugandan IT specialist who has developed a new weapon in the war on malaria; Indian conservationist Krithi Karanth, who works to ease conflicts between people and wildlife; and the Canadian entrepreneur Miranda Wang, with her plan for plastics. Copy of More from Tel Mag Moon landings 18/07 Not all is lost for Camp, however. Rolex was so impressed with all 10 finalists that the remaining five have been made ‘associate laureates’, meaning her project will still receive support. Besides, the networking opportunities have been invaluable, not least a dinner at a mansion in the historic Georgetown neighbourhood, where the world’s leading explorers gathered to meet and celebrate one another, again. There, Camp met her hero, the legendary marine biologist Sylvia Earle – a woman who has spent a year of her life underwater. Camp hopes she’s still diving and working at 83, too. There are days ‘when you think, this is really tough’, she says, ‘especially when you see the political scene, but what’s the option? You can give up or be one of the individuals who make it their commitment in life to do everything they can to protect the reefs.’ So she is optimistic about the future, but knows the planet is now at a crossroads. ‘The best case scenario in 50 years is that we have coral reefs that are still biodiverse, serving their function, and we have an even healthier marine environment than we do now, respecting biodiversity not just for its value to us as humans. The worst case scenario is that we’ve lost coral reefs as we know them. I don’t want to tell my future grandchildren that this was a privilege I had, but they won’t, and it was all because we didn’t do enough.’ Every time I see her in Washington, Camp is wearing a large bone necklace in the shape of a fish hook. It is a traditional Maori hei matau, made by her husband’s late uncle, and means ‘safe passage over water’. A wearer is considered a strong-willed provider and protector, determined to succeed. Camp clutches it to her chest. ‘It’s seen better days,’ she says, ‘but I wear it on every dive.’ Rolex is now accepting entries for the 2021 Rolex Awards for Enterprise

July 27, 2019 at 07:00AM via IFTTT