New library director takes over

On his first day on the job, Spencer Watts settled into a chair in his office and pronounced himself pleased with what he had seen so far.

“It’s a good system,” the new East Baton Rouge Parish Library director said of the 1.9-million-item, 540-employee system he took over on Monday. “It’s not perfect, there are always things we can do better.”

Watts, who spent the morning at the city-parish Human Resources department filling out forms and completing a drug and alcohol screen, said he was ready to get to work.

“We have major construction projects,” he said first when asked about his priorities. “I want to make sure those stay on track.”

Watts, who left the top job at the Mobile public library system in Alabama, was hired partly on the basis of his experience in overseeing library construction.

The East Baton Rouge Parish library system has four branches under construction or in the design phase: the Fairwood Branch Library on Old Hammond Highway, a new main library on Goodwood, the Rouzan branch library on Perkins, and the River Center Branch Library downtown.

The latter two have both engendered their share of controversy — Rouzan because of its association with developer Tommy Spinosa and the $21 million River Center branch library, which critics, including some on the Metro Council, have decried as excessively expensive.

Watts also said he plans to “work hard” to rebuild any broken relations from the departure of former Director David Farrar, who resigned in December 2011 after information became public about a 15-year-old Alabama criminal case in which he was accused of sexual abuse and impersonating a police officer.

“I am a totally different individual,” Watts said. “This is a new chapter.”

Watts said he plans to focus on becoming familiar with the parish’s library system, with its approximately 542 budgeted employees and $44 million budget, both more than double what he oversaw in Mobile.

“It’s a process,” Watts said. “It will be weeks before I have a good handle on it like I want to.”

Since he accepted the job, Watts said, East Baton Rouge Parish Library staff have sent him the minutes and video recordings of the Library Board of Control meetings so that he could begin to familiarize himself with the system.

One of the first non-construction projects Watts will oversee is the installation of a Radio-Frequency Identity tag system.

Watts, who oversaw the installation of a similar system in Mobile, said the system will save time on check-in and check-out, because items will not have to be individually scanned.

The system will also make it far easier to locate lost items, he said.

The library system has budgeted $1.2 million for the project, which will be split between equipment costs and paying a contractor to physically tag each of the library’s inventory 1.9 million items, said Assistant Library Director Mary Stein, who championed the RFID project last year, said.

Watts, who with his wife has been in Baton Rouge less than two weeks, said he had a positive initial impression of the city.

In addition to new class schedules, University of Alabama students are adjusting to campus parking changes upon their return from the holiday break, as various roads and portions of parking lots have been closed.

An initiative known as the Campus Master Plan, which was approved by the Board of Trustees in November, includes plans for a new 750-space parking deck near Riverside Residence Hall and adjustments to various parking lots and streets.

The Riverside parking deck began construction while students were away over the holiday and upon return, residents noticed that the construction had taken up precious parking spaces.

UA’s Housing and Residential Department emailed residents on Jan. 11, informing them the construction removed roughly 290 spaces on the west side of the Riverside East Yellow Residential surface lot. The emailed also stated 190 new spaces were available on the east side of the lot to “offset this loss of parking.”

Despite these accommodations, less parking is available for the 22,454 parking permits that were sold in fall 2012, said UA spokeswoman Cathy Andreen, and some students often find themselves hard-pressed locating an available spot.

Leah Horn, a freshman majoring in communicative disorders, enjoys the protected parking of the Ferguson Deck but has noticed a general decrease in available spaces.

“It has become a lot harder to find a spot in that deck because so many people who normally park elsewhere have had to move because of the construction,” Horn said. “I feel that it might have been wiser to wait until the summer since it affects a large number of students.”

Although parking is currently limited, the Riverside parking deck will eventually provide more parking for the rapidly increasing number of students who live and drive on campus.

“Parking in the Riverside lot has definitely been a problem,” Matthew Warren, a freshman majoring in aerospace engineering, said. “The addition of the new deck will definitely help.”

Other changes made to parking spaces on campus include the closing of the South Rose Reserve lot, the SEC Reserve lot and the northern half of the South Ferguson lot. Barnwell lot is now only available to those with an orange residential parking pass.

In addition to the several parking lots undergoing adjustments, 7th Avenue and Margaret Drive have also been changed.

Seventh Avenue is now closed to through traffic and parking due to construction in the area. A new gate has been installed where Margaret Drive connects to Capstone Drive behind Gorgas Library.

Access to the gate is only available for faculty, staff and those with a UA disability permit. The gate can be opened by swiping an ACT card or purchasing an RFID tag for $10 to open it remotely. The gate will go up at 4:30 p.m. every weekday and will remain closed until 6 a.m. It will be open around the clock on weekends.

Along with the new gate, two spaces to the right of Margaret Drive have been converted to a turn-around area. Chris D’Esposito, assistant director of parking services, said the gate was constructed to create a cleaner flow of traffic.

SUNY to boost online offerings

State University of New York Chancellor Nancy Zimpher presented her plans for the 64-campus system in her third State of the University address on Tuesday, including an expansion of online education and increased efforts to battle student debt.

For the first time, SUNY students will be able to complete a bachelor’s degree online, Zimpher announced. Three degrees in high-demand fields like information technology and health care will launch this fall, and seven more will be available in fall 2014.

Additionally, students will be able to take online courses from any other SUNY college while earning credit and paying tuition to their home campuses.

“No institution in America – not even the for-profits – will be able to match the number of offerings and the quality of instruction,” Zimpher said. “In three years, we will enroll 100,000 degree-seeking students in Open SUNY, making us the largest public online provider of education in the nation.”

SUNY Board of Trustees Chairman H. Carl McCall said after the speech Tuesday that Zimpher’s initiatives will improve students’ success from birth through college and their careers.

“It’s a very ambitious plan, but SUNY has to be ambitious,” McCall said. “We are a leader in public higher education, and the chancellor’s outline today of how we’re going to continue to play this leadership role was very significant.”

As part of SUNY’s online efforts, top professors will begin to provide “massive open online courses.” Many of the country’s most prestigious universities present such courses, which are online for free with the aim of extending access to education. Generally, these courses are not credit bearing.

The system will develop a system of assessing higher-learning experiences, so students who’ve taken some courses, such as free courses online from accredited institutions, can get credit for their work.

SUNY will also focus on providing experiential education to students -- even those enrolled only in online courses -- helping them to secure internships, research or volunteer opportunities during their studies. These experiences will be recorded on an extracurricular transcript and be designated on their diplomas.

“When you provide the access and the opportunity, you’ve got to be sure that you also provide the support, and that’s what the chancellor was saying,” Cliff Wood, Rockland Community College president, said after the speech. “We have to be sure that we build in all of these structures to give students the full chance to be successful, whether it’s through giving them credit for the experiences they’ve had, giving them experiential education -- all of those things that she said we need to do better.”

With money saved in recent years through shared services, SUNY has begun offering required courses more often. Increased course availability coupled with access to other campuses’ online courses will lead to more students graduating early, Zimpher said.

“We are committed to the idea that students should have the choice to graduate in three years,” she said during the speech. “We believe that by 2015, 25 percent of SUNY students will be able to do this.”

Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger, who attended the speech, said 100 students annually are already graduating from Binghamton University within three years. It has an enrollment of about 12,000 students.

“It allows students to reduce their student loans. It reduces their tuition because they’re only paying three years of tuition instead of four,” Stenger said. “The students can stay and get their master’s degree in an accelerated fashion and have a little extra value at the same time.”

Teams have acted upon these issues, offering all sorts of concession and apparel deals, but the fair-weather fan isn’t going to spend time researching these things as they would research pricing out travel and lodging for a vacation. A $1,000 expense is worth studying. A $150 night out? Not so much.

Especially when you can lift your head from the laptop and look up to see an NBA game, likely in full high definition on a receiver your cable company gave you at an ever-cheapening rate, flickering for free on your local affiliate. You don’t even have to shell out nearly $200 for NBA League Pass to watch that same random midweek game, coming to you live or paused by choice with varying camera angles and impressive production values. Should your team’s high scorer limp off to the locker room during the contest, you’re probably better off at home anyway – because all the NBA news you’d ever need is yours immediately, just for the price of a computer and Internet connection. Updates come quicker in the living room.

You can quibble about the style of play all you want, but if you enjoy the game, you enjoy the game – and it’s much easier to enjoy regional NBA basketball for free than it is to check in on the local high school or college team on TV. To say nothing of the fact that even the most basic of cable or dish packages will allow you to see nationally televised games nearly every day of the week, often two times a night.

The fears that baseball owners expressed in the 1930s regarding radio airplay of games, possibly cutting into their attendance figures, might be finally realized. There’s no comparing sitting in the warm sunshine of a slow-as-molasses (but still enjoyable, in person) baseball game with huddling around a scratchy RCA radio dial. Basketball’s an indoor sport, though. A winter sport that is easy to follow on television. The experience isn’t nearly the same. There is nothing like taking in a live NBA game with your eyes acting as your own producer in the truck, but the TV experience ain’t half bad.

And even at half-cost, fans aren’t showing up. You can blame the lockout or slow-paced coaching or losing records or the economy all you want; these are all significant factors behind the lacking attendance. Even in the shadiest of shacks, though, with the most minimal of electronic setups, NBA basketball can still be a fantastic thing.

Officials hash out merger proposal

After the pomp and circumstance of the legislative session’s first day ended, Rio Grande Valley lawmakers began deliberating about what language should be included in the UT System’s bill to establish a long-sought medical school, their No. 1 priority for the 140-day session.

While broad support exists among local lawmakers for the merger of the University of Texas at Brownsville and the University of Texas-Pan American, divisions persist regarding the structure, financing and location of the medical school.

The negotiations over the entire proposal’s components will test the delegation’s regional cooperation at a time when they must gain statewide support for a measure that requires the backing of two-thirds of the Legislature.

Valley lawmakers met for several hours Wednesday, but no final agreement emerged from the discussions.

But there is “nothing insurmountable” in any disagreements about the universities’ merger and the medical school’s creation, said state Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, the dean of the Valley’s House delegation who will file the bill and guide it through the legislative process. Oliveira, however, insisted that they not let regional rivalries sink the proposal, comparing it to cutting a pie when the flour hasn’t been made.

“We all have concerns and want to fight for our districts but that fight can come another day,” Oliveira said Friday. “There’s nothing to divide right now. We have to create something and then figure out what’s next.”

UT System Chancellor Francisco G. Cigarroa unveiled Dec. 6 the proposal to merge UTB and UTPA into a new, unnamed university, along with plans to fund the South Texas medical school. The UT Board of Regents unanimously approved the merger then, but the plan requires approval from two-thirds of the Legislature, which also will consider new medical school spending requests.

As a new higher education institution, the university would be eligible for Permanent University Funding — an endowment grown through revenues from state-owned land — and would match UT’s other regional universities in student population, research expenditures and endowments. Beyond creating the new university with locations across the Valley, regents also approved $100 million in funding for the next decade to develop a South Texas medical school.

The starting point for Valley lawmakers when they met this week was a UT-drafted bill that abolished the existing universities and created a new one with access to the Permanent University Funding, or PUF. But the bill also deferred to legislation passed in 2009 authorizing the creation of the South Texas medical school with its main campus and administrative offices in Cameron County.

That rankled Hidalgo County legislators, who felt they would not be given a fair shake from the start. Oliveira said he promised his House colleagues this past week that the existing law for the Cameron County-based school would be struck from the books, adding that the medical school’s location should be a “rational, business-based decision by the UT System.”

Longoria and other Hidalgo County legislators believe that Valley taxpayers will eventually have to pay a portion of the bill. Officials from both UTPA and the UT System, however, said they did not view a taxing entity as essential to the funding of the medical school and would not ask local leaders to pursue one.

“If they want to find ways to raise money locally, that’s a local decision. It’s not a UT decision anymore than it was a UT decision in Austin,” said Dr. Kenneth Shine, the vice chancellor for health affairs at the UT System.

In Travis County, where voters approved a property tax increase for a medical school in November, the board of regents told local leaders they would only put up $30 million toward $65 million needed for the school. Elected officials turned to local taxpayers to bridge the gap.

For the Rio Grande Valley, UT is seeking assistance from the state Legislature to the tune of $20 million annually — an option the system did not pursue for Austin, Shine said. The regents also agreed to put up $100 million over 10 years for the South Texas medical school with additional money to come from the Permanent University Fund.

Even if those funds were not available, Shine said, the Valley is not nearly as property wealthy as Central Texas. Hidalgo and Cameron counties have total taxable property valued at close to $43 billion, compared to more than $98 billion in Travis County.

But proponents of a local taxing district say adding a nickel to the tax levy on each $100 in property valuations would generate more than $13.6 million annually in Hidalgo alone.

With Texas struggling to fund essential state services, it’s unrealistic to expect state lawmakers to budget $20 million for the Valley’s medical school when those elsewhere are supported locally, said , listing Austin, El Paso and San Antonio as other areas that pay part of their medical schools’ costs.

Add in the persistent propensity for the Valley’s cities to compete with one another, and it’s resulted in sensitive negotiations — even as area lawmakers promote the need for regional cooperation in Austin. With Valley lawmakers coalescing behind the merger of the universities, the looming question is whether they can find common ground on the medical school.

UTPA President Robert Nelsen said the Valley’s lawmakers understand that the merger will require a “regional approach” but conceded “there are still concerns about how you finance it all.”

Nelsen said he did not see a taxing district as necessary given the support of the regents, expected legislative funding and savings from the university merger. He added that research at the new medical school and university will also generate significant revenue.

oups unite in bid to save riverside pub

GrCommunity organisations fighting to save a historic riverside pub have joined forces in “unprecedented number” to oppose a planning appeal.

The defunct Penny Ferry in Chesterton, which has a long association with rowers along the River Cam, was saved from demolition by councillors in July following a campaign supported by heritage groups and 557 residents.

Planning permission had previously been granted on appeal for construction of five houses on the site. But since then the roads around Water Street have become part of a conservation area, meaning that separate consent was needed to flatten the closed pub which had been called the Penny Ferry but  was more recently named the Pike and Eel.

The owners of the former Pike and Eel then lodged an appeal against the refusal of conservation area demolition consent.

Lynette Gilbert, chairman of the Riverside Area Residents Association (RARA), said: “The Penny Ferry is an iconic location steeped in history with the rowing community of Cambridge.

“An unprecendented number of groups have now come together to oppose the owners’ appeal against the refusal of demolition. I can’t remember the last time so many groups got together.

“The pub is of great benefit to the community and in such a good location.”

Among the groups opposing the demolition are the Old Chesterton Residents Association, RARA and the Fen Estate and Nuffield Road Residents Association.

Other organisations include Friends of Stourbridge Common, Save Our Green Spaces, Cambridge Past, Present and Future, the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), Chesterton Community Association, Cam Conservators and the Cambridgeshire Rowing Association.

In July, members of the north area committee said the pub, which has been closed for a number of years, made an important contribution to the character of the neighbourhood because of its history, its role in the community and its setting across the Cam from Stourbridge Common.

Alistair Cook, of the Camra Cambridge and District branch, said: “Our view is this is fantastic location for a pub and is good for walkers and rowers along the river. I have spoken to many landlords across the city who have backed our view.”

As founder and chief executive of Ruby Restaurant Group, Doug Cavanaugh oversees a chain of 37 Ruby's Diner restaurants in six states, including eateries at five airports. His first Ruby's Diner, which opened in 1982, was a renovated bait shop on Balboa Pier in Newport Beach that had been slated for demolition. The Irvine company celebrated its 30-year anniversary in December.

Cavanaugh, 56, was born and raised in Los Angeles, where he lived until he was 12, before moving to Tustin, where his mother still lives in his childhood home. He has fond memories of Los Angeles. He often biked past the oil fields near Baldwin Hills and watched cars race at the Ascot Park speedway in Gardena. "I grew up in L.A. in the golden age," he says. "When the streetlights came on, it was time to come home."

The summer they moved to Orange County, Cavanaugh's family stayed in a motel near Disneyland while their house was being built. Cavanaugh spent nearly every day at Disneyland that summer, and says the theme park's rigorous attention to detail and focus on providing a unique experience left an impression. "I got my MBA in Disney at the age of 12," he jokes. "I've really tried to bring those principles to Ruby's."

What he didn't glean from "The happiest place on Earth," Cavanaugh says he learned from his father, who ran a real estate and construction business. "My dad was a classic entrepreneur, a hardworking guy," he says. Cavanaugh would drive with his father to construction sites or sit beside him at meetings. His first job, at the age of 8, was sterilizing copper pipes for the construction crews, for which he was paid 50 cents an hour, as he remembers it. "And I was happy to get it."

In high school, he formed a business of his own, scrubbing down boats with a school buddy at Newport Harbor — though, he admits, it was really to meet girls. When he graduated with a marketing degree from USC in 1979, Cavanaugh was looking for his next big venture.

It came to him on Mother's Day of 1980, as he and some of his friends were flipping through The Times as they sat in a hot tub. There in the real estate pages was an advertisement for nine acres of oceanfront property on Nantucket Island, complete with cottages, a restaurant and a pool. They flew out east to investigate, and within months Cavanaugh had opened his first restaurant, the Summer House, with his partners. "It was really intoxicating because it clicked very quickly," Cavanaugh says.

He received a crash course in the restaurant business from a partner, his ex-girlfriend's mother. He developed recipes, culled ingredients and tended bar. Soon, patrons were flying private jets in from New York City just for dinner. "It was instant gratification.... You knew exactly how well you did that day," says Cavanaugh, and he instantly fell in love with the restaurant business.

He saw the building one day jogging on the beach near the Balboa Pier. It stood abandoned with a huge redwood tub in the center that once held bait. "It was in terrible shape; it was about ready to fall down," Cavanaugh says.

The bait shop was constructed in 1940 in the "streamline modern" style, something Cavanaugh says screamed "diner." When he approached the city originally, officials dismissed him as young and inexperienced. In 1982, he sold his stake in the Nantucket restaurant and returned. "I didn't make a dime. But I got my education," Cavanaugh says. "I now viewed myself as this worldly restaurateur of 26."

Cavanaugh and his new partner, junior high buddy Ralph Kosmides, pleaded with the city to let them restore the building, which leaders had planned to tear down. This time, the city relented. Cavanaugh and Kosmides embarked on a "stick-by-stick" restoration of the place, doing much of the work themselves. They pored over literature about '40s diners and scoured antique shops for vintage Coca-Cola signs, cigarette machines and red vinyl booths until the 45-seat diner was just right. Customers often mistakenly think the restaurant has been around since the 1940s.

School officials back enhanced safety protocols

Many of the School Committee members and approximately 20 parents who attended a recent presentation by the Police Department on enhanced safety protocols came away impressed, but they would like the department to drop the use of the ALICE acronym, which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate.

Committee member Robert Golledge said the acronym “bears distraction and takes away from the added improvements of enhanced safety options and evacuation.”

“You are on the right track, though,” said Golledge, directing his comments to Police Chief Ken Berkowitz and CHS School Resource Officer Chip Yeaton, who led the 90-minute presentation at CHS on Tuesday night.

Created by former teacher and SWAT officer Greg Crane of Burleson, Texas, ALICE is an “active resistance model” that utilizes environmental design, technology, communication, and human action to improve one’s survival chances when faced with an immediate danger.

Both the chief and Yeaton said that while they like the ALICE program, they also like other programs and can easily adopt the best features of all programs to enhance school security.

“ALICE is one of many programs out there and there are others out there,” said Yeaton. “We don’t want to get hung up on terminology. You can call it the ‘Chip’ program if you like.”

Regardless of its final name, Yeaton has been working for months to overhaul the current protocol, which consists of an alert and lockdown only and is used in school systems across the country. For the past several years, students and staff have been instructed to lock their classroom doors, turn off the lights, and hide in a far corner of the room while remaining calm and quiet.

A program like ALICE, on the other hand, teaches a variety of survival methods, or “response options,” that are designed to help mitigate casualty rates in the event of a real-life attack.

Some of the more controversial strategies fall under the “counter” component of the program and are to be used only as a last resort, such as when a shooter has breached a locked door and entered a classroom. The preferred option, according to ALICE advocates, is to run when it is safe to do so, and Yeaton has said that the new training will emphasize this method whenever possible.

The “inform” component, meanwhile, advises school administrators to monitor the attacker using surveillance cameras and to provide specific, real-time information about his or her location in the school using the building’s PA system. This has the effect of confusing or frustrating the intruder, while also providing valuable information to students and staff.

School Superintendent Jeff Granatino said teacher and staff training on safety protocols will continue and he will plan for a general information session for parents with the chief at a later date.

Granatino said what he has heard from the staff is that they like having options that enhance safety. “What we want is that the staff is trained appropriately and that options are given,” he said.

School officials also agreed that instruction should be age-appropriate, noting that what is taught to high school students should be different than what is presented to elementary students.

Some of the parents in attendance expressed concerns over the “counter” component in particular. Suzanne Hegland pointed to the recent tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, noting that some who rushed the intruder were gunned down. “Rushing an armed person is not optimal,” she said.

Chief Berkowitz disputed this assertion and said, “I never said it was optimal to rush a gunman, but what I am saying is we need to change the mindset. You don’t want to wait, do nothing, and hope for a rescue. The cavalry may not be coming.”

The other major new development that came out of Tuesday night’s meeting was the announcement by Berkowitz that he will be asking for more funding in next year’s town budget to add more officers to the School Resource Officer program. School Committee member Reuki Schutt said she, for one, would stand up at town meeting and support the chief on his budget request.

However, Berkowitz said adding more officers is not a cure-all for safety protocols, although he said the success that Yeaton has had at the high school should be duplicated in the other schools throughout the district.

As for the new safety measures, School Committee Chairman John Bonnanzio said the committee is satisfied with the Police Department’s efforts and said the committee will not be taking a vote or making a policy decision on this matter. He said the committee may want updates from the superintendent on the progress of the training sessions.

Gimmie, a startup that began with rewards for mobile gamers, has just shifted its focus to Asian markets by relocating to Singapore and taking funding from a government agency there. The company said today that it took 639,000 Singaporean dollars ($522,000) in funding from a group led by WaveMaker Labs in partnership with the Singapore National Research Foundation. Also participating in the round is Jakarta-based venture firm Ideosource.

The company pivoted both its product and its location. The company used to be based in Silicon Valley and had raised $200,000 from mobile incubator Tandem. Originally it let gamers earn special points that could be redeemed for discounts on products like iPad cases and pillows.

But now it’s more of a white-label solution that big platforms like MOL Friendster use for giving users localized rewards. Gimmie creates custom campaigns for big publishers in Asia to give rewards like discounts on local restaurants or Uniqlo gift cards. Publishers get an online dashboard to manage their programs and they can also use the platform to create incentivized surveys for data collection .

“I felt an opportunity based on what I was hearing. Nothing was being addressed for the Asian market and we had some strategic advantages because of the personal connections I have. At the same time, there were many companies trying to do the same thing with rewards in the U.S.,” Ng said. “I had to basically go against the wishes of our stakeholders.”

Many larger companies like Kiip and Tapjoy experiment with various forms of offering virtual or real-world rewards to mobile gamers.

“I want to be the market leader,” Ng said. “I don’t want to be one of many companies trying to do the same thing.” Ng took funding from a government-tied entity because he felt it would provide the company with more connections to the local market. He also said they were a more reputable funding source compared to many of the upstart firms and funds in the region.

Ng said the company will be enabling others to resell the platform and launching new product features for different types of mobile devices in one to two months. They’re currently looking for publishers in Asia with large numbers of users.

What's on this weekend?

When you can get all the books and information you want on line, what is the purpose today of the spaces in our public libraries? Do we need them? Certainly to sit in the Mitchell Library and reflect on the beautiful and cavernous room whilst listening to an audio performance is one way to use those public spaces! The Quiet Volume is an experience you can have over the next few weeks when you visit the Mitchell Library. You are given an iPod and you sit with another person at a desk and listen to instructions whispered into your headphones - an automatic generated performance. You are directed to read passages from the books in front of you, note the movements and sounds around you, silently acknowledge the person next to you, all the while feeling like a silent imposter in a space where you are meant to concentrate on books and learning. There is a real delight in the immersion of reading the passages and finding you want to read on when you are directed by the voice to go elsewhere. An intimate and slightly disconcerting experience but one that ultimately leaves you feeling refreshed, thoughtful and pleased that these special spaces still exist. $20/$15. 45 minutes.

Enjoy the fabulous views from Georges Head Lookout, Mosman, into the blue expanse of Sydney Harbour. At the same time you will hear the electronic music "Chronometer" by Sir Harrison Birtwhistle (from 1971)! coming out of drains, trees and tunnels. This is not relaxing nor even particularly pleasant music - but its percussive elements somehow work in this unbeatable setting. Settle into the beanbags under the trees, eat a picnic staring out to the water or chase the kids out of the underground tunnels which have a Do Not Enter sign on them clearly tempting the children to race into them and hear the music in an echoed chamber. Free. Drive into Georges Head Lookout and park. Follow the signs to the lookout. On till January 27 dawn to dusk.

Voices from the hijacked spring. The Sabab Theatre of Kuwait brings 6 monologues to the stage which focus on the changes in recent times to the Arab world. Written and directed by Sulayman Al Bassam and performed by Raymond Hosni, Hala Omran and Kym Vercoe, these monologues explore what should be powerful and personal themes in societies which are in civil unrest however the analysis of the issues raised appears very simplistic and patronising. There are moments that are riveting but these disappear as confusion sets in and it is an opportunity missed to hear the real voices of the people living through the turbulent times.

Set in rural Victoria where bushfires have ravaged the landscape for hundreds of years, a local firefighter and father, Tom (Alan Lovell) deals with his troubled 15 year old son Ben (Benjamin Ross). Ben mows the lawns for neighbour Viv (Natassja Djalog) who pays him and tries to befriend him. Ben is repulsed by the old woman whom he thinks is a frumpy simpleton. A steady update between scenes, Tom recounts the years in which bushfires have ravaged the area, the fatalities each time and the buildings destroyed. As a firey, he has insight into the arsonists that start these fires, in his view often young boys craving the attention of male figures in their lives. It is his insight into the unfathomable love of a parent for their child no matter how wrong an action that child can do, that creates a startling fierce and vulnerable moment in this play. The perils of firefighting and parenting - laid bare in 70 minutes. Directed by Zoe Carides as her first major directing production. Original music by John Encarnaco. Straight to the heart writing by Alana Valentine (Parramatta Girls, Run Rabbit Run). Darlinghurst Theatre, Potts Point.

How fabulous to see Belvoir full of kids watching Peter Pan in delight! Ralph Myers' production of JM Barrie's classic is like a sleepover where no one goes to sleep and it is non stop fun! Tommy Murphy has adapted the source texts and as the program notes, has indeed "created a Peter Pan like no other". Yes this is certainly one for the kids but adults will love it too. The set is like being in a friends bedroom with the beds that become ships, crocodiles and hiding spots. Peter Pan is a cool dude with a physicality on stage that makes it seems he really can fly. Captain Hook, the villain no one loves, is a model of an English pirate captain and loving every minute of it! Geraldine Hakewill is a gracious and kind Wendy both as a young girl disappointed Peter won't love her and as a mother who lets her own daughter follow the adventures. A great cast makes this such enjoyable theatre. Paula Arundell, Megan Holloway, Harriet Dyer, John Leary, Jim Bani and Gareth Davies. This is very cool panto. Great costumes from Alice Babidge and music from Stefan Gregory. Tickets $130 for a family package or $65 adults, $45 concession. When and where: Matinees 2pm Saturday and also Wednesday 16 January. Belvoir, Surry Hills

The red and white stripy mischief maker from Dr Seuss is up to no good at the Opera House. The poetry of this book is not brought across so well in this performance and so the magic that you get when you read it seems to have been lost. You will be glad when the wailing Thing 1 and Thing 2 get back into their box! The props are great and look like they have just come straight from the book. It is a very short play.

Purge ruthlessly: As a young plant-hugger I did not heed Vita Sackville-West’s advice that if you don’t like a plant in your garden, “hoik it out.” Perhaps I thought there would always be new garden beds when the old ones overflowed, or lots of gardening friends would appreciate my extras. I certainly didn’t just yank a so-so performer and compost it. But we should all do just that.

Why? No one can afford to tend a bunch of mediocre plants indefinitely. While perennials take at least three years to show their habits and qualities (and woody plants even longer), at some point it is clear that this plant in this location is not a winner. Either you just don’t like it or it does not work because of size, color, whatever. Move it, share it or compost it.

In case you think I’m advocating the whimsical tossing of $11.99 perennials because you don’t care for the shade of pink, I will modify this advice slightly: Location is everything. If it’s a decent plant, try a different location before giving up on it. Ideally, try a new perennial in two or three garden locations, as I once did with Rodgersia. It grew 1 foot tall with puny leaves in good soil in a lightly shaded border, but the one in the soggy bed in deep shade is a lush 3-foot giant. If I’d only planted it in the first spot, I would have hoiked it and never known the plant.

Dividing perennials can be done wrong in two ways. Doing it too early in its life can endanger the plant or set it back severely. Garden center customers often see a pot with a full root system and ask, “Can I divide it?” Usually the answer is, “Not yet.” The plant needs a couple of full seasons to establish its root system and recover from the shock of moving from a pot to the garden.

Later, the common error is not dividing or thinning thoroughly enough. Divide a clump of perennials more severely than your inclination. I have never yet been sorry I took out too much of a spreading ornamental grass or perennial clump. Then give it away – if it’s worthy – or compost it.

A soil improvement plan: This mental exercise of evaluating, thinning and dividing garden plants has left you with blank spaces – opportunities for new plants! But first, it is time for soil homework.

Almost nobody has naturally deep, rich topsoil, or ideal planting mix, unless you have had the luxury of professionally prepared beds. So you must amend the soil every spring – and every time you move plants or add new ones. Put organic matter, usually in the form of compost, under, next to or on top of all the plant’s roots.

First, choose your sources. For most gardeners, catalogs are not necessary or your best. In remote villages in Iowa, sure; you can’t find a garden center with more than 30 varieties. Plant collectors and specialists, sure; you do need the catalog to find a particular Orienpet, Arisaema or daylily.

But in Western New York we have garden centers and nurseries with CNLPs and educated professionals, who spend the winter choosing, growing or tending superior plants for this region. Tell them what you want.

Second, species and cultivars: Native plants and some tried-and-true species are often the best for many reasons. Every new cultivar is not a true improvement. Yet, for a bang-up flower garden, many cultivars are indeed better and longer performers. So it is not easy to choose plants for those blank spots in the garden.

HARMAN Addresses Market for Entry

HARMAN, the premium global audio and infotainment group (NYSE:HAR), announced today an expansion of the company’s infotainment portfolio with the new HARMAN connected radio platform. Targeted at the mainstream entry-level segment, the new HARMAN platform delivers a value solution to OEMs including leading-edge mobile content integration features as well as a seamless radio experience for consumers.

“The pervasiveness of today’s mobile devices and connected experiences is fueling greater consumer demand for easy and safe access to information, entertainment and personalized content in cars,” said Dinesh Paliwal, HARMAN Chairman, President, and CEO. “We are making it possible for more consumers to enjoy a high-quality infotainment experience as well as making it even simpler and safer to use, thanks to features such as hands-free operation and integration with the user’s own smartphone.”

The unit offers clear benefits to automakers: with the same cost of basic radio, OEMs can add smartphone connectivity with HARMAN’s AHA radio, turn-by-turn navigation and voice prompts into their vehicles, as well as meet fast development cycles and delivery.

The HARMAN connected radio supports a range of external user devices, including USB, SD, MP3 players including iPod, and a wide range of smart phones. Using the same NFC technology employed in HARMAN’s high-end infotainment products, consumers can easily connect their smartphones with the head unit in-vehicle. The head unit then uses the driver’s preferred navigation app straight from the Smartphone.

The care and pride taken as they acted as chefs, shop assistants, postmen, bank workers and as they filled their pretend cars up with petrol, made their old mum swell with pride.

But that’s what the Eureka! Children’s Museum in Halifax is all about, learning through playing. The aim of the national curriculum in nurseries is just the same and its great that like minded people are working hard to make sure our investment for tomorrow is well looked after.

The museum celebrated its 20th year in 2012 and has hundreds of interactive and hands-on exhibits to keep children aged 0 to 11 interested. And it runs a Helping Hands Project which allows free Saturday and Holiday Club access to disabled children and their families from nearby areas.

But it is not resting on its laurels, for the museum is due to unveil a new look Me and My Body Gallery in spring this year.

In the meantime there is plenty to keep everyone occupied. Eureka! is easy to find, being right next door to Halifax Railway Station and there’s an on-site car park for the drivers.

Adults and over three’s pay ￡9.95, with one to two year olds charged ￡3.45 and under one’s free of charge. And the fee covers not just one visit, but as many as you want within the year if you upgrade your ticket (free of charge) to an annual pass.

And an annual pass is what’s needed if my two are anything to go by. We visited during the holidays, which meant it was pretty full. But that did not stop Ruaridh and Flora having fun. They spent nearly five hours and never once complained they were bored.

For Ruaridh it was the Mr Maker workshop which caught his eye. While Flora played with the imaginary fish, Ruaridh painstakingly chose his art materials and spent an hour creating his masterpiece. Flora liked the interaction of the make believe Marks and Spencer and kitchen, while Ruaridh had a ball in the garage and pretending to be a bank manager and gas engineer!

The Sound Spacewas a big hit with both Ruaridh and Flora who had great fun trying out the strange sounds and the highlight, adding make up to a photograph of themselves!

As well as the usual displays, Eureka! always has something special on and our visit co-incided with the Interstellar Cinderella pantomime which was a twist of the usual story taking the audience into outer space.

This month sees Glasgow Science Museum on tour at Halifax with a Body Vision workshop and to celebrate Burns Night, a McEureka! Event including a hunt to find the Loch Ness Monster.

Pulliam Trustee Kent E. Agness said that today’s announced grants of more than $1.5 million to four animal welfare organizations more than double the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust’s commitment to an animal welfare cause its founder and namesake held dear.

“Nina Mason Pulliam, our founder, was a great animal lover,” said Agness. “Her homes in Indianapolis and Phoenix were havens for creatures great and small. Over the years, the funds she entrusted to us have supported many community improvements and animal welfare is one key area.”

“The timing is right,” said Michael Twyman, the Pulliam Trust’s director of Indiana program grants. “A true consortium of interested animal organizations is now operating effectively after three years of organizing. Because of that strong alliance, we are confident that this community-wide campaign will result in a significant reduction in the number of homeless or unwanted cats and dogs in Indianapolis, and increases in animal adoptions.”

Mayor Greg Ballard hailed the privately funded, nonprofit-managed initiative as a model of public/private cooperation.

“It always is our intent to reduce the number of animals coming into our shelters. This generous funding from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, Lilly Endowment and Tony Stewart Foundation will greatly enable our all-hands-on-deck approach to educate the public about spay-neuter services and responsible pet ownership,” said Mayor Ballard. “It is our goal that this partnership lowers the number of stray cats and dogs in our community and finds more of them adopted into loving homes.”

The Pulliam Trust also announced that it has awarded three other grants to Alliance members and partners for related initiatives.

FACE (Foundation Against Companion-Animal Euthanasia) will receive a $170,300 grant to double the number of cats neutered from 3,000 to 6,000. The money also will facilitate a merger between FACE and IndyFeral, to more effectively decrease growth in the feral cat population in Indianapolis neighborhoods.

The Southside Animal Shelter will receive an $85,000 grant for two years of project support to develop the Silver Tails program to rescue, rehabilitate and find homes for at least 120 senior and special-needs dogs. The program will focus on increasing animal adoptions from the shelter, and trust funding will primarily cover medical costs, such as vaccines and spay/neuter surgeries of the dogs.

Cat’s Haven will receive a $25,000 grant to provide a free-roaming sanctuary for more than 100 sick, homeless or feral cats daily, or about 300 per year. Trust funding will cover veterinarian expenses, food and shelter supplies, outreach programs for local community residents, spay/neuter education for low-income pet owners, and community awareness through participation in citywide events.

“All of us in the animal welfare community are overwhelmed by the generosity and foresight of these grantmakers,” said Humane Society of Indianapolis CEO John Aleshire. “This investment of more than $2 million represents the largest consolidated investment we’ve ever seen for this cause in this community. We’ll truly be able to put this issue on the public agenda, enhance the services we’re able to provide, and make a far more concerted effort to increase the number of adoptions and decrease the number of strays on our streets and in our neighborhoods.”