After the team meeting on Monday, the players cleared out their lockers and started to meet with the coaches on an individual basis. Most of these are complete now.

The coaches have also had a number of meetings to identify areas of needs for the upcoming season. In college football, there will always be a dozen or more players that leave after the season due to using all of their eligibility, graduation, finding a career-job and the like. So teams are always looking at bringing new players in to fill the gaps.

Rory Kohlert had an immeidate impact this season.

Some of these players make an instant impact like Joel Seutter, Cam Redl, Zach Hart, Jeff Hassler, Luke Thiel, Garrett Bolen, Mitch Friesen, Harley Irwin, Cody Halseth, Shayne Dueck and others did this year (we hope we didn’t miss anyone!!).

While others could be stars of the future, like Brad Nehring, Charlie Power, Levi Steinhauer, Seamus Neary, Matt Walker and others.

When looking at the team for the 2010 season, there are also a number of second and third year players who are ready to challenge the starting line-up.

The coaches will be looking at filling immediate needs, which are those vacated by graduating players Scott McHenry, Hubert Buydens, Tyler O’Gorman, Taylor Wallace, Cory Jones and Jon Krahenbil. Some of their replacements are already on the Huskies roster; some might still be in high school. The coaches will also look at areas where the team could improve and add depth. Finally, the coaches need to forecast into the future two or three years to figure out which players will be graduating and which positions will need to be filled in 2011 and 2012.

A good example of this was in the 2009 season where the team keep a few more linebackers than normal because it is expected that there will be a number of them graduating this season or next. Keeping extra players gives some of the younger guys time to learn the system and be ready to challenge for a spot in the future.

The whiteboards are full of ink and a list of wants, needs and what ifs are written all over the coaches office. A number of recruits have already sent email, film, letters, etc. to the coaches. The Huskies had one of their best recruiting classes last year, and they are doing their best to do the same thing again for 2010.

Recruiting begins in earnest after the Vanier Cup, but having a good plan in place is the foundation for a good recruiting class.

Much better. That’s how we would compare the Huskies practice last night to Tuesday. Maybe it was because the first practice of the week always involves more teaching, but there seemed to be more mistakes on Tuesday. Last night was a complete 180.

Rory Kohlert warming up.

The team started practice an hour earlier and were on the field for about 95 minutes. It was another nice night for mid-November with the temperature at the start of practice about eight degrees. You can tell its playoffs now as there is a lot more media at practice and more requests for interviews.

Before the practice started, fifth-year linebacker Taylor Wallace met with the team and got them fired up. From then on, the practice was intense, focused and very up-tempo. The team worked on some new plays and refined some of their bread and butter plays.

Last week, we said that it seems like every practice Laurence Nixon hits Cory Jones for a long touchdown pass. We wondered if we would see it in a game. Well, we saw three TDs from Jones last week. The two combined for another practice TD yesterday. Also producing some nice plays were Travis Gorski and Rory Kolhert.

Huskies team huddle.

On defense Harley Irwin and Mitch Friesen both had nice interceptions. Reserve Quarterback Parker Siemens has been given the job of emulating Dino’s Quarterback Eric Glavic in practice. Siemens is doing a nice job of scrambling and throwing the ball.

The Huskies take the field again tonight for their final full practice before Saturday’s game. The Dinos travel to Saskatoon tonight. Both teams will have walk-through practices on Friday afternoon after a press conference.

We understand that tickets are selling very quickly. We’ll get an update on numbers mid-morning.

We ran this story a few weeks ago, but we wanted to run it again because the Huskies will be doing some special things at the CanadaWest semi-final against the Rams to support cancer research. Many of the players moms will be going through the stands collecting funds for the “Huskie Play for a Cure.” Let’s help these young student athletes out by making donations…

Last season, Huskie athletes began the initiative Play For A Cure in hopes of raising money for cancer research. The fundraising initiative continues with the newly added goal of raising awareness through education about cancer. Play For A Cure will once again begin with the football head shave. Money raised will be donated to the Canadian Cancer Society.

“We started this last year because we felt it was an issue that everyone can relate to,’ said Tyler O’Gorman, who is now sporting a full head of hair. “Everyone has a family member or friend who has succumb to cancer. As a team, we want to raise awareness and money to help end cancer.”

About fifteen Huskies football players are participating this year, including O’Gorman, Scott McHenry, Cory Jones, Mitch Friesen, Ben Coakwell, Levi Steinhauer, Cody Halseth, Seamus Neary, Peter Thiel, Taylor Wallace, Lyndon Boychuk, Mark Klause, Braeden George, Jarod Koroll, Hubert Buydens, Ben Randall, Bryce McCall, Harley Irwin, Nnamdi Metu, Tony Michalchuk and football student trainer Kurt Kuhn.

The student-athletes involved in this campaign are all growing their hair to raise awareness. At the end of the season, they will have their hair shaved.

“I lost my grandfather to cancer and have an aunt with breast cancer,’ said Scott McHenry, whose helmet can barely fit over his hair now. “I have been personally affected by cancer and want to do what I can for a cause that affects so many people.”

The Huskies held their second practice to prepare for the CanadaWest semi-final last night. The Huskies host the Regina Rams on Saturday at 1:00 at Griffiths Stadium. You can sense the excitement around campus and around the city as the playoffs start in only two days.

After putting in the game plan on Tuesday, the Huskies used the practice last night to tweak some plays and get better at their bread and butter stuff. The team looked focused once again, but they had some fun moments which lightened the atmosphere.

There were two plays on defense that stuck out. First, Harley Irwin had a nice pick on the far sidelines. Keenan MacDougall had a great interception on the near sidelines a few plays later. The defensive backs had a good practice across the board.

On Offense, for the zillionth practice in a row, Luarence Nixon hit Cory Jones for a long touchdown. Hopefully they get a chance to connect on a long play in a game soon as it looks sweet in practice.

At the end of the practice, Huskies Coach Brian Towriss joked a little bit before getting serious. He told the players that he liked their intensity at practice the past few nights, but that they still need to get better. He reminded the team about the feeling of being knocked out of the playoffs early and told them that they had to be prepared physically and mentally if they do not want that to happen again. He challenged them to practice harder today and play harder this weekend.

The other night I went out. Out-out. I won’t say where, in case I offend the people of the parish. Although, it wasn’t the location that made the evening as dull as a ten watt bulb. Nor was it the company. You see, I don’t mind going for a pint. In this scenario, men gather to solve the worlds largest problems, give advice to world leaders, manage teams and coach personalities in any sport or discipline that may have been on television that week. We confer, we council, we confide. If those same men require an audience and wish to socialise with women too, they go for a drink and of course by this we mean drinks. I like doing this too. Here you can converse whilst listening to ambient music; there’s usually comfy leather furniture involved. However, you can’t do any of these things if you go ‘out’. For a start, you pay to go in places that are normally free. Why we do this, no one knows. I assume it’s the rather large chaps in black reefer jackets asking for money, like a polite mugging. One thing you can’t do when you’re ‘out’ is talk. No, apparently you’re there for the music. My acceptance of this music will vary depending on the establishment. What I am clear on, is that the same drum beat for twenty minutes does not constitute music, in the same way that me attacking my kitchen utensils doesn’t make me a musician. Apparently, you are also supposed to dance. Now, lets stop right there because this is my biggest issue with going ‘out’. Men can’t dance. 99.9% of men either dance like their Dad, or do a strange hand bobbing motion, that makes them look like a character out of Thunderbirds. Girls can dance and there’s a very simple reason why they have this ability. Girls dance pretty much as soon as they can walk. I would say that many will, at some point take up dancing, even if it’s just for a bit. So by the time a girl is old enough to go ‘out’, she’s had almost a lifetime of practice. Boys don’t do this. Boys have lightsaber fights, eat soil and eventually play football or rugby. So unless you’re Justin (looks a bit like an alien, quite short, not sure why so many girls fancy him) Timberlake, or a girl, your dancing will be rubbish. I don’t do dancing because I look stupid. I don’t do show jumping because I would be killed, so you see my point. (Notice there’s no question mark there.)

Of course, it’s all just a bit of fun. That’s what people do isn’t it, ‘have fun’, ‘have a laugh’, go ‘out’. I think that going out-out, that is to say, to get drunk and move around like you’ve lost the ability to control your limbs…is fine, in very small doses. I’ll drink enough alcohol to numb the battering of my pride and if you can’t find me, I’ll be asleep in the corner.

I still stand by my evaluation of the other night. Going out-out was a bit like invading Iraq. I knew I shouldn’t have gone, I regretted going when I got there, I spent lots of money being there and when I got home I thought, thank Christ that’s over.

Inca o animatie special creata pentru Halloween,cu Billy si Mandy .Sa inceapa suprematia monstrilor

Vizionare placuta.

A spin-off of the original series The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy begins…

One Halloween, Mindy dares Irwin to ring the doorbell of a scary looking house. After doing so,the house explodes and opens a portal in which an army of chocolate bar monsters from the underworld invade Endsville,lead by the marshmallow bunny. Later on, Mindy takes over the army and turns in to a wicked witch. She mutates all the chocolate bar soldiers in to monsters with a spell and plans to rain terror over the trick-or-treaters of the world. That’s when Irwin, Hoss Delgado, Reginald Skarr, Jeff the spider, and Fred Fredburger get together and make a crime fighting team to stop the evil witch!

I’ve just finished writing the very pointless ‘about’ page on this blog. It makes me laugh when people take ‘about me’ pages/sections really seriously, yet end up writing something really sterile like; “My name’s Adam, I like going out with the lads and ‘having a laugh’.” If they were talking to you face to face, they would be nodding intensely as they told you this. Those kinds of empty, soulless statements remind me of those chocolates you can get. You think there’s going to be a filling inside, perhaps caramel, or praline but when you bite through, its hollow. You feel disappointed and empty like the heartless confectionery you hold in your hand. It’s then devoured instantly with folded arms because you can’t bare to look at it any longer. You can almost feel the tiny void in your stomach where caramel was supposed to be and spend the next thirty minutes composing a letter of complaint to the manufacturer, which you tear up because in truth all of this could have been avoided if you had read the description on the box in the first place.

…where was I? Oh yes, Forrest Gump made the analogy of life being like a box of chocolates; well I think people are like chocolates too. Bloody Easter eggs.

Last season, Huskie athletes began the initiative Play For A Cure in hopes of raising money for cancer research. The fundraising initiative continues with the newly added goal of raising awareness through education about cancer. Play For A Cure will once again begin with the football head shave. Money raised will be donated to the Canadian Cancer Society.

“We started this last year because we felt it was an issue that everyone can relate to,’ said Tyler O’Gorman, who is now sporting a full head of hair. “Everyone has a family member or friend who has succumb to cancer. As a team, we want to raise awareness and money to help end cancer.”

About fifteen Huskies football players are participating this year, including O’Gorman, Scott McHenry, Cory Jones, Mitch Friesen, Ben Coakwell, Levi Steinhauer, Cody Halseth, Seamus Neary, Peter Thiel, Taylor Wallace, Lyndon Boychuk, Mark Klause, Braeden George, Jarod Koroll, Hubert Buydens, Ben Randall, Bryce McCall, Harley Irwin, Nnamdi Metu, Tony Michalchuk and football student trainer Kurt Kuhn.

The student-athletes involved in this campaign are all growing their hair to raise awareness. At the end of the season, they will have their hair shaved.

“I lost my grandfather to cancer and have an aunt with breast cancer,’ said Scott McHenry, whose helmet can barely fit over his hair now. “I have been personally affected by cancer and want to do what I can for a cause that affects so many people.”

You can make a donation online here.

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies defeated the University of Manitoba Bisons 31-11 at University Stadium in Winnipeg on Saturday afternoon.

The Huskies secured a playoff spot in Manitoba today.

The Huskies came out strong and built a 6-0 lead thanks to a pair of Grant Shaw field goals, including a Huskie record 55 yard field goal, which broke the record he held jointly with Matt Kellet. The field goal tied a Canada West record set by Manitoba’s Jamie Boreham in 2001. Incidentally, this is second week in a row Shaw made the Huskie record book, as his 50 yard record tying kick was made last Friday against UBC. Shaw also had an unofficial 95-yard punt, which would better the 91 yard punt by Matt Kellet from 1997 should it be made official.

The offence was led by a 15 carry, 70 yard, two touchdown performance by running back Tyler O’Gorman. He was joined in the backfield by rookie Jeff Hassler, who had five carries for 23 yards, and returned the kick off of from the Bison’s lone touchdown 87 yards, setting up the Huskies on the Bison’s one-yard line in the second quarter. The Huskies went into the half up 13-7.

The Huskies came out strong in the second half, with the defence forcing a Manitoba safety. The Huskies went up 22-7 thanks to a touchdown from Corey Jones late in the third quarter, which was Jones’ first of the year. After a couple kick singles by Grant Shaw, who was aided by a gale-force wind in the third, the Huskies went into the fourth quarter up 24-7.

The best Manitoba could do in the fourth quarter was a field goal and a rouge, as the Huskies defence, who was without an injured Taylor Wallace, would not relent. The Huskies put together a clock-eating drive late in the game, capped off by O’Gorman’s second touchdown, putting the Huskies up by 20. Halfback Harley Irwin sealed the victory with a last minute interception, giving the Huskies the win.

The win moves the Huskies to 5-1 on the season and into sole possession of first place, thanks to their win over Calgary in week two. The win clinched a playoff birth for the Huskies, the ninth year in a row they will make the playoffs, the longest current streak in Canada West. The Huskies will also finish with five or more wins for the seventh consecutive season.

The Bisons lost to the Huskies on home turf for the first time since 2005, putting a damper on their playoff hopes. The Bisons finished close to the Huskies in statistics, with 17 first downs to the Huskies 20, and 247 total yards to the Huskies’ 345. However, the Bisons defence could not equal the effort of the Huskies defence, giving up the most points at University Stadium since giving up 44 to the Regina Rams on October 21, 2006.

“It’s great we won here,” said quarterback Lawrence Nixon, who finished completing 20 of 30 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown. “It’s always so tough because of all the factors, but we ground another one out. We look forward to the game at home against Alberta next week.”

The Huskies will play the Alberta Golden Bears, who are playing the Regina Rams today in Edmonton, Friday at 7:00 p.m at Griffiths Stadium. The Huskies will be looking to avenge the 27-7 loss to the Bears they suffered on September 25. Get your tickets at the PAC or by calling 966-1111. The weather is guaranteed to be better than the last game and a big crowd is expected.

No doubt about it: Head coach Kevin Sneddon was as pleased with the University of Vermont’s 6-4 men’s hockey win over No. 1 Denver University on Saturday night as he was disappointed in the Catamounts’ 5-4 loss to the Pioneers on Friday.

“I’m very proud of this team for the lessons learned (Friday) and lessons applied (Saturday),” said Sneddon from chilly, snowy Denver minutes after the 14th-ranked Catamounts posted their first win.

AP photo: UVM's Patrick Cullity celebrates a goal against No. 1 ranked Denver.

“It was a total team effort from the net out. Our guys played really well and really smart for 60 minutes,” Sneddon said.

And one of the players most in line for praise was the very player who might have cost UVM the victory Friday: senior center Brayden Irwin.

Sneddon said the coaches met with Irwin on Saturday to deflect any negative effects of a five-minute major that led to a Denver goal and a total shift in momentum Friday. UVM led 4-2 late in the second period when Irwin was ejected from the game.

“He played so well against New Brunswick and for two periods Friday. We didn’t want him playing passively (Saturday) … and he was a huge factor,” said Sneddon of Irwin, whose second goal Saturday gave UVM the lead for keeps.

Friday, after leading 4-2 through two periods, the Catamounts wore down in the third against a Denver team loaded with offensive weapons. Combined with a long trip, the 5,000-foot altitude, a shortened bench and extensive penalty killing that wears down key players, said Sneddon, “The guys were just gasping in any free second.”

Saturday, he said, “Tonight was much better. We played shortened shifts, rolled four lines and all the defensemen played.

Another key player was Colin Vock, whom the coaches challenged Saturday to play to the level he’s capable of playing. He did, drawing a penalty and converting a penalty shot.

The Catamounts also displayed the resilience they had throughout last season. Denver twice took one-goal leads in the first period, forewarning of a possible rout, but Vermont responded each time.

“The one word we always talk about is to be relentless. When the other team scores, we don’t shrug our shoulders and let down,” Sneddon said. “Twice we had a great response when their team scored and they had the momentum. That’s tough to do against the No. 1 team in their building.”

Finally, the Catamounts came out of the weekend with 10 goals scored (and a worrisome nine allowed), giving hope that an offense that lost a batch of goals to graduation and a pro signing might be more prolific than anticipated.

Now the Catamounts get a week to prepare for their Hockey East opener against Boston College on Sunday at Gutterson Fieldhouse. After Saturday’s win, the Cats feel much better about that game than they did late Friday night.

By Brian Reed (Writer), Chris Bachalo w/ Rob Disalvo (Pencils), Townsend, Disalvo, Sibal, Irwin, Wang, & Mendoza (Inks), and Bachalo w/Fabela & Mossa (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: The storyline is a bit basic and the way the artwork is divided up tends to be annoying, but those issues haven’t stopped me from enjoying the hell out of the Sinister Spider-Man mini-series.

The Story: Mayor Jameson’s Big Apple Festival is in big trouble. The Redeemer’s there, the two rivals gangs are there, and, worst of all, Bullseye and Wolverine’s kid are there as well. Does that mean Spider-Man is in trouble as well? You better believe it.

What’s Good: Now that’s more like it! Sinister Spider-Man #4 manages to recapture everything that made the first issue of the mini-series so great. It’s funny as hell, the manic artwork kicks ass, and the story finishes in a way that’s so crazy it actually winds up being quite satisfying.

Brian Reed’s hilarious script elevates a fairly generic bad guy acting like a good guy story into something more. What makes it work so well is that Reed writes Mac Gargan (A.K.A. Sinister Spider-Man) as an asshole through and through. A funny, likeable asshole, but an asshole nonetheless. By doing so, Reed’s able to make you root for Gargan while loving every bit of chaos that erupts as a result of what he’s done throughout the mini-series. It must be said, however, that Reed’s script wouldn’t work nearly as well if the artist handling the craziest parts of it didn’t completely embrace the writers vision. Thankfully, Chris Bachalo does.

Right from the opening “What the **** is this **** all about?” splash page (that features, among other things, flying panties, gangsters, a poodle, and corn dogs), Bachalo establishes that the Sinister Spider-Man series is going to finish on one heck of a high note. Now I’m well aware that Bachalo’s kinetic style isn’t for everyone, but it’s hard to argue how fitting it is for the story being told and the action that takes place. I never thought I’d see both corn dogs and a “yap dog” being used as projectile weapons, yet there they are. The few pages Rob Disalvo contributes are solid as expected, though I can’t help but wonder why Marvel didn’t just give Bachalo another week or two to finish the book. It’s not like the whole Dark Reign thing is ending next week.

What’s Not So Good: The only real big negative about Sinister Spider-Man #4 is that occasionally Chris Bachalo’s artwork is too hectic. There’s a lot of stuff going on and sometimes it doesn’t come together all that well on the page. And that’s either due to small panel size or the amount of action being crammed into a scene.

Conclusion: Sinister Spider-Man #4 rocks pretty hard. Be sure to pick up the inevitable trade if you haven’t been following the Dark Reign mini-series.

Grade: B+

-Kyle Posluszny

The WAAC newsletter intends to publish abstracts from the conference, so I won’t repeat them here.  

Albrecht Gumlicht introduced the morning  sessions by saying how much he enjoys the mix of information presented and the courage to look at the profession from different angles.  He feels these interesting and controversial talks are what make WAAC special.  I am reminded of a talk I once heard by Elaine Gurian, who said that a museum should be a safe place for unsafe ideas.  Indeed, the friendly, casual atmosphere of open-mindedness and  excitement at the conference was palpable.  I think when people consume alcohol and Red Bull, they are seeking the same sensation of relaxed, focused sharpness.  I saw neither of those substances in evidence, however.

Vin Diesel, oops I mean, Seth Irwin!

Seth Irwin presented “A Comparison of Two Soot Removal Techniques: “Dry Ice Dusting” and Rubber-Based Chemical Sponges” co-authored by Randy Silverman.  Seth spent a good part of his last year and a half at the Queen’s graduate conservation training program working on this project, which sought to compare techniques for fire soot recovery techniques.  Disaster recovery companies train their crews to an industry standard that involves wiping with rubber-based soot sponges, commonly known by brand names such as Absorene or Gonzo, and then cutting off the dirty area to reveal fresh sponge.  FTIR confirmed that their composition is identical to your common household rubber band.  Randy Silverman suggested dry ice dusting as an alternate method, one that was used for the removal of lead paint on the Utah State Capitol building.  Randall Heath is the owner and operator of  the company “Cold Sweep”  and this dry ice technology was the one tested.   The sample set was 20 books…5 leather covered (both sheep and calf), 5 open weave cloth, 5 tight weave cloth and 5 paper covered books.  There were a few more books that had no analysis but were books to practice on.  The books were all cut in half and analyzed with surface metrology/ profilography by topographic scanning at the Novalus aluminum manufacturing company.  It uses a laser to read the surface and give a 3-D scan on a nanometer scale.  Takes three hours to scan a single square centimeter!  They also did colorimetry at CCI.  The National Fire Lab in Ontario was able to include the books in a test burn to make good sooty deposition on the books.  Can you imagine how fun that was?  This presentation (and I am hoping the published paper will appear in the 2009 AIC annual meeting Book and Paper postprints?) includes a ton of great info about many details of getting reliable results.  For example, the way they packaged the books to prevent disturbing the soot.  Or the clever Mylar templates to make sure they could line up the exact same areas for analysis again.  The specifics on the Alpheus Precision Series Model T-2 dry ice dusting machine and its use were also described, and operator experience is important.  Seth described how the dry ice dusting machine works.  For the fine mist, a brick of dry ice is placed in the machine and a blade shaves it to the size of a sugar crystal (or you can go up to the size of a grain of rice) and a compressor blows that through a nozzle.  30 psi was the lowest pressure setting for this machine.  Bigger things like walls and sculpture require pellets to be loaded into the machine.  The dry ice crystals expand to 700X their size and cause the soot or other deposit to pop off.  Dry ice sublimes (that’s right from solid to gas) so there is no moisture unless you are working on something that might have a temperature issue, like metal.  Since there are no residues like from sand or walnut shells, you don’t have the containment issues.  The metrics for describing the results of this study are fairly sophisticated.  The conclusion seemed to be that if you had a little bit of surface abrasion, that correlated to the soot being gone.  The soot sponge was better at removing soot for this reason.  Dry ice was better at preventing abrasion, but didn’t always remove all traces of soot.  However, it outperformed the sponge in dealing with 3-D surfaces like spines, edges and crevices.  Both did well with mitigating odor. 

Karen Zukor

When I saw the title of Karen Zukor’s talk, “Undocumented Worker” I expected some WPA or CCC-era artwork about some long-suffering 1930’s worker and the rise of unions and the complicated paper treatment she had to do on the valuable print by some artist I wouldn’t know.  In fact, her talk was a fascinating account of three different major projects she has worked on that have challenged her professional ethics because she was forbidden from fully documenting her work.  The talk was full of intrigue, code names, and secrecy.  In one case, it involved working for a wealthy patron.  In another it was the Federal Government.  And the third case was so sensitive I am afraid to mention any details here at all.  Working for the Federal Governement involved bizarre working conditions that limited not only documentation, but also bathroom breaks, supplies available, and even what she wore.  Aside from feeling compromised on AIC ethics for documentation, it has been difficult for Karen because  some of this work has been the most rewarding of her carrer, but she can’t discuss it with colleagues because “I’ve never worked on it and I was never there.”  So you’ll just have to take my word for it that it was a fascinating talk.

 Jennifer McGlinchey presented “Photograph Conservation Internship in Alaska” describing her last few months working in the Alaska State Library’s Historical Collections (including a survey) and doing trainings around the state for the Archives Rescue Corps, a program funded by a Connecting to Collections IMLS grant.  A 2006 Heritage Health Preservation Survey identified only 26 archives statewide in Alaska.  Since Frances Field began working on the ARC project, she has found more than 105.  60% are in poor-to-fair condition, and 90% said they needed training in care and storage.  Apparently, at these trainings Jennifer included a terrific short synopsis of photography as it applies to techniques used in Alaska, and I heard from many people how terrific that talk was.  There was also instruction for the caretakers of these archives on testing for cellulose nitrate, the Beilstein test for chlorides in PVC plastics, pH testing for acidic enclosures and testing for light levels.  I really liked her presentation technique for this talk…she would show images of historical events, and say “I saw the Pipeline built” and “I experienced the Klondike Gold Rush.”  What a clever way of describing both the material and also the effect the images had on her.  She identified some issues on the Alaska State Library’s historical collection, like cellulose acetate netgatives stored with prints, camphor plasticizer recrystallizing on the surface of cellulose acetate negatives, and some silver mirroring and intereference colors appearing as the negatives deteriorate.  The collection also had several thousand gelatin glass plate negatives that were starting to flake around the edges.  She showed library staff how to do basic consolidation around their edges with warm gelatin and a small soft brush.  Monday August 17th was supposed to be her last day, and a small going-away party, but alas that was the day the Archives flooded and she was called upon to lend her expertise.  Her images and description of the event were riveting, and then I realized that somehow between wrapping up her internship responsibilities, helping with the emergency, and getting ready to leave Alaska, she miraculously found time to re-write her WAAC talk to include this info!  Impressive.  Red Bull perhaps?  Jennifer is now in the third-year internship at the MFA in Houston.  Lucky them!

 Valery Monahan presented “The Ice Patch Archaeological Collections: Conserving 9000 years of Yukon Hunting History.”  I was thrilled to hear this talk and finally meet Valery.  The  ice patch phenomenon is yielding some amazingly preserved ancient artifacts. If you haven’t heard about this yet, it is mindblowing.  In 1997, some Dall Sheep hunters were on an alpine ridge in the SW Yukon territory, and got whiff of a barnyard smell.  Coming out of the ice, they saw vast black areas of caribou dung in a place where there had been no caribou for 80 years.  It was a north-facing slope at considerable elevation, and snow had covered it for thousands of years.  Around 100 of these ice patches have been identified in SW Yukon alone…revealing 9000 years of layer stratigraphy of caribou dung.  And where the caribou go, so go the hunters.  Artifacts are being found, as well as the remains of ancient caribou, birds, and small mammals.  Approximately 180 artifacts have been found in cooperation with First Nations representatives.  The youngest artifacts are Gold Rush era, but the oldest artifact is a dart fragment dated 9,450 BP (calibrated.)  Valerie is responsible for the conservation of these artifacts, which have included antler, wood, sinew, hide, feathers and paint.  The preservation is so remarkable, some of the artifacts look to be only 100 years old but are in fact thousands of years old.  The recovery of the artifacts is salvage-only at this point, with helicopters checking the sites during the short thaw period, which may only last a couple of weeks and does not happen reliably every year.  This year, for example, was not a good year despite the warm temperatures in many places.  The artifacts are generally not waterlogged, in spite of the threat of running and pooling meltwater.  Slow drying in the freezer has been successful so far.  The artifacts are of such age and importance it is preferable not to consolidate or add anything that might interfere with later analysis.  While the range of dates for the artifacts covers 9000 years, the artifacts represent a single activity: big game hunting.  They therefore show the changes in that activity over time.  Study of the artifacts also reveals the resources available in the area through time, such as forest succession from hardwoods to softwoods.  As the world gets warmer, ice patches are being found in many other areas, including Alaska, Wyoming, and Norway.  

Susanne Grieves presented again!  This time a talk called “Simple Solutions to Complex Problems: The 2008/09 Ice Mitigation and Artefact Conservation Programme at Scott’s Terra Nova Hut Cape Evans, Antarctica.”  The author of the talk was Lizzie Meek, but she couldn’t be at WAAC, so Susanne was presenting.  Susanne was at the site from February to October of 2008.  She was at Scott base in the Ross Sea area, the New Zealand base…McMurdo is the American one nearby. Scott base is painted green to be visible in an emergency, and McMurdo is red.  Scott base has about 120 people working there in the summer and 12 in winter, and the buildings are connected by hallways.  McMurdo has about 1500 in summer and 150 in winter.  The Antarctic Heritage Trust is a charitable trust begun in 1987…it doesn’t own the huts or the artifacts, it only exists for research, conservation and education.   One way in to the area is from Chile, another is from Christchurch in New Zealand.  The huts were prefabricated in Australia or England and then hauled ashore, which is why they aren’t far from the coast.  The time period is right around 1900…a few years before, and a little more than a decade after.  Last inhabitation of the huts was around 1917.  The conservation challenges are numerous.  From 1950 to around 1980, the area saw a rise in tourism, up to around 3,800 people each year.  Trash was long thrown in the channel, and souvenirs were taken from the huts of the early explorers, especially the huts that were easy to reach.  There is a penguin colony in the area who have also made themselves at home, and unfortunately penguin poo is nasty, stinky stuff that dries hard as concrete.   In the 1960’s and 70’s many potentially historical items were burned during “cleanups.”  Chlorides and salts from the seawater corrode metals and damage wood…seawater has about 35,000 ppm but the snow has almost 33,000.  There are thought to be around 18,000 artifacts, but 10,000 are in the Terra Nova hut.  The AHT lab has treated about 2,538 objects so far.  Susanne described the ethical, personal, and professional challenges she faced working in that difficult environment.  In the hut, there were challenges with the weight of the snow, the snow getting inside, the meltwater flooding, the moisture and humidity,and even ice heaving up under the floorboards.  Manually removing snow and ice was incredibly time consuming…it would take 7 days just to dig out and begin work.  Recently a snow groomer was employed to help with the digging, and a breakthrough occurred when solar gain from dark material was shown to have a huge effect on melting the snow away.  They used volcanic gravel for this purpose.  Amazing futuristic vortex generators were also employed to change the course of the wind and thus minimize snowdrift.  A remarkable project was undertaken to pull up the flooring and floorboards and remove all the snow and ice below that was causing heaving.  They were able to re-lay the flooring materials with such accuracy that they reused the old nail holes.  There is a blog for the ongoing conservation work as well as a website for the work that the AHT does.

Michele Austin Dennehy presented “On Again, Off Again: Conservation Aspects in Accessible Display Case Design”  about the exhibit cases for the artifacts on loan to the Arctic Studies Center at the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center.  The artifacts discussed by Michele are coming from the National Museum of Natural History, with the Arctic Study center exhibit planning to open in spring 2010 and be on display for at least 7 years.  The intent is to allow the artifacts on display to be removed from exhibit and taken behind the scenes for up-close study by researchers.  To accomodate this, the mounts and display cases had to have unusual engineering and planning.  The cases have floor-to-ceiling glass doors that open with actuators.  The mounts are related to vertical rods that tie into the ceiling to meet seismic code.  The cases are double-sided, and objects are displayed at use-height according to the purpose of the artifact.  A stem on the artifact mount fits into a bracket that extends from the vertical rod.  The bracket arm has a thumb screw to hold the mount stem, and mounts have allen screws as well.  The engineers wanted a mechanical tightener, such as a screwdriver.  But that means tools in with artifacts, so tethers were made for the tools, and additional threads were added to the screws to make the delicate task of accessing the hardware without dropping screws easier.  The mount-makers were the heros of the project.  Benchmark did the first phase and then it was Ely, Inc.  Some folks worked for both companies.  Sounded to me like there were maddeningly typical issues where the desires of designers were prioritized over the well-being of the artifacts…not installing double doors to consultation rooms where artifacts would need to go, trying to avoid plexi, trying to avoid any mounts touching the deck, designers wanting things to be as vertical as possible, etc.   But it also sounded like many of the fears of the conservators were unfounded, and the artifacts were not as difficult to access as feared.  Special carts were designed to carry the artifacts to the viewing rooms as well as hold the artifact while viewed up-close.  It will be interesting to hear how this all goes…the exhibit aims to provide a very unusual level of access to the artifacts, and has taken great pains to do so safely.  There is a huge community of Native artists, scholars, and students in Alaska for whom access to this material would not have been possible without this project.  From what I have heard, the concept is pretty groundbreaking and many entities are going out on a  limb to make it happen.  Expect to hear more about this in the coming year.  

Albrecht Gumlicht presented “Sand or Snow? Preparation of an Archival Model by Renowned Modernist Architect John Lautner for a Traveling Exhibition.”  The Getty Research Institute was recently given a huge collection of sketches, drawings, photos, and architectural models from this important artist, who died in 1994.  He was famous for modernist, geometric, often futuristic-looking buildings in both sandy desert and snowy mountain environments.  The buildings played to their surroundings beautifully.  The collection came with some issues, both in terms of conservation and because many items were committed for a traveling exhibit through the Hammer Museum, “Between Earth and Heaven: Architecture by John Lautner.”  The model Albrecht discussed was very futuristic, with a veranda living room that swivelled outdoors James-Bond style by push button.  It also had a tent-like roof with three points of contact with the ground.  The roof  on the model was detachable, and the conservators left it that way to make transport easier.  The building was sited in a mountain environment, so the artist used table salt to indicate snow on the roof and the surrounding topography, but much salt had been lost or turned a disfiguring splotchy yellow by the adhesive used to make it stick.  There were many aspects to the treatment, but the most fascinating was how to reintegrate the look of the snow, since it looked rather ugly as it was and could easily be mistaken for sand.  Because the architect had buildings in both sandy and snowy locales, it was really important to get the snow right.  But maintaining the original material and adding more without facing the same adhesive issues was a big challenge.  The eureka moment was provided by colleague Nancy Yacoo Turner, who suggested that the new “snow” did not need to be permanently attached…a method was simply needed to apply an appropriate product when interpretation or exhibition was desired.  The magic substance ironically was white Sonora desert sand sold as “Vita-Sand” for pet lizard enclosures.  The product has a white color, similar grain size to the salt, and was easy to apply with a sieve.  For the curved roof, a “wig-like” secondary cover was made of Tyvek with the sand attached with PVA adhesive.  After exhibition, the “snow” could be removed in about 20 minutes with a soft paintbrush and a Nilfisk equipped with a rheostat.  The packing job was really nice, too, employing Tyvek straps that attached to foam bumpers with stainless steel T-pins and foam disk washers.  Near the end, Albrecht had a hilarious statement that went something like, “We used sand to cover up salt that was meant to look like snow that we didn’t want to have mistaken for sand but that tempted the visitor to taste it because it looked like sugar…”

The WAAC business meeting went very quickly, since many officers were not present and many reports were not submitted.  Marie Laibinis-Craft is the new President,  Dana Senge is the new Vice-President, Brynn Bender is the new Secretary, Natasha Cochrane continues as secretary, Chris Stavroudis (aka Mr. WAAC) will continue as a member-at-large (and a sort of untitled and unpaid Executive Director, it seems?) and new members-at-large will be Rhea Carter and Bev Perkins.  Apparently, elections this year were very close.  It is a rather strange experience to agree to run for the board and then not get elected, but I have to admit I take elections much more seriously when I have a choice of candidates.  Next election will try to incorporate an electronic ballot, from what I hear.  Perhaps some paper ballots, some electronic ones?  And next year’s meeting?  September 1-3, 2010 in Portland, Oregon.   And finally, even though the out-of-the-way-gosh-the-economy-is-in-the toilet-right-now conference in Juneau had only about 40 attendees, it didn’t lose money for WAAC.  WHEW!

This is the first of our eight-part in-depth look at your 2009 Huskie team.

Returning 2008 Starters: Bryce McCall (40.5 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 6 interceptions, 1 sack), Nnamdi Metu (16.5 tackles, 2 pass breakups, 1 fumble recovery), Jon Krahenbil (18 tackles, 2 interceptions, 7 pass breakups), Grant Shaw (15 tackles, 4 interceptions, 2 pass breakups)

Returning Veterans: Alex Adams, Keenan MacDougall, Jimi Cabylis

Losses: Jordy Burrows, Tyler Dueck, Chris Lambiris

New Players: Mitch Friesen (Saskatoon Hilltops), Harley Irwin (Regina Thunder), Andrew Abbs (Humboldt Collegiate), Zack Horseman (Regina Campbell), Cody Halseth (Saskatoon Hilltops), Seamus Neary (Regina LeBoldus), Derek Oleksyn (Prince Albert Carleton), Luke Thiel (Regina LeBoldus)

Even after losing Jordy Burrows and Tyler Dueck, who were mainstays and key contributors over the past few seasons, the Huskies’ defensive secondary looks to be one of the strengths of the team. Fifth year player Jon Krahenbil, a 2008 Canada West all-star and Second Team All-Canadian at corner, leads the group coming into the season. Opposite him is Grant Shaw, who had an outstanding first season in the CIS, hauling in four interceptions and adding two pass breakups to his impressive stats. Nnamdi Metu returns to challenge for the halfback position he started at in 2008, where he had 2 pass breakups and a fumble recovery. And Bryce McCall, who was somehow not a Canada West All-Star in 2008, returns to the safety position, where he had 40 tackles, six interceptions and a sack.

Halfback Mitch Friesen. (Photo by Liam Richards)

So how do you replace a veteran ball-hawk like Burrows? By recruiting talent like CJFL All-Canadians Mitch Friesen of the Saskatoon Hilltops and Harley Irwin of the Regina Thunder. Another good strategy, one which the Huskies have used effectively for decades, is to recruit the top high school players in Western Canada, such as Zach Horsman, Andrew Abbs, Luke Thiel and Seamus Neary, all of whom started for Team Saskatchewan at the recent Football Canada Cup.

Cody Halseth (19) and Bryce McCall (27) (Photo by Liam Richards)

The Huskies have also added former Saskatoon Hilltop Cody Halseth, who had two interceptions and 16 tackles in the PFC in 2008, and Derek Oleksyn, a hard-hitting former quarterback out of Prince Albert. They will compete with veterans such as the ultra-fast Alex Adams, who the Huskies may utilize on kick returns, as well as second year player Keenan MacDougall, who received playing time as a rookie in 2008, getting his first interception in the season opener against Calgary, and Jimi Cabylis, a former Regina Thunder player entering his third season with the Huskies.

Cornerback Grant Shaw.

Overall, this is a deep and talented group that should improve on their totals from last season, where they led Canada West in pass defence (1349 yards and five touchdowns surrendered) in 2008.

Jane Kennedy {F}
Birth: ABT 1758 in Dublin, Ireland
Father: Horace Kennedy
Mother:
Spouse: Jared Irwin
> Jared Irwin
> Jane Irwin
> William Irwin
> Samuel Irwin

Jared Irwin {M}
Birth: ABT 1754 in Ireland
Death: 1825 in Ross Co., OH
Father:
Mother:
Spouse: Jane Kennedy
> Jared Irwin
> Jane Irwin
> William Irwin
> Samuel Irwin

NOTE:
immigrated 1779 to Romney, Bedford, VA and then moved to Maysville, KY,
then to Ross Co., OH “According to Williams’ History of Ohio and to Miss Sarah
Irwin, daughter of Jared and Elizabeth Taylor Irwin, born Jan. 12, 1809; died
October, 1897. I learned that the first of our family came from Dublin, Ireland.
Jared and Jane Irwin (she was born in Dublin, Ireland, 1757) came to America,
burying their first child at sea, were in bedford Co., VA in 1779. They had
three children: Samuel, Jared, Jr., and Jane. We now nothing of Samuel but have
always been told that he was the ancestor of the Pennsylvania Irwins. They were
in Ross Co., OH as early as 1798, as their son Jared Jr. married there that
year.”  — from The McDowells and Connections at ACPL in Ft. Wayne.

Eleanor Taylor {F}
Birth: 1775 in NJ
Death: 1852 in OH
Father: William Taylor
Mother: Lucy Imlay
Spouse: Jared Irwin
> Mary Irwin
> William Irwin
> Samuel Irwin

NOTE: From Guide to 500 Early Irwin/Ervin, etc. Families at Ft. Wayne (2009) and
The McDowells and Connections and Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy
vol IV, p. 454

Jared Irwin {M}
Birth: 1773
Death: 1839
Father: Jared Irwin
Mother: Jane Kennedy
Spouse: Eleanor Taylor
> Mary Irwin
> William Irwin
> Samuel Irwin

NOTE: From Guide to 500 Early Irwin/Ervin, etc. Families at Ft. Wayne (2009) and
The McDowells and Connections and Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy vol IV, p. 454

Mary Irwin {F}
Father: Jared Irwin
Mother: Eleanor Taylor
Spouse: John Robbins
> Mary Robbins
> Amanda Robbins

NOTE:     ** see New 30aug09 notes below **
1831 Married John Robbins in Greenfield, OH
1838 had daughter Mary Robbins
1840 Census Madison Twp., Highland Co., OH: five Irwin farms all clusterd
together, with the John Robbins family consisting of: Males: one < 5, two
bewteen 5 & 10, one in his 30s; Females: < 5, one betw. 5 & 10, three in their
20s, one in her 60s.
*probably died before 1850 (based on census below)
1850 Census (same neck of the woods, but NO John & no spouse Mary!: (farm worth
$2430) … Eleanor Irwin 75 born NJ, Sarah Irwin 30, Eleanor Irwin 28, Mary
Robins 12, born Ohio

NEW Notes 30aug09:

Intriguingly, I found this abstract in a book of Wills, Guardianships, etc. for Highland County OH (by the McBrides, of course) at the OH Historical Center:
“July 27, 1841 John Robins appointed Guardian of Jarred I., aged 9 years, Daniel M.,m aged 9 years, Amanda Jane, aged 7 years, Isaac N., aged 5 years, and Mary E. Robins, aged 2 years, his children   Surety: Thomas Karr”
Why does a guy get or need Guardianship of his own kids? I’ll be looking into this.
Why is “Robins” appended only to Mary … is it a sentence-structure thing?
This listing suggests additions to the chronology:
1831 Married John Robbins in Greenfield, OH
1832 had sons Jarred I. and Daniel M.
1834 had daughter Amanda Jane
1836 had son Isaac I.
1838 had daughter Mary Robbins
1841 Mary died (I suppose)

Mack is on the left, Cecil on the right.

Barafrican 'CrackHead' Butterfly

by C. Kent, reporter, World Daily Planet News

BARAFRICA.  Butterflies throughout history have been associated with gentleness and sweetness. Well, that is until now. In what can only be described as total mayhem, a group of tourists on safari in Barafrica were viciously attacked by a swarm of killer butterflies.  “We had just stopped and exited our  jeeps and we were out looking at the different animals on the savannah, when all of a sudden from out of nowhere a huge swarm of butterflies came down on us and attacked!”, said S. Irwin, safari guide.  A group of 40 tourists were treated for severe bite wounds and scratches, according to the local hospital spokesman, Nikindee Ubuntu. “We have known of this in the past, but it has only been reported by the remote tribal peoples of the Muleatto and AssStink. We have never seen it in our M’kindle Game Preserve ever!” “Everyone was running around and screaming”, said Lars Ooomf, a tourist from Greenland. “My wife is blind now, they ate out her eyes!”

All upcoming safari treks to the savannah have been canceled until the park is deemed safe according to Ipnikle Eteetam, director of the game preserve.   “We have everyone who visits the park sign a waiver that clearly states that all the animals in our park are dangerous. These butterflies only have a life span of 1000 days (which would explain their viciousness), so I no worry”.

I visited the attack site and was horrified to see severed arms and legs strewn about the abandoned rovers and a human head  being finished off by the giant Barafrican vulture, Bernankeee.  Black gooey butterfly excrement (which is indicative of a high presence of blood) was everywhere, and the local tribal peoples, the EHCOURN, were collecting it to use in the leading export of Barafrica, AMABO-GROE fertilizer, as currently used in the White House ‘organic’ garden.  It is this reporter’s opinion that everything in and from Barafrica is a killer.

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Washington County – �Monongahela, PA | Washington, PA | Allenport, PA | Beallsville, PA | Bentleyville, PA | Burgettstown, PA | California, PA | Canonsburg, PA | Centerville, PA | Charleroi, PA | Claysville, PA | Coal Center, PA | Cokeburg, PA | Deemston, PA | Donora, PA | Dunlevy, PA | East Washington, PA | Elco, PA | Ellsworth, PA | Finleyville, PA | Green Hills, PA | Houston, PA | Long Branch, PA | Marianna, PA | McDonald, PA | Midway, PA | New Eagle, PA | North Charleroi, PA | Roscoe, PA | Speers, PA | Stockdale, PA | Twilight, PA | West Brownsville, PA | West Middletown, PA |

Westmoreland County – �Arnold, PA | Greensburg, PA | Jeannette, PA | Latrobe, PA | Lower Burrell, PA | Monessen, PA | New Kensington, PA | Adamsburg, PA | Arona, PA | Avonmore, PA | Bolivar, PA | Delmont, PA | Derry, PA | Donegal, PA | East Vandergrift, PA | Export, PA | Hunker, PA | Hyde Park, PA | Irwin, PA | Laurel Mountain, PA | Ligonier, PA | Madison, PA | Manor, PA | Mount Pleasant, PA | Murrysville, PA | New Alexandria, PA | New Florence, PA | New Stanton, PA | North Belle Vernon, PA | North Irwin, PA | Oklahoma, PA | Penn, PA | Scottdale, PA | Seward, PA | Smithton, PA | South Greensburg, PA | Southwest Greensburg, PA | Sutersville, PA | Trafford, PA | Vandergrift, PA | West Leechburg, PA | West Newton, PA | Youngstown, PA | Youngwood, PA

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Good deeds for ducklings
Pet Tales
Saturday, July 18, 2009
By Linda Wilson Fuoco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

George Jessup was on duty, driving his plumbing company’s truck. But when he saw a duck sitting on a storm drain on a busy road in Shaler, he didn’t think twice about stopping.

“The duck wouldn’t move, and it was in a dangerous position on Anderson Road. It piqued my curiosity,” Mr. Jessup said.

When he approached the duck he heard “peep peep peeping” and realized there were ducklings in the storm drain. He just had to help.

Mr. Jessup, 49, of Millvale, got busy on his cell phone. His first call was to his boss, Bob Beall, franchise owner of Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Pittsburgh. He told him to go ahead and help the ducklings, “and he said he’d cover me” if customers called with plumbing emergencies, Mr. Jessup said.

When he couldn’t budge the heavy grate, he called Shaler police and volunteer firefighters. The ducklings “were flipping out,” he said, and the mother duck, a mallard, was agitated.

“The firemen took the grate off. It must have weighed 300 pounds,” Mr. Jessup said. “Then a police officer reached in and picked up the ducklings. There were six or seven. They were the cutest things you ever saw — brownish with some white and yellow.

To make sure they got every duckling, Mr. Jessup sent Mr. Rooter’s video inspection camera down the pipe. There were no more.

“It was just inspiring how everyone pitched in,” he said.

After their three-hour ordeal, mamma and her ducklings “just waddled off,” he said.

Mr. Beall got one emergency call while Mr. Jessup was rescuing ducklings; he called another plumber in on his day off.

“Mr. Rooter practices courtesy as a normal part of doing business,” he deadpanned.

Call (724) 716-4099 for the best plumber in Pittsburgh!