cet homme est génial.

tout est dit. ça fait plaisir.

cette histoire de Panthéon, c’est juste n’importe quoi: laissons Albert Camus tranquille.

quant au “signal fort”, c’est l’expression creuse qui tue.

vivement vendredi!

bien @ vous,

nicogé

Marie-Rose Morel en Frank Vanhecke zouden een relatie hebben. Dat moet blijken uit de email berichten die Knack publiceerde op 19 november 2008. Geen nieuws, het is al langer een publiek geheim dat deze twee met elkaar verkeren. Vandaag lezen we in De Standaard dat Knack uiteindelijk in het ongelijk werd gesteld door de Raad van de Journalistiek. Op 8 oktober sprak de Raad zich daarover uit.

“Sensatiejournalistiek zal altijd wel een behoefte vervullen voor een bepaald segment van de bevolking. In een kwaliteitsmedium hoort zij niet thuis.”

We herinneren ons allen nog de kleine mediastorm rond de publicatie van de email berichten van Morel en Vanhecke door Knack. Met deze langverwachte berichten zou de relatie tussen de twee Vlaams Belang politici aangetoond zijn. Wat we lezen in Knack: “Vanhecke aan Morel op 13 december 2004 (18.47 uur): ‘Durf het U bijna niet zeggen, maar heb wat last om U te schrijven. Wil namelijk beetje geestig zijn en U doen glimlachen, maar ben wat moe en in mijn koker zit eigenlijk vooral de idee dat ik U wil zeggen dat ik U graag zie, dat ik van U hou, dat ik bij U wil zijn, dat ik op U verliefd ben en dat ik U de mooiste vrouw (in alle betekenissen van het woord “mooi”, ik zou daar graag eens meer over zeggen) vind die ik ooit heb mogen ontmoeten’.” Wat we overigens nog lezen: “Antwoord van Morel op 14 december (0.25 uur): ‘Ik zie je graag. Ik zie je graag op een destructieve manier. Allesverterend, niets ontziend, een spoor van vernieling achterlatend, ik zie je graag op een gevaarlijke manier, met meer Griekse tragedietrekken dan vermakelijk is. Zoals je zei, we stevenen samen op een betonnen muur af, wetende dat we zullen crashen, maar niet in staat de rem in te drukken…’.” Bovendien zou het koppel regelmatig afspreken in hun geheime ‘liefdesnestje’, waarover we ook nog meer lezen: “Er is ondertussen een adres in Elsene opgedoken waar Morels wagen regelmatig een nacht is gesignaleerd: een chic flatgebouw in de Avenue General de Gaulle waarvan nummer 15 gehuurd wordt door Isabelle Bardy, een medewerkster van Carl Lang, Europarlementslid (net als Vanhecke) voor het Franse Front National.” Het verbaast niet dat deze email berichten vervolgens door Morel en Vanhecke in alle talen worden ontkend. Over het ‘liefdesnestje’ vertelt Morel dat ze al wel eens in de flat van Bardy is geweest. We lezen: “eenmaal met Vanhecke, om er te gaan eten.” Vanhecke ontkent dat hij ooit samen met Morel op de flat aanwezig was, ondanks hij er wel zonder haar is geweest.

Tot daar de feiten. Wat is er hier nu journalistiek fout aan? Ten eerst, het zonder toestemming publiceren van adresgegevens is een ernstige inbreuk op de privacy van Bardy en Lang. Zij beweren al sinds 2000 op dit adres te wonen met hun zoon, en zijn dus niet erg gesteld op de bekendmaking van hun privé-adres, waar Morel en Vanhecke hun ‘liefdesnestje’ zouden hebben. Het lijkt wel een slecht afkooksel van de film Loft.

Daarbij komt dat de authenticiteit van de emails ernstig betwist kan worden. Morel en Vanhecke ontkennen namelijk dat ze de emails geschreven hebben. Ze zouden deels van hun hand zijn, maar volgens Morel zouden de ‘lasterlijke’ delen zijn toegevoegd door een derde. Ze wijst ook een beschuldigende vinger naar Jurgen Verstrepen, wie volgens haar al langer aankondigde dat het email verkeer tussen Morel en Vanhecke wel eens boven water zou komen. Ze zegt nog in De Morgen: “Ik weet ook dat er contacten zijn tussen mijn ex en Verstrepen. Heel het verhaal is terug te brengen op een gefrustreerde politicus en een gefrustreerd manneke die elkaar hebben gevonden.” Verstrepen ontkent daarentegen ook maar iets met de emails te maken te hebben. Hij zegt in De Morgen “Morel en Vanhecke verkiezen blijkbaar alle schuld naar mij te schuiven om niet in eigen rangen te moeten zoeken. Dat is natuurlijk het gemakkelijkste, maar mij lijken Morel en Vanhecke vooral de pedalen kwijt.” Morel motiveert haar uitspraak over de valsheid van de berichten met de schrijfstijl, die niet van haar afkomstig zou (kunnen) zijn, en dat ze ook nooit een bericht zou ondertekenen met ‘88 meer dan ooit’. Morel zegt dat dit te ver gaat en dat het daarmee duidelijk is dat het niet van haar afkomstig is. Ook Vanhecke komt met soortgelijke argumenten.

Bovendien stellen velen zich de vraag of het wel maatschappelijk relevant is om betreffende email berichten te publiceren. Zo zegt Frank Thevissen in De Standaard: “De inhoud van deze mails situeert zich helemaal in de persoonlijke levenssfeer. Ze handelen niet over corruptie, machtsmisbruik, geheime politieke deals, of wat dan ook – gevallen waarin men het journalistiek openbaar maken van e-mailverkeer zou kunnen verdedigen.” Daar voegt hij nog aan toe: “Sensatiejournalistiek zal altijd wel een behoefte vervullen voor een bepaald segment van de bevolking. In een kwaliteitsmedium hoort zij niet thuis.” Het was bovendien geen nieuws meer dat deze twee een relatie zouden hebben. Bewezen was het nooit, maar dan nog… Ook Peter Vandermeersch, hoofdredacteur van De Standaard stelt zich in deze kwestie een vraag naar maatschappelijke relevantie: “Wat heeft Knack bewezen met de publicatie van de ‘eindelijk opgedoken en veel besproken liefdesmails’ – er is ernstige twijfel over de authenticiteit- van Marie-Rose Morel en Frank Vanhecke? Niks. Of toch: Dat zij ‘hem graag ziet op een gevaarlijke manier’ en dat hij ‘haar de mooiste vrouw vindt die hij ooit heeft mogen ontmoeten’. En dat Morel ook wel eens mailde met, hou u vast, een journalist van Gazet van Antwerpen.” Met een opiniestuk in De Standaard wil ook Thomas Siffer, hoofdredacteur van Story, zijn hart luchten over de kwestie. We lezen: “Was dat maatschappelijk relevant? Ik zeg volmondig: Ja. Dat privéleven had en heeft een nadrukkelijke invloed op de werking van de partij. Die informatie hoorden Vanhecke en Morel dus in feite zelf te geven, spontaan. ‘Beste kiezers, wij houden van elkaar.’ Wie zich achter het Vlaams Belang wil scharen heeft recht op die informatie. Wie een keuze maakt voor politici, heeft recht om te weten waar die politici voor staan. Dat ze een relatie hadden, wisten we toch al langer? Moesten die mails dan? Ja, omdat Morel en Vanhecke bleven en blijven ontkennen. Betekent dit dat we alle geheime relaties van politici nu maar openbaar moeten maken? Neen. Want de meeste van die relaties zijn niet maatschappelijk of politiek relevant.” Er zijn dus voor- en tegenstanders van de publicatie van de email berichten, ironisch dat Siffer voorstander is, en het maatschappelijk relevant vindt, als hoofdredacteur van Story. Vorige week zat hij nog te schreeuwen bij Phara dat Story de deontologische grenzen minstens even goed bewaakt als de kwaliteitsmedia. Peter Vandermeersch, hoofdredacteur van die De Standaard, een kwaliteitskrant, vond het nochtans maatschappelijk niet relevant en bijgevolg deontologisch niet verantwoord.

Siffer doet nog olie op het vuur: “PS: En nu ze hun liefdesrelatie blijven ontkennen… Iemand geïnteresseerd in foto’s van Morel en Vanhecke die samen in Rijsel terrasjes doen en wat shoppen? Ze liggen op mijn bureau. Op één foto showt Morel een sexy zwart jurkje aan Vanhecke. Is dat een bewijs van hun liefdesrelatie? Neen. Maar ikzelf zou nooit met een collega van me jurkjes durven kiezen in Rijsel. Mijn vrouw zou namelijk rap overtuigd zijn dat ik met haar een relatie heb.” Maar dat gaan we buiten beschouwing laten.

Bij inbreuken op de journalistieke deontologie kan er naar de Raad voor de Journalistiek gestapt worden. En dat werd ook in dit geval gedaan. De Raad voor de Journalistiek sprak zich op 8 oktober uit over de kwestie. Dit naar aanleiding van een klacht neergelegd door Bardy en Lang. Zij vinden de publicatie van het artikel een inbreuk op hun privacy en een schending van hun goede naam. Knack werd in het ongelijk gesteld en heeft dus met de publicatie van het betreffende artikel een inbreuk begaan op de journalistieke deontologie.

De belissing:

De vermelding van naam en adresgegevens van klagers, samen met de informatie dat hun
appartement als ‘liefdesnest’ zou hebben gediend, komen neer op een onnodige inbreuk op
hun privéleven en een aantasting van hun reputatie. De aantijging is bovendien van die aard,
dat het in dit gepast zou zijn geweest de rechtstreeks betrokkenen te contacteren en hun versie
te horen, vooraleer eventueel elementen van de informatie bekend te maken.
Knack heeft correct gereageerd door de gegevens van de website te verwijderen en in het
volgende nummer een antwoordtekst van klagers op te nemen. Maar dit maakt de
oorspronkelijke tekortkomingen niet ongedaan.

Daarom is de Raad voor Journalistiek van oordeel:
De klacht is gegrond

Wordt Knack ‘een boekske’ of niet? Wat denkt u erover?

I love pickled mushrooms of all kinds, but find this recipe works well with wild mushrooms (I find them at farmers’ markets or specialty stores like Whole Foods).  The recipe is incredibly easy – just bringing your liquids and mushrooms to a boil then covering them with a great olive oil.  The only hard part is waiting a month for the finished product!

Ingredients:

• 1 LB      Mushrooms (preferably wild mushrooms, shiitakes, morels or porcinis)
• 1            Scallion (or shallot)
• 1/4 C    Lucini Pinot Grigio White Wine Vinegar
• 1/2 C    White Wine (i use sauvignon blanc, albarinho or dry riesling – nothing oaky)
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1            Garlic Clove
• 1/4 C    Lucini Chili Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 C        Lucini Premium Select Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Preparation:

Sterilize picking jar or jars sufficient to hold your mushrooms (usually 2 pint jars).  Clean the mushrooms well, removing any blemished or woody sections.  Cut any musrooms that will not fit easily into the jars whole.

Heat the scallion, vinegar and wine in a large saucepan – as it reaches a boil, add the mushrooms, salt and garlic.  Boil for 3 minutes then quickly drain well in a colander.

Pack the mushrooms in to your sterilized jars and cover with the olive oils (do not forget the infused oil!) so that there is no air left in the jar.  Cover and store in a dark, cool spot for 4-9 weeks.

Hello readers,

This is my first entry in my Morel ShroomMates blog. My aka on Morel boards is Missouri ShroomMate hence the name of this blog.  My brother (Kansas ShroomMate) and I have been not-so-diligently developing a website (shroommates.com) for the last couple years. We envision the new site as a portal for Morel information, pics, supplies and merchandise, group hunting events, Morel discussions, and tracking the progression each year.

We have the desire to follow the Morels in the spring from southeast to northwest from early March until late July but have yet to realize that desire. Currently we start the last week of March in AK and OK and finish up in late May up in SD and MN. Our wives are very supportive of our excursions (at least to this point) and we take the family whenever they feel like going. Unfortunately it only takes one time of driving three hours and hunting for 6-10 hours to discourage them from wanting to come the next time. 

I will use this blog to share tips, tricks , and strategies with interested readers as well as to share pictures from the many trips the shroomates make. Here is a group of images I put together a week or so after our season ended this year.  http://www.TrueShare.com/PhotoAlbum/FlashViewer.aspx?Key=V0F5r24W0X

I hope you enjoy my input and I welcome any comments you may want tosend my way.

Mitch Matt

这个是五月中的时候去的。大概是morel season的尾声的样子。去的是tahoe national forest，在emerald gap路边一个很大的campground camp了一个晚上。大家白天去采蘑菇，晚上回来cooking competition! 着实有几个非常hardcore的cook，那个炉子非常的先进。大家做了chicken pasta with morels, lamb morel risotto，等等。最好吃的是最后那个grilled morels。 当时吃的时候有点失望，觉得这就是大家赞不绝口的morel吗。后来回家重新做了一下，当然还调整了一下自己的期望，那morel还是很好吃的，非常juicy，有点甜，有的时候最后有点苦，口感层次很丰富的说。

morel呢，都是在前一年的森林大火之后才会长。所以要知道明年去哪里找，今年就要盯着森林大火都烧到哪里了。然后找的时候呢，注意山涧啊的走势什么的，因为有moisture, 就会有morel。 每次我们下车都是在附近走走，其实没有走多远的说。一个是在哪里下车的问题，一个是下了车往哪里走的问题。两个问题都很难回答，基本上都是经验问题，我认为。比方说有人，他开着开着车，就说我看见morel了。 要知道morel大概就是像个小指头那么大，开车看见，那是什么眼神儿！

虽然走得不远，但是一个是坡儿很陡，一个是来回来去的走，一个是那个周末正好是个heat wave weekend, 所以热，体力消耗很快。第二天都走不动了。回来也疼了好几天。

Tetszik a poszter ötlet. Ha esetleg Luc Besson miatt érdekel a film is, itt van az egyetlen közzétett, eléggé butított minőségű előzetes…alább pedig betekintés egy jelenet forgatásába:

Een ideaal voorbeeld van een tragikomische situatie: Marie-Rose Morel (zie foto) van het Vlaams Belang loopt al een hele tijd met een hoofddoek rond, en dat terwijl het Vlaams belang toch wel heel stellig is over hoofddoeken in Vlaanderen (klik HIER voor een voorbeeldje).

Tragisch is het natuurlijk omdat Morel hiertoe gekomen is na een zware chemokuur om de kanker uit haar lichaam te krijgen. Komisch natuurlijk omdat de ironie ervan afdruipt, Vlaams Belang wil het hoofddoek uit de politieke sfeer bannen en heeft tegelijk het eerste Vlaamse parlementslid dat met een hoofddoek in het parlement komt. Toegegeven, de motiviatie is volledig anders. Moslima’s dragen een hoofddoek uit religieuze overtuiging en Morel heeft waarschijnlijk een andere reden, maar toch…

Zal het Vlaams Belang haar standpunt nu moeten aanpassen?

Bron van foto en inspiratie voor de blogpost: destandaard.be

Smoked & Grilled Diamondback with Cherry & Cabernet Sauce

Smoked & grilled diamond back cut.  A well marbled cut from the shoulder that is well suited to grilling and smoking.  Seems lean, but  very tender.

I purposely use a small grill in order to keep the smoke circulating around the food.  I’ll often place a cut of meat onto a grilling plank with either another plank burning underneath the grate or with wood chips burning beneath it.  In this case, the steak was placed onto grate as well, at the end, to accentuate the caramelization of the steak.  I will often brush on something a bit sweet to help that process.  In this case the marinade was comprised of pomegranate extract, teriyaki, and a few drops of worcestershire sauce.

Cherries (and morels) were placed on the steak during smoking.  Vegetables and fruits soak in the flavor more.  Then a few smoked cherries and morels are put into the sauce pan to assist the sauce  joining with those flavors.

Smoking Diamondback shoulder cut with cherries

Sauce:  a bit complex but what I can remember and will tell is smoked cherries, morels, cabernet, plum, pomegranate extract, a bit of tamari, miso, black pepper, balinese pepper, paprika, chipotle, etc. with smoked cherry and morels for garnish and added flavor.

Every time I make something it is a little different from the last time.  I love using what’s in front of me.  So, if I have a decent cab, I’ll splash a little in.  It’s also to give some consistency to various elements of the meal.  If I’m in a good zone I can make anything work.  If I’m off, well, I’m off.  Then I wonder why I didn’t write down the secret to that particularly good previous success or such.

]]> http://todo-boca.com.ar/2009/06/06/insua-presiona-para-volver-a-boca/ Sat, 06 Jun 2009 23:45:06 +0000 Mariano FB http://todo-boca.com.ar/2009/06/06/insua-presiona-para-volver-a-boca/

El mediapunta quiere regresar al club xeneize.

Una de las principales prioridades de la dirigencia para el modelo de Boca del próximo semestre es contar con Federico Insúa en el plantel. El “Pocho”, quien dejo la institución en 2006, quiere abandonar el América de México y su deseo es retornar al club de la ribera.

El problema es que la negociación es compleja. Los directivos aztecas no quieren desprenderse fácilmente del jugador y pretenden, en todo caso, una transferencia y no un préstamo, como quiere Boca.

La crisis económica por la que atraviesa Boca pone en jaque la viabilidad de la transferencia por Insúa, sin embargo, el jugador se reunió en las últimas horas con los dirigentes del América para pedirles que le permitan regresar a Boca.

“La situación no era la conveniente, sabemos la calidad que tiene Insúa y la negociación no iba por buen término, entonces se detuvo un poco pero eso no quiere decir que esté rota, pero hay otras negociaciones alternas”, comentó Jaime Ordiales, director deportivo de las Águilas.

Boca ya intuía el pensamiento de los directivos mexicanos y por eso tiene pensado ofrecer a Morel Rodríguez dentro de la negociación, ya que el paraguayo es pretendido por el América.

(This is an expanded version of the 2nd part of a talk I gave last month. For the first part, see this post.)

Homotopical categories

The topic for this post is “homotopical categories”, and their role in algebraic geometry. I want to emphasize that I am very much in the process of learning about all these things, so this post is based more on interest and enthusiasm than actual knowledge. I hope to convey some of the main ideas and why they could be interesting, and come back to the details in many future posts, after having learned more. I apologize for not defining everything carefully, and for brushing the “stable” aspects of the theory, i.e. spectra and sheaves of spectra, under the carpet.

There are many different ways to speak of “homotopical categories”, and I only use this expression because I don’t know of a better thing to call them. The most well-known approach is the language of model categories, invented by Quillen and developed by many others. There are many excellent online introductions, for example Dwyer-Spalinski, Goerss-Schemmerhorn, and appendix A2 of Jacob Lurie’s book on higher topos theory, available on his webpage. Other languages are given by the many different approaches to higher categories; see the nLab page and the survey of Bergner. Still other languages include Segal categories, A-infinity categories, infinity-stacks, and homotopical categories in the precise sense of Dwyer-Hirschhorn-Kan-Smith.

Although I don’t want to go into the details of all these different homotopical/higher-categorical subtleties, I will try to list some of the basic features that “homotopical” categories typically have.

• A homotopical category should behave like a nice category of topological spaces.
• In particular, there should be a class of morphisms called weak equivalences, and:
• To any homotopical category , one should be able to associate a “homotopy category” and a functor which is universal among functors sending weak equivalences to isomorphisms. Morally, is obtained from by “formally inverting the weak equivalences”.
• A homotopical category should admit all limits and colimits, and also homotopy limits and homotopy colimits.
• A homotopical category should be enriched over some kind of spaces, i.e. for any two objects , the set should be a “space” in some sense, for example a simplicial set, a topological space, or a chain complex of abelian groups.

Simplicial objects

Before talking about algebraic geometry, we need to recall some “simplicial language”. The category is defined as follows. Objects are the finite ordered sets of the form . Morphisms are order-preserving functions , i.e. functions such that . If is any category, we define the category of simplicial -objects to be the category in which the objects are the contravariant functors from to , and the morphisms are the natural transformations of functors. There is a functor from to given by sending an object of to the corresponding constant functor, i.e. the functor sending all objects to and all morphisms to the identity morphisms of .

Some examples:

• Take ,  the category of sets. The above construction gives us the category  of simplicial sets. This category is “sort of the same as the category of topological spaces”. The precise statement is that there is a pair of adjoint functors which make  and into Quillen equivalent model categories; in particular, their homotopy categories are equivalent (as categories). For the purposes of algebraic topology, we can work with any of these categories. For example, we can define homotopy groups and various generalized homology and cohomology groups of a simplicial set. The inclusion of into corresponds to viewing a set as a discrete topological space. A weak equivalence between two simplicial sets is a morphism inducing isomorphisms on all homotopy groups.
• Take , the category of abelian groups. There is a forgetful functor from to the category , induced by the forgetful functor from to. The Dold-Kan correspondence tells us that there is an equivalence between and the category of (non-negatively graded) chain complexes of abelian groups. Under this equivalence, homotopy groups of a simplicial abelian group correspond to homology groups of a chain complex.
• Take, the category of-algebras for a commutative ring. Then there is some kind of Dold-Kan correspondence between simplicial algebras and DG-algebras. See Schwede-Shipley for precise statements.
• Take , the category of sheaves of sets on some topological space or site. Then is the category of simplicial sheaves. This category can also be viewed as the category of sheaves of simplicial sets on the site. Any category of simplicial sheaves is a “homotopical category” (I am not making this precise here). For example, one way of defining weak equivalences is to say that a morphism of simplicial sheaves is a weak equivalence iff it induces weak equivalences of simplicial sets on all stalks. 

Homotopical categories in algebraic geometry

Now to algebraic geometry. Through a few examples I want to argue that homotopical categories (in particular categories of simplicial sheaves) provide a useful and natural setting for certain aspects of algebraic geometry.

Firstly, let’s consider the general problem of viewing a cohomology theory as a representable functor. In algebraic topology, the Brown representability theorem says that any generalized cohomology group is representable, when viewed as a functor on the homotopy category of topological spaces. In other words, there is a space such that the cohomology of a space is given by , where the is taken in the homotopy category. Examples include the Eilenberg-MacLane spaces , which represent the singular cohomology groups , and the space , which represents K-theory. The existence of a long exact sequence relating the cohomology groups for various corresponds to the fact that the different Eilenberg-MacLane spaces fit together to form a so called spectrum. The Brown representability theorem is best expressed using the language of spectra, i.e. stable homotopy theory, but I want to postpone a discussion of this to a future post. An interesting aspect of Brown representability for singular cohomology is that by identifying the coefficient group with the corresponding Eilenberg-MacLane space, the two arguments of a singular cohomology group , namely the space and the coefficient group , suddenly are on equal footing. By this I mean that they both live in the same category of topological spaces, rather than in the two separate worlds of topological spaces and abelian groups, respectively.  

In classical algebraic geometry, there is no analogue of Brown representability. Most cohomology theories are of the form , where is some kind of variety, and is a sheaf of abelian groups. One may ask if there is a way to express such a cohomology group as a representable functor. In order to obtain a picture parallell to the topological picture above, a necessary requirement is to have a homotopical category in which the variety and the sheaf both live as objects, “on equal footing”. One possibility for such a category is some category of simplicial sheaves. In order to explain how this works, let us fix some category of varieties, for example the category smooth varieties over some base field . Let us also fix some Grothendieck topology on this category, for example the Zariski topology, the Nisnevich topology, the etale topology, or some flat topology. This defines a site, and we can speak of sheaves on this site, i.e. contravariant functors on , satisfying a “glueing” or “descent” condition with respect to the given topology.

Since Grothendieck, we are familiar with the idea of identifying a variety with the sheaf of sets that it represents, by the Yoneda embedding. We mentioned earlier that for any category , there is a functor . Taking to be the category of sheaves of sets, we get a functor from sheaves of sets to simplicial sheaves. In particular, any variety can be viewed as a simplicial sheaf, by composing the Yoneda embedding with the canonical functor from sheaves of sets to simplicial sheaves. 

We also want to show that a sheaf of abelian groups can be viewed as a simplicial sheaf. We can regard any abelian group as a chain complex, by placing it in degree zero, and placing the zero group in all other degrees. This gives an embedding of the category of abelian groups into the category of chain complexes, and by composing with the Dold-Kan equivalence we get a functor from abelian groups to simplicial sets. This induces a functor from sheaves of abelian groups to simplicial sheaves. More generally, any complex of sheaves of abelian groups can be viewed as a simplicial sheaf.

Now one could hope for an analogue of Brown representability, namely that the sheaf cohomology group could be expressed as , where the Hom is taken in the homotopy category of simplicial sheaves. It seems to be the case that something along these lines should be true. For example, this nLab page on cohomology seems to imply that all forms of cohomology should be of this form, at least sheaf cohomology groups of the type just described. Also, Hornbostel has proved a Brown representability theorem in the setting of motivic homotopy theory.

There are many other phenomena in algebraic geometry which also seem to indicate that categories of simplicial sheaves might be more natural to study than the smaller categories of schemes and varieties we typically consider. Some examples (longer explanations of these will have to wait until future posts):

• It seems to be the case that almost any geometric object generalizing the concept of a variety can be thought of as a simplicial sheaf. Examples: Simplicial varieties, stacks, algebraic spaces.
• Deligne’s groundbreaking work on Hodge theory in the 70s (see Hodge II and Hodge III) uses in a crucial way that the singular cohomology of a complex variety can be defined on the larger category of simplicial varieties. Simplicial varieties are special cases of simplicial sheaves, and I believe it should be true that functors on simplicial varieties can be extended to simplicial sheaves.
• Simplicial varieties/schemes also pop up naturally in other settings. For example, Huber and Kings need K-theory of simplicial schemes for their work on the motivic polylogarithm.
• As already indicated, simplicial sheaves appears to be the most natural domain of definition for many different kinds of cohomology theories.
• Morel and Voevodsky’s  A1-homotopy theory (also known as motivic homotopy theory) is based on categories of simplicial sheaves for the Nisnevich topology.
• Brown showed that Quillen’s algebraic K-theory can be thought of as “generalized sheaf cohomology”, where the coefficients is no longer a sheaf of abelian groups, but a simplicial sheaf.
• The work of Thomason relating algebraic K-theory and etale cohomology uses the language of simplicial sheaves.
• Simplicial sheaves provide a natural language for “resolutions”. For example, it gives a unified picture of the two methods for computing sheaf cohomology: Cech cohomology and injective resolutions.
• Simplicial sheaves seems to be the most natural language for descent theory.
• Toen’s work on higher stacks can be formulated in terms of simplicial sheaves. 
• Homotopy categories of simplicial sheaves can be thought of a generalization of the more classical derived categories of sheaves. The homotopical point of view seems to clarify some unpleasant aspects of the classical theory of triangulated categories. 

See also the nLab entry on motivation for sheaves, cohomology, and higher stacks.

Questions

I hope to come back to many of these examples in detail. For now, I  just want to list a few questions which I find intriguing. 

• To define a category of simplicial sheaves, we must choose a Grothendieck topology. How does this choice affect the properties of the category we obtain? Morel and Voevodsky work with the Nisnevich topology, Huber and Kings work with the Zariski topology, and Toen (at least sometimes) works with some flat topology. For some purposes, it seems to be the case that we don’t need a topology at all, instead we can just work with simplicial presheaves. What is the role of the Grothendieck topology? 
• Most of the above examples are developed for varieties over a base field of characteristic zero. Based on the above, it seems reasonable to believe that simplicial sheaves are useful in this case, but what if the base scheme is field of characteristic p, a local ring, a Dedekind domain, or something even more general? Is it the case that simplicial sheaves is the most natural language for understanding cohomology theories for arithmetic schemes, such as schemes which are flat and of finite type over ? Are simplicial sheaves important in number theory/Arakelov theory/geometry over the field with one element? What are the obstacles to “doing homotopy theory over an arithmetic base”?

Obviously I hope that there will be interesting answers to these questions, but I am still completely in the dark as to what these answers might be.

My friends,

I’ve just escaped from a three-day board retreat in Virginia, and my sanity and faith in humanity has really been frazzled. Virginia is pretty, with verdant deciduous trees and colonial-style houses. Why, walking down the street, you could almost hear the sound of Paul Revere’s horse galloping down the cobble-stoned paths, warning of the British’s coming. And in the distance you can hear the terrifying sound of the Brits as they came: “Looky, you just take the lift to get to the bog, and Bob’s your uncle.” Shudder.

But I didn’t get much time to see Virginia, due to three hellish days of board meetings, where it became clear to me that the organization is in serious trouble, and that I will probably have to once again launch a revolution, like the one the freed America from the Brits (“Cor Blimey, Stevens, rotate anti-clockwise or you’ll blodge the whole pudding!”). All the while, I was praying that nothing would happen to my new office equipment, or to my car, or to my flat-panel TV.

That’s why I want to talk to you about morel mushrooms. Now, you may be thinking, “What the hell do morel mushrooms have to do with anything?” Every Spring, I go to the farmer’s market, eagerly anticipating the morels, which look like this.

They are expensive because they cannot be grown, only harvested from the forest. Some will only grow after a forest fire. Last Sunday, after going week after week and being disappointed, there they were. Jameelah and I bought a pound for $20. They were beautiful, smelling of the earth, of the forest, of gym socks, but in a good way. I was giddier than a Japanese school girl with a new weeping panda backpack. I took them home and threw them in a bowl of cold water, anticipating savoring them sautéed in olive oil and garlic and served over microwaved pasta, with a glass of Jack and Coke, the epitome of culinary elegance.

Then, to my horrors, little white larvae—tiny little worms—started wriggling out of them. Not many, but enough to make me queasy. They fell to the bottom of the water, where they drowned.

The point of this story is this: After several week of horrible luck, I’ve come to realize that the world is like those morels. Delicious, but home to occasional worms. Incompetent, selfish people are always present, and somehow they always rise to the top. It is discouraging to think that the things that we do to try to make the world a delicious plate of pasta with sautéed wild mushrooms, can be undone by little wriggling worms of ego and ineptitude.

So, what did I do, you ask? Throw out all the mushrooms? Hell no. They’re fricken $20 bucks a pound. I cleaned them for like an hour, then sautéed them as planned. While eating, I tried not to think of what else are in them. I remembered last year, I just used a mushroom brush instead of submerging the morels in water. Now I realize that I probably ate a dozen of those little worms without knowing. The mushrooms were delicious…and I wondered if it was because I was ignorant, or because the worms added flavor…(uh…vote now…)

So perhaps all the crazy break-ins of my office, of my car, all the political scheming in nonprofits, the mutinies, the defense of insipidness, and that stupid Jack-in-the-Box “mini sirloin burger” commercial, all those add flavor to our world. I have no idea. It is past mid-night, and I am losing concentration. But this much I know: However how much awfulness there is in our world, no matter how much craziness, at least we don’t have to talk like the British (“Sweet fanny Adams, why all the slagging?”). Kidding, Andy and Helen, kidding. Kind of.

Morel mushroom find

Carrie Gralund of Anamosa sent in this photo of her son, Ayden, age 5.  “We were mushroom hunting on Sunday and found only one.  Our son was pretty pleased,” Carrie said.

It is difficult to eat more local than foraging.  Here is a bit of a travelogue of my first successful foray Saturday.

Saturday morning, 9:00 am, I am on the road to the tiny town of Elba Minnesota.  Because of flooding, much of the land around Elba is State Land.  There are trout streams as well.  The drive down was sunny, but very, very windy.   I stopped in a very pleasant small town, Plainview.  Plainview has a real downtown.  Store and shops, not boutiques of ticky tacky….

Met up with the Mycologists in Elba at 11:00.  After a bit of milling about, we headed out the the first search site.  I had the great luck of traveling with 5 others to the site.  I just wish I was better with names.  The driver works for an Ad agency, his partner, I did not find out much about her.  There was a potter, who just did a wood firing.  His spouse work for a copy organization.  The last person, lives in South Eastern MN, an avid hiker.  The total group for the foray totalled about 50 from the  Minnesota Mycological Society.

The group split in two when we arrived in the first spot.  One group headed on a death march, up and down great big hills.  The other group a more flat reasonable walk.  The first group was rewarded with the forest’s bounty.  Where we must have averaged about 8 morel’s per person, they must have averaged 30.  I told my team leader that I had never picked a mushroom before, and he made sure that I found at least one.  But when he pointed out the first, I then immediately saw 5 more in the area. 

Some of my finds:

I headed back after only one foray pass.  I was beat.  I did not realize how tired I was until I got home, and did not even have enough energy or desire, to cook a steak to go with the mushrooms.  So, we simply cleaned the 8 morels, fried them up with a bit of butter and garlic, and had them with toast.  I recovered mid afternoon Sunday.

Meteorologists might call it a frost advisory, but here’s my warning: if you’ve planted tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers or other plants that might be susceptible to frost, including annuals in planters, bring them inside (the ones in pots, that is) or use an old sheet or otherwise cover the others. Forecasts call for temps in Eastern Iowa to dip close to freezing both tonight (Sat., May 16) and tomorrow night (Sun., May 17.)

Now, on to more morels. Houby Days is taking place in Czech Village this weekend, a celebration of the mushroom (houby in Czech.) I heard mixed reviews about the morel crop this year, some saying they’re finding hundreds and others saying last summer’s flood messed up this season in Iowa.  Among the activities in Czech Village - on 16th Ave. SW in Cedar Rapids and some events across the river, including an egg and houby breakfast – was the annual houby contest, featuring morel mushrooms. Trophies were awarded for the largest, most unusual, smallest and best display. Here are the winners:

Largest morel (10 1/2 inches) from Mike McNeal, Cedar Rapids. (photos/Cindy Hadish)

Skylar Strawn, 11, of Cedar Rapids, with his award winning smallest mushroom, (in the plastic bag, attached to the larger one) which he estimated at 1/2-centimeter.

Butch and Toni Velky of Swisher, with most unusual winner - 6 mushrooms growing together - which they dubbed "Bohemie Six-Pack"

Tom Slade, Solon, and Tyson Gosnell, Shellsburg, carry away their best display award winner, which included at least 250 morels. The two revealed where they found them: "In the woods."

There was no award for cutest display, but Debbie Eickstaedt and Theresa Shaver of Cedar Rapids undoubtedly would have won with this fawn.

Looks like the weather was right for these morels, which are actually carved out of pine wood by Ron Takes (in tan jacket) and Tom Brislawn of Troy Mills.

Finally, if you want to know even more about morels, my brother, Gregg, passed along the following link to a paper by Lois Tiffany of Iowa State University and Donald Huffman of Central College:  http://amcbt.indstate.edu/volume_27/v27-4p3-11.pdf

     Here’s the deal – I don’t have the time, the ego or the Ashton-Kutcheresque lifestyle to be really great at Twitter.  But when one of my sources in my job as health reporter for The Gazette – the Iowa Department of Public Health – announced it would start Tweeting swine flu updates, I had no choice but to jump in and join. (and yes, we now call it H1N1 flu – please no calls from the pork industry – bacon’s yummy!)

    So now you can follow me on Twitter, though I cringe saying that, partly because of that ego thing, again, but mostly because I’m a very private person. I won’t be Tweeting about the great things my sons did for me on Mother’s Day or the cool “Life is Good” t-shirt my sister surprised me with (thanks Henna!) or heaven forbid, what I’m making for dinner. Unless it’s these awesome morel mushrooms my new best friend Dave gave to me.

Morel mushrooms from Dave (photo/Cindy Hadish)

So basically, I promise I won’t bore you with the mundane details of my life. On the other hand, in my job as a reporter, I do get to go to beautiful places (including many area gardens this year, I hope) and meet fascinating people (like Dr. Johan Hultin, who dug up bodies in the Alaskan permafrost to decode the origins of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic: see The Gazette this weekend.) So, if that’s the type of Tweet tidbit that’s interesting to you, look me up on Twitter.

In the pantheon of great (and not-so-great) action heroes, there have been some memorable names: Lee, Norris, Willis, Snipes, Seagal, Van Damme, Chan and for the most part, these guys could do action.  Some were martial arts experts, some were perfectly sculpted examples of masculine physique, one was an ex-CIA operative, trained in…well, that what Pony-tail Boy would like us to believe.  With few exceptions however, these ‘actors’ don’t act.  They fight.  And that is what we pay to see them do but wouldn’t it be nice, just once, to have someone doing the fighting who can actually ACT?  Well, this week’s big release, Taken, stars not just a good actor but a bona-fide Oscar-winning actor, Liam Neeson.  Granted, Neeson, in the role of retired security expert Bryan Mills, isn’t going to receive an Oscar for this work but he displays a solidity that makes hima pleasure to watch.  In a stereotypical plot, he is a divorced dad trying to make up for the absent years and reconnect with his teenage daughter, played with alternating giddiness and fear by Maggie Grace.  When she and a friend announce they are going to stay in Paris for a couple of weeks with cousins, Mills’ ’spidey sense’ starts tingling (and rightly so as they actually plan to play groupie and follow U2 on their European tour).  Well, daughter Kim and friend are kidnapped the day they arrive by Eurotrash sex peddlers and after a chilling cell-phone encounter with the kidnappers in which Neeson tells them what he does and what he will do, the action begins and doesn’t relent until the final minute as the self-described ex-CIA  ‘preventer’ Mills, moves through Paris, kicking ass and taking names, although it’s apparent his pen is out of ink as he leaves a multitude of bodies in his wake.  Now, this is truly not brain surgery and perhaps not even all parts of the brain were used to make this or are required to watch.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that you should turn your brain off while viewing because the more synapses that are firing, the loweryour enjoyment level.  The action is well-choreographed, from the Bourne school of hand-held camerawork and quick edits (director Pierre Morel’s only other directorial effort is the juiced-up martial arts extravaganza, District 13).  The supporting cast including  Famke Janssen and Xander Berkeley are adequate but Neeson, who is in virtually every frame, makes a (admittedly violent) silk purse out of a sow’s ear.  This opened in Europe over a year ago and the producers intended to unceremoniously dump this in the theatre in the doldrums of February for a week then a quick video release but it struck a chord with audiences and built up speed to the tune of over 200 million dollars worldwide (much to the producer’s joy), so that now a sequel is planned.  Without the emotional resonance of this one, I predict it won’t work.  But it will be great to see the newest action hero again.

Addendum:  I (unintentionally) saw this in the theatre on the evening of the day that Liam Neeson’s wife, Natasha Richardson, died after a skiing accident in Quebec.  As Neeson spends much of the movie in emotional pain, I couldn’t help but wonder throughout if this is how he was feeling at that moment.  It gave the movie a very different resonance.  Just saying.

Blonde morels/ photo from Forest Mushrooms Inc.

I can finally say I’ve found some morel mushrooms! Actually, I didn’t have to go on a mushroom hunt, as many Iowans do in the spring, though I’d love to find them that way. The ones I saw were spotted at a grocery store in Cedar Rapids. They were selling for $12.99 for a 3.5 ounce package and came from Forest Mushrooms Inc., of St. Joseph, Minn.

 Per their Web site: Established in 1985, Forest Mushrooms, Inc. is a Minnesota company engaged in the research, cultivation and distribution of edible specialty mushrooms. They particularly specialize in the production of oyster mushrooms, and more recently, in growing shiitake mushrooms.  Their production facilities are located in St. Joseph, MN, 90 miles northwest of Minneapolis. They distribute  mushroom products to wholesalers, supermarkets, restaurants and specialty shops. The majority of products are delivered to the Twin Cities area, but they also distribute locally and nationally. See: http://www.forestmushrooms.com/

 Here is more that Kevin Doyle, president of Forest Mushrooms, Inc., sent to me about his company and his insight into morels:  All morel mushrooms are wild-harvested, not cultivated.  There have been many attempts to grow morels, and some occasional successes but nobody has been able to repeat their successes, and thus there are no farms that currently grow morels, to the best of my knowledge.  This is because there is a very complicated and interesting relationship between the morel mushroom mycelium (which are the vegetative strands of the fungus that grow underground), and the root hairs of the trees that are host to them.  We think that the strands of morel mycelium help the tree to absorb nutrients from the soil, especially minerals, by carrying the minerals through the mycelium and then inserting the mycelium and the nutrients in to the tiny root hairs of the tree roots.  The mycelium is much much smaller than the root hairs, and wrap themselves around the root hairs and then penetrate into the root. In turn, the morels likely absorb some carbohydrate (sugars) from the vascular tissue of the tree roots, so they relationship is helpful to both organisms.  

 However, there are conditions, including but not limited to damage to the tree from fire, Dutch elm disease, wind damage, etc., that cause the morel mushroom mycelium to send strands of mycelium to the fungus where they then produce the specialized reproductive organ that we know as a mushroom.  That mushroom then produces spores which are dispersed by the wind and are carried away to start a new colony in another area of the forest, thus propagating the life of the morel fungus.  This is an adaptive response that has developed through evolution to help the fungus survive adverse situations or events.  The mushroom is just a specialized part of the fungus’ life cycle, but the main act occurs way underground for decades and helps to sustain the trees themselves, thus morel mushrooms and also many other types of mushroom fungus are essential to the health of a sustainableforest ecosystem.

 The morels in North America are widespread, though we in the Midwest often think of them as a local phenomenon.  In fact, the morel season begins much earlier in almost every other area of the country than it does in the upper Midwest, due to the milder climates and earlier onset of Spring in other regions.  In the Pacific Northwest the morel season begins in late March, and can actually continue right on into early August in the higher elevations of the Rocky Mountains.  In Minnesota, where our business is located, we are used to seeing morels during the second half of May, typically.  I would imagine in your region it is the beginning of May most commonly.

During the milder and earlier Springs we were having a few years ago, the season began a bit earlier.  The season is triggered by the combination of adequate soil moisture and enough sunny days and warm temperatures to warm up the soil adequately to spur the growth of the mushrooms.  There have been years when the moisture is there, but the temperatures are too chilly, and by the time the mushrooms come up as temperatures warm up, the grass and small plants in the forest have already sprung up and obscure the mushrooms from view, so people think there is no mushroom season, when actually we just can’t find them under the forest floor cover!

 The morels you saw are blonde-colored morels from the western slope of

Packaged mushrooms from Forest Mushrooms, Inc.

the Rocky Mountains in Oregon.  These are the best  morels in the country at this time, for flavor, appearance, and shelf life.  They are also similar in appearance to the mushrooms that we commonly see in the Midwest.  Later in the Spring there are several other varieties that grow in abundance in the Pacific Northwest, including “fire morels” (also called “burns”), which grow in huge numbers on the sites of last season’s forest fires.  These burn morels are smaller, not as thick, and have a conical shape.  Another morel commonly harvested commercially in the mountains is simply called a “natural” and is shaped more like a golf-ball, without the conical shape and more rounded, with a thicker shell.  (All true morels are hollow inside.)  The latest morelspecies to fruit in the Rockies is called the “grey morel” and can also grow on fire sites.  It is the largest morel in the country, grey in color, thick walled, and has a great shelf life for transport to market.  All of these morels are also dried, often on-site, or in large gas-fired driers, for preservation and enjoyment in the off-months.

 Forest Mushrooms flies in morels, as well as many other wild-harvested mushrooms, every few days all year around.  We inspect and sort them, and then market them to both the foodservice and grocery store markets.  We are licensed as “Wild Mushroom Experts” by the State of Minnesota, which is required for the commercial handling and sale of wild-harvested mushrooms.  Any establishment  in Minnesota that sells wild-harvested mushrooms of any type, including morels, to the public, needs to be able to show that they were obtained through a state-licensed Wild Mushroom Expert.

I do not know whether Iowa has any such requirement, since this varies from state to state.  But it does provide a measure of food safety and confidence for chains when they chose to carry these products.

 FYI, Forest Mushrooms, Inc. has been in operation since 1985, and we specialize in growing oyster and shiitake mushrooms (about 3000 lbs/wk,  all year aound) and in distributing all other specialty mushrooms, fresh, dried and frozen, both cultivated and wild-harvested.  We also have a full line of organic fresh mushrooms for both foodservice and grocery customers.  We do NOT sell to the public directly, but are strictly growers and wholesale suppliers.

Back to Cindy:

The annual Czech Village Houby Days celebrates the mushroom (houby is the Czech word for mushroom) and I’ve heard they might go back to using morels in their breakfast!! About half of the businesses in Czech Village have returned since the flood and more are hoping to come back in time for the celebration on May 15-17. Below is a photo of Jan Stoffer, of the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, giving a tour of Czech Village to students from McKinley Middle School last month.

Jan Stoffer leads tour of Czech Village for McKinley students.

On a beautiful spring day I noticed the light was perfect to take a few shots of the flowers that have been blooming recently in the landscaping around the buildings. I love all the different colours and textures that they have in the landscaping on campus (University of Southern Indiana). It hit me that I and many others pass this great beauty around us and never notice it. We are generally wrapped up in our own problems or the general daily grind.

This day was different. Maybe it was the fact it was sunny after a week of nothing but rain. Maybe it was because I had finished with my last mid term and only had to worry about the end of the semester stuff coming up. Actually I think it was because I noticed the colours and smells from the flowers and bushes all around me. It has been a perfect year for all the dogwood and blossoming trees:

taken from my flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyquinninlex/

notice the web strands on the blossom: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyquinninlex/

Also all the lovely flowers some tulips and other ones I need to identify. The flowers that I am not sure of are the ones that are filling the air with the fragrance that first grabbed my attention (and my camera!!):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyquinninlex/

Then the light glinting off the other flowers brought my attention to them:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyquinninlex/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyquinninlex/

I soon had full camera fever at this point. The light was perfect, the beautiful smells in the air, the bright blue sky, and all the students looking at me while I was kneeling and getting close to all the flowers. Sometimes when I am shooting I forget that other people are around and get into getting the shot I want that I will walk into and through anything. This time my nuttiness paid off, I found a gem in the rough, or at least in the landscaping ground cover. Boom! Right in front of me was this thing that looked completely out of place. It looked like a sponge on a stick, or even brain matter growing out of the ground. My camera was drawn to it like a moth to a flame or a piece of iron toward a magnet! What I had found was a morel!! (a morel is a fungus, not a part of the “Moral Majority”..I am pretty sure it is morally ambivalent)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyquinninlex/

I know in my excitement that I didn’t realize that I was laying on my stomach in the landscaping outside the Admissions Office. Normally this wouldn’t have been that bad, but this is the time of the year that small groups of high school kids and their parents tour campus. Of course there was a group going by as I was taking these pictures, I hope I didn’t lose any new students for USI, but they all did look a bit confused. I did what anyone else would have done, I smiled and said I was working on my photography final (I don’t have a photography class, I need to take one, but I don’t have one now!).

The moral of the morel story is, stop and smell the flowers around you some time, because you never know what you might discover in the areas you take for granted!!!

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Välkommen

Cecilia Morel, esposa de Sebastián Piñera
(El Mercurio, domingo 26 de abril de 2009):

«[Pregunta del periodista Juan Antonio Muñoz]-Nadie puede creer que en la casa de Cecilia Morel y de Sebastián Piñera la crisis se nota. Con la mano en el corazón, ¿en qué se nota la crisis en su casa?

-Se dejó de comprar Coca Cola. Y hablo en serio. Pero es obvio que yo no sufro por la crisis. ¿En qué se ha notado? En muchas situaciones familiares delicadas, en los amigos. Le podría decir que entre la familia mía y la de Sebastián hay tres hombres -sin contar al Negro- en edad activa, inteligentes y capaces, sin trabajo. Varias de mis amigas viven muy al justo, al punto de que si chocaste el auto se te desbarata el presupuesto del mes. Me dicen que aunque les preste la casa de Caburga no podrían ir a veranear, por lo que eso implica en viaje, gastos de comida, juegos para los niños… Tengo hermanos que me han dicho simplemente “no puedo ir”. Es una angustia que me parte el corazón y el alma».