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With the Thanksgiving holiday in the rear-view mirror, teams and players are now free to get back to business ahead of next week's winter meetings. As such, don't be surprised if a few deals get done ahead of time so teams know where they stand entering the process.

Let's run down the latest from Tuesday's MLB rumor mill.

The Yankees have been expected to pursue Gerrit Cole all year long, but it looks like they intend to hedge their bets in case Cole ends up elsewhere. As such, the Yankees intend to meet with Cole and with Stephen Strasburg over the coming days, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Strasburg is a relative new addition to the free-agent market, having opted out of his deal shortly after the postseason ended.

The Yankees have an obvious desire to add an impact-level starter to their rotation, and both Cole and Strasburg would fit the bill. It is worth noting that the Yankees are not viewed as the favorite for either pitcher at this point, as reported by the New York Post. Those around the game believe the Angels will land Cole, while the Nationals are still expected to retain Strasburg.

Still, these things are fluid until a deal gets done, and the Yankees are at least doing their due diligence.

Third baseman Anthony Rendon could be the first major free agent to sign this winter, according to what ESPN's Buster Olney has heard from executives. Rendon is said to have already met with the Dodgers and Rangers, among others.

The Rangers were expected to show interest in Rendon, given their need for a third baseman and the opening of a new ballpark next spring. the Dodgers, however, are a slight surprise given Justin Turner is already in tow.

Obviously a meeting doesn't mean a deal is going to happen -- it does signify some interest, however.

Entering the offseason, we ranked Zack Wheeler as the seventh-best free agent available this winter, writing "This may seem like an overrank given Wheeler has a career 100 ERA+ and has never thrown 200 innings in a season. But teams believe there's more chicken left on the bone, and it shouldn't surprise anyone if his contract reflects as much."

That seems close to coming to fruition now, as he has an offer worth nine figures, according to Ken Rosenthal. Predictably, there's a fair chance Wheeler signs within the coming week, per Jon Heyman. The White Sox and Rangers are just two of the teams linked to Wheeler -- with Wheeler being identified as the White Sox's top target -- so far this winter. It appears we'll find out soon enough who wins the bidding.

The Giants have interest in free agent outfielder NicholasCastellanos, reports MLB.com's Jon Morosi. San Francisco recently named Scott Harris their general manager. Harris was an assistant general manager with the Cubs this past season, when they acquired Castellanos at the trade deadline.

Even with Mike Yastrzemski entrenched in the outfield, the Giants still have two open outfield spots after non-tendering Kevin Pillar earlier this week. Castellanos can not play center field, so he wouldn't replace Pillar, but he could fill the other corner spot. The Giants are short and outfielders and power in general. Castellanos would adress both needs.

The White Sox hope to add two veteran starting pitchers this offseason, reports ESPN's Buster Olney. Chicago kicked off what is expected to by a busy offseason by signing Yasmani Grandal to a four-year contract last month. They also signed Jose Abreu to a three-year extension after he accepted the qualifying offer.

At the moment only Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez are locks for Chicago's rotation. Top prospect Michael Kopech is due back from Tommy John surgery early next year, but the team won't push him aggressively. Dylan Cease and Carson Fulmer are depth options. Even if they don't land a big fish like Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg, the free-agent class offers plenty of quality second tier starters.

The Dodgers aren't just interested in Rendon, but also Stephen Strasburg and new free agent Kevin Gausman, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

Strasburg is, of course, one of the top free-agent starters available. Gausman, meanwhile, has been a decent starter in the past. He spent the last part of this season in the Reds bullpen, where he reintroduced his slider. He could slot in as a back-end starter again.

Either way, it's clear the Dodgers want to upgrade their roster as they seek their first world title under Andrew Friedman's watch.

On Monday, the Phillies non-tendered infielders Maikel Franco and Cesar Hernandez. Consider it a clearing of the brush more so than an indication that the Phillies are content with their infield situation.

To wit, the Phillies have maintained contact with third baseman Josh Donaldson and shortstop Didi Gregorius, according to MLB Network's Jon Morosi.

Donaldson figures to be the higher-priced of the two, but Gregorius is perhaps more intriguing -- at least in the sense that the Phillies already have a shortstop, in Jean Segura. Segura had a down season last year, but won't turn 30 until March and has a track record of being an above-average talent. As such, a Gregorius signing would likely result in either a trade or a positional shuffling.

The Athletics have signed left-handed reliever Jake Diekman to a two-year deal with a club option, per the team. Diekman, 33 in January, appeared in 28 games for the A's last season. In those appearances, he fanned a batter per inning, but also walked more than seven batters per nine. That combination of bat- and zone-missing ability has been evident in his game throughout his career.

Still, the A's like Diekman enough to guarantee him more than $7 million over the course of his deal. That's a fairly trifling amount so far as big-league contracts go, but it's notable given the A's tendency to spend as little as possible.

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MLB rumors: Anthony Rendon could be first big domino to fall; Zack Wheeler has offer exceeding $100 million - CBS Sports

Updated November 29, 2019 18:22:40

The strange affair of Angus Taylor and the allegedly doctored document of dubious provenance he used to try to discredit Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore and her council over climate change is replete with lessons for political players.

One: Avoid gratuitous point scoring, but if you must do it, make sure your facts are correct.

Two: When you are caught out in a mistake, make a clean breast of things, and as quickly as possible. Don't dally with your apology.

Three: If you are the Prime Minister, and your embattled minister is facing a police investigation, do nothing that might suggest, even if wrongly, that you are intervening in the course of justice.

Four: When, as PM, you are defending your man or woman in Parliament, make sure the material you use has been triple checked.

Failure to observe these obvious and sensible practices has created a distracting issue for the Government and then damagingly escalated it.

In the process, Taylor has been discredited, and Scott Morrison has been embroiled and embarrassed, or embarrassed himself.

Every twist and turn has been entirely self-created by the Government. The whole thing was avoidable.

Taylor's self-image and the political reality of his career have sharply diverged since he was elected to Parliament in 2013, with the hope, indeed the expectation in his own mind, of eventually becoming prime minister.

It did not seem at the time an unreasonable aspiration.

A Rhodes scholar, a McKinsey man who became a director at Port Jackson Partners, Taylor presented well and looked the part.

He identified with the conservative wing of the Liberals (later supporting Peter Dutton's leadership bid and criticising Malcolm Turnbull), although certain people who knew him well and worked with him in his previous career are surprised at some of the positions he takes today, including on issues related to climate change.

Belying his early promise, Taylor has been embroiled in controversies (including over his interest in a family company investigated about land clearing), and since becoming Energy Minister under Morrison he has performed poorly in what is admittedly a very challenging portfolio.

In general, Taylor has fallen victim to a combination of hubris and stubbornness.

His response to the City of Sydney's declaration of a climate emergency was to point to what he claimed were the councillors' huge travel costs, and thus large carbon footprint, with the imputation of hypocrisy.

His letter to Moore was given to the Daily Telegraph just to hype his attack.

But the figures he used were wrong, so wrong it is amazing Taylor, with a background dealing with numbers, did not immediately spot a problem.

When the error was inevitably revealed, Taylor insisted the document providing the basis for his claim "was drawn directly from the City of Sydney website".

He said his office on September 9 accessed a report on that site. Taylor sticks by this story publicly, and reportedly says the same thing privately to Morrison.

But the council report on the site contained the correct figures, and the evidence so far, notably the City of Sydney metadata, indicates that report was not altered.

So where did Taylor's allegedly doctored and certainly inaccurate document come from?

The most likely explanation appears to be the Taylor office somehow accessed a draft, and then a staffer misread that draft, inflating the very modest travel costs into the millions of dollars that Taylor claimed.

But why, if something like that is what happened, Taylor did not 'fess up with the full story immediately is inexplicable.

This week's announcement of a NSW Police investigation took the affair to a new level, raising the question of whether Taylor should stand aside while that proceeds.

This can be argued both ways: in my view there's a reasonable case for not standing him aside. There are precedents, and anyway the probe will be finished quickly.

What was not reasonable was for Morrison to ring NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller to ask about the investigation.

Not least because he and Fuller are well acquainted personally they previously lived near each other.

(As a side point, Fuller was caught out in relation to this neighbourliness. A while ago he told 2GB Morrison used to take in his rubbish bin for him. This week, playing down his closeness to Morrison, Fuller said that never happened.)

Apart from the proprieties, a leader with any appreciation of process should know, by directly contacting the commissioner, he was opening himself to attack.

To do so was a misjudgement. Then Morrison added carelessness when, raising Labor examples of people not standing aside while under police investigation, he attributed the words of radio presenter Ben Fordham to a Victorian detective.

This was another instance of somebody being sloppy.

While many journalists will identify with mixing up a quote, there but for the grace of god etc, if you're a prime minister doing it in the middle of a stoush, the political fallout is nasty.

With one week of the parliamentary year remaining, Labor has decided to deny Taylor a pair next Wednesday and Thursday for him to go to the International Energy Agency conference in Paris.

It could be another rough few days for the minister, unless he gets a very quick all-clear from NSW Police.

By late Thursday, the Government was hoping its very difficult week would finish with an important win, the passage of its Ensuring Integrity legislation to crack down on recalcitrant unions and union officials. But there things went horribly wrong.

Pauline Hanson, despite securing concessions, voted with Labor and the legislation was lost on a tie.

The Government was visibly shocked, with Attorney-General Christian Porter saying it would seek to reintroduce the legislation "at an appropriate time", whenever that might be.

Hanson said she was firing a warning shot across the bows of both union bosses and the Government, saying the former should get their act together and the latter should clean up white-collar crime.

"What I pick up from the public is a crystal-clear view that this Government, and past governments, have one rule for white-collar crime and a much harsher rule for blue-collar crime," she had said earlier.

The shocking revelations about Westpac came at a very bad time for a Government pressing its case for action on unions.

As it looks to the final sitting week, the Government is desperately trying to wrangle Jacqui Lambie, who's playing hardball, into voting for the repeal of medevac.

Another rebuff on what it regards as critical legislation would be deeply humiliating.

Michelle Grattan is a professorial fellow at the University of Canberra and chief political correspondent at The Conversation, where this article first appeared.

Topics:government-and-politics,politics-and-government,federal-government,federal-parliament,unions,australia

First posted November 29, 2019 09:42:40

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Angus Taylor and defeat of union legislation give Scott Morrison a horror week - ABC News

Difficult but rewarding work: Planting trees to aid climate

MADRE DE DIOS, Peru (AP) Destruction of the forests can be swift. Regrowth is much, much slower.

But around the world, people are putting shovels to ground to help it happen.

In a corner of the Peruvian Amazon, where illegal gold mining has scarred forests and poisoned ground, scientists work to change wasteland back to wilderness. More than 3,000 miles to the north, on former coal mining land across Appalachia, workers rip out old trees that never put down deep roots and make the soil more suitable to regrow native tree species.

In Brazil, a nursery owner grows different kinds of seedlings to help reconnect forests along the country's Atlantic coast, benefiting endangered species like the golden lion tamarin.

They labor amid spectacular recent losses the Amazon jungle and the Congo basin ablaze, smoke from Indonesian rainforests wafting over Malaysia and Singapore, fires set mostly to make way for cattle pastures and farm fields. Between 2014 and 2018, a new report says, an area the size of the United Kingdom was stripped of forest each year.

Rebuilding woodland is slow and often difficult work. And it requires patience: It can take several decades or longer for forests to regrow as viable habitats, and to absorb the same amount of carbon lost when trees are cut and burned. "Planting a tree is only one step in the process," says Christopher Barton, a professor of forest hydrology at the Appalachian Center of the University of Kentucky.

And yet, there is urgency to that work forests are one of the planet's first lines of defense against climate change, absorbing as much as a quarter of man-made carbon emissions each year.

Through photosynthesis, trees and other plants use carbon dioxide, water and sunlight to produce chemical energy to fuel their growth; oxygen is released as a byproduct. As forests have shrunk, however, so has an already overloaded Earth's capacity to cope with carbon emissions.

Successful reforestation programs take into account native plant species. They are managed by groups with a sustained commitment to monitoring forests, not just one-off tree planting events. And usually, they economically benefit the people who live nearby for instance, by creating jobs, or reducing erosion that damages homes or crops.

The impact could be great: A recent study in the journal Science projected that if 0.9 billion hectares (2.2 billion acres) of new trees were planted around 500 billion saplings they could absorb 205 gigatonnes (220 gigatons) of carbon once they reached maturity. The Swiss researchers estimated this would be equivalent to about two-thirds of man-made carbon emissions since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

Other scientists dispute those calculations, while some fear the theoretical promise of tree-planting as an easy solution to climate changes could distract people from the range and scope of the responses needed.

But all agree: Trees matter.

___

On a spring morning, forestry researcher Jhon Farfan steered a motorcycle through the dense Peruvian jungle, his tires churning up red mud. He was following a narrow path cut by illegal gold miners in the heart of the Amazon, but he was not seeking treasure. Instead, he was on a quest to reforest abandoned gold mines within the world's largest tropical forest.

After three hours of difficult travel, he reached a broad clearing where knee-high saplings stood in rows, their yellow-green leaves straining for the sun. Farfan whipped out a clipboard with a diagram of the saplings planted months earlier, much like a teacher checking attendance.

"The goal is to look for the survivors," he said.

Within the thick jungle, only a sliver of light escapes to the forest floor. Often more can be heard than seen: a chorus of howler monkeys, the chatter of red-crowned parakeets reminders that the Amazon is home to more species diversity than anywhere on the planet.

But the rainforest is under increasing threat from illicit logging, mining and ranching. In a region of southeastern Peru called Madre de Dios, Farfan's job involves inspecting lands where the forest has already been lost to illegal mining spurred by the spike in gold prices following the 2008 global financial crash.

To recover the gold, the floor of the jungle was turned upside down. There are no gold seams in the lowland areas of the Amazon, but only flakes of gold washed down from the Andes mountains by ancient rivers, buried beneath the soil.

After cutting and burning centuries-old trees, miners used diesel pumps to suck up deep layers of the earth, then pushed the soil through filters to separate out gold particles. To turn gold dust into nuggets, they stirred in mercury, which binds the gold together but also poisons the land.

Left behind are patches of desert-like land dry, sandy, stripped of topsoil and ringed by trunks of dead trees.

Last December, Farfan and other scientists with the Peru-based nonprofit CINCIA planted more than 6,000 saplings of various species native to this part of the Amazon, including the giant shihuahuaco, and tested different fertilizers.

"Most tree deaths happen in the first year," Farfan added. "If the trees make it to year five, typically they're going to be there a long time."

A study of former gold mines in Peru by scientists at CINCIA and Wake Forest University several years ago found that seedlings transplanted with soil were more likely to survive than "bare-root seedlings," and the use of special fertilizers also helped growth. Some of the trees tested had absorbed trace amounts of mercury through contaminated soil, but it's not clear yet how this will affect them.

Since the project began three years ago, the team has planted more than 42 hectares (115 acres) with native seedlings, the largest reforestation effort in the Peruvian Amazon to date. The group is in discussion with Peru's government to expand their efforts.

"It's very hard to stop mining in Madre de Dios, since it's a major activity," said Farfan. The challenge now: to plant a tree that can grow in this soil.

___

While scientists struggle with tainted landscapes in the Amazon, activists a continent away are reckoning with flawed past attempts to heal the land.

After miners left West Virginia's Cheat Mountain in the 1980s, there was an effort to green the coal mining sites to comply with federal law. The companies used heavy machinery to push upturned soil back into place, compacting the mountainside with bulldozers. The result was soil so packed in that rainwater couldn't seep down, and tree roots couldn't expand.

Companies planted "desperation species" grasses with shallow roots or non-native trees that could endure, but wouldn't reach their full height or restore the forest as it had been. On Cheat Mountain and at other former mining sites across Appalachia, more than a million acres of former forests are in similar arrested development.

"It was like trees trying to grow in a parking lot not many could make it," said Michael French, director of operations for the Kentucky-based nonprofit Green Forests Work.

The Appalachian highlands once supported a large and unique ecosystem, dominated by 500,000 acres of red spruce forest a century and a half ago. But commercial logging in the late 1800s and later coal mining in the 20th century stripped the landscape, leaving less than a tenth of the red spruce forests intact.

Now French and colleagues at Green Forests Work are collaborating with the U.S. Forest Service to restore native Appalachian forests and the rare species they support by first tearing down other trees.

"We literally go in with a giant plow-like machine and rip the guts out of the soil," by dragging a 4-foot ripping shank behind a bulldozer, said Barton, the University of Kentucky professor and founder of Green Forests Work. "Sometimes we call it ugly."

This "deep ripping," as it's known, gives rainwater and tree roots a better chance to push down into the soil. A 2008 study found that disrupting the soil on U.S. brownfield sites through this method helped tree growth. After five growing seasons, trees planted on "ripped" sites had more roots compared to those where deep ripping didn't occur. Trees also grew taller.

The idea of ripping up the ground seemed startling at first.

"When we first started, a lot of our colleagues thought we were crazy. But 10 years later, we're well on our way," said Shane Jones, a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Forest Service.

Earlier efforts at reforesting old mining sites within West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest hadn't fared so well; sometimes, the majority of seedlings died. But in areas where the team has deep-ripped over the last decade, the survival rate of saplings has been around 90%.

Green Forests Work has now reforested around 800 acres within the Monongahela, and it is taking a similar approach to other former mining sites across Appalachia, having reforested around 4,500 total acres since 2009. Their ultimate goal is to restart the natural cycle of the forest so that scientists' work becomes invisible again.

___

Other reforestation crusades are more personal.

Maria Coelho da Fonseca Machado Moraes, nicknamed Dona Graa, runs a tree nursery that grows seedlings of species native to Brazil's lesser-known jungle the Atlantic coastal rainforest.

She collaborates with a nonprofit group called Save the Golden Lion Tamarin, which works to protect and restore the forest habitat of the endangered namesake monkey. "The Atlantic rainforest is one of the planet's most threatened biomes, more than 90% of it was deforested," said Luis Paulo Ferraz, the nonprofit's executive secretary. "What is left is very fragmented."

As she nears 50, Dona Graa says she is furious at what has happened to the forest, which was whittled down to allow for the urban expansion of Rio de Janeiro and other cities.

She deplores "the stupidity and ignorance" of people who have "destroyed most of the trees and continue destroying them. So I'm trying. I can't do too much, but the little I can do, I try to do it properly to rescue those trees."

And so, between feeding her chickens and raking the leaves, she grows seedlings of rare species pau pereira, peroba, "trees that people have damaged already, they don't exist anymore." She mixes limestone and clay, places it in plastic nursery bags and plants seeds in them; she irrigates them with water and cow urine.

Local replanting efforts which aim to reconnect fragmented parcels of forest often use the seedlings from Dona Graa's nursery, which gives her both income and great satisfaction.

She does this, she said, for posterity. "In the future when I pass away ... that memory I tried to leave for the people is: It's worth it to plant, to build," she said.

___

Federica Narancio contributed to this report from Peru and West Virginia, and Yesica Fisch reported from Brazil.

___

This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Heroic efforts to revive ecosystems and save species are being waged worldwide, aimed at reversing some of humankind's most destructive effects on the planet. "What Can Be Saved?," a weekly AP series, chronicles the ordinary people and scientists fighting for change against enormous odds and forging paths that others may follow

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Difficult but rewarding work: Planting trees to aid climate - New Canaan Advertiser

Wednesday, November 27th 2019, 12:57 pm - The claim has been making the rounds again this week in the wake of Australia's devastating bushfires, but experts are pushing back.

With climate change accelerating, stories about the latest extinction are increasingly commonplace, but there's one that particularly jerked the world's heartstrings this week: A report from Australia that suggested the koala, already under dire threat, is "functionally extinct" after bushfires devastated its already shrinking habitat.

It's quite the eyebrow-raiser, given how much of a beloved icon the little marsupials are worldwide, and the claim centres on the apparent loss of around 80 per cent of the species' range along with reports that approximately 1,000 individual koalas may have been killed during the bushfires.

But though it's making the rounds again this week, it's actually a months-old claim -- we'll come to that in a minute -- and, according to experts, not only is it likely not true, it wouldn't be possible to tell one way or another given what we know, and don't know.

"Theres every possibility that over the whole range, they may eventually become functionally extinct, but we certainly couldnt say that yet. Theres a long way to go," Dr. Christine Hosking of Australia's University of Queensland told The Weather Network.

Several media outlets repeated the 'functionally extinct' claim over the past couple of days after it resurfaced, including Forbes, but it was actually made earlier this year in May, by the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF), which claimed there were no more than 80,000 of the creatures left in Australia.

The 'functionally extinct' wording appears in the release at the time, and it raised some hackles even then, with pushback from several quarters, including Hosking, who penned a column debunking the claim.

Though koalas' are listed as a 'vulnerable' species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Hosking says there's just not enough information on the koalas' remaining numbers and range to say whether the bushfires have pushed them to functional extinction.

For one thing, Hosking says the animals' plight varies from area to area, such that though they are certainly locally extinct in some areas, in others they're still doing well, such that they're actually locally overabundant.

Another challenge: Their range is enormous, sprawling across four of Australia's states, making it hard to get an accurate population count.

Until we can come up with some amazing drone technology or something that can go up and down in strips across that whole area and count them all, its just impossible to say," Hosking says. Even with the bushfires, we dont even know how many koalas have been affected there yet. We only know the ones whove been rescued."

As such, estimates vary as to just how many koalas there still are in the wild.

Dr. Stuart Blanch, Forest and Woodland Policy Manager for WWF-Australia, says estimates range from a high of 330,000 in 2012, to as low as 50,000, while WWF-Australia relies on expert advice suggesting the number is around 200,000 in the wild.

WWF-Australia doesn't agree with the 'functionally extinct' label, but what isn't in dispute, Blanch says, is that the numbers have likely plummetted some 95 per cent since British colonization, and there isn't much information on the genetic diversity of those that remain.

Blanch said they could be extinct in the wild in eastern Australia within 30 years, due to a combination of man-made factors such as tree-clearing for farming and urban development, and climate change. The bushfires which have been raging in the region may hasten that extinction.

"Unfortunately it is still too early to adequately assess the full damage to koala populations and their habitats, but there is little doubt that the damage is very significant," Blanch says. "Koala groups estimate the fires have killed hundreds of koalas in New South Wales and Queensland, a serious blow for a species in decline."

Claims about functional extinction can hurt conservation efforts, Blanch says, by eroding hope for the koalas' future and desensitizing not only the public but also decision-makers who can actually bring in policies that would help the marsupials.

Blanch says more needs to be done to halt the koalas' decline, a full spectrum that runs from stopping and reversing habitat loss while expanding protected areas, to increasing funding for landowners who protect koala habitats, to reintroducing Aboriginal fire management techniques to mitigate future bushfires.

Hosking, meanwhile, says there's been some progress, in the form of research into prioritizing areas to be protected, and the koala was included in Australia's equivalent of the Species at Risk Act as a 'vulnerable' species earlier in the decade. However, she says habitat loss due to land clearing continues apace, with little action.

Its in writing, it's great, but nothing happens on the ground in reality to protect the koalas, she says.

And though she, like most other conservationists who've been asked in the media this week, thinks the 'functionally extinct' claim is overblown, she says the flipside is that it's got more people talking about the koalas' plight. They're especially useful as a kind of 'canary in the coalmine' species, given their sensitivity to changes in their environment.

"If we look at the koala being a victim of climate change and land clearing and all these things, then the koala is the person to say 'hey, look, what's happening to me, everyone sit up and take notice of what were doing to our environment everywhere', she says.

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Are koalas 'functionally extinct?' Not so fast, say experts - The Weather Network

This is a plain sawn white oak veneer floor with 7 ply birch core and 4mm thickness veneer. The ... [+] manufacturer is From The Forest

Engineered wood, likeengineered stone,is manmade. Rather than using solid boards, manufacturers glue and bonded together multi-layers of materials; a top veneer or wear layer (a thin slice of hardwood), and a central core made up of additional layers all going in perpendicular directions. The number of layers vary by product from 3 to as many as 10 with 5 to 7 layers most typical. The process of using engineered wood for the flooring helps prevent the wood from expanding/contracting causing warping and bowing in humid or dry areas, the way a hardwood might.

Unlike most solid wood, this engineered wood is durable in a bathroom.

Most engineered wood comes pre-finished, unlike solid hardwood which is generally finished on site. They can have a high gloss, semi-gloss or a matte finish as well as different looks - distressed or wire-brushed. Aluminum oxide creates a very durable finish but must be factory installed. Oiled finishes often have a matte finish and allows you to repair superficial scratchesThis is used in lieu of polyurethanes, which can be applied by the do-it-yourselfer, however this product is more likely to yellow with age and release volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

The engineered wood is carried throughout this house, including the bedroom.

Engineered wood is an environmentally-friendly alternative to solid-wood flooring that requires cutting down fewer trees and creates less waste. Engineered wood is constructed in a number of ways. The top layer is always a hardwood and the core may be made with layers of plywood or a hardwood core. This construction minimizes the expansion andshrinkage of the flooring due to temperature and humidity changes.

The engineered hardwood was manufactured by From The Forest.

AAnother advantage of using plywood is the ability to choose from some very costly exotic woods, such as Brazilian cherry hardwood or Ope, which would be very costly using the solid planks. The engineered version would be much less expensive and easier to source.

Engineered floors are also more versatile than solid wood. They can be installed on a variety of subfloors such as floating (which means theyre connected to each other but not fastened to the floor), nailed, or glued down. They can go below, on, or above grade (solid wood cant be installed below grade). They can also be installed on floors where only thin flooring will fit. Unlike typical hardwoods, engineered flooring can be installed over concrete in basements and moist areas such as bathrooms. Solid wood flooring or engineered flooring may be used over plywood, existing wood floors, or oriented strand board (OSB) subfloors.

Engineered wood French oak was used for flooring on this modern kitchen.

Engineered wood comes in a variety of different species of wood and different thicknesses from 3/8 to 3/4 thick. The thicker the veneer, the more times it can be re-finished (but the less resistant it will be to denting?). From The Forest says their high-density fiberboard (HDF) core with their thinnest veneer is their highest performing product when it comes to dent resistance. Sawyer Mason, uses a hardwood core rather than plywood for their engineered floor construction to create a green product and offer maximum stability.

Warranties vary on engineered wood depending on the grade of the wood and the wood species. Domestic woods, such as maple and oak might come with a 10 to 20 year warranty, whereas ax exotic hardwood, such as Brazilian Koa or ope, might have a 100 year warranty. Cost will also vary by grade and species.

This Oak Bluffs living room has engineered wood flooring.

One of the drawbacks to engineered wood, depending on the thickness of the veneer, is that it cannot be sanded as many times as solid wood. However, Sawyer Masons plank flooring offers the same amount of sanding and refinishing as solid wood. Thinner engineered flooring will not be as durable as hard wood, except in moist conditions, where it will be more dimensionally stable than solid wood. It is unlikely also that engineered wood will have the longevity of solid wood unless you choose an engineered flooring with a thick wear layer.

In general, engineered wood can be put throughout the house, requires less maintenance, is more moisture resistant, and generally at a lower cost - making it a good option to consider for your home.

Read the rest here:
The Advantages Of Using Engineered Flooring In the Home - Forbes

Art and design museum Triennale Milano is launching its Year of Play, a multi-disciplinary project that will explore the nature of play and games in all forms over the course of a year. Kicking off the interactive series is South Korean artist Koo Jeong As fully-functioning skatepark, titled OooOoO. The site-specific installation, which was curated by Julia Peyton-Jones and Lorenza Baroncelli, is open to the public now.

Designed specifically for the Galleria on the ground floor of Triennale, the skatepark is completely covered in glow-in-the-dark paint and turns fluorescent green as the lights change. Music by Koreless, an electronic music producer based in Glasglow, animates the space; the melody interacts with the installation, creating an immersive and multi-sensorial experience for the viewer.

Since the 1990s, Koo has transformed traditional spaces with her participatory installations. This time, OooOoO brings the public together to solidify bonds and build community, as all visitors are able to enter the track or book a session through the Triennale.

The importance of skate culture to the museum is realized in the Triennale Milano Academy of Skateboarding, which was recently created to be the ideal meeting point between learning and having fun, and to further excite visitors and establish a unique relationship between the institution and its young guests. As art has become more digitally accessible, Triennale Milano understands the need for cultural institutions to invest in new interactive experiences for visitors, while utilizing their current exhibition spaces.

Take a closer look at OooOoO in the gallery above and head over to Triennale Milanos website for more information on upcoming exhibitions for the Year of Play. Koo Jeong As installation will be on view to the public from now until February 16, 2020.

Triennale MilanoViale Emilio Alemagna, 620121 Milano MI, Italy

For more art-related news, KATSU and Tsuru Robotics have launched their first for-sale smart painting drone, dubbed the KATSURU BETA.

Originally posted here:
Triennale Milano Installs Glow-in-the-Dark Skatepark for "Year of Play" Project - HYPEBEAST

Theres a lot to be said for laying floors. I dont really care what kind, Ill lay anything from your unique, expensive South American hardwoods to rough cut pine to durable laminate. If its wood, or looks like wood, Ill snap it together in your house.

I only get to lay floors occasionally. Its only when Im taking a break from drawing and writing to actually make real money that I work construction, and even then Im usually put to work on the more meatheaded tasks. Ill tear out that stupid wall between your kitchen and dining room fast. But when Im lucky, I get to lay floors with Wendell. Sometimes I wonder if I could quit drawing and let laying floors be my only creative pursuit.

Wendell has been selling and installing floor products for much longer than Ive been alive. He knows floors like a good guide knows the snowpack. Hes got an encyclopedic knowledge of products, and their merits, and the decades of experience it takes to just know certain things without having to think about them. But what really makes him special is that he reads all of the manufacturers instructions about every flooring product he installs. Having spent a solid portion of my life doing menial tasks in homes that are somewhere between the drywall is hung and the owner is moving in tomorrow, Im familiar with the general lack of instruction reading in the construction business.

Were men after all. Weve done this sort of thing before, instructions are just a waste of time so just push a little harder, hand me that sledge hammer, and well make it work. Working with Wendell is exactly the opposite. If you have to try too hard, youre probably doing it wrong, is his maxim. Hes repeated it to generation after generation of boneheaded workers; Im merely his latest helper.

On the first job I worked with Wendell, a co-worker walked off the job in a huff because he thought he knew better. He felt like he was being talked down to, hated reading directions and would rather just force it. Once he cooled down and got back to work, he refused to do it Wendells way, instead he slapped flooring around, breaking off tongues and crushing grooves. He ended up having to work a weekend, tearing up floor hed installed poorly and replacing it.

My first few hours installing a new flooring product always reminds me of my first few days backcountry skiing. I know what Im supposed to do, but things just arent quite clicking. Kick turns are hard. Im frustrated, wallowing, falling, angry. But just like backcountry skiing, its all about the attitude and experience.

Now I read the instructions. Now I make sure to fiddle with every product we install before we start on the house. I try different methods of clicking pieces together. I experiment with laying floor in the opposite direction the manufacturer recommends, a skill invaluable for closets and hallways. I learn how to deliver precise taps to encourage each piece to lock itself in. Usually on the job site I move with a reckless haste. Im used to tearing off roofs, scooping shingles into the truck below with abandon. Instead I fall into a shuffling rhythm. Small strides, careful not to damage the new floor. Its translated to the skin track too. I used to galumph around trying to keep up. Now its all about efficiency, barely lifting the ski, using my heel risers at every grade change.

Once I find my rhythm, laying floor feels just like spinning my mountain bike up a smooth climb, or skinning on the pass. Its as close to meditating as I get, a peaceful monotony that allows my mind to wander. If Im lucky, and I usually am, the house Im flooring has big windows that face the Tetons or Big Holes. Every time I look up from my work I explore those hills in my mind, reliving adventures and contemplating new routes. Meanwhile, the patch of new floor grows. Tap! Click! Grab another plank.

Soon enough the snow will fall and Ill trade my planks for skis. Ill put down my tapping block and hammer, and grab an ice axe and ski poles. This house will be ready for trim and baseboards, and Ill be out searching for fresh snow and new lines. But until then, Ill be reading instructions, shuffling slowly, and tapping gently. And when I finally click into my skis, trying to wrestle my touring bindings into uphill mode, Ill remember, If you have to try too hard, youre probably doing it wrong.

Originally posted here:
Mountain mumbles: Handy work meditations and the return to adventure - Jackson Hole News&Guide

Each week, we search New York City for the most exciting and thought-provoking shows, screenings, and events. See them below.

Tricia Wright, Pandoras Box (detail, 2019). Courtesy of the artist and BRIC.

1. Present Bodies: Papermaking at DieuDonn at the Gallery at BRIC House

The BRIC gallery is presenting a curated collaboration with DieuDonn, the Brooklyn-based studio where artists can learn paper-making techniques. The exhibition features the work of eight artists (Swoon, Noel W. Anderson, Lesley Dill, Candy Gonzalez, Lina Puerta, Paul Wong, Saya Woolfalk, and Tricia Wright), each of whom are presenting works based on the theme of paper as a repository of memories.

Location:Gallery at BRIC House, 647 Fulton StreetPrice:FreeTime:Opening reception, Wednesday 7 p.m.9 p.m.; TuesdayFriday, 11 a.m.7 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday, 11 a.m.5 p.m.

Caroline Goldstein

A promotional image for John Dowell: Cotton: Symbol of the Forgotten. Courtesy of Laurence Miller Gallery.

2. John Dowell: Cotton, Symbol of theForgotten at Laurence Miller Gallery

John Dowells sobering works reflect on the histories and legacies of race relations in America. This show focuses in particular on the lives of black Americans in New York state, and includes a digital rendering ofSeneca Village, a once-vibrant community that was founded in 1825. InDowells work, the hub, which was razed to make space for Central Park, is imagined alongside the apartment buildings that replaced it.

Location:Laurence Miller Gallery, 521 West 26th Street, 5th floorPrice:FreeTime:TuesdaySaturday, 10 a.m.6 p.m.

Nan Stewart

Calvin Tompkins, The Lives of Artists: Collected Profiles. Photo courtesy of Phaidon Press.

3. The Lives of ArtistsAn Evening with Calvin Tomkins at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

TheNew YorkersCalvin Tompins will discuss his latest book box set, The Lives of Artistsa compilation of over 80 of his most important artist profiles from 1962 to 2019with artist Paul Chan.

Location:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, 1000 5th AvenuePrice:Free with registrationTime:6:30 p.m.7:30 p.m.

Sarah Cascone

Portrait of Michela Marino Lerman. Photo: Luis Guillen, courtesy of the Whitney.

4. Jazz on a High Floor in the Afternoon: Michela Marino LermansLove Movement at the Whitney Museum of American Art

What better way to spend a frigid winter evening than cozied up in the Whitney listening to jazz? As part of the programming for composer and pianist Jason Morans exhibition, Moran and curator Adrienne Edwards have orchestrated live performances alongside Morans installations, which riff on iconic jazz venues from around New York.

Location:The Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort StreetPrice:$25 general admission; $18 for members and students

Time:Friday, 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Saturday, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Caroline Goldstein

Isaac Mizrahi narrating Peter and the Wolf. with choreography by John Heginbotham, for the Guggenheim Works and Process series. Photo by Robert Altman.

5. Peter & the Wolf With Isaac Mizrahi at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Fashion designer Isaac Mizrahis version of Sergei Prokofievs childrens classicPeter and the Wolfhas become an annual holiday tradition at the Guggenheim. In addition to providing the costumes, Mizrahi narrates the 1936 symphony, reimagined here to take place across the street in Central Park.

Location:The Guggenheim Museum, 1071 5th AvenuePrice:General admission $45Time:Friday, 6:30 p.m.7 p.m.; Saturday, 1 p.m.1:30 p.m.;2:30 p.m.3 p.m.; 4 p.m.4:30 p.m.; Sunday,2:30 p.m.3 p.m.; 4 p.m.4:30 p.m.

Sarah Cascone

Fiona Banner, Self-Portrait as a Publication (2009). Courtesy of Susan Inglett Gallery.

6. By/Buy Me at Susan Inglett Gallery

In a new group show at Susan Inglett Gallery, curator David Platzker has brought together editioned artworks that have been self-published by artists. The show, which explores themes of commodification and the role of an artist in a commercial art world, includes works by Fiona Banner, Tauba Auerbach, Dan Graham, Hannah Wilke, Richard Prince, and Lynda Benglis, among others.

Location:Susan Inglett Gallery, 522 West 24th StreetPrice:FreeTime:TuesdaySaturday, 10 a.m.6 p.m.

Caroline Goldstein

Installation view of Elias Sime: Tightrope at Hamilton Colleges Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art. Photo by Janelle Rodriguez.

7. Elias Sime: Tightrope at Hamilton Colleges Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art

Repurposing electronic waste such as old computer keyboards, motherboards, and electrical wires,Ethiopian artist Elias Sime creates densely detailed, layered colorful sculptures. He imbues these unexpected materials with a sense of beauty, drawing comparisons between the workings of such manmade machinery and the pathways that spring up organically in the natural world.

Location: Hamilton College, Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, 198 College Hill Road, Clinton, New YorkPrice:FreeTime:TuesdaySunday, 11 a.m.5 p.m.

Sarah Cascone

Michael Apteds 63 Up.

8. 63 Up at Film Forum

In 1964, Michael Apted was tapped to work as a researcher on 7 Up, a British documentary that took a peek into the lives of 14 seven-year-old children from around the country, examining the differences across social classes. Every seven years since, Apted has followed up with his subjects, directing one of cinemas most enduring documentaries. The ninth and latest edition, likely the lastApted is 78 and in failing healthdebuted on the UKs ITV in June, and you can catch it this month at Film Forum.

Location:Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, west of 6th AvenuePrice:General admission $15Time:12:30 p.m., 3:20 p.m., 6:20 p.m.,9:15 p.m.

Sarah Cascone

Installation view of John Chamberlain & Donald Judd at Paula Cooper. Photo courtesy of Paula Cooper.

9. John Chamberlain & Donald Judd at Paula Cooper

Paula Cooper pairs the giants of John Chamberlain and Donald Judd in this two-person exhibition that highlights their friendship in the 1960s. The two influenced each others work, with Judd experimenting withmotorcycle lacquers after encountering them in Chamberlains work, and even supplying the raw materials for a series of his friends crushed metal sculptures.

Location:Paula Cooper, 524 West 26th StreetPrice:FreeTime:TuesdaySaturday, 10 a.m.6 p.m.

Nan Stewert

Installation view of Gilles Barbier: Laughing at clouds at the Chimney. Photo courtesy of the Chimney.

10. Gilles: Barbier: Laughing at clouds at the Chimney

A native of the Oceanic island republic of Vanuatu, Gilles Barbier presents his first solo show, channelling Rene Magritte with a surreal installation of floating umbrellas that transform the gallery into an otherworldly landscape. The show was inspired by a photograph of President Donald Trump abandoning his wife Melania to stand in the rain as he engaged with reporters from underneath an umbrella.

Location:The Chimney, 200 Morgan Avenue, BrooklynPrice:FreeTime: Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m.6 p.m.

Tanner West

Tianyi Zhang, installation view of 99 Agreements (2019). Courtesy of Elijah Wheat Showroom.

11. Tianyi Zhang: 99 Agreements at Elijah Wheat Showroom

China-born, New York-based Tianyi Zhangs new gallery exhibition explores gender identity and power dynamics through media-informed role playing. In the titular multichannel video work, Zhang inhabits 99 different high-femme personas, all vocalizing the word yes in a different situation. Viewers are left to intuit each characters emotional state and broader narrative based only on minimal visual context and the tone of their respective acquiescence. Together, the 99 simultaneous vignettes nod toward the overwhelming number of women who feel pressured to comply in a whole range of personal and professional scenarios every dayand how much would change if they instead decided to bear the (sometimes significant) risks of refusing.

Location: Elijah Wheat Showroom,1196 Myrtle Avenue, BrooklynPrice: FreeTime: FridaySunday, 12 p.m.6 p.m.

Tim Schneider

Installation view of Lucien Samaha: A History of Digital Photography. Courtesy of Pioneer Works.

12. Lucien Samaha: A History of Digital Photography at Pioneer Works

Red Hook-based Pioneer Works is showing three decades worth of works by New York-based photographer Lucien Samaha, whose career coincides with the inception and rise of digital photography. In 1990, Samaha won the inaugural Kodak Professional Photography Division scholarship, which allowed him to use the companys newfangled digital camera system before anyone else. In the intervening years, Samaha has documented just about every place hes been, and the fruits of his labors are the focus of this show.

Location:Pioneer Works,159 Pioneer StreetPrice:FreeTime:Wednesday-Sunday, 12 p.m.7 p.m.

Caroline Goldstein

Vanessa German, Serena as Black Madonna #2(2015). Courtesy of the artist, Pavel Zoubok Fine Art, & Fort Gansevoort.

Vanessa Germans works are like Mickalene Thomass photo-tableaux in three dimensions, crossed with Niki de Saint Phalles colorful sculptures. In the press release accompanying the exhibition, German says: I am in love with the deep survival, elastic resilience, and ordinary creative genius of Black people.

Location:Fort Gansevoort, 5 9th AvenuePrice:FreeTime:Opening reception, 6 p.m.8 p.m.; TuesdaySaturday, 10 a.m.6 p.m.

Caroline Goldstein

Travis Boyer, Boyersock. Courtesy of the artist and False Flag.

14. Travis Boyer: Amongus at False Flag

Though Travis Boyers work is grounded in performance, the range of his practice is diverse, and includes painting, sculpture, cyanotype, videos, and textiles. Inspired by familiar scenes, such as drinking games and group fitness classes, his performative works meld the private with the public. As the artist himself explains:it is about the activity being really legible in such a way that you, as a participant, can take it or leave it, project onto it or ignore it.

Location:False Flag, 1122 44th Road, Long Island City, QueensPrice:FreeTime:Opening reception, 6 p.m.8 p.m.; TuesdaySunday, 12 p.m.6 p.m.

Eileen Kinsella

Jamal Penjweny, from the series Saddam is Here (2010). Courtesy of the artist.

15. Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 19912011 at MoMA PS1

This ambitious exhibitionwhich examines the impact on visual culture and art of American-led wars in Iraq over the past 30 yearsis not really the kind you can spin through on your lunch hour. Instead, come back two or three times, taking in a floor or two during each visit. The show features more than 30 works by more than 80 artists based in Iraq and its diasporas, as well as artists considering the warthe first to be televised during the rise of 24-hour cable newsfrom the West. Its a slow burn that will stay with you for a long time.

Location:MoMA PS1, 2225 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, QueensPrice:$25 general admissionTime:MondayThursday, 10 a.m.5:30 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m.9 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday, 10 a.m.5:30 p.m.

Julia Halperin

Excerpt from:
Editors Picks: 15 Things Not to Miss in New Yorks Art World This Week - artnet News

(December 2, 2019 / Israel21c) Who would have thought an exhibit about wheat could be so emotional?

An Israeli installation titled Goren won first prizethe Big Emotions Awardas part of the Jerusalem Design Week delegation at Design Art Tokyo 2019 in October.

Visitors to the show at Japans Spiral Arts Center, held in cooperation with the Israeli Embassy of Japan, were mesmerized by the cloud of chaffdesigned from actual wheat and 2,500 meters of brass wireappearing to float up from the threshing floor (goren in Hebrew).

The ethereal chandelier of wheat was the brainchild of New York-based Israeli architect Nati Tunkelrot and Israeli designer Guy Mishaly, graduates of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem.

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The Middle East, for the last 12,000 years, has been home to thousands of genetically diverse varieties of wheat, explained Tunkelrot. Sadly, over the last hundred years this important building block of humanitys history has been driven to the brink of extinctionbeing replaced by a handful of high-yielding and uniform strains. We wanted to give voice to this topic and spark a dialogue.

Telling the story of the scientistsGoren originally was created for Jerusalem Design Week in 2018, which explored the role of design in conservation.

All wheat started in the Middle East region, between Egypt and Turkey, said Mishaly.

The wheat genome is six times more complicated than the human genome. But all this biodiversity doesnt exist anymore. In the 1950s, a new wheat was developed by a U.S. scientist, that was easier to grow with higher yield, and the other species went extinct.

Visitors to Design Art Tokyo examining specimens of wheat. Photo courtesy of Hansen House Jerusalem.

Through their research, the two artists discovered that the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Volcani Center-Agricultural Research Organization are working to gather, examine and conserve wheat strains indigenous to the Israeli region.

The Weizmann Institute and the Israel Plant Gene Bank [at the Volcani Center] have collected seeds of 890 species out of about 4,000 that once existed. They are growing them to find new and better types of wheat, researching and analyzing the valuable genome they hold inside, Tunkelrot told ISRAEL21c.

We were amazed by the tremendous scientific research that has been done for so many years, and decided to create a visual outcome to that story and reveal it to the public.

Cereal crops including wheat contain edible grain kernels covered by an inedible hull (chaff). When the chaff is separated from the grain on the threshing floor, the chaff rises.

An illustrative image of wheat being separated from chaff. Credit: Courtesy.

Our vision was to let the visitor walk inside that experience, said Tunkelrot. We wanted to capture the wheat chaff floating in the air, uniting ancient wheat varieties with new types so you can see the differences.

The installation changes its form to fit the architectural space. In the courtyard of Jerusalems Hansen House Center of Design, Media and Technology, the wheat chandelier nearly touched the ground.

People were standing in it, walking through it, and sitting in it, said Mishaly. When the wind picked up, the whole exhibit shifted form, and even the birds came to visit throughout the day.

In Tokyo, the installation was indoors in a round gallery. Tunkelrot noted that its form seemed to change as you went up the ramp inside the Spiral Arts Center, saying the whole piece sparkled like a talisman of golden jewelry.

Some viewers chose to lie down on a podium at the base of the spiral to get a different perspective of the installation.

Guests asked a lot of questions about wheat, an issue that had never crossed their mind. They were intrigued by the investment Israeli scientists are making in trying to preserve the most important agricultural crop for the Western world, and they were genuinely curious about what they could do to assist these efforts, said Tunkelrot.

Even before leaving Tokyo, Mishaly and Tunkelrot had a few offers for their next exhibition location.

It is precisely due to these interactions with visitors to Goren that provide us with great motivation to continue presenting Goren in many diverse metropolises around the world, so that we might spread the story of wheat and the loss of biodiversity, they said.

This article was first published by Israel21c.

Go here to see the original:
Israeli wheat exhibit stirs up big emotions in Tokyo - JNS.org

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Museum of Modern Art Addition by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Gensler - Architectural Record