OCT 2017
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Hackin’ The Net
once. But part of me compares it to say a car, where if you have a 2009 model, you’d not expect Chevy to just hand you the 2018 one free, would you? You may need to decide whether to re-buy or pay for that upgrade or not, so pay attention and make sure you use an app currently before you plop down your cash for an update you may not use. And if you are not sure what the developer is doing or charging, send the firm (e-mail addresses on the App Store) a brief, polite e-mail and ask.
By Ted Fleischaker / Publisher Just about the time I am pretty sure I have a clue what I am talking about and advising folks, someone (or some company) comes along to change the whole game. And in this case, that company is Apple and if I have had one, I have had ten folks ask which new phone do they need (if any) and should they update their operating system (OS) to the new one which came out a few days ago. The second question first: Look at what you are doing and use that to decide when you need to update your device to iOS 11 if you use Apple products. Watch for pop-ups indicating that the new OS is here as you open this or that app. They will tell you that it will not work if you do not update. While you can delay updating (and several friends always wait till the very last minute to do so), eventually you will need to get iOS 11 as sooner or later, old apps will simply roll over and quit operating if you fail to do so. But for now, a lot of things are fine with the old OS. Whether or when you decide to update will, therefore, be partly based upon the functionality which the new OS will offer and partly on which (if any) apps you need that have not updated. Most things will be updated (if they are not already) shortly and you will find that for the most part they will operate better, more smoothly and open faster. So what should you do? 1.) I say this every issue it seems, but please back up. Whether you back up to your computer or the cloud, back up your iPhone or iPad before you begin an OS update. That will save those photos and your data in case something goes south. 2.) Do your update at home and with the device you are updating plugged in to power. This will guarantee privacy (on your own WiFi) and assure that your phone or pad will not run out of juice halfway thru the update as many are quite large and might need an hour or more to complete. 3.) Check one last time to see if all of your apps are updatable or compatible with the new OS. If something pops up with a message like at left or above right on this page that it will not work once you update, contact the developer and find out why and ask what’s in the works. From the looks of things, a lot of app developers are waiting until the last moment to update, and several apps I have are not updating at all, but replacing their apps with totally new builds. The up-side of this is everything “under the hood” will perform as intended. The down-side: Some pay apps are not giving current users who bought them the updates free, but charging either a discounted price or requiring you to re-buy their app from scratch. Part of me feels that’s unfair as you paid
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As of this date I have only one frequently used app whose developer has not seen fit to reply to my query. Most will respond and often do so with a coupon or financial “deal” too. 4.) Be patient! This sounds pretty elementary, but again, updates can be monsters so get things started when you won’t be in a rush to dash out with your phone or pad and prepare to wait for everything to download, go in the right files and work. Rushing it might sound fun, but one missing step will spell a crash or worse later --- if it works at all. 5.) Finally, after you update, check your apps and files and make sure things are operating properly. I tend to hang on to old apps and files a bit longer than I probably should, but it beats getting caught out. Once you are sure, then delete all the old stuff (aside from that back-up... you did back up right?) and learn all about your new iOS 11. Questions? Get a Genius Bar appointment or sign up for a free class at the Apple Store to learn how to use your newly updated device. Now to that first question: Do you NEED a new device? That would more properly be do you WANT a new pad or phone? Most of the iPhone 5’s and higher, and the current iPads (see list on the following page) will run the new iOS 11, so you do not HAVE to buy an iPhone 8 or X or iPad Pro unless you are on really, really old gear or have a device which is ruined (cracked screen, liquid damage, dead battery, etc.), but I am betting if you are like us, you will want one. That’s fine, but remember that the gear can be pretty pricy... like almost $1,000 for that iPhone X, so unless you are on a plan to get a new one yearly, and unless they honour the plan for that top-of-the-line phone you might have to search your bank account for some cash. Also, keep in mind that (and this is just rumoured) some of those replacement every year plans will not decide to go with the top-of-the-line model so you may have to choose an iPhone 8 (also new, but not as glitzy), stay with what you have or fork over some or all of the difference. As always, it’s a good idea to check with your carrier or the Apple Store and find out what your situation is. Speaking of the Apple Store... a lot of folks do not know this, but if you do decide to upgrade, they can activate and do all of the things you need at the Maine Mall (and any other) Apple store. I find they are better informed than my carrier’s store staff (full disclosure: I am married to an Apple Genius Bar employee) and they offer AppleCare and other options to buy that you might not find everywhere. Best of all, they can help with advice on saving and transferring your data to a new pad or phone if you buy one, but I am here to tell you
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the first question you will get asked is: Do you have a back-up? Am I harping on that too much?
Here’s the official list of supported iPhones For iOS 11:
Speed is my number one. If you have a decent connection --- WiFi or cellular --- they are blazingly fast. Things will download faster than on older models and that’s nice.
iPhone 7 iPhone 7 Plus iPhone 6s iPhone 6s Plus iPhone 6 iPhone 6 Plus iPhone SE iPhone 5s
The cameras have been upgraded to the point that most of the Up Portland photos you see (including the Front Page one in this issue) are from an iPhone.
As for the iPad, iOS 11 supports devices in both the iPad and iPad mini line of tablets. The oldest mini supported is the iPad mini 2, while the oldest iPad supported is the iPad Air, both of which debuted in 2013. That means iOS 11 is dropping support for the fourth-generation iPad, the first iPad with a high-resolution Retina display. Here’s the official list of supported iPads:
And in the case of the iPad Pro, which came out in a new iteration a few months back, its four stereo speakers will make you feel like you truly are in a surround sound movie theatre or listening to your music in full stereo, because you are.
12.9-inch iPad Pro (1st & 2nd generation), iPad Pro (10.5-inch), iPad Pro (9.7-inch), iPad Air 2, iPad Air, iPad (5th generation) iPad mini 4, iPad mini 3 and iPad mini 2
So what are some of the advantages of the new phones and the already-out iPad pros?
The video screens are also major upgrades, and so are many of the new devices’ other features --- from Siri changes to facial recognition, but as I asked at the outset, are these various bells and whistles ones you plan to use or are they just nice to have? And are they things you want or can afford to pay for? With the new phones out in November and holiday demand forecast to be high there is also talk in the business world of shortages for the holidays, meaning if you really, really cannot live without that iPhone X you might want to set the alarm clock for 3 a.m. the 27th of October (midnight Pacific Time) when pre-orders begin, though my advice there is just to wait a bit. As with the iOS 11 and all of the other gadgets, I find waiting just a bit to let others try and find the bugs first makes good sense. I do not mean waiting for months, but order that new phone after Thanksgiving for delivery in January. The OS is now out (as of 19th September) so give a re-read to what I wrote above and get that update when you feel in the mood and can make time in case something burps. Those are my best answers to the questions I’m hearing and I am stickin’ to them!
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Food For Thought... If there’s one thing folks who know me know it’s that I rarely have “no opinion.” Whether it be on a survey, a person or a review I seem to suffer with being opinionated. But sadly my comment on the fairly new downtown Portland BRGR Bar at 11 Brown Street is, from this reviewer, a huge shoulder slouch and a loud “ho-hum.” The biggest down-side I see to the Portland BRGR Bar (it’s a branch of one in Portsmouth) is that it’s nothing new, wonderful or magnificent. I am told that at night, and if you like to go to drink in the Old Port, their bar is a happenin’ place, but as this is a restaurant column and we went for a recent weekday lunch, the best to be said was it was not bad. But in every other way, so-so would be our assessment. The service was very so-so and actually bordered upon slow for a restaurant which, when we hit on a Monday about 1.15 p.m., seemed mostly empty, save for a few tables on the outdoor patio and a handful inside, where we opted for the air conditioning.
beef is an aged primal blend custom made for us by maine family farms (mff) and our bison is proudly sourced from hackmatack farm in berwick, me. both are grass-fed. none of our patty choices have hormones or antibiotics. our burgers are cooked to medium, unless otherwise specified, and are served with fries or house salad.”
So what did we have? I opted for the BRGR, which the menu says is, “two thin mff patties, bacon, american cheese, l.t.o, pickles, & secret sauce (13.5).” I always worry when the menu has abbreviations which must be explained, so let’s say “mff” is not obscene, but stands for “Maine Family Farms” and the “l.t.o.” is “lettuce, tomato and onion”, lest there be any confusion.
Sadly specifying NOT medium got me nowhere, and last I looked after working with words for the better part of 40 years, I can say I have never heard of anything called “primal” aside from a scream --- and that’s after rechecking my word sources a few times.
I also worry when the final digit of a price is missing, but that’s neither here nor there. In this case what was worse was my burger being presented beautifully with a wonderful bun, but missing a lot of flavour. I also never saw the 2nd patty of meat, unless it was hidden somewhere under the first or got lost enroute from the kitchen. My request (should be easy at a burger place, huh?) for extra rare was also pretty much ignored.
So what can we say really really good about BRGR Bar? Not really anything. And what was bad about it? Not really anything. Call this one a rating of a loud ho-hum, and throw in a primal scream that we came away so disappointed. It
My lunch partner opted for The OO-MOMMY, which the menu describes as, “mff beef patty topped with gorgonzola, beer battered onion rings, bacon & onion jam (14).” He reported it was “OK” and while the idea of the onion jam and rings on the burger itself sounded good on paper, it was (again that word) ho-hum in reality. In short, we came in hungry, left full enough but a block down the street, we didn’t remember much about what we’d had or why we’d want to go back. These are all sad things, considering the location, just off Free and Congress streets and near the arena, is a great one and the decor is nice. But the food is what one comes for and when combined with the very so-so (OK, borderline slow) service we got from our server, we do not plan to rush back. Add to that the fact that BRGR is just over a block from Nosh on Congress, which has truly wonderful burgers, and efficient staff and it’s really hard to recommend it over Nosh. Plus, there’s the little matter of price. Our so-so lunch for two came to $32.40 for two burgers and a lemon lime soda, so it doesn’t have a whole lot to recommend it in the value department, either. That despite the fact that this statement is on the menu (whose writer apparently lacks a caps key on their keyboard): “Our
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could --- and it should --- be a lot better, but despite the cute names of various burgers (“The Brazen” topped with braised short rib; “The Hawaiian Punch” topped with pineapple chipotle salsa and “What The Duck”, a duck patty topped with fried kale, goat cheese & blueberry bacon jam, just to name three which stood out) the concept falls flat because of the very marginal food and service. Maybe, as I said before, after a wild night in the Old Port imbibing BRGR Bar would hit the spot a bit more closely, but for now, looking at all of the other truly wonderful spots to have lunch within a few steps, it’s doubtful that we will be dashing back. Finally, after writing a review (especially a not-so-hot one) I check the rating sites just to see if I really, truly missed something. Sadly with BRGR Bar, it appears I have not chosen my comments wrong as they got a 3.5 out of 5 on Yelp, a 4 out of 5 on Google and I was not the only person who felt the whole experience was a ho-hum, overpriced adventure, with at least one other mentioning the overcooked burgers and several the pricing. Been there. Done that. Don’t know if they sell t-shirts. As always, comments from my readers are welcome via www. upportland.com’s contact us link.
DONUTS
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Up Portland Is A Proud Member of the
November Edition Deadline
Friday 27th October Papers On Street: Tuesday 31st October
Up Portland is edited in Portland and printed the last week of every month in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We may be contacted at the e-mail or phone number below. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy and fairness, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors. Liability is limited to the cost of said ad. Ads not cancelled by published deadlines may be billed at agreed-upon price. Ads may be edited or rejected for content at the discretion of the publisher. All items appearing in Up Portland, as well as the name, logos and design are copyright 2017 by BBS, A division of High Speed Delivery Fork Ltd. & Ted Fleischaker and may not be reproduced in any form without prior written approval.
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Ships Boats & Waterfronts Welcome to Up Portland’s monthly crossword. And this time, we pay tribute to our waterfronts and their ships. You’ll find a lot of familiar (and maybe a few notso) words here, all having to do with the ships, boats, waterfronts and lights which guide and transport our residents. Be sure you put on that thinking cap and life vest, since while some are as easy as baiting the hook, others are a bit more difficult to wrap your brain around. Sharpen your pen or pencil and as always, comments are welcome at ted@upportland.com and the solution (no peeking) is on Page 15. Oh, and the photos are some “hints” to a few of the answers... Good luck!
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Sauntering With Mat
By Mat Robedee / Up Portland Commentator
We descended down the mountain, following the white blazes marking our route along the Appalachian Trail. With just one mile left before getting back to the car, we approached a man who was resting his muddy legs by the trailside. “Whoever designed this part of the trail was a madman,” he said. “By far the worst part of this who damn thing so far.” His words would have had less of a lasting impact on us if it were not for later discovering he had been hiking for the last four months, originally starting in Georgia. We were in Grafton Notch State Park located in western Maine. The park contains the Mahoosuc Mountain Range, considered by many to be one of the steepest and most challenging sections of the entire Appalachian Trail. The range itself contains beautifully rugged summits with the highest being Old Speck (4,180 feet). Being Maine’s fourth largest mountain and one of 14 Maine summits in the 4,000 footer category, Old Speck certainly is a “must do” for local mountain lovers. The trailhead is located off Rt 26 in Grafton Notch, just north of Bethel and less than a 2-hour drive form Portland. Summiting Old Speck was not the most difficult hike I have done in Maine but it certainly sets itself apart from others. This is because of how continuously steep each trail was to the mountaintop. From the parking lot to the summit, the majority of the trail is slick and sheer. Due to this, trail crews have bolted numerous ladders and guidelines into stone, for assistance going up. For a thrill seeker like myself this was greatly enjoyed but for those like my buddy (that’s us at left) with a slight fear of heights, they may disagree. It was rather surprising to discover the summit was not bald and still contained dense vegetation. Regardless, there was still a large opening on the tree line, which allowed for an incredible view. Even better than this, an abandoned tower is still intact on the summit, which allows for 360-degree views and is certainly worth the sketchy ladder climb up. I must say, for a very demanding hike up and a knee buster descent down, the views from atop certainly are worth every bit of it all. Of course, if such intense hiking is not what you seek, Grafton Notch State Park is still worth exploring. There are several roadside attractions and short nature trails leading to nearby waterfalls and gorges. It makes for a perfect long day outing or weekend adventure away from the city. That is, if you can make it to Grafton Notch without being distracted by one of the many beautiful sights along the way. No experience in Grafton Notch area can be complete without a stop off at
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Puzzle Mountain Bakery in Newry, at far right. This is quite easily one of the best roadside stops in the state. Located at 806 Bear River road, this honour system pie stand slings out incredible home baked goods. After a long day’s hike, discovering this gem made an already incredible trip, flawless. The pies are not only mouthwatering; they are just $10 apiece. So it should be of no surprise to my readers that we bought five of them that day!
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Mark: My Words By Mark Gatti / Mark’s Hotdogs It’s fascinating to observe what happens in your surroundings. In my opinion, these observations can only be discovered and enjoyed in fine detail if you are in the same location day in and day out for many years. About 20 years ago, a very large and majestic seagull, whom I named “King”, first appeared around my food stand and demanded a change in my morning routine. In my pre-King years, I would set up my potato chip rack and unload all of my food supplies before putting up the umbrellas. King made a mockery of this routine the very first day of his reign as he stealthily knocked off the chip rack and snatched a bag of chips. He flew to the far corner of the park where he ripped open the bag and quickly gulped down his booty. From that day forward, the umbrellas went up first thing to prevent King`s food marauding. Despite my efforts, the King still managed to steal packages of hot dog rolls and other snack items during busy lunch rushes when these items would be briefly unprotected. He even had the audacity to steal a full jumbo pack of unopened napkins. I thought he would drop them at some point nearby --- after all no food product here --- but alas, he flew off into the heavens leaving me with no napkins and cursing at the sky! King would occasionally act like a bird of prey during what I assume were lean food procuring times for him. One busy Summer noontime, car traffic came to a complete halt at the intersection of Middle & Exchange streets and the screams of a couple of young ladies on lunch break echoed off the buildings. I looked up and to my horror observed the King finish killing a pigeon and then nonchalantly consume his kill in the middle of the street. Another time, I saw the King swoop in and, with beak, impale a squirrel in a nearby maple tree. King flew off to parts unknown with the limp and very dead squirrel tightly secured in his powerful beak. King was a notorious litterbug. There was a period of time when the municipal city trash barrels did not have a protective covers on top. As you may guess, these barrels would fill to overflowing during lunch time. King would have a field day devouring all the partially eaten food in the barrels. In the process, he would peck out all the paper lunch trash, which inevitably scattered and blew around the Old Port in the afternoon sea breeze. King was a master (dare I say “King”) at the art of food ambush. Whenever he was around the perimeter of my food stand, I would warn my customers to guard any food items if they had a multiple food order. King would never try to steal a hotdog/sausage that you had in hand or were in the process of eating but he was extremely successful in stealing any food left on a table. Most days he would manage two or three thefts and on his most successful missions he would confiscate upwards of a dozen stolen hot dogs. I’ll never forget the day one of my customers, who had a hearty appetite, had his tray of five fully loaded tube steaks completely pilfered by King. Of course, I replaced the meal recognising this was the cost of doing business in the presence of a king. By now, reader, you may figure King to be the dominant alpha male in his domain, and you’d be right if you did. A very big and powerful bird with a massive
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chest, he would aggressively fight off and chase away any seagull (or seagulls for that matter) who dared to compete with him for food. However, King had a soft and romantic side as well. Within a week or two of his first appearance at Tommy’s Park I was surprised to see him in the company of another much smaller adult seagull. This seagull was about one half his size, with smaller more delicate features. I assumed this smaller bird to be his mate. I took to referring to this bird as “Queenie” and whatever the true nature of their relationship, I marvelled how King would always chase away other seagulls who got near Queenie when she was around, which was less often than King. I really knew them to be a match when I saw this big and aggressive bird always letting the smaller bird eat any food scraps in their area. In the 17 years of King’s reign at Tommy’s Park, this was the only seagull, or animal for that matter, that King treated so tenderly. Most years I have worked year-round at the food stand. However, five years ago I took the opportunity to fill in as a job coach during the Winter for a local social service company. I welcomed this opportunity to get out of the cold for four months. When I returned to my corner in the Spring, several weeks passed by before the King reappeared. He was missing an eye and his plumage was dirty. Sadly, I figured his end was close at hand. For a few more weeks he would stop in occasionally and I noticed that King was sometimes chased away by other seagulls when food scraps were present. Friends and I even took to making sure King got some food scraps by interfering with Mother Nature’s way and chasing away the other gulls. And then, one Spring day he was gone. King is forever frozen in the collective memories of all of us “subjects”. To this day, we still reminisce about his legendary exploits and pass this lore down to the next generation. Long live the King! Oh, and the gull in the photo above? No comparison to the original King, but he has learned the art of begging for chips, leftovers and keeping all of the regulars at Mark’s company. P.S. According to my research, North Atlantic seagulls average a 24-year life span. King was both a trial and a treasure to me for 17 years.
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Eric’s Optimal Corner Cody Mower / Optimal Self Community Health and Wellness Center I’ve been called many things in the last seven years, but these days I go simply by Cody. I am many things to many people and that includes a seven-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps, more specifically a retired, 100% disabled, Sergeant in the Infantry. If you happen to see me in the gym at Optimal Self you’d be surprised to know that as recently as five months ago, I was only able to walk with a cane. I spent two and a half years on a cane after suffering an injury while on deployment to Korea back in 2013 in a rappelling accident that not only left my body worse for the wear but, also with a traumatic brain injury that ended up robbing me of my career, relationships and my vision of who I was. Don’t worry, fine reader, this is not a sad story, even though it could have been. After my marriage had seemingly fallen through, I came to live with my grandparents and survived on disability checks….in all sense of the words, I was wasting away.
day had me staring down the bench press. My ego could remember doing 225 pounds, so when I was asked to just put 10’s on each side I felt insulted. I begrudgingly slid the bar and in as little as four sets, I felt the wash of humility --- and not for the first time during the programme. Weeks started slowly accumulating under my belt and I could slowly feel strength returning. The biggest emphasis was in growing my body the right way, with proper form and attitude. Week by week, the weights in the lifts bumped up a little bit, but sometimes they bumped down, simply because even though my willpower wanted it, my body couldn’t sustain the weight with proper form to grow. But it wasn’t just my body growing. My mind was starting to understand again the mind-muscle connection and this brought me confidence. Confidence has many different layers and certainly you can look good to feel good but, there is a deeper layer that you start to reach and that is confidence built through competence in your abilities under the bar and the gratification of knowing you can keep long term commitments to yourself, like GVT. Compound this budding confidence, body conditioning and the good soil that is the community of Optimal Self and you have a completely new mindset. So here’s where I found myself as I finished up my 8th week of training and began this column. I was humbled, healed and stronger than I was in my head and in my body. My current weight is 166 pounds (+nine) and I couldn’t be more thrilled with the transformation. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to work so hard on myself in an environment that promotes such growth and recovery. I hope you stop by Optimal Self and meet Eric, the crew and most of all, me. We will all be there waiting to greet you!
My once proud 175 pound frame had shrunk into a 148 pound shell. And as my body atrophied, so did my mind. It was only because of my grandmother and my hero, my younger brother Casey, that I sought to reclaim my life. I applied for school, got accepted, moved to South Portland and eventually to Portland proper to start classes. That experience of coming out of my shell is an entire other story for another day but, my brother and I wound up getting a studio apartment together and with that things started to creep into shape. I could feel myself regaining control of my life. The only thing that bugged me was I was unhappy when I looked in the mirror. I had dedicated myself to yoga for a bit and the practice slowly allowed me to walk and move without a cane. Gradually I learned to be completely independent from it, but as I said before I still knew I wasn’t at my potential. I needed more than just to be rid of my cane... I wanted my body back…I wanted my life back. When I came to Optimal Self it felt like coming home, I wasn’t just a member; I was a part of a living, growing community of people who like me came to heal and strengthen their bodies and minds. I didn’t feel alone anymore, which as someone who has suffered through not only a brain injury, but coming from a warrior culture into a civilian one was an extremely hard thing to do because the military doesn’t operate like we do in this world. Like I said, it was a different culture and many of my brothers and sisters never make the transition to civilian life. To find a place that helped me with that leaves me feeling truly blessed. My training started with something called “GVT” or German Volume Training. It is an eight-week programme that seems sinisterly simple: two exercises a day for five days at 10 sets of 10, that’s 100 reps of each exercise, built to work both ways --- whether you are trying to lose weight or put it on like I was. It is a proven method and a very humbling regimen which I experienced on day one. I stood on the scale weighing in at 158 pounds for my starting weight... better since moving in with my brother, but a far cry from what I used to be. Mon-
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Beyond The Forecast
By Jack Sillin / Weatherman & Meterology Student Hello everyone!
September has been quiet in the Portland Area, but to our south, the month has been a wild one in the tropics. The month opened with a weakening Tropical Storm Harvey dumping over four feet of rain on the Houston, Texas, area. Soon after, Hurricane Irma formed in the far Eastern Atlantic. The storm would later become a Category 5 system as it ravaged the Northeastern Caribbean before moving across Florida, downing trees and cutting power for millions. The next storm, Jose, narrowly missed the same islands hit by Irma before bringing tropical storm conditions to parts of Southern New England. As I write this on the 22nd, meteorologists across the country are trying to figure out if Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico, the BVI and more islands as a strong Category 4 hurricane, will make a run at the U.S. East Coast. With all the tropical activity to our south, what has kept all of these storms away from Maine? Do we ever get hurricanes up here? There are several factors that contribute to Maine seeing relatively few hurricanes. Probably the most important is the Gulf of Maine. If you’ve ever taken a dip at the East End Beach, you’ll know that the water in the Gulf of Maine is pretty chilly. Hurricanes are fueled by warm water, and when this fuel source is cut off, the storms weaken and dissipate. What about warm water makes it so important to hurricanes? This has to do with vertical instability. Several months ago, I went over vertical instability in the context of severe thunderstorms. Because hurricanes are very large rotating clusters of thunderstorms, it’s no surprise that vertical instability is important for them, too. Vertical instability arises from a gradient in temperatures between the bottom of the atmosphere and the top. Because warm air is less dense than cold air, if warm air is lifted by something (a cold front, or a tropical wave for example) into the colder air above, it becomes buoyant and accelerates upward, all while rapidly cooling and condensing. The ability of a lifted air parcel (an air parcel is a basketball sized chunk of air) to accelerate upwards through the atmosphere of its own accord is known as vertical instability.
thunderstorm activity this Summer that coastal Maine is in the beginning stages of drought. In any case, what’s causing us problems in terms of water supply is helping save us from hurricanes. Jose is the perfect example of a strong hurricane that dramatically weakened once it moved over the cold waters east and south of New England. What would have been a major storm became little more than a mid-grade nor’easter for Cape Cod. The only impacts up here in Portland were some breezy winds and light showers. Another factor that contributes to the scarcity of hurricanes in Maine is the jet stream. The jet stream is a band of strong upper level winds that blows from West to East across North America. The core of the jet shifts north and south
Over land, vertical instability is generated by daytime heating from the sun which heats up the near-surface temperature and increases the gradient between the lower level temperatures and the upper level temperatures. Over the ocean, vertical instability is generated by warm waters. The warmer the waters, the more vertical instability is present due to the larger gradient between the surface temperature and the upper level temperatures. As a quick note, warm waters also help fuel hurricanes via a process known as latent heat flux, but that’s a topic for another month. Over waters such as the Gulf of Maine, the gradient between the temperature of the air near the water and the temperature above the water is very small resulting in little or no vertical instability. In fact, many times the air warms with height, at least for a short time, resulting in “negative instability”. This superstable air is what moves onshore when winds are southerly or southeasterly in the summertime, and the so-called “marine layer” is notorious kryptonite for thunderstorms. The marine layer has been so persistent in shutting down
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each week, but in general the westerly winds at our latitude favour hurricanes recurving out to sea. It takes a significant disruption to the prevailing pattern to get a hurricane to hit Maine with any respectable force. There needs to be enough of a dip in the jet stream over the Central U.S. to quickly sweep a storm up from the Tropics to Maine before the cold waters can take too much of a toll. However, if the jet stream is too strong, it will shred the hurricane to pieces before it arrives. Hopefully this gives you a sense of how much has to line up for a strong hurricane to make its way up to Maine. Has all this happened before? Yes. We’ve gotten hurricanes before. Will it happen again? Absolutely. Some day, another hurricane will hit Maine. Are hurricanes a frequent occurrence up here? Thankfully not. Despite this, it’s always good to be prepared and think about what you’d do if a hurricane were to threaten. It might be this month, or it might not be for another decade. A few quick and easy things to do to prepare for the eventuality of a hurricane include coming up with a plan for evacuation if needed, thinking about where you would store boats, lawn furniture, and other outdoor items, and stocking up on non-perishable supplies such as canned food, bottled water, and batteries well before the masses rush the stores two days before a storm. Even if our lucky streak avoiding hurricanes lasts a while longer, you might find those supplies helpful during our next blizzard or ice storm... and those are sure to happen before too long. I’ll be back next month with more weather! -Jack
Jack’s Weather Terms
Ensemble: An ensemble is a variation on a weather model. Ensembles are created by running the same model (the ECMWF or the GFS for two examples) over and over again, but changing slightly the initial conditions. Shortcomings in our observation network yield errors in the initial representation of the atmosphere in the model. Such errors compound out through time. Ensembles help to show forecast uncertainty by providing a range of possible outcomes derived from running the model with a range of possibilities for what the atmosphere could be doing right now. Central Dense Overcast (CDO): The CDO is the region of a tropical system near the centre that has very strong thunderstorm activity. The CDO is where you can find strong winds and heavy rains that are associated with the hurricane. The very worst conditions are reserved for the eyewall, which we discussed last month. The CDO therefore is not the strongest part of a mature hurricane, but it is the strongest part of weaker systems that do not yet (or no longer) have eyewalls.
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Processed Media By Randy Dankievitch — TV Editor of Goomba Stomp We’re right ahead of the holiday season, which means two things for the world of the small screen (that is, video games and television) – it’s about to get wild. The onslaught of video games launching ahead of the season, combined with the litany of pilots that hit TV can make for a frenetic couple of months; with that in mind, here are five things this Fall you really, really don’t want to miss. 1.) American Vandal (Netflix, premiered 15th September) – initially, American Vandal appears to be nothing more than a superficial exercise in satire; an opportunity for Netflix to poke empty fun at its own true-crime documentaries like Making a Murderer. Over the course of its four hours, however, this mini-series transforms from an extended joke about male genitalia to a serious examination of the documentary format itself, and the invasive, revealing role it can play on a community --- particularly the young members trying to define themselves in this age of social media. Consistently hilarious and oddly endearing, American Vandal is the biggest surprise of 2017, a series deserving of a larger audience (and a more prominent place on Netflix’s home page, if their ever-confusing discovery algorithm is listening). 2.) Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO, premieres 1st October) – It’s been seven years since the last season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, a series that only seemed to get better and better with each increasingly ludicrous season. Television just doesn’t feel the same without Larry David’s demented, nihilistic mind involved, and there’s no time better than now for Larry to bring back his ingenious series, following around a fictionalised version of himself, the schlemiel of his upper crust LA neighbourhood. Time will tell whether David’s acerbic, devastatingly revealing brand of comedy has aged like a fine wine, as sharp and incriminatory as it was in its heyday – or if this is the last hurrah for the series, however, I fully expect Larry David to go out swinging, which could lead to something special. 3.) Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo Switch, 27 October) – Finally, the reason to buy a Nintendo Switch. Yes, I know – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a landmark title, a monumental achievement for Nintendo’s little tablet console that can; but at its core, Breath of the Wild is simply another entry in the open world genre --- one full of familiar systems and gameplay styles. Super Mario Odyssey, however, offers something completely different for Nintendo’s new system to really distinguish itself – a 3D adventure where Mario can throw his hat at any object in the world... and then become that object. Yes, that’s right; Mario’s hat can transform him into anything from a statue to a taxi, to a goomba and just about anything else you could imagine. Forget the fact this is the first main 3D Mario title since Super Mario Galaxy 2; Super Mario Odyssey might just be the most ingenious, exciting game to release in 2017 --- a year already known for a number of impressive titles and gaming accomplishments. Nintendo may never climb the mountain to take down the titan of Playstation 4, but Super Mario Odyssey is an opportunity for Nintendo to reclaim some of its former glory, and re-establish their creative confidence after the disappointing Wii U era. 4.) Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Multiple Consoles, 27 October) Nobody expected Wolfenstein: The New Order to be anything special. Launched quietly as the next official entry in the series, The New Order turned out to be one of the most rewarding single player campaigns in recent memory, a first-person shooter that made real effort in advancing both a stagnant franchise: plus, it was one of the most balls-to-the-wall action games ever, a wildly ambitious, glorious return of
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protagonist William “B.J.” Blazkowicz. The New Colossus is the 8th sequential entry in the 25-year-old series, and Bethesda looks like they’re in the mood to celebrate: set in a much brighter, vibrant world than The New Order, The New Colossus pushes the Wolfenstein timeline forward, and promises to do one thing very, very well: let players kill a lot of Nazis in a lot of inventive, exuberantly gruesome ways. After tapping into something truly powerful and addictive with The New Order – and following id’s return to glory with last year’s Doom revival – all eyes are on The New Colossus to deliver the next evolutionary step in the FPS genre. 5.) The Girlfriend Experience (Starz, premieres 5th November) OK, OK, this doesn’t release until November – but how could I deny mentioning my personal pick for the best show of 2016 in this column? The Girlfriend Experience is the best kept secret on cable television -- an extremely mature, cinematic half-hour drama exploring the role sexuality plays in our society through an intense lens of character exploration. The first season featured a dynamic performance from Riley Keough as a law student who finds herself enamoured with the world of high-class prostitution; season two splits its focus on two new characters, expanding the personal drama of season one to include larger mediations on the intersection of sex and society, politics, personality and self-definition. A series that is much, much more than the titillating previews would suggest, The Girlfriend Experience is perhaps the most honest observation of human behaviour, a dynamic, meditative series that is as thoughtful as it is beautiful, as unsettlingly sexy as it is deeply revelatory. If you haven’t seen it yet, this is your warning to watch season one before it airs; you won’t be disappointed. (EDITOR’S NOTE---Randy is (as it says above) TV Editor of Goomba Stomp but he’s also the co-host of the TV Roundtable podcast. Problem is both won’t fit in the byline at the top of his excellent column, but there you have it!)
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Financial Focus
ment accounts. And by putting time on your side, you’ll be able to take advantage of compounding – the ability to earn money on your principal and your earnings. Here’s another lesson to be taken from National Save for Retirement Week: Maximize your opportunities to invest in the tax-advantaged retirement accounts available to you, such as an IRA and a 401(k) or similar employer-sponsored retirement plan. If you have a 401(k)-type plan at work, contribute as much as you can afford every year, and increase your contributions whenever your salary goes up. At a minimum, put in enough to earn your employer’s matching contribution, if one is offered.
By Bryce Kronk & Jeremy Urquhart — Edward Jones To raise public awareness about the importance of saving for retirement, Congress has designated the third week of October as National Save for Retirement Week. What lessons can you learn from this event? First of all, save early – and save often. Too many people put off saving for retirement until they are in their late 40s – and even their 50s. If you wait until you are in this age group, you can still do quite a bit to help build the resources you will need for retirement – but it will be more challenging than if you had begun saving and investing while you were in your 20s or early 30s. For one thing, if you delay saving for retirement, you may have to put away large sums of money each year to accumulate enough to support a comfortable retirement lifestyle. Plus, to achieve the growth you need, you might have to invest more aggressively than you’d like, which means taking on more risk. And even then, there are no guarantees of getting the returns you require. On the other hand, if you start saving and investing when you are still in the early stages of your career, you can make smaller monthly contributions to your retire-
Apart from saving and investing early and contributing to your tax-advantaged retirement accounts, how else can you honour the spirit of National Save for Retirement Week? A key step you can take is to reduce the barriers to building your retirement savings. One such obstacle is debt. The larger your monthly debt payments, the less you will be able to invest each month. It’s not easy, of course, to keep your debt under control, but do the best you can. One other barrier to accumulating retirement resources is the occasional large expense resulting from a major car repair, sizable medical bills or other things of that nature. If you constantly have to dip into your long-term investments to meet these costs, you’ll slow your progress toward your retirement goals. To help prevent this from happening, try to build an emergency fund big enough to cover three to six months’ worth of living expenses. Since you’ll need instant access to this money, you’ll want to keep it in a liquid, low-risk account. So, there you have them: some suggestions on taking the lessons of National Save for Retirement Week to heart. By following these steps, you can go a long way toward turning your retirement dreams into reality.
Maine Jewish Museum Holocaust Heroes: Fierce Females | Linda Stein Exhibition: September 14 - November 5, 2017 Art Talk with Linda Stein Tuesday, October 3, 6-8 pm
Talk with Anna Wrobel Sunday, October 15, 2-4 pm
Linda Stein has been obsessed with the theme of protection since 9/11, and was drawn to researching the Holocaust. While many people have been recognized for their courage in facing these horrific times, less attention has been placed on the women who made a difference. Linda will discuss the key message of this exhibition which is to explore opportunities people have to resist scapegoating and discrimination, and to develop the courage to stand up for victims being bullied. While most people are bystanders under conditions of terror, there are always some who defy a malevolent authority and do what they feel is the right thing. If heroes existed during the Holocaust, then certainly we can increase the propensity for individuals to become more empathetic and compassionate under normal conditions, and on an everyday basis. “These tapestries and sculpture will spark important discussions on the meaning of bravery in the face of oppression, during the time of the Holocaust as well as during our own everyday events of bullying and bigotry. It is this project’s mission to inspire people to become Upstanders for social justice.” Eva Fogelman, psychologist, author of “Conscience and Courage: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust”
Anna Bat-Chai Wrobel, American historian, Holocaust scholar and poet, will explore the realm of “fierce females” during the Nazi “Final Solution.” Her mother being a resistance saboteur and rescue partisan, Anna grew up with a “fierce female” and, through her teaching and poetry, shares the radiant gifts bequeathed to her by an extraordinary mother and woman. Eta Chait Wrobel was the lone survivor of an immediate family of twelve in Poland. She has been the subject of articles, documentaries and an autobiography, and was deeply involved with Hadassah, Yad Vashem, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and YIVO. As a founding consultant to the Jewish Partisans Educational Foundation, Eta was their original “poster girl” and represents JPEF on thousands of classroom walls on five continents. Anna will speak of her mother’s experience and of the women in Linda Stein’s exhibit with whom Eta was involved personally and organizationally. Additionally Anna will pay tribute to the “fierce females,” not Jewish, who aided her mother’s survival and who are esteemed as her “other mothers.”
Maine Jewish Museum
267 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101 (207) 773-2339 Monday - Friday 10am-4pm + Sundays 1pm - 5pm or by appointment mainejewishmuseum.org
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The Standard Reviewer
By Andrea Rouda / Up Portland’s Film & Theatre Reviewer
Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself According to all reports, my mother was at the movies when she went into labour with me. It was a week or so earlier than expected, and I’m guessing the cause was my feeling stuck inside listening to the dialog and eager to get out and see what was happening on screen. I’ve been a hard-core movie fan ever since. At the age of four I was taken to my first film in a movie house. It was The Wizard of Oz, which I saw in New York City at the fabulous Radio City Music Hall. Dozens of viewings of that movie followed over the course of my life, and today I literally can recite the script verbatim. Like many people, losing myself in the fantasy world of movies helped me weather a somewhat disturbing childhood, the alarming changes of adolescence and ultimately the rude awakenings of adulthood. As a professional newspaper writer, penning feature stories for The Washington Post (1999-2009) and a weekly humour column for Salt Lake City’s Deseret News (1995-1997), I yearned to write film reviews, but alas no such position ever presented itself. So about ten years ago I began including film reviews in the personal daily blog I started in 2007. People seem to like them, and often I’m told that my review helped someone decide whether to see — or not see — a particular film. Still, I craved a wider audience – who doesn’t? So it is with unbridled excitement that I begin this new adventure of writing movie reviews for Up Portland.
the script dumb and / or boring? Is the acting amateurish? Tell me all that and I’ll judge for myself whether or not it was vaguely reminiscent of Ingmar Bergmann or strongly derivative of Werner Herzog or extremely Quentin Tarantino-esque, or blah, blah, blah. Just to prepare you for what I might deliver in the coming months, following is my review of Dunkirk, that recent blockbuster many of you have probably already seen: If you like real war, or even just video games about war, Dunkirk is for you. Featuring tons of human misery, massive amounts of gunfire, countless sinking ships, dozens of bombs exploding, and several truly harrowing underwater drowning scenes, the story of 400,000 soldiers trapped on a beach in France with the Germans at their backs during World War II will either turn you on or make you nauseous. (I was in the latter group.) The minimal dialog is mostly unintelligible for the garbled British accents. The music is loud and foreboding, which is only appropriate since it accompanies what you see onscreen. (See preceding paragraph.) None of the soldiers have names and they all look exactly alike, so you never really get to know anyone. This is actually good since when one of them gets killed you don’t care at all. I hated this film from the moment it started and couldn’t wait for it to be over. Now I can’t wait until next February to see it get like 17 Academy Award nominations. I predict Best Picture for sure. Okay, so that was a negative review. But I don’t hate all of them; following is my glowing review of the wonderful Lion, which earned six Oscar nominations (and in my opinion was robbed when it didn’t win any) last year. First of all, bring tissues. An over-the-top tearjerker from start to finish, Lion is
While I love watching movies, even the bad ones, I hate movie reviews – even the good ones. Certainly some are valuable just as pure literature, and I always read those, but only after I have seen the film. This practice took me years to arrive at, since like most people I would read the reviews first to see if I wanted to even bother. But after believing so many reviews that missed the mark entirely, or worse, gave away the whole story — including the ending! — I realised it’s a bad idea to approach any work of art with my head full of someone else’s misconceptions, yet with so little of the information I wanted. Several years back, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, an actor of such amazing range, magnitude and depth that he had two first names, starred in a film called Loving Liza. I avoided reading about it in advance, hearing only that it was a comedy. A quick glance at the quotes on the movie poster in the theatre lobby proclaimed it as all the way to “rollicking.” Naturally I was stunned when it turned out to be about suicidal, gas-sniffing teens growing up in a small Alaskan village. Describing the film as depressing is a huge understatement. It was then that I swore off reading movie reviews beforehand. It’s my belief that a movie review should answer one question, and one question only: Is it worth my cold hard cash — and these days, what with popcorn and parking, that’s a considerable chunk of change — and time investment? I don’t care how many big words the reviewer knows or how many years he or she studied all the films of every foreign director in prestigious film programmes at fancy universities. I also don’t really care about all the other films a particular director made, or what influenced him or her, or if the crowds at Cannes or Sundance booed, hissed or gave it a standing ovation. Just tell me this: Is it very scary? Is it terribly bloody? Is it sad beyond bearing? Will I have nightmares for months (or years) after? Will I need to cover my eyes or ears during the film? Is
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nevertheless a valuable investment of your time, in part because it tells a true story. The fact that real people actually lived it saves the film from being just maudlin and melodramatic and elevates it to an important lesson: Life really sucks sometimes, but this too shall pass.
Patel as the adult Saroo. The film’s second half depicts Saroo’s growing obsession with his past. Despite having a good life in the present, with a loving girlfriend and a promising career, the constant flashbacks to his traumatic childhood drive him half-crazy with a need to find his birth family in India. It would be unfair to give more details about his undertaking, other than to say that Google Earth is a big help.
Lion, which has nothing at all to do with lions by the way, is an emotional ride for anyone but the most hardened of souls. Saroo, an adorable 5-year-old played with incredible skill by the actually adorable 8-year-old actor, Sunny Prawan, dominates the first half of this two-hour long epic. Having gotten separated from his brother and then falling asleep on an empty train that takes him 1,000 miles from home, he wanders the teeming streets of Calcutta, dodging danger and escaping depravity, for two months.
With a haunting musical score, deeply affecting performances by the entire cast, stunning aerial shots of India and Australia, and a story that’s never less than holdyour-breath gripping, Lion is a masterful film you ‘ll think about long after you leave the theatre.
His struggle to survive purely on his wits and an occasional bite of food is almost too hard to witness. Finally his luck changes and he is mercifully adopted by a loving Australian couple — the mother is played by Nicole Kidman in her first likable role — and whisked off to Tasmania where, after 20 years, he turns into actor Dev
Since I tend to write somewhat short reviews, my future columns in Up Portland will include two or possibly three, depending on how many movies I managed to fit in during the preceding month. I look forward to hearing from many of you and am open to any and all suggestions.
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