Plateau

Unfortunately, when I became pregnant, I was already 10 pounds overweight. Though I had always in the past tried to eat sensibly, indulging my every edible whim for nine months resulted in my gaining nearly 50 pounds. I began walking. Pushing Daniel in the stroller almost every day. This, along with limiting sweets and fats, helped me quickly shed the first 20 pounds. Then I reached a plateau. So I tried yoga. While Daniel took his morning nap, I would pop in a video and spend 30-40 minutes performing strength moves and flexibility stretches, and to my delight, my body looked better and my energy was up. KATHLEEN FELESINA Los Angeles

You could call it being stuck in a rut. Or, as the authors of a new book put it, you could say that effort follows the law of diminishing returns, eventually causing people and companies to reach a point of stagnation where marginal returns disappear. In "The Plateau Effect: Getting From Stock to Success," Bob Sullivan, an NBC News columnist, and Hugh Thompson, a math professor and IT security expert, argue that they have found a cure for this condition. They call it "constant recalibration," or always rethinking your approach to problems.

Baker, Fla., was defeated Friday night by Befuniak, Fla., 15-0. With a streak of 42 straight wins, Baker was the only team in the nation other than Canyon with a winning streak 40 games or longer. Canyon extended its streak to 44 wins by defeating Saugus, 40-7. Passing: The top 10 Southern Section quarterbacks in the Valley are averaging 10.5 completions for 160 yards and 1.25 touchdowns per game, while their City Section counterparts have completed just 6.5 passes per game for 89 yards and 0.

POTOSÍ, Bolivia - A gentle breeze swept across Laguna Colorada, momentarily turning the magenta mineral lake water neon-orange as it rippled around the knobby knees of several dozen flamingos. Suddenly, a pair of frisky vicuñas trotted through the shallows, sending the flamingos aloft like a flock of hot pink pterodactyls. It was that kind of week. I tend to be lightheaded at altitude in the best of times, but road tripping across the Bolivian altiplano was downright psychedelic.

You could call it being stuck in a rut. Or, as the authors of a new book put it, you could say that effort follows the law of diminishing returns, eventually causing people and companies to reach a point of stagnation where marginal returns disappear. In "The Plateau Effect: Getting From Stock to Success," Bob Sullivan, an NBC News columnist, and Hugh Thompson, a math professor and IT security expert, argue that they have found a cure for this condition. They call it "constant recalibration," or always rethinking your approach to problems.

The aerial crash that killed three people working on a Discovery Channel reality TV production occurred when the helicopter collided into the base of a valley wall in Acton while preparing to shoot a scene for a military-themed show, federal aviation investigators said in a preliminary report issued Monday. The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the cause of the Feb. 10 accident, but a preliminary report by the board provides new details on the circumstances surrounding the most serious film set accident in three decades in California.

An avalanche slammed into a group of 17 Turkish hikers on a trip to a remote mountain plateau, dragging them more than 1,640 feet into a valley and fatally burying 10. The members of a skiing and mountaineering club were taking part in an annual winter sports celebration on 7,200-foot Mt. Zigana. "We looked up and there was nowhere to run," survivor Kasim Keles told reporters from his hospital bed.

Re "Council Approves Land Swap Deal to Save Open Space," Oct. 26. The Thousand Oaks City Council's conceptual approval of a deal with developers allowing more development in Dos Vientos Ranch was unnecessary to save the western plateau. The council has options for saving the plateau from proposed development without this complex deal that creates a boon for developers. Unfortunately, there are many losers as a result of this deal. Dos Vientos Ranch homeowners get more development and higher density population than they bargained for. Seniors lost the affordable housing that was scrapped in order to give Shappell Industries a place to build.

The Newport Beach Arts Commission has selected a project by Santa Barbara landscape architects Cunningham Design Inc. and artists Helen Mayer, Newton Harrison, Paul Hobson and Marcello Petrocelli as the winner of the city's Inspiration Point Design Competition. "Disappearing Path" is intended to revitalize the appearance of the erosion-prone coastal lookout point in Corona del Mar. The first phase of the project is estimated to cost $150,000.

The article "Jewel of the Normandy Coast" (July 18), otherwise fascinating, has two errors: 1. "Overlooking the Seine's headwaters . . . " The Seine's headwaters "arise in the Cote d'Or (southeast of Paris), on the Langres plateau, 471 meters high." (Reference: Dictionnaire Geographique de la France.) 2. "The Greniers a Sel . . . built in 1670 to store tax revenues . . . which at the time were collected in salt." The farmers paid a price for the right to sell the salt, and in some areas people were required to buy more than they needed.

The aerial crash that killed three people working on a Discovery Channel reality TV production occurred when the helicopter collided into the base of a valley wall in Acton while preparing to shoot a scene for a military-themed show, federal aviation investigators said in a preliminary report issued Monday. The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the cause of the Feb. 10 accident, but a preliminary report by the board provides new details on the circumstances surrounding the most serious film set accident in three decades in California.

Reporting from Phoenix — There was a time when right-hander Aaron Harang was one of baseball's most dependable workhorses. From 2005 to 2007, he averaged 226 innings per season with the Cincinnati Reds. His 2341/3 innings in 2006 ranked third in the National League. His 2312/3 innings the next year ranked second. He hasn't topped 200 innings since. But Harang, who signed with the Dodgers as a free agent during the off-season, said he considers himself fortunate.

More proof that Indonesia is one of the most volcanically active places on the great Pacific Ring of Fire came in October 2010, when 9,560-foot Mt. Merapi, visible from the temple of Borobudur, erupted, killing 343 people and displacing an estimated 90,000. The road leading to the mountain was closed, but visitors can still see evidence of continuing volcanism on the island of Java by making a trip the Dieng Plateau. The area, about 75 miles northwest of the city of Yogyakarta, is the wide caldera of an extinct volcano, now covered by potato fields, villages - each with its own candy-colored mosque - and the island's oldest Hindu temples.

The minute I poured a glass of this 2010 Lirac, the scent of dried wild herbs, ripe blackberries, olives and earth leapt out of the glass. It's so rich and intense, it comes on like a baby Châteauneuf. In fact, the Bréchet family that produces this Lirac, a blend of 60% Syrah and 40% Grenache, is renowned for their Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The "Plateau des Chênes" Lirac is fresh and easy to drink now, though it would be fun to see what it would become with some aging. Somehow, I don't think my bottles are going to hang around for that long.

Gabrielle Giffords is nowhere close to returning to Congress. And there remains real doubt about whether she ever will. That appears to be the bottom line of an article Thursday in the Arizona Republic that provides the most complete assessment yet of the wounded congresswoman’s current condition. Giffords was shot in the head by a gunman in Tucson in January. Now, six months later, she still struggles mightily to communicate, although her staff believes her comprehension skills are strong.

Boston 105, at Milwaukee 90: Paul Pierce scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half and the Celtics notched their 50th win while resting Kevin Garnett. at Charlotte 99, Detroit 95: Larry Hughes scored 18 points, and D.J. Augustin hit the go-ahead jumper with just over a minute left for the Bobcats (43-37). at Indiana 115, New Jersey 102: Troy Murphy had 25 points and nine rebounds to lead the streaking Pacers to their fourth straight victory and 10th in the last 12 games.

Gabrielle Giffords is nowhere close to returning to Congress. And there remains real doubt about whether she ever will. That appears to be the bottom line of an article Thursday in the Arizona Republic that provides the most complete assessment yet of the wounded congresswoman’s current condition. Giffords was shot in the head by a gunman in Tucson in January. Now, six months later, she still struggles mightily to communicate, although her staff believes her comprehension skills are strong.

A House of Trees by Joan Colebrook (Farrar Straus & Giroux: $18.95; 252 pages) As a girl growing up the high rain forest of Northern Australia in the 1920s, Joan Colebrook lived far enough away from the world so that she saw it as few of us can: as a distant configuration, unknown and yet, just because of the distance, as clearly outlined as an approaching thunderhead.

The youngest victim of the massacre was a baby, villagers said, born just a couple of hours before the attack on Kuru Karama. There was not much warning that January morning, only the call to prayer ringing out at the wrong time, 10 a.m., a sure sign of trouble. The town had been surrounded by mobs of Christian men, who, residents said, were seeking to slaughter as many Muslims as possible. Police said 326 people were killed in the attack on the village near Jos in central Nigeria.

An avalanche slammed into a group of 17 Turkish hikers on a trip to a remote mountain plateau, dragging them more than 1,640 feet into a valley and fatally burying 10. The members of a skiing and mountaineering club were taking part in an annual winter sports celebration on 7,200-foot Mt. Zigana. "We looked up and there was nowhere to run," survivor Kasim Keles told reporters from his hospital bed.