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Financial Aid FAQs
How is the amount of Financial Assistance determined?
Parents should utilize all of their own resources before applying for financial aid.
The amount of financial assistance awarded is based on the following factors:
- a family’s expected monetary contribution (see below)
- parental involvement in the school community
- student involvement in the school community
- LTS’s availability of financial assistance funds
Long Trail School uses a standardized, fair, and equitable “need analysis” to determine a family’s expected contribution which is based on the PFS (Parents Financial Statement) generated by the SSS (School and Student Services). Aid is given outright and does not need to be repaid, although the school appreciates repayment if a family’s financial circumstances change.
Do you offer a payment plan if tuition cannot be paid in full prior to the start of school?
Long Trail is always willing to help our families to make their tuition payments in a time frame that works for them. We offer several payment plans including TuitionPay through Sallie Mae. Please refer to the Tuition and Fees page on our website for more information.
When do I have to apply for financial aid?
You can begin applying for financial assistance November 1 through sss.nais.org. Returning families must submit their PFS by January 15th. Newly accepted families must submit their PFS by February 15. Refer to How to Apply for Financial Aid for more detailed information. | <urn:uuid:7201ecdc-0577-43f4-af22-05f44a8c4c94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://longtrailschool.org/admissions/financial-aid/financial-aid-faqs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959592 | 306 | 1.5625 | 2 |
School sailed past the system
DAVID WICKERT; The News Tribune
Its finances were shaky. Its graduation and job-placement rates were substandard. Its students filed lawsuits and complained.
Regulators saw the warning signs. But the Business Computer Training Institute remained open for years, and taxpayers continued to pay millions of dollars to support a school that hundreds of students say defrauded them.
BCTI, a Gig Harbor-based for-profit vocational school, closed last year amid government investigations and a student lawsuit. But government records show the school had a history of run-ins with regulators stretching back more than 20 years.
In the 1990s, federal officials twice threatened to stop funding BCTI, citing financial problems and high default rates on student loans.
A private accrediting agency doubted the quality of BCTI programs as far back as 2001.
Washington state officials dismissed student complaints similar to those now made by more than 400 students in a lawsuit in Pierce County Superior Court.
In each case, BCTI and its co-presidents, Tom Jonez and Morrie Pigott, evaded serious consequences – sometimes with the help of elected officials.
“These people were pros at skirting the law and skirting the ethics,” said Phil Rockefeller, a former U.S. Department of Education supervisor and now a state senator from Bainbridge Island. He oversaw one federal investigation of BCTI.
Critics of for-profit education aren’t surprised regulators failed to sanction BCTI. Though the industry has made it easier for many students to get an education, critics say regulators do a poor job of policing it.
For-profit colleges and vocational schools have drawn complaints from coast to coast. In the South Sound alone, several for-profit schools have come under fire recently:
• More than 80 students claim Bryman College misled them about a medical assistant program’s accreditation status, their eligibility to take a national certification exam and other issues. Most of the claims, which involve Bryman’s Tacoma and Renton campuses, are in arbitration. Others are in federal court.
• Eleven students have sued Tacoma’s Crown College, which offers criminal justice, business and other degrees. The students claim the school misled them by saying their credits would transfer to traditional nonprofit colleges, though for the most part they do not. The school lost one lawsuit and settled two others.
• Last year, 10 Washington students complained to the state about the Court Reporting Institute, which had campuses in Seattle and Tacoma. Among other things, they cited poor instruction and misleading claims that they’d graduate in 30 months.
A state agency found hundreds of students paid thousands of dollars for a program they would never complete. It tried to shut the institute down. In August, the school closed all of its campuses.
• Last year the state revoked the license of Go2cert, a computer school with campuses in Federal Way and Everett, because it failed to give refunds to students who withdrew.
Regulators say problem schools are the exception, not the rule. But a look at the way regulators handled BCTI raises doubts about whether they’re protecting students and taxpayers from the troubling exceptions.
Barmak Nassirian, who works for a national college administrators group, reviewed BCTI’s regulatory history for The News Tribune. He said he can see why individual concerns were dismissed. But taken as a whole, he said BCTI’s record paints a troubling portrait of the school and regulators.
“I think we could now say this was not a good school,” Nassirian said.
“After the fact, it’s obvious they were all wrong,” he said, referring to regulators. “In real time, this goes on all the time.”
The Business Computer Training Institute ran afoul of the U.S. Department of Education as far back as 1993.
Like many for-profit vocational schools, much of BCTI’s income came from federal financial aid programs for college students. Up to 88 percent of the school’s revenue – as much as $18 million a year – came from those programs.
In 1993, Department of Education investigators suspected BCTI was padding the length of its classes so students would qualify for more financial aid.
BCTI had expanded its programs from 10 and 12 weeks to 20 weeks. But department investigators examined 60 student files and found none of the students attended classes for more than 17 weeks.
“To me, this looked like, feels like fraud,” said Rockefeller, a former employee in the agency’s Seattle office. “It felt phony to me. It looked like padding.”
Rockefeller supervised the investigation of the class-length issue. His investigators concluded BCTI did not offer a genuine 20-week program. They found the school and its students received $1.8 million more than they were entitled to.
The department also had concerns about BCTI’s financial condition.
Federal records show BCTI’s current liabilities exceeded its current assets in 1992. That was a violation of a federal law that protects students and taxpayers from financially unstable schools.
For months, BCTI resisted turning over its 1992 financial statements. Records show the school was feuding with its accountant over the statements.
When the Department of Education threatened to sanction the school, it turned over the statements that revealed its financial condition. The department demanded BCTI post a bond or a letter of credit. The school did not respond, and the agency notified BCTI it would cut off its student aid. BCTI’s primary source of income would disappear.
Between the financial violation and questions about BCTI class lengths, the department seemed poised to shut down the school.
BCTI defended itself aggressively.
In letters to the Department of Education, school officials blamed BCTI’s troubles on uncertainty over new regulations.
They said the timing of the regulations led to “a near catastrophic cash-flow crisis,” forcing drastic program and staff cuts. They said they acted in good faith with the best information available. They revised BCTI’s courses to address questions about class lengths.
They also enlisted the help of elected officials.
Department of Education records show an aide to then-Sen. Slade Gorton called the agency’s Seattle office seeking an explanation of BCTI’s class-length problems.
Rep. Norm Dicks wrote a letter on BCTI’s behalf. He said the class-length issue had “been a source of confusion and possible detriment” to BCTI. A Dicks staffer followed up with a fax seeking additional information.
Gorton said he has “not the slightest memory” of working on BCTI’s behalf and said his staff would not have brought the matter to his attention. He said an inquiry would be an automatic result of any constituent complaint.
Dicks spokesman George Behan remembers helping BCTI but described it as a routine intervention.
It’s unclear what effect, if any, Gorton and Dicks had on the investigation. Before Dicks wrote his letter, the Department of Education already was backing down.
In February 1994, the agency decided to withdraw the class-length finding, citing an apparently new policy for calculating the length of classes.
A few months later, the department notified BCTI it was back in compliance with financial requirements.
Federal records don’t indicate why Department of Education officials changed their mind about BCTI’s financial condition. A statement given to The News Tribune by BCTI attorney Thomas Merrick said only that department officials decided not to terminate the school’s funding “once they were provided with the information they requested.” It said BCTI “was not at risk.”
Department records show Seattle investigators were surprised by the policy that forced them to back down from the class-length investigation.
Merrick’s statement said material published by the department’s own training division showed BCTI’s methods for disbursing financial aid were correct.
Rockefeller has a different interpretation of events.
He said department attorneys in Washington, D.C., agreed his team had a defensible case. What the attorneys and the investigators didn’t know was that a midlevel department manager apparently changed the policy just days after investigators toured BCTI in July 1993.
Records show Pam Moran, the chief of the department’s student loan division, discussed the policy in a telephone conversation with a representative of a well-connected Washington, D.C., law firm that represented for-profit colleges.
The conversation took place July 27. Department investigators finished their visit to BCTI on July 15.
Later, in an internal memo, Seattle investigator Richard Nelson cited the Moran letter in withdrawing the charge against BCTI. In that memo, Nelson expressed his hope that the agency would strengthen its rules to prevent the kind of “abuses” uncovered at BCTI.
Rockefeller took another department job and retired before the BCTI case was resolved. He didn’t know how it turned out until he reviewed records obtained by The News Tribune.
He said what he read was “astonishing.”
Withdrawing a finding after an investigation was over was unusual, he said. He also called Moran’s telephone conversation with the law firm “an astounding way to make policy.”
The letter documenting the phone call between Moran and the law firm does not mention BCTI. But Rockefeller is convinced “it’s all about BCTI” because of the timing.
He believes BCTI officials knew about the policy that would save them long before investigators.
“We had a knife stuck in our heart here without even knowing it,” Rockefeller said. “We thought we had them.”
In response to questions e-mailed to Moran, Department of Education spokeswoman Stephanie Babyak wrote:
“We are unable to comment on actions taken more than 10 years ago when the laws and rules for the student aid programs were significantly different.
“We are not going to comment on what someone else speculates happened at that time.”
More warning signs
Two years later, in 1996, the Department of Education again threatened to cut off federal aid to BCTI.
For three consecutive years, more than one-quarter of BCTI students defaulted on taxpayer-backed loans – a violation of federal law and a sign that students weren’t finding gainful employment. In 1993 alone, 831 BCTI students defaulted, according to a 1996 report in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
In response, the department briefly cut off federal aid to BCTI in 1996.
School officials appealed the decision. They blamed the high default rates on an independent loan-guarantee agency that for 19 months failed to notify BCTI that many of its students were in default. School officials said that prevented them from contacting students about the loans.
BCTI also contended 76 students were erroneously counted as being in default.
Once again, BCTI enlisted the help of elected officials, including Dicks and Sen. Patty Murray.
Behan said Dicks worked with a law firm hired by BCTI – Bryan Cave – to convince the assistant secretary of education to revise the school’s default rates in light of the errors.
The department relented.
David Longanecker, then an assistant secretary of education, told The News Tribune the department at that time was cracking down on more than 1,000 schools because of high default rates. Many appealed and many turned to elected officials for assistance, he said.
But Longanecker remembers the BCTI case because the basis for its appeal was unusual. He said the guarantee agency admitted it made a mistake that prohibited BCTI from contacting students who were on the verge of default.
He said the school might have been able to intervene with those students to prevent defaults. That convinced Longanecker that BCTI had a legitimate concern, and its default rate should be lowered.
But he acknowledged his staff did not agree.
Citing the school’s high default rate, “they said that this was not a good institution,” Longanecker said.
Though Longanecker was a political appointee accustomed to discussions with elected officials, he said the department’s career staffers “want a system where there’s no intrusion and they can give their professional judgment.”
“I don’t think this is a great institution doing great work,” he added.
Murray spokeswoman Alex Glass confirmed Murray intervened on BCTI’s behalf, but couldn’t provide details.
Behan said Dicks doesn’t regret intervening to help BCTI. He said the issue in 1996 was that the Department of Education was not treating BCTI fairly. If BCTI had closed, many students would have been harmed, Behan said.
The Department of Education never withdrew BCTI’s eligibility for federal funds despite other warning signs:
• Beginning in 1993, 90 BCTI students in Oregon sued the school. Among other things, they claimed BCTI officials misled them about their job prospects and the wages they would make after graduation. The claims were similar to those Washington students would make a decade later.
Though BCTI denied wrongdoing, it settled the Oregon students’ claims, court and government records show. Records show the U.S. Department of Education knew about at least one settlement, which was disclosed in BCTI’s financial statements in 1998.
The statement issued by BCTI attorney Merrick said the lawsuits were filed by a single attorney who filed similar suits against other schools. The statement said the number of students involved “represents a statistical dissatisfaction of less than one one-hundredth of 1 percent, or a satisfaction rate of 99.98 percent.”
• In 2004, the department’s Inspector General’s Office declined to investigate allegations that BCTI employees falsified admission tests so students could qualify for financial aid.
A private investigator hired by BCTI found evidence that two employees falsified 13 students’ tests. The school refunded $24,475 to the federal government and lenders and fired a vice president and another administrator.
The BCTI statement noted the problem was uncovered by the school itself and that the private investigator “documented that this was a very isolated and ‘rogue’ incident.”
Investigators with the Washington state Higher Education Coordinating Board later questioned the thoroughness of the private investigator’s work.
The agency found “a substantial failure in the school’s procedural controls to prevent test manipulations” and asked BCTI to repay $50,141 in state aid. BCTI has not paid.
• Financial statements submitted to the Department of Education show BCTI’s current liabilities again exceeded its current assets in 2000 and during the first six months of 2001. Federal law requires schools receiving aid to college students to have current assets that meet or exceed current liabilities at the end of their fiscal years.
• A close reading of recent financial statements suggests BCTI’s financial position was precarious for years.
C. Donald Smith, a certified public accountant and fraud examiner who examined the statements for The News Tribune, said it appears the owners transferred more than $6.2 million from BCTI to affiliated companies from 1996 to 2004.
Smith said the money apparently was misclassified in the financial statements as “current assets,” meaning the affiliates were to repay BCTI within the fiscal year.
But Smith sees no evidence the money was ever repaid. In fact, the total amount the affiliates owed to the school rose from about $3.2 million in 1996 to $9.4 million in 2004.
Smith said the statements did not disclose any collateral for the loans to affiliated companies, raising questions about their ability to repay.
The apparent misstatements had a big impact. Though BCTI’s net worth looked fine, Smith said the school appeared to be “worthless.”
The apparent misstatements might have allowed BCTI to meet federal standards for financial responsibility.
According to Smith’s analysis, if the money transferred to affiliates is excluded from current assets, BCTI’s real current assets met or exceeded current liabilities only once from 1996 to 2004.
Miles Goda, a former BCTI financial analyst, said in a court statement that BCTI’s owners used affiliated companies to strip the school of assets and to manipulate its financial statements to meet Department of Education requirements. He said the actions were “deceptive to the Department of Education” and allowed the school’s owners to “keep the student loan money coming in.”
Smith said an auditor should have questioned BCTI’s financial statements.
However, federal records show BCTI passed at least three Department of Education financial tests in recent years – including one just four days before it closed in 2005.
In the statement to the newspaper, BCTI officials called Goda “an example of a partially informed or ill-informed disgruntled former employee who was not technically qualified to address these issues conclusively.”
It said Smith’s analysis is countered by external and internal certified public accountants. “The CPAs who performed our annual audits and our internal CPAs all disagree” with Smith’s conclusions, the statement said.
Department of Education officials declined requests for interviews.
In response to written questions about the Department of Education’s handling of BCTI from 1993 to 2004, Babyak, the department spokeswoman, said she could not comment on actions taken by a previous administration.
Questions of quality
Federal officials weren’t the only ones cutting BCTI slack.
A private agency – the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education & Training – found BCTI’s 2001 graduation and job-placement rates fell below minimum standards for accreditation.
The federal government relies on private accrediting agencies like the council to ensure the quality of schools that receive federal funding. Accrediting agencies that oversee for-profit schools use measures like graduation and job placement rates to gauge quality.
The accrediting council requires schools to graduate at least 67 percent of their students to maintain accreditation. The 2001 graduation rates of 12 BCTI programs didn’t meet that standard. In some, just over half of students graduated.
The agency requires 70 percent of a school’s graduates to get jobs in fields related to their training; 14 BCTI programs fell short. In one program, only 20 percent of graduates got jobs in related fields.
Beginning in 2002, the agency issued a series of threats to withdraw BCTI’s accreditation. In one letter, the council expressed “serious concern” about BCTI’s ability to ensure the quality of its main computer program.
But the agency’s threats dragged on for years as it repeatedly decided to give BCTI more time to respond.
Meanwhile, the agency learned of other problems.
Darcie Pelsor was an instructor at BCTI’s Beaverton, Ore., campus. In 2004, she contacted several agencies – including the accrediting council – to complain about the school.
She said BCTI admitted unqualified students, including a man with severe memory problems who couldn’t recall anything he was taught.
In an interview, Pelsor said she brought the student to the attention of one of her supervisors but was rebuffed.
The Oregon Department of Education used Pelsor’s complaint to launch a wide-ranging investigation of BCTI. But she found the accrediting agency’s response lacking.
After an initial e-mail response, Pelsor said the agency never followed up, though she offered to put the agency in touch with other BCTI staff members who could corroborate her story.
About two months after receiving Pelsor’s complaint, the agency issued another threat to end BCTI’s accreditation based on substandard graduation and job placement rates. Once again, it decided to give BCTI more time.
Nearly three years had passed since BCTI first violated agency standards.
A month later, the agency dismissed Pelsor’s complaint. BCTI officials claimed that when they learned about the student’s memory problems, they decided to allow him to continue at the school free of charge.
Oregon investigators later questioned BCTI’s version of events. But the private accrediting council praised BCTI for “going to such extraordinary lengths” to help the student.
In December 2004, the agency again extended BCTI more time to address substandard graduation and placement rates. It did the same a month later.
Finally, on March 15, 2005, the council revoked BCTI’s accreditation. The following month it barred BCTI co-presidents Jonez and Pigott from ever again operating a school accredited by the agency.
By then, neither action mattered much. BCTI had closed March 11.
In the statement to the newspaper, BCTI officials said the dispute with the accrediting agency involved questions of “terminology and documentation methodology.” It said BCTI managers are confident the issues would have been resolved if BCTI had not closed.
Roger Williams, the agency’s executive director, would not answer questions about BCTI or agency policies.
“Gathering and evaluating data takes time, and developing a factual basis upon which to take action is essential,” Williams wrote in a brief e-mail.
Washington state officials also missed opportunities to scrutinize BCTI.
In 2002, just a few days after learning that the accrediting council was threatening to revoke BCTI’s accreditation, the state Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board received its fourth student complaint about BCTI in 16 months.
The agency licenses private career schools in Washington. It has the power to investigate unfair business practices and to revoke a license if it finds a school acted improperly.
Among other things, the BCTI students complained of high teacher turnover, shoddy computer equipment and poor instruction. One student said BCTI misled her with promises of good pay after graduation – a claim echoed by dozens of Oregon students in lawsuits BCTI settled years earlier.
In his 2002 complaint to the Workforce Board, student Donald McKinney cited overcrowded classrooms and computers that were down for days. He said he went a week without an instructor. He wanted his tuition refunded.
BCTI denied the students’ allegations, and the board found the claims lacking. It dismissed all of them, though BCTI agreed to repay McKinney’s student loans. In exchange, McKinney agreed not to talk about his complaint.
Peggy Rudolph investigated some of the complaints for the Workforce Board. For McKinney’s, she traveled to BCTI’s Vancouver, Wash., campus.
But she said she didn’t find enough evidence to investigate further. And she wasn’t convinced that four complaints in 16 months merited special attention, given that BCTI enrolled hundreds of students.
“It just wasn’t much,” Rudolph said. “That’s not to say we couldn’t have done more.”
But by 2004, Rudolph had become suspicious of BCTI.
She kept in touch with Oregon officials who were investigating the school. She knew about the accusations of admission test fraud under investigation by the Higher Education Coordinating Board.
She also expressed concern to the accrediting council about the school’s low graduation and job-placement rates.
Rudolph began her own investigation, surveying former BCTI students.
Only a few dozen responded, but some echoed earlier complaints about poor instruction.
Rudolph also watched a BCTI recruiter at work outside the door of an Olympia unemployment office. She determined the recruiter violated a state law that prohibits schools from recruiting within 40 feet of a welfare or unemployment office. Rudolph later learned BCTI had not registered its recruiters – also a violation.
In their written statement, BCTI officials say a state officer manager invited the school’s recruiter to stand beneath an awning at his office. They also said they were told by a former Workforce Board employee that the school did not need to register its agents.
In response, Workforce Board spokeswoman Tana Stenseng said that regardless of whether a state employee was involved, state law prohibits recruiting within 40 feet of an unemployment office.
Stenseng said a former Workforce Board employee may have told BCTI it did not have to register “canvassers” – people who simply hand out literature and don’t collect contact information from prospective students. But she said anyone who talks to prospects and collects information is a sales agent who must be registered. In November 2004, Rudolph notified BCTI president Jonez of the violations. Rudolph said she found no more evidence that BCTI was breaking the law, and she finished her investigation in January 2005.
A month later, Oregon officials put BCTI on probation. Among other things, they cited teacher turnover and deceptive recruiting practices – concerns students had been expressing for years.
BCTI closed after Oregon issued its report and a Tacoma student filed a class-action lawsuit against the school.
After it closed, Rudolph received two more student complaints.
BCTI offered to settle one – again insisting the student agree to keep quiet.
Rudolph rejected the other after BCTI denied any wrongdoing.
“I feel the state of Washington was negligent in the licensing of BCTI,” student Ryan Cahill wrote in his complaint.
Cahill cited familiar themes: teacher turnover, poor training and promises of a big salary after graduation.
BCTI produced a signed form, showing Cahill acknowledged no wage guarantees. The school didn’t address his claim of high teacher turnover.
But Rudolph dismissed it anyway. There were 489 students enrolled at BCTI’s five Washington campuses when it closed, and she’d received complaints from only two, she wrote to Cahill.
“The agency can only conclude that it would have received significantly more complaints if instructor turnover was interfering with students’ ability to progress through the programs,” she wrote.
So far, more than 400 former BCTI Washington students have joined the class-action lawsuit.
In its response, BCTI noted the student complaints were all resolved.
“Each person was an important and valued former student and was treated accordingly,” the school said.
Deanne Loonin, an attorney for the nonprofit National Consumer Law Center, reviewed government documents on BCTI obtained by The News Tribune.
She wasn’t surprised the school escaped sanction for so long. In a recent study, she concluded agencies that regulate for-profit colleges and vocational schools have failed to protect students.
“There clearly were so many warning signs,” Loonin said of BCTI. “It’s just, I’ve seen this before.”
The BCTI documents “represent the run-of-the-mill back-and-forth” typical of enforcement, said Nassirian, an administrator for the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, a group that represents mostly traditional nonprofit schools. He also reviewed the documents.
“You can process some things to death,” Nassirian said. “If you get enough legal talent on something, some sort of compromise is arrived at.”
Nassirian said federal and state laws governing for-profit higher education are weak. He’s not the only one raising alarms.
Last year Thomas Carter, the Department of Education’s deputy inspector general, warned Congress about lax oversight of for-profit schools.
The department’s weak and inconsistent oversight puts it at risk of “failing to adequately identify and report significant instances of noncompliance” with federal law, Carter said.
Accrediting agencies lack meaningful standards for measures of quality such as graduation and job placement, he said. And state oversight is inconsistent.
Nassirian summed up the state of enforcement with this message for students: “You’re on your own.”
Students aren’t the only ones exposed.
According to the Department of Education, BCTI received nearly $140 million in federal student aid from 1997 to 2004 alone. It received $8.3 million during that time from Washington state college aid programs.
In 2004 – when BCTI was under investigation by three government agencies and a private accrediting agency – it got $810,144 from Washington state college aid programs.
It got $15.4 million in federal student aid funds that year, according to the Department of Education. About $4.6 million of that came from federal grants – money paid directly from taxpayers to BCTI students.
Another $10.8 million came from student loans. While students must repay those loans, taxpayers are on the hook if students default.
The Department of Education didn’t respond to queries about the number of BCTI students who defaulted or the amount taxpayers paid out for bad loans to those students.
But the school’s default rate ranged from about 7 percent to more than 28 percent over the years – above the national rate for every year since 1990.
For instance, in 2003 – the last year for which data is available for BCTI – the school’s default rate was 10.2 percent. The national rate then was 4.5 percent.
A question seldom asked
So what does it take to close a school like BCTI? If financial problems, substandard graduation and job-placement rates and student complaints and lawsuits aren’t enough, what is?
Department of Education officials would not answer that question. They declined interview requests and did not answer written questions.
Roger Williams, the accrediting council’s executive director, also declined to comment.
“I don’t see anything coming out of this (story) except something that’s going to try to make somebody look bad,” he said.
Washington state officials were more forthcoming.
Rudolph said regulators seldom try to close a troubled school.
The Workforce Board prefers to work with schools to get them to comply with the law, rather than shut them down. Rudolph said students who are satisfied with their education would get hurt if a school closes.
“I just think it’s better to make the school improve, rather than close it down,” she said. “That’s been our practice.
“Clearly, it doesn’t always work,” Rudolph added. “It didn’t work with BCTI.” | <urn:uuid:acc6513b-d2ca-4eb9-8dc0-359bfe2c1041> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenewstribune.com/2006/12/11/v-lite/366759/school-sailed-past-the-system.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968801 | 6,581 | 1.53125 | 2 |
‘Kenyan athletes arrived in London too late’
Kenya's athletes had a disappointing Olympics because some of them arrived inLondon too late, the African nation's double gold medallist and former 5 000 metres world record holder Kip Keinosaid on Saturday.
Seen as one of the trailblazers for Kenyan athletics and still closely involved with its development, the 72-year-old Keino said the country's haul of two golds compared with the 12 targeted was also due to runners racing too many events in the run-up to the Games.
Lessons should be learned and the same mistakes avoided in the future, added Keino, who won 1 500 metres gold inMexico City in 1968 and the 3 000 metres steeplechase title in Munich four years later.
"When we had the trials we selected the best team," Keino, a Nandi tribesman whose full name is Hezekiah Kipchoge Keino, said at a news conference at the IAAF centenary celebrations in Barcelona.
"The athletes should have come to London at least 10 days before the Games and many only got in three of four days before," he added.
"The body has to adjust and acclimatise and the timing was not the right timing.
"When it comes to the Olympics you should not be competing in other events.
"Their performances were not at the level they did before the Games and this is a lesson for the runners, the federation, the coaches and the agents."
While David Rudisha's gold and world record in the 800 metres was the highlight of the Games for many, Kenya fell well short of the 36 medals overall they were targeting.
Men's marathon favourite Wilson Kiprotich could only manage bronze, while on the women's side Vivian Cheruiyotfailed in her bid to match the 5 000-10 000 metres double she achieved at last year's world championships, finishing second in the 5 000 and third in the 10 000.
Ezekiel Kemboi won gold in the men's steeplechase.
The East African nation enjoyed its best showing at an Olympics four years ago in Beijing with all of their 16 medals coming on the track, six of them gold.
Keino said athletes should cut the number of meetings they competed in during an Olympic year and training methods needed to be overhauled.
"We need to put our heads together with Athletics Kenya and plan for future events," he said.
"We have a lot of talent. Let us forget about London, let us think about the next four years.
"If we sit together with those people we will be able to improve. Some of it is scientific training, some of it is mental training. Those are the most important in the world today.
"We have to work hard all the time and think for yourself and also for your country." | <urn:uuid:55a9fef7-95ab-469d-a7c1-2aa5502f6d9a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.supersport.com/athletics/international/news/121124/Kenyan_athletes_arrived_in_London_too_late | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977028 | 596 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Think you can't do it? Yes you can! And you've got to convince yourself of that too.
Try these mind tricks from sports psychologist and coach Arlene Egan.
1. Set mini challenges: write them down and cross them off. Your goal might be to jog non-stop for a minute with the instant reward of then permitting yourself to listen to a favourite track on your iPod.
2. Focus on one aspect of your performance: it can get monotonous counting trees, minutes or miles when you're on a training run. Concentrate instead on taking longer strides, think about engaging your core as you run, or how you're pumping your arms to help drive you forward. 'Improve your running' tips
3. Beat 'halfway there' boredom: at the start of your training program, the novelty keeps you going; at the end you've got the motivation of seeing your goal in sight. It's in the middle you can start to lose enthusiasm. This is when you need to reflect on the sacrifices you've made to get this far so you won't be tempted to throw all that effort away. Keep your training on track
4. Rope in your mates: if you haven't got a training partner, organise your run so it ends at a friend's house where you can enjoy a coffee and a chat. Make sure you have people around you who understand what you're doing and can support you on your down days.
5. Distract yourself: music's great to work out to, but audio books or podcasts are brilliant way of taking your mind off the pain or tedium of a long training session.
6. Keep a fitness diary or blog: note how far or long you exercised for and how you felt both before and afterwards. It will remind you how good you felt for making the effort to get out there and work on your fitness, also how you weren't always in the mood for a workout but overcame your lack of enthusiasm. Look back over it on days when you're lacking motivation. Start a Zest reader blog
7. Think positive: striving towards a goal ('I need to energise myself with a run') is a much more powerful driver than using negative reasons to exercise ('My jeans are too tight'). 3 steps to achieving your goals
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Other Hearst Magazines UK sites | <urn:uuid:ac3fe9a8-c999-4ead-8a88-74bc324f7d2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zest.co.uk/healthy-mind/meet-your-goals/3527.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945418 | 486 | 1.773438 | 2 |
GOP gender gap may be getting wider
Monday, November 07, 2011 at 1:22 pm
As campaign-finance filings come out from 2012 Republican presidential candidates, the records show women are not big-money donors for this year’s crop of hopefuls. Recent campaign-finance records evaluated by the Center for Responsive Politics reveal the median percentage of campaign cash over $200 from female donors to the GOP candidates is 27.5 percent. (For contributions under $200, donors’ personal details are not publicly disclosed.)
Nearing the bottom of the pile is Herman Cain — only 25 percent of the former pizza chain magnate’s donations above $200 have come from women. Both Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul have collected less from women (about 24 percent and 16 percent, respectively). About 33.5 percent and 29.6 percent of Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s donations have come from women, respectively.
Fittingly, the tax proposals released by the leading GOP candidates — Cain, Perry and Romney — disproportionately affect women in the way they raise taxes on lower- and middle-income Americans, eliminate poverty aids and cut child-insurance programs, according to various analyses of the plans and expert input gathered by The American Independent.
Thus far, only Cain and Perry have revealed the most detailed plans, and because women are disproportionately likely to be single parents and to have lower wages, smaller pensions and more medical problems, they are expected to fare worse under these plans than their male counterparts.
The gender-wage gap and its relevancy to tax-policy discussions
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (PDF), in 2010, women who were full-time wage and salary workers earned 81 percent of what men earned (median weekly earnings for women were $669, and $824 for men). The female-to-male earnings ratio has hovered around 80 to 81 percent since 2004, up from 62 percent in 1979.
Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report (PDF) showing women make up 49 percent of the total workforce but represent 59 percent of low-wage workers -– this despite the fact that more women than men finish high school and earn bachelor’s degrees. And according to a new report (PDF) by the Martin Prosperity Institute, women hold 52.3 percent of “creative class” jobs –- engineers, doctors, lawyers, journalists, teachers, etc. -– but in these jobs, earn an average of $48,007, while men earn an average of $82,009. Controlling for hours worked and education, creative class men out-earn creative class women by 49.2 percent.
According to the 2008-2010 American Community Survey, about 29.2 percent of families whose income in the past 12 months was below the federal poverty level were families headed by single women. It gets worse depending on the presence of young children: 38.1 percent of women-run households with children under 18 were below poverty; 46.1 percent of households with children under 5 were below poverty. In comparison, only 10.5 percent of all American families — and only 5.1 percent of married-couple families — in this survey were making below the poverty level. The aforementioned GAO report found single women with children had an average household income of about $27,000.
Income disparities do not stop at wages, however. Women tend to live longer, they are more likely to outlive their savings and less likely to have significant retirement plans or to have the type of jobs that incur significant pensions. Thus, they disproportionately benefit from Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), women represent about 57 percent of all Social Security beneficiaries age 62 and older and about 69 percent of beneficiaries over 85. In 2008, women 65 and older received an average of $11,377, compared with $14,822 for men.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (PDF), about 56 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries are women, and women are more likely than men to report having three or more chronic conditions.
How do women fare under ‘9-9-9’?
THE PLAN: ‘9-9-9’
With the nation’s attention focused on Cain’s old sexual harassment charges, scrutiny of Cain’s infamous “9-9-9″ Plan is stalled for the moment. According to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center, Cain’s plan would make those earning under $50,000 pay a few thousand dollars more in taxes, while those making between half a million and $1 million would pay nearly $100,000 less in taxes. According to an analysis by the left-leaning Citizens for Tax Justice (PDF), if Cain’s plan were to go into effect today, the richest 1 percent of taxpayers would pay $210,000 less in annual taxes, while the poorest 60 percent of taxpayers would pay $2,000 more in annual taxes.
At the same time, Cain’s proposed plan is expected to raise about the same -– or potentially less –- revenue as the current tax system. Still, a recent poll of likely Iowa Caucus-goers conducted last month shows the average American making under $50,000 annually doesn’t understand the plan and believes he or she would fare better under “9-9-9.”
Cain’s plan is actually a complicated three-step process. Replacing the current tax code with a 9-percent business flat tax (or value-added tax), a 9-percent individual flat tax and a 9-percent national sales tax is only the second step in the process. And as the Tax Policy Center summarizes, combined, the three taxes are equivalent to a 25.4-percent national sales tax, with adjustments for dividends paid to tax-exempt entities and charitable contributions.
The first step in Cain’s plan, explained by The Washington Post, would actually be to cut individual and corporate tax rates to a top-25-percent rate, down from the current high of 35 percent. The third step would be to replace all federal taxes with a national sales tax.
Cain claims under “9-9-9,” Americans who fall under the federal government’s poverty level would be exempt from paying the individual income tax; however, he would eliminate the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), designed to help the working poor, and the Child Tax Credit (CTC). Additionally, he would eliminate payroll tax deductions for employers (except in unspecified “Opportunity Zones”), which currently serve as a hiring incentive. Helping out the wealthy, Cain would get rid of the estate tax and capital gains taxes. His plan, according to Edward D. Kleinbard of the Gould University of Southern California School of Law, involves a “disguised one-time 9 percent tax on existing wealth.”
More from TaxVox, the Tax Policy Center blog:
A middle income household making between about $64,000 and $110,000 would get hit with an average tax increase of about $4,300, lowering its after-tax income by more than 6 percent and increasing its average federal tax rate (including income, payroll, estate and its share of the corporate income tax) from 18.8 percent to 23.7 percent. … In Cain’s world, a typical household making more than $2.7 million would pay a smaller share of its income in federal taxes than one making less than $18,000. This would give Warren Buffet severe heartburn.
EFFECT ON WOMEN
Cain’s plan would eliminate the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which is a refundable credit designed to offset federal payroll and income taxes for low- and moderate-income working people.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), this year, working families with children with annual incomes below $36,000 to $49,000 (depending on marital status and dependents) may be eligible for the EITC. Single individuals without children who make less than $13,600 annually and married couples making less than $18,700 annually would qualify for a small EITC. In 2009, the average EITC was $2,770 for a household with children and $259 for a childless household. According to CBPP, families mostly use this tax credit to pay for necessities, home and vehicle repairs and, sometimes, additional education.
Cain would also kill the Child Tax Credit (CTC), which helps working families pay for child care costs.
According to the Urban Institute, high-working, low-income families spend $3,135 annually, or 12 percent of their income. The Institute estimates that 69 percent of children under 5 with low-income working mothers are cared for regularly by someone other than a parent, and 39 percent of these children are in child care for at least 35 hours per week.
“It would be horrifying to lose [the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit],” said Elizabeth Lower-Basch, a senior policy analyst for the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). “That would particularly affect women.
“We have a basically progressive tax code,” she told TAI. “If we go to a flat code, it would significantly hurt low-income workers.”
Joan Entmacher, vice president for Family Economic Security at the National Women’s Law Center, where she works at promoting policies aimed at improving the economic security of low-income women and their families, told TAI that Cain’s tax proposal appears to affect women worse than the other candidates because his plan is “much harder on lower-income Americans” in the way it would raise taxes on low- and middle-income earners.
Under Cain’s plan, millionaires would get a 17.9-percent tax rate, or a 22-percent boost after taxes. But a single mother earning between $20,000 and $30,000? Her tax rate would be 24.9 percent. In other words, a single mom making $25,000 a year will have to give 25 percent of her income, or $6,250, to taxes.
Cain has proposed creating tax benefits to certain geographic areas in what he calls “Opportunity Zones” (PDF), but he has not been specific about where these zones would be or how they would work.
“Overall, you’re going to be better off if you’re making over $1 million in income, better than single mom trying to raise kids on $25,000 per year,” Entmacher said.
Terry O’Neill, an attorney and professor who is the president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), told TAI that Cain is turning his back on women, many whom depend on the tax programs he wants to eliminate.
“When Mr. Cain wants to take away the Earned Income Tax Credit, he is punishing women who sometimes work two jobs full-time, minimum-wage jobs, just to pay for food and rent,” O’Neill said.
Perry’s postcard proposal cuts more than it balances
During his speech at the Corner Stone Action Dinner in Manchester, N.H., on Oct. 28, Perry repeatedly waved a blank postcard in explaining his tax and economic-policy plan. Like Cain’s plan, Perry’s plan (PDF) is more complicated than he lets on in speeches. Where they differ is in Perry’s explicit details in how Americans would pay for the substantial tax breaks on the highest earners — by eliminating deductions and cutting specific entitlement programs that especially benefit lower-income earners, and women.
THE PLAN: ‘Cut, Balance & Grow’
Taxpayers would be able to choose whether to file their taxes under the current tax code or under a new 20-percent “flat tax.” What Perry has not emphasized is that taxpayers will have to spend time — and potentially money — calculating which plan benefits them more.
Like Cain, Perry has countered claims his plan will result in disproportionately higher taxes for lower- and middle-income families. As an example, Perry points to the provision in his 20-percent flat-tax plan, where families will be eligible for “generous” exemptions of $12,500.
In his proposal, Perry takes a dig at Cain’s proposal to introduce a federal sales tax and a business value-added tax, which he calls “highly regressive,” and uses the working poor to make his case:
When added to existing federal income taxes and state and local income sales taxes, a national sales tax would be highly regressive. Low-income families spend a much higher percentage of their incomes on food and gas than do those with considerable wealth. For example, a household earning $25,000 each year would spend roughly 40% of its income on food, utilities, and health care, while a household earning $130,000 each year would pay less than 15% of its income on those three items.
But because Perry would eliminate the EITC, lower- and middle-income earners would still pay more under his plan than they do now. Using calculations made by the Tax Policy Center, The New York Times estimates single parents with two children making $9,700 annually would pay no income taxes under Perry’s plan but would not receive the $4,885 tax credit they receive under current tax law.
Perry, like Cain, would eliminate the capital gains tax.
EFFECT ON WOMEN
To pay for the plan, Perry has suggested cuts in education and nutritional programs for poor children. He has offered various suggestions for reforming Medicare, which include gradually raising the age of Medicare eligibility, alongside a gradual retirement-age increase under Social Security; paying Medicare benefits on a sliding scale based on income; or by creating bundled premium support payments that would go directly to the individual. He has also proposed block-granting Medicaid payments.
Entmacher told TAI that under Perry’s plan, taxes would go up for the working poor and what she calls the “true middle class” — households making no more than $75,000 per year.
“The Perry plan is particularly hard on single heads of households,” Entmacher said. “They do worse than the working poor.”
As for the remaining GOP candidates in the pack, the one expected to win the nomination, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, has a vague plan. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) have stated support for a flat tax, and all the candidates support eliminating the estate tax.
Romney’s main tax proposal is to end taxes on interest and dividend income for people who earn less than $200,000 a year, but otherwise keep the existing tax system in place. Romney does not support a flat tax or a national sales tax, stating they would largely hurt the middle class. He supports extending most, if not all, of the Bush-era tax cuts.
All of the experts TAI spoke with agreed the tax code needs reforming. With GOP candidates vying for shorter rules in the name of simplicity, Lower-Basch thinks what the tax code actually needs is more tiers and brackets to be more fair, reasoning that households making $250,000 a year should not be taxed the same as those making $1 or $2 million a year. | <urn:uuid:4586f7e9-aed6-48fe-9277-aa745dbe383e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://coloradoindependent.com/105117/gop-gender-gap-may-be-getting-wider | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964183 | 3,260 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Archive for April, 2010
Technology doesn’t slow down. It moves at break neck pace and if you don’t stay with the wave, you’ll be lost in the surf. In my experience, you have two choices. You stay at the forefront and fresh, or you choose a technology and specialize and risk becoming stale. The latter does have it’s benefits and risks, but that’s not the topic of this post. What I’m going to discuss is staying in front in technology and in doing so, constantly learning and doing something that you might not have done before.
One of the strengths of any strong software developer is the ability to learn, develop and apply new technologies as the arise and are the correct solution for a problem. Overcoming intimidation associated with the unknown is a crucial trait that will accelerate any technologist into the upper tier in their field. As I moved through my career, I found myself thinking of a lesson my music teacher shared with me when I was very young. After I learned the basics of music and my instrument, we had a lesson about sight reading new music. This is when you get a piece of music that you’ve never seen before and most likely haven’t heard before and are asked to play it. When first asked to do this I was a bit overwhelmed and unsure of how to approach the problem. He laid it out simply:
“Dustin, you have played this before.” I looked at him perplexed. He said “You’ve played every note in this piece, you understand the language of the music on the page. You just haven’t played the notes in this order yet.” It started to dawn on me. The music started to come together in my head and my fingers instinctively knew what to do. I played the music I had never seen before.
Little did I know at the time how applicable this would be to my chosen carrer in computer science. In university, I learned the basics of logic and programming languages, but what I really learned was how to learn and stay in front of technology. Just as I had built a foundation in music that would allow me to understand and perform any piece put in front of me, I had built a foundation in technology that allowed me to move rapidly and learn new tools to solve the problems in front of me. So now my music are the technical problems I need to solve and my notes are the bits I’ve learned to manipulate along the way. I understand the underlying concepts of solid software, now I just have to arrange the bits using the tools available (or by creating my own) to compose a solution to the challenges I face.
So maybe this post name is a bit misleading. In software, there are many problems that will be solved for the first time and various technologies there to accomplish this goal, but the reality is that the foundation is the same to achieve these goals. | <urn:uuid:fba4686a-2113-4130-a3a2-5e40d8319651> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sparksware.com/2010/04/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981465 | 609 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Here is a couple to get us started. This is song of truthing the God of David for God has chosen Zion the city of David as his habitation.
The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.
12If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore.
13For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.
14 This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.
15I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread.
16I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.
This is also were we fine the 144,000 firstfruits of the redeemed standing on mount Sion.
1And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.
These are also represented in the number of those given thrones to which they are to give judgment as they reign with Christ.
4And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
12Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
Let us also note that the writer of Hebrews said that they have come unto mount Sion and unto the city. The writer was telling them that in the past with Moses the mount was guarded, he then tells them that ye have come unto the mount Sion.
20(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
21And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake)
22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels
This seems to be what is promised rather than heaven. | <urn:uuid:2c73edae-8b12-443b-b06e-b453f809ab4a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.biblewheel.com/forum/showthread.php?2245-Going-to-Heaven&p=31562 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981759 | 573 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Necroposting this one because it interests me a lot...
Was the driving factor behind the 955 chip the cost? Looking at the Sandy Bridge i5s, I wonder how much cooler they'll run at equivalent performance levels, thus allowing reduced fan speeds and lower noise.
Variety is more interesting -- for readers and for us; that was a main motivation. I doubt very much that noise could have been lowered with SB i5; 14 dBA idle and 17~18 dBA full load are extremely low SPL numbers. You would not hear this as a discrete sound source in a typical room. The overclocked settings saw no rise in noise at idle, but peaks of up to 25~26 dBA at full load, and this might be improved with SB.... but keep in mind that our test load is not the same as a gaming load -- it is substantially higher and, critically, steady state. Games are more dynamic, with power demand fluctuating up and down, which is why even OC'd, the max SPL during gaming rarely hit 20 dBA, which again is still very quiet.
On that note, I notice that the cases chosen are optimized for cooling (air flow) and not for silence. To that end, how much of a difference would you expect the modern cases attempting to optimize both? Fractal Design Define series, Lian Li silent chassis, Silver Stone Fortress and Raven series, and Antec P-series cases... all arguably as good as or better than the Nine Hundred and Tempest Evo in terms of air flow, only they also make an effort to do it quietly. With or without some of the common sense case mods (cutting out the exhaust grills to replace with a fan guard for less air resistance, covering unused fans with noise absorbing foam lining a mounting plate, etc.), would this not have a fairly substantial positive impact on overall sound?
Raven & Fortress are not exactly "noise optimized", imo, though both can be used for very quiet systems. But to answer your questions, imo, I don't think those other cases would make this system any quieter, and even if they did have any effect on overall noise, I question whether that difference would be audible or appreciable -- ie, when the noise level is close to or below the room ambient, further improvements are difficult to hear. (Assuming the typical 1m or greater distance between user and PC.) I also think there might be some slight penalty in cooling with most of those cases except the Silverstones. Most of the cases you mentioned are a little pricier, too -- the Antec 900 is a <$100 case. The noise blocking effect of damping foam and thin sheet metal or plastic is modest at best, and any case that has good airflow has big holes which mitigate the sound damping. This is a primary reason for our general recommendation to reduce noise at the source (ie, choose quieter components to start with) rather than trying to suppress the noise after it has already been generated. An aside:
In most case, I actually prefer the sound of fans (and other noise makers) when they are unenclosed, rather than enclosed. Most components are easier to cool, and fan speeds can be totally minimized, making the overall sound extremely low in level and almost entirely broadband. I run a 4-core 3.2 GHz Phenom II HTPC on an open platform (a piece of plywood big enough for all the components) on an open shelf in the stand under my TV, and its single 500rpm 12cm fan is completely inaudible all the time.
Putting noise sources like fans and HDDs into a smallish box does several things:
* overall SPL is reduced a bit, maybe 3~6 dBA, but not evenly -- ie, sounds at some frequencies are more reduced.
* if sounds at some frequencies fall below audibility, the overall noise becomes less broadband, and the remaining audible noise becomes more tonal (ie, peaky).
* the case (enclosure) itself has air resonances, typically <200Hz, and these of combine with the noise of the components (esp. HDDs) to add a throaty bassy FM radio announcer effect.
All of the above makes an unenclosed quiet system quieter for me than that same system enclosed in a case. Of course, unenclosed systems are far less practical. | <urn:uuid:1783af6a-3cb2-4de1-8fec-569523296fee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=530253 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956641 | 899 | 1.828125 | 2 |
UNC School of Law professor Richard Rosen '76 is the recipient of the seventh annual Ned Brooks Award for Public Service, awarded by the Carolina Center for Public Service and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Public Service and Engagement at its annual service awards ceremony on April 17. The award is named for Brooks, a faculty member and administrator at Carolina since 1972, and recognizes a faculty or staff member who has built a sustained record of community service through individual efforts and promoted the involvement and guidance of others.
Rosen was recognized for his promotion of justice and the preparation of the next generation of lawyers for conscientious and zealous advocacy within the judicial system, especially through his advocacy of the law school clinical experience, which gives students practice experience while at the same time serving a real need for legal representation by low-income families. Rosen is founder of the UNC Innocence Project. Previous honors include being the 2006-2007 Pro Bono Faculty Member of the Year and the 2008 Thomas Paine Award.
Rosen became the first supervising attorney in the Criminal Law Clinic at UNC, and now teaches criminal law and procedure. Rosen received a Fulbright Fellowship for the 1995-1996 academic year, under which he taught at the University of Asmara, Eritrea. He has written in the areas of criminal law and capital punishment.
The Carolina Center for Public Service leads the University's engagement efforts and service to the state of North Carolina and beyond by linking the expertise and energy of faculty, staff and students to people in need.
-April 17, 2009 | <urn:uuid:e1fa3fb9-61ff-493c-9a63-98d00a6aeba8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.law.unc.edu/news/story.aspx?cid=253 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973057 | 312 | 1.5 | 2 |
Tervita Corporation, a leading North American environmental and energy services company, announced the official opening of its new South Taylor treatment, recovery and disposal (TRD) facility.
This high-volume, state-of-the-art facility, located 10 km south of Taylor, B.C., will become a premier center for oilfield waste processing in northeastern British Columbia.
"Oil and gas companies in the region are looking for environmentally sustainable ways to deal with potentially harmful waste materials produced at their sites," said John Gibson, Tervita president and CEO. "In addition, government agencies and local communities have high standards for the proper handling of waste. We intend to exceed their expectations at our new facility."
Safety was one of Tervita's primary considerations both in selecting and preparing the site location. "To ensure safety on the main site access road and minimize truck traffic on local secondary roads, we took specific measures such as widening the access road to provide acceleration and deceleration lanes," said Gibson.
The South Taylor TRD will employ up to 16 workers from the Peace region and its operational investments will contribute to the community each year. "Our environmental services and facilities not only play a vital role in the oil and gas industry," Gibson added, "but also help ensure a robust local economy."
Tervita continues to invest in infrastructure in northeastern British Columbia, with two new wastewater treatment facilities in Maxhamish and Mile 103 scheduled to be fully operational by the end of June. Tervita also maintains a network of environmental solutions in the area, including other TRD facilities, landfills, salt water disposal facilities and a waste transfer station.
By expanding its regional infrastructure, Tervita is helping oil and gas companies minimize the costs of waste processing by reducing travel distances to facilities. This lowers transportation costs, enables customers to improve safety and minimizes traffic, road wear and greenhouse gas emissions. | <urn:uuid:f8594061-63d2-4e77-87a8-90bdda6694b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.downstreamtoday.com/(S(5zs5wrz5rpmpb1nnvncmkz55))/news/article.aspx?a_id=36470&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953507 | 388 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Two private member's bills have been introduced into Australian
parliament in the latest bid for same-sex marriage fairness.
The new bills mark a total of three formal submissions now
requesting gay marriage.
According to the Associated Foreign Press, the latter two were
submitted by Green Party's Adam Bandt and Labor's Stephen
Although neither have enough backing to pass into law, but they
are considered an important step in the long road to gay and
lesbian federal marriage.
Currently, Australia's Prime Minister - Julia Gillard - opposes
extending the institution to same-sex couples, despite increasing
public activism from campaigners.
"The Jones bill demonstrates the immense momentum behind
reform," Alex Greenwich, convenor of the Australian Marriage
Equality lobby group, told AFP.
"Three months ago the Labor Party was officially opposed to
reform and now we have a Labor member leading the way towards | <urn:uuid:1287b897-7c45-4178-b98f-8279a647ec0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.divamag.co.uk/category/news/bills-calling-for-gay-marriage-enter-australian-parliament.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933948 | 190 | 1.640625 | 2 |
My take on webOS and Mozilla
December 11, 2011
HP announced yesterday that they’re going to open source webOS. No matter what one may think of webOS (or HP), this is great news. It’s an opportunity, but it remains to be seen what HP and others will do with it.
Several people I’ve spoken to or chatted with are wondering whether (or even suggesting that) Mozilla should embrace webOS. On the surface, it makes a lot of sense. “webOS” is about the “web”, right?
Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s as simple as that. webOS is a technologically interesting stack, but it’s just a stack. Sure, it happens to be one that is very portable and might have a low entry barrier for developers. But WebKit and V8 do not a web make. And an app written in JS does not a web app make.
Enter Mozilla’s Boot to Gecko (B2G) project. On the surface, this too sounds like just another stack: you’re booting into Gecko instead of WebKit — so what’s the difference?
Well, B2G’s goal is about moving the entire web forward to a place where it can run a mobile phone — not run on a mobile phone but run the phone. Sure, we’re using Gecko to do this, but this is just a means to an end. Just like most of our other efforts that drive the web forward also use Gecko and Firefox as a carrier pigeon. Mozilla’s mission, after all, is to move the internet and the web forward, not make a browser or a rendering engine.
So what does driving the web rather than just particular stack forward mean? It means introducing and standardizing APIs to control just about every bit of hardware on modern phones, from the various radios to the cameras and storage devices. The idea is to level the playing field: there’s not just one stack and there’s not just one vendor in control. Just like on the web.
As a result, carriers, OEMs, and most importantly users, will be able replace and/or improve bits of the stack as they see fit and there’s also absolutely no red tape that keeps them from doing so (except for broadcasting/networking regulations, of course). This is quite different from, say, Android. It also nicely illustrates the difference between “open source” and “open”. Android is just one of those two, and it remains to be seen what webOS will be like.
I think herein lies webOS’s opportunity. The mobile landscape already has enough red tape stacks and it’s starting to disenfranchise people, and I’m sure companies too, at a large scale. If one could get anybody engaged in something new, it would be them. But not with another proprietary stack. With one that’s open.
If HP wants to give webOS the web credentials it doesn’t deserve right now, they should join Mozilla at the standards table and make webOS a “Boot to WebKit”. Competition and choice is what made the web great. Let’s do it again. And again. | <urn:uuid:04f910cc-3fbd-4c9d-8417-f538b8c1c0b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://philikon.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/take-webos-mozilla/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938745 | 698 | 1.59375 | 2 |
California is broke. You hear the Guvenator hollering about it all the time. Now here’s an opportunity for more cash flow into the state, but right away the obstructionist Democratic government uses the same tired rhetoric to say no to oil drilling. There is so much oil off the coast of Santa Barbara it bubbles up from the bottom of the ocean and fouls the beaches. Some extra drilling could probably help with that too. Now I don’t know how much money expanding an oil drilling operation might bring in, but keep in mind, this is California, you need to pay for an EPA study and a permit just to fart.
LOS ANGELES —- Lt. Gov. John Garamendi said Thursday he opposes allowing a company to expand oil drilling off the coast of Santa Barbara because it could signal that California wants to renew offshore drilling.
Garamendi chairs the three-member State Lands Commission, which is set to consider a request next week to lease land to Plains Exploration & Production Co. for the drilling project.
“It raises many issues, doesn’t it?” he asked. “It’s been a long, long time since there’s been new leases in California, so the precedent is really, really important.”
Garamendi said revenue from any new offshore drilling should be used to reduce the state’s dependency on oil.
“I’m a no vote unless and until the revenue from any new lease goes to reduce greenhouse gas emission issues,” he said.
Even the environmentalists are for the expanded drilling.
In a landmark partnership, several anti-oil groups supported the drilling plan in exchange for promises by the company to shut down its local operations within 14 years and give away thousands of acres of land.
The criticism came as a surprise to the Santa Barbara environmental groups that lobbied hard for the project.
Linda Krop, an attorney representing the Environmental Defense Center, Get Oil Out! and the Citizens Planning Association of Santa Barbara, hopes the panel can be persuaded to issue permits to drill.
“Our fear is that we’ll lose all these benefits if this project is denied,” Krop said.
So what’s the problem? Democrats. They are always the problem.
Critics in the state Assembly and Coastal Commission recently challenged the proposal, saying it could encourage even more drilling in the future.
Garamendi said he has spoken with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as well as other members of the California congressional delegation who expressed “significant concern” that approving a drilling proposal could undercut their efforts to reintroduce a federal moratorium on the practice.
State Lands executive officer Paul Thayer said staff’s recommendation came in part because the proposal violated a long-standing position held by the commission.
“The commission has established a policy that offshore oil drilling in California is less beneficial to the state than the things that might be harmed by it,” Thayer said.
So there you have it. The problem is, as always, Democrats and their tired old rhetoric. It’s their policy, what the majority of people may want means nothing to them.
Filed under: Democrats, Drill Here, Drill Now, Environment, Follow The Money, Global Warming Cult, News and Politics, Oil Tagged: | Democrats, Environmentalists, Follow The Money, Global Warming Cult, Liberalism is a mental disorder, News and Politics, Offshore Oil, Oil, Santa Barbara | <urn:uuid:19f5df40-8364-4148-863b-094e41c35648> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://robertd.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/well-theres-yer-problem/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944015 | 729 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Republican candidate for Virginia governor, Bob McDonnell, speaks to a crowd Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009 in Williamsburg, Va. during a campaign swing through the area. (AP Photo/The Daily Press, Rob Ostermaier) **MAGS OUT, NO SALES, INTERNET OUT, TV OUT**
WASHINGTON -- Most Americans won't vote Tuesday.
Still, a handful of elections in a few states will give hints about this country's state of mind, provide lessons for both Republicans and Democrats, and shed light on answers to a few important questions a year before pivotal 2010 midterm contests.
Among them: Did President Barack Obama's campaigning in Virginia and New Jersey persuade the diverse voting coalition that lifted him to victory in 2008 to turn out for Democratic candidates in 2009? Did fickle independents stick with the Democratic Party? Did the out-of-power GOP overcome fissures within its ranks to find a winning strategy?
On Tuesday, Virginia and New Jersey are choosing governors, voters in upstate New York and northern California are deciding who should fill two vacant congressional seats, and New York City and Atlanta are picking mayors. Maine will vote on whether to permit gay marriage while Ohio will choose whether to allow casinos.
These races are hardly bellwethers; people are voting on local issues and personalities. Still, national forces such as the recession are having an effect, and Obama has spent considerable time campaigning this fall, particularly for candidates in Virginia and New Jersey.
"This guy has been working as hard as he promised. And so now the question is, how do you respond?" Obama said Sunday as he urged voters to back embattled Democratic incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine in New Jersey. "We will not lose this election if all of you are as committed as you were last year."
Despite Obama's involvement in the races, even Republicans caution against reading too much into the election's results.
"It's a great overstatement to say this is a referendum on President Obama, but his policies have had a lot of effect on people's thinking," Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, the chairman of the Republican Governor's Association, told CNN on Sunday. "People are worried about jobs. ... Most Americans can't understand why the government keeps spending so much money. They don't see much effect from it."
Here's what to watch for on Tuesday:
OBAMA'S 2008 COALITION:
Does Obama have coattails?
The president won by cobbling together new voters from traditional Democratic-base demographics, particularly blacks, youth and Hispanics, along with disaffected Republicans and self-identified independents nationwide and in traditionally GOP-leaning states such as Virginia.
The unknown is whether those voters will stay with Democrats or turn out at all if Obama isn't on the ballot.
Both Corzine and Democratic candidate R. Creigh Deeds in Virginia desperately need party loyalists and Obama 2008 voters to swamp the polls.
Corzine's challenge is complicated by independent Chris Daggett, who's siphoning away votes in the three-way contest that includes Republican Chris Christie.
In Virginia, Deeds is trailing Republican Bob McDonnell in polls largely because independents are tilting away from the Democrat. So the voters Obama lured into the electorate become even more important.
Obama went in big in both states, campaigning on the Democrats' behalf and allowing his image to be used in TV ads for them, linking himself to their fate.
He didn't really have a choice. The Democratic base would have chafed at the party standard-bearer turning his back on the rank and file, and Obama's influence will be questioned regardless of whether Democrats win or lose the races.
How do they feel?
Independents always have heft, but frustration across the country with both Republicans and Democrats is adding to it. How that anger manifests itself could signal anti-incumbent sentiment among a group that leaned left last year. Do independents stay home? Do they vote against the party in power?
Or, in New Jersey, do they vote for a third-party candidate trying to capitalize on the disillusionment? Can Daggett harness people's bitterness or will he become a spoiler because of financial and organizational deficiencies?
Regardless, Democrats and Republicans almost certainly will have to revamp their strategies to ensure they're attracting both independents and base voters next fall -- or risk repeats of 2009's three-way races.
Virginia may offer the best measure of independent voters' sentiments.
This longtime Republican stronghold has become a new swing state in presidential elections largely because of the swiftly growing far-flung suburbs outside Washington that are filled with independent-minded voters. Obama targeted such areas to become the first Democrat to win the state since 1964, and they will determine who wins Virginia on Tuesday.
New Jersey historically has been a Democratic-leaning state in White House races, and Obama has stronger ratings in the state than in Virginia. Yet, in New Jersey, too, independents' behavior will be critical given Daggett's candidacy.
Can Republicans win again?
For decades, Virginia and New Jersey have chosen for governor the party that's not in the White House. So Democrats say Republicans should win both.
But Democrats control the White House, Congress and the governor's mansions in both states. So a Democratic loss in either state will be a setback. And one or more victories will be heartening to a GOP that lost its grip on Congress and the White House in back-to-back elections.
Look to Virginia to see how Republicans may try to rebound next fall.
If McDonnell wins, it will be partly because he focused on pocketbook issues rather than emphasizing social issues even though he's a conservative and Deeds attacked him as outside of the mainstream.
This may be the take away: The economy trumps all. Social conservatives get on board.
Conversely, a special election in New York's 23rd Congressional District already has provided a troubling lesson for the GOP. The race underscored a deep schism between the Republican Party and its conservative base.
The party divided between GOP candidate Dierdre Scozzafava, who supports abortion rights and gay marriage, and Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate. That split threatened to give Democrat Bill Owens the win. Then, trailing badly in polls, Scozzafava bowed out Saturday, and the GOP establishment swung behind Hoffman as it looked to ensure a Republican victory in the longtime GOP district.
One day later, Scozzafava underscored the Republican Party split by endorsing Owens.
In that case, this is the take away: The GOP still isn't unified -- no matter the scorecard on Tuesday. | <urn:uuid:cd0fdfc7-24f8-47ea-be6a-c8606014f47f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2009/nov/02/handful-of-elections-shed-light-on-us-politics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956758 | 1,365 | 1.601563 | 2 |
UK internet providers lose copyright court battle
Court rules ISPs cannot stay out of piracy arguments.
The High Court has endorsed Britain's new copyright rules, siding with the music industry over internet providers in a battle over online filesharing.
The Digital Economy Act - similar to rules already in place in France and Ireland - forces internet service providers (ISPs) to send an escalating series of warnings to users suspected of illegally swapping movies and music. Eventually, service providers can suspend repeat offenders' access to the web.
The controversy over the British rules has mirrored debates over online copyright enforcement in the United States, Australia and elsewhere. Film studios, record labels and other creative groups argue that the rules are needed to stanch the flow of illegal content flooding the internet; while service providers and civil liberties groups fear that the regime will choke off free expression.
Leading British internet companies BT Group and the TalkTalk Telecom Group took their case to court, arguing that the act would be unnecessarily expensive and invade users' privacy. A lower court rebuffed BT and TalkTalk, and on Tuesday a three-judge panel at London's Court of Appeal endorsed the earlier judgment, to the delight of entertainment lobbying groups.
"Once again the court is on the side of the almost two million workers in the creative industries whose livelihoods are put at risk because creative content is stolen on a daily basis," said Christine Payne, who leads actors' union Equity.
David Puttnam, the president of the Film Distributors' Association, said he hoped the judgment would bring an end to "a long chapter of uncertainty," saying he hoped the Digital Economy Act could help alert consumers, particularly young people, to "the damage piracy inflicts on the whole of the creative community." | <urn:uuid:847e3e49-50c5-4953-b1ac-9951dc016ce6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/business-it/uk-internet-providers-lose-copyright-court-battle-20120307-1ujfa.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933567 | 355 | 1.632813 | 2 |
For the love of God, and in the name of Gutenberg… STOP writing your book!
There’s a rumor going around, about the mysterious way a book is created. Someone locks themselves in a room, pushes words from their brain, through their fingers, into a manuscript, until a book appears.
Arduous. Pixie dust is somehow involved. And bouts with depression.
There’s an even uglier rumor; that books are formed like pop music groups. Market research, topics, and trends are carefully combined to create a “hit.”
And the months go by…
Aspiring authors invest months, sometimes years, writing, self-editing, and polishing their book. Countless grammatical and spelling checks. Page formatting and just-right fonts. I personally like checking word counts, how about you?
Our conversations usually start like this:
“I just finished my book! (Panting… Puppy dog eyes opened wide) Can you help me publish it?”
Being the eternal optimist, I check it out.
Many times there is not a clear purpose, progression, or outcome. Too often, the title and subtitle are bland, but by now they are verbally and philosophically embedded in the manuscript. And sometimes the book just isn’t good – but not because the author has nothing compelling to say.
By the way – creating a “bad” DRAFT is part of the process. (Thank you, Anne Lamott) The tragedy intensifies when many months of effort are invested PERFECTING a bad draft. So, what’s a writer to do?
Your book is like a house
There are many great resources that inspire writers to keep writing. Hide those in the freezer for now, OK? Think about your book like building a house.
Once you decide to build, you could go to the lumber store, get some materials, and get to work building it. Listen to those saws and hammers!
Or, you could STOP. Make a wish-list. Consider the comparable properties and plan curb appeal. Talk with an architect to imagine concepts, budgets, and most importantly, to challenge you with questions you’ve never considered.
Which option has a better chance of producing your dream home? Which would produce a higher value to prospective buyers? This is the value of creating your blueprint for writing.
Can I start hammering yet?
Here are a few practical questions that help “architect” a book:
· Premise – Why does this book exist? Amazon carries some pretty good ones already.
· What’s the outcome we’re looking for? “I loved this book because…”
· The Market and Motivation – Who will buy this, and why?
· Who are “Competitors”? (And why is your book different?)
· How will this strengthen (or confuse) your brand?
These are components of a good book proposal. Yes, designing a remarkable house, that appreciates in value, can be more challenging than the actual construction.
You are the general contractor of your book
There’s a Proverb about construction, from a very influential writer named Sol.
By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. (Chapter 24, line 3)
My translation for authors would be: By inspiration, a book idea is conceived, and through counsel and learning it is designed; through knowledge its chapters are filled with unique and beautiful treasures.
See the progression?
Inspiration starts, then deeper understanding builds a great foundation. Then the decorating! Of course inspiration happens all along the way. Impulse buys and change-orders are part of the process. It’s messy – just like building a house.
“Drop the pen! Step awaaaaay from the laptop!”
I love reading all those acknowledgements in a book. The people listed are all architects, in some way or another. Many people skip these names; friends, family, publisher, editor, reviewers, encouragers. But without this team, there’s no book – usually not a good one, anyway.
Musicians have producers. Entrepreneurs have business plans. Filmmakers have storyboards and private screening rooms. Who’s helping you make your art the best it can be?
Stop writing and back away from the book – so you can see it!
Ask yourself tough questions. Then bring wise counsel into your inner circle. Let them huff and puff and try to blow your house down.
When your plans are as solid as a rock, for the love of God, write!
Interested in some architectural planning? Contact us! | <urn:uuid:cf7a4ca5-24ac-43a9-af7d-b56592b54538> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vaughnstreet.com/vst_blog/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944805 | 1,001 | 1.515625 | 2 |
While the exact origins of the art form we call theater are debatable, most folks would agree that theater emerged from ritual.
Early societies had various ceremonies to ensure successful crops or to ward off enemies. They told myths about supernatural forces or heroic figures and the repetition of these stories over time paved the way for theater.
It may seem a bit highfalutin, but I found myself thinking about myth, ritual and tradition at The Gaslight Theatre's latest production, The Lone Stranger. The musical revue riffs off the iconic 1950s television show The Lone Ranger, about a masked man who fights for justice in the Old West.
The show serves all the functions of ancient ritual: It retells a mythic story about a heroic figure. It brings people together in a festive atmosphere, complete with food, drink and merrymaking. And like all Gaslight productions, The Lone Stranger preserves cultural traditions by celebrating forms of entertainment—vaudeville, musical revue, classic television—that have fallen by the wayside elsewhere.
In typical Gaslight style, Peter Van Slyke, the writer and director, spoofs the well-known Lone Ranger tale and adds in live music, dancing and lots of contemporary pop-culture jokes. For instance, our Lone Stranger, played by Todd Thompson on the night I saw the show, goes by the name Cade Winslow. But the rest of the cast keeps referring to him as Kate Winslet and telling him how much they enjoyed his film Titanic.
One of the best parts of The Lone Stranger is watching Thompson's serious hero banter with Joe Cooper, who plays his irreverent sidekick, Tonka. When they venture off script, they get even better.
Cooper has improvised his own Gaslight tradition. If you've seen a show with him in it, you know that at a certain point, he's going to deviate from the script, eschewing his lines in favor of off-the-cuff remarks. Cooper "forgets" his lines, then jokes about it and tries to make his fellow actors break character by laughing. And every time, these moments get huge laughs from the audience.
You'd have to be pretty stone-hearted not to crack a smile at the show's mixture of silly jokes, melodrama, song and dance. (Basic but fun choreography is provided by Sarah Vanek).
The scenery is deliberately old-fashioned too. Designer Tom Benson and his technical staff make no attempt at realism, but their stage work—which includes flying axes, horses and a moving stagecoach—runs like clockwork.
Live music is provided by the excellent Linda Ackermann, the company musical director, on piano; Blake Matthies on bass guitar; and Adam Ackermann on drums.
In true mythic fashion, Gaslight has put on The Lone Stranger many times. While the show changes a bit with every incarnation, Stranger is one of the company's staples. Actor Jake Chapman, who plays the Durango Kid, notes in his actor's bio that The Lone Stranger was the first Gaslight show he ever saw.
Many of the actors have worked with the company for a long time. Van Slyke signed on for the first Tucson season in 1978. Two of The Lone Stranger's cast members have been with Gaslight for 30 years: Armen Dirtadian, who plays the villain, Craven, and Cooper, who takes on the role of Tonka.
All this together make Gaslight's shows a local ritual, if you will, with deep local roots. Ancient Greek plays—one of the earliest forms of theater—were performed to honor the god Dionysus, the deity of wine, excess and general good times. There's no excess at Gaslight shows—this is a family establishment, after all—but you can order wine, beer and eats from the adjacent Little Anthony's Diner.
In true ritual fashion, the production follows the time-honored Gaslight pattern. Before the show, the musical trio encourages you to sing along to well-known country songs. The sing-along is followed by the show proper; you can eat your dinner, sip on your drink, or simply nibble your free bowl of popcorn as you follow the antics of the mock-heroic Lone Stranger. After the show, if it's your birthday or anniversary, you get free ice cream, and those who have served in the armed forces are given a round of applause.
There's an "Olio Act" at the end, in which the Lone Stranger cast comes back as performers in an old variety show, Hee Haw. While the singing and dancing in the Olio is always impressive, it's a little too much, like having an extra helping of apple pie when you should have stuck to just one.
But the Olio is part of the tradition, and everything runs a certain way at a Gaslight show. There's a comforting familiarity to that.
Keep the ritual alive by paying The Lone Stranger a visit. | <urn:uuid:72f88ec8-85d1-45f9-aa3b-a340a147d644> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/lone-stranger-rides-again/Content?oid=3638170 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95488 | 1,027 | 1.523438 | 2 |
|Dodd-Frank Mandates Registering Municipal Advisors But Congressional Committee Says SEC's Proposed Rule Is Over The Top|
|Monday, July 23, 2012 13:16|
A Congressional hearing on Friday, both Republicans and Democrats said that legislation the SEC is seeking that would require municipal advisors to register crosses into over regulation. The legislation was mandated by Dodd-Frank and was proposed by the SEC in December 2010.
This Website Is For Financial Professionals Only
The fear of the industry is that the rule would classify too many people—even local officials and bank tellers—as fiduciaries, subjecting them to fiduciary standards and increasing costs for local and state governments.
A new bill was introduced that more specifically classifies municipal advisors as those who formally give advice to governments on financing municipal projects. This exemption would also include brokers and municipal securities dealers. It would also prevent municipal advisors from being classified as fiduciaries.
The mandate for municipal advisors to register comes as the result of the current ability for practically anyone to label himself as an advisor, even if they are not qualified to be one or have fraudulent intent.
But the SEC’s proposed rule goes overboard and could even include municipal underwriters. Part of being an underwriter is being impartial to either side. If an underwriter had to become a fiduciary, loyalty to one side or the other would have to enter the picture. | <urn:uuid:1825576e-bea3-410c-90a2-31baa43ba215> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://advisors4advisors.com/compliance/regulatory/article/15988-dodd-frank-mandates-registering-municipal-advisors-but-congressional-committee-says-secs-proposed-rule-is-over-the-top | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977386 | 290 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Wisconsin citizens have begun state-wide grassroots movement to recall Scott Walker.
The movement to recall Scott Walker has begun. Officially, the recall election cannot be held until Walker’s one-year anniversary in office, but United Wisconsin is attempting to collect 700,000 online pledges (far above the 540,208 signatures needed to trigger a recall).
If you live in Wisconsin and would like to sign a pledge to recall Walker, visit the United Wisconsin website. While an online pledge might not achieve much in the short-term, it will help with the logistics of gathering the petition signatures when the time comes. It also an undeniable symbolic act, especially if the online pledges exceed 540,208.
As of March 16th, 2011, United Wisconsin has gathered 162,100 online pledges, nearly a third of the required recall total. All of this in but a few weeks of action. | <urn:uuid:47bab7f9-e72c-45a0-8c2d-459a1789c8c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/64455/the-grassroots-movement-to-recall-governor-scott-walker/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933418 | 180 | 1.601563 | 2 |
WASHINGTON (NCBA) — The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is extremely disappointed that Taiwan has reversed its decision on a carefully negotiated science-based bilateral beef trade protocol. Despite a recent agreement to allow a full reopening of the Taiwan market to U.S. beef, lawmakers in Taiwan announced yesterday that additional restrictions would be placed on U.S. beef imports, due to alleged safety concerns.
“In our view, the issues expressed by politicians in Taiwan have absolutely no basis in scientific fact and fly in the face of Taiwan’s own risk assessment,” said Gregg Doud, NCBA chief economist. “To suggest that there are any safety concerns related to U.S. beef is outrageous.“
After two years of negotiations, the U.S. and Taiwan reached an agreement, finalized in October, which would have brought Taiwan into compliance with science-based World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) guidelines, thus allowing imports of U.S. beef and beef products from cattle of all ages. Taiwan appears to have disregarded sound science and ignored the agreement by placing additional restrictions on beef and beef product sales to Taiwan.
“This is a purely domestic political issue in Taiwan,” said Doud. “U.S. beef producers are sick and tired of being used as a political football.”
The U.S. has exported record sales to Taiwan over the last three years, with beef exports valued at: $101 million in 2006; $107 million in 2007; and $128 million in 2008. We’re on pace to set a record for the fourth year in a row in 2009, with $114 million in beef sales through October.
“Taiwan’s decision to abrogate a portion of this agreement is extremely disappointing,” Doud continued. “It’s particularly concerning given the fact that we considered Taiwan to be a trusted trading partner as a member of the World Trade Organization.”
NCBA is urging the Obama Administration to explore every available option to rectify this situation as soon as possible. | <urn:uuid:841facf4-ab85-42a2-93ba-bdb18d389aed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foodmanufacturing.com/news/2010/01/ncba-denounces-taiwan-beef-trade-restrictions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962867 | 440 | 1.554688 | 2 |
INDIANTOWN, Fla. - Beyond the war memorial that stands off a rural Martin County road, sits a man in an empty field. But he holds the plans for what will rise up from this spot.
Three months ago, tornadoes ripped through the Treasure Coast. While there was some home damage in Indian River County, the Raymond Darling VFW Post 60-23 in Indiantown was destroyed.
"For sure it turned us upside down," said VFW Commander David Shelton.
Fortunately, no one was inside the building at the time of the storm.
Shelton now calls this a blessing in disguise.
"We're now able to build a building to meet the needs of the veterans and their families in this community and also to serve the needs of the community," said Shelton.
The site plan includes a new 6,500 square foot building to be built in front of where the old one stood. The new building will be several times larger, and made of steel to better withstand high winds.
"It's bolted altogether all the way around. It should withstand another tornado if one were to hit on this property," added Shelton.
Before any new building can be placed there, there's still the matter of getting rid of the rest of the old building.
This Saturday, members of the VFW will head out to the pasture behind their property and get rid of the debris remaining from that old building.
So far, the Post has raised about $24,000 dollars -- about half the cost of their new home.
Like a general on the battlefield, Shelton wants to execute his plan and be in the new home by this Veterans Day.
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Latest Local News Stories | <urn:uuid:d9786244-e254-4e38-bf27-25da9357c036> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_martin_county/indiantown/a-new-building-for-a-new-year-is-the-aim-of-a-vfw-post-destroyed-by-a-twister | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961315 | 378 | 1.515625 | 2 |
When I had been reading independently for a couple of years, I tackled David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I was an ambitious young thing and eager to prove myself capable of plowing through those 12 (Braille) volumes. I was nine years old. It was slow going and I quit after the first chapter. I looked up "caul" in the dictionary.
A year or so later I gave it another go and half-way through the second chapter, quit again. It was not because the book was too long. Jane Eyre and Gone with the Wind were under my belt by then. It was just dull. However, I did not give up on Dickens. I read Great Expectations and was intrigued, though I thought it strange and a bit macabre. I struggled through A Tale of Two Cities more out of stubbornness than pleasure. I knew nothing of the French Revolution and those sentences--by the end of one I had forgotten the middle, let alone the beginning. I was continually puzzled about the characters and their relationships. But, I finished it.
Consequently, I had a little prejudice against Dickens. I thought he was ponderous and stiff and nothing enticed me to crack one of his books for another 30 years. My local library had Bleak House on digital recording. I got a lot of housecleaning done because I couldn't stop listening to it. The next year my son and I read Oliver Twist. He was much more intrigued with that than I had been with David Copperfield.
Yes, Dickens is long. Yes, his characters are often odd--to say the least (who are "dust men"?). The protagonist, however, is usually intriguing and innocent of all the secret plots surrounding him. The more I read his books, the more I anticipated sinking into a story with seemingly endless twists and turns, where characters wandered in and out of the hero's life, and where, after all the misfortunes, everything tied up nicely with a happy conclusion. (Isn't that one of the joys of reading--having things come out the way you long for in real life?) Rather than dark, I was surprised by the jokes and hilarious asides sprinkled throughout his prose.
One of the reasons I turned back to Dickens was that my mentor, Charlotte Mason, referred to him often. I was curious about what she had enjoyed reading. As an adult, I had a lot more life experience that helped me relate to his novels. For one thing, I had been homeschooling for 25 years and actually knew about the Industrial Revolution and something of the appalling conditions of the poor in England in that supposedly blissful Victorian era. After years of being unconsciously haunted by my unfinished reading of David Copperfield, I also discovered it was autobiographical. I'm a sucker for life stories.
These confessions are not to say that your better educated homeschooled children have to wait for adulthood as I did to read Mr. Dickens. In fact, I wish I hadn't waited so long to read this masterful storyteller's tales. I am suggesting, though, that it is okay to take your time in reading a book. Many parents are concerned when their children pick up a book and don't finish it. Reading is not about getting a job done. It is about growing. Let your children grow up with the books and they will grow into them in their own sweet time.
I just finished David Copperfield--46 years after opening to page 1.
For the joy of reading, | <urn:uuid:20c14889-7449-4340-8f42-72e32f074348> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.livingbookslibrary.com/2012/02/i-finally-finished-reading-it.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988461 | 719 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Common areas of our residence halls offer residents places to gather socially, grab a snack, study, watch TV, play video games, and bake cookies. These areas and their furnishings are for all residents to enjoy.
Each residence hall kitchen or kitchenette has a microwave, an electric range and oven, a refrigerator/freezer, as well as counter space and cabinets. While kitchens are not intended to prepare a resident's daily meals, residents have the option to bake and prepare food for special occasions. Certain appliances can only be used in kitchens.
Vending machines are available in every residence hall to satisfy that craving for a snack or cold beverage. All vending machines accept ID Express so residents won't need to keep a stash of coins for when that need for chocolate or something salty arises.
There is at least one study lounge and one TV lounge in each traditional residence hall. Some TV lounges include a kitchen or kitchenette. Lounge TVs have basic cable service and can also be used for gaming. Study lounges are equipped with Internet ports where students can plug in a laptop or notebook computer and log onto the campus network. Study lounges are also "wireless" access locations. Lounges are used for floor programs and can be reserved for special occasions (see your Residence Director). | <urn:uuid:b391ba3f-4f98-4f92-9d2d-0a50f3a421b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ithaca.edu/reslife/guide/amenities/common_areas/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942247 | 264 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Derived from the familiar nickname used to address a young boy.
Sonny Bono was one half of the music and acting duet Sonny and Cher. In his later years he went into politics and became the Representative from California 44th District from 1994-1998.
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In my last post I discussed how the use of the internet has expedited some of my research. However, I’ve also learned that sometimes we can become too reliant on databases, web searches and other online tools. Sometimes we just need to go back to basics.
Such is the case in my search for a photo of Flora (Stanwood) Simpson. Aunt Flora was one of those people that stayed put. Since she was found year after year, census after census, in the same place, I got to “know” Aunt Flora better than many of the other Aunts and Uncles in my family tree. Flora was married three times. She was widowed at the age of 25 when her first husband, Morton Howe, died, leaving her with four small children. Next she married John Miller. This marriage was brief, as in 1900 she married her third and final husband, Oliver Fred Simpson.
My grandmother, Goldie Simpson, recalled seeing Aunt Flora when she herself was very young. She remember this “very old woman with wrinkled socks.” Since my grandmother was only 3 years old at the time, she couldn’t offer many other details. However, she did remember many of Flora’s step chlidren, who were my grandmother’s first-cousins. The relationship is a bit complicated, but the short story is that there were two Stanwood women who married two Simpson brothers.
Aunt Flora was the first. As mentioned, her third husband was Oliver Fred Simpson, or “Fred” for short. When Uncle Fred died in 1917, Flora’s neice, Susan Stanwood, attended the funeral. Fred’s brother, Ernest Simpson, did as well. I don’t know if it was love at first sight, but my guess is that it was. Ernest wrote poems about sitting in Northfield, talking for hours with Susan under the back porch light. That was the summer of 1917. Susan and Ernest married in January of 1918, and their only child, my grandmother, Goldie, was born October of 1921.
With such a role in my great-grandparents’ introduction, Flora has somewhat captivated me. For many years I had sought a photo of Aunt Flora, and the only one I was able to obtain came in the early 1990′s, a very poor quality xerox copy provided by a distant cousin researching the Sisco and Simpson families. It was better than nothing, but not by much.
One day as I was transferring files and organizing them in my new genealogy program (Roots Magic, in case you are wondering – awesome program!), I decided if I was ever going to find a living person with a photo of Flora, I’d better start searching. I began by going through names of Uncle Fred Simpson’s grandchildren, and then their children, and so on. Using Switchboard.com, I began making calls. While I didn’t find anyone with information, I did have some nice chats with cousins.
A bit discouraged, I decided to put the task aside for a bit and continue on with organizing my data. As I pulled open the lid to a large Rubbermaid bin full of ancient photos, there was a picture that I’d seen dozens of times before, but never really analyzed. Could it possibly be Aunt Flora? Turning the photo over, in my own handwriting was a “?”, obviously written many years ago when I’d asked my grandmother to tell me the names of the people on all of her old photos. The gentleman in the photo certainly had a very strong resemblance to Uncle Fred, but if so, why wouldn’t my grandmother have recognized him? If I was right and that WAS Fred, it would stand to reason that they woman in the photo was the elusive Aunt Flora. Pulling out the grainy old xerox photo of Flora from years ago, I compared them both side-by-side. It sure looked like Aunt Flora to me. Next, I compared the woman in the picture to a photo I had of Flora’s daughter Lyda. The family resemblance was astounding. I was as certain as I could be that I had in my possession (and had had in my possession for the last twenty years!) a photo of Aunt Flora Stanwood Howe Miller Simpson.
Not wanting to assume, I became more determined to find someone who could assist in making a positive ID. A few more phone calls, and a few more disappointments. I set it aside again, and went back to my Rubbermaid container to pull out more files to pick back up on my data entry. Then another surprise – a postcard dated 1996 from a Simpson cousin who was in her early 70′s at the time. Could she still be alive? Armed with a name and address, I went back to Switchboard.com and voila! There was a phone number. A few minutes later, I was in touch with my cousin who vowed to do her best to help me. Elated to learn she was also online, I emailed the photo to her, and then awaited her reply. A couple of hours later she emailed back. My query and piqued her interest, and she had begun rummaging through old photos she’d been given by her own mother, Uncle Fred’s daughter Bernice. In the photos was a duplicate of the one I’d emailed to her, and in her mother’s handwriting was the positive ID I’d needed – Aunt Flora, Uncle Fred, and Fred’s grandson, Orval Swanson, were the subjects of this picture which had been in my possession all along. While the internet is certainly a wonderful tool, this story just goes to show some times you need to use good old fashioned sleuthing techniques (and contact with distant cousins) to solve some mysteries. | <urn:uuid:59eb196b-66e9-4f14-92c2-07f9ee75f737> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://genejourneys.com/2010/05/28/genealogy-old-fashioned-style/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=c589d5bcbb | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987719 | 1,238 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Well here in the UK we can easily record 20+ DVB-T standard digital terrestrial TV channels concurrently while watching 2-3 channels live and or playing a ripped DVD. Our Cores are typically 3Ghz Celeron's with 512mb-1Gb RAM and are typically based on i945 class motherboards. With this kind of level of activity at the core we typically see less than 30% processor usage. Obviously recording 30+ channels concurrently is not a likely scenario in normal domestic usage... but it gives you some metric on the capacity to load up a system.
Hope this helps
Which device(s) do you use for the reception of the DVB-T signal? (If you don't mind my asking) | <urn:uuid:e321cc29-9357-4d05-b041-2da22a5b7040> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=1589.msg8664 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94056 | 150 | 1.578125 | 2 |
C: You’re going to hit those people on the bridge and kill them. Aaaaahhh!
C: Is there a state where U-turns are legal? Can we move there so you won’t be breaking the law anymore?
C: Just admit it. You’re confused. You have no idea where we are. You’re lost. We’ll never find the highway and get home.
Then he came home, got out craft materials without asking, drew two poster-size pictures of traffic lights and taped them to the walls with electrical tape. Clearly, we got home. I plead the Fifth on the U-turns. There were no news stories that night about bridge hit-and-run victims. There might have been a man who actually got in front of my vehicle and waved me from turning onto a one-way street … but I’m not discussing that either.
This is a description of a recent car ride home from an optometrist appointment with my 9-year-old Asperger son Connor in the backseat. The diagnosis of Asperger’s falls on the Autism Spectrum, which is a range of symptoms including deficits in communication, social skills and restricted/repetitive behaviors and interests noted by the age of three. Children on the Autism Spectrum often have other conditions occurring at the same time, as such my son is also diagnosed with bipolarism (a mood disorder causing often quickly changing extremes in mood) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Individuals with Asperger’s feel compelled to follow rules. This can apply to both rules they have learned about the world (such as traffic laws) to rules about play they may have created for their own toys.
Connor has many behaviors that isolate him from “normal” people. He recently took electrical tape and made lanes all over our laminate wood flooring. Even I can’t figure out where it’s permissible to walk and have received the equivalent of several “jay-walking” tickets. He spends hours building and programming complex Lego Mindstorms robots that walk, crawl and roll like a tank around our house. He rocks back and forth, vocalizes/hums and hits himself in the head when overstressed. Connor needs to eat and drink every three hours (almost to the minute), or he becomes incapable of higher reasoning and violent behaviors can occur.
Sounds pretty dry, doesn’t it? It might strike you as a mix between way too much medical jargon and some bored housewife’s wannabe Kardashian 15 minutes of newsprint fame. I only wish that were true. I didn’t agree to write a column for the same small, hometown newspaper that serves the area where I graduated high school quite a few years ago to brag about how glorious my current lifestyle happens to be. I’m writing about exhausting, embarrassing and frustrating details of our daily life to help educate others who, perhaps, see that their young child seems a little different but is getting the brush-off when they question their pediatrician. Maybe these writings will help other parents muster the courage to seek a second or even third opinion.
I’m writing to let other caregivers who are depressed by the often overwhelming nature of being in charge of every facet of another human being’s medical, psychological, social and educational care on a daily basis that they are not alone. I am the primary caregiver to two special needs children. Their medical and psychological diagnosis make their childhoods difficult for them to go to school and form friendships like other children. The same diagnosis have finally forced me, after running my own business for seven years, to close my doors and devote 100 percent of my time to their education and medical appointments.
I’m proud to yell from the rooftops that I wouldn’t have it any other way. Yes, my days and nights are long, thankless and frequently full of tears (not to mention endless medical bills). While we are unable to conclusively diagnose famous historical figures now, it’s been theorized that several notable minds that changed the world possibly had Asperger’s like Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton. I remember the day the psychiatrist told us Connor’s Asperger Syndrome diagnosis. When we got home, Connor asked me what “syndrome” meant. I told him the doctor misspoke, that there is no such thing as Asperger Syndrome. At our house, we see Asperger’s as a gift because we are lucky enough to think outside the box and see the universe from a viewpoint few will ever share with us. As his mother, it’s my job to ensure Connor understands how very precious that gift is and how it’s worth every sacrifice we make for it.
Editor’s note: We don’t know how this article made it into our paper; it is possible that some nut hacked our system again. In the rare event you enjoyed it, however, please comment on our FB page and/or contact the author at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:d7fb5cc4-cff0-47cd-8d02-cf0b9826025d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mydailyregister.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Special+Needs+Parenting+-SNP-+I+did+NOT+sign+up+for+this-%20&id=18993944 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966217 | 1,075 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Medical marijuana activists' children taken from home and put in foster care
The parents of two young boys who have dedicated their lives to legalising medical marijuana are struggling this week to cope with the heartbreaking reality that police have taken away their sons and placed them in foster care.
Josh and Lindsey Rinehart from Boise, Idaho, returned home from a trip with fellow activist Sarah Caldwell last week to find that their two children and Ms Caldwell's two sons had been removed from the babysitter's care while they were out.
According to a police search warrant, the Rineharts are being investigated for 'possible charges of trafficking, possession and injury to a child', accusations they insist are unsubstantiated.
'They say their goal is to return our children to our home once it is deemed safe,' Lindsay Rinehart told KTVB.com. 'They say our children will be in foster care for 30 days.'
Teary: Mrs Rinehart takes marijuana for her Multiple Sclerosis to avoid the 'toxic' medication prescribed by doctors but says she'll stop if it means getting her boys back.
Mrs Rinehart, a publicly recognised member of the medical marijuana advocacy group 'Compassionate Idaho', went on to defend herself and her husband against the charges, saying: 'We were not dealing. We were not buying. We were not selling. We were not growing.'
In fact, a long-time sufferer of Multiple Sclerosis, Mrs Rinehart takes the drug to avoid 'toxic medication' that would otherwise be administered to help with the disease.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
Marijuana Repeal Considered In Colorado
Marijuana legalization may have received more votes from Coloradans than President Obama--who carried the state--but some lawmakers are still mulling over a repeal.
As the debate over how to tax marijuana rages on, sister station KCNC reports that a draft bill floating around the Capitol proposes repealing recreational marijuana if voters don't approve a 15 percent excise tax on retail pot and a 15 percent marijuana sales tax.
The proposal infuriated marijuana activists, who accused lawmakers of using trying to find ways to get around pot legalization.
Some lawmakers argue that the purpose of legalizing marijuana was to bring more revenue into the state, particularly for education, and that if it's not accomplishing that it shouldn't be legal.
Supporters of marijuana legalization may not need to worry--some lawmakers told KCNC that they didn't believe the state would overturn something so popular with voters.
“That’s almost like saying to voters, ‘Vote for this, or else,’” Sen. Cheri Jahn, D-Wheat Ridge, said about the draft bill. “I don’t think you threaten voters like that. When over 55 percent of the people vote for something, I think we have to respect that.”
Marijuana repeal debate could dominate the Legislature’s closing days. The path to repeal would be uncertain, but some lawmakers say it’s only fair to ask again if voters are willing to legalize pot and risk federal intervention in exchange for a tax windfall projected to exceed $100 million a year.
Read more: http://www.kktv.com
Help Stop DEA Medical Marijuana Raids For Good
Just this last week, DEA agents raided two medical marijuana dispensaries in San Diego. The raid came one day after the owner of one of the facilities testified at a city council hearing on regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries.
Ironically, it also comes as the Obama administration announces their new drug control strategy, which they call a “21st century approach to drug policy.” To hear them tell it, we’re now focused on treatment and prevention rather than arrests and prosecutions. Of course, that’s not true, and no one knows that better than medical marijuana providers in California and elsewhere. Fortunately, there is a way to change all that.
Read more: http://www.theweedblog.com
Advocates eye legalizing marijuana in Alaska
Category: News | Posted on Sun, April, 28th 2013 by THCFinder
JUNEAU — Alaska, known for its live-and-let-live lifestyle, is poised to become the next battleground in the push to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.
The state has a complicated history with the drug, with its highest court ruling nearly 40 years ago that adults have a constitutional right to possess and smoke marijuana for personal use in their own homes. In the late 1990s, Alaska became one of the first states to allow the use of pot for medicinal reasons.
Then the pendulum swung the other direction, with residents in 2004 rejecting a ballot effort to legalize recreational marijuana. And in 2006, the state passed a law criminalizing possession of even small amounts of the drug — leaving the current state of affairs somewhat murky.
Supporters of recreational marijuana say attitudes toward pot have softened in the past decade, and they believe they have a real shot at success in Alaska.
Read more: http://juneauempire.com
Michigan Senate Robs Marijuana Fund To Pay Police
Category: News | Posted on Sat, April, 27th 2013 by THCFinder
Hidden within the Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2014 proposed budget is a section that will allow Michigan’s medical marihuana fund to be used to pay for county-level law enforcement agencies to hunt down the very people that paid into the fund.
The allocation is officially known as Section 728 of the budget proposal contained within Senate Bill 190. It provides for an allocation of up to $3 million earmarked “for discretionary grants to county law enforcement departments for education about and enforcement of the Michigan medical marihuana program”. The medical marihuana program (MMP) is administered by the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), who refuses to release information on the amount of money in this fund without a Freedom of Information Act filing.
Section 728 was not included in the first version of SB 190 and the House version of the appropriations bill contains no similar language. According to the Senate Fiscal Agency, this section was inserted by Sen. Jansen, the bill’s sponsor, purportedly at the request of LARA’s administration. SB 190 has been passed out of the Appropriations Committee and now faces a vote of the full Senate on April 25. Both the House and Senate versions of the Appropriations Bill will be reconciled in Conference Committee, where sections can be debated and removed.
Read more: http://www.theweedblog.com
Bill outlawing marijuana pipes headed to Fla. Gov.
Category: News | Posted on Fri, April, 26th 2013 by THCFinder
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida lawmakers have wrapped up work on legislation aimed at outlawing the sale of marijuana pipes known as "bongs."
The Senate passed the bill (HB 49) on a 31-2 vote Friday. The measure now goes to Gov. Rick Scott for his consideration.
State law currently allows certain retailers to sell the pipes. Any sale of marijuana pipes would be a first-degree misdemeanor if the bill becomes law. Second and subsequent violations would jump to a third-degree felony.
Supporters say the bill sends a message against illegal drug use by making the pipes inaccessible at stores that often are close to schools.
Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, voted against the bill. He argued that marijuana isn't a dangerous drug and should be allowed under strict regulation.
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Most things don’t work. Ever since my early twenties when I found myself inexplicably unhappy, I’ve been looking for things that work. Resolutions and experiments. Things to do.
Quality of life is the only thing I was ever after. Not happiness exactly — because being happy all the time is impossible — but a day-to-day existence that creates it pretty easily.
A lot of things seem to work for a while, but then wear off or have a different effect. Some things have conditional or circumstantial effects. But there are five simple things to do that I’ve found to be consistently, disproportionately helpful in moving towards a more fulfilling life.
I’m not claiming mastery of these five things that work. But I am claiming that there is no question that they work. If I had to speak to a graduating high school class, this is what I’d tell them. If a meteor was about to hit earth and all I had time to do was shout advice to the people lucky enough to be allowed on the getaway ship, this is what I’d shout. I never have to puzzle about how to make life better, if I’m not already fully exploiting the outstanding benefits of these five things that always work.
1) Killing conspicuous silences
What makes life good, more than anything, is other people. The value of what those people bring to your life depends on how easy it is for you to be with each other. With almost everyone, we start from ice cold.
Alienation is born in uncomfortable silences. A part of my mind has a stubborn hangup about throwing things out there just to see if they trigger a dialogue. But that hangup has never served me.
Violating it has. It’s nearly always better to say something.
I do like silence, and I think sharing a good silence with someone you know can be empowering, but conspicuous silences do seem to be invariably harmful when you’re getting to know somebody. If a silence comes with tension, and they usually do, it’s best to interrupt it.
Whether I choose to let the silence fester, or take a swing at it with a dull question about how school’s going or whether a particular movie is worth seeing, I learn the same thing — relationships of any kind grow best when words are exchanged, and sometimes it takes a little push. Language is the best fertilizer, and if a generous application of words doesn’t help it grow, then nothing will. I am convinced nearly all of my friendships and acquaintances could have been halted in the beginning by a divisive silence at some point, had nobody offered something. As a rule, say something.
2) Keeping everything clean
I mean this mostly in terms of your physical environment, but there’s no way to clean up your home or workspace without feeling cleaner inside your head. Most people just have so much needless junk in their lives, and believe that each possession is only a possession because it’s necessary.
Things are useless except for the experiences they can provide, prevent or improve. But pick a random possession from your house and ask yourself what experiences it really is improving for you. Not what it could improve, but what its presence actually does for you.
Everything — on your desk, in your closet, stacked on your mantle — has a tax on the mind. If you don’t believe me, get rid of most of what you own, find a proper place for everything else and see the difference in how the day looks — in how life looks — when you wake up.
3) Having a big thing on the horizon
A trip, a major purchase, a move, a project. Something you know will happen, and will leave life different. An impending big thing is a lifeline that makes rough moments softer.
These things do often involve an exchange of money, but the net cost can still be zero. The decision to reallocate your time and money is free. Give up one thing for the other, that’s all you can ever do anyway. Bring your lunch every day, and know you’ll be visiting Italy. Kill your Starbucks habit, and take up watercolors. Cancel cable, buy a camera.
It also softens almost every disappointment between now and the big thing. Your presentation didn’t go well, but you’re still going to Spain next summer.
The big thing on the horizon reminds you that routine days don’t only add up to more routine days. Shakeups are on the way. Always have a big thing on the way. Write them all down and you have a bucket list.
4) Stopping and sitting
The most convincing proof that I am a totally irrational being is my relationship to meditation. There is no question of its benefits — not only does it have direct effects on my mood and physical state, but it leads me to better decisions, it leaves me more observant and grateful, it shrinks anxiety and self-consciousness. It’s been years since I’ve had any doubt that the greatest contribution I can make to my quality of life (not to mention the quality of life of others) is to stop and sit down and cultivate attention.
It’s an enormously high-leverage activity, yet I always seem to have something more important to do. I’ve chastised myself for not being disciplined enough to reserve 20 or 30 minutes for proper sitting meditation, but even a minute of committed sitting goes such a long way. It’s no-brainer if there ever was one. It helps absolutely everything.
5) Seeking out the like-minded
This is another thing that seems like it should happen organically, but doesn’t. No matter who you are, there are specific sensitivities in you that may not be getting the stimulation they need. We don’t pick our families, we tend to fall into friendships and courtships, and so the haphazard group of people that comes to populate your immediate home and social life is not necessarily going to nurture your finest sensitivities.
Nothing is better for your creativity, for your capacity to find and express what only you can express, than to find people whose artistic and ideological values you share. I’m not talking about making more friends, but that might be inevitable. Your friends don’t necessarily share them, and the people who share them might not necessarily be your friends.
I’d guess almost everyone has an artistic or intellectual interest that has been driven into hibernation by the values and expectations of the people around them. I wonder how many people would take up design, athletics, painting, photography, calligraphy, yoga or martial arts if there were only one other person in their lives who was already immersed in it.
Photo by bitzcelt
If you liked this article, get email updates for free. | <urn:uuid:7e1fe72f-7dc0-4c33-a6b3-70de48ac2335> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.raptitude.com/2012/02/5-things-that-always-work-and-dont-cost-anything/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959302 | 1,442 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Of Common Purgation, and especially of the Trial of Red-hot Iron, to which Witches Appeal.
The question is now asked whether the secular judge may allow a witch to be submitted to a common purgation (concerning which see the Canon 2, q. 4, consuluisti, and cap. monomachiam), in the manner in which a civil defendant is allowed the trial by ordeal, as, for example, that by red-hot iron. And it may seem that he may do so.
For trial by combat is allowable in a criminal case for the protection of life, and in a civil case for the protection of property; then wherefore not the trial by red-hot iron or boiling water? S. Thomas allows that the former is permissible in some cases, when he says in the last article of the Second of the Second, q. 95, that a duel is lawful when it appears to be consonant with commonsense. Therefore the trial by red-hot iron should also be lawful in some cases.
Also it has been used by many Princes of saintly life who have availed themselves of the advice and counsel of good men; as, for example, the Sainted Emperor Henry in the case of the virgin Cunegond whom he had married, who was suspected of adultery.
Again, a judge, who is responsible for the safety of the community, may lawfully allow a smaller evil that a greater may be avoided; as he allows the existence of harlots in towns in order to avoid a general confusion of lust. For S. Augustine On Free Will says: Take away the harlots, and you will create a general chaos and confusion of lust. So, when a person has been loaded with insults and injuries by any community, he can clear himself of any criminal or civil charge by means of a trial by ordeal.
Also, since less hurt is caused to the hands by the red-hot iron than is the loss of life in a duel, if a duel is permitted where such things are customary, much more should the trial by red-hot iron be allowed.
But the contrary view is argued where it says (2, q. 5, monomachiam) that they who practice such and similar things appear to be tempting God. And here the Doctors affirm it must be noted that, according to S. Paul (I. Thessalonians v), we must abstain, not only from evil, but from all appearance of evil. Therefore the Canon says in that chapter, not that they who use such practices tempt God, but that they appear to tempt Him, so that it may be understood that, even if a man engage in such a trial with none but good intentions, yet since it has the appearance of evil, it is to be avoided.
I answer that such tests or trials are unlawful for two reasons. First, because their purpose is to judge of hidden matters of which it belongs only to God to judge. Secondly, because there is no Divine authority for such trials, nor are they anywhere sanctioned in the writings of the Holy Fathers. And it says in the chapter consuluisti, 2, q. 5: That which is not sanctioned in the writings of the Sainted Fathers is to be presumed superstitious. And Pope Stephen in the same chapter says: It is left to your judgement to try prisoners who are convicted by their own confession or the proofs of the evidence; but leave that which is hidden and unknown to Him Who alone knows the hearts of men.
There is, nevertheless, a difference between a duel and the trial by red-hot iron or boiling water. For a duel appears to be more humanly reasonable, the combatants being of similar strength and skill, than a trial by red-hot iron. For although the purpose of both is to search out something hidden by means of a human act; yet in the case of trial by red-hot iron a miraculous effect is looked for, whereas this is not so in the case of a duel, in which all that can happen is the death of either, or both, of the combatants. Therefore the trial by red-hot iron is altogether unlawful; though a duel is not illegal to the same extent. So much has been incidentally admitted in respect of duels, on account of Princes and secular Judges.
It is to be noted that, because of those words of S. Thomas which make the above distinction, Nicolas of Lyra, in his Commentary on the duel or combat between David and Goliath, I. Regum xvii, tried to prove that in some cases a duel is lawful. But Paul of Burgos proves that not this, but rather the opposite was the meaning of S. Thomas; and all Princes and secular Judges ought to pay particular attention to his proof.
His first point is that a duel, like the other trial by ordeal, has as its purpose the judgement of something hidden, which ought to be left to the judgement of God, as we have said. And it cannot be said that this combat of David is an authority for duelling; for it was revealed to him by the Lord through some inner instinct that he must engage in that combat and avenge upon the Philistine the injuries done against God, as is proved by David’s words: I come against thee in the name of the living God. So he was not properly speaking a duellist, but he was an executor of Divine justice.
His second point is that Judges must especially note that in a duel power, or at least licence, is given to each of the parties to kill the other. But since one of them is innocent, that power of licence is given for the killing of an innocent man; and this is unlawful, as being contrary to the dictates of natural law and to the teaching of God. Therefore, a duel is altogether unlawful, not only on the part of the appellant and the respondent, but also on the part of the Judge and his advisers, who are all equally to be considered homicides or parties to manslaughter.
Thirdly, he points out that a duel is a single combat between two men, the purpose of which is that the justice of the case should be made clear by the victory of one party, as if by Divine judgement, notwithstanding the fact that one of the parties is fighting in an unjust cause; and in this way God is tempted. Therefore it is unlawful on the part both of the appellant and the respondent. But considering the fact that the judges have other means of arriving at an equitable and just termination of the dispute, when they do not use such means, but advise or even permit a duel when they could forbid it, they are consenting to the death of an innocent person.
But since it is unlikely that Nicolas the Commentator was unaware or ignorant of the above reasoning, it is concluded that, when he says that in some cases a duel can be fought without mortal sin, he is speaking on the part of the Judges or advisers, namely, in a case when such a trial is undertaken, not on their responsibility or advice, but purely on that of the appellant and respondent themselves.
But since it is not our purpose to linger over and debate such considerations, but to return to the question of witches, it is clear that, if this sort of trial is forbidden in the case of other criminal causes, such as theft or robbery, still more must it be forbidden in the case of witches who, it is agreed, obtain all their power from the devil, whether it be for causing or curing an injury, for removing or for preventing an effect of witchcraft.
And it is not wonderful witches are able to undergo this trial by ordeal unscathed with the help of devils; for we learn from naturalists that if the hands be anointed with the juice of a certain herb they are protected from burning. Now the devil has an exact knowledge of the virtues of such herbs: therefore, although he can cause the hand of the accused to be protected from the red-hot iron by invisibly interposing some other substance, yet he can procure the same effect by the use of natural objects. Hence even less that other criminals ought witches to be allowed this trial by ordeal, because their intimate familiarity with the devil; and from the very fact of their appealing to this trial they are to be held as suspected witches.
An incident illustrative of our argument occurred hardly three years ago in the Diocese of Constance. For in the territory of the Counts of Fuerstenberg and the Black Forest there was a notorious witch who had been the subject of much public complaint. At last, as the result of a general demand, she was seized by the Count and accused of various evil works of witchcraft. When she was being tortured and questioned, wishing to escape from their hands, she appealed to the trial by red-hot iron; and the Count, being you and inexperienced, allowed it. And she then carried the red-hot iron not only for the stipulated three paces, but for six, and offered to carry it even farther. Then, although they ought to have taken this as manifest proof that she was a witch (since one of the Saints dared to tempt the help of God in this manner), she was released from her chains and lives to the present time, not without grave scandal to the Faith in those parts. | <urn:uuid:4f529bbf-6ce3-4590-b329-bb19e42cf265> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/part-iii-third-head-question-xvii/?wpmp_switcher=desktop | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975678 | 1,915 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Resources for Veterans
WELCOME HOME and THANK YOU for your service to our country.
Transitioning back to the civilian world can take time and finding civilian employment that will highlight the strengths and skills that you have learned from your military experience can sometimes feel like an uphill climb. The Career Center staff at SJSU are committed to helping you complete your next MISSION.
Transitioning to university life can be challenging. In some ways the atmosphere is more casual and less structured compared to the military. It is important to remember that all students at the university come from different walks of life and will have different ways of approaching their educational experience. Even though students may have different attitudes towards how they approach their education, their mission is the same as yours: GRADUATION. Stay focused on how you will complete your mission and remember to focus on YOU.
Different ways to adapt to University life are:
- Understand the resources that are available to you as a student veteran
- Develop your educational plan to maximize your GI Bill benefits
- Get connected on campus to ensure that you get the most academic support
- Connect with faculty and staff members during office hours
San Jose State University has a lot of resources to help you get connected. This short video shows one veteran’s experience of getting connected to the different services at SJSU.
LEARN ABOUT THE SUCCESS OF OTHER SPARTAN VETERANS THROUGH SPARTAN VETCONNECT | <urn:uuid:e5e2edc6-7ca8-413d-b123-1be85e8a96c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sjsu.edu/careercenter/students/specific-populations/resources-for-veterans/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950553 | 300 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Canada's dependence on cattle and beef sales to the United States leaves it at risk of becoming a net importer of beef from the U.S. as it buys back higher-value processed products, a report on the $6 billion industry said on Monday.
Canada, the No. 5 beef exporter, ships 85 per cent of its beef and cattle exports to the United States, racking up $1.8 billion in 2011 sales. Much of those supplies, however, are backfilling the U.S. market, allowing the American beef industry to process more meat to take advantage of higher value and margins, said the report by the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute.
"Today the mindset seems to be to produce cattle and beef for the United States," said David McInnes, chief executive of the policy organization, from Ottawa. "And they're getting the value off it."
Canada shipped $1.4 billion worth more beef to the U.S. than it imported in 2002. But by 2011, that net trade surplus fell to just $42 million, as Canada sends to the U.S. live cattle and beef, then imports back higher-value processed products.
At the same time, the Canadian beef industry is failing to take advantage of new, lucrative export markets that have opened to them after a blitz of political visits in recent years, according to the report.
Canadian ranchers and beef processors have gained access to South Korea, China and numerous smaller markets in the past few years and should create a strategy for reaping the benefits by adjusting production and processing to suit those higher-paying countries, McInnes said.
"It's not like we're going to forego the United States for pursuit of other markets abroad, it's how do we find the right mix and align it from producers -- the source of cattle -- right through to the retailer and exporter?"
Boosting exports, however, depends on having supplies, and Canada's cow herd has shrunk by 20 per cent since 2005.
"There is an emerging view that we can't optimize the domestic, American and other foreign markets at the rate we are shipping cattle and beef to the U.S.," McInnes said in a release. "We either accept that we will remain a primary 'backfill' supplier of beef and cattle to the U.S. -- with its consequences and benefits -- or we need to make a conscious strategic decision about the markets where we can perform at our best."
Such decisions, he said, may include increasing the share of Canadian beef in the domestic market, taking greater advantage of certain high-value foreign markets where Canada has or can develop competitive advantage, and/or "deciding how we can better extract more value from the important U.S. market."
The report also notes "response to consumer desires is below expectations," the institute said.
"Today's consumers want more information including greater knowledge of production practices, the healthfulness of beef and its environmental footprint. Yet the Canadian beef industry is not effectively conveying messages that address issues and concerns or encourage beef consumption."
The institute, with backing from the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency (ALMA), Saskatchewan government and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), interviewed officials from a broad cross-section of the Canadian industry, including beef processors, government officials and ranchers.
"While recognizing that the U.S. will always be a key market for Canada, we have also attained beef access in China, Korea and other growing markets," said Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, in a statement. "We will continue to work with the beef industry as they develop a road map to ensure that they can take advantage of new market access and opportunities."
Cargill spokeswoman Brigitte Burgoyne said the company, one of Canada's biggest beef packers, is reviewing the report.
-- Rod Nickel writes for Reuters in Winnipeg. Includes files from AGCanada.com Network staff. | <urn:uuid:9bee6460-d96b-4e77-8e2e-48ada078b220> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yorktonthisweek.com/article/GB/20120911/AG0303/309119960/-1/yorkton/canada-seen-too-dependent-on-cattle-beef-sales-to-us | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95847 | 810 | 1.75 | 2 |
When a police officer goes too far – and uses excessive force – he can be held accountable for the harm he causes. Police officers have a tough job. We rely on them to keep us safe, and most of the time an officer uses force it is justified. Still, if you have been harmed by the actions of a police officer, you may have a case. The officer and his or her agency may be responsible for your damages.
Holding a law enforcement officer accountable is not an easy assignment. The evidence must make it clear that the force used was unreasonable or unnecessary. For example, if an officer used a baton or stun gun on someone who was simply arguing whether he or she had been speeding, a case might be made that the officer had used excessive force.
Here are three things to keep in mind about your potential excessive force claim:
First, a law enforcement officer may use force that is necessary under the circumstances presented. So not every use of force will result in a case.
Second, juries want to believe that law enforcement officers “did the right thing” when confronted with a tough situation. This means that you will likely start at a disadvantage when it comes to credibility, so your choice of a lawyer to handle the case is critical to your possible recovery.
Finally, there are procedural hurdles designed or intended to keep you out of court and to limit your recovery. Do not wait to contact an attorney and review your rights as the passage of time may destroy any opportunity you have to recover.
To safeguard your rights, your lawyers need to build your case expecting to go to trial. This means that we will help you safeguard evidence, document your medical treatment, account for lost wages and employment, and identify and interview witnesses.
If you or a family member have been injured or killed as the result of a confrontation with the police, call us for a free consultation. | <urn:uuid:1e6e9635-7e04-4e90-b10b-078c854e7930> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.idahocriminaldefenselaw.com/2011/09/articles/civil-rights/excessive-force-claims-require-action-get-information-about-your-right-to-recover-for-injuries/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IdahoCriminalDefenseBlog+%28Idaho+Criminal+Defense+Blog%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972756 | 386 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Music Reviews: The Latest in Irish and Irish-American Music
How to Tune a Fish • Beoga
An exciting new release from Compass Records, How to Tune a Fish by Beoga is sure to be a lively hit amongst long-time trad fans and newcomers alike. Eamon Murray’s presence on the bodhran is a dominant one. Trad music is by its nature very percussive, but Murray, a former All-Ireland champion player, demands more than just toe tapping. On the title track he downright steals the show, no easy task in a band of two button accordions and a fiddle.
Beoga is a five-piece band, very appropriately named (‘beoga’ is Irish for ‘lively’) who met at an All-Ireland Fleadh. The five accomplished players turned heads in 2004 with their debut album and will certainly have heads bobbing with this follow-up.
With perfectly woven arrangements and an electric chemistry, How to Tune a Fish is a tongue-in-cheek album packed with life and energy. Tapping into the always welcome bluegrass crossover in “Home cookin,’” Beoga never seems to falter in their vacuum-sealed-tight playing. None of the quintet waiver, but each steps forward to shine on various tracks throughout the album, creating a true ensemble record.
Voices & Harps • Moya Brennan and Cormac de Barra
Cormac de Barra has long been the premier name mentioned among a sadly scarce breed: the Irish harpist. De Barra has played with many of Ireland’s best including The Chieftains and Julie Feeney. With roots in Cork, he is a studied and creative harpist, and his partner on this record, Moya Brennan is a fellow harpist and vocalist widely known as the “First Lady of Celtic Music.”
These two Celtic powerhouses come together for their aptly named album, Voices & Harps. The curt name of the album speaks to the very acoustic and sparing production choices throughout the album. And while the album has a simple feeling to it, as though the listener is seated in the room with the band, the intricacies of these expert players’ arrangements and skill of play is, as always, astounding. Brennan’s voice leads many vocal journeys into traditional Irish songs, flawlessly in the track “A Seanduine Doite.”
The album is a must have for any Irish-speaker or lover of the rhythm and beauty of the Irish language. Brennan’s performance of the classic “Taim Breoite Go Leor” is breathtaking and with added harmonies, it is stunningly tragic. De Barra is no vocal slouch himself. Lending harmonies to most of the record, he takes the reins on the haunting “Bean Duch A’ Ghleanna” and does it more than justice.
It is so rare that any piece of music gives the harp its fair dues and this album is entirely dedicated to it. Voices & Harps is a showcase of one of the most underrated and diverse instruments in the Irish trad genre.
Legacy Of A Quiet Man • Sinead Stone & Gerard Farrelly
Any fan of the classic film The Quiet Man is familiar with that haunting melody which frames the unforgettable shots of Maureen O’Hara. The song,“The Isle of Inishfree,” was written by Dick Farrelly in 1950. Now more than a half century later, his son, pianist Gerard Farrelly, has released it again with exquisite vocals by Sinead Stone. Legacy of A Quiet Man offers a new take on the song, and the entire album, arranged and produced by Farrelly as a tribute to his father, is filled with familiar classics.
Stone, whose vocal presence is both solid yet vulnerable, performs all the songs spectacularly. (The duo played at Maureen O’Hara’s induction ceremony at the Irish America Hall of Fame at the Dunbrody Famine Ship in County Wexford in July, and were a huge hit.) In addition to “The Isle of Inisfree” other highlights on the album are “When Today is Yesterday” and “The Gypsy Maiden.” The latter is one of the few up-tempo songs on the album, which is a welcome change of pace as much of the delicacy of the album lends itself to tear-jerking moments. Overall, the album is an emotional journey and as a tribute to father from son, it feels very personal.
Celtic Rose • Hayley Griffiths
After an award-winning debut album, Hayley Griffiths has released her sophomore collection of Celtic songs. The classically trained singer has toured worldwide with Riverdance and Lord of the Dance as the lead female vocalist in the hugely successful shows. Now residing in Dublin, the Surrey-born vocalist’s long affair with Irish music runs deep. She manages to reinvent classics like “Danny Boy” and “Galway Bay” into a genre which best fits her vocal styling.
The theatrical album is a testament to her background on the stage. Griffiths shines most on her rendition of “You Raise Me Up,” the tune made famous by Josh Groban. It is the only track, which very distinctly strays from the Celtic undertone of the record but is a welcome stray. Griffiths is touring Holland and Japan this fall, followed by a UK tour in 2012.
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- Enda Kenny rejects Dublin Archbishop's claims... | <urn:uuid:0d8b9786-8142-432f-aefe-9cad0d58a429> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.irishcentral.com/IrishAmerica/Music-Reviews-The-Latest-in-Irish-and-Irish-American-Music-130724483.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954649 | 1,266 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Disagreeing on pay-to-pollute provisions
- The Chamber and much of the business community oppose the bill because they believe high-priced carbon credits could cost U.S. jobs and generally hurt the economy. AP Photo
“These timelines will put extreme pressure on the natural gas supply,” McCoy said. “That will put pressure on the economy and severely constrain manufacturers from producing their products here.”
No official price estimates have been offered, though some alliance insiders have suggested a ceiling of $12 per ton of carbon.
“It would set a price signal for the first time that would move us toward the ultimate goal of controlling emissions and employing newer technologies,” said Edison Electric Institute spokesman Dan Riedinger.
Most environmentalists are against any limit, and those willing to compromise say the cap shouldn’t be lower than $100 per ton.
“If I know I can buy low-cost emission allowances at a set price, why would I invest hard capital in needed technology?” asked Natural Resources Defense Council Legislative Director Michael Goo. “This bill is not an economy killer, and a sudden increase in allowance prices is undesirable, but even if allowance prices shoot up, a carbon-control program won’t dampen the economy overnight.”
But with the nation’s economy in a slump and the renewable energy market still in its infancy, the business community’s argument may resound with Republicans.
Bill supporters need 60 votes to stave off a Republican filibuster in the Senate. And lobbyists’ key targets include Republican Sens. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, as well as other fence-sitters who have voted for pro-environment measures over the past two years.
Green lobbyists already have their work cut out for them in the House, where Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), chairman of House Energy and Commerce’s Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee, is calling for the program to be modeled after the nation’s acid rain program. The program gives away 97 percent of its allowances for free. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, wants polluters to pay for their credits.
Boxer has warned opponents that members who try to weaken the legislation will be “held accountable in November.” She has also threatened to hold up the bill until the next administration if Republicans are unyielding. The House is set to release its version of the bill this spring.
In the meantime, many green lobbyists say they are prepared to compromise in order to push the bill forward. And some already expect that could mean supporting a higher number of pollution credit giveaways.
“We know this bill is going to change several times in the coming months, and we’d like to see progress,” said Environmental Defense Fund spokesman Tony Kriendler. “But we want to make sure that the bill keeps up with science.”
But for one faction of hard-line greens, the bill is already beyond repair. Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth are opposing it outright and are using an ad campaign to urge Democrats to do the same.
“Giving away close to $1 trillion in pollution is fundamentally incompatible with a good global warming bill,” said Greenpeace lobbyist Chris Miller. “Instead of giving money back to the utilities, we need to put those proceeds toward renewables and invest in green job training for Americans.”
There is a similar crack in the business community. Farm equipment maker Deere & Co. and some other manufacturers have gone against the grain and vouched for the bill through a $2 million ad campaign with Environmental Defense.
“We’re all actively pursuing this,” said Solar Energy Industries Association lobbyist John Stanton. “This is the most important debate of our generation.” | <urn:uuid:e74fded1-524b-4f8c-8689-99b9069df743> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9470_Page2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943045 | 806 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Meiji University currently offers four programs to overseas students so that they may study different aspects of Japan during their long vacation. Classes consist not only of Japanese language but also provide insights into law, politics and the economy, and pop culture. In addition to experienced lecturers, the extensive curriculum combines a wide variety of hands-on experience-type studies with lectures. Even though it lasts for a short period of time, the program is rich in content, and will certainly satisfy all those who take it.
Meiji University has three campuses. The one that will offer this program is located right in the heart of Tokyo, surrounded by Jimbocho, which is Japan’s largest district of used and antique bookstores, and Akihabara, the well-known “electricity town” which has also become famous for anime. With these exciting surroundings, students can fully enjoy their life in Tokyo after attending the classes.
Students on a long summer holiday who feel that one program is not enough may combine two classes and sign up for both. Through taking part in this program, they can be expected to acquire an even broader range of knowledge, and gain a deeper understanding of Japan by staying in the country for extended periods.
Meiji University has an environment ready to respond to your diverse interests.
Have you decided your plans for your next vacation? Come to Meiji University and study about Japan!
Source : http://www.meiji.ac.jp | <urn:uuid:f8b37f1b-3675-4b71-bea6-43d9c71e928b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://himbiounpad.wordpress.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960476 | 297 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Mindful Mondays – What Are Your Triggers?
A big part of being a mindful leader is knowing your triggers. As emotional intelligence expert Daniel Goleman and others remind us, one of the biggest differences between human beings and other animals is our capacity to manage the gap between stimulus and response. A trigger is one form of stimulus. Quite often when we’re triggered, we react instead of respond.
A reaction is usually pretty mindless, a response can be more mindful. We can train ourselves to be more responsive than reactive. They key is knowing and recognizing our triggers.
For example, one executive I worked with had a whole bunch of triggers around peers not performing to his level of expectations. When they didn’t follow through in the way he thought they should or did something that he didn’t agree with, he’d fire off a flaming email or take somebody apart in a room full of people. This exec was really good at his subject matter expertise and did a nice job of leading his own team. His relationship with his peers, though, was going to derail his career if he didn’t learn to handle things differently when he was triggered.
For him, making that shift came down to a simple phrase. Here’s how he did it.
The phrase was, “Pick your battles.” My client had become so used to reacting in anger whenever he was triggered by a peer that he almost always snapped back hard even when the issue that triggered the reaction wasn’t that important.
Once he became clear about the kind of issues (and particular people) that triggered him, he could choose to take a couple of deep breaths (which literally clear one’s mind) and then would say to himself, “Pick your battles.” More often than not, he concluded that the battle wasn’t worth picking. When it was, slowing down enough to manage the gap between the stimulus of the trigger and his next action allowed him to choose a more effective response rather than a reflexive reaction.
Practicing mindful leadership isn’t necessarily about sitting cross legged and chanting, “Om.” It can start with developing an awareness of your triggers and making some different choices about how to respond to them.
What are your triggers? What routines have helped or could help you to respond differently to them?
Image via Khosro/Shutterstock.com | <urn:uuid:68171226-ad1b-454c-8ffd-efbe56f7c7c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.govexec.com/excellence/executive-coach/2013/03/mindful-mondays-what-are-your-triggers/61926/?oref=voices-module | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980969 | 502 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Jogues Hall, opened in 1968, is named for Saint Isaac Jogues, S.J., who worked among Native Americans in Canada and was martyred near what is now Albany, NY. This building is five stories and is located on the Quad. Classrooms and studio space for the Music Department are housed on the ground floor of the building as well.
- First-year and sophomore student housing
- Class year by floor
- Coed by wing/floor
- Double and triple rooms
- Community bathroom in each wing
- Common lounges and kitchen
- Jogues Hall Bill of Rights
- Laundry facilities in the building
- Vending machines
- Eight Resident Assistants (RAs) throughout the building
- Area Coordinator (AC) on site
- Double or triple occupancy
- Desks (Three (3) drawers with keyboard drawer)
- Desk chairs
- Beds (most can be bunked, raised, or lofted)
- Three (3)-drawer dressers
- Wardrobes or closets
- Micro-fridge (a combination microwave and refrigerator unit)
- Computer network connections
- Cable TV connection
- Window coverings
- Double room - 10' x 17'
Recommended Carpet Size
- Double - 7' x 12'
- Triple - 10' x 12' | <urn:uuid:14cbc473-229b-404b-92dd-023d957063d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fairfield.edu/student/res_jogues.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935858 | 286 | 1.609375 | 2 |
1 Meetup Group matches “Thrift Shoppers” near Gonzales, LA
NOLA Green Roots facilitates garden training for hundreds of participants. By developing community gardens, we teach youth, low-income residents, and senior citizens how to grow fresh fruits and vegetables at a low cost. Our community gardens provide access to fresh produce and plants as well as lessons on satisfying labor needs, improving neighborhoods, building a sense of community, and connecting to the environment. We host workshops on gardening, chicken care, composting and growing your own …
Get an alert email when new Meetup Groups like this start near you.
You'll get advice, help finding members, and tools to make running a Meetup Group easier. | <urn:uuid:e02fe18f-4125-46b9-ada1-ece8bc16290b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thriftshoppers.meetup.com/cities/us/la/gonzales/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938119 | 148 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Get flash to fully experience Pearltrees
By Scott Jenson - September 24, 2011 I've written previously that the history of mobile has been a long, painful process of copying desktop computers and then sheepishly realizing that it just doesn't quite work right. This is actually the way of all progress, not just in technology. Art and music follow a similar pattern of copy, extend, and finally, discovery of a new form. It takes a while to shed old paradigms. | <urn:uuid:0a06efcc-a932-48f0-895c-d0cc6980f44b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pearltrees.com/perfal/mobil/id393970 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956767 | 98 | 1.53125 | 2 |
A slow-moving tropical depression was slogging toward the Gulf Coast Friday, packing walloping rains that could drench the region with up to 20 inches.
Tropical storm warnings were issued from Mississippi to Texas and Louisiana, including New Orleans.
The National Hurricane Center said the system will dump 10 inches to 15 inches of rain over southern areas along the Gulf, and as much as 20 inches in some spots.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency Thursday due to the threat of flash flooding. State climatologist Barry Keim said the system could drench the region with up to 20 inches of rain.
"We could see sustained winds of up to 20 to 30 miles per hour with even higher gusts along a significant portion of the coastal zone. So it's time to batten down the hatches and get ready to deal with this guy."
The depression also could become Tropical Storm Lee, the 12th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Forecasts were for landfall over the weekend on Louisiana's coast. The depression had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph Friday morning. It was drifting slowly north near 1 mph with the hurricane center predicting slow, possibly erratic motion.
"Wow. This could be a very heavy, prolific rainmaker," National Weather Service meteorologist Frank Revitte said.
According to a hurricane center chart, maximum sustained winds could reach 60 mph by Saturday, lower than hurricane strength of 74 mph.
As hurricane season is hitting its peak in the Atlantic, storm watchers were monitoring three disturbances.
Besides the Gulf depression, Tropical Storm Katia was spinning in open waters. It weakened from a hurricane Thursday, though forecasters said it would again grow stronger.
It was about 750 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands and moving west-northwest near 15 mph with maximum sustained winds early Friday near 70 mph.
It could regain hurricane strength this weekend but forecasters said it's too early to tell if it would hit the U.S. It was expected to pass north of the Caribbean.
In yet another system, a slow-moving low pressure system about 450 miles south of Nova Scotia, Canada, had a 60 percent chance early Friday of becoming a tropical cyclone in the next two days.
They all come on the heels of Hurricane Irene, which brought destruction from North Carolina to New England late last month.
Tegan Wendland in Baton Rouge, La., contributed to this report, which contains material from The Associated Press. | <urn:uuid:64e5dd0e-1aca-468d-b0e6-3670221c8642> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbez.org/story/2011-09-02/gulf-coast-braces-major-drenching-91449 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971163 | 509 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Public Papers - 1990
The President's News Conference
The President. We began this administration by saying that the day of the dictator is over. And now restless millions have spoken and have elected, or prepare to elect, new governments -- their governments. As long as we live, the images of this revolution, the Revolution of '89, will always be with us: a playwright President in Prague, the tumbling of the Berlin Wall, crumbling of a Romanian dictatorship.
But this revolution leaves us with a new challenge: how to best support newborn democracies. This challenge is utterly unlike the task of rebuilding Europe after the Second World War, for no single great plan will do. We need a flexible approach, one that will meet the needs of each country we seek to help.
Today I want to speak about how we can best help two democracies in our hemisphere: Panama and Nicaragua. We should take great pride in the way in which our leadership -- Congress and the administration -- helped the democratic spirit take hold in these two countries, but this is no time to bask in self-praise. These nations need our help to heal deep wounds inflicted by years of strife and oppression, years of loss and deprivation. And we must act, and act soon, to help the peoples of these new democracies in two great and historic tasks: reconstruction and reconciliation.
I've taken an important step today. As a demonstration of our resolve to be part of the process of reconciliation, I just signed an Executive order to end the economic embargo against Nicaragua. Americans are determined to help the people of Nicaragua.
And next I'm asking the Congress and the American people to join me in crafting a bipartisan agreement to help both countries. After all, bipartisanship did work well last year to put the focus on free elections and end the fighting in Nicaragua. Bipartisanship also helped bring an end to the tyranny in Panama. And we need to work again in that same spirit to put together an assistance program for both countries.
I'm proposing the creation of a fund for democracy to assist in the reconstruction and development of these two countries. And I'm requesting the Congress to approve by April 5th a package of assistance of 0 million for these two countries, using funds from the defense budget. This package consists of 0 million for Panama, already requested in that January 25th proposal to Congress, along with million for refugees, and an additional 0 million for Nicaragua. I'm asking the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury to work together on the economic assistance aspects of these packages and, of course, to consult with the United States Congress.
In addition, under existing authorities, I am initiating immediate action to provide million of previously appropriated economic aid, principally for food and humanitarian assistance. I also will be sending to the Congress in the future a budget amendment for an additional 0 million in fiscal '91 for Nicaragua, consistent with the approach that we've taken this year.
Moreover, I've instructed the Secretary of Defense and Dick Darman at OMB to begin negotiations immediately with the Congress on mutually acceptable offsets from the defense budget that can be used for this democracy fund without having an unacceptable impact on national security. I further propose that in the event that an agreement on offsets cannot be reached by March 27th, the Congress authorize me to select offsets from the defense budget. And should neither of these alternatives prove to be workable, I am prepared, because of the dire need of these funds, to ask for a waiver of the budget act to allow this critical program to proceed on the required timetable.
I urge the Congress to move quickly and also urge in the strongest terms that it not add any extraneous items to this request. It is urgent to advance the prospect for democracy and reconciliation in Nicaragua and Panama. Damage to both economies has been great. We must help, and we want to help. Our help is needed swiftly to bring about demilitarization and advance the whole Central American peace process. If bipartisanship prevails, we will be able to meet this goal and respond to the expectations of our neighbors.
Let me save the details for congressional briefings and give you the three broad categories of assistance: aid for democracy, for development, and for demilitarization. We want to help democratic institutions take root in each country, but democracy begins with the rule of law and respect for human rights. It needs the support of courts that are fair and free of every influence but the law. It needs the support of police forces that are upright and honest. And it needs our support. Development and demilitarization -- they go hand in hand. They start when we provide textbooks for children, when we create thousands of new jobs, when the hand that held a gun guides a plow. In short, as we demobilize the military, we must mobilize the market.
This is a great and historic task, but we are inspired by the courage of our neighbors. We're close -- very, very close -- to a hemisphere that is completely democratic, a compass of freedom that spans half the world, from Alaska to Argentina. And facing this enormous challenge, we are not alone. Other nations can and must help. But only America can take the lead on this one. I stand prepared to work with the Congress to do our part for reconstruction and reconciliation for democracy.
And now I'd be glad to respond to questions. And, Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International], I believe you have the first one.
Deficit Reduction Plan
Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Your warm reception of the Rostenkowski plan -- does that mean you're ready to negotiate tax increases and a freeze on Social Security benefits, things you have never gone for in the past? And I have a followup.
The President. No, it doesn't. The answer is no. Followup?
Q. A followup? You are not willing to negotiate, or what is your -- --
The President. Overall feeling? Look, I think he -- without rancor, without a lot of rhetoric -- made a very broad proposal. We've made a proposal -- the administration. We now would like to hear from the budget process on the Hill what their proposal is, and then we'll talk. But perhaps, as I told some reporters yesterday, in being receptive through not knocking the things in it we don't like -- and there are plenty -- I was somewhat colored by the way in which Chairman Rostenkowski approached this and with, I think, the evident good will on his part and determination to try to break the ice and move the process forward.
Q. But you're not saying you would go for a tax increase?
The President. No, I'm not for a tax. Let me -- --
Q. How about a freeze on Social Security?
The President. Well, there are a lot of things I'm not for that are in his proposal -- a lot, including taxes.
Q. Mr. President, the United States has never recognized the forced incorporation of Lithuania into the Soviet Union. Now that Lithuania has declared its independence, the United States seems to be moving tentatively toward full recognition. Is that because we're afraid of offending Mr. Gorbachev or don't want to alienate him?
The President. It's because we want to see the evolution of the control of the territory there, and also we want to see peaceful resolution to the question.
Q. Well, do we still regard Lithuania as a captive nation, along with the other Baltic States?
The President. We might not use that word, but we never have regarded Lithuania as incorporated into the Soviet Union. That's been our policy. And we rejoice as people are permitted the free expression that we take for granted in this country. And clearly, I think, there is a great deal of interest in this concept of Lithuanians working it out with the Soviets to achieve what they want. And so, we're not standing in that way. But in terms of recognition, there is a standard of control of one's territory that I've been advised should guide this.
Q. Mr. President, are you concerned about the apparent reluctance of the contras to disband, and what can you do about it?
The President. Yes, I am concerned about it, and I'm also concerned about certain military action by the Sandinistas. But I'm also encouraged, Brit [Brit Hume, ABC News]. And I'm encouraged because yesterday I talked to Dan Quayle, and he told me of his visit with Ortega [President of Nicaragua], where Ortega seemed willing to transfer the Defense Ministry, seemed willing to transfer the Interior Ministry, and was open about the discussion of reducing -- I want to be careful here I don't overstate it -- but reducing a military action on both sides.
There is a United Nations vehicle that can be helpful, ONUCA [United Nations Observer Group in Central America], which could have a useful role to play in the separation of forces and in getting done what Violeta Chamorro [President-elect of Nicaragua] wants, which is both sides start laying down their weapons. That ONUCA has support from other leaders in this hemisphere -- Carlos Andres Perez [President of Venezuela], I believe, supports it. I know Mrs. Chamorro wants us to give more support to this, so I've asked the State Department to look into that immediately.
So, I'm less concerned than I was about the peaceful transfer of power, including the military. But I think to the degree both sides can start laying down weapons and moving towards the kind of market economies we're talking about and with less reliance on military, it's better. So, I can't say I'm not concerned, but I am encouraged the way it's going so far.
Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories
Q. Mr. President, do you regret, the other day, raising the issue of settlements in East Jerusalem?
The President. No, I don't regret it. I think all the speculation and commentary of the last 10 days have blown things way out of proportion. What I was doing was reiterating United States policy. But let me say this: Right now in Israel, there's internal developments taking place in the political scene there, and I do not want to look in any way like we're trying to mingle into the internal affairs of Israel as they're going through this difficult political problem right now -- right now. So, I will answer no more on it -- well, try to clarify it because you have the followup. But it's so sensitive and it is so emotional that I just think any further speculation on this question would certainly not be useful, given what's happened just in the last few hours.
Q. Well, can I just ask then -- --
The President. Yes, you can ask.
Q. I'm not really clear why you raised the issue at all. Was there a particular reason? It's long been part of U.S. policy, but it hasn't been talked about a lot.
The President. Well, I understand that. That's why I will speculate no further on it. I think it is highly emotional. But I think any speculation and any commentary at this juncture -- a lot of developments since I made that comment -- would be counterproductive.
Deficit Reduction Plan
Q. Mr. President, following up on Helen's question, could I ask, beyond your well-known friendship with Chairman Rostenkowski, what elements of the plan do you see as meritorious?
The President. The fact that it's aimed at getting the deficit down. Does that help you any?
Q. No, because it doesn't say what -- do you have any ideas to throw in beyond his? Is a 1-year freeze -- --
The President. We've thrown our ideas out on the table, John [John Mashek, Boston Globe], and he's now thrown his out. And now we'd like to have the leaders of the budget process on the Hill throw theirs out, and then perhaps we can talk. Look, there's a lot of changes in the world, a lot of changes out there in terms of Eastern Europe and the requests that I'm making today -- a lot of things going on. And so, I don't want to appear totally inflexible, but I'm not about to stand here and give Dan or the Congress the idea that I want to accept several of the things that are in his approach. But will I be willing to talk when they get all these proposals out there? Certainly. Are we prepared to negotiate? Absolutely.
Q. Mr. President, you've opened your comments today by saying that the day of the dictator was over and speaking of the moves for democracy in 1989, and yet the exception to that rule is the situation in China, where since the crackdown at Tiananmen Square we've seen little moves toward democracy and freedom there. Do you have any second thoughts about the approach that you took for the situation in China and your sending of your high-level envoys there, and any thoughts that this policy must now change because of the lack of response from the Chinese Government?
The President. No, but I'm not happy with the evolution of reform in China, but I'd have no regrets about that. And I'm reinforced by a lot of expert opinion that feels the approach I took -- accomplishing something by Executive order that the Congress wanted to do dramatically later on through legislation -- was the proper approach. And so, I hope our policy will bear more fruit. But, no, I am not happy with the status quo.
Q. Well, Mr. President, if you're not happy with the status quo, why not change your policy now to take a tougher line toward the Chinese regime?
The President. Because I'm familiar with China and I think we're on the right track and I hope that we'll see an evolution of more reform. And that's exactly why not change it now.
Deficit Reduction Plan
Q. Mr. President, back to the surprising administration reaction to the Rostenkowski proposal: Regardless of whatever negotiating positions are being drawn now or politics is being played, can you today assure the American people that there will be no tax increase, no new taxes this year?
The President. I'm only one player, but you know my position, and I have no intention of changing that position.
Q. Under what circumstances might you -- --
The President. Too hypothetical. Nice try. Too hypothetical.
Right here, lady in the front row.
Assistance for Nicaragua and Panama
Q. Thank you. I'd like to ask you something about your Nicaragua/Panama proposal.
The President. Yes?
Q. But in light of what the majority leader of the House says -- that you have not shown strong leadership -- you do not propose in your -- --
The President. Who said that?
Q. Mr. Gephardt, the majority leader of the House. [Laughter]
The President. Thank you for your clarification. I have a follow-on. [Laughter]
Q. I would like you also to comment on that. The Nicaragua question is: You are not proposing to Congress exactly where to cut in the defense budget; you're basically leaving that to them. Why don't you tell them where they should cut specifically?
The President. On offsets?
The President. From the defense budget?
Q. Why don't you say: Here's a B - 2; take it?
The President. We are. We are doing that. And what I'm saying to them -- --
Q. But where?
The President. -- -- well, that's in negotiation up there. But what I've also said here is: If you're not willing to do it, give me the authority on March 27th, and it'll be done like that. I am willing to do it. We're going to take the hits. We're negotiating with Congress now.
Q. Why not tell the American people, then?
The President. We'll tell them on March 27th if they turn it to me. And right now I don't know how much of it's confidential, but I'll let the Secretary of Defense answer the question -- but I don't see any great secrecy in this.
What we're trying to do is to give the Congress the ball and say: Here's what we recommend. Now you tell us what you want to do, but don't go making a lot of add-ons. Do it the way we feel is necessary to keep the focus on Nicaragua and Panama. I think Congress has a very legitimate role here; but if they're not willing to fulfill it, Lesley [Lesley Stahl, CBS News], we have no problem giving you a list that would take care of it just like that. But I think it's the Congress' role now to work with our people.
Q. Why does Gephardt get under your skin so much? You've got -- I don't know, an 80-percent approval rating. He makes a speech attacking you, and -- --
The President. Well, what have I said? What would make you think that he gets under my skin? [Laughter]
Q. He says you're not a strong leader.
The President. Oh, I know. I know. That's so discouraging. [Laughter]
Q. And all the people around the White House and -- --
The President. But why do you think it gets under my skin? The honest answer is -- I know you won't believe this -- it doesn't. It doesn't. I think we're going in the right direction. We're talking substance and policy. I think many in the Congress think that we are being responsive. But look, I expect that. I expect that kind of political criticism. But I think if you want to talk about the substance of his ideas: Do I think it's a good idea to loan money to the Soviet Union today? No. We have no request for food aid to the Soviet Union; you just want to put it on a ship and send it over there? No, I don't think that's a particularly brilliant idea. But I don't want to knock the man. Maybe he'll come on a good idea one of these days. [Laughter]
Assistance for Nicaragua and Panama
Q. The Nicaraguans and the Panamanians are expecting aid very soon. They are in urgent need of the aid.
The President. Exactly.
Q. And the Panamanians say that they cannot wait any longer. What can you do besides Congress? When can they expect something?
The President. I'm going to have this question replayed on Capitol Hill because you're absolutely right. There is a sense of urgency, and I would like to take the opportunity here to encourage the movement in the Congress. We've sent a proposal up on Panama; now let's get going on it. Now we're coupling it with Nicaragua; now let's [get] going on it. There's an urgency in Nicaragua, too, but Panama -- very urgent. And so, we're going to keep pushing. But I think you're right on target with that hypothesis.
Q. Mr. President, there was a report last week that you were so angry and upset at the Fed's failure to lower interest rates that you wouldn't reappoint Chairman Greenspan next year when his term ends. Can you comment on whether there's any thought being given yet to the question of reappointing Mr. Greenspan and the level of frustration you do feel about interest rates?
The President. No, there is no discussion of that nature at all. I'm not sure I saw the report, but I saw some speculation someplace. Maybe it was on the TV. But that's never been discussed with me. Now, if the question is, am I happy with interest rates -- look, every President would like to see interest rates lower. There's no question. I don't knock the concern that some have on inflation. A President has to be concerned about inflation, too. But there's no bubbling war with Alan Greenspan, and that's what I got from the commentary I heard -- that there was. But you know, going back a few years here, it's ever been thus, hasn't it? When there's some differences, it's always built into a conflict between the President and the Chairman of the Fed. And I don't want to get into that game because I don't feel that way.
Q. But is there a particular feeling at this point that the Fed is dragging its feet somewhat in getting interest rates down?
The President. I think some feel that way, and I think some probably agree with the inflationary concerns that have been expressed. But I'm not in a Fed-bashing mode. I also think it's very sensitive in terms of markets and everything else to even go as far as I have done, trying to say very little and succeeding only moderately. [Laughter]
Q. Mr. President, you've been at near-historical public approval ratings now for well into your first term: 80 percent or more. And my question is whether you believe in spending some of this popularity on something controversial -- like, say, what specifically you like about Rostenkowski's proposal -- or just hoarding it. What's the goal?
The President. I don't believe it, one thing. I don't believe in polls that much.
Q. I guess the question is -- --
The President. Talk to Nicaragua's man; talk to Ortega's man -- probably gainfully unemployed right now for missing it by a jillion points. But these things come and go, seriously. And you know where I learned it? Back in Illinois in 1980. I don't remember why, but I remember Vic Gold lecturing me on hanging your hat on polls.
That's not the way I try to call the shots on the policy. You just raised a question about China. If I had my finger in the wind, I might have done that one differently. I might have done differently about going to Cartagena if I put my finger in the wind in terms of polls, but that's not the way I run this administration. I know some think so, but that's not the point. So, I'm not going to dwell on them because tomorrow it may be very different. Then I'll have a -- say, hey, wait a minute.
Q. Can I go on it for one more question? Does it become a possibility, though, that when you're at, like, 80 percent, that almost becomes an end in itself at some point? I mean it's such an extraordinary level.
The President. You mean, pull the ripcord and get out? [Laughter]
Q. Well, I mean -- --
The President. What do you mean?
Q. When you're at 80 percent, it would be tempting, I would think, just to simply protect that lead, sort of fall on the ball?
The President. No. Please believe me. That doesn't guide the decisions we take, and I've given you a couple of examples. And I'm trying to do the best I can for the country and to work with the Congress. And there's a lot of areas where I have not succeeded near as well as I would like to, but I don't live by the polls.
American Hostages in Lebanon
Q. Mr. President, last week we learned that you were so concerned about the hostages that you were willing to take a questionable call. And it might have been from the Iranian President, and then, of course, you found out it wasn't. In response, Rafsanjani made a statement saying that you had been trying to get a hold of him for a month. Did you actually then try to place a call to the real person -- or could you clarify?
The President. I don't know where he got that. I saw that statement, and there was no truth in it -- our trying to contact him for a month. It'd be very easy to do. I responded to an incoming call. I think the bottom line is you have to say, would you do it again based on the information you had? And I'd say yes, I probably would. It may be difficult for somebody to get through again -- [laughter].
But what's wrong with reaching out and touching someone -- [laughter] -- when the hostages are at stake? The hostages are at stake here, and what's wrong with trying? Look, I feel this all the time. I've talked about this -- that I will go the extra mile. And when the whole story comes out on this, you all are going to be very, very fascinated with the details, very fascinated.
But I'm just telling you that it is important, it is very important to run down every avenue in terms of these hostages, and I would be remiss if I didn't. And there are things that go on, going around in back alleys and trying to find out information, and we've got to do that. I owe it to the families of those people and to those people themselves that are held hostage.
Q. Can I follow up, Mr. President?
The President. Yes.
Q. If you didn't try to reach them for a month, can you say whether you or anyone acting on your behalf did try to reach him at all?
The President. Have we been trying to reach Rafsanjani?
Q. Have you tried, yes.
The President. No, other than this one phone call that turns out to be a hoax.
Q. So, as far as you can tell, what he was saying just didn't make any sense on any level?
The President. Yes. It's very much like the rhetoric that they use from time to time. He's got some political problems at home, and we understand that. The main thing is, can we move forward and get the hostages out. And I'll repeat: Good will begets good will. And I'm satisfied that even in this instance the officials there know that nobody is trying to set them up or anything of that nature. I'm interested in saving American lives.
Q. Mr. President, I understand that TASS [Soviet news agency] is reporting this morning that the Soviet Parliament has granted President Gorbachev the expanded powers he wants and has been requesting. I'm interested, sir, if you side with those within the Soviet Union who fear that there are not sufficient checks and balances on this new Presidential system, that it could result in a more totalitarian Soviet Union. How do you feel this might affect your dealings with Gorbachev and whether you envision extending this fund for democracy perhaps one day to the Soviet Union itself?
The President. I answer that by saying I stay out of the internal affairs and deliberations of the Soviet Union. And they are going through a process of reform, which we support in broad terms, perestroika. They're going through a process of glasnost, which is openness, which we support. And it would be very inappropriate for the President of the United States to start passing judgment as that process of perestroika -- democratization, if you will -- moves forward.
And so, yes, the Soviets have created a new post of President, I hear, but that's their business. And we will work with, in this instance, President Gorbachev. As you know, I think we have a reasonably good relationship there, a respectful one; and I'm going to continue to work with him.
Q. Well, can you say, sir, whether you think that as you continue to work with him that will be affected in any way by these changes that have taken place, or is it going to be as it has been between you and Mr. Gorbachev? And would you see involving the Soviet Union in this fund for democracy?
The President. You mean, asking them to give money to -- --
Q. No, no, no. Including them, making them if not currently, as Gephardt has suggested, perhaps one day a beneficiary of this fund for democracy?
The President. I think the answer is to help in a technical way as best we can for helping the Soviets move towards market economies and free markets and those kinds of considerations. I think that's the next step we ought to take.
And there's discussion of an Eastern development bank. The question is out there whether the Soviets should be members of that bank or not. And as a matter of fact, we have some deliberations going on as to what the U.S. position should be right now. I'm not prepared to state it, but I've been spending some time on this question. But that's an idea that was surfaced by Francois Mitterrand [President of France], I believe. So, there are all kinds of ways in which, down the road, we can work with the Soviet Union, but I think what they need now from us is know-how and technical knowledge, that kind of thing.
Q. Mr. President, after your meeting in Palm Springs with Prime Minister Kaifu, he took a real beating in the Japanese Diet. And I wonder if, in retrospect, were there any misunderstandings in your conversations? He was accused in Japan by his critics of having made some concessions or reached a level of detail in your discussions that some in Japan were unhappy with. Is there any clarification needed about what came out of Palm Springs?
The President. No, those reports just highlight the sensitivity of the situation in Japan. And I think that as far as I'm concerned the talks were very good. We followed up, incidentally, with close to an hour with Mr. Takeshita [former Japanese Prime Minister] yesterday and covered the same broad agenda. I didn't go into every specific, but I'm convinced that both Mr. Kaifu left Palm Springs and Takeshita will leave Washington with a far better understanding of the problems that we face. And hopefully, I have a better understanding of theirs. So, I think I'm aware of the criticism against him at home, but I think that I would just go back to the statements he made when he left Palm Springs, which I viewed as very constructive.
Q. Just one followup: You said in a speech -- the day after you got back -- to the Electronics Association that you had discussed telecommunications with him, and that apparently came as a surprise to some people in Japan. Was that a brief discussion, a lengthy one?
The President. A broad discussion of several categories. And I don't know in terms of the amount of time, but we left the details of all of these categories, that were so well-known as differences between the U.S. and Japan, to the experts. In fact, I think Bob Mosbacher will be going there soon, if he's not already on his way. And so, it was more broad in general, but categories mentioned.
Upcoming Meeting With Chairman Gorbachev
Q. Do you still expect the summit with Mr. Gorbachev will take place in Washington in the last 2 weeks of June?
The President. We've got to get that set soon, pin down the dates and the place. But in terms of expectation, yes.
Q. Mr. President, the announcement no one wants to hear -- the delay of baseball's opening day -- is imminent. Is there anything that you as the ``first fan'' can do -- [laughter] -- to bring the sides closer together to prevent a tragic delay of the baseball season?
The President. You know, I made a comment on that yesterday, and I misspoke because I said strike. And we got some -- understandably -- got some calls from some of the ballplayers saying hey, that's not technically what the situation is, please. Look, yes, I'm a ball fan, and I want to go to the opening game someplace. Last year, I went to the American League; this year I'd like to go to the National League, if possible -- I don't know whether it's going to work. Maybe end up in Baltimore. But I don't want to intervene. We've already taken a battle on that up there, on another labor matter -- have the Federal Government intervene. But I would simply appeal to both sides to get the matter resolved so the American people can hear that cry ``Play ball!'' again.
Q. I have a followup here, sir. I'm reminded by one of the senior correspondents back here that Lyndon Johnson used to lock up both sides and say, ``Don't come out until you've got a settlement.'' Is that a prospect here?
The President. Not on this particular issue, but on some issues that could well prove to be a prospect. [Laughter]
President Endara of Panama
Q. Mr. President, have you been in contact with President Endara about his fast, and do you view that as a useful means of expressing the plight of the Panamanian people as they wait for U.S. aid?
The President. Well, I have not talked to him since the fast began. And I did note with interest some very supportive statements out of him after the fast began -- supportive of our administration and what we're trying to do. But that's a matter for him to determine.
Assistance for Nicaragua and Panama
Q. Mr. President, in your opening statement, you appealed to Congress to pass your aid program, but you did not appeal to the American people. And one of the problems a lot of Congressmen say they're having is that foreign aid at this time is not a high priority for a lot of people. Do you think an appeal, first of all, to ordinary Americans is necessary, and what do you say to people who think that perhaps what may be seen as the first part of a peace dividend is going overseas?
The President. I think you put your finger on a good point. However, I believe that both Nicaragua and Panama have strong support from the American people. In fact, there's new information on that. But I think they raise a good point -- I mean, there's a lot of domestic problems. But we're sorting this out now. And I'm convinced that when the American people understand what we're talking about, about offsetting proposals in defense, in other words not going in there and costing them more or taking it away from some other program, that it will have strong support.
But I'm not unsympathetic to that argument. But where I would differ is I think the American people would strongly support what we're saying here. They see a lot at stake for us in a totally democratic hemisphere and the success of democracy in Nicaragua.
Q. Do you feel we particularly owe it to the people of those two countries, given our military activities in both Nicaragua and Panama?
The President. Do we owe support?
Q. Do we owe money?
The President. Well, we've lifted the embargoes, and we've released the funds. So, to the degree there's anything owed, we're trying to comply with that. But what I'm proposing here is an investment in democracy. I don't think anybody would, you know, have the American people try to believe that we owe it. But it's the right thing to do, and we want to see Violeta Chamorro supported, and we want to see the Panamanian democracy succeed. So, that's the way I'd phrase it.
Q. Mr. President, let me ask you about what -- --
The President. I have a meeting with the Congress at 10:45, and I don't -- I mean, 9:45, 9:45 -- sorry, accept the correction please, 9:45.
Q. It's primary day in Texas, Mr. President. Can you tell us -- two questions -- one -- --
The President. Now we're talking. [Laughter]
Q. -- -- for whom you voted in the Republican primary and, number two, do you think it should be held against a candidate if perhaps at some point in the past they used drugs, but no longer do? You've talked on that issue before. Can you go back over it for us?
The President. This is election day in Texas. I did vote in the Texas Republican primary. I will not tell you who I voted for, and I hope everybody understands. Otherwise, we'll have a quiz around here of who we voted for earlier on. It's not a proper question to reveal.
Q. But on the drugs issue, which is an issue in the primary and certainly may be in the general election, do you think it should be held against a candidate that at some point in the past they have used drugs?
The President. I think that's a matter for the voters to decide. But in my view, somebody used marijuana some time ago and is not into anything of that nature, why, no, I don't think that should be held against them.
Q. What if it were more than marijuana, sir?
The President. You're getting me involved in the Texas primary, something I don't want to do, Craig [Craig Hines, Houston Chronicle]. The polls opened down there about 2 hours ago, and I'm not about -- --
Q. You'll be involved in the general election, though, won't you?
The President. I'll be involved, but I'm not going to fine-tune that. I'm not going to go into that.
Soviet Compliance With Arms Reduction Agreements
Q. What about the report -- the Soviet noncompliance of the INF treaty in a number of instances in East Germany? Do you think that that could throw a monkey wrench into the CFE and START talks?
The President. To the degree that there are differences on verification on INF, we've got to work those out. And we've got our experts working the problem and trying to eliminate any differences.
Q. What about the differences reported between Secretary Cheney and CIA Director Webster over the threat assessments -- --
The President. Just a minute.
Q. -- -- in the event that Gorbachev is thrown out of power?
The President. Just 1 minute on that one. As I have said before -- [laughter] -- I don't see any real disagreement here. [Laughter] No, I tried to answer that yesterday, and I expect I didn't lay it to rest. But I don't think anybody believes -- including Cheney -- that the Soviet system is going to go back to where it was in -- you know, before 1980, in the middle of the eighties.
But there are differences when you go to try to predict with accuracy based on intentions. So, I've talked to them now, and I feel that they are pretty close together. And it's difficult when you have a fast-changing world, and yet you take a position like I do: We must retain a credible defense. Then you get into a big debate: Well, what is credible? And I think that's what you're seeing here.
So, I can tell you, having talked to these gentlemen, I don't think that there is this enormous defense difference between the intelligence community -- and I say community -- and the Secretary. I think we've come up with a prudent, well-thought-out defense plan. And there will be changes, I'm sure, after our cooperation with and consultation with Congress, but believe me, these are not diametrically different views that you're reading about.
Shall we end with this one? I really do have a 9:45.
Q. Mr. President, here's a question that I please wish you would decide, and I think only you can. You're going to have to deal with billions and billions of surplus weapons. What are you going to do with those? There's been some indication that you've already given 1,000 tanks from Europe out of that surplus pile to Egypt. And if you keep on selling them on credit, the arms that we have, you're going to keep on creating wars in the Third World and other nations.
The President. One of the -- --
Q. Mr. President, would you do this at the microphone, please?
Q. Thank you.
The President. This is a departure. One of the things that is part of the negotiations on CFE is destruction of weapons -- and we're talking about significant numbers. And I had a meeting yesterday with Jim Woolsey, our CFE negotiator, and he was spelling out for me just the mechanical difficulties of doing this. But nevertheless, we are determined that that will be the approach that's taken with these massive numbers of weapons. We still have security needs that we feel are enhanced by transfer of military equipment, sales of military equipment to friendly countries. So, the policy will remain as it is, but we will go forward with the destruction where that is a part of the policy.
Thank you all very much.
Note: The President's 40th news conference began at 9:18 a.m. in the Briefing Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Representative Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. | <urn:uuid:f5ebd5ef-29b2-4ec0-858d-87fe932b896e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/research/public_papers.php?id=1641&year=1990&month=all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975523 | 8,597 | 1.75 | 2 |
AN EDITORIAL: Patience needed in Libya
Arab News, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 15
ON Feb. 17 Libyans will celebrate the outbreak two years ago, of the revolution that drove Moammar Gadhafi from power. The question is do they really have grounds for celebration? The news that the rest of the world reads about Libya seems to suggest that it is in the hands of trigger-happy militiamen and in danger of being over-run by fundamentalist terrorists.
So concerned are governments in Europe and North America that they have warned off their nationals from traveling to Libya, unless their trips are absolutely unavoidable. Benghazi, where there’s been a series of killings, mostly of former regime police and military, but also last September of the U.S. ambassador and three colleagues, is supposedly entirely off limits.
Yet international politicians continue to fly in and out, looking for lucrative deals and the settlement of multibillion dollar debts run up by the old regime. These include UK Prime Minister David Cameron, whose government only 48 hours before had warned Britons not to go to Libya. Cameron even went on a meet-the-people walkabout in Tripoli’s main square with minimal security protection, and survived the experience.
Libya’s problems are not in fact rooted in violence but in the slow pace at which the country has been changing since Gadhafi’s downfall.
The national capital of Tripoli is meanwhile the arena in which rival political and regional groupings are jockeying for power.
The reality of post-revolutionary politics in the Arab Spring countries is that nothing can be achieved without compromise. Unfortunately compromise is harder to reach when so many people of different opinions imagined that they were going to get what they wanted overnight. The genie of expectation is unlikely to be pushed right back inside the bottle.
But Libya, with its considerable oil wealth is in a far better position than Tunisia or Egypt to meet its challenges. Improvements will come, but they will take time. Revolutions do not bring quick fixes in their wake.
Location, ST | website.com
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Recent Activity on Facebook
Browse local photo galleries, and purchase prints. | <urn:uuid:1974aa14-5a14-462d-89d9-aa203ecd6bae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.morningjournal.com/articles/2013/02/23/opinion/doc5128110f46540728727189.txt?viewmode=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949257 | 740 | 1.773438 | 2 |
in the 1940s and 50s, the heart of Fillmore jazz…
by ELIZABETH PEPIN
Billie Holliday singing at the New Orleans Swing Club. Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Kenny Dorham. Dexter Gordon hanging out at Bop City. During the musical heyday of San Francisco’s Fillmore District in the 1940s and 1950s, the area known as the “Harlem of the West” was a swinging place where you could leave your house Friday night and jump from club to party to bar until the wee hours of Monday morning. Nonstop music in clubs where Young Turks from the neighborhood could mix with seasoned professionals and maybe even get a chance to jump on stage and show their stuff. A giant multi-block party throbbing with excitement and music and fun.
“You might have four clubs in a block, two on each side of the street. And then you go around a couple more blocks and then you have another couple of clubs,” Earl Watkins recalls in an interview with Carol Chamberland for her documentary on Bop City. “You had the Club Alabam (1820-A Post Street), which was one of our old established jazz clubs. Across the street was the New Orleans Swing club. They had a (chorus) line of girls in there. The guys had an excellent band. On Fillmore between Sutter and Post, you had Elsie’s Breakfast Club… Then down the block was the club called the Favor. Across the street from that was the Havana Club. And then when you went down the next block, Fillmore between Post and Geary, you had the Long Bar, which had Ella Fitzgerald. Then down another couple of blocks and you had the Blue Mirror. Then across from the Blue Mirror, they had the Ebony Plaza Hotel. In the basement, they had a club. And if you went up Fillmore to Ellis Street, you had the Booker T. Washington Hotel. And on their ground floor, in the lounge, they had entertainment.”
As World War II ended and the decade changed, so did the music. Bebop, which had been introduced to San Francisco just after the war, was being embraced by the city’s musical community like a long-lost child. Jazz clubs began opening up all over, especially in the Tenderloin and in North Beach.
The Western Addition music scene was also growing larger. You could hear jazz, blues, and R&B at the dozens of clubs in the neighborhood. Vout City (1690 Post) was a club run by the handsome and colorful musician Slim Gaillard, who had a good ear for music but lousy business sense. The club quickly folded and Gaillard took off for Los Angeles, leaving Charles Sullivan, a prominent African American businessman and entrepreneur who owned the building, to find a new tenant. Sullivan approached Jimbo Edwards, one of San Francisco’s first black automobile salesman, to rent the space. Jimbo agreed to open up a cafe, which he called Jimbo’s Waffle Shop. However, local musicians had other ideas.
In an interview with Carol Chamberland, Jimbo tells more: “Now I opened up this little cafe thing with Jimbo’s Waffle Shop. But there was a big old room in there. So musicians didn’t have no place to play their work and whatnot. About eight, ten musicians come and say ÔLet’s take this back room and have us a hangout house.’ So when I opened it up, I said, yeah, OK. Now when we opened it up, we didn’t even have a bandstand… So I built me a bandstand… And so that’s how Bop City came. Now it didn’t have no name, so we figured since Bop City’s closed in New York, we might as well name it Bop City. But the bottom line, it was never Bop City, it was always Jimbo’s Waffle Shop.”
Bop City quickly became the place to play. After all the other clubs in the city shut down, everyone would head to 1690 Post for amazing after-hours jam sessions and parties. Duke Ellington, Ben Webster, Billy Eckstine, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Dinah Washington, and John Coltrane were but a few of the many musicians who graced the club’s stage.
Pony Poindexter describes the scene: “One night, or should I say one morning, Art Tatum was honored with a special party at Bop City. There was lots of food… Up on the piano were cases of liquor. After everyone had stuffed himself or herself, we all settled back to look and listen to some real piano playing. Still, several hours went by and no one moved. It was daybreak. No one moved. Finally it came to an end. When I left there, I was spent — both from playing and listening…The very next weekend we had at Bop City the big three trumpet players of the bop style: Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Kenny Dorham. Dexter (Gordon) was also there. The session went on til early noon the next day. Jimbo honored them all with a special dinner. The next week the Woody Herman band came to into town, and there was another party for them. That night we heard Stan Getz and Zoot Sims stretch out.”
Saxophonist John Handy, who later went on to play with Charles Mingus, began sneaking into Fillmore clubs at the age of 16 in 1949. For Handy, Bop City was like a second home, and musically it was his first home, having been a member of the house band at one time or another. He told me the club was a place where young aspiring musicians could sit mesmerized for hours, watching their heroes play on stage, and maybe even be given a chance to join them on stage.
In bebop, if you couldn’t play, the musicians would tell you to get right off the stage, even during your solo,” Hester says. “They didn’t care. You had to be good, or forget it.”
“THE LEGEND OF BOP CITY” 1998 directed by Carol Chamberland | <urn:uuid:dc2d3189-02c3-4b10-80e3-257844f94761> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pyramidbeach.com/tag/charles-sullivan/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979504 | 1,342 | 1.820313 | 2 |
LOUISVILLE, KY.- 21c Museum Hotel
will unveil a monumental tornado constructed of thousands of silvered glass and gilt hand-carved wooden objects at 21c Museum on June 10. Broken eggs, flashlights, dolls heads, turkey basters, and batteries made of wood−as well as found objects made of glass−swirl together to form the massive funnel cloud of the installation, entitled Wheel of Fortune. Artist Anne Peabody, whose work was featured at the 2009 Venice Biennale, drew on her childhood memories of Louisvilles powerful 1974 tornado to conceive and realize the work. Wheel of Fortune − commissioned and presented by 21c Museum − will be on view free of charge at 21c Museum Hotel in conjunction with the 40th annual Glass Art Society (GAS) conference in Louisville this June, and will be on display through October, 2010.
Annes installation transforms 21c Museum Hotel into a space for reflection, not only on the 1974 tornado, but on the larger theme of our societys value systems, said William Morrow, Director of 21c Museum. Her work explores how catastrophic events alter our perception of the objects we live with and the world around us. In Wheel of Fortune mink coats and candelabras mingle with cigarette butts and broken bits of glass, all equally beautiful and equally damaged.
I wanted to look at the clash between devastation and beauty, and the unexpected consequences of disaster, said Peabody. I started from my own childhood memories of the 1974 tornado, which left my house untouched but my neighborhood devastated and my yard filled with other peoples possessions. While Wheel of Fortune grew out of events in own my life, I want to speak to the experience of anyone touched by the bizarre dislocations of calamity.
Steel bars of varying shapes and thickness form the interior coil of Wheel of Fortune, which measures 25 feet long diagonally and is approximately 18 feet wide at its broadest point. The thousands of objects, hand-made wooden items and found objects of glass, are each silvered and attached to the understructure to form a dense and coruscating tornado inside the museum. The work will be installed in 21c Museum Hotels atrium gallery.
Peabody made the carved wooden objects in Wheel of Fortune by hand and has invited other carvers and wood turners (some of whom lived through the tornado themselves), to contribute pieces for the installation. The glass pieces are primarily found objects as well as items given to her for the work by friends and neighbors.
Wheel of Fortune is commissioned by 21c Museum in conjunction with the 40th annual GAS conference, a three-day event organized by the Glass Arts Society which will bring thousands of visitors to Louisville. The conference unites artists, educators, businesses, galleries, museums, and collectors across the world with a shared interest in the medium of glass. | <urn:uuid:99f2643e-427b-459f-8ed4-e4e03464df95> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=36931&int_modo=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944228 | 589 | 1.75 | 2 |
Written by Robin Marty for RH Reality Check. This diary is cross-posted; commenters wishing to engage directly with the author should do so at the original post.
When 2010 was lauded as the “year of the woman” for political candidates, pundits on both sides of the aisle cheered the fact that more women were running for office than ever before.
There was only one small problem — many of them were running against each other.
At best, women were looking at maintaining status quo, swapping a female incumbent with a female challenger. But the result was a worst-case scenario: Due to primary losses and a Tea Party wave, the country actually ended up with fewer women in Congress than prior to Election Day.
Since then, women have slowly begun to regain ground. With the help of special election wins in New York, California and Oregon, women had regained their numbers.
Now, we are hearing it again. “The 2012 election will be the year of the woman.” But what is different this time?
Stephanie Schriock, President of EMILY’s List, an organization dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women to office, says this year the difference is the candidates: | <urn:uuid:c2c193f6-5cad-42ff-80ea-351cc26791e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://my.firedoglake.com/rhrealitycheck/tag/emilys-list/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976531 | 249 | 1.828125 | 2 |
- For the Australian professional wrestling promotion with the same name, see World Championship Wrestling (Australia)
|World Championship Wrestling|
|Owner|| Jim Crockett (1973-1988)|
Ted Turner (1988-2001)
Vince McMahon (2001-present)
|Parent||National Wrestling Alliance|
|Formerly||Jim Crockett Promotions|
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion which, in its proper form, existed from 1988 to 2001. Although the name "World Championship Wrestling" had been used as a brand and television show name by various National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)-affiliated promotions (most notably Georgia Championship Wrestling and Jim Crockett Promotions) since 1983, it was not until five years later that an actual NWA-affiliated promotion called World Championship Wrestling appeared on the national scene, under the ownership of Atlanta, Georgia-based media mogul Ted Turner.
During all its time as a separate promotion, WCW was the chief rival of World Wrestling Entertainment (then called World Wrestling Federation), and even the owners of its NWA-affiliated forerunner promotions regarded WWE as their major competitor. At the outset of WCW's existence, as well as with the promotions that came before it, the company was strongly identified with the Southern-style of professional wrestling (or rasslin'), which emphasized athletic in-ring competition over the showmanship and cartoonish characters of WWE. This identification persisted into the 1990s, even as the company signed former WWE stars such as Hulk Hogan and "Macho Man" Randy Savage. WCW dominated pro wrestling's television ratings from 1996 to 1998, mainly due to its incredibly popular New World Order (nWo) storyline, but thereafter began to lose heavy ground to WWE, which had recovered greatly due to its new WWE "Attitude" branding. The promotion began losing large amounts of money, leading to parent company AOL Time Warner selling the company to the rival WWE for roughly $7 million in 2001.
The NWA years
Although World Championship Wrestling was a brand name used by promoter Jim Barnett for his Australian promotion, the first promotion in the United States to use the World Championship Wrestling brand name (though it was never referred to as "WCW") on a wide scale was Georgia Championship Wrestling (although Vincent James McMahon's Capitol Wrestling Corporation did in fact use the name in some house show promotion).
This promotion, owned primarily by Jack Brisco and Gerald Brisco and booked by Ole Anderson, was the first NWA territory to gain cable TV access. In 1983, Georgia Championship Wrestling changed the name of its television show (and thus its public face) to World Championship Wrestling since it was already starting to run shows in "neutral" territories such as Ohio and Michigan. Although many in the business felt that Anderson was mismanaging the company, Georgia Championship Wrestling had managed to compete against the other major territory trying to go national (Vince McMahon's WWF); the name World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was first thought up for the company in 1982, when the WWE became the top promotion after Vince McMahon Jr.'s company Titan Sports Inc purchased Capitol Wrestling (WWE), as a result from the huge success that occurred for the company after the epic cage match between Jimmy Snuka and Bob Backlund took place on June 28, 1982. This change in name helped make Georgia Championship Wrestling the top promotion once again, until the WWE was able to officially leave the NWA and create the show WWE All American Wrestling. It was then that Jim Crockett created- in order to prevent another Showdown At Shea from occurring, and bring the NWA on top- Starrcade, and the NWA was now on top once again. However, the WWE was able to counter the NWA the following January with Hulk Hogan's title victory and Tuesday Night Titans.
In May 1984, the Brisco brothers sold their shares in Georgia Championship Wrestling, including their timeslot on the TBS cable TV network to Vince McMahon; this time slot was a primetime slot as well. The WWF show did not fare well in ratings. World Championship Wrestling's core audience was not interested in the WWF's cartoonish approach, preferring a more athletic style. Despite originally promising to produce original programming for the TBS timeslot in Atlanta, McMahon chose instead to provide only a clip show for TBS, featuring highlights from other WWF programming. It was then that Bill Watts and Ole Anderson were able to air Mid South Wrestling (Watts' promotion) and Championship Wrestling from Georgia (Anderson's new promotion) on TBS, and make them more successful in the TV ratings than the WWF's clip show. In May 1985, McMahon sold the TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (owned by Jim Crockett, Jr.) under pressure from Ted Turner, who resurrected the World Championship Wrestling name (Turner Broadcasting had copyrighted it and prevented McMahon from using it). The WWF and Hulk Hogan, however, were now the superior figures of wrestling after the success of WrestleMania, so the sale took place to successfully put the company in better shape. The new WCW, which was now a combination of Jim Crockett Promotions (Mid Atlantic Wrestling) and Georgia Championship Wrestling, was now the top show on TBS, and helped make Jim Crockett Jr. the NWA President once again.
By 1986, Jim Crockett, Jr. controlled key portions of the NWA under the name Jim Crockett Promotions, including the traditional NWA territories in The Carolinas, Georgia, and St. Louis. Crockett merged his various NWA territories into one group, promoting under the banner of the National Wrestling Alliance (in fact, JCP virtually became synonymous with "the NWA"). A feud between Crockett and Vince McMahon's WWE sprang up, and both companies attempted to outmaneuver the other to acquire key TV slots. It was the WWF, however, who was able to become a big hit in St. Louis (and the rest of Missouri as well), which brought trouble to the NWA Central States. The WWF was able to become a hit across the country as well, as the feud between Hulk Hogan and Paul Orndorff appealed to a large audience. As a result, Bob Geigel became the NWA President once again.
In the same year, JCP also purchased Heart of America Sports Attractions Inc (HASA), which owned the rights to promote wrestling shows through several central states (Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa). HASA was known in the business as "the Central States territory," and ran a TV show called All Star Wrestling.
In 1987, JCP would enter into agreement to control Championship Wrestling from Florida (though JCP never bought that company), and Universal Wrestling Federation (which covered Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana), and which was not an NWA member; this helped make him NWA President once again. The Florida & Mid-South territories (along with those companies' rosters of wrestlers) were absorbed into JCP. Jim Crockett now owned NWA St Louis, the UWF, his own Jim Crockett Promotions, Georgia Championship Wrestling, Central States Wrestling, Championship Wrestling from Georgia and the CWF as well.
Crockett had almost accomplished his goal of creating a national promotion. Between his purchasing several NWA territories, World Class Championship Wrestling in Texas leaving the NWA in 1986 (and later merging with Jerry Jarrett's Championship Wrestling Alliance in Memphis to create the United States Wrestling Association) brand, and the once highly viable Portland territory going bankrupt (it closed in 1992), he was the last bastion of the NWA, and the last member with national TV exposure. Since it was all they now saw, many people began to believe that Jim Crockett Promotions was the NWA. Although JCP and the NWA were still two separate entities, with Crockett as NWA President, they were very much on the same page. The NWA was effectively an on-paper organization funded by Crockett, and allowed Crockett to use the NWA brand name for promoting.
With the large amount of capital needed to take a wrestling federation on a national tour, Crockett's territorial acquisitions had seriously drained JCP's coffers. He was in a similar situation to that of the WWE in the early 1980s: a large debt load, and the success or failure of a federation hinging on the success or failure of a series of PPVs. Crockett marketed StarrCade '87 as the NWA's answer to WrestleMania. However, the WWE promoted Survivor Series on the same day. The WWE informed cable companies that if they chose to carry Starrcade, they would not be allowed to carry future WWE events. The vast majority of companies showed Survivor Series (only three opted to remain loyal to their contract with Crockett). In January 1988, JCP promoted the Bunkhouse Stampede PPV, and McMahon counter-programmed with the first Royal Rumble on USA. Both NWA PPVs achieved low buyrates and the resulting financial blow due to the low buyates both Starrcade and Bunkhouse Stampede were in many ways both the beginning of the end for Jim Crockett Promotions and the birth of WCW in which would take Jim Crockett Promotions' place. In addition, the decision to hold these events in Chicago and New York alienated the Crockett's main fanbase in the Carolinas, hampering their drawing power for arena shows in the Southeast.
In 1985, Crockett had signed Dusty Rhodes and made him booker for JCP. Rhodes had a reputation for creativity and authored many of the memorable feuds and storylines of this period and gimmick matches like WarGames. By 1988, after three years of trying to compete with Vince McMahon, and a long, drawn-out political struggle with champion Ric Flair, Rhodes was burned out. Fans were getting tired of the "Charlotte Clique" (Rhodes, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Nikita Koloff among others), and the Dusty Finish (and other non-endings for shows) had obliterated the once-profitable house show market. One of the last creative things Dusty Rhodes could do was create the first Clash of The Champions, on the night of Wrestlemania IV, and gained a high amount of viewers- even over Wrestlemania IV, for a whole quarter-hour- as the Ric Flair vs. Sting match continued to take place; and as an epic match, that also made Sting now a top player for WCW; However, this main event match ended long before the four-hour Wrestlemania IV ended, and people soon afterwards saw Randy Savage win his first WWE Title, and insured more victory for the WWE. By the end of 1988, Rhodes was booking cards seemingly at random, and planning at one point to have mid-card wrestler Rick Steiner defeat Ric Flair in a five-minute match at Starrcade for the NWA World Championship. At the end of 1988, Rhodes was fired by the promotion after an angle he booked where Road Warrior Animal pulled a spike out of his shoulder pad and jammed it in Rhodes's eye busting it wide open, despite a strict "no-blood" policy laid down by Turner after his recent purchase of the company.
WCW under Ted Turner: The Early Years
To preserve the inexpensive network programming provided by professional wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions was purchased outright by Turner on November 21 1988. Originally incorporated by TBS as the Universal Wrestling Corporation, Turner promised the fans that WCW would be the athlete-oriented style of NWA.
1989 proved to be a turnaround year for WCW, with Ric Flair on top for most of the year both as World Champion and also as head booker. Flair had helped bring in Ricky Steamboat and Terry Funk, and his PPV matches with both were successful, financially and critically. Young stars such as Sid Vicious, Sting, Scott Steiner, The Road Warriors, Brian Pillman, The Great Muta and Lex Luger were given big storylines and championship opportunities.
Despite this influx of talent, WCW soon began working to gradually incorporate much of the glamour and showy gimmicks for which the WWE was better known. Virtually none of these stunts- such as the live cross-promotional appearance of RoboCop at a PPV event in 1990, the Chamber of Horrors gimmick and the notorious Black Scorpion storyline- succeeded. Behind the scenes, WCW was also becoming more autonomous and slowly started separating itself from the historic NWA name. In January 1991, WCW officially split from the NWA and began to recognize its own WCW World Heavyweight Championship and WCW World Tag Team Championship.
Both the WCW and the NWA recognized Ric Flair (who was by now no longer the head booker) as their World Heavyweight Champion throughout most of the first half of 1991, but WCW, particularly recently-installed company president Jim Herd, turned against Flair for various reasons and fired him just prior to the July 1991 Great American Bash PPV after failed contract negotiations. In the process, they officially stripped him of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, according to Flair's autobiography, they refused to return the $25,000 deposit he had put down on the (physical) belt, so he kept it and took it with him when he was hired by WWE at the request of Vince McMahon. Flair then incorporated the belt into his gimmick, dubbing himself "The Real World's Champion".
WCW later renegotiated the use of the NWA name as a co-promotional gimmick with New Japan Pro Wrestling, and sued WWE to stop showing Flair with the old NWA World title belt on its programs, claiming a trademark on the physical design of the belt. The belt was returned to WCW by Flair when Jim Herd was let go and he received his deposit back plus interest, and it was brought back as the revived NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
During the period that WCW operated with its own World Champion while also recognizing the NWA's world title, Flair would later leave WWE on good terms and returned to WCW, regaining the title from Barry Windham in July 1993. Immediately, the other, now smaller, member organizations of the NWA began demanding that Flair defend the title under their rules in their territories, as mandated by old NWA agreements. The title was later scheduled to be dropped by Flair to Rick Rude, a title change which was exposed by the Disney Tapings, the months-in-advance taping of WCW's syndicated television shows at Disney-owned studios in Orlando, Florida. The NWA board of directors, working separately from WCW, objected to Rude, with WCW finally leaving the NWA for good again in September 1993.
However, WCW still legally owned and used the actual belt which represented the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (Rick Rude even defended it as The Big Gold Belt) but they could no longer use the NWA name. The title thus became known as the WCW International World Heavyweight Title (meaning the World heavyweight championship as sanctioned by "WCW International," a fictional organization made up of promoters from around the world, essentially their in-house version of the real NWA).
WCW realized that the title belt, because of its rich in-ring history and visual impact, was highly sought after and respected in Japan and as such created this fictional subsidiary dubbed WCW International to inject some credibility back into the belt. WCW claimed that "WCWI" still recognized the belt as a legitimate World Championship. For a short while, there were essentially two World titles up for competition in the organization.
Sting eventually won the WCW International Championship and lost the belt to then-WCW World Champion Ric Flair in a unification match on June 23, 1994 when the experiment was jettisoned. The Big Gold belt (or "Big Goldy") was then used to represent the lone World title in the company. It was used as such until WCW's closure in 2001. The belt (in a slightly altered design) is still seen today in WWE as the World Heavyweight Championship on their SmackDown! brand (previously on RAW). However, WWE considers it a separate title and WWE.com officially lists the title history of the World Heavyweight Championship as beginning with Triple H being awarded the belt by Eric Bischoff on RAW on September 2, 2002.
The Eric Bischoff era begins
The creative product of the company sank very noticeably in 1992 and 1993 under the presidency of Jim Herd and, subsequently, Bill Watts. There were signs of gradual recovery in late 1993 when former commentator Eric Bischoff was appointed as Executive Vice President of WCW. Bischoff, originally brought in as a secondary commentator behind Jim Ross after the AWA became defunct, was desperate to give WCW a new direction and impressed Turner's top brass with his confrontational tactics and business-savvy.
Bischoff's first year was considered unsuccessful. Dusty Rhodes and Ole Anderson were still in full creative control at this point, with what were considered to be cartoonish storylines, as well as seemingly pointless feuds with little or no buildup. For example: The Cactus Jack lost in Cleveland angle, the mini movies that build up the PPV (Spin the Wheel Make the deal, White Castle of Fear and the infamous beach blast mini movie) and Spin the Wheel make the deal angles. During a segment of "A Flair For the Gold" on a live Clash of the Champions to build up the Fall Brawl PPV, WCW decided to introduce a "mystery partner" for the babyfaces, a masked man known as The Shockmaster. The Shockmaster (previously known as Typhoon in WWE) was supposed to crash through a fake wall and intimidate the heels. Instead, he tripped through the wall and fell on live television, rendering himself as a joke character (despite winning some matches.)
WCW in 1993 decided to once again base the promotion around Ric Flair. This was seen as more or less a necessity, as prospective top babyface Sid Vicious tried to injure wrestler Arn Anderson with a pair of scissors four weeks before StarrCade while on tour in England and was fired. Flair won the title at StarrCade and was once again made booker.
Bischoff would declare open war on McMahon's WWE in the media and aggressively recruited high-profile former WWE superstars such as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage in 1994. Using Turner's monetary resources, Bischoff placed his faith in the established stars with proven track records. Because of their high profiles, Hogan and Savage were able to demand and get several concessions not usually allowed to wrestlers at the time, such as multi-year, multimillion dollar guaranteed contracts and significant creative control. This would later become a problem during subsequent years of competition with the WWE, as other wrestlers were able to make similar demands, and contract values soared out of control. Hogan, in particular, was able to gain considerable influence through a friendship with Bischoff. Another thing Bischoff may have failed to consider was the fact that many WCW fans watched it as an alternative to the product of the WWE in the early 90s, and many NWA fans saw the hiring of former WWE talent as an attempt to copy its success, as opposed to being an alternative product with an emphasis on in-ring action.
But WCW's first major Pay Per View event since Hogan's hiring Bash at the Beach, saw the former WWE mainstay cleanly defeat Ric Flair for the WCW Championship. The two had worked for the WWE at the same time from 1991 to 1992, and a feud was teased between them, but the big-money match originally planned for WrestleMania VIII was changed to Flair/Savage and Hogan/Sid. When WCW delivered the match, the PPV drew a high buy rate by WCW standards due to mainstream intrigue and hype. Despite being a critical and financial success, the glory would not last long as the Hogan/Flair feud was only a one-off match and the hoped for long term effects on Pay Per View buyrates and ratings did not materialize.
This was not lost on Turner management, however, and Bischoff's bold, expensive steps didn't quite meet their expectations when they came to check up on things in mid-1995. Thus, Bischoff called Turner and requested a private meeting, which he was granted.
Monday Night Wars
- Main article: Monday Night Wars
- See also:nWo
In 1997, WCW entered its peak, largely due to the nWo storyline. During that time, the nWo feuded with the revived (and face-turned) Four Horsemen as well as returning WCW hero Sting (who now had a gimmick that resembled The Crow). The latter feud served to build up the StarrCade pay-per-view in December. When WCW delivered the Sting vs. Hogan match for the WCW World Championship, the PPV drew WCW's biggest buyrate and Bischoff was largely praised in the months leading up to this pay-per-view because of his refusal to "hotshot" (give away a big money PPV match before proper build up, causing a lesser buy rate) Sting vs. Hogan for the WCW World Title.
However, some wrestling fans consider this show to be the beginning of the end for WCW, even though WCW was dominating the WWF in the television ratings at the time. Hogan was heavily criticized for not doing a clean finish to the match, which confused and irritated fans who had waited over a year to see Sting take down the nWo. The finish actually involved a recently-introduced Bret Hart (who had refereed the preceding match between Bischoff and Larry Zbyszko for control of Monday Nitro) coming down to the ring after Hogan had supposedly won the match. Hart alleged that referee Nick Patrick had performed a fast count on Sting, and wanted to "make things right." He insisted the match continue (with himself as referee) in order to prevent Sting from being "screwed" just like he had been in the WWF with the Montreal Screwjob.
Vince McMahon strikes back
- See also:Monday Night Wars: The Tide Turns
When Hart left the WWF after the Montreal Screwjob at the 1997 Survivor Series, it looked as though WCW was going to push the WWF right off the map. WCW seemingly possessed the biggest stars in the industry, such as Hogan, Savage, Sting, Flair, Hart, Hall, and Nash. In addition, the company also had credible midcard stars such as Chris Benoit and Raven, as well as an exciting cruiserweight division featuring high-flying competitors from Mexico (the luchadors) and Japan as well as the United States. However, things would unfold quite differently from what WCW had planned.
The popular opinion was that the Screwjob and the acquisition of Hart was a deathblow for the WWF and a major score for WCW. The combination of a company screwing over a popular wrestler and angering many fans should have dealt a massive blow to the WWF and given WCW a great amount of hype to work with. However, after WrestleMania XIV in March 1998, Vince McMahon regained the lead in the Monday Night Wars with his new "WWF Attitude" brand, led in particular by rising stars Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, and Mankind. The classic feud between McMahon (who was re-imagined and re-branded as the evil company chairman character Mr. McMahon) and Austin (who, ironically, had been released by Bischoff in the summer of 1995 for not being marketable) captured the imaginations of fans. The April 13, 1998 episode of RAW, headlined by a match between Austin and McMahon, marked the first time that WCW had lost the head-to-head Monday night ratings battle in the 84 weeks since 1996. The WWF did not stop there. Their ratings increased dramatically in the next two years, more than ever before. WCW attempted to counter this by dividing the nWo into the Hogan-led heel nWo Hollywood faction and the Nash-led face nWo Wolfpac faction, but many felt that it was a poor rehash of the original WCW vs. nWo storyline. Undeterred, WCW also launched a new Thursday TV show, the aforementioned WCW Thunder, around this time.
WCW's next big attempt at ratings supremacy was marketing ex-NFL newcomer Bill Goldberg as an invincible monster with a record-breaking winning streak. Goldberg was indeed incredibly popular from the outset, with chants of 'Gold-berg, Gold-berg' heralding his approach to the ring, but business still quickly fell off for WCW, especially as the list of stars ready to be destroyed by Goldberg grew shorter. One of WCW's last big genuine wins in the Monday night ratings war was on July 6, 1998, when WCW gave the long-awaited World Title match in Atlanta between Hogan and Goldberg (which Goldberg won), away for free on Nitro. By doing this, they indeed "spiked" and defeated RAW in the TV ratings for a week, but lost millions of possible PPV dollars in the process, as Hogan vs. Goldberg was a clear PPV main event. On September 14, 1998, WCW won the ratings war once again with a memorable moment that featured Ric Flair's return to WCW and the reformation of the legendary Four Horsemen. On October 25, 1998, WCW's Halloween Havoc PPV ended up running longer than the time allowed due to the last-minute addition of a Tag Team Title match. As a result, several thousand people lost the PPV feed at 11pm which was during the World Title match between Diamond Dallas Page and Goldberg. The following night, WCW decided to correct the problem by airing the entire match for free on Nitro and thus winning the ratings war for the final time.
WCW slowly slid into a period of extravagant overspending and what was viewed almost universally as creative decline, with the reason why it happened and who let it happen still a matter of debate. One possible reason was the overuse of celebrities (such as Dennis Rodman and Jay Leno) to wrestle PPV matches. Another was that WCW's credibility was badly damaged by embarrassing product placement, like Rick Steiner trading barbs with Chucky the killer doll (which was roundly booed by the in-house audience on the live Nitro broadcast) in the hopes of generating interest in the 1998 film Bride of Chucky. Yet another possible reason was the stale, pointless, and at times self-serving storylines concocted by inexperienced bookers such as Kevin Nash, and the fact that the top-level stars had no motivation to excel in the ring due to their long-term guaranteed-money contracts, only giving their utmost when it suited them to do so. What is known is that WCW programming slowly started to go downhill in quality, with people turning off their TVs or switching to WWF programming, and in reaction the company began to panic and tried to solve its problems by throwing money at a variety of personalities, a practice it could ill-afford to engage in. Many talents were reportedly signed simply to keep them from appearing on WWF television. At one point, WCW held over 260 individual performers under guaranteed contracts, and often paid many of them to simply stay at home and collect a paycheck.
As mentioned above, people were growing suspicious of Nash's questionable storylines, which were dominated by his on-screen persona. After booking himself to win the World War 3 battle royal in November 1998, he went on to end Goldberg's winning streak and win the World Title on the StarrCade PPV just one month later. Then came the infamous "fingerpoke of doom" match with Hulk Hogan in January 1999. The particular Nitro in which this match aired was being advertised as a StarrCade rematch between Nash and Goldberg. As a result, the arena was a complete sellout, with over 40,000 people watching live and millions more around the world hoping for the rematch. All night long, the announcers hyped the main event as being the "biggest match in the history of our sport" and said that "unlike the other guys, we have a real main event." Instead, a storyline that put Goldberg in a bad light called for him to be replaced by Hollywood Hogan. The World Heavyweight Championship changed hands when Hogan knocked Nash to the mat by prodding him in the chest with one finger and then pinning him, further damaging the credibility and perceived value of the title. Also damaged was the credibility of the company itself, which did not present the match that had been advertised, as well as what was perceived to be an underhanded way of selling out the arena for that night's telecast. It was also this same episode of Nitro that Tony Schiavone mockingly announced the Mick Foley WWF's Title win, which shifted the ratings for the night in the WWF's favor.
For more details on this topic, see: Fingerpoke of Doom: The Impact
Also in 1998, The Ultimate Warrior, a former WWF star, was recruited by Eric Bischoff to feud with Hogan (Warrior's WrestleMania VI opponent). Their October 1998 encounter at Halloween Havoc was mostly seen as sub-par, and Warrior vanished soon after. The Ultimate Warrior also insisted on a number of elaborate and costly apparatuses such as a trapdoor in the ring, which badly injured The British Bulldog when he landed on it.
In addition, no matter who was in charge, WCW did not like promoting its younger stars to the company's top slots. Despite having many talented younger wrestlers such as Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Billy Kidman, Chavo Guerrero, Jr., Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, Raven, Rey Mysterio, Jr., and Booker T on its roster, they were kept away from the main event scene. What was seen as WCW's poor talent decisions combined with the massive popularity of the new, hip, and edgy WWF's "Attitude Era", likely began WCW's rapid demise.
Bischoff was eventually removed from power by the Turner higher-ups on September 10 1999. The last straws perhaps being what was felt as a bizarre and mystifying push for the 1970s rock group KISS through WCW shows, a storyline involving rapper Master P and The No Limit Soldiers that saw Master P last only two weeks (the "No Limit Soldiers" stable flopped so badly that the West Texas Rednecks heel stable that they were feuding with was cheered by the WCW's traditional southern fanbase); an announced million-dollar contest that was later canceled; a planned Nitro animated series that was scrapped, as well; and Bischoff's long-standing desire to put on a huge, outdoor rock 'n' wrestling concert featuring KISS on December 31 1999.
See also: Eric Bischoff's downfall
Another factor that lead to the demise of the WCW, which has largely gone unnoticed, is that unlike Nitro, the locations WCW used to hire for their PPV events were too small in terms of their capacity. Although WCW had an abundance of superstars in their ranks, this area was largely neglected by the management. For the record, WCW staged some of the biggest wrestling matches in arenas having mediocre capacity. For example the much awaited encounter between Randy Savage and Ric Flair at the 1995 Great American Bash was scheduled at the Hara Arena, in Dayton, Ohio had a mere capacity of 6,000 seats. Similarly, the match between Sting and Giant for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at the 1996 Slamboree took placed at the Riverside Centroplex in Baton Rouge, Louisiana which only 8,000 seats available. All and all, it has been said that had WCW management opted for bigger venues their profit would have been much more.
The Death of WCW
See also: Vince Russo in WCW
Bischoff was unexpectedly replaced by former WWF head writer Vince Russo and his colleague Ed Ferrara. Russo and Ferrera had been writers involved in the WWF's "Attitude Era", but billed themselves as the brains behind the operation. WCW offered them lucrative contracts to jump ship in October 1999 in an effort to revitalize their own flagging product and weaken the product of the WWF. Russo and Ferrera tried to push the younger WCW talents straight away, and phase out aging stars such as Hogan and Flair. However, Russo was thought by many to be incapable of recreating the intriguing and cutting-edge TV he had produced while working for McMahon.
Russo and Ferrera struggled to gain approval for their near-the-knuckle ideas from the WCW management, such as "Piñata on a Pole" matches between Mexican wrestlers. In late 1999, Russo and Ferrera revived the nWo storyline, this time with Jeff Jarrett and Bret Hart at the helm. They next targeted WWF announcer Jim Ross with a parody character called "Oklahoma", who was played onscreen by Ferrera (Ross had been suffering from Bell's palsy, and the character lampooned his resultant facial defects). Bad luck struck in December 1999 when Hart suffered a genuine (and ultimately career-ending) concussion at the hands of Goldberg, who severely damaged his own hand less than a week later while punching through a limousine window in Salisbury, Maryland as part of a storyline that was written by Russo. Russo himself became an onscreen character during this period, though one whose face was never shown on camera, in a manner similar to Doctor Claw from Inspector Gadget and the George Steinbrenner character from Seinfeld. Only his hand and the back of his chair were ever actually seen, as he called wrestlers into his office to receive their marching orders for the night.
Both Russo and Ferrera were suspended just three months later amid rumors that they wanted to make former UFC fighter Tank Abbott the WCW Champion (Abbott, despite his legitimate fighting background, had little wrestling experience and had failed to connect with WCW audiences). Kevin Sullivan, who had been an on/off booker over the course of several years, was placed in charge in the interim. The new writing team attempted to appease the demoralized wrestlers and fans by making Chris Benoit the WCW Champion at the Souled Out PPV in January 2000. However, because of the real-life personal issues between himself and Sullivan (Sullivan's wife left him for Benoit), let alone that prior to the PPV he and a few other wrestlers demanded their releases from the company (due to their lack of being pushed to stardom as well as their similar hatred for Sullivan), Benoit handed the belt back right after winning it and the next day left WCW. He signed with the WWF along with his similarly frustrated friends Perry Saturn, Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko. The four quickly became popular in the WWF as "The Radicalz".
On February 11 2000, black wrestlers Bobby Walker and Harrison Norris and Japanese manager Sonny Onoo launched racial discrimination lawsuits against WCW, claiming that, as a result of their ethnicities, they had not been pushed, had not been paid as well as other wrestlers and personalities, and had been given offensive gimmicks. Some speculated that the charges of racism brought against WCW (and the resultant bad publicity for the company, which had been dogged by accusations of racism for years), were partially responsible for black wrestler Booker T winning the WCW Championship later that year and his brother Stevie Ray being made a color commentator, with Ray himself acknowledging that it might have been a factor.
In April 2000, with ratings hitting new lows, both Russo and Bischoff were reinstated by WCW. They formed an on-screen union that stood up for the younger talent in the company (which they dubbed the New Blood) in their battle against the Millionaires Club, which consisted of the older, higher-paid, and more visible stars such as Hogan, Sting, and Diamond Dallas Page. Though initially well-received, the storyline quickly degenerated into yet another nWo rehash, with the heel nWo recast as the New Blood and the face WCW embodied in the Millionaire's Club. As well, the unorthodox and often controversial storylines continued. These included making actor David Arquette the WCW Champion in order to promote a WCW-themed movie, Ready to Rumble; Russo himself winning the WCW Championship in September 2000 (Russo, like Arquette, was not a trained wrestler); a botched June heel turn for Goldberg that greatly diminished his drawing power; and a shoot speech by Russo at Bash at the Beach 2000 aimed at Hulk Hogan which led to Hogan resigning and filing a defamation of character lawsuit against the company (which was eventually dismissed in 2002). Bischoff vanished once more in July 2000, and Russo was gone from WCW completely by late 2000, leaving Terry Taylor holding the reins.
Meanwhile, when Time Warner bought out Turner's cable empire in 1996, it also purchased WCW. Even though Turner was a big fan and faithful to the professional wrestling shows on his stations (a professional wrestling program had helped get Turner's very first TV station, WTBS, off the ground, and WCW was, in fact, the modern incarnation of the promotion that Turner had run on WTBS back in those days) regardless of whether it was losing him money, Time Warner did not share his loyalty, especially when accounts showed that WCW was losing between $12-$17 million a year because of its decline. However, Turner was still the single largest Time Warner shareholder, and WCW was supported at his behest. When AOL merged with Time Warner in 2000, Turner was effectively forced out of his own empire. The new AOL Time Warner finally had the power to auction off WCW, which they saw as an unnecessary drain on resources.
In late 2000, Bischoff and a group of private investors, calling themselves Fusient Media Ventures, inquired about buying WCW but backed out when Turner networks head (and The WB founder) Jamie Kellner formally canceled all WCW programming from its TV networks. With no network to air its programming, WCW was of little value to Fusient, whose offer was dependent on the Turner networks continuing to air WCW programming.
On March 23 2001, virtually all of WCW's trademarks and archived footage was sold to Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. for around $2 million.
The Acquisition by WWF/E
A gloating McMahon (in character, but at least partly genuine) opened the last-ever episode of WCW Monday Nitro simulcast with RAW on March 26, 2001 with a self-praising speech. US Champion Booker T cleanly defeated the world champion, Scott Steiner, to become WCW's final World Heavyweight Champion, as well as its final US Heavyweight Champion. Sting vs. Ric Flair (won by Sting) was the highlight nostalgia match of the final broadcast, ending affectionately with a respectful embrace.
When Vince came on RAW after the Sting/Flair match to declare victory over WCW, Vince's son Shane McMahon appeared at the Nitro event, declaring that he had bought WCW. However, this was kayfabe and part of a WWE storyline that would have Shane leading the WCW Invasion of WWE, which lasted from March to November 2001 and marked the end of WCW. Despite aborted attempts to run WCW-branded events (including a proposed Saturday night timeslot that later evolved into WWF Excess and then WWE Velocity), the WWF only ran a handful of matches on RAW and SmackDown! under the WCW banner.
When the WWF bought WCW in March 2001, several top WCW wrestlers, including Flair, Goldberg, Kevin Nash, and Sting had high-priced contracts with AOL Time Warner that WWF was unwilling to pick up. This was one the reasons the planned WCW Invasion of WWF storyline failed. The WCW was not seen as a powerhouse organization invading WWF when most of their top stars did not appear. However, all of the above wrestlers except Sting signed contracts with the WWF after the Invasion subsided.
It has also been noticed often in WCW that they somewhat misused the great roster they used to have. At times they tried to recreate the magic of those encounters which were already successful in WWF and Hogan-Warrior and Hogan-Savage was no exception. Moreover, there was hardly any face vs. face matches in WCW except of Goldberg-DDP (which was reasonably successful). It was also noted that with the roster WCW used to have they could have created some great encounters which had never been seen before in WWF, such as Hogan-Bret, Warrior-Bret, Flair-Warrior, Luger-Savage etc. Adding insult to injury was the bad timings, short length and poor homework on the part of bookers of various feuds, which caused a lot of damage to WCW during a pivotal time where it couldn't afford to make such mistakes. The Savage-Bret rivalry which started when Bret become a nWo member was indeed a great idea but it was short lived. The Hogan-Nash encounter could have drawn millions of dollars had it been on a pay per view but due to the poor booking, timing and execution of the match the result is what was infamously remembered as ’Fingerpoke of Doom’. All and all the talent of WCW was utilized poorly as majority of superstar and talented athletes had nothing to do but move in the shadow of either Hogan or Nash as a part of nWo while others used to get their opportunity once in a blue moon in the mid card.
The WCW World Heavyweight Championship would be merged with the WWF Championship into the WWF Undisputed Championship when Chris Jericho defeated The Rock and Steve Austin for the respective titles on December 9, 2001 on the PPV, Vengeance. However, in September 2002 (the year the WWE Brand Extension between RAW and SmackDown! was instituted) the World Heavyweight Championship was reinstated by GM (at the time) Eric Bischoff on an episode of RAW after the then-undisputed WWE Champion Brock Lesnar was moved to SmackDown! to become that show's champion. This version of the belt, along with champion Dave Batista, was moved over to the Smackdown! brand in June 2005. Three years later in June 2008, the World Heavyweight Championship was moved back to RAW (CM Punk of RAW defeated Smackdown's champion Edge in an impromptu "Money in the Bank" match on Monday Night RAW), where it remained for a while. At No Way Out 2009, Edge, a SmackDown superstar, won the RAW Elimination Chamber match after inserting himself into it, thus bringing the title with him to SmackDown.
This is a list of the champions as they were at the end of the last WCW Monday Nitro on March 26, 2001
|Championship||Final Champion (s)||Date Won||Event|
|WCW World Heavyweight Championship||Booker T||March 26, 2001||Nitro|
|WWE United States Championship||Booker T||March 18, 2001||Greed|
|WCW World Tag Team Champions||Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire||January 14, 2001||Sin|
|WWE Cruiserweight Championship||Shane Helms||March 18, 2001||Greed|
|WCW World Television Championship||Jim Duggan||February 16, 2000||Thunder|
|WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Champions||Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio||March 26, 2001||Nitro|
|WCW Hardcore Championship||Meng||January 14, 2001||Sin|
Here's a list of the final WCW Champions under banner of WWE.
|Championship||Final Champion (s)||Date Won||Event|
|WCW World Heavyweight Championship
|Chris Jericho||December 9, 2001||Vengeance 2001|
|WCW United States Championship||Edge||November 12, 2001||RAW|
|WCW World Tag Team Champions
|The Dudley Boyz||November 18, 2001||Survivor Series|
|WCW Cruiserweight Championship||Tajiri||October 22, 2001||RAW|
- 1Unified with the WWE Championship at Vengeance 2001. The belt design was later reintroduced as the WWE sanctioned World Heavyweight Championship in September 2002.
- 2Unified with the WWE Tag Team Championship at Survivor Series 2001.
- 3Unified with the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Test. Reactivated in 2003 as the WWE United States Championship.
- 4Kept active after WCW and renamed WWE Cruiserweight Championship after The Invasion.
Championships and accomplishments
- WCW World Heavyweight Championship
- WCW United States Heavyweight Championship
- WCW Cruiserweight Championship
- WCW World Tag Team Championship
- WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship
- WCW World Television Championship
- WCW Hardcore Championship
- WCW United States Tag Team Championship
- WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship
- WCW International World Heavyweight Championship
- WCW Light Heavyweight Championship
- WCW Women's Championship
- WCW Women's Cruiserweight Championship
- NWA World Heavyweight Championship
- NWA World Tag Team Championship
List of WCW programming
Throughout its history, World Championship Wrestling (and its predecessor, Jim Crockett Promotions) has presented several wrestling programs.
- WCW Monday Nitro (1995-2001)
- WCW Thunder (1998-2001)
- WCW Saturday Night, aka WCW Saturday Morning, Georgia Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling (1971-2000)
- World Championship Wrestling: Sunday Edition (197?-1987)
- WCW WorldWide, aka World Wide Wrestling (1975-2001)
- WCW Pro, aka NWA Pro Wrestling and Mid-Atlantic Wrestling (1985-1998)
- WCW Main Event, aka NWA Power Hour (1989-1992)
- WCW Power Hour, aka NWA Power Hour (1989-1992)
- WCW Prime (1995-1997)
- WCW Clash of the Champions aka NWA Clash of Champions
- The Death of WCW by R.D. Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez, 2004, ISBN 1-55022-661-4.
- The Monday Night War: WWE Raw vs. WCW Monday Nitro World Wrestling Entertainment, 2004, ASIN B0001CCXCA.
- Controversy Creates Cash by Eric Bischoff and Jeremy Roberts, 2006
- World Championship Wrestling alumni
- Event history
- List of professional wrestlers
- List of professional wrestling stables
- List of WCW pay-per-view events
- Jim Crockett Promotions
- The Alliance
- Monday Night Wars
- Nitro Girls
- WCW Saturday Night
- WCW Monday Nitro
- WCW Thunder
- The Legacy of WCW Homepage
- WCW Title Histories
- DDT Digest - "The Unofficial Resting Place Of WCW"
- The Complete History of WCW
- History of Wrestling on TBS
|List of WCW Saturday Night results|
|1988 List of WCW Saturday Night results|
|11/5 • 11/12 • 11/19 • 12/24 • 12/31|
|1989 List of WCW Saturday Night results|
|1/14 • 1/21 • 1/28 • 2/4 • 2/11 • 2/18 • 2/25 • 3/4 • 3/11 • 3/18 • 3/25 • 4/1 • 4/8 • 4/15 • 4/22 • 4/29 • 5/6 • 5/13 • 5/20 • 5/27 • 6/3 • 6/10 • 6/17 • 6/24 • 7/1 • 7/8 • 7/15 • 7/22 • 7/29 • 8/5 • 8/12 • 8/26 • 9/9 • 9/16 • 9/23 • 9/30 • 10/7 • 10/14 • 10/21 • 10/28 • 11/4 • 11/18 • 11/25 • 12/9 • 12/16 • 12/23 • 12/30|
|1990 List of WCW Saturday Night results|
|1/20 • 3/10 • 3/17 • 3/24 • 4/7 • 4/14 • 5/26 • 6/2 • 6/16 • 6/23 • 7/14 • 7/21 • 7/29 • 7/28 • 8/4 • 8/11 • 8/18 • 8/25 • 9/1 • 9/15 • 9/22 • 9/29 • 10/6 • 10/13 • 11/24 • 12/8 • 12/15|
|1991 List of WCW Saturday Night results|
|1/20 • 3/30 • 4/6 • 4/13 • 4/27 • 5/4 • 5/25 • 6/1 • 6/8 • 7/6 • 7/13 • 7/27 • 8/3 • 8/17 • 8/24 • 8/31 • 9/7 • 10/5 • 11/30|
|1992 List of WCW Saturday Night results|
|1/4 • 1/11 • 1/18 • 1/25 • 2/1 • 2/15 • 2/29 • 3/14 • 4/4 • 4/11 • 4/18 • 4/25 • 5/9 • 5/30 • 9/26 • 10/3 • 12/19 • 12/26|
|1993 List of WCW Saturday Night results|
|1/2 • 1/16 • 1/23 • 1/30 • 2/13 • 2/20 • 2/27 • 3/6 • 3/13 • 3/20 • 3/27 • 4/3 • 4/10 • 4/17 • 5/1 • 5/22 • 5/29 • 6/5 • 6/12 • 6/19 • 6/26 • 7/10 • 7/17 • 7/24 • 7/31 • 8/7 • 8/14 • 8/21 • 8/28 • 9/4 • 9/11 • 9/18 • 9/25 • 10/2 • 10/9 • 10/16 • 10/23 • 10/30 • 11/20 • 11/27 • 12/11 • 12/18|
|1994 List of WCW Saturday Night results|
|1/1 • 1/8 • 1/15 • 1/22 • 1/29 • 2/5 • 2/12 • 2/26 • 3/5 • 3/12 • 3/19 • 3/26 • 4/2 • 4/9 • 4/16 • 4/23 • 5/14 • 6/25 • 7/2 • 7/9 • 7/16 • 7/23 • 7/30 • 8/6 • 8/13 • 8/20 • 8/27 • 9/3 • 9/10 • 9/17 • 9/24 • 9/25 • 10/1 • 10/15 • 10/22 • 10/29 • 11/19 • 11/26 • 12/3 • 12/10 • 12/24|
|1995 List of WCW Saturday Night results|
|1/7 • 1/14 • 2/18 • 3/11 • 3/18 • 3/25 • 4/8 • 4/15 • 4/25 • 5/27 • 6/10 • 7/26 • 8/12 • 9/23 • 10/7 • 10/14 • 10/21 • 10/28 • 12/16|
|1996 List of WCW Saturday Night results|
|1/6 • 1/13 • 1/20 • 1/27 • 2/3 • 2/10 • 2/17 • 2/24 • 3/2 • 3/9 • 3/16 • 3/23 • 3/30 • 4/6 • 4/13 • 5/18 • 5/25 • 6/1 • 6/8 • 6/15 • 6/22 • 6/29 • 7/6 • 7/13 • 7/20 • 7/27 • 8/3 • 8/10 • 8/17 • 8/24 • 8/31 • 9/7 • 9/14 • 9/21 • 9/28 • 10/5 • 10/12 • 10/19 • 10/26 • 11/2 • 11/9 • 11/16 • 11/23 • 11/30 • 12/7 • 12/14 • 12/21|
|1997 List of WCW Saturday Night results|
|1/4 • 1/11 • 1/18 • 1/25 • 2/1 • 2/8 • 2/15 • 2/22 • 3/8 • 3/15 • 3/22 • 3/29 • 4/5 • 4/12 • 4/19 • 4/26 • 5/3 • 5/10 • 5/17 • 5/24 • 5/31 • 6/7 • 6/13 • 6/20 • 6/27 • 7/5 • 7/12 • 7/19 • 7/26 • 8/2 • 8/9 • 8/16 • 8/23 • 8/30 • 9/6 • 9/13 • 9/20 • 9/27 • 10/4 • 10/11 • 10/18 • 10/25 • 11/1 • 11/8 • 11/15 • 11/22 • 11/29 • 12/6 • 12/13 • 12/20 • 12/27|
|1998 List of WCW Saturday Night results|
|1/3 • 1/10 • 1/17 • 1/24 • 1/31 • 2/7 • 2/14 • 2/21 • 2/28 • 3/7 • 3/14 • 3/21 • 3/28 • 4/4 • 4/11 • 4/18 • 4/25 • 5/2 • 5/9 • 5/16 • 5/23 • 5/30 • 6/6 • 6/13 • 6/20 • 6/27 • 7/4 • 7/11 • 7/18 • 7/25 • 8/1 • 8/8 • 8/15 • 8/22 • 8/29 • 9/5 • 9/12 • 9/19 • 9/26 • 10/3 • 10/10 • 10/17 • 10/24 • 10/31 • 11/7 • 11/14 • 11/21 • 11/28 • 12/5 • 12/12 • 12/19 • 12/26|
|1999 List of WCW Saturday Night results|
|1/9 • 1/16 • 1/23 • 1/30 • 2/20 • 2/24 • 2/27 • 3/6 • 3/17 • 3/20 • 3/27 • 4/3 • 4/10 • 4/17 • 4/24 • 5/1 • 5/8 • 5/15 • 5/22 • 5/29 • 6/5 • 6/12 • 6/19 • 6/26 • 7/3 • 7/10 • 7/17 • 7/24 • 7/31 • 8/7 • 8/14 • 8/21 • 8/28 • 9/4 • 9/11 • 9/18 • 9/25 • 10/2 • 10/9 • 10/16 • 10/23 • 10/30 • 11/6 • 11/13 • 11/20 • 11/27 • 12/4 • 12/11 • 12/18|
|2000 List of WCW Saturday Night results|
|1/8 • 1/15 • 1/22 • 1/29 • 2/5 • 2/12 • 2/19 • 2/26 • 3/4 • 3/11 • 3/18 • 3/25 • 4/1|
|List of Power Hour results|
|1990 List of Power Hour results|
|1/13 • 9/28|
|1991 List of Power Hour results|
|1992 List of Power Hour results|
|1993 List of Power Hour results|
|1994 List of Power Hour results|
|List of WCW Worldwide results|
|1984 List of NWA WorldWide results|
|1985 List of NWA WorldWide results|
|1991 List of WCW WorldWide results|
|List of WCW Pro results|
|1989 List of WCW Pro results|
|6/17 • 7/22 • 7/29 • 8/5 • 9/22 •|
|1990 List of WCW Pro results|
|1991 List of WCW Pro results|
|1/5 • 1/26 • 3/9 • 5/18 •|
|1992 List of WCW Pro results|
|1993 List of WCW Pro results|
|1994 List of WCW Pro results|
|1995 List of WCW Pro results|
|1996 List of WCW Pro results|
|1997 List of WCW Pro results|
|List of Prime results|
|1994 List of Prime results|
|1995 List of Prime results|
|1996 List of Prime results| | <urn:uuid:f893d293-4fa6-43c2-82d5-26b0aebbdb33> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://prowrestling.wikia.com/wiki/WCW | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956587 | 11,962 | 1.804688 | 2 |
The Roth Lane Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Mechanicsburg, Pa., is owned and operated by Hampden Township Sewer Authority. The 4.82-million-gal-per-day WWTP was constructed in 1982 and upgraded in 2010 to meet the more stringent nutrient limits associated with Pennsylvania Commonwealth’s Chesapeake Bay Nutrient Reduction Strategy.
Municipal potable water applications for Schreiber’s Fuzzy Filter have grown during the past few years thanks to a strong relationship the company has established with Strand Associates, Inc., a consulting engineering firm that is active in the water industry. Schreiber currently has two systems successfully operating and a third system scheduled to start in July of 2012. All three systems process membrane backwash water for feeding back into the system, thereby improving the water plant’s overall efficiency.
As greater restrictions are being placed on industrial and municipal plants, filtration systems are being pushed to greater operating levels. The Schreiber Fuzzy Filter has enjoyed a distinct advantage over conventional media and disc-type filters by virtue of its ability to operate at over five times conventional flux rates while maintaining greater effluent quality than those technologies. The Fuzzy Filter can effectively remove suspended solids down to 4 microns, which exceeds typical media filter performance.
Schreiber’s GRO and GR systems are very versatile, and that versatility provides often-overlooked benefits for existing plants. The GRO can function as an aeration basin or an aerobic digester. The GR is even more flexible, as it can be set up for aeration/clarification or for combinations of digester/thickener/clarifier. For example, with a dual GR system, one GR can be used as an aeration/clarification unit, while the other can be used as a digester/thickener unit; the thickener can be easily converted to function as a clarifier at any time.
Separation of aeration and mixing in a continuously sequencing reactorThe continuously sequencing reactor (CSR) is a process modification of a continuous-flow, complete-mix activated sludge system. With the CSR, air is operated intermittently to allow the reactor to sequence through aerobic (oxic), anoxic and anaerobic phases, thus accomplishing biological nutrient removal (BNR) in a single reactor.
Schreiber often encounters questions regarding how its continuously sequencing reactor (CSR) compares to the various sequencing batch reactors (SBR) that are on the market.
Of course, the two systems are similar in that they are both activated sludge processes that produce the oxic, anoxic and anaerobic process phases over time in the same basin. However, there are some very significant and distinctive differences between the two concepts. | <urn:uuid:41ab5fc5-7750-4f53-b212-f56352b90a3e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wwdmag.com/company/23316/articles | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946049 | 577 | 1.734375 | 2 |
About بنات شفشفه
بنات شفشفه بنات سوريا The very unlikely aspect of the chimera has gradually turned its name into a synonym of a vain dream.
So Polaris has not always been, and will always be, the pole star. بنات مع حىوانات The appearance of a werewolf in its animal form varies from culture to culture, though they are also most commonly portrayed as being indistinguishable from ordinary wolves save for the fact that they have also no tail - a trait thought characteristic of witches in animal form - and that they retain human eyes and voice. بنات سوريا When the story was published, interest in this Flying-Feline began to grow in the scientific community, so just days after its interment, the carcass of this creature was exhumed and sent to the Kemptville Agricultural School, where an autopsy was performed. Another fascinating case of a Flying-Feline came into the limelight in June of 1966, when confectioner Jean J. After returning to their human forms, werewolves are also usually documented as becoming weak, debilitated and undergoing painful nervous depression. بنات مع حىوانات The information on this site is your key to unlocking these assets and opportunities and putting them to incredible, incredible benefit.
بنات سوريا Still, western scholars and new-age spiritualists rediscovered feng shui and led to a dramatic and often erratic revival of the practice on the North American west coast California and British Columbia from the early 1990s. Werewolves were also said to bear tell-tale traits in European folklore. There once was an emerging country.
بنات شفشفه I am defiantly going to do the whole house now!The idea of your secret wealth is very simple.
She made her debut in 2001 in dramas before taking up a lead role in Sweet 18. | <urn:uuid:63a85413-7550-4a06-ab89-9cfb805dea6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tamugaia.com/ssvsch/index.php?v=%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%AA%20%D8%B4%D9%81%D8%B4%D9%81%D9%87 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961536 | 443 | 1.6875 | 2 |
04/27/2009 3:32 PM ET
Major Leaguers Lincoln, Masset and Weathers and local youth volunteers join forces to landscape Volunteers of America facility for disabled adults
CINCINNATI -- Today, Cincinnati Reds players Mike Lincoln, Nick Masset and Dave Weathers joined forces with local high school volunteers from the Cincinnati Action Team to spruce up the landscape at Volunteers of America’s Antioch Manor, a residence serving 36 disabled, low-income adults.
Administered by Volunteers of America and the Major League Baseball Players Trust, the Action Team program is a youth volunteer initiative that encourages young people to volunteer in their communities. More than 30 students from Elder and Seton high schools joined the Major Leaguers and student Action Team Captains for the landscape project.
The Antioch Manor landscape project is just one of several volunteer projects performed by the Cincinnati Action Team this school year. The Cincinnati Action Team was featured in the December 2008 issue of The Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition for its work in organizing the Harmony Games, a special Olympic-style event for developmentally disabled adults as well as for its community cleanups and canned food drives.
Action Teams, consisting of Major League baseball players and Team Captains from area high schools, work together in cities nationwide to encourage young people to get involved in their communities by volunteering. To date, Action Teams of high school students and Major Leaguers across the country have inspired more than 17,000 high school students to help more than 75,000 people in need by volunteering in their communities. Beginning in September 2009, virtually every high school in America will be able to join the Action Team by participating in a new Internet version of this unique service-learning program. Action Team applications and additional information can be received by sending an e-mail request to ActionTeam@mlbpa.org.
Additionally, an Action Team, school-based curriculum developed by the Players Trust, in partnership with The Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition, carries the message of volunteerism and teaches valuable community service skills to 700,000 high school students in more than 5,000 classrooms across the United States. The Association of Educational Publishers named this innovative service-learning program a finalist for a 2009 Distinguished Achievement Award. | <urn:uuid:a57b96e6-0033-4607-b95b-c54f934f13e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/pa/releases/releases.jsp?content=042709 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9493 | 457 | 1.5 | 2 |
At its meeting of February 14th, 2012, Toronto & East York Community Council considered new "Tall Buildings Guidelines" for downtown Toronto.
In 2007, City Council had authorized City staff to retain a consulting team to conduct a study focusing in on intensification and tall building location analysis for the downtown area. The City issued an RFP and ultimately selected Urban Strategies Inc. and Hariri Pontarini Architects to complete this study. The study area was bounded by Bathurst Street on the west, the rail corridor north of Dupont Street on the north, the Don Valley Parkway on the east, and the Toronto Harbour on the south. Secondary Planning Areas falling within this study's area boundary do not form part of this study's recommendations.
The purpose of the study, as set out in the RFP, was as follows:
- Implement the strategic direction set by the City's Official Plan, and in particular Chapter 3: Building a Successful City;
- Improve the quality of the built environment and public realm in the downtown and define its sense of place;
- Engage the public by providing an opportunity for a local "visioning" exercise;
- Increase public confidence by improving the predictability and transparency of the Tall Buildings Evaluation and Development Approvals Process; and
- Reducing the number of tall building development proposals being adjudicated by the Ontario Municipal Board, and the variability of Board decisions with respect to these proposals.
The study that was produced by the consulting team was to identify a framework for downtown streets that tall buildings could be located upon, the general heights for those tall buildings, and some built‐form guidance with respect to these tall buildings.
The study identified parts of major downtown streets where tall buildings were considered to be appropriate, and called these "High Streets". These streets include Bay, Bloor, College and King, amongst others. The study recommended amendments to the mapping for pre‐existing Council‐adopted urban design guidelines for various areas of the Toronto downtown including removing portions of some streets previously identified as "High Streets", including portions of University Avenue, Church Street and Jarvis Street. The heights being proposed for properties fronting onto "High Streets" fall into six range categories, as follows:
1. 47 to 77 metres (15 to 25 storeys);
2. 62 to 107 metres (20 to 35 storeys);
3. 77 to 137 metres (25 to 45 storeys);
4. 92 to 152 metres (30 to 50 storeys);
5. 107 to 182 metres (35 to 60 storeys); and
6. 137 metres and up (45 storeys to unlimited).
The City also created a category referred to as "Secondary High Streets". These streets generally run adjacent to High Streets and are mostly lined with residential apartment buildings on which tall buildings are also considered an appropriate form of development. Once again, the study also recommended that certain previously‐identified Secondary High Streets be removed from that category, including portions of Yorkville Avenue, St. Nicholas Street, Asquith Avenue, Park Road, Court Street and Colbourne Street.
As a general principle, the height ranges for these Secondary High Streets would generally be onethird lower than the High Streets they run parallel to. If a Secondary High Street runs between two High Streets, the lower of the High Street heights would apply in determining the Secondary High Street heights. In the event that there were no immediately‐adjacent High Streets, the height of the nearest High Street would be used to determine the Secondary High Street height.
The study also made several recommendations concerning the podium portions of tall buildings, including establishing a maximum street wall podium height, depending on the street's right‐ofway width and also incorporating a minimum podium or base podium height of 10.5 metres, to discourage the under‐development of tall building sites.
The study made recommendations respecting heritage conservation, including recommending that all tall building development proposals containing heritage resources on or adjacent to the development site should continue to provide a heritage impact statement as part of the City's complete application process. A Heritage Impact Statement is required to reference existing municipal and Provincial policies and guidelines, including detailed principles which are set out in the report, and must demonstrate how the proposed conservation strategy will maintain the heritage values and attributes of the property.
There are also 23 performance standards which the study proposes be adopted by City Council, including standards dealing with, amongst other things, podium location/façade alignment, minimum sidewalk widths, priority retail streets, minimum ground floor height, pedestrian weather protection, maximum floor plate size, tower set back from the podium level and tower separation distances.
City Council has not adopted these Downtown Tall Buildings Guidelines yet as Toronto & East York Community Council referred the study back to City Planning for further consultation with affected Councillors on a number of issues, including height incentives related to provision of community benefits in downtown Toronto in relation to development proposals for tall buildings. City Planning was directed to report back to the April 17th, 2012 meeting of the Toronto & East York Community Council. The earliest that City Council could therefore adopt these Guidelines would be at the May 8th and 9th City Council meeting.
One of the recommendations of City Planning staff is that City staff are to use these Downtown Tall Buildings Guidelines in the evaluation of all new and current tall building development proposals falling within the Guideline boundaries. As a result, all developers and landowners who are in the process of developing, or will soon be developing their lands should take a very careful look at these Tall Buildings Guidelines.
Finally, please note that these Guidelines are NOT appealable to the Ontario Municipal Board. We understand that City Planning will be preparing a further report which will identify future implementation options for these Guidelines and performance standards, which may include, but not be limited to, amendments to the City's Official Plan and Zoning By‐law. The City's adoption of those amendments would be appealable to the Ontario Municipal Board.
About Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP (FMC)
FMC is one of Canada's leading business and litigation law firms with more than 500 lawyers in six full-service offices located in the country's key business centres. We focus on providing outstanding service and value to our clients, and we strive to excel as a workplace of choice for our people. Regardless of where you choose to do business in Canada, our strong team of professionals possess knowledge and expertise on regional, national and cross-border matters. FMC's well-earned reputation for consistently delivering the highest quality legal services and counsel to our clients is complemented by an ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion to broaden our insight and perspective on our clients' needs. Visit: www.fmc-law.com
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances. | <urn:uuid:a5c2bf71-e405-4534-9de5-13d9d35f9939> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mondaq.com/canada/x/173660/Real+Estate+Commercial+Property/Torontos+New+Downtown+Tall+Buildings+Guidelines | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948854 | 1,388 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Peter Pan's Neverland is up for sale
In London, the house where JM Barrie is believed to have written Peter Pan is up for sale for £6.75m.
"The six-bedroom Victorian property in central London is opposite Kensington Gardens, where James Matthew Barrie met five boys who inspired his creation."
(Peter Pan house up for sale News guardian.co.uk Books, January 14, 2008.)
Meanwhile, in Dumfries in Scotland, the house and garden which helped to inspire Peter Pan is to be put up for sale.
It may not cost much more than £80,000.
(BBC NEWS Scotland South of Scotland Buyer sought for Peter ... /icDumfries - Moat Brae back on market )
Barrie used to play 'pirates' in the gardens of Moat Brae in Dumfries as a child.
Moat Brae, a grade B listed building, was previously sold at auction in November 2000 for £80,000.
Image:Michael Llewelyn Davies as Peter Pan.jpg
Moat Brae has lain empty for the past eight years and has been vandalised.
Windows, mirrors, baths, sinks, and a chandelier have been smashed.
Constable Iain Aird, of the notorious (Lockerbie investigation) Dumfries and Galloway police, said: "It seems that youngsters have been breaking in and hanging about in the property and over a few weeks the building has sustained a substantial amount of damage."
The damage began in November 2002 and by January 2003, £200,000 worth of damage had been done. Where were the police? (BBC NEWS Scotland Peter Pan house vandalised)
Barrie moved to Dumfries in 1873 at the age of 13.
Two of his friends lived at Moat Brae.
"Our escapades in a certain Dumfries garden which was an enchanted land to me was certainly the genesis of this work," he wrote, in 1904, about Peter Pan.
Dumfries is a poor, almost 'ThirdWorld' town. It needs world-class tourist attractions. And Peter Pan is known worldwide.
Perhaps the Scottish Government will buy Moat Brae and turn it into a major world-class tourist attraction, like the Eiffel Tower or the Taj Mahal. | <urn:uuid:f34d17db-00ef-463c-9164-68c7067387e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scot-land.blogspot.com/2008/04/peter-pans-neverland-is-up-for-sale.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966279 | 490 | 1.515625 | 2 |
|The Fellowship of the Ring chapters|
Lothlorien is the sixth chapter of the second book in The Fellowship of the Ring.
The company moves on and comes to Durin's Stone. They look into the blue waters of Mirrormere, then proceed to Lothlorien, land of the Elves. Sam and Frodo, who are hurt, are carried on the backs of Boromir and Aragorn (Strider). The company rests for a while and when Sam's wound is examined Aragorn realizes that it will heal fast.
In the forest of Lothlorien, the travelers decide to rest. The Elves of the forest welcome them, and for safety's sake, they blindfold Gimli (since Elves do not like Dwarves). The company climbs up two trees and spends the night there. Late at night a company of Orcs passes by.
The next day Aragorn decides that since Gimli must be blindfolded, they will all proceed with blindfolds. Later in the day a message comes from the Lord and Lady of Galadhrim, welcoming them all, so that no one needs blindfolds. The forest is exquisite and the company admires it. They are told that a strange creature is roaming the forest but since it has not been seen, they do not know if it is good or evil. The company has seen the heart of Elvendom and felt the wonderful power of the Lady of the Galadhrim. | <urn:uuid:ccbc3720-382d-48a8-94b3-985601f45ec2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Lothl%C3%B3rien_(chapter) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936071 | 305 | 1.679688 | 2 |
At this point, the people who run America’s private-equity funds must be ruing the day Mitt Romney decided to run for President. His fellow Republican candidates, of all people, have painted a vivid picture of private-equity firms—including Bain Capital, where he worked for fifteen years—as job-destroying vultures, who scavenge the meat from American companies and leave their carcasses by the side of the road. Not since the days of “Wall Street” and “Barbarians at the Gate” have the masters of leveraged buyouts looked quite so bad.
Given the weak job market, it makes sense that the attacks have focussed on layoffs. But the real problem with leveraged-buyout firms isn’t their impact on jobs, which studies suggest isn’t that substantial one way or the other. A 2008 study of companies bought by private-equity firms found that their job growth was only about one per cent slower than at similar, public companies; there was more job destruction but also more job creation. And, while private-equity firms are not great employers in terms of wage growth, there’s not much evidence that they’re significantly worse than the rest of corporate America, which has been treating workers more stingily for about three decades.
The real reason that we should be concerned about private equity’s expanding power lies in the way these firms have become increasingly adept at using financial gimmicks to line their pockets, deriving enormous wealth not from management or investing skills but, rather, from the way the U.S. tax system works. Indeed, for an industry that’s often held up as an exemplar of free-market capitalism, private equity is surprisingly dependent on government subsidies for its profits. Financial engineering has always been central to leveraged buyouts. In a typical deal, a private-equity firm buys a company, using some of its own money and some borrowed money. It then tries to improve the performance of the acquired company, with an eye toward cashing out by selling it or taking it public. The key to this strategy is debt: the model encourages firms to borrow as much as possible, since, just as with a mortgage, the less money you put down, the bigger your potential return on investment. The rewards can be extraordinary: when Romney was at Bain, it supposedly earned eighty-eight per cent a year for its investors. But piles of debt also increase the risk that companies will go bust.
This approach has one obvious virtue: if a private-equity firm wants to make money, it has to improve the value of the companies it buys. Sometimes the improvement may be more cosmetic than real, but historically private-equity firms have in principle had a powerful incentive to make companies perform better. In the past decade, though, that calculus changed. Having already piled companies high with debt in order to buy them, many private-equity funds had their companies borrow even more, and then used that money to pay themselves huge “special dividends.” This allowed them to recoup their initial investment while keeping the same ownership stake. Before 2000, big special dividends were not that common. But between 2003 and 2007 private-equity funds took more than seventy billion dollars out of their companies. These dividends created no economic value—they just redistributed money from the company to the private-equity investors.
As a result, private-equity firms are increasingly able to profit even if the companies they run go under—an outcome made much likelier by all the extra borrowing—and many companies have been getting picked clean. In 2004, for instance, Wasserstein & Company bought the thriving mail-order fruit retailer Harry and David. The following year, Wasserstein and other investors took out more than a hundred million in dividends, paid for with borrowed money—covering their original investment plus a twenty-three per cent profit—and charged Harry and David millions in “management fees.” Last year, Harry and David defaulted on its debt and dumped its pension obligations. In other words, Wasserstein failed to improve the company’s performance, failed to meet its obligations to creditors, screwed its workers, and still made a profit. That’s not exactly how capitalism is supposed to work.
The people who ran Harry and David into the ground have a defense: economic conditions changed in unforeseeable ways. But that’s precisely why loading firms with debt in order to reap short-term benefits is bad. It leaves companies unable to weather tough times, and allows private-equity firms to make money even if things go wrong.
As if this weren’t galling enough, taxpayers are left on the hook. Interest payments on all that debt are tax-deductible; when pensions are dumped, a federal agency called the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation picks up the tab; and the money that the dealmakers earn is taxed at a much lower rate than normal income would be, thanks to the so-called “carried interest” loophole. The money that Mitt Romney made when he was at Bain Capital was compensation for his (apparently excellent) work, but, instead of being taxed as income, it was taxed as a capital gain. It’s a very cozy arrangement.
If private-equity firms are as good at remaking companies as they claim, they don’t need tax loopholes to make money. If we capped the deductibility of corporate debt, and closed the carried-interest loophole, it would not prevent private-equity firms from buying companies or improving corporate performance. But it would reduce the incentives for financial gimmickry and save taxpayers billions every year. Private-equity firms are excellent at gaming the rules. Time to change them. ♦ | <urn:uuid:d988b370-2ee3-4218-b0cc-a33512c85f0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2012/01/30/120130ta_talk_surowiecki?mbid=gnep&google_editors_picks=true | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968941 | 1,201 | 1.726563 | 2 |
ANDERSON, Ind. — Judge Thomas Clem routinely processed the orange and white jumpsuit clad defendants, manacled in the jury box and waiting to hear the charges against them.
Until he faced a young, bewildered woman.
Police had found her sitting in the middle of a roadway intersection with items she’d taken from a convenience store. They charged her with theft and obstruction of traffic.
“Judge," she said, " I want to know why I’m here, why I’m dressed like this, and why I have these things on my hands?”
After 22 years on the bench, Clem knows when he’s being scammed. His instincts told him this wasn’t one of those times. She hadn’t understood anything he’d said.
A check of the woman’s background explained why. She was a U.S. Navy veteran who had fallen overboard on a ship, suffering a traumatic brain injury. There was a reason she appeared dazed and confused.
That chance encounter last summer led the creation of the Madison County Veteran Treatment Court, a special court to deal with military personnel who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or serious brain injury.
An increasing number of veterans return home from war zone duty facing mental health issues, and find themselves in trouble with the law. Clem said the Veteran Treatment Court is a way for them to get the medical and recovery help they need.
“We started in August and we’re going at warp speed,” Clem told veteran groups and county officials gathered in his court Friday. “Our veterans have fought for us, now it’s time for us to fight for them."
To be eligible for the Veterans Court, participants must have been honorably discharged from the military and agree to enroll in programs designed to overcome their problems.
“We hold their feet to the fire," said Clem. "This is not a free ride for these vets."
Stu Hirsch is a reporter for the Anderson, Ind., Herald-Bulletin. | <urn:uuid:7692dea5-f4f7-4b23-ad5f-8ba1099d8e24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cnhinews.com/cnhins_news/x1951911100/Indiana-judge-creates-special-court-for-combat-veterans | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965593 | 436 | 1.539063 | 2 |
I think my and Milyo’s results in many ways support and are consistent with the points that Prof. Kerr made.
To see this consider this fact: As surveys show, in a typical election, Washington correspondents tend to vote 93-7 for the Democrat.
It happens that the district that contains Berkeley, California voted about 90-10 for Obama. Thus, the district votes very similarly to Washington correspondents, and if anything it votes slightly more conservatively than Washington correspondents. Accordingly, if the sole goal of journalists were to persuade people, then their reports would sound approximately like a speech by Barbara Lee, the House representative from Berkeley, California. Lee’s PQ is approximately 100. Thus, if the sole goal of journalists were to persuade, then their average Slant Quotient would be about 100.
Instead, according to my and Milyo’s results, the average Slant Quotient of mainstream news outlets is about 65.
Meanwhile, if the sole goal of journalists were to inform people—and to inform them in a centrist way (that is, to choose the facts that a centrist would think are the most important)—then they would report with an SQ of 50.
My results suggest that journalists adopt a weighted mix of the two goals—with about 2/3 of the weight on informing and 1/3 of the weight on persuading. | <urn:uuid:1cda8483-dc51-4bff-b760-1c37f7d3f578> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.volokh.com/2011/08/31/my-response-to-prof-kerr%E2%80%99s-reply-to-my-response/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973623 | 287 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Bush entering a tough time for two-termers
By David Jackson and Susan Page, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON For President Bush, 2005 was a year of growing public impatience with the Iraq war, angst over record gas prices, devastation from Hurricane Katrina, the collapse of his Social Security plan and, finally, a firestorm over his decision to authorize targeted domestic spying without court warrants.
Now he faces a challenge that's upended the best-laid plans of his predecessors.
His sixth year in office.
It was in the sixth year of their presidencies that Bill Clinton was impeached and Richard Nixon was forced to resign, that Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower faced the worst scandals of their tenures and that Franklin Roosevelt encountered increased resistance to New Deal legislation.
The White House and its allies see opportunities, though, sixth year or not. "This president has a real pattern of defying conventional wisdom," says Mark McKinnon, media adviser for Bush's presidential campaigns.
Top aides say Bush aims to travel more often and speak out more forcefully, touting the economy as underappreciated good news. The Pentagon already has canceled the deployment to Iraq of two brigades, or about 7,000 soldiers, the first small step in a hoped-for drawdown of U.S. troops there. To avoid the sort of stalemate that undermined his Social Security proposal, Bush will downsize his domestic agenda, proposing changes in immigration law but shelving, at least for now, plans for a tax overhaul.
"I've been thinking long and hard about 2006," Bush told reporters Sunday. White House spokesman Scott McClellan says the basic game plan is simple: "The economy and progress in Iraq."
The president's most powerful aide, Karl Rove, has invited think-tank analysts, authors and others to the White House for ideas to help reinvigorate the president's domestic agenda. Bush launched a more aggressive communications campaign last month, defending the war in Iraq and his policies on terrorism in speeches and at a year-end news conference.
But there is trouble on the horizon, too, and events that are outside White House control.
In Iraq, sectarian strife is complicating efforts to form a coalition government after December's elections. At home, the trial of Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff in the CIA leak case could bring damaging disclosures, and Rove remains in jeopardy in the inquiry. The Justice Department ethics investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff threatens to ensnare more officeholders, most of them Republicans.
After five years of extraordinary party discipline, Republican members of Congress have begun defying the administration more often. On spending and taxes, deficit hawks are increasingly vocal. And Bush's job-approval rating was an anemic 41% in the USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Dec. 16-18.
Thomas Mann, a political scientist at the Brookings Institution in Washington, warns that Bush lacks "a compelling agenda for the year that might switch the focus" from bad news. His choice of immigration as a centerpiece "is filled with the potential for division within his own party."
All in all, Mann says, "I think the year is filled with peril for him."
The comeback strategy
White House officials began meeting months ago to devise a plan for the year. Steps on the road back that they've mapped:
•Start fast. Bush wants to start the year by scoring a quick victory with Senate confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. Judiciary Committee hearings begin on Monday. Barring new disclosures, Democrats now seem unlikely to filibuster, the procedural maneuver that could block a vote.
Then, at the end of month, Bush gets an hour of prime time to deliver his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress.
Congressional Democrats won't be idle, though. They are pushing for hearings this month on the president's decision to authorize domestic electronic surveillance of people suspected of links to terrorism without the court warrants normally required by federal law and the Constitution.
•Stay aggressive. Allies say the administration was slow last year to respond to attacks on Iraq, including allegations officials manipulated intelligence to justify the invasion.
When attacked in 2006, "we'll aggressively set the record straight," says White House counselor Dan Bartlett. GOP strategist Terry Holt says, "If we learned anything this year, it's 'hit back, hit back hard and fast.' "
Case in point: When The New York Times broke the story on domestic surveillance last month, Bush immediately defended it as essential for national security. The next day, he devoted his Saturday radio address to the subject, and he later called disclosure of the program "a shameful act."
Bush also has been more pointed toward Democrats. When Senate Democrats joined with four Republicans to block re-authorization of the USA Patriot Act in December, he said their action would "endanger America."
Nonetheless, after a last-minute scramble, the House and Senate agreed only to a five-week extension of the law. The debate will resurface before the measure lapses again on Feb. 3.
•Bring some troops home — or at least keep them safer. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced during a surprise pre-Christmas visit to Fallujah, Iraq, that the administration would begin withdrawing troops from Iraq this year. Bush emphasizes that how many and how fast will depend on how well Iraqi security forces progress. "The conditions on the ground will dictate our force level," he said Sunday after visiting injured veterans at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.
Even so, Bush has noted that U.S. forces gradually are turning over military bases to Iraqis, putting them in the forefront and providing some insulation for American troops. "You're beginning to see our troops step back from the fight," he said last month.
That presumably would reduce U.S. casualties, which remained steady last year. In 2005, the number of U.S. troops who died in Iraq was 841, four fewer than in 2004.
Reducing the U.S. presence could be difficult, however, if Iraqis can't form a new government or if the country spirals into civil war. Bush said a precipitous withdrawal "would hand Iraq over to enemies who have pledged to attack us."
•Talk up the economy. In Chicago on Friday, Bush is slated to deliver the first in a series of speeches touting the economy. He credits tax cuts passed in his first term for strong economic growth and job creation last year — "the envy of the world," he said in his radio address on Saturday. Some of those cuts are due to expire soon, and he pledges to make them permanent.
The White House also plans to put forward programs designed to bolster what it calls economic security: tax-free health savings accounts, pension changes and help for the Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast. Bush will spotlight the start of the prescription-drug program for Medicare recipients, though the sign-up period got off to a rocky start amid complaints of confusion from some seniors.
Potential problem: The expensive drug program and hurricane relief will add to the federal budget deficit, already a source of concern.
•Scale back big promises. Bush's top domestic agenda item in 2005 was an ambitious plan to "transform" Social Security by adding individual investment accounts to the nation's retirement system. The plan drew powerful opposition from the AARP — the behemoth seniors' advocacy group — and from AFL-CIO unions. Even most congressional Republicans shied from embracing it.
A commission Bush named to study the tax system submitted a 272-page report in November, proposing a simplification scheme that included scaling back popular deductions for home mortgage interest and state and local taxes. Treasury Secretary John Snow says the report is still under study. Republicans who work with the administration say the White House is likely to push limited changes this year, not a controversial revamp.
"A lot of the goals are going to relate to spending, as opposed to going after a radical tax-reform package," says Charlie Black, a Republican strategist with ties to the White House. One reason for caution: Every tax break has protectors in Congress.
•Keep the Republican family together. Republicans generally stuck with Bush this year, despite some erosion among voters in the aftermath of Katrina and protests from conservative activists after the nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. Bush withdrew Miers' name before the Judiciary Committee began hearings.
Even with an approval rating of 41%, Bush has the support of a solid 86% of Republicans — critical since only 31% of independents and 10% of Democrats approve of the job he's doing. Republicans need to hold the base together to retain control of the House and Senate in the 2006 elections.
But that cohesion could be imperiled by Bush's plan to focus on immigration, an issue that divides major factions in the GOP coalition. A business-oriented coalition led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports provisions to permit immigrant "guest workers," while many conservatives, including outspoken Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, demand tighter borders.
Former Republican national chairman Ed Gillespie is trying to bridge those differences through an advocacy group called Americans for Border and Economic Security, formed at the impetus of the White House. "It's important for us as a party that we handle the issue right," Gillespie says.
Back on the stump
Bush plans to campaign as extensively for Republican candidates in 2006 as he did in 2002. He remains the party's most effective fundraiser, and he can generate enthusiasm among Republican stalwarts even if his standing with swing voters has weakened.
Still, history isn't on his side. In modern times, the president's party usually suffers significant losses in the congressional elections held in his sixth year in office. Democrats lost a stunning 71 House seats during FDR's sixth year; Republicans lost eight seats and control of the Senate in Reagan's sixth year.
The exception was in 1998, when Democrats gained four House seats during Clinton's sixth year. But during the midterm elections in his first term, in 1994, Democratic losses were so severe that the party lost control of both houses of Congress.
The challenge for the GOP in 2006 is that "voters want change," Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman says. "They not only want the changes we're offering, they want more change, and we have to continue to be the party of change."
Allies predict Bush's sixth year will be better than his fifth, though that's not a high bar. Of modern-day presidents, Bush had the most disastrous start of a second term of any except Nixon, caught in the Watergate scandal.
"A perfect storm of problems" for Bush, says Grover Norquist, president of the anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform and an activist close to Rove. "No one or two of them were fatal, but seven of them? They made life rough."
The good news, he says, is that many of those troubles have reversed: Gas prices have declined. Memories of Katrina are fading with time. While violence continues in Iraq, a constitution has been ratified and elections held.
"We don't have to be out of Iraq by September" to boost Americans' views of the war and help Republicans fare well in November's elections, Norquist says. "What we have to do is: Iraq with an elected leadership. Iraq every two months with some announcement that more U.S. troops are coming back — a steady sense of that."
It is the war that carries the highest risks for Bush this year, he warns. "If somehow he got off the track of Iraq being solved, that would be problematic."
Bartlett agrees: "The public wants to see tangible progress."
Why is the sixth year of a presidency typically so troubled?
"Presidents by six years have been there long enough for the media and the country to see their flaws," says presidential historian Robert Dallek, author of books about FDR, Nixon and Reagan, among others. The initiatives launched with such promise when they first took office have had time to succeed or fail. The advisers who helped them win the White House are often exhausted or have moved on. Years in power sometimes breed arrogance or isolation.
No modern two-term president has escaped the six-year itch. But some have recovered more successfully than others.
Roosevelt dealt with the approach of World War II and won third and fourth terms. Reagan replaced the top aides implicated in the Iran-contra scandal and negotiated arms control with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Their dialogue help speed the end of the Cold War.
"If circumstances favor you and you're pragmatic enough to respond to those circumstances, it's not impossible" to recover, Dallek says. "But it's hard."
And time is short.
By November of a president's sixth year, voters usually seem eager for new faces and policies; that's why the party that has held the White House typically suffers big losses in the midterm elections. Many members of Congress, even friendly ones, begin worrying more about their own re-election and less about loyalty to the president.
And the seventh year? By then, the focus begins to turn to who will be the next president. | <urn:uuid:23c8e3fa-0d57-485b-bdb1-3005e96b08dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-01-02-bush-sixth-year_x.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965977 | 2,710 | 1.59375 | 2 |
With the fiscal cliff surmounted, at least temporarily, a new Congress sworn in and Republicans licking their self-inflicted wounds, it is tempting to theorize that a new political reality has taken hold in the nation's capital — one where the American economy won't be taken hostage by the House GOP and Washington won't bounce around from one trumped-up crisis to another.
The best evidence of this would be the lopsided and bipartisan votes in favor of the final tax package approved by both the House and Senate. Permanent higher taxes on the rich, something that seemed impossible one year ago because of Republican intransigence, are now the law of the land. A majority of Americans supported this policy when they cast their ballots for President Barack Obama in November, and, finally, Congress seemed to notice.
But it's also quite possible that this was merely a one-time aberration involving a sufficient number of conservatives finally recognizing that plunging the nation into a recession isn't good for anyone — not for debt reduction, not for job creation and especially not for their chances of re-election. Within a matter of weeks, the familiar stalemate and mutually assured destruction of the past may reassert itself by means of the debt ceiling.
President Obama recognized this and said something worth noting after the tax bill was passed: "While I will negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they've already racked up through the laws that they passed."
While some have suggested that "this Congress" renders the statement moot (Mr. Obama's remarks having been made before new members were sworn in), we think the meaning is clear. Congress is welcome to start spending less money, but refusing to pay its outstanding bills — which is what refusing to raise the debt ceilings represents — is off the table.
We strongly agree. Just as an individual who is overextended doesn't start economizing by refusing to pay the mortgage, Congress can't jeopardize the nation's credit like some terrorist with a gun to his own head. Want to reduce the deficit? Stop spending so much money. Negotiate a long-term deal — a "grand bargain" — that steers the U.S. toward a reasonable, sustainable balance of taxes and spending.
It's clear Republicans are counting on the debt ceiling as leverage to get Democrats to agree to bigger spending cuts. But we've seen that strategy before, and here's how it ends: economic uncertainty that causes businesses to withhold investment and reduces consumer confidence, and a lowered U.S. credit rating that raises borrowing costs ($18.9 billion so far from the last go-round). What it definitely does not lead to is a rational, long-term strategy for addressing those issues Republicans claim they want to focus on, like reform of the tax code or entitlement programs such as Medicare.
House Republicans and Fox News commentators may scoff at Mr. Obama's line in the sand, but we suspect the public feels exactly the same way after the long, painful negotiations over taxes. Should Democrats fail to deliver needed spending cuts before the midterm election, they are certain the pay the price in 2014 and perhaps in 2016 as well.
If, however, Republicans overplay their political hand and drag the nation deeper into a financial crisis by refusing to raise the debt ceiling between now and mid-March (or taking similar self-destructive actions in the months to come), voter anger will be directed at them. Give the public some credit as scorekeepers — they read more than GOP talking points, as New Jersey Gov. Chris "Give my own party hell over Sandy aid" Christie might say.
We don't deny that the nation's debt situation requires some unpleasant medicine. And we have doubts over Democratic resolve to face up to the challenges facing popular programs like Medicare and Social Security. But holding the debt ceiling hostage is playing with fire that could prove even more destructive to the U.S. and world economies than the fiscal cliff. It's simply the wrong instrument to use as political leverage.
If the House Republicans fail to recognize this fact, Mr. Obama should not negotiate, he should circumvent. That may even require embracing fanciful-seeming, alternative measures postulated by experts — minting trillion-dollar platinum coins among them — to preserve the nation's fiscal integrity. Anything would be better than the U.S. defaulting on its debts. | <urn:uuid:fc7bea36-3e5c-41cd-aa33-0630a696e0f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-debt-ceiling-20130103,0,4465722.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969434 | 902 | 1.625 | 2 |
The plan was to talk to Li Wei about logistics. How he manages to plunge headfirst into the windshield of a Jeep or soar Superman-style out of the 29th floor window of a Beijing city skyscraper. How he hoisted himself against a towering red flag completely naked, a perfect spread eagle form, and for some reason, painted completely green.
But, aside from a few succinct statements crediting a mix of minimal props and help from his crew, Wei is quick to move to the deeper meaning behind each image and his economic, political view of the shifting, shifty landscape of China.
It takes Li Wei up to six months to create a photo, a relatively lengthy time during which he draws out a few sketches, assembles any scaffolding or other necessary props, and undergoes a bit of physical training. Then, on the actual day of the shoot, which lasts at most two hours, Wei hands his camera—either a Canon 5D Mark II or a Hasselblad—to Jiang Hailong, his preferred photographer for over 10 years, and coolly assumes his place in the front of the lens.
“I have always made a photograph and video documenting my performances,” shares Wei. “I can’t say which was the first photo, though, because photography is only a way of recording my performance. I’m not a typical photographer. I make art in a very different way.”
Not surprising, considering Wei’s first encounter with art came at the ripe age of 19, which even then, he recalls, happened purely by chance. In Wei’s rural hometown of Hu Bei, where he was born to a farmer and village secretary in 1970, the only option for schools were the ones focused on science. “I didn’t even know you could study other subjects,” he reveals. Only when Wei, like many hopeful youths, made his way to the country’s capital of Beijing did he discover that art even existed.
Of course, without the proper qualifications, Wei was unable to attend the city’s most prestigious Central Academy of Fine Arts; and instead enrolled himself into the painting program of a privately run college, only to drop out a year later.
“The school at that time had no leaning towards contemporary art,” he says bluntly. “They only taught traditional art, and I wanted to study more modern and current artists. I stayed just enough to learn what I wanted and to open my mind to the art world. I wasn’t interested in the rest.”
Wei continued to dabble in painting—as well as a number of other odd jobs, including selling books, painting billboards, and working in a film factory—to make ends meet. Times were tough and earnings were low, admits Wei, who frequently found himself without even enough money for food. But hunger pangs aside; what bothered him most was not having the time for his art.
Faced with the unrelenting tug-of-war between passion and a paycheck, Wei finally decided to focus on art full-time. His move to performance art came in 1999, heavily influenced by Zhang Huan and Rong Rong, “two of the greatest performance artists in China, whom I met in the East Village artist community during my study period,” he acknowledges. “Until now, you can still see their influence in my work.”
This work, Wei admits, can involve him getting battered around a bit. “I usually have a wire attached to my body and a crane that lifts me up. Most times, I will pick up an injury from the stunt wires, but one time I got my head stuck in a pane of smashed glass,” he shares.
It can be dangerous, but I like to ride that line. To me, it’s worth it to defy gravity or fly through the air—the physical exertion of keeping a certain posture and feeling the absurdity of a situation. It’s a chance to experience an action’s message through one’s own body.
This devil-may-care attitude has become somewhat of Wei’s trademark: the artist literally throws himself—and oftentimes even his family—into his work. Not afraid to be a standout figure in all his shots, it was during the 2000 Shanghai Biennale when Wei caught the most number of eyes, including those of the local authorities and press. The artist had staged an unauthorized performance on the event’s opening night—in an unabashed manner he’s refreshingly retained all these years—planting himself squarely on the grounds with his head poked through a three-square foot mirror.
“I have never thought that my performances should be allowed,” he muses. “But the situation I faced in Shanghai is not strange—I have done my mirror performances in many parts of the world, and they have been interrupted many times. But I get a good reaction because people can see my works and a dialogue comes about.”
One of his longest and most striking series, Falls, which began in 2002, shows Wei buried neck-deep in various locations around the world—a cobblestone path in Li Wei falls to Italy (2004), a building wall in Li Wei falls to New York (2006), and even a lake in Li Wei falls to Hong Kong (2006).
“In my pictures, I break through gravity—hurtling to the earth like a meteorite, flying through the air, showing the unstable,” Wei says emphatically. “If you picture someone falling to earth from another planet, it would really be no soft landing in the sense of a happy moment, whether the landing were in China or in another part of the world.
“And this feeling of having fallen headfirst into something and of having nothing firm under the feet is familiar to everyone. One doesn’t have to fall from another planet to feel it.”
I love having my wife and daughter in my work. It’s the most precious thing and the greatest experience, especially with my daughter, who is five years old now. I want to record her growing up in my work.
This sentiment can be chalked up to the artist’s admitted sense of loss and uncertainty in the ever-changing China landscape. But unlike his other rising contemporaries, Wei “doesn’t rely on propaganda or typical political symbols in his work”.
Instead, each of his images offers a certain omnipresent point of view, a macro message that anyone the world over can relate to. “The content, of course, is essentially what the picture talks about and what I think makes a perfect picture. Techniques and compositions are both important, too.”
As for the art scene in China, Wei’s reveals that “the government’s attitude towards performance art has relaxed since 2003, especially as officials seek more international cachet and recognition.
“The country is blooming in all aspects, not only in terms of the economy, and plays an important role in the world. In terms of contemporary art, China is growing up and there are more and more good local artists.”
WORDS BY KATRINA TAN. | <urn:uuid:101cb686-0b9b-4d42-821b-2344fc25465b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.realeyesonline.net/photography/li-wei/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975143 | 1,514 | 1.585938 | 2 |
the digital revolution marches on
AOL Time Warner takes 2 to tango
A walk in the Vermont woods. Dinner in Manhattan. Dinner in suburban Virginia. With that, a $350 billion corporate behemoth was born. The walkers and diners were two titans of American industry: Steve Case, CEO of America Online, and Gerald Levin, CEO of Time Warner. Both saw their companies as a perfect fit: AOL, the world's largest Internet service, needs an endless supply of content, which Time Warner, the world's largest media company, can provide. Time Warner also has 13 million cable subscribers, giving AOL a leg up in the race to provide "broadband" Internet access (that is, faster than a phone line). When the two men shook hands, they set into motion the biggest corporate merger in history. The stock swap creating a new company, AOL Time Warner, is valued anywhere from $160 to $183 billion. Some of the best-known names in computers and entertainment-America Online, CompuServe, Netscape, Entertainment Weekly, CNN, the Atlanta Braves, and Fred Flintstone-will now be under the same corporate roof. It all happened with astonishing speed. The two CEOs agreed to the merger after a Thursday dinner at Mr. Case's Virginia home. Immediately, secret calls began going out to company executives, lawyers, and investment bankers. All day Friday-then on through the weekend-they met in a 30th-floor conference room overlooking New York's Lexington Ave. Alpha Tango, as the merger was dubbed (Alpha for AOL, Tango for Time Warner), was kept top secret to avoid leaks to the press or the competition. Meals were prepared on-site so no delivery people would have to enter the building. In legal documents, the companies were referred to as "black" and "blue" so that secretaries would not know who was involved. On Sunday afternoon, each company's board got details of the proposed merger, and by 9 p.m., both boards had signed off on the plan. From handshake to vote, the entire process took some 72 hours. Although billed as a merger of equals, AOL's fat profit margins and rapid growth rate effectively allowed it to take over the bigger but stodgier "old media" company. Will NBC and MGM be next to be gobbled up by the likes of Yahoo, Lycos, or Microsoft? Disney, the world's second-largest media company, could be the next to go, since its stock dropped 28 percent last year following disappointing earnings. "There's a trend toward Internet companies partnering with traditional media companies," said Mark Mooradian, an analyst with Jupiter Communications, a Manhattan-based Web research firm. The Time Warner-AOL merger "is the pinnacle of that kind of partnership in the making, but I definitely think we're going to see more of this." Will this change the content or quality of what Americans see? In a Monday morning conference call with 1,700 analysts, Mr. Case vowed the new company would have a "positive impact on society." In a news conference later that day, both he and Mr. Levin promised to create a "socially responsible" company, without defining just what that might mean. Still, any sort of unified message from the media giant is unlikely: For all its clout, AOL Time Warner will serve largely as a holding company, with decisions about specific brands left up to the head honchos of various divisions. Immediately after the announcement, the stock prices of other traditional media companies began to soar as analysts looked for the "convergence" trend to continue. TV, radio, print magazines, movies, and even professional sports are on a collision course with the Net. If companies don't have a significant presence in cyberspace, they don't seem to matter much anymore. With people surfing the Net on their TVs and watching TV broadcasts on their computer screens, the technological lines were already blurred. Now the biggest merger in history makes it official by blurring the corporate lines, as well. The so-called Internet "bubble" so hotly debated on Wall Street may not burst at all: It may simply continue to grow until it encompasses almost every facet of everyday life. The No-Comment Zone
- A federal judge did not let himself be pushed by Jesse Jackson's flamboyant defense of six black students expelled from a Decatur, Ill., high school for fighting at a football game. U.S. District Judge Michael McCuskey ruled against a lawsuit filed by the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, saying the local public school board had the authority to boot the students. "The citizens and students of Decatur should be able to go to a high-school football game without worrying about a violent confrontation erupting in the stands," Judge McCuskey wrote. Mr. Jackson's four-month campaign in the community has heightened racial tension; he vowed another lawsuit and more protests.
- Some people will do anything to get high: Surgeons at Southeast Georgia Regional Medical Center removed 55 small glass pipes used to smoke cocaine from the stomach of a 35-year-old Jacksonville man, who went to an emergency room complaining of severe abdominal cramps, heartburn, and indigestion. Then police looked at what came out. "At first, I thought it was vials of powder cocaine. Then I realized it was crack pipes, and when I saw how many there were, I really couldn't believe it," said Brunswick police investigator Alison Drawdy. The man apparently swallowed the pipes while high on crack and did not realize what he was doing, she said.
- Robert Kosilek killed his wife in 1990 and now wants the government to turn him into a woman. The life convict contends he is a woman trapped in a man's body, so he sued the state of Massachusetts to make taxpayers pay for a sex change. State officials said no, and that denial, Mr. Kosilek claims, amounts to "cruel and unusual punishment." He demands hormone therapy and surgery that would allow him to "assume some level of psycho-sexual congruity," as he put it in court papers. Corrections officials refuse to cough up the estimated $10,000 to $15,000 to make Robert into Roberta and want the case dismissed.
- Cover up, Cosmo. Kroger is putting its copies of Cosmopolitan magazine in special racks starting this month that will cover up everything but the magazine's name. America's biggest grocery chain said that customers complained about the magazine's raunchy headlines, such as "Sex Tricks He's Never Seen Before." A Kroger vice president said he "had to pull Cosmo many times because the cover was not fit for the checkout area," where children would see it.
- U.S. District Judge Ed Prado ruled that Texas's high-school graduation test does not discriminate against blacks and Hispanics. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund argued that the higher failure rate of Hispanic and black students (20 percent) compared with white students (10 percent) proved that the test was discriminatory. State lawyers argued that other factors explained the differences in failure rates and that the gap was closing. Passing the standardized test has been a requirement for a diploma from a Texas public high school since 1990. Singer Crosby the dad of lesbians' kids
Lesbian pop star Melissa Etheridge says her two kids, whom she raises with her girlfriend, were fathered by donor sperm from a fellow rock star, David Crosby. In a cover story for Rolling Stone magazine, she says the singer and songwriter from Crosby, Stills, and Nash sired the two children via artificial insemination with Ms. Etheridge's girlfriend Julie Cypher. The Grammy-winning Etheridge said Mr. Crosby's wife first suggested the idea when the two couples chatted during a vacation in Hawaii a few years ago. Mr. Crosby, who is 58 and the father of three other children, thinks the two kids, Bailey and Beckett, make a profound social statement: "Maybe it's a good thing for a lot of straight families to see that this is not something strange." He will have no role in the rearing of the children. net 'intoxication' blamed for threat
Old argument, new media
When Michael Ian Campbell threatened to "finish what begun" at Columbine High School last April, he wasn't dangerous, just drunk on cyberspace. That's what the Cape Coral, Fla., 18-year-old's lawyer said when the teenager pleaded innocent to making an online threat. Attorney Ellis Rubin told reporters that Mr. Campbell was intoxicated by the Internet to the point of being hypnotized when he made the remark to a Columbine student using America Online's instant message system. Mr. Rubin's strategy is something of an update of the argument he used in defense of another Florida teenager in 1977. He argued that "television intoxication" led Ronny Zamora, 15, to murder an elderly neighbor. (The young man was convicted.) Mr. Campbell's alleged threat led Columbine administrators to cancel two days of school. The student who received the message also transferred to another school. If convicted, the teenager could be sentenced to five years in prison and fined $250,000. Religious broadcasters irate over FCC ruling
Religion isn't 'educational'
This time the threat to religious broadcasting is real (unlike the false Madalyn Murray O'Hair petition rumor perennially making the rounds in the mail and on the Internet). In approving a complex transfer of a Pittsburgh PBS television station's license to evangelical Cornerstone TeleVision, the Federal Communications Commission quietly issued "additional guidance" Dec. 29 that carries the weight of law. The guidance requires broadcasters operating on noncommercial educational licenses to have as their primary purpose service to the "educational, instructional, or cultural needs of the [local] community," and to devote at least one-half of their programming hours to topics that serve these purposes. Such programming, the FCC said, must not be "primarily devoted to religious exhortation, proselytizing, or statements of personally held religious views and beliefs." Listing examples, the FCC said programs about religion qualify as educational, but "church services, emotional appeals to religious faith, or any form of proselytizing" do not. Religious education, yes; "exhortation," no. To conform to the new guidelines, Cornerstone agreed to include more nonreligious educational programming in its schedule. Two of the five FCC commissioners issued a dissenting opinion. They protested the government's attempt to define what is acceptable religious speech and what is not. Why would a church service meet cultural needs of the community any less than an opera? they asked. They also criticized the FCC's departure from standard procedure in failing to consult the affected broadcast community before issuing such a sweeping order. Religious broadcasters, led by president Brandt Gustafson of National Religious Broadcasters, complained loudly, and some members of Congress warned the FCC to back off. In response, FCC chairman Bill Kennard emphasized the guidance affected only a limited number of religious broadcasters who seek licenses for specially reserved educational channels (about 20, according to FCC estimates, out of some 285 TV stations that carry religious broadcasting, 183 of them full-time). He said such licensees always have had to serve primarily "the educational needs of the community." Meanwhile, members of an alliance opposed to the Cornerstone license transfer said the FCC order did not appear to be enforceable, and they may file an appeal against the decision. Elian spared Jan. 14 repatriation; future uncertain
Life in the bubble
As the case of Elian Gonzalez ping-ponged between federal and state officials, the 6-year-old boy started adjusting to his uneasy life in the limelight. Elian has become the subject of international television coverage. He had his mug on the cover of Time and even received a visit from New York Yankees ace Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, a Cuban who also escaped Fidel Castro's worker's paradise. Not that Elian has escaped just yet. Following a Florida state court ruling that would keep Elian in the United States until at least March, Attorney General Janet Reno reiterated that the boy must be returned to his father, who lives in Cuba and was divorced from his mother, who perished helping bring Elian to freedom in the United States. But Ms. Reno lightened up on her original insistence that Elian be sent back to Cuba by Jan. 14. In the state court, Judge Rosa Rodriguez granted temporary custody to Elian's great-uncle in Miami, pending a full hearing March 6, where Elian's father is ordered to appear. Elian has also been subpoenaed to appear before a U.S. congressional committee in February. Ms. Reno contends that any challenge to the government's decision to return Elian Gonzalez to his Cuban father must come in federal court. "The question of who may speak for a 6-year-old child in applying for admission or asylum is a matter of federal immigration law,'' Ms. Reno said in a letter to lawyers for the boy's Florida relatives. Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates are challenging Ms. Reno's decision. But they may find themselves up against the very law passed by the Republican-led Congress in 1996, when it approved an immigration reform law that denied most judicial reviews of Immigration and Naturalization Service decisions concerning "noncitizens." | <urn:uuid:c877b9e4-2570-4d67-8599-4f840478a7a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldmag.com/2000/01/news_reviews_0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967937 | 2,740 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Duration: 2 days
Pitching is an essential skill necessary to forge a career in the Media industry and by using practical tried and tested methods you'll have the confidence to pitch your idea clearly and with purpose.
This weekend workshop will show you how to fully understand your story and concept. You will need to visualise the world you intend to document, as well as the contributors you plan to film. If you are thinking of immersive story-telling 'Talent' is important and we'll be thinking about the right celebrities for your films, too. You will understand how a narrative structure works - an essential skill in pitching your ideas to Commissioning Editors and Broadcasters.
The key skills to a Perfect Pitch:
Concept, Contributors, Story
Will you watch it? Well, if you won't, the people you're pitching to won't buy into it... Know who you are pitching to. Know your "tone" as well as the demographic you are targeting. Know your story.
In this intensive workshop, you will be guided through a series of target points: concept, contributors, story. We will go through a tried and tested structure that hits these target points. We will investigate what makes for a good story and the Broadcaster commissioning 'Strands' or 'Seasons' - We will look at the hook of a good story and what might grab your audience. We'll think about marketing to sell your idea; locations and budgets, too.
The Three P's - Prepare, Practice, Pitch
Once we've prepared what we're going to say, we'll practice the pitch. It's essential that you have a structured speech that will allow you to get out everything about your idea that you need to in a reasonable amount of time. By practicing, you'll also be able to identify those areas where your pitch drags, gets confusing, or simply fails to sufficiently sell your story. At the end of this course, You will get feedback to your ideas and advice specific to your pitch.
Study in one of the world's most beautiful locations - Portimao, the Algarve, the southern-most region of mainland Portugal. Due to its all-year-round mild weather, the Algarve is one of the most attractive areas in the Mediterranean for filming. Learn more at: www.facebook.com/londonfilmacademyonlocationinalgarve
This course is run in collaboration with the Algarve Film Comission.
Accommodation & Flights
The price of accommodation, meals and flights is not included. Look for your ideal accommodation in Portimao here: www.portimar.pt
Or for details of reduced rates at the local hotels please contact Floripes Cuco, Portimar on +351 282 470 004 or email@example.com
Check the current tuition fee using this currency converter.
All classes will be conducted in English (applicants must be fluent in English to benefit from these courses).
Minimum age 18.
Apply for this course
There are no set dates for this course at the moment.
Please register your interest with us and we will contact you as soon as a date has been set for this course
Alternatively please call us on +44 (0) 20 7386 7711 or email us firstname.lastname@example.org for more information. | <urn:uuid:25dd14fe-9ff2-483c-9e83-ba596377a350> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.londonfilmacademy.com/lfa-courses/show-course.asp?id=97&course=Documentary:%20Pitch%20Perfect%20On%20Location%20In%20Algarve,%20Portugal%20&page_id=59 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937432 | 693 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Cheyenne, WY – The seasonally adjusted jobless rate in Wyoming rose to 4.0% in May. That is a half percent higher than April and the highest unemployment rate the state has recorded since October 2004. State Senior Economist David Bullard of the Wyoming Department of Employment says one explanation might be that more people are entering the work force. Still, only six other states have lower unemployment rates. The national jobless rate is five-point-one percent. | <urn:uuid:2a1f0826-ea78-4faf-9707-90412625d552> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wyomingpublicradio.net/post/wyoming-unemployment-may | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958464 | 96 | 1.726563 | 2 |
All Warren County Departments are being forced to each take a ten percent budget cut this year.
This includes cuts for Emergency departments, which could affect you in an emergency situation.
"Our first priority just like any government is the protection of the citizens and continued budget cuts is not going to allow that to happen. And I don't want to knock on the door of a family and tell them bad news just because of some budgets cuts," says Ronnie Pearson, director of Emergency Management.
In December, the Warren County Government voted against increasing the insurance premium tax.
The failed insurance tax increase and a decrease in property taxes is a devastating blow to public safety.
"We voted to not increase the revenue at the time. So, that was making it difficult to provide the ongoing services for emergency services for public protection," says County Judge Executive, Mike Buchanon.
"We're trying to come up with creative ways short-term to cover that deficit," County Magistrate, Dan Rudloff says.
While Warren County may have a balanced budget, the cuts could cause problems during severe weather.
Emergency Management may not be able to build additional tornado sirens this year, including new siren locations planned last year.
"Last week was a prime example of when these storms pop up and can do a multitude of damage fortunately we had no injuries but it's very possible," Pearson says.
The Warren County Fire Department needs 7 more stations to cover the county.
"Anyone who is beyond five miles from a responding fire station is subject to a class 10 rating which is basically no fire service," says Woodburn Fire Chief Bob Skipper.
And the Sheriff's Office was forced to get rid of a deputy position, slowing response time.
"When we had the slick streets, one deputy is gone, we had like 20 to 23 wrecks. He would probably work four of those wrecks, so it takes them longer," Warren County Sheriff Jerry "Peanuts" Gaines says.
Emergency officials agree, these budget cuts may endanger public safety.
The Sheriff's Office is the only emergency department whose proposed budget cuts have been finalized.
Emergency Management will present their budget cuts tomorrow in Warren County Fiscal Court. | <urn:uuid:fda142b3-58b1-49e0-8786-e88f6dcb04b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbko.com/home/headlines/How-County-Budget-Cuts-Could-Affect-You-in-an-Emergency-Situation-189738751.html?site=full | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975794 | 451 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Yesterday, on Andrea Mitchell Reports on MSNBC, Rick Santorum’s main supporter, Foster Friess, had this to say about Bayer aspirin:
(if you don’t feel like watching the video, Friess said, “This contraceptive thing, my gosh, it’s so inexpensive. Back in my days, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees, and it wasn’t that costly.”)
Regardless of where you stand politically, one can imagine that Bayer Aspirin can’t be too thrilled with these comments (unless you think “gals” are going to run out to buy Bayer now). Just last May, Time Magazine reported that Bayer is really only well-known among a particular demographic- older Americans with heart conditions. The reason? Due to some pretty outstanding marketing strategies in the late ’80s, Bayer aspirin became known as the go-to preventative for heart attacks and strokes in older adults, and people pretty much forgot that originally, Bayer was intended to be a pain medication.
That article inTime Magazine pointed to a new marketing strategy by Bayer to expand their 14.6% market share with faster-acting aspirin and brightly-colored packaging that might appear to a younger demographic in their 40s. But now, a 71 year-old man has made what even Rick Santorum is calling a “bad joke” and tied Bayer to archaic notions of contraception and angry mobs. What would you do if you were Bayer? Well, Bayer is an old company formed in the 1800s in Germany, and they’ve certainly weathered worse storms in their lifetime as a company. So they might be tempted to ride this one out.
But if I was in charge of handling this problem at Bayer, I’d have a few suggestions as to what Bayer could do to turn the tide of this one:
- Put out an entertaining, “old school style” educational video on YouTube, featuring the President or CEO of Bayer, or at least a high-ranking executive, preferably a woman, talking about responsible birth control and emphasizing that there are many, more effective options than holding a Bayer aspirin between your knees.
- Create a marketing campaign around the fact that Bayer actually helps create a need for effectively responsible birth control options, as with Bayer, the “Honey, I have a headache,” excuse won’t work anymore, because Bayer relieves headaches so darned well.
- Start partnering with groups like the National Organization for Women and Planned Parenthood to develop programs to educate young women and men about birth control options.
Those are just three of the ways that Bayer could take this potentially damaging and awkward connection to an inappropriate (at the least) remark by Foster Friess and turn it into an opportunity.
The question is…will Bayer ignore Friess’ comments and hide their collective heads under their pillows or take their own medicine, as it were, man up, and leverage this moment?
What would you recommend Bayer do? | <urn:uuid:909ad1fe-ba52-488a-83bc-47e2e061feb4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://susanbaroncini-moe.com/2012/02/why-bayer-aspirin-has-a-public-relations-headache-today/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962521 | 630 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Florida election officials will have access to a federal law enforcement database to challenge the eligibility of a person to vote as part of its effort to purge non-citizens from its voting rolls, state officials said.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will allow state officials access to the SAVE -- Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements -- database in an agreement that was announced Saturday by Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner and the Florida Department of State.
The announcement follows weeks of legal wrangling between the federal and state officials, a fight being closely watched in Colorado, Nevada, Michigan and North Carolina -- states that could ultimately swing November's presidential election -- where officials are advocating for similar access.
"Florida voters are counting on their state and federal governments to cooperate in a way that ensures elections are fair, beginning with ensuring the voter rolls are current and accurate," Detzner said in a statement.
"Now, we have a commitment to cooperate from DHS and we look forward to a partnership that improves our election process."
Details of the agreement were not immediately available, and it was not clear when Florida would begin checking its voter rolls against the database, which lists those who are legally in the United States on either visas or "green cards" but not eligible to vote. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond late Saturday to a CNN request for comment.
The SAVE database, which contains alien registration numbers, is a web-based service that was created to help "federal, state and local benefit-issuing agencies, institutions, and licensing bureaus determine the immigration status of benefit applicants so only those entitled to benefits receive them," according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Florida officials sued last month to gain access to the database after an effort this year to purge the state voting rolls -- using driver licenses and birth dates -- went awry because of faulty state records.
A Florida Department of State spokesman, Chris Cate, told CNN in June that the state identified roughly 100 people who are not citizens but registered to vote. CNN found, though, that some of the names on the potential purge list were, in fact, legitimate voters -- newly minted Americans recently granted citizenship.
DHS and Florida struck a deal over the database just weeks after a federal judge rejected a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit aimed at preventing Florida from moving forward with a voter registration purge. | <urn:uuid:08776afe-6fdc-41b0-b747-998e8878af64> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wlwt.com/news/national/Florida-to-match-records-against-federal-data/-/9837944/15521804/-/kxpjuh/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961542 | 491 | 1.554688 | 2 |
My marmalade was an accident. Let me explain...
We have had a major gardening renaissance at our house. After being away for a year and leaving our backyard veggies in the hands of a very kind, but non-gardening Finnish couple, we had some serious work to do. Our fence fell over, everything went to seed, and in many ways we had to simply start over.
Actually, the blank slate has been fun - there is something so soothing and simple about digging in the dirt. We recently planted a Pink Pearl Apple, Seckel Pear and a Blenheim Apricot to espalier along our sunny (rebuilt) fence. Arugula, broccoli raab, Japanese onions and favas are also taking root. Woo hoo!
When we were picking up supplies at Berkeley Hort the other day, I fell for a kumquat. It was sitting there calling out to me with cascades of adorable miniature fruit and lush green leaves. When I asked one of the gardeners about this little tree, she told me that kumquats are known to bring good luck and prosperity - I was sold.
To honor our newest little tree, I wanted to cook up something to share with you. I planned on making candied kumquats. Without a recipe and winging it in my typical fashion, I had marmalade before I knew it. It was really good and just as a marmalade should be - tangy and thick.
Do you guys eat kumquats? How do you use them? I love that the little citrus gems can be eaten whole. And, I often slice them up and toss them in salads or just pop one in my mouth for a puckery bite.
Note: If you don't have access to kumquats, feel free to use orange peels for your marmalade.
HONEY-CITRUS MARMALADE makes one small jar of preserves
- 18 kumquats (or substitute 1 cup sliced orange peel, with as much pith removed as possible)
- 2/3 cup honey ( if you like your marmalade a little sweeter go ahead and add another 1/4 cup)
- 1 cup water
Thinly slice kumquats and remove seeds.
Place honey and water in a small saucepan. Heat over medium flame, stirring occasionally, until the honey has dissolved.
Add the sliced kumquats to the pan. Simmer uncovered and maintain a gentle bubbling for 30-35 minutes. When the mixture of fruit, honey, and water has thickened up, you're all done.
Remove pan from heat, let cool, then scoop marmalade into a little jar. Go ahead and feed yourself a few generous scoops of marmalade on crackers with butter. | <urn:uuid:20964bc1-0e2e-4621-bef7-99ae911b9474> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://yummysupper.blogspot.com/2012/02/oops-i-made-kumquat-marmalade.html?showComment=1330128894416 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96006 | 586 | 1.507813 | 2 |
I just spent the week in Brazil and attended the UN Earth Summit on sustainable development. Here’s my ramblings about what it was like from a designer’s perspective.
As your plane makes its final descent into Rio de Janeiro airport, you are presented with an incredible landscape: tropical rain-forests, a dense city spread around the coastline with favelas tucked into every free space, and a good spread of large tankers and ships making their way in and out of the port. From that aerial descent to your hotel you can see the complexities of what the Earth Summit, also known as Rio+20, has been trying to tackle: the division of wealth, our reliance on commerce, and our desire for more stuff, overpopulation, the ever encroaching hand of man over his environment, all set against the vibrancy and optimism of the Brazilian culture and people.
You have to forgive Rio for the fact that its infrastructure struggled to support the traffic: the additional military presence, the cavalcades, and the countless courtesy coaches that were laid on for 10,000 delegates and visitors. Even with this it was the perfect setting. Brazil is making serious inroads to make social and environmental changes alongside its fast growing economic growth, and it shows. Easily the best examples of sustainability, community involvement, and social change were demonstrated at Rio+20 by the cities, companies and government of Brazil.
I was invited to Rio+20 to launch an open innovation challenge that we ran www.openideo.com in partnership with Itau, a leading Brazilian bank, the US State Department and the US Environmental Protection Agency. The challenge is focussed on the problem of discarded electronics or e-waste. You can read more or check out how challenge went here.
It’s been twenty years since the ’92 global talks on climate change and social issues took place in Rio. In that time we haven’t made great progress in reducing our impact on the world. Since then we’ve had various events, such as Copenhagen and Kyoto, in order to reset the pledges that heads of state have made to help improve the planet. This year Rio hosted again the global talks in an attempt to reach new agreements and reset things such as the UN Millennium Development Goals. If you’re reading this then you probably already know that the official talks and the document have been deemed a failure by many. However, rather than dwell on that too much, I want to talk about how I would like to have seen the event work differently, and touch on a personal perspective on why the talks were doomed to failure from the start.
This year the event was very different. It reflected aspects of our more socially aware and activist times. As well as the official UN talks, there were many unofficial ‘side events’, so many in fact that if you’d have taken all the soldiers that were manning every street corner or riding every armored vehicle that passed and spread them amongst the different events’ agendas I don’t think you would have covered everything. In addition to these there were the multitude of alternative events, happenings, and protests. These included the ‘People’s Summit’, probably the polar opposite of the official talks which were invite only, conference style, mostly one way broadcast communication. The People’s Summit was a cornucopia of native cultures, NGOs, etc. that represented causes and their format was one of open dialog. Whether it was grabbing the nearest patch of grass beneath a tree or using one of their music festival like tents, mostly the format was a circular one, designed to be inclusive, not exclusive.
One representative from the official proceedings couldn’t believe I’d been to what they called ‘the hippy camp’. The people’s summit was far from that, it was a real attempt to create inclusive dialog and I found it one of the most tangible ways to understand the real issues facing people affected by the issues of sustainable development, especially locally here in Brazil. I met one tribal leader, complete with beautiful head dress, and with translation help, asked him why he was here. He said ‘because my home is being destroyed by deforestation’.
Design was sorely lacking
It struck me after a while that the thing I care so deeply about, and believe can make a difference, design, was scarcely mentioned nor were there any design firms except us speaking or doing any of the events. I hung out with journalist Paula Alvarado from Treehugger and we challenged each other to find design at Rio+20 but we just couldn’t, not explicitly.
However, when I reflected on it some more, I found my self wondering two things: 1. Why did I consider it important that design should be part of the Earth Summit? and 2. After doing this realized that maybe it was there but hidden.
What is Design?
To me, design is a way of thinking and it’s a way of life. It’s about looking at the world and seeing opportunities and not accepting the status quo. It’s about finding new solutions to those problems and engaging the right people in the process of creating new ideas. It’s about exploring new options and choosing the optimal one for the context in hand. It’s about crafting a beautiful solution, it’s about creating delight, magic, surprise. You know good design when you don’t have to think about it. Good design creates new markets, new jobs, it disrupts the old way of doing things. It considers people, natural resources, and the economy at the same time, rather than as separate things that different people think about in isolation.
When you think about design in this way, and separate out the elements of this definition you can see how design is playing a role in the whole Rio+20 experience in many wonderful ways. It’s just that nowhere could we find it in its totality. Here’s some musings on how it could have been improved, from a designer’s perspective:
7 ways to improve the next Earth Summit.
1. Make it Accessible
- The official proceedings used language that the average person couldn’t relate to.
- Design has the power to enable people from all walks of life to relate to common problems. It does this, when done well, by asking the right questions, the questions that really matter to all of us, and by asking them in ways that we can all relate to, without abstract jargon.
2. Make it Tangible
- There was a real lack of convincing examples at the official proceedings and event. Two examples shone out however, which were side events. Humanidad 2.0 was an exhibition describing how we have selfishly changed this planet for our own collective human purposes. It took you on a journey using all the senses of the quantitative and qualitative ways in which the world was needing help. I have to say I felt utterly depressed at the end of the exhibition, standing on the roof of the temporary scaffolding surrounded by all the world’s flags watching container ships sail in between Rio’s beautiful islands and coastline. However it left me with a real sense of the sheer weight of the problem. It made it tangible.
3. Make it Optimistic
- The second example I found enlightening was called ‘Sustania’. Described as solutions focussed, it represented a call to action and attempted to show the way towards change, rather than debating whether it should happen or not. Brainchild of Laura Storm, with Governor Arnold Swarzenegger as the honorary chair, Sustainia was an event which aimed to showcase 100 solutions and will culminate in prizes for the best ideas that demonstrate social and environmental impact in the world. Everything about the event was well crafted. It felt human, though a touch pretentious at times, but even in these moments it pulled it off with spoonfuls of charm.
4. Organise by issue not by geography
- The Rio Centro housed representatives from each country who all gave talks one at a time, mirroring this, an area adjacent to this, called the athletes’ park contained major countries and an exhibition of their best efforts so far. However this only proliferated the siloed nature of the way we think about our shared problems. This forced the public into a mode of comparison, which gave an unfortunate competitive slant to the whole experience. A feeling not helped by the fact that the Italian pavilion had great coffee and looked stunning, whereas some other countries’ displays were, to be frank, just embarrassing.
5. Help people understand these are systemic issues
- Let’s pick one problem at random to look at another factor that illustrates the need to greater collaboration and less competition: the fact that one billion people don’t have access to clean drinking water is not an isolated problem, and you can’t treat it as such. It’s a problem that has factors helping to improve it, and factors that are making it tougher. What has carbon emissions got to do with clean water for instance? An increase in CO2 thanks to the burning of fossil fuels, is helping warm the planet, which in turn is causing the sea level to rise. When the sea level rises, even by small amounts, people who live in flood plains, such as the thousands of people in coastal areas of Bangladesh, lose their homes and migrate inland. This increases overpopulation and increases our demand on the natural and human resources, thus making it harder to find access to clean water.
- Rio+20 on the whole treated these issues as independent problems which need independent solutions. Many of the best solutions to these problems solve multiple problems at once. A good example is Solar Sister, a company that equips women with solar lanterns and a business model to help them sell these lanterns to their villages in rural Africa. This lifts these women, but also their communities out of poverty, increases the time that their children and themselves can read at night, and provides 100% clean energy.
- Design Thinking can help with this approach. By its nature this way of thinking tackles problems from different perspectives at once and does so by engaging people who may otherwise never have worked with each other.
6. Make it action focussed
- This setup created a lot of self-promotion, selling, and a dilution of the issues that we should have been focussing on, rather than authentic conversation, honest debate, and action. What if the goal was both to agree on what the short and long terms goals should be, but also to create actual change in the process? This is an idea that both design thinking and the lean startup movement embraces: learn by doing. What if the next Earth Summit was all about ‘change by doing’ (and less talking).
7. Focus on the long term and the short term
- I don’t know how you change this last factor, but given most of the world’s heads of states’ (and CEOs’) tenures last 4-5 years, and our collective problems require long term commitments and change takes time, we are stuck in a short-termist culture where no one is motivated to commit to initiatives that will outlast their term in office. World leaders: take a few tips from the LongNowFoundation.
One of the most humbling moments of the whole experience was watching a cripple begging by the side of the congested road en route to the Rio+20 event whilst cavalcade after cavalcade of heads of state and official representatives sped past, hurrying to agree to something that had already been mostly drafted, which wouldn’t really impact this poor person’s life. Watching this, it made me wish I was more than one person, and that I could try to make a bigger difference. But to take comfort from Ghandi’s wonderful words, ‘My Life is my message’, if we can each try and act like we all wish everyone else would, maybe we can change this planet for the better, one person at a time.
Nathan, 22 June ’12
Did you attend the summit? What were your thoughts? I’d love to hear what you thought of it or if you have any reactions to this post. Please feel free to comment or get in touch. | <urn:uuid:b44749c3-e3a7-410a-9593-5914c9382606> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://firmfollowsform.com/?p=350 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970651 | 2,567 | 1.796875 | 2 |
HOME | IN THE MAGAZINE | BACK ISSUES | MAY/JUNE 2007
It’s a bright, crisp morning in Northern California. Winemaker Loren Tayerle is preparing to destem a load of petite sirah grapes, the clusters so packed they’ve become solid masses of almost black fruit. Dressed in a red sweatshirt, jeans and black Crocs, Tayerle maneuvers his yellow-and-black Komatsu forklift to tilt a half-ton bin of fruit over the receiving end of his CMMC destemmer. Dino Blackburn, a friend who often helps out around the winery, is perched on top of the 10-foot-high device, picking out clusters that are mildewed or not ripened and feeding the rest into the machine. The stems, stripped of their fruit, fall into a bin on the side, while the grapes, largely intact, fall into a bin directly below.
This is a common scene at any winery, but the backdrop sets Tayerle Wines apart. Semi trucks roar back and forth on the side street beside the small West Oakland industrial park where the winery is tucked into a rented 800-square-foot, corrugated metal shed. A red sign posted on the barbed-wire-topped chain-link fence surrounding the property reads “NO SMOKING While Working Racks,” a holdover from the site’s former life as an oxygen-generating plant.
Welcome to winemaking, West Oakland style. Tayerle is one of 16 members of the East Bay Vintners Alliance, a growing organization of urban winemakers founded last year. Despite their funky digs and unlikely locations, these pioneers are producing prize-winning wines in an area where cooling breezes from San Francisco Bay provide an excellent climate for winemaking.
Unique as inner-city winemaking might seem, urban wineries are not a new idea. “If you go back a hundred years, all the wineries were in San Francisco,” says Brendan Eliason, who owns Periscope Cellars in Emeryville, a small municipality tucked between Oakland and Berkeley. “Then, after the quake [of 1906], the wineries moved out to where the vineyards were and stayed there.”
The wineries in the group are mostly small; only four of them have tasting rooms. But Rosenblum Cellars makes a whopping 52 wines and produces more than 200,000 cases a year—significantly more than all the other EBVA members combined. Kent Rosenblum and his wife, Kathy, started making wine in Oakland’s long defunct Dead End Bar, where they rented space in 1978. Now they have 80,000 square feet in a former railroad-repair facility on Alameda Island in San Francisco Bay, just west of Oakland. Rosenblum, 62, who looks the part of an urban cowboy, boots and all, touts the advantages of “operating in the center of a huge wine-drinking public.” He has built up a loyal customer base at his tasting room, which is a lot more convenient to Bay Area wine lovers than Napa or Sonoma. About 20 percent of his sales are direct to consumers. He sells the rest to stores and restaurants around the country, and his wines are popular in Bay Area establishments.
While Tayerle’s operation is on a somewhat smaller scale, he, Rosenblum and the rest of the EBVA makers operate on the same philosophy: Leave the growing to carefully selected vineyard owners who tend their vines every day and concentrate on making the best wine they can make with their fruit. For Tayerle, a professional French horn player—as for other EBVA members—setting up shop in an urban setting is a win-win situation. He’s close to Berkeley, where he plays with the Berkeley Symphony, but he doesn’t have to trek far to visit the rural vineyards he works with. He describes a day in the fall of 2003 when he drove north to Carneros on a sunny morning, tasted his pinot noir grapes and decided that was the day to pick. He hauled them back to Oakland that very morning, destemmed them that afternoon, then proceeded to a Berkeley Symphony rehearsal with conductor Kent Nagano and mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade. As they began rehearsing Ravel’s Shéhérazade, Tayerle recalls, tears came to his eyes. “It was just an incredible day,” he remembers. “I still always think back on this and how lucky I am.”
Tayerle’s winery is divided into a small workroom and a second room with a sign above the door that reads “Cave.” The cave is packed with barrels, but he glides among them with practiced ease. He tacked blue plastic tarps to the walls for insulation and set up a makeshift misting system for the Bay Area’s rare hot spells. Pinots are his passion, but he also makes a lush super-Tuscan called Il Trovatore, a blend of sangiovese, cabernet and petite sirah. His 2006 wines—which will spend a year or two in the barrel before he bottles them—will amount to about 2,000 cases.
The setting is humble, but the wines are sold in fine restaurants and wine stores around the Bay Area. Laurent Michit, sommelier at Shanghai 1930, a San Francisco restaurant noted for its wine list, took Tayerle’s pinot to his native France and served it blind to winemakers there. “That’s Burgundy,” they said. “No,” responded Michit, “Oakland.” He describes Tayerle’s wines as “old-style, very elegant—well-balanced, round, smooth, with nice structure and complexity. Not too tannic, not too fruit-forward, not too acidic.” Not bad for a wine made in a West Oakland shed.
Tayerle has divided his time between music and winemaking for the past 14 years. “[In music], at a very basic level, you’re always dealing with details: precise rhythm, intonation—you can’t really get away without that stuff,” says the tall, unruly-haired 48-year-old. “It’s the same with wine—it’s the simple details. If you don’t take care of business, it really shows in the wines.”
He got his start in winemaking at David Bruce Winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of the Bay Area, then worked for Rosenblum Cellars—as did several EBVA members—before branching off on his own. The Oakland space made it possible for him to go into business because the rent was affordable and the area already zoned for the production of alcoholic beverages. And, of course, if he lived in Napa or Sonoma, he would be driving his 1988 Ford F-250 truck an hour and a half each way to the Bay Area venues where he rehearses and performs. The truck “drives like a Cadillac with a ton of grapes in the back,” he notes, “but otherwise it’s murder on city streets.”
On the asphalt outside Berkeley’s A Donkey and Goat winery, 35-year-old owner Jared Brandt is scooping grapes out of a 500-liter wooden barrel. His wife, Tracey, is moving more barrels around with a forklift, and several friends are helping out. Today they’re pressing their 2006 syrah, an elegant, medium-bodied wine made with grapes trucked in from Broken Leg Vineyard, a remote plot located in Anderson Valley, 100 miles northwest of San Francisco.
When the dot-com bubble burst in 2001, the Brandts—who had both been working tech jobs—decided to try winemaking. They could have enrolled in U.C. Davis’ viniculture program; instead, they spent nine months in France, learning the business from the ground up. When they came back to the Bay Area, they rented space in a former foundry in West Berkeley’s light industrial zone and got to work making the lower-alcohol, higher-acid Rhone-style reds they had come to love in France, along with a bright, acidic chardonnay.
The young couple does everything in as natural a manner as possible. They ferment their wines in wooden barrels rather than plastic bins—partly because wood breathes and also because Tracey, 36, is generally weary of plastic (the couple’s 2-year-old daughter drinks only from glass bottles and eats off porcelain plates)—and when it comes to crushing, they prefer the ancient method of pigeage à pied. “We haven’t found a machine that can duplicate the gentle crushing you get with good old-fashioned foot-stomping,” Tracey says.
Tracey is as much, if not more, involved in the wine business as Jared, who continues to work a day job with Kodak, where he manages digital consumer products. They buy from growers all over Northern California and visit each vineyard once a week from early August until harvest in November. Jared’s commute to Kodak is a short one, but they put about 10,000 miles on their Toyota Prius visiting far-flung vineyards last year. Inside the winery they have jars of soil—often more rock than dirt—from the various vineyards. Jared explains that they look for rocky vineyards where the vines work harder, producing lower yields but intense fruit. A Donkey and Goat’s 2005 production amounted to 600 cases; they expect the 2006 vintage to total about 1,100. Their goal is to get up to 2,000 cases a year, which they see as an amount they can handle while maintaining quality control.
“We set out to follow a dream, and we set up shop where we live,” Tracey says. “Over the last few years people have figured out that they don’t have to buy the palatial estate and plant their own vineyards. Here we have lots of options for culture and educating our daughter.”
At Periscope Cellars, midway between Tayerle and A Donkey and Goat, Brendan Eliason is bottling his 2005 wines in a 6,000-square-foot space that once housed a submarine repair facility. (The building was on the bay during World War II, but now it’s about a quarter-mile inland, thanks to landfill projects.) A large white truck emblazoned with the URL for ultimamobilebottling.com is backed into the loading dock, and the high-pitched din of bottles bumping against each other is relentless. Wearing a blue St. Francis Vineyards T-shirt, jeans and a five o’clock shadow, Eliason, 31, is overseeing the bottling process in the truck. Workers feed empty bottles into a chute on the left, and the bottles make their way around the inside walls of the truck, where they’re labeled, filled with wine pumped from a barrel, corked and capped. As the bottles finish their journey, an Ultima worker drops them into boxes and closes and tapes the cases.
Several friends lend a hand with the hoses and pump, and a couple of dogs romp around the winery. (When there’s work to be done, it seems urban winemakers do not lack for friends.) The wine being pumped into bottles looks slightly cloudy and still holds a hint of rawness, but in the next few months, as it rests in the bottle, the rough edges will round out.
Eliason says that he especially likes working with zinfandel and that syrah is a more recent passion. “I buy grapes only from people who planted their own vineyards, live on their own property and do all their farming,” he declares with an assurance that belies his age. “I don’t buy grapes from anyone who doesn’t walk their vineyards every day and know every vine and every row.”
So are these urban winemakers—and others operating within the city limits of Seattle, Portland and a handful of other metro areas—dreaming of the day when they can move to Napa Valley, operate their own vineyards and live the bucolic life that most of us associate with winemaking? Not on your life. These entrepreneurs are happy to leave the risks and uncertainties of growing to others and concentrate on making the wines. While it’s convenient for winemakers to set up shop in the city where they live and play, Tayerle admits that urban-made wines can lack the sense of place that other wines evoke. When he tells people where his wines are made, they sometimes look perplexed, or even giggle, a reaction he has learned to undercut by quipping that his winery is located in “the romantic wine country of West Oakland.”
Pick up the May/June 2007 issue of Imbibe for urban-wine tasting notes. | <urn:uuid:b54e80ec-23be-492a-b368-4c88c7e53245> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imbibemagazine.com/Syrah-in-the-City/Print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964835 | 2,795 | 1.601563 | 2 |
I should have made a post about this a while ago, but I didn’t want a half complete post, and the scope of my project kept expanding!
Part 1: Scraping
I found two huge repositories of old digitised maps of Australia, many of which are in the public domain. The National Library of Australia and Parish Maps from the Department of Lands NSW. Unfortunately they didn’t really have a nice documented RESTfull API for the use of the images and metadata. My first step was to extract as much information as I could and convert it into an intermediate format. Most of my code and documentation for doing this is at https://github.com/andrewharvey/govscrape in those two respective folders. Unfortunately it’s not as easy as running one command from my repo to download and parse all the data. My goal was to get the data to my machine, not write a robust system that anyone could run to get a clone of the nla and pmap repositories.
Part 2: Georeferencing
It would be great if I could push out an easy to use API for the data I collected from the scrape stage, but I don’t have the resources (let me know if you are willing to help out with server resources to host these old public domain maps). Even without a nice interface to the data, I could still play around with it and to see what use I could make of it. I dabbled into using these maps as a source of data for OpenStreetMap. I only got through a few of the maps, I put this on hold as I figured it would be easier (especially for others) to do this if they were georeferenced. I tried out both http://warper.geothings.net/ and QuantumGIS, but both had way to much lagging. So I rolled out my own solution which was just a bunch of scripts which used Inkscape and a hacked libchamplain demo as the GUI. The code and documentation for this is at https://github.com/andrewharvey/georeferencing-scripts.
The georeferencing data that I have made so far (it’s a big task!) is at https://github.com/andrewharvey/georeferencing-data.
Part 3: Sharing
From the data and code from the last step, I’m able to push out these old maps in several formats. I used gdalwarp to convert the maps into Transverse Mercator (well actually I don’t really know what they are, but this seems to work), from here I can use gdal2tiles.py (…finally understanding the difference between OSM Slippy map tilesnames and the OGC TMS… take note that gdal2tiles.py produces TMS format tiles which differs from OSM style as it has the y axis going bottom to top, see http://groups.google.com/group/maptiler/browse_thread/thread/aa89fc726b8f7261/8bdc39d7829cc80c) to push out an OSM slippy map like tile directory, I can push out a KML GroundOverlay, or you could probably use a WMS server to push it out through WMS. I really wanted to leave it open.
I would post a Google Earth one too, but its too much effort to get a free background in there for the screenshot. I’m not convinced that this display of the data is user friendly. Having control of the transparency of the overlay is a must. Maybe one day, someone will crop out all the non-map parts of the parish maps so we can get a single whole of NSW parish map slippy map.
I suppose now I need to focus on the infrastructure. It should be really easy for a user to browse the available maps and view them either as a KML, an OpenLayers overlay. I should also plug this into the meta-data I scraped and have stored in CSV like files.
The problem I have with distribution right now is that many of the maps need warping and that means I need to host the warped image somewhere. Some could probably be georeferenced from their source image using just translate, scale and rotate, and hence should be able to use the source image from the government server to serve the georeferenced imagery. But the work flow I’ve set up so far, relies on using gdalwarp, and hence having access to the warped image.
I made this image to help my understand a slippy map tile naming system for maps that don’t always point North (it turns out nothing changes in terms of the tile numbering, you just have to apply additional view space transformations). This is how Nearmap does it, and when I get around to putting up http://osm.kyblsoft.cz/3dmapa/ like tiles of Sydney I will endeavor to use the same system (in other words you put your code to view the other views in your map viewer application, rather than just change the tile numbering so that you can use existing code for all the views). It doesn’t really change anything here if we have square or non-square tiles, the tile numbers and true coordinates don’t change because of this. Keep in mind that all the points of tile z/y/x for any of these views will be the geographic location, the views just have a different view space translation.
A little while back I sent the RTA an email to try to claify the copyright license of some of their data so I could determine if I could use it. Like this data feed, http://livetraffic.rta.nsw.gov.au/data/traffic-cam.json. The link to the copyright license is broken. This is the response I got,
The RTA supports and encourages open access information, and is determined to grow its range of traffic resources to provide developers with access to live updates and traveller information feeds.
Request for licensing agreements are assessed against the following considerations:
- Consumer benefit
- Legal constraints
- Road safety
- Technical capacity
- Availability of data
If you would like to apply for a license agreement for the RTA’s Live Traffic content, please submit a proposal for your service and how you would like to use the RTA’s content, including the above considerations. Your proposal will then be assessed by the RTA.
What a load of garbage, if you trully “support and encourage open access information” then you would release these data feeds under a public domain like license. Saying “we will make a case by case decision once you tell us your proposal” is just going to hinder the innovative use of that data. People will create their own datasets independent of you, which of course this could go either way. The peoples dataset could be either better or worse quality than yours, but either way you would save people some work if you helped out by releasing your data under a free and open license. You are a government department, not a company.
I’ve taken some time to look at the NearMap licenses (Community License, Free Commercial License) more closely. Here is some of my commentary of them. I’ll use the terminology used in the licences so please excuse me for using their language and jargon. When I say free I mean free as in “free software”, “free culture” and “free as in freedom”. Also this is just my interpretation from reading them, I am not a lawyer. Hopefully I’ve interpreted them as NearMap intended.
The licenses create a distinction between a PhotoMap or modified PhotoMap, and a work made using information derived or observed from the PhotoMaps. So they separate out works like vector information about roads derived or observed from their PhotoMap from other derived works (what they call modified works) like someone photoshoping fake roads into the imagery. My preconceptions of the Australian Copyright Act were that both of these things are “derived works” which are subject to the copyright of the original work, but despite this I really like the separation made in NearMap’s licenses here. I do think there is a difference and whatever their motives, they are essentially saying “information is free” so you must distribute any information you observe under the CC BY-SA license. Of course if information and facts were really free then the copyright law would say so (and you wouldn’t have to be in doubt due to the Telstra phonebook cases) and you wouldn’t need to add your defence of this freedom via the SA clause… to quote Nina Paley,
“ShareAlike is an imperfect solution to copyright restrictions, as it imposes one restriction of its own: a restriction against imposing any further restrictions. It’s an attempt to use copyright against itself. As long as we live in a world wherein everything is copyrighted by default, I will use ShareAlike or some other Copyleft equivalent to attempt to maintain a “copyright-free zone” around my works. In a better world, there would be no automatic copyright and thus no need for me to use any license at all. Should that Utopia come about, I will remove all licenses from all my work. Meanwhile I attempt to limit other peoples’ freedom to limit other peoples’ freedom.”
Another important observation that I previously overlooked is the fact that,
“You will own all Derived Works that you create. However, you may only distribute Derived Works to others on the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (CC-BY-SA) licence (and you may use any version of that licence you wish, whether localised for a particular country or not). For example, you may Use the Licensed PhotoMaps or Modified PhotoMaps to obtain information which you can then use, under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (CC-BY-SA) licence, to populate or update community street mapping projects.”
Previously I had thought that any derived works that came from NearMap PhotoMaps used in OpenStreetMap needed to be attributed to NearMap. I guess I just incorrectly thought that all the information was CC BY-SA licensed by NearMap, but that is not the case. These works actually need to be attributed to the user who observed that information and turned it into a work by, for example, adding it into the OSM database. The works do not need to be attributed in any way to NearMap.1 This also means that any copyright that arises from any creativity in deciding what to trace, and any copyright that arises from the tracing being a derivative work can be treated as CC BY-SA licensed by that person or user. That person is the copyright holder but they are only allowed to distribute the work under a CC BY-SA license. This is a good thing! I’m glad that NearMap have not chosen to change the wording to make it compatible with the public-domain-like OpenStreetMap contributor terms, as (unless of course one has some other license from NearMap) it guarantees that this information remains free2.
The discussion and use of Yahoo imagery as a source of tracing for OpenStreetMap was before my time, but from http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Yahoo it seems that strong legal foundations are lacking. In this respect I feel much safer tracing from NearMap. I know that my contributions can be licensed under the free CC BY-SA license and nothing can be done to unfree these works. Whereas the legalities of Yahoo imagery is, at least from my reading, very questionable and potentially a huge problem in the future.
Another reason I took a closer look at the licenses was to make sure that the works I posted earlier which were modified PhotoMaps complied with all licensing requirements, both the NearMap and OpenStreetMap requirements. I have come to the conclusion that unfortunately I am most likely unable to satisfy both the Mapnik share-alike requirement and the NearMap share-alike requirement in coexistence.
The NearMap “free community licence” gives me the “right to use, copy, modify and distribute our PhotoMaps”. The distribution to others clause says that I must give NearMap attribution for the distribution of any original or modified PhotoMaps, however the license also says “You may sublicense your rights to the Licensed PhotoMaps, Modified PhotoMaps or APIs to others on the same terms as this licence or our free commercial licence.” I interpret this as if I modify a PhotoMap I need release it under the “NearMap free community license”, that is it is share-alike.
On the other hand though, I also used the default OpenStreetMap Mapnik-style map images. My understanding is that like the data used to create these maps, the actual map images are copyrighted by all the OpenStreetMap contributors and released under the CC BY-SA license. The share-alike means that any derivative works (like overlaying NearMap terrain maps) must the released under a CC BY-SA compatible license, so you cannot impose non-commercial or non-government on it. However although the NearMap free community licence plus the NearMap free commercial license almost allow anyone to use or modify the work they don’t meet CC BY-SA because they exclude government and exclude commercial use made in a “competing manner” and use that is “material to their business”. This leaves me to believe that I cannot legally distribute any work that is a mash-up of OSM data/maps and NearMap PhotoMaps. Unless of course that it is only the default Mapnik tiles that are CC BY-SA, and that anyone can copyright map images made from OSM data. Because NearMap uses OSM data to create Mapnik tiles using their own map style. I assume then that it is only the OSM data that is CC BY-SA and someone is free to make a non-free map using their own style from this data. Then they would own the copyright to that map and hence you would be free to combine this with NearMap’s PhotoMaps and release the product under their free community license. This could also explain why NearMap can overlay their transparent tiles based on OSM data over their non CC BY-SA imagery.
It is a shame, but I can totally understand NearMap restricting use of their PhotoMaps in a specific field of endeavor, namely the government. The government is central to their current revenue stream, without it they probably could not produce the volume of work they currently do under their almost free, community license. It is almost CC BY-SA, except they exclude three fields of endeavor, “Competing Manner”, “Material to their business” and “Government Entities that use our PhotoMaps for their own governmental purposes”. The first two exclusions make the PhotoMaps near CC BY-NC-SA, but the last clause means they cannot be compatible with any of the Creative Commons licenses.
Let me use the example case of distribution of original NearMap PhotoMaps. For instance say I download a bunch of imagery tiles and distribute them through BitTorrent, the key question here is do I need to enforce that this distribution is to non-government entities. If I am only allowed to distribute it to non-government, I cannot do that, so the freedoms that the license grants are not as broad as I thought. If on the other hand if I can distribute the works to government entities along with the free community license as a LICENSE file, but leave the responsibility and liability on the government to not use the works I make available, then this would be much better. Hopefully the latter is the case. This was almost touched on here, but which party the liability lies on was not mentioned.
This is why I hate reading all this legal jargon, every word is important but has different interpretations. Code on the other hand has just one interpretation, and that is defined in the compiler… Anyway, at first I thought this termination clause meant NearMap could terminate the license grant at any time, however I missed the words “if the other party breaches this licence”. I view this to mean that NearMap cannot terminate the license grant unless you breach the license. But even if such a case arose, derived information is safe. So NearMap can do nothing to prevent the CC BY-SA distribution of derived information. Although it appears all the other parts of the license grant can be subject to this clause.
1 However I still think that one should attribute NearMap regardless. In the OSM case, attribution using the source tag should be done for other reasons as well; like so people know where the data came from, hinting some clues of the quality of the data.
2 Without turning this into a copyleft v permissive debate, I think that CC BY-SA is the most common license in use (there is a whole OSM database under it), so to avoid incompatibilities with other works under different share-alike licenses, CC BY-SA is probably the best choice at the moment. Some people say CC BY-SA is not for data, this is true, but that doesn’t stop the Australian government releasing data under the license, but more to the point, CC BY-SA has a clause that allows derivative works to also be licensed under a “Creative Commons Compatible License” that is listed at http://creativecommons.org/compatiblelicenses. One would hope that if someone creates an attribution share-alike license suited for data that would protect that data in jurisdictions that copyright data, and leave it free to use without restriction in jurisdictions that don’t copyright data (so don’t try to force attribution share-alike in these jurisdictions with contracts), Creative Commons could add this as a Creative Commons Compatible License, and all works like the current CC BY-SA OSM database could be relicensed under that data attribution share-alike license. | <urn:uuid:1e8e9817-8749-4d80-8e6f-6459e1375fd6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://andrewharvey4.wordpress.com/2010/11/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94178 | 3,790 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Damage control with HMBMike Honore
You've probably heard me raving about the sport supplement HMB, and I know some of you are using it, but here is a bit more info on one of my favourite core supplements - I use my Reactiv Maximum HMB year round and benefit from continual progress - when I stop using it I find muscle degradation occurs almost immediately and very noticeably...
What is HMB?
HMB stands for Beta-Hydroxy-Beta-Methyl-Buterate and is a metabolite of the branch-chain amino acid Leucine. HMB occurs naturally in plants as well as meat. It is however, very difficult to obtain sufficient HMB through normal food intake (The recommended daily dosage for performance enhancement is 3 grams). Our bodies produce small amounts of HMB, usually between .3grams and 1 gram per day.
Can I get the same effect by supplementing my diet with Leucine instead of HMB?
No, scientists believe that only 5% of consumed Leucine can be converted into HMB in the body. Therefore you would have to supplement 60 grams of Leucine per day, which would cause digestive system problems.
What can HMB do for me?
Body builders, strength trainers, and endurance athletes include this sports supplement in their training regime to assist them to gain muscle mass, improve muscle tone, and increase endurance.
The harder you work, the more effect you will get. Studies have shown that HMB supplementation can do the following:
- Increase muscle mass and strength
- Decrease body fat
- Decrease muscle damage (less post exercise soreness)
- Increase VO2 max and endurance
How does HMB produce these positive effects?
During periods of high stress such as intensive exercise, HMB helps slow down proteolysis, which is the natural process of muscle breaking down that occurs especially after strenuous activity. It appears that HMB supplementation minimises this breakdown process and therefore leads to higher and quicker gains in muscle mass. HMB seems to work similar to anabolic steroids but without the side effects. It is theorized that HMB is a building block for intra-muscular cholesterol, which your muscle needs after vigorous exercise for repair and growth. In a three week study with people doing high intensity weight lifting, the group supplementing 3 grams of HMB daily had 300% more increase in muscle mass and 295% more strength compared to the control group.
Iowa State University first pioneered the use of HMB as a supplement for cattle. They found that by giving cattle HMB the cattle increased muscle mass and decreased body fat. After this they decided to conduct tests on humans and the results were very positive...
The Iowa State study consisted of 40 men who did 4 weeks of weight training, 3 times a day. One group received 3 grams of HMB a day. The other group received a placebo. After 4 weeks, the HMB group showed a greater increase in muscle, lost more fat and were stronger than the placebo group.
Are there any other studies on HMB?
Yes, there have been numerous university and peer-reviewed studies done on HMB. Researchers have found that HMB has many beneficial effects, including better results from intense exercise. The list of HMB clinical studies is continually growing. Currently there are about 11 human clinical studies completed, many of which have been published as peer-reviewed papers, and there are still more ongoing studies with HMB. Only creatine has more studies published than HMB.
Who should take HMB supplements?
If you perform any type of serious exercise you may find HMB supplementation beneficial. The more intensely you train, the more benefit you will get from HMB.
Does HMB work for women and older adults?
Yes, published research results show that women and older adults who supplement with HMB and exercise have enhanced strength and increased fat loss as well.
What will HMB do for runners, cyclists or endurance athletes that don't want to bulk-up?
Research has shown that HMB increases VO2 max which is an indicator of endurance capacity. HMB has also been shown to minimize muscle damage and soreness associated with prolonged/strenuous endurance exercise, such as running.
How long does it take to see effects from HMB?
Studies show that increases in strength and lean body mass can occur in only a couple of weeks, however, it will most likely take three or four weeks to produce results that will also be noticed by others.
How much HMB should I take?
HMB has been extensively studied by doctors and researchers. Many species of animals have been studied while using HMB to examine the safety and effectiveness of the compound, and toxicity studies to date suggest that HMB is safe for human use. In one recent study which involved people following a body building regime, test subjects who used three grams of HMB a day gained much more lean mass and experienced significantly greater strength gains, in just three weeks, than those who did not use the product. Some research suggests larger bodybuilders (over 200 pounds) may need more, up to 5 or 6 grams per day.
It is important to continue taking HMB even on your days off training. Not only does HMB play a role in protecting your muscles from excessive damage, it may aid in the growth and repair of muscle tissue during your days off. If you avoid taking HMB on these days, you may be missing the opportunity to boost your recuperation. And, remember to consider these points:
- Some anecdotal and research-based information seems to indicate that it may be beneficial to take more HMB than the recommendation of three grams per day.
- Some athletes have experienced improved results from as much as five grams per day. Experts have speculated that the improved benefits of higher dosages may be due to the bodyweight of these weight-training athletes, as many of them weigh much more than 200 pounds.
So if you are over 200 pounds, an HMB dosing schedule of five or six grams especially on training days may be optimum.
Should I take HMB with other sports supplements?
Yes, HMB use is commonly combined with other sports supplements like creatine, glutamine and whey protein. One of the more popular and recommended stacks is creatine and HMB. Creatine provides the energy to build more muscle and HMB produces an anabolic muscle building state. Research indicates that HMB combined with creatine produces greater 'synergistic' results than either HMB or creatine used alone.
Are there any negative side effects of HMB?
Extensive clinical studies have been conducted to evaluate the safety of HMB and no negative side effects have been recorded in both men and women whether young or elderly. A summary of the effects of HMB on hematology, emotional profile and adverse effects as measured in 9 clinical studies showed only positive effects on cholesterol and blood pressure.
PLEASE NOTE: For prolonged periods off training, maybe on a vacation or business trip away, HMB can be very useful to maintain muscle condition and prevent catabolism. I use it in these times, and so do some of my close friends, we feel strongly that HMB can be an excellent way to hang on to those hard earned gains in the time off your training regime.
How should I take HMB
3 times per day is the usual practice for good results, recently some people have been reporting even better results by splitting the doses into 5 or 6 serves per day instead of 3 (this is how I use HMB myself). This increased frequency of HMB doses appears to maintain a more consistent blood level and potentially increases its effectiveness. I suggest splitting HMB into small doses taken with meals. For example, an athlete requiring 3000mg takes 500mg, 6 times per day (one serving every 2 or 3 hours).
Also, please ensure protein intake is at least 2 grams per kilogram of bodyweight (ideally up to 3g/kg or more), split over 4 to 6 meals, this will provide the essential building blocks for muscle recovery and development and maximise the beneficial effects of HMB. | <urn:uuid:db778f6e-7f4b-4b86-8971-99bd00f44711> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reactivsupplements.co.nz/articles/Nutrition/Damage_control_with_HMB | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963048 | 1,668 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Report to Congress on Implementation
of Section 1001 of the USA PATRIOT Act
(as required by Section 1001(3) of Public Law 107-56)
March 8, 2006
Office of the Inspector General
Section 1001 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Patriot Act), Public Law 107-56, directs the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ or Department) to undertake a series of actions related to claims of civil rights or civil liberties violations allegedly committed by DOJ employees. It also requires the OIG to provide semiannual reports to Congress on the implementation of the OIG’s responsibilities under Section 1001. This report – the eighth since enactment of the legislation in October 2001 – summarizes the OIG’s Section 1001-related activities from July 1, 2005, through December 31, 2005.
According to the Inspector General Act, the OIG is an independent entity within the DOJ that reports to both the Attorney General and Congress. The OIG’s mission is to investigate allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse in DOJ programs and personnel and to promote economy and efficiency in DOJ operations.
The OIG has jurisdiction to review programs and personnel in all DOJ components, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, and other DOJ components.1
The OIG consists of the Immediate Office of the Inspector General and the following divisions and offices:
The OIG has a staff of approximately 400 employees, about half of whom are based in Washington, D.C., while the rest work from 16 Investigations Division field and area offices and 7 Audit Division regional offices located throughout the country.
Section 1001 of the Patriot Act provides the following:
The Inspector General of the Department of Justice shall designate one official who shall —
The OIG’s Special Operations Branch in its Investigations Division manages the OIG’s investigative responsibilities outlined in Section 1001.2 The Special Agent in Charge who directs this unit is assisted by three Assistant Special Agents in Charge (ASAC), one of whom assists on Section 1001 and DEA matters, a second who assists on FBI matters, and a third who provides support on ATF cases. In addition, four Investigative Specialists support the unit and divide their time between Section 1001 and FBI/DEA/ATF responsibilities.
The Special Operations Branch receives civil rights and civil liberties complaints via mail, e-mail, telephone, and facsimile. The complaints are reviewed by the Investigative Specialist and an ASAC. After review, the complaint is entered into an OIG database and a decision is made concerning its disposition. The more serious civil rights and civil liberties allegations that relate to actions of DOJ employees or DOJ contractors normally are assigned to an OIG Investigations Division field office, where OIG special agents conduct investigations of criminal violations and administrative misconduct.3 Some complaints are assigned to the OIG’s Oversight and Review Division for investigation.
Given the number of complaints received compared to its limited resources, the OIG does not investigate all allegations of misconduct against DOJ employees. The OIG refers many complaints involving DOJ employees to internal affairs offices in DOJ components such as the FBI Inspection Division, the DEA Office of Professional Responsibility, and the BOP Office of Internal Affairs (OIA) for appropriate handling. In certain referrals, the OIG requires the components to report the results of their investigations to the OIG. In most cases, the OIG notifies the complainant of the referral.
Many complaints received by the OIG involve matters outside our jurisdiction. The ones that identify a specific issue for investigation are forwarded to the appropriate investigative entity. For example, complaints of mistreatment by airport security staff are sent to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) OIG. We also have forwarded complaints to the OIGs at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of State, United States Postal Service, Department of Defense, Department of Interior, Social Security Administration, Department of Education, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In addition, we have referred complainants to several Department of Corrections internal affairs offices that have jurisdiction over the subject of the complaints.
When an allegation received from any source involves a potential violation of federal civil rights statutes by a DOJ employee, the complaint is discussed with the DOJ Civil Rights Division for possible prosecution. In some cases, the Civil Rights Division accepts the case and requests additional investigation by either the OIG or the FBI. In other cases, the Civil Rights Division declines prosecution.
From July 1, 2005, through December 31, 2005, the period covered by this report, the OIG processed 701 complaints that were sent primarily to the OIG’s Section 1001 e-mail or postal address.4
Of these complaints, we concluded that 570 did not fall within the OIG’s jurisdiction or did not warrant further investigation. Slightly more than half of the complaints – 315 of the 570 – involved allegations against agencies or entities outside of the DOJ, including other federal agencies, local governments, or private businesses. We referred those complaints to the appropriate entity or advised complainants of the entity with jurisdiction over their allegations. The remaining 255 complaints raised allegations that, on their face, did not warrant an investigation. For example, complaints in this category included allegations that FBI agents pumped chemical substances into a complainant’s home, injected individuals with a memory loss substance, and altered a complainant’s physical appearance.
Consequently, 131 of the 701 complaints involved DOJ employees or components and included allegations that required further review. Of those complaints, 123 raised management issues, and we referred them to DOJ components for appropriate handling. Examples of complaints in this category included inmates’ allegations about the general conditions at federal prisons or complaints that the FBI did not initiate an investigation into a particular complainant’s allegations. The OIG identified 6 of the 123 matters referred to DOJ components as warranting monitoring by the OIG, and in these 6 cases we directed the DOJ components to which the allegations were referred to report to us on the findings from their investigations.
Four of the 131 complaints did not provide sufficient detail to make a determination whether an abuse was alleged. We requested further information but did not receive responses from these four complainants.
The OIG identified 4 matters out of the 131 that we believed warranted opening a Section 1001 investigation or conducting a closer review to determine if Section 1001-related abuse occurred. As discussed in the next section, the OIG opened investigations on two of the complaints and referred to the BOP two of the complaints for an investigation.
None of the 701 complaints we processed during this reporting period specifically alleged misconduct by DOJ employees relating to use of a provision in the Patriot Act. In addition, as summarized in Section V below, the OIG examined the FBI’s reporting to the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB) of possible intelligence violations, including violations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, statutes involving the issuance of National Security Letters, Attorney General Guidelines, and internal FBI policy. Some of these intelligence authorities had been altered or expanded by provisions of the Patriot Act. As we also discuss in Section V, we cannot say from our review of FBI reports to the IOB whether or not the possible IOB violations resulted from the changes brought about by the Patriot Act.
The following is a synopsis of the new complaints processed during this reporting period:
During this reporting period, the OIG initiated two new Section 1001-related investigations, referred two Section 1001 matters to the BOP to investigate and provide the OIG with its findings, continued four ongoing Section 1001-related cases, and closed three Section 1001 investigations from a previous reporting period. The following describes the two new OIG matters, both of which were closed during the reporting period:
The OIG referred the following two matters to the BOP for investigation as Section 1001 matters and requested that the BOP provide the OIG a copy of its investigative report upon completion of the investigation.
Brandon Mayfield, a Portland, Oregon, attorney, was arrested by the FBI in May 2004 as a material witness after FBI Laboratory examiners identified Mayfield’s fingerprint as matching a fingerprint found on a bag of detonators connected to the March 2004 terrorist attack on commuter trains in Madrid, Spain, that killed almost 200 people and injured more than 1,400 others. Mayfield was released two weeks later when the Spanish National Police identified an Algerian national as the source of the fingerprint on the bag. The FBI Laboratory subsequently withdrew its fingerprint identification of Mayfield.
This OIG review examined the FBI’s misidentification, investigation, and detention of Mayfield. The OIG sought to determine the causes of the misidentification and the FBI Laboratory’s responses to the error. As part of this effort, the OIG consulted with three latent fingerprint experts from outside the FBI. In addition, the OIG examined whether the FBI used the Patriot Act in connection with the investigation of Mayfield, whether the FBI targeted Mayfield because of his Muslim religion, and whether Mayfield’s conditions of confinement were inappropriate.
The OIG found that several factors caused the FBI’s misidentification of the fingerprint found on the bag of detonators. First, the unusual similarity between Mayfield’s fingerprint and the fingerprint found on the bag (referred to as Latent Fingerprint Number 17 or LFP 17) confused three experienced FBI examiners and a court-appointed expert. The OIG concluded, however, that FBI examiners committed errors in the examination procedure and that the misidentification could have been prevented through a more rigorous application of several principles of latent fingerprint identification.
Specifically with regard to the causes of the misidentification, the OIG found:
The OIG also investigated whether the FBI fingerprint examiners were made aware of and improperly influenced by knowledge of Mayfield’s religion when they made the identification of LFP 17. We determined that the FBI examiners were not aware of Mayfield’s religion at the time they concluded that Mayfield was the source of LFP 17. The records available to the examiners did not reveal his religion or his representation of other Muslims as an attorney. The OIG found no evidence that the FBI Laboratory had knowledge of Mayfield’s religion until the FBI’s Portland Division learned this fact in the early stages of its field investigation of Mayfield, after the identification had been made and verified by the FBI Laboratory.
However, the OIG found that the issue of whether Mayfield’s religion was a factor in the Laboratory’s failure to revisit its identification and discover its error in the weeks following the initial identification was a more difficult question. By the time the Spanish National Police issued its April 13 “negative” report, the Laboratory examiners had become aware of information about Mayfield obtained in the course of the Portland Division’s investigation, including the fact that Mayfield had acted as an attorney for a convicted terrorist, had contacts with suspected terrorists, and was a Muslim. The OIG concluded that Mayfield’s religion was not the sole or primary cause of the FBI’s failure to question the original misidentification and catch its error. The primary factors were the similarity of the prints and the Laboratory’s overconfidence in the superiority of its examiners. However, we believe that Mayfield’s representation of a convicted terrorist and other facts developed during the field investigation, including his Muslim religion, also likely contributed to the examiners’ failure to sufficiently reconsider the identification after legitimate questions about it were raised by the Spanish National Police.
In addition, the OIG reviewed the FBI’s conduct in its investigation and arrest of Mayfield following the Laboratory’s identification of him as the source of LFP 17, including its use of statutes that were amended by the Patriot Act. As part of its investigation, the FBI obtained authority to conduct covert surveillance and searches of Mayfield pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA). The OIG concluded that the FBI likely would have sought and been able to obtain FISA authorization for the searches and surveillance it conducted in this case even without the amendments to FISA contained in Section 218 of the Patriot Act (changing the “primary purpose” standard for issuance of a FISA warrant to a “significant purpose”). However, we found that the Patriot Act did affect the FBI’s ability to share information about Mayfield gathered in the FISA surveillance and searches with prosecutors and other law enforcement agents.
We also found that, contrary to public speculation after Mayfield’s arrest, the FBI did not use certain other provisions of the Patriot Act in the Mayfield case. For example, Section 213 of the Patriot Act authorizes delayed notification of the execution of criminal search warrants. The OIG found that there were no such delayed notification searches conducted in the Mayfield investigation. All the covert searches of Mayfield before his arrest were conducted pursuant to a FISA warrant, not a criminal search warrant. After his arrest, the searches were based on overt criminal search warrants that did not implicate the Patriot Act.
The OIG did not find evidence that the FBI misused any of the provisions of the Patriot Act in conducting its investigation of Mayfield. However, the increased information sharing permitted by the Patriot Act amplified the consequences of the FBI’s fingerprint misidentification in the Mayfield case.
The OIG also examined whether Mayfield’s religion improperly influenced the FBI’s field investigation and whether Mayfield’s conditions of confinement during his two weeks of incarceration were appropriate. The OIG concluded that the FBI’s field investigation of Mayfield was not improperly influenced by the FBI’s knowledge of Mayfield’s religion. We concluded that that investigation was initiated because of, and largely driven by, the identification of Mayfield’s fingerprint on evidence associated with the train bombings, not by his religious beliefs. We believe the FBI would have sought covert search and surveillance authority irrespective of Mayfield’s religion. Moreover, we did not find evidence suggesting that the investigation was prolonged because Mayfield is a Muslim.
With respect to Mayfield’s confinement at the Multnomah County Detention Center, the OIG found no evidence that Mayfield was mistreated during his confinement or that his conditions of confinement violated the material witness statute.
The OIG review did not find any intentional misconduct by FBI employees. However, we made a series of recommendations to help the FBI address the Laboratory issues raised by the Mayfield case.
In addition to the OIG’s review, DOJ OPR conducted an investigation into the conduct of the Department attorneys in the Mayfield matter. The OIG initially had intended to investigate the entire Mayfield matter, including the conduct of the DOJ attorneys working with the FBI. We believed that one DOJ oversight entity should investigate the matter, and we also concluded that the OIG had jurisdiction under Section 1001 of the Patriot Act to investigate allegations of civil rights or civil liberties abuses against DOJ employees, including DOJ attorneys. However, DOJ OPR disagreed. It contested our jurisdiction over attorneys in the Mayfield case, and asserted jurisdiction over the entire matter because it argued that the alleged misconduct of the FBI agents was related to that of the attorneys. It also disagreed with our position that Section 1001 provided us the authority to review the conduct of attorneys. Eventually the Deputy Attorney General resolved the matter by ruling that the Patriot Act did not change the existing jurisdiction between the OIG and OPR, and that OPR should investigate the conduct of attorneys and the OIG should investigate the conduct of FBI agents in the Mayfield case.
As a result of its investigation, DOJ OPR concluded that the DOJ attorneys assigned to the Mayfield matter did not commit misconduct.
On January 6, 2006, the OIG issued an unclassified executive summary of its findings. Since then, the OIG has been working within the Department to declassify and release publicly as much of the full report of investigation as possible. The OIG has made significant progress in this effort and intends to release publicly the full report, with any required redactions, in the near future.
The OIG conducts other reviews that go beyond the explicit requirements of Section 1001 in order to implement more fully its civil rights and civil liberties oversight responsibilities. Using this approach, the OIG has initiated or continued several special reviews that relate, in part, to the OIG’s duties under Section 1001. We also report on several reviews that DOJ OPR has initiated during this reporting period.
In December 2005, the OIG initiated a review of the FBI’s use of two authorities amended by the Patriot Act:
(1) the FBI’s authority to issue National Security Letters to obtain certain categories of records from third parties, including telephone toll and transactional records, financial records, and consumer reports; and
(2) the FBI’s authority to obtain business records from third parties by applying for ex parte orders issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court pursuant to Section 215 of the Patriot Act.
The Patriot Act reauthorization bill currently under consideration by Congress, known as the USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 (H.R. 3199), contains provisions that direct the OIG to conduct reviews of the extent to which the FBI has used these authorities; any bureaucratic impediments to their use; how effective these authorities have been as investigative tools and in generating intelligence products; how the FBI collects, retains, analyzes, and disseminates information derived from these authorities; whether and how often the FBI provided information derived from these authorities to law enforcement entities for use in criminal proceedings; and whether there has been any improper or illegal use of these authorities. See Sections 106A and 119 of the Conference Report No. 109-333 (December 8, 2005).
While the Patriot Act legislation directing the OIG to submit these annual reports has not yet been enacted, the OIG has already initiated its review of these issues. Our reviews will include examination of FBI investigative files, interviews of FBI and other DOJ officials, visits to FBI field offices, and an analysis of the FBI’s use of these authorities in the last several years.
An OIG special review issued in December 2003 (and described in detail in our January 2004 Section 1001 report) examined allegations that some correctional officers physically and verbally abused some detainees held in connection with the Department’s terrorism investigation at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York.5 We concluded that certain MDC staff members abused some of the detainees, and we found systemic problems in the way detainees were treated at the MDC. In December 2003, we provided the results of our investigation to the BOP for its review and appropriate disciplinary action.
In response to our report and recommendations, the BOP OIA initiated an investigation to determine whether BOP OIA could independently sustain the OIG’s findings sufficient to present to BOP disciplinary officials. During this reporting period, BOP OIA issued its findings to BOP disciplinary officials, who initiated a disciplinary process against 13 staff members. The BOP disciplinary process involves notification of allegations to staff members who have an opportunity to present their case to the disciplinary officials prior to the officials making a determination.
As of February 2006, based on the OIG’s report and the BOP OIA’s review, the BOP imposed the following discipline on 11 staff members: 2 correctional officers were terminated from the BOP; 2 officers received 30-day unpaid suspensions; 4 correctional officers received either 2- or 4-day unpaid suspensions; and 3 senior officers were demoted. These staff members may appeal their discipline to the Merit Systems Protection Board. The remaining two staff members are awaiting decisions by BOP disciplinary officials. The BOP has indicated to us that the decisions on these staff members are imminent.
The OIG will continue to monitor the BOP’s actions with regard to disciplinary action.
In the June 2003 Detainee Report, the OIG made 21 recommendations related to issues under the jurisdiction of the FBI, the BOP, and leadership offices at the DOJ, as well as immigration issues now under the jurisdiction of the DHS. As of this reporting period, 20 of the recommendations have been resolved. The one open recommendation calls for the Department and the DHS to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to formalize policies, responsibilities, and procedures for managing a national emergency that involves alien detainees. The DOJ and DHS agreed with the recommendation and began negotiating over language in the MOU to implement the recommendation. However, more than two years after the OIG made the recommendation, the MOU still has not been completed. As of February 2006, we were informed that discussions between the Department and the DHS over the language of this MOU remain ongoing.
In September 2005, the OIG issued a report on the FBI’s implementation of and compliance with four sets of Attorney General Guidelines: Attorney General’s Guidelines Regarding the Use of Confidential Informants; Attorney General’s Guidelines on FBI Undercover Operations; Attorney General’s Guidelines on General Crimes, Racketeering Enterprise and Terrorism Enterprise Investigations; and Revised Department of Justice Procedures for Lawful, Warrantless Monitoring of Verbal Communications. These guidelines govern the FBI’s principal criminal investigative authorities with respect to investigations of individuals and groups and its use of confidential informants, undercover operations, and warrantless monitoring of verbal communications (also known as consensual monitoring).
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Attorney General ordered a comprehensive review of the guidelines to identify revisions that would enhance the Department’s ability to detect and prevent such attacks. In May 2002, the Attorney General issued revised Investigative Guidelines that provided FBI field managers with greater authority to conduct preliminary inquiries, general crimes and criminal intelligence investigations, and undercover operations.
The OIG’s review examined what steps the FBI has taken to implement the Attorney General’s Investigative Guidelines, analyzed how effective those steps have been, and assessed the FBI’s compliance with key provisions of the guidelines. Because the FBI’s adherence to these guidelines could implicate civil rights or civil liberties issues under Section 1001, we are including a description of the review in this report.
While the OIG found many areas in which the FBI complied with the Attorney General’s Investigative Guidelines, it found significant non-compliance with the guidelines governing the operation of confidential informants and failures to notify FBI Headquarters and other Department officials of the initiation of certain criminal intelligence investigations. We also identified shortcomings in training on the guidelines and the FBI’s planning for and implementation of the revised guidelines.
Specifically with regard to the Confidential Informant Guidelines, we found one or more Guidelines violations in 87 percent of the confidential informant files that we examined. Compliance errors were identified in several aspects of the FBI’s management of the Criminal Informant Program: the FBI’s conduct of initial and continuing suitability reviews designed to assess the suitability of individuals to serve as confidential informants (34 percent of the non-compliant files were initial suitability reviews and 77 percent were continuing suitability reviews); the instructions FBI agents are to give confidential informants (49 percent non-compliant files); the use of its power to authorize confidential informants to participate in “otherwise illegal activity” (60 percent non-compliant files); the notification requirements associated with a confidential informant’s commission of “unauthorized illegal activity” (42 percent non-compliant files); and the necessary steps agents must take when a confidential informant is deactivated (37 percent non-compliant files).
The OIG’s final report offered 47 recommendations designed to promote greater accountability for guidelines violations, enhance training on guidelines requirements and the consequences of guidelines violations to FBI investigations and Department prosecutions, require supervisory approval and more systematic recordkeeping on the FBI’s use of new authorities to visit public places and attend public events for the purpose of detecting and preventing terrorist activities, and prepare a comprehensive implementation strategy for the next guidelines revisions. The FBI concurred with 43 of the 47 recommendations and partially concurred with the 4 remaining recommendations.
In September 2005, at the request of the FBI Director, the OIG initiated an investigation of an FBI shooting incident in Puerto Rico that resulted in the death of Filiberto Ojeda Rios. Ojeda was a founder and leader of Los Macheteros, a Puerto Rican pro-independence organization. Ojeda was arrested in 1985 in connection with a major bank robbery in Connecticut, but had been a fugitive since escaping in 1990 while released on bail.
The FBI’s attempt to arrest Ojeda at a rural residence in western Puerto Rico on September 23, 2005, resulted in an exchange of gunfire. An FBI agent was wounded and Ojeda was shot. The OIG is examining the circumstances surrounding the arrest, the shooting, and the FBI’s entry into the residence.
As of March 2006, the OIG had interviewed approximately 60 witnesses and reviewed several thousand pages of documents. We also have consulted with outside experts to assist in our evaluation of the FBI operation and the use of deadly force.
In the summer of 2004, news articles stated that the FBI had questioned political demonstrators across the United States in connection with threatened violent and disruptive protests at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions held in the summer of 2004. The initial article stated that dozens of people had been interviewed in at least six states, including anti-war demonstrators and political demonstrators and their friends and family members. The FBI issued a statement responding to these allegations which stated in part: “The FBI is not monitoring groups, or interviewing individuals, unless we receive intelligence that such individuals or groups may be planning violent and disruptive criminal activity or have knowledge of such activity.”
Following publication of the news articles, several members of Congress requested that the OIG initiate an investigation into “possible violations of First Amendment free speech and assembly rights by the Justice Department in connection with their investigations of possible protests at the Democratic and Republican political conventions in Boston and New York and other venues.” In response, the OIG initiated an examination of the FBI’s use of its investigative authorities to conduct interviews in advance of the 2004 national political conventions and the FBI’s monitoring of protest groups in connection with the national political events. This review is nearing completion, and the OIG is in the process of drafting its report of investigation.
The OIG is reviewing FBI employees’ observations and actions regarding alleged abuse of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib prison, and other venues controlled by the U.S. military. The OIG is examining whether FBI employees participated in any incident of detainee abuse, whether FBI employees witnessed incidents of abuse, whether FBI employees reported any abuse, and how those reports were handled by the FBI. In addition, the OIG is assessing whether the FBI inappropriately retaliated against or took any other inappropriate action against any FBI employee who reported any incident of abuse.
As part of this ongoing review, the OIG has interviewed detainees, FBI employees, and military personnel at Guantanamo. In addition, the OIG has administered a detailed questionnaire to approximately 1,000 FBI employees who served assignments at Guantanamo Bay, in Iraq, and Afghanistan. The questionnaire requested information on what the FBI employees observed, whether they reported observations of concern, and how those reports were handled. The OIG has received over 900 responses to its questionnaire. The OIG investigative team is conducting follow-up interviews and is in the process of drafting the report summarizing the results of the investigation.
In December 2005, several members of Congress sent a letter to the OIG asking us to review the Attorney General’s authorization of warrantless domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA). After careful review of the request, the OIG concluded that the Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility (DOJ OPR) rather than the OIG has jurisdiction to conduct an investigation regarding the legal authorization for the NSA surveillance program.6 Consequently, the OIG referred the December 2005 letter to DOJ OPR. According to Counsel for DOJ OPR, his office has opened an investigation into the role of Department attorneys in the legal authorization and oversight of the NSA surveillance program and compliance with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
However, the members of Congress argued in letters to the OIG that the OIG had jurisdiction to review the matter by virtue of Section 1001 of the USA Patriot Act. The Patriot Act, enacted into law in October 2001, required the OIG “to review information and receive complaints alleging abuses of civil rights and civil liberties by employees and officials of the Department of Justice.” The issue presented by the members’ position is whether Section 1001 altered the jurisdiction between the OIG and DOJ OPR with respect to who could investigate complaints of civil rights and civil liberties abuses involving Department attorneys acting as attorneys, or whether the language maintained the existing jurisdictional apportionment between the OIG and DOJ OPR.
As referenced earlier in this report on pages 12-13, this issue arose during the OIG’s investigation of the FBI’s actions in the Brandon Mayfield case. In that case, although the OIG intended to investigate the entire Mayfield matter, including the conduct of Department attorneys working with the FBI on the case, DOJ OPR also asserted jurisdiction over the matter because it involved the conduct of attorneys. Eventually, the Deputy Attorney General ruled that Section 1001 of the Patriot Act did not change the existing jurisdiction between the OIG and OPR, and that OPR should investigate the conduct of attorneys and the OIG should investigate the conduct of FBI agents in the Mayfield case.
Therefore, under the Department’s interpretation of the jurisdictional authority of the OIG and OPR, allegations regarding the Attorney General’s legal authorization of NSA surveillance fell within DOJ OPR’s jurisdiction, not the OIG’s. As noted above, DOJ OPR has opened its investigation relating to this issue.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Human Rights Watch issued a report in June 2005 entitled “Witness to Abuse: Human Rights Abuses under the Material Witness Law since September 11.” The report reviewed a number of material witness cases and alleged that the material witness law had been misused to hold suspects in cases where there was insufficient evidence to charge them criminally; a number of witnesses were not brought promptly before a judge, were denied counsel, or were not provided with the reason for their arrest; the government had improperly alleged that every witness was a flight risk; the government had conducted abusive interrogations; and many of the judicial proceedings were improperly conducted in secret.
Based on the allegations in the report, DOJ OPR opened inquiries regarding the allegations concerning 13 individuals, and one group of 8 individuals detained together. Some of these matters involved allegations that individuals were held for long periods of time on material witness warrants with no effort to obtain their testimony. Several of these individuals were later charged criminally or deported based on immigration violations. Other matters involved the alleged failure to bring individuals before a court within the required time frame and failure to inform witnesses of the basis for their arrest. DOJ OPR’s inquiry is ongoing.
During this reporting period, the OIG initiated an examination of the FBI’s process for reporting possible violations involving intelligence activities to the Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB). In this section, we describe the OIG’s review. We provide background on the creation of the IOB, the FBI’s internal process for reporting possible violations to the IOB, and the various authorities that apply to the FBI’s intelligence activities. We also summarize our review of the FBI documents analyzing and reporting the possible intelligence violations.
The OIG is often asked whether any of the civil rights and civil liberties allegations we reviewed and are required to report under Section 1001 involve “violations of the Patriot Act.” This question with regard to the possible IOB violations that we discuss in this section cannot be answered fairly with a simple “yes” or “no.” Some of the reported IOB violations involve authorities that have been altered or expanded by provisions of the Patriot Act. For example, the Patriot Act changed the FISA statute and the statutes involving National Security Letters, and in response to the Patriot Act, the Attorney General Guidelines and internal FBI policies were also revised. On their face, some of the possible violations reported to the IOB involve statutes, guidelines, and policies altered in response to the Patriot Act, while others clearly did not. However, we cannot say from our review whether or not the IOB violations resulted from the changes brought about by the Patriot Act. Rather, we are describing these possible IOB violations because of our obligation under Section 1001 to report potential civil rights or civil liberties violations, regardless of whether or not they involved authorities changed by the Patriot Act.
In the 1970s, Congress conducted a series of hearings probing allegations of improper domestic intelligence activities by the U.S. government, including the FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The House of Representatives and the Senate held hearings and issued reports documenting improper intelligence activities directed at U.S. citizens, including covert intelligence programs conducted by the FBI. Following these revelations, Congress and the Executive Branch established various mechanisms to provide additional oversight of intelligence activities in the United States. For example, Congress enacted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), which established the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), a special court authorized to approve electronic surveillance and, later, physical searches of U.S. citizens and others in the United States. The House of Representatives and the Senate each established intelligence oversight committees.
In addition, an Executive Order signed by President Ford in 1976 created an Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB) within the Executive Branch. Over the next 20 years, the functions and organization of the board were modified by a series of Executive Orders. The current Executive Order (E.O. 12863) designates the IOB as a standing committee of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) within the Executive Office of the President. According to the E.O. 12863, the President appoints the 16 members of the PFIAB “from among trustworthy and distinguished citizens outside the Government who are qualified on the basis of achievement, experience and independence.” Among its duties, the four-member IOB is charged with reviewing activities of the U.S. intelligence community and informing the President of any activities that the IOB believes “may be unlawful or contrary to Executive order or Presidential Directives.” E.O. 12863 also provides that inspectors general and general counsels of the Intelligence Community are to report to the IOB on at least a quarterly basis intelligence activities they “have reason to believe may be unlawful or contrary to Executive order or Presidential directive.”7
The IOB does not normally provide its reports to Congress, and only one IOB report to the President has been made public. In June 1996, the IOB released a report on the role of U.S. intelligence agencies in Guatemala in the 1980s and early 1990s.
However, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request recently resulted in the public disclosure of redacted versions of 20 of the FBI reports to the IOB of possible intelligence violations. The FBI’s reports to the IOB are classified. The redacted reports released in response to the FOIA request indicated that the FBI has reported to the IOB a variety of possible intelligence violations, including violations of the FISA, statutes involving the issuance of National Security Letters, Attorney General Guidelines, and internal FBI policy.
Pursuant to E.O. 12863 and guidance provided by the IOB and the Department’s Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR), the FBI has developed a process for evaluating possible violations of laws or policies governing its use of intelligence authorities to determine if the possible violations should be reported to the IOB. The current FBI process is described in a memorandum dated February 10, 2005, to all FBI divisions from the FBI’s Inspection Division, entitled, “Revised Procedures for the Submission of Reports of Potential Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB) Matters.” The memorandum describes the process the FBI uses to report to the IOB “intelligence activities conducted by the FBI which may have been unlawful or contrary to Executive Orders, Presidential Directives, Department guidelines or investigative procedures.” While portions of the memorandum are classified, we provide below an unclassified summary of the FBI procedures from this memorandum and other unclassified sources.
The procedures require FBI employees to report potential IOB violations (described in subsection C below) within 14 days of discovery both to the FBI’s National Security Law Branch (NSLB) in FBI-OGC and the Internal Investigations Section (IIS) of the FBI Inspection Division. FBI headquarters’ divisions and field office supervisors also are responsible for monitoring intelligence activities and reporting possible IOB violations to FBI-OGC and IIS. Each FBI field office and headquarters’ division is required to submit quarterly reports to FBI-OGC certifying that all employees were contacted concerning the requirements to report possible IOB matters.
When possible IOB violations are reported to FBI-OGC and IIS, the field office or FBI headquarters division is required to include a description of the status of the subjects of the investigative activity at issue, the legal authority for the investigation, the potential violation, and when it occurred. The only function that IIS serves when it receives the incoming report is to open a file and assign a number to the IOB matter. IIS then forwards the incoming report with the number assigned to FBI-OGC.
FBI-OGC reviews the incoming report describing the possible IOB violation and prepares a written opinion as to whether the matter should be reported to the IOB under internal standards developed by FBI-OGC and the IOB. If FBI-OGC determines that the matter should be reported to the IOB, FBI-OGC prepares correspondence to the IOB setting forth the basis for the notification. A copy of the correspondence to the IOB is sent to IIS, the FBI Inspection Division, the Special Agent in Charge or Assistant Director of the office where the matter originated, the Office of the Attorney General, and OIPR.
The February 10, 2005, FBI memorandum identifies six possible violations that must be reported to the IOB, two of which are classified. The four unclassified possible violations are:
However, FBI-OGC sometimes concludes that a possible violation is not sufficiently serious to warrant reporting to the IOB. In coordination with the IOB, FBI-OGC has established a de minimis standard for possible violations that fall outside the reporting requirement. Among the matters reported to FBI-OGC deemed to fall within the de minimis standard were slightly untimely reports of documentation of the initiation or progress of investigations, slightly untimely submission of requests to approve the extension of investigations, or the continuation of investigations after their authority expired with little or no investigative activity during the period outside the authorization. According to internal FBI memoranda released in redacted form in the course of the FOIA litigation referenced above, “violations of provisions that are essentially administrative in nature need not be reported to the IOB.”
If FBI-OGC determines that the possible violation is non-reportable, then FBI-OGC must retain the incoming memorandum reporting the possible violation for three years together with the FBI-OGC opinion stating the basis for the determination not to report to the IOB. These documents are maintained in the event that Counsel to the IOB wants to review them.
If the possible IOB violation involves the unintentional or improper acquisition of information under FISA, the information is either destroyed or provided to OIPR for sequestration with the FISC. In addition, the government provides an explanation of the matter to the FISC. If the possible IOB violation involves the unintentional acquisition of information unrelated to a FISC order, the FBI is supposed to take appropriate remedial action and initiate steps to obtain the information appropriately. In most cases, remedial action is initiated by the field office at the time the possible violation is discovered. In addition, FBI-OGC may also direct, or OIPR may recommend, that remedial action be taken.
If FBI-OGC determines that the conduct of an FBI employee involved in the possible IOB violation is more than a performance issue, FBI-OGC refers the matter to the FBI’s IIS for appropriate investigation. Over the past two years, IIS has investigated several IOB matters. Upon the completion of an investigation of an IOB violation which is alleged to have been committed by an FBI employee, the findings are referred to the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility (FBI-OPR) for adjudication.
FBI-OPR has adjudicated several of these matters since 2001 and has imposed discipline on a few FBI employees arising from the reported IOB matters. The discipline in these cases has included counseling, oral reprimands, letters of censure, or suspensions. For example, FBI-OPR imposed a 3-day suspension on an FBI Supervisory Special Agent who failed to ensure compliance with the FISA requirement that Attorney General approval be obtained prior to the use of FISA-derived information in grand jury subpoenas.
In addition to the self-reporting procedure set forth above, the FBI’s Inspection Division has included an audit of the IOB process and a limited review of closed counterintelligence files within the scope of its triennial inspections of FBI field offices and FBI headquarters’ divisions. As part of its normal inspection process, the Inspection Division conducts a pre-inspection survey and reviews a sample of closed files to test compliance with the requirements to report possible IOB violations to IIS and FBI-OGC in a timely fashion. In the course of these efforts, the Inspection Division has identified possible IOB violations, the findings of which were reported to FBI-OGC and, where appropriate, the IIS.
The OIG examined FBI documents reflecting the reporting of possible IOB violations to FBI-OGC in accordance with the process described above. In addition, we reviewed the FBI’s reports to the IOB in fiscal years (FY) 2004 and 2005 and the internal FBI-OGC memoranda reflecting the incidents reported and not reported to the IOB. The FBI made 108 reports of possible violations to the IOB for these two years.
The reports to the IOB describe incidents that generally fell into one or more of the following three categories: (1) improper utilization of authorities under FISA; (2) failure to adhere to Attorney General Guidelines or implementing FBI policy; and (3) improper utilization of authorities involving National Security Letters.
The matters reported to the IOB in FY 2004 and 2005 encompassed the range of intelligence activities used by the FBI, and the possible violations varied from relatively minor to significant. However, possible violations generally related to “over-collection” and “overruns.” An “over-collection” refers to information gathered within the authorized period of a FISC order but outside the scope or intent of the order. An “overrun” refers to investigative activity conducted outside the time period of the FISC order or outside the authorized period of investigative activity, which may involve the collection of unauthorized information. In some instances, agents may have reported to FBI-OGC a possible violation involving both an overrun and an over-collection.
With respect to “over-collection” and “overruns” of information collected pursuant to FISA authorities, based on matters for which data was available, we determined that the average duration of the over-collections and overruns reported to the IOB was approximately 24 days in FY 2004 and 16 days in FY 2005.9 The duration of possible violations of the Attorney General Guidelines or FBI implementing policy governing national security investigations averaged 185 days in FY 2004 and 130 days in FY 2005 for the reports we examined in which the duration of the possible violation was readily available.*
The nature of the information collected either as over-collection or overruns under FISA or NSL authorities or in the course of national security investigations where Attorney General Guidelines, FISC orders, or FBI policy may have been violated included telephone calls, audio recordings, facsimile intercepts, e-mail communications, financial records, and credit reports. In one matter reported to the IOB, the FBI received 181 full content telephone calls instead of just billing and toll records.
The possible violations reported to the IOB occurred in various FBI headquarters divisions and field offices. Ten different field offices generated four or more matters reported to the IOB in the 2-year period under review. The most reports generated by a single field office or headquarters’ division during this period was eight.
Timeliness of Internal FBI Reporting to FBI-OGC. As noted above, FBI policy requires that agents must report possible IOB violations to FBI-OGC within 14 days after discovery. In the cases in which we could determine the date the possible violation was discovered (over 80 percent), FBI personnel referred to FBI-OGC possible IOB violations within the 14-day standard in slightly over half of the cases in both years. The average time that elapsed from the date of discovery of the possible violation to the date of its referral to FBI-OGC was approximately 50 days in both years.10
Amount of Time for FBI-OGC Review. Although FBI policy does not specify a time limit, we calculated the amount of time FBI-OGC has taken to decide whether to report the possible violations to the IOB. On average, the time between the date of the report from the field office or headquarters’ division and the date that FBI-0GC sent the reporting field or headquarters’ division a notification that it would report the matter to the IOB was 140 days for matters reported to the IOB in FY 2004 and 101 days for matters reported in FY 2005.11*
U.S. versus Non-U.S. Persons. In a significant majority of the matters referred to FBI-OGC, we were able to determine whether the subject or target was a “U.S. person” for purposes of FISA. In more than two-thirds of these matters in both years, the subjects or targets of the surveillance or physical search were U.S. persons only. In FY 2004, approximately one-third of these cases involved only non-U.S. persons as subjects or targets, with approximately one-fifth in this category in FY 2005.
Possible Violations that Involved Third Parties. Some possible IOB violations were attributable to the conduct of third parties. According to the data we reviewed, third parties such as telephone companies were involved in or responsible for the possible violations referred to FBI-OGC in approximately one-quarter of the cases in FY 2004 and 31 percent in FY 2005. For example, companies sometimes provided content not authorized by the FISC order or National Security Letter. In other cases, they failed to inform the FBI that the subjects of the surveillance had changed their telephone numbers.
Types of Reports to the IOB Involving Improper Use of FISA Authorities. The reports we examined referenced incidents in which FBI personnel:
Approximately 54 percent of the reports we examined for FY 2004 and 47 percent of the reports we examined for FY 2005 fell into the category of improper use of FISA authorities.
Reports to the IOB Involving Failure to Adhere to Attorney General Guidelines or FBI Implementing Policy. We also examined possible IOB violations arising from failure to adhere to the Attorney General’s Guidelines on National Security Investigations and Foreign Intelligence Collection (or the predecessor Attorney General Guidelines known as the Attorney General Guidelines for FBI Foreign Intelligence Collection and Foreign Counterintelligence Investigations), or failure to comply with FBI internal manuals implementing the Guidelines. These Attorney General Guidelines establish the subject matter, approval levels, timing, and limitations on counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations and are further explained by internal FBI manuals and guidance. The possible violations of these Guidelines and FBI policy include incidents in which FBI personnel:
Approximately 35 percent of the matters in FY 2004, and 49 percent in FY 2005 fell into this category.
Reports to the IOB Involving National Security Letters. The FBI reports of possible IOB violations reference instances in which the potential violation arose from the FBI’s use of its authority to issue National Security Letters. These included incidents in which:
Approximately 13 percent of the reports we examined for FY 2004 fell into this category, compared with approximately 4 percent of the reports we examined for FY 2005.
Reported vs. Unreported Matters. Approximately two-thirds of the matters sent to the FBI-OGC resulted in reports to the IOB in FY 2004 and 2005. We examined the nature of the matters not reported to the IOB and determined that most of the matters not reported fell into the category involving violations of Attorney General Guidelines and implementing FBI policy. For example, FBI-OGC did not report an incident in which an FBI agent failed to file a timely report on a human source as required by FBI policy.
In most instances, factual distinctions evident from the field office’s or headquarters division’s memoranda to FBI-OGC appeared to justify the decision not to report the violation to the IOB. In several instances, however, it appeared that some factually similar incidents led to reports to the IOB, while others did not. For these cases, we intend to ascertain whether the FBI had a reasonable explanation for the apparent discrepancy in the reporting decisions.
The chart below summarizes the percentages of possible violations reported to the IOB in the three main categories described above, broken down by specific intelligence activity. It is important to note that the following percentages of matters reported to the IOB should not be interpreted to reflect the level or volume of collections in the various categories.
The OIG intends to continue to monitor the FBI’s process for handling IOB matters. In addition, in the OIG’s ongoing review of certain authorities amended by the Patriot Act, which is referenced in section IV. A. of this report, we intend to examine the effectiveness of the FBI’s self-reporting system for possible IOB violations in the context of its use of authorities to issue National Security Letters.
Section 1001 requires the OIG to:
During this reporting period, the OIG spent approximately $1,330,621 in personnel costs, $22,787 in travel costs (for investigators to conduct interviews), and $1,972 in miscellaneous costs, for a total of $1,355,380 to implement its responsibilities under Section 1001. The total personnel and travel costs reflect the time and funds spent by OIG special agents, inspectors, and attorneys who have worked directly on investigating Section 1001-related complaints, conducting special reviews, and implementing the OIG’s responsibilities under Section 1001. | <urn:uuid:684cc04b-0c66-4b39-b047-c5b8555e1829> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0603/index.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95312 | 10,561 | 1.695313 | 2 |
When visiting with a college representative, ask plenty of questions to ensure you choose the college that best matches your needs.
Ask Questions About Academics
1. What majors or programs do you offer?
2. What is the average length of your programs?
3. What percent of your students graduate?
4. Do you have internship programs?
5. Will I have an advisor to help me with scheduling questions?
6. How difficult is it to get the class schedule I need?
7. Do you offer tutoring services if I need them?
Ask Questions About Admissions
8. When is your enrollment deadline?
9. What standards do you use for acceptance?
10. Do I need to take an entrance exam?
11. When can I take a look at the campus?
Ask Questions About Financial Aid
12. What type of financial aid is available to me?
13. How do I apply?
14. Do you have a financial aid application deadline?
15. Are there scholarships available through the college?
16. What is the total cost of my program including books, fees, and tuition?
Ask Questions About Student Life
17. What kind of support will I receive?
18. How many students are enrolled at your college?
19. What is the average class size?
20. How big is the largest class?
21. Do you have student organizations and activities?
Ask Questions About Technology
22. What type of technology courses are offered at your college?
23. What equipment and software do you currently use?
24. Does each student have access to a computer during class time?
25. Does your college have a student Intranet?
26. Will I have an email account and access to the Internet?
Ask Questions About Career Services
27. What type of career services do you offer?
28. Will you help me find a part-time job while I attend school?
29. What is your placement rate?
30. What types of jobs are your graduates getting? | <urn:uuid:855d310a-ae04-4f95-87d2-d5e9f053d7d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rasmussen.edu/admissions/high-school/thirty-questions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944058 | 427 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Fifty two years ago today, Rosa Parks stayed seated on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, and the world changed.
President Bush is mumbling about World War III. 3,000 Wisconsin National Guard Soldiers have been alerted for service in Iraq. Republicans are leaning toward jovial Mike Huckabee, whose middle eastern solution is "just win it." And everyone's starting to get a glimmer of how deep the financial crisis goes into the banking industry.
So what's the big news story of the day? Some 291 articles' worth?
It has been reported that tests of airport security systems and screeners did not stop fake bomb parts from getting on to airplanes. Testers were able to smuggle fake bombs 75% of the time at Los Angeles Airport and 60% of the time at Chicago's O'Hare airports (Read article here). So the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) takes away your toothpaste, hand and face lotion and lighters, but not bombs. The testers put fully assembled bombs in empty suitcases and the screeners did not catch them. Glad our government is running this service , imagine what the government will do when they run our health care system!!
The report shows that we are not any safer from attacks since the attacks on September 11. A terrorist still could get through the scanning system 3/4ths of the time or 2/3rds of the time depending on which airport they choose to use. Do you feel safer from attacks?? We should be ashamed that we do not get better service from the TSA and from our government.
Imagine this: You’re knee-deep in shopping lists and you’re wracking your brain trying to figure out what to get your picky teenage daughter when suddenly, inspiration hits. You know exactly what to get her. Let’s say it’s a pair of stretch jeans The problem is where to find them.
So, you plan a trip to Mayfair and mentally make a list of all the stores that might carry stretch jeans. But you have a budget and it’s important that you get them in the perfect size. Next thing you do is get in your car, drive to the mall and prepare to spend hours wandering and shopping, right?
President George W. Bush believes that the safety of the United States depends on "preventing (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
It's an extraordinary idea, this "knowlege prevention." Google doesn't even recognize the term. Anything you find with both "knowledge" and "prevention" is about avoiding losing knowledge.
The first time I heard the expression "preventing . . .knowledge" in October, I wrote it off as more language blundering. But with the new National Intelligence Estimates-fueled debate about whether Iran really has stopped pursuing nuclear weapons, the phrase is being used with the frequency of propaganda.
I'm not sure how you enforce ignorance. Shut down the schools? Burn the books? Imprison the scientists? The knowledge in question doesn't belong to the United States. It belongs to those who can discover and apply it.
This isn't to say that Iran isn't dangerous. It certainly is. Whatever National Intelligence Estimates show, it seems reasonable to assume that if Iran isn't pursuing nuclear weapons at the moment, it will. Knowledge, after all, is power--nuclear or otherwise.
The work of someone who calls himself the leader of the free world isn't to prevent people from having knowledge. It's to persuade them not to use it badly--the work of diplomacy.
Sometimes, force is needed to prevent bad acts. But not to prevent knowledge.
My internal compass usually works pretty well when it comes to the cardinal directions--north, south, east, and west. But throw in a diagonal street and you've lost me 70% of the time. I'm diagonally challenged.
Usually the disorientation means some extra miles on the odometer. But now it means that my bee-colored recyclables cart runneth over. Collection day was last week.
Talk to anybody around Tosa and they’ve got one thing on their mind: Jeez, those new recycling carts are ugly!
We have the media to thank for a heavenly day precipitated by a big dose of hysteria.
If you got stuck in a drift or dinged in a skid-on collision, my condolences. But for the rest of us, it just wasn't that bad.
Although the streets are slick and the hills tough to climb, there's nothing much in today's weather that couldn't be dealt with by driving slowly and keeping a prudent distance. The shoveling's heavy, but you can still do it that way as fast as with a snowblower. Particularly if you set a fit 17-year-old to the task. Still, if you're older, go slow: thar be heart attacks and back injuries ahead.
Inquiring minds want to know: will Randy re-post his blog for a fourth time in order to stay "on top"?
Below is a simple Quiz about Christmas. I will publish the answers in a few days - in the mean time, submit your answers in the comment section.
1) What color is Santa's belt?
Friday, a friend and I spent the day shopping…at Brookfield Square. Yes, we cheated on Mayfair.
Anyway, I noticed a couple of things while conducting retail therapy. First of all, despite all of the renovations and new stores and restaurants, Brookfield Square still doesn’t compare to Mayfair. This is just my opinion, but I was less than impressed by the offerings at Brookfield Square. Lots of repeats and somewhat mediocre quality that add up to just a “wanna-be” mall. Any stores that Mayfair and Brookfield Square share are infinitely better at Mayfair. It seems like they’re targeting the bargain hunter, but for my money, Southridge would be a better value.
(If frank talk about sex education offends you, read no further.)
Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh asked, “Does our looks-obsessed culture want to stare at an aging woman?” The woman in question was Hillary Clinton, of course.
“It's like almost an addiction that some people have to what I call the perfection that Hollywood presents of successful, beautiful, fun-loving people. So the question is this: Will this country want to actually watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis?”
Wondering why the auto makers didn't make a bigger objection to the new energy bill signed into law yesterday? After all, it raised standards for emissions control.
The answer became clear within hours, according to the New York Times. That same day, the Environmental "Protection" Agency decreed that states could not pass more stringent bills but would have to abide by federal standards. Sixteen states have waivers permitting them to develop higher standards for greenhouse gas emissions than the newly approved standards. But those waivers have been effectively nullified.
At the dark table in the corner of Singha Thai last night, the fortune cookies arrived, as they always do.
It was my birthday dinner, and I was feeling blessed. The food was good, and I was in the company of a long-time beloved friend. George had arranged for an earlier surprise celebration at The Original Pancake House, where he works. Daughter Annie had flown home to Ft. Collins safely, even though the gale winds left our yard covered with a winter's supply of kindling. Earlier, she and Liz had done the Christmas shopping for everyone, and all I had to do was foot the bill.
All that was left for today was last minute shopping and raspberry torte baking. Life was good.
It's Christmas Day and I found everyone. I mean everyone. This afternoon and tonight, they are at the Majestic Cinema in Brookfield. While the rest of the world is hanging out in living rooms and dining rooms celebrating this very special holiday, several hundred of us packed one of the 16 movie theatres just west of Wauwatosa.
This time, our family did it in style. Last week, we purchased VIP seating (you have to go to the box office) for the afternoon showing of National Treasure 2 - Book of Secrets shown on the Ultra Screen. It was pretty cool. Along with the price of admission ($11.50 before 5:30 pm, $14.50 after 5:30 pm), each of us got a sizeable bucket of popcorn and reserved seats in the front row of the VIP section. We were able to choose our seats and they were waiting for us when we arrived. It was really cool, especially since the show was sold out.
Sometimes, if you eavesdrop on the hunters in my family, you'll discover the hidden reason for their trips: awe in the face of beauty.
Do you feel safer today? I thought so. Me too. Yes, folks, the crack TSA team at New York’s LaGuardia airport has spared all of you from a potential disaster – me transporting toothpaste into Milwaukee. Let me explain.
My family and I just returned from a short trip to New York City. Great town. Huge crowds, Broadway, miles of walking. Everyone should visit at least once in their life. You should see the sandwich that $20 can buy! You think the prices at John’s Sandwich Shop have gone up? Try Times Square. Gulp.
It's not the end of the world, just the end of the year. Still, while I hadn't planned to put on stilettos and silks to dance the year away, neither had I planned to spend the evening in flannel jammies, ice on my ankle instead of in a toasting drink.
It has been one of those days. | <urn:uuid:159fae90-cbf0-4844-8cac-cdb62ebaf197> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wauwatosanow.com/blogs/communityblogs/43442107.html?action=blog_archive&startDate=12-01-2007&endDate=12-31-2007&blogID=$gotBlog.id | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964077 | 2,047 | 1.585938 | 2 |
) was a common year starting on
(link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar
). It was the last year
of the 1990s
The year 1999 was designated the International Year of Older
by the United
Events of 1999
- January 1 – Euro
- January 2 – A
snowstorm leaves 14 inches
(359 mm) of snow in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and 21 inches (533.4 mm) in Chicago, Illinois, killing 68.
- January 4 – Gunmen
open fire on Shia Muslims worshiping in a
mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 16
and injuring 25.
- January 6 – Dennis Hastert becomes Speaker of
the United States House of Representatives.
- January 8 – 3.4 million copies of the
film The Rescuers is recalled after a
photo of a topless woman was discovered in two of the 110,000
slides in that scene of the movie.
- January 10 – A
large piece of the chalk cliff at Beachy Head collapses into the sea.
- January 20 – The China News Service announces new
government restrictions on Internet use
aimed especially at Internet
- January 21 – In one
of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard
intercepts a ship with over 9,500 pounds (4.3 tons) of cocaine aboard, headed for Houston, Texas.
- January 25 – A 6.1
Richter scale earthquake hits western Colombia, killing at
- February 2 –
Hugo Chávez becomes President of Venezuela.
- February 4 – Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by NYC police
officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the
- February 7 – King Hussein of Jordan dies from cancer, and his son Abdullah
II inherits the throne.
- February 10 –
Avalanches in the French Alps near Geneva kill at
- February 11 – Pluto moves along its eccentric orbit further from the
Sun than Neptune. It had
been nearer than Neptune since 1979, and will
become again in 2231.
- February 16 – In
Uzbekistan, an apparent assassination attempt against President
Islom Karimov takes place at
- February 16 –
Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over
embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrests one
of their rebel leaders.
- February 21 – The
Albertinkatu shootings in Helsinki, Finland: Three men are killed and 1 wounded at a shooting
- February 22 –
Moderate Iraqi Shiite cleric Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq
al-Sadr is assassinated.
- February 23 –
Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with
treason in Ankara, Turkey.
- February 23 – White supremacist John William King is found guilty of
kidnapping and killing African
American James Byrd Jr. by
dragging him behind a truck for 2 miles (3 km).
- February 23 – An
avalanche destroys the village of Galtür,
Austria, killing 31.
- February 24 –
LaGrand Case: The State of Arizona executes Karl LaGrand,
a German national involved in an armed robbery that led to a
death. Karl's brother Walter is executed a week
later, in spite of Germany's legal action in the International Court of
Justice to attempt to save him.
- February 27 – While trying to
circumnavigate the world in a hot air
balloon, Colin Prescot and Andy Elson set a new endurance
record after being aloft for 233 hours and 55 minutes.
- March 1 – One of 4
bombs detonated in Lusaka, Zambia, destroys
the Angolan Embassy.
- March 1 – Rwandan Hutu rebels kill and dismember
8 foreign tourists at the Buhoma homestead, Uganda.
- March 1 – The Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel
Mines comes into force.
- March 2 – The brand
Bay hotel and casino opens in Las
- March 3 – Walter LaGrand is executed in the gas chamber in Arizona.
- March 4 – In a military court, United States Marine Corps
Captain Richard J. Ashby is acquitted of the charge of reckless
flying which resulted in the deaths of 20 skiers in the Italian Alps, when his low-flying jet hit a
- March 12 – Hungary, Poland and the
- March 15 – In
Belgium, the Santer
Commission resigns over allegations of corruption.
- March 17 – The Roth
IRA is introduced by U.S. Senator William V. Roth, Jr.
- March 21 – Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to
circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air
- March 21 – The
71st Academy Awards are held at
Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California with Shakespeare
in Love winning Best Picture.
- March 23 – Gunmen
assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis María Argaña.
- March 24 – NATO launches
air strikes against
the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, which refused to sign a peace treaty. This
marks the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
- March 24 – Fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel kills 39 people, closing
the tunnel for nearly 3 years.
- March 25 – Enron energy traders allegedly route 2,900 megawatts
of electricity destined for California to the town of Silver Peak, Nevada, population 200.
- March 26 – The Melissa worm attacks the Internet.
- March 26 – A
Michigan jury finds Dr. Jack
Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a
lethal injection to a terminally ill man.
- March 27 – Kosovo
War: A U.S. F-117 Nighthawk is
shot down by Serbian forces.
- March 29 – For the first time, the
Dow Jones Industrial
Average closes above the 10,000 mark, at 10,006.78.
- April 1 – Nunavut, an Inuit homeland, is created
from the eastern portion of the Northwest Territories to become Canada's third
- April 5 – Two
Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 are handed over
to Scottish authorities for eventual trial in the Netherlands. The United
Nations suspends sanctions against Libya.
- April 5 – In Laramie,
Wyoming, Russell Henderson pleads guilty to kidnapping and felony murder, in order to avoid a
possible death penalty conviction
for the apparent hate crime killing of
- April 7 – Kosovo War: Kosovo's main
border crossings are closed by Serbian forces to prevent ethnic Albanians from leaving.
- April 7 – A bomb
explodes at the Valley of the Fallen Church in Spain; GRAPO claims responsibility.
- April 8 Bill Gates personal fortune
exceeds $100 Billion dollars, due to the increased value of
- April 9 – Ibrahim Baré Maînassara,
president of Niger, is
- April 13 – Tercentenary celebrations of
the creation of the Sikh Khalsa are held.
- April 17 – A nail
bomb explodes in the middle of a busy market in Brixton, South London.
- April 20 – Columbine
High School massacre: Two Littleton, Colorado teenagers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold,
open fire on their teachers and classmates, killing 12 students and
1 teacher, and then themselves.
- April 25 – The term
of Tuanku Jaafar
ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman as the 10th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia ends.
- April 26 –
Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Hisamuddin
Alam Shah Al-Haj, Sultan of Selangor, becomes the 11th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- April 26 – British T.V presenter Jill Dando,
37, is shot dead on the doorstep of her home in Fulham, London.
- April 30 – Cambodia joins the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN), bringing the total members to
- April 30 – A third
nail bomb (see April 17) explodes in the
Duncan pub in Old Compton Street, Soho, London, killing a pregnant woman and two friends and
injuring 70 others, including her husband. This is part of a
hate campaign against ethnic
minorities and gay people by David Copeland.
- May 1 – SpongeBob SquarePants made its debut
on Nickelodeon on this day
with its first episode is Help Wanted/Reef Blower/Tea at the
- May 2 – Norman J. Sirnic and Karen
Sirnic are murdered by serial killer Angel Maturino Resendiz in Weimar, Texas.
- May 3 – 1999 Oklahoma tornado
outbreak: An F5 tornado slams into Moore, Oklahoma, killing 38 people (the strongest tornado ever
recorded in world history).
- May 3 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average
closes above 11,000 for the first time, at 11,014.70.
- May 5 – Microsoft releases Windows 98 (Second Edition) (from 1998).
- May 6 – Elections are
held in Scotland and Wales for the
Parliament and National
Assembly for Wales.
- May 7 – A jury finds The Jenny Jones Show and Warner Bros. liable in the shooting death of
Scott Amedure, after the show deceived
Jonathan Schmitz into appearing on
a secret same-sex crush episode.
- May 7 – Kosovo War: In the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, 3 Chinese embassy workers are killed and 20 wounded, when
a NATO aircraft
mistakenly bombs the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.
- May 7 – In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in
a military coup.
- May 8 – Nancy Mace becomes the first female cadet to
graduate from The Military College of South
- May 12 – David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer
(Speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament.
- May 13 – Carlo Azeglio Ciampi is elected
President of Italy.
- May 17 – Ehud Barak is elected prime minister of Israel.
- May 19 – Star Wars Episode I: The
Phantom Menace is released in theaters. It becomes the highest
grossing Star Wars film.
- May 26 – The Indian Air Force launches an attack on
intruding Pakistan Army troops and mujahadeen militants in Kashmir.
- May 26 – The first
Welsh Assembly in over 600 years
opens in Cardiff.
- May 26 – Manchester United wins the UEFA Champions League at the Nou Camp stadium, Barcelona, beating Bayern
- May 27 – The International Criminal Tribunal for the
Former Yugoslavia in The
Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four
others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in
- May 28 – Swedish police officers
Robert Karlström and Olov Borén are wounded by three bank robbers
armed with automatic weapons, and later executed with their own
service pistols in Malexander.
- May 28 – After 22
years of restoration work, Leonardo de
Vinci’s The Last
Supper is placed back on display in Milan, Italy.
- May 29 – Cathy O'Dowd, a South African mountaineer,
becomes the first woman to summit Mount Everest from both the north and south sides.
- May 29 – Nigeria terminates military rule, and the Nigerian Fourth Republic is
established with Olusegun Obasanjo
- May 30 – Travel
Midland Metro enters public service.
- May 31 – Sean
Elliott of the San Antonio
Spurs hits the Memorial Day
Miracle against the Portland
Trail Blazers in the 1999 NBA
- June 1 – Napster,
a revolutionary music downloading service, debuts.
- June 1 American
Airlines Flight 1420 overruns the runway in Little Rock,
Arkansas killing 11 people.
- June 2 – After decades
of fighting off outside technological influences like television,
the King of Bhutan allows
television transmissions to commence in the Kingdom for the first time, coinciding with the King's
Silver Jubilee (see Bhutan
- June 5 – The Islamic Salvation Army, the armed
wing of the Islamic Salvation
Front, agrees in principle to disband in Algeria.
- June 6 – In Brazil, 345
prisoners escape from Putim prison
through the front gate.
- June 8 – The
government of Colombia announces it will include the estimated value of
the country's illegal drug crops,
exceeding half a billion US dollars, in
its gross national
- June 9 – Kosovo War: The Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia and NATO sign a
- June 10 – Kosovo War:
NATO suspends its air strikes
Milošević agrees to withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo.
- June 12 – Kosovo War
– Operation Joint
Guardian/Operation Agricola begins: NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping forces KFOR enter the province of Kosovo in the
Republic of Yugoslavia.
- June 12 – Texas Governor
George W. Bush announces he will seek the Republican Party nomination
for President of the
- June 14 – Thabo
Mbeki is elected President
of South Africa.
- June 18 – The J18 international anti-globalization
protests are organized in dozens of cities around the world, some
of which lead to riots.
- June 19 – Turin, Italy is awarded
the 2006 Winter
- June 19 – Horror
author Stephen King is hit in a car
accident on Route 5 in North Lovell, Maine by
- June 21 – Apple
the first iBook, the first Laptop designed specifically for average
- June 23 – The
Phillips explosion of
1999 kills 2 and injures 3 in Pasadena, Texas.
- 1 July – The Scottish
Parliament is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth on the
day that legislative powers are officially transferred from the old
Scottish Office in London to the new
devolved Scottish Executive in
- July 2 – Benjamin Nathaniel Smith begins a
3-day killing spree targeting racial and ethnic minorities in
Illinois and Indiana.
- July 5 – U.S. Army Pfc. Barry Winchell is bludgeoned in his sleep at
Campbell, Kentucky by fellow soldiers; he dies the next day from his
- July 7 – In Rome, Hicham El Guerrouj runs the fastest mile
ever recorded, at 3:43.13.
- July 8 – A major flash flood in Las Vegas
swamps hundreds of cars, smashes mobile homes and kills 2
- July 10- USA soccer player Brandi Chastain scores the game winning
penalty kick against China in the FIFA Women's World Cup.
- July 11 – India
recaptures Kargil, forcing
the Pakistan Army to retreat. India announces victory,
ending the 2-month conflict.
- July 16 – Off the
coast of Martha's
Vineyard, a plane piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr. crashes, killing him
and his wife Carolyn Bessette
Kennedy and her sister Lauren Bessette.
- July 20 – Mercury program: Liberty Bell 7 is raised from the
- July 20 – Falun Gong is banned in the People's
Republic of China under Jiang
- July 22 – The first version of MSN Messenger is released by Microsoft.
- July 23 – ANA Flight 61 is hijacked in Tokyo.
- July 23 – Mohammed VI of Morocco becomes king upon the death of his father Hassan II.
- July 23–25 – The Woodstock 99
festival is held in New
- July 25 – Lance Armstrong wins his first Tour de France.
- July 26 – The last
Checker taxi cab is retired in New York
City and auctioned off for approximately
- July 27 – Twenty-one
people die in a canyoning disaster near
- July 31 – Mark
O. Barton kills 9
- July 31 – NASA
intentionally crashes the Lunar
Prospector spacecraft into the
Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen
water on the lunar surface.
- August 7 – Hundreds
of Chechen guerrillas invade the Russian republic of Dagestan, triggering a short war.
- August 8 – The first
Callatis Festival, the largest
music & culture festival in Romania, is held.
- August 9 – Russian President Boris
Yeltsin fires his Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time
fires his entire cabinet.
- August 10 – Buford O. Furrow, Jr. wounds 5 and kills 1
during the August
1999 Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting.
- August 10 – The
Atlantique Incident occurs as an
intruding Pakistan Navy plane is shot
down in India.
The incident sparks tensions between the 2 nations, coming just a
month after the end of the Kargil
- August 11 – A total solar eclipse is seen
in Europe and Asia.
- August 11 – Salt Lake City tornado: A very
rare F2 tornado strikes Salt Lake City, killing 1.
- August 17 –
earthquake: A 7.6-magnitude earthquake strikes İzmit and levels much of northwestern Turkey, killing
more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000. This is the first of a
long series of unrelated but frequent earthquakes throughout the
world during the years 1999 and 2000.
- August 19 – In
Belgrade, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević.
- August 22 –
Mandarin Airlines Flight
642 crashes in Hong
- August 22 – GPS Week Numbers Reset to 0
- August 31 –
the Power Macintosh G4.
- October 5 –
Thirty-one people die in the Ladbroke Grove rail crash, west of London, England.
- October 10 –
Elections are held in Portugal.
- October 12 –
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif attempts to dismiss Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf and install ISI director Ziauddin Butt in his place. Senior Army
generals refuse to accept the dismissal. Musharraf, who is out of
the country, attempts to return in a commercial airliner. Sharif
orders the Karachi airport to not allow the plane to land. The
generals lead a coup d'état,
ousting Sharif's administration and taking over the airport. The
plane lands with only a few minutes of fuel to spare, and Musharraf
takes control of the government.
- October 12 –
World population reaches 6 billion
people, as the 6 billionth person (according
to the UN) is born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- October 13 – The United States Senate rejects
ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
- October 15 – A
Geographic Society press conference reveals the fossil of Archaeoraptor (which is later found to be
- October 27 –
Gunmen open fire
in the Armenian Parliament, killing Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Parliament Chairman
Karen Demirchyan, and 6 other
- October 31 –
Flight 990, travelling from New York City to Cairo, crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on board. When the pilot
leaves the cockpit, the co-pilot causes the Boeing 767 to enter a steep dive, resulting in
impact with the Atlantic Ocean.
- October 31 – Roman Catholic Church and Lutheran Church leaders sign the Joint
Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, ending a
centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation.
- November 6 – Australians defeat a
referendum proposing the replacement of The Queen and The Governor
General with a President to make Australia a republic.
- November 9 –
TAESA Flight 725, covering the
route Tijuana–Guadalajara–Uruapan–Mexico City, crashes a few minutes after takeoff from
International Airport, killing 18 people on board. This event
causes the bankruptcy of the Mexican airline a few months
- November 12 – A
7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes Duzce and northwestern Turkey, killing 845 and injuring 4,948.
- November 18 –
The Aggie Bonfire collapses in
Station, TX, killing 12.
- November 19 – Mikhail Gorbachev proposes that the
UN create an International Men's Day, which is
now commemorated every year on this same date.
- November 19 – Every digit in this
date is an odd number (19/11/1999). This hitherto common event will
not happen again until the year 3111.
- November 20 –
The People's Republic of China launches the first Shenzhou spacecraft.
- November 26 – An
earthquake and tsunami strike Vanuatu.
- November 27 –
The left-wing Labour
Party takes control of the New Zealand government, with leader Helen Clark becoming the second female Prime
Minister in New Zealand's history.
- November 30 – The ExxonMobil Corporation merger is completed,
forming the largest company in the world.
- December 3 –
After rowing for 81 days and 2,962 nautical miles (5486 km),
Tori Murden becomes the first woman to
cross the Atlantic
Ocean by rowboat alone, when
she reaches Guadeloupe from the Canary Islands.
- December 3 –
NASA loses radio
contact with the Mars Polar
Lander, moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.
- December 18 – NASA launches into
orbit the Terra platform, carrying 5 Earth Observation instruments,
including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.
- December 20 –
The sovereignty of Macau is transferred from the
Portuguese Republic to the People's Republic of China after 422 years of Portuguese rule.
- December 22 –
Korean Air Cargo Flight 8509, a Boeing 747-200F crashes shortly after
take-off from London Stansted Airport due to pilot
error. All 4 crew members were killed.
- December 31 –
The U.S. turns over complete administration of the Panama
Canal to the Panamanian Government, as stipulated in
the Torrijos-Carter Treaty of 1977.
- December 31 – Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President.
- January 4 – Iron Eyes Cody, American actor (b. 1904)
- January 11 – Fabrizio de André, Italian singer and
songwriter (b. 1940)
- January 11 – Brian Moore, Irish-born writer (b.
- January 14 – Jerzy Grotowski, Polish theatre director (b.
- January 17 – Samantha Reid, American high school student
and drug overdose victim (b. 1984)
- January 21 – Susan Strasberg, American actress (b.
- January 22 – Graham Staines, Australian missionary (b.
- January 25 – Ted Mallie, American radio and television
announcer (b. 1924)
- January 25 – Robert Shaw, American conductor (b.
- January 28 – Markey Robinson, Irish painter (b. 1918)
- January 30 – Huntz Hall, American actor (b. 1919)
- January 31 – Norm Zauchin, American baseball player (b.
- February 1 – Paul Mellon, American philanthropist (b.
- February 1 – Barış Manço, Turkish singer and
television personality (b. 1943)
- February 5 – Wassily Leontief, Russian economist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
- February 6 – Jimmy Roberts, American singer (b.
- February 6 – Don Dunstan, Australian politician (b. 1926)
- February 7 – King Hussein of Jordan (b. 1935)
- February 8 – Iris Murdoch, Irish author (b. 1919)
- February 12 – Toni Fisher, American pop singer (b. 1931)
- February 14 – John Ehrlichman, American Watergate scandal figure (b. 1925)
- February 14 – Buddy Knox, American singer (b. 1933)
- February 15 – Henry Way Kendall, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
- February 15 – Big
L, American rapper (b. 1974)
- February 17 – Sunshine Parker, American actor (b. 1927)
- February 18 – Noam Pitlik, American actor and director (b.
- February 18 – Michael Larson, American game show celebrity
- February 20 – Sarah Kane, English playwright (b. 1971)
- February 20 – Gene Siskel, American film critic (b. 1946)
- February 21 – Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist, recipient of
the Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine (b. 1918)
- February 22 – William Bronk, American poet (b. 1918)
- February 24 – Andre Dubus, American short-story writer (b.
- February 24 – Virginia Foster Durr, American civil
rights activist (b. 1903)
- February 24 – Frank Leslie Walcott, Barbadian labour
leader (b. 1916)
- February 25 – Glenn Seaborg, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
- February 26 – José Quintero, Panamanian director (b.
- February 28 – Bill Talbert, American tennis player (b.
- March 1 – Ann
Corio, American dancer and actress (b. 1914)
- March 2 – Dusty Springfield, English singer (b.
- March 3 – Gerhard Herzberg, German-born chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
- March 4 – Ingrid Washinawatok, American activist
- March 4 – Harry Blackmun, American judge (b. 1908)
- March 4 – Del
Close, American actor, writer, and teacher (b. 1934)
- March 5 – Richard Kiley, American actor (b. 1922)
- March 7 – Sidney Gottlieb, American Central
Intelligence Agency official (b. 1918)
- March 7 – Stanley Kubrick, American film director and
producer (b. 1928)
- March 8 – Peggy
Cass, American actress (b. 1924)
- March 8 – Joe
DiMaggio, American baseball player (b. 1914)
- March 12 – Yehudi Menuhin, American-born violinist (b.
- March 13 – Garson Kanin, American playwright and
screenwriter (b. 1912)
- March 17 – Ernest Gold, Austrian-born composer (b. 1921)
- March 18 – Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentine writer
- March 18 – Rod
Hull, British entertainer (b. 1935)
- March 21 – Ernie
Wise, British comedian (b. 1925)
- March 22 – David Strickland, American actor (b.
- March 24 – Birdie Tebbetts, American baseball player
and manager (b. 1912)
- March 25 – Cal Ripken, Sr., American baseball player
and manager (b. 1935)
- March 29 – Joe Williams, American singer (b.
- March 31 – Yuri Knorozov, Russian linguist and epigrapher
- April 3 – Lionel
Bart, English composer (b. 1930)
- April 4 – Faith Domergue, American actress (b. 1924)
- April 10 – Jean Vander Pyl, American television actress
- April 12 – Boxcar Willie, American country music singer
- April 14 – Ellen
Corby, American actress (b. 1911)
- April 14 – Anthony Newley, English actor, singer and
songwriter (b. 1931)
- April 20 – Rick
Rude, American professional wrestler (b. 1958)
- April 20 – Señor Wences, Spanish ventriloquist (b.
- April 21 – Charles "Buddy" Rogers, American
actor (b. 1904)
- April 25 – Lord Killanin, Irish journalist and Olympic
official (b. 1914)
- April 25 – Herman Miller, American screenwriter
and producer (b. 1919)
- April 25 – Roger Troutman, American musician (b.
- April 25 – Larry Troutman, American musician (b.
- April 26 – Jill
Dando, British journalist and television presenter (b. 1961)
- April 27 – Al
Hirt, American trumpeter and bandleader (b. 1922)
- April 27 – Cyril Washbrook, English cricketer (b.
- April 28 – Rory
Calhoun, American television and film actor (b. 1922)
- April 28 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American
physicist, Nobel Prize
laureate (b. 1921)
- April 30 – Sir Alf Ramsey, English football manager (b.
- May 2 – Oliver
Reed, English actor (b. 1938)
- May 3 – Steve
Chiasson, Canadian hockey player (b. 1967)
- May 8 – Sir Dirk
Bogarde, English actor (b. 1921)
- May 8 – Dana
Plato, American actress (b. 1963)
- May 10 – Shel
Silverstein, American author and poet (b. 1930)
- May 10 – Sir Eric
Willis, Australian politician, former Premier of New South
Wales (b. 1922)
- May 12 – Saul
Steinberg, Romanian-born cartoonist (b. 1914)
- May 13 – Gene
Sarazen, American golfer (b. 1902)
- May 17 – Henry Jones, American actor (b. 1912)
- May 18 – Betty
Robinson, American athlete (b. 1911)
- May 21 – Karnail
Pitts, American rapper (b. 1978)
- May 23 – Owen
Hart, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1965)
- May 26 – Paul
Sacher, Swiss conductor (b. 1906)
- June 5 – Mel
Torme, American singer (b. 1925)
- June 6 – Anne
Haddy, Australian actress (b. 1930)
- June 7 – Francisco Stanley, Mexican TV anchor (b.
- June 8 – Christina Foyle, British bookshop owner (b.
- June 9 – Maurice Journeau, French composer (b.
- June 11 – DeForest Kelley, American actor (b. 1920)
- June 16 – Screaming Lord Sutch, English
politician (b. 1940)
- June 21 – Kami, Japanese drummer (b. 1973)
- June 27 – Jorgos Papadopoulos, military ruler of
Greece (b. 1919)
- June 29 – Allan
Carr, American producer (b. 1937)
- July 1 – Edward
Dmytryk, Canadian-American film director (b. 1908)
- July 1 – Guy
Mitchell, American singer (b. 1927)
- July 1 – Sylvia
Sidney, American actress (b. 1910)
- July 2 – Mario
Puzo, American author (b. 1920)
- July 3 – Mark
Sandman, American musician and artist (b. 1952)
- July 6 – Carl
Gunter Jr, American politician (b. 1938)
- July 6 – Joaquin Rodrigo, Spanish composer (b.
- July 8 – Charles
Conrad, American astronaut (b. 1930)
- July 11 – Helen
Forrest, American jazz singer (b. 1917)
- July 12 – Bill Owen, English actor (b. 1914)
- July 16 – John F. Kennedy, Jr., American actor
and son of John F. Kennedy (b.
- July 16 – Hiromi Yanagihara, Japanese singer (b.
- July 18 – Meir
Ariel, Israeli singer (b. 1942)
- July 20 – Sandra
Gould, American actress (b. 1916)
- July 23 – King Hassan II of Morocco (b. 1929)
- July 26 – Trygve Haavelmo, Norwegian economist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
- July 29 – Anita
Carter, American singer (b. 1933)
- July 29 – Rajendra Kumar, Indian film actor, producer
and director (b. 1929)
- September 5 – Allen Funt, American television personality (b.
- September 6 – Lagumot Harris, Nauruan politician and former
President (b. 1938)
- September 9 – Catfish Hunter, American baseball player (b.
- September 9 – Ruth Roman, American actress (b. 1922)
- September 10 – Alfredo Kraus, Spanish tenor (b. 1927)
- September 11 – Gonzalo Rodriguez,
Uruguyan race car driver (b. 1972)
- September 12 – Allen Stack, American Olympic swimmer (b.
- September 14 – Charles Crichton, English film director (b.
- September 20 – Raisa Gorbachyova, Soviet first lady (b.
- September 22 – George C. Scott, American actor (b. 1927)
- September 23 – Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter (b. 1910)
- October 6 – Amália Rodrigues, Portuguese Fado legend (b. 1920)
- October 6 – Gorilla Monsoon, American professional
wrestler and announcer (b. 1937)
- October 7 – Helen Vinson, American actress (b. 1907)
- October 8 – John McLendon, American basketball coach (b.
- October 9 – Akhtar Hameed Khan, Pakistani pioneer in
microcredit and microfinance (b. 1914)
- October 9 – Milt Jackson, American musician (b. 1923)
- October 11 – Rafi' Daham Al-Tikriti, Director of
the Iraqi Intelligence Service (b. 1937)
- October 12 – Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball
player (b. 1936)
- October 14 – Julius Nyerere, President of Tanzania (b. 1922)
- October 15 – Lena Zavaroni, Scottish entertainer (b.
- October 18 – Paddi Edwards, American actress (b. 1931)
- October 19 – Harry Bannink, Dutch composer and musician (b.
- October 19 – James C. Murray, American politician (b. 1917)
- October 20 – Jack Lynch, Prime Minister of Ireland (b.
- October 21 – Lars
Bo, Danish artist and writer (b. 1924)
- October 21 – John Bromwich, Australian tennis player (b.
- October 24 – John Chafee, American politician (b. 1922)
- October 25 – Payne Stewart, American golfer (b. 1957)
- October 26 – Rex
Gildo, German singer (b. 1939)
- October 26 – Hoyt Axton, American actor and singer-songwriter
- October 26 – Abraham Polonsky, American screenwriter and
director (b. 1910)
- October 27 – Frank De Vol, American composer (b. 1911)
- October 27 – Robert Mills, American physicist
- October 27 – Wes Berggren, American musician (b. 1971)
- October 31 – Greg Moore, Canadian race car
driver (b. 1975)
- November 1 – Theodore Hall, American physicist and spy (b.
- November 1 – Walter Payton, American football player (b.
- November 3 – Ian Bannen, Scottish actor (b. 1928)
- November 9 – Mabel King, American actress (b. 1932)
- November 11 – Mary Kay Bergman, American actress (b.
- November 15 – Gene Levitt, American television writer,
producer, and director (b. 1920)
- November 16 – Daniel Nathans, American microbiologist,
recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology
or Medicine (b. 1928)
- November 18 – Paul Bowles, American novelist (b. 1910)
- November 18 – Horst P. Horst,
German-American photographer (b. 1906)
- November 18 – Doug Sahm, American musician (b. 1941)
- November 21 – Quentin Crisp, English writer (b. 1908)
- November 21 –
Abd-Allah ibn Baaz, Grand Mufti of
Arabia. (b. 1910)
- November 24 – Hilary Minster, British Actor (b. 1944)
- November 29 – Gene Rayburn, American television personality
- November 29 – Iwamoto Kaoru, Japanese professional Go player (b. 1902)
- November 30 – Charlie Byrd, American Jazz musician and
classical guitarist (b. 1925)
- December 2 – Joey Adams, American comedian (b. 1911)
- December 3 – Scatman John, American musician (b. 1942)
- December 3 – Jarl Wahlström, Salvation Army general
- December 3 – Madeline Kahn, American actress (b. 1942)
- December 4 – Rose Bird, American judge (b. 1936)
- December 8 – Péter Kuczka, Hungarian author (b.
- December 10 – Rick Danko, Canadian musician (b. 1943)
- December 10 – Shirley Hemphill, American actress (b.
- December 11 – Franjo Tuđman, President of Croatia (b. 1922)
- December 12 – Paul Cadmus, American artist (b. 1904)
- December 12 – Joseph Heller, American novelist (b. 1923)
- December 17 – Rex Allen, American actor, singer, and songwriter
- December 17 – Grover Washington, Jr., American
saxophonist (b. 1943)
- December 18 – Robert Bresson, French filmmaker (b. 1901)
- December 19 – Desmond Llewelyn, Welsh actor (b. 1914)
- December 19 – Robert Dougall, British newsreader (b.
- December 20 – Irving Rapper, American film director (b.
- December 20 – Hank Snow, Canadian musician (b. 1914)
- December 23 – John P. Davies,
American diplomat (b. 1908)
- December 24 – Tito Guízar, Mexican singer and film actor
- December 26 – Curtis Mayfield, American musician and
composer (b. 1942)
- December 27 – Leonard Goldenson, American television
executive (b. 1905)
- December 28 – Clayton Moore, American actor (b. 1914)
- December 30 – Fritz Leonhardt, German structural engineer
- December 30 – Sarah Knauss, American oldest living person (b. 1880)
- December 31 – Elliot Richardson, American Attorney General under
Richard Nixon (b. 1920)
The year 1999 in fiction and popular culture:
- Computer/video games:
- Released after 1999 and set in the historical year:
- Released in 1999 and stated to take place in that year:
- Entrapment (1999):
The film takes place during the week leading up to December
- End of Days
(1999): The film involves Satan's plot to
conquer the earth on New Year's Eve
- The Matrix (1999): The year
within the Matrix is said to be 1999.
- Fight Club (1999) The
year within Fight Club is said to be 1999, just before the
beginning of the Millennium.
- Released before 1999 and set in the "future" year:
- Prince's 1982 song "1999" is
about "party like it's 1999."
- The Megadeth song "Set the World
Afire", from their album So Far, So Good...
contains the line "Distorted figures walk the earth, it's 1999".
The song, which is a protest song against nuclear weapons, was
written in 1987, implying that the Earth could
be nearly completely devastated by nuclear weapons in 12 years
without any action taken against them.
- Futurama: The series'
protagonist, Fry, is accidentally cryogenicly frozen on December 31
- Dragon Ball Z ("Transformed at Last," October
18, 1999): Goku transforms
into a Super Saiyan for the first time in the United States; aired
on Toonami, a now-defunct block on Cartoon Network.
- Space: 1999 (1975–1977): A
huge explosion sends the Moon hurtling out of
Earth's orbit on September 13 (a Friday
in the series, but not in reality).
- The Super
Dimension Fortress Macross (1982–1983): A huge spaceship
appears high above Earth and crashes into an island in the Pacific,
triggering a world war.
- Three Super Sentai series — Choujin Sentai Jetman
Sentai Ohranger (1995–1996), and Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGo-V
(1999–2000) — take place in 1999.
- Hunter x Hunter (TV
Anime Series) (1999–2001) Gon Freecs, a young boy, is aiming to
become a Hunter to search for his father. He meets some new friends
during the Exam, and the struggles he must face on his quest will
be beyond anything he's ever imagined.
- In Kamen Rider
Kabuto (2006–2007), 1999 is the year in which a meteor
struck the city of shibuya and also spawned the Worm, an alien race
that forms the main antagonist in the series. In the movie based on
the show, the meteor was much bigger and also dried up the oceans,
resulting in a post-apocalyptic world
- Family Guy the episode Da Boom is set on the 31st of December 1999
- In the TV series of Quantum Leap (1988–1993)
project Quantum Leap is said to be launched in New Mexico,
- THE DIALLO VERDICT: THE OVERVIEW; 4 OFFICERS IN
DIALLO SHOOTING ARE ACQUITTED OF ALL CHARGES The New York | <urn:uuid:3540f59b-0e5d-4ebc-a042-d386e539cff0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://maps.thefullwiki.org/1999 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958016 | 9,022 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Photography Travelogues: Black-Browed Albatross
February 16, 2012 5 Comments
West Point Island, Falklands
I’m not an expert wildlife photographer, but I love photographing wildlife! And they say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and I know enough to know I’m just a beginner when it comes to fauna and flora.
As with so many genres of photography, to be a true expert requires thousands of hours in the field and, for wildlife, a good understanding and knowledge of your subject is a great help. I know next to nothing about birds, least of all the majestic Black-Browed Albatross. Its huge wing span is deceptive and it isn’t until you’re up close to these birds that you realise just how large and impressive they really are.
As part of my Antarctica circuit with Peregrine Expeditions, we left Ushuaia in Argentina and sailed north east to the Falkland Islands. The Falklands is an amazing group of hundreds of tiny islets, many only a kilometre or so wide. Some are almost completely flat, others have towering cliffs, many are inhabited. One wonders what people do to survive as the nearest town (Stanley, the capital of the Falklands) can be easily a day away by boat!
And the weather is so changeable that you simply can’t predict it. During our few hours on West Point Island, we experienced rain, hail, snow and brilliant sunshine. It was wonderful!
West Point Island has a generous harbour around which the four or so farm dwellings stand, but it is on the other side of the island where the Black-Browed Albatross has its colony. It’s possible to get remarkably close to the birds’ nests, but there are strict rules against approaching too closely.
One thing that’s certain on these expeditions is that you can never get intentionally lost. This is because most of the passengers are wearing bright red suits to keep out the elements. I guess the birds have become used to the strange crimson characters that walk carefully around the outskirts of their colony!
I found a spot on the edge of a cliff looking over the colony and the sea below. Every now and then an albatross would glide effortlessly past and so I set myself the task of tracking the birds with my camera and lens. I used a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III with a 300mm f2.8 telephoto. The combination feels a little heavy towards the end of the day, but the results are spectacularly good.
What I enjoyed the most sitting on the cliff edge was the opportunity from time to time to look down on the albatross. So rarely am I above birds that I found myself intentionally waiting for one of the huge albatross to soar below. It’s not the perfect shot, but I like the way the broken water and cliff edges are slightly blurred. The only element within the frame that is tack sharp is the albatross – the 300mm f2.8 is very good wide-open and the 1/2500 second shutter speed (helped with the lens’s Image Stabilization) ensured there was no motion blur either.
Of course, not every photograph I took was a winner. In fact, my success ratio was particularly poor, which is why I like the Filmstrip Viewer in Capture One – it lets me slide through my photos and I press ‘3’ every time I think I have a good one. Once rated, I can have a closer look later on!
To show how I worked on this file in Capture One, I’ve made a little video which you can access here on the Better Photography website.
Peter Eastway is a professional photographer and photography magazine publisher based in Sydney, Australia. To see more of his photography, visit http://www.petereastway.com. Peter also offers an online Landscape Photography MasterClass. Details can be found at http://www.betterphotography.com. | <urn:uuid:8897caf3-14a3-491c-a94b-2eb68c35324c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.phaseone.com/2012/02/16/photography-travelogues-black-browed-albatross/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=d42062ed33 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955322 | 838 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Mexican industrial designer Jorge Diego Etienne has created a series of small tables that look like cages.
The powder-coated steel containers have wide gaps and thick bars so books and small belongings can be slotted inside.
They come flat-packed in two sizes, in black and yellow.
Here's some more information from Jorge Diego Etienne:
Cages are a set of tables that keep safe behind bars your precious books and items.
These conceptual furniture objects have an intimidating aesthetic with a ludicrous function allowing easily placing and withdrawing books through its bars, or removing its top to locate bigger objects inside.
Cages provoke a dialogue about which is safer, being in or outside lockup, breaking expectations for what an occasional table’s function is.
Constructed in steel with powder coated paint finish, Cages resemble a side table and a center table to place objects in or on top of them.
Whatever you pick to rattle your Cage, it will sure be kept safe and close to you. | <urn:uuid:02151531-e711-4809-bef2-f9fe7d56b1c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dezeen.com/2012/08/27/cages-by-jorge-diego-etienne/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936739 | 206 | 1.5 | 2 |
As the Western Campus of Tufts University School of Medicine we offer training in:
Strengths of Our Graduate Medical Education Programs
Baystate differentiates itself by developing innovative models of medical education that distinguish its residency and fellowship programs from those based on the traditional classroom model.
- Our faculty — physicians experienced in community medicine and clinical research — who are dedicated to medical education
- A collegial environment for learning and inquiry
- First-rate resources, such as our simulation center and our interdepartmental initiatives
- Research collaborations with our research partners, such as the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a major research university
- Generous salary and other benefits
- Breadth and depth of experience necessary to prepare you for a rapidly evolving healthcare field.
Hear what our residents have to say. | <urn:uuid:7cf56bca-bde0-4eca-b08a-05473cc44ec6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.baystatehealth.com/AcademicAffairs/Main+Nav/Education/Graduate+Medical+Education | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947356 | 164 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Is the United States a free nation? Most would agree that yes indeed, America is Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.
I myself am not confident this is really true anymore and I know many of you reading this would agree.
We have a Federal bureaucracy that has become so large and so powerful that it is literally running amok, trampling people’s rights each and every day in our communities and folks just go about their business like this is normal and ok.
In many states, people can’t even choose to drink milk straight from the cow and yet they can ride motorcycles without a helmet (yes, there is actually a law protecting this “right” in my home state of Florida) or go down to the corner liquor store and buy a case of cigarettes or a bottle of whiskey and drink themselves into oblivion possibly even killing someone with their vehicle on the way home.
Parents are increasingly losing control of healthcare decisions for their children with bureaucrats and social workers deciding what is best instead of the caregivers. Just a few weeks ago I was told by a so called “holistic dentist” in my area that he required x-rays for every single dental cleaning visit for the children in his practice because if he didn’t, the state would consider it “supervised neglect”.
Does this make sense to you?
It is becoming increasingly apparent that a key skill for folks who wish to remain healthy in today’s environment is knowing how to use the word NO effectively.
NO is truly a beautiful word. It is many times one of the very first words a baby learns to say much to the chagrin of the parents.
Despite its negative connotations, the NO word can be very positive. It sets a boundary. It enforces limits.
NO draws a line in the sand.
If you’ve had trouble with the word NO in the past, you’d better start learning to get good with it.
Here are situations where using the word NO is necessary to health:
1) A school official or pediatrician erroneously tells you that vaccines are required for your child to enter school.
Answer: NO, in fact, there is an exemption which is law in this state and I intend to exercise it.
2) A state official comes to a privately owned residence or place of business without a warrant and tells you that the people are not allowed to take home the locally produced raw dairy which they have paid for and is rightfully theirs.
Answer: NO, as it appears that you do not have a warrant, please go away and let us go about our business. If and when you come back with a warrant, we would be happy to talk with you.
3) A TSA agent at the airport says you are required to go through the airport scanners which douse your body in health robbing radiation.
Answer: NO, I am innocent until proven guilty in America. I do not have to subject myself to radiation to prove it to you or anyone else. I opt out.
4) A doctor tells you after a routine blood test that your cholesterol which is 220 is too high and that you need to take cholesterol lowering meds to bring it down.
Answer: NO, my research tells me that women with the highest cholesterol live the longest. My Grandfather ate 2 eggs fried in butter every morning for breakfast and never had a heart attack and lived to be 97. I am going that route thank you.
5) The pediatrician tells you your baby has jaundice and that he needs to be blindfolded and put under lights for several hours a day even though he is only 2 days old and his liver hasn’t even started working yet to break down the bilirubin.
Answer: NO, I have confidence that this healthy baby will be able to handle the bilirubin on his own when his liver starts to actually work in a couple of days. I will take him outside in his diaper for brief jaunts in the sun which is what my mother did when I was jaundiced. I will skip the baby torture treatment thank you.
Have you gotten really good with the NO word? If not, you’d better start practicing. Your health may one day depend on it.
Below is one of the best demonstrations I have ever seen on how to effectively say NO to an overzealous bureaucrat intent on trampling your rights in violation of the Constitution of the United States.
You will not believe this video when you watch it. Welcome to America, Police State. My jaw was on the ground. The guy in the video is absolutely brilliant handling immigration officials that have no jurisdiction whatsoever over American citizens when they are not crossing the border and are freely traveling within the United States. He expertly demonstrates how to handle these people and get positive results with no physical confrontation.
Watch and learn my friends. What other situations have you experienced that require proficient use of the NO word?
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist | <urn:uuid:6ecec861-7720-43fc-8079-52a6b56739a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/how-the-no-word-is-critical-to-preserving-your-health/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968902 | 1,034 | 1.765625 | 2 |
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The GOP has split over a Republican senator's filibuster of President Barack Obama's CIA nominee and claims about the use of drones in the Unites States.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul spoke for nearly 13 hours on Wednesday, demanding an answer from the administration on its authority to use lethal force and drones.
But Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham said Thursday that Paul's claims were unfounded, and said the debate unnecessarily created fear among Americans. Graham says Obama's actions were similar to what Republican President George W. Bush did.
McCain scoffs at Paul's suggestion that the U.S. would have attacked Jane Fonda when she traveled to North Vietnam during the war.
The White House says President Barack Obama does not have the authority to use a drone to kill a U.S. citizen on American soil if the citizen is not engaged in combat.
Obama spokesman Jay Carney says the attorney general made that assertion in a letter to GOP Sen. Rand Paul. The Kentucky senator has held up the nomination of John Brennan as CIA director amid claims that the administration could use drones to target Americans suspected of terrorism.
Carney says Attorney General Eric Holder sent the letter to Paul Thursday afternoon, though the senator's office says it has yet to receive it. Carney says White House officials have also been in touch with Paul's office. | <urn:uuid:055fa50b-0862-43b9-aca4-e5b924741d7c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wilx.com/home/headlines/Rand-Pauls-Filibuster-Over-Drones-Splits-GOP-196044461.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962028 | 273 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Tenny Chan, senior at Granite Hills, is in his first year as one of the video editors for the Gazette.Read more...
Linemen keep the quarterback protected; give him time to throw; open holes for running backs to run through, and just simply make an offense as good as it can be.
Granite Hills football coaches have been trying to find the biggest and most athletic students our school has to offer for one main reason: to make our team as good as it can be.
Last season, the Granite Hills football team had some extremely talented linemen on both offense and defense. The only problem with that is that all those players were seniors. This brings up another problem: who’s going to step up and fill these size 12 shoes next year?
A meeting was held in room 205-206 in early February in an attempt to find those players who would like to step up and take on crucial roles on the Grizzly football team, a team which was able to make it to the playoffs two years in a row.
“We really need to have good linemen next year if we want to be good. They don’t have to be the biggest guys ever, they just need to be committed and ready to play,” said varsity linebacker David Flores.
Granite Hills’ teachers were asked to recommend their biggest male students to the varsity coaches in order to contact them to see if they would be willing to play football for the Grizzlies next season. This technique ended up being quite effective.
“The teachers are who can identify students who they believe will help our team and will also benefit themselves as students by getting more involved in school,” stated varsity coach Marc Salazar.
The turnout at the meeting ended up being quite significant with roughly 30 students attending the meeting. However, this meeting ended up not only being for linemen, but for anybody interested in playing football and being part of the Grizzly football team.
The football season is right around the corner once again and preparation must start now. Athletics will be moving to a smaller league which will mean many more opportunities for athletes to shine as we will be playing smaller schools.
The football season will also be starting much sooner this year so there is no time to waste. For any questions regarding anything about playing football for the Grizzlies, consult Coach Salazar or Coach Coldiron.Above photo: Students at the football meeting during lunch. (By Maria Corona)
Do not forget to send in comments on Facebook.
If you would like to send me comments you can follow me at twitter | <urn:uuid:c178eb0c-8e99-42ed-8556-448ce3b8bd45> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.grizzlygazette.net/sports/football/959-varsity-football-needs-linemen | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984158 | 533 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Compassion for Others
November 7, 2013
Let us love one another; for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. . . . And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.
–1 John 4:7,21
If you would know the measure of your love for God, just observe your love for your fellowman. Our compassion for others is an accurate gauge of our devotion to God.
Some time ago, with some friends, I went through a museum in San Francisco. Among other things, we saw a collection of instruments of torture which were employed by religious people to force other people to believe as they did. History is largely the record of man’s inhumanity to man.
Prayer for the day
Lord God, fill my heart that I may love with the compassion of Jesus. | <urn:uuid:358601d5-051a-425d-bd83-4c027b5c5bfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://billygraham.org/dailydevotion.asp?ArticleID=7436 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968545 | 191 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Businesses begin bracing for the Affordable Care Act
(CBS News) NEW YORK CITY - Most parts of Obamacare will take effect next year, but a lot of small businesses are already making plans.
At the Five Guys restaurant in New York City, burgers and fries are the specialties, but owner John Rigos worries he'll have to cook up some cost savings when the affordable care act is fully implemented.
"It'll likely affect the number of people we can hire," Rigos said.
Rigos, who has 10 New York franchises and 250 employees, was waiting until after the election to confront the new health care legislation -- officially called the Affordable Care Act -- which will force him to provide insurance for all his full time workers, or face hefty fines.
"It'll probably have to reduce the staff to some degree, and again, focus on building smaller stronger team rather than being as aggressive in opening up new stores and creating new jobs," Rigos said.Papa John's CEO: My Obamacare claims were twisted
How the Affordable Care Act affects you
The new legislation will require businesses with 50 or more workers to provide affordable health care for their employees starting in 2014 or pay a penalty of up $2,000 per worker. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees -- that's 96 percent of all companies, will be exempt. They won't have to do anything.
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a health policy advisor to the White House who helped develop the new plan, said the cost to businesses is a "real concern."
"Near term we're going to see some blip in some costs. But I think actually when we rearrange costs and make it more efficient, we're actually going to see costs moderate," Emanuel said.
Some companies will find it cheaper to pay the fine than buy insurance. Twenty-two percent of small companies say they are likely to stop offering health coverage in the next five years.
Five Guys owner Rigos said he's not opposed to everyone having health care, adding: "I absolutely support it. I want to be clear about that, it's a big deal. It's still very challenging. There's 25,000 restaurants within the New York City market we're competing against, so it's not like we have surplus profits that we could just earmark a portion of them to go toward these types of initiatives."
Rigos told CBS News he's already met with his lawyer and accountant to begin putting a plan in place.
- Okla. tornado survivor finds dog buried alive under rubble
- Teacher injured in Okla. tornado takes first steps
- Survivor of Bangladesh factory collapse speaks out
- Oklahoma miracle baby -- born amidst tornado chaos
- 5/23: Obama: The war on terror, "like all wars, must end"; baby born as tornado struck
- Man killed in brutal London attack
- CBS News goes undercover in a Bangladesh clothing factory
- Storm spotter: Oklahoma tornado "a nightmare"
- Injured third-grade teacher tells of trying to protect students
- Resentment over wars may have motivated London terror attack
- Did Obama admin. know of IRS targeting during campaign?
- 16-year-old finds a new way to detect cancer
- Parents ask why Okla. schools don't have tornado shelters
- The power of a uniquely American song
- President Obama defends drone strikes
- Survivors pulled from Okla. school hit by tornado | <urn:uuid:3679742d-c917-4dc4-8da2-5998bdde21f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57561524/businesses-begin-bracing-for-the-affordable-care-act/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968101 | 703 | 1.734375 | 2 |
6809 SBC (was Editor religious wars (was Re: Museums))
mcguire at neurotica.com
Fri Jan 29 14:04:21 CST 2010
On Jan 28, 2010, at 11:23 PM, Ben wrote:
>> It'll do a good bit more than that. My high school used a UniFLEX
>> that was a 2MHz 6809 with about a dozen 1200-baud terminals. It
>> was used
>> to teach Pascal. Interactive performance was typically pretty good.
> The Missing 6809 UniFLEX Archive
> This needs to mirrored.
>> And you do realize "PDP-11" spanned some two and a half decades
>> and more
>> than a dozen implementations with a huge range of processing power
>> ranging from "wimpy" to "big clanging brass balls", right?
> Yes, but the PDP 11 was designed to have raw power from the original
> design. OK, they goofed on a basic address space of 18 bits.
16 bits, actually. The two MMU architectures extended that to 18
and 22 bits. I wouldn't call it a goof considering the first one
came out in 1970. For a small lab minicomputer in 1970, 64KB isn't
bad at all.
> The 68000
> comes close in design but offhand I still think the 68000 had only
> 16 bit addressing*. I do know it took a few revisions of the chip
> to get
> a MMU for it. By this time I moved from a COCO II to a PC clone
> and never got to play with well designed chips.
You did that to yourself, man. ;) And who on this list only has
Port Charlotte, FL
More information about the cctech | <urn:uuid:5600696b-3424-4404-b82c-898f3288c382> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2010-January/072431.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9484 | 386 | 1.578125 | 2 |
San Diego's Own Eden
By: Oliver Truesdale
Taking time to rediscover the treasures we have here in San Diego is a reminder of all the stunning natural resources that abound. From the coniferous forests to the sand mountains, there are vast areas in the neighborhood that are still ours to explore. It doesn't take much to arrange a venture within the county to fill a Sunday or create an absorbing vacation with the family. We don't have to go far, we don't have to spend a ton of money, and we don't have to use much gas to revel in the riches that are in our backyard.
The Chula Vista Nature Center is the closest to downtown San Diego, making it easy to visit on a holiday or weekend. You can take a guided tour or ramble along the many trails to observe the flora and fauna. The Tijuana River Estuary lies at the south end of the bay, offering some interesting exhibits that show the different kinds of wildlife in the area. Border Field State Park is another option, with its wildlife refuge, dunes, and salt marshes, and then a view of the international border fence dividing California from Mexico.
The 600,000 acres of land that is contained within the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in the east around Borrego Springs make this largest state park in California. With 500 miles of dirt roads, there are infinite amounts of hiking trails where you can see a variety of palm tree species, cacti, wildflowers, and a plethora of wildlife. Kit foxes, bighorn sheep, and mule deer make this area their home, as well as golden eagles, iguanas, and red diamond rattlesnakes.
Take a trip to the San Dieguito River Valley where the trail reaches from Volcan Mountain to the ocean between Solana Beach and Del Mar.
The San Diego National Wildlife Refuge, which includes Seal Beach, Tijuana Slough, and Sweetwater Marsh, is filled with wetlands, over 400 species of birds, and loads of endangered species. It is a great place to bring your binoculars as you hike along one of the many beautiful trails.
The Volcan Mountain Wilderness Preserve, which rises more than 5,000 feet, goes from Lake Henshaw to the Anza Borrego Desert. With its diverse ecosystem, it is one of the most pristine areas where you can hike to the summit for some spectacular views. Cleveland National Forest has a multitude of hiking trails, camping areas, and lets you get cozy in a wilderness that is close but seems so far from home.
From native grasslands to clear, drinkable mountain water, San Diego County brings us everything from rugged terrain to wide meadows. The area leads the country in the amount of native species at risk and harbors an enormous number of plants and animals that find a haven in the many types of terrain. Take your binoculars to spot the California gnatcatcher, the arroyo southwestern toad, the San Diego horned lizard, or the long eared owl. Keep your eyes sharpened to identify the Tecate cypress, the San Diego thorn mint, or valley needlegrass. Open your ears to hear the different migratory songbirds that abound.
With urban sprawl threatening wildlife throughout the nation, it is important to remember that there are wide open spaces that deserve attention. The Nature Conservancy's San Diego Country Project has brought both private and public partners together to help preserve the wilderness in San Diego by protecting rural land use and providing buffer zones to maintain the integrity of big nature's gifts. Biologists and other experts are continually working on finding the perfect a blueprint for protecting and maintaining the many habitats that make San Diego County so important to all manner of wildlife.
With big nature all around us, there is no excuse not to get out there and take advantage of its benefits. It is how we improve our physical and mental health, nourish our souls, educate our children in how to respect the land and its creatures, and how we become inspired to leave less of a footprint throughout our lives. Join nature clubs such as The Sierra Club, where you can take part in events and outings. Don't forget how fortunate we are to live in this part of the country, where we have our own definite version of Eden.
Oliver Truesdale is a frequent art critic whose interests also encompass finding ways to improve life through conscious living. | <urn:uuid:ce02c049-b041-4207-827a-14eedef6e582> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.next2eden.net/san_diegos_own_eden_article.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939601 | 916 | 1.75 | 2 |
- MARKET TRENDS
- WEB EXCLUSIVES
- BUYER'S GUIDE
Sunland Inc., which sells its nuts and nut butters to large groceries and other food distributors around the country, has expanded its recall to products under multiple brand names. The New Mexico-based company's recall includes some nut butters and nut products sold at Safeway, Harry and David, Sprouts, Heinen's, Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., Giant Food of Landover, Md., and several other stores.
The recall includes 101 products, including cashew butters, tahini and blanched and roasted peanut products. Several retailers have issued additional recalls for items made with Sunland ingredients. Some of those retailers used those ingredients in items they prepared and packaged themselves.
Some of the brand names included in the recall are Target's Archer Farms, Safeway's Open Nature, Earth Balance, Fresh & Easy, Late July, Heinen's, Joseph's, Natural Value, Naturally More, Peanut Power Butter, Serious Food, Snaclite Power, Sprouts Farmers Market, Sprouts, Sunland and Dogsbutter.
In September, salmonella illnesses were linked to Trader Joe's Creamy Salted Valencia Peanut Butter, one of the brands Sunland manufactures. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there are now 30 salmonella illnesses in 19 states that can be traced to the Trader Joe's peanut butter.
Meanwhile, CBS News recently reported that customers are requested to return certain popcorn products made by Popcorn, Indiana for a refund or to throw the popcorn away. The popcorn was sold in a range of locations such as retailers, distributor centers and online. Contamination in the popcorn was identified following testing by the company. The New Jersey-based organization noted that the contamination results from Listeria monocytogenes, an organism that leads to serious and possibly deathly infection for the elderly, young children or those with a weak immune system.
Packed in red bags, the products that were possibly infected had sell-by dates between Feb. 4, 2013 to March 12, 2013. “Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of those who buy our popcorn and the employees who make up our company,” states Popcorn, Indiana’s website regarding the removal of the popcorn product. “We hold ourselves to standards that are among the highest in the industry, and as such, we regularly conduct testing beyond FDA requirements.”
Source: www.abclocal.go.com, www.redorbit.com | <urn:uuid:ab6cde29-0e10-47b2-9b2d-994f506e87c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.snackandbakery.com/articles/86016-nut-product-recall-spreads-and-bagged-popcorn-is-also-recalled?WT.rss_f=Snacks&WT.rss_a=Nut+product+recall+spreads%2C+and+bagged+popcorn+is+also+recalled&WT.rss_ev=a | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949643 | 534 | 1.570313 | 2 |
TOKYO —Prospective students of an all-girls high school here need not apply if they don’t know how to use chopsticks properly. According to a report by the Associated Press, all applicants of Hisatagakuen Sasebo Girls’ High School must be able to transfer marbles, beads and beans from one plate to another with chopsticks before being granted admission. School officials said the test, which has been put into place because of concerns that ...
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Our Sponsors … Unusual Risks, the medical financial advisers are this week highlighting to the HIV community the opportunity they now have to take out Life Assurance, by asking the question are they the most underinsured group in the United Kingdom?
After conducting research Unusual Risks estimate that it is likely that 82%* of HIV positive people in the UK have no Life Assurance at all. This compares to a Swiss Re research figure for the wider community of 52% who currently have no Life Cover.
Over 50% of Life Assurance providers now offer cover to HIV Positive people with the price of cover varying according to age, date of diagnosis, time on medication, current CD4 count and viral load. This is big improvement from two years ago when only one product existed.
Chris Morgan, Marketing Manager of Unusual Risks Mortgage & Insurance Services Says,
‘The HIV community were excluded from taking Life Assurance for many years and now that the product is available many are unaware it even exists. We are therefore actively encouraging HIV Positive people to protect their Mortgages and loved ones’.
Chris Continued …
‘Many people living with HIV who had Life Assurance products in the past such as endowments surrendered them on diagnosis, or they decided to freeze their pensions which included Life Assurance, or cancelled their policies due to restrictive exclusions’.
The need for Life Assurance in the HIV community has become more apparent over the last few years with the success of medications. Higher CD4 counts and near non-detectable viral loads are leading to improved life expectancy amongst many HIV Positive people.
Campaigners spent many years consulting within the Association of British Insurers HIV Working Group, trying to persuade Insurance companies to provide Life Assurance for HIV Positive people. It’s important that the HIV community are aware that this product now exists.
Unusual Risks are committed to the development of HIV Life Assurance and are constantly liaising with the insurance providers to improve the products available. As independent advisers they have a policy of approaching all available providers for each and every client.
Our Sponsors …*Unusual Risks surveyed 100 HIV Positive people based in the UK through Baseline Magazine and Terence Higgins Trust and asked them ‘Do you have any form of Life Assurance? Of the people that responded 18 said yes and 82 said no. | <urn:uuid:9eb4f3c0-e502-4484-b375-e51ae1c43124> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.positive-finance.info/?p=154 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959315 | 487 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Intel has pushed back the release of its Itanium processor by a quarter, meaning the first servers and workstations powered by its first 64-bit chip won't hit the streets until early next year. In a conference call to discuss the company's financial results Tuesday, Intel executives said the new processor won't add to its revenues until the fourth quarter, one quarter later than previously expected. The first "pilot" Itanium systems will be available shortly, but general availability of Itanium PCs, operating systems and applications won't materialize until the first half of 2001, Paul Otellini, vice president and general manager of the Intel Architecture Group, said in the conference call. The decision to push back the Itanium release was apparently made recently. Just last week Ron Curry, an Intel marketing director, said in an interview that the first Itanium systems were on track for delivery before the end of this year. Despite the delay, Intel "continued to make solid progress" with Itanium during the past quarter, Otellini said. The processor, which was formerly known as Merced and was developed with input from HP, was originally expected to appear 1999. Intel supplies around 85 per cent of the processors used in desktop PCs and low-end servers. Itanium is an important chip because, along with subsequent 64-bit offerings, it's expected to help Intel penetrate the more lucrative markets for higher-end workstations and servers, where RISC (reduced instruction set computer) chips from the likes of Sun and IBM currently hold sway. The delay in Itanium will push the chip's release closer onto the heels of McKinley, a follow-up 64-bit processor which Intel plans to release in next year's second half. Intel has said McKinley will have double the performance of its first 64-bit offering, and some analysts have said they expect McKinley to quickly eclipse its predecessor. The delay should also give Microsoft some breathing room with its 64-bit version of Windows, which was released in pre-beta form last week. Microsoft plans to launch the 64-bit version of Windows at around the same time the first Itanium systems go on sale, Michael Stephenson, lead product manager for Windows Enterprise Server, said in an interview last week. | <urn:uuid:0a38d5f8-ed58-41a7-b6cf-084d62933e57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/creative-lifestyle/intels-itanium-release-slips-back-one-quarter/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975462 | 457 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Back in the days when a decent TV cost $4,000, I never hesitated to recommend spending $300 or so on professional calibration. But now you can get a pretty good set for less than $1,000. Far be it from me to tell you what your priorities should be, but to me, spending three bills to have a $900 TV calibrated seems as silly installing a $10,000 Viking range a 30,000 mobile home. Does this harsh nancial reality leave TV bargain hunters at the mercy of the factory calibration? Absolutely not — at least not those bargain hunters are willing to spend a few bucks on a calibration disc and a few minutes reading the rest of this article.
Sure, there are times when you need to call in a pro: if your picture is a real mess, or if you’re a demanding videophile who insists that your set deliver the absolute best picture it possibly can. Most of today’s TVs, though, are fairly well calibrated at the factory, and most of us are content to have them running at, say, 95% of their capabilities. A few basic adjustments are usually all that’s needed to get your TV looking good. The only things you need to make those adjustments are a Blu-ray Disc with the right test patterns and a little bit of knowledge.
The steps we’ll outline here will work great on anything from a $200 19-inch LCD TV to a $20,000 three-chip DLP projector. The only difference with a projector is that you have to center, zoom, and focus the image before you begin calibration. One bit of advice before we get started: It’s a good idea to let any TV, be it a flat-panel or a projector, warm up by displaying images for a minimum of 30 minutes before you calibrate it. Now, let’s get on with the calibration. | <urn:uuid:8443e5e8-3ce3-4421-b718-795e8df227ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article/how-calibrate-your-hdtv-0?page=0,0&quicktabs_1=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949846 | 391 | 1.5625 | 2 |
“I wound up my purchases and pulled into my convenient neighborhood fast-food restaurant. I ordered shrimp salad, onion rings, and a beer. The shrimp was straight out of the freezer, the onion rings soggy. Looking around the place, though, I failed to spot a single customer banging on a tray or complaining to a waitress. So I shut up and finished my food. Expect nothing, get nothing.” (p. 72)
As an English teacher, my mind immediately thought of Meursault in Albert Camus’s existential classic The Stranger:
“Soon after this I had a letter from [Marie]. And it was then that the things I’ve never liked to talk about began. Not that they were particularly terrible; I’ve no wish to exaggerate and I suffered less than others. Still, there was one thing in those early days that was really irksome: my habit of thinking like a free man. For instance, I would suddenly be seized with a desire to go down to the beach for a swim. And merely to have imagined the sound of ripples at my feet, the smooth feel of the water on my body as I struck out, and the wonderful sensation of relief it gave brought home still more cruelly the narrowness of my cell.
“Still, that phase lasted a few months only. Afterward, I had prisoner’s thoughts. I waited for the daily walk in the courtyard or a visit from my lawyer. As for the rest of the time, I managed quite well, really. I’ve often thought that had I been compelled to live in the trunk of a dead tree, with nothing to do but gaze up at the patch of sky just overhead, I’d have got used to it by degrees. I’d have learned to watch for the passing of birds or drifting clouds, as I had come to watch for my lawyer’s odd neckties, or, in another world, to wait patiently till Sunday for a spell of love-making with Marie. Well, here, anyhow, I wasn’t penned in a hollow tree trunk. There were others in the world worse off than I. I remembered it had been one of Mother’s pet ideas—she was always voicing it—that in the long run one gets used to anything.”
The corporate education reform machine (think the machine of justice within which Meursault finds himself and comes to get used to, just as he would living in the trunk of a dead tree) demands a standard curriculum and then a series of standardized tests to hold students, teachers, and schools accountable for the passive transmission and acquisition of state (and corporate) endorsed content.
CCSS and the tests to follow, then, are simply the dead tree we are being told to live in, and like the narrator in the Murakami novel, to shut up and do as we are told:
“Expect nothing, get nothing.”
Content in this corporate ideology is a fixed (dead) set of knowledge to be ingested, uncritically, passively, compliantly.
In a free society, one dedicated to democracy and individual freedom, such a process serves the needs of the corporate world, seeking as it does the compliant worker.
Education as a central aspect of the Commons and a mechanism for democracy must offer content as something to be confronted and challenged, not something to acquire.
A class may have a text in common, but the reading, studying, and discussions must be about wrestling with the text and the wide array of interpretations of that text.
Trying to raise the test scores of students in order to evaluate teachers (all driven by the new CCSS) is an act of living in a dead tree, asking for nothing, and getting nothing.
And this may be why the CCSS advocates (Coleman, et al.) are so eager to shift the classroom texts to non-fiction instead of fiction.
Imagine their horror, among the ruling elite, at the thought of teachers making decisions and students confronting Murakami or Camus to realize that the shrimp is straight out of the freezer, the onion rings are soggy, and it is past time to bang their trays on the table and complain to the waitress. | <urn:uuid:d3d0336f-11ca-4674-b09d-72f2511bda74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/expect-nothing-get-nothing-common-v-standard/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966661 | 888 | 1.609375 | 2 |
We sit down with the designers of Prometheus to chat creatures, costumes and carnage.
Ridley Scott’s sci-fi epic Prometheus, released this week in a spectacular Blu-ray edition, is a rarity in a landscape where practical effects have long ceased coughing in digital's dust. Yet Prometheus is a film steeped in the traditions of yesteryear, a hugely practical effort built from the ground up with blood, sweat and silicone. On a cold and gloomy day in London, we sat down with the film’s designers to talk the tough yet immensely satisfying task of building Scott’s passion project.
“I think the UK and animatronic/make-up ‘scene’ if you could call it that, doesn’t have a tradition of sci-fi horror,” says Neal Scanlan, who looked after creature design in the film. “So when we heard that this movie was happening, the biggest feeling we all had was – would Ridley have the confidence in us? Or would the US team fly out and we’d be peering through the gates, so to speak?”
Scanlan, whose practical builds make up around 90% of the creature effects in Prometheus, talks to us surrounded by his army of unnervingly translucent and muscular aliens. There’s the Trilobite, hanging from a hoop that would form the roof of Noomi Rapace’s infamous medo-pod. There’s the tadpole-like Hammerpede. There’s the curled, waif-like Deacon. There’s the gutted Engineer, its chest pulled into two bloodied flaps. These are creepily realistic creatures, jelly-like to the touch, thin blue veins running underneath white flesh. The level of detail is striking.
“My first meeting with Ridley was just to talk to him and try to reassure to him and try to sell to him the talent pool that exists in the UK, and that really as far as the artistry and talent, it all sits here, but we’d never had the opportunity to do something like this before. And to his credit – he had the confidence to say okay.”
Scanlan’s effects team put their hearts and souls into the task, grateful for the greenlight and inspired by Scott’s open-minded guidance. Scanlan notes a certain sterility that’s crept into modern-day practical effects, a notion Scott, by his very working nature, quashed. “Sometimes you’d construct something as per the storyboard exactly, and you would walk onto the set and there would be no room to breathe in the middle, but with Ridley that wasn’t an option, there had to be ‘something in the middle.’
"So we had to make our creatures quite complicated and quite sophisticated. At the same time we made things that weren’t; bits of rubber, stuff covered in blood, and we would put that in what we called the ‘Ridley set-box.’ And when Ridley demanded something you would pull something out and he would shoot it. And there are little moments in the film like that, that weren’t planned for, reject bits that were just there in the set-box.”
There were a lot of physical demands on Scanlan’s creatures, and his team were frequently elbows deep in crap - literally - in order to achieve the desired effects. One sequence sticks in Scanlan’s mind in particular; the ‘birth’ of the Deacon via the Engineer's guts.
“We had this Deacon that we had created to curl into a four-foot balloon to create an umbilical sac that we filled with KY and olive oil, that bag weighed about 10-15 kilos, that was held underneath the Engineer and pushed up and out of his stomach, and it would roll onto the floor, and then using a razor blade on a tiny wire, we’d split open the bag and all the stuff would spew out, and the creature would unravel."
Using a razor blade on a tiny wire, we’d split open the bag and all the stuff would spew out, and the creature would unravel.
In order to split the Engineer in two, Scanlan had to build the head of the Deacon as a separate prop entity. “It had to be thrust through a thin membrane, and behind that there were a number of air and water canisters to fire all the gloop outwards. That was quite a complicated, choreographed sequence, and the set was also inclined at about 15 degrees, so after the second take it was quite lethal with all the oil and gloop on the floor. A lot of personal sacrifice for that particular sequence!”
Like all of Prometheus’ lead designers, Scanlan was excited by the freedom he and his team were allowed when it came to conceptualizing his creatures. The shadow of Scott's original Alien, it seems, never loomed too large. “We never really forgot about the original movie. We had all the (Alien designer) H.R. Giger books and illustrations around the workshop.
“But at the same time we were aware that our creatures were earlier lifeforms, so we could strip it back, and go back to something less in the tradition from what people were used to seeing. So a lot of the designs were more organic, smoother. We could be quite free-willed with it.”
Janty Yates, who served as Costume Designer, holds similar sentiments to Scanlan. Her slimline suit designs and strikingly original helmets are a masterclass in working under pressure - she and her team only had four months to pull everything together - yet she was pleased with the freedom she and her team were allowed.
"We were able to work with so much new fabric that’s out there, that’s made just huge leaps and bounds over the last 50 years, from when nylon was first invented."
Yates has been asked a number of times why the costumes in Prometheus weren't the same - or at least, in the same style - as those in Alien. "Most people ask me why the suits in Prometheus aren’t the big puffy NASA suits that were in the original Alien. That suit (from Alien) was what’s called an EVA suit - an extra vehicular activity suit - for being out in the universe, out of the spaceship. Secondly, the Nostromo spacecraft was like a work tank – they were out there servicing other vehicles, so the look was rough. The Prometheus expedition was commissioned by Weyland, so these suits were designed for the ship.”
Like Scanlan’s creatures, Yate’s costumes are detailed to the nth; her egg-shaped helmets wouldn't look out of place on the International Space Station 80 years from now. “We installed breathing apparatus - there were two huge pumps to stop condensation. Ridley was concerned, because in Alien the actors weren’t as able to breathe so easily, but we’ve got two huge fans at the back, so the air was circulated, and the actors were calm and fine as anything in their helmets."
As an additional touch, 11 real, working monitors were created within the helmets, avoiding a costly CG process. "That’s a massive network of batteries,” admits Yates. Indeed, when we peer inside the helmets, there they are; a series of tiny working monitors, perfectly formed. It's a miraculous touch to see up close.
This is beyond the realm of costume; this is special effects.
The cameras atop the crew's helmets were also functional. “Two weeks into filming, Pietro (Scalia) the editor said it would be great to have that real ‘Blair-Witchy’ documentation. So we actually did have cameras put on the top of the helmet, it added a bit more wiring and less streamlining than I would have liked, but it worked.
“This is beyond the realm of costume,” adds Yates. “This is special effects.”
Linguist Dr. Anil Biltoo arguably understands Scott’s desire for authenticity best of all; Biltoo spent months reconstructing an entire language for the film.
“Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the language used in Prometheus,” explains Biltoo, in a brief lecture he charmingly calls ‘Xeno-language 101’. "It’s the language – which for a reason I didn’t know at the outset – Ridley Scott wanted to use as the language of the Engineers.”
It turns out the language appealed to Scott because of its neutrality, fitting for the creators of humankind. “Where is the homeland of the Indo-Europeans? That’s been a question bounced back and forward for hundreds and years. And who were the Indo-Europeans? Were they a group of people ethnically defined? Or defined by a lifestyle? The jury is out. We don’t know for sure when or where they enter history. What kind of person is the old Indo-European? We don’t know for sure. And it’s that vagueness that appealed to Ridley.”
Biltoo had to ‘reverse-engineer’ the language, a deeply complex and time-consuming task. “We had to hypothesize because there was no date in that language. The data for it came from modern languages that we reverse-engineered to find out what the common forms are. It is not easy to produce a text in Proto-Indo-European. It’ll take 7 or 8 hours just purely on paper work, checking roots, making sure you avoid taboo combinations. It takes a full day to produce about 20 seconds of dialogue.”
Biltoo eventually reconstructed around 300-400 words in the language, and it took actor Michael Fassbender 17 hours to learn a passage as brief as the Lord’s Prayer. Only 3 seconds worth of the language ended up in the final film, but there's no bitterness from Biltoo; the experience very obviously appealed to his academic passions.
It takes a full day to produce about 20 seconds of dialogue.
"Given there are only 2 or 3 seconds in the theatrical release, I was rather impressed that within a week I received an email from a post-grad student in Indiana, asking me to contribute to a discussion that was already quite mature, from the Indiana University linguist post-graduates. From the little information of what they had, they knew it had been reconstructed Proto-Indo-European, and then they gave pretty much the translation.
“There are people out there that are that geeky,” laughs Biltoo, “and that sharp... it only took them a few seconds.”
If Biltoo, Scanlan and Yates are keen to wax lyrical on Scott’s obsession with detail, Production Designer Arthur Max is well placed to talk about the director's passion for scale. Max and his team built Prometheus’ sets on the enormous 007 stage in Pinewood Studios – the largest in Europe – which was, ultimately, still too small for Scott’s vision.
“(Prometheus) had to be big. This is coming from the man who thought the real Colosseum was too small,” muses Max, whose lengthy working relationship with Scott includes a collaboration on Gladiator. “So big is big, but it always has to be a bit bigger.”
The construction period ended up being quite compressed, and a lot of Max's more ambitious set designs had to be compromised due to spacial constrictions. “I think in the end (the compromising) was a benefit, because some of the shapes and corridors had to turn these dramatic corners because we didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
Even early versions of the Engineer were much larger than what we eventually saw on the screen. “At one stage he was 14-foot high, but we realized he would never fit in the frame!”
Indeed, the look of The Engineer was one of the first aesthetic decisions Scott and Max faced during early discussions on treading the line between the old and the new. “On the one hand (Scott) wanted to be fresh and ‘reinvent the wheel’ - a quote. And we are pre-Alien, so we’re deconstructing ourselves, which is an interesting intellectual exercise.
“But still the basic style was the big issue – what would the Engineers look like? Because the Engineer is basically the star of the movie. So as I am from a classical background in architecture and design, I was trying to promote him to being a humanoid in a kind of Greco-Roman tradition.”
The Engineer eventually ended up as an amalgamation of disparate influences, all of which shared one thing in common: a nose. “Ridley said, ‘I’ve always noticed that the most beautiful classical statues have no bridge on their nose. It flows from the forehead, straight into the ridge of the nose. So I Photoshopped Michelangelo's David without hair, Elvis Presley, and the Statue of Liberty, and blended them together."
I Photoshopped Michelangelo's David without hair, Elvis Presley, and the Statue of Liberty, and blended them together.
To present Prometheus' world as fresh but still firmly in the universe of Alien, Max and Scott created a set of clearly defined rules. One of the first 'Alien-isms' they vetoed was its organic, biological look. "That was a rule we had – no bio. We reprized certain forms from H.R. Giger – because we had the Juggernaut, we had to go back to Giger. The jockey chair, the pilot chamber, they were a reprise of Giger's forms.
But we morphed them. In the original Alien movie you see them through a glass darkly, so to speak, because you’re seeing them through video playback helmet cams. We’re seeing them in high-res 3D in Prometheus. So the level of detail and surface texture, was elaborately massaged by us to give something to appeal to a modern audience who grew up with video games and the Internet. So there was a challenge there – every surface had to be fully resolved, every gadget had to appear to work.
"There was no cheating," laughs Max. "No cheating like we used to do."
Prometheus is available on Blu-ray 3D Collector's Edition in Australia on October 17, with seven hours of bonus material. Also available on Blu-ray Hi-Def and DVD. If you live in the US or UK, you can pick it up today - and check out our recent review.
Lucy O'Brien is Assistant Editor at IGN AU. You should talk to her about games, horror movies and the TV show Freaks & Geeks on IGN at Luce_IGN_AU,or follow her @Luceobrien on Twitter. If you like what you're readin', meet the rest of the Australian team by joining the IGN Australia Facebook community. | <urn:uuid:d5c9921c-28af-4891-a7a7-71d13447102b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/10/15/designing-prometheus | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975784 | 3,208 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Photo: Comstock Images/Getty Images/Thinkstock
Each week, spiritual teacher Deepak Chopra responds to Oprah.com users' questions with enlightening advice to help them live their best lives.
Q: I have a really hard time with choice and action when it comes to finding my direction in life. I want to do something I love and I'm passionate about, but I haven't figured out what that is yet. In the meantime, I'm not willing to compromise my ideals to choose what is practical. School and work felt meaningless to me, so I dropped out of college and spent a year not working, not going out, basically just reading books on spirituality and psychology in hopes that I could find myself. That one year allowed me to go deeper in my spirituality, but in my practical life I have not accomplished anything.
I want to trust that I am on my own perfect path and everything is as it should be, but sometimes I feel very lost. I'm working now and I'm considering going back to school, but I have no great vision or aspirations for my future and I feel dead. I don't know why I'm here and what my purpose is. I haven't felt that spark of inspiration. Action doesn't come with ease. I don't feel at one with my choices. I'm so lost. What can I do better? Thank you so much.
— Nancy D., Diamond Bar, California
Your letter gets more and more negative as it goes on, culminating in a startling statement: I feel dead. So what started out as one thing—a letter from an idealistic young person who has postponed her identity crisis—winds up sounding like a letter from someone who is acutely depressed. Therefore, the only way you can get an answer is to go inside and find it. You've read a lot of spiritual books. The seed is sown. Now it's time to let some seeds sprout.
To find out which ones, here are five questions to ask yourself. Write them down and keep the paper available, because you will need to ask each question every day until it is answered. I'll list the questions first and then tell you a special way to answer them, because the method is as important as the answers:
That's the ideal, but of course, many people experience other elements of the identity crisis: a paralyzing sense of indecision, loss of self-confidence, panic that old behaviors that worked in your teens no longer work and a frightening sense of emptiness. Right now, you are mired in the negative side of finding your true identity. So let's eliminate the negative and let the positive part of your life start to guide you.
That's where the five questions come in. Pull your list out in the morning. Read each question, then close your eyes and wait for an answer. Don't force; don't expect anything. If you hear a lot of mental chatter, exhale and ask this chatter to stop for a moment so you can have a clear mind. Whatever answer you receive after a few minutes, that's today's answer. Move on to the next question.
Once you have your five answers, go on and enjoy your day. Don't think about the questions again. Don't return to them. You have done your job for the day. The rest is for enjoyment.
Repeat this procedure every day. One day—no one can predict when—one of the answers will seem totally right to you. This means that your true self has delivered the answer. Don't jump for joy just yet. Come back two more times and see if the same answer returns. If so, cross that question off your list. Proceed for as long as it takes until you have five good and true answers. What have you done? You've caught up with where you need to be. Being young, your answers may change next year, but what you want is answers for right now. They will serve to get you out of your rut.
How do I share my spiritual practice with others in an effective way?
Every week, Deepak will be answering questions from readers just like you—ask your question now!
Deepak Chopra is the author of more than 50 books on health, success, relationships and spirituality, including his current best-seller, Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul, and The Ultimate Happiness Prescription, which are available now. You can listen to his show on Saturdays every week on SiriusXM Channels 102 and 155.
Published on February 10, 2010 | <urn:uuid:e4d88e23-161d-43c0-b722-f3593c7c3fc8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Ask-Deepak-Find-Your-Lifes-Direction | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970577 | 935 | 1.617188 | 2 |
AMES R. HONN is one of the rising young
farmers of Coles County, residing on section 8, Oakland Township. He was born in
this county Nov. 20, 1860, and is the son
of Samuel D., and Hannah (Shrout) Honn. His parents were natives of Kentucky, where his father
was born in 1819, and his mother in 1816. They
are living in Kansas, Edgar County, where his
father is now a retired farmer. They have always
been interested in promoting the cause of religion
and are members of the Christian Church. A
family of nine children was born to them, whose record is as follows: Andrew E., deceased in infancy;
Sarah E., the wife of Thomas J. Kiskadon; George
A., married to Miss Florence A. Childers; Anna J.,
married James M. Ashmore; William K. married
Miss Melinda Childers; Melissa H. married James
E. Steel; John D. married Miss Ida A. Geyer;
James R., the subject of this sketch, and Samuel J.,
who died at the age of twelve years. |
James R. Honn passed his boyhood and youth on
his father’s farm, receiving an excellent common-school education, and is now conducting a farm
containing ninety acres, belonging to his father.
The rising generation who are enjoying the improved methods of agriculture can hardly imagine
or realize the hardships and disadvantages under
which their predecessors labored in the pioneer days.
Our subject was married, Oct. 13,1886, to Miss
Mary L. Zimmerman. Mrs. Honn is the daughter
of John B. and Elizabeth (Barnes) Zimmerman,
and was born in this State Feb. 17, 1861.
Mr. Honn is just beginning his career in life,
with every promise of prosperity and success. He
has been a member of the Christian Church nine
years, and his wife is a member of the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church. In politics he uniformly
casts his vote with the Democratic party. | <urn:uuid:83b4c16d-5b1b-475e-978b-858f2545f81f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilcoletp/bios/portrait/james_r_honn.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97672 | 444 | 1.804688 | 2 |
The role of sharps and spikes, interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs), in guiding epilepsy surgery in children remains controversial, particularly with intracranial EEG (IEEG). While ictal recording is the mainstay of localizing epileptic networks for surgical resection, current practice dictates removing regions generating frequent IEDs if they are near the ictal onset zone. Indeed, past studies suggest an inconsistent relationship between IED and seizure onset location, though these studies were based upon relatively short EEG epochs.
We employ a previously validated, computerized spike detector, to measure and localize IED activity over prolonged, representative segments of IEEG recorded from 19 children with intractable, mostly extra temporal lobe epilepsy. Approximately 8 hours of IEEG, randomly selected thirty-minute segments of continuous interictal IEEG per patient were analyzed over all intracranial electrode contacts.
When spike frequency was averaged over the 16-time segments, electrodes with the highest mean spike frequency were found to be within the seizure onset region in 11 of 19 patients. There was significant variability between individual 30-minute segments in these patients, indicating that large statistical samples of interictal activity were required for improved localization. Low voltage fast EEG at seizure onset was the only clinical factor predicting IED localization to the seizure onset region.
Our data suggest that automated IED detection over multiple representative samples of IEEG may be of utility in planning epilepsy surgery for children with intractable epilepsy. Further research is required to better determine which patients may benefit from this technique a priori. | <urn:uuid:20bb63d3-45d9-4475-995b-7bd3e6c09657> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pubmedcentralcanada.ca/pmcc/solr/reg?term=author%3A(%22Marsh%2C+Eric%22)&filterQuery=author_s%3AStorm%2C%5C+Phillip%5C+B.&sortby=score+desc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937932 | 327 | 1.8125 | 2 |
A recent study by Kaplan Test Prep found notable differences regarding the importance law school rankings have for prospective law school students in deciding where to apply for graduate school.
Glen Stohr, director of LSAT programs for Kaplan Test Prep, said this year Kaplan surveyed students after taking both their LSAT and Bar exam prep classes and found an interesting contrast between pre-law and graduate students and their views on the importance that ratings should have in deciding where to apply for law school.
Stohr said because it was their first time asking their Bar exam prep students what they think should be the top criteria for perspective students, it was interesting to compare the two surveys to see both pre-law and graduate students’ opinions side by side.
Prospective law students Kaplan surveyed overwhelmingly put an emphasis on school rankings when picking where to apply for law school, whereas graduate students said pre-law students really should focus more on job placement and tuition when considering schools.
Stohr said rankings tend to play a big role because law school programs are unlike a lot of other graduate programs. He said it takes a lot more thought and creativity on the prospective law student’s behalf to see what distinguishes one school from another.
Stohr said the surveys of graduate law students showed there are other factors besides prestige that prospective students should consider.
“You need to do some research on your own for them to be meaningful to you,” Stohr said regarding law school rankings.
Stohr said the four things steps he would recommend to pre-law students to take to make their search and consideration process more valuable in the long run are to come up with a list of “must-haves,” to determine a budget for tuition based on current financial status and what it will be in three years, to talk to current students in whatever school they are interested in and talk to alumni from the school about their success after graduating.
University of Wisconsin Law School Dean Margaret Raymond said prospective law school students place such a large emphasis on school rankings because choosing a law school is complicated, and it is reassuring to think someone else has decided what schools are best.
“I think it is important for students to think about what they are interested in and want to accomplish in law school and investigate whether the schools they are considering will meet their needs,” Raymond said.
Raymond added academic programs, geography, quality of the programs, nature of the environment, opportunities the school provides and cost are a few things prospective law school students should consider because rankings are not some abstract assessment of overall quality.
Ranking metrics do not include measures of cost and because of this, with all else being equal, an expensive school that has more to spend per student will rank higher than a school with a lower ranking, she added. | <urn:uuid:8d416c60-4b47-41be-bb73-c9c956af70a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://badgerherald.com/news/2012/09/20/study_pre-law_studen.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977473 | 574 | 1.6875 | 2 |
During our tenure in the trade, we’ve sold lots of period soft furnishings, with the earliest in date a pair of late 17th century back stools, with needlework upholstery. Nicer to look at than sit upon, but then, the chairs were going into an entry hall, so to look at was functionally more important than to sit upon.
With all that, the received wisdom seems to be generally that period soft furnishings will be rickety at best and always uncomfortable. Keith and I had blithely surmised that, if something were comfortable, it would have been sat on so frequently, therefore, that it would have worn out long since and been discarded. Consequently, it was only the uncomfortable pieces that survived. Perhaps there’s some truth to this, but the fact is, save that pair of backstools, every piece of soft furnishings we’ve handled- chairs, stools, settees, and sofas- have all been comfortable, and, as much as a modern piece, will stand up to daily use. The joints can be tightened, the horsehair padding can be made more cushion-y with a layer or two of dacron (parenthetic note to collectors- never, ever remove or discard the horsehair padding!), and the result is frequently nothing less than stunning. | <urn:uuid:2ab83ef0-1573-4709-aac9-090f5861f08f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chappellmccullar.com/notes/?m=201101 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976406 | 279 | 1.734375 | 2 |
(CNN) -- About 200 Utah educators spent part of their holiday vacation in class themselves -- learning how to handle a gun.
Those who attended the free, specially tailored concealed carry permit session near Salt Lake City included school secretaries, substitutes and full-time teachers. Whether they were committed to bringing a gun into school or simply giving themselves the option, they were united in their desire to learn more.
"I'm not really sure where I want to go with this, but I certainly think its good to be educated," said Marguerita Davilla-Telck, the financial secretary at Matheson Junior High School in Magna. "I know we have had concealed weapons in the building, and I know it made me feel safer."
The idea of a Utah teacher having a loaded weapon in class isn't new, nor is it illegal. Still, Thursday's class received attention in the wake of this month's massacre at a Connecticut elementary school, as well as National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre pitch that his advocacy organization can help facilitate the arming of more educators.
Mostly Democratic politicians, teacher's groups and mayors -- including New York's Michael Bloomberg, Boston's Thomas Menino and Philadelphia's Michael Nutter -- have blasted this proposal. For them, the focus policywise should be ensuring there aren't firearms in schools, not bringing more of them in.
"Guns have no place in our schools. Period," Dennis Van Roekel and Randi Weingarten, the presidents of the two biggest U.S. teachers' unions, said in a joint statement. "We must do everything we can to reduce the possibility of any gunfire in schools, and concentrate on ways to keep all guns off school property and ensure the safety of children and school employees.
But to Clark Aposhian -- president of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, which ran Thursday's event in West Valley City -- it's a matter of giving teachers, school administrators, janitors and others the same rights, when licensed, to carry a concealed weapon in their place of work as others have.
"What we're talking about is not arming teachers," he said, contending that the approach of locking doors and hiding behind a desk "just isn't doing it anymore." "We're simply not taking away that ability of lawful self-defense within a school."
For 12 years, Utah educators have been able to do just that, even if only a small fraction do bring guns into their workplace. The state's concealed weapon law allows for a person to have, on his person or in a secure lockbox, a weapon inside a school, Aposhian said.
If they do have a loaded gun, their principals, school districts, and local police departments wouldn't even know, given the restrictions in place limiting who is told about who has a concealed weapons permit.
Aposhian told CNN that, since this law took effect, there have been no accidents or incidents involving educators' firearms in Utah schools, nor have there been school shootings in the state.
The aim of Thursday's six-hour training sessions isn't to make educators into commandos roaming the halls to engage in shootouts with school shooters, he said. Rather, it's to give them one more option -- should the lockdown policies fail, law enforcement officers don't arrive on time, and a gunman makes his way into their room.
"When that shooter gets into the classroom, the teacher doesn't need to do a lot of tactical training to access and engage a firearm," said Aposhian, who is an instructor at Thursday's session.
"Point it at the shooter, (who) is probably going to be 5 to 10 feet away, and press the trigger -- thereby alleviating that option of jumping in front of the kids to soak up the bullets."
Teri Binkerd, a Spanish and stagecraft teacher at Viewmont High School, said she will do everything she can to protect her students. And she doesn't want to regret not having done everything she can, should a gunman enter her school.
"I'm here because I don't want to be a statistic, and I don't want to lose any of my kids," she said in between sessions Thursday, adding that several parents have asked her if she'd consider carrying a gun during school. "If somebody is coming after my kids, they're going down and going down hard."
Binkerd was among the roughly 200 who went to the class Thursday, which had only been announced a few days earlier, a response that Aposhian described as "overwhelming." They were taught things like how to handle and secure their firearm, plus applicable laws -- a class that, except for one hour devoted to what to do in school shooting scenarios, any other qualified Utahan could take.
"This is nothing new for Utah," Aposhian said. "You just haven't heard of it before."
Some in attendance Thursday were on the fence about whether they'd personally bring a weapon to school. Still, there was a widely shared sentiment that school would be safer if more trusted educators, beyond an armed guard standing watch at the front door, had guns.
"The sooner these gunmen ... face opposition, the sooner the carnage will stop," said Dustin "Spanky" Ward, an independent filmmaker who substitutes in Salt Lake City's Granite School District. "If I was a parent, I'd be OK with it as long as the people carrying the weapons were prepared, responsible and knew what they were doing."
Journalist Dan Nestel contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:a61b8fdf-a20f-443d-934d-01a3c0c72ce5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/27/us/utah-teachers-weapons | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98384 | 1,142 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Italian confectioner Ferrero’s French subsidiary has announced plans to use barge transport in a move that it has said will eventually cut 30% in CO2 emissions and take 260 truckloads off the road.
Ferrero France had previously transported goods between Rouen and Paris by truck.
Now, Ferrero has partnered with logistics firm STEF-TFE to transport Nutella, Mon Chéri, Kinder and Ferrero Rocher by ferry on a water lane under temperature controlled conditions.
Once a week, Ferrero will load a 23-pallet container containing Ferrero products onto a truck at its warehouse in Grand Quevilly, Normandy.
The truck will travel around 15 minutes to the port of Rouen where the container will be loaded on a barge bound for Gennevilliers port, north of Paris. The barge is to depart at 3pm on Fridays for an 8am arrival on Monday mornings.
The water lane is operated by the MARFRET company and managed by Voies Navigables de France, a public body under Department for Environment and Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing.
Finally, a truck carries the container from Gennevilliers port to a retailer warehouse in Marly-la-ville, a journey of around 35 minutes.
Grégory Debuchy, Ferrero supply chain Manager for France, Belgium and Holland said: "Clean, quiet and reliable, water
lanes offer a good alternative to road transport of goods. It offers a high volume transport solution and helps
us to continually improve the CO2 footprint of our logistics activities."
However, a Ferrero France spokesperson told this site that the group recieved no government subsidies for using barge transport and at present had seen no savings in costs or time.
Ferrero soon plans to transport five containers per week, which it said would lead to a 30% emissions reduction, take 260 truckloads off the road and result in 55,000 km travelled on water.
The Ferrero France spokesperson said that once the frequency on this line had been increased, a new route from Rhone to Lyon Marseille would be tested in 6 to 12 months.
The company said that the current move formed part of Ferrero Group’s sustainability strategy to cut 40% of CO2 emissions by 2020 compared to 2007 levels.
By 2020, the group aims to cut 30% in direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions from transport and storage activities.
It plans to increase its use of intermodal transport by 10% by 2015 to achieve this goal, with more products moving by rail or water.
Others using waterways
Another food company using barge transport is snacks giant United Biscuits which uses inland waterway shipping to transport good from its Delacre factories in Lambermont, Belgium and Nieppe, France. It has estimated that the move will save 31% on CO2 compared to road transport and eventually help it cut costs. | <urn:uuid:1050b28b-c73e-4ee7-876c-3447c180ee3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.confectionerynews.com/Trends/Natural-Colors-Flavors/Ferrero-France-targets-30-emissions-savings-with-barge-transport | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940662 | 602 | 1.757813 | 2 |
in This Corner…
An epic bout
is in the making and well all have a ringside seat.
In this corner,
the Safety Nazis who have inadvertently made the average
new car several hundred pounds heavier (and much more expensive)
than it would otherwise be via the piling on of keep-you-safe government
mandates, from air bags to telescoping bumpers to crumple zones.
In the far corner, we have the MPG Mussolinis. Their obsession is
mileage uber alles, which they try to impose via government
fleet average fuel economy requirements (CAFE).
Up to lately,
these two antagonists have not butted heads, if only because the
engineering talent in the car industry has been able to figure out
at least partial work-arounds that (temporarily) satisfy both sides.
new cars are reasonably, even remarkably, fuel-efficient
despite their massive and ever-increasing bulk. Kind of a like a
strong lineman who, though 30 pounds overweight, is still pretty
quick on his feet. Cylinder deactivation technology, variable cam/valve
timing, direct-injection, seven and eight-speed transmissions with
deep overdrive gearing they counteract the bulk, at least
somewhat. Without these technologies, the average new car of 2012
would be a real gas pig.
But now, were
approaching the point of economically and technologically diminishing
returns. Federal fuel economy standards are set to increase shortly
(2016) to 35.5 MPG average and from there zoom to 54.5 MPG
average by 2025. This sets the stage for our clash of the
titans. Because theres no economically or technologically
feasible way to get cars to average even 35.5 MPG without
significantly reducing their curb weight. Which, absent the use
of exotic (read, expensive) materials and new (even more
expensive) safety technologies will inevitably
make the resultant economical cars less safe.
get ready to rumble!
already been minor skirmishes. For example, you may have noticed
that certain cars parts are more fragile, or not as durable, as
the were in the past. Like disc brake rotors. Theyre fairly
easy to warp as by over-tightening of the lug nuts that hold
the wheel to the hub. And they cant be resurfaced (turned)
as often sometimes, even once because theres
less metal (weight) there to work with. Brake rotors used
to be heavy, thick, sturdy things that could typically be turned
several times before you had to replace them. But heavy conflicts
with efficiency and the engineers, told from on high
to reduce the unsprung mass of the cars they design, cut ounces
here and pounds there.
This is also
why almost all new cars come with aluminum rather than steel wheels,
incidentally. They are pretty, but also expensive to manufacture
(and replace) and much easier to damage, as by rubbing up against
a curb or hitting a bad pothole.
why virtually all new cars have plastic headlights (saves a couple
pounds) and plastic front and rear clips rather than heavy steel
bumpers which were safe but, alas, added too much weight.
though, is that the automakers have already cut most of the easy
fat off new cars and theyre still porkers. Especially
todays compact cars which are the cars
most oriented toward efficiency. They typically weigh in closer
to 3,000 lbs. than 2,000 lbs. for the simple reason that its
necessary to build in more bulk to make these cars safe
that is, to get them to meet federal standards for safety,
including crash test performance.
But this, of
course, reduces fuel efficiency. Significantly. Take 300 (or 500)
pounds off any 2012 economy car that gets say 38 MPG
highway at 2,600 lbs. and its a good bet that same car would
give you close to 50 MPG at 2,100 lbs. Ah, but it wouldnt
be safe enough to make the Safety Nazis happy. (Never
So, who will
emerge victorious? The Safety Nazis or the Mileage Mussolinis?
for sure. Well be the ones on the mat.
safety edicts of the past 30 years are not going to be made optional,
no matter how much less efficient and economical they make the average
new car. And the ever-upticking fleet average CAFE fuel
economy mandates arent going away, either chiefly because
the average person has the engineering and economic understanding
from The Howard Stern Show. These are the people who think
the automakers are dragging their feet, deliberately
building gas-pigs cars and that all it takes to get them
to build more fuel-efficient cars is simply for the government to
pass a law requiring them to do so. It does not enter their heads
that there will be costs and compromises involved. Costs and compromises
to be paid for by them.
And, of course,
with permission from EricPetersAutos.com.
[send him mail] is an automotive
columnist and author of Automotive
Atrocities and Road Hogs (2011). Visit his
© 2012 Eric Peters
Best of Eric Peters | <urn:uuid:1933faa2-86cc-48b2-86a3-d78bcd740b6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lewrockwell.com/peters-e/peters-e140.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941911 | 1,119 | 1.6875 | 2 |
The 4-H opportunity is available to you in a number of ways. Member enrollment deadline in June 1 of each year. Some animal projects have an earlier identification date for the animal.
4-H Club Membership
• A 4-H Club is five or more members with an adult leader.
• The club may be all girls, all boys, or boys and girls in a mixed group.
• Meetings are held regularly for business, project lessons and recreation.
• Individual clubs determine the feasibility of club dues, their own year-round program, time and place of meetings, and number of meetings to be held.
• Clubs function under the leadership of volunteer adult leaders.
Are There Any Dues or Costs?
There is an annual educational fee of $15.00 per member. Local clubs sometimes decide to have club dues to use for club activities like field trips, picnics, etc.
What is a Project?
A project is a subject matter based task or series of learning activities that each individual member is involved in to ‘learn by doing’.
A record book is provided for each of the over 150 different projects that a member may choose from. These records are maintained by the member. There are all kind of projects from building rockets and raising livestock to learning how to be a leader. Here are a few that are popular in Potter County.
Animal Science- Livestock & Dairy
Archery/ Shooting Sports
Sewing & Cooking
Project work is supervised and evaluated by a teen or adult volunteer leader. Completion of the project entitles the member to have their work judged as “ Blue”, “Red” or “White” merit with a completion certificate and ribbon to reflect the level of accomplishment of the member’s work. There is an opportunity for exhibition and competitive evaluation of their project work at the Potter County Fair held each year. It is recommended that a member only select 1-2 projects to complete their first year.
4-H Youth Opportunities
Our 4-H program provides opportunities in cultural & citizenship education, leadership development and personal development.
Cultural & Citizenship Education
Cultural Exchange - people to people program; out of state experience where ideas and customs are shared and exchanged; one year you host and the next year you travel.
International 4-H Youth Exchange (IFYE) - an in-depth experience for youth 19 to 25 to live with host families in one of 25 countries on 6 continents.
Community Service - practicing good citizenship by aiding the community such as beautification projects, adopting a nursing home, and working with nursery schools.
Capital Days - opportunity for members to gain a better understanding of their State Government and their role as citizens of Pennsylvania.
Citizenship Washington Focus (CWF) - a chance to see Congress in action; to learn the meaning of citizenship and appreciate the working of our U.S. Government.
Camp Counselor - leadership experience in a day camp or over-night camp.
Elected Club Officer - an opportunity to learn how to conduct a meeting; responsibility of leading your local club.
Teen Leader - work under the guidance of an adult leader to help plan in advance specific parts of the club's program for which they will be responsible.
Ambassadors - group of 4-H members who present information promoting 4-H to public groups.
State Leadership Conference - SLC is a group of teens who want to make a difference. The SLC focuses on leadership and community service.
Presentations - a way for a 4-H member to demonstrate some phase of their project; also aides the member in public speaking.
State Achievement Days - an event held annually at Penn State University; offers competition in demonstrations, public speaking, judging contests, project knowledge and fashion revue.
Overnighters - a two day experience where 4-H members can come together with other 4-H members who share a common interest for the purpose of education and the exchange of ideas.
Camps - workshops on nutrition, health, nature, personal development along with leisure education and recreation with fellow 4-H members.
Project Work - 4-H offers a variety of projects (over 150!) to meet everyone’s' interests; learn by doing is stressed. | <urn:uuid:e2a384ee-dacb-49b7-872b-ea069455f41a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://extension.psu.edu/4-h/counties/potter/join | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952006 | 882 | 1.84375 | 2 |
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